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

Daniels Sees Possibility Of Being Dual Champion

Posted: Oct 22nd 2010 By: CMBurnham

Recent weeks have put Dustin Daniels in a bad position. He's seen his close friend La Reina de Corazones taken from him by Jermaine Johnson. He's been put in the hospital for about a month by MSWA Mid-South Champion Johnny Z. But in the course of those challenges, Daniels has also proven that he is a top contender for both the MSWA & IZW Heavyweight Titles. And that position may bring him even more attention than he ever wanted.

This past Saturday, Daniels was a surprise replacement for Jesse White in Aaron Neil's IZW Title defence. Neil thought he had bought himself a week off after laying Jesse White out backstage. But co-commissioner Sam Helton proclaimed that Neil would face Daniels. The match didn't go the way, Daniels would have liked as Arrogant Money came out and, after looking like they were turning against the rest of Impact, Inc., both threw steel chairs in the face of Daniels. Daniels won the match, but was denied the ability to leave with the title and after the DQ was announced, received a beating at the combined hands of Impact, Inc. This left him incapacitated and he had to be assisted from the ring by referee Mark Wilson, Steve O and Erica.

Daniels' injuries were painful, but he's never been one to allow pain to stop him if he can muster the strength to make it to the ring. The next day, Daniels arrived at MSWA to try and gain some retribution for his defeat two weeks previously which resulted in the loss of La Reina de Corazones. Jermaine Johnson emerged with La Reina at the beginning of the show. Johnson attempted to show his control of La Reina by demanding that she tell the audience to shut up. La Reina instead asked the crowd who sucked and they responded with Johnson's name overwhelmingly. JJ then reiterated his demand and La Reina reluctantly complied. Johnson then tried to get La Reina to admit that she liked him better than Daniels, but all La Reina would do is say that Daniels was the better wrestler. Next Johnson tried to get La Reina to start a "Go, Jermaine, Go!" chant, but the lackluster effort on La Reina's part was less than what Johnson hoped for. Growing frustrated, Johnson forced La Reina to put on an Impact, Inc. shirt and sent her to the back to get some water. La Reina got the water, but while Johnson stood in the ring and embellished his accomplishments and personality, La Reina circled the ring and drank from Johnson's water bottle, then, after swishing the water in her mouth, spit it back in the bottle and recapped it. Johnson had no clue when he drank from the bottle, but the audience and La Reina both had a huge laugh at Johnson's expense.

Knowing something had happened, but unable to determine what, Johnson demanded that La Reina get on her knees and worship him. This was more than Daniels could take and he ran to the ring, prompting Johnson to leave. Daniels said there was no reason for La Reina to be with Johnson because he cheated to win. He then challenged Johnson for a rematch to regain La Reina. Johnson refused, asking Daniels, "What kind of man puts his girlfriend up in a match?"

At this point, Shawn McKeaigg arrived, talking on his cell phone. He told the crowd that MSWA owner Bad Boy was preoccupied with other matters and needed an assistant, so he had promoted McKeaigg to commissioner of MSWA. He then said he liked the idea of Daniels vs. Johnson, but he didn't want it to be a 1-on-1 match. Instead, he made it a Triple Threat Match, adding UWE & MERC Tag Team Champion Max McGuirk to the mix. He also declared that the winner would receive a shot at the MSWA Title on October 31. Johnson was extremely upset, saying he didn't want to have to wrestle on Halloween and face Johnny Z, but that was what was going to happen because he was going to win that match. Johnson left with La Reina, but La Reina came back out to applaud Daniels, forcing Johnson to come and retrieve her.

The three men were certainly focused in their match. Johnson arrived with La Reina, who he had rechristened "Shaniqua". McGuirk brought Katy to ringside with him. And Daniels arrived alone, but with the complete support of the crowd to back him up. Katy quickly made her presence known, assisting McGuirk when he had an abdominal stretch applied to Daniels. This upset La Reina, who tried to go over and break it up, but Johnson got in her way and prevented her from lending assistance. This cooperation between McGuirk & Johnson eventually broke down as all men understood that a shot at the Heavyweight Title lay in the hands of the winner. There could be no cooperation. Nevertheless, both men continued to double team Daniels and even Katy jumped in the ring, wanting a shot to deal some punishment out. That quickly brought La Reina to the rescue and a catfight commenced with both La Reina and Katy rolling around on the mat and eventually down to the floor. Daniels used that distraction to pin Johnson with a high cross body, but this didn't get La Reina back for him, even though she threw the Impact, Inc. shirt at him.

Daniels has proven himself able to hang with the top champions in both MSWA & IZW. On August 8, Daniels defeated Johnny Z by DQ in a MSWA Title match. Last Saturday, he did the same with Aaron Neil. If Daniels can overcome the odds and win the Monster's Ball Battle Royal, he has shown he has the tools to defeat Neil, given a fair match. The same holds true for Johnny Z and Daniels has the chance to capitalise on that on Halloween. But even with the possibility of 2 Heavyweight Titles in his grasp, Daniels won't be satisfied until La Reina is safe from the custody of Jermaine Johnson.