[2001-01-20-MPPW-TV] Spanky vs Alan Steel

[GSR]

Lance Cade is in the ring ready for his match, before his opponent arrives though, out walks The Kliq 2000. The American Dragon asks Lance to join them for a second as they have some things that they need to straighten out. He says how that when they came to Memphis they all promised to stick together through thick and thin, something that Lance agrees with. Spanky wonders where he’s been recently then, for while Shooter and Dragon have been watching his back and he’s been watching theirs, he (Lance) has been nowhere to be seen. He informs him that he’s either with them or against them and wonders what it’s going to be? Lance tells him that at the moment he stands by himself as he doesn’t agree with anything they’ve been doing here recently. Spanky takes that to mean he’s against them, but Cade reiterates he’s not and that right now he stands by himself because they’re an embarrassment to Shawn Michaels, and embarrassment to the Kliq and an embarrassment to everything they’ve worked hard for. The Kliq then jump Lance four on one (including Jason Sensation) and Schultz puts him in the ‘Shooter Clutch’ until Alan Steel, Blade Boudreaux and Bulldog Raines make the save.

 

This segues into a match between Spanky and Steel for the Light Heavyweight title that had been scheduled for later in the show. Full nelson slam by ‘All That’ for a two count. Whip to the corner, Spanky leaps to the middle turnbuckle and back flips over Steel who then leaps to the middle himself and catches Spanky with a flying back elbow. A forearm drops Steel, but when Spanky climbs to the top rope he’s caught by a dropkick that sends him tumbling to the outside. Plancha to the concrete floor. As Steel tries to follow Spanky back inside, Jason Sensation grabs his leg, distracting him from the match and his opponent. Pescado by Spanky. Snap suplex followed by a slingshot senton, but Steel gets his knees up. Sensation’s interference turns the tide again, this time pulling the legs out from under his own man when Steel charged at him so that ‘All That’ went crashing into the turnbuckles. Tornado DDT, although there’s no-one home on the frog splash as Steel moves out the way. Great press slam into a Samoan drop. He counters the wheelbarrow, pancaking Spanky to the mat, but then misses on a big splash of his own. ‘Sliced Bread #2’ and that’s still not being used as a finisher as Steel kicks out of the cover. ‘All That’ gets a couple of near falls with a small package and a sunset flip, hits a tornado bulldog, when at the count of one Sensation pulls the referee to the floor. Steel has finally had enough and hops out the ring to deck him. As the official check on Jason, Spanky KO’s Steel with his Light Heavyweight title belt behind his back and picks up the three.

[soup23]

Another kliq 2000 promo where they each get a few sound bytes out. American Dragon calls out Lance Cade and Cade confirms they went to TWA together.  He also agrees when they came to Memphis, they would stick together through thick and thin. Spanky then jumps in and says Lance hasn’t been watching their back like he promised. Spanky calls him a big, dumb gorilla. Spanky says that Lance is either with him or against him. Lance says he is one step away from the WWF and right now he stands by himself. He isn’t against these guys but right now they are an embarrassment to Shawn Michaels and everything he stands for. Kliq then attacks Lance and Jason throws powder in his eyes. Shooter clutch is applied. The reserves come in including Bulldog Raines. Steel gets in the ring and the match is on.

This was a very solid tv match. Steel showed me something as a meatball power guy. I guess MPPW is on a weird time slot this week and the jeans and hoodie from Dave Brown display that. Spanky works on bumping hard for Steel and they had a lot of back and forth in the six minute match.  Spanky’s offense looked more credible than I would have imagined with the bigger Steel. Steel hits the bulldog with leverage from the top rope when Jason Sensation pulls the ref out of the ring. Steel pops him but Spanky has the lightweight title and slams it into Steel stealing the win. **1/2