3PW Wrestling Channel TV show recap

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Feedback is welcomed...hell, encouraged. Let me know if you like this much play by play, or prefer it condensed more for future reviews (not necessarily of 3PW TV, but just random tape reviews and stuff).

 

 

 

 

 

3PW (Pro-Pain Pro Wrestling) TV

Aired on The Wrestling Channel in the UK on May 27, 2004

Reviewed on June 9, 2004 by LucharesuFan619

 

- Quick 3PW opening music video

 

- Mike Winner and Jerry Strauss introduce the show and the matches that we'll see. All of the matches on this show occurred on the March 29, 2003 3PW show at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, PA, if you're curious.

 

Falls Count Anywhere Match: NOSAWA vs. BALLS MAHONEY

 

Nosawa makes an awesome entrance, wearing a Christopher Daniels-style cape that covers most of his body. Balls follows out next.

 

Nosawa flips the fans off before the bell even rings. A decent - yet really quick - mat-based sequence starts things off, and Nosawa gets the best of it with some kicks and stomps. Another squareoff and tieup leads to Balls executing a nice-looking legbar takedown into an anklescissors/anklelock combo. Nosawa eventually makes it to the ropes and crawls out to ringside for a breather. Balls shouts "F*ck you!" which pisses off Nosawa into eventually re-entering. Another tieup. They do the typical headlock/push into the ropes/shoulderblock/hop-over sequence, with Balls doing the headlock, etc. Balls has none of a hiptoss attempt and instead throws Nosawa into the corner (like Kane often does in his matches), but only *after* saying, "Watch out, Jim," to referee Molinneaux. Some "Balls!" punches in the corner ends with...an eyerake. There's some classic Balls for ya'. Wait, a second - that didn't sound right...

 

Cross-corner whip. Nosawa tips up and over Balls, and delivers a martial arts kick to the head. The fans are "motherf*ckers," according to Nosawa. Balls fights back by blocking a kick and executes a hiptoss, which is followed with a sloppy armdrag sequence, before they square off again...or not...Instead, Nosawa attacks Balls, only to get drilled with some "Balls!" punches, and *there* it is - the big whammy punch, which sends Nosawa down. Balls charges for a Cactus Jack lariat out to ringside, but Nosawa ducks out of the way and Balls flies out to ringside. Baseball slide dropkick by Nosawa. Martial arts kicks the jaw of Balls, who is then rolled back into the ring, where he's cut open by Nosawa with a PIZZA-CUTTER. Nosawa even goes so far as to lick the blood off of it. My boy Vic Grimes would be proud.

 

Balls absorbs four more slicejobs and a chairshot of sorts (he gets thrown head-first into one) before blocking an attempted running pizza-cutter attack and grabbing the tool for himself. Balls slices Nosawa's forehead three separate times, and we get a decent shot of Nosawa, showing that he's bleeding a fair amount (although I've definitely seen worse). Balls applies a headlock and slices Nosawa, before tossing him out of the ring, where he continues to slice and dice him, this time with some fans getting a close-up view. The best part is this - even while he's getting his forehead ripped to shreds, Nosawa contiues flipping off the fans. Gotta' love the kid. Nosawa blocks an attempted stab and starts obliterating Balls with his own stab thrusts and slicejobs. Really good camerawork here, as the viewer has quite a good view of their bloodletting.

 

Balls fights back with a DDT onto the entranceway for 2 (remember, this is Falls Count Anywhere rules), before setting up a table at ringside. That allows Nosawa to recover, and he attacks Balls when he turns around. Back in the ring, balls receives a buzzsaw kick to the head, and then a sloppy Shining Enziguri for a 2 count. Balls blocks a regular Shining Wizard attempt with a low blow, and then nails the Nutcracker Suite (Sitout Fire Thunder/Rikishi Driver) for 2. More really good camerawork, as we get a closeup of Nosawa's bloody face. Balls climbs up top, but Nosawa hightails it back to his feet and tosses him down onto the mat for 2. Nosawa delivers another buzzsaw kick before bringing a table into the ring and setting it up. He takes too much time setting it up, though, and turns around right into a Balls superkick, sending him onto the table.

 

Balls climbs up top, but Nosawa gets up and crotches him, before climbing up himself. He tries a Super Huracanrana, but Balls blocks it...kinda. The fans chant, "You F*cked Up!" although I'm not really sure whether that was unintentional or not. Anyway, Balls lays Nosawa on the table, climbs up top again, and this time puts him through it with a Flying Leg Drop. Nosawa kicks out at 2, though, and when Balls starts lifting him back up, surprises his adversary with a low blow and then a martial arts kick, which sends Balls out to ringside. Balls fights off a Nosawa attack, though, and hits an Apron-Dive Nutcracker Suite through a table for the pinfall win (18:37, says the ring announcer)! A "Holy Sh*t!" chant starts, and I must admit - Nosawa's bump looked pretty sick there. We get another closeup of him, and he's actually not as bloody as he was earlier in, although that's not to take anything away from him.

WINNER: Balls Mahoney, via pinfall

 

THOUGHTS: Decent. The match's bloodletting lived up to it's hype, as I had heard about the violence and wasn't dissatisfied at all with that aspect. Gore fans will love this match. Neither guy got to show off too much of his wrestling ability, besides early into the match, so don't go in expecting any technical expertise because there's none of it. Also, don't go in thinking that since both guys are pretty good wrestlers, they're going to build up the slicejobs, because they definitely don't one bit. It's all just pure brutality.

 

Some of the selling by both guys (especially Balls, and especially on Nosawa's kicks) needed some work, but the match did it's job as something right out of Freddy Krueger. The great camerawork made it more exciting to watch than it probably otherwise would've been, so that'll earn it a few points. I wish I saw this match live. It would've been straight out of hell, because they tried to give some of the fans in the first few rows some good looks at the slicejobs.

 

The finishing bump was pretty darn cool, but other than that, there weren't really any impressive spots, since about two thirds of the match consisted of pizza-cutter slicejobs. If that's your type of cake, though, dig in. Oh, and one other thing - Nosawa's arrogant heel persona is f*cking gold. The middle finger deal even while he was getting sliced was hilarious. Wrestling-wise: 1/2*. Brutality-wise: ****. Overall entertainment value: about **3/4.

 

XAVIER vs. HOMICIDE

 

We cut immediately to the next match, as Xavier enters, followed by Homicide.

The two start with a double Greco-Roman knucklelock-style grapple, and then go into some quick reversals on the mat, which lead to Xavier locking on a hammerlock. Homicide legsweeps him, only to get tripped down to the mat himself, leading to another squareoff. Tieup. Headlock takeover by Homicide, into a grounded headlock. Xavier counters into some pins before escaping, and - now back on their feet - they go into an armdrag exchange, culminating with Homicide blocking Xavier's attempt and Japanese dropkicking his face. Xavier rolls out to ringside, and Homicide nails his somersault suicide dive through the ropes, before rolling Xavier back into the ring. Homicide fights off an Xavier comeback by blocking a lariat and nailing the Ace Crusher for 2. Homicide delivers his signature Running Yakuza Kick and Knee Scrape in the corner for another 2 count. Now, a Northern Lights Suplex. Xavier blocks a corner charge attempt and tries a swinging hangman's neckbreaker, but Homicide fights out of it and locks on the STF. Xavier taps and it's over.

 

Just kidding. He eventually grabs the ropes, so Homicide brings him into the corner, where he abuses him with some strikes before drilling a Superplex. A bodyslam follows, after which Xavier tries to fight back with some chops, only to receive the almighty eyerake of death. Homicide delivers a Super Huracanrana, only for Xavier to get right back up and spear him chest-first into the ringpost. Xavier sends Homicide into the ropes and executes a sloppy tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, followed by a backdrop suplex for 2. Now, a Belly-to-Belly Overhead Suplex by Xavier, who proceeds to call "The Notorious 187" a "little bitch," before lifting him back up and beating the sh*t out of him in the corner with stomps, forearms, and chops. Now, a cross-corner whip by Xavier.

 

Clip a few seconds forward to another cross-corner whip by Xavier, but Homicide steps out of the way when he charges in. Homicide climbs out onto the apron and comes in with a sunset flip. Xavier rolls all the way through, fights off some attempted counters from Homicide, and then drops an elbow across his back. Xavier proceeds to lock on a surfboard stretch, and then decides to add in an inverted facelock simultaneously. Homicide drops out of the X Bomb (Pumphandle Inverted Michinoku Driver II) and tries for the Cop Killa (Vertaebreaker), but Xavier escapes that and delivers a Lung Blower. Xavier continues the work on Homicide's back by using a camel clutch, but Homicide ends up escaping a German suplex attempt with a low blow, and then kicks Xavier out of the ring.

 

Homicide follows him out and kicks his ass for a little bit before bringing him back into the ring. He can't lift him up for a bodyslam, and Xavier takes the opportunity to hit a Fireman's Carry into a Facebuster on his knee, followed by a big Powerbomb for two consecutive 2 counts. Homicide absorbs a bodyslam, though, and comes back with a Diving Swinging DDT off of the middle buckle, and then a Flying Double-Foot Stomp for 2. Homicide's beloved Running Lariat off of the ropes gets him the same result. Xavier blocks another lariat attempt, though, and hits the X Bomb, followed by the 450 Degrees of Fear (Flying 450º Splash) for...2, as Homicide lays his foot on the nearby rope. Homicide gets a small package out of nowhere for a 2 count, but Xavier beats him back to his feet and takes him down with a lariat. Xavier hammers Homicide with punches, but after being whipped into the ropes, Homicide ducks his lariat attempt, hits a running forearm smash, and delivers the Cop Killa for the pinfall win (15:33). His music hits and we cut out.

WINNER: Homicide, via pinfall

 

THOUGHTS: Definitely not as good as some of these two guys' work in ROH, but still a solid match. The wrestling sequence at the beginning was well done, and I digged most of the strikes (chops, forearms, kicks, etc.). Xavier deserves kudos for doing a good job at building his assault on Homicide's back, as he really stayed consistent in targeting that body area, and Homicide did something that was very impressive in today's indy circuit that's based so much on no selling - he sold his back injury by not being able to lift Xavier for the bodyslam. Homicide also pulled out a pretty dramatic near fall out of desperation, via a schoolboy.

 

What I didn't like was that Homicide specifically seemed to rush a lot of his spots in the beginning. Just a few minutes into the match, he had hit half of his repertoire - the Topè, the Ace Crusher, the Corner Yakuza Kick and Knee Smash, and had even used what's supposed to be his secondary finisher, the STF. Xavier did a good job of slowing it down a bit after the STF, so I commend him for that, and I don't want to make it sound like Homicide did horrible, because he didn't. I just didn't think it was one of his strongest performances. One particular instance I disliked about Xavier's performance was how after bodyslamming Homicide, he hesitated for a number of seconds as if he didn't know what to do, and then just lifted Homicide back up and killed some time before taking the swinging DDT.

 

Even towards the end, he seemed to still be rushing some of his spots, hitting three top-rope moves within a matter of minutes, and two within a matter of seconds. The finish was also sort of blah for me. Ducking a lariat and hitting a forearm smash followed by your finisher is kinda' quick. I understand that his whole persona is based upon being really fierce and all, but he was going through the spots a little too quick in this match for my liking. It was still a solid showing by both guys, and Xavier's consistent back work and Homicide's selling of it are going to bump it up to a solid *** for me.

 

3PW HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH - "The New School" Joey Matthews (w/ Matt Striker & Rob Eckos) vs. "Pitbull (#1)" Gary Wolfe ©

 

Both competitors are already in the ring, and after the introductions, they square off. Joey's playing the heel here, by the way.

 

Joey actually gets the best of the first tieup, but Wolfe gets the advantage on the next two, prompting Joey to climb out of the ring and do some pushups, while Striker gives him some advice. He still doesn't want to get in there with Wolfe, so Wolfe comes and kicks his ass on the outside for a few moments before bringing him back into the ring and planting him face-first onto a set-up steel chair via a drop toehold. 2 count for the Pitbull. Wolfe actually pulls out some headlocks and armbars for a few moments, before being pushed into the ropes and tripped by Striker, while Eckos is distracting the referee. Joey takes control and downs Wolfe with a dropkick, and follows with a Flying Lariat for 2.

 

Wolfe briefly comes back by countering a huracanrana into a powerbomb, but Joey tosses him out to ringside, where Striker beats on the champ as Joey distracts the ref in the ring. Joey and Striker now beat on Wolfe together with some chairs, while Eckos keeps the ref busy. Wolfe fights back and chairshots Joey before setting up a table at ringside and putting Joey through it with an Apron-Dive Elbow Drop. A "Pit-bull!" chant surfaces as Wolfe brings Joey back into the ring for a 2 count. Joey abruptly takes back control with an eye poke and proceeds to decimate Wolfe in the corner. Wolfe fights back, though, and forearms Joey down, before avalanching him in the corner. Striker tries to distract Wolfe, but bails when he gets near him.

 

Vertical Suplex by Wolfe, but Striker distracts the ref while Wolfe covers Joey. Wolfe goes to attack Striker, but gets a low blow from Joey. Now, Eckos distracts the ref, as Joey and Striker double-team Wolfe, but some miscommuniation leads to Wolfe ducking a running forearm and Striker sailing backwards through a ringside table. Wolfe knocks Eckos down to ringside, too, and then gets a schoolboy rollup on Joey for 2. Joey escapes the first Death Valley Driver attempt, but after his swinging neckbreaker off of the ropes is countered, he falls victim to the a monster second one, and Wolfe retains his title with a 3 count (9:31). Wolfe's theme music hits. Cut out.

 

WINNER and still 3PW Heavyweight Champion: "Pitbull (#1)" Gary Wolfe, via pinfall

 

THOUGHTS: Borderline decent, I guess. Joey plays a great heel, and if you're looking to see more evidence of that fact, buy some of the more recent 3PW shows with his matches against Raven, Sabu, and others. He's really turned into a master when it comes to acting arrogant. Anyway, though, the match fulfilled it's purpose (which was to put over Joey's entourage, his own tenacity, and also Wolfe's - as J.R. would say - hoss persona), but definitely did nothing more than that, and was meh'ish otherwise. I'll say this - the finishing sequence came off well, but besides that, the "wrestling" in this match sucked. Joey tried to work with Wolfe, but there's only so much you can do with a guy as unversatile and so far past his prime (if he ever even had one). *1/4.

 

OVERALL: Homicide vs. Xavier saved this show from being below average. We did see a little bit of everything (violence, wrestling, a little bit of high flying), so whoever put the show together followed a pretty good strategy, from that perspective, I guess. The Homicide vs. Xavier match wasn't the best you'll find out of those two guys, but it was still quite solid. Definitely don't go out of your way for it, though. The bloodbath was just that - a bloodbath, so deathmatch fans will enjoy it, probably, and if you fall under that category, I recommend checking it out. Don't bother with the main event. You can see the rare good stuff of Gary Wolfe on old ECW tapes, and Joey Matthews' heel persona has only gotten better, so pick out some of the more recent 3PW shows if you want a better taste of his style. So, about an average show.

[Placebo Effect 0]

Good read. I find 3PW way too... Uninteresting to actually look forward to a recap, though.

[Guest Real F'n Show]

Never seen any 3PW, but I've seen all these guys wrestle before so I wasn't lost or anything. Looks like you spent some time on this so the least I can do is acknowledge you. I'll probably get the 3PW DVD that has the Daniels/Styles 35 minute draw when/if it comes out though.

[1234-5678 0]

I am glad I didn't start going till a few months ago. No O'Doyle, no Raven, no Kruel, no Ruckus=bad show.

[tekcop 0]

All those matches are on 3PW's "Broadcast from Hell" DVD of which the only match I enjoyed was Funk vs. Lawler.