The XWF was a wrestling company founded by Jimmy Hart, Brian Knobbs and Greg Valentine in between WCW folding and TNA forming. They never made it to TV, but filmed some shows in Orlando (in what is now the Impact Zone) to try and get there. Sadly, the company wasn't long for the world, which is kind of a shame. For, as you are about to read, they had the right idea in pushing new names over known talent (whether or not the talent was good enough is another matter entirely) and they tried to produce a solid, family friendly product. With decent production values and an announce team of Tony Schiavone and Jerry Lawler(!), welcome to what is essentially a pretty good WCW Thunder...
Big Vito vs Buff Bagwell
Well I can't think of a more thrilling way to kick off a new company. Vito cheapshots early to take advantage, but Buff nails him with some clotheslines. A Mafia Kick regains the advantage for Vito, and he keeps Buff down with a choke on the rope. Partway through though, the fans are clearly favouring Vito and, to their credit, both guys start to switch roles. Vito nails a superplex for a nearfall but runs into feet in the corner, allowing Bagwell to nail the Blockbuster for 3.
Marty Jannetty vs Hail
Hail is an enormous mass of muscle managed by Jimmy Hart, famous for not being very good on WCW Saturday Night. Total squash as Hail nails a few dull powermoves (back-breaker, shoulder-breaker) and hits a legdrop for 3. Not impressive.
Horace Hogan vs Ian Harrison
Harrison is dubbed "British Storm" here. He's also a walking Wellness violation. Another squash as Harrison dominates, albeit in a more impressive manner than Hail. Harrison nails an overhead suplex and locks a leg-grapevine round Horace's head for the tapout.
Kid Kash vs AJ Styles vs Psychosis vs Juventud Guerrera vs Christopher Daniels vs Quick Kick vs Billy Fives vs Tongan Prince
This is a battle royale for the XWF Cruiserweight title, where pinfalls and submissions also count. Quick Kick is Low Ki, and the Tongan Prince is Prince Iaukea. Lots of fast paced action early on, though the camera work makes it hard to keep on top of. Fives is first out as AJ reverses a flying headscissors, before the cameras cut to Josh Matthews in the crowd. Juvi eliminates himself and Psychosis, before Styles gets hurled from the ring onto both of them in an insane bump. Ki really stands out here above all others, decimating Kash with a series of kicks. Fun spot as Daniels and Prince both duck top-rope clotheslines, leaving Kash and Ki to collide mid-air. Ki and Prince are eliminated in short order, and Kash knocks Daniels from the top rope to the floor to win the title. Spotty, but pretty fun.
The Nasty Boys vs the Shane Twins
As you'd guess, this isn't very good, though the Shane Twins pull out some decent stuff including a sweet Northern Lights suplex on Sags. Knobbs goes for a splash in the corner, but gets caught with a big clothesline and pinned. The Nastys attack from behind post-match, but the Road Warriors make the save.
Curt Hennig vs Vampiro
Hennig is managed here by Bobby Heenan, which is awesome. Hennig takes control early with the usual offense (knee-lift, neck-snap), but Vamp fires back with a top rope leg lariat for two. Heenan pulls some brass knucks from his pocket, but Roddy Piper runs out to grab them and punches Hennig into the Nail In The Coffin for the Vampiro win. Barely a match.
Psychosis & Juventud Guerrera vs Konnan & Rey Gonzales
Konnan outwrestles Psychosis early on, but the smaller team soon take control after kicking Gonzales in the back as he runs the ropes. Juventud and Psy use their speed and a few nice double teams to retain control. Gonzales shows absolutely nothing here, even less than Konnan, who at least shows a bit of zip on his moves. Even Gonzales' selling is poor, as he looks like he can't be bothered to react. Juvi hits the Juvi Driver, but Konnan knocks him off the top on a 450 attempt, leading to a shitty Gonzales Twist of Fate for 3.
Simon Diamond vs Jerry "the King" Lawler
Lawler insulted Dawn Marie earlier on the DVD, so Simon comes out to defend her honour. Swinger seemingly is allowed to get involved freely as they beat Lawler down 2-on-1, but Simon accidentally superkicks Swinger out of the ring and walks into a piledriver for the Lawler win. Way to make one of your better tag-teams look stupid.
Hail vs Knuckles
Knuckles is a fat balding guy in an ill-fitting singlet. This is another boring Hail squash, as Knuckles can barely sit on the top rope properly. Legdrop finishes, as Hail shows why he never graduated onto Thunder or Nitro.
Johnny B Badd vs Norman Smiley
Badd is in great shape here. Quite a bit of fun here, as both face-off with alternate dances. Smiley actually dominates this match for the most part, downing Badd with a double-arm suplex and wearing him down on the mat. Badd hits a TKO out of nowhere to win. No Big Wiggle either.
The Road Warriors vs the Shane Twins
The Shanes were supposed to face the Nasty Boys here, but they didn't show, leading to the Warriors coming out in their stead. This is kinda, sorta not bad, in a "big guys hitting power moves on each other" way. Certainly, the Shanes more than hold their own here. Hawk plays face in peril after a shoulder first bump into the post, but gets the hot-tag after a collision with one Shane. Animal doesn't exactly land on his feet following a back suplex attempt, but manages to recover enough to clothesline both Shanes. The Road Warriors hit a Doomsday Device, but the Nastys show to pull the ref from the ring, leading to a no contest. Not bad.
Curt Hennig vs Buff Bagwell
Even at this point of his career, Hennig bumps like a maniac, leaping over the top rope after a Bagwell dropkick. Pretty basic match between these two, but it's good to see Bobby Heenan clearly having fun managering Hennig again. He patrols the ring like a shark, waiting for a chance for a shortcut. The ending sees Heenan prevent a Buff Blockbuster by grabbing Buff's leg then pushing hin off the ropes straight into a Hennig-plex for the win.
Marty Janetty vs Drezden
Poor Marty gets to put over another muscle-bound stiff, this time in the form of a huge, leatherclad German. Marty takes some big bumps to make Drezden look a bit more impressive, including a rough looking overhead belly to belly. Powerbomb gets the win.
Horace Hogan vs Josh Mathews
One of those matches that helps no-one. Horace squashes Josh for the whole match in an uninspiring fashion, but gets caught in a flash pin for the Josh win.
The Shane Twins vs South Philly Posse
Odd that this is a family-orientated promotion, and the Posse have Jasmin St Clair in their corner. You may know the Posse better as the Public Enemy. The Shanes dominate Rock with power early, but Grunge attacks Michael Shane as he runs the ropes and the Posse start working on his leg. Not a bad strategy. Rock hits a diving headbutt to Shane's leg. Basic tag formula match, but it's effective. It would help if Shane sold the leg more of course. Hot tag after Rock misses a quebrada. Somehow, all hell breaks loose, the Nasty Boys and the Road Warriors start fighting outside and in the chaos, a Shane rolls up Rock for the win. Passable.
AJ Styles vs Kid Kash
Kash is playing smiley face, which really isn't his strength. Neat matwork early on by both guys, who are pretty evenly matched. They also match up evenly on a series of armdrags and counters, which seems to annoy Kash a little. AJ hits a beautiful dropkick right to the face of Kash. Beautiful springboard cross body gets two for Kash, who then finishes it with a double underhook piledriver. Too short, felt like the highlights package of a potentially good match.
Vapor vs Jimmy Snuka Jr
Vapor is oriental and managed by Sonny Onoo, so is therefore evil. I've no idea who he is though. Snuka has the build and attire of Rob Van Dam here, and looks impressive early on, planting Vapor with a pancake facebuster. Vapor comes back with Kendo Nagasaki's Kamikaze Crash, so he's ok with me. Vapor looks pretty decent himself here, with a nice powerslam in his arsenal. Somehow, Snuka Sr and Onoo end up in the ring, and the Snukas down their respective opponents, and hit stereo Superfly Splashes to get the win. Should highlight here that Jr hit an RVD-esque splash, where he changed direction midmove. Perfectly fine match.
Curt Hennig & Ian Harrison vs Buff Bagwell & Vampiro
Hennig tags out straight away to the monstrous Harrison, who dominates Vampiro. However, Vamp isn't as hurt as initially thought, so when Hennig tags in, Vamp rallies back and double-teams him with Bagwell. When Harrison tags in, he is reasonably impressive, and certainly better than the other musclebound unknowns (Hail. Drezden) in the company. He puts decent snap into his powermoves and can take some big bumps too. A melee ensues and Vamp stares down Harrison outside the ring, and thus fails to notice Hennig roll up Buff for the win.
Hulk Hogan vs Curt Hennig
This is a bonus feature on the DVD. Hennig stalls for time after Hogan overpowers him out of the ring. Typically insane Hennig sell off a Hogan shoulderblock. Hennig gets a nice escape from a Hogan knucklelock and takes over, but Hogan rams his head into a full set of turnbuckles to a huge pop. Hennig gets the Hennig plex for two, but Hogan hulks up and hits the big boot/legdrop combo for the win. You suspect they could have this match in their sleep, but plenty of fun.
Thursday 15 November 2012
Monday 12 November 2012
TNA Bound For Glory 2012
Rob Van Dam vs Zema Ion
How good this match is will largely depend on how motivated RVD is. Too many of his TNA matches have been by the numbers. Both guys look good out of the blocks, with an Ion twisting kick from the top being an early high. I really like some of Ion's offence here, with a tornado DDT from inside the middle ropes being really nice, followed by an insane plancha. Nice bit of work sees RVD selling the head injuries from the aforementioned DDT leading to him failing to hit a monkey flip, instead getting dropped headfirst on the top turnbuckle. The match seems to be building nicely, until RVD reverses an Irish whip into a knee to the face before nailing Rolling Thunder and the 5 Star out of nowhere to win.
Samoa Joe vs Magnus
It's heartening to see just how much Magnus has improved since joining TNA. He gets to show some nice agilty and speed early on, surprising Joe with a clothesline from nowhere before leapfrogging him and nailing a high knee. I was also impressed by Magnus catching Joe coming off the ropes with a Michinoku Driver. Both guys throw some big bombs at each other, drawing a (possiblt premature) "This Is Awesome" chant. I like the way that both guys are are to counter each other, thanks to knowing each other as tag partners. Hence Joe avoiding a Magnus clothesline for the Kokina Clutch, only for Magnus to reverse that with the Bret/Piper pin for two. The end was pretty nice too. Magnus tried a figure-four on Joe, only for Joe to grab him on the turnaround for the Clutch to gain the win. Good ten minute bout.
James Storm vs Bobby Roode
MMA fighter King Mo is the outside enforcer. Loved Storm hitting Roode with an early punch so hard that he needed to check his hand. The thing I always find odd with Storm is that he's got a gimmick that implies grizzled brawler, but he uses moves like Codebreakers, which don't really fit. Here, he shows that he really is a good brawler, with a nasty legsweep directly into the railings. Storm blades nastily following a slingshot into the post, and Roode hammers the cut. Storm's selljob of the blood-loss is top draw, even when on offence, and it's this that allows Roode to gain momentum. What is also great is how King Mo doesn't really get involved, but instead helps sell the match by reacting in horror at the carnage as both guys trade weapons shots. Cowboy is so bloodied he borrows a beer to try and wash some plasma off his face. Roode gets two after spearing Storm through a table. Last Call gets a totally convincing nearfall for Storm. Roode makes a big mistake by bringing tacks into the ring, as he tries to superplex Storm onto them, only to get knocked from the top onto the tacks himself. Storm insanely follows with a top rope elbow for two. Not learning from this, Roode brings a bottle of beer into the ring, and again it backfires as Storm smashes it over his head. Storm Last Call's Roode back onto the tacks and picks up the win. Bloody, brutal, fantastic match.
Joey Ryan vs Al Snow
Like the last match, this is another example of TNA actually building a storyline longterm with 5 months of buildup to this match. Snow still looks in good shape. The early parts show the veteran Snow dominating by out-thinking Ryan. Ryan takes control, but keeps stopping to pose, which gives Al advantage again. Ryan kicks out at two following a SnowPlow. Al goes under the ring to fetch Head, but the ref prevents him using it, leading to Ryan barging Snow into the ref. Ryan tries a baseball slide, but Snow outsmarts him again by trapping him in the ring apron. Snow goes to get Head again, but Matt Morgan appears from nowhere to hit the Carbon Footprint on Snow to gift the win. Decent enough for what it was.
Kazarian & Christopher Daniels vs AJ Styles & Kurt Angle vs Chavo Guerrero Jr & Hernandez
The World Tag Team Champions of the World decide to let the two challenging teams go at it, until Angle takes control on Guerrero. Then Daniels blindtags himself in, only for an annoyed Angle to boot him and drag him to AJ for a return blind tag. The teamwork between Guerrero and Hernandez is pretty solid considering how recently they joined together. TNA have also done a good job of presenting them as being on the same level as Styles and Angle. Kaz and Daniels regain dominace by attacking AJ behind the refs back, and isolate him in their part of the ring. Nice little heat sequence, which you don't normally get in triple threats. In fact, you get the added bonus of AJ also having to avoid the Mexican corner. Finally, he tags in Angle, who races through everyone. We predictably head into non-stop spotfest territory, the highlight being a huge dive from the ring to the floor by Hernandez. Until, of course, seconds later AJ nails a double-jump springboard plancha to the floor. Insane. It suddenly feels like a different match to the first half. It all ends when Hernandez blind tags AJ as he falls from the ring, and a Border Toss/ Frog Splash combo win it for him and Guerrero. As I said, felt like two different matches, but the ending was undoubtedly exciting.
Miss Tessmacher vs Tara
I often find Tessmacher looks a bit hesitant on offence, but the opening moments here look pretty smooth. I guess because these two are real life friends. Tara takes control early, which makes sense as Tessmacher is a better seller than on offence. This isn't a great match, but at least they aren't afraid to lay in the blows on each other. Tessmacher's top rope flying headscissors was pretty good. A missed top rope elbow from Tessmacher leads to Widow's Peak for a clean Tara win. After this, Tara introduces her Hollywood boyfriend, who is some guy called Jesse from Big Brother.
Aces & Eights vs Sting & Bully Ray
Not sure how a man so awesome as a heel as Ray still works as a face, but he does. Aces appears to be Mike Knoxx and Luke Gallows. Sting and Ray attack them outside the ring as they cuff Joseph Park to the railings. Bully and Sting have control, until one Ace moves his partner out of the way of a Stinger Splash on the rails. The Aces wrestle in line with the gimmick, just big nasty guys hitting big meaty offence, so Aces vs Bully is just great. Ray's diving shoulder block from the 2nd rope looks killer. Another Ace runs in as Bully has control and downs him, before spitting at Park. This outrages Park so much he breaks his cuffs and downs the rogue Ace member to a huge pop. Bully and Sting nail a Doomsday Device on one Ace to another huge pop. Sting yells to Bully to get the table. A fourth Ace runs in though, and spinebusters Bully through the table for the Aces win. Afterwards Hulk Hogan comes to the ring to demolish the Aces members, and the faces unmask the interferring Ace as Devon.
Austin Aries vs Jeff Hardy
Aries seems more over here than Jeff. Jeff seems to be wrestling with a bit of an edge here, slapping Aries out of the ring. In fact, Jeff's offence looks more snug than usual, as he stomps Aries viciously in the corner. Aries takes over with a dropkick to the face, then takes a victory lap. Terrific. This might be the best Hardy has looked since joining TNA, using the ringsteps to hit Poetry In Motion on Aries into the railings. Back in the ring, Aries does a good job of keeping Hardy on the mat, as the crowd really is coming to life. I like the way that the few times Aries does go high-risk, it always looks painful for Hardy, like a dropkick to the back of his head. He also does so many subtle things, like drapping Hardy's legs over the ropes to hold him in place before slingshotting in with a twisting elbow. Hardy fires back with aplomb, hoisting Aries over his head with velocity. I also like the way he dazes Aries by ramming him into the turnbuckles before hitting the Whisper In The Wind, so it looks natural rather than contrived. This is absolutely the best Hardy match I've seen in ages, and it really feels like Hardy has upped his game to keep up with Aries. Austin really starts working Hardy over, including a sick looking DDT on the lip of the ramp. The ending stretch is super-heated, with both the Twist of Fate and the brainbuster getting kicked out of, before Hardy wins with the Swanton. Great match, but it feels like the wrong time to take the title off Aries.
How good this match is will largely depend on how motivated RVD is. Too many of his TNA matches have been by the numbers. Both guys look good out of the blocks, with an Ion twisting kick from the top being an early high. I really like some of Ion's offence here, with a tornado DDT from inside the middle ropes being really nice, followed by an insane plancha. Nice bit of work sees RVD selling the head injuries from the aforementioned DDT leading to him failing to hit a monkey flip, instead getting dropped headfirst on the top turnbuckle. The match seems to be building nicely, until RVD reverses an Irish whip into a knee to the face before nailing Rolling Thunder and the 5 Star out of nowhere to win.
Samoa Joe vs Magnus
It's heartening to see just how much Magnus has improved since joining TNA. He gets to show some nice agilty and speed early on, surprising Joe with a clothesline from nowhere before leapfrogging him and nailing a high knee. I was also impressed by Magnus catching Joe coming off the ropes with a Michinoku Driver. Both guys throw some big bombs at each other, drawing a (possiblt premature) "This Is Awesome" chant. I like the way that both guys are are to counter each other, thanks to knowing each other as tag partners. Hence Joe avoiding a Magnus clothesline for the Kokina Clutch, only for Magnus to reverse that with the Bret/Piper pin for two. The end was pretty nice too. Magnus tried a figure-four on Joe, only for Joe to grab him on the turnaround for the Clutch to gain the win. Good ten minute bout.
James Storm vs Bobby Roode
MMA fighter King Mo is the outside enforcer. Loved Storm hitting Roode with an early punch so hard that he needed to check his hand. The thing I always find odd with Storm is that he's got a gimmick that implies grizzled brawler, but he uses moves like Codebreakers, which don't really fit. Here, he shows that he really is a good brawler, with a nasty legsweep directly into the railings. Storm blades nastily following a slingshot into the post, and Roode hammers the cut. Storm's selljob of the blood-loss is top draw, even when on offence, and it's this that allows Roode to gain momentum. What is also great is how King Mo doesn't really get involved, but instead helps sell the match by reacting in horror at the carnage as both guys trade weapons shots. Cowboy is so bloodied he borrows a beer to try and wash some plasma off his face. Roode gets two after spearing Storm through a table. Last Call gets a totally convincing nearfall for Storm. Roode makes a big mistake by bringing tacks into the ring, as he tries to superplex Storm onto them, only to get knocked from the top onto the tacks himself. Storm insanely follows with a top rope elbow for two. Not learning from this, Roode brings a bottle of beer into the ring, and again it backfires as Storm smashes it over his head. Storm Last Call's Roode back onto the tacks and picks up the win. Bloody, brutal, fantastic match.
Joey Ryan vs Al Snow
Like the last match, this is another example of TNA actually building a storyline longterm with 5 months of buildup to this match. Snow still looks in good shape. The early parts show the veteran Snow dominating by out-thinking Ryan. Ryan takes control, but keeps stopping to pose, which gives Al advantage again. Ryan kicks out at two following a SnowPlow. Al goes under the ring to fetch Head, but the ref prevents him using it, leading to Ryan barging Snow into the ref. Ryan tries a baseball slide, but Snow outsmarts him again by trapping him in the ring apron. Snow goes to get Head again, but Matt Morgan appears from nowhere to hit the Carbon Footprint on Snow to gift the win. Decent enough for what it was.
Kazarian & Christopher Daniels vs AJ Styles & Kurt Angle vs Chavo Guerrero Jr & Hernandez
The World Tag Team Champions of the World decide to let the two challenging teams go at it, until Angle takes control on Guerrero. Then Daniels blindtags himself in, only for an annoyed Angle to boot him and drag him to AJ for a return blind tag. The teamwork between Guerrero and Hernandez is pretty solid considering how recently they joined together. TNA have also done a good job of presenting them as being on the same level as Styles and Angle. Kaz and Daniels regain dominace by attacking AJ behind the refs back, and isolate him in their part of the ring. Nice little heat sequence, which you don't normally get in triple threats. In fact, you get the added bonus of AJ also having to avoid the Mexican corner. Finally, he tags in Angle, who races through everyone. We predictably head into non-stop spotfest territory, the highlight being a huge dive from the ring to the floor by Hernandez. Until, of course, seconds later AJ nails a double-jump springboard plancha to the floor. Insane. It suddenly feels like a different match to the first half. It all ends when Hernandez blind tags AJ as he falls from the ring, and a Border Toss/ Frog Splash combo win it for him and Guerrero. As I said, felt like two different matches, but the ending was undoubtedly exciting.
Miss Tessmacher vs Tara
I often find Tessmacher looks a bit hesitant on offence, but the opening moments here look pretty smooth. I guess because these two are real life friends. Tara takes control early, which makes sense as Tessmacher is a better seller than on offence. This isn't a great match, but at least they aren't afraid to lay in the blows on each other. Tessmacher's top rope flying headscissors was pretty good. A missed top rope elbow from Tessmacher leads to Widow's Peak for a clean Tara win. After this, Tara introduces her Hollywood boyfriend, who is some guy called Jesse from Big Brother.
Aces & Eights vs Sting & Bully Ray
Not sure how a man so awesome as a heel as Ray still works as a face, but he does. Aces appears to be Mike Knoxx and Luke Gallows. Sting and Ray attack them outside the ring as they cuff Joseph Park to the railings. Bully and Sting have control, until one Ace moves his partner out of the way of a Stinger Splash on the rails. The Aces wrestle in line with the gimmick, just big nasty guys hitting big meaty offence, so Aces vs Bully is just great. Ray's diving shoulder block from the 2nd rope looks killer. Another Ace runs in as Bully has control and downs him, before spitting at Park. This outrages Park so much he breaks his cuffs and downs the rogue Ace member to a huge pop. Bully and Sting nail a Doomsday Device on one Ace to another huge pop. Sting yells to Bully to get the table. A fourth Ace runs in though, and spinebusters Bully through the table for the Aces win. Afterwards Hulk Hogan comes to the ring to demolish the Aces members, and the faces unmask the interferring Ace as Devon.
Austin Aries vs Jeff Hardy
Aries seems more over here than Jeff. Jeff seems to be wrestling with a bit of an edge here, slapping Aries out of the ring. In fact, Jeff's offence looks more snug than usual, as he stomps Aries viciously in the corner. Aries takes over with a dropkick to the face, then takes a victory lap. Terrific. This might be the best Hardy has looked since joining TNA, using the ringsteps to hit Poetry In Motion on Aries into the railings. Back in the ring, Aries does a good job of keeping Hardy on the mat, as the crowd really is coming to life. I like the way that the few times Aries does go high-risk, it always looks painful for Hardy, like a dropkick to the back of his head. He also does so many subtle things, like drapping Hardy's legs over the ropes to hold him in place before slingshotting in with a twisting elbow. Hardy fires back with aplomb, hoisting Aries over his head with velocity. I also like the way he dazes Aries by ramming him into the turnbuckles before hitting the Whisper In The Wind, so it looks natural rather than contrived. This is absolutely the best Hardy match I've seen in ages, and it really feels like Hardy has upped his game to keep up with Aries. Austin really starts working Hardy over, including a sick looking DDT on the lip of the ramp. The ending stretch is super-heated, with both the Twist of Fate and the brainbuster getting kicked out of, before Hardy wins with the Swanton. Great match, but it feels like the wrong time to take the title off Aries.
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