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GPW Action Zone! - July 26th, 2006

Murphy42782Posted on 07/27/06 at 05:15:25

A sold out crowd in Durham, North Carolina erupts as the familiar sounds of "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair's theme music hits. Flair comes out dressed in a full suit with a smile the size of the state itself. He thanks all the fans in attendance for coming out and supporting his effort. He goes on to thank Vince McMahon, Jim Crockett, and every other Owner, Promoter, Wrestler, and ring crew he has ever worked with in his illustrious career. Flair tells the crowd that he has a big night planned and it will be capped off with a ten man battle royal for the GPW United States Title. All of a sudden rock music hits and out strolls Chris Jericho decked out in a suit of his own. Jericho finishes singing along with his own theme music and then tells Flair to take a few steps back that he was in the presence of greatness. Jericho tells the packed house and Flair that he was the only real star here in the GPW. He told Flair to run to the back grab that big, shiny belt known as the GPW Heavyweight Title and to hand it over to the its rightful owner. Flair tells Jericho to shut up and listen. Flair told Jericho that the crowd was here to see people earn championships just like he did in his career. Jericho then interrupted and said thats where Ricky was wrong. Chris said that the fans where here for JERICHO, which meant "Wrestling Legend" in Greek, or Latin, or one of those other dead languages. Flair then retorted that "to be the man, you gotta beat the man." Jericho laughed it off and then told Flair to go to the back and lace up his boots, because if he wants to debate his greatness they can debate it in the main event.
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Match # 1
Diamond Dallas Page w/Kimberly vs. DJ Hyde

This match was a proven veteran going over a non-established rookie. DJ Hyde is a big man with some talent, but DDP is an absolute stud. He used the younger grapplers inexperience and in the end caught him offguard with the Diamond Cutter.

Diamond Dallas Page pinned DJ Hyde with the Diamond Cutter in 0:10:32.
Rating: ** 1/2
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Match # 2
La Familia (Joel Maximo & Jose Maximo w/Amazing Red) vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe)

The end of the match was a whirl wind of action and Official Rudy Charles may have gotten confused to who the legal men were or allowed it to switch to a lucha libre style tag match. Jose tossed Mark Briscoe to the outside only to be met with a Jay Briscoe drop kick. Then out of nowhere Joel snuck in and hit a Maximo Explosion on the also illegal man Jay Briscoe and got the pin as Jose and Mark battled outside. These four men were rumbling all over the ringside area and then Amazing Red couldn't sit be idlely any longer and hit a suicide plancha on all four men for the sake of being Amazing.

La Familia (Joel Maximo and Jose Maximo) defeated The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) when Joel pinned J. Briscoe with the Maximo Explosion in 0:16:09.
Rating: ****
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Raven cuts a promo about how he has traveled the world and held numerous titles. He's wrestled in big countries and small towns, big arenas and bingo halls. No matter where he's gone he has always been the outcast. Well the outcast is coming to GPW, Quote The Raven Nevermore.
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Match # 3 (Hardcore Rules Match)
"Sick" Nick Mondo vs. "The Origional Gangsta" New Jack

Nick Mondo won in a mild upset over New Jack. New Jack and Nick Mondo battled fiercly all over the arena. New Jack attempted his diving headbutt, but missed. Mondo had some sick spots in this extreme match. New Jack had wrapped his fist in barbed wire and was pummeling Nick Mondo when Mondo caught a fist and locked him up and hit his Assualt Driver for the victory.

No-Countout-No-DQ-Match:
Nick Mondo pinned New Jack with the Assault Driver in 0:09:15.
Rating: ****
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After a brief commercial break we come back to Ric Flair in the ring and he was holding the GPW United States Title. He called out ten men. Ten men that Flair felt had earned a shot at being the first champion in GPW history. He called out ten guys that he felt would be a good representation of the GPW. Flair called out Colt Cabana, Billy Kidman, Vampiro, Steve Bradley, Rick Steiner, Gregory Helms, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Disco Inferno, and a close friend of his that he had to coax out of retirement, Dean Malenko. The bell rang and the battle ensued.
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Match # 4 (GPW United States Title Battle Royal)

The crowd really got behind Gregory Helms after the first two eliminations were the Hardy Boys. Disco Inferno, who had eliminated the Hardys, was on fire this match. After he tossed the Hardys, it was Dean Malenko striking next eliminating Vampiro and Rick Steiner. The superstars of the GPW really gave it their all, but Billy Kidman and Colt Cabana were the next to fall.

This left us with four men that were ready to rip each other limb from limb. The Carolina crowd cheered for Dean Malenko and Gregory Helms. On the other hand anything Disco Inferno or Steve Bradley did was met with boos. After an epic 9 minute struggle, Malenko was the next to go as Helms had hit him with an elbowsmash that sent him flopping over the top rope. Helms then struck again tossing Steve Bradley.

This left hometown favorite Gregory Helms and the crowd despised Disco Inferno. Inferno tried to get Helms to dance along. Helms considered it, but then decked the Disco man. This sparked a brief battle and just as Helms was set to gain victory over Disco, Steve Bradley had regained his bearings and came in and destroyed both men with a chair. Helms fired back only to be met with a sickening thud. Bradley then stacked Disco and Helms on top of each other and lifted them out of ring. Disco landed ontop of Helms leading to a victory for Disco Inferno.

10-Man Battle Royal for the vacant GPW United States Title:
Disco Inferno won a 10-man Battle Royal lastly eliminating Gregory Helms with an assist from Steve Bradley.
Rating: **** 1/4
(Disco Inferno won the GPW United States Title.)
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Ric Flair is shown in his lockerroom. He was lacing his boots when Diamond Dallas Page and Kimberly came in. DDP told Flair that he had nothing left to prove. Flair was a legend in the sport and held more titles than Jericho would ever hold. Kimberly told Flair to think about his future in life, not just the business. Jericho is a couple decades younger and has to prove to everyone that he is a star. Flair tells DDP and Kimberly to listen up. He said he's not doing it to prove anything to anyone and especially to that jack ass, Chris Jericho. He was doing this for the fans, insert generic hometown crowd pop, and he was doing it to give himself a proper send off infront of his hometown crowd. He would retire for good, but he has one last mat classic left in him.
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Match # 5 (Main Event)
"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair vs. "The Wrestling Legend" Chris Jericho

This really was a great match to bring a close to the great career of GPW Owner Ric Flair. Flair had actually locked in the Figure-Four Leglock and looked to have won until Chris Jericho fought his way out of the hold and the two fought back up to their feet. Jericho was on the recieving end of a couple of the legendary Flair Chops. Jericho ducked the last one and hit an off balance Ric Flair with a neck breaker and then locked in the Walls of Jericho. Flair eventually passed out. Jericho jumped for joy as the crowd applauded his effort, that was until Jericho turned back on Ric Flair and locked the hold on again. The cheers instantly turned to boos as Chris refused to relinquish the hold. The locker room emptied and Jericho fled the scene. The fans were near ready to riot and Jericho got the hell out of dodge.

Chris Jericho made Ric Flair submit to the Walls Of Jericho in 0:16:55.
Rating: *** 1/2
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Next Week on The Action Zone!

*Update on Ric Flair's condition.

*Raven makes his debut.

*Diamond Dallas Page has laid out a challenge to Chris Jericho to step into the ring with DDP. Page said Jericho would "Feel...The...Bang"

*Also tune into Intensity this sunday to see Alex Wright and The Hardy Boys in action. Also Homicide battles The Amazing Red in the Main Event.
dabirdmanPosted on 07/27/06 at 07:54:15

The Good: Easy to read and follow, not to much information but enough to see what your trying to say.

Liked that Jericho seems to be the ass so far. I like him and so far like the way he is acting. Flair comming off the retired stud comming back one more time to prove he can still do it, Almost can hear the Rocky music. :)

The Bad -  As of now can't see any

The Ugly- Disco shakin his butt to the sounds of the 70's with gold around his waist. He will grow on me.


Great card I'll be reading

That's my 2 Cents
Bird
Snabbit888Posted on 07/28/06 at 07:36:25

Very good opening segment as it establishes who one of your main eventers is going to be in Chris Jericho.  And though I don't necessary like Flair as the owner being a wrestler in the first main event, it is realistic, so props to that.

Can't say I'm familiar with DJ Hyde.  Will have to look up on him, but early on, you need your big name stars to do well, and DDP is on that list.

Ha ha... for the sake of being Amazing.  I like the Briscoes, to an extent, but never really found the Maximos all that interesting other than the Spanish Fly.  Good tag match though.

Meh to Raven.  Nothing wrong with the promo, but he's just one of those guys I can never get into in TNM circuits.  Let's see if you can make him unique.

Meh to the hardcore match too.  Nothing wrong with it as far as extreme matches go, just not a fan of the style or men involved.

Not sure I like what happened with the battle royal.  Not so much that Disco Inferno won, but he was totally made to look completely weak by Bradley, which I don't think should happen with the #2 champion on the first show.  It helps establish Bradley, yes, but I think that could have been done with him just taking down Helms and not Disco too.  But Disco should be fun as a champ.

I hope with Flair's promo, he actually means it with the retirement.  Looking forward to the match though.

Great way to end your show.  Establishes Jericho as legit, makes him a huge heel with his actions on the ever-popular Flair, and gives him an instant feud with DDP.  Great way to end this on a positive note for me.

I'll give this a 6.5 out of 10.  The first cards are always the hardest to get things established, but the start of a nice pecking order is in place. We have your top face and top heel.  You lose a few points with me for the battle royal end, but the main event was great, so well done overall.
americamamushiPosted on 07/29/06 at 05:58:43

Not a fan of DDP and I don't know anything about DJ Hyde, but the right man went over though it really took him longer to finish him off than it should've.

Nice high flyin' tag match.  Not a bad intro to GPW's tag team action by any means.  Bring'em in with the action, make'em stay for the story... hopefully ;)

I found Raven's introduction a little vanilla for my tastes, but perhaps his actions once he makes his ring debut will win me over.  That or making him sing Elton John songs.  He'd be great singing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" ;D haha

I could take or leave the hardcore match.  Don't care for New Jack and not familiar with Mondo really.  To win me over with New Jack you're really going to have to make him storyline driven.  I personally don't think he can carry himself on his ring work alone.  You did somehow manage to pull 4-stars out of them so kudos for that at least.

Disco definitely wasn't who I thought was going to take it.  I have a soft spot for Disco Inferno though.  With a guy like Disco and the nature of his character though this could be a great title run or extremely forgettable.  I have faith in you though.  :)  Not a fan of how it actually ended though.

I liked the main event.  Flair said he had one last mat classic left in him, but I don't think that was it.  I'm hopefully Flair won't let things rest like this and will come through with that last mat classic against Jericho down the road.

WOO!  Alex Wright!  *marks the hell out*  I heart Alex Wright *does the Alex Wright dance*