January 4, 2003 By Sir Samurai

At the Historic Colonial Theater

Sacramento, California

The show begins with the entire roster entering the ring to pay tribute to the late Rich Robey, who passed away recently. After a few words from El Flaco Loco there was the traditional Ten Bell Salute. A very classy moment.

Everybody headed to the back and Tommy Tsunami and SirSamurai got the show going by discussing the various matches that would be taking place. When they started to talk about the tag title match between the Beautiful People and the Lucha Libre Mafia they were interrupted by the tag team champions and Shane Dynasty. Dynasty was upset that he is not getting the respect he deserves since he considers himself the top mind in the business and also the top athlete. Shane wanted a title shot. The Big Ugly J.D. Bishop and his valet Chase came to the ring and Ugly accepted.

First Match: The Big Ugly JD BISHOP (w/ Chase) vs SHANE DYNASTY (w/ The Beautiful People)

SPW HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Shane seemed hesitant to get into the ring with the bigger Bishop and spent a large part of the opening minutes of the match stalling. Finally Ugly got him into the ring and the action was on. Don't get me wrong, Shane did get some offense in, but it simply was not enough to get things done against the champion, who got the win cleanly and thus retained his title.

Second Match: APOLLO KAHN vs HOOK BOMBERRY

SPW SHOWCASE MATCH: In effort to help make the Nor Cal scene stronger SPW invited the two Pro Wrestling Iron wrestlers to work this show. Both men were in great shape and the crowd was quickly pulled into the match as the action was quick and stiff. The finish saw Apollo get the win with a Suplex, though the crowd felt that his shoulders were down as well (they had a different view then the ref, in the ref's defense).

Third Match: "Ridiculous" MIKE RAYNE and VENICE THE MENICE vs "The Golden One" HUNK GOLDEN (w/ Madison) and PSYCHO SETH

This match also featured some new comers to SPW as both Venice and Seth hail from the Bay Area's APW group. A nice, solid tag match, with the heels (Venice and Rayne) working really well together. The team work of the good guys was just fine as well as Hunk Golden was able to score the pinfall victory. Both Venice and Seth did a good job in the match and hopefully will appear for SPW again.

Fourth Match: DANTE vs EL FLACO LOCO

EXTREME CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE/LUMBERJACK MATCH: The Lumberjacks for this match were Scotty Love, Jesus Cruz, Clint Douglas, Handsome Jack, Shane Dynasty, the Sacramento Dragon, Adam Thornstowe, Rabia, Luster the Legend, and Hunk Golden. My only complaint about this match was the lack of flannel (sorry, flashbacks to old WCW shows). This match was all about heat as both men had in in spades. During the match the Lumberjacks got involved whenever a wrestler left the ring. In the end they got a little too involved as everybody entered the ring and brawled until the zebras could get them out. The confusion allowed the Beautiful People to hit Flaco with the Sex Bomb while Shane Dynasty kept the official, official for the match distracted. Dante got the win and kept his title.

Fifth Match: THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (w/ Shane Dynasty) vs THE LUCHA LIBRE MAFIA (Sacramento Dragon and Rabia, with El Flaco Loco)

SPW TAG TITLE MATCH: There were multiple times in this match in which appeared as though the masked duo of Dragon and Rabia would get the win and thus the titles. Evidently the Beautiful People realized this as they simply walked away from the ring and were thus counted out, giving the LLM the win, but not the gold. Flaco grabbed the mic and challenged them to a unification match for the next show (Flaco and the Big Ugly hold the NAW Tag Titles).

Sixth Match: JESUS "the Brownsnake" CRUZ and WICKED vs "The Lost Boy" BILLY BLADE and "The Trendsetter" Adam Thornstowe

For those of you that have never seen CWA's Billy Blade (which included me prior to this match). He is introduced as "The Long Lost Brother of Gangrel" and that pretty much says all that needs to be said. Heck, when he was coming to the ring I thought it WAS Gangrel. The crowd was really behind Thornstowe and Blade and were pleased when Thornstowe scored the win following the Trendsetter Frogsplash.

The next match was supposed to be Luster the Legend against Scotty Love, but just as the match was about to begin Dante, Super Dave, and Mike Rayne came out and Dante offered Luster a spot in the NAW. Luster said no and the match became a handicap match.

Seventh Match: LUSTER THE LEGEND vs SUPER DAVE and SCOTTY LOVE (w/ Dante and Mike Rayne)

Luster, who is a big man, did very well in the out numbered situation he found himself in, but the numbers were too great as the finish saw Mike distract the ref while Dante entered the ring and took Luster out. This allowed Love to get the pin and the win. Adam Thornstowe and Billy Blade came out and saved Luster from a post match beat down.

Main Event: SACRAMENTO DRAGON and EVEN STEVE CURRIE vs DANTE and ADAM THORNSTOWE vs EL FLACO LOCO and HANDSOME JACK vs BIG UGLY JD BISHOP and CLINT DOUGLAS

Order of elimination saw Currie and Dragon go out, followed quickly by Thornstowe and Dante. The last two teams lasted awhile (and, interestingly enough will all be involved in next week's tag title match) as Clint and Jack did not want to fight each other, nor did Ugly and Flaco. In the end Ugly gets the pin, on Jack and thus he and Clint win. Ugly and Clint get ready to square off against each other when, making a surprise return following surgery last month, the Bulldog Brian Raymond comes out. He reminds them of their past and the three unite, for one night only, as the Hit Squad... a group that was not complete because they were missing one member, the late Rich Robey. The locker room again came out and Flaco led the arena in a prayer for Rich.