NWA 60th Anniversary Kickoff Show Results and Thoughts
When I walked through the curtain to head out the ring to check out the
lighting for the night I was in awe of the Phillips Arena and the
wrestlers who were going to be on the show.
I have always been a big NWA fan growing up and here I was about to photographed several of the wrestlers I grew up watch, cheering on and booing every weekend at 3:05 watching TBS to say that this felt like a dream was an under statement. As I've photographed several wrestling shows that were held in arenas over the past 5 years but this is the first time since my first arena show that I had to stop and just look around. It was just intimidating; I'm not sure if it was the sheer height of the building or who was on the show but I was just in shock.
The show opened up with a video of NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce thanking the fans of Atlanta for their support of the NWA in the past and the future. He went on to talk about the reason that he was not there and that he was "making history in Philadelphia", but more on that in a blog to come.
The
first match of the night was Mike DiBiase vs. Idol Stevens for the NWA
North American Championship. DiBiase, The son of the "Million Dollar
Man" came out to a huge pop from the crowd. This was only the
second time I had seen Dibiase and the first time for Stevens. It
was a good match for both of them and an enjoyable contest for the fans
with saw Dibiase retain the title. The way these two preformed showed
that they have a bright future ahead of them in wrestling.
I have always been a big NWA fan growing up and here I was about to photographed several of the wrestlers I grew up watch, cheering on and booing every weekend at 3:05 watching TBS to say that this felt like a dream was an under statement. As I've photographed several wrestling shows that were held in arenas over the past 5 years but this is the first time since my first arena show that I had to stop and just look around. It was just intimidating; I'm not sure if it was the sheer height of the building or who was on the show but I was just in shock.
The show opened up with a video of NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce thanking the fans of Atlanta for their support of the NWA in the past and the future. He went on to talk about the reason that he was not there and that he was "making history in Philadelphia", but more on that in a blog to come.
The
first match of the night was Mike DiBiase vs. Idol Stevens for the NWA
North American Championship. DiBiase, The son of the "Million Dollar
Man" came out to a huge pop from the crowd. This was only the
second time I had seen Dibiase and the first time for Stevens. It
was a good match for both of them and an enjoyable contest for the fans
with saw Dibiase retain the title. The way these two preformed showed
that they have a bright future ahead of them in wrestling.
I wasn't sure what to expect with the next match because I had never seen any of the three wrestlers perform. It was Iceberg vs. Phil Shatter vs. Mikal Judas in a three-way for the NWA Anarchy Heavyweight Title. Iceberg won the match with a splash out of nowhere.
The moment of the night that I was looking forward to the most was up next; The 2008 NWA Hall of Fame induction. NWA Official Ricky O came out to the podium to introduce the Master of Ceremonies for the nights event; James E. Cornette. Cornette came out where his red jacket caring the tennis racket I had seen him use so many times as a kid on TBS. He talked about the old Omni and what the NWA meant to him.
As a surprise guest Cornette introduce the first inductee to next years Hall of Fame "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. He praised the NWA and what it meant to him and that they were going through resurgence. This set the pace of the hall of fame inductees' speeches as it was a common theme for all of them.
The inductees in order were Nikita Koloff, Iron Sheik, Corsica Joe accepting for the Corsica Brothers, the Midnight Express, and "Wildfire Tommy Rich. During Rich's acceptances speech, Abdullah the Butcher made his ringside to interrupt Rich's speech and to challenge him. All I have to say Abdullah freaks me out, as much today as he did when I was a kid.
At the beginning of the match Abdullah took a beer bottle, smashed it on the corner post and proceeded to stab Tommy Rich in the head with it. This was a violent and brutal match that saw the uses of a broken beer bottle, a fork, and a cane/staff with a spike in it. They brawled all around ringside destroying anything or anybody in their way. Refs, ringside people and photographers were not safe. At one point my friend and fellow cameraman Jeremy Schott was grabbed and stuck between the Rich and Abdullah as they attacked each other. In the end the match was ruled a no contest and never actually made it into the ring. This battle between these two men has gone on for years and to be hones I think that they will meet again.
The next match was a wrestling star fest as it was Sean "X-Pac" Waltman and Blue Demon Jr. vs. Rob Conway and Carl Ouelette in a tag team match. This happened to be one of my favorite matches of the night as it was a fast pace full of action match. Everyone brought the their A game, and it showed by the crowd reaction as they ate up every moment of it. The finish of the match saw X-Pac hit Rob Conway with the X-factor face buster.
The NWA World Lightweight Championship match featuring Mike Quackenbush vs. Ricky Vega was up next. The crowd was a little bit quiet at first but the warmed up to the two due to the fast pace high fly action of this match. The crowd loved every moment of this match; the finish of the match saw Mike Quackenbush beat Ricky Vega with submission to retain the NWA World Lightweight Title.
Three of the top tag teams in the fought for the NWA Tag Team World Championship as champs Los Luchas faced off against two former world tag team champions in the Naturals and Real American Heroes in an elimination match. The fans seemed to love this match as it featured high flying, impact moves the just seemed to connect with the crowd. The Real American Heroes were eliminated first when Andy Douglas snuck in illegally and hit a Karl Anderson with his finishing move and pulled one of the Luchas over for the pin. But the Heroes had the last laugh when the goaded Andy Douglas to leave the ring which lead to both of the Luchas rolling up Chase Stevens for the pin.
The next match was plain and simply a massacre as Sid Vicious destroyed Davey Boy Bling and Juicy Justin Corino of the Playas Club with little effort. At the beginning of the match saw NWA official Ricky O come out running down Sid and talking about how he's tired of Sid's complaints about not having enough competition so he brought the Playas Club to take care of Sid. Sid though had other plans, as he used a plethora of high impact moves and constant assault that the Playas Club did not stand a chance. Even as EMT loaded Davey Boy Bling on a stretcher Sid decided that he had not had enough and attack Bling on the stretcher. No matter what anybody thinks, the Sid of old is back and is creating a path of destruction in his wake.
I had some mixed feelings aboutthe main event match as it was a flash back in many ways to the wrestling that I grew up watching as the Rock n' Roll Express - Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson defeated the Midnight Express - "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey and "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton with James E. Cornette. These two teams have battled all over the country for over 20 years, matches featured on television several times. They battled for NWA Tag Team Championship, they battled for pride, and they battled for respect, for most of all they battled to see who was the best. The match was a traditional old school match, which saw almost everything that made these teams matches fun to watch, the crowd interactive, the constant cheating by the Midnight express and even James E. Cornette using the tennis racket. Just like seeing the new Indiana Jones movie where after you watch for a few minutes you forget where you are and what year it is and just enjoys a classic that harks back to your childhood.
MORE PHOTOS FROM NWA 60th Anniversary Show
The moment of the night that I was looking forward to the most was up next; The 2008 NWA Hall of Fame induction. NWA Official Ricky O came out to the podium to introduce the Master of Ceremonies for the nights event; James E. Cornette. Cornette came out where his red jacket caring the tennis racket I had seen him use so many times as a kid on TBS. He talked about the old Omni and what the NWA meant to him.
As a surprise guest Cornette introduce the first inductee to next years Hall of Fame "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. He praised the NWA and what it meant to him and that they were going through resurgence. This set the pace of the hall of fame inductees' speeches as it was a common theme for all of them.
The inductees in order were Nikita Koloff, Iron Sheik, Corsica Joe accepting for the Corsica Brothers, the Midnight Express, and "Wildfire Tommy Rich. During Rich's acceptances speech, Abdullah the Butcher made his ringside to interrupt Rich's speech and to challenge him. All I have to say Abdullah freaks me out, as much today as he did when I was a kid. At the beginning of the match Abdullah took a beer bottle, smashed it on the corner post and proceeded to stab Tommy Rich in the head with it. This was a violent and brutal match that saw the uses of a broken beer bottle, a fork, and a cane/staff with a spike in it. They brawled all around ringside destroying anything or anybody in their way. Refs, ringside people and photographers were not safe. At one point my friend and fellow cameraman Jeremy Schott was grabbed and stuck between the Rich and Abdullah as they attacked each other. In the end the match was ruled a no contest and never actually made it into the ring. This battle between these two men has gone on for years and to be hones I think that they will meet again.
The next match was a wrestling star fest as it was Sean "X-Pac" Waltman and Blue Demon Jr. vs. Rob Conway and Carl Ouelette in a tag team match. This happened to be one of my favorite matches of the night as it was a fast pace full of action match. Everyone brought the their A game, and it showed by the crowd reaction as they ate up every moment of it. The finish of the match saw X-Pac hit Rob Conway with the X-factor face buster.
The NWA World Lightweight Championship match featuring Mike Quackenbush vs. Ricky Vega was up next. The crowd was a little bit quiet at first but the warmed up to the two due to the fast pace high fly action of this match. The crowd loved every moment of this match; the finish of the match saw Mike Quackenbush beat Ricky Vega with submission to retain the NWA World Lightweight Title.Three of the top tag teams in the fought for the NWA Tag Team World Championship as champs Los Luchas faced off against two former world tag team champions in the Naturals and Real American Heroes in an elimination match. The fans seemed to love this match as it featured high flying, impact moves the just seemed to connect with the crowd. The Real American Heroes were eliminated first when Andy Douglas snuck in illegally and hit a Karl Anderson with his finishing move and pulled one of the Luchas over for the pin. But the Heroes had the last laugh when the goaded Andy Douglas to leave the ring which lead to both of the Luchas rolling up Chase Stevens for the pin.
The next match was plain and simply a massacre as Sid Vicious destroyed Davey Boy Bling and Juicy Justin Corino of the Playas Club with little effort. At the beginning of the match saw NWA official Ricky O come out running down Sid and talking about how he's tired of Sid's complaints about not having enough competition so he brought the Playas Club to take care of Sid. Sid though had other plans, as he used a plethora of high impact moves and constant assault that the Playas Club did not stand a chance. Even as EMT loaded Davey Boy Bling on a stretcher Sid decided that he had not had enough and attack Bling on the stretcher. No matter what anybody thinks, the Sid of old is back and is creating a path of destruction in his wake.I had some mixed feelings aboutthe main event match as it was a flash back in many ways to the wrestling that I grew up watching as the Rock n' Roll Express - Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson defeated the Midnight Express - "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey and "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton with James E. Cornette. These two teams have battled all over the country for over 20 years, matches featured on television several times. They battled for NWA Tag Team Championship, they battled for pride, and they battled for respect, for most of all they battled to see who was the best. The match was a traditional old school match, which saw almost everything that made these teams matches fun to watch, the crowd interactive, the constant cheating by the Midnight express and even James E. Cornette using the tennis racket. Just like seeing the new Indiana Jones movie where after you watch for a few minutes you forget where you are and what year it is and just enjoys a classic that harks back to your childhood.
MORE PHOTOS FROM NWA 60th Anniversary Show
About Slam Jam
Shane Michael Kidder, creator of a Web site of his photos that receives nearly 2 million hits a month from around the world, has learned many lessons in his time photographing wrestling, the most important one being “watch where the wrestlers are going.” This comes after almost being knocked out by a wrestler diving out of the ring at his first show in 2003 at a Golden State Championship Wrestling event in Newhall, Calif. Born in Northridge and still living in the San Fernando Valley, he spends most of his time working on his Web site in preparation for the next wrestling event.
Leave a comment