CZW High Stakes Day Show review

[JoeDirt 0]

CZW 9/11/04 Day Show

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Match one: Merc vs. DJ Hyde vs. Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Dahmer:

 

Not much up here. Lots of stalling, a few good forearm exchanges by Hyde and Kingston, one or two nice spots, no flow at all, and Kingston wins with a funky leg submission on Hyde after about 8:00 or so. Forgot to time this one. Pretty much fast forward material. *

 

Match two: Chris Hero vs. Alex Shelley (CZW Ironman title):

 

Hero is great on the mic before the match, claiming he has defending his Ironman title against everyone, including Larry Zbysko and Virgil. He also says that he beat the first Alex Shelley, the second Alex Shelley, the second-to-last Alex Shelley, and now he'll beat "The Next" Alex Shelley. Hero plays heel and works over Shelley's left arm/shoulder during the match and does a good job of it with some cool stuff. Shelley hits an Eye of the Hurricane type move that Garuglio (sp) miscalls the Shellshock. He then calls a Cravate Suplex a Hangman's Clutch suplex. They counter several moves and Hero keeps going back to the arm and shoulder. Hero hooks a variation Hangman's Clutch for the win at 10:00. Solid ten minute match, but it felt really rushed, and something was really missing here. These guys would be great in a 25-30 minute match, but I don't think that should happen in front of a CZW crowd. **1/2

 

John House calls out M-Dogg 20 and Jimmy Rave, and they rip on the crowd a bit. Sonjay and Red come out for their tag match.

 

Match three: M-Dogg 20 and Jimmy Rave vs. Amazing Red and Sonjay Dutt:

 

Rave and M-Dogg almost immediately take control and work Dutt over for the majority of the match. One cool spot is where Rave does the old "fake the knee injury" thing, but Dutt doesn't play stupid babyface, and instead stomps the knee, saying he doesnt' care. I liked that. Red gets the hot tag seven minutes in and cleans house without moving very much, which is weird for him. Dutt and Red hit stereo standing shooting star presses. Another cool spot as Rave catches Red on a cross body, but Dutt hits a springboard double knee to the back (that move John Walters does) and Red lands on top for a two count. The end comes with Rave hitting a shining wizard on Dutt, and M-Dogg pinning him with his feet on the ropes at 10:00. Decent match, though Red looked really slow in here, as if he's still injured. Rave and Dutt looked far better than the other two in this match. **1/4

 

M-Dogg and Rave do a beatdown after the match, but Los Maximos make the save.

 

Match four: All Money is Legal vs. Ghost Shadow and Spyral:

 

They do some lucha-style stuff to start. They then start hitting some spots, so the match is basically a spot, 2 count, pickup, some punches, and the next spot, with some tags thrown in. These guys need to work on their transitioning, like a lot of indy workers. They hit some cool moves, however, so it's kind of like an ROH tag team scramble but with only two teams and therefore not the "non stop action" of a scramble. Ghost Shadow powerbombs one of the AMIL guys to the floor onto the other guy, and then hits a dive to the floor. They hit a few more spots, some good and some bad. Ghost Shadow finally gets pinned at 8:15 after a Gory Special/Swinging DDT combo-type move. These guys would be good in a four team tag scramble match, but in a traditional tag match it comes off as spotty and sloppy. Some nice spots here and there, though. *1/4

 

Ghost Shadow and Spyral argue after the match, so Shadow drills him with a forearm and leaves.

 

Match five: Super Dragon vs. B-Boy vs. Bobby Quance vs. Excalibur:

 

Before the match, Excalibur challenges Road Warrior Hawk to a match. The ring announcer informs Excalibur that Hawk is dead, so Excalibur says "he's dead...dead SCARED of me!" I guess that's funny or tasteless depending on your sense of humor. B-Boy's entrance is fun every time. Super Dragon and B-Boy get huge pops. Chris Hero comes out to join the announcers, since the winner will face him at the night show. Slow first few minutes, with some nice exchanges. They start to crank it up with some sick submission holds and strikes. Lots of awesome stuff near the end, too much to write and I'm having fun watching it. Super Dragon wins it with a Psycho Driver on Excalibur at 21:30. This was just a ton of fun, maybe the best fourway I've seen. They bust out everything here and the crowd loved it. ****

 

Hero cheap shots Dragon after the match and hooks the Hangman's Clutch.

 

Match six: Blackout vs. Los Maximos (CZW tag team championship):

 

Blackout brings out a stripper who takes her shirt off (with just pasties on underneath), and this is what caused them to lose their license after a mother in the crowd complained. This is another match where judging by the competitors you probably know pretty much what to expect. The weird thing is that Blackout, the heels, play faces in peril most of the match while the Maximos dominate. The SAT's hit the Spanish Fly, but the ref is pulled out of the ring. Eddie Kingston interferes, and Sabin gets the pinfall at 17:15. Yeah, they gave these teams over seventeen minutes. Going in I thought this would be horrible, sloppy, and a spotfest, but it really wasn't that bad. They blew several spots, but it wasn't too bad of a tag match, though nothing great either. **1/4

 

Match seven: Mike Quakenbush, Gran Akuma, Icarus, Mister Zero and Shane Storm vs. BlackJack Marciano, Jigsaw, Hallowicked, Ultramantis Black & "Sweet & Sour" Larry Sweeney:

 

Holy crap this was a lot of fun. With ten guys in the match I decided not even to try recapping it. There's tons of fun spots in here, comedy, and lucha style action. It's not a serious match at all, really, but it's just a lot of fun and the CZW crowd really enjoyed it. It ends with Icarus jumping off Quack and Akuma's shoulder as they sat on Zero and Storms' shoulders, splashing Sweeney for the pin. Hard to rate it because it's so different than the rest of the show, but that's what Chikara is all about - fun. It went 14:30 and was certainly a breath of fresh air. ***1/4

 

Justice Pain and Messiah brawl, as they fight on the evening show for the world title.

 

Match eight: Adam Flash vs. Ian Knoxx (Steel cage):

 

This was a real disappointment. They just never had any emotion, and weren't able to covince the audience that we should care about this blowoff cage match. The end comes when Knoxx misses a move off the top of the cage, so Flash climbs up with Knoxx on a table for his Last Call guillotine leg drop. Messiah wanders out and "accidentally" shoves the ref into the cage, crotching Flash. Knoxx tosses Flash off and hits an elbow drop off the top through the table (though the bump probably didn't look as good as it should have) and gets the pinfall at 12:00. Like I said...disappointing, though not horrible. *3/4 I guess this sets up Messiah and Flash in a feud?

 

The H8 Club and Blackout exchange words about their weapons cage match coming up on the evening show as we close things out.

 

Final thoughts: Well, the stuff I thought would be good (West Coast 4-way, Chikara, Shelley/Hero) was good, though Shelley/Hero could have been SO much better with a little time. The stuff I thought would suck pretty much did, though nothing here was offensive at all. Not bad for an afternoon card. Make sure to check out the four way match if you get a chance.

[PsychoDriver 0]

Good review.

 

I just got done watching the West Coast 4-way myself and thought it was a really incredible match. Can't wait to see if the IWS 4-way on the night show can top it...

[Guest Real F'n Show]

Cool review. I take it they're releasing the day show and night show separately then?

[JoeDirt 0]

Cool review. I take it they're releasing the day show and night show separately then?

Yeah, they released them separately. I still have to buy the night show.