411’s Ring Ka King Report: Episode #3 – 2.04.12

RING KA KING EPISODE #3- FEBRUARY 4th 2012

After a recap of the title tournament so far, Ring Ka King goodwill ambassador Harbhajan Singh kicks off the show by motivating the Indian contingent of grapplers as Jazzy Lahoria and his bodyguard look on. Once he has finished his pep talk and left, Sir Brutus Magnus, Sonjay Dutt and Scott Steiner make an unwelcome appearance to assure Lahoria one of their stable will be winning the Ring Ka King championship at the wishes of the mysterious Boss. Nobody seems best pleased about this announcement. Scott further alienates himself to the natives by labeling Jazzy Lahoria “white trash.” To the ring!

MATCH 1- RING KA KING CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT SEMI FINAL- SCOTT STEINER VS MAHABALI VEERA

Scott Steiner doesn’t seem to get along with the Indian fans, as he tries to launch himself into the crowd numerous times to attack them. Magnus and an official have to restrain him.

Veera and Steiner start things with a pose off. Steiner kicks Veera in the gut to interrupt his flexing though. This displeases Mahabali, who takes Big Poppa Pump off his feet and out the ring with a series of shoulder blocks and a clothesline. Steiner gains the advantage by jacking his opponent’s jaw across the top rope, and slows the pace down to a crawl with some basic strikes. Veera comes back with a pair of clotheslines and a woefully executed side slam for two. Vertical suplex! Double S is able to shrug that off though, and an STO is enough for the three count. ½ * Dull, plodding match, and Veera is woefully inexperienced in the ring.

The unique trio of Jimmy Rave, Zema Ion and Roscoe Jackson (Trevor Murdoch.) Ion is a playboy from the Philippines, Rave wants to party, and Murdoch just wants to kick people’s teeth in. This could be the start of a beautiful relationship.

MATCH 2- ISAIAH CASH, HOLLYWOOD & BROADWAY VS JIMMY RAVE, ROSCOE JACKSON & ZEMA ION

Cash is Luke Gallows doing a biker gimmick, and doesn’t want anyone to touch his vehicle. Hollywood & Broadway are Joey Ryan and Little Guido respectively, and seem to be doing their regular gimmicks fused with the ‘arrogant wannabe movie-star’ role. This could well turn out to be the best match in Ring Ka King history.

Broadway and Jimmy Rave start things off with some fast paced chain wrestling. Ion and Hollywood turn up to step things up a notch, the Playboy from the Philippines taking Ryan off his feet with a corkscrew crossbody. In come the burly brawlers in Jackson and Cash. The decision for Ryan to re-enter the ring was an unwise one though, as Roscoe drops him with a big body slam. Now Broadway and Rave re-engage, Jimmy taking a seated dropkick to the face. Zema Ion soars in, taking out both Hollywood and Broadway with a dual missile dropkick. Nice flying neckbreaker to Joey forces Isaiah Cash to come in and break the cover up. He and Roscoe Jackson fight to the floor as the match completely breaks down. Rave wipes out Guido on the floor with a slingshot crossbody, while in the ring Ion spikes Hollywood with a DDT, and then lands a rather sloppy 450 Splash for the three count. * ½ Too short to go much higher, but this was fast paced, frenetic and fun throughout. You can tell these six were some of the most experienced and knowledgeable guys on the roster. Post match Isaiah Cash enters the ring and decimates the entire opposing team with powerful offence. He warns us that if we mess with him, his bike, or his colors, he will run us down. Hollywood and Broadway try to celebrate his dominance with him, so Cash picks both them off as well, dropping them with a double chokeslam. I’m going to leave him the fuck alone.

In the interview pit, Matt Morgan admits he’s impressed by Cash taking five men out, but says all he’s trying to do is show off how dominant he is. Double M promises to do exactly the same tonight.

A rather insane looking man known as Jwala rants in Hindi.

Here comes the American Adonis (Chris Masters) accompanied by Shera. He’s here for another edition of his Adonis Lock challenge, trying to prove that nobody in India who can break it. He picks a scrawny fan out the crowd, slaps the lock in on him, and you know how what happens next. The Adonis lock remains unbroken. What you probably weren’t expecting is a vertically challenged individual to hop into the ring, rip off his shirt and demand to be given a shot at breaking the hold. The Adonis simply press slams him into the arms of security guards to end the segment.

After a replay is shown of the Sheiks screwing Chavo Guerrero out of his quarterfinal match last week, Chavo promises to bring in someone with the same lineage of him to help take out his opponents.

MATCH 3- RING KA KING CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI FINAL- MATT MORGAN VS SONJAY DUTT

Dutt elects to do push ups to focus on avoiding Matt Morgan rather than engaging him in combat. When he finally does, we see why he was so keen not to; Sonjay’s strikes are ineffective, and any attempt to shoulder block the big man ends with Dutt himself crashing to the mat. Morgan is distracted by Magnus and Steiner, but even that doesn’t give the Playa from the Himalaya an opening, as MM just headbutts him down. He signals for the Carbon Footprint, but Brutus latches onto his leg to delay him. Even this doesn’t work out well for the makeshift stable though, as the referee sends Sonjay’s allies to the back! In the ring, Morgan batters Dutt with elbows in the corner, before crushing him with a running body splash. Side slam gets two. Dutt darts out the way of the Carbon Footprint, and a dropkick to the knees finally takes the big man off his feet. The native grappler tenaciously targets his opponent’s leg. He then tries for a moonsault, but Matt gets the knees up. Series of clotheslines! Fallaway slam! Choke-slam- no! Sonjay slips out the back door and gets a superkick to the face. He runs the ropes, but races right into the Carbon Footprint, and Morgan wins with relative ease. * Too short and one sided to go any higher, but they tried to incorporate some strategy and what action there was was well executed fare.

Post-match, Steiner snatches the Ring Ka King title belt from ringside, and stares down Morgan in the ring as the show fades to black.

Another solid episode from Ring Ka King here. Being as they have such a rich and diverse roster, it’s a shame we aren’t seeing longer matches on these shows (the six man tag match could have been a TV Match of the Year with another ten minutes) but I understand that the focus needs to be on character development and setting up stories on these early shows. Ring Ka King remains fast paced and immensely watchable.