Saturday, April 14, 2012, I made the one hour trip out to the Balch Springs Recreation Center in Balch Springs, TX to witness NWA Lone Star/TX Stampede Wrestling’s “Knuckle Up” show. Attendance was down but I blame that on the threat of possible severe storm that night. In fact Jason and I waited to the last minute before we decided to believe my weather app that storms wouldn’t arrive till the early morning hours. In a good Texas tradition, the ring announcer, Travis Baxter, welcomed us to the show and announced the playing of the national anthem.
The first match saw two young wrestlers face off as Barrett Brown defeated Bolt Brady with a top rope swanton. A good up tempo match to help get the small crowd going, both were faces but the crowd was behind the better known Brown. At the end both men shook hands and I hope to see more of Brady in the future.
Interview time as The Original Playa, Lance Romance and Main Event Mike Foxx came out to the ring. I had a hard time hearing them since I was sitting next to some vocal fans but I know that Romance noted that TX Stampede was having two major title matches tonight. He assured us that Kahagas would win the NWA Junior Heavyweight title and Foxx would win the GWT Indy title. Foxx then told the crowd that Tim Storm may be the best in Texas right now but it was only because Foxx had been gone for three years and Foxx would reclaim his spot tonight.
Match number two saw Byron Wilcott (with a coach/trainer) defeat Bubba Dumplins with a Boston crab. Despite having two big men in the ring the match kept up a good pace and had some good back and forth. The match ended when Bubba missed the top rope moonsault and Wilcott put Bubba in the Boston crab near the middle of the ring.
This is my third time seeing Wilcott and I would like to see him in the ring with someone like a Chaz Taylor or the like, someone who could test him a little more.
The third match of the night had Danny Matthews defeat Brandon Collins. My least liked match of the night it consisted of Collins beating on Matthews most of the match. Then out of nowhere Matthews whipped Collins in to the ropes and jumped up with a knee to the head, hook the leg, cover, and 3-count. It did give rise to one of those perfect moments because throughout the night a couple of fans had been yelling at the wrestlers during pin attempts to “hook the leg, its wrestling 101”. This included yelling it at Collins after several of his pin attempts. Looks like Matthews proved them right.
Intermission and time for me to give everyone a short history lesson, Kevin Douglas and Kahagas faced each other twice in Texas last year in a tournament for the GWT Indy title, once in the seeding round and then again in the semifinals. Kahagas would win the semifinal and then go on to lose to Tim Storm in the finals.
After an intermission we had the moment I had been waiting for and the entire reason I drove an hour form home despite the threat of storms. Title versus title match as NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion the Modern Day Hero, Kevin Douglas took on the new NWA National Heavyweight Champion the Tokyo Monster, Kahagas. These two veterans but on a match that was more than worth the price of the ticket. Back and forth they beat on each and I mean beat. At one point they were literally a foot from me and Kevin’s chest was a bright red from Kahagas’s chops. They put on a wrestling match that took me back to the heydays of wrestling for me. It was AWESOME. As we neared the end the referee was run into. This lead to an explosion of offence by Kahagas and who after a fireman carry/sit out bomb covered Douglas for the pin just as Senior Official James Beard got to the ring to make the count. Douglas kicked out, a little more back and forth as the original ref recovered and German suplex by Kahagas, both refs count three. The original ref awards the World Junior Heavyweight title to Kahagas while Beard awards the National title to Douglas, a double title switch. How I wish they would have left it that way. Douglas would get on the mic and said Kahagas one of the best he has ever faced. Kevin talked about respect and that he respected Kahagas. He said he would give the National title back to Kahagas if Kahagas would give the World Junior Heavyweight title back to him. Kahagas finally agreed and they raised each other’s arm in victory and left the ring.
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| Photo Courtesy of Staci Brown and 2012 3B Photography |
Time for the second main event, in a match for the GWT Indy World Championship, Tim Storm defeated Main Event, Mike Foxx with Lance Romance by disqualification. Special guest referee for the match was the Texas Legend, Action Jackson. It’s really a shame this match followed Douglas/Kahagas because there was no way it could live up to it. Storm dominated the opening part of the match but Foxx mounted a comeback, with a chair, when Romance distracted Jackson. The match ended when Kahagas came out to ringside and threw powder into Jackson’s eyes. Blinded, Jackson hit the Big Booya (Rock Bottom) on Storm. Foxx went for the pin and once again James Beard came out to make the count. Storm kicked but before he could make comeback, Kahagas jumped in the ring and attacked him. This lead to Foxx being disqualified and a locker room clearing brawl as everyone came out in waves. Finally most made their way to the back, but Storm and Foxx where still ringside and went at it again. Once again everyone came out and finally Romance stole the belt and he and Foxx left. Everyone made their way to the back with just Storm and Douglas in the ring at the end.
Honestly the brawl at the end helped save this match as the crowd really got it. There was nothing wrong with the match per se, but not much could follow Douglas/Kahagas.
I’m looking forward to TX Stampede's next event, scheduled for this summer on June 9, 2012.
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