-squash match

 

Vendetta once again talks about the amazing summer, meeting new fans, getting the word out about UNICEF, and defending his title against guys who might normally be passed over.

Cowboy Bob Orton Jr. makes a surprise appearance much to the dislike of the fans. He gets right in the face of the champ calling him a coward, saying his summer vacation is over.

Vendetta says he has beaten Orton twice this summer in case he forgot, and he'll beat him again right now if he wants. Orton takes a step back and says he doesn't want any trouble, in fact he is going to bring a new kind of trouble to Vendetta next week. You see Orton says, I have signed wrestling hottest commodity to come under my guidance, and he will be in the battle royale next week. He will win the battle royale and then he will take that belt from Vendetta. In the meantime, Orton says he has been signed to a match tonight against Jack Steele, and will send him back to Texas cremated with the ashes in his cowboy boot.

 

-glorified squash match, and the fans really didn't seem into the returning Russian.

 

Boris Zhukov stutters and stammers through about 30 seconds of Russian-English (Rusglish?) before Ron Strong can take no more and cuts the interview short.

 

A new manager formerly of the Stampede area, Jonathan Holliday sends in a promo. He is coming next week to RCW with a new client, the Puerto Rican wrestling sensation Miguel Perez Jr. and together they vow to win the battle royale.

 

-Lozansky showed a vicious side we have rarely seen from him, and even more troubling was he showed it for the entire match. He ignored the refs instructions, gouged the eyes, used his thumb to the throat of Broda, and ignored the jeers of the crowd.

 

Post-Match:

Lozansky walked away when Buddy Lane tried to raise his hand after the match. The fans jeered as he walked up the aisle, only to be called back by Ron Strong for a post-match interview. Strong asks Lozansky what is going on with him, and first he doesn't answer, then he just turns around to see Broda finally leaving the ringside area. Lozansky leaves the interview and jumps Broda from behind, knocking him into the guardrail. He smashes Broda's head off the guardrail and then drags him close to the announce table. Lozansky climbs on top of the table and drops a flying elbow right to Broda's throat. Officials swarm Broda to help as the veteran clutches his throat, and kicks his feet up and down in sheer terror at probably not being able to breathe. The fans are going crazy as we cut to the commercial break.

 

-Back and forth match, tensions still seemed to be high at times between St. John & Orndorff but they pulled togehter when they needed it most. Dukes tried again to make the blind tag off of Rice and then catapult over the top rope and nail Orndorff blindly with a shoulderblock. But the villians had it well scouted and Orndorff was able to side step, and slam Dukes into the mat. He then pulled Dukes up and used a side Russian legsweep to slam him back down again. He picked him up and then used a facebuster to once again slam him down. St. John called for the tag, they whipped Dukes off the ropes and hit him with a double elbow. Rice entered the ring but went after Orndorff, the two spilling to the mat. This actually left St. John able to whip Dukes to the ropes and hit the spinebuster slam to pick up the win before a scrambling Rice could break up the count.

 

Bryan St. John & Terry Orndorff try to put to rest any notion that their tag team is on the outs. As the Top Guns themselves said last week, this should be the #1 contenders match, and that would make St. John & Orndorff the top contenders. Ron Strong tries to stir the pot up a little more by suggesting that it runs in Orndorff blood to turn on his friends. St. John says it wont work, the wedge can not be driven between them, they are on a mission for gold.

 

[end of first hour]

 

[Rogue retained the RCW TV title]

Another installment in the long running feud between these two men. The big twist though came during a ref bump, and Mike Lozansky hit the ring. The fans half expected him to go after Rouge who took his title, but instead the former champ took out Mercury with a dropkick from behind to allow Rogue to get the win.

 

Rogue doesn't want to talk about what just happened, he seems 100% focused right now on next week's Battle Royale and beating Vendetta.

 

Mike Lozansky returns and has a few things to say. First he tells Vendetta to take his help and his good words and stick them where the sun don't shine cause he's not fooling him like he fools all the fans. Lozansky says that Vendetta offered him a title shot like he was a charity case, kept treating him like the little engine that could. Well Mike Lozansky, the Bullet, don't need no stinking charity! As for what just happened, Nick Mercury was supposed to be a friend of his but the moment he turns his back he's getting stabbed in the back by Mercury, stealing his title shots. Well no more, Lozansky doesn't need any more of his old friends. Lozansky says the RCW can stick it too, they didn't even have the decency to make his title shot last week the main event! For the first time all summer (he asks Ron Strong to deny if its true, but Strong can only confirm it) Vendetta's title defense on the Summer Charity Showcase 1987 was not the main event. The RCW didn't take Mike Lozansky serious before but they will now.

Vendetta comes out to a huge ovation from the crowd, and Lozansky just slides out of the ring to listen from a distance. Vendetta calls Lozansky an ungrateful punk. He gave him a title shot because he enjoys wrestling him, and thought he had a lot of promise and ability, not out of charity. Well he tells Lozansky to put his money where his mouth is and take one more shot at the title next week. Now that both of them know the rules to be played by, let's get it on one more time!

Lozansky just nods his acceptance from the ringside area.

 

A brief history of the annual RCW Battle Royale is given.

November 8th, 1980, The Mummy eliminated Steve Olsonoski to win a title shot against the Destroyer.

October 24th 1981, Sheik Fal-Had won when Stan Rodgers & Bonecrusher eliminated each other.

September 26th 1982 Chris Lyon won last eliminating the Bounty Hunter, and would go on in October to defeat The Destroyer for the RCW title.

September 24th, 1983 Mike Valiant won last eliminating Angelo Mosca.

September 15th, 1984 Jim Brunzell won last eliminating Dynamite Kid, and then the next week he used his title shot to beat Chris Lyon and take the RCW Title.

September 28th, 1985 Bobby Duncum won by eliminating the Croatian Giant last.

September 27th, 1986 The Destroyer last eliminated Superstar Billy Graham to win the battle royale, but could not take the title away from Steve Disalvo. 

Then last year two battle royales were held in consecutive weeks.

On September 12th, 1987 Vendetta last eliminated Ben Bassarab to win a "fan favourites" battle royale, then

On September 19th, 1987 Big John Studd last eliminated Terminator Riggs to win a "rulebreakers" battle royale.

Vendetta would then go on to defeat Big John Studd in a #1 contenders match, and on October 10th, 1987 would be the one to end the over one year long reign of RCW Heavyweight champion Steve Disalvo.

11 months later and Vendetta is still champion. Will history repeat itself and will the king be toppled by the winner of the Battle Royale?

 

-Orton controlled the first few minutes with headlocks, chokeholds, forearms, and bodyslams. A pretty limited offense but he's still over with the crowd because he knows how to play them and get them riled up. Steele then made a comeback and launched a power attack. To save himself from an obvious loss Orton pulled ref Jurgen Hermann into harms way when Steele had him lined up for the running kneelift.

 

Post-Match:

Orton pounded on Steele after he collided hard with Hermann. He then nailed two consecutive piledrivers before RCW officials arrived to break things up.

 

After a commercial break we are told that Jack Steele is getting his neck looked after so the interview time will go to the loser of the match Bob Orton. The veteran is beside himself, sputtering and stomping his feet, causing his cowboy hat to fall off and get stomped on. Undetoured he puts the flattened hat back on his head and tells Ron Strong it was an accident. He wanted to talk to Hermann about all the cheating Steele was doing so he pulled him in to talk, he didnt see Steele coming. Orton is so mad he says that he is going to reveal something now that he was going to keep under his hat until next week, but he wants to see the look on the fans face now when they realize that Vendetta's days as champ are numbered. Next week Orton says he will unveil his protege at the Battle Royale, a man that RCW fans should be familiar with from his days in the AWA. He is the prototype of the modern wrestling man, he is the future of pro wrestling, the physically imposing and tough as nails, Scott Hall!!

Ron Strong has to admit that if that is true then this is huge news and yes Vendetta's days as champ may be numbered indeed.

 

[Bad Company won the RCW Tag Team Titles]

Not as fast a paced match as you might expect, both teams seemed to pace themselves, and worked standing armbars, abdominal stretches and those sort of holds. Benoit played Ricky Morton early on, then it was Tanaka's turn. Diamond caught Benoit coming off the ropes with an elbow from the ring apron which bought Tanaka enough time to make the tag. The end came when Tanaka made a blind tag off of Diamond's back and then caught Hart by surprise with the savate kick for the big win and title change.

 

That's it for another edition of River City Wrestling.

 

See ya next week for the big Battle Royale!!

 

 

Ron Strong welcomes us to another edition of River City Wrestling. He also introduces us to his new partner for the telecasts, former AWA announcer Ken Resnick. The Winnipeg fans chant "Ken...Ken...Ken" to welcome him back to the city.

 

-impressive premiere for Perez who handled Blades easily, nailing an enzuigiri to set up his finisher which wowed the crowd.

 

Jonathan Holliday puts himself at odds with the fans, making himself look like a spoiled brat. Miguel Perez Jr waves the Puerto Rican flag and refers to mainlanders as inferior.

 

A reminder that tonight is the annual 20-man over the top Battle Royale with the winner getting a title shot at Vendetta. A quick run down of the top contenders is given.

 

-major upset for the young Tustin who was able to avoid the incredibly hard cranium of Zhukov.

 

Shayne Tustin's interview is cut short by a sputtering Boris Zhukov. Tustin decides to save himself for the battle royale and allows Zhukov to steal his airtime and to rant and rave like a lunatic.

 

-squash match

 

Nick Mercury is still upset at the actions of his former friend Mike Lozansky. He says he never stole anyones title shot, he won that title shot against Rogue by beating CC Starr, and Lozansky had already had his rematch and lost. Mercury says that out of respect for the man, Vendetta, he will let tonight's business go down however it goes. But starting tomorrow morning he is gunning for Lozansky and looking for payback. He smiles and says I love it when a plan comes together.

 

-Steele started slow again, just like last week, but had this match well in hand when Scott Hall hit the ring and took him out from behind. He then hit Steele with a bulldog from the second rope before tossing him over the top rope to the floor below, wiping his hands as he finished with Steele.

 

Bob Orton Jr re-introduces Scott Hall to the fans of River City Wrestling. He again calls him the prototype of a pro wrestler, and promises to groom him to the very top. That starts tonight as he promises Hall will win the battle royale and then will beat Vendetta for the heavyweight title.

 

[end of first hour]

 

[Vendetta retained the RCW Heavyweight Title]

unlike in thier last meeting there was no hesitation in the challenger and this match quickly turned nasty. Vendetta though seemed to enjoy this turn of affairs and took pleasure in teaching the young challenger a lesson. The match went back and forth, in and out of the ring. But Lozansky went for a flying crossbody block, and Vendetta caught him mid-air and slammed him down to the pat. A few patened moves later he hit his finisher and retained his title.

 

Jack Steele on his chances in the Battle Royale.

 

Chris Benoit & Owen Hart on their working together in the Battle Royale.

 

Miguel Perez Jr. with Jonathan Holliday on his first RCW Battle Royale chances.

 

Terry Orndorff & Bryan St. John on their entry in the Battle Royale.

 

Winner to get Title shot next week

 

 

20. Brian Jewel (Rice, Dukes) 0:59

19. Gene Swan (St. John, Orndorff) 1:24

18. Shayne Tustin (Orton, Hall) 4:56

17. Chris Benoit (Galveston) 5:13

16. Bulldog Blades (Perez Jr) 6:40

15. Troy Galveston (Tanaka, Diamond) 7:35

14. Bryan St. John (Zhukov, Hart) 8:10

13. Nick Mercury (Orton, Hall) 8:59

12. Pat Tanaka (Rice, Hart) 10:30

11. Paul Diamond (Dukes) 10:32

10. & 9. Boris Zhukov & Owen Hart (each other) 11:43

8. Jack Steele (Orton, Hall, Perez Jr) 13:01

7. Terry Orndorff (Rogue) 14:56

6. Rogue (Orton, Hall) 15:03

5. Bob Orton Jr. (Rice, Perez) 17:45

4. Miguel Perez Jr. (Rice, Dukes) 20:24

3. Ricky Rice (Hall) 22:40

2. Derrick Dukes (Hall) 23:19

 

 

There was an inbalance as the villians outnumbered the fan favorites to begin the event and soon eliminated even more favorites. The fans didn't seem to mind though and were into this battle royale more then many in the past.

There was some serious heat right from the start until elimination between Chris Benoit and Troy Galveston as well as between Miguel Perez Jr and Bulldog Blades.

The tag teams looked to be in good shape working together until the middle of the match when many saw one partner eliminated.

Steele got hurt bad early by Orton and Hall bleeding quite a bit. He spent most of his battle royale just gutting it out and trying to not be eliminated.

Scott Hall looked very impressive to say the least in his win.

 

Bob Orton Jr. says he told everyone what would happen and sure enough his man Scott Hall won the battle royale. He says next week will be the end of Vendetta's reign over River City, its time to appoint a new sherriff because the old one is dead.

 

That's it for another edition of River City Wrestling.

 

See ya next week in a new one-hour format!!

 

 

 

 

Interview: Bob Orton & Scott Hall

**post-match, Perez Jr continued to beat on Frontenac until Bulldog Blades came out to make the save

Interview: Bulldog Blades challenges Perez Jr. to a rematch next week

Interview: Jack Steele

 

 

Ron Strong & Ken Resnick give us a quick rundown of the untelevised action and preview tonight's show including Vendetta defending his title against Scott Hall.

 

[Bad Company retained the RCW Tag Team titles]

An almost identical match from the one that saw the new tag champs crowned two weeks ago, right down to the blind tag ending.

 

Bad Company says that they are going to restore some stability to the RCW tag team title situation now that they have dispatched the former champs. They call the boys from Alberta dumb as cows for falling for the same tricks again.

 

Cowboy Bob Orton Jr. dressed in civies, pulls out his wallet and flashes his new manager's license received from the RCW office. He tells Vendetta his woes just became greater as he will be in Scott Hall's corner tonight. Hall says he dominated in AWA and would be the world champion today if Verne Gagne knew how to run a business instead of being pushed around by swindlers from New York. Hall says if he carried Curt Hennig to tag team gold then he can certainly take the gold from an unknown third world dirt poor wrestler like Vendetta. And once he does he promises the fans of Regina that he won't bother coming back to this backwoods town again to defend the title.

 

The NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) is finally coming to Manitoba. The NWA will be in the Winnipeg Arena, on September 30th with Lex Luger challenging Ric Flair for the NWA World Title, Sting challenging Barry Windham for the US Title, the Sheepherders challenging the Midnight Express (Lane & Eaton) for the NWA World titles, Ivan Koloff, Mike Rotundo, Nikita Koloff, Rick Steiner, Larry Zbyszko, and many more.

Then the next night the NWA will appear in Brandon at the Keystone Center with a very special main event, as Lex Luger & Sting team-up to take on Ric Flair & Barry Windham, and much, much, more.

 

-the two former friends went after each other before the bell could even sound. They punched it out inside the ring then outside the ring before getting down to what both men do better, wrestle. A fast paced match with lots of rope crisscross segments, blocks and counters, and suplexes. Lozansky was able to partially block a hotshot from Mercury with his forearms to keep him in the match. Mercury was also able to survive a big move attempt by getting to his feet as Lozansky went to the top. He followed Lozansky to the top and brought him down with a superplex. He would have got the 3 count but he was also injured and took too long to make the cover. The match spilled outside but Lozansky caught Mercury coming back into the ring with a knee, worked him over for a minute, then climbed to the top and finished him off. Clean win for Lozansky.

 

Mike Lozansky says that just shows that his friends were holding him back. A month ago he says he never could have beaten Mercury clean, now with his new style and focus he had no problem.

 

Vendetta is interviewed next. He says that contenders come, and contenders go, contenders rise, and contenders fall. The champ says he takes every single challenge serious, and he knows what it takes to retain the title, night in and night out. As for Scott Hall, he really hasn't seen him enough to know him yet, and admits that is an advantage for Hall, not to mention the complication of having Orton at ringside. Vendetta takes a deep breath, and then says through gritted teeth that he'll be damned if he's going to let some guy talk trash about being a poor 3rd world athlete and then come in and take away his gold, and his pride. Vendetta says he'll die before he'll lose this title to Scott Hall.

 

21st Century Fox is proud to present to theatres this weekend the David Cronenberg thriller, "Dead Ringers" starring Jeremy Irons.

"Two bodies. Two minds. One soul. Separation can be a terrifying thing."

 

[Rogue retained the RCW TV title]

-Rogue controlled most of the bout, and seems intent on winning all his matches with his finisher.

 

Post-Match:

As Shayne Tustin leaves the ring and makes his way to the back he is suddenly attacked by Boris Zhukov. The announcers suggest this is leftover animosity from their previous match as well as the battle royale. Zhukov slams him into the guardrail and headbutts him. RCW security comes out to break it up.

 

Rogue is his usual cryptic self, and suggests that if Scott Hall leaves Vendetta for dead in the ring tonight, he will still go after Vendetta to pick at the bones.

 

 

Vendetta (champion)   v  Scott Hall (/w Bob Orton Jr)

 

Test of strength to start and Vendetta wins backing Hall to the ropes. They do it again, but this time Hall yanks on the hair of the champ to bring him to the mat. Hall works an armbar until he loses interest and bodyslams the champ. But Vendetta is no slouch and from his back legwhips Hall knocking him down. Both men scramble to their feet, and Vendetta ducks under a punch and takes Hall down with a single leg. The champ works over the leg until Hall is able to once again grab some dreadlocks and pull the champ into a headlock. Referee Buddy Lane though saw it and calls for the break.

Instead of breaking clean Hall chops the champ to the throat. Lane is warning Hall, so Orton jumps up on the apron to protest Lane tying up his man. This allows Hall to walk over and punch the champ a couple times in the head and then apply a chokehold.

It's all Hall now with another bodyslam, boot rake, a reverse mat slam, and then a big kneedrop to the head, followed by another blatant choke, and then a knee to the chest. He covers but Lane won't even count because of the choke until Hall backs away.

Hall goes after Vendetta with a double axhandle but the champ ducks under and slams a shoulder into Hall, and follows up with an inverted atomic drop. Hall then takes a powder outside the ring to confer with his manager.

Eventually Hall after some stalling has to get back into the ring. He tries to catch the champ with a kick to the gut but Vendetta blocks it, spins Hall around and takes him down with a clothesline. The champ comes off the ropes as Hall gets up and takes him back down with a flying shoulderblock. He's on fire now with a German suplex, a hanging vertical suplex, and a kneedrop from the 2nd rope. The champ then pulls out something new with a leg scissors takedown followed by a crucifix kneebar. The fans are on their feet smelling the finish. But as Lane keeps checking Orton is eventually able to reach in and grab the arms of Hall and pull him to the ropes.

Lane though suspects what happened and orders Orton to the back. But instead of going, Orton gets up on the apron and holds onto the shirt of Lane and complains to him in a heated exchange. Vendetta tries to hook Hall for the DDT but Hall is able to push the champ backward where he collides with Lane, knocking him out.

Bob Orton then hits the ring. Vendetta sees him coming and nails Orton with a clothesline, followed by a DDT, and then rolls him out of the ring. But he took too long and Hall scoops up the champ from behind and flapjacks him to the mat. He then leaves the ring, with Lane still knocked out, and grabs a steel chair. He stands over Vendetta and waits as the champ slowly lifts his head.

Jack Steele hits the ring and wrestles with Hall for control of the chair. Eventually though Hall wins that battle and nails Steele over the head. Vendetta has then crawled over and rolls up the challenger from behind. Buddy Lane is awake but a few feet away. Suddenly Buddy Lane calls for the bell.

 

[Vendetta retained the RCW Heavyweight Title]

 

Post-Match:

Vendetta and Scott Hall duke it out inside the ring while Bob Orton and Jack Steele get in on outside the ring.

 

That's it for another edition of River City Wrestling.

 

See ya next week!!