• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Thirst For Gold Quenched After Major SWCW Event

Posted: Oct 6th 2011 By: CMBurnham

It was promoted as one of the most chaotic matches in the history of SWCW. An 8-man Ladder Match. All 4 SWCW Titles on the line. The belts locked in briefcases where no one could be sure which one held which title. The only thing for sure was that no one knew for sure who was going to walk out as a champion.

SWCW's "Thirst For Gold" delivered on its promise to shake up the status quo in the company. And even before the 8-man main event, some titles got shifted around. Team S. T. K. were stripped of the SWCW Tag Team Titles as Brandon Moxley did not show up to the event, leaving his partner, ComPro Oklahoma X Division Champion Se7en, on his own to defend the belts. Commissioner L. J. McDaniels allowed Se7en to have a slot in the match none-the-less.

Also, Bobby Star def. BYEW Entertainment Champion Drake Gallows for the SWCW All-American Title in a showcase match. Both men spent much of the match brawling along the outside of the ring. At one point, Gallows dropped Star crotch first onto the railing going up the rampway, then delivered an Enzifguri to his head. This put Star down for a while, but not enough to be rolled back into the ring and pinned. With BYEW Champion Sam Stackhouse on the outside, Star had plenty of backup in case he got in trouble. And that trouble came when both men climbed to the top rope and Gallows was able to connect with a Side-Effect from the top. It was only good enough for a 2-count, though, as Stackhouse yanked referee Jay Hollywood out of the ring and crushed him against the ringpost, rendering him unconscious. At that point, the absent members of the Clockwork Clique, Crossfire Morrison & BYEW Caution Champion Chris Chaos, hit the ring and a 4-on-1 attack occurred. After hitting finishers from 4 of the corners, Star went for a pin, but the revived ref still only got to 2. Star then set Gallows up for a flip-piledriver and that was the final straw as Gallows was pinned in the ring. Star put the All-American Title under Clique Control, even though the belt itself was strapped above the ring.

Other titles were on the line as well. John E. Stone defended the SWCW Title against Austin Tacious in a match which saw Kevin James Sanchez interfere. Unbeknownst to Stone, Sanchez superkicked Tacious, setting him up for the Tomikaze from Stone for the win. Also, Karreem Sadat successfully defended the SWCW Hardcore Title against Rick Garrett in a Staple Gun Match. Sadat looked like a pin cushion with so many holes in him (and bleeding out of all of them). But a quick school boy allowed Sadat to keep the Hardcore belt.

All those preliminary title defences became distant issues when time for the main event came. Bobby Star & Crossfire Morrison both represented the Clockwork Clique in the match, but Sam Stackhouse & Chris Chaos remained on the outside. Kevin James Sanchez, Se7en, Rick Russo, John E. Stone, Maniac Mike, Drake Gallows & Kareem Sadat all made their entrances as well. As soon as the bell rang, chaose ensued and the action became too much to be properly covered. On the outside, Gallows, ribs still tender from the injury in his previous match, set the Clique up on the floor in a corner, sitting bobsled-style, then hit Star in the face with a baseball dropkick into a chair (ala Rob Van Dam). He then put a ladder in Star's crotch and slammed the chair into it, causing a chain reaction of pain. Inside the ring, Kevin James Sanchez and Kareem Sadat battled up to the top of one corner. As they both struggled to grab the briefcase, the newly returned Al Farat ran down and shoved Sanchez off, allowing Sadat to be the first to grab a briefcase and exit the match.

Bobby Star & Drake Gallows still weren't done with each other as Gallows set two ladders up in a corner, forming a scaffold of sorts. He then lay Star's dazed body across it and did a coast-to-coast leg drop, driving Star through the ladder. With both men down, Se7en climbed the same side and grabbed the title belt, safely leaving the match.

Kevin James Sanchez found an open spot and went up to get briefcase #3, although this proved tough as the rope it was on seemed to snag and not release no matter how hard Sanchez pulled on it. It took the better part of 10 minutes for Sanchez to release the briefcase (and fight off the advances of John E. Stone), but finally he got it down and left the ring. At this point, the most controversial moment of the match occurred as both Drake Gallows & Bobby Star grabbed briefcase #4 and simultaneously came off the top turnbuckle, landing with both men clutching it. Commissioner L. J McDaniels jumped in the ring and wrested it away from both men, taking it outside and standing there with the other briefcase holders while the two combatants made their exit. One last title belt hung up top. And Maniac Mike and Rick Russo fought over it. At first it appeared that Russo would get it as Mike yanked on it and it didn't come down, but a quick reascenscion allowed Mike to grab the belt and take home the victory.

This brought the moment of revelation. And there were plenty of surprises, starting right out of the gate. L. J. McDaniels said that he was tired of Bobby Star and Drake Gallows arguing over the briefcase and arguing in the locker room. So after opening the briefcase and revealing the SWCW All-American Title, he said he was making them Co-Champions. This is the first documented occurrance in Oklahoma wrestling history where a title has co-champions, who much both defend the belt or lose it.

Kevin James Sanchez was next to open his briefcase and he found himself back in familiar territory with 1/2 of the SWCW Tag Team Championship. As someone who just the week before had not even been employed by SWCW, this was a great break for Sanchez.

Se7en revealed the SWCW Hardcore title, a title he had never held before. Se7en certainly has hardcore roots in his background and will be able to get back in touch with his old ways now that there are few rules in his matches.

This left Maniac Mike and Kareem Sadat holding the remaining two belts. They were tag team partners, but one was going to have to team with Kevin James Sanchez and neither considered him a friend. Milton Winkelman had Mike open his title belt first and he revealed the Heavyweight Title, a first in his career. This left Sadat & Sanchez as partners. For a brief moment it appeared that all 3 men would collectively be working together, but then Sadat turned on Sanchez and Farat came down to join in the attack. L .J. McDaniels ran to the back to get Les Mayne, who had also made his return to SWCW in a losing effort against Al Farat earlier that night and the pair drove out the evil threesome.

With all new champions comes all new possibilities. It seems that John E. Stone should deserve a title rematch and he was the only champion to not walk out with a title belt of some kind. The power structure certainly changed on Saturday night. Although the match was brutal, it's likely that some of the champions will look back and say THAT was the easy part. Defending them sucessfully will be hard part.