MPW
March 17, 2001
Bloomington Armory
Bloomington, MNA group from the ACW Wisconsin promotion came down to be part of the show.
Things started with some DJ guy saying absolutely nothing if interest. MPW has added steel fencing to separate the wrestlers from the paying customers. It says here that this fencing is unnecessary. It's a distraction and takes away from the coolest thing about small time wrestling; the closeness and immediacy of the proceedings. On that note, MPW also is suffering from creeping cameraitis, now with two persons blocking my view of the ring.
1.) Mason Diggs (face) pinned Kujo (heel). Kujo worked the crowd hard coming in, pausing to get in the face of individual fans. He's loud. He wore short blonde hair, a big chain, and barked. His wrestling style is strong in the "punch the guy, stomp the mat" school. Mason Diggs is a trad. clean cut baby with zits on his back. He wrestles a little like Mike Stormwolf. The pair did a good top rope flip out of the ring. Kujo hit a powerbomb from the corner and then connected with a top rope head butt. Diggs came back with a top rope moonsault, (more of a head butt, really) and finished his man off with a floatover DDT and a guillotine leg drop. Good opener. The locker room watched.
2.) "Straightedge" Eric Hammers (face) pinned Sheriff Johnny Emerald (heel). Emerald came out with coffee and donut, and cut on the crowd. At the bell, Emerald went for a collared elbow hookup, but Hammers dropped down for a waistlock. The pair continued with the classic wrestling exchange of hookup, head lock, shoulder block, and "running the ropes" with Hammers first going over Emerald, then under, finally taking the Sheriff down with an arm drag. Textbook. SJE then bailed out of the ring and Hammers jumped onto him. Eric's Martial Arts style jacket rendered Johnny's "Pork Chop" chest slap impotent. Later on, a double head butt stunned both competitors, and caused Eric Hammers' boot to become untied. Though dazed and unable to get up, Eric reached deep inside himself and found the wherewithal to retie his boot, a feat which drew applause from the awestruck audience. Near the end, Emerald got in his Pedigree finisher, but had to resort to using the extra leverage of the second rope, which the referee saw and stopped the count. He followed that with a fisherman's suplex pin try, but that too failed. Hammers then came back with a frogsplash to get the three count. Good match. Eric Hammers comes across as legit tough.
At this point the lame DJ came out and called out Lacey. Four Green Bay heels and a ring slapper then came out, talked trash, and then, in some sort of homage to Patty Hearst, kidnaped Lacey.
3.) Mike Mercury (heel) pinned "The Truth" Austin Aries (face). I didn't take many notes for this one because when Austin works, if you blink you'll miss something. Mike Mercury has a less bulky look than some of the other invaders. Aries tried his Tajiri flip off the corner but the bounce from the ropes wasn't right and he faltered. Later, with Mercury out of the ring, Aries tried for a baseball slide kick, but the referee, Mr. Marvin, was standing in his way. Mike Mercury connected with a frog splash and a DDT, but got the win only after giving Austin a chair shot to the gut.
4.) Mike Stormwolf and Playboy Pete Huge (faces) pinned Cruel and Unusual (Big Daddy Hoofer & Ian Xavier, heels). Given what happened last timeout, I was guessing Stormwolf and HvS would work tag this time, but Playboy Pete got the call. At the start Pete challenged Xavier to come out and then ran away to tag in Stormwolf. For a time I thought that Huge might turn on his partner, but he fought nobly throughout, including a spinning heel kick that landed hard. Late in the match, after a hot tag Stormwolf got in his drop kick, and then pandemonium reigned. At the end Stormwolf took command putting a floatover DDT/bulldog/facebuster on Xavier and getting the pin. After the bell Ian did a face first Greg Valentine style bump and exclaimed "I want my Mommy!"
5.) Sam Hayne (w/ Mistress Lilith, heels) pinned Helmut von Strauss (face). Sam Hayne came out and did a fire breathing stunt. He wears a black mask with white horns and a skull design on the face, which generated chants of "La Parka" from the crowd. Helmut got a big pop coming out. Hayne took control early with full hanging, vertical suplex, a powerbomb, and what I guess was a Mexican surfboard. Later, he dived through the ropes onto von Strauss. Helmut came back with the second rope, fallaway elbow, his kick series, and a missile drop kick. It wasn't enough though, as Hayne hit a top rope huracanrana and got the three count.
6.) Black Stallion (face) pinned Adrian Lynch (w/ Sheik Adnan al-Kaisse, heels). This was the first match after the intermission, and the crowd was kind of quiet, but attentive. Black Stallion hit a twist of fate early. The Sheik didn't have his ghutra with him, so he wore what looked to be a T-shirt wrapped around his head. BS won with a small package. Lynch wrestled on his own, not taking part in any of the invasion angles.
7.) Shifty (face) defeated "Kamikaze Ken" (heel) by DQ. This "Kamikaze Ken" should not be confused with another one who wrestled for NPW last year. This Anderson has short blonde hair and wrestles with a nipple ring. To paraphrase Gerald Ford: If Verne Gagne were alive today, he'd be turning over in his grave. At the end Shifty put his signature blockbuster finisher on Ken, but Sam Hayne came in to break up the pin, and Anderson was DQ'ed. After the bell Shifty double clotheslined the heels.
8.) Mitch Paradise (face) pinned "God's Gift" Kevin Krueger (w/Mike Mercury, heels) Krueger looks older than the rest of the ACW clan. Early on Krueger caught a Paradise boot and did a big back bump and flipped out of the ring. Krueger tried a top rope splash but Mitch caught him in midair and gave him a fallaway slam. Later Sam Hayne and Ken Anderson came out too, and during a choke slam try they came in and attacked Mitch. Well, actually "Kamikaze" Ken beat on Krueger at first. Talk about missing a spot! Shifty and Black Stallion came out to help Mitch clean house, and then Shifty dove off the top rope onto the four cheeseheads standing outside the ring. A good show, despite a few frustrations, with a lot going on.
--doc d'X