2/23/01: Slam Masters: Crunch Time - Chicago, IL

[Pre-Game Show]:
Air Paris and Rob Carlin defeated The New Powers of Pain when Carlin pinned
Bull Pain with the Twisting Splash in 0:11:07.
Rating: -* 1/4

[Pre-Game Show]:
Rhino pinned Erik Watts with the Rhino Gore in 0:12:22.
Rating: -* 3/4

[Pre-Game Show]:
Jerry Lynn pinned K.C. McCulloch after a top-rope Frankensteiner in 0:06:17.
Rating: ** 1/2

Four Corners Match:
Colorado Kid drew Pierre Oulette, Indiana Kidd Jr. and Juventud Guerrera:
         x Colorado Kid beat J. Guerrera via pinfall in 0:21:33
         x Colorado Kid beat I. Kidd Jr. via the Rocky Mountain Flattop in
           0:26:16
         x time limit expired (Colorado Kid and P. Oulette) in 0:30:00
Rating: ** 1/2
(Pierre Oulette retained the GLW Television Title.)

The Extremists (Ace Darling and Devon Storm) defeated
The Armstrong Family (Scott Armstrong and Steve Armstrong) when Darling pinned
Steve Armstrong with the German Suplex in 0:10:56.
Rating: * 3/4

The Headhunters defeated The Movement when Headhunter A pinned Ace after
a spinebuster slam in 0:10:10.
Rating: *
(The Headhunters retained the GLW World Tag Team Titles.)

Jesse James Armstrong pinned Jonny Storm with the Piledriver in 0:22:29.
Rating: **** 1/4

Doc Dean pinned Mark Schrader with the Magistral in 0:13:08.
Rating: * 3/4
(Doc Dean won the GLW Midwestern Title.)

No-Time-Limit-No-Countout-No-DQ-Cage Match:
Steve Boz defeated Gutterboy by escaping the cage in 0:25:22.
Rating: **** 1/4

Masato Tanaka pinned The Perfect Creation with the Roaring Elbow in 0:15:23.
Rating: ****
(Masato Tanaka retained the GLW World Title.)

Lance Storm pinned Ken Shamrock after a German suplex in 0:20:55.
Rating: *** 1/2

[Winner gets World Title shot at Super Cade I]: Number-One-Contenders-Match:
Big Titan pinned Gran Hamada with the Power Bomb in 0:17:07.
Rating: ** 1/4



Match observations: 

What a night of action we just had!  Slam Masters: Crunch Time is in the books and we had ourselves a lot of twists and turns that nobody expected, and with Super Cade I just a month away, the huge show is starting to shape up!  Before we
got to the supercard itself, we had 3 matches on the Pre-Game Show to get the ball rolling.  In the opener, Air Paris & Rob Carlin continued their progress as a team and got a huge victory over the New Powers of Pain.  The next match was
between Erik Watts and Rhino, and I tell you what, Rhino gets more impressive every week, getting a huge victory over Watts.  The final Pre-Game Show contest feautred "The New F'N Show" Jerry Lynn picking up a win over K.C. McCulloch.
With those matches in the bag, it was now time for Slam Masters: Crunch Time!

The supercard opened up with the much anticipated Four Corners Match with the Television Title up for grabs.  Pierre Oulette won the Television Title last week thanks to Juventud Guerrera's interference that was broken up by Colorado Kid,
and needless to say, Indiana Kidd Jr. was hungry to get his title back.  It was obvious that all four of these men wanted that Television Title as the first elimination didn't happen until over 20 minutes into the match!  C-Kid picked up
the first pinfall of the match by countering a Guerrera clothesline with a backslide to get the 3 count.  "The Juice" wasn't done for the evening though as he apparantly still has some sort of grudge against Indiana Kidd Jr. for beating
him in the Finals of the Television Title Tournament as he came back to the ring and distracted Indiana Kidd Jr., which allowed Colorado Kid to hit him with the Rocky Mountain Flattop, leaving just C-Kid and the champ, Pierre Oulette.
Indiana Kidd Jr. was furious and he made that known as he and Juventud Guerrera brawled to the locker room area.  Colorado Kid could taste the Television Title as he was simply on fire.  No matter what Oulette tried he just couldn't slow
him down.  C-Kid finally planted Oulette with the Rocky Mountain Flattop and got the 1...2...DING!  Pierre Oulette was saved by the bell and barely escaped with the Television Title in tow.  A great match to open up the supercard.

The first of the 3 Extremist/Armstrong Family contests was our next match, and we knew this one was going to be intense.  Ace Darling & Devon Storm and Scott & Steve Armstrong have exchanged costing each other matches for the last few
weeks and look to finally settle this.  This one was surprisingly much cleaner than we thought it would be with just a lot of good wrestling action.  Eventually, Ace Darling was able to wrap around and plant Steve Armstrong with his German
Suplex while Devon Storm was fighting with Scott Armstrong on the outside.  The first one goes to the Extremists.

The Headhunters thus far have pretty much been running through the competition in the tag division, but The Movement looked to slow that freight train down here tonight.  Unfortunately for Mike Burton & Johnny Ace, the Headhunters were in
a particularly bad mood.  The Movement had their chances, but the Headhunters always managed to overcome and walk out of Slam Masters still the World Tag Team champions.

Round 2 of the Extremists/Armstrongs battle followed, and this was a terrific match!  What made this match even more impressive is that Jesse James Armstrong was wrestling with an injured elbow, and with someone with the mentality of Jonny
Storm, that's never a good idea.  Jesse James Armstrong was defending the honor of his brother Brad though, who is on an extended leave of absense from Great Lakes Wrestling.  Despite the injury, Armstrong was on fire in this one.  He had
something to prove, but "Wonderkid" wasn't going to make it easy for him.  Storm had the speed and quickness advantage, so he used that to keep the Roaddog on his toes.  Storm tried to put Armstrong away several times, but Jesse James just
wouldn't give up, constantly getting his shoulder up just in the nick of time, sometimes seeming foolish.  Storm was getting frustrated and went for his Split Legged Moonsault, but Jesse James Armstrong was able to roll out of the way.
The Roaddog got back to his feet and just went nuts on Jonny Storm!  Hitting Storm with the Shake Rattle n' Roll Kneedrop, which left the opportunity for the Piledriver to pick up a hard fought victory in an excellent match that received a
standing ovation from the Chicago crowd, and deservedly so.

Doc Dean's plans to keep his Midwestern Title away from Mark "The Shark" Schrader backfired, so if Dean wanted to get his title back, he was going to have to beat Schrader one-on-one.  "The Shark" is a terrific wrestler, but he had his
hands full tonight with not only Dean, but Brian Adias as well, who was down at ringside.  Adias would turn out to be the difference in this match.  Late in the match, Adias jumped up on the apron to distract the referee.  While the ref
tried to get Adias off the apron, Adias tossed Dean a pair of brass knuckles.  Dean used these to clock Schrader and get the win and become a 2-time Midwestern champion.  When Schrader came to, he was very upset and ran to the back in 
search of Brian Adias.  We'll see where this one goes.

What a huge swerve pulled by Steve Boz (or "Superstar" as he's now calling himself) and Skank!  For the past couple months, all we've heard is about how Steve Boz allegedly viciouslly assaulted Gutterboy last month, but we found out that
it wasn't Boz who attacked Gutterboy, but Skank!  At this end of this brutal Cage Match, it looked like Gutterboy had this one in the bag as he nailed Steve Boz with a absolutely amazing superplex from the top of the cage!  Gutterboy
slowly began crawling towards the door to get out of the cage, but right as he made it there, Skank slammed the door right in his face!  The stunned crowd watched as Skank jumped in the ring and pulled the near unconscious Boz out of the
ring, giving him the victory.  Boz finally began to come to and looked at Skank shocked as Skank put on a pair of the same style of sunglasses that Boz wears.  Boz began laughing as the two went to the back.  We later learned that due to
what went down tonight, Gutterboy has left the GLW.

After the cage was taken down, we were ready for our World Title match between the champion Masato Tanaka and our challenger, "Greatness Himself" The Perfect Creation, who earned the shot by winning a battle royal.  This match was simply
put, spectacular (that seemed to be a theme tonight).  TPC showed early on that he would stop at nothing to win the GLW World Title, using several underhanded tactics, including getting the aid of Mike White & Sebastian P. Sterling.  TPC
looked to finish Tanaka off by setting him up for the Spinning Northern Lights Bomb, but Tanaka managed to get out of it.  A few moments later, Tanaka pulled the Roaring Elbow out of nowhere and got the 3 count to retain his title.  TPC
wasn't going to accept that as he and Sebastian P. Sterling began to pummel on the victorious Tanaka until once again Gran Hamada came to the rescue.  Team Perfection was fuming as Hamada was begging for more.  We would later find out that
this one wasn't over.

You don't have to like "The Canadian Superstar" Lance Storm (and most people don't), but like him or not, you have to admit that he is one smart cookie.  Storm knew that it wouldn't be wise to go head up with "The World's Most Dangerous
Man" Ken Shamrock, because quite frankly, not many are going to come out on top of that.  That's why Lance Storm had a plan, and that plan was survival.  Storm got his shots in, don't get me wrong, but his main intention throughout the
contest was to stay alive.  Near the end of the match, the referee was inadvertantly knocked out by a wild Shamrock right hand, and Lance Storm saw his opportunity.  Storm called to the back and out came the rest of the Extremists - Jonny
Storm, Ace Darling, & Devon Storm.  All 3 of Lance's lackies went on the attack, but Shamrock fought them all off with a series of belly-to-belly suplexes.  However, this distraction allowed Lance Storm to nail Shamrock with a chair right
between the eyes.  Storm followed up with a German suplex and a recently revived referee counted the 1-2-3.  Lance Storm stole a victory tonight, no doubt about it.  When Shamrock came to, he simply snapped, nailing the referee with two
belly-to-belly suplexes before being restrained by security.  The Extremists may have made a huge mistake by angering this man!

We were down to our final match, and there was a lot riding in this one.  Not only was a chance at the World Title next month at Super Cade I at stake, but Gran Hamada and Big Titan just all around don't like each other, and that was quite
apparant in this one.  Titan had the size and strength advantage over Hamada (and at only 186 pounds, most people do have the size and strength advantage over Hamada), but Hamada has more heart than anyone I have ever seen.  During this
match there were times that I was positive Titan had Hamada down and out, but Hamada managed to keep getting his shoulder up.  Near the end of this one, the manager of Team Perfection Mike White came down to the ring and jumped up on the
apron, right when Hamada was going for the Swinging DDT.  Hamada grabbed White and pulled him into the ring and then leveled him with a right hand.  While the ref tried to get White out of the ring, The Perfect Creation ran down and nailed
Hamada with a low blow and then drove him to the mat with the Spinning Northern Lights Bomb!  The ref finally got Mike White out of the ring and turned around just in time to see Big Titan nearly break Hamada in two with his massive Power
Bomb and get the 3 count.  Titan is on his way to Super Cade I to fight Masato Tanaka for the World Title thanks to The Perfect Creation.  The show went off the air with TPC jumping in the ring and just simply beating on Hamada!  We'll
update you more on this tomorrow night on Explosion!