NWA FL
Masquerade Massacre!
Thursday, November 4, 2004
Ybor City, Florida
This was a rare Thursday night show for NWA FL. It was held in the well-known bar/club called Masquerade in Ybor City. The atmosphere was totally different than your normal NWA FL show. With it being a Thursday night, a very big portion of their normal fan base was missing, and those that were in attendance seemed to be there for the alcohol. Anyway, it was a bit dim in there, so I didn’t take many notes. I apologize to those that were expecting a real in-depth review.
Match 1 – The MVPz defeated the Ladykillers.
Erick Stevens, of the MVPz, comes out working the “E Stizzle” gimmick. As entertaining as it is, I still can’t wait for him to go back to wrestling in singles matches. Not many people around these parts can garner the kind of heel heat that Stevens usually does. The match itself seemed to be a bit off. I don’t know on whose part it was, but it just didn’t seem to click, especially toward the end of the match. The match did see some nice spots though, most notably E Stizzle’s bowling/cannonball spot and an inverted powerbomb/reverse lungblower combo finisher by the MVPz that they call Menace II Society.
Match 2 – James Hendrix defeated Michael Patrick.
I’d never heard of Michael Patrick, so this was going to be my first look at him. I’ve always been a fan of James Hendrix because he always tries to work the crowd. In fact, there weren’t too many matches tonight that got the fans more involved than this match. The main event may have been the only thing to top it. The match saw a bunch of stalling by Patrick, but it was good stalling. It had more of your old school feel to it. You could tell that they were trying to build to something, but I’m sure time constraints shortened it. Having said that, I’m sure that this match went longer than it was supposed to. Hendrix picked up the win with a flying forearm. Hendrix is another very underrated wrestler in Florida. He’s very solid all around.
Match 3 – Steve Madison defeated Vordell Walker via DQ.
This match was originally supposed to be Vordell Walker and Mikey Batts, but unfortunately Batts couldn’t make it. Madison was more than a suitable replacement. This match saw a lot of mat wrestling which is more of my style, so I thoroughly enjoyed this. I’m a big fan of both of these guys, so I would definitely like to see a program with them somewhere in Florida. For the fans reading this from up North, you will get a chance to check out Madison when he works for the new SAT promotion, FUSION. The end saw 911 Inc. attack Madison in the middle of the match resulting in a no-contest, I believe. Madison gigged, so his face was bloody. As he was being helped to the back, Niemi cut a promo talking about how this was his building and he said some things about the owner. He then began ripping into the fans when Double Deuce came out to the ring to start the next match.
Match 4 – The Shane Twins w/Ron Niemi and Double Deuce w/Cannon was ruled a double DQ.
Double Deuce now has matching gear, which looks really good. I like how NWA FL has a bunch of established tag teams now. Their tag team division is probably the strongest it has ever been. Double Deuce came out working as baby faces. I was definitely confused with this because the last NWA FL show, or any NWA FL show for that matter, DD have always been heels. I must have missed this face turn. Someone had to turn though because they do have a bunch of heel tag teams. You would think with how big the Shane Twins are that they would be all about kicks and punches, but they can actually wrestle. I’m surprised with how agile they both are. The Shane’s really worked over Marcus Dillon in this match. Hell, it almost looked like they were shooting on him, but yeah well, that’s the style I like so I’m not complaining. Both tag teams begin brawling outside when Niemi gets involved. This leads to Cannon getting involved which leads to everyone brawling outside which leads to a double DQ finish. I really didn’t like the two DQ finishes in a row. If anything this one should have ended in a count-out.
Intermission
Match 5 – NWA FL Southern Champion Steve Madison defeated Roderick Strong, Rod Steel and Scoot Andrews in a four-way match.
This match started off as a three-way between Strong, Steel and Andrews. Andrews grabs the mic and cuts a promo about how he paved the way for Roderick to do what he’s doing with RoH and CZW. Roderick hasn’t worked much NWA FL since I moved here, so I’m not sure what the angle is with him and Andrews. I’m assuming that they are feuding. The match is pretty much Steel and Andrews wrestling Strong when a bandaged up Steve Madison comes out from the back. He gets into the ring and begins hitting Strong. Why wouldn’t he have immediately gone after Steel who helped beat him down earlier? Anyway, this match is inexplicitly turned into a four-way match. Each man hit some of their signature moves like Andrews hitting his Forces of Nature, Roderick hitting one of his various backbreakers and Madison hitting his Lariat. The Lariat was actually the finish of the match, but Roderick had kicked but the ref counted the three anyway. Don’t know if that was supposed to be the finish or not.
Match 6 – NWA FL X Division champion Naphtali defeated O.G. Scarface w/Ana Mosity to retain his title.
These two had brawled in the crowd following the opening match. They took it into the streets of Ybor City, but I didn’t follow them so I don’t know what happened. Scarface begins to cut a promo about his shoulder and how he needs surgery, but no one tells him when to have it, or something like that. That was definitely a shoot because I believe that he really is due for surgery soon. I’m not sure if it was announced or not, but this was a no disqualification match. The first few minutes of the match started out a bit sloppy, but once they got going it was a good match. There were lots of hardcore items used during this match, which included things such as cookie sheets, street signs and trashcans. Ana made her way into the ring and did her ‘rana to Naphtali. Scarface hit his finisher, but he didn’t get the pin. Ana was in the ring when she was knocked down. Scarface was checking on her when Naphtali jumped off of Scarface’s knee and hit a Shining Wizard on Ana. Naphtali picked up the win when he put Scarface in the Buzzkiller. At this point the crowd is really into the show. The alcohol is flowing freely tonight. Following the match, there seemed to be an incident between Naphtali and a drunken fan. I’ve heard some things, but I’m not going to speculate on the situation. I just thought it needed to be mentioned because it was quite noticeable at the show that something was wrong.
Match 7 – NWA Southern Heavyweight champion Lex Lovett defeated Bruce Steele w/Rod Steel and Ron Niemi
Following the ordeal with Naphtali and the fan, 911 Inc. come out to tremendous heel heat. The crowd was really into it because it seemed like Rod Steel was shooting on the crowd with some of his comments. I thought for sure that there was going to be a brawl tonight. I know that Lex Lovett graduated from USF, and I know that there were USF students in attendance so some of these fans could very well have been friends of Lovett. Either way, the crowd was fully behind Lovett. I pretty much missed a good portion of this match because I was watching Rod Steel work the crowd. The guy is good. There were a bunch of false finishes that the crowd was eating up. Bruce Steele went for a second Big Dump (his finisher) but Lovett reversed it into an arm bar submission for the submission win. It was a nice reversal from Lovett. The main event was a decent match. I’ve seen these guys work each other a few times, and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen one that I didn’t like.
Final Thoughts
This was definitely a different show than the NWA FL shows that I’m accustomed to. . There were some good and bad with this show. I didn’t like the back-to-back DQ finishes. I didn’t like the confusion with the Double Deuce face turn. I don’t know if it’s that they just worked as the faces for today because they were facing the Shane Twins, or if this was their face turn. Hopefully, with their next show they will better explain this turn if they do decide to go that route with Double Deuce. With it being held in a bar, it almost had that feel that this was more of a “house show” rather than one of their regular shows. Either way, I was glad to see that no one mailed it in because of this. As far as the good, I first want to put over two of the mid-card guys. I really love seeing James Hendrix and Erick Stevens wrestle. They both were on point tonight. I can’t wait to see them raise the ranks because they most certainly will one day be there. As far as the action, I liked the Madison/Walker stuff up until the DQ finish. I also enjoyed the tag match with the Shane Twins vs. Double Deuce, which ironically enough ended in a DQ finish also. The main event with Bruce Steele and Lex Lovett was very enjoyable. The crowd heat made it that much better. In terms of Florida indie shows it was one of the better ones that I will see. However, in terms of NWA FL shows it wasn’t one of the top shows that I’ve seen. Under the circumstances though I guess it’s perfectly understandable. Also, they are following up the best Florida indie show of the year, their last show “Right Now,” so that too could have had an impact on my views of this show. Either way, I’m expecting their next show to be a really good one.
Will Rivera
wriv25@yahoo.com
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