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Syndicate Steal Belts To Send Message To Management

Posted: Mar 13th 2010 By: CMBurnham

On several occasions, Oklafan has presented articles about how certain titles are neglected and champions are absent. Although there is no agenda against this company, it seems that often times, the target of several of those articles is MSWA. And once again, there appears to be a problem with the frequency of title defences by the tag team champions in that federation. This time, though, that problem was brought up not by an Oklafan reporter, but by some of the wrestlers themselves.

The New Age Syndicate is one of the longest existing tag teams still in existence today. They?ve competed in several different federations, but have always considered MSWA to be home. And to a certain degree, that?s odd, because they?ve never held the tag team titles there. This hasn?t been for lack of trying in the past. They feuded with several teams who held the gold in the past. But it?s never seemed to be their lucky moment. And now, they sense that there is an opportunity beckoning for them. Which makes it all the more frustrating because the MSWA Mid-South Tag Team Champions, Aerial Assault, have had spotty attendance at best over the past months.

The Sanders twins addressed that issue at the beginning of the year. On January 10, the NAS came to the ring and Shawn Sanders said that the champions hadn?t been around. He demanded that they come out and defend their belts right then. Ky-ote Joe arrived, but Montego Seeka was not at the arena. Joe offered to take on one of the Syndicate members, but the Sanders weren?t interested in that. They countered with a proposal to have Joe defend the tag team belts in a handicap match. Before Joe could respond, SWCW Tag Team Champion Rick Russo?s music hit and he came to Joe?s aid, offering to be his partner since he had some business to address with the Syndicate. The Sanders didn?t care who Joe?s partner was, they just wanted the tag team belts. But they wouldn?t get them in this match since both members of the championship team weren?t present. That didn?t stop the Syndicate from putting a hurting on Joe and Russo, but the impromptu pairing fought back and looked like they were going to come out victorious. This forced the Sanders to resort to foreign objects. Shawn grabbed a kendo stick which they had brought to the ring tried to hit Russo with it, but referee Donny Brooks intercepted it before he could do so. As Brooks returned the stick to the Syndicate?s corner, Shawn went under the ring for another stick, which was obviously planted earlier. He laced that stick into the head of Ky-ote Joe, allowing Scott Sanders to hit a rolling neckbreaker for the win. They didn?t win the titles, but they proved the point that they were ready for a title shot.

The tag team champions arrived in force on January 24 and faced the Sanders twins, but once again the belts weren?t on the line. This only served to upset the twins more than before. Knowing that it didn?t really matter what the outcome of the match was, the NAS eventually grabbed the title belts off the ring table and slammed them into the heads of the champions, then dropped the belts onto their prone bodies and left. It would seem that this would have inspired the champions to seek out some revenge, but by the time of the next show, once again Joe was present, but Montego was nowhere to be found. Scott accepted the offer of a 1-on-1 match, but there was no way it was going to be 1-on-1 for long, given Shawn?s presence at ringside. Shawn soon made his presence known, pushing Joe off the top rope as he went for a high-risk move. The Syndicate then grabbed the kendo sticks and began a 2-on-1 beating until MSWA owner Bad Boy came out and told them that if they hit Joe one more time, he would suspend them both. He told Shawn that if he wanted to be in the ring so badly, he had an opponent for him and called Tyson Jaymes to the ring. Flustered and angry at this set of circumstances, Shawn never seemed to be as focused on the match as he should. Again, interference would prove costly as Scott hopped up on the ring apron, grabbing Tyson from behind and holding him for Shawn to hit a running forearm on. But Tyson wiggled free and the Sanders collided, allowing Tyson to score a quick schoolboy rollup and win the match. For a brief moment, it looked like the NAS was going to implode, but blood proved to be thicker than water and the twins hugged it out before leaving the ring.

Finally on February 21, the Syndicate got what they wanted for so long: a championship match. The twins brought every devious move they knew to that match, while Seeka and Joe came hoping the fans could carry them on to victory. The importance of this championship encounter wasn?t lost on anyone and both teams seemed to sense that this might be the best chance to prove themselves. As seems to be the story to many of their matches, it all came down to a case of mistiming. Scott Sanders went to the table and grabbed one of the title belts, throwing it to Shawn. Shawn tried to slam the belt into Ky-ote?s head, but Ky-ote ducked. Montego kicked the belt into the face of Shawn and Joe rolled him up for a win. Volcanic rage erupted from the Syndicate as they knew that they had failed in their best chance to win the titles. So, if they couldn?t win them, at least they could walk out with the belts, which they did after attacking the champions with the kendo sticks. The Sanders then went and stole the belts, taking them to the back as if they owned them.

Now things were different. Now they had what they wanted, even if they didn?t get it the way they wanted to. A much calmer and more satisfied New Age Syndicate arrived at the beginning of the show Sunday with their ill-gotten gains over their shoulders. They told the crowd that, once again, Aerial Assault was not present, but not to worry because the ?real? tag team champions were there. Then, in one of the most distasteful acts of cowardice seen in an MSWA ring in a long time, the Syndicate announced that someone needed to be taught a lesson and attacked MSWA ring announcer Milton Winkelman, beating him into a corner and stomping him until Bad Boy & IZW Champion Kevin Morgan came to his rescue.

No one should be surprised by the tactics of the Syndicate, who have never thought much of anyone except themselves. Stealing tag team belts is something their history shows they are willing to do, as they did the same thing when feuding with the Good Ol? Boys in SWCW. Now that they have possession of the title belts, once has to wonder how long the official champions will tolerate this indignity. If nothing else, MSWA officials need to force a winner-takes-all match for the titles to resolve the issue. If the Syndicate can win that match, then they can finally claim what they?ve been seeking for so long. But if Aerial Assault prevails, the Sanders should be sent to the back of the line while other teams get a step forward. Either way, this situation must end soon before it ruins both teams and the reputation of the Mid-South Tag Team Titles.

Tags: MSWA, New Age Syndicate, Aerial Assault, Shawn Sanders, Ky-ote Joe, Montego Seeka, SWCW, Rick Russo, Donny Brooks, Scott Sanders, Bad Boy, Tyson Jaymes, Milton Winkelman, IZW, Kevin Morgan. Good Ol' Boys