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Gunshow Puts Down 9 Month Reign In BYEW

Posted: Mar 25th 2012 By: CMBurnham

The competition for the BYEW Championship has involved a wide range of people since last June. Competitors such as Prophet, SWCW Tag Team Champion Rick Russo & ComPro Oklahoma X Division Champion Se7en have all made their intentions clear about wanting to add that title to their resume. But after defeating Shane Morbid for the championship, Sam Stackhouse fended off all challenges to his position atop the BYEW mountain.

Until last Sunday.

The fall of Stackhouse wasn't as clearcut as many expected it to be. It appeared the whole time that Prophet was playing mind games, trying to lure Sam in and catch him unawares. Prophet apparently eliminated Se7en from being able to compete in a Triple Threat Match on February 19 with Rick Russo and this was revealed when Se7en's music played, but Prophet came out simply to stand at the top of the entranceway and stare at the other two competitors. Stackhouse took advantage of this distraction to capitalise with a Black Hole Slam and retain his title. But "The Gunshow" did some damage to Stackhouse's shoulder and hoped to make the most of another title opportunity soon after.

He wouldn't get that title shot in March, though, as it was announced at the end of the BYEW February event that Stackhouse would defend his title in a 1-on-1 match against Prophet in March. Somehow, Russo got appointed as the special referee. And it appeared at first that he was prepared to take his job seriously. Almost too seriously. No one could accuse him of favouritism as he counted equally slowly when either man made pin attempts. And there were situations where he was "unable" to count pinfalls due to wardrobe issues or other such things. Things became increasingly physical between the two Super Heavyweights as the action went to the outside and Stackhouse received a laceration courtesy of having his head run into the cornerpost by the challenger. But even that didn't get Prophet a pinfall as, again, slow counts seemed to be the phrase of the day. This finally upset Prophet so much that his frustration overwhelmed him and he shoved Russo. Stackhouse then lit into Prophet and an amazing event was seen as both men tried to execute flying crossbody presses on each other, resulting a HUGE collission in the middle of the ring and both men down on the mat.

Russo checked on the champion first, helping him to his feet, then, out of nowhere, hitting him with a Uranage suplex. Prophet, who saw none of this, moved in for a pin and Russo started to count, then stopped at two and went absolutely ballistic, pulling brass knucks out of his pocket and bludgeoning Prophet with them. And as fate would have it, Prophet fell unconscious on top of Stackhouse, resulting in a pin. Russo didn't want to count it and tried desperately to pull Prophet off, but he was unable to move the 350-lb challenger. With great resignation, he counted three and a new champion was crowned.

But Russo wasn't done, as he took his frustration out on both men before leaving. And after Prophet had the belt handed to him, he cautiously moved across the ring and shook hands with the former champion, signifying respect and making it clear that he intended to be just as much of a stand-up champion as Stackhouse had been.

Prophet now faces an enraged Russo sometime soon. Plus he should be more than willing to grant a return match to Stackhouse. And who knows what other challengers are out there? Whoever they are, they'd best be aware that Rick Russo will sink to whatever depths are necessary to bring that belt to him and reign atop the BYEW mountain before the end of the year.