Hello, Slayground readers. This is Aldo of DDT Digest. Recently, I went to the "Tango in Tampa" show for the NWA Florida promotion on September 19, 2000 and since DDT Digest doesn't do independent show reports, I figure my next best option is to talk about the event here. Thankfully, Mr. Doom is allowing me this page to share my thoughts.

A little background, first. This is not the same NWA that featured such greats as Ric Flair, Magnum T. A., the Rock 'N' Roll Express and the Mulkey Brothers. (Okay, I made that last one up.) I won't talk about the history of the NWA and what it's been through in the last ten years, but I will say that it is still a collection of regional promotions recognizing one world champion. However, they play to much smaller crowds now. In the case of this show in Tampa, FL, the Ft. Homer Hesterly Armory seated a little over 600 people.

The production left a lot to be desired. My brother-in-law and myself arrived at the arena at 6:45 P. M. (45 minutes before showtime) and saw, among other things, chairs being placed under the ring by ringside attendants as well as a lone spotlight being hung above the ring just ten minutes before the show was scheduled to start. Talk about your last-minute planning.

A few caveats before we get into the meat of this document:

The purpose of this show is to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion via an eight-man single elimination tournament. In addition, there are three other matches on this card that I will explain later. This is my first NWA-Florida show, so most of the storylines are greek to me.

I am doing this from memory, with the program guide being my only source of help. Thus, don't expect much play-by-play. Because of this, I am going to rate the matches here differently than I do in my Nitro reports. Instead of giving stars/Spices/Erik Watts dropkicks, I will use a generalized point system that awards a point if a match was good or had something worthy of watching.

Singing of the National Anthem by the female manager of the Funking Conservatory featuring Dory Funk, Jr., current NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion Adam Windsor, Brent "Cameron" Dail and a couple other guys. Funk and Windsor will compete in a title match later under a "respect" angle.

Quarterfinal Match — Fidel Sierra (w/ Kapitana Natasha) vs. "Thunderfoot" Jerry Flynn

Whoever made this opening match needs to be dragged out onto Interstate 275 and run over. With all the faults Vince Russo has, he at least can book a decent curtain jerker for his PPV's. Anyway, Sierra cuts a bad promo bringing up Elian Gonzalez, which explains why his greatest claim to fame in the States was jobbing to Tommy Rich at Halloween Havoc '89. Total kick-and-punch rest-a-thon that sees Flynn go over with a big spinning kick. Must be a nice change from getting pummelled by Goldberg every week. Sierra bows for the audience and gets applause as he leaves, which is a nice touch. The match sucked and liked it, so I'm going 0 for 1.

Quarterfinal Match — Hector Guerrero vs. NWA North American Heavyweight Champion "Colorado Kid" Mike Rapada

Guerrero comes out with a "Latino Heat" shirt to a face reaction. Even after all these years he looks pretty darn good. Rapada is the same guy you might have seen jobbing on WCW Worldwide. Anyway, a decent mat-based match follows, with Guerrero carrying Rapada nicely and turning rudo mid-match, which put a smile on my face. Rapada eeks out a win, but Guerrero destroys him afterward. Guerrero's rudo schtick was great and he's still pretty good so this gets a point. 1 for 2.

Quarterfinal Match — Kendall Windham vs. NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion Stone Mountain

Kendall Windham makes his return to the promotion where he got his start (well, sort of)... and he doesn't look like a skinny twig! Stone won his title in Athens, GA last week by defeating Kevin Northcutt, thereby replacing him in the tournament. This is basically a power match, with Stone not selling much in the early going because he's so damn huge. After it goes back and forth, both men brawl to the back for a double-countout, so neither advance. I think Stone can get somewhere in the Big Three if he learns to vary his offense, so I'll go 2 for 3.

Six-Man Tag Team Challenge — "Classy" Chris Nelson, "Big Daddy" Vito DeNucci and Leo Von Stroheim vs. NWA Jr. Heavyweight Champion Pepe Prado, Lex Lovett and Cyborg

The story here is that Nelson and DeNucci, both wearing matching blue singlets, have been teasing dissension over the past month. They are joined by Von Stroheim, who is clad in black trunks, bald and sporting bitch tits. The faces come out, with the 6' 6" Cyborg getting the biggest face pop of the night. I should point out that Cyborg's partners are barely taller than I am. In the early going, the heels get clobbered, especially when Cyborg is in the ring. Prado plays the eventural face-in-peril and the heels run through all the good old school stuff, including the "face-in-peril tags his partner but the referee doesn't see" spot. In all my years of watching wrestling, I never understood why the referees let the heels get away with blind tags. Hot tag is made to Lovett, but he gets caught in the opposite corner. Heel miscommunication allows Lovett to tag out to Cyborg. Meanwhile, Nelson and DeNucci get into a shoving match outside the ring as Cyborg spears and chokeslams Von Stroheim for the win.

Post-match, Nelson and DeNucci re-unite momentarily and jump Von Stroheim, turning him face. Some heavy-set guys in fatigues called the Big Boy Brigade make the save. Meanwhile, Nelson and DeNucci still bicker until Jimmy Del Ray (of Heavenly Bodies fame) convinces the two to settle their differences and become the new Heavenly Bodies. Totally old school, and I'm down with that. 3 for 4.

Intermission. Afterwards, it is announced that Greg Valentine missed his flight and would not be able to participate in his tournament match against hometown boy Joe Malenko. Instead of offering Malenko suitable competition for this event, they reschedule their match at the next Armory show in October. Would it have been too hard to have Malenko work with one of their younger guys who could have benefitted from getting ring time with an experienced pro?

Florida Heavyweight Title Match — Dory Funk, Jr. vs. Champion Adam Windsor

The story here is that Funk is training a bunch of guys in a stable called the Funking Conservatory that is seconded by this good-looking brunette who had herself "super-sized," if you know what I mean. Windsor won the Florida Title, and Funk tells him to legitimize his reign by beating him. So, we get this match. It lasts about 16½ minutes, fifteen of it spent by Funk dominating the young champion on the mat. Windsor literally gets no offense until the final minute or so, when he lands some punches and counters Dory's figure-four into one of his own for the submission win.

Post-match, everyone hugs, but Brent "Cameron" Dali demands a title match and beats Windsor up. Dali ends up getting the biggest heel heat of the night. I respect Dory's mat skills even at his advanced age, but the fact that he wouldn't put Windsor over until fifteen minutes in loses the point for me. 3 for 5.

NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament Final Match — "Thunderfoot" Jerry Flynn vs. NWA North American Heavyweight Champion "Colorado Kid" Mike Rapada

Flynn and Rapada make it to the finals due to the DCOR and no-show earlier in the night. Yes, Jerry Flynn is vying for a world title, you all can kiss your asses goodbye because the world is gonna end. Quick match which sees Flynn controlling, but Rapada gets a nice piledriver in for the anticlimatic victory. 3 for 6.

Post-match, Rapada has no time to celebrate the fact that he is a dual NWA champion because SABU charges the ring and lays a hellacious beating on him, complete with the usual Sabu spots. This sets up a match next month at the Armory. Sheesh, let the poor guy soak in his victory before beating him down. Lord knows he never got that chance in WCW.

Lights Out First Blood Match — Steve Keirn vs. B. Brian Blair

The rules for this match state that it ends via submission or when one participant draws blood. For you younger folks, Keirn was better known as a member of the Fabulous Ones in the AWA and lesser so as the gator hunter Skinner in the WWF. Blair played a Killer Bee. The story is that these two are Florida Tag Champions but Keirn attacked Blair and left him bloody during a match with the BUSHWHACKERS of all teams. Your special guest referee is Chris Champion, who is obviously a part of a new breed of NWA stars. :-)

The match is an okay (but not great) brawl that sees Keirn controlling. Both guys look good physically, age considering. There's a lot of punching going on, which happens in a brawl, but nothing really makes this fight stand out from say, Benoit vs. Raven from Souled Out '98.

Fast forward to the finish, where Chris Champion gets bumped, falls to the outside and stays down for over five minutes. No wonder why he got turfed from WCW if he's that much of a wuss. Blair manages to draw color on Keirn by ramming his head into the rail. It's a decent blade job, but you could see Keirn swipe his taped finger along his forehead seconds after he got rammed.

The match ends in a way you would expect, but with a twist. Keirn has Blair down in the ring and instead of drawing blood, he rubs some of his own on Blair's face. Blair makes the comeback as Champion comes to and goes for the submission, but Keirn is face down away from Champion and Blair is staring straight at Champion. Blair gets screwed, despite the fact that no gig marks were present on his face. Interesting twist on an old concept, though, so I'll go 4 for 7.

Post-match, Nelson and DeNucci hit the ring to help Keirn apply more punishment to his former friend. Many of the faces make the save, including an EMT that gets into the act later on in the melee. This prompts more heels to run-in for reinforcement. During the scuffle, Blair ends up with the crimson mask for real. NWA Florida Commissioner Buddy Colt (seems like a lot of wrestling companies have commissioners now) orders a match next month.

Overall:

Pretty much hit-and-miss. On one hand, you have guys like Cyborg and Stone Mountain that could really make it big if they hit upon the right character tooling at the right time. On the other hand, you have guys like Jerry Flynn and Steve Keirn that have no business to be in a headlining match. (And it pains me to say that about Keirn because he was really good back in the day.) Plus, there is no excuse to cancel a match because one of the competitors no-showed. Just give his opponent suitable competition and go from there. I will say that Hector Guerrero and Dory Funk, Jr. looked good, though.

Overall, the show had some bad production prior to the start as well as some questionable booking, but I was entertained enough for a Thumbs Slightly Up.

Thank you for reading!

-Aldo