April 2002

April 2002 Jan 29, 2021 15:01:11 GMT -5

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Post by managermike99 on Jan 29, 2021 15:01:11 GMT -5

River City Wrestling #920
April 27, 2002
St. Paul, Minnesota

Breaking Kayfabe: After an unexpected one month absence from the air waves, River City Wrestling is back. The World Wrestling Alliance had begun to crumble, and the flagship PWA separated, while other feds either went out of business, on their own, or at a reduced schedule. The issue for RCW was that our TV spot was in the WWA name, so it took a month to sort that out. Also, some of the talent contracts including Samoa Joe, Diamond Dallas Page, and Curt Hennig were in part WWA contracts. Joe and Page have left the RCW, while Curt has remained but probably not for too long as he is negotiating with some bigger feds. Quietly the whole Canadian vs American divisions has disappeared, but Bret Hart remains for now as Commissioner (Bruce Hart is gone). Officially the Canadian title is no more (that was a short run) and since Samoa Joe has left the territory it was mentioned at one point by the announcers tonight that Steve Riley (The American champ) had beaten Joe on March 9th, so he was awarded the Television Title again, and the American and Canadian titles are no more. RCW RAGE is again running on syndication as a one hour show.

Dark Matches Before RAGE
"Venom" Paul Diamond defeated Al Collins by pinfall after a superkick

Lash LeRoux defeated Menele by pinfall after the whiplash
**this was considered a major upset, and was popular with the fans. Menele wanted to attack LeRoux after the bout but the Cajun was already out of there.

Great Canadians: Vincent Regliatti & Eric Scott defeated Young Guns: Greg Pawluk & Johnny Devine by submission when Regliatti submitted Devine in the figure-four

WWA North American Title Match
Raymond Bingham (/w Madusa) defeated Marcus Schultz by pinfall after a Northern lights suplex (with a handful of tights)
[Raymond Bingham retained the WWA North American Title]
**Bingham gave himself the whole Nature Boy, 2000 Space Odyssey type entrance with lights, music, Madusa, the broken remnants of the PWI rookie of the year trophy, and of course the WWA N.A. title belt. He seemed to think he was above it all, and tried to play some hide and seek to start, and managed to sucker in Schultz. Bingham cheated, and cheated, and had Madusa cheat some more. It was a tainted victory but you would never have known by the way he celebrated.

RCW RAGE

Opening Bout
RCW Television Title Match
"Total Destruction" Steve Riley (w/ Madusa) defeated Stan Baker by countout at 9:57
[Steve Riley retained the RCW Television Title]
**still strange seeing Baker as a face. Two big tough guys, youth versus experience. In the end nothing was settled other than Riley was able to slide back into the ring to beat the count, partly thanks to some interference by Madusa. She had been previously managing Bad Attitude International, and while there has been no mention of that group retaining its name, we still have at least Madusa, Nick Mercury, Raymond Bingham and Steve Riley hanging out together in some sort of alliance.

Bout #2
RCW Tag Team Title Match
Bryan Caruthers & Mike Enos defeated Curt & Jesse Hennig by pinfall when Enos pinned Curt after a spinning crucifix toss at 7:44
[Bryan Caruthers & Mike Enos retained the RCW Tag Team Titles]
**solid match with no weak link. In the end as Curt was thrown into the corner by Enos he ate an elbow to the head from Caruthers, and while stunned fell prey to the whirlbird finisher.

Promo for the RingLords PPV
This is a preview done and introduced by Bret Hart. RCW is running a new venture called RingLords which will be a PPV from Las Vegas on May 11th. Signed for that event are Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Lynn (substituting for previously announced Eddie Guerrero), Yuji Nagata, Vader, Mark Coleman, Rick Steiner, Brian Christopher, and Dan Severn. This will be an 8-man tournament with classic mat wrestling, and classic rules. The winner of the tournament will be awarded the Lou Thesz Memorial Trophy. This will truly be a case of the best man wins. In addition there will be a special tag team match featuring the Tools of the Trade: Hacksaw Jim Duggan & Greg Valentine taking on the Ballard Brothers (Shane and Shannon, who will be accompanied by Cheerleader Melissa). There will also be a Legends "First Blood" Triangle Elimination Match with Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, and Abdullah the Butcher. Also, for fans who are going to be there live there is a warm-up match featuring Danny Doring taking on Super Crazy. This is going to be an event for the ages!

Main Event
RCW Heavyweight Title Match
Nick Mercury (/w Madusa) defeated Al Hardamann by pinfall after a Herosault at 16:26
[Nick Mercury won the RCW Heavyweight Title]
**solid match that got lots of time. It ran in full on TV except for one commercial break in the middle. Referee Buddy Lane had enough of Madusa's shenanigans and sent her away from ringside (this was just as we were breaking for a commercial). Hardamann controlled the first half of the bout but was unable to put Mercury away. The challenger was able to counter a DDT attempt by hoisting the champ into the air and bringing him down with a kneebreaker. After this he followed up with a couple atomic drops, an exploder suplex, a slingshot suplex, and then locked on the Hero's Welcome (elevated Boston crab). Hardamann was able to survive the move though, and then Mercury took the fight out of the ring. Lane allowed the two to go at it for a good full minute outside the ring. When they got back into the ring Hardamann went for a spear, but Mercury moved out of the way and the champ flew between the ropes and out of the ring. Mercury then pulled out a plancha that we had not seen before. He rolled Hardamann back inside the ring, nailed another Exploder suplex and then the Herosault for the win.
Nick Mercury celebrated with a returning Madusa in the ring. This begins Mercury's second run as Heavyweight title, his first one lasting only from February 5, 2000 to April 1, 2000. This ends Hardamann's first reign which was also short having won the belt from Sam Holiday on February 9th. This reign of Mercury's is also the 58th reign in the title lineage which began of course in 1980.

FADE TO BLACK

Post by managermike99 on Mar 2, 2019 12:45:23 GMT -5

Post by managermike99 on Jan 29, 2021 15:01:11 GMT -5