Found Footage Friday: GOLDUST~! KASH~! MORTON~! KASH~! MICHAELS~! KASH~!

Goldust vs. Kid Kash Crossfire Wrestling 8/4/12

MD: This was the first round of a tournament to crown the company's first heavyweight champion. Cagematch says they went 25 but I think it was more like a fake fifteen. It was solid though. They're right about the same age, but were in great shape. Kash was still more than happy to stall but he had plenty of heat for it. The Fairgrounds was packed for a show with Brian Christopher, Shane Williams, Harry Smith, the Hotshots, David Young, Mad Man Pondo, Jillian Hall, etc, and Goldust was probably the biggest star. It's a good venue with the right crowd and right wrestlers. So, Kash was happy to stall, but went when it matters. The first real exchange was Dustin running over him multiple times, and he certainly threw himself back for the punches to help them look great (not that they needed a lot of help). He snuck in low blows and worked the leg, including a long figure-four, and would go to the eyes for his cutoffs. Dustin eventually fired back but couldn't capitalize on the bulldog (we'll say due to the fact he landed on his ankle but the camera angle didn't help us there) and they worked it towards that draw, with Dustin getting something of a moral victory since he had the advantage at the end even if he couldn't score the win and move on in the tournament. They'd worked in TNA back in 05 but they were different wrestlers here, in a different place, at a different time, and this was a perfectly enjoyable first round draw for an upstart promotion, the kind you might have seen in Southwest in the 80s or Global in the 90s. 

Ricky Morton vs. Kid Kash Crossfire Wrestling 9/1/12

MD: Yeah, I'm a fan of 2012 Kash's act. The Goldust match was a good mix of action and bullshit, but this leaned hard into the latter. It was billed as teacher vs student though it's not like the age gap between these two was that massive, just ten years. Kerry, who had to be around 10, came out with Ricky and hyped the crowd up. The kid got it. It was funny too: Kash was, again, all about the stall here, though he utilized it differently (more on that in a second). At one point he started berating some kids at ringside, pretty brutal stuff but it got him a ton of heat. Even though Kerry was right there, he didn't go after him instead. He picked some bystanders, probably because he knew Kerry would get right up in his face and the crowd would cheer for Kerry instead of boo at Kash. In the Goldust match, he stalled to counter Dustin's early advantage and because he didn't have an answer for him, annoying the fans with his cowardice and refusal to engage. Here, he had the advantage, but kept heading out after a successful shoulderblock, making it seem like he wasn't showing Morton respect, building and building the anticipation for him to get his comeuppance. The best wrestling is all anticipation and payoff and the crowd went up for Morton finally taking him over. He again resorted to low blows and after Morton went back, even went for a chair. They built right to the next card as Jerry Lynn came out to stop him, causing the distraction that let Morton roll him up. I could watch heatseeking stalling all day and obviously over-50 but still spry Morton was the perfect foil for it.

Chris Michaels vs. Kid Kash SAW 9/15/13

MD: Roles are reversed a year later. Michaels is the heel, and TV Champ of SAW, and he's got "Uncle" Reno Riggins with him with a newsboy cap. I kind of love the idea of Riggins as the medium sized fish in the small pond over the span of decades and he's effective in this role on the outside. Michaels does a bit of stalling, some eye poking, uses Riggins to ambush Kash. He doesn't seem to have it in him to generate the sort of heat Kash was the year before, though. Kash played a lot of this as a stoic sort of babyface, pushing forward at every point. He lost his cool and went low a couple of times which let Michaels do the same later on. This felt like a TV match leading to a bigger one at the next show where Kash would get five minuets with Riggins if he won so it was all a little understated, even if it got decent time. Good range between the two years by in-his-forties Kash but I definitely got more of a kick out of the heel act.