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The Third One's the Charm
With two other reviews of the JAPW and ECWA shows on this site already, what else is there to say about two fun shows?
Plenty.
Things started off bad- with no parking, NO PARKING WHATSOEVER in Bayonne, NJ, for the Jersey All Pro show at 2:00 on Saturday, February 22nd. Bayonne's a neat little town with lots of fun little shops and some great restaurants and bars, but the parking situation is horrible. Parking meters aren't checked on the weekends, but good luck finding one. And all the side streets are usually taken by residents and their cars. This was especially the case on Saturday, with about two feet of snow being dumped on the area and snow drifts of over ten feet, there was no place to shovel it all, so it just sat there taking up valuable parking space.
Thankfully, spots were found. Hopefully that ambulance found a spot elsewhere. The show took place at the Charity Hall on 38th and Broadway, and right next door is Karen's Cheesesteaks, which JAPW's promoter Fat Frank swore was better than Tony Luke's near the old ECW Arena. Well, it wasn't, but the place (and Frank) scored major points with its big screen TV and a tape running of JAPW's latest TV show. There's nothing better than gearing up for a day of shows than a big meal while watching wrestling right in the restaurant. If the place served beer, we may never have left.
Fortunately, alcohol was nearby at a neat little bar right across the street from Charity Hall. A bar so great it had NO NAME. The only thing that defined the place as a bar was a Budweiser sign in one of the windows. While the pint of HARP beer was a bit warm, it was a perfect place for the new First Family to gather. With the MiC, Brett, Frank, and Ron and Kevin on future shows, this Web site has better group representation at shows than most wrestling sites out there. And no faded, musty lucha masks worn by fat guys in their late 30s in a sad, pathetic, desperate attempt to draw attention to themselves. Things were bad enough with a shoe talking, stammering sociopath already in the area- and taking five minutes to order a simple soft drink.
The Jersey All Pro show started at 2:00 pm to accomodate workers and fans interested in attending shows that evening. This is an excellent touch, and one that should be highly commended. A suggestion for any fan looking to attend two shows in one day is to get your tickets reserved in advance. No waiting in line, and you can walk in whenever you please. The Wrestling Clothesline had great seats front row ringside, and settled in not 10 minutes before the show started.
In the first match, Tony Lazaro pinned the returning Ric Blade, who showed little of his high risk spots that have nearly crippled him and his career. Lazaro is part of the H Effect, which includes Dixie and Deranged, and they accompanied him to ringside. This was the first of several appearances by the H Effect. Highlights included threats from the H Effect to sing for the duration of the "cancelled" show, as well as Dixie's antics around ringside. Dixie's just a load of fun to watch even when he's not in the ring, as he gets a lot of his mannerisms from old school gimmicks and angles, and can react to the crowd in a split second. After getting a ton of heat from his unintentional signaling for The Claw, he just went crazy, and at one point stood in front of one ringsider so he couldn't "watch the match." Who could with Dixie providing so much entertainment?
Mafia pinned Homicide to become the new JAPW Heavyweight champion in the second match, as the Hit Squad were headed down to Delaware with Low Ki (who was at ringside in Mafia's corner) for the ECWA show- along with the Wrestling Clothesline. Thankfully, not in the same car.
This match has already been praised for its storyline and stiffness, but a few things that really stood out, both good and bad, were a few unfortunate missed spots (with Homicide nicely covering up an accidental trip- to the point where he stumbled outside the ring into the rail) Homicide's fantastic reaction to being pinned, insisting non-stop that it was a two count, and with his unfortunately surprisingly poor mic skills. Maybe he was winded, but it came off badly. He got better as he hilariously challenged someone in the crowd to a fight in the back. That poor 12 year old hopefully brought back up.
Homicide did a great job putting over the importance of the belt as well as the close relationship he has with all of his students. His reaction of initially refusing to shake hands, frantically pleading with the ref on the count, then finally passing the torch was a classic example of how to properly put someone, as well as a title, over. Homicide came out looking strong, Mafia adds another aspect to his character as a singles worker and career, and the JAPW title comes out as much more than a piece of hardware guys wear over their shoulder.
After the match, Slyk Wagner Brown came out and attacked Homicide, then Mafia in an angle that looked pretty goofy as Low Ki, Monsta Mack, and Mafia (before he got swung on) just standing there while Slyk stomped on their teacher and not getting involved. Slyk executes the crispest moves even in a run-in.
The Shaolin Wrecking Crew (Supa and Magic) beat the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (w/Becky "I Hear 10 Questions" Bayless) by countout. Two great team names that really just fit the gimmicks. Neat little brawl that involved my shoe in the face of one of the DRS. Supa's gimmick is him always yelling "Shoe!" so one was immediately provided on the railing. No one ever thought that Supa would shoved the DRS into it, but what an inspired improv on Supa's part. Nice touch that gets the crowd harmlessly involved and could lead to a fun addition to his gimmick. Bayless took two huge bumps from the Shaolin and sold them beautifully after the DRS just walked out of the ring.
Nick "It's the Texas 2K2" Berk wrestled Azrael to a no-contest. The H Effect attempted to recruit Azrael before the match then did their own run-in after they were rebuffed and beat on them both until Ric Blade made the save. After a few homophobic references, two matches were decided for next month as Blade, Berk, and Azrael will take on the H Effect, with the particulars to be worked out later. This all meant a zero match and all set up for next month.
April "A Baby in a Bar?" Hunter beat Nikki "Jennie Garth" Roxx with a swinging neckbreaker in one of the best women's matches you're likely to see in a long time. If Frank's going full bore ahead with his women's division, he'd be smart to center it around these two. April is prime time all the way and Nikki needs a new last name, but is a good worker as well. April should have planted her foot square into the jaw of the guy stupid enough to kiss her boot.
"Rain & Jay Lethal defeated The H Effect. This match was for the JAPW TV and Light Heavyweight championships as well. If any H effect member beat Rain or Jay, they would win that mans belt." That's in quotes because it's stolen right from the MiC's review. It's exhausting to explain otherwise, and Sean did a great job doing so.
Deranged and Dixie came out with taped ribs and an arm in a sling, respectively, and selling each of them intermittenly or when it was convenient. Their reasoning for the sudden "injuries" was a fall in back "down the stairs into the basement" of a building that doesn't have a basement. Great comedy from these two, who just need more size (NATURAL SIZE- no Vitamin S), as combined they weigh less than a folding chair. Either that, or just run with it and boast about being billed at 135 pounds, a weight that passed many of us by a long, long time ago.
Dixie von Raschke's offense included the resurrection of The Claw, accompanied by a quick smile and glance to ringside. Any worker who can play along and actually use it properly in a match like that is going to go VERY FAR in the business. Just ask his sister, who told in great detail all of Dixie's injuries during his match in between her yelling at him how much he sucks.
Dixie looked great last year in his three way match with all the belts on the line and smart booking as he took a Cop Killa from Homicide in that match and got bumped into a pinning position, and Deranged has got super mic skills for someone so young and new to the business. He must have a ton of energy to go that nuts on the mic and then bump like a demon afterwards.
In the final match on a show that just cruised along at less than two and a half hours, Slyk Wagner Brown (w/April Hunter) pinned Jonah from Tough Enough 3. Jonah got in maybe 14 seconds of offense, and like the others on Tough Enough gets a bad rap and unnecessary chants of "Pay Your Dues"- like anyone watching him has paid Due One in the business and who seem to forget guys like Paul Wight and Goldberg who just got launched into the spotlight. That said, Jonah looked respectable out there, bigger than he appeared on TV in height and mass, and worked well with Slyk, who was properly booked in a virtual squash as he's facing Mafia on next month's show for the title.
The show ended before 4:30, which was plenty of time to get down to Delaware for the ECWA show at 7:00. Time flew by with a 54 minute cell phone exchange about everything under the sun with the Clothesline Crew (one of these nicknames will stick) amidst God awful weather. The Crew discussed the show and gave its thoughts in this impromptu travelling conference call, because even though we're not wrestlers and haven't taken bumps, we do possess brains and the ability to distinguish what's good and what's bad based on our experiences watching professional wrestling.
ECWA presented its Night of Unusual Matches, sort of a filler card before its annual Super 8, whose participants were to be announced during the evening.
The Maxx Brothers, after being dissed on the High Five AGAIN (some people never learn) pinned Divine "Enunciator" Storm to earn a spot in the five way tag title match later that night. Divine Storm are a good but small team who deserved better than the Maxx Brothers. Johnny Maxx manages to look fat and thin at the same time, and Joey Maxx manages to nail the Q Tip look to a T.
After the match, Prince Nana and Mega ran in and beat the cotton and flexible tip out of the Maxx Brothers, thankfully preventing them from participating in the five way.
Xero and Thunder beat Tyler Payne and Mozart Fontaine. Poor Mozart- he's done so much to improve his ring work and he's lugging around with Xero and Thunder, who's the last person on Earth that should be wearing a choker. Mozart is one guy who could really take off as a solid heel. All he needs is the right angle. Tossing a T shirt at Hat Guy like he did last year isn't the right one. He should have tossed a brick.
Japanese Pool Boy (w/out Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies) beat Mr. Ooh La La in an evening gown match. Ooh La La got stripped to his boxers. Frightening Fact: That's more than what he usually wears when he wrestles. Pool Boy is a good worker in a weird, stifling gimmick, but he takes that gimmick and runs with it, and he does a great job with it. Suggested music for Pool Boy next month? "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate.
The match was a great example of bad wrestling being overshadowed by great work and great charisma. No one's going to mistake Ooh La La for Kurt Angle, not even someone who's not part of the exciting, rewarding business of professional wrestling. But there is such a thing as a bad match- like Jackie Gayda's humiliating showing last July on RAW, or the Ticket Seller Special at last month's CSWF show, and people do recognize those as bad matches. This match had maybe three good moves (the dresses were rather hindering on the highspots), but in no way could it be seen as a bad match, no matter who you are or who you think you are.
Ace Darling then came out to announce the participants in this year's Super 8 tournament. If it weren't for Ace Darling, there wouldn't be a First Family or Clothesline Crew. Simple as that. Ace was on a great stride back in the late 90s working for the ECWA and practically every fed on the East Coast (and a few RAWs and Nitros), and it's terrific seeing him back where he belongs. Ace perfected his heel schtick in the ECWA when he turned on Kid Flash (aka Billy Kidman) back in 1995, and it's clear from his mic work that he's thrilled to be back.
The participants can be found all over this site, but to sum it up, Jim Kettner has done it again. He's known for finding the unknowns and making them stars, as he's done with Christopher Daniels, and this tourney has great representation from all over the globe. Predictably, some Web sites, wannabe promoters, and carny suck ups are whining about who wasn't chosen and the lack of West Coast participation, while stupidly failing to realize that Brian "Spanky" Kendrick is from the state of Washington, which at last check was still on the West Coast.
Face it- Jim's not going to bring in burned out jokes like Jardi Frantz, swizzlesticks like the 111 pound Bobby No Muscle Tone Quance, or cartoons like Super Dragon. No one dressed like a Power Ranger went anywhere in the wrestling business, with the sole exception being Jushin Liger. And Super Dragon is no Liger. There's too much respect for the business to bring in guys who either don't look like wrestlers or bring too much carny baggage along with them. Is anyone really able to suspend believability long enough to accept Bobby Quance, who makes Joey Maxx look like Vader, going over someone like this year's Sedrick Strong or Johnny Jeter? Didn't think so.
And for anyone moaning or crying about Kendrick now being in the WWE, and not working solely indy feds, think back to previous Super 8s which had Scott Taylor, the Hardy Boys, and Billy Kidman, who were all under contract to the WWF or WCW. Talk about ridiculous nitpicking.
This Super 8 will MAKE Paul London. Guaranteed.
Trinity beat Carlton P. Hightower in an arm wrestling match. A few vignettes were run of Carlton in the gym with Rob Eckos and Billy Bax as the card went on. Those two were banned from ringside and Trinity planted Carlton's arm down faster than you can blink an eye. Afterwards, Trinity got laid out by ECWA's newest female worker Venom.
In the Five (now Four) Way Elimination Tag Team Title Match, Ace Darling and Striker pinned Prince Nana to become the new ECWA tag team champions. The Hit Squad were eliminated early on, which is common and smart booking for any newcomers, but don't fret- the Hit Squad will do great things in the ECWA. Kettner, as usual, outsmarted the smarts as the Maximos were eliminated next, opening up a whole new angle and giving us new champs. Striker is the ultimate babyface and can get any move over on facial expressions alone. A nice welcome back for Ace Darling.
Boogie Woogie Brown got his own nice welcome back by winning a Prince of Darkness six man Battle Royal. Well, five man, as Ooh La La never made it to the ring and just wandered around blind at ringside. Apparently he's still wandering, as he was seen in the background later on of a Mike Kruel promo on the ECWATron. Boogie then danced with a few kids after the match, and was smart enough to take off the blindfold so he could see where he was going and who (and in a few cases, what) he was dancing with, like the Oldest Living Teenager. Poor Boogie. He should have thrown the blindfold back on.
Cheetah Master pinned Xavier in a Loser Leaves ECWA match. Wonderfully booked match that got Xavier over even in defeat, kept Cheetah strong, and introduced his next feud as Ace Darling turned on him after the match. Just a beautiful move, as Ace feuded with Cheetah for years in his ECWA heyday, and it made perfect sense to continue their feud. It also opens up other possibilities- as Ace is a tag champ with the ultimate babyface Striker, which brings a few new, fresh elements to a classic ECWA feud. Outstanding heat and work from everyone involved.
Inferno and Ruffhouse Rivera won back the Fuzzy Dice in their pole match with Eckos and Bax. Carlton got pantsed by Trinity as he attempted to retrieve the dice during the match, providing a horrifying visual no acid could ever remove. Thankfully Carlton remembered to wear his jockstrap. Or something that looked like a jockstrap. Inferno now resembles X-Pac and worked well with Eckos, who's another one to watch in the indys. Carlton needs to react better with ringsiders beyond saying "What?" but he has a great gimmick and can use that in so many areas.
Christopher Daniels beat Mike Kruel and last minute addition Low Ki in a 30 minute Iron Man match to retain the ECWA Heavyweight championship. Talk about one of these things not being like the other- Kruel just totally stood out in this match as opposed to Daniels working so well with Low Ki. Kruel tried his best, to his credit, to the point of working with a busted nose, but Ki and Daniels are so fluid with their transitions and solid in their workrate and psychology, and just take any match to a whole other level. Kruel was a mess as blood was everywhere, which was his best contribution to the match as it sold Ki's stiff shots and Daniels' fast paced moves and offense, spraying all over ringside. Kruel didn't invoke memories of Sofia Coppola in Godfather III, or Mike Sullivan's match with Reckless Youth in 2001's Super 8, or even Christian York's match with Matt Hardy in 1999's Super 8, but it was close.
The Night of Unusual Matches was a nice segue as ECWA rolls into the
spring with the Super 8 on April 5th, and a nice end to a great day of
indy wrestling. After the last double shot outing, it was like fresh air
coming into a sinking submarine, even with the ride home at 45 mph the
length of the Turnpike thanks to fog thicker than soup.
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The comments and statements
do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Brett Schwan and the Wrestling
Clothesline (although many times, he comes damn close!). Please
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
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Previous Columns:
Watching Tazz is Tough Enough
Seven in Two
Getting Your Moneys Worth
How Not to Run and Indy
If That's What it Takes, They Don't Have It!
Customer Service in the Wrestling Business
Consider the Source
How Much Would You Pay?
Living Off The Past
Enough
Already
What
A Cop Out
Climbing
the Psychic Hotline
Subtleties
Pure Carny Scum
Will Bleed For Food
Review...of a Review
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