What's up everyone and welcome to another McReview, here on the DOI. If you haven't checked it out yet, here are some post show notes from the show .

Going into the show, I didn't know what to expect, as JAPW didn't really do too much promoting for this show. The card only had 5 matches announced, whereas at previous JAPW events, you knew every match going into it. This was also a JAPW event that going into it, featured alot of outside talent. Lots of JAPW regulars such as Homicide, Low Ki, Frankie Kazarian and others were elsewhere. For the first time in really ever, JAPW relied on lots of CZW talent to sell this show. I guess it shows progress from many moons ago, where JAPW & CZW didn't share talent. JAPW using talent established elsewhere is something I talked about in a previous column. However, using the outside guys wound up giving JAPW a huge crowd, so it looks like JAPW is doing something right.
Off to the review:

JAPW
1/20
Rahway, NJ
Refs: Hanson, Turner & Bennett
Ring Announcer: Stephen D'Angelis
Attendance: JAPW reported 900+, and I'd have to say there was 100% at least 850 in the building.

The show started off with a 10 bell salute for Bam Bam Bigelow. It's sad, but it seems like 1/4 shows I go to there is a 10 bell salute for someone.

Monsta Mack/Deranged vs Javi-Air/Rob Vegas
This was an odd match to open the show in my opinion. It featured two teams teaming up for the first time ever in JAPW. I thought JAPW would've opened with a more hotter & established match. I can see the Mack/Deranged team having legs, if given the opportunity, although both wrestlers have loose strings to tie up, storyline wise, in JAPW. Javi & Vegas seem liked a thrown together team here, as both have had other partners in other promotions.

Deranged & Javi-Air started this tag match and you can see they've wrestled before. Lots of big spots between these two, as you can tell they were on the same page. Monsta Mack tagged in later on in this match and slammed both guys down at once, which looked really cool. Deranged & Mack broke out the tandem offense as they did the Hardy Boyz thing, only for Deranged to jump off Mack's back, over the top rope, and laying out their opponents on the floor. Perhaps the biggest spot in the match saw Deranged super frankensteiner Javi-Air. That definitely woke up the crowd.
The finish of the match saw Deranged hit the double stomp on Javi-Air, followed up with Mack hitting the Superfly Splash on Vegas for the 1-2-3.
This just seemed more like a World-Wide match than anything else, as there was no story going into it. Mack is a solid babyface in JAPW and has become the Billy Gunn of the indies as he's really able to team up with anyone and be successful. (Don't care what anyone says, every team Billy Gunn has been part of has drawn money & has won big matches) With JAPW's tag division needing new life, maybe Mack & Deranged can become threats.

POSTMATCH: The returning Slyck Wagner Brown came out to talk to Mack. The two looked friendly at first, until Slyck turned on Mack, hitting a variation of the Razors Edge out of the corner on Mack. Slyck made it known that he was back in JAPW. The crowd seemed 50-50, as I'd say only 1/2 the building knew who Slyck was. Part of that can be made up to the fact that JAPW is drawing a huge part of the CZW audience who might not be familiar with Slyck.
I am all up for the Slyck return in JAPW as long as he does business the right way. Let's hope Slyck is able to deliver in this spot. The only thing I didn't get was attacking Monsta Mack. Why didn't Deranged make the save? It looked like this team had something going, but it seems halted at the gate as Mack will now have to go after Slyck. Attacking Mack makes sense as he's a huge face of the promotion, but then why team Mack with Deranged? Just seemed a bit rushed. If anything, I think Slyck should've fucked up both Benz & Demanto after their match with a chair, just to be more effective.

Teddy Hart came out next, without the JAPW Heavyweight title. I'm assuming someone forgot to bring the belt to the show. Hart cut a promo acknowledging his fans. Hart said he saw Chris Hero backstage (ruining Hero as a surprise for some fans) and started to bash CM Punk. Hart said he kicked CM Punk's ass before so he'll kick Punk's friend's ass, meaning Hero. Hero immediately came out, brawled with Teddy, until Necro Butcher came out. Necro & Hero, the two CZW mainstays, both teamed up on Teddy until the locker room and officials made the save. Why Danny Demanto was laughing during this intense moment was beyond me. Watch the DVD, the heat is there and the crowd is going nuts and there is Danny laughing like someone tickled his armpit with a feather. All three guys were broken away from each other.
This was a very effective promo. The crowd loved this and were on their feet. Good way to introduce Hero into the company, although I do believe JAPW should be careful about pushing ROH talent into top spots on their shows, as it has only come back to bite them in the ass later on, in terms of future bookings.

Alicia/Cha-Cha w/Johnny D. d. Daizee Haze/Melissa Stripes
You had the two girls with the big booties on one side, and two high flyers on the other. This could've been a great womens wrestling match, but instead it had a fuck finish. Then again, JAPW fans have never really been too high on womens wrestling in the first place.

One team name that I heard a fan give Alicia/Cha Cha was "The Midnight Moose Express". Nice. The MMXpress grounded their high flying oppponents in the early stages of this match. Daizee eventually hot tagged in and hit some huge high spots. I think Stripes/Daizee could be a great womens match by the way. The finish of this match saw Alicia distract the ref, and Johnny D. threw his annual fireball, this time at Melissa Stripes. Cha Cha grabbed a hold of Daizee, which allowed Alicia to pick up the pinfall win on Stripes when the ref turned around.
I don't think this match needed the fireball finish. This was the first match between these two. I think the fireball means more when Johnny D does it in main event matches, not a womens tag team match that will be forgotten about by the next show. I'd like to see Stripes oversell the fireball at the next JAPW show, kind of like the Sandman being blind angle in ECW from many years ago. We'll see where this goes.

Nicky Benz came out next and cut a ridiculously long promo which started off great, but kind of got redundant by the 7th minute. Demanto told Benz to shut up from a microphone in the back, and we had...

Danny Demanto d. Nicky Benz
This match was about 70 seconds long or so. This was much worse than their first match two shows ago. Their first match together was great, but for whatever reason, this did not click at all. Benz piledrove Demanto about 30 seconds into the match. Demanto wound up winning the match by reversing a victory roll for 3.
This match would've been saved with Slyck or maybe doing the Teddy Hart promo here. This match needed that big thing ending, and with the match being short, it had no real payoff and seemed like filler, which is a shame as both have delivered in the past for JAPW. Just an off night for both I guess.

B-Boy d. Ruckus w/Kingston in what was arguably match of the night
This is the match that we'll all look back at as the match that kicked off the SST vs BLKOUT feud. Everyone knew that B-Boy was going to be jumped at the end of this, but despite everyone knowing the feud would finally start, these two had a great match. These two have feuded in the past and have done well against each other in CZW before, and put out maybe one of their best 1-on-1 matches here.

This was a very fast paced match. Kingston interfered several times and wound up eating B-Boy's kicks as a result. Both teased several false finishes, but in the end B-Boy picked up the pinfall victory.
POSTMATCH: Kingston and Ruckus regrouped and kicked the shit out of B-Boy. Perhaps the 2007 feud of the year begins.

EC Negro/Bandido Jr. w/OCK d. Corvis Fear/Gavin Quest
This was another match that really wasn't needed on this show. With 10 other matches, this could've been scrapped or thrown on World-Wide. However, as stated in another report, there was no time for World-Wide at this show, due to JAPW running around to put the show together w/o Ray Sager there plus reconfiguring the building due to the extra amount of fans that showed up.

This match started off really fast with Corvis/Quest doing a bunch of double team moves, but quickly fizzled afterwards. The crowd seemed impartial to the fact that the match was going on. Negro tried to get the crowd back into the match after hitting a huge exploder, but the crowd seemed quiet here. For some reason, Corvis Fear is doing burning hammers now, and Quest/Corvis even did the Briscoe Brothers finisher, but got no pop at all. This match wasn't bad, but it just seemed like alot of wrestling for no real reason. With KC Blade back on the scene, it's time to re-add him to La Familia to get the crowd into these matches. Negro hit his Brolic Buffalo Legdrop in this match, which helped secure the win for La Familia.
La Familia is starting to fade out, especially since JAPW is pushing BLKOUT and SST so hard. They need to mark their territory if they are going to be effective again. The crowd seemed to care less about the thrown together Corvis/Quest team. Again, too many matches on this show, coupled in with no backstories for the majority of the matches, combined with no intermission made the crowd die down during certain matches. Unfortunately for this match, this happened to be one of them.

Delirious d. Colt Cabana
This was mostly a comedy match. The only main thing about this match is that it established Delirious as a new regular in JAPW. I wasn't a huge fan of this match, although I'm sure others are. It just seemed like a match that had no credibility at all and was more about getting laughs than sticking to the old school style of wrestling that I prefer. The guys played around doing shoulder tackles and having some verbal spats. Delirious wins this after a crucifix.
I could care less about this match, but I'm sure others liked it. If JAPW needs comedy relief, I'd rather see the CSC who got a much bigger pop last show, than either one of these guys did tonight.

Chris Hero d. Hydra
I hated this match. This was another match that kind of exposes the business (not to say this site doesn't) for the sake of being "funny". Hydra does a Brock Lesnar-Gillberg gimmick, where he tries to be Lesnar only to look like an idiot just like Gillberg did when he mocked Goldberg. Hero should've just flat out crushed this guy, but instead wrestled him for a bit. That's what I don't get about Hero. He's 6'7" or whatever he is, has a great look, but seems to be more content wrestling like a junior weight rather than being a kickass machine. I'd rather see Hero hit sick chokeslams and other powermoves than seeing him twist someones arm around like a pretzel. Use the size.

This match also suffered to me because it followed another comedy match so it kinda wasn't that unique since we just had a comedy match prior.
Hero eventually won this with a flapjack type of move, which Hero then changed by putting his knees out, picking up the pin.
Not a good match for me. I didn't enjoy this at all. I'm not a fan of the Mortal Kombat characters especially one being presented as a joke. Hero should've decimated him in 10 seconds, especially if he had so much built up frustration after the Hart thing.

Jack Evans d. Grim Reefer, Ricochet & Chuck Taylor in a four-way cruiser match
What can I say, this was an athletic showcase, as all these guys were moving super quick and flipping around all over. Evans has improved alot from the last time I seen him. He's now wearing tights and has added some size as well. He looks much better and still has his speed and agility. He's fucking crazy and I don't know how he does half the stuff he does. Watch the DVD for this match, as there was tons of impressive stuff in this match. This match helped wake up the crowd a bit too. Evans wins this match after his 630 although it looked like a 101483480. That guy gets tremendous rotation on his leaps.
Fun match here, as Jack easily made a triumphant JAPW return. Richochet & Taylor have only been established in JAPw as spot guys. I hope Reefer doesn't get lost in the mix either as he was making a name for himself until he was recently thrown into these multi-man cruiser deals.

For the JAPW Tag Titles
(c) Jay Lethal & Azraiel d. The Outcast Killahz (Oman Tortuga/Diablo Santiago)
PREMATCH: It was announced that the SAT's double-booked themselves and couldn't make it to Rahway in time. It was announced that they were through with JAPW for the time being.

This was another good match on this show. These 4 guys had good chemistry and put on a good little match. Alot of wrestlers got mic time on this show, and I think Lethal/Az should've got some over other people, as they are establishing their new tag team. For a match that was put together during the show, all four delivered and put on a good showing. The finish of this match saw Lethal surfboard Diablo, and Azraiel come off the top with a double stomp, earning the pinfall victory.
OCK are looking to get their groove back in JAPW. This match had mixed reactions as both teams are being built up as heels so the crowd seemed a bit confused. As far as in-ring work, it was a solid match.

Main Event
For the JAPW Title
(C) Teddy Hart vs Necro Butcher went to a No-Contest
These two brawled for about 10 minutes or so. It looked like Hart was shying away from Necro's harder hitting stuff. Both went outside and attacked each other. The two competitors then made their way back into the ring. Chris Hero ran out when Teddy was on offense. The ref called for the DQ/No Contest, but Fat Frank said the match must continue, we then had...

For the JAPW Title
(C) Teddy Hart vs Necro Butcher vs Chris Hero went to a No-Contest
After Hero got involved in the fray, making this match essentially 2 on 1, Jack Evans ran out for the save, turning this match, as ordered by Fat Frank, into:

For the JAPW Title
(C) Teddy Hart d. Necro Butcher, Jack Evans & Chris Hero
This entire 3 match sequence might've lasted about a half hour or so but I swear to you, the entire crowd stood on their feet the whole entire time. They were sucked into the match big time. All four guys were over super huge. Jack Evans was the star of the match, taking Necro's huge right hands and generally eating an asskicking. Hart eventually won the match after a dive on Hero, retaining his JAPW Championship.
I don't necessarily agree with not delivering with the advertised main event, but it got over and the crowd loved it. Hart needs to get a real definitive one-on-one win, as all his matches have been 4-ways. I don't know Jack's schedule, but I for one know the JAPW fans would love him back. Hero & Butcher, two CZW/ROH guys being thrown right into the JAPW main event mix seems a bit rushed but fans will accept it due to their accomplishments elsewhere. I just wonder what a loyal JAPW fan who doesn't know about these other companies think. Regardless, a fun match that had tons of great heat.

Final McWord
This show had its ups and downs. Here the positives & negatives:
POSITIVES
-Solid in-ring matches.
-Huge crowd that got hot for debuting wrestlers
- Lots of stuff set-up for next show.

NEGATIVES
-Overbooked- too many matches & alot of stuff could've been cut. (Which you could attribute to Ray not being there).
- Relying on too much ROH/CZW talent- lots of JAPW regulars are on the sidelines while ROH/CZW guys are pushed hard. To a degree it's like how TNA shoves the ex-WWE guys down your throats.

I know the show was booked on the fly, but I hope at the next JAPW event things are more set and tight. One thing that I hope doesn't happen is that JAPW focuses their efforts into JSW and forget about JAPW. To me, it seems like JSW is going to be like JAPW before it blew up and got big. JSW looks like it will be a JAPW that's true to their roots, while JAPW will continue to be this huge juggernaut that affects the indy scene. The guys that JAPW could be pushing huge on their shows seem like they will getting huge JSW pushes, while the CZW/ROH talent take theire spots in JAPW. Maybe it's just me but from an outsider looking in view, that's what I'm getting.

Matches I enjoyed the most were B-Boy/Ruckus, the main, the tag titles and the four way.

Johnny D. needs to find a male wrestler to sign since Rhino is done for a bit. Maybe Slyck Wagner Brown? The fireball in the womans match seemed out of place. Maybe even managing Reefer in a feud with Kazarian would be good.

I hope JAPW doesn't bring back Hydra. I can see that act getting old fast.

What happens next show when the SST & BLKOUT are in full force? This should be some good stuff.

Overall
Not a bad effort by JAPW as they kick off 2007. It should be interesting to see where they go.

JAPW returns on 3/17 in Rahway. For more, visit JAPW.net

Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com