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And the Winner Is...Slam Shady!

Posted: Nov 21st 2006 By: CMBurnham

Slam Shady won the 2006 Chris Candido Cup Tournament, but as should be expected, he didn't do so without sparking some controversy.

Shady didn't arrive at the show until after his first round match was scheduled to happen, allowing fellow Hate, Inc. members Charming Charles & Oklahoma Triple Crown Champion Rocco Valentino to play a trump card, courtesy of the stroke they have with NWA-Universal owner Christopher Fox. Valentino took Shady's place in the first round and defeated Sudden Impact, allowing Shady to enter the second round refreshed. And he would need that saved-up energy to defeat AACW Tag Team Champion AWOL, a man whose strength and build rivals Shady's. It was an even match which at one point saw AWOL, a 300-lb man, attempt a cross-body block on Shady, only to be caught in mid-air and slammed on the way to Shady's eventual victory. This allowed Shady to advance to the finals.

His opponent in the finals was MSWA Mid-South & IZW Impact Division Champion Ryan Davidson. One of the fastest rising stars in Oklahoma, Davidson seemed to let the competition get the better of him this time around. His first round match was the Canadian Red Devil, an unannounced competitor and probably a replacement for IZW Champion Michael Barry who was competing in Arkansas that night. The crowd was certainly on the side of the Devil and this seemed to irritate Davidson because he certainly showed a more aggressive side in his second round match against NWA Universal X Division champion Justin Lee. Lee, who had gone 13 months without a defeat, finally had that winning streak ended by Davidson, thanks to some unsportsmanlike behaviour in the form of a handful of tights. Lee was absolutely seething at the end of the match, glaring at Davidson as he berated the fans and left the area, preparing for his final match against Slam Shady.

The final match arrived and, to Shady's credit, he entered it without Charming Charles or Rocco Valentino at ringside with him. Power versus craftiness seemed to be order of the day. But Davidson may have underestimated the wileyness of Shady, who was trained by one of the most underhanded men in the business, Skandar Akbar. After a long match, Shady emerged victorious, placing his name next to last year's co-champions, The Naturals.

This marked the second tournament this month that Ryan Davidson had lost. Earlier this month, he was eliminated in the first round of the IZW Impact Invitation Tournament by eventual winner John O'Malley.

Several questions rise out of Shady's victory: Will this victory finally get him a title shot? He has an impressive win-loss record in his time with NWA-U, but has only been granted 1 Oklahoma Title shot back in May of this year. Might now be the time to try and bring more gold into the camp of Hate, Inc? Or might Shady be targeting bigger gold? While Charming Charles has come to ringside with Rocco Valentino for all his matches, he doesn't seem to afford the same courtesy to Slam. Perhaps this is part of the reason why Slam gets such a popular reaction while chants of "Rocco Sucks!" are very common during the NWA Universal Champion's appearances. Could Shady just be biding his time to aim for the biggest prize in NWA-U?

As it stands right now, Shady won't be getting that title shot at the next NWA-U show, as he & Mason Hunter are set to take on John O'Malley & Justin Lee in a tag team match. Unless things change, both of those men are guaranteed to walk out of 2006 with their title belts intact.