2/17/01: Saturday Night Explosion - Chicago, IL

Interview:
The Extremists open the show with some shocking news.
Click here to see highlights.

Jesse James Armstrong defeated Devon Storm by disqualification in 0:15:59.
Jesse James Armstrong suffered an elbow injury. He
 will be out for approximately 3 cards.
Rating: ** 3/4

Brian Adias and Doc Dean defeated Air Paris and Rob Carlin when D. Dean pinned
Carlin after a flying legdrop in 0:12:17.
Rating: ** 1/2

Rhino pinned Colorado Kid with the Rhino Gore in 0:10:48.
Rating: ** 1/4

Big Titan pinned Mike Sharpe with the Power Bomb in 0:07:00.
Rating: -* 1/2

Interview:
The Perfect Creation has some words for Masato Tanaka.
Click here to see highlights.

Juventud Guerrera pinned Jerry Lynn with the Juvy Driver in 0:10:44.
Rating: *** 1/4

Pierre Oulette pinned Indiana Kidd Jr. with the Cannonball in 0:18:10.
Rating: ** 1/2
(Pierre Oulette won the GLW Television Title.)

The Movement defeated The Grungers when Ace pinned Gutterboy after the
Gorilla Press into a Ace Crusher in 0:09:21.
Rating: * 1/2

Gran Hamada defeated Sebastian P. Sterling by disqualification in 0:02:42.
Rating: 1/4*

Ken Shamrock defeated Jonny Storm by disqualification in 0:04:38.
Rating: **

Lance Storm defeated Masato Tanaka by countout in 0:09:51.
Rating: ** 1/4
(Masato Tanaka retained the GLW World Title.)
Click here to see highlights.



Match observations: 

We are just 6 days away from Slam Masters: Crunch Time, and for a lot of superstars, it is definitely crunch time!  There is so much going on in Great Lakes Wrestling right now that it's hard to keep up with.  Let's try to sort some things
out before we get to Slam Masters!

The show started off with The Extremists coming down to the ring for an interview, and they had some huge news!  Apparantly tonight before the show, Brad Armstrong told GLW brass that he needed an extended leave of action from GLW action.
No word on when Brad will be back, but Lance Storm and company sure had no trouble taking credit for Brad Armstrong's leaving.  Lance was in for a surprise though when from the locker room came out "The Roaddog" Jesse James Armstrong!
Jesse James is of course the 4th member of the Armstrong Family and is apparantly here to take Brad's place.  The Roaddog got started right away by running to the ring with his brothers and a match between he and Devon Storm was on!

"The Roaddog" Jesse James Armstrong looked dynamite in his GLW debut, hanging with Devon Storm stride for stride.  Normally the Extremists would be more than willing to interfere in the match, but the presence of Steve & Scott Armstrong
countered that offensive, until the end of the match at least.  The Roaddog had Devon Storm in position for a huge pumphandle slam when the Extremists entered the ring and broke it up, causing the disqualification.  Scott & Steve entered
to even things up, but the numbers soon overmatched the Armstrongs.  Things looked bleak until Ken Shamrock came from the back and just went nuts.  He cleared the ring of the Extremists nearly single-handedly.  Brad Armstrong may be out of
the GLW for now, but the Roaddog is here, and this isn't over by a long shot!

Former Midwestern champion Doc Dean and Brian Adias have formed an unholy alliance of sorts in an effort of Mark "The Shark" Schrader, but last week, that plan backfired as Schrader beat Adias who served as a replacement for Dean & became
the new Midwestern champion.  Doc Dean was miraculously healed this week as he and Adias teamed to take on the team of Air Paris and Rob Carlin, who are both very impressive in their own right.  Paris and Carlin looked good, but they still
have a bit more to work on because they fell victim to the cunning and craftiness of Dean & Adias.  Dean & Adias managed to use some underhanded tactics to get the victory, and a huge one for Dean especially as he goes into Slam Masters:
Crunch Time with his chance to regain the Midwestern Title.

Rhino was looking to continue his reign of terror he's recently been on in the GLW, but he would have a little extra challenge ahead of him tonight in the form of Colorado Kid.  Rhino is a big strong guy, and he used that to his advantage
yet again in this match, but C-Kid fought back.  C-Kid had the big man reeling when out of nowhere came Juventud Guerrera, one of C-Kid's two opponents this coming Friday in the Television Title Triangle Match.  Rhino was dazed in the
center of the ring and C-Kid hit the ropes, but The Juice nailed him in the back!  Colorado Kid stumbled ahead and Rhino nailed him with the Gore that nearly split him in half!  Rhino picks up the win with an assist from Juventud Guerrera.

Speaking of domination, what about Big Titan's performance tonight?  Poor "Iron" Mike Sharpe might as well have not shown up at all.  You have to admire the effort he did put in though, but this one wasn't even a contest.  Big Titans picks
up the win with the Power Bomb.  Titan wasn't done though, as he would go on to give Sharpe two more Power Bombs before Gran Hamada came in and broke it up.  Titan was fuming as refs held him back from Hamada, with Titan yelling something
to the effect of getting even... tonight!  We'll have to keep our eyes open.

Speaking of Hamada, out next came The Perfect Creation along with we guess his new found friends Sebastian P. Sterling and his manager Michael White.  They kept it short and sweet, telling both Gran Hamada and World champion Masato Tanaka
that there respective days were numbered.

Our next match was simply fantastic.  "The Juice" Juventud Guerrera was already seen once tonight costing Colorado Kid a match against Rhino, but he himself would have his hands full in his match tonight with "The New F'N Show" Jerry Lynn.
 These two put on a wrestling clinic for these fans in Chicago, Illinois, and they loved every minute of it!  The end of this match featured a stunning display of counter and countering of counter wrestling that left the fans speechless.
In the end after some great chain wrestling, Juvy pulled the Juvy Driver out of nowhere and picked up a hard fought win.  Jerry Lynn may have come up with the short end of the stick tonight, but he has definitely earned the respect of the
GLW faithful.

Unfortunately, that impressive victory would not be the last we would see of Juventud Guerrera tonight.  Indiana Kidd Jr. has been quite impressive thus far, being the Television champion, taking on all comers and thus far, doing it quite
well.  He would have a huge challenge tonight (literally) in the form of impressive newcomer Pierre Oulette.  This was an exciting back and forth contest until "The Juice" strolled his way down to ringside and jumped up on the apron.  Juvy
looked like he was going to interfere when Colorado Kid came in and pulled Guerrera off the apron and the fight was on!  While the ref was trying to break those two up on the outside, Oulette nailed Kidd Jr. with a pair of brass knux that
he had hidden in his trunks.  The Cannonball followed, and we had ourselves a brand new Television champion, and that is Pierre Oulette!  Guerrera & C-Kid ended up spilling into the ring and these four men were amidst a huge brawl!  It was
finally broken up after several minutes.  We learned from GLW President Ryan Niemiller's office later on that Pierre Outlette has been added to the Television Title match at Slam Masters: Crunch Time (obviously) and it will now be a Four
Corners Match!  This is going to be huge!

Things between Steve Boz and Gutterboy have for sure reached the breaking point!  Steve Boz & Gutterboy have been at each other for weeks now, interfering in each other's matches and all around being thorn's in each other's sides.  Tonight
the line was finally crossed.  The Grungers were taking on the Movement in tag action.  Near the end of the contest, Gutterboy was looking to put this one in the bag as he climbed to the top rope when out of nowhere and tripped him up,
causing Gutterboy to be crotched on the top turnbuckle.  Mike Burton showed great strength then picking him up into a Gorilla Press and then dropping him into an Ace Crusher from Johnny Ace, giving the Movement a big win going into their
World Tag Team Title match against the Headhunters this Friday night.  The action wasn't over quite yet though as Boz entered the ring and started pounding on Gutterboy!  Gutterboy got a second win and fought back and we had ourselves a
gruesome brawl!  These two fought all the way to the back, hitting each other with everything they could get their hands on.  They even went to the parking lot and beat the trash out of each other there!  The brawl would finally come to an
end in brutal fashion as Steve Boz sent Gutterboy crashing through a plate glass window!  Medical attention was needed immediately for Gutterboy, but Steve Boz had made his point.  If these guys would go this far now, imagine what they're
going to do to each other inside a steel cage this Friday!

Big Titan hinted earlier that he was going to get some payback against Gran Hamada, and it didn't take him that long to act on that threat.  Gran Hamada has managed to earn himself a few enemies by helping out his friend, the GLW World
champion Masato Tanaka, and one of those men includes his opponent tonight, Sebastian P. Sterling.  Sterling started out fast, but Hamada quickly gained the advantage.  Well, he had the advantage until Big Titan came in.  Titan came right
into the ring and went right for Hamada, promptly causing the disqualification.  Sterling acted upset at first like he was going to confront Titan, but Mike White wisely convinced Sterling to just go to the locker room.  Finally a whole
swarm of referees and officials got Titan off of Hamada, but not before Titan planted Hamada with a Power Bomb.  When this mammoth of a man gets angry, I don't know if anybody can stop him!

Man, it just wasn't the good guys' night.  "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock has been near unstoppable in the early going in Great Lakes Wrestling, but The Extremists have made it a point to derail that freight train.  Shamrock
would get a taste of the Extremists' mentally tonight as he took on the English superstar "Wonderkid" Jonny Storm.  It didn't take long for it to be revealed that the Extremists weren't looking so much to pick up a victory here but to
soften Shamrock up for Lance Storm as they will go at it at Slam Masters: Crunch Time this Friday.  After only a few minutes of action, the rest of the Extremists hit the ring and began to attack Ken Shamrock, causing the disqualification.
Shamrock was being bounced around from Extremist to Extremist until the Armstrong Family, Jesse James, Scott, and Steve, came in and matched up with Devon Storm, Ace Darling, and Jonny Storm and fought with them to the back.  Lance Storm
continued his assault on Shamrock until Masato Tanaka ran down and pulled Storm off and began our main event!

Lance Storm had a huge oppotunity in this match as if he managed to pull out the victory over Masato Tanaka, he would go into his huge match with Ken Shamrock the GLW World champion.  Masato Tanaka *IS* the World champion though, and
certainly wasn't going to let the belt go without putting up a fight.  This match wasn't as technical a match as we thought it would be based on Storm's willingness to do anything to win that World Title.  Tonight wouldn't be his night
though, even though he didn't lose the match.  Apparantly Tanaka's opponent this Friday, The Perfect Creation, couldn't wait until Slam Masters to get a piece of Tanaka.  While Storm had the ref's attention, TPC and Sebastian P. Sterling
came to ringside and Sebastian planted the World champ with a Michinoku Driver on the floor, knocking Tanaka out cold!  There appeared to be a little miscommunication between TPC and Lance Storm as I think Storm thought that they were
going to toss Tanaka in the ring and Storm was going to become the World champion, but instead, Tanaka was counted out!  Storm wins, but Tanaka is still the champion.  After the match, TPC & Sebastian continued to beat on Masato Tanaka
until Lance Storm came out and got in TPC's face, asking about what had just happened.  The show came to an end with Lance Storm in The Perfect Creation's face, mouthing the words, "I thought we had a deal!"  We will have to look into this one next week!

Make sure you join us this Friday for Slam Masters: Crunch Time!  We have 9 big matches and 4 titles on the line, so you won't want to miss this one for the world!