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Nasty Villains Capture, Lose Gold At Same Event

Posted: Jul 15th 2021 By: Michael Hunt

Two titles changed hands twice this past Sunday at the ASP event as a tag team reformed but with a very different agenda.

Tim Rockwell & Mr. Nasty had formed the Soul Ryders in 2015, named in part for Ryder Herring, the inspiration behind the creation of WFC. They held the WFC Tag Team Titles for about 3 months, defeating A. C. Slaughter for the belts and then losing them to Simply the Future.

Since then, Rockwell and Nasty have gone their separate ways. But Rockwell always remembered the success they had. And he knew that Nasty had a dark side. Rockwell certainly has a dark side, being the Natural Born Villain. And at least for a brief time Rockwell was able to convince Nasty to show that side again as they entered ASP, this time not as the Soul Ryders, but as the Nasty Villains.

Rockwell had been a presence on the ASP roster earlier this year, but Nasty had never ventured to the company before. But both men arrived at a fortuitous time as they were able to sign contracts for title opportunities almost immediately.

Rockwell & Nasty arrived at the ring for Rockwell’s match against ASP Mid-American Champion Luke Savage. Savage had upset Garcia for the belt and had been involved in a feud with Double D, but with D not appearing on the card, Savage still showed that heart of a fighting champion that he has displayed since wining that belt. But heart can only carry people so far and the treachery and cunning nature of Tim Rockwell would play in to his victory. Savage certainly held his own for a while, but the presence of Mr. Nasty came into play at the end when, as Rockwell distracted the referee, Mr. Nasty hit Savage with the Pimp Slap, which allowed Rockwell to capitalize with the Grapevine DDT and capture his first title in ASP.

That put gold around the waist of Rockwell, but Mr. Nasty didn’t want to be left out as he challenged ASP 5-Star Champion Johnny Kove. Rockwell returned the favour Nasty had given by being a presence on the outside. But this was a tougher competition as Kove had more experience than Savage. As a former ASP Champion and a man who had held his own against men like Angel Camacho and Brawler Morrison, Kove knew how to counter the size and unique style of Nasty. At one point, Nasty had Kove on the defense and shot him off the ropes of a backdrop, but Kove tried to execute a sunset flip. Nasty held on, but overconfidence overcame him and as he tried to sit down on Kove, Kove slid under and Nasty crashed on his posterior. This brought Rockwell up on the ring apron, but Kove disposed of him with a Crane kick. But that instant of distraction was all that Nasty needed as he caught Kove turning around and executed a pump-handle flipping Flapjack, knocking Kove out and allowing Nasty to win gold on his first appearance in ASP.

It truly looked like the championship scene had severely shifted, but ASP CFO Red Rojas was not happy with what he saw and intercepted Rockwell and Nasty as they went to up the entrance ramp. He explained that he knew they thought he wasn’t watching, but he was and he clearly saw the cheating that was going on. With that said, he ordered a tag team match pitting the Nasty Villains against Savage and Kove and BOTH the Mid-American and 5-Star Titles would be on the line in this match. On the surface, it seemed like this would favour the Villains, as they had tag team success together, even though it was quite a while in the past. Kove was a former ASP Tag Team Champion, but had never tagged with Savage before. And that experience was demonstrated early as the Villains controlled quite a bit of the match. But in the end, it was a pair of well-timed Crane kicks that knocked out BOTH men and allowed a double pinfall to occur, putting both titles back in the hands of the men who held them at the beginning of the even.

This series of events shows just how much champions need to be prepared for title defenses. They were lucky this time that the Nasty Villains had not been careful in how they evaded the rules. But it’s unlikely that this is the last time those men would be in ASP. And as a tag team, their skills will be hard to overcome, no matter who their opposition is.