PR = Phil Rippa - Driver for most of the trip. Slept in Sleeping Bag near front door
PS = Phil Schneider- Backseat next to Pete and Tom K slept on couch.
MH = Marcel Hillie - Sat/Slept middle row next to Ray and at Shotgun. Slept on floor next to Tom K.
AG = THE GANC - drove separately
PP = Pogo Pete Stein - Back row with Phil S. and Tom both ways. Slept on the futon and slept well despite the disconcerting presence of Dean snuggling up next to me for part of the night. Down, boy.
RD=Rev Ray Duffy - Middle Row behind Phil because I was too tall to sit anywhere else without abstructing his view. Sleeping bag in on the dining room floor.
TK=tomk, who never posts on wrestling boards as TK in fear of coming across as RVD420 type. Sat in back of van, slept on floor next to Marcel.
DR:= Dean Rasmussen. SHOTGUN! on the way down. Drove part of the way home where I try to kill everyone by veering off the road reaching for a Diet Coke. Sounds like a funny enough way to go out but I get grief for it anyway. The pussies.... I sleep in the warm embrace of Pete Stein until we wake up in a startled fashion and talk about UFC and Chuck Norris movies very quickly.

----------
BACKSTORY
Marcel and TomK show up right on time at 10 am. Schneider manages to be only 20 minutes late. We load up Marcel’s car and book on down to Richmond. We showed up on time which stunned Angie, who I believe was secretly hoping we never stepped foot in her house. (PR)

I was only late because I was looking for Pete’s Memphis tape, which Marcel stole. BLAME MARCEL (PS)

Stole, my ass. It was lent to me freely and of your own will. Didn’t you say you were looking for the tape the night before? (I hate how some people love making excuses.) (MH)

Ray and I make the staggering seven-hour train ride down from NYC that left at 2 in the morning… I don’t remember getting all that much sleep, but it must’ve been enough as I stayed awake pretty well until we were on the road later. OTOH Ray had to spend half the trip sharing his seat with a blind guy who got on in Philly. This would be the first of two strange bedfellows on train trips this weekend. Dean picks us up and later takes us to the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond where we proceed to punch our respective tickets to hell by tromping on Civil War soldiers’ graves and performing various acts of verbal skullduggery. (PP)

As much as I would like to get some sleep, you just can't be a dick and say "HEY! Blind guy! Find your own fucking seat!" This of course, was the weekend of hell. Full day of work, had to pick up my suit for my business trip, start packing, head to Richmond, then head to North Carolina and back, then go to the ECW ppv and then get up at 4am so I can catch a flight to London. We got to see a statue of a dog watching over the grave of a young girl who died at the Cemetery. He had Mardi Gras beeds around it's neck so it must have flashed someone. Dean also showed us WHO AM I and some other sleaze from ZIPANG. WHO AM I appropriately used the theme from Jackie Chan's Who Am I? ZIPANG is quite the sleazy little indy. (RD)

I drop my oldest off at preschool and meet Ray and Pete at the Amtrak terminal. I irritate the hell out of them by playing WXGI- Classic Country on the car radio, but often are they gonna be in the South so I wanted to cram as much as possible in the time allotted. I threatenend to take them to McLeans for breakfast but they said they had something atgainst triple by-pass surgery before age thirty so we opt against. At Hollywood Cemetery, I talk about the secret places where one used to be able to sneak in at night to try to ply young VCU coeds with one's hideous, carbunkly love. They are suitably impressed/repulsed. As we drove down Monument Avenue, they also adore the statue of Arthur Ashe threatening children with Tennis and Learning. Later, I would show them the statue of Jefferson Davis throwing in the towel and they weep tender Yankee tears of pride and longing. (DR)

Dean and I stagger over the Richmond International Airport to pick up the party van. It would not be a trip to the airport without some kind of delay, as we wait for the fine folks at Budget to hose down the Van (which I found to be bit premature considering the crew who would be riding in it.) The lady tries to get me to upgrade to an SUV with Firestone tires. I took that as the first sign that God wanted us to die on this trip. (PR)

We watched the Tory parajas match and the amazingly great and stupendously long EWF Battle Royal, Dean and Rippa were gone for about 45 minutes and we still didn’t get passed Naoshi Sano’s second entrance. (PS)

Good Lord, that match would not end. (MH)

We left during The Pervert’s entrance. Dean’s TV is much bigger and clearer than mine, and I discover that The Pervert is wearing PANTYHOSE.(TK)

HOW THE HELL DID I MISS ###THAT?!?!?### (DR)

I think I showed up in that match at some point. (RD)

Angie proved she is the possible the most understanding wife in the world, by not only putting up with the batch full of cretins in her living room, but actually making us lunch. I played with Haley and Annabelle the whole time so I might have missed the intricacies of the EWF Battle Royal. Haley showed me every toy in her room (which is a tradition between me and Haley), and Annabelle smacked me in the head with a Mr. Potato Head doll. (PS)

I forget to force Angie to videotape everything so I miss the Yamakawaesque garbage stylings of my youngest. Angie is a Goddess in that she was prepared to feed five and fed nine instead. Can water into wine be far off? (DR)

It was a very stiff shot - I was expecting juice. Annabelle’s surpassed the dogs as the Defenders of the Rasmussen Household. (MH)

After meeting Emmitt for the first time I suddenly feel much better about Emi’s protective abilities. Schneider takes WAY too much pleasure beating up Haley’s Crush/Brian Adams/KRONIK figure, but Haley plays along with the poor freak and pops for all of his spots. (PP)

Emmitt will annoy a burgler into leaving. He is a very stupid dog- even by dog standards. (DR)

I’ve spent my entire short adult life struggling to make a good yellow potato salad. Either the spices don’t mix in or it comes out soggy. If I ever get it right and make a potato salad that is both crisp and spiced, I’m not sharing it with anyone. Dean’s wife, Angie, manages to make us a great potato salad in like a minute thirty. And then is willing to share it with us. I am completely impressed--greatest host ever. (TK)

We make good time to Durham when suddenly all our collective bladders start yearning to empty themselves. I then proceed to make it an official DVDVR road trip by getting us lost and barely avoid getting sideswiped. (PR)

For the bladder yearning phenomena, I blame Pete and I blame the six-pack of Meisterbrau he brought me. In that order.(DR)

The car trip was the beginning of the debate over the DVDVR 500 of the 90’s, huge complaint thread coming to a board near you (PS)

Oh it's gonna be great. Me and Schneider were just punchy and hateful and stonewalling each other's faves. It's gonna be fun to see how fucked up this baby is gonna be. (DR)

Schneider: “Marcel! Pillman or Eaton?” Marcel (sleeping): “Uh, Regal!” (PP)

Which won’t match the ones that take place during the naming of the rest of the list. If we argued that much of the top few spots, the battle for #300 may well cause a fist-fight between Schneider and Dean. (MH)

I had to take control of this list at a certain point as Schneider was given free reign top put about 50 guys on the table to be voted upon as people who were set to go on the list would show up 80 positions later. I formulated a plan to take the top guys of a various style and then stack them up against each other. It worked somewhat well, but given we didn't do this on the way back, who knows where people will be. (RD)

I told everyone in the van that we would have had it all done by the time we arrived if they would just let ME be in charge of it. HALLOWEEN #1! JET FREEZER #2! TOSHIAKI KAWADA #3! Cooler heads prevailed. (DR)

While the rest of the crew had gotten lost coming from the north, the Ganc made incredible time coming from his Florida bachelor pad. At the Armory before sunrise, there was ample time to drive the back streets behind the Armory and achieve a natural high. The ride up from the Sunshine State was appropriately blunted, and unmarred by official surveillance of any sort. [AG]

We meet up with BANE (who remained a man of mystery by never mentioning his real name) J.L. (who is about as nice as you can possibly expect), Cowboy Wayne (Pimping hard in leather jacket) Gancarski (Classy as always in ascot and houndstooth coat) and Tony’s friend Sheldon (who seemed amused by the whole geek fest) and the ever present Tim and Dave. Also briefly said hello to my ex-color guy Cham Pain, who had his album available for sale. (PS)

It was pretty cool to have some faces to associate with names. JL was very nice and I completely forgave her not sitting with us on account of her being all freaked out at us. I was expecting BANE to divulge his real name - Guess he’s a hitman in his spare time or something. Wayne was quite cool as well - I watned to buy him a beer or something. Tony looked a lot different than what I imagined him to be, really laid back - I found out why later. I buy a Mr. Niebla mask that is entirely too small for my head. (MH)

Chris is really tall and thin. I hope I didn't freak him out with my seething dorkdom. Ganc grew a bunch of hair and no longer looks like Jack Black and now has a Kevin Spacey-esque look going for him that nails all the girleez in JAX I'm figuring. We compare and contrast the Cheerwine to the OUTTA NOWHERE BUT FROM MY CHILDHOOD LIKE A MUTHA Brownie chocolate beverage- the drink that Yoo-Hoo WISHES it was, GODDAMMIT! Cowboy Wayne is the motherfucking KING of MEN and buys me the Mr Aguila mask. The Brotherhood Of Wrestling Power 2000 Co-Hosts is a strong tie that binds all Richmond freakz. Remind him to pay him the ten bones I owe him so he doesn't pummel me on the air. (DR)

Figures that Highspots Mike owes me something like $200 in credit for all the Galavision lucha I used to tape for him, so naturally I didn’t think to email him ahead of time with what I wanted in return. Grrr… (PP)

We showed up over an hour late and as a result, no BBQ. We will have to save that for the battle between Naimark and Dean over which state had the best BBQ. (RD)

It's North Carolina. One day we'll even EAT some in North Carolina. It'll will truly be a special day... (DR)

THE SHOW
Show opens with a promo by the OMEGA heavyweight champion Cham Pain. Cham says he is going to vacant the title and put it up in a tournament. Well, that brings out ECW Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino. Corino cuts an awesome promo that put the kibosh on the Tournament and instead makes a title vs. title match for the Main Event. (PR)

Line of the trip comes from Corino “I destroy promotions where ever I go, I killed NWA 2000, House went down in Puerto Rico, and I will destroy ECW too” (PS)

“And that’s a SHOOT, BRUTHUH!!!” (PP)

Thus begins the Sports Entertainment. Good promos, though - I had no complaints. As someone who hasn’t seen ECW in months, I was looking forward to seeing Corino - the main eventer. (MH)

Scariest site : The program basically stating that "Uh, we're booking this on the fly guys." And what was the deal with Scott Sullivan coming out to the "Gatchaman" theme? (RD)

Exact quote from program “ Tonight the card will not be posted because of all the chaos expected. The commissioner will be making on the spot decisions as the evening transpires. This means we will need our fans to please be cooperative and enjoy the show.” Also noticed that Corino who used to have kind of a gaunt face is beginning to facially look a lot like Flamboyant Eric Embry. (TK)

DAMIEN DRAKE vs. TANNER MARTIN
Drake and Martin are two unknown rookies with an unknown trainer but they must have practiced this match a million times, as it was all sorts of good. Drake did all sorts of flashy highflying while Martin was more the power wrestler who was not afraid to work stiff. Drake goes over with a stunner. (PR)

Man alive these rookies weren’t afraid to beat the crap out of each other, this was amazingly great for a rookie match, I think the unknown trainer was Stan Hansen. (PS)

I agree with Rippa’s practice point - this match was so well coordinated. A pleasant surprise. Plus, punches right in the face will always work in my book. This is why I love going to indy shows - you see guys who are just getting started and who just want to get out there, work a match, and not mess anything up. Good show, gentlemen. (MH)

I think there was one blown sequence here. This was a tight little opener, and I could see these kids going onto bigger and better things. The match came off as rehearsed, yeah, but it also showed an innate understanding of how a wrestling match worked. That is not a given. Worldwide Full Point! [AG]

If this was just their debut match, these guys should be really good in a couple of years. The pacing was great, they showed off some flashy spots without degenerating the match into a spotfest, and Drake has a cool look that reminds me of a sort of redneck CIMA. The order of spots could’ve been better near the end as the finish came out of nowhere, but that’s a MAJOR nitpick given their experience level. (PP)

There was quite a bit of the "OH! These guys aren't taking it easy on each other." It looked good for rookies. (RD)

Fun, fun match that got me excited about the rest of show. Since people on the board have already talked about how stiff Drakes punches and clotheslines were, it should be mentioned that Tanner hit a mean high dropkick right to the sternum, as well as another to the back of the head. This was stiff and fun. (TK)

There's nothing that will get this crew DEEPLY into a match than for one guy to just paste the other guy right in the face. I was like, "Oh okay. This is gonna fucking rule." And for a rookie match, it certainly did.(DR)

BLACK SKULL vs. DEWEY CHEATUM
Dewey is another unknown guy with the really bad name. He yaks on the mike and calls out Black Skull to wrestle. We were surprised by the appearance of Black Skull since we didn’t even think he still wrestled. Turns out, he torched his shoulder and hadn’t wrestled in like a year. And Yikes, did it show in this match. Boy, this wasn’t good at all. Cheatum gets the win in a mild upset. (PR)

Not much to see here. Cheatum’s offense was lethal in terms of crowd interest. An odd choice for the second match after the “rookie” match, in terms of booking. [AG]

Yikes, I was not ready for a highspotless Black Skull match. Mercy. (PS)

I was all spoiled by watching Black Skull circa 98 and started thinking, “Hey, we’re pretty close - he might actually land near us.” Hoo boy, was I disappointed. Any one of us could have gotten in the ring and laid out this Cheatum kid. (MH)

I’d say it’s more than a mild upset considering the fact that Skull was a “name” by OMEGA standards while Dewey Cheatum (“And how!” - Rev Ray) was billed coming out as another of the rookie standards. I too was unprepared for a highspotless Skull match, although Cheatum did seem to have the gift of gab. (PP)

I think I’ve seen Cheatum’s name on results pages before. Most disturbo visual of night was Cheatum’s whiff punch looking to get tangled in Black Skull’s pit hair. Sometimes you’re sitting too close to the action. (TK)

I remember first seeing tapes of Black Skull back in '95 when Ted/"Scott Sullivan" brought tapes of the Hardy Boys in New Dimension Wrestling. Matt did his really corny High Voltage/Surge lightning bolt thing with his hands and Black Skull was all sorts of crazy back then. So, in seeing Skull again, figuring he has probably worked at least 5 years, he wouldn't punch this poorly. I mean, Yeung Yang doing his goofy multipunch to the stomach karate type punches. I theorize that maybe the Black Skull is the equivalent of the gimmick the rookies get in APW ala the Chicano Flame. I dork out during the proceedings and start taking results ala japanese mag results. Dewey Cheatum O Flatliner Black Skull (RD)

Black Skull sucked a dick in this. Those were the worst punches I have EVER seen. Cheatum didn't annoy me at all and was at least trying to do something with the suddenly useless Black Skull. This sucked ass. (DR)

MIKE GUNNER vs. SCAB vs. LAZARUS
Gunner comes out moaning about not having an opponent. Scab finally comes out to wrestle (there was a serious problem with wrestlers missing their cues all night long). Fans like that but Scab goes from face to heel in two seconds flat when OMEGA legend, Lexy Fife, is announced as guest ref. Scab and Gunner bemoan their lot in life to the commish who decides to introduce a third wrestler - Lazarus. TomK is familiar with Lazz from his work in Wildside. And may I just say that Lazz is fucking awesome. For those who haven’t seen him, Laz does a Britney Spears gimmick and lives his gimmick like nobody’s gimmick. He entrance (which hopefully, we have convinced Tim to put on the Wrestling Power opening) is this big dance routine set to Spears’ “Crazy”. The match is a fun little three-way. Gunner didn’t stink as much as first feared and Lazz works really well. We rile up the crowd with our loud “LAZZ” chants. I point out that Scab throws his stiffest punch when decking Fife which makes me believe his whole “I ain’t letting no girl in this ring” spiel was a shoot. Laz gets the crowd pleasing win with the aptly named “Britney Spear” (It’s a Spear - get it?) (PR)

Not too familiar with Lazz’s work. The only bit of Lazz I had seen before was him giving another wrestler a lap dance. Then they replaced NCW with Metal. So I never got to see him actually wrestle. I was pleasantly surprised as he is more than a gimmick. The gimmick is great. Disappointed that Shank wasn’t there with him, as that has to be the greatest face pairing in history. (TK)

I dug Lazarus’ entrance, as far as it went. It was nice to see some color after the first two matches, which were both flat in the sense that there wasn’t much for the crowd who wanted to be hot and amped up to connect to. That said, this was fairly overbooked. I didn’t really give a shit about Lexy Fife as referee - legend status notwithstanding - and thought the Gunner and Scab beginning went too damned long, like a NBT speech from Nitro. The match was acceptable; nothing was overtly fucked up that I can recall, and the Lazz gimmick was entertaining as all getout. [AG]

LAZARUS is my favorite wrestler, I can’t even describe how great this gimmick is. I mean I thought nobody could top the legit lifestyle choice oddness of Pimpinela Escarlata, but a transvestite Brittney Spears imitator BABYFACE in the south, off the charts. Million Billion Stars. (PS)

Oh man, I couldn’t stop laughing at this guy - we all need to get more of his stuff on tape. Don’t get lost in his gimmick, though - he’s a nice little worker, with the second-best highspot of the night (Tope Atomico off the top rope onto both guys on the floor). Plus, you gotta love how the Britney Spear ends with Laz…on top…in the Missionary Position. This guy is so great… Hey, Stein, put that dollar back in your pocket! (MH)

If you got it, flaunt it. Number One And The Best about this match was this: Here you are in rural the-South-shall-rise-again North Carolina, and a male wrestler who does a Britney Spears gimmick and lap-dances a security guard during his entrance is the most over BABYFACE on the first half of the show. Unbe-fucking-lievable. Rev Ray gets the most heel heat of anyone to this point with his “Don’t pick on Scab, he won’t heal!” line. (PP)

Lazz's gimmick is hilarious. It was an entertaining little match. There's a scary point where Gunner or Scab complains to Lexy about Lazz wearing women's underwear, fortunately we are spared of a Rick Rude Moon Over South Pines to prove it. (RD)

Mike Gunner was the other pleasant surprise in this. He worked stiff enough and wasn't afraid to take the first big bumps of the night. The total LAZARUS FREAK-OUT moment was awe-inspiring. I'm glad he could actually work. It made the whole match perfect. (DR)

TIM CHEEK vs. HIGH OCTANE
More guys we have never heard off. Cheek has the zombie gimmick so no apparent reason while High Octane must dropped $10 at Mr. Electricity Mike Bocchicccioocioocichio’s table before the match as he has a really great mask (a blue mask with flames all over it). Your typical Southern style match with the Zombie wrestling a Masked fat guy with the end coming with the use of the chain. (I will leave the description of the bad refing to someone else.) (PR)

I didn’t hate this match as much as everyone else did as I dug the Zombie guy taking it to the mat like the undead Mike Jackson. Such a 1982 Memphis television match, although the Don Jardine would never make the huge chain faux-pas.(PS)

Boo. I’ve watched 1982 Memphis TV. Referee Jerry Calhoun is THE MAN and would have known how to take a bump or be in the wrong place so not as to see the chain. Heck Ref Paul Neighbors would have pushed High Octane away to admonish him for his closed fist, thus giving Cheeks the opportunity to hide the chain again. The chain was visibly wrapped around Cheeks fist for a good two thirds of the match. A chain spot isn’t a tope, it isn’t a particularly spectacular spot. If you’re going to use it you need to know how to tease it and how to build to it. Here it was just lame. I briefly tried to pretend that the story of this match was: that Cheeks was the avenging ghost of Andy Petty wrestling against the High Octane (the wrestling embodiment of Nascar)…both sides feeling ambiguous about their conflict with the other. While it gave the match meaning and explained away the pedestrian detached nature of the match, it didn’t make it good. (TK)

“BRAAAAAAIIIIIIIINS…” (PP)

How in the world does the ref not notice Cheek having a chain wrapped around his hand for like three minutes? Actually, I’ll blame Octane for not going right to the finish once the chain came out. (Backdrop-chain to the face- fall over in pinning position, think Savage/Santana, 2/86 IC title switch). That mask did rock, though. Oh yeah - the PA system is real dicey - in-and-out, scratchy sound, etc. At least we could hear it, though - for now. (MH)

Whoo, by God, this sucked. I had no fucking clue what Cheek’s gimmick was supposed to be. He wore pancake makeup, a red oxford shirt (tattered here and there), black slacks, and white wingtips. Introduced as being from Atlanta, I figured they had him as some weird 80s AIDS gimmick. Far from being a ‘typical Southern match’, this was really pedestrian in terms of pacing, work, and gimmickry. Lots of ‘end it now’ type comments from the crowd, the intelligence of who was [and generally is at indie shows] underestimated by crap gimmicks. Unless one is creating a kickass gimmick (cf. Lazarus or Rocky King), it might pay off to have your gimmick be that of a WRESTLER. Not a zombie. Not someone who got trampled online for tickets to the Johnny Hates Jazz concert in 1987. A wrestler. Black tights, black boots, etc. [AG]

RICK MICHAELS vs. AJ STYLES
TomK marks out over the battle of the Wildside boys. I am stoked because these guys have worked each other a bunch of times so I am looking forward to a good match. Which it was for the two minutes it went before Styles knocks himself loopy. (PR)

Yep [AG]

No one, I repeat no one starts a “you fucked up” chant. I love the people of Southern Pines. (TK)

This was the first casualty of the incredibly loose ropes as Styles went for the Psicosis flip bump into the ropes and he got no bounce and ended up concussing himself on the mat. I dug Rick Michaels he was as Southern as Pulled Pork (PS)

I think I’ve seen Foxy Boxing ropes that were tighter than the OMEGA ones. Err, I’ve said too much. (PP)

We all got real scared once the concussed Styles went to the top rope later in the match - thankfully, he did a (relatively) safe Guillotine. This could have been real good if not for the cringe-inducing concussion. (MH)

When we saw Styles going up top, we were trying to talk him down. I seriously feared for both guy's safety after AJ went up top. Also of note, Al Getz has lost a lot of weight and now seems to be sort of doing a whole Cornette type gimmick look (using the Midnight Express theme will do that). All this from the guy who I had the priveldge of having his hair land at my feet as he fought Donnie B at a Gilbert Memorial. (RD)

The AJ Styles Neck-bending bump was Theisman-esque in it's cringe inducement. Does anybody know who much it actually fucked him up? He was definately Steve Young in tights after that. (DR)

INTERMISSION
Phil gets queasy after ingesting some malk. I call the little lady to find out that we are moving into a higher tax bracket. Pete bitches about roaming charges. (PR)

The pack of Pemmican beef jerky I got in Fort Collins last week suddenly becomes a viable snacking option in light of the fact that the Southern Pines Armory refreshments are limited to chips and Wal-Mart sodas. Thankfully someone switches on the soda machine and I get my first taste of the Nectar of the Carolinas, Cheerwine. YUMMU~! Phil should just be happy that I had coverage down there so he could make his hourly check-in with the ball-and-chain. (PP)

Me and Tony went outside to bask in the North Carolina culture of 13 year old girls smoking with their mothers (PS)

Despite obvious pockets of resistance to our idea, Schneider and I adjourned to the outside of the armory, He watched pubescents put cigarettes to their lips as we speculated on how dope the beats and rhymes would be at Club Matrix, advertised in the program as ‘The Sandhills’ biggest club’ or some such. Phil was kicking his Rob Lowe in Oxford Blues look and could go to the club; the others were dressed for indie wrestling and not up to how you say busting a move. We didn’t get to go to Club Matrix, and I’ll always wonder if it stacks up to Twilo with Sasha DJing. Sigh. [AG]

I go for another Southern Knock-Off soda - the Twist-Up is actually quite good, and convince Schneider to go for the Chocolate-Brownie-in-a-can. Sucker. I should have tried the Cheerwine like Tony suggested. (MH)

BROWNIE IS MOTHERFUCKING GODLIKE! That is all the people need to know. (DR)

Southern Knock Off Sodas RULE! DOCTOR THUNDER BABY! (RD)

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that I bought the Guerrera C3 mask (For all you non-IWRG watchers, that would be the C3-PO mask). I have found the one mask that Molly would tolerate, in fact she even tried it on when I showed it to her. Too bad there was no Galaxia R2 mask. (PR)

The discovery of the Guerrera C3 was the second biggest dork-out moment of the night to me, next to the beauty that was LAZZ~! I mention to Bochichio that he should have gotten the R2D2 mask too and he gives me the usual "Goddammit, I can barely tolerate you, fat boy" look that I live to get from him. (DR)

Mike also had the swanky The Killer mask, complete with working zippers for the mouth hole and ears. I’d have popped for one but I’d never have been able to explain it to my GF who is not nearly as hip to our humble sport as Angie and Molly are. I’ll win her over to the dark side yet... oh yes, I will. (PP)

The P.A. is now completely shot to shit so Scott Sullivan is just standing in the ring speaking names. This ruined the OMEGA tribute they had planned as the go right into the big brawl that featured Corino, Cham Pain, Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Christian York, Joey Matthews, CW Anderson and Lodi. Everyone brawls to the back except Anderson and Lodi. (PR)

CW ANDERSON vs. LODI
I love Anderson more and more each day. Lodi seems to have gone on the gas. Good little match. Lodi, who was trained by CW, doesn’t seem to be all that rusty. Anderson goes over with the Spinebuster.(PR)

No, Lodi still looks as crappy as ever. Blown spots, like always. I’ve said this for years, but I could go a lifetime without seeing Lodi Juice in a wrestling ring. [AG]

Lodi appears to be more gassed then he was in WCW which seems odd to me, I mean It has to be easier to score in a WCW locker room then in a Bulgarian Weightlifting competition. C.W. is the second best Anderson ever. (PS)

Having not seen much of any CW (don’t watch ECW, remember?), I was quite impressed. All kinds of hurty joint-lock slams, suplexes (The Ferris Wheel rules, if that’s what his flip-exploder thing is called), and a nice superkick. Maybe I should track down some ECW. CW should be in the big two. (MH)

This was good. Anderson looks to have lost a lot of weight since I last saw him. And I’ll play naïve and claim Lodi found a great nutritionist too. Anderson is great and Lodi is perfectly acceptable and took his beating like a man. The two worked real smoothly together. IF WCW had any brains, they fire Sid and Steiner today and set up Maestro vs. Lodi as the Starcade main event. It’s not like they’d end up loosing any more money. (TK)

This was cool as hell in retrospect since CW did all of the stuff to Dreamer at the PPV (minus the plunder) that he did to Lodi, so it was almost like he was auditioning his spots in front of the 200 or so folks here. (PP)

Actually, CW pulled out two good matches during the weekend out of Lodi and Dreamer. I think the Lodi match was actually better as it was not bogged down by the plunder stuff, even though there were a bunch of elements of the Dreamer match which I did like, which they scared out of me with the stupid as all hell spinebuster onto the medal table leg. Lodi also fell victim to the loose ropes as he falls down when running them.(RD)

I'm really stoked about Anderson and Corino being in the new OMEGA if they are actually gonna keep running. This style and Anderson's style work together so well. Cham Pain vs C W Anderson is the match that will drag me back to an armory in North Carolina. (DR)

JOEY MATTHEWS/CHRISTIAN YORK vs. SHANE HELMS/SHANNON MOORE
Hey, it’s ECW vs. WCW. Unfortunately, Marcel and I spot the run-in coming as we see guys peaking through the curtain. That kinda curtailed my enjoyment for the rest of the match. Thankfully, the run-in came and it was a no contest so my indifference was rewarded. (PR)

The key to this match was Shane Helms, really, who can pretty much do anything in the ring he wants. He can brawl, fly, and wrestle. Matthews and York are evolving into quite a competent redneck Southern Style tag team; it’s as if they’re aging out of their looks and learning to play stronger heels as a result. This went pretty long (15, 20 minutes?) and had a nice heat segment on Helms. Helms and Moore’s extended offensive sequences only strengthen the cases of those who see Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, and Kaz Hayashi as the cornerstones for **** Cruiser matches given proper time and booking.... [AG]

I was pretty disappointed in this match, it was pretty good for a minute as it was the worlds prettiest Midnight Express against the worlds prettiest Rock N’ Roll express, but Shannon Moore and Christian York mailed it in for the most part, and this doesn’t come close to living up to the tradition of great OMEGA tag matches. I knew the ending wasn’t going to be clean, but it didn’t have to suck as much as it did. (PS)

Sucks to be jaded sometimes, as I could feel the run-in coming, even if we hadn’t seen Scab and Gunner peeking through the curtain. Match wasn’t all that good, which comes as no surprise to this reveiwer, who’s never been a Matthews or York fan. Allan Barrie (The Duke of NY, managed Matthews/York during the match) is really into his craft, a big throwback to the manager’s heyday. Everyone ends up all hugs and daps and feel-good and whatnot, which you had to expect. (MH)

Man, Barrie sucks. Here Ray and I were all ready to be a two-man NYC asshole cheering section for the guy and he went and ditched the “Duke of New York” gimmick. =) Seriously though, Al’s dropped a ton of weight since we last saw him and he looks to be in great shape. (PP)

This was somewhat fun, but Joey and Christian, while they have improved are pretty hit or miss. I remember someone saying to me that they didn't see Shannon do one flying head scissor move. Ironically, this was the battle of the Badstreet Boys from Music City Wrestling. There were some cool tag spots by 2/3 Count. (RD)

I had no real beef with this match other than the fact that it didn't have the Southern tagteam psychology to the level it should have. It was more of a lowgrade spotfest, which is fine, but they could have worked a longer actual old style match and it would have been three times better. It was good to see them all in a real match though. (DR)

CHAM PAIN vs. STEVE CORINO
Cham rushes the ring and it is on. Corino keeps growing on me and he really impressed me in this match. Cham controls early on but thanks to the shitty ropes. Corino gets the big batch of heel work in, including the great fake-the-chair-shot-into-the-front-chancery. Corino amazingly doesn’t blade after numerous blows to the head. Everything builds to the crazy table spot which really worked because it was the only table spot the entire show which made it even cooler and deadlier and more effective in telling the story. Corino walks out as double champion and I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes regular appearances on OMEGA cards again. At least he gets paid when he works these shows. (PR).

This match was really, really great. I thought it was a very Memphis style match sort of like Buddy Landell against Jerry Lawler, with the participants being super intense and the crowd really being into the match, and the punches and kicks being very stiff and well delivered. Cham does break out some swank roll ups to up the difficulty level a bit, but the intensity is what really made this. This is right up there with the best work OMEGA has delivered and is the best match I have seen Cham Pain or Corino in. Just awesome with the lunatic bump really fitting well in the context of the match and the show. (PS)

This sucker rocked, as I love the old-school heel gimmick (I was disappointed that there was no Abdominal Stretch or Piledriver. I think he did a sleeper, though). The front chancery was indeed great, as was Cham Pain dying. A great match, and I hope Corino makes it back down to NC for a rematch. When the match ended without Corino blading, we all feared his blading off being hit with a plastic water bottle. We also all had to tell Dave to run for his life as he was positioned under what was soon to be a plummeting Cham Pain. (Best highspot of the night - Cham Pain dying 10 ten feet from my face. OMEGA rules.) He’s truly dedicated to his craft - gotta wonder how great the pic that kills him will be. Pete and I debate getting into the ring after the show and practicing our RPM combos. We think better of it. (MH)

This was strong old-school work. Corino has found his niche ironically in tributes to people he watched while growing up, and it showed here. Basic moves, excluding the double-tables top rope bump Cham Pain took, but nice psychology and exposition. Corino owned this crowd; on a night when OMEGA trotted out its next generation and overbooked and overgimmicked the shit out of, well, everything, the crowd reacted best to the last two matches, which hearkened back to old Midnight Express and Ric Flair houseshow work. People often criticize Corino for a limited offensive moveset. Seeing this match live showed me, yet again, that there are more important things than being an innovator of offense. Steve Corino lives and dies on psychology, the building block of the work of Rogers, of Bockwinkel, of Funk, of Flair, and so on. [AG]

Repeat after me, folks: LESS IS MORE. There were something like 18 million tables broken during the course of the ECW PPV, but none of them had the impact or drama of Cham taking his bump through it at the peak of the show. Post show is just like Monterrey lucha as kids hit the ring and start working their own l’il matches. (PP)

Phil told us of Cham Pain being disappointed with this match, but it was perfectly fine in my opinion. The pacing was good, sure there was a lot of punching, but it worked in the Mempho spirit. Corino was working heel so no Bionic elbow even though I was calling for it repeatedly during the match. The only draw back for the table spot was the amount of time it took to set up and the reaction some of the crowd had when they saw their thickness. They certainly were going to break when Cham Pain came off the top. For a second, we were afraid they might tease a superplex to the floor, but we got the less insane (and if you can imagine) safer bump that Pain took. (RD)

This was probably the best main event I’ve ever seen live, and is the best ECW title match ever. It was punch intensive but both wrestlers used credible good-looking punches, and I like punches. There was one missed spot in beginning, which ended up with Cham Pain tied up in the shitty-shitty ropes. But if you weren’t a jaded cynic and didn’t know what they were aiming for you wouldn’t have noticed it. Corino played off the spot as though it was part of the match. As though he had deliberately set Cham Pain up for the miss. I was totally sucked up in the momentum of this match. (TK)

Yeah, I don't see how both guys couldn't be thrilled at the way that match turned out. I thought it was outstanding old school wrestling with updated moves. The psychology was pretty flawless and I went from being very ambivalent about Corino to being a fan of his by the end of this. I forgot that Cham Pain can work his ass off eversince everybody in OMEGA has been sidetracked into high-paying careers- as opposed to being in actual wrestling matches I can see, but he can go like the rest of the OMEGA alumni and has a real spirit of dedication to the artform that you have to love. This match was great. (DR)

EPILOGUE
After talking Phil out of going to the club, we bum-rush Applebee’s, where TomK hits on the waitress, Helms and Gemini Kid stop by for a chat and I criticize the cleanliness of the bathroom. At about 3 am, we hit a big DWI checkpoint and we all comment that we are glad that Pete was asleep at that point in time. Dean nearly kills us after we switched drivers and we stagger in at about 4 am, where we managed to not wake up the kids. (PR).

I was figuring on Gemini Kid coming over to beat the fuck out of SOMEONE for something we probably said in one of the old OMEGA reports (though I don't think we ever said anything amazingly unkind about him). Shane is still the coolest. TomK will hit on any waitress if it means the possibility of extra Fried ice Cream. (DR)

Jeez, one offhand remark about “Hey, it’s Virginia- shouldn’t they all be handicapped license plates?” and you’re branded for life. ;) I leave it up to YOU, the humble reader, as to who’d put the group in more danger: Me being the A-1 smart-ass that I am, or Schneider’s stories about his rugby team’s, uh, shenanigans. (ObMST3K: “FUHLIIIIIIING CRAP!”) Highlights of dinner are Shane outing himself as the masked Will O’ The Wisp who took out that kid with the sliding dropkick at the last OMEGA show in ’98, and the classy Wall Of Fame for Andre The Giant (whose ranch I’m guessing was somewhere in the vicinity). We stumble home at 4 in the morning and the dogs miraculously do NOT put up a big to-do about us coming home at this late hour, not even barking after the gigantic popping noise as all seven of us squeeze through Dean’s tiny doorway at once. There are no vacancies left at the Rasmussen Men’s Dormitory as we all immediately zonk out. (PP)

Rippa was quite the prissy little girl about the bathroom. The workers came in later and had there own little Ring Rat table off to the side. The crossanwich worked stiff on my stomach, but the Kiwi Lemonade was ***/14. (PS)

Shane has great comic timing when telling stories. But the highlight of the whole conversation was Shane telling “New York” Rippa “I’m sorry, but I can’t understand you”. (TK)

And considering that you can hear Rippa's loud-ass voice in the next county, it had to be The Meeting Of Comical Regional Accents in full effect. (DR)

Too bad it was Schneider who couldn't understand. Never let the facts get in the way of a joke. (PR)

We were all talky and chatty until the food came and we all shut the hell up. I was riding Shotgun and was indeed glad that Pete was asleep and did not mutter some smart-ass comment that the cops would have taken as me mouthing off. I might still be getting beat up. When we woke up on Saturday, I had convinced Pete to go get a dog bisuit and place it next to Schneider’s ear so he could wake up to sweet doggy affection - sadly, Schneider woke up before the prank could reach fruition. (MH)

After Cel & The Gang clear out Saturday morning Dean drives Ray and me to the Richmond Christmas Parade (while forcing poor Angie to walk over with the kids in subzero temperatures, the bastard). This is worth mentioning just for the Hampton University Marching Band smoking every band that’s ever worked the Macy’s parade like a Phillies cheroot and for the one Thomas Jefferson HS majorette shaking her thang like... well, like someone who shouldn’t be in high school anymore. =P~ I’m guessing Jefferson was shoulder rolling in his grave at that moment. Train home is a breeze as Ray reads the Dynamite Kid book and I break out the Richard Pryor CD box set in order to drown out the developmentally disabled woman sitting across from us during the DC-Philadelphia portion of the trip. Hey, it’s Eric Bischoff’s financial backer. It all makes sense now. (PP)

I'm still pissed that we missed Virginia Union's Marching band though Hampton University's rocked the motherfucking house. The Majorettes for TJ High School were custom-built to make me feel like an old old old old old old old old old old man. Pete and Ray scoff at our tiny tiny floats. (DR)

On the ride back to D.C. from Richmond Tom K, proves he is the king of sleaze by trumping my rugby stories of depravity with his dissertation on Mormon girls and their orifice preferences. I realize I have to hang out with Tom more. (PS)

Schneider and I also discussed our plans to headline Starrcade 2001 - Lord knows it’ll be a better match than Sid/Steiner. Stiff power-arsenal babyface (me) against rat-bastard heel (Schneider) - you’ll all get the PPV, right? (MH)

Finally, Schneider with the quote of the year: “(Deletion Of Name by Dean) can suck the cum out of my ass.” It just had to be said. =D (PP)

Pete luckily slept through most of Phil's stories. Phil's Rugby team frightens me, to the point after the 2nd or 3rd scatagorical story I asked him "Are you rugby team mates missing chromosomes or something?" Tom K proves to be the king of trying to pick up waitresses as he mercilessly tries to seduce. Other Phil was nice enough to remind Phil to loan me the Dynamite Kid book, which I read half of on the train and the rest of on my flight to London. As I write this Friday night, this caps off my weekend of OMEGA, ECW and a week of a business trip in the UK. Thankfully, it's all over. (RD)

THERE YOU HAVE IT.