PCW presents “Saturday Night Slam”
Saturday, March 10th 2006
Held at the PCW Training School in Keysborough, Victoria (Aus)
Commentators: Christopher Bayliss & EC Ryder
Attendance: Approx. 55
The show begins with Christopher Bayliss and EC Ryder making their way out to the ring and welcoming the fans in attendance to the show. Bayliss hypes some of the stars that will appear on tonight’s show, while Ryder plugs the upcoming events and the success of both the Tullamarine and “Midget-Mania” super show.
Match #1: Ricky Diamond v. El Diablo v. Carnage
The match begins quickly, with Carnage and Ricky Diamond taking turns in beating El Diablo down with chops, clotheslines and suplexes. They made El Diablo make a wish, before splitting his legs apart. At 2:30, Diamond attempts to make the cover on El Diablo, which begins to cause dissention between the two. At 4:00, Carnage clocks Diamond from behind and beats him down with a few forearms, a Monkey Toss and an Arm Bar. After (time) minutes worth of intense wrestling, Ricky Diamond delivers a huge Superplex to El Diablo which knocks the wind out of himself, and Carnage comes off the top rope with a FROG SPLASH FOR THE 3 COUNT!!
Thoughts: This match was alright I thought. It had it’s humorous bits with both Carnage and Ricky Diamond repeatedly throwing El Diablo outside of the ring. El Diablo took a big bump into the guardrail which gave way, sending both him and the guardrail into the crowd. The problem I thought with this match was that it could’ve been better. It reached 2nd gear, and didn’t have enough gas in the tank to go any further. I really liked the finish, with Diamond taking himself momentarily out of the game with the huge Superplex, and then Carnage killing El Diablo with the high impact Frog Splash. And personal note to Ricky Diamond; stop wearing that outfit right now!!
Joel Bateman makes his way out toward the ring and grabs the microphone, stating that he has been on a fairly impressive winning streak recently, and that he has felt that he has been deserving of the PCW Slam Championship for a while now. He states that he was scheduled to face Flying Dynamite tonight in a #1 Contender’s Match for the Title, but Flying Dynamite isn’t in the building! He concludes that by Dynamite absence tonight, that makes him the rightful #1 Contender. However, Psychotic isn’t in the building tonight either, so he doesn’t get his Championship shot. Bateman states that he’s making an open challenge to anyone in the PCW Training School for a match tonight, to prove that he is the rightful #1 Contender. Bateman doesn’t even get to finish his challenge before one half of the PCW World Tag Team Champions; Jeric Craven makes his way to the ring, seemingly to accept Bateman’s challenge. Craven takes us back a few months when he defeated Bateman in the 5 star stellar match. Craven accepts the challenge, but states that he want’s to raise the stakes, making the match a No Holds Barred Match! Bateman accepts the offer and the two shake hands, but pull each other into a stare down.
Thoughts: A decent segment that took the audience down a trip to memory lane. I remember hearing about that match and the rave reviews it got from both fans and critics alike. I was disappointed that Psychotic and Flying Dynamite weren’t in the building; they always bring that aura of superstar status, especially on the smaller Slam shows. The match sounded good, and at least the two had purpose and a history to wrestle each other.
Match #2: Maison Halifax v. Joey Russel Jnr
Maison Halifax demands the mic and states that he want’s to know what the deal is with PCW Management, booking him into a match with a Midget. Halifax states that he hopes that PCW has a 4’5” coffin ready for Joey Russel, because as of tonight, both his professional career, and life are over.
Halifax dominates Joey Russel, until Russel catches him with an Arm Drag and a Tilt O Whirl Headscissors Takedown. Russel catches him with a boot to the mid section, and delivers a snap suplex. Halifax clocks Russel from behind and begins to dominate Russel at 3:05. Halifax plants Joey Russel with a Delayed Jacknife Powerbomb of sorts, and makes the cover on Joey Russel at 3:29. Halifax did have his hands on the middle ropes to add extra leverage to the cover.
Thoughts: This just wasn’t there. Nothing really worked for them in the ring, other than Joey Russel’s entrance the crowd was dead, and the two botched a few moves and sequences. The match went a little over 3 minutes, so there was no real story to tell. The only real positive from this match was the ending Jacknife Powerbomb that Halifax delivered to Joey Russel. Russel hit the mat like a sack of potatoes.
Match #3: Ravnos (the newest member of the ICP) v. Mark Montana
Ravnos, who has had a sudden character change and is now the newest member of the Insane Clown Posse makes his way out and slaps hands with the fans at ringside. After making it halfway around the ring, Ravnos takes the mic and states that he knows that everyone must be wondering why he is suddenly so different. He states that for years he did what PCW Management wanted him to do, he was a big monster that didn’t talk and roared at people. Now, he isn’t going to do what they want anymore, this is who he is and this is the way it’s going to stay. Ravnos states that at the last Slam show, he was booked into a Texas Tornado Tag Team Match with Mark Montana against both Carnage and Chucky E. Chaos. He stated that he never wanted that match, and as a result of losing, he promised that on tonight’s show, he would tear Montana a new ass!
The minute the match starts, the crowd starts chanting “Brokeback Mountain” at Mark Montana, which infuriates him. The two go nose to nose before trading shoves and right hands until Montana trips up Ravnos with a Drop Toe Hold. The two go through a short series of chain wrestling, until at 2:44, Montana knocks down Ravnos with a stiff lariat. Montana begins to work away at the big man with an array of different aerial attacks. Ravnos however catches Montana, and clotheslines him over the top rope and to the floor at 4:18. After a few teasers, Ravnos attempts a Baseball Slide, but the quicker Montana gets out of the way and begins to wear down on Ravnos. At 6:44, Montana misses a Splash into the corner and offers to dance with Montana. Montana accepts and appears to dance with him for a few seconds, but ends up catching him with a Superkick! The match begins to fall away from this point on, and eventually Montana catches Ravnos with the Diamond Dallas (A Shining Wizard) for the 3 count at 8:33.
After the match, Montana attempts to deliver the Diamond Dallas to Ravnos again, but Ravnos counters it and delivers a huge Sit Out Chokeslam to Montana to leave the show at intermission.
Thoughts: What the hell happened to Ravnos?!? Wow, this match didn’t work, and Ravnos’ gimmick won’t work. Please, drop the gimmick now and finish the feud with Montana on a high. With the way the feud had been built from the previous shows, Ravnos should have physically dissected Montana in a 5-minute squash, or Montana losing the match by a count out, rather than facing Ravnos one on one. Instead we witnessed Ravnos eat a beating, and then “do the Monkey” dance!?! At least, Ravnos should keep the “monster” gimmick character continuing, even with the face paint as it adds another depth to his character, but a dancing Ravnos is way too much character depth at one time!
{Intermission} I was glad that Intermission was up next, because the show was very average at this point.
Match #4: Harry Hellander v. Alberto Bravo
The two shake hands to start off the match, before the match becomes really competitive and the two go into a complex chain wrestling sequence. Both clothesline each other, and both roll back to their feet. Alberto Bravo begins to take an early offensive with an innovative Snap Neckbreaker. Alberto catches Harry out of the corner with a Monkey Toss at 2:17 for a nearfall, and the two trade forearms which Harry fins the fistfight. Harry catches Alberto with an Enzugiri Kick to the back of Alberto’s head at 3:02, and clambers to the top rope for the Moonsault, but HARRY EATS NOTHING BUT CANVAS!! Harry ends up catching Alberto Bravo with the Superkick at 4:49, but Alberto Bravo kicks out. Harry can’t believe and intimidates the referee, who shoves him into a roll up by Alberto Bravo. Harry is disgusted in the fact that he lost to Alberto, as Bravo slaps hands with the ringside fans.
Thoughts: This wasn’t bad for a match that went 5:04 and actually was a fairly competitive contest. Harry did a good job in his frustration of losing to Alberto Bravo, who I believe won his first match in PCW tonight. The crowd, which normally pops huge for the entrance of Harry Hellander, was pretty quiet tonight, and the lack of crowd involvement didn’t assist in the match’s progression. Fairly good match which showed signs of the card improving.
Match #5: Lachlan French v. Damien Drake w/ The Minister
Damien Drake is a newcomer to the world of Professional Championship Wrestling, but it is by no means the first time that I have seen him wrestling. Drake wanted to bring his custom made steel chair into the ring but the referee refused him access to use it. These two went at it like two Rottweilers going at it, it was like two titan forces meeting in an explosion. The two dominated each other in both chain wrestling and Shoulder Blocks. They went back at it at 2:30, until French moved out of the way and Drake smashed into the ringpost with his shoulder and fell out to the floor. French beat Drake in the corner, which appeared to revive Drake who caught French coming off the ropes at 3:37 with a huge Side Walk Slam. In some part’s of the match, it appeared as if these two were literally teeing off on each other. At 4:33, Damien Drake connected with a Top Rope Leg Drop, but French escaped at a nearfall. French at a huge Backbreaker at 5:45, and Drake then delivered a botched Split Legged Moonsault at 6:01, for another two count, and it appeared as if French was legitimately hurt. At the 7:00, Drake tried to slow the match down with an STF submission that French escaped from. French caught Drake coming off the ropes with a Running Calf Kick at 8:31 in a huge mid-air collision. French caught Drake coming off the ropes in a huge Spinebuster, but Drake managed to kick out at 2! French is thrown out of the ring at 10:00, and Drake jumps to the top and catches French with a Top Rope Cross Body to the floor! Both men make it in at the count of 8, and Drake actually connects with a huge Top Rope 5 STAR FROG SPLASH FOR A 2 COUNT AT 11:35!! Drake hit a Test Drive, but French still kicked out. He attempts it again, but French counters into a huge Unprettier, but Damien Drake kicks out at 13:24!! Lachlan French then delivers a 2nd rope Springboard Unprettier for the 3 count at 14:09 for the 3 count.
French grabs the Minister and throws him in the ring where he slaps him across the fact, and delivers a HUGE SPINEBUSTER TO THE MINISTER!!
Thoughts: Probably the best match of the entire show was held here. As I stated before, this was not the first time I have seen Damien Drake in action, but I wasn’t sure how the crowd would react to his debut match. I would love to see this match again, in front of perhaps the Tullamarine crowd who eats up literally everything. It appeared that about 5 people in the crowd had heard about Drake’s debut and were there specifically to see him. A very good match that was given enough time to tell the story, and at times appeared as if they were fighting tooth and nail.
Suddenly a commotion is occurring backstage, and Alberto Bravo ends up falling out onto the ramp. Harry beats Alberto in the ring where he intimidates the referee into leaving the ring, allowing Harry to deliver a high-elevated Rocker Dropper to Alberto. Harry demands the mic, stating that he’s had enough. He is sick of being screwed over by the damn company, and begins to run over his reigns as the PCW Slam Heavyweight Champion, and was screwed out of the PCW Slam Tag Team Championships, and now he gets screwed out of a victory by some little rookie. Harry states that he doesn’t give a damn about the fan’s anymore, the can love him or they can hate him, either way…he is greatness! Harry delivers a stiff Superkick to Alberto, before leaving to a crowd of boo’s.
Thoughts: Wow, Harry was really good in his heel promo tonight, and the heat he got from his turn was off the charts. Well done! I am looking forward to seeing where this heel turn takes Harry, as I didn’t think it was in him to turn the crowd on and off as well as he did.
Escreamer hits the ring and grabs the microphone and says…………………………………something about Midgets, and that he is challenging Joey Russel to another match right now. Joey Russel can’t believe that Escreamer is serious, but he’s going to accept the challenge anyway.
Match #6: Escreamer v. Joey Russel Jnr
Thoughts: There really isn’t a lot to say about this match as it was specifically designed to entertain the young children in the crowd. The match ends at 4:52 with Escreamer attempting what looked to be a Springboard Moonsault, but Joey Russel crotched him and delivered a Powerbomb to Escreamer for the 3 count. The less said the better.
Match #7: No Holds Barred Match (or what I prefer to call a “Chairs Legal Match”)
#1 Contendership to the PCW Slam Championship
Joel Bateman v. PCW World Tag Team Champion, Jeric Craven
Chair shots aren’t going to mean a whole lot in the PCW Training School for a while, as these two cracked each other with about 4 different steel chairs. Due to the length and time restrictants I have, I will keep this short. The two belted each other in a variety of ways with the chairs to the point where the match reached the 15 minute Time Limit, just as Craven had delivered a Rock Bottom/Stroke Move. The crowd chanted for 5 more minutes, and both guys accepted where Joel Bateman delivered the Brainbuster onto two steel chairs! Both men shook hands at the end of the bout.
Thoughts: This was a good main event, and the two used the steel chairs in a variety of different and innovative ways. I am looking forward to Bateman/Psychotic, but unless Psychotic is due for a run with the PCW Cruiserweight Championship or a big push, I don’t think that Bateman should win the Slam Championship. Bateman is one of the more established stars in the Slam roster, but with no offense, doesn’t bring that “superstar” aura that Psychotic carries. Decent main event that held the crowd’s interest for a majority of the match.
Overall: It’s hard to say exactly what the problem was with this show, because they are a few possible factors in the overall result. I think that the biggest factor was probably the crowd involvement. For some reason, tonight’s crowd was much more content to sit back and watch the action like a Ring Of Honor crowd, rather than the normally rowdy CZW-like PCW fanatics. Rather than cheering loudly, the wrestlers had to encourage the crowd to get involved which never is a good recipe. Other matches seemed to lack emotion, or the guys were simply not into the match. The two matches were easily Damien Drake/Lachlan French, followed by Joel Bateman/Jeric Craven, and the rest of the matches were seemingly just added to the card. The match I was most disappointed with was the Ravnos/Mark Montana match, which should have had a creative conclusion or continuation. If this show were to be graded out of 10, this would reach 5. Hey, not every show can be a classic, but this show just lacked that “it” factor, that PCW had for the past 7 weeks.
As always, for more information visit www.auswrestling.com
Scott “The Aussie” Tinsley
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