[2000-01-15-APW-Millenium Madness] Westside Playaz 2000 (Robert Thompson & Boyce LeGrande) vs Shane & Shannon Ballard

[Loss]

There was a time when people would call matches "indy-ish" and didn't mean it as a compliment, and this match is kind of a reminder of why. The layout of a good match is there, as they do have the tag formula in place to support them, but the focus is so much on unnatural and contrived double team moves that they overdo themselves and do kind of a ridiculous match. The Ballards are worse offenders than LeGrande and Thompson, especially as heels (I think they are heels), but this just doesn't quite click. It's not a bad effort for green guys, but it still feels like a match with green guys.

[soup23]

Much like Ace Darling and Suicide Kid, I realize how pioneering in some regards the Ballard Brothers are without ever being really intrigued by them. I think it deals with the late 90's and still around this time, the workers realized there was a way to push themselves and go beyond the spots customary to every indy show but they did have the athleticism or intuitiveness to put it all together. The Westside Playaz did have some moments sprinkled throughout where they played well together as a tag team but overall this was not a friendly reminder of what indies can be at points. *3/4

[Tim Evans]

A slapshot gimmick in 2000. That's just grand. So is this the west coast indies version of the SAT's and Devine storm? The Playaz looks alright, especially early on with the big dive. Then the match just went on and on. The typical excess of 2000's indie wrestling.

[Moonsault Marvin]

Westside Playaz had some cool double teams in the beginning of the match, but toward the middle, my attention began to wane. The match dragged on without building to anything. Below average match.

[GSR]

The Ballard Brothers jump the Playaz as they get in the ring. Stereo clotheslines, stereo back elbows, they go for stereo backbody drops, the Playaz leap frog over and a pair of backdrop drivers. The Ballards take to the floor, but Thompson backdrops LeGrande over the top rope out onto them. LeGrande with a headscissors to one of the brothers, Thompson is in, picks Boyce up and swings around him to complete the move. The Ballards try to emulate the Playaz headscissors, but Thompson cuts one of them off and then plants the other with a facebuster. Side suplex, springboard legdrop combination from the WSP, followed by a springboard legdrop to the back of the neck of the other brother (as Thompson is holding him). Shannon with a powerslam to LeGrande and the brothers finally appear to be gain some ascendancy. Ballards with a double team Electric Chair into a splash on LeGrande for a two. They sit Boyce on the top turnbuckle for a double superplex, when Thompson just walks into the ring, lifts the Ballards onto his shoulders and LeGrande with a double Buff Blockbuster. Thompson with a Brainbuster and all four men are in the ring. Double reversal on the Irish whip and the Playaz crash head first into the bottom turnbuckle. One of the Ballards throws Boyce over the top rope to the floor and they try to wear Thompson down with a rear chinlock. False tag spot! ‘Poetry in motion’ a la the Hardy Boyz from the Ballards and an Alabama slam for two. Slingshot legdrop for another near fall. The Ballards telegraph a double backdrop, Thompson with a boot to one of the brothers and an almighty powerbomb to the other. Double clothesline and he tags LeGrande, but the official hasn’t seen it and orders him out of the ring. Double superplex from the Ballards for two. Neckbreaker, DDT combination to the brothers, and finally he makes a tag which the referee sees. LeGrande comes in like a house on fire single handedly taking care of the Ballards. Huge sit out powerbomb and a suicide dive to the floor. Thompson with a ‘torture rack’ into a spinning neckbreaker, then the Playaz with a legdrop/splash off the top from opposite turnbuckles for the win.

 

One of the commentators says “you’ve got to wonder where they came up with those moves?” The answer is in the training school, and that’s the problem with this. It feels like a match that was put together in a training school move for move and was probably practiced several times, nothing felt organic about it. Both teams also were guilty of seemingly wanting to bust out every double team manoeuvre they knew, while the Playaz have the infuriating ‘RVD habit’ of looking at the crowd and waiting for the acknowledgment from them after they do something ‘spectacular’. Despite this, they do have some potential. Match went at least five minutes too long, and the Ballard Brothers heat segment dragged. I also hated the angle of the hard camera that was filming this.

[Stiva]

Not too much to add that hasn't been said but I thought the opening shine sequence, with the Westside Playaz hitting some of their double team spots was actually interesting but then, that just became the meat of the match, with any kind of heat building from the Ballards replaced by contrived double team moves. Having said that, I'd have probably taken a chance on the Westside Playaz as an undercard face team, see if I could curb some of the excesses and get them to settle on a hot tag routine, based around a handful of the spots they showed here and see where they went from there.

[Edwin]

APW on Click Wrestle, those were the good ol' days. That was the source of extensive 30+ minute Super Dragon vs. TARO APW matches in a garage in front of 15 fans...

 

This was a PWG-style go-go-go for pops type tag match. Basically them trading spots to pop the crowd. The Ballard Brothers seem like the early 2000's Young Bucks without the buffoonery, flash, flips and antics. Throw in more stiff strikes, endless thigh slapping, some head drops and flips and you have this would be a 2017 tag team match on a lot of indy promotions.

 

Not my type of thing, but if you enjoy that type of PWG go-go-go style, then this is something you will likely enjoy.