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[GCW] Monday Night Explosion - 11/29/04

Snabbit888Posted on 06/27/05 at 07:30:11

We were at the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Atlanta, Georgia for Monday Night Explosion! The first round of the Best of the Best tournament would come to its conclusion as the final four matches would take place this evening. Also, a unique tournament to determine the number-one contender for Paul London's Cruiserweight Title is on tap for the evening as Teddy Hart and Petey Williams of Team Canada as well as Matt and Jeff Hardy would meet in a four-corners match! In addition to that, Low-Ki and Elix Skipper will defend their World Tag Team Titles against the former champions, the Basham Brothers, who will be without the injured Shaniqua. Let's get right to the action!


Match #1
Top-Contender Gauntlet for the Cruiserweight Title
Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Teddy Hart vs. Petey Williams
A very unique tournament was set up this week by GCW President Niemiller to not only settle the differences that started last week between Team Canada and the Hardy Boyz, but also determine the challenger to Paul London and the Cruiserweight Title at Best of the Best. The way this tournament works is that this week, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Teddy Hart, and Petey Williams wrestled in a four-corners one-fall match. Whoever would suffer the losing fall would be eliminated, and next week on Explosion, the remaining three will wrestle in a triangle match. The loser of that match will be eliminated, and in the following week, the final two will wrestle to determine the new number-one contender for the Cruiserweight Title. It should also be noted that both Lita and Dawn Marie were barred from ringside.

Although the rules of this match were technically every man for himself, with two tag teams involved, much of this match was the Hardy Boyz vs. Team Canada. Both teams hit their signature spots, but with the tornado rules, all attempts at a pinfall were broken up to save tag team partners. It wasn't until Jeff Hardy tried a twisting moonsault bodyblock on Teddy Hart that the tide turned, as Petey Williams pulled his partner to safety, causing Jeff to crash and burn hard. Team Canada hit Matt Hardy with several double team moves and Teddy Hart's Sharpshooter was enough to defeat Matt and eliminate him from the Gauntlet.

[Cruiserweight Title Top Contender Gauntlet]: Four Corners Match:
Teddy Hart defeated Petey Williams, Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy when Teddy Hart made M. Hardy submit to the Sharpshooter in 0:11:50.
Rating: *** 1/2

When Matt Hardy recovered, he was quite frustrated with himself as he knows that his brother Jeff will be in a bad way next week as he will have to take on both members of Team Canada in a triple threat match as the Cruiserweight Title Gauntlet continues.

* * * * *

World Heavyweight champion Kurt Angle and his enforcer, Steve "Who's Your Daddy?" Bradley came out next for an interview segment. After doing his routine expounding on how great of an athlete and champion he is, Angle continued to make his disgust toward the number-one contender Chris Jericho apparent, complaining that if it wasn't for Y2J's meddling, Steve Bradley wouldn't have been beaten by Randy Orton last week and would have went on to win the Best of the Best tournament. Angle went on to put his foot in his mouth stating that if Jericho was there he would have no problem "kicking his butt and making him tap," which, of course, cued Jericho to come out. Jericho told Angle that they didn't have to wait until Best of the Best and they could do it right there and now, but as one would expect, Angle backtracked, saying he didn't have his wrestling gear with him because he wasn't scheduled to wrestle tonight (what World Heavyweight champion doesn't have his wrestling gear with him?) The World champion had no problem volunteering Steve Bradley to take care of his dirty work. Jericho was more than willing to oblige, and we had a main event for the evening! Jericho didn't want to wait until the main event though and said he'd take on both of them right now. Jericho started to the ring, but he noticed that Bradley had Mofo, his black baseball bat, with him, and thought better of it, until RANDY ORTON was out with a steel chair in hand! Jericho and Orton rushed the ring, sending Bradley and the World Heavyweight champion scurrying from the ring.

* * * * *


Match #2
Best of the Best - First Round
Shark Boy vs. Justin Credible
The past eight days haven't been too kind to Justin Credible, suffering defeats to Shawn Michaels and Brock Lesnar. He had a good chance to get things back on the right track though against cult favorite Shark Boy. Shark Boy hasn't come out on the winning side of many matches in GCW rings, but he's definitely a gamer, and if you underestimate him, he can end up biting you (pun intended). Shark Boy's antics had Credible out of his game early, but Credible hunkered down and caught Shark Boy with a stiff back kick that stopped the Man From the Sea's momentum. A couple of minutes later, Credible hit his devestating That's Incredible and he was on to the quarterfinals.

[Best of the Best - First Round]:
Justin Credible pinned Shark Boy with the That's Incredible in 0:04:43.
Rating: **** 1/4

Justin Credible will now meet Randy Orton in the quarterfinals next week on Monday Night Explosion. If he can defeat Orton, this could be his ticket to the respect he feels he deserves.


Match #3
World Tag Team Title Match
Low-Ki/"Primetime" Elix Skipper (c) vs. The Basham Brothers
Low-Ki and "Primetime" Elix Skipper have set out to be fighting World Tag Team champions, and they proved it tonight by defending their World Tag Team Titles against the former two-time champions, the Basham Brothers. With Shaniqua suffering a back injury in last week's mixed tag team match, the Bashams were at it alone, and it was obvious how much of a glue Shaniqua is for this team. The Bashams couldn't seem to get it together, making several uncharacteristic mistakes that former tag team champions shouldn't be making. Low-Ki and Skipper are just too good right now, and had a surprisingly easy time in keeping their titles against the Bashams.

Elix Skipper and Low-Ki defeated The Basham Brothers (Doug Basham and Danny Basham) when Skipper pinned Danny Basham with an Asai moonsault in 0:06:11.
Rating: **
(Elix Skipper and Low-Ki retained the GCW World Tag Team Titles.)

After the match, Doug and Danny Basham argued their way up the ramp, blaming each other for the loss. Meanwhile, Low-Ki and Elix Skipper celebrated their second successful title defense in as many weeks, but their celebration was cut a bit short by the World's Greatest Tag Team.

* * * * *

Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas congratulated the champions on a great title defense and said it was quite impressive. They went on to tell Elix Skipper and Low-Ki that they have been trying to call them all week about arranging when they will get their title shot. Skipper told them they've had a busy week and didn't have time to return the calls. Skipper told the WGTT that they need to talk to GCW President Ryan Niemiller, because they're more than willing to put the titles on the line, but they don't make the matches. Benjamin and Haas didn't seem thrilled, but they said okay and left to the back.

* * * * *


Match #4
Best of the Best - First Round
"The Alpha Male" Monty Brown (North American champion) vs. John Bradshaw Layfield (w/ Lamont)
Before this match started, JBL threw a little party to celebrate him picking up his first victory in GCW (a cheap victory over Shark Boy on High Voltage this past week). For such a tainted victory, JBL pulled out all the stops for this party, including balloons, confetti, and dressing Lamont up like a clown. Lamont wasn't happy about this, but Layfield sure got a big kick out of it. JBL had to cut the party short though as he was scheduled to meet the reigning North American champion Monty Brown in a first round match in the Best of the Best tournament. Brown was still suffering the effects of the brutal assault Eddie Guerrero perpetrated on him at Glory with the use of a crowbar, but despite not being at 100%, the Alpha Male was here and here to fight.

This match wasn't pretty by any means. This was just a good old-fashioned brawl, and the fans in Atlanta ate it up. Brown could have easily laid down because of his injuries, but he fought through and gave JBL one hell of a fight. JBL seemed to have renewed confidence though after finally picking up a victory, and took advantage of the North American champion's injured status. It looked like JBL was going to put Brown away when he went for the Stock Market Crash, but Brown ducked and caught JBL with a small package, which was enough to surprise him for the 1-2-3.

[Best of the Best - First Round]:
Monty Brown pinned John Bradshaw Layfield after a small package in 0:11:39.
Rating: ****

Not the type of victory you'd expect from Monty Brown, who is usually so dominating, but he is still obviously feeling the effects of the crowbar attack. Brown got out of the ring in a hurry as JBL wasn't too pumped about suffering another loss, but the Alpha Male was going out of the frying pan and into the fire as he was jumped from behind by EDDIE GUERRERO! Latino Heat grabbed Brown and tossed him shoulder first into the ringsteps before jumping on him with a barrage of punches, but Guerrero soon found himself on the defensive as ERIC ANGLE was all over him with a series of hard right hands! Before this one got any more out of hand, the GCW Official Brigade was down and put some distance between these three men. There are a lot of unresolved issues here that need to be worked out before this gets really ugly.


Match #5
Best of the Best - First Round
Chris Hero vs. Eric Angle
On paper, with the list of wins that Eric Angle has secured since debuting in Global Championship Wrestling, you would think that Chris Hero would be in a lot of trouble in this first round match in the Best of the Best tournament. All due respect to Hero, but Eric Angle is on another planet in the early stages of his GCW career. However, Angle went through one of the most jaw-dropping, brutal massacres I can remember when he took on Eddie Guerrero in a Last Man Standing match at Glory, and he was still suffering the effects of the beating he took. He was even sporting a huge shiner still on his right eye. Angle was still very competent tonight, but Hero was consistently beating him to the punch in almost every exchange. Eventually the match would spill to the outside. Angle uncharacteristically was backing up, not fighting with the normal vigor he brings into most contests. Hero tried to get Angle back in the ring, but both men were counted out in the process.

Chris Hero and Eric Angle battled to a double countout in 0:07:36.
Rating: *** 1/2

Eric Angle and Chris Hero continued to fight each other all the way to the back, not letting the double countout stop the fight. However, what the double countout will stop is their chances of being the Best of the Best as both men are officially eliminated from the tournament.

* * * * *

We cut back to the office of GCW President Ryan Niemiller. Niemiller was flanked once again by his bodyguard, Matt Morgan. Morgan apologized to Niemiller for dropping the ball last week and failing at his duties to protect him from the Prophecy, even offering his resignation. Niemiller was surprisingly in good spirits about it and told Morgan he refused his resignation. Niemiller realized the tactics that the Prophecy used to take Morgan out last week were extreme and as a result fined them a collective $10,000. Morgan still felt bad and wanted to make it up to his boss, so Niemiller told him he could clean the slate by being the special enforcer for the Christopher Daniels vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. Television Title match at Best of the Best. Morgan was excited about this prospect, and the deck seemingly is getting more and more stacked against the reigning TV champ.

* * * * *


Match #6
Nick Dinsmore/Rob Conway vs. The Prophecy (w/ Daffney)
Speaking of the Prophecy, they were in tag team action tonight against Nick Dinsmore and Rob Conway. This match was a result of what happened last week when Dinsmore challenged Christopher Daniels for the Television Title. Though Conway and Dinsmore are the more experienced team, it's hard to find two men who are on fire as much as Christopher Daniels and Sean O'Haire are. The TV champ and O'Haire didn't have a lot of trouble with the experienced team, picking up the victory after O'Haire nailed the Prophecy on Conway.

The Prophecy (Christopher Daniels and Sean O'Haire) defeated Rob Conway and Nick Dinsmore when O'Haire pinned Conway with the Prophecy in 0:05:12.
Rating: ****

The Prophecy's assault didn't end with the three count. They continued to attack Conway and Dinsmore after the bell, and tossed referee Petey Pluck out of the ring when he tried to assert his authority and break it up. Things looked like they could get out of hand until REY MYSTERIO JR. came out to a thunderous ovation, steel chair in hand! Daniels and O'Haire saw Mysterio coming and they made a break for it. Mysterio was so mad, he even took a swing at Daffney! Daffney screeched her way out of harm's way, but Mysterio's demeanor right now is quite clear. Christopher Daniels may have opened up a side of Mysterio that he didn't want to see.


Match #7
Best of the Best - First Round
Brock Lesnar vs. "Latino Heat" Eddie Guerrero
We had just one more match in the first round of the Best of the Best tournament, and it featured the man who many believe is the favorite, Brock Lesnar, taking on the unstable Eddie Guerrero. Though Lesnar has the obvious size and strength advantage over Latino Heat, Eddie's recent adaptation of this ultra-aggressive attitude helped him put the fight to the Monster From Minnesota. Guerrero's plan was to hit and run as much as possible as he had the speed advantage, and for a good portion of the match, he had Lesnar flustered. Brock's a great pure athlete, but he is also very short-tempered, and if you can get him out of his game, he'll begin to make some mistakes. Eddie had him reeling and looked to have the win on several occasions, but Lesnar's raw ability was enough to pull him through as he hit the F-5 and picked up a tough win.

[Best of the Best - First Round]:
Brock Lesnar pinned Eddie Guerrero with the F-5 in 0:11:16.
Rating: ***

With that, the quarterfinals of the tournament are set, and Lesnar is in a great position. Due to the draw between Eric Angle and Chris Hero earlier tonight, Lesnar has a bye in the quarterfinals and will be at the Best of the Best in the semi-finals. The other three quarterfinal matches will take place next week on Explosion to secure spots on the pay-per-view. They will be Randy Orton vs. Justin Credible, North American champion Monty Brown vs. Shawn Michaels, and former World Heavyweight champion Chris Benoit vs. Sean O'Haire.

* * * * *

We were only a few moments away from our main event match pitting Chris Jericho against Steve Bradley, but first we went backstage to Bradley and World Heavyweight champion Kurt Angle. Bradley was his normal stoic self, keeping a blank expression in his face and only showing emotion by how hard he clutched Mofo. Angle acted as motivator for his muscle, explaining to Bradley how important it was that he not only beat Jericho, but beat him so badly that there would be no way he would make it to the World Heavyweight Title match at Best of the Best. Bradley didn't say much, but instead slammed his baseball bat hard against a locker before heading to the ring. Angle didn't do anything but smile a big smile.

* * * * *


Match #8
MAIN EVENT
On Commentary: World Heavyweight champion Kurt Angle "Y2J" Chris Jericho vs. Steve "Who's Your Daddy?" Bradley
Steve Bradley had an agenda for the main event: make sure that Chris Jericho couldn't make it to Best of the Best. Jericho had to come right at the aggressive Bradley with an equally aggressive attack in order to defend himself. However, with Kurt Angle being on commentary for this match, Jericho had difficulty in not being distracted which allowed Bradley to put it to him. Y2J fought back, but when he went for a flying forearm, Bradley ducked and the Canadian King of Bling-Bling nailed referee Jimmy Appleseed instead! It didn't take a genius to figure out that Kurt Angle would take this referee-less moment in time to interfere, grabbing his chair and heading into the ring. Angle measured Jericho and took a huge swing, but Y2J's Spidey-senses kicked in and he ducked, causing Angle to smash his enforcer Bradley in the face instead! Jericho hit the running enzuigiri on Angle, knocking him to the floor. Jericho picked up the chair that the World champion had dropped, but before he could do anything with it, Jimmy Appleseed was coming to. Appleseed saw Steve Bradley out cold in the ring, and Jericho standing with a chair in tow, and called for the bell.

Steve Bradley defeated Chris Jericho by disqualification in 0:06:40.
Rating: ****

The crowd was livid as Jericho had just been disqualified for something he didn't even do! Angle rolled Bradley out of the ring and got out of there in a hurry. We went off the air with Y2J pleading his case to Jimmy Appleseed, but to no avail.

Be sure to join us next week on Monday Night Explosion, which will come to you live from the Colonial Center in Columbia, South Carolina! In addition to the three quarterfinal matches in the Best of the Best tournament, we will see a rematch from tonight between Chris Hero and Eric Angle, as well as Teddy Hart vs. Petey Williams vs. Jeff Hardy as the Cruiserweight Gauntlet continues!
91Posted on 06/28/05 at 04:41:33

So Matt Hardy is eliminated. Fair play, I figured one of the Hardys would go first. Naturally Jeff will take it to a final match (surely... SURELY) but I'm thinking he comes up short. Problem is, I could see you picking either one of Team Canada.

Oooh, could the tag champs be ducking the Worlds Greatest? They'll get the shot eventually, one wonders how amicable it'll be by then. But I like this, at the moment, one team could easily turn and it could just as easily be one team or the other depending on how the Worlds Greatest react if their shot isn't forthcoming as quickly as they'd like.

The idea of an irritated Lamont dressed as a clown actually made me chuckle somewhat - interesting how Lamont seems to be so popular in TNM right now with several people using him. Give him a title reign, and if everyone else follows suite, you'll have someone at the top of the rankings in the roll call thread.

Oh yeah, bugger for JBL, but I figured that was coming. I'm waiting for the Eddie/Eric situation to really explode given how this one came about. I'm also waiting to see what happens when Chavo enters the fray again. Speaking of Eric, was that match with Hero the first one he's failed to win?

The Daniels/Rey feud is possibly the best one you've got going right now. Thing is, I really could see Rey getting that "thunderous ovation". He'll still lose though. ;)

Brock is through, no surprises. Since you've billed him as the heavy favourite, I guess he isn't winning the tournament ( :P ). One quick question - which quarter final is paired up against Lesnar in the semi? I might be able to make a call from here.

Chris Jericho has SPIDEY-SENSES? He's a shoe in for the title for sure now. I guess they didn't do anywhere to even weakening him before Best of the Best (yet) but kudos to Bradley who's fast coming over as one of THE men in the GCW right now.
Snabbit888Posted on 06/28/05 at 09:04:55

It's Lesnar taking on the winner of Orton/Credible, and the winner of Brown/HBK taking on the winner of Benoit/O'Haire.

Everyone else has Lamont with the Cat though, right?

Daniels/Mysterio has gone very well... and I think it's going to get better.

And yes, I'm pleasantly pleased with how over Bradley has gotten.  By the stats, he doesn't have a completely impressive win/loss record, but I think he has been legitimatized as a bad ass (and to think for his first couple weeks, he had a weird "ladies' man" thing to him, note, see pre-game High Voltage for Chaos Reigns, I believe... shudders)
91Posted on 06/28/05 at 15:45:19

True about Lamont, but he's also a big focal point for everyone, as opposed to some afterthought who follows Miller like a lost puppy.

OK, the tournament - Lesnar vs Orton in one semi seems the obvious choice (especially as Lesnar has already decimated Credible once and there's NO WAY he'd be losing to him... right?). The other one is a real bitch to pick. Call me crazy, but I'm going for Brown vs O'Haire, with Brown to defeat Lesnar in the final. Since I'm guessing the results are set in stone (and possibly already simulated), I assume you can't do anything to screw with them to assure my being wrong.
Snabbit888Posted on 06/29/05 at 02:34:36

I will VERY rarely ever change my booking around based on someone's suggstions.  I will sometimes ask for suggestions, but I definitely don't change what I'm doing over someone's predictions. :)  And no, I don't simulate ahead.  I sim, write the card, book and sim the next, write, etc.
americamamushiPosted on 06/29/05 at 02:44:59

On 06/29/05 at 02:34:36, Snabbit888 wrote:but I definitely don't change what I'm doing over someone's predictions. :).
That's exactly what someone who did change what they're doing over someone's predictions would say.  :D