Russell Crowe Wrestling: RussellMania 3
Date: March 30, 2023
Location: Burbank Moose Lodge, Burbank, California
Commentators: Erik Barnes, Rivers Langley

So this is Wrestling Pro Wrestling, a comedy promotion run by Brian Kendrick. The event was held over Wrestlemania weekend and then released on Youtube, though I have a grand total of no idea what to expect here. With wrestlers named Poptart Boy and Leather Daddy, I’m almost scared to know what I’m getting myself into. Let’s get to it.

Opening video, which features a bunch of stills and has quite the early 80s feeling.

Erik Barnes welcomes us to the show and makes it clear that Russell Crowe will NOT be wrestling and describes this as a wacky wrestling promotion. The Midcard Title (which sounds like the official name) and the Wrestle Turkey Title will be on the line tonight, but first, here is Cereal Man (a superhero with a box of cereal for a mask). He can’t find promoter Gary Tickles, who has left a note: “see you next show suckers, no refunds.”

There is an idea though, so here is Darwin Finch, apparently a scientist, who has invented a cloning machine. His goons have stolen some celebrity DNA, so here are clones of Tom Cruise, Gary Busey and Sean (normally spelled Shaun) White. Cereal Man says these clones suck, but apparently they are clones of celebrity impersonators on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (ah, the common problem). We’ll try one more so here is Chuck Norris….as portrayed by Jimmy Wang Yang. That’s enough for Cereal Man, who throws everyone out. Cereal Man: “You guys want to see a chicken wrestle a bear?”

Chick-A-Dee vs. Evgheni

Dee is a woman in a chicken costume (Commentary: “This pollo is loco!” Should be loca but whatever.) and Evgheni is a Russian bear. The Bear hibernates to start so Chick pokes him, only for the Bear to go back to sleep. Back up and a bear claw shove gets two on Chick but the referee faints after a well places growl. The Bear bites Chick’s face and then….decides to go to the bar, meaning it’s a countout at 4:09.

Rating: C. Yeah we’re going to be in for a weird show here and it should be a lot of fun as a result. I’m not sure I got the joke here but at least they are living up to the kind of show that they want to be. Also, thankfully they kept this short instead of driving the joke into the ground like so many would.

Anthony Andrews vs. Koto Hiro

Andrews is a cowboy and one half of the NWA US Tag Team Champions. Hiro on the other hand is your stereotypical Japanese masked man. They go for the grappling to start with the much smaller Hiro not being able to get very far. Hiro kicking him in the head works better though and a rolling cutter gets two.

Andrews knocks him outside and hammers away on the floor. Back in and Hiro snapmares him down into a jumping knee to the face but Andrews plants him with a Rock Bottom. A middle rope Codebreaker gets two but Hiro is back with a springboard spinning Codebreaker. That sets up a missed frog splash though and Andrews grabs a pumphandle powerslam for the pin at 8:50.

Rating: C+. Actually not too bad here, which mainly focused on a power vs. speed match. Andrews isn’t a hue guy but he’s big enough to outmatch someone like Hiro. Other than that, Hiro kept things moving enough and sold the big power stuff well enough. Not a great match, but it was close enough to being serious to make it work.

Respect is shown post match.

Fourmage Horsemen vs. Stoner Brothers/El Chupacabra/Anton Voorhees

Oh boy. This is WPW vs. Hoodslam, because that’s a good idea. So the Horsemen are Gorgonzole Anderson/Parm Anderson/Ricotta Flair/Tully Blancheddar, while the Stoners are Rick Scott and Scott Rick (not typos), complete with a STONERIZED theme. And yes, the Horsemen all have heads made of cheese. Before the match, Flair makes fun of the other four, including saying the Stoners are more like the Groaner Mothers. Anton and Tully start things off, with Tully going rather basic (“This is an aged cheddar after all.”) but Anton comes back with an enziguri.

Tully gets quadruple teamed in the corner so it’s off to Parm vs. Chupacabra, with the former being knocked into the corner. Rick Scott adds a superkick but Gorgonzole comes in for a wristlock. A series of shots in the corner put Gorgonzole down but he gets over to Flair for the rapid fire chops. Not that they matter as Flair is knocked down and picked up/dropped back by all four for a quadruple pin at 5:05.

Rating: C. Yeah I laughed and that’s the point of something like this. It’s a big choke with cheese puns and I don’t think they were trying to do anything else. Let them get in there, do their jokes and get out before it goes too long. If nothing else, points for being able to come up with a gag for the entire Horsemen, including that aged cheddar line.

A clone of David Copperfield (magician, not Dickens) and here is brings a fan into the ring for a card trick. Before he can complete it though, the Great Branzino, with his Goblins (Dingleberry and Grundell) interrupts. Branzino is about three and a half feet tall and says we’re not here for magic or over the top characters. No one wants to see that fool Luigi Primo! Cue Primo (the guy who can spin a pizza while doing really basic moves), with Branzino saying it’s an amazing coincidence that Primo is here. Since he is here though, the Goblins should get him!

Luigi Primo vs. Goblins/Great Branzino

They fight over wrist control, with Primo using the pizza to mistake. Primo hits them with the pizza, so Branzino tells the Goblins to form the TROLL TRON. As Grundell gets on Dingleberry’s shoulders, Copperfield gives Primo a second pizza, which he combines with the first to scare the Goblins away. Branzino hits Primo low for the DQ at 2:31.

Post match Branzino pulls out some pepperoni pizza flavored Combos but Primo chokeslams him onto them instead….for a pin, despite the bell ringing off the low blow. These pizza and magic themed characters should be better with their continuity.

Kid Isaac/Sam Squatch vs. Devastator 2/Devastatress

Devastator is billed from Hot Topic. Devastatress is a mystery partner, who is better known as Jazzy Yang (Jimmy Wang Yang’s daughter). Squatch is in a rather large Bigfoot costume and seems rather interested in the Combos. Isaac hands his sunglasses to Squatch to start and they are promptly destroyed. Devastator tries a test of strength and gets a tickle from Isaac and it works so well that they do it again. Isaac offers to let Devastator tickle him but gets kicked in the ribs instead.

Back up and Isaac runs the corner, walks the rope, and jumps back down for some more tickling. Squatch comes in to run Devastator over and a double shoulder gives Isaac two. Devastatress gets in a cheap shot from behind as commentary continues to call every move either the Devastator or the Devastat-Her. The chinlock goes on for a bit before Devastatress goes after the knee.

Isaac enziguris his way to freedom and hands it back to Squatch to slow things down. A Rocket Launcher hits Devastator for two but Devastatress isn’t tickleish. Instead Isaac forearms her in the face to little avail, as she drops him fast. A low blow to Squatch sets up a chokeslam, followed by a 3D to finish Isaac at 11:08.

Rating: C-. Once you got past the joke of every move being called the Devastator/Devastate-Her, there wasn’t much to see here. Isaac wasn’t overly funny and a guy in a Bigfoot costume is only going to get you so far. I wasn’t feeling this one, but when your entire show is a bunch of jokes, some things aren’t going to land.

And now we have the “Sexy Chino Hollywood Adjacent Dance Party”. We have Sexy Chino, the Clone of John Travolta, Emo Tep (the emo mummy), Boogaloo Brown, Haystacks (a large stack of hay wearing overalls), and David Boomerang (a giant mouse). They all dance until Boomerang….starts stabbing people. Boomerang is awarded the win “by way of stabbing” and apparently this is a pattern for him.

Tag Team Titles: Darwin Finch/Fidel Bravo vs. Fabio/LJ Cleary

Finch and Bravo (with El Cucho El Sicario) are defending. Finch and Fabio start things off as commentary stops to argue with Cleary over not being able to tell the challengers apart. Fabio hits a dropkick to start so it’s off to Cleary, who gets caught with a springboard armdrag. Bravo comes in and yells at Finch, allowing the challengers to take over and dance a bit.

The double teaming has Bravo in trouble and Fabio snaps off a suplex for two. Finch gets in a slap from the apron though and Bravo scores with a DDT. Everything breaks down and Finch and Bravo take over, with Bravo actually hugging him. Then Sicario hits Finch low, allowing Bravo to hit Finch with a Falcon Arrow so Cleary can get the pin and the titles at 7:12.

Rating: C. This wasn’t so much a joke as much as something with an actual storyline, which worked well enough. What mattered was getting the title change out there to make the show feel important and not doing a bunch of jokes for once. It makes something like this feel like it mattered, though things were hardly serious, as you should kind of expect around here.

Post match Officer Robot Cop (exactly what it sounds like) comes out to say the new champs broke the law so the titles are officially stripped. Finch and Bravo are still champions.

Midcard Title: Battle Royal

King Dezi, Jumping Jim Logan, Tarzan Duran, Man Like DeReiss, Hobo, Mike D., Charles Ray

Yes it’s called the Midcard Title and this is billed as a “several person battle royal”. Tarzan is Tarzan, Dezi is an actual king, DeReiss raps himself to the ring, Mike is rather muscular and Ray (a Ray Charles knockoff, complete with blindness and a yellow suit) is defending. Logan yells at everyone else to start and says he is NOT jumping, despite that being his name. He finally jumps once and a bunch of people knock him silly, allowing Ray to get the pin for the elimination.

Ray sings as everyone else fights to the floor (this is feeling a lot more like an elimination match than the battle royal they advertised) before heading outside to sing about how everyone in the ring is fighting and shooting. Mike bearhugs Hobo before Tarzan comes in to work on Hobo’s arm. Hobo hits a running corner clothesline but gets taken down by a flipping neckbreaker.

The singing is still going on as DeReiss stomps on Dezi in the corner. Hobo and DeReiss trade standing switches as Tarzan listens to Ray singing. After Hobo misses a kick, DeReiss…..sprays him with air freshener for the pin. With that odd choice out of the way (Ray, still singing: “Positive sounds, that’s what I heard, hope it was good.”), Tarzan comes back in and kicks Mike outside. A springboard flip dive takes Mike down and a Code Red gets two back inside.

Mike pops back up with a powerbomb and a helicopter bomb finishes Tarzan. Ray, with his trombone, comes in and hits some people by mistake, allowing Dezi to pin Mike. We’re down to Ray, Dezi and DeReiss and the singing continues, with commentary talking about how long this song has been doing. Ray is now singing about how he has a goat and 58 farms so DeReiss goes after him, only to get sceptered down by Dezi for the pin. Ray thinks the scepter is the microphone and accidentally knocks Dezi out before covering him to retain at 14:45.

Rating: B-. Ray sang that song for over fifteen minutes and while it was just bizarre freestyling by the end, it went on for so long that it was hilarious. This whole thing was a bunch of people getting in a little bit of time while Charles did his thing and it worked far better than it should have. This was one of the better jokes on the show and that is covering a lot of ground.

Sneaky Snakes vs. Leather Daddy/Rubber Baby

The Snakes would be the Sassy Assassin/Sneaky Pete and are in striped shirts and masks, making them look like very stereotypical prisoners/bank robbers. They also have Sacre Blue with them, while Daddy and Baby have very large rubber fast masks. The Snakes jump them from behind to start as Blue seems to be fighting in this as well. Baby gets double teamed to start but Daddy makes the save with a double noggin knocker. Back up and Pete knocks the Baby’s head off, revealing a red mask.

Baby gets to clean house but super fan Courtney Glove comes in to try and calm him down….which earns her a trip to the floor. Assassin hugs Baby but gives him an atomic drop, resulting in a diaper issue (just go with it). Baby chases the villains around with a diaper and rubs it in Blue’s face…which apparently allows Blue to talk without a lisp. Blue: “I CAN FINALLY BE A VOICE ACTOR!” He’s so happy that he falls down and Baby falls down on him for the pin at 5:04.

Rating: D+. So that happened. I’m not sure I get the joke here but the Snakes were at least unique in a good way…I think. This feels like something where I might need to know these people a bit more to care and this wasn’t exactly the most brilliant comedy. Much more of a skit than a match here and not in a good way.

Post match another shot to the face brings the lisp right back.

Eli Everfly vs. Gregory Shmegory Sharpe vs. Mizuki Watase

Sharpe is a high flier (as in a pilot) and Watase is from DDT Pro in Japan. Actually hang on as we have a fourth entrant.

Eli Everfly vs. Gregory Shmegory Sharpe vs. Mizuki Watase vs. Watts

Watts, a rather skinny guy, is described as a powerhouse. Watase and Watts form an early alliance which is broken up in all of three seconds. With the other three on the floor, Watase hits a big dive and strips down to his gear. Back in and Watase hits a basement dropkick on Sharpe, who is right back with a Rock Bottom. Everfly comes back in with a springboard wristdrag but Watts is back in to fall away slam all three of them. A double chokeslam puts Sharpe and Watase down but Everfly gets the sleeper.

That’s enough to bring Watts down to his knees and a triple kick to the head puts him down. Watase takes Everfly down but Sharpe knees him in the face to leave all four down. A chokebomb gets two on Sharpe with Everfly making the save. Everfly hits a heck of a tornado DDT to send Watts outside, where a top rope hurricanrana takes him down instead. Back in and Watase brainbusters Sharpe for two, followed by a scoop piledriver (starts as a slam, ends as a Tombstone) for the pin on Sharpe at 7:54.

Rating: C+. Other than the pilot thing for Sharpe, this was a pretty straight match without anything very unique or even comedy stuff. That being said, it was rather nice to have a different kind of match after doing so much of the same kind of material (even in different forms) all night long. Not a great match or anything, but a nice pallet cleanser, which you need at times.

Wrestling Pro Wrestling Wrestle Turkeys Title: Poptart Boy vs. Dark Sheik

Poptart Boy (he’s a walking Poptart and teams with Cereal Man as the Breakfast Of Champions) is defending (the title is huge and looks to be homemade) while Sheik is a mermaid (so she has to hop to the ring). A lockup puts Poptart Boy against the ropes and Sheik (still hopping, because she has a single fin instead of legs) flips him off.

Poptart Boy shoulders her down and hammers away in the corner. Sheik hammers away (Commentary: “Shot to the frosting.”) and it’s a Fish One Nine before Sheik starts eating his filling (exactly what it sounds like). Poptart Boy is fine enough to hit a chokeslam and a falling splash (frosting side down) retains the title at 4:19.

Rating: C. I’m sitting here trying to think of what to say about this and….yeah what am I supposed to say? It’s a humanoid Poptart fighting a woman whose legs are tied together to make her a mermaid while commentary uses lines from Under The Sea. This was every idea you could think of from the outer reaches of an intoxicated mind and yeah, it was kind of great.

Russel Crowe Pro Rumble

Cinderella Man, Robin Hood, 3:10 To Yuma, Gladiator, Master And Commander, Master And Commander 2, Another Gladiator, Another Gladiator, Black Gladiator, Beautiful Mind, King Ghiraffedorah

Darwin Finch is on commentary and each one is a character from a Russell Crowe movie (plus some repeats because, as commentary put it, they were running out of ideas). The bell rings and hang on as here is Ghiraffedorah (a three headed giraffe, due to reasons of just go with it) to get in the ring. Everyone backs away from him but it’s a bunch of headbutts and chokes (with the arms being other giraffe heads). Then he spits something out and it’s…..the ace of clubs, the card from the fan with the card trick about an hour and a half ago! The fan comes in and gets attacked as well so we’ll throw it out at 2:33.

Finch: “I really hope I won’t be held responsible for this.” Ghiraffedorah attacks some fans to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. I liked it. This show didn’t try to be anything that it wasn’t and completely embraced the insanity. It was one idea likely created by Brian Kendrick and his friends under the influence of various substances and as a result it was rather fun in a lot of ways. This wasn’t about wrestling but rather having a lot of fun with wrestling going on. It’s nothing I would want to see full time or anywhere close to it, but for a one off, there is some great stuff in here. Not all of the jokes work, but or a weird trip inside the mind of wrestling fans, this was a great time.

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Joey Janela’s Spring Break 2
Date: April 6, 2018
Location: Pontchartrain Convention & Civic Center, Kenner, Louisiana
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Denver Colorado, Emil J

I’ve done parts of this series before so I figured I might as well knock off the rest of them. This show features a match that I’ve always wanted to see as it started one of the strangest comeback stories in wrestling history. Other than that, we’re in for a total mess and that is absolutely by design. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is designed after what looks to be a 16 bit video game, with Joey Janela and Glacier going after Marty Jannetty on the streets….where Jannetty lights Dink on fire to clear the stage. The second stage features Janela and Jannetty shooting at a Barber Shop (which can shoot back). With the shop destroyed, Shawn Michaels pops out of a DeLorean and superkicks Jannetty. That was different.

James Ellsworth is in a toy store and talks about working in WWE before coming here in his return to the independent scene. Tonight he’s ready to fight Matt Riddle, who doesn’t think much of Ellsworth.

Nick Gage music video. Is this just a really long pre-show?

David Starr talks about what wrestling has done for him and tonight, he’s ready for Mike Quackenbush. This is a really long pre-show isn’t it?

Quackenbush is in, and says so to Starr’s face.

Video on the Great Sasuke vs. Joey Janela, the show’s main event.

There’s going to be a Clusterf*** Battle Royal.

We start the series of videos from the beginning again as I guess we’ve got some time to kill before the show starts.

After 24 minutes of the videos looping, we’re ready to go, meaning we get to hear the commentators getting ready for the show and going over the match order.

The opening video is modeled after the WWF Attitude Era intro.

We open with a video on Joey Janela, which is basically a recreation of The Wrestler.

Teddy Hart vs. KTB vs. Tony Deppen vs. Eli Everfly vs. Gringo Loco vs. DJZ

One fall to a finish and DJZ would go on to become Joqauin Wilde in WWE. It’s a brawl to start (duh) with Everfly being sent outside. Deppen clears the ring but gets anklescissored down by Loco. Everfly is back in to snap off a headscissors before he and Loco come to a standoff. Hold on though as DJZ is back with his air horn but gets cleared out again. Hart walks on KTB’s back before pulling him into a sunset flip for two.

A torture rack backbreaker sends Deppen outside and a Project Ciampa hits Everfly. With a helping hand from the referee, Hart moonsaults onto a bunch of people on the floor. KTB dives onto everyone (Hart doesn’t go down) and Everfly hits a dive of his own. Back in and a springboard tornado DDT plants KTB and a super hurricanrana gives Everfly two on Loco. KTB comes off the top to dive onto everyone but Hart, who DDTs KTB down.

A Lionsault misses for KTB and Loco hits a springboard cutter to bring him down again. DJZ is back up and sunset bombs Loco into a moonsault onto KTB before hitting them both with a rolling DDT. Everfly hurricanranas Hart to the floor and takes Deppen up top for a…..super flipping Jay Driller (commentary: “He can’t do that!”) and the pin at 11:06.

Rating: B-. I’m not big on scrambles like this one, but there is something to be said about doing this kind of acrobatics and flips all over the place. It was certainly a fun match and the right way to fire up the crowd to start the show. Everfly’s finisher was completely nutty, making it perfect for a show like this one. Very fun stuff here and believe it or not, the fans loved it.

James Ellsworth vs. Matt Riddle

Ellsworth’s intergender title isn’t on the line (and I’m assuming Riddle’s unidentified title isn’t either). Ellsworth chop blocks him from behind before the bell but Riddle snaps off a gutwrench suplex to drop him as well. Fans: “WHERE’S YOUR CHIN?” Riddle hits a running forearm in the corner and the backsplash makes it worse. Riddle’s running knee just misses….because Ellsworth doesn’t have a chin. A superkick gives Ellsworth one but another is countered into the Bromission to give Riddle the win at 3:38.

Rating: C. Well yeah, what were you expecting? This was always going to be total destruction and it shouldn’t have been anything else. Ellsworth was always a joke and that’s how he was treated here, with Riddle, the indy prodigy, running through him. The missed knee was funny and then Riddle finished him off, as he should have done. That’s oddly logical from a show like this but I’ll take it.

Ellsworth flips off the crowd on the way out in a nice touch.

The ring announcer is ready to introduce the next match and….Virgil interrupts? He calls someone out (the audio isn’t exactly clear), gets no one, and leaves.

PCO vs. Walter

PCO isn’t the monster just yet. Before the match, Walter offers a chance to walk out but PCO gives him a crotch chop and we’re ready to go. They circle each other to start and PCO takes him into the corner for some taps to the chest. Walter works on the arm and gets kicked away without much trouble. PCO knocks him outside and loads up the dive, only to get run over with a shoulder.

The chop off ensues until Walter grabs a slam and sits on his chest. Some choking on the ropes keeps PCO down but he chops his way out of trouble. A kick to the head and short DDT put Walter down and it’s time to head outside. PCO loads up the first table but takes too long and gets dropped down onto the apron. Walter blocks a powerbomb off the apron and sends PCO hard into the steps, but the big chop only hits post.

As he’s a bit off, PCO goes up top and moonsaults down onto Walter and the referee for the big triple knockdown. Granted there was almost no length to the dive so it’s a wonder that he hit the two of them as well as he did. Walter is up first and powerbombs PCO through the table before doing it again (sans table) inside.

The second referee comes in for the two count so PCO gets booted in the face. The chops just wake PCO up though and he opens his own shirt so Walter can chop him again. PCO wins a chop off and the fans are actually on their feet as Walter looks scared. A discus forearm puts Walter on the floor for a suicide dive and a running flip dive takes him down again.

Back in and a super hurricanrana gives PCO two but Walter flips him over with a release German suplex. PCO is right back with a Regal Roll into a split legged moonsault for two (and another standing ovation). Back up and PCO hits a top rope Swanton to finally put Walter away at 18:29.

Rating: B+. Oh yeah this was rather awesome as it was all about two big guys beating each other up and hitting each other really hard. Walter was already a big deal but this would be a nice boost to his career. At the same time, it kicked off one of the most improbably career resurgences as PCO would turn this into an incredible second act to his career. It’s easy to see why too, as this was just hard hitting pain for the sake of beating on each other, with those chops making my skin crawl.

Post match they trade another chop each and shake hands before Walter leaves.

GCW World Title: Penta El Zero M vs. Nick Gage

Gage is defending and swears a lot before the bell. We get a CERO MIEDO vs. MDK chant off until Gage knocks him outside. The dive is cut off with a chair to the head and Penta chairs him again for a bonus. Penta’s chop hits the post though (with commentary pointing out that it’s two matches in a row) but is fine enough to grab some doors. Gage hiptosses him through a door in the corner and grabs a Falcon Arrow for two.

The boot scrape is cut off though and Penta Death Valley Drivers him through another door. A piece of the door over the head rocks Gage again and Penta puts some pieces onto Gage onto a table. The backsplash off the barricade doesn’t put Gage through said table in a nasty crash. Back in and Penta bridges a door over some chairs and Pentagon Drivers him through the door for two. Penta sets up another similar structure but gets powerbombed off the ropes through it instead. The chokebreaker retains Gage’s title at 9:27.

Rating: D+. This felt like a match where the idea was “Gage vs. this guy” and they didn’t have any more thought put into it. Gage didn’t do much of anything here and then retained in the end after Penta had done so much. That didn’t make for an interesting or even fun match from the usual freak show standards, so this was kind of a wreck.

Respect is shown post match. Penta leaves and Gage yells at the fans, who don’t seem to like him. Then he high fives a bunch of fans on the way out so he’s quite an odd duck.

Mike Quackenbush vs. David Starr

Starr does his long introduction and commentary (featuring Walter for this match) will not shut up, saying no one cares what Starr has to say. They fight over arm control to start until Starr gets two off a Thesz press. Back up and they shake hands before Mike climbs the rope and armdrags him into a leglock which he rolls over for what appeared to be a Crossface attempt, sending Starr to the rope.

Mike stomps on the foot and sweeps the leg, setting up some double knees to the ribs. The abdominal stretch goes on and even Walter is impressed by the series of twists it took for Mike to get it on. With that broken up, Starr Death Valley Drivers him into the corner twice in a row, followed by a springboard clothesline to the floor. Starr doesn’t want the countout so he throws Mike back in and gets tossed off the top for his efforts.

A Swanton gives Mike two but his hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb for two. Starr kicks him in the head for two, which has Walter wanting Mike to win because Starr is “acting like a d***.” A nice tornado DDT sends Starr outside but the big dive is cut off, with Starr driving him into the apron. Back in and Mike grabs a double arm crank but Starr slips out and blasts him with a clothesline for the pin at 11:37.

Rating: B-. This was the technical match of the night so far, with Starr being just enough of a villain to make it a little uneven. What mattered here was getting in something different on the show and they made it work. These two worked well together and you could hear Walter being impressed on commentary so there had to be something to this one.

Commentary: “Walter is it fair to say that the better man won?” Walter: “No.” Starr grabs the mic and puts Mike over before saying how glad he was for being on this show.

Clusterf*** Battle Royal

This is a Royal Rumble with pinfalls, submissions and over the top eliminations, though the entrance intervals are going to be shaky at best. We see some people in the back trying to check into the match, including MJF in a blonde wig disguise. Jimmy Lloyd is in at #1 and Session Moth Martina (she likes beer) is in at #2. Martina dances a lot and gets kissed for her efforts as Orange Cassidy (still just an indy guy and not a phenomenon yet) is in at #3.

Cassidy takes so long to come in that Wheeler Yuta (looking about 17 years old) comes in at #4 and Curt Stallion comes in at #5 for the grapple off. Yuta rolls him up for two and it’s Facade in at #6 to strike away at Stallion. Facade sends him outside and adds a rope walk moonsault onto everyone outside (as no one has been eliminated yet). Back in and a running kick to the head pins Stallion for our first elimination. Swoggle is in at #7 and snaps off some German suplexes.

With Swoggle cleaning house, Grado is in at #8 and he seems immune to German suplexes. Apparently Grado is quite intoxicated and Kikutaro is in at #9 and crotches himself while trying Old School. As some other wrestlers come back in….the Invisible Man is in at #10. House is cleaned and Kikutaro is tossed before Swoggle taps to a Fujiwara armbar. Joe Gacy is in at #11 and slugs it out with Yuta, including the handspring cutter. Bryan Idol is in at #12 and gets to clean some house before Chris Dickinson, in a mask, smoking a cigarette, and coming out to Real American, knocks out Facade.

Gacy is tossed and Yuta is Razor’s Edged out onto the pile (some are still in, some aren’t) at ringside. Dickinson hits Hulk Hogan’s finishing sequence to get rid of Grado and is left alone (I think). Dan Severn is in at #13 and they go with the grappling (after issues at yesterday’s Bloodsport). Alabama Doink (sure) is in at #14 and gets tossed by Severn, who is eliminated by Dickinson. Rickey Shane Page is in at #15 and beats up Dickinson….as well as the still in Lloyd.

With that not working, Marcus Crane comes in at #16 and gets beaten up by Dickinson. Aeroboy (a masked luchador with another masked man apparently named Crazy Boy….who looks like Excalibur) is in at #17 and starts cleaning house, with a Swanton into a double pin getting rid of Dickinson. Rory Gulak (or Drew, according to the rather drunk commentary team) is in at #18 and doesn’t like the idea of the match (with the sign to prove it). Nate Webb is in at #19 and walks through the crowd as Rory beats people up inside.

Everyone gets out of the ring as the fans sing Webb’s song. After taking over the camera, Webb gets inside and plants Gulak with something like a spinning Big Ending for the elimination. Ethan Page is in at #20 so Gulak kicks him in the head. That earns Webb a trip into the corner and it’s MJF (no wig) in at #21.

The masked men go after Page and MJF, with the villains tossing out the luchadors. With them gone, MJF Codebreakers Page into a rollup for the elimination. Martina (hey she’s still in this) comes back in and puts a condom on her face for a Mandible Claw on Page. She also wraps her legs around MJF’s hand for the female version of Joey Ryan’s penis suplex. Then Page rolls her up for the elimination. Cassidy finally gets in for the lazy strikes (the fans approve) and a double chokeslam pus the villains down.

That lets Cassidy go up….and fall off the top so MJF and Page can pin him at the same time. The Invisible Man beats both of them up until Lloyd gives him a piledriver…..which is illegal in Louisiana so Lloyd is eliminated. Page and MJF double team Webb for a double two count so they beat up referee Bryce Remsburg. That results in a beating from Remsburg, who gets sent outside.

Mikey Whipwreck is in at #22 (oh yeah this is a battle royal) and beats the villains up until MJF elbows him in the face. The Whippersnapper (Stunner) sends Page into a spinning faceplant from Webb for the pin and we’re down to….however many are still in this thing. MJF shoves Mikey off the ropes and hits a splash for the pin. A poke to the eye stuns Webb and MJF throws him out….but the Invisible Man rolls MJF up for the win at 39:38.

Rating: D. This right here? It was dumb. I get the idea of having a bunch of people involved and all that jazz but my goodness did this not hold my interest. I’m sure the live crowd (plus a lot of alcohol) really enjoyed it but it was a bunch of indy stars coming in, doing a little something and then moving on. It’s also one of those battle royals where it is virtually impossible to keep track of who is in there and who isn’t as people will stand outside for such long stretches. These things can be fun, but this didn’t have any big surprises or cool moments, leaving it as something that just kept going.

Joey Janela vs. Great Sasuke

Penelope Ford, in a Mardi Gras mask, is here with Janela. Sasuke comes to the ring with what looks like holy water to bless fans. A quick takedown doesn’t get either of them very far so they go to a grappling sequence with Janela twisting the fingers around. Sasuke nips up though and sits in the middle of the ring, which has Janela worried. Back up and Sasuke…apparently hypnotizes Janela and then spins his hand around, causing Janela to flip himself over.

Sasuke puts him in a chair at ringside and loads up a ladder, only to be whipped into it instead. Back up and Sasuke sends him flying off the top and onto the table for a nasty crash. Sasuke brings it back inside and puts Janela on the ladder for a missed Swanton, leaving Sasuke’s heck caught in said ladder. Janela grabs an inflatable alligator to crush Sasuke before loading up six chairs back to back.

With Janela going up top, Sasuke powerbombs him down onto the chairs in one of those STOP DOING THAT bumps. Sasuke hits him in the head with a door and then whips him through another in the corner. They slug it out on the apron and there’s a Death Valley Driver to plant Sasuke (Janela: “F*** YOU JIM CORNETTE!”). With Sasuke in a chair at ringside, Janela misses a top rope flip dive, only hitting the chair instead.

Janela is laid on a table and a big running flip dive drives him through it, which draws in Ford. A dance distracts Sasuke and Janela grabs a figure four. Sasuke gets to the rope, which rightly has commentary asking “IN THIS MATCH?” Janela misses a moonsault and gets laid over another table at ringside, allowing Sasuke to try and put a trashcan over himself and climb up.

This proves rather difficult (as you might have guessed) so he just throws it at Janela instead, setting up a Swanton onto Janela onto the table for the huge crash. Back in and Janela gets two (as Sasuke is mostly dead) but can’t believe the kickout. A Michinoku Driver onto the side of the ladder gives Janela two more, followed by a top rope double stomp onto a chair onto Sasuke for the pin at 25:16.

Rating: D+. To say this just kept going would be an understatement. It turned into little more than a hardcore brawl and that isn’t the most thrilling thing to see. Sasuke did a bunch of flips, but it didn’t exactly feel like a special match. Chop this in half and have some more wrestling and it’s much better, but it didn’t work for the most part, mainly due to the length and feeling like an indy street fight.

Post match Janela puts Sasuke over huge and thanks the fans, talking about how he can’t believe all this happened. Sasuke gets in a quick thank you of his own and they do a quick karaoke version of It’s My Life by Bon Jovi (sure) to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This is a show where it depends on your viewing location. Watching this live in person would have been a blast, though watching it back at home just doesn’t work so well. The Quackenbush vs. Starr and PCO vs. Walter matches are both good (the latter being very good) but the rest of the show is mostly skippable. These shows would get better, but it took some time to get the formula of “fun indy show” down. For now, it isn’t quite working yet, but it could have been a lot worse. Just kind of a not great show that went on too long.

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The Show Must Go On
Date: February 17, 2018
Location: 800 Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas
Commentator: Rich Bocchini

So this is from WrestleCircus, which for some reason is a circus themed wrestling promotion because….I have no idea why really. It’s now defunct, but I had hear some good things about it during its day and always meant to check out one of their shows. I have no idea what to expect here but it sounds fun enough. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence, featuring some of the fairly big name stars who have been through here before. Granted it feels quite a bit like a lot of independent promotions, but I do appreciate a quick look.

Rich Bocchini runs down the card.

Ring announcer Louden Noxious (I’ve seen him before) welcomes us to the show and introduces the referee, who is not incredibly popular.

Gentlemen Jervis vs. Colin Delaney

Jervis is in a big yellow mask (and is also known as Jervis Cottonbelly, because that’s an awesome name) and you might remember Delaney from ECW On Sci Fi (I looked at the show where he earned a contract earlier this week so this is quite the coincidence). Jervis goes for some grappling to start and Delaney’s frustrations start early. Delaney flips up and stares at him before they trade standing switches.

Back up and Jervis grabs a hiptoss, only to get caught with a springboard armdrag into….some ballroom dancing from Delaney? They load up the lift from Dirty Dancing but Jervis backdrops him instead. They trade slaps to the face until Delaney heads outside and grabs a chair. That’s too far for Jervis, who throws in about six chairs and gets all angry (keep in mind that he’s described as rather friendly and sweet).

Referees break it up and get rid of the chairs but the main referee gets bumped. Delaney grabs a cane and does the Eddie Guerrero “toss it and drop”, only to have it turn into something like a game of hot potato. Then the referee gets back up so they throw it to him and fall down (Bocchini: “The referee is going to have to disqualify himself!”). Delaney elbows Jervis in the back of the head to take over but Jervis is right back with a cradle for the pin at 10:23.

Rating: C. It was pure comedy and nothing more, but that’s all they set it up as being. Jervis snapping was kind of funny and Delaney worked well enough as a relatively generic heel. This was a perfectly fine way to open the show and the fans seemed to like it so they know their audience. Now just learn how to do the lift and they’ll be fine.

Dirty Devils vs. The Boys

The Devils are Andy Dalton/Gregory James (with the Insidious Follower, a masked man) and the Boys are Dalton Castle’s Boys, with the winners getting a Tag Team Title shot. The Devils jump them from behind but the Boys come back with a springboard dropkick. Brandon takes James into the corner so Brent can come in. A top rope clothesline hits Dalton and it’s quickly off to Dalton to try his shot.

The Boys are back with a double leapfrog into a double hiptoss but James comes in off a blind tag to take Brent down from behind. The Follower gets in some choking from the floor like a good Insidious one would, allowing James to get in some hip swiveling faceplants. James comes back in for some running shots in the corner before sending Brent face first into Dalton’s raised boots.

The camel clutch doesn’t last long so it’s James coming back in to kick him in the face. Insidious chokes again but gets caught this time, allowing Brandon to pull some Twin Magic. Brandon faceplants him for two as everything breaks down. James manages a double draping DDT to the apron (that only worked so well) and the Follower adds a top rope dive.

Dalton adds a heck of a flipping suicide dive but the Boys are back up with dives of their own as this went up about three gears in a minute and a half. Back in and Dalton is sent outside but he breaks up the cover off Sliced Bread #2. Dalton comes back in and it’s a stomp into a moonsault to give James the pin at 12:37.

Rating: B-. They took their time to start until the last few minutes when everything went nuts. The Devils aren’t exactly a great team but they’re solid enough as heels for a spot like this. The Boys were their usual energetic selves but there is something missing when Dalton Castle isn’t around. Good enough stuff here though and an upgrade over the opener.

Shane Taylor vs. Space Monkey

Monkey is replacing Trent, who isn’t here due to an injury. Since he’s a Monkey, the fans throw in bananas (because they have those) and he offers Taylor one after the bell. Taylor is annoyed but gets caught with a DDT to send him outside. The dive is pulled out of the air though and Taylor abuses him with a banana. Back in and Taylor blasts him with the chops to take over before a kick to the….well somewhere in the upper body area takes Monkey down again.

A heck of a clothesline gives Taylor two but Monkey manages a quick moonsault for a breather. Taylor isn’t having that though and blasts Monkey with a clothesline, followed by a spinebuster for two. The big right hand misses and Monkey snaps off another tornado DDT. Something like a Swanton sets up a tail whip but Taylor knocks him silly with a right hand for the pin 10:55.

Rating: C. Monkey is about as gimmicky as you can get and otherwise he’s just a mostly run of the mill high flier. Taylor is a better power guy though and those shots knocking Monkey around were great. I’m not sure how much the bananas added but at least they had something different here.

Respect is shown post match.

Scorpio Sky vs. Shane Strickland

Strickland is a former Ringmaster Champion but Sky (with Kevin Condron, and what appears to be their version of the Money In The Bank briefcase) cost him the title, meaning it’s time for revenge. Strickland isn’t interested in a rather disingenuous handshake offer but Sky takes him down anyway. It’s too early for the TKO so Strickland hits a nice dropkick. Some shots to the arm set up the House Call and Sky bails to the floor.

Strickland puts him in a chair but a Condron distraction lets Sky plant him hard on the apron to take over. Back in and a running shoulder in the corner gives Sky two and it’s time to work on the ribs. With that broken up, Strickland kicks him in the head as commentary recaps the history between the two, which does a lot to make this feel like a serious feud.

Strickland’s rolling cutter gets two and some kicks to the face knock Sky again. A dropkick is countered into a gutbuster though (that was clever) and Sky sends him outside for a dive. Condron: “SCORPIO SKY IS THE BEST!” Fans: “BULLS***!” Back in and Strickland kicks him in the arm before snapping it back hard. Strickland grabs a Blue Thunder Bomb into a keylock but Condron pulls the referee.

Condron gets decked with a right hand but the distraction lets Sky hit the TKO for two. They head to the apron where Strickland counters a piledriver into the Death Valley Driver before kicking Condron in the face. That sends Condron into a chair into Sky, where a double Swerve Stomp from the apron crushes both of them. The regular Swerve Stomp finishes Sky at 18:49.

Rating: B. This worked on two levels, as you had a pair of talented stars getting the time to have a rather good match, but the story worked well too. Sky is the one who screwed Strickland over and the annoying manager so Strickland got to take them both out. I had a good time with this one and it is by far the best thing on the show so far.

Intermission.

Commentary runs down the remaining four matches.

Before we get back to the show, Noxious thanks the venue, Twitch (for broadcasting), the internet and the fans. Finally, a recently returned soldier and his significant other get in the ring. The soldier talks about how he just got back and how great it is to be here….and then he proposes. Ok that was awesome.

Leva Bates vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Chelsea Green vs. Christi Jaynes

Elimination rules and this is Purrazzo’s WrestleCircus debut for a Women’s Title shot. Bates comes out to Zack Ryder’s (Green’s boyfriend) music and in his gear for a great troll moment. They go with the four way test of strength to start before pairing off into the corners. Bates does the WOO WOO WOO and Green isn’t sure what to make of her.

Jaynes enziguris Purrazzo to the floor before armdragging Green down. Green is back up with a missile dropkick to send Jaynes to the floor but Purrazzo is back in. Bates faceplants Purrazzo before she and Bates hit stereo Broski Boots. Everything breaks down and we hit the parade of finishers, with Green being knocked to the floor. The other three slug it out until it’s a triple knockdown.

Back up and Purrazzo Fujiwara armbars Jaynes out at 7:04. Purrazzo isn’t done as she rolls some German suplexes on Bates but she avoids a clothesline. Zack Ryder’s old Zack Attack (kind of a Playmaker but with the back of Purrazzo’s head slamming into Bates’ knee) finishes Purrazzo at 8:22. Green comes back in (as Laurel Van Ness, ala her time in Impact Wrestling) and hits an Unprettier for the pin (while seeming to kiss Bates) at 9:00.

Rating: C+. This started off well but then it was like they ran out of time and had to blaze through the eliminations as fast as they could. Green winning is fine enough, even with the alter ego deal, but it was only so interesting with them having to blaze through the last few minutes. If that’s the case, just make it one fall.

The following match is a Death Match and Noxious announces that Space Monkey is outside signing autographs for the kinds in case parents don’t want them seeing this much violence. That is an awesome idea and I would love to see it more often.

Masada vs. Brody King

This is a Death Match with Kevin Condron on commentary and was originally going to include Space Monkey. They fight over arm control to start as Condron talks about being a trainer, which has Bocchini realizing what is wrong with the business today. The fight heads outside and into the crowd, with Masada already busted open.

The fight goes over near the bar and then come back inside with King hitting him with chair. A big boot drops Masada in the corner but he’s back up with a clothesline and chair shot of his own. Masada scores with a powerbomb before whipping out the skewers (just as commentary talked about Masada wanting to be a serious wrestler, which thankfully Bocchini does acknowledge).

A piledriver drives onto the chair drives the skewers further into King’s head, only to have him come back with a heck of a clothesline. King hits a powerbomb for two, followed by a powerbomb onto the chair for two more. Back up and Masada breaks the chair over King’s head before tying up his leg/head (with the chair around said head) for the knockout at 12:48.

Rating: C+. They didn’t go completely insane with the hardcore/deathmatch stuff (save for the skewers) so this could have been worse. Masada is someone I’ve seen before and he doesn’t exactly do much for me, while King would go on to much bigger things in the future. For now though, it was a pretty decent brawl which was pulled down by the excessive violence.

Masada won’t show respect post match.

Matt Cross vs. El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Jordan Len-X

Colin Delaney is in on commentary. Fantasma is better known as Santos Escobar and the winner faces Masada in a #1 contenders match for the Sideshow Title. Len-X is in a Rick And Morty shirt and his theme song sounds like it says “Yummy yummy fruit salad”. Also, while his chyron says “Jordan Len-X, Noxious sounds like he calls him “Cruiser Kong”.

They go with the three way test of strength and Cross monkey flips both of them, though they stick the landing. Instead Cross sends them outside for the suicide dive but can’t get back up immediately. Back in and Hijo hits a running knee on Jordan, only to have Cross come back in with a springboard crossbody. Hijo is back up to take them both down and a jumping superkick hits Cross.

It’s time to throw in some chairs but Fantasma takes WAY too long setting them up, allowing Jordan to come back up and put Fantasma on the chairs. With that broken up as well, the Tower of Doom is broken up and Cross’ super hurricanrana sends Jordan through four set up chairs. Back in and Fantasma gets rolled up for a stomp to the ribs but the Phantom Driver gets the same on Cross. A quick rebound cutter drops Fantasma but Jordan is back in with a Razor’s Edge spun into a knee to the face to finish Cross at 12:26.

Rating: B-. There was good stuff here, but once the chairs were brought in, things started to get a bit repetitive. It felt like they were trying to get in their spots rather than win the match and that is not a road you want to take. The first three fourths were good enough though and it certainly wasn’t boring, but you could almost see the checklist of triple threat spots they were going for here.

Bocchini: “Jordan Len-X, also known as Cruiser Kong!” What is up with that?

Video on Brian Cage (Ringmaster Title, top title) vs. Tessa Blanchard (Sideshow Title, midcard title, in addition to Lady of the Ring (women’s champion), which isn’t on the line here), title vs. title.

Ringmaster Title/Sideshow Title: Brian Cage vs. Tessa Blanchard

Title for title so they’re both defending/challenging. Before the match, Cage sends Scorpio Sky and Kevin Condron, his teammates in the Process, to the back. Cage drops to his knees for a test of strength so Blanchard kicks him away. As Condron joins commentary again, Cage grabs her by the hair and hits a big boot to take over. A headscissors frustrates Cage and a hurricanrana to the floor breaks up a powerbomb.

That’s fine with Cage, who pulls her out of the air and hits an F5 onto the apron. Cage spends too much time posing though and gets kicked to the floor, allowing Blanchard to flip dive off the apron and take him down again. Condron: “Alright, so we’ve got a match.” Blanchard chairs him in the head but Cage is fine enough to throw her into a bunch of chairs. The delayed apron superplex drops Blanchard back inside, setting up the curls into the release fall away slam.

Cage throws her down again and throws in some pushups for a quick exercise demonstration. Blanchard manages a drop toehold into the ropes and a pop up tornado DDT gets two. Back up and Cage unloads on her with shots in the corner, setting up a wheelbarrow neckbreaker for two of his own. Blanchard manages to grab a Canadian Destroyer for another near fall but cage is right back with a pumphandle driver. A super Razor’s Edge is countered into a super hurricanrana and a top rope backsplash gets a VERY close two.

Blanchard can’t get a choke but she can get caught in a gorilla press powerslam. One heck of a toss across the ring drops Blanchard again but she stops a charge with a knee. A not great GTS gives Blanchard two and it’s a Codebreaker into Magnum (middle rope Codebreaker). The top rope Magnum gets two more but another attempt is countered into a powerbomb. The F5 only gets two and now it’s Cage’s turn to be stunned. Blanchard counters the Drill Claw but Cage blasts her with a discus lariat. Now the Drill Claw can make Cage a double champion at 17:47.

Rating: B. Intergender matches are really hard to make work but they kept it moving here and kept Blanchard looking strong throughout. Cage winning in the end with the straight power is the right way to go but it is easy to see why Blanchard was seen as such a prodigy. Heck of a main event here as it felt like a struggle between two top level stars.

Post match Cage (Fans: “NO ONE LIKES YOU!”/”THAT’S NOT TRUE!”) grabs the mic and says the only thing that matters about Blanchard is her chest. Then he compliments a match she had with Britt Baker and that God has a plan for her. They hug and the fans chant for Blanchard as Cage leaves. Blanchard poses with the women’s title before leaving to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. The show was good and the top matches were worth seeing, but the one question I can’t figure out: what does this have to do with the circus? Other than the names of the titles, nothing about this feels like anything but an above average independent promotion. It was a fun show and I’d watch something else from the promotion, but there was nothing here that made it stand out in any meaningful way. Solid show, but this could have been called WrestleBassProShop and the details could have been the same.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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TripleMania XXV
Date: August 26, 2017
Location: Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Commentators: Kevin Gill, Gabe Ramirez

This is of course AAA’s biggest show of the year and heck if I know why someone requested it. Granted it might have been more than a few years ago that someone wanted me to look at it so there is probably something big that stuck out. I have no idea what is going on here but these shows have been hit or miss to say the least. Let’s get to it.

Keep in mind that I don’t follow the promotion so I have no idea what is going on with characters, backstories etc.

A bunch of men, I believe the broadcast team, is introduced.

The ring announcer (one of the four) introduces a bunch of people in costumes. I’m guessing these are sponsor mascots or something? Wrestlers are with them and handing out things to the fans so they’re certainly supposed to be good.

We get some English commentary from Twitch, which confirms that we are still on the preshow here and yes those are sponsor mascots.

La Parka, Faby Apache and Vampiro seem to be judging the first match. Ignore the arena being mostly empty, with almost no noise whatsoever for an almost eerie feeling.

Pre-show: Llave de Gloria: Dragon Solar/Pardux/Solaris/Ashley vs. Hahastary/Bronco Gonzalez/Chicano/Fetiche

This seems to be the finals of some kind of tournament as independent wrestlers are fighting for a contact. It’s a brawl to start with Ashley’s dive being left short on the floor. She’s fine enough to get back in and hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on…someone commentary doesn’t feel the need to identify (which makes me think they don’t know who is who here). Instead they give a basic explanation of rudos vs. technicos as everyone gets in a shot to just about everyone else. Even commentary points out that there is one winner to the whole thing so the team aspect is pretty much worthless.

Ashley dropkicks Chicano (thank goodness for names on the back of gear) down but Chicano elbows her in the face. Solaris comes in for a save with a hurricanrana but gets dropkicked out of the air. Everything breaks down the Chicano team takes Ashley down, including a slingshot powerbomb.

Solar gets in some hurricanranas for a breather and it’s Ashley coming back in to pick up the pace. Solaris and Pardux come in with stereo missile dropkicks and Ashley hits a big dive onto most of her opponents. Fetiche is backdropped onto a pile of people on the floor, followed by a corkscrew dive from Solaris. Back in and Solar rolls up Gonzalez for the pin at 6:40.

Rating: C. This was a VERY weird one as they didn’t bother trying to do anything more than have a big exhibition of spots. Ashley stood out a bit more than anyone else but commentary clearly had NO idea what was going on here or who was who. That makes things all the more confusing, and I spent most of the match trying to figure out their names. Granted there wasn’t anything more here than having a bunch of people trying to get noticed, which only worked well enough.

Pre-Show: Llave de Gloria: Angel Mortal Jr./Tiger Boy/Villano III Jr. vs. Angelikal/The Tigger/El Hijo del Vikingo

Same idea as the first match but three on three and thankfully there are a lot more fans in the building for the entrances. For some reason we start with music in the background as Tigger and Villano get things going (commentary seems a lot more familiar with this batch). They flip around to start and neither can get anything more than a fast one, as you might have expected.

Angelikal comes in to hurricanrana Mortal as the pace stays fast. Angelikal clears the ring by himself before being pulled outside, allowing Vikingo to come in. Vikingo climbs the rope for an anklescissors out of the corner to Tiger. Mortal comes in and launches Vikingo into a hurricanrana to tiger on the floor.

Back in and Villano and company start taking over on Tiger’s arm. A double electric chair missile dropkick hits Angelikal and a springboard Codebreaker into a wheelbarrow suplex gets two. Angelikal is right back up with a hurricanrana, leaving Vikingo and Tigger to hit running flip dives to the floor. Back in and Tigger and company hit a 450/moonsault/shooting star press for the triple pin at 7:33.

Rating: C+. Much like the opener, this was a bunch of people trying to get in as much as they could to showcase themselves. Unlike the opener, this one didn’t have as many people around and it made things that much easier to follow. If nothing else, commentary knowing who they were watching helped just as much. Do this alone instead of both matches and it’s a much better pre-show.

The ring announcer (as translated by Ramirez) welcomes us to the show and pitches the official program. The Spanish broadcast team is introduced (the matching ties are nice) and so is the president of the company.

The National Anthem is played, with a live military band.

The announcer hypes up the crowd about the main event.

The opening video (with the camera just pointed at the screen) looks at TripleManias past, set to Dream On by Aerosmith.

We get some banners of various deceased legends, including company founder Antonio Pena (whose wife, the president, is holding his urn, because that’s not at least a little creepy).

Hernandez/La Hiedra/Mamba/Mini Psycho Clown vs. Big Mami/Dinastia/Estrella Divina/Mascara de Bronce

This is an Atomicos match, which I believe means a man, a woman, an exotico (man dressed as a woman) and a mini. Bronce starts with Clown (not that much shorter) and sends him outside for a good looking step up flip dive. Mami comes in but gets dropped by Hernandez, only to come back with a kiss. Everything breaks down fast and Bronce breaks up Hernandez’s slam attempt on Mami (and he was struggling).

Clown sends Bronce outside for a bit flip dive, followed by a springboard corkscrew dive from Dinastia. Hernandez cuts off Bronce’s dive and powerbombs him onto the pile, followed by Hernandez hitting his own huge dive. Mami dives off the middle rope to crush everyone and it’s time to head back inside. Hernandez and Bronce fight to the back and Clown rolls Dinastia up for two. Dinastia’s standing moonsault gets two, with Mamba making the save. Hiedra gets in a chair shot to Mami though and Mamba steals the pin at 6:56.

Rating: C. This was all over the place and in this case, that’s exactly the point. These things are designed to be pure chaos with everyone going all over the place and it went well enough. The dives were impressive and the fans were into a lot of it, making it a rather fun opener. Just maybe don’t have the villains win to kick off the show?

The ring announcer again polls the fans about the main event.

Reina de Reinas Title: Lady Shani vs. Ayako Hamada vs. Rosemary vs. Sexy Star

Star is defending and this is one fall to a finish. Of note, Rosemary is from Global Force Wrestling, because that was a thing at this point. Rosemary suplexes Star to the floor to start but Shani and Hamada take Rosemary down. Back up and Rosemary slugs away but Star is right back for some shots to everyone. Hamada grabs a chair and takes out Star, only to have Shani kick the chair into Hamada’s face.

Now it’s a trashcan being thrown…well in the vicinity of the ring, as Hamada doesn’t clear the top rope in a bit of an embarrassing miss. Rosemary grabs a full nelson with her legs on Shani and Hamada cranks on one of Shani’s legs for a tap….but that doesn’t count because it’s a double submission so we keep going (I’ve always thought that should be an elimination or something, as it’s hard to fathom tapping to two people not having some kind of consequence.).

Shani is put in a chair and has a trashcan put on top of her but topples over due to unconsciousness. Star comes back in and gets WHACKED with a trashcan lid. She’s fine enough to powerbomb Hamada out of the corner for two, with Rosemary having to make the save. Shani is back up with some kicks to Rosemary, who pulls her into something of a Last Chancery. That’s broken up by Star, who gets Stunnered by Rosemary. Star is able to Iconoclasm Rosemary off the top and grabs a cross armbreaker to retain at 9:57. She takes her sweet time letting go too.

Rating: C-. It was pretty much just a bunch of weapons stuff while commentary praised Sexy Star as being this huge deal. As for the match, there was little to no flow or story to it other than Star making a comeback at the end. Rosemary and Hamada are capable of more and I’ve seen Star be ok. Shani was billed as a hardcore specialist and that was only kind of on display here. It wasn’t horrible, but the ending was out of nowhere and it felt like they were told “go do stuff and then finish it now”.

Oh and one more thing: the armbreaker that Star used on Rosemary wound up being a shoot, legitimately injuring Rosemary and more or less banishing Star to the indies for the rest of her career. Pretty much, no one of note was going to put up with her attacking a wrestler for no valid reason and that was it. The title would be vacated a few weeks later as Star was done with AAA. If a wrestler legitimately attacks someone else in the ring without just cause, I’m not sure what kind of a future they would be expecting to have.

With THAT out of the way, Martha Villalobos, a legend and former champion, comes out to present Star with the belt in a moment I’m sure AAA won’t want to have back immediately.

The ring announcer shills the program.

Vampiro and someone who seems to be a sponsor are here to announce the winners of the Llaves a la Gloria. Third place is Ashley, second is El Hijo del Vikingo and the winner is….Angelikal. As a bonus, Vampiro has the rest of the contestants get inside, where they are told they will be the first group of students at the new AAA school.

Tag Team Titles: Andrew Everett/DJZ vs. Monster Clown/Murder Clown vs. Aerostar/Drago vs. Dark Cuervo/Dark Scoria

Cuervo/Scoria are defending and this is one fall to a finish. The Clowns whip out a belt to start the whipping but Aerostar and Drago take over on DJZ. An assisted tornado DDT gets two on Everett but the champs are back in to double clothesline Drago. Back in and the Clowns get to clean the ring save for Aerostar, who gets whipped with the belt. Aerostar fights back and sends the Clowns outside for the suicide dive.

Cuervo and Scoria hit dives of their own, followed by the rather large Murder Clown hitting his own big flip dive. Back in and Murder Clown gets caught on top with a Tower Of Doom. Aerostar is raised up the lighting grid and then asks to go even higher. We get some near falls but keep cutting up to Aerostar as they keep going up. He finally hits the dive to clear out the pile and three wrestlers run in for a beatdown.

Commentary doesn’t know who they are and they’re ejected just as fast (Apparently they’re El Poder del Norte, a heel stable. Thanks review from someone else, because commentary is rather worthless on this show.). The champs fight back but a third Clown (he has purple hair) comes in to help take them out. Cuervo and Scoria fight back, only to have Marty Martinez (from Lucha Underground) run in and help the Clowns as well. A top rope splash gives Murder the double pin on the champs for the titles at 13:28.

Rating: D+. The huge dive was impressive looking and there were some cool spots, but this was another match where it felt like they weren’t really doing much of anything until the ending when everything went nuts. The Clowns felt like the bigger deal but the whole match felt like a bunch of teams thrown out there for the sake of having a Tag Team Title match. Well that and so Aerostar could do a crazy dive because he seems to be a little nuts.

Post match the Clowns keep up the beating and Marty leaves with the purple haired clown.

We get a speech from the President of the company (the widow of founder Antonio Pena), who talks about wrestlers who have passed away during the TripleMania years.

We get a video on the wrestlers who have passed away. Nothing wrong with something like that.

BUY MERCHANDISE!

Torneo TripleMania XXV

So from what I can tell this is a ten trios (30 people) battle royal with lumberjacks. It also seems that there are teams from different eras to give it a bit of a theme. We’re also doing staggered entrances ala the Royal Rumble (90 second intervals), so it’s Team Ex-AAA (Heavy Metal/Pirata Morgan/Villano IV) in at #1 and Relevos Incredibles (Australian Suicide/Faby Apache/Pimpinela Escarlata) in at #2 to start. It’s a brawl to start as the lumberjacks (with straps) get into it on the floor.

Los OGT’s (Averno/Chessman/Super Fly) are in at #3 and a lot of stomping/near eliminations ensue. Granted I’m not completely sure who is almost out as, again, commentary seems to have no idea who is who, but why let that stop you? Los Vipers (Histeria/Maniaco/Psicosis), who even I’ve heard of, are in at #4 and Psicosis has a huge snake around his neck. The Vipers start cleaning house as I don’t believe anyone has been eliminated yet. Los Guapos (Decnis/Scorpio Jr./Zumbido) are in at #5 as this is rather hard to keep track of, a statement commentary makes as well.

A high crossbody completely misses for I believe Histeria and Los Perros del Mal (Halloween/Joe Lider/Mr. Aguila) are in at #6. We get some rapid fire pinfalls (no names mentioned and no word on if those individuals or their teams are out) and the Mexican Powers (Crazy Boy/Lanzelot/Nina Hamburguesa) are in at #7. They get to clean house for a bit, including the nearly 400lb Nino coming off the top with a missed Swanton, until La Parka y sus Amigos (La Parka/Argenis/Bengala) are in at #8.

As they come to the ring, everyone gets on Nino for the pin, followed by Los Vipers getting to clean some house. Los Leyendas (Blue Demon Jr./El Cobrade/El Intocable, the Legends) are in at #9 and get to clean more house. Team GFW (Moose/Bobby Lashley/Jeff Jarrett) are in at #10 to complete the field….or at least they should be, as it’s just Lashley on his own.

Lashley gets to wreck some people on the grounds of he’s Bobby Lashley, but the clock starts counting down again. Commentary is confused (it’s not that hard) and it gets even worse when no one comes out. Moose comes out on his own and just kind of stands around awkwardly, which isn’t his style.

Jarrett finally comes out and…..yeah there’s no way around it: Jarrett was very out of it (quite possibly drunk) at this show, to the point where he can barely get down the steps to the ring. To his credit, he would take time away from the ring shortly after this (and at least one other incident) and reportedly got clean, so good for him for dealing with his problems. As for tonight though, Jarrett takes FOREVER to get to the ring, as he is throwing tortillas to the crowd, which isn’t going well whatsoever. For some reason Moose and Lashley are fighting each other on the floor as Jarrett gets inside. Jarrett punches a bunch of people and kicks Parka low, leaving him the only one standing.

Parka finally gets up and slugs it out with Jarrett as we actually have something resembling a match for a second. A DDT plants Jarrett for the pin (POP) and we pause for Parka’s music, even though the match isn’t over. Commentary isn’t sure what is going on (shocking) as Jarrett is yelling at fans. The rest of the OGT’s clear house and go for Parka’s mask….until Chessman shoves Super Fly (his partner) off the top and out. So we’re down to Chessman, Averno and Parka, but Averno hits Chessman (again, his partner) low for a pin. Then Parka small packages Averno for the final pin (thank goodness) at 26:41.

Rating: F. I spent the better part of half an hour watching this and I have no idea what was going on. The problem is that commentary didn’t seem to either, to the point where there might have been five names mentioned here, with most of them being Team GFW. I’m sure this was about getting Parka a moment and having a bunch of names in there, but it’s a case where if you aren’t already a fan, this isn’t going to make things better. The fact that the only reason I knew most of the names was the show’s Wikipedia didn’t help, but it isn’t like there was commentary or a graphic to tell me who was involved.

On top of that, it was a terrible battle royal, where the rules weren’t clear, some people (Lashley/Moose) just left, I had no idea who was eliminated (or how to eliminate someone for that matter) and nothing was clear in the slightest. You can do something like this with the Gimmick Battle Royal, but that was about four minutes, not almost twenty seven (longest of the show so far). Absolutely horrible here and one of the worst matches I’ve seen in a very long time for more reasons that I can count (ok I can count them but I don’t want to waste any more time on this mess).

Post match La Parka, Bengala and Argenis get a belt, with Parka getting all of the glory.

El Mesias vs. Pagano

Street fight and they start in the aisle (as commentary didn’t seem to think this match was scheduled next) with Mesias knocking him into the ring. Pagano scores with a spinwheel kick, as commentary is surprised he included a wrestling move. A springboard bulldog drops Mesias again but he’s back with a shot to the face. Back up and Pagano knocks him into the corner, only to get sent outside.

Mesias gets in some chair shots as we get at least the third arena wide shot of the match (about five minutes in). The beating goes around the ring, with Mesias sending him into a trashcan. They go up the aisle with Mesias getting a suplex but having a beer thrown into his face. Back to the ring they go, with some barbed wire being brought in because of course it is. Pagano gets the better of a slugout and runs him over, setting up a Russian legsweep.

Mesias is knocked outside so Pagano hits a running flip dive, followed by a hanging piledriver back inside. And now the barbed wire, which Pagano puts in front of his chest on a missed moonsault. Pagano is back with a Regal Roll into a Lionsault, which has commentary questioning the impact of the barbed wire. Mesias is knocked outside for an apron dropkick as things slow down.

They get back inside with Mesias whipping out a barbed wire bat, which is kicked away. The fans are rather displeased as Mesias hits a faceplant onto the bat. Back up and Pagano gets in a bat shot to Mesias’ knee….which is enough to warrant a referee stoppage at 16:40, because I guess just covering Mesias was out of the question?

Rating: D. This was slow, plodding, didn’t get overly violent until near the ending and then had a dumb finish on top of that. If Mesias is hurt then it’s understandable, but it was his leg. Have Pagano cover him for a fast pin instead of just stopping everything cold in a street fight. Other than that, this just wasn’t good and both guys appeared to be moving in slow motion for a lot of it. If you want this to be some violent match then go there rather than do something this lame.

Post match Rey Escorpion, in street clothes, comes in to deck Pagano and then go after Mesias, who is on a stretcher.

AAA World Title/AAA Latin American Title/AAA Cruiserweight Title: Johnny Mundo vs. El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Texano Jr.

Mundo (John Morrison/etc) is defending, comes out to Born In The USA, and this is a ladder match. Fantasma would go on to become known as Santos Escobar while Texano would go on to continue to be known as Texano Jr. The challengers chop it out to start and Mundo gets knocked down for trying to bring in some weapons. Texano grabs a chair to blast Fantasma and starts ripping at the mask, allowing Mundo to add a top rope elbow.

Mundo dropkicks a ladder into Texano and superkicks Fantasma for a bonus. A pair of tables are set up at ringside but everyone realizes that there are belts to grab and go for the ladder. Texano clears the ring, leaving Fantasma to load a table against the barricade. Mundo dropkicks Texano off the top but gets knocked off a ladder (which was nowhere near high enough anyway as the belts are WAY up there). Fantasma hits his great dive into Texano into (but not through) the leaning table.

Texano is back up and sends Fantasma through the table, followed by a Swanton onto Fantasma onto the broken table. With Fantasma VERY busted open, Mundo goes up but gets pulled down by Texano. Mundo bridges a ladder on the middle rope but takes too long posing, allowing Fantasma to dropkick him down. Fantasma drops Texano onto the bridged ladder, seemingly busting him open too.

The ladder is set in the middle as the belts come down a bit. Mundo’s climb takes too long as well and Texano shoves the ladder over, sending Mundo down and onto (not through) a table at ringside. Fantasma dives over a ladder bridged into a standing one to forearm Texano, only to get knocked into the ladder. More tables are set up in the ring, with Fantasma backdropping Texano onto the bridged ladder for a nasty crash.

Cue Kevin Kross (Karrion Kross, Mundo’s lackey) to make the save but Mascara de Bronce comes out to stop Kross, who was climbing for some reason. Now it’s Hernandez (another Mundo lackey, or stooge as commentary puts it) to get knocked outside as well, leaving Bronce to hit a heck of a springboard moonsault to take him down.

Kross chokeslams Bronce onto the apron but Fantasma takes him down. Mundo ladders Fantasma in the face but all three wind up climbing. Fantasma knocks Texano down for a big crash, leaving Mundo to get in a low blow to drop Fantasma as well. All three belts are pulled down and Mundo retains at 22:49.

Rating: B. It wasn’t a classic or anything but for a triple threat ladder match with a bunch of interference, this could have been a lot worse. Mundo feels like a star and has the gold to prove it while the other two felt like they had him multiple times, only to come up short. Maybe it was everything else being so bad/horrible, but I had a good time with this one as Mundo feels like a much bigger deal here than in WWE.

Post match Mundo brags about his win and calls out…Vampiro. Mundo throws down the title and here is Vampiro to interrupt. Vampiro won’t look at him, as Mundo demands that Vampiro put the belt on him. Mundo yells at him, spits at him and shoves him, which is finally enough for Vampiro to grab a chokeslam. With Mundo on the floor, Vampiro threatens violence before leaving as well.

With everyone else gone, Fantasma and Texano trade chair shots to the head and both are left laying. Well that was cringe inducing.

Video on Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Psycho Clown, both of whom have been training rather hard. They don’t seem to like each other.

Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Psycho Clown

Mask vs. Mask and this is billed as the biggest lucha match of the decade. Hold on though as a woman has to sing the National Anthem before we’re ready to go. We’re ready to go and Clown misses a dropkick, allowing Wagner to clothesline away as commentary isn’t sure how many falls this is (it’s one). Wagner chokes away in the corner before they go outside, with the brawl heading into the crowd.

Back in and Psycho hits a spinwheel kick as the fans aren’t sure who they like here. Wagner ties him up on the mat but Psycho is right next to the ropes. We get the expected mask ripping before Wagner hits him in the head with the chair. Psycho is busted open so Wagner enjoys some of it on his hand. There’s another chair shot to knock Clown even sillier, as commentary wonders what happens if you rip off a mask in a mask vs. mask match.

They head outside with Wagner slowly beating on Psycho, who can barely stagger away. Clown gets knocked up and back down the apron but manages to make a comeback with some clotheslines back inside. Clown knocks him outside and hits the dive but the running flip dive only hits mat (instead of Wagner’s son, who is ringside as well). Back in and Clown rips at Wagner’s mask for a change before whacking him in the face with a chair.

A hanging DDT gets Wagner out of trouble for two. Clown gets a quick rollup for two, with commentary pointing out how slow the referee has been to get into position (Jesse Ventura would not approve). Wagner knocks him outside and hits the big flipping dive, setting up a Samoan drop into the fans.

Back in and a top rope superplex gives Wagner two, followed by Clown’s Samoan drop getting the same. Wagner shrugs off a kick to the face though and hits the Wagner (Michinoku) Driver for two more. Another Wagner Driver gets another near fall and the fans are rather interested. Clown grabs a superplex of his own into a Backstabber and a Code Red gives him the pin at 28:40.

Rating: B+. What mattered here is it felt like a struggle as these two did not want to lose everything. It made the match feel that much more important and I don’t think anything else could have come close to headlining. Clown is someone who has felt like a star every time I’ve seen him, but Wagner has always felt like a legend. The ending felt like a very big deal and that is how you want your main event to go. The action was more than good enough, but the atmosphere made it feel that much bigger.

We get the big ceremony of the unmasking, but first Wagner has to announce his real name (Juan Manuel Gonzalez Barron) and hometown (Torreon). He praises Clown and talks about being a legend, before unmasking and thanking Clown. There are kids crying in the crowd as Wagner huddles with his family. As Wagner and company leave, Clown stops him to say it was an honor and praise Wagner. Clown celebrates and we get a highlight package of the main event to end the show.

There really isn’t a translation to this kind of thing in America, but egads it comes off like the biggest deal in the world in a situation like this. Wagner is a legend and now everything about him has changed because of one match. That’s a pretty major deal and they treated it as such with the post match time.

Overall Rating: D+. The last two matches are very good and they bring the show up about as high as it can go. The problem is that everything before that was an absolute disaster with one of the weakest stretches I’ve ever seen as there wasn’t a good match to be seen in the first two or so hours of the show show. I’m not sure what went wrong, but if this show didn’t have the two main events, this could have been an all time disaster. As it is, it’s WAY too long and not good, but at least it could have been worse (barely).

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1.21 Gigawatts
Date: March 21, 2008
Location: American Legion Post #308, Reseda, California
Attendance: 300
Commentators: Excalibur, Rick Knox, Taro

It’s another PWG show and I think I would have to turn in my nerd card if I didn’t look at a show with this name. As usual, I’m really not sure what to expect here as I’m doing these shows at random, meaning continuity isn’t a factor. The action tends to be quite good though and if that is the case again here, we should be in for a heck of a show. Let’s get to it.

Nemesis vs. Brandon Bonham

Nemesis is a masked guy and appears to be popular while Bonham is making his PWG debut. Bonham goes for him and gets posed at for his early efforts. They fight over arm control to start as they’re going basic early on. A quick rollup gets two on Bonham as commentary talks about new referee Tony Roma (jokes about ribs abound). Nemesis runs him over but gets enziguried for his efforts as commentary manages to get a bit more serious for a change (it won’t last).

Bonham knocks him outside and hits the big flipping dive, earning a NEW GUY chant. Back in and the fans don’t seem too thrilled with Nemesis, though his flipping neckbreaker does earn some polite applause. Some strikes in the corner have Bonham in more trouble but he manages to get out to the apron. A slingshot cutter drops Nemesis and a high angle Swanton gives Bonham the upset pin at 6:23.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t exactly the opener you might have been expecting but points for giving the new guy a win and establishing him a bit. Bonham doesn’t have the most impressive look but he did well enough to make a bit of an impression. Nemesis felt more like a crowd favorite, at least at times, so Bonham’s win does seem to have a bit of status to it. Completely fine opener.

Candice LeRae vs. LuFisto

This is LuFisto’s PWG debut but the fans certainly know who she is. The referee isn’t interested in checking LuFisto’s trunks (she hiked the skirt up to make it easier) so we can get going. LeRae, who looks incredibly young here (at 22), gets shoved down to start but comes back with forearms. Some armdrags and a dropkick have LuFisto staggered a bit as we hear about her wanting to teach LeRae to fight like a woman.

LuFisto isn’t having this basic stuff and kicks LeRae down, setting up a fisherman’s suplex into a headscissors. An armbar at the same time makes it even worse but LuFisto switches it into a camel clutch. Some headbutts and shots to the back have LeRae in more trouble as the beating is on hard here. A small package gives LeRae two and she manages to send LuFisto outside.

With that not working, it’s a butterfly suplex to give LuFisto two back inside. LuFisto misses a charge though and gets rolled up a few times for two each. They strike it out until LeRae slams her down and gets two off a neckbreaker. LuFisto isn’t having that and kicks her down before going up top. The high crossbody connects but LeRae rolls through it for the pin at 8:09.

Rating: C. It wasn’t bad, but this felt like LuFisto having to keep everything going as LeRae wasn’t quite as polished. LuFisto was the much bigger star at this point and it makes sense to have her carrying things. The good thing is they had a completely watchable match, even if the ending felt like quite the slip on a banana peel. You don’t hear too much about women’s wrestling in PWG but this was perfectly good enough to keep it going.

Post match Claudio Castagnoli and Human Tornado (who seem to have a less than positive history with LeRae) come to the back but here is Chris Hero for the save. And an impromptu match!

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Hero

Everyone else leaves and it’s hero chopping away on the floor to start. They get inside with Hero elbowing him in the face until Castagnoli tosses him over the top for a big crash. Castagnoli gets creative by choking with the ring skirt and it’s time to send Hero crashing through the fans.

We hit the camel clutch back inside, with Castagnoli pulling the hair instead of the face (Is that still a clutch?). Some uppercuts and kicks to the face just have Hero looking annoyed so he comes back with a running neckbreaker. Hero forearms him off the apron this time and a suicide armdrag of all things sends Castagnoli down. Back in and a middle rope Blockbuster gives Hero two but Castagnoli is back with a heck of a running uppercut. The Riccola Bomb doesn’t work so Castagnoli grabs his kind of Angle Slam for two more. The giant swing is loaded up but Hero reverses into a cradle for the pin at 9:56.

Rating: B-. These two working well together is a grand total of not surprising whatsoever and they had another good match here. There’s a long history between them and they have chemistry in the ring so this worked well. Castagnoli showing off with the power until Hero caught him with a cradle was a good story and the cradle made it look like Castagnoli got caught rather than defeated.

Post match Human Tornado runs back in for the save, drawing out Candice LeRae. LuFisto runs out to cancel out LeRae but Hero gets up to clear the ring. Hero seems a bit upset that he got physical by throwing LuFisto back inside, as he has a thing about violence against women.

Here is The Dynasty (Scott Lost/Joey Ryan, with Jade Chung), the reigning Tag Team Champions. Ryan has been looking for an opponent is defending. He insists that Chris Bosh (who the fans seem to favor) didn’t care about the fans and that’s why he left. Ryan tried to get in touch with Dino Winwood but couldn’t get hold of him. Then he send a text to Excalibur, who had his own problems: doing commentary with an intoxicated Taro.

With nothing else to do, Ryan sent out a mass email to the PWG roster for an open challenge for the Tag Team Titles. The first person to answer was this man, so here is El Generico. The problem is that Generico’s reply was in Spanish so Ryan doesn’t know who his partner is going to be. After a few points to the entrance, Kevin Steen (Owens) runs in from behind and we’re ready to go.

Tag Team Titles: Kevin Steen/El Generico vs. The Dynasty

The Dynasty is defending and Steen pulls Ryan over the top to start fast. The chops in the corner have Ryan in trouble and Generico sends him into some buckles to make it worse. Ten right hands in the corner set up some armdrags as Ryan can’t get anything going here. The fans seem to appreciate Steen as he chops Ryan down again but a shot to the eye allows the tag off to Lost.

That’s fine with Steen, who chops away as commentary is curious about how Ryan sent off an email last night but Steen managed to get here from Montreal so fast. Lost manages some knees to the ribs to take over but it’s right back to Generico for a backbreaker. As commentary discusses the Dynasty’s ownership stake in the company, Steen hits a flipping legdrop to the back of Lost’s neck.

Lost manages to kick Generico in the ribs though and Ryan comes in to start on the arm. Chung finally remembers she’s here too and adds some choking on the ropes. A wheelbarrow slam/gutbuster combination plants Generico and Lost’s leg lariat takes him down again. Lost grabs a bodyscissors but Steen comes in to blow his nose on him (not break up the hold or anything mind you). Generico backbreakers his way to freedom and Steen comes back in to clean house.

The rope is kicked low into Ryan and the powerslam gets two on Lost. Steen kicks the rope into Ryan again (seems fun) and hits a DDT to plant Lost again. The pop up powerbomb gets two on Lost but Ryan is there to break up the Swanton. Generico hits the big dive onto Ryan though and the Swanton connects for two. Ryan comes back in and blocks the Helluva Kick, setting up his own powerbomb for his own two on Generico.

A backbreaker/top rope elbow combination gets two WITH Steen making the save. (Excalibur: “It might be Bastille Day! IT’S NOT BASTILLE DAY BECAUSE KEVIN STEEN HAS FREED THE PRISONERS!!!”). The parade of suplexes sets up the Helluva Kick to Lost, who counters the brainbuster into a suplex over the top. Cue Super Dragon to Psycho Driver Jade Chung as everything stops for a few moments. Lost takes Chung to the back and it’s a Helluva Kick into Steen’s package piledriver into the brainbuster to finish Ryan for the titles at 16:20.

Rating: B. Steen and Generico being a heck of a team is no surprise whatsoever as they worked well together even back here. Lost and Ryan were one of those teams who feel like they’re from a different era of PWG. While they were good in the early days, they were surpassed by a team like Steen and Generico as the company was evolving. Good match here, even if the defending champs felt a bit overwhelmed at times.

Post match the celebration is on. Steen says it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks or says, because this is PWG and it feels good to be home.

Here is Excalibur, who says Commissioner Dino Winwood is not here because he is celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim. Therefore, the fans here are the worst Jews he has ever seen. As for tonight, Excalibur has full authority tonight and talks about how Necro Butcher isn’t here tonight. Butch is filming a movie with Mickey Rourke called The Wrestler, so we’ll have to make another match. That’s why tonight it’s Human Tornado/LuFisto vs. Chris Hero/Candice LeRae in a street fight.

DDT4 Qualifying Match: Scorpio Sky/Ronin vs. Young Bucks vs. Hook Bomberry/TJ Perkins vs. Los Luchas

Elimination rules and DDT4 is PWG’s big tag team tournament. Los Luchas are Phoenix Star and Zokre, who have been around since the early 2000s. It’s a big brawl to start with the Bucks getting the better of things, including a pop up dropkick to Sky. Zokre springboard crossbodies both Bucks down and the Luchas springboard armdrag Sky and Ronin down. Sky hits a slingshot elbow for two on Bomberry and we settle down, with everyone actually getting on the apron for a change.

The Bucks’ hanging neckbreaker into a slingshot hilo hits Perkins as the Bucks (who actually look young here) take over. Nick hammers away as commentary kind of explains how complicated the tournament setup has been without actually saying how we got here. Perkins gets in a shot to Nick’s knee and it’s off to Bomberry for a clothesline as commentary discusses Bomberry’s sexually transmitted diseases.

Bomberry’s half crab sends Nick over to the rope as commentary points out that the other two teams are just kind of here too. Nick dropkicks his way out of trouble and it’s Matt coming in to pick up the pace. Everything breaks down and Nick mostly misses a dive, followed by Star missing an even bigger dive even worse. Matt, Ronin and Zokre slug it out inside and Ronin powerbombs Zokre for two (with the referee’s hand hitting the mat three times to make it a bit confusing).

An assisted neckbreaker drops Ronin but Nick’s bad knee won’t let him follow up. Sky cutters Matt but Perkins grabs a rollup (with an assist from Bomberry) to pin Sky at 9:48. Perkins neckbreakers Zokre but Sky shoves him off the top. Bomberry hits Perkins by mistake and Los Luchas hit a double powerbomb into stereo springboard Swantons (Maximum Risky) for the pin at 11:27.

So we’re down to the Bucks vs. the Luchas, with the Bucks hitting a slingshot X Factor into a wheelbarrow suplex for two on Zokre. Nick’s frog splash (What knee injury?) gets two on Star, who is right back with a spinebuster. A neckbreaker/spinebuster combination gets two on Nick with Matt having to make the save. Commentary even points out that Nick’s knee is suddenly better as More Bang For Your Buck misses. Matt gets super Angle Slammed onto Star’s knees (dang) to give the Luchas a double pin at 14:00.

Rating: B. It was a fast paced match and as usual, elimination rules made it that much better. Commentary calling out Nick’s lack of a knee injury was a nice touch and they didn’t bother dragging this out too far. Good, action packed match here and Los Luchas continue to be a rather nice team who never got a ton of recognition. As a bonus, apparently this was the finals of a round robin tournament (not mentioned here) to get a spot in another tournament, which Sky and Ronin wound up competing in as well.

Candice LeRae/Chris Hero vs. LuFisto/Human Tornado

Street fight. LuFisto unloads on LeRae in the corner as Excalibur goes on a rant about how bad the production crew is around here. Hero throws Tornado into some chairs as LeRae chops LuFisto against the apron. Taro says that this match is unsanctioned, sending Excalibur into a mini rant about how HE MADE THE MATCH SO OF COURSE IT’S SANCTIONED! Ok point for a funny line.

Some weapons are thrown inside as the women trade forearms on the floor. LuFisto gets in a chair shot but LeRae blasts her in the head with a trashcan lid. Back in and Hero puts on a Boston crab, while also putting the chair over Tornado. The basement dropkick in the corner hits LuFisto as Hero neckbreakers Tornado for two. Tornado is fine enough to hit him with a chair shot to the throat, followed by some shots to the knee. The men head outside, leaving LuFisto to drop LeRae on her head back inside.

Back in and Tornado hits a delayed corner dropkick on LeRae, setting up LuFisto’s running boot. With LeRae down, LuFisto holds Hero in place so Tornado can get in some chair shots to the knee. LuFisto hits Hero with a chair before going back inside to rip at LeRae’s facial area. Hero comes back in and fights back up, only to get dropped by Tornado again. Another comeback is cut off by a forearm to the head and a hanging legdrop as LeRae is knocked off the apron again.

Hero manages a double knockdown but his knee is shot, allowing Tornado to knock him outside again. LeRae is back in with a forearm to knock LuFisto outside but all four get back inside. A rollup to Tornado gets two but he kicks Hero into a chair in the corner to knock him silly. LeRae grabs a reverse Koji Clutch on Tornado until LuFisto breaks it up. The teams pair off again and the referee gets poked in the eye, which doesn’t seem to change anything. Hero sends Tornado into LuFisto and LeRae throws her outside for a dive.

Some chairs are thrown at Tornado, which the fans help Hero pile up (what nice/evil people, depending on your affiliation). Tornado backdrops him onto the pile though and the guys are down again. Back in and LeRae gets in a DDT for two on LuFisto, setting up a camel clutch in the ropes. Hero steals Taro’s water (er, “water” more than likely) and Swantons off the announcers’ area onto Tornado onto some chairs for the big crash. Back in and LuFisto hits a spinning backfist into an Emerald Flosion to plant LeRae again.

Tornado misses a bit spinning kick to LeRae, allowing Hero to BLAST HIM with a forearm for two as LuFisto makes the save. Back up and Hero gets creative with a toss atomic drop to send Tornado into an open chair (that’s a new one/OUCH), setting up the big boot to the face. Tornado catches him on top but Hero knocks him down into the open chair. LeRae pelts another chair at LuFisto’s head for a delayed two, only to have Tornado kick LeRae in the back of the head.

Tornado puts the chair in front of LeRae’s face in the Tree of Woe, allowing LuFisto to hit the Tommy Dreamer dropkick. LuFisto gets a little more violent by biting her head and then Tornado gets evil by punching LeRae in the head. LeRae is busted open (and missing some extensions) but Hero comes back in to piledrive LuFisto. Hero grabs a cravate style Stunner to pin Tornado at 26:59.

Rating: B. This took some time to get going but once it hit its top gear, it was a violent match between four people who felt like they wanted to hurt each other. The violence was strong with this one and if you cut off the first ten minutes or so, it gets that much better. Hero vs. Tornado feels like an almost literal blood feud and you can imagine one heck of a showdown coming for them soon.

Post match Claudio Castagnoli runs in to take Hero out and then duct tapes him to the ropes. The referee gets decked as well and a table is set up in the corner. A belt shot knocks LeRae silly and LuFisto spears her through the table. There’s another belt shot to Hero and Tornado plants LeRae again. Commentary walks off in disgust and LeRae is carried out. Tornado throws her back inside though until Excalibur finally comes in to make the save.

That leaves Tornado to beat up Taro as Excalibur tries to get Hero out. Hero finally gets free and throws a bunch of stuff as referees and medics check on LeRae. Hero puts LeRae over for her effort and says they’ll both be back at the next show, because now this is personal. He swears to get his hands on Tornado and Castagnoli somehow, whether it be at the next show or in the parking lot tonight. LeRae is helped to the back to end the show. This was a red hot angle and I want to see Hero destroy Tornado. Really good stuff here and maybe the best angle I’ve ever seen from PWG.

We get some post show footage, including Hero checking on LeRae in the trainer’s room. He recaps the feud with Tornado, as LeRae is Tornado’s former manager and helped him get the World Title. Tornado kept abusing her though and it broke Hero, who wants to see Tornado get what is coming to him. Yeah Tornado is the champion and walks to the ring like a pimp, but he’s just a little boy. Hero is going to do whatever it takes but he’s getting his hands on Tornado and he’ll never be the same again. Heck of a promo here.

Overall Rating: B+. The ending helped this a lot but otherwise, it wasn’t quite a blow away show. There was enough good to make it work rather well, though the only thing to stand out is the big angle and most of the main event. What matters most though is I want to see more of the story (and some other stuff), so they are doing well. Just get the first hour or so of the show up a bit and it’s that much better. Or do another story that makes me want to see a villain get destroyed in about fourteen different ways. Either works.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Stardom Supreme Fight 2023
Date: February 4, 2023
Location: EDION Arena Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Attendance: 1,832
Commentators: Haruo Murata, Makoto Oe, Mai Sakuai

Let me get this out of the way first: I have no idea what is going on with this show as I do not follow Stardom and since I do not speak Japanese, I am going to be going with whatever I can tell from the show itself. I apologize in advance for any continuity errors or names I get wrong, as the only thing I have to go on is a list of people in each match and whatever pictures I can find to remember who is who.  The only thing I know is that Stardom is about as well received of a women’s promotion as there is in the world today so let’s get to it.

We run down the card.

Naniwa Roulette Match

This seems to be something of a gauntlet match with a roulette wheel announcing the entrants. Mayu Iwatani, who has appeared in Ring Of Honor, is in at #1 and Waka Tsukiyama is in at #2. Waka starts fast with a running Downward Spiral for a fast two before jumping on Mayu’s back for a double arm crank. A missile dropkick gives Waka two more but Mayu grabs a cradle for a near fall of her own. Mayu is right back with a dragon suplex for the pin at 2:05.

Momo Kohgo is in at #3 and talks trash to get the crowd behind her (I think?). Mayu is willing to fight her on the apron and they slug it out until Momo hits a dropkick. A 619 misses and the referee’s motions make me think you can be eliminated by going over the top to the floor. Back in and a springboard missile dropkick gives Momo two but Mayu kicks her down. Something like an arm trap Brock Lock makes Momo tap at 6:41 (total, as all times will be) and it’s Miyu Amasaki in at #4.

Mayu wastes no time in taking her down but Miyu grabs some rollups for two each. A DDT gives Miyu two but Mayu grabs a lifting dragon sleeper (ouch) for the tap at 9:57. Tam Nakano is in at #5 and kicks Mayu in the face to start. Mayu misses her own kick and gets kneed hard in the face to send her through the ropes.

Tam goes up for a dive but someone shouts at her not to (the over the top rule seems to be a reality), allowing Mayu to try to pull her down. Instead Tam pulls her back in with Mayu snapping off a super hurricanrana. They strike it out from the mat and trade nasty bridging German suplexes for two each. Another from the knees slugout ensues as the ring announcer keeps saying something, which sounds like a time left call. The bell rings after a two count and both of them seem to be eliminated via the time limit (of what seems to be five minutes a fall) at 17:02.

Mina Shirakawa is in at #6 and Natsuopoi is in at #7 to start things fresh. They run the ropes to start with Mina taking out the knee, only to get caught with a running dropkick against the ropes. Natsuopoi goes up top but gets punched in the head to bring them both back down.

Something like a running sideways sunset flip gets two on Mina and they slug it out. Mina drops her with a spinning backfist but gets rolled up for a few near falls. Natsuopoi snaps off a release German suplex but gets caught in a Figure Four. The ropes break that up so Mina grabs it again, only to have time expire for another double elimination at 25:36. That means Mariah May is in at #8 and Mai Sakurai is in at #9 as we start over again.

Mai dropkicks her down to start but Mariah hits a middle rope version of her own. That just earns Mariah something close to an STF and a top rope missile dropkick (if that was an intentional back and forth idea with the two of them topping each other, well done), followed by a lifting double underhook DDT for two. Mariah is right back with a short powerbomb though, followed by a Tombstone for the pin at 31:53.

Thekla is in at #10 and starts fast with something like an Octopus hold to send Mariah to the apron. That doesn’t go anywhere so Thekla goes up top, only to have them fight to the apron at the same time. They both crash out to the floor and that indeed is a double elimination at 37:51. We’ll hit the reset button again with Natsuko Tora in at #11 and Momoka Hanozono in at #12.

Tora steals Momoka’s sword and chops the head off of Momoka’s doll to start (well that was mean) so Momoka swings at her. That means a doll to the head, only to have Momoka take her down and…look at her. A low bridge sends Tora to the apron but she pulls Momoka out with her. Momoka can’t get a German suplex off the apron (but she can hang off of Tora’s waist in a unique visual), only to get pulled into a fireman’s carry. That’s broken up with what looked like a mini streamer explosion to knock them both to the floor at 43:49.

That means it’s time for Billy Ken Death to come in at #13 and Yuna Mizrumor to come in at #14 as the roulette wheel only has one name left. Death seems to be some kind of a wildcard and is dressed something like a golden clown to make things even odder. A bunch of posing has Yuna annoyed but she takes Death down for a splash. Death is right back with a rollup for the pin at 49:23, leaving Saki Kashima to complete the field at #15. Death’s small package gets a fast two but Saki blocks a suplex attempt. Saki catches her on top and hits a middle rope backsplash for two of her own. A cradle gives Saki the pin at 54:51.

Rating: B. This one took me by surprise as I wasn’t expecting the opener to go nearly an hour. The match felt like something of a Stardom buffet, as you got a little taste of a bunch of people, but unfortunately only a few (Iwatani in particular) stood out. I do like the match getting time though, as gauntlet matches with thirty second falls get annoying fast (If you can beat someone that fast in a gauntlet match, why can’t you in a regular one?).

That’s where the twist of the time limits makes things more interesting, as they have another reason to go as fast/hard as they can. I liked the rule tweaks here and I saw a lot of people who probably wouldn’t have made the show otherwise, so well done on a fun and unique opener that kept me interested for a long time.

Post match Saki gets a scroll and says something on the mic.

Triangle Derby I: Stars vs. Oedo Tai/Karuka Umesaki

That would be Hazuki/Koguma/Saya Iida vs. Ruaka/Starlight Kid/Umesaki and this seems to be something of a six woman tag tournament. Koguma and Kid start things off with the fans seeming to like the latter better. Everything breaks down fast and Kid heads to the floor, where she hits Koguma with….it looks like a suitcase that Ruaka brought with her.

Ruaka (as shown by a name bar during the match for a NICE addition) comes in to slowly kick at a dazed Koguma. Iida comes in to strike away at Ruaka, who runs her over with a crossbody. Umesaki hits a running dropkick against the apron but Hazuki comes in to take over. Everything breaks down and the Stars hit stereo kicks to the face against the ropes.

Hazuki and Umesaki slug it out until the latter catches her with a suplex. Kid gets sent to the apron by Koguma, who gets sent face first into the buckle for her efforts. A standing moonsault gives Kid two and an assisted double suplex drops Koguma again. Kid’s Lionsault gets two but a crucifix sets off a pinfall reversal sequence with Koguma stacking her up for the pin at 9:06.

Rating: B. This was quite the departure from the first match as they had all six women going all over the place until someone got the pin. It was a different style from the opener and showcased more of the teamwork, which was nice for a change. Another solid match and I could go for seeing more of all six, especially Umesaki.

God’s Eye/Konami vs. Queen’s Quest

That would be Ami Sourei/Syuri/Konami vs. AZM (a champion of some sort)/Lady C/Utami Hayashishita. AZM and Konami start things by going to the mat for a wrestle off. It’s quickly off to Syuri, who snaps off a butterfly suplex for a fast two. Syuri kicks AZM in the back and then sits down so AZM can kick her….which is a ruse to sucker her into a rollup (point for not doing the weird thing).

AZM’s run up the ropes is pulled out of the air though and a trio of running knees in the corner has her in more trouble. Ami unloads on AZM with chops against the ropes until a suplex gets AZM out of trouble. Utami comes in for a running hip attack in the corner and a running shoulder puts Ami down. It’s back to Konami with a missile dropkick and a cross armbreaker, with AZM having to make a save.

Everything breaks down and some armbars over the ropes have Queen’s Quest in more trouble. Utami’s arm is fine enough for a German suplex to Konami before Lady C comes in with a giant swing to Konami. The chokeslam gives Lady C two and Utami’s double stomp off of Lady C’s shoulders gets two more. The cobra clutch is broken up and a Death Valley Driver plants Lady C. Stereo running kicks set up Konami’s cross armbreaker but AZM makes the save. Everything breaks down (again) and Konami rolls Lady C into an armbar for the win at 11:27.

Rating: B. They changed gears again here as this was more about the intensity and pain instead of athleticism. Lady C was treated like a monster and Konami got to take her apart piece by piece for a good story to the ending. It was more good stuff with a lot of talented stars and I could go for more of them. This would especially include Syuri, who I’ve heard a lot about but haven’t seen much of so far.

We recap Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mirai, which seems to be Mirai trying to slay a monster.

Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mirai

Chihiro backs her into the corner to start and grinds away on a headlock. A headscissors stays on the head/neck as Mirai can’t figure out what to do here. Back up and they trade hammerlocks until Mirai reverses into a quickly broken Fujiwara armbar. More grappling gets Mirai backed up against the ropes again and a hard slam puts her back down.

Some shots to the face seem to wake Mirai up but Chihiro runs her over again. A middle rope flipping splash misses for Chihiro though and a basement dropkick to the back of the head staggers her a bit. Mirai adds a missile dropkick for two but gets pulled into an abdominal stretch to mix things up.

With that broken up, Mirai grabs a sleeper and a quick Downward Spiral gets two. Chihiro suplexes her way out of what looked like an armbar, only to get knocked down again. Mirai’s backsplash gets two and they strike it out until Mirai blasts her with a clothesline for another near fall. Chihiro grabs an ankle lock into a German suplex Mirai is mostly done and Chihiro’s hard lariat gets two more. A bridging German suplex finally finishes Mirai at 15:20.

Rating: B-. This was just slightly weaker than the rest of the show and if this is the low mark, we’re in for a rather good one here. They played the story of Mirai trying to chop down the monster and not being able to do it until Chihiro finally put her away. It’s something that has been done forever and it worked here, though I never bought Mirai as a big threat and the main comeback didn’t seem to get close to stopping Chihiro.

Post match Chihiro says something to the still unconscious Mirai. Syuri comes in and we seem to have another match set up.

Intermission (I think).

We recap the Tag Team Titles match, which again seems to be a team coming after some monsters.

Goddesses Of Stardom Titles: Neo Stardom Army vs. Donna del Mundo

This would be the Tag Team Titles and it’s Nanae Tahahashi/Yuu (Neo Stardom Army) defending vs. Himeka/Maika (Donna del Mundo). After the big match intros, Yuu shoulders Maika down to start but gets taken down as well. Maika’s sliding lariat misses though and we have an early standoff. It’s off to the partners but everything breaks down rather fast, with the champions getting caught in the corners.

The Army is sent outside for running knees from the apron….and Himeka is hurt. Nanae throws her back inside anyway and goes after the banged up knee, with Maika’s save not really doing much good. The bigger Yuu starts in on the knee but misses a charge in the corner, allowing Maika to get in a kick to the head. The tag brings in Maika to clean house (the fans approve) but Yuu knocks her down for a backsplash.

A Cannonball crushes Maika in the corner and Nanae drops her again with a suplex. They slap it out until Maika scores with a legsweep, followed by a belly to back suplex. Nanae gets in a shot of her own but a clothesline cuts her off, allowing Himeka to come back in for the house cleaning. A kick to the knee takes her down again but she’s fine enough to hit a sliding lariat for two. Everything breaks down and Nanae grabs the logical Figure Four.

That and a kneebar send Himeka bailing to the ropes so Maika catches Nanae on top. Himeka adds a powerbomb to her partner to make it a Tower Of Doom but the knee gives out, allowing Yuu to hit a Cannonball. Himeka is back up for a double suplex, meaning Yuu has to make a save. Somehow the knee holds up for a powerbomb out of the corner to Nanae but Yuu breaks up a running knee (which didn’t seem to be a good idea). The Army hits back to back splashes for two and Nanae’s sliding lariat gets two on Himeka. A hammerlock air raid crash gives Nanae the pin on Himeka to retain at 18:55.

Rating: B+. This match felt like the biggest on the show and that is how it came off in execution. There were near falls and false finishes until one of the teams got a pin. I got into this one near the end and it was a heck of a showdown. The fact that it is (so far) the best match on a pretty awesome show is quite the feat and they made it work here.

Post match the champs brag and receive a trophy but Oedo Tai (Ruaka and Natsuko Tora in this case) come out, seemingly as the next challengers.

We recap the Wonder of Stardom Title, with champion Saya Kamatani and Momo Watanabe wanting the title and fighting on the way here.

Wonder Of Stardom Title: Saya Kamitani vs. Momo Watanabe

Saya is defending and this seems to be the company’s midcard title. They trade kicks to the head and near falls in the first twelve seconds before Watanabe misses another kick. The fight heads outside with Watanabe hitting her with some kind of paddle and then whipping Saya into the chairs.

Back in and Saya grabs a Boston crab but Watanabe reverses into a rollup for two. Saya slaps on a figure four necklock, which doesn’t last long either as Watanabe knocks her out to the apron. The table is set up at ringside but Saki hurricanranas her off of it for a breather. Saki puts Watanabe onto the table and hits(ish) a top rope double stomp which knocks her off (but doesn’t break) said table.

Back in and Watanabe snaps off a German suplex to leave both of them down for a needed breather. Watanabe fires the kicks to the chest but Saki is back up with the hard forearms. A pair of dragon suplexes give Watanabe two but Saki bulldogs her way out of trouble. Saki hits a sitout fisherman’s buster for two, followed by a 450 to retain the title at 16:41.

Rating: B. It was a good match, but I didn’t quite but Watanabe as a major threat here. It felt like she was supposed to be this evil challenger and while she came close here and there, I didn’t quite buy the title as being in jeopardy. Maybe knowing more of the backstory would help, but this was a step down from some of the other matches on the show.

We recap Suzu Suzuki challenging Giulia for the World Of Stardom Title (seems to be the World Title). It seems that they used to be friends but now they’re fighting over the title, which is a story that will work every time.

World Of Stardom Title: Suzu Suzuki vs. Giulia

Giulia is defending and while I’ve heard a lot of great things about her, I’ve never seen her in the ring. Suzuki (whose video says CRAZY GIRL) has a title of her own but for the sake of clarity, I’ll only refer to Giulia as champion. They fight over wrist control to start until Giulia grabs a headlock to slow things down. Suzuki reverses into a headlock of her own, which is broken just as quickly.

An exchange of rollups gets two each and they’re at another standoff. They roll away from each other again before going with the slow exchange of forearms less than five minutes in. Suzuki gets in the first hard shot to take over though and it’s a running knee to the back to rock Giulia again. A tornado DDT gets her out of trouble though and it’s time to work on Suzuki’s arm. Giulia suplexes her down again but Suzuki takes it to the floor and whips Giulia into the chairs.

They go up the ramp, where Giulia counters a suplex into a DDT, only to get planted right back by Suzuki. Back in and they trade headbutts until Suzuki kicks her in the head. Giulia is able to catch her up top though and a butterfly superplex sends Suzuki crashing. Suzuki flips out of a suplex and grabs a Spanish Fly to leave both of them down.

It’s time to start going after Suzuki’s arm, with Giulia first tying up the legs for easier access. Something close to a Rings of Saturn has Suzuki in more trouble but she’s able to get to the ropes. A piledriver in the vicinity of the apron (to avoid the whole broken neck thing) knocks Giulia silly and a super half nelson slam makes it worse.

Something like a reverse Paige Turner gives Suzuki two and a bridging German suplex gets the same. A top rope bridging German superplex (egads) gets another two on Giulia and they’re both down again. Suzuki grabs some rollups for two each but Giulia plants her with a suplex. The knee to the face gets one before a Snowplow finishes Suzuki to retain the title at 25:07.

Rating: B+. This was another match that felt like a struggle with both women working as hard as they could to beat the other. I’m not sure how personal it felt, but what mattered is the fact that they did so much to each other that it felt like Suzuki finally fell at the end. Heck of a fight here and it felt like a main event, which is one of the hardest things to do these days.

Post match Giulia gets the mic and says something to Suzuki, which the fans seem to appreciate. Suzuki gets the mic and says something also positively received before talking about Stardom. She says something to Giulia, who seems to agree, before falling down and leaving Giulia alone in the ring. Giulia seems to thank the fans and poses for a bit.

Overall Rating: A. I’m not sure what else I could have asked for her as this show was pretty awesome. The best compliment I can give it is that while I watched it in a few different sittings, I wanted to come back and see how the rest of the show would go. It kept me interested in people I don’t know and in stories I don’t understand because the action was that good. There isn’t a must see match on the show, but there is a bunch of very good stuff and for a three and a half hour card, that is pretty awesome. Check this out.

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WCCW TV
Date: February 6, 1988
Location: Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Commentator: Marc Lowrence

It’s more WCCW as it’s the one year listed on the Network that I haven’t covered. As usual I have very little idea of what is going on here but I’d assume that the Von Erichs will be involved. I was three days old when this show aired, meaning it was on a Saturday, thereby ending my trivia about this show. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

We open with a clip from Christmas 1987 as Shaun Simpson faces Eric Embry in a cage for the World Lightweight Title. The bloody Embry rolls through a high crossbody and pulls the trunks to win the title.

Then about a month later, Simpson faced and pinned Embry in a rematch, though the title didn’t appear to be on the line.

Then they fought again and Embry accidentally bumped the referee so there was no count when Simpson got a cover. Another wrestler came in to count the fall, which I can’t imagine counted. Thankfully another referee came in to say not so fast and gave the title back to Embry because the other referee understands how wrestling works. Even commentary was almost calling Simpson ridiculous for that one.

Now we look at John Tatum/Jack Victory vs. the Fantastics from some undated show. Some cheating gave Tatum the pin as we’re told this is from the same Christmas night show from before. Then another referee comes out to reverse the decision and give it to the Fantastics. The villains came back and got cleared out again.

Then about a week later, the Fantastics beat an unnamed team but Victory and Tatum ran in to beat them down.

Tatum and Victory don’t care that their Texas Tag Team Titles are held up because they won them in the first place and are still the Wild West Tag Team Champions. We see a video from the Fantastics promising vengeance, sending Tatum into a rant about how they won the titles fair and square. They’ll win the titles the first chance they get.

Al Perez vs. Matt Borne

It’s our first match, over a third of the way into the show. Wild Bill Irwin joins commentary and Gary Hart is here with Perez as they grapple around to start. The feeling out process continues with Borne not being able to get very far with Perez. A rollup gives Borne two and Hardy isn’t pleased so far. Perez shoves him into the corner for a change but the ans stay behind Borne. The test of strength goes on but neither of them can get very far again. Perez cranks on a hammerlock but Borne seems to go low to escape. That only gets two though and they trade rollups until Perez gets a backslide for the pin at 5:31.

Rating: C. The face/heel stuff was a little strange here as Perez wasn’t quite the crowd favorite but won in the end anyway. I’ve always liked Perez and it’s nice to see him getting a win. Unless Hart was a good guy at this point (which is hard to fathom), this was kind of backwards and commentary isn’t exactly explaining things all that well.

We look back at the end of last week’s show with the Von Erichs beating up Buddy Roberts, the Angel of Death and Iceman Parsons, the latter of whom is handcuffed in the corner (ala Fritz Von Erich on Christmas night, with commentary actually explaining something for once). The villains eventually ran off.

Angel of Death/Buddy Roberts/Iceman Parsons vs. Chris Adams/Kerry Von Erich/Kevin Von Erich

This is a Penalty Box match, meaning if you get caught cheating, you go to the penalty box (a small cage) for one minute. Get caught again and you’re sent in for two minutes. Kerry (he’s popular) and Buddy start things off with the former cranking on a wristlock. The discus punch sends Roberts outside fast and we pause a bit for some planning. Angel comes in and knocks Kerry into the corner so it’s off to Adams for a headlock.

Kevin comes in for the (barefoot) dropkick as commentary says there is no way Roberts can hang with any of these guys on his own. Roberts gets caught with a cheap shot and gets sent to the box and it’s off to Parsons to stomp on Kerry. The discus punch gets Kerry out of trouble but Parsons grabs a sleeper. Roberts comes back in as the fans won’t stop chanting for Kerry.

Another sleeper has Roberts in trouble for a change and Kerry drops a nasty looking middle rope knee. Roberts cheats again so Kevin gets in a shot from the apron, earning himself a trip to the box. Parsons comes in and quickly bails straight to the floor from the threat of the Claw. The Angel tries to go after Kerry without a tag and it’s off to the box for him as well. Parsons knocks Kerry to the floor (Marc: “Right in the asteroid.”) and Kevin goes over to check on him as Angel is out.

Kerry walks around the ring for some reason before catching Parsons’ leg and snapping it across the rope. The Figure Four goes on the bad leg but everything breaks down. Kevin chairs Roberts and Parsons as Angel and Kerry slug it out. Angel is knocked down and walks away as Adams is in the box and Roberts comes in.

We take a break and come back with Kerry gorilla pressing Roberts and Adams getting out of the box (making me think nothing changed in the break). Adams comes in with a top rope ax handle as things have slowed way down. The referee says that’s cheating and sends Adams into the box (with Kevin, who apparently went in off screen). Kerry Claws Roberts but here is the Angel again. Not that it matters as Kerry small packages Roberts for 14:38 (commentary didn’t notice).

Rating: B-. The penalty stuff was a WCCW mainstay but it got a bit confusing at times, as there were penalties that just seemed to pop up with no announcement. Either that or the penalties didn’t do much, as nothing would change while someone was in the box. The action was good and it felt like they were mad at each other though so I’ve seen far worse ideas. Better match than the rest of the show, as the Von Erichs vs. the Freebirds (or bird here) is always worth a look.

Post match Angel uses some handcuffs to lock Adams and Kevin inside…for all of ten seconds before they get out and save Kerry from the beatdown.

Overall Rating: C. I’m not sure what to make of this show as so much of it was spent on those recaps of things that happened weeks ago. I can’t say it was bad as I got where things were going, but do you really want to just air old stuff for the first 20 minutes or so of an hour long show? The main event was good, but this felt like a recap show for a long time and that’s a weird way to go on any given week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

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WCCW TV
Date: April 30, 1983
Location: Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Commentator: Bill Mercer

I might as well look at some more of this place, as I have something from almost every year throughout the 80s save for 1983 so let’s check off a box. WCCW is a promotion with a great reputation from around this time and there is a good chance that they are going to be able to keep that going here. I have no idea what to expect from this show and that can be a lot of fun. Let us know in the comments below.

Opening sequence.

Bill Mercer welcomes us to the show and previews the main event. That main event will feature Texas Champion David Von Erich and Iceman Parsons, who join us to talk about how they’re ready for the Freebirds. They’re ready to go, though Parsons says he’s ready to boogie.

Chris Adams vs. The Mongol

Mongol (who looks like King Kong Bundy after a good diet and growing a strange beard) has Skandor Akbar with him. Mongol knocks him into the corner to start but Adams slugs his way to freedom. Adams gets knocked down to set up a chinlock, which is broken up without much effort.

A slam gives Mongol two but Adams is back up with….an unidentified shot to the stomach area. Adams drops him with a superkick (Mercer: “He must have learned that one from the Orient) and gets two off a rather difficult powerslam. Another superkick (which didn’t get overly close to the jaw) sets up another superkick in the corner but Mongol throws him over the top for the DQ at 3:59.

Rating: C. This was starting to pick up when they went to the DQ, which is likely to set up a rematch. Mongol feels like someone who could be a nice monster for someone to slay later on. I’m not sure if that is going to be Adams, but he looked good enough slugging away here. Nice opener, but it was only going to get so far in around four minutes.

Post match the brawl is on until referees break it up.

Chavo Guerrero (Senior, who looks a bit like Ricky Steamboat) talks about what it’s like on his ranch. He is now an American citizen but grew up in Mexico City. We hear about the Guerrero wrestling family and how glad Chavo is to make it to Dallas. Texas is his home and he knows the talent is here. Chavo throws in some Spanish and then jumps in the ring for his match. This was Chavo’s getting to know you segment, but it was kind of rambling.

We get a preview of the rest of the show in Spanish for a strange way to go.

Jimmy Garvin vs. Chavo Guerrero

I’m assuming this is Chavo’s debut and Garvin has Precious with him. It takes a good while to have Precious get Garvin ready to go, as tends to be Garvin’s custom. Chavo starts fast with some dropkicks and the upset Garvin is on the floor (Garvin: “HOW’S MY HAIR???”). Back in and Chavo takes him down with a headscissors, leaving Precious rather nervous.

Garvin slaps the mat, a good ten years before the tap out became a thing in wrestling. The headscissors is broken up and Garvin cranks on the legs, which is broken up for a standoff. Garvin doesn’t like standing off though and goes outside to yell about how Chavo escaped. Back in and Chavo takes him down into another headscissors before twisting his boots around Garvin’s head (and his HAIR).

Garvin gets up and tries to hammer away, only to have Chavo backflip over him out of the corner. Chavo pulls him into a surfboard as Garvin has no idea what to do here. Garvin gets outside again and comes back in for some right hands from Chavo. The Gory Stretch is loaded up as time expires at around 8:52 (called 10:00).

Rating: C+. Total star making performance here from Chavo, who was showing some insane stuff for the early 80s. Chavo was flipping around and making Garvin look lost as he couldn’t figure Guerrero out and it made for an entertaining match. The more I see of Garvin the more entertaining he is and that was certainly the case again here.

Post match Garvin thinks there is someone messing with him but now he has film on Chavo.

Kimala vs. Tom Renesto/Bill Rathke

Kimala is of course Kamala with Kim Chee, while the other two have Armand Hussein with them. The two of them jump Kimala to start and get chopped the head for their efforts. The double teaming doesn’t work either as Renesto gets chest clawed down and Rathke gets hit in the throat. Kimala sends them into each other, setting up some splashes to finish Rathke at 2:20. He has to pin both though so it’s some splashes to Renesto to finish for good at 2:53. Total destruction in a good way.

Post match Skandor Akbar brags about the power of Kimala.

David Von Erich/Iceman Parsons vs. Freebirds

Michael Hayes/Buddy Roberts for the Freebirds here and Jimmy Garvin/Precious are at ringside. Roberts and Parsons get things going with Roberts taking him down but having the spinning toehold broken up. Parsons monkey flips him down and scores with some dropkicks, meaning it’s time to dance. The fans want Hayes but have to settle for Parsons grabbing a headscissors.

Roberts can’t get up to drag him into the corner as Parsons keeps him in trouble. A rake to the eyes finally allows Hayes to get in for a slam and fist drop. That doesn’t last long as Von Erich comes in to take Hayes into the corner. The Freebirds need a breather on the floor, while Precious films things for some reason. Back in and Hayes gets in a cheap shot on Parsons to take over, leaving Parsons’ arm tied in the rope.

That lasts all of two seconds before it’s back to Hayes for a backbreaker. Parsons gets right back up and brings in Von Erich as everything breaks down. Von Erich is sent outside in a crash, where he teases smacking Sunshine. The distraction lets Garvin hit him with the camera as Parsons is sent outside. Garvin tosses Von Erich back inside where Hayes get the pin at 9:30.

Rating: C+. The action wasn’t exactly great but you could feel the energy here as the Von Erichs and Freebirds were the top stars in the promotion. The crowd HATED the Freebirds and it got worse as the match went on. Garvin as a Freebird associate makes sense, though that might be more him going after Von Erich and the Texas Title. Good main event though and the most energized part of the show by far.

A very quick preview for next week wraps us up.

Overall Rating: C+. World Class is a show that takes a lot of getting used to as they don’t really have much in the way of big stories. You would have feuds, but it was rare to see something specific about why these people are fighting this week. It’s more along the lines of “well, they were fighting last week so they’re still fighting this week.” until a big angle or moment takes place. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s different than what you would see later. The energy was certainly there though and you could see how unique this place was for its era.

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City Championship Wrestling Episode 88
Date: April 7, 2023
Location: L’Anse Creuse High School, Harrison Township, Michigan
Commentators: Paul Jones, Cat Daddy

I haven’t done this in a long time and it’s something I’ve been wanting to do more often. This is a show that popped up in my YouTube recommendations and I know nothing about it. From what I can tell, it’s a small promotion out of Michigan and their weekly show is about half an hour long. In a question I’m sure I won’t regret, how bad can it be? Let’s get to it.

Keep in mind that I’m coming into this completely blind and have no idea bout history or people involved etc.

An unnamed host hypes up an upcoming show featuring Alex Shelley (ok they have some connections) and brings in Shelley’s opponent, a bald man named Gutter. Apparently Gutter has beaten Shelley before and wants to do it again tomorrow, but first he has two challenges to deal with tonight. What sounds like about 20 people (never shown) seem to approve.

Gutter vs. Nick Moss

Moss works on the arm to start as Cat Daddy (the interviewer from earlier) is VERY excited. Gutter takes over and goes for a leglock, sending Moss to the ropes. With that broken up, Gutter calls out Jason DeMilo (the other challenge he has tonight) and puts on some sunglasses to mock him. Cue DeMilo, whose distraction lets Moss get in a right hand. Moss misses a slingshot legdrop though and gets sent into DeMilo, setting up a fisherman’s neckbreaker to give Gutter the pin at 3:07.

Rating: C. Gutter was ok enough, but he feels like one of those homegrown stars where you have to have been around for awhile to get why he is interesting. He was just there for the most part and while he did win, I’m not sure why he wants to fight both Moss and DeMilo. Maybe letting us know that would help quite a bit, as Gutter’s match was only ok.

DeMilo won’t fight so Gutter goes to commentary to say DeMilo can’t hide. Again, no reason why any of this is happening.

Commentary recaps what we saw when someone in sunglasses and holding a referee shirt tries to get in. He says he’s ready to work but some referees get rid of him. Apparently his name is Straud.

Aaron Ashura is ready to face Darion Ultra, the leader of the Darion Nation.

Ultra isn’t impressed and is ready to fight, including fighting the Cat Daddy (who seems interested).

Aaron Ashura vs. Darion Ultra

Ultra stomps away in the corner to start but Ashura grabs a headscissors to send him into the buckle. A backbreaker gives Ultra two but Ashura’s kneebar sends him into the ropes. Ashura’s running knee is countered into a powerbomb for two. The Darion Death Trap (DDT) finishes Ashura at 3:02.

Rating: C. Ultra showed more than either of the people in the first match and does seem to have something going for him. He didn’t have much time to do much but I got the idea behind him more than anyone else on the show so far. Ashura came off as a speedster who was moving around as well as he could before falling in the end.

Ajon vs. Justin Fields

They go with the grappling to start with Ajon getting the better of things to start before they go to a standoff. Fields wrestles him down for two and then does it again, albeit for a waistlock this time. A rollup gives Fields two and it’s time for a breather. Ajon takes him down this time as things are getting a bit more serious. Back up and Ajon manages a belly to back suplex for the pin at 5:56.

Rating: C+. This was rather different than the rest of the show and it worked out fairly well. What mattered here was changing things up, though it was a little strange to have almost all amateur stuff until the ending. It felt like something out of a different promotion and given what I had seen earlier in the show, that’s not a bad idea.

Cat Daddy introduces the next match but gets interrupted by Jason DeMilo. He is tired of getting beaten up, including getting speared by Rhino. Tonight, he is taking down an MMA champion.

Ty Wilmo vs. Jason DeMilo

They go straight to the grappling to start with Wilmo taking over and driving in some elbows to the head. An ankle lock sends DeMilo over to the rope as this is one sided so far. Back up and DeMilo grabs a neckbreaker to take over, setting up a neck twist on the mat. The chinlock with a knee in Wilmo’s back makes it worse and a suplex gets two. Wilmo is right back with a spinebuster and belly to belly but DeMilo gets his foot on the rope. DeMilo pulls out…something, which is taken away by the referee, allowing a low blow to take Wilmo down. The Rings of Saturn finishes Wilmo off at 5:42.

Rating: C. This was a weird match, but it made Wilmo look a lot bigger than DeMilo, who had the big focus to start the show. The match was set up a little bit oddly as DeMilo got beaten up to start but then came back, only to have to cheat to win. Wilmo was definitely better in the ring, though DeMilo’s promo before the match showed he had some personality.

Overall Rating: C. That’s on a sliding scale as some of the action was ok, but this show really wasn’t very good. After having watched a little over half an hour of the show, I have almost no idea of who these people are or why they’re fighting. Gutter is coming up on a match with Alex Shelley but I don’t know anything about him or why he’s facing Shelley. It was acceptable enough wrestling and they did pack in a good amount of stuff into just over thirty minutes, but there is next to nothing about who these people are or why they’re doing these things. Work on that and the show is a good bit better.

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Memphis Wrestling
Date: November 25, 2006
Location: WLMT Studio, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentator: Corey Maclin

So this is another promotion from Memphis which is probably trying to recreate the glory days of the territory. This is likely going to feature a bunch of local guys and maybe some people you have heard of, though I have no idea what to expect coming in. These shows can be a lot of fun or really bad and I’m not sure what to expect here. Let’s get to it.

This is an old VCR recording so yes, the local commercials are included.

Derrick King vs. Matt Foley

King (who I’ve heard of/maybe seen before) has an unidentified title but his manager Reggie B. Fine says Foley isn’t getting any closer to be champion, making me think this is non-title. King hammers away to start as the unnamed commentator’s southern accent is getting old fast. Foley gets two off a suplex but gets sent outside in a heap. Back in and King hammers away before finishing with a superkick at 2:37. Pretty much a squash.

Post match the beatdown stays on but someone runs in for the save with a chair. Apparently King is the Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Fire And Flame/Bobo/Giggles/Wild Bill/??? vs. Picture Perfect/The Posse

Fire And Flame are two large guys in masks, Bobo and Giggles are clowns and Wild Bill/??? are evil cowboys. Picture Perfect seem to be the pretty boy team and one of the members of the Posse made the save after the first match. Bobo and Chris Michael (of Picture Perfect, with partner Chris O’Neal) start things off but it’s off to O’Neal, who has to kick Fire in the head.

One of the Posse (looking to be ICP knockoffs) comes in for a suplex and a backdrop on Giggles. Michael comes back in to crank on the arm before it’s Flame coming in to hammer on Michael. The villains take turns beating on Michael, including Fire punching away in the corner. Michael manages an enziguri to Bobo and everything breaks down, with the referee throwing it out at 4:51.

Rating: C-. I really wish promotions would learn the power of telling us the wrestlers’ names. It also doesn’t help that Maclin has that thick accent that makes it even harder to understand him. This was the idea of getting in as many people as possible and I’m still not sure who all was even involved, so you can only get so much out of it.

Post match the brawl is on until the good guys clear the ring.

Drew Donovan/Hillbilly Jethro

Jethro is the Hillbilly Assassin and shrugs off an early dropkick to hammer away in the corner. A big elbow gives Jethro two and a sidewalk slam is good for the same. Jethro chokes him for two and we hit the chinlock with a knee in Donovan’s back. A whip into the corner drops Donovan and Jethro has to pull up on a charge. Jethro’s manager distracts the referee so a chain shot can finish Donovan at 4:26, despite it being a total squash.

Rating: C-. What exactly can you get out of a match with a big hillbilly monster wrecking people? It was fine enough for some destruction, though the ending was weird as there was no need for the cheating. Jethro wasn’t exactly an interesting monster, but maybe this plays better in a rather southern area.

Post match someone comes in to shove Jethro’s manager down and then runs away from Jethro himself.

Lance Russell, in Florida, introduces us to a classic match from Jerry Lawler (complete with some childhood photos of Lawler), but first we get an old interview with Lawler talking about how he got into the business. Lawler drew some sketches of the matches and sent them in, with Russell showing them on the air when they didn’t have footage of the Mid-South Coliseum matches. That’s actually rather cool and seemed to work well.

The match in question is from March 23, 1981 against Terry Funk, a No DQ match which was one of the first five star matches (as rated by Jim Cornette, who can be seen as a photographer at ringside). Unfortunately we’re joined in the middle of Lawler’s comeback, which is one of the best I’ve ever seen and something I’ll throw on from time to time just for a nice smile. Lawler would ultimately win by countout.

We also get a Lawler highlight package, set to Boulevard Of Broken Dreams by Green Day (I’m guessing that’s not the original song).

Flash Flanagan/Too Cool 2 vs. Jerry Lawler/Dustin Starr/Kevin White

Too Cool 2 are Flex/Tim Grind, while Flash was a fairly big deal in OVW. White and Starr are the new Tag Team Champions. Flex and White start things off with Flex complaining about a rollup for two. Starr comes in but gets poked in the eye, meaning it’s off to Grind instead. Starr works on the arm and hands it off to Lawler for more of the same. Lawler gets taken into the wrong corner but comes out swinging because he isn’t about to get beaten up by Too Cool 2.

Flash comes in and snaps off some right hands in the corner, which just wake Lawler up enough to punch him down. It’s back to White vs. Grind, with White getting taken into the wrong corner. White (who has stars on his gear, as opposed to his partner named STARR) gets a boot up to stop a charge and hits a running clothesline for a breather and the hot tag brings in Lawler as everything breaks down. Somewhere in there Grind hits White with a foreign object but there’s no referee, allowing Lawler to roll Flanagan up for the pin at 6:27.

Rating: C. Perfectly fine match here, which was little more than a way to get Lawler on the show. Lawler is still the biggest thing ever around here so putting him in the main event, especially for an out of nowhere pin, is a good move. Flash showed his usual talent but the other four might as well have been anyone else. Nothing to see here otherwise, but as usual, Lawler was the only thing that mattered.

Post match the brawl stays on with the villains getting the better of things.

Maclin recaps the show and wraps things up.

Overall Rating: C-. I’m not exactly surprised that this didn’t work, as there was only so much notable talent involved. I could see how this show could get better if I watched it week after week, but it really doesn’t hold up that well as a one off. The Memphis style takes some getting used to, but it doesn’t work so well with such a basic roster that is mainly built around how they can fit Lawler in.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

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