[2000-07-22-XPW-Go Funk Yourself] Sabu vs Terry Funk

[soup23]

This was a Sabu vs Funk brawl but with less logic and intensity as usual. Pile onto that the typical terrible XPW production and the announcers refusing to not get in the way of the match being presented and overall this was meh. The fireball effects in the end were cool and well done by Sabu even though he botched some of his highspots during the match. The promo Funk gives after the match is excellent and sets up an I Quit match. That was by far the best part of the whole segment and shockingly got me invested to see these two duke it out again. *3/4

[Migs]

I feel bad about how much I like old XPW. I'm not sure how good any of this is if you weren't 17 when you first saw this stuff and embracing of the sleeziness. I'm more excited to eventually get to the Philly run, which was a lot of fun, but the early stuff is welcome too.

 

I enjoyed Rivera attempting to explain how Rob Black got Funk from WCW. Very funny.

 

Energetic brawl but some of these spots, like the piledriver on the chair that Funk misses badly, were dumb. Even the X going down, which looked cool, seemed like an excessive risk for how it looked. Total car wreck, but these guys do know how to keep it engaging. Doesn't overstay it's welcome, either. The fire spots to finish were crazy.

[Tim Evans]

Man Kris Kloss's Joey Styles impersonation is really bad in this. Especially when he screams when the sign goes down. I liked Rivera ripping the fans for throwing shit at Funk while he was holding the branding iron. As for the match, it was a 2000 Sabu match. Lots of botches including the fire and that piledriver looked like it sucked for Funk. I know WCW was in the shitter around this time but I'm shocked they let Funk do this.

[GSR]

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.