| Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation - November 11, 1995 - Hampstead, MD |
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| Friday, November 10, 1995 | |
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With apologies to Snoopy, it was indeed a dark and stormy night on Saturday, November 11, as the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation put on its annual card at North Carroll High School in Hampstead, Md., for the benefit of North Carroll's Business Club. This is always the best-attended and most star-studded MEWF presentation of the year, and once again, promoter DENNIS WIPPRECHT did not disappoint. I fervently hope that I don't delete this tome before I post it to all the places I usually post. Last night I screwed up and my detailed report on Catonsville never got to the boards. (There's still the Jeffer's Digest Condensed Version on most boards.) For me it's a 35-mile ride from my home in Columbia, the last 12 miles on a badly-lit country road. I wonder how the weather (driving rain that would turn to 3-plus inches of snow before the night was over) would affect the attendance. My fears were unfounded: as always, there was a capacity crowd (I say about 1200-1300) at the North Carroll Gym. One highlight of this is that we are always fed well here by our hosts. As I partake of the free dinner and try to remember not to gain back the 35 pounds I have lost since August (under the supervision of my doctor and medication--I've still got about 70-75 pounds more to lose), in walks HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN, he of the main event tonight, the match that Evan Schlesinger wanted to fly in from Chicago to see . I have only timekept for one other Duggan match, in the NWL about 3-4 years ago, so he asks me whether I am "one of the school people". I tell him no, that I'm the MEWF timekeeper. He then remarked that I "look like a school person". Perceptive, I guess, since I *am* "one of the school people", except that for me the school in question isn't North Carroll High, but Arundel High in another part of the metro area. BTW, we are Anne Arundel County football champions at 10-0, our first undefeated season since 1975. (Enough of that; I've already invited one Evan flame). Also, before we start, one word about the North Carroll crowd. It is the most rabid crowd I've seen anywhere. A lot of kids, a lot of kids of all ages. Everyone is unbelievably in the card. During the intermission people even bring programs and posters to me to autograph. Years from now, they'll be wondering "I know who Jim Duggan and the Barbarian and Luke & Butch are, but who the hell is this Jeff Amdur?" The most amazing display of audience enthusiasm comes well into the show when the crowd breaks into thunderous applause after ring announcer AL ALBERT announces that the snow emergency plan for county roads had gone into effect. Al and I give each other a "what the ....?" look. As I take my customary clanger-dinger's position between announcer AL ALBERT and Maryland State Athletic Commission representative TOM KANARAS at the ringside table, the action commences. (1) THE BARBARIAN (formerly King Konga/Sionne the Headshrinker, star of a couple of wrestling movies) makes his MEWF debut a successful one by pinning METAL MANIAC (with ISIS) in 9:48. Metal gets off to a surprising advantage due to his deviousness, but El Barbaro eventually turns the tide, pummeling Metal and eventually pinning him after a power bomb. After the match, Barbarian goes after Isis offering to shake her hand (or is to kiss her). Isis (clad a bit more conservatively than usual since this is, after all, a school function) scurries around the ring in circles to avoid Barbarian's advances. Eventually she scurries out. Ref JEFF JONES sends me back to get a paramedic to minister to a dazed Metal Maniac; but as soon as I get to the gym exit, I notice that Isis has been able to revive Metal, and they both exit unaided. (2) BAMBI gets revenge as she pins PEGGY LEE LEATHER in 14:15 and wins back the women's heavyweight championship that she had lost the previous night at the Catonsville Armory card. Perhaps the best match of the night from a technical standpoint. Both wrestlers worked hard with very little time to pause, since they knew the championship was at stake. (3) "SUPERFLY" JIMMY SNUKA, getting his usual mega-pop from the North Carroll fans, disposes of THE EVIL CLOWN in 4:70 (at least, that's how my notes read several hours later as I'm writing this; maybe it's 4:20). When El Bozo Malo comes out, high-fiving ringsiders as he enters, the crowd cheers. The cheers quickly turn to jeers when announcer AL ALBERT introduces him as The EVIL Clown and Clown gives the crowd the familiar "Italian salute". Snuka dominates and exhibits his patented flying maneuvers. His leap of the top rope is still one of the most exciting moments in wrestling, perhaps even more impressive now when one realizes Superfly is close to 50, if not already there. The Superfly leap leads to the pin. After the match, Jimmy unmasks Evil; but Evil hides his head before Al or I can see who it is. He covered his head quickly. First I thought it might have been Rockin' Rebel; but Rebel was not in the building at all and has a different build. Whoever it was, he didn't stay long at North Carroll before or after the match. The only wrestlers in the locker room who were there just to enjoy the show were the easily-recognizable HACK MYERS and BIG DOG MACMILLAN. This clown definitely wasn't either of them. (Maybe it's STEVE DISALVO !) (4) In a bunkhouse match, CORPORAL PUNISHMENT (with PRIVATE PAIN and GENERAL STUD LEE) keeps the MEWF heavyweight belt by pinning former champ MORGUS THE MANIAC (with MEDIC MAURICE & NURSE GRACE) in 13:00. Trash cans full of stuff (including actual trash) are brought to ringside. Al, Tom and I start to make emergency evacuation plans for what we know is to come. What a brawl. I can't even begin to sort out the highlights and the trash and the chairs and the steps and the other items that were used. Everything but the proverbial kitchen sink and the forbidden blood (remember--this is Maryland ). Special referee for this match is LUCIFER (KNIGHT OF THE ROAD), another former MEWF champion. He it tough to keep order and spends a good part of the match outside the ring beating the hell out of the General and the Private. Even Nurse Grace gets in the melee as she lands some shots at His Royal Studness. Tom goes back to the lockers for a while, Al seeks refuge at the sound engineer's table. I stay closer to ringside, but still outside the fenced-in area, since the ref needs to see me to signal the end of the match. Whenever the action gets too close, I just hide behind BIG DOG MACMILLAN who is there for crowd control, all 500-plus pounds of him. With Lucifer occupied outside the ring, the Corporal and Morgus get rougher. At one point Morgus whips Corporal through a table set up in one corner of the ring. The table breaks, along with possibly several bones in the Corporal's body. Nobody is there to count pinfalls until JEFF JONES is sent out by the commission to ref the match with Lucifer incapacitated. Corporal falls on Morgus for the pin. I don't ring the bell right away because I think it's a two-count; but after about five more seconds I realize that JJ did call the pin. (5) JIM "THE ANVIL" NEIDHART pins JIM POWERS in 12:48 as ref JOEY DICARLO doesn't see Anvil's foot on the ropes for help. I guess Anvil is still p/$$ed about getting screwed out of his title last night. He is definitely the heel in this match, yet he still receives the overwhelming majority of the crowd support. Exemplary action all the way. (6) LITTLE LOUIE makes it 2-for-2 this weekend against KING SLEAZY as he gets him with the same body scissors-into-pinning-combination that he used to win last night. Is His Royal Sleazballness dumb enough to get himself pinned with the same maneuver three nights in a row? We'll see tomorrow (Sunday Nov 12) at the MEWF Arena. This time it's ref DAVE "THE WAVE" that's run ragged by the wrestlers. Dave takes shots all over his body, including several "rompecojones" from the little guys. I guess Dave's fiancee will spend late tonight reading a book. It is after the midget match that the crowd pops wildly for the snow emergency plan announcement. (7) THE BAD CREW (with DAMIAN KANE & LADY ALEXANDRIA) keeps the MEWF tag-team championship with a controversial disqualification win over THE BUSHWHACKERS (LUKE WILLIAMS & BUTCH MILLER). Crew comes out first, of course to boos. BTW, forget what I said earlier about the woman valets having to tone down their clothing for a school performance. Lady Alexandria is very much in her "Mademoiselle la Pneumatique" mode as I'm sure there are a lot of guys in the crowd at that moment doing their own imitations of J.T. Smith. Luke and Butch are unbelievably popular here. If you know the Whackers only from their TV appearances, you can;t really appreciate them. Did you know that the Bushwhacker music has words? I couldn't make out the words, but I definitely could hear word-like vocal utterances coming from the recording. As I ring the bell on the directions of ref JOEY DICARLO, the Whackers first refuse to wrestle, insisting that manager Damian Kane move away from the ring apron. Damian responds by taking Alexandria and his wrestlers out of the ring. As they are on the way to the locker room, DiCarlo threatens major fines and suspensions for Kane and the Crew. The Crew returns. With clotheslines, trips, bodyslams and the like, Luke & Butch retain the upper hand for most of the match, aided by the crowd's constant chants of "Bush-whack-ers! Bush-whack-ers! Ref DiCarlo has his hands full trying to keep the outside wrestlers for both teams away from the ring. Late in the match, Kane hands a metal chain to one of the Crew to use on one of the Whackers. The attempt doesn't come to fruition, and eventually a Whacker (I think it's Butch) uses the chain on a Crew member. The ref counts for the pin, and the Bushwackers, belts in hand, are announced as the new MEWF tag-team champions. Upon request from Kane, DiCarlo checks the overalls and finds the chain (I believe it had been taken by Butch in self-defense; but there was so much action in the ring at the time, I was more concerned with possible pins and less concerned about ring-apron action. I don't think the chain was planted by Kane, but I'm not sure.) The decision is reversed, and the Bad Crew retains the title. Bushies beat up on Damian and Crew after the match. At this point, it's time for another IRON SHEIK Persian Clubs Challenge. I understand it's the second of the day, as ANDY VINEBERG, unsung hero for more than one wrestling organization, tells me that while he and the Sheik were leaving BWI airport (where Andy had driven to bring the Sheik to North Carroll), the Sheik put on a Clubs Demonstration and Challenge in the airport lobby. No successful challenges there, and none at North Carroll. Four guys try, none succeed in the attempts to maneuver the clubs like the Sheik can. We counted 56 repetitions by the Sheik with the clubs tonight. None of the other four guys could even do three. In fact, one guy inadvertently hit himself in the head as he swung the club backward. Now, it's time for the main event. (8) "HACKSAW" JIM DUGGAN pinned THE IRON SHEIK (with CORPORAL PUNISHMENT) in 5:11. The Corporal, wearing an Iranian kaffiyeh with his military fatigues, comes out with the Sheik. Before I clang my dinger--or is that ding my clanger--there's a lot of rival flag-waving going on. The crowd chants steadily "USA! USA! USA!", I don't think they're saluting a cable network for televising Action Zone. The 2 x 4 is there with Duggan but is never used. The end comes as his own Iranian flag backfires on him. Sheik holds Hacksaw up and instructs Corporal to hit Duggan with the flag staff. Hacksaw ducks, Sheik gets the pole to the head and several seconds later is three-counted into defeat. A good time was had by all. A terrible time was had by me on the way home, as there were 3-4 inches of snow on the ground up there and it took me an hour and a quarter to drive the 35 miles back to Columbia. As I get closer to home, the snow turns to rain, and I live happily ever after.
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