| QUOTE |
| NWA: Central States Wrestling continued their campaign of “Making the Old School New Again” tonight as they held their first house show in Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays, KS. The show was attended by approximately 1,500 fans. Theories for the low attendance number all trace to a sever thunderstorm that had kept the entire area under a tornado watch for the evening. The show opened exactly as all episodes of Cyclone do, with a Spotlight match. Brent Albright, accompanied to the ring by Ken Shamrock, defeated Kid Kash in a well fought 8 minute match. The finish came when Albright, dominant through most of the match, latched on the Crowbar submission at the urging of the very vocal Shamrock at ringside. That dichotomy is odd, but it seems to work for them. Danny Doring and Roadkill teamed up to take on rarely used CSW stars, Gangrel and Vampiro. In what was just an extended squash, Doring and Roadkill dominated this match from bell to bell. I was a little shocked to see the CSW office give Doring and Roadkill such a nice push, considering the comments Doring made on Mix 103FM early today regarding Jeff Jarrett and Brock Lesnar’s lack of ability. The finish seemed to be botched, as Doring was going for some sort of top rope move as Roadkill moved to put Gangrel on his shoulders but then moved quickly to a pin. It was a confusing moment in a pretty mediocre match. Austin Aries made a rare singles appearance, with Roderick Strong late to the show due to the storm affecting his travel schedule, facing Elix Skipper in a very high quality match. Aries took the win just shy of the 15 minute mark with a brain buster followed by the 450 splash. Without a doubt this was the highlight of the night to this point. Aries was extremely over with the crowd. Next, the fans were treated to the sight of the ever gorgeous Trish Stratus and her boy toy, Petey Williams. I don’t care how big of a bitch she is, that woman is smoking hot. Trish and Petey cut a promo talking about how nobody in this hick town is capable of challenging the “greatest specimen of man to ever set foot in this one horse town”. That comment is met by the music of Maven! Maven comes out and we have a KC Border Title Match between Petey and Maven. This was a great match with both men exchanging offense. The finish came at about the 18 minute mark when Trish Stratus distracted the ref allowing Petey to hit Maven with the Border title and get the three count. The fans seemed to be really into this match, but were visibly disappointed they didn’t get to see the Canadian Destroyer. During intermission fans were able to pay 10 bucks to have their picture taken in the ring with Alex Shelley. I’m not paying 10 bucks to get my picture with anybody but Trish, sorry, CSW. After intermission, Joel Gertner is in the ring. He does pretty much the exact same promo that he had done on Cyclone previously, just live this time. And wearing his trademark neck brace. That guy can draw heat like no other. Gertner stays at ringside for the next match, scouting, I guess, as the Natural Born Thrillers of Sean O’Haire and Mark Jindrak come out to face the Mexicools. The Thrillers are bigger than I expected in person. This was a classic formula tag match with Crazy playing face in peril for most of the match. The Thrillers even pulled one of my favorite moves, the clap tag behind the ref’s back. I love that move. The finish came as Crazy and Jindrak brawled on the floor and O’Haire nailed the Shining Wizard on Psicosis for the win. One hell of a match that drew a standing ovation from the very pleased crowd. Samoa Joe came out to face Low-Ki next. Ki and Joe put on a match that didn’t quite live up to what I expected, but that’s not saying anything too bad, considering the expectations I have for these guys. Still, great match that ends at about 20 minutes with a muscle buster by Joe. Joe was by far the most over guy on the roster tonight. Alex Shelley and Xpac were out next. Another classic from these two. I was front row and it really seemed that these two legitimately despise each other. They were shouting right in each other’s faces and spitting on each other. The chops were amazingly stiff. I have to say, I’m amazed by the work these two men did to get their hatred of each other over. I hope we haven’t seen the last of this match. Finish was a double countout, yet nobody in the crowd felt cheated. Finally, the main event. Triple H came out to put his CSW title on the line against former champ Jeff Jarrett. Standard match between these two, which would have stolen most shows, but this lineup was so packed that I’d only be able to call it 4th best. Ending came with interference from the Outlaws. This led to a run in by Aries and Strong and a big brawl involving Jarrett, Aries and Strong on one side and Triple H and the Outlaws on the other. It was a very hot way to end the night, though I was upset about the two non finishes in a row. All in all a great show, I’d highly recommend it to anybody to see these guys when they come to your town, though I don’t recommend the beer. They charged 5 bucks for a watered down Bud Light. Bastards. Credit Sam Wooderson. |