It's all in the small print.

24 participants, twelve two-man teams (well, 11 plus a father/daughter combo) showed up for the 2001 Wrasslin' Tag Team Tournament. Included were many past winners of both Tag Team and other Wrasslin' event fame.

The teams were arranged in a single elimination bracket of 16 with four byes going to past winners. Defending champs Stakenas and Price) split up this year to pair with their respective sons. Price/Price for the first year and Stakenas/Stakenas (three prior WTT wins) for the fifth time. Dan Dolan Sr and Ike Porter received the third bye on the strength of one past WTT tourney win. And the feared and hated Dolan brothers (Dan Jr and Tim) with wins in other Wrasslin' events were given the fourth.

Unlike past years, the original Wrassler's made a comeback in single fall matches. Teams were preset and selected randomly with each participant rolling a separate team and then choosing between the two.

With the preliminary posing out of the way, things got down to business with the eight pretender teams. And, before long, there were four. In the warm up round, John Coussis and George Sauer (Grandmaster/Kimono Lizard) defeated Lee Cohen and Eric Metelis (Ali Mohammed/Ka-Pow); the father daughter pair of Jeff and Jessica Finkelday (The Champ and Mr Brutal) made a good showing before bowing out to Bruce Monnin and Jeff Mullet (Tricky Dicky/Big Ben); Bruno Wolff and Jordan Ludwick (Block Buster/Brent Hurt) were drummed out of the tourney by Nicholas Kramer and Steve Dickson (The Judge/Manly Mike Adams); and finally, Devin Flawd and Adam Gugliemini (Jamie Kneeshurt/Tyler Johnson) made quick pancakes of Dave Richtmyer and Greg Nicols (Whammer/Hot Cocoa).

As the dust settled, the taunts and posturing and rants began ... (no steel chairs or tables were destroyed during this tournament)...

Round 2 began and ended amidst much discussion on the merits and true intentions of rule 11.5 ... when the debris was cleared the stuff of champions (all seeded teams) remained ... Ray and Ray Stakenas (The Serpent and Mr Umpire) made quick work of Cousis/Saure; Jon and Alex Price (Flying Phil/Harpo) pushed past Kramer/Dickson; Dolan/Porter (Daddy Warbucks/Garbage Man) clobbered Flawd and Gugliemini; and the Dolan brothers (Jimbo and Sampson) hung on to defeat Monnin and Mullet ...

The semi-finals saw the Dolan brothers defeat the Stakenas duo as Sr, brain cramping all the way, drew when he should have tagged and ended up in a continuing hold that was broken by Ray II and then pinned before he could do anything ... the subsequent Ray II rant was probably the highlight of the tourney ... other than the ongoing discussion regarding rule 11.5 ...

Porter and Dolan sat on the Prices for a convincing win setting up a three-quarters Dolan and no holds barred final ...

where the brothers were able to best their father with yet another continuing hold, no tag game ... and take the wood.

After running junior's events for 11 years, this was my first foray into the 'adult' circuit. Initial feedback was good, but, ya know ... some folks just don't get it ... after all, this is based on "professional wrasslin'", eh? Lighten up guys ... and next time
... READ THE SMALL PRINT!