House of Pain Wrestling is a small Nottingham-based promotion run by BritWres standout Stixx, who also trained the majority of the roster. Both their shows and DVD's are nicely-priced, and the roster contains plenty of guys who are on the cusp of breaking out on the UK scene. Quite a few, in fact, have wrestled for SWE or NGW over the past year or so. Whilst the fact that a lot of these guys are still learning means I wont be over-critical of these matches, there would also be no point in me commenting on them if I just whitewashed everything. On the whole though, this is a fun card...
Shane Spyral vs "Diamond" Dave Andrews
Andrews goes for the cheap shot slap before running from the ring, but Spyral dons Andrews' jacket to lure him back in. They work a nice opening segment, pretty high paced and really smooth, which leads to Spyral nailing a plancha. Also Andrews is more than happy to make a fool of himself in comedy spots. He also has some nice looking forearm blows. Some of Spyral's strikes are a bit milky, but on the whole he looks good here. Andrews looks really decent on offence and worked a nice little combo of moves leading to a leaping neckbreaker. Spyral comes back, but a 450 only hits mat. Spyral makes another comeback, but a distraction at ringside by SC Supreme allows Bam Bam Barton to crotch Spyral on the top and Andrews nails a leaping DDT to win. Solid opener
Lucas Black vs Matt Pedin
Pre-match, Black cuts a lengthy promo, which Pedin interrupts by bringing a sleeping bag and pillow into the ring for a nap, before telling Black he's boring. Pedin plays things for comedy, taking into account the ass-punch as one of his early moves. However, Black gets a cheapshot in, allowing him a brief spell of offence. Black's offence is basic, yet effective, and I liked him threatening a legdrop, only to stand on Pedin's head instead. The middle rope falls down mid-match and, to their credit, neither guy seems put off because of it. Some of Pedin's offence is a little hesitant in places, but then some of it has a really nice zip to it, so you have to attribute a bit to his inexperience. Pedin hits a nice looking Shining Enzuigiri for two. Black starts getting a bit cocky, and uses a very arrogant cover for two. Black sets up a bucket, wedged in the corner, but Pedin reverses leading to Black getting the bucket stuck on his head, and Pedin nails a Codebreaker to win.
The Asbos vs Nate Colt & Mike Wyld
The Asbos are working a chav gimmick, which they play really well. They consist of the larger Tony Asbo and a smaller lad whose name I didn't catch. It sounded like they called him Burberry and, seeing as how he is wearing a burberry shirt, that is what I'll call him. Regular readers might remember Nate Colt from the Awesome Wrestling show reviewed in June last year. He was pretty much just stooging for Mad Man Manson there, so this should be a better showcase for him. Nate starts off with Burberry and, though they blow a leapfrog spot, they bring some good energy to the early stages. They shake hands, which doesn't impress Tony much and provides the storyline for the rest of the match. Tony tags in only to get plowed down by the larger Wyld. Tony wisely goes for the legs of Wyld, and both Asbos focus on that, which is good strategy. With Wyld as face-in-peril, they work a formula tag match until Colt gets the hot tag. Colt looks really good as a fired-up face, until falling prey to a Tony swinging Rock Bottom. Wyld tries to get involved, but gets tangled in the ropes. Burberry tries to broker some peace between Tony and Colt, but Tony shoves Burberry into Colt from behind, and rolls Colt up with a hand of tights for the win.
Bam Bam Barton vs LJ Heron
Heron sneaks in from the backside of the ring to nail Barton on the outset. These are two of the better guys in HOP, so this should be real good. We get some brawling outside the ring from the get go, with Barton taking control after spitting water in Heron's eyes. Heron fires back, but Barton avoids a corner charge to retain control. Heron's hope spots are pretty good, with a sudden crossbody coming out of nowhere. The heel faction of SC Supreme, Jewel and Dave Andrews come out to support Barton, which draws out a face trio of Shane Spyral, Stixx and Max Angelus to counteract them. They must provide good motivation, as Heron manages to fire back with a powerslam. The camera does spend a bit too long focusing on the guys outside the ring to the detriment of the action inside. Heron avoids a running kick and hits a Sky High, but as he prepares to finish Barton, Supreme comes in for the DQ finish. We soon get a big melee, ending with the faces standing tall.
SC Supreme, Brian Wright & Jewel vs Sammy Hope & Punk Jock
The Punk Jock team consists of Callum Piper and Jimmy Crash. Crash is a punk and Piper is Scottish, you see. The two women competitors start off the match, and they keep it simple with the larger Jewel using her size advantage to control, whilst Hope is quicker and uses this to take Jewel to the mat. The section with the male competitors is a bit more advanced. Admittedly, Crash hits a poor looking diving headbutt from the second rope, but him and Piper combine nicely to hit a top rope stomp/powerslam combination on Wright for two. Piper looks really good here, with some nice explosive energy and he looks pretty slick on offence. My admiration of Supreme has been expressed on the blog before, and he's just a tank on offence here, nailing his swank overhead belly-to-belly on Piper. We don't really get to see much of Wright on offence before the hot-tag to Crash, and he and Supreme get down to business in a battle of the big men. Crash has some fun looking "high energy fat man" offence that makes me forgive him the terrible headbutt earlier, as he nails Supreme with an STO. It breaks down and Piper nails a cannonball from the apron on the other men to leave Hope and Jewel in the ring. However, the camera focuses on the men fighting, so we only just catch Hope rolling up Jewel for the win. This was fun.
Danny Chase vs Kaleb Hughes
This is for Chase's Cruiserweight title, and this should be good stuff. I like how evenly they work it to start, with both hitting strikes at the same time to send each other down. Hughes takes control on the outside, then brilliantly trolls the small kids at ringside, by getting them to move as if to throw Chase into their chairs, only for him to throw him into the ring cackling instead. Despite their similarities, they keep the face/heel divide clear, with Hughes trying to wear Chase down with strikes, whilst Chase makes high-flying comebacks. Chase makes one comeback with a springboard crossbody, but when he tries a second Hughes is prepared, and kicks his legs out to retain control. Hughes hits two top-rope ax-handles on Chase, but spends too much time taunting the crowd, and gets caught with a top-rope rana as he attempts a third. Chase sends Hughes to the floor and hits a swank moonsault to follow him down. They brawl outside the ring, which suits Hughes' style more, but his attempt to send Chase into the wall fails, as Chase runs up the wall and hits a moonsault in an awesome spot. Back in, Chase gets a super-close 2 count on a springboard kick. The ref gets bumped, leading to a Hughes low blow, but his attempt to nail Chase with a chair fails, as he manages to kill the ref instead. This comes back to haunt Hughes, as he nails Chase with a Death Valley Driver, but by the time Stixx comes in to replace the ref, Chase has recovered and kicks out at two. Chase is dead weight on the mat, but it turns out he's playing possum, reversing another Driver attempt into a rana for the three count. Deserved main event, both guys put in a great showing.
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
TNA Knocked Out
This is a DVD from 2008 focused on what was, at the time, the best thing going in TNA in the Knockout's division. In many ways, watching this DVD was kinda depressing, as you realised that, despite TNA currently being on top form, the Knockout's division is currently a pale imitation of what it used to be. That said, the DVD isn't without flaws. You can't skip straight to a match, you have to sit through interview with the various knockouts first and trust me, there is only so many times you can hear "We're not wrestling barbies/We wrestle like the men/All the girls here enjoy the competition" without wanting to kill yourself. Luckily, the matches are pretty great.
10 Knockout Gauntlet For The Gold
Ms Brooks and Jackie Moore kick this off. There is only 60 seconds per new entrant, so things stay pretty high paced. Jackie has barely planted Brooks with a huge German suplex before Shelly Martinez comes in. Tenay hypes up her "lucha libre moves". This doesn't happen. Awesome Kong enters and Traci and Martinez look rightly terrified. Kong took so long getting to the ring that ODB's music starts before anyone has a chance to attack her. However Kong swiftly backfists Martinez from the top rope to the floor and Jackie eliminates Brooks. Kong swiftly destroys and eliminates Jackie. ODB isn't faring much better until Angel Williams enters. The future Angelina Love tries a sleeper on Kong, which doesn't end well before Kong suplexes her and ODB at once. Christy Hemme comes to the ring, and Kong decimates her, torture racking her and Awesome Bombing her to eliminate her through injury. They really made Kong look like a monster here. Gail Kim rushes to the ring and assaults Kong. Kim gets a headscissors on Kong over the top rope, and Williams and ODB help to eliminate Kong. Talia Madison (Velvet Sky) enters and works a weak looking segment with Williams, before ODB and Kim eliminate Williams. Roxxi Laveaux is the last entrant, and Talia and ODB are eliminated in quick order to leave Kim and Roxxi in a 1-on-1 match. Roxxi hits a swank looking fallaway slam, but Kim comes back with an octopus stretch. Roxxi manages to keep on top with her power advantage, hitting a powerbomb with a (weak) bridge for two. Gail avoids a blow and nails a Kryptonite Krunch to win. The battle royale was fun, especially with the Kong monster push, but the final match was a bit too your-move-my-move.
Roxxi Laveaux vs Angel Williams vs ODB vs Gail Kim
All three challengers focus on Gail right away, but Kim manages to overcome all three. The Voodoo Kin Mafia, who accompanied Roxxi, get thrown out for interfering. Roxxi puts a spell on the ref for this, which means he doesn't count when OBD rolls her up. Christ. Williams botches a flip into the corner, and the camera takes a lingering view of her backside as ODB spanks her. Roxxi and ODB then have a "mental face face-off" in the middle of the ring. ODB hits a 2nd rope Thesz press on ODB for two before Kim makes the save. Feels like ODB is concentrating here on getting her character over which, considering how popular she became, is no bad thing. Gail hits a top-rope crossbody to the outside on Roxxi. Williams flips out of a backslide attempt to DDT ODB in a nice move. All four end up in the ring, and Gail nails a nice diving legdrop on Roxxi for two. Roxxi accidentally spits some mist in ODB's face before getting blitzed with a Gail Kim spear. Kim then hits the Happy Ending on the blinded ODB to win. Fun match.
Angelina Love & Velvet Sky vs ODB & Roxxi Laveaux
With Angelina Love renamed, we are in Beautiful People territory here. Curiously, the BP wrestle like faces in the early going, with Love avoiding a Roxxi attack and controlling the early going. We end up in odd comedy territory as Velvet rides ODB like a horse and wedgies her, before ODB wedgies the ref. Roxxi nails Sky from the outside, so yeah, the BP are faces here as we get the heat section on Velvet. Nice spinebuster from Roxxi gets two. Velvet brekas out of the Dirty Dozen and makes the hot tag to Love. Probably makes sense to Love to be the hot-tag partner, as shes a better wrestler than Velvet, and thus more able to pop a crowd with her moves. The BP throw ODB out and hit a Yakuza kick/Russian legsweep combo on Roxxi to win. Solid, if unspectacular, tag match, but switching the face/heel dynamic for these two teams would soon be one of the smartest things TNA did with the knockouts.
Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim
Kong nails Gail before she even enters the ring, leading to the two brawling outside. Kong naturally has the advantage here, but Gail manages to avoid a clothesline, leading to Kong hitting the post. Gail wisely goes right after the arm, but gets too close to Kong, who grabs her in a sleeper and hurls her across the ring. They both manage to look good in this match: Kim gets to look resiliant, firing away on Kong any chance she gets, whilst Kong gets to look like a monster, as one of her shots in enough to send Gail to the mat. Everything Kong does looks so impactful, and Gail sells every shot like death. When Gail does get on offence, it takes a lot to knock Kong off her feet, so it really means something when she does so. Kong loses control and keeps choking Gail in the corner and shoving the referee to the floor, which earns her a DQ. Kong goes on a rampage afterwards, attacking the ref and both Beautiful People. Great match and, whilst the ending was cheap, it did lead up to a no-DQ match, so makes sense booking wise.
Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim
THIS no-DQ match in fact. Gail gets attacked on the ring apron AGAIN. Kong threatens to Awesome Bomb Gail through the announce table, but Kim bends over far enough to kick Kong in the head with a mule kick. In the ring, Kong is now able to choke Gail with no problems, playing off the last match. Kong sends Gail off the top rope with the spinning backfist. Kong swings Kim into the guard rail, which looks insane. They brawl into the crowd, which I normally hate, but they used it wisely in this match. Gail uses the elevation of the stairs to kick Kong directly in the head, then is able to find a bottle to beat Kong in the head with. The brawling looks really good here, like they're actually having a fight. The no-DQ stip also allows Kim to be able to cause serious pain to Kong, whilst keeping Kong looking like a monster: Kong misses a chairshot and instead gets it kicked into her face to kickstart a spell of offence for Kim. Gail gets caught on a top rope crossbody to the floor and dumped by Kong, which is really impressive. The referee gets powerbombed by Kong for only counting two after a facebuster. Kong loses control again and levels the ref with chairshots, but Gail grabs the chair and waffles Kong with it. What I love with these matches is that, even when Kim is in control, Kong feels like she's only one move from victory so Kim has to stay on top whilst she can. Kong gets two from a chokeslam after a new ref comes in, which sends her furious again. She tries to Awesome Bomb the new ref, but Gail rolls her up, with the ref landing on top of Kong, for the win. Great match, and they used the No-DQ stip effectively.
Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim
This is the first appearance of Raisha Saaed. This time Gail is prepared for Kong's early attack and moves out of the way, which shows she's learnt from the previous matches. They brawl outside where Gail takes a nasty bump into a wall, but avoids a charging Kong who breaks through the stage. In the ring, Gail takes over with a tornado DDT and a top rope senton for two. Saeed distracts Gail, who gets caught off the top by Kong with a chokeslam for two. Kong remains on offence, but they really show the resiliance of Kim as Kong hits her with an implant buster, which only gets two. Gail leaps off the top with a Frankensteiner attempt, but Kong holds her and nails two powerbombs, holding on and nailing the 3rd as an Awesome Bomb for the title. For a sub-ten minute TV match, this was really good stuff, putting Kong over strongly, but also making Kim look tough as nails, with Kong needing to hit 3 powerbombs to be sure of putting her away.
Angelina Love vs Velvet Sky vs Rhaka Khan vs Salinas vs Christy Hemme vs ODB vs Roxxi Laveaux vs Jacqueline vs Traci Brooks vs Gail Kim
I need to highlight how awful Rhaka Khan's ring music is. This is a battle royal with the last two entering a ladder match to become the number one contender to the Knockout title. However, the loser in the ladder match will get her head shaved....unless it's Gail Kim, who won an immunity match, so it would be Angelina taking her place. Already a bit of overbooking, you'll notice. The battle royal part is pretty uneventful, though Jackie and ODB teaming up on Rhaka Khan is quite fun. The final two are Roxxi and Gail, so we'll either see Roxxi or Angelina Love shaved bald. The referees demand Angelina stays at ringside in case she needs to be shaved, but it does also clearly allow her to be at ringside to massively interfere. The booking here is so arse-backwards, as the fans don't want to see Roxxi shaved, so they cheer for her over the number one face in the division. Good plan TNA. It's a shame, as Roxxi and Gail really go for it in this match. Gail takes a proper battering, getting sandwiched at speed between Roxxi and the ladder. Roxxi too takes some lumps, getting monkey-flipped onto a ladder and getting split open on a ladder on the scalp. Roxxi spinebusters Kim onto a ladder in another sick bump, but the BP stop Roxxi from being able to climb and essentially gift victory to Gail, which doesn't really help Gail. Roxxi is then shaved as the BP gloat to a chorus of "Fire Russo" from the crowd. This might have been acceptable if Roxxi got her revenge on Angelina and Velvet, but I'm pretty sure she never did.
Awesome Kong & Raisha Saeed vs Gail Kim & ODB
This is a cage match and should be pretty good. ODB starts with Kong, but gets hurled into her own corner to tag in Kim. Gail demands Saeed gets in, which sorta makes her look scared of Kong. Saeed is, of course, Cheerleader Melissa, and is a rather great wrestler. Her initial exchanges with Gail, working over Kim's left arm is pretty sweet. The problem with the Saeed character is that she soon became the person people would beat in build-up for title matches with Kong, making her little more than a glorified jobber. Kong gives Saeed the advantage by ramming Kim's face into the cage. Saeed uses so many cool little touches while in control, like climbing to the top rope with Gail and ramming her head into the cage over and over with her foot. Kim makes the hot-tag to ODB, but Saeed can't make it to Kong in time, so ODB flattens her. All Hell breaks look, leading to Gail hitting an insane Hurracanrana from the top rope on a standing Saeed, using the cage for assistance. The crowd goes rightly nuts for that. Kong accidentally hits the backfist on Saeed and ODB nails a top rope splash on Saeed for the win. Super-enjoyable tag match.
Taylor Wilde vs Awesome Kong
This was after Taylor had been the most successful challenger from the crowd in the $25,000 Kong challenge and had beaten Raisha Saeed to earn this match (see, told you). Kong blitzes her to start. Like Gail, Taylor isn't afraid to bring the fight to Kong, but uses a few more cat-and-mouse tactics to play the underdog card more clearly. Kong misses a second rope splash, and Taylor gets a 2 count from a missile dropkick. The match is structured differently to the Kim matches, as Taylor is less experienced than Gail so has less spells of dominance. Kong's tendancy for attacking refs comes back into play as she swats one away as he tries to stop her choking Wilde in the corner. This distraction allows Taylor to hit a crossbody, with Kong tumbling over the downed ref for a nearfall. Taylor's inexperience shows again as she tries to German suplex Kong, but instead gets caught in an implant buster for two. Kong goes for the backfist, but Taylor ducks and rolls her up for the win and the title. Not as good as the Kim series, but it told the story it needed to really well.
10 Knockout Gauntlet For The Gold
Ms Brooks and Jackie Moore kick this off. There is only 60 seconds per new entrant, so things stay pretty high paced. Jackie has barely planted Brooks with a huge German suplex before Shelly Martinez comes in. Tenay hypes up her "lucha libre moves". This doesn't happen. Awesome Kong enters and Traci and Martinez look rightly terrified. Kong took so long getting to the ring that ODB's music starts before anyone has a chance to attack her. However Kong swiftly backfists Martinez from the top rope to the floor and Jackie eliminates Brooks. Kong swiftly destroys and eliminates Jackie. ODB isn't faring much better until Angel Williams enters. The future Angelina Love tries a sleeper on Kong, which doesn't end well before Kong suplexes her and ODB at once. Christy Hemme comes to the ring, and Kong decimates her, torture racking her and Awesome Bombing her to eliminate her through injury. They really made Kong look like a monster here. Gail Kim rushes to the ring and assaults Kong. Kim gets a headscissors on Kong over the top rope, and Williams and ODB help to eliminate Kong. Talia Madison (Velvet Sky) enters and works a weak looking segment with Williams, before ODB and Kim eliminate Williams. Roxxi Laveaux is the last entrant, and Talia and ODB are eliminated in quick order to leave Kim and Roxxi in a 1-on-1 match. Roxxi hits a swank looking fallaway slam, but Kim comes back with an octopus stretch. Roxxi manages to keep on top with her power advantage, hitting a powerbomb with a (weak) bridge for two. Gail avoids a blow and nails a Kryptonite Krunch to win. The battle royale was fun, especially with the Kong monster push, but the final match was a bit too your-move-my-move.
Roxxi Laveaux vs Angel Williams vs ODB vs Gail Kim
All three challengers focus on Gail right away, but Kim manages to overcome all three. The Voodoo Kin Mafia, who accompanied Roxxi, get thrown out for interfering. Roxxi puts a spell on the ref for this, which means he doesn't count when OBD rolls her up. Christ. Williams botches a flip into the corner, and the camera takes a lingering view of her backside as ODB spanks her. Roxxi and ODB then have a "mental face face-off" in the middle of the ring. ODB hits a 2nd rope Thesz press on ODB for two before Kim makes the save. Feels like ODB is concentrating here on getting her character over which, considering how popular she became, is no bad thing. Gail hits a top-rope crossbody to the outside on Roxxi. Williams flips out of a backslide attempt to DDT ODB in a nice move. All four end up in the ring, and Gail nails a nice diving legdrop on Roxxi for two. Roxxi accidentally spits some mist in ODB's face before getting blitzed with a Gail Kim spear. Kim then hits the Happy Ending on the blinded ODB to win. Fun match.
Angelina Love & Velvet Sky vs ODB & Roxxi Laveaux
With Angelina Love renamed, we are in Beautiful People territory here. Curiously, the BP wrestle like faces in the early going, with Love avoiding a Roxxi attack and controlling the early going. We end up in odd comedy territory as Velvet rides ODB like a horse and wedgies her, before ODB wedgies the ref. Roxxi nails Sky from the outside, so yeah, the BP are faces here as we get the heat section on Velvet. Nice spinebuster from Roxxi gets two. Velvet brekas out of the Dirty Dozen and makes the hot tag to Love. Probably makes sense to Love to be the hot-tag partner, as shes a better wrestler than Velvet, and thus more able to pop a crowd with her moves. The BP throw ODB out and hit a Yakuza kick/Russian legsweep combo on Roxxi to win. Solid, if unspectacular, tag match, but switching the face/heel dynamic for these two teams would soon be one of the smartest things TNA did with the knockouts.
Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim
Kong nails Gail before she even enters the ring, leading to the two brawling outside. Kong naturally has the advantage here, but Gail manages to avoid a clothesline, leading to Kong hitting the post. Gail wisely goes right after the arm, but gets too close to Kong, who grabs her in a sleeper and hurls her across the ring. They both manage to look good in this match: Kim gets to look resiliant, firing away on Kong any chance she gets, whilst Kong gets to look like a monster, as one of her shots in enough to send Gail to the mat. Everything Kong does looks so impactful, and Gail sells every shot like death. When Gail does get on offence, it takes a lot to knock Kong off her feet, so it really means something when she does so. Kong loses control and keeps choking Gail in the corner and shoving the referee to the floor, which earns her a DQ. Kong goes on a rampage afterwards, attacking the ref and both Beautiful People. Great match and, whilst the ending was cheap, it did lead up to a no-DQ match, so makes sense booking wise.
Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim
THIS no-DQ match in fact. Gail gets attacked on the ring apron AGAIN. Kong threatens to Awesome Bomb Gail through the announce table, but Kim bends over far enough to kick Kong in the head with a mule kick. In the ring, Kong is now able to choke Gail with no problems, playing off the last match. Kong sends Gail off the top rope with the spinning backfist. Kong swings Kim into the guard rail, which looks insane. They brawl into the crowd, which I normally hate, but they used it wisely in this match. Gail uses the elevation of the stairs to kick Kong directly in the head, then is able to find a bottle to beat Kong in the head with. The brawling looks really good here, like they're actually having a fight. The no-DQ stip also allows Kim to be able to cause serious pain to Kong, whilst keeping Kong looking like a monster: Kong misses a chairshot and instead gets it kicked into her face to kickstart a spell of offence for Kim. Gail gets caught on a top rope crossbody to the floor and dumped by Kong, which is really impressive. The referee gets powerbombed by Kong for only counting two after a facebuster. Kong loses control again and levels the ref with chairshots, but Gail grabs the chair and waffles Kong with it. What I love with these matches is that, even when Kim is in control, Kong feels like she's only one move from victory so Kim has to stay on top whilst she can. Kong gets two from a chokeslam after a new ref comes in, which sends her furious again. She tries to Awesome Bomb the new ref, but Gail rolls her up, with the ref landing on top of Kong, for the win. Great match, and they used the No-DQ stip effectively.
Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim
This is the first appearance of Raisha Saaed. This time Gail is prepared for Kong's early attack and moves out of the way, which shows she's learnt from the previous matches. They brawl outside where Gail takes a nasty bump into a wall, but avoids a charging Kong who breaks through the stage. In the ring, Gail takes over with a tornado DDT and a top rope senton for two. Saeed distracts Gail, who gets caught off the top by Kong with a chokeslam for two. Kong remains on offence, but they really show the resiliance of Kim as Kong hits her with an implant buster, which only gets two. Gail leaps off the top with a Frankensteiner attempt, but Kong holds her and nails two powerbombs, holding on and nailing the 3rd as an Awesome Bomb for the title. For a sub-ten minute TV match, this was really good stuff, putting Kong over strongly, but also making Kim look tough as nails, with Kong needing to hit 3 powerbombs to be sure of putting her away.
Angelina Love vs Velvet Sky vs Rhaka Khan vs Salinas vs Christy Hemme vs ODB vs Roxxi Laveaux vs Jacqueline vs Traci Brooks vs Gail Kim
I need to highlight how awful Rhaka Khan's ring music is. This is a battle royal with the last two entering a ladder match to become the number one contender to the Knockout title. However, the loser in the ladder match will get her head shaved....unless it's Gail Kim, who won an immunity match, so it would be Angelina taking her place. Already a bit of overbooking, you'll notice. The battle royal part is pretty uneventful, though Jackie and ODB teaming up on Rhaka Khan is quite fun. The final two are Roxxi and Gail, so we'll either see Roxxi or Angelina Love shaved bald. The referees demand Angelina stays at ringside in case she needs to be shaved, but it does also clearly allow her to be at ringside to massively interfere. The booking here is so arse-backwards, as the fans don't want to see Roxxi shaved, so they cheer for her over the number one face in the division. Good plan TNA. It's a shame, as Roxxi and Gail really go for it in this match. Gail takes a proper battering, getting sandwiched at speed between Roxxi and the ladder. Roxxi too takes some lumps, getting monkey-flipped onto a ladder and getting split open on a ladder on the scalp. Roxxi spinebusters Kim onto a ladder in another sick bump, but the BP stop Roxxi from being able to climb and essentially gift victory to Gail, which doesn't really help Gail. Roxxi is then shaved as the BP gloat to a chorus of "Fire Russo" from the crowd. This might have been acceptable if Roxxi got her revenge on Angelina and Velvet, but I'm pretty sure she never did.
Awesome Kong & Raisha Saeed vs Gail Kim & ODB
This is a cage match and should be pretty good. ODB starts with Kong, but gets hurled into her own corner to tag in Kim. Gail demands Saeed gets in, which sorta makes her look scared of Kong. Saeed is, of course, Cheerleader Melissa, and is a rather great wrestler. Her initial exchanges with Gail, working over Kim's left arm is pretty sweet. The problem with the Saeed character is that she soon became the person people would beat in build-up for title matches with Kong, making her little more than a glorified jobber. Kong gives Saeed the advantage by ramming Kim's face into the cage. Saeed uses so many cool little touches while in control, like climbing to the top rope with Gail and ramming her head into the cage over and over with her foot. Kim makes the hot-tag to ODB, but Saeed can't make it to Kong in time, so ODB flattens her. All Hell breaks look, leading to Gail hitting an insane Hurracanrana from the top rope on a standing Saeed, using the cage for assistance. The crowd goes rightly nuts for that. Kong accidentally hits the backfist on Saeed and ODB nails a top rope splash on Saeed for the win. Super-enjoyable tag match.
Taylor Wilde vs Awesome Kong
This was after Taylor had been the most successful challenger from the crowd in the $25,000 Kong challenge and had beaten Raisha Saeed to earn this match (see, told you). Kong blitzes her to start. Like Gail, Taylor isn't afraid to bring the fight to Kong, but uses a few more cat-and-mouse tactics to play the underdog card more clearly. Kong misses a second rope splash, and Taylor gets a 2 count from a missile dropkick. The match is structured differently to the Kim matches, as Taylor is less experienced than Gail so has less spells of dominance. Kong's tendancy for attacking refs comes back into play as she swats one away as he tries to stop her choking Wilde in the corner. This distraction allows Taylor to hit a crossbody, with Kong tumbling over the downed ref for a nearfall. Taylor's inexperience shows again as she tries to German suplex Kong, but instead gets caught in an implant buster for two. Kong goes for the backfist, but Taylor ducks and rolls her up for the win and the title. Not as good as the Kim series, but it told the story it needed to really well.
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Southside Wrestling: SWE vs HoP Ill Manors
Having been out of touch with the British wrestling scene until I started going to Southside shows earlier this year, it really is heartening to see how much great talent there wrestling all over the UK (a fact verified by how much Brit talent is currently under contract to the WWE and to TNA). SWE constantly deliver a great product, and getting to see such great shows just a stones throw from my house is terrific. House of Pain Wrestling, who are feuding with SWE as the theme for this show, is also a darn fine promotion. Considering they are a training school/promotion based primarily in Nottingham using local talent, they've got a very good roster who are improving all the time: aside from the guys on this show, the likes of Danny Chase, Nate Colt and "Textbook" Dave Breaks are all top wrestlers.
I should mention first off the set-up for the show, which really enhanced the inter-promotion war aspect. Each promotion had their own entrance way and their own ring announcer (HoP providing Harvey Dale, who also operated as manager for most of the HoP guys, and was tremendous as an obnoxious loudmouth throughout), plus the HoP fans were congregated on one side of the ring, giving a real us vs them atmosphere.
El Ligero (SWE) vs Bam Bam Barton (HoP)
A fun battle of power vs speed to kick things off, and the split in the crowd provided an interesting atmosphere from the start. Ligero is a very likable face wrestler, but the HoP fans gave him no slack, cheering the naturally heelish Barton. Ligero used his quickness to take the advantage with a series of kicks, but found himself in trouble as Barton was able to catch him on a pescado. Barton is larger than Ligero, big enough that his power offence looked effective, but not so big that he couldn't keep up with the masked man and he looked decent throughout. The end saw Ligero miss a frog splash, but Barton then missed a spinkick to allow a Ligero rollup for the win, putting SWE 1-0 up. Good opener.
Max Angelus (HoP) vs T-Bone (SWE)
I've been pretty high on Angelus since I first saw him, and matches like this only serve to prove me right. This was a heated grudge brawl after the chairshot Angelus levelled T-Bone with at the June show I wrote up. I've seen Angelus work as an underdog face before, but here he had to wrestle differently, not only having to take some nasty licks from T-Bone (including a tough looking back suplex directly onto the ring apron), he also had to show he could realistically dish out some stiff offence too, which he did. This felt quite short, but there was no lack of effort from both guys and crucially there was little resting too: It felt like two guys wanting to hurt each other. Max ultimately won after nailing a stomach buster on T-Bone (harking back to the rib injuries caused by HoP in June) and a Roaring Clothesline for the win. 1-1
The Predators (HoP) vs the Hunter Brothers (SWE)
Right now, the Predators are one of the best teams in the UK. Not only is their ring work spot on, they have mastered the art of being detestable. Joseph Conners in particular is a shit-talking heel you really want to see get a kicking. This was the Hunters' debut for SWE, so at first there was a bit less heat in the early going. Thankfully, the match was a well-structured tag affair and the pure dickishness of Conners got the fans riled up, including a yell of "You don't even care about the Hunter Brothers". Conners rules. They worked an extended heat sequence on one brother before the hot tag, and the finishing stretch was a really exciting collection of nearfalls. The Hunters slipped up once or twice, but managed to cover nicely, and seemed to have won the fans over by the end. They recovered from a nice looking spike flapjack from the Predators and got a visual pinfall following a top rope Frankensteiner/splash combo, but Harvey Dale distracted the ref and it was the Predators who managed to pick up the win. Realistically, the Predators were always going to win from a logical booking perspective, but there were several moments when I believed the Hunters would win, which shows how much they drew me into the match. Really good match, and now it's 2-1 to HoP.
Robbie X (SWE) vs Alex Gracie (HoP)
This was a battle of the SWE Speed King champion (X) vs the HoP Full Throttle champion. I missed the intro to this on a toilet dash, but there was a 10 minute time limit for this match. Robbie's new haircut was kinda odd, but he carried himself like a champion here and Gracie, who I'd not seen before, held up his end of the match too. The time limit worked against them in a way, as Gracie only got to work a brief heat section on Robbie before they had to go to the finish. Robbie locked a Last Chancery on Gracie as the seconds ran out, and switched to a Dragon Sleeper, but Gracie held on for the draw. I can see why they had to book a draw (protecting both champions), but I could have happily watched another 5 minutes at least of this. Still, leave the customer wanting more...
This was followed by a brief angle where Harvey Dale wanted Max Angelus to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Robbie, with threats of firing if he refused, but Max quit instead.
Michael Elgin vs Prince Devitt
This is the only non-HoP/SWE match on the card, so initially didn't have the heat that the other matches had. However, when you've got guys this talented, you can soon win the crowd back around. Devitt here played underdog for a lot of the match, as he had to cope with the size and freakish strength of Elgin. They built the match up nicely, with an initial feeling out process before Elgin took control. Elgin managed a deadlift German suplex with Devitt lying on the mat, which was super impressive. Devitt managed to come back into it with an insane tope to the floor and just generally looked slick throughout. Elgin held up his end terrifically too, with a deadlift superplex when Devitt was stood on the apron. Devitt thought he'd won it with a top rope stomp, but it took the Bloody Sunday DDT to finish Elgin off. Tremendous match which earned a standing ovation to take us to intermission.
LJ Heron vs Nathan Cruz (SWE) vs "Diamond" Dave Andrews (HoP)
The booking for this match was Cruz representing SWE, Andrews representing HoP and Heron could choose who he was representing if he won. The only time I'd seen Andrews wrestle previously was jobbing in a comedy match in April. Given that Cruz is a pretty big name on the UK scene and Heron is reigning HoP champion, I fully expected Andrews to be there solely to eat the pin to protect the third man. Well, I was half right, as this actually felt like a breakthrough match for Andrews. His ringwork was crisp, and his character work was outstanding. Cruz and Heron are two top workers and Andrews really didn't look out of place. They worked a fun variation on the old Tower of Doom spot, with Cruz German suplexing Andrews from a tree of woe position, whilst Andrews superplexed Heron. Cruz had to play face here, which felt a bit odd (he doesn't cockily yell "Showstealer" anywhere near enough as face), but he played his part nicely. Here the "Showstealer" turned pin-stealer (sorry), nicking the victory after Heron speared Andrews. 2-2
Mad Man Manson (SWE) vs SC Supreme (HoP)
I really like Supreme. He's just a big, nasty chap who likes to beat up his opponents. Plus you've got to love a guy who can cause a child to cower in their father's arms with just one cold look. You may think that putting him in there with Manson might be a clash of styles, but they somehow managed to pull off a comedy match whilst still enabling Supreme to look like a badass. Part of this comes from the nasty chop exchange in the early part of the match, which saw Manson having to give as well as he can take. Supreme is also the only guy who can still look scary doing a "nipple twister" comedy spot with the referee. Supreme dominated once he got in control, and even lifted Manson's shoulders up during a pinfall, to dish out more pain to the man who had made a fool of him earlier on. It backfired though, as Manson pulled out a rollup to pick up the win and put Southside 3-2 up
Stixx (HoP) vs Mark Haskins (SWE)
This was a last man standing match for Stixx's SWE title, and it was a war. Stixx is a lot bigger than Haskins, so I was interested to see how Haskins would be able to put Stixx down for a 10 count. At first Haskins did a good job of going toe-to-toe with Stixx and using his speed and an assortment of kicks to keep in the battle, but soon found himself overpowered. Stixx is one of my favourite guys in SWE to watch. He can wrestle the power game well, but is also able to sell for smaller guys without seeming weak. Haskins really started getting into the match when Harvey Dale tried to interfere with a chair, which Haskins took for himself and used on Stixx. Wisely, he went to the legs of the big man, which gave some realism to the ten counts as Stixx struggled to stand. At this point, the booking came into play which made the last section really exciting. First the ref got bumped with a massive chairshot, leading to a second ref coming to the ring. Earlier on, I'd recognised this ref as HoP wrestler Danger Russ, but I'd given it no more thought, until Haskins had Stixx down for a cert 10 count, only for the new ref to stop counting and give Haskins the fingers. He then tried to fast count Haskins down for ten following a Stixx revival , but Haskins got up in time. At around this point, the ring seemed to fill with SWE/HoP wrestlers following failed interference from Alex Gracie, as the Predators, the Hunter Brothers, Ligero, Barton and Robbie X all piled out, leading to an insane top rope moonsault to the floor from Robbie. A table came into play, which ended up with Stixx getting put through it, but as the referee was counting to ten, Dale clocked Haskins with the SWE title before he fully got to his feet, while Stixx rolled out to the floor, landing on his feet, which meant that only Stixx beat the ten count to win the match.
This put the series at 3-3 and the HoP crowd were celebrating victory, when Max Angelus returned to the ring to cash in his MitB briefcase...
Max Angelus vs Stixx
One Roaring Lariat later, and Max was the SWE champion
Personally, I though the booking on this show was tremendous. Bear in mind SWE uses top wrestlers from around the UK, whereas HoP relies mainly on local talent from their training school, yet HoP were realistically portrayed as a threat throughout the show. The series ended as a draw, the Predators still hold the SWE tag titles, and the new champion is a HoP guy who has defected to SWE. It sets up the feud to continue, plus it should lead to at least one more Stixx/Angelus match, which has delivered both times I've seen it previously. Overall, a cracking night of entertainment
I should mention first off the set-up for the show, which really enhanced the inter-promotion war aspect. Each promotion had their own entrance way and their own ring announcer (HoP providing Harvey Dale, who also operated as manager for most of the HoP guys, and was tremendous as an obnoxious loudmouth throughout), plus the HoP fans were congregated on one side of the ring, giving a real us vs them atmosphere.
El Ligero (SWE) vs Bam Bam Barton (HoP)
A fun battle of power vs speed to kick things off, and the split in the crowd provided an interesting atmosphere from the start. Ligero is a very likable face wrestler, but the HoP fans gave him no slack, cheering the naturally heelish Barton. Ligero used his quickness to take the advantage with a series of kicks, but found himself in trouble as Barton was able to catch him on a pescado. Barton is larger than Ligero, big enough that his power offence looked effective, but not so big that he couldn't keep up with the masked man and he looked decent throughout. The end saw Ligero miss a frog splash, but Barton then missed a spinkick to allow a Ligero rollup for the win, putting SWE 1-0 up. Good opener.
Max Angelus (HoP) vs T-Bone (SWE)
I've been pretty high on Angelus since I first saw him, and matches like this only serve to prove me right. This was a heated grudge brawl after the chairshot Angelus levelled T-Bone with at the June show I wrote up. I've seen Angelus work as an underdog face before, but here he had to wrestle differently, not only having to take some nasty licks from T-Bone (including a tough looking back suplex directly onto the ring apron), he also had to show he could realistically dish out some stiff offence too, which he did. This felt quite short, but there was no lack of effort from both guys and crucially there was little resting too: It felt like two guys wanting to hurt each other. Max ultimately won after nailing a stomach buster on T-Bone (harking back to the rib injuries caused by HoP in June) and a Roaring Clothesline for the win. 1-1
The Predators (HoP) vs the Hunter Brothers (SWE)
Right now, the Predators are one of the best teams in the UK. Not only is their ring work spot on, they have mastered the art of being detestable. Joseph Conners in particular is a shit-talking heel you really want to see get a kicking. This was the Hunters' debut for SWE, so at first there was a bit less heat in the early going. Thankfully, the match was a well-structured tag affair and the pure dickishness of Conners got the fans riled up, including a yell of "You don't even care about the Hunter Brothers". Conners rules. They worked an extended heat sequence on one brother before the hot tag, and the finishing stretch was a really exciting collection of nearfalls. The Hunters slipped up once or twice, but managed to cover nicely, and seemed to have won the fans over by the end. They recovered from a nice looking spike flapjack from the Predators and got a visual pinfall following a top rope Frankensteiner/splash combo, but Harvey Dale distracted the ref and it was the Predators who managed to pick up the win. Realistically, the Predators were always going to win from a logical booking perspective, but there were several moments when I believed the Hunters would win, which shows how much they drew me into the match. Really good match, and now it's 2-1 to HoP.
Robbie X (SWE) vs Alex Gracie (HoP)
This was a battle of the SWE Speed King champion (X) vs the HoP Full Throttle champion. I missed the intro to this on a toilet dash, but there was a 10 minute time limit for this match. Robbie's new haircut was kinda odd, but he carried himself like a champion here and Gracie, who I'd not seen before, held up his end of the match too. The time limit worked against them in a way, as Gracie only got to work a brief heat section on Robbie before they had to go to the finish. Robbie locked a Last Chancery on Gracie as the seconds ran out, and switched to a Dragon Sleeper, but Gracie held on for the draw. I can see why they had to book a draw (protecting both champions), but I could have happily watched another 5 minutes at least of this. Still, leave the customer wanting more...
This was followed by a brief angle where Harvey Dale wanted Max Angelus to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Robbie, with threats of firing if he refused, but Max quit instead.
Michael Elgin vs Prince Devitt
This is the only non-HoP/SWE match on the card, so initially didn't have the heat that the other matches had. However, when you've got guys this talented, you can soon win the crowd back around. Devitt here played underdog for a lot of the match, as he had to cope with the size and freakish strength of Elgin. They built the match up nicely, with an initial feeling out process before Elgin took control. Elgin managed a deadlift German suplex with Devitt lying on the mat, which was super impressive. Devitt managed to come back into it with an insane tope to the floor and just generally looked slick throughout. Elgin held up his end terrifically too, with a deadlift superplex when Devitt was stood on the apron. Devitt thought he'd won it with a top rope stomp, but it took the Bloody Sunday DDT to finish Elgin off. Tremendous match which earned a standing ovation to take us to intermission.
LJ Heron vs Nathan Cruz (SWE) vs "Diamond" Dave Andrews (HoP)
The booking for this match was Cruz representing SWE, Andrews representing HoP and Heron could choose who he was representing if he won. The only time I'd seen Andrews wrestle previously was jobbing in a comedy match in April. Given that Cruz is a pretty big name on the UK scene and Heron is reigning HoP champion, I fully expected Andrews to be there solely to eat the pin to protect the third man. Well, I was half right, as this actually felt like a breakthrough match for Andrews. His ringwork was crisp, and his character work was outstanding. Cruz and Heron are two top workers and Andrews really didn't look out of place. They worked a fun variation on the old Tower of Doom spot, with Cruz German suplexing Andrews from a tree of woe position, whilst Andrews superplexed Heron. Cruz had to play face here, which felt a bit odd (he doesn't cockily yell "Showstealer" anywhere near enough as face), but he played his part nicely. Here the "Showstealer" turned pin-stealer (sorry), nicking the victory after Heron speared Andrews. 2-2
Mad Man Manson (SWE) vs SC Supreme (HoP)
I really like Supreme. He's just a big, nasty chap who likes to beat up his opponents. Plus you've got to love a guy who can cause a child to cower in their father's arms with just one cold look. You may think that putting him in there with Manson might be a clash of styles, but they somehow managed to pull off a comedy match whilst still enabling Supreme to look like a badass. Part of this comes from the nasty chop exchange in the early part of the match, which saw Manson having to give as well as he can take. Supreme is also the only guy who can still look scary doing a "nipple twister" comedy spot with the referee. Supreme dominated once he got in control, and even lifted Manson's shoulders up during a pinfall, to dish out more pain to the man who had made a fool of him earlier on. It backfired though, as Manson pulled out a rollup to pick up the win and put Southside 3-2 up
Stixx (HoP) vs Mark Haskins (SWE)
This was a last man standing match for Stixx's SWE title, and it was a war. Stixx is a lot bigger than Haskins, so I was interested to see how Haskins would be able to put Stixx down for a 10 count. At first Haskins did a good job of going toe-to-toe with Stixx and using his speed and an assortment of kicks to keep in the battle, but soon found himself overpowered. Stixx is one of my favourite guys in SWE to watch. He can wrestle the power game well, but is also able to sell for smaller guys without seeming weak. Haskins really started getting into the match when Harvey Dale tried to interfere with a chair, which Haskins took for himself and used on Stixx. Wisely, he went to the legs of the big man, which gave some realism to the ten counts as Stixx struggled to stand. At this point, the booking came into play which made the last section really exciting. First the ref got bumped with a massive chairshot, leading to a second ref coming to the ring. Earlier on, I'd recognised this ref as HoP wrestler Danger Russ, but I'd given it no more thought, until Haskins had Stixx down for a cert 10 count, only for the new ref to stop counting and give Haskins the fingers. He then tried to fast count Haskins down for ten following a Stixx revival , but Haskins got up in time. At around this point, the ring seemed to fill with SWE/HoP wrestlers following failed interference from Alex Gracie, as the Predators, the Hunter Brothers, Ligero, Barton and Robbie X all piled out, leading to an insane top rope moonsault to the floor from Robbie. A table came into play, which ended up with Stixx getting put through it, but as the referee was counting to ten, Dale clocked Haskins with the SWE title before he fully got to his feet, while Stixx rolled out to the floor, landing on his feet, which meant that only Stixx beat the ten count to win the match.
This put the series at 3-3 and the HoP crowd were celebrating victory, when Max Angelus returned to the ring to cash in his MitB briefcase...
Max Angelus vs Stixx
One Roaring Lariat later, and Max was the SWE champion
Personally, I though the booking on this show was tremendous. Bear in mind SWE uses top wrestlers from around the UK, whereas HoP relies mainly on local talent from their training school, yet HoP were realistically portrayed as a threat throughout the show. The series ended as a draw, the Predators still hold the SWE tag titles, and the new champion is a HoP guy who has defected to SWE. It sets up the feud to continue, plus it should lead to at least one more Stixx/Angelus match, which has delivered both times I've seen it previously. Overall, a cracking night of entertainment
Thursday, 15 November 2012
In Your Face: The Lost Episodes of the XWF
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, 25 October 2012
No Mercy 2006
Gregory Helms vs Matt Hardy
Both guys fail to get an advantage early on, which backs up JBL's claim that they are like carbon copies of each other. Thus Helms has to use aggressive tactics to take over, with a vicious kick to back. Hardy fires back, and nails a pescado to the outside. Helms comes backwith a 2nd rope legsweep. I really like the palpable send of hate here, as inbetween moves both guys are happy to lay in a nasty blow, like Helms punching Hardy in the back following a failed pin attempt. A nice meaty mid-ring slugfest even has JBL going "Wow" as Hardy floors Helms with a big right. Hardy gots for the Twist of Fate, but Helms reverses to hit a neckbreaker. He nails the same moves two more times, but is caught going up top with a Side Effect. Hardy then copies Helms by hitting 2 more Side Effects, but also like Helms makes the mistake of going up top and meets knees on a moonsault. Carbon copies, see? I really like the way this is so back and forth, rather than one man maintaining an advantage, as it again backs up how even they are. Helms nails a top rope Shining Wizard, but Hardy gets a foot on rope. The ending is pretty choice too as it plays back to the Smackdown matches that had lead here. In those, both had picked up wins via low blows when the ref was distracted. Here, the referee moves out of the way as Hardy is pushed towards him, but Matt blocks the low blow attempt from Helms, and nails the Twist of Fate to win. Really hot opener.
Brian Kendrick & Paul London vs KC James & Idol Stevens
Both teams have females management: Ashley with Kendrick and London, and Michelle McCool with James & Stevens. Interesting that Stevens is the only one of the 6 still on WWE TV. Londrick dominate proceedings early, whilst JBL heavily puts them over on commentary. Stereo dives pop the crowd. However, London takes a nasty bump getting pushed off the top by James to give the heels advantage. Stevens and James take it in turns to lock holds on London on the mat, building up some crowd sympathy. They also work a proper heat section on London, holding him by the leg in their corner to stop him getting the tag to Kendrick then, when London looks like getting the tag, knocking Kendrick off the apron. I love it, and so does JBL. Kendrick gets the hot tag eventually, but his Sliced Bread attempt is blocked by Stevens shaking the rope as he tries it. London takes Stevens out in turn with an insane suicide dive. These two teams just have terrific chemistry together, and you wonder why Stevens and James didn't last on the main roster. Londrick get the win after a frantic final few minutes, hitting Sliced Bread on James, followed by a London shooting star from Kendrick's back for the win. Great match.
MVP vs Marty Garner
This is MVP's debut. JBL is apoplectic. MVP's arrogant strutting is quite enjoyable, but this is obviously a squash. Garner doesn't really get any offence in before MVP nails him with a vicious lariat and the Play of the Day to win. The ranting from JBL is the most entertaining thing about this match.
The Undertaker vs Mr Kennedy
Slightly hard to find the Undertaker as intimidating as usual as his fake tan starts running down his head at the start of the match. Taker starts working over the arm of Kennedy early, with him hoisting Kennedy up in the air by the arm being particularly impressive. Kennedy manages to block Old School by armdragging Taker off the top. Kennedy's selling of the arm is remarkably consistent, though he does try punching Taker with the bad arm which leads to Taker Flatlining him. In the midst of all the arm-offence, Kennedy does manage to take a turnbuckle pad off. When he does get on offence, Kennedy is nicely vicious, but makes the mistake of trying to get his breath back, giving Taker time to regain control. You get the impression Kennedy is putting in some real effort here, knowing what an opportunity this match is. Certainly, he seems a lot less half-arsed as he has done in recent years. Problem is that when Kennedy is on offense, it's a bit dull. His offence here is mainly based around kicks and hammering Taker in the corner. It's done with intent, but doesn't exactly enthrall the audience or myself. Piledriver from Kennedy (daftly called a Tombstone by Michael Cole) gets 2, and Kennedy reacts by pounding Taker in the face in frustration. It's like he's really selling the story of the match well (cocky upstart desperate to beat legend), but his offence isn't good enough to match up. In the middle of his hottest spell of offence, he puts on a resthold and the match cools down again. Taker hits a chokeslam, but Kennedy is able to reverse the Last Ride and ram Taker's head into that exposed turnbuckle. I'd forgotten all about that, which made for a nice little surprise. Swanton Bomb gets two for Kennedy. Kennedy tries to nail Taker with the US title, but Taker blocks it and uses it on Kennedy instead, giving Kennedy the DQ win. All that for such a shitty finish. Really out of nowhere considering Taker had just done the zombie situp and looked ready to win. Story of the match was better than the work within.
Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero
This is a falls count any match. We get some brawling to start, though it really isn't either mans forte. After a nasty dual bump to the floor from the top rope, Chavo takes over on the outside, which works because he's a bit better at looking aggressive. Rey hits a rana from the ring entrance, but it's really stifling to both guys to work this kind of match. A lot of the offence on the outside involves finding different ways to hurt the opponent on the guardrails, which these two are better than. At least Chavo catching Rey in a wheelbarrow and swinging him into the barricades and chairs is fun. After some mediocre brawling in the crowd, Rey hits a 619 from a staircase and pins Chavo following a crossbody the same stairs. Not the best match from these two.
William Regal vs Chris Benoit
Regal has been involved in some backstage hijinks trying to find Finlay and getting himself in trouble, leading to Teddy Long booking him against a mystery opponent. This is Benoit's return match following an extended break. Some of the opening matwork is superb, as both guys make it look like they're really working for the holds. They exchange blows and Christ, Benoit's chops sound like gunshots. You can hear the connection when Benoit headbutts Regal, which is unnerving in hindsight. Regal is busted open from this. They continue in much the same manner as you'd expect, with battles over matwork and some nasty stiff shots. Benoit even chops Regal directly on the head wound. Benoit hits a Dragon Suplex on Regal and locks in the crossface to win. Typically good match from these two as you'd expect, but with some of the stiffness involved, quite hard to watch with the knowledge we have now.
King Booker vs Finlay vs Batista vs Bobby Lashley
This is a fatal-fourway match for the World Heavyweight title. Finlay wisely bails early to let the faces dominate Booker, though he swiftly returns to help the King isolate Batista. Predictably we soon get segments when two guys are down, from moves which normally wouldn't stun them, leaving two men to go at it. Booker vs Lashley actually works well thanks to Booker selling and making Lashley look decent. Finlay soon turns on King Booker and then takes out Batista leaving him 1-on-1 against Booker. Finlay starts to dismantle Booker, then takes over on Batista when he returns. Got to love Batista trying to break an armbar by Samoan dropping Finlay, only for Finlay to hold on to the arm and retain the hold. Even better is Lashley trying to make the save, only for Finlay to start working on his leg. Lashley still moves around the ring really awkwardly, which makes his offence look a bit weaker than it should, so it's quite funny when Hornswoggle appears from nowhere to punch him in the nuts as he prepares to hit a Spear. We get to a point where we've got Batista vs Lashley left in the ring, which gets almost no reaction until Dave spears Lashley. Clearly they don't care about Lashley. That said, their segment is quite fun, as two massive men throw bombs at each other, including a nice overhead suplex by Lashley. Big Dave soon takes everyone down with spinebusters, then Batistabomb's Finlay, but Lashley comes out of nowhere with a huge spear on Batista and Booker steals the pin. Seems like a bit of a dick move by Lashley really. None of this was dull, and some of it was even good, but none of it was memorable. Really, there was no match structure, just decent segments bolted together.
Both guys fail to get an advantage early on, which backs up JBL's claim that they are like carbon copies of each other. Thus Helms has to use aggressive tactics to take over, with a vicious kick to back. Hardy fires back, and nails a pescado to the outside. Helms comes backwith a 2nd rope legsweep. I really like the palpable send of hate here, as inbetween moves both guys are happy to lay in a nasty blow, like Helms punching Hardy in the back following a failed pin attempt. A nice meaty mid-ring slugfest even has JBL going "Wow" as Hardy floors Helms with a big right. Hardy gots for the Twist of Fate, but Helms reverses to hit a neckbreaker. He nails the same moves two more times, but is caught going up top with a Side Effect. Hardy then copies Helms by hitting 2 more Side Effects, but also like Helms makes the mistake of going up top and meets knees on a moonsault. Carbon copies, see? I really like the way this is so back and forth, rather than one man maintaining an advantage, as it again backs up how even they are. Helms nails a top rope Shining Wizard, but Hardy gets a foot on rope. The ending is pretty choice too as it plays back to the Smackdown matches that had lead here. In those, both had picked up wins via low blows when the ref was distracted. Here, the referee moves out of the way as Hardy is pushed towards him, but Matt blocks the low blow attempt from Helms, and nails the Twist of Fate to win. Really hot opener.
Brian Kendrick & Paul London vs KC James & Idol Stevens
Both teams have females management: Ashley with Kendrick and London, and Michelle McCool with James & Stevens. Interesting that Stevens is the only one of the 6 still on WWE TV. Londrick dominate proceedings early, whilst JBL heavily puts them over on commentary. Stereo dives pop the crowd. However, London takes a nasty bump getting pushed off the top by James to give the heels advantage. Stevens and James take it in turns to lock holds on London on the mat, building up some crowd sympathy. They also work a proper heat section on London, holding him by the leg in their corner to stop him getting the tag to Kendrick then, when London looks like getting the tag, knocking Kendrick off the apron. I love it, and so does JBL. Kendrick gets the hot tag eventually, but his Sliced Bread attempt is blocked by Stevens shaking the rope as he tries it. London takes Stevens out in turn with an insane suicide dive. These two teams just have terrific chemistry together, and you wonder why Stevens and James didn't last on the main roster. Londrick get the win after a frantic final few minutes, hitting Sliced Bread on James, followed by a London shooting star from Kendrick's back for the win. Great match.
MVP vs Marty Garner
This is MVP's debut. JBL is apoplectic. MVP's arrogant strutting is quite enjoyable, but this is obviously a squash. Garner doesn't really get any offence in before MVP nails him with a vicious lariat and the Play of the Day to win. The ranting from JBL is the most entertaining thing about this match.
The Undertaker vs Mr Kennedy
Slightly hard to find the Undertaker as intimidating as usual as his fake tan starts running down his head at the start of the match. Taker starts working over the arm of Kennedy early, with him hoisting Kennedy up in the air by the arm being particularly impressive. Kennedy manages to block Old School by armdragging Taker off the top. Kennedy's selling of the arm is remarkably consistent, though he does try punching Taker with the bad arm which leads to Taker Flatlining him. In the midst of all the arm-offence, Kennedy does manage to take a turnbuckle pad off. When he does get on offence, Kennedy is nicely vicious, but makes the mistake of trying to get his breath back, giving Taker time to regain control. You get the impression Kennedy is putting in some real effort here, knowing what an opportunity this match is. Certainly, he seems a lot less half-arsed as he has done in recent years. Problem is that when Kennedy is on offense, it's a bit dull. His offence here is mainly based around kicks and hammering Taker in the corner. It's done with intent, but doesn't exactly enthrall the audience or myself. Piledriver from Kennedy (daftly called a Tombstone by Michael Cole) gets 2, and Kennedy reacts by pounding Taker in the face in frustration. It's like he's really selling the story of the match well (cocky upstart desperate to beat legend), but his offence isn't good enough to match up. In the middle of his hottest spell of offence, he puts on a resthold and the match cools down again. Taker hits a chokeslam, but Kennedy is able to reverse the Last Ride and ram Taker's head into that exposed turnbuckle. I'd forgotten all about that, which made for a nice little surprise. Swanton Bomb gets two for Kennedy. Kennedy tries to nail Taker with the US title, but Taker blocks it and uses it on Kennedy instead, giving Kennedy the DQ win. All that for such a shitty finish. Really out of nowhere considering Taker had just done the zombie situp and looked ready to win. Story of the match was better than the work within.
Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero
This is a falls count any match. We get some brawling to start, though it really isn't either mans forte. After a nasty dual bump to the floor from the top rope, Chavo takes over on the outside, which works because he's a bit better at looking aggressive. Rey hits a rana from the ring entrance, but it's really stifling to both guys to work this kind of match. A lot of the offence on the outside involves finding different ways to hurt the opponent on the guardrails, which these two are better than. At least Chavo catching Rey in a wheelbarrow and swinging him into the barricades and chairs is fun. After some mediocre brawling in the crowd, Rey hits a 619 from a staircase and pins Chavo following a crossbody the same stairs. Not the best match from these two.
William Regal vs Chris Benoit
Regal has been involved in some backstage hijinks trying to find Finlay and getting himself in trouble, leading to Teddy Long booking him against a mystery opponent. This is Benoit's return match following an extended break. Some of the opening matwork is superb, as both guys make it look like they're really working for the holds. They exchange blows and Christ, Benoit's chops sound like gunshots. You can hear the connection when Benoit headbutts Regal, which is unnerving in hindsight. Regal is busted open from this. They continue in much the same manner as you'd expect, with battles over matwork and some nasty stiff shots. Benoit even chops Regal directly on the head wound. Benoit hits a Dragon Suplex on Regal and locks in the crossface to win. Typically good match from these two as you'd expect, but with some of the stiffness involved, quite hard to watch with the knowledge we have now.
King Booker vs Finlay vs Batista vs Bobby Lashley
This is a fatal-fourway match for the World Heavyweight title. Finlay wisely bails early to let the faces dominate Booker, though he swiftly returns to help the King isolate Batista. Predictably we soon get segments when two guys are down, from moves which normally wouldn't stun them, leaving two men to go at it. Booker vs Lashley actually works well thanks to Booker selling and making Lashley look decent. Finlay soon turns on King Booker and then takes out Batista leaving him 1-on-1 against Booker. Finlay starts to dismantle Booker, then takes over on Batista when he returns. Got to love Batista trying to break an armbar by Samoan dropping Finlay, only for Finlay to hold on to the arm and retain the hold. Even better is Lashley trying to make the save, only for Finlay to start working on his leg. Lashley still moves around the ring really awkwardly, which makes his offence look a bit weaker than it should, so it's quite funny when Hornswoggle appears from nowhere to punch him in the nuts as he prepares to hit a Spear. We get to a point where we've got Batista vs Lashley left in the ring, which gets almost no reaction until Dave spears Lashley. Clearly they don't care about Lashley. That said, their segment is quite fun, as two massive men throw bombs at each other, including a nice overhead suplex by Lashley. Big Dave soon takes everyone down with spinebusters, then Batistabomb's Finlay, but Lashley comes out of nowhere with a huge spear on Batista and Booker steals the pin. Seems like a bit of a dick move by Lashley really. None of this was dull, and some of it was even good, but none of it was memorable. Really, there was no match structure, just decent segments bolted together.
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
3PW Three Men & A Bodybag
So, it turns out Lovefilm have a whole plethora of 3PW DVD's available for rent. I never saw any 3PW shows whilst they were a going concern, but I remember reading about their shows when they were one of the bigger Philadelphia indies alongside CZW. Because I will watch almost any wrestling, I decided to give a 3PW show a go. It's not pretty...
Christian York & Joey Matthew vs Dylan Knight & Rapid Fire Maldonado
York and Matthews stall at the start to establish they're heels. Knight looks like a portly version of the singer from My Chemical Romance in binbag trousers, so he needs all the help he can get to win the fans over. An early nice spot sees York thrown outside, before the faces avoid a Matthews charge, which sendshim through the ropes, hitting a tope onto York. York and Matthews are clearly a level ahead of opponents in both work and character, though there is a really awful spot where events lead to York giving his own partner a tombstone, a spot so contrived that it draws boos. I do dig York's range of cocky covers. York and Matthews pick up the win after Matthews grabs Knight's leg as he tried to suplex York into the ring from the apron. Not a good opener.
Robert Pigeon vs John "The Tank" Toland
You may recall Toland as one of the Dicks in the WWE. He's in way better shape than Mr Pigeon here, who looks pale and gaunt in comparison. They start with a series of armdrags, which earns a boring chant. They then work a full-nelson reversal sequence that I alone enjoy. They pick up the pace, with Toland impressively catching Pigeon in midair on a crossbody and chucking him with fallaway salm. As the match goes on, the same boorish pocket of fans continue their "boring" chant, which isn't fair as it's a perfectly decent match. Toland shows off his agility by landing on his feet on a hiptoss attempt. However, Toland misses a moonsault, and Pigeon hits an implant DDT for 3. Perfectly acceptable match with a pocket of dickheads making it less enjoyable to watch.
Chris Hero vs Colt Cabana
Fans don't seem to like Colt much. A series of armbars and counters is a bit better received than in the last match, probably because it's a fair bit better. Hero does his best to heat up the lukewarm crowd with a plancha to the floor. Sitout Soylent Green gets two for Hero. Colt fakes a top rope dive to the floor to taunt the crowd in a funny spot. You can see moments where the match is starting to click into place as it progresses, as if they were initially thrown by the negative crowd. They seem to have won them over at one point until Hero botches a roll-up and the idiots strike up again. In fact, the frustrating thing is how disjointed this match feels, as you get moments of nice, fluid action before things just seem to sputter out. Even the ending is abrupt, with Cabana winning with a top rope moonsault, earning a 3 count that seemed to come too early. Very disappointing
Gary Wolfe vs the Rockin' Rebel
Christ, this isn't the pairing to get match quality up. We've got ourselves a dog-collar match here, though Rebel is wearing some plaid as he thought it was a lumberjack match. Wolfe attacks the Rebel to put the collar on him after RR initially refuses. Rebel tries to leave, obviously forgetting about the collar round his neck, so Wolfe dominates him outside the ring. Wolfe sets up a chair for a Raven-esque droptoehold, but Rebel manages to miss it somehow, going face first to the mat. The odd thing is, this is actually kinda fun. Clearly both guys know their limitations so just go for some old fashioned brawling. However, the match ends pretty abruptly. Rebel goes to splash Wolfe through a table, only for Rapid Fire Malondado to interfere on Wolfe's behalf for reasons unknown. Wolfe then tries twice to put Rebel through a table twice, failing to break it both times before covering for the win. Despite the random interference, this is (gulp) match of the night so far, if only by default.
Billy Wiles vs the Blue Meanie
Bloody Hell! One fan in the crowd HATES Billy Wiles and spends almost all match yelling about how fat he is. They work two comedy criss-cross spots before Meanie hits the milkiest punches in the corner I've ever seen. I actually thought they were comedy punches, but no, they were just shit. Billy making sexy eyes at Jasmin St Claire at ringside might be the most entertaining thing about this match. Seriously, Meanie seems to pause before every move as if he's trying to remember how to do it. The ending (which can't come soon enough) sees Jasmin leap on the apron as Wiles takes control. Wiles drags her into the ring, then uses her as a shield as he sees Meanie recover. However, Jasmin lowblows him and stunners him right in front of the ref before Meanie hits a moonsault to win. Just garbage.
Jasmin St Claire vs Candi
This is billed on the DVD as a separate match, in fact as an evening gown match. What actually happens is Candi runs in straight after the Wiles/Meanie match to attack Jasmin (which is odd, as she was a valet for the face team in the opener). Meanie grabs her and rips her dress off (what a face!) and then Dylan Knight comes in to attack Meanie and strip Jasmin. I can feel myself getting dumber just watching this.
Public Enemy vs Christian York & Joey Matthews
Seemingly, Y&M's punishment for being the best workers on the card is that they have to pull double duty tonight. No other explanation is given. They're so brilliantly obnoxious here that you really want to see them get beaten. York in particular is especially douchey here. Fair dues to the PE here, as they seem to be trying their best to keep up with Y&M, with Rock especially putting forth a good effort. Plus, there is something purely enjoyable about watching two obnoxious jerks mocking their opponents, only to get driven to the ground by an enormous Johnny Grunge. Y&M run away, but get dragged back to ringside by a random huge man and an arena-wide brawl ensues. To be honest, I find these kind of walk-your-opponent-to-the-next-spot brawl interminably dull, but compared to the matches beforehand, it's almost refreshing, and watching big Grunge put York through a table with an elbow from a balcony...I even cheered a little. Also, because Rock is willing to bump for a lot of Y&M offence, you get the dynamic of the big veterans beating the tar out of the cocky young punks without the risk of Y&M looking bad. Back in the ring, Y&M get a bit more offence, before the PE nail the South Philly Drive-By for the win. Was this great? No. Good? Nearly. Did I enjoy it? Yes
The Sandman vs New Jack vs Sabu
This is a bodybag match with Tod Gordon as special guest referee. The match opens with New Jack attacking his opponents with staplers and forks. Then Sandman and Sabu attack each other and New Jack with staplers and forks. Great. It isn't until Sandman droptoeholds Sabu into a ladder that something interesting happens. He then suplexes Sabu onto the ladder, but New Jack comes back with that fucking stapler. Honestly, the two things I find most boring in hardcore matches is stapler spots and "grinding-a-weapon-into-a-forehead" spots and this has them in abundance. Literally 80% of New Jack's offence is stapler-related, though I do laugh when he suplexes the Sandman and proudly announces "I know a wrestling move". Jack ties Sandman to the top rope by his neck before....bringing out the fucking stapler again. It's like a bad joke at this point. Sabu puts Jack down with a chair and a chair-legdrop before putting him in a bodybag to eliminate him....at least until Jack cuts himself free with a massive blade and gets right back into the match. Sigh. Sabu knocks New Jack out with his stapler (oh cruel hand of irony) and now Jack is gone for good. Bill Alfonso comes to the ring and turns on Sabu by throwing a chair at his head. However, Gordon then gets a cane and starts wailing away on Sandman. Gordon then beats up Alfonso and my brain feels like it's dying. Sabu puts Sandman through a table...and Gordon ushers him to the back. No bodybag, nothing. What a total whack of shit.
Officially the worst show I've review for the blog. A crowning achievement for 3PW
Christian York & Joey Matthew vs Dylan Knight & Rapid Fire Maldonado
York and Matthews stall at the start to establish they're heels. Knight looks like a portly version of the singer from My Chemical Romance in binbag trousers, so he needs all the help he can get to win the fans over. An early nice spot sees York thrown outside, before the faces avoid a Matthews charge, which sendshim through the ropes, hitting a tope onto York. York and Matthews are clearly a level ahead of opponents in both work and character, though there is a really awful spot where events lead to York giving his own partner a tombstone, a spot so contrived that it draws boos. I do dig York's range of cocky covers. York and Matthews pick up the win after Matthews grabs Knight's leg as he tried to suplex York into the ring from the apron. Not a good opener.
Robert Pigeon vs John "The Tank" Toland
You may recall Toland as one of the Dicks in the WWE. He's in way better shape than Mr Pigeon here, who looks pale and gaunt in comparison. They start with a series of armdrags, which earns a boring chant. They then work a full-nelson reversal sequence that I alone enjoy. They pick up the pace, with Toland impressively catching Pigeon in midair on a crossbody and chucking him with fallaway salm. As the match goes on, the same boorish pocket of fans continue their "boring" chant, which isn't fair as it's a perfectly decent match. Toland shows off his agility by landing on his feet on a hiptoss attempt. However, Toland misses a moonsault, and Pigeon hits an implant DDT for 3. Perfectly acceptable match with a pocket of dickheads making it less enjoyable to watch.
Chris Hero vs Colt Cabana
Fans don't seem to like Colt much. A series of armbars and counters is a bit better received than in the last match, probably because it's a fair bit better. Hero does his best to heat up the lukewarm crowd with a plancha to the floor. Sitout Soylent Green gets two for Hero. Colt fakes a top rope dive to the floor to taunt the crowd in a funny spot. You can see moments where the match is starting to click into place as it progresses, as if they were initially thrown by the negative crowd. They seem to have won them over at one point until Hero botches a roll-up and the idiots strike up again. In fact, the frustrating thing is how disjointed this match feels, as you get moments of nice, fluid action before things just seem to sputter out. Even the ending is abrupt, with Cabana winning with a top rope moonsault, earning a 3 count that seemed to come too early. Very disappointing
Gary Wolfe vs the Rockin' Rebel
Christ, this isn't the pairing to get match quality up. We've got ourselves a dog-collar match here, though Rebel is wearing some plaid as he thought it was a lumberjack match. Wolfe attacks the Rebel to put the collar on him after RR initially refuses. Rebel tries to leave, obviously forgetting about the collar round his neck, so Wolfe dominates him outside the ring. Wolfe sets up a chair for a Raven-esque droptoehold, but Rebel manages to miss it somehow, going face first to the mat. The odd thing is, this is actually kinda fun. Clearly both guys know their limitations so just go for some old fashioned brawling. However, the match ends pretty abruptly. Rebel goes to splash Wolfe through a table, only for Rapid Fire Malondado to interfere on Wolfe's behalf for reasons unknown. Wolfe then tries twice to put Rebel through a table twice, failing to break it both times before covering for the win. Despite the random interference, this is (gulp) match of the night so far, if only by default.
Billy Wiles vs the Blue Meanie
Bloody Hell! One fan in the crowd HATES Billy Wiles and spends almost all match yelling about how fat he is. They work two comedy criss-cross spots before Meanie hits the milkiest punches in the corner I've ever seen. I actually thought they were comedy punches, but no, they were just shit. Billy making sexy eyes at Jasmin St Claire at ringside might be the most entertaining thing about this match. Seriously, Meanie seems to pause before every move as if he's trying to remember how to do it. The ending (which can't come soon enough) sees Jasmin leap on the apron as Wiles takes control. Wiles drags her into the ring, then uses her as a shield as he sees Meanie recover. However, Jasmin lowblows him and stunners him right in front of the ref before Meanie hits a moonsault to win. Just garbage.
Jasmin St Claire vs Candi
This is billed on the DVD as a separate match, in fact as an evening gown match. What actually happens is Candi runs in straight after the Wiles/Meanie match to attack Jasmin (which is odd, as she was a valet for the face team in the opener). Meanie grabs her and rips her dress off (what a face!) and then Dylan Knight comes in to attack Meanie and strip Jasmin. I can feel myself getting dumber just watching this.
Public Enemy vs Christian York & Joey Matthews
Seemingly, Y&M's punishment for being the best workers on the card is that they have to pull double duty tonight. No other explanation is given. They're so brilliantly obnoxious here that you really want to see them get beaten. York in particular is especially douchey here. Fair dues to the PE here, as they seem to be trying their best to keep up with Y&M, with Rock especially putting forth a good effort. Plus, there is something purely enjoyable about watching two obnoxious jerks mocking their opponents, only to get driven to the ground by an enormous Johnny Grunge. Y&M run away, but get dragged back to ringside by a random huge man and an arena-wide brawl ensues. To be honest, I find these kind of walk-your-opponent-to-the-next-spot brawl interminably dull, but compared to the matches beforehand, it's almost refreshing, and watching big Grunge put York through a table with an elbow from a balcony...I even cheered a little. Also, because Rock is willing to bump for a lot of Y&M offence, you get the dynamic of the big veterans beating the tar out of the cocky young punks without the risk of Y&M looking bad. Back in the ring, Y&M get a bit more offence, before the PE nail the South Philly Drive-By for the win. Was this great? No. Good? Nearly. Did I enjoy it? Yes
The Sandman vs New Jack vs Sabu
This is a bodybag match with Tod Gordon as special guest referee. The match opens with New Jack attacking his opponents with staplers and forks. Then Sandman and Sabu attack each other and New Jack with staplers and forks. Great. It isn't until Sandman droptoeholds Sabu into a ladder that something interesting happens. He then suplexes Sabu onto the ladder, but New Jack comes back with that fucking stapler. Honestly, the two things I find most boring in hardcore matches is stapler spots and "grinding-a-weapon-into-a-forehead" spots and this has them in abundance. Literally 80% of New Jack's offence is stapler-related, though I do laugh when he suplexes the Sandman and proudly announces "I know a wrestling move". Jack ties Sandman to the top rope by his neck before....bringing out the fucking stapler again. It's like a bad joke at this point. Sabu puts Jack down with a chair and a chair-legdrop before putting him in a bodybag to eliminate him....at least until Jack cuts himself free with a massive blade and gets right back into the match. Sigh. Sabu knocks New Jack out with his stapler (oh cruel hand of irony) and now Jack is gone for good. Bill Alfonso comes to the ring and turns on Sabu by throwing a chair at his head. However, Gordon then gets a cane and starts wailing away on Sandman. Gordon then beats up Alfonso and my brain feels like it's dying. Sabu puts Sandman through a table...and Gordon ushers him to the back. No bodybag, nothing. What a total whack of shit.
Officially the worst show I've review for the blog. A crowning achievement for 3PW
Sunday, 14 October 2012
CMLL 01/01/05
Regular readers will be aware about my blind spot for puro, and my attempts to remedy that. Take that blindspot and make it roughly 100x blinder, and that pretty much sums up my knowledge of lucha. With that in mind, I decided to delve into this CMLL show, which appears to be a collection of the best matches in the promotion in 2004. Let's see how this goes...
Mistico, Volador Jr & Felino vs Olimpico, Mephisto & Averno
This was apparently Mistico's debut in the Arena Mexico. He starts off with Olimpico, who seems to be underestimating him, allowing Mistico to control his more experienced foe. Averno and Volador tag in, and Volador impresses me right away, thanks to some silky smooth mat work. The rudos all come in the ring and dominate the technicos, leading to a nice spot where Mephisto and Averno lift Felino up outside the ring to allow Olimpico to dropkick him through the ropes. They then triple team Mistico with a three man powerbomb and pin him whilst holding him in armbars for the first fall. The second fall starts with the rudos still in control, taking it in turns to dominate Felino, then Volador, then Mistico again, before the faces finally show some cohesion and break up the triple teams. Mistico manages to hit a beautiful cartwheel splash to the outside, and Felino drops Averno on the top rope to allow Volador to nail a springboard legdrop to take the second fall. The technicos start the third fall retaining the advantage, and Mistico gets to show some lovely athleticism, with a nice rana followed by a pescado into a rana on the outside on Mephisto. Volador continues to shine in the ring with some lovely smooth matwork, and he and Felino take out Averno and Mephisto with dives to the floor, to leave Mistico and Olimpico alone in the ring. Olimpico has control, but Mistico gets a cradle off a leglock for the win. Plenty of fun and, whilst an impressive showcase for Mistico, it was Volador who really stood out.
L.A. Park, Shocker & Brazo De Plata vs Pierroth, Okumura & Rey Buccanero
With Super Porky (Plata) in there, we kick off with some comedy, as he leaves the ring early on to ruffle the hair of one of the rudo's associates before giving him a big kiss. Park soon follows him outside with an insane suicide dive. The technicos take the first fall really early, Shocker locking in a half crab to force Buccanero to tap out, whilst Park pins Pierroth with a corkscrew moonsault and Plata sits on Okumura. A replay highlights just how swank Shocker's crab application was. The rudos come back by triple teaming Shocker near the start of the second fall and it soon yields results, as they elevate Okumura onto Shocker for a splash pinfall. As the third fall starts, Buccanero and Park brawl outside the ring, whilst the rudos continue to dominate inside. Things start to get a little crazy, with Porky kicking off the fun by diving off the apron onto Pierroth. A technico midget in a monkey suit then leaps off the top rope, but is caught by Okumura and Buccanero, only for Park to follow on top of them with a twisting tope that barely hits. In the ring, Shocker takes advantage of the chaos to tie up Buccanero in a leglock for the winning tapout. Not as smooth as the prior six man, but it was enjoyable chaos.
L.A. Park vs Ultimo Guerrero
We get some nifty matwork from both guys to start, until Park gets the first fall quickly with a sort of spinning standing headscissors, which gets the tap. The second fall kicks off with Guerrero showing more aggression, but being one step behind Park, until he blocks a suplex attempt with a gourdbuster for the pin. Having blitzed through two falls very quickly, they decide to compete for the biggest pop, both showboating for the crowd for the biggest reaction, a battle Guerrero narrowly wins. Park hits a corkscrew senton which gets him two. He tries a top rope rana, but Guerrero catches him and hits a top rope powerbomb for two. Park hits a Code Red for two, but Guerrero nails his own for the win. Felt a bit brief, especially as I expected the third fall to go longer. However, it served as a valuable reminder of just how much fun Park is. He's blessed with so much physical charisma and is so much fun to watch on offence, with little kicks and cocky gestures. Just wish we'd seen more of it.
Rayo De Jalisco vs Canek vs Dr Wagner Jr vs Universo 2000
This is a four corner match where the loser loses their mask, with the rules being that any guy who gets a pinfall or submission is safe and leaves the match, until we're left with one loser. That man then has to unmask. All four men battle, with Universo and Wagner trying to rip off their opponents mask from the start. The rules ensure this is structured differently from the usual four way, as soon Canek and Wagner leave the ring to watch as Jalisco and Universo battle, with Jalisco soon nailing a pin-gaining powerbomb. Then Canek and Wagner let the defeated Universo roll to the floor and compete themselves. This section of the match is particularly good, with Wagner nailing a nasty looking dropkick to the face. Wagner shows his smarts by sending Canek to the ringside to get beaten up by Universo, before rolling him up inside the ring for three. This leaves Canek and Universo to fight, as Wagner awesomely poses on the ramp. I like the fact that both remaining guys exchange pin attempts instead of going straight to moves, showing that victory is more important here than hurting the other guy. Universo takes control, but takes too long showboating and gets armdragged from the top rope. Canek locks in a Rings of Saturn variation for what seems to be the tap, but three chaps I don't know come in for a distraction. This allows Universo to hit an illegal piledriver on Canek and lock in a half crab for what he thinks is the victory, only for the referee to disqualify him, having seen the piledriver. Really fun match, especially with the post-match antics, which sees Universo protesting for ages (I assume, not speaking Spanish), before unmasking and attacking the ref. Good stuff
Mistico, Volador Jr & Felino vs Olimpico, Mephisto & Averno
This was apparently Mistico's debut in the Arena Mexico. He starts off with Olimpico, who seems to be underestimating him, allowing Mistico to control his more experienced foe. Averno and Volador tag in, and Volador impresses me right away, thanks to some silky smooth mat work. The rudos all come in the ring and dominate the technicos, leading to a nice spot where Mephisto and Averno lift Felino up outside the ring to allow Olimpico to dropkick him through the ropes. They then triple team Mistico with a three man powerbomb and pin him whilst holding him in armbars for the first fall. The second fall starts with the rudos still in control, taking it in turns to dominate Felino, then Volador, then Mistico again, before the faces finally show some cohesion and break up the triple teams. Mistico manages to hit a beautiful cartwheel splash to the outside, and Felino drops Averno on the top rope to allow Volador to nail a springboard legdrop to take the second fall. The technicos start the third fall retaining the advantage, and Mistico gets to show some lovely athleticism, with a nice rana followed by a pescado into a rana on the outside on Mephisto. Volador continues to shine in the ring with some lovely smooth matwork, and he and Felino take out Averno and Mephisto with dives to the floor, to leave Mistico and Olimpico alone in the ring. Olimpico has control, but Mistico gets a cradle off a leglock for the win. Plenty of fun and, whilst an impressive showcase for Mistico, it was Volador who really stood out.
L.A. Park, Shocker & Brazo De Plata vs Pierroth, Okumura & Rey Buccanero
With Super Porky (Plata) in there, we kick off with some comedy, as he leaves the ring early on to ruffle the hair of one of the rudo's associates before giving him a big kiss. Park soon follows him outside with an insane suicide dive. The technicos take the first fall really early, Shocker locking in a half crab to force Buccanero to tap out, whilst Park pins Pierroth with a corkscrew moonsault and Plata sits on Okumura. A replay highlights just how swank Shocker's crab application was. The rudos come back by triple teaming Shocker near the start of the second fall and it soon yields results, as they elevate Okumura onto Shocker for a splash pinfall. As the third fall starts, Buccanero and Park brawl outside the ring, whilst the rudos continue to dominate inside. Things start to get a little crazy, with Porky kicking off the fun by diving off the apron onto Pierroth. A technico midget in a monkey suit then leaps off the top rope, but is caught by Okumura and Buccanero, only for Park to follow on top of them with a twisting tope that barely hits. In the ring, Shocker takes advantage of the chaos to tie up Buccanero in a leglock for the winning tapout. Not as smooth as the prior six man, but it was enjoyable chaos.
L.A. Park vs Ultimo Guerrero
We get some nifty matwork from both guys to start, until Park gets the first fall quickly with a sort of spinning standing headscissors, which gets the tap. The second fall kicks off with Guerrero showing more aggression, but being one step behind Park, until he blocks a suplex attempt with a gourdbuster for the pin. Having blitzed through two falls very quickly, they decide to compete for the biggest pop, both showboating for the crowd for the biggest reaction, a battle Guerrero narrowly wins. Park hits a corkscrew senton which gets him two. He tries a top rope rana, but Guerrero catches him and hits a top rope powerbomb for two. Park hits a Code Red for two, but Guerrero nails his own for the win. Felt a bit brief, especially as I expected the third fall to go longer. However, it served as a valuable reminder of just how much fun Park is. He's blessed with so much physical charisma and is so much fun to watch on offence, with little kicks and cocky gestures. Just wish we'd seen more of it.
Rayo De Jalisco vs Canek vs Dr Wagner Jr vs Universo 2000
This is a four corner match where the loser loses their mask, with the rules being that any guy who gets a pinfall or submission is safe and leaves the match, until we're left with one loser. That man then has to unmask. All four men battle, with Universo and Wagner trying to rip off their opponents mask from the start. The rules ensure this is structured differently from the usual four way, as soon Canek and Wagner leave the ring to watch as Jalisco and Universo battle, with Jalisco soon nailing a pin-gaining powerbomb. Then Canek and Wagner let the defeated Universo roll to the floor and compete themselves. This section of the match is particularly good, with Wagner nailing a nasty looking dropkick to the face. Wagner shows his smarts by sending Canek to the ringside to get beaten up by Universo, before rolling him up inside the ring for three. This leaves Canek and Universo to fight, as Wagner awesomely poses on the ramp. I like the fact that both remaining guys exchange pin attempts instead of going straight to moves, showing that victory is more important here than hurting the other guy. Universo takes control, but takes too long showboating and gets armdragged from the top rope. Canek locks in a Rings of Saturn variation for what seems to be the tap, but three chaps I don't know come in for a distraction. This allows Universo to hit an illegal piledriver on Canek and lock in a half crab for what he thinks is the victory, only for the referee to disqualify him, having seen the piledriver. Really fun match, especially with the post-match antics, which sees Universo protesting for ages (I assume, not speaking Spanish), before unmasking and attacking the ref. Good stuff
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Hardcore Homecoming 2005
So, Lovefilm finally sent me one of the wrestling DVD's on my list in the form of this Shane Douglas booked ECW reunion show. It has the feel of ECW, with Joey Styles on commentary and filmed in the ECW arena. Question is, is it any good?
Kronus vs the Bad Breed
This was supposed to be an Eliminators reunion, but Saturn
got injured. The Bad Breed go to the ring and mention that due to a stipulation
ten years before, they can’t team up. However, they can beat someone up, which
doesn’t seem legally enforceable. Also worth noting Ian’s “Operation
Exterminate Vince”shirt, which I bet has Vince just shitting himself.
Essentially, they batter Kronus, until some familiar music starts and New Jack
comes out to even the sides. You know how this goes, they walk around hitting
each other with weapons, guys bleed and it’s all pretty dull. At one point a
huge scaffold is wheeled to ringside, which New Jack uses to leap from onto a
Ian Rotten-covered table. This isn’t a
match as there’s no ref, so the Bad Breed roll to the floor, where upon New
Jack takes the mic for a rambling promo. All four men fist-bump, New Jack gives
the Bad Breed “much love” and I mourn 20 minutes I’ll never get back.
Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible
I like the way the opening section establishes the
difference between the two: Lynn outwrestles Credible, so Justin uses brawling
to try and take over. Lynn tries a cannonball from a table onto Credible really
early which he misses, but both of the act like he hit, which is a bit sloppy. Credible
is shown as being one step behind Lynn, only taking over when some Jason
distraction allows him to superkick a chair into Jerry’s face. Jason’s
usefulness is shown again, as he sets up a chairspot for Credible, making it a
bit less contrived. Credible tries to dominate with powermoves, hitting a
Bossman slam and a powerslam for two counts, but it’s hard to be convinced by
the raw power of a thin man in a wifebeater. Both hit their finishers, both
only get two. Lynn crotches Credible on the top rope, and ranas him through the
table he used earlier that I’d forgotten all about, which is a nice touch. Jazz comes out to prevent Jason interfering
again, and Lynn reverses That’s Incredible into a cradle tombstone for the win.
Surprisingly decent, leagues ahead of their TNA series that sucked.
Simon Diamond & CW Anderson vs Mikey Whipwreck &
Chris Chetti
You know it’s a hit crowd when even the heel team get huge
pops. Perfectly decent formula tag match, where Diamond and Anderson take
control on Chetti after some initial face offence. Styles prefaced this by
pointing out Chetti was the only one of the four who wasn’t wrestling
regularly, so it makes sense when he becomes face-in-peril. CW looks the best
out of the four men, nailing a lovely looking superkick on Mikey, but even an
out-of-shape Diamond or a semi-retired Chetti keep pace and don’t blow
anything. This might well be the best match I’ve seen Chetti in. After things
break down, we get a series of finishers, culminating with Mikey hitting a Whippersnapper
on Simon for 3. Good Heat main event.
Tracy Smothers vs the Blue Meanie
Tracy is accompanied by JT Smith for an FBI reunion. Despite
Smothers being awesome, the limitations of the Meanie mean this has to be a
comedy match. Luckily, Smothers can do those really well too, leading to a
sequence where he fails to slam Meanie, but both Meanie and referee John
Finnegan manage to slam him. Finnegan even covers for two. Tracy doesn’t
appreciate the negativity of the crowd, advising them to stop or “everybody
dies!” Tracy challenges Meanie to a dance off instead. Spoiler: both are
terrible dancers. Smothers attacks Meanie from behind during the dance-off, but
Meanie isn’t down for long. A corner splash puts Smothers to the mat, but Smith
belts Meanie with a chain on an attempted moonsault, allowing Smothers the pin
(with foot on rope). Not great, but Tracy was fun here.
Kid Kash vs Too Cold Scorpio
This is the match most likely to steal the show. They do
things so well, even the little things like Scorpio adjusting his legs when he
has Kash from behind to ensure Kash can’t grab them to escape. Scorpio remains
slightly ahead at first and seems to be having fun, but he soon takes things
seriously as Kash starts uping the tempo. Scorpio makes his first mistake by
missing a pescado, before Kash springboards out and hits a rana on the floor.
Kash is in command on the floor as much as Scorpio was in the ring, which he
shows by throwing Scorpio from the stage and following with a cannonball. Kash
hits Scorp with his own GHC tag belt, but the insult causes Scorp to no-sell
it. He gets Kash back in the ring and plants him with a powerbomb and 2nd
rope flipping legdrop for two. A top rope flipping legdrop gets two. Kash tries
to fire back with a slightly botched rana for two, but Scorp regains control
and hits another powerbomb and a 450 splash to win. Unsurprisingly, match of
the show. Great display by both men, especially the contrast between Scorpio
dominating in the ring, and Kash dominating on the floor.
Raven vs the Sandman
Raven is accompanied by the Blue Meanie and the Musketeer,
which must be the worst entourage he’s ever had. Raven decides to substitute
the Musketeer for himself, which leads to a Sandman beating for Meanie and
Musketeer. Raven takes advantage of this distraction to take over. Raven
dominates a lot of the match, fair to say Sandman doesn’t add much to
proceedings. Meanie throws powder in Sandman’s face and the Evenflow gets 2 for
Raven. Sandman gets in a bit of offence, putting Raven through a table and
hitting a swanton onto a ladder with Raven underneath. Swanton through a table
gets 2. Meanie comes in to help Raven and hits two shitty moonsaults for 2. A
third one is much better, but still only gets two. Don E Allen comes in to help
Raven to zero reaction, but Mikey Whipwreck sends him off. Mikey goes to share
a beer with Sandman, but turns and hits a Whippersnapper to give Raven the win.
Pretty much held together by Raven and overbooking, the result was a mess, but
a watchable mess.
Shane Douglas vs Sabu vs Terry Funk
This is a barbed wire rope match, and instantly Douglas and
Funk look smarter by the fact they’re wearing t-shirts (not that you would
expect Sabu to do so). It seems even smarter as both men are in the barbed wire
within two minutes. Indeed, a fair bit of the opening segment is dedicated to
all three men getting pushed into the wire. The best of these spots sees Sabu
go for a chair-assisted springboard, only for Funk to move the chair, sending
Sabu flying into the barbs. As the match progresses though, the barbed wire
spots really start to lose their impact through overuse. Things get worse as
Funk gets his arm so stuck that they have to cut the wire to free him. At this
point, the overbooking kicks in, but in a way that actually makes the match
more fun. Firstly, Shane KO’s two referees in a row, the second with a chain
wrapped round his fist. Styles then claims that the whole show was a plot by Shane to cripple both Sabu and
Funk, which is a brilliant storyline. Shane starts climbing a rickety ladder,
but the lights go off. When they come back on, Mick Foley is in the ring in a
ref shirt to a huge pop. He uses socko on Douglas to a chorus of boos, but then
amends it to barbed wire socko to a huge cheer! Sabu hits Shane with a chain to
the face to eliminate him. Funk recovers and puts Sabu on a table, but climbing
the rickety ladder causes it to collapse, and Sabu hits the Arabian facebuster
to win. The first half was dull, but the second half was overbooked enough to
make it at least entertaining. The overall theme for the show is that the
wrestling was below average, but enough smoke and mirrors were used to make the
matches fun.
Friday, 7 September 2012
666 17/01/2010
Man, talk about a low budget indy show. The 666 promotion runs out of Japan, and based on this show, draws crowds in the low hundreds. The crew appears to consist of an English ring announcer in a big bowtie and the wrestlers on the card. When it isn't their match, the wrestlers either commentate or referee. This is a one-night tournament for the title title...one belt which appears to have the face of Thomas the Tank Engine on it. Let's get to it...
Kazumi Shimouma vs Hiraku Shida
This is an Ice Ribbon match. Shida gets some basic offence
to start, but Shimouma seems stronger and is more vicious, so soon takes
control. Both girls go for a fair few submissions and noticeably fight for the
holds. On one hand, this adds to the realism, however it also begins to look
sloppy and awkward after a while with holds barely applied. Shida gets a
nearfall from a Fisherman’s suplex, but Shimouma gets a shitty looking top rope
stunner and follows with a World’s Strongest Slam for the win. Not good.
Yuko Miyamoto & K666 vs Yamada Man Pound & Tochiki
Fairly enjoyable tag-team action. YMP and Tochiki are
dressed like scruffy hardcore types, and back this up by sandwiching Miyamoto
in between two road signs as he runs the ropes. They follow this by both
hitting rolling sentons through the signs in the corner on K666. Miyamoto seems
to be easily the best member of his team, hitting some crisp knees to Tochiki,
which contrasts heavily to the slightly milky looking kicks of his partner.
Miyamoto also gets the best spot of the match, hanging from a pipe on the
ceiling to get into position to hit a footstomp on Tochiki. A rolling cradle
follows, picking up the win.
Onryo & Konaka Pale One vs The 101 & Shinobu
The 101 has an odd gimmick, which seems to involve him
revelling in slicking his hair back like he’s in a Timotei advert. Even his
partner mocks him for this ridiculous act. Onryo was one of the first guys I
liked when I started watching puro, and it’s nice to see the zombie still gives
off dust when hit. Konaka does some early comedy wrestling, performing with his
legs crossed, sat on the floor, including hitting a suplex on Shinobu from this
position. This sets the tone for the match, with a slightly awkward mix of
action and comedy. Konaka takes most of the punishment, before Onryo comes in
on the hot tag with a tigerbomb for two. The 101 hits an impressive corkscrew moonsault
from the bottom rope into the ring, but miscommunication means Shinobu hits him
with a clothesline shortly afterwards, and Konaka hits Shinobu with a double
knee strike for the win. Passable.
Yuko Miyamoto & K666 vs Onryo & Konaka Pale One
This match starts slowly, taking it’s time getting out of
first gear. It also starts with too much K666 offense, showcasing the fact he
isn’t actually very good. Onryo and Konaka work over his left arm, though this
seems to be for the sake of working a heat segment, as it’s forgotten about
once the hot-tag is made to Miyamoto. The pace picks up when he comes in, the
ghoulish team hitting a nice tigerbomb/springboard elbow combo for two. Onryo
and K666 manage to blow both a rana and another tigerbomb in quick succession,
with both looking equally at fault, before K666 gets Konaka with a flash
backslide for the win and the title...
Seemingly though, and I can’t speak Japanese to translate,
they decide to have a four-way elimination match with the title on the line. It
also seems to be a ladder match, as the title hangs from the ceiling and there
are some tiny ladders in the ring
Yuko Miyamoto & K666 vs Onryo & Konaka Pale One vs
Yamada Man Pound & Tochiki vs The 101 & Shinobu
Straight away, Onryo and Konaka get dumped over the top rope
to be eliminated. Pretty convenient, as Konaka is back in the ring 20 seconds
later to referee. The match soon breaks down, with 101 and Shinobu picked off
and beaten by the other two teams, one per team. YMP and Tochiki work Shinobu over with chair on the outside; meanwhile Miyamoto messes up the 101's lovely hair by soaking it with water. The cad. The tiny ladders ensure no-one
even tries to get the belt. Soon, the teams gang up on K666 and Miyamoto,
hitting them with suplexes and dogpiling them for the pin. You’ll notice this
leaves the two losing teams from the semi-finals battling for the belt.
Suddenly, and I swear I’m not making this up, the ring announcer enters to the
sound of “YMCA” and beats all the wrestlers up. Another lad dressed up in an
American-themed costume climbs on his shoulders and takes the title from the
ceiling, only for the ring announcer to hit a sitout driver on him and take the
title. Absolutely baffling and I can’t tell if it’s amazing or terrible.
Certainly entertaining.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
ECW December To Dismember 2006
So, for just £3 second-hand, I got the pay-per view that killed the ECW PPV dream for good. Is it as bad as people claim?
The
Hardy Boys vs MNM
Well,
at least they went for a hot opener. Both teams are reforming for “one night
only” here, though they’d open the Rumble the following month. The match sees
the Hardys dominate at first, until some Melina interference gives MNM an
opening. They work over Matt with a nice series of double teams, and even get
Melina to give him a headscissors on the apron. Matt goes for the hot tag after
reversing a double suplex into a double neckbreaker, but MNM attack Jeff on the
apron to prevent the tag. I loved the way that the heels cockily imitate the
Hardys by hitting Poetry In Motion and attempting the Twist of Fate/Swanton
combo. However, this backfires when Matt blocks the TOF and gets the hot tag to
Jeff. We get treated to a nice dive sequence, the highlight of which is Nitro
hurling himself with reckless abandon over the top rope. The Hardys got for the
TOF/Swanton combo, but Nitro pulls Mercury out of harms way, and Jeff is soon
the face-in-peril. MNM use some strong plays from the heel handbook, using
blind tags and assaults on Matt to keep their control over Jeff. Melina even
responds viciously to “crackwhore” chants by punting Jeff in the ribs. Jeff
makes the hot tag and all Hell breaks loose. Even Melina takes one for the
team, getting accidentally dropkicked off the apron by Nitro. MNM hit the
Snapshot for two,
Matt
Striker vs Balls Mahoney
Striker
promises to make this an Extreme Rules match...”an Extreme enforcement of the
rules”. Brilliant. Striker has a picture of his face on the seat of his trunks
and we’re treated to way too many close-ups of this. Balls locks Striker in a
cross-armbreaker early to show he can go on the mat with him, so Striker
resorts to a cheap shot, before Balls hits the ringpost on a shoulder-charge.
Striker does a pretty good job working over the arm with some fun offence,
including a pretty swank roll-through into a Fujiwara armbar. Honestly, this is
a pretty decent match, with Balls doing a good selling job and Striker
perfectly fine as a smarmy heel. Balls hits some powermoves using only his good
arm, before hitting a sitout spinebuster for 3. Enjoyed this a lot.
Elijah
Burke & Sylvester Terkay vs the FBI
This
is pretty much a squash match, though the FBI do get to briefly look good. The
main aim is to get Terkay over as a monster, which he does by manhandling the
FBI, throwing Guido over the top rope onto Mamaluke. The FBI try to use their
speed advantage, downing Terkay by dropkicking his legs, but Burke hits the
Stroke on Mamaluke for an easy win.
Daivari
vs Tommy Dreamer
Like
the most disappointing Heat main event ever. Daivari bumps about for Dreamer
early doors, especially when taking a throw to the barricades. Khali interferes
to help, but gets caught by the ref and thrown out. Daivari cranks up the crowd
with a lengthy chinlock, then a second when Dreamer breaks free. Dreamer fights
back again, but Daivari blocks the DDT and rolls him up for 3. Not a PPV
encounter.
Mike
Knox & Kelly Kelly vs Kevin Thorn & Ariel
This
actually starts off pretty well, with Knox and Thorn just wailing on each
other. The crowd is dead, despite both men nailing awesome clotheslines. Knox
makes a mistake by chinlocking Thorn however, as this kills the crowd even
more. At least with the lengthy Daivari chinlocks you could argue that it
encouraged fans to cheer for Dreamer. This is a heel v heel encounter. The
girls get tagged in and somehow this gets even worse, as Kelly is at her dirt
worst here. Ariel dominates, but Kelly fires back and goes for the hot-tag,
only for Knox to leave her to her fate. Ariel uses some choke-STO to win.
Pretty horrible.
The
Big Show vs Test vs CM Punk vs Hardcore Holly vs Rob Van Dam vs Bobby Lashley
This
is an extreme elimination chamber match for the ECW title. The “extreme” comes
from the fact that there are weapons inside the pods. I should highlight here
how big Test was at this point. The man looks like a fucking tank. I should
also highlight this match is terrible. There are so many factors stopping it
from being good. I’m not even talking about the decision to replace the
advertised Sabu (who incidentally is still on the DVD case) with Hardcore
Holly, as I would rather watch Holly at this time. It’s just horribly booked
with massive logic gaps. For instance, the heel trio of Show, Test and Holly
are quite clearly in cahoots. They applaud each other when they enter the ring
and all three are henchmen of Paul Heyman. Logically, therefore, you’d assume
the faces would also try and collaborate. You’d be wrong. When Punk is released
from his pod to join RVD and Holly, he goes pretty much directly after Van Dam.
Even when Test gets in and starts choking RVD with a crowbar, Punk and RVD seem
to get paired off. This eventually leads to RVD hitting the Five Star on Punk
to eliminate him. This leaves him with Test and Holly. Luckily for RVD, Test
turns on Holly and boots him in the head to eliminate him (and they manage to
blow this pinfall, with the ref only counting two, but Holly still leaving
anyway). But there is no way RVD could have predicted that, he was instead
happily leaving himself open to a 2-on-1 situation.
The
next problem is that the match is clearly booked to get Lashley over. However,
the fans simply don’t want that. So when Test pins RVD following an awesome
elbow from the top of a pod onto RVD’s chair-coated face, the fans are left
with three men (Test, Show, Lashley) they don’t really like. Even more stupid,
Test pins RVD with time to spare before Lashley is released, leaving 30 seconds
of deadtime. This gets even longer as Heyman’s masked goons try to stop Lashley
getting in (and I’ve no idea how long they were intending on leaving him in his
pod for). Then, after Lashley pins Test following a spear, he’s left alone for 1.15
until Show is let loose. This non-action isn’t winning the fans over, as they
start chanting for a refund. Even the weapons can’t save this match, as no-one
really thinks Big Show will get to wallop Lashley with a barbed-wire baseball
bat, rendering it pointless. Some of the action is decent (That top of pod Test
elbow, the entire Punk section which re-energised the match), but by the time
Lashley wins the ECW title by spearing Show, the crowd is pissed off, bored and
ready to go. To be honest, by that point so was I. Dreadful main event.
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Southside Wrestling Menace II Society II live report
Robbie X vs Nathan Cruz
Marty Scurll vs MK McKinnan
Robbie really impressed at the Speed King show, so I was
looking forward to seeing him again. Solid opener, as Robbie is a great
high-flyer, nailing a running SSP and a great-looking Code Red on Cruz. Cruz
was pretty good himself, and they packed a lot into this match. So much so,
that I can’t remember all of it, but I do recall Cruz caught Robbie coming off
the ropes with a sitout driver for the win.
The Predators (Joseph Conners & Paul Malen) vs Project
Ego (Kris Travis & Martin Kirby)
Despite what sounds like a heel name, Project Ego were very
much the faces here. Kirby and Travis were really good at the Speed King show,
and they worked well as a dynamic team here. The Predators were a good foil for
them, as they didn’t attempt anything too flashy, but worked over Kirby (the
face-in-peril for a large part of the match) with some nice double teams and
really built up heat on him. What was really good here is that both teams have
worked the UK as units for a while, so they both worked as cohesive teams.
Despite two really good matches later in the night, I think this was a sleeper
contender for match of the night.
Stixx vs Max Angelus
Interesting storyline here. Stixx is the head trainer and
owner of the local House of Pain Wrestling promotion, and Angelus is one of his
trainees. The story goes that Stixx thinks Max has gone too soft and has been
rejecting Stixx’s interference in matches. There is a stip here that, if Stixx
wins he’ll own Angelus’ contract. Angelus is also the reigning SWE Money In The
Bank suitcase holder. Fun little match here, as Stixx bumped well for his
trainee, which is more impressive considering Stixx is a mountain of a man. His
offence was good too, including a nice reversal of a stomachbreaker into a half
crab attempt. Angelus, I’ve said before, could really be a big star in UK
wrestling, he’s got the right mix of skills, looks and presence in the ring.
The ending was some great pro-wrestling as Max hit Stixx with a piledriver,
only for Stixx to stop moving. The ref called officials from the back to check
on him whilst Max looked on with concern. Just as they were about to carry
Stixx from the ring, he popped up and took Max to the floor, locking in a
half-crab for the tapout win, and also backing up his theory about Max going
soft. So now Stixx controls the contract of the MITB winner. An intriguing
situation and a good match to boot.
T-Bone vs SC Supreme
Supreme is a guy I saw wrestling for HOP in April and he was
one of the better performers that night. He’s got that Jim Neidhart-esque
physique that isn’t chiselled, but makes him look like a tank. T-Bone, I saw
wrestling in the same arena last June, and he’s a really charismatic performer.
These two just beat the crap out of each other. We got a few comedy spots
(Supreme dedicating a chop to a woman at ringside before missing T-Bone and
chopping the post; T-Bone then grabbing the injured hand at getting audience
members to hit it), but for the main part this was just two big tanks
pummelling each other, and it was great. At one point, Supreme hit an awesome
overhead suplex on T-Bone, sending him all the way across the ring. The
Predators came out to cause the distraction when it looked like T-Bone was
going to win, but they had little effect as T-Bone hit a top rope splash to
pick up the win. Good match
The post-match angle was even better though: following the
match, Stixx came out to join the Predators and Supreme, guys who he’d trained,
as they beat the shit out of T-Bone, crushing his mid-section with Stixx’s
chain. Project Ego and Robbie X tried to make the save, but were beaten down
every time they tried to get in the ring. Eventually, with the help of a
returning Max Angelus, the faces cleared the ring and helped T-Bone to the
back. Angelus brought T-Bone back to the ring for some more applause, only to
hit him in the back with a chair before looking conflicted. Hot angle to head
into the break.
Marty was defending the Speed King title he won last
Nottingham show against the debuting McKinnan. It was a face vs face match,
with the crowd pretty split between the two. Scurll is a really great wrestler,
and can flip between funny man and brutal very easily. It’s all in the way he
cheekily says “Hello” before kicking you in the head. This was a lot of fun as
they seemed to gel really well with some nice chain wrestling. McKinnan made
people take note pretty early with a great tope through the ropes. He also
spiked Marty with a reserve rana, but ultimately Scurll’s striking got the better
of him. Scurll picked up the win with the torture rack back-breaker. I could
have watched another ten minutes of this happily.
Mad Man Manson vs “Textbook” Dave Breaks
This was a comedy match in-between two of the big matches on
the card. Good match placement by SWE. Manson is a lot of fun and Breaks played
the role of stooge really well. At one point, he even brought out an actual
textbook to work out some tactics against the Mad Man. Not that it worked, as
Manson pulled Breaks trunks down on a sunset flip attempt, leaving Breaks to
wrestle half the match with his arse hanging out. In the end, Breaks got into a
row with the ref, who pushed him over a crouched Manson, leading to a Manson
roll-up for the win.
Ego Dragon vs El Ligero
This was fought under street fight rules and, after some of
the chaos we’d seen at that point, it had a Hell of a job to compete. It did
so, and more besides, being arguably match of the night. The two guys really
brought the hate, brawling all around ringside, hurling each other through
chairs and each realistically doing their best to win. Dragon hurled Ligero
through 3 or 4 rows of chairs on the outside to draw a big SWE chant. At one
point, it looked like Ligero had it in the bag, having stacked a load of chairs
on Dragon in the corner, before diving onto them himself. However, Dragon had a
plan in mind and, having taken the advantage, started dismantling the ring.
With Ligero down, Dragon choked him out using the top rope, with the referee
checking the arms of Ligero three times before calling for the bell. An insane
main event, and a great show from start to finish.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)