All-Star Championship Wrestling

Introduction
In its maiden outing as an actual entity, the All-Star Academy welcomed 568 fans for some good ol'-fashioned wrestling. New recruits to the ACW plus superstars that had been around for a while congregrated in the ACW (All-Star) Arena for the beginning of a new adventure. Joe Bishop, a prominent figure from ACW's yesteryears, stood in the ring in his newly-appointed capacity as Chief of the Academy and welcomed the small group of fans to what was sure to be an interesting first episode of SHOWCASE. Bishop revealed that the ACW Scorpion Fighting Champion, Iceman, would be taking on rising star and student Orlando Grant in the main event.

The End vs. John 'The Hammer' Smith
In the opening contest, two men with distinctly similar styles took on each other. The End got the crowd riled up as he somehow managed to execute a gorilla press slam on his opponent a minute into the match! John Smith was not to be outdone, and he got the fans talking after a harsh T-bone suplex that earned a very close near-fall. Just as John Smith looked to be building more steam, The End abruptly connected with a boot to the face and followed up with a volatile spear takedown. The End then locked in a single-leg Boston crab, which surprised many people in the crowd, and John Smith tapped after a valiant efffort to reach the ropes. Not the most pretty of battles, but both men brought out the heavy artillery. After the match, both men gave each other a look that seemed to indicate that a mutual respect had been formed. Either that or unrequited love was in the air.
Winner: The End

ACW Scorpion Fighting Champion Iceman set his condition for his title defense
Iceman, the man who dethroned Alias for the ACW Scorpion Fighting Champion, made an appearance to hype up his main event showdown with the promising Academy student known as Orlando Grant. Iceman mentioned that he was so confident of walking away without being fully challenged and still the champion that he'd decided to do something unique. For the title defense later on in the night, it'd be contested under 'Iceman Academy Rules': falls count anywhere, anything goes... and a five-count OR a successful submission to gain the victory. Iceman told the fans that he'd normally not waste time on people like Orlando Grant, but since Joe Bishop dared him to prove that he was worthy of the title belt he'd taken from Alias, the new champion was going to show everybody he'd deserved to be Scorpion Fighting Champion and would go down as one of the best holder of the title belts in a long time!

John Sarsgaard vs. Malk Al-Haq
Malk Al-Haq was the first man to the ring for the second match, and decided to update the crowd on how he felt his opponent, John Sarsgaard (he who reputedly had hands of steel) was a smelly individual. Yes indeed, Malk's big pre-game trash talk centered around how he felt John had intolerable body odour. As expected, the crowd was not interested in that. John Sarsgaard put a stop to Malk's rambling with a fierce clothesline to get the match rolling, and the Arabian wrestler never fully recovered. He did get some good shots in, but Malk found himself continuously stonewalled by John everytime an attempt at building momentum presented himself. Sarsgaard thought he'd had the match wrapped up after a fierce bridging German suplex, but Malk somehow managed to grab the bottom rope in the middle of the count. A few seconds later, Malk managed to counter being sent to the corner turnbuckle into a small package, but was not able to hold on long enough to earn the win. And that would be the last bit of spark from the Arabian, as the man dubbed as having Hands of Steel connected with his Windy City Slice moments later to earn the victory!
Winner: John Sarsgaard

A trip down memory lane: Brian Spaes versus Alias, Empty Arena Match for the ACW Scorpion Fighting Title, LEGENDS III
The fans were then treated to a special recap retrospective at one of the best matches of the year, which featured Alias defending the Scorpion Fighting Title against Brian Spaes. After which, Joe Bishop came out to ask several fans what their favourite moments of the match were, and promised that there'd be more looks at Alias' extraordinary run as Scorpion Fighting Champion on upcoming episodes.

Jack Johnson vs. JP Boudreau
JP Boudreau, being the hometown boy, was cheered loudly against the non-descript Jack Johnson. The match started out with Johnson sliding out of the ring and doing push-ups. Yes, indeed. Boudreau joined his opponent on the outside, and watched as Johnson switched to sit-ups. Until he lashed out with a kick to JP's junk. The crowd didn't like that one bit, and Johnson went ballistic with kicks to every area of Boudreau's torso. Jack Johnson stopped to roll in and out of the ring, breaking the 10-count, before returning to his kicking. Once he'd felt confident that Boudreau was as done as dinner, Jack got the hometown boy back into the ring and somersaulted over the ropes, landing a cockscrew legdrop on JP Boudreau. That was all it took to keep JP down, and Jack Johnson picked up an impressive if not slightly cheap victory.
However, Jack Johnson was not finished. He continued to assault JP Boudreau with close-range punches, until a swarm of referees came out to stop the beating. Jack Johnson was escorted out of the ringside area to a huge chorus of jeers, and JP Boudreau was given something of a reassuring cheer by the crowd when he finally got back to his feet... confused as to what he'd done to incur such un-sportsmanlike behavour.
Winner: Jack Johnson

Orlando Grant vs. Iceman (c) for the ACW Scorpion Fighting Title
Orlando Grant was definitely excited to have the chance to challenge Iceman for the ACW Scorpion Fighting Title, and nothing Iceman said could dampen his spirits. Not even when Iceman said that he was basically forced into doing charity work. The fans jeered him, and as Iceman got all emotional at them for giving him grief over the truth, the OG of ACW surprised everyone with a dropkick to the back of Iceman's head! Iceman tumbled out of the ring, and the referee called for the bell to be rung, to start the match. Orlando took the fight to Iceman in the early going, using all his enthusiasm and speed to frustrate Iceman. The man who'd dethroned Alias for the Scorpion Fighting Title, however, was not going to be messed around with too much... and put a stop to Orlando's early momentum by using the title belt and smacking his challenger in the face with it!
As per the rules of the match that Iceman had earlier gone through, falls counted anywhere and it'd be a five-count instead of a three-count. Iceman must have forgotten his own rules, for as he pinned Orlando after the belt-shot, the champion got up after three and celebrated his victory. It was only after the referee explained to Iceman what had happened did the champion realise he'd made a mistake. The fans laughed, and then cheered loudly when Orlando Grant cracked a chair over Iceman's head! Alas, the OG of ACW only got a four-count... but it was close.
The two men continued to battle all over ringside for the next few minutes, with the weapons of choice being the title belt and the steel chair -- neither man was able to inflict further weapon damage on the other, though, until Iceman executed a drop-toe-hold on Orlando which saw Orlando's face bounce off the steel steps! With the fans hurling more and more abuse at Iceman, the champion placed a chair over Orlando's face (which still lay on the steel steps), and ascended to the top turnbuckle. Iceman screamed at the crowd to stop disrespecting him, before he took flight with what seemed to be an attempt at a double-footed stomp. The only problem was that Orlando managed to roll out of harm's way during the champion's shouting match with the fans, and connected with a swing of the chair as Iceman came down on what he thought was Orlando's face! Orlando went for the immediate pin... but once again, only a four-count.
The fight went back into the ring, and Iceman found all his comebacks thwarted by Orlando's spirit and resilience. It was only after the OG of ACW wasted a little bit too much time in ascending to the top of the turnbuckle did Iceman gain a break. A flying elbow drop attempt by Orlando missed the mark as Iceman rolled out of the way, and the champion immediately followed up with his Respect finisher to secure the five-count after 20 minutes of battle!
Winner: Iceman to retain the ACW Scorpion Fighting Title

Conclusion
The consensus from the fans was that the first episode of SHOWCASE was not too shabby at all, and that there was a lot of potential to be had for the future episodes to grow in strength. Joe Bishop stated that he was very happy with how the episode turned out, considering there were still some logistical and roster issues to be worked out. Nonetheless, Bishop mentioned that there was no reason for the attendance to increase once renovation work on the ACW (All-Star) Arena was complete. Bishop also revealed that the Academy would have another episode towards the end of the month, and the next two months would also be very intriguing for all those who wanted to be part of the Academy!

Reported by:
Sally Broxton
ACW Correspondent
16 October 2009