From Larry Goodman: Superstars of Wrestling 2 had the makings of a truly entertaining wrestling show. With a lineup featuring ...
From Larry Goodman:
Superstars of Wrestling 2 had the makings of a truly entertaining wrestling show.
With a lineup featuring the likes of Jake Roberts, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Jim Cornette, TNA star Tyrus, Luke Gallows, Johnny Swinger, Jimmy Rave, Cody Hall and Tim Zbyszko, there was an abundance of talent.
Unfortunately, in the case of Superstars of Wrestling 2, the whole was way less than the sum of the parts. Bloated to 12 matches, two intermissions and spanning four and a half hours in length, the show was more of an endurance contest than anything else. Quantity over quality is never a good thing with pro wrestling show or any other art form. The trick is to leave the stage when people still want more.
That’s not to say the show didn’t have its moments. The legends were well used. The advertised Snake Pit never happened, but the individual segments with Duggan, Roberts and Cornette were all very well received and provided the high points of the evening. The ladder match between Cody Hall and Tim Zbyszko to crown the first Superstars of Wrestling champion worked suprisingly well.
The low points will become apparent as you read on.
The Saturday night wrestling show was the culmination of a three day event that included a Mucha Lucha wrestling show on Thursday night, a Mick Foley comedy show on Friday night and a fanfest on Saturday.
Attendance was 500-600 for a gate of approximately 10K. The inaugural Superstars of Wrestling event in 2013 drew around 1000.
Ring announcer David Chandler introduced Scott Hudson as the play by play announcer for the iPPV. Hudson did a nice tribute to former Rome resident“Ravishing” Rick Rude and introduced Rude’s son, Rick Jr. who still lives and works in Rome.
(1) Belthazar & Jason Collins & Jeremy Foster & Antwan Jordan defeated Mike Jackson & Chris Lightning & Chris Ganser & Crash Test Dummy in a Broad Street Brawl in 13:54. Advertised as a hardcore elimination match, announced as a streetfight, but worked like a standard match. I have no idea how the sixty-something year old Jackson got put into this mix. The gothic Belthazar tried to look menacing with blood dripping from his lips but it was hard to take him seriously. It’s been four years since Lightning and Ganser had their big run with Purks Wrestling in Cedartown. The 2014 version of Lightning still moves well, but he looks like he ate Lightning 2010. Collins was the most impressive guy in the match. Jackson did a double old school ropes walk with Collins and Jordan as his victims. Collins shoved Crash Test Dummy off the ropes sending CTD through a particle board table set up at ringside. Collins then pinned CTD with a kneedrop off the top. The crowd was fresh and popped for a lot spots that got ho hum responses as the night wore on. This match served no useful purpose beyond getting a bunch of guys on the show. A falls count anywhere streetfight was to still to come.
“Comrade” Phil Hefner and promoter Shawn Ambrose did mic work to set up the main event. The two have been feuding at the monthly DSCW shows at the Fun Wheels Skating Center. As the leader of the Anti-Americans, Hefner had a mind not to do the match. Ambrose had recruited Duggan to lead his Star and Stripes team into battle. Ambrose busted out a verbal Rock/Stone Cold combo on Hefner to end the segment. The mic work was way, way better than the match.
(2) “Nature Boy” Paul Lee squashed Justin Case in around 10 minutes. The crowd was briefly amused by Lee’s Flair imitation, but it wore thin in a hurry to the point of getting a “boring” chant. Lee got the pin with his feet on the ropes. I heard two stories about how this match came to be a late addition to the show, neither of which cast Lee in a positive light.
(3) Good Ole Boys (Cuzin Cletus & Shaggy with Jim Cornette) defeated The Movement (Talon Williams & Chip Hazard with Logan Chase) to win the DSCW Tag Team Championships in 10:01. The deal here was that Chase was ripping off Cornette’s tennis racket gimmick. Cornette noted that his equipment was bigger than Chase’s and threatened to make a tennis racket Popsicle out of him if he interfered. For the finish, Chase was fixing to clock Cletus with the racket but Cornette jumped in a decked him. Cornette then clobbered Williams with the racket and he was pinned by Cletus. The crowd ate up everything Cornette did.
(4) Tessa Blanchard defeated Amber O’Neal to retain the ECWA Women’s Championship in 5:40. This was my first time seeing Blanchard live, and I didn’t realize how small she was from what I had seen of her on tape. O’Neal towered over her. The dynamic here was all wrong. Blanchard was great with the heelish facial expressions and attitude. But O’Neal used the word “bitch” three times in her promo, and made an appallingly bad babyface for such an experienced pro, so it was essentially heel vs. heel. They worked hard but gave the fans nobody to care about. The finish was identical to match number 2 except Blanchard never reached the ropes with her feet. Dead crowd and a bad match any way you cut it.
Postmatch, O’Neal swerved Blanchard by offering a congratulatory handshake and planted her with an X Factor instead.
A not so svelte woman wearing a Superstar of Wrestling t-shirt was accompanied to the ring by an older gentleman vaguely resembling what Scott Steiner might look like in 2034. The model tossed a few t-shirts (on sale for $10 apiece or 2 for $15) into the crowd.
(5) “Bulldog” James Dylan (with Jake “The Snake” Roberts) pinned Lamar Philips in 5:54 with a DDT. Dylan got a nice rub from Jake’s presence at ringside with the crowd chanting “Jake” and “Bulldog”.
Postmatch, Roberts did the snake deal with Philips and freaked Dylan out by draping the snake around his neck. Heavy duty crowd love for Roberts, who appeared to be thoroughly enjoying himself.
(6) Empire Champion Shaun Tempers (with “Seductive” Steve Dave) retained his title over Gunner Miller in 8:12. Former UT Chattanooga linebacker Miller got a pop on his look alone. He’s got the physique and the explosive flying shoulder block of a major leaguer. He’s not a natural wrestler however and needs to be more fluid and improve his footwork. Miller got his hands on the amazingly annoying Dave. Tempers tried to capitalize on the distraction with the hangman neckbreaker, but Miller fought it off and went for the spear. Tempers made Miller miss and put him away with the neckbreaker. A decent match given Miller’s inexperience.
(7) Lex Lee defeated Kevin Coffman via count out to retain the AWF Heavyweight Championship in 11:41. Lee (son of "Nature Boy" Paul) used Rick Rude’s entrance music and did a modified version of his gimmick. Looking on from a ringside seat, Rick Jr. was shaking his head and clearly found Lee’ act disrespectful. “The guy doesn’t even have abs,” he said. I’ll give them credit for working very hard, but they did way too much and with multiple glaring botches. It came across as a routine of preplanned spots with no feeling of a real contest. The more they did, the deader the crowd got. The crowd did starting chanting for Coffman in the hopes they would get it over with. Lee gave Coffman a piledriver on the apron and Coffman was counted out. This match was a real crowd killer and a textbook example of the fundamental problems that plague lower level independent promotions.
(8) Doc Gallows & Lord Humongous (Gary Nations) (with Broad Street Bruno) defeated Tank & Iceberg (with The Reverend) in a falls count anywhere streetfight in 10:29. Reverend cut a promo with a purpose explaining the history of Tank and Iceberg as a team. Broad Street Bruno replaced Downtown Bruno who was among the legend no shows at the fanfest. Gallows used a zillion chairshots on Iceberg. They carried the battle to the top row of the general admission seats. Gallows brought one of the gimmick table into the ring. This baby was solid wood. A double choke slam on Gallows only cracked it. Tank powerbombed Gallows onto the table and it still didn’t break. The finish saw Tank accidentally clothesline Iceberg when Gallows ducked. Gallows then pinned Tank with the bicycle kick. The spectacle of four behemoths brawling all over the building had a certain appeal. The falls count anywhere aspect never figured into it.
(9) Jimmy Rave & Nigel Sherrod (with David Young) defeated Johnny Swinger & Drew Game in 6:45. Young came in the ring and spinebustered Game while referee Tristan Michaels was involved in ringside shenanigans with Sherrod using Kelly to shield him from Swinger. Rave pinned Game. Nothing wrong with the match except it felt rushed. I’m guessing their time was cut due to the show running so long.
(10) Cody Hall defeated Tim Zbyszko in a ladder match to become the first Superstars of Wrestling Champion in 11:28. Larry Zbyszko joined Hudson on commentary. Tim has his dad’s body type and hairline. He’s a decent worker but not a young looking 32. Hall wrestled barefooted. Hall hit an impressive double leaping double stomp to the chest for a “Cody” chant. Zbyszko escaped a pumphandle slam and nailed Hall with an enzuigiri to take over. Zbyszko was the first to climb and got spilled into a crotch shot on the ropes. Hall climbed and Zbyszko cut him off with a double ax off the ropes. They fought for control of the ladder. Hall chokeslammed Zbyszko and made it to the top of the ladder, but Zbyszko jumped on his back with a sleeper to drag him down. Zbyszko splashed Hall from 6 feet up on the ladder and nailed it spot on. Zbyszko kicked Hall low and inexplicably slugged the ref before attempting to climb. Hall cut Zbyszko off with a Razor’s Edge and made his way to the top to secure the title. Good match that should have been the main event. Hall with the title was the image to send the fans home on.
(11) Tyrus defeated Bam Stone (with Justin Labar) in 7:20. Labar distracted allowing Stone to chop block the knee of Tyrus and go to work on the leg. The ref got squashed in the corner (so the ref bump in previous match made even less sense) and Stone gave Tyrus a low blow. Labar tried to hit Tyrus with a chair and cracked Stone over the head by mistake. Tyrus picked the ref up by his belt and bounced his body on the mat a few times to wake him up, then splashed Stone for the pin. Not much of a match but the crowd enjoyed Tyrus.
Postmatch, the ring was filled with kids dancing with Tyrus.
(12) Stars and Stripes (“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan & Vega & Bobby Hayes & Cody Roberts & Vega) defeated The Anti-Americans (“Comrade” Phil Hefner & Kazlov the Russian & The Cuban Executioner & Frenchy Riviera (with nameless blonde female foreigner) in 9:20. They saved the worst for last. The Anti-Americans was as motley a collection of indy heels as you would ever want to see – a fake Cuban, two fake Russians and Frenchy, shrunk to half of his original size. Duggan was greeted by a standing ovation and did his thing starting the match for Stars and Stripes. Vega forced Hefner to tag in. An ominous voice on the PA (the real Vega) informed Hefner that the joke was on him. Vega unmasked as Ambrose. Hefner and Ambrose proceeded to embarrass themselves with action on the level of kids play wrestling in their living room. The match broke down. Kazlov was ready to use Duggan’s 2x4. Duggan took the board away and bonked Kazlov with it for the 1-2-3. The best thing that can be said about this match is that the crowd stuck around to see Duggan and enjoyed his act..
Afterward, Ambrose gave Hefner the worst choke slam in wrestling history and ordered the referee to make a second three count.
