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DWF 10/03/08

91Posted on 08/19/06 at 19:56:10

ROYAL RUMBLE QUALIFIER: Rob Van Dam vs Chavo Classic

Five more men were slated to qualify for the Royal Rumble today but we are left
very much in doubt over the first of those five to qualify. The show opened
with DWF veteran and former champion Rob Van Dam, one of three men to have
competed in every Royal Rumble to date, taking on tough opposition in Chavo
Classic. Van Dam kept the early pace quick, forcing Chavo to quickly grind it
down as he worked in an abdominal stretch whilst using the ropes and lying about
it to the referee. Van Dam eventually hiptossed his way out but appeared to be
struggling somewhat. The comeback came from RVD and all was looking well after
the Rolling Thunder, but the trouble came when Van Dam hit the Five Star Frog
Splash. Van Dam was left lying on top of Chavo for the three count but then
rolled off him and didn't get up. After being checked over by officials, RVD
was stretchered out of the arena and taken straight to a hospital. No word on
his condition but it certainly looked serious. For now, Van Dam is in the
Rumble but whether he'll make it there is another matter entirely.

[Royal Rumble Qualifier]:
Rob Van Dam pinned Chavo Classic with the Five Star Frog Splash in 0:08:54.
Rob Van Dam suffered a broken back. He will be out for a while.
Rating: *** 1/2

Christian vs Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle is an angry man. Desperately wanting a chance to win the Royal
Rumble for an unprecedented second time, he's found himself forced into a match
with Rhyno that he didn't want. Before his match today, Angle was interviewed
backstage about his match with Christian. Angle called Christian a Canadian
suck-up wannabe American bastard, but quickly changed paces to Rhyno. Angle
said that OK, Rhyno may be American but he acts like a stinking communist
asshole which effectively makes him foreign in his eyes.

Angles remarks had gotten himself fired up and in the mood for this one, and
certainly Christian as good as he is wouldn't have been expected to really
live with Angle in this one. Still, he certainly used his speed to his
advantage and held his own very well. Angle was of course always superior when
it came to the technical wrestling and was looking good for the win when he
picked Christian up for the Olympic Slam. He hit the move but at the same time
the outstretched leg of Christian caught the ref. Realising he wasn't getting
the three count he desired, Angle hooked on an anklelock. At this point Rhyno
charged down to the ring and took Angle off his feet with a huge Gore. Smarting
from the anklelock, and having tapped out, Christian crawled over and covered
Angle with the ref coming round in time to count the three.

A big upset and Angle was livid, shouting and screaming for Rhyno when he got
backstage afterwards. And naturally he won't have to try hard to find Rhyno
in the coming weeks, particularly when we reach Last Man Standing.

Christian pinned Kurt Angle after outside interference in 0:07:18.
Rating: ****

ROYAL RUMBLE QUALIFIER: Bobby Eaton vs Ulf Herman

The second Rumble qualifier saw the massive Ulf Herman take on former TV champ
Bobby Eaton. After being the loser of the fall in last weeks big handicap match
there was a lot of pride for Ulf to maintain. For Eaton meanwhile, the last few
months have seen a series of "nearlys" and "almosts", notably his battles with
Steve Corino for the TV title. Herman jumped Eaton at the bell and quickly wore
him down with his obvious strength advantage but the wily Eaton was able swing
things his way with his more technical skills. With Alex Wright at ringside
however, Eaton was always going to have problems.

Wright did indeed prove a distraction allowing Herman to keep a hold over Eaton
for some time. Naturally Eaton made a comeback and had Herman rocking somewhat,
going so far as to knock him off his feet with a bulldog, Eaton saw his
opportunity and headed up for the Alabama Jam, only for Wright to whack Eaton
on the shin with the whip. Eaton was momentarily distracted and began arguing
with Wright. This allowed Herman to get back to his feet and lift Eaton off
the apron before drilling him with the powerbomb for the win. And with that,
Wright now has some serious backup in the Royal Rumble.

[Royal Rumble Qualifier]:
Ulf Herman pinned Bobby Eaton with the Power Bomb in 0:06:57.
Rating: *** 1/2

Lance Storm vs Billy Kidman

The Syndicate were sure to have an interesting day today, with both in singles
action taking on the cream of the crop. With Ken Shamrock challenging Don
Muraco, there was the possibility, albeit a long shot, of the world title
changing hands. Lance Storm however had a match of a different nature, against
former world champion Billy Kidman. Kidman beating the Rock'n'Roll Express
last week has done a lot for his confidence and with Steve Corino in his
corner watching his back, Kidman had the advantage. Shamrock had offered to
even things up but Lance insisted, in a very unselfish act, that he stay back
so he could prepare and to ensure he stayed at 100% for his title match.

Corino actually kept his distance by and large without intefering but when
Kidman had the advantage, he seemed to acknowledge Corinos presence, giving him
the thumbs up and almost thanking Corino for his support. And when Lance Storm
had the advantage, Corino was shouting encouragement that seemed to spur
Kidman on. Truth be told it was quite a close one, but Kidman seemed to have
that extra something on this night. After a tornado DDT, Kidman looked to have
had it and turned to Corino again only to see Corino was now admiring himself
in the reflection of his television title. Kidman didn't appreciate that
Corinos attention was distracted and called out to him. The two exchanged some
brief banter that allowed Storm to recover. Thinking quick, Lance grabbed
Kidman and shot him into the ropes, catching him with a Frankensteiner for the
victory.

Storm wisely didn't hang around, as Kidman was hot at another defeat, and
was now unhappy at Corino. Corino calmly explained his innocence in the
situation and though we couldn't hear all he was saying, we could gather two
things - Corino is there to support Kidman, and Corino is the TV champ (lord
knows he pointed at the belt and waved it around enough times). Kidman eased
up and gave Corino the benefit of the doubt, but he needs some wins, and fast.

Lance Storm pinned Billy Kidman after a Frankensteiner in 0:07:09.
Rating: **** 1/4

Juventud Guerrera appears on the Kings Court

On the Kings Court today was Juventud Guerrera who was furious at being cost a
chance to enter the Royal Rumble and firmly blamed "Spastic Tanaka" for losing
their Rumble qualifier to Rey Mysterio, rather than Juvi blaming himself. Juvi
declared that not being in the Rumble wouldn't matter as he was looking at
taking that title that has eluded him all these years, the cruiserweight title,
and that 2008 would be the year of Juventud. Kanyon mumbled something about
2007 having supposedly been the year of Juventud too, but nobody heard him.

Guerrera meanwhile was about to rip into Tanaka a bit more when Chris Jericho
stormed the ring and, from behind, snatched the sceptre away from King Kanyon.
Swinging it wildly, Kanyon and Juventud both bailed, whilst Jericho began
smashing up the Kings Court set whilst Kanyon yelled and pointed at Jericho in
a threatening manner. After what happened last week, Jericho no doubt has a lot
more to do in order to even the score with Kanyon. And as a result of this
weeks Kings Court, it has been announced that at Last Man Standing, we will
see Juventud Guerrera take on Masato Tanaka while Chris Jericho challenges the
king himself King Kanyon.

ROYAL RUMBLE QUALIFIER: Dean Malenko vs "The Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman

The third Rumble qualifier saw Dean Malenko taking on the Loose Cannon Brian
Pillman. With Pillman in action tonight, this meant Sean O'Haire was barred
from the building as per the announcement last week that they would be kept
apart in order to prevent anything kicking off. That said, we saw that O'Haire
was watching on from a nearby hotel bar and O'Haire made it clear that he
thought Pillman was using his recent viciousness and hatred for all men in way
of compensating for something else. We'll leave THAT to the imagination.

Pillman started the match off hot, attacking Malenko as soon as the bell rung
and tearing into him in a vicious manner, attacking his face with repeated
punches and in due course the action spilled to the outside where Malenko was
thrown into the steps, the guardrail and timekeepers table. Pillman would
repeatedly break the count in order to continue the assault whilst Malenko lay
beaten on the outside. When it got back inside, Malenko briefly clasped a
couple of holds on but it didn't last as Pillmans ferocious attack continued,
focusing on the head and after ramming his head into the turnbuckles, the
woozy Malenko was easy prey for a DDT and thusly the pin.

Pillman didn't leave it there however. He gave the DDT twice more to Malenko
who had been well and truly brutalised. Pillman was finally ushered out of
the ringside area by officials, whom he threatened (as well as several ringside
fans) and led to the back. Meanwhile, Sean O'Haire looked on several miles
away, not saying anything, with a face that conveyed a mixture of seething
rage and disturbance at how violent Pillman has become.

[Royal Rumble Qualifier]:
Brian Pillman pinned Dean Malenko with the DDT in 0:07:39.
Rating: *** 1/2

Paul Romas pussy challenge

Ever desperate for the respect they crave, Paul Roma and the Mean Street Posse
were out today to demand such respect again but this time they wanted a three
on two handicap match and vowed to light every candelabra in the arena until
they got what they wanted. The "pussy challenge" as it now seems to be known,
was answered by the duo of Low Ki and Kid Kash, the latter having recovered
well from his beating at the hands of Don Muraco two weeks ago.

Low Ki and Kid Kash hurled the candelabras down the aisle and took it to the
so-called demonic trio. Grabbing the last candelabra, Ki and Kash used it to
execute a double clothesline of sorts on Roma, sending him from the ring. In
no time at all, Low Ki flattened Pete Gas with the Ki Krusher whilst Kid Kash
hit the Money Maker on Rodney and threw him out. Low Ki, of course, got the
easy pin. Next weeks match will be much tougher however as they face Doug
Furnas and Phil LaFon in a Royal Rumble qualifier.

Handicap-Match:
Kid Kash and Low Ki defeated
The Mean Street Posse (Pete Gas and Rodney) and Paul Roma when Ki pinned Gas
with the Ki Krusher '99 in 0:02:56.
Rating: * 3/4

ROYAL RUMBLE QUALIFIER: The Young Lions vs La Resistance (IC tag champs, non title match)

The final Royal Rumble qualifier saw The Young Lions take on Intercontinental
tag team champions La Resistance in a non title match. La Resistance started
things off by declaring the Royal Rumble matches one of the great American
traditions that all the American fans should be proud of, before adding that
it was French-Canadian Pat Patterson who had invented the match in the first
place. Oh dear.

The Young Lions, sick of hearing this diatribe, ran down to the ring and lept
upon the French duo to get things started. The Lions certainly used this early
advantage well and repeated double team moves that repeatedly sent Dupree to
the mat and Grenierout of the ring to the floor. The ref never really got
control and his one attempt at maintaining order saw him trying to get Joey
Matthews from the ring. Grenier used this distraction to nail York with the
American flag and Dupree put him away with the French Riviera, and Dupree and
Grenier have a thoroughly undeserved entry into the Royal Rumble.

La Resistance (Rene Dupree and Sylvain Grenier) defeated
The Young Lions (Christian York and Joey Matthews) when R. Dupree pinned York
with the French Riviera in 0:02:38.
Rating: ** 1/4

Don Muraco (c) vs Ken Shamrock (world heavyweight title)

So to Ken Shamrocks big chance against the world heavyweight champion Don
Muraco. 'Chance' may not have been the right word as despite all of Shamrocks
credentials, Muraco was still the heavy favourite as always. Shamrock didn't
hold back though, attacking Muraco with some stiff kicks to the quads right
away that rocked Muraco to a degree and left him hobbling for the rest of the
match. Still, Muraco naturally came into it by overpowering Shamrock and
working him over. Shamrock however was putting up a great fight by grabbing
body parts and trying to lock on submission holds.

Muraco was still dominating proceedings by and large but was clearly having
difficulty in putting Shamrock away. Kenny came back into things and started
hitting Muraco with fast strikes that startled the champ. Muraco thought fast
however and when Shamrock went in for one of his patented belly to belly
suplexes, Muraco nailed him with a forearm across the ribs that dropped
Shamrock. Shamrock appeared to be hurt and Muraco quickly capitalised with a
Tombstone that was able to put away Ken Shamrock.

As tough as that had been (and it should be noted that as often as Muraco was
slumped in the ropes, Shamrock still never knocked him off his feet), Muraco
wasn't done for the evening. With Shamrock helped out, Muraco seemed to have
the world at his feet after another title defense. Grabbing a mic, Muraco
declared that as far as he was concerned, there were no challengers left in
the DWF. Muraco was eager to defend the belt but said he was getting sick of
the same few guys coming after his title and he wanted a NEW challenger. He
demanded to hear from anyone in the back that had never challenged him for his
title to come out and make such a challenge.

At first nobody answered, and Muraco began to get quite agitated, protesting
that there must be SOMEBODY! And that's when it happened, the music hit and
instantly Muraco, Jeff Hardy, and everyone else in the arena recognised it as
being that of JERRY LYNN! Muraco was shocked to see the former champ as sure
enough he made his way out from behind the curtain, but stayed back where he
was so as to say what he needed to say - Lynn noted that Muraco may have beaten
him twice but he NEVER defended the belt against him, and very soon, Muraco
would have to do just that. And on that note, Lynn made his exit again. Looks
like Muraco may well finally have his hands full again.

Don Muraco pinned Ken Shamrock with the Tombstone in 0:08:14.
Rating: ***
(Don Muraco retained the Heavyweight Title.)
Snabbit888Posted on 08/19/06 at 22:50:23

Uh oh... not good for RVD.  He seems to get seriously injured a lot.  Fucked his neck up in GCW and was out for a year... not he breaks his back in DWF and is sure to be out for a long time.  Wonder if Chavo Classic will take credit for it.

Wow... Christian picks up a huge, albeit cheap, over Angle.  Stupid Rhyno... quit bugging people!

Ulf is the greatest name ever, for the record.  Poor Bobby Eaton.  He needs to be British royalty again with Regal.  THAT will turn his career around!

There's something highly humorous to me about the image of Corino wildly waving the TV Title around saying, "I am the Television champion" while Kidman is crying over being a loser head.  Storm with a good win here, and you're right, Kidman doesn't need some more wins fast.

Though both matches should be good, neither Juvi vs. Tanaka or Jericho vs. Kanyon will set the world on fire.  But, it's nice to see you spicing it up a bit and getting some guys on PPV that haven't been there in awhile.

Pillman is going to the Rumble, and every time he wrestles, he gets just a bit scarier.  You've done a great job at pushing him as completely unstable and I fear for O'Haire's well being.

Paul Roma's Pussy Challenge!  Hooray for Low-Ki and Kid Kash.

La Resistance in the Rumble.  There is sure to be a lot of French tomfoolery abound.

I was wondering when Lynn would return.  He is the golden boy of DWF and had been the most dominant champion.  He was about the only guy I could think of to challenge Muraco at Wrestlefest.  The only problem is that he was so thoroughly decimated by Muraco when the Don won the belt.  But good to see Lynn back.
91Posted on 08/20/06 at 00:22:37

On 08/19/06 at 22:50:23, Snabbit888 wrote:
Though both matches should be good, neither Juvi vs. Tanaka or Jericho vs. Kanyon will set the world on fire. But, it's nice to see you spicing it up a bit and getting some guys on PPV that haven't been there in awhile.
Funny you should say. I usually find this on my LMS cards - by and large, bar the title match, there won't be any huge matches as any huge matches I'll be saving for Wrestlefest. With that in mind, all the big names get routinely thrown into the Rumble match and it leaves me to experiment a little with the undercard. Last years wasn't SO bad, the year before the undercard would be fine for anyone looking for good matches with plenty of stars but bad for lots of exciting build ups and storylines. Almost always, LMS sees practically all my effort go into booking the Rumble.

Which I think is fine since I reckon I do a good Rumble. I went into a LOT of details this time around, more than I had intended.