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Live Report From 4/27 Memphis Wrestling: Hulk Hogan vs. "Former Big Show" Paul Wight
By Cleatus Cahones
Friday April 27, 2007
FedEx Forum – Memphis, TN. 4,500 – 5,500 in attendance My seats: 10th row on the floor Cleatus Cahones Moondog Cujo w/Sal Corrente over The Barbarian by pin. The match started with Barbarian busting a board over Cujo’s head. Half of the broken board flew out to about the 4th row at ringside. Barbarian and Cujo traded shots with Cujo’s shovel, an antique crutch, and padded chairs. Ugh. The house chairs were padded. That’s what they used. Lame. This one was over quick with Cujo getting the pin. Cujo may just be the most unhealthy looking individual I’ve ever seen. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine over “Total Protection” Mr. Hughes by pin. Lots of stalling by Hughes at the start. Valentine looks like a potato wearing boy shorts. Figure four gets slapped on midway through the match. Hughes escapes with the ropes. The Hammer wins with a roll up, catching Hughes arguing with the referee. I’m starting to realize I just paid $60 to see 60 year old men roll around in their underwear. I need more beer. Jazz over Christie Ricci and Miss Passion by pin. Not a lot to say about this one. Jazz came out singing her own entrance music so I figured this would be a most opportune time to find a restroom and let go of some beer deposits. The match was over before I got back to my seat. Under 5 minutes. Abdullah The Butcher and Al Greene went to a no contest finish. I’m not sure they even made it in the ring. Both guys were busted open wide and early. This match was a lot of bloody brawling with sharp weapons thrown in for good measure. I finally get to say I’ve seen Abdullah stab someone with a fork in person. This is why I came to the show. Bill “Superstar” Dundee and “Dirty” Dutch Mantell w/ “The Boogie Woogie Man” Jimmy Valiant over Koko B Ware and “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton w/ “The Doctor of Style” Slick and Frankie II. Jimmy Valiant can pop a crowd. Maybe its just Memphis but Valiant can get the crowd going. Koko came out with Frankie II and even got Lance Russell to dance with him and the bird. Lots of history in this match. Ware and Eaton used to be a tag team a LONG time ago, Dundee and Mantell always worked well together, and if you’ve ever seen the clip of Valiant destroying Ware’s TV title you surely haven’t forgotten it. The match itself was pretty slow paced but Valiant kept Slick on his toes from the outside. Slick was the surprise of the night as he wasn’t promoted as being on the card. Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Bubba The Love Sponge over The New Assassins w/ Sal Corrente by pin. Brutus is grey and balding and came out with the shears. I guess you’re never too old to wear fishnet. The Assassins were two fat guys in bodysuits and masks. Whatever. The match sucked and then Brutus made the hot tag on Bubba. The level of suckage reached a new high when Bubba started throwing blows that looked like a cross between a punch and a clothesline, missing by a mile but still making the Assassins fall on their fat asses. After a Bubba splash from the second rope, the Assassins are pinned. Brutus then cuts Corrente’s hair. Bubba sucks. Go home, Bubba. “Grandmaster Sexay” Brian Christopher over Buff “The Stuff” Bagwell by pin. Buff comes out first, insulting the Memphis crowd. Gotta love the cheap heat. Lawler comes out to one of the biggest pops of the night. The local crowd loves the hometown hero. Brian tosses a chain to a fan at ringside. This was actually the best match of the night. Bagwell and Lawler worked really well together. Brian seems to have recaptured his passion of late and put on a nice little match. Jerry’s kid gets the pin after a Tennessee Jam/Hip Hop Drop from the top rope. Ricky Morton and Kid Kash over Too Cool 2 by pin for the Southern Tag Team titles. Too Cool 2 came out by surprise. These were the only local non-legend Memphis guys on the card. Morton comes out and says Robert Gibson couldn’t make the show. I yell back, “He works for Vince”. Kash comes out as Morton’s partner. This match had the three youngest guys on the card yet they somehow managed to have the worst match of the night. Too Cool 2, while a guilty pleasure of mine, aren’t far along enough in their ring work to have a match at a show like this. Morton stayed on the outside most of the time as Kash carried the match. Kash just couldn’t’ get a worthy match out of Tim Grind and Flex. Eventually Kash and Morton get the win and the belts. Interesting. “The Immortal” Hulk Hogan over “The Wrestler formerly known as The Big Show” Paul Wight by pin. Hogan comes out to the biggest pop of the night. Wight looks to be in the best shape in years. He really has dropped some weight. Its amazing this is the same guy we saw on ECW just months ago. The match itself was fairly boring until the end. Wight chokeslammed Hogan in the middle of the ring. After about 10 minutes, Hogan Hulks his way out of a bear hug, sending Wight into the ropes and knocking him over the top rope with a big boot! After brawling on the outside for a bit, Hogan gets Wight back in the ring and cleanly slams him. Huge pop. One leg drop later and Hogan’s hand is raised as the victor. The show itself was fairly mediocre. The main event was entirely predictable. I couldn’t help but think just how much better the match would have been had it been Lawler. At least the ending would have been harder to call. The FedEx Forum wasn’t halfway full. The fans in attendance were rabid but I think everyone was hoping for a larger turnout. Regardless, this will probably be the largest independent show in the States all year. No official numbers have been released yet but its looking like a total of 4.500-5,500 in attendance. So that’s that. On a gimmick card in a gimmick town, the best Hulk could draw was 5,000 people. What exactly was Vince worried about? Largest pops of the night were for Hogan and Christopher. Memphis Mayor Willie Herrington received the loudest boos. The mayor's jeers were almost as loud as Hogan's cheers.
Alphabetical Listing of Guests You Can Hear on...
Lance
Cade D-Ray
3000 Bobby
Eaton Manny
Fernandez Greg Gagne Chalie
Haas B.G.
James
Rodney
Mack One
Man Gang Harley
Race Dave Taylor
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