Autumn Armageddon 1990-09-15 at Penn Hall in Philadelphia, Pa
Champion: Vacant
At the last show Rockin’ Rebel won a battle royal to become the first ever TWA Champion. However, the title was held up immediately following the match. Joel Goodhart comes out and hypes up the crowd. Some small child comes out to sing “God Bless America”.
Cactus Jack vs. “Hotstuff” Eddie Gilbert, ref John Finnegan
Cactus gets the mic and says there is no one he would rather beat up than Gilbert. Cactus works the knee of Gilbert to start. Cactus all over Gilbert for the first 5 minutes of the match. Cactus has Eddie in a leg lock and Gilbert goes into his tights and wraps a chain around his fist and nails Cactus with it. Cactus just no sells it and locks in a figure four. Cactus hits his clothesline that sends them both to the floor. Cactus charges but Gilbert ducks and Jack goes flying over the guardrail and into the crowd. Back in the ring Gilbert with a belly to back and then a bulldog. They do a shoulder block spot twice in a row…That was odd. Cactus reverses a suplex hits two clotheslines then charges for a third one. Gilbert though catches him with a hot shot and gets the win in 12.23. Gilbert attacks after the match but Jack fights him off and they brawl to the back.
“Exotic” Adrian Street (w/ Miss Linda) vs. “Boogie Woogie Man” Jimmy Valiant, ref John Finnegan
Street fucks with the ref before the match. Such a great gimmick. Valiant with a go behind so Street just rubs his butt on Valiant’s junk to get him to release the hold. Street brings it to the ground and works the arm. Valiant goes low right in front of the ref who says nothing. Valiant locks in a sleeper and Street flails his arms and nails the ref. Miss Linda hits Valiant with her purse and Street hits a splash for the win in 5.35.
Bulldog Brower comes out and says like two sentences. Cha-Ching.
DC Drake (w/ Woman & Don E Allen) vs. Rockin Rebel (w/ Baby Doll), ref John Finnegan
Rebel hits the ring and goes after Drake before the introductions. This is for the vacant TWA Title. They go to the floor and into the crowd. Rebel beats on Drake back in the ring and Drake bails to the floor. Rebel goes out after him and hits a bulldog on the floor. They brawl back and forth. Rebel hits an awful looking elbow drop of the top that reminds me of the elbow drop from Super WrestleMania on SNES. They brawl back and forth Rebel hits lots of shitty looking strikes. Rebel with a clothesline and he goes for the cover but Baby Doll takes Drakes foot and puts it on the ropes! Rebel wants to know whats going on and she throws powder in his eyes. Drake nails him with something from his tights and gets the three count in 12.37. Rebel gets up IMMEDIATELY and goes after Drake so Drake just leaves the ring to celebrate.
Chris Adams & Kevin Von Erich vs. Austin Idol & Al Perez, ref Scott Dickinson
Oh joy ten minutes of guys just standing around the ring looking at each other. Idol and Adams start and actually lock up right away! Adams punches away and Idol bails to the floor. Kevin tags in and he goes to work on the arm of Idol. Idol breaks free and tags. Adams and Von Erich work over Perez and tag back and forth a few times. Idol sneaks in and hits a low blow on Adams. They brawl on the floor a bit and the Perez takes over on Adams in the ring hitting a suplex and putting on a chin lock. Idol keeps getting the mic and talking shit. Adams finally able to make the tag and all four man end up brawling in the ring and to the floor. We get a double count out in 12.50.
Mr. Sandman (w/ Miss Peaches) vs. JT Smith Special, ref Ron Shaw
As far as I know Shaw was always a jobber so not sure why he’s here. Sandman whips Smith into the ropes and jumps for a drop kick Smith also jumps into the air and bounces off Sandman’s feet pretty hard. It looked cool. Sandman throws Smith to the floor and slams him on the cement. Sandman beats on Smith on the floor for a while. Back in the ring Smith rights back. Smith with a suplex but Sandman gets a foot on the rope. Gut wrench by Smith for 2. Sandman pokes the eyes and throws Smith to the floor. Smith sends Sandman into the guard rail. Back in Smith with a drop kick for 2. Slingshot belly to back but Sandman again gets his feet on the rope. Norhtern lights and Shaw counts three but then sees Sandman’s foot on the rope again. Peaches distracts Shaw and Sandman throws Smith into him. Shaw hits a clothesline on Smith now and tells Sandman to cover him for the 3 in 7.29. Shaw and Sandman beat on Smith a bit until John Finnegan comes down and threatens Shaw with a year suspension if he doesn’t get out of the ring.
Hair Match: Johnny Hotbody vs. Tony “Hitman” Stetson, ref Scott Dickinson
These two go at it AGAIN. TWA or ECW I can’t get away from these guys! Bell rings and Hotbody goes to floor grabs the mic and talks shit. Stetson goes out and Hotbody runs down the aisle. Stetson tells Hotbody he’s a piece of shit and should come back to the ring. The ref now tells the ring announcer that if Hotbody doesn’t get in the ring he will forfeit the match. Five minutes in and they finally lock up. Hotbody breaks away and flexes as I begin to fall asleep. They go to the floor and do some slow and shitty brawling. Hotbody busted open. They brawl and brawl and brawl. Hotbody starts working over the leg. He goes for a figure four but gets small packaged and pinned in 16.29. CN Redd comes down to argue with the ref over the finish not completely sure why he givers a shit. Hotbody attacks Stetson with a chair and DDTs him on it. Redd and Hotbody embraces. Redd holds Stetson as Hotbody shaves his hair. This goes on for almost as long as the match and is just as boring. A bunch of guys come from the back to make the save including a SUPER young looking Chris Candido. UGH this just means there will be more matches between these two. Stetson challenges Hotbody to a Barbed Wire Match.
Abdullah the Butcher (w/ ???) vs. Manny Fernandez, ref Joe Zanolle
Abby’s manager as some type of championship. Cactus Jack attacks Abby at ringside. They brawl for a few minutes and Manny eventually hits the ring and we get a bell. We get a double count out in like 4 and half minutes but they continue to brawl to the back for like 5 more minutes. This is totally ridiculous as most of the fans can’t see what’s happening and just begin to get bored.
Terry Funk (w/ Bulldog Brower) vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler, ref John Finnegan
They punch and then go to the floor and fight a bit. Funk gets slammed on a table outside the ring. Back in the ring Funk takes over. Funk now slams Lawler into a table. Lawler goes face first into the ring post. Lawler fights back and now posts Funk. They fight in and out of the ring. Pile driver by Funk but Lawler kicks out at 2. Suplex and neck breaker each get a 2 count. Funk gets pissed and nails the ref with one and then kicks him out of the ring. Funk gets his branding iron and nails Lawler with it. Eddie Gilbert hits the ring and Funk bails to the floor and hits the ref with a piledriver on the floor. Funk covers Lawler and Gilbert counts 2 then stomps Lawler with Funk. That was weird cause it seemed like he was out to help Lawler but didn’t “turn” on him. They hit a double suplex and then Gilbert makes a fast 3 count. Lawler gets up and goes after Gilbert but Funk attacks again with the branding iron. We finally get a bell at 15.56 that I would assumed signals that Funk has been DQed. Austin Idol comes to the ring with a stick and attacks Gilbert and Funk the four men brawl to the back. Idol and Lawler go back to the ring and stand there for like 20 minutes just dicking around. Funk gets on the mic and talks shit to Lawler and Idol. Lawler then gets on the mic and calls Funk and Gilbert to the ring so they can fight two on two. Gilbert wants to go back but Funk stops him. Some fan jumps the rail and gets to ringside but then just stands there not sure what he should do before security grabs him. Idol gets the fans to chant “coward” at Funk and Gilbert. Seriously there was so much nothingness going on at the end.
Funk, Gilbert and Brower are in the locker room and Funk wants a doctor as he was busted open during the brawl.
Reverse Steel Cage Battle Royal Match
So everyone starts on the floor at ringside and the first one into the cage in the winner. This is basically the worst concept for a match ever. Participants include; Michael “Hitman” Bruno, Chris Candido, Cheetah Kid, Ghetto Blaster, Pappy , Johnny Hotbody, Jimmy Jannetty, Nighthawk, Glen Osbourne, John Osbourne, Rockin’ Rebel, CN Redd, Mr. Sandman, Ron Shaw, JT Smith, Tony “Hitman” Stetson, Tahitian Savage, Triton, Top Gun, Crybaby Waldo, and Larry Winters. Giant brawl of course. Smith and Shaw go at right away as to Stetson and Hotbody. Winters and Candido both almost climb in early on. Rebel and Winters are both over and climbing down to the ring. Rebel jumps down and just beats Winters to the mat for the win in 6.28.
Winters attacks Rebel from behind!!! Winters bloodies Rebel. Cheetah Kid comes flying off the cage with a somersault body attack on Winters. more guys now get into the ring and the fight continues in the cage. After a bit everyone empties the ring again except Winters and Rebel. Winters nails a pile driver but then Rebel makes a comeback and sends Winters into the cage. Winters escapes out the door. Both man get mice and have words for each other. The other wrestlers have continued to fight all over the arena and back to the dressing room.
My thoughts on the show…
Well another poor TWA show. The tag match was much more action packed then I thought it would be. Funk Lawler was ok but the ending just dragged forever. I was expecting to fully hate the main event but it was actually pretty decent with an ending that really surprised me. Knowing Winters from early ECW he was always a good guy so I never expected him to turn on Rebel.
