The awkward finish to the Dynamite match between Shelton Benjamin and Mike Bailey was reportedly a result of miscommunication.
The Gold Standard delivered a big kick to his opponent towards the ending of this match, turning him upside down. The referee stopped the count at the last second as Benjamin went for the pin; however, even when Bailey had not kicked out.
Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer provided an update on this awkward spot, noting that it wasn’t a result of Speedball suffering a concussion. According to him, the match was expected to go a little longer but Shelton called for an audible after seeing an incredible sell from his opponent. Only the point was not well communicated to the referee:
“The planned finish was going to be a superkick. So Shelton hits this kick, and Speedball takes this incredible full-flip bump that makes him look absolutely dead. Shelton decides, ‘It’s not going to get better than that,’ and calls an audible — this is the finish. Apparently, the referee didn’t hear him, so the ref stops the count.”
The duo continued with the original finish to the match after this, which saw Shelton Benjamin delivering a Suplex to Mike Bailey, and following it with a running knee. The Hurt Syndicate star then delivered another superkick to finally get the pin.
The match’s result puts The Hurt Syndicate in an interesting position, as Bobby Lashley also picked up a victory over Ricochet on the same show. With these wins, the two teammates have earned the first two spots in the upcoming National Championship Casino Gauntlet match at Full Gear this Saturday.
The rules of the match dictate that a pin can occur at any point, meaning that the Hurt Syndicate can take the title home even before the next participant has entered the match. This is, if the two can decide which one of them deserves to make history by becoming the Inaugural champion.