3/31/01: Saturday Night Explosion - Chicago, IL

Vampiro pinned Mike Sharpe with the Vampiro Spike in 0:06:34.
Rating: -1/2*

[Winner gets Television Title shot at Slam Masters]: No-Countout-No-DQ-6-Man Battle Royal:
Juventud Guerrera won a 6-man Battle Royal:
         x J. Guerrera defeated Lynn after the Juvy Driver in 0:08:16
         x Bigelow defeated E. Watts after the Greetings from Asbury Park in
           0:12:58
         x J. Guerrera defeated Brian Adias after the Juvy Driver in 0:21:29
         x Bigelow defeated Colorado Kid after the Greetings from Asbury Park
 in 0:25:42
         x J. Guerrera defeated Bigelow after a flying cross body press in
           0:26:24
Rating: ** 3/4

The Extremists (Jonny Storm and Rhino) defeated The Movement when J. Storm
 pinned Burton with the Split Legged Moonsault in 0:08:42.
Rating: * 3/4

Interview:
The Extremists announce the stipulations they want for the matches at Slam Masters.
Click here to see highlights.

Flash Flanagan pinned Skank after a dragon suplex in 0:11:14.
Rating: * 1/4
(Flash Flanagan retained the GLW Television Title.)

Lance Storm pinned Barry Horowitz with the Maple Leaf in 0:06:30.
Rating: * 1/2

Tank Abbott made K.C. McCulloch submit to a full nelson in 0:07:16.
Rating: 3/4*

Jesse James Armstrong and Ken Shamrock defeated
The Extremists (Ace Darling and Devon Storm) when Shamrock made Darling
 submit to the Ankle Lock Submission in 0:16:34.
Rating: **
(Jesse James Armstrong and Ken Shamrock won the GLW World Tag Team Titles.)

[Wildcard Match]:
Masato Tanaka pinned Scott Armstrong with the Roaring Elbow in 0:06:22.
Rating: *** 1/4

Mark Schrader pinned Steve Boz with the Schrader-plex in 0:07:06.
Rating: **

Interview:
Big Titan has a few choice words for both his opponents and his partner.
Click here to see highlights.

Gran Hamada and The Perfect Creation defeated Big Titan and Masato Tanaka when
Hamada pinned M. Tanaka with the Swinging DDT in 0:14:11.
Rating: ** 1/4



Match observations: 

Welcome to another edition of Saturday Night Explosion!  We had a lot of great action tonight including Ace Darling & Devon Storm defending the World Tag Team Titles against Jesse James Armstrong & Ken Shamrock, as well as in our main
event, the unorthodox team Masato Tanaka & Big Titan will meet the equally odd team of The Perfect Creation & Gran Hamada!  Let's get right to the action!

We started off with the eerie and down right creepy Vampiro taking on "Iron" Mike Sharpe.  Well, I think we all know where this one was going.  Vampiro is an awesome fighter and je just plain dominated the overmatched Sharpe.  Vampiro gets
the win with the Vampiro Spike.

Up next we had a match that can be described as exhausting to say the least.  Six men, one title shot on the line.  What made this match interesting is that technically it was a battle royal, but the only way to eliminate another wrestler
is by pinning him or making him submit.  Another factor that was interesting is that both Brian Adias and Bam Bam Bigelow of the newly formed Elite were in the match, and "The New F'N Show" Jerry Lynn was basically by himself!  That
disadvantage would be the direct cause of Lynn's being the first eliminated from this match.  Lynn fought as hard as he could, but being double-teamed by two guys like Adias and Bigelow will take it out of you.  Bigelow planted Lynn with a
headbutt causing him to stumble right into a Juvy Driver from Juventud Guerrera, eliminating Lynn.  Soon afterwards, Erik Watts would join Lynn in the back when he was dropped by Bigelow courtesy of the Greetings From Asbury Park.  Things
didn't look that good for Colorado Kid at this point, with the 3 heels looking to team up on him.  However, the ever opportunistic Juventud Guerrera would turn on Adias and plant him with the Juvy Driver out of nowhere, bringing us down to
3!  Adias may have been eliminated from the match, but he stayed around at ringside and was instrumental to the elimination of Colorado Kid.  C-Kid had the big man reeling and hit the ropes but caught a forearm to the back from Adias.  He
then fell into the clutches of Bigelow who planted him with the Greetings From Asbury Park.  Bigelow got pretty cocky after taking out C-Kid and must have forgotten about "The Juice" as while Bigelow was gloating, Guerrera climbed the to
the top and when Bigelow turned around, caught him with a flying cross body press and got the 3 count and the win!  Bigelow and Adias were pissed, but they got a little of their own medicine!  With this victory, Juventud Guerrera has 
earned a shot at Flash Flanagan and his Television Title at Slam Masters: Fantastic Four!

The Movement are obviously two very talented athletes, but thus far in GLW rings, they haven't seemed to get it together.  Their woes continued tonight against a very talented team of "Wonderkid" Jonny Storm and "The Manbeast" Rhino who
offset each other nicely, Storm with awesome high-flying abilities and Rhino with the raw intense power.  This match came to an end when Rhino split Burton in half with the Rhino Gore and then to top that off, Storm hit the Split-Legged
Moonsault.

After the match, "The Canadian Superstar" Lance Storm and Dawn Marie entered the ring and they announced the stipulations they wanted for all of their matches for Slam Masters.  Firstly, Rhino said they he wanted Tank Abbott in a Brawl For
All match.  These BFA matches are extremely dangerous with a high instance of injury.  There's a good chance that one of these guys won't be the same after this one.  Jonny Storm said he wanted Ken Shamrock in an I Quit match!  Now the
Wonderkid is a very talented wrestler, but an I Quit match with the World's Most Dangerous Man could be career suicide.  And finally, Lance Storm had a very unique request for his match against "Roaddog" Jesse James Armstrong.  Not only
did he want the match to be inside a steel cage, but he also wanted a mystery referee of his choosing!  One could only wonder what Lance Storm has up his sleeve for this one.

Flash Flanagan was set to make his first Television Title defense in our next contest, putting the title on the line against Skank of the Superstars of Grunge.  Skank is a tag team wrestler by trade, but he looked damn impressive against
the super impressive Flanagan.  On more than one occasion, Skank was within a split second of pulling off the huge upset, but Flanagan fought back and almost out of sheer desperation, swung behind Skank and hit a dragon suplex to get the
1-2-3.  Flanagan keeps on rolling.

Barry Horowitz has been on a slide since the opening month when he picked up some victories over Sebastian P. Sterling, so at this point he should almost feel lucky to be this high in the card.  Unfortunately, he was fighting "The Canadian
Superstar" Lance Storm, who whether you like him or not, is a phenominal athlete.  Horowitz tried, but Lance just outclassed him and got the duke with his Maple Leaf.

Tank Abbott had a scare tonight against a motivated K.C. McCulloch.  McCulloch is tired of being a laughing stock and he's starting to do something about it.  A month ago, Abbott would have crushed McCulloch, but not tonight.  If it wasn't
for Rhino's involvement, maybe he would have done the impossible.  Near the end of the match after the ref got knocked out, Rhino hit the ring with intentions to Gore Abbott, but Tank saw it coming and side stepped the charging Rhino.
Unfortunately for McCulloch, he got in the way and Rhino crushed him.  Abbott tossed Rhino from the ring and then locked McCulloch in a full nelson.  Since McCulloch was already out cold, when the ref came to, he called for the bell.  When
McCulloch finally came back to his senses, he looked quite pissed off.

The World Tag Team Titles were on the line as Ace Darling & Devon Storm defended against "The Roaddog" Jesse James Armstrong & "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock, and let's just say that this feud just heated up a whole lot more
for sure!  This was a tag team match, but it exploded into much more than that as the rest of the Extremists and Steve Armstrong, Scott Armstrong, & Tank Abbott were all around ringside.  At the end of this match, things finally broke
apart as all the men on the outside all started brawling with each other.  While the ref tried to get the carnage on the outside under control, Devon Storm grabbed one of the title belts and went to blast Shamrock with it, but Shamrock
ducked and Devon nailed Ace Darling!  Between Devon Storm and Rhino, the Extremists had bad aim tonight.  Shamrock would then lock on the Ankle Lock Submission on Darling!  The ref turned around and saw Darling tapping and we have brand
new Great Lakes Wrestling World Tag Team champions!  The GLW Arena exploded as the faces all got in the ring and celebrated as the Extremists threw a tantrum.  Word has it that the Extremists are already petitioning to get a rematch for
next week.  We'll keep you posted.

Up next we had the GLW original, the Wildcard Match.  These always have the potential to be intriguing, and this one sure did as we had a World Title match!  Masato Tanaka was drawn to take on Scott Armstrong, a tag wrestler.  Tanaka had
little trouble actually winning this match, but he's wrestling in the main event in a huge tag match teaming with Big Titan to take on Gran Hamada & The Perfect Creation, so is he going to be at full strength?

"Superstar" Steve Boz is not in the right mind frame for sure.  He's been so dead set on getting even with Suicidal Tendencies for the string of embarassments the Superstars of Grunge have suffered against them, and it cost him tonight in
a match against Mark "The Shark" Schrader, who is no slouch himself.  Near the end of this match while Boz had control, Air Paris and Rob Carlin came out and stood at the end of the aisleway.  Boz spotted them and immediately lost focus
and started to go after Suicidal Tendencies, but Schrader grabbed him and nailed him with the Schrader-plex and got the 3 count.  If this kind of thing keeps happening, Boz is going to snap.

Before our main event, we had an interview with Big Titan, and he had some very interesting comments for both his opponents, Gran Hamada and The Perfect Creation, as well as his partner tonight, Masato Tanaka!  He basically said that if
Tanaka didn't hold up his end of the deal, he'd be in for it.  Doesn't like like a tight team to me.

It was main event time, and holy cow, was this one intense!  These four guys will all be fighting each other for the World Title at Slam Masters: Fantastic Four, but they were forced to form teams in this one as World champion Masato
Tanaka teamed with Big Titan to meet Gran Hamada and "Greatness Himself" The Perfect Creation.  Just like we expected, neither of these teams got along particularly well.  A lot of pushing, shoving, and miscommunication from both teams.
Eventually, that miscommunication would cost Titan & Tanaka the match.  Titan was asking for the tag, but Tanaka kept getting cut off everytime he tried.  Eventually, Tanaka hit Hamada with a thrust kick and bought enough time to get over
to make a tag to Titan, but Titan just reared back and punched Tanaka in the head!  Tanaka stumbled back and Hamada caught him with the Swinging DDT and got the pin on the World champion!  Titan simply left the ringside area, but The
Perfect Creation tried to sneak behind Hamada, but Hamada caught him and kicked him in the midsection and then hit TPC with the Swinging DDT!  The show came to an end with Hamada celebrating for the crowd with Tanaka & TPC both laid out.