So when did the XWF officially die?

[Guest GreatOne]

I'm guessing sometime right around when TNA started up.

[Guest LooneyTune]

They were never officially alive either, but their only shows were around January 2002, when WWE brought back Hogan, Nash, Hall, Goldust, and Mr. Perfect.

[Slickster 0]

It's kind of still alive in Memphis Wrestling (Lawler); Jimmy Hart was billing his proteges as XWF Champions and the show's intro video featured XWF footage.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

They had some shows in January, then they'd disappear for months and come back with a couple of shows. I think they lasted at least until the fall before I never heard from them again.

 

They did better than MECW at least.

[Guest ian.]

Whta the hell is MECW?

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

MECW was the first attempt at a national promotion after WCW died. Rumors about the fed started appearing in early summer of 2001. They had an interesting mix of talent but basically one of the owners or investors ran off with all the money after the first show and they were dead.

 

Guys that wrestled on that one show were Public Enemy, Curt Hennig, York/Matthews, Doring/Roadkill, Mike Rotunda, Rockin Rebel, Sandman, Sabu, Devon Storm, Simon Diamond, the Blue Meanie, FBI, Chris Harris from AMW, Buff Bagwell, Steve Corino.

 

Curt Hennig was also the champ for that one show.

[Guest ian.]

Thanks for the info, I'll have to look up some shit on what happened.

[JHawk 0]

MECW was the first attempt at a national promotion after WCW died. Rumors about the fed started appearing in early summer of 2001. They had an interesting mix of talent but basically one of the owners or investors ran off with all the money after the first show and they were dead.

 

Guys that wrestled on that one show were Public Enemy, Curt Hennig, York/Matthews, Doring/Roadkill, Mike Rotunda, Rockin Rebel, Sandman, Sabu, Devon Storm, Simon Diamond, the Blue Meanie, FBI, Chris Harris from AMW, Buff Bagwell, Steve Corino.

 

Curt Hennig was also the champ for that one show.

I've got that show on tape, and it's actually pretty decent. Nothing MOTY quality or anything, but certainly passable.

 

I doubt it'd still be in business had it stuck around, but who thought TNA would still be around at this point?

[Guest ian.]

What were the results? I've looked but couldn't find them

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

New Jack d. DeVito and an unknown

Chris Chetti/Danny Doring d. York/Matthews

Buff Bagwell d. Steve Corino

Chris Hamerick/Julio Dinero d. Prince Justice/Rob Williams

Curt Henning d. "Wildcat" Chris Harris to retain the MECW Heavyweight Title

Public Enemy d. the FBI to retain the MECW Tag Team Titles

Simon Diamond d. the Blue Meanie

Devon Storm d. Roadkill and Billy Reil

Mike Rotunda/Rockin Rebel d. Johnny Hotbody/Gary Wolfe

Sabu d. the Sandman to win the APW Title

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

The Show I went to:

 

XWF House Show

Sunday, December 30, 2001

Brown County Arena Green Bay, WI (across the street from Lambeau Field...Go Pack Go!)

 

If you've seen the XWF infomercial...the house show looks NOTHING like it. No ramp, no banners, no JumboTrons, no pyro, no lighting truss. They just used the NAWF ring from Chicago, and threw an XWF ring apron on. And around that ring: 2 tiny blue protective mats, 1 on each side. Each was maybe 1/2 the length of the ring.

 

The "aisle" was an alley with curtain walls, and a curving set of chain-link, leading to regular guardrails surrounding the ring. Yeesh.

 

Anyway, on to the show...which hardly differed from the Milwaukee card the night before, except no Rena Mero.

 

I won't even bother transcribing Potzie, the DJ from 107.5 FM.

 

XWF commish ROWDY RODDY PIPER hits the ring to his old WCW music. Some of the shots he took at WWF include:

 

"Not one of you kissed a promoter's bum to get in here."

"OUR wrestlers actually like women."

(when a few fans start with "What?") "None of that BS here."

"Here in Green Bay, we actually drink our beer, instead of pouring it over our heads."

 

Again, Piper threatens to tell a Hart story, and that brings out JIMMY HART with his latest protege, HAIL (who looks a lot like Bill Goldberg.) Piper books a match for the strapping young lad, and it's on right away:

 

 

HAIL vs. GREG "THE HAMMER" VALENTINE

(referee: Mickey J)

 

Valentine is REALLY showing his age and weight...very flabby and leathery. Hail, surprisingly, did all the stalling. Hart had him mock Hogan, doing the big boot, legdrop, earcup to all 4 sides, and legdrop again...but he missed the 2nd time. Valentine locks on the figure-4, Hart rakes his eyes, Valentine goes for Hart, Hart swings megaphone, hits Wall by accident, and The Hammer pins him. Who's carrying who here? A dead opener.

 

 

DREZDEN vs. BIG VITO

 

Vito also kept his old "Mamaluke" WCW music...and gear...and gimmick. Some decent old-school stuff here between the ring and guardrails, I guess. Drezden catches Vito's flying crossbody off the turnbuckle attempt, and hits front fallaway slam for pin. Nothing to write home about.

 

 

JOSH MATTHEWS (from MTV's Tough Enough) vs. KID KASH

(female referee)

 

Now THIS ruled. Good, long matwork sequence to start. Josh's selling is pretty darn good...but neither man could decide who the heel was. Nice little spotfest where Josh baseball slides Kash outside the ring, and Josh hits a flying front somersault over the top rope onto the blue mats...only to have Kash repeat the whole sequence on him moments later. Kash broke out a couple of nice submission holds: surfboard, devil lock (as seen by ACW's Sam Hayne). Kash eventually wins with double arm underhook powerbomb...but he raises Josh's hand aferwards. Easily the match of the night, from a couple of good young kids.

 

 

"THE BRITISH STORM" IAN HENDERSON vs. NORMAN SMILEY

 

Yes, Virginia, Norman Smiley still wears low-cut shoes to the ring, and he still does the "bouncing pecs" gimmick. (Crowd started chanting "USA"...but they're both British, and one lives in Mexico City...ow, my head...) Anyway, after a swinging scoop slam, Norman does the wiggle and gets the female ref to spank him. Uh...yeah...and he gets hit with a falcon arrow (I think) for it. Henderson gets Smiley to submit with some sort of leg scissors headlock.

 

Penzer pimps Polaroids with XGI Girls (too much eye shadow there, Gorgeous George), and we're at intermission.

 

 

THE WALL vs. HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN

 

Duggan comes out to his same ol' march, and stalls to start with broken board comedy, and "USA" chants. Hacksaw pins Wall with 3-point stance, but Wall beats down Duggan and female ref afterwards. Duggan recovers, and Wall bails. Wall looks to be in great shape, but the match was a snoozer.

 

 

TRIPLE JEOPARDY: BUFF BAGWELL vs. "THE ORIGINAL" CURT HENNING vs. VAMPIRO

 

XWF "Triple Jeopardy" rules mean 2 men start, 1 man on apron, can tag himself in or be tagged in at any time. It's supposed to be only 2 men in the ring at once, but you know how rules go in wrestling.

 

A LOT of stalling and mic work (nobody since Hart really had used the mic yet at this point) at the start here, with Bagwell and Henning competing for who's-the-bigger-superstar, until Vampiro announces the biggest one is...Mickey J. Huh? Onto the wrestling...Buff and Vampiro take it into the crowd, and Vampiro jumps off the first-level railing (about 10 feet) onto Bagwell...spot of the night. Typical old-school ending: heels can't work together, Henning swings for Buff and hits Mickey J, Henning goes for the knux, Buff swipes 'em and KO's Vampiro for the pin. Vampiro recovers, clears the ring of heels, and thanks fans for supporting XWF's first tour.

 

So far, a LOT like Milwaukee's card, eh?

 

 

Main Event: NASTY BOYS vs. ROAD WARRIORS

 

Penzer called this one "a grudge tag match 10 years in the making." Huh? Knobbs gets the award for cheapest heat of the night, calling fans "jackasses." (That's as dirty as it gets in the XWF, folks.) Good to see Jerry Sags bumping quite a bit in this match...even smacked Animal with the ringside bell table. Hawk, on the other hand, didn't even get tagged in until the end. Funny chant from crowd to Knobbs: "Cut Your Mullet!" (Too bad half the crowd had 'em.) Textbook send-'em-home-happy ending: Knobbs tosses Mickey J., Sags gets a chair while Knobbs holds Animal, Piper comes down, takes chair and nails Sags with it, Hawk clotheslines Knobbs off top, 1-2-3, Piper and Road Warriors celebrate, end of show.

 

Then Piper repeats the "we drink our beer here" line, and chugs one in the ring. Good night, everybody! (That's family-friendly?)

 

Overall...thumbs down. Many of the old retreads just aren't worth watching these days, and the music's TOTALLY cheesy. Some good workers (Vampiro, Matthews, Kash), and with the right feuds, this could go somewhere. But so far, nothing huge. Maybe getting TV would help.

 

My attendance guess would be around 2,000...in an arena that can hold about 7,000 for wrestling. Lotta empty seats.

 

Hey, if you folks reading this are ever in eastern Wisconsin, come check out the federation that I'm TV technical director for: All-Star Championship Wrestling. We're on the web at http://www.acwprowrestling.com

 

 

Will "The Thrill" Sentowski

Technical Director, All-Star Championship Wrestling TV

 

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Thanks to Jim for sending in these results:

 

For one of their first house shows I thought they did a pretty good job. Attendance wasn't the greatest, close to 1000 would be my guess. On to the recap:

 

Show starts with a Roddy Piper interview about how you don't have to kiss the promoters ass here. He was getting alot of "What" response and was getting annoyed. He said he isn't going to put up with that bullshit. Piper was going to tell a story about Jimmy Hart when Hart comes out with Hail. Hart says there was some young kid in the back that wanted a shot at Hail, Piper said Hail was going to wrestle someone his own size, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. (What? Same size? Maybe same weight)

 

Greg Valentine vs Hail w/Jimmy Hart

Valentine wins when Jimmy Hart misses with the megaphone and hits Hail (One piece of advice for the Hammer, PLEASE buy a t-shirt)

 

Drezden vs Big Vito

Drezden wins with a modified powerslam

 

Kid Kash vs Josh Matthews

By far the best match of the night. Also the first appearance of the female XWF ref and she is a hottie. Lots of action back and forth, Kash wins with sick double-arm-underhook piledriver.

 

Ian Harrison vs Norman Smiley

The second best match of the night. Norman is so funny and Harrison is an absolute monster. He is shredded. Harrison makes Norman tap with a head scissors

 

X-Girls come out to take pics for intermission

 

Wall vs Jim Duggan

I didn't even recognize the Wall, he is in awesome shape. Same old Duggan chants, pretty fun match. Duggan wins with his football clothsline

 

Vampiro vs Buff Bagwell vs Curt Henning (Triple Threat Match)

Really this match was a disappointment. Not much action at all. Buff gets the win when he hits Vampiro with some brass knuckles he stole from Henning. Vampiro does his interview after the match about how this XWF tour is dedicated to the fans.

 

Road Warriors vs Nasty Boys

LOD picks up the win. Brian Knobs knocks the ref out and Sags is about to use a chair on Animal. Piper comes out, makes the save, and clocks Sags with the chair. Hawk hits the off the top rope clothsline for the win.

 

Overall I thought it was a pretty good show for their first tour. The guys all seemed to be having a good time.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

The results of this seem to insinuate that Josh Matthews was the most talented of the Tough Enough alumni... and so of course he's announcing instead of wrestling. *Facepalm.*

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Yeah, I seem to remember the XWF wanted to give him a pretty big push.