30/04/2024
19 Years ago. NWA Wildside's Final Show
NWA Wildside Last Rites 4-30-05 by Larry Goodman
The final bell tolled for NWA Wildside at Last Rites with one last emotionally-charged all out blast of a show.
The blowout bash ran over five hours long and drew a heated SRO crowd of over 200. It was a record gate.
Dan “The Dragon” Wilson opened with a 10 bell salute honoring Chris Candido. Wilson passed the torch for the ring announcing duties to Greg Hunter and headed to the announcing booth one last time.
(1) Sweet Dreams & Cru Jones beat Alabama Attitude (Adam Roberts & T. C. Carnage & Adam Armor) in 8:35. Crowd was amped for action. The faces got a chance to shine early and often. Dreams did a nice armdrag off the top. Roberts took some rough looking bumps. The Alabamians got heat on Jones after a triple team hotshot maneuver. Jones hit that hurricane DDT thingy and made a double tag. The faces flipped Armor over the top onto his partners. Frost, who was way over again, hit a wacky dive. Frost pinnned Armor with a gorgeous moonsault.
(2) Ray Gordy beat Matt Sydal and Jimmy Rave (with Salvatore Rinauro) in a three way elimination match (24:40). This was a great match. It was scheduled as Gordy vs. Sydal until Rinauro stuck his big beak in it. Rinauro brought Rave, saying he was the epitome of toughness and sexy to boot. Rave is officially an off-the-charts heat machine as a heel. Sydal exploded a chop on Rave’s chest and Rinauro blew on Rave (his chest) to ease the pain.
They did the usual three way deal where one guy gets taken out and the other two go at. That can be awkward. All three of these guys sell so well, that it had a natural flow to it here. Sydal was especially sharp. He did a flashy standing moonsault with a tuck. A killer sequence started with Rave being dumped to the outside. Gordy charged at Sydal, who stepped aside, and Gordy hit a tope on Rave. Sydal then did a spectacular moonsault to the floor.
Sydal gave Rave a pumphandle head drop. Gordy hit a german suplex on Sydal. Rave gave Gordy Ghanarea (formerly the Disco 2000). Sydal used Rave as a stepping stone for a huracanrana on Gordy, but Rave nailed Sydal with the running knee for the pin at 16:10. Rave used a bootlace to choke the life out of Gordy. Rave and Rinauro played hide and seek with the ref. Rave kept stuffing the bootlace in his mouth. Fans were going nuts for this like they did back in the day.
Gordy lapsed into unconsciousness and Speedy Nelson called for the bell. What’s this? Speedy found the bootlace and called for the restart. Rinauro griped. Sydal came back out and gave Rinauro the bum’s rush. Rave kicked out of a quick roll up. Two great near falls here, Gordy with an exploder suplex and Rave with a knee off the top. Gordy hit an exploder suplex off the middle rope to score the pinfall.
(3) Daizee Haze beat Patrick Bentley in 5:52. The deal here was that ref Mike Posey has been in cahoots with the Three Guys crew, of which Bentley is a member. Posey did everything in his power to give Bentley the match. He repeatedly quick counted Haze and slow counted Bentley. Posey helped Bentley blocked a sunset flip. Haze had Bentley beaten with the Daizee Cutter, but Posey wouldn’t drop to make the count. Haze pulled Posey down by the groin and she wasn’t letting go. Posey made an ultra fast count to escape the agony. The crowd popped big for the finish.
(4) Brandon P beat Jeff Lewis (with Al Getz) to retain the World TV Title in 11:55. Just an average match and the crowd lost interest. In hindsight, this would have been much better in the 6-8 minute range. Lewis came out wearing the belt he stole from P. Getz said it didn’t matter what the retards said, Lewis was the champ. Hunter refused to introduce Lewis as such. P opened fast. Lewis tried to buy time, but P would have none of it.
Lewis strapped P to to tree of woe and speared him. Lewis kept cutting off P’s comebacks, most notably when he brought P off the top with a climbing belly to belly suplex. With the crowd dying fast, P made the comeback. Lewis halted it with a helluva version of the Lewis Driver (double underhook sitout face plant), but P kicked out. P hit the Drop Zone and that was that. Lewis sold P’s finisher like he was in la la land.
(5) Lost Boys (Gabriel & Azrael) beat the NWA Elite (Mikal Adryan & Luke in a no DQ match (9:17). All out extreme brawling right from the get go. Adryan busted a new move, a backdrop where he catches the guy in a neckbreaker on the way down. The Elite gained the advantage and laid Gabriel out on a table at ringside. Adryan told Luke to climb to the top, but Azrael winged a chair at Luke to make the save. Lost Boys bridged the table from the apron to the rail and laid Adryan out. But Luke knocked Gabriel off the apron and sent him flying into the first row. I’m loving Luke as the bratty little heel. Luke hit a top rope huracanrana on Azrael. Lost Boys came back with the Time Warp on Luke and DECIMATED Adryan with a top rope double stomp/cutthroat piledriver.
Luke barely made the save. Luke used a half nelson sitout slam (Holy Driver?) on Gabriel for a near fall. Luke went to finish Gabriel with the guillotine legdrop. Nobody home. Azrael planted Luke with the Ted Bundy. Adryan and Azrael brawled to the outside where Adryan rudely spiked Azrael on the ramp with a DDT. Inside the ring, Gabriel put Luke through the table with a senton backsplash. Luke sold it like he was going to puke up his gall bladder. 1..2..3. Lost Boys conducted a bizarre ritual at ringside before departing.
The second half opened with Behrens set to introduce the new head honcho for wrestling in Cornelia, Thomas Simpson from OMEGA. Behrens said the new guy had the maturity that was sometimes necessary to handle his crew. The sound system failed. Interesting timing, although it’s not exactly shocking to have sound problems at a Wildside show.
The Wildside technical braintrust couldn’t get the mic fixed, so they carried on without it. Behrens said that in his opinion there was too much damn talking in wrestling anyway. The crowd popped for that. Simpson came out and proceeded to do a segment with a lot of talking that few people could hear. Crowd immediately chanted “We Want Matt.” Simpson rang Hardy up on his cell and held the phone up so Hardy could hear the crowd response. A fan suggested calling Lita. Simpson said, "Whaddya want me to call her?" Simpson promised that both Matt and Jeff Hardy would be in Cornelia after Matt’s non-compete clause expires on July 11.
Simpson said being less than the greatness of Wildside was not an option. Getz came out and hugged Simpson. Jeff G. Bailey came out. Getz and Bailey got into it. Fans chanted “catfight.” Getz was ready to go. Bailey backed off. Simpson said NWA Anarchy’s first show would be on May 21. The segment seemed to get over strong despite the sound problems.
(6) Caprice Coleman & Tony Mamaluke beat T-N-T (Todd Sexton & Tony Stradlin) via double submission in 11:47. Coleman got off to a flying start, catching T-N-T by surprise with a double springboard dropkick. Both teams got in a Paisan double elbow drop. T-N-T got heat on Mamaluke. Sexton used the hanging superplex, a very impressive move. Mamaluke hit the high angle back suplex and got a tag that the ref didn’t see it. Coleman had Sexton pinned after the Coldshot but the ref chased him out. T-N-T hit the X Bomb on Mamaluke and followed with the move of the night, the double hotshot. Coleman ran wild when he finally got the hot tag.
A round robin of killer moves ensued, including an awesome tornado DDT by Mamaluke. Mamaluke got Stradlin in the Texas Cloverleaf. Sexton put Mamaluke in the sharpshooter. Coleman hit the Thermal Shock on Sexton to break the hold. The finish saw Coleman put Stradlin in the Deep Freeze and Mamaluke apply the Sicilian Stretch on Sexton leading to a double tap out.
Sexton told Mamaluke if he ever quit wrestling again, he was going to kick his ass. Sexton told the fans they may hate Stradlin and he didn’t like him sometimes either, but he was the only guy in the locker room that had followed his dream to a WWE contract.
(7) Slim J defeated Delirious and Nick Halen and Jay Fury in a ladder match to retain the NWA Wildside Junior Title (18:09). Your extreme spotfest of the evening.
As usual, Delirious was over with his unique brand of insanity. He threw in strut as a tribute to Candido. Delirious was content to stay on the outside and let the others battle it out. Delirious grabbed the 6 foot ladder and hid it, but it wasn’t long before he brought it back into play. Delirious and Halen tried to climb for the belt, but it was way too soon. J wore his opponents down and climbed, but Fury knocked him off the ladder with a spinkick from the top turnbuckle. Fury set a jumbo size 15 foot ladder up in the ring and legdropped Halen from the third rung.
Halen hit a swanton bomb on Fury and the Nitro Driver on J, originating both moves from high on the jumbo ladder. Delirious rammed Halen with the butt end of the small ladder and racked his balls with a baseball slide into the ladder. J laid a chair on a bridged ladder, and laid Halen out on the chair. J then did a top rope double stomp/elbow drop that destroyed both of them. All four men were thoroughly incapacitated at this point. Delirious hit an ace crusher turned neckbreaker off the top of the jumbo ladder on J.
Fury went into mad Ninja mode. Halen missile dropkicked Delirious when Fury ducked with a Jaytrix. Fury hit the Enzifury on Halen. The psychotic spot of the night was next. Fury bridged the jumbo ladder from the top of the small ladder to the ropes, so that it was angled downhill, so to speak. Fury sat J on a chair on the jumbo ladder and launched him into a su***de slide down the ladder onto Delirious at ringside. The building came unglued. Halen hit a flip dive off the top turnbuckle.
Fury hit the dive of the night, a springboard corkscrew swanton, into the pile. J climbed to the top of the 15 foot ladder and had the belt in his grasp, when Fury toppled that sucker over. The ladder went over the ropes with J along for the ride. J crashed to the floor with the belt in his hand. Un freaking believable.
(8 Onyx beat Rainman to win the NWA Wildside Heavyweight Title for a record third time (14:14). This was back and forth with some really fine counter wrestling. The crowd was sapped by the pyrotechnics of the ladder match, so the heat level was somewhat subdued. Onyx’s arms look positively freaky on a man of his stature. I thought about the story of Onyx being backstage at RAW, and Steve Austin telling him to put his shirt on because he was embarrassing the boys.
Great opening as Rainman hit the Dark City Street Cutter right off the bat, and Onyx had to roll to the outside to save himself. Rainman went to the Michinoku powerslam but Onyx kicked out. Onyx used wrestling to take command. He busted out a cross armbreaker. Onyx worked the neck with a pair of Rude Awakening style neckbreakers. Rainman blocked a sunset flip and hit a sitout facebuster. Onyx blocked a sunset flip and countered with a classic camel clutch. Rainman maneuvered into an electric chair drop and then a top rope headbutt, but Onyx kicked out of the delayed cover. Onyx applied the Jamaica City Dreams (dragon sleeper variation) but Rainman kicked off the ropes into a reverse DDT.
Rainman came off the ropes, but Onyx plucked him out of midair for a powerslam. Onyx hit the Angry Man Slam for a near fall. Rainman hit the Spinesplitta and it looked like Onyx was done. But Onyx kicked out of the DCSC at the last split second. Rainman tried for it again, but Onyx wriggled free to hit the Blackout for the pin.
Onyx said his farewell to the fans and left the title belt with Laura, one of Wildside’s diehard supporters. Onyx became the only three time heavyweight champion in Wildside history.
(9) Suicidal Tendencies (Jason Cross & John Phoenix & Air Paris) beat Three Guys That Totally Rule (Salvatore Rinauro & Seth Delay & Fast Eddie with Patrick Bentley) in 17:10. For ringwork, this was a better match then the one at Hardcore Hell, but it had nowhere close to that level of heat. Rinauro debuted these ridiculous looking trunks. Tendencies rushed the ring and tossed Guys like they were garbage. It turned into an offensive showcase for Tendencies.
The stuff between Phoenix and Delay was gold. Paris is rusty and wasn’t in long, but what he did was fine, especially the Burning Hammer. At 6:30, Guys took over with, you guessed it, a variation of the hotshot on Phoenix. Guys hit some cool double teams, but the energy of the crowd was waning. Rinauro did the Better Than the Macho Man elbow for a near fall. Double down to set up the hot tag to Cross. Delay took an amazing 360 bump on a backdrop. Cross hit a dragon suplex on Rinauro for a near fall. Eddie made a blind tag and nailed Cross with the Russian Legsweep from Hell. Phoenix made a blind tag and caught Eddie with a lightning kick. Ref bump on Speedy Nelson. Rinauro hit the Phoenix Fury Legdrop on Paris.
Posey hit the ring to make the count, but Paris kicked out. Nelson pulled Posey out. Andrew Thomas became ref number three. Cross damn near killed himself when he overshot a corkscrew plancha. A Paris superkick, THE BEST DAMN BRAINBUSTER IN NORTH AMERICA by Cross, and teacher pinned the student with a 450 splash.
Tendencies broke out a six pack of Tab (their old gimmick) for a postmatch toast. Behrens joined them. They got Posey in the ring and Thomas decked him with the flip flop and fly (a takeoff on the finish of the main event at Hardcore Hell ’04 where Thomas took it from Dusty). Rinauro sold a groin shot from a full can of Tab like there was no tomorrow, and in a sense, there wasn’t.
(10) Iceberg & Tank & New Jack (with Rick Michaels) beat Getz Enterprises (Ace Rockwell & Shaun Tempers & Scottie Wrenn with Getz) and the NWA Elite (Murder One & Jeremy V & Mikal Adryan with Jeff G. Bailey) in the War Games (18:36). I couldn’t have imagined a more fitting match to close the book than one last violent bloodbath inside the steel cage. Tank and M1 started. They were getting down to grinding faces into the fence when Tempers entered. Bailey slipped M1 the veggie peeler and he stabbed Tank in the forehead. Rockwell was next.
P & C doubled on Tank, whose plasma was flowing. Iceberg was next. He got a hold of the veggie peeler. Iceberg got stabby. P & C had some trouble with the blade at Hardcore Hell. Not this night. Sweet Jesus, before you could say “Wildfire” Tommy Rich, they had the crimson masks in full effect. V entered the fray. Rockwell got him with the spinebuster. Wrenn joined the fun. Tank dumped a bag of tacks in the ring and sent Tempers into the tacks with an STO. But the man’s sa**sm knows no bounds. He gave Tempers a sick curbstomp into the tacks.
Rockwell tried to climb out. Adryan gave him a powerbomb off the top rope. Rockwell and Tempers were a complete mess. Wrenn gave Tank a bulldog into the tacks. It was time for the last man to enter. Bailey tossed Michaels into the cage and he was busted open. Getz and Bailey beat on Michaels. Out came New Jack. Getz and Bailey made themselves scarce. Jack gave M1 for a tour of the ringside seats, slicing him up bigtime in the process.
Jack bled as well. Iceberg and Tank gave Adryan a double STO into the tacks. Iceberg went to the top rope and hit the Extinction Level Event (quarter ton swanton bomb) on V. Tank pulled out his sickle. Tank applied a camel clutch with the sickle in V’s mouth. V was tapping like a maniac. Tank put an exclamation point on it with a sickle shot to Tempers’ groin.
New Jack grabbed the mic and talked about his relationship with Behrens, an association that started when New Jack was in SMW. Jack ordered Behrens to come out to ringside. Jack said that at one point when he was out of action with serious injuries, Behrens talked him out of a game of Russian roulette.
Jack vented (that’s putting it mildly) about the fact that some of the wrestlers had left before the show ended. Jack said that he would be appearing on the ECW PPV. It was Michaels' turn. He was so overcome with emotion that he could barely get the words out. Michaels said it was the end of an era and called the entire Wildside crew into the ring to share the moment and honor Behrens.
Behrens said he had the privilege of working with the greatest crew in wrestling for the last 6 years. Behrens said there will still be wrestling in Cornelia, but it won’t be like what they had accomplished with Wildside. “These are my kids, and I love all of them.”
Behrens put over each and every worker he laid eyes on. He encouraged all of them to follow their dream. There were a lot of grown men with tears streaming down their faces in that ring. Jack started a “Bill Behrens” chant. The closing image of Wildside was Behrens being hoisted onto the shoulders of his workers and unfurling the Wildside banner.
NOTES: Matt Hardy was backstage for about half the show…Behrens announced that the television tapings at the new WWE development facility in McDonough would be held on Tuesday nights. The projected date for the first taping is sometime in June…Hernandez missed the show because he got a booking in Puerto Rico with IWA.
CLOSING THOUGHTS: There is no way for me to fully express my appreciation for what Wildside was or properly pay tribute to all the people that made it happen. The reports I have written about this company over the last 6 years were the best way I knew how to do that. Wildside let a mark with a notebook and a lot of opinions in on the fun. It’s been one great ride.
Wildside was independent in the finest sense of the word.
Never has so much great pro wrestling been produced with so little in the way of material and financial resources.
Wildside produced 300 consecutive weeks of wrestling television. Over the last 10 years, no independent wrestling company in the U.S. except OVW can top that record. Not every episode was a masterpieice, but there was a ton of classic and memorable stuff in those shows. Like great independent films, it was all about the art, rather than the money. Hell, what money? It was heart and guts and creativity that fueled this company.
I would like to give a special mention to a few of the people that have been there straight through since the beginning, the heart and soul of the company. Without them, there would have never been an NWA Wildside.
Honest wrestling promoter is an oxymoron. But that’s the adjective a lot of workers have used to describe Bill Behrens. Regardless of the situation, he treats people with respect and there's a lot to be said for that.
Despite tons of untold adversity, he not only kept Wildside afloat but consistently putting out a high quality product, an amazing achievement. Bill gave me the freedom to post the unofficial/official show reports on the promotion’s website and across the internet, unedited and uncensored. For that opportunity, I will be forever
grateful.
Rick Michaels was running shows in Cornelia before there ever was a Wildside. Like Chris Candido, God rest his soul, Michaels loves the business of pro wrestling. Wrestling, making gear, booking shows, match agent, he’s done it all. If anything, he could be accused of loving it too much. He sure had every reason to give up the dream after the terrible back injury he suffered. But he persevered, got a spot with WWE, and is now getting back into ring shape.
Jeff G. Bailey is one of the most talented managers to never get a shot at the big time. He had the misfortune of coming along in the wrong era. In the early days, when the wrestling at Wildside wasn’t exactly stellar, I could always count on hearing a great promo or two by Bailey. But he became someone that the younger wrestlers gave credit to as a guide and teacher. He also contributed ideas that lead to some of Wildside’s greatest moments. Recently, he has been responsible for producing the most meticulously edited television show Wildside has ever had.
Dan Wilson and Steven Prazak weren’t there at the beginning, but they’ve been the voice of Wildside for over 200 episodes of Wildside television. There is no better announcing team in all of pro wrestling. About 90% of the time, I had already seen the matches live when I sat down to review the TV shows, but I always looked forward to hearing the gems that those dudes came up with on the commentary. They had the ability to make dreadful matches entertaining, and when the situation called for it, they could heighten the drama of the moment.
Special props to Dan’s work as a ring announcer. The few times he missed shows, it just wasn’t the same.
Another key player that wasn’t there right at the beginning, but came on board shortly thereafter, was Andrew Thomas. Andrew came down from Indiana to help with the TV. No one would have suspected that he was a natural as a performer and a great bumper. His editing work took Wildside TV to another level.
To all the wrestlers on the Wildside roster, past and present, your efforts to give the fans the best possible wrestling product never ceased to amaze me. Thank you. And for God’s sake, stay healthy.
Yes, there will still be wrestling in Cornelia, but there will never be another NWA Wildside. All that’s left are the memories.
