What's up everyone and welcome to another McReview, here on the DOI. This time I'll be quickly going through WSU's 5/19 debut show. As everyone knows, WSU, the new promotion founded by former ICW/UCW promoter, Jac Sabboth, held their debut show on 5/19, at the Holy Cross High School, in Flushing, NY. The crowd was about 350-400, and were very vocal throughout the event. The show was heavily promoted at Jac Sabboth's "The Wrestling Universe" store, but it didn't look like it was advertised in too many other places, as before the show, I saw no flyers around the high school in any of the local businesses or at the actual high school itself. As one person noted, it looked like the show consisted of Jac Sabboth's loyal Wrestling Universe customers.

WSU
5/19
Flushing, NY
Refs: Hanson & Bennett
Ring Announcer: Steve D'Angelis
Attendance: 350+

In A First Round Battle of the Belt Tournament Match
Monsta Mack w/Havok d. Romeo (Johnny Heartbreaker)
This was a solid little match, and I was impressed with Romeo. Now that Romeo is now back on the indy scene, I can see him doing some major damage on the indy scene, if his price is right. Mack was the heel here, accompanied by Havok. Havok and Mack would be on the receiving end of a huge tope by Romeo in this match, which got the biggest pop of the match. There was one sloppy part in this match, as Romeo clotheslined Mack over the rope, but neither man could get over the top rope despite them both trying. However, the crowd didn't care/notice, because Romeo followed that up with a quick dive to the outside. Despite Romeo being the crowd favorite, Mack won this match, after some help with Havok, by hitting his patented frogsplash for the pin.
Decent opener here, with Havok & Mack establishing themselves as heels. However, this seemed like an odd first round pairing considering both mens styles.

In A First Round Battle of the Belt Tournament Match
Xavier d. Prince Nana
PREMATCH: Nana cut a promo talking about ICW but nobody knew what the fuck he was talking about, outside of one guy wearing a UCW shirt.
Xavier was the major crowd favorite in this match and of the tournament. Obviously every smart mark in the building knew Xavier was winning this tournament, so nobody was surprised when Xavier won the match after a 450 splash. The match was entertaining, and it is odd to see skinny Nana. He really looks like he was slapped up with AIDS, which is my way of saying that he's gotten into great shape. Nana busted out a unique left legged enziguri in this match, but it was Xavier who won this match and advanced to the 2nd round.
Not a bad match here, but again, an odd first round pairing. I think Xavier/Romeo & Mack/Nana would've been more sensible and better matched for first round matches. The reason I say that is because Xavier/Romeo wrestle a similiar style, while Mack & Nana are better characters & brawlers, which means their chemistry in the ring might've been better.

In A First Round Battle of the Belt Tournament Match
Boogalou d. Homicide
This was the best first round match of the tournament. The former Natural Born Sinners did battle here, and both tried one upping each other. This match was heavily mat based, and the crowd got a good one here. After about 15+ minutes, Boogalou was able to best his former partner with a small package.
Easily the best first round match of the tournament. Of note, Boogalou was in his classic wrestling gear, and was not doing the Dead Presidents gimmick. I think that it made this match better and mean more, that Boogalou was in his amateur wrestling mode, rather than in a gimmick, since it makes him look more of a serious wrestling machine.

In A First Round Battle of the Belt Tournament Match
John Walters d. EC Negro
Negro seems to be adding the weight that he lost when KC Blade disappeared from the scene. Negro was added in this tournament last minute, as for some reason, Jac Sabboth had a raging hard on for a main event consisting of three former ECW guys. I would've rather seen Corino vs Walters, but Negro was a suitable replacement. Still, while Sabu no showing the event wasn't Jac's fault, I don't know why he had to have a triple threat main event match.
As far as this match, I thought it was pretty good, and Negro did a good job of riling up the crowd in his La Familia Puerto Rican role. Walters was the quiet baby face here, and earned the crowds respect after making Negro tap out to a sharp shooter.
This match was very arm drag heavy, but the crowd liked it.

The Masked Maniac/Jac "Auggie" Sabboth vs New Dynamite Kid/Ken Sweeney went to a No-Contest
PREMATCH: The Maniac & Hanson did a comedy routine for the crowd, with Maniac establishing his dominance over little children, as he said he didn't have to be nice to them because this isn't Disney World.
This match was awful. When The Masked Maniac is the best wrestler in the ring, there is a huge fucking problem. Jac Sabboth, making his long awaited, 4 year emotional return to the ring, looked like a fucking jackass. One minute, Jac was at the ticket table taking tickets in his t-shirt and jeans, and the next minute he's in the ring, in the same t-shirt and jeans, but with a mask on. The funniest part about this match, is when The Masked Maniac and Anthony Deblasi ribbed Jac Sabboth.
During the entrance, a huge "AUGGIE AUGGIE AUGGIE" chant broke out during the Masked Maniac's "Bad 2 The Bone" ring music. Jac, who is not a fan of his Auggie name, although it is embraced by his loyal fans & customers of his store, looked upset to hear AUGGIE AUGGIE AUGGIE over the loud speakers.
Jac was in the ring for about 20 seconds, as most of this match focused around The Maniac working on the New Dynamite Kid's left leg. This match was going long, and since Jac wouldn't tag back in, The Maniac pretended to sleep in the ring because the match was so boring. Since The Maniac was sleeping in the ring, Jac Sabboth turned on him, by kicking him in the gut, signalling the end of this horrific catastrophe of a match. While kicking The Maniac, Jac Sabboth took off his mask and yelled out "Aza Na Coi Ja Baylick", which in some third world country, means "Go fuck yourself asshole." Sweeney and NDK also joined in on the attack.
I hope this match is cut from the DVD, and used as a BONUS match or something. The show was going so good, and the crowd was appreciating the smart mark style of wrestling, then you had this and the show came to a screeching halt. I was even impressed that WSU was able to get over with smart mark wrestling to a crowd, filled with wrestlers that most of the crowd didn't know, that would've went nuts for just an NWS type of legends show. This match kind of wiped out the crowd and negated what we saw beforehand.

Ron Sampson d. John Justice
I didn't think we'd see a worse match after seeing the tag bout, but somehow, some way, these guys were able to have the worst match of the night. These guys made Jac Sabboth & The Masked Maniac look like Chris Benoit & Shawn Michaels, although it was more of Justice's fault than Sampson that this match sucked. This match just went too long, and even the crowd started chanting "TAKE IT HOME!" When things are going bad in a ring, sometimes you just gotta end it. These two just prolonged it, and after a terrible match before this, this didn't do anything to save the show. Sampson wins after a suplex.
This was the worst match of the show, and I don't even know why it was booked, unless WSU made money off of these guys, although I don't know if they sold tickets or not. This match didn't belong here.

INTERMISSION
This was the worst time to do intermission on this show, because the crowd just saw the 2 worst matches they were going to see. Some of the crowd left after intermission, because the show was obviously going to go past some of the kids in the crowd bed-time. Usually, before you do an intermission, you want a hot match on before, so the crowd can't wait for intermission to be over. However, the last two matches were so bad, that you were dying for intermission to take place.

In A Second Round Battle of the Belt Tournament Match
Xavier d. Monsta Mack w/Havok
This was a good match here, that helped pick up the crowd after intermission. Both of these NYC standouts teased several false finishes, as Mack kicked out of a Kiss-Your-X-Goodbye and Xavier kicked out of a huge and vicious lariat. The crowd ate up the false finishes big time. During one point in this match, Xavier wiped out Havok with a huge suicide dive, in one of the nicest suicide dives I've ever seen. The finish of this match saw Xavier pin Monsta Mack with a victory roll out of the far corner.
The crowd exploded for Xavier's win here.

In A Second Round Battle of the Belt Tournament Match
John Walters d. Boogalou
This was the best match of the second round, featuring two accomplished guys. Both these guys focused on their mat skills in this match, as both guys went for numerous submissions. In the end, Walters tapped out Boogalou with a sharpshooter.
This was another solid match on this show, which the crowd was really into.

6-Way Elimination Match
Azraiel vs Jose Maximo vs Joel Maximo vs Reefer vs Low Ryda vs Heretic
The match went to a no-contest
Eliminations Were:
1. Azraiel (Pinned by Reefer after a DDT off the ropes)
2. Heretic (Pinned by Joel Maximo after a Spanish Fly)
3. Low Ryda (Pinned by a Maximo Driver from Joel Maximo)
4. Reefer (after a sick powerbomb/backbreaker move from Jose Maximo)
5 & 6. Jose Maximo vs Joel Maximo was ruled a no contest after Havok & Mack interfered. Basically, we had a solid 20 minute match that went to a no contest after interference. This was a horribly booked finish. We had a great match that was ruined by interference. Why couldn't WSU just have Jose or Joel pin each other, than do the interference? The interference just ruined the match, and the crowd was kind of pissed too. However, for what it was, the match was fun until the finish.

In A Third & Final Round Battle of the Belt Tournament Match
Winner to become the first ever WSU Champion
Xavier d. John Walters
In what alot of people predicted to be the finals of this tournament, Xavier picked up the win after a 450. Xavier also busted out his sick jumping top rope moonsault to the floor in this match. Walters clamped on his sharp shooter, that he used to win his 2 prior matches, but Xavier still powered out of it. This was a good finals, but this crowd would've been hotter if Walters was made to be a strong heel to counter the babyface heat Xavier was getting. It was odd to have a finals that didn't have a huge heel to build up the strong babyface win. However, it was a good match.

Main Event
Rhino w/The Sure Thing Mr. Big d. Raven & Steve Corino
Rhino gores Corino for the win, in a very comedic match, which featured alot of post match gaa-gaa. All these guys seemed to be taking it very lightly in the ring, and only went 11 minutes or so. I've seen these guys go harder in different promotions.
POSTMATCH: Raven & Corino entertained the fans for another 10 minutes, hitting finishers and slapping Ref Hanson around. This was pretty funny, and this impromptu action had the crowd laughing.

Final McWord
This was a decent show, but there was alot of questionable booking. First off, this show could've been done in 6 matches, with all legends. This crowd didn't come for a smart mark show, but to WSU's credit, they popped for mostly everything. The crowd was very vocal. However, WSU could've saved a shit load of cash and make a huge profit by going down the NWS/ECPW route.

Sabu was unable to make the event due to transportation problems. I don't know why WSU took Corino out of the tournament, as Corino/Xavier finals would've been alot better to build up Xavier, since Corino would've established himself as the top heel in the tourney. While most of the finishes were predictable, I don't mind Xavier as champion, as he can have some great matches. However former Jac promotions were known to be innovative and to create new stars/ideas. None of that took place on this show, which is why I think myself and other hardcore indy fans were disappointed with this show.

There is an old saying that when a show is over, you should want to see more. However, once this show was over, I was relieved that I could finally go home. Alot of people left before the main event went on, which meant the show was going on too long.

The crowd was considered a disappointment as it is my opinion and others that anything less than 500 in a high school is not good promoting. However, there were major traffic delays in the NYC area, as several streets and parkways, including the GCP were closed. In addition, the Yankees/Mets game was taking place 10 minutes away from the venue. The show did get a plug in the Friday edition of the Daily News, but I guess no one cared, since there was no ex-WWE legend names to draw casual fans to this event.

There were alot of good matches on this show, so it's worth checking out the DVD for. I don't know if WSU did any backstage promos for their DVD, but if the price is right for you, this DVD is worth checking out when it's released.

In an odd turn of events, Jac Sabboth's real life good friend, Danny Demanto wasn't booked on the show. I thought that was pretty funny, but it might've costed Jac 3 paying fans, as 3 fans told me they went to AWA to see Danny, and they would've went to WSU if Danny was on the show. What has the world come down to, when Danny Demanto is drawing fans and not stuffing his face with food?

Xavier was the star of this show, really coming thru when needed. It was good seeing John Walters again in a ring, as he looked solid.

Overall
Not a bad debut show, but nothing here was really new or fresh. It seemed like pretty much the same old stuff and most of the matches were very predictable. In the future, I'd like to see WSU officials do what they did with UCW/ICW, and create new stars and come up with innovative ideas.

No word on a second show has been announced, but for WSU's sake, let's hope it's not a tag team tournament. (For those who don't know, everytime ICW/UCW used to advertise their "Impact Cup" Tag Tournament, that show always got cancelled, disappointing fans.)

For more information, keep it here on the DOI.

Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com