After last week’s six-hour one way trip, it was a great change of pace to travel thirty minutes to the show, although with me getting lost since I have the navigational ability of a blind Teddy Hart, it took about an hour. Anyway, it was a free show in the middle of Books-A-Million and as one guy already pointed out, “You can’t critique a free show, but so much.” Well, I’m an asshole and I’m already late on this review. So at the risk of feeling one of the Heat-Miser’s famous chops, here we go:
No. 1 Contendership For The NWA-VA Alpha Championship
Royal Rumble
Special Guest Ref: Chris Dramin
Order Of Entry: Big Tony, Pete Jannings, Sean Callaway, Maxx Dynamite, Scotty Blaze, Bad News Johnson, Tommy Smallz, Grail, Drake Tungsten, & Mike Vaughn
This was a pretty entertaining Rumble. It wasn’t anything earth shattering, but was a great way to do a lot of things. First, it got over people very well. Heels and faces didn’t have to work that much harder in their matches to prove who was who. I remember last week the crowd was virtually confused about people like Big Tony in terms of face or heel. This match was a good way of telling the pretty new NWA-VA crowd who was who. Second, it was chock full of chops, chops, and more chops. Seriously, this was definitely “ChopFest 2005.” Rick O’Brien on the mike kept telling people a nickel per chop and one of the best parts of the night came via chop. Grail and Blaze were both eliminated and Blaze took Grail near O’Brien and the mike. O’Brien held the mike up and Blaze gave a pretty sweet chop to the delight of the crowd. One thing was for certain though in this match: it definitely sucked being Sean Callaway. Sure, he lasted till the end, but I think every last wrestler in the ring got a chop on him. Definitely gave the crowd more reason to jeer him though, so that was a plus. Despite all the great chops we got from Blaze, I definitely felt like he had no business being in this match. It’s bad enough that the challengers in NWA-VA basically challenge every belt around, but for the champs themselves? Kind of unbelievable. The Alpha title is a step up to the NWA-VA belt, not the other way around. Kid Silver and Ice are easily two guys you could have substituted for the champ, especially Ice since he was making his debut as far as I know. All in all, very entertaining rumble and definitely a great way to start open the show. In the end, Smallz eliminated both Callaway and Vaughn to get the win and earn a shot at the end of the night.
Order Of Elimination: Pete Jannings, Maxx Dynamite, Bad News Johnson, Drake Tungsten, Scotty Blaze, Grail, Big Tony, Mike Vaughn, & Sean Callaway
Winner: Tommy Smallz
Star Wrestler: Scotty Blaze
He had no business being in this match, but his chops definitely made it seem worthwhile, especially that one by the mike. Plus, I’m a little scared about him chopping me if I didn’t give him this. Scratch that; scared shitless.
After the match, Sean Callaway came back out and cut a decent promo about his recent loss and he challenged Chris Dramin to an impromptu match. Dramin came out and accepted his challenge naturally. Definitely a decent promo by Callaway but last week’s was miles better.
NWA-VA Alpha Championship
Falls Count Anywhere
Chris Dramin (c) Vs. Sean Callaway
In case you didn’t know, the Alpha title is defended in a special way: challenger picks the stipulation. I kind of like that. It adds a bit more intrigue to title defenses. Title stipulations like this and ROH’s pure title are always good for me. It’s just something out of the norm. I also enjoy the stipulation with MECW’s Omega belt only being defended in the Battle Royal match. Only problem is I don’t think there is much continuity or intrigue to it. Maybe if they built up one guy for a couple shows as going over in the matches, it would. Oh well, back to the match. The stipulation should be good, but due to DPOR regulations, they can only fight in the areas inside the barricades. It sucks, but what are you going to do? This match started off with some basic mat working which I liked as it was a draw away from the stipulation. Kind of like making people wait for the main piece of the dinner. Give them a small appetizer. The action soon spilled to the outside and they started taking some hard bumps on the concrete parking lot ground! I actually can’t believe they took bumps like that considering how other wrestlers had ice packs on the back of their head all night due to bumps on the ground. Overall, it was a pretty good match with a lot more than I expected from it. I would love to see these two in a 2/3 falls match or submission match. Finish came when Callaway missed a leg drop off the top rope. Dramin quickly got a roll up and picked up the win.
Winner: Chris Dramin
Star Wrestler: Sean Callaway
I don’t think his promo was a good way to get over with the crowd, but he definitely was doing a good job of getting heat during this match. His offense, strategy, taunts, et cetera were all well placed. Dramin was also great in this match, but little by little, I’m becoming more and more impressed with Sean Callaway. I might have to do some things the “Callaway” soon. By the way, I’m about seventy-five percent sure Sean was doing that way before Rob Conway.
