Larry Goodman sent this report in:
Showtime All-Star Wrestling
Taped February 13, 2010 in Nashville at Buffalo Billiards
Airing February 20, 2010 in Nashville on CW58
Reno Riggins and Dutch Mantell opened the show from a
strangely lit interview area at the Nashville Fairgrounds Sports Arena. Mantell
previewed the show, touting three title matches, and mainly hyping the one that
wasn?t on this episode, Kid Kash defending the SAW International Title vs.
Arrick ?The Dragon? Andrews. Reno asked Dutch to put on his Jimmy the Greek glasses (how about a leisure suit?) and
play Vegas oddsmaker. Mantell said he smelled an upset and made 5-4 in favor of
Andrews.
Reno brought Andrews out to a great pop. Before Andrew could get a word out, Kash
interrupted and confronted Reno.
All I want to do is come out here and talk to the
boy, just for a second, so why don?t you take that ugly ass jacket of yours and
step back.
Kash told Andrews he already had plenty of chances and he
just wasn?t man enough to get the job done. Kash said he had taken the belt
around the world and beaten everyone SAW put in front of him. Kash made it
crystal clear to Reno,
Dutch, and all the people that this was the last time for Andrews. Kash said as
a true champion, he had a little word of advice?.POW! Kash started beating the
holy hell out of Andrews. Arrick started to fire back. They brawled on the
concrete floor near the ring. It took five refs and other assorted SAW
personnel to separate them. Riggins admonished Kash, who punched Reno right in the face, a
wicked looking shot. Kash kept punching and kicking at Reno when he was down, and the refs had to
pull him off. They cut to a shot of Commissioner Freddie Morton helping Reno to the back. Hot
stuff.
Mantell joined Michael Graham on commentary. Their audio got
weird. Very thin and tinny sounding, like a bad land line.
1 ? ?Grand
Master Sexay? BRIAN CHRISTOPHER vs. SIGMON
Christopher teased tossing his do-rag out as a souvenir.
Crowd was going nuts for it until Sigmon jumped him. Dutch generously estimated
the crowd at 1500. It was a see saw battle. Christopher hit a middle rope
missile dropkick. Sigmon got a near fall with a standing dropkick. Christopher
roared back with classic Lawler style punches and had Sigmon in big trouble
after a running bulldog. Sigmon went to the trusty eye rake. He planted
Christopher on the top for a superplex. Not happening. Christopher KOed Sigmon
with a haymaker, then donned the goggles for the Hip Hop Drop.
WINNER: Christopher in 4:15. All action. Although not in his best shape, Christopher
worked hard and his offense mostly looked good.
2 ? CHASE STEVENS vs. DAVID YOUNG (with Paul
Adams)
Superstar reaction for Stevens. Mantell hyped the backstage
problems between Riggins and Kash. Stevens delivered a shadow lariat that drove
Young out of the ring to gather his wits. Adams lured Stevens out of the ring, where Young was laying in wait with a lariat of
his own. Young started in on Stevens? neck. A ?go, Chase, go? chant soon
followed. Stevens fed off the crowd. Stevens ducked a spinkick, but Young
nailed him with a flying roundhouse on the follow through. Sweet. Stevens
kicked out of it and busted out a Canadian Destroyer for the pin.
WINNER: Stevens in
3:30. Fine while it lasted. The reaction for Stevens and the finish were all
that really mattered, and those elements worked great.
Natalie Van Eron attempted to interview Andrews. He got
about four words out before Kash interrupted again. Kash told ?Miss Natalie?
that she was a credit to her occupation, but like the NFL, he couldn?t stand
women in a man’s sport. Andrews got off first this time. They had another
intense pull apart brawl with refs and wrestlers out to break it. Crowd wasn?t red
hot at the start, but the response built, and they got a ?let them fight? chant
before it was over. Graham said one them would be the man to hold the
championship of THE up and coming wrestling company in the country.
Grumpy’s Bail Bonds Most Wanted Bail Jumpers ? ?Bond Girl?
Leah introduced the tale of the tape for this week’s featured bail jumper,
Terry Satterfield. ?I?m so disappointed in you, and to think I thought we were
friends??
3 ? SAW Tag Team Title Match: Champions DERRICK
KING ENTERPRISES (Derrick King & JT Stahr with Drew Haskins and Sista
O?Feelyah) vs. PG-13 (Wolfie D & JC Ice)
Graham on solo commentary. Mantell was in the back due to
all the chaos. Wolfie stayed a step ahead of JT to the point DKE took a time
out to regroup. Back from commercial break with Wolfie in full control of King.
Ice cut off Stahr’s interference, but King clubbed him from behind to spill him
through the ropes. Stahr then did a number on Ice outside the ring. Ice took a
beating from DKE ? a classic example of cutting the ring in half. Stahr almost
put Ice out with a sleeper. Ice hit a jumping DDT on King and went through the
legs to make the hot tag. Wolfie cleaned house. DKE cut off a meeting of the
minds, but Wolfie caught them with a double clothesline. Wolfie crashed and
burned on a Swanton bomb. King missed a guillotine legdrop. Ice and Stahr both
missed top rope elbows, and it was four way carnage. PG-13 nailed Stahr with
the sunset flip/haymaker combo that earned them the title shot, but King kicked
out. PG-13 stacked up DKE with double bulldogs, but Haskins pulled the ref out.
While PG-13 was busy with Haskins and O?Feelyah, DKE grabbed the hubcaps. PG-13
saw them coming and capped their domes for the three count.
WINNER: PG-13 with a double pin at 11:31 to become the new
SAW Tag Team Champions. Fun match that got over great with the crowd. Smart to
have Wolfie carrying the action for his side.
4 ? SAW Women’s Title Match: Champion TRACY TAYLOR
vs. SUE YUNG
Mantell returned saying it was a very tense situation in the
back. A back and forth chain wrestling sequence ended in a standoff. Crowd
wasn?t feeling it much. As Taylor was busy working an armbar, Dutch busied himself putting over women’s
wrestling. Yung got pissed and slapped Taylor across the face. With fire in her eyes, Taylor issued a bigtime receipt. Yung used tights to send Taylor crashing into the turnbuckles. Yung
resorted to a variety of chokes and hair pulls. Mantell promised to have
Hammerjack and Marc Anthony as future guests on ?Down and Dirty with Dutch?.
Yung was about to slug Taylor in the face when she
hit Hawaii 5-0 (aka Chuck Taylor’s Sole Food) out of nowhere.
WINNER: Taylor retained at
3:57 with Hawaii 5-0. Not enough time to develop into anything more than an average match.
5 ? HAMMERJACK vs. ?Maniac? MARC ANTHONY
Hammer met Anthony in the aisle and they wailed away on each
other. Graham questioned if it was an actual match, as very little action took
place in the ring. They traded shots into the security rail. Inside the ring,
Anthony went down face first after a barrage of punches. Back at ringside, Anthony
flung the ringsteps at Hammer, who moved out of the way, and the steps came
apart on impact. Anthony punched ref Jess Fields. Hammer decked a second ref.
The bell rang. Security ran out. They had a brief pull apart (edited version)
that got another ?let them fight? chant.
WINNER: Ruled a no contest. For a balls to the wall brawl
there was nothing wrong with it. Problem was it couldn?t live up to the lofty standard
of their previous donnybrook. The bookers did them no favor by making it the third
heavy duty brawling sequence of the hour.
Graham and Mantell were at the announcer’s desk with Graham talking
about what a chaotic night it had been. He got word that they needed to throw
it to the back where?
Riggins was knocking on the door of Kash’s private dressing
room. He told Kash they needed a come to Jesus meeting. ?Really? Come to Jesus.
The only Jesus you?re going to come to isn?t in this room,? Kash shut the door
in Reno’s face. Reno barged in.
?Wait a minute, honcho, there’s something that needed to be taken care of around
here for a long time.? Reno took off his sport coat and closed the door behind them.
CLOSING THOUGHTS: There were some great things about this episode and some
aspects that were severely disappointing.
POSITIVES: The setup for the SAW Title match was highly
effective. The camera angles and close ups of the Kash/Andrews pull apart
captured the intensity. Reno took a hell of shot from Kash. After referencing the backstage volatility
throughout the hour, they paid it off with a closing scene that created intrigue,
the kind that brings viewers back for more. The crowd reaction for Stevens intro
was a key moment that could not have come off better. The heat was strong
throughout this episode. It was the best job SAW has done of capturing the live
feel of the Fairgrounds on the audio. The tag title switch was the only match
of any real substance, and it was a major success. Wolfie and King were
particularly entertaining. The opener worked as a showcase for
Christopher.
NEGATIVES: The production problems. It was their first
attempt at shooting a live opening at the Fairgrounds, and the lighting was
just horrible. Ring announcer Dan Masters? mic was too hot. The commentary on
the first match sounded weird. The audio was out of synch during the tag title
match. Stuff like that makes SAW look like anything but the next big thing. SAW
was portrayed as a promotion where the stakes were high, and the intensity was
at a fever pitch. I got that. But three pull aparts in one hour was way too
much of a good thing. The net effect was too badly flattened out Hammerjack vs.
Anthony. Their previous encounter was memorable. This was just another brawl. Hopefully,
it doesn?t take the edge of what has been a great program so far. For a title
match, the women’s match sure wasn?t much. It came across like an excuse to
have attractive women on the show, not that there’s anything wrong with that. As
much as I enjoyed Dutch’s crusty presence, I expected he would add more flavor
to the commentary than he actually did. His lack of product knowledge was all
too apparent. How can a SAW commentator not know that Stevens was the guy that
got knocked off the balcony? There was no mention of the return to the
Fairgrounds on March 13, just three weeks from the date this show was
broadcast.