June 2001

[managermike99]

Roster

Faces
Sam Holiday
Al Hardamann
Adam Knight
Joe Malenko
Raymond Bingham
Ryan Price
Zakk Wylde
The Patriot 
Ace Darling (NEW)
Devon Storm (NEW)

Heels
Bryan Caruthers
Jerry Orth
Stan Baker
Vincent Regliatti
Tiger Khan
Derek St. Holmes, Esq
"Venom" Paul Diamond
Max Pain
Kevin Matthews 
Ed "The Hammer" Harris 
Matt Fairlane
Darren Dalton
Jesse Hennig (NEW)
Lord Zoltan (NEW)

Women
Dawn Marie
Jessica Judd


Injured
"Total Destruction" Steve Riley
Stan Malenko


Other
Jack Larkin - Owner
Greg Gagne - Commissioner/Head Booker
Buddy Lane - Head Referee/Booker
Jennifer Greaves - Referee/Road Agent
Shiela Bloom - Referee/Road Agent
Joe Aiello - Play by Play/Interviews
Linley Tolbert - Color Commentary
Vic Gate - Trainer/Road Agent

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #878
June 2, 2001
Saulk Centre, Minnesota

Dark Matches Before RAGE

Opening Bout
Bryan Caruthers defeated Ryan Price by pinfall after a spinebuster slam at 4:30
**glorified squash match for one half of the tag team champions

Bout #2
The Extremists: Ace Darling & Devon Storm defeated Tiger Khan & Derek St. Holmes by pinfall when Darling pinned Holmes after a moonsault at 8:02
**the return of former RCW Tag Team champions.

Bout #3
Joe Malenko (/w Stan Malenko) defeated Jerry Orth (/w Bryan Caruthers) by submission to the Texas cloverleaf at 12:26
**very good match. Stan is still injured but was able to help his cousin to a victory by keeping an eye on Caruthers.

Bout #4
Hardcore Rules
Adam Knight defeated Darren Dalton by pinfall after a powerbomb through a table at 7:34
**perhaps the final chapter in this mini-feud between former friends.

Bout #5
North American Women's Title Match
Dawn Marie defeated Jessica Judd by pinfall after a superplex at 6:00
[Dawn Marie retained the North American Women's Title]
**nothing really new here.


RCW RAGE - One Hour Episode

Bout #6
Kevin Matthews defeated Raymond Bingham by pinfall after a to the knees powerbomb at 8:39
**rubber match between these two top youngsters. In the end power and size won over athleticism and technioque.

Main Event
Non-Title Fatal Five Way Elimination
Sam Holiday vs Vincent Regliatti vs Max Pain vs Al Hardamann vs Patriot
[Al Hardamann eliminated by Sam Holiday by pinfall after a running legdrop at 5:41]
[The Patriot eliminated by Max Pain by pinfall after a death valley driver at 6:40]
[Max Pain eliminated by Vincent Regliatti by pinfall after a doomsday device (/w Sam Holiday) at 9:13]
[Sam Holiday eliminated by Vincent Regliatti by submission to the figure-four at 15:20]
[Vincent Regliatti wins the Fatal Five Way Eilmination at 15:20]
**Holiday surprised everyone by eliminating his friend first in the bout. After being eliminated, a minute later Max Pain returned to the ring to attack both Regliatti and Holiday. RCW officials had to restore order and both men were now slowed down by the damage sustained. The last couple minutes of this bout were fought at a snail's pace. Big win for Regliatti to keep him in place as the #1 contender.

FADE TO BLACK

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #879
June 9, 2001
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Dark Matches Before RAGE

Opening Bout
Matt Fairlane defeated Zakk Wylde by pinfall after a somersault splash at 7:34
**decent opener between two good workers. Fairlane has had a recent turn in attitude and he is all about himself now.

Bout #2
Joe Malenko defeated Derek St. Holmes by submission to the Texas cloverleaf at 5:29
**Holmes never stood a chance.

Bout #3
Tiger Khan defeated Adam Knight by submission to the STF at 9:10
**Khan was without St. Holmes to start the bout due to the beating he took in the previous bout. However, he was able to come out just in time to provide a timely distraction for Khan.

Bout #4
Raymond Bingham defeated "Venom" Paul Diamond by pinfall after a Northern lights suplex at 7:48
**solid match between two mid-carders. Bingham is on his way up in the world, Diamond is near the end of his career.

Bout #5
The Patriot defeated Kevin Matthews by pinfall after a full nelson slam at 11:21
**another solid, competitive match. Patriot is a veteran yet seemed like the underdog at times. In the end though Matthews missed with an avalanche attempt, and Patriot nailed the finisher. Post-Match. Matthews was a sore loser and attacked Patriot after the bell. He put him in a torture rack until RCW officials forced him to release the hold.


RCW RAGE - One Hour Episode

Bout #6
The Extremists: Ace Darling & Devon Storm defeated Stan Baker & Ed "the Hammer" Harris by pinfall when Storm pinned Harris after a missile dropkick at 6:25
**Baker looked disgusted with the quality of his partner and made no effort to break up the pin.

Bout #7
RCW Television Title Match
Max Pain defeated Al Hardamann by disqualification for use of a foreign object at 5:27
[Al Hardamann retained the RCW Television Title]
**these two were part of the fatal five way two weeks ago, but the week before that Pain was DQ'd in his match against Hardamann by refusing referee instructions and just continuing to attack the champ. This time it went the other way with Hardamann losing his temper and ending up using a steel chair to lay out Pain and getting himself disqualfied.

Main Event
RCW Heavyweight Title Match
Sam Holiday and Vincent Regliatti battled to a television time limit draw at around 11:00
[Sam Holiday retained the RCW Heavyweight Title]
**Regliatti can't buy a break, or some people might feel that is just karma. He is actually in control of the bout when time runs out on the television show. No one is happy as we,


FADE TO BLACK

Dark Match
RCW Heavyweight Title Match
Sam Holiday defeated Vincent Regliatti by countout at 16:36
[Sam Holiday retained the RCW Heavyweight Title]
**the champ agreed to put the title on the line again against Regliatti. It was decided after a few minute break that this would be a new match, with a new clock. So overall these two went over 26 minutes before a decision was rendered in favour of the champ. Both men were exhausted and Holiday managed to catch Regs going for a cross body, the two backed into the ropes and both went over. Holiday managed to slip into the ring (Regs tried to grab his boot but he kicked the challenger right in the face) to beat the count. It looked like Regs may have had a broken nose from the kick.

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #880
June 16, 2001
Sioux City, Iowa

Dark Matches Before RAGE

Opening Bout
Lord Zoltan defeated Zakk Wylde by pinfall after a jumping DDT at 8:10
**Zoltan makes his return to RCW, and it's in the ring not at ringside as a manager. He frustrated Wylde with his stalling and cheating tactics causing him to make mistakes.
Announcer Linley Tolbert asked the question if Derek St. Holmes' spot as the #1 worm in RCW is now up for grabs.

Bout #2
Ryan Price defeated Darren Dalton by pinfall after flying headscissors at 5:53
**Price countered a powerbomb with flying headscissors for the win.

Bout #3
Ed "the Hammer" Harris defeated Adam Knight by pinfall after a flying forearm at 7:25
**Darren Dalton returned to ringside and distracted his former partner, allowing a low blow and the the finisher for Harris.

Bout #4
#1 TV Title Contender Match
Raymond Bingham defeated Tiger Khan (/w Derek St. Holmes) by pinfall after a Northern lights suplex at 10:27
**Big win for the youngster. The two traded hold for hold in some good displays of technical prowess. However when it looked like Holmes was getting a pair of brass knux ready to pass to his man Khan, from the back came Lord Zoltan and shocked the crowd by wrestling the knux away from Holmes. This distracted Khan long enough to turn the tide of the bout and less than a minute later Bingham had won the bout. In the meantime, Zoltan just left for the back with the knux, giving no explanation for his actions.

Bout #5
The Patriot defeated Kevin Matthews by pinfall after a full nelson slam at 6:27
**rematch from last week. Once again the Patriot won the bout, but he got revenge for the post match beat down last week from Matthews.

Bout #6
Stan Baker & Jesse Hennig defeated The Extremists: Ace Darling & Devon Storm by pinfall when Hennig pinned Darling after a running necksnap at 9:32
**Match-up of two former RCW Tag Championship teams. After losing last week with Ed Harris as his partner, Baker went out and brought back his old partner Jesse Hennig to the territory for a rematch. The two cheated every chance they could but the result was still about as clean as you will get when heels win. 


RCW RAGE - One Hour Episode

Highlights of the dark matches are shown, as well as of the dark match last week when Holiday and Regliatti restarted their bout after the TV show had ended in their time limit draw.

Bout #7
RCW Tag Team Title Match
The Spinebusters: Jerry Orth & Bryan Caruthers defeated Joe & Stan Malenko by pinfall when Orth pinned Joe after a top rope kneedrop at 7:16
[The Spinebusters retained the RCW Tag Team Titles]
**no feeling out process was needed in this one as the teams are now quite familiar with each other, and have much animosity. The main storyline of the bout was that maybe Stan had come back from injury too soon as he seemed a bit slow, and Joe tried to stay in the ring as much as possible. That is not a path to victory when you are against such a solid team as the Busters.

Main Event
RCW Television Title Match
CAGE MATCH
Al Hardamann defeated Max Pain by pinfall after a top rope fistdrop at 11:29
[Al Hardamann retained the RCW Television Title]
**Pain gave the champ everything he could handle and controlled most of the first 7 or 8 minutes of this bout, busting Hardamann open and continually raking his head across the cage to spread the blood. In the end the champ made a comeback, and hit his finisher Vertebreaker..but Pain was able to kick out. So Hardamann nailed a running bulldog and then climbed the top and came down with the fist to get the duke.

FADE TO BLACK


Untelevised Bout #8
RCW Heavyweight Title Match
Sam Holiday defeated Vincent Regliatti by pinfall after a running legdrop at 15:52
[Sam Holiday retained the RCW Heavyweight Title]
**This match was held live just before the cage was erected for the main event. However, this match was not shown on television, but then again the live fans did not get to see the same two men go at it in the dark match from last week which was now highlighted at the start of the TV broadcast. This allowed the usual time constraints of TV to be lifted and let these two have a good house show style bout. Regliatti gave a good effort but Holiday is just too much of an alpha male with size to get beat right now.

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #881
June 23, 2001
Davenport, Iowa

Dark Matches Before RAGE

Opening Bout
Vincent Regliatti defeated Zakk Wylde by submission to the figure-four at 5:10
**a bit of a tradition in RCW is that when you lose a feud with the heavyweight champion you fall all the way to the opener. In this case Regliatti definitely had a chip on his shoulder and wrestled with a lot of intensity. He risked a revere decision by refusing to break the hold ntil the last possible second; than gave the knee of Wylde a couple extra stomps.

Bout #2
Tiger Khan defeated Matt Fairlane by pinfall after a Tiger suplex at 6:21
**another glorified squash match. Khan really enjoyed doling out punishment. He was not seconded in this bout by Derek St. Holmes as his manager prepares for his own match tonight.

Bout #3
Derek St. Holmes, Esq defeated Lord Zoltan by disqualification for use of a foreign object at 6:44
**the battle of the weasel managers but the fans were behind the cajun Zoltan who seemed to be taking the high road since returning to RCW. St. Holmes apparently traded in his wrestling boots for track shoes as he kept his distance early. Both men had a chunk of the match they controlled. Then after a suplex when making the cover St. Holmes placed a pair of brass knux into the palm of Zoltan. When the N'Orleans native got to his feet he opened his fist and the knux fell out. Seeing this referee Shiela Bloom called for the DQ despite the pleadings of both Zoltan and the crowd.

Bout #4
Adam Knight & Ryan Price defeated Ed Harris & Darren Dalton by pinfall when Knight pinned Harris after a release powerbomb at 8:19
**filler. Knight gets a measure of revenge for his loss to Harris last week that was due in part to his former partner Dalton's distraction.

Bout #5
Joe & Stan Malenko and The Extremists: Ace Darling & Devon Storm battled to a double countout at 9:40
**well this was a surprise ending to a battle between two fan favourite teams. The Malenkos tried to keep the pace slow and grounded while the Extremists tried to pick it up. It started in the Malenkos favour but then the Extremists took over. Then tempers flared and before you know it we had a four man brawl outside the ring and head referee Buddy Lane counted both teams out. The brawl lasted for a couple more minutes until RCW officials could break it up.


RCW RAGE - One Hour Episode

Bout #6
RCW Tag Team Title Match
Jesse Hennig & Stan Baker defeated The Spinebusters: Jerry Orth & Bryan Caruthers by disqualification for abuse of official at 8:47
[The Spinebusters retained the RCW Tag Team Titles]
**heels versus heels, and the fans were really split on who to cheer for. Actually the crowd wasn't really into this bout until near the end because they didn't like either team. Caruthers and Hennig were the best workers by far and Baker the strongest, while Orth is the sneakiest. Every time the champs tried to cut the ring in half or double team on an exchange the challengers would just fight fire with fire and had no qualms about entering the ring. In the end Hennig had nailed Orth with his running neck snap and made the cover, but Caruthers came in to break it up. Maybe unable to reach Hennig in time Caruthers instead jumped on referee Shiela Bloom to cause the DQ. After the bout the challengers thrashed the champions around the ring until they were able to slip away, grab their titles and flee.

Bout #7
RCW Television Title Match
Al Hardamann defeated Raymond Bingham by pinfall after a vertebreaker at 11:52
[Al Hardamann retained the RCW Television Title]
**solid match between two fan favourites but the crowd was firmly behind the more established champion. Bingham out wrestled and out worked Hardamann for a good deal of the bout but could not put him away. Hardamann was too cagey, and then his moves too explosive for Bingham to deal with. After the bout Bingham was unconsolable, despite the efforts of Hardamann to offer his congratulations on a great match.

Main Event
Sam Holiday & The Patriot defeated Max Pain & Kevin Matthews by pinfall when Holiday pinned Matthews after a top rope legdrop at 9:06
**two top faces pair up against two top heels. Pain and Matthews did not work well together and disagreed, and that was their downfall as the faces got along amicably. In the end the fans were sent home happy without the stock of Pain or Matthews as singles threats being diminished greatly.
 
FADE TO BLACK


Breaking kayfabe;
And fade to black indeed. Unknown at the time this would be the last event held until September. Things were barely hanging on at RCW as the fed tried to work out a deal with a bigger umbrella organization. Unfortunately from now until 2004 there would be several breaks in continuity and a couple "restarts". On the plus side when RCW returns in September the cards being posted were actually done at that time, I will not have to do them retroactively (except for some gap filling). I am very fond of these cards as they are angle and personality heavy. When RCW returns in September it will be part of the umbrella WWA organization that was run by Carl Todd / John Frerickson, that had its own history and way of doing things. I am looking forward to this new (old) section of River City Wrestling history!! See ya soon.