Heat: The Space Age of Pro Wrestling

A Show of FORCE: Return to Morinville
June 24th, 2012
Ray McDonald Sports Complex, Morinville, Alberta

FORCE Pro Wrestling returned to Morinville, Alberta on June 24th, 2012 as part of the St. Jean Baptiste Day festivities, this time emanating from the heart of the festival grounds, the Ray McDonald Sports Complex, home of the Morinville Jets of the CJHL.

“LION WARRIOR” BOBBY SHARP vs. GABRIEL LESTAT

The first contest of the afternoon featured two men making their debuts for FORCE Pro Wrestling. The fans got behind Bobby Sharp early as Gabriel Lestat played mind games with the Lion Warrior, stalling for time on the floor in an effort to frustrate Sharp. It wasn’t overly successful, as the two exchanged holds and counters with Sharp getting the better of Lestat. The Omen attempted to change strategies and overpower Sharp, but he couldn’t establish dominance until a miscue sent Sharp hurtling shoulder-first into the steel ringpost. Lestat was quick to capitalize on the opportunity, attacking Sharp’s shoulder with brutal stomps, a variety of submission holds, and bending it like a pretzel using the ring ropes. While applying a shoulder lock, Lestat appeared to be struggling with whether or not to attack the exposed neck of Sharp, which gave the Lion Warrior the opening he needed to escape the alleged vampire and plant him with a Michinoku Driver. After scoring a near fall with the Lionsault, Sharp was able to battle through being planted into the mat with a reverse suplex to score the victory by leaping from the top rope with his signature Lion Splash.

Winner: Bobby Sharp via Lion Splash.

SLAMMER vs. KEVIN SANE

Slammer threatened to eat a child in the front row while Officer Gordon was trying to wrangle him to the ring. I don’t think much else really needs to be said about what he would attempt to do to Kevin Sane, but it will be said anyway because that’s the point of these things. Kevin Sane gave up roughly 60 pounds to Slammer, and attempted to use his speed to counteract Slammer’s size. He didn’t account for Slammer’s crazy, however, and before long Slammer was headbutting Sane’s fingers while trapping him in an arm wringer. In a match largely defined by counter-attacks, Sane put up a brave and clever fight, countering Slammer’s signature choke-lift suplex into a head scissors takeover. Slammer responded by countering a handspring elbow into attempted

murder, spiking Sane on his head with a German suplex. Sane nearly put Slammer away with a European missile dropkick from the top rope, but upon returning to the top rope he fell victim to Slammer’s rule-breaking tactics, as Slammer shoved the referee into the ropes and caused Sane to crotch himself before demolishing him with the Tower of London. A fitting finisher for convict who loves to torture his opponents in the ring.

Winner: Slammer via Tower of London

Following Slammer’s removal from ringside and Kevin Sane’s presumable journey to an entire tub filled with ice, What About Ivan introduced “Hotshot” Johnny Devine and Miss Danyah. Devine had a bone to pick with Sgt. Hazard, but unfortunately Hazard had been unable to make it to the show. As such, Devine needed somebody to beat up, and that somebody would be Andrew Hawks after the “High Risk” Newfoundlander emerged from the locker room to answer Devine’s open challenge. Hawks complimented Devine’s career, saying that is what he aspired to, and to get there he would go through Devine. Unimpressed, Devine declined the challenge, only to be slapped hard in the face, provoking him into accepting the fight. With the main event settled, the proceedings moved on to day’s third bout.

Triple Threat Elimination Match
THE NIGHTMARE vs. STRIFE vs. BIG JESS YOUNGBLOOD w/ Drew Dalby

The first triple threat match in FORCE Pro Wrestling’s history was fought under elimination rules. Unbeknownst to fans prior to the show, infamous manager and loudmouth Drew Dalby would be making his debut in FORCE to unleash his newest client, Big Jess Youngblood. The fans rained down hate on Dalby while Nightmare and Strife rained down blows on Big Jess, recognizing the danger posed by the mammoth 300 pounder. After low-bridging Youngblood out of the ring, Strife and Nightmare turned their efforts to each other and showed off their mat skills with an excellent series of holds and reversals. This was broken up by Big Jess dragging Strife out of the ring and smashing him head first into the ring post, at which point Drew Dalby took a few cheap shots while the referee focused on Jess and Nightmare in the ring.

In an ill-advised move, Nightmare attempted to slam Big Jess. It didn’t work out especially well, and resulted in Nightmare being squashed by

the big man. Strife broke up the pinfall attempt, but only to capture the glory of the first elimination for himself, as he smashed Nightmare’s head into the mat with a wrist-clutch driver shades of Dragon Gate’s Shingo Takagi.

Elimination: Strife eliminates Nightmare via wrist-clutch driver.

Enraged at Strife’s theft of his moment of glory, Big Jess assaulted the warrior from the Orient and then the two engaged in a brutal chopping battle. Youngblood came out on top and proceeded to punish Strife with a brutal power attack punctuated by a massive sidewalk slam for a near fall. “The Mohegan Sun” attempted to finish Strife with the sitout powerbomb that has won him many a match across Canada, but Strife was able to fight out of it and score a nearfall that brought the crowd out of their seats with a big running elbow. That started a valiant comeback on Strife’s part, as he followed up the running elbow with several near falls and attempted a back superplex, only to eat a huge elbow from Big Jess when Drew Dalby distracted him momentarily. Big Jess followed up with a moonsault that was akin to a mastodon falling out of the sky onto Strife’s chest, ensuring that the Pearl of the Rising Sun would stay down for the three count.

Winner: Big Jess Youngblood eliminates Strife via a moonsault.

Intermission

WILLIAM SAINT vs. HEAVY METAL

Originally scheduled to be William Saint against Mr. Fantastic, Heavy Metal took his complaints about not being booked by FORCE management into his own hands, entering the ring while wearing Mr. Fantastic’s mask on his hand like a sock puppet. Metal mugged Fantastic in the parking lot and took his place, a substitution that Saint agreed to simply because he was there to beat somebody up, and Heavy Metal qualified as somebody.

The bout began with some fast-paced technical work from which neither man could gain a clear advantage. Heavy Metal used his size to take control, but taunting Saint with the mask of Mr. Fantastic lit a fire under the Silver Lining of Professional Wrestling and Metal ended up wearing the mask while having his head smashed into the turnbuckles. Metal was able to slow down Saint and the pace of the action by throwing Saint to the floor and sucker punching him whenever he attempted to climb back into the ring. Upon Saint’s return to the ring, both combatants failed to hit a high-impact move from the turnbuckles with Heavy Metal dodging an attempted dropkick from Saint who in turn rolled out of the way of an attempted Tumbleweed by Metal. Saint tried to put Metal away with his signature Athabasca Slam, but ate a backdrop driver after a near fall for his trouble. The seesaw battle continued when Heavy Metal climbed the ropes again, apparently not having learned his lesson last time, and found himself in a tree of woe position on the apron where he took a brutal dropkick to the midsection.

Sensing that he was in trouble, Heavy Metal searched under the ring and found himself an ally in the form of a steel chair. He then tore off a turnbuckle pad to distract the official, who went about attempting to put it back in place. He attempted to get Saint disqualified by pounding the chair into the mat then throwing it to Saint while pretending he was hit in the head, but the referee was too preoccupied with the pad to notice, and instead Saint just actually pounded Heavy Metal in the skull with the chair, putting him down for the three count when the referee finally turned his attention back to the competitors.

Winner: William Saint via chair shot.

“HIGH RISK” ANDREW HAWKS vs. “HOTSHOT” JOHNNY DEVINE

As the two men circled to begin the bout, Hawks busted out an evasive shoulder roll. Unimpressed, Devine busted out a roll of his own, followed by a derisive derpy hop. Devine got the better of a scientific wrestling exchange focused on doing damage to Hawks’ arm, then sat down in a corner to take a breather after Hawks got to the ropes. Hawks taunted Devine, saying that the veteran couldn’t keep up, then the two locked up again with Hawks coming away with a headlock which transitioned into a sidesaddle single-leg crab. Devine kicked away from the hold, then took another breather, inciting the fans who wanted to see Hawks’ fast-paced, high risk style. Devine received from help from Danyah in an attempt to make Hawks submit to a figure four head scissors, but Hawks was able to escape only to be felled an eye gouge and more cheap shots from Danyah. Hawks tried to put Devine away with a shooting star press after countering a sleeper hold with a back suplex, but Devine was able to roll out of the way. Quick to recover, Devine was able to hook the stunned Hawks for a twisted-lift suplex which he transitioned into an ace crusher, a devastating move that was enough to put away the already dazed Hawks.

Winner: “Hotshot” Johnny Devine via twisted-lift ace crusher.

After the match, Devine grudgingly acknowledged that Hawks put up a much stronger fight than he had anticipated, and had earned his respect as a competitor. Devine told Hawks that he would welcome a rematch in the future, but that next time Hawks should try not to lose.

FORCE’s return to Morinville ended with Johnny Devine and Danyah raising Andrew Hawks’ arms in the air as a sign of respect and the crowd cheering for both combatants.

Special thanks to The Morinville News, who covered FORCE’s return to Morinville on the front page of their paper and also provided the photos for this show recap.