May 1998

[managermike99]

Roster

Faces
Vendetta
Ben Bassarab
Christian Cage
Sexton Hardcastle
Mark Schrader
Doc McMartin
Steve Rivers 
Alex Rain
Darren Dalton (NEW) 

Heels
Manny Silva
Joe E. Legend (/ Mercedes)
Eric Freedom 
Nikolai Kishka
The Pharaoh
Adam Knight
Pierre Oulette
Slapshot
Angel (NEW) 

Ladies 
Nikki Kixxx
Becky Hennig
Runaway Jane
Daisy Rhodes
Heather Kennedy
Starla Saxton
Christine Law (NEW)
Combat Girl (NEW)

Officials
Commissioner - Nick Bockwinkel
Referee - Buddy Lane
Referee -
Referee - Jennifer Greaves

Injured/Off

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #726
May 2, 1998
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Hour #1

Opening Bout
Darren "the Bomb" Dalton defeated Adam Knight by pinfall after a powerbomb (and hitting him with a chain) at 7:59
**the fans got a bit more then generally expected out of an opening bout, with the premiere of Darren Dalton. "The Bomb" came to the ring JYD style with a chain around his neck. These were two big boys with a slight size advantage to Knight. It was a slobberknocker, and Knight was cheating like a lonely oil rigger. But when we had a ref bump Dalton evened things up by using his chain to smack Knight in the head, then hit his finisher to pick up the win.

Bout #2
Runaway Jane defeated Daisy Rhodes by pinfall after a piledriver at 4:34
**just to remind us that Jane is ahead of Rhodes in the pecking order.

Bout #3
Doc McMartin defeated Angel by disqualification for ignoring referee instructions at 5:07
**another premiere, this one for Angel, who looks like one of the Baldies from The Wanderers. He was vicious and when things didn't go his way he just tried to choke out McMartin until security broke it up. Angel seems more like a fallen angel, a man without a soul.

Bout #4
Joe E. Legend (/w Mercedes) & Eric Freedom defeated Steve Rivers & Alex Rain by pinfall when Freedom pinned Rain after a missile shoulderblock at 7:10
**Rivers & Rain, a new tandem has a catchy name, but not much chemistry yet. With Knight & Oulette having lost their second attempt to get the tag belts from Hardcastle & Cage, it looks like Legend & Freedom now stand as the top contenders again and should get their second chance.


Hour #2

Bout #5
#1 Contenders Match
Starla Saxton defeated Becky Hennig by pinfall after a bridging back suplex at 6:12
**perhaps a bit of an upset, but Saxton will now get her shot at the gold. Saxton has become very popular with the fans in short order.

Bout #6
#1 Contenders Match - Triangle Match
Ben Bassarab defeated Slapshot and Pharaoh by pinfall when Bassarab pinned Slapshot after a diving crossbody block at 8:35
**Slapshot and Pharaoh had a short lived pact to make Bassarab their rag doll, but of course that broke down when it came to making the pin. The end came when all 3 men were brawling outside the ring. Bassarab came off the apron with a flying elbow. Then he climbed to the top buckle and prepared to fly down, but stopped when Slapshot smacked his hockey stick over the head of Pharaoh knocking him out, but not before Pharaoh had thrown a hand full of sand into the goon's face. Slapshot heard the count and managed to slip back into the ring but was still having trouble seeing. Slapshot did not see Bassarab perched on the top as he rubbed his eyes, and then the Calgarian came off the top buckle with his finisher to pick up the win.

Main Event
RCW Heavyweight Title Match
Special Guest Referee: Jurgen Hermann
Manny Silva defeated Vendetta for abuse of official at 9:54
[Vendetta retained the RCW Heavyweight Title]
**After last week's match Manny Silva was sure that the fix was in, the conspiracy to keep the title on Vendetta was permeating throughout the organization. He challenged commissioner Nick Bockwinkel to bring in an official that Silva could trust. Begrudgingly Bockwinkel relented and brought in former RCW official Jurgen "long time inept referee" Hermann. It was not that Hermann, now retired, was dirty or partial to heels, its just that he was so inept that the rulebreakers could use it to their advantage. Tonight he was brought back for one night.
As expected Silva used every distraction and complaint he could, as well as the largest blind spots since 1970's luxury sedans, to cheat his way to being on the verge of winning the belt. Vendetta would battle back, but then Silva would get in a low blow, throat chop, rake of the eyes, etc to take back control. And when Vendetta would retaliate with fists, Hermann would lay down the law and step between the two men, his arms blocking the champ's hands, and this allowed Silva to sucker punch the Haitian champ. Finally when this happened a second time, in frustration Vendetta punched out, aiming for Silva, maybe, and landed a grazing blow to the side of Hermann's head. The ref dropped like a rock. Silva went for a punch, but Vendetta blocked took him down with a side Russian legsweep, then hit his finisher...but Hermann called for the bell and the DQ.


That's it for another edition of River City Wrestling. See ya next week!!

 

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #727
May 9, 1998
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Hour #1

Opening Bout
Combat Girl defeated Daisy Rhodes by submission to the cobra clutch at 5:31
**premiere of the Combat Girl, who came out in fatigues and eye black. She proved popular with the fans and came away with the victory.

Bout #2
Slapshot defeated Alex Rain by pinfall after the Gordie Howe elbows at 4:50
**fairly easy win for Slapshot

Bout #3
Becky Hennig defeated Christine Law by pinfall after an inside cradle and a handful of tights at 5:05
**another premiere, this time Law. Yes she has a bit of a highway patrol girl look to her including the dark sunglasses. She looked good in the bout, it was fairly evenly matched. However, after hitting a fallaway slam she covered for a 2 count, and when she got up she complained to the ref about a slow count. This allowed Hennig to roll her up from behind, grab a handful of tights, and come away with the tainted victory.

Bout #4
Darren Dalton & Doc McMartin and Adam Knight & Angel battled to a no-contest at 6:59
**putting the Dalton vs Knight, and McMartin vs Angel, bad blood together in a tag match didn't have any kind of calming effect, it just made everything blow up further. And with 4 guys to break up outside the ring the action continued long after the bell with the men really battering each other with anything not nailed down. Dalton and Angel were both busted wide open.


Hour #2

Bout #5
RCW Tag Team Title Match
Sexton Hardcastle & Christian Cage defeated Joe E. Legend (/w Mercedes) & Eric Freedom by reverse decision / disqualification for use of a foreign object at 9:47
[Sexton Hardcastle & Christian Cage retained the RCW Tag Team Titles]
**the first couple minutes featured the challengers getting no momentum at all, as everything they threw at the champs was thrown right back at them, in spades. We went through all four combinations and the champs had them beat. But of course the heels finally managed a nice double team, thanks to Mercedes distracting the ref by getting into an argument with Hardcastle. So Christian Cage then played Ricky Morton for a good chunk of the bout. Once the hot tag was made though it was all champions again and the fans were loving it. So Mercedes went back to the well again, passing a pair of brass knuckles to Legend. She then went over and pulled Hardcastle off the apron, got into an altercation with him that distracted the ref. Cage was hit from behind by Freedom from the apron which made him easy prey for Legend who nailed him with brass knuckles, covered, and got 1, 2, 3!! We had new champions...
Until the ref grabbed the hand of Legend to lift it into the air, and the brass knux were still on. They stared at each other for a good 2 seconds before the ref Buddy Lane jerked the arm down and reversed his decision. Very controversial ending to the match and Nick Bockwinkel and security had to come out to settle things down.

Bout #6
RCW Television Title Match
Ben Bassarab defeated Nikolai Kishka by countout at 7:08
[Nikolai Kishka retained the RCW Television Title]
**Kishka, the young athletic Russian (think of a Russian version of a young RVD), has been on an absolute roll since arriving in RCW. But tonight he met the wily veteran of the middle weight wars, and was clearly the lesser man. He proved that fact by feigning returning to the ring only to back up and take the countout loss. Live to fight another day.

Main Event
CAGE MATCH
RCW Heavyweight Title Match
Vendetta defeated Manny Silva by pinfall after a back suplex off the cage wall at 13:01
[Vendetta retained the RCW Heavyweight Title]
**these two men, hated rivals for a decade now, will forever be linked in history. The classic hero, and the classic villain, but neither would be so driven and successful if not for the other. Once again they met up in epic circumstances after two weeks of controversy. Referee Buddy Lane did nothing but count pins, check for submissions, and on occasion call for the break of a Silva chokehold. He did not object to closed fists, low blows, hair pulls, nail rakes, or chops to the throat. In fact as the match went along both men became somewhat hampered because they had to keep turned to the side or an arm down in block to protect their groins. Silva seemed to believe that if he choked and attacked the neck and throat of the champ the bruising and battering would pay off by taking away Vendetta's wind, and it seemed to work at times with the champ sputtering and holding his throat. On the other hand Vendetta busted Silva's head open and seemed determined to win the bout by blood loss. In fact at around the 8 minute mark Lane called for the ring doctor to come to the cage wall and stay there and keep an eye on Silva. Vendetta managed to kick out after a piledriver and after Silva's wheelbarrow suplex finisher, which really popped the crowd. On the other hand Silva managed to kick out of Vendetta's finisher, a jumping DDT (although some watchers noted that Vendetta barely left his feet because he was so exhausted). When the champ went for his finisher with more gusto, Silva countered with an inverted atomic drop. The fight went up the buckle as Silva climbed and Vendetta went after. Silva left the top buckle to try and get away from the champ, kicking out at him. But that didn't work, and Vendetta managed to pull Silva off the cage wall in a sort of back suplex, sending both men crashing to the mat. Vendetta draped an arm over Silva and got the pinfall.


That's it for another edition of River City Wrestling. See ya next week!!

 

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #728
May 16, 1998
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Opening Bout
Slapshot defeated Steve Rivers by pinfall after a Gordie How hat-trick at 5:30
**this finisher is a lot quicker, he put Rivers into a headlock and gave him a punch to the head, then followed up with an elbow between the eyes, and lastly a spinebuster slam.

Bout #2
Combat Girl & Christine Law defeated Becky Hennig & Daisy Rhodes by pinfall when Combat submitted Rhodes to the cobra clutch at 6:22
**perhaps a bit of an upset considering how much Hennig & Rhodes have teamed together.

Bout #3
Christian Cage defeated Eric Freedom by pinfall after a flying forearm smash at 7:34
**one half of the tag team champions taking care of business.

Bout #4
Joe E. Legend (/w Mercedes) defeated Sexton Hardcastle by pinfall after a bodyslam (with outside interference) at 5:57
**the other half of the tag champs did not fare as well. Legend had tried for a cutter but Hardcastle pushed him off. Twenty seconds later Legend nailed a normal looking bodyslam, and Mercedes reached in and held down the feet of Hardcastle to allow Legend to get a surprising win.


Hour #2

Bout #5
Streetfight
Doc McMartin & Darren Dalton defeated Adam Knight & Angel by 10 count in a streetfight at 8:34
**this was as close to an ECW style match as you will find in RCW. It was more out of the ring then in, and used a liberal amount of tables and chairs. In the end Knight went for a chair shot on McMartin but he moved and the chair nailed Angel instead. The baldie went right after his own partner with a chair of his own, smashing him six times over the head. Angel then threw the chair on top of Knight and walked off. The ref counted, but only got to 9 before Knight staggered to his feet, his head busted wide open. McMartin and Dalton circled him, telling him to lie down and take the fall, but he refused. So they attacked him but only with fists, and knocked him down and out again. But somehow Knight staggered to his feet at a count of 9. Having seen enough bloodshed though, referee Buddy Lane began to count the 10 count on Angel who had left for the backstage area after nailing Knight. The other 3 men seemed to respect that decision and allowed the 10 count to stand.

Bout #6
North American Women's Title Match
Nikki Kixxx defeated Starla Saxton by pinfall after a spinning heel kick at 6:43
[Nikki Kixxx retained the North American Women's Title]
**no win by Kixxx could be called completely clean, due to how she constantly cheats, but this one was at least without controversy.

Main Event
RCW Television Title Match
Nikolai Kishka defeated Ben Bassarab by countout at 10:04
[Nikolai Kishka retained the RCW Television Title]
**it's not often that the champion goes into a match as the underdog to retain his title, but considering how Bassarab handled the young Russian last week, and how he is the most decorated mid-heavyweight in RCW and has held the TV/Heritage title a record 6 times (oh, and he's also already an RCW Hall of Famer), well Kishka comes into this bout a huge underdog. Unlike the last bout though this one was completely even with neither man holding the advantage for more than about a minute. Kishka went to work with several verities of kicks, a running cross body, a top rope splash, and an enzuigiri, but could not come up with the pin. Bassarab countered with a few varieties of suplexes, elbows, atomic drop, diving headbutt, and an indian deathlock, but could not get the win. As you can guess there was no real feeling out process in this bout. Bassarab went for a plancha nailing Kishka outside the ring, but only caught a piece of him. Buddy Lane applied the count and Kishka managed to roll in on 9 to take the win.
 

That's it for another edition of River City Wrestling. See ya next week!!

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #729
May 23, 1998
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Hour #1

Bout #1
The Pharaoh defeated Darren Dalton by pinfall after a belly to belly suplex (and a face full of sand) at 5:45
**Dalton had a pretty good match but Pharaoh cheated his way to a win.

Bout #2
Fatale Four Way Match
Runaway Jane defeated Starla Saxton, Heather Kennedy, and Daisy Rhodes when she pinned Saxton after a Texas piledriver at 7:07
**Kennedy and Rhodes teamed up to do most of the damage to Saxton, but then took themselves out of play outside the ring which allowed Jane to hit her finisher and pick up the win.

Bout #3
#1 Contenders Match
Combat Girl defeated Becky Hennig by pinfall after a cobra clutch suplex at 4:49
**bit of a change to her finisher as the fan favourite didn't wait for the submission, turning it into a suplex instead.

Bout #4
Streetfight
Angel defeated Adam Knight by 10 count in a Streetfight at 9:20
**Vicious match that could have gone either way, with both men battering each other and putting each other through tables. Both were bleeding from the head, but Angel was far worse, with his bald head looking like a horror mask. In the end though Darren Dalton came out, and everyone assumed he was there to help his partner Knight when Angel was setting him up on a table. But instead as Knight tried to get off the table Dalton clotheslined him, then placed him on the table. Angel came with a bodypress off the top buckle and drove Knight through the table. He could not beat the 10 count after that.

Post-Match:
Darren Dalton basically says he carried Knight, and he is already sick of being the fall guy. So it's no more Mr. Nice Guy from here on in for him.
 

Hour #2

Bout #5
RCW Television Title Match
Best 2 out of 3 Falls
Nikolai Kishka vs Ben Bassarab
**the first fall was a complete brawl between these two based on their recent couple of matches and the bad blood that resulted. Finally Bassarab came off the top rope with his finisher, but Kishka rolled through, got 1, 2, Bassarab rolled through, got 1, Kishka rolled through got 1, grabbed a handful of tights, 2, 3!!
[Nikolai Kishka wins fall by pinfall after rolling through a diving crossbody block at 7:38]
**as if realizing that their strengths lie with a more classic wrestling style, both men decided to take it down a notch and actually wrestle. Both men took turns controlling the action on the mat. Kishka went for a Texas cloverleaf, but Bassarab countered with an ankle lock and the champ decided to submit after about 10 seconds and save himself for the second fall.
[Ben Bassarab wins fall by submission to an anklelock at 12:11]
**the third fall started with some chain wrestling and about a dozen near falls. Bassarab then worked a series of armbars and then bodyscissors. Kishka was wounded but fought back with chops to the throat, a reverse Russian legsweep and then an armbar series of his own. They then fought each other on the floor, then up the aisle, with the ref letting them go at it. Back inside Bassarab climbed to the top rope but Kishka did a springboard somersault colliding into the corner but also kicking Bassarab at the same time. The challenger crotched himself, and Kishka climbed up with his back to Bassarab, wrapped an arm around his head and pulled him off with a neckbreaker. The champ covered and got the 3 count.
[Nikolai Kishka wins fall by pinfall after a top rope neckbreaker at 18:47]
[Nikolai Kishka retained the RCW Television Title 2 falls to 1 in 18:47]

Main Event
RCW Heavyweight Title Match
Vendetta defeated Slapshot by pinfall after a hotshot at 7:50
[Vendetta retained the RCW Heavyweight Title]
**This was the main event because it was for the big title, but most felt rightfully so that the previous match was the big one of the night. Slapshot gave Vendetta some trouble but he took too long trying to use his hockey stick as referee Buddy Lane warned him it would be a DQ, and Vendetta ended up delivering a kick to the stick which smacked the challenger in the face and knocked him off the ring apron. Slapshot fell on the floor with the stick on top of him, and Vendetta went out after him nailing a legdrop onto the stick. He then rolled Slapshot back into the ring. The challenger took a swing at the champ who ducked, waist cinched him and dropped him throat first across the top rope to pick up the win.


That's it for another edition of River City Wrestling. See ya next week!

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #730
May 30, 1998
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Another All-Ladies episode of River City Wrestling!

Hour #1

Opening Bout
Amanda Garrity defeated Sharon Montgomery by pinfall after a double underhook facebuster at 4:40
**Garrity, a fitness competitor returns to a RCW ring against the premier of Sharon Montgomery. Sharon is a tall, picturesque competitor, but not as athletic as Garrity and that made all the difference.

Bout #2
Julie Ann Gerhard defeated Sheona Stewart by submission to the torture rack at 3:56
**Another fitness competitor getting the better of another wrestler making her premiere. Unlike Montgomery, Stewart was a shorter, thicker girl.

Bout #3
Heather Kennedy defeated Vine by pinfall after a top rope clothesline at 5:44
**Vine, returning to RCW, controlled much of the match, working rest holds, but Kennedy picked up a much needed win.

Bout #4
Tammy Rief defeated Mercedes by pinfall after a superplex at 3:32
**Mercedes returns to the ring but had very little interest in locking up, just avoiding the returning Rief.

Bout #5
Winners Will Face Off
Christine Law & Starla Saxton defeated Becky Hennig & Daisy Rhodes by pinfall when Saxton pinned Rhodes after a double slingshot suplex at 4:48
**interesting stipulation, that the winners would then face off against each other in a #1 contenders match. Many were eagerly anticipating the Daisy Dukes winning and then imploding against each other but that didn't happen as Rhodes made a mistake coming off the top rope too early and this led to the faces taking the win.

Hour #2

Bout #6
#1 Contenders Match
Starla Saxton defeated Christine Law by pinfall after a Frankensteiner at 5:50
**looks like Saxton will get another title shot.

Bout #7
Runaway Jane defeated Jeanne Basone by pinfall after a Texas piledriver at 8:41
**return match from April where Jane won, but was attacked by "Hollywood" after the bout. That beatdown may have cost Jane the tournament as she lost to Kixxx in the final.

Main Event
North American Women's Title Match
Nikki Kixxx defeated Combat Girl by pinfall after a spinning heel kick at 6:49
[Nikki Kixxx retained the North American Women's Title]
**Kixxx controlled early but the upstart Combat Girl made a spirited comeback. Kixxx though pulled the referee Jennifer Greaves in front of her when CG was running toward her, forcing the challenger to awkwardly abort whatever move she was going for. Her knee kind of buckled, and this allowed Kixxx to apply a facebuster, and then her finisher and pick up a quick win.


That's it for this special All-Ladies edition of River City Wrestling. See ya next week!!