NWA Wildside Christmas Chaos 2001 review

[Guest Phoenix Fury Legdrop]

First off, congrats to Andrew Thomas for getting a gig refereeing for NWA-TNA. I know for sure he reffed the Lynn-Ki-Styles ladder match, if you want to look out for him. Also, look out for Caprice Coleman and Slim J debuting in Ring Of Honor on 11/9 and 11/16 respectively.

 

NWA WILDSIDE CHRISTMAS CHAOS 2001

 

The show starts with Dan Wilson trying to introduce his broadcast partner, Steven Prazak, mid-ring. But, Jeff G. Bailey, being the dick heel that he is, interrupts the festivities, even stealing Prazak's awesome intro music. He comes out with Iceberg. Here's the thing about Iceberg: he's extremely fat (I think he is near the 600 lbs. that he's announced as being.) But, he's really short, as in Jeff G. Bailey's taller than he is. In other words, parents, if your kids are whining because you aren't feeding them large amounts of junk food, just show them Iceberg, and they'll settle for carrots. Anyway, Bailey takes the mic, and proceeds to hype Iceberg vs. Trash, Adam Jacobs vs. Lazz (while demanding that if Jacobs wins, he can get a restraining order from Lazz), and J.C. Dazz vs. Jimmy Rave, all later on the tape. Strong promo, as usual, by Bailey, until "The Duke of New York" Al Getz (former OMEGA manager/former Wildside Commissioner) makes his return to Wildside, as Bailey spouts all sorts of Jewish slurs at Getz. Getz gets on the mic, and says that his "contract" as Commissioner runs out on December 31, 2001, which meant he had one more act as the Commisioner. Therefore, due to that and a chat he had with Lazz earlier in the night, he makes Jacobs's match with Lazz "Restraining order vs. Lazz 'gets' Jacobs if he wins." Getz warns Bailey that if Lazz wins, someone will have a "white Christmas". Getz ends the segment with his obscure, yet sort of cool, catchphrase, "Whatever Al wants, Al Getz." Strong opening segment, and it took them 6-7 minutes to do what it takes HHH and The Undertaker 20 minutes to do.

 

BAD ATTITUDE (Terry Knight & David Young) vs. THE REDNECK EXPRESS (Cooter Calhoun & "Big" Henry Hoss)

 

This is round two of "Bad Attitude vs. the green rookies". At least last month they had good bumpers to work with. The Redneck Express are really not good. Cooter works an underdog style, though being taller than most of the guys he works, and Hoss is a tall, fat guy who isn't very mobile. However, Knight & Young were really hitting their niche as a team at the time, and brought out a decent match out of the hick rookies. They used the classic tag formula of the heels working on one opponent, and cutting off the ring to keep the guy from tagging out; and it did very much seem like something you'd see in the early-80's from the Crockett groups, compressed to 8 minutes. At about 6:30, everything gets all crazy, as all four guys start brawling mid-ring. Eventually, Cooter gets thrown to the outside, and BA finish Hoss off with the Attitude Adjustment (spinebuster/neckbreaker combo). Like I said, decent little match, but why in the hell was David Young in the damn opener? Thank goodness they repremanded their own mistake months later.

 

(Oh, and Dan Wilson, I don't know whether it's a joke, or Bill Behrens told you to say it, but Rick Michaels & David Young are former World Tag Team Champions, not Knight & Young.)

 

WINNERS: Bad Attitude

RATING: *3/4

 

NWA WILDSIDE TV TITLE:

"The All-Star", "One Bad MoFo" CRU JONES vs. ONYX ©

 

Jones is another of the Rick Michaels trainees who was pushed on TV for need of a new character. The character, that being of a former high school football jock who's in his 20's and still bragging about scoring 5 touchdowns in one game, is quite funny, especially since I come from a town in which every football jock ends up knocking up a chick when he's 17 and spends the rest of his life in town bragging to the high school girls about his days as a football player while trying to get laid. Anyway, this match sucked. Onyx tossed Cru around a lot, Cru kicked Onyx in the crotch a lot, Onyx really botches an Island Driver (samoan drop into a Stunner) by just falling backwards, both men roll around for a few seconds, Cru goes for the Monster Blitz (pumphandle Michinoku Driver), but Onyx rolls him up for a one-count and the win. Yes, referee Jimmy Rivers is so incompetent that he only counted one for the finish. And, yes, that was basically the whole match for you. After the match, some kid hugs Onyx and gives him a Christmas present. Awwww....phooey! This sucked, and this sucked fast. No real flow, and it really seemed like a Raw match inside your mom's basement. Luckily you'll only have to fast-forward 7 minutes.

 

WINNER: Onyx

RATING: 1/2*

 

TAPED FIST MATCH:

"The Role Model" JASON CROSS (w/ JEFF G. BAILEY) vs. CAPRICE "ICE" COLEMAN (w/ SWEET DREAMS)

 

This whole thing was set up after Coleman turned face by attacking Bailey in a really cool old-school angle where Bailey offered a bunch of jobber money to knock Iceberg off his feet. The "taped fist" stip was thrown in because, supposedly, Cross is a "19th degree black belt" (according to Jeff G. Bailey), and Coleman's a really good boxer. You could never tell from watching him throw worked punches, as he will literally miss by a foot on his strikes. Considering the stip attached to this match, it was really good. If the Malenko-Guerrero feud were to be booked by Jim Cornette, this is what it'd be. Cross is excellent here, being a really dickish heel, pouring ether on his fists to blind Coleman, pushing Coleman around with his foot as he's bent over to rub the ether out from his eyes, slapping Coleman in the head as he stomps him, and doing the customary crotch thrusts as Coleman lays in pain. The only problem I had with Cross in this match (and a few others) is that he blows his move "load" too damn fast. In the first five minutes of the match, he manages to hit both the BEST BRAINBUSTER IN NORTH AMERICA~! (credit to Patrick McGovern from www.ichibanpuroresu.com) and the Cross Star Press (better than Red's, that's for damn sure), which are both credible finishers. Coleman played a decent punishment-taking face, and he manages to break out some comedy that makes sense in this type of match, as after he punches the crap out of Cross in the opening of the match, he goes to a camera, and cuts a funny-ass promo: "I'm gonna punch 'em, and knock him down. If he gets up, I knock him down again. He gets up again, I knock him down again and again." You have to see it to get the humor. They manage to botch the finish, as they both accidently stay down until Andrew Thomas counts to ten, so they ad-lib, and the first guy up to his feet wins. Coleman's up first, so his brother and cornerman Sweet Dreams knocks him down in a heel turn that no one gave a crap about, giving Cross the win. After the match, Bailey and Dreams talk some, and Dreams gives Coleman the "Alley-Oop", Big Show's short-lived finisher. Good match, would have been better without the bad finish.

 

WINNER: Jason Cross

RATING: **3/4

 

ICEBERG vs. TANK (No Rules):

 

This sucked. I mean, this was just an even more horrible version of the Fright Night garbage match (Blackout vs. Tank & Trash). They just stand around and poke and hit and stab each other with different objects. This goes on too long (as if it should go on at all) until Trash comes out. Iceberg "handcuffs" Tank to the ringpost (something malfunctions, and Tank stands there unattached like he's chained to it), and Iceberg comes off the apron and splashes Trash through a table. Trash gets stretchered out, and it just sort of ends. Man, this sucked.

 

WINNER: No One

RATING: DUD

 

NWA WILDSIDE TAG TEAM TITLES (Titles can change hands on DQ and countouts)

THE LOST BOYS (AZRAEL & GABRIEL) vs. BLACKOUT (RAINMAN & HOMICIDE) ©

 

Blackout won back the tag belts in a four-way-dance at a TV taping from Tank & Trash. The stip was added due to Blackout saving their belts due to DQ's and countouts. This was a pretty damn good tag match. Azrael & Gabriel have some of the most unique double-team moves I've seen in quite a while, and use some weird kick offense (Gabriel uses a Mortal (619) kick to the back of Rainman's head, and Azrael breaks out a Shining Wizard kick). Blackout played their role of "abbrasive, pissed heels" pretty well, though their punches looked like crap. This followed the tag formula, though the Lost Boys got in some more offense than usual in a formula match. After about ten minutes, things got bonzo, but not gonzo. Lost Boys hit the UnHoly Roller (top rope rana from Gabriel, frog elbow splash from Azrael), but Homicide distracts the referee. Rainman gets a title belt to hit one of the Lost Boys with, and Bill Behrens enters the ring to stop it. He tries to pull it out of Rainman's hands, and accidently hits Azrael with it. Rainman goes for the pin, and Blackout wins the match. Strongest match on the undercard.

 

WINNERS: Blackout

RATING: ***

 

NWA WILDSIDE Jr. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE:

JEREMY LOPEZ © vs. TONY MAMALUKE vs. LANCE DREAMER vs. TODD SEXTON

 

For a four-way, this was pretty good. The story was that all the guys were trained by the best (Lopez & Mamaluke by Dean Malenko, Dreamer by Jeff Jarrett, and Sexton by HBK). The formula was heels (Lopez & Mamaluke) vs. faces (Sexton & Dreamer). Everyone was built early as a credible threat to Lopez's title, while Lopez was built as good enough to beat everyone, but using his one weakness (his extreme cockiness) too much. They used a nice comedy spot in excellent context, as Dreamer and Sexton hit a double hiptoss on Mamaluke, do the Italian "sign of disrespect" where you scrap your fingertips under your chin, and do the double elbow drop, but Mamaluke pops up right before they hit it, and yells, "THAT'S MY MOVE!". Dreamer & Sexton shrug him off and hit the move. Really funny, and it didn't draw away from the whole story of the match. Sexton gets eliminated about 7 minutes in with a really contrived reverse DDT/implant double underhook DDT/Mamaluke missile dropkick spot. Mamaluke is gone a couple of minutes later following miscommunication with Lopez. A minute later, Dreamer hits a 0.6 Steamboat flying body press to get the win. BUT, WAIT.... the sports entertainment hand of fate flips us the bird, as Andrew Thomas comes out with a stopwatch, and says that the match ran 15:15 (legit: 11:33), and the time limit was 15 minutes, so Lopez keeps his belt. They should have set the time limit and gotten it over before the match. That makes things a little less confusing. Still, this was really strong, and, yes, Lopez is ~ICHIBAN~! (credit to Patrick McGovern at www.ichibanpuroresu.com).

 

WINNER: DRAW

RATING: ***

 

"ALL THAT" ADAM JACOBS (w/Jeff G. Bailey) vs. LAZZ

 

They added another stip right before this match: a member of the "old WCW" would be special guest reffing this match. It turned out to be Air Paris, who was in WCW for about a month as a part of the "Air Raid" tag team, and was John Phoenix and Jacobs's partner in Suicidal Tendencies. Jeff G. Bailey comes out wearing a shirt covered in blood from the Iceberg-Tank match. The match itself didn't really seem to click, as Paris really looked like he wasn't comfortable in the ring, and Jacobs and Lazz suffered from miscommunication. Jacobs dominated the offense, though he doesn't have many distinct moves that are his and his only to get behind. Lazz got in the hope spots when needed. They botched little things here and there, but the big botch came at the finish, as Jacobs gets a chair in the ring, Paris tries to grab it from him, and nails Lazz by accident. Steven Prazak then gives away Paris's forthcoming heel turn. Thirty seconds later, Paris literally stops counting a Jacobs pin because Lazz forgot that he was supposed to kick out. Then, seconds later, Paris is counting a Lazz pin, and just gets up all of a sudden because he goes for his heel turn cue too fast, and Bailey has to rush up to the apron to shake Paris's hand to signify the heel turn. Lazz gets beat on a little more, and Jacobs wins. Bailey cuts a promo to signify the "reunion" of Suicidal Tendencies, which lasted three weeks due to Paris being a lazy, useless drunk who doesn't like to show up when he's booked. This was below what it should have been, but I won't blame Adam or Lazz too much since Paris looked like he missed a lot of cues.

 

WINNER: Adam Jacobs

RATING: **

 

TWO OUT OF THREE FALLS:

"The Original XTC" JIMMY RAVE vs. J.C. DAZZ (w/ Jeff G. Bailey)

 

The angle going into this was that since J.C. took the liberties of hitting Jimmy with a car in the parking lot the previous week, Jimmy wouldn't be able to make it. J.C. & Bailey went to the ring, and Bill Behrens came out to tell them that Dazz would have to wrestle someone different. Dazz then locked Behrens in the Rings Of Saturn until Rave came out through the crowd to start the match. The match was too damn short. Geez, you'd think that if you had already booked a 2/3 falls match at the previous big show (Fright Night's Lost Boys/TNT match) and only gave it 11 minutes that you wouldn't make the same mistake that you did last time. This one went about 11 minutes too. The action was good; J.C. is excellent when it comes to ring psychology, and Jimmy can sell pretty well. The focus of the match was Dazz attacking Rave's injured ribs. First fall went to Dazz in seconds after a Rings of Saturn. Rave scored the second fall with a roll-up, and the third fall went to Rave after a Gravity Killer (Tornado DDT). It was good, but it really should have gone longer.

 

WINNER: Jimmy Rave

RATING: **1/2

 

I've already reviewed this match for another tape, so, from the "Best Of A.J. Styles Vol. 2" review, here's the main event....

 

NWA WILDSIDE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE:

A.J. STYLES vs. RICK MICHAELS

 

Great match. Both men brought their "A" game for sure. Michaels is probably the most under-utilized guy in the indies today. Most guys don't get a break because they're too small. Rick hasn't gotten much of a break because he's too big. He's not the prototypical independent Jr. heavyweight, so he doesn't get to do the traveling that A.J. and David Young get. Hell, NWA:TNA employs the guy, but not as a wrestler. You say, "so, why is he working for them?" He's their damn COSTUME DESIGNER. That's right, the man behind the Elvis suits, Rick Michaels. Anyway, let's get to this match. The matwork was tight, though A.J.'s tendency to flip around sort of ruined its credibilty (for instance, he used a fancy flip as a segway to a short arm scissors). A.J. was very intense in this match, which is probably his strong suit to getting his character over, since he can't cut a promo without sounding like "Deputy Dawg". They did some WWF 2000 main event-style brawling, which was very good. They told a hell of a story, with A.J. as the blue-chip student with all the physical abilities in the world, and Michaels as the rugged veteran (10 years, only 28 years old, by the way) who is trying to show up this "snot-nosed punk" the old-fashioned way: by kicking his ass. Dan Wilson proved why he should have been Eric Gargiulo's replacement in Ring Of Honor, and why he, at only 21 years of age, is one of, if not the best, play-by-play man in the business today. His commentary provided an insight into the story of the match without completely overshadowing the match itself. This match just had the feel of a big-time match, even in a wore-down abandoned one-room schoolhouse with 300 fans (if that) in attendance. The finish was a little Sports-Entertainment-ish, which will take a little off of the rating, first by doing a false "Halloween Havoc 1990" finish, with Michaels & Styles brawling to the back, and then Michaels bringing back Jason Cross with his face covered to get the three-count, and then Wildside owner/NWA VP/Jeff Jarrett's personal chairshot bitch Bill Behrens revealing Cross's face (which was a nice touch, since they did this exact same finish at Fright Night 2001, only Michaels got away with it and won the belt from Scottie Wrenn by pinning David Young). Then Styles came back out and hit the Styles Clash on Cross on the ramp. Then, David Young came out and turned on Rick Michaels, helping Styles hit a botched top rope Styles Clash for the win. Match Of The Tape, for sure. Michaels is a diamond in the rough, and Styles, when he's on (like he was here), can be just stupendous. If the finish wasn't so clustered, I'd have no problem giving this four stars. If you're reading this, go pick up some Rick Michaels tapes, it'll be worth your time.

 

WINNER: A.J. STYLES

RATING: ***3/4

 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: This didn't have any blow-away matches that you must go see now or you'll die of not seeing it. But, you can't have a match like Fright Night's Four-Way Ladder Match every couple of months either. However, this was a pretty good show. Besides the Jones-Onyx match, everything maintained a solid-damn good flow. The main event really showcased Rick Michaels's abilities to work any styles, and any A.J. Styles mark would cream themselves for the match, as it's probably A.J.'s one big moment in the sun in Wildside. The commentary was pretty good, as Dan Wilson & Steven Prazak were (and are) the best commentary team in the U.S. then and now. Besides for a few clitches here and there, the booking was strong. If you're a fan of the business that's like, "Screw angles and storylines and that crap; I want to see a ***** match, and I want to see it now", I wouldn't recommend this tape for you. Then again, I wouldn't recommend leaving your own home. But, if you're into good wrestling and strong booking, I would suggest you get the tape.

 

NEXT TIME: I'm either doing a review for just the "HardCore Hell: Night One" tape, or I'll review both nights' tapes in the same review. I've already viewed the first night (got it in the mail yesterday), and let's just say, besides for a couple of matches, I'll be pretty negative on it.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Guest pete]

Another good review. I was wondering how big does the crowd look, and what type of reactions does the crowd give the matches.

[Guest J*ingus]

They usually draw up near 300 for the big quarterly shows. Crowd reaction is pretty good, but odd sound editing often makes it sound worse than it was.

[Guest Phoenix Fury Legdrop]

My man Jingus is right; around 300 for the big shows. The sound editing has gotten horrible lately, as I just got in both Hardcore Hell tapes and Freedom Fight 2002 (excellent Briscoe-Briscoe match that everyone should see; I'll get more into it when I post the review on the SmarkTalk site), and on the HH 2k2 tapes you can't hear the announcers when the entrance music's going, and you can't hear the crowd over the RING.