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7/6
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APW's "DECEPTION"
Saturday night July 6th
Napa Fairgrounds : Calistoga, Ca.
*15-MAN BATTLE ROYAL*
This match featured all the APW superstars
in the ring
at the same time, battling it out in
an over-the-top-rope
Battle Royal. Young Boot Camp graduate
Vince Shipman made
his APW debut in this match, but was
the first man
eliminated, and Nikki was also in the
Battle Royal, the
only female in the match.
Bodies were flying everywhere, and the
final four came
down to Larry Blackwell, Samoa Joe,
Christopher Daniels &
American Dragon. The three smaller wrestlers
teamed up to
toss the 350-pound Blackwell over the
top rope, and then
ADragon tossed Daniels out. While ADragon
celebrated, he
was attacked from behind by Samoa Joe,
and eliminated from
the match. Samoa Joe was declared the
winner of the Battle
Royal, and was on a hot streak. Would
he be able to
continue his streak and win the Universal
Championship from
Robert Thompson later tonight? We would
soon find out...
Winner: Samoa Joe ( * * )
-James Watkins & Larry Blackwell
vs. Kafu & Disco Machine
It seems anywhere Larry Blackwell goes
he gets
the "Peter" chant from the
fans. Blackwell & Watkins drew
a lot of heat from the crowd all night
long. On the
opposite end, the fans of Calistoga
really took a liking to
the colorful team of Disco & Kafu.
This was a pretty good
tag team match. Blackwell bended the
rules a little and
hit Kafu with a low-blow, resulting
in a pinfall. The fans
were upset that referee Max Marquez
had missed the low-
blow, and he awarded the match to Blackwell/Watkins.
Betty
Beefcake came to the ring and told Marquez
what had
happened. She let him know that Blackwell
had cheated, but
for the 350-pounder, he has had enough
of Betty interfering
in his matches. Blackwell grabbed Betty
and began to
shover her around. Just then, Mighty
Midget Joe Kidd hit
the ring and gave Larry a low-blow of
his own! Kidd then
hit Blackwell with a couple of chair
shots and set him up
for "Biscuits & Gravy".
Joe Kidd told Betty that he had
learned how to do this move himself,
and it was called
the "Steak & Eggs" (just
a midget version of "B&G").
The
fans popped as Betty & Kidd took
turns rubbing their rumps
in the face of Blackwell.
Winners: Larry Blackwell & James
Watkins ( * * )
-Nikki vs. JoJo Fantastico
After squaring off during the Battle
Royal, and not
settling their business...this match
was put together at
the last minute. Nikki had hurt her
knee during the Battle
Royal and came out limping. The match
was pretty much
Nikki in control for most of the time.
JoJo showed a
little offense, but not enough to overcome
Nikki's ruthless
attack. She locked JoJo in a fujiwara-armbar
and forced
him to submit not too far into the match.
Nikki was
victorious in impressive fashion as
she pretty much
squashed JoJo.
Winner: Nikki ( * 1/2)
-"Tornado" Tony Kozina vs.
James Choi
A pretty good matchup between two of
the top
lightweights on APW's roster. These
two worked pretty
stiff with each other, and the match
featured a few high
spots here and there, and a lot of hard
kicks. Kozina is a
very good wrestler, and is easily someone
who should be
considered for the 2002 KOI. Choi is
only a few months
into his career, but he has already
impressed a lot of
people with his ability. The finish
of the match came when
Kozina slapped on a Sharpshooter and
forced Choi to tap out
and submit to the pain. Kozina continues
to climb the
ladder here in APW with a big victory
over the rookie,
James Choi.
Winner: Tony Kozina ( * * 1/2)
*MASK vs. HAIR MATCH*
-Super Dragon vs. "Kamikaze Kid"
Jardi Frantz
This match was for Super Dragons mask
or Jardi
Frantz's hair...the loser would have
to give up one of
their most prized possessions. This
was an excellent
match. The two of them were practically
flawless, and the
hilight of the match was Jardi's springboard
450-splash!
He sprung from the apron to the top
rope, and all in one
motion, hit a nice 450!!! It was unreal!
In the middle of
the match, Samoa Joe & Disco Machine
came to ringside. The
fans were wondering what they were doing
there, as they
were obviously cheering for Super Dragon.
However, after
missing a Phoenix Press, SDragon found
himself on the mat,
face first, with Frantz taking over.
Jardi locked on a
version of the cattle mutulation, but
SDragon was not
giving up. Samoa Joe, who was still
at ringside with Disco
Machine, all of a sudden, tossed a towel
in the ring, and
referee Jason McCord called for the
bell.
Joe had "thrown in the towel",
and forced SDragon to
lose the match. Fans were confused,
as they thought Joe &
Disco were out there to support SDragon,
not make him lose
the match. However, things became very
clear when they
announced that SDragon would only lose
his mask if he was
defeated by pinfall or submission...not
by forfeit! They
stated that the stipulation had been
waved, because it
never said anything about losing the
mask if a towel gets
thrown in the ring. Jardi Frantz was
upset that he had put
his hair on the line, and now, even
after winning the
match...he wouldn't get to unmask the
tricky Super Dragon.
Jardi grabbed for SDragon's mask, and
yanked it off...but
SDragon was wearing ANOTHER mask under
that one! SDragon
jumped out of the ring, and left with
Samoa Joe & Disco
Machine. He was just happy to get out
of the match without
losing his mask.
A very solid match with two of my favorite
indy
workers. I hope to see this feud settled
soon, with a
rematch between these two high-flyers.
Winner: Jardi Frantz ( * * * )
*INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHER DANIELS
& SAMOA JOE*
Two bright indy superstars came to the
ring for a
quick promo. All they wanted to do was
trash the fans and
the city of Calistoga. Daniels really
laid into them with
a pretty good promo, talking about how
he and Joe didn't
need their help or support...and how
they can cheer Robert
Thompson tonight because he needs all
the cheers he can
get. Daniels & Joe threaten to take
the Internet Title &
Universal Title back to SoCal with them
if they can win
their matches tonight.
*APW UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP*
-"The Bomb" Robert Thompson
vs. Samoa Joe
The Universal Championship was on the
line. Samoa
Joe, who had turned on Thompson during
the Tag Tournament
back in King City, was now on the opposite
side of the
ring, and ready to take his best shot
at de-throning the
king of APW.
A great back & forth match, these
two really showed me
something here. Neither mans best match,
but definately a
match worth checking out. The heat involved
in this match
alone was enough to have the fans on
the edge of their
seats. This one was for all the marbles.
A good 10 minutes into the match, Super
Dragon came
walking out to ringside carrying a chair.
The fans were
now starting to put together the Super
Dragon/Disco
Machine/Samoa Joe connection, and realizing
that it must be
a SoCal vs. NorCal thing. Anyway, Super
Dragon climbed
onto the apron, holding a chair for
Thompson to be rammed
into. However, just as Joe tried to
do so, the champ
turned the tide and slammed Joe's head
into the chair that
his own partner was holding. Thompson
then climbed to the
top rope and nailed the unconscious
Samoa Joe with a huge
Frog Splash. 1...2...3!!! Robert Thompson
had defeated
his biggest challenge of the year, and
pinned Samoa Joe
right in the middle of the ring. Even
Joe's partner Super
Dragon couldn't stop Thompson. The Bomber
is on a roll
now, as he made his 3rd straight successfull
title defense
tonight in Calistoga.
Winner: Robert Thompson retains the
APW Universal
Championship ( * * * 1/2)
*APW WORLDWIDE INTERNET CHAMPIONSHIP*
-American Dragon vs. "Fallen Angel"
Christopher Daniels
Another great match here. I really love
to watch both
of these guys work, and together they
put on a fantastic
match. It could have been a touch longer,
but it was non-
stop action from beginning to end. Lots
of counters, near-
falls and false finishes throughout
this intense match made
for a good one.
The end of the match came when ADragon
hit a top rope
headbutt, and followed with a belly-to-back
suplex from the
top. ADragon covered Daniels and got
the three count!
ADragon would continue his reign of
the Internet Title,
which has now reached about one month.
No title changes
tonight!
Winner: American Dragon retains the
APW Worldwide Internet
Championship ( * * * 1/2)
*MIGHTY MIDGETS*
-Prince Cheezy vs. Joe Kidd
This was your typical midget match.
I like it, and
have nothing against it, but once you
have seen
NastyBoy/Lang, Kato/Bobby Dean &
now Kidd/Cheezy...pull off
the same stunts, it can get tiresome.
The fans of
Calistoga really ate it up though, as
they popped big time
everytime ring announcer Justin Roberts
would just mention
that midgets were on the card. The match
ended in quick
fashion, (didn't catch the exact time,
possibly less than
or just around 5 minutes) with Joe Kidd
earning the pinfall
victory, and walking away victorious
as the show concluded.
Winner: Joe Kidd ( * )
Credit: Jeremy
Medeiros
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