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Tonight Is The Day
Jersey Championship Wrestling returned to the Paramus Elks Lodge this past Sunday, July 20th, which was the end to an apparently wild weekend of wrestling that was thankfully missed for the most part on this end. When the choices before Sunday afternoon were, among others, Danny Demanto, wannabe smarts and wannabe smart bookers showing their total lack of “honor” by booing a worker out of a building just because of where he worked, or JetSkiing in the Atlantic, it’s really not too tough of a choice.
The day actually started in Long Beach Island, where it was proven that there is nothing better than teaching a two year old how to dunk a basketball in a pool. After dealing with the usual beach and bennie traffic coming North on the Garden State Parkway (a foreshadowing of things to come for the JCW show), the day tonight didn’t even begin at the normal spot. Note to Brett... Next time? Mass Transit!
The usual pre-Paramus spot of Hooters was eventually visited, and the usual bland food was quickly consumed. Paul got there late and still managed to nitpick over the menu, which is like going to a strip club and carping on the lighting. At least Tiffany the waitress was honest about the potato salad for poor Paul- and gave Brett a bonus unintended lap dance while cleaning up the table. But Hooters managed to live down to its prior results by finding a way to not have Sprite as a beverage this go around, and for not even having ice in its drinks on an 86 degree day. The meal officially lost its appeal when it came time for the bill, which meant it was time for sheltered mopers to quibble over their six dollar fucking sandwich. Paul got a free meal, some space on his credit card, and Brett actually got a decent ride back to the Elks Lodge.
The show wasn’t actually scheduled to start until 5:00 pm, mostly due to USA Pro deciding to have their “Fan”Fest all afternoon in Long Island and scooping up most of the workers on the JCW show. In a SHOCKING SWERVE, the class act Frank Goodman decided to put most of the workers scheduled to work the JCW on in a later slot, guaranteeing that they would miss their second booking. Several workers did manage to get to the JCW show early, even if it did look like there were only four people there for a while, aka “you three and my cousin.” The aftermath showed that double booking, for the most part, does NOT work.
Because of the booking conflicts, and subsequent reported injuries, the JCW card had to be revised, and to their credit they did manage to do a halfway decent job of pulling it off, even if some of the booking left people scratching their heads. The first casualty was seen in the opening match, as Dave Greco came out without Dixie, who was out nursing a concussion. No tag title match for Greco, who instead took on the soon to be departing Chris Idol. Greco at least made an effort to explain the change, as he asserted that he was trying to hone his singles skills to prepare for the J Cup. No claw, no Dixie, and no damn When Worlds Collide tape, but Greco did hit his Death Valley Driver with a Twist finisher, which is a really hot little move, and scored the pinfall. Greco apparently popped his knee at some point during the match, so his spot in the J Cup may be questionable.
Rob Eckos then came out with Mike Winner for an unscheduled pose down. According to Eckos, he is 1-0 in posedowns, so it was time for his First Annual Posedown contest. As birthday boy Frank so astutely pointed out, wouldn’t that automatically make it the Second Annual Posedown? The next foreign object Winner decides to pass to Eckos should be a calculator. Eckos tossed out an open challenge, so of course the first contestant looked like his last meal was eaten over the Independence Day holiday. Scrawny would be a compliment. The second participant was Lamar Braxton Porter, who had enough of a build to panic Winner into ushering him out of the ring with a promise to pay him (off) later. Noel finally came out to show off her deltoid development, thankfully none of her rave skills, and clear the ring of Eckos and Winner. As a time filler, not a bad choice, as it actually builds Eckos and his character.
The TV title was on the line next, as Jay Lethal defended against Colt Cabana. Colt Cabana is probably one of the funniest in ring workers in the business, doing little skits here and there and cracking everyone up. Thankfully he backs it up with solid ring work…but his failed kip up, first seen on the East Coast from Jacey North at the Haas Memorial in Jersey All Pro, was taken to a new level, as he asked Lethal for an assist. And what does Lethal do? GOES TO ASSIST HIM- which makes him a babyface on the level of Sting, who got burned by Ric Flair at least a dozen times but kept trusting him again and again. Lethal got two boots to the face for his trouble, and Cabana got the crowd of 50 or so popping. Even if Colt Cabana said the 10 Questions were “biased and [he] didn’t like them,” he’s a fresh and entertaining worker. Lethal got the win in what seemed to be a long match.
The main event was next (!) thanks to the double bookings, so Showtime Shawn Sheridan came out without any of his entourage to take on Ace Darling for the JCW championship. Sheridan also came out without most of his hair, and looks like a 12 year old, but gave a credible explanation for the lack of entourage. Rather than saying, “they’re stuck in traffic,” Sheridan went the serious route, saying it was time for him to take thing seriously and to take his shot in JCW and at the title seriously. This mic work might not have worked if everyone was there at ringside, so it was a good example of taking something good out of something bad. Unfortunately, the new serious gimmick took away a LOT of Sheridan’s character, which is half the reason to see his matches. Sheridan might be good at figuring out Nokia cellphones but he’d even be the first to admit he’s not a credible heavyweight threat.
Ace Darling and his manager John Shane then came out, following Sheridan’s lead and creating the storyline of how Sheridan doesn’t deserve the title shot. Shane got things rolling by pushing Sheridan around until Sheridan popped him one, and off they went. Ace Darling did a terrific job bumping himself and Sheridan all over the ring and ringside. Darling and his tights from Great Adventure’s Safari World built a nice little match, and Sheridan showed that he didn’t lose his skills with the haircut like Samson and most every other wrestler who gets their long hair cut (think about it) by capably getting Darling up for the Straightjacket and the rolling neckbreakers. Darling did manage to win the match with a rollup, earning Sheridan’s “respect” with a handshake which made little sense considering they’re both heels and therefore shouldn’t give a shit about having someone’s respect, but it was a fine match. On a side note- GROW THE HAIR OUT. If you look like you should be carded before you enter the ring, then long hair might be a good idea. Hopefully things will be back to “normal” on the next JCW card for Sheridan and his entourage.
Intermission was next, as some of the workers on the USAPro show finally got to Paramus.
Lamar Braxton Porter got rewarded for his posedown performance by taking on Killer Kaos in the next match. Thankfully the other stringbean just sat in the back. Porter scared several fans by grabbing their hands for high fives, in most cases off of their laps to do so. Kaos yelled at a few people, and the match was a short and fairly brutal excursion, as Porter hit two running powerbombs, nearly killing the Killer on the first by dropping his head into a 75 degree angle on the mat. Ouch.
Rob Eckos made his second and final appearance to take on Damian Dragon, still without Foxxy Dreams, the only person outside of toddlers who can look good in a Gilligan hat. Dragon knocked Eckos and Winner all over the place, but still lost the match. Why? Maybe if he was going to build on his rage over losing Foxxy and costing himself the match, but Eckos cheated and won with a rollup. So maybe after the match he gets to pound on Eckos? Nope- just a chase around with a chair and Ref Garry, who previously stuck up for the Clothesline over the complaints of Ace Darling in his title match. Not great booking of Dragon here- and with Sheridan’s new character, where does that leave that months in the making storyline?
Los Boricuas (it’s with a C, bank on it- the word’s all over half the buildings in Jersey City), now without Team Ethic as opponents, took on Bobby Vee and Erik Cooper, but John Shane interrupted along with the Disciples of Darling, J Static and K Brawlick, who “paid off” Vee and Cooper to leave the ring, only to attack them from behind, and after prodding from the audience, getting the envelope filled with five dollars back that was to be their payoff. The Disciples actually got the pinfall on the wrong guy, but this was reversed, not because the guy being pinned wasn’t the legal man, which would have been the logical and natural reason, but because the Disciples didn’t “sign the contract” to face Los Boricuas. Who in the audience is buying into these guys signing contracts these days? Fred the Elephant Boy earned his hefty payday by MacDougaling all over the microphone his official decision, which got him shoved as hard as possible out of the ring by Ace Darling, who had come out to congratulate his Disciples. One of the Boricuas got something rubbed into his eyes, while poor Tony was handcuffed to the ropes and forced to do his Smackdown poses lying down.
Johnny Ova, now without any opponents thanks to the double bookings and traffic, took on the Black Superstar and retained his lightweight JCW title. The Black Superstar WAS JAY LETHAL, which was practically screamed out by half of Lethal’s family in their not so subtle fashion of questioning his identity when he came out in the mask and T-shirt. So much for kayfabe. Ova looked good here, and poor Lethal at some point must have gotten a foot to the face, swelling up half his right side.
In the final match of the day turned into tonight, Striker faced Slyk Wagner Brown (w/April Hunter) and Dirty Money (w/Devin Sturgis) in a three way elimination match. Dirty Money was the first out, and fast too, as Striker planted Slyk with a street sign, tossed it to Money, threw himself down, and got Money disqualified. The “toss the object to the guy so he gets tossed” move is quickly becoming five minutes ago, but it worked here, mostly due to Striker’s hamming it up in the ring as Money got escorted out. This came back to haunt Striker, as Slyk got the duke with his feet on the ropes. Poor Bob C. must have the twins on the mind, as he had Striker getting the pinfall, but Slyk Wagner Brown got used right here, gave a quick (maybe too quick) match, and was built strong for his run at the J Cup.
JCW made the most out of their situation, which proved that handshakes don’t mean a thing in the wrestling business, people will continue to show they have no clue how to run a business in any fashion, as the USA Pro double bookings may have satisfied 200 people in Long Island but assuredly will keep 50 or so away from USA Pro in the future after seeing how much fans at other shows and potential future customers are treated, since it’s clear Frank Goodman couldn’t give a shit if anyone else sees the guys he overpays to get to his show first- and books 11th or 12th on an already overlong card.
Double bookings were all the “rage” back in 1998 or so, as workers would do the double shots in one state and crank up to their next show, but that was 1998, and most of the time the workers weren’t competing with bennies on the road to get from one place to another. It’s time to start respecting worker’s times and decisions in terms of where they’re working, it’s time for promoters to respect other cards and their times and decisions, and realize that all this asinine decision making is killing the business, and it’s time for workers to make a decision on where they’re working- and stick to it.
Believe it or not, and you would if you were still watching wrestling on Monday and Thursday nights (judging by the ratings, most of you aren’t), the WWE won’t be around forever, and once it’s gone that will leave things wide open for indy wrestling. Burning professional bridges, foolishly trusting other promoters, and deliberately trying to sabotage other shows isn’t the way to run things.
Maybe people want to find that out the hard way.
Complaints, comments, questions?? Email Jim
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The comments and statements
do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Brett Schwan and the Wrestling
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feel free to email HIM with any comments, complaints, etc.
Jim has been watching wrestling for over 20 years and has followed and reported on indy wrestling for over 6 years. He's also a fan of the New York Giants, New York Yankees, St. John's Red Storm basketball, Alabama Crimson Tide football, and the New Jersey Devils, but please don't hold that against him.
Contact Jim at BilJim2@hotmail.com
