by Derek Burgan and Kevin Gill (photos)

Torch Arena Report
WrestleReunion 2
Saturday August 27, 2005
Valley Forge Convention Center

The matches for WrestleReunion 2 weekend were scheduled to take place at 7:30 PM on Saturday, and you can imagine my surprise seeing people lined up to get inside at 3:00 PM. Who the hell would wait over four hours in line for a show not named WrestleMania? Granted, all tickets were general admission, but c’mon. At 5:00, when the first day of the autograph signings was scheduled to stop (although they were running way behind and no doubt had to run late), I left the convention center to get something to eat with Kevin Gill (creator of the Backyard Wrestling 2 video game) and Kevin’s friend John. We went down the road to a local Hooters, which believe it or not was the first time I had ever been to any Hooters.

I can’t believe what I have been missing! It truly is odd to not only see guys take a date to Hooters, but I also saw a family or two there as well. Who in God’s name brings young kids to a place like Hooters? Were the strip clubs closed? Anyway, after a couple hours of unabashed oogling (apparently John and Kevin were used to seeing hot girls serve them beer; they are obviously not from New Hampshire), we headed back to the convention center. Upon entering the main room it was obvious that the WrestleReunion crew learned how to really set up a show as compared to their first dry run in Tampa earlier this year. The venue looked sharp. For some reason there was TWO hard cameras and they were situated right next to each other. WTF? There were also other cameras stationed around the room and a couple guys walking around with their own cameras, so there was plenty of coverage for all the action. The crowd looked to be about 400-500 people and should come across very well on DVD. Although now that I think about it, the show from Tampa still isn’t on DVD yet, so cross your fingers on this show.

WWE’s Joey Styles, TNA’s Jimmy Hart, and Memphis’ Lance Russell came to ringside to open the show. They shot the opening promo twice, once with their backs to the crowd and once with their backs to the ring. They also had nice plasma screens in front of their table. Talking about sparing no expense. So Cal Val was the ring announcer tonight and after checking her out, I think I need to start watching more Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Val told everyone to stand for a 10 bell salute to the recently departed Sailor White. At first I thought she said Sailor Moon and I was wondering why the hell I was taking off my XFL cap to pay tribute to a cartoon character. Val then added that White was one of the Moondogs. WrestleReunion promoter Sal Corrente came to the ring and talked about seeing Larry Zybsko lose to Bruno Sammartino back at Shea Stadium in front of 45,000 people. That number just can’t be legit. Zbyszko came out to some kick ass evil music and said he was finally going to “set history straight.” Larry said that he never lost to Bruno and that it all was a rumor spread by Sammartino that he was going to squash tonight. Larry added that he retired Sammartino and went on to retire Nick Bockwinkle.

Jimmy Hart, Lance Russel and Joey Styles call the action

So Cal Val

Sal then introduced Nick Bockwinkle as tonight’s commissioner and Bockwinkle told Zbyszko that he hasn’t retired anyone. Bockwinkle also called Larry a “horse’s ass.” As Zbyszko continued to talk trash about Sammartino, the crowd went wild as Bruno ran to the ring. Before he could get into the ring, Sammartino was held back by several referees. Bruno had some great fire here and it was a nicely done segment.

In a classic moment, Bockwinkle capped it all off by saying “let’s go to the camera as someone’s coming out!” I think Monday Night Raw should start like that as well.

(1) Don “The Rock” & Joe Muraco beat Bullet Bob & Brad Armstrong in a Father/Son tag team match in nine minutes. Bullet Bob, former director of authority in TNA, has got to be a hundred years old. Brad has had every bad gimmick you can imagine, including Buzz Kill, a No Limit Soldier and Arachnaman. Brad was in tremendous shape though. Don Muraco looked remarkably like his old self (with the obvious added “retirement weight”) and his son Joe looks like he was given Izzy’s old Special K gimmick. The most amazing thing I have possibly ever seen in a wrestling match happened during the opening bout. There were dueling chants of “Let’s go Muraco” and “Let’s go Brad.” Only, Get This, there was literally only ONE PERSON EACH on both sides of this dueling chant. And those two goofs continued for a while before shutting up due to embarrassment. When Don Muraco tagged into the match, he told Brad “get your ass out of the ring,” as he wanted to go one on one with Bullet Bob. These two veterans did an old school test of strength spot, ending with Bob stomping on Muraco’s fingers. That might have been the only “bump” Muraco took the entire match. The crowd was deathly quiet during the match and I’m not sure why, as it wasn’t horrible or anything. Finish came when Joe hit a frog splash off the top rope onto Bullet Bob.

***After the match Joe and Don Muraco put a beat down on the Armstrongs until the Samoan Island Tribe hit the ring to make the save. These guys looked a lot like Three Minute Warning.

(2) Wendi Richter & The Patriot (Tom Brandi) & George South, Jr. beat DC Drake & Gary Royal & Amy Love in a six man intergender tag match in thirteen minutes. Brandi, who was Salvatore Sincere in the WWE back in the day, bought the Patriot gimmick off of Del Wilkes after the old Patriot had to retire due to so many injuries. Wendi Richter is Stiffler’s Mom in a wrestling leotard. George South is in decent shape and will probably have a good career ahead of him if he sticks with wrestling. Gary Royal, well, I talked about him at length during the first WrestleReunion and he’s the exact same here. DC Drake is the most indie of all indie wrestlers. Drake had with him a “chain” that must have been bought at the dollar store on the way to the show. Amy Love? Where the hell is this girl wrestling, as I need to get some DVDs! The match itself wasn’t too bad, but pretty non-descript. Heels did a ton of stuff behind the ref’s back to get heat. Finish came after Richter gave Love a powerbomb of some sorts.

(3) Ivan Koloff (w/Nicholai Volkoff) beat Dominic Denucci in a Russian Chain match in approximately thirteen hours. Actually match time was somehow ten minutes, but my watch must be way off. Volkoff sang the Russian national anthem to start the match in a nice touch. Although it is weird for the “evil Russian” to have a USA flag on his coat and hat. Koloff looked to be about two hundred years old and was wearing an “extreme gym” shirt. The object of the match was to tag all four ring posts consecutively, but Denucci kept going for pins and the ref kept counting for him. In fact, at one point the ref even made a three count. Truly bizarre. Denucci trained Mick Foley and Shane Douglas and can’t remember the one rule of a Russian Chain match? During this match I spent a lot of time crowd watching and was amazed to see how many guys dragged their girlfriends to the show. FINALLY, Koloff (who had bladed during the match) hit the corners for the win. Dave Meltzer always talks about matches telling a story in the ring and this one certainly did tell a story…a bedtime story.

Average crowd reaction to Russian Chain Match

(4) The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) beat The Thunderfeet and The Backseat Boyz (Trent Acid & Johnny Kashmere) and The Samoan Island Tribe (Samu & Alofa) in a four corner tag team match in ten minutes. Both members of the Thunderfeet had lightning bolts all over their masks and ring outfit. They were like a low-rent version of the Machines (‘80s WWE) and I can hear Mark Nulty and the rest of the Wrestling Classics’ guys’ heads spinning all the way here in New Hampshire with that comment. The Backseats had by far the most charisma of any person in a match to this point. At one point the Backseats blind tagged each member of the Samoan Island Tribe in, and after throwing some punches at each other for a couple seconds, immediately turned and attacked the Backseat Boyz. During this melee, Bobby Fulton did a sunset flip to one of the Thunderfeet for the win.

***Speaking of the Fantastics, I brought down the shoot interview DVD they did with Ring of Honor that I had borrowed from a Torch VIP member. I figured I would get the DVD signed to surprise the guy. So earlier that evening, I was in line to get the DVD signed and saw that the Blue Meanie’s table was open, so I darted over, to ask a couple questions about the events at One Night Stand, while giving the Fantastics DVD to Kevin, asking him to get it signed for me. Kevin caught up with me several minutes later and gave back the DVD. My mouth dropped when I saw it read “To Derek, Bobby Fulton.” I now have to convince the VIP member to change his name.

Trent Acid and a Samoa go face to face

***Bill Apter was introduced and he put over Jimmy Hart. The Mouth of the South came to the ring and talked about the best team he ever managed, the Hart Foundation, while introducing Bret Hart to a huge ovation. Bret plugged his upcoming WWE DVD in November (which he promised is going to be great) and said not to believe what he said about America during the Attitude Era. Hart said that while this wasn’t SummerSlam, it was the next best thing. Bret looked good and this was a nice promo, even if it was kinda pointless.

Bret "The Hitman" Hart

(5) Diamond Dallas Page (w/Bruno Sammartino) beat Larry Zbyszko (w/Ivan Koloff) in a Special Challenge match in nine minutes. The stipulation of this match was that if Zbyszko beat Page, he would get five minutes in the ring with Bruno. And, yes, that is the first time in wrestling history in which a heel demanded that stipulation with a babyface. In a nice touch, Koloff, who actually did beat Bruno during the Old School Days, seconded Zbyszko. Larry went outside the ring about four minutes in the match and gave a cheapshot to Bruno’s back to get some major heat. Page hit Zbyszko with a Diamond Cutter, grinned, and then rolled the prone Zbyszko on top of him to give Larry the three count. Bruno then got into the ring and began wailing on Zbyszko in the corner until several refs tore him off of Larry. The five minutes alone ended up being about 45 seconds.

Bruno Sammartino laying the boots into Larry Zybszko

(6) Dr. Tom Pritchard & D-Lo Brown & Blue Meanie & Dusty Rhodes (Team Captain) beat the Masked Superstar & Andrew “Test” Martin & The Original Evil Clown (Matt Bourne a/k/a Doink) & Steve Corino (Team Captain) in an eight man tag match in fifteen minutes. Yes, the team pairings make no sense and come straight out of that old BattleBowl gimmick that WCW used to do. Both D-Lo Brown and Test were in fantastic shape. Wouldn’t be surprised at all to see them in TNA soon. Blue Meanie and Test did several comedy spots, as Meanie would mock Test’s physique, while Test would do jumping jacks and push-ups after laying out Meanie. Dusty was wearing a t-shirt and trunks while the Evil Clown looked like Doink mixed with a homeless person. Out of all these guys, who would have thought Blue Meanie would get the pin on AWA World Champion Steve Corino after a Meanie-sault?

After the match Meanie taught Dusty Rhodes the Meanie dance. Dusty did it to a big crowd pop. Then all four babyfaces did the dance in front of the hard camera.

Dusty Rhodes, during a WrestleReunion Q&A

(7) Dr. Death Steve Williams beat King Kalua in five minutes. This was Dr. Death’s first match back after battling cancer last year. Williams got a big “welcome back” chant. Williams shot a promo before the match saying “I told you I’d make my comeback.” Dr. Death might have been the only person in the world who believed he would come back as fast as he did, and I’ll be damned if he wasn’t right. While he has gained a lot of weight since I last saw him at WrestleReunion I, he looked remarkable for what he’s been through. Kalua attacked Williams during his opening promo for huge heel heat. Kalua kept on offense for a while until getting hit by several three point stance shoulder tackles by Williams. Dr. Death then hit a sit out powerbomb before polishing Kalua off with the Oklahoma Stampede.

***Crowd loved this and Williams spoke after the match saying that if you have faith and heart you can accomplish anything. This should come across incredible on DVD.

(8) Tito Santana beat Greg “The Hammer” Valentine to win the IWA title in ten minutes. The belt that “The Hammer” wore to the ring has to be seen to be believed. Literally the biggest belt ever made by human hands. This could have fit Andre The Giant, or even Mark Madden. It didn’t even snap on, it had huge pieces of Velcro. This IWA promotion must be heavily sponsored by the Dollar Store. Apparently this feud is “twenty years in the making,” or at least that’s what we were told. How many IWA’s are there anyway? I know this wasn’t the IWA Mid South, that holds those awesome Ted Petty Invitational tourneys. And isn’t there an IWA in Puerto Rico? The only note I have on this match is that it was “methodical.” Run that through the Kayfabulator 5000 and you get “pretty damn boring.” Tito won with a small package roll up of some sorts.

(9) The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) beat Mick Foley & Dory Funk & Terry Funk (w/Bobby Heenan) beat in fifteen minutes. Mick Foley shot a promo before the match that may have been better than his two hour Mick and Night show on Friday. Foley talked about why he hated each guy in the match. He hated Cornette for having the audacity to run a wrestling promotion that was based on hardwork, common sense and simple psychology. “You should be ashamed of yourself!” said Mick. Then Foley talked about Dennis Condrey owing him twenty dollars, but disappearing for a decade soon after. Foley brought up being on the road with Stan Lane early in his career, and Foley losing his innocence listening to the going’s on in Lane’s room. Foely then tried to think of something bad to say about Eaton, but couldn’t. Foley asked Terry Funk if he knew something bad about Eaton and the Funker said, “I don’t know anything but I sure as hell can make something up!” Foley ended up hating Eaton “for reasons undetermined.” Classic material and Foley was at the top of his game.

Dory Funk, Terry Funk and Mick Foley

The Midnight Express

The Express now have matching ring jackets and gear, giving them a sharp look. I actually bumped into Jim Cornette the next morning in an elevator and brought up how good they looked compared to the last time I saw them at ROH’s Midnight Express Reunion show. Cornette said that when they realized they would be teaming together often, the sprung for the new duds. Anyway, during the match there was a great spot in which Bobby Eaton was working over the shoulder of, he thought, Terry Funk, but Funk had quickly slipped Condrey’s arm in his place. Fantastic facials by the Midnight’s telling Eaton is mistake and Eaton when he finally realized what he was doing. Wonderful old school stuff throughout the match like that. Foley brought out Mr. Socko and soon all the babyfaces hit the Midnight Express members with spinning toe holds. Jim Cornette ran in only to get Mr. Socko stuffed in his face. A great spot. Get This, after Foley used Socko, he threw the sock into the crowd, causing TWO ADULT MEN TO FIGHT A FIVE YEAR OLD BOY for it. Both men were subsequently kicked out of the show. Unbelievable. The finish to match came when Bobby Eaton pinned Terry Funk.

**After the match, Cornette was beaten up by Mick Foley and had his pants ripped off. Cornette was then given a huge wedgie. Foley grabbed a microphone and said “The pimples…the dimples…the skid marks! What have we done?! Think of the children!” In a weird promo, Terry Funk said that they had a word for guys like Cornette in Texas, a shim (she/him). Terry also added that he had no respect for “him” (Cornette) whatsoever. Dory Funk put over his teammates and thanked “the greatest fans in the world.” During all of this, Heenan was getting huge chants from the crowd.

(10) Team 3-D (D-Von and B.R.D.) beat Rhino & Matt Hardy (w/Talia) in nineteen minutes. B.R.D. (formally known as Bubba Ray Dudley) told the crowd “it doesn’t matter what they call us, we know what you want to see!” The crowd chanted “tables!” Talia is one RED HOT PIECE OF ASS. Both Matt and Rhino played the heels in the match. At one point Rhino and B.R.D. had a vicious CHOP BATTLE in the center of the ring that was painful to watch. Talia interfered during the match and backed up into B.R.D. Team 3-D set Talia up for the “Whassssup” spot, but Rhino knock D-Von off the top rope. Rhino brought a table into the ring and set it up in the corner. Rhino threw B.R.D. into it, but D-Von cut B.R.D. off with a spear. That was nice. There was a ref bump, which led to Matt Hardy hitting D-Von with a Twist of Fate and a visual three count. Matt got up and was pounded by B.R.D. As Hardy laid on the mat, B.R.D. went to the top rope and yelled “Jeff was always better than you!” B.R.D. then missed his splash. Rhino was set to Gore B.R.D., but B.R.D. stepped aside, causing Matt Hardy to get GORED through the table. Matt then groggily walked into a 3-D for the pin. Great match.

TALIA!

I think I'm in love with Talia

***Bubba shot a promo after the match saying that Rhino will be a good TNA champ one day. Bubba added that Matt and Jeff Hardy were the best team the Dudley Boyz have ever fought and if they could only have one team “to dance with forever” it would be them. Bubba then addressed Talia and said she was just another piece of “T&A.” Bubba said that today was the first day that they were out of their WWE contract and the sky is the limit for them.

***Matt Hardy got the microphone and thanked the fans who were there, even the ones who booed him. Hardy said that today is his last indie shot, as he was going back to the WWE. This caused the crowd to jeer. “Boooo! Say it, I’ll boo myself” said Matt. The crowd then chanted “F--- Johnny Ace” to which Matt replied “I don’t dispute that.” Matt said that you can love him or hate him, but you gotta respect him for busting his ass every night.

***Rhino closed the event by making some double entendres about Gore-ing Talia in the middle of the ring. He showed more charisma in his short time with the microphone than in his entire WWE career.




Overall Thoughts: I had a lot of fun at this show and the last two matches alone made it a great night. It was cool to see all the legends live and in person and while some may not be able to “bring it” like they could during their prime, they still new how to come across as larger than life. I enjoyed the interaction with Bruno Sammartino and Larry Zybszko, which the whole weekend was built around, so the WrestleReunion2 boys succeeded in that department. Mick Foley, Terry Funk and Matt Hardy were the stars of the show for me, especially Hardy since he easily could have mailed this match in and gone back to his high paying WWE gig. In a funny note, Clear Channel, who was taping the event, was booed out of the building every time the company’s name was mentioned. In fact, during boring parts of matches, fans would yell “Clear Channel!” and then other fans would jeer. Totally surreal.

Special Thanks to Keith Lipinski and Mike Roe for their help with this review.

Torch Media Guy Derek Burgan has been writing for the PWTorch website for almost four years. If you have any questions, corrections, feedback, comments and ideas, he can be reached at: derek@gumgod.com

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