What’s up everyone and welcome to the final McReview for this weekend. This weekend definitely lived up to the motto, “Save the best for last,” as the JCW J-Cup took place this past Sunday. This was a great show. There have been some talk about the bus trip that JCW was running from NY, that we were helping getting people to go on, but all that crap is on the message board, so all I’m going to say is that the bus company screwed Ricky O and Bob C. But let’s get away from the nonsense, and into one of the best shows I’ve seen of the year.

J-CUP promo- Noel comes out with Lord Clarence McDougal and Mike Berkowitz. They put over the importance of The J-Cup. The funny thing is that the “J-Cup” is actually a trophy lol. Seriously though, good promo to put over the importance of it.

Los Boriquas (Warpath and Tony Blaze) d. Disciples of Darling (Jay Static/Kronic) w/John Shane by DQ
Pretty decent tag match. Just basic tag team wrestling. John Shane is golden as a manager, and was very obvious why at the end of this match. Finish saw Shane hit one of the Boriquas with a chair for the dq finish.
POSTMATCH: The Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz (EC Negro/KC Blade) return to JCW and attack Los Boriquas (who took the titles that the DRS never lost) and re-unite with their old JCW manager, John Shane and with his new team, the Disciples of Darling. The 5 on 2 attack continues, until Papadon and Havok, The Solution, also return to JCW by attacking the DRS, DOD, and Shane. Shane escapes, but the other 4 tag teams brawl to the back.
Good segment, and great way to bring back the two top indy tag teams, in my opinion, to JCW. After the tag teams brawled to the back, Striker made his way to the ring, and said since Ace Darling was sick and couldn’t make it, he wants a match tonight. John Shane asks if Striker would join Ace and himself in the DOD clique. Striker puts Shane down, and says the only person in JCW who was in Garfield, NJ, with a wrestling license, was John Shane, and he’ll fight him tonight. John Shane is outraged and does not want this at all. Striker makes a few impotence jokes and Striker vs John Shane is set for later tonight.
Just a note, look how great John Shane is. He’s involved in 10 wrestler’s storylines in JCW, and is very good at what he does. You want to see him get his ass kicked. He had a great program with Livewyre/Lethal, and now with Darling/DOD/DRS/Solution/Striker it can only get better.

JCW J-CUP Tournament Matches
***First Round***

Jay Lethal d. Rob Eckos w/Mike Winner
Before I start, I might sound repetitive, but every tourney match was great, in fact there was not one bad match at all on this show. Anyway, this match was a great match, and both wrestlers have a bright future. Lethal wins with a nice tiger suplex.

Homicide d. Reefer
The best first round match in my opinion. Excellently wrestled match. Reefer hit all his signature spots, including the double top rope 360 somersault, followed up with a frogsplash to the floor. Homicide worked on Reefer’s body and set him up for a submission win. He got it, after an STF, and Reefer’s hand dropped 3 times. PAW.

Jimmy Jacobs d. Dixie
I know a lot of people didn’t like Jimmy Jacobs, but I was in the minority, as I thought he wrestled very well, and in the indies, getting over is what is important, and the crowd was loud during his match, which means he did well. This was another PAW match. Dixie rules and is a fantastic wrestler. Jacobs wins with the Diamond Dust.

Alex Shelley d. Ruckus
I thought either men was deserving to move on, but after the match, I think the wrong man won. Ruckus, jesus Christ, this guy has major talent. He was wowing the crowd, and got a lot of crowd reaction, from a generally dead crowd. (There were a bout 100 people there) Ruckus hit some sweet moves, and was on fire. I really want to see him wrestle more often. Shelley wins wins with the Dragon Sleeper.

CM Punk d. Sonjay Dutt
Excellent PAW match. Both of these wrestlers could’ve moved on, but in the end CM Punk won with a sitdown Sharp Shooter for the submission win. A few fans wanted CM Punk to unleash his mic skills, but unfortunately he didn’t, but at least we got a great match.

Johnny Ova d. Dan Barry
PAW match here, both men know each other very well. The best thing about these 2 is that it’s not the same match every time. They did this great hand mercy spot with lots of great wrestling. The finish saw Ova kick out of my favorite finisher, The Irish Car Bomb, and when Barry went to hit him with another one, Ova reversed it and got a cross body block from the top rope for the pinfall and to move on to round 2.

Shawn Sheridan d. Deranged
Sheridan is one of the funniest wrestlers today. Deranged is one of the best. These two worked a PAW match. I think Deranged was the favorite, but after seeing Sheridan wrestle, the crowd was behind Sheridan and his antics. Deranged hit a super sweet flipping powerbomb, but Sheridan was able to get out. Sheridan won with a spinning urinage. (rock bottom) I don’t know if this is Sheridans new finisher, since he has the strait jacket, but this move looked very hot.

Slyk Wagner Brown w/April Hunter d. Dave Greco
Probably the weakest match on the show, but due to Greco’s hobbled knee than anything else. Dave Greco worked this match with a bad knee and you could see his face wince in every move. I appreciate his desire and willingness to make JCW look good, and his enthusiastic drive to wrestle, but there was one part where Slyk almost got dropped on his head, so a question I had is, is there a point where if you’re hurt, when is it better off to watch, then take a chance and accidentally hurt your opponent? Either way, I appreciate Greco’s pride and Slyk won this match after a Razor’s Edge Front Slam, or what he calls Holy Slyk.

Intermission. Grabbed a hidden beer (Not in the building Ricky lol) and talked to some cool heads, including Dave Levy from CSWF. Levy has a chance to make CSWF really good with the $ and ideas that he’s got, if only they can get a big crowd. Enough tho about CSWF, back to the J-Cup.

***Second Round Tournament Matches***

Jay Lethal d. CM Punk
Excellent match. PAW. Great wrestling and submission were what this match was about. Jay Lethal got the win after an armbar. Wow, that was out of nowhere, as Lethal isn’t really a submission wrestler per-say. But I liked the finish, because it came out of no where.
POSTMATCH: CM Punk puts over Lethal on the mic for his ring work, character and respect for pro wrestling. Not your typical CM Punk promo, but powerful none the less.

Homicide d. Alex Shelley
Homicide really gave it to Shelley in this one and got a good match out of him. I think Homicide vs Ruckus would’ve been better, but this match was good. Homicide dominated with powerful kicks and chops. Homicide got the win after a Tenzan Driver.

Jimmy Jacobs d. Shawn Sheridan
Sheridan mocked Jimmy Jacob’s “Huss” aka Bezerker gimmick. Behind the gimmick Jacobs can go. While I thought Sheridan would’ve been the better pick to advance, I can see why Jacobs did. Good match here, which saw Jacobs get the win after a big ass running boot to the face.

Slyk Wagner Brown w/April Hunter d. Johnny Ova
Holy fucking shit on a stick this was PAW. Excellent match. Definitely a clash of styles that worked out for the best. What a great match, that unfortunately wasn’t seen by enough people, even though I know 15 that wanted to… regardless, great match featuring many hot spots and good wrestling. Slyk did this hot thing when he press slammed Ova then quickly moonsaulted on him. Ova took a beating in this one, but kicked out of a lot of moves, including a sit down top rope rock bottom. Slyk finally gets the win after hitting a top rope Holy Slyk.

***Third Round Tournament Matches***

Jay Lethal d. Jimmy Jacobs
Great match here. Jay Lethal really started coming in his own, and this is where I got the hunch that he was going all the way. Lethal picked up the win after a double tiger suplex for the win.

Homicide d. Slyk Wagner Brown w/April Hunter
PAW match, this was the match of the night in my opinion. This match was 2 of the best wrestlers today going at it. April Hunter was up to no good and continuously attacked Homicide. Lots of false finishes, and Homicide pummeled Slyk a lot. The ref seemed to keep messing things up, and Homicide was infuriated and threatened to beat his ass. This match brawled throughout the crowd, and saw chair shots and soda get involved. Slyk went for the SSP, but caught nothing but mat, and Homicide was able to pin him after a long match to advance to the finals.

Non Tournament Match

Striker vs John Shane
John Shane came out and basically gave the “I’m injured excuse.” Shane said he pulled his hammy, but had a suitable replacement. Out comes Johnny Storm. Ok this flies by me, Storm is great. The only thing I was thinking that it might take away from the tournament final because I knew Striker/Storm would be great, and I thought it might take away something from the main event.

Striker d. Johnny Storm
PAW match. Wrestled beautifully for about 15 minutes. Lots of submission moves in this one. Striker got the win after his double knees to the back move, which took all the air and breath away from Storm.

****Fourth Round****
****JCW J-CUP FINALS!!!****

Jay Lethal d. Homicide to become the fourth JCW J-Cup Winner

Superb match that saw Homicide “beat the respect” into Lethal. By beating the respect, I mean dominated, and made Jay Lethal’s win mean that much more, so don’t think it’s some inside thing. Homicide pounded Lethal, but all of a sudden, Lethal got a pin off what looked like a 2 count. I don’t know what happened there, but the finish was off. I thought the finish would be clear cut, but instead “Screwjob” chants broke out. This was the 15th match in the tourney, and the other 14 ended cleanly with no dispution, so it was weird to see the J-Cup end like this. I like how Lethal got the win, and this will definitely elevate his career.
POSTMATCH: Homicide is pissed and refuses to give the Trophy to Lethal. Noel comes in and tries to take it back, but Homicide goes off and threatens her. She backs off. Homicide finally gives in, and gives the trophy to Lethal, and shakes hands in a sign of respect for wrestling, and for the prestige of the J-Cup, and more importantly, for Jay Lethal. I think everyone gained much respect for Jay Lethal here today. Lethal talks about winning, the honor, and thanks Homicide for being there for him. Homicide leaves to a nice crowd reaction, and the focus then goes on to Lethals major single accomplishment.

Final McWord:
One of top 3 shows I’ve been to all year without a doubt, in terms of pure wrestling. Not one bad match. While I questioned the finish, and putting on a hot match right before the finals, it can’t damper the great show, and seeing a guy who I think is great in Jay Lethal, take the win in front of his home promotion and family, was good to see. All in all another great show by JCW. As far as the bus, I said it in the top, the bus really screwed Ricky O. For everyone who was there, Ricky O and Bob, will be giving out a free VHS or DVD of this show, plus a free ticket to the Sept 28 show. Give these two a chance before writing them off, I was there and talked to Ricky and Bob face to face, and I can tell they were distraught, that 15 hardcore fans missed the best JCW show of the year, and that JCW would catch some heat with good wrestling fans. Bottom line is let Ricky and Bob make it up to you, and give them a chance to follow through before hating them. Back to the show, if you were there, or reading this report and couldn’t make it, definitely get the tape/dvd, because this was one of the best shows of the year that I’ve seen.

Well I’m out
Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com