• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

The Naturals acheive a double first at Candido Cup

Posted: Jul 26th 2005 By: oklastaff

NWA World Tag Team Champions The Naturals, Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas, were declared the co-winners of the first annual Chris Candido Cup in Tahlequah. This was the first time that the pair had ever competed against each other in a singles match.

Andy Douglas advanced to the finals by defeating former NWA Oklahoma Champion Michael Barry and current NWA Universal X Division Champion Gary Gram. Chase Stevens made his way to the last round by going through Mitch Carter (who was a last minute replacement for Scotty Charisma) and former Southern States Super 8 Champion Justin Lee.

Mitch Carter and Justin Lee were both gracious enough to provide Oklafan with comments about their participation in this event. Mitch said that he "showed up to the show wanting to watch some big names perform. I left the show meeting the big names, seeing some old friends, and working a big name on the show. It was a delightful experience and I would definitely do it again." Justin called NWA-Universal a "very professional company" and said the whole experience was a "very similar feeling to the super 8. (It was)weird being back in that building, just not quite the same as the last time I was there. Tyler (Bateman, Justin?s first round opponent) and I clicked better that night than any other time we worked each other."

After Stevens & Douglas made it to the final round, they engaged in a match that would have made Candido proud, full of comedy and good wrestling. Special referee John O?Malley was the butt of many of the jokes in this match, culminating with his pants being pulled down in front of the audience. But as the match turned serious and both competitors wanted to win the cup, a collision with O?Malley rendered him briefly unconscious. Douglas & Stevens cradled each other. Referee Big A came from the back, O?Malley recovered and both men counted a different Natural down. After a brief arguement about who was legally pinned, no clear decision could be made and both men were declared the winners.

A DVD of this event, with a bonus match of Candido?s last Oklahoma appearance, will be made available soon for purchase.

Tags: NWA, Chase Stevens, Andy Douglas, NWA-OK, Michael Barry, Gary Gram, Mitch Carter, Scotty Charisma, Justin Lee, NWA-U, Tyler Bateman, John O'Malley, Big A