CJ O’Doyle vs Rob Eckos
Not really much to this, good or bad. It’s just perfectly ok
wrestling. O’Doyle has a nice looking powerslam and Eckos’ superkick looked
good enough to have won the match (though it only got 2). I enjoyed Eckos’
character work, posing after hitting an Alpine Line, then realising he could
pin O’Doyle and rushing to try and get the pinfall. The end sees O’Doyle hit
this clothesline that the commentary team have been hyping up (it’s just a
clothesline), which only gets two, before Eckos hits a sloppy Alpine Line from
the second rope for the pin.
Jack Victory vs Rockin’ Rebel
This was rubbish. As usual in 3PW, Rebel seems to get paired
with someone so bad that the Rebel is the worker of the match. Both guys are
working heel here too, and for some reason end up trying to double team the
ref, only to both eat a double clothesline. This doesn’t earn a DQ however, and
the bout continues with Victory not actually being able to Irish whip his
opponent properly! How is that possible? Rebel tries a pin with his feet on the
rope, but gets caught by the ref. Victory tries the same, and gets the three
count. Afterwards, both guys beat up the ref. Just terrible.
Gary Wolfe vs Damian Adams
Apparently, this was set up Wolfe assaulted Adams, who had
beaten him in a previous match. This explains why Adams attacks Wolfe as soon
as he hits the ring, working a sustained assault, until a single Wolfe
clothesline seems to basically kill him. Like, Wolfe picks him up for a suplex,
and Adams is barely on his feet, arm dangling dead by his side. Believe me, the
clotheslines certainly didn’t look that impressive. Adams is able to come back
with a nice dive to the floor, before Wolfe hits 2 powerbombs in the ring
(before the second powerbomb, the commentary team seem aghast that Wolfe is
going to try a second powerbomb. “This is inhumane” is uttered, right before
Adams kicks out on 2). A Burning Hammer gets the win, and the whole thing is
less than four minutes long. Really odd booking, as Adams looked like a chump,
despite apparently winning the last match.
There’s another match on the DVD listing, which is supposed
to be a bra and panties match between Jasmin St Claire and Gorgeous George,
which is basically just them stripping, kissing and spanking Velvet Sky over
Tod Gordon’s knee. I’m just glad my fiancée didn’t come in while in was
watching this nonsense. Moving swiftly on…
Low Ki vs Ruckus vs Joey Matthews
This is elimination rules, and that actually makes this a
really enjoyable bout. The reason being, Joey Matthews wisely stays outside and
allows Ruckus and Low Ki to wrestle, only entering when Low Ki has beaten
Ruckus, essentially giving us two Low Ki singles bouts instead of the usual
three-way nonsense.
Ki/Ruckus, in this situation, is like an appetiser, and is
pretty fun in that respect. I enjoyed their little section on the mat, where
Ruckus was surprisingly competent, and whilst both guys had some fun offense,
Ki’s stuff just looked nastier, finishing Ruckus off with the Tidal Crush and a
Ki Krusher.
Ki/Matthews was really good stuff, loved Matthews using the
ref to block a Tidal Crush and poking Ki in the eye over the ref’s shoulder.
Matthew’s offense is a bit nastier than Ruckus’, and Ki misses a corner charge
to give Matthews a focal point to work on. Matthews may not be flashy, but you
can tell he’s got a brain for wrestling, everything looks professional and
shows no sign of breaking down. You can see why WWE would want him as the anchor
for the MNM team. He also isn’t scared of Ki’s blows, taking a big kick right
to the jaw. Ki’s rolling kick in the corner looks vicious, and I loved the
fluidity of Matthews trying a reverse suplex and Ki quickly countering with a
Dragon Clutch. Ki goes for the Ki Krusher, but his shoulder can’t support the
weight, and Matthews reverses to a small package for the win. Loved this whole
deal.
Monsta Mack & Mike Kruel vs Roadkill & the Blue
Meanie
Thought Kruel looked excellent in this match, easily the
standout. He schools Meanie on the mat, working a series of holds that actually
made “Blue Meanie matwork” seem ok. The heels work a decent enough heat on
Meanie, and I loved Mack standing in the middle of the ring, smugly posing to
draw in Roadkill, whilst Kruel choked Meanie in the corner behind him. Kruel
works over Meanie’s back, with some nasty kneedrops and painful looking
forearms. Meanie’s comeback is pretty unexciting, as it consists of him in a
Mack sleeper that he just casually escapes from and reverses. Roadkill doesn’t
display a single emotion in this bout, even when a tag is disallowed because the
ref didn’t see it. He’s equally inexpressive in the terrible finishing run –
Roadkill brings out a chain, gets it taken away by the ref, so instead whips
out a sock for a mandible claw. As the ref removes this, Mack clocks Roadkill
with a chair. Hilariously, the ref definitely sees the chair in his hand,
turning around to find Roadkill knocked out in the middle of the ring and Mack
still holding a chair. Despite this, he seems happy enough to count the three.
Sigh….at least Kruel was decent.
Matt Striker vs Jimmy Snuka
Striker comes out doing an excellent impression of Roddy
Piper, you can tell he’s loving himself out there. Striker blindsides Snuka,
and hits some weak offence, but gets caught with a REALLY soft backbreaker that
puts him down for about 30 seconds and unable to avoid the Superfly Splash.
This made Snuka’s 1993 ECW matches look like Iron Man matches.
Sabu vs Jerry Lynn
Sometimes, you just have to accept things aren’t for you. This
was very much a case of two aging pros giving the crowd what they want, it just
happens to be that I don’t enjoy what they like. Sabu injures his leg early on,
which gets briefly worked over by Lynn, but has no impact on the rest of the
match. This was really a bunch of spots loosely welded together. Some of those
spots were pretty spectacular (Lynn hurling Sabu into rows of chairs and then
diving in himself with a big crossbody was nuts) and some were pretty fun (Lynn
getting up as Sabu tried the triple jump moonsault, causing Sabu to fall
face-first into the chair). But there were no transitions to comebacks, no real
sustained selling…just no glue to really hold it all together. As I said, the
crowd loved it, so it did what it was supposed to. There’s one terrible spot
right at the end, where Sabu is supposed to rana Lynn off the top through a
table, but what actually happened is Sabu backflipped off, then a second or two
passed before Lynn frontflipped himself onto a table, which didn’t break. A top
rope Sabu legdrop got the job done.
Raven & the Sandman vs John Zandig & the Wifebeater
This….this was an utter mess. The basic gist is that 3PW
commissioner Raven hates Sandman, taking away his Metallica entrance, his beer
and smokes, but still orders him to be his tag partner for this bout. Seems
like a partner you can rely on. Raven then accepts it when Zandig asks for a
stipulation that he be put in charge if his team wins. For a supreme thinker, this
seems like an idiotic request to accept.
So anyway, the bout starts with Sandman and Wifebeater
working armdrag and hip toss exchanges. This lasts maybe a minute, before we
get a punch-walk section, where they head to the balcony and the Raven/Sandman
team throw Wifebeater off the balcony through a table. They return to Zandig,
who’s somehow bleeding from the head and work a mild heat on him. After a
while, Wifebeater returns and waits on the apron patiently to make a tag. Seems
to me like the rules went out of the window when you got slammed off a balcony,
mate. He gets in and works over Sandman…then somehow we end up with Sandman
playing face-in-peril and Raven coming in as the fired up hot tag. The fuck is
going on? Raven bulldogs Zandig through a table, but Sandman decides it’s time
to DDT his partner and give the CZW boys the win. This is so Zandig can give
him back his beer, fags and Metallica music….only the DVD doesn’t have the
licensing for that, so we get a pissy muzak version of Enter Sandman dubbed in
for 5 seconds, then the DVD abruptly goes to the credits. It wasn’t boring, I must
admit, but certainly not what I would call “good” either.
