Larry Goodman sent this report in:
Showtime All-Star Wrestling
Airing on April 18, 2009 on Comcast 74 in Nashville & WKRP in Lebanon, Tn
Taped on February 27, 2009 at the SAW Mill in Millersville, Tn
Commissioner Freddie Morton direct from the plush cinder block offices of SAW. Morton said that as a result of Raven & Marc Anthony vs. Gary Valiant & Hammerjack ending as a double DQ, Derrick King & JT Starr, would receive a bye to the tournament final round vs. the winner of today’s match between A-Team and LT Falk & Drew Haskins.
Cut to Reno Riggins and Michael Graham at ringside. Graham brought up Hammerjack’s change of heart. Riggins was amazed at the fan reaction.
The Phoenix Cardinals they go to the Super Bowl, and now everybody loves Hammerjack. What’s going on around here?
1 — SAW Tag Team Tournament Semifinal: RIC SANTEL & ANDY DOUGLAS (with Paul Adams) vs. L.T. FALK & DREW HASKINS
Falk showed why they call him ?King of the Armdrags.? Riggins said Falk & Haskins had never been to the second round of a tournament (have they ever been in a tournament?). Adams, still in the neckbrace, came over to talk about something important ? his neck.
I?m taking Arrick Andrews to court. I?m calling the news. I?m gonna get seven on my side, Michael Graham.
Riggins said Adams must have Bart Durham or Luvell Glanton in his pocket. Haskins used a cool looking leg grapevine rolling cradle for a pinning combination. Riggins said he advised Haskins, his former trainee to keep the A-Teams transitions to a minimum and take them off their feet. Douglas hit a wicked full nelson slam to start the devastation – Santel with a pumhandle backbreaker for a two count, a stretch submission and a lariat where he refused to allow the pin. Haskins fired up on Douglas, but Andy killed him dead with a Harley Race knee for a standing two count, then kicked the hell out of Haskins? ribs. Santel followed with a T-bone suplex. ?Rick! Rick!? It was Flash Flanagan out on the ramp. Santel stopped what he was doing to look at Flanagan. Flash said he beat Santel twice and wondered if he wanted another shot. They went to a split screen showing Haskins making the tag to Falk behind Santel’s back. Falk rolled Santel up for the three count. The announce team went nuts about the upset. Riggins said Adams was about to wet his pants. Flanagan sarcastically said he was sorry Santel lost.
WINNERS: Falk & Haskins at 6:42 when Falk pinned Santel with a roll up. A-Team beat the bejeezus out of Haskins. As foolish as finish made Santel look, it did serve a dual purpose – continuing the upstarts Cinderella run and furthering Flanagan/Santel.
2 — J.T. STAHR (with Derrick King & Sister O?Feelyah) vs. VORDELL WALKER
Walker introduced Stahr to the turnbuckles x 3. Stahr blocked numero quarto and lit Vordell up. VW answered with a chop and Stahr bumped into the tree of woe. Walker hit a gut wrenching hesitation dropkick to Stahr’s midsection for a two count. Graham noted how Walker delivered every move with authority and force. But Stahr got his knees up on a corner moonsault. Stahr hit a dropkick to the ankle, and Walker’s jaw smashed into his knee. That had to suck. King interfered. They traded forearms. Stahr decked Walker with a back elbow. Reno said it looked like Walker spit out a tooth. Graham said they had never seen Walker in this kind of trouble. Stahr blocked one lariat attempt with a high boot, but Walker leveled him bigtime on the second one. Walker capped off a high impact comeback with a spinebuster slam. Walker called for the STO. Stahr countered with a move I?ve never seen before ? like a reverse STO ? but Walker kicked out. Reno thought Stahr had him. So did Stahr. Stahr set up a climbing knee strike. Walker escaped. STO! Walker covered for at least a five count, but King had the ref distracted. Walker confronted King. Stahr went for schoolboy but Walker kicked out. Moments later Walker got Stahr in position for a powerslam and spun it into a rockbottom for the pin.
WINNER: Walker at 5:42. This was balls to the wall, high impact, fast-paced action and about as good as it gets for the time they were allotted. Graham did a great job of getting the talent over.
King starting throwing punches at Walker. He shrugged them off and grabbed King by the throat. O?Feelya crumbled Walker with a shot up the ying yang. ?Sister O?Feelyah and she feels ya right there.? King put the boots to him. DKE left Walker laying with a neckbreaker/powerbomb combo.
Next up was Hammerjack talking about how he seen the error of his way. Hammerjack was sitting by a lake. He said his parents used to take him there when he was a kid, and it had become a place of serenity where he could go over the problems in his life. He talked about doing time, running with the wrong crowd, hurting himself and the people around him. Hammer said he had been walking the wrong path, and it was time for changes. Hammer said the A-Team had no legs to stand on without him. He was the only one in the A-Team that actually held gold (a two time tag team champion). Hammer said he had been pondering over the fans telling him he didn?t need A-Team and asking why he ran with them, and how he could never answer that question. Hammer said his mom had called asking why he was making such bad choices, wondering what Paul Adams had over his head. Hammer said he couldn?t answer that question either.
I?m not sayin? that I can change my ways over night. Hell, I?ve been a rule breaker all my life. I?m not sayin? I?m not gonna break any rules to get done what needs to be done, but now’s the time to be the best I can be to become a better person, not for myself, but for all the people around me. Now is the time to make mom proud.
Hammer said the A-Team were not his true friends. Rather, they were using him as their evil henchman. Hammer said peace and serenity were going to be the furthest things from their lives.
Shane ?The Brain? Smalls read another one of his esoteric beatnik poems. Smalls was stationed on a busy corner in the entertainment district of downtown Nashville. People were walking by Smalls like he didn?t exist. The camera panned down to a hat at Smalls? feet. It was empty.
3 ? Loser Becomes the Winner’s Personal Servant: T. J. HARLEY vs. JOHN MICHAEL WORTHINGTON
Riggins said Worthington cost Harley & Hayme a shot at the tag titles last week, and Harley was going to cost Worthington his dignity. Graham said Harley was going to have Worthington doing stuff like digging compost piles. Harley gave Worthington a piece of his mind. Worthington shoved Harley. It looked lame. Harley shoved back and took Worthington down into a front facelock. Harley twice went for his finisher in the early going, and Worthington bailed out both times. Worthington snapped Harley’s neck off the top rope to take over. The fog machine is out of control again. As Worthington work over Harley’s back, the announcers speculated about the tasks Worthington would assign to Harley if he won – cleaning the stables, carrying his clubs at the Brentwood Country Club and such. Worthington applied a Boston crab. Back from commercial, Harley was still caught in the crab. Harley powered out. Harley made the comeback, catching Worthington with a roll up and a small package for near falls. Harley missed with a clothesline, and Worthington hit a huge spinning uranage. Harley kicked out just before the three count. Harley was dead weight as Worthington scraped him off the mat for the Brentwood Breaker, but Harley countered with the fisherman shoulder breaker for the three count.
WINNER: Harley at 5:55. Match was OK. Good finish. Harley is in the best shape of his SAW career.
4 ? Non-title match: SAW International Champion KID KASH vs. TONY SCARPONE
Rather than enter the ring, Kash told Reno he was pissed off about wrestling Scarboni. Riggins told Kash that’s who he was signed to wrestle. Kash said as champion, he dictated his opponents. Kash ran down a litany of his accomplishments in SAW.
And just to appease the office, I even gave that little punk Chrisjen Hayes a chance (yep, he called Hayme Hayes again), and he wasn?t even worth the sweat off my back. So now you want me to come out, Kid Kash, the champion of the world and wrestle this?
Riggins asked if Kash would face an opponent from the back. Kash said anybody but the trailer park hobo would be fine. Valiant strode to ringside like a zombie in camouflage carrying his barbed wire bat. Boogie chants abounded. Boogie said he had been looking for a fight all night long. Kash said Boogie was nobody and he didn?t even really know his name, and if Boogie thought Kash was getting in the ring with him and his baseball bat, he was even more of an idiot than he looked. Kash said Boogie wasn?t in his class and neither was anybody else in the building. They switched to the hard cam showing Arrick Andrews had pulled a switcheroo with Scarboni. Kash said because of Boogie’s insolence, he was going to be beat the hell out of the punk in the ring. Kash climbed in and did a double take when he saw Andrews. The bell rang. Andrews beat Kash to the punch. Graham frantically called for a ref. They traded a pin attempts before Kash headed for the hills. A ref ran down and attempted to coax Kash to the back. Kash picked up a chair and tried to lure Andrews outside the ring. Graham said he believed Andrews would have gotten a three count if there had been a ref in the ring. Kash got in Graham’s face. Kash told him to get it signed and he would beat Andrews like ?a red headed ugly ass stepchild.?
CLOSING THOUGHTS: I had mixed feelings about this episode. Walker and Stahr had a terrific six minute match. I hope they get a chance to main event, because if they can maintain that quality in a longer match, it would something unprecedented in SAW?The Hammerjack interview was a disappointing. He got plenty of time to explain but didn?t really have all that much to say. Hammerjack has done some strong heel promos. I was hoping he could shore up a babyface side that is sorely lacking in good talkers, but there was no indication of that in this vignette?Haskins & Falk winning on a complete fluke works so long as they score an honest win in the finals. I liked DKE getting all the way to the finals without having to do jack. Fits like a glove…The stipulation for Harley/Worthington feud made sense. It’s as good as anything they can do without Rachel. But it was very unlike SAW to do a stipulation match with no hype leading into it, no promos or anything. On the plus side, Graham and Riggins did a great job explaining the story and getting the stipulation over as the match was in progress. I thought Graham was strong on play-by-play throughout this episode?The stuff at the end building towards Kash vs. Andrews was alright, I guess. It took a long time to develop. They seem to allow Kash a lot of leeway. I liked Boogie in the role of Andrews? decoy. It’s logical that they would still be aligned although no longer functioning as a unit. Sooner or later, Andrews had to make a run at the title, and there was no better time for Andrews to put A-Team on the back burner than after the retribution he got on Adams two weeks ago.