National Title Gauntlet Match
The Sangamon Auditorium in Illinois Capitol city of Springfield is the venue for Gaunlet, a unique NoW show that features only gauntlet matches with the order of entry being determined in round robin tournament matches spanning over the entire month of match.
The first match was the National Title Match. We go to highlights throughout the round robin, Oden beating Shrader for the title and ending with Dave Jumper beating Oden to become the first NoW grand slam champion. A rematch of that first title change in the round robin kicks it off with Oden vs. Dick Shrader. These two powerhouses went back and forth but Oden missed the Ragnorak and Shrader hit a big boot to pin Oden.
The man who is always 'ready to get sweaty' Levi Carmina came down next to tangle with Dick Shrader. Dick Shrader advance a second time pinning Levi Carmina.
Dick Shrader saw his third opponent of this match in the former Heavyweight Champion Donald Dodge Dodson. Dick Shrader was obviously showing the affects of already winning two matches but he managed to hit a running powerbomb on Dodson and advance to face his cohort Dave Jumper in the Gauntlet final.
Dave Jumper came to the ring rubbing his hands together. He got in the ring and he and Shrader shook hands and the match began. Jumper was quick and agile, and Shrader was obviously winded after beating 3 other wrestlers and Dave Jumper won the match. Dave Jumper berated the ring announcer for not calling him 'Grand Slam' Dave Jumper.
Tag Team Title Gauntlet Match
Rage Hammer and Mayhem squared off with the Lords of Asgard to begin the tag team gauntlet match. The Valkyrie came to stage, went to one corner of it and stood in a straight line, watching the match. The applauded as they hit what they call the House of the Fallen on Mayhem for the victory.
El Serpentie de Lige and Ivan Breznev came to the ring next. Breznev and Tyr faced off first in a match of power verses power. Loki tagged in and was hit with a double team power slam leg drop to pin him to move on.
The Mates were next in the Gauntlet and they started off getting absolutely pummeled by the big Russian Breznev. De Lige tagged himself in unbeknown to Breznev and he got leveled by a big boot. Ambrosia crawled over to make the cover for the win as Breznev was steaming at the loss.
The Mates were both worse for wear by the time the tag team Champions the Twin City Saints came down. They wasted no time hitting a double powerbomb on them and Claudaine pinned Ambrosia. The took the microphone and said they have defended their titles every single week and there is no tag team past or present in the NoW that hold a candle to them!
Bruiserweight Title Gauntlet Match
Highlights of the Bruiserweight Title round robin were shown. Italian Roc dropping the title to Axel Kaiser, and Kaiser eventually losing the title to undefeated new comer Damon Reid. The Masters of Blood music plays and Rowdy Richie and Italian Roc actually come out together to start the match. As per what you would this this was a power verses speed match up. Italian Roc got Rowdy Richie in an early figure four leg lock but Richie powered to the ropes for the break. Richie went for the Train Wreck but his knee buckled from the figure four allowing Roc to drop him with a chop block. Roc came off the top rope with a chair to pin Richie.
A second powerful competitor came down to the ring in the form of Lords of Asgard member Thor.Italian Roc was ready for Thor with the chair and attacked Thor with it immediately and came off the top rope with an elbow. Another chapter in the MoB/LoA rivalry ended with Italian Roc impressively getting the big man up for a Roc slide and got the pinfall victory.
Italian Roc waited for Axel Kaiser with the chair back in his hand but Kaiser came into the ring with his old trusty ring bell and nailed Italian Roc with it. He hit the Fix Your Face super kick and then came off the top rope with a big splash to pin Roc.
Damon Reid came down with the title on his shoulder as Kaiser waited for him in the ring Reid took his time getting there and it absolutely enraged Kaiser. Kaiser came at Reid with the Fix your Face but Reid sidestepped it and tossed Kaiser out of the ring, Kaiser kept coming enraged at Reid but Reid stayed cool and collected, He managed to hit Kaiser with the Bruiserweight Title belt and then hit a senton off the top rope. He hit his finisher 'The Prophecy' and retained his title, making the champions retaining in all three matches.
Heavyweight Title Gauntlet Match
The other two members of the Masters of Blood came out together for the Heavyweight Title Gauntlet match. BeeHeMoth ended up beating big crazy to move on.
'The Spearman' Tony Vasiliki came down next to face the massive BeeHeMoth. BeeHeMoth came out strong from the get go over powering Tony. But Tony hit a big spear out of the corner to pick up the victory over BeeHeMoth.
CPL Punishment and Tony Vasiliki faced off next. Vasiliki hit a spear on Punishment but Punishment kicked out of Vasiliki's finisher!! He tried to pin him again but Punishment kicked out again! Punsishment hit a piledriver and a sit out powerslam to pin Vasiliki to go to the main event final.
The final of the Heavyweight Title Gauntlet was the two most successful heavyweight champions of this era of NoW. Manslaughter started off quickly with a Lou Thesz press to beat down his Punishment. Punishment reversed it into a rear naked choke but Manslaughter got to the ropes. CPL Punishment took advantage keeping Manslaughter in the corner . A rake to the eyes from Manslaughter swung the momentum in his favor. He hit a swinging neckbreaker and covered for a two count. Punishment hit a lariat closeline that flipped Manslaughter over. The two both got to their feet and locked up. CPL got Manslaughter into a headlock but Manslaughter reversed it into an Atomic drop that turned to a Mikianochu Driver and he picked up the 1.2.3. Gauntlet went off the air with Manslaughter staring at the Heavyweight Title.
