Gordo, the wizard of id, Reviews
Living Legends Wrestling Academy
Open House Show, April 29/06
Unit 13 – Hamilton, Ontario
Bell time: 7 pm Admission: Free
The Advertised Card:
Hustle ‘N Flow (Alex York & Sean Cassidy) vs Corey Mason & Jay
Phoenix
Sean Inferno vs Kex
Wraith & Mark Shaw vs Kris Law & Logan Savage
Rip Impact & Cody Shore vs Prodigy & Timothy Dalton vs Steve
Brown & Adam Reed vs Matt Bison & Jeff Flury
Justin Sane vs Big Smoke
Beauty & The Beast (HHV & Danny Magnum) w/Kyle Davenport vs St. Stephan Elias & Snapdragon
Plus: A HUGE Announcement from the LLWA Commissioner
The Venue: Unit
13 hasn’t changed much since Mrs Id
and I took in the NSW show there a few weeks back. It’s still in need of some
paint and they haven’t knocked down any walls so there’s still only seating
room on three sides of the ring. Still, with a 100 fans clustered around, it
makes for an intimate wrestling experience. Thankfully, most of the LLWA fans
bathe regularly so it doesn’t get too thick during the evening when the action
heats up. LLWA officials tell me Unit 13 is a work in progress and plans are to
make it into a shrine of sorts to the great legends of the past and the stars
of tomorrow.
The HUGE
Announcement: Ernie “The
Executioner” Moore, co-owner of LLWA and Hammerlock Productions entered the
ring and announced the presence of a special guest: veteran Duncan McTavish! A lot of youngsters
might not have heard the name before but I marked out big time! Duncan,
carrying a trophy and plague left his ringside seat and made his way to the
ring. Now, Duncan’s getting up
there and could legitimately be called an old guy so when he tripped on a
ringside mat and took a tumble, the fans let out a collective gasp of horror.
He shrugged it off and said “I’m still taking bumps!” before joining Moore
in the ring. Duncan took the stick
and announced that LLWA had initiated an annual award to go to the student who
best exemplified the spirit and dedication to pro wrestling that the Academy
was trying to uphold. The trophy, formally called the Jack Wentworth & Al Spittle award is a nice looking piece of
hardware and Duncan called Scotty O’Shea to the ring to receive
the honor. Needless to say, the place went nuts as Scotty is one of the most
popular guys working out of Unit 13. O’Shea graciously accepted his award and
seemed genuinely moved by the honor. Duncan
then presented a plague to Ernie Moore commemorating his accomplishments and
dedication to wrestling.
At this point, LLWA commissioner, Ricky Stardust, entered the ring and announced that as of June 1st
there will be no more free evening shows from LLWA. This brought a collective
groan from the fans but hearing that the exhibition shows would run Saturday
mornings helped mollify them. Stardust then announced that Living Legends
Wrestling would be “legit, bonded, insured and running monthly shows” as of
June 1st. LLW has reached a working agreement with NSW and the two
promotions will run shows together every other month. This news brought an “L.
L. Dub N. S. Dub” chant and everyone seemed happy at the news, even though
Stardust said they would be paying for their tickets from now on.
Suddenly, LLW Champion, Devon Parkside
entered the ring to piss on the parade. He ripped on the “inbred hicks” in
attendance for getting in free and declared that he was a true professional
because he worked for feds that actually paid for his services. (He worked UWA
the night before.) At his exclamation that LLW was “garbage” a large group of
angry faced LLWA students gathered on the entrance ramp. Stardust kept them
from entering the ring and asked Parkside if he just disregarded the LLW title.
Parkside replied “This title is a God-damned joke” and threw the belt to the
mat. Stardust exclaimed “No other fed will touch a prick who walks out on his
obligations” and announced that Parkside was booked to wrestle and he would
face Scotty O’Shea and James Gracey in a 3-way dance in the main event.
Parkside said he didn’t need to fight anybody but hearing that he could add any
stipulation he wanted if he won the match, he agreed to wrestle and he and
Stardust shook on it. Stardust then added a stip of his own by announcing that
it would be a lunmberjack match. This made everyone but Parkside happy.
<
Beauty & The
Beast (HHV & Danny Magnum) w/Kyle Davenport vs St.
Stephen Elias & Snapdragon – The heels made their usual grand
entrance with HHV once again exclaiming to the world how desirable he is. (He
also made a pass at Mrs Id again.) Elias & the masked Snapdragon were
greeted with cheers. HHV and Elias started things off and the comedy came fast.
Apparently, HHV had so much baby oil on him that it was impossible for Elias to
secure a hold. He settled for a solid kick to the ass while HHV jawed with
fans. A double tag saw Snapdragon initiate a test of strength with the much
larger Magnum with predictable results. Snapdragon started a speedy flip, flop
and fly offense while Elias demonstrated his
lucha skills by performing awkward summersaults at ringside. Magnum delivered
an impressive one-handed press slam and a big legdrop but missed a corner
charge, giving Snapdragon an opportunity to tag out. Elias and Magnum settled
into a back and forth battle which eventually saw Magnum’s power give him the
edge. Beauty and The Beast then settled in to some old school heel tag team
tactics with multiple ref distractions, double teams and interference from Davenport
keeping them in control. Elias managed to weather the assault and he and Snapdragon
began using the same tactics on their opponents. Snapdragon hit an array of
high flying maneuvers including a beautiful jumping ‘rana
to HHV while the bad guy was sitting on the turnbuckles. Frustrated at his team
being overwhelmed, Davenport slid a
chair into the ring but Elias grabbed it and waffled Magnum with it, allowing
Snapdragon to get the pin for the victory. Seemingly unaffected by the loss,
HHV pointed out all the ladies in the audience he would be with later in the
night while his partner seethed. The bad guys hugged and made up, then left to
the jeers of the crowd. A good, fast paced opener with tons of comedy from HHV
& Elias and lots of flippity-do spots from Snapdragon. Personally, I’d like
to see The Beast, Danny Magnum, unleashed on the singles ranks. This guy’s got
some impressive skills and power.
The Next Match –
The lovely Sapphire entered the ring to announce that “The Talent” Dan Morris
was filming a movie in Toronto and
would not be gracing Unit 13 with his presence. Some guy who I’ve never seen,
accompanied by a girl (Who I later learned was called Mercy) entered the ring
and called Sapphire a skank which earned him a slap in the face. The other girl
jumped her and a rolling cat-fight ensued. While the girls fought their way to
the back another guy, dressed in street clothes, attacked the first guy.
Neither was announced but the bell rang and a ref showed up so I guess the
match was on. Both of these guys, whoever they are, are about as green as it
gets and that was evident in their performance. Everybody needs to get
experience in front of a live crowd and doing so in front of the LLWA faithful
is about the least hostile environment a couple of rookies could ask for,
although the crowd was pretty quiet.
Maybe if the performers had been introduced there would have been more
interest. As to the match itself… these
guys were nervous, and it showed, but they knuckled down, worked through the
routine, didn’t hurt each other and seemed to have a good time until one guy
eventually pinned the other and that was that. (Note: I have since learned that
their names were Chet Rockwell and Johnny Newman.)
Kex vs Sean
Inferno – Inferno bills himself as “The Pride of Scotland” but he
doesn’t wear a kilt and has no Scottish accent so that might be a stretch of
gimmick there. He’s got some size but he’s not huge by any measure. Standing
next to the 131lb Kex however, he looked like a freakin’ giant. Kex and his
stick are popular with the LLWA fans and his best attribute as near as I can
tell, is his ability to make every move his opponent makes look like it kills
him. The last time I saw Kex, he was getting the shit kicked out of him by a
woman so I figured he was in for a beating. I was right. Initially, Kex
frustrated Inferno by avoiding most of his offense and then landing an
enzeguri. Unfortunately, he lost his belt on the move and almost his pants too.
This gave Inferno the chance to land a clubbing clothesline followed by a
chinlock. Kex avoided a charge into the
corner and The Pride of Scotland hammered himself into the post and fell from
the ring. Kex nailed a sweet little bulldog from the apron to the floor and
then whipped Inferno into the post. Back inside, Inferno suckered Kex into an
eye poke by begging for mercy and then proceeded to lay the beat down on his
slender foe. At one point, with Kex discombobulated in the corner, Inferno
stole his Pixie dust and tossed it aside. Kex responded with a minor rally but
in short order, inferno rolled him up and got the pin
with a handful of tights. This match was better than I thought it would be but
the outcome was never really in doubt despite Kex kicking out of multiple pin
attempts during the extended beatdown in the middle of the encounter. Like the
one before it, this match generated little response from the fans. Things got a
lot noisier during the next match.
Spike Hammer
w/Jeff Flury & Matt Bison vs “Showtime” Brett Scholl w/Scotty O’Shea,
Timothy Dalton, Prodigy & Rob Wood - Scholl came to the ring in a neck
brace and giant Elton John style glasses. Calling the fans a bunch of “stupid
marks” he launched into a hilarious promo about being too injured to wrestle,
only to loose his neck brace and have his ruse discovered. Scholl’s a big guy
(about 260 – 270) and he plays the cowardly heel perfectly. His opponent, Spike
Hammer is a LARGE guy wearing red coveralls. It looked like Scholl was facing a
small barn. As could be expected, the assorted allies of the two provided a
raucous comedy show at ringside throughout the match. Flury and Bison never
shut up and they and Hammer would sporadically break into song while Scholl’s
group played the four stooges with Wood being all the Marx brothers rolled into
one. Eventually, a wrestling match broke out and it was a ripper! Scholl
outwrestled Hammer in the first couple of minutes and hit 3 quick 2 counts in a
row. At the first sign of offense from Hammer, Showtime bailed to the outside
and stalled. Upon his return, Hammer kicked the rope into his nuts and began
dominating the action. A huge running dive into the corner left Scholl reeling
and a 2 count followed Hammer’s big leg drop. After an exchange of chops,
Hammer hit a suplex for another 2. Scholl was backflipped over the ropes and
Hammer did a suicide dive through the ropes onto him, which got a huge pop from
the crowd. Scholl was first up though and nailed a snap suplex on the floor
before rolling his heavier opponent back in for a 2 count. Turning a bulldog
into a neckbreaker and delivering a side suplex into the buckles seemed to put
Scholl back in solid control. He scaled the ropes but his assorted cohorts
talked him down to the first rope (because everyone knows he’s too clumsy to
come off the top.) Scholl tried a crossbody from the bottom rope but Hammer
caught him easily and slammed him to the mat for the 3 count. This match
reinvigorated the crowd. Hammer has some amazing agility for a big man and he
and Scholl matched up well. The match succeeded in spite of the assorted
seconds, thirds and fourths at ringside; not because of them.
<
Spike Hammer vs Brett
Scholl
Kris Law &
Logan Savage vs Mark Shaw & Wraith w/The Freak – Wraith took Savage
down with a low blow before the bell, so Law started the match for his team. He
and Wraith traded mat wrestling and strikes before a mistake by Wraith saw Law
gain solid control. When Wraith managed to tag Shaw in, the contest became more
of a slugfest but Law again gained the edge and tagged in the recovered Savage.
Savage pounded away on Shaw until double team tactics started wearing him down.
For the next 5 minutes the heels had their way with Savage as a frustrated Law
kept distracting the ref with his attempts to aid his partner. Savage managed
the occasional power move but Wraith and Shaw continued their assault with The
Freak lending the occasional hand. Law finally got the tag and cleaned house
with viscous elbow strikes but his eagerness cost him when he telegraphed a
move and Wraith and Shaw doubled up on him. Wraith locked on a submission but
Savage was quick to break it up. Law rolled to the outside while his partner
was attacked and tossed outside by Wraith and Shaw. They gave Law a double
suplex on the floor and then Shaw came off the top onto the other three who
were battling at ringside. The heels dragged Law into the ring and were setting
up for a double top rope suplex when Savage re-entered the ring and powerbombed
both guys from the corner. Law landed a missile dropkick on Wraith and Savage
hit him with a slingshot powerbomb to get the pinfall. This was not a great
match. It wasn’t even a good one. Some people might even say it stunk. There
were problems and mistakes throughout. “Blown spots” as the smarks like to say.
At one point the match practically ground to a halt when the ref saw a tag I
think he was supposed to miss. There was a lot of confusion and they basically
rewound it and tried again. I spoke to a couple of the participants later and
they certainly weren’t happy with the match or their efforts. Mistakes happen
all the time. Even in Wrestlemania main events. The difference is, veterans know how to improvise on the fly or cover the
unexpected. That’s not a skill you can learn in wrestling school. You have to
develop that under fire. It’s nice that places like LLWA exist so young
wrestlers can make these mistakes without a bunch of idiots chanting “You
fucked up” every time something goes wrong. I’ll give these guys credit; they
were dying out there, but they sucked it up and did the best they could to
salvage the match. I respect that.
Big Smoke vs Justin
Sane – Big Smoke was the heavier and more powerful of the two but
Justin Sane was the quicker by far and dominated the early action before Smoke
hit a spinebuster. He followed that with a bodyslam and a lazy standing two
count. Smoke delivered a delayed vertical suplex and a serious pin attempt that
Justin Sane escaped. Smoke whipped Sane from corner to corner, following with a
running dive each time. He went to the well once too often though and Sane
caught him with an elbow coming in. Sane whipped Smoke into the ropes and
delivered a wicked running kick. A second whip saw him nail Smoke with a
running lariat which put the bigger man down. Justin Sane ran up the entrance
ramp and then came sprinting back, flipped over the top rope and delivered a
double stomp to Smoke’s gut. Smoke managed to recover somewhat but Sane
countered his suplex attempt with an inside cradle for the pin. A definite
match of the night candidate. The crowd was totally into the match and popped
huge for Sane’s flipping double stomp over the top rope. Short but sweet.
Timothy Dalton &
Prodigy w/Brett Scholl vs Matt Bison & Jeff Flury w/Spike Hammer vs Rip
Impact & Cody Shore w/Snapdragon vs Steve Brown & Adam Reed w/Mercy –
As you might expect, It was impossible to scribble notes fast enough to keep up
with the action in this match. With 12 bodies in and around the ring, there was
just too much going on to follow it all. Personally, I’d rather have seen two
separate tag matches instead of an 8 man tag. There were lots of comedy spots
in the early stages with Reed continuing his rolling hammerlock spot long after
Shore had released the hold being the funniest. Plenty of good match wrestling
sequences kept things in line but the continued interference of the various
“managers” had the ref going in circles. He finally sent a few of them to the
back but that did little to help him maintain any sense of order. Naturally,
double teams and fast tags were the norm but there were some very cool moments.
Rip Impact was in the ring the longest, facing just about everyone else. His
performance was the core of the encounter and the best showing I’ve ever seen
from him. He’s another guy I’d like to see move on from multiple man encounters
to make his mark in singles action. The highlight of the match (and there were
lots of them) was Brown and Reed holding impact stretched between their
shoulders as Dalton delivered a top rope double stomp to his mid-section. The
action spilled in and out of the ring until Brown missed a dive at Impact and
squashed the official. Dalton
missed a 450 splash from the top directed at Impact, then he and Prodigy got
into an argument with Brown and Reed while two more officials entered the ring.
Eventually, the match ended with a double pin – Flury on Impact and Shore on
Bison. The original ref declared the whole thing a clusterfuck. Oops! I mean a
no contest. The fans were raucous and loud throughout the match but the two
loudest individuals were Flury and Bison. Frankly, their antics took away from
the other wrestlers. In one instance, Impact and Reed were delivering an
amazing sequence in the ring but those two yokels were hamming it up so much on
the apron that a lot of fans were watching them instead of the match. Flury in
particular acted like a glory hound the whole match. Now, there’s a time to
build heat and there’s a time to shut the fuck up and let others do their
thing. Flury and Bison should learn that because their little display of vocal
histrionics and mugging showed little respect for the others. It’s too bad,
because the other 6 guys all delivered performances worthy of praise, with
Impact, Shore and Reed really showcasing their skills. Brown knew when to turn
it on and when to stand down and Dalton
impressed as well. Flury and Bison pissed on this match by acting more like
smark fans than wrestlers; the other 6 guys deserved better than that. And so
did the fans. (It should be noted that Flury and Bison did contribute some
exciting and well wrestled action when they were in the ring.)
Hustle ‘N Flow (Alex
York & Sean Cassidy) vs Corey Mason & Jay Phoenix – York
and Phoenix started things off with
some nice back and forth action. Phoenix
was the larger and had the power advantage but York’s
speed evened it up. They traded the advantage and multiple pin attempts before
they both pinned the ref in the only comedy spot in the match. Mason and
Cassidy locked up next and worked through a very smooth sequence of armbars and
counters with some very creative pin attempts by both. They soon got into a
chop fest which saw Mason gain the edge. He hung Cassidy in the tree of woe and
punished him there for a bit before locking in a leg submission attempt.
Cassidy reversed it and then it was Mason struggling to the ropes to break the
hold. Phoenix tagged in but lost
the advantage when Cassidy nailed a springboard dropkick. York
entered the ring and laid in some big kicks to Phoenix’s
back and then he and Cassidy cut off the ring with quick tags, keeping Phoenix
on the defensive. When he finally made the tag, Mason came in with a sweet
running knee to Cassidy but soon fell victim to the combined assault of York
and Cassidy. Phoenix attempted the
save but he and his partner found themselves trapped in a double submission
attempt. York blasted Mason with a
double knee strike in the corner and then once again Hustle ‘N Flow doubled up
their attack. Phoenix finally
tagged in but York’s speed and
striking attack had him on his heels. From out of nowhere, Phoenix
blasted York with a lungblower
followed by another, which he held so Mason could deliver a top rope splash
while York was stretched across the
knees of Phoenix. York
fought back and the match turned into a 4-way scramble that saw all 4 guys hit
tons of big moves. Cassidy nailed a big kick to Phoenix’s
face and all 4 guys were down when the bell rang, signaling a 15 minute draw.
The fans cheered all the wrestlers, as they had done throughout this match-up
with no real heels, and the two teams had a group hug and mutual show of
respect. This was the match of the night.
A very entertaining, hard hitting, 15 minutes of solid ground work and
incredibly fast high flying strikes and dives. A tip of the wizard hat to all 4
guys!
<
Phoenix & Mason Squash York
3-Way Lumberjack Match: James Gracey vs Scotty O’Shea vs Devon Parkside – The LLWA locker room emptied as the lumberjacks
assembled around the ring. Well, actually, most of them gathered on one side
because of a lack of room on the other three sides. Parkside was the obvious
target of taunts and cheers from the fans who were still buzzing from the
previous encounter. Gracey and O’Shea both attacked Parkside right at the
start. He managed to hold his own and dumped both his opponents to the outside.
The lumberjacks did nothing; just stood back and let them re-enter of their own
accord. Seconds later, when it was Parkside tossed to ringside, they swarmed
him like starving dogs on a chicken carcass, pummeling and stomping him before
tossing him back inside. Gracey & O’Shea worked as a tandem to beat on the
former LLWA Exhibition Champion but trouble started when it came time for the
pin. O’Shea and Gracey’s verbal exchange turned to blows and the match became a
3-way in earnest. All 3 guys traded big moves and pin attempts before Parkside
was once again knocked from the ring. As before, the gathered lumberjacks took
glee in stomping him senseless. When he made it back inside, the other two hit
him with a double sunset flip before once again fighting each other. O’Shea
nailed Gracey with a superplex from the top and Parkside quickly rolled up
O’Shea for a 2 count. Parkside kicked Gracey from the ring but the Lumberjacks
helped him up and let him return without throwing a single punch his way, much
to the delight of the crowd. Parkside started turning up the offense with a
double stomp and senton on O’Shea but Gracey broke up the pin and once again
Parkside found himself outside and swarmed. O’Shea gained an advantage on
Gracey in the ring but Parkside delivered a double stomp to break up his
bridged pin attempt. Parkside then used a double stomp on Gracey to springboard
onto O’Shea. The advantage continued to shift from man to man as all three hit
high impact maneuvers. Finally, Gracey was dumped out on the side of the ring
where Danny Magnum served as the sole lumberjack. He absolutely squashed Gracey
then delivered a piledriver to the concrete floor. Parkside was flat on the mat
inside the ring and O’Shea, for some reason, dove off the top rope onto the
main group of lumberjacks. (I didn’t see the build up to that move as I was
watching Magnum kill Gracey on the opposite side of the ring.) The ref counted
Gracey and O’Shea out and awarded the match to Parkside. The fans and assorted
wrestlers stared in disbelief as Parkside gloated in the ring. He grabbed the
mic and announced the stipulation he had just decided on. Ladies and gentlemen,
meet your new LLW commissioner,
Devon Parkside! He then proceeded to tell the assembled wrestlers that they
would be answering to him and he had plenty of nasty surprises in store. This
was a very entertaining match and all three guys brought their A-game. Gracey
in particular, was very impressive and I hope the action between him and Magnum
(which continued after the bell) signals the start of a singles program between
them. That would leave LLW’s most hated heel, Parkside, to face off against the
resident hero, O’Shea, in a feud that should certainly carry interest into the
new legit, insured, licensed and bonded LLW. Parkside is probably the best
stick man in LLW and having him as commissioner ensures his involvement
throughout events to rile fans and add excitement.
<
Parkside takes it to Gracey
Now…. A bit of a
rant. I’m not one for ripping apart wrestler’s performances and shows.
That’s not what I’m about at all. Even when things go horribly awry, like they did
in the Law/Savage vs Wraith/Shaw tag match, I’m not going to play smark guy and
point out their mistakes. As long as the participants try their best and give
an honest effort, the wizard of id will tip his hat. It’s all about respect.
Having said that, let me further state that I do have some issues with
wrestlers, fans or promoters who do NOT respect the business or the people in
it. I’ve already commented on the
actions of one Jeff Flury during the 8 man tag. I could chalk that up to
youthful exuberance and let it go, but Flury exhibited a more appalling lack of
respect during the final match. Instead of playing the role of lumberjack, he
sat in the crowd with Spike Hammer and drank a bottle of beer. I don’t know if
Hammer had an alcoholic beverage or not, as I couldn’t see from my vantage
point but there was no doubt that Flury was drinking. I find it highly unlikely
that LLWA has a liquor license for Unit 13 and that was an incredibly stupid
thing for him to do. Had the wrong person walked in, or someone in the audience
made a complaint, Flury’s actions could have caused a world of trouble for LLWA
management. LLWA has done some amazing things to promote the betterment of Indy
wrestling and they’re poised on the brink of much more. For Flury to risk it
all with his actions demonstrates an unbelievable lack of respect for LLWA
owners Greg Juszczak and Ernie Moore, as well as every single wrestler who ever
put an ounce of sweat into the LLWA mat. I don’t even know if Flury is old
enough to drink legally, but regardless, if he’s going to have a drink, he
should do it in the back, out of sight. Sitting in the crowd mouthing off like
a wise-ass while drinking beer at an all ages show is beyond disrespectful. I
don’t know Flury personally. Maybe he’s a nice young man. I don’t know. I do
know that he acted like an asshole more than once at the show and deserved a
reality check about respect. I commend LLWA management for their dedication and
commitment to Indy wrestling and wish them continued success with their new
developments. Hopefully, they will address Mr Flury’s actions so there will be
no repeat performances like the one he delivered Saturday night in Unit 13.
More on the story: I
contacted LLWA management and let them see the above rant. They issued this
formal statement about the incident:
“We, the staff at Living Legends Wrestling Academy, like you the fans were and are appalled at the antics of Mr. Jeff
Flury. Disciplinary actions have been
sent into motion and on behalf of everyone from LLW, LLWA and NSW; we would
like to apologize to all the fans that were in attendance. We at the LLW, LLWA and NSW do not condone
Mr. Flury’s actions nor respect them.
Again we apologize
and hope that this does not sour you on attending wrestling shows, be it ours
or somebody else’s and also hope this will not affect the tremendous support
the community has shown.
Thank you for your
understanding,
Greg and Ernie”
Wizard Wrap-Up:
LLWA provided another night of exciting action that gave almost all their
students a chance to showcase the skills they’ve learned. Many new storylines
heading into LLW’s anticipated “legit” status were started and I’m looking
forward to seeing how the lottery of LLW/NSW stars plays out. I commend LLWA
for their commitment and passion to providing their students with real
wrestling skills and their respectful treatment and recognition of the stars of
yesterday while they mold the stars of tomorrow. Hopefully, they keep a couple
of ringside bleacher seats open for the wizard and Mrs Id at future shows.
Visit the LLWA/LLW website: http://www.livinglegendswrestling.com/
Contact the wizard of id: zapflash@sympatico.ca
