The 5th Annual JCW J-CUP
Attendance: 100 (Clearly a number that has to be considered pathetic with the talent on this show. It looks like the Summertime Jersey Shore Madness is in effect a little bit early this year.)
Referees: Matt Bennett, Ref Bryce and another who I believe was from BWO.
Ring Announcer: The dude who looks like Chris Kanyon
Your DOI Secretary for this show: Alicia. Funny story about Alicia. Before the show, the Green Lantern Fan, the guy who wears the same clothes everyday like he's a cartoon character, (And boy I hope he washes that shit) apologized for calling Alicia "fat" a few shows ago. I guess he realized wrestlers have feelings, but if he was talking about Alicia's ass then he has a valid point. Ha! Anyway, Alicia accepted the apology, and since this was a tournament for men only, Alicia (as one of the main contenders for the JCW Women's title) supported JCW by showing up and helping out by writing some neat notes. Anyway, onto the review!

It was announced by the JCW Ring Announcer that the winner of the J-Cup would not only win the J-Cup, but they'd win the JCW Lightheavyweight title, that was presumably stripped. Shouldn't of JCW explained why the former champion was stripped? In JCW's favor, at least it makes the belt look strong, but I believe that JCW should've told us why the championship was stripped.

Pete Van Orton, aka Peter Ferriero, promoter of IHPW, comes out. Man Peter Van Orton aka PVO, has wasted no time getting work since returning from California. PVO tries heeling out the crowd, but in reality no one knew who he was. PVO announces that CM Punk will not be here. Instead, he has Homicide, representing IHPW. Um, what? I mean this would've made sense if someone like Fat Frank or Bobby Lombardi said that they were representing Homicide, but for PVO to say it, it had no weight. PVO says that Homicide will challenge Slyk for the JCW Title later on in the show. To be honest, I'd rather see Homicide vs Slyk then Punk vs Slyk, so it all worked out anyway. This ended this promo.

Quick note since I mentioned Punk no-showing. Apparently Punk wrestled for IWA MS the night prior in Indiana. Instead of going to JCW, where he was booked first, he went to California to do some New Japan work. While I guess I can't blame him for trying to get some exposure in Japan, there were a few fans in Jersey expecting him to show up. There was also some rumored heat between Punk and Slyk, stemming on various message boards, and we all know if it's on a message board, it's gotta be true!

Speaking of no-shows, Aaron Epic and Kahagas, from FIP in Florida, no showed. Also, Scorpio Sky no-showed the event. Epic and Kahagas made every attempt to be there, but they weren't going to drive to the show. Ricky O, promoter of JCW, had a deal where he thought they would be driving up, so he didn't buy them an expensive plane ticket at the last minute. Filling in them was Dan Barry and Chris Idol. Scorpio Sky from LXW (if it's even around anymore) was booked to be there through LXW, but due to a LXW mishap with JCW, Sky never showed up. Jigsaw, of Chikara instead took that spot. I think JCW dropped the ball by not announcing the changes.

Also, before we get into the first match, JCW really fucked up by not having all 16 men come out and pose for pictures, like they've done every other J-Cup. Instead of making it feel like a special event, it came off as just another show. Also, there was no fucking trophy like there was every show. That was low. I'll talk more about this later.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND ONE
Dave Greco d. Damian Adams
Dave Greco is now using Rage Against The Machine as theme music. Adams started shit off with a leg lock. This match had alot of mat wrestling. Greco hit a nice back suplex. At one point both guys went for a cross body block. We then saw a wack backdrop from Greco. Greco's new tights really showed off his child bearing hips. Man those are some love handles. Adams kept going for one of his new finishers, the sharpshooter. Greco was able to break it up several times and get to the ropes. The finish saw Greco hit the Grecocutter (Diamond Cutter) on Adams. Greco then put his tree trunk legs on the ropes and got the three.
Bad match to start the tournament off with. The tournament is supposed to be prestigious, and already in the first match, we got cheating and nefarious tactics. J-Cup, to me, is supposed to be about great wrestling, not cheap finishes.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND ONE
Mike Quackenbush d. Jigsaw
This should've been the match to start off the tournament. This got the crowd all hyped up right away. Quack went fucking nuts right away by attacking Jigsaw with a huge tope to the outside. Quack hit a backbreaker on the floor to Jigsaw. Quack just put Jigsaw in all these submissions that I honestly don't even know what to call them. Let's just say Quack is the fucking man. The way he can twist someone's body is incredible. No one does it like him. He is smooth as a polished bowling ball and is just a master of his craft. Jigsaw missed a 450 and for that, Quack bitchslapped him. Quackenbush won this match by crossing Jigsaw's legs and tombstoning him down. Now that was just incredible.
Great match where it was obvious that Quack was the star. It's amazing that Quack isn't booked by more promotions.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND ONE
M-Dogg 20 d. Rob Eckos w/Mike Winner
MDogg hit a japanese arm drag to start things off. Eckos went to the outside to regroup, and M-Dogg went for a suicide dive. Eckos backed off, and M-Dogg blocked himself from jumping into the empty floor by breaking up his momentum by hitting the top rope with his head. Unreal and had to be seen move right there. Eckos got back in there and got the advantage. Rob Eckos put on the yamaka and turned into Eckosberg and jackhammered M-Dogg 20 for 2. During this part of the match, Nick Niosi, a JCW staffer, decided to bring in ring steps for the ring. He set this up during the match. Just another reason why this tournament didn't feel or seem prestigious or important like it did in other years. M-Dogg came back on Rob with a huranacarana and a russian leg sweep from the middle rope. Winner went to go interfere, but got knocked down for his efforts. M-Dogg won this match with a shooting star press for three.
Good match here. Gotta give credit where credit is due, unlike other Eckos matches, Rob flew all over the ring and the BCM was high. That was two shows in a row for Rob. He looked good here in defeat. M-Dogg 20 is another gift to the northeast, due to the northeast being THE place to wrestle.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND ONE
Matt Striker d. Dan Barry
Another solid match on this show. The match started off with both guys trying to get the advantage, but each guy outwrestled the other. Barry threw Striker over the top rope. That seems to be Strikers signature bump, just like the Flair flop. Barry did this springboard huranacarana to the outside. Barry then hit a diving senton to the outside on Striker. Back in the ring, Barry hit a top rope legdrop. Barry then did the Chyna handspring into a ddt on Striker. Nice move. Striker was able to come back with some offense. He hit his swinging neckbreaker, with Barry on the top rope. That's a big impact move. Barry came back with three DDT's in a row. Barry then went for a top rope dive, but Striker reversed it and put Barry in a crippler crossface. Barry tapped out to Striker's crossface, to put Striker in Round 2.
The funniest thing in this match is when Striker put Barry in the crossface, Striker couldn't get his arms around Barry's big head, so Strikers hands were loosely locked around Barry's cranium. Damn Barry really does have 60 pound head lol. All jokes aside, this was another good match in this tournament. Striker continues to show a new side of him in every match, as he took alot of offense in this and is using new moves. (Crossface and neckbreaker off the rope.) Barry looked good here as well.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND ONE
Shawn Sheridan w/One-Up d. Sabian
Sheridan comes out to "World's Greatest Hero". So that's where George Costanza got his answer machine message from. Sabian started things off with some rough armbars and twists. Sheridan countered Sabian's armdrags with some of his own. At one point we saw a bunch of fast 2 counts from both sides. Sheridan hit a huge blockbuster from the ring apron to the floor on Sabian. This move wound up injuring Sheridan's back for the rest of the match. Back in the ring, Sheridan hit 2 swinging neckbreakers. Sabian came back with a shining wizard. Sabian then hit some vicious kicks to Sheridan. Sheridan came back and hit an emerald fusion on Sabian for the 1-2-3.
This match continued the good match trend. Sheridan was injured, as I said before, and would later pull out of Round 2.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND ONE
Super Dragon d. Altar Boy Luke
I'm going to say it now, and I know this might be an unpopular thing to say, but I don't see what the big deal is with Super Dragon. I've only seen his northeast matches, so maybe he wasn't really on here, but I didn't think any of his matches really stood out like I've been reading about from other writers and fans. Dragon started this match by getting into the face of a fan. Dragon wrestles very snug and tight. Dragon put ABL in a head scissors. Dragon put ABL in a fullnelson with his legs. Dragon chopped ABL. Luke came back with a suplex. Luke hit a nice moonsault from the middle rope on Dragon. Dragon hit a double stomp to Luke's knee for the 1-2-3.
Decent match, but I don't understand the hype of Super Dragon. Dragon also threw famous indy fan, Paul, airhorn across the arena. Real nice guy, considering it came pretty close to hitting a little kid in the front row.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND ONE
Josh Daniels d. Tyler Payne
Tyler Payne has now grown in his hair. He looks like a 12 year old with his current haircut. This match was technical wrestling at its finest. Tyler kept going after Josh's lower back. Josh hit a huge german on Payne in this match. There were alot of suplexes in this match. Tyler went for an uncharacterestic frog splash and missed. Daniels quickly put Tyler in an armbar, and Tyler tapped out.
Solid match, even though it was pretty short. Look for some Tyler Payne news in the upcoming days on the DOI site.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND ONE
B-Boy d. Chris Idol
I'll say it this one time here on the site since so many people mentioned it to me. Yes, Chris Idol has a tattoo of the letter "R" on his right arm. No it doesn't stand for Rob, as in Rob Feinstein. It stands for his last name. Either way, Idol has to expect that I guess. This match was alot different than I thought. Instead of a pure squash, like most were expecting, Idol got off alot of offense in this match, and in the end it wound up being a better match. I was hoping for a squash because a fast match would've been nice, and due to B-Boy's experience over Idol it would've made sense. Chants of "B-Boy is gonna kill you" broke out. B-Boy open handed slapped Idol. Idol got off a nice headscissors and neckbreaker on B-Boy. B-Boy came back with an overhead suplex. B-Boy then opened up on Idol with vicious body shots and a neckbreaker. B-Boy then hit a wicked ass spinebuster on Idol. Idol hit a weak DDT, but then came back with an enziguri. Idol then hit a urinage on B-Boy. B-Boy hit a northern lights suplex and a back suplex. B-Boy then drop kicked Idol in the face. B-Boy then finished off Idol with a shining wizard.
Probably one of the best Chris Idol matches I've ever seen. B-Boy has the potential to be the next best thing to hit the east coast. While he is a CZW regular, and now part of the JAPW and JCW rosters, I think more fans will discover what B-Boy is capable of.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND TWO
M-Dogg 20 d. Dave Greco
Dave Greco was a ruffian in this match. I gotta be honest, Greco has been in this tournament for 5 years. A part of me was pulling for Greco to win this whole tournament and piss off every smart mark in the world. M-Dogg hit a fucking insane move, as he swung on the ring post and splashed Greco on the floor. Incredible strength right there. Greco spinebustered M-Dogg 20 in the turnbuckle. All of a sudden, the fans, and man was I laughing my fucking ass off, started a "You Need Trimspa" chant at Greco. For anyone who chanted that, you're the man, that was hilarious. Out of nowhere, Greco hit a shining wizard. Man with Homicide, Sabian and B-Boy on the show, you think Greco would use a different move. Greco came back and Germaned MDogg. MDogg reversed Greco's flow and hit a moonsault, followed up by a split legged moonsault. Greco then hit some wacky move and the ref counted three! Greco beat M-Dogg. The ringbell rung, but that was all ignored with no explanation as the ref and bell ringer fucked up. Man it seems that happens every J-Cup. Too bad no one kicked the refs ass like Homicide did last year to a ref who fucked up. M-Dogg quickly knocks Greco down and hits the shooting star press for the three.
Greco looked lost during some points in this match. M-Dogg really showed me why everyone is raving about him.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND TWO
In what I thought was MATCH OF THE NIGHT
B-Boy d. Mike Quackenbush
For me, this match stole the show. Quackenbush might be the J-Cup MVP, as his work throughout the history of the J-Cup has been phenomenal. Quack definitely impressed alot of people tonight. The crowd turned into a Japanese crowd as they stood in silence and watched in anticipation of every wrestlers move, just like a big tennis match. Quack pulled out some more fucking sick submissions. Where Quack gets his shit from is incredible. Quack hit a huge senton from the top onto B-Boy. B-Boy looked like his left leg was injured. B-Boy came back with a german on Quack. B-Boy then started striking at Quack. Quack then came back with own strikes and just smacked the fuck out of B-Boy with the deathblow. Quack hit a top rope rana followed by a double stomp. B-Boy finally came back with some major offense by hitting a DVD on Quack. Both guys then got into a slapping match. B-Boy gets the advantage with an alabama slam. B-Boy then hit three quick shining wizards to win the match.
The crowd went nuts for this. This was the best match on a really good show. Both guys deserve more from the wrestling business.

Intermission
Wise choice to have intermission here due to nothing being able to top that match. After a beer break we were back.

Ricky O comes out. He thanks the fans for coming out. He says that it will be Homicide vs Slyk later on for the JCW Title. He said that if Homicide wins, then IHPW will get to run 1/2 of the next JCW show in Garfield. If Slyk wins, Ricky gets to own IHPW. This angle came too fast and out of nowhere. The J-Cup should've been the main focus of the show, but I do like this angle as it sets up JCW's next show. More info on that later.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND TWO
Super Dragon d. Shawn Sheridan via Forfeit
Sheridan came out and said he was injured and not able to continue. He went to shake Dragon's hand, but instead Dragon put him in a camel clutch, furthering injuring Sheridan's back. M-Dogg 20 came out and made the save.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND TWO
Josh Daniels d. Matt Striker
Another excellent match between these two. These two really click. Striker went into his puroresu mode as he tried working that style respectfully. Man, Striker can really do anything. Whether he's the Ultimate Warrior or a classic technical wrestler, Striker can give any promoter what they want. This match went back and forth and saw alot of stiff chops. At one point, Striker and Daniels just chopped the fucking living shit out of each other. The crowd was 50/50 on this one as LETS GO STRIKER and LETS GO DANIELS chants popped up all over the place. Striker hit a lungblower out of the corner. He hit an overdrive for 2 afterwards. Daniels came back with a lariat and a superplex. Striker then tried going for the crippler crossface, which got him the win in the first round, but Daniels rolled out of it, hooked up Striker and rolled him up for the 1-2-3.
Hate to sound repetitive, but another good match here.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND THREE
Super Dragon d. M-Dogg 20
Crowd again was split on both guys. M-Dogg was excellent in this tournament. Mdogg hit a somersault plancha after cartwheeling into it, on Super Dragon. Dragon came back with a modified surfboard and a jumping knee drop. Mdogg hit a dvd on Dragon onto his knee. M-Dogg went for a shooting star press, but Dragon turned it into a diamond cutter for the 1-2-3.
Ok match. I am still looking for a reason to praise Dragon like everyone else is, but I can't honestly see why people think he's the best indy wrestler today.
POSTMATCH: Super Dragon got face to face with a fan and almost got his ass kicked, because the fan looked like Brock Lesnar without the tattoos. Eventually, JCW management broke up the altercation before it could begin.

J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND THREE
B-Boy d. Josh Daniels
Daniels went for submissions early. This match had alot of mat wrestling. B-Boy hit some big victim kicks in this match. Daniels hit a back drop. Both guys got to their feet and traded forearms. B-Boy tried to get Daniels to tap out with some ground submissions. Daniels hit a huge tiger suplex. Daniels then hit a fucking awesome superplex. Josh then went for a top rope headbutt and connected. After a leg lariat, B-Boy rolled Daniels in a variation of the cradle for the three.
I'd like to see this match again when both guys are fresh. Still a decent match here.

For the JCW Heavyweight Championship
If Homicide wins, IHPW gets control of JCW.
If Slyk wins, JCW gets control of IHPW
Homicide d. (c) Slyk Wagner Brown w/April Hunter to become JCW Heavyweight Champion
Homicide went for the STF early. There were some stalling early on because the crowd was loud for this match. They were louder here than any other match. Both wrestlers were chanted for, and the fans decided to unite and chant for someone everyone could agree on, April Hunter. Homicide hit a top rope dropkick on Slyk. Slyk came back with a superplex. Homicide in this match hit his cannonball tope on Slyk into the 4th row. Back in the ring, Homicide hit an enziguri for 2. Homicide then went for the 187 dive but missed. Slyk the skyhigh on Homicide. Slyk then went for the Texas Clover leaf, but Homicide wouldn't tap. Homicide hit a piledriver for 2. Slyk reversed a cop killa attempt by Homicide. Homicide then reversed a Holy Slyk from Slyk. Slyk then reversed Homicides Diamond Cutter. Slyk then hit the Slyk Slam on Homicide. Slyk got Homicide back up and hit the Holy Slyk. The ref went to count the three, but the ref stopped at 2 as his shoulder hurt. Screwjob? Maybe the ref saw what Homicide did last year to a ref who fucked him over! Slyk gets pissed and Holy Slyks the ref. The ref got killed on that one. Homicide popped back up and hit the cop killa on Slyk. A new ref came out and counted the three, giving Homicide the Heavyweight title.
Wow, fucking awesome match here. For anyone who hates on Slyk Wagner Brown, they should see this match, and if they don't like it, they should get in the ring and do better themselves. Both guys really told a good story here. This match was fucking better than anything that was on that shitty WWE PPV that was on the same night as the J-Cup. While I think Homicide representing IHPW makes no sense, considering he's worked for JCW for such a long time, you can't let that affect how good the match was. Great match stupid/rushed storyline. But hey, they announced a rematch on September 27 in a steel cage, so I'm not complaining.

5 minute intermission to regroup, and we went to our last match.

MAIN EVENT
J-CUP Tournament Match
ROUND FOUR
FINAL ROUND
To Crown the 5th J-CUP Champion
For the Vacated JCW Lightheavyweight Champion
Super Dragon d. B-Boy
Excellent way to close this show off. This match had lots of mat wrestling and submission wrestling. Dragon hit some brutal kicks in this one. B-Boy was able to block a Dragon suicide dive. B-Boy hit a suplex, knee lift, victim kicks, a top rope legdrop, then put Dragon in a submission. Impressive. Dragon came back with some forearms, a suicide dive, a stiff kick before getting a northern lights suplex from B-Boy. Both guys then traded forearms. Dragon then hit a senton bomb and a tiger suplex. Both guys were at a stand still from all the a action. After more wrestling, B-Boy hit a shining wizard and everyone thought it was over, but it only got 2. Both guys then went through a bunch of false finishes. Dragon finally reversed a DVD then punched B-Boy a few times in the head, then pinned him in an anticlimatic finish.
After watching the whole tournament, I gotta say that B-Boy vs Quack would've been a better finals, but JCW gave the fans what they wanted by giving this match as the finals. Still a great match to close off a good show.
POSTMATCH: Some of the participants of the J-Cup and Ricky O came to the ring to celebrate with both finalists. Super Dragon recieved a championship belt that looked like one of those $12.99 foam WWE ones. Ugh.

Final McWord
A great show, but all the prestige was sucked out. Due to time constraints, the participants weren't introduced like they were at the first four J-Cups. I don't mind spending an extra 10 minutes in the sake of making the show feeling more important. Also where the fuck was the J-CUP Trophy? I called Ricky O, and he said that the person at the trophy shop fucked things up and made the wrong trophy. How you fuck up a trophy, I don't know, but the winner of the J-Cup should've got more than a crappy belt. Shit, belt mark, Eric Walker was there, I'm sure he had something nice in his car.

The best thing to come out of this J-Cup was that B-Boy, JCW Lightheavyweight Champion Super Dragon and JCW Heavyweight Champion, Homicide, will now all be regulars with JCW. Also look for The Solution and John Shane to return to JCW, but in a new capacity. Those five names to be combined with Slyk Wagner Brown, Prince Nana and others makes JCW more imporant and will easily produce better shows.

As far as this show, I thought match wise it was the best J-Cup from that standpoint. Overall, the little things bog it down, and that's why I think the 2002 one was better. It was treated as a normal indy show, not as THE event of the indies, like JCW should've made it. Wrestling is down the shitter. 100 people at a show that should've had at least 500 is a sign of the times, and another cold fact for JCW that you can't run on Sunday's and expect huge crowds.

The MVP of the tournament was B-Boy. Every match he had was exciting and the fans were really into. The fans seemed more into him than Super Dragon. Mike Quackenbush gets an honorable mention for just setting the ring on fire whenever he was in there.

Slyk vs Homicide was a great title match, and by the end of the show, everyone forgot CM Punk was supposed to be there. Give JCW credit for getting a suitable replacement, and announcing CM Punk wouldn't be there. Other promotions would've put the money back in their pocket and wait until the match to tell people that the advertised wrestler wasn't there. Gotta respect Ricky and JCW for that.

JCW is still in a cross roads to me, but after this show, they have the potential to be talked about like they were a few years ago with solid promoting.

Overall
Easily the best JCW show of the year that set up alot of things. If you didn't see this live, I highly recommend it on tape. B-Boy vs Quack is a Jersey Match of the Year candidate.

JCW has postponed their August show due to insurance problems to September 27. To be honest, it seems like alot of Jersey feds are going to be taking off in the summer due to the historical fact of low turnouts in the summer months. Scheduled for the September show is:
Homicide vs Slyk in a steel cage match for the JCW Title
Appearances from Super Dragon, B-Boy, and IHPW

Good to see JCW have a solid show under their belt, but the fans need to start coming out and seeing what JCW is all about.

Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com