[2000-11-18-JAPW-3rd Anniversary Show] Trent Acid vs Nick Berk vs Ric Blade (Ladder)

[GSR]

Billy Reil is out and due to an injury announces that he’s vacating the JAPW Light Heavyweight title.  He doesn’t think it would be right to continue to hold the belt when he can’t wrestle, especially as here are three guys in the back who have busted their asses on the Independents for the last five years and more than deserve to be champion. 

Nick Berk has got himself some generic female called Poison, I’m guessing to counteract Shorty.  This maybe a ladder match but I’ve a hunch it’s going to be TLC as Berk carries a chair out with him, Blade and Shorty a table and Trent a monster ladder.  It’s not a traditional three-way though, Berk returning to the locker room and leaving the other two to it after winning a game of ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’.  No surprise how they start off, a highly choreographed mirroring sequence until a double clothesline takes down both.  After blocking the others attempted hip toss, Blade takes Trent over the top rope to the outside with a huracanrana.  Berk is already back (it was hardly worth him leaving) and launches himself off a chair with a flip dive out onto both.  He concentrates his attack on Trent, forgetting about Blade who hits a twisting quebrada.  A Berk clothesline cuts off the Blade double springboard but he then wipes himself out something rotten on the Lionsault.  I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt in that those ropes do look a bit loose, but that was a horrible botch.  Trent doesn’t give the crowd too long to chant “you fucked up!” at him, hitting a lovely missile dropkick.  A high plancha to the floor out onto Blade.  The two end up at the rear of the building, presumably so someone can dive from the Crow’s Nest.  Yup, Trent moonsaulting off it although he kicks Blade in the head in the process.  They’re not done yet, Berk giving Blade a bonkers ‘Berk Driver’ from the Crow’s Nest and then throwing a chair on top of him which he then leaps down onto.  Acid and Berk make their way back towards the ring, Trent reversing an Irish whip and sending Berk crashing into the ring post.  ‘Blue Thunder Driver’ followed by a middle rope moonsault.  Blade returns and Trent levels him with a clothesline, Blade doing a 180 and landing on Berk (like a standing moonsault).  With both men down Trent collects that almighty ladder, although I’m not sure why he didn’t go for a pin considering he went for one not too long ago.  He bridges it between two chairs and then gives Blade a painful looking ‘Acid Bomb’ into it, Ric landing chin first on the metal.  Berk comically breaks up the cover, clearly waiting for the ref’s hand to come down for a second time and then exaggerating the dive over the ladder to stop the count.  Now its Trent’s turn to take a nasty bump onto the ladder, Berk suplexing him into it after it had been rested upright against the top rope.  He lays him across it and bravely goes for a second Lionsault.  Admittedly this one went better than his previous effort but it was still bad as he overshot and pretty much headbutts Trent in the groin.  Blade with the four storey moonsault, Acid making the save and breaking up the pin.  Trent tosses him out to the concrete, lays a couple of chairs across Berk’s face and hits the tumbleweed legdrop.  He collects the table and it appears, for a moment at least, that he and Blade are going to work together to put Berk through it.  They climb opposite turnbuckles but Christ knows what happens next, I rewound the tape a couple of time and am still not exactly sure.  It looks like they were supposed to dive off at the same time only not only does Blade jump first, the table is also too far away for his Swanton, so he doesn’t reach and his legs hit Berk in the face.  Trent jumps a split second later, by which time the table is already down and there is no-one there for his switch position splash.  Not surprisingly that gets the second “you fucked up!” of the match.  Blade and Acid break up the others’ pin before they start fighting amongst themselves.  They head off towards the back of the arena again and I’m calling it now, Blade is going to do a nutty dive from somewhere.  Trent sets up some chairs but Blade boots him in the gut and powerbombs him onto them.  He grabs himself a table, places it in front of the entrance way and lays Acid across.  ‘Swanton bomb’ from above the entrance, and while I always worry when Blade goes for that, he hits this one perfectly and it looked great.  Berk puts Trent over his shoulder and carries him back to the ring, fully aware that he can’t win the title on the floor.  Blade tries to surprise them but gets caught and a ‘Berk Driver’ onto some chairs sees us crown a new Light Heavyweight champion.  Billy Reil returns to present the title to the new champion as Blade, Acid and Berk do ‘The Shield’ fist bump.  Who would’ve thought these guys would be the inspiration for that eh?  Reil says that they’re coming back here in January and he expects Berk to give him the same opportunity that he gave him, “you bet your fucking life brother”.

Well it didn’t steal the show, at least not in my eyes.  The expected highly choreographed stunt show spot fest that goes straight from one spot to the next and with things like them going to the back of the arena serving no logical purpose and only so that they can jump/dive from high spaces.  You know what you’re going to get from these guys, especially with the added ladder stipulation, but not the best example of this kind of match, one which was flat out bad in a couple of places.