Reviews From the City of Orange: 2CW in Syracuse - January 12, 2007

Posted by Mike Campbell on 03.29.2008

Yipee Ki-Ay Fothermucker!

2CW IN SYRACUSE, NY
January 12, 2007

It’s a new year and 2CW is bringing in some new faces, such as “Die Hard” Eddie Edwards and Abyss (to defend the NWA Title). But all is not new, Gordy and Springate still hate each other, The Killer Steves and AMIL are still at each other’s throats, and Isys gets a chance for some revenge on Slyck Wagner Brown.

J.D. Love . . . shows that beneath the large physique and tube top, that he’s actually quite the smart worker.
The Killer Steves . . . continue to bring the goods in the ring when against their hated rivals.
Jason Axe . . . takes some serious steps forward in his quest for ‘The Main Event.’

JASON AXE vs. AJAX 820
This is under ‘Main Event Rules’ which is roughly the same as the famous Duchess of Queensberry match between Regal and Jericho way back when. In a nutshell, the heel gets to make up the rules as he goes along. It starts off with Axe forcing the ring announcer, Bob Foley, to redo the intros, boxing style, and it leads to some funny verbal banter between them. Axe tries to jump Ajax at the bell, but quickly gets himself out wrestled on the mat, and then gets pelted with punches, leading to Axe doing a pretty good Flair flop. They take things to the floor and Axe whips him into the guardrail, but still can’t get anything going. Ajax winds up sending Axe back to the floor and hits a nice tope suicida, and rolls back in at nine, and wins it by count out.

No so fast! It turns out the rules allow a 20 count on the floor, Axe trips up Ajax and starts to work over his knee, and this is when things come together. Axe is ruthless about working the knee over, using a ring post figure four, spinning toe hold, and crab variations, and Ajax’s sell job is one of the best that I’ve seen out of him. Ajax gets the ropes, but is then informed that Main Event Rules only allow for one rope break, and Axe goes right back to work on the leg. In a nice moment, Ajax hits an enzuigiri to try to turn the tide, but like when Axe whipped him into the guardrail, it wasn’t enough. Axe applied yet another half crab, and then changed up to a single leg figure four variation and Ajax had no choice but to tap. The story itself was as simple as can be, but it did its job perfectly. Axe finally gets to stop being the pinball, and show the personality that a serious heel needs to have, while showing that he’s a good enough wrestler to at least partially cash the checks he writes with his mouth.

LOCA VIDA vs. J.D. LOVE
Considering that Loca had won their two previous matches, it’s no surprise to see J.D. pick up the win here, it’s somewhat surprising, although not very surprising, to see them work the match as smart as they do. After the funny shenanigans before the match started with their dance off, they get down to business. They mostly work the match like your typical match between Spike Dudley and Mike Awesome. Loca gets the cream cheese kicked out of him, tries to fight back against the odds, but just doesn’t have it in him, and that’s par for the course here, with that style of match. What’s also par for the course in matches with these two is blistering chops from J.D. Loca indeed, gets lit up like a bonfire, but also hands it back quite well, with some chops to the forehead, and even pulling down the tube top and chopping the ‘sensitive pectorals’ of J.D.

What normally isn’t par for the course, is that this is yet another wisely worked match from these two. In this case it’s J.D. not only playing Goliath to Loca’s David, but actually showing that he’s learned from his mistakes in their previous matches. Loca tries to climb the basketball hoop again, and this time he’s pulled down. Loca tries his famous springboard from guardrail to apron to ring, and gets caught and hit with an Oklahoma Stampede. Loca tries the Bronco Buster and gets kicked low. Finally Loca goes for the Wheelbarrow Bulldog, and gets slammed down and pinned, while J.D. grabs the ropes. The use of the ropes were okay for some heat, but honestly they could have done the same thing without bringing them into play. As tiresome and repetitive as this pairing would become later on, it can’t be said that they didn’t use the time their matches were given wisely.

DIZZIE vs. EDDIE EDWARDS
If nothing else, 2CW could have done a lot worse for Edwards’ debut. The main thing that holds the match back is that Edwards really doesn’t show much as far as personality. Dizzie is part of a babyface stable, but Edwards doesn’t do anything to really make himself come off as either being a heel or a babyface. He gets a babyface reaction from the fans, mostly because he’d started working ROH and had worked several tours with NOAH (just listen to the geek in the Curry Man shirt yell out ‘NOAH!’ during his entrance). So most of the heat he generates is because of the credentials he brings to the table. It’s not like the match is bad, but it’s similar to Dizzie’s match with Slyck a couple of months back, unless one is a hardcore fan of either man, it’s tough to really find an excuse to cheer one over the other.

The only real difference between this and the Slyck/Dizzie match is that they don’t rely on big spots to carry things. They mostly keep the offense simple, and try to make it count. The result being when they do dig out something big, like Eddie’s DDT on the apron or Dizzie’s trademark Fisherman’s driver, it gets that much more reaction and is put over even more. They even work a chinlock so that it means something, with Eddie really cranking, and Dizzie putting it over awesomely, so things result in a rather good back and forth match, where both come out looking good. But again, as good as it is to see them make such a whole hearted effort to make things count, it lacks the personality that would really kick things into the next gear and make people really *care* as to who wins. Sure, Dizzie may be the ‘home team’ since he’s been there since the first show, but it’s not like Eddie is just doing a single shot like The New Age Outlaws or King Kong Bundy did.

The finish works on a certain level, but then falls flat a bit on another. Dizzie getting the win makes sense, he’s the one who’s being pushed as being the singles star of AMIL, and the small package out of nowhere is a good way to do it, since Eddie’s got all the credentials, so it makes Dizzie look good, but doesn’t make Eddie look bad for losing, despite the reputation he brings with him. But the small package shouldn’t have come on the heels of Dizzie wiping out on a splash from the top, especially when Dizzie had already been thrown from the top rope ‘Angle style’ (meaning Eddie ran up the turnbuckles and threw him) not long before. They’d actually had the perfect chance for the finish, when Eddie went for a cross body press and Dizzie rolled through. Despite some of their shortcomings, this is actually quite the good little match, and it helped ‘Die Hard’ earn himself quite the fan following in 2CW.

STEVE KRUZ/STEVE McKENZIE vs. K-PUSHA/K-MURDA
At first glance, this looks like your typical Steves/AMIL match. AMIL catches the Steves in several compromising positions, the Steves take over with an extended control segment, cue the hot tag, all hell breaks loose and the match ends. That is indeed how this winds up playing out, but what’s different about this is that the match features more comedy spots than normal, which is just what everyone needs after the previous match, a big dose of personality. Things start off with a bang, with all four brawling, and McKenzie winds up crawling backwards away from Pusha, and posts himself. Kruz winds up on the receiving end of a double Diamond Cutter and double flat liner, and Pusha does his trademark running back and forth over Kruz, until McKenzie crawls in to protect him and gets the same treatment.

Things start to look up for the Steves when McKenzie hits Murda from behind and they work over his ribs a bit. McKenzie starts things with the front suplex on the ropes, Kruz with the big kick, and then McKenzie with a spear off the apron. Pusha tries to help and he gets chucked to the floor too, but before The Killer Steves can do anything else, it all slips away again. Kruz wants to do a tope onto them, but doesn’t think he can make it through the ropes. McKenzie tries to help him by sitting on the ropes, but it’s taken too long and AMIL trips up McKenzie and Kruz runs into him and basically spears himself. Things don’t get much better when Pusha throws McKenzie into the corner and hits his the swanton headbutt to the grapefruits, Kruz tries to help but gets tripped up and then he too, headbutts McKenzie in the grapefruits.

The Steves do finally take over the match, and work their usually fun southern style heel control segment on Murda. Lots of pounding, lots of double teaming in the corner, illegal stuff behind the ref’s back, and baiting Pusha. It’s funny because they’ve worked the same sort of control segment for each of their matches with AMIL, but it never winds up looking stale, or coming across like they’re just rinsing and repeating the same stuff. It always makes perfect sense and fits the situation, in this case it’s revenge for being made fools of so many times during the match. AMIL manages to work in one last burn on the Steves before all hell breaks loose. Murda winds up on the apron, and surprises a charging Kruz with a lariat and then lariats McKenzie over the top rope into the ring and onto Kruz in a pinning position, leading to Pusha running and counting to three, and then Murda rings the bell. AMIL looks to finish off Kruz with the Wheelbarrow/Jumping X-Factor (which I’ve learned is called ‘Dead Presidents’), but McKenzie knocks Pusha off the top and then Kruz reverses things up and they hit Murda with Dead Presidents for the win. It actually does make sense, AMIL spent too much time going for laughs, and that’s what ultimately did them in, and losing to their own finisher was the perfect exclamation point to that. Much like JD/Loca, while the feud itself seems repetitive and played out, the workers are smart and talented enough to keep things interesting. In fact, thus far the only times the Steves/AMIL matches have failed to deliver has been the various stipulation matches they’ve had, every straight tag match has brought the goods, and this is no exception, in fact this has been the best match yet. ***

GORDY WALLACE vs. ZACHARY SPRINGATE III (Lumberjack Match)
As seems to be the case with the matches in this feud, the stipulation takes a bit away from the match, but as also seems to be the case, there isn’t any shortage of stuff to enjoy here. The best parts are when Gordy is in control, because Springate bumps and sells like a fiend for him. RVD has nothing on Springate when it comes to bumping for a piledriver. When Gordy hits anything, Springate has his flying shoes on and sells like he’s all but dead. The same can’t quite be said for Gordy though, the early portions look just a bit too cooperative. After beating on Springate in the early going, and using his size to his advantage, all it takes is one simple shoulder block for Gordy to go down, and he drops like a safe, and that’s basically what he does when Springate hits anything and he doesn’t really *sell* so much as he just lays motionless.

Being a lumberjack match, Gordy and Springate aren’t the main focus, it’s all the activity on the floor between the lumberjacks (everyone who’d already wrestled tonight is a lumberjack). And there’s several instances of Springate rolling Gordy to the floor for a beat down, and Gordy handing it back later. Segments like that, and the lumberjacks fighting amongst themselves are a bit more often to be found than the fun stuff mentioned above. All hell finally breaks loose with everyone going at it, and J.D. Love throws Springate a lighter and he gets his revenge from the last show by hitting Gordy with a fireball, and drops the Briton Bomb for the win, and then promptly gets out of there. Pretty much a case of the usual here, fun stuff in the ring, with some good booking thrown in as well.

ISYS EPHEX vs. SLYCK WAGNER BROWN
Although this doesn’t hit the same level as their previous match, it’s still a very fun affair. It’s a lot like the Dizzie/Edwards match in the sense that a lot of the offense is kept basic, and they both do a respectable job at making their moves mean something, but this has the bonus of also having some the personality that was lacking in the other match. One trait that carried over from their other match was Isys’ having problems getting any real momentum going. It starts off fairly early here with them trading armdrags, until Slyck puts on the breaks and Isys wind up Flair flopping himself, and getting cradled for a quick two count. A few minutes later, Isys sucks up some forearms and asks for more, but cheap shots Slyck with a thumb to the eye, but before Isys can make the most of it, Slyck gets ready to light him up with some chops and then thumbs Isys in the eye in return. After a skirmish on the floor, Isys tries to catch Slyck with an elbow when he rolls in, but Slyck again puts on the breaks and Isys misses and then gets taken over with a slingshot arm drag. The only time Isys gets one over on Slyck isn’t until the very end, when Slyck misses the blind charge and Isys rolls him up with feet on the ropes for the win. Some would complain about the less than squeaky clean ending, but it worked perfectly in this particular context.

Slyck and Isys both stick to pretty basic offense during their control segments, but there are still a good number of big spots sprinkled throughout the match, but they’re not all hit very cleanly. The biggest offender in this regard is Slyck’s big dive, which saw him overshoot Isys and land him in the second row. Isys’ big spot that finally got him control of the match was a sort of Tiger driver into backbreaker, but looked pretty ugly. The aforementioned slingshot armdrag also could have been a bit cleaner. But the blown spots don’t hold the match back very much, if at all. What really holds this back, at least to me, is that the storytelling stuff is dropped after the armdrag spot, and wouldn’t be seen again until the very end. So the middle portion of this is really just like the Dizzie/Edwards match. Nothing actively bad, and technically sound, but lacking in the personality of making one cheer one over the other, unless one is a big fan of either of them(and in this case, they’ve both got lots of fans so there is plenty of heat). So in a nutshell, we’ve got a good opening, and a good ending, but are lacking something meaningful in the middle other than solid wrestling and big spots.

ABYSS © vs. BROTHER RUNT (NWA World Heavyweight Title)
In some ways, this is surprising. It’s Spike and Abyss in an anything goes match, so you know what to expect going in, and in that regard, they live up to expectations. After seeing Spike as the usual aggressor in his 2CW matches, it’s almost fresh to see the shoe on the other foot. There’s not a damn thing Spike can do to Abyss, and they both know it. Spike only real offense on Abyss is his reversal of the knuckle lock, which he follows up by biting his fingers. Other than that, the only time things look up for Spike, are when Abyss attempts something and comes up short, such as the avalanche that gets a table, or the Earthquake drop that meets a chair in the groin. The rest of the time, it’s all Abyss beating the pulp out of Spike, and they make sure to work in the Acid Drop gone wrong spot (in this case Spike meets post), and Spike also takes a table bump. It’s also not a Spike Dudley match in 2CW without him getting on the microphone, he starts off pretty good actually, telling Abyss that he may be the NWA World Champion, but they aren’t in TNA, this is 2CW. Of course ten seconds later he’s name-dropping Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett.

There are things that happen here, that one wouldn’t expect. Such as Spike actually trying to go toe to toe with Abyss, and it’s actually Spike who asks for the test of strength knuckle lock. There’s also, surprisingly, some comedy involved. When they first lock up and Abyss shoves Spike down, he accuses Abyss of pulling the hair. A bit later on, Spike tries for a cross body press and Abyss, naturally, is unaffected. It’s not a Spike match without the table bump, attempted Acid drop, and quasi shoot promos, and it’s not an Abyss match without thumbtacks, but it’s not Abyss who brings them into play, it’s Spike. Spike spreads the tacks and gets ready to attempt to use them, when Jason Axe comes out and accuses Spike of hogging the spotlight, and telling him to step aside so that others can be in the Main Event. Spike goes after Axe, Axe runs away from Spike, and Spike runs into a Black Hole Slam on the tacks and it’s over. The undercard itself was fairly tame, which made some of the craziness feel that much more special, and while the match was mostly what you’d expect with the participants, they still added in a couple of twists to keep things interesting, not to mention taking a couple of more steps to further do something special with Jason Axe.

The 411: 2CW continues to deliver the goods with using wrestling as the entertainment. There were a couple of bumps in the road this time around, but nothing horrible, and the good far outweighed the not-so-good. I can safely recommend this show.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]