Cheap Wrestling for Cheap People 06.22.06: The AWF

Posted by Ryan Byers on 06.22.2006

Yeah, it's more wrestling videos on the internet, but this time we've got a twist as I review a match put on by 411's own Matthew Sforcina. Cross-promotion at its finest, folks!

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Cheap Wrestling for Cheap People. Those of you who read last week's column and have good long-term memories probably remember that, at the end of said column, I mentioned that I would most likely review some Pro Wrestling Guerilla this week. However, that all changed when I received an e-mail from author of 411's The Evolution Schematic, Matthew Sforcina. Let's take a look at it:

My fed, AWF, has put up some (edited) matches on youtube from our last small show. And one of them features me in it. So yeah, maybe you could review them? Or not, up to you, but I just wanted to point it out. I'm Massive Matt Q in them...

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=AWFwrestling

The first four.

Up to you, of course.

Yes, for those of you who were not aware up until this point, Matt is an indy wrestler on the fine continent of Australia. Really, how could I turn down an opportunity to review the matches of a fellow 411 writer, particularly when the subject line of his e-mail was "Chance to insult me and get away with it?"

Matt, you damn well know that's an offer that I couldn't refuse. Let's get to work.

Match Numero Uno: Scotty Club v. Kid Dynamite

Of course, Kid Dynamite is not to be confused with the Dynamite Kid, popular British wrestler of years past, and Scotty Club is not to be confused with The Club, popular car anti-theft device. Dynamite goes behind Club to start, but it's reversed. Kid reverses it again in to a rollup, and now we've got armbars. Club comes out on the better end of that, but he lets go and gets single legged. He comes back with a good amateur style takedown and rollup, and we've got ourselves a little stalemate. Dynamite forearms away when we come back, but he's taken down by a shoulderblock from the bigger man and armdragged out of the ring. The crowd immediately starts calling for a dive, but it ain't happening. When Kid returns to the ring, he takes Club down again and starts punching him in the back of the head. Scotty tries to cover up, but it's fairly ineffective. European uppercuts are up next for the Australian, and those set up a side Russian legsweep. That's a lot of nationalities in one sentence, so feel free to take a breather. Up next is a wacky stretch that reminds me of Dan Severn for some reason. Club slips out of that and lands forearms of his own. He attempts a back body drop, but Dynamite just jumps on to his back and kicks him. Ten points for creativity on that one. A senton is next from Dynamite, and he floats through a nice vertical suplex, taking it right in to a guillotine choke. A second senton hits, and then it's another neat spot, as Dynamite chokes Club with his own arm in the corner, using his body to obscure the cheating from the referee. Kid goes for chops, but that's reversed in to a few from Club. Scotty's clothesline misses, though, and now we've got an enzuguri from Kid. He's up to the second rope after that, and a sunset flip connects. After that, both guys run directly in to each other and knock heads, giving us a double KO spot. Both men are up at the same time, and Club plants his man with a German suplex (again with the world tour from these guys). He can't maintain the advantage for long, as Dynamite hits a death valley driver. It gets two as Club manages to make the ropes. Kid goes to the top now, but he misses the Savage elbow and gets caught with a flatliner, which gives the match to Scotty.

Match Thoughts: I wouldn't want to be part of any Scotty Club that would have me as a member. Sorry, channeling Groucho Marx there. Anyway, for a couple of guys who looked fairly young, these two did a good job of putting together an entertaining match without really screwing anything up. I think the key is that they didn't attempt to do anything that they weren't ready for yet. Every move looked like it was something they had done many times before and were comfortable doing in front of a live crowd. That's more than you can say for a lot of young guys on the American scene who just have to work that Asai moonsault in to a match after the first time they pull it off correctly in practice. Kudos to both men here for putting on a basic yet solid match with a few unique spots that managed to hold my interest for the whole eight minutes. **

Match Numero Dos: Boadie Jaden vs. Luke Wooly

I'll say one thing for Australians . . . they sure do know how to come up with a good wacky name. Jaden's got a pretty good height advantage here, and he puts it to use by teasing his opponent with a test of strength. He goes to a headlock after that, but the smaller man manages to reverse, even blocking Jaden's attempt to pick him up. A couple of armdrags are next from Wooly, and he also gets in a back kick. The small crowd is actually making a good deal of noise for this guy for whatever reason. Unfortunately, he pauses to play to them and gets taken down by a Boadie forearm and choked. A pair of slams follows for the big man, but they only get two. Elbows are dropped as well, but they also don't do the trick. Wooly then reverses a vertical suplex in to a small package and hits the cross body block for a nearfall of his own. He ducks under a kick but isn't so lucky when it comes to evading Boadie's spinebomb. The larger man stays on his opponent by hitting a vertical suplex and rolling through in to a gordbuster, and here's the generic big man choke in the corner. Chops are doled out as well, and Wooly just gets caught in a backbreaker when he manages to avoid an avalanche. There's a side slam from Jaden, and he looks for the cobra clutch, only to have that reversed in to an armdrag. That was only a hope spot, though, as a second attempt at the clutch has more success. Wooly still manages to make the ropes, though, and he turns a fireman's carry in to a sunset flip for two. There's a clothesline from the little guy, and he throws a decent dropkick as well. He also works in a Stinger splash and the ten punches in the corner, followed up by a couple of ranas. Sliced Bread #2 is attempted, but Boadie stays on his feet and hits a sit-out Michinoku Driver to get his victory.

Match Thoughts: Again, a solid little indy match. Wooly seems to have the underdog role down pat, as all of his offense was of a quick strike variety. It was very believable that all of it could allow him to quickly shift the momentum of the match against a larger opponent without making the bigger guy look like a complete putz. Plus I fully endorse the use of Sliced Bread #2 as frequently as possible when it comes to little man finishers. The only criticism I have of the match is that there were a few too many comeback attempts by our plucky underdog babyface. Instead of being a match in which he got beaten down and slowly worked his way back to a near-win, it was dangerously close to being a back and forth contest, which was clearly not what they were going for. I still enjoyed it on the whole, though. **1/4

Match Numero Tres: Super Crimson Mask vs. Rick O'Shea

Just for the record, Crimson is a man who wears an actual mask and not a guy who is perpetually bleeding. It's a shame, as I would have liked the second gimmick a lot better. However, he is playing something similar to Jason the Terrible, and he's probably got the best build of anybody in these matches so far. It's basic stuff from O'Shea to begin, but Mask is all like "Screw this slow paced shit" and heads directly in to a side slam and some clubbing forearms in the corner. He also tosses Rick up in to the air and lets him land face first before taking the fight to the outside. Not much of note happens there, and Crimson acts crazy when he heads back to the inside. He's so crazy that he applies an armbar and works it in center ring. A slam is next for the psycho, but it only gets two. Chinlockery ensues. O'Shea is out quickly and looks for some clotheslines, but they have no effect until he decides to leave his feet for the jumping clothesline. A series of X-Pac-like legdrops follow, but Mask is out of the pin attempt at two. He BADLY misses a top rope axe handle after that, landing approximately six inches further away from Mask than he really needed to. Crimson covers by placing him in a bearhug for a while before hitting a shoulder tackle for two. Now it's a surfboard submission from Mask, and the front of his crazy man costume is starting to rip open, revealing that his build is not quite as good as I first thought. He does fire off a decent sidewalk slam, though, and we've got another nearfall. It's back to the bearhug after that, but O'Shea elbows out. He hits a rebound clothesline as well, but it can't quite get the job done. Now Rick's up top, and he kinda sorta hits a flying clothesline for his next two count. A superkick is blocked by Mask, but O'Shea slips out of the subsequent fireman's carry and hits his superkick again. In a cute spot, Mask feigns doing the Undertaker sit-up spot but just collapses again halfway through it. Now we've got a frog splash from O'Shea, and that wraps this one up.

Match Thoughts: Eh. I liked Crimson Mask a good deal, because he was able to quickly get his gimmick across to the crowd without having it interfere too much in the actual wrestling portion of the match. He did a lot of sold power moves here and reminded me of a smaller, less popular version of TNA's Abyss. He'd probably never be able to make it in a major wrestling promotion, but it's nice to have guys like him on the indies so that not everybody is doing a moveset that they stole from AJ Styles. I didn't like O'Shea nearly as much, truth be told. The majority of his high flying moves wound up being sloppy or flat out missing, and his superkick barely got up past his opponent's waist. This is a man who badly needs to revamp his moveset. *3/4

Match Numero Cuatro: Future Shock vs. Massive Matt Q.

This is what I have dubbed our MAIN EVENT! Q, of course, is our own Matthew Sforcina, though don't tell his indy buddies that, or he'll probably get hazed more than Billy Silverman after a first class plane ride. Actually, looking at the size of the man, I don't know that it would be wise to haze him. I'll certainly start plugging his column more often. He shoves his opponent down to start, though allegations of hair pulling are levied. It's at this point I notice that Matt has "QED" written on the back of his singlet, so apparently he's a big fan of geometric proofs. He hits a standing version of the backdrop suplex, and shoulderblocks also work for our mountain of an internet wrestling columnist. They do not work for his opponent, to the surprise of nobody. A Sforcina clothesline connects as well, but Future Shock bails and has a seat in the crowd. I just realized we're about halfway through the match and that was the first time I referred to Mr. Shock by name. Why? Because he's in there with Sforcina, so nobody else matters. Shocky tries a suplex and a slam when he gets back in to the ring, but that's a blatantly stupid move, and young Matthew does the Andre Ass Smash in the corner. Sidewalk slam number five thousand of the evening connects, and that's the prelude to an avalanche that actually connects. The One Man Gang-esque splash in the center of the ring misses, though, and I guess Shock is going to get in some token offense. He does, landing a dropkick and a legdrop. That turns in to a chop trading session, which Sforcina easily wins before hitting his big splash. It only gets a two count, so apparently he needs to have a few more cheesecakes before he tries that as a finish again. There's another missed avalanche, and Shock rolls Matt up for a three count.

I'm pissed that Q lost . . . not just because he's part of our staff, but also because it robbed me of the chance to use my new catchphrase, "Stick S-forc-in-a, he's done."

Match Thoughts: Well, our man Matthew clearly knows what he's doing. It's evident that he's learned from many of wrestling's past superheavyweights and integrated various parts of their game in to his own repertoire. He's not going to be mistaken for a Bam Bam Bigelow any time soon, but he fits the role and plays the part well enough. As far as the match itself was concerned, it was mainly Sforcina dominating with the odd rollup by his opponent at the end. I would have liked to have seen Mr. Shock get a little bit more offense in so that his victory did not look like such a complete and utter fluke. Unfortunately there was only a 411 writer wrestling on this show and not a 411 writer booking it. *

Well, that does it for my look at the AWF and Matthew Sforcina's wrestling career. Overall, the matches presented were quite good given the size of the promotion and the experience of the wrestlers. The guys weren't quite ready for prime time, but this was an enjoyable way to kill forty minutes, and, if you consider the four individual matches to be "show," it was much more entertaining than a lot of the wrestling webcasts that I've reviewed in the past. (Jersey All Pro, I'm looking at you.) So, if you're interested in seeing what I saw, check out the four matches here, and feel free to learn more about the AWF here.

I'll see you all again in seven days . . . and perhaps I'll even get to the PWG next time. If I do, I'll be sure to review Bayani's performance as an audience member.