The Rap Sheet - by the Crimefighter
New Midwest Wrestling, Boiling Point
Springfield, IL 8/26/2K2

First off, attendance looked to be about 250 people; seating on the floor was not full with about half the rows on two sides of the ring to be a bit empty. For some reason, the people who aren't in the first two rows get up and move, though there are others who claim that they are actually leaving the building. I don't get the logic of people who leave during the middle of the show who paid five or eight bucks to get in and watch. They knew what they were going to see when they got here for the most part, that they weren't watching the WWF, which is going to be here next Saturday and the cost to get in is a lot higher. I decided to plunk down the money to see a WWF show but the cost of a ticket was $20 for the nosebleed section. Amazingly, we Springfielders had three different companies come through town to put on a wrestling show in August. This is the second of three. The first was the Intergalactic Wrestling Federation on Aug. 12^th. The WWF of course drew a few thousand. Lastly, NMW received a big write up in the State Journal Register under the headline Headlock High in the Heartland section of the paper.

Show opens with the ring announcer Dangerous Doug Frazier coming in to welcome all those in attendance and touts the WWF ticket giveaway. Alas, the sound setup was just poor; we couldn't hear anyone talk very well all night, which in some cases was a blessing in disguise. Bing Westlake's music hits and out come the Caddy and him, though now his music is now the start of his old music and switches to "God Save the Queen". I wisely remembered to bring in a small flag to irritate Bing, and not surprisingly was the only one in the building who brought an American flag. Bing starts whining loudly about not being booked to appear on the show and brags about what he did to Stan Sallinger, which brings out Sallinger. Sallinger is fuming at him over being beaten up with a golf club last time, and orders him to leave the building. The Caddy drops down behind Sallinger, and Bing shoves him over. Sallinger gets up and tells him he's going to have a match tonight, he will be wrestling his caddy. Then he calls for the American national anthem. I was watching to see if Bing would try another cheap shot while everyone was looking toward the flag on the wall but thankfully they leave.

After the anthem, Sallinger has a few announcements. He declares that Scotty Cash will have to defend his Central IL title against the man who really won the belt at the very first show but had it stolen from him by Guy Smith, Tom Arson. And it's hardcore rules! He then announces that Real World Jeremy won't be able to wrestle for the NMW title in the main event due to a leg injury from last month's show. What, five weeks wasn't enough time to heal? RWJ comes out and declares he's just fine. Well the gutless wonder Prof. Philip H. Dempsey comes out and just stands there in the aisle jawing while Michael Shard and Jason Wells like thieves in the night come in through the side entrance for a sneak attack on Sallinger, punk Jeremy out and wreck his leg with a chair AGAIN. Rip Mystic runs out to make the save, but it's too late. Sallinger is angry, and orders a match between Mystic and Shard, non-title. Shard says he'll refuse any match that isn't for the title. Stupidly, Sallinger gives him what he wants even though Shard has lost THREE IN A ROW and blew his last two chances to win a title shot. Plus you do not reward crime, EVER!

Dredd Walker (1-1-1) 5'11", 210lbs. vs. Khoas Kidd (0-1) 5'7" 200lbs. w/ Luscious P. Coltrane. Some were wondering who the Kidd would come out as this month, and the Ultimate Warrior's music hit. Kidd comes running out with his face and body painted with party streamers tied to his arms and legs. He also has a gut hanging out. After a feeling out process, Kidd dragon arm tosses Walker twice, clotheslines him outside, then baseball slides into him. Suplex on the floor, Walker is tossed back in at nine. Walker KO's Kidd and knocks him outside. Walker dives from the top rope to the floor. Back in, Irish whips to the corners, Kidd tries for a moonsault and slips, and soon Walker finishes with a spinebuster for three.

WINNER: Dredd Walker, pin -> (2-1-1) 7:30 mins. **½

"Alpha Male" Guy Smith (2-2) 6'0" 255lbs. vs. El Diablo Silverado (1-2) 5'8" 173lbs. Before this match even got started, Silverado walked out first to his music but Smith attacks him before he's taken five steps toward the ring. Smith rams him into the barrier then drives his back into the pole. Once they enter the ring, Silverado arm drags Smith out of any move he tries. At one point during the match, Smith frog splashes Silverado on his back but only gets two. Just as Silverado seems to have gotten on the verge of winning, a girl who was acting as a ring attendant last month jumps in the ring, who I recognized as the one who handed Scotty Cash a chain to smack Silverado with during that title match. So she has interfered in two of Silverado's matches in a row! So there she is standing in the apron, while Guy grabs Silverado and hits him with a twisting maneuver that starts with a front face lock, and is lifted up slightly and flipped over so they land on their back where he calls it "A Little Inspiration".

WINNER: "Alpha Male" Guy Smith pin -> (3-2), 8:45 mins. ***

Smith has the mike and tells us he needs someone who will be there for him when he's wrestling (in other words, to bail him out if he's losing.) Misty Matthews is Smith's new manager, who replaces "Hot Valet" who's not around anymore due to the tragic drowning death of her daughter. Ironically after this night, Misty Matthews is never seen again and no one knows what became of her.

Doug Frazier comes out to tout the sponsors and the ticket giveaway again, then makes note of some kid's birthday and tries to resist singing the birthday song, but the crowd does it anyway.

Sage Ramsey (1-2) 6'0" 270lbs. vs. Jason Wells (1-2) 6'4" 270lbs. w/ PHD.
The kindergarten professor gets the mike and starts into a spiel about how dominate a big man Wells is but is quickly cut off. Sage comes out with a chair and is wearing a shirt that says "The Next Icon" and hands it to a fan. He tells Wells it has nothing to do with him, and tells PHD it has everything to do with him. Sage is the best big man in the promotion. Wells attacks and its on. During the match, the chair does get used by Wells to whack Sage on the outside while PHD has the ref tied up. Wells gets a superplex for two, Sage gets a powerbomb and a Undertaker rope walk, but in the end Sage sets up Wells for a top rope knee drop, hits it and covers, but PHD jumps in the ring and whacks Sage in the back with the chair to get a cheap DQ for Wells. A loss is a loss PHD, a DQ doesn't make it any less a loss and your guy now equals the sorry win-loss record of Shard of one win, three losses. PHD is indeed, a kindergarten-level professor.

WINNER: Sage Ramsey DQ -> (2-2), 10:30 mins. **

"The Discount Gigolo" Kenneth Mills (debut), height & weight unknown vs. "The Iron Chef" Leo Lagossi (0-2) 6'0" 240lbs. For some reason I just could not get myself paying attention to the activity in the ring versus all the movement going on in my section. The gigolo comes out wearing a black hat and white cape, looks nearly like a dead-ringer for Michael Shard-which gets us to another problem, too many wrestlers are wearing black tights and shirts when they're out there wrestling. They need to moderate their color schemes badly. After a feel-out, Leo hits a spear. They trade knife-edge chops. Leo tries to hit a knee drop from the top rope and misses. Gigolo gets dumped outside the ring, Leo tries to pull him back in, but the gigolo pops him with a pair of handcuffs in a pouch. Bodyslam, Gigolo goes to the top and hits a moonsault for three. Bleh. Some said Leo just was going through the motions and didn't want to be out there.

WINNER: "The Discount Gigolo" Kenneth Mills pin -> (1-0), 5 mins. ½*

Doug Frazier again touts the sponsors and the ticket giveaway, but an unknown tune hits and out comes some guy in a foul mood. Frazier asks if he is having trouble finding a seat, man swipes the mike and orders him out. Crowd is on his case already, with people shouting who are you. He says he's with Sigma Omega Beta, which was meant to spell out as SOB, but to be typographically accurate it spells out in Greek letters to be SWB. If he uttered his name, I certainly couldn't hear it, as the heel heat he was generating drowned it out, and of course the mikes weren't turned up loud enough so we all could hear him. Weeks later we get a name, "Big Man on Campus" Garret Ryan. Eventually he calls for an opponent and lists some of the bigger guns, when "Cotton-Eyed Joe" plays and out comes "The Cruiserweight Redneck" Earl Grissom. The Frat Boy seems to think he's an inferior wrestler and tells him to get out and holds open the ropes. Grissom starts to leave, but then flips him the double-bird. Frat Boy says he made a big mistake.

"Big Man on Campus" Garret Ryan (debut), 6'2" 232lbs. vs. Earl Grissom (1-2) 5'10", 170lbs. They go at it, but it seems the Frat Boy overpowers Grissom a lot during the match, including a superplex that only gets two. Eventually "The Frat Boy" finishes off Grissom using the Alabama Slam for three. Some have claimed this match was horrible, I say this match was better than much of what was put on display at that IWF show two weeks ago.

WINNER: "The Frat Boy" pin -> (1-0) 11 mins. **½

Bing Francis Alexia Westlake III (1-1) 5'10", 165lbs. vs. "The Caddy" Eric Logan (1-0) 5'10", 173lbs. Eric Logan drops "The Caddy" name after this match and starts using the name Logan. Golfer and caddy argue to start, with Bing ordering the caddy to lay down for him, caddy refuses. Bing breaks the Quiet Sign over Caddy's head on the outside, which the ref sees but doesn't get the idea that this isn't a hardcore match and that is supposed to draw a DQ. Bing in a go behind removes Logan's belt, then in a sunset flip attempt pulls down Logan's pants revealing American flag boxers. Bing soon hits the Fameasser on caddy for the pin.

WINNER: Bing Westlake pin -> (2-1) 9:30 mins. ***

Bing gets the mike and says it had to come to this and beats Logan with a golf club drawing out Sallinger, Bing refuses an order to stop the beating and clocks Sallinger, calls security in to throw Westlake out of the building, before he gets his own shot in. The next show he changes his name and is no longer a caddy.

CI Title Match - Hardcore Rules
[c]Scotty Cash (3-0) 5'9" 170lbs. vs. Tom Arson (0-2) 6'5" 260lbs. Well Cash himself has emailed me about my lack of respect and griping about his horrible his match last month against Silverado was, and I tell him he's getting the same type of heat Buff Bagwell got. The grade was -***½ for that match mainly due to a five minute stall period, which should had been announced to us all so we could take our restroom breaks and stuff. It was also because of that match that I started to rate the matches. Anyway, Arson has the mike and says he's not one to yak, but is thankful Sallinger gave him this no DQ match and he can beat the crap out of Cash anywhere in Soccer World. Out comes Cash, dressed in full football attire minus a jersey. Cash says his usual nonsense and its on, he rams his helmet into Arson's gut, then has the ref pull the helmet off. Cash tries to go through the ropes but can't with the pads on. Strips them off and tries an attack off the top but fails. Cash runs to the back with Arson on his heels, Cash is hurled back on the field. Arson rams Cash into the glass a couple times, then drags him around the perimeter of the field before throwing Cash inside the security barrier. The weapons are put in the ring, including a large orange BUMP sign, a kendo stick, a chair, and a trash can. The bump sign is laid across Arson's body while Cash runs over him back a forth repeatedly. Arson starts to bleed after a shot to the head with a weapon. Eventually, Misty Matthews comes out of nowhere and jumps in the ring. Guy Smith sneaks in through the side entrance to attack Arson. Arson manages to handle the both of them for a while, but Cash and Smith are able to double-team Arson and take him down. They set up a chair across the face of Arson, then Cash dives off the top rope with a legdrop on the chair. The ref has to count three. Cash once again fails to win my respect, having Guy Smith bail him out when he was on the verge of losing to further inflate his bogus win-loss record.

WINNER and STILL champ: Scotty Cash pin -> (4-0) 13:20 mins. *½

Stealing a win wasn't enough, then continue to punk out Arson. Out comes Silverado in an attempt to make the save, but gets beaten down and thrown outside. Cash and Smith set up a table, lay Silverado on it, Cash ponders whether to dive on him while holding a chair or put the chair on Silverado then dive, they decide to put the chair on Silverado, then Cash dives from the top rope and breaks Silverado in half! Cash, Smith and Matthews leave gloating over what they just did. Silverado was helped to the back by Arson. Next month all four men meet in a tag match.

The WWF by the way, is scraping its hardcore division where the title changed hands about 250 times in a few years with its Crash Holly defined 24-7 rule, giving the NWA and independent leagues something to distinguish themselves from the WWF with ECW-style or hardcore matches. But they still run hardcore matches anyway.

NMW Title Match
[c] Rip Mystic (5-0) 5'8" 180lbs. vs. Michael Shard (1-3) 5'8" 170lbs. w/ PHD & Jason Wells. Well gee whiz, Shard realizes how crappy a wrestler he's been with his three match losing streak so he brings out Jason Wells to make it much easier for him to win the title. Rip is still wearing the black band for his late niece. They trade blows to start, but Shard dropkicks Rip in the leg. For much of the match he works on that leg when he has the match under his control, but the rest of the time Mystic knocks him around hitting his cartwheel-somersault back to the corner splash. Rip fell victim to being tied up in the tree of woe giving Shard more chances to work on the leg. The ref gets tied up by PHD while Rip mounts the top rope, allowing Wells to shove him off, then at the twenty minute mark Shard locks in the Cutting Edge, a.k.a. the Sickle Hold and Rip finally taps, though it took the ref a while to figure out that he was submitting. Arrgh.

WINNER and NEW champion: Michael Shard submission -> (2-3) 20:30mins. ****

Make note, Michael Shard is the champion, and has a LOSING record. Well gloating isn't enough so Wells, Shard and PHD triple team Rip by repeatedly kicking him. Real World Jeremy limps down to the ring and tries to make the save but one kick to the bad knee takes him down. Shard realizes he's close to being DQ'ed for unsportsmanlike conduct again and they bail out. Rip gets up, and is steaming mad but his foes have left, so he grabs Jeremy and beats him down. Doug Frazier and the ref try to stop him but are KO'ed by spinkicks. A drunken fan tries to enter the ring and is stopped. Rip finishes his beat down of Jeremy and walks out. Jeremy, with blood streaming from his nose, gets up slowly and grabs the nearest person to take out his anger on, and that's Doug Frazier. Pedigree on Frazier, showing how ungrateful Jeremy was to him for trying to make the save. Someone announces the show is over, and that's it. Frazier is slow to get up, but ends up going to the hospital a short time later to get stitches for his mouth, which was all tore up from the kick to the face and the pedigree due to the metal braces on his teeth. Yikes. Well Frazier has been training to wrestle himself, looks like he needs to finish that training up so he can retaliate for this mess, which he does during the next show, but on the wrong guy. He wrote up a long angry rant about how he was treated, and the forum moderators delete his post repeatedly claiming it was way out of line. I dispute the claims that it was out of line, and was instead, appropriate, informative and hard-hitting. And I sent complaints to the moderators that they were rubbing people raw with the repeated post deleting.

Well we all got cheated out of the main event that was set up over the span of three shows with a sore loser stealing the title away in a match he did not earn. Shard could had gotten this title shot legitimately had he defeated Real World Jeremy two months ago but didn't. As of December, Mystic and RWJ have not had a one-on-one match, which in the next rap sheets we see how they eventually get into a match with a third player.