What a Maneuver!

A very nice a simple post here. This is going to be my Top 10 favourite moves in wrestling. Everyone has they're own list here and I thought I'd share mine. Plus they'll be videos so that's a win!

10) Running Powerslam

So it may be because I'm English and I feel like I have to like the British Bulldog but I did and I really liked this move. What I find surprising is that apart from DH Smith it's almost died out and isn't used. There hasn't been many variations of the move apart from Dr. Death's Oklahoma Stampede where he runs into the corner and then hits the move. But back to Bulldog, he had one of my all time favourite move sets as the hanging vertical suplex that he could hit on anyone literally anyone he even did it to Vader once, looked amazing everytime. Before I move on I have this image in my head, at In Your House Mind Games the Smoking Guns took on Bulldog & Owen, the end of the match saw Billy push Bart away into the Running Powerslam, JR's call of "What a dumb move by Billy Gunn" was great and it's one of my all time favourite clips, sadly I couldn't find it to show you.

9) Stone Cole Stunner

It had to be included really. One of if not the most famous wrestling move in history. So why number 9 because it's already gained enough praise. In wrestling there's a rule that says your finishing move has to be able to hit on anyone and this could be hit on anyone, there's several videos like this showing all the people the stunner was hit one. It was such a simple move and it was Michael Hayes brain child but Stone Cold made it famous.

8) DDT

We go from the most famous to the most used move. The DDT is simple but effective. The story of this move was that one night Jake was wrestling and he had a front face lock on, his opponent moved forward and they both fell. The crowded reacted great and a move was born. If you watched the Pick Your Poison DVD Jake talking about the move is amazing to me as he knows how to hit it right. Many people have used the move since, with Raven having the best copy in my view, but Jake's was always the best looking. The DDT has gained so many different versions I won't list them all but it shows how impactful the move was and is.

7) Brainbuster

It's like a suplex but you're dropped on your head! As far as I know Dick Murdoch actually invented the move as Ted DiBiase talked about how it looked like Dick literally dropped you on your head but you were save. Now many wrestlers have used the move but only 3 did it great in my view those being the late Eddie Guerrero, current TNA World champ Austin Aries and El Generico who does an insane turnbuckle version. But as seen above AJ's wasn't bad. This move became one of the indy sensations with the Shining Wizard and suplex's into the corner.

6) Phoenix Splash

The move is a 450 Splash but you start with your back towards your opponent so you turn while doing the 450. Hayabusa did invent the move and he said that he felt so comfortable while doing a 450 he wondered if he could add a twist to it. Not a great number of wrestlers have picked up the move, Tyler Black, Kota Ibushi and Low Ki being the most famous users. In fairness I don't blame people for not attempting it a 450 can be dangerous so might be best not to add a twist if you can't do a normal version.

5) God's Last Gift

This is what happens when everything becomes a driver, literally everythings a driver these days I'm surprised I haven't seen an arm lock driver. Anyways Tyler Black created this little move and I have to say it looks great. I'm always a fan of finishing moves that go straight into pins. On a side note the match this clip comes from (Josh Abercrombie vs. Tyler Black in a TLC match in IWA Mid South) is just incredible and I highly recommend giving it a view if you can find it.

4) Liontamer

The only submission on the list and how can it not be? Look at it, it just looks insanely painful and that's the point. A version Jericho had to change for two reasons, one when he got to WWE he started working with bigger guys and he phsyically couldn't get that version locked in. The second in my view was to actually give the fans hope that the guy locked in it could get to the ropes. In the version above they really couldn't move at all. I think this is a great version to go back to when the other version fails in gaining the submission.

3) Stun Gun

As a finisher the move was a pretty bad choice but as a move I love it. It's the simple reason that it's usually hit when you least expect it, it's the ultimate tide turning move. All your doing is lifting your opponent up and dropping them on the top rope but it works. I remember a Cage match between Ric Flair and Ronnie Garvin, the match were Flair won the NWA title back, and the finish was almost like the stun gun but it was going into the cage and Flair pinned him out of no where. It worked so well.

2) Spinebuster

I don't know what the Anderson drop is but the Spinebuster is amazing. Very few can do it like Arn Anderson, his was a thing of beauty, but CW Anderson and David Young come real close. What I love about the Spinebuster is that everyone seems to hit it differently. I will always prefer Arn's as it looks like he snaps it off with such force. One of my memories of this move was Flair vs. Taker at Wrestlemania 18 during the match Flair kicks Taker off him and all of a sudden Taker was hit by a great spinebuster and Arn was gone, it summed up how quick and impactful the move could be.

1) Lariat

Let the debate of who had the best and who had the worst lariat begin! Everyone has their own opinion on it and that's mainly because the lariat has become one of the most used finishing moves in wrestling, why? Because you can believe it. When hit right it looks like he kills people, when hit wrong it's simply called a clothesline. I really liked Nigel McGuinness' version, Stan Hansen (since he made it famous) and Satoshi Kojima, who was taught it by Hansen or so it's said, but there are so many guys who do it well. There are people who used it and it didn't look great, to be honest Homicide and Steve Corino never looked good when doing it but that's me being picky. The bottom line is this move is simple, can be hit on anyone and can look really good and that's why it's my favourite move.

There you go people my Top 10 moves in wrestling, if you agree or disagree then please comment and discuss. Besides that thanks for reading you're too kind really.

15 Y.C. Part 15: A Stampede of Canadians

A month and a half ago I started reviewing the 15 greatest shows I’ve ever seen as a way of celebrating my 15^th year of being a wrestling fan. Now we come to the greatest show I’ve ever seen and that’s WWF In Your House Canadian Stampede which took place 6^th July 1997 in the Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta. Now a little back story about this show for me. This was the first PPV I ever saw, just a week or two before I remember being allowed to stay up late to watch TV on a Friday night I skimmed the channels and came across Owen Hart vs. Goldust vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Raw is War, what a crazy match to have as your first but from the second I saw it I was hooked. I watched that Raw and saw adverts for this show so I set up my VCR to record, I was young had school and couldn’t stay up till 4 in the morning to watch the show. I watched it and loved it and I’ve been hooked ever since. Now you can say that really effects my point of view but this show won Show of the Year in 97 and is still seen as one of the greatest shows ever. So let’s start this. We have Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, who has the biggest cowboy hat ever, on commentary I miss this trio so much. On the free for all Michael Hayes introduces the team and calls JR “Good Old JR” and Vince calls him the same, I find it funny since he was actually the youngest in that team. Now I’m not covering the Free for All match as I didn’t watch it when I first saw it and I don’t count it as part of the show but it was the New Blackjacks vs. the Godwinns and it was OK, for the crazy moustaches the Blackjacks had.

Opening video: Did you ever notice that the opening videos in 1997 were so serious, mostly in black and white with a serious announcer commentating it. The video picks out that everything will be backwards tonight as the heels, the Hart Foundation, will be cheered since they’re in Canada.

Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley w/Chyna: This was when Hunter copied so much of Ric Flair and when Chyna looked more like a man, she briefly looked like a woman and now looks like a gorilla. We get a video package highlighting the King of the Ring finals where Hunter beat Mankind, who looks to have taken a beating in that match. Hunter has revealed on his DVD that WWE wanted him to wear the crown and cape, he hated it and that’s why he broke them both on Mankind. Oh even the Fink has a cowboy hat, you got to love WWE when they put on a gimmick everyone follows. Match starts quickly with Mankind attacking, he gets the whip in the corner & bulldog spot something that’s used more no. Mankind hits the Double Arm DDT, a move no one has ever picked up really. Hunter gets his facebuster but Mankind throws him out after and follows with his elbow off the apron. JR brings up Cactus Jack early, bet many weren’t happy about that. Hunter flies over the top when thrown into the corner. Mankind gets a suplex on the ramp after Hunter tries running away. Hunter goes for a sunset flip gets put in the Mandible Claw and Chyna punches him over the refs back. Hunter reverses an irish whip and Chyna powerslams Mankind into the steps and Hunter uses a chair on his leg, it’s spots like this that probably destroyed Mankind’s leg. Mankind enters but is clipped in the leg and starts the attack on the leg. I’d like to note a much smaller Hunter here. Hunter tries to whip Mankind but he falls over from the pain, a nice spot. Hunter gets a Figure-4 and what I like is that the position of the camera has you looking into Mankind’s face and when he points out that Hunter has the rope it just looks awesome. Hunter goes for the pedigree but is sweeped out, he kicks off Mankind who bounces off the corner and lands on Hunter’s crotch. Hunter does the Flair corner spot but hangs himself and Mankind gets an elbow drop. Mankind gets a great piledriver for a near fall. We then get Mankind’s clothesline where both go over the top. Chyna gets a clothesline that floors Mankind, fun note Mankind was the only guy who would happily sell for Chyna and that helped make her look good when she started. Chyna then pulls Mankind into the post, tons of interference from her which was usual at the time. The two then fight into the crowd and we get a double count out. Bit of a weak finish but the fight continues through the crowd and it was done to set up the cage match the next month, the finish also didn’t upset the fans one bit. Tons of refs out but they continue to fight into the back where we lose them. We get a promo from the Hart Foundation backstage during which Steve Austin comes in and is slightly held back by Jack Lanza & Pat Patterson, it looked like he was drunk and his buddies only had to slightly hold him back.

The Great Sasuke vs. Taka Michinoku: This match promises to get a “What a Manoeuvre” from Vince. Before the match starts Hunter & Mankind continue fighting in the crowd, Hunter is bleeding. I loved this I thought it really put over how much they hated it each. We lose them again and the match starts. A fan has a sign that says “This is Workrate” compared to WCW at the time it sure was. I believe this was Sasuke’s USA debut, he was meant to be on ECW’s Barily Legal but missed the show, Taka was on that show. Mat wrestling to start and they work a crossarm breaker until Sasuke gets a spinning back kick to the gut. Taka runs off the rope and Sasuke gets a sick sounding spinning kick to the face. Taka grabs a kick and open hand slaps Sasuke, then hits two dropkicks to the head. If the fans weren’t into this they were after that series. Sasuke launches Taka over the top and then does his diving kick of the top to the floor, don’t know why he did that as I imagine that hurt him as much if not more. Sauske gets a series of kicks ending with a spinning back kick to Taka when he was seated in the corner, looked really stiff. Taka gets a dragon screw and we get Taka’s beautiful springboard plancha where he leaps to the top rope and then out. Taka shoulder blocks Sasuke who then does a cartwheel elbow to counter followed by an Asai moonsault when Taka falls outside. Taka gets a snapping belly to belly suplex for a near fall. Taka does a running kick to the corner which has him float over and gets a springboard dropkick. Taka gets the Michinoku driver for a near fall. Taka jumps off the top but is hit with a dropkick. We get the Fire Thunder Bomb and a very light Tiger Suplex from Sasuke for the win. Really good match here but that last suplex didn’t look impactful at all, he would have been better pinning from the bomb. After we cut to outside were Hunter and Mankind are fighting but they’re finally separated.

Undertaker (c) vs. Vader w/Paul Bearer for WWF Title: This match was meant to be Ahmed Johnson challenging, I’m glad we didn’t see that. We get a promo from Vader & Paul before the match, I love Paul Bearer and his promos he was so great I think he was underrated in terms of promos. We get highlights of the Royal Rumble where Vader beat Taker. Paul ends the promo saying “Deja Vu Hendrix, Deja Vu”. Did you know Vader was meant to be WWF champion once? In 1996 the original plan was for him to lose to Shawn Michaels at Summerslam, which he did, but then beat him at Survivor Series (Sid won the title) and to have Vader lose it back at the Rumble but Shawn hated working with Vader and stopped it. As Vader enters Vince yells “Vader Time!”.  I loved the Winged Eagle belt that Taker has, probably the best looking title ever. Taker attacks from the very beginning. Taker hits a Stinger splash, maybe he was hoping one day he’d face Sting as well. We get Old School which would likely be Middle School at that time. JR mentions Vader’s history in Japan, he’s so full of knowledge and so missed right now. Taker gets his jumping clothesline, he got great height with it. Vader reverses Taker on the outside into the steps, I think he wanted to fly over but he just slammed his knees into it. Paul yells “Murderer”, this was when Paul was accusing Taker of killing his family and Kane would debut as a result, a fan actually has a sign that says “Murderer” as well. Taker gets a top rope clothesline when he gets back in. Vader finally gets the advantage after getting a clothesline from behind. Vader hits a second rope clothesline, Paul goes crazy when there isn’t a 3. Vader gets the dreaded nerve hold! The fans get up and go crazy when Taker starts righting back but he’s cut off by a clothesline. Taker gets a choke but is low blowed before he can slam him but there’s DQ here, Taker somehow gets him up on his solid but Vader reverses and they end up on the mat with Taker pinning him for 2. Vader goes for the Vader bomb, Taker gets a low blow and chokeslams him off the ropes in a great stop. One thing I like is how Taker’s pins would be very high almost like he was going for the cross armed pin without the arms. Taker gets another chokeslam for a 2 and then follows with the Tombstone for the win. I really liked this match, very solid and the fans loved Taker and were really into it.

Hart Foundation (Brian Pillman, Jim Neidhart, British Bulldog, Owen Hart & Bret Hart) vs. Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust & Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal): I never liked how they never acknowledged Pillman as an official hart Foundation member. We get a backstage promo from the USA team were everyone talks apart from Austin who walks away showing he really didn’t care about them. Pillman was my first favourite wrestler and considering I got in around June 1997 and he passed away in October 1997 it says a lot about him, in fact my L.R.K.P tattoo stand for 4 people and the L is for Pillman. Is it just me or did Neidhart do nothing when he wasn’t involved with the Harts? We see Stu and Helen in the crowd, of course Bruce has to get involved dressed like he should be in Top Gun. The fans were pretty indifferent to the USA team but they hated Austin. The fans go crazy when Pillman comes out, they would get louder as each guy came out and went insane when Bret came out however they really didn’t care for Neidhart that much well when compared to Pillman & Bulldog who sandwiched him. It’s sad to think out of this version of the Hart Foundation only the original duo is still alive. We get everyone standing off with someone, Bret & Austin just stand there talking while the others get out they barely move and as soon as the bell rings they’re throwing punches which Bret wins and the fans go crazy. Austin gets a sneaky low blow to get Bret off him. Austin gets the Million Dollar Dream, Bret runs off the ropes just like at Survivor Series 1996 but Austin let’s go this time. Austin gets an iffy Lou Thez press on Neidhart and tags in Shamrock, I actually think Shamrock was pretty good when you compare him to other MMA fighters who got into wrestling and even just in general. Pillman’s in his 4 Horsemen type tights, he gets tagged in and gets the advantage. Shamrock gets a Belly to Belly, which would become his finisher but they both just tag out to Owen and Goldust. Owen gets the Enzuigiri, he was one of the guys who really made that move big. Hawk is tagged and hits a really weird top rope splash. Bulldog comes in and does his hanging vertical and then the running powerslam but Goldust breaks it up. Animal and Bret now in, just an odd combination to see don’t know what it is about it but it’s odd and it doesn’t last long leading to Goldust and Bret. Goldust is put in the tree of woe in the Hart’s corner and everyone just throws blows at him. Owen gets his spinning heel kick and missile dropkick on Animal. Animal reverses Owen with a powerbomb and then gets a powerslam, Animal liked power! We then get the Doomsday Device, Austin then “injures” Owen’s leg sending him to the back and Austin fights Bruce, not a fan of him. Austin gets the Stunner on Pillman but Bret gets Austin and attacks his leg with a fire extinguisher and his figure-4 on the post sending him to the back and making it 4 on 4. We get the backbreaker & elbow from the original Hart foundation. We get the Bret chest bump in the corner, Shamrock just stands there holding Bret’s leg and then does nothing which was random. Shamrock gets a low blow on Bulldog, something I really didn’t expect to see. Lots of Dusty Rhodes references when Goldust is in, why change his entire gimmick if you’re just going to admit he’s the Dreams son?  Bulldog gets a shaky superplex on Goldust, he barely got it over. Austin comes back down and gets tagged, a repeated Bret chest bump. Bret gets his backbreaker and elbow combo, something many picked him apart from after he retired but he did the same with Flair’s matches. Animal breaks the sharpshooter and gets major heat. Owen then comes back. Bruce tries starting a fight again this leading to the Hart brothers jumping the rail and Owen school boying Austin for the win, they all continue fighting but security breaks it up and the Hart’s get the ring to themselves leading to the now famous after show celebration with all of the Hart family getting into the ring. I really liked this match but the problem is that no one wanted to work full blown heel it seemed and to be fair it was a problem they couldn’t get over, while the Hart should have worked face that night it would make little sense when they work heel all the time after. But after saying that it really didn’t hurt the match much at all, it got plenty of time which is should have with so many guys in there. And the fans just ate this up and made everything feel special in there.

Overall: I was shocked to realise how short this show was, it barely reached 2 hours and I think that’s something WWE should think about doing. This show only had 4 matches and was incredible. Look at last night’s Money in the Bank PPV, you could have just put the 4 matches announced out there and given them time and it’d probably be a good show but they have to add so many unadvertised matches that no one cares about, no Ryback I don’t care now and I won’t care anytime soon so get off. Anyways I really liked how they didn’t over do the matches it was just 4, they each got enough time and were all good to fantastic matches. WWE are suffering from having too much time right now and with going to 3 hours that will only get worse, maybe go back to 1997 and see how you can do a “B Show” PPV and this probably overshadowed a lot of PPV’s to come that year.

15 Y.C. Part 14: One of the Greatest Tournaments Ever!

On September 27^th 2008 IWA Mid South held its last Ted Petty Invitational ever, while they would promote tournaments the next 2 years they would ultimately cancel the shows. The TPI was originally the Sweet Science Sixteen but the name was changed in honour of Ted Petty aka Rocco Rock, when he passed away. The tournaments gained a lot of attention and became known as some of the best wrestling shows of the year. For this review I’m only going to look at Night 2 otherwise this would be stupidly long. We have Michael Z on commentary and he’s joined by others throughout the night.

Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) vs. Da Soul Touchaz (Marshe Rocket & Acid Jazz) w/C.Red: The Fall actually issue an open challenge here, both had lost their opening rounds last night The Touchaz come out to Soldier Boy and do the dance, something that was good for a  month at best. Jacobs and Jazz to start, mat wrestling. One thing I like is Jacobs throwing in a little strike when he gets the advantage, who wouldn’t do that. Rocket gets some serious height with a dropkick. Black catches Jazz and just bodyslams him over the ropes to the fall in a sick spot. Jazz goes for a sunset flip and can’t get Black over so he bridges up and gets a neckbreaker. DST gets a high angle flapjack double team. Black gets a head kick in the corner, Jimmy then hits a spear and Black ends it with a top rope splash for a near fall. Jazz goes for the Swiss Mist aka Hot chocolate but gets Rocket who is then hit with God’s Last Gift for the win. A very good opening match here.

Josh Raymond vs. Egotistico Fantastico: Raymond’s hair is just insane, it literally looks like it’s glued on to him it’s dreadlocks and their blue & black, very weird. Ego weighs 103,000 pounds apparently, bit of an overstatement I think. Josh crotches Ego on the top rope and gets a springboard kick to the face and follows with a suicide dive con heelo. Ego starts coming back with the tilt-a-whirl face plant, he attempts Taco Pizza but is reversed. In a weird stop they seem to have Ego just run the ropes and Josh just keeps leap frogging and going down until Ego runs into Josh and time is killed. Josh gets a Taliban backpack lungblower and locks in a unnamed submission but Ego gets up and does an Oklahoma Stampede style Death Valley Driver, followed by Taco Pizza aka Surfboard into a face plant. Josh gets Belly to Belly’d into the corner. Josh nails a low superkick for a near fall, he tries a weird cockscrew senton but Ego gets his knees up. Ego hits the Beach Break, imagine Kaz’s Fade to Black only looking good. Ego follows with the Merosault for the win. Match suffered from serious time killing but when it got going it was pretty good.

Michael Elgin vs. Drake Younger: A much bigger Elgin here. The fans just love Drake here. Trading blows from the beginning and we get “Yay” and “Boo” chants. Elgin somehow gets a frankensteiner and then a vader bomb senton, impressive. Drake spikes Elgin with a DDT, not as good looking as when RVD sells it sometimes. Elgin chop blocks Drake in the corner and starts attacking the leg. Elgin dragon screws Drake out of the corner. Drake catches Elgin with some headbutts as he’s climbing up and gets a superplex. He attempts Drake’s Landing but his leg gives way. Elgin gets school boy’d when going for a Figure-4 but he gets up and nails a mean lariat, Elgin then misses a second rope moonsault. Drake gets a straight punch to the face and then does a ground and pound, constantly punching Elgin and the ref stops it. A really solid match and a rather unique finish which the fans loved.

Dave Taylor vs. Claudio Castagnoli: After this show Taylor was very vocal about how he was not paid by Ian Rotten, what makes him so special if you believe all the rumours Ian did a lot of shows and couldn’t pay guys. Dave seems to be having legit fun in there during the beginning of this match. Claudio has a kravate locked in, Dave gets a bodyslam but Claudio keeps the kravate on, they do this again, I liked that shows that the smallest of holds can be hard to break. Dave holds the ropes open to let Claudio in, does it and goes for a handshake which is quickly turned into him hitting a clothesline and the fans loving it. Claudio goes for a takedown and Dave powers over Claudio into a powerbomb, Claudio now knows how that feels. Second match in a row where the leg is the focus. Dave goes a European uppercut and Claudio gets a backslide for the win. A fun match here and the finish was done to keep Dave strong.

Cassandro vs. Sara Del Rey: Cassandro just leaves me asking questions, I don’t get anything he does or is. Cassandro starts by flirting with the ref, Sara just slaps him in the face. Cassandro looks like Blanche from the Golden Girls, don’t you judge me! Sara somehow has 2 lipstick kiss marks on her boob. Cassandro gets the Gory Stretch and slides her down for a pin, Sara lifts herself up and flips over for a sunset flip, a very impressive move. Joey Eastman, who’s on commentary, is comparing this tournament to the 2004 one which is seen as one of the best weekends or wrestling ever and to be honest if I owned it I would be reviewing that right now. Cassandro does the lucha sit down flip armdrag, never got why you’d do so much just for an armdrag. Sara kicks Cassandro over the ropes and follows with the Foley senton. Cassandro messes up a leap from the top and just does a snapmare after landing, he makes up for it with a suicide dive. Cassandro hits a sit out Implant Buster. Cassandro messes up a weird pin. Cassandro shoulder blocks the corner and Sara gets a cross arm breaker for the win. I think Sara is great but I just don’t get Cassandro or why he got so much hype, it wasn’t bad at all but nothing great.

Too Cold Scorpio vs. Ace Steel: Have you ever noticed how much Ace and CM Punk sound alike? Ace comes out to Psychosocial by Slipknot, a song a lot of guys would use at the time I think it was the new Welcome to the Jungle. Remember when Ace’s gimmick was having tourette’s syndrome? Ace had actually won the Sweet Science before it became the TPI. They trade of really quick armdrags. Lots of strikes here, Ace hits some really nice looking knees. Ace gets a Crossface on, this would be just over a year after the Benoit incident. Ace messes up some kind of slingshot thing and then no sells a kick by Scorpio. Scorpio gets a flipping leg drop from the second rope. Ace gets a tope rope Frankensteiner. Scorpio struggles and then messes up a Ricola bomb, they finally get the spot of Ace getting a Yoshi Tonic out of it. Scorpio wraps Ace up in a crucifix for the win and holds on to show how well he could do it. Really didn’t like this match at all, tons of problems and they just didn’t mess well together. Ace gets the mic and says he would have asked for 5 more minutes if it wasn’t a tournament, a fan yells “It wasn’t a tie” and I fully agree.

Sami Callihan vs. Eddie Kingston: It’s the basic back and forth until they break in the ropes, Sami nails King with a sick slap and King hits the Backfist leading to Sami falling to the outside. A very nice head & arm suplex by King. King nails a mean chop and then a Yazuka in the corner. I’d like to note that Sami faced Chris Hero the night before so he’s had a rough 2 days. Sami comes back by hitting a headbutt while they’re on the ropes and follows with a dropkick. Sami gets a wheelbarrow pin, he beat Hero the night before that way so the fans brought it. They trade of backdrop drivers and Sami gets a lariat for a near fall buts that’s only because he landed on King. A very sick strike exchange that lasts a while but the fans are totally into it. King gets an Uranagi and when Sami kicks out he gets the Koji Clutch, very nice spot. Sami goes for a lariat its block, King hits the backfist but Sami sucks it up and nails a lariat for the win, Sami and King remain down afterwards. A really, really good match here and a nice way to close the 2^nd round of the tournament.

Jayson Quick w/Kimberly Cash vs. Jason Hades(c)-I Quit Steel Cage match for IWA MS Light Heavyweight title & the name Jason: Hades runs in to start and they trade blows. Quick hits a clothesline but goes down as well and puts on a choke. Hades gets distracted by Cash and Quick slings him into the cage. Cash tries throwing a chair over the cage but fails, she slides it in and Quick kills Hade with a chair shot making him bleed. Hades gets throw into the chair which is set up in the corner. Quick counters the Killswitch (not Christian’s move) with a shoulder breaker then a dragon suplex and rolls through into a full nelson camel clutch. Quick tries a crazy standing multiple flip leg drop but Hades moves, leading to Quick finally hitting the cage. The mic sucks and you can barely here either guy. Hades does Lance Storms rolls through crab. Quick hits a Blue Thunder on an open chair and that chair is destroyed. Hades gets a super German suplex and Quick lands highly. Hades gets a top rope double stomp with a chair. Quick gets the Box Cutter, a weird driver thingy. Hades goes the Killswitch with a chair and it looked so awful, the Killswitch is a double underhook and he flips over into a back breaker. Hades somehow gets screwdriver and buries it into Quick for the win. The finish was so cliché and I just got the feeling that they got a finish and nothing more when coming up with this match as they didn’t work the I Quit stip at all the rest of the time.

Egotistico Fantastico vs. Drake Younger: As Drake enters Ego dives onto him with a tope. Drake is still selling his leg when he enters. Drake does the Foley senton. They fight on the outside and Drake gets a powerbomb into the ring post on Ego. They do the Deathmatch slug outs, where they trade punches while sitting down ends with headbuts and Drake hiptossing Ego on the floor. Drake does Necro’s Chair bodyslam, I guess he didn’t use the chair so all is good. Very nice Falcon Arrow by Drake. Ego gets Taco Pizza after a dropkick to the bad leg. Drake gets a big knee and a lariat for a near fall turning Ego upside down. Ego gets an Air Raid Crash and the Merosault but Drake kicks out. Drake gets an inverted Brainbuster for the win. Very good match and I like how Drake is winning in different ways.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Sara Del Rey: Surprisingly they start trading blows early. Sara does a seated senton from the 2^nd rope. Sara attempts kicks from her back, just like Inoki vs. Ali but it only lasts seconds instead of hours. Claudio just dead lifts Sara like she weights nothing. Claudio tries a spinning X-factor but Sara lands on her feet and nails a kick. She locks on the cross arm breaker but Claudio gets out. Sara gets a series of kicks including the copo kick and a great looking axe kick. Claudio gets the big swing and Sara gets a small package after for a very near fall. Roaring uppercut gets Claudio a near fall. Sara gets the cross arm breaker, Claudio gets her up but she hangs on and locks it in again but he gets out. Claudio gets a bicycle kick and the Ricola for the win. Really good match here, the fans really got behind Sara and the action was great.

Sami Callihan vs. Too Cold Scorpio: Scorpio just quickly starts nailing Sami with hard strikes. Sami leap frogs Scorpio from the back and turns around with a lariat but Scorpio returns the favour soon after. Scorpio nails him with knees. Sami struggles and I mean struggles to get up and Scorpio just starts striking him down. Scorpio gets a really high top rope splash. Scorpio just kills time and then gets a gutwrench and top rope moonsault. Sami FINALLY blocks and fights back, he gets 2 backdrop drivers for a near fall. Sami absorbs a yazuka kick in the corner runs out with a lariat that turns Scorpio inside out for the win. Very slow at points here, a problem with Scorpio’s first match but still good, really showed how beat up Sami is.

Dingo (c), Ricochet & Bobby Fish vs. 2 Tuff Tony, Prince Mustafa Ali & Are w/Joey Eastman-6 Man tag were if Dingo is pinned he loses the IWA World title: Kingston & Chuck Taylor on commentary and I say this as they really add to this match. From the opening second King is singing Jimi Hendrix and saying “Don’t edit it out”. Fish & Tony are traded before the start making the teams I have listed above. King brings up that he was the champ but had to vacant it. Lots of lucha moves from Ali & Ricochet to start, King is pissed that there’s a standoff. Tony gets a spinning Rock Bottom on Dingo. The ref is checking Ares and he finds ties hidden all over him, during which Mike Z says “That’s my tie, he got that from me. I got jacked yo”. Fish hits a very nice dropkick. Fish gets an abdominal stretch and Ares gets out by planting a tie on Fish. Ali yells “Jihad” when hitting a kick, a move that would not help his career last long. Fish steals Joey’s hat, King says he looks like Paul Roma the worst horsemen, he must of missed Mongo. Tony gets a lionsault, impressive for a big deathmatch worker. Fish steals Joey’s jacket now and then his pants, Fish puts this all on as well. Ricochet gets a double DDT to get the tag. Mike Z gets a great line “Joey must be running his own indy company as he just lost his shirt”. Fish gets a nice spinbuster on Ali. We get a tower of doom build ending with everyone getting low blowed including Joey and the ref. Lots of big moves here including Ares hitting a “Driver Bomb”. Ali throws in a little bag which gets throw into everyone, he yells “Jihad” when he gets it and it’s a shoe, everyone jumps on him. Ricochet hits a shooting star on Dingo, as he wants to be the champ.  Ricochet does a tope con heelo. Fish gets the “Sleeping with the Fishs” an inverted Go to Sleep. Ali misses an inverted 450 and gets school boy’d by Dingo for the win. After King gives Dingo the belt and puts him over. A really fun comedy match which would have been good normally but became great with commentary on.

Chris Hero vs. Trik Davis-Falls Count Anywhere: Trik jumps to start and they fight in the crowd. Hero just throws some mesh at Trik. They get in the ring for a second and Hero nails a kick and they’re back out. Hero’s forearm shoots are just sick sounding. Hero goes to skin the cat and Trik gets a dropkick, he grabs his arm straight away and Trik begins the attack. Hero goes to throw Trik into the wall, he blocks and rolls back into a rotating headscissors. Trik runs into Hero and he lifts him up into the wall. Hero runs at Trik who is standing next to a ladder and Trik moves so he nails the ladder with his bad arm. Trik attempts a suplex of the commentary stage onto the floor on chairs but nothing happens, eventually Hero gets a blockbuster of the stage onto the chairs. Hero gets a sit out powerbomb when they get back in the ring. Hero does a gordbuster onto 2 open chairs, Trik’s head is between the chairs and Hero gets a boston crab and then kicks the chair causing the top to go flying. Trik puts on the Hangman’s Clutch, Hero’s move. Hero hits the sickest headbutt I’ve ever seen, you could hear the smack it was disturbing. Hero picks up a chair, Trik kicks it into him then low blows him and a 2K1 Bomb for the win. Very good brawl here that lasted a while.

Sami Callihan vs. Drake Younger vs. Claudio Castagnoli-Elimination match: This is the finals of the TPI. Each guy had a story coming in, Claudio had advanced one more round each year he was in TPI and he got to the finals last year, Sami has received the most punishment of all guys and Drake wants to be the first deathmatch tournament winner to win a straight up tournament. Claudio picks up both guys quickly and gets them in a pin, the 3 then trade pins and then strikes. Sami goes for the Lance Storm move but they struggle to roll through. Drake gets a wrist clutch DVD. Claudio drags Sami out and does a big swing through the chairs, the fans want one more and he does it. Drake does a crossbody onto Claudio to the outside. Sami gets a lariat on Claudio for a near fall, Claudio comes back with a bicycle kick that turns him inside out. Drake catches the Drake’s Landing to eliminate Sami. Claudio straight away goes to the leg.  Claudio does Bret Hart’s Figure-4 round the post and then he shoves the small steps into Drake twice. Drake gets a quick DVD on Claudio, he was pretty much down as soon as he was up. Claudio dead lifts Drake into a gutwrench. Drake gets a frogsplash after fighting Claudio off for a near fall. Claudio does a big swing with just one leg. Claudio attempts the Ricola and gets reversed into the Drake’s Landing for the win. Now the back story here is that before the match Ian had picked Claudio to win and the win was a legit shock to Drake, I imagine they did this just to surprise him on the night. Just a fantastic match to end with, all 3 did great and it just came off as a special match. After Ian thanks Drake and Drake thanks the fans.

Overall: The entire show told a great story and the matches were mostly great. While you had problems here and there it really didn’t hurt the show. Much like other IWA shows it was 4 hours and I don’t think it needed to be, you could have cut out the opening tag and the show would have been fine. There was something for everyone on this show and you’d struggle to get bored. If you’re a fan of great wrestling go check out the Ted Petty Invitational as all are just fantastic shows.

15 Y.C. Part 13: One of the Best Kept Secrets in Wrestling

I’m a big indy wrestling fan, I prefer watching the smaller companies over the big time ones. One of the companies I’ve came across is a little California company called Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. PWG is a company that runs just a handful of dates throughout the year but they are always packed with fans and are great shows. PWG will be celebrating its 9^th anniversary this month but one of the best shows and the one I’m going to review is PWG Seven taking place 30^th July 2010 in Reseda. We get Excalibur on commentary and he’s joined by many different guests throughout the night.

Peter Avalon, Malachi Jackson & Ryan Taylor vs. Brandon Gatson, Johnny Goodtime & Candice LaRae: Avalon jumps Johnny to start and the action goes crazy. Gatson hits a slingshot ace crusher earlier. Candice is destroying Avalon in the corner with shoulder blocks, Avalon is about the same size of Candice. Avalon calls out Candice, I feel sorry for Candice I think PWG is the only place she works and they don’t bring in other women. Avalon basically dry humps Candice. Goodtime slings over the corner and hits a low dropkick when tagged in which looked smooth. Jackson gets tagged in a looks pretty bad in what he does, it just looked weak. Taylor hits a beautiful axe kick which of course is followed by a spinaroonie. Goodtime gets a very high top rope Asai moonsault on everyone, the fans thank him with a pitcher of beer. Goodtime is then pushed off the top rope and hits the apron and then the outside. Taylor is the best on his team by far and I’m glad he’s in the ring the most. Candice gets tagged and gets two guys fighting over her ending with them kissing in random comedy. Candice gets a Balls-plex on Jackson, tries one on Avalon and can’t find his balls. Gatson gets a Burning Hammer on Jackson, him & goodtime then do crazy dives outside and Candice gets a Moonsault for the win. Pretty fun match, hurt a bit by Candice & Avalon being there.

Brandon Bonham vs. Brian Cage: Cage gets “Who the F are you” chants to start, which is funny as on last month’s PWG show he challenged Kevin Steen for the PWG title.. A back and forth to start with no one getting a big advantage. Cage slides out and Bonham gets a tope con heelo, looked great. Bonham does a sick dragon kick off the apron onto Cage. Bonham gets a double stomp plancha. Cage powerbombs Bonham against the ring post, they’re fighting through the crowd and they’re struggling to move as it’s such a small place and is so packed with fans. Bonham comes back with several roll ups, he attempts a Sunset flip but Cage gets a Northern Lights in a very nice spot. Cage gets 2 tilt-a-whirl backbreakers without letting go. We get the Bret Hart chest bump into the corner. Bonham goes for the Canadian Destroyer but Cage reverses into a sit out Alabama Slam. Bonham gets a weird suplex, he tied up the arm from the front and then did the move. Cage gets a roaring lariat that drills Bonham. Bonham gets 2 low dropkicks in the corner, the 2^nd leading to the outside. Bonham gets an Arm trapped Angle slam for a near fall. Cage gets a German Superplex. Cage catches a kick and gets Bonham in a Gory Special then gets a flatliner out of it. Bonham gets the Canadian Destroyer for the win. A really, really good match that would of been a better fit for the opener. I like this match because no one knew who Cage was to start and by the end they loved him.

Chris Sabin vs. Akira Tozawa: The basic chain wrestling spots to start, which ends with the 2 hitting a dropkick at the same time and a stand out. Akira gets the advantage with a hip attack, he then drills Sabin with a mean bicycle kick in the corner. Sabin gets a cross body from the inside to the outside on Akira. Sabin goes for a very quick top rope crossbody but Akira somehow gets double knees up. Akira gets a shining wizard and then gets a suicide dive. Akira goes for a diving headbut, misses, tries again, misses, goes for a senton but before jumping Sabin gets his knees up but there pushed down and he gets the senton. Sabin kills him with 2 Tree of Woe dropkicks, including his beautiful jumping version. Akira gets a great German suplex, fails to float over but gets Sabin in a version of the Croyt’s Wrath for the win. A good match here and I was very happy I didn’t see Tozawa’s ass which he showed a lot at this time.

Scott Lost vs. Scorpio Sky: This was Scott’s retirement match. Streamers cover the ring before the introductions and we get “Thank You Scott”, Scott was/is (I’m not sure) one of the many owners of PWG. Scott starts with a high leg lariat and throws out 2 streamers in a pose. Sky returns the favour with a leg lariat. Sky gets a beautiful leap frog and dropkick, why is he only now being looked at he’s so smooth in the ring. Sky hits a Kitchen sink and before Scott hits the floor drops an elbow as well. Scott gets his feet up in the corner and follows through with a double stomp, just an amazing move. Scott hits 2 amazing looking suplex’s, I really can’t get over how smooth these 2 are in the ring and why no one used them. The 2 fight in the crowd and Scott hits a huge leaping clothesline through the crowd. Scott hits a quick judo throw. Sky nails Scott with a jumping high knee to the face. Scott does a suplex that goes over the ropes and to the outside, don’t really see that I only remember seeing it once with Bret Hart vs. Hakushi. Scott gets back in and hits a low flatliner and hits a great top rope elbow and then a frog splash, all gain near falls. Sky hits a belly to belly over the ropes and then hits a twisting tope. Scott gets an Ace crusher after missing the Big Fat Kill for a near fall. Scott hits a spinning round kick and then the Big Fat Kill for a near fall. Sky hits an arm trapped snapmare driver for a near fall. Sky gets a TKO and then another for a very close fall which looked like a 3. Sky then hits the Big Fat Kill for the win. Fans didn’t like the finish but it made sense and they were totally into this, just a fantastic match and I’m surprised it went on so early. After Scott does a speech explaining his decision to retire and thanking everyone. A really nice send off.

Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong: This was during Bryan’s brief return to the indies, fans throw ties into the ring. This is what I loved as many would have just waited in quiet to return to WWE, which he did, but Bryan was all over the indies. Mat wrestling starts this match. We get “Cena got his F’ing head kicked in” and “You killed Justin” chants. Lots of strikes between the two. Now we get “F Michael Cole” chants, one that still has meaning today. Strong chokes Bryan with a tie to a big pop and gets “You are Fired” chants. Bryan gets a tie and does the exact same choke he did to Justin Roberts. Bryan hits a running knee of the apron and comes back in with a Missile Dropkick. Strong gets the high version of the Strong Hold aka the Liontamer. We gets a series of 1 counts as the two roll around on the mat. Bryan reverses a crucifix with his elbow stirkes and turns into Cattle Mutilation but Strong gets the ropes. A sick kick by Strong gets a near fall. He gets Death by Roderick and an Inverted version for a near fall, he goes for the Tiger Driver and Bryan gets a triangle choke and turns it into the LeBell Lock for the win. A good match here which was made even better by the fans. Bryan then does a promo making fun of PG and thanking the indy fans, he did this a lot at the time.

Davey Richards (c) vs. Chris Hero for PWG World title: Chain wrestling to start, a lot of this tonight. Davey does a Pat O’Connor roll and when Hero kicks out, he transitions to a grounded surfboard in a nice spot. Hero missed a baseball slide and while he’s out Davey does his running kick on the apron which sounded harsh. Davey does a deathlock Tequila sunrise which looked better than anything Konnan could do. Hero comes back with a mean big boot, I get the feeling we’ll get strikes here. Hero went to do a bodyslam on the apron but the place is so full he messed it up. Hero bodyslams Davey into the ropes in an odd spot. Hero nails a mean elbow strike and follows with a slingshot on the rope. Hero hits his suplex neckbreaker for a near fall. Davey finally comes back with a handspring kick. Davey runs off the rope but Hero cuts him off with a flying kick, Hero goes for a dive but lands on his feet when Davey runs in and then hits a suicide dive heelo. Davey gets a dragon screw in the ropes. Davey gets a missile dropkick, goes for a pin and when he kicks out he locks in the cloverleaf always like when guys do such things. Hero hits some strikes including an elbow, Davey powers up but is nailed with another elbow for a near fall. Hero gets a Kravate facebuster of the ropes for a near fall, he lifts his leg during the pin to continue selling the leg. Davey goes to run off the ropes but is met with an insane Bicycle kick. Davey gets the cloverleaf, the fans are up and surrounding the ring. Davey gets an ankle lock but it’s rolled through, Hero does his rope bounce roaring elbow for a near fall. Hero hits a head stomp into an elbow and then a moonsault for a near fall. Hero goes for his hanging neckbreaker into an elbow and is reversed into an ankle lock. Davey gets the DR driver for a near fall but locks in the Ankle lock for the tap out. Just an insanely good match between these two which told a great story and was full of action.

¡Peligro Abejas!(c) (Paul London & El Generico) vs. The Cutlers (Brandon & Dustin) vs. The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson)-Guerrilla Warfare match for PWG World Tag Titles: Cutlers jump the Bucks to start, Matt hits a Sliced Bread on the apron onto one of them. The champs finally come in and hit duel Tope con heelos. The Cutlers hit duel rolling shoulder blocks, don’t get why they had to roll I also can’t tell which Cutler is which. Matt gets hit with a Slingshot Spinbuster by Dustin (only know as Excalibur said it). One Cutler presses the other onto the Buck on the outside. London hits a sunset bomb on a Cutler onto the Bucks on the outside. Chairs are being thrown into everyone’s face. We get one guy chanting TNA, who the Bucks were working for at the time. One Cutler slides Nick across the ring and as he reaches the outside he’s caught by the other and is DDT’d on a chair. The champs get thrown into the bar that’s in the arena. The Bucks do a crazy double team that sees Nick dive out the outside and get caught, I didn’t catch the rest. Generico goes for his diving through the ropes DDT but Matt throws a trash can in his face. A Cutler is powerbombed into the fans chairs, I can see why this went last as the outside is being destroyed. Generico is actually bleeding through his mask that must be hardway. Matt does a handspring back rack on Dustin with an actual rake. The Cutlers Gorilla press Nick into everyone of a stage. Nick slingshots in with an X-factor and then jumps through the ropes where he’s nailed with a Yazuka kick. Matt goes up top and is Superplex through a table by London. So much action all over the place. London hits a double stomp while Nick is setting up a chair, he’s then half & half’d suplex by Generico with an added kick by London onto the chairs. We then get endless superkicks by the Bucks, they throw so many. The fans are surrounding the ring again. London gets a Tope Con Heelo, Generico gets a yazuka kick on a Cutler goes for a dive and is nailed by a chair and then gets hit by the Cutler’s Tandem Tombstone onto a chair for a near fall after London saves it. London takes a nasty spill as I think he was meant to skin the cat but failed to keep hold and nailed his back on the apron. Matt nails a Cutler with a DDT on the apron while Nick gets a 450 through a table on the other. London does Shooting star to the outside and Generico gets the BRAINBUSTAH on the turnbuckle for the win on Nick. Just an insane brawl filled with big moves but in this match it was expected, a pretty good way to end the show.

Overall: When I go back to watch show I usually find faults with a number of matches but with this one everything was good to great, even the opener was only slightly affected by Candice & Avalon but besides that the show was perfect. It built well, the fans were totally into everything and the match order was perfect. I remember writing in votes for Powerslam magazine’s Year end awards and I picked this show as the best of 2010 and while it didn’t win it was in the votes showing I was not alone in my view.

15 Y.C Part 12: When 2 Worlds Collide-CZW vs. ROH

2006 saw one of the best inter-promotional feuds ever to take place in wrestling, in my view, in the form of Ring of Honor vs. Combat Zone Wrestling. The feud would take up half of the year and would produce some of the best shows and matches of the year. For me the stand out came from CZW’s When 2 Worlds Collide show on March 11^th in the ECW Arena. So to set the scene for the show, on this day ROH would run its first show in the Arena in the evening and at the closing moments of that show the CZW locker room invaded ran off everyone and spray painted CZW on the ROH ring. CZW’s show would happen a couple of hours later and they used ROH’s ring and ring announcer throughout the show. Also because of the two shows we got fans of both companies at both shows making for a great crowd dynamic. So onto the show, like with many “indy” shows we would get different colour commentators come and go but we also got Eric Gargiulo throughout and I have to say I do miss his commentary so much, he was so good at his job and as shown here could work with anyone easily.

CZW Extra: We start off the DVD with all the promos posted on CZW’s youtube page. Some good and bad but the standout being everything involving Eddie Kingston. King would be involved in 3 promos, one with the BLK Out celebrating winning the Tag and World titles, one with the BLK Out being more serious and looking at their past and a final one with Joker aimed at the ROH fans. All great promos from King. Chris Hero, who was the key factor in starting the feud, would explain that he wouldn’t be on the show and we get an awkward promo between the Kings of Wrestling with Claudio barely understanding the situation it seemed. We also get Kevin Steen going on about how he hates the fans and CZW in general, I’m guessing this was legit as him and Zandig had legit hate to each other.

Pandora’s Box (B-Boy, Sonjay Dutt & Adam Flash) w/Pandora vs. Nate Webb, Sexxxy Eddy & Messiah: This was B-Boy’s and Messiah’s returns. B-Boy had lost a loser leaves match to Nate and Lobo, who gained some control, allowed him back. Maven Bentley, who was the commissioner, brought Messiah back to even the odds even though Messiah teamed with Adam & B-Boy in the Hi-V group. There’s a fan dress like the Hurricane, the entire outfit he may think he’s standing out but that is so many levels of creepy. Eddy has the smallest tights ever, only slightly more than Naked Mideon. Pandora’s box jump on two of them to start, Messiah was not in the ring. Eddy hits a slit legged moonsault on B-Boy when it comes down to 2 in the ring. Nate hits a tumbleweed on Dutt and tries another but misses. For some random reason Flash actually throws Nate to his corner and allows the tag for some reason. B-Boy nails a mean kick to Eddy, Dutt than steals KENTA’s slingshot cocky kick. Pandora hits a hanging DDT off the apron onto the floor to Webb. B-Boy and Webb do a series of reversals on one another which ends with B-Boy hitting a high enzuigiri. PB hit a triple team crossed armed Lungblower. After Webb gets some offence B-Boy hits Eddy but not Messiah, this leads to the ref getting distracted and an insane Triple team move that involves so much I cannot keep up with it. Webb’s in the tree of Woe and Dutt climbs up the ropes and Webb drills him with a snap German suplex, he then gets a Backpack Stunner on B-Boy to get the tag on Messiah. He plays like he’s with them and then attacks them, he hits the Killswitch, a TKO and then an Exploder on Dutt onto B-Boy. Flash hit’s a tope on Eddy and almost lands on the railing, Dutt hits a Tope Con Heelo, Messiah hits a rolling senton of the top onto the group, B-Boy goes for a dive but is hit with a spinning kick and a Shining Wizard. Flash hits the Baba clothes, Messiah with a TKO, Dutt with a springboard Dropkick, Eddy hits a tilt-a-whirl face plant and then B-Boy gets a Shining Wizard for everyone to be down and the fans get up. Flash hits a superplex and floats over into a powerbomb. Messiah get a Implant DDT and Dutt gets the Asai DDT and a 450. Eddy gets the Sexxy-plex. B-Boy is in the Tree of Woe and Webb goes for a springboard moonsault across the ring into a chair, he misses the first time but gets it the second. Flash hits his Last Call leg drop, Dutt gets a moonsault double stomp and B-Boy hits a weird driver on Webb for the win. Just a fantastic match to start the show, a great way to show that CZW isn’t deathmatches and hardcore wrestling.

Larry Sweeney vs. Hallowicked vs. Jigsaw vs. Andy Sumner: Did you know that Sweeney was the ICW-ICWA Texarkana Television Championship 27 times in his career and at this point he was on his 14^th reign. Andy is the odd one out as the other 3 are Chikara guys although Andy was trained when CZW & Chikara shared a school. Andy tries to get involved and is constantly thrown out. Andy gets a Fujiawara armbar on all 3 guys at the same time. We get the Hogan “YOU” from Sweeney. A lighter version of Total Elimination by Larry & Wicked on Jig. Oh it’s suddenly tags. Larry pays tribute to the Iron Sheik with the Camel Clutch and we find out that Eric Gargiulo managed Sheiky baby at one point. Wicked & Jig did an inverted Ode to the Bulldogs that clears the ring and Wicked gets a Fisherman suplex into a powerbomb called the Graveyard Smash on Jig for the win. A fun little match here with Sweeney being the highlight.

Justice Pain w/Dewey Donovan vs. El Generico: Pain is getting some kicks in he tries one Generico catches it but Pain gets a jawbreaker in a unique spot. Pain gets dropkicked off the apron, does a dive fake and then hits a twisting plancha. Generico goes for a leap frog and Pain goes for a flapjack but Generico seems to be rolling over so he lands weird on it. Pain does a spinebuster but adds a kick on the way down. Pain hits a powerbomb and adds an elbow on the way down. A very nice STF by Pain. They fight on the outside and Pain hits a Belly to Belly over the railing onto the chairs. They’re fighting through the fans and the camera turns around when Pain is using drinks as weapons. Pain gets thrown into the post and Generico does his diving Tornado DDT between the bottom ropes. Pain reverses the Brainbuster with a very high German suplex, it looked great. Generico throws a chair and it stays on Pain’s head and he adds 2 Yazuka kicks for a near fall. Pain hits a Pain Thriller on 3 open chairs for the win, Pain has a reputation of being reckless and in the finish it showed as he just dumped Generico with no care. Very good match here but it had Generico in it so it was always going to be good.

Nick Gage (c) w/Dewey Donovan vs. DJ Hyde vs. Danny Havoc-Panes of Glass for the Ultraviolent Underground Title: It’s the Boss man or the guy who now owns CZW, DJ Hyde. Danny has a crazy afro here and it would go crazier as the year went on. Gage is jumped to start. Danny hits a headbutt and busts DJ open, they trade headbutts and DJ hits a roaring version to end it. DJ hits a suplex onto the upright railing on gage, Danny then hits a cockscrew moonsault onto Hyde on the outside. Looks like Danny was busted open earlier as well. Lots of dangerous chair shots between the 3. DJ powerbombs Danny through a slated table the opposite way that it’s meant to be set up aka all the metal up instead of down. DJ just kills Danny with sick chops and kicks and Gage comes in and hits 2 boot scrapes. DJ Belly to Bellys Gage into a pane of glass. DJ hits a lariat on Danny which turns him inside out. Gage hits the Chokebreaker on Danny, then sets up the pane of glass on 4 open chairs and hits a second rope piledriver for the win. DJ then hits 2 shadow drivers after on Danny just because. Just a deathmatch here, Danny was nothing but a punching bag here but he wasn’t long in the business so it made sense.

Kevin Steen (c) vs. Super Dragon for the CZW Iron Man Title: Steen cuts a promo and the ROH fans chant “Over rated” funny seeing how much they love him at the moment. The promo is basically Steen choosing ROH over CZW and begging ROH for a job. Match starts with Dragon hitting the Suicide Heelo. Their PWG feud is mentioned here adding importance to this match a bit. Steen hits Samoa Joe’s Ole Kick. They get back in the ring and both try for their finishers but fail, it ends with a Curb Stomp by Dragon always a mean looking move. Dragon misses a shoulder block and hits the ring post. Dragon is placed on the 2^nd rope and Steen hits a double stomp and follows it with a double knee Vader bomb. I can imagine it was hard to work in the Super Dragon gear literally has no room to breathe. Steen gets a double knee facebuster and a senton for a 2. Dragon gets little bits of offence here and there but Steen keeps cutting him off. Steen is doing pushups and Dragon goes in with a double stomp. Dragon slings over the top and hits a double stomp while Steen’s head is hanging off the apron. Dragon hits a beautiful top rope senton for a 2 count. Steen gets a gutbuster and a swanton for a near fall. BJ Whitmer than interferes, Steen gets the Package Piledriver and a 450 for the win. BJ and Dragon were a focal point of the CZW/ROH feud at the time. Necro comes in for the save but gets attacked and is apparently injured by the 2 of them.

Cheech vs. Cloudy vs. Derek Frazier (c) vs. Niles Young vs. Sabian vs. Heretic-Ladder match for CZW Jr. Heavyweight title: The title is stupidly high up and as the ring announcer says “The belt up there”. Cloudy comes out to “Hollow back girl” and I hate him for that. Everything breaks down earlier, Sabian goes for a tope con heelo but his hands stay on the ropes and he goes nowhere and hits no one. Everyone tries to climb one ladder when it’s set up. We get partly Cloudy with a chance of Cheech on Heretic, the duo are a team and start doing double teams until Cheech turns on Cloudy and hits a pumphandle suplex onto a ladder. Sabian makes a sandwich with Cheech & Niles between ladders and hits a senton. Derek hits a weird piledriver with arms being trapped on Heretic and then hits a legdrop with a ladder between his legs in a painful spot. Cloudy hits an Ace Crusher off a ladder on Derek. Cheech is attacking the legs of guys as it makes it difficult to climb. Heretic hits a fisherman buster on a ladder to Sabian. Sabian does Low Ki’s double stomp on Heretic while he’s on a ladder. Derek hits a 360 Killswitch which looked very nice. Cheech puts a sleeper on Niles on top of the ladder, Cloudy hits Cheech with a ladder and the ladder starts to give way. Niles is laying on a ladder that is laying on the ropes and Derek hits a crossbody off a ladder. Sabian always comes off as the most legit angry man in his matches, he always looks pissed off. Heretic does a hanging snapmare driver onto a chair to Derek in a sick spot. Niles hits a stage dive onto Sabian through a table on the outside. Cloudy hits the Canadian Destroyer on Cheech on a ladder that’s set up on the railing and the apron. Sabian is than handcuffed to the ring post. Derek gets an ugly Cash flow of the ladder through a table allowing Niles to sneak in and quickly grab the title for the win. Pretty much just a stunt show here but still entertaining, basically these 6 came out and killed each other to get the fans.

BLK Out (Eddie Kingston & Ruckus) & Necro Butcher vs. Generation Next (Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Matt Sydal): Fans are super hot from the get go. Starts as a 3-on-2 as Joker was meant to team with BLK Out but had to miss the shows due to Military commitments. Ruckus and Matt start off. Ruckus rolls through a move into a handstand, Matt tries to sweep his arms but he flips out and we get a standoff all this looked awesome. King and Strong then in, the two trade chops early. We get the Kaientai pose spot, something that’s not used as much as it should. Necro then comes down evening the sides and the match breaks down. Ruckus hits a shooting star of the apron to Matt. King tries to run to the corner and Aries jumps in and cuts him off. Aries hits a Ric Flair knee, where he rolls through, and goes for the second with the strut but misses. Ruckus hits a handspring cockscrew kick and nails Matt with a cockscrew moonsault from a standing position. Ruckus is cut off as Strong gets his attention and Aries hits a great looking clothesline. Matt hit’s his gorgeous standing moonsault. Aries hits his slingshot cockscrew and then a no hands Lionsault. Aries misses his pendulum elbow, I love that move. Aries pulls Ruckus down but he nips up and hits a Pele kick and tags in Necro. Necro gets a Tiger Driver on Matt but Aries drills him with his turnbuckle dropkick. Strong gets a Sick Kick on King. Strong gets his half nelson back breaker on Necro and then Ruckus. King gets the Backfist to the Future to Matt goes for the pin and Aries gets his kick to the head, followed by Death by Roderick, a brainbuster and a shooting star to King to give Generation Next the win. A really solid main event here and the right choice in winner to help keep the feud going in CZW even though they wouldn’t do too much except have ROH stars in the Best of the Best that year.

Overall: You get the feeling that CZW knew they would get both crowds at this show and wanted to put on a show that proved they were more than just garbage wrestling a stigma they still have to this day. This show was fantastic when it came to in ring work and the deathmatch, Pain/Generico and Ladder match were there to show the CZW fans they weren’t changing. The fans were great all night long and the commentary teams were amazing all night long. Seriously a great show and is still one of the best CZW shows I’ve ever seen. I highly recommend this show to everyone.

15 Y.C. Part 11: A One Night Stand that's remained for 7 years. Hold on that's a Relationship!

On June 12^th 2005 WWE held a PPV that no one thought they would, that show was ECW One Night Stand. The show was held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City the same venue that held its final show. Let’s do some background on this show before we begin as there’s a bit. WWE had released a DVD called “The Rise and Fall of ECW” months prior and it was a massive success becoming one of the companies best selling DVD’s, Vince seeing obvious money in it decided to hold a one off reunion show. Now this show was announced and what happened? Shane Douglas announced Hardcore Homecoming for the night before in the ECW Arena however that was a far inferior show in comparison and had zero effect on this show. It should also be noted that no match was advertised for this show. So let’s begin. The show opens with Joey Styles being introduced he screams “Oh my God” and welcomes Mick Foley to be his colour commentary and we get the old school ECW video to officially start. From the get go the fans are insane, such a great atmosphere I’d ask why WWE don’t run it more for smaller shows but seeing how their ECW TV show went (with had CM Punk debut and Big Show vs. Batista) I can see why they don’t.

Lance Storm w/ Dawn Marie vs. Chris Jericho: Dawn is trying to hide the fact she’s heavily pregnant and fails. This was meant to be Storms book-end to his career, that was 7 years ago and he just did a program with Mike Bennett in ROH. Chris is in his old Lionheart gear. We get very quick chain wrestling and holds ending in a stare off after trading armdrags and the crowd pop. Jericho hits a very nice dropkick of the bottom rope after Storm floats over. Jericho jumps off the apron and goes into the railing when Storm moves. Storm comes back with a beautiful dropkick of his own. We get a taunting hanging suplex by Storm. At this point Mick is still on about Joey almost crying at the start, Mick was not good here. Storm jumps to the top rope in one leap and tries a back elbow but is met with a dropkick to the back. We get a “Chris Candido” chant while Jericho fights back, it was just weeks before that Candido suddenly passed away. Jericho does a Tiger suplex. Storm attempts a Cradle piledriver is back dropped but saves himself and nails Jericho with a superkick for a very near fall. We get the slide through Single leg crab by Storm, always loved that move surprised no one has stole it. Jericho goes for the Lionsault, Storm gets his knees up but Jericho catches the legs and gets the Walls. Justin Credible interferes while Storm is tapping behind the refs back. Jericho knocks them down, Jericho then gets a roll up and Storm kicks him off into a Cane shot by Justin for the win. A simply incredible way to open a show, this match is still one of my favourites and it set the tone well. We then see seats reserved for the WWE Invaders a show long story. We go to the back where Gary Wolfe sets up a tribute video for those ECW wrestlers who had died, one thing this video shows is how young everyone was when you think about it.

Super Crazy vs. Tajiri w/Sinister Minister & Mikey Whipwreck vs. Little Guido w/tons of FBI members-3 Way Elimination: I swear Tajiri never ages, you know he’s in his 40’s now, hard to tell when you look at him. Crazy’s head is a perfect circle, he has that D’Lo Brown thing going on when you can’t see their ears when they look at the camera. Guido jumps Crazy to start. Tajiri does the Handspring elbow on Crazy. Guido reverses a tilt-a-whirl into an armbar. Crazy rolls through a sunset flip and delivers a dropkick on Guido and on Tajiri after. Guido gets the Silician Slice on Crazy. They fight through the crowd and Crazy does a Moonsault off a balcony onto everyone, I can understand why so many people came out. Tajiri gets the Tarantula when Crazy gets back in. Big Guido gets Tajiri in a powerbomb but he mists Guido and the Minister takes Big Guido down, Mikey then delivers a top rope Whipper Snapper aka a Stunner to eliminate Guido. Tajiri reverses a powerbomb with a DDT. Crazy gets 2 of his 3 moonsaults. They mess up a spot and just stand there leading to a powerbomb by Crazy and the final moonsault for the win. Very fasted paced action and you get the feeling they wanted to do too much with the time they were given, not the best match these 3 have had but it pleased the crowd.

Psicosis vs. Rey Mysterio: Psicosis comes out with his mask and then removes it when he gets in he had lost his mask in WCW. Rey also lost his mask in WCW but WWE wanted him to put it back on. What I don’t get here is that at next year’s show Rey would wear his old school looking gear, why not do it here? Chain wrestling to start and this leads to them messing up a wheelbarrow spot mainly because Rey is short and Psicosis should not have been the wheelbarrow! We get “Put the Mask On” chants. Rey tries a crossbody but Psicosis rolls through and plants him with a facebuster. A pin out of an Irish whip leads to “Boring” chants but only a few. Rey is set up on the railing and Psicosis does a top rope leg drop onto him in just an insane spot which turned the fans around. Psicosis attempts a corner dropkick but Rey moves and he lands high on his back. Psicosis shoulder blocks the corner and flies out into the crowd leading to Rey doing the seated senton into the crowd. A springboard dropkick leads to a 619, and boos, and then a great looking West Coast pop for the win. I’ve never seen the hype for these 2 working together, they have this legend of having amazing matches and while this was Ok I think even the crowd expected more. After we see the Smackdown invaders coming in, everyone’s in Smackdown shirts apart from JBL. If you have the DVD at this point you can listen to JBL do commentary from here on. Interesting fact out of the 7 invaders a total of zero work in WWE now although Matt Morgan is rumoured to be coming back.

Promos: Joel Gertner appears near the WWE invaders and JBL pushes him and kicks him in a rough looking spot. Kurt then talks, fans chant “You suck dick” and he replies “Your Mother taught me how” maybe rethink that Kurt. Kurt just screams for the rest of the promo, hands the mic to JBL and its just gold he’s such a great talker. Kurt suddenly takes his shirt off, he must be proud of something. The mic starts breaking up and Rob Van Dam comes down. He talks about his ECW past and how important tonight is and how he hates that he’s injured. Considering how bad RVD’s promos are this was great. It ends with Rhino goring him, the lights go out and out comes Sabu leading to.

Sabu w/RVD & Bill Alfonso vs. Rhino: Rhino gets a Belly-to-Belly on Sabu. Sabu nails Rhino with a chair while Rhino is seated on the ropes. Sabu does a Triple Jump Plancha. Rhino gets the advantage after he pulls Sabu down while he attempts a springboard. Sabu hits a Frankensteiner and then a slingshot seated leg lariat. Rhino gets a TKO and then an Overbomb into the corner. The ref gets Gored when Sabu pulls him in and Rhino hits a piledriver. RVD comes in and hits some moves which is insane considering how bad his knee was at the time. Sabu hits the Atomic Arabian facebuster through a table for the win. Nothing but big spot after spot here it was a nice stunt show but not much of a match. We then get the Raw invaders coming in out of this group of 10 only 2 are still in WWE that being Christian and William Regal.

Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero: From the moment Eddie steps out there’s just something about him, you can tell that he didn’t want to be there. The fans chant “I F**ked Lita” how have I only just noticed that? Eddie seems in legit pain and they’ve done nothing, he even left the ring this was just months before he would pass away. Back in the ring Eddie hits an impactful back elbow. Eddie is somehow bleeding from his nose and the fans finally notice the match in the ring and not Edge. Oh wait the fans are now focussed on Eric Bischoff. Benoit charges and Eddie ducks resulting in Benoit flying to the outside, Eddie then hits him with a chair on his back which got more railing than Benoit. Eddie gets a Superplex that looked great. Eddie goes for the Frog splash but misses. Benoit then gets a Superplex this is followed by the 3 Germans and diving headbutt, a move Harley Race has regretted ever inventing or using. Benoit gets the crossface, Eddie does nothing at all in terms of selling and just taps. Surprisingly a pretty bad match between these two, like I said you just got this feeling that Eddie didn’t want to be there and was in great pain before starting. The fans didn’t help either here. We then get Joel back and he asks Bischoff for a job and he says “Hell no”. He then does a promo which doesn’t involve much at all.

Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka: Joey Styles is so painful to listen to here because Mike left for WCW, even wishing he took his own life on a suicide dive a line I bet he regrets right now. But let’s focus on the match. Chop exchange to start and this leads to a Belly-to-Belly by Mike and then a slingshot Shoulder block. Mike then hits a Suicide dive and the infamous Styles line is here. I wouldn’t mind but tons of guys left ECW to actually make money. Tanaka does a running chair shot to Mike. Mike sets up a table, slightly slated on the railing, the two fight on the apron and Mike does a running Awesome Bomb and Tanaka lands extremely high in a sick spot. Mike hits his great looking splash when they get back in. Mike gets a deadlift Awesome Bomb. Mike then kills Tanaka with 3 chairshots, which destroys the chair. Tanaka gets the Diamond Dust after the chairs did nothing and then hits the Tornado DDT onto chairs for a near fall. Tanaka puts a chair on Mike’s face and nails the chair with a chair and then does a top rope chair elbow for a near fall. Tanaka goes for the roaring elbow but is hit with a German he gets up and is speared. Mike hits a top rope chair shot. Mike breaks a table when trying to get it in which forces him to kill a little time but not a lot. Mike sets up the table and they fight on the top rope ending with a Tornado DDT for a near fall. Mike then hits a top rope Awesome bomb onto the broken table for a near fall and the fans go crazy and applaud them. Mike goes for a running Awesome bomb over the top rope to the outside on a table, Tanaka counters but Mike gets it and then does a plancha where he lands pretty much on his head on Tanaka for the win. These 2 always had great matches, they started off hot and just continued to get hotter here. I love this match and it would win Match of the Years in 2005 in some votes & magazines.

Paul Heyman Promo: Paul thanks the fans and then basically makes some shoot comments on the WWE guys. He tells Bischoff that it’s not a WCW PPV that’s being held. He tells Edge he was 2 words for him “Matt Friggin’ Hardy” and Edge points out that’s 3, this was when Edge & Lita just became public. And my favourite comment is he tells JBL that “The only reason you were WWE champ for a year is because Triple H didn’t want to work Tuesdays”.

The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray & D-Von) vs. Tommy Dreamer & Sandman: Bubba looks great here and he’s gotten in better shape lately in TNA. WWE had to redub the Dudley’s and Sandman’s theme but you can clearly hear it still. The BWO then come out, Stevie’s voice is ridiculously low. Stevie than Superkicks Sandman and every ones on Tommy, Kid Kash comes out and throws himself out in a botched spot. Balls Mahoney & Axl Rotten come out, two of the ugliest people in the history of ever they proceed to nail Nova with sick chairshots. Everyone brawls into the entrance and Kash does a flip plancha and gets lots of distance on everyone. Fans chant for New Jack thankfully he doesn’t show. Match officially starts. Bubba gets a high Belly to back suplex on Tommy and then kills him with a road sign. He rubs a cheese grater onto Tommy’s face and he’s a bloody mess, Bubba then rubs the blood on his face. We get the reverse 3D by the Dudley’s. Tommy does the Terry Funk ladder spin. We get the Tommy crotched spot on the railing. Sandman hits a rolling senton on D-Von who’s under a ladder. D-Von hits Bubba with a cane when Sandman moves and we get the White Russian Leg Sweep. Duel Figure 4’s lead to the Impact Players coming out and That’s Incredible on a barbed wire sphere for Sandman. Francine comes in a low blows Tommy some serious back story there! Beulah McGillicutty comes in and takes down Francine. Beulah & Tommy DDT the Dudley’s, Beulah’s was just awful but she’s not a worker. Bubba canes both guys and you can clearly hear him say “F**k this”. Sandman is powerbombed through a table, Tommy then gets the 3D. We get another table and Spike comes out and lights it on Fire, Tommy is powerbombed through it and that lead to the win. A really good ECW style brawling match to end the show, the fans loved this and it was good.

Post-match: Sandman is calling for a beer and this leads to Stone Cold coming out. He calls out the ECW locker room and the ring is filled including guys like Danny Doring, Roadkill and Johnny Swinger all in their ring gear even though they weren’t even on the show or shown on camera before right now. They call out the WWE Invaders and they do a massive brawl, this is the infamous fight were JBL legit went crazy on the Blue Meanie and really beat the hell out of him. As they face off Taz comes down and he takes out Kurt Angle with the Taz Mission. The ECW guys clear the ring and then Mick brings Bischoff to the ring and he gets hit with several wrestlers finishing moves. At this point I notice Eddie Guerrero is not there proving my point he didn’t want to be there. Show ends with a Stunner and everyone drinking beer.

Overall: One thing I’ll mention is that between matches they would show highlight videos of the past, these got so annoying as they felt like they lasted forever some didn’t have any infamous moments at all. Now the show, the fans were insanely good and a lot of the work in the ring was great including two of the best matches I’ve ever seen. I was not a fan of the Invaders storyline because let’s be honest if you were there to ruin the show why would you wait for the show to pretty much end? The other thing this did was start the rain of ECW reunion shows that still go on to this day. This was the perfect time to do a reunion show as many could still work but now it’s beyond embarrassing. Now this show did so well that is was one of the key factors in Vince McMahon bringing back the ECW brand a year later and that One Night Stand show was great as well. For a diehard ECW fan this is a must watch and for those who don’t know much about it it’s a great way to get a feel of what ECW was.