Guitar injury prevents Honky Tonk Man from wrestling in Berwick

By Kirk Starratt

kstarratt@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

There were a few surprises and challenges along the way, but Ultimate Championship Wrestling (UCW) has successfully completed its Ultimate Kick-Off 2008 Tour and has set the stage to crown its first champion.

The tour kicked off at the Barrington Municipal Arena in Barrington Passage Wednesday, July 23. Aside from an unfortunate accident involving a member of the ring crew and a wrestler that saw the ring crew member have the back of his head split open on the concrete floor and paramedics and the RCMP respond to the scene, the show went off without a hitch.

Sidewinder defeated Cinder; Transformer Shockwave the Robot toppled Julien Young; “The International Superstar” Portia Perez pinned 21st Century Fox in women’s action; and one of the greatest living legends of professional wrestling, the longest reigning and greatest WWE Intercontinental Champion of all time, the Honky Tonk Man, vanquished “Lumber” Jack Johnson.

Ring announcer “Captain” Kirk introduced Commissioner Chuck Martin, who came out and said a new champion would be crowned for UCW. This provoked “Kowboy” Mike Hughes, a long-time Maritime main-eventer, a national TV star on The Fight Network and a former WWE performer, to come out and demand he be named the new champion.

Martin refused and it looked like Hughes would attack Martin until Titus came out to make the save. Martin booked Hughes versus Titus for the main event.

Major upset results in attack

In what some fans would consider a major upset, Titus defeated Hughes. Unhappy with the loss, Hughes, joined by Johnson, attacked Titus after the match. Sidewinder ran out to help but was unceremoniously thrown from the ring by Hughes and Johnson.

The chaotic scene ended only after the Honky Tonk Man ran in with a steel chair and ran off Hughes and Johnson.

Honky Tonk Man demanded that Martin do something about the situation. Martin said the championship would be decided in Barrington Passage in September in a special tag-team match with Hughes and Johnson taking on Honky Tonk and any partner of his choosing from anywhere in the wrestling world. Whoever scores the pin in the match will be crowned the first UCW Champion.

When asked for insight into who his partner could be, Honky Tonk Man said it could be anyone, citing names such as WWE Hall of Fame inductee Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, Bushwhacker Luke, the Barbarian and Kamala.

The tour continued with events in Halifax, Summerside and Charlottetown. However, a rather bizarre event in Charlottetown prevented the Honky Tonk Man from wrestling his last match on the tour scheduled for the Berwick Arena Sunday, July 27.

Guitar bashing goes wrong

While at Boston Pizza in Charlottetown, a sponsor location, Honky Tonk got into a guitar-swinging contest with a fan. Each had a guitar and the point was to bash them together to see who would smash the other’s guitar. On impact, Honky Tonk’s guitar shattered and split all the way up the neck, nearly severing Honky’s right ring finger. He required several stitches and the hand was heavily bandaged.

After being introduced in Berwick by “Captain” Kirk, Honky Tonk told the fans what happened and expressed his regret. He still wanted to wrestle, but Martin disallowed it. However, Kentville’s own Trash Canyon, co-star and co-producer of The Fight Network’s Wrestling Reality, stepped up and took Honky Tonk’s place. He disposed of opponent Damien Styles in short order.

“The Canadian fans have always been great fans of mine. They’ve always turned out for me and they support me very well,” Honky Tonk Man said. “It’s really a privilege to come to Canada and perform and entertain in front of these great fans.”

In other action, Sidewinder defeated Cinder; Shockwave defeated Hot Shot Haggerty; Young beat Hughes by disqualification following the interference of 21st Century Fox and, in an impromptu main event booked by Martin, Young and Perez vanquished Hughes and 21st Century Fox in a mixed tag-team match following a stereo superkick.

To watch a half hour video package from the Barrington and Berwick UCW events, visit www.NovaNewsNow.com.

• It should be noted that the video that accompanies this story is of a graphic nature. All wrestlers appearing have years of highly specialized training and are performing in the spirit of entertaining fans, not in the spirit of violence or irresponsibility. Nothing shown here should be mimicked or re-enacted by anyone who is not a trained professional wrestler. Viewer discretion is advised.