WCW Underground 1.08

- A video package details all of the major programs leading into Saturday's iPPV. The conflict between Necro Butcher/CM Punk, Brent Albright/Chris Hero, and Eddie Edwards, Chris Jericho, & Davey Richards/Shelton Benjamin, Alberto Dos Caras, and Charlie Haas. The video also recaps the WCW Tag Team Championship tournament.

- Standard opening video package for the show plays.

- Lenny Leonard and JML open up the show talking about Saturday's big iPPV event. Leonard say tickets have been sold out since they day they went on sale and that it will be a historic evening for sure. JML puts over the main event being a match to crown the first tag team champions in the new era. Leonard talks about the hostilities between Jericho's team and Caras' team, which segues into the opening match.

Match #1: Shelton Benjamin vs. Eddie Edwards
JML puts over the big double-match feature for tonight with this match and the Charlie Haas vs. Davey Richards main event. Leonard calls this a contest of wills between two of the best athletes on the wrestler. They chain-wrestle to start, trading holds back and forth. Benjamin uses experience to gain the edge, but Edwards uses quickness to counter. They come to a stalemate and Benjamin cheap-shots Edwards to gain a measure of control. Edwards counters a clothesline with one of his own, sending Benjamin outside. Benjamin takes a powder and Edwards dives out onto him. Back into the ring and Benjamin kicks the rope to low-blow Edwards as Edwards steps in. From there Benjamin dominates for the heat-portion of the match. Benjamin works the neck over for a long period of time. Edwards shows brief spurts of a comeback, but Benjamin uses dastardly heel tactics to stymie the efforts of Edwards. Edwards finally hits a big move (countering a superplex with a sunset flip powernomb) to get the drawn out ten spot. They then go into a crazy exchange of big moves followed by kick-outs. Benjamin goes for Paydirt, but Edward grabs a rope Benjamin slams on the mat. This allows Edwards the opportunity to lock in the Achilles Lock to get the tap out victory. Post-match, Caras and Haas storm the ring and begin a beat down on Edwards. Jericho and Richards make the save, however.

Result: Eddie Edwards wins via submission w/ The Achilles Lock
Time: 14:11


- A commercial for Batman: Arkham City plays.

- A commercial hyping WCWwrestling.com plays.

- A video package recaps the WCW Tag Team Championship tournament.

- Back from the commercial break and Jericho & Friends are at the commentary table. Richards promises to break Haas' legs this evening. Jericho says that guys like Caras and WGTT will take any shortcut they can to get to the top and use any means necessary to stay on top. Jericho promises that at Halloween Havoc, only one team is walking away with the win and a bigger future and that team will be Jericho & Edwards & Richards.

Match #2: The Briscoes vs. Drew Adler/Shane Rockwell - 1st Round WCW Tag Team Championship Tournament
Leonard says this is the final match of the first round and that the winners will go on to face Three Kings on iPPV in the semi-finals. Like there's any doubt about who that will be? Glorified squash as the Briscoes destroy the jobbers with, as JML calls, "Redneck violence." The finish comes when poor Adler gets rocked by the Springboard Doomsday Device.

Result: The Briscoes win via pin w/ The Springboard Doomsday Device
Time: 2:01


- The Briscoes hit the commentary table for a promo. They do their usual schtick of rambling incoherently. I was able to make out "tag belts," "Aries," and "Doomsday." They finish off with a series of "Man ups!"

- A commercial plays for The Lou Thesz Memorial Tournament DVD.

- A commercial plays hyping up the Halloween Havoc iPPV this Saturday.

- A video plays hyping the prestige of the NWA/WCW United States Championship.

- Jim Ross is out and he announces that next week will see the beginning of a tournament to crown the first WCW United States Champion of the new era. Ross says some of the people competing will be Eddie Edwards (big cheers), CM Punk (big boos), Chris Hero (boos), and Davey Richards (huge cheers!). Ross says that it will be a 16-man tournament and will culminate on 12/23 at the next WCW iPPV: Starrcade!

- Chris Hero comes out and cuts a promo. He says he guarantees that not only will he knocked Brent Albright out twice on Saturday, but that he's going to be the first United States Champion of the new era. He decides to stay out and do commentary for the following match.

Match #3: Brent Albright vs. Sal Rinauro
Hero spends the brief length of the match dogging Albright. He says Albright purposefully picked a weak opponent like Rinauro. Albright wins quickly with the Crowbar to get the win.

Result: Brent Albright wins via submission w/ The Crowbar
Time: 2:41


- After the match, Albright approaches Hero and they trade verbal barbs with each other. Hero says that he'll knock Albright out, Albright says he'll tap Albright out. They get in each other's face and before you know it, they're in the ring and ready to go. Referees come out to separate them and with Albright distracted, Hero knocks him out with a roaring elbow.

- A commercial plays for the LTMT DVD, again.

- A commercial plays hyping up the Halloween Havoc iPPV.

- A video recaps the events prior to the commercial break. Leonard calls Hero a cheap-shot artist, but JML counters that Hero effectively knocked Albright out and questions what will happen on Saturday if Hero can hit that Deathblow of his.

Match #4: Necro Butcher vs. Caleb Konley
Leonard acknowledges that these two fought two weeks ago to a double-count out. JML wants to know why Konley was stupid enough to agree to another match. Butcher kills Konley, pretty much. Butcher tosses Konley outside and I'm guessing you can see where this is going. Butcher starts bodyslamming Konley all around ringside. Butcher's almost counted out but quickly rolls into to break the count. Back out and Butcher does the bodyslam-stuff again. Butcher rolls Konley back in and finishes Konley off with the Deathdrop.

Result: Necro Butcher wins via pin w/ The Deathdrop
Time: 3:45


- Butcher takes the mic from Leonard and cuts a scathing promo on Punk. Butcher says he's bled buckets and shortened his life to put food on the table for his family. Butcher says he's never had a match that Lou Thesz would have liked, but that doesn't mean he hasn't busted his ass off all the same. Butcher says he's from the old-school mentality where a man is a man who fights for his dignity and on Saturday he's not going to just fight for his dignity, he's going to beat the "ever-lovin' shit out CM Punk." Butcher says Punk represents the new breed of men who love to talk trash and insult others who work hard to get where they're at. He says Punk is a lot of things, but he's never made the sacrifices that Butcher had to. Butcher finishes by saying, "We have escalated past rivalries and feuds, Punk. We have escalated past vendettas. On Saturday, I aim to end you." Fantastic stuff!

- A hype video plays for Halloween Havoc. Kind of like an extended version of the opening hype package.

- Alberto Dos Caras is out to cut a promo. He says that guys like Jericho & Richards have never deserved the limelight and will never enjoy it. He says they're not in the same class as he is, both as wrestlers or as men. He says the money he has and the glory he's earned put him into a different genre of man. I'm not even sure what that means. He says on Saturday he will guide WGTT past Jericho and his loser friends and move on to the most important match of his life: a November title defense against Sal Rinauro.

Main Event: Charlie Haas vs. Davey Richards
Leonard hypes up the amateur background of both men. Like in the opener, they chain-wrestle to start. They get into a really complex series of submission reversals. They trade submission holds almost like it were an MMA-fight. Kind of brings to mind the first ten or so minutes of the epic American Dragon/Low Ki-match from early ROH. This goes on for about the same time. They then get into a battle of big moves with Haas finally taking control. Haas works over the lower-back of Richards to set up the Haas of Pain. Richards finally mounts a comeback after hitting the a big kick out of nowhere. Next up is the requisite exchange of big moves, similar to the opener. Richards start tearing Haas up with some kicks and Caras comes out with Benjamin. I believe we can anticipate what direction this goes. Benjamin distracts the ref and Caras tries to interfere, but he gets kicked off the apron. Haas hits a wicked German suplex thanks to the distraction but it only gets two. Jericho and Edwards come out and they brawl with Caras and Benjamin. Haas and Richards trade near-falls. The referee gets distracted again and Benjamin sneaks in to nail Richards with Paydirt, but gets his head kicked off instead. Haas hits another vicious German suplex out of nowhere to get the pin.

Result: Charlie Haas wins via pin w/ a German Suplex
Time: 19:21


- Of course, it doesn't end there. All six men brawl pretty heavily. Eventually Caras and WGTT retreat. Jericho & company take the mic again and cut another promo for the main event. They say basically the same things they said earlier. That ends the show.