GSR

Kay Lee Ray, Viper and Karen Q are all supposedly WWE bound. Given KLR appeared on the UK Takeover I would imagine that's a done deal, while Viper dropped her two titles to Utama Hayashishita on the Stardom 8th Anniversary show just a couple of days ago also adding to the likelihood. Additionally Viper and KLR are real friendly and do tend to follow each other about a fair bit.

It’s everyone’s favourite podcast guest Beau James! This is heavily clipped, but even though it’s billed as a grudge Tennessee Street Fight between Team NCW and Team SSW, it doesn’t feel that heated and isn’t particularly good or exciting. James and Thunder hit their finisher when Scotty Ace (Noble and Browning’s manager) enters the ring to stop the count. The referee, who is called ‘The Duke’, slugs Ace and stomps away on him while Dr X (yes, a Dr X in the year 2000!) attacks Thunder and James. Browning and Noble come to their manager’s rescue and Ace then piledrives ‘The Duke’. A second stuff piledriver at which point the dressing room empties to run the heels off.

Something just doesn’t sit right with this match up for me. I don’t know whether it’s the opponents for the ‘Fatal Four Way’ on Sunday being partners here, or if it’s adding Angle and Triple H to the mix, either way I’m not a fan of it on paper that’s for sure. There’s a pretty clear face/heel divide going on too, Hunter, despite never going full on face in this feud, is obviously being positioned as such. To little surprise the heel team struggle to get on, Benoit using a hard knife edge chop to tag in Kane who responds by grabbing him around the throat and forcing Kurt to play peacemaker. We get a continuation on the ‘Angle is Gay’ crap as he contrively falls heads first into a prone HHH’s crotch. Triple H pedigrees Kurt but walks into a Kane chokeslam as the four protagonists involved in the title match then brawl up the run way to the back. That just leaves Angle and HHH who are going nowhere, while Stephanie is now up on the apron trying to get them to stop fighting. ‘The Game’ reverses an Irish whip and sends Kurt crashing into her as she takes another spill from the apron to the arena floor. Schoolboy and surprisingly we get a clean finish going into the PPV, Hunter continuing those ‘mind games’ by mimicking Angle’s celebrations from the 1996 Olympics. As Triple H checks on Stephanie, Angle hits an ‘Olympic slam’. He then collects a sledgehammer from under the ring and, despite Steph’s pleading, swings it into his ribs. She goes to slap him, but he blocks it and then forces himself on her. There’s no uncertainty now about whose side/corner she will be in come Unforgiven.

I have no idea what Punk’s entrance music is but I like it. Oh, it’s his IWA-MS debut too. After Punk spits in Colt’s face as retaliation for him doing the same to him moments earlier, a disgusted Cabana grabs a towel from Dave Prazak to wipe it away as he “doesn’t know where he’s been!” You forget how quick and agile Colt actually is for a guy that doesn’t have the sleekest of physiques. Punk fails to clear him on a leap frog, however they’re cutting such a quick pace that he’s right back on it with a bodyslam. They trade arm drags but Punk then screws up a monkey flip. As Cabana takes to the outside for more words of wisdom from Prazak, he’s told to “get your queer ass in the ring”. Great release German suplex by Punk dumping Colt on the back of his head. Prazak hooks Punk’s ankles after Colt reverses the Irish whip and as he turns around to say something top him, Cabana knees him in the back sending him careering out to the floor. As he distracts the official, Prazak is there to put the boots to him. Sit out double underhook suplex for a two. Colt shows him how to do a monkey flip, but Punk lands on his feet and Cabana runs into a big boot. Tornado DDT by Punk who bangs the mat to rally the crowd behind him. He counters the tilt-a-whirl and an inside cradle for a near fall. Colt misses on the top rope twisting senton as it looks like Punk’s found that second wind. His response is a quick double leg take down/folding press, placing his feet over the ropes for extra leverage, to steal the win. Another IWA-MS match, another that ends with the crowd chanting “bull shit”. Between the pace they cut and the working of the crowd I enjoyed this one. Yeah, Punk screwed up on a couple of occasions, however there was no waiting around after doing so, he was straight back into things. Cabana still looks like the better prospect (I wonder how long we’ll be saying that for) but you can clearly see the two have got into their groove now when it comes to working together.

There’s something kind of sleazy about Wilde with his gaudy gold cape and dodgy looking tache and beard. He’s in no hurry to engage or lock up either, stalling for a tad. Military press by Hollow followed by a trio of clotheslines as he gets the first two count of the match. The ‘All American’is content to work the arm, but after whipping Wilde into the corner misses the running knee and crashes into the turnbuckles. Wilde goes straight after that knee, however I don’t know if he has a brain freeze or what, but suddenly starts working on the other leg. Literally one leg drop to the ‘wrong’ leg, one grapevine and Hollow is hopping around on it even though it was the other knee that was initially damaged and worked over. To be fair he sells that leg nicely, until it’s time for his comeback! Full nelson slam, but Hollow telegraphs the back drop and Wilde with a spinning wheel kick. Hollow avoids the flying elbow drop though and cradles his opponent for the win. Where they switched working over the leg really irked me. You also had Hollow blowing the work off to hit atomic drops before going back to selling it as the leg then gives out on a bodyslam. There’s enough about Wilde that I hope we see more from him, can’t say I feel the same about the Hollow.

I suppose it was inevitable that one day an Ian outdoor show would fall foul of the elements, today is that day with the bright weather from earlier long gone and some of the fans even using chairs to shield themselves from the rain. Bull cuts a scathing promo saying that he doesn’t give a fuck about the IWA-MS Heavyweight title, but by defeating Mitch Page it brings him one step closer to “cottage cheese ass” Ian Rotten. He calls Ian out and when he doesn’t show threatens his family and goes on to say he knows where he lives, knows where he shops and one day when he’s not looking, he’ll be there. Mitch jumps Bull while he’s preoccupied with the fans and this quickly spills to the outside where he whips him into the empty seats. Page gets busted open after Bull clocks him over the head with a metal sign before Pain goes about targeting Mitch’s arm, wrapping it around the ring post and punching his shoulder. Reverse DDT onto a chair. Bull takes offense to the “Bull Shit” chant he’s receiving and gets in the face of one ringsider who looks visibly shaken. He’s back focussing on that arm, this time cracking it with a chair. Pain takes a back drop on the floor and Mitch covers him after an elbow drop so it looks like this is ‘falls count anywhere’. It’s absolutely pissing it down there now by the way. Page botches a powerslam and then collects a wooden stick from a fan which he breaks over Bull’s back. A DDT on the floor is missed by the camera, the wrestlers completely obscured by an oversized umbrella! Wow, a release overhead suplex by Bull but that only gets him a two count. He throws all he has at the champion, however nothing is able to put him away. After failing to connect on the frog splash it looks like the match has turned in Page’s favour when Blaze appears at ringside and places some brass knux around Bull’s fist. As Mitch lifts him up for a belly to back suplex Bull KO’s him with the knux to become the new IWA-MS champion. Too long, too much your turn/my turn, too much jumping from in the ring to out and they also overdid it on taking bumps into the rows of chairs, Bull taking four for starters. They did try to convey drama towards the ends with the near falls, but everything was one-two-kick out, no delaying things to the last moment, it was all too predictable. It would’ve been nice if Bull did more arm work, but then again Page immediately stops selling it rendering it all pointless. An interesting spectacle with this taking place in the rain, however not something I would be in a hurry to watch again. Bull’s promo at the start was great and he is a real captivating character, although I was surprised that Ian didn’t show up, not even in the post-match.

Hotstuff comes out to a mash up of the Fugees and Donna Summer which is neat. Necro goes right for him and they’re just stiffing each other with hard chops. He clotheslines Hernandez over the top rope, but when he follows him out gets caught on the apron and press slammed to the concrete. These two aren’t holding anything back here. As they return to the ring Hotstuff gets in first with a low blow and is back blasting away at Necro’s chest. He straddles him over the middle turnbuckle and then kicks him in the groin before distracting the official so that his valet can do the same. An unnecessary distraction seeing that this is no DQ! Hernandez wrecks a trash can lid over his head and as he drags him into the centre of the ring it looks like Necro is biting him in the crotch! That brings the valet back in, but after she slaps him across the face he piledrives her. As Necro turns around he’s levelled by a Hernandez spear which gets a muted, but funny “you’re not Goldberg” chant. Hotstuff slams him into a barbed wire board before crotching him on the top rope and nailing him with a missile dropkick. ‘The Butcher’ tumbles to the arena floor but he’s not safe out there, Hernandez soaring over the top rope with an impressive no hands tope. A ‘Stop’ sign to the head has little effect as Necro fires back with headbutts. Hotstuff reverses positions in the corner and then starts teeing off on him. They attempt a huracanrana through a barbed wire board that Necro had earlier bridged between two chairs, however make a pig’s ear of it as Necro can’t hold on and ends up taking a delayed bump that looks bad. Both clearly realised and ‘the Butcher’ immediately belly to back suplexes Hotstuff into the barbed wire. From here they pick up a couple of chairs and take it in turns to destroy a few of the others brain cells, the shot Necro takes looking particularly nasty. Hernandez recovers first, buries Necro under a second barbed wire board and then comes off the top onto it with a big splash. Missile dropkick to a plastic garbage can over Necro’s head! He’s taken some crazy punishment already and the craziest of the lot might be the running powerbomb from the apron through a table on the floor. The guy’s a nut job! It’s not enough to put him down for good though and he rolls back into the ring where he avoids a Hotstuff charge and back drops him onto that barbed wire board. He swings what’s left of it at Hernandez and then sets up a couple of chairs. Necro telegraphs the back drop but as Hotstuff looks for a powerbomb he reverses things and goes for one of his own. Hernandez dead weights him so he unloads with a series of rapid fire forearms across the face. That does the trick as he gets him up for the powerbomb and drops him onto the chairs. Necro makes the cover and the TASW Brass Knux champion picks up a win over the Heavyweight champion. A nice embrace between the two, although it looks like Necro might have legit hurt his leg with the way that he’s hobbling around. I thought this was on its way to being a ‘lost’ hardcore classic the way things started out. The botched huracanrana was a shame and although there was some bonkers stuff that followed (running powerbomb to the floor), it just felt a lot more ‘spotty’ from then on. Christ knows what state Necro’s body is in in 2019 seeing him take this insane amount of punishment in 2000 and knowing what is still to come out of him. I’m not bothering to rank the undated matches due to how much of the Puerto Rican stuff is joined in progress, but if I did, this would be ranked first and is absolutely worth checking out if you’ve never seen it.

They’re advertising a ‘Star Wars’ card for March 18, so if anyone wants to try and watch this undated stuff in order, this takes place before the Canyon match that we have. Richards is quite animated and has got a lot to say for himself. Necro is all over him mind, walloping him with the ‘Stop’ sign, suplexing him on the floor and bodyslamming him on the hard wooden steps. Bulldog onto a ring chair and I don’t know how much more of this Richards can take. Necro climbs up to the apron but plays to the crowd for too long and Richards cracks him in the ribs with that chair before slamming him to the concrete. He gives ‘the Butcher’ a taste of his own medicine with that ‘Stop’ sign and then rams his head into the ring post. A stiff, unprotected chair shot and Necro is calling him on wanting another. Tornado DDT onto a couple of chairs before Richards rakes a barbed wire baseball bat across Necro’s forehead cutting him open. After being piledriven onto the bat, Necro kicks out of the cover and then manages to get hold of it himself, swinging it into Richards’ mid-section. Powerbomb onto a couple of chairs and that’s it.

An unfortunately placed commercial for the upcoming ‘Rage in the Cage’ show gives away the result of this Texas All-Star Brass Knuckles title match before it has even got started. Canyon’s punches have little effect on Necro who fires back with some knife edge chops and a headbutt. He clotheslines the 400lb’er over the top rope to the outside, then flies at him with a somersault dive off the apron. After slamming him head first into the ring post, Necro comes off the apron again, this time with a Cactus Jack style elbow drop. A ‘Stop’ sign shot to the head splits Canyon open, but it’s like seeing his own blood has finally woke him up. Necro ends up getting busted open and they’re back on the floor where Canyon powerbombs him onto a couple of chairs (although those chairs part like the red sea and he pretty much gets powerbombed onto the concrete). Canyon bites Necro’s cut before giving us an unnecessary, and unwanted, close up of his tongue covered in Necro’s blood. Proper grim! He empties thumbtacks onto the mat, but as he does so Necro jabs him in the mid-section with the sign. Hip toss onto the tacks and the crowd popped big for that. Necro misses an elbow drop off the middle, landing flush in those tacks. Brother Icarus (who Necro beat for the Brass Knux title) is out and handcuffs Necro to the ring ropes. Canyon blasts him over the head with six unprotected chair shots and then grabs the mic saying that pinning him is not enough, he wants to make him say “I Quit”. More full force unprotected chair shots to the prone Necro and this is becoming uncomfortable to watch. Even though Necro never said those words, the official has seen enough and calls for the bell as we have a new TASW Brass Knuckles champion. Longer than it needed to be and Canyon is your generic, fat, death match worker. Even though it was uncomfortable to watch, and was clearly taken from the Rock/Mankind ‘I Quit’ match, it was an effective finish highlighting Necro as someone who wouldn’t quit and had to be protected for his own good by the official. The commentator, who at time during this was real annoying, also did his best work during the closing moments, implying for Necro to just give it up as this isn’t worth it.

Kim looks like he wouldn’t be out of place in the Jung Dragons. Drop toe hold by Romero who picks up an early two count with a Magistral cradle. Springboard senton from one side of the ring straight into a springboard twisting senton from the other. The Irish whip is reversed, however as Kim rushes in Romero traps his head on the tip up and drives it into the middle turnbuckle. Kim blocks the belly to belly and hits a tornado DDT. Moonsault bodyblock for a two. Brainbuster, but this time Romero gets a foot over the rope to break the count. Rocky kicks out of the O’Connor roll and immediately tries his luck with another Magistral cradle. Reverse DDT followed by a springboard DDT and that’s enough to put Kim away. This felt like a throwaway TV match you’d find on WCW Saturday Night, nothing overtly terrible about it, but not something that you’ll remember in a few days.

So you have five humans and an extra-terrestrial who is carried to the ring on a stretcher and comes to life? Took a punt on this after enjoying the Taro/Consoladole match and glad I did as ZIPANG is now two for two. You get a bit of everything here; some wrestling, some flying and some comedy. Cougar hits his crazy slingshot senton to the floor while we also get a dive train that begins with a double jump springboard plancha. The Extraterrestrial finishes the train which gets a great response from the audience as he tends to move in his own unique way the majority of the time! Adachi (who made the biggest impression on me) picks up the win for his team, tying up the Extraterrestrial in a submission hold and forcing him to submit after he’d been the recipient of a Falcon powerbomb and a Cougar diving headbutt. When you watch something and end up with a smile on your face you know it was a good choice.

Gauntlet match to determine the first UWF champion, each participant having drawn a number to determine what position they would enter in the gauntlet. Blimey this is sparsely attended. A headscissors spikes Reil on his head and after a tornado bulldog, he takes to the outside. Dixie with a tope but he gets a bit caught up in the ropes. Reil blocks the double axe handle and launches Dixie with an overhead belly to belly. A release German suplex dumps Dixie on the top of his head which gets a “Holy Shit!” chant from the few dozen in attendance. The referee immediately checks that Dixie hasn’t broken his neck because that was a scary looking landing. Dixie avoids the middle rope somersault leg drop, but Reil then blocks the tornado DDT and levels him an almighty spear. He puts Dixie on his shoulders for a sit out fireman’s carry, but he holds on to Reil’s leg and rolls him up for the pin. Mike Quackenbush drew number three and there are no pleasantries or handshakes from him, going straight for Dixie and not giving him a moment to recover. Plenty of thigh slapping kicks out of Quack! ‘Shooter Clutch’, but with Dixie not tapping Quack drags him over to the ropes and drapes him over the middle one. He then steps out the ring, runs around and dropkicks him in the head. Innovative! Mexican Scorpion hold, which is a nifty variation on the traditional Scorpion Deathlock. Quack transitions to an Indian Deathlock and with it locked in, leans back and grabs Dixie around the neck. Japanese stranglehold into a camel clutch. Dixie with a low blow as he finally starts to get a bit of offense in. Snap suplex. Quack blocks the tornado DDT and hits a double arm suplex (which they are calling a ‘Sleepwalker suplex’). Side Russian leg sweep from the middle when Don Montoya, who had apparently been promising a ‘run in’, does exactly that. How the ref is missing this I don’t know, but you’re having to suspend plenty of disbelief! Montoya with a heart punch on Dixie before launching him over the top rope to the floor. As the referee starts to count him out, Montoya doesn’t even try to hide and plants Quack with a gutwrench powerbomb. Dixie is counted out and the moment the ref reaches ten, Montoya leaps off the middle with a frog splash. A heart punch to Quack and he’s eliminated as Montoya calls for the EMT’s! Flash Wheeler is next and initial impressions aren’t positive and I’m already hoping for another heart punch. We get a bit of shtick involving the referee slow counting on purpose due to Montoya taking exception to the way he counted on a previous pin attempt. Don misses the big splash and Wheeler with a leg lariat. Flash telegraphs the back drop, up kick by Montoya followed by a flying forearm. He calls for the heart punch, but Flash reverses things and hits a spinebuster to send ‘the Don’ packing. You can sense the crowd deflate after that one. Zieg has drawn number six and this is dying. Flash puts everyone out of their misery with a back slide in what was easily the worst ‘match’ of the gauntlet by some way. Dr Hurtz, who is all about hurting people, is our penultimate entrant. Wheeler slips off the turnbuckles and then fails to connect on the knee drop. Magistral cradle by Hurtz and we’re down to our final two, the last man being Homicide. The final match goes all of two minutes before Hurtz stuffs Homicide with an ugly looking DDT and then lands a middle rope leg drop to become the first UWF Heavyweight champion. A dreadfully booked Gauntlet match that died the moment Don Montoya was eliminated and finished on a real downer when Homicide was beaten in two minutes. Are the likes of Wheeler, Zieg and Hurtz all regulars in the promotion, or did they front load the Gauntlet with the better workers because they knew the aforementioned three aren’t very good? It’s not my job to book this, but if Hurtz was winning this I would’ve rejigged the order and had Zieg in third (with Dixie going over) then Wheeler (it doesn’t matter who wins here), followed by Quack, Montoya, Homicide and finally Hurtz. Dixie plays a great underdog bumping and being thrown around, while Quack looked excellent with his tricked out wizardry. Montoya is always fun and as poor as Wheeler is, he gets an entertaining section out of him. The less said about what came next the better.

Even behind the mask Warrior looks young, something that wasn’t noticeable previously with the lone long distant hard cam filming. There’s a moment where the two run into each other and just look lost as though they’ve no idea what to do next. Warrior has a cool bulldog that he hits starting from an electric chair position. He goes to the well once too often with the flying headscissors and Reyes flapjacks him to the mat. Not much later the footage cuts out and we can only wonder who won this IWC United States title match! Warrior is green and spotty and my initial optimism about him back in April appears to have been misguided. To be fair I would have said this was not worth bothering with even before finding out that the finish is missing.

I’m not sure how much I’ll end up writing for this as I’ve never seen six of the eight before, I couldn’t make out any names in the introductions and there is no commentary to help identify anyone. Christian York and Joey Matthews, who’re the current MCW tag team champions, are introduced as being from ECW and Joey is even wearing a T-Shirt with ‘ECW’ emblazoned across it. The heel manager of the Executioners claims that he’s a 30 year old virgin and “proud of it!” as a way to get heat. That’s different to say the least! The Ghetto Mafia are the first team to be eliminated after interference from Christopher Carmichael (I heard them talking to each other so that is two more identified!). One of the Mafia looks to roll up Divine when Carmichael elbow smashes him in the face, all missed by the referee who was in the champion’s corner having words with them. Divine then gets the pin with a folding press while placing his legs over the middle rope for added leverage. Carmichael, Divine and the Executioners high five after the elimination as it looks like they’ve made a pact to work together here. Matthews takes a crazy bump through the ropes to the concrete and goes about doing his fine FIP work. After avoiding a double top rope splash he hot tags Christian York who drops Carmichael with a superkick before clotheslining Divine over the top rope to the outside. As they look to regroup on the floor, Matthews nails them both with a suicide dive. Combination top rope rana/big splash from opposite turnbuckles on one of the Executioners and they are out of there. The ’30 year old virgin’ is on the apron complaining to the referee when the other Executioner KO’s York with one of the title belts. Carmichael quickly slides into the ring to make the cover, shouts at the ref to get his attention and we have new MCW tag team champions. I did think it strange having a York & Matthews Indy match now that they are ECW regulars, but just a case of a quick return to drop the belts, even being protected while doing so. I can’t say any of the other six actually showed anything (with the Executioners being particularly bad) and the highlight was the Joey Matthews FIP section, which is fast becoming a regular thing. Look out for the crazy bump to the floor he takes that leads up to that.

An electric ovation for Corino from those in attendance at the ECW Arena in what is his first appearance at the Arena since turning his back on The Network. We’re barely a minute in when Cyrus, the man who paid off Anton to turn on Corino, heads down to ringside. Scotty reverses the whip out of the corner, Corino with the tip up but Anton catches him over his shoulder and runs him back and forth between the turnbuckles (like the set up for an Oklahoma Stampede). Jack Victory is next out and Joey Styles is uncertain as to where his loyalties lie, wondering whether he too sold out to The Network. A low blow puts a stop to ‘The Clap’ and Corino with a nice overhead T-Bone. Anton counters the suplex and drops Corino chest first across the top rope. Styles mentions how Scotty had promised to leave ECW if he doesn’t lock on his ‘Clap Trap’, but Corino fights his way out of the first attempt. ‘Old School Expulsion’ and Cyrus is in the ring putting a stop to the count. That brings in Victory who attacks Cyrus, answering the question about his loyalties. As Corino watches on, Scotty catches him with a belly to back suplex before tossing him through the ropes to the outside. He then goes to Cyrus’ rescue and puts the ‘Clap Trap’ on Victory, while Styles says he never said ‘who’ he would put it on. Corino is back to his feet quicker than he imagined and with Anton wide open and helpless, he nails him with a superkick for the win. Styles talks about Corino as a future ECW World champion and my memory fails me as to whether he ever won the belt or not, but after watching this, and especially the way that the audience respond to him, he definitely feels like someone who could carry the company.

We return from a commercial break and Hot Commodity are still in the ring putting the boots to Nova following the previous match. Jerry Lynn makes the save and after he and Nova take out Money and Dinero, the referee calls for the bell and we have an impromptu match between himself and Chris Hamrick. Huge backdrop sends Hamrick over the top rope to the outside. Cannonball off the apron to the concrete. Back inside Lynn gets a couple of near falls before a low blow back kick by Hamrick forces the escape from the waistlock. Big time leg drop off the top and a flying elbow, both only getting a two. Lynn reverses the Irish whip and an inverted atomic drop leaves Hamrick walking gingerly. He whips him into the turnbuckle and as he tries to slide out the ring to the floor, only ends up sliding groin first into the ring post. Cradle piledriver and this one’s over.

Things are a bit all over the shop at first with bodies flying everywhere. York & Matthews hit their double hip toss powerbomb on Dinero and Chetti with a standing side kick to Money. Hot Commodity take a breather on the floor, letting the other teams go at it while they wait for an opportune time to get back involved. Spinning superkick by Dinero, although not sure how much of it actually connects. Double superkick on Matthews. E.Z. with a standing moonsault and Chetti breaks up the cover. Basement dropkick to the face of Money by York and Chetti again breaks up the pin attempt. Is he even aware of the rules??? Matthews just about hangs on to the flying headscissors before York and he land a pair of dives to the outside. Nova and Money work together for a double team DDT, Chetti with the ‘Amityville Horror’ after a ‘Tidal Wave’ York & Matthews are out of there. Money cracks Nova over the head with a chair but he kicks out of the cover. Hot Commodity telegraph the double backdrop, reverse DDT on E.Z., Nova then gets to his feet, still holding on, and hits a second while at the same time spiking Dinero with a regular DDT. He and Chetti head upstairs for the ‘Tidal Wave’ when Chris Hamrick shoves the two of them off. Slingshot somersault clothesline by Money on Nova and Hot Commodity pick up the win.

Tajiri drops to all fours to escape the waistlock and as Psicosis then switches to a North/South position, Tajiri grabs a leg and bends it around his own neck for a modified single leg crab, Psicosis’ body resembling that of a scorpion with how it is bent around. A punch to the balls and Tajiri mocks Psicosis’ obvious discomfort as his opponent rolls to the floor to try and recover. When he returns to the ring the first thing he does is spit in Tajiri’s face which might not turn out to be the wisest! They do a brief sequence resulting in a standoff and Psicosis is back on the floor. This time when he returns he offers Tajiri his hand and, despite the fans telling him not to accept, he does so, and as they then hug Psicosis knees him in the groin. That was so unconvincing to believe that Tajiri would fall for that. Irish whip is reversed, Psicosis ducks the spin kick but a couple of sharp kicks to the thigh chops him down. Tajiri follows that with one to the side of the head as Psicosis is now writhing on the mat in agony. He telegraphs the backdrop though and Psicosis with a double sledgehammer to the back. Sit out face first suplex. After Tajiri counters whatever Psicosis had planned with a huracanrana, they’re back out on the concrete. Tajiri gets distracted by the fans who’re only interested in ‘tables’ and Psicosis reverses the whip sending him crashing into the guard rail. Some half-baked fighting on the floor, although Psicosis does throw a dropkick out there. Back inside Tajiri avoids a flying Psicosis who ends up hooking himself upside down in the corner, the perfect ‘tree of woe’ position if you will. More table chants from the morons, however Tajiri soon shuts them up with another vicious kick to the side of the head. Handspring elbow for a near fall and more fucking calls for a table. A nice cradle by Psicosis but Tajiri kicks out. The two trade hard chops before Psicosis runs into a stiff thrust kick. He avoids the Tajiri moonsault and then lands the guillotine leg drop off the top for the win. A decent opening and a strong closing stretch, but this kinda died in the middle for me (not that it was ever bad or anything), almost as if they were holding back because it was a house show while I did get the feeling that at times this was being fought at half speed. Will be interesting to see how they match up at the Arena (taped tomorrow, airs 8/27) as to see whether they repeat this or whether up the ante, which I think they probably will have to.

Joey Styles is claiming that Rhino is out of control here, and although he turned a table over as he was making his entrance that was it, not really out of control to be fair! Rhino is fed up of RVD slapping the hand of every fan in attendance so jumps him on the floor. The action quickly spills out into the crowd with Rhino completely dominant. As they return to ringside he sits Van Dam in a chair backed up against the guard rail and then gores him against it. A huge powerbomb by Rhino before dropping RVD chest first to the mat off a press slam. Van Dam catches a kick and nails Rhino with his step through version. An inverted atomic drop sees Rhino collapse into the corner where, after Fonzie assists, RVD dropkicks a chair into his face. ‘Rolling Thunder’ and Van Dam is playing to the fans. Even Joey Styles doesn’t think that is a good idea with how he’s had his ass kicked here. Forward roll slam into a moonsault off the middle. Rhino intercepts another chair from Fonzie but gets blasted with a ‘Van Daminator’. ‘Five Star Frog Splash’ and as it looks like RVD is about to regain the TV title, he’s jumped by Justin Credible. A neck brace wearing Kid Kash tries to make the save but he gets piledriven by Rhino. Sandman does make the save though, using his Singapore cane to clear the ring as the show goes off the air. Surprisingly enjoyable while Rhino was controlling things, then it descends into your typical Rob Van Dam match. The kick to turn the tide in RVD’s favour looked particularly convoluted, even by his convoluted standards.

After being defeated by Psicosis recently on TNN, Little Guido challenged him to find a couple of partners and face him and the FBI in a six-man tag match. His partners turn out to be the ‘Unholy Alliance’ of Yoshihiro Tajiri and Mikey Whipwreck which surprises Joey Styles somewhat seeing as Psicosis is taking on Tajiri tomorrow night at the ECW Arena. It looks like Mamaluke and Whipwreck will be the two men to kick this off, but as Sal distracts the official, Guido clubs Mikey from behind and takes Mamaluke’s place. Styles talks about Mikey missing seeing the blind tag, although there was no such tag made. Flying headscissors by Mikey after the tip up followed by a huracanrana. Reverse crossbody off the middle, but Guido snatches the arm and locks on an inverted Fujiwara arm bar. No chance of a submission just yet so he gives up on that and tags in Mamaluke. Mikey avoids the charge and Psicosis with a spinning wheel kick off the top. There’s a slight communication between the two before Psicosis hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Guido is back in, escapes the tilt-a-whirl and as he and Psicosis fight over the back slide, an open Guido is prime for Tajiri who drills him with a thrust kick to the jaw. Sal makes his first entrance to the match and proceeds to fall over! His whole purpose here appears to be so Tajiri can just kick the shit out of him. After one one to the face, he rolls to the outside where his partners come around to check he’s okay. The three of them catch Psicosis on the pescado, however and a Mikey slingshot somersault then takes everyone down. The ‘Unholy Alliance’ double team away on Mamaluke, until he manages to counter the attempted backdrop with a DDT. Mikey avoids Sal’s avalanche splash but not Guido’s clothesline as Sal finally stops being a hindrance to his team by dropping a big elbow. Mikey counters Guido’s attempted backdrop with a ‘Whippersnapper’ and hot tags Tajiri. Handspring elbow on Mamaluke and as Sal waddles in he’s caught by a Psicosis missile dropkick. He grabs Mamaluke in a full nelson, Tajiri goes to blow the mist, but Mamaluke slips out of his grasp and it accidentally ends up hitting Psicosis instead. Tajiri goes to town on Guido with a flurry of kicks and punches, picks him up for the brainbuster, when Psicosis kicks him in the groin. ‘Kiss of Death and the FBI with the win. Styles wonders if Psicosis was still blinded and didn’t know what he was doing, although it didn’t feel like that to me, and that he was getting revenge for Tajiri misting him. Psicosis and Sal were a step (well in the case of the latter a stair case!) below the other four here. Funny that I should say how these guys constantly change it up, then this follows the St. Petersburg fancam where there are a fair few similarities between the two matches. Tony Mamaluke continues to be a bumping machine in this environment. Finish puts some heat on the upcoming Arena singles match between Psicosis and Tajiri.

Things don’t start off the best, with Van Dam backed up against the ropes a Balls spinning heel kick is supposed to take them both over the top to the floor, neither happens though as Balls gets tangled in the ropes and RVD doesn’t have the momentum to take the backwards bump required. They head out to the floor anyway and Van Dam takes a pedestrian whip into the guard rail. I’ll never understand why the fans are so desperate to pass the wrestlers cups of beer to use as weapons, guessing ale is cheaper in the US than the UK! RVD leaps up on to the guard rail but Balls gives him a shove in the keister and he falls into the crowd. VAN DAM IS NOW MORE INTERESTED WITH HIGH FIVING FANS THAN THE MATCH AND HIS OPPONENT!!! Fonzie is in Balls’ face, presumably to give Van Dam even more time to high five the fans, and he was supposed to throw him over the guard rail too, however continues to have a mare, not even managing to do that! He sets off after RVD and they fight amongst the fans, although the camera work here is worse than RF’s fancams. As they return to ringside we return to the hard cam and this becomes instantly more watchable. Balls stands a table up over the guard rail but Van Dam reverses the whip and he goes crashing through it himself. Does RVD follow up on that? Does he heck! He gets in the ring, showboats to the crowd and then returns to the outside! That gives Balls time to recover and we get yet another Irish whip on the floor, and another that is reversed as Van Dam flies into the guard rail…again! At least he went at a decent speed this time I suppose. Balls snatches the timekeeper’s bell and lightly jogs towards Van Dam. He’s got plenty of time with how slow his opponent is moving, comfortably moves out the way and somehow Balls manages to end up going head first into the ring bell himself. Of course as if this match hasn’t been bad enough already, that busts Balls open. Pescado by RVD before we get the Fonzie chair assistance section. He telegraphs a backdrop mind and Balls counters with a piledriver, although the fans would prefer to chant for a ‘Van Terminator’ than get behind him. RVD kicks out of the New Jersey Jam (top rope leg drop) and Balls has this really sweet looking rolling cradle that he gets a near fall from. After ducking a chair shot Van Dam then mistimes the ‘Van Daminator’. He gets caught upstairs and Balls with a ‘Nutcracker Suite’ that Van Dam kicks out of. Balls destroys him with an unprotected chair shot to the head and with RVD now not moving, Fonzie is in for the save, cracking Balls over the back with a chair. Of course that wasn’t a DQ though. ‘Nutcracker Suite’ off the top and RVD KICKS OUT OF THAT!!! This has become preposterous. Balls buries him under a couple of chairs and heads up top for a frog splash of his own when Fonzie grabs his ankle to prevent him from doing so. Still no DQ! I wish I had noted whether this was Kehner refereeing after how officious and what a stickler for the rules he was being in the Hot Commodity six man. RVD fires a chair at Balls’ skull and lands a superplex. Top rope ‘Van Daminator’, Balls collapses in the corner and the crowd get their ‘Van Terminator’ wish. I don’t know where to begin so will keep this short, but if you combine blown spots, bad camera work, parodying wrestling (the slow mo running), terrible looking bumps (Balls into the ring bell), blatant and repetitive managerial interference that is just let go, ridiculous kick outs of moves that should in theory lead to a stretcher job, combined with being overly long, you have this match in a nutshell. Awful.

Whipwreck starts out fast utilising his speed, and even though Rhino powers out of an early ‘Whippersnapper’ is still able to drop him with an inverted DDT. A pair of dropkicks and Rhino slides under the ropes to the floor to re-evaluate his game plan. Mikey follows him out, although perhaps he shouldn’t have, as Rhino reverses the Irish whip sending him crashing into the guard rail. He collects a table from under the ring, however while doing so has taken his eyes off his opponent who drills him in the head with a steel chair. Slingshot guillotine leg drop for a two. Rhino reverses a second Irish whip (maybe ditch that against heavier foes!) and Mikey barely kicks out after the powerslam. He stands the table up in the corner but Mikey fires back with jabs and a nice huracanrana for a near fall. As he questions the official’s count, he’s floored by a clothesline. I’m real surprised at how back and forth this match is going. Rhino misses the charge in the corner and Mikey with a superkick. ‘Whippersnapper’, before Mikey can make the cover though he’s distracted by Justin Credible who has run to ringside and caned the Sinister Minister. Credible scarpers although drops his Singapore cane in the process which Mikey picks up and breaks over Rhino’s head. Crossbody off the top but Rhino catches him and gores him through the table to retain the TV title. I was expecting Rhino to run through Mikey and Mikey to bump big for his offense and power, but we got a back and forth match where both men actually ended up looking strong and Mikey’s finisher was even protected without the need for Rhino to kick out. Recommended and a heck of a five minute TV match.

Well Julio Fantastico wasn’t long for ECW as his surname has already been changed to Dinero. This actually starts off as a tag match as opposed to a six man, with Money and Dinero representing Hot Commodity, although nothing of note happens bar a bad miscommunication between Money and York, the former expecting a headscissors while the latter goes for a tornado DDT and the pair just fall to the mat. After Chris Hamrick is caught interfering for a second time, referee Mike Kehner is about to disqualify the heels when Joey Matthews stops him from doing so. He says that they didn’t come all the way to one of the greatest wrestling cities in the world to get a disqualification win and if they want to do this three-on-two bullshit they have someone in the dressing room watching their back. So the same Mike Kehner who several times a match will let Bill Alfonso and Sal E. Graziano interfere right in front of his eyes is now threatening disqualifications? Anyway, Matthews’ speech was the signal for Tommy Dreamer who arrives as Hot Commodity are heading up the aisle. They back off on seeing him and Money and Dinero are taken out by stereo suicide dives. Dreamer with a powerslam on Hamrick, combination Russian leg sweep/flying forearm for E.Z. and a double inverted suplex on Dinero. Triple ‘Tree of Woe’. The match settles down and a blind tag by Hot Commodity allows Money to catch Matthews with a slingshot somersault clothesline. He settles into his regular role of playing the FIP, while in amongst the action you here someone call Hamrick ‘Michael Bolton’. Top rope elbow by Hamrick gets a two count, before tagging in Money for a double wheelbarrow suplex. Somersault leg drop to the back of the neck followed by a standing moonsault. ‘Money in the Bank’ and this time York is in to break up the pin. Matthews avoids Hamrick’s leg drop off the top and hot tags Dreamer. Hot Commodity all bump for him and he empties the ring after a DDT on Hamrick and a ‘Cactus clothesline’ to Money. That leaves Fantastico all alone with York and Matthews who hit a top rope rana/flying elbow combination for the win. Although he’s got the star power Dreamer, with his laboured and basic offense, feels like the odd man out in this company. York was rough in his few moments in here and it’s pretty clear why Matthews does the bulk of the work for them. While Hot Commodity are never going to reach the upper echelons of any card, they’re always entertaining and quickly becoming one of my favourites to watch.

A bit of shtick and stalling before things get going here. I should’ve known to not expect a carbon copy out of these guys and that we’d get something different to their previous tag. Guido with a running crossbody, however Tajiri catches and sets him for a bodyslam when Guido counters into a Fujiwara arm bar. He crowbars and wrenches back on that arm forcing Tajiri to go to the ropes for the break. Double belly to back suplex by the FBI. They briefly target that arm, including a nice hammerlock suplex, until Tajiri ducks the clothesline and kills Mamaluke with a superkick. Boy does he sell those kicks well. Some nice double teaming out of the ‘Unholy Alliance’ and when Mamaluke takes to the floor, the Sinister Minister is there to rake his nails down his back. Mikey with an O’Connor roll, however he completely misses seeing the tag being made and while he waits for the official to count, Guido with a dropkick to the head. Fujiwara arm bar take down off the reverse crossbody. Snap suplex into a Fisherman’s by Mamaluke as he adds a slight variation on that move to his repertoire. STF, cross arm bar, the FBI are trying all sorts of submissions to get Mikey to tap. Guido telegraphs the back drop, Mikey with a ‘Whippersnapper’ and he’s able to make the tag to Tajiri who kills Mamaluke for a second time with another of those kicks. Tajiri ties Guido in the ‘Tree of Woe’, dropkicks him in the face and then whips him towards Mikey who comes off the top turnbuckle with a flying clothesline. Big Sal wanders into the ring and the ref just stands by as he does so, doing nothing to try and get him out of there. He doesn’t fair well anyway, the Sinister Minister low blowing him with his cane before the Alliance nail him with a pair of dropkicks. Tajiri sits Mamaluke on the top turnbuckle for a belly to back, but he flips backwards over him and hits a Russian, sorry Italian, leg sweep instead. Double axe handle off the top by Mamaluke, however he’s wide open and Tajiri lands a kick to the mid-section. Tajiri blows the green mist, but Mamaluke ducks out the way and he accidentally blinds his own partner. Guido provides some assistance as Mamaluke counters the brainbuster with a DDT, ‘Kiss of Death’ and a win for the FBI. Good match and you can see the development, especially with the Unholy Alliance who have added a fair few double team moves to their arsenal. I also like the way these teams don’t rest on their laurels, it was always evident in the Tajiri/Guido/Crazy three ways from early in the year, but it’s the same again here. While most teams would be happy to re-do the match they did from just over a week ago, not these guys. Constantly adapting, constantly adding new wrinkles and constantly mixing things up.

Tajiri drops Money with a kick to the chest and drags him over to the ropes, however before he can apply the Tarantula Chris Hamrick is around to break things up. Still half locked in, E.Z. then counters with the ‘Money in the Bank’ for a two. After standing moonsaults are exchanged Tajiri backdrops Money over the top rope. He manages to land on the apron though and snaps Tajiri’s neck across it. Slingshot somersault clothesline. Hamrick distracts the official and E.Z. and Julio Fantastico (not Dinero yet then!) hit a double wheelbarrow suplex for another two count. Butterfly stretch submission but Tajiri is in no mood to give this up yet. Hamrick is back upon the apron, this time is holding a chair. E.Z. goes to whip Tajiri into him but Tajiri with the handspring, kicking it into Hamrick’s own face. Quality selling by Money here as their plan backfires. A handspring elbow for Money, tornado DDT and finally after a kick to the head, he’s done. Hot Commodity are joined by the FBI post-match in attacking Tajiri, all eventually being run off by Mikey Whipwreck who is carrying a 2x4 wrapped in a flaming rag. Fun, albeit a very similar bout to the house show match in Kansas City at the end of June. Great visual at the end with the flaming 2x4 and was surprised to see Guido take a shot from it, even if his upper body was well covered up.