Review: Rampage Pro Wrestling TV Taping, 06/19/11, from Daniel Lee Lumm

Review: Rampage Pro Wrestling TV Taping, 06/19/11, from Daniel Lee Lumm

- from The Pack's Daniel Lee Lumm


BEFORE/AFTER the Event

The line was filled with entertaining conversations. The wait seemed a lot shorter even though they let us in around the same time as normal. Nobody came out for autographs and pictures this week. Avery is pushing for “Marvelous” Michael Stevens and Drew Adler next event. When speaking briefly with Ben Masters about the Teletron (I’m going to keep calling it that until told otherwise, just know it’s only a HD TV) and he confirmed that ultimately their goal is to allow it to show backstage promos during the event, which will be a breath of fresh air for the live crowd. Due to it being Father’s Day, NWA Rampage was giving free DVDs to any father who brought their children and paid admission to the event. I personally think they should do something similar on Veteran’s Day weekend for anyone with a Military ID, but being in Warner Robins means that there are probably a lot of great people in our Armed Forces who would show up and possibly run Rampage broke (ok it’s a joke).

“Epic” Grant Michell vs “Adorable” Anthony Andrews

This match was pretty good for opening what turned out to be a spectacular event. Grant Michell is relatively unknown (in the ring at least) in RPW so he came out to a quiet crowd. Some of the crowd backed him with chants, but Andrews got quite a bit of backing himself. Both competitors put on a great show for the time they were given, and crowd participation was highly apparent here. In the end it was Andrews who got the upper hand and pulled off the win. During his celebration he provoked Security Guard Chris Jacobs. Jacobs went to retaliate and Andrews fled.

Result: “Adorable” Anthony Andrews wins via Pinfall at 6:47

The Usual Suspects (Murder One / AJ Steele) vs Jimmy Rave Approved (Mike Posey / Corey Hollis)

A surprising add to the card considering both teams would face each other in an 8-Man Tag Match (or would they?). For the standards that I’ve seen Jimmy Rave Approved and Suspects wrestle I’d say this is pretty average for them (by this I mean they’ve done much better but still good this time). I may just be under-analyzing it because it wasn’t too memorable when compared to the main event that took place later and I don’t have any recording to call a Play-By-Play on (being Play-By-Play is one of my many endeavors for the future). Match had the predictable outcome but still didn’t fail to entertain. Ironically (from my perspective, but I do believe I’m right) the referee counted the pin illegally, as AJ Steele was the legal man and both competitors of the same team were in the ring together during the pin. After the match Murder One pointed me out, foaming at the mouth, saying things such as “This is what you wanted” referencing a small argument he had with me (while I’m in character) where I told him the new Murder One had grown soft, and he responded by saying that he’ll bring back the old one. The small confrontation can be found here (http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1940246020504&oid=97556362330&comments.

Result: Usual Suspects win via Pinfall (Murder One pins Corey Hollis) at 8:50

NWA Rampage Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship Match

Bull Buchanon vs J-Rod

This is a match that deserves NOTHING LESS than praise. Before the match started (before Miss Allie could event announce it) Jimmy Rave came out to offer J-Rod a spot in his Approved group. Referee Dustin Robinson forced Rave from the ring and to the back without J-Rod ever giving a solid answer. Both competitors were simply amazing in the ring. Aside from some moments where me and the pack (Explained at the bottom) had some laughs at a particularly questionable pin posture Bull executed (and Avery will be uploading) the match was very action filled. Overall the match ended up showing the solid power of Bull while giving J-Rod the underdog mentality. A great thing to note is J-Rod was showing some slight Heel qualities such as working a spot on the body ruthlessly, using the apron and railing as a weapon, and causing extra damage by using the mat on the outside. He really did a great job touching right on the border of fighting as a Heel. We still are yet to find out if J-Rod had accepted Jimmy Rave’s offer so obviously these qualities brought that to question. In the end J-Rod failed to regain the title from Bull. Right as J-Rod looked to secure the victory, Bull pulled out a surprise Lariat to end the match. This is the longest completed match of the day (details concerning the “completed” address below).

Result: Bull Buchanon wins via Pinfall at 16:20

Frankie Valentine vs El Nita Dos

(Note: if I misspelled the name of the above competitor please inform me)

This match ultimately was uneventful. Both competitors did great (most of the crowd criticizing El Nita Dos’s ring attire with comments like “Glacer wants his gimmick back” for resembling a Mortal Kombat character and others called him a power ranger for his mask style). El Nita Dos isn’t a regular at NWA Rampage so in a short summary, he combines martial arts with wrestling (much like Glacier and Tajiri). Jeremy Vain and Doug Somers came to ringside to watch the match. Valentine ended up picking up the victory. This was the shortest match of the night.

Result: Frankie Valentine wins via Pinfall at 4:49

Drew Adler / “Marvelous” Michael Stevens vs Cash Vault (Rob Adonis / Bobby Moore)

The bulk of the early match was Bobby Moore getting beat a little, tagging in Adonis, Adonis dominating, and Moore talking him into tagging him back in and repeating the process. It was pretty funny for the crowd. Adonis ended up using the Iron Claw in the match, some remnants of his Judge character while hiding his identity from Doc. Cash ended up doing some distraction work which confused the ref later on mistaking tags and such and forbidding the actual legal man in the ring while forcing the already worked competitor back into the ring. In the end Cash Vault picked up the win.

Result: Cash Vault wins via Pinfall (Bobby Moore pins Drew Alder) at 15:59

Jeremy Vain and Doug Somers come to the ring to cut a promo about how Frankie Valentine has failed Somers. Somers talks about how Vain accomplished more in his short time being managed by Somers than Valentine has in his 15 years with Somers. Valentine said he’ll eventually get his shot at the Television title again and Somers accepted the challenge on behalf of Vain (much to Vain’s dismay). They all left and we moved onto the next match.

Kyle Matthews vs Jimmy Rave

This match was annoying to most of the crowd. Jimmy Rave spent a good 5 minutes after the bell rang getting out of the ring and walking around complaining about various things. There came a point where referee Dustin Robinson practically got in Jimmy’s face and (and for the first time I witnessed an angry face on Dustin) told him to wrestle the match. From then on he actually decided to face Kyle Matthews. Just when it seemed Matthews had the match won Jimmy Rave Approved stormed the ring and attacked, causing the referee to Disqualify Jimmy Rave. Valentine, Suspects, and Hot Like Lava rushed to aid Matthews, and Vain came in to the aid of Jimmy Rave Approved. Sal then used his powers as GM to say that the schedule 8-Man Tag Team Match is being changed to a 12-Man to include Wrecking Crew, Sal, and Vain.

Result: Kyle Matthews wins via Disqualification at 15:22

12-Man Tag Team Match: The team that makes the Pin is awarded the NWA Rampage Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship

The Usual Suspects (Murder One / AJ Steele) / Hot Like Lava (Cru Jones / Shaun Banks) / Rampage Wrecking Crew (Kyle Matthews / Frankie Valentine)

vs

Jimmy Rave Approved (Jimmy Rave / Sal Rinauro / Corey Hollis / Mike Posey / Chip Day) / Jeremy Vain

This match was just packed full of action. I commend Dustin Robinson for doing what he could to keep track of the legal men throughout this match because I can only imagine how difficult it would be in his position (grant it’s probably much easier as a spectator). After the bell rang, Sal ordered the referee (threatening his career) to check the entire opposing team for weapons. The referee did, while explaining that he disagreed with the decision when receiving criticism from the team he was searching. Shaun Banks gave him a particularly difficult time by pelvic thrusting while Dustin checked his knee pads and boots. He got around to checking Jimmy Rave (to his team’s dismay) to find a choking rope. He didn’t search the rest of the team. Since my mind was so blown by this match I can’t possibly put all of the details that I found vital to the match in here. At one point Chip Day was in the process of getting up only to get pelvic thrusts from both Cru Jones and Shaun Banks, both at Chip’s face level, forcing the entire crowd as well as the HLL’s team mates to crack up laughing. It became clear early on that Suspects had no intentions of letting anyone else on their team make the pin, and Hot Like Lava had the exact same approach to the situation.

When chaos ensued in the ring, Hot Like Lava and the Usual Suspects ended up fighting each other out of the ring and back stage while the Wrecking Crew was left to defend themselves against the entire opposing team (2 on 6). When they seemed to start gaining momentum, the referee was directly attacked causing the match to end in a No Contest (Assumed, the match never officially was ended). Drew Adler, Michael Stevens, J-Rod, and Grant Michell all stormed the ring to aid the Wrecking Crew. This marked J-Rod’s official response to the offers by Jimmy Rave. Jimmy Rave Approved ended up gaining the upper hand and controlled the ring. Sal got the microphone and start ranting in anger. He went on to fire J-Rod, Bull Buchanon, the concessions personnel (who work for Johnny G’s Fun Center, not NWA RPW), Bill Behrens (laughable at best), Hot Like Lava, and everyone he could think of naming outside of Jimmy Rave Approved.

The crowd (almost literally) erupted when Doc Gayton made his surprise return to NWA Rampage with a steel chair, storming the ring forcing Jimmy Rave Approved to the outside. Doc alone stood in the ring, with Wrecking Crew and their supporters on one side and Jimmy Rave Approved on the other. Doc went on to tell everyone that he was still the CEO of NWA Rampage Pro Wrestling, still the Chairman (while holding a chair up for that part), and that he was tired of seeing Sal run the company into the ground. He went on to say that Sal’s idea of booking Suspects and Hot Like Lava together was nothing more than a scam. Lastly, he went on to say that only one person was being fired that night, and it was Sal Rinauro. The crowd went crazy at this announcement and started singing “Na Na Na Na! Hey! Hey! Hey! Good Bye!” with everyone in Jimmy Rave Approved (including Vain and Somers) completely outraged. Doc announced himself as the General Manager of NWA Rampage Pro Wrestling. In a last effort to get rid of Doc, Sal talked Doc into putting the chair down (Doc unfolded and sat down in it in the middle of the ring) and got everyone from Jimmy Rave Approved to storm the ring. This was to no avail as J-Rod, Valentine, Matthews, Adler, and Stevens all did the same as Doc got to his feet to grab the chair. Jimmy Rave Approved went to the back with a much delighted crowd and setting.

Extra Notes:

Epic is Epic: “Epic” Grant Michell is actually one of the guys who works the sound and music for NWA Rampage on a regular basis. For the short time he was wrestling today, the music ended up scrambled in a segment I ended up comparing to the practical jokes played on Mark Henry on WWE Raw recently. Michell ended up coming out to Bull Buchanon’s music. I for one thank you for doing a great job on the PA system. Let it be known that “Adorable” Anthony Andrews also works the PA when Michell’s not (but was not responsible for the music botches mention).

Refs Deserve Attention: From now on I will be recording which referee is assigned to each match. The referees spend more time in the ring in a single event than the competitors and are very vital to the ring psychology. Officials for today’s event were Dustin Robinson (nicknamed Meat Loaf by the RPW fans), Stan Robinson (no relation), and Danny Star.

Thank You: Thanks Avery for being my Time Keeper. Thanks Ben Masters for informing me that the Teletron will eventually give the attending audience the ability to see the backstage promos. Thanks Murder One for singling me out from our online confrontation. Thank you everyone for your feedback on these reviews.

External Links:

NWA Rampage Website: http://rampageprowrestling.net/

NWA Rampage Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rampage-Pro-Wrestling/97556362330?ref=ts

SBI Bookings: sbibookings.com

West GA Wrestling Fans: http://www.westgawrestlingfans.com