Assault Championship Wrestling
"Reload"
2/15/04
Club Arkadia, New Britain, CT

Hello all you Connecticut indy wrestling fanatics! Yes, both of you, ha ha. Here's a rather late report on the latest show from Jason Knight's ACW. Sorry this one is so far after the fact but I was on vacation for a week or so immediately following the show and didn't get to a computer very much.

Finally, I get my ACW fix again! I missed the last show these guys ran back in the fall and between a rainout and a winter break by the promotion I hadn't seen one of their shows in quite some time.

Well since it's February, obviously ACW couldn't run at their normal outdoor venue at Rider's Café. So instead here we were at Club Arkadia, formerly known as the New Britain Sports Palace. The old NBSP was a godforsaken dump with no heat - I once heard a wrestler compare it to a scene out of "Escape From New York" - but it had lots of room to run a wrestling show. Club Arkadia has thankfully installed heating and ventilation. [Though not much of the latter judging from the heavy and lingering aroma of cigarette smoke.] Unfortunately they've also broken the floor up into sections of different levels. Great setup for a nightclub, less than ideal for a wrestling venue. The seating setup is just really weird and very limiting. You can't even sit ringside, the best you can do is sit in a raised section above what would normally be the dance floor. A few diehards dragged chairs down to ringside anyway but there really isn't any room there. Oh well it will have to do until springtime. The good news, for those that care about such things, is that there is a full bar available for those over 21. [Mic are you listening? LOL] There is also a huge sound system, a professional lighting system, and a nice ramp leading directly from the curtained stage to the ring. Much like Philly's Electric Factory this a venue that has its share of flaws [more than its share in this case] but will look like a million bucks on home video.

The typical ACW crowd is small but very passionate about the product. They can also be harsh as hell, and they sure do like their hardcore and blood. In a way they are almost like a microcosm of the typical Philly crowd. However they will pop for things other than blood and guts, as we found out at this show.

For the most part this was probably the tightest, most well wrestled ACW show out of the handful that I've seen. It seems to me that they used a few less workers this time and focused a little more on longer matches that told stories and/or were booked to lead into other things down the road.

Show opened with a Light Heavyweight title match between Die Hard Eddie Edwards (w/ La Familia) and Abunai. Edwards must have joined La Familia during that show I missed. Good spot for him as he is developing into a strong heel and joining LF will only get him booed even more, plus it positions him as major player in the fed. Of course La Familia came out and stood on the stage during the match in order to wake up the crowd by giving them extra people to boo and yell abuse at. Familia leader Mike E Milano really works his heel act well. Pretty decent match that was hurt a little by having to work around the very low ceiling. There was a light rig hanging from the ceiling that I assume is used for bands, and it really didn't leave these two aerial specialists the ideal amount of room to work, but they adapted well enough to keep a good match flowing. Abunai won with DDT in a bit of an upset. La Familia has had stranglehold on the top of the card and the promotion is general, so it was a little surprising to see their guy lose, and lose clean. This was to be the start of a very bad night for Milano's crew. I'd love to see these two guys get rematch in a venue where they had a little more headroom.

In his prematch promo, Milano briefly acknowledged "that other promotion" but said La Familia would never be seen there again and he wasn't going to talk about them. So I guess the cross-promotional "invasion" angle in CCW is over with? We'll find out for sure next week. Too bad if it's true, it was nice to see a couple of CT feds working together a little. Oh well, I have no idea about the backstage politics involved here, if any, nor do I especially want to know.

Next up we had a grudge match between newcomer Mo Sexy and ACW crowd fav "The Original Lover Man" Shabba White. Mo was booked as the heel and I guess it worked since the crowd sure did hate him. White [who is, well, white - REALLY white] came out in his usual dreadlock wig and treated us to some very questionable rapping before and after the match. However he was all business during the match itself and showed some good fire and intensity. Result was probably the best Shabba match that I have personally witnessed. It seems like they are continuing to move his normally goofy character in a more serious direction, which isn't a bad idea since it gives him more places to go to and, in this match at least, is definitely pushing his ring work up a notch or two. Solid, entertaining, well put together match. Did I really just write that about a Shabba White match??? Shabba got the duke with his version of the Bookend [uranage].

After this we had Johnny Thunder (w/Talia) challenging for Scotty Charisma's ACW Television Title. Crowd really didn't take to this at first but I thought it was a good, well wrestled, old school type match. Charisma dominated Thunder for much of the match and did a lot of working on the leg and knee. Thunder's manager [and former La Familia member] Talia interfered on her man's behalf a couple of times and got accidentally clocked by Thunder after a miscue. She was crumpled up in the corner all weepy and crying and pitiful and Thunder more or less stopped the match to attend to her, which the ACW fans hated. Then a little later when Thunder had gained the advantage , Talia got in the ring again....and gave him a low blow! [No, not that kind, you pervert.] Scotty hit his finisher on the temporarily disabled Thunder and walked out with the TV title, and with the newly re-heeled Talia. Great twist that nobody really saw coming. Charisma was booked as the ostensible heel and did everything in his power to get the fans to hate him, but I guess they like a winner since he got about 90% cheers for his devious victory. Great finish, and I'd guess that most of the people at the show who weren't into the match early on will only remember marking for the end and will be into Scotty - who's one of ACW's more solid workers - as TV champ next time out. Look for a DOI interview with Charisma as soon I have time to get the questions together. [I'm about 2 show reports behind right now and my 'real' job is insane, so it may take a little while!]

Well so far we're 3 matches in and everything has been pretty darned good. Next, what the majority of the crowd came for: blood, and lots of it!

Yup, it was hardcore time as Balls Mahoney took on Mutilator Nemesis and ACW message board fav Demented Dave Donovan in a street fight match. They actually mixed a little straight wrestling in here, which gave Nemesis and Donovan a chance to show that there's more to them than chairs and thumbtacks and brawling. [We already knew that about Balls.] We got to the brawling soon enough though as this match became a festival of brutally stiff chairshots and the usual bizarre fan-made weapons. All 3 men Wore The Crimson Mask big time. These guys beat the hell out each other and at times it looked like Mahoney was almost out on his feet - or NOT on them. Great hardcore match that the fans ate up. All the more impressive when I found out that Mahoney had worked both this match and his phenomenal USA Pro match the night before with two broken ribs. Mahoney got the win with, of all things, a rollup.

Former ACW Light Heavyweight champ Fantastic Jim Nastic defeated Chi Chi Cruz. Not much really memorable one way or the other. One thing I did like was that Nastic used an airplane spin, a move you don't see much any more. Unfortunately it left him dizzy and thus an easy pin for Cruz. Interesting finish.

Next we had an even more brutal hardcore match as ACW Hardcore Champion Mutilator Jamie Pain defended against Avil Graves. Turns out Graves is still a face here even though he was part of La Familia when the now apparently aborted CCW invasion angle on the last CCW show. F'ing great match that saw both men juice and Graves bleed buckets. Seriously, it looked like the man was going to need a transfusion after this one. Tables and ladders and barbed wire, oh my. Finish came after Pain powerbombed Graves through a table and Graves appeared to it his head really hard on the floor as the table shattered right under his cranium, offering nor barrier between it and the hard concrete. I thought he was out for sure but he somehow got back to the ring. Once back in the ring Graves was easy pickings for the also badly bloodied Pain. I've got something in my notes about a pizza cutter coming into play in this match, which wouldn't be out of character at all for pain. The fans here just love Graves and it's not hard to see why, the guy really gives it his all.

Sensibly, they took intermission after this, which meant nobody had to try and follow plus they could clean up all the mess. They had the usual raffle and I will just say that they had some very good incentives to buy raffle tickets this time out. I bought a bunch, didn't win, and didn't care.

Luis Ortiz beat Mike Bell with a Samoan Slam type move. Bell was announced as being from OVW which made this crowd pretty much want to hate him from the get go and he fanned the flames with lots of insults aimed at the fans. Match itself wasn't up to what I've seen from Ortiz elsewhere. Bell didn't make a big impression on me. If he is a typical OVW prospect then no wonder WWE is in trouble. Then again it's not like Jim Cornette needs advice from me, is it? [I should stress that I don't if Bell is actually in OVW or if this was just said to get heat, but I would assume the former.]

After this we saw an indy trend continue, as the women almost stole the show with Sumie Sakai vs Simply Luscious vs La Familia's Mercedes Martinez. Really scary moment in here when Sumie went for a moonsault and CLOCKED her head on lighting rig in mid flight. She shook it off after a minute or two and continued the match, so hopefully she's alright. Simply Luscious continued her hot streak by getting the pin. So La Familia is now 0 for 2. Hmm. I hope they bring Luscious back as she's fine wrestler an adds a lot to any show she's in. She ain't exactly tough on the eyes either.

Hitman Vic Gun'R won a 10 man "battlefest". This was not unlike a ticket sellers' royal rumble match, except that instead of ticket sellers most of the guys were probably students from Jason Knight's dojo [which means they had some idea how to work], and it took maybe 10 minutes tops. Gun'R eliminated Wiqued, who was basically the other experienced wrestler in the match, to win. Competitive when it was down to Gun'R and Wiqued, a squash the rest of the time. Gun'R remains established as a monster but I'm starting to wonder when, or if, they will do something more with him.

Next the tag team title match was scheduled but before it got started "Hippie Freak" Nick Richards and Kurt Adonis got in the ring and confronted champs The Rednecks From Hell, demanding a title shot. Richards now has a really inappropriate gimmick name since he and Adonis were both dressed as pink-dress-shirt, turned-up-collar, khaki-wearing preppie types. After this we got the scheduled match of Red Hot Russ and Mike Xylas. Russ and Xylas just don't do much for me and this match didn't change that. Rednecks got the duke with a pair of clotheslines and were jumped after the match by Kurt Adonis and Preppie Freak Richards, who stole the tag title belts and ran out. I guess we know what the tag title match will be for next month.

Tony Devito retained the Great American title against Dr Heresy. Lots of comedy before the match as Heresy insisted that Devito hadn't been medically cleared by the state athletic commission [does CT even have one?] to wrestle, but since Heresy was a certified physician he'd do the exam. Funny but a little too long. Crowd started a "Dr Ass" chant at Heresy that kept up throughout the skit and much of the match. Crowd was otherwise a little dead for the actual match as they were starting to get burned out and the long skit didn't help. Devito won with a chokeslam, not a move I remember seeing from him as a finisher before.

In the match of the night, Ron Zombie defeated Dylan Kage to become the new ACW World Heavyweight Champion. Really long, competitive, well booked, well wrestled match. Zombie is a former long time hardcore champion and they are clearly elevating him to the next [well, the highest] level and allowing him to show that he's got a lot more than brawling in his repertoire. There were several ref bumps and a ton of interference in this one as the last 10 minutes resembled one of those NWATNA title matches where everyone and their brother gets involved. Each man hit his finisher at different points but with no ref to make the count. By the end of this match, the crowd had gone from semi-dead to totally apesh*t and DYING to see Zombie win the belt. Really awesome job of putting this one together. They succeeded in making winning the ACW world title look the ultimate pinnacle of wrestling achievement. I kid you not; they made their belt look more important than the WWE or TNA make their world title belts seem. THIS is how to put on a world title match. After interference from La Familia's Del Tsunami [making a surprise return form a knee injury], countered by interference from Avil Graves, countered by someone else, countered by ACW commish Jonny Promo, Zombie hit the double arm DDT on Kage and sole remaining ref Bill Brown ran in and made the 3 count as the place came unglued. Just a freakin' great main event, from 2 guys that most people outside of CT probably don't even recognize. If this tape gets around maybe that will change. Zombie cut an emotional promo afterwards about this being the best moment in his 9 years of wrestling. The 0 for 3 La Familia quickly got out of Dodge. Zombie came back out after the show to greet fans.

ACW return to Club Arkadia in March with the Dave Vicious Memorial Cup. No date yet, but when one is announced you'll read about it here.