GSR

Ki injures a knee/ankle on a Phoenix splash to the floor and the ref stops the match barely two minutes in. Still enough time to get a springboard dropkick, a bevy of kicks to the head (although the thigh slapping was at its worst when Scoot was in the corner) and a handspring out of him. He tries to continue but can’t put any weight on that leg and is carried to the back. The ring announcer informs everyone that the injury will be evaluated in the dressing room to see whether the match can be resumed later in the show. A super promising start cut short by the injury.

Well I never knew Doug Williams ventured to the United States prior to the 2001 King of Indies tournament so looking forward to seeing how he does here. He should be far more capable than Mike Hollow anyway! Another lovely, tacky ring robe from Wilde. ‘The Anarchist’ has got an escape or counter for everything Maverick tries and you can see get more visibly frustrated as Williams outwrestles him. Wilde resorts to an elbow to the jaw to escape the hammerlock, but Williams floats over on the attempted press slam and hits the ‘Chaos Theory’ suplex. Surprised to see that’s only a transitional move at this point, but it does get a big reaction from the crowd. Wilde picks an ankle off the side headlock and then drops a knee across Williams’ lower leg. It looks like that leg is now the focus of his attack as he applies a spinning toe hold to weaken it some more. Williams even has a nifty escape for that, however Maverick then counters the hip toss with a face jam. A weird little forward roll into a diving headbutt by Wilde. He reverts to going after that leg although doesn’t have the most expansive of repertoires when doing so. Williams turns the Figure Four over, transferring the pressure to his opponent. I like that he is still selling the leg, even when running the ropes, before an accidental clash of heads sees both men go down. Leaping tornado DDT by ‘the Anarchist’. So much for his selling of that leg as he’s now stopped. Belly to back suplex for a two. A legit clash of heads when both duck into each other, then Wilde goes and lands on the back of his neck doing the Jacques Rougeau’s reverse roll spot off a back drop. The fans are laughing at them which is never good. After being whipped into the corner Wilde avoids the Williams charge and plants him with a full nelson slam for the win. Admittedly this fell apart in the final minutes with the clash of heads (guessing one should have leapfrogged over the other but both ducked) and then the blown Wilde roll, but before that I thought this was a nice primer for Williams who got to demonstrate his World of Sport style to a new market. I wonder if the response the ‘Chaos Theory’ got here was food for thought in him deciding to make it his finisher? I think I might be over Wilde already though as I wasn’t that impressed with his working over Williams’ leg; all very rudimentary and a million miles away in terms of aggression from what I watched earlier in the day when Scoot Andrews was trying to tear Low Ki’s knee from its socket.

Our second visit to the Long Island Wrestling Federation. Oh great, another Indy where the commentary is being provided by someone over the house mic! Homicide murders Rex Rockwell of Just Chillin’ with a lariat and he’s not moving when Ki tries to drag him to his feet. They get him out of there and after he collapses to the floor you later see him being carried to the dressing room. Willy fares no better than his partner, Ki showing him what strong style is all about. Power drive elbow, but the referee is not paying attention and late on the count. Ki gets in his face and that allows Willy to club him from behind and tag in one of the Legion to see how they can do. Camel clutch by Father Legion and the camera zooms in to see him throw these weak, pulled punches to the temple. Ki reverses the Irish whip and stuns the Father with a clothesline. Running forearm smash in the corner by Homicide, Ki with a handspring forearm smash and finally another vicious looking clothesline out of Homicide. At least Legion appears to still be conscious! Argh, those ludicrous rules which mean anyone can tag anyone and partners can end up in the ring against one another. Fortunately Ki and Homicide treat those rules with the contempt they deserve, Homicide laying down and the other teams having to break up the pin. Once is just about bearable, but that spot is then repeated a further two times in the match. Cradle suplex by Deacon Riot on Ki who does a bit of FIP work. Whip to the corner is reversed, Ki with a flying clothesline and he hot tags Homicide. Combination Tiger bomb/frog splash from the Hit Squad. Ki makes the cover with one foot on Willy’s chest, but he grabs him by the pants and rolls him into a single leg crab. The tags being made by the Legion and what’s left of Just Chillin’ are aimless. After being ‘forced’ to go at each other again, this time with Ki laying down for Homicide, they drag Father Legion into the ring. As Riot does nothing and casually watches on from the apron, a Homicide Mafia kick followed by a ‘Ki Krusher’ sees the Hit Squad come out on top. Watchable when Ki and Homicide are wrecking and dismantling these fools, but as a match it’s bad. Both the Legion Knights and Just Chillin’ are pretty clueless and haven’t got much of an idea in there, Deacon Riot especially coming across as someone who has been dragged in as a late replacement. The live ‘in house’ commentary sucked and was there any need to repeat the partner vs partner spot on three separate occasions? In regards to talk of it being Ki’s worst outing of the year, I think I would still put this ahead of that Jersey All Pro three way elimination match from 3/31.

“God’s gift to Professional Wrestling” wishes to express his gratitude to Kurt Angle for coming all the way out to UPW. While he doesn’t have a WWF title for him, or doesn’t have a wife he could steal, he does have a burning desire to kick his ass all over the Galaxy Theatre! Just as he’s finishing his promo out sprints Kurt who attacks him from behind. Daniels blocks the hip toss, scissors Angle’s legs and locks on a knee bar come heel hook. Kurt with the rope break but the ‘Fallen Angel’ is right back on that knee, stomping away and dropping elbows across it. Slingshot leg drop to the knee. The whip to the corner is reversed and Angle launches Daniels with an overhead belly to belly. He counters the ‘Angel’s Wings’ with a back drop, however Daniels holds on and takes him down with a sunset flip. When he realises he’s not going to be able to get him over, throws a strike to that weakened knee and then rolls backwards into a single leg crab. The two go toe to toe exchanging punches before Daniels ducks a right and lands a pair of dropkicks to the knee. Best Moonsault Ever for a near fall. That’s the start of a series of near falls for both men, Daniels picking up his following a couple of cool cradle variations. With things looking desperate for Kurt, he shoots ‘the Fallen Angel’ into the ropes to counter the reverse DDT and hits the Olympic Slam, at the second try, to close out a contest that I’m sure was much tougher than he expected going in. Something that wouldn’t have looked out of place on an episode of Raw, and if it had have taken place there would be one of the best matches on the show. Daniels looks every bit as good, if not better than Angle, who gives him the majority of the match. Really liked the varied way he targeted that knee, whilst Kurt sold it throughout and even continued to do so after. There wasn’t even a size issue between the two which you may have thought, and I’m at a loss how Daniels never got a shot in the WWF on the back of this as he held his own, was credible and also cut a decent promo beforehand. Lone negative was the commentary which was being done over the house mic and did provide a bit of a distraction.

No audio on this one for me. The floor of the venue is covered in sand which ends up caking both wrestlers whenever they take a spill on it. Pearce does bump and fly around nicely for Anderson’s offence, before ‘Kamikaze’ Ken lives up to his nickname and nearly KO’s himself on a plancha to the floor. To be honest, the way he crashed, I’m more surprised that he didn’t. Anderson avoids the Pearce top rope leg drop and as he mounts his comeback ‘Scrap Iron’ accidentally runs into the referee knocking him down. You clearly see him move into position so not the most natural looking of bumps. ‘Kenton bomb’ and with the ref still down Pearce’s second (who I don’t recognise) attacks Anderson. He hits a spinning cutter, Pearce with a crappy Lionsault and the second gives the ref a shake to wake him up so he can count the pin.

Barry Horowitz was due to take on Mike Sullivan for his IPW Heavyweight title, but after Horowitz is introduced Ron Niemi heads out (to ‘No Chance in Hell’) and says that Sullivan got a flat tyre in St. Pete and couldn’t make it to the arena tonight. Sound quality isn’t the clearest on this, although you can hear Niemi talk about surrendering the title to Horowitz when they’re interrupted by Fidel Sierra and his valet Natasha. Sierra explains that Mike Sullivan isn’t here because he got a flat tyre, but because he got four flat tyres and informs Horowitz that they’re the ones who’re going to be wrestling for the belt. Cuban does mention about he and Natasha taking over IPW so I’m guessing that’s how he can make this match. Just as they’re about to go for a test of strength the Assassin pulls back and tells some heckler to “lighten up” as he’s the babyface and Horowitz is the heel. Bizarre. The ‘fan favourite’ Cuban Assassin then tries to get a “he’s an asshole” chant started by the sparse, child heavy crowd. Horowitz nicely sells his own head after a headbutt and picks up a two count with a rolling cradle. This is not the most dynamic of matches that’s for sure! Accidental clash of heads sees both men go down. The Assassin is to his feet first but Horowitz grabs him by the singlet and launches him into the referee taking him out. Reverse DDT and as he covers the Assassin you hear someone count the three. Considering Horowitz is fully aware the official is down I have no idea why he even made the pin in the first place or, on hearing the three, gets off the Assassin and starts patting his back and calling himself the new IPW champion. Horowitz picks Sierra up but as Niemi goes to clock him with the belt, the Assassin moves and he nails ‘Bad’ Barry instead. The Cuban decks Niemi and then covers the KO’d Horowitz to become the new IPW Heavyweight champion. A woeful match, which I’d like to blame fully on the Cuban Assassin, however it was a rare off night from Horowitz too. Little crowd interaction from him either which was a disappointment. Just an odd vibe in there with two natural heels going at it, Sierra trying to be the face but struggling badly in doing so.

Moments after the show opens Triple H’s music plays and Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler say how we’ll be hearing from ‘the Game’ to open up this episode of Smackdown, only it’s not ‘the Game’ it’s his wife, Stephanie, who hasn’t been seen since Summerslam. She would like to thank everyone for their concern about her whereabouts on Monday, although didn’t appreciate all those dirty, nasty rumours that people were spreading in regards to where she was Sunday night! Not that anyone deserves an explanation, but for the sake of her reputation she says how she spent the entire night by the hospital bed of her injured brother Shane “oh it’s true!” Haha, the look on her face after she let that one slip out! In regards to her marriage she wants everyone to know that Hunter and her are experiencing wedded bless again, at which point out walks Kurt Angle. He lets her know that he admires her and that it amazes him how a beautiful and delicate woman like she can put on such a brave face after her husband manhandled her. With her none the wiser in regards to what he’s talking about, he eagerly replays the footage from Summerslam, explaining how HHH struck here, even though he had plenty of time to pull back from the punch. Steph is having none of it, saying that she knows it was an accident and so does Kurt too. While he agrees that it may have been an accident, he then shows her footage of Hunter and Chyna hugging from Raw and questions “was that an accident too?” thinking it’s a disgrace that a married man would behave like that. Stephanie gets upset on seeing it as Angle continues to shit stir, claiming that he thought she knew about it and that her husband “talked it over” with her. Chyna is out next and explains that nothing happened between herself and Hunter on Raw and that “this idiot” is manipulating things. Kurt’s response to that is to play some more footage from Raw, carefully edited to show Chyna tending to Triple H rather than Eddy Guerrero after he’d KO’d them both with a steel chair (which he blamed on his concussion!). Stephanie doesn’t like what she sees and is pointing and ranting at Chyna, when Kurt from behind hits the ‘Olympic slam’ on her. Eddy rushes out to her aid while Steph and Kurt leave together. HHH arrives in the building and Michael Cole speculates that he has no idea what just went down between Stephanie and Chyna. He enters his dressing room to find Stephanie in there chatting with Kurt and is instantly hot. Angle skedaddles as Steph then confronts her husband over what happened with Chyna on Monday. Hunter pleads his case that it was a friendly hug which meant nothing, but with Steph still in his face and not believing him, kicks over a table and storms out of there. Chyna pays a visit to our favourite Commissioner, demanding a match with Kurt Angle. He refuses to give it her thinking that would be rewarding Kurt for his bad behaviour. Eddy then steps up to the plate demanding the match and with Triple H/Angle already scheduled, he adds him to the equation making it a three way. As Stephanie is walking backstage she’s met by Kurt, although flinches when he puts his arm around her. He tries to smooth things over between them claiming the kiss was just the kind of kiss a friend would give a friend, however it looks like the penny is finally starting to drop with her as she’s all confused and tells him that she needs some space. We’re in the dressing room with Stephanie and Triple H and he’s calmed down from earlier. Hunter says that all Chyna was doing was trying to give him some advice on relationships and they hugged at the end. He knows he should’ve told her, but knows how sensitive she is and didn’t want to upset her. When she says that the reason it hurt was because of their past relationship together, HHH brings up Kurt and she, thinking it’s not that different. Stephanie claims that it is because they’ve never been in a relationship and are just friends. That sets Hunter off again who loses it and starts trashing the room. Just Joe is eavesdropping outside, hears the banging, Steph’s screaming and you just know where he’s off to next. Joe snitches to Kurt about all the noise he heard from outside the McMahon-Helmsley dressing room. When he questions him as to whether Triple H hit her again, Joe responds that he might have and Angle takes off. Stephanie’s making a coffee when she’s approached by Kurt. She calms his fears explaining that they only had a fight and he didn’t hit her as Hunter never would. Repetitive Kurt tells her for the hundred millionth time that he’ll always be there for her. Eddy’s getting changed for his match and wonders if it will bother Chyna when he pounds Triple H’s head in? She says that what she and Hunter had was business while what they have is special, telling him to do what he has to do. Back once more with Stephanie and HHH and Hunter’s once again apologizing. He says that he loves her more than anything and when Kurt Angle sticks his nose into their business he just wants to ring his neck. From now on though he’ll try his hardest to control his temper, respect her and if she’s friends with Kurt, while he’s not okay with it, he understands. As they kiss and make up, the police arrive and arrest Hunter for spousal abuse. Despite Stephanie’s protestations that he didn’t do anything, they take him away, while she insists that she has nothing to do with this and didn’t make the complaint. ‘Sticky beak’ Foley is there but is more concerned about his main event being in tatters and as Chyna will be in Eddy’s corner informs Stephanie that she will be in Kurt’s. Stephanie doesn’t look too happy at all as she seconds Kurt for this match. Leg lariat by Eddy who then clotheslines Angle over the top rope and to the outside. He lands next to Chyna who’s in no mood to just stand by, forearming him across the face. Suplex come brain buster, dropping Kurt on his head for a two. Angle ducks under the clothesline, snatches Eddy around the waist and launches him with a belly to back suplex. He throws him to the floor and is about to wallop him with a steel chair when Chyna grabs it to prevent him from doing so. As they play tug of war over the chair, Kurt is nailed from behind by Eddy. Chyna then passes him the chair and as he swings, Kurt pulls Chyna in front of him, Eddy stopping himself from clocking her just in time. They return to the ring and Eddy with a couple of nice uppercuts. Somewhere in amongst this Angle has been cut open hardway. Top rope frankensteiner. Eddy rushes Kurt who backdrops him over the top rope. Although he lands on the apron, Angle slugs him and he falls from there and into Stephanie who then slaps him. Michael Cole and ‘the King’ all of a sudden start talking about HHH’s night and both are of the belief that Stephanie didn’t file that complaint but don’t know who did. Really lads? Belly to back and Kurt makes the cover, however Hebner is distracted by the women who are on opposite sides of the apron shouting at each other. As Earl has words with Chyna, Steph runs around and grabs her by the ankles. Kurt then shoves Eddy into Chyna, who falls to the floor, before clocking him with the I-C title belt for the win. Chyna attacks Kurt after the match, clotheslining him from the ring and leaving her all alone with Stephanie. Steph starts prodding her in the chest which was clearly not the brightest idea she’s ever had as Chyna responds by DDT’ing her to the mat. The show finishes with Kurt carrying her off to the back and out of harms way. I was starting to tire of this Hunter/Kurt/Steph storyline, but the arrest of HHH has saved things for the time being.

Lou E. Dangerously’s promo is interrupted by Steve Corino, who heads to the ring accompanied by Jack Victory. The two go back and forth on the mic, Corino mainly making jibes about Dangerously and Anton being gay. After Lou E. reminds him that ‘The Network’ made him, he says that means he’ll just have to break ‘The Network’ and this is underway. A bionic elbow drops Anton and as he backs into the corner, Corino climbs the turnbuckles and unloads with punches. Scotty rolls to the outside after a lariat, however he’s followed out to the floor where Corino grabs a drink from one of the fans and proceeds to drench Anton and a section of the front row with it. Back inside, Anton counters the suplex and clips Corino’s heavily braced knee. He ties him in the ‘Tree of Woe’ and then fires away punches to that knee. Corino with a sunset flip off the backdrop, yanking down Scotty’s trunks who is left wondering around with his ass out like he’s Ric Flair. Face first suplex by Anton dumping Corino across the top rope. As he gets him to do ‘the Clap’, Corino puts a stop to that with a mule kick low blow. Fisherman suplex for a two and I like how Corino is still selling that leg. Anton ducks the clothesline, throws a dropkick to the knee and goes right for his ‘Clap Trap’. Corino reaches the ropes, but an unaware Anton thinks the official got him to break because Corino gave up. As he celebrates his non-win, Dangerously and Victory get in the ring. Lou nails Jacko with his phone and while the ref deals with them, Corino gets a visual pin following the ‘Old School Expulsion’. He heads over and slugs Dangerously, but Scotty snatches the phone when it flies out of his hand. Anton KO’s Corino, shoves the phone down his trunks and picks up the win. A pre-cursor, almost a trial run if you like, for the TV match between the two, only with Lou E. Dangerously in the Cyrus role. I actually preferred this to that one due to the work around the knee as things felt more focussed. Kinda surprised to see Anton get the win, although more of a case of trying to elevate him to Corino’s level, if only for the very short term and until he gets that win back.

For someone who I’d guess the majority have never seen before, Michael Shane gets a strong heel reaction. Both brush away dropkicks from the other leading to the ‘stand-off’ and as the fans give the pair a round of applause, Shane is up on the ropes letting them verbally have it. As they start a “boring” chant to throw him off his game, he just flips them the double bird and returns to the job in the hand. Huracanrana by Psicosis followed by a spinning heel kick sending Shane scurrying to the outside. Plancha from the top turnbuckle to the floor. He rolls him back inside but as he comes off the top is caught by a dropkick to the solar plexus. Belly to back suplex for a two. Shane telegraphs the backdrop and Psicosis nails him with a dropkick of his own. Top rope frankensteiner for a near fall. Sit out face first superplex and the guillotine leg drop puts Shane away. Fun little house show opener which probably explains why it was on the shorter side. I enjoyed Shane’s heeling, although with the lacks nature of ECW you can get away with cursing at the fans, giving them the finger etc. Shane looks like someone who could well have had a decent run in the company, the next generation so to say, if it hadn’t gone under at the start of 2001.

Well it looks like Ian did move to a new location after his rant a couple of weeks ago and amazingly he found somewhere even more scummier looking than the last place! The change of venue has done nothing to increase attendance mind as we have one of the smallest crowds we’ve seen so far. Side headlock take down by Kickboxer and one of the audience tries to dupe the official shouting “Hy-Zaya said I Quit”, although he’s a bit too sharp to fall for that! Uncle Honky puts one of Zaya’s feet over the ropes for the break, but Boxer quickly drops a knee to the arm of his downed opponent. From here he goes to town on that arm, crowbarring it and bending it around the ropes. Zaya with a rake to the eyes followed by a reverse DDT before slapping on a leg lock submission. He transitions to a Figure Four and Jim Fannin passes the official the microphone to see whether Boxer wants to quit. As Zaya looks for a lariat Boxer snatches that arm and takes him down by it, cranking on a Fujiwara arm bar. Double arm stretch, kneeling on, and stomping to, the back of Zaya’s head. Crossface and Zaya taps out. The referee calls for the bell, but Fannin informs him that he has to say “I Quit”, not just tap out. As the two of them argue over the semantics, Honky gives Boxer a couple of Avalanche splashes in the corner. Fannin announces that the match will continue and orders “fat ass” out of there. The damage has already been done though. Zaya works on Boxer’s lower back some more and he ends up quitting whilst trapped in a sloppily applied Camel clutch. Boxer again looks to the crowd trying to milk some applause but doesn’t get any this time. Maybe Jim Fannin is just a stickler for the rules but the finish saw this end on a flat note.

The General is declaring war on Canada and tonight Lt. Loco will rip the kajones off of Lance Storm so he cannot reproduce and cannot contaminate it anymore! ‘Serious’ Lance thinks that Hardcore wrestling is a bunch of garbage, so to bring respect to the title he won last week he is renaming it the Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title. Tee hee hee, those initials spell SHIT. The Canadian national anthem hasn’t even finished playing and the M.I.A. are on their way out, Lt. Loco leading the charge. Springboard crossbody followed by a flying headscissors from the Cruiserweight champion. Chavo lands on the apron after being backdropped over the top rope, however Storm then snaps his neck across it and a dropkick sends him tumbling to the floor. Back inside the two trade blows as the Lieutenant starts to get the better of things. He lays in some European uppercuts and lands a DDT, caught just in time by the camera which was focussing on the General at the commentary desk. Chavo sticks a back flip off the top, although in doing so hurts his ankle. As Charles Robinson tries to check he’s okay to continue, Lance pulls him away and kicks away at that ankle. Double leg cradle by Loco for a two. He looks to counter the Storm powerbomb with a huracanrana but Lance re-counters and slaps on the ‘Canadian Maple Leaf’ submission. Lt. Loco submits and Storm adds a third title to his collection as Mark Madden screams “Hat trick, hat trick!” Storm’s celebration is interrupted by Kevin Nash who wants to say something. The triple champion doesn’t back down when Nash tells him to get out of there so ‘Big Sexy’ gives him the jobber treatment as Lance bumps for his big boot to the face. Average match and a shit ending with Nash treating Storm like a nobody, not someone who is now a triple champion in the company.

Excalibur has recovered from whatever it was that took him out of last week’s elimination match to partner Ultra Taro here. Haha, after landing a couple of arm drags, when Son goes for a third Excalibur just pulls his arm away so he falls to the mat and then soccer kicks him in the face! Cross armbar by Dragon on Taro who stretches out a leg to reach the ropes and force the break. After praising Revolution Pro for not resorting to a ‘stand-off’ last week, that’s exactly what Dragon and Taro give us this. I dunno, this has a different vibe to it than the previous Rev Pro matches and I’ll await judgment as to whether that is a good or bad thing. As I write that Taro slaps Dragon across the side of his face and he responds in kind; hopefully normal service has been resumed! It looks like Taro was going for a satellite headscissors but doesn’t quite manage it, putting his hands down to regain his balance, so as he does so, Dragon boots him in the head! Face first suplex, dumping Taro across the top rope followed by a draping DDT. Taro ducks the kick and a pair of ranas sends Dragon to the outside. Dragon snatches his legs on the attempted baseball slide, pulling Taro from the ring. Son slips off the ropes on the Asai moonsault and they try to rescue things although shouldn’t have bothered because what they tried looked equally as botched. Crazy ass suicide dive over the top rope by Excalibur, torpedoing towards Dragon like a homing missile. I don’t know what’s up with these guys tonight as Taro slips on the plancha to the floor, only just reaching Son. Taro takes Dragon down with a lariat and a bootscrape by Excalibur in what might be a first for that move. Son counters the superbomb with a huracanrana and as Taro comes off the top, nails him with a dropkick to the mid-section. Rolling koppu kick by Dragon and there is some force behind that. Handspring elbow by Son, but Dragon then slips off his partner’s back on the ‘Poetry in Motion’. Stereo Pele kicks to Excalibur. More dives to the floor and this is becoming all too wanky. Dragon blows a Space Flying Tiger Drop getting caught up in the ropes and I think it’s time to just go home boys. Nope, not going anywhere yet as Dragon hits a corkscrew Asai moonsault. Full nelson into a sit out powerbomb on Excalibur for a two. Hangman’s neckbreaker off the top on Dragon and Son breaks up the pin. MOVEZ~ and I’m nowhere close to writing down everything they’re doing. Double underhook DDT by Dragon, Son with the frog splash and now it’s Excalibur who is saving his partner. After more of the same, Super Dragon with a ‘Psycho Driver’ while at the same time Son spikes Excalibur with a leaping DDT. They both head upstairs, Phoenix Splash, Swanton bomb and this one’s over. How can guys who have looked so good up to now get it so wrong? It felt as if they were going home at around the eleven minute mark but we weren’t even half way in at that point. Just movez for the sake of movez with them busting out everything they know and that’s before even getting into all the blown spots that were in there. After last week’s six man, a hugely disappointing encounter.

I want one of those ‘Iceman’ Buck Quartermaine Tour T-shirts! Proper old school opening between ‘the Iceman’ and Sullivan, working things around a side headlock and a hammerlock. Jet comes in to try and help his partner but ends up on the receiving end of a double flapjack. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Scoot for a two. A big powerslam and there is something methodical about the way that they’re taking it to their opponents. Quartermaine with a suplex and Sullivan is in to break up the pin. Jet reverses the Irish whip and Sullivan with a knee to the back of Scoot as he hits the ropes. A “fuck you blondie!” brings ‘the Iceman’ into the ring, but while the ref tries to get him back on the apron, it allows Sullivan and Jaguar to double team his partner. Nerve hold by Sullivan, Scoot’s arm dropping twice but not the third time. Jet comes off the top with a big splash, however he hits his head on the low ceiling wrecking a few of the panels! A Sullivan clothesline turns Scoot inside out, cutting off any hope he had after the crossbody. He throws him through the ropes to the outside where his valet gives him the gentlest of slaps to the face. When the fans try to get behind Scoot, Sullivan tells them to “get back to McDonalds!” Scoot fights his way out of the rear chinlock, flying elbow and hot tags to ‘the Iceman’. ‘Angel’s Wings’ on Jaguar and Sullivan saves his partner just in time. A pier six ensues and with Quartermaine and Sullivan going at it on the floor, Scoot spikes Jet with his pumphandle driver for the win. Coincidentally I too watched this after the three Revolution Pro matches and it was a welcome change of pace to what was going down in Southern California. Solid match.

Mauro Ranallo informs us that “for the first time in its illustrious history the British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight championship will be decided in a Triple Threat match”. Greg ‘Pistol’ Pawluk is your next generation Dynamite Kid/Chris Benoit clone, while Principal Richard Pound does look like he’d be more at home in the classroom as opposed to a wrestling ring. Khan crosses the Principal after it looked like they’d formed some sort of alliance and as he pounds away on him in the corner, Pawluk catches him with a sunset flip powerbomb. Huracanrana on Pound. Mauro and Bad News Allen are really stressing this Pawluk/Dynamite thing. Khan throws the Principal to the outside as he looks to go to work on Pawluk, however ‘the Pistol’ reverses the Irish whip and nails him with a big back elbow smash. A boot to the gut sends Khan through the ropes to the floor and as he and Pound renew their rivalry, Pawluk wipes out both with a crossbody block from the top turnbuckle. Mamma Mia! While Khan nurses his injuries at ringside, the action continues between PRP and ‘the Pistol’. DDT by the Principal for a two. The official is called Oscar Wilde by the way, surely someone’s idea of a joke? Pawluk reverses the Hangman’s neckbreaker into one of his own, however Khan breaks up the pin with a top rope leg drop. Pumphandle slam on Pawluk by Khan and this Wilde’s counts are dirt slow. The Principal uses his leather strap on Khan and even though the ref catches him, does nothing about it. After he tosses Pawluk to the outside, ‘the Pistol’ is jumped by William Yeats who rams his head into the door at the Pavilion. C’mon, Oscar Wilde and now William Yeats! Lovely gut wrench suplex by Pound but Wilde is dealing with Yeats and Pawluk and out of position to make the count. Pawluk was busted open somewhere in there and Bad News isn’t happy that after being slammed into their announcing table his blood is now all over it. Khan gets a foot over the rope following a lariat and even Bad News is commenting on the slowness of this Wilde. Yeats attacks Khan’s second and when the Tiger goes to help out, it’s déjà vu time as he too gets rammed head first into the Pavilion door. PRP with a piledriver on Pawluk. He hammers away at that cut while having ‘the Pistol’ trapped in a camel clutch, although it looks more like a shaving nick, already having closed up. Khan returns to the ring and cracks a chair over both of his opponents. After laying Pawluk on a table he set up at ringside, Khan runs up the turnbuckles for some sort of dive out on to him only to lose his balance. The Principal meanwhile appears to have fallen asleep in the corner! Attempt number two and he almost loses his balance for a second time, regains it, but ‘the Pistol’ moves out the way of the somersault senton, Khan crashing through the table. Pawluk unloads on PRP, lands a flying elbow before dropping a knee across his forehead. He heads upstairs but Khan is back to his feet and shaking the top rope causing him to crotch himself. Yeats passes the Principal a foreign object which he slugs Pawluk with. Double sledge off the top and Principal Richard Pound is your new, and unlikely, British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight champion. Mauro claims we’ve just witnessed a worldie as he tries to sell the match for all he’s worth. Diana Hart-Smith is about to present the title to him, but when he calls her “toots” she throws the belt down instead. A monotone and emotionless Diana calls PRP a “disgrace” and thinks that Greg Pawluk is more deserving than he and wants him to forfeit the title. Pound responds by saying that Stu, who is shown in the front row, is yellow and her husband and brothers are saps. Diana slaps him and the Honor Roll then grab her as the Principal gets a couple of shots in on her. A 15 year old Harry Smith saves his mother, clearing the ring of ALL SIX MEMBERS of the Honor Roll which looked frankly ludicrous. Pawluk may have patterned himself after Chris Benoit and the Dynamite Kid but he’s got a long way to go before he comes anywhere close to those two. These three are clearly inexperienced in wrestling a triple threat match so this is wrestled more like a regular bout, one man often outside the ring for one reason or another, leaving the other two to it, but it still comes across as a bit of a mess. Bad News Allen is very funny on commentary though. Considering Diana has experience of appearing on WWF TV she was dire in everything she did and are we really meant to believe that Harry could run through six men all on his own?

I’ve already watched a couple of Revolution Pro events from 2001 so was aware of where they held their shows, but the venue really is like nothing else we’ve seen. Excalibur, Disco Machine and Rising Son are seconding Taro and Dragon tonight. A couple of vein busting chops to the chest right from the get go by Dragon. Back heel trip into a variation of the Indian deathlock and the official is checking with Taro to see whether he wants to give. He doesn’t and crawls over to the ropes for the break. A kick to the back and I wouldn’t be surprised if you can make out the design of Dragon’s boot on Taro’s back it was that stiff. Dragon’s just destroying him here. Nice counter of the hip toss and a flying headscissors sends Dragon rolling out the ring to the floor. Disco and Excalibur grab hold of him, however he frees himself from their grasp and Taro takes out his own men with the slingshot senton. Corkscrew plancha onto all three by Dragon. Still on the outside he locks Taro in a ‘rocking horse’ hold and repeatedly swings his head into the wall of the building. Springboard missile dropkick for a two. Taro blocks a right and tries to fire back but is dropped after one open hand slap. Excalibur has seen enough, climbs up to the apron, grabs Dragon from behind and gives him a neckbreaker over the top rope. Maybe Taro will stand some sort of chance now! Nice Hangman’s neckbreaker out of him, while at the same time there are some shenanigans going on at ringside involving the seconds. After whipping Dragon into the corner Taro runs into an elbow, he ducks the clothesline but as he celebrates doing so gets absolutely creamed by a rolling koppu kick. A quick change of video tape and we return as Taro counters the powerbomb with a ‘Rocker dropper’. Flying clothesline off the top for a near fall. Dragon blocks the tornado DDT, but Taro with a great counter of the Tiger Driver into a huracanrana. He can’t capitalize though and Dragon with a brainbuster into a double underhook DDT. Corkscrew moonsault misses. Taro heads upstairs himself but is too slow and is caught by his opponent. He does however manage to reverse his position on the top rope belly to back, landing on top of Dragon. Leaping tornado DDT and that’s pretty much every variation of that move in the match! Dragon kicks out of the middle rope Hangman’s neckbreaker and this is bordering on overkill now with all these kick outs. He blocks the Dragon suplex and counters with a couple of rolling Germans. ‘Psycho Driver’ and we finally have something that puts one of these down for the count. Excalibur and Disco jump Dragon and Son after the match with Mr Excitement making the save and setting up the six-man for the next show. If anyone thinks kicking out of a whole host of finishers is something new, not so, the Revolution Pro guys were doing it twenty years ago. The finish was too much for my liking, but up to then this was a strong debut match for the company and a strong debut for Super Dragon who comes across as one nasty, ass kicking bastard. Taro must be some kind of sadist to be regularly taking this kind of abuse from him! Have to agree with Chad’s comments in that on first look Dragon is right up there with Low Ki at the very top of the Indy tree of guys who first really came to prominence in 2000.

The 9/13/00 date originally given for this is wrong and it's actually from 3/14/01 so I've moved it across. The Prototype wrested Bad Boy Basil on that 9/13 card.

The Beginners Guide to Lucha Libre

The two teams punch each other, hit each other with a chair, whip each other into the cage and a ladder, a lot, and that’s pretty much the story of the first seventeen minutes of this match! In a rare deviation from that, Mafia lays the ladder over one of the Bad Crew and drops an elbow which is up there in the stupidity stakes as it hurts him way more than his opponent. The Bad Crew tape Mafia to the ropes and then tape Mack to a table. They then lift that table up and place it on top of a second one, although I do wish Mack would show some sort of fight rather than lie there like a corpse. One of the Crew exits the cage and returns about ninety seconds later being driven to the ring on an actual digger! The digger raises him up to the top of the cage where he comes off it with a big splash onto Mack, putting him through the two tables for the win. I was going to call this ‘dull’, however Astro’s description of ‘plodding’ is far more apt. DHS did take some nice bumps into the cage, it was just so repetitive. The finish was the only memorable thing about this, though I wish Mack would at least wriggled and made it look like he was trying to escape. The commentary (somebody Burns and a wrestler called the Butcher) was atrocious with one of them referring to Mack as Monsta Mash.

Fuck, that Brian ‘Shane Shamrock’ Howser tribute video should come with a disclaimer. I didn’t know the guy but found myself close to welling up; the photos of him through his life, home videos of his children etc. all set to Sarah McLachlan’s ‘I Will Remember You’. Six-way elimination match for the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup. Everyone gets a bit of ring time, although the Chetti/Creed section isn’t the best. Chetti seems to think a side headlock take down is the way to go in a match like this before they go about badly blowing a couple of spots. Flash folds York up with a running powerbomb but Mikey decides to break up the pin. Grrr, how many times have I seen that in an ‘Elimination Match’ this year? With Matthews not paying attention on the apron, Flash tags him in so the two regular partners have to go against each other. There’s a bit of intrigue about this however it doesn’t last long anyway, Mikey pulling down the top rope so York takes a spill over it to the outside. That results in a big old brawl with all the wrestlers pairing off, the camera following Flash and Chetti who fight out to the lobby. Balls Mahoney randomly shows up, for no other reason it seems than to get a forced “Balls, Chetti” chant going as they take it in turns to slug Flash. Mikey retrieves a ladder to a loud pop and after dropkicking it into Creed and Flash, incorporates it into a double jawbreaker on York and Matthews. Flash climbs the ladder but is shoved off it by someone who isn’t identified and isn’t part of the match. ‘Amityville Horror’ by Chetti and Flash is the first man eliminated. Less than thirty seconds later though he’s gone courtesy of a ‘Whippersnapper’. York and Matthews start to work together against Mikey, isolating him and keeping Creed on the outside. Double drop toe hold onto the ladder. He gets a hope spot in, but they counter the double ‘Whippersnapper’ with a double powerbomb and, to the disappointment of the crowd, now he’s gone. Creed nails York and Matthews with a double dropkick off the top, however they, well mainly Christian, quickly get the better of him. The double powerbomb is countered with a double DDT, flying elbow and last year’s champion is eliminated. Down to our final two, Axl Rotten leads the locker room out to watch on from ringside. Matthews and Creed just fire away on each other with punches and this already feels a notch above anything else we’ve seen so far, there’s a real sense of urgency, determination about wanting to put the other away. Face first full nelson slam by Matthews gets him a two. The wrestlers banging on the mat really adds to the atmosphere here. Matthews telegraphs the back drop, Creed looks for a neckbreaker but Matthews reverses it into an inverted DDT. Is that Orlando Jordan amongst the wrestlers? Creed counters the huracanrana with a powerbomb, he heads back up top and lands a second elbow drop however, unlike his partner, Matthews kicks out. Matthews rolls through on the sunset flip and locks on a Texas Cloverleaf. Give Balls his due here, he’s great on the outside selling the in ring action. They’re too close to the ropes on the submission though as Creed grabs them for the break. Hard running lariat in the corner. Desperation enziguiri by Creed. Matthews gets his knees up on the frog splash and applies a second Texas Cloverleaf. This time he’s got enough wears about him to pull Creed back into the centre of the ring when it looks like he’s again about to grab the ropes. As it appears he’s got this in the bag, Creed somehow wriggles an escape and cradles Matthews for the win. Axl Rotten gives a long post match speech and the wrestlers are joined by Shane Shamrock’s family before Creed is presented with the trophy. If you ditch everything prior to the brawling around the venue, I thought this turned into a pretty good match. The brawling itself served no purpose, didn’t play a role in the match and didn’t work on tape. Maybe it was something that came across better live? When we were down to the last two I was saying to myself that I couldn’t believe that the wrestler who had looked the worst was in with a chance of winning this, then Creed goes and looks way better than he had at any point when working with Matthews. We know he can play the perfect FIP, but Joey Matthews has really opened my eyes to how good a worker he was. Chris Chetti flat out sucked, Adam Flash was surprisingly impressive while York and Mikey were perfectly fine. Oh, according to cagematch it is Orlando Jordan you can see at ringside. I thought he was someone who started in OVW so a bit of shocker to find out he actually worked the Indies for a bit prior to then.

The match is joined in progress with Pierrothito in control. Octagoncito dupes him in and busts out a variety of different arm drags. As he tries to rally the crowd Pierrothito stuns him with a dropkick. Press slam dropping Octagoncito face first across the top turnbuckle. After being whipped into the corner, he avoids the charge and Pierrothito sails through the ropes into the ring post and crashes to the floor. Octagoncito with a big plancha, although that takes more out of him than it does his opponent. Back elbow off the middle for a two. Pierrothito dumps Octagoncito over the top, however he lands on the apron, climbs the turnbuckles and lands a leaping rana. The rudo changes tact, removing his belt and using that as a weapon. He accidentally hits the referee and as he tries to apologise to him, Octagoncito swipes that belt away. Octagoncito with a few lashes of his own and he picks up the win following a moonsault bodyblock.

Cyrus, on behalf of the Network, instructs referee Mike Kehner to favour Corino in this bout. When he tells him that he’ll call it like he does every other match, fair and square right down the middle, Cyrus attacks him. Jack Victory then throws Kehner out the ring and Cyrus introduces the special guest referee, only in the interest of good ratings mind, Jerry Lynn. Joey Styles thinks this stinks after what’s gone on recently and that Lynn must be in the pocket of The Network. The camera catches Cyrus telling Corino that “just like Montreal it’s in the bag”, making Styles even more convinced that Lynn has taken a payoff. Awesome looking powerslam by Corino which only gets him a one count, so there’s no early favouritism being shown. Tajiri with a handspring elbow followed by a Hangman’s neckbreaker. After a spinning heel kick Tajiri dumps Corino under the bottom rope out to the floor. He grabs a chair from ringside and brings it up on to the apron, but Tajiri with another handspring, this time kicking the chair plum into Corino’s own face. That not only looked and sounded great but also busted Corino open. He ties him in the ‘Tree of Woe’ and, unlike at Hardcore Heaven, baseball slides that chair into his face. Tajiri grabs a table from under the ring, however Corino reverses the hip toss and suplexes Tajiri through it. While not quite at the level of the PPV, Corino’s blonde hair is again turning red. Tajiri kicks out of the cover and Cyrus is screaming at Lynn for not favouring his man. Handspring number three, although this time Corino counters with a chair shot to the back. Nice. Bionic elbow for a near fall. Tajiri fights his way back into it with those rapid flurry of kicks and punches, blows the mist, but Corino ducks and it blinds Lynn. He locks on the Octopus hold, Corino screams “I Quit” while at the same time Jack Victory also throws in the towel. Tajiri goes over to check on Lynn who decks him. Superkick by Corino, Cyrus uses the towel to clear Lynn’s eyes and he counts the fall. A very suspect Joey Styles can’t believe that Lynn didn’t see any of that and is back wondering if he is in The Network’s pocket after all. Corino does take one great ass kicking and I really liked this one a lot.

Single leg take down by Sabu and the two roll about on the mat exchanging punches. Dirtbike avoids a springboard kick and gets a two after a reverse crossbody. I genuinely can’t tell if the dropkick he throws to the knees was a way to take the legs out from Sabu or he screwed up. Even after reviewing it several times I’m still not sure but will give him the benefit of the doubt. Sabu rolls to the outside where Kid catches him with a plancha off the top turnbuckle. There’s a cut in the video and we return as Sabu reverses the Irish whip sending Dirtbike clattering into the guard rail. He then pulls out a spike to bust Kid open, the fans chanting “We Want Blood” at the same time. Slingshot guillotine leg drop. They’re back on the floor and Sabu sets up a table when he’s cracked over the head with a chair. Kid looking fresh as a daisy now, no attempt to continue selling the beating he’d just been on the receiving end of. That was some flimsy table, giving way the moment Sabu put any kind of weight on it. Top rope rana by Sabu that was unconvincingly and badly set up. Triple jump moonsault. He positions a chair for ‘Air Sabu’ but as he turns around, Kid picks up that chair and blasts him in the head. John Lacey, Sabu’s manager/handler, has just got in the ring and placed a table in the corner, the referee casually letting him do so. Moonsault by Dirtbike for a two. Kid throws Sabu to the outside and it’s tough to see what’s going on as the camera is on the opposite side of the ring. It does appear another of those flimsy tables breaks though when Sabu tries something and he looks legit frustrated. The finish comes after Lacey once more involves himself, Sabu leaping off his back and putting Kid through that table he had earlier positioned in the corner. He doesn’t really put him through it though, Sabu breaking the table himself so it’s a super weak looking ending. Our first look at the FWA, which was a pretty big deal in UK wrestling in the early half of the decade. Dirtbike Kid is probably best known for being the guy that the Great Sasuke shot on in the Michinoku Pro Masked Man tournament one year, although did make his way across the pond, at least once, to wrestle for ECW at the Arena. The ‘US imports’ thing hadn’t been overdone at this point so it was still a rarity to get a big Indy star in the UK, even if he had appeared a couple of times here previously. Kid looked bad and basically just a bunch of Sabu spots, which I suppose was all this crowd wanted. Not for me though.

Terry Funk is ‘on loan’ from WCW, which is barmy in itself that WCW would ‘loan’ a wrestler out to a company that was both wanting to become a player in wrestling and to someone like XPW. Surely they know the background of Rob Black? Talking of Black he’s managing Funk for this match. One thing about ‘the Funker’ is that his selling is so good that the majority of the time I swear he’s actually hurt. That happens here as he collapses after being whipped into the corner, his leg giving out on him. He avoids ‘Air Sabu’ then repositions the chair Sabu had just set up ready for a piledriver off the middle onto it! Why the fuck would a man who has broken his neck in the past even agree to take that? Funk takes the bump onto the chair anyway, landing ass first on it which can’t have been pleasant. Sabu throws Funk to the outside but then slips off the ropes on the triple jump plancha. The two have a walk and brawl to the back of the arena where Sabu slams Funk’s head into the ‘X’ of the ‘XPW’ entrance sign, knocking that over. They make their way up to the stage where Kriss Kloss and Larry Rivera are doing commentary, although there is very little in the way of lighting. Funk decks Kloss while Rivera “ran for his life” so he didn’t cop any of the same. More walking and brawling back to the ring, Funk shaking off a chair that Sabu had launched at his head. Sabu lays ‘the Funker’ across table, comes off the top with a twisting leg drop, however the table doesn’t break on impact! He’s off to try again, this time Funk moves out the way so Sabu crashes through it himself. After what feels like an eternity Funk manages to set his branding iron alight and blows a fireball at Sabu (who had to lie there selling waiting for him to do so). Josh Lacey (Sabu’s manager) then blows a fireball at Funk, Sabu throws fire at him and finally hits him with the flaming branding iron to retain his XPW title. Some adequate brawling at times, but your typical Sabu match with plenty of blown spots (not all his fault mind such as that middle rope piledriver and Funk also struggling to light the branding iron). Of course why have one fire spot when you can have three? I switched off before the post-match interviews, therefore ending the run of watching every minute of every match that I have watched so far in the project.

The same Sean who outed a source last year to cover his own back when something that he reported was exactly that? If you say so. Oh yeah, and if doing that as a 'journalist' isn't bad enough, only a matter of weeks later claimed how he would always protect a source's identity! Very short and selective memory has SRS.