WCW Thunder 05/02/1998

La Parka vs Hugh Morrus

This starts off with Parka doing some hilarious posturing, sadly getting cut off by Morrus levelling him with a big clothesline. This is mainly Parka bumping around for Morrus, who at least unleashes some decent offence. Morrus decks Parka with a shoulderblock and a big chop, and hits a decent back elbow from the corner. No Laughing Matter gets the win.

Jim Powers vs Goldberg

Hilariously short. Goldberg dominates from the off, working Powers down to the mat with a leglock. Powers hits a knee lift, but gets planted with a spear and the Jackhammer gives Goldberg victory.

Kidman vs Juventud Guerrera

These guys would have better matches later on, but this wasn’t great. A few too many awkward moments with Kidman looking lost. Guerrera looks good though, moving really quickly and with a flying headscissors looking really fluid. Great spot as Juvi ranas Kidman off the apron into Lodi. Running Juvi Driver looks great, before a Lodi distraction allows Kidman to hit a bulldog and the SSP for the win.

Silver King, Villano IV & Villano V vs Super Calo, Chavo Guerrero & Lizmark Jr

Unsurprisingly, this is a fun little sprint. Lots to take in here, they pack a good lot of offence into a short bout. Loved Lizmark blocking a monkey flip, allowing Calo to come in with a big high clothesline. Chavo landing on his feet from a Silver King monkey flip was impressive, he was never a guy I associated with that level of agility. Lizmark hits a big dive to the floor, and Chavo hits a great tornado DDT on Silver King, only for Psychosis to run in behind the refs back and hit a guillotine legdrop to give King the pin.

The Steiner Brothers vs Konnan & Buff Bagwell

The NWO team tries to jump the Steiners pre-match, an advantage that doesn’t last long as both eat belly-to-belly suplexes. The build up to the Steiner split has seen their matches run pretty short, and this is no exception. Lovely moment as Ted DiBiase takes out Vincent outside, but the NWO get involved and Scott Hall pushes Rick off the top onto Scott for the DQ. Appreciate the effort to forward the Steiner split, but this isn’t much of a match.

Raven vs Marty Jannetty

Not as good as their previous match, but still pretty decent. They fight in the aisle, and I loved Jannetty wisely taking Lodi out early with two superkicks. Raven hits a crappy looking elbow from the apron, but a bulldog on the chair looks good. Marty gets a little run off offence, hurling Raven into the ringpost, but a Rocker Dropper gets reversed into the Evenflow in a really great looking spot for three.

Disco Inferno vs Saturn

This gets plenty of time, and improves as it goes along. In the early stages, they don’t seem to be on the same page, a few awkward moments as they both miss opening or try things that don’t seem to work. Saturn hits a few big overhead belly-to-belly suplexes as things start to improve. Disco gets in more offence than you’d expect, even hitting the Chartbuster after Saturn misses a top rope legdrop, only for Kidman to save. Disco lands on top on a back suplex for a really close two count. Sadly, the end goes back to being odd again, as Kidman pushes a groggy Saturn onto a downed Disco. The ref starts to count, but Disco is on his stomach, so the ref realises this isn’t a good idea. A few seconds pass and Saturn locks in the Rings of Saturn for the win.

Louie Spicolli vs Jim Neidhart

Man, the Anvil looks to be in great shape. This goes barely two minutes, as Neidhart batters Spicolli, knocks Scott Hall off the apron and goes for the win before Hall comes in for the DQ. Bit of a waste.

Diamond Dallas Page vs Chris Benoit

This is a US title match, and they give this a real big match feel. They stand off, facing each other from opposite corners, and this runs through the commercials. Sadly, we can see less than 7 minutes remain on the Network’s timer, so this won’t live up to the hype. What we go get is really good, DDP hits a huge tilt-a-whirl slam, Benoit hits some nasty kidney shots to DDP’s taped ribs to set up a back suplex and there’s some real intensity to the punch exchanges. Sadly, the Flock predictably hit the ring, ending the bout in it’s prime. Good stuff for what we get. 

WCW Thunder 15/01/1998

The Steiner Brothers & Ray Traylor vs Black Cat, Ohara & Gedo

Fun little six-man that also continues the Scott Steiner slow burn heel turn. Liked Traylor’s slight variation on his rope-mounted uppercut, this time just popping Black Cat as he nears the ropes. Scott gets a huge pop when he tags in and he basically demolishes the opposition solo, ignoring Rick’s attempts to tag in. Huge suplex to Ohara is followed by a Tiger Bomb and Steiner Screwdriver on Gedo for the three.

The Cat vs Yuji Nagata

Genuinely think if 1998 Ernest Miller came along now, the WWE would push him to the moon. Real fighting credentials and insane charisma? Give him a year at the Performance Centre and he’d be made. The commentary team mention a rumoured WCW karate division that thankfully went nowhere. Short but sweet little match. Miller hits a big superkick at the bell for an early two count, but is soon eating a bunch of nifty suplexes from Nagata. The Cat hits a really nice short lariat and a top rope Feliner to win.

Chris Jericho vs Eddie Guerrero

Interesting, as Jericho is just turning heel so this is a heel vs heel match. Not as long as you’d hope for, but they squeeze some really good stuff into this. Love Jericho throwing Guerrero through the air for a high elevation stungun, as well as Eddie out-heeling Jericho by grabbing the ropes on an abdominal stretch. They maintain a really high pace throughout, Eddie escaping a powerbomb and whipping into a sunset flip with real pace. A sloppy looking Gory Special that drops Jericho on his head is the only down point, before a great ending sees Guerrero try a hurricanrana, only for Jericho to shift weight and hold him down in a Liontamer for the victory. Really good stuff here.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This, however, is even better. They get nearly 10 minutes to fill here, and they go all out and both look tremendous. Guerrera largely controls the match with Rey making well-timed comebacks. Loved Rey’s early flip dive, before he bumps enormously after taking a slingshot to the floor. Juvi follows with his own insane dive. Juvi looks great in control, hitting a nasty looking drop down muscle buster and ramming Rey’s head into the ring apron by swinging him down violently over the ropes from the ring, sending his head upwards through the ring apron. Juvi reverses a diving rana attempt into a powerbomb, but Rey avoids the 450 and hits a quick rana for the win and the cruiserweight title.

Diamond Dallas Page & Lex Luger vs Kevin Nash & Randy Savage

This is a handicap match, as DDP is on crutches and gets taken out by Hulk Hogan before the match even starts. This gives the NWO team control, but dissention between Savage and Nash basically derails them throughout. Luger especially benefits as Savage goes to hit the axe handle from the top on Nash outside, allowing Luger to instead slam Savage to the mat. He runs riot, hitting flying forearms on both Nash and Savage, even getting to put an interfering Hogan in the rack before the numbers game builds up and we get a huge melee to end the show with Sting, the Giant and the whole NWO all involved.

WCW Thunder 08/01/1998

Randy Savage vs Chris Adams

Savage is aggressive from the off, blind-siding Adams, and choking him with his bandana. Savage is all over Adams, stomping and picking him up on pins. Adams gets some respite on the outside by Irish whipping Savage into the ring post, and Lex Luger comes to the ring and levels Savage with a chairshot, rolling him back into the ring for the Adams victory.

Rick Martel vs Louie Spicolli

This is the second match into Martel’s 1998 renaissance. Spicolli starts the match by holding onto the ropes on an Irish whip, turns to the crowd to point at his head to show off his intelligence, then turns around into a clothesline, so this is already a five star match. Spicolli tries to punch his way back into it, but Martel is fired up and hits a nice spinebuster into a Quebec crab for the win.

Tenzan vs Ohara

Pretty straightforward bout. Both guys go heavy with the chops, but Ohara hits a powerbomb before Tenzan hits a tombstone and a diving headbutt to win. Very brief stuff.

Chris Jericho vs Ric Flair

Five minutes long, but they make the most of it. Nicely worked opening sequence, with Jericho smoothly reversing a hiptoss into a monkey flip. Flair cheats a few times in this match in endearing ways – first by faking an ankle injury only to poke Jericho in the eye, followed by convincing Charles Robinson to check the turnbuckle pads then hitting a low blow. Loved the spot where Flair took his usual flip over the turnbuckle, only to be met on the apron by a Jericho springboard dropkick. Jericho misses a missile dropkick and Flair swiftly locks in the figure four to win. Good stuff

The Giant vs Meng

This was only a few minutes, but was very effective. Loved the Giant hitting a huge powerslam on Meng. Meng is able to chop and kick away at the Giant, wearing him down to the mat, but this advantage is temporary. Giant gets back up, grabs a chokeslam (with Meng frantically trying to reach him for a Tongan Death Grip) and gets the win.

Goldberg vs Steve McMichael

Another effective short match. Fun little big boys scrap, with McMichael hitting Goldberg with a shoulderblock from the apron before the match even starts. Goldberg looks like a beast, muscling about a huge guy like Mongo with a press-slam into a powerslam. McMichael tries for Goldberg’s legs with a series of chop blocks, but Goldberg blitzes him with a spear and the jackhammer. Played to both guys strengths.

The Steiner Brothers vs Konnan & Buff Bagwell

Never felt like the Steiners were in jeopardy here. The NWO team get a bit of control, including a Bagwell neckbreaker that Rick botches by dropping down too early, but it doesn’t last long before the Steiners both hit huge overhead belly-to-belly suplexes. Scott finishes Konnan with a top rope Frankensteiner, much to Rick’s chagrin as he’d climbed ready to hit the top rope bulldog. This was fine.

Scott Hall vs Ray Traylor

Hall shows Traylor no respect in this one, feigning fear and slapping the back of Traylor’s head, so it’s fun to see Traylor lay into Hall with some nifty punches. The ref gets bumped, allowing Hall to hit a belt shot for two. Nice second rope bulldog also gets two, before Larry Zbyszko comes out, distracting Hall, who turns into a Bossman Slam for the win.

Juventud Guerrera vs Ultimo Dragon

This was a fine little sprint, but what I really liked is how logically and organically the spots flowed. For example, in one 30 second period, Dragon misses a handspring elbow in the corner, allowing Juvi to put him on top for a hurricanrana. However, Ultimo fights him off, sending him to the floor and hitting a (barely hit) top rope moonsault. Nothing felt contrived, everything felt in keeping with their moveset. Ultimo hit a nice kick combo and a German suplex for two, but Juvi reverses a powerbomb attempt to a big DDT. One Juvi Driver and a 450 splash later, and Juvi is the new Cruiserweight champion. Dug all this.

Lex Luger vs Scott Norton

Too short to be worth anything, but it was all action for the two minutes it lasted. Norton jumps Luger at the start, including basically deadlifting Lex up for a backbreaker when it seems to be going wrong. Luger survives the shoulderbreaker, and nails the Bionic Forearm and the torture rack for the win.

Diamond Dallas Page vs Kevin Nash

Longest match of the night at nearly seven minutes. Less pleasingly, most of those minutes are Nash’s plodding offence of clubbing blows and wandering around. It’s a shame, as this started well, DDP using his smarts to take the big man down after a blocked hiptoss, instead hitting a knee to the gut and a swinging neckbreaker. Page is good at fighting from beneath, but he’s given little to work with. Snake Eyes gets two for Nash, before DDP tries the Diamond Cutter, luring in Hulk Hogan for the DQ win. Very skippable.

Rey Mysterio Jr: Before They Were Stars

Going into this DVD, I had pretty high expectations. Rey Jr is someone I've always been a big fan of, someone I'd rank amongst the 5 best wrestlers of all time. Thus a compilation of Rey's Mexico work sounded pretty appealing. I'm no expert on Lucha, but there's plenty I do like, so I thought this might be pretty fun. One thing I wasn't expecting was the terrible quality of the footage. It's mainly handheld footage, which I don't have an issue with on the whole, but it's pretty grainy in places and the camera has a habit of jumping all over the place. Worse, the sound is all overdubbed, so there's a constant disconnected cheering sound, with no noise for any bumps or moves. There's also terrible commentary from Manny Peoples and ex-XPW doofus Kriss Kloss, which is inane and often unbearable. But are the matches any good....?

Rey Mysterio Jr & El Torrero vs Jerry Estrada & Negro Azteca

We’re joined early in progress, with the rudos working over Rey in the ring. The ref is pretty lenient, it has to be said, as there is a liberal use of weaponry in the ring as they work over Rey’s leg with a chair. Rey sells the heck out of it too, limping and not even being able to run across the ring. We clip to Rey still getting worked over, with Torrero being useless as a partner. He doesn’t get involved, and when he does, he generally gets beaten up. The rudos lock in stereo submissions for what is clearly the first fall (both technicos are clearly gesturing to give up, the holds both get released suddenly and the rudos casually walk around the ring rather than keep attacking their opponents), but Kloss and Peoples don’t seem to notice this. Indeed, when Torrero hits a shitty rana on Estrada for the three count minutes later, both sell it as being the first fall in the match. We get MORE leg work on Mysterio, who shouldn’t even be able to walk at this stage, before he’s casually allowed to tag out to Torrero. Being useless, he gets worked over some more and thrown into the crowd, allowing the heels to keep working over Rey with weapons, until eventually the ref decides to disqualify the rudos. Seems pretty odd, given that they’d been doing the same thing all match, but I was just glad this was over.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This promises to be a lot better. We get some basic matwork and roll up attempts in the early going, with Rey being just slightly ahead on points. Mysterio hits a lovely springboard into a headscissors, but makes the mistake of only trying for more high-flying moves and gets caught as Juvi reverses a rana into a powerbomb for the first fall. Rey doesn’t seem discouraged though, as he goes back to his slight speed advanatage early in the second fall, sending Juvi outside and hitting a huge flip dive. Rey leaps from the top rope to hit a Dragonrana for the equalising fall. Guerrera seems a little more focused now, as he nails Rey with a nasty looking brainbuster for a two count. We clip, sadly, and when we return Rey is back in control, nailing an Asai moonsault to the floor. Juvi misses a top rope splash, but is able to retain control. However, he makes the same mistake Rey did earlier, by trying the same move too often. Here, Juvi hits two tilt-a-whirl backbreakers, only for Mysterio to reverse the third into a pin for the winning fall. Pretty spotty stuff, but I liked the logic of the match-winning fall.

Rey Mysterio Jr & Octagon vs KGB & Pentagon

A little bit of internet research tells me that KGB is Tom Howard playing Russian. He’s much bigger than anyone else in the bout, and fair bosses the opening stages of the match. The rudos have another Russian wrestler outside the ring, and it’s fair to say he’s not shy about getting involved, possibly because he knows the ref will do nothing about it. KGB basically hurls Rey Jr about like a ragdoll, leaving Octagon and Pentagon in the ring. Pentagon seems to be trying to unmask Octagon, and this is seemingly enough to get Octagon to concede the first fall. Even Kloss and Peoples seem baffled. Second fall sees more of KGB’s impressive strength, as he continues to dominate Rey, and he survives aerial attacks from both technicos by catching them in midair. His strength doesn’t extend to his own teammate though, as some miscommunication sees Pentagon barrel him over, and Rey hits a quebrada on Pentagon for the fall. Has to be said that there are lots of outside the ring goings on, as a lady at ringside tries to help the technicos by stalking the rudo entourage with a chair, though she never actually uses it. The final fall sees a rather tepid sequence between Octagon and Pentagon, with one of the entourage just running into the ring in full sight of the ref to break up pinfalls. We clip to what look like the best parts of the match, as Rey and KGB work a really fluid looking big man/little man section, before Pentagon abruptly rolls up Octagon for the win.

Rey Mysterio Jr, Super Calo & Leon Negro vs Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis & Halloween

This match was a whole heap of fun, pretty much non-stop action. We get a fun opening sequence which ends with Rey hitting a big flip-dive on Juvi. Calo looks really good throughout here, looking really fluid on attack and never missing a beat before fighting the next person to enter the ring. The rudos take over as Psychosis hits a missile dropkick to the back of Rey’s neck. Loved a 450 legdrop Guerrera hits. The technicos take out Halloween and Juvi, leaving Negro alone with Psychosis, and Psy quickly finishes him off with a corkscrew moonsault.

Rey Mystero Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This one seems to have a bit more hate behind it, as both guys spit at each other at the start. This kicks into a high gear pretty quickly as Rey sends Juvi to the floor with a huge bump, and follows him out with a springboard plancha. Juvi gets sent outside again, taking the Fuerza bump to the floor, and Rey again follows him with an Asai moonsault. Juvi is able to springboard in with a sloppy looking leg lariat and nails a Dragon suplex for the first fall. Juvi misses a corner charge to give Rey control of the second fall and Rey ranas Juvi out of the ring onto an accompanying Halloween. Rey hits a top rope rana and a gutwrench powerbomb to even the sides. Rey is in the ascendancy to start the third fall, but misses a corner charge of his own. Juvi misses a legdrop and we head outside the ring where Rey levels him with a chairshot. This is the opening for all chaos to reign. Halloween tries to hold Rey in place for a plancha, but unsurprisingly Rey moves to allow Juvi to barrel through his friend. This seems to be the cue for a whole plethora of run ins. The mass group of technicos hit dives to take out the rudos, but the rudos recover quicker and pile on Rey in the ring. Konnan comes out with a bat to take out the rudos and Rey levels Juvi with the bat and a superfluous quebrada for the win. Pretty good fun, even if the run in’s were over the top.

Rey Mysterio Jr, Super Calo & Leon Negro vs Los Hombres De Ex

Yep, that’s a team of X-Men themed wrestlers. This is face vs face, so this all seems a bit too much of an exhibition. Lots of co-operative looking sequences (though the Gambit/Calo bit looked pretty sloppy, all of which was on Gambit). There’s a bit where everyone goes in the ring and misses sentons before a huge dive series on the outside, which was pretty fun. This leaves both Gambit and Calo in the ring and both men get their shoulders counted down as Calo leans right back with a Mexican surfboard. While the two referees argue over who the winner is, a load of rudos including KGB come to the ring and beat everybody up. I didn’t love this, and it’s a pretty poor way to end the DVD.

XPW FreeFall

Sometimes, I hate wrestling

Scott Snot vs Vinny Massaro
Ever wanted to hear a joke beaten into the ground? At the start of this match, commentator Kriss Kloss doesn't know who Massaro is, so only refers to him as "Spagettios" for the whole match, despite his name being announced by the ring announcer. This isn't very good, as Snot is pretty poor. A poor bump off a Massaro kick sees him getting booed, and his offence is weak, including a soft looking bulldog. Massaro is better, with non-flashy, but effective moves, and he nicely folds up Snot on a belly-to-back suplex. Snot gets 2 on a Tomikaze, but Massaro picks up the win with a swank pump handle pile driver.

Evan Karagias vs Psychosis
Karagias is brought out as the new client of heel manager Kevin Kleinrock as his other client, the prissy Preston Ascott III is injured. Despite this, Karagias wrestles like a face, hitting a plancha after Psychosis bails to the floor, whilst Psychosis wrestles like a heel, hitting a low blow to take over, then picking up Karagias at 2 on a pin. Baffling. They then switch rolls, with Karagias doing a sexy dance to rile the crowd. Decent German suplex by Karagias. This is pretty sloppy on the part of both however, they just don't seem to be in tune. Nutty bump from Psychosis, as he slingshots from the ring to the floor with an elbow drop. The end sees Kleinrock distract Karagias by offering him a chair as he goes to the top. This allows Psychosis to recover and throw him from the top, before hitting a top rope legdrop to win. A bit of a letdown, as I hoped Psychosis could get something out of Karagias.

D vs Pogo the Clown
D comes to the ring slapping hands with the fans...then cuts a promo slagging them off, as no-one in XPW fucking understands heels and faces in wrestling. Kriss Kloss seems shocked by the wrestling "skills" of Pogo, as he throws some shitty armdrags. Despite Pogo's ineptness, this turns into a presentable big-vs-little match, as all Pogo has to do is stand there whilst the more able D throws himself at the clumsy clown. Pogo is in control following a missed D splash, before the ring gets surrounded by a group of unknown guys. Pogo and D both wield chairs to protect themselves, before D "shockingly" turns on the man he's just been fighting. This is all set up for an invasion storyline with D's old SCCW promotion. Of course, Kloss being the worst commentator ever puts over the threat of this new union by referring to them as jobbers and backyarders. Match was watchable, almost solely due to D.

Kaos vs Angel
Kaos is defending his TV title here in a gauntlet, and is accompanied by his stablemates GQ Money and Veronica Caine of the Enterprise. Despite a little hesitancy between both guys, this is worked at a good pace and is a decent little match. A crossbody to the floor by Angel is particularly good before Kaos wins with a piledriver from a powerbomb position. What is less good is that Angel's "hardcore homo" gimmick allows Kloss to crack "hilarious" gay jokes on commentary.

Kaos vs Chris Hamrick
In a terrible display of booking, the heel is at a disadvantage due to having just wrestled. Hamrick uses his veteran skills and freshness to dominate before a trademark bump through the ropes. He then takes another, more nuts bump by flipping backfirst onto the floor when dropkicked off the apron. Kaos wisely works over the back by whipping Hamrick into the railings, but Hamrick recovers and in a big spot hits a Van Terminator across the ring to dropkick a chair into the face of Kaos, who is still on the floor outside. Hamrick is doing everything he can to make this match memorable. The top rope legdrop only gets two. GQ Money takes advantage of a ref distraction to knock Hamrick off the top rope, and Kaos nails a top rope gourdbuster for the win. Easily the most entertaining match of the card thus far.

Kaos vs NOSAWA
NOSAWA schools the exhausted Kaos for a bit, before Kaos decides to totally non-sell his previous matches, and bounds around the ring, springboarding hither and thither. This match is an utter mess, with outside interference and belt shots in front of the ref, who seemingly couldn't care less. Kaos gets a blockbuster to win this gauntlet.

Juventud Guerrera vs Mosco De La Merced
This match is set up by Juvi turning on his La Familia stablemates (Psychosis, Halloween, Damien 666 and Merced) to join Rob Black's Black Army faction. This is all Juvi early on, even getting the highspot with a big plancha. The face Merced does get his own spot to shine, with a nutty diving swanton to the floor. Juvi nails two powerbombs and a weak chairshot, but these two don't seem to be clicking. A swift Juvi Driver ends a total squash.

Veronica Caine vs Lizzy Borden
Fuck me, Kloss makes the WORST fucking noises every time he sees a woman, making groaning noises like a confused virgin. This is a buck naked lumberjack paddle match, with the aim being to strip your opponent totally naked. Both are heels, accompanied by heel stables at ringside (the Black Army for Borden, the Enterprise for Caine). Rob Black bans the Enterprise from ringside, before we get to this appalling match. Weak wrestling starts off before it devolves to it's natural state as a catfight. The bout clearly only exists for titilation, with the crowd knowing that Black being a pornographer means there is a very good chance of actually seeing someone naked. But no, as Borden is about to remove Caine's top, the lights go out to a big groan from the crowd and they come back on to find Caine gone. Terrible booking. Afterwards, GQ Money cuts a promo lambasting the crowd and taking credit for turning off the lights. So the feud between the two heel stables continues. WHO THE FUCK IS THE AUDIENCE SUPPOSED TO BE CHEERING FOR?!?!

Steve Rizzono vs a Monkey
So right after being part of a major heel angle as part of the Enterprise, Rizzono is facing...a man dressed as a monkey. I say this, but Kloss spends the entire bloody match yelling "Rizzono is facing a real monkey! An actual monkey from a zoo!" like an unbearable berk. This is another largely pointless match, with the monkey controlling with some weak offence before winning with a facebuster. Afterwards, Rizzono gets beaten to shit by a mysterious masked man.

Webb vs GQ Money
Webb is dressed like karate Elvis and, by virute of GQ Money being an appalling irritant, is the more sympathetic character. Money is not much of a physical threat to Webb, so sneak attacks to gain an advantage. Neither guy exactly carries themself like world championship material, but I thought Webb looked pretty decent in places. I really liked him chaining from a side-Russian legsweep into an armbar/headscissors. They don't quite click in the match, with awkward moments like Webb watching GQ position himself on the top rope and hitting a move on him, and not trying to counter it due to mistiming when he would turn around. Money misses a terrible looking spinny top rop legdrop and Webb goes to work. I liked the snap he put into a spinning uranage, before tapping GQ Money out with a rear choke. Afterwards, the Black Army cut off Money's thinning hair.

The Sandman vs Supreme
This was set up by an earlier heel promo by Sandman, proclaiming himself a big star, before Supreme challenged him to fight for the Deathmatch title. Sandman is avoiding the hardcore style, so goes to the mat with a headlock on Supreme. I've commented in the past how I liked the way Supreme built towards barbed wire spots, but here he just hurls Sandman in the first few minutes. Sandman is happy to go outside to stall, so Supreme baseball dropkicks him into some more barbed wire outside the ring in a decent spot. Sandman starts using weapons himself, setting up a bed of thumbtacks that he ends up getting slammed into himself. Supreme goes up top, but the Enterprise, all fully recovered from their very recent beatings, interfere. A sloppy looking three-man cutter onto the tacks gifts Sandman the win. Not very good.

New Jack vs Vic Grimes
Right, this match is probably the most famous in XPW history, and not for the right reasons. This is the FreeFall match, a scaffold 40ft in the air with 12 tables stacked in the ring (four tables high, three tables across) with the aim being to through your opponent from the scaffold to the ring. So the story goes, New Jack hadn't forgiven Grimes for the incident at ECW Living Dangerously 2000, which left him temporarily blinded, and plotted him revenge for this match. Of which more later...

The match itself is largely awful, just two guys hitting each other with the odd weapon shot or walking around the ring punching each other. It features a lot of my least favourite hardcore match feature, the "weapon that will make you bleed and scar you, but isn't going to win you the match". Stuff like staple guns, forks or, in this case, pizza cutters, which I'm sure would really hurt, but would mutilate the opponent rather than incapacitate him. Hate that stuff. Eventually, they stop fighting and decide to slowly climb opposite sides of the scaffold. They brawl for a bit more up there, before Jack brings out a tazer. After a few tazer shots, he throws Grimes off the balcony, sending him off course so he only just grazes one of the top tables and bounces off the top rope in a truly horrifying scene. Honestly, Grimes was very lucky not to be seriously hurt or even dead, and it's really uncomfortable to watch. In a way, the perfect metaphor for this horrific show.

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