[2000-02-12-NWA Wildside-TV] Mega Rumble

[soup23]

AJ is announced as rookie of the year. Bailey comes out and does his usual great promo against AJ. Al Getz joins us in the commentary booth. Fun to see Southside Trash who were a great heel team. Richie Rivera is fucking huge. He teams going with Southside Trash before going against them. Skinny Kenny has a funny gimmick of not being skinny at all. Kenny is even wearing a shirt that says I hate fat people. Rukkus ends up winning and then Bailey comes out to give another scorching promo confirming that he had bought off Rukkus and owns the belt. They even bleep him when he proclaims he is like God. **

[Loss]

Jeff G. Bailey goes scorched Earth on AJ Styles after he wins the Rookie of the Year award before the match starts. However, within all of that, this was far and away the highlight of this for me.

 

Ring announcer: "I was reading WOW Magazine the other day ..."

Fan: "I'm sorry"

 

I won't touch Bailey's comments on Styles hustling at downtown gloryholes to raise enough money to pay for his AZT prescription.

 

A Mega Rumble is basically contested under Royal Rumble rules. I liked the spot when Rukkus entered the ring with a chair and Southside Trash got so scared they accidentally eliminated themselves. Skinny Kenny's Buddy Rose tribute gimmick is pretty funny, and the announcers do a good job putting it over. Lots of lumbering big guys, but the action picks up some when Onyx enters the ring. Should a wrestler really be able to call himself Terry Lawler? I'm assuming he came from one of those outlaw indies that tries to trick people into thinking people are on the show that aren't. I didn't see much here in the way of guys that impressed me that weren't already on my radar, which I hoped a battle royal would be able to provide. But I did get to see bookended Jeff G. Bailey promos, so there's that.

[Tim Evans]

Holy shit as Bailey's promo on AJ. I haven't laughed that hard in ages. Steve Martin looked mortified when Jeff mentioned gloryholes and snowballing. That was the highlight of this whole thing. As for the match, it was a match. Love Frenchy Rivera and Skinny Kenny. Getting NWA worldwide flashbacks watching those guys. Only person missing is Stylin Shane Eden. I think Terry Lawler is related to Steve the Brawler Lawler. He gets destroyed with a toaster that had to hurt. Nice to see Al Getz on commentary.

[Moonsault Marvin]

This was worth watching for Bailey's opening promo. It wasn't a great battle royal, but they did have a fun roster of giant fat guys. That Rivera guy was huge and he jumped off the apron to the floor.

[GSR]

Interview segment opens where Steve ‘Chance’ Martin announces A.J. Styles as the ‘Rookie of the Year’ and is sure he’ll be going to the big three someday. A.J. thanks the fans and says he doesn’t want to wresatle for anyone else, when they are joined by Jeff G. Bailey. Bailey opens up by saying how the snow has gone and that must be a disappointment for Styles and Martin as he understood they’re both into snowballing! He refers to them as life partners and claims Martin has been pushing Styles down people’s throats from day one and states that A.J. only beat K-Krush, a WWF superstar, because of help from Jorge Estrada. As a man he’s not fit to breathe the same air, let alone get in a wrestling ring with him, and says he should be hanging out at the adult book store infront of the glory holes trying to hustle to get enough money to fill his AZT prescription! Fortunately for him though, K-Krush is now in Memphis at the request of the WWF so he can make them some money as this floundering company couldn’t afford to keep him. Bailey wants his TV title back and doesn’t need Krush to get it, while he tells Styles that he doesn’t deserve that ‘Rookie of the Year’ award and that Onyx could wrestle circles around him. He’s going to get A.J. put in hospital, and tonight will be the first steps of his taking control of the company.

 

Mega Rumble to crown a new Wildside Heavyweight champion. The rules are that two men start off and a new man enters every minute and you are only eliminated by being thrown over the top rope. Razor (one half of Southside Trash) and Silky Boom Boom are the first two participants. A bit of a miscommunication and Boom Boom with a bulldog after running up the turnbuckles, only to get jumped by entrant number three, Rowdy, the other half of Southside Trash. Frenchy Rivera is number four, and boy is this guy fat. He seems to have come to an arrangement with SST to let him have Boom Boom, but no, it’s just a rouse and he double crosses them with a double clothesline. Rukkus enters with a steel chair and the SST eliminate themselves by jumping over the ropes when they see him brandishing it. What a shitty way to get them out the match. Turns out that Rivera and Boom used to team together as ‘Hot & Heavy’, and when Southside Trash take a powder they go out after them. They didn’t go over the top rope, but both teams fight on the floor and to the back so it looks like we’ve seen the back of them. Skinny Kenny comes out at number six and we’ve got a match again. The irony in Kenny’s name being that he’s not so skinny. We return from an advertisement and John Arden has joined the two of them, and as is becoming a bit of a feature, he’s the partner of Kenny. Entrant number eight is Shasta McNasty and the big guys continue. Onyx is in to help Rukkus and this looks like it’s just got interesting. Mark E. Mark is next to arrive and we finally have our first legit elimination as Rukkus and Onyx team up to get rid of Kenny. Shasta with a big splash in the corner to Onyx, and Mark E. follows up with a clothesline before tossing him out of there in something of a surprise. Number eleven is Damien Steele, and Rukkus returns the favour with a splash in the corner to Shasta and then throws him over the top rope to the floor. Arden eliminates Mark and we’re down to three in the ring. We’re back up to four with the arrival of Tery Lawler, but as soon as he enters we’re back at three as Arden is eliminated by Rukkus. Nice overhead throw/suplex from Rukkus to Steele, and Lawler does the elimination honours. Unlucky thirteen is Terry Knight who Lawler and Rukkus immediately team up on. White Trash is next, carrying a ‘stop’ sign and a toaster, the latter of which he breaks over Lawler’s head. Rukkus with a press slam on Knight (I don’t know if he was supposed to drop him to the floor, but it looked like he lost him on the press slam and had to just toss him over the ropes). Lawler throws Trash through the middle ropes and he and Rukkus end up tumbling to the outside too. Trash empties his bag of weapons in the ring and this is starting to resemble a ‘hardcore match’. He clocks Lawler with a frying pan and a cookie sheet, but he responds with a couple of hub cap shots to the head. The dazed Trash is then easily eliminated and we have our final two. This doesn’t last much longer, as while Lawler is admiring his handiwork Rukkus cracks him in the back of the head with a stop sign and he falls over the top rope to the floor. Jeff G. Bailey is back out and says how people were wondering who his man was in this Rumble. He asks Rukkus to give him ‘his’ title, and although reluctant at first, when Bailey passes him an envelope of money he hands it over and Bailey says that he now control the heavyweight title.

 

Not the most exciting of Rumbles, as once Onyx was eliminated it was obvious who was winning (providing Styles wasn’t a later entrant). Hated the Southside Trash eliminating themselves, and then the lame exits of Rivera and Boom Boom fighting them to the back, although maybe Frenchy was just too fat to take the bump over the top rope to the floor? Can’t say that a lot of the participants in this showed me something that I would look forward to seeing more from them. The crowd came alive for Onyx’s entrance and I was surprised to see him eliminated so quickly. Jeff G. Bailey continues to be a joy with what comes out of his mouth. The guy has got no filter, nothing is off guard and he couldn’t care who he offends with his language.

[cheapshot]

A Battle Royal contested by what was basically a load of fat out of shape wrestlers in t-shirts. AJ Styles being insulted and just standing there taking it kinda killed any credibility he had before the match started.

 

Wildside had it's flashes of good/great, but this wasn't it, just a load of dudes working sloppily who can't punch for toffee.

[Edwin]

This was unintentional comedy. The highlights were Rukkus shoot punching Mr. Extreme in the mouth in the corner and then getting recked with a toaster by White Trash.

 

I live in central Florida and I've never seen such a variation of mullets as I've seen here.

 

Pretty pointless.