TEAM EPICENTER: Sweet Sixteen

[TH]

[Fade into Tom Holzerman in front of the big screen; a split-screen of Karl Brown holding the Merritt Trophy and Karl Brown staring down the Canadian Loonie.]

TH: Last year, Karl Brown held high the Merritt Trophy as the winner of the first ever TEAM Invitational Tournament. One year later, he faces his toughest challenge to date in MBE Icon Canadian Loonie. Would he survive? Find that out and more. EPICENTER, up next!

[Cue up "Down" by Stone Temple Pilots.
Cut to JASON PAYNE, shouting out in primal fury with a man's blood as his war paint.
Cut to MR. AMAZING! delivering Amazing Grace to JAKE HIX.
Cut to YORI YAKAMO, JR. grappling PROFESSOR TREMENDOUS.
Cut to ULYSIS SOLIAN staring down RAVAGER.

Cut to KARL BROWN hoisting the Merrit Trophy, then flash cut to D! with the Championship of Champions Belt across his waist, then flash cut to Team NEW hoisting the Dupree Cup.

Cut to: The Epicenter logo once more, fading into Tom Holzerman and Steve Murray at the Epicenter desk.]

SM: Hello everyone, I'm Steve Murray...

TH: And I'm Tom Holzerman. As we move closer to Las Vegas, the action gets tighter and tighter. We'll recap all eight Sweet Sixteen matches tonight, plus we've got some news regarding SuperShow III: Final Four.

[Cut to a close up of Tom Holzerman with an inset featuring Jason Payne and Kin Hiroshi.]

TH: By all rights, Jason Payne shouldn't be here. By virtue of his first-round loss to Foxx, the TEAM FREE FOR ALL~! Champion should be on his couch, watching the action on Alternative Sports Network's Season Pass... like that plug? [Winks.] Anyway, thanks to some double forfeits, he got a chance for a play-in, and he's shone so far. Standing in his way though is the fourth seed in the Memphis region, Kin Hiroshi, fresh off taking out the Number One Wrestler in the world according to ENN, Lloyd Rees.

[Cut to the FedEx Forum ring.]

TH V/O: We kick things off and Jason Payne starts out like a house on fire. Chop, chop and then a big Polish hammer to the chest of Hiroshi.

[Cut to Payne running the ropes.]

TH V/O: And here, the Dog of War's bite proves just as bad as his bark. Lariat and a beaut.

[Cut to Kin with Payne in a rear waistlock.]

TH V/O: You can't keep the Muffin Man down for that long, and he hits hard early on, release German suplex.

[Cut to Hiroshi whipping Payne off the ropes.]

TH V/O: And look at the air he puts under Payne here with this monkey flip. That's how you overcome the size disadvantage.

[Cut to Payne with Hiroshi in a bearhug.]

TH V/O: Payne comes right back, here showing his strength to squeeze the life out of Hiroshi and then his power by just throwing him to the canvas.

[Cut to Hiroshi with Payne in a front facelock.]

TH V/O: Hiroshi strikes back quickly though, this was a back and forth match for most of the affair. FISHAAAAMAN BUSTAAAH! Couldn't put Payne away there though.

[Cut to Payne with Hiroshi in a standing headscissors.]

TH V/O: Payne comes back and now he's smelling blood. Big powerbomb here on Hiroshi.

[Cut to Hiroshi running the ropes.]

TH V/O: And off the whip, Payne crunches Hiroshi here with a big spinebuster.

[Cut to Hiroshi on the top rope, Payne staggering.]

TH V/O: Hiroshi has one last comeback in him. Here he is on the top and leaps with the tornado DDT. Payne is down but not out.

[Cut to Hiroshi with Payne in a standing headscissors.]

TH V/O: The Muffin Man with another spike to the head, this time with a tight-pulling classic Memphis Death Certificate piledriver, so a propos for being in Memphis, but no, Payne still not put away.

[Cut to Hiroshi behind Payne.]

TH V/O: Hiroshi going to finish the match off with the Hiroshima Little Boy (Burning Hammer), but Payne blocks it last second and quickly transitions into a full nelson. You know what happens when he locks that in... PAYNE KILLER! Play-in Jason Payne gets the finisher, the pin and he'll move onto the Elite Eight. Steve?

[Cut to the Palacio de los Deportes.]

SM V/O: Last year's winner and Mexico City two seed Karl Brown battling the eleventh seeded Cinderella story Canadian Loonie. Brown in control early, some nice chain wrestling here. Collar and elbow into a hammerlock into a rear facelock to a takedown. Playing to his own strengths and to Loonie's weaknesses here.

[Cut to Karl running the ropes.]

SM V/O: And here, Karl catches Loonie off-balance a little bit with this leg lariat.

[Cut to Loonie with Karl in a bodyslam position.]

SM V/O: Loonie storms back for a moment, here nailing Brown with a Coin Toss (fallaway into the turnbuckles).

[Cut to Brown standing aside of Loonie.]

SM V/O: The defending Merritt Trophy winner has too much fight in him to stay down that long. Side Russian leg sweep, picture perfect.

[Cut to Loonie in front of a dazed Brown.]

SM V/O: Look at the MBE Icon come back. Forearm, forearm and an Irish whip into a flapjack.

[Cut to Karl prone on the canvas.]

SM V/O: And don't look now, but Loonie's about to put Karl Brown on his Payroll (Rolling Thunder).

[Cut to Karl with Loonie in a full nelson.]

SM V/O: Brown here, making a comeback with his namesake suplex, only nets him a two count though.

[Cut to Brown on the top rope.]

SM V/O: The Dragon looks to finish this off here. Dragon Rana, but NO! It misses! He goes crashing to the mat and Loonie immediately counters with a driving knee to the head, and then...

[Cut to Loonie on the top rope.]

SM V/O: Money Shot! Loonie with the cover and Cinderella lives on.

[Cut back to the TEAM studios, Tom Holzerman in front of a SuperShow III inset.]

TH: Some news about TEAM SuperShow III, the Challenge Championship match has been finalized and it's missing an original competitor. IrishRed had to back out of the match due to some personal committments. It is unknown whether this has anything to do with his responsibilities as acting owner of Empire Pro Wrestling at this time, but it has been reported that IrishRed will receive a guaranteed shot at the Challenge Championship after it's been decided. As for the remaining three, Nova, Chaos and Ravager will do battle to decide the first ever TEAM Challenge Champion inside a steel cage.

[Cue up Led Zeppelin, "No Quarter." Cut to a shot of Kodiak Vic Creed with his hand around Rocko Daymon's throat.]

SM V/O: Coming up after the break, what do you get when you put a roided out monster against a guy who thinks he's Rocky? Stick around and you'll find out next! More EPICENTER after this.

[Cut to a commercial for Grindhouse, featuring a chick with a gun for a leg. Hey Beavis, she's hot, hunh hunh, hunh hunh.]

 

[TH]

[Fade in from commercial, Steve Murray at the TEAM desk with a Dan Ryan/Fusenshoff inset.]

SM: We already saw one Cinderella in the Mexico City bracket advance, and many people pegged the thirteenth seeded Fusenshoff to continue his run of upsets against top dog Dan Ryan. Who would argue that, seeing as one half of MBE's International Icons has taken out both the NAPW Champion Ravager and A1E Champion James Irish in the last two rounds.

[Cut to the Palacio de los Deportes.]

SM V/O: We start off with Fusenshoff standing toe to toe with the Ego Buster here, and despite Fuse being a big boy himself, he's dwarfed by Ryan. Ryan uses that size early, first chest bumping Fuse to get him off-balance, then leveling him with a 30 megaton clothesline there. Seriously, ouch.

[Cut to Fuse running the ropes after a whip.]

SM V/O: Here Ryan just whips him hard into the ropes and slams him even harder onto the mat with that HYOOGE powerslam.

[Cut to Fuse with Ryan reeling.]

SM V/O: But that fighting spirit in Fusenshoff won't let him stay down that long. The Hoff risking disqualification with several closed fists right to the mug of one Dan Ryan.

[Cut to Fuse with Ryan in a standing front headlock.]

SM V/O: Shades of Jake Roberts here with the crisp DDT, really taking it to Ryan here.

[Cut to Ryan with Fuse by the belly.]

SM V/O: Ryan roars back though, big overhead belly to belly suplex, very well executed for anyone let alone a guy his size.

[Cut to Fuse running the ropes with Ryan on the ground.]

SM V/O: Fuse though, right back in it, getting Ryan on the ground then laying the knee right across his throat.

[Cut to Ryan with Fuse on the top turnbuckle.]

SM V/O: This turned into a real see-saw affair. Ryan with Fusenshoff on the top turnbuckle and nails him with a superplex.

[Cut to Ryan with Fuse on the top turnbuckle... again!]

SM V/O: Ryan tries to go to the well again, but Fuse knocks him off the ropes with a series of punches and then... ELBOW DROP! Fuse thinks he has the match, but he only gets a two count. He gets up into referee Shawn Bainbridge's face and right behind him, Dan Ryan skulks over and gets a flash roll-up, for the three. Ryan wins, but the action isn't over there. After the match, with Ryan's arms raised in victory, Fusenshoff just attacks him, and this triggers a wild brawl, one that went into the back and all the way out to the street. Thankfully, security broke it up before any bystanders were hurt, but The Iron Duke's Mazzerati Convertible needed a new windshield after Fuse smashed Ryan's head into it.

[Cut to the dynamic bracket for Mexico City.]

SM V/O: The Mexico City Regional Final is set, as eleventh seeded Canadian Loonie will try to keep the dream alive against the top-seeded Ego Buster, Dan Ryan.

[Cut to the Rose Garden.]

TH V/O: Onto Portland now, and Shawn Hart taking on Promo. It was all Phenom early on, as he locks on a purple nurple on the five seed here, Promo. The Underground Icon slaps it away, but in one fluid motion, Hart gives him a spinning backhand chop. People still falling for the old purple nurple decoy.

[Cut to Hart running behind a slightly doubled-over Promo.]

TH V/O: And here, Hart goes all bulldog on Promo. The good times wouldn't last for the top seeded wrestler in the Portland bracket though.

[Cut to Promo with his hand gripped on the back of Hart's head, facing the turnbuckle in the corner.]

TH V/O: Promo would give Hart a good noggin knockin' here, with one ah ah ah, two ah ah ah, three ah ah ah, four, four slams to the turnbuckle!

[Cut to Promo whipping Hart off the ropes.]

TH V/O: Off the whip here and Promo delivers just a crunching backbreaker of the tilt-a-whirl variety on the Minister of Gettin' Sinister.

[Cut to Promo with Hart in a fireman's carry.]

TH V/O: And now, it's time for Promo to go OLD SCHOOL~! Aeroplane spin and I think the turbulence is making Hart a bit queasy. The crash landing right into the turnbuckle though, that could have knocked a tooth or two out.

[Cut to Hart with the elbow held up high.]

TH V/O: Hart would regain control of the match, and here, he's about to bring Promo back to the Muthaship! El Codo Explosivo times three and Promo's to the mat.

[Cut to Hart with Promo in a 3/4 headlock.]

TH V/O: And finally, Hart ends this match with the Hart Attack (Diamond cutter) and a pinfall.

[Cut to the Fleet Center.]

SM V/O: And now we head to Boston, where we have our own Rocky vs. Creed matchup to call. Only this one's between the third seeded Kodiak Vic Creed and the seventh seed Rocko Daymon. Daymon starts out like a house on fire, sending in jab after jab, peppering the larger Creed with punches all around. But this wasn't a boxing match, and Daymon would settle down.

[Cut to Daymon running towards a wobbily Creed.]

SM V/O: Rocko charges in bigtime and nails Creed with that spear. Seeing that the size difference is about a hundred pounds, Creed doesn't go down, but the shoulder in his gut makes him double over, good enough for a kick right to the face that does send him down.

[Cut to Daymon with Creed in a double underhook.]

SM V/O: And here, shades of Mick Foley with the double arm DDT. Daymon in control, but not for long.

[Cut to Creed with Daymon in the military press.]

SM V/O: Creed just toying with Daymon here, doing overhead reps with Rocko before crashing him down to the mat with that gorilla slam.

[Cut to Creed with his hand on Daymon's throat.]

SM V/O: And here, it's time for Mr. Chokeslam... WHAM! Did you see the velocity he got on that? Daymon was hurtin' for certain at that point.

[Cut to Creed with Daymon in the Tree of Woe.]

SM V/O: Daymon is upside down and that's not a good place to be, not especially if Creed is bearing down on you with a knee right to your midsection. Daymon gets crushed.

[Cut to Creed on the top rope.]

SM V/O: Flash forward to the end of the match here, Creed leaping off the top for his Creedzillinator (frogsplash) but at the last possible second, Rocko Daymon moves out of the way! Creed eats canvas, and both men pop up. Daymon with the DDT and a quick cover, and a mild upset as Rocko Daymon moves onto the Boston Regional Final.

[Cue up Led Zeppelin, "No Quarter." Cut to a shot of Troy Douglas and Ace Mason grappling.]

TH V/O: Coming up, Ace Mason got his first big challenge of the tournament. Would that be enough to deflate his run, or will he make it past Troy Douglas? Stick around to find out, more EPICENTER after these.

[Cut to a commercial for Orbitz gum, the one where Steve-O from Jackass eats sand. Gross.]

 

[TH]

[Fade back in from commercial to Tom Holzerman at the TEAM desk, Mason/Douglas inset.]

TH: With one half of the International Icons gone from the tournament, so eleventh seeded Ace Mason had some pressure on him to keep the team represented in the tournament. Seventh seeded Troy Douglas was going to make sure that he'd melt under the pressure.

[Cut to the FedEx Forum.]

TH V/O: Action in Memphis, and Mason starts off quickly with a few forearm shots to the face segueing into a bounceback and flying forearm that sends Douglas to the mat.

[Cut to Douglas with Mason in a front facelock.]

TH V/O: Douglas would strike back and strike back hard. Here he nails Mason with a stiff gordbuster, I mean, the impact reverbrating off the canvas, listen to it.

[Cut to Douglas with Mason in another front facelock.]

TH V/O: Similar setup into a different result. Implant DDT, and Mason is having a tough time for the first time all tournament here.

[Cut to Douglas with Mason in the Canadian backbreaker.]

TH V/O: Douglas continuing to have Mason's number here, Canadian backbreaker hold that he jumps down on his knees to get maximum impact.

[Cut to Mason behind Douglas.]

TH V/O: Things start to unravel for Douglas later in the game. Mason gives him an impromptu visit to the proctologist with that atomic drop.

[Cut to Mason aside Douglas.]

TH V/O: And now playing makeshift chiropractor, Mason nails him with a backbreaker here.

[Cut to Mason with Douglas in a camel clutch.]

TH V/O: Finally, he Ices Douglas' Gavones here, and it's not too long before Troy makes his exit from the tournament tapping out. Mason wins...

[Cut to the dynamic bracket for the Memphis Region.]

TH V/O: And he'll move onto the Memphis Regional Final to take on Jason Payne in what promises to be one knock-down, drag out.]

[Cut to Ulysis Solian powerbombing Yori Yakamo, Jr.]

SM V/O: IN a surprising turn of events, Boston's fifth seed, Ulysis Solian, takes out the one seed Yori Yakamo, Jr. and pretty handily too. He'll move onto the Boston Final against Rocko Daymon.

[Cut to Beast sizing up Fred Cook.]

SM V/O: And as you see here in the Portland region, number three seeded Beast GORES the tenth seed, Fred "The Poet" Cook out of the tournament. The Alpha Male will go onto face Shawn HArt in the Portland Regional Final.

[Cut back to the studio.]

SM: Alright gents, I'm Steve Murray.

TH: And I'm Tom Holzerman. Remember to tune into us after the Regional Finals on ASN for all your highlights and news about SuperShows III and IV. Until then, thanks for watching EPICENTER. Goodnight!

[Fade to

]

 

[TH]

Credits:
Writing - Holzerman
Judging - Holzerman, Lindsay Branca, Dean Gauthun, Obinna, Ryan Rogatschnig, Dan West