We open on Ram Menon standing in the parking lot, recapping the previous episode's events. He's interrupted by an ambulance pulling in at high speed. The driver hops out and after briefly talking to the interviewer, runs off, just as fast as he entered. Menon moves towards the back of the ambulance, taking a worrying look in the back and utters "I think it's here...". We pan in to the window to see a chained Abyss sitting in the back, thrashing against his bonds. Cue titles.
Rejoining the scene outside, we find Menon still standing infront of the ambulance, surrounded by Brutus Magnus, Sonjay Dutt and Scott Steiner. The ambulance rocks from side to side, with Abyss' screams heard clearly in the background. Asking Magnus what's going on, he replies "You really want to see it? Just wait til the match".
We cut to the enterance of the American Adonis (aka Chris Masters), being accompanied to the ring by Shera carrying a briefcase. Adonis is the consumate heel, sauntering down to the ring, oozing contempt for the audience. Jeremy Borash then introduces his opponent for the evening, Roscoe Jackson (aka Trevor Murdock). Despite playing a cowboy in the middle of India, Roscoe is the clear fan favourite of the two.
The American Adonis (w/Shera) vs Roscoe Jackson
The two immediately lock up, with Adonis quickly grabbing Roscoe in a headlock. Playing up to the crowd too long, Roscoe is able to whip Adonis into the ropes. However, as Adonis is the larger man, he sends Roscoe to the floor with a shoulder barge. In celebration, he flexes his pecs (ala his old WWE gimmick). The momentum swings back and forth until Adonis is knocked to the mat and bails out to ringside. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he comiserates with Shera. That is until Roscoe grows impatient, comes to the outside and chases him around the ring. In a classic move, Adonis gets in the ring first, allowing him to ambush Roscoe upon his reentry with a a number of stiff kicks and punches. He then stalks Roscue, working over his back with several running knee shots. He locks in a submission, but only on Roscoe's chin this time. Roscoe thrashes, reaching for the Adonis' head. Eventually working his way to his feet, Roscue hits a jawbreaker, sending the Adonis flying. After recovering, both men trade slaps to the chest, until Roscoe ducks and comes off of the ropes with a shot to the face. He follows it up with a big boot. Signalling to the crowd that it's time for his finisher, Roscoe climbs the turnbuckle. He successfully hits a flying crossbody, but the referee has been distracted by Shera and is unable to make the count. Roscue slaps Shera, sending him crashing to ringside. However, in doing so, he's left his back open, allowing his opponent to apply the Adonis Lock. Roscue tries to fight it off valiantly, but eventually secumbs, forcing the referee to call for the bell. This was a good showing for both men. With neither of them being a clear favourite, it allowed for a gripping level of suspense. Such a hard fought win will help Adonis greatly in his push.
Winner - The American Adonis via submission
Once again, we find ourselves backstage with Ram Menon interviewing Brutus Magnus, Sonjay Dutt and Scott Steiner. This time they've made it inside the arena, having locked Abyss into a seperate room, his shadow visible in silhoette. Scott Steiner secures the door with chains. They show distain for the interviewer following them around like this and ejected him from the scene. Steiner says he has the key and Abyss isn't going anywhere. At which point, Magnus exclaims "let's go take care of business!" and all three leave.
Alissa Flash vs Raisha Seed (w/The Sheiks)
Before we begin, let me point out how strange it is to have Alissa Flash going up against Raisha Seed, a character she herself has played for several years in other TNA programming. Clearly someone else is under the burka for this segment, but who? Anyway, I'm glad to see Flash back on my television, as the Future Legend was a standout of the Knockouts division back in 2009 before being overlooked and released. TNA are right to revisit her.
The match begins with the Sheiks on the outside attempting to distract Alissa, but she pays no attention and remains focussed on Raisha. The women lock up and both attempt to take control from behind through a series of reversals. Alissa works her way down to the mat and takes advantage, spinning around into a headlock. The reversals continue, this time utilising successive wristlocks. Eventually, Alissa manages to whip Raisha into the ropes, knocking her down with a powerful shoulder. She plants Raisha right where she wants her with a bodyslam, setting up a running elbowdrop and a subsequent two count. After recovering, both women run the ropes, with Alissa coming out ahead with an impressive crossbody and another two count. She signals to the crowd that she's about to climb to the top rope, but Raisha recovers quickly and manages to pull Alissa's leg, sending her crashing down to the mat with a nasty head bump. Clearly craddling her hurt head, Raisha jumps ontop of Alissa's back and proceeds to ram her face into the mat several times over, rubbing it in for good measure. As Alissa writhes in pain on the ground, Raisha attempts to cover, but only gets as far as a two count. Alissa shakes off her head injury and rallies back, knocking Raisa down with several clotheslines and climbs the ropes, hitting a fantastic missile dropkick. Unfortunately, this only leads to another two count and the matches continues. But not for long, as Raisha hits a surprise inverted double underhook facebuster and the pinfall soon follows. An absolutely wonderful match that proves women can put on just as good a match as any man. I'm a huge fan of Alissa Flash, so it's always a shame to see her lose, but she did so in such a dominating fashion, it probably did more to put her over than getting the win itself.
Winner - Raisha Seed via pinfall
After the match, the Sheiks enter the ring to celebrate with Raisha. Alissa is clearly hurting on the floor, but her opponents see this as an opportunity to continue beating her. Climbing ontop of Alissa, Raisa pummels her with stiff shots to the head and grabbing her by the hair, begins smashing the back into the ringmat. The abuse continues for a solid couple of minutes, with the Sheiks running off any officials who attempt to put a stop to it. Eventually, Mickie James and the Bollywood Boyz hit the ring to chase the heels off. The segment ends with Mickie checking on a shaken Alissa.
Cutting backstage, we find Ram still standing outside Abyss' locked room, this time joined by Zoravar Chotu and Doctor Nicholas Dinsmore (formerly Eugene). The good Doctor fears "the end is near", but is willing to give the diminutive Chotu a pill that will grant him the power of ten men. Eager to take him up on the offer, they start rummaging through his medical bag. Taking out a red bottle, Chotu swallows one of the mystery pills and stares down the camera whilst showing off his muscles. This was really bad comedy akin to a Hornswoggle segment in WWE. They'd do well to avoid such things.
Hollywood (aka Joey Ryan) & Broadway (aka Little Guido) vs Barood & Romeo Rapta
Hollywood and Barood start the match off by locking up, Barood quickly applying a wristlock, only to be reversed by Hollywood. They go back and forth with duelling wristlocks several times over. Finally, Hollywood applies a headlock to Barood. Being whipped into the ropes, Hollywood attempts a shoulder block, but Barood stands his ground. He tries it again to similar effect. After failing so, he invites Barood to try it to him, ending in Hollywood knocked to the mat as Barood and the crowd go wild. Broadway tags in, only to be met with a swift armdrag from Barood. Whilst holding Broadway in another wristlock, Barood tags in his partner Romeo Rapta. Jumping off the ropes, he nails Broadway in the arm, continuing to work over that area. Flipping Broadway over, Romeo gets him in a headlock on the floor. In a surprise move, Zoravar (the midget from earlier) comes running down the ramp (falling flat on his face at the bottom). He slides into the ring and attempts to hit a legdrop, but misses by a clear mile. Both teams are confused and unsuccessfully attempt to grab the little man. Running under all of their legs, Zoravar bails to the outside. He plays to the crowd by doing several flips and is eventually fended off. How bizarre! The match resumes in the ring, with Romeo hitting a hurricarana on Broadway. However, Romeo has positioned himself too close to the opposing teams corner, allowing them to double team him against the referee's wishes. Hollywood makes the tag back in and rather than focus on the match, he poses for the crowd. After getting a stern talking-to from the referee, it turns out their tag was illegal and they have to do it over again legally. In a curious move, he tags right back out again and Broadway takes control. He climbs to the middle rope, jumps off, but is met with a boot to the face from his laying foe. Taking the opening, Romeo rolls over towards his corner and makes the hot tag to Barood, who in turn dominates Hollywood with a sequences of punches and dropkicks. Barood attempts to make the pinfall, but it's broken up by Broadway. Romeo comes flying off the top rope, but Broadway knows better, meeting him with a punch to the gut. With all four men in the ring, the heels attempt to whip the faces into one another, but it's inevitably reversed and they end up running into themselves. The finish comes when Barood attempts a rollup pin on Hollywood, which goes one roll too far, letting Hollywood take the pinfall by holding the ropes out of sight of the referee. A truly horrible affair that should never have made it to television. Both teams seemed mismatched and unable to gel with each other, let alone the mid-match midget interruption. The first let down of the night.
Winners - Hollywood & Broadway via pinfall
Returning backstage, we find Ram ready to interview Ring Ka King's goodwill ambassador Harbajan Singh and commissioner Jazzy Lahoriya. Singh briefly mentions the current situation with the Monster Abyss, but quickly turns his attention to authority figure Jazzy, who announces a 12 man battle royal for tomorrow's show to determine the number one contender to the Ring Ka King Heavyweight Championship!
Ring Ka King Heavyweight Champion Matt Morgan & Tag Team Champions Chavo Guerrero and Bulldog Hart vs Brutus Magnus, Sonjay Dutt & Scott Steiner
Before the match can begin, we cut away to find the locked room open and shackles lying on the floor. The Monster Abyss is loose! Returning to the action inside the ring, Dutt and Guerrero start things off. Dutt takes the early lead, nailing Guerrero with a kick to the midsection. After seeing Dutt running towards him, Guerrero uses the corner to float over Dutt and begin a series of armdrags. Guerrero moves Dutt over into the corner and tags in partner Bulldog Hart (aka DH Smith), who gives his opponent an impressive bodyslam off the ropes. Hart uses his large stature to dominate the cruiserweight Dutt. After a cheap shot, Dutt manages to make the tag to Scott Steiner, someone much more in Hart's weight category. Big Poppa Pump quickly sets to work with several brutal knife edge chops to the chest. After a surprise side suplex, Hart manages to cover Steiner for a two count. Finally making the tag to the Ring Ka King Champion, Matt Morgan enters and damn near takes Steiner's head off diving over the top rope to the outside. Allowing Steiner to make the tag to mouthpiece Magnus, the two team leaders face off in the centre of the ring, mouthing obscenities to one another. Morgan was clearly winning crowd support as they began to chant his name. Not liking this one bit, Magnus attempted a cheap shot to the face, but was clotheslined for his troubles. Magnus finds himself whipped to the corner, set up for Morgan's signature elbows. After a quick bodyslam putting him in place, Morgan tags in Guerrero, who leaps over the top rope, rolling onto Magnus. However, his momentum is short-lived as when running the ropes, Steiner pulls the top one down, sending Guerrero crashing to the outside. Both his teammates enter the ring and voice their frustrations to the referee, but all this does is allow their opponents to double-team Guerrero. Finding their way back to the ring, Magnus makes quick work of Guerrero, pinning him to the ground and bombarding him with punches to the head. The momentum swings back and forth for several more minutes, until Magnus is in a position to lowblow Bulldog Hart with a kick to the crotch, the referee completely unaware. He swiftly hits his finisher, the Tormentum, and makes the cover to win the match for his team! A fairly predictable main event all in all. It's a shame, as these are meant to be the biggest stars of Ring Ka King, yet in any another promotion they'd be midcard fodder. Still, it's good to see some fresh faces in the main event scene, even if they had to go to India to get there. However, they could do with upping their game to warrant keeping that spot.
Winners - Brutus Magnus, Sonjay Dutt & Scott Steiner
Post-match, Matt Morgan gets back in the ring, hitting Scott Steiner and Sonjay Dutt with a double clothesline. However, just as he's about to chokeslam Magnus, the arena lights go down and a howl is heard over the speakers. After a split second video package, the lights come back on and we find a hooded Abyss standing centre of the ring, mere feet away from the Champion. Using the element of surprise, Abyss nails Matt Morgan with a punch, sending him to the mat. Abyss rips his jacket off and screams into the camera. Not happy with that, Abyss picks up the Blueprint and hits him with an impressive chokeslam (especially on a man of that size). Making the decimation of the faces complete, he proceeds to nail Chavo and Bulldog with a couple of Black Hole slams. Finally leaving the ring, Abyss attempts to attack the crowd itself in several places, officials powerless to stop him. We go off the air as Scott Steiner joins in the carnage, ripping the guard-railing up and chasing the crowds back, emptying the arena.
A curious show to say the least. I was pleasantly surprised by the first half, featuring solid displays by the American Adonis, Roscoe Jackson, Alissa Flash, Raisha Seed, etc. Not to mention the effective, mysterious promos setting up Abyss' debut with Ring Ka King. However, it all fell apart in the second half with two messy tag team matches that had no clear focus or momentum. Also, the less I see of zany midgets doing low brow comedy, the happier I'll be. They did manage it turn it around somewhat at the end though, as I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Abyss tear apart both the Heavyweight and Tag Team Champions in one go. Of particular note was the way in which Scott Steiner attempted to clear the arena all by himself! It was a mixed bag, but there was definite value to be had from this episode, even if you only watch the first half.
6/10
Clem
