The National Park was transformed into a wrestling arena on Saturday evening as 15 world renowned wrestlers entertained thousands of fans who turned up to witness professional wresting for the first time in Guyana after decades. Despite a late start, patrons definitely got their money’s worth as the wrestlers showcased their talent with some superb moves, and some intermittent chatting.
The sounds of the wrestlers hitting the canvas sent the patrons wild, especially the children, who turned out in numbers. With a passageway lit with blue lights, the wrestlers made their entrance in grand style with flames and spotlights. It was professional wrestling at its best. The main event of the evening was the highly anticipated brawl between two of the most senior players in the game: Mike Knox and Luke Gallows. That match-up ended in a win for Gallows after Knox was disqualified because of a disadvantage taken on Gallows after his colleague ran out to save him; this was identical to the cheating involved in the sport entertainment seen on television.
They double teamed Gallows, but after a while, Gallows’ colleagues went to his rescue. Upon the announcement that Knox was disqualified, he became angry and challenged Gallows to street style wrestling match on Sunday evening.
An angry Knox was escorted to the dressing room by the referee. However, kicking things off on Saturday evening were Daivari and Paul London with some skillful display of back flicking, tumbling each other on the canvas, slaps to face and bodily punches. Paul London was declared winner of the match after knocking out Daivari. The referee hit his hand on the canvas three times then the bell was rung, signaling that the fight was over. The excitement increased when the 350 plus pounds Big Daddy V made his way to the stage to challenge a 250 pounds Shad Gaspard, who did not leave any stone unturned, but not for too long. The huge Big Daddy V eventually got hold of Gaspard and slammed him into the ropes and then onto the canvas leaving him motionless.
Big Daddy V then threw himself on Gaspard, holding him down while the referee counted to three. It was all over for Gaspard, who took some time to recuperate from the hard hits he received.
The steam got hotter as the female wrestlers took to the stage. It was a handicap event which saw Katarina Leigh Waters aka “Winter” and Sara Del Rey taking on Gail Kim. In the midst of the battle, the two partners turned against each other which added some zest and excitement to the fight. After the brutalising, Kim came back with some cool moves to stamp one of her opponents to the canvas to take the fight. This was well enjoyed by the fans.
As the excitement continued, there was some physical contact involving Paul Jardin “Chow Pow” and Cliff Compton; this had its genesis at the press conference at the Princess Hotel on Friday. Compton came out and to frustrate the crowd, spoke ill things about Guyana which led to Jardin warning him to desist from doing so.
The feud continued and there was some pushing and tugging. By then, Jardin informed Compton that his partner, Butter Bean would fight him. The crowd went berserk as a huge Butter Bean made his way to the ring. He took away the microphone and indicated to the fans that Guyana is his second home, despite mispronouncing the name of the country.
After some running around the ring by Compton, he was eventually cornered and slammed to the canvas; lifted into the air and power slamed to the ropes of the ring. Butter Bean managed to clamp him down to win the match.
The tag team match was simply irresistible to look at. It was wrestling in full swing as Sylvester “The Predator” Terkay teamed up with Paul Lee against Tom “Green Beret” Howard and Raven. After 15 minutes of action, Howard and Raven were declared winners. Just before the main fight, the legendary Goldberg was escorted to the ring by two police officers. The crowd went out of control and stood on their feet as the former heavy weight champion made his way to the centre of the ring. He spoke briefly to the crowd after which he met and greeted members of the audience, and in some cases, lifting a few children in the air with one arm. After two hours of nonstop action, the curtains came down on the first night of WrestleRama Guyana 2012. The show was also attended by Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony; Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) Chief Executive Officer Yog Mahadeo, and other public figures.
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