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Post by marktaggart on Feb 2, 2008 4:58:59 GMT -4
ITLW News
-There seems to be dissention in the ranks of The Dream Team. Entering the final matches of the tournament, they have still not been able to score a victory. Adding to the internal strife is Greg's father Johnny Valentine, who is said to be getting in Greg's ear about the "weak link" on the team. Johnny points out that, while Greg has hurt two of the major players in the tournament in Hawk and Giant Baba, Brutus has done nothing but cost his team wins. The end of the tournament could also see the end of The Dream Team.
-Jim Cornette has gotten his wish and a rematch for the world six-man tag team titles will take place between The Heavenly Bodies and Chris Candido and the championship team of Mil Mascaras, Jimmy Snuka, and Tiger Mask. The challengers are confident after the Bodies win over Tiger and Snuka, but adding the legendary Man of a Thousand Masks into the mix makes for a much tougher challenge. Adding to the challenge is the fact that the Bodies will have to defeat the champs when the tournament heads to Tokyo Japan for night ten. Japan is the place of many of Mil Mascaras' most legendary bouts, as well as the home country of Tiger Mask.
-Wins by Bockwinkel and Stevens and Race and Hennig on night eight have created a three team tie for second place in block one of the tournament, and the picture could get even more murky pending the outcomes of the bouts to take place on night nine. Steve Williams and Ted DiBiase are the unlikely frontrunners, but five of the eight teams still have a chance at taking the block.
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Post by marktaggart on Feb 3, 2008 17:54:41 GMT -4
night nine New York, NY
The Destroyer, Masked Superstar, and Geeto Mongol defeated Antonino Rocca, Pepper Gomez, and Ilio DiPaolo. A fast-paced, back and forth six-man bout ended when Superstar pinned Rocca after a double team backbreaker and second rop elbow with Geeto.
The Kangaroos beat SD Jones and Koko B. Ware. The Roos had to pull out all of the stops to beat Jones and B.Ware, interferring to break two would-be pinfalls and Red Berry forced to interfere to break up a third. Finally, the more experienced duo caught Jones in the ring and won with the BOOMERANG.
The New Age Outlaws beat the Vachons when Billy Gunn pinned Butcher.
Ted DiBiase and Steve Williams beat the Flying Redheads. The Redheads took the frontrunners to the limit, with Bastien nearly pinning Williams. In the end, Ted DiBiase moved out of the way of a charging Red Lyons in the corner and used a schoolboy rollup to get the win.
Giant Baba won by disqualification over Greg Valentine. Before the bout, Hammer came to the ring with Brutus, but Johnny Valentine came out, argued with Brutus, and sent him to the back. The match was competitive for nearly ten minutes, then Baba took control. After a Baba Chop he went for the cover, but Johnny jumped in and attacked to prompt the dq. Afterwards, Greg put Baba in the Figure Four as Johnny dropped repeated elbows to Baba's sternum.
The Road Warriors beat The Midnight Express. A classic match ended when Ellering cleared Cornette off of the apron and Hawk came off the top rope for the DOOMSDAY DEVICE on Eaton for the win.
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Post by marktaggart on Feb 9, 2008 3:42:10 GMT -4
night ten Tokyo, Japan
Jushin Liger and Brad Armstrong wrestled to a time limit draw. Brad surprised the Japanese crowd by keeping up with Liger and nearly defeating the lightheavyweight champion on several occasions. In the end neither man could score a pinfall before the 15-minute time limit expired.
The New Age Outlaws defeated the Valiant Brothers. An evenly contested bout ended when Billy Gunn pinned Johnny after a spike piledriver.
The Midnight Express beat The Killer Bees. Blair and Eaton started off the bout and traded holds. Blair tagged in Brunzell, who went to work on Bobby until a reversal and spinning neckbreaker. Bobby tagged out to Condrey who quickly used a FACE FIRST SWEEP to score the quick pin out of nowhere.
The Vachons defeated The Dream Team. Johnny Valentine came to the ring with Greg, and talked strategy with him while Brutus started the match. Every time Brutus tried to tag, Greg either acted distracted by Johnny or was not on the apron at all and missed the tag. Brutus tried in vain to defeat the Vachons in the unscheduled handicapped match, but the numbers caught up to him and he was pinned by a Mad Dog PILEDRIVER.
After the bout The Valentines left Brutus alone in the ring.
Mil Mascaras, Jimmy Snuka, and Tiger Mask beat The Heavenly Bodies and Candido in a world six-man tag title match. Cornette's men tried everything they could, but it was not enough to defeat the legendary trio. The end came when Superfly pinned Lane with the SUPERFLY LEAP.
The Road Warriors defeated Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki. The Warriors had to use everything in their arsenal to defeat Baba and Inoki in a long and grueling bout. The end came when Hawk pinned Inoki after the DOOMSDAY DEVICE.
Following the match, Greg and Johnny Valentine ran out and attacked Baba outside of the ring while Inoki was still down. The Road Warriors intervened and fought off the Valentines, but Baba was injured in the process.
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Post by marktaggart on Feb 10, 2008 12:52:55 GMT -4
ITLW News:
-With the tournament rapidly drawing to a close, several big matches have already been signed for the final night extravaganza to be held in Toronto, Canada. Stemming from incidents in Philadelphia, Danny Doring has hired The Missing Link to challenge the Sandman in order to get some measure of revenge for the brutal caning and total lack of regard Sandman showed Doring by disrupting his match that night.
Also signed, the world six-man tag team championship will be on the line when The Destroyer, Masked Superstar, and Geeto Mongol challenge the champs, Mil Mascaras, Tiger Mask, and Superfly Jimmy Snuka. Mascaras and Destroyer already have a history and the Sensational, Intelligent one believes he has the key to defeating Mascaras' team and claiming the six-man championship.
Another big bout will be a return match from Detroit when The Sheik faces Bobo Brazil. Bobo got the win last time, but the Sheik left Bobo in a heap in center ring after the match. This time they will meet in a no-disqualification match to try to settle things....for now.
-The Japanese fans were in horror over the dishonorable tactics of the Valentines and their post-match attack on Giant Baba in Tokyo. Johnny is not bothered by the fans' reactions and, in fact, takes great pride in the trouble he has caused. He says he is taking a more active role in his son's career to restore the fear and respect the Valentine name deserves and to try to "erase the damage Greg's so-called partner has done during the tournament." Brutus Beefcake, the partner in question, could not be found for comment. Since the Dream Team have one more scheduled tournament match to go, it remains to be seen how this situation will be handled.
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Post by marktaggart on Feb 16, 2008 6:21:10 GMT -4
night eleven Minneapolis, MN
The Flying Redheads scored the upset over Harley Race and Larry Hennig. Lyons and Race started the match. They went back and forth for a few minutes until Lyons tagged out to Bastien. A series of tag team "rapid fire dropkicks" later and Race was pinned before his partner could get in and make the save.
Race and Hennig jumped the Redheads after the bell, laying them both out with spike piledrivers.
Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens beat SD Jones and Koko B. Ware. Jones and Koko held on for several minutes and finally looked to be on the verge of another upset when Oliver Humperdink and The Samoans ran out. The Samoans attacked Albano at ringside and SD jumped off of the apron to help his manager. That distracted both the referee and Koko, allowing Stevens to jump in with a steel chair and send it crashing down over Koko's head. That led to the pin by Bockwinkel and the victory for his team.
The Kangaroos beat Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. The two teams went toe-to-toe for over ten minutes, each team near to victory on several occassions. Finally Red Berry's prescence at ringside spelled the difference and the 'Roos were able to pick up the win.
non-tournament bout:
The Samoans defeated Hacksaw Duggan and George South (subbing for Don Leo Jonathan). Hacksaw was up to the challenge, but soon eventually ended up on the receiving end of one too many doulbe team manuvers and was forced to tag out to South. South could not stand up to the massive Samoans and was pinned after a Samoan Drop by Samu.
After the match, SD Jones and Koko stormed the ring and fought with the Samoans. Security had to come out and separate the teams.
Ted DiBiase and Steve Williams defeated The Armstrongs. The Armstrongs fought hard, but could not live up to the chance to play spoiler to the frontrunners in block one. The end came when DiBiase beat Bob with the FIGURE FOUR.
Cowboy Bob Orton Jr. pinned Angelo Mosca after a SUPERPLEX. Mosca dominated most of the match, but Orton withstood the beating and came back to score the SUPERPLEX and pick up the win. Orton tried to add insult to injury with another superplex after the bell, but Mosca fought back, knocked Orton off the ropes, and knocked him out with the "Big Nasty" elbow drop.
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Post by marktaggart on Feb 16, 2008 6:41:27 GMT -4
ITLW News:
-With one more round to go, Steve "Dr. Death" Williams and Ted DiBiase have already been declared the winners of block one of the tournament. Williams and DiBiase have nothing left to wrestle for except a perfect record. It will be interesting to see if they lay back in the final match of the block and rest for the finals, or if they will try to underscore their dominance by going unbeaten.
-While block one is already decided, block two is still a three team race with one more round of matches to go. While Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki will fight it out with the New Age Outlaws in a make or break match where one team will take at least a share of first place, The Road Warriors will have to stop the surging Valiant Brothers for their spot on top. If The Warriors lose, either Baba and Inoki or the Outlaws will win the block. If the Warriors win there will have to be a tie-breaker match between them and the winners of the other bout.
-Bobby Heenan was very outspoken after night eleven of the tournament. He is livid that the Armstrongs had beaten his men earlier in the tournament, but could not defeat Williams and DiBiase and play their spoiler role to perfection. Had they done so, Bockwinkel and Stevens would have had a shot at tying for first place with a win over Williams and DiBiase on the final night of block one action. Heenan has promised to bring a team to the ITLW to get even with Brad and Bullet Bob. The Armstrongs have said they welcome the challenge and are telling Heenan to back up his words with actions, reminding him that if his men could have beaten The Armstrongs to begin with, destiny would have been in their hands and they wouldn't have needed any help to get to first place.
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Post by marktaggart on Feb 17, 2008 12:13:54 GMT -4
Night twelve Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
The Midnight Express won by forfeit over the Dream Team. Brutus Beefcake came out first for his team, then Johnny Valentine accompanied Greg to the ring. Johnny started berrating Brutus again, and Beefcake decked Johnny. Greg attacked his partner and the two began two brawl until JOhnny recovered and joined the fight. The Valentines administered a severe beating to Brutus until several referees and officials came to put a stop to the violence.
As ITLW officials tried to calm the Valentines and get Brutus out of the ring, Rikidozan rushed to the ring and attacked Johnny. After the two were pulled apart, Rikidozan (through his interpretor) said that Johnny had made a fool of himself in Japan and he and his son had crossed the line by attacking Baba. He said Bab would focus on winning the tournament for now, but when that is finished they are coming for revenge. He then challenged Johnny to face him in a one-on-one match later in the night. Johnny was caught off-guard, and appeared to be somewhat concerned at first, but regained his composure and accepted the challenge.
The Killer Bees won by disqualification over The Vachons. The Vachons dominated the first several minutes of the match, but the Bees made a valiant comeback. The action got heated and spilled out of the ring. There Mad Dog grabbed a chair and used it on Brunzell during a fight on the floor to draw the disqualification.
non-tournament match:
Tiger Mask, Mil Mascaras, and Jimmy Snuka beat Gorgeous George, Playboy Buddy Rose, and Larry Sharpe to defend the world six-man tag team championsip. The champs looked impressive, but so did challengers George and Rose. Sharpe was clearly just the third wheel on his team, taking most of the punishment and putting his team at a disadvantage. In the end, George was pounding Tiger Mask but Mask managed to tag out to Mascaras. Mil came in with a flurry of offense, getting the pin with the FLYING BODYPRESS.
The Armstrongs and Koko B. Ware and SD Jones wrestled to a time limit draw. The teams fought tooth and nail to try to secure the victory, but neither could do so in the twenty minute time limit and the match was ruled a draw.
Jushin Liger beat Sabu to defend the world junior heavyweight title. Liger dominated early, but Sabu took over after a missed dive. Sabu pulled out all of the stops, using a combination of brawling and flying tactics to nearly unseat the champ. In the end, Liger made an impressive comeback and scored the pin with a LIGER BOMB.
Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff beat the Flying Redheads when Sheik pinned Bastien. This was, in many ways, the best showing from both teams for the entire tournament. The redheads used the speed advantage to keep the foreigners off-balance, but the strength and underhandedness of Sheik and Volkoff finally wore down the dynamic duo. The end came when Sheik used a loaded boot and a power slam to get the pin on Bastien. As was the case for most of the tournament, the Flying Redheads looked good but suffered a few bad breaks and could not manage to close out the tournament on a high note.
Rikidozan defeated Johnny Valentine with a series of THUNDEROUS CHOPS. This was, as to be expected, a hard-hitting affair between two of the most heavy-handed competitors ever to step in the ring. Valentine pounded the head and chest of Rikidozan, and Rikidozan responded in kind. The match went all over the ring, outside of the ring, and back again with neither man giving an inch. Finally, Rikidozan scored with a series of THUNDEROUS CHOPS that were just barely enough to keep Valentine down for the three count.
After the match, Valentine got right back up and the brawl started all over again. The action spilled out of the ring and went all the way to the back to end the show.
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Post by marktaggart on Feb 20, 2008 23:08:33 GMT -4
Night thirteen Montreal, Canada
block one match
The Kangaroos wrestled to a double disqualification with Harley Race and Larry Hennig. Interference by Red Berry caused the action to devolve into a brawl. With all four men in the ring, the referee lost all control and declared a double disqualification.
feature bout
The Destroyer beat Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. One-third of the world six-man tag team champions went one-on-one with one of the men who will be challenging for the titles in the tournament finale in Toronto. Snuka had the Destroyer reeling, but the Intelligent One used his brains to capitalize on a mistake by Snuka. He worked the leg relentlessly until he finally got the win with the FIGURE FOUR.
block one final bout
Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens defeated Steve Williams and Ted DiBiase. In a classic bout, the number two team in the block managed to defeat the champs of their division when Bockwinkel put away Williams with the BOCKWINKEL SLEEPER.
block two match
The Road Warriors beat The Valiant Brothers to claim a share of first place in block two. The Valiants gave the Warriors all they could handle and nearly pulled off the upset when Johnny used three consecutive SPINNING NECKBREAKERs on Animal. Animal still managed to kick out and fight back. The end came when Hawk pinned Jimmy after the DOOMSDAY DEVICE.
feature bout
Mil Mascaras and Tiger Mask defeated Masked Superstar and Geto Mongol. Mil scored the pin on Geto to give his team the victory.
block two finals
The New Age Outlaws beat Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki. The Outlaws pulled the minor upset and took a tie for first place in the block with the win. The end came when Gunn pinned the already injured Baba with the Standing Leg Drop.
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Post by marktaggart on Feb 20, 2008 23:17:30 GMT -4
-After the final night of tournament action, The New Age Outlaws have emerged as the only unbeaten team in the tournament. They took over for the failed duo of Danny Doring and Steven Corino after week one, so they took over that teams 0-1 record as the replacement team. Since then they have cemented the belief that ITLW officials should have paid the money up front to bring them into the tournament to begin with. They will face The Road Warriors in a tie-breaker to determine who will face Williams and DiBiase to determine the tournament winner. The Warriors only loss in the tournament came at the hands of the Outlaws (albeit by disqualification), so the Warriors are doubly motivated to get even.
-Williams and DiBiase had nothing left to wrestle for in the final night of the tournament, having already cemented their position in the finals. However, Bobby Heenan is still pointing out that, if not for The Armstrongs, it would be his men in the finals following that win. Heenan is said to have signed a new team to go after The Armstrongs and it is rumored that they will debut on the night of the finals.
-Also taking place on the night of the finals, Rikidozan and Giant Baba will do battle with Johnny and Greg Valentine in a battle for respect. It is widely believed that the brutal attacks by the Valentines caused the Baba/Inoki duo a spot in the finals. Inoki, disappointed in the way things turned out, has already headed back to Japan and there is apparent friction between Baba and Inoki as a result.
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EricM
Ring Crew
Posts: 13
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Post by EricM on Feb 21, 2008 1:40:05 GMT -4
Wow, of all the teams involved, I didn't think the New Age Outlaws would come out of this tournament without a loss. Looking forward to the finals!
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Post by weirdjerod on Feb 21, 2008 1:55:15 GMT -4
great stuff, can't wait to see how it plays out in the finals...
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Post by marktaggart on Feb 21, 2008 3:26:47 GMT -4
Wow, of all the teams involved, I didn't think the New Age Outlaws would come out of this tournament without a loss. Looking forward to the finals! I mirror that sentiment. Lots of surprises in the tournament. The Outlaws/James Gang cards don't look that good on the surface, but they just keep winning. In block one, when I set it up I thought the Race and Hennig versus Kangaroos match would be the deciding match in that block, but Williams and DiBiase surprised me. Shocking losers: The Vachons. I imagined they'd end up at least in the middle of the pack. And The Dream Team ended up being such big losers that I had to split them up by the end of the thing.
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Post by marktaggart on Feb 26, 2008 11:20:25 GMT -4
Tournament finals! Toronto Ontario, Canada
The Sandman defeated the Missing Link (w/Danny Doring) after a DDT. Doring was irrate that his hitman couldn't humiliate Sandman the way Sandman did to Doring. Doring started to verbally abuse Link after the match, but Link head butted him and left.
The Samoans (w/Humperdink) wrestled to a draw with SD Jones and Koko B. Ware (w/Albanoa). Neither team had the amunition to put the other away before the 20-minute time limit expired. The only interesting thing about this bout was the interaction between the managers at ringside. In the end they got in the ring and started fighting before their men broke it up.
Bobby Heenan was interviewed by Bill Apter. Heenan had promised to debut a new tag team tonight, but he claimed the paperwork couldn't get done in time. The Armstrongs came out to confront him and tell him to man up to his challenge, but Heenan tried to back off. Suddenly, Ivan Koloff and Fritz Von Goering ran out and attacked the Armstrongs. Heenan said that he couldn't find a new team worthy of his managerial skills, but that didn't mean he didn't find a pair of paid hitmen to take care of the Armstrongs. As security broke up the brawl Heenan said The Armstrong's days are numbered and his men Bockwinkel and Stevens have bigger fish to fry, but Koloff and Fritz would gladly finish the Armstrong's off once and for all.
For the spot in the finals... The Road Warriors beat The New Age Outlaws when Hawk pinned Road Dogg after the DOOMSDAY DEVICE. Both teams fought with everything they had, but the LOD had a little bit more on this night. They avenged their only loss in the tournament by winning this one, but the NAO can still make the claim of going unbeaten in the tournament it's self.
The Sheik defeated Bobo Brazil. Brazil dominated, but made one mistake and Sheik capitalized to gain the win.
The Valentines won by disqualification over Rikidozan and Giant Baba. This was a brawl from bell to bell. Rikidozan would not give an inch and neither would Johnny Valentine. More wrestling was on display when Greg and Baba were in the ring, but the bad blood got to be too much to keep the match in the ring. It spilled outside where Rikidozan would not heed the referees warnings and drew the disqualification. The Japanese duo and The Valentines continued to brawl after the bell and fought all the way to the back yet again.
Jimmy Snuka, Mil Mascaras, and Tiger Mask defended the world six-man tag team championship with a win over Geto Mongol, Masked Superstar, and The Destroyer. A classic bout that ended when Tiger Mask pinned Geto after a great moonsault press.
Tournament final! The Road Warriros defeated Steve Williams and Ted DiBiase when Hawk pinned Williams. The Road Warriors once again proved their dominance in the world of tag team wrestling by winning the tournament and becoming the ITLW world tag team champions.
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EricM
Ring Crew
Posts: 13
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Post by EricM on Feb 26, 2008 13:37:03 GMT -4
Congrats to the Road Warriors for winning the tournament. Some great matches all around. This was really fun to read.
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Post by marktaggart on Mar 2, 2008 11:13:49 GMT -4
ITLW News:
-With the tournament over and The Road Warriors emerging as the ITLW tag team champions, ITLW officials are hard at work on signing teams for the official touring roster. The New Age Outlaws were the first to sign on the dotted line, adding that they beat the Road Warriors in their first meeting in the tournament and had they not been brought in as replacements they would have automatically been in the finals. They are vowing to make everyone in the ITLW pay for not respecting them enough to pay the asking price to bring them in from the start.
-Also already signed to be part of the ongoing ITLW: Ivan Koloff and Fritz Von Goering The Armstrongs The Valiant Brothers Masked Superstar and Mr. Wrestling 3 (who's secret identity is rumored to be that of a wrestler previously seen in ITLW) The Samoan Island Tribe Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens The Flying Redheads The Killer Bees Johnny and Greg Valentine more teams to be announced in the coming weeks.
-Tensions behind the scenes allegedly reached the boiling point between Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki after Inoki bailed on his partner and headed back to Japan after their last match of the tournament instead of supporting his partner against the Valentines. It is well known in the wrestling world that Rikidozan is in the process of selling his stakes in the Japanese promotion to Baba, and it seems that Inoki has been in talks with investors to open up a rival promotion.
-ON the topic of Inoki's upstart promotion, it is rumored that he has offered a lucrative contract to Ted DiBiase and Steve Williams to come to Japan to work for him. Adding to the Baba/Inoki tensions, he has also reportedly attempted to lure away other talent under contract to the Rikidoza/Baba group, including ITLW mainstays Tiger Mask and Jushin Liger. Since ITLW has a working agreement with the Baba promotion, any talent signed by the Inoki group would of course be unable to appear for the ITLW at this time.
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