OaO Thread: LucharesuFan619's Random Match Reviews

LucharesuFan619 · November 13, 2004

This is kinda like what CM Funk does already. I'll try to post two or three of these a week. If you have a particular match you want me to review, then go ahead and request it, but I can't guarantee I have it. I was bored so I wrote this earlier today. Any feedback on my style, etc., feel free to post. Hope you enjoy it and learn something about whatever match I'm reviewing.

PETEY WILLIAMS (w/ Scott D’Amore) vs. CHRIS SABIN vs. AJ STYLES – (TNA Impact!; aired 7/9/04)

WRITTEN: Saturday, November 13, 2004

After slugging Petey down, Styles ties up with Sabin, leading to a headlock takeover/headscissors reversal before Petey attacks. A triple waistlock sequence ends with Petey scoring on Sabin with an inverted atomic drop, only to fall victim to a Styles dropkick. Sabin does a nice backflip counter to one of Styles’ tactics and immediately executes a huracanrana, before knocking Styles out to ringside with a lariat. A few moments later, Petey falls victim to a legsweep from the re-entering Styles, but gets revenge by countering a Superbomb attempt by Styles into a Super Huracanrana, sending Styles flipping onto Sabin with a somersault senton.

Petey gets a 2 count on Styles before having his attempted shoulder spin countered into a wheelbarrow suplex by Sabin. Styles comes back by escaping Sabin’s sleeper hold and nailing a big Thrusting Uranage Headbreaker, followed by a Quebrada Inverted DDT (Petey)/regular DDT (Sabin) combo several moments later. Petey delivers a dropdown (to his knees) neckbreaker on Styles, but a reinvigorated Sabin hits a creative running swinging DDT variation on Styles, where he enziguris Petey on the way up. All three competitors slowly struggle to their feet and Sabin hits a Gory Special on Petey, only for Styles to break up the pinfall with a SPRINGBOARD 450° SPLASH!

Then, following a brief slugfest with Sabin, Styles continues the aerial assault by taking out Frankie Kazarian and Michael Shane (who are at ringside) with a Running Leaping Somersault Attack over the ropes (thinking that they would try to cost him the match otherwise)! Back in the ring, Sabin looks to finish things off with the Cradle Shock (Fireman’s Carry Michinoku Driver II) on Petey, but he abandons it mid-move to take out D’Amore, who was preparing to interfere on Petey’s part. That, however, provided Petey enough time to recover, and the Team Canada member executes the CANADIAN DESTROYER~! (Sunset Flip Piledriver) for the 3 count! (5:48)

POST-MATCH RAMBLE: That’s got to be one of the best-looking Canadian Destroyers I’ve seen him do in awhile. Petey got lots of air, Sabin did a full backflip, and the commentators sold it like gold. Sucks that we didn’t get to see Petey’s Sitout Inverted Powerbomb variation, but I have no problem living with the Destroyer. By the way, for those interested, this show featured Alex Shelley’s first match on Impact!, as he teamed with Abyss vs. Mikey Batts & Jerrelle Clarke. Now to my thoughts…

ANALYSIS: Decent match, but way too short. Even considering that we’re talking about TNA Land – where guys such as these three usually are advised not to go all out so as to prevent the almighty Jarretts and Hardys of the world from being overshadowed – the X Division has seen action a great deal more innovative than this. While the execution was solid overall, nothing really stood out here, and the relatively minimal psychology didn’t help matters, either. I would’ve at least liked to have seen the three gradually build up to the Super Rana/Senton combo instead of just throwing it out there within the first two minutes.

Furthermore, the wrestlers could’ve played up the triple-threat nature a bit better – sure there was Styles’ DDT combo, Sabin’s swinging DDT, and Styles breaking up a pinfall with the 450° (that I especially liked), there were virtually no two-on-one double-teams, so the three-man formula never really came into effect. As for the positives – Sabin’s wheelbarrow suplex, Styles’ headbreaker, Styles 450° and his dive onto Kazarian and Shane were both great additions because they really came out of nowhere (the camera hadn’t even shown Kazarian or Shane, so it was cool to all of a sudden see Styles topè out), and of course the finishing Canadian Destroyer was a sweet touch. Overall, though, definitely not worth going out of your way to see because all three have put out way better performances in TNA. *1/2.

The Mandarin · November 14, 2004

This is kinda like what CM Funk does already.

*falsetto voice* ..yeeeess.

LucharesuFan619 · November 27, 2004

WWF Light Heavyweight Title Match: Jerry Lynn © vs. Christopher Daniels – WWF Jakked/Metal (aired May 26, 2001)

WRITTEN: Saturday, November 27, 2004

Jonathan Coachman and Kevin Kelly are on commentary.

Quick start, as Lynn attacks with a double-leg takedown, but gets kicked off. Daniels fights to maintain a headlock, but eventually gets pushed into the ropes and – following a sweet roperun reversal sequence – takes Lynn down with the leaping heelkick that he loves. Bodyslam and a catapult leg drop from Daniels for 2, but Lynn comes back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a backdrop suplex for the same result, before slowing things down with a Vertaebreaker submission. Daniels eventually drops out and tries a huracanrana, but Lynn counters awesomely with a sitdown powerbomb out of midair for another 2 count. A Side Backbreaker gets the same result. Daniels comes back by escaping a T.K.O. attempt and counters Lynn’s attempted shoulder-spin into a mega Electric Chair Slam.

Now a pair of lariats and a tilt-a-whirl sideslam, as Daniels starts throwing out a bunch of offense. He hits the GREATEST MOONSAULT EVER~!, but doesn’t go for the win, instead working Lynn over with a stepover toehold-style bow-and-arrow. Later, Lynn charges into the corner and gets backdropped to the apron, but takes back control by using a leg drop to drive Daniels throat-first onto the middle rope. The running swinging DDT finishes things off, as Lynn retains and Daniels is back off to APW, ECWA, PWF, Japan, and wherever else he’s booked.

MATCH ANALYSIS: Obviously nowhere near the quality that these two guys are fully capable of, but still a solid showing by both. Lynn actually fitted a decent dose of psychology in by focusing on Daniels’ back (two backbreakers, a suplex, the Vertakebreaker, and a powerbomb), and then Daniels retained a similar focus with the Electric Chair (which was a nice addition by the way), the sideslam, the Moonsault (which – I forgot to add – was onto Lynn’s back, and the bow-and-arrow.

Still, though, nothing overly special here. The fact that they maintained such a quick pace was nice to see on a second-tier show such as Jakked/Metal, but considering what these guys have done on the indy circuit since Lynn was released from WWE, wasn’t fully indicative of their talents. Worth tracking down due to its rarity if you’re a Daniels fan, but other than that, definitely not a must-see. *1/2.

November 28, 2004

Sabin always takes the best Canadien Destroyers, he gets a real good backflip it, he also takes a good headscisscors pildriver bump

LucharesuFan619 · November 28, 2004

Next up - the infamous bloodfest between Madman Pondo and Ian Rotten in CZW.

JoeDirt · November 29, 2004

Good reviews so far...and I love the randomness.

LucharesuFan619 · December 4, 2004

WARNING: The following review contains descriptions of graphic content. Read on at your own risk.

No Holds Barred death match: IAN ROTTEN vs. MADMAN PONDO – (CZW Bloodbath 2000; January 8, 2000 at The Champs Indoor Soccer Arena in Sewell, NJ)

POSTED: Friday, December 3, 2004

THE HISTORY BETWEEN THESE TWO: Pondo was a competitor in Ian’s IWA Mid-South promotion ever since it was first formed in 1996. Ian must have thought that he had suffered all of the stab and bladejob wounds possible during his ECW rivalry against his brother Axl, but little did he know just how fierce Madman Pondo’s thirst for blood was. Here’s the most comprehensive listing of their IWA-MS meetings leading into this bout, as best as I could find (considering that most of IWA-MS’ early shows have never even been released on tape, and the only records of them which I know of appear on GenickBruch.com and RSPW)

- Winter Warz ’96 (1/6/96): Four Corners of Pain death match

- Start of Something Big (10/10/96): no stipulation (NOTE: IWA-MS refers to this on their web site as being the promotion’s first show ever, but it wasn’t.)

- Fan’s Night Out (10/17/96): Fans are the Lumberjacks Match (one of a kind, perhaps)

- It’s a Kentucky Thing (10/24/96): Thumbtack death match

- Bloodfeast ’96 (11/28/96): Rematch – Four Corners of Pain death match

- The Night the Lights Went Out in Louisville (12/5/96): No-Rope Barbed-Wire-Wrapped Light Bulbs death match

- Eddie Gilbert Memorial Show (3/13/97): 3-way Four Corners of Pain death match that also included Ox Harley

At this point, Ian and Pondo started to go their separate ways, as the arrival of Doug Gilbert, Rollin’ Hard (originally known as Tornado Taz), Cash Flo, Kip Morris, Mitch Page, even Axl Rotten (along with many others) offered new potential feuds for each performer.

Suffice to say, these two were no strangers by the time this famed CZW confrontation rolled around.

THE TECHNOLOGICAL QUALITY: This match (the entire show, actually) is filmed by a ringside cameraman. Although his constant movements can be somewhat annoying, the portable nature of the filming allows him to adjust the position of the camera as the match travels around the ring, so as to get the best possible shot for us watching at home. Furthermore, the video quality is surprisingly good and the lighting is better than one would expect (although far from great), considering that this is such an early CZW show.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THIS MATCH:

- This was CZW’s first show in Sewell, NJ. Up until this point, the promotion had run almost exclusively in Mantua, NJ.

- Ian made his CZW debut at the previous show, CZW The War Begins… (11/20/99) by attacking promoter-turned-wrestler John Zandig after a match with Wifebeater. Zandig was scheduled to work Pondo in this match, but pulled out due to a knee injury and Ian served as his replacement. This match (the night’s main event) marked Pondo’s very first CZW appearance.

- Low Ki debuted in CZW earlier this same night, as he took on champion Ric Blade for the CZW Junior Heavyweight Title (a couple years before they stole BJPW’s belt).

- The Haas Brothers (current WWE superstar Charlie and the late Russ) competed on this show against Wifebeater and Big Mack Smack (there’s something weird about the thought of the Haas’ being in the same ring as a talentless hack such as Wifebeater…then again, the Haas’ did a lot of weird stuff in CZW, even getting matched up against John Kronus at A Living Hell 2000.)

- This match caused the initial relationship between Ian and CZW to end. He received about 20 stitches[ from the match (so, once you read the review, it’ll be relatively safe to assume that Pondo likely received just as many, if not more than that), yet never got a call from Zandig to thank him for the sacrifice. It took three years for them to get back on decent terms, and now they’re on bad terms once again.

PRE-MATCH: If you’re watching it with me, that’s actually CZW’s old ring announcer, Dennis Shock, in the background of the picture, NOT Eric Gargiulo (who sort of resembles him). Ian – wearing an IWA Mid-South t-shirt – cuts a quick promo before the match begins, calling his opponent a “coward” and saying that he’s “afraid to wrestle Ian Rotten.” Well, he and Pondo have worked each other tons of times in IWA-MS before this (as indicated above), so I dunno about that…

THE MATCH: The lights go out and when they come back on, Pondo is standing in the ring. He takes Ian down with a big STOP sign shot to the head, before revealing his secret weapon: SCISSORS! Oh, boy…this is gonna get ugly pretty quickly. With Ian leaning up against the middle ring rope, Pondo starts incising away. He even adds in some stabbings for good measure, as the camera gets a decent (although nothing like some of the visuals that will be seen later on) shot of the slice on Ian’s forehead. Then – just for good measure, I assume – Pondo bitesinto the forehead wound with his teeth (or at least pretends to).

Ian stumbles around the ring, acting all woozy, but Pondo could care less, deciding to Russian Leg Sweep his IWA boss onto the barbed-wire 2x4 that Ian brought to the ring. After prompting a large uproar from the crowd thanks to an “I can’t fuckin’ hear you’s people!” shout, Pondo covers and gets a 2 count. Next, Ian’s crotch feels the power of the 2x4 being bashed down upon it at full-speed, at which point the referee audibly (mainly because of how close the camera is to the ring) asks Ian if he’s OK and the IWA-MS promoter assures him he’s fine. That right there testifies to Ian’s unbelievable toughness.

After Ian’s forehead gets sliced away at with the scissors a little bit more, Pondo tosses him out to ringside and proceeds to stab him three more times with the scissors. As the two brawl around ringside, fans, security officials, ring crew members, photographers, and cameramen alike scramble, with Pondo even yelling several times for people to “Move!” Finally, Ian reacquires the advantage and leads Pondo around the corner of the ring, where he proceeds to Powerbomb him onto three set-up steel chairs.

Pondo takes a chairshot before Ian rolls into the ring and grabs the scissors, and then – with Pondo down on his knees at ringside – Ian unleashes one foul swoop of the scissors across his rival’s forehead. What’s so scary is the absolutely BLOODCURDLING SCREAM that Pondo lets out. The camera gets a very good shot of the cutting, zooming in as close as possible on the site of attack…and that’s not even the end of the scissor’ role here.

With Pondo still down on his knees, Ian brandishes the scissors and…Oh my God…drives it across Pondo’s upper arm AS IF HE’S TRYING TO CUT THE ARM RIGHT OFF! Not only is Pondo’s scream here considerably more disturbing than a couple of seconds before, the camera’s shot of this juicing is even more detailed than the one before – it zooms in as far as possible, so that the viewer can actually see the blood start trickling out of Pondo’s arm as the scissors rip into his skin.

As soon as Ian pulls the scissors away from the arm, Pondo hightails it back into the ring, as if he fears for his life (and after all, who would blame him if he did?). Ian follows him in and drives the 2x4 down across the back of Pondo’s head and neck, before proceeding to rake the barbed-wire across his face. Next, Pondo rolls towards the ring ropes in an attempt to escape from the mutilation ceremony, only to have his head laid back onto the bottom rope and receive a vicious choke by Ian. What’s kind of comical is that the referee – in the midst of this indescribable unruliness – actually makes the “1-2-3-4” count for Ian to release the hold (which he does).

Pondo finally starts to mount a comeback by planting Ian onto the STOP sign with a DDT. He then exits the ring to obtain a wooden board and two steel chairs. After Ian goes down from a chairshot, a voice (presumably Dennis Shock’s, but I may be wrong about that) is heard booming, “Everybody, please back up away from the ring as far as possible.” As Pondo bridges the piece of wood between the two steel chairs, several very stern calls of “Get back!” are heard from officials, since the fans apparently haven’t heeded the ring announcer’s commands.

Ian sits Pondo on the top turnbuckle and prepares for what looks to be a Superplex, but Pondo fights out and Powerbombs Ian through the board, which – judging by how it exploded upon impact – was covered in some kind of combination that included broken glass or light tubes. The lights in the arena immediately go out for about eight seconds. A small “Axl!” chant breaks out, spoiling the surprise, and sure enough – when the rays of light floods back into the venue – AXL ROTTEN (making his CZW debut) is standing in the ring, steel chair in hand.

As a full-fledged “Axl!” chant erupts, Axl brother floors Pondo with a chairshot and stabs him with the scissors. As Pondo lays in the corner, having now had the ever-loving sh*t kicked out of him by both Rotten brothers, Axl shouts, “Get up, Paul Heyman – you douchebag motherf*cker! Get the f*ck up!” Finally, Axl just drags Pondo to his feet and delivers another stab to the forehead with the scissors, as a fan shouts, “Kill him! This is where the sickest part of the match comes, and Axl, Ian, nor the scissors are anywhere near Pondo:

What happens is that the camera zooms in on the cut Pondo’s arm, and reveals a sight that is…absolutely nauseating. It looks as if an inch-by-half-inch segment of Pondo’s arm has actually been cut out at a deepness of about half an inch. Disgusting beyond belief.

At this point, Axl holds up his index finger and asks the fans if they want “one more” (whether he’s referring to a stabjob or a chairshot, I’m unsure, but at this point, Pondo might as well be dead, so there’s not much of a difference between the two.). A few people respond with a “one more!” call, but what I’m really paying attention to is the cameraman’s zoom-in technique onto Ian’s crimson mask of a face.

Back to Axl, who taunts Pondo even more – “Get the f*ck up, Paul Heyman! Get your f*ckin’ Jew ass up you douchebag motherf*cker! Get the f*ck up! Get your f*ckin’ ass up!” A couple of fans laugh at this taunt, but I must wonder what Axl was thinking by referencing religion in such context. Anyway, though, Pondo finally starts climbing to his knees, only to be met by a CONCHAIRTO~! (haven’t seen that one in awhile) from the former-Bad Breed duo. Another “Axl!” chant begins, but he exits the ring when Lobo runs in with a steel chair in hand, making the late save. At this point, the video cuts out.

DECISION: No Contest (due to interference by Axl Rotten)

THE LIVE FAN’s REACTIONS: This aspect helps make the match what it is…it really does. Most of the onlookers were in utter awe by the violence that they were witnessing first-hand. Whenever the scissors were being used, many fans could be heard shouting variations of “Oh my God!” and “Holy sh*t!” and letting out tremendous gasps of horror. When Ian rolled into the ring and grabbed the scissors, the onlookers began to brace themselves for another series of repulsive bloodletting (little did they know just how sick it was going to be).

As Ian sliced away at Pondo’s forehead with the scissors, tons of fans shouted audibly, “Oh my God!” and one even “Jesus Christ!” When Pondo’s arm got ripped to shreds by the scissors (in one of the sickest visuals I’ve ever seen, mind you), the onlookers continue shouting “Oh my God,” only this time they emphasized the “God” part, conveying a degree of revulsion for the barbaric acts being performed. “Holy sh*t,” “F*ck,” and other obscenities could also be heard at this point. It sounded as if the cameraman is among one of those people who couldn’t believe what they were seeing, although it may just be someone else right next to him.

As the match re-entered the ring and Ian proceeded to choke Pondo with his hands, someone in the crowd can actually be heard shouting “That’s enough!” That instance brought back to me a flashback of the Mass Transit incident, which I actually just happened to watch last night (Eric Kulas’ father shouts at the top of his lungs, “That’s enough!” right before New Jack is about to drive an object down onto Kulas’ forehead and just moments after the bladejob from hell had occurred.). Later, when Pondo exited the ring to obtain the wooden board, a woman shouted “Oh, God!” and several other females screamed as they saw from close-up range the horrific wound on his upper arm.

The camera stayed at ringside the entire time and the viewer can actually see four fans (one male and – get this – three females [it's weird to think that so many women would attend a CZW show]) talking about what they just saw. As Pondo returns from wherever he obtained the weapon, the same women who freaked out as he left the ring area react the same way again, backing up as if there’s a colossal slug crawling towards them. Someone is heard yelling, “It’s white!” (in reference to Pondo’s cut), while several other people let loose even more (as if there haven’t been enough of them already) “Oh my God!” shouts.

Then, during the zoom-in sequence on Pondo’s arm wound, the cameraman can be heard telling someone else near him to “look at the arm.” One of the two guys – either the cameraman or the guy nearby – is heard saying variations of “Look at that arm!” several times, as if he doesn’t believe what he’s seeing (and I don’t blame him…the cut looked nauseatingly deep).

POST-MATCH RAMBLINGS: What do you expect me to say? This was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. That camera shot during the Axl attack made this match almost as sick as the Mass Transit incident. At least, though, some of the fans here showed some concern; with Mass Transit, so many were bloodthirsty vampires shouting things like “You fat f*ck!” Overall, this is definitely one of the sickest matches that I’ve ever seen, possibly the sickest I’ve ever seen from CZW (the TOD3 stuff remains a strong contender). This is a must-see match if you’re a blood-and-gore fan or a diehard Pondo, Ian, and/or CZW fan, but if you don’t fall under either of those categories, stay far away from it.

MATCH ANALYSIS: What? This was a match? You could’ve fooled me…****1/2 for the brutality, 1/4* for the wrestling.

December 4, 2004

Cool stuff man. I had no idea that Lynn and Daniels had a match on WWE TV.

LucharesuFan619 · December 18, 2004

Saturday, December 18, 2004 by LucharesuFan619

Supreme Kaos (SUPREME & KID KAOS) vs. The Ballard Brothers (SHANE BALLARD & SHANNON BALLARD)

Final Round of the first-ever UIWA Tag Team Title Tournament

Pacoima, CA

February 6, 1999

Aired on UIWA TV in parts of Southern California, during summer of ‘99

PRE-MATCH: UIWA promoter Doc Marlee and future-XPW superstar Darren “Dynamite D” McMillan are on commentary together, while future-XPW referee Patrick Hernandez is officiating this contest. UIWA commissioner and former-SoCalUncensored.com Forums regular Trent Taylor introduces the first participants, Supreme Kaos. In case you’re wondering, Supreme looks pretty much the same compared to his XPW tenure, save for being a little bit skinnier. Kaos, on the other hand, looks quite a bit younger than during his “Rock Superstar” run (which I must confess to really digging), which isn’t surprising because this match took place about two and a half years before Kaos really started working out on a daily basis and getting in top-notch shape.

Supreme Kaos mingle with the fans for a short while before entering the ring, where they steal the belts from Hernandez and hold them up as if they’re the champions. You still have one match to go, boys…Next, Taylor introduces the Ballard Brothers, accompanied by two cheerleaders, a coach, and – of course – their signature hockey sticks. After Supreme Kaos return the belts to Hernandez, the Ballard’s cheerleaders actually…get this…try to ambush the future-XPW mainstays (like that's gonna work...), only to receive stereo beil throws by the hair.

THE MATCH: The fight is now on, as the Ballard Brothers run in and attack their opponents. Since I’m not sure which Ballard is which (they look so much alike), I’m just going to refer to them by the numbers on their jerseys. #23 focuses on Kaos in one corner while #1 works over Supreme on the opposite side of the ring. The hockey stick comes into play as #23 uses it to lariat Kaos down to the mat, but within a few moments the Ballards lose their cool and actually start brawling with each other. That enables Supreme Kaos to take control, as they unleash a series of high-flying maneuvers (a Flying Elbow Drop by Supreme and a Flying Leg Drop from Kaos, each onto #23) for a 2 count.

Next, Kaos begins taking on both Ballards at a time, as he spikes #23 with a Piledriver and delivers a leaping heelkick and what would eventually become known as The Kaos Driver (Fireman’s Carry Michinoku Driver II) – with a leg cradle added in for a 2 count – to #1. Next, Supreme tags in for the first time and destroys Ballard #1 with a Flying Tumbleweed/Back Elbow combo, a big Press Slam, and a T-Bone-style Fallaway Slam. This prompts the disoriented Ballard Brother to crawl into Supreme Kaos' corner, where he gets his face rammed into the ringpost, courtesy of Kaos. The future-Enterprise member enters the ring and executes a non-sitout Falcon Arrow for a deuce, as Ballard #23 breaks up the count. A DDT by Kaos sets up for a series of Catapult Somersault Senton from each Supreme Kaos member.

After a Tipup Splash by the future-XPW King of the Deathmatch Champion, Ballard #23 runs in, only to find himself the victim of a double-team assault by Supreme Kaos. Supreme peforms a Running Cannonball Attack into the corner before Supreme Kaos heads out to ringside, where Supreme murders Ballard #23 with a big chairshot and Kaos takes out both Ballard Brothers with a swank Flying Crossbody Plancha. As the action moves back into the ring, Kaos connects with a Running Charge on #23, but Supreme’s attempt at the same maneuver is dodged by the other Ballard Brother, setting up Super Huracanranas by Ballard #1 and Kaos on Supreme and Ballard #23, respectively respectively.

Following a Running Huracanrana by Kaos onto #1, both Ballard Brothers roll out to ringside and take a “Time Out” huddle with their cheerleaders and coach. Following a commercial, we return to the ring, where the Ballards start taking Kaos apart piece-by-piece. #23 delivers a Suplex and then wheelbarrows his partner into the air and drops him onto Kaos with a leg drop for a 2 count, after which Kaos gets pancaked into the corner with a running lariat and a diving vertical body attack and slammed to the mat with a 180° rotating Spinebuster from #23. Next, #23 suplexes #1 onto Kaos as a way to set up for The Penalty Box (Spinebuster [#23]/Springboard Lariat [#1] combo), which gains a 2 count.

At this point, Kaos finally starts mounting a comeback, as he fights off both opponents and hits a Tornado DDT on #1. Supreme takes the tag, but Hernadez didn’t see it and stops him from entering, allowing the Ballards to continue their work on Kaos. He takes a double-team lariat, a Leg Drop, a Kamikaze (Forward Rolling Fireman’s Carry Slam), and a chokehold from #1 and a Pumphandle Front Slam and a Sitdown Powerbomb from #23, before starting to bring the fight to his opponents. He rolls over #1’s back when he tries a back body drop and delivers a lariat, prompting to Supreme to charge in (without making the tag, albeit) and demolish both Ballards, sending #1 rolling into the first row off of a lariat out of the ring! Pissed off that his effort of press slamming Kaos into a Crossbody Block on #23 only obtained a deuce, Supreme plants #23 with two consecutive Powerbombs.

However, the Ballards’ cheerleaders get involved and distract Supreme Kaos, allowing Ballard #1 to roll his debilitated brother out of the ring and lay down on the mat, doing a switcharoo. After turning his attention back to the match, Supreme lifts the Ballard brother up and attempts a third Powerbomb. However, the fresh Ballard #1 counters into a sunset flip for the 3 count, and with the cheerleader grabbing a hold of Kaos’ foot, there’s no way for the pinfall to be broken up. Upon finally breaking free of the girl’s grasp, a furious Kaos attacks Ballard #1, knocking him down with a title belt shot to the head, but The Ballards eventually recover and celebrate with their newly-won belts, as we cut out.

Doc Marlee wraps up the show, telling us to check out UIWA.com and SoCal-Wrestling.com (neither of which is active anymore) and to “Support your independents!”

POST-MATCH RAMBLE: As somebody who is a self-admitted fanatic, it was really fascinating to see Supreme & Kaos compete outside of an XPW ring before that promotion had even been formed. Each of them – along with Rob Black, Johnny Webb, and Homeless Jimmy – are associated with XPW more than arguably anybody else, and here they were working a match in a gym NOT known as Patriot Hall or Birmingham High School. So, that was pretty cool. As far as the Ballards go, they didn’t really impress me here, although it looked like in a different environment where they had more time and more creative freedom, they could’ve done quite a bit more.

MATCH ANALYSIS: I’ve heard a lot of people, especially on the SoCalUncensored.com message board, claim that this match is the perfect proof that Supreme isn’t just a garbage wrestler and can wrestle surprisingly well. Despite being a big fan of the guy and genuinely appreciating the risk he’s taken over his nine years in the business, I really don’t know where anybody is coming from with that assertion. There’s nothing at all special about the big guy’s effort in this match; it wasn’t bad by any means, but nothing that I haven’t seen him do in XPW, and it certainly didn’t reveal any previously ignored technical wrestling expertise on his part.

As a tag team match, this was pretty solid, but nothing at all to write home about, and honestly, the first couple minutes of the match were put together quite poorly, in large part because of the Ballard Brothers. #23’s assault on Kaos with the hockey stick looked extremely awkward the short brawl between the Ballards was downright ridiculous, lacking any reason whatsoever besides lame comedy, which wasn’t really necessary so early into the match.

Overall, the main problem that plagued this match is that – while almost all of the spots that were executed looked great – everything in between them were just…there, and nothing more than that. The actions of each participant – especially the Ballards – seemed to be performed with extreme awkwardness, especially when it came to pinfalls (the ref would be calling a kick out when the guy hardly even lifted his shoulder or guys would be kicking out at 1 during the later stages of the match) and transitioning (both teams – but the Ballards more than Supreme Kaos – really seemed to be putting the match together as it happened, planning next to nothing ahead of time, and blatantly setting up spots without trying to develop anything more than a minimal semblance of believability).

When they were isolating Kaos, the average time in between each Ballard tag was just a couple of seconds. While I completely understand that what was trying to be conveyed was that the Ballards wanted each of themselves to be perfectly fresh so that there was no opportunity for Kaos to fight back, the speed with which they were switching in and out was absurd and lacked any purpose. After the ringside brawl, the action finally became somewhat more logical, as the Ballard Brothers isolated Kaos and worked him over for several minutes, before Supreme destroyed both opponents (even if he didn’t make a tag…).

The Ballards finally started showing some improvement at that point, as their maneuvers looked to be well-executed and the transitioning got slightly better. I liked the finish, as the Ballards got put over without Supreme Kaos losing any major overness, since they had the bout well in control until the cheerleaders’ interference. Supreme’s power advantage was played up well by Marlee and McMillan (besides this aspect, though, their commentary was really pretty lackluster, overall), while XPW fans will likely be pleased to see signs of Kaos’ then-developing fast-paced, innovative style that they came to know from him during XPW’s 2001 – 2003 run. *1/2 for the spots. Everything else lacked any real enthusiasm or transitioning, which really hurt the quality.

OVERALL: Highly recommended if you’re a Supreme, Kaos, or general XPW fan; otherwise, it’s a decent watch, but not worth more than a couple bucks. Avid So-Cal fans will probably find this somewhat interesting from a historical perspective, since it shows all four participants during the early stages of their careers.

Dark Age · December 18, 2004

After learning that you have the Lynn/Daniels match, I'd interested in if you have any of the following - and would review them, of course

October 28 2000 - Crash Holly vs Low-Ki

March 3 2001 - Essa Rios vs Samoa Joe

March 17 2001 - TAKA and Funaki vs Frankie Kazarian and Sakoda

March 24 2001 - Essa Rios vs Low-Ki

May 12 2001 - Essa Rios vs Low-Ki

June 30 2001 - Raven vs Low-Ki

Jan 12 2002 - Christian vs Low-Ki

Jan 26 2002 - Hurricane vs AJ Styles

I think that's all of them.

LucharesuFan619 · December 19, 2004

I have Crash/Low Ki and Hurricane/Styles. I'll put both on my list of priorities. Thanks for the interest!

September 18, 2004 by LucharesuFan619

SABU vs. SYXX-PAC (a.k.a. X-Pac/Sean Waltman) – 3PW This One’s For You (September 21, 2002; Viking Hall; Philadelphia, PA) (Referee: John Finnegan)

THE MATCH: A slugfest erupts as soon as Syxx-Pac enters the ring. Pac takes control quickly and gets two near falls off of a spinning calf kick, a sweet sitdown powerbomb counter to a huracanrana attempt, and a spinning roundhouse kick to the face. The roundhouse kick sets up Sabu for the Bronco Buster, but the ECW legend gets his foot up into Pac’s crotch and catapults him backwards into the center of the ring. Sabu proceeds to weaken Pac via a camel clutch before bringing a steel chair in from ringside, but his plan backfires, as Pac trips him face-first into the chair during an attempt at the Triple-Jump Moonsault. Pac fires a stiff chairshot, but gets caught out of nowhere with…get this…an X-FA…no…make that a SABU-FACTOR~!

That’s not it, though – Sabu takes out some scissors and starts stabbing away at Pac’s forehead repeatedly! Sabu reverts to the camel clutch and uses it as a communicatory rest to whisper some instructions to Pac, not realizing that the camera has zoomed up close. Once Sabu releases the hold, the former-DX member tries to mount a comeback with a lariat, but Sabu blocks it and delivers one of his own, followed by a captault somersault leg drop for a 2 count.

Sabu actually goes MMA-style for a few seconds by applying a reverse jujigatame, but Pac grabs the ropes relatively quickly. Sabu follows with a third camel clutch before stomping Pac until he rolls out to ringside, but the former-1-2-3 Kid dodges an attempted Pescada and flies out with a Running Catapult Tumbleweed! A whip into the guardrail sets Pac up for an Air Sabu (chairvault heelkick) on the concrete. Sabu sets up a table at ringside, but they don’t get to use it yet, as they end up brawling back into the ring, where Sabu gets a 2 count off of a DDT with the addition of Pac’s legs being draped over the top ring rope.

Pac has his arm worked over a little bit more, thanks to a regular Jujigatame, before being tossed out of the ring again. This sets up for Sabu to execute a TRIPLE-JUMP LEG DROP SUICIDA through a table mounted between the guardrail and the ring apron! Pac eventually rolls back into the ring and Sabu covers him for a deuce, before knocking Pac down with a chair toss to the face and following with a Triple-Jump Moonsault for another near fall.

Pac fights back and sets up a table in the ring before getting his first offense in awhile – a SWEET Back Body Drop Lift into a Midair/Catching X-Factor! Nick Berk is the only other guy I’ve ever seen do that move. After kicking out, Sabu regains the advantage and lays Pac onto the table, setting up for what appears to be an Arabian Facebuster. However, Pac crotches him and then climbs up to a standing position on the top turnbuckle, from which he leaps backwards and hits a Super X-Factor through the table for the victory! (11:34)

WINNER/B]: Syxx-Pac, via pinfall

POST-MATCH RAMBLE: What I found really fascinating was simply seeing a guy who had recently been released from WWE in the same ring as Sabu, someone whose style is such a polar opposite to that which WWE preaches, let alone condones. I’m well aware that these two have worked each other plenty of times before in the early ‘90’s and even had another match in 3PW a few months later, but it was nonetheless quite a cool sight to see Sabu and the artist formerly known as “X-Pac” go at it.

MATCH ANALYSIS: I really liked this match because it had something for fans of ever style. One thing that only some people can appreciate is the nostalgia aspect contained here. Despite having a series of classic matches in the NWA in ’93 and ’94, this was the first time that these two had squared off in approximately a decade. 10 years after their first encounter, both Waltman and Sabu can still “go” and each proved that here.

I was also happy that the execution on pretty much every spot and maneuver was perfect, but what was the most surprising is how hard these two worked, considering their reputations. Both Sabu and Sean Waltman are two workers with tremendous potential, but often walk through matches and come off as lazy. Going in, the only real thing I was looking forward to actually was seeing them in the same ring again (as described above). Despite being a huge fan of Sabu and one of the few remaining Waltman defenders that you’ll find, I was considerably skeptical going into this match and both guys ended up doing creative, relatively high-risk maneuvers that I never expected from either.

Even when one disregards the fact it was quite a bit better than one would expect and bases their judgment solely on the in-ring content, this match holds its ground, for the most part. There was a story – granted, not a tremendously-developed story like you’d expect from someone like Bryan Danielson, but a story, nonetheless, and – in fact – more of a story than one would expect from a Sabu match.

To validate this claim, let me bring up an supporting example. Within the first minute, Pac tried to whip Sabu from one corner to the other, but Sabu countered and sent Pac in. The former-DX member bounced off of the ringpost and stumbled towards the center of the ring, at which point Sabu ran off of the ropes and threw a lariat. Pac ducked it, however, and took his opponent down with a spinning calf kick.

Then, about four minutes later, they tried the same exact spot once again, only this time the roles were reversed, as Sabu’s whip was countered and Pac sent him in. When Sabu bounced off of the ringpost, Pac ran off of the ropes and tried the same lariat that Sabu had attempted before, only for Sabu to block it, run off of the ropes, and hit his own lariat. It’s the little things like this which make the difference between a decent match and a good match, and in this case a match that delivers with nostalgia and a match that delivers with actual ringwork.

Here, a spot during the opening minute ended up being repeated later on with the purpose of developing some drama – would Sabu fall for the same mistake that he made just minutes before? Sabu’s Triple-Jump Moonsault had a similar function in this match, as his first attempt at it was countered, but after several minutes, Pac had been debilitated enough that he couldn’t reverse it again. It’s an example of how the moves and submissions that are escaped sometimes mean more than those that are successfully applied or executed (a philosophy which ROH has captured to perfection).

If I had to point out any problems here, the main one would be that the two competitors threw too much offense out during the first couple of minutes, when they should’ve built up a lot of the sequences over time. The involvement of weapons – the steel chair and especially the scissors – within the first three minutes could definitely and understandably be considered a minor detriment to the psychology because – after Sabu gouged Pac for about a minute (which came a mere two minutes into the match) – the scissors no longer played any role in the match.

In other, more acclaimed (and deservedly so) Sabu matches (i.e. ECW House Party ’98 vs. Sandman), the scissors came into use only after Sabu had exerted every other move in his repertoire book, and practically killed himself in the process. Sabu’s use of the X-Factor so quickly could also be argued as being a negative element from a psychological perspective. He didn’t bother to build it up to where it was a case of “He had nothing left to pull out of his bag of tricks so he gave his opponent a taste of their own medicine,” where it would’ve given the match an edge of drama, as opposed to a feeling just of exceeded expectations.

Even if these criticisms are legitimate and well-founded (and I admit that they are, to a degree), this match remains quite a bit better than most people would expect of it. The submission work is another aspect that I’d like to praise. Sabu – save for the Camel Clutch – has never been somebody known for effectively incorporating a lot of submissions into his matches, but his use of not only the Camel Clutch, but the jujigatame variations, were meaningful here.

During the first four minutes, Sabu was relatively tame, compared to his normal self – he actually applied much of his offense in the form of submissions. Notice that the scissors only came into play after Pac had withstood the Camel Clutch and reversed the Triple-Jump Moonsault. While I would agree with critics that the scissors still should’ve been conserved till later on (or perhaps not even used at all), it'd be unfair to claim that there wasn't any buildup at all to their use. What was also a nice touch was the order of the submissions.

Although the submissions didn’t mean here what they would’ve in a Dean Malenko match, they did have some basis – it wasn’t just a case of Sabu using a submission for a few seconds just to be able to make it look like he tried to incorporate a tiny bit of submission work in. Consider that immediately after Pac grabbed the ropes to force the break of the inverted Jujigatame, Sabu reverted right back to the Camel Clutch that he had used a few minutes before, without giving his opponent any chance to recover. This is definitely an indication of some psychology being present.

Beyond this, I also digged the aerial antics of each guy. Pac’s somersault plancha was a pleasant surprise and – unlike so many other Sabu table spots – the Triple-Jump Leg Spot looked awesome. The finish was creative enough, although I wish Pac had made the move more like Adam Flash’s Move of the Month and actually landed on his BUTT for a traditional X-Factor, rather than leaping backwards and landing on his feet. That made it more of a facebuster than an actual X-Factor, but I’m not going to fault him for that.

The Rope-Hang DDT (which was a nice bump, since Pac really took the brunt of it right on his head and neck) and Pac’s Lifting X-Factor were both really nice touches and each maneuver exemplified what I said earlier, about them pulling stuff out of their bag of tricks that isn’t to be expected from two such veterans. That quality – along with the great execution on every spot and the mix of styles – is what made this match so enjoyable for me.

This wasn’t your “traditional” good match, where there’s really good ringwork and just not enough time provided for it to step up to break through to the “great” level; a lot of its appeal, in my opinion, comes from the more subtle aspects that are usually taken for granted. The corner whip/lariat attempt scenario that was played out twice during the course of the match shouldn’t be ignored and simply passed off as two decent Irish whip sequences. Coupled together, they represented one example of a praiseworthy attempt at developing psychology in a match were you wouldn’t expect much logic. These two guys mixed a bunch of different styles without detrimenting its flow. **3/4.

RECOMMENDATION: Check it out if you’re a fan of Sabu, Waltman, their series of matches during the ‘90’s, or of 3PW.

September 18, 2004 by LucharesuFan619

The AMAZING RED vs. SHARK BOY (NWA-TNA Pay-Per-View; October 2, 2002; The TNA Asylum; Nashville, TN)

NOTE: This was Shark Boy’s second TNA appearance, his debut coming in a six-man tag team match a month and a half earlier. Red, on the other hand, was already a TNA regular by this point in time.

THE MATCH: Some basic chain wrestling (i.e. hammerlocks, armringers, wristlocks, and headscissors) to start, with some cruiserweight kipups to add the X-Division touch to it. Eventually, they arrive at a stalemate, as Elix Skipper joins the commentary position. The Triple X member complains about how he was removed from the night’s main event, and I can’t stop laughing at his voice’s high pitch…I seriously would think that he was a woman if I didn’t know any better.

Anyway, though, Red and Shark Boy tie up again and trade some hammerlocks and armringers, before the pace starts to quicken. Red escapes an armbar via a sweet standing backflip and immediately follows with a dropkick, only to have his Irish whip countered by a Sabu-style kneecap dropkick. Shark Boy targets Red’s left leg for a short while, but the Mikey Whipwreck trainee pushes him into the ropes and they perform a roperun sequence, with Red doing a dropdown and a leapfrog before taking Shark Boy down with a big spinning heelkick. Red immediately tries for a quebrada out of the corner, but Shark Boy sidesteps it and – seeing that Red has landed on his feet – delivers his signature Hangman’s Noose Neckbreaker for 2.

As Mortimer Plumbtree scouts these two talents from the top of the entrance ramp, Shark Boy starts refocusing on Red’s left leg, trying to rip it straight out of the socket. However, Red ends up using a leverage move to catapult Shark Boy over the ropes and out to ringside. Red looks to follow with a Leaping Somersault Plancha, but lands on the apron when he sees that Shark Boy has slid back into the ring. Red proceeds to catapult himself into the ring and attempt a lariat, only to have it ducked and receive a stunner-style jawbreaker.

Shark Boy starts unloading on Red with a Missile Dropkick (for a 2 count), a press slam over the ropes and out to ringside, a Pescada, a suplex onto the concrete (albeit padded) floor, and a Running Somersault Plancha from inside of the ring, but his streak of maneuvers finally comes to an end, as Red dodges an attempted apron-dive axehandle and slams the former-WCW competitor face-first onto the commentary table. That allows Red to hit his own Running Somersault Plancha over the ropes!

Red now brings Shark Boy into the ring and climbs up top, but Shark Boy meets him up there and hits a friggin’ non-Sitout SUPER JACKHAMMER~! 1…2…NO! Shark Boy runs into a boot from Red and the amazing one leaps off of the middle turnbuckle and comes down with a Neckbreaker for his own deuce. Now, Shark Boy gets a boot up on a corner charge and executes the Dead Sea Drop (Diamond Dust), which – coupled with Red’s forward flip selljob and the awesome camera angle – looked absolutely brilliant. Shark Boy struggles to crawl over to Red, eventually draping an arm over his body for a 2 count.

After regaining his energy, Shark Boy delivers some corner-mounted punches and even a few BITES~! before attempting the Dead Sea Drop again. This time, though, Red counters beautifully with a fluid-motion Inverted DDT and goes up top for the Infared Splash and the Red Star Press for the victory (5:53)

POST-MATCH RAMBLE: It was weird to see Shark Boy not playing the face here. Although he wasn’t really working as a heel, he had the task of trying to repress Red’s aerial talents, which by default puts him in a heel-like position. Although he’s a natural good guy, Red probably would’ve been better suited playing the heel here. I also want to say how amazing it must’ve been for the commentators to see Red’s somersault plancha. Not only did he execute it more beautifully than just about any other time I’ve seen him do that move (which is a lot), but he landed right in front of the commentary table. That must’ve been a friggin’ awesome sight to see. I guess that's one more reason to envy Mike Tenay, right?

MATCH ANALYSIS: About average for the X-Division, maybe slightly above. The two opening mat sequences (encompassing the first grapple up to Red’s backflip and dropkick) were executed with absolute brilliance, and even better, there was quite a bit of psychology mixed into the match, with Shark Boy relentlessly targeting Red’s left leg, even going back to work on it after he stopped Red’s comeback attempt with the Neckbreaker variation. I also thought Shark Boy successful avoidance of Red’s high-flying offense by sliding out of the ring and then back in, setting up for his jawbreaker variation, was a nice touch, from a psychology standpoint.

Shark Boy’s Super Jackhammer and Red’s Flying Neckbreaker were both pleasant surprises, due to their innovative nature. I also admit to absolutely loving the first Dead Sea Drop sequence – Red did an awesome selljob, pretending as if he broke his jaw. A good match by both guys, but definitely nothing stellar. Track it down if you’re an X-Division fanatic, but other than that, it’s not worth going out of your way for. *3/4.

LucharesuFan619 · December 25, 2004

Thursday, December 23, 2004

2 COLD SCORPIO vs. SCOTTY FLAMINGO (a.k.a. RAVEN) (WCW Clash of the Champions XXII ï¿½ 1/13/93; Mecca Arena ï¿½ Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

PRE-MATCH: Scorpio enters the ring, where he does a little bit of jukinï¿½ and jivinï¿½, before SCOTTY FLAMINGO~! enters. The ring announcer even gets his groove on a bitï¿½classic! I think itï¿½s safe to assume that Scorpio is playing the face here. Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura are on commentary. This match actually aired live on TBS, rather than on Pay-Per-View, like the later ï¿½Clash of the Championsï¿½ events.

THE MATCH: A ï¿½Scotty Sucks!ï¿½ chant surfaces before they even tieup. Scotty attacks with an armringer and a wristlock, only for Scorpio to roll through, do a cartwheel (with one arm wristlocked, mind you), and escape via his own armringer, followed by a hiptoss. After a standoff, the two lock up again and Scotty attains a headlock, from which position he shoves Scorpio into the ropes. They do the commonplace dropdown/leapfrog sequence, only with a Scorpio cartwheel over Scottyï¿½s body (hey, get it? Scottyï¿½s bodyï¿½Scotty the Bodyï¿½Iï¿½m so creativeï¿½) substituted in for the leapfrog. They end up somewhat botching a Handspring Back Elbow by Scorpio, and then following up with an uncoordinated (which you usually donï¿½t see from Scorpio) leaping kick to the chest that sends Scotty out to ringside.

There, Scorpio catches his opponent with an Apron-Dive Forearm Attack, before rolling him back into the squared circle. Scorpioï¿½s advantage comes to an end, as Scotty takes control and knocks Scorpio out to the concrete with a swank running dropkick (which gets great air), followed up by a Running Pescada (which you usually donï¿½t see Scotty do). Back in the ring, Scorpio surprises Scotty with an inside cradle for a own near fall, only to get beaten back to his feet and suplexed for a 2 count. Scottyï¿½s rear chinlock is ultimately escaped and Scorpio starts unloading with a hiptoss (off of an Irish whip), a dropkick, a bodyslam, and a Flying 180ï¿½ Corkscrew Splash for another deuce. Scotty dodges a corner charge and obtains a pair of near falls off of a schoolboy and a lariat, but moments later ends up falling victim to a superkick, tipup leg drop, and a Flying 450ï¿½ Splash for the Scorpio victory.

WINNER: 2 Cold Scorpio, via pinfall (4:11)

Replays of Scorpioï¿½s Corkscrew Splash and 450ï¿½ are aired as the future-ECW TV Champion celebrates his win.

POST-MATCH RAMBLE: Iï¿½m ashamed to say it, but this is not only my first time seeing Scorpio in WCW, but my first pre-Raven match of Scotty Levyï¿½s, so it was an interesting experience.

MATCH ANALYSIS: Nothing special here, but certainly pretty solid for the minimal time allotted. Some of the first minute was awkward, but they improved after that, for the most part. The only thing that really differentiated this match from your usual four-minute contest was the two near falls that came out of nowhere ï¿½ Scorpioï¿½s inside cradle and Scottyï¿½s schoolboy. Other than that, this was a very basic match, but it did deliver, considering that purpose. ï¿½*. And by the way, Scorpioï¿½s dancing skills are absolute MONEY. Sonjay Dutt has nothing over this guy (actually, when Scorpio was announced for ROH Testing the Limit, I really wanted him to work Sonjay and was disappointed when he was put in a four corners match).

THE LAST WORD:

JIM ROSS: ï¿½He defines high-risk offense, takes a lot of chances, Jess.ï¿½

JESSE VENTURA: ï¿½And not only that, he can dance.ï¿½

- the commentators, about 2 Cold Scorpio

Friday, December 24, 2004

BJ WHITMER & RAY GORDY (w/ Jim Fannin) vs. HOMICIDE & CHRIS HERO (IWA Mid-South King of the Deathmatches Tournament 2004 ï¿½ Night 2)

PRE-MATCH: Homicide and Whitmer are no strangers, having had a pair of great matches in 2003 ï¿½ one at ROH Main Event Spectacles and the other actually at the previous yearï¿½s IWA-MS KOTDM Tournament. Whitmer & Gordy (who is actually the son of the late, great Terry Gordy, and started gaining favor in his own right for his work in NWA Wildside and his 2003 Best 2/3 Falls Match in the NAWA vs. AJ Styles) are first to enter, followed by the dream team of Homicide & Hero.

Whitmer & Gordyï¿½s introductions get big-time boos, while (as expected) ï¿½The Notorious 187ï¿½ and ï¿½The Pure Wrestling Paragonï¿½ (I made that up myselfï¿½how do you like it?). Tommy Thompson is the referee here. Iï¿½ve talked to him online a few times ï¿½ very nice guy. He told me a classic story about refereeing the Necro Butcher vs. Abdullah the Butcher match, and how he pissed himself when ï¿½ in an unplanned incident ï¿½ Abby grabbed him and signaled as if he was going to stab him with a fork, only to change his mind at the last minute. Anyway, thoughï¿½

THE MATCH: All four competitors start off with a slugfest (Homicide on Whitmer and Hero on Gordy), before things settle down to Homicide vs. Whitmer. An armdrag exchange leads to Whitmer dropkicking Homicide out to ringside and connecting with a Suicide Dive through the ropes. That cues Hero and Gordy to come in and trade a bunch of chops before moving on to a roperun sequence, which is capped off by a dropkick and leaping forearm smash from Hero. At that point, Homicide and Whitmer re-enter and block each otherï¿½s Exploder Suplex, before Homicide catches Whitmer with a Belly-to-Belly Overhead Suplex. They start trading a bunch of moves after that, as Whitmer nails a leaping knee smash to the face, Homicide counters a back body drop into a dropkick while in midair, Whitmer nails an Overhead Exploder, and Homicide connects with a Roaring Forearm.

Finally, Hero and Gordy tag back in and exchange forearms, before Gordy gets in his only offense for awhile ï¿½ a suplex, following which, Hero relentlessly attacks Gordyï¿½s left arm with (what could best be called) a Wristlock-style Wristbreaker, a series of forearms and slaps, a Hammerlock Backbreaker, a Hammerlock Powerslam/Suplex combo, and a double-stomp (all onto that same arm). Following a 2 count by Hero, Homicide tags in and gets near falls off of his snapmare/stiff kick to the back sequence and a Swinging Hangmanï¿½s Neckbreaker.

Team Fannin isolates Homicide for the next few minutes, weakening him with a rolling surfboard stretch from Whitmer (Hero breaks it up) and a Snap Suplex rolled directly into a Grounded Front Facelock from Gordy (Hero breaks this up, too). ï¿½The Notorious 187ï¿½ easily absorbs a Gordy DDT and his own move, a snapmare followed by some stiff kicks to the back, before unleashing his own version of the snapmare and kicks (and you can damn bet that Gordy is fazed by it).

However, Homicide very soon runs into a lariat from Gordy and is back to where he was a few minutes ago, with Team Fannin making quick tags to keep each other fresh. Whitmerï¿½s offense over the next few minutes consists of a nice rolling suplex into a bridging northern lights suplex, some arrogant taunting while beating Homicide up in the corner), three bootscrapes in the corner, and a Super Belly-to-Belly Overhead Suplex, while Gordy employs a Tiger Suplex (off of a well-performed reversal sequence), a drop toehold, running snap elbow drop, a bodyslam, and an innovative Bodyslam lift into Inverted DDT.

Unfortunately, the camera is positioned so that one can clearly see Whitmerï¿½s foot going nowhere near Homicideï¿½s face on the bootscrapes. Whitmerï¿½s Super Belly-to-Belly is broken up by a Hero double-leg stomp to Whitmerï¿½s back, and thatï¿½s apparently all thatï¿½s necessary to reinvigorate Homicide ï¿½ he no sells a nasty German Suplex (he appears to land on his head) and running dropkicks Whitmer out of the ring, setting up for theï¿½RUNNING SOMERSAULT TOPï¿½~! (taking out a row of chairs in the process)!

Back in the ring, Homicide avoids a Gordy Missile Dropkick and floors him with a stiff lariat, finally allowing Hero to tag in. Gordy gets chopped and forearmed away at before receiving a series of Hero moves ï¿½ a Running Perpendicular Somersault Neckbreaker (like April Hunter does), a Double-Arm Choke Overhead Suplex (2 count), and a Cravate-style Iconoclasm (for another deuce). Hero, however, canï¿½t bust out his main move, the Cravate Suplex, as Gordy blocks it and delivers a Fishermanï¿½s Suplex for a 2 count.

Some confusing brawling between both teams results in the faces rolling through sunset flip attempts and applying their signature submissions (the Hangmanï¿½s Clutch by Hero and the STF by Homicide), in stereo. Jim Fannin takes the opportunity to distract Hero & Homicide, allowing Gordy and Whitmer to sneak up from behind and German Suplex each of their opponents (Heroï¿½s bump looks fine, but Homicide does a lazy, really pussy-ish bump for Gordyï¿½s German). Hero takes a running enziguri from Gordy and Whitmer follows with a shining wizard, only to fall victim to Homicideï¿½s own shining wizard.

Gordy finally drops Homicide with the Tiger Driver (the ï¿½Notorious 187ï¿½ had blocked his first attempt earlier) for a deuce, before the heels execute a really sweet double-team move. Whitmer lifts Homicide onto his shoulder for a spinebuster and Gordy stands right behind his partner, applying a front facelock on Homicide. Whitmer then tosses Homicide up into the air and over his shoulder, rotating him 90ï¿½ for Gordy to catch with a big Rotating Implant DDT. After getting a 2 count from that spot, Team Fannin look for a Double-Team Brainbuster, but Hero saves his partner and hits Whitmer with the Cravate Suplex, while Homicide recovers and spikes Gordy with the COP KILLA~! for the victory!

WINNERS: Chris Hero & Homicide (via pinfall)

Post-match, Whitmer is furious and wants more of Homicide & Hero, but eventually Jim Fannin convinces him to let bygones be bygones (the fans respond by chanting, ï¿½Chicken-sh*t!ï¿½). Whitmer and Fannin help Gordy backstage, as we cut out.

MATCH ANALYSIS: A decent showing by all four guys, but hardly what I expected. Gordy and Hero were definitely the MVPs here. Donï¿½t get me wrong ï¿½ Whitmer and Homicide worked hard, but it was Gordy and Hero who were responsible for the parts of the match with any story. Whitmer and especially Homicide just werenï¿½t as good as they usually are. They really started wasted a bunch of their high-impact moves within a matter of seconds (Whitmerï¿½s Exploder and leaping knee and Homicideï¿½s dropkick and roaring forearm). They shouldï¿½ve conserved those moves for later in the match, when they couldï¿½ve been used to generate some drama.

Hero and especially Gordy, on the other hand, worked surprisingly well here. I especially dug their exchanges of strikes, all of which looked absolutely brutal. Heroï¿½s strengths could sometimes be seen when he wasnï¿½t even the legal competitor in the ring. His repeated saves for Homicide from Team Fanninï¿½s submissions and pinfall attempts really built up his eventually return into the match, after Homicide hit the topï¿½. That was sorely needed, considering that Homicideï¿½s tag there lacked any drama because his comeback had already started (with the running dropkick, topï¿½, and lariat).

Homicideï¿½s tag to Hero shouldï¿½ve been where the tide really turned ï¿½ a face nails a move out of desperation and both competitors rally to their respective corners. Unfortunately, the really bland story in this match prevented much drama from developing. Thereï¿½s only so much that two guys can do to help someone whose performance lacks any inspiration. Here, Homicide really made it difficult for Hero or Gordy to produce a credible showing for their partners, their opponents, and ï¿½ to a smaller extent ï¿½ even theirselves. Furthermore, Homicideï¿½s selljob for Gordyï¿½s German suplex towards the end was absolutely atrocious.

Iï¿½m usually not a big fan of Hero because of his excessive showiness when it comes to his matwork, but here the targeting of Gordyï¿½s left arm was done very intelligently, although it wasnï¿½t without its problems. Heroï¿½s strategy wouldï¿½ve been much smarter if he had spread out the offense a little more and not delivered the strikes, backbreaker, and powerslam/suplex right after one another, although I donï¿½t think itï¿½s worth complaining too much.

I donï¿½t claim to be a master of judging psychology, but when I see someone employ a strategy such as that, it shows that these guys (well, Hero and Gordy, at least) are trying to convey some semblance of consistency (if one guyï¿½s body part has been hurt, focusing on it would be the next best step for that guyï¿½s opponent). This, however, was one of the few examples of psychology in the match.

If I had to pick any general criticism I have, itï¿½d be that the lack of chain wrestling and reversal sequences. Each participant got an opportunity to throw out his own flurry of offense without much attempt by the opponent to fight away. As good as both guys looked (and they did work really well), this was especially evident when Hero let loose with a bunch of high-impact moves on Gordy, all in about a minute and without very much transitioning in between. When guys like Hero, Gordy, Whitmer, and ï¿½ to a smaller degree ï¿½ Homicide are in a match, one expects the matwork to be more competitive than it was here.

This was a pretty basic tag team match, overall. While it was provided with an adequate time to develop, it didnï¿½t use that time very well and never generated much, story-wise. The innovative maneuvers (the suplex variations and Team Fanninï¿½s DDT double-team) saved it from being bad, as did the Hero vs. Gordy psychology and the stiff strikes between those two (their sequences were definitely the high point of the match). *3/4.

RECOMMENDATION: As good as Hero looked here, I definitely wouldnï¿½t recommend this to fans of his work; this was NOT the flashy, highly-advanced technician Chris Hero that you people are used to; he was a lot more conservative in his matwork here. Similarly, avid Homicide fans and Whitmer fans are also likely to walk way relatively disappointed from this match because neither guy worked the aggressive, stiff style that heï¿½s accustomed to.

Those who would enjoy this match are fans of Ray Gordy and fans of tag team matches with a little bit of every style (a category that I presume a lot of the IWA-MS audience falls under), although there definitely are much better IWA-MS showings for the latter category of fans. Also, if youï¿½re a fan of death matches, definitely purchase this entire event because it features plenty of violence, in addition to some great wrestling by Whitmer, Hero, Arik Cannon, CM Punk, Matt Sydal, and Delirious.

LucharesuFan619 · December 29, 2004

LOW KI vs. ELAX – JAPW (4/20/01; Bayonne, NJ)

PRE-MATCH: Elax comes out first. You may remember him as a Special K member in ROH for a short while. Here he has a similar gimmick, pretending to be all drugged up or something. Also, he repeatedly switches between this creepy, psychotic laugh (as if he’s Dr. Frankenstein or something) and baby-like whining. Weird combination, if I may say so myself, but it’s certainly funny. Ki is already in the ring. The ring announcer introduces each competitor before Ki cuts a promo, telling Elax that what he’s about to do “isn’t personal…this is business.”

THE MATCH: Ki makes the mistake of turning his back and Elax takes out his legs from behind, which is a good strategy when one considers Ki’s kick-oriented offense. Elax focuses on Ki’s left leg (all the while doing that evil laugh) for a couple minutes before lifting him to his feet and beating on him in the corner, even going so far as to try to pull the left leg out of its socket.

However, Ki, hops to his feet and drills Elax with an enziguri (which clearly doesn’t connect, but Elax puts forth a good, forward-flip selljob, so I can’t complain), before going to work with some STIFF chops and knee strikes, all the while continuing to sell his leg injury. His attempt at the Tidal Wave (cartwheel roundhouse kick in the corner) is warded off, but he eventually regains control and delivers the Triple Strike kick series. Elax looks to be out cold (and considering that final kick, I don’t blame him one bit), but escapes at 2.

Ki scrambles Elax’s brain (or what he has left of one, at least) with seven stiff headbutts before trying a Superplex, but Elax pushes him off and Elax hits a cool Diving Tornado DDT-style Facebuster. Elax actually starts CRYING when he only gets a 2 count, but eventually gains his composure and tries a suplex, which is countered into a really creative/complicated pinning combo for a 2 count. Elax beats Ki to his feet and works on the left leg for a few seconds before dropping him with a DDT.

Elax takes 10 seconds just to position Ki’s body correctly, but sort of makes up for it with a nice-looking Moonsault off of the middle buckle (he landed on Ki’s already-injured legs, which was a nice touch), before setting up for his finishing move (“I hope it works,” the kid yells). Ki, though, powers him into the ropes and – over the next minute – lets loose with a bunch of strikes, including some particularly stiff headbutts, forearms, and chops. Elax gets Irish whipped into the ropes and baseball slides through Ki’s legs, only to turn around right into a MEGA forearm, and it’s “lights out” for the future-Special K raver. The referee calls for the bell and Ki picks up the Knockout win. Other officials come in and carry Elax backstage, as Ki stands victorious in the ring.

WINNER: Low Ki, via Knockout (7:03)

POST-MATCH RAMBLE: I’ve never seen Elax before, not even in ROH, and he was impressive. His actual workrate isn’t tremendous, but his persona is very entertaining and – even more importantly – original. I was also really surprised at how over Ki was – the fans were chanting “Low Ki!” for about ¼ of the match, and this was a year before TNA and ROH were around. And one more thing – Elax played the T.K.O. gimmick really well, not moving one iota, from what I could see. Elax’s acting talent was really impressive throughout this match.

MATCH ANALYSIS: Solid work from both guys, in that they incorporated several differing styles – Ki’s stiffness and Elax’s comedy and high-flying – into a sufficiently-developed match. They could’ve actually used more technical sequences, but I guess Elax’s blindside attack prevented that because they didn’t get off to a standard grappling start. Actually, on second thought, there was some submission work by Elax in the opening minutes, so they fitted in a bit of the technical style sufficiently enough.

I guess the story here (and it’s notable that they even fit in a story with only seven minutes allotted) would be Ki taking Elax for granted and finding out the hard way that his hyper, off-the-wall persona translated into an unorthodox, relentlessly aggressive attack. Elax’s strategy of focusing on Ki’s left leg was interesting – even though he played a psycho, his assault on the leg was quite methodical.

What’s even better, though, is that this plan of attack proved to be a good base for this match because when Ki regained the advantage, he actually had a legitimate reason (that being a thirst for revenge) to stiff his opponent, whereas usually people just accept that physically aggressive nature to be an attribute of his character (and that’s not a bad thing; I’m just pointing out that here, Ki’s moveset actually developed a psychology of its own, in a way).

The one thing that could’ve been improved were the counter sequences because a lot of times, the advantage switched off of a simple gut kick punch, rather than any Irish whip sequence or reversal of an attempted move. Also, I would’ve preferred there be a decisive finish, but since Ki already had sold for Elax a ton and – at this time – JAPW was trying to build Ki up as a force to be reckoned with, it’s understandable that they went to the Knockout finish.

Overall, this was a relatively basic match, but it was effective because Elax came off as a credible competitor (thanks in large part to Ki’s unselfish willingness to sell the leg attack) against someone who JAPW booker Fat Frank Iadevia could’ve just as easily had squash him in a minute. That’s actually what I expected, going in, so it was a pleasant surprise that even though he didn’t take it easy on his opponent, stiffness-wise, (in fact, two different times Ki lifted Elax’s shirt over his head so that there wouldn’t be a shirt to protect his chest from the chops) Ki gave Elax quite a surprising amount of offensive openings. *1/4.

RECOMMENDATION: Nothing way out of the ordinary here, but still worth taking a look at if you can get a hold of it without shelling out too much money. Low Ki fans who are looking for the ultra-competitive stiff-fest (like his ROH Glory By Honor 1 match vs. Samoa Joe) will be disappointed, but those who just seek some hard-hitting ass-kicking by the Brooklyn native will dig this.

Cruiserweight Open for the WWE Cruiserweight Title – WWE WrestleMania XX

PARTICIPANTS: Chavo Guerrero Jr. © (w/ his father, Chavo “Classic” Guerrero Sr.), Nunzio (formerly Little Guido), Jamie Noble, Akio (formerly Jimmy Yang), Tajiri, Funaki, Shannon Moore, Ultimo Dragon, Billy Kidman, and Rey Mysterio (Jr.)

THE RULES: Two wrestlers start the match and all of the other participants surround the ring until a pinfall, submission, count out, or DQ (the signal of an elimination) happens. At that point, the next superstar (the order was determined by a random drawing…or so they say) will enter the ring and will combat the wrestler who advanced from the last round. The match will continue until there is one cruiserweight left standing. He will be awarded (or, if it’s Chavo, retain) the Cruiserweight Title.

PRE-MATCH: All of the participants make their entrances, with champ Chavo Jr. coming out first and Rey Mysterio being the last. Charles “Lil’ ’Naitch” Robinson is officiating this contest.

THE MATCH: I’m going to rate each round individually and then I’ll take the average of each round to determine the overall rating.

ROUND 1 (Shannon Moore vs. Ultimo Dragon): A standard technical exchange start things off, with waistlocks and armringers being exchanged. Ultimo shows off early with a roll-through, a kip-up, and two quick pinfall attempts off of a leg sweep and a backslide, but Moore beats him to his feet and takes control, but several moments later, his Mooregasm (Flying Corkscrew Somersault Body Attack) attempt is dodged and he receives a spinkick to the chest and an Ultimo DDT (3/4 Bulldog Facelock into a Backflipping Inverted DDT), as Ultimo advances. (about 1:20 in length) *1/2. Ridiculous.

ROUND 2 (Ultimo Dragon vs. Jamie Noble): Noble blindsides Ultimo and gets a 2 count off of a lariat, but Ultimo ends up coming back with another series of stiff kicks for his own near fall. Ultimo lands on his feet when Noble rolls out of the way of his Moonsault and throws another spinkick to the chest, but his Ultimo DDT is countered into a Snap Neckbreaker, after which Noble applies a Grounded Bodyscissors/Front Facelock combo for the submission victory. (1:00) 1/4* This must be some kind of bad joke…

ROUND 3 (Jamie Noble vs. Funaki): Funaki enters right away with a Flying Crossbody Block, but Noble rolls through for the quick pin. (let’s just say the single-digit seconds) The worst part is how Michael Cole tries to play off this horrible booking so innocently. A rating isn’t applicable here, since it was so short.

ROUND 4 (Jamie Noble vs. Nunzio): Nunzio has second thoughts about blindsiding Noble and tries to make up with his storyline cousin, only to receive a couple of strikes. They go through some waistlock reversals before Nunzio takes Noble down into a victory roll for a 2 count. A sweet Japanese Dropkick (to the face) from the middle turnbuckle follows from Nunzio, but a few moments later, Noble uses a leverage move to send Nunzio flying out to ringside onto his bare back.

Noble follows with a huge Flying Somersault Plancha before yanking Nunzio off of the apron as he tries to re-enter the ring, sending him face-first onto the cold, hard, concrete floor (sweet bump). Noble rolls back into the ring and actually lets Robinson count Nunzio out. (about 1:50) *3/4. Considering the lame finish, this really should be only ½*, but I’m bumping it up a notch because Nunzio took some sick bumps.

ROUND 5 (Jamie Noble vs. Billy Kidman): Kidman runs in and attacks Noble, but within a minute, Nunzio gets involved and gives his cousin a taste of his own medicine by dropping him face-first on the floor. Next, Kidman takes out both guys with a decent-looking Shooting Star Plancha, but it’s clear that he’s got nothing over A.J. Styles. After a 2 count back in the ring, Noble reverses Kidman’s Powerbomb into a Standing Bodyscissors/Front Facelock combo.

Kidman breaks the hold up by ramming Noble into the corner and then proceeds to toss him high over into the air with a sweet Release Northern Lights Suplex. A climbing enziguri sets up for the Shooting Star Press and when Noble meets Kidman up top, it’s time for a Super B.K. Bomb (Sitout Spinebuster), and Noble is out. (about 1:50 again) ¼*. Borderline ½*, but I gave the benefit of the doubt to the previous match, so this isn’t getting any leeway.

ROUND 6 (Billy Kidman vs. Rey Mysterio): Kidman turns around right into a Springboard High Lou Thesz Press, but in a nice sequence, climbs right back up to his feet and catches Rey with a big dropkick for a deuce as he comes off the ropes. Actually, that right there was shades of A.J. Styles’ dropdown/dropkick combo. Mysterio finds an opening by dropkicking his former-Filthy Animals partner out to ringside, but Chavo Jr. climbs up onto the apron and distracts the referee, while Akio attacks Mysterio. That allows Kidman to re-enter and deliver a Rydeen-style Spinebuster (B.K. Bomb variation, I guess) for another near fall, as Rey actually kicks out! Then, both guys meet up top and Rey finishes Kidman off with a non-seesaw-style Code Red (Sunset Flip Sitdown Powerbomb). (1:20) ½*.

ROUND 7 (Rey Mysterio vs. Tajiri): Mysterio absorbs two stiff kicks and Tajiri dodges an attempted Quebrada before locking in the Tarantula. However, Mysterio scouts his Handspring/Backspring Elbow combo by dropkicking his opponent’s back before hitting the 619. After Mysterio’s springboard West Coast Pop attempt is dodged, Akio climbs up onto the apron and holds him for Tajiri to spit the green mist at, but Mysterio ducks and Tajiri sprays Akio. A victory roll by Mysterio keeps Tajiri down for the 3 count. (1:05) ¼*.

ROUND 8 (Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.): Akio is now temporarily blinded and therefore unable to compete, so we skip right to the final round, with the defending champ, Chavo. However, before that match can start, Tajiri cheapshots Rey with a big kick to the side of the head, behind Robinson’s back. Chavo hustles into the ring and obtains a 2 count before beating on Rey for a bit, before Rey comes back with a sweet Springboard Huracanrana (sans a ‘rana pin combo, however).

When Chavo Sr. climbs up onto the apron, Rey dropkicks him back down to ringside and then proceeds to catapult off of Charles Robinson’s back for a Somersault Plancha onto the Mexican legend! Rey tries to re-enter the ring with a catapult sunset flip, but Chavo holds his shoulders down and grabs his father’s hands for assisted leverage (without Robinson seeing, mind you), which is enough to get the 1-2-3 and retain the Cruiserweight Title. (about 1:30) ¼* for Rey’s Springboard Huracanrana and Somersault Plancha.

WINNER and STILL WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Chavo Guerrero Jr. (w/ his father, Chavo “Classic” Guerrero Sr.) (total time from starting bell to closing bell – 10:31)

Chavo immediately rolls out of the ring and celebrates with his father, while Rey is left fuming in the ring.

POST-MATCH RAMBLE: The only thing that really struck me outside of any spots was the bumps that Chavo Sr. took during his son’s match with Mysterio. Otherwise, this was a crapfest from a booking sense.

MATCH ANALYSIS: While this match got a slightly improved as time progressed, it still exemplified the horrid booking that has plagued the Cruiserweight division ever since Dean Malenko retired and Essa Rios was released in 2001. The fact that not ONE match lasting over a mere 2:00 prevented any degree of believability or any actual story from developing. The only things that saved it from being a complete and utter travesty were Noble’s three-match string, Nunzio’s bump-taking, the Guerreros’ entertainment value, and a couple of random athletic spots.

Everything was so rushed here, which is surprising because WWE usually has no problem leaving someone on the sidelines and just not using them when they have nothing for them to do (see Stevie Richards, Mark Jindrak, Mizark Hizenry, Scotty 2 Hotty, etc.). Here, they made the mistake of actually trying to fit too many guys on a card and ended up cramming them all into one train-wreck of a match.

There’s not really anything else uniquely insightful to say about this match – when there are nine different top-notch cruiserweights going at it in various combinations, there’s bound to be a couple of creative sequences and spots. These gems in a puddle of mud were what got this match a *, not any sort of consistency or psychology. Otherwise, it was pretty much crap. Not including the Noble/Funaki match, the ratings average out to 2/5*.

By the way, the best match of the series was Jamie Noble vs. Nunzio at a stunning (and generously-awarded) ¾*.

RECOMMENDED: Unless you’re absolutely obsessed with the WWE cruiserweight division (in which case my recommendation is that you schedule an appointment with your local brain surgeon), this is definitely “fast forward” material.

January 3, 2005

How about :

Mr Insanity Toby Klein vs. Necro Butcher from the last ever King Of The Deathmatches Tourney.

I'm the guy from the DVDVR board by the way.

LucharesuFan619 · January 3, 2005

How about :
Mr Insanity Toby Klein vs. Necro Butcher from the last ever King Of The Deathmatches Tourney.

I'm the guy from the DVDVR board by the way.

Hey, sup. Unfortunately, I don't have that match. The Hero tag I DLed offline. I have Sydal/Delirious from KOTDM. I have Ian/Axl from '97 KOTDM, but that's about it for the KOTDM stuff.

King Cucaracha · January 3, 2005

Don't suppose you have Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk from IWA:MS (Spring Heat 02?)

LucharesuFan619 · January 5, 2005

Don't suppose you have Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk from IWA:MS (Spring Heat 02?)

No, sorry. If someone can send it to me, that'd be nice because I'm one of Rey Mysterio Jr.'s biggest fans on the planet, and Eddie and Ace ain't bad, either.

I got coming up a review of what was a highly anticipated indy match when it happened. Two of the best indy wrestlers go at it for the first and only time. That's the only hint. :lol:

LucharesuFan619 · January 5, 2005

Pick from this stuff for what you want me to review, since I have it especially at easy access. My other tapes/DVDs/CDs I'd have to go looking for:

3PW: Homicide vs. Low Ki, Balls Mahoney & Nosawa vs. Da Hit Squad, Balls Mahoney vs. Nosawa (bloodbath), Homicide vs. Xavier, Sabu vs. Syxx-Pac

APW: Vic Grimes vs. Erin O' Grady (Crash Holly) (7/18/97) (the legendary streetfight), Vic Grimes vs. Tony Jones (4/19/97), Super Dragon vs. Vic Grimes, The SAT & Brian XL vs. Jardi Frantz & James Choi & Cheerleader Melissa, American Wild Child & Hellblazer vs. Super Dragon & Blitzkrieg (1997)

CZW - The Amazing Red & The S.A.T. vs. Brian XL & Divine Storm (Take 1), The Amazing Red & The S.A.T. vs. Brian XL & Divine Storm (another match; not the Take 1 match), Nick Gage vs. Nate Hatred (200 Light Tubes Match), Nick Mondo vs. Nick Gage (Who’s the Boss), Cage of Death 5 Main Event (Hi-V vs. Zandig’s Team – New Jack debuts in CZW), Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley vs. Chris Hero vs. Homicide, M-Dogg 20 & Josh Prohibition vs. The Backseat Boyz, Homeless Jimmy vs. Nick Mondo (TOD1), B-Boy vs. Deranged vs. Lil Cholo (BOTB2), Jack Evans vs. Homicide (BOTB4), Sonjay Dutt vs. Trent Acid (One More Time), Jody Fleisch vs. Ruckus (BOTB2), Nick Mondo vs. Justice Pain (A Higher Level of Pain), Trent Acid vs. Homicide, Johnny Kashmere & Justice Pain vs. Nick Mondo & Jun Kasai, Joel Maximo & The Amazing Red vs. The Briscoe Brothers, B-Boy & The Messiah vs. Ruckus & Sonjay Dutt, Zandig vs. Wifebeater (Stretched in Smyrna bloodbath), B-Boy vs. Chris Hero, Amazing Red vs. Joel Maximo vs. Jose Maximo, Teddy Hart vs. Jack Evans vs. Petey Williams, Jimmy Rave vs. Alex Shelley, H8 Club vs. Homicide & Dan Maff, Sonjay Dutt vs. M-Dogg 20 vs. Ruckus (COD4), Justice vs. Steve Madison vs. Jerrelle Clark, Super Dragon vs. B-Boy vs. Bobby Quance vs. Excalibur, Jody Fleisch vs. Jonny Storm

ECW: Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu (Stretcher Match), Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu (Guilty As Charged 2000), Justin Credible vs. Tommy Dreamer (HeatWave 2000; complete w/ entire XPW invasion incident), Kid Kash vs. EZ Money, Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (Living Dangerously), Multi-Team ECW Tag Team Titles Tournament (includes EZ Money, Da Baldies, Doring & Roadkill, The FBI, Nova & Chetti, Mikey & Tajiri, and other teams), Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (Crossing the Line ’99), Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (Hardcore Heaven), CW Anderson & Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger vs. The Dudley Boyz & Tommy Dreamer (The Dudleyz are under WWF contract here and make a one-night appearance in ECW; This includes the CLASSIC pre-match antics that must be seen to be believed.), Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psychosis, Mikey Whipwreck vs. Little Guido vs. Simon Diamond (Hardcore Heaven 2000 – the lights in the arena partially fail mid-match), Psychosis vs. Tajiri, Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Mikey Whipwreck, Sabu vs. Louie Spicolli, Sabu vs. Spike Dudley (Sabu speaks on mic and calls out Taz), Ikuto Hidaka vs. Super Crazy, Vic Grimes vs. Mike Awesome

FWA: AJ Styles vs. Jody Fleisch, Christopher Daniels vs. Jody Fleisch, Doug Williams vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jody Fleisch

IWA-MS: CM Punk vs. Chris Hero (highly acclaimed TLC Match), CM Punk vs. Chris Hero (the amazing 93 Minute Match), Chris Hero vs. AJ Styles (Winter Wars 2003), AJ Styles vs. B-Boy, JC Bailey vs. B-Boy (2004 Ted Petty Invitational Tournament), Chris Hero vs. Jerry Lynn, Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Delirious vs. Arik Cannon, Austin Aries vs. Matt Sydal, Nate Webb vs. Mike Quackenbush, B-Boy vs. Chris Hero, Matt Sydal vs. Emil Sitoci, Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley (Steel Cage Match) (One More Time), Delirious vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Matt Sydal & Delirious vs. Homicide & B-Boy, Jimmy Rave vs. AJ Styles, B-Boy vs. Nate Webb vs. Matt Sydal, Axl Rotten vs. Ian Rotten (KOTDM Final ’97), Matt Sydal vs. Delirious, Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe

JAPW: Homicide vs. Low Ki vs. Xavier, Low Ki vs. Minoru Fujita vs. Xavier, Low Ki vs. Ghost Shadow, Homicide vs. Slyk Wagner Brown

MLW: Fuego Guerrero (Amazing Red) vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Super Crazy, Fuego Guerrero (Amazing Red) vs. Ikuto Hidaka, Jerry Lynn vs. Mike Awesome, Teddy Hart vs. Jerry Lynn, Wargames Steel Cage Match, Sonjay Dutt vs. Tony Mamaluke, Christopher Daniels vs. Homicide, La Parka vs. Shocker, Christopher Daniels & The Far East Connection vs. The S.A.T. & Quiet Storm

ROH: American Dragon vs. Paul London (2/3 Falls); American Dragon vs. Homicide (4/24/04); The Briscoe Brothers vs. The Second City Saints (4/24/04); Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe (Honor Invades Boston); Paul London vs. Samoa Joe (Death Before Dishonor); Raven vs. CM Punk – Dog Collar Match (Death Before Dishonor); Doug Williams vs. Tom Carter (DBD1); Low Ki vs. AJ Styles; Tag Team Scramble Cage Match #1; Delirious vs. Matt Sydal; Special K vs. Jay Briscoe & Amazing Red vs. SAT vs. Da Hit Squad (Scramble Match); Homicide vs. Steve Corino (Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies); Jody Fleisch vs. Low Ki (Night of Champions); Trent Acid vs. Homicide (Fight Without Honor), Eddie Guerrero vs. Super Crazy; Paul London vs. Red, Paul London vs. Michael Shane (“Unscripted” Streetfight); Low Ki vs. Deranged (DBD1); Jody Fleisch vs. Spanky; Special K vs. Carnage Crew (At Our Best; Scramble Cage 2); TJ Wilson vs. Teddy Hart (GBH2); Deranged vs. Hydro vs. Slyk Wagner Brown vs. Jonny Storm; CM Punk vs. Terry Funk (GBH2); EZ Money vs. Paul London; Jay Briscoe vs. The Amazing Red (The Era of Honor Begins); American Dragon vs. Low Ki (RRC1); 6-Man Mayhem Match from Reborn Stage 1; AJ Styles vs. Kaz Hayashi; Red vs. Ikuto Hidaka, Generation Next (Austin Aries, Jack Evans, & Roderick Strong) vs. Special K (Izzy, Dixie, & Angeldust) (Generation Next); Alex Shelley vs. Hydro (Generation Next); Generation Next (Austin Aries, Alex Shelley, Jack Evans, & Roderick Strong) vs. Briscoes, John Walters, & Jimmy Rave (Generation Next); Nigel McGuiness vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Austin Aries vs. Rocky Romero (Reborn: Stage 2); Jack Evans & Matt Sydal vs. Carnage Crew vs. Alex Shelley & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Dunn & Marcos (Reborn: Stage 2); John Walters vs. Masada vs. Trent Acid vs. Roderick Strong vs. Izzy vs. Hydro (RRC3); Carnage Crew & Justin Credible vs. Danny Daniels, Masada, & Trent Acid (Generation Next); Carnage Crew vs. Special K (Empire City Showdown); AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin vs. Colt Cabana vs. Matt Stryker (GBH2); Carnage Crew vs. Special K vs. Briscoes vs. Dunn & Marcos (GBH2); Homicide vs. Chris Sabin, Special K vs. Divine Storm vs. The S.A.T. vs. Homicide (GBH); Ultimate Aerial Elimination Match (Era of Honor Begins); Josh Daniels & Masada & Trent Acid vs. Carnage Crew (Generation Next); Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Austin Aries vs. Rocky Romero (Reborn Stage 2), Izzy & Dixie vs. Backseat Boyz (Tradition Continues), BJ Whitmer vs. Paul London vs. Colt Cabana vs. Homicide, EZ Money vs. Chad Collyer vs. Michael Shane vs. Colt Cabana, Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk (World Title Classic), 1rst Anniversary Show 14-Man Scramble Match, AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels (2 different matches), Ultimate Endurance 4-Team Match (GBH3), Mick Foley debuts in ROH (GBH3), Six-Man Mayhem (GBH3), Embassy vs. Carnage Crew & RCE (RRC3), Josh 1rst Anniversary Show 14-Man Scramble Match, War of the Wire Scramble Match, AJ Styles & Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels & Xavier (ROTP), Carnage Crew vs. Abby & Homicide, Alex Shelley vs. Bryan Danielson (GBH3), Jody Fleisch vs. Amazing Red, Christopher Daniels vs. Amazing Red, Prophecy vs. Mike Modest & Donovan Morgan, Prophecy vs. Far East Connection, All of Survival of the Fittest and Testing the Limit and Gold and Midnight Express Reunion and Final Battle 2002

TNA: Mexico’s Most Wanted vs. Jerry Lynn & David Young, Teddy Hart & Jack Evans vs. Juventud Guerrera & Abismo Negro, Jerry Lynn & Red vs. Triple X, Petey Williams vs. Fast Eddie, Petey Williams vs. Hector Garza vs. Chris Sabin (Ultimate X), Joey Idol (XPW’s Kaos) vs. Jimmy Rave, Elimination Tables Match – The S.A.T. vs. Ace Steel vs. Tony Mamaluke, CM Punk & Matt Stryker & Frankie Kazarian vs. Kid Romeo & Johnny Swinger & Damien, Jonny Storm vs. Kid Kash vs. Red, 10-Man X Division Gauntlet Match, AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin vs. Petey Williams, Amazing Red vs. Sonjay Dutt, Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt vs. Christopher Daniels vs. X, Alex Shelley vs. AJ Styles, 6-Man X Division Elimination Match, Paul London vs. Chris Sabin, AJ Styles vs. Red, Team Mexico vs. Team TNA, AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Psychosis vs. Low Ki (Double Elimination), Christopher Daniels vs. Jerry Lynn, Sonny Siaki & EZ Money vs. Divine Storm, EZ Money vs. Kid Kash vs. AJ Styles vs. Joel Maximo, AJ Styles vs. Low Ki (early TNA match), Red vs. Sonny Siaki, AJ Styles vs. Crimson Dragon (Chris Hamrick) vs. Sonny Siaki, Jason Cross vs. Tony Mamaluke, AJ Styles & Jeff Hardy & Ron Killings vs. Team Canada, Team AAA vs. Team TNA, Sonjay Dutt & Eric Young vs. El Fuego & Jerrelle Clarke, Team Canada vs. Hector Garza & Sonjay Dutt & Red, all of Victory Road and Turning Point

WCW: Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit (Owen Hart tribute match), Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Dean Malenko (6-19-97; Germany), Triangle Ladder Match – The Jung Dragons vs. Evan Karagias & Jamie Noble vs. Shane Helms & Shannon Moore, Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman vs. Kid Romeo & Elix Skipper (Greed 2001), Air Raid (AJ Styles & Air Paris) vs. The Jung Dragons, Mr. JL vs. Sabu (Nitro), Mr. JL vs. Sabu (Halloween Havoc ’95), Christopher Daniels vs. Mike Modest (Nitro), Jason Jett (EZ Money) vs. Kid Kash, Mr. JL (Jerry Lynn) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr., Syxx (X-Pac) vs. Eddie Guerrero (Ladder Match), 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Scotty Flamingo (Raven)

WWF/E: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (WrestleMania X), Randy Orton vs. Cactus Jack (Backlash), Flash Funk (2 Cold Scorpio) vs. Sabu (RAW), Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Ladder Match), Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit (Royal Rumble classic), Ric Flair vs. Triple H (included is the ultra-rare emotional post-match tribute to Flair, with many of the wrestlers coming out to pay tribute to him), AJ Styles vs. The Hurricane, Huckster vs. Nacho Man from WrestleMania XII (including the pre-match training for each guy), Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit (SmackDown!; 5/31/01), Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (Steel Cage Match; SummerSlam ’94), Bryan Danielson vs. John Cena (Velocity), Brian Christopher & Pirata Morgan vs. Taka Michinoku & Aguila (Essa Rios), Jeff Hardy vs. Owen Hart (RAW; 1995; very rare), Jerry Lynn vs. Taka Michinoku, Brian Christopher vs. Super Loco (Super Crazy), Owen Hart vs. Jeff Hardy (1995; RAW), Mick Foley vs. Terry Funk (Falls Count Anywhere; RAW), Crash Holly vs. Low Ki, Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Survivor Series ’97)

XPW: Supreme vs. Altar Boy Luke – KOTDM Title (Fallout), Gauntlet Match – Kaos vs. Angel and Chris Hamrick (does not include Kaos vs. Nosawa) (Free Fall), Kaos vs. X-Pac – TV Title, Justin Credible vs. Shane Douglas (last match in XPW history), Dynamite D vs. Kaos (never-before-released on tape – Sabu Invitational House Show), Sabu vs. The Messiah (NYR1), Jerry Lynn vs. Zebra Kid vs. Jonny Storm vs. Joey Matthews, Supreme vs. Vic Grimes (Exploding Ring Death Match), Super Dragon & TARO vs. Rising Son & Excalibur, Rey Mysterio Sr. & Damian 666 & Halloween vs. Carlito Montana & Big Rott & Chronic

JAPAN: AJ Styles vs. Low Ki (Zero-One), Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (Japan; 6-4-82), Hayabusa & Tommy Dreamer vs. Rob Van Dam & Sabu (FMW), Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu (AJPW; 2001), Hayabusa vs. Jushin Thunder Liger (NJPW Super J-Cup ’94), Homicide vs. Spanky, Zandig vs. Jun Kasai vs. Madman Pondo vs. Wifebeater (BJPW), Super Dragon & Kendo Ka Shin vs. The Amazing Red & Gran Naniwa, Hayabusa vs. Mammoth Sasaki (Hayabusa breaks his neck in this match)

MEXICO: Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. (Best 2/3 Falls Match; AAA; 5/21/95), Wifebeater vs. Zandig (XLUM [Mexico])

UPW: John Cena vs. CW Anderson, Juventud Guerrera vs. Super Dragon, B-Boy vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Spanky (Best 2/3 Falls), Samoa Joe vs. Tommy Dreamer

Misc. Indys: Amazing Red vs. Low Ki (PWF); B-Boy vs. Super Dragon (JCW Jersey J-Cup 2004 Finals); The Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz vs. All Money Is Legal (WXW); GQ Money vs. Smokey Charmichael (NWA Rocky Mountain Championship Wrestling); Elimination Match – Nova vs. Low Ki vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Tony Mamaluke vs. Shark Boy (WWA); Red vs. Jose Maximo vs. Joel Maximo (MCW); Spanky vs. American Dragon (ECWA); Low Ki vs. Tajiri (UCW); Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mick Foley (HUSTLE); Sabu vs. Perry Saturn vs. Simon Diamond (WWA Retribution); Lightning Kid (X-Pac) vs. Sabu (4/17/93); Da Hit Squad vs. Low Ki & Xavier (USA Pro); Jonny Storm vs. Mike Quackenbush (DWC); The S.A.T. vs. The Backseat Boyz (PWF); Low Ki vs. Sabu (ICW – 1/25/02); Chris Hero vs. Hy-Zaya (Juggalo Championsh*t Wrestling); Amazing Red vs. Chris Devine (UCW); Spanky vs. American Dragon (TWA), Dylan Kage vs. Amazing Red vs. Quiet Storm (PWF); Low Ki vs. Xavier – Ladder Match (UCW); Christopher Daniels vs. Mr. Aguila (Essa Rios) (IWA-PR; 1999); IWA-PR Cruiserweight Battle Royal (Chris Daniels, Mr. Aguila, Super Crazy, Tajiri, and others; 1999); AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn (WWA), Reckless Youth vs. Taka Michinoku (IWA-PR; 1999), Amazing Red vs. Christopher Daniels (PWF), Amazing Red vs. Quiet Storm (PWF), Jay Briscoe vs. Quiet Storm (NYC’s PWA fed), Amazing Red vs. Chris Devine (PWF), Messiah vs. Nick Mondo (EPIC)

And pretty much any AJ Styles match in IWA-MS, MMWA, AAW, IPW Hardcore, Stampede, CAPW, IWC, NWA No Limits, MXPW, IWR, and also vs. Christopher Daniels in JAPW.

January 5, 2005

I'm guessing Low Ki vs. Super Dragon? Maybe not...

January 5, 2005

Could you review Tajiri vs. Low Ki and Jerry Lynn vs. Mysterio? Thanks.

LucharesuFan619 · January 5, 2005

I'm guessing Low Ki vs. Super Dragon? Maybe not...

I'll try to review all three of those within the next month. I do have Ki vs. Super Dragon from MPW in 2001.

LucharesuFan619 · January 5, 2005

Also I can review: anything from ROH Expect the Unexpected or MLW Wargames or ECW Living Dangerously 2000 or TNA Super X Cup 1 (the show with Teddy Hart's TNA debut), Vinny Massaro vs. Frankie Kazarian (California indy show), WCW Superbrawl Revenge Multi-person Cruiserweight Match, Chris Candido vs. Justice Pain (XPW), MMW vs. Hamrick & Smothers - Best 2/3 Falls (XPW), Shark Boy & Angel vs. Scorpio Sky & Quicksilver (XPW), Chris Chetti vs. Julio Dinero (XPW), Shane Douglas vs. Johnny Webb (Douglas makes his return to XPW for first time in two years; review would include Douglas' surprise entrance and extensive post-match shoot promo where he announces XPW is going to Philly - this footage was not included on the DVD and can only be found on the XPW TV version of this match, which is what I have), Supreme vs. Angel (XPW Exploding Ring Scaffold Match), Steve Rizzono vs. Crimson vs. Pogo the Clown (XPW; would include dropped in insights that Steve Rizzono gave me about that match, such as how he broke his jaw and some other stuff), Vic Grimes vs. Supreme (XPW Exploding Ring Match), or HC Loc vs. Delirious vs. Colt Cabana (IWA-MS). I promise to give a very lengthy and insightful review on the Mass Transit incident somewhere down the line, and in the more near future, a review of the New Jack Florida match (well, two minute slugfest) with the stabbing incident that recently got him arrested.

LucharesuFan619 · January 16, 2005

Saturday, January 16, 2005

Mr. J.L. (a.k.a. JERRY LYNN) vs. REY MYSTERIO Jr. – WCW Nitro (either 12/23/96 or 3/3/97…not sure which; They had three matches together on Nitro and I’m only able to eliminate one as a candidate, after reading OtherArena.com’s reviews.)

Review requested by Real F’n Show of TheSmartMarks.com Forums

PRE-MATCH: This version of the match has French commentary, which is kind of cool because I know French, so I can understand some of it. One of the commentators compares J.L. – who enters first – to the “Power Rangers.” Next out is your and my favorite wrestler ever, Rey Mysterio Jr.

THE MATCH: They get off to a great start, with J.L. using a submission-oriented attack and Rey showing off his quickness a bunch of split-second counters, the highlight of which being a roll-through/kipup/armdrag. As the third tieup commences, J.L.’s uses his strength advantage to combat Rey’s speed edge. Rey finds a brief opening with a sweet Tipup Tilt-a-Headscissors Takeover out of the corner, but seconds later gets dropkicked off of the apron and down to the concrete.

J.L.’s Pescada is dodged and Rey uncorks an Apron-Dive Huracanrana, followed moments later by a Springboard Leg Drop that forces J.L.’s throat down across the middle ring rope. After obtaining a 2 count, Rey finds his Irish whip reversed and attempts a Running Body-Climb-style Sunset Flip, only to be planted with a sweet Sitdown Powerbomb sweet counter by J.L., gaining the future-ECW Heavyweight Champ a deuce of his own. J.L. follows with a side backbreaker and absorbs a desperation Super Quebrada Press from Rey before refocusing on Rey’s back with a belly-to-back suplex and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker.

J.L. resorts to some more heel offense before Rey comes back with a Diving (from the top turnbuckle) Huracanrana and a spectacular Suicide Dive through the ropes. Back in the ring. J.L. dodges an attempted Springboard Sunset Flip and spikes Rey face-first into the mat for a 2 count, off of a La Majistral cradle. J.L. bodyslams Rey and climbs up top for the finish, but Rey crotches him and hits – get this – a SLINGSHOT Dragonsteiner (Rope Springboard Super Shoulder-Spin Huracanrana) for the victory.

WINNER: Rey Mysterio Jr., via pinfall (6:02)

Rey sells the back work and celebrates his victory, as replays of the Apron-Dive Rana and the finishing Dragonsteiner are aired.

POST-MATCH RAMBLE: This was the first match I’ve seen of Lynn under a mask against anyone besides [green]Sabu[/color], and seeing him paired vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. was quite intriguing. I can only wonder how great these guys could’ve done if they weren’t restricted by time or political-related influences. The French commentary was an interesting addition, but maybe that’s just because I speak some Spanish and understood part of what was said.

ANALYSIS: Most of this match, especially the beginning part, was an exhibition meant to show off Rey’s agility. Lynn did a tremendous job of modifying his style so that he reflected both a power advantage and – for a guy his size – unusual quickness. I will say that the number of huracanranas was a little bit absurd – I’m one of Rey’s biggest fans, so I’m more than aware that he has a number of variations of the move in his repertoire, but throwing out the apron-dive, flying, and super shoulder-spin versions in such little was a bit much (and Lynn’s sitdown powerbomb counter to one attempt).

The participants did try to build a bit of a story with Rey’s back being targeted, although that can only get you so far in 6:00, especially when you’re using the top rope as much as you use the ring ropes, as Rey typically would when this match took place. Hand-in-hand with this goes the lack of competitiveness, as Lynn obviously there to help make Rey look good, even if he did look very solid in his own right. For the most part, there also wasn’t too much in the form of transitioning other than Irish whip rope-runs. However, as a spotfest (which it was intended to be), this definitely delivered with a mix of good execution, a fast pace, and innovative offense. ¾*.

RECOMMENDATION[/b]: If you want to see Rey at his peak, this is for you, although it’s a far cry from his work with Juvi, Psichosis, Eddie Guerrero, etc., matches which combined his standard high-flying with commendable matwork and psychology. Lynn fans are also advised to stay far away from this and just about any other matches with Lynn as Mr. J.L. His ECW matches against Tajiri, Super Crazy, and Little Guido are much better representative of his ability to work well with smaller opponents, and he also had some surprisingly excellent showings in XPW vs. Jonny Storm, Psychosis, and Juventud Guerrera.

A.J. STYLES vs. TEDDY HART – World Pacific Championship Wrestling (Oahu, Hawaii; 1/31/04)

PRE-MATCH: A.J. is on his way to the ring, with his theme music playing. Teddy’s Eminem music hits and out in he comes in an expensive robe, calmly walking down the entrance ramp. Teddy climbs up onto the top turnbuckle and backflips into the ring.

THE MATCH: AJ fires up the crowd into clapping as he squares off with Teddy. Tieup –a struggle for control precedes a break. Then some face-to-face trash-talking, with AJ pushing Teddy away and Teddy hesitating before stepping back. AJ: “You ain’t gonna do nothin’.” You’re gonna take that from him, Teddy? Another squareoff and tieup leads to some headlock and armringer reversals, with Teddy trying to kip up to his feet from the mat, only for AJ to block it and revert to a grounded side headlock. After some headscissors and headlock reversals, they climb to their feet and AJ ends up hitting his leapfrog/dropdown dropkick combo.

Teddy’s running corner shoulderblock is dodged and – as a result – he crashes shoulder-first into the ringpost, but pushes AJ down to ringside as he’s trying to springboard in from the apron. After shaking off the hard fall, AJ dodges a catapult somersault plancha and Teddy feels the concrete for himself – “Sh*t! Oh, sh*t!” There are plenty of kids in this crowd, Teddy, and you call yourself a role model? AJ’s Pescada misses the mark, but he smartly lands on his feet and follows up with a Leaping Roundhouse Kick, which sets Teddy up for a Running No-Rope Leaping Somersault Plancha.

Back in the ring, AJ bodyslams Teddy and delivers a leaping knee drop to the face off of the ropes for a 2 count, but a few moments later finds himself on the wrong end of a Teddy comeback. Several punches and a stiff uppercut are followed by a pair of near falls for Teddy, off of a Release Backdrop Suplex into Catching (Midair) Bulldog (either the Dungeon Bomb or the Hart Rate, depending on what mood Eric Gargiulo is in while on CZW commentary) and a Face-First (Inverted Torture Rack-style) Samoan Drop. AJ scouts another Torture Rack variation and tries the Styles Clash[/color], but Teddy is still to fresh and back body drops out, before demonstrating tremendous balance with a Moonsault Press off of the middle of the top ring rope (which he gets a 2 count from).

Teddy then reverts to submission offense, using his awesome, rapid-fire double-rotation Fujiawara Armbar takedown. However, AJ is eventually able to roll through and climb to his feet (although he does do a great job selling it while on the mat) before fighting out of an armbar via some forearms. He runs into a very awkward-looking back elbow, which Teddy follows with a Standing 270° Swinging DDT and a backdrop suplex for a pair of deuces. AJ finally comes back for the first time in a couple minutes, ducking a lariat and hitting the Quebraeda Inverted DDT.

That prompts the referee to begin the 10 count as both guys struggle to their feet. AJ unloads on Teddy with a beautiful 360° Spinning Calf Kick (Booker T-style), a mega lariat (which turns him inside-out), and a big snap-style powerslam, getting another deuce off of that triad of moves. Teddy returns the favor with his Flying Implant DDT, but after getting his own near fall, walks right into a huge forearm smash. AJ gets 2 from the Styles Suplex Special (Backwards Rolling German Suplex into either a Belly-to-Back Sitdown Inverted Powerbomb or a Sitout Inverted Spinebuster, depending on what you want to call it), but Teddy scouts his Huracanrana attempt and Powerbombs him into the mat.

The referee again begins the 10 count before Teddy recovers and attempts the Open Hart Surgery (Flying Somersault Senton with a simultaneous 450º Horizontal Corkscrew, or – more simply – a Flying 720º Corkscrew Somersault Senton). After rolling away, AJ climbs up top and gets crotched, but ends up countering a Super Huracanrana attempt into a Super Styles Clash (off of the middle turnbuckle) for the 3 count and victory. An exhausted AJ has his hand raised and we cut out.

WINNER: AJ Styles, via pinfall (12:06)

POST-MATCH RAMBLE: Well, that commentary was…different, as you’ll soon find out. They really could’ve used better lighting here and the shaky camerawork didn’t help matters, either.

THE COMMENTARY: Supposedly, there were two men on commentary, although a couple people have told me that WPCW just had one guy play two different commentators. Either way, the commentary here was really cheap. One of the commentators (or one of his voices, depending on what you believe) sounded like legendary So-Cal manager/commentator/promoter Ron Hed after having a couple too many Heinekens and the other person/voice resembled a coked up (although sober, at least) version of Ron Hed after having a couple too many Heinekens.

The coked up commentator mentioned early in that AJ has the experience edge, which I’m not sure is true. AJ started in ’98 or ’99 and I know Teddy started no later than ’98, and I’m pretty sure a little bit earlier than that. Whoever the voices came from, they were both really freaky, sounding like they had a clothes pin or whatever you call it on their noses. At one point they actually compared the match to Steamboat vs. Savage from WrestleMania III, which is an absolute atrocity.

ANALYSIS: Unfortunately, this was quite a letdown for me, and most fans of these two guys would likely feel the same way. Was it a bad match? Definitely not, but it was nowhere near what these two are capable of, let alone what they should be capable of with each other. The believability and the execution of the moves needed improvement at some points in the match, as there were two or three instances of apparent miscommunication. As annoying as the commentators were, I do admit that they tried to play this match off as something special, but their attempts were in vain, as neither guy delivered here like he should have.

The opening matwork was solid, but after that, the transitioning in between the moves was really lacking (and both guys were guilty of this). Trying the dives out of the ring was also not too smart of an idea because that sequence meant nothing so early into the match. From then on, it was really just hit and miss. There were quite a few high-impact moves, but in between each one it was pretty empty. AJ is a tremendous scientific wrestler and Teddy isn’t bad himself in that aspect of his game, so I was disappointed that they didn’t stretch their horizons and engage in some more move reversal and Irish whip counter sequences.

On the flip side, I thought that the many near falls helped the match’s quality and assisted in building some drama, but from a psychology standpoint, this is a far cry from what one usually sees from Teddy and especially AJ. One aspect that helped a little bit was that they built up the effect of strikes (such as uppercuts, lariats, and especially forearms), as it was that which enabled to hit the Backdrop Suplex turned bulldog and AJ to hit the Styles Suplex Special, but that could only help so much with this match. Also, I would’ve preferred a more creative finish than the ‘Rana-turned-Styles Clash that I’ve seen so often in AJ matches.

Overall, for any two up-and-coming indy workers, this would’ve been something to be relatively proud of, but considering the accomplishments of AJ Styles and Teddy Hart and also keeping in mind how much Teddy has praised AJ’s ability, this was a far cry from the best efforts that these two wrestlers have previously put out and could definitely be deemed a considerable letdown.

It’s weird because I was let down by both this and Teddy vs. “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson (another top-tier indy talent) from MLW (although I haven’t seen is match with Low Ki yet). It’s as if Teddy can work tremendously well with everybody but the absolute top echelon of the U.S. indy circuit. Then again, the Danielson match wasn’t given all that much time, whereas this match was provided more than enough time to sufficiently develop and for the most part failed in its attempt.

Being in Hawaii, it’s possible that they were trying to cater to a different audience, but even with that in mind, I don’t know why they worked the match so poorly from a psychological perspective. This wasn’t even a traditional, 70’s-or-80’s-type match – at least those would develop drama based on the heel gradually pulling apart his more popular opponent. Here there was no face and there was no heel, two roles that should’ve been defined minutes into the match. *3/4. Seriously, no higher than that, in my opinion – not even **.

RECOMMENDATION: The really enthusiastic followers of either AJ or Teddy may want to seek out this match, but it doesn’t live up to its on-paper appeal. I’d have to encourage Teddy fans to pick this up more than I would AJ fans because Teddy hasn’t had a whole lot of matches against U.S. wrestlers, while AJ has had plenty. However, even fans of Teddy should first be sure to check out his matches with Juventud Guerrera, Homicide, and Trent Acid because those are all much better showings than this one.

ERIC YOUNG & SONJAY DUTT vs. EL FUEGO & JERELLE CLARK – NWA Total Nonstop Action PPV #66 (taped/aired 10/15/03 from the Nashville Fairgrounds/TNA Asylum in Nashville, TN)

PRE-MATCH: Young & Dutt enter first, followed by their opponents. Young – best known for his work in Scott D’Amore’s Border City Wrestling out of Canada – is the only participant in this match with any TNA experience under his belt, as all of the others are making their debuts for the promotion.

THE MATCH: Sonjay and Clark start things off with an exchange of inverted facelocks before moving onto an Irish whip sequence. After some hiptoss attempts are blocked, Clark executes a nice-looking Rocker Dropper-style Huracanrana. Sonjay, however, manages to land on his feet out of a hiptoss and executes a Tilt-a-Whirl Headscissors Takeover, followed up by an armdrag and a dropkick. Each participant tags out and their respective partners enter the ring.

Young absorbs a power display (knee lift, armringer, and chop) from Fuego before cartwheeling and kipping up while having his hand in a wristlock. Young throws a dropkick before they have some minor miscommunication issues for a couple of seconds, before getting back on top of things as Young delivers a Belly-to-Belly (non-overhead) Suplex. Some heel interference by Clark enables Fuego to recapture the advantage with a Divorce Court (armbar) DDT from Fuego and a double-team Assisted Sliced Bread #2 (Dunn & Marcos’ Unskinny Bop)! Niiiiice…

Young is relentless and tries to fight back, but falls victim to not only a Pumphandle Overhead Suplex (from Clark), but a f*cking Handspring/Backspring (Tajiri-style) 360° Horizontal Corkscrew Backflip Splash! Young escapes at 2, prompting Clark to tag out and Fuego to unleash an innovative Hammerlock Backdrop Suplex, dropping Young’s body right on top of his own hand (ouch)! Clark’s back in and Young’s arm becomes the target of focus, as Clark utilizes an armbar snapmare and a jujigatame.

Young eventually fights to his feet and uses one arm to lift Clark’s entire body onto his shoulders. He then goes so far as to lift Young off of the top turnbuckle and also onto his shoulders, while still holding Clark. So, now Young has two guys on his shoulders at one time and proceeds to drop them both at the same time with a Death Valley Driver!!! That’s gotta be a first. The crowd rallies for Young as he crawls to his corner, but Fuego prevents a tag by knocking Sonjay off of the apron.

Finally, in a really anti-climactic moment, Young flips out of a backdrop suplex, crawls through Fuego’s feet, and tags in Sonjay, who enters with a Missile Dropkick that connects with both of his opponents. Sonjay lands on the apron off of a back body drop and re-enters with a Catapult Somersault Huracanrana on Clark before spiking Fuego with a beautiful Tilt-a-Whirl 360° Swinging DDT!

Clark trips Sonjay as he’s about to dive onto a ringside Fuego, but Young covers for his opponent and hits a baseball slide swinging neckbreaker on Fuego. The heels take out Young with an Asai Moonsault (Clark) and a Running Catapult Suicide Dive over the ropes (Fuego), only to fall victim to a Running No-Handed Springboard 360° Horizontal Corkscrew Crossbody from Sonjay!

Back in the ring, Clark blocks a punch from Young and snapmares him into position for the…FLYING 630° a.k.a. 450° SENTON~!!! Delayed cover, allowing Sonjay to break it up at 2 and deliver the Calcut Cut (Running Knee Smash to face…DDT onto the knee…Leaping Kneckbreaker combo) for his own deuce (Fuego saves). Fuego scouts Sonjay’s second attempt at a Tilt-a-Whirl Swinging DDT and sits him up top, with his back facing the ring. Sonjay escapes the Super Backdrop Suplex attempt and debuts the Hindy Press (Phoenix Splash) in TNA for the 3 count, as Clark is still busy recovering his wind (as is Young, actually).

WINNERS: Eric Young & Sonjay Dutt (Dutt pins El Fuego) – 8:02

POST-MATCH RAMBLE: Clark looks like and wrestles like a more athletic version of “The Shooter” Tony Jones. He surprised me with his mat-oriented offense, as – before viewing this match – I was under the assumption that he was primarily a “spot worker” (and he does have some AWESOME spots). Sonjay looked damn good in his TNA debut, but most of all I was happy to see how into the match the commentators were.

Even before the ring entrances had been completed, Mike Tenay was analyzing each guy’s talents and even had an interesting story about El Fuego, saying how he trained in Canada alongside of Edge & Christian. Tenay also gets points for mentioning “the CSWF” (Cyber Space Wrestling Federation) out of New Jersey, saying how that’s where he got his first look at Sonjay’s work, AND for mentioning Sonjay’s nickname of “The Original Playa from the Himalaya.”

ANALYSIS: I liked that they developed a solid story (with Young being isolated and his arm being gradually weakened) in addition to some really innovative spots. Going hand-in-hand with the story is the fact that they actually developed heel/face personas here, which you normally wouldn’t expect from such a short match. The story itself didn’t go all that far, but then again there’s only so much you can do in 8 minutes, and TNA’s willingness to give these relative no-namers 8 minutes in the ring was pretty generous.

Just about every move was unusually crisp and there were almost no botched spots, which is something to be quite proud of considering the relative lack of experience that these four possess, AND they’re being on a platform as grand as TNA. The matwork had a decent spin added to it, thanks to the inverted facelocks exchange between Dutt and Clark and Young’s lucha-style cartwheels. As I mentioned in the play-by-play, I really disliked the anti-climactic nature of Young’s eventual tag to Sonjay. That – along with Clark’s preceding the 630° with a simple snapmare and Young waiting for 10+ seconds for him to climb up top, without making any attempt to move away – will bring this match down a small notch.

Overall, though, this is definitely entertaining to watch and it was different from the standard X-Division action in that it incorporated a story and they used spots that you don’t see every other match (most notably the Sliced Bread #2, the Corkscrew Backflip Splash, the Double-Death Valley Driver). All four guys looked at the very least solid in this match, which made for an entertaining 8 minutes of creative and surprisingly logical action (in terms of the psychology aspect). *3/4.

RECOMMENDATION: Certainly worth checking out if you’re an X-Division fan. For Sonjay fans, there’s better stuff of his out there, seeing as how he wasn’t the primary focus here. That’s not so say this is a bad match, by any means – it was definitely different than the traditional X-Division match TNA offered up around this time, in terms of the spots it utilized.

JoeDirt · January 16, 2005

Excellent reviews. I had no idea Styles wrestled Teddy in Hawaii.

King Cucaracha · January 16, 2005

Agreed, great stuff.

If you're taking requests, Red vs. Slim J from Expect The Unexpected would be much appreciated.

Jingus · January 16, 2005

Hayabusa & Tommy Dreamer vs. Rob Van Dam & Sabu (FMW)

When did this match happen? I've never even heard of it before.

It’s weird because I was let down by both this and Teddy vs. “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson (another top-tier indy talent) from MLW

I agree with you on Teddy's matches with Styles being disappointing (there were actually two of them on that Hawaii tour, though the second match was more or less identical to the first) but why didn't you like the Hart/Danielson match? I thought it was a really fun bout that showed both men's strengths quite well, plus had one of the cooler finishing sequences that I've seen in a while.

I certainly wouldn't mind reading a review of any of these:

Vic Grimes vs. Erin O' Grady (Crash Holly) (7/18/97) (the legendary streetfight)

Zandig vs. Wifebeater (Stretched in Smyrna bloodbath)

CM Punk vs. Chris Hero (highly acclaimed TLC Match)

CM Punk vs. Chris Hero (the amazing 93 Minute Match)

JC Bailey vs. B-Boy (2004 Ted Petty Invitational Tournament)

Air Raid (AJ Styles & Air Paris) vs. The Jung Dragons

Mr. JL vs. Sabu (Halloween Havoc ’95)

AJ Styles vs. Low Ki (Zero-One)

Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (Japan; 6-4-82)

Samoa Joe vs. Tommy Dreamer

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mick Foley (HUSTLE)

any match with Teddy Hart or Jack Evans

LucharesuFan619 · January 17, 2005

What? Styles worked Iaukea and Teddy worked Kainama or someone like that (or maybe it was the other way around) on their only other matches on the tour...There were only two matches per guy on the tour, from everything I've ever seen. I'm 99% they only worked each other once.

FMW (Saturday, 12/12/98; Korakuen Hall): Sabu & RVD def. Hayabusa & Tommy Dreamer (RVD pins Dreamer) – 17:27

why didn't you like the Hart/Danielson match? I thought it was a really fun bout that showed both men's strengths quite well, plus had one of the cooler finishing sequences that I've seen in a while.

Honestly, I haven't watched Teddy/AmDrag in many months. I only watched it like twice when I first got it, but I remember being let down by it. I don't remember it being crappy in any way, just nowhere near what I was expecting.

CM Punk vs. Chris Hero (the amazing 93 Minute Match)

Unfortunately, that's way too long and I don't wanna have to review that. JC Bailey/B-Boy I lent to a friend, so I don't have that for a little bit, so it'll have to wait. The other ones I'll be more than happy to review. I've actually written the PBP for Grimes/O'Grady, so I'll just have to write the analysis, so I'll get that done sooner rather than later. The other stuff you mentioned I'll focus on, too.

Red vs. Slim J from Expect The Unexpected

Sure thing.

Jingus · January 18, 2005

What? Styles worked Iaukea and Teddy worked Kainama or someone like that (or maybe it was the other way around) on their only other matches on the tour...There were only two matches per guy on the tour, from everything I've ever seen. I'm 99% they only worked each other once.

I've seen both matches on video, so I know they happened. Maybe the other one was at a show they just didn't tape for some reason.

Unfortunately, that's way too long and I don't wanna have to review that.

You don't have to do a full move-by-move review of all of these, ya know. Especially since half of the 93-minuter is spent lying around on the mat in holds.

Jingus · January 18, 2005

I'm currently going on a drunken tape-watching spree, and saw the Hart/Danielson match again, and noticed something for the first time...

WHY THE FUCK DOES AMERICAN DRAGON HAVE AN ERECTION?!

Seriously, watch the match, around the face-first samoan drop spot, Danielson clearly has a boner, and in fact spends quite a while trying to cover it with his hands while he's "selling". This is even more disturbing cuz this comes shortly after he rips Ted's pants off for no damn reason. Is Danielson, how you say, swinging for the other side?

LucharesuFan619 · January 19, 2005

I'll watch it ASAP...This sounds hilarious.

I've seen both matches on video, so I know they happened. Maybe the other one was at a show they just didn't tape for some reason.

Interesting. Very. Do the arenas look the same? Is there commentary for both matches or only one?

OaO Thread: LucharesuFan619's Random Match Reviews

Recommended Posts

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The Mandarin 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Guest bort

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

JoeDirt 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Guest Real F'n Show

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Dark Age 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Guest Evenflow4:20

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

King Cucaracha 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

LucharesuFan619 0

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Guest Real F'n Show

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Guest Real F'n Show

Share this post