Stew Style
WWA Belfast 27/11/01
PRE-SHOW:
- It seems the name of The Smarks holds quite a bit of notoriety wherever you go. It was good enough to bag me an interview with Steve Corino after the October 20th WrestleXpress show last month in London, and one drop of the name was enough to be let in the VIP entrance of Belfast’s Odyssey Arena last night for the first date of the WWA’s UK tour.
- Since the original booker Vince Russo backed out before the promotion’s inaugural tour of Australia last month, his replacement has been his former right hand man, and former WCW Live host Jeremy Borash. When I was taken into the arena to meet up with Borash, he walked past me a couple of times and I didn’t even recognise him. Since I only saw him about twice on Nitro last year, that’s understandable, coupled with the fact that he’s gone and got a blond dye job. However, once I started to talk to him, I told him that I was interested in perhaps conducting an interview with some of the guys for publishing on the site. He said that he’d see what he could do but that I should come along to the Hilton hotel post show and see what happened.
- A reporter was in attendance from BBC One NI to do a quick fluff piece on the show for the evening news, and Jeremy went to talk to her. It seems they had organised a quick ringside skit where Road Dogg would show her the various weapons that could be used in a hardcore match, and hit an unsuspecting passer by with a crowbar for effect. Seems yours truly was all set to be the unsuspecting passer by…
- Jeremy wandered over and asked me if I’d like to do a little TV with them. I said sure, and he and I went to get the plunder. We brought over a lead pipe, a crowbar, a Singapore Cane, a baseball bat, and a cricket bat. Road Dogg thanked me for doing the skit, and asked if I had a preference which weapon he used. I didn’t, and we ended up doing the crowbar segment as planned. My words of advice from Road Dogg… “Sell the hell out of it, or I hit you for real!”
- I sat on the edge of the ring steps, talking on my cell phone, while Road Dogg described the weapons to the reporter. He picked up each one in turn, finally reaching the crowbar. I waited… and felt the shot between my shoulder blades. This was it. I fell forwards, twisting in mid air and taking a back bump on the mats. I sold the blow for a few more seconds until the cameras were switched off. I picked myself up, and Road Dogg asked if I was OK, since he had given me quite the shot. I was cool, and he left as I promised I’d get him next time.
- “Are you coming to the show tonight?” Jeremy then asked. Truth be told, I hadn’t been expecting to go to the event, but decided to pop round to the arena on my way home from work in Belfast on the off chance I could wangle something. I asked if Jeremy could sort out something for me, and he got me a free pass for the show.
- While I was waiting for Jeremy to sort my pass out, I looked up and saw Disco Inferno. I said hello and shook hands with him, and he seemed like a nice guy. I didn’t know it until they were practically past me, but Crowbar, Gangrel and Luna strolled past, looking a bit lost. Crowbar and Gangrel stayed down the corridor, but Luna doubled back, coming up past me again. I caught her eye and said hello, asking how she was doing. “Very well, thank you sir” came the reply. Damn if that wasn’t a surreal moment… here’s the vicious and demented Luna Vachon, calling me Sir. I don’t know, maybe it was because I had on a suit, but that was a weird moment, nonetheless. I picked up my pass for later, and headed home to get changed.
THE SHOW:
- When I returned to the arena, it was just about show time, and Juventud Guerrera was already doing his ‘Juice’ spiel for the first match.
WWA International Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera v Psicosis. I should point out at this moment that the commentary team were Borash himself, and in the place of Jerry Lawler we got Konnan. The commentary was piped into the arena’s PA system, which is honestly a pretty bad idea, but it did allow for some interesting commentary lines. Konnan, when mentioning Juvy’s facial resemblance to Michael Jackson cracked that the way you tell time in Michael Jackson’s house is when the big hand touches the little hand… Haw! While the PA commentary helped during some of the slower moving matches later, there was no shortage of action in the ring during this match, as might be expected from these two. Psicosis was sporting a short haircut in the match, the result of a loser-gets-head-shaved stip in Mexico. The match was pretty tight, had the highest workrate of the night, and the crowd was well into the match, popping especially for Guerrera’s Juvy Elbow. A series of reversals ended with Juventud hitting the Juvy Driver for the 3 count. ***
- I should mention that former WCW referee Mark ‘Slick’ Johnson did the ref duties all night long.
- Borash invites out the WWA Commissioner Bret Hart, who is over like crazy in Belfast. He cuts the typical Hart promo, citing how many times he beat Austin, Benoit, Rock and Goldberg, and calling Vince McMahon a piece of shit. Ho hum. Still, on a more interesting note, Bret brought up the fact that he once wrestled in Belfast for the WWF and that he was proud to be back. If I remember correctly, Bret beat Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of a house show in Belfast’s King’s Hall in 93 (which is the last time a major show has been run in Northern Ireland.) Bret promises to be backstage, watching what happens.
- Black Wedding Match: The Vampire Warrior, Gangrel v Luna. Oh geez. Well, the soft spoken Luna from earlier is gone, and the growling Luna is back. Gangrel does the blood spitting bit pre-match, which was probably the highlight of this encounter. Luna locks on the testicular claw to a minor pop, but after some pie-orientated slapstick outside the ring, Luna spit ‘blood’ from the Goblet into Gangrel’s eyes for a near fall. Gangrel finishes Luna with the Implant DDT. Match was short, but not particularly sweet. -**
- Here comes Buff for an in-ring segment. Although most of the crowd gave Buff a positive reaction, props to the front row section who started an ‘Asshole’ chant. Buff shot back that there were a few assholes in the front row too. Stevie Ray then made an ‘unscheduled’ appearance, and went for the cheap heel heat of insulting Belfast. Of course, Buff becomes a huge face by standing up for us, and the ensuing face off is broken up by Bret Hart who makes the one-on-one match for later in the evening. Oh God, no.
- Hardcore Tables Match: Crowbar v Norman Smiley. This could be decent, but ended up being pretty basic. The deal was that the match was pretty much a straight hardcore match, and that the win came via pinfall. Spot of the match was Crowbar’s somersault plancha onto, and through Norman and a ringside table. Norman kept the crowd hot by his wiggling, and eventually the two ended up on the entranceway. Crowbar delivered a sliding dropkick to a trash can strategically placed between Smiley’s legs and went for another table. Unfortunately the table leg dropped off one side immediately and the other side’s leg was hanging by a thread. Crowbar did his best to prop the table at 45 degrees and attempt to put Norman through. Norman countered into a powerslam which might have gone though the table had it not totally collapsed flat by this time. Still, the move was enough to get the win for the UK’s own Smiley. *
- Disco Inferno v Grand Master Sexay. Sexay was a surprise appearance, and the crowd went mad for him. Konnan on commentary ran through his repertoire of ‘Disco’s mom is so fat…’ jokes, but the real entertainment was in the ring. Both men are perfectly capable of working a very good match, but in this case they went all out for the comedy route with amazingly good results. The dance-off and posing segments were some of the most well received moments of the whole show, with both men doing their best to entertain the crowd. Sexay did the spot where his pants fall down during his dancing, leading to a (I kid you not) lengthy argument between Sexay, Disco and Referee Slick Johnson about the size of each other’s (ahem) equipment. Disco’s contribution to the match was the debut of his new move… The Village People’s Elbow! Disco kicked the arm in, mimed the YMCA hand movements, ran the ropes, danced, and dropped the elbow. Sadly, this wasn’t enough to get the job done, and Sexay picked up the win with the Hip Hop Drop. This was easily the most entertaining match of the night. **1/2
- Post match, Sexay invited Slick Johnson, Konnan and Jeremy Borash into the ring to do the requisite dancing. Disco attempted to join in at the end, but all four others jumped him and beat him down. Borash then announced that Bret Hart would be signing autographs in the foyer at the intermission. The crowd FLOCKED to the doors like crazy, and as I made my way down to the lower level the foyer was like a mass cattle market. I took the opportunity to put my Arena Access pass to commandeer a chair on the lower level about 7 rows back from the ring for the second half.
- The West Hollywood Blonds v Konnan & Nathan Jones. Nathan Jones was a special ‘surprise’ tag partner, billed as hailing from London for the cheap pop. Strange. Wasn’t he billed as Australian on the Australian tour? Anyway, since Jones is not particularly well known, imagine a bald Test, minus any talent. Seriously though, he no-sold all Lenny & Lodi’s offence, and his own offence consisted of the odd high boot. Lodi was sporting a new look since I last saw him. He’s bald too. Disco Inferno joined in on commentary for the rest of the show, and his crowd baiting tactics were brilliant. Jones was billed as the World’s Strongest Man 95 and 96, and Disco helpfully informed us that he himself won that title in 97. This match was totally old school, with Konnan playing face-in-peril and the Blonds continually bringing Jones into the ring to allow some more old school cheating. It was at this point when the concept of piping the commentary over the PA really exposed its shortcomings. Following the requisite referee misdirection when Konnan tagged, Slick Johnson disallowed the tag. (Which would be sensible, except for the fact that Borash was complaining about the missed tag over the PA. Why wouldn’t Johnson hear the commentary, and allow the legal tag? I know we’re not supposed to think of these things, but it seemed obvious to me.) Anyway, the hot tag was finally made, and Jones hit a Chokeslam on (I think) Lodi for the pin. The match was really slow and plodding, and the Blonds seemed out of sorts having to follow the hugely entertaining Disco-Sexay match. DUD
- Buff Bagwell v Stevie Ray. Well, this was like pulling teeth… slow and painful. If Bagwell can’t have a decent match with Booker T, how in the hell is he not going to stink against the inferior Harlem Heat member? This match was all stalling, and more stalling. Stevie played the Harlem gimmick, claiming that we wouldn’t last 5 minutes in 110th Street, tripping over his words as he said it. Smooth. They actually went for the Hogan-Andre approach once the actual match got underway, with Buff trying to slam Stevie, unsuccessfully, and hurting his back. Stevie followed up with a bear hug in a rare display of psychology which killed the crowd. Buff made his comeback, slamming Stevie after all, but falling prey to the dreaded slapjack (the foreign object, not the move) for a 3 count. Dusty finish, as referee Slick Johnson finds the slapjack, restarts the match, allowing Buff to hit a dodgy looking Blockbuster for the pin. This match was not good. -***
- WWA World Championship: Jeff Jarrett v Road Dogg. Jarrett entered first, and did the usual interview about having all the Stroke in the WWA. Road Dogg made his appearance and the crowd sang along to the usual ‘former tag team champion of the wooooooorld’ stuff like it was still in fashion. The match allowed both men to hit their standard repertoire and they assembled a tidy match, with impressive crowd heat, the end coming when Jarrett uses the guitar on Dogg for the pinfall to retain the title. *1/2
- Post match, Bret Hart saves Dogg from further punishment by slapping Jarrett in a Sharpshooter to the single biggest ovation of the evening. I’ve watched enough Jim Ross commentary to be able to say that Jarrett was tapping like a drunk man. Once he had left the arena, Road Dogg called Jarrett back out for a rematch, but Jarrett never showed.
POST SHOW:
- Post show I headed to the nearby Hilton Hotel, as suggested by Jeremy, in case any of the guys were feeling like a chat. Who should I run into but my new buddy Road Dogg, who offered me a beer. I turned it down since I was driving, and said brief hellos to a few others. I ran into Jeremy again, who told me that Jeff Jarrett wasn’t feeling up to being interviewed (he was my main target) but that I should stick around and see if any of the other guys came down to the bar afterwards. Bret Hart had already amassed about a dozen people around him, and he started to tell stories. Meanwhile, Jeremy told me that Scott Steiner’s WCW contract runs out on the 30th of this month, and that they can’t use him until then or they’d get sued. He should debut for the company at the Birmingham show. Incidentally, The only guys who came back down to the bar were Lodi and Buff Bagwell and frankly, I don’t know enough about Lodi to do any more than a 30 second interview, and I couldn’t really phrase any questions to Buff that wouldn’t end up telling him how much he sucks and thus really pissing him off. Instead, I just listened in on the Bret Hart sermon.
- He was talking about Owen’s death, and how insensitive it was that they WWF promoted the ‘Raw Is Owen’ show, singling out Hunter by name as someone who wasn’t close with Owen, but ended up shedding fake tears for him. He also recounted the fact that he met Earl Hebner backstage at a WWF show in Calgary, and pretty much made up with him over what happened. Bret said that he didn’t blame Earl, and that it was just the fact that Earl didn’t have the guts to stand up against Vince McMahon. He again named Vince, Earl, Shawn, Hunter and Pat Patterson as the main protagonists of the Screwjob. I also caught him mentioning how embarrassing it was when Austin & Rock sang at the end of Raw a couple of weeks back. He claimed also that he personally worked out about 99% of the matches in just about every feud he was in, and that how a mediocre wrestler could be put with Bret for a program and Bret’s ability would bring his opponents up to a higher level. He stopped just short of claiming that he ‘made’ Austin, but he came damn close. Having recently watched the RF Video Bret Hart shoot tape, I was on pretty familiar ground, and quietly headed off to go home.
THE VERDICT:
- The WWA promotes a very finely balanced card between hugely entertaining (Juvy v Psicosis, Disco v Sexay) and really awful (Buff v Stevie, Luna v Gangrel) and for my own part; I was more entertained than bored. There is a lot, and I mean LOT of cheap heat/cheap pops, which a lot of the times I don’t believe are necessary since the UK (like Australia) is so starved of decent live wrestling action that frankly, we’ll pop for anything. The production values were high, especially for a house show, and the feel of the event was not unlike a WWF UK PPV, which is high praise.
- As a couple of suggestions, I would consider cutting down the comedy to one or two designated matches rather than having 80% of the show revolve around it, which would allow some of the workers to actually display their abilities. Also, while the ex WWF/WCW names no doubt draw money, it would be nice to see some more of the under-utilised US talents fill out the show (I’m thinking of Simon Diamond or Kid Kash for example)
- If the WWA is stopping in your area (and I believe Jeremy said that they would be going to the States for a tour soon) you could do a lot worse than catching it. It’s got a long way to go, but it’s a promising start. I just hope that the XWF’s use of some of the same workers won’t kill the tour off entirely.