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[GCW] Monday Night Explosion - 1/31/05

Snabbit888Posted on 10/21/05 at 23:40:06

The Hartford Civic Center was the home for this week's edition of Monday Night Explosion! One night removed from Winter Warfare, GCW invaded Hartford, Connecticut bringing the finest in wrestling action in the world today. On tonight's show, two champions would team up as North American champion Monty Brown teamed with Cruiserweight champion Paul London to take on John Bradshaw Layfield and AJ Styles! Also on the card, the impressive newcomer Frankie Kazarian takes on Jeff Hardy, and Jeff's brother Matt Hardy takes on Goldust in singles action! All of this and much more only on Explosion!

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The show kicked off with a very cocky Kurt Angle coming out sans Team Angle. Angle wasted no time in letting us all know what his intentions were. Angle feels that after Team Angle won War Games last night, coupled with the fact that he was able to make the number-one contender Randy Orton tap out to the Ankle Lock, he should get the title shot at Beat Your Valentine on February 20th. Randy Orton himself came out, complete with a bandage on his head from the wound he suffered last night. Angle continued to taunt Orton, essentially goading Orton into offering his title shot if Angle could beat him in a match. Commissioner Tommy Dreamer came out and said that if that is what Orton really wanted to do, he would sanction the match, but it wouldn't take place tonight. Instead, tonight it would be Kurt Angle and Steve Bradley taking on Orton and World Heavyweight champion Chris Jericho!

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Match #1
"The Alpha Male" Monty Brown (North American champion)/Paul London (Cruiserweight champion) vs. John Bradshaw Layfield/"The Phenomenal" AJ Styles (w/ Shaniqua & Lamont)
A tag match to kick off the evening pitting two teams that were combinations of power and speed. Cruiserweight champion Paul London and AJ Styles had a good match last night, but none of the issues they have with each other were really solved. John Bradshaw Layfield has made it known that he wants a shot at Monty Brown's North American Title, and this would be a good chance to show that he was worthy of the shot he wants. Considering that these were two makeshift tag teams, but factions worked very well together, using good tag team strategy. The end of this one came when during a moment of confusion, Monty Brown nailed AJ Styles with the Pounce and went for the cover. The problem was that Styles had made a blind tag to JBL. When Brown stood up to question referee Antonio Santangelo on why he wasn't counting, he was flattened with the Stock Market Crash. JBL had just pinned the North American champion!

AJ Styles and John Bradshaw Layfield defeated Monty Brown and Paul London when JBL pinned M. Brown with the Stock Market Crash in 0:11:01.
Rating: ****

JBL has really been on a roll since joining forces with Shaniqua, and with this huge victory, JBL has been granted his title shot and at Beat Your Valentine will meet Monty Brown with the North American Title up for grabs!

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After the break, World Heavyweight champion "Y2J" Chris Jericho came out for an interview segment. Jericho said that he had been champion for a couple weeks now and has yet to defend his title against anyone. Jericho wants to be a fighting champion, "unlike Kurt Angle." Y2J went on to say that he had planned to offer Brock Lesnar a title shot tonight, something Angle would have never done, but with Lesnar's injury, a backup plan had to be devised. Jericho spoke with Commissioner Tommy Dreamer before the show and asked that a battle royal be held, the winner receiving a World Heavyweight Title shot in one week's time. Sixteen men will compete later tonight, the last man standing taking on Jericho for the title! Between that match and Randy Orton vs. Kurt Angle for the number-one contendership, next week is shaping up to be one of the best Explosions in GCW's short history!

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Match #2
Matt Hardy (w/ Lita) vs. Goldust (w/ Booker T)
Last night, Matt Hardy and Goldust were on the same team as a part of the 8-man tag team match against the Cabinet. They didn't have the result they had anticipated, mostly due to Goldust's "partner" Booker T, who walked out on the team as he has made a habit of doing over the last several weeks. Booker T has made it abundantly clear that he has no desire to be Goldust's tag team partner, but tonight he took it to another level. Matt Hardy and Goldust were having a competitive match with Booker T not paying much attention to the action in the ring. That was until the latter portions, when he "accidentally" tripped Goldust which allowed Hardy to nail the Twist of Fate and pick up the 1-2-3.

Matt Hardy pinned Goldust with the Twist Of Fate in 0:07:08.
Rating: *** 3/4

Booker T swore up and down that it was an accident, but it seemed like the only person in the building who bought it was Goldust. Booker T got a smile on his face like he was the cat who got the canary.

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Upon getting backstage, Booker T was met by someone he didn't at all expect, his wife Sharmell. Booker tried to blow her off, but Sharmell stopped Booker by saying that he had changed, and that this wasn't the Booker that she had married. Booker tried to speak, but Sharmell told him to be quiet; that she was doing the talking. Sharmell gave Booker T a warning that he had better change his ways or he was going to be in "big, big trouble." The crowd ooh'ed as Sharmell walked away, essentially showing that she was wearing the pants in the relationship.

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"The Crippler" Chris Benoit came out for an interview segment next. The former World Heavyweight champion said that he was looking to get back into the title hunt and would be participating in the battle royal later tonight. Benoit said he didn't care whether it was Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, or Kurt Angle, Benoit would be a two-time champion. This prompted Kurt Angle's brother ERIC ANGLE to confront Benoit in the ring. In typical Angle fashion, Eric cockily got in Benoit's face and said that he too was in the battle royal, and that Benoit is old news. "Sure, you were World champion once, but those days are over. My brother has kicked your butt so many times that I'm surprised you're even still here! And you definitely couldn't beat me. I've seen your little Crippler Crossface, and it's weak. Everyone knows the Ankle Lock is the superior submission hold in GCW. The Crossface definitely couldn't make me ta..." Before Angle could finish, Benoit grabbed him and put him in the Crippler Crossface. It didn't take long before Eric Angle was tapping furiously, much to the delight of the crowd. Benoit released the hold having proved his point. Angle rolled out of the ring clutching his arm, vowing revenge on Benoit later tonight.

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Match #3
Jeff Hardy (w/ Lita) vs. Frankie "The Future" Kazarian
Frankie Kazarian has come in with the intentions of making a splash in the cruiserweight division of GCW. So far, so good. However, he had a huge obstacle tonight as he took on Jeff Hardy, who is known as being one of the finest cruiserweights of the last decade. Jeff Hardy has wrestled primarily in tags since coming to Global Championship Wrestling, but he still knows how to get it done as a singles star, which makes it more impressive at how Kazarian handled himself tonight. If there's one thing Kazarian isn't short on is confidence, and he didn't seem at all affected by Hardy's reputation. Hardy once again showed he'll put his body on the line if he thinks it will help him win. Kazarian was able to weather that storm though and with the Wave of the Future, picked up a very solid victory.

Frankie Kazarian pinned Jeff Hardy with the Wave of the Future in 0:06:41.
Rating: *** 1/4

We saw Kazarian make an appearance during the Cruiserweight Title match last night. It definitely looks like he's positioning himself for a title shot in the future. And if he keeps wrestling like this, the future looks good.

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Backstage Randy Orton was preparing for tonight's main event where he'd be tagging up with the World Heavyweight champion to take on Kurt Angle and Steve Bradley. Chris Jericho himself entered the area to discuss things with Orton for tonight's match. Jericho was trying to talk strategy with Orton, but Orton was blowing him off, still a little sour from how things went down during War Games. Eventually, Jericho lost his cool with trying to deal with Orton's mood and simply said, "Fine. Just do me a favor and try not to QUIT tonight, all right?" Jericho walked off, leaving Orton fuming.

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Match #4
16-man Battle Royal - Winner receives World Heavyweight Title shot next week
On Commentary: World Heavyweight champion "Y2J" Chris Jericho
Participants: Chris Benoit, Eric Angle, Rhyno, Abyss, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, Eddie Guerrero, Chuck Palumbo, Rob Conway, The Hurricane, CM Punk, Sean O'Haire, Matt Morgan, Justin Credible, Rey Mysterio Jr., Low-Ki
With sixteen men all in the ring vying for the same thing, we knew this one had the potential to get ugly. A lot was in stake at this one. So much in fact that the World Heavyweight champion Chris Jericho came down to ringside for commentary to get a close look at who he would make his first title defense against in one week's time. This was highly competitive considering the stakes, and eliminations came few and far between early on. The first man to go was Sean O'Haire, courtesy of Chris Benoit.

The next elimination came as the World's Greatest Tag Team were double teaming Low-Ki, trying desperately to eliminate him. They dumped him over the top and turned their backs, thinking that Ki had been eliminated, but he had only landed on the apron. Low-Ki came back in, grabbed Charlie Haas from behind and sent him to the floor and out of the match. Low-Ki tried to do the same thing to Shelton Benjamin, but Benjamin hooked the ropes and stayed in. Low-Ki is driven by revenge for what the World Tag Team champions did to Elix Skipper, and he was lighting the WGTT up. Low-Ki worked over Benjamin for a couple more minutes, but in his rage he lost sight of the ball so to speak and was caught from behind by an Eddie Guerrero dropkick and eliminated from the match. Soon after, Justin Credible low-bridged The Hurricane to eliminate him from contention. Matt Morgan would record an elimination by dumping Chuck Palumbo to the floor, but he would be the next to go via Shelton Benjamin. Rey Mysterio Jr. had done a great job of staying in this match for 25 minutes, but his attempt to sneak up on Benjamin failed as Benjamin backdropped the high-flier to the floor.

It was strange considering the confrontation the two had earlier, but up until this point, Chris Benoit and Eric Angle had very little interaction. It was almost as if Angle was deliberately trying to avoid Benoit for the majority of this contest. As the ring started to clear out though, Angle had no choice but to go toe-to-toe with the Rabid Wolverine. Benoit was getting the advantage of the exchange, lighting up Angle's chest with the hardest chops in GCW. Benoit took Angle down with a German suplex and in a questionable move, went up top for the swandive headbutt. However, Shelton Benjamin saw his stablemate in trouble and tripped Benoit up, causing the Crippler to crotch himself. Benoit fell into the ring, and Eric Angle, in his ever cocky way, went to the top and hit Benoit with an Anglesault. From there, it was easy pickings and Benoit was eliminated. Eric Angle had a lot of momentum now, and he used it to eliminate Rhyno and Rob Conway in the next couple minutes, leaving us with just six men left.

Considering how much Justin Credible has been working out to make weight for a Cruiserweight Title shot, it was shocking that he had the stamina to still be in the ring at this point. He was obviously running on fumes though, and CM Punk had little trouble in dumping him from the ring. That left us with Eric Angle, CM Punk, Abyss, Eddie Guerrero, and Shelton Benjamin. All five men looked at each other, and four of them decided the best idea would be to team up to get Abyss out of the running. All four men tried to overwhelm him, but Abyss fought back, hitting them all with right hands and headbutts. CM Punk and Shelton Benjamin went back on the attack, but Guerrero used this opportunity to catch Eric Angle from behind with a kick to the knee and toss him over the top. Not too long after, Abyss helped his odds of being overwhelmed tremendously when he grabbed the Television champion by the head and sent Punk to the outside.

This left only Abyss, Eddie Guerrero, and Shelton Benjamin to compete for the chance at the World Heavyweight Title. Based on size alone, Abyss was the clear favorite, and the big man was loving it as the crowd was cheering him on. However, Shaniqua wasn't loving it quite so much as she chastised Abyss for playing to the crowd. During the berating, it left the big man wide open to a knee to the back from Latino Heat, sending the big man to the outside and out of the contest. Shelton Benjamin got the jump on Guerrero and nearly eliminated him with a quick burst, but the cagey veteran managed to keep himself alive with an eye gouge. Guerrero charged out at Benjamin, but it was countered with a flapjack. Benjamin signaled for the T-Bone and had it locked in, but it was broken up when a steel chair crashed into Benjamin's spine courtesy of ELIX SKIPPER! Skipper was back, and he was mad! Skipper put it to Benjamin, hitting him with the Play of the Day, leaving Benjamin easy pickings for Guerrero to throw out.

[Winner gets World Heavyweight Title shot next week]: 16-Man Battle Royal:
Eddie Guerrero won a 16-man Battle Royal:
x Benoit threw out O'Haire after an inverted atomic drop in 0:02:59
x Low-Ki threw out C. Haas in 0:08:27
x E. Guerrero threw out Low-Ki after a dropkick in 0:12:50
x Credible threw out Hurricane in 0:13:09
x M. Morgan threw out C. Palumbo in 0:17:32
x S. Benjamin threw out M. Morgan in 0:25:01
x S. Benjamin threw out Mysterio Jr. in 0:25:04
x E. Angle threw out Benoit after the Anglesault in 0:26:37
x E. Angle threw out Rhyno in 0:26:41
x E. Angle threw out Conway in 0:28:14
x Punk threw out Credible after a kneelift in 0:29:26
x E. Guerrero threw out E. Angle after a kick to the knee in 0:30:49
x Abyss threw out Punk in 0:32:33
x E. Guerrero threw out Abyss in 0:34:59
x E. Guerrero threw out S. Benjamin in 0:37:00
Rating: *** 3/4

It will be Eddie Guerrero meeting Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Title in one week's time due to his success in this battle royal. We have also learned that at Beat Your Valentine, the World's Greatest Tag Team will defend the World Tag Team Titles against Low-Ki and Elix Skipper.


Match #5
MAIN EVENT
"Y2J" Chris Jericho (World Heavyweight champion)/Randy Orton vs. Kurt Angle/Steve Bradley
With the tension that's been developing World Heavyweight champion Chris Jericho and Randy Orton, it was going to be interesting to see how they worked together tonight against two men who are always on the same page, Kurt Angle and Steve Bradley. In the early goings, Y2J and Orton looked to be on the same page, but as the match continued, the egos of the two men started coming to the forefront. Every time they made a tag, it was a very hard tag. Eventually the tags had to be blind tags because neither man wanted to allow the other one the chance to get the decisive fall. As the match wore on, Jericho got caught in he ring as Angle and Bradley successfully cut him off from tags and went to work on him. Things looked grim for the World champion until he caught Bradley with a desperation enzuigiri. Bradley crawled over to Angle and made the tag. Y2J made his way over to Orton, but before he could tag, Orton jumped off the apron and headed to the back! Jericho tried to fight back on his own, but Kurt Angle and Steve Bradley are far too good of wrestlers to be able to overcome by yourself. After a couple more minutes of intense beating, Kurt Angle pinned the World Heavyweight champion after a hard flying forearm to the jaw knocked Y2J loopy.

Team Angle (Kurt Angle and Steve Bradley) defeated Chris Jericho and Randy Orton when K. Angle pinned Jericho after a flying forearm in 0:09:43.
Rating: ***

Randy Orton had completely abandoned his partner, and it had to be so that Jericho would be softened up a bit for their World Heavyweight Title match at Beat Your Valentine. Though it may turn out to be sound strategy, one has to question Orton's tactics tonight, especially when Jericho is supposed to be his friend.

Speaking of Beat Your Valentine, this pay-per-view event will take place from the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin coming up on Sunday, February 20th! The card is already shaping up to be a good one, with four big time matches already signed!

World Heavyweight Title Match - "Y2J" Chris Jericho (c) vs. Randy Orton

North American Title Match - "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown (c) vs. John Bradshaw Layfield

World Tag Team Title Match - The World's Greatest Tag Team (c) vs. "Primetime" Elix Skipper/Low-Ki

"The Crippler" Chris Benoit vs. Eric Angle
LKOPosted on 10/22/05 at 00:33:30

This show was good, you made me want so many matches tho. Cant wait for Explosion next week and BYV....keep it up man