Legion 13 Fight Fire With Fire On Champions' Illegal Tactics
Former tag team champions Legion 13 have made a resurgence over the past couple of months, once again being serious contenders for the ComPro Tag Team Titles. Standing in their way as champions are a pairing that was unlikely to succeed to begin with, the somewhat makeshift combination of Michael York and TAP Champion Reckless. Since the beginning of the year, Dutch Hagen and Jesus Rodriguez have set their eyes on regaining the belts, this time without the assistance (or interference) of former manager Ray Martinez.
Legion 13 began the year with a tag team title shot in a Triple Threat match against champions York & Reckless as well as former champions Dawn of Extreme. Rodriguez & Hagen dominated the match and polished off both members of DOX, but were then thrown from the ring allowing Reckless to score the pin and retain the titles. The next week they gained some revenge in a 6-man tag team match, pairing with ComPro Champion Shane Morbid, while the tag team champions teamed with Richie Adams.
January 16 saw Legion 13 gain another tag team title shot, this time in a standard match. Again, it seemed like L13 were on the way to taking the titles away, especially since York & Reckless didn’t have the assistance of their manager, Boss Campbell, in their corner. But in his place, ComPro Showtime Champion Ignition accompanied the champions to the ring and proved to make the difference in the title defence. He grabbed a stray crutch from under the ring and slid it to his brother. Reckless then dropped Jesus on it throat first, while the referee was distracted by York. Again, an underhanded tactic brought success to the champions and they walked away with the belts, but not before they delivered a strong post-match beat down on the challengers.
This past Saturday saw Hagen and Rodriguez competing in singles matches, but even though they were booked individually, they still made a tag team presence known. Dutch opened the show with a Showtime Title match against Ignition. The dominance Dutch demonstrated in tag team showings carried over into the singles ranks, but again, the numbers issues bore out against the challenger. Dutch had Ignition up for the Dutch Oven finisher when Reckless jumped into the ring. Jesus came in to cut him off and this drew referee Mark Wilson over to deal with them. Taking advantage of this distraction, Ignition grabbed the title belt and hit Dutch in the head with it, then quickly threw the belt out of the ring where Boss picked it up. Ignition stole the win, but karma would come around on Campbell’s group later.
Two matches later saw a singles meeting between Jesus and Reckless. In an interesting turn of events, history almost repeated itself, just on the opposite side. This time, Dutch entered the ring as Reckless had Jesus in the Cattle Mutilation. Ignition jumped to his brother’s defence and both men then fought to the outside. This distraction of the referee allowed Jesus to grab the tag team title belts (both of which had been worn by Reckless, due to York’s absence at the show) and box the champion’s ears with them, then got the win.
At every turn, it seems like Legion 13 has met and beaten the tag team champions until someone sneaks something in to gain an unfair advantage and get a pin. That won’t be a factor at Night of Champions this Saturday as the challengers have been granted the stipulation of a Submission Match for the tag team championship. With a decision only being rendered when one member of the team submits, it seems like the possibility of a fluke victory is negated. And if that’s the case, then Legion 13’s chances at once again holding the belts might never be higher.