Pic Credit: NWAFlorida.com

The DVD that I got, from NWA Florida, is just the tournament itself. You can find the whole show through various distributers, but as for this tape/DVD review, I'll be reviewing only the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup Tournament matches.

With that said, here's the review:

NWA Florida Presents...Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup DVD
June 4th/5th 2004
Commentators: Lenny Leonard, Shannon Rose, and Ron Neimi
Referees: Star Stevens (Who looks like he reffed David vs Goliath) and Richie Rich (Who must have an Achy Breaky Heart judging by his Floridian Mullet)
Ring Announcer: Lenny Leonard

Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup Round One Matches

Petey Williams d. Naphtali
Petey Williams won this solid opener with a Canadian Destroyer. Naphalti is one of the bigger names in Florida, and looks like a solid cruiserweight, even though his look is very rugged. Petey Williams is one of the top guys on the circuit today, and this match showed just that.

Chris Hero d. Striker
I was suprised to see these guys in this tournament, as it seemed like this tournament was more like a Junior Heavyweight tournament, which neither guy is. Striker is a heavyweight and Chris Hero dwarfs most of the wrestlers in this tournament. Both guys worked alot of unique submission holds in this match, but it was a schoolboy roll-up from Chris Hero that ended this match.

Roderick Strong d. Sedrick Strong
This was another good match in their hot series/feud. You can tell why Roderick is considered the better of the two in this match, but Sedrick ain't shabby. Both these guys really hit each other hard in this match, inside and outside the ring. The finish here came when Roderick put Sedrick in a Boston Crab for the tap out victory.

Alex Shelley d. Jimmy Jacobs
These guys have feuded alot in the Midwest, and they brought their feud to Florida here. It seemed that alot of the first round matches saw guys who have feuded in the past get pitted against each other. I wouldn't consider this match to be the best in their series, but this was still a pretty fun match to watch. Shelley wins this match via pinfall after hitting his ShellShock.

Mikey Tenderfoot d. Puma
This was the only match of the first round that I didn't really get into. Tenderfoot, during this match, was 1/2 of the NWA Florida Tag Team Champions and was over with the crowd, but being from the Northeast that does nothing for me. Puma is loved by alot of fans, but like Super Dragon matches, I have a hard time getting into his stuff. Tenderfoot won this match with a variation of an armbreaker, to move on to the second round.

Justice d. Jack Evans
This was one of the better matches of the first round. Justice is the other 1/2 of the NWA Florida Tag Team Champions during this tournament. Justice is a regular for NWA Florida, so I wasn't surprised that he won, I was surprised that Jack Evans was eliminated so early. With Teddy Hart on the card, you'd figure they would do something with Jack and Teddy. Unlike Mikey Tenderfoot, who is also a home wrestler for NWA Florida, I was able to get into Justice. I liked his gimmick and thought he held his own with Evans. Justice wins this match after a spin kick in a really enjoyable match.

Homicide d. Black Tiger
This was a back and forth match here. The crowd didn't seem to know what to expect from these guys, but they popped like hell when Homicide hit his tope con hilo. I was sort of expecting more from Black Tiger, as I have heard alot of good things about him, but Homicide was clearly the better of the two here. After trying to get Tiger to tap out, Homicide tried another strategy and pinned Tiger to move on to the second round.

In what I thought was the best match of the First Round:
Teddy Hart d. Azraiel
This was easily the best match of the first round to me. Both guys worked really hard and told a great story in the ring. I was glad to see Azraiel get work in another territory because he's silently becoming one of the best in this area. There were alot of false finishes in this match. Teddy Hart won this match with a variation of a flipping sitout powerbomb, which the announcers called the move a tribute to Stu Hart. I haven't seen Teddy use that move before, and I've seen him wrestle alot on the east coast. Very good match here.

We then recap the first round matches in a special video package. It's also announced that Homicide suffered a hand injury, so he will forfeit his second round match, which means that Chris Hero advances to the semi-finals.

Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup Round Two Matches

Chris Hero d. Homicide via forfeit

Roderick Strong d. Alex Shelley
This was a long match that the crowd did not react to at all, and watching this match felt like I was watching a training video. There was no noise at all besides the announcers. I guess this crowd wasn't aware of the Generation Next angle in ROH. It's funny, because when these guys fought in CZW the crowd was very loud. I guess that's just Florida wrestling. This match saw all guys pull out all the stops, but Strong got the last stop as he put Shelley in a Boston Crab, the same move he used from his first round match, to win this and move on.

Justice d. Petey Williams
I was very surprised by the outcome here, but then again, based on the finals of this tournament, I guess I shouldn't be, as it seemed this tournament was used to put NWA Florida over, and not the most superior wrestler. Justice did hold his own here, but it was obvious that Petey was the better of the two. The biggest story in this match was Petey Williams trying to hit his Canadian Destroyer. Everytime he tried, Justice would get out of it. The finish of this match saw Justice hit a 450 splash for the 1-2-3.

Teddy Hart d. Mikey Tenderfoot
Teddy Hart looked all fucked up here. Teddy was holding his eye throughout the match, but I couldn't see what led to his eye bothering him. Maybe he just got something in it. Alot of this match was spent on the outside, where both guys threw each other into the empty front row chairs. That's right, empty front row chairs for an event of this magnitude. It just goes to show you that smart mark wrestling just doesn't work/draw in Florida. Look at Exhibit A, aka FIP. Those shows have kick ass line-ups but only draw 20 fans, and that's with free tickets. Anyway, as far as this match, I thought it was the most enjoyable of the second round, although I thought Strong/Shelley was the better overall match, but for entertainment value, this match was it. Tenderfoot looked like he was going to win this match on several occassions, but Teddy was able to win this match with his Stu Hart tribute move for the 1-2-3.

We then recap the second round matches and find out now that Teddy Hart is injured. The two top wrestlers arguably in this tournament, Homicide and Teddy Hart were injured, which sucked. Therefore, due to Teddy's injury, Chris Hero recieved another bye, straight to the finals, and the semi-final Justice vs Roderick Strong match, was turned into a triple threat with Chris Hero, to determine the winner of tournament.

Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup Round Three Match
To Become The Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup Winner
Triple Threat Match
Justice d. Roderick Strong and Chris Hero to win the tournament
This was probably the best match of the tournament, depending on your tastes. I'll get more into it at the end of this review, but losing Hart/Homicide, hurt this tournament in my eyes. Fans outside of Florida are probably not familiar with Justice, so making him go over Chris Hero and Roderick Strong looks like it was done out of promotion loyalty, and not because of his talent. I thought the matches Justice had were used to build him up over bigger names, and he won them because he was from NWA Florida and not because he was better than his opponent. That trend continued here as to me, Strong and Hero were the better wrestlers.
As far as the match it was very good, up until the finish, because it looked like Roderick was going to take it. When Justice won, it was like "eh" for me. Maybe that's because I'm not too familiar with the NWA Florida product, but then again any fan can get into CZW's Best of the Best or ECWA's Super 8, no matter who wins the tournament.
I liked how this match started, as the guys took turns wrestling each other, as the odd man out would watch from the outside. Also outside surrounding the ring were the wrestlers who participated in the tournament. The middle of this match saw all three men trade near falls and submission holds, as well as alot of rough chops. The finish of this match saw Justice hit a standing shooting star press on Chris Hero to pick up the 1-2-3 and the Cup.

POSTMATCH: All 16 competitors entered the ring, and Teddy Hart of all people put Justice on his shoulders (with his bad knee that made him forfeit in the tournament) and carried him around the ring. The DVD closes with Justice celebrating with the Cup.

Final McWord
I thought this was a pretty solid tournament, but not on the level of CZW's Best of the Best or ECWA's Super 8. I think injuries really hurt this tournament, which is something NWA Florida couldn't control. Losing Teddy and Homicide was big and hurt what NWA Florida was trying to do with Justice. Who knows if Justice was originally supposed to win the tournament in the first place? I'd much rather see a Teddy Hart vs Homicide finals, then what happened here, and I'm sure NWA Florida would rather have a Teddy Hart vs Homicide final, as it would sell more DVD's. Promoting a tournament for sale on DVD, with a relative unknown winning it, is a tough task for NWA Florida, but for what it's worth, there are some pretty good matches on here. If you're a Roderick Strong fan, this DVD is a must for your collection, as I believe he should've been the one to win the finals, as he was fantastic throughout the tournament.

The announcing here was off and on. I thought Lenny Leonard did a good job and had a WWEesque feel. Ron Neimi was watching the matches as a fan, and it came off that way, as he was so caught up in all of the matches that he'd flub lines and the names of moves. If you like charisma in your announcers, then you'll like Neimi, but if you like accuracy you will like Leonard. I still stand by Clemson/Da Bald Guy as the top duo when it comes to calling indy matches, although Leonard is one of the better straight mans I've heard.

I really thought the opening round of this tournament did an excellent job of what NWA Florida was trying to do. All the matches were pretty solid and the quality of the matches really made Jeff Peterson, the person they were remembering in the ring, look special.

The one thing when looking back at a tournament is to see what it did for the person who won it. Has Justice really done much? As of now, no. If Strong won it, NWA Florida can say Strong became a solid hand for CZW, JAPW and ROH. Justice still hasn't done anything, therefore not really elevating the tournament name and not having the tournament elevate his name. Look at the Super 8 or Best of the Best to see my point. Just competing in the Super 8 is an honor and a career booster on all levels. Chris Daniels won this years edition and continued to roll as one of the top non-WWE wrestlers of the year. Last years winner, Paul London, recieved a WWE contract, and wore WWE Tag Team gold this year. Over in CZW, Sonjay Dutt won the Best of the Best this year, and has been having a career year, including wins on National PPV for TNA. Last years winner B-Boy, recieved work in Japan, as well as all over the country from the west coast, to the east coast to the midwest. Maybe it's just that Florida is not a smart mark wrestling area. If Justice won this tournament in say Philadelphia, it might've done more for his career and for the NWA name.

Overall
This DVD has alot of strong points- a great opening round, watching Northeast wrestlers wrestle Florida wrestlers, decent announcers, and alot of good matches. The weaknessess are the injuries, dead crowds, a wrestler no one knows (And will probably only have a mild interest in seeing more of) winning the tournament and no promos.
There are alot of good matches on this tournament, and I'd say this tournament is maybe the 4th best tournament I've seen all year. (Best of The Best, Super 8, J-Cup being the top three). I'd definitely check it out if you're looking to see some of our favorites mix it up with some unfamiliar faces. The quality of the DVD is also very good.

To order this DVD, check out http://www.nwaflorida.com or go to http://www.nwaflorida.com/jpcdvd/ directly.
There's also a PayPal link for the DVD here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr

For more on NWA Florida and their other events, check out http://www.nwaflorida.com, and keep it here on the DOI to read Will Rivera's NWA Florida live show reports.

Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com