[2003-02-28-XPW-My Bloody Valentine Tour-Night 1] Jonny Storm vs Devon Storm

[TonyPulis'Cap]

Thankfully (Devon) Storm is going by the name 'Salem' here, otherwise this was going to get tricky... his gimmick here is a fairly low rent cult leader. Storm meanwhile was getting a decent push in XPW, which would be the only US run he would get in his career, so it's a shame - for him - that the company would only limp on for another month. 

Early on Salem tries to use his strength and size advantage, which is a simple story to tell, but given this is 2003, they can't help but crowbar (if you excuse the pun) in some typical indie reversal and standoff sequences. Once they've got that out of the way, Salem does start to dominate. Storm sells for large parts, which in front of a normal crowd would hopefully have elicited good sympathy but in front of a rather indifferent XPW crowd in a weird dirtbike/skate park doesn't really get much of a reaction. The brutal looking wheelbarrow he takes into a guardrail deserved more. 

Given the environment the match goes to the outside and that allows Storm to get a great rana off the entrance way. Everytime he tries to get that momentum however, Salem is able to take over with a big move. Storm takes some nasty bumps which does manage to drag the crowd into being invested, although is off his game offensively. A through line of the match is that Storm doesn't have the power to take Salem over with his usual array of ranas and keeps getting caught, but despite that Salem can't put him away. Because of this, Salem calls for his follower Altar Boy Luke to interfere, but he botches that to cost him the win despite dominating most of the match. There's some decent action here - I've always like Devon Storm/Crowbar - but they seem to run out of ideas midway through. (Jonny) Storm wasn't presented as much of a threat, which is odd given that in his other XPW appearances he'd been pushed well, so his win here comes across as a fluke rather than him being resilient and battling out a victory. (** 1/2)