Running Wolf Lights Fuel Up, Becomes First 412PE Champion
Posted: Aug 4th 2009 By: CMBurnham
Running Wolf had a mission. That mission was to humiliate Fuel and become the first 412PE Champion. By the time the night of the first 412PE show was over, one goal was accomplished, but the other was far from being achieved.
The relationship between Wolf and Fuel dates back to the beginnings of the now-defunct Sooner Pro Wrestling federation, which began in Cherry Tree, OK, then moved to Siloam Springs, AR. In 1992, Fuel arrived from a federation called KAOS and began to make a name for himself. One of the first people he came into conflict with was Fuel. Over the course of SPW's history, Fuel and Running Wolf traded the SPW Title, with Fuel holding it 5 times and Running Wolf acquiring it 3. But even though they had a long and heated rivalry, they did manage to come together on occasions and form a successful tag team, as demonstrated by their reigns as SPW Tag Team and Native American Tag Team Champions.
Whatever relationship they may have had was over and done with when 412PE announced its first event. Both men were determined to walk away with the belt and the bragging rights to call themselves the first 412PE Champion. Fuel had the hometown advantage, the speed and the relationship with the fans while Running Wolf had an extreme experience edge (18 years in the business, compared to Fuel's 8.) That experience may have proven to be the deciding factor in the outcome of the match.
When the show began, Fuel came out to address the fans and go over some of his recent accomplishments, which included competing on cards with former WWE stars Val Venis, Rodney Mack, Jazz and the just recently-resigned Chris Masters. In a little over a month, he said he would be teaming with Ritchie Steamboat. He thanked the fans for their support and planned to put Tahlequah on the map. At this point, Running Wolf came out and told Fuel to shut up. He said no one cared about that. Fuel then continued to list the stars on the upcoming card, which included Greg Valentine, Marty Janetty and Jim Neidhart. Wolf said none of this impressed him and that being in the same locker room as Fuel has been the biggest let down of his career. At this point, it's all about the title for him. Fuel acknowledged Running Wolf's accomplishments, saying he'd been in the business for "4 000 years", but tonight was about bringing the 412PE title home. Fuel then went to salute the fans and Running Wolf chose this moment to enter the ring and attack Fuel from behind. He locked Fuel's head in a chair and stomped on it several times until Fuel's brother Anarchy 2nd and Big Smooth came to the rescue. As Running Wolf stood outside the ring, Smooth began to stalk him around. Wolf asked if he wanted some and when Smooth nodded in the affirmative, that was more than Wolf was prepared to handle, so he quickly ran to the back.
For the rest of the show, not a peep was heard from either competitor, as both focused on their match and chance for championship gold. When it came time for the event, Wolf came to the ring, complete with resplendent cowboy hat, while Fuel bounded in also, obviously completely recovered from the attack earlier. Fans and Fuel alike noticed that Wolf was obviously hiding something under his hat and after several attempts to block it from view, referee Juston Talley uncovered a huge set of brass knucks. He and Fuel took these to the back, which gave Wolf the chance to take a chain from out of his left kneepad and then hide it in the low ceiling on top of a loosened tile. With his secret weapon in place, Wolf simply waited for the opportune moment to use it.
The match saw Fuel use swift, hard hitting moves while Wolf applied a more mat-based strategy. But then, the unthinkable! A collision in the corner caused Fuel to get upset at the referee (whom the fans were already upset with, for some obviously botched calls earlier in the night) and, in an act of frustration, he superkicked the ref in the back of the head, knocking him out.) With both the referee and Running Wolf down, Fuel listened as the crowd pointed to the ceiling and informed him of the hidden chain. He climbed the turnbuckle and reached up into the ceiling, grabbing the hidden weapon, then descended and waited until Wolf got up, prepared to knock him out. But Fuel thought better of it and cast the weapon aside, wanting to win the belt on his own merit, not the cheap way that Wolf planned. This decision would ultimately backfire on Fuel as he grabbed the castaway chain, clobbered Fuel with it, then pinned him and pulled the trunks. The dazed referee recovered and, having missed this entire exchange, only saw a pinfall and counted to three. The wiley veteran smiled evily as he was then handed the belt and proclaimed champion.
After the match, Running Wolf began to run down the population, saying that Fuel was a loser just like all the other inhabitants of Tahlequah. In particular, he had an issue with Tahlequah native Pork Chop, who was in attendance that night. Pork Chop was more than willing to step into the ring and meet the new champion, but, as seems to be the modus operandi of the new champion, he backed down, citing the FACT that this was "not a hot dog eating contest" and that Pork Chop was not under contract to 412PE and thus was not eligible to get in the ring, despite the loud chants of "Let them fight!" from the crowd.
Although Pork Chop is not on the 412PE talent roster, his close friend and sometime tag team partner Big Smooth is. And Smooth will be receiving the first title shot against the new champion in Jay, OK on August 21st. Perhaps some retribution will be in order by Smooth on behalf of Pork Chop.
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