GSR

Due to something that happened earlier in the show, the H8 Club have just five minutes to defeat the CZW World tag team champions, Nick Gage & Nate Hatred, if they are unable to do so then Zandig & Jun Kasai get added to the match. Another CZW show and Hatred still getting a ton of shit from the fans. The work here is way faster than you would imagine, John House reminding everyone that they only have five minutes, well they don’t but I get what he’s saying, and both teams are looking to get this over with before the arrival of Zandig & Kasai. Gage chokeslams Pain across his own knee. Tilt-a-whirl face first slam by Hatred. Northern Lights suplex. A High Low on Nate. Gage knees Wifebeater in the back as he hits the ropes and Hatred with a belly to belly, Gargiulo name dropping Magnum T.A. There have been so many two counts already and, given the match stipulations, it makes perfect sense. Way easier to wrestle and defeat one team than two. Beater catches Nate with a powerslam and then one for Gage. Justice clotheslines Gage over the top rope to the outside before leaping off the back of his own partner and out onto both. Pain traps Hatred in an STF on the concrete while at the same time Beater arranges a ton of chairs. Flip dive off the top turnbuckle by Gage onto everyone. The action returns to the ring and still no sign of Zandig & Kasai, the five minutes must have passed by this point. The champs military press Beater overhead and throw him out into those chairs that he’d arranged only moments earlier. Just as they have Pain isolated and all alone, hear comes Zandig & Kasai. Justice with a Sky High on Kasai, Beater snap suplexing Zandig on the floor at the same time. I’ve no idea where Gage & Hatred have disappeared to. Implant DDT by Kasai. Zandig powerbombs Beater into even more chairs. According to Gargiulo the champions have retreated to the dressing room because the belts are now no longer on the line. Hmmm, this is confusing. Z-Barr and Trent Acid are out and they set up a couple of tables on top of each other in front of the entrance curtain. Zandig lays Beater on top of them and all three of them hold him in place while Kasai climbs to the top of the building. Huge splash puts Beater through both. Gage and Hatred are back and make a beeline right for Justice. Gargiulo wants some EMT’s out as he is unsure if Wifebeater is even breathing! Combination powerbomb/neckbreaker on Pain. Double suplex and the champions retain. Zandig carries Beater back to the ring and as the Big Deals continues to attack them, the locker room empties to run them off. Zandig throws out a challenge for next week, he’ll be in England but if Wifebeater & Justice Pain have got the guts, challenges them to take on Nick Mondo & Jun Kasai in a fans bring the weapons match. The rules were a bit confusing, the champions leaving then returning, but this was good, the opening section especially exceeding all expectations. Based on what I watched this was a fun CZW show, nothing stank, nothing bad, everything enjoyable and a clean finish in the main event! A thumbs up from me.

Trent stalls and then plays to the fans, which was an attempt at getting the jump on Ruckus, but he was ready and expecting it. He gets dumped onto the apron and a dropkick to the legs take the legs out from under him as he falls to the floor. Space Flying Tiger Drop! Handspring round off on the concrete, that one having the incredibly lame name of Sweet. Z-Barr, who Gargiulo and House have taken to calling Britney, gets taken out when he tries to interfere. The Razzle Dazzle to Trent and a big splash for Barr. It feels like I’m watching a Gymnastics routine with all of these flips and tumbles. Tornado DDT gets a two count. Ruckus telegraphs the backdrop and Trent with a Roaring elbow. A second is blocked and then Trent fakes an injury after being nailed by a modified enzuigiri. The moment Ruckus turns his back on him Acid immediately hops into the ring and blasts him with a superkick. Yakuza kick. A second Yakuza kick, Ruckus falling from the apron and into a bunch of chairs out at ringside. Bad Trip (which is a twisting splash from the top turnbuckle, this one done to the floor with Ruckus laid out on the chairs). Ruckus reverses the whip into the fence but Trent jumps up and moonsault presses off it. Back in the ring Trent leaps into a superkick. Forward roll slam into a standing moonsault followed by a middle rope moonsault. Swanton bomb. John House called it a 330lb Swanton dive! Ruckus is a chubby yeah and I know wrestling is full of exaggerations, but that one’s preposterous! Trent counters the quesadora with a wheelbarrow suplex. He places a chair over Ruckus’ face, hitting a tumbleweed legdrop onto it. Ruckus reverses the Acid Bomb into a facebuster and lands a split legged moonsault for a near fall. Barr pulls Trent out the way of a 450 splash, Acid Bomb onto a chair and that’s it. A good Indy junior heavyweight showcase. It was getting close to spotfest territory, although wasn’t as blatant as the S.A.T. three-way which preceded it on the show. Ruckus continues to amaze with his aerial ability, completely defying his size in what he can do. Best thing on the card so far.

All three make their entrance together which doesn’t sit right with me. Ah, while they knew they were coming to wrestle to CZW tonight, it’s played that they didn’t know they would be wrestling each other. That’s not that bad then. This is fast paced and I’m not even going to try to do a detailed review of all the action. We get a three way stand-off after each throws a dropkick at the same time. As well as the highly choreographed feel to this, think the opening to a Ric Blade match and then some, it’s fairly sloppy too. Satellite headscissors into a tornado DDT by Red. A Jose headscissors sends Red to the outside and he then wipes him out with a lovely Asai moonsault. Joel fucks up his suicide dive, getting his legs caught in the ropes, however everyone quickly forget about that courtesy of Red’s springboard Sky Twister press. Red with a huracanrana off the fence. Red Star press. Moonsault press, Joel way out of position to take it and having to dive to get there in time and cushion Red’s landing. Something that sounds like a Skeller Driver from one of the Maximos. Frog splash by Joel, but at the same time Red catches him with a Diamond Cutter. Double Spanish Fly on Red (called a Millennium Drop by Gargiulo), everyone’s shoulders are down and we get a three way pin, the match ending in a draw. The three get an incredible response from the crowd, everyone in the building on their feet for them. I’ve not seen anything like this, in terms of fan reaction, in CZW up until this point and the only thing that comes close is the Jodie Fleisch vs Jonny Storm match from Best of the Best 2. On seeing the reaction Gargiulo closes by saying that it looks like they may have found their home. A pure spotfest and the perfect example of a match that is hard to judge with 2020 eyes. It’s not the kind of style that I enjoy, but there’s no getting away from the fact that it was fun and creative as hell. Red is clearly the stand out of the three.

Despite all he’s achieved in ECW, according to John House Little Guido still has to prove himself in the Combat Zone. Guido claims CZW has been calling him for months begging for him to come down and wrestle for them. House and Gargiulo aren’t buying that, believing that they don’t need him. Guido hasn’t been impressed with what he’s seen; a bunch of no talented bitches in the dressing room and fans with half a brain between all of them. Haha, for all his pre-match words Guido is straight at it playing chicken shit, slapping Berk across the face and then running to the floor out of his way. They work the mat and Berk holds his own on that front, even looking for an armbar submission of his own at one point. A drop toe hold sends Guido crashing into the canvas. Magistral cradle. Guido with some open handed slaps to the chest followed by a running elbow smash to the jaw. He lets go of the chinlock to get in the face of this one fan who’s been on his case, squaring up to him. Berk throws him back inside but Guido immediately jumps out to the floor again, almost as if he’s trying to bait him. It doesn’t work though as he ends up being run into a chair held by that fan he was jawing with only moments earlier. Somersault plancha by Berk. Guido backs off, Berk remaining on his case. The attempted Figure Four is countered with a small package and Guido with a Rocker Dropper for a two. He’s still talking to that same fan. Fujiwara armbar. Guido tosses Berk to the outside and puts the armbar on him on the concrete. Back in the ring the two trade hard chops. A bunch of near falls for either man. Berk hits the Berk Driver and as it looks like he’s got this won, the bell rings to signify that the ten minute time limit has expired. No prizes for guessing how that is received! Everyone, bar Guido, wants five more minutes, Guido though has no intention of giving it them. He says how Berk could go one more minute with him let alone five, slaps him across the face and then runs to the dressing room. Decent enough. I would like to have seen more of what they did at the beginning, the chain wrestling, the scrambling, the exchanging of holds. Berk’s one of the better wrestlers in CZW, however you can tell against someone like Guido he’s not as crisp, not as smooth. Pretty sure they shaved time on the ten minutes and it was more like eight (at least it wasn’t as blatant as that Ki match in January). This should lead to a rematch, that’s if Guido is coming back.

There’s some distortion on the sound so there is no chance of being able to identify the individual wrestlers in each team. This is a PCW tag team title match though, Los Guapos the current champions. It looks like one of the Guapos feigns a lost contact lens at one point, getting the ref to help him look for it while his partner gets some cheap shots in behind his back. That was original at least. Despite the Guapos being the champions they’re working together with Real Hott against the Wild Ones. The rules to this match have not been explained. If it’s first pin and the titles can change hands that way, not a bad game plan for Real Hott, targeting one specific person and teaming up with the champions to do so, if the Guapos can only lose the belts if one of them is pinned or submits, then it makes no sense. A pinfall has already been broken up so I’m assuming this isn’t elimination rules. After being worked over for the opening twelve minutes or so, the Wild One hot tags his partner who takes it to all four other men. Even with this being the main event of the show, the crowd are still real hot (sorry!) for what they’re watching, they’re not burned out at all. We get some lame stuff when both members of Real Hott are “forced” to go against each other, then it happens again with the Wild Ones. A snap suplex is badly botched by a Guapo and one of Real Hott. Things revert to how they were at the start of the match, the two teams teaming up against the Wild Ones. The worst Guerrero/Malenko sequence ever! If you can’t pull it off guys don’t even try. Another hot tag to the other Wild One and the match has really started to fall apart with even more blown spots. It looks like the Guapos retain, one of them pinning both members of Real Hott with a double sunset flip, only for the match to continue. So it was elimination rules after all! Literally twenty seconds later the Wild Ones win the straps, when one of the Guapos are pinned after a frog splash. Average, at best, wrestlers going thirty minutes in an over mic’d ring with no commentary and where you don’t know the story or back story of anyone involved was too much for me. The last ten minutes especially were a real slog and felt twice as long as it actually was.

Title vs Title match, Scoot the Light Heavyweight champion facing off against Sullivan, the IPW World champion. Just as I was in the process of writing some very nice chain wrestling, they end things with a stand-off. Jeez, does everything have to end that was in the early 2000s? Sullivan gets a cheap shot in on the break but is dropkicked as he jumps to the top turnbuckle. Modified Assault Driver by Scoot. After being pancaked to the mat and taking his second two count of the match, Sullivan rolls to the outside to gather his thoughts. Scoot leans over to grab him but Sullivan snaps his neck across the top rope. Some nice heeling from him, putting his knee across Scoot’s throat and as the ref warns him, trying to get him to stop, he claims he can’t hear just to do a few additional seconds of damage. Ron Niemi is in the World champion’s corner and he pokes Scoot in the eyes behind the official’s back when Sullivan is distracting him. The two trade open hand slaps, Sullivan getting the better of things. Sullivan telegraphs a backdrop and Scoot with a Rock Bottom. He heads upstairs, slowly, the match having taken plenty out of him, which gives Sullivan the opportunity to fall into the ropes causing him to crotch himself. Double underhook superplex. Delayed vertical which gets an appreciative round of applause from the fans. Scoot slides through Sullivan’s legs, grabs an arm and hits that dangerous looking pumphandle driver. Nice near fall with Sullivan getting a foot over the bottom rope. Scoot misses a dropkick and a sit-out slingshot front suplex by Sullivan. Fuck, as they’re building for the go home they’re attacked by a couple of guys. It looks like Scoot and Sullivan are going to team up to clear the ring when two more unknowns join the attack. The dressing room empties and I’m not recognising anyone. From the post-match interviews, it sounds like the wrestlers who jumped Sullivan and Scoot are from NWA Florida and they’re doing an invasion/interpromotional feud. I was expecting a schmozz or some non-decision with it being title vs title, it’s still disappointing when it happens though. Good match up until the non-finish.

A Three Way Dance, however, due to a pre-match coin toss Trent Acid gets a five minute bye and it’ll be Reckless and Berk starting things off. Surely though, in theory at least because it would never happen, that means Trent could lose the match before he’s ever entered it? We start off with some smooth chain wrestling and it’s pretty good to be fair. Reckless applies a combination Cobra clutch/backbreaker (he kneels down and bends Berk over his knee), although they’re too close to the ropes, which Berk grabs. Some fans have taken to calling Berk “Nick Jerk”. He dumps Reckless onto the apron and then drills him with a right hand, Reckless falling to the concrete. As Berk sets about launching himself at him with a big dive he’s cut-off by Trent Acid, in early from the five minute bye that he was afforded. The Irish whip is reversed and Reckless hooks Trent by the ankles, pulling him out to the floor with him. Berk goes for a pescado onto both, not only though do they hop back inside to avoid it, he is able to land on his feet. Crossbody off the top onto Reckless, however Berk then gets floored by a Trent Mafia kick, called a Yakuza kick here. A Rocker Dropper on Reckless and a Mafia kick for him too. Berk is to his feet and catches Trent with a leg lariat. Middle rope moonsault. Reckless with a reverse DDT and a big running double knee to Trent in the corner. Eurgh, a three way belly to back. To be fair we’ve not seen any of the three-way tropes that tend to be commonplace in these types of matches, so although it was cute, I’ll let them off that one. Berk shoves Reckless out the way of a charging Trent and gives him an inverted atomic drop. Asai moonsault by Reckless who then gets bombed by Trent. Acid escapes the Berk Driver and as Reckless grabs a go behind, Berk with a sunset flip on him, Reckless keeping hold and Germaning Trent at the same time. Double underhook sit-out DDT on Trent. A stiff clothesline, but Berk is there to break up the cover. Berk ducks the clothesline and pancakes Reckless, Trent breaking up that one. He sets Reckless for a superplex, however Berk gets underneath him and has him on his shoulder, Reckless then comes off the top with a flying bulldog. As Reckless tries an O’Connor Roll, Berk uses his own momentum to send him through the ropes to the floor. A quick schoolboy by Trent, putting his own feet over the ropes for additional leverage and he comes out on top.- A lot of the stuff that I hate about three-ways wasn’t on show here, and even the stuff I don’t like (the cutesy spots like the multi-person belly to back, the sunset flip German or the spare man constantly breaking up pinfall attempts) was kept to the bare minimum. A good showing from all three in what was a pretty good match.

The motivation isn’t high to recap Rick Steiner matches by this point in the project. And when the finish ends up being a lame DQ, I’m very glad that I wasn’t typing while I was watching and was just waiting till the finish to surmise my thoughts. So yeah, a DQ, Shane Douglas running through the crowd and clobbering Steiner in the back of the head with his cast as he makes a cover. The match itself was all Steiner, he ate Konnan up in there and gave him nothing. I had it in my head that he was stiff with him here, although bar one clothesline and maybe a kick to the ribs, certainly no stiffer than usual and nothing out of the ordinary. ‘The DFG’ attacks Konnan post-match with Hugh Morrus running out for the save.

We get a brief recap of what happened last week between these two and then what went down at Greed last night. Smooth looks infinitely times better wrestling in a leotard as opposed to shirt and trousers. Kanyon goes to punch Smooth, who just catches the punch and drives him down with one hand. Huge leapfrog followed by a deep powerslam. Smooth doesn’t even go for a cover, Schiavone saying how “this is personal”. He clotheslines Kanyon over the top rope to the outside and joins him on the floor. Back in the ring Smooth grabs a go behind, Kanyon using a mule kick to free himself. That’s the second straight match that spot has been done. Scott Hudson says Kanyon is no longer “the Innovator of Offense”, rather “the Innovator of Offensive Behaviour”. Whip to the corner is reversed and Smooth with a big running splash. He runs into a raised boot and Kanyon with a Russian legsweep that gets him a two count. Schiavone is back on about Eric Bischoff’s open invitation for any former World champions, clearly intimating that at least one will be making an appearance on next week’s show. Slingshot elbow drop, Smooth kicking out of the cover. He telegraphs the backdrop and Smooth grabs him by the hair and slams him backwards to the mat. Powerbomb. Kanyon avoids the charge and Smooth goes shoulder first into the ringpost. As he hops to the outside to grab a steel chair, out runs Road Warrior Animal who DDT’s Smooth. Referee Charles Robinson was occupied with Kanyon so he didn’t see any of this. Kanyon quickly darts back inside and makes the cover for the win. The Cat, out after seeing what was going on, was unable to prevent the victory but cleans house and then challenges Animal & Kanyon to a tag team match on Thunder. Great! Kanyon deserves way better than to be saddled in this feud with Smooth.

As member of the Magnificent Seven make their way to the ring, Tony Schiavone says how they’ve just heard that at some point during the night they will be getting a phone call from Eric Bischoff who has a huge announcement to make. Speculation has been running rampant ever since, wondering if this will have anything to do with the takeover and the new owners. The group are out celebrating Scott Steiner’s victory over Diamond Dallas Page last night. ‘Big Poppa Pump’ calls himself the greatest World champion of all time as no-one else has not only beat people, but at the same time put them out of action, and he’s going to be a nice guy tonight and let all the fans mourn the loss of their hero “Diamond Dallas White Trash”. Ric Flair says how there had been some doubt as to whether he and the ‘Chosen One’ would beat Dusty & Dustin Rhodes, but for those that didn’t see it they beat them from one end of Jacksonville to another. Schiavone immediately corrects him, letting everyone know that’s an out and out lie. As Flair talks about how he’s a generous man that didn’t make ‘the Dream’ come up here to Gainesville to kiss his “gator ass”, Dusty and Dustin appear on the Nitrovision. ‘Dream’ sets Flair straight about his version of events from last night and lets him know that before he leaves this building, just like Jeff Jarrett at the PPV, he will be kissing his ass too. Steiner doesn’t take too kindly to the way Dusty is speaking to ‘the Boss’, but ‘the Dream’ quickly puts him in his place, saying how he’s got the utmost respect for him as the World champion however he’s not in this feud. Dusty introduces Booker, the new U.S. champion, out for one reason, the World title. He has a message for Steiner from “the man” to be in that ring in an hour and to bring the title belt with him. Time is up; Scott Steiner, Ric Flair and Midajah make their way out, a table already set up in the ring and WCW official Terry Taylor waiting for them. I don’t think the Rooster is “the Man” somehow. As Steiner starts getting in the face of Taylor he’s interrupted by Booker T. Booker confirms that he spoke to “the Man” and that man is Eric Bischoff. Bischoff is “on the phone”, although this sounds pre-taped as opposed to being live. He confirms the reports that for the past few months he’s been in negotiations to purchase WCW, but recently they’ve hit a few road blocks that may end up being brick walls. So, while it’s still in his power, he wants to do something befitting for what could very well be the last night of wrestling on the Turner Networks. Therefore, next Monday in Panama City will be a ‘Night of Champions’ where every WCW title will be up for grabs. The only match he announces is a title vs title match between Steiner and Booker and that’s why Terry Taylor is in the ring, he’s handling the contract signing. Bischoff goes on to offer an open invitation for any former World Heavyweight champion to join them, telling them not to be afraid to bring their boots with them. Clearly hinting at appearances from Goldberg, Sting and Nash there. The contract signing ends up like most wrestling contract signings, Steiner attacking Booker in the knee with his lead (rubber) pipe and then laying waste to a whole host of security and referees. Booker mounts a comeback and picks up that pipe but Steiner gets out of dodge before he can use it against him. Had either Steiner or Booker been wrestling tonight I would have placed this in their match thread. Neither is though and there was nowhere else suitable, so I decided to start a thread of it’s own for Bischoff’s announcement as it’s a pretty big one in the grand scheme of things with how everything ends up.

A rematch from last night. Stacy Keibler comes out to a rather subdued reaction. If the idea was to put her with Shawn Stasiak in an effort to get him over, it’s not working. It’s almost as if the fans know that even though they’re getting to see her, it means he won’t be too far behind! She needs a wardrobe update as well, the Miss Hancock outfit that she still wears feels too dated. Stacy introduces Stasiak as “the man who rocks her world” and sounds completely unconvincing as she says it. There is no chemistry whatsoever between this pair. Stasiak is immediately hiding behind Stacy, using her as a shield. Bigelow tries for a German suplex but ‘the Star’ grabs referee Mickey Jay’s trousers to prevent him from being taken down before mule kicking his way free. The Bammer shrugs off the attempted bulldog only to miss a falling headbutt. Stasiak gestures for Stacy, who climbs up onto the apron. Like last night she goes to throw him her hairspray, however her aim is off and it ends up in the hands of Bam Bam. Bigelow throws it to Stasiak and as he catches it, jabs him in the bread basket. Greetings from Asbury Park and this one is over quickly. Stasiak isn’t happy with the result, claiming Bigelow cheated and will do anything for a rematch. After a bit of thought Bigelow decides that should he win, he wants to tattoo Stasiak with his signature. ‘The Star’ wasn’t paying close enough attention, already accepting as he thought Bam Bam was talking about wanting to tattoo Stacy, not him.

The new Cruiserweight champion making his first title defense. Shane gets a bit of mic time and talks about earning the Cruiserweight title shot by winning a match he should never have really been a part of, replacing Billy Kidman in it after he had been attacked by Road Warrior Animal earlier in the night. He needs to prove something to himself and challenges Kidman, noting also how each holds a victory over the other. Kidman with a rana that takes Helms to the outside. Shane avoids the baseball slide and nails Kidman with a right hand before whipping him into the guard rail. He hops back inside so he can then launch himself over the top at the challenger. High crossbody. A bunch of reversals ends when Kidman lands a belly to back. Sky High powerbomb for a near fall. An innovative hammerlock inverted suplex, Helms kicking out of the cover at two. Kidman runs into a big boot and Shane with a running neckbreaker. More counters and reversals and seemingly out of the blue, the champ gets Kidman up for the Vertebreaker which brings him the win. Chavo Guerrero Jr jumps Helms post-match and as it looks like the champion has gained the upper hand, Kid Romeo & Elix Skipper join the attack. Rey Mysterio Jr evens up the fight and they run the heels out of there. Too short. Booking 101 indicates that this should lead to a six-man tag on Thunder and I can’t imagine that being anything other than great.

Jett has some new music that is a rip-off version of his former ECW theme. Apparently his recent victories over Alex Wright and Kwee Wee have springboarded him into the “top ranks” of WCW. Disqo’s new best friend, Mike Sanders, is in his corner, he also has a few words for his former best friend, Alex Wright, who he hopes is watching at home, claiming that he is going to do to Jett, who he calls a “bum”, this week what he couldn’t last. Tony Schiavone describes Jett as “sensational” and he shows why right from the get go, taking Disqo down with a Tiger Mask style spinning drop toe hold. Sit-out powerbomb for a two. Sanders hooks Jett’s ankle as he hits the ropes and the distraction allows Disqo to club him from behind, sending Jett through the ropes to the floor. More distractions, this time Disqo with the referee, and Sanders gets in a cheap kick. Disqo on offense is really dull. Sanders continues to interfere, even entering the ring to drop a knee at one point, which Jett rolls out the way of, as Disqo keeps the official busy. Jett with the Afterburner (handspring elbow) followed by a kip up which brings the crowd to life. Standing moonsault. It looks like Disqo was supposed to backdrop him out onto the apron, presumably for the Money Clip, however inadvertently backdrops him onto the top rope. Northern Lights suplex by Jett. Sanders looks to break up the cover but Jett sees him coming and he ends up dropping an elbow on his “best friend” instead. A dropkick takes care of Sanders and the Crash Landing release suplex sees Jett pick up his third straight win in WCW. It’s quite something the way the crowd react to Jett and get into him.

The stuff between Jaguar and Briggs is much better than the Naphtali and Akki exchanges that preceded it. Briggs grabs Jet in a seated abdominal stretch, opening him up for a Naphtali kick to the mid-section. Naphtali runs up the turnbuckles to see if it’s possibly to leap from the top and grab the belt that is being hung from the ceiling. It isn’t. And when he drops down to the mat is met by a Jaguar clothesline. Briggs enters to help his partner out, at which point I notice there isn’t a referee as no-one is trying to get him back out to the apron. As the two double team Jet, Akki watches on. Oh dear, it looks like they forgot to explain the rules to everyone as five minute in the ring announcer informs everyone that “Anarchy Rules” are in operation here, which I think is a 2001 way of saying anything goes. Naphtali with a cool inverted suplex dropped into a stunner on Akki. I’ve definitely seen that before, maybe it’s a Ric Blade move? He either has a short term memory or is not the smartest as he’s back climbing the turnbuckles to see if he can jump to get the belt. Maybe he thinks that he’s grown a few inches since the last time he tried? Akki shakes the ropes causing him to crotch himself and then hits a top rope Frankensteiner. Stereo planchas to the outside. Jaguar collects the ladder, which had been placed in front of the curtain and brings it into the ring. Double flying clothesline off the very top rung. The tape runs out and by the time it’s been changed it is the opposition who are now in control, rejoining the action right as Briggs dumps Akki on the back of his head with a release German. He lays Jet flat across the ladder but then misses the top rope legdrop as Jaguar rolls out the way. Triple jump moonsault by Naphtali, very pleased with himself by the way he celebrates that one. Yuck, a terrible looking spot as Naphtali is on the top turnbuckle AND ACTUALLY HOLDING THE LADDER. Rather than opening it out to climb, he’s instead bouncing on the ropes, trying to reach the belt that way. This goes on for too long until Akki arrives to dropkick the ladder, sending it clattering into him. That was just completely unrealistic. Akki blasts Naphtali with a chair and follows up with a Fisherman’s buster. A super sloppy Tarantula. Rolling Death Valley Driver by Briggs on Akki. Oh, it’s not a title belt at all that is being hung above the ring, it’s a referee’s shirt and Akki, despite being on the receiving end of that DVD, is the one to retrieve it. The match continues and the ladder is moved from the ring onto the entrance way. Briggs hangs Akki in the Tree of Woe and Naphtali with a springboard Van Terminator, starting by jumping onto the top rope from the ladder. Naphtali then (barely) puts on the ref’s shirt and fast counts his cover for the win. Two of these wrestlers are good, two not so. Naphtali is a Sabu imitator and a low rent one at that. It’s a long time since I watched it but I remember thinking that the Akki vs Mike Quackenbush match from February was poor, and whilst I can’t remember if that was down to him, Quack or both, he did nothing here to make me want to investigate him further. The spot where Naphtali was stood on the top rope was plain awful. A very Indy match although I come out of it intrigued to see Jaguar and Briggs in a one on one.

I’m getting a very Power House Pro Wrestling meets the Long Island Wrestling Federation vibe about PCW. A huge ovation for Kalifornia, the clear fan favourite here. Vick steps out the way of the charge and gives Maxx a helping hand to the outside. He follows him out, collecting a Stop sign which he uses as a weapon. Back inside Vick makes a cover, Maxx pressing him off with authority as Vick lands on the referee. There’s a complete miscommunication at one point as they appear to be on different pages. Vick with a DDT following a fair bit of uninspired offense on his part. Maxx connects on a spinning heel kick and I’m wondering if everyone here is his legit friend by the response he gets from the fans. After Vick complains to the referee of a slow count, he then starts pushing him about. In retaliation the ref Pedigree’s Vick, which they botch completely, to another quite unbelievable pop. Spinning cradle suplex by Maxx. The ring is mic’d good and proper by how loud the audio is when the wrestler’s are stomping on the mat. Middle rope legdrop, Kalifornia’s ass landing on Vick’s face. A baseball slide sends Vick to the floor and it looks like they’re finally going to make use of those street fight stipulations. Maxx grabs a chair and they disappear to the back of the arena where you can just about make out him clocking Vick with it. A table gets set up, Kalifornia standing on the stairs railing and putting Vick through it. At least I’m pretty certain that’s what happened as our view was obscured by the fans. He drags him back to the ring where Vick escapes the pumphandle slam and gives Maxx a slightly better Pedigree than the ref gave him. Talking of the ref, who is still clearly pissed from earlier, this time he does slow count Vick’s cover, giving Kalifornia every opportunity to kick out of the pin attempt. Which he does. Maxx counters the second Pedigree attempt by slingshotting Vick into the corner and puts him away with the Pumphandle slam. After viewing, this is definitely more PHPW than LIWF, at least in the Long Island the wrestlers are capable. Bad match which saw very minimal use of the street fight stipulations. I can’t say I’m overly looking forward to the other PCW stuff that we have.

J-Train being the future Julius Smokes. Stiff running forearm smash in the corner by Homicide, Train’s selling of that being something else. He reverses the whip to the opposite corner and lands a monkey flip followed by a pair of dropkicks as Cide rolls to the floor to grab a word with his manager, Johnny D. Train follows him out, Cide launching a chair full force at his face. Back in the ring, a running shoulder tackle and Train starts convulsing like he’s having some sort of seizure. He no sells a Cide chop and then lays in some stingers of his own. Homicide takes another trip to the outside, J-Train on his tail again, although it’s Train who ends up being whipped into the guard rail. Johnny D slides a chair into the ring and Train is on his knees begging off. Two absolutely disgusting chair shots, the second of which sees the chair bend over Train’s head, resulting in yet more convulsing from him. Splash off the top only gets a two count. Train blocks a suplex and hits one of his own. Double underhook suplex. Cide counters a belly to back with a bulldog and then throws Train out to ringside. He sets a table upright against the safety railing and lays Train across it, however he moves and it is Homicide who goes crashing through it courtesy of a running flip dive. Train is to his feet first and rolls Cide into the ring. The elbow drop is measure but the JAPW Heavyweight champion kicks out. The two exchange stiff slaps in the middle before a Mafia kick by Homicide drops Train. He calls for the Cop Killa, which he duly hits, and after another seizure, J-Train goes down for the three. I think we may have a new contender for Stiffest Chair Shot of the Year here. The second one that Homicide gave Train was revolting. J-Train was better than I thought he’d be and is another who’s not afraid to hit or be hit. He is one of a kind though when it comes to his way of selling things!

That’s some spangle on Powers & Giovanni’s jackets. After making their entrance they take the mic from the ring announcer and Giovanni introduces their new manager, the Fun Athletic Guy, aka the F.A.G. Fucking hell, it’s Rob Feinstein. Its bad enough we have to hear him commentating for Jersey All Pro, now he’s branching out into managing too? This looks very similar to the gay character he was playing in IWA-PR last year and no doubt will consist of him doing every homosexual cliché and stereotype under the sun. The three of them are already getting “Faggot” chants and I sense this is going to be a long old night. An open challenged has been issued to any “two television superstars”. Steve Corino is out first, joined by Mikey Whipwreck to accept. Jesus, Feinstein’s interference (I refuse to call him the F.A.G. any more) backfires and we get some “comedy” with it looking like he’s doing Giovanni from behind. Lame doesn’t even begin to cover it. Mikey & Corino put on the opposition’s shades and jackets and strut like they’re the Fabulous Ones before a limp wristed Corino minces around the ring. In a tribute to Tajiri, Mikey kicks Giovanni around the side of the head. He misses the senton which allows Powers and Giovanni to take over. As if things couldn’t get any worse, Giovanni straddles himself across the middle rope and Feinstein is there rubbing his crotch. After a super short heat section, a hot tag to Corino who’s at it with the Bionic elbows. Double noggin knocker. Referee Mike Kehner gets bumped when an Irish whip is reversed, although it’s missed by the camera. Whippersnapper by Mikey. He’s attacked by an unknown assailant and Mikey fights him all the way back to the dressing room, leaving Corino alone in there against both men. Some big Goth looking woman is out and scares the shit out of Feinstein who runs around ringside squealing while she chases after him. Lou E. Dangerously shows up out of nowhere and he’s quickly followed by Jack Victory, there to even up the fight. As Corino grabs Lou, Victory turns and hits Corino over the head with a metal object. Jacko keeps a couple of jobs guys at bay before a returning Mikey along with the Backseat Boyz and a few other wrestlers run the heels out of there. A no contest I presume. Just awful. I struggle to see how Feinstein’s character and all that crap was ever considered “funny”. I was thinking another night off for Corino, but he did at least blade when Jacko bludgeoned him so that’s something I suppose. The pre and post-match stuff probably went longer than the match itself.

Fuck, Ric Blade is catching, Mondo hitting his head on the corner of the ring steps on the top rope quebrada to the floor. It’s all action from the onset as you’ve got Justice and Mondo brawling around the building while Trent and Reckless wrestle in the ring, the camera flitting back and forth and not able to keep up with everything that’s going on. Justice drags Mondo back to the ring as this settles into a more traditional looking tag team affair. Reckless lands a middle rope legdrop, however misses the blind tag and is nailed by a missile dropkick. Springboard corkscrew legdrop by Mondo. Reckless blocks the superplex, front suplexing Mondo to the mat, but can’t take advantage He rolls out the way of a somersault senton and splash from opposite corners and makes the hot tag, stepping on top of Mondo to make it. A bad miscommunication between Justice and Trent as they accidentally butt heads. Reckless is back and hits a contrived double jump tornado DDT. Trent kicks out of the cover following a Justice Lionsault. Reverse DDT by Reckless on Mondo. He calls for the 2K1, but Mondo flips over to escape. Justice and Trent have ended up on the outside and as Pain shows the fans a chair you hear one chap shout “Hurt that muthafucker! Hurt him baby!” Christ! He does bring it down across Trent’s back, not hard enough for the loudmouth who wants it done “harder”. In the ring Mondo connects on a coast to coast whilst Reckless is sat in a chair. Short powerbomb. Another miscue between Justice and Trent and you can see them talking with each other to get back on the same page. Pain cart wheels through the attempted double clothesline and dumps both with a double back suplex. Springboard plancha to the concrete. Reckless with a pair of rolling suplexes into a brainbuster. A table gets set up at ringside which Justice lays Trent across. Double military press on Mondo who gets dropped from into the ring onto his own partner and through the table. With them both out of it Reckless sets about arranging some chairs in the ring. They get Trent up on Justice’s shoulders in the Electric Chair and Reckless off the top with an Ace Crusher into the chairs. Z-Barr the Superstar tries to interfere but gets caught and superbombed, the fans chanting “Kill Z-Barr”. Pain and Mondo set themselves for something in the corner which results in Mondo getting superplexed through another ringside table. Ridiculously Mondo kicks out of the cover when he’s rolled into the ring. After that craziness, he’s put away with a fairly simple Pain Thriller. Justice Pain was bad here, clearly the worst of the four by some way and involved in at least three blatant screw ups. I would hasten to say this was good, but it was watchable and everyone put the effort in. One of those matches you only tend to find in CZW where they don’t know what they want it to be and as a result ends up as a bit of everything (brawling, wrestling, flying etc.).

I've just deleted the original thread. I only check the activity tab to see what's new so was unaware there was any problems of people being unable to access the original Mitch Ryder thread. As has been said numerous times, for some reason the board can't deal with accents, quotation marks etc. in thread titles so just leave them off. FWIW I've had none of these errors here in the UK.

Blazin’ Benny Chong is better known as B-Boy and he seems to go under both names here in UPW. This looks to be from TV as opposed to a commercial tape as it’s introduced by Doc Marlee and the Big Schwag. First up we get highlights of how Chong won the UPW Lightweight title, defeating both Prodigy and Devon Willis in a three way bout where he pinned Prodigy following a Death Valley Driver. Next we hear from Spanky who introduces himself in a backstage interview. He actually does a pretty good Shawn Michaels impersonation, showing that Jason Sensation was actually even less of a requirement for the Kliq 2000 in Memphis. The interview is just a run down of his career; trained by Shawn Michaels, signed a WWF developmental contract after only being in the business for five months, sent to Memphis where he trained under the likes of William Regal, Robbie Brookside and Bobby Eaton and already has one ECWA Super 8 under his belt. Now he’s in California and has his sights set on Blazin’ Benny Chong and the Lightweight title, because “chicks dig belts and he digs chicks!” It is from TV as after the two square up to one another and slap each other across the face we go straight to a commercial break. When we return it’s the champion who is in control. T-Bone suplex by Chong. Rear chinlock and Spanky is trying to get the fans to get behind him to fire him up. He escapes but a double clothesline sees both go down. They trade punches in the middle before Spanky connects on a leg lariat. Tornado DDT for a near fall. Chong avoids the frog splash and then thrusts Spanky in the throat. That was called the Incinerator and I think it’s supposed to be some sort of lethal blow by the way the commentators are talking it up and their subsequent surprise when Spanky kicked out of the cover. A couple of reversals and Spanky dumps him with a German suplex. He hits Sliced Bread #2 but Funky Billy Kim, who I hadn’t noticed up to this point, puts Chong’s leg over the bottom rope. Spanky goes for it again however this time Chong fights him off. The champ lands a big kick and then hits the One Hitter Quitter, which looks like Reckless Youth’s Northern Lights 2K1 bomb for the win. Not much to see here, even with a change of name B-Boy’s still not the most exciting of watches. The finisher does look nasty although he struggled to get Spanky up. I suppose we’ll see Spanky crop up in various indies now until the berth of Ring of Honor.

Kyle McNeeley is better known as Onyx from NWA Wildside. Strange that he’s going by his real name considering he’s worked as Onyx on Metal previously and has ‘ONYX’ emblazoned in large letters down the right leg of his bottoms. I should’ve known what to expect after Haku’s match against Shawn Hernandez, but had expectations that McNeeley could pull something decent out of him on the back of his highly enjoyable squash against Albert. McNeeley takes a couple of decent bumps off a chop and a thrust kick, but nothing compared to the way Albert was throwing him around. We do get some OVW talk, Kevin Kelly having spent the week in Louisville as Jim Cornette was recovering from some abdominal surgery and he touches upon the “prospects” down there. Surprisingly Haku sold more for the smaller McNeeley than the larger Hernandez, even letting him hit a quesadora bulldog on him, still, the outcome was the same via Tongan Death grip.

The match comes from IWA-PR’s TV which appears to have the name Impacto Total and I was lucky to be able to date through prwrestling.com on the Wayback machine. Pete Gas has moved on from Memphis to Puerto Rico, something I doubt he’s was overly joyed by. Madness’ second trips Gas from the outside and as he reaches through the ropes to grab him Madness nails him from behind. He throws him through the ropes to the floor where the second starts putting the boots in. That brings out Chaz Warrington and some other chap who run him off. Back in the ring Gas quickly starts firing back, lands a bodyslam and hits the Gas Mask for the win in approximately two and a half minutes. Gas and Chaz motion the belts sign afterwards indicating they may be taking a run at the tag team titles. When WWF are sending the likes of Pete Gas and Chaz Warrington, along with D-Lo Brown who is mentioned on commentary, to be regulars, it does nothing to dispel the notion that IWA-PR was the place they sent guys who they had no use for and who they hoped would quit on their own dime.