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On Friday night, November 11, Ted DiBiase's PWA came to the Upper Room World Center in Dix Hills, NY.
The crowd was a sell out crowd of close to 3,000!!
Belltime was set for 7:30 but the show did not get underway until 8pm.
Your ring announcer, Joe Evak. Your timekeeper, Peter Martin (Marty the Mark). One of your two referees, Gary! NYS Athletic Commission Representative in attendance, Billy Caputo.
The crew (myself, Joe, and Ron) were in attendance, along with Jay. Other luminaries in attendance included Robert Franklin and Eric Rosen.
The show opened with the Big Show on the Big screen. Show say as much as he wanted to be here tonight, other commitments prevented him from doing so. He apologized and seemed very sincere.
Ted DiBiase came out and said he was still planning on making a huge purchase tonight. The lights dimmed, a picture of Kane appeared on the big screen, and Kane's music played. The crowd popped huge!
The opening contest saw Doink (with a Dink who was almost as tall as him) defeat Kamala. During Doink's entrance, balloons fell from the balcony of the room. The match was your usual Kamala matched filled with all his moves. Blast came to ringside during the match and distracted Kamala, allowing Doing to roll him up for the pinfall.
Next up was Brutus the Barber Beefcake and the Barber Shop. The one thing that made me chuckle was that with all the lights, music, big screen videos, and everything else that was put into this show.. why was the Barber Shop basically a chair and a stool in front of some black background? Brutus introduced HBK Shawn Michaels. Beefcake addressed all the rumors of Shawn having changed his ways and questioned how the Shawn of old could possibly have changed. They then ran Michael's last appearance on the Barber Shop, when he put Marty Jannetty through the Barber Shop Window. Back live Shawn explained that he doesn't deny the partying and girls that he did in the past but he has changed and later tonight we will all find out why.
A three way ladies match was up next between Luna Vachon, Cindy Rogers "The Definition of Technician" (#2 on our Top 50) and Mercedes Martinez (#4 on our Top 50) w/ Mike Trash. The match started with Cindy and Mercedes teaming up on Luna. Luna quickly fought back and cleared the ring. While Mercedes got back in the ring and locked up with Luna, Cindy attacked from behind. They then continued to double team Luna. This went on until Cindy went for a pin and Mercedes pulled her off. Mercedes then went for a pin and Cindy returned the favor. Cindy and Mercedes then exchanged stiff chops before they started to battle. Cindy put Mercedes in a submission move but Luna hit Cindy with a nice neckbreaker, followed by a second rope reverse elbow drop for a two count. Mercedes hit Cindy with a lungblower then hog-tied her. Luna threw Mercedes out of the ring. She then DDT's Cindy and hit her with a Vader Bomb for the pin. After the match all three women shook hands and hugged.
Intermission followed.
The next match was a No DQ match for the PWA Cruiserweight Title. Champion Johnny Ova w/ Bobby Reidel faced Harry Smith and Teddy Hart. To be quite honest, I'm not a Teddy Hart fan. I feel he is extremely overrated and he proved that to me, once again tonight. Harry Smith on the other hand has the potential to be one of the best in the business. If he looks this good, at such a young age, I can only imagine how good he will be in a few years. Teddy attempted a springboard moonsault to the floor so many times I lost count. I say attempted because he never was able to actually hit it, as he slipped on the ropes every time. The three men then brawled to the floor where Teddy was laid out on a table. Ova climbed the ladder and dropped a leg on Teddy, on the table. Back in the ring, Ova applied the Million Dollar Dream to Teddy but Teddy was able to break out and hit a 360 Corkscrew off the top, onto Ova for the pin and the title. Evidentially, those who booked the match believed the hype.
The main event was up next. The Dream Team of Brutus Beefcake and Greg The Hammer Valentine faced Tito Santana and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. The match was your usual heels cheat, faces tag but ref never sees it, match. Beefcake held Jim as Valentine attempted a clothesline. Duggan ducked and Valentine hit Brutus. Tito tagged in and pinned Brutus for the win. Come on!! At least give me a flying burrito!!
After the match, Beefcake turns on Valentine and the two begin to fight. Johnny Ova and Doink soon join in but HBK makes the save.
As Greg is beaten down in the ring, red lights flood the ring and demons come out and beat down and shackle Greg. HBK comes out and talks to Greg about all the demons he has encountered in his life and how if he takes Jesus Christ into his heart, his life can change. HBK says a prayer that Valentine repeats before breaking the shackles.
Luna Vachon, Johnny Ova, Kamala, Jim Duggan, Beefcake, and Bobby Reidel join HBK and Valentine at ringside. As Luna goes to speak, DiBiase interrupts and comes out talking about how they must have a price. Jim Duggan interrupts and DiBiase leaves. Each wrestler then gave their own testimony about when they found Jesus Christ. I still get a kick out of Kamala, in full face paint, talking about how he's not really from Uganda.
HBK talks about his demons and how he found Christ. He says, "God forbid you walk out of here tonight and get hit by a bus". Ron then whispered to me, "The busses stopped running at 9."
After all the testimonies there was a reenactment of the crucifixion.
The show ended with Ted DiBiase giving his own testimony and encouraging those who wanted to, to come to ringside and join him in prayer.
Post show, at least 1500 people waited on line to get autographs from all the wrestlers on the show (except Hart and Smith). Kane was there for the autograph signing!
Overall, a great crowd. Not many wrestling fans there, but that was to be expected. The opening match and main event were good for what they were. The ladies match was exceptional and the three way would have been phenomenal had Teddy Hart actually hit the majority of his spots. I was a little disappointed at there only being 4 matches BUT if there were more, I may not have been home by 12:30!
