Cheap Wrestling for Cheap People 03.02.06: ROH's Indy Blowout
Posted by Ryan Byers on 03.02.2006
Low priced indy wrestling for all, plus vague insults directed towards ICP and Hacksaw Jim Duggan beating people up.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Cheap Wrestling for Cheap People. After two weeks of columns promoting WWE's product, I felt that it was my duty to return to the form of wrestling that gets the most of my financial support these days, namely indy wrestling. For those of you not familiar with the indy game, this week's tip may provide the perfect way for you to get started . . . and even seasoned indy loyalists may learn a thing or two. With that said, let's get on with the show.
Cheap Wrestling Tip #31: ROH's Indy Blowout
Over the past three years or so, wrestling fans have grown to know Ring of Honor as perhaps the top indy wrestling company in the United States. However, ROH offers us more than just a great promotion. Ever since the company severed its ties to RF Video, Ring of Honor has been running one of the net's greatest stores for purchasing wrestling tapes. Though initially set up to peddle the company's own wares, the store has since expanded to include plenty of WWE schwag, Ohio Valley TV, a limited amount of Japanese merchandise, and releases from indy promotions all across the American continent.
However, if you run a store of that nature for many years, there's going to be a point where your warehouse gets a little bit too full and clearing things out takes priority over earning maximum profit. Such is the case with ROH's store these days . . . and the benefit falls squarely in to the lap of wrestling fans. If you head over to ROHwrestling.com and click the "weekly specials" link on the left side of the site, you'll find a plethora of DVDs that have been knocked down to rock bottom prices. This week, I'm going to take you through all of the options available, topped off by a complete review of on DVD that I picked up in the online bargain bin recently. Let's head through what's available, promotion by promotion:
Border City Wrestling: This is a rather long-running independent promotion that does shows in both Michigan and Ontario. (Hence the name.) Promoted by TNA mainstay Scott D'Amore, the shows feature a lot of TNA talent in prominent roles, which isn't a bad thing . . . except for the fact that A-1 somehow managed to get a main event push in BCW. The lineups on the cheap shows appear to be decent but not outstanding, so plunk down the required $10 at your own risk. It looks like the best show on paper would be the 7/18/04 card from Belleville, MI, which features Jimmy Jacobs, D-Lo Brown, Petey Williams, AJ Styles, and the intriguing matchup of Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Sabin.
Combat Zone Wrestling: There are two CZW titles up on the site, namely Aerial Assault and Scarred. I owned a copy of Scarred at one point, and it has the distinction of being the only wrestling DVD so bad that I gave it away. Yes, you heard that right. The guy who still owns copies of Wrestling Country Boys, DVDs from incredibly backwater North Carolina indies, and FMW tapes featuring commentary from Eric Gellar, gave away Scarred because it sucked. Think about that one. It's absolutely worthless unless you want to see a bunch of rejects from backyard promotions hitting each other over the head with light tubes and slicing each other up with weed whackers. (And, if you do want to see that sort of thing, I would suggest saving the money that you would spend on the DVD and plunking it down on therapy.) Aerial Assault I haven't seen, but it appears to have a bit more potential, focusing on Combat Zone's high flying lightweight wrestlers as opposed to its vampiristic morons. Sonjay Dutt, Johnny Storm, and the Backseat Boys are all featured, though I don't know that the title is worth $10 if it only contains five matches.
Elite Wrestling Revolution: EWR is the premier indy group in Montreal, and it's produced several workers who are now touring the United States on a regular basis. Guys like Kevin Steen, Sexxxy Eddy, El Generico, and more all got there start up here. Combine that with appearances of outsiders like Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles, and it looks like you've got a pretty solid product. I actually know a guy who works as a referee for the company, and, out of all the DVDs that have had their prices slashed, his top recommendation is the dual disc set of Road to Glory 2005 and Brutal Carnage. The main event is a tag team match pitting AJ Styles & Kevin Steen against Christopher Daniels & Excess. It's been described to me as a "sweet little match."
IWC: Of all the promotions listed on ROH's specials page, this is the one that I was able to figure out the least about. This makes me look like a special breed of jackass, because they're also the company that has the most DVDs available on the site. Anyway, it appears that the company is operating out of Pennsylvania. The shows look like a good mix of "big name" indy stars (Joe/Daniels/Styles) and lesser known individuals like Shirley Doe and the Gambino Brothers Moving Company. There are even a few special appearances by some legends of the mat game, including the Honky Tonk Man, Jerry Lawler, and Mick Foley.
Cleveland All Pro Wrestling: I've always been surprised by the relatively small amount of midwestern indy wrestling that is available on the internet. The two CAPW DVDs that Ring of Honor has available on its site are probably going to be a couple of your best bets for finding such action. Chad Collyer, CM Punk, Chris Sabin, Colt Cabana, and Matt Stryker (the one with the unibrow) make up the promotion's list of established indy wrestlers. On top of that, there are also a few names who are not as popular but are still individuals who I have been told to watch. Sterling James Keenan and Richard Trimmins have both been recommended to me highly in the past, and both appear on these DVDs. So, if you're looking for something that has a little different flavor than the typical New England madness, this may be right up your alley.
Pro Wrestling IRON: More than anything, Pro Wrestling IRON stands out from the other indy offerings on the website. The promotion was run by Mike Modest, Donovan Morgan, and Tony Jones, and it features a style of wrestling heavily influenced by NOAH – which makes sense given that it's the Japanese company that the aforementioned owners worked for. With Morgan and Modest showing up recently in TNA (alongside IRON trainee Ryan Drago), these releases would be a great idea for any fan who is interested in learning a bit about their backgrounds. Furthermore, both shows being sold through ROH feature guest appearances by the great Mistuaharu Misawa, who is on just about everybody's list of the five best wrestlers of the last ten years. If you haven't seen him compete yet, this is a perfect way to do so while not spending much money and not having to deal with people who illegally bootleg tapes.
Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE MAX: Yes, there are several titles from this Japanese company on the ROH website. However, in a few weeks I'll be taking a look at an even cheaper authorized source of ZERO-ONE, so I'd suggest holding off on buying these babies until you see what else I've got in store.
Miscellaneous: Listed above are the promotions that have more than one DVD available in the big sale. However, there are also a few companies that are only represented by only one show. These include NWA Anarchy, MLW, and Premier Promotions from the UK. The most interesting "miscellaneous" show of the bunch, however, is probably the 2005 Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup. Though I have only the vaguest idea of who Jeff Peterson is, the annual tournament in his honor has become an indy show to watch, and last year's lineup looks great on paper. Some of the top lightweight talent from around North America was assembled for this one, and I doubt that it would be anything short of fantastic.
Of course, there's one promotion left that I didn't include in my list above. Why? Because they're the subject of this week's full review. Loyal readers, I give to you Pro Wrestling Unplugged.
Title: Grand Opening Released By: Pro Wrestling Unplugged Release Year: 2004 Run Time: 60 minutes Found At: http://www.rohwrestling.com Price: $5
Pro Wrestling Unplugged is a Northeastern wrestling promotion run by Johnny Kashmere of the Backseat Boyz, and, depending on who you're talking to, his pal Rob Feinstein may be involved as well. When they first started running shows in 2004, the company had an agreement with Ring of Honor to release their shows on DVD-R. Though that relationship has since fallen apart, PWU is still producing shows, which are now being released by Smart Mark Video. ROH still has plenty of its old PWU releases in stock, though, and "Grand Opening" is the first show in that series. (Gee, couldn't tell that one from the title.) With some big Mexican stars, familiar indy faces, and a couple of surprise guests that you'd never imagine would appear on a show like this one, the card looked interesting enough for me to pick it up. Here goes.
Gary Michael Cappetta opens up the show by interviewing Bam Bam Bigelow, who's looking a lot better than when I last saw him in WCW. He puts over the modern state of pro wrestling but gets interrupted by "Pitbull" Gary Wolfe and a very tall, blond man who I don't recognize at all. Wolfe cuts a promo, and I'm sure his crony is identified at some point, but the audio system in the building is so poor that I can't tell what's going on over the crowd. That's one of the charms of indy wrestling, I suppose.
Ashe Samuels w/ Timothy B. Idol & Deranged vs. Alere Little Feather
I haven't been able to find a lot of information on either Samuels or Idol, but I can tell you that Deranged has gotten a fair amount of exposure as one of the members of Special K in Ring of Honor, while Alere is a young lady who does a Native American gimmick and has become part of a huge crop of women on the indy circuit this days who can (gasp) actually wrestle. This is my first time seeing her in the ring, though.
The three-man heel unit spends a good deal of time working the microphone, and once again none of it is intelligible. I think the gist of it was that Samuels was angry that he didn't have a match and Alere came out to give him what he wanted. He refuses at first but eventually gets goaded in to it, hitting a swinging neckbreaker on his opponent and then picking her up for a Northern Lights Bomb. Deranged gives her a noogie behind the referee's back, and then Samuels hits her with Samoa Joe's Island Driver, only to pull her up at two. A combination camel clutch/chinlock is applied, and the referee calls for the bell at 1:49.
Match Thoughts: I was interested in seeing Alere wrestle a match since she's been getting a good deal of hype on the internet, but I guess tonight just wasn't the night for that. Time to plunk down $20 for Shimmer: Women Athletes. DUD
Match Numero Dos: The Human Tornado vs. Kris Chambers
This is a pairing you probably won't see too often, as the men involved are from completely different corners of the indy circuit. Tornado mainly does his thing in California, appearing for All Pro Wrestling, Ultimate Pro Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling, and, most notably, Pro Wrestling Guerilla. He was also recently involved in the "Wrestling Society X" show, working a dark match before the MTV taping started up. Chambers, meanwhile, is a relatively recent graduate of the Rob Fuego wrestling school up in Canada, and he's done some work with Border City Wrestling around Ontario.
Tornado attempts to seduce a couple of portly women before the match, which is rather hilarious. Chambers immediately has the crowd turned against him. That's a bit surprising given that all he did was walk out to the ring . . . maybe they just like the Tornado that much. I can't say that I would be surprised. Tornado teases him with a test of strength to start but then breaks in to a dance routine when Chambers attempts to accept. This culminates in the babyface tricking Chambers in to doing the robot. BRILLIANT!
When Kris realizes what he's doing, he flips out and shoves Tornado, and that incites our be-froed hero in to an offensive sequence that sends his man out of the ring. Tornado follows up with a Hayabusa-esque dive, and then he takes a minute or so to stab Chambers with his hair pick. The bad guy looks to retake the advantage on the inside with a Side Russian Leg Sweep, and that gets followed up with a big kick. Tornado fires back with an enzuguri after some generic kicking and choking, but he walks in to a spinebuster before he can build up any sort of sustained advantage. Chambers then does one of my favorite old school heel spots, kneeling in front of the referee and having a conversation with him while simultaneously choking out the babyface with his shin. He follows that up by stomping a mudhole in the corner, but a double clothesline spot sends both men to their backs for a double count by the referee. It seems a bit stupid doing that bit at five minutes in, but the crowd's in to it, so who am I to argue? Both men are up at roughly the same time, and it appears Tornado will have the advantage after a leg lariat. Chambers slams him pretty quickly thereafter, though, and he follows with the Savage elbow from the top rope. An arrogant cover will not get the three count, so Kris sets his man on the top rope. The PWG regular cuts off his opponent's attempted offense and hits a tornado DDT, though that can only get him a two count. Rather than following up, Tornado heads to the outside and digs around for a foreign object underneath the ring, and it looks like he's found a change purse. He opens it up on the inside of the ring, and a bunch of Skittles spill out on the mat. Additional humor is added by the fact that you can clearly hear fans talking about the "tacks" he just dumped in to the ring. The two wrestlers do a bunch of reversals in front of the candy, each one attempting to force his opponent to taste the rainbow. Chambers eventually gives up on that, looking for a springboard moonsault. It hits nothing but knee, and Tornado gives his man a nasty looking backdrop suplex on to the Skittles for a three count at 10:04. He celebrates with a backflip that would make Teddy Hart jealous.
Match Thoughts: Weird match here, as the two guys couldn't seem to decide whether they wanted to go with a straight up wrestling contest or some wacky shenanigans. They comedy that they did do was good, but they just switched it on and off instead of integrating it in to the match in a more seamless manner. I will say that Chambers seemed to have pretty good heel fundamentals, which is great because I expected him to be just another flippy indy cruiserweight from his Hardy Boy-esque appearance. Seeing him in a straight up match and Tornado in a five or six minute comedy bout would have been a lot better way to go on the card. However, as things stood, I'd call this one a *1/4 contest.
Match Numero Tres: Corporal Robinson vs. Mana the Polynesian Warrior
The background: Robinson is primarily a garbage wrestler from the midwest, who has done his most notable work in IWA Mid-South. I've not seen him wrestle before, but knowing these things does not make me look forward to the match. Mana, meanwhile, is a Samoan man who was trained for the ring by Afa. (No, he is NOT biologically related to Afa's family in any way, shape, or form.) He's worked a lot for Afa's WXW group, as well as appearing for the short-lived MLW and more recently in Rikishi's Italian promotion and CHIKARA. Another interview segment that nobody can understand sets this one up. All I know is that it involves Robinson punching a woman and then being booked in this match by Johnny Kashmere.
Corp piefaces his man to start, but I don't think that's going to have any effect on a man who has tattoos running from his forehead to his chin. Mana eventually knocks his man out of the ring, looking to follow up with a pescado. Robinson completely and utterly fails to catch his man, which results in the rather large Mana falling head and shoulders first on the unpadded floor. If he wasn't Samoan, this match would be OVER. Since the Warrior is still conscious, Robinson decides to hit him with a chair a few times. They take a leisurely storll around the gymnasium that the show is being held in, with Mana setting up a couple of chairs in the crowd and then suplexing the Corporal down on to them. More walking. More walking. More walking. Eventually we're back at ringside, where Robinson tosses a bunch of chairs in to the ring and then pops Mana with one. It's no-sold, and Mana starts ramming his ass in to the Corporal's head at relatively high speeds. He tries to do it one more time with a chair in place over the man's head, but Corp just throws it in to the big islander's face. A chair is then laid on top of Mana's head, and Robinson slingshots in to the ring with a legdrop down on to it. That is followed with the world's sloooooowest Tornado DDT, also on to a chair. Robinson uses his advanage to set up a table at ringside, but one of the legs breaks, so he settles for propping it up against the guardrail. He tries to knock Mana through it with a Yakuza kick, but the Polynesian ducks under and plants his man in to the furniture with a Samoan drop. For some reason this hurts Mana more than Robinson, allowing Corp to unload with a series of three big chairshots. Just because we haven't taken a walk in a while, Mana and Robinson go for another one, which results in them brawling on the bleachers. Robinson eventually gives his opponent a Side Russian Legsweep off of the top bleacher and through a table, which puts an end to the match at 11:10. The camera winds up way too close to the sound system, as Corp's lousy ICP entrance music comes BLARING through my television immediately after the bell. It's enough to make me want to rip my ears off.
Match Thoughts: People who know how I feel about wrestling already know the rating that's coming for this match. It was a shitty, shitty brawl featuring a man who seemingly knows nothing about the craft other than how to get himself over by delivering wicked chairshots and having his opponents go through tables. There was also far too much dead air during the match as the two guys wandered around the area in search of something, anything to do. The sad thing is I think I'd rather watch dead air than a lot of the action that took place, because every time Robinson tried to do anything remotely related to real wrestling, it looked pathetic, particularly his Tornado DDT and his being horribly out of position for Mana's plancha. I've seen Mana do a decent enough big man schtick in other promotions, but he was not working with a good opponent tonight. -*1/2
At this point, something very bizarre happens. Corporal Robinson hits Kashmere in the face with a microphone and then a birthday cake. Trent Acid runs out for the save, but he's also taken down. Then, out of nowhere, here comes HACKSAW FREAKIN' DUGGAN. He knocks the Corporal out of the ring with a clothesline and gets the crowd to chant USA for a while. He then gets on the mic, saying that, at the next Pro Wrestling Unplugged show, he'll team up with the Backseat Boyz for a six man tag against Robinson and any two partners he can find. In my years as a professional wrestling fan, I have seen plenty of weird teamups that I never thought would've happened . . . however this one has to take the cake. I must find out whether this match ever actually happened and hunt it down if it did.
After that, we're treated to footage what went on during intermission. (Huh?) Jim Duggan signs autographs, Frank Talent from the PA State Athletic Commission appears, and Johnny Kashmere puts over the Boys and Girls Club that the show is taking place in. Eventually Evan Karagis and Ron Killings show up, seemingly for no reason other than to shake people's hands. I realize that this would probably make a lot more sense if I could understand what they were saying on the microphone, but, as things stand, this appears to be one of the single most unusual wrestling shows in history.
Just as I finished typing that, I realized that Killings was carrying a purse throughout the whole segment. Curiouser and curiouser.
Match Numero Cuatro: Deranged w/ Ashe Samuels & Timothy B. Idol vs. Psicosis
Psi's wearing an odd studded leather jacket this evening, which with his horned mask makes him look like the love child of Roadwarrior Animal and an elk. Chops from Deranged start us off, but Psicosis quickly reverses in to some of his own. He catches his opponent with a flatliner after that, and even a distraction by Samuels can't stop the Mexican's offense. He catches Deranged off of a cross body attempt and slams him to a leg drop, but Idol pops up on to the ring apron to prevent a three count. Deranged tries for a charge in the corner after that, but the luchadore catches him and pulls him up in to the Alabama Slam . . . but Idol and Samuels once again distract the referee to cut off the three count. That allows Deranged to finally hit some offense, namely a rana and abaseball slide kick once Psicosis rolls to the outside. Deranged follows him with a nice looking springboard moonsault, which I must say looks stupid at the 3:00 mark. Then, out of nowhere, Joel and Jose Maximo run in. They assist Psicosis in beating down the former raver until Trent Acid runs in for the save. The numbers game catches up with him as well, until Juventud Guerrera makes his presence felt and ranas his countryman out of the ring. If it makes any difference, Psicosis was disqualified at 3:34.
Match Thoughts: No matter how many flips you do, a three minute match is still just a three minute match. 1/4*
Match Numero Cinco: Julio Dinero & Chris Hamrick vs. Rebel's Army (Rockin' Rebel & Greg Matthews)
Rebel is an indy guy who's seemingly been around forever, while Greg Matthews is better known as "Greg from Tough Enough I." They've teamed in a few different places, most notably CZW. Dinero and Hamrick, meanwhile, should be familiar to anybody who watched ECW in its dying days. I never thought they got a fair shake on the indy scene after the company shut down, though.
Matthews kicks things off with Dinero, and Greg's arm is wrung rather mightily. H e eventually returns the favor and succeeds in taking down Julio with a shoulderblock. Dinero smartly responds with a legsweep, and the two men trade punches. The former Gathering member goes back to the arm, dropping a couple of knees on the limb before bringing in Hamrick for a double dropkick. Rebel also gets in to the match, and he also has his armed cranked on, though he's a bit better at reversing and getting some of his own offense than Greg was. Hamrick eventually does a fun lucha sequences, backflipping out of the armbar and catching his man with la magistral for a nearfall. The younger members of the team tag back in after that one, and it's knuckle lock time. The much larger Matthews has no problem coming out on the winning end of that, though Hamrick runs in for a cool spot, running in and throwing a punch between Dinero's legs, thus catching Matthews low. Rebel tries the same trick on a second knuckle lock, but Hamrick crawls in to the ring and slaps him in the face, thus causing his head to rise up in to Greggy's genitals. After a brief trip tot he outside, Matthews falls victim to a double hiptoss back in the ring, but he recovers quickly and gets help from Rebel in pounding the hell out of Chris Hamrick's arm. Then, in another funny spot, Hamrick tricks Rebel in to working over his own partner's arm thanks to a failure to pay attention on Double R's part.
There's miscommunication on the other team's part as well, though, as Dinero accidentally punches Hamrick seconds later. This results in Rebel and Julio pairing off in the ring, with Reb dropping an elbow, only to get chopped in to a sunset flip by the referee after a bit of an argument. Dinero runs in to a spinebuster after that, but it only gets a two count. Matthews comes back in after that one, and the Army hits a flapjack to set up a top rope elbow from Maven's favorite roommate. Greg gets in a vertical suplex after that, and a form of Poetry in Motion connects from the Army . . . which is impressive due to their size. Rebel stays in after that one, hitting a backdrop suplex to set up a tag to Greg. Matthews spends too much time trash talking, though, which creates an opening for Julio to DDT him while simultaneously hitting an inverted DDT on Rebel. Hamrick is tagged in and becomes a Plantation-a-Fire. He gets in the ten punch spot on Matthews, and then the good guys whip the bad guys in to each other. Hamrick heads up to the top rope, but Rebel runs in to it. Hamrick takes a nasty, nasty spill off of that, apparently doing some serious damage to his knee. The match stops for about two minutes, and it looks like Hamrick is going to be able to leave under his own power . . . until he turns around and superkicks Dinero. That allows the Army to get the pin at 17:22, and Hamrick joins in a heel beatdown after the bell.
Match Thoughts: The out of nowhere finish prevents this match from being rated all too highly, though I understand why it was needed in order to further the company's angle. Prior to the finish, however, this was a very good little tag team match. In the early going both teams engaged in pretty regular tag team spots, though they integrated some fairly original comedy spots that were able to entertain the crowd and keep them in to the match without detracting too much from the bout as a serious athletic contest. (This seems to be a staple of Rockin' Rebel's matches, near as I can tell.) The heat sequence on Dinero was also good enough, though it wasn't anything spectacular. On top of that, the bump that Hamrick took in order to set up the big angle at the end was fantastic and looked so legitimate that even I bought it for a while despite having seen the same angle done many, many times before. This was a great performance all around, and I can't understand why any of these four men haven't gotten a look from TNA recently. **
Match Numer Seis: The SAT (Joel & Jose Maximo) & Psicosis vs. Trent Acid, Tom Carter, and Juventud Guerrera
I'm assuming that everybody's familiar with the guys in this match, with the possible exception of Carter. He used to work under the name Reckless Youth, and he was part the generation of "big indy stars" that existed before guys like Low Ki, American Dragon, and Samoa Joe came up on to the scene.
It's Acid and Jose in the early going, and they start things off with a big slugfest and a good deal of rope running. That segues in to a fish out of water sequence, which comes to a close when Acid hits a top rope armdrag and Maximo responds with a rana. Here come Juvi and Joel to replace their partners, but the rudos bail to yell at some fans who were chanting for the Juice a bit too loudly. When that wraps up, they also do some lucha-esque quick exchanges, culminating with the bit where the wrestlers pop up and wait for applause from the crowd. Guerrera hits the first real offensive move of the sequence, rolling through a sunset flip and dropkicking his man in the face. That leads to Psicosis tagging in, and Juvi oddly stays in there with him as opposed to tagging out to Carter. Psi lands a series of big time forearms in the corner, followed up by a rebound clothesline. A headscissor is applied by our horned friend, but Juvi pops out easily and lands a satellite DDT for two. (And two for DDT.) He goes for the 619 after that, but Psicosis moves . . . so Juvi just does the move between the middle and bottom ropes, which actually catches his man.
Now here's Carter, and he briefly works Psicosis' arm before the bad guy goes to the eyes. Tom stays on his man with a dropkick, but a run-in by Jose allows some Maixmo double teaming. Joel enters the ring with Reckless Youth, but he gets armdragged and hit with a quebrada, which sets up a tag to Acid. The two illegal faces take turns hitting moves on Joel in the corner, and then Acid gets him with a swinging DDT for a nearfall. Joel recovers quickly and tags in Jose, who applies a chinlock, presumably for the purpose of working out a spot or two. Acid quickly gets out of the move, but he's isolated in the heel corner and triple teamed. A wacky triple-team move is hit by the bad guys behind the referee's back, and the Backseat Boy appears to be in even bigger trouble as Psicosis puts him in the sharpshooter. The Maximos hold Acid's teammates at bay, but eventually Psi just releases the hold after Acid refuses to tap. Jose comes back in to the match at this point, applying a camel clutch which is also unsuccessful in forcing a submission. Jose trades off to Joel after that, and the bigger SAT member connects with an enzuguri. That looks to set up a tornado DDT, but Trent cuts it off and hits a rana from the top rope. Both men are down at this point, and they eventually tag their respective partners. Guerrera comes in with a cross body on both Maximos, and Carter hits one on all three heels seconds later. The bad guys are punched in to oblivion, and then Juvi goes up top for an elbow on Jose. It misses, allowing Joel to try one of his own. That misses too, as does a Carter moonsault. Psicosis tries to replicate that one, but he falls in to the tree of woe position and gets dropkicked in the face by Carter and Guerrera. The Maximos are then dropkicked out of the ring by the babyfaces, and Juventud gets in a pescado on one of them. Acid dives out to the floor with an Asai moonsault after that, while Carter puts the other Maximo in a version of the Texas Cloverleaf in the ring.
Unfortunately, miscommunication between the faces sees Acid kick Carter in the head, leaving Juvi and Jose in the ring. Guerrera ranas his man, and they do another fish out of water bit. Juvi tries his Driver after that, but it's reversed in to a small package, after which Joel and Carter replace their partners. The Maximo is hit with a SICK DDT-type move, but Psicosis saves before a three count can be registered. Acid runs in to deal with him, but he gets caught in a flatliner from the Mexican. Everybody's down at this point, though the Maximos are the first to recover, and they try the Spanish Fly on Carter. Acid cuts it off and hits a sloppy attempt at a dragon rana on Jose, after which Tommy boy pulls Joel up on to the top rope with him . . . TORNADO DDT WITH BOTH MEN STANDING ON THE TOP! It only gets two, as Psicosis makes the save. He's pulled out ring by Acid, which frees up Carter and Juventud. They hit their finishers (brainbuster/Juvi Driver) in stereo, and that gets a dual three count on the Maximos at 17:28.
Match Thoughts: AMERICANIZED LUCHA EXTRAVAGANZA! This brought back pleasant memories of the excellent cruiserweight six man matches that used to be featured every week on Monday Nitro. Obviously it wasn't a straight up lucha style match, as that would've required a little bit slower going in the beginning, multiple falls, and captain's pins. However, as a fusion of American independent wrestling and Mexico's finest in-ring action, it worked very well. The match was fast-paced from the beginning and very rarely slowed down. Even when guys were working holds as opposed to running around the ring at top speed, those holds actually looked like individuals were being stretched as opposed to looking like a lame excuse for the competitors to rest. Even though the match did get a little too spotty at times, at least there were a variety of spots present as opposed to just being a bunch of flippy stuff. Juventud and Psicosis brought in their normal fare, the Maximos used modern day indy stuff without being overly sloppy, and Carter brought a nice submission and a couple of high impact moves to the table. Everybody played their roles well, was in the ring place at the right time, moved about as quick as professional wrestlers ever do, and managed to only blow one spot when there was the potential for blowing so many more. It's a winner, ladies and gents. ***
Final Thoughts
Number of Matches: 6 Highest Star Rating: *** Lowest Star Rating: -*1/2 Average Star Rating: *
Prior to the final two matches, this show was pretty damn atrocious. Deranged/Psicosis and Samuels/Alere were both the very definition of a nothing match. Mana vs. Robinson was horrid, so much so that it's only the ninth match in nine months of the column that I've given a negative star rating to. However, despite the fact that this one match pulled the average star rating of the show way down, there was plenty to entertain on the rest of the card. Though not a great match, Tornado/Chambers makes a good introduction to the style of humor that HT has been pulling off in the indies, which has made him a bit of a cult hero over the last year or so. Meanwhile, the Rebel's Army match was quality tag team wrestling, if for no other reason than you got to see guys doing something that's a little bit outside of the American norm for such matches. Finally, though it wasn't an all-time classic, the main event of the evening was put together incredibly well and, on its own, is more than worth the five dollar price tag that is currently affixed to the DVD. If you can tolerate low-rent indy production values and don't need commentary to enjoy a match, then you'd be pretty crazy not to put down an Abraham Lincoln on this one.
