Last week, Playboy playmate Nikki Ziering got the boot after all her constant whining and pouting. That left Team Nasty with just Dennis Rodman and Dustin Diamond while Team Beefcake still had Butterbean, Danny Bonaduce, Todd Bridges and Trishelle Cannatella. We’re at the halfway point of the show, so it’s time to shake things up.

Trishelle knows that being the only girl left means she needs to step up in an effort to have any shot at winning. Danny is not present with everyone else for a meeting in the lounge. Brian Knobbs and Brutus Beefcake swing in to bring everyone into the ring while Brian capitalizes how important it is for Trishelle to step up.

Eric Bischoff meets everyone in the ring to inform them that the team concept has been thrown out the window and its now every man/woman for themselves from now on. He also announces that there would only be one match next and it would be a battle royal. The battle royal rules for this match is elimination by going over the top rope or getting pinned. Eric has Brian and Brutus shown everyone two of the three moves they’ll be assigned with learning this week, saving the third for last. The moves were straight going over the top rope and the duck and boost.

It’s training time and Brutus lets everyone know that battle royals can be dangerous given that they are in a match with so many wrestlers with varying weights. Brian and Brutus, along with Tom Howard and the UPW crew, teach the celebrities the various ways to go over the rope. Todd nearly split his, to steal a phrase from Vince McMahon, grapefruits at one point while Trishelle obviously doesn’t have the same problem.

Dustin doesn’t quite practice a whole lot, wanting to save his right shoulder. Trishelle notes to the camera that Dustin is acting like a woman because of it. The celebrities then take their shot at sending someone over the rope, with Rodman tossing one of the UPW trainers over, only the trainer lands incorrect and injures his arm. The truth of Brutus’ words from earlier begin to sink in for the celebirites.

The celebrities now work on pulling the moves on each other. Trishelle sends Dustin over the rope and he immediately gets his shoulder padded up for a moment in the back. The other celebrities think he’s faking it. Danny shows up late, which the others note is normal. Danny notes that he manages to pick up the moves rather quick to catch up with everyone, which is somewhat true. Shortly there after, Hogan drops by with Rob Van Dam. RVD is here to explain to the celebirites the finisher and signature moves. He demonstrates with Knobbs how he establishes the performance aspect of setting up and executing a finisher like the Five-Star Frog Splash. Hogan leaves RVD to help out with the training, saying, “Better him than me.”

RVD wants to see how everyone is in going over the ropes and Danny immediately steps up first. Danny goes over the rope, but slams his back real hard on the apron. That’s far from good. Danny is in such bad pain that he needs to be placed on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance. This scares virtually all the celebrities. Even the wrestlers are worried and concerned. Butterbean has some optimism that Danny will make it back for the match tomorrow. Knobbs gives a word to everyone, showing that today’s training demonstrates the dangers that go along with being a professional wrestler and that often times the show has to go on.

So training continues with RVD helping everyone develop their finishers so that they would come off better. Dennis has the flying clothesline and Butterbean has the splash slam. Trishelle doesn’t have a finisher in mind when it’s her turn, so RVD suggests a submission and helps her put together something along the lines of an STF only she does a bridge. So her boobies would be gloriously exposed in the air. Todd has the springboard elbow smash in ther corner, which RVD sees as being a set up move than a finisher and suggests adding a sunset flip into the sequence. Dustin settles on the DDT. After throwing in somemore suggestions, RVD’s time is up and he leaves the celebirites to put everything together on their own.

Cut to four hours until the match and everyone is in the lounge worried about Danny. Trishelle voices her concern about the way Danny has been pushing himself. Brutus and Knobbs swing in noting that Danny’s place in the match will be very last second. If he can make it, he’ll be thrown in. If not, the match must go on. The celebrities go through a last minute training for the match, an opportunity for Dennis and Dustin to learn how to work with the others. Match time is coming up and Danny still hasn’t shown up. Knobbs announces that there’s no more Team Beefcake and Team Nasty, rather they are all Team Hogan. Okay.

Entering first in the match is The Winner (Dustin), continuing to heel it up with the fans. Entering second is Mr. Not-So-Perfect (Todd), coming out in face-like fashion. It will be few minute intervals between each new entrant, so Dustin and Todd are alone for now. Dustin comes off in control and tries to eliminate Todd early, but Todd skins the cat and takes control. Entering next into the match is The Red Hot Redneck (Trishelle). Trishelle immediately teams up with Todd to double-team on Dustin. Next up coming in is Rodzilla (Dennis). He starts out by helping Trishelle and Todd, but immediately turns on them. So they play with the idea of still being Team Beefcake against Team Nasty.

Finally, coming in last in Mean Bean (Butterbean). He immediately sandwiches everyone in the corner and has a showdown with Dennis before everyone works him over. They all then manage to eliminate Butterbean by literally pushing him over the top rope. Everyone works each other over following a momentary Team Beefcake against Team Nasty pairing until Todd eliminates Dustin with his finisher, which is a sunset flip off the middle rope. Todd and Dennis then go at it. Dennis gets Todd over the top rope, but Todd lands on the apron and tries to pull Dennis over. Trishelle takes advantage of the situation and pushes both out to win the battle royal.

Time for the judges to eliminate someone. Danny still hasn’t returned. Hogan gives praise to Trishelle for stepping up and showing no fear in squaring off with Dennis. Eric notes that Dustin hasn’t really shown anything new lately despite excelling in his position. Jimmy says Butterbean still needs to improve in areas as he comes off looking like a whale out of water when laying on the mat. No notes on Dennis or Todd. Hogan announces that it was a tough decision to make, but Danny being injured automatically makes him a jabroni and eliminated from the show.

Or is he?

Because the preview of next week’s show makes it clear that he finds a way back in. And Dustin isn’t too happy about it as they have one of their showdowns with Hogan trying to break things up. The celebrities head over to a junkyard for some education into hardcore wrestling, which will be worked into the next match, and Goldberg drops by to give some tips and advice. Should be a fun and interesting episode.

Overview: I’m a sucker for battle royals. I really am. I like them because of the unpredictability nature of the matches. Chief among them is how unpredictable at times it is to know who will win the match. This match actually wasn’t all that different as I honestly didn’t have Trishelle getting the win. Nor did I expect Danny not to return from his trip to the hospital. It’s good to see someone like Rob Van Dam help the celebirites out in adding personality into the way they perform moves, especially their finishers. Extra kudos to him for helping Trishelle find such a pleasing finisher all can enjoy.

The match itself was decent, given that the participants were celebrities on about a week or so worth of training. Not the best from the show so far, but not necessarily bad either. The “drama” of people getting hurt added to the appeal of this week’s episode and whether Danny will make it back in time to wrestle, and therefore it gets a favorable review.

Episode Verdict: Thumbs Up

Dan Short
dan@ifight365.com