3/24/01: Saturday Night Explosion - Chicago, IL

[Debut Match]:
Vampiro pinned Barry Horowitz after a superkick in 0:03:20.
Rating: DUD

The Perfect Alliance defeated K.C. McCulloch and Mike Sharpe when Ryan pinned
McCulloch with the T-Bone Suplex in 0:16:36.
Rating: **

Interview:
The Extremists offer an interesting challenge.
Click here to see highlights.

Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Mark Schrader by countout in 0:06:20.
Rating: * 1/4
Click here to see highlights.

Interview:
Mark Schrader & Jerry Lynn have had enough.
Click here to see highlights.

Flash Flanagan pinned Colorado Kid with the Flying Somersault Neckbreaker in
           0:11:26.
Rating: ***
(Flash Flanagan won the GLW Television Title.)

Suicidal Tendencies defeated The Superstars of Grunge when Carlin defeated
S. Boz by countout in 0:09:34.
Rating: *

Juventud Guerrera pinned Erik Watts after a small package in 0:11:53.
Rating: * 1/2

The Extremists (Ace Darling and Devon Storm) defeated The Headhunters when Storm
 defeated Headhunter B by disqualification in 0:14:56.
Rating: *
(The Extremists (Ace Darling and Devon Storm) retained the GLW World Tag Team Titles.)
Click here to see highlights.

Big Titan pinned Mike Burton with the Power Bomb in 0:10:09.
Rating: 3/4*

[Winners pick stips for matches at Slam Masters]:
The Extremists (Jonny Storm, Lance Storm and Rhino) defeated
Jesse James Armstrong, Ken Shamrock and Tank Abbott when J. Storm pinned
Shamrock after a flying cross body press in 0:09:51.
Rating: * 3/4

The Perfect Creation and Masato Tanaka battled to a double countout in 0:16:37.
Rating: **** 1/4
(Masato Tanaka retained the GLW World Title.)



Match observations: 

We are one day removed from the monster card that was Super Cade I, and we are experiencing the fallout!  Things in Great Lakes Wrestling are really starting to get crazy!  Let's get right to the action!

We started off with a debut of a new wrestler as we learned that last night after Super Cade, Pierre Oulette quit Great Lakes Wrestling after an argument with GLW President Ryan Niemiller.  Either way, with the early success of the GLW,
several superstars are ready to step up to the plate, and that's exactly what we had tonight with Vampiro making his debut against Barry Horowitz.  Not a lot is known about Vampiro, but dare I say "Wow!"  Vampiro dominated this match and
would get the win with a superkick in short time.  If Vampiro can keep this intensity, he's in for a bright future in the GLW.

We had another debut as Sterling P. Sterling introduced his new tag team partner, an old friend of his by the name of Jon Ryan, and he looked quite impressive, but the real surprise of this match was the performance of K.C. McCulloch.
McCulloch has had a rough go of things thus far in the GLW, but he had his working shoes on tonight, and he could have very well won the match, if only his partner wasn't "Iron" Mike Sharpe.  Due to the inefficiency of his partner mostly,
McCulloch fell victim to Ryan's T-Bone Suplex and The Perfect Alliance get the win.  McCulloch showed his disproval of his partner by beating the living hell out of Sharpe after the match.  McCulloch looks like he just might have the fire
he needs to go to the next level.

The Extremists came out for an interview next, and they had some very interesting things to say.  They would go on to make some challenges: Rhino to Tank Abbott, Jonny Storm to Ken Shamrock, and Lance Storm to Jesse James Armstrong, all
for Slam Masters on April 27th.  The catch is though, they wanted all 3 of them in a 6-man tag team match tonight, where the winning team would get to pick the stipulations for the matches!  Well, of course Armstrong, Shamrock, and Abbott
accepted, and the match was on for later tonight!

We saw Mark "The Shark" Schrader take on Bam Bam Bigelow in our next match, and it turned out to be more than we expected for!  We had a good match on our hands, and near the end, Bigelow had the advantage as he tossed Schrader to the
outside and conveniently distracted the referee.  Midwestern champion Doc Dean came out of nowhere and blasted Schrader with an enzuigiri that knocked Schrader... out cold?  We thought that seemed a little strange until Dean pulled a metal
plate out of his boot!  Schrader was counted out and Bigelow was the victor.  While Schrader tried to regain his faculties, Dean, Brian Adias, and Bigelow all went to the back together with huge smiles across the board.

Before the heel faction could get to the back, "The New F'N Show" Jerry Lynn popped out of nowhere and attacked all 3 men!  Schrader soon joined the fray and the two fired up fan favorities managed to send the heels running to the back.
Schrader & Lynn would then give an interview and say they had had enough with Doc Dean and his lackeys and challenged them to a 6-man tag match at Slam Masters, saying they would find a partner!  I'm not too sure Dean wants this match, but
now he has no choice as it has been signed!

Flash Flanagan wasn't even supposed to be on the Super Cade I card, but an unfortunate injury to Indiana Kidd Jr. at the hands of Juventud Guerrera got him on the card against Guerrera, and after a stunning Ladder Match, Flanagan had
earned himself a Television Title shot tonight against new champion Colorado Kid.  You don't see these kind of matches often, but this one was as clean as it could be as both of these guys have a lot of respect for each other.  This was a
great matchup with both of these guys firing on all cylinders.  However, in the end of a match that could easily have gone either way, Flanagan almost out of desperation hit the Flying Somersault Neckbreaker and just barely managed to get
the 1-2-3 and for the second time in 2 days, we have a brand new Television champion!  After a great match, both of these guys shook hands and Colorado Kid presented the title to the new champion.  A great show of sportsmanship after a
fantastic match.

The Superstars of Grunge have certainly had their share of problems the past couple nights with Suicidal Tendencies, not only being eliminated from the Four-Corners Match by them last night, but once again falling to them here on Explosion
much to the delight of the fans.  It was obvious that "Superstar" Steve Boz let his pinfall loss to Air Paris last night eat up at him, as he wasn't as solid as he usually is.  Boz had Rob Carlin down and instead of going for the pin, Boz
just to inflict more punishment and went up to the top.  Boz took too much time up top gloating and yelling at his hometown fans, giving Carlin time to regain his composure and dropkick Boz right off the top to the floor!  Boz hit with a
sickening thud and needless to say, he didn't get up.  Suicidal Tendencies pick up a big countout victory tonight.  Later on we heard that Boz was livid and the Superstars of Grunge had challenged Suicidal Tendencies to a match at Slam
Masters, and it has been signed!  That should be a stellar match.

You don't have to like "The Juice" Juventud Guerrera's attitude (and most people don't), but you have to admit that he has been awesome in the GLW ring.  Flash Flanagan and he put on a terrific ladder match just a night ago, and Guerrera
still had a lot in the tank tonight against Erik Watts.  Watts looked good, but once again, he just couldn't put this one away as Guerrera pulled a small package out of nowhere and got the duke.  Guerrera gets better and better every week.

The World Tag Team champions Ace Darling & Devon Storm said earlier that they weren't scared of the Headhunters, but the fact that one Headhunter weighs as much as the champs do combined, they were very scared!  It was obvious that the
strategy of the champs was to survive, plain and simple.  Darling & Storm had a huge speed advantage in this one, and they used it to stay away from the gigantic former champions.  What they didn't count on though was an angry Steve &
Scott Armstrong to come in and blast them with steel chairs!  Ace Darling & Devon Storm won the match by disqualification, but they didn't look like the winners with the Armstrong boys beating on them.  The Headhunters took offense to the
Armstrongs getting involved and planted both men.  The Headhunters would go on to climb opposite turnbuckles and hit the Armstrongs with their huge Moonsaults!  Let that be a lesson to everyone in the GLW; don't interfere in a Headhunter match!

Big Titan came within an eyelash of taking the World Heavyweight Title last night, but he fell just a bit short.  If that loss did one thing for Titan, I think it lit a fire under his ass!  Unfortunately for Mike Burton, he was the first
to get a piece of this monster.  Burton is a big guy and fought Titan tooth and nail, but Titan was just too much for him.  Power Bomb, 3 count, W for Titan.

We were up to our semi-main event, and it was the 6-man tag match with some big implications.  "Roaddog" Jesse James Armstrong, "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock, and Tank Abbott against "The Canadian Superstar" Lance Storm,
"Wonderkid" Jonny Storm, and "The Manbeast" Rhino with the winning team getting to pick the stipulations for the singles matches at Slam Masters!  Needless to say, all 6 of these men knew just how important this match was.  The referee had
his hands full in this one and after awhile, he couldn't stop these guys from just straight brawling.  Tank Abbott and Rhino brawled on the outside of the ring while Jesse James Armstrong and Lance Storm fought up the aisleway, leaving
Jonny Storm and Ken Shamrock alone in the ring.  You would think this would mean big trouble for the Wonderkid, and it did for awhile, until Storm out of nowhere nailed Shamrock with a low blow.  Jonny Storm jumped up on the top turnbuckle
and the 143 pounder flew off with a flying cross body press and got the upset 3 count!  The Extremists get to pick the stipulations for the matches at Slam Masters, and we can only imagine what they might come up with.

It was time for our main event, and what a huge one we had in store!  As a result of his victory over Gran Hamada last night at Super Cade, the GLW Championship Committee felt that "Greatness Himself" The Perfect Creation was worthy of a
World Title shot tonight against Masato Tanaka.  They couldn't have ended this show with a better match than this one.  I have never seen two guys so intent on not letting the other beat them in all my life.  During the course of this
match, TPC kicked out of the Roaring Elbow not once, but twice!  Tanaka returned the favor by kicking out of a Spinning Northern Lights Bomb and a shot from some brass knuckles!  Eventually these two spilled to the outside and just started
pounding on each other.  The referee continued the count but Tanaka & TPC didn't seem to mind as they were both counted out.  While these two were beating on each other, Gran Hamada and Big Titan came in and joined the fray, Hamada all
over The Perfect Creation and Titan all over Masato Tanaka.  The show came to an end with these four men brawling all over the place!

After the show, a press release was issued from the offices of GLW President Ryan Niemiller regarding our next supercard show which will be entitled Slam Masters: Fantastic Four, live from Indianapolis, Indiana on April 27th!  The first
four official matches have been signed and they are as follows:

World Title Fatal Fourway - Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Big Titan vs. Gran Hamada vs.                             The Perfect Creation
World Tag Team Titles - Ace Darling/Devon Storm (c) vs. The Headhunters vs.                             The Armstrongs
Doc Dean/Brian Adias/Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Mark Schrader/Jerry Lynn/???
The Superstars of Grunge vs. Suicidal Tendencies

In addition to this, just signed for next week's Explosion, there will be a 6 man pinfall elimination match to see who will face Flash Flanagan for the Television Title at Slam Masters, participants being Erik Watts, Juventud Guerrera,
Jerry Lynn, Bam Bam Bigelow, Brian Adias, and Colorado Kid.  Also, in our huge main event, in a tag team match, Masato Tanaka will team up with Big Titan to take on Gran Hamada and The Perfect Creation!  How in the world are these teams
supposed to coexist when they all despise each other?  Next week will be a night you won't want to miss!