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       

ECW Living Dangerously 2000

Well, here it is, a day later than expected. I bought this on video in the Coventry branch of Cash Generator and it's the first ECW show I saw. Seemed like a good time to rewatch it, what with all the recent ECW nostalgia going on.

Pre-show antics see Cyrus superkicking Joel Gertner to take over colour commentary duties.

Dusty Rhodes vs Steve Corino (Bullrope Match)
More pre-match scenes see Corino insulting the Sandman's wife and kid, which ultimately leads to Rhino goring Lori Fullington through a table, which causes Sandman to miss the TV title tournament tonight. The match is a somewhat plodding affair due to the pace of the 50yr old Dusty. Corino does feed himself to Rhodes like an absolute pro, eating the bionic elbow like a champ. They brawl into the crowd, which is terrible for the home viewer as piss-poor lighting ensures nothing can be seen. Eventually they return to the ring and exchange blows with the cowbell. A second cowbell is introduced and is taped badly to Corino's head, though it barely stays in place, for a chairshot. Big Dust finishes with a Big Dusty Elbow Drop, which is probably the highlight of the match.

Danny Doring & Roadkill vs CW Anderson & Bill Wiles
The Dangerous Alliance stable in ECW always felt like a mixed bag to me. Wiles and Lou E Dangerously both felt like cheap comedy characters, while Anderson was pretty convincing as a new-age Enforcer. His Extreme Horsemen team with Simon Diamond in MLW was far more effective. Both teams feature one guy who is really good on offence in Anderson and Roadkill. Roadkill has some fun bigman offence, including a lovely Bossman Slam. Doring's offence is pretty terrible, with a sloppy Stroke and double arm DDT both looking particularly poor, while Wiles seems to have a problem getting up for his opponents moves. Luckily both are well hidden by some nice double team moves and an Elektra heel turn leads to Anderson hitting a spinebuster on Doring to win a decent match.

Kid Kash vs Mike Awesome
The match is scheduled as Kash facing Simon Diamond, but Simon wisely leaves the ring when Awesome interrupts. This is essentially as much fun as an extended big-vs-small squash can be. Awesome destroys Kash with a massive overhead suplex and hammers him outside the ring. Kash doesn't get much offence in, but what he does get in is very memorable, particularly a plancha from the top rope into the crowd. He also gets a nice rana on Awesome, but gets demolished with a clothesline and Awesomebombed from the top rope through a table for the Awesome win. Short but plenty of fun.

Nova & Chris Chetti vs Jado & Gedo
Watching this match, it's hard to reconcile Nova with Simon Dean. Essentially, this is a spotfest and not a terribly impressive one. Jado and Gedo, as the veteran team, have a few nice double team maneuvers and Chetti has a few surprisingly good suplex variations, but nothing feels coherent and one double pin sequence feels especially contrived. A top rope Tidal Wave wins it for Nova and Chetti

Little Guido vs Super Crazy
This is a semi-final match in the TV title tournament and is fought under Italian Death Match rules. They kick off at quite the fast pace. How fast? Within two minutes of the match starting, Super Crazy is moonsaulting into the crowd on Guido and Big Sal. This is pretty short, most likely to save Crazy for the tournament final later, but they cram some choice moments in. Guido reverses a moonsault from the railings into a Fujiwara armbar in a neat spot, and a Crazy rana on Big Sal is particularly impressive. They let Guido look pretty strong, kicking out of a moonsault and falling through a table but a Super Crazy brain buster ends it.

Kintaro Kanemura vs Balls Mahoney
I hope Heyman didn't pay much to fly out Kanemura, as this match is pretty pointless. It lasts barely three minutes and, though Kanemura hits a nice top rope senton, there is very little to it. Balls wins with the Nutcracker Suite, but gets jumped by Da Baldies, leading to...

New Jack vs Grimes
This match is pretty infamous and ended up having negative repercussions for New Jack. New Jack kills off Da Baldie with a series of weapons before getting jumped by Grimes. It's a pretty cookie-cutter New Jack match until they brawl to the back of the arena and both climb a ricketty looking scaffold. They cautiously fight on the scaffold, then attempt a move which ends with both men falling off, Grimes landing on the skull of Jack. This left Jack with slight brain damage and temporary loss of vision in his right eye. The match was dreadful even before this stupid moment.

Impact Players vs Tommy Dreamer & Masato Tanaka vs Raven & Mike Awesome
Triple threat elimination for the tag team titles. It starts as a real mess, with people brawling everywhere leaving it impossible to follow, though it is easy to spot Raven taking two attempts to break the edge of a table with Dreamer's face. Tanaka and Awesome renew their rivalry, with a roaring elbow taking Awesome out of the match. Things improve dramatically with just two teams, and it dawns on me how good a tag combo Tanaka and Dreamer are. Dreamer is perfect for taking a beating and eliciting sympathy, while Tanaka is a fine hot tag guy with a flurry of fun offence. Sadly, the Impact Players ruin this theory by isolating Dreamer after the hot tag and pinning him following a spike piledriver.

Rhino vs Super Crazy
Like the Guido/Crazy match from earlier, it's pretty short but full of action. They work a decent power-vs-speed match, with the highlight being an impressive press slam to the outside from Rhino. Overbooking ruins the ending however, with a cast of thousands (including Corino, Sandman, RVD, even Scott Anton) being involved which does slightly take the shine off Crazy's eventual win. It's also the main event of a show where only the opener cracked the 10 minute mark, which is pretty disappointing. Super Crazy is the absolute MVP of the show, working two fun sub-ten minute sprints with two very different opponents. The show as a whole is watchable for the main, but probably not worth much more than the £3 I paid for it