Spring is fast approaching, and just like the weather outside, the action is getting hotter in Global Championship Wrestling with Monday Night Explosion, LIVE from Columbia, South Carolina! We have a huge show for you tonight, including a massive 6-man tag main event pitting the World Tag Team champions, Edge & Lance Storm, along with partner CM Punk, against World Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, Chris Benoit, and Monty Brown! Plus, in a rematch from Beat Your Valentine, Rhyno meets Booker T, Bobby Lashley will take on Rob Van Dam, and much more!
With their upcoming match at Proving Ground, Commissioner Tommy Dreamer has said that for the next two weeks, Kurt Angle and Randy Orton will get to pick who their opponent will wrestle on Explosion in a concept he calls �Pick Your Poison.� It was Orton�s turn this week, as he got to pick who Angle would wrestle. Orton had a doozy too, as he selected PAUL BURCHILL, whom we haven�t seen in a few weeks. Orton was sure that Burchill would get the job done.
Burchill looked great, and Angle looked to be thrown off a little as I don�t think he could have prepared for Burchill. Last time we saw Burchill, he primarily wrestled in tag team matches, but he really showcased what he can do on his own here, taking the former World champion to the limit and then some. The fans were taken a little aback by how much Burchill pushed Angle, expecting this one to be a cakewalk, but Burchill nearly pulled off the win on several occasions. However, he couldn�t quite get away from Angle�s Angle Slam, and Kurt picked up a hard fought victory.
Kurt Angle pinned Paul Burchill after the Angle Slam in 0:08:27.
Rating: *** �
Angle was pushed, but Orton�s man couldn�t quite get the job done. Now next week, Orton will have to contend with an opponent of Angle�s choosing. Who knows who it could possibly be?
Kazarian and Smith have finally gotten in a place where they can work together, but unfortunately they�ve spent the last couple weeks being decimated by Bobby Lashley. They were back to tag team action this week against the super impressive team of MNM, Johnny Nitro and Shannon Moore. The Future and The Bulldog looked good, but they did get the holy hell beat out of them last week by Lashley and that layover showed. A good outing, but you�d be hard pressed to find a team firing on all cylinders more than MNM, who take the win with the Snapshot.
MNM (Shannon Moore and Johnny Nitro) defeated Frankie Kazarian and Harry Smith when S. Moore pinned Kazarian after the Snapshot in 0:06:46.
Rating: **** �
We cut to backstage where World champion Brock Lesnar and number-one-contender Chris Benoit were in the middle of a heated argument. These two, of course, meet for the World Heavyweight Title at Proving Ground, but tonight they somehow have to coexist in a tag team match along with Monty Brown. Lesnar and Benoit were tearing into each other about who was responsible for the loss last week when the Alpha Male burst in and shut them both up, telling them that they better get their act together or he would personally make them sorry for it. He said if they prevent him in any way from ripping apart both Edge and CM Punk, there�d be hell to pay.
Rob Van Dam did not get himself into the good graces of John Bradshaw Layfield by ruining his party last week and challenging him for the Intercontinental Tile. RVD had the distinction of having to fight JBL�s undefeated monster of a henchman, Bobby Lashley, with JBL lurking at the commentator�s booth with Michael Cole and Paul Heyman. RVD is a ridiculously laid back guy though, and didn�t show any type of concern that he was in the ring with a man who has been ridiculously dominant since coming to GCW. RVD held his own quite well against Lashley, using his unorthodox offensive style to keep Lashley off his game, but he couldn�t quite put Lashley down and out. It looked like RVD had a chance for the victory when he hit the Rolling Thunder on Lashley, but this prompted JBL to get up from his position at the announce booth to distract RVD, allowing Lashley to blindside him with a spear and finish the job with the Dominator.
Bobby Lashley pinned Rob Van Dam with the Dominator in 0:06:21.
Rating: *** �
JBL got in the ring and put the IC Title right up against RVD�s face and yelled at him about the lesson that was just taught. We�ll see how things go in a fair fight at Proving Ground. JBL then directed Lashley to continue the assault on RVD, which brought out ABYSS to a thunderous ovation and like we�ve seen several times in recent weeks, the fight was on! After several minutes of trying to break these two up, officials gave up and just let them fight their way out of the building. In a statement issued after the show, Commissioner Tommy Dreamer said that this battle has to end before there are serious injuries, and said that at Proving Ground, Abyss and Bobby Lashley will meet one more time in a STEEL CAGE to finish this feud once and for all!
We joined Elix Skipper and Kid Kash (along with his bodyguard Lance Hoyt) backstage. Though it was a �friendly� setting, it was obvious that there was tension between the two. Skipper laid into Kash verbally, making fun of him for dropping the fall last week in the tag team match. Kash tried to take it in stride, but he has a short fuse to begin with and eventually snapped, challenging Skipper to a match right now to prove who the weak link is. Skipper smirked and said he had no problem beating Kash�s ass now, just like he will again in the X Title Fatal Fourway at Proving Ground.
Prime Time may need to learn to keep his mouth shut. Kid Kash has been made to look like a fool in the past, but one thing that is always consistent is that he has a short temper and is willing to fight anybody, and he took the fight straight to Skipper tonight, hitting him in the mouth and not stopping right from the get-go. Skipper is one of the best athletes in all of GCW and he showcased some of that here, but he wrote some checks his ass couldn�t cash, getting caught in the Dead Level and pinned cleanly by the Notorious K.I.D. These two will have one more chance to go at it in two weeks when they take place in the X Title Fatal Fourway along with AJ Styles and champion Christopher Daniels.
Kid Kash pinned Elix Skipper with the Dead Level in 0:06:47.
Rating: ****
Rey Mysterio Jr. cut a promo on Booker T backstage, talking of how he�s spent the last several weeks just fuming, waiting for his opportunity to get revenge on his former tag team partner. Mysterio let it be known that at Proving Ground, Booker is going to regret the day that he crossed him. At this point, the BLUE WORLD ORDER � The Blue Meanie and Stevie Richards � came and started to harass Mysterio, challenging him to a fight, which Mysterio understandably laughed off. The bWo became more and more annoying � that is, until RHYNO came out of nowhere and Gored the Meanie through a door. Stevie stood there and stared in disbelief for a moment before he took off screaming. Rhyno asked Mysterio if he needed anything else, to which Mysterio responded, �Yeah, kick Booker�s ass for me.� Rhyno said no problem and left toward the ring.
A rematch from Beat Your Valentine between Rhyno and Booker T was next, and it was just as hard-hitting as their previous contest. And just like is to be expected from the Booker T we know these days, he will go to all lengths to win a match. Rhyno was jacked up and came at Booker from the opening bell, dominating the entire match. That is, except for the part of the match where Sharmell slipped Booker a small pipe which Booker smacked Rhyno in the skull with during a flying forearm.
Booker T pinned Rhyno after a flying forearm in 0:03:22.
Rating: ***
Booker had every intention to continue this lead pipe assault after the match, but REY MYSTERIO JR. intervened to ensure that wouldn�t happen, chasing Booker off. Booker won�t be able to run at Proving Ground, however.
There was a ton of tension involved in the main event tonight, but it was more between the face team than it was between the two teams. World champion Brock Lesnar and Chris Benoit, who will be opponents at Proving Ground, were obviously not in a mood to get along here, but due to Monty Brown�s earlier threats, they kept it together. On the flip side, Lance Storm and Edge found it difficult to coexist with CM Punk, not because of any direct conflict, but just because CM Punk is so weird. But the truth is, Punk is a great wrestler, and this team was quite formidable.
As the match continued on, the tension between Lesnar and Benoit grew and grew, as they continued to tag each other in more and more aggressively, to the point where the final tag Lesnar made to Benoit was a slap across the face � literally. This didn�t stop Benoit from getting the pin on Edge (this was after Brown and Punk had brawled their way to the back). Benoit put the exclamation point on getting the win by slapping Lesnar across the face.
Brock Lesnar, Chris Benoit and Monty Brown defeated Edge, Lance Storm and CM Punk when Benoit defeated Edge via pinfall in 0:20:19.
Rating: ** �
Of course, this meant the fight was on. There is just so much at stake with the World Heavyweight Title, and these two are such competitors that I�m really surprised it took them this long to unleash on each other. The fight was intense and after it was finally separated, Lesnar was sporting a bloody nose. And to think, these two have two weeks to get even more pissed off at each other.
Updated Card for Proving Ground, March 19, 2006, from East Rutherford, NJ:
World Heavyweight Title Match - Brock Lesnar � vs. Chris Benoit
Intercontinental Title Match - John Bradshaw Layfield � vs. Rob Van Dam
World Tag Team Title Match - Lance Storm/Edge � vs. The World�s Greatest Tag Team
X Title Match - Christopher Daniels � vs. AJ Styles vs. Kid Kash vs. Elix Skipper
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Booker T
Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton
Cage Match - Abyss vs. Bobby Lashley