My Kingdom for a Tag ...
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!
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