Sunday, May 05, 2002

 
Last night I was finally able to go to a WCWO show, which took place at the Ramada Inn on Emerson Avenue off of I-465. It was an absolutely phenomenal experience, as I (and most everyone there) got to really have the “inside view” of the federation.

The ring, which looked stiff at first, actually seemed to display normal tendencies. Praise God for that, I figured, because the ropes looked like they might have been absolute murder to bounce off of. Tell you the truth, I still don’t know whether or not they are stiff as hell.

The opening match featured Kenny Courageous against a masked wrestler, Bill Logan. What I do remember about the match was that Kenny pulled out a move I don’t think I’ve ever seen before—kind of an inverted jackhammer. He picked his opponent up from behind as if to do a back body-drop, only to land on top of him at the last minute. Whoa. He finished the match off with the Blockbuster. An interesting thing to note about this crowd is that they seemed to constantly be rooting for the heels. That, or they’re not smart enough to understand who’s playing what role in the matches.

I saw Beth Terry at the show—competing under the name Breezie against the WCWO Women’s Champion, Drucilla. I've known Beth Terry since we were in grade school together back at Harcourt Elementary, and we sang in the same high school choir for a few years together. Even though Beth later told me she was supposed to be the face in the match-up, I think I was the only person there who rooted for her. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as Drucilla retained the Women’s Title. Maybe next time for Beth. It’d be really cool for me to watch a former King’s Court teammate of mine win a wrestling championship belt—particularly because I didn’t even know Beth was a wrestling fan until I saw her tonight. Damn… sometimes when you think you know something about a person, you find out you didn’t really know her at all. But in this instance, anyway, that’s not a bad thing—that’s a good thing.

One of the great things about watching matches with a crowd of maybe 70 people tops is that the wrestlers are able to have great interactions with the audience. As Beth came out (dressed in a cheerleader outfit and holding pom-poms), she actually turned to me and said, “I know you!” Afterwards, I got to talk to her during the intermission and again after the show.

As it turned out, Drucilla ended up being the only champion to retain, as three titles changed hands on this night. Whipme Spearz (whom everyone swears is a guy, even though she looks to me like a girl) defeated “Dangerous Bull” Don Basher in a chain match to win Basher’s WCWO World Television Title. Basher was originally going to face someone else for the title, but the scheduled challenger no-showed, leading to this impromptu match with a screwy finish. Whipme won the belt on a roll-up and incredibly fast three-count by the referee, cheating to win despite allegedly being the face. I’m starting to wonder if Basher’s W.O.R. group is, in fact, a face stable, and whether or not Commissioner Russ Ray is intentionally trying to screw them.

The vacant WCWO World Tag Team Championship was put up for grabs in a triangle match. The team of P.T. Hustla and D-Von Fury, Simply Marvelous, faced the team of Shiloh Hunter and Itch Coma Weider, and also the team of Dick the Bruiser, Jr. and “Caneman” Johnny Walker. Another strange finish in this one lead to Itch and Shiloh becoming the new champions. Afterwards, they were immediately challenged by Bruiser and Walker—but let’s bear in mind that Simply Marvelous never lost the Tag Team Championship, they were stripped of it by Commissioner Ray. That, along with the odd finish in the TV Title match, has really got me wondering whether or not Commissioner Ray is going over the top in trying to screw W.O.R..

In the main event, Johnny Blaze defeated Indiana Kidd, Jr. to win the vacant WCWO World Heavyweight Championship. It was an outstanding match by both men, but Blaze took a rather nasty bump when he was hit with a drop toe-hold into the ring stairs. As Blaze would tell me later in the men’s restroom, he scraped his knee and busted open his elbow somewhat badly. But he said it was all worth it, and I definitely agreed—it was an outstanding match, and Blaze walked away as the new champion. After the match, Blaze and Kidd had a mutual respect ending, with the handshake, embrace and Kidd raising Blaze’s hand in victory. Afterwards, Kidd left the ring to allow Blaze to celebrate the moment in his own personal spotlight.

I got to speak to Commissioner Ray, both members of Simply Marvelous, Breezie, Don Basher, and Johnny Blaze throughout the night. Needless to say, I had an amazing time, really feeling almost like one of the boys.

As I mentioned, I spoke to trainer Don Basher. He’s going to call me Monday afternoon to hopefully get me set up with training. I’ll definitely write down all future developments with this from now on.

Labels: Beth Terry, Indiana Kidd Jr, WCWO, you suck

posted by Eddie 12:50 PM