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Surprise! Hardaway Smokes Morbid's Lips!

Posted: Feb 11th 2009 By: CMBurnham

They say that the best friends make the worst enemies and at one time Cast-Iron Cothern and Shane Morbid were the best friends. They were considered the most dominant tag team in Oklahoma in 2008 and were voted Tag Team of the Year by the fans in the Oklafan Year-End Awards. They won't be repeating that accomplishment any time soon. By the time that awards was issued, Cothern and Morbid were mortal enemies and Cothern's ego wasn't helped any when Morbid was voted Wrestler of the Year by the fans in the Oklafan Year-End Awards AND was ranked 16 spots higher than Cothern in the 2009 Oklafan Top 50.

For 2 months, Cothern had done little else, but taunt Morbid and then duck him when it came to an actual match between the two. While Cothern and Boss Campbell wouldn't step foot in the ring against Shane, that didn't prevent them from making sure their presence was felt. On January 31, Morbid had the opportunity to regain the ComPro Oklahoma X Division Title from The Greatest Bolo. He dominated the match and seemed assured of regaining his belt when Cothern came out and distracted Morbid. Sensei Bolo took advantage of this and distracted the referee while The Greatest Bolo grabbed his kendo stick and hit Morbid from behind, allowing him to be pinned and retaining the title. Morbid was furious and grabbed the microphone after the match. He accused Cothern of ducking him for months. He said that Cothern learned everything he knew from him and called Boss Campbell a slimy jew snake. He promised to smoke Cothern's lips. Cothern's response was that he used Morbid. He used him to get to California and make money. He didn't want to wrestle Morbid and Campbell said Cothern didn't need to because he had nothing to prove. Cothern called Shane nothing and said he would beat Shane up on his own time.

Sensing that things weren't quite going the way he expected them to, Morbid changed tactics. He said Juggalos from Tulsa ran Cothern out of the city. He then played a heavy trump card, calling for an "I Quit" match the next week. The rules were simple. Whoever uttered the words "I Quit" first would be declared the loser. Cothern refused, saying there was nothing in it for him. Shane again believed that things weren't going his way, so more desperate tactics followed. He said that Cothern could go out, spend his grandmother's money and job out to some WWE "Never-has-beens". But deep inside, he'd know he wasn't a man because he never faced Shane Morbid. In a final act to put an irresistable factor on this, Morbid put his career on the line. If he lost, he would never wrestle again in Oklahoma. This seemed to inspire Cothern and, despite desperate pleas from Boss Campell, Cothern accepted. Things once again got personal between the two as Cothern suggested that the only way Morbid made any money in business is by working at Home Depot. Morbid countered this by revealing that Cothern was fired from the last job he had because he was stealing from it. At this point, ComPro owner Mike Two stepped in and ordered all involved parties to the back. The match was signed and would happen on February 6.

Before they met one-on-one, Cothern & Morbid would face each other in tag team competition. Cothern teamed with X-Cal against Morbid and El Super Colibri at the MWA card on February 6. The stipulation of the match was that whichever team lost would be banned from MWA for 90 days.

As soon as Morbid and Cothern (and their respective tag team members) met in the main event of that show. The match combined the strengths of "Ground and Pound" from Cothern & Shane to the high-flying aerial assault of El Super Colibri. Again, just as in the huge fight that spilled into the ringside area earlier on that card, forcing Mike Iles and C. M. Burnham to run for safety as they had done during the brawl between Texas, Inc & The Old School Express. Finally, both Morbid and Colibri had their opponents pinned and the referee counted to 3. Cothern & X-Cal were humiliated and outsmarted by their rivals.

With the momentum of that victory behind him, Morbid walked into ComPro believing he could accomplish a huge for him: Get Cothern in the ring and then unlease the masses behind him so they can get some payback for all the rude things Cothern had said and done. The match itself was very stiff and ground based as both men tried submission hold after submission hold. Neither one was willing to utter those two little words which would end it. And then, it appeared that the option might have been taken away from them as referee John the Encourager was knocked down and out. Morbid locked Cothern in the Crippler Crossface and Cothern quickly pounded the mat, screaming "I quit", but there was no ref to hear him. Boss grabbed a towel and threw it in the ring, but again, no referee could see it. Boss then entered the ring himself, but was quickly taken down and put in the Crossface, making him scream in agony. Finally, Generic Referee One came to the ring and the match continued. Not for long, though as one more time, the crossface was applied and everyone heard Cothern yell "I quit" into the microphone. That was the end. Morbid was victorious and Cothern wouldn't be poisoning the locker room or ring with his beliefs and attitude.

Then came the "surprise". For months, someone who only identified themselves as "suprise" on the ComPro message board had been hinting at an arrival in ComPro. They sent cryptic video messages and remained very uncooperative as far as giving clues to the sports journalists on the board. That "surprise" stood revealed in the ring as Talon. While Morbid stared disbelievingly, Talon slowly circled Shane, tracing her finger on his body. Then, after making it all the way around, Talon slapped Morbid. Morbid didn't take kindly to that and grabbed Talon, forcing her into the corner. At that point, the lights went out and when they returned, Dexter Hardaway stood in the ring. As Shane turned around, Dexter unleashed a gigantic fireball in Morbid's face, then announced that he was here to destroy ComPro and was starting with Morbid.

Dexter recently made his return to Oklahoma professional wrestling rings when he competed against TAP Champion The Canadian Red Devil on February 1. Talon was by his side at that point as well, which is understandable for this husband-and-wife duo. And while Dexter has been many things, this level of viciousness and callousness is a new side of his personality for the fans to see. He seemed proud and was certainly unapologetic about his behaviour as he left the ring area.

No report on the condition of Shane Morbid had been receved by Oklafan staff at the time this article was written.

Tags: Cast-Iron Cothern, Shane Morbid, Boss Campbell, ComPro, Greatest Bolo, Sensei Bolo, Mike Two, X-Cal, El Super Colibri, MWA, Mike Iles, C. M. Burnham, Texas, Inc., John the Encourager, Generic Referee One, Talon, Dexter Hardaway, Canadian Red Devil