GSR

If first impressions are anything to go by, Oba doesn’t have a chance here. Lots of scrambling. Otsuka with an Anaconda roll into a crossface variation however they’re practically in the ropes and it’s an easy break for Oba. Oba grabs a go behind and gets the takedown. He’s trying for the armbar but Otsuka is doing an easy job of blocking it. There’s more scrambling and this time Oba looks for an ankle lock, although Otsuka still doesn’t appear to be in much trouble. He pulls him to the centre of the ring where they both battle over submissions. Knee bar by Otsuka. An Oba armbar forces Otsuka to go to the ropes for the first time. Powerbomb, out of nowhere, into a heel hook. Oba gets to his knees and as he does so, Otsuka dismissively kicks him in the face. That fires Oba up who shows a fair bit of fighting spirit as the two trade slaps. An open hander puts the youngster down and despite his heart he taps to a Kimura, Otsuka trapping his legs at the same time so there was nowhere for him to go. Otsuka has some respectful parting words for Oba, leaving him to take the applause from the fans.

No ring, just ten mattresses placed on the concrete in front of stage where some band are preparing for a later gig. Disappointingly the Wolf isn’t someone dressed as a Wolf, in fact he looks nothing like one at all, wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a Lucha mask. Wolf throws some karate kicks that are not very good. There’s a young kid on a bike who looks completely befuddled by what’s going on as they fight their way through some of the stalls. Pogo removes his boots to waffle the Wolf with before handing them off to a fan, choosing to wrestle the remainder of this barefoot. The camera work isn’t great here. Pogo starts running, presumably chasing after Wolf, bypassing a bunch of policemen as he does so. Actually, I have no idea where Wolf is, perhaps Pogo just fancies a run? Oh, he was trying to run away from him as Wolf is behind him. There’s more walking and running going on than there is wrestling. Pogo slams Wolf’s head into a car bonnet, the Wolf having removed his mask by this point. The door to the house in which the car is park in front of gets opened, and if that is the owner’s car, heaven knows what she must be thinking, especially when Wolf climbs on the roof and jumps up and down on it. Pogo slams the car door into Wolf’s leg and sets off on another jog. He borrows a bicycle from someone and begins to ride that. Unless Wolf grabs one he has no chance of keeping up with him. Wolf does catch up with him, although ends up getting powerbombed in the doorway of an office block. They do briefly enter the building before Pogo takes off on that bike again. He stops off at a convenience store for some liquid refreshments, dowsing what he doesn’t finish over the Wolf. Wolf runs off ahead, remembering to stop at a zebra crossing, Pogo in pursuit on his bike. I’m at a loss as to what’s going on. They enter a train station. Maybe Pogo is going to throw him into an onrushing train? Haha, he is! Well at least he’s pretending that’s what he’s trying to do. When that doesn’t work, Pogo runs back up the steps and out onto the main street, leaving Wolf, knowing full well that he’ll be following him. Pogo gets on another bike and it’s like Wolf can’t be assed to chase him any more, begrudgingly doing so. After all that travelling they return back to where they started, on those grotty mattresses. Pogo blows fire at Wolf, who literally has to stand there and wait while Pogo is passed the lighter fluid and all the implements. Two piledrivers on the mattress, Pogo lifting Wolf up off that mat at two both times, followed by a third on the concrete. This time he shows mercy to his opponent letting the official count the three. Some good old Indy sleeze! Only in Japan and weirder than any Survival Tobita match.

Both a title belt and a bunch of bananas are hung from the ceiling underneath a ladder, barbed wire board and panes of glass in each corner of the ring. They do a fair bit of wrestling at the beginning, which is rough, but different, Zandig even cart wheeling over a Kasai drop down. Fuck, it even ends in a stand-off! Enough of that malarkey as Kasai goes for a chair. He takes the first bump into the barbed wire board, backdropped into it, after charging at Zandig who had just put on the breaks when he was whipped towards it. Argh, this is clipped. Kasai gets bodyslammed onto the board, however Zandig takes an age climbing the turnbuckles and talking to the fans and ends up hung upside down in the Tree of Woe. A pane of glass is placed in front of him, which Kasai running dropkicks, the glass shattering and flying everywhere. Implant DDT. Zandig blocks the German and hits a double arm suplex. Delayed superplex, Zandig rolling through, holding on and straight into a Falcon Arrow for a near fall. Kasai positions a ladder in the centre of the ring and starts to climb. This is even slower than Zandig earlier and naturally he gets caught and bombed to the mat. Zandig bridges a barbed wire board between two chairs and then places a pane of glass a level above it, having used his bloodied forehead to draw cross on the glass. Kasai counters a discus lariat with a DDT and starts celebrating, not realizing though that Zandig is right back up. After taking Kasai’s head off with a clothesline, Zandig goes back to his furniture arranging, setting a table across the top turnbuckle in the corner. He gives Kasai a shove up onto it and then back suplexes him through the glass and into the barbed wire. Christ, Kasai’s back is a mess. Both climb up either side of the ladder, Zandig grabbing the belt at the same time Kasai grabs the bananas. I thought this was a draw, but according to cagematch Zandig came out on top. No idea how I would have felt had I watched the full unedited version, but in clipped form I enjoyed this.

That is some gut on the chap refereeing this. It looks like there are stipulations in place as there are light tubes on the apron and a barbed wire covered table at ringside. They’re not hanging around or teasing much here, for after a few air shots with those light tubes, Wifebeater backdrops Zandig out onto the apron and breaks a light tube over him. Zandig responds with a shot of his own, he then suplexes Beater from inside the ring dropping him through the barbed wire covered table. Beater is already bleeding as Zandig digs some broken glass into his forehead. Back inside Beater catches Zandig with a powerslam followed by a punch to the nuts. Zandig avoids the middle rope fist drop and hits his discus lariat. He rolls through on the superplex, holding on and front suplexing Beater across the top rope. Guillotine legdrop. With Beater draped over the edge of the apron Zandig places a chair over his face and drops another leg. There is some masked Luchador seconding Zandig here and helping him out. Sit-out press slam onto some light tubes. Flying elbow drop that Beater kicks out of. Zandig bridges yet more light tubes between a couple of chairs and sets Beater for another superplex when El Masko (not his name, I have no idea who he is) turns on him, blasting him with a light tube. Choke-N-Stein from the middle through the contraption for a near fall. Beater sets up a barbed wire board upright in the corner although ends up being powerbombed through it, after a somewhat of a struggle on Zandig’s part. As Masko tries to interfere again, Zandig grabs a hold and presses him overhead. Wide open, Beater swings a bunch of light tubes into his chest. Masko falls on top, Beater grabs the legs, flips over and with two men covering him Zandig is unable to kick out. The masked man does get some comeuppance, Zandig chasing after him to the back of the arena where he breaks a light tube over him. Zandig worked hard here and I was surprised at how much of the match he took, and also that he kicked out of the middle rope Choke-N-Stein. Decent offering and it didn’t feel as generic as I thought it might have going in. Possibly a case of showing the Mexican crowd what they’re capable of and that they weren’t prepared to take things easy.

Held outdoors and judging by the background this looks to be the same venue as that crazy Zandig & Gage vs Matsunaga & Kasai Big Japan tag from August last year. Zandig starts with some bad looking armdrags which seemed to surprise Dahmer who says “What the hell was that?” I didn’t expect this to be a wrestling orientated match but it is at the moment. Dahmer backdrops Zandig over the top to the outside, although he soon joins him, pulled to the floor. They go on a lengthy walk and this looks preposterous, there’s no fight from Dahmer, he’s just walking next to Zandig. Agh, they’re back at the CZW truck, Dahmer reversing the whip and sending Zandig flying into it. I’ll give him the benefit that he was playing possum and it was some master plan on his part! Dahmer grabs himself some light tubes which he breaks over Zandig’s head. He shouts “U-S-A number one!” which I always think is a daft thing to do when you’re in there against a fellow countryman. Zandig now with a reversal and Dahmer takes a trip into the truck. He runs a table into Dahmer’s head and then positions it on the ground. Fearless Zandig climbs to a pretty high balcony and jumps off, putting Dahmer, who is being held in place by Jun Kasai, through the table. They take the lengthy walk back to the ring as the crowd chant “C-Z-Dub”. Falcon Arrow for a near fall. Discus lariat, although Zandig lifts Dahmer’s shoulders up at the count of two. He’s passed some light tubes and sets Dahmer up for the Mutha F’N’ bomb, but takes off his shirt first, a clear sign that he’s taking the bump into the tubes. Which he does. Spinebuster by Dahmer onto the broken glass. Zandig connects on a second Discus lariat and doesn’t even think about picking him up this time, getting the three and the win. Going by the official time on screen this looks to have been slightly clipped, though I’m pretty certain we missed nothing and think where it was clipped was when Dahmer collected the light tubes after reversing the whip into the truck.

Joined in progress and with Konnan in charge. Not for long though as Sierra low blows him. He locks on a crossface, although compare this to how Chris Benoit applies the same hold. ‘The Crippler’s’ looks like it hurts a ton with the way he wrenches you back and the torque he applies, this one, with how they’re both practically lay flat out on the mat, doesn’t one bit. Anyway, Konnan reaches the ropes for the break. Sierra’s knife edge chops fire K-Dawg up and he switches positions with him to unload with some of his own. He ducks to the outside to grab a flag to use but is met out there by his opponent. Back inside, Sierra is too slow climbing the turnbuckles and gets grabbed and slammed to the mat. Ref bump on a leapfrog spot. Konnan locks in the Tequila Sunrise submission, however lets go of the hold when he sees Fantasy, Sierra’s valet, entering the ring. Tequila Sunrise on Fantasy! Sierra picks up Fantasy’s purse that she had dropped and clobbers Konnan in the head with it. He makes the cover and picks up the three, the ref having missed all the shenanigans that led up to it. The kind of match that wouldn’t have looked out of place on WCW TV in the mid-90s. Only there is not a hope in hell’s chance Sierra would’ve got the win if it had have done!

The action is joined in progress, although it looks to be from a different source than the majority of WWC that we have. Abby is laid on the floor as we join, bleeding like a stuffed pig with Nene beating and choking him. There are puddles of his blood on the floor and it’s pretty disgusting. Two minutes in he finally gets up to his feet. They brawl their way around ringside and as Abby starts to swing a baseball bat, someone, who I can only presume is Nene’s second, powders him. That stops the Butcher, although only briefly, and it’s not too long before he’s back on top, whipping Nene with a chain. Abby pulls out a fork, jabbing it into Nene’s forehead busting him open. The Butcher’s second heads off to the dressing room, returning with a guitar. That gets broken over Nene’s head and then what remains, over the referees. With his opponent taken out of the game he makes a beeline for that second who powdered him earlier, jabbing and bloodying him with the fork. Nene and his buddy have had enough, deciding to retreat to the back, Abby celebrating the moral victory by dancing away and playing a baseball bat like it’s a guitar! Bloody and one of the better Abby efforts that I’ve watched in this project.

I thought this was going to be interesting, Rampage Jackson in a worked environment, however everything online indicates that this is a shoot and it’s counted in Rampage’s MMA won/loss record. Rampage is wearing the red, white and blue shorts, like he’s Apollo Creed in Rocky IV. Yup, this is being fought under Pride Rules, a ten-minute first round followed by, should they be needed, two five minute rounds. Rampage stuffs the initial takedown attempt. Each throws knees from the clinch, Rampage eventually able to get the takedown. He lands some blows from inside the guard but isn’t really doing much damage. Jackson powerbombs his way out of the armbar and gestures for Otsuka to get back to his feet where he has the advantage. Another takedown by him, however Otsuka ends up on top looking for a Kimura. He gives up on that and is just lay on Rampage, not doing anything. Rampage powers him off and unloads as the fight briefly comes to life. They’re in the clinch against the ropes and it’s fairly dull with not much happening. A stray knee catches Otsuka in the family jewels and Rampage is apologetic to the crowd, trying to explain to them it was an accident. Touch of gloves on the restart. Jackson catches a kick and drops Otsuka. A big takedown by him. Rampage controls top position, throwing some knees and elbows. He’s in half guard and this could be ugly for Otsuka as he starts to rain down punches. The bell ends the first with Rampage firmly in control Round two opens and Rampage has seemed to have found his range. Another big takedown but Otsuka is quickly to his feet. Jeez, a second errant knee and Otsuka takes more time out to recover. It looks like the ref gives Rampage an unofficial warning saying “no more”. More clinch work with not much going on. Eventually the ref steps into separate them and Otsuka starts swinging wildly, before we get yet another clinch. Big slam awakens everyone, Otsuka getting dumped on his head. Rampage throws a couple of knees and Otsuka’s wincing face tells it’s own story. Rampage gets the mount and he’s busted Otsuka’s nose. I was going to say that the bell saved Otsuka there, but the fight’s been stopped at the end of the round. Overall a pretty dull fight with lots of time taken up with not a lot going on. Things came to life at the end of the first after the initial low blow and again towards the end of the second following the big slam. In all honesty though I think Otsuka was in over his head here.

It’s like Caras is trying to confuse Murakami with his Lucha forward rolls and bouncing off the ropes. He throws a dropkick which is just weird in this environment. Lovely belly to back suplex followed by a gut wrench. He gets the mount and starts paint brushing Murakami before applying an armbar, Kaz going to the ropes. Caras kicks him to the floor and Kaz has a look on his face that says “I’m going to fuck you up”. On getting back into the ring that’s exactly what he does with punches, kicks and knee strikes, the cumulative effect of those dropping Dos. Murakami goes for the mask, eventually pulling it off Caras’ head on the outside. An official and a second are immediately covering Dos’ face as he puts the mask back on. That’s riled Caras up and he lands another of those textbook belly to bellys. Running flying headbutt straight out of Lucha Libre. Kaz fires back with more kicks, backing Caras into the corner where he again starts ripping at his mask. When the referee tries to pull him off, Murakami gives him a Judo throw for the DQ. A bunch of seconds then hop into the ring to separate the pair. I just found this bizarre, what with Caras doing this Lucha Libre pro wrestling stuff in a shoot style promotion. His belly to back suplexes are very nice though so I can give him that. The match was nothing and Murakami was clearly pulling his stuff, bar that one punt to the face.

Rutten is mixing up all sorts of kicks and after a high left kick to the head, Malenko just about manages to stay on his feet. Not wanting to be caught again, he immediately looks for a takedown but Bas ends up on top, firing off some liver punches. Malenko escapes the heel hook and then both battle over a foot lock before returning to their feet. More kicks from ‘El Guapo’ and Malenko has got game I’ll give him that. He initiates another takedown, however like last time Rutten ends up on top inside his guard. It looks like he may have been warned over some headbutts to the chest so throws some elbows instead. Malenko tries a submission which I don’t recognise, although it’s enough to force Rutten to go to the ropes for the break and the stand up. A great belly to belly by Malenko who does finally end up on top and in the mount. Cross armbar and an ‘El Guapo’ at full stretch just about reaches the ropes, it’s literally the tips of his toes touching them. A head kick drops Malenko, who wants to fight on but is getting a mandatory count. Bas with a double leg and he locks in a triangle, Malenko standing on his face to get him to release the hold. Malenko gets dropped a second time. Kimura submission attempt, Malenko rolling through in order to get to the ropes. Rutten tees off standing, really opening up on his opponent. Knees to the mid-section have Malenko rocked, he walks into a kick to the bread basked which takes his breath away and the ref steps in to call a halt to things. A good, convincing, shoot style fight. Bas is great, highly believable, with a quality array of strikes, both kicks and punches, while Malenko showed game throughout. He almost pulled the upset after that gorgeous belly to belly but in the end didn’t have enough for the former UFC Heavyweight champion.

Wow! A WWC match not actually joined in progress, Konnan cutting a pre-match promo and running off his catchphrase. He slides into the ring and the Barbarian is instantly on him, Barb showing some unexpected aggression. K-Dawg reverses the Irish whip and the ring is just about big enough for him to execute his forward roll into a clothesline. After a facebuster the Barbarian takes to the grass, pulling Konnan out with him. They fight over to a staged area, Barbarian slamming K-Dawg on the wood. He picks up what looks like the lid of a cooler, but Konnan dropkicks that into his face. The make their way back to the ring where Barb slaps on a nerve hold. Konnan fires off some elbows to escape only to run into a scoop powerslam. A big boot and Barb steps to the outside again, this time to grab some title belt. Konnan’s second tries to pull it away from him, but he ends up getting booted as the two play Tug of War over the strap. Back inside Konnan dropkicks the belt into Barb’s face (so pretty much the exact same thing they did earlier on the stage) and then schoolboys him for the win. Surprisingly not bad in patches and decent up until the nerve hold. Like Konnan’s match with Fidel Sierra, this too had a WCW TV feel about it.

We join the footage with Tobita obliterating watermelons and completely oblivious to his onrushing opponent who breaks a watermelon over his head. Watermelon Head has a look of Hallowicked about him with that mask. Lots of throwing of watermelons lots of Tobita being bashed over the head with whatever object Head can find. Tobita gets shoved into a fridge at one point. I do wonder what the families must think when they look out of their windows and see what’s going on in the waste ground behind them. Head chokes Tobita with some foliage and runs him over with a wheelbarrow. After trying to shove watermelon down Tobita’s throat, Head slaps on an abdominal stretch, which is completely bizarre and out of place given what we’ve witnessed so far. Head throws a couple of watermelons up in the air and tries to hit them at Tobita but misses both times (like he’s hitting a baseball). He then disappears into the plants, attempting to camouflage himself from Tobita. They briefly return to the tarpaulin that acts as the ring before going off on their travels again. Hard chair shot by Head. Tobita fires back with a headbutt as the two trade blows. Head uses a watermelon like a bowling ball, rolling it into the laid out Tobita’s groin. He throws a watermelon at Tobita, which is caught and thrown back at him. This is bonkers even for a Tobita match! Head throws watermelons at the fans and the cameraman. Piledriver on the floor by Tobita for a near fall. Head collects all remaining watermelons and gives Tobita a Michinoku Driver onto them. Amazingly Tobita can’t kick out of the cover and Head picks up what has to be considered the upset win. Bonkers, barmy, crazy and all sorts of weird. But bloody entertaining!

Candido impressed enough on the previous tour to be invited back which is cool to see. A Casas dropkick sends Samurai to the outside, immediately following the dropkick with a pescado. Samurai manages to block being suplexed to the floor and instead suplexes Casas from the apron into the ring. Each makes a tag and Makabe and Candido slap the snot out of each other. Candido stops Makabe with an eye poke and then stuffs him with a pair of running clotheslines in the corner. As he goes for a third, Makabe runs out and levels him with one of his own. A boot to the gut stops him in his tracks though. The Candido delayed suplex. Now Casas and Makabe trade slaps and this is great. Makabe catches him on the middle rope crossbody but then misses the elbow drop. Candido and Samurai do the same spot from their Super Junior singles match, where after an initial successful bodyscissors into a roll up, Candido goes for it again only to be German’d. As Casas climbs the turnbuckles, Samurai gives him a shove to the floor, the two having a stand off as with Samurai perched ready to take flight, Casas challenges him to just try it and jump. Samurai holds on to block the Candido top rope rana and then nails him with a missile dropkick. Top rope rana by Samurai bringing Casas is in to save his partner. Candido ducks the clothesline and launches Samurai with a release belly to back. Reverse DDT on Casas. Regular DDT and he finally tags out to Makabe. Casas blocks the German, fires off some elbows and then dropkicks Makabe in the knees. Magistral cradle and now it’s Samurai who is having to save their partner. Middle rope senton but Makabe kicks out at one which seems to surprise Casas. He gestures to Candido to take care of Samurai and as he does so, lands a second senton. Although this goes one better, it’s still not enough for the three. Candido runs into a Makabe spear and a lovely Northern Lights sees him pick up a two. Samurai has had enough of the opposition interfering and goes after Casas. That leaves Candido and Makabe all alone in the ring, Candido using a powerbomb to get the win. I liked the Liger and King singles match in the Super Juniors tournament but this is probably my favourite of Candido’s New Japan matches. He and Casas making a cracking pairing, highly charismatic and great workers to boot.

A lovely delayed suplex by Candido. Inoue reverses the whip to the corner and hiptosses Candido as he comes out. He goes for a leapfrog but is caught and powerbombed to the mat. Candido looks for another powerbomb, however Inoue counters the attempt with a huracanrana. A dropkick sends Candido to the outside where he’s nailed by an Inoue tope. Back in the ring Inoue with a cool looking backdrop suplex. He goes upstairs but gets his legs swiped out from under him. Candido lands the suicideplex and then hits a diving headbutt for a nearfall. Respectful applause from the crowd for Inoue kicking out of that. He’s back looking for the powerbomb, Inoue at first dead weighting to block it before backdropping his way free. Stiff forearm to the jaw. Candido ducks the clothesline and dumps Inoue with a belly to back. Finally he gets Inoue up for the powerbomb, putting him down for the three and picking up his first televised victory in the tournament (he also defeated Gran Naniwa although we don’t have that one). I’ve been impressed by what we’ve seen of Candido in New Japan.

Candido’s heeling it up on his entrance, using his towel to swat away the hands of the fans who’re trying to touch him. Bodyscissors into a roll up by Candido. He tries it a second time but Samurai Germans him on the back of his head. Candido picks up a two count following a powerbomb after catching Samurai on an attempted leapfrog. Nice selling of his own head by Candido following a headbutt. Samurai blocks the superplex and counters with a front suplex. Super sunset flip, Candido kicking out before they trade a bunch of near falls. Reverse DDT by Samurai. Tornado DDT, Candido barely getting a shoulder up this time. Candido floats over on the bodyslam and hits this dangerous as hell looking Michinoku Driver, spiking Samurai. He’s caught as he goes upstairs and Samurai lands a top rope Frankensteiner. With how dangerous that Driver looked Samurai was up too quick for my liking. Candido kicks out of the cover but Samurai immediately applies a Kimura to force the tap.

Candido rushes Liger at the bell catching him with a clothesline. A dropkick sends Liger to the floor and Candido is not giving him a moment to breath, landing a plancha from the top turnbuckle out onto him. Liger is struggling and has been caught completely off guard. He rolls back in the ring to beat the count but Candido remains right on him, pushing the rules to the limit. After the shoulder barge ends in a stalemate, Liger challenges Candido to go again, this time though he steps aside and gives him a helping hand over the top rope to the outside. Pescado, Candido ending up upside down against the metal barrier. Liger throws him back inside and unloads with some hard knife edge chops. Candido holds onto the ropes to avoid the dropkick and when Liger catches his kick he nails him with an enzuigiri. That delayed vertical suplex of his, letting his opponent’s blood rush to their head. Diving headbutt for a near fall. Liger avoids the middle rope legdrop and then throws a palm strike followed by the brainbuster as Candido picks up his second straight loss of the tournament. Short match but I really enjoyed this one and you can tell that Liger clearly respects Candido.

On first impressions it would seem Inoue is opting for a more ground based approach than Silver King’s previous two opponents in the tournament. He looks for an armbar but King uses his free arm to grab his trapped one to prevent it from being straightened out. There’s definitely a slower, more methodical feel to this match. Inoue blocks a clothesline and rolls through into a heel hook submission, King scrambling his way over to the ropes for the break. Overhead suplex. King counters the suplex with an inside cradle for a two. Big powerbomb by Inoue. The pair exchange meaty clotheslines neither wanting to give an inch. Nice, King blocks an Inoue one and locks in a heel hook of his own, this time Inoue going to the ropes. He climbs to the top ropes but Inoue is to his feet and gives him a shove, King taking a flip out to the floor. Suicide dive by Inoue. Back inside the whip to the corner is reversed and King connects on a rabbit lariat. If you’ve watched the previous two nights you know what’s coming next, although King does land on his head on the bottom rope moonsault. Nice to see a different style match out of King in the tournament as he moves to 3-0. Again this looks to have been clipped judging by the time but again I didn’t see any noticeable edits. On that front, top work by New Japan’s video team.

A couple of early miscommunications between these two and Naniwa isn’t working as well with King as Chris Candido did. King rips open Naniwa’s mask, perhaps pissed at how things are going. Step up enzuigiri by Naniwa followed by a pretty poor looking tornado DDT. He botches a handstand headscissors with King sat on the turnbuckles and the second attempt isn’t much better. King with an Alleycopter for a near fall. The same finishing sequence as last night, Naniwa, whose mask has completely fallen off by this point, kicking out after a rabbit lariat/spinning powerbomb combination but then going down to the trio of moonsaults. Not good and that is all down to Naniwa who was dreadful. I have a hunch this was probably clipped too judging by the official time although I didn’t spot any jumps in the footage.

New Japan is something I’ve not watched anything of in the project so far, however with Candido on tour here and part of this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament, I thought it was about time that changed. These two are working a non-stop pace, Candido picking up the first two count of the match with a Northern Lights suplex. Lovely delayed vertical suplex. Candido drops a leg from the middle but King is able to kick out of the cover. He tosses him to the floor and connects on the pescado, King falling backwards into the metal guard rail. Back inside King reverses the Irish whip and a dropkick sends Candido to the outside, King nailing him with one of his trademark springboard planchas. He positions a chair in the corner of the ring although ends up going head first into it courtesy of a Candido drop toe hold. After Candido picks the chair up, King dropkicks it into his face, like a modified Van Daminator. Why isn’t the ref doing anything about it and allowing them to use this chair? Haha, just as I write that King makes a cover, the official though is refusing to count, citing the use of the chair which he is now removing from the ring. Candido catches King on the moonsault bodyblock who in turn then counters the powerbomb with a facebuster. Double jump springboard moonsault. As King heads upstairs, Candido rushes him and is able to land the suicideplex for a near fall. Diving headbutt and again King gets a shoulder up. King rolls out the way of a second diving headbutt and begins to take over. Rabbit lariat to the back of the head followed by a spinning powerbomb with Candido starting out in the Electric Chair position. Standing moonsault, bottom rope moonsault, middle rope moonsault (I was so expecting the top rope moonsault two and was ready to write Quadrisault but it wasn’t to be) and that puts Candido away. Candido offers his hand post-match, the two hug with King acknowledging Candido’s effort. Nice to see some Chris Candido in 2001 and this was a good first showing from him, although I could have done without the use of the chair.

We get a recap from Raw where Chris Benoit stole Kurt Angle’s Olympic gold medals. Hardcore Bob is drinking from a glass of milk as he makes his entrance. He questions if Kurt’s “Got medals?” which might not be the wisest of things to say going by Angle’s current mood. Nice early powerslam by Holly. Butterfly suplex. Angle reverses the Irish whip, keeps hold of the arm and hotshots Bob across the top rope. As he stomps him down, Chris Benoit’s music plays, ‘the Crippler’ appearing at the top of the entrance way holding Kurt’s medals. That distracts Angle, who looks like his face is about to pop with how red it’s turning. His focus completely gone, Holly dropkicks Kurt in the back and then German suplexes him. Hardcore goes upstairs, but Angle rushes and armdrags him to the mat. After tossing him to the outside he sets off after ‘the Crippler’, intent on getting those medals of his back. Again Holly takes advantage, this time whipping Kurt into the metal ring steps. Stiff slaps and chops to the chest. Back inside Holly runs into a big boot and Kurt floors him with a clothesline. Holly flips over on the attempted belly to back and hits a Falcon Arrow for a near fall. He trips Kurt and locks in a lovely ankle/leg lock submission that I’ve not seen him use before, Angle getting to the ropes for the break. Hardcore grabs a go behind and Kurt rolls through into the ankle lock. At this point Benoit starts talking on the mic, telling Angle is he wants his medals he’ll find them around his neck. That was one distraction too many, Holly schoolboying Kurt for the upset win. I liked this and these two work well together even if the match was a backdrop for the Benoit/Angle feud.

There has been an ongoing ‘Best of Three’ series between these two, this ‘I Quit’ the final match in the trilogy. I was hoping Terrance might have been a long lost cousin of Timmy & Tommy from the WWF’s infamous Toxic Turtles gimmick, he is not, and in fact looks like a child, wrestling in shirt, tie and slacks. The Turtle is accompanied by his valet/girlfriend and is clearly punching above his weight. Wallace catches me off guard with a cool looking submission that the Turtle reverses into a single leg crab. It looks like he tries for a cross armbar but the unfortunate position of the camera means that they’re practically obscured by the ring post. Full Boston crab, Wallace getting to the ropes for the break. Wallace takes to the floor where he’s met by a Turtle plancha from the top turnbuckle. A trio of hard chair shots elicit a “Fuck him up Turtle, fuck him up!” chant, which might be my favourite chant of the year so far. Arabian facebuster off the top! Another hard chair shot drops Wallace. Turtle gives up on the Scorpion Deathlock for some reason, which he probably shouldn’t have as Wallace low blows him. His control doesn’t last long, ending up in the Tree of Woe, from where Turtle dropkicks a chair which he had placed in front of his face. Wallace starts to fire back and brains Turtle with a chair shot of his own. He finds some handcuffs and it looks like we’re getting the Rock vs Mankind Royal Rumble ’99 finish, or at least some variation of it as he cuffs Turtle’s hands behind his back. No we’re not, the Turtle is a master lock picker and as Wallace plays to the crowd, Turtle shows everyone that he has already unpicked the lock before putting his hands back behind his back so Wallace is none the wiser. As Wallace goes to drill him, he uses his hands to block the chair shot. Turtle kills Wallace with a chair shot and then cuffs him, explaining to everyone how he was expecting something sneaky so took the opportunity to search Wallace’s bag when he’d left the locker room, finding the key. Of course that begs the question how did he know that key was for a pair of handcuffs? But let’s not worry about the fine print! It would appear there was a second set of keys as Wallace too frees himself. More shenanigans with the chair including Turtle launching it at Wallace as he’s on the top turnbuckle, Wallace falling to the floor. Having hurt his leg on the fall, Turtle slaps on a leglock submission that forces the tap. The more I see of this promotion the more I think it’s a bunch of guys putting on a show for their friends. I liked the use of the handcuffs and Turtle picking the lock, but then they repeated it when they should’ve had either Wallace quit to avoid being repeatedly hit or done the Rock/Mankind spot that they were clearly teasing rather than going an additional few minutes. Off the three matches I’ve watched from PCW so far, this is the one I’ve enjoyed the most, which shows that looks can be deceiving because I was certain it would be the worse when Turtle stepped through the curtain.

Bad Attitude hasn’t even made their entrance and Total Destruction are sliding a couple of tables into the ring. Rusty Riddle chugs a beer through Sean Royal’s beer bong and then enters the cage. As Royal is about to neck one of his own he’s jumped by Bad Attitude who run him into the ring post, this all unbeknownst to Riddle who had his back turned to things. David Young pulls out some handcuffs, which he uses to cuff Royal to the side of the cage, and then joins his partner inside who has got his hands full with Riddle. One of the table legs is already broken so Riddle lays it flat on the mat rather than opening up, however he misses the top rope legdrop and lands on the wood. Bad Attitude position the table upright in the corner and whip Riddle head first through it. They all exit the cage, Riddle getting whipped hard into the barricade. Just like the last time these teams met they’re tearing the building apart again. Michaels gets backdropped on the concrete and Riddle then blasts Young with a chair. Mark E. Mark has some sort of affiliation with Bad Attitude and is at ringside taunting Royal with the key to the cuffs. Riddle joins Michaels and Royal in being busted open. He delivers more chair shots, even falling over the barrier at one point when he nails Michaels. The action eventually returns to the ring, Michaels meeting the raised foot of Riddle on the flying elbow. White Trash is out and he clobbers Mark E. with his Stop sign before stealing the key away and using it to free Royal. Double crossbody by Royal. He launches Bad Attitude into the cage as he opens up on the pair. Total Destruction with the Easy Rider on Michaels and that’s the win. Although the NWA tag team titles weren’t on the line, Total Destruction celebrate with the belts, other members of the locker room joining them in the celebrations. Another wild, old fashioned brawl between these teams.

I never tire of watching the Backseat Boyz entrance. ‘Big 80s’ Donnie B managing them here, and looking so much like his brother Nova. We’re informed that both of these teams are top contenders to the PWF tag team titles currently held by The Damned. A fair bit of playing to the crowd before we get underway, Kashmere even getting referee Mike Kehner to climb the turnbuckles so the fans can cheer for him. A miscue on the first spot of the match doesn’t bode well. I don’t think we’re even two minutes in and they’re giving us the Guerrero/Malenko stuff. Jeez, Trent overshoots a plancha to the outside and it looks like he hits his head on the wooden floor. Johnny pretty much lifts him to his feet as they’re all needed to cushion the Maximo’s tope con hilo. A corkscrew plancha by Kashmere and then a fucking dive onto everyone by Kehner!!! I hate shit like that. You’re the referee, act like it! Red is now freely interfering, attacking Johnny. Acid saves his partner as they all make their way to the stage area at the rear of the building. Red Star press off the stage. The S.A.T. drag Trent back to the ring and double team him, this has morphed into Tornado Rules it would seem. Trent with a superkick for each. He leaps to the top turnbuckle but Red pulls a leg out causing him to crotch himself. Double Spanish Fly. Red goes to interfere again, however this time Kashmere shoves him off the top and into one of the Maximo’s. Acid Bomb/Ace Crusher combination on the other and the Backseat Boyz win. On seeing Donnie B, who I had genuinely forgotten about, it beggars the question why wasn’t he doing anything to counter Red’s interference? It’s not as if Red is the most intimidating of presence! I like the Backseat Boyz, although I didn’t like this. The ref dive totally took me out, but it wasn’t as if there was much going on before and not much happened after either. Everything was all a bit of just “going through the motions”.

Whoever this commentator is is now stealing old Joel Gertner lines, describing Da Hit Squad as “harder than the tree that stopped Sonny Bono.” There’s a bit of a past versus the future feel about this match, the ex-ECW regulars who weren’t picked up by the WWE and the Indy hard hitters who have been making a name for themselves these past eighteen months. Doring has changed his ring gear from what he used to wear in ECW, now opting for just a pair of shorts, and this is a much better look for him. After the initial pier sixer, we’re left with just Roadkill and Monsta Mack in the ring, everyone else continuing to go at it on the floor. Roadkill with a Barnburner. Doring and Angel replace them in the ring, for about a minute, before rejoining everyone outside. G-Spot sweep onto a chair. It’s like there are three separate individual matches going on; there’s too much action to follow let alone call. Pumphandle superplex by Mafia on Homicide. Mafia escapes the Cop Killa, the commentator saying “What the hell was that?” Jeez, has he never seen Homicide wrestle before? The two stop and look at each, almost as if to say “What are we doing?” Although they shook hands prior to the match beginning, their history hasn’t been acknowledged. They forget about each other and hit stereo suicide dives out to opposite sides of the ring instead. Roadkill with a double springboard clothesline. Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma’am on Homicide, Roadkill follows that with a big splash off the top and the final ECW tag team champions come out victorious. No chance of taking in everything that was going due to the match being all action from the get go, but considering they kept the brawl confined to the ringside area this wasn’t bad at all.

A North Eastern title match, Joel Maximo the current champion with Red being introduced as “Red the Amazing”. The two shake hands and hug before things get underway, leading to the one commentator saying how “in the ring friendships should be like Jon Benet Ramsay’s corpse, dead and buried.” Bloody hell! They start with some standard wrestling and it’s almost like everyone is waiting for them to get into doing what their known for. The other commentator says what these guys do is mix Lucha style with Urban style. What on earth is Urban style? I’m guessing he means modern/progressive. Standing rana by Red. Maximo cuts off the tornado DDT by dumping Red onto the apron. He follows him out there but a Red kick takes his legs out from under him and he goes face first into the apron. Red appears to lose his balance on the top rope quebrada falling into the ring, rather than reset and repeat the spot he runs the ropes and hits a flip dive instead. Quick thinking on his part to cover for it. One footed dropkick followed by the Red Star press. Moonsault bodyblock. Ahh, back on the 4/7 CZW show I said how Maximo was out of position and had to dive to cushion Red’s fall, the same thing happened again here. I’m now more of the impression that Maximo was spearing him mid-air, as not only did it look clearer here, Red was also selling his ribs after it. Red side steps the charge and the champion ends hung upside down in the corner, however he manages to avoid the springboard legdrop. Middle rope moonsault headbutt. Red gets a foot up on the top rope moonsault which Maximo flies face first into. Phoenix splash by Red for a near fall. Red whiffs on a kick but a palm strike sends Maximo to the outside. Before he can go and grab him, he’s attacked by Chris Divine. Abunai, who looks like Al Snow’s Avatar gimmick, joins Divine in the attack, this payback for earlier in the night when Red interfered in their match. Mikey Whipwreck runs out to save his trainees, that in turn brings out Xavier. Between his neckbreakers, a springboard 450 to the floor putting Maximo through a table and a piledriver Xavier looked phenomenal. The S.A.T. and Mikey are left laying, the commentators unsure as to whether Mikey can make his tag team title match later. Not the best example of this match, things starting to fall apart in the back end and it became quite sloppy. Xavier looked incredible in his run in. Assume this was a no-contest/non-decision.