Show report according to OVWrestling.com:
04/09/2005 – DAVIS ARENA
* THE HEARTBREAKERS VS. KEN ANDERSON & EL DIABLO NEGRO
* INTERVIEW WITH MATT MORGAN & ELIJAH BURKE
* BRENT ALBRIGHT VS. SEVEN
* INTERVIEW WITH MAC JOHNSON & SETH SKYFIRE
* THE THRILLSEEKERS VS. THE BLONDE BOMBERS
THE HEARTBREAKERS VS. KEN ANDERSON & EL DIABLO NEGRO
REF: Ray Ramsey
A series of intense OVW matches, along with a return of an old OVW favorite, started off with the arrival of The Heartbreakers, with both Promise and Romeo riding scooters several times around the announcer’s table and then out to the audience. The OVW audience seems to show more love for these guys every week and the costumes amongst their fans are getting more elaborate as well.
No Heartbreakers match could start until Promise and Romeo did their handslapping, hip-thrusting dance for the audience, which they did as they entered the ring with the always styling Mo’ Green. In the opposite corner awaited their opponents: Ken Anderson and the mysterious masked-wrestler, El Diablo Negro, who was pumped and ready to go at it with his deadly hands of steel. The Heartbreakers played a little game of “rock, paper, scissors” to determine that Promise would start off the match, and Ken Anderson changed places with El Diablo Negro in order to start off the match with Promise.
A lockup found Anderson in a headlock, which he broke off with a shove of Promise to the ropes. Promise shoulder-tackled Ken to the mat and then moved to the ropes again. Ken, seeing Promise go to the ropes, positioned himself on his stomach to get up, only to find Promise jumping from the ropes to squat on his back. As Anderson got up on his hands and knees in surprise, Promise started riding Anderson like a horse, although Anderson looked more the jackass there, with Promise slapping Anderson on the behind as Anderson tried to scramble out from under the Heartbreaker. Once away, Anderson ran to Ramsey to protest, and even slapped the referee on the behind to demonstrate what had happened, but Ramsey probably knew the rulebook didn’t cover horseplay, so he let the situation go.
Having enough, Anderson tagged in El Diablo Negro. As the black devil entered the ring, The Heartbreakers rallied to the audience, building up a cheer as Promise tagged in Romeo. Romeo and El Diablo Negro locked-up, with Romeo pushing EDN to the waiting arms of Promise, who held El Diablo Negro at the ropes as Romeo slapped him hard across the face. Locking up again in the center of the ring, El Diablo Negro turned the tables on Romeo by moving him to his own corner and having Ken Anderson hold Romeo. However, just as he was about to give Romeo a good face-whipping, Romeo scurried off to the side, leading to El Diablo Negro facing Anderson. A worried Anderson was relieved when El Diablo managed to pull his hand back from connecting with the swing, but they were both startled long enough for Romeo to setup the … um … Thumb’s Up to El Diablo Negro’s keister. El Diablo Negro flew forward in surprise, knocking Anderson off the apron and driving El Diablo to his knees in the ring. Holding on to El Diablo Negro, Romeo threw the wounded masked man out of the ring. Ramsey pushed Romeo off to scold him, allowing Mo’ enough time to drive home a double eyepoke to El Diablo Negro on the floor. Well, with a name like Mo’, a Stooges move should come naturally, one would expect.
Semi-blind, El Diablo Negro was helped back into the ring by Mo’ and soon found himself in the middle of a dance by Promise and Romeo in the center of the ring. The dancing jittered the man to his knees, while a very busy Ramsey had to force Promise back to his corner. With Ramsey’s back turned, however, Anderson crept in and jabbed Romeo in the back with an elbow. Taking the advantage, El Diablo Negro thrust his steely hands into Romeo’s back several times, allowing him to go for a pin-attempt. With Romeo kicking out at the last minute, El Diablo Negro dragged Romeo to the corner and tagged in Anderson.
Kicking Romeo in the behind for past discretions, Anger punched and slammed Romeo before tagging in El Diablo Negro again. El Diablo Negro dropped an elbow on the prone Romeo’s chest and went for a pin, which Romeo threw off. Sitting Romeo up, El Diablo Negro then went for the devastating Carotid Clutch, jamming both hands on Romeo’s shoulder by the base of the neck. Although in obvious pain from the move, Romeo managed to rise up from the mat and elbow El Diablo Negro in the gut. El Diablo Negro picked up Romeo as if to powerslam him, but Romeo turned it into a sunset flip attempt, which El Diablo Negro tried to block by bending forward to drive a fist into Romeo’s face. Romeo used the moment to maneuver out from under El Diablo Negro and leapt to his corner, tagging in Promise.
Promise clotheslined El Diablo Negro and then did the same to Ken Anderson, who ran in to protect his partner. Grabbing El Diablo Negro, Promise threw him up and down for a powerslam and then backdropped Anderson. Seeing El Diablo Negro trying to steady himself in the corner, Promise pointed him out to the audience and then ran towards El Diablo Negro, only to get an elbow in the face. Seeing a chance, El Diablo Negro ran towards a battered Promise for a DDT, but Promise turned it into a swinging powerslam for a pin attempt that was stopped by Ken Anderson.
Romeo took off after Ken, hitting him with an elbow; Anderson countered by throwing Romeo out of the ring. Anderson and El Diablo Negro teamed up on Promise by whipping him into the ropes, where Promise managed to hold on while Romeo reached through the ropes and pulled Anderson out by the legs on to the floor. El Diablo Negro took a swing at Promise’s head, but missed, allowing for Romeo and Promise to double-team slamming El Diablo Negro to the mat and Promise got the pin for the win.
INTERVIEW WITH MATT MORGAN & ELIJAH BURKE
Jim Cornette appeared in the center of the ring, along with three OVW refs to introduce Matt Morgan to the audience. Matt must be taking some pointers from Aaron “The Idol” Stevens and Beth Phoenix, as he looked very sharp in his suit and designer sunglasses. So did Elijah Burke, although in his own style, with an open shirt and the Championship belt over his shoulder.
Jim Cornette advised the two – although he was directing his comments more to Morgan than Burke – that now was not the time to settle the score between the two. Instead, he reminded Morgan that he had demanded a match between him and Burke, with the stipulation that if Morgan lost, he would admit that there was no vast conspiracy to stop him from getting to WWE. As Cornette had mentioned the previous week – Burke has never turned down a match request and this was to be no exception as Elijah had agreed to meet Matt Morgan in the OVW ring in seven days.
Grabbing the microphone from Cornette as the audience chanted, “Morgan sucks,” at the top of their lungs, Morgan told the fans – or “trailer park bags of trash” as Morgan called them – to shut up. He then advised Cornette and Burke that when he wins the match next week it will show everyone that Cornette has been holding him back. Burke corrected Morgan by saying that it should be IF, not WHEN, Morgan beats him. He then reminded Morgan that he had beaten him three times in the past, so why did Morgan suddenly think he could destroy Elijah’s dream of being OVW Champion? Burke then warned Morgan not to come next week like “a cabbage: all head and no ass!”
Matt told Elijah that he was sick of hearing about Burke’s dreams. Morgan then grabbed Burke by surprise and powerbombed him right there in the middle of the interview. As the referees tried to pull Morgan away (with Ref. Robert Brisko getting a fistful of hate from Morgan in reply), Burke rolled in agony on the mat.
Morgan picked up the microphone and looked down at Elijah, telling him that he may have his dreams, but he would be living a nightmare next week when they meet up again. Throwing the mic down in disgust onto the injured Elijah, Morgan stomped off and out of the ring.
TV CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
BRENT ALBRIGHT VS. SEVEN
REF: Chris Kay
It’s another week in Brent’s ongoing $1,000 a week quest in retaining the TV Championship and his challenger is one that I’ve always looked forward to seeing in the ring: Seven.
Seven came to the ring with a knowing smile on his face, obviously certain that he would end Albright’s streak for the TV title. Albright was out soon after and with little left to say, the two soon locked up in the middle of the ring. With a standoff apparent, the two broke off, each intensely staring at the other. They locked-up again, and this too turned to a standoff. A third lock-up saw Seven going for Albright’s arm, only for Albright to shove Seven away. Brent followed suit by going for Seven’s arm, and then reaching behind Seven for a takedown. Seven was immediately back on his feet, only to find himself in a headlock by Albright. Seven forced the two into the corner, whereupon Kay positioned himself between them to break them apart. In doing so, he missed seeing Seven punch Albright full-force in the face.
Seven followed with a series of punches and kicks to Albright, which Albright fought off with an elbow to Seven’s head. With Seven off-balanced, Albright pulled Seven down to set up the Crowbar, but Seven managed to clamor out of the ring to avoid the move. Albright jumped over the ropes, hitting Seven with a flying shoulderblock and then threw the slightly stunned Seven into the ring for a near-pin.
With the two men up, Albright grabbed Seven’s left arm and jarred it a couple of times, then hit Seven in the face with his knee before Seven came back with a swift clothesline. With Albright down, Seven proceeded to stomp him in the head twice, before moving Brent to the ropes to choke him. As Kay motioned to Seven to pull back, Seven pounded Albright in the head with his fist. Albright attempted to fight back, but Seven would have none of that, putting Albright into a crucifix powerbomb that had Albright bouncing so high that he flipped over on to his stomach. A pin looked definitive afterwards, except that Albright managed to raise a leg and put it on the ropes just as the count was about to end. A second pin attempt was stopped as Albright had enough time to get a second wind and kick out.
Picking Albright up, Seven whipped him into the corner and then slammed hard into Brent. Still, a pin was not to be. Seven hit a short-arm clothesline next, but still a pin was out of reach. Placing a knee in Albright’s back, Seven bow-and-arrowed Albright with a pull of Brent’s head.
Allowing Brent to get up, Seven was hit for a few blows from Albright before putting him into a Fall-away Slam for another near-pin. A sleeper hold kept Albright in check, but Brent eventually managed to summon up enough strength to pick up Seven and fall back, slamming them both into the mat. Seven whipped Albright into a cover and ran towards him, yet Brent put up an arm just in time to block with an elbow.
With both now struggling, Albright commenced to fight back with a series of elbows, clotheslines and then a powerslam. After a near-pin on Seven, Seven reversed the momentum of the match by putting Albright into a neckbreaker for a near-pin. Dazed, Brent still managed to pull out an armbreaker on Seven. Even so, it took several blows to bring Seven down to the mat in order to break out the Crowbar.
With little chance of getting out of the damaging move, Seven finally tapped out. Brent Albright once again is the TV Champion and recipient of the weekly $1,000 prize. As Seven moved to a corner of the ring, Albright got on the microphone to remind Seven, just as he has to all the others, that Seven had tapped out to the best wrestler in OVW. Who will be next on the list to hear those words?
INTERVIEW WITH MAC JOHNSON & SETH SKYFIRE
As a very fit and trim Mac and Seth greeted the fans and finally Jim Cornette in the center of the ring for their interview, Mr. Cornette directed their attention to the monitors for a video announcement from M-N-M.
In the video presentation, viewers see M-N-M in front of a large mantel, with Melina as the center piece … um … centerpiece of the group. The trio looked at the camera and feigned fear at the news that “Mr. Big Mac is back!” Nitro pounced on the moment by pointing out how much they deserved the tag-team title because “WE’RE SEXY!” Directing his thoughts to Mac, Nitro stated that all the pain, surgery and long recovery has done nothing to help Johnson with his “abs.” “You’ve got to be like steel,” Nitro continued, pointing out his and Joey’s physiques.
Matthews took over by stating that when M-N-M got their hands on Johnson and Skyfire, “Davis Arena will look like CSI: Kentuckiana.” Saying that, however, M-N-M want to avoid such carnage, as they had the inside of a jail cell long enough to last a lifetime. What was the offense that brought them there? It’s not quite clear, but Nitro mentioned something about a girl with a fake ID that he swore looked 18.
Seeing that they had gotten off-track, Matthews brought it on home by telling Johnson and Skyfire the obvious – that the trio was not there at the arena that night, but rather in their lavish home. However, next week, they will be there live! With the announcement at its end, Matthews told the cameraman to “cut it, edit it, and get it to Davis Arena, ASAP!”
Back at the Davis Arena, the feelings about M-N-M’s little “ratings grabber” video presentation was less than enthusiastic, with Cornette stating that the video just proved that they were scared. Mac Johnson agreed, stating that M-N-M knew Skyfire and Johnson were after them. Johnson stated that he sat at home in Louisiana during his recovery just waiting for the moment when he could get his hands on Matthews and Nitro and was disappointed that they did not show. Nevertheless, Johnson and Skyfire would be back the next week, and the week after that and the week after that, for as long as it takes, until he can finally get his hands on them.
As the interview came to an end, the camera cut back to M-N-M relaxing a bit after their video session. As Melina and Nitro fussed with their hair and clothing, an M-N-M intern gave Joey a drink. Joey took a sip and spit it back into the kid’s startled face, before throwing the rest of the drink at the kid and telling him to get out. It’s that type of charm that no doubt draws people to work for M-N-M like moths to a flame.
SOUTHERN TAG-TEAM MATCH
THE THRILLSEEKERS VS. THE BLONDE BOMBERS
REF: Robert Brisko
After the usually jeers for the blonde Tolands and cheers for the young Jeter and Capotelli, the match began with Chad Toland and Matt Capotelli in the ring. Chad anxiously held out a hand to commence with a lock-up, but Matt simply slapped it away. With that, Chad gave up on a traditional move and instead kicked Matt in the stomach. He attempted to do so again, but the second time found Matt ready and grabbing Chad’s leg, spinning Chad around and then kicking him in the stomach in response. A whip attempt by Matt was reversed by Chad, and Matt soon found himself in the corner with Chad charging right behind him. Using the ropes, Matt pulled himself up and over the rampaging Chad Toland, and when Chad turned around to see where Matt was, Matt gave him a hard chop across the chest that dropped Toland to his knees. Crawling to Tank, Chad tried to tag his partner in, but Tank instead just encouraged Chad to journey further alone in to the match.
Chad swung at Matt and missed, while Matt responded with a kick to the stomach and then whipped Chad into the corner. Wishing to do the same to Matt that Matt had done to him moments before, Chad lifted off of the ropes and sprung back, hoping to find Matt now in the corner. However, Matt was ready for the move and remained in the center of the ring, ready to chop Chad again when he turned around to face him.
Deciding his journey did not have miles to go before he slept, Chad staggered to his corner, hoping to tag in Tank. Matt, pulled Chad back by his trunks and, after tagging in Jeter, whipped Chad into Johnny’s boots in the corner. Slamming Chad to the mat, Matt allowed Jeter to take over with a standing flip on to Chad and then a pin-attempt, which went nowhere.
Chad managed to tag in Tank, who immediately went after Jeter with several kicks, while shouting to Chad, “That’s how you do it! That’s how you do it!” Unfortunately for Tank, the next move was not how you do it, as Jeter reversed it and then chopped Tank twice around the chest. With Tank in pain, Jeter tagged in Matt and the two Thrillseekers whipped Tank off the ropes, missed with identical swings as Tank passed by, but then double-teamed a powerslam on him.
Chad ran in to attack Matt with an attempted backdrop, which Matt countered with another powerslam, this time right on top of the still half-dazed Tank. With the two Blonde Bombers lying head to head on the mat, Matt kipped-up and performed a double Electric Slide Leg-Drop on both of the Tolands. With Chad dropping out of the ring, Matt moved back to concentrating on Tank by whipping him into the ropes. Unexpectedly for Capotelli, Tank slid through the ropes, finding himself right next to Chad on the floor. As the two Tolands discussed what to do, Tank spotted Matt baseball-sliding towards them and instinctively threw Chad in the way to block Matt’s move. On the outside now, Matt punched Tank and then threw him back into the ring.
Climbing in himself, Matt found himself unable to move due to Chad holding on to his legs from the outside. Finally fighting Chad off, Matt turned to find himself the victim of a spear by Tank, leading to a near-pin. Chad and Tank then began stomping on Matt’s stomach; reaching a crescendo of violence as Chad literally danced on Matt’s chest. Pulling Matt up by the hair, Chad was about to bring on more punishment, but Matt punched, kicked, and punched some more to give him some room to get to his corner and tag in Jeter. Chad would have none of that, however, and dropped Matt by knocking his feet out from under him. A couple of elbow-drops to the chest kept Matt on the defense and after another elbow to the face, Matt was pushed to Chad’s corner so that Tank could be tagged in and the two Tolands roughed up Matt some more.
Matt tried to fight back after another near-pin, but Tank kept on with the aggression. Another near-pin led to a bow-and-arrow by Tank on Matt, which Matt broke up with a couple of blows to Tank’s head. After nearly pinning Tank, Matt tried to get back to Jeter, but he was cut off by Tank with some more elbow-drops and with Chad tagged back in soon after, the Tolands once again teamed up on terrorizing Matt.
A whip to the corner by Chad found a weak Matt at the mercy of a spear that sent him out of the ring, but still hanging on to the second rope by the knees. Chad used the unique position to choke Matt with his boot until Brisko pulled him back. As Brisko reprimanded Chad, Tank kicked Matt on the outside twice, leading to Matt falling off the ropes and hard on to the ground.
Chad bounces out to knee Matt in the stomach and then throw Matt back into the ring for another near-pin. After elbowing Matt in the neck, Chad tagged in Tank while holding Matt up for Tank to kick, punch and elbow. Flipping Matt over by the head, Tank went for a pin, but Matt still managed to break out of the attempt. Throwing Matt into the corner, Chad and Tank traded off on driving a shoulder into Matt’s stomach before Chad took over again and kneed Matt in the stomach. A powerslam by Chad led to Chad putting a knee in Matt’s back and pulling back on Matt’s head while in a sitting position – a move that Matt was able to move out of and follow with a few punches to Chad’s stomach and then a boot to Chad’s face after a whip to the ropes. After elbowing Tank on the apron, Matt made it to his corner and tagged in Jeter.
Jeter cleaned house with a couple of clotheslines to Chad, a high-kick on Tank, a diving shoulderblock at Chad, a backdrop on Tank, and finishing up with a neckbreaker on Chad for a near-pin. A swinging kick allowed Jeter to attempt another pin, but it was stopped by Tank. Matt entered the ring to take care of Tank, elbowing him. Tank responded with a headlock on Matt, which Matt broke off with a shove that found Tank slamming into a surprised Brisko, throwing the ref out and unable to call the match. Jeter and Capotelli teamed up, readying to kick Chad, but just as the kick was to occur, Jillian Hall ran out to the ring and grabbed hold of Matt’s leg. Although Matt was unable to help, Jeter followed through with his kick of Chad, but Tank drops Jeter and then throws Matt out of the ring.
A barely conscious Chad threw an arm on top of Jeter and a dazed Brisko crawled back in to count the pin. With that, it became official – Chad and Tank Toland, the Blonde Bombers, were now the Southern Tag-Team Champions. Tank hugged Jillian as Tank and Chad got the belts and celebrated.
This certainly puts a fork in the road for M-N-M, Johnson and Skyfire, and the Heartbreakers – all of them had been looking at The Thrillseekers as the ones to bring down in order to get their hands on the tag-team belts. Now a shift had occurred that found the Blonde Bombers holding the belts. How will this change the alliance M-N-M had with the Blonde Bombers? Why did Jillian Hall help the Bombers out? Do Johnson and Skyfire now have a better chance of gaining back the titles themselves? Will The Heartbreakers give the Tolands a Thumb’s Up? Literally? And what will become of the Thrillseekers now? The map may have been rearranged, but things are just now heating up in OVW as the quest for the Southern Tag-Team Belts continues.
From the other side of ringside,
Dale Sherman
