Hit that refresh button on the browser, cause it's finally back with 2 weeks to recap and 4 shows to go!
Yes, after all my cohorts checking this space for the past two weeks with no new update, I finally deliver! Just a ton of stuff goin on with the main reason for the delay being the hauling of all the crap I had stored in my mom's house to my house (which is kinda like trying go from cramming everything you own into an apartment to cramming it into a canoe). So I'm currently buried in boxes and boxes of old stuff that has lots to little memories that I either need to pawn off on some other poor unsuspecting soul or find the space for. So if anyone out there is looking for a bunch of old Entertainment Weeklys or Spawn figures, shoot me a line. Of course the real gem from my Mom's move is the new car I got out of the deal which is far and away, bar none, the nicest vehicle I've EVER had (which probably means the next time I walk outside it'll be on fire). 1995 Ford Thunderbird LX which, having ONLY been made a decade ago, is also the NEWEST car I've ever owned. Yes, I've never owned a car that was made in the same decade that I am currently living in. I did get it for free though which means the total for the 5 cars I've owned since I turned 16 is $500. Which, depending on your perspective is either really lucky or really sad.Did a double shot of shows not only this past weekend but LAST weekend as well so we have FOUR full blown show reviews to go. I've been asked repeatedly from numerous parties when the heck I was gonna update (some being out of genuine interest and some being out of sarcasm). So let's gear up and go blow the load.
CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic on Sat 5/14 at the CSA. Another packed house as we attempt to make up for the somewhat dismal previous CSA show (who booked that abortion anyways?).
1. Xsiris and Ultra Dragon defeated the Street Sweepers (Jay Sinn and Gregory Vercetti) in 8:31 -
Pretty solid spotty-style opener that you would expect from this combination. It actually had one fantastically brutal (and believable) finish as Dragon accidentally sky twister presses himself onto X, who was making the cover at the time. Heels could have easily gone over clean as a sheet there but X comes back 30 seconds later and goes over with a DDT. Well alrighty then... **
-Gemini Kid's Hotseat: Chuck Coates and Ric Converse via telephone - Gemini pulls good old Chuck Coates (Madd Maxx) out of the crowd as Chuck makes his legit first CWF appearance since...well, hell..since CWF meant much of anything to anyone outside of the core group really. July 20, 2002 was Chuck's last appearance in a CWF ring (which I just GOTTA point out was the infamous Maxx/Yamaha vs. Corey/Schwanz tag match with one of the worst finishes EVER as Yam jobs Corey out clean as a sheet to a flying butt bomb of some kind). Gemini then talks to Ric Converse on the telephone who has been barred for the building to give a "cooling down period" between him and Garry Stevens.
2. American Steel Ninja pinned Hugh B. "Bad News" Johnson in 8:48 - Hugh B. almost plays the role of babyface (???) here in a very uncharacteristic open. Solid stuff and a basic nice majistral finish. **
3. "A Very Handsome Man" Mitch Conner pinned Brass Munkey in 7:36 - Conner's new breakaway tuxedo pants are 5-stars and then some. He also cut some of the best pre-show promos EVER as he was voted sexiest man alive by..."YOUR MAMA!". Hilarious stuff...ya should have been there. Anyways, this is the rematch of the squash from last show with a different outcome as Corey distracts Munkey, allowing Stutts to noose him from behind and Conner then kills Munkey with...something...bad. I have no clue what it was, but he went over with it. Longer (and better) than last time. Great TV. **1/2
4. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic tag team champions $outh$ide Playas (J-Money and Will B. Smooth) defeated Team Adonis (Alex Adonis and Donnie Dollars) in 7:17 of a non-title match - The 1000 match war continues between the Playas and Team Adonis in this thankfully condensed version. **
5. Jeremy Ryan pinned Mikael Yamaha in 4:11 - My personal little baby on this show and it came off SO much better than the first match. Ryan scores the upset pin at the last CSA taping so screw this, Yamaha's out to get revenge and of course mauls Ryan for the majority of it. Yam stops to pose, a one victory roll later and my offensively deficient hero wins another one! Fantastic TV and the crowd was on board. Post match, Stutts spits at Chuck then hauls ass, leaving Chuck to enter the ring and smack Yam around some much to the delight of the crowd. Chuck then cuts probably the best serious promo I've ever heard him do, running down his own history with the legacy of the MA territory. Awesome segment from start to finish. Match was probably *1/2 at best, but an overall ***1/2 segment, so we'll go with **1/2.
6. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Television champion Jesse "En Fuego" Ortega pinned Tank Lawson in 8:32 - One of those oil and water combinations that ya get scared of going in but it actually wasn't too shabby until Tank splits his pants big time and then starts getting a little shaky. *3/4
7. Rob "Boogie Woogie Man" McBride pinned "Dangerous E" Corey Edsel in 9:15 - the fourth "rematch" matchup on this show with this one falling into that "better than the first category" as well. Well, technically, it couldn't hope to be as memorable as the 1/8/05 match or even the latter street fight, but workrate wise, it surpassed both. Good stuff with Edsel suffering his first pinfall loss since the heel turn to the same maneuver by the same man that he snapped and turned heel on in the first place - Rob's backslide (following a Munkey distraction as payback from earlier). God bless continuity. ***
8. Garry "Madd Trucker" Stevens and the Shadow defeated Classic Rock ("Classic" Chris Collins & "Rock N Roll" Matty Dee) in 12:48 when Stevens pinned Matty Dee - I swear to god Matty Dee is entertaining enough to make a Dover match watchable. Fun stuff, fun finish but an almost painfully long heat sequence that mainly had a very slooooow Shadow working a very "confused and thereby immobile deer in the headlights" Chris Collins. Garry mainly sells the destroyed ribs on the apron from Wentworth. Postmatch, Converse hits the ring to the monster pop and it's pier-6 time again as the locker room empties and chaos ensues. *
Overall thoughts - I get the impression that my review doesn't reflect the overall atmosphere of the show which was really fantastic. The crowd was on the majority of the night and even though there were no workrate classics by any means, nearly everything was really solid and fun from start to finish.
Sat night was spent at the Stutts residence and boy, families just don't get much more entertaining than that clan. In the midst of it all, I finally retrieved an old Saturday Night's Main Event which I had not seen since it first aired from 7/28/90 featuring a Curt Hennig-Tito Santana IC title match which I had recalled being great, but of course, perception in a growing smart mark's mind 15 years earlier could be greatly different than my perception now. And I will rarely reference alot of mainstream wrestling in here, but holy god, that sucker is AWESOME and has got to be one of the all-time great matches that NO ONE EVER talks about. ****1/2 and I'd put it on any "Intro to how great pro wrestling can be" comp tape. On a side note, the Rockers-Demolition match from that same show which I recalled being pretty decent, but not as good as the IC match, doesn't hold up well AT ALL as Jannetty is just off in crackland somewhere as Michaels does everything he can to make his team look halfway sober.
Anyways, off to Sunday 5/15 and the return to Riders in the Country and Greensboro, NC with RCW "REALiTy CHECK":
1. Ultra Dragon pinned "A Very Handsome Man" Mitch Conner in 5:01 - Good, fun opener which the crowd just wasn't there for AT ALL. For some bizarre reason, over the past year the crowds at Riders have gotten smaller as the quality of shows have gotten better. Doesn't make a lick of sense. Still, props to both guys for putting on a fine little match with absolutely zero feedback. **
2. "The Black Hand" Justin Feeche pinned Hugh B. "Bad News" Johnson in 8:12 - Tremendous smashmouth wrestling as the Southern Indys deliver it's version of Vader vs. Hansen with fantastic results. Still hardly a peep from the crowd but they slowly started to get into it and it was hard not to as Feeche and Hugh B. just put on a fantastic effort beating the tar out of one another. Fan freakin tastic. I want a rematch in front of a crowd that cares. ***
-GeeStar is out for the "return to the scene of the crime" promo where she legit blew her knee out last December and has been wrestling sporadically ever since. Vows the revenge which leads to Stutts interjecting himself which leads to Garry Stevens nailing her from behind and the brutality is underway. Garry and Stutts tape Gee's arm to the ropes, rip off the knee brace and pummel her as the crowd FINALLY wakes up and gives a shit although it's hard not to when Gee turns on the drama switch. Very good angle. I swear, does ANYone get more out of not wrestling than she does?
3. Dr. Love and KC McKnight defeated Charlie Dreamer & Trey-G and Zane Dawson & Sik Wit It in 14:19 of a triangle match when McKnight pinned Trey-G - This would be my first time seeing EVERYone here except for Trey which is a really rare quote for me after the past few years. Dreamer has a good rep but unfortunately tore his arm out delivering a chop before he could do much of anything (and for those who think that sounds strange, I've thrown my shoulder out sneezing so yeah, it happens). I liked the look of the Love/McKnight duo as Love and Matty Dee are either destined to team or feud forever. McKnight has the most traditional wrestler look out of the new guys and with some good charisma to go with it. I'm definitely interested in seeing him in singles down the road. Zane and Sik seemed very competent as a big heel tag team, their big drawback being the gear. Anyways, as far as the actual match goes, it went a little long (possibly due to the Dreamer injury) but at least had tons of energy along the way. As I've said a million times, I hate three way matches no matter who's in them but this one was passable in that sense. **1/2
4. Donnie Dollars and the Street Sweepers (Jay Sinn and Gregory Vercetti)(with Brad Stutts in their corner) defeated Jeremy Ryan and Classic Rock ("Classic" Chris Collins and "Rock N' Roll" Matty Dee with Brian Hall in their corner) in 8:41 when Vercetti pinned Collins - Oh my god, this was the most fun ever. Of course the heels were on with Vercetti breaking out the gas mask cause of all the smoke in the Riders bar. But (as Zoe would say) Matty Dee just rocks my face off with Collins feeding off of him and Jeremy Ryan even going balls out with the gimmick. Matty actually starts smoking on the ring apron while waiting for the hot tag, including a pin breakup with no contact, only blowing a puff of smoke in Vercetti's face. Tons of energy and yeah the work was good but ya know...fuck the workrate, this was FUN. ***
5. AWA Mid-Atlantic TV champion Jesse Ortega defeated Michael McAllister by submission in 2:40 - A very strange bizzaro world type match as Assistant Commish McAllister challenges Jesse, who then starts almost working heel like and beats the crap out of Big McA on the outside. Quick Fujiwara finish. Not bad, just really weird.. *1/4
6. Brass Munkey and American Steel Ninja defeated J-Money and "Dangerous E" Corey Edsel in 11:30 when Ninja pinned Money to win the RCW tag team titles - This would be the continuation of the Edsel-Munkey war although the focus here would be more on the lack of cooperation between Money and a now-heel Edsel. More story than anything although Munkey and Money do break out the dual leapfrog collision for a double down which should probably be used more often if people didn't die while attempting it. **1/2 Post match, the Miracle Violence Connection is finally BORN as Feeche hits the ring and him and Corey murder everyone. If they could only get together on TV on a regular basis, this would be undoubtedly the most bad ass tag team we've ever had. It'll be a fluke if it happens, but man, we can dream...
7. "Madd Trucker" Garry Stevens defeated "Boogie Woogie Man" Rob McBride, "Slick" Ric Converse, and RCW Intercontinental champion Tank Lawson in 14:44 of a "Fatal 4 Way" match to win the RCW Heavyweight title. Order of elimination: Stevens defeated Converse by disqualification in 00:03...McBride pinned Lawson in 10:10...Stevens pinned McBride in 14:44 - Pretty solidly booked 4 way although the McBride-Lawson middle segment went WAY too long for what was trying to be accomplished. Converse gets DQ'd immediately for murdering Garry with the baseball bat and then Richter scales referee Redd. Tank returns for the finial finish which is pretty abysmally executed, ending with him costing Rob. Garry wins the title but postmatch Gee gets some semblance of revenge, getting back the wrestling boots Stutts stole from her earlier and smacking Garry with them to set up Garry vs. Gee for RCW title on 7/21 which was certainly news to me.
Overall thoughts - It should be noted just HOW crucial continuity has become in the general greater MA area as if this show had been run with a completely different booking than what CWF has already put together, then it would have been lost on the crowd and the few fans that were there would have totally turned on it. But by applying the same basic heel/face structure and main angles that are already prevalent all over TV in the area but having the freedom to interject new matchups that may otherwise not see the light of day, RCW put on a fantastic show with it's own identity without sacrificing anything.
Of course during the week I just lie in a coma waiting for the next weekend to roll around which brings us to a Friday night show on 5/20 as CWF returns to AC Fitness in Greensboro..
1. Tank Lawson, Keenan Quinn, and Donnie Dollars defeated "Boogie Woogie Man" Rob McBride and Classic Rock ("Classic" Chris Collins & "Rock N Roll" Matty Dee) in 11:30 when Lawson pinned Matty Dee - More 6-man fun with Classic Rock leading the way and having Boogie as a partner sure doesn't hurt. More fun stuff that just leaves you smiling despite the abortion of a hot tag spot...twice. **
2. "Madd Trucker" Garry Stevens and "Dangerous E" Corey Edsel defeated the CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic tag team champions $outh$ide Playas (J-Money and Will B. Smooth) in 9:04 of a non-title match when Stevens pinned Money - The path to Pffaftown the next night begins here with Garry bringing Corey in for a "warm up" match with the champs. Of course, if I'M Garry, I'd want Shadow for the warmup match and Corey when the titles are actually on the line, but maybe that's just me. Anyways, expectedly good stuff as the Playas continue to come into their own as a team better than I had originally envisioned **3/4
3. AWA Mid-Atlantic TV champion Jesse Ortega defeated Xsiris by submission in 8:57 -
Yes, THIS matchup. A matchup that I had wanted to do something with for quiet some time now because there's just SO much history there just sitting on a silver platter but for one reason or the other, certain circumstances prevented this matchup from ever being a long running angle (Read more in my tell all book coming in 2015!). So it finally happens and certainly delivers despite zero build for it. I think X specifically asked me to rate this one a 1/4* or so since I apparently hate all his work. But seriously, it was X's best singles match in probably a year and Jesse is just REALLY coming into his own in every way possible. ***
4. American Steel Ninja and Brass Munkey defeated the Street Sweepers (Jay Sinn and Gregory Vercetti) in 9:54 when Ninja pinned Vercetti - Good lord was the crowd hot for Munkey and Ninja. Easily pop of the night which is sayin somethin. Your basic straight up match that you would expect here with plenty of quality and a nice visual finish with Ninja crane kicking the briefcase into Vercetti's face. **3/4
5. Rising Generation League champion Kid Justice pinned Alex Adonis in 9:47 - Basically Justice gets killed for 8 minutes and then gets the clean win with the froggy bodypress. Psychologically sound enough for government work. **
6. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion Ric Converse pinned "A Very Handsome Man" Mitch Conner in 9:04 -
Ric FINALLY returns to ring action for the first time since the 3/26 melee and breaks out the new white coat and blue trunks look. Ric looked as sharp as ever and MC hung right there with him. One of those matchups that had a couple of almost hesitant like moments since it was their first ever meeting, but still very solid and I could totally see this particular matchup going in that 15-20 minute range one day. ***
Overall thoughts - Of the 3 AC Fitness shows so far, this one was hands down the best (even though I got too busy to climb the rock wall which makes me very sad). Nothing even remotely close to being bad. No real angles but tons of just good, solid straight up wrestling. I can live with that any day of the week.
Stayed at Zoe's Sat night along with Gee, Corey, Munkey, and others. Holy balls that girl is one of the greatest cooks I've ever had the opportunity to eat...wait...did I word that wrong? But seriously, if there was ANY person that could have a chance at making sweet potatoes edible, it'd be her. Still ain't gonna happen though, just sayin.
And finally, last Saturday 5/21 brings us CWF at the West Central Community Center in Pfafftown just outside of Winston and what a way to end a 4 show stretch...
1. Rising Generation League champion Kid Justice pinned Keenan Quinn in 3:25 - Beautimous opener with no double downs (!) and a brutal corkscrew fisherman from Justice to win. Nice and compact. *3/4
2. Big Daddy Cole pinned Alex Adonis in 8:18 - Battle of the big men with some really solid psychology. This was a TON better than I would have expected. **1/2
3. "A Very Handsome Man" Mitch Conner pinned CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion Ric Converse in 6:36 of a non-title match - Ric wants Garry TONIGHT but Garry's already got a match, so out comes MC to get some retribution from the night before. Of course Garry still gets involved which leads to MC scoring the huge upset. Not a repeat from the previous night by any means which is always nice for those fans that attend both. **
4. "Dangerous E" Corey Edsel pinned Brass Munkey in 12:26 -
One of the greatest matches I've ever taped. Seriously. On a couple of occasions I've heard the comment "you have to have a title to fight for or you have no reason to fight." This match was a great big "Fuck That". After all the build, this would be the first Corey-Munkey singles matchup in which Munkey came to FIGHT (unlike the last Pffaftown match where he was still hesitant to fight his friend). And my god, what a payoff. Munkey reverse the backdrop driver and hitting COREY with one. Munkey lariating Corey so hard they could hear the smack in the locker room and the impact split Corey's chest open. Just the overall intensity was un fucking real. The pace was virtually non-stop for 12 minutes but still mired in so much psychology and history that it didn't take away from it, it only added to it. There were SEVERAL moments that really seemed like the end but both men refused to die until Corey decapitates Munkey with his own lariat (in front of Munkey's family I might add). Awesome, awesome match and a true MOTYC. I could go on and on but you get the point. I immediately headed to the back following the match and everyone that watched the match was either smiling from ear to ear or in tears. There were many, many embraces handed out and I have never seen as many grown men in tears following a match in the back as I witnessed with this one. It was a celebration of what had just occurred and everyone KNEW it. For all the accolades that myself and others have laid upon Corey Edsel over the past few years, someone had just stepped up to his level. Brass Munkey was always thought of as a very, very good wrestler on the rise but any talks of a bonafide singles star potential would always be met with hesitation. On this night in Pffaftown, Munkey brought it. From an emotional and physically standpoint, Brass Munkey rose to the occasion like no one I have ever seen before. The Corey-Munkey feud isn't even over and to THINK that the potential is there for this matchup to become even better as the year goes along is just flat out scary. ****3/4
5. Tank Lawson pinned "Boogie Woogie Man" Rob McBride in 12:21 of a no-disqualification match - You would think after the last match, the show would crumble in it's wake but I'll be damned if everyone following it just didn't keep up the level of quality. I really didn't expect too much here as I've seen Tank and Rob battle about 100 times and never really break that ** plateu. Surprise, surprise as they put on both an entertaining and brutal no DQ match that turns into Tank's best singles match EVER. Tank even pulls off one of the most disturbingly funny spots ever as, without permission, he grabs one of our physically handicapped fans from ringside and rams her and her wheelchair like a battering ram into Rob. A completely unapproved, politically incorrect spot but damn was it funny. Tank goes over with the Al Del Greco field goal kick to the nads. ***
6. AWA Mid-Atlantic TV champion Jesse Ortega pinned Scar Stevens in 9:52 - A rematch from the last Pffaftown show which was the best I've seen from Scar and this one failed into that same category. A rare (for us) Dusty finish (done the proper way) with the crowd pretty much shitting that f'n Scar won the TV title. But GeeStar comes out, and with the assistance of the ringsiders (specifically #1 fan Jimmy), gets the ref to restart it with Jesse getting the quick pin.
Brief postmatch brawl with Jesse/Gee-Scar/Destiny to set up a very unusual tag match for the next show. Fun stuff. **1/2
7. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion Ric Converse and the CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic tag team champions $outh$ide Playas (J-Money and Will B. Smooth) defeated the Shadow and "Madd Trucker" Garry Stevens in 20:09 when Smooth pinned Shadow - Boy was this ever some story telling. For about 5 minutes we have a normal match until Garry hits Money with the dreaded piledrvier outside the ring and all hell breaks loose. Money gets carted to the back and Smooth goes it alone for several minutes while the crowd is just chomping at the bit to see Ric come out. And sure enough, Ric finally does just that as Kiyia Moka drags Ric to the ring (ala Liz-Hogan '87) and Ric WANTS THE TAG. 5 more minutes of hot tag build until Ric finally gets it and goes to town.
Brawls to the back with Garry, leaving Smooth and Shadow 1 on 1 for the tag titles. Referee Shane West then turns heel (like there ain't enough going on) but it backfires and he gets bumped to the outside. Assistant Commish McAllister runs to the ring but rather than making the 3 as Smooth has the pin, checks on West instead. GEMINI then runs to the ring and HE makes the 3-count as the Playas retain. Overbooking 101 but almost all quality with wild, wild stuff that the crowd was going freakin nuts over. ***1/2
Overall thoughts - One hell of a show with only one downer note that I never mentioned before. The crowd. Being a new town, Pffaftown hasn't been officially established as a true hotbed for quality wrestling. Add that to the fact that our advertising was shot in the foot and we end up with a less than stellar turnout. However, the crowd that was there was just fantastic and cheered their heads off with all the boys delivering big time. It was one of those shows that everyone was pretty much like fuck the crowd size, those that are here about to get the ride of their lives.
Post show festivities included a repeated flashing from a certain female attendee which I would have no problem watching repeated viewings of but one specific wrestler was embarrassed repeatedly by actions of said family member. Good stuff.
Ok, let's see if I can finally wrap this sucker up with a few movie reviews...
White Noise- The Michael Keaton thriller is actually a passable first hour until the ending rolls around and it's just a complete letdown with a TON of plot holes and unanswered questions. A complete waste of time. *1/2
Racing Stripes- Man alive, you would THINK with all of the talent they got to use in this movie it would have been at least watchable. Snoop Dogg's character is completely wasted and is obviously only there on the advertisements to give to try and make the movie appear far cooler than it actually is. The only funny scene in the entire thing is Jeff Foxworthy's rooster getting shat on but aside from that, it's just painfully blah including an ending so bad it forced to groan out loud and bury my head in my hands. *
Team America: World Police- When in doubt, leave it to Matt Stone and Trey Parker to save the day. Kinda. I was never a big South Park fan until I saw the movie with Flagler and Gee when it came out. It won me over in a heartbeat and have loved that series ever since. This of course is WAYYYY different but still as disturbed. From what I've seen, most people that like SPark love this as well but I'm not AS big on it as some are. I think "Team America" is VERY well done and the puppets are as expressive in the eyes and movements as anything I've ever seen. So major A+ on the visual look of the film. BUT the story itself just doesn't do much for me. That probably has alot to do with my extreme lack of interest in political issues so a full length film in that vein, no matter how hilarious it may be on that particular subject, just doesn't appeal to me personally as much. Now, if you're big into politics and love South Park, then heck yeah this is all you. My favorite scenes were easily the puppet sex scene which is just completely f'd up and the wonderful soundtrack. For me, I can only go **1/4, but for many, it'll be better than that.
Coming Soon - Here comes June which is lined up to be an absolutely huge month. June brings us BOTH the 10th anniversary of the first Indy show I ever taped as well as the 100th CWF show, so you better believe there's gonna be some special edition blogs on both of those. Also a little "This is Your Life" piece I'm working on off and on as well as MY opinion on this whole ridiculous "War of the Words" with another local promotion. For now though, everybody can be happy that I finally updated. Love to all!
GRANT "STATMARK" SAWYER
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