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Steven Prazak's opened
the show introducing Dan "The Dragon"
Wilson as the
only play-by-play man and ring announcer
in North America that mattered. Out
came the NWA-TNA announcing team of
Ed Ferrara and Don West. Ferrara called
the Arena a hellhole. He told Dan "The
Dragon" Wilson to take the night
off
because they were going to do the announcing.
Ferrara introduced West. West
didn't like what he said. They got into
it and West called Ferrara an
asshole. They headed over to the announcer's
booth to call some of the
matches with Prazak.
1) Molokai beat Dirt in 2:30. Molokai
was bulked up (announced at 286)
compared to first trip into Cornelia
a few months ago. This dull squash match
could not have been short enough to
suit the Arena fans. Molokai overpowered
his opponent. Dirt got a brief sleeper
hold and that was it. Molokai hit a
nice charging clotheslines in the corner,
a superkick that sucked eggs for a
two count, and got the pin with a Michinoku
driver.
2) Derek Driver beat Cru Jones (with
Destiny) in 5:30. Jones drew heat even
in these adverse conditions. "The
One Bad Mofo" claimed to have the
best
clothesline since Nikita Koloff. Driver
got off to a flying start that built
to an Asai moonsault. Jones was in full
control for the remainder of the
match. He's added a version of the Last
Rites to his arsenal, along with his
usual stuff, like the decapitation clothesline
and the Shattered Dreams field
goal kick. Jones pulled Driver's limp
body up after a suplex, refusing to
make the pin. He said Driver had a lot
more life left in him. Jones dealt out
more punishment. Jones hit the Monster
Blitz and struck a one finger pin pose
before pulling Driver up again. Monster
Blitz number two, but Jones still
wasn't finished. It was time for Destiny
to slap Driver around a bit. Sweet
Dreams came out and put a lip lock on
Destiny at ringside. With the ref
distracted by that disturbing sight,
Caprice Coleman snuck in for the Thermal
Shock on Jones and put Driver on top
for the pin.
Coleman donned the football helmet
and grabbed Destiny's pom poms to mock
Jones with some ringside cheerleading.
Jones threatened to break him in half.
Coleman said it was time for him to
take the belt. "You ain't so bad,
Number
One Homo."
Jeff G. Bailey entered the ring to
address the Cornelians accompanied by
the
NWA Elite (Iceberg, Adam Jacobs, Rainman
& Homicide). Bailey said That Guy
had committed the ultimate sin by putting
his hands on him. Bailey announced
that at Freedom Fight, That Guy would
face Bailey & "The Winner"
Kevin Harden
in a handicap match.
Bailey it was no big secret that the
retirement of Jason Cross was a big
disappointment. Bailey accused Bill
Behrens of holding Cross back. He said
Behrens reversed one title win by Cross.
Then when Cross finally got his
rematch, Behrens served as special referee
in an attempt to screw Cross
again, but Cross proved his talent by
pinning David Young. Bailey accused
Behrens of canceling Cross' plane ticket
to Philly last weekend in an effort
to take his livelihood away. Bailey
said Cross couldn't come back unless
Behrens was gone. With Cross now out
of the War Games, the odds were stacked
5 to 4 against the Elite. That brought
Behrens out. Behrens said Bailey was
lying. He called Cross a flake and a
quitter who gave up. Behrens recounted
all the problems with Homicide, including
Friday night when he joined New
Jack for an attack on the Rock and Roll
Express. Behrens told Homicide if he
got out of line one more time, he would
be suspended. Homicide promptly
clubbed Behrens from behind and threw
a noose around his neck. Homicide hung
the NWA VP over the top rope. The NCW
security force gamely tried to save
his
neck, but they were beatdown by the
Elite. Bailey finally told Homicide
to
let go of the rope. As Behrens was being
carried out, he told Wilson to
announce that Homicide had been suspended
indefinitely, so the War Games was
now 5 on 3.
Bailey played the race card. He said
Behrens had previously suspended
Rainman, and now Homicide, because of
their skin color. Bailey called Behrens
"racist scum." He said Behrens
once had K Krush arrested for no reason
except
that he was black. Bailey said that
as a card carrying member of the ACLU
and
a supporter of the Southern Poverty
Law Center, he was appalled by Behren's
insidious acts. Bailey said that Rainman
would become the new champion, a
black champion that would not bow to
the flag of oppression. Bailey said
Behrens was a "lily white blue-eyed
devil" and a "closet Klansman."
3) Jimmy Rave and Jeremy Lopez went
to a 10 minute draw (well actually 7:40)
in a match to determine the number one
contender for the NWA World Junior
Heavyweight Title. Good ringwork but
no heat. Rave did a nice takedown into
a
cross armbreaker early in the match.
Lopez shoved ref Speedy Nelson. Nelson
shoved Lopez back and right into a Rave
armdrag. Lopez started working on
Rave's leg. Lopez applied La Tapatia
and maneuvered it into a version of
the
dragon sleeper. Lopez caught Rave on
a high crossbody attempt and swung him
into a reverse bulldog. Rave fought
back with a standard enzuigiri and a
his
new Shining Wizard version. Rave hit
an inverted DDT for a two count. They
exchanged hard slaps. Lopez screamed
like he was in agony. That seemed a
bit
extreme since Lopez was wearing a T-shirt.
Lopez missed on a spinning discus
elbow. Rave went for the Gravity Killer.
Lopez blocked it. Rave scored a
series of pinning combination and had
Lopez in a hammerlock cradle when the
bell rang.
Wilson named Lopez and Rave as co-number
one contenders and announced that
they would meet Rocky Reynolds in a
three-way dance for the belt at Freedom
Fight.
4) Iceberg & Adam Jacobs beat Tank
& Scottie Wrenn in 9:40. The faces
attacked the ring. They tried to take
Iceberg off his feet with a double
shoulder block and a Wrenn clothesline.
Tank knocked Iceberg through the
ropes with a Mafia kick, but the big
man was still standing. Finally, Wrenn
sent Jacobs flying over the top onto
his partner to get the job done. Tank
&
Wrenn went to work on Jacobs. Tank used
a wheelbarrow suplex. Wrenn pointed
at Iceberg and tossed Jacobs over to
make the tag. Wrenn and Iceberg traded
no sell punches. Iceberg reversed a
whip and hit a standing spinebuster.
Berg
followed with an Abdullah the Butcher
style flying elbow for a two count.
Heel heat on Wrenn. Jacobs was in briefly
to land a dropkick. Wrenn got a
crossbody hope spot. Jacobs broke up
the pin attempt and got two with a
superkick. Jacobs just doesn't look
as effective working against much larger
men. Jacobs' foot slipped off the rope
as he went for a corner moonsault.
Jacobs fell and it looked like he hurt
his leg legit. Wrenn crotched Jacobs
on top and hit a superplex. Wrenn caught
Jacobs with the Psycho Slam, but
Iceberg broke up the pin and dumped
him. While Iceberg battle with Wrenn,
Tank hit the F Bomb on Jacobs and went
for a submission. Iceberg nailed Tank
with a chair behind the ref's back.
Thomas finally turned around and made
the
three count. The finish felt flat because
the timing was off. Tank and Wrenn
traded punches until Rick Michaels and
David Young pulled them apart.
5) G-Rated (Kid Xtacy & Kid Kool)
beat The FBI (Tony Mamaluke & Terry
Knightenelli) by DQ in 5 minutes. Mamaluke's
ring entrance always makes me
laugh for some reason. G-Rated reminded
me of an updated PG-13, only smaller
and even whiter. Fans answered the "Where's
my pizza?" chant with "Terry
ate
it." Xtacy got the advantage on
Mamaluke, who accidentally punched
Knightenelli. Tag to Kool. Jawbreaker
by Mamaluke. Kool did an impressive
sequence of moves, landing on his feet
off a backdrop, hitting a dropkick to
the midsection and a sweet kip-up headscissors.
G-Rated landed a double
dropkick on Knightenelli for another
comedy collision that knocked Mamaluke
off the apron. Knightenelli speared
the bejesus out of Xtacy. Play time
was
over. FBI did a cool backdrop senton
double team spot. Mamaluke applied a
cross armbreaker submission. Xtacy got
a ropes break. Mamaluke did the
reverse hammerlock suplex. Knightenelli
dropped Xtacy on his face from a
gorilla press. FBI tossed G-Rated out
and destroyed them on the outside.
Finish was a double submission, with
Mamaluke putting Kool in the Sicilian
stretch while Knight had Xtacy in a
full nelson. Onyx finally hit the ring
with a chair to force FBI to relinquish
the holds. Speedy Nelson called it a
DQ. Mamaluke threatened Onyx for sticking
his nose in family business. He
said was bringing "Little Guido"
Maritato in for Freedom Fight. "In
two
weeks, I'm gonna make you my girlfriend."
Wilson announced a 6 man tag match
for Freedom Fight: The FBI (Maritato,
Mamaluke and Knightenelli) vs. G-Rated
& Onyx.
6) Future Shock (Jay Freeze & Brandon
P) & Slim J beat The Rage (Scott
Cage &
Mike Pittman) & Jeremy V in 7:15.
Best match and best heat. Future Shock
really stepped up their game here. J
was brought out in handcuffs by his
probation officer again. Slim J is a
marvel. If only he had more size. He
did
a crotch pull moonsault that must be
seen to be appreciated. All three heels
got heat on V right off the bat by putting
the boots to him. J punched V
right in the nads and landed a roundhouse
kick to the face for a two count.
I've said it before, but Freeze throws
a stiff chop. Future Shock doubled
with a sideslam/elbow drive. Freeze
used a pumphandle backbreaker. J punched
both of Rage and punched V in the nuts
again. P leveled V with a lariat. V
was taking a hell of a beating. Freeze
let V make the tag when the ref's back
was turned, to turn up the heat. Future
Shock did a double suplex, while J
came off the top with a plancha to make
it a triple team. V temporarily
halted the destruction with a backslide
near fall. J came right back using a
flying swinging neckbreaker. V did a
spinning suplex and made a double tag
to
Rage. Double dropkick on Freeze. Double
flapjack on P. V did a top rope
crossbody on Freeze for a near fall.
Rage went for their
nagasateru/neckbreaker finisher but
Freeze broke it up. Meanwhile, J dumped
V
to the floor and hit a gorgeous top
rope moonsault. Freeze took out Cage
with
the Guerrero Special neckbreaker. Future
Shock hit the Aftershock on Pittman
for the pin.
T-N-T (Tony Stradlin & Todd Sexton)
cut a promo on Lost Boyz. Stradlin said
it had been 239 days since his injury
at the hands of Lost Boyz. He blamed
the Lost Boyz for T-N-T's failure to
achieve stardom. Stradlin said that
T-N-T was going to injure Lost Boyz
and take their titles at Freedom Fight.
He bragged that nobody outdoes T-N-T
on a big show but why wait? Stradlin
called the Lost Boyz out. Nothing happened.
Sexton said he was disappointed
that Lost Boyz didn't have more guts
because T-N-T was giving them a shot
at
greatness against the best tag team
in the world. Lights out...Azrael threw
a
not so stellar fireball...Lights on.
T-N-T retreated to the back as Lost
Boyz
stood in the ring with steel chairs.
Not a bad promo, but not exactly
riveting either. For that matter, I'm
not sure anything could have fired up
that crowd. The fireball has been done
several times before and done way
better. These two teams had an intense
pull apart at the last taping, which
would have been much stronger as the
last buildup for the big show.
7) Rainman (with Jeff G. Bailey) beat
David Young in 10 minutes. With the
departure of Cross, Rainman became the
first guy targeted for
elevation...with a rocket strapped to
his ass. Young controlled the early
going with chain wrestling. Young dumped
Rainman to the outside and hit a
rolling senton off the apron. Rainman
slipped off the ropes (they were either
slippery or loose) but recovered to
hit a beautiful Asai moonsault to the
floor. Back inside the ring, Young used
a release overhead suplex that left
Rainman hung in the tree of woe. Young
did a running dropkick to the crotch.
Crowd groaned on that one. Rainman countered
a powerbomb attempt with the
Buttbomb. Rainman rained down punches
from the mount. Rainman landed a
dropkick that was good for a two count.
Rainman started brawling. Bailey got
in a sneak punch while Rainman distracted
ref Andrew Thomas. Rainman did a
butterfly suplex for a near fall. Young
got two with a sunset flip. Rainman
missed a clothesline and connected squarely
with Young's face on a spinkick
for another near fall. Young hit a powerslam
but could not follow up. A
double clothesline collision left both
men down. Rainman got whipped into
Thomas for a ref bump. Spinebuster by
Young but no ref. Haven't I seen this
before? Bailey tried to use the ether
soaked towel again, but Young was ready
for him. Before Young could do damage
to Bailey, he was jumped by Homicide.
Blackout teamed up for the Violator
420. Thomas counted the 1-2-3.
Homicide was kicking the crap out of
Young until Michaels cleared the ring
with a baseball bat. Young clocked Michaels.
Michaels started fighting with
Young. Tank hit the ring to break that
up. Wrenn joined the fray and it
turned into a four-way brawl between
the members of the War Games babyface
team. NCW security tried to break it
up. Bailey made fun of the faces not
being able to get along. "We're
gonna bleed every one of you to death
inside
that cage." Rick Michaels got on
the mic. He said forget the teams, it
would
be every man for himself in the War
Games, and he would be the next Wildside
champion. "Jason Cross couldn't
handle it, the pussy that he is."
The faces
brawling again. Nobody seemed to care.
Sadly, the building was deathly quiet
during what was supposed to be the grand
finale build up.
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