WXW’s Sportsfest is held once a year, in the summertime, and is WXW’s Wrestlemania. The big names come out, the Samoans come out and we get some good matches.
Remember that Sportsfest is the culmination of WXW’s year, so the good will most of the time prevail over the evil. Remember furthermore, that WXW is Samoan territory and are the good guys the majority of the time as well.

Your ring announcer is Scott Matthews.
Your announcers are Mark Clemson, Da Bald Guy and Mike Millman. Millman is the straight man and plugs WXW like Vince McMahon plugged WWF when he was announcing, Clemson is your Michael Cole, as he knows what’s going on and is good to listen to, but gets caught up in too much hyperbole, and Da Bald Guy is your lighter version of Jessie Ventura, as he has some good one liners, but nothing too controversial. I thought these announcers were very good, and had a “WWE” announcing style. By that, I meant they were on top of everything, plugged how great WXW was in every match and kept promoting WXW. Other indy announcers that I have heard might be more indy wrestling knowledgeable and funnier, but these announcers did a great job of attaining their goal- promoting WXW.

Onto the show…

Supreme Lee Great d. Homicide and Crazy Ivan in a triple threat match
Just a quick note. This tape was very professional and had every guys name shown as he entered and was taped WWE style. Just a great look and made the tape enjoyable to watch, compared to other tapes where the camera work and angles are shoddy at best.
This match was alright, but nothing special and was pretty short. I don’t think this was Ivan’s best match, and probably not Homicide’s or SLG’s best match either, but it flowed pretty well. I know this review spoils results for people interested in buying the tape, but I won’t ruin the whole match by giving move by move description. SLG gets the win with a nice leg cradle roll up out of no where on Homicide.

Tonga Kid d. Cory K
Tonga Kid is advertising his website on his back. (www.tongakid.com) Tonga makes short work of Cory K after a Vaderbomb from the middle rope, for the pinfall victory. Match was nothing special.

Promo with Da Hit Squad and Crappy the Clown. (I am not being sarcastic, his name is Crappy The Clown) Pretty much, Dylan Dean is DHS’s manager. Crappy sets it up that if DHS lose to his team of Molson and Big Poppa Pete, then Dean can no longer manage DHS any more. If I was the DHS, I would lose on purpose then. (I am now being sarcastic.)

The Island Boyz (Ekmo/Kimo) d. The Fallen Angels (Sinn/Lucifer)
The Island Boys are the team that became Three Minute Warning in the WWE. I thought The Island Boys looked better here, in my opinion, then they did in their WWE matches. Ekmo hits a big Samoan drop on Sinn for the pinfall victory. Decent tag bout.

Kamala d. Metal Maniac
Kamala looked to be in good shape in this one. Gotta love a show that has Metal Maniac on it, but doesn’t let him talk or wrestle long. Kamala squashes Maniac in this one, after finishing him off with a Kamala splash. Can’t really say how good a squash match was, but at least I didn’t have to watch Metal Maniac go into a 20 minute snoozefest promo.

For the WXW Cruiserweight Championship
© Zero Gravity d. Smooth Tommy Seude w/Ariel
Excellent match here. Ariel was very involved in this match and made the match more interesting. Lots of high spots by Tommy Seude, which was cool, because he worked it in to the punishment he was giving Zero Gravity. Corkscrews and moonsaults a plenty in this bout. Finish saw Gravity powerbomb Ariel after a failed hurranacarana. Tommy goes to see what’s up and BOOM, gets clocked with the belt by Gravity, and Gravity is able to get the pinfall win.

“Showtime” Shane Black d. The Puerto Rican Hurricane Havoc
Watching Havoc’s match on this tape, then seeing him wrestle last week, showed to me how much Havoc has improved in his first year as a wrestler. This match had a lot of brutality in it. At one point, Havoc got 4 chairs set up, in a square formation. He tried to put Black through it numerous times, but was unsuccessful. Eventually, Black reversed one of Havocs attempts of putting him through the chairs, by powerbombing Havoc from outside the ring to the floor, through the tables. Must be seen on tape. Similar to Eddie Guerreros powerbombs on RVD off the ladder. Havoc had Black beaten on numerous occasions, but made the rookie mistake of not going for the pin and going for chairs. The chair led to his demise, as he went to swing a chair at Black, only for Black to superkick it right into his face and pick up the pinfall on WXW’s biggest stage of the year. Just a mental lapse I guess by Havoc, as he didn’t need to keep going for the chair when he had Black beat.

Announcers plug upcoming WXW shows in Philly and in Hazleton. Good idea and just an example of why WXW is one of the top indy feds in the north east today.

We come back from intermission.

For the WXW Tag Team Championships Molson and Poppa Pete w/Crappy The Clown d. © Da Hit Squad w/Dylan Dean to become new WXW Tag Champs
PREMATCH: Dean cuts a good promo about how bad Allentown is and how DHS are going to retain tonight.
Molson looked really good here. He looked better in this match than the other matches I’ve seen him in. He even hit a somersault from the apron to the floor. DHS were on top of their game for the most part, but Big Poppa Pete made sure to throw them off a few times, as it looked like Pete didn’t know how to hit the ropes. Pete didn’t belong in this match. DHS look to have the match won, but as DHS go in for more punishment with a chair (They should’ve watched Havoc’s match) Mack misses and hits Mafia with a chair. Mack then walks into a big time spinebuster by Molson, and Molson pins the shocked Mack for the pinfall and for the titles. Match wasn’t that hot, because Pete looked lost at times and all over the place. Personally, I would rather see Pierre from JAP manage DHS, as I feel he brought the true meaning of the DHS tag team out. Dylan Dean didn’t really fit in well with the DHS, so maybe that’s why they got rid of him here.
POSTMATCH: Dean just walks out without saying anything to DHS. Ok then.

The Hollywood Studs (Xtreme Billy Dream/Eric Cobana) w/Jess Dally d. Don Crisis/Tommy Johnson
Um.. yea, the Hollywood Studs were a bad ripoff of The Hollywood Blondes. I don’t understand why a tag team title match was on before this match, and even more so that the tag title match was on the match previous. I thought the titles would mean more, and should be defended later on in the show. This match wasn’t too hot. Dream wins the match for his team after a leg drop.

Hollywood Studs cut a promo challenging for the tag belts.

The Jersey Devil d. Nuisance w/Valentina
Pretty decent match here. Little on the short side. Devil gets the win with the anglelock ankle lock submission.

For the WXW Hardcore Championship
Sugaa w/Mean Gene Sinisky and Dylan Dean d. © Malachai
Dean didn’t seem too upset about losing the DHS with his other wrestlers. Match built up to one spot. In a huge holy shit spot and probably one of the best reasons to get this tape, Sugaa hits a top rope splas,h through a double decker tabl,e that’s on fire, on Malachai. Say that three times fast lol. Suggaa picks up the hardcore title after that move.

Dylan Dean stays out. Man, WXW is really old school – this is Dean’s 4th appearance on the show, similar to the Bobby Heenan days of Wrestlemania. Too bad that Dean isn’t Heenan…
Anyway Dean introduces the (then) newest WWE Superstar, Deacon Batista. (Remember that gimmick with D-Von? Oh you don’t? Well consider yourself lucky lol. Dean says Batista hates Allentown too. Thanks.

Batista d. LA Smooth
Batista made short work here, and finished this baby off with his cool spinebuster, where he bounces right back up. Short match.

Sandman d. Wenzel
Another short bout here, which saw Wenzel hit Sandman over the head 3 times with a Singapore cane, only for Sandman to say n-word please, go ape shit, and hit a top rope senton on a chair into Wenzels chest, to pick up the win. Quick match, but good way to use Sandman and get the crowd into the show.

DOUBLE MAIN EVENT
For the WXW World Title
The WXW World Championship and WXW TV Champion, Afa Jr. d. Crowbar
I hate double champions, as it really is pointless and should’ve been resolved before the biggest show of the year. Pretty good match here. I would like to see Afa Jr wrestle more on a consistent basis, as I’ve now seen 2 matches of his, and liked both. Afa Jr gets the win with a picture-perfect rockbottom, followed up by a frog splash. Afa Jr. retains both titles.

Rikishi d. Gangrel
Holy squash batman! I thought this would be a 15 minute bout. Instead it was a 13 second match, that saw Rikishi Banzai drop Gangrel for the win. What the fuck? Also, the announcers were teasing some bikini contest THAT NEVER HAPPENED! They were talking about this bikini contest through out the last two matches, and I thought it took a little away from the show. Maybe the bikini contest happened, but not on the tape? Either way, they were going on and on about bikini’s, Jerry Lawler style, but it never came up, and it made the announcers care more about T and A, instead of the WXW World title and a WWE wrestler in the double main event. That’s my gripe for evening lol.

POSTMATCH: DHS and Sugaa interfere. Rikishi is able to make short work of them. Batista then runs in, and gets the upperhand on Rikishi. All of a sudden, Gangrel, Sugaa and DHS join up with Batista, and bloody Rikishi up badly. Out comes Afa Jr., Samu, Ekmo, Kimo, and The Tonga Kid to back up Rikishi. They all brawl. All of a sudden, the big man of WXW, Afa, comes out and headbutts anyone in a 5 foot radius. The Samoans clear the ring and this ends the show.

Final McWord:
Decent show, that had good name power, a few good matches and lots of squashes. This reminded me of an old Wrestlemania, as there were a lot of fast matches, and lots of matches in general. Show was still only a little bit under 3 hours. I am a big fan of the WXW promotion, and anyone looking to get into watching WXW, this would be a good show to start off with. I am a big fan of the Samoan family, and they are a perfect example of the right way to do things in wrestling. You hear about all these wrestling tragedy families, such as The Harts, The Von Erichs, etc, and hear about tragic drug deaths and so on, but you never hear that crap with the Samoans. The Samoans keep things positive and put out a good wrestling product, maybe too old school for people’s tastes, but an enjoyable one none the less. You won’t find a bunch of 5 star matches on this, but if you’re into old school wrestling and big names, I recommend WXW to you.
Special shout out to Mark Clemson for the tape, I appreciate you giving me some of WXW’s past.

I’m out.
GO YANKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!
Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey
bullsmc@aol.com