ICWW: Aftershock (May 23, 2003)

THE ROAD TO DEAD OR ALIVE STARTS HERE

ICWW: AFTERSHOCK MAY 23, 2003

Special mention:
Finally Patrick Mannion has come back to Aftershock! All rights reserved.

QUICK RESULTS:
Chris Benoit d. Chaos Drone
Michael Lucifer d. Dez Burnett
Patrick Mannion d. Shaggy 2 Dope
The Hurricane d. Matt Hardy
Indie [International] - The Nomad d. Marz [c]

The crowd was on their feet as Aftershock kicked off in the ICWW arena. Buddy Luv mentioned the latest edition of the Squared Circle Zone, discussing the lead up to Reckoning, Highway to Hell and of course Dead Or Alive. The Prince asked Luv to get back on topic, and discussed the return of Patrick Mannion. The former Eurasian champion had been absent for quite some time, but was in the arena for Aftershock! Plus, Chris Benoit looked to face off against Chaos Drone in one on one battle, as well as the former hardcore champion Dez Burnett, to face off against Michael Lucifer.

Gwen Lucifer headed to the ring to start things off, taking to the microphone. She said that she had a very important message from the mystery CEO. She revealed that beginning on Civil Action there would be a tournament that would name the combination that would face Rhyno and Benoit at Reckoning for the tag team titles! Albert Beefcake then strutted his way down to the ring with the latest Big Beefer nominations. He said that everyone could get the true word in the Rar Report via icww.cjb.net, and then revealed that the nominees were Statix, Marz and Benoit!

The deranged Chaos Drone staggered his way to the ring, ready to face off against the Canadian spike. The recently crowned Tag Team champion made his way to the ring with a twisted smirk on his face, before sliding into the ring and circling menacingly. Chaos Drone locked up, but it was all Benoit taking him into a side headlock, Drone sent him off the ropes but Benoit came back with a hard clothesline. He went off the ropes again, snapping down with a quick elbow drop. He picked Drone up, slamming him straight back down with a huge overhead belly to belly, and another elbow drop to the lower back. Chaos fought back with hard shots to the gut, and went off the ropes, only to be taken down with a drop toe hold. Benoit took the opportunity to go upstairs, nailing the diving head butt, and a clean pin. He stomped down on the Drone before heading to the backstage area, tag team gold in hand.

Backstage in the hall Matt Hardy had bumped into the Hurricane. Hardy suggested that they see if there was an opportunity for them to enter the tag team tournament. Hurricane agreed that it was a good idea, and suggested that Hardy renamed himself after his finishing move, and become the Twisted, so that they could name their team, The Perfect Storm. Hardy laughed, and told Hurricane that they would need something more than just a snappy name to be successful, which is why they were team Mattitude. Hurricane rubbed his chin in thought, and suggested they have a match to decide who had naming rights. Mattitude said ordinarily such a suggestion would be stupid, but he was an advocate of settling things man to man, so he would do it.

In the CEO's office Gwen Lucifer was making notes while watching Hardy and Hurricane on a monitor when Patrick Mannion entered! Mannion reminded Gwen that he was one half of the very first ICWW tag team champions, and wanted to know if he could get a piece of the action. Gwen apologized, and said that Hardy and Hurricane just filled the wildcard vacancy. She said he should go out and take on Shaggy 2 Dope, and she would contact him if anything came up. Mannion let out an, "all rights reserved", before leaving the room humming I'm back under his breath.

The Rising Star, Dez Burnett, raced his way to the ring to a big pop, the former hardcore champion looking in reasonable condition despite the brutal attack that cost him his title. The spirit of vengeance hit the arena yet to a standing ovation as he ran down to ring, going straight to work with the intimidation over the much smaller Burnett. He clamped down on him with big hands, tossing him by the throat across the ring. Burnett shook it off and looked for a springboard moonsault, but Lucifer caught it and turned it into a tombstone piledriver! Burnett kicked out of the pin at two, and went on the warpath again with a dropkick to the knee, looking to take away the vertical base. He went off the ropes, looking for a spear, but Lucifer didn't budge pounding down on his back and then hitting a powerbomb. He followed it up with a dragon sleeper, leaving Burnett no choice but to tap out to the devastating hold.

In the back Banging was with Albert Beefcake when Statix approached. The hardcore champion got in Banging's face, and asked him if he really voted for the Nomad in Big Beefer. Banging nodded, and then Statix speculated through grit teeth that Banging probably nominated him too. Banging shook his head for no, but apparently Statix wasn't convinced. Warning Banging to watch his back, because he wasn't a loser.

Patrick Mannion stepped out at the entrance way with a microphone and announced to the fans that finally Patrick Mannion had come back to Aftershock! He made his way to the ring to await the entrance of the clapping clown - Shaggy 2 Dope! The Dopester jumped into the ring and clapped up a storm, with back ups from Mannion! The two got a little more serious as Mannion went on the assault from behind with a hard bulldog takedown. Shaggy went off the ropes, taking Mannion down with a nice head scissors, and clapped it up before dropping the knee right into Mannion's kidneys! Mannion recovered, going back on the attack with a nice vertical suplex and then turned a back waist lock into a big German suplex. Shaggy tied up for the psycho flip, looking for an early finish, but Mannion countered it into a swinging neck breaker. Mannion dropped his opponent with the smackdown slam, scoring a cover.

In the back Benoit approached fellow tag partner Rhyno, telling him about the victory. Rhyno told Benoit to suck it up, because they had more pressing matters to concern themselves with, namely the tag team tournament. Benoit got a little hot under the collar, the two coming nose to nose before going their separate ways.

Mattitude Matt Hardy made his way to the ring next, to take on Hurricane to determine the rights to name their new tag team in the tag team contender tournament. Fans stood back as the Hurricane wooshed his way down to the ring, jumping in and shaking hands with his partner, each wishing the other best of luck. They tied up, Hardy scoring with a nice gut wrench suplex. The Hurricane went off the ropes and scored a nice cross body, and nice elbow drop. Hardy again tied up, locking in a hammer lock, but the Hurricane reversed it, hitting the eye of the hurricane! Hurricane went for the cover, but only scored a two count as Mattitude went to the outside to recover. Hurricane followed, launching himself over the top rope with a vaulting body press and then tossed Hardy into the ring going for the cover, but Hardy got the foot to the ropes. Hurricane picked Mattitude up once again and looked in danger for the twisted of fate, but the super hero managed to power his way around it, and hit a second eye of the hurricane, finishing it up with a convincing pin.

The Nomad made his way to the ring next in an unprompted segment. He had a microphone and a few words about the International champion Marz. He said that Marz had cheated his way to the title, and there was only one solution to end the questions and doubts, and that was a match at Reckoning. He said that they would need to be on even rules, to avoid Marz gaining the upper hand through questionable means, and then smiled. He told the crowd there was only one match the two of them could go head to head in - and that was a table match. The crowd went wild, but Marz soon brought the tone down as he stepped out at the entrance. He told the Nomad that they could do it that way, or they could just settle their differences then and there in perhaps something like - an indie rules match. The Nomad agreed to the chance.

Marz ran down to the ring as the bell sounded and the two went to work with right hands, Nomad gaining the upper hand blocking a kick, but it allowed Marz the opportunity to take him down with an enziguri kick! Nomad huffed and sent Marz into the ropes, going off the opposite set and catching him with a bulldog! He followed it up as Marz sprung up with a swinging crescent kick, and then went off the ropes and connected with a big leg drop! The Nomad picked Marz up, looking to send him over the ropes, but the champ raked the thumb to the eye, and went for the springboard kick, but nobody was there. Nomad came off the dodge and tied up with a front face lock, the world champ managing to over power him and hit a vertical suplex. Marz went upstairs and connected with a fierce moonsault, and picked the Nomad up to finish him off with the spiral bomb, but the Nomad managed to slip out and sprayed the red myst in his eyes! With Marz staggering back Nomad hit the bible black, and then tried to eliminate him over the top rope, but Marz nailed him with a low blow! The bell sounded, signaling a disqualification as Marz rolled out of the ring wiping his eyes looking up at the Nomad who was standing in shock. The Nomad was shouting, "he did it again" as Marz retreated up the ramp, and AS came to and end.