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March Madness would begin with a tag team contest between the Legion of Smashdom and Beer Money Inc. Although, nothing had yet been confirmed many people believed that Smashdom were the true number one contenders’ for the NWA World Tag Team Championships and expect the pair to face the winners of tonight’s main-event Roode and Storm would give Uno and Dos a good challenge, but it would be the Legion of Smashdom that would claim the victory in what would be a great match to kick off the show.
Okada would face Honma, in what would be Tomoaki’s final match of what had been a short tour for Honma and it would also prove to be another loss for the elder Japanese wrestler who hadn’t been able to win once since working in the US as Okada would continue to shine. It had been suggested that Tomoaki’s time in the US had actually had more to do with the coming ‘Wrestle 1’ tournament, but at this point it was nothing but gossip from the dirt sheets.
The Women’s division would be treated to Trios action as Becky Quinn would team up with Pink Energy (Angelina Love & Velvet Sky) would secure a win over a slightly less organised ensemble of Thea Trinidad, Katie Lea Burchill and Madison Rayne in what would be a fairly average match, but seemed to be centered on giving Quinn a position on the card without the young Irish talent losing relevance.
The first title match of the evening would be contested for the NWA Hollywood Championship as PAC would be pitted against Shelton Benjamin. ‘The Gold Standard’ Benjamin would prove to be an excellent opponent and would bring the best out of the Hollywood Champion that would turn the contest into a five star classic. PAC would once again successfully defend his title and extend his winning streak to 23-0.
A Trios match would take place that would see The Colony w/ Arn Anderson take on JLS in a quality match that would see The Colony claim the win. After the contest, Arn Anderson would make it clear that he had never dreamed of managing a group like The Colony, but felt that if Trios action was something that the NWA were really thinking of pursuing then he was happy to continue to support his working project Green Ant (Gresham).
SJB and Candice LeRae would battle in a Street Fight with the NWA World Women’s Championship on the line, and neither women held anything back and it was quite clear they were intent on causing the other as much damage as possible. Both women would sustain large amounts of damage, with both drawing blood throughout the match. The contest would end with LeRae leaping off the turnbuckle whilst holding SJB and spiking her through a wooden table with a piledriver. The referee would actually rule that SJB had been knocked out and declare Candice the winner and therefore the new Women’s Champion. LeRae was hardly able to stand up herself, but would manage to smile as she flung the strap over her shoulder.
AJ Styles and Zack Sabre, Jr. would face each other in the much anticipated contest between the two men, and would compete under the gimmick of a Submission Match knowing that the only way they could lose was by tapping out. The match would end up being the best match of the evening so far, actually narrowly being more impressive than the Hollywood Championship match. Both men were gifted acrobats and workhorses that the match had really fluidity and chemistry and would last over twenty minutes, before ZSJ would claim the win by locking AJ in his signature Cross Armbreaker to claim a monumental victory at PPV level.
Charlie Haas had been left embarrassed when he had lost the National Championship to Jase Hicks in an open challenge on his very first defence of the belt, and so this would be his chance to save some face and win back the belt that he still felt was rightfully his. Unfortunately, the match wouldn’t be a fairytale for Haas despite Paul Ellering’s best attempts at playing the role of fairy Godmother as Hicks’ Kickboxing style would prove to be too much and the young rookie would retain the belt. The victory would also mean that all five members of Energy! (Angelina, Velvet, PAC, ZSJ and Hicks) had managed to win, giving the faction a 100% record at the March Madness PPV.
The Legion and Chaos Project would finally have the match that both groups had been working towards, and although no one expected this to be the end of the war it would leave no doubt in anyone’s mind which faction was the more dominant. What was strange though, was that Peter Avalon and Jake Strong would be revealed as members of The Legion for the match - although this left everyone very confused for two reasons. Both men were members of the Court of Avalonia, but the second was that Avalon was set to face Booker T later on in the show. No answers would be offered though, as the pair made their way out the ring with Abyss, The Hardy Boyz with Father James Mitchell in tow.
They would be met in battle by Sting, Samoa Joe, Josh Alexander and Chaos Projects’ newest recruits Rob Van Dam and Bobby Lashley to complete their group of five, in what was scheduled to be a Five-on-Five Elimination tag team match. The order of eliminations were as follows:
Rob Van Dam eliminated Jake Strong
Abyss eliminated Bobby Lashley
Peter Avalon eliminated Sting
Rob Van Dam eliminated Peter Avalon
Josh Alexander eliminated Jeff Hardy
Abyss eliminated Josh Alexander
Matt Hardy eliminated Rob Van Dam
Abyss eliminated Samoa Joe
At the end of the contest it would be Matt Hardy and Abyss that would be left as the two survivors, although there would be questions rather than answers following the contest as why The Legion had recruited Avalon and Strong for the contest with it being common knowledge that the duo were actively part of another faction.
The X-Division Championship match would follow the elimination match, which would prove to be a hard match to follow. Not that it would stop Kevin Steen and Trevor Murdoch from doing their damn best to impress the fans in attendance. Steen though would continue to impress as he would take Murdoch for a ride off the top rope with a Package Piledriver to wrap up the contest and retain the X-Division Title.
Ric Flair - who many had expected to feature in the 5-on-5 elimination match earlier on in the night, would address the fans and make it clear that had would have loved to take part in the elimination match but that he had previously been booked to face Jeff Jarrett and was not someone to disappoint the fans. This was a blatant lie and everyone knew, but that didn’t stop the match from actually taking place. Much to fans’ enjoyment, Double J would nail Flair with The Stroke to win the match in a contest where Flair was made to look really old and in real need of taking a permanent seat on the bench.
The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship was on the line and Tyler Black had arguably not just the toughest match since joining the NWA, but the toughest of his whole career as he had to face ‘The Beast Incarnate’ Brock Lesnar for the belt. Black pushed back more than Brock was expecting, but the match would only last just over five minutes before Black would be on the wrong side of an F-5 and find himself pinned for the three count. It would be the end of Black’s reign as champion, but one thing was for certain and that was that Lesnar was incredible shape and was proving to be more like a Titan than a wrestler at this point in time.
Peter Avalon and Booker T would meet in an ‘I Quit’ match with this being Avalon’s second match of the evening. A loss for Avalon meant he would have to abdicate as the ruler of the Court of Avalonia and give Booker T control, whilst if Booker lost he would be forced to hang up his boots. The match would be an interesting contest, that was until The Hardy Boyz would get involved in the match and lead to a three-on-one assault taking place in the ring that had led to Booker T being handcuffed to the ring ropes. After a while Booker T had no option, but to say ‘I Quit’ as his career seemingly came to an abrupt end.
The main-event of March Madness would be a three way Ladder Match with the NWA World Tag Team Championships hanging over the ring, as the Kings of Wrestling would take on the Motor City Machine Guns and Team 3D as their challengers. The match would be a brutal affair with the standout moment being when Team 3D nailed Alex Shelley with the Deadly Death Drop onto a ladder that would result in Shelley’s nose being savagely broken and blood going everywhere. All three teams would look incredible that was almost a throwback to a series of ladder matches that had taken place a decade ago, but it would be Brother Ray and Devon who would manage to claim the titles belt bringing an end to Kings’ reign as the champions with the fans having a feel good moment as Team 3D would for the umpteenth time become World Tag Team Champions once again. The match would end with the pair celebrating by lifting the titles above their head, as they mounted the turnbuckles.
[4.75]