Welcome to Birmingham, Alabama and welcome to Monday Night Explosion! Just 24 hours since Chaos Reigns, and Paul Heyman�s return has turned Global Championship Wrestling upside down! Brock Lesnar barely escaped John Bradshaw Layfield and the Texas Bullrope Match to retain the World Heavyweight Title, but he was brutally assaulted after the match by Heyman�s new charge, ABYSS! Heyman and Abyss are in the building tonight and we will hear from them live. Also tonight, a huge 8-man tag team match as Tommy Dreamer, Lance Cade, & Cryme Tyme take on Must See TV members Edge, Christian, & Rhyno, as well as the X champion Gregory Helms! And in our main event, MNM has enacted their rematch clause and will challenge CM Punk & Christopher Daniels for the World Tag Team champions!
It didn�t take long for us to see Paul Heyman come out with his new personal monster, Abyss, who took on Mick Foley�s assistant Stevie Richards, who again was dressed like the Hardcore Legend and current commissioner. Well, Stevie was game, but he wasn�t beating Abyss tonight. And other than a couple of wild punches, he wasn�t getting much offense in either. Black Hole Slam. Pinfall. Game over.
Abyss pinned Stevie Richards with the Black Hole Slam in 0:02:10.
Rating: ***
Heyman in his neck brace grabbed the microphone after the match and called out Brock Lesnar. Heyman said that he has potentially permanent and lasting damage to his neck thanks to Lesnar�s F-5, and that he would never forgive him for it. He said he also knew he can�t get physically even with the champion, but he could recruit those who could. Hence, Abyss. Heyman said that Lesnar took away his health, so he was going to take away what Lesnar cared about the most � the World Heavyweight Title. He concluded by saying that Abyss would wreak havoc on GCW until Lesnar agreed to defend the World Title against him.
We cut back to Mick Foley�s office where Chris Benoit was standing in front of him. After a long silence, Benoit broke it by saying, �Well?� Foley told Benoit to shut up. He said he had a good mind to suspend Benoit without pay for his recent assaults, first on the injured Paul London and then last night on AJ Styles. Foley told him he had a better idea, and to show up next week for Explosion in Raleigh, North Carolina. Before Benoit could say anything, Foley told him to get out of his sight.
Dykstra & Burchill formed a one-night team thanks to the quadriceps injury that Elijah Burke recently suffered, and needless to say, the teaming did not go well as they were soundly defeated in a hardcore match against Tommy Dreamer & Lance Cade. Both men have blamed the other, and hence this match. This match didn�t last all that long as both men slugged it out and tried to put the other away with extreme prejudice. It became a contest to see who could hit the one big move first, and that man would be Paul Burchill, who was able to hit Dykstra with the Curb Stomp.
Paul Burchill pinned Kenny Dykstra with the Curb Stomp in 0:05:26.
Rating: ** �
Burchill thought about continuing the assault, but instead just wiped his hands of Dykstra and walked to the back.
Shelton Benjamin has been racking up win after win since turning on his former partner Charlie Haas and shattering his ankle, and tonight against Harry Smith was no exception. Smith got some shots in, but Benjamin�s confidence is through the roof these days and he�s wrestling like it. There was nothing the Bulldog could do to slow down the Gold Standard, who found Paydirt once again, this time in Birmingham.
Shelton Benjamin pinned Harry Smith with the Paydirt in 0:03:44.
Rating: ** �
Our next match was scheduled to be a non-title contest between new Intercontinental champion Rey Mysterio Jr. and Elix Skipper, but before the match, Booker T grabbed the microphone and told Mysterio it was ridiculous that a midget was the IC champion. He told Mysterio to savor the flavor because as soon as he got his rematch, the Intercontinental Title would come to where it belonged, and that�s with Blackout.
Mysterio was noticeably distracted by the presence of Booker T at ringside, and Prime Time used that to get the upperhand and lay a beating on Mysterio. Skipper can fly with the best of them, but he chose to use the power game to keep Mysterio grounded. Mysterio got in a few desperation moves, but for the most part Skipper dominated the match. Skipper made the mistake of becoming overly confident and trying to get approval from Booker T, which left him open to a springboard dropkick that hit Skipper so squarely, it actually knocked out one of his teeth. Needless to say, that crisp kick was enough to put Prime Time away.
Rey Mysterio Jr. pinned Elix Skipper after a springboard dropkick in 0:07:15.
Rating: *** �
After the match, Mysterio grabbed a mic and said if he was looking for a title match, he wouldn�t have to wait long as he challenged Booker to a match at Summer Sizzler with the IC Title on the line, which Booker accepted. Before anything else could be said though, ABYSS came down to the ring. Blackout wisely made a hasty retreat, but Mysterio wasn�t so lucky as Paul Heyman directed the monster to dismantle Mysterio, finishing him off with the Black Hole Slam. Heyman reiterated that this would continue until Lesnar gave Abyss a title shot.
�The Alpha Male� Monty Brown was stomping around backstage, presumably looking for Randy Orton to get a measure of payback after Orton�s cheap win last night, but instead, Brown found PAUL BURCHILL. Burchill had a smarmy smile on his face. All Burchill had time to say was, �I told you that you couldn�t win the big one� before Brown snapped, nailed him with a kick to the midsection and then power bombed him through a table! Brown looked down for a moment at the unconscious Burchill before storming off again.
Umaga picked up the biggest win of his short career last night by cleanly defeating Kurt Angle, who it can be argued is the biggest star in GCW. The Samoan Bulldozer had a considerably less difficult time tonight as he took on the 160 pound Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs was� entertaining, but Umaga was in no mood for any zany antics. Umaga quickly destroyed Jacobs and finished him off with the Samoan Spike.
Umaga pinned Jimmy Jacobs with the Samoan Spike in 0:01:29.
Rating: * �
After the match, KURT ANGLE came out to the top of the ramp with a microphone. Angle congratulated Umaga on his win, both tonight and last night. Angle said he brought it last night but still couldn�t defeat Umaga. �But I was close.� Angle was out to challenge Umaga to one more match at Summer Sizzler. Estrada didn�t hesitate to accept on behalf of the Samoan Bulldozer, saying it would be their pleasure to destroy the former World champion one more time.
Eight man tag team matches usually have one thing in common, and this one was no exception � it�s not a matter of if they�re going to degenerate, but when. In this one, it happened when Gregory Helms had his X Title stolen again by JTG of Cryme Tyme, a day after Helms had stolen it back. As Helms went after the members of Cryme Tyme, Tommy Dreamer took advantage of the situation by planting Rhyno with the DDT.
Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG), Tommy Dreamer and Lance Cade defeated Must See TV (Christian, Edge and Rhyno) and Gregory Helms when Dreamer pinned Rhyno with the Dreamer DDT in 0:11:40.
Rating: ** �
Must See TV voiced their displeasure over the result as we went to our final commercial break.
MNM wasted no time in getting their rematch after losing the World Tag Team Titles one night ago, challenging the surprisingly successful team of Christopher Daniels & CM Punk. I think that MNM underestimated how well Daniels & Punk would be able to coexist, but coexist they did to win the titles (with an assist from Joey Mercury, of course). You can say what you want about Johnny Nitro & Shannon Moore as people, but they care a lot about the World Tag Team Titles, and they brought it all and then some tonight. Daniels & Punk improve each and every time they team together, and this was no exception. Unfortunately, even though we had a great match that went over 15 minutes, we wouldn�t get a decisive end as once again as Paul Heyman had promised, ABYSS was in the ring attacking the Fallen Angel, ending this match in a disqualification!
Christopher Daniels and CM Punk defeated MNM (Shannon Moore and Johnny Nitro) when C. Daniels defeated Nitro by disqualification in 0:15:42.
Rating: *** �
(Christopher Daniels and CM Punk retained the GCW World Tag Team Titles.)
MNM were pissed they didn�t win the titles, but they weren�t about to stand up to Abyss to voice their displeasure. Nitro & Moore went up the ramp while Abyss had his way with Daniels & Punk in the ring. MNM�s escape wouldn�t be quick and easy though as they were attacked again by JOEY MERCURY, nailing them both with a hard clothesline on the ramp. MNM tried to retreat but Mercury was on top of them, fighting them all the way to the back. Meanwhile in the ring, Abyss had planted both Daniels & Punk with the Black Hole Slam before being handed a chair by Heyman. Abyss had nothing but bad intentions, but thankfully BROCK LESNAR ran down to make the save, getting the chair away from Abyss and using it to knock Abyss over the top to the floor. Lesnar was still sporting a bandage on his forehead from his brutal battle with John Bradshaw Layfield, but it wasn�t stopping the champion from beckoning the Monster back into the ring. Heyman grabbed a microphone and said that if Lesnar wanted Abyss, he knew exactly what he had to do. Lesnar had a mic now and told everyone that he wanted Abyss one-on-one at Summer Sizzler for the World Heavyweight Title! We have our main event for Summer Sizzler! Lesnar�s night wasn�t over though as he was only paying attention to Abyss & Heyman and didn�t see RANDY ORTON sneak into the ring and drop him with the RKO! Orton teased cashing in the Money in the Bank, but was overhead yelling at Lesnar that he wanted him to sweat it out. He show came to an end with Orton standing tall over Lesnar.
Updated card for Summer Sizzler, August 27th, from London, England:
World Heavyweight Title Match - Brock Lesnar � vs. Abyss
Intercontinental Title Match - Rey Mysterio Jr. � vs. Booker T
Kurt Angle vs. Umaga