Larry Goodman sent this report in:
Showtime All-Star Wrestling
Airing on September 19, 2009 on CW58 in Nashville
Taped August 28, 2009 at the SAW Mill in Millersville, Tn
No recap. Instead, they opened hot with Michael Graham and Reno Riggins situated next to the ringpost. On tap: DKE defend the tag titles, the top two contenders for the SAW International Championship hook up, plus Cassidy Riley seeing revenge against Andy Douglas. Looks like a wrestling heavy show.
1 ? HAMMERJACK vs. SEAN CASEY (with The Freak Squad)
Casey went right to the chicanery. When Hammerjack hit a flying lariat, Casey took a breather at ringside. Hammer went after him but got distracted by Tiana’s feminine wiles, and Casey clubbed him from behind. Casey spent several minutes demonstrating various ways to restrict a human being’s air supply. Senior Official Mark Herron caught Casey using the ropes for extra leverage, so Casey reapplied the rear chinlock mid ring. Hammerjack powered up. A sunset flip by Hammerjack? Surprised the hell out of Michael Graham. Casey hit a fist drop off the middle rope and made the arrogant back cover. Reno said there were no style points in pro wrestling. A collision of heads sent both men down. On the comeback, Hammer hit his sitout slam for a near fall. Casey hit his ropes mounted diamond cutter and covered, but Hammerjack got a foot over the ropes. Casey griped at Herron, stuck a finger in his chest and shoved him. Herron shoved back, and Casey walked into Hammerjack’s finisher.
WINNER: Hammerjack in 6:42 with the reverse DDT driving elbow. Not a bad match except the finish looked dumb. The heat helped.
SAW Official Top Ten: Kid Kash ? SAW International Champion 1 ? Hammerjack 2- Casey 3 ? Andy Douglas 4 ? Chase Stevens 5 ? Rick Santel 6 – Vordell Walker 7 ? Jon Michael Worthington 8 ? Jesse Emerson 9 ? Arrick Andrews 10 ? Drew Haskins
Cut to Dan Masters with comments from LT Falk and Vordell Walker. Falk said he always gave 110% as tag team champion, but little did he know he would have a partner like Drew Haskins to let him down. Walker said he had LT’s back and told DKE to polish up the belts.
2 ? SAW Tag Team Title Match: Champions DERRICK KING ENTERPRISES (Derrick King & JT Stahr with Sista O?Feelyah) vs. VORDELL WALKER & LT FALK
LT chant at the start. Graham was a little nervous that ?Teen Excitement? Haskins wasn?t at ringside with DKE. King spit at Falk. LT lit into King, gave Stahr more of the same, then hit a flip dive onto both members of DKE. Walker punished Stahr’s arm big time. Falk tagged in, and the babyface team hit a double hiptoss for a two count. (Commercial break) Falk did a headscissors out of the corner on Stahr. Walker and King criss-crossed the ring until King put on the brakes when he saw Walker waiting with a haymaker. Walker instead gave King an atomic drop, a lariat and a pair of dropkicks for a two count. Walker muscled King up for an impressive double underhook suplex for a near fall. The announce team was putting Walker over big time. Falk tried for another headscissors out of the corner, but King held him up just long enough for Stahr to interfere, as the mental prowess of DKE struck again. As DKE got heat on Falk, Reno said he had received a note informing him that Big Dolla and Half Dolla were on the road getting ready for Haskins? big singing tour. Reno said Haskins couldn?t carry a tune in a bucket. (Commercial break) DKE hit a double team backbreaker, but Falk kicked out of King’s cover. King used the entire five count for a blatant choke. Stahr tagged in and blasted Falk with right hands. Falk fired up but ran into a knee. Stahr did a belly flop on a standing moonsault. Falk had to wait for Stahr to cut off the tag. Moments later, King crotched himself on the middle turnbuckle and the tag was made. Walker cleaned house. Walker hit a backbreaker on Stahr (not the legal man) for a near fall. Stahr flew from the top, and Walker caught him with a powerslam for another near fall. Walker was looking for the STO, but Stahr countered with a waistlock and King superkicked Walker. Cover by Stahr and Walker kicked out. Walker hit an overhead belly-to-belly suplex on King. Falk made a blind tag and missile dropkicked Stahr, but King broke up the pin. In the midst of the chaos, Haskins posted Falk and grabbed Walker’s leg to keep him from making the save, as DKE hit their flapjack/jawcracker combo on Falk.
WINNERS: DKE retained the SAW tag titles in 14 minutes after interference by Haskins. This was an OK tag match. Not as heated as I expected. It was another chance for Walker to shine. The near falls and such near the finish were pretty rough due to ring positioning and timing issues. Stahr was in illegally all the way to the finish.
The bumper was footage of Douglas in the gym. He said he was taking Riley out.
Footage aired of SAW’s participation in the MDA Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon with Riggins, Paul Adams, Douglas, Santel and Stevens.
Brandy Malone interviewed Falk in the locker room. Falk was ticked off at Haskins. Falk said his father had faith in them. They were a fraternity and Haskins turned his back on him. ?Tough times don?t last. Tough people do. That’s what they say, and that’s exactly how I?m looking at this situation, my friend.? Falk said he never wanted it to come down to this. They gave it everything they had and won the tag team titles. Falk said he was speechless. Could have fooled me. Falk issued a challenge.
Haskins, you and I, good friends, better enemies, you and I, singles competition, any time, any place. Any time, any place and you better be ready for the fight of your life.
Cut to Douglas in an unidentified office. Douglas said he was laying on the beach when he got the call from Adams telling him that Riley was questioning his actions.
Cassidy Riley, how dare you question how I run my company. How dare you question what I do in my company. SAW belongs to the A-Team, and SAW belongs to the ?Real Deal? Andy Douglas. If you plan on stepping into the ring with the same green-horned punk I was at the age of 20, you?re sadly mistaken. Look at me. I?m a polished veteran, former world champion, a future SAW champion.
Douglas said his only goal was the SAW Title, and he wasn?t going to allow Riley or anybody else to be a distraction.
Cut to a sitdown interview with Riley conducted by Riggins. Riley talked about how he, Douglas, Santel and Stevens all broke in together as a tight knit group. Riley couldn?t fathom the things that happened over the last eight months in SAW. Something had changed Santel and Douglas, and Riley didn?t understand it. They tried to take Stevens out permanently to where he might need back surgery. Riley said his friendship with Douglas was out the window tonight. ?If you wanted a fight, you picked the wrong guy, pal, because when you hurt my brother, you hurt me.? Riley threatened to end Andy’s career.
Footage from SAW live at Buffalo Billiard’s in Nashville on September 11. They had a more upscale, young adult crowd than they will ever draw at the SAW Mill. Good stuff.
3 ? ANDY DOUGLAS (with Paul Adams) vs. CASSIDY RILEY
Graham commented on how both guys were in great shape. Reno said they weren?t sitting at home eating Twinkies and drinking beer. Certainly not Douglas given his [url=http://blogs.myspace.com/andydouglas] recent My Space blog concerning his recovery[/url]. Riley matched power and strength with Douglas. Douglas had to kick Riley in the gut to ?win? the test of strength. Riley immediately answered with a flying back elbow, and Douglas bailed to let Adams towel off his jaw. Riley outwrestled and outbrawled Douglas, who kept taking time outs. Riley ran Douglas? head into all four turnbuckles. Douglas bailed again. Riley followed and teased a snap suplex on the floor (same thing he did to Santel last week), and Douglas shot him into the post. Back inside the ring, Douglas zeroed in on Riley’s knee. (Commercial break) Riley was on the mat like a wounded animal, trying to shield the knee. Douglas was relentless. He got the figure four. The crowd got behind Riley, who managed to reverse it, but Douglas rolled through to keep the hold applied. Riley finally made the ropes. Riley rolled out from under a top rope elbow by Douglas. Weird landing. Shawn Michaels he’s not. Riley was selling the knee huge on the comeback. They traded near falls, Riley with a lariat and Douglas with hangman’s neckbreaker, and no hook of the leg the pin attempts. Riley hit the DDT, and Santel hit the ring for the DQ. The crowd got pretty hot as they continued to destroy Riley’s knee, with the final visual being Douglas, Santel and Adams all standing over Riley’s body.
WINNER: Riley via DQ in 10:52 due to interference by Rick Santel. Decent. Pretty good heat from what little crowd they had. Not what you would call action packed. Riley has looked progressively better in the ring with each match. Textbook job of selling the knee on his comeback.
CLOSING THOUGHTS: This was SAW’s most wrestling-oriented episode since the move to CW58. It worked OK. The burden of generating excitement rested too heavily on the announcers due to the weak crowd at the SAW Mill. The wrestling was average to good, however it will need to get better if SAW talent has designs on ?The Next Level?. Speaking of which, there was no hype for the October 10 Fairgrounds taping, which was surprising with only three weeks to go. The finish of the tag match was funky. Andrews and TJ Harley had a smoother match with DKE last week. This made four consecutive TV main events for Riley. I can?t recall when that’s happened before in SAW. It made sense for Hammerjack to blow through Casey with as hard as he’s being pushed. Casey quickly reached the limits of his upward mobility as a title contender, so I guess he reverts to his role of a man without a storyline. While the booking has remained logical, it’s not particularly imaginative at the moment. It feels like a bit of holding pattern while they wait to see how things shake out with Jerry Jarrett’s efforts to launch a new wrestling company?Reno broke his personal record for using the phrase ?definitely so? in a one hour wrestling show?I like the way SAW is working to legitimize their title with the emphasis on competition. The upper echelon guys consistently talk about the SAW title as the ultimate goal. SAW airs an updated top 10 contenders list every week. But if the emphasis is going to be on competition, then it’s silly for guys to be making lax covers at key points in big matches. They had their shortcomings for sure, but one of the things I came to appreciate about the way Jody Hamilton and Bill DeMott did things at Deep South was no half assed pin attempts?All of the interview segments did a good job of getting the major points across. Douglas has been very good on the mic, and this week was no exception. The idea that’s he’s in charge was news…I forgot to mention that during the previous episode, Michael Shane was announced for the October 10 Fairgrounds taping?With SAW being on Nashville television, it’s a smart move to include footage from ?on location? events like the Labor Day Telethon and Buffalo Billiards that increase SAW’s visibility in the community.
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