WCW Underground 2.14

- Previously on Underground: Davey Richards and Chris Hero battle for an opportunity to face Chris Jericho at Superbrawl for the WCW Championship. In the end, it was Hero's devastating Deathblow that garnered him the title-shot. After the match, however, Davey Richards was assaulted by CM Punk.

- Standard opening video.

Match #1: CM Punk vs. Isaiah Rain
Glorified squash, here. Lenny and JML spend the match discussing Punk attacking Davey last week. JML liked it because he thinks it sends a message, whereas Lenny thinks it was an actor of bitter cowardice. Punk plays around with the new jobber, but ultimately puts Rain down with the G2S.

Result: CM Punk wins via pin w/ The Go 2 Sleep
Time: 3:43


- Punk heads to the commentary table on stage for a promo. Lenny asks why Punk attacked Davey last week. Punk says that somewhere along the line people have forgotten that he's the best wrestler in the world and he's kind of upset that he keeps getting upstaged by the jiu-jitsu assholes like Hero and Richards. He says last week he did what he did to send a message and make sure that no one, least of all Davey, has forgotten just who the hell CM Punk is. Lenny then announces a match was signed for Superbrawl this afternoon: CM Punk vs. Davey Richards. Punk gets all flustered and angry at the announcement and storms off.

- Commercials.

- A video recaps the Bad Intentions/DOOMSDAY-rivalry.

Match #2: Patrick Bentley/Chip Day vs. DOOMSDAY
Hey, it's been awhile since we've seen a DOOMSDAY-squash. JML does a good job talking about the history of Bad Intentions. Lenny does a good job putting over the dangerous nature of granting a championship match to non-contracted talent, particularly a talent who is signed to a WWE contract. DOOMSDAY puts down Bentley with the Omega Driver for the quick win.

Result: DOOMSDAY win via pin w/ The Omega Driver
Time: 3:11


- Promo-time from Jacobs & DOOMSDAY. Jacobs says the clock continues to click down towards Superbrawl where there will finally be a resolution to the conflict that has grown between Bad Intentions and DOOMSDAY. Jacobs says that many people are looking at the issues in all the wrong ways. He says people continuously focus on whether or not Giant Bernard will take the WCW Tag Team Championship to WWE. He says people continuously focus on why a team like Bad Intentions even merits a championship match. He says this all comes down to one thing: competition. Jacobs says that people can point fingers and draw conclusions and run the rumor mill all they like, but at the end of the day it all boils down to which team is better. Jacobs says that there has been a lot of speculation about DOOMSDAY and whether or not they're a legitimate team. He says, "Undefeated. That's what DOOMSDAY is. We have yet met an opposing team that we would call our equals or our betters." Jacobs says that the clock ticks down and it brings an uneasy message - the hands moving second to second and minute to minute and hour to hour until they end in the only place they possibly can: DOOMSDAY. Fantastic stuff.

- Commercials.

- Windham Rotunda is out with Lenny and JML. Windham says he's pretty damn excited to be in the ring on iPPV at Superbrawl so that he can beat the hell out of Chris Masterson. Windham says it's easy to attack a man from behind but it takes a real man to throw down in the ring and, quite frankly, he's not so sure Chris Masterson is a real man. He says it doesn't matter either way because on 4/28 they're going to throw down and there isn't a whole hell of a lot Chris can do about it.

Match #3: Anthony Andrews vs. Brodie Lee
Big boot. Boss Man Slam. Brodie doesn't stop there though as he continues the beat down after the pin-fall. He tosses Andrews out of the ring to the concrete and the referee reverses his decision into a disqualification! The ref quickly escapes the coming punishment.

Result: Anthony Andrews wins via disqualification
Time: 1:42


- Brodie Lee storms off as Joey Ryan and Brian Kendrick arrive for an in-ring interview. Lenny asks them where they'll go from here. Before Joey can talk, music hits and Austin Aries makes his way out. Great crowd heat, here. Lenny wants to know what exactly he's doing here as he's no longer allowed in WCW per the stipulation of his match against JML. Aries tells Lenny to shut up and that, in fact, the stipulation was that if he lost the match he must quit wrestling - which is exactly what he's going to do. He says there was nothing in the stipulation about having to leave WCW and as it is, you're looking at the newest and greatest manager to ever live in pro wrestling. He says that Joey Ryan and Brian Kendrick will be his first clients and that he plans on taking over WCW one area at a time. Joey then, out of nowhere, DRILLS Aries with a vicious right hook! Joey picks Aries up and, with Kendrick, nails Aries with Regicide before leaving!

- Commercials.

The Event Center
Mike Hogewood is with Alberto Dos Caras. Hogewood starts off by talking about losing to Jericho twice in a row. Alberto claims that in the first match, if you watch closely, you can see Jericho holding his tights. They show a slow-motion replay and it actually looks like Jericho is holding the tights, but Hogewood claims it was unintentional. Alberto says that in match two, during the commercial break, Jericho kicked in the cajones and was not disqualified as he should have been. Hogewood says he's not sure that's true, but even if he was disqualified then Alberto would still not be champion. Alberto quickly yells that it would be grounds for a rematch! HILARIOUS. Hogewood says that Alberto didn't ask for this time to talk about losing to Jericho (Albert's facial expression here is great), so he asks Alberto what's on his mind. Alberto asks for a video clip to be played. It's a pretty ridiculous video of The Patriot wrestling. When it's over, Hogewood comments that he is quite the fan of The Patriot. Alberto says that he knows the truth. Alberto says that last year he retired a broken down old man who's not returned to pro wrestling under a mask. YES YES YES. Hogewood wants to know what he's talking about and Alberto comes out with it: "The Patriot is Kurt Angle!" There's a momentary pause and then Hogewood starts laughing and asks Alberto if he's serious. Alberto gets outraged and makes an official challenge to The Patriot for Superbrawl before leaving in a huff. Great segment.


- Commercials.

- Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards are out for dual promos. Davey says he's pretty damn happy to have gotten the match against CM Punk for Superbrawl. He says the only thing that could make it better is to make it for a championship match against the winner of Chris Hero vs. Chris Jericho. Davey says he gives Hero all the respect in the world, but he wants another shot at him. Davey says as far as CM Punk goes, everyone has heard everything Punk has to say and they all know that Punk is one thing: "full of shit." Eddie says in only a few weeks he'll be able to settle an outstanding issue between him and Brent Albright once and for all. He says he's been living with the pressure that if Albright had just a little more time, then he [Eddie] might not be the United States Champion today. Eddie says he doesn't believe in skirting by or taking the cheap way out and he's more than willing to get in the ring with Albright to settle the issue - he just hopes Albright doesn't throw a temper tantrum on the way to the ring because a fan calls him a loser. OKish stuff from these two

Match #4: The Old School Wrecking Crew vs. Derrick Driver/Steven Walters
It starts out like the typical squash, but Driver and Walters actually get a good bit of offense in to make this a more even-sided match than you might expect. JML chalks it up to the Wrecking Crew playing with their food, so to speak. The Wrecking Crew use the standard heel tactics to take control and that pretty much seals the deal, leading to the inevitable spiked piledriver for the win.

Result: The Old School Wrecking Crew win via pin w/ The Spiked Piledriver
Time: 6:42


- Corino and Pearce hit the commentary table for a promo. Corino asks Pearce if he thinks they've earned a title shot yet. Pearce says he recalls that idiot Jimmy Jacobs bragging about DOOMSDAY being undefeated which, by the way, so are they [he and Corino]. Corino says that's right and it seems to be the biggest screwjob in the world that the guy who got over because he didn't shave his back is getting a title shot before them. Pearce says the time is rapidly approaching when the brass can't ignore them. Lenny mentions that Fastball Special have been on a roll as of late as well. Corino laughs and Pearce asks who that is, before leaving.

- Commercials.

- Lenny and JML run down the card for Superbrawl: Chris Jericho vs. Chris Hero, Eddie Edwards vs. Brent Albright, DOOMSDAY vs. Bad Intentions, CM Punk vs. Davey Richards, Windham Rotunda vs. Chris Masterson, and JUST ADDED~!: Alberto Dos Caras vs. The Patriot. They then show a video recap of the Midnight Guns/Briscoes-feud that started up recently.

- Commercials.

Main Event: Jay Briscoe vs. Jon Moxley
It shouldn't surprise you that they start off with chain-wrestling. You have to admit it's pretty impressive that WCW has essentially trained the crowd to respect this portion of a match to a degree similar to that of Japanese wrestling fans. It helps that this essentially a glorified indy-promotion, but still. Moxley ultimately uses some eye-raking to take over. From there he starts working over Jay's leg which is, allegedly, hurting of late. It's a pretty standard match moving right along to the big comeback spot which is born out of Jay Briscoe hitting a huge belly-to-belly suplex off the turnbuckle. It deviates into a brawl from there all around the ring. Tyler Black tries to interfere but Mark Briscoe fights him off. Jay and Moxley take turns whipping each other into the guardrail. Jay goes for a somersault dive onto the outside which he nails spectacularly. Mark and Tyler end up in the ring brawling, which allows Moxley to drill Jay with the ring-bell. The ref tries to push Mark out of the ring and then, with the ref distracted, Black and Moxley nail Jay with Cyanide and Happiness on the CONCRETE~! HOLY WOW. Lenny and JML get very quiet and there's a great moment with Black and Moxley where they kind of realize what they've done. Black backs off as the ref finally catches on to what's going on and checks in on Jay. The ref gives the X-signal and rings for the bell...

Result: Jon Moxley wins via ref stoppage
Time: 14:32


- The remainder of the episode (about 15 minutes) deals with paramedics, etc. checking in on Jay. Lenny goes into a rant at one point about what the hell Black and Moxley were thinking. For what it's worth, I read in the Observer that Jay needed knee surgery and I would imagine this is how they're writing him off TV to allow that. The show ends with Mark grabbing Jay's hand as they leave the arena.