ECW Hardcore TV #14 06/07/1993

Super Destroyers vs Richard Michaels & Johnny Hotbody

This has the added stipulation of the Destroyers putting their masks on the line vs the Suicide Blondes’ tag titles. The Destroyers control early doors, with one of them hitting a nice looking enzuigiri. Michaels hits a really shitty looking bulldog (looks like the Destroyer went down too late) to take over, and the energy really goes up when Hotbody gets in. I’m far from convinced that he’s a great wrestler or anything, but he always seems more motivated than the wrestlers around him. The ending here is terrible. A ref distraction allows Chris Candido to come out and swap places with Michaels (despite looking nothing alike – even down to the colour and length of their trunks), and this happens right in front of a Destroyer who does nothing. The other Destroyer rolls up Candido for an absurdly long cradle – the referee still being distracted – then when the ref turns round, he reapplies the cradle to Candido for the three count. So amateur.

Ivan Koloff vs The Sandman

I’m glad we live in a world where such an odd pairing happened. The early stages are spent on the mat, and are surprisingly not bad. Koloff is always one step ahead, but Sandman doesn’t look too bad. Sandman ups the tempo with a terrible crossbody. Koloff goes up top, but gets caught by the Sandman, who throws him off. Rockin’ Rebel comes out and hurls a green liquid in the eyes of Sandman’s manager, Peaches, but oddly this doesn’t play into the distraction finish. Instead, Sandman gets distracted by Vladimir Koloff on the opposite side of the ring and takes a weak knee to the back to give Ivan the win. This was a #1 contenders match, which is going to lead to a heel vs heel match with Koloff taking Muraco, assuming this goes ahead.

Dark Patriot, Eddie Gilbert & Don Muraco vs Glen Osbourne, Tommy Cairo & Larry Winters

The graphics announce an 8 man tag is coming next, but this is quite clearly only 6 men. We don’t exactly have the cream of the face workers in ECW here, but there is one great piece of schtick here, where the faces hold an armbar on Gilbert and swap places behind the refs back, infuriating Paul E Dangerously on commentary. Even better, Gilbert manages to tag Muraco, but because the ref was distracted by the faces, he doesn’t see it and refuses to let Muraco in. Nice, simple comedy spot. Also, Tommy Cairo hits a full-force shoulder block that looks terrific. As far as the heels go, the lazy offense or Muraco is really highlighted by how crisp the Dark Patriot is, as he finishes off Osbourne with a great diving shoulderblock for three.

Sal Bellomo vs Chris Candido

Hey, Bellomo hit a dropkick in the first few minutes here, might be the best looking thing he’s done in his ECW run. He then bites Candido’s arm to block a clothesline. He’s a like a hairy, shit Pete Dunne. The ref of the Blondes run in to cause a DQ, and we get a big brawl to close the show as the Super Destroyers make the save. In the melee, the Destroyers seemingly break Candido’s arm, which is the image we close the show on

ECW Hardcore TV #12 22/06/1993

Don Muraco vs Tommy Cairo

Man, this is probably Muraco’s worst performance in ECW to this point, and he really looks past his prime. He takes a stumbling slow motion bump off a Cairo crossbody and barely gets over on a backdrop. Cairo looks decent here, but he’s really facing a guy who’s just stumbling through the match. Amusing scene as a kid in a “We Can’t Dance” Genesis shirt steals Eddie Gilbert’s cap at ringside. The end is all sorts of terrible, as Cairo suplexes Muraco, but Muraco just rolls him over on the pin attempt and gets the three. Not even a hint of struggle from Cairo. Really odd ending that makes everyone look stupid.

JT Smith vs Dark Patriot

Patriot looks really good in the early stages, really solid execution of his moves with a nice punch and real snap to a back elbow. Smith isn’t very crisp, but he is very willing and looks like he’s putting some effort in. Still, his flying headscissors is sloppy and he barely glances Patriot with a moonsault for two. There’s a ref bump and the two battle to the commentary balcony. In an insane bump, Patriot knocks Smith to the floor a good 15-20 ft below and then dives off onto Smith. Patriot gets back in the ring and wins by countout. Nutso bump from both guys, and there are signs that things are getting a bit closer to the familiar ECW style

Rockin Rebel & Tony Stetson vs The Sandman & Larry Winters

The heel team are substantially better than the faces here, so it’s good that Rebel and Stetson control the majority of the bout. Stetson bumps about to make Winters’ floaty offence look good, despite there being so much air shown on a kneelift. Stetson’s offence isn’t flashy, but it at least looks effective and like it would actually cause pain. Sandman tags in and hits a dreadful DDT on Stetson before another crap ending (this episode is rife with them). Peaches gets on the apron to distract Rebel, openly slaps him in front of the ref and Sandman rolls him up to get the win following what feels like a REALLY fast count. Good match until the end.

The Suicide Blondes (Chris Candido, Johnny Hotbody & Richard Michaels) vs The Super Destroyers & Sal Bellomo

Surprisingly fun 6-man, due to more fun bumping and stooging by the Blondes. They make the basic offence of the Destroyers look deadly. Hotbody eats an ugly looking powerbomb from a Destroyer, but the Destroyers seem to want to beat up all three Blondes, and force the tag to Michaels. Michaels takes an amazing bump when he misses a top rope splash that gets insane height. Even Bellomo does the first cool thing I’ve seen from him in ECW, putting Hotbody in a figure-four legvine, then leaping down on his legs, which looks painful. The Blondes finally get control, but their cheating mean things quickly break down. In the melee, Paul E Dangerously gets involved to check on injured Blondes manager Hunter Q Robbins III, but gets levelled by a Destroyer. This lures out the Dangerous Alliance with weapons, and a big brawl kicks off to end the episode. 

ECW Hardcore TV #11 15/06/1993

It's going to sound odd for a show with a squash and 3 matches ending in DQ, but this is easily the best episode of Hardcore TV so far. Amazing what happens when you book Terry Funk matches instead of Glen Osbourne and the Sandman

Hawk vs Jimmy Snuka

Pleasantly, better than I was suspecting. Both guys take more bumps than I was expecting, with Hawk really flying into the corner on a missed shoulder charged. Snuka’s control wasn’t amazing, but I liked Hawk coming back after Snuka missing a diving headbutt and hitting a really good looking neckbreaker. Top rope clothesline looks to have won it before Paul E Dangerously runs in for the DQ. Short, but not terrible.

Suicide Blondes vs Super Destroyers

JIP match. The Destroyers have turned face, and seem to be having more fun in this role. Candido hits a nice dive to the floor, but gets caught on a pescado. One of the Destroyers goes to the top rope, and I start having kittens thinking a Super D is going to hit a top rope dive. Sadly, he was just up there to do some taunting. Chris Michaels (now renamed Richard Michaels) comes to ringside and interferes, as does Super Destroyer-wannabe Sal Bellomo, and the ref calls the bout off. Probably the most I’ve enjoyed the Destroyers, thanks to the quicker pace and Candido bumping for them.

Eddie Gilbert vs Herve Renesto

Renesto is a renamed Ernesto Benefico, but this doesn’t lead to a change in his fortunes. This is a chain match in anticipation of Gilbert’s forthcoming match with Terry Funk. This is a quick massacre, with Gilbert knocking Renesto down so hard they need to reattach the chain. After dragging him round the ring by his throat, Gilbert hits him in the neck with the chain and touches all four corners to win.

Terry Funk vs The Dark Patriot

First time Terry has been in the ring in ECW so far, and he’s a welcome presence. Patriot gets the early advantage after Dangerously distracts Terry on the floor. Dangerously features heavily in the bout, giving Patriot a coathanger and distracting the ref to allow Patriot to choke Funk with it in the ring. Loved how Funk sold Patriot’s punches, staggering into the ropes, getting caught up and spilling to the floor. Nice piledriver by Patriot only gets 2. Funk fires back with some great looking headbutts, and I loved him grabbing Patriot by the mask, alternating between trying to remove it and using it to hold Patriot’s head in place to lace him with some punches. Dangerously tries to interfere, but Terry sees him coming, leading to a great faceoff as Dangerously is frozen in place stunned. Terry nails 3 DDT’s, but Eddie Gilbert comes in for the DQ. Top stuff until the end, best ECW match so far.

ECW Hardcore TV #10 08/06/1993

Hawk vs Samoan Warrior & Don E Allen

Unsurprisingly, the debuting Hawk squashes the unimpressive pairing of Allen and Warrior. Big double-clothesline, powerslam and top-rope clothesline to Warrior, followed by press-slamming Allen onto his partner – easy win.

Battle Royal

This is to crown the Pennsylvania State Heavyweight title, a terrifically unimportant sounding belt. It’s basically everyone on the roster, bar the Dangerous Alliance. Sandman and Rockin’ Rebel eliminate each other straight away. Suicide Blondes show the most smarts by working as a team throughout, in direct contract with Larry Winters and Tony Stetson, who break up as a team following Winters’ elimination of his partner. Stetson lays out Winters, leading to his elimination at the hands of match-winner Tommy Cairo (though Winters does botch his elimination, leading to a re-do). Stetson then apologises outside the ring. With his apology finally accepted, he brilliantly then rams Winters into the ring post. Aside from this, the battle royal was pretty unremarkable.

Suicide Blondes vs Tommy Cairo & Glen Osbourne

Not much of a bout. Osbourne actually looks a lot better than usual here, mainly because he’s got the Blondes stooging and bumping around for him. Cairo has a nice belly-to-belly suplex that he lays out both Blondes with, but he gets hit by Hunter Q Robbins with a cane – RIGHT in front of the referee – and pinned for the win. Cairo and Osbourne should really be asking this ref what he was playing at. Match only existed as a backdrop for Robbins joining the Blondes as manager and the Super Destroyers turning face.

The Sandman vs Don Muraco

This is Sandman’s ECW title rematch. We’re JIP with a long Sandman headlock section. I’m a bit of a sucker for “face frustrates heel with long headlock” sections, but Muraco’s head threatens to slip lose at any moment, ruining the illusion. Muraco responds with a lengthy cheat-filled abdominal stretch, before Sandman is counted out on the outside when he tries to attack Paul E Dangerously and gets taken out by Muraco. Terrible stuff.

ECW Hardcore TV #8 25/05/1993

HD Ryder vs Super Destroyer #3

 SD3 is a barely disguised Sal Bellomo, who even takes his mask off for breath throughout the bout. This is played for comedy, which is about the best use of Sal. Bellomo’s offence is super soft, the only highpoints being a decent standing dropkick and Ryder selling an eyerake by wildly swinging at the air. A splash gives Bellomo the win, at which point the real Super Destroyers come in and obliterate him.

Suicide Blondes vs Tony Stetson & Larry Winters

Good to see the Blondes rewarded for their clean loss in a non-title match with a title shot. This isn’t great, though I really liked Stetson’s full-force flying clothesline. Winters is briefly worked over as face-in-peril, but when he hits a DDT, he opts not to tag out. This sets alarm bells ringing, and Hotbody causing a ref bump moments later do nothing to silence them (though Hotbody is dumb enough to try a small package on Winters, despite knowing he caused the ref to be down). More shenanigans lead to Hotbody nailing Winters with a chain to pick up the titles. Winters & Stetson being used as transitional champs to transfer the belts to the Blondes makes sense, as Hotbody and Candido are the best team in the company at this juncture.

Ernesto Benefico vs Don Muraco

Benefico is someone I’ve never seen look competitive and has zero chance. Muraco knows it too, as he plays this for laughs, barely putting any effort in. Muraco kind of awkwardly drops Ernesto over his head, then catches him coming off the top rope with a piledriver for the win.

JT Smith & Tommy Cairo vs Max Thrasher & the Canadian Wolfman

This was set up by Thrasher abandoning Smith the previous week, though given that he’s now paired with the obese, slovenly Wolfman, it looks a short-sighted decision. Enjoyed Cairo and Smith here, as they work as a knock-off Steiner Brothers, even down to the colourful singlets and Stevie Wonderful comparing Cairo to Rick Steiner on commentary. They both hits some nice suplex variations on the shambolic Wolfman, with Thrasher deciding to stay out of the match, before finishing with a nice Cairo powerslam and a Rocket Launcher sending Smith on top for 3. This was pretty fun.

Jimmy Snuka vs Glen Osbourne

TV title defence, though given that Osbourne’s offence is almost entirely monkey flips and snapmares, you don’t see the title changing hands. Snuka sells a clothesline in an embarrassing manner, taking a soft limb to the chest and turning to slowly leap over the top rope. An Osbourne roll up after Snuka misses a corner charge is SO close and actually had me going for a second. After Osbourne controls the bout, a soft Snuka backbreaker seems to put him out of action, giving Snuka time to slowly climb the ropes and hit a Superfly Splash for 3.

ECW Hardcore TV #7 18/05/1993

Every week, it feels like the show is clawing it's way towards a somewhat watchable match, and this week we get two sorta-ok tag matches, which feel like manna from the Gods in this watching project. I keep seeing the thumbnail on the WWE Network where Stan Hansen makes an appearance and that feels like the only thing spurring me on to continue watching...

They actually start this broadcast by showing the previous week's tag title change in it's entirety. A match I wasn't planning on watching again and certainly not one I'm going to write about again. It's still not very good.

Jimmy Snuka & Eddie Gilbert vs JT Smith & Max Thrasher

Another week, another match where Smith faces off against Gilbert. Liked the early going where the faces worked the arm of Gilbert – they may not have done it in an interesting fashion, but I loved how both Gilbert and (on the outside) Paul E Dangerously sold it as the most painful thing on earth. Also like Gilbert gaining control through the medium of a poke to the eye. The end is odd, as Thrasher accidentally drops an elbow on Smith whilst trying to break up a pinfall, then Smith accidentally knocks Thrasher off the apron trying to knee Gilbert. This causes Thrasher to turn on Smith, tripping him from the apron and leaving him prone for a Superfly Splash (literally, the only move Snuka does all match).

The Suicide Blondes vs Tony Stetson & Larry Winters

Non-title match here. This is four of the better guys in ECW at the time, so it’s no surprise that this is a perfectly functional tag team match. Nothing amazing, but certainly good enough. I enjoyed the opening quick teamwork by Winters and Stetson, and the Blondes also look good when they get control. They work a decent heat on Winters, but don’t wear him down enough before the Rocket Launcher, sending Candido down onto Winters knees. The champs hit stereo sunset flips on the Blondes for the three, with commentator Stevie Wonderful fucking up by yelling “They’ve beaten the champs”.

Don Muraco vs Glen Osbourne

Osbourne is really poor here, his armdrags are woeful and he hits an incredibly soft clothesline on Muraco. Muraco hits a stun gun and a one-armed tombstone to pick up a quick win in a bad bout.

The Sandman vs Rockin’ Rebel

Another match for Sandman’s ECW title, with their respective valets (Peaches and Tigra) banned from ringside. Rebel does a lot of stalling early on, making Sandman come to him. Every time Sandman builds momentum, Rebel rolls outside. Smart wrestling. Big difference in execution levels between the two, Sandman hitting crap dropkicks and almost falling over hitting a back elbow, whilst Rebel at least has a nice looking clothesline to drop Sandman. Yet another shitty ending between these two, as both men get knocked down and both valets come to ringside, get in a fight and the match is called off.

ECW Hardcore TV #4 27/04/1993

The Super Destroyers vs Tony Stetson & Larry Winters

The Super Destroyers are supposed to be the monster heels of the tag division, so seeing them selling for the weak offence of the face team is really off-putting. Lots of hiptosses and armdrags to seemingly send these big lads all over the place. We get a bit of heat on Stetson, but his hot tag out sees no reaction from the crowd. Winters hits a nice kneelift and locks in a figure four, but the other Destroyer brings in a cane from manager Hunter Q Robbins III, and we get a DQ. Bad start

The Suicide Blondes vs JT Smith & Tommy Cairo

The Blondes are Johnny Hotbody and Chris Candido. Cairo is a really frustrating character to watch – he can hit some really nice offence, like the swank back suplex he hits in this match, but he seems mentally unable to put together a good match. Here, he does dumb stuff like hold a headlock on Hotbody whilst watching Candido come over and just punch him in the face. He also hits really odd looking armdrags. Loved the diving elbow from the apron to the concrete by Hotbody, looked like a rough landing. Candido was also great here, and the Blondes stooged nicely for some of Cairo’s power offence. The end sees Smith hit a moonsault on Candido, but Hotbody comes off the top rope to the back of Smith’s head to give Candido the easy pin. Not terrible.

Jimmy Snuka & Don Muraco vs The Hellriders

Third tag bout in a row. Muraco wasn’t in great shape here, looked pretty old and fat. Nothingabout this match felt competitive, no sense of struggle from any combatant. Muraco seems to stumble on a discus clothesline attempt, and when he misses a corner charge to allow the tag for the Hellriders, he doesn’t bother with any selling. Muraco hits a tombstone and elevates Snuka onto a Hellrider for the win. Pretty lame.

The Sandman vs Rockin’ Rebel

The only single bout on the show, the only match with back story and a bout for the ECW title…is the only match joined in progress. So stupid. Rebel dominates with some really good clotheslines, including one which belted Sandman in the chin. Sandman takes over with some knees in the corner and a shit facebuster, before Rebel’s manager Tigra gets involved to draw the DQ. Unbelievable waste of time.

NEW Autumn Ambush

NEW stands for North East Wrestling, and this is a random US indy DVD I picked up earlier in the year. It's the epitome of blandly ok.

Kurt Adonis vs Jeff Starr

Adonis looks like a knock-off Chris Chetti, if you can imagine such a thing. They work the crowd to start with, establishing Starr as the face. I dug Starr hitting an early pescado that looked decent. Adonis takes over with a weak looking superkick, but I liked his interactions with the crowd whilst working a chinlock (and he actually WORKED the chinlock, rather than just sitting in it. Fair play). Adonis takes too long climbing the ropes and gets superplexed off. Starr hits a better superkick and an out-of-control looking swanton for the win. Brief match, nothing offensive.

Terrible Todd Stone vs Short Sleeve Sampson

The DVD box bills this as “Midget Madness”. Great. Sampson looks remarkably like a midget Martin Stone. He also raps. Stone attacks from behind to start, but Sampson soon gains control. He springboards off the ropes nicely, then hits a sweet looking suicide dive, so I’m already happy with Short Sleeve. Stone isn’t quite so enjoyable on offence, not moving quite so fluidly as Sampson. Stone gets an RKO but fails a second attempt, and Sampson hits a Worm for the win. This was ok

Chris Sabin vs Damian Adams

Sabin’s arrival earns a “TNA” chant, which really makes the show feel old. Sabin looks really good early on, hitting a nice springboard dropkick and a pescado to the floor. Adams impresses early with a big bump, hurling himself over the top rope to the floor. Sabin works the crowd by chopping Adams outside the ring on all four sides. Adams hits a nice overhead belly-to-belly to take over, but his spell in control is pretty bland, working a chinlock and a weakly applied abdominal stretch to little reaction. Shame, as he looks able to keep up with Sabin during the closing run before falling to the Cradle Shock for the Sabin victory.

Al Snow vs Chris Candido

Candido isn’t accompanied by Tammy Sytch here, but another wrestler called Thunderbolt (think a terrifying lovechild of Droz and BJ Whitmer). Luckily, they’ve got quite good chemistry and Thunderbolt happily stooges for Candido. This is basically a competitive comedy match, and it’s fun, if a bit overlong. We kick off with basic comedy spots like Snow riding Candido like a pony, and Thunderbolt missing interference spots and nailing Candido instead. Candido gets a brief run of offence after Thunderbolt nails Snow with a spear (earning himself an ejection), but Snow regains control after pulling Candido’s trunks down on a sunset flip. Candido, like a pro, wrestles with his trunks below his arse for a few minutes. We suddenly hit a run of finisher spamming, with Snow getting two counts from Sweet Chin Music, a pedigree and the People’s Elbow. Candido also gets two after hulking up and hitting a big boot/legdrop. Candido hits an appalling stunner before the ref bumps, and Tammy Sytch runs in dressed like a ref. Snow manages to beat her fast counts, and Candido accidentally nails her with a foreign object. Snow nails him with Head and the recovering ref counts three. Decent enough.

Jerry Lawler vs Slyk Wagner Brown

Brown is accompanied by a fat lad in a t-shirt called Big Daddy. Mick Foley is the guest ref for this bout, and he’s bloody awful at it. This match is pretty poor, and that’s in no way the fault of Lawler, who tries his best to make it watchable. Lawler hits some beautiful looking fistdrops and a really nice high dropkick. Brown is pretty bland, and is really shown up by Lawler. 90% of Lawler’s offence is punches, which all look great and are interspersed perfectly. Brown’s offence is 90% punches and kicks, and at no point do you think they’ll put Lawler away. Big Daddy gets ejected after getting caught interfering after hitting numerous cheapshots behind Foley’s back. This leads to the finish, where Lawler nails two piledrivers but only gets two, albeit with a VERY slow Foley count. Big Daddy comes back, nails Lawler from behind and hides under a table, only for Foley to stop counting on two and instead leave the ring and hunt down Big Daddy (who he doesn’t know for sure is out there). This melee ends with Lawler rolling up Brown for the win. A bit of a clusterfuck.

XPW Fallout

For all the negative views of XPW (and it was often poor), they did have some good moments. Shows like this one, where they'd imported some decent talent, actually had some worthwhile matches. So, even though the Shane Douglas era pretty much killed off the company, at least we got some good matches out of it. At times...

Pogo the Clown vs the Sandman
Oh God, this match is terrible. Pogo is essentially a big fat lad in a clown costume who seems to be pretty much useless, aside from one nice bump right at the start. Sandman basically tries to carry this with some nutty bumping, but Pogo’s offence is really shitty, with a weak facebuster and a horrible top rope splash. They really go all out to put Pogo over here: at one point Sandman’s wife runs in, only to get caught from the top rope and splashed. Pogo then barely sells Sandman’s rage-filled cane shots and powerbombs him onto some safety railings in the ring for 3. The sad thing is, this is clearly using the big star to put over the local talent, which makes sense, but Pogo is so poor that the fans simply don’t buy it.

Juventud Guerrera vs Julio Deniro

Juvi cuts a rambling promo pre-match, which is amusingly subtitled. They blow something early doors, but recover quickly and work a decent match. Julio looks a bit shaky on the more complicated stuff he tries, but his basics seem pretty good, which means that Juvi is able to carry him well enough. Deniro does hit a pretty good top rope reverse suplex, and I really appreciated him going for frequent pins in an attempt to beat his more illustrious opponent. However, Juvi is too much for him, though it takes a Juvi Driver on a chair for Guerrera to pick up the win.

Mexico’s Most Wanted vs Dead Prez

The Dead Prez team aren’t announced, instead being nameless debutants who enter through the crowd. As far as I’m aware they were Boogalou (of early RoH fame) and Low Ryder, whilst MMW are Damien 666 and Halloween. This is a pretty fun tag match, as both teams are use some fun double teams, and both work a high energy pace. I liked the move where MMW grabbed Boogalou by the arms and legs and rammed him into the ringpost from outside. After a back and forth match, MMW retain the tag titles with the Montezuma’s Revenge, a giant swing into a standing dropkick. Really good fun.

Chris Chetti vs Chris Hamrick

This actually starts off pretty well, despite Chetti selling a phantom armdrag. The fans seem to dislike the face Chetti, until Hamrick takes a ludicrous bump to the floor and Chetti follows him out with a corkscrew moonsault from the top rope. Chetti seems to be trying really hard here, which is good to see. However, there is a minute where everything goes to Hell and never really recovers. In this case, they manage to botch a clothesline-in-the-corner spot twice. From there, things go a bit sloppy, until the end sees Chetti kick out of a top rope legdrop and hit a top rope Amityville Horror for the win.

Psychosis vs Super Crazy

It probably won’t be a huge surprise to learn this is the best match of the night. Crazy is massively over here. You can get an impression of the pace they work here by the fact that Psychosis takes a nuts guardrail in the first 10 seconds. Very high tempo stuff, but everything is cleanly hit and looks good. Crazy hits a sweet looking asai moonsault into the crowd at one point, getting insane air. They run through a nice series of counters and reversals, until Psychosis hits a diamond dust from the corner and nails the top rope legdrop for 3. After, Crazy goes nuts with a spike and starts attacking Psychosis. Great match.

Malice vs Vic Grimes

Before the match, we get a worked-shoot promo from Malice complaining about his XPW gimmick and saying he’s representing TNA. It’s a decent big man match, though Grimes is noticeably running out of breath after the opening minutes. But they throw each other about impressively enough, with Malice hitting a good top rope butterfly suplex on Grimes. Grimes is pretty agile for a big lad, walking the ropes and hitting a nice pair of top rope splashes. Most impressive of all is the finish, which sees Grimes hit a top rope cannonball to the floor through a table (as well as through Malice) which picks up the win. Grimes cuts an anti-TNA promo, but seeing as how XPW is seen as even more of a joke than TNA...hindsight.

Supreme vs Altar Boy Luke

This is for the Deathmatch title held by Supreme. The Altar Boy is better known as Luke Hawx of WSX fame. Supreme actually outwrestles Luke to start, but bumps for a whiffed dropkick and lands in a tray of lightbulbs outside the ring. Supreme pretty much no sells that, which makes sense given his “Human Horror Film” gimmick. We get an odd looking legsweep into barbed wire, where they both seems to take equal impact. I like the fact Luke hits 3 or 4 moves in a row designed to drop Supreme into the barbed wire over and over again. Supreme slams Luke into the wire, and he reacts less well than Supreme had been. Supreme drags Luke to the crow’s nest, but Angel (the “Hardcore Homo”) interferes and helps throw Supreme off the edge. After Angel setting it up, Luke hits a 450 splash through tables and tacks to pick up the shock win. More enjoyable than I expected, with a few fun highspots and Supreme actually holding his end of the bargain up well. Not amazing, but fun.

Kaos vs Danny Doring

The opening stages of this match are shockingly good. Like, really enjoyable pro-wrestling, especially when Kaos threatens to leave and Doring dives off the top rope onto Kaos and his entourage. I also loved how Kaos decided to wrestle with the XPW TV title still on. However, things so a bit wrong after Doring gets blindsided following interference from valet Veronica Caine. First, Kaos botches a few moves, including a sloppy looking cutter. Then Kaos and manager GQ Money hit a rolling thunder/450 splash combo in front of the ref, despite having relied upon ref distractions earlier in the match. Worst of all is a nonsensical sequence, where Doring (the face) gets outwrestled by Caine (the heel valet), which is such an unspeakably stupid bit of booking. Things pick up again shortly after Money takes a sickening bump over the top onto the guardrail. Kaos hits a Ganso Bomb for two, before a fun sequence of reversals leads to Doring hitting a reverse stunner to win. Of course, a Dusty Finish is used to stop Doring getting the TV title, with Money revealing the contract signed was non-title. The good just about outweighed the bad.
 

Shane Douglas vs Chris Candido

You know a match is going to be bad when the ref counts two following a post-match attack, before he’s actually called for the opening bell. There is some very lacklustre brawling to start, though I did enjoy how, following a table being set up in the ring, Douglas and Candido built anticipation to the table spot by gesturing to it and threatening to use it. Eventually, Candido misses a top rope legdrop which sends him through it. We get a sequence where each man uses offence designed purely to hurt the opponent’s balls. Like, 3 moves a piece. The valets (Tammy Sytch for Candido and Lizzy Borden for Douglas) fight in the ring, and Shane gives Tammy the belly-to-belly suplex. Candido hits a top rope headbutt, but Borden puts Douglas’ leg on the rope. Douglas fires back with two Pittsburgh Plunges (the second onto a chair) to retain the title. Boring brawling, not recommended at all       

MLW Reload 2002

Back when I was first getting into the indies, this was the first non-WWE/WCW/ECW tape I ever bought. I think the lure was getting to see so many different styles on one show. MLW flew in guys from Mexico and Japan for the show, and not just any old guys, but proper stars like La Parka, Shocker, the Far East Connection and Satoshi Kojima. Unfortunately the business model wasn't sound and they swiftly went out of business. However, the production values were top notch for an indy, plus we get the benefits of Joey Styles commentating.

Fuego Guerrero vs Super Crazy
Guerrero is Amazing Red under a hood, a fact outed by both Joey Styles and the crowd who chant “Red” at him. The opening moments see Guerrero staying one step ahead of Crazy, including a beautiful flying headscissors. Crazy uses his smarts to take control, using two different sunset flip reversals to out-do Guerrero, but again falls prey to the speed of Guerrero, who sends him out and hits a beautiful plancha. Back inside, Crazy is able to regain control and really starts to dominate. Crazy nails a springboard moonsault and a corkscrew elbow, before getting two on a cocky cover following a powerbomb. Guerrero manages to reverse a second try into a tornado DDT. They manage to blow the Code Red, but Red hits a swank looking enzuigiri. A spin kick sends Crazy outside, and Red follows with a spectacular corkscrew moonsault. Back in, a Red Star Press gets two, but Crazy avoids a senton and hits a powerbomb for the win. Excellent opener, Crazy gave Red a fair bit here and everything Red did looked really crisp.

La Parka vs Shocker
La Parka slaps Shocker across the face on a handshake, and they launch into a really nice sequence of counters and reversals, ending in the applause stance. Shocker sends Parka outside and feints a dive, but his cockiness backfires as Parka suckers him outside and kicks him as he re-enters the ring. Shocker then takes a 360 bump from a La Parka shoulderblock, but Parka soon outbumps him, first landing on his head on a backdrop, then flying over the top rope to the floor on a monkey flip. La Parka rallies back and nails a corkscrew moonsault, before hitting a senton for two. Shocker briefly fires back, avoiding a Parka chairshot by dropkicking it into Parka’s face, but his subsequent suicide dive sends him headfirst into a chairshot. Somehow, Shocker regroups and nails Parka with 3 sentons for 2. La Majistral gets 2. Shocker then tries a Bronco Buster, but gets greeted with a boot to the groin, and a Parka corkscrew bodypress gets the win.

Christopher Daniels, Ikuto Hidaka & Dick Togo vs The SAT & Quiet Storm
I will go on record now as stating this is the best SAT match I’ve ever seen. I’d also add this isn’t Daniels, Togo and Hidaka carrying them, more a case of the SAT and Storm bringing themselves up to their opponents level. The SAT work really tightly here, not blowing anything and, thanks to the match structure, not just turning this into a spotfest. All 6 guys take it in turns to work a sequence in the early stages, before the heels (ostensibly Hidaka, Togo and Daniels, though the fans love some Dick) throw their opponents out of the ring, where it all starts to break down. I’d forgotten that Quiet Storm is actually pretty good at working the gusty little tough guy role, levelling Daniels with a big clothesline. Togo comes in and lands face first on an SAT drop toehold. Daniels comes in, which leads to a somewhat convoluted submission hold involving the SAT, Daniels and Togo. Togo nails Joel with an awesome looking DDT to take over, and Joel is the face-in-peril. The heels work over Joel so effectively that the same fans who were chanting “Dick” earlier start up an SAT chant. Hidaka works over the knee of Joel, before Dick nails him with a big swanton. Dick then hits a big brainbuster for two. The heels work in a fun spot where they lure the faces in, distracting the ref, so they can take turns posing on the prone body of Joel Maximo. Joel eventually makes the hot tag and all the guys bust in, leading to a series of dives, culminating with a springboard corkscrew moonsault by Hidaka. Back in, Hell has still broken lose as Storm hits Hidaka with a Widow’s Peak for 2, Daniels gets two following a BME on Jose and the SAT hit the Spanish Fly on Togo (possibly injuring Togo’s ankle) for a broken up two count. We end up with just Storm and Daniels in the ring, with Daniels picking up the win following a Roll The Dice neckbreaker. Fantastic match.

Terry Funk vs Chris Candido
This very much is not a good match. Candido is wearing the Funk-esque trunks he wore at the end of his brief WCW run. Funk starts out stalling and frustrating Candido, but his movements look like he’s in slow motion. Tammy Sytch manages to give Candido an advantage by grabbing Funk’s leg on a break and they head outside for some unspeakably dull brawling. Candido tries to enliven things with some big bumps, first taking a suplex from the ring to the floor, then taking a nasty looking spill over the safety rails. He then tries to top this by taking a piledriver on the floor, which is concrete protected by some carpet. Funk doesn’t help him much, hitting something that looked halfway between a suplex and a brainbuster (called as a DDT by Styles) on the metal ramp. Candido brings a ladder into the ring, and Funk awkwardly falls over trying to pick it up. I know that the Funker was pretty old at the time, but this is not one of his better performances. They botch….something ladder related in the corner, earning some boos. Candido gets two from a diving headbutt, but misses one from the ladder, then takes an odd looking bump over the top from an Irish whip. Tammy gives Funk a low blow while the ref is distracted (though he seemed pretty cool about all the ladders in the ring), but Funk no-sells it and gives her a DDT, before treating her to a bloody bite on the backside. With Candido back in, Funk hits an awkward looking neckbreaker through some chairs. Candido tries a small package on a spinning toehold attempt, but Funk reverses to a small package of his own for the win. My notes end with the phrase “bag of wank”, which sums this match up perfectly.

Steve Corino vs Vampiro vs the Sandman
This is scheduled for a 1-on-1 match between the Canadians, before “Enter Sandman” summons the arrival of the Sandman. Vamp and Corino double-team Sandman from the start, with Vampiro hitting the Nail In The Coffin early doors, before getting attacked by Corino. We get a rather average brawl out of the ring, though Sandman and Corino take some nasty-looking bumps on the steel ramp from Vampiro. Vamp looks to be in the best shape of the three men, and hits both with some firm looking kicks. Sandman’s role seems to be pretty much just putting weapons in the ring as he contributes nothing else, leaving Vamp and Corino to have some decent exchanges. Vamp and Sandman fight outside, which allows Corino to set up a piece of the safety rails in the ring, balanced on four chairs. This kinda backfires as Sandman superplexes Corino onto the railing, but Vamp comes along and pins Sandman, who has managed to hurt himself in the process. However, to my shock, it turns out this is an elimination match, so we continue with Vamp and Corino. They look really good in the ring together, though Vamp has the advantage due to Corino still feeling the effects of the superplex. Corino hits the Old School Expulsion out of nowhere for two and hits a second rope cutter for the win. Bit of a mess and would really have been better without Sandman.

Sabu vs Taiyo Kea
Magnificently, Styles claims that Sabu is in the best shape of his career, then points out the bandages on Sabu’s shoulder in the same sentence. That said, Sabu looks really “on” here: his strikes look good and there’s not of his usual sloppiness on his highspots. Sabu misses a baseball slide and gets tossed into the safety rails, before Kea hits a pescado. Back inside, Kea locks in a sharpshooter, and I really dig the way he kicks Sabu in the back while flipping him over. Sabu manages to bail outside and avoids a second pescado, before throwing Kea into the crowd and hitting an insane chair-assisted dive. Sabu tries to set up a table, but takes too long and Kea throws him back in the ring. Kea goes to the top rope, but Sabu gets up to nail a sick looking top rope DDT. Sabu tries for the triple jump moonsault, but Kea droptoeholds him face-first onto the chair. Kea goes up top again, but gets caught by Sabu, who hits a perfect top rope rana, followed by a springboard legdrop for two. Sabu goes back to the table from earlier and puts Kea through it with a legdrop. Back in, the triple jump moonsault only gets two. Sabu runs the ropes, but gets caught with a Frankensteiner by Kea. An enzuigiri sends Sabu face first onto a chair. Kea gives Sabu two Hawaiian Crushes (TKO) then hits the Hawaii 5-0 for the win. Pretty good match, both guys seemed on, though it was a little spotty in places. I really liked the way that, rather than hit a finisher and risk Sabu kicking out, Kea decided to hit 3 in a row to ensure Sabu wasn’t going to escape.

Satoshi Kojima vs Jerry Lynn
This is for the vacant MLW title. I’d like to highlight that Kojima’s entrance attire is fucking awesome. This match is mainly Kojima dominating Lynn, but Lynn using his veteran wiles to escape from moves and hit counters. Kojima takes Lynn down early and locks in a STF, forcing Lynn to the ropes. Kojima starts to subtly heel it up, not breaking cleanly and pretending not to understand English. Kojima hits a flurry of strikes in the corner,, but misses an 2nd rope elbow. Lynn send Kojima to the corner and hits a flurry of his own. Kojima no-sells 3 Lynn clotheslines, but Lynn manages to reverse a slam into an inverted DDT for two, Lynn avoids a lariat and hits a German suplex, which he really has to fight for, for 2. Lynn then hits a tornado DDT for two. Kojima avoids a Lynn clothesline and hits him with a Sky High for two. Lynn comes back with a TKO for two, but Kojima blocks a cradle piledriver attempt and nits a Michinoku Driver for two. A huge Lariat gets the win, and the MLW title, for Kojima. I really like the way they’d put over the Lariat as a death finisher- Styles had talked earlier about Kojima being mentored by Stan Hansen, and the ref recoiled when Kojima hit it. Really fun match, and a more than adequate main event.