Indy News Update #3 for July 10, 2011
Submit your Indy news and results to: AdamMartin@wrestleview.com
Wrestleview’s own Josh Boutwell sent this in:
EliteCW: “Salute To The Troops”
Ozark, Alabama
July 9, 2011
Report by: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
On July 9th Elite Championship Wrestling made it’s return with the special “Salute To The Troops” event in Ozark, Alabama (where a portion of the proceeds of the event would be donated to the “Wounded Warrior Project”).
Today’s events kicked off actually earlier in the day when Enterprise Chevrolet in Enterprise, Alabama held a special Autograph Signing featuring the New Age Outlaws & “Bullet” Bob Armstrong.
The actual show kicked off with Jason Hero making his way out to the ring and welcoming us, and then introducing WWE Hall of Famer “Bullet” Bob Armstrong. Bullet talked about his past in the Marines along with his son (Road Dogg’s) putting over the military until the Canadian tag team of The Elite (Aeon Flexx & Nathan Crown) interrupted him. They trashed Bullet saying he was no legend, but THEY were interrupted by Mr. Fantasy (who is an AWESOME heel). Fantasy said he’s done a lot of wrong in his life but disrespecting a legend like the Bullet is not one of them. He’s now a babyface. He said if there was anyone in the back willing to team with him they would take out The Elite tonight. Local boy, Donnie B, made his way out and accepted the offer, and Bullet agreed to stand in their corner for the match!
-Mr. Fantasy & Donnie B. w/ “Bullet” Bob Armstrong def. The Elite
Pretty fun tag match here, The Elite work really well together and had several nice double team moves. Bullet got involved early by chopping Flexx while Fantasy distracted the referee. The end came when Fantasy hit his Flying Elbow Drop on Flexx for the win. After the match Bullet chopped The Elite again and got a nice pop.
The Bullet whoops up on The Elite as Mr. Fantasy & Donnie B watch on
-Four Corners Match: Street Bandit def. Mike Posey, Corey Hollis, & 4Saken
The next match was the Four Corners Match between local star Street Bandit, former TNA referee Mike Posey (who looks jacked up now), Birmingham’s Corey Hollis, and Orlando, Florida’s 4Saken (who is also a very talented rapper). Tons of great action in this one with Hollis looking incredible impressive along with Posey who surprised me and Street Bandit’s always great. 4Saken looked a bit lost at times but worked hard throughout. Hollis did some really awesome chain wrestling with both Street Bandit & Posey early on. At one point Posey hit a series of about 5 Running Leg Drops in a row on Hollis only to have Bandit come in and one-up him with several Leg Drops and then an Elbow Drop and a Fist Drop. Hollis hit a big Tope Suicida through the ropes onto everyone else on the floor, but the end came after Posey hit a nice Guillotine Leg Drop on Hollis only to have Bandit hit him in the back with his handcuffs and cover Hollis for the win.
The Bandit stole one
-Jimmy Rave def. Kyle Mathews
The next match was former TNA star Jimmy Rave (who just competed on Impact Wrestling in a 3-Way Dance against Kid Kash & Austin Aries a few weeks ago) and ROH regular Kyle Mathews. These two beat the hell out of each other with BRUTAL kicks and chops (the chops were absolutely sickening), and hit each other with every big move they had. At one point Mathews actually hit a Suicide Dive but actually dove UNDER the middle rope and hit Rave flush in the face on the dive. After a succession of big moves and nearfalls that including a Flatliner from Mathews and a Superplex from Rave, it came down to Rave’s Gonorrhea (or Move That Rocked The World in TNA) to pick up the win.
Rave hits the Gonorrhea for the win
Former EliteCW Heavyweight Champion Michael Steele came down to the ring next along with his manager Dirty Bird. He said it was ridiculous that Steele wasn’t booked on this show and challenged anyone in the back to come out and face Steele. Former WWE star Eugene accepted the challenge!
-Michael Steele w/Dirty Bird def. Eugene via DQ
This was unbelievably hilarious and entertaining. Say what you will about Eugene but the guy is entertaining as hell. One of the funnier bits in the match saw him stick his thumb up the referee’s ass and then threaten to first stick it in Steele’s face and then later threatened to stick his thumb in his mouth. This match came complete with Eugene’s impersonations (which included Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Randy Orton). As Eugene picked Steele up in an Spinning Fireman’s Carry Steele’s legs hit the referee knocking him down. Eugene then hit the RKO but the referee was out. Dirty Bird slid a chair in the ring and then got in. He tried to hold Eugene but Steele blasted Dirty Bird with it as Eugene escaped. Eugene then put Steele in a Crippler Crossface but the referee was still down. Eugene went to wake up the referee and then as the referee was getting up Steele picked up the chair, but instead of hitting Eugene with it he pulled an Eddie Guerrero. He tossed the chair to Eugene and then fell to the mat and pretended that he got hit with it. The referee so Eugene with the chair and Steele rolling on the mat in pain and called for the DQ.
I’m sure Dirty Bird has probably had better days
-INTERMISSION-
-Stevie Richards def. David Young
The first match after intermission was former WWE, ECW, and TNA star Stevie Richards (replacing X-Pac was originally scheduled to wrestler here) going up against former TNA star David Young. Young got on the mic and trashed Ozark (saying this was the worst hole he’s ever had to crawl in and saying that he felt like he just lost a bet having to be here) and trashed ECW before the match. These two had a solid back and forth match that saw them brawl on the outside as well. In the end Young went for a Moonsault, but Stevie rolled out of the way and then hit the Stevie Kick for the win.
Stevie working over Young
-Raven’s Rules 3-Way Dance: Raven def. Buff Bagwell & Johnny Swinger
This was originally advertised as just Raven vs. Bagwell but Swinger was added here as well. It was billed as Raven’s Rules but other than the finish there was nothing hardcore about it. Neither of the 3 seemed to be really into it tonight at all. Raven and Swinger decided after a few minutes to join forces and double team Bagwell but ended up pulling each other off of pins repeatedly, and eventually Raven pinned Swinger with a rollup and his feet on the ropes.
Triple Sleeper
-Main Event: New Age Outlaws def. The Usual Suspects (Murder-1 & AJ Steele)
This was originally announced as an NWA Tag Team Titles Match but last month The Suspects lost the belts to Murder-1’s former team the Dark City Fight Club. The Outlaws had a ton of fun here, really eating up the fans who popped huge for them. As they were making their entrance Billy Gunn actually ran way up into the nose bleeds and played to the fans. If you thought that 2 big black guys wearing bandannas and coming to the ring to Rick Ross’ “Tupac Back” were going to get a ton of love in the deep south you’ve obviously not been here (I’m joking…sort of). Man, did they heel it up. Right from the start they were really getting into it with fans at ringside and it got heated a few times. During the match Murder-1 actually called Billy Gunn a “cracker” and then after Road Dogg pointed that out, he said “hell yeah I said it, cracker, cracker, cracker, CRACKER!” to my shock. At this point I was dying laughing but was worried that was about to either a) start a riot or b) start a bunch of racial slurs being thrown between him and the fans. Thankfully neither happened. After the Suspects beat the hell out of Road Dogg for SEVERAL minutes, Gunn was able to get the hot tag and eventually get the win with the Fameasser.
The Usual Suspects
The Outlaws
After the match Jason Hero came out and announced they would be returning to Ozark in September and Road Dogg thanked the fans for coming out and told us not to forget the troops who fight for us.
Tonight was unbelievably enjoyable and just about every one worked their asses off to put on a great show. We got some great in-ring action and some funny moments all night. This was most definitely one of the better shows the Wiregrass down here in southeast Alabama has had the privilege of having.