GSR

We get an advert for the Triple Threat Ladder match at Starrcade which will determine the number one contender to the Cruiserweight title. How does that even work? It’s not like two men can become the number one contender. I assume it is whomever scores the pin gets the shot, but that is so WCW. The Thrillers jump their opponents and toss them over the ropes to the floor. As they showboat to the hard cam Noble and Karagias are supposed to nail them with springboard dropkicks, but only Jamie manages it, Evan slipping on the top rope! Karagias with a reverse neckbreaker and while he would rather dance, Noble is more interested in wrestling and get his partner to suplex him face first onto the downed Jindrak. Flying clothesline off the top by Noble however Evan then tags himself in, Mike Tenay referring to him as a “glory hog” as they continue the storyline tension between the two. Noble whips Jindrak towards the corner but he vaults out onto the apron and catches the incoming Noble with a back elbow before levelling him with a springboard clothesline. Tag to O’Haire who hits an impressive sit out slam. The Thrillers go about dismantling Noble, luring Karagias into the ring only to then double team his partner behind the official’s back while he’s dealing with him. Noble catches Jindrak with a headscissors but the big man then plants him with a tilt-a-whirl slam. A desperation enziguiri and Noble crawls through Jindrak’s legs to make the hot tag. Quesadora into a face jam. The match spills to the outside where Noble & Karagias collect a ladder from under the ring and use it as a weapon, ramming it into O’Haire’s ribs and dropkicking it into Jindrak. The two can’t remain on the same page for long though and as they argue amongst themselves, O’Haire wipes them out with a double clothesline. A pair of huge double beels outside back in. O’Haire then press slams Evan and drops him all the way to the concrete. Combination top rope Frankensteiner/’Seanton Bomb’ and it’s a win for the Thrillers.

I don’t have high hopes for this. A ladder match has been signed for Starrcade and Shannon informs everyone to tune in and watch them steal the show again. As expected this is all Nash and Page from the onset. Mike Sanders is shown watching on a monitor backstage with Chuck Palumbo and Shawn Stasiak telling them that he’s ready “to set it off”. DDP hits this awesome gut wrench into a spinning over the shoulder backbreaker dropped into a piledriver on Helms. Shannon breaks up the cover with a leg drop off the top to the back of Page’s neck leading to 3 Count getting in a slight bit of offense. That ends when DDP holds onto the Irish whip and drops Shannon with a back elbow. Tag to ‘Big Sexy’ who takes care of business in there. As he has Shannon primed for the jackknife, Shane is on the top ready to come off with something when Page shakes the rope causing him to lose his balance. Jackknife on Moore, top rope Diamond Cutter for Helms and Nash pins them both at the same time. The night’s not over yet as out walks Sanders, Palumbo and Stasiak. Sanders makes some jibe about the Vegas Connection and how Page and Nash suck which goes down like a lead balloon. I swear I heard crickets chirping it was that quiet. He quickly looks to get things back on track and calls out the CEO, Ric Flair, before getting the guys in the truck to play some footage from Mayhem showing that when they won the belts Nash pinned the illegal man. Flair says that they should have spoken about this backstage and asks DDP and Nash “for the integrity of WCW and for the integrity of those championships” to hand them back. They drop the belts in the middle of the ring and Flair tells Sanders that if he wants those belts to go and get them. Surprisingly they don’t jump him when he does and Flair sets up a rematch for Starrcade. Fun seeing 3 Count fly and bump around for ‘the Insiders’ but the match went exactly as you’d expect.

‘The Chosen One’s’ surprise partners turn out to be Ronald and Donald, the Harris Twins. A pier sixer to get us underway before the ring quickly clears and we’re down to Kidman and one of the brothers. K-Dogg with an ‘X-Factor’ to Jarrett and he then makes the tag to Rey who lands a springboard guillotine legdrop. Big Ron actually takes the quesadora bulldog, although he’s not selling for long, picking Rey up and driving him backwards into their corner. Double spinebuster by the twins. Running rabbit lariat followed by a spinning sidewalk slam and Kidman is in to break up the pin. Tony Schiavone plants the seeds of some potential dissension in the Filthy Animal camp between Konnan and Rey, K-Dogg looking away and out to the crowd while Rey had his arm outstretched for a tag. Jarrett backdrops Rey over the top rope, however he lands on the apron and then nails him with a springboard dropkick. Hot tag to Kidman who is all over ‘Double J’ and Big Ron is forced to save his partner after a sit out powerbomb. With the ref struggling to keep control as fights break out everywhere, Jarrett seizes the opportunity and breaks a guitar (he must have an infinite supply of them the amount he destroys!) over Kidman’s head just as he’s got Ron set for the tornado bulldog. That gives them the win and Jarrett a bit of payback after what went down on Nitro.

The ‘Chosen One’ informs Konan that he’s got something in store for him after he beats his little buddy like a piñata. Jarrett’s not paying attention to his opponent and Rey gets the jump on him at the bell. Someone really needs to teach these women how to grab an ankle from the outside as Tygress is every bit as incapable as Midajah it would seem. Springboard bulldog by Rey for a two. He comes off the middle, however Jarrett catches and powerslams him to the mat. Konnan is up on the apron and that distracts Jarrett who goes over to have words with him. As he does so, Kidman then trips ‘Double J’ from the outside and Rey with a springboard legdrop. Spinning heel kick but, not for the first time, Rey goes flying balls first into Jarrett’s foot when he raises it on the bronco buster. The Filthy Animas are interfering right in front of referee Charles Robinson and he’s doing nothing about it. Jarrett gets his knees up on the Arabian moonsault however ends up straddling himself across the middle rope. Lionsault by Rey with Mark Madden thinking that he was trying to stab Jarrett with his horns! Konnan is at least keeping the referee pre-occupied this time as Tygress is in for her ‘face full of stuff’ spot. Madden wonders how Robinson has not seen any of this and how the Filthy Animals haven’t been disqualified? For once I actually agree with him. Jarrett counters the springboard rana with a high impact powerbomb that folds Rey up. ‘The Stroke’ and as he makes the cover he’s pulled out to the floor by Kidman and K-Dogg who beat away on him. I thought Robinson was again letting this go, but Tygress is using her feminine charms on Little Naitch. Flying headscissors. Another springboard, this time though Jarrett has grabbed his guitar which he breaks over an airborne Rey’s head for the DQ. Yup, the Filthy Animals get away with all sorts and the first bit of rule breaking from ‘Double J’ sees him disqualified. Kidman and Konnan get a few shots in on Jarrett post-match before he high tails it out of there. Backstage he challenges the Animals to a six man tag match on Thunder where he’ll have a couple of partners with him to face them. These two could have a great match away from all the bull shit and outside interference, but it was a joke how much of the latter there was taking place right in front of Robinson who ended up looking like one of the most inept referees ever. The finish looked spectacular with the picture perfect timing of the guitar breaking over Rey’s head and even though that is clearly a disqualification it does leave a sour taste after everything else that has let go in the bout.

A recap of what happened on Nitro when these two put aside their differences to compete in the ‘London Lethal Lottery’, only for those differences to later surface after Steiner attacked Sting leading to tonight’s match. Steiner hopes that Booker T is watching in the back as what he does to Sting here is a preview of what he’ll do to him at Mayhem, and the fact that Ric Flair has made it a cage match is to his advantage as no-one can come in and save his ass. ‘Big Poppa Pump’ jumps ‘the Stinger’ before the bell, but after being whipped into the ropes he holds onto them and backdrops Scotty out to the floor where he then throws him into the guard rail and cracks him across the back with a chair. They return to the ring and Sting with a face jam. The first ‘Stinger splash’ connects, however when he goes for another Steiner gets a foot up that he flies into. For some reason he then attempts a third, this time Steiner catching him mid-air and turning it into a belly to belly. ‘Steinerline’ followed by an elbow drop, although rather than go for the pin he prefers to do a few push ups. A second belly to belly gets him a two count and now he’s manhandling referee Slick Johnson over his apparent slow counting. Sting powers out of the double arm stretch, starting to fire back on his opponent. Scotty puts a stop to that sharpish by dumping him overhead, but Sting then blocks having his read rammed into the turnbuckles and slams Steiner’s into it instead. He doesn’t have the momentum to take him down on the crucifix so transitions to a ‘Scorpion Death Drop’ which gets him the surprise and unexpected three. Midajah climbs into the ring to prevent Sting from leaving, and when he calmly moves her out the way she grabs him by the hair to get his attention. It was just a set up though to buy Steiner a bit of time as he then clobbers ‘the Stinger’ with a metal baseball bat that she’d passed him. Midajah pulls out a straightjacket and as Stevie Ray talks about getting some help out there, Tony Schiavone says how Booker T has already left the arena. Steiner repeatedly swings the bat at a helpless Sting, the show going off the air with him trapped in the ‘Recliner’ as the commentators plead for help. The finish came completely out of nowhere and I’m not sold on Steiner losing cleanly this close out from Mayhem. Yeah he gets his heat back in the post-match attack which goes someway to getting over the straightjacket stips for the PPV but I’m not convinced it was a good idea, even if it was too someone like Sting.

Singh has got some new pants this week after wrestling last week in shorts. Miyaki with a bit of Capoeira as he looks to use his quickness and stay out of the big man’s way, not exactly tricky mind as my Gran could probably avoid those shots they’re coming that slow. A clubbing blow to the chest drops Miyaki as Singh then runs his face across the top rope. He’s clearly not learned anything from last week’s DQ as he’s now in the face of referee Jimmy Ripp. Singh brushes off Frantz’s dropkick and plants him with a big side slam. After tossing him to the floor Dalip follows him out and presses him overhead whilst walking around ringside before dumping him over the top and back inside. Frantz stupidly tries a sunset flip, but Singh grabs him around the neck, picks him up and slams him to the mat. A big boot misses by a country mile, although it doesn’t matter as Miyaki’s suffering is almost over, ‘the Giant’ picking up the win after a chokeslam. Just to compound everything for him, Frantz is then carried from the ring to the dressing room. Singh looked better here than he did in the tag match, he also showed a bit of agility in there with a leg drop, although probably not a move he should be doing regularly at his size. The military press is still mighty impressive and in all honesty I wasn’t as offended as I imagined going in.

Dalip Singh is introduced as a mystery partner after the mouthpiece manager had promised to unleash “the biggest monster in APW”. Jones questions the Playaz as to whether they’re scared and that they should be if they’re not. Well Singh is starting this off for his team which wasn’t what I was expecting in the slightest, thinking that Jones would do the bulk of the work and he would be in for just a few spots. Thompson shows initial caution and after Singh powers him backwards to the mat on the opening lock up suggests LeGrande try his luck. Same outcome so they decide to work together. The future Great Khali was supposed to power them both backwards on the double top wrist lock but screws up, only getting it half right. He looks a bit lost, the fact that it has gone wrong having completely thrown him, before repeating with Thompson. The Playaz continue to show caution but everything that they try, be it shoulder tackles, punches to the stomach, dropkicks, has no effect as he easily manhandles the pair. He tags in ‘the Shooter’ who’s immediately levelled by a LeGrande spinning heel kick as things start to take a more traditional route. Double ‘Sicilian Slice’ from the WSP. Jones snatches the superkick and launches Boyce overhead. Spinning side slam and he goes over and nails Thompson on the apron for good measure. He throws LeGrande to the floor where their abundance of seconds and managers put the boots in, someone even making use of a Kendo stick to clobber him with. Singh makes his second foray in to the match, dropping LeGrande across his knee with a gentle backbreaker before press slamming him. To be fair that was impressive. A high double underhook suplex by ‘the Shooter’. This is more what I was expecting from ‘the Giant’, selected spots, as he’s in for a bear hug where he runs Boyce into the turnbuckles and then he’s back out on the apron. Jones whips LeGrande into the corner, but as he follows him in, Boyce runs up the turnbuckles, back flips over him and drops him with a thrust kick. Hot tag to Thompson who wipes Jones out with a snug clothesline. Nice deep powerslam. Jones blocks the suplex and takes Thompson down with a Fujiwara arm bar. Singh was supposed to wait for LeGrande to enter the ring to save his partner and then cut him off, but he was a bit too eager and Boyce has to move sharpish to get in position. High chokeslam by ‘the Giant’ to LeGrande and the official must say something pretty derogatory to him, or Singh doesn’t like authority, as he plants him with a pretty painful looking chokeslam. The ref subsequently calls for the bell and as Jones celebrates thinking that Thompson submitted, the official decision is that they’ve been disqualified for Singh’s attack. I watched his purely as it was the pro debut of Dalip Singh/Great Khali and he was as bad as you would expect. The opening portion was all about getting him over as this monster, demonstrating his power and strength, but he was lumbering, lost at times, and seems to have a perpetual look on his face as if his mind is elsewhere. I’ll throw a few positives in there in that he’s much better coming in for spots and is clearly strong as shown by that press slam, although the chokeslam on the ref for the finish was careless. Things were obviously better when Jones was in however that was hardly surprising. Ever the glutton it’s Singh’s singles debut next on the docket against Miyaki Frantz from the 10/14 show.

Tony Schiavone sounds very creepy when he says how it’s always good to see Tygress. A number one contender’s match for the Cruiserweight title, something that Konnan wasn’t overly keen on at first, what with having his fellow Filthy Animals face off against one another. K-Dogg does a great job putting over the history of these two, talking about their history in Mexico, how they were tag team partners there and how they know each other inside out. Schiavone calls a ‘Gori special’ a “version of the rack” and Konnan corrects him, saying how it was invented by Chavito Guerrero’s grandfather over forty years ago. Things start to get a little more heated and Juvi lays in a couple of hard chops. He misses the big splash in the corner before a double clothesline takes both men down. A springboard dropkick sends Rey to the floor, but Juvi would rather climb the turnbuckles and play to the fans as opposed to following it up. Eventually he does and, despite Rey’s efforts to walk around ringside and stay out of his path, catches him with a pescado. That seems to have taken something out of both and back inside Rey dumps Juvi to the mat on the headscissors. Konnan informs everyone that Disco Inferno is now no longer part of their group, something that surprises Mike Tenay a fair bit. An awesome flying headscissors from Rey sends Juvi to the outside which he then follows with another quality variation, starting out by holding onto the ropes and flipping backwards over them to the floor. He throws him back into the ring but Juvi counters the springboard rana with a powerbomb. Springboard splash for a near fall as Konnan notes how the crowd are really into this. A plethora of rapid fire counters and switches as each tries to get the upper hand on the other. Rey with an Asai moonsault, but Juvi catches him and hits the ‘Juvi Driver’, Rey only just getting a shoulder up. He escapes the powerbomb and lands one of his own, however as he goes for the bridge, Juvi blocks it, flips him over and gets the three to become the number one contender. Disco and his duck are out to celebrate with the Animals post-match, but they want nothing to do with him and throw him from the ring, confirming that his time in the group is done. Konnan is a seriously good commentator when he’s not calling people cranberries and making inside remarks. No doubt the fact that he was talking about his buddies helped, but he did a tremendous job here giving history on the pair, how they know each other so well, what the other is thinking etc. A great TV match wrested at a quick pace and with some truly wonderful stuff in there courtesy of Rey.

An impassioned promo from the General who promises to bring the U.S. title and Major Gunns back to where they belong, the United States! He dedicates the match to his mentor ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan, who joins him and announces that ‘The Cat’ has made him the special guest ringside enforcer for the bout. Major Gunns actually looks attractive here for a change. Storm jumps Rection at the bell as old ‘Hacksaw’ tries to get a “U-S-A” chanting going from the floor. The General no sells Storm’s knife edge chops, switches positions with him and deals out some of his own. Gunns’ acting here is atrocious. Rection counters the attempted crucifix with a Samoan drop followed soon after by a huge running splash in the corner. Lance side steps the charge when he goes for it again, however Storm is too slow climbing the turnbuckles and Rection superplexes him to the mat. A mule kick brings the General to his knees as Storm picks up a couple of near falls. He kicks him under the bottom rope to the outside and nails him with a springboard crossbody. After whipping him into the guard rail he’s distracted by Duggan and runs into a big boot. Gut wrench powerbomb that Lance barely gets a shoulder up from. Storm catches a kick, dragon screw leg whip and he then snatches as that leg as he goes for the ‘Canadian Maple Leaf’. Rection kicks him off and a great looking German suplex dumping Lance on the back of his head. He clotheslines him over the top rope but ‘Hacksaw’ throws him right back inside. As the General goes for his finishing moonsault, in “the shot heard around North America”, Duggan turns on his country and clobbers him with his 2x4. Storm slaps the ‘Canadian Maple Leaf’ on his KO’ed opponent and gets the win. Post-match Duggan tears off his top to reveal a Canada shirt as a forlorn Major Gunns looks on.

A handshake between Punk and Kid here, either a show of respect between the two or intimating that we’re in for a clean contest. A real slow opening to the match as they work everything around a side headlock for the opening moments, Kid seemingly having Punk’s number on the wrestling front. There’s a cool moment where Punk goes for it again, but Kid knows its coming, so moves his head out the way just before he grabs it and Punk falls to the mat. It definitely gives the idea that these two have ‘scouted’ each other out or done their homework in the lead up to the tournament. Kid misses a senton and Punk with a delayed elbow drop after Kid had initially rolled out the way (giving more credence to what I just said). He snap mares his way out of the rear chinlock and gets a two following a huracanrana. When he goes for a second, Punk counters with a powerbomb. STF, although he doesn’t really lock it in tight and eventually gives up on the hold. Tajiri style handspring elbow from Kid as they start to move through the gears. Punk kicks out of the frog splash and then rolls through on the top rope rana. Spinning slam followed by a spinebuster. Kid reverses the tombstone piledriver, but loses Punk whilst trying to lift him up so just slams him to the mat instead rather than struggle. He ties him in the ‘Tree of Woe’, which I assume is what he was meant to do, and baseball slide dropkicks him in the face. Double jump split legged moonsault that Punk gets his knees up on. ‘Death Valley Driver’ however a lazy cover sees Kid reverse it and almost get the three. Punk misses a split legged moonsault of his own, a shiranui and the number two seeds goes on to the semis. I liked this a lot as the match built well and by keeping Punk grounded and working a slower pace it removes his sloppier tendencies that tend to show up when he’s working quicker. Certainly my favourite singles outing from him so far.

We hear from Tony Kozina who has been on the road for the past two years, travelling the country and making a name for himself. He talks about it bringing him a lot of pleasure to come back here and bring the NWA World Junior Heavyweight title to Portland, OR when he is interrupted by Buddy Wayne. Wayne takes exception to Kozina’s claims that he’s the best Light Heavyweight in the business and while the NWA belt doesn’t mean anything to him, any time he wants they can step in the ring and he can show him how much of a man he is. Kozina accepts and hands Don Cox the title belt to look after, but gets jumped on the stage by Wayne the moment he turns his back on him. Buddy tosses him into the ring and it looks like Kozina lands on his head there. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker dropping Kozina across his own knee. He looks to repeat however this time Kozina escapes his grasp and blasts him around the head with an enziguiri. Buddy ducks to the floor but there’s no solace as he gets caught by a pescado. Missile dropkick for a two. The commentator then goes on a bit of rant about how the Light Heavyweight titles that are defended on Monday night are a joke in comparison to Tony Kozina who has defended his title in four countries already. Handspring elbow and again Wayne gets a shoulder up. Kozina runs into a big boot but the ref spots Buddy’s feet over the ropes on the folding press so stops his count. ‘Ace Crusher’ followed by a flying elbow. The champ fights his way out of a sleeper, but when he slaps on one of his own Buddy dumps him with a belly to back. Wayne fails to connect on the moonsault and Kozina with a leg lariat. He telegraphs the backdrop but then counters the attempted powerbomb with an inside cradle for the win. As Kozina celebrates his victory he’s jumped by Wayne who leaves him laying after a tombstone piledriver. Finally a genuinely good Portland match, it’s taken long enough!

It’s like the Rock & Roll Express in their pomp with all these girls screaming for the Briscoe brothers. I don’t recognise Valentine and Fontaine’s manager, but he’s clearly been taking fashion tips from Cornette by the look of things! Mark lands on his feet from a German suplex, whips Valentine into the corner, runs up his chest, flips backwards and gets a two count with a victory roll. Quesadora into a sunset flip as they run through some pinfall attempts and counters. Fast Eddie offers Mark his hand and the youngster shows his inexperience by accepting, getting forearmed across the chops for doing so. He ducks the double clothesline and connects on a double Asai moonsault. Tag to Jay, stereo inverted atomic drops and both men end up on the outside. Somersault senton over the top rope to the floor by Jay and Mark with a twisting Orihara moonsault out onto everyone. Double dropkick followed by a double standing moonsault, however the ref is otherwise engaged and slow to start on his count. Combination side suplex/middle rope legdrop and this time Fast Eddie is in to make the save. The Briscoe’s telegraph the double back drop and Mozart with a DDT to Jay while Valentine launches Mark with a belly to back. Awesome spinning backbreaker on Mark as the heels look to isolate and target him. They continue to use their experience to their advantage, cutting off the ring, making false tags and double teaming behind the official’s back. Mark blocks a second backbreaker and counters with a cutter, although Fontaine is in before he can make the tag. He sits Mark on the top turnbuckle, however from there he fights back, hits a ‘Diamond Dust’ and makes the hot tag as these girls go loopy! Jay runs rough shot over both, soon re-joined by his brother who has quickly regained a second wind. Mozart dumps Mark ‘snake eyes’ style and then goes over to help Eddie who is struggling against Jay. As they go for a stuff piledriver on him, Mark shakes the ropes causing Fontaine to lose his balance. Jay with a low blow to Valentine, combination flatliner/top rope bulldog and the Briscoes get the win, much to the delight of their screaming fans. Post-match they are jumped by the Haas brothers, duped into thinking they are coming out from the front by Kevin Kelly when in fact they attack them from behind. Yes, banana split/flying elbow to the groin! From here this pretty much segues into the next match. A pretty spectacular showcase for the Briscoe’s in our first look at them in the project and crazy to realise that they’re just 15 and 16 here. Fontaine and Valentine are perfectly fine as the veterans leading them through this, everything solid but nothing to take the shine away from the brothers. The heat section on Mark was maybe a tad too long for my liking although where did that crowd come from? The reactions and response to the Briscoe’s was bonkers!

Head Drop is the promotion of one time PWO member ‘Big Rob’ aka Rob Brazier and this is from their debut show back in December. The match is billed as ‘the past vs the future’ although looking at them both you would struggle to work out who represents what as Breaks is a real throw back to the World of Sport era of the past. I know nothing about the guy in regards to whether he’s any relation, but he does where the black and yellow ring gear. No knee pads for him either. For roughly the first ten minutes they only go off their feet once and it’s really good; chain wrestling, counter wrestling and a variety of smart, nifty escapes which is right up my street. There was a sequence that started with a Breaks Japanese stranglehold surfboard that I especially liked. The longer the match went on though the more it lost its competitive edge and felt like two guys working together, which is in full evidence at the finish (Breaks gets the win after the Johnny Saint ‘Russ Abbott special’), while there were a few comedic touches in there that I personally could’ve done with out. From what I gathered Breaks is only 19 and is certainly someone to keep an eye out for in the future. This, as well as the rest of the matches from the show, can be found on YouTube.

Same here. Has been down regularly the past few days for me.

Shark Boy’s ring gear doesn’t half look cheap. Steel takes a rest on the turnbuckles after the opening hip toss, almost as though he senses this is going to be an easy night for him. When he starts doing push ups and flexing his muscles, that only results in some homophobic slurs being slung his way from the rednecks. Actually it appears to be this one same voice abusing him and it’s bloody annoying. After Steel’s early dominance Shark Boy catches him with a hip toss followed by a bodyslam, the first two moves Steel had caught him with. Atomic drop and now Shark Boy is biting him on the backside, something which I’m sure will only exacerbate the abuse Steel has been getting. He bails to the floor and Shark Boy, fed up of waiting, chases after him, eventually catching up with him and slamming his head into one of the ringside chairs before throwing him back inside. Shark Boy cinches in a hammerlock that Steel tries to bodyslam his way out of. He keeps hold of that arm on the first effort, but when Steel repeats, he then slams him over the ropes so that Sharkie takes a fall onto the apron. That takes the wind out of him and things aren’t helped by a Steel ‘Shattered Dreams’. Running lariat in the corner. Steel shouts out “action personified” after a suplex but then hits only water as Shark Boy avoids the diving headbutt. The two trade blows in the centre of the ring, Shark Boy getting the better of things and backing Steel up against the turnbuckles where he unloads some more. Frankensteiner off the top for a near fall. Sharkie telegraphs the back drop and Steel with a release cradle suplex. He heads upstairs himself but is too slow and Shark Boy dropkicks the top rope causing him to crotch himself. Shark Boy goes for a second top rope rana, however this time Steel counters with a superbomb to move on to night two. I know they’ve been a prevalent theme throughout various Indies from the start of the year but the homophobic slurs, the “faggot”, the “queer” cat calls are bothering me more and more, especially as this has been two matches in a row where they’ve been clearly audible. Steel looked good here, although I have real issues with Shark Boy’s gear; the biting on the ass, of the hand also makes him come across more as a comedy wrestler as opposed to someone who you should take seriously. Maybe it was the crowd and this probably would’ve played better elsewhere but it just didn’t connect for me.

Tara gets the “she’s a crack whore” treatment when she asks for silence from the MCW faithful. It looks like York and Matthews continued to work shots in MCW and them returning last month to drop the tag titles wasn’t their goodbye. A Matthews dropkick sends Carmichael to the floor while York with a cross armed neckbreaker for Divine. Carmichael ducks under the baseball slide, however when he backdrops York into the ropes he rebounds off them and catches him with a headscissors. Plancha off the top by Matthews. The action briefly returns to the ring until Carmichael sidesteps Joey and launches him through the ropes. It’s pretty much an assisted suicide dive, Matthews crashing into Divine, who is still on the floor, as well as the metal railings. Carmichael gets his knees up on the moonsault and then Divine reaches into the ring, grabs York by the hair and pulls him backwards over the top rope to the outside where he puts the boots to him. The champions get the heat on the challengers but they are the polar opposite to them in every way. York fights his way out of the superplex, shoves Carmichael to the mat and comes off the middle with a senton. Hot tag and the ladies are rather pleased to see Matthews judging by those screams! Face first full nelson slam on Divine and a reverse DDT for Carmichael. Some guy runs out from the dressing room and attacks York and Matthews although doesn’t fare that well as they give him their double hip toss into a sky high powerbomb. Top rope frankensteiner/flying elbow finisher on Carmichael but the referee refuses to count saying York isn’t the legal man. Hmm, if he’s such a stickler for the rules why didn’t he disqualify the champs for the outside interference? Matthews takes his partner’s place and makes the cover, but while the ref tries to get York back on the apron, the interferee returns and clocks Matthews over the back of the head with one of the title belts before putting Carmichael on top. Razor close near fall as Matthews surprisingly kicks out; I don’t know why though because a matter of seconds later a folding press with Carmichael placing his feet over the ropes for added leverage sees them retain. Just like last month York and Matthews were put over strong in defeat with it taking outside interference, an illegal belt shot and Carmichael using the ropes to put them away. It was cool to see York doing Matthews ‘FIP’ role and they both looked really good here, can’t say the same for the champions who are seriously bland. I would’ve liked to have seen more out of Tara, almost in a Sensational Sherri like role involving herself during the match as she was practically invisible after the opening promo.

The Prototype runs out to save someone from a post-match double team and that segues into this match. A solid looking clothesline from the ‘Bad Boy’ that Cena takes a nice bump from. The in house commentator informs us that he, like the Prototype, is signed to a WWF developmental contract. Basil pretty much throws himself onto Cena who then dumps him to the mat with a Samoan drop. He goes to slingshot him into the turnbuckles but they’re too far away and Basil has to take an exaggerated bump in order to reach them. Scoop powerslam by the ‘Bad Boy’ for a two. Cena ducks the clothesline and comes back with a flying forearm, a dropkick and a one handed side slam, flexing his biceps with the free arm. Basil cuts Prototype off but he then reverses the Irish whip and the ref ends up getting squashed in the corner. Prototype with a Blue Thunder Driver however there is no-one to make the count, even though the commentator gives it a shot over the microphone! Damien Steele runs out and waffles Cena in the back with a chair and as he goes to collect a table, Rio, some jacked up Amazonian female, slams him before putting her considerable high heeled boots to him. The commentator calls for some help from the dressing room for Prototype, although considering everyone in the arena can hear him, makes you wonder why he didn’t just forewarn him they were coming in the first place? Steele powerbombs Cena through the table and with their job done he and Rio make their exits. Prototype makes a speedy recovery and with Basil not paying attention and left all alone, he puts him away with a dodgy looking sidewalk slam. Cena is insane physical shape here, not an ounce of fat on him and looking like he’s about to enter a bodybuilding contest. I have recollections from the Observer that Bad Boy Basil died young and it may have been when he was under this developmental deal because as far as I remember he never made it out of UPW. Talking of developmental deals, there is definitely a ‘look’ that the WWF goes for in the UPW guys that they sign; these two, Aaron Aguilera, Nathan Jones, John Heidenreich etc while someone like Samoa Joe who was there at the same time was passed over. The match isn’t very good at all, but it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome and does give us a very first interesting look at the man who would go on to be the face of the WWF for the best part of the next twenty years.

Although this is taking place at Billy Anderson’s Gym, the same venue that IWC operates out of, there is something very backyard and amateurish about it. It’s like a couple of guys doing movez in front of a few friends in a wrestling ring. Quicksilver snaps his neck on the middle rope when they’re too close to it on a sunset flip, while there is one ludicrous moment where Sky hits a ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker but Silver keeps hold of him, stands up and goes straight into a rolling suplex sequence. Scorpio lands a 450 splash at another point and that doesn’t even result in a pin attempt let alone it being the finish. Talking of which, the actual finish is missing, the tape cutting to a different match after a double clothesline. Both are clearly athletic and have potential but have a long way to go and need to go somewhere to hone that potential.

What else would you expect Cheetah Master to come out to? It had to be ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ didn’t it! The world’s most annoying fan, ‘Hat Guy’, is visible in the front row, making himself known and exchanging verbals with Kevin Kelly. There’s no waiting for the bell here and this one is already underway. As Cheetah and Charlie go at it out on the floor, Street with a flying headscissors on Russ. Cheetah makes an early beeline for Kelly, but gets levelled by Charlie who is lay in wait for him. Pescado by Street, however Charlie then slingshots Russ from inside the ring out onto Cheetah and he. After a frantic start the action settles down. There is something so WWF about Kevin Kelly in his ‘Just Bring It’ T-shirt. Street and Cheetah pick up a couple of near falls, firstly by Street hip tossing his partner onto Russ and then Cheetah providing the assist on the legdrop. Russ reverses the Irish whip and Charlie with a knee to the back of Street from the apron. Some great double team work from the brothers here as they work over Street’s arm. Finally Kelly wants in and after pair of knife edge chops in the corner he’s Whoooing and dancing like he’s Ric Flair in there. Those have minimal effect mind and Street quickly switches positions with him. Before he is able to lay anything on him though Kelly ducks out the way and scampers back to his corner. There’s plenty of double and even triple teaming going on behind the referee’s back by the Haas team. Street flattens Charlie with a flying lariat and then dropkicks Russ in the back as they come a cropper on one of those double team moves. Tag to Cheetah who unloads on the brothers while Kelly drops down off the apron and out of reach just in case he fancied coming for him. Double axe handle by Russ and Charlie then wipes him out with a clothesline. Boston crab/camel clutch combination. Street is in to try and make the save, however he’s cut off by the referee. Kelly is so good as this chicken shit heel. Cheetah counters the banana split with a suplex, but the ref misses seeing the tag, distracted by Kelly. He lets it go anyway and Street with a pair of clotheslines for the brothers. As he sets Russ for a butterfly suplex, Charlie clubs him from behind. Street avoids the flip splash and as an unaware Charlie celebrates, takes it in turns to spike them with tornado DDTs. There’s only one man left and Street lies on the mat to tempt Kelly in. That works, although Kelly finally gets his comeuppance as Street pulls his shirt up over his head and blisters him with chops, while at the same time Cheetah wipes out the brothers with a plancha from the top turnbuckle to the floor. Fuck Kelly throws fire at Street and covers him for the win! Bloody hell, wasn’t expecting that at all. The Haas’ put the boots to Cheetah, attack the referee and a bunch of run ins follow, including someone who looks like Zandig but clearly isn’t. Was this the first match Kevin Kelly ever wrestled? It’s certainly the first time I can remember seeing him wrestle and he was a revelation in the chicken shit manager role. The Haas brothers were really good again, and on the back of that Jersey All Pro match against Da Hit Squad do feel like the future of tag team wrestling. It looks like this was a highly enjoyable card from ECWA based on the three matches we watched from it.

Punk is doing the ‘Straight Edge’ gimmick here, telling everyone how the beer they’re drinking is poison and that it will rot their liver, give them cancer and put them in hospital. He asks how many of them have promiscuous sex which leads him to seeing if there are any ‘rats’ or members of the “itty bitty tittie committee” in tonight. As he goes on to say how he is better than all of them, he even gets in a zinger on someone who tries to heckle him. Bambino has undergone a pretty drastic hair cut since we last saw him in that six person tag, looking unrecognisable. He’s got some hard knife edge chops that he lays in on Punk after avoiding a cheap shot in the corner. Not to be denied, Punk does get in a subsequent cheap shot when the ref is between them to break the collar and elbow, only to fail to connect on an elbow drop. They work things around a side headlock until Punk takes Bambino down with a Sayama inspired drop toe hold, done at about a tenth of the speed mind! Impressed at his handiwork he then lies across the top turnbuckle. Punk throws Bambino through the ropes to the floor where Dave Prazak gets a couple of shots in. Sunset flip back inside and even though Punk cuts Bambino off with a clothesline, a pair of dropkicks later sees him taking to the outside. He gets hold of the house mic and tells everyone to shut up so that he can concentrate, otherwise he and “the manager of champions, the Sausage King of Chicago” will exit the building. If he was expecting quiet after his request it never went to plan! Punk stalls on returning to the ring eventually dragging Bambino out to the floor with him, although it’s Punk who ends up flying into the ring post and then onto the lap of a front rower. Release German suplex by Bambino. Punk reverses the tombstone piledriver and hits ‘That’s Incredible’ but takes his time climbing on climbing to the top turnbuckle, arguing with the fans, and misses the elbow drop. Missile dropkick for a two. Punk counters the quesadora, face planting Bambino to the mat, however as he picks him up for a piledriver the toe of Bambino’s boot pokes the ref in the eyes. 2000 is fast becoming the year of the unconvincing ref bump! Prazak goes to clock Bambino with something but ends up accidentally nailing Punk, although does redeem thing for his man by stopping the count. Punk avoids a flying Bambino who hot shots himself on the top rope and then hooks his shorts in making the cover for the win. Definitely an interesting period in the development of CM Punk as it’s a clear start to the ‘Straight Edge’ character that would go on to define him. I’d go as far to argue that he’s actually pretty good now in every aspect bar the wrestling itself. It’s like he’s got the ideas, but not yet the experience to put everything together which is why his ring work looks so rough a lot of the time.

Francine is sporting a pair of nasty looking black eyes, a result of suffering a broken nose last night. Joel Gertner tries to portray himself as some sort of demigod of tag team wrestling, what with him having guided the Dudley’s to eight world titles and all, and claims that this is a historic main event. Kash is all over the World Heavyweight champion who wants no further part of him and tags out to the TV champion. Awesome double springboard huracanrana by Kash. He milks the tag to Van Dam, RVD then turning his back on his opponent to play to the crowd (shock horror, I know!) and briefly paying the price until blocking a shot and forearming Rhino in the jaw. Springboard leaping side kick. Rhino ducks the clothesline and wipes Van Dam out with a short stiff lariat of his own. Oh, Rhino is now using the ‘Big F’N’ Deal’ nickname, which we can add to the ‘Whole F’N’ Show’ and ‘New F’N’ Show’. I know that ECW is ‘extreme’ but that is pretty lazy. Huge military press, however Kash is in and kicks a leg out as RVD falls on top of him for a two count. Spinning heel kick and Rhino rolls to the floor. Credible goes to jump RVD from behind, but Kash cuts him off and clotheslines him over the top rope to the outside. Flip dive by Van Dam and never one to be outdone, Kash with a plancha over the ring post and into the aisle. Back inside Kash runs into an elbow and gets flattened by a superkick. Rhino hammers away on him and then gores him up against the turnbuckles. Francine passes Credible a chair which he slams Kash’s face into. The two trade hard slaps to the chest before a moonsault press by Kash that only gets him a one. Tag to Van Dam and he is more than holding his own in there against the two ECW title holders. He blasts Rhino with a chair and then dropkicks it into Credible’s face. Kash provides the assist on the Van Dam crucifix as they go about double teaming Rhino. Credible is in for the save but ends up sat on RVD’s shoulders in an electric chair position. A super ambitious super rana that they don’t quite pull off, Credible landing right on the top of his head. I re-watched that a couple of times and he was lucky not to break his neck. Van Daminator on Rhino. RVD climbs to the top, however Credible shoves him off and he crashes into the guard rail. Kash escapes ‘That’s Incredible’ and hits the ‘Money Maker’. Mike Kehner is about to make the count when he’s gored by Rhino who then piledrives Kash from the apron and through a table on the concrete. Fuck, that looked every bit as bad as that bump Credible took. As Rhino is stood all alone in the ring Joey Styles telegraphs the Sandman’s arrival by wondering if anyone can stop him. Sandman destroys a cane over Rhino’s head before being the recipient of a brutal cane shot to the back of the head from Credible. Here comes Steve Corino and he superkicks Rhino who falls backwards into the corner. Fonzie holds a chair in place, Van Terminator and Kehner comes too as RVD gets a pin over the TV champion. Kid Kash looked phenomenal here, Rhino a killer, RVD kept his annoying traits to a minimum and even Justin Credible was perfectly serviceable. A really enjoyable ‘ECW style’ TV main event and one where the expected interference at the end didn’t detract as Sandman was in and out to further his rivalry with Rhino and then Corino goes about continuing to establish himself as a face, his superkick ultimately leading to the Van Terminator and finish.

The official orders Danger’s ‘Dick Clique’ to the back as he doesn’t want any interference in this three-way. ‘Big’ Dick persuades Sakoda to work together against the champion to eliminate him first, but that lasts all of fifteen seconds before Sakoda is breaking up a Danger cover. He then manages to convince Reyes into working with him and that does go better until the same inevitable pin breaking outcome. Both already double crossed by him Reyes and Sakoda team up, no surprises for guessing how that ends up though. Sakoda cinches in a camel clutch on the United States champion and rather than let him wear him down or possibly even get a submission, Danger applies a rear chinlock resulting in Keiji having to let go of the hold. Double sleeper spot. Combination drop toe hold/baseball slide dropkick on Sakoda. Danger with a swinging neckbreaker and he’s the first man eliminated. ‘Big’ Dick collects the title belt and makes his way to the dressing room thinking that he’s the new champion, forgetting its elimination rules. Reyes drags him back to the ring, sunset flip and he yanks down Danger’s trunks to complete. He’s in no hurry to pull those trunks back up mind, putting the boots to Reyes with his bare ass on display for all to see. Reyes avoids the fist drop off the middle, Danger punching the mat. Huracanrana, however as he goes for a second it’s countered into a pop up powerbomb for a two. Reyes escapes the swinging neckbreaker, looks for a Northern Lights, but Danger counters that into a DDT for another near fall. He lands the neckbreaker although this time they’re too close to the ropes and the champion gets a foot over them. Danger doesn’t realise what’s happened and for the second time in the match collects the title belt thinking it’s over. When he finds out that’s not the case he swings at Reyes, who ducks, and levels him with a spinning kick. Tombstone piledriver and Reyes retains the gold. The final couple of minutes of this were good, but the three-way part was generic and Reyes isn’t experienced enough to carry someone like Danger, who on the whole didn’t show much. The near fall laden closing stretch and kicking out of finishers is becoming a regular trend in Reyes’ matches.

Things are much slower and measured here compared to B-Boy’s match with Reyes’ Los Gringos partner. B goes for a clothesline, Reyes slides between his legs, ankle trip and he drops a leg to the back of his head. Double running knee to the chest followed by a double leg cradle for a two. The Irish whip is reversed, B keeping hold of the arm and launching Reyes with an exploder. Cross arm bar transitioned into from a seated abdominal stretch and Reyes wriggles over to the ropes for the break. B-Boy is really early telegraphing the backdrop and gets spiked by a jumping DDT. A baseball slide dropkick sends him to the outside, although there is no dive or anything, the referee preventing Reyes from following up. B escapes the tombstone piledriver and hits a brainbuster before tying the champion in the ‘tree of woe’ and dropkicking him in the face. Reyes fires back and gets a two after a butterfly suplex. Boy avoids the ‘Stinger splash’ puts Reyes over his shoulder for a Death Valley Driver, but his swinging legs KO the referee. There’s no-one to count so B-Boy does so himself, getting the visual pin in the process. After a second Death Valley Driver the official comes around however Reyes grabs his hand to stop it coming down for the three. Tombstone by Reyes and another call back, this time B-Boy stopping the count like Reyes did after his DVD. Magistral cradle that B counters into a pinfall attempt of his own. Tornado DDT, hip toss into an implant DDT, Diamond Cutter, frog splash, near falls aplenty from both men. B-Boy lands on the apron after being back dropped over the top rope, sunset flip back inside but Reyes drops down on him and hooks his legs to retain the gold. The build to this match has been on the back of some simple and straight forward booking 101; Reyes interfered in B-Boy’s match with his Los Gringos partner, that led to a tag team match where B got a pin over the champion, which resulted in him receiving a title shot. There were some nice call backs in this, although it felt like they were trying to create an ‘epic’ with all the kick outs. I almost feel as though I need to watch this a second time as the constant kick outs were taking something out of me. Not at the level they were aiming for for me, however still a good match and interesting to note as well that B-Boy has been the common denominator in the vast majority of the better IWC matches.

Jerry Lynn vs Steve Corino vs Yoshihiro Tajiri (ECW on TNN 8/4/00) Lynn and Tajiri start off working together, dumping Corino to the outside. Lou E. Dangerously is loitering around ringside for some reason. We’re not even two minutes in and Tajiri has already busted out the handspring elbow and Tarantula. Corino breaks up the Tarantula and as Tajiri falls to the apron he’s attacked by Jack Victory. Leg lariat for a two. Mule kick by Corino to escape the waistlock and a baseball slide dropkick for Tajiri who’s still going at it with Jacko. As Corino heads to help his man, Lynn with a plancha from the top turnbuckle to the floor out onto the pair. Tajiri suplexes Lynn back into the ring, lands a huracanrana, but then walks right into a Corino superkick. He backdrops his way out of the cradle piledriver before blowing the mist at Corino. Boot to the mid-section by Lynn, cradle piledriver and Tajiri is eliminated. It turns out Dangerously is now part of The Network and hands Corino a towel to wipe the mist out of his eyes. Corino blocks the tornado DDT but then misses the clothesline and Lynn with a belly to back suplex for a two. Sunset flip into a powerbomb. Reverse DDT for another two. Nice bodyscissors roll up by Lynn before they run through the Guerrero/Malenko sequence. Corino catches him with that deep powerslam, heads upstairs, but Lynn crotches him and hits a draping DDT from the top. He KO’s Victory who is up on the apron , makes the cover and as it looks like he’s got this in the bag Lou E. pulls the official from the ring to break the count. As Jacko complains to Mike Kehner about being attacked, Lynn grabs Dangerously, however he throws his phone to Corino who then blasts Lynn between the eyes with it when he turns around. In spite of that he is still able to get a shoulder up on the cover. Lynn with a go behind on the bodyslam, he goes for the cradle piledriver when Scotty Anton runs out. The Network distracts the referee as Anton clotheslines Lynn across the top rope. Corino with the ‘Old School Expulsion’ and the The Network steal a victory from ECW. They continue to attack him after the match and despite the fans chanting for RVD its Tommy Dreamer who makes the save, with Jazz also showing up, as this eventually segues into the next match. Tommy Dreamer vs Scotty Anton (ECW on TNN 8/4/00) Dreamer drags Anton off to the rear of the building and then back, which appears to be nothing more than a way of just clearing the ring of folk after the previous match. He goes to bulldog the ‘U.S. Male’ from the apron onto a ladder that he’d bridged between the ring and guard rail, however Scotty shoves him off and Dreamer crashes face first into it. Anton starts ‘the Clap’ which is surprisingly somewhat over already. Dreamer has been busted open above the eye and Anton immediately targets that cut. He sets up a second ladder across the middle turnbuckle but Dreamer reverses the Irish whip and Scotty takes the bump, back first, into it. Superplex whilst stood on the ladder. Jazz, who either never left or has returned to ringside, slides a couple of chairs into Dreamer and he lays the ladder across them. Anton blocks the attempted suplex and then suplexes Dreamer into the contraption that he’d just created. There are some hideously named moves in ECW, but Anton’s Scorpion Deathlock, called ‘the Clap Trap’ might very well be the worst of the lot. Somehow Mike Kehner misses seeing Jazz break up the submission by blasting ‘the U.S. Male’ over the head with a chair. Anton counters the DDT with a back heel trip when out comes Jerry Lynn looking for payback for earlier. Cradle piledriver is missed by ‘Blind’ Mike before Dreamer comes off the middle with an elbow to a chair over Anton’s face for the win. How Kehner missed the Jazz interference I’ll never know as he came across pretty incompetent in doing so. Anton looks a solid hand and is fairly charismatic, he’s just got that WCW lower card stench about him which is hard to shake off, to the point he’s already pegged, despite the turn on Van Dam, as a comedic mid-carder.

Dr Tom is on commentary with Kevin Kelly here and both put Smothers over as someone who Tazz can’t take lightly, saying how he is unorthodox and can make you look bad in a minute. Tazz clotheslines him over the top rope to the outside where he slams his head into the ring steps. Tracey gets the jump on him when they return to the ring, dropping a forearm across Tazz’s throat and eliciting a decent heel response. Double leg takedown by Tazz who then unloads on his opponent. Northern Lights suplex for a two. Smothers reverses the Irish whip, Tazz ducks the kick and sinks in the ‘Tazzmission’ for the win. Out of Tracey’s WWF enhancement work I’d say the Headbangers tag match has the slight edge.