What's up everyone and welcome to another McReview here on the DOI. This is going to be a short one, as I attended 4 shows this weekend in 3 days. With tons of stuff going on here in DOI-land, it's tough getting these reviews done in a more timely and more thorough manner this week. I urge everyone to check out JAPW's Message Board for tons of feedback and thoughts on this show. There are alot of hardcore fans on that board who are talking about this show passionately.
Like I said, this will be quick, so let's roll...
JAPW
"Ultimate Rumble"
7/29
Aberdeen, NJ
Refs: Hanson & Bennett
Announcer: Mark Clemson
Attendance: 500+
World Wide Dark Match
Deranged d. Madden Fisher
I'm a fan of both of these guys, but this match on paper seems like peanut butter & tuna-fish. While I like both peanut butter & tuna fish, I don't know if I'd want it mixed together. I believe Deranged is better off wrestling against the cruiserweights, as there are tons of matches JAPW hasn't showcased him in yet. (Such as Reefer/Deranged, Archadia/Deranged, B-Boy/Deranged, etc.) Fisher is a quality indy wrestler, who'll probably get a WWE developmental contract before he gets a championship in JAPW, due to his size & style. This was a short little match, with Deranged defeating the larger Madden Fisher.
This was a good opener, but definitely a mix of styles.
MAIN SHOW MATCHES:
Melissa Stripes d. Alicia w/Johnny D. by DQ
I smell Stripes/Alicia becoming the new Alere/Alicia feud of NJ. Stripes hit her 450 in this match, but it didn't look like she got all of it, as she caught Alicia with a knee. Pretty sick. Before much could go down, Rhino came out, and gored Stripes through a door, which just happened to be placed under the ring. Stripes picks up the win via DQ.
JAPW fans aren't really women wrestling fans so this finish was a good idea, even if it seemed a bit random. Rhino, who's one of JAPW's biggest faces and is the JAPW champion, seemed out of place running in on a womens match. However, goring Stripes was worth it. I won't go for the Stripes really earned her Stripes in this match line, because that seems like a line that Melissa will have to hear/read redunantly in the future, which isn't really a bad thing.
SAT d. AMIL
This was another good match between these two teams, as these two have battled all over and know each other pretty well in the ring. After having a huge match at the last JAPW show, this match looked like it was put on as a way to keep both teams names alive. These teams always have wild and good matches, and this match was no different. The SAT take the match with their finisher, the Spanish Fly.
Of note, the SAT's are now sporting new tights with a question mark on their chest.
TNA X-Division Champion Low Ki d. Archadia
There's alot of debate about how good/bad this match was. Many people have various opinions on this match. I think the one statement that can be made here, which I think most people can agree on is that no matter when Low Ki wrestles on a show, he treats every match like it's a main event. Whether he's on first, third, fifth or main eventing, he's still going to go his 20-30 minutes, which is great since he wrestles hard, but is bad because it could also throw off the flow of a show.
I liked this match and thought it did what it was supposed to do. The only thing was that every fan in the building knew what was going to happen. There was nothing unpredicatable in this match. Everyone expected Low Ki to kick the shit out of Archadia, but in the process, make Archadia look like a warrior. Every fan in that building knew that was going to happen and that's what did happen. There was nothing unexpected. I know due to Low Ki being a TNA champion that Archadia couldn't win the match, but how about after shaking Low Ki's hand, Archadia wacking Ki with a chair? That would've been unpredictable and would've gave Archadia some spunk and backbone. Instead, we got the ROH respect type deal here, which is what everyone in the building knew was going to happen.
With all that said, I did enjoy this match. Ki administered his pain game, and Archadia took everything Ki had, including vicious chops which I could hear soundly from 125 feet away. Archadia was even able to pull off some of his patented offense, and had Low Ki for several near counts. When it was all said and done, Low Ki was able to pin Archadia to win this very long match, after his top rope stomp.
POSTMATCH: Low Ki shook Archadia's hand, signalling that he had respect for the up and comer.
The match definitely did its purpose, so it's now up to JAPW now to keep Archadia on the rise. Another thing I should mention is that with Low Ki being a special attraction type of wrestler, I thought JAPW got the most out of him, as Ki had a great match and helped JAPW build another star.
For the JAPW Light Heavyweight Title
(c) Frankie Kazarian d. Grim Reefer
I'm not a huge Kazarian fan, nor do I think Kazarian belongs in a light heavyweight division since he's bigger than 90% of the roster, but this was an ok match. The fans really wanted Reefer to win this match. Watching this match in the bar that overlooks the building, watching the crowd was almost as entertaining as the match. Whenever Reefer was on fire, the crowd was on the edge of their seats or standing up. When Kazarian was on offense, the crowd seemed to stay put. When Reefer put one of his four Chronic Crossfaces on Kazarian, the crowd was all up and looking for the tap. When Kazarian had Reefer down, the crowd had looks of disgust on their faces. I wouldn't call Kazarian a great heel, as I think in this match with Reefer, he was getting that "X-Pac 2002" go away heat. When Kazarian finally won the match, after reversing a crossface, and hitting his finisher, most of the crowd looked like they wanted to throw up in their mouths.
For the match itself, I thought this was ok, as Reefer really took a lot of punishment here, even getting tossed into some chairs. I think JAPW should've pulled the trigger here and give Reefer the big win. With Kazarian running out of opponents, and being larger than all of the other cruiserweights, I'm guessing after Archadia's big win, an Archadia/Kazarian match would make sense.
B-Boy d. Human Tornado
I'm a fan of both of these guys, but this match seemed more indytastic than anything else. There were moves that no human being could ever kick out of, that these guys were kicking out of with ease. B-Boy hit Tornado with a lariat with as much force as a bullet coming out of a gun, and Tornado kicked out with no problem. At least put your foot on the rope or something. Tornado's comedy act is fun, but I thought it took away from B-Boy being a "New Age Punisher". When Tornado is able to smile, laugh and dance around during a match, it's hard to see B-Boy as the enforcer of what is supposed to be the stiffest and harding hittest group in JAPW.
With that said, this was a great match for indy wrestling fans. It had it all. Good story, funny spots, strong style wrestling and was entertaining. However, I could see a WWE scout looking at this, and saying "typical indy wrestling". When you can let you mind go and not think about anything else, this match was great and got the job done. B-Boy really planted Tornado with some OUCH-FILE worthy moves in this match, and picked up the win in his comeback match, after a shining wizard, to get the pinfall victory.
Good indy match, but not a match that would get either guy a WWE try-out. But then again, this is indy wrestling, where all forms of wrestling are showcased, and these guys did well in their role here.
For the JAPW Tag Team Titles
Special Referee: Don Montoya
(c) The OutCast Killahz vs Bandido Jr/EC Negro went to a no contest after both teams turned on the special referee, Don Montoya
I don't know if La Familia is drawing so much heel heat that fans want to hurt them or because it's fun to throw shit at the ring, but whatever La Familia is doing, it's working for them. As mentioned in previous DOI reports, this match featured the fans chucking toilet paper at the ring for a solid 10 minutes. This would've been shorter, but La Familia was throwing the ammo back at the fans, and violently throwing it at the fans may I add, and this just went back and forth for a while. Eventually, security told the fans to chill out, and that's when Green Lantern Fan had his incident. The saddest thing about this match, is that this match will be remembered by internet fans as the match where GLF got tossed out by Low Ki. The real reason why it's so sad, is because GLF gets what he wants by taking heat off the match and putting it on himself.
The only real flaw I thought in this match was that both teams wrestled each other very hard and very intense, just to turn on Don Montoya. Why even wrestle at all? Why not just lay out Don? A scenario that I think could've been better would have La Familia just lay out Don Montoya, with the returning KC Blade revealing himself as the new member. With KC Blade in the building, I think it would've worked. Then you could've had the SAT & AMIL come out for the save, and you could've had a wild impromptu 10 man tag with La Familia vs SAT/AMIL/Montoya. With this show going four+ hours, it would've also condensed time.
Like I said above, the wrestling in this match was good, but I don't think it made sense to do all that just to turn on the ref and hug in the end. The SAT's did make the save at the end, so I don't think we've seen the last of The SAT's vs La Familia.
Also credit EC Negro for wrestling this match with a bum knee. You could see his face writhing in pain during certain points in this match.
The Ultimate Rumble Match
Winner to Challenge Rhino For the Heavyweight Title
Monsta Mack d. 19 Other Participants
This match featured most of the JAPW roster, including main eventers like Jay Lethal, Monsta Mack & Teddy Hart, with Dan Barry, Plazma & several AWA guys in the building.
This match was contested under Royal Rumble rules, with a new wrestler coming out at timed intervals. The only catch was that people could also eliminated via pinfall or submission.
These matches are always better on DVD, as there is too much to watch live. Battle royals are tough to pull off in indy wrestling, but this was not bad, but at times I felt like I was watching a UXW ticket seller Elks Lodge gauntlet match. You ahd guys jumping off the top rope in a royal rumble trying to get their spots in, just like the UXW ticket sellers do. The only one who really gets away with the top rope shit is Teddy Hart, as he's incorporated the moonsault into his character and gimmick.
There were a few good spots in the match, such as Demanto/Tornado/Ref Hanson doing the Too Cool spot from Royal Rumble 2000. Danny was Rikishi, Tornado was Brian Christopher and Ref Hanson was Scotty 2 Hotty, even doing the worm during the Too Cool Dance. Funny stuff here.
Teddy Hart & Jay Lethal went right after each other, keeping up their feud while in this match. Monsta Mack, who entered the match last, would eventually double clothesline both of them over the top rope for the win here, which the crowd seemed happy about, as they popped huge.
This match will be much better on DVD than live, because at this point at the show, it was getting long. Being at a show earlier in the day hurt this match for me, so I'm sure JAPW fans enjoyed this more than I did. After 6+ hours of wrestling, I would've just rather seen a battle royal at this point, but like I said, I'm sure I'll enjoy this much more on the DVD version.
As a result of the win, we went right into...
For the JAPW Title
(c) Rhino w/the D-Factor d. Monsta Mack
This was a good brawl that the crowd was very much into. This match also signalled the end of Mack's undefeated streak, which started in late 2004. At least JAPW can come back with this match in the future, saying that Mack already had wrestled 19 guys before competing in this match.
This match started off in the ring first, before turning into an all out brawl. At one point, Mack went to press Rhino and toss him, like we've seen Mack do so many times, but it looked like he didn't have Rhino up 100%. Regardless, Mack found other ways to punish Rhino in this match.
The finish of this match saw Mack go up for his frogsplash finisher, only for the returning Trent Acid to come out and screw Mack over. As Mack climbed up top, Trent ran out and threw Mack off the top rope. This set up Rhino for the gore through a door, ending Mack's chances at his first single title in JAPW.
Good match here, and it looks like we'll see Mack/Trent III in the future. JAPW left this match with the question of who's left to challenge Rhino?
MAIN EVENT
Teddy Hart d. Jay Lethal
Lethal's defeated streak since losing the JAPW title continues, as I don't think he's won a main show match all year. This match pitted the wrestler with the largest cult following in JAPW (Hart) against the hometown promotion favorite (Lethal).
This match was pretty long, with tons of wild action and rough right hands. Hart moonsaulted all over the place, (I believe the final count was 8 Teddy Hart moonsaults) but could never get the pin. Lethal was fired up in this match, showing more aggressiveness than usual, and busted open Teddy. Perhaps Lethal, sick of losing so much in the past 7 months, is about to turn heel on his hometown fans, as he went to attack Teddy Hart's girlfriend in this match. He also slapped around a student wrestler out of frustration as well.
Teddy eventually won this crazy match after a huge DDT. As a result, Teddy is the new number 1 contender, and Teddy vs Rhino will be a fresh match for JAPW in the future, as it has never been done before.
Good main event here and good way to close the show.
Final McWord
Check out my previous JAPW news/notes here:
JAPW Post Show Notes #1
The Green Lantern Fan Incident
Quick JAPW Results & Notes
Those links pretty much cover everything. As far as what I liked, I thought the main event, Rhino/Mack & SAT/AMIL were the top matches of the night. JAPW did alot of good in this show, elevating new people (Stripes & Archadia), gave the JAPW fans what they wanted (Mack/Rhino & Hart being in the building and winning his match) and had a solid event. The only gripe I had with this show was that it was too long, clocking in at a little over 4 hours with no intermission. In the summer, it's hard to sit through that much.
JAPW is taking the rest of the summer off, but will have a fan appreciation BBQ on August 13th. JAPW will then return on 9/15 in Aberdeen, NJ. For more, check out JAPW.net
Overall
A good JAPW event that kept things flowing. I'm not sure if it lived to all the hype, but then again the show was still pretty solid.
Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com
