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DWF 25/02/08

91Posted on 08/10/06 at 22:20:38

Commissioner Matt Hardy with some news on this years Royal Rumble

Matt Hardy opened the show up with some announcements on the Royal Rumble.
The upcoming 30 man spectacular will allow someone a title shot at the biggest
show of the year, Wrestlefest, and just about everybody wants to be in it.
However this year it wouldn't be that simple. After Hardy got the usual
paraphernalia of his entrance out of the way, complete with banners, ticker
tape and a sworn statement from Snitsky and Heidenreich proclaiming Hardy as
the leader of the DWF Cult of Personality, he had some news for all those
interested in entering the Rumble.

This year, most of the 30 entrants will have to qualify. This will take place
over the coming weeks with a series of matches - winners qualifying, losers
missing out. He announced four qualifying matches that would grace tonights
show before announcing a few byes. First of all, it seems his hands were tied
and he had been FORCED (he didn't say who by) to include perhaps the top two
challengers in the DWF today to go through automatically - Raven and the
Dynamite Kid. That one was popular with the crowd. Also receiving a bye would
be the holders of the biggest titles outside of the world title -
Intercontinental champion Alex Wright and tag team champions Owen Hart and
Curt Hennig. Finally Hardy added if he was going to be forced to add guys like
Raven and Dynamite, he would also be including his bodyguards Gene Snitsky and
Heidenreich to clean up those that needed cleaning up in the match.

He also had some bad news for Kurt Angle - Angle had last night thrown his name
into the hat for the Royal Rumble and was looking to become the first ever two
time winner but this will not be the case as Hardy claimed once again his hands
were tied and Angle was DISQUALIFIED from the Rumble and would instead be at
the event going one on one with Rhyno.

Backstage, Angle was livid at the announcement, but was making it quite vocal,
as he threw around anything that wasn't nailed down, that his anger was very
much directed towards Rhyno. He promised to make an embarassment of Rhyno at
Last Man Standing before storming out of the building. One man who must be
pleased is Don Muraco who knows that if he makes it to Wrestlefest as champion,
he won't have to face either Angle or Rhyno, thus making his life easier by
tenfold.

ROYAL RUMBLE QUALIFIER: Devon Storm vs Larry Zbyszko

The opening Royal Rumble qualifier pitted former Intercontinental champion
Devon Storm against one of the dark horses for the event, Larry Zbyszko. Larry
has beaten some top names in the last year and has to be considered a threat,
indeed qualification was secured today in an impressive outing. Devon did have
a little going for him late in the contest and had Larry hooked in a front
facelock ready for the Thunderclap Brainbuster. Whether or not he truly had
Larry compromised we'll never know as Coach said something at ringside causing
Devon to push Larry aside and come after him. Upon re-entering the ring, Larry
got the jump and quickly hit the Shoulderbreaker for the win.

[Royal Rumble Qualifier]:
Larry Zbyszko pinned Devon Storm with the Shoulderbreaker in 0:04:51.
Rating: ***

"Unnecessarily Evil" John Cena vs "DWF Commissioner" Matt Hardy

For all his announcements, Matt Hardy had another matter to take of, that being
John Cena to whom he wanted to teach a lesson after their little altercation
last night. Still feeling the bruises from last nights match with Alex Wright,
Cena had the added problem of having to deal with Snitsky and Heidenreich
loitering at ringside, and found himself "set on fire" and "lasered" at the
start of the match by the bodyguards who were convinced he'd been burned to a
crisp and would be easy pickings for Hardy. Strangely despite these near
crippling injuries (or not), Cena was able to put up as much resistance as
ever against Hardy and out-wrestled him at the outset.

It took a cheap trip from the outside by Snitsky to turn the tide for Hardy and
he kept things running smoothly for a while from there without ever really
doing enough damage to Cena to put him away. Cena invariably began making his
comeback and was rocking Hardy good until he went for the Eighth Deadly Sin.
Gene Snitsky jumped onto the apron, distracting both Cena and the ref. Whilst
this went out, Heidenreich jumped up as well and blasted Cena with a shot to
the head. Cena staggered right into a Twist of Fate from Hardy and that was
enough to finish things.

Hardy wasn't done there. After he had officials get rid of Cena, he had a long
list of people he wanted to sort out. He announced he had plans to make John
Cenas life a misery, he also wanted retribution on The Syndicate for all their
recent trouble, he was looking for revenge against the Dynamite Kid, and would
also looking to finish off Edge & Christian, as well as Rob Van Dam due to
association. Hardy was about to list how he would do away with all of these
names who had crossed him recently (as well as throwing on several more) when
Chris Jericho came out.

Jericho is one of the few men who actually doesn't have any beef with Hardy but
he had some opinions on the matter. He said that Matt has been spreading
himself far too thin recently with all these grudges he's holding against his
own talent and needed to focus his energies on one source, for the good of the
DWF. Matt wasn't in the mood to listen and ordered Snitsky and Heidenreich
to haul him out. The two bodyguards did that, grabbing Jericho and dragging him
out while he still talked about how Hardy needs to give it up with having so
many enemies and concentrate his efforts on one for everybodies sanity.

Just as Matt laughed him out, from the crowd came none other than a returning
Jody Fleisch who began hammering on Matt from behind. With Snitsky and
Heidenreich halfway down the aisle dragging Jericho out, it was a few moments
before they even realised what was happening. By the time they ran back, the
damage was done and Fleisch made his escape good. Certainly Matt will now be
focusing all his attention on vanquishing Fleisch again. They've kept him on
the shelf a couple of months up till now, can he and his team put Jody away
for good this time?

Matt Hardy pinned John Cena with the Twist of Fate in 0:07:56.
Rating: ***

ROYAL RUMBLE QUALIFIER: Sean O'Haire vs Hector & Mando Guerrero

Sean O'Haire is back in the ring after a brief layoff following the split he
had with Brian Pillman. He dominated last night against Paul Roma but was in a
completely different environment today in a Royal Rumble qualifier against TWO
men - Hector and Mando Guerrero. Although it wasn't supposed to be under
tornado rules, Los Guerreros certainly threw that aside and frequently double
teamed O'Haire. O'Haire, however, eased through greater odds last year when he
went a record breaking one hour (along with Steve Corino) and muscled his way
past both men, finishing off with a powerslam on Hector, then a flying
clothesline on Mando that scored the win. After his run last year, one has to
think that if he got even a half decent draw this time out, he could be a major
force to be reckoned with.

Afterwards, O'Haire was interviews backstage and O'Haire made it clear that
while his first priority is to win the Royal Rumble, he wanted Brian Pillmans
number to be close to his (should Pillman make it - I'm sure O'Haire is hoping
so) because he had a lot of retribution to dish out. No doubt he won't have to
look very far in order to find Pillman.

[Royal Rumble Qualifier]: Handicap-Match:
Sean O'Haire defeated Los Guerreros (Hector Guerrero and Mando Guerrero) when
O'Haire pinned M. Guerrero after a flying clothesline in 0:06:38.
Rating: ** 1/4

Don Muraco (c) vs Kid Kash (world heavyweight title)

Following last nights clash with Don Muraco and Kid Kash, Muraco was more than
happy to put the title on the line tonight against Kash, knowing full well he
was the heavy favourite. With Muraco looking on an ever unbeatable roll,
following his defeat of Rhyno last night, surely Kid Kash wasn't going to pull
off the upset of the century. Actually for the first thirty seconds or so,
there was just the chance of this as Kash got in his shots as the bell rung
and began a series of rights that staggered the champion back into the corner.

From there, however, it was all downhill as Muraco blocked a shot and hurled
Kash into the corner before beginning the onslaught. As brief as it was, Kash
was left a crumpled mess at the end of it as Muraco tore through him without
too much difficulty and finished him off with the Tombstone. Kash tried hard
but this was one challenge that was beyond him. Meanwhile the question has to
be beggared who can stop Muraco? Having beaten just about everyone thrown at
him, there doesn't appear to be many challengers left and those that are left
surely aren't in Muracos league. Time for the championship committee to start
re-thinking things here.

Don Muraco pinned Kid Kash with the Tombstone in 0:03:02.
Rating: ** 1/2
(Don Muraco retained the Heavyweight Title.)

Chris Jericho vs Doug Furnas

Chris Jerichos earlier appearance served only to spur him on against his
opponent for today, Doug Furnas. Jericho might not have been happy to know that
Matt Hardy, whilst he is indeed now focusing on Fleisch, had one last parting
shot for Jericho for getting involved - Jerichos opponent in his Royal Rumble
qualifier was apparently an easy one before, now he will face Eddie Guerrero
next week after Hardy re-jigged the draw a little. Ouch.

Furnas came in with plenty of spirit, but on this night, there was no stopping
Jericho who always looked the superior of the two, even in moments where he was
on the backfoot. He did get momentarily scuppered when he slapped on the Lion
Tamer only for Phil LaFon to provide a distraction, allowing Furnas to take
over. When Furnas missed the Frankensteiner due to Jericho grabbing hold of the
ropes to prevent himself running into the move, Y2J was back in command. A
running enzuigiri took care of LaFon next time he popped onto the apron and
a forward Russian legsweep followed by the Asai moonsault was enough to defeat
Doug Furnas. Will this, however, be enough to defeat Eddie Guerrero next week
and win himself a place in the Royal Rumble?

Chris Jericho pinned Doug Furnas after an Asai moonsault in 0:09:19.
Rating: ****

ROYAL RUMBLE QUALIFIER: Rey Mysterio vs Masato Tanaka vs Juventud Guerrera

Three of the top cruiserweights were put together in a Royal Rumble qualifier
as Rey Mysterio took on Masato Tanaka who took on Juventud Guerrera. Juvi, as
always, had some derogatory remarks for both men, calling them both "little
midget pussies" (has he LOOKED at himself in a mirror lately) before he
confidently predicted victory over "Gay Mysterio" and "Spastic Tanaka"

Of course, such words got him into trouble when Juventud ended up being the
victim of a double team for much of the match. When Juventud was out of it,
Rey and Masato strung together some nice wrestling sequences and a winner was
tough to call. That pesky Guerrera was never out of it though and after making
his comeback, managed to get Rey in position for the 619. The ultimate mockery
wasn't to be as he was caught on his run up by Tanaka who used Juvis own
momentum to catapult him from the ring. This distraction proved enough for Rey
however who took Tanaka down into position for the 619 himself. He hit the
move, sure enough, and it was enough for the win.

While Rey celebrated his victory and entry to the Royal Rumble, Juventud was
furious meanwhile and blamed Tanaka for blowing the match for him, before Juvi
put the boots to him and stormed off. It never seems to quite go the right
way for Juventud does it...

[Royal Rumble Qualifier]: Triangle Match:
Rey Mysterio defeated Masato Tanaka and Juventud Guerrera when Mysterio pinned
M. Tanaka with the 619 in 0:14:38.
Rating: **** 1/4

Steve Corino appears on the Kings Court

The Kings Court today saw Steve Corino appear, begging Kidman to come out and
get his senses together. Kidman did indeed appear, but seemed dejected after
another defeat last night to Raven. Corino tried to insist there was no shame
in losing to Raven but Kidman rightly noted that Corino had had no such
problems a couple of months ago when he'd scored a surprise, clean victory on
him. Corino then decided that from here on, he'd dedicate his career to helping
Kidman get his confidence back and regaining the world title - but not before
he slipped in that this would be in between his defenses of the television
title. Whether or not this will actually propel Kidman anywhere, we'll have to
wait and find out.

Hayabusa & Tajiri vs Pretty Perfect (non title match)

We have brand new tag team champions as once again, Pretty Perfect stand on top
of the mountain. It may be too much to assume they'll hold the belt fourteen
months like last time but who knows who's going to be able to dislodge them
any time soon after the length of time they've had to wait to win them back.
It's been a long year to wait and their first match as champions was a non
title affair against old rivals Hayabusa and Tajiri.

These two teams have had some great matches in the past and tonight was no
exception as the champs had their pure wrestling knowledge well countered by
their Japanese counterparts fast hitting, high flying manouevers. But after
everyone spilled into the ring for the inevitable pier-six brawl, it broke
down into the champions favour. Hennig sent Tajiri out of the ring with a knee
to the back and though Hayabusa rallied by whipping Owen into Hennig, sending
the latter out of the ring, he missed the Firebird Splash on Owen and appeared
to hurt his knee. Like a shark to blood, Owen was on it and after a few kick
stomps, he locked in the Sharpshooter, enough for victory. Who's next for the
champions?

Pretty Perfect (Owen Hart and Curt Hennig) defeated
Hayabusa & Tajiri (Hayabusa and Tajiri) when O. Hart made Hayabusa submit to
the Sharpshooter in 0:12:33.
Rating: **** 1/4

ROYAL RUMBLE QUALIFIER: "The Rock Brad Armstrong vs "Haiku Reading" Jeff Hardy (non title match)

The nights main event saw our fourth Royal Rumble qualifying match of the
evening as Don Muraco looked to get himself a little insurance in the Rumble in
the form of his own manager, Jeff Hardy. Taking on Hardy was Brad Armstrong, a
man who has undergone a remarkable transformation in terms of popularity in the
last few weeks.

The good news for Brad was that due to the threat of them interfering, both
Hunter Hearst-Helmsley and Rockabilly were barred from ringside (though they
were seen before the match trying their best to persuade officials to let them
go to ringside). The bad news was that Muraco was NOT barred and he lurked at
ringside, making an instant nuisance of himself by tripping Brad and never
letting him get any real momentum going. Every time Brad got Hardy reeling,
Muraco was there to pull something to ensure he was quickly back on the
defensive.

Eventually Hardy had Armstrong right where he wanted him - flat on his back in
the middle of the ring. Hardy went up for the Senton Bomb, only for Brad to
slip out of the way at the last. Armstrong made another comeback and was
looking particularly strong this time, but just as he set up Jeff for the Rock
Bottom, Muraco was on the apron. Brad made a rare mistake as he shoved Hardy
aside and went for the champ. Brad swung and missed, and Muraco hooked Brad up.
Hardy ran in, and invariably, Brad moved and Muraco was knocked off the apron
and into the security barrier. Hardy himself was dazed and open to be hit by
the Rock Bottom. The Peoples Elbow followed and Brad had qualified for the
Royal Rumble.

As Brad celebrated the victory, an angry Muraco and Hardy walked away, seething
and with thoughts of what they were going to do next on their mind. If I were
Brad, I might want to be wrestling with eyes in the back of my head from here
until the Royal Rumble.

[Royal Rumble Qualifier]:
Brad Armstrong pinned Jeff Hardy with the Peoples Elbow in 0:11:51.
Rating: **** 1/4
Snabbit888Posted on 08/10/06 at 22:42:00

Wow... I figured you'd hold off Angle vs. Rhyno until Wrestlefest.  Now Angle is out of the Rumble and has to meet Rhyno at the event.  Will be a good match, but Angle can't be happy with missing out on his chance to main event Wrestlefest.

Larry Z wins a pretty one-sided affair to get into the Rumble.  At first I was saying blah to this qualifying thing until I remembered that you only have around 150 wrestlers under contract which makes qualification matches simple. :)

Don't like Hardy going over Cena, but I do like all the post-match shenanigans.  Hardy really is spreading himself way too thin, and with Fleisch back in the mix... uh oh.

If it didn't seem like an O'Haire/Pillman match was destined for Wrestlefest, O'Haire would be my pick to take the Rumble.

I'm sure you have plans, but at this point, it's almost boring to watch a Muraco match because you know he's going to dominate.  He dominated guys like Dynamite Kid and Jerry Lynn afterall.  He needs a big time challenger to step up.  I just can't think of who qualifies as a top face challenger at this point.

I'd say Jericho beats Eddie next week and honestly might be a decent favorite to do well in the Rumble.  Don't think he'll win though.

Good Cruiser match and Mysterio enters the Rumble.  No problems there, and it's going to be fun to see where the epic Tanaka/Juvi feud goes! :)

Corino is a dick.  Meanie.

Pretty Perfect look strong in their first match as champions.  You have such a deep tag division so I'm curious as to who is going to step up to be the next contenders.

I honestly never thought of Brad Armstrong as a possibility... now that he's in the Rumble, he could very well win it with the popularity he has garnered over the past year.
91Posted on 08/10/06 at 23:00:00

Yes, blah to qualifiers. ;) Actually I'll explain the rationale - with Royal Rumble cards, it's always hard to get a good build up going as there's only five or six matches to hype and you're spreading yourself thin by default. By making qualifiers, I've got half the matches on every card sorted already and a few angles to come out of them as a result.

Hardy will no longer be spreading himself thin as the conclusion to the Jody Fleisch feud will now be culminating (I sort of hinted at this at one point, but I'll go ahead and say it). I think I did one last deal with Cena and there was mention of fixing Jericho on this card with the Eddie match, but that's about it.

As for Muraco... oh yes there are plans.

For the record, slight change in my own personal format from this point. What I always used to do was book week by week - anything I intended to do that I'd planned in advance I'd remember in my head, but most of the other stuff was on the fly, whose turn is it to go over this week, how can I continue this feud, etc etc. With all the qualifiers, I had to plan them all out and work out which show each one would go on and then I started doing other stuff and by the time I was done, I'd booked the entire month leading up to the PPV with every match organised, every angle and segment that was non-match related planned. All that was left to do was run them and write up the results. I found it so effective that the next month that I'm currently doing follows the same format, allowing me much better planning of all the storylines and such.

I doubt that'll show up, but I know you're nerdy enough to take interest in things like that.
Snabbit888Posted on 08/10/06 at 23:34:35

Yes, I am just that nerdy.  Being efficient helps you churn things out faster, which is always a plus.  I usually don't plan my entire weekly shows a month in advance though.  I usually have the next couple of PPVs (at least) fully booked and then I book backwards.  I'll have scattered notes planned way ahead for future Explosion, but usually not a full show, and then I fill in the pieces as needed.  I find this allows me to have a good structure, but also be open to change depending on what TNM does.  I don't want to have 3 months of TV all booked and then have an injury and have to fiddle with moving EVERYTHING around to accommodate (see, Brock Lesnar's torn triceps, early 2005).  Although I do have my main event for Super Cade IV tentatively planned (note I'm 7 months away from Super Cade III still).

Back to you though since I just hijacked this.  Hehe.  I would like to commend you for how much more organized you have gotten with DWF since you started posting it here.  It was good before, but seemed a little barebones (all the match results and then comments, etc.)  Since you've put it into the flow of a show and as you admittedly said, put more time into thinking out the angles, you have churned out superior stuff.  So kudos to you.
91Posted on 08/10/06 at 23:59:55

On 08/10/06 at 23:34:35, Snabbit888 wrote:I don't want to have 3 months of TV all booked and then have an injury and have to fiddle with moving EVERYTHING around to accommodate (see, Brock Lesnar's torn triceps, early 2005). Although I do have my main event for Super Cade IV tentatively planned (note I'm 7 months away from Super Cade III still).
No, I wouldn't book THAT much in advance with my weekly shows, though injuries are always going to potentially hamper whatever plans one may have.

And I've had my Wrestlefest VIII main event tentatively booked since I did Wrestlefest VII and that was over two years ago. This'll mark the first time my tentative Wrestlefest main event has come to fruition without me changing my mind at least once. To be honest, I can't remember what any of my past main events were going to be.

Finally, the content from before hasn't changed vastly - the layout in which I have each show in my own TNM hasn't changed (it's the 'barebones' approach that you noted before), but I did change the layout in which I posted my results which does create a much nicer flow, I do agree.
MattHarmsPosted on 08/11/06 at 03:01:57

Matt's Feedback of Doom:

The Royal Rumble match at Last Man Standing sounds like it will be a rocketbusta and definately both Angle and Rhyno not being in the Rumble makes it a lot easier for Don Muraco come Wrestlefest. I'm pulling for Rhyno to beat Angle personally but perhaps that's just me.

Larry Z defeats Devon Storm thanks to the evil, the diabolical, the totally dispicle Coach as Devon Storm attempts to kill him. Don't we all? Larry Z advances to the Rumble and I really don't have any major problems with that.

I must admit, I like John Cena's character in DWF better than his real life WWE persona. Matt Hardy seems to have made a lot of friends in DWF :) It will make it paricularly satisfying when Matt gets his eventually.

Nice handicap squash for Sean O' Haire. Looking forward to seeing how the feud between him and Pillman plays out in the coming months.

Kash goes splat. Muraco continues to prove himself a pretty dominant force and I wonder who will end up knocking him off of his perch in the long run.

Jericho wins which I'm happy about but still I'm pulling for good ol' Eddie to beat him next week in the Royal Rumble qualifying match.

Bah Humbug. Rey won. Juvi>Rey. That is all. Tanaka gets himself pinned, thus screwing the excellent of Juvi out of his proper spot of the Royal Rumble.

Bold prediction: Kidman ends up beating Corino for the Television Title down the line to regain his confidence. Just a hunch I have.

Excellent, Pretty Perfect wins a non title match to prove they are...well pretty perfect. Excellent match between these two tag teams.

Brad Armstrong er I mean the Rock beats Haiku Hardy. Noooo!!!! Haiku Hardy>All except for El Dandy. Don't get me wrong, I like Brad and normally I despise Jeff Hardy with every fiber of my being but this is just...I don't know. We'll just wait and see how good Brad does in the Rumble.

All and all, a very entertaining read.
AzraelPosted on 08/11/06 at 03:24:45

Opening announcements to start the show, so let's see what's changing. Aha, Raven and Dynamite Kid can't be SWERVE~D out of the Rumble, but Angle and Rhyno were. Snitsky and Heidenreich may take in a deep breath and then blow out, sending all their enemies flying like twigs caught in the path of a tsunami. Hopefully, their two mighty winds won't meet and cancel each other out though. Plus, somebody above Matt's starting to have pull on the decisions. Interesting.

Boo Zbyszko! I like Devon Storm, but I didn't think there was any way that he was winning this one.

Hardy has to take Cena to the woodshed, especially now that Snitsky and Heidenreich burninated him. Hardy wins, but Cena doesn't look too bad after getting hit with the offensive onslaught that is the Heidenreich sweeping punch to the face.

Chris Jericho is the voice of reason. Of course this means Hardy doesn't listen to him. But at least he didn't have his bodyguards light him on fire. And Jody Fleisch! Hopefully, he can overcome more odds and frustrate Matt some more.

O'Haire gets an impressive win over both Guerreros. Hopefully, he and Pillman will meet at some point during the Rumble (surely things will be engineered to work that way.)

Muraco crushes Kid Kash, which actually does more to look Muraco look dominant than Kid Kash look weak. But the problem is who's left for Muraco to beat? Rhyno clean? Angle?

Jericho gets a good win over Furnas, though he now has Eddie Guerrero to look forward to. And Phil LaFon's pretty much as useless as always.

Mysterio gets in the Rumble in a great match, though I'm sure Juventud would disagree. Juventud/Masato Tanaka would also be a match I'd like to see.

Good to see Corino has his priorities straight. He's loyal too, even if Kidman doesn't deserve it.

Hayabusa and Tajiri have rallied to climb back up the tag team ladder, but they can't beat Pretty Perfect yet. Good match that cements PP's championship.

Rock Armstrong manages to get one over on Muraco and beats Mr. Haiku, who strangely did not grace us with one of his masterpieces this week. Good match for the main event.
91Posted on 08/11/06 at 23:05:36

On 08/11/06 at 03:01:57, MattHarms wrote:
Larry Z defeats Devon Storm thanks to the evil, the diabolical, the totally dispicle Coach as Devon Storm attempts to kill him. Don't we all?
I can't say I've ever personally attempted to kill Coach, but it has crossed my mind at a few points.

On 08/11/06 at 03:24:45, Azrael wrote:O'Haire gets an impressive win over both Guerreros. Hopefully, he and Pillman will meet at some point during the Rumble (surely things will be engineered to work that way.)
Or will it... OR WILL IT? Well, actually it was to a degree, sort of.