On Tuesday evening, Memphis Power Pro Wrestling ran their second card at the Mid South Colleseum since their rebirth from the ashes of the USWA.  When I arrived home from work Tueday to find the air conditioning in my house broken, I had no doubt that I'd attend the matches just for the air-conditioned comfort. Crowd appeared to be around 1500, give or take a couple of hundred.  Not bad for a small regional promotion like this, but their first card here drew over 3000.  Since the WWF Intercontinental _title_ was to be defended tonight, plus a match from the insufferable Jerry Lawler, the gate was probably a disappointment.  WWF theme music was p_layer_ before the matches started, and WWF merchandise was available for sale in the lobby. Our hosts are Dale Brown and Cory Maklin, hosts of TV-5's PowerPro Wrestling! YellowJacket v King Cobra - Yellowjacket in a jobber in a mask who appeared, sans mask, later in the evening.  King Cobra is a ~50 year old local wrestler with a decent following and no talent.  How little talent was on display? Throw out punches and kicks, and you had two armdrags and two bodyslams before King Copraphagia slapped on the sleeper for the win.  In an amusing spot, Yellowjacket 'woke up' as Cobra was walking back to the locker room, and demanded the ref count him out! 1/2*, all for that one comedy spot. 'Mr Personality' Derek D v Kid Wicked - For the 'Young Guns _title_', the PowerPro version of the cruiser belt.  Derek D has a really bizarre gimmick where he wears Shawn Michaels outfits and comes to the ring to 'Sexy Boy'. Oh yeah, and he's black.  Kid Wicked is a rookie who looks vaguely like a young Brian Christopher, and he's the Young Guns champ.  Some decent work here by these two guys, most of it coming from Derek D, who hit a powerbomb and enziguri, but who also blew a rana and almost broke his neck.  Kid Wicked took the pinfall following a 'Rude Awakening' neckbreaker.  Sorta sloppy, but Derek D has some great potential.  *1/2 TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT Yep, the tourny was on tonight to crown the first PowerPro tag champs. Tony Falk & Master 'B' v The Rock-n-Roll Express Hey, the R&R Express are here!  Master 'B' used to be known as Reggie B Fine, while Tony Falk is a big jobber who looks vaguely like Fit Findlay.  Ricky Morton pulls a 'Charlie Brown' spot with Master B, using his ass for the football and playing Lucy, while 'B' played Charlie Brown.  Morton played the Morton role for most of the match before Gibson got the hot tag and cleaned house for the win. * Tom Prichard and Tracy Smothers v Ashley Hudson & Lance Jade Hey, Prichard and Smothers are in the tournament!  I have a team to root for! Hudson and Jade are rookies who bear a strange resemblance to Ace Diamond and Devon Storm, at least until the bell rings.  One of these guys was the YellowJacket, I think.  The two rookies try their cruiserweight-_style_ offense, including a nifty slingshot legdrop by Hudson.  The team of Smothers & Prichard got the win with a handful of tights.  ** Billy Joe Travis & Bulldog Raines v Moondog Rover & Bo James ALRIGHT!  A MOONDOG!  No Tennessee wrestling experience would be complete without one of these oversized, towheaded inbreeds.  Following in the tradition of Spot, Rex, Spike, and Cujo, another 300lb local yokel has been transformed into Moondoghood.  Bo James was a less talented, less handsome Roadblock.  Billy Joe Travis is known for wacking people with his tiny guitar, and Bulldog Raines looks like a bald Rick Fuller.  The less I say about the actual match, the better.  Travis & Lane win when Moondog Rover pastes his partner with an errant bone shot.  * for MoondogMania runnin' wild. Heinreich Von Keller (w/Brandon Baxter) v The Streak The Streak used to be known as Spellbinder, and had a breif tryout with the WWF as Phantasio, the wrestling magician.  Von Keller gets on the mic to remind us that Germany rules, and the USA stinks.  His manager, Brandon Baxter, is now Japanese, apparently.  Downtown Bruno, AKA Harvey Whippleman, brings an American flag to the ring.  The match was sloooooow; neither of these guys is even at Rick Fuller's level of stud-dom.  The fans eat it up though, chanting 'USA' throughout the whole match.  Von Keller gets the pin after a Baxter flag shot, but the ref restarts the match and conveniently missed Streak wacking Der Deutchlander with a beer bottle.  Von Keller blades and gets pinned. * Smothers & Prichard v Rock-n-Roll Express Smothers and Prichard do some old-school heelish spots, like hugging each other after losing an exchange. The Memphis fans go nuts for this kinda stuff. Morton plays the Morton role and makes the hot tag to Gibson.  After some fumbling around, R&R get the pin when Smothers wack Prichard by mistake.  *1/2 SPECIAL BONUS MATCH Koko B Ware v Superstar Bill Dundee Dog Collar Match Hey, its the Birdman!  And he's an evil heel!  KoKo now has his head shaved except for a small crop of blonde hair on the top of his head.  For some stupid reason, the dog collars end up getting tied around each man's WRIST.  What is this, a dog bracelet match?  These guys really turn it down a notch, doing nothing but wack each other with the chain.  First blood 6 minutes in from Dundee, followed by KoKo blading around 8 minutes in.  The first WRESTLING move comes at 10 minutes into the match when KoKo hits a bulldog.  KoKo lifts Dundee on his back, fireman carry-_style_, and touches three corners, with Dundee touching them too.  On the way to the 4th corner, Dundee's valet, Samamtha, trips KoKo, who throws Dundee into the 4th corner for the win. KoKo never acknowledged my screams to do the Bird.  I even got up and showed him how, in case he forgot.  No dice.  1/2*.  Woulda been higher if he did the Bird. TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT FINALS Billy Joe Travis & Bulldog Raines v R-n-R Express It was never explained why Travis & Raines got the 'Bye' in the second round. This time, to throw some variety into things, Gibson plays Ricky Morton during the match until he hits a nice enziguri and makes the hot tag to Morton.  Morton cleans house until the ref gets distracted and Billy Joe wallops him with his miniture-sized guitar (smaller than a regular guitar, bigger than a ukelele). Your first PowerPro Wrestling champs - Billy Joe Travis and Bulldog Raines! * INTERCONTINENTAL _title_ MATCH Rocky Miavia v Brian Christopher Christopher comes out with pyro to 'I'm Too Sexy' by one-hit wonder Right Said Fred. Rocky enters to the generic NOD music and proceedes to do a wonderful job working the crowd into a frenzy.  His shenanigans with the ringside rubes was hillarious.  Christopher takes command early with a Bulldog followed by a clothesline that knocks Rocky out of the ring (From this point on, Rocky appeared to be favoring his right knee.  Hope he didn't get hurt!).  Once they started brawling at ringside, fans began throwing their overpriced confections at both men, making it too slippery to do any decent spots outside.  Rocky was audibly calling spots, and you could see him point into the ring before they went back in.  After taking control, The Rock signals for the People's Elbow, which draws a huge pop from the crowd.  Nice spot here as Christopher rolls away from the Elbow, but Rocky doesn't drop it, and punches Christoper in the face before finally dropping it.  Rock uses a DDT for a 2-count.  The obligatory Memphis ref bump comes off of a corner whip, and is immediately followed by a Brian Christopher Superkick!  He covers Rocky!  1,2,3! 4,5,6!  Where's the ref?  Kid Wicked runs into the ring and starts to pound on Christopher!  The Rock clobbers him!  Then he gives the ref, who is just getting to his feet, the Rock Bottom!  Winner by DQ, Brian Christopher!  *** MAIN EVENT Jerry 'The King' Lawler v The Giant King Giant King is the enormous freak last seen in the company of Jackyl in the WWF.  He is accompanied by Randy Hale, the owner of PowerPro, who is doing a McMahon-esque heel promoter schtick.  Lawler comes out to the theme from 'Rocky', and is accompanied by blonde valet 'Stacy'.  Man, does this match stink from a wrestling perspective!  The Giant King keeps backing Lawler into a corner and smacking him around, and Lawler keeps rolling out of the ring to regroup. 10 full minutes pass before Lawler gets in any offense!  Finally, the strap comes off (The Lawler/Memphis equivalent of the Undertaker sitting up) and he begins to pound the Giant King.  With a mighty fist from the second rope, he takes the Giant King off his feet for the first time in PowerPro history!  As Randy Hales and Stacy start to scrap at ringside, the Giant King resumes control until....Lawler throws fire!  The Giant King rolls outside of the ring, searching for his missing eyebrows!  Randy Hales orders him back into the ring, but the Giant King ignores him and heads for the locker room.  1/2* After the match, Billy Joe Travis and Bulldog Raines come out to beat on Lawler some more, while Hales knocks Stacy down and stands over he prone body, grinding his bony hips, Rick Rude-_style_.  Stacy then reaches up and gives Randy a wack to the sack!  As he crumples to the ground, Stacy stands over him and does he own little bump-n-grind, before literally SITTING ON HIS FACE!  As Randy contemplates his boyhood summers digging for clams, Lawler grabs his valet and hits the road. Well, that was it for PowerPro.  Its was vintage Memphis-_style_ wrestling, and while it may not have offered the workrate of a WCW or WWF house show, it was fun, basic, and honest old-school 'rasslin.  The fans all had fun, and there's nothing like the fans who show up at Memphis area house shows.  'Rasslin is still a hick magnet round these parts, and whatever these folks lack in hygene or _style_, they more than compensate for in enthusiasm and profanity. MIKE!