Break It Down: JAPW Unfinished Business

Posted by Ryan Rozanski on 10.26.2009

Jay Lethal and Dan Maff do battle in a match four years in the making.

Opening Match: JAPW Tag Team Titles: Azrieal © vs. Corvis Fear and Myke Quest
Dixie, Azrieal's partner, is nowhere to be found. Azrieal dodges a charge from Quest, sending him to the outside. He proceeds to hip toss Fear over the top rope and onto Quest. Azrieal misses a baseball slide and the Garden State Gods take over. Azrieal hits a low blow behind the referee's back on Fear and connects with a yakuza kick. He tries a series of quick pins and hits an ace crusher on Quest. Azrieal hits a top rope double stomp on Fear but walks into a low blow from Quest. Quest gets Azrieal in a small package and the Garden State Gods become the new JAPW Tag Team Champions at 8:38. This was about what you would expect given the circumstances. I'm not a huge fan of doing a title change in a situation like this, but the Garden State Gods have impressed me from what I have seen of them and deserve the belts. The follow up booking is what counts here. **


Dan Maff cuts an intense promo about his title match tonight. He was born ready for moments like this. Jay Lethal better leave Black Machismo down south because Maff wants Lethal's best tonight.

The Garden State Gods mention that it may or may not have been their fault that Dixie didn't wrestle. They say winning the belts make them "the best around". Elsewhere, Azrieal is mad at management for letting the match happen.


Match #2: Jay Briscoe vs. Grim Reefer
Reefer is a student of Homicide's, so he naturally wants revenge on the Hillbilly Wrecking Crew for what happened at Wildcard 5. Reefer connects with a dropkick through the ropes. Briscoe catches him with a superkick to gain the advantage. Briscoe hits a flatliner into the turnbuckles. Reefer interrupts a springboard attempt and hits a russian leg sweep from the middle rope. He follows with a springboard senton but gets caught with a lariat. Reefer suplexes Briscoe to the floor. He tries a springboard off the guardrail but Briscoe throws a chair at him, which sends him flying into the crowd. Back in, Briscoe controls until Reefer catches him in a crossface. Brodie Lee interferes to break the hold and cause a no contest at 8:56. Frustrating finish, mainly because the match was moving along nicely. They were well-versed to trade big moves and I was really getting into the match when the no contest occurred. I liked that Reefer's connection to Homicide was made clearly known, as at least storylines are being built upon. **

The Hillbilly Wrecking Crew continue the attack until Jay Lethal makes the save. Lethal gets overwhelmed until Dan Maff comes to his aid. Lethal and Maff stare each other down.


Match #3: Danny Demanto vs. Archadia
The winner of this match gets a shot at the NJ State Title. Archadia yanks Demanto from the middle rope and connects with a dropkick. He follows with a running knee but Demanto answers with a bulldog. Demanto spins Archadia around for a samoan drop and hits a release overhead suplex for a two count. Archadia finds an opening to land a springboard dropkick. Demanto hits a backbreaker but his leg gives out when he tries a moonsault. Archadia hits a nasty piledriver for the win at 8:30. The match was going along fine and then the injury happened. Injuries are always unfortunate. However, (and maybe this is just me not seeing enough of Demanto) I hope this is a lesson to Demanto that he should not be trying moves out of his realm of possibility. *½

As Demanto is carried away, he starts talking to a fan holding the old JAPW NJ State Title. Apparently the belt was put online for sale. He asks the fan where he got it and the fan replies "I bought it". Demanto slaps the fan and takes the belt away. The fan jumps the guardrail but security holds him back. That was kind of awesome and totally unexpected.


Match #4: Bruce Maxwell and TJ Cannon vs. Christian Faith and Vincent Nothing
Nothing controls Maxwell early by taking the action to the mat. Cannon snaps off a slingshot hurricanrana on Faith followed by some armdrags. Faith responds with a boot and Faith In Nothing utilize some double teaming on Cannon. Maxwell uses Cannon as a battering ram to throw at Nothing on the outside. Back in, Cannon lands a top rope hurricanrana on Faith followed by a slingshot shoulder block from Maxwell. Faith In Nothing regain the advantage after Faith back drops Cannon into a kick. Cannon is isolated until he hits a DDT on Faith and makes the tag. Maxwell connects with a springboard kick on Nothing and Cannon follows with a senton off Maxwell's back. Faith hits a corner kick on Cannon and a gory special chinbreaker on Maxwell. Maxwell hits a chinbreaker on Nothing followed by a shooting star press double stomp from Cannon for the victory at 13:06. I'm a fan of Faith In Nothing as I think they are solid workers with a unique dynamic. This was a decent showcase for both teams held back by some sloppiness. The Best Around move onto a title match at the next show while Faith In Nothing put in a good performance here and I hope they are brought back in the near future. **½


Match #5: JAPW Light Heavyweight Title: Prince Mustafa Ali © vs. Flip Kendrick
They have a nice exchange of reversals and then trade pin attempts. Kendrick lands some armdrags along with a standing moonsault. Ali catches him with a superkick and takes control. Kendrick flips Ali out of his boston crab attempt. Ali misses a charge and collides with the ringpost, sending him to the floor. Kendrick follows out with a dive. Ali blindsides Kendrick with a kick but gets irish whipped into the front row. Kendrick goes to dive into the crowd but Ali stops him with a clothesline. They battle over a suplex and Ali gets crotched on the ringpost. Back in, Kendrick hits an overhead suplex but Ali blocks a top rope move. Ali lands a senton on Kendrick, who was draped over the top rope, for a two count. Kendrick is able to hit a middle rope reverse hurricanrana but misses a 540 spinal tap. Ali misses the Weapon of Mass Destruction. Ali tries a pin attempt with his feet on the ropes but Kendrick reverses into a pin attempt of his own to become the new JAPW Light Heavyweight Champion at 14:03. All things considered, this was a fun spotfest and the crowd was hot for Kendrick. They started out with some well-done reversals and transitioned into the high spots. There were some mistimed spots throughout but they did a pretty good job considering the amount of moves being performed. This ended up being a lot of fun and hopefully Ali is brought back at some point. ***


Match #6: Necro Butcher and Brodie Lee vs. Monsta Mac and Havok
Necro attacks the ring announcer because he can. The Heavy Hitters charge the ring and everyone starts brawling. Mac uses a chain to attack Lee while Necro utilizes a crutch against Havok. Necro uses a plastic bag to try to suffocate Mac. That spot means less and less the more you do it. The action spills out into the crowd. Lee tosses Havok outside of the building but Havok comes back in with a traffic cone. Sick spot as Lee just hurls Mac into the bleachers. Necro tries to throw Havok over the guardrail but it just collapses. Necro rams a coat rack into Havok. Mac dives off some bleachers onto Lee and launches a table at him. Necro takes Havok outside and throws him against a wall of the building. Everyone eventually makes it back into the ring where the Hillbilly Wrecking Crew are in control. They hit a chair slam on Mac and work him over. Mac finds an opening and offers Necro a punch contest. Lee interrupts with a boot and Necro bulldogs Havok onto a chair on the outside. Havok throws Necro from the apron to the floor and the Heavy Hitters stage a comeback. They hit a double military press on Lee. Mac connects with a lariat on Necro for a two count. He follows with a top rope splash onto Lee for another nearfall. Necro sends Mac to the outside and takes out the referee. Havok hits a samoan drop on Lee but there's no one to count the pin attempt. Jay Briscoe interferes and lays out Havok with the Jay Driller. Lee covers Havok for the win at 21:46. The early crowd brawling was passable as they somewhat got creative with their surroundings. The big problem I have here is the finish. In theory, it's a fine finish to put heat on the Hillbilly Wrecking Crew. However, why drag the match out with an elongated heat segment when a screwy finish is going to follow. It's not like they were building to some extravagant finishing stretch, so I don't see why the match needed to include the heat segment. This match was just too long for what they were trying to accomplish. *½


Match #7: JAPW NJ State Title: Eddie Kingston © vs. Bandido Jr.
Kingston lays out Bandido with a belt shot before the bell. I love that spot, as technically it isn't a disqualification because the bell didn't ring. Kingston catches Bandido with a double underhook suplex and connects with some headbutts. Bandido reverses a powerbomb attempt into a reverse hurricanrana. He follows with a backcracker and a tornado DDT. Bandido misses a charge and collides with the referee. Kingston hits the Backfist to the Future for a nearfall. Kingston attempts a chair shot but gets caught with a superkick. Bandido utilizes the chair, busting Kingston open, and follows with another superkick for a two count. Bandido sends Kingston to the floor and follows out with a dive. Back in, Kingston lays out Bandido with brass knuckles for a nearfall. I thought that was it. Kingston catches Bandido off the top with a powerbomb and follows with a running forearm to retain his title at 8:11. Why this was the shortest match on the show is way beyond me. They almost went straight to the finishing stretch from the opening bell. These two showed last month that they are capable of some good back and forth. I wish that this match would have got the time to build to the nearfalls. Instead, we got them right away. This was as good as it could be, considering the duration. **¾

Bandido says that this feud is not over. Elsewhere, Kingston admits that he tried to use a chair and brass knuckles…but he won.


Jay Briscoe attacks Jay Lethal on his way to the ring for his title defense. They brawl in the ring and Lethal clotheslines him over the top rope. Maff sneaks a rollup to become the new JAPW World Heavyweight Champion…BUT WAIT!!! It is ruled that the match did not officially start. The opening bell is now rung, leading to…

Match #8: JAPW World Heavyweight Title: Jay Lethal © vs. Dan Maff
These two had a feud emerging in 2005 but Maff left the company before it really got going. Lethal wastes no time, landing a dive to the outside onto Maff. Maff quickly gets the upper hand and answers with a dive of his own. He whips Lethal into the guardrail. Back in, Lethal controls until Maff catches him and hits a military press followed by a senton. Lethal comes back with a dropkick and manages to gain the advantage. Maff catches him with a belly to back suplex. He chops Lethal off the apron and into the guardrail. In the ring, Lethal tries to clothesline Maff out of the ring to no avail. On the second try, Maff blindsides Lethal with a spear. They clothesline each other and both men are on the mat. They get up and stare each other down to dueling chants from the crowd. Lethal wins a strike exchange but gets tripped up on a springboard attempt. Maff tries his corner cannonball but gets met with a kick from Lethal along with a superkick. Maff catches Lethal and suplexes him into the turnbuckles. He is now able to hit his corner cannonball followed by a big lariat for a two count. Lethal escapes a burning hammer attempt and flatlines Maff into the turnbuckles. Lethal snaps off a top rope hurricanrana and adds a diving headbutt for a nearfall. Maff ducks a clothesline and hits a german suplex along with a half nelson suplex for a two count. Lethal is able to escape a top rope burning hammer attempt. Lethal comes off the top and DDTs Maff to retain his title at 21:40. JAPW spent a lot of time hyping this match and it definitely delivered. The nice part about the match is that Lethal and Maff worked hard to show that there is some well-documented history between them (thankfully there's a nicely put together video package before the match). The booking beforehand was solid in that it allowed for an energetic and intense beginning portion to the match. The one flaw to me comes when both men are just trading moves after the action goes into the ring. At that point, the match was hard to get into at times. Thankfully, that all changed down the stretch. Lethal showed how good of a wrestler he is by timing his fighting spirit spots perfectly. Maff was effective in his reactions as well, and you can tell that these two have a lot of chemistry. There were some believable nearfalls and they led up to a smart finish. Lethal won with the same move he used to beat Maff back in 2005. I loved this match and it's the best I've seen from JAPW thus far. ****

The Hillbilly Wrecking Crew attack Lethal after the match. Some of the locker room tries to make the save to no avail. Necro gets on the mic and calls out Maff. Maff fights off the HWC until Trevor Murdoch makes his JAPW debut and lays him out. The HWC, along with their new member, stand tall to end the show.

Lethal says that victory is supposed to be sweet, but tonight it wasn't. He grants Maff a rematch at the next show, knowing that the Hillbilly Wrecking Crew won't be there.

Maff is not happy. He knows he can beat Lethal, in fact he did it tonight. The title was taken away from him. At International Invasion, there will be no interruptions.

The 411: Unfinished Business features a simply average card until the spectacular main event tries to save the show. Kendrick and Ali have a fun spotfest that reinforces how solid the light heavyweight division is in JAPW. I had high hopes for Kingston and Bandido, but the short duration of the match held it back from being anything special. However, "special" is a great word to describe the main event. Maff and Lethal put on a spectacular contest that truly is the best I've seen from this promotion. The rest of the card doesn't feature anything of interest and a lot of the matches were used to advance storylines. Unfortunately, the main event cannot totally save the show here, although it came very close to doing so.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]