[2000-10-20-MAW] CM Punk & Jason Kronnan vs Adam Pearce & Chuck E. Smooth

[soup23]

Punk and Kronan’s tag name is Sex and Pepsi. We don’t have sound for this which stinks because Punk cuts an intense promo pre match. He has really formulated his look throughout 2000 and by the end doesn’t look that much different from 2002-2004 era Punk which is a big departure from his motif in January. I don’t know what to think about this match overall. Southern structure for sure but full of mistakes. The effort is there from the four workers and Prazak but the experience and restraint at times is not. Prazak goes too big for his performance such as begging off from the early Pearce elbow drop. Pearce is too zealous in trying to get into the ring when Smooth is FIP. Blatantly shoving the ref repeatedly and being a bull in a china shop. That brings us to this poor official who is dreadful. Out of position on falls, turning around way too early seeing double teaming and cheating and being inconsistent on his count cadence. Noticing those things don’t bode well and this was obvious offenses of all of those. Kronan doesn’t help matters as Punk is directing traffic wanting the double team but he is late more than once and in no hurry to leave. Punk is the best guy here but still really raw. Smooth is a fun worker but not a great one but he is so undersized that it is believable him taking a beating. The heels end up winning but the faces get their heat back after the match and then have a dance party in the ring. Alrighty then. This wanted to be a good match but couldn’t get past its flaws. **3/4

[Migs]

It's really cool to see Punk finally land on the classic look, after all the variations we've seen this year. The other outfits all very specifically date this to 1999-2000.

 

The match is just a total indyriffic mess. They're trying, but the pacing is all off, and a lot of it feels sloppy. Weak stuff.

[GSR]

A slight name change for the team of CM Punk & Jason Kronnan, now going by the name of ‘Sex & Pepsi’ as opposed to the ‘Sex & Violence’ moniker they were using the last time we saw them.  No audio for this and the run time on the timer says nigh on thirty minutes so not sure whether I’ll be able to stick it out.  Pearce appears to be doing some sort of mock hip hop gimmick with this ridiculous bandana that he’s wearing.  First nine minutes or so are all mic work, intros and nonsense so we’re practically a third of the way though already.  I thought that was ‘Hat Guy’ in the front row and was about to mention that between ECW, CZW and all the Indies he turns up at, I’ve probably seen him more than any wrester, only it isn’t him but someone else in a straw boater and Hawaiian shirt.  Like why would you imitate that berk?  The work between Pearce and Kronnan is solid, although things immediately take a down turn when Punk is in there.  Bad camera work/angles to go along with the lack of sound doesn’t make watching this any easier.  Smooth with a suicide dive out onto Sex, Pepsi and Prazak.  Kronnan cuts off a bronco buster with a lariat as they go about getting the heat on Smooth.  Combination belly to back suplex/neckbreaker followed by a double team stomachbreaker.  Smooth blocks the Punk hip toss and gets a near fall with a sunset flip.  He’s cut off again before he can make the tag and it’s the camera work that is hurting this more than the lack of commentary.  Punk sits Smooth on the top turnbuckle but Chuck’s able to fire away on him and hits a sunset flip powerbomb.  Kronnan breaks up the cover and that brings in Pearce who’s really manhandling the ref as he tries to get him back out on the apron.  Fisherman suplex by Kronnan but the official is still dealing with Pearce and out of position to make the count.  Smooth crotches Kronnan upstairs and lands a top rope rana however, as he makes the tag, Punk is distracting the ref and he doesn’t see it.  Chuck E. gets his knees up on the Punk split legged moonsault but still can’t capitalize.  Eventually he does make a tag that is seen and Pearce with an awesome top rope pedigree on Kronnan.  As Prazak keeps the official busy, Punk with a short clothesline to Pearce.  He puts Kronnan on top and I don’t know if this is over or not as it looked like Pearce got a shoulder up while Smooth was also ready to break it up.  Prazak is raising Punk’s arm so it looks like it is after all.  Pearce gives Punk a post-match piledriver and has some words for him.

As I said, the camera work was probably a bigger detriment to the match than the lack of audio.  Despite a couple of glitches from Punk early this turned into a good little tag match with S&P having their team work and double teams down pat.  I should amend that in that it turned into a good little tag to a point, as they ended up going longer than necessary on the Smooth heat section and the hot tag really should’ve been made after the top rope rana, they continue to drag it out though and my interest wanes.  It’s like they’ve took you to the top of the mountain but instead of getting off at the peak they carry on and end up taking you back down.  Additionally with no sound you have no idea how the fans are reacting to this, whether they are still with them or whether they’ve gone too.  I’m at a complete loss to what happened on the finish.