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Chaos, Panic & Disorder! The Lethal Lotto Tag Team Tournament Comes To An End!

Posted: Apr 3rd 2008 By: CMBurnham

On January 20, 2008, Halo announced his idea for the Lethal Lotto Tag Team Tournament, a series of tag team matches, culminating with the winning tag team facing each other in a match to determine the #1 contender to the MSWA Mid-South Title.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

But after a series of substutions, injuries, no-shows and other issues, the Lethal Lotto Tournament came to its convoluted conclusion this past Sunday and perhaps to noone's real surprise, nothing is any different. Despite a series of exciting tag team matches and the infusion of some new talent into the company, there still isn't any clear-cut understanding of who the top contenders to Al Farat's belt is.

We saw a tag team of Jason Kirby and Se7en forced to be together after weeks of Se7en humiliating Kirby in the ring. Then, commissioner Halo allowed them to seperate, pick different partners and whichever man's team won would get the partner of their choosing. Come March 31, Kirby announced that, despite not getting along with him, he still wanted Se7en as his partner. But Se7en wasn't there. He would have settled for his temporary partner, SWCW Tag Team Champion Damien Morte. But Morte was nowhere to be found either. So Kirby entered into his quarterfinal match against MSWA Mid-South Tag Team Champion Tyson Jaymes & Shane Rawls (himself substituting for Tyson's orginal partner Seth Allen) in a handicap situation. Thankfully for the young rookie, IZW Tag Team Champion Striker came to his rescue and served as a substitute partner for this match. That makes 3 partners Kirby has had in 3 weeks in this tournament, which has to be some sort of record. But it didn't help against the more experienced duo of Tyson & Shane, nor did the interference of Dane Griffin & UWF06 Texhoma Champion Les Mayne, who had been upended by Eric Rose & UWF06 Champion Joe Herell in the 1st match of the evening. Les distracted the ref while Dane superkicked Striker. Exactly what their motivation was for interfering is anyone's guess at this moment.

It seemed like the New Varsity Club of Kevin Morgan & GPCW Cruiserweight Champion Xavior would have the obvious advantage in this match, as they were already a tag team before being fortunate enough to be drawn as partners for this tournament. And they continued their winning ways upending the popular duo of Montego Seeka & Li'l Joe.

So it came down to those 3 teams who would be pitted against each other in a 3-Way Elimination Match. Herell, who had suffered a knee injury in his tag team match earlier that day, was of little help during his match, but fortunately the majority of the early moments in the match were controlled by the teams of the New Varsity Club & the Jaymes/Rawls duo, who had plenty of trouble getting along. After a lengthy confrontation, Xavior pinned Tyson while Shane refused to assist. The bad blood continued after the match as Tyson & Rawls stormed up the aisle arguing with each other until Rawls knocked Tyson on the ground, then marched into the dressing room. When Tyson sat up, he had the same slightly-crazed look on his face that he showed while standing over MSWA Mid-South Tag Team Champion 3rd Rail several weeks ago. He picked up his tag team title belt and headed to the ring, looking as if he was going to hit someone with it, but then held the belt aloft, claiming that noone was going to take that from him, as message perhaps directed to the new Varsity Club and their manager Shawn Matthews III.

The match then resumed as Morgan & Xavior focused on Herell's weakened knee and victory seemed just a few seconds away at an moment. But then, in a complete surprise, the New Age Syndicate came out, kendo sticks in hand. While Scott Sanders distracted the referee, Shawn Sanders hit Xavior, who was on the top rope, then took out Kevin Morgan with kendo stick shots to the abdomen and head. 3 seconds later, the pinfall was made and Rose & Herell were the victors.

Which meant that the main event would feature these 2 going at it against each other to earn a title shot in their 3rd match that day. The fatigue was more apparent on Herell as his knee continued to be a problem, but Rose also showed signs of wearing down. The match was highly scientific and as quick paced as possible from the two. But in the end, Rose gave Herell a belly-to-back suplex and didn't quite get the bridge on it, so his shoulders weren't up. Herell was able to raise his shoulders at the last count and was awarded the match. Rose was obviously upset and surprised the MSWA fans by refusing to shake Herell's hand after the match.

But even though the MSWA fans had been treated to over 2 hours of wrestling action, there was still 1 more match to come, as out came Mid-South champion Al Farat. He announced that, since Herell had earned a title shot, he had to take that shot now or lose it. Herell, not wanting to forfeit the opportunity that he had fought so hard to earn, agreed, even though his body was wracked with exhaustion and his knee needed to be tended to by a doctor. Farat wasted no time in focusing on that knee, as well as using his typical array of foreign objects to assault his opponent. And even though the crowd was hoping that Herell could bring the Mid-South Title back home to America, Farat, who is the longest reigning champion currently in Oklahoma, maintained that distinction by wrapping Herell up in a figure-four leglock (which he dedicated to Ric Flair) and forced the "Ky-ote" to tap out.

Farat was still in a manic state after the match and continued his attack on Herell and Bill Decker, who had performed the referee's duties. Eric Rose ran to the ring, but then backed away, refusing to assist his former tag team partner who was being beaten up. Finally, Striker appeared and chased the Crown Prince of Crimson away, standing guard over the fallen Hardcore Warrior.

And as stated at the beginning, nothing is clear regarding the #1 contendership. People such as Seth Allen and 3rd Rail still want a shot. Joe Herell might deserve another shot, but will probably want to settle his issue with Eric Rose first. Perhaps Halo has another idea in his sleeve to resolve this problem. If so, he certainly has his hands full at the coming show as Farat has promised to burn the American flag in the middle of the ring in celebration of his victory.

Tags: Halo, MSWA, Al Farat, Jason Kirby, Se7en, Damien Morte, Tyson James, Shane Rawls, Striker, Dane Griffin, Les Mayne, New Varsity Club, Kevin Morgan, Xavior, SWCW, IZW, GPCW, UWF06, Montego Seeka, Li'l Joe, Shawn Matthews III, Ric Flair, Bill Decker, 3rd R