SCW Misery
May 31st, 2001
Kings Bar, Raleigh, NC

We kick things off with William Wealth, Brandi Richardson (!), Shannon Moore, and Sean Thomas in the ring for a promo. Wealth informs the crowd of his shoulder injury and also shows everyone in attendance that Thomas and he have taken possession of Shane Helms' WCW Cruiserweight title belt. Helms and Cham Pain hit the ring and the heels powder. Helms compliments Brandi on her chest (can't blame him there) and begins taunting Moore when Gotti (!) runs in from behind and attacks. The heels beat Pain and Helms down a little under Brad Hunter makes the save with a chair. Helms tells Gotti that he beat him as Stryker, he beat him as Juice, and tonight, he would beat him as Gotti. Solid opening.

Caprice Coleman is headed to the ring for the opener, taking on Justin Drive. Hey, Justin is gonna wrestle. Far out. Nice little sequence to start, with Coleman taunting the crowd in between takedowns. They trade legsweeps before Coleman hits a nice guillotine legdrop and a slingshot senton. Coleman gets a two count after a rana. Drive goes for a superkick but it gets blocked and Coleman hits a nice uranage into a flatliner for another two count. Coleman with a snapmare and a dropkick to the back of the head. Drive hits a DDT and a slingshot elbowdrop but misses a legdrop. Coleman takes him down with a suplex, Drive reverses an Irish whip and attempts a backdrop but Coleman leaps over and hits the Colesnap for the finish. **

Idol X is challenging Jesse Drive for the Brass Knuckles title and they trade chairshots and choking against the ropes and stuff. And suddenly Nikita Koloff runs in…oh wait, that is Otto Schwanz. Drive punches Otto a little which he decides not to even sell. Drive nails Otto with a chair, which he also decides to no sell. Drive jabs Otto in the throat and Drive and Schwanz exchange punches as Idol X grabs the staple gun but Drive gets hold of it and staples a dollar bill to his forehead. Schwanz continues to beat on both men and tosses Idol out of the ring. Back in the ring, Drive takes Otto down with a DDT and Idol gets a cover and a two count. Schwanz takes a double clothesline and Idol X has the barbed wire bat. Idol tosses the bat at Drive and attempts a VanDaminator with the bat…Drive just sort of looks at him and then smacks him with the bat, knocking him out of the ring. Schwanz locks a full nelson on Drive…for the victory?! Ok, they hype Jesse as the toughest motherfucker in the company for six months and then he jobs to a full nelson?! I am not crazy about that finish. Nothing against Otto, and I guess I can understand why they did it, just seemed a little odd to me. To those of us who know Otto, the use of the full nelson was obviously a subtle nod towards the man who inspired Otto's entire wrestling career, the Warlord. ;) On the brawl scale *

BC, Qsic and Frank Parker beat down Shah of Grog in the ring, presumably because Shah of Grog was a little too close to finding out who The Boss is. Laz, Scab and Kross make the save.

Sean Alexander (formerly Sean Thomas) enters with Brandi (yummy). Brad Hunter follows for this meeting of former tag partners. Alexander retreats to the outside where Hunter leaps onto him. They exchange chops outside before reentering the ring. They do a very nice wrestling sequence that sees both men attempt pinning combinations and roll-ups, ending with both guys on their feet. They each duck clotheslines before Hunter hits a flying leg lariat and a clothesline over the top. Back in the ring, Alexander takes over on offense with a nice leaping reverse DDT. Hunter leaps for Alexander but gets caught with a fireman's buster. Hunter recovers with an overhead reverse DDT. Alexander counters an Irish whip with a pump handle-fireman's buster. Hunter leaps in but gets taken down with a reverse fujiwara. Sean tosses him to the floor where Brandi kicks and slaps him around a little. Back in the ring, Alexander gets a sleeper but Hunter gets out of it and goes for a backdrop, countered with a sunset flip, it gets reversed, re-reversed, and re-revered again, ending with both men on their feet and Alexander getting a backslide for two. Hunter with a spinning fisherman's suplex for two. Alexander ducks a punch attempt and connects with a fall-forward belly-to-back. He sends Hunter to the corner, but Hunter escapes with a second-rope tornado DDT. Hunter hits a modified uranage but Brandi distracts the ref on the apron. When Hunter confronts Brandi, a chair gets passed in to Alexander. Alexander nails his inverted powerbomb finisher onto the chair to get the win. Good match ***

Kross comes to the ring to battle Qsic. They trade takedowns and nearfalls early on before Kross nails several power moves that send Qsic to the floor. Back in the ring Qsic takes over following a legdrop. Qsic with a nice belly-to-belly amidst a bunch of punches and kicks and stuff. A belly-to-back attempt by Qsic is countered with a Russian legsweep. They trade chops before Kross hits a back elbow and a clothesline. Kross with a reverse DDT for two. BC attempts to interfere and accidentally nails Qsic. Kross takes advantage and hits a standing side kick for the victory. 1/2*

Lazarus enters to the chords of Britney Spears and a chorus of cheers from the fans. BC leads SCW Heavyweight Champion Frank Parker to the ring for this defense. BC is pretty funny mocking Laz's dancing routine before the start of the match but not nearly as funny as Laz planting a kiss on referee Kevin Equador. Laz rolls him up early and spanks Parker's rather large bottom a little. Laz ducks a clothesline and connects with a dropkick and an inverted atomic drop. Laz sends him to the corner and hits a clothesline followed by a dropkick to the back of the head. Laz goes up top and hits a missile dropkick that sends Parker to the floor. Laz leaps over the top but gets caught, run into the ringpost and then dropped across the apron. Parker mocks Laz's dancing and then drops a knee. Parker hits a standing dropkick and then dances again. BC chokes Laz while Parker distracts the ref. Parker powers Laz around under Laz scores with a double leg takedown and two low headbutts. Laz charges but takes a powerslam for his efforts. Parker takes over again and drops a big leg on Lazarus. BC chokes Laz against the middle rope again and Parker charges the corner but misses and takes a flying reverse neckbreaker off the top from Laz. Laz goes for the Britney Spear, but BC grabs the leg, Laz turns and confronts him. Parker charges and nails BC when Laz ducks. Parker takes the Britney Spear but BC breaks up the count. Laz goes to powerbomb BC but takes a clothesline from Parker. Parker runs into the ref and gets rolled up, but there is no ref. The Boss, clad in a trenchcoat and mask enters and nails Laz with a board, putting Parker on top for the pin to retain his title. Not bad at all. **1/2

North Carolina champion C.W. Anderson is in to defend against Dewey by God Cheatum. Scab also wants a title shot, so commissioner BC makes a three-way-dance for the strap. The two challengers double team Anderson to start until Dewey accidentally nails Scab. Scab insists on a handshake from Dewey, then decks him from behind. Dewey chops Scab and then Anderson chops Dewey. In a neat spot, Dewey goes for a springboard bulldog on Anderson, who tosses him off, but he catches Scab with a rana. He hits a headscissors rana on Anderson also. Scab and Anderson are on the floor and Dewey gets them both with a 360 dive. Back in the ring, Dewey takes over on Scab until being caught with a powerslam. C.W. catches Cheatum with a high impact backbreaker on his injured back. Scab takes an acid drop from Cheatum but he can't cover. Scab gets hold of a chair and C.W. calmly kicks it into his face. Dewey hits the flatliner on C.W., but again, his back is too banged up to make a cover. All three exchange chops and punches for a minute or so. Dewey attempts a bodyscissors and C.W. throws him off, but he catches Scab in a tornado DDT in mid-air for two. Dewey charges Scab but he ducks and Dewey takes a superkick from Anderson. Anderson throws Dewey over his head and he attempts a rana Anderson places Scab on the top rope and Persephone low-blows him, leading to a Cheatum roll-up. Anderson decks Dewey and he hits the ropes, crotching Scab in the process. Anderson grabs a chair and kills Scab with it, before catching Dewey with the spinebuster for the victory. ***1/2 Dewey and C.W. rock.

Shannon Moore and Gotti are out for the main event, joined by William Wealth, Brandi, and Lilly (whoo hoo!) on the outside. Sugar Shane Helms and Cham Pain enter and the heels flee. Helms and Gotti start and Helms takes him down quickly. Gotti extends a handshake but Helms flips him off and a quick sequence ends with a Russian legsweep from Helms. Pain tags in and drops an elbow before getting two off a monkey flip. Gotti takes a swinging neckbreaker before tagging Moore. Moore and Pain exchange cross-corner moves before winding up back on their feet with Moore reversing a Pain killer (formerly the House of Pain) attempt with a suplex. Criss-cross spot ends in a double clothesline. Helms tags in and goes to work on Moore, including hitting a nice leaping reverse neckbreaker. Lilly trips Helms off an Irish whip and a shot from Gotti from behind leads to a Moore drop sleeper. Gotti tags in and locks on a reverse chinlock. Helms gets out of it and gets a cross bodyblock for two before walking into a clothesline. Moore tags in and works on Helms' leg before ditching him through the ropes. Gotti and Wealth work him over on the floor before sending him back in. Gotti tags back in but misses an attempted legdrop off the top. Moore tags back in and they continue to control Helms under Moore misses a cross-corner splash and takes an fireman's carry into a facebuster. Helms tags Pain in and he drops both heels. All four men are in and Helms and Pain both block inverted atomic drop attempts and hit simultaneous reverse DDTs, but Wealth breaks up the count. Helms calls for the Vertabreaker but Lilly low blows him, leading to a Bottoms Up from Moore and a pinfall to give Moore and Gotti the victory **3/4. Lilly gets on the mic and makes a challenge for a Moore vs Helms match at Cyberwar under the previsions that the loser of the fall will leave SCW forever. Helms eagerly agrees, but challenges her to up the ante and make it a tag match with Pain and Gotti putting their SCW careers on the line also. Pain is a little more hesitant, but eventually agrees also. Lilly slaps Helms so he grabs her in a rear chinlock and threatens to drop her unless Wealth hands over Helms' WCW Cruiserweight title. Gotti hands the belt over but Helms drops her with the Nightmare on Helms Street anyway to close the show.

Final analysis: Not quite up to Royal Pain, but that is one of the best indy shows I have ever seen, so that is acceptable. Still a really good show with Hunter/Alexander being better than I thought it would be and two solid matches to close the show.

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