[2000-09-22-JAPW-September Slaughter] Homicide & Don Montoya vs Da Hit Squad

[soup23]

One of the weirder matches of the year in that it was really two matches rolled into one. The first 20 minutes are a southern tag with Montoya and Homicide playing the heels and a long FIP on Monsta Mack. The Homicide/Montoya chemistry as a team is good and they really work Monsta over. Mafia gets tagged in and then we get a wild brawl. Again it is good stuff with a lot of mayhem and people flying around but both of these segments feel like they would be better as separate entities instead of one match. The venue also drives me nuts between the lights and overall club atmosphere. The valet that sats on the balcony gets involved and beat up. She ends up slapping Hit Squad leading straight to the Cop Killah for a nearfall. A STF by Homicide earns them the victory and tag titles as they are embarrassed by a conglomerate of people in 27 minutes. A good match and I understand the sentiment of putting all of these things together to keep Da Hit Squad strong, but the disconnect in the two segments was too much for me to overcome. ***1/4 (6.7)

[AstroBoy]

I quite liked the opening parts of this with Homicide in particular looking good in his sequences with Monsta Mack. They go to the sort of strange dynamic of putting Mack in the face in peril role but they pull it off pretty well, even if I think that Montoya does not add much to the match. But then Montoya yells something about Memphis and drops a nice fist drop and he's showing some modicum of charisma. The second half of this was such an over-the-top jumble that it really blended together after a certain point but I did think the finish was a severe statement in making Homicide look like a killer.

 

**1/2

[Tim Evans]

This venue reminds me of the one MLW ran here in Orlando. Dark and very indie. First half of the match was good but then it turned into a mess with everyone doing dives, including the valet.  Was that DJ Hyde that ran out after the match? It sure looked like it.

[GSR]

There’s a proper early 90’s Indy feel to the way it looks in the arena with how dark it is in the building.  Montoya is announced as being “number 189 in the PWI 500”, well he did better than Don E. Allen!  Homicide and he have manager Rick Silver (you may remember him from the tag team The Big Unit earlier in the year) along with valet Poison in their corner.  That scruffy, long haired kid is officiating and it looks like he’s going to have his hands full with these four.  It doesn’t take long before Homicide and Mack are just forearming each other across the chops.  Monkey flip by Mack as he and Cide working a fast opening stretch.  DHS with a double press slam on Montoya followed by a double shoulder charge.  Mafia is jumped from behind by Homicide but it’s so dark in there that you don’t see it.  He blocks the attempted suplex and dumps Cide across the top rope.  Montoya replaces his partner, no tag, although fares no better.  Clubbing rabbit lariat after he ducked the regulation one.  A short elbow to the side of the head stuns Mafia as the Don and Cide look to try and wear him down.  There’s a real classy “she’s got no tits” chant aimed at Poison.  Montoya drops a fist a la Ted Dibiase saying how he learned this in Memphis.  Mafia has a golden opportunity to make the tag after a dropkick sees Homicide roll to the floor, but rather than make that tag he follows him outside and ends up getting whipped into the ring post.  Cide breaks a crutch over his back and we then get some awful overacting from that ref, questioning why the crutch is broken before kicking the ropes and saying how he doesn’t want to see any of that.  Shut up you fool.  Fujiwara armbar by Cide and Montoya with a single arm DDT into a crossface.  The Don claims a tap out but as incompetent as this referee is even he isn’t falling for that.  A lovely Saito suplex, dumping Mafia on the back of his head.  Mafia reverses the Irish whip, keeps hold of the arm and hits a ‘Rock Bottom’.  Again he forgoes the tag to deliver a spinning pumphandle slam.  Now he makes it, to what can only be described as a tepid reaction at best.  Da Hit Squad’s manager, Johnny D, passes his charge the wooden ring steps and Mafia with an awesome tope suicida over the top rope, Mack helping out to break his partner’s fall.  That dive is surpassed by Homicide’s top con hilo where he goes flying over the guard rail and into the front row.  The bout descends into a brawl and not a very good one, lots of whipping each other into various objects, standing around and numerous dives off the wooden stage, even from those who are not actually involved in the match (Johnny D and Gabrielle Leigh).  Leigh ends up getting accidentally bumped on the floor as Cide reverses another Irish whip (that spot has been done to death here) sending Mack clattering into her.  Things finally return to the ring, Mack missing a diving headbutt off the top.  Homicide blocks the Dragon screw and slaps on an STF, Mafia saving his partner.  He goes to check on Gabrielle but she clotheslines him across the top rope.  I don’t know if this was a turn as it’s never been specified whose corner she was in.  Mafia staggers backwards, Cide with a ‘Cop Killa’ and the scruffy ref is delaying making his count, presumably waiting for Mack to be in a position to break up the fall.  Yup, that was exactly what he was doing.  Comfortably the worst referee I’ve seen all year.  Montoya clips out Mack’s knee as he’s about to piledrive Homicide, STF, this time there’s no-one to save him and he taps as we have ourselves new JAPW tag team champions.  Post-match Ric Blade joins ‘The Unit’ for the celebration while Rick Silver challenges anyone in the back with the balls.  ‘Lowlife’ Louie Ramos and two cronies answer the challenge but don’t fare well at all, Montoya pulling his pants down and giving one of them a stink face.

Things fell off a cliff big time when they started the brawling, it was all very aimless and meandering, while the dives felt like they were dives for dives sakes (everything post Homicide’s tope con hilo, the manager? the valet?).  By the time they were breaking up the submission attempts and pinfalls I had zoned out and was wanting this to end.  It’s a shame because everything up to then (the DHS shine, the heat segment on Mafia) had been pretty good, but the final ten minutes or so was terrible.  Still at a loss to what was going on with Gabrielle Leigh and it’s where a lack of commentary on these Indy shows hurts in the telling of the story or explaining the history to new viewers.