NWA Florida Rage in the Cage Results

NWA Florida
presents:
Rage in the Cage 6
Brandon All-Stars Attendance - 400

(1) NWA FL X Division champion Sedrick Strong defeated GQ Savagewood, David Babylon and Danny Doring in a four-way elimination match to retain his title.

This four-way match was a great way to kick off Rage in the Cage 6. The crowd was really hot for some action and it showed when the ring announcer stepped into the ring to announce the four-way. Personally, I was really excited to see Sedrick Strong wrestle in person. I recently moved here from Pennsylvania and up until this day had only heard of Strong. My expectations were, somewhat high, but Strong did not disappoint. For that matter, no one in the match disappointed. David Babylon set the tone in the beginning of the match by spitting in Danny Doring’s face. It pretty much indicated that everybody was going to work stiff in this match. They exchanged chops and when Doring tried to get some offense, he was slapped in the back by Strong who tagged himself into the match.

This occurred once or twice more until Savagewood was thrown outside the ring. Doring then hit a plancha onto Savagewood, followed up by a plancha by Strong onto the both of them. It was completed with a plancha off of a chair in the ring by Babylon. This spot led to all four men brawling through the crowd. Somewhere in the all the mess, Strong and Savagewood performed a double suplex on Doring and Babylon on the concrete floor. It looked really painful. Eventually they made it back to the ring which led to Babylon eliminating Savagewood, Doring eliminating Babylon, and Babylon interfering to help Strong eliminate Doring to retain the NWA FL X Division title.

(2) Cuban Assassin (w/ Fantasy) defeated Luther “Bodybag” Jackson (w/ Pimp Daddy) in a first blood match.

I’m not a big fan of the first blood match, so I was disappointed with this match before it even began. However, the crowd wasn’t upset because they popped hard when Cuban came out and they chanted his name throughout the whole match. There was a spot in the match where Pimp jumped up onto the ring apron to distract the ref, so that Jackson could get something out of the corner. Was it a barbed wire bat? No. Was it brass knuckles? No. Was it a packet of ketchup? Yes. Jackson began smearing the ketchup on Cuban’s face. The referee was about to call the match when he must have realized that blood doesn’t smell like tomatoes. He tasted the “blood” and decided the match must continue.

The finish came when Pimp and Fantasy began brawling outside of the ring, leaving the ref to try to restore order between them. This left Jackson to attempt to use brass knuckles on Cuban. Cuban blocked it and stole the knucks and used them on Jackson to draw blood. After the match, Pimp and Jackson attacked Fantasy and Cuban. While Jackson worked on Cuban with the brass knuckles, Pimp tied Fantasy’s arm to the bottom rope. Pimp must not have been in the boy scouts when he was younger because when Fantasy tried to sell her arm being tied to the rope the knot came loose. Anyway, a bloodied Cuban challenged Jackson to a brass knuckles match at the May 15th NWA FL event.

(3) Lex Lovett defeated Bruce Steele in a 2 referee match.

This match pitted Steele, the 2002 Rage in the Cage winner, against Lovett, the 2003 Rage in the Cage winner. By announcing both men as past Rage in the Cage winners, it made this year’s Rage in the Cage more meaningful. It really helped put over the match. The match got off to an excellent start with Steele and Lovett doing some chain wrestling and the crowd popping extremely loud in appreciation. The only complaint about this match was the two referees in the ring. I believe the angle is that one of the wrestlers was not happy with the assigned referee, so he asked NWA FL officials to assign another ref to officiate along side the original referee.

The problem is that the referees were not in unison with their counts, so when one ref had a two count the other one only had a one count. To their credit, it did get a lot better as the match went on. In a really cool spot during the match, Lovett and Steele exchanged what seemed like 10 various suplexes. The near falls following the suplexes added to how great this spot looked. Following the suplex fest, Lovett hit Steele with a few forearms to the face and then hit one more German suplex. As the referees were counting, the heel ref poked the babyface ref in the eye. Lovett confronted the heel ref only to have Steele hit a German suplex of his own. At this point both refs are arguing and they have Steele distracted. The babyface ref punches the heel ref. Steele is distracted which leads to Lovett hitting his Lex Buster for the 1-2-3.

Following the Lovett-Steele match, “Black Nature Boy” Scoot Andrews comes out to cut a great promo. He put over how significant tonight’s match is with his former partner, Mike Sullivan. He also said that he would win the NWA Southern Heavyweight title tonight and that he has an insurance policy to help him do so, which leads to Antonio Banks coming out from the back. There was a lot of heel heat from the crowd for Andrews. During his promo, they were clearly chanting “shut the fuck up”. At this point, an NWA FL official came out to speak with me, so I’m not sure what exactly happened next. It was something to the effect of having a white boy challenge of his own. He looked like he had a squash match with one or two guys. Out came Billy Fives to accept the challenge, only to have Banks walk away. It appeared to be a good segment.

(4) NWA World Jr. Heavyweight champion Jerrelle Clark defeated Naphtali in a submission/ladder match to retain his title.

Naphtali entered the ring first, bringing a ladder along with him. Clark came out to a huge pop which got even louder when the fans noticed he brought out the 25 foot ladder. During the beginning of the match, the crowd seemed to be out of it. I don’t understand it. Just because there is to be ladders involved in the match, it doesn’t mean the ladders have to be used every second of the match. Clark and Naphtali were starting to work a good match when a single fan attempts to start a “boring” chant. It got no where with the crowd and was even acknowledged by Clark who told the fan “If you don’t like it, then get the hell out,” which led to the crowd cheering.

Clark yelling at the guy actually helped the match because the crowd really wasn’t into it until that moment. I think the crowd just burned themselves out too quickly. They popped way too hard for the Cuban Assassin/Luther Jackson match and almost didn’t even react to this one until the middle of the match. Only a handful of fans appreciated the match that they were being given. Most, simply put, wanted to see the ladders come into play.

Once the ladders were back the crowd was totally into it again. Both men used some innovative submission holds involving the ladder being intertwined with their opponent’s arm. One in particular was Clark’s arm being placed through the ladder and Naphtali having it in an armbar while he’s upside down on the ladder. After some nasty bumps onto the ladders and some more working over the arm, Clark came away with the win by making Naphtali submit to a Dragon Wing Sleeper. It was an excellent match throughout, even though the fans only chose to join in midway through the match.

(5) NWA FL Tag Team champions Justice & Mikey Tenderfoot defeated Double Deuce Inc. (“Uptown” Frankie Capone & Marcus Dillon w/ Cannon) to retain their titles.

Double Deuce come down to the ring and Dillon grabs the mic and begins to speak. Justice and Tenderfoot run into the ring with no entrance music or announcement. Justice starts off with a nice move where he runs up Capone’s chest, who is in the corner, and kicks the trailing Dillon in the head. Justice and Tenderfoot are way over with the crowd, who have picked it up again after their disappearing act in the previous match.

The finish came when while the referee was distracted, Rod Steel came from the locker room and hit Capone in the back of the head with his cast. I believe Double Deuce is responsible for Steel being in the cast. Tenderfoot hit a twisting plancha onto Dillon, while Justice hit the 450 splash for the win.

(6) Hot Ass Amy Love (w/ James Hendrix) defeated “the Illustrious One” Shannon Rose (w/ OG Scarface and Ana Mosity) in a bra and panties match.

I always thought that bra and panties matches were all the same. Once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Imagine my surprise when I find out that this bra and panties match is between a girl and a GUY! Yep, Shannon Rose is a dude. I try to be as impartial as possible, but I was praying that Amy Love would lose this match because I wasn’t really feeling the thought of seeing Rose in anything less than what he wore to the ring. Love came out wearing a full leg length knee brace. It looked really uncomfortable for her. During the match Rose rips off Love’s top to reveal her bra. A few minutes later Love pulls down Rose’s shorts to reveal, quite possibly, the whitest legs in the world.

Scarface and Hendrix begin brawling outside of the ring when Kevin Devine came out from the back. Devine looked as if he was going to help Rose, but he instead turned on Rose, allowing Love to rip off Rose’s shirt. Underneath his t-shirt, Rose was wearing a black bra and looked as if he were 8 months pregnant.

Following this match, “Modern Miracle” Steve Madison and Steve Keirn came out to thank the crowd for supporting NWA FL. He said the fans made wrestling what it is today. It was really nice of Keirn because it wasn’t expected and he really didn’t have to do it. He seemed like he meant it and the crowd really appreciated it.

(7) NWA Southern Heavyweight champion “Freedom Ryder” Mike Sullivan defeated “Black Nature Boy” Scoot Andrews in a falls count anywhere match.

In a twist, it is announced that Billy Fives will be the referee for this match. Sullivan comes out and attempts to shake Fives’ hand, but Fives smacks it. This match was pretty much a brawl. This is a long standing feud, so I guess this would be the only way to finish it. Most of this match took place outside of the ring. Sullivan and Andrews began brawling through the crowd towards the back of the building. In an ugly spot, Sullivan picked up Andrews like he was going to powerbomb him on the concrete, but he instead drove him into a loading dock door. “Holy shit!” chants filled the air. It didn’t look to comfortable for Andrews, that’s for sure.

As they were heading back into the ring, Sullivan yelled for the crowd to move out of their seats. Most fans got out of the way before Sullivan sent Andrews flying into the chairs. Now, in the scariest part of the night, Sullivan began throwing chairs at Andrews. I’m not sure what they were thinking, but several fans began helping Sullivan by throwing chairs at Andrews too. The ring announcer repeatedly began announcing that any spectator caught throwing anything at the wrestlers would be ejected immediately. I don’t know that I have ever witnessed anything like it. At this point, my view was being blocked by the people who no longer have seats. From the brief moments that I could catch, it looked like there were several suplexes and body slams onto the pile of chairs. I really couldn’t see it, but it definitely didn’t sound too good.

During this mess, Antonio Banks made his way down to ringside. When they both made it back into the ring, they began to exchange punches. During one of Sullivan’s punches he accidentally elbowed Fives in the face. This led to Banks jumping into the ring and attacking Sullivan. Once Fives regrouped, he took out Banks. Sullivan hit his finisher on Andrews to retain his title. After the finish, Fives brawled with Banks through the crowd, as well as Sullivan and Andrews. One of the vendor’s table was almost taken out by this post match brawl.

(8) NWA Florida Heavyweight champion Todd Shane (w/ “Hardcore Giant” Ron Niemi) defeated “Modern Miracle” Steve Madison (w/ Steve Keirn) in a steel cage match.

Shane and Niemi come out and Niemi cuts a promo about how Shane is the greatest NWA FL champion ever. He begins to ridicule Keirn. Madison comes out, accompanied by Keirn, to a huge reaction from the crowd. There were two things that I noticed only a few minutes into the match, and that is how amazingly strong Madison is and how amazingly athletic Shane is for a man his size. I’m not a big fan of overly muscular guys who just brawl instead of wrestle, but Shane doesn’t appear to be of this mold. I look forward to watching him wrestle some more in the future.

Anyway, midway through the match, Madison had Shane down and was making a move for the cage door. Niemi ended up slamming the door in his face. Now Madison’s face is in a puddle of blood. There looked to be an extremely nasty cut on his forehead, and that could be backed up by the amount of blood that Madison was loosing. Shane gained control of the match and was looking to escape the cage by climbing over the top. Madison caught him on the top rope and executed a superplex that had it broken the ring I would not have been the least bit surprised. Madison now had Shane going head first into the cage. Both guys are now bloodied. Words really can’t express how much blood was shed during this match.

Near the end of the match Madison had Shane in the sharpshooter, and the ref decided to tie his shoes instead. Madison threw the referee around and handcuffed him, I believe, to the cage. The end came when both wrestlers climbed the cage. Both were hanging from the cage when I think Madison got caught in the ropes through the door and landed on the ring steps. Shane dropped from the cage a second or two later. It was blatantly obvious that Shane hit the floor first, but in a surprise, of course after a minute or two delay, Madison was announced as the winner of the match and new NWA FL Heavyweight champion.

Madison would end up being the NWA FL Heavyweight champion for only the Rage in the Cage match itself because after the battle royal the ring announcer made a statement that NWA FL president, Joe Price has ruled that Shane had, indeed, hit the floor first, so he is still the champ. If it wasn’t booked like that, then I give them credit for correcting it because it was so obvious who the winner was of the match. Many promotions would have let it stand and tried to play the fans as fools.

(9) Bruce Steele wins the Rage in the Cage.

After the conclusion of the previous match, Niemi had been beaten down by Madison inside the cage. A man entered the cage and appeared to be checking on Niemi, when he suddenly attacked him. Out of no where music starts playing and wrestlers come out one by one and begin the Rage in the Cage. I wasn’t sure how a battle royal was going to look in a steel cage, but it actually was very entertaining. When entering the ring, many wrestlers brought their own weapons with them. Most of the eliminations were through the cage door which was wide open. Two wrestlers, I’m not quite sure who they were, eliminated themselves by doing planchas off of the top of the cage onto eliminated wrestlers.

The final four came down to Erick Stevens, Naphtali, Justice and Bruce Steele. Stevens was quickly eliminated to make it a three way. At one point during the match, Steele and Naphtali begin double teaming Justice. In the “Holy shit!” spot of the night, Steele places Justice in the tree of woe and places a trash can by his face, while Naphtali scales the cage and does the van terminator off of the top of the cage! They place Justice in the middle of the ring and Naphtali climbs the cage again, only this time Justice regroups and tosses a trash can at Naphtali, who is standing at the top of the cage. Naphtali barely hangs on to the cage. I thought he was falling off the cage, for sure. Naphtali is hanging and Steele kicks the cage and eliminates Naphtali.

It is now down to Justice and Bruce Steele. Steele climbs the top rope trying to get Justice, but Justice hits him and then does a sunset flip from the top of the cage. After a few minutes of exchanging moves, Steele hits Justice with a boot to the face and pushes Justice out of the cage door to become the first repeat winner of Rage in the Cage.

Final Thoughts - I thought it was an excellent show. Many of the wrestlers, I was seeing wrestle for the first time, so I was really looking forward to this show. Before the show, I wasn’t too sure what to think about a battle royal that takes place in a cage, but I was more than satisfied with it. The crowd was great the entire night, except for that one moment during the Clark/Naphtali match. I wasn't a big fan of the first blood match or the bra and panties match, but everything else was great. There were several great matches tonight and NWA FL appears to have a group of wrestlers who will be worth watching on a regular basis. I know I overheard a bunch of fans say that this was their first time at an NWA Florida show, so it was good for them to put on a good one to bring those fans back. I know that I will be back, and that’s pretty much because it was one hell of a show.

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