[2000-04-08-SDW] Dino Bambino vs Adam Pearce

[soup23]

This was a weird match. First, Pearce has long hair which really throws me off. Second, this was worked in much more of a garbage style brawl than I expected with crowd brawling and tables. Pearce does have some moments of strong execution like a gutwrench powerbomb but overall this left me a bit confused and was lackluster. **

[Loss]

Pearce with flowing long brown hair was definitely odd. I thought parts of this were good heavyweight action, and I appreciated how hard they were both trying to both involve the crowd and keep everything interesting. Both guys obviously go on to do far more impressive things, but while I didn't think this was a good match, I do think it's the type I could watch and see potential in both once they got some seasoning. Some garbage tendencies I could have done without for sure, though.

[Tim Evans]

Wow that's Adam Pearce? I can't tell these guys apart but one of them takes some vicious bumps on the hardwood and in the bleachers. This was better than the Punk match but still pretty pedestrian.

[GSR]

Pearce has got some serious hair going on here and is practically unrecognizable. He jumps Bambino before the bell rings only to miss a clothesline and see his opponent tee off on him. A clothesline from Bambino sends Pearce over the top rope to the floor and he follows that with a sky high plancha off the top to the outside. Big backdrop and Pearce is backing off in the corner. He goes for a second clothesline but this time Pearce ducks out the way and he goes careering over the ropes himself. ‘Scrap Iron’ with a nice Cactus Jack elbow from the apron to the gym floor. The two of them go at it on the outside and Dino reverses an Irish whip sending Pearce flying into the rows of seating. Both take bumps into these wooden benches before they had back inside and Pearce with a missile dropkick. Great looking sit out powerbomb for two. Figure Four and Bambino is able to turn it over leading to Pearce grabbing the ropes for the break. ‘Scrap Iron’ focuses on the leg and transitions from a Scorpion deathlock to an STF. When it looks like he’s about to reach the ropes, Pearce pulls him back to the middle of the ring and a gorgeous surfboard right out of the Steve Grey playbook. DDT but he misses the somersault senton. Dino’s fired up and he drops Pearce with a spinning heel kick. Whip to the corner and a running Sabu like dive off a chair into him. He repeats it, but this time ‘Scrap Iron’ catches him mid-air and plants him to the canvas. Pearce wedges a chair between the turnbuckles and goes to whip Bambino into it, however he reverses it and Pearce’s head crashes into the chair. Dino then with a Tim Horner style roll up and bridge for the win. Two of Pearce’s associates jump Bambino after the match and ‘Scrap Iron’ superbombs him through a table before the heel trio are run off.

 

I liked this and another where I think I’m higher than everyone else. I have limited memory of Pearce and think of him as a fairly dull wrestler, but was seriously impressed here. He can wrestle, he can fly, he can brawl, he can bump, the guy’s got the full package. The brawling section felt as though they were trying to cover all bases in the match and wasn’t really necessary as they could clearly have a very good straight wrestling match. Awesome to see someone bust out a surfboard and Pearce has got a cracking powerbomb. Minus points for Bambino stopping selling the leg immediately after Pearce missed the senton. Looking forward to hopefully seeing more of Pearce as we go forward with this.

[Moonsault Marvin]

Pearce making the kids jump back at the beginning was funny. I also liked the bumps into the bleachers. At times this was good, but spots like the referee pushing Pearce down didn't really fit the match they had been building and seemed shoehorned in. I did like that they ended it when he ran into the chair and didn't stretch it out with a bunch of kickouts. Average match.

[Edwin]

Im just as shocked as everyone else finding out Adam Pearce had long hair... Im not familiar with Dino Bambino, but hes one powebomb counter into a facebuster and crooked Shooting Star Press from being Billy Kidmans long lost brother.

 

The match itself is not remarkable. Pearce worked different here than he used to when he was working PWG in its early days regularly. He even busts out a top rope flipping dive which is something he would rarely, if ever pop out during his later run. I would have loved seeing what Pearce would have been like in MCW as I feel he would have fit in perfectly there.

 

I guess this is worth watching just to see how much Pearce changed within 2-3 years.