Saturday, October 29, 2011
WCW Halloween Havoc
- A video package starts the show. It's horror-themed. It has many quick cuts and loud noises, while going over the major storylines leading into the iPPV. The main focus is the tag team championship tournament, which is the main event for the show.
- Jim Ross and JML will be doing commentary. Ross assures us that Leonard will be backstage for interviews. They run down the card and the historic importance of the main event. Ross goes into a spiel about the history of tag team wrestling and what it means to the sport overall. They segue into the opening match.
Match 1: DOOMSDAY vs. Fastball Special - Semi-Finals of the WCW Tag Team Championship Tournament Match
Ross acknowledges that we were supposed to see these two teams face off on iPPV at the Lou Thesz Memorial Tournament iPPV. Ross thinks DOOMSDAY has to be the odds-on favorite to win, but that you should never underestimate the drive and will-to-win from Fastball Special. JML quickly announces the time-limits, which will be 30 minutes for all undercard matches and 60 minutes for the main event. Bison starts off with London and, of course, overpowers London. Dueling chants right away from the crowd, "Let's go DOOMSDAY!" vs. "Fastball Special!" London does some quick stuff, running around and kicking Bison, but he ends up running into a huge boot. Both tag out to set up Morishima and Generico. Ross says that Fastball Special are possibly the biggest challenge DOOMSDAY have faced yet. Morishima immediately kills Generico with a lariat. Ross says this is like the Rockers taking on Demolition. Generico finally gets a great offensive series in. Generico ducks another lariat, dropkicks Morishima into Biston, then hits a springboard-spinning-Tornado-DDT on Morishima, which the crowd explodes for! Both Morishima and Bison are taken aback by this offense, which makes for some good stuff. Generico tries another quick attack, but this time Morishima counters with a press slam onto the ropes. And now... The moment you've been waiting for... El Generico is YOUR face-in-peril! Under most circumstances, you'd see a heel team work over a particular body part of the face. Instead, DOOMSDAY just destroy Generico with random power moves. It gives Ross the opportunity to say things like "raw aggression" and "destructive power." They use a double spinebuster, which JML comments on as he used that with Ron Simmons once upon a time. Generico counters a powerbomb by Bison with a rana and follows up with a running Yakuza kick. Bison doesn't go down but Generico moonsaults onto him to finally take him down. He makes the hot tag and London comes with a bunch of dropkicks. It breaks down and Generico ends up diving onto Bison. Bison catches Generico and a powerslams him on the concrete. Morishima crotches London, who was on the turnbuckle for the Shooting Star Press, and London slumps into the ring. Next up is the Omega Driver and DOOMSDAY advances to the finals. Pretty good opener.
Result: DOOMSDAY wins via pin w/ The Omega Driver
Time: 13:11
- Cut to backstage. Lenny Leonard is with CM Punk. Leonard starts to ask a question, but cuts it off by cutting back to the ring where The Cross are beating up Fastball Special. Ross is doing his best "disgusted"-schtick. Claudio Castagnoli slides a table into the ring. Ares sets it up while Castagnoli tears London's head off with the pop-up European uppercut. Generico ends up going through the table with a Ricola Bomb. The Cross stand in the ring and pose, making a cross with their arms (the BDK-pose from CHIKARA).
- Backstage again, and Leonard is with Punk. Punk grabs the mic and shoves Leonard away for cutting him off earlier. Punk says tonight he's been backed into a corner by a crazed and homeless degenerate. Punk says, "No worries, when I'm back into the corner - I always have a plan."
- A video package recaps the intense Necro Butcher/CM Punk-feud.
Match #2: Necro Butcher vs. CM Punk - Falls Count Anywhere Match
Ross immediately puts Butcher over as the hard-working family man. No lock ups here as they immediately go at it with punches. Butcher gets the upperhand, but Punk ends up going outside. Butcher then slingshots onto Punk with a plancha! Up next: Butcher bodyslams Punk all around the ring. Ross questions Punk's logic in agreeing to this match. JML says Punk's a bit of a douchebag, but he's a smart douchebag and he thinks Punk has something planned. Butcher clotheslines Punk over the guardrail into the first row. He beats Punk up the row and then up the stairs. Punk kicks Butcher low and then suplexes Butcher on the concrete. Punk takes a chair and uses it on Butcher's leg. They brawl into the lobby. Butcher fights back and then tosses Punk over the bar. Butcher places Punk on the bar-top and slides him down to the end, hitting various glasses on the way, before dropping Punk off into a trash can! Butcher then takes a couple of wooden stools and tosses them at Punk (still in the trash can). Great stuff! They brawl over the lobby entrance and down the stairs to the ticket area. Punk slams Butcher into the wall and Butcher ends up sitting slumped on a bench. Punk then hits Butcher with the run-up knee strike! AWESOME. Punk takes Butcher outside and they're on the sidewalk! Punk goes for a suplex, but Butcher fights it and bodyslams Punk on the sidewalk. They battle down the sidewalk and into the parking lot. Butcher backdrops Punk onto the hood of a car (JML: "THAT'S MY DAMNED CAR!") Butcher crawls onto the car and goes for a piledriver, but Punk backdrops him off onto the concrete! "HOLY SHIT!"-chant from the fans. Punk goes for the pin but Butcher kicks out. They brawl through the parking lot and into a back hallway. They end up backstage beating each other up. They brawl upstairs and end up back in the lobby. Both men are bleeding profusely at this point. Punk hits a kick to the head and lifts Butcher up for the G2S, but Butcher slides down and hits the Deathdrop. Butcher covers but a large man yanks Butcher off of Punk. Butcher up and he gets leveled with a big boot. The guy comes into view and it's none other than Luke Gallows~! Ross calls him "Drew Gallows" and reminds the fans of Gallows' history with Punk. Gallows powerbomb Butcher onto the hard floor and drapes Punk over Butcher for Punk to get the win. Great, violent brawl. Gallows lifts Punk over his shoulder and walks off.
Result: CM Punk wins via pin w/ a power bomb by Drew Gallows
Time: 14:09
- Backstage, Lenny Leonard is with the Briscoes. They do their usual thing of rambling incoherently followed up by yelling "Man up!" a bunch of times.
- A graphic of the tournament bracket is shown. Fancy-stuff there.
- Backstage again, and Leonard is back with Punk. Punk has dried blood on his face, which makes for excellent visual. He laughs and says "Just when you think you know all the answers, I change the questions." He pats Gallows on the shoulder and walks off.
Match #3: The Briscoes vs. Three Kings - Semi-Finals of the WCW Tag Team Championship Tournament Match
JML goes into the history of the two teams. He hates the Three Kings but loves the Briscoes and guarantees he won't be impartial for this one. Winners face DOOMSDAY in the finals. Joey Ryan and Brian Kendrick are representing the Three Kings under the Freebirds-rule. That would suggest one of them doesn't participate in the main event. It's a massive brawl to start, but eventually it settles with Mark and Ryan. Mark and Jay work Ryan over for a good period of time, but it's not long before Mark is your babyface-in-peril. Fans are solidly behind the Briscoes as the Kings work Mark's neck over. Mark drills Kendrick with a superkick to start the heat-spot. He makes the hot tag and Jay clears house. The Briscoes then hit all of their big double-team moves (double beatdown in the corner, double shouldertackle, etc.). The Kings tries to escape to the outside but Mark dives onto all of them. Ryan escapes though and gets in the ring. He goes for the Pedigree on Jay, but Jay backdrops him. Jay lifts him up for the Springboard Doomsday Device, but as Mark goes for the springboard, Kendrick yanks him down. Ryan rakes Jay's eyes and, with Kendrick, nails Jay with Regicide to advance. Pretty standard, formulaic tag match. Not a bad thing, but it didn't approach the levels of heat the earlier tag match had.
Winners: Three Kings win via pin w/ Regicide
Time: 9:13
- Backstage, Leonard is with Chris Hero. Chris Hero guarantees a knock-out victory this evening.
- Next up is a commercial for the next big iPPV - Starrcade!
Match #4: Brent Albright vs. Chris Hero - 2/3 Falls Match
First Fall: They chain-wrestle to start, which would be the first time this has happened this evening. Ross puts over their athletic rivalry and compares it to Lex Luger and Ricky Steamboat of all people. JML puts over the wrestler vs. the striker-motif of the match. Hero actually out-wrestles Albright, which JML finds surprising and says Hero must have spent some time on his ground-game. Albright responds with a big boot that knocks Hero out of the ring. Oh, I see what you did there. Albright uses some suplexes and what not to dominate Hero for pretty much all of the first fall. Albright works the arm over, of course. Hero tries a bunch of strikes, but Albright counters each one. Albright goes for a bodyslam but Hero quickly cradles him for three to take the first fall at roughly 8 minutes in. Ross puts over that Hero used a wrestling hold to win. They take a 30 second break and then it's time for...
Second Fall: Hero quickly catches Albright with a roaring elbow, but it only gets two. Hero starts attacking with all of the strikes that he likes to use. Hero then starts working over the arm, yelling to the crowd that he's going to make Albright tap out to his own finisher. Hero really works the arm over, slamming onto the apron and into the ring-post. Hero locks Albright in the Crowbar, but he manages to make the ropes. Hero goes for the Deathblow, but Albright ducks in and tosses Hero into the mat with a release German suplex. They do the drawn out ten count. Hero charges with a Yakuza kick but Albright almost decapitates him with a lariat. He picks Hero up again and nails him with another lariat for the pin and the second fall at roughly 18 minutes in. 30 second break leads us to...
Third Fall: Ross says we have roughly ten minutes left and for ten minutes they let it all hang out. Tons of big moves with kick-outs afterward. Albright hits Hero with an avalance belly-to-belly suplex. Hero hits the Cyclone Kill for two. Albright hits the half-nelson suplex for two. Albright locks in the Crowbar, but Hero rolls through and drills him with one - two - THREE roaring elbows! Hero covers but Albright gets a foot on the rope. Hero goes for the Deathblow but Albright counters with a Crowbar. Hero rolls through AGAIN and then cradles Albright for two. Hero goes for a roaring elbow but Albright ducks it and levels Hero with a lariat for two. Albright goes for another lariat but Hero counters with the Crowbar. Albright rolls through and tries to hit a roaring elbow, but Hero ducks and BLASTS Albright in the back of the head with the Deathblow. That FINALLY gets three. Hero spits on Albright and leaves. The first two falls were good and the last fall was EPIC.
Winner: Chris Hero wins via pin w/ The Deathblow
Time: 25:51
- Backstage, Leonard is with Team Alberto Dos Caras. Caras says tonight he will put the lesser people behind him and move on to his big title defense for November: Sal Rinauro.
- A commercial plays for Batman: Arkham City.
- Backstage again, this time Leonard is with James Jacobs and DOOMSDAY. Jacobs says tonight is the first step of the Armageddon agenda. He says men might parade as kings, but DOOMSDAY will be the end of everything.
- A commercial plays for Starrcade.
- Backstage again. What, is it intermission? Leonard is with Team Chris Jericho. Each man talks about how tonight is a big night for them and how it will open the opportunities to be in the main event. Jericho says the time for talk is over and tonight he's going to put Caras in his place.
- Finally, back to ringside. Ross and JML talk about the United States Championship tournament that will begin on the very next WCW Underground. They hype the WCWwrestling.com web site.
Match #5: Shelton Benjamin/Alberto Dos Caras/Charlie Haas vs. Eddie Edwards/Chris Jericho/Shelton Benjamin
Benjamin starts off with Richards, which is a dream match if there ever was one. They chain-wrestle to start. Richards out-wrestles Benjamin, which results in Benjamin tagging out to Haas. They go at it and Richards get the upper-hand again. Richards wants Caras but he won't tag in. Edwards tags in and he does some chain-wrestling with Haas, which Haas gets the upper-hand on. Caras tags in but Edwards quickly tags in Jericho. Caras tags in Benjamin, so there you go. Benjamin and Jericho duke it out and Jericho tags in Edwards. Benjamin uses some heel-tactics and Edwards becomes the face-in-peril. In a Horsemen 2011-style, they beat Edwards silly. Lots of heel moves and what not, with ref-distractions etc. Edwards tries a few comebacks, but every time the heels use heel-tactics to keep it from him. Finally, a miscue from WGTT allows Edwards to make the hot tag to Richards who cleans house for his team. He tears through the heels. He attempts a DR Driver on Haas, but Haas slams him into the corner and Caras tags in to beat Richards up. Wouldn't you know it, Richards is now your face-in-peril! They do some more heel-stuff to work over Richards. The big heat spot comes when Benjamin goes for the run-up belly-to-belly, but Richards kicks him in the face and hits a flying knee to start the spot. Hot tag to Jericho finally and the crowd goes nuts! Jericho runs through the heels. It breaks down in the ring with all six men going at it. Richards ends up diving onto WGTT on the outside. In the ring Edwards and Caras go at it. Caras tries a suplex but Edwards slides out and hits him with a superkick. Benjamin runs in and hits Edwards with Paydirt. Jericho hits Benjamin with the Codebreaker. Haas hits Jericho with a German suplex. Richards hits Haas with the DR Driver. Caras catches Richards with the Destiny Lock, but he's not the legal man. Edwards dives onto Benjamin on the outside and Jericho clotheslines Haas out the ring. Caras argues with the ref and Richards hits him with the DR Driver. Jericho Lionsaults onto Caras and that gets three. That match was pretty great. It was just as formulaic as Briscoes/Kings, but with the added veterans and time, it was excellent. Plus, it had a SUPER HOT finish.
Result: Eddie Edwards/Chris Jericho/Davey Richards win via pin w/ the Lionsault
Time: 20:11
- Backstage, Necro Butcher is destroying everything in sight. He promises to maim both CM Punk and Drew Gallows.
- A video package recaps the tournament to ESPN-like music.
- Backstage again, and Team Jericho are celebrating. Jericho says since he's pinned the WCW champion, he thinks he might be in line for a title shot.
Main Event: DOOMSDAY vs. Three Kings - Finals of the WCW Tag Team Championship Tournament
They get big-match introductions. Crowd is solidly behind DOOMSDAY for this one. Ross emphasizes the importance of championships in WCW. Little things like the intros and commentary make the champions that much more important. Kendrick sits this one out, so it'll be Austin Aries/Joey Ryan. Aries immediately clips Morishima and works the knee over. Ross says that the Kings will have to effectively chop DOOMSDAY down to size. Aries and Ryan work the leg over of Morishima. Morishima quickly overpowers Ryan though and tags in Bison. Bison and Morishima beat Ryan over with a double toss. Aries tries to clip Bison, but to no avail, and he ends up getting beat up pretty well. Morshima back in and he all but kills Aries with a senton. Ryan distracts the ref and Kendrick comes with a pipe to the leg of Morishima! Jacobs chases Kendrick to the back. Morishima tries to stand but can't and that opens up the heel tactics. Morishima is your face-in-peril, I guess. They work the leg over using heel tactics, but each pin attempt only gets two. Ryan locks in single leg crap, but Morishima grabs the rope. The big heat spot comes when Ryan goes for a Bret Hart-like move, jumping on the leg, but Morishima kicks him over the ropes to the outside. Morishima makes the hot tag and Bison cleans out. The numbers overpower him and Morishima can't save him. Aries tries to lift Bison for Regicide, but he's too heavy. Ryan holds Bison in the turnbuckle for Aries' turnbuckle dropkick. They hit Regicide but Morishima makes the save. It breaks down from there. With the ref distracted, Aries hits Morishima with the lead pipe again. He covers but Morishima powers out. Morishima, for lack of a better term, HULKS UP~! Morishima powerbombs Aries out of nowhere. In comes Bison and they hit Aries with the Omega Driver to win the championships. Confetti falls and DOOMSDAY celebrate with the gold.
Result: DOOMSDAY wins via pin w/ The Omega Driver
Time: 17:10
- Ross and JML thank the fans for tuning to end the show.
Labels:
iPPV
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