Windy City TV: Fight Night 35 (28/02/15)

[steve]

Windy City TV: Fight Night 35 (28/02/15)

Where: KC Hall, West Allis, IL
When: Saturday 28th February, 2015
Attendance: 612 (No vacancy)

Commentators: Michael Cole, William Regal & Booker T
Interviews: Rene Young
Ring Announcer: So Cal Val

Show opens and we see Chief of Staff Triple H walking out of a boardroom backstage at the KC Hall arena dressed in a dark purple suit. He doesn't look happy, the camera which then pans into the label on the door as he leaves which says "The Powers That Be".

We flip to the ring as Michael Cole, William Regal and new addition to the commentary team Booker T speculate as to what Triple H was up to apparently meeting the powers that be!

1. Daniel Bryan defeats Tyler Breeze in 9:23 with a small package after a pulsating back and forth non-title match. Tyler Breeze was making his debut in Chicago and came to the ring sporting his selfie-stick and camera watching his every move up on the big screen and making sure his hair was perfect as he made his entrance. Breeze gave the current and perhaps tired (after his 3-way match with Lethal & Low Ki in Impact) NWA World Jr Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan a bigger run for his money than the master of the YES! chant expected which made Bryan dig down deep to get the victory after ducking under a Beauty Spot jumping spinning heel kick attempt to quickly score a small package for the win.

Bryan got on the mic after his win and told the crowd that he went to Jay Lethal's own backyard and beat him and beat Low Ki in a triple threat match to once again retain his championship belt. Summarising the promo, Bryan says that for some reason which he can't understand Jay Lethal is still wanting to stick around as a challenger despite him being 0-2 to the champion and also losing his X-Division title to Low Ki recently!?

Bryan went on to tell Jay Lethal that he's already pinned his shoulders to the mat once for the three count and also won a triple threat in his own back yard that Lethal was apart of. Lethal can't beat Daniel Bryan. He's tried and failed twice now to take his title away from him. Three times won't be the charm and Daniel Bryan will soon head into his 3rd year as NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, making him in his mind the greatest champion in modern NWA history! AJ Styles has been submitted twice recently, hardly championship form he laughs. In his opinion, Daniel Bryan is the best in the world and he demands somebody strong to step up and test him! If Jay Lethal thinks he is that man, then he will get just one last chance to try and prove it, should he accept. At Uncensored! Daniel Bryan challenges Jay Lethal!

2. The Celtic Warriors (Sheamus & Fin Balor) beat The Hart Foundation (Tyson Kidd & Bulldog Hart) w/Natalya in 6:04 when Sheamus pins Hart after a Brogue Kick.

This was a qualifying match for the #1 tag team contenders tourney, the Hart Foundation having already qualified where given a chance for a bye if they could stop the new team of Sheamus & Fin Balor! This was a fast paced match and Sheamus and Balor worked very well together for the first team here. Post match Tyson and Natalya took issue with Bulldog Hart taking the loss and blaming him slapped his own partner in the Sharpshooter! Bulldog was screaming in agony but Kidd did not care and only dropped the hold after several moments of torture for Hart. The Hart Foundation had already qualified for the tournament, Cole, Regal and Booker speculate as to how they can possibly work as a team after this!

3. Dean Ambrose downs Rockstar Spud in 4:20 with a double-arm DDT, the Dirty Deeds.

Spud was given another chance to earn a roster spot in Windy City but was once again given a difficult task by Triple H as he was matched up with the highly touted and debuting Dean Ambrose! Spud did as well as can be expected but was a step behind Ambrose who finished him off with the Dirty Deeds. Spud got on the mic after the match, out of breath, and holding his head in pain. He said he's not being given a realistically fair shot by Triple H and he's already complained to The Powers That Be! He knows that Hideo Itami has also complained to TPTB about the sterotype racism dished out to him by Trip's and he has been told something will be done about this next week!

4. Jay Briscoe defeats Bray Wyatt with the Jay Driller in 12:09.

A very good match here between Family members Jay Briscoe and Wyatt. Wyatt has been going around recently saying he believes Jay Briscoe is the Messiah of Windy City Pro Wrestling and he tried and failed to pass him the Cyber TV Title. Tonight though, he challenged Jay to a match, with no Family members at ringside. One way or another he would make sure the world was in good hands with the new Messiah!

Neither man held back and somehow Wyatt just about kicked out of a Jay Driller. Jay shook his head but Wyatt told him to "finish me and take the world!", Jay dragged Wyatt up and set him up for a second Jay Driller and nailed it and scored the emphatic three count. Booker T doesn't know what to make of this but explains that he thinks Jay Briscoe just took Bray Wyatt's power, his lifeforce, and that Bray Wyatt had willingly for the good of the world sacrificed himself to the new Messiah Jay Briscoe!

5. NWA Windy City ZG Championship Match
Adrian Neville beats Sean Waltman [c] in 10:39 to win the ZG Championship after hitting him with a Red Arrow after Paul Heyman came down to the ring and tripped Waltman as he was readying for the Bronco buster and Neville followed up on the urging of Heyman for the win and the title!

Waltman had on SNL passed the out of competition PED test and was cleared to compete tonight and almost matched the younger Neville move for move. Post match Sean Waltman said he had always said he was clean and was not a drugs cheat and the test proved that. Tonight's event's just proved that it was pure spite from Paul Heyman due to him turning down his services, but despite the loss tonight he's happy with how he performed against Neville but he's pissed off that Neville was seemingly with Heyman this whole time and he won't let Neville or Heyman get away with this!

Waltman finished by saying he said a year ago the next 12 months would be his last as an active performer and although he didn't win major NWA honors, he did win the ZG Championship and pushed Daniel Bryan to the limit on several occasions - but he will stick to what he said and will retire from professional wrestling.

The Kid tells a smirking Heyman and Neville who are stood on the ramp loving the retirement speech mocking Sean, that they better not celebrate too much because he knows a man who can do what he can't do at his age, and take Neville to the limit and beyond and take away the ZG Title from their grubby mitts!

6. Cheerleader Meilissa & "Karma" Kia Stevens downed Paige [c] & Gail Kim in 6:29 when Kia Stevens pinned Paige with the Implant Buster.

Paige and Gail Kim tagged together well despite Paige's reservations but the brute force of Kharma was too much as she beats and pins the Women's Champion Paige as Gail Kim was out of position just the one time and missed a hot-tag after being earlier dragged down from the apron by Cheerleader Melissa on the outside banging her head on the edge.

7. NWA Windy City Heavyweight Championship Match
Kofi Kingston beat Kevin Steen [c] by Countout in 13:29.

Kofi again reduced all his crowd pleasing high spots and was more focussed displaying a killer instinct, attacking with strikes and some BJJ techniques. Steen was the fans favourite in this match but seemed to struggle against the slick Kofi and resorted more and more to every dirty trick in the book he knew. The crowd tried to rally him shouting for "KILL STEEN KILL" but Steen managed to retain the title when Steen hit a plancha onto Kofi on the outside, and Steen took a bad fall. On the count of 8 both men got up and Kofi struck Steen with a superkick as he rose sending him back down and slid back into the ring. Kofi was hoping for a count-break but being dazed and acting on instinct made a mistake here as the ref counted out the champion.

8. MAIN-EVENT GRUDGE MATCH
"The Masterpiece" Chris Masters defeats Samoa Joe with the Masterlock in 16:47.

This one was a grudge match if ever there was one. Masters had his shoulder injured by then NWA World Champion Joe in an attack prior to his big NWA World Title match at the NWA PPV Fall Brawl which despite putting forth a great effort spoilt his chances in the championship match. The injury put Masters out for months but tonight he finally had Joe back in the ring and this was a fiery affair and both men was soon wearing crimson masks. Masters and Joe put down a battle for the ages but was latched in the Masterlock and despite struggling on it didn't look like he would be breaking the hold anytime soon, and the referee called the match just like he did last week in Masters match.

Masters celebrated the win which vindicates that he perhaps should have been World Champion at Fall Brawl but his celebratory poses are cut short as Samoa Joe is back up and he's not happy that the ref called for the bell! Joe is hammering away on Masters and set's him up and hit's a Muscle Buster! Joe slides out of the ring and gets a chair. He set's up Masters in the turnbuckle flat on his belly exposing his previously injured shoulder to the outside on the steel steps. Joe lifts up the chair and strikes down hard onto the shoulder of Masters! And again! 3 times! Joe is winding up for a 4th vicious strike when out from the back runs some help in Daniel Bryan, Sammi Zayn, Dean Ambrose, Uhaa Nation and Hideo Itami, Joe see's them approaching and quickly makes an exit via the crowd!

[Deleted]

Some interesting stuff here, and I like how you've managed to pass the torch to the, in my opinion, highly underrated Jay Briscoe as you had Wyatt make his exit from the company. He's done fairly well, but I could tell his time was coming up and I think he'll do well elsewhere as you look to build up a very worthy competitor in Briscoe. The main event was good, and it's setting up for something I'm looking forward to seeing, so that's always nice. Karma is looking strong, which is the only way she can really look, so she might be dangerous to AJ Lee here shortly, let alone Paige. I've got my own lady gunning for that belt, though, so maybe it's my challenger who should be afraid. lol Interesting teaming of Sheamus and Fin Balor, and I like it. Ironic them beating the Hart Dynasty here, as that mix reminds me of the Hart Foundation, as, in the (paraphrased) words of the psychotic and probably drug addled Jim Neidhart, "It's like mixing a Ferrari and a TANK!"

[jp1985]

Timeline's off for the Daniel Bryan stuff. It references Bound For Glory in the past, but this takes place 15 days beforehand.

That aside, agree on the Briscoe beating Wyatt bit. I think you really could have got a good feud out of that and finally given Wyatt something that might finally bring him to the next level, but at least if you were going to drop him, there was a match first.

Too early to end Kofi vs Steen and like Aries vs Styles for Impact, really hadn't come close to what it could be yet, so a good way to finish it to be able to get a second match out of them. Interested to see what else you have in store for them to keep the feud going beyond the result.

Good to see Neville get the title and finally move it away from Waltman. While Neville as a "Heyman guy" is still to be seen as good or bad, moving Heyman to a manager is definitely a good move. Far too good to just be in a commentator type role. While my opinion on the storyline until now is pretty well documented, hopefully from here on out it can move beyond what brought it to here and focus on Neville and whoever Waltman's got as Neville has a lot of potential to rebuild that title and move towards a shot at Bryan.

I'm not as big on the idea of Sheamus & Balor as joe. I think Balor has far more potential in singles as there really isn't any team that matches up all that well stylistically to both of them at the same time and it seems like they will team for a couple months and run out of options. With names like Steen and Kingston in your title picture, Neville just getting the ZG title, Balor fits pretty well with all that talent right now.

Pretty much expected that result in Masters vs Joe, as much as I was hoping for it to be something else. There isn't much I can do with the guy to my original plan as having lost to Styles by submission and now this loss by submission, putting his walk in value pretty low only a month before my iPPV with no time to rebuild him, short of sacrificing my entire roster in TV matches week after week. Don't think he'll be having a very long stay for me anymore lol. Wasn't much of a fan of the angle afterward as it was basically the exact same thing as Fall Brawl, and it just feels like a broken record to go into them again. The story there was Masters coming back from injury, he did that and won clean. That really should have been the end, not cutting the same angle again after Masters gets the revenge.

[Deleted]

I think I like the Celtic Warriors team for that exact reason, jp, as while I like the dynamic of the fast, technically sound guy and big brawler, I know they will eventually split, and I like the idea of those two matching up. I think that could be a pretty stiff and interesting affair. Balor has potential as a singles guy, for sure, and will be a big star here or anywhere, but having him in a tag team with a former multiple time World champion which will surely end in a match series that favors Balor going over, I don't see how that won't end up as a plus side for him.

[jp1985]

Yeah, I agree with all that. The comment is more directed at them as a tag team with this roster than them not working in theory, and Balor working better right at this exact moment where the same opportunity might not be there in a couple months if somebody like Masters was back in the title mix as was the case if he had been there a few months back with Masters, Cena, Bully Ray, Jindrak. Not that he can't get over, just wouldn't have lent itself as well to him excelling. I think getting to them as opponents by building them up separately would have been better as the natural issue was already there you don't need to throw in somebody turning on somebody else after like 5 matches of teaming. Of course, no idea if that's even where it's going.

[steve]

Thanks guys some good feedback to chew on here, especially the Sheamus and Balor comments.

I'm going for the angle of Masters beat Joe, but did he really? Was the ref's call for the bell too early as Joe did not submit. An angry Joe is up pretty quick and attacks Masters just like last time trying to put him out for good, but thankfully for Masters this time some help arrived just before Joe could perhaps strike down with a 4th strike which would surely result in Masters being back on the shelf for a serious amount of time. Hopefully, there is enough steam left in this to put out a final big match between Masters and Joe. Joe might need some wins in Windy City a& OVW (if still there) but I'm willing to do the work and Joe has such a vicious character that a "screwed loss" would not be something that's hard to build him back up from.

[jp1985]

Well if you want to make me a trade offer for the guy, seems like you have everything for him mapped out already direction wise. No point of him being on my roster lol.