NWA Highway to Hell

NWA Florida
Highway to Hell
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Brandon, FL

(1) - Hack “The Dog” Myers defeated Shane McClain
Match starts off with Hack Myers hailing from “the last house on the left.” That’s classic Hack Myers for you. Myers tries to get the crowd going by jumping on the ropes to get them to cheer. It doesn’t really work. McClain attacks him from behind to get the match underway. You wouldn’t think there was a match going on with how quiet the crowd was. However, Myers may have woken them up with one of the loudest chops I have ever heard. It may have just been the echo in the building, but it sure made me feel it. Anyway, Myers attempts to work the crowd with his dog antics (barking at all times and even biting McClain in the ass), but to no avail. Myers with the win via pinfall. If this crowd is like this the entire night, it could get ugly.

(2) - Naphtali defeated “Straight Up” Mikey Batts in a NWA FL X Division #1 contenders match
The crowd seemed to pick up when Batts came out because it was a decent pop. I think that most of the crowd didn’t know who Myers was. It’s a shame too because Myers has been around for a while. Scary moment of the night came when Batts went for a plancha onto Naphtali outside of the ring and nearly lands headfirst. It looked really sick. Luckily, Batts was ok and the match continued.

A nice spot in the match where both men are down in the middle of the ring. Naphtali does a kip up and immediately does a bicycle kick to Batts’ face, who is getting up behind him. Pele would have been proud. Naphtali’s move set is quite unorthodox, and he proved that by doing a DVD onto a DVD. Yes, he placed an NWA FL DVD in the middle of the ring, then proceeded to hit a Death Valley Driver on Batts onto the DVD. It was actually pretty funny. The finish comes with a big lariat by Naphtali, followed by a Shining Wizard for the 1-2-3.

(3) - OG Scarface w/ Ana Mosity and “The Illustrious One” Shannon Rose defeats James Hendrix w/ “Hot Ass” Amy Love
Rose gets on the mic and demands this match be turned into a tag match with Hendrix & Love teaming against himself and Scarface. Scarface isn’t buying it and pretty much turns on Rose. He tells Love she’s getting a free pass tonight, so she chases Rose to the back. Nothing really spectacular about this match. The finish comes with Hendrix attempting a sunset flip over the ropes and Scarface blocking it and making the pin while holding the ropes. I think it served its purpose in finishing up the Scarface/Hendrix program. It looks like Scarface may have something going with Rose and Hendrix already seems to have a good thing going with Scoot Andrews and Antonio Banks. More on that later.

(4) - Lex Lovett defeats Eric Stevens in a Heavyweight contenders match
Lovett comes out to a huge ovation which may have been the pop of the night. Lovett appears to be sporting a nice shiner on his left eye. Both guys did a good job of building up heat between them. They were face to face to start and it came across that they both had animosity towards each other. They had a nice sequence of forearm exchanges to the face with Lovett appearing to come out the better of the two. Both guys had near pinfalls, with Lovett hitting his Lexbuster and Stevens hitting a big lariat. The end came when Lovett appeared to be going for a crucifix, but instead turned it into an arm bar/head scissors choke combo. It was a nice looking submission hold.

Up next, we have an interview segment hosted by Shannon Rose called the Rose Effect. It’s just an opportunity to have Rage in the Cage 6 winner Bruce Steele come out to cut a promo. He says that he’s insulted that he doesn’t have a title match tonight, and that he wants a shot at whoever comes out the winner of tonight’s title vs. title match between “Freedom Ryder” Mike Sullivan and Todd Shane.

(5) - Cuban Assassin w/ Fantasy vs. Luther “Bodybag” Jackson w/ Daddy Pimp is declared a no contest.
This is a taped fist match. Jackson and Daddy come out with Jackson carrying a body bag. Out comes Cuban with Fantasy to a decent pop. This match was better than their previous encounter at Rage in the Cage. I’m not sure how, but somewhere during the match Cuban was busted open. Daddy distracts the ref, giving Jackson an opportunity to use brass knuckles, I think. Daddy and Fantasy end up in the ring, resulting in the referee declaring this a no contest .

Daddy and Jackson beat down Fantasy and attempt to place her in the body bag. Cuban makes the save. Cuban and Jackson brawl on the outside, while Daddy stomps Fantasy before getting a low blow. Cuban returns to the ring and Jackson grabs the mic to challenge him to an NWA FL first ever “body bag match.” This may be the only feud in professional wrestling history to have brass knuckles involved in every match, yet it has never resulted in a “brass knuckles match.” I’m not complaining, though, because I’m not a big fan of the “brass knuckles match.”

Intermission

(6) - NWA FL Tag Team champions Justice & Mikey Tenderfoot defeat Scoot Andrews & Antonio Banks via disqualification to retain their titles
Andrews and Banks come out and cut a promo before the match. They’re actually, both, pretty good on the stick. Banks goes on about his new show “Black Eyes for the White Guy” and Andrews says that they don’t even care about the tag titles. They just want to beat two white guys up. Next, Andrews says that he was placing a $100,000 bounty on Mike Sullivan’s head. This leads to James Hendrix coming to the ring. Hendrix’s gimmick is that he’s a black guy that doesn’t act black, but he wants to be with Andrews and Banks. He came out thinking he was dressed black, but Banks ripped him apart. They told him to go to the back and practice being black. It was quite entertaining.

Out come the tag champs, Justice and Tenderfoot. Justice and Andrews start off with Justice getting in a lot of offense and Andrews crawling to Banks to tag him in. Banks doesn’t want the tag, but eventually Andrews tags him in anyway. They do this a couple of times, as neither man wants to face Justice. Eventually, Tenderfoot makes his way into the ring and has Banks down. He goes to the top rope, but only to be hit with a chair from Andrews, leading to the disqualification. Andrews takes out the referee and they begin working on Justice until Tenderfoot makes the save.

(7) - NWA FL X Division champion Sedrick Strong defeats “Rat Magnet” David Babylon to retain his title
Early in the match Babylon hit a ‘rana from the ring apron onto Strong on the outside of the ring. Strong regrouped and ran at Babylon, only to have Babylon hip toss him three rows deep into the chairs. Luckily, the fans got out of the way in time. Babylon arranges six chairs facing each other at ringside and appears to go for a pump handle slam, but Strong blocks it.

They make their way back into the ring. They exchange some vicious chops. Strong is about to hit Babylon with a chop when, instead, he kicks him in the groin. Between the chops and the low blow, I was in as much pain as Babylon. In the spot of the night, Babylon was hanging by one hand on the ring apron when Strong speared him through the ropes and onto the six chairs that Babylon had set up earlier! Babylon sure has taken a lot of punishment tonight. They get back into the ring and have several near falls. Finish comes when Strong rolls up Babylon and has a hand full of tights, and he gets the 3 count. This was definitely my match of the night.

(8) NWA Southern Heavyweight champion “Freedom Ryder” Mike Sullivan defeats NWA FL Heavyweight champion Todd Shane w/ Ronald J. Niemi IV via disqualification in the Title Vs. Title match
Sullivan comes out to a decent pop, but the crowd seems to fall asleep right afterwards. You can’t fault the wrestling match because it was a decent. I can’t help but rave over how good Todd Shane is. He’s 300+ lbs and moves like he’s a hundred pounds less. I think the crowd was just burned out from all the excitement that happened during the previous match. That type of thing happens all the time.

End of the match comes from interference by the returning Mike Shane. Bruce Steele makes his way to the ring and they begin working on Sullivan. Out comes a returning Rod Steel, with chair in hand, to make the save. Or not. He hits Sullivan in the head with the chair. Mikey Batts, Justice and Mikey Tenderfoot make the save. Niemi cuts a promo saying how everybody said his group, 911 Incorporated was dead. Well, now they are bigger and better than ever. Joining the Shane twins in 911 Incorporated will be Bruce Steele and Rod Steel. Steel grabs the mic and says they are unstoppable and he’s looking to collect on the bounty on Sullivan’s head. It was a decent end to the show.

Final Thoughts:

- The first portion of the show was solid. There was nothing spectacular, but at the same time there was nothing terrible. It was very watch able.

- Naphtali is entertaining to watch and I really like the submission hold that Lovett used.

- The second half of the show picked up the pace. Andrews is so good, whether it be on the mic or in the ring. How has he not been picked up yet?

- Sedrick Strong and David Babylon was an unbelievable match. I knew Strong was a good wrestler, but Babylon appears to be better than I initially thought.

- The rebirth of 911 Incorporated was a surprise for me. I haven’t been around here that long, so it was fine for me. I’m not sure how long 911 Incorporated has been around though. I hope it’s not an NWO deal where they bring it back every so often. It did seem to be over with the crowd, so maybe that isn’t the case.

- I had a feeling, with this card being sandwiched between the Rage in the Cage and the Peterson Cup, that the crowd was going to stay away. It wasn’t a big crowd at all. I commend the wrestlers for busting their ass, regardless. I’ve seen too many indy shows where the wrestlers won’t work hard in front of sparse crowds. That wasn’t the case tonight.

- All in all, it was a well balanced show. Now, the wait is over. The Peterson Cup is right around the corner.

Will Rivera
DOI Florida Correspondent