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The Rap Sheet - Rampage Championship Wrestling, Litchfield IL 9/9/2K5
The Rap Sheet - from the Mad Conservative
Rampage Championship Wrestling
9/9/2K5 - Litchfield, IL

Patrick calls it the cockroach that just won't die no matter how many times it's stomped...

The views expressed by the Mad Conservative are solely his own and do not reflect the views of anyone else, including other wrestling companies and the St. Louis Wrestling Community journal at http://www.livejournal.com/community/stlwrestling . Attempts to punish anyone else for what I compose here will be publicly smited and throughly condemned.

Ah Rampage, it's been let's say blinking in and out of existance for the past two years. December of 2003 it supposedly shut down after the owner Frank Reed fell into ill health, and his son apparently had no idea how to run a fed. Last year while hanging flyers for NMW, I stumbled across a Rampage poster for an upcoming show and was surprised to find it still in operation, but that was short lived. Fast forward to 2005. Ever since this organization restarted, I was keeping an eye on CJTPAAW, where John Tempe and Lee Miller were running things with the help of Frank Reed. Back in July there was a split between them over a cancelled show for rather stupid reasons so Reed along with Derek Davis restarted things under the RCW banner having completely broken away from the other two men. Several people from the Springfield fed went down to wrestle for Rampage and I've been asked often about attending or why I didn't attend. After being assured Miller was not gonna be in the house and had no involvement with the shows I finally agreed to go down to my former city of residence to attend. I don't ask for comps and had my money out to pay admission but I was let in so big thanks to Sage Ramsey for the comp.

Before the show even starts, Doug O'Shea stands in the ring jawing with fans for like 15 minutes or so...at least that's what I was told after I walked in the door a couple minutes before showtime. Live from Boomers in Litchfield. Your commentary team is Ryan Reed and "The Joker" who apparently is a wrestler himself.

Reed recaps the last show and states the lineup of Sage Ramsey defending against Steve Montana, with Doug O'Shea versus Guy Smith to wrestle the winner at a later event. O'Shea runs out to protest, Smith says he was robbed of his rematch for the title, he calls O'Shea beneath his notice. O'Shea yells a lot and Smith says he can't beat him. The arguement continues for a while as both want to be in the title match tonight. Sage Ramsey finally comes out here and Montana is here as the arguement continues.

"Soon To Be" Justin MacIntyre & NMW Tag Champ "Overachiever" Billy Morgan vs. "Wrangler" Eric Ruffington & The Eagle Scout - Oh my gosh look at that hideous gear J-Mac is wearing, and if Moe Howard had bleached hair he'd look like J-Mac. Ruff and J-Mac start. J-Mac misses the clothesline and kicks the turnbuckle in frustration, hurting his own foot. Lockup again, and Ruff lays out the KO punches. Tag Scout, and the crowd doesn't laugh at his getup here, he goes after the arm. J-Mac with a poke, but Scout goes back on the arm, tags Ruff and does more arm twisting. J-Mac tries the inverted atomic drop but misses contact, Ruff hits an atomic drop of his own and axes the back. Tag Scout, J-Mac overpowers with shoulderblocks and tags Morgan. Morgan rams Scout in the corner to work him over, but Scout runs him over out of the corner on a whip. Tag Ruff, suplex gets two. Morgan with a poke and J-Mac lends a hand to choke. Morgan with a DDT gets two. Tag J-Mac, chop down and he wrangles Ruff like a bull. How embarassing...injury to insult with a backbreaker gets two. Morgan tagged, he tries the shoulderblocks, but Ruff hits a DDT. Tag Scout and he cleans house with the back drops, he hits the fisherman's spinning neckbreaker for two. Yow, that's the first time I've gotten to see his finisher thus far. Ruff in, Morgan is put in the fireman's carry into a powerbomb onto J-Mac...the Ruff Rider, Ruff and Scout pile on Morgan and J-Mac and that gets the pin. Nice opener though it took a while to get going.

WINNERS: Eric Ruffington & The Eagle Scout pin -> 11:10 mins. **

Honky Tonk Kid vs. The Teacher - HTK looks a bit older, with black and red gear, and seemed to appear at every St. Louis show for quite a while, though this is the first time I've seen him. The Teacher who's home fed is the UWA in St. Louis, comes out to "Saved By the Bell" in a graduation robe, but once he takes that off, he's wearing street clothes that makes him look like a regular colletge student. Go figure. Armdrags, hip tosses by HTK. Teacher with the armdrags that send HTK outside. Back in, HTK with the spinning toe hold (geez I haven't seen that in a while) makes a wish and drops the legs...elbow gets two. Teacher with the dropkick. Drop toe hold by HTK and works the ankle, rollup for two. HTK with a sleeper, Teacher with a rake and knees, backbreaker and stretch. HTK with a rake to get out, suplex, legdrop gets two. Suplex Teacher and works an arm. HTK tosses him off, elbow gets two. HTK rams Teacher to the corner, wipes his boots using his face and dumps him out. Baseball slide dropkick by HTK. By the way, you know how narrow the space is between the fans and the ring? Every so often a kid runs around the ring to the restrooms, making me antsy. HTK with the RUDE AWAKENING for two. Teacher tries pounding, side slam gets two. Shortarm clothesline to the chest, legdrop gets two. Suplex Teacher gets two. Well he tries a second rope headbutt and MISSES. Flying neckbreaker HTK, bulldog gets the pin. Okay that wasn't bad.

WINNER: Honky Tonk Kid pin -> 12:30 mins. **¾

Doug O'Shea comes back out. Frank Reed notes that Doug beat up his brother Lucky and left him laying. Doug whines about he should be the champ and he was cheated. He rants like a madman for a while until Guy Smith comes back out. Smith accidently breaks the Irish flag and Ramsey comes back out. Lucky just wiped his rear with the flag and wants to be Sage Ramsey's cornerman cause Doug keeps abusing him. Reed complains about "interfering" with an interview. Smith runs his mouth about supporting O'Shea not getting a fair shake. So Reed decides to combine the main event and pairs off the four. Whoever among them scores the pin they get the belt. I'm not liking the change very much and the type of match they're doing.

Rampage Tag Team Championship
(c)Wicked & Gravedigger vs. Chris Draven & James Welden - Gravedigger apparently recognized my name from a posting on Jerry Lawler's board after my inquiry about the man following reports circulating on wrestling news sites about him, which I'm not gonna recount here. Gravedigger is not here, he's late. James Welden is the former NMW referee who's now turned wrestler--whether or not he's spent enough time ring training we'll have to see as this is the first time I've seen him wrestle. It's a handicap match here. Draven starts with the solo Wicked. Wicked dominates with a legdrop and nails Welden, suplex on Draven, clobbers Welden, chokes Draven. Draven tries working the leg and tags Welden but gets clotheslined HARD, suplex, boot whip, powerslam. Draven tries to help his partner but accidently hits Welden. Wicked with a DDT, splash from the second rope, legdrops, LOW BLOW, kick, knee to the head gets two. Welden tries to kick away and gets a toe hold but is too weak to hold it. Suplex Wicked, choke, Draven in, double whip Wicked clotheslines them BOTH down. Wicked with an ugly bulldog and James gets dumped. Welcome to the world of professional wrestling James. Draven gets his partner back in, they whip Wicked to the corner and do the Hardy Boyz back springboard side kick. NOW Gravedigger enters the building armed with a baseball bat, jumps in the ring, takes out Draven and Welden, then attacks his own championship partner, drawing a DQ. Errrr...what? Why are the tag champs fighting each other outta the blue? Total extended squash going until the screwy swerve finish. Sage Ramsey breaks up the fight afterward.

WINNERS: Chris Draven & James Welden DQ -> 8:30 mins. *

I have no idea why the tag champs are fighting each other. It makes no sense that the tag champs would be fighting each other, it usually happens after titles are lost, but it seems they're gonna just start from scratch with the tag belts. They go to intermission, but during that period Welden & Draven get into a fight with Doug O'Shea for whatever reason. They do a lot of talking after intermission.

The Beast vs. Dangerous Derek Davis - Well it was supposed to be Derek Davis and a mystery partner, presumably Beast against the Hot Boyz in a kendo match but Scotty Cash and Benz couldn't be here tonight, leaving Jackie Sazerak doing color on the commentary mikes all evening. This is the same Beast that worked the PWI Lincoln show a few weeks back. Beast carries two different belts in hand but they don't announce what those are. DDD pounds away and they quickly spill outside and I kinda act as "security" telling kids to keep a safe distance as heads are banged on the tables in front of me. Unfortunately some other kid loudly complains at me for doing it. And the Beast has some piece of silverware in hand and digs it into DDD's head. This goes a while but DDD screams at him for more. KICK WHAM DDT Davis, and he does some forking. DDD with an armber using the rope, DDD thumbs him in the corner and chokes away. Okay I'm bored. Beast with a wish headbutt LOW BLOW. Looks like Beast is bleeding a little on the head. The referee is a complete joke, seemingly more interested in staring at the ceiling than the actual match. Whip DDD to the corner, ref gets in the way and it's a ref sandwich with DDD and Beast being the bread. Yep. Beast with a splash on DDD and there's a long pause. Zzzzzzzz... Beast slowly gets a ladder that reaches to the ceiling, knocking the clock off the wall getting it out and ends up deciding not to use it. He throws the kendo stick in instead, DDD takes it and whacks Beast. Someone runs in, pulls the ref shirt off the ref and counts the fall himself. Long, boring, and uninteresting, besides the first tense moments of the match as far as the crowd goes. Funny thing is they shake after the match.

WINNER: Dangerous Derek Davis pin -> 13 mins. DUD

Rampage Heavyweight Championship - Tag Team Rules
Steve Montana & Rampage Heavyweight/NMW Tag Champ Sage Ramsey w/ Lucky Charm vs. "Heavy Hitter Forever Man with Guns" Reverend "Alpha Male" Guy Smith 10-32 & "Irish Bomb" Doug O'Shea - The stips, whoever gains the winning fall is the champ, regardless of who pins whom under regular tag team rules. Why didn't they just make this a fatal four-way? Would had made more sense and be far less conveluted that way. Wicked from earlier is wearing the referee shirt for this match. Smith wants someone in his corner if Sage has someone in his. Gee, why didn't you bring RON with you? Smith and Sage start, Sage gets a shove as Smith is called "Guy Smiley". Man why hasn't Springfield fans thought of that? Sage with the clothesline and armbar, tag Montana who works the arm. Montana clothesline, small package and Wicked for some reason just stands there and doesn't count. Chop Montana, he kicks away and Smith tags O'Shea in. Doug pounds away and locks in the sleeper, Montana pickup and Samoan Drop. Tag Sage, backbreaker gets...zero. Okay what's up the non-counts? Doug chops away and tags Guy in to work Sage in the corner. Slam Guy, elbow gets a whopping one count. Elbow Guy, neckbreaker gets two. I'm having to yell the counts at him. Guy stomps him down and gets two but Doug breaks it up. Guy argues with O'Shea about it and tags him in. Sage locks in a full nelson, Guy jumps in and punches Doug on purpose. Montana and Smith tag themselves in, Montana with a fisherman's buster. Smith takes a seat in the front row to watch and there's an ugly looking takedown, Montana locks in a figure four. Guy jumps back in and stomps Doug, Sage breaks up the figure four. LOW BLOW O'Shea, Smith tags himself in, clotheslines, slam by Montana. And Montana slugs Sage down. Well I TOLD YOU this should had been made a four-way instead of a tag! Smith hits a reverse DDT for one. Doug pounds away, there's mass confusion, Sage with a chokeslam on Smith, Montana in, slams his partner and they are in a slugfest as the entire locker room empties out to join a giant barroom brawl for no apparent reason to give us the SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT FINISH at about 13 minutes or so, as Frank Reed thinks every 2½ minute interval equals 5 minutes.

NO WINNER: No contest -> 13 mins. ***

The brawl goes on for a while as Joker joins in to attack people, and Frank Reed tells them all to quit fighting. Reed says nothing was settled, so at the next show, the four men in this match are gonna be put in a cage match for the title. Jackie Sazerak speaks up that he got a contract at intermission that he's gonna be the manager of Sage Ramsey. You're kidding me right? That's gonna be news to people up north. And the brawling starts again briefly before Reed threatens to fine people. The banter picks up between Ramsey, Smith, O'Shea, and Montana for several minutes after, as a big USA chant erupts on O'Shea. Reed wants Jackie's limo there at the next show, cause Frank Reed himself wants to wrestle Jackie Sazerak himself for a chance to smash up the limo if he wins. Reed as a wrestler? Jackie wants the fans to decide what to do. Decent match despite the flawed setup and ruined by a dumb non-finish. By the way, Montana is stiff as heck, leaving a huge red mark on the side of Guy Smith's head from a kneeshot.

Only five matches the whole evening, in an apparent attempt to get the thing over by 10PM but they were done at about 9:30PM. The combining of the two top matches of the lineup was completely unnecessary as it weakened the card, the tag champs breaking up made no sense. Other problems I had were the kids having to run by the ring to get to the restrooms while matches were going on, and the space between the ring and crowd was pretty narrow. Sure it's not a big bar, but they could had moved the tables back on one side which looked to be less populated than the other one. I'm gonna reserve judgement as the fed as a whole is a work in progress and needs a little guidance on booking.

Hung jury.