Hi everyone,
Hope whoever attended the show enjoyed it and whoever didn’t and reads my review that you get a little bit of the atmosphere from what I’m about to write. Of course this is my review only, not paid or sponsored by anyone, I will call it fair and balanced.
The night started off with a big crowd gathered. I could have sworn that the doors were to open at 630, but I was wrong they opened around 7:00. The place was packed out. I have never seen it like this before and the atmosphere of the crowd really was wonderful to hear and feel.
No commentary on the night, (I do love the commentary), but none due to Snakepit Wrestling now holding the rights to C31 wrestling show. Good luck to SPW with the TV endeavours.
The setup was slightly different than normal with a video screen and projector in the corner where there are normally commentators. Interesting new addition and I hope it gets used a little more during the show and I will point it out when I get to my point about the screen.
Pure Anarchy started by doing a run in to the ring and Kinkaid was able to get Taylor handcuffed to the bottom rope. Pitbull starts it off getting into Ace Wilson with some old school double axe handles to the back and then a few stomps for good measure. Pitbull follows this up with an Irish Whip and clotheslines sending Ace Wilson to the canvas. Pitbull brings Ace Wilson over to the corner for a tag. Kinkaid starts letting fly with a few low forearms into his midsection. Pitbull is in quickly and attempts to choke Ace Wilson out, and goes for a cover but only a 2 count. Kinkaid back in and working on Ace Wilson with knee lifts into his chest and face. Some of them looking rather nasty. Pitbull told the ref to check on Kris Taylor still handcuffed, but not staying in his corner. Kinkaid delivered a nice low blow behind the ref’s back. Kinkaid whips Ace Wilson across the ring and hits him with a sidewalk slam. Kinkaid is mean, mean man and continues to assault with knees and a boot to the face, followed up by a forearm shot to his head. Pitbull is tagged in and follows up Kinkaid assault with a Side Russian Leg Sweep but only gets a 2 counts. Then tries again and guess what only 2. Ace finally is able to get some momentum but that is short lived as Pitbull reverses the whip and lands a stinging back elbow. Ace seemed to tag Kris Taylor at this point, but since he was still handcuffed couldn’t really get much aggression off against Pure Anarchy. Pitbull and Kris Taylor go blow for blow, with the handcuffs still applied. Pitbull gets Kris Taylor with a big headbutt and tags Ace back in. Ace gets Pitbull in the corner and gives him a chops and a boot across the throat in the corner. Pitbull is able to get out and whips Ace across to the other corner and Pitbull repays the favour with a few chops of his own. The first malfunction at the junction occurred with the 2 men clotheslining each other in the middle of the ring. That is a lot of mass coming together. Ace and Pitbull start getting back up and Kinkaid wants to get in the picture as well. Ace has other ideas and after being whipped across the ring, explodes from the ropes and clotheslines both Pitbull and Kinkaid. Ace gets his second wind lands a spinebuster on Pitbull and throws Kinkaid out the ring. With the ring basically clear, Ace proceeds to get the key and unleashes the now very angry Kris Taylor. The end is swift with Ace hitting a chokeslam while Kris Taylor delivers the cannonbomb. Both men cover and get the win.
Good enjoyable match to start the night, got the crowd going, although they didn’t see much of Kris Taylor, they really enjoy his ring presence and popped loudly for the win. The crowd was happy with this result.
Fuzion comes out and cuts a promo saying he’s going to destroy Tony Stone. The large crowd starts cheering for Tony and eventually the Fallen One Tony Stone appears. As soon as Tony is in the ring, the sneaky Mr John E Radic creeps up from behind. The crowd is shouting to Tony, but he’s got his attention fixed on The Furious One and John E turns Tony around and gives him a face full of powder. With Tony down John E says he is in for an early night because Tony Stone now can’t see.
Onto the 2nd match of the night, where we have WB Bellows V Zak. WB Bellows comes out to some good ol music – “Sweet Home Alabama” and accompanied by the Manager with the golden touch Tommy J. After a walk around the ring with all and sundry telling Bellows and Tommy what they think, Zak comes out and the crowd just loves him.
The match starts off quick and Bellows get the upperhand. Bellows gets Zak into the corner and hits him with a running splash. Follows that up with a swinging neck breaker. Bellows then whips Zak across the ring and clotheslines Zak. Bellows then picks Zak up and I’m not completely sure of the name of the move but I called it a reverse DDT. Zak was facing skyward instead of into the ring. Bellows goes for the pin and only gets a 2 count. Bellows follows this up with a suplex and reverse chinlock. Zak fights out from an attempted clothesline from Bellows that he tried to force Zak over the top rope and hits Bellows with a back elbow and follows up with impressive standing drop kick. After the punishment he took, he still got a very nice vertical leap. Bellows was thrown back into the corner and Zak runs in and hits him with a running high knee. Bellows is now knocked out in the middle of the ring and Zak hits a Swanton Bomb from the top rope. His flip turn was very delayed, and looked great, but after the move Zak came up holding his neck. However the Swanton was enough and secured the victory. The crowd got stuck into Bellows and Tommy J.
Katie Kollision came out and cut a promo. Because I missed last month’s show that part baffled me a little. Katie stated she had escorted 3 people out in the previous show and was not impressed in the slightest, so therefore she will be choosing to valet 3 wrestlers for her services. Well I think that was it, or something very close to that, but this is where the introduction of the projector would have been very useful. To show a Katie K demanding from management the opportunity to valet some decent talents in SPW. I know the projector is new, but that would have been great to see, and hopefully something they introduce in the future to add to the storyline.
Onto the 3rd match and one of the most anticipated matches in SPW history, actually wrestling in Australia. Well ok a little exaggeration, however, this was leading to something. Wolfdogg is sick of Luke Hazard sticking his nose into things that don’t concern him and has had enough. The stipulation, the loser would be fired. I thought fired for good, but it’s just fired from commentary and that includes commentary on C31. Luke Hazard comes out to some obscure music. Bring back Fatman Scoop! and the loud wrestling attire. Anyways, Luke is accompanied by the Maltese Falcon, Rocky Menero, the holder of 2 belts. Luke is continually tapping the mic to make sure its working. Annoying as hell yes it was, and got the crowd going even more. Luke introduces himself as the “True” voice of SA Wrestling, and introduced Wolfdogg as a “Stain on Wrestling”. After those nice pleasantries the match gets underway with Luke and Rocky beating down of Wolfdogg. Luke slaps Wolfdogg and just to be disrespectful kicks him in the head. Luke Irish whips Wolfdogg and I was ready for a good entertaining match and that’s what I got the whole extra 5 – 10 seconds it went for. Wolfdogg ducks the clothesline from Luke, kicked him in the midsection and hit him with a Cruel Intentions Stunner. 1/2/3. Match is over and Wolfdogg is victorious. As Luke is leaving with Rocky, Luke is saddened by the whole affair and I believe may have shed a tear. Wolfdogg still in the ring turns to Luke and says “Kiss my ass, your fired!”
Like I said quickest match I’ve ever seen in SPW, but actually very entertaining and served its purpose. Yes I personally would have liked to see a few moves by the 2 guys, but I’m sure Luke when he’s good and ready will find a way back.
Straight into the 4th Match and this was scheduled to be Ice Man Morris V Just Josh. I say scheduled, but during the match the Ice Men continued to switch. I couldn’t keep note of who was who, so I only have noted it was Ice Man and when they switched. I forgot to note Benjamin Stephens that fat wombling penguin was at ring side too.
Just Josh came out with even more face and shoulder paint. To me it looks impressive in a shout out to a Jeff Hardy style. The match begins with a leg sweep from Just Josh. Ice Man twists Josh’s arm, but Josh is able to flip and bounce and reverse the hold and then into a snapmere. Josh gets Ice Man in the corner, slaps, stomps and DDT for only a 2 count. Ice Man rakes Josh’s eyes and stomps him into the corner. The 2 Ice men hit Josh with a reverse atomic drop and clothesline. Ice Man then Irish whips Josh and hits him with another clothesline. Just Josh is able to fight back and hits Ice Man with a drop kick onto the rope but doesn’t quite have the momentum to go over the rope, so Just Josh hits him with a clothesline and sending him flying over the top rope and onto the hard floor below. While the Ice Man was on the floor the Ice Men switched and Josh kicked the new Ice Man. Just Josh climbs up to the top rope and hits a shoulder block and goes for a pin and only 2 count. Ice Man is able to fight out and whip Josh across the ring and hit a Side Walk Slam for just a 2 count. Ice man scoop slams him and with one of the slowest* looking bounces off the rope hits a splash for another 2 count. Just Josh reverses the momentum with a jawbreaker of his own, but the Ice Men change again. This doesn’t deter Josh as he hits a faceplant for 1 more 2 count. Josh starts going to town on the Ice Man’s chest with fists and chops and guess what another 2 count. Just Josh hits a standing Senton. Ice Man is able to maneuver himself and gets Just Josh and hits a running bulldog. Ice Man wants to inflict some pain on Josh’s lower back and applies a Camel Clutch. (Shoutout to Iron Sheik). Josh doesn’t submit and fights out eventually starting with elbows to the Ice Man, then from nowhere his a standing enzuguiri. Then Josh has Ice Man in a DDT holding position, put then pulls Ice Man’s right arm under and thru and turning Ice Man around onto the mat and only gets a 2 counts. The Ice Men have had enough and attempt the regroup on the outside, but Josh has none of this and proceeds to climbs to the top rope and hits a top rope splash on the Ice Men and Benjamin Stephens all the way to the floor. The crowd went crazy and rightly so, great move by Josh. Josh throws/rolls one of the Ice Men into the ring and hits a springboard from the top rope but only gets a 2 count. The Ice Men switch again and the ref is distracted somehow I think with Benjamin Stephens because the Ice Man brings in Benjamin Stephens cane and clocks Josh across the head and then getting the pin. The crowd was livid. The crowd would have spewed venom like a spitting cobra if they could, they hated it. I personally would have liked Josh to win, but 3 against 1, the odds were stacked against him.
(The little star I put next to Slowest looking bounces off the rope, I needed to add this as the crowd noticed the slowness of the move and were jeering and commenting on how bad it looked. I’m no wrestler, and never plan to be and can’t imagine how difficult it would be to do it, but the crowd told the story with this and the Ice Men were not impressive with some of their moves, but this one really stood out).
Intermission.
Once again I’m so happy the wrestling feds in SA are now choosing Air conditioned premises. Especially in our summer, there’s nothing worse than just sitting there in a sweat box of an arena, so I was happy for the Air conditioning. During the break they were showing some old episodes of Powerslam on the projector screen.
5th Match was the first ever Blindfold match. Since Tony was partly blinded for the powder earlier, even the sides up with both men not being able to see.
John E comes out with Furious Fuzion. John E in his own way playing to the crowd and loving the heat he draws every single time he goes out in the squared circle and I love his shenanigans. They didn’t stretch out too long at all, so it was done nicely. Tony Stone comes out, with that music and yes those tights. Remember Your name is on them too. The two men have their blindfolds on and the walk around the ring aimlessly and John E walks straight into the top turnbuckle head first, champagne comedy. Tony was in the opposite corner at this stage and points down one end of the ring, the crowd shout “NO”, points to the other corner “NO!” even louder, then the opposite corner “YES!!!” crowd going nuts. John E had walked out of the corner by the time Tony got there, but they ended up in opposite corners, and Tony did it again, with No, No, Yes. They finally bump into each other and collar and elbow tie up, and then John E tries to hit him with a back elbow, but nobody home. Crowd is eating this one right up. A little bit more fumbling around and bump into each other again. Tony hits John E a number of times and then walks away and John E falls like Rick Flair delay falls, pure classical. John E is against the ring rope and decides to do the whole punch and kick the air in front of him routine and goes all the way and gets tangled up in the ropes on the other side. John E walked slowly back over back where he came from and tripped upon Tony’s foot/leg. Tony gets out of the way quickly and John E loses him and slowly walks towards the corner and bumps into the ref. Takes him down with a few punches and then attempts to pin him to release the ref is not built like Tony. I could see the light bulb on top of John E’s head go on. John E takes the mask off and now has his vision back. John E plays a little with Tony and then sets him up for either a pile driver. Tony reverses it into a back body drop at some stage I’m fairly sure Tony removes his mask, but I missed it. Tony follows the back body drop with a spear and then a Samoan drop. Then Tony hits a Lifting double underhook facebuster. (I wasn’t sure of the name and this is what Wikipedia gave me as the move name.)
Rocky comes out and parades the fact he has 2 belts and says “he’s that good”. He was pretending to let the crowd choose which belt was going to be online, but in the program it already stated Snake pit belt. Also during this promo I had some difficulty exactly understanding what Rocky was saying, so I can’t accurately portray it.
In order of appearing before the match got underway.
Zak, Captain Jacob, Pitbull, Kinkaid, Damien Sinn, Tony Stone, Wolfdogg, Ice Man Morris and Miller, Ace Wilson, Just Josh (and he got a nice loud pop from the crowd) John E Radic and Cannonball Kris Taylor got a louder pop than Josh.
These things are tough to write down, but in order of elimination:
Number 1 & 2 – Ice Men Miller and Morris
Number 3 - John E Radic
Number 4 – Wolfdogg eliminated by Kinkaid
Number 5 – Damien Sinn by Cannonball Kris Taylor and Damien hit the ground damn hard…
Number 6 – Tony Stone by Ace Wilson
Number 7 – Just Josh
Number 8 – Captain Jacob by Pitbull
At this point Rocky Menero comes out and eliminates Cannonball Kris Taylor
Number 9 – Cannonball Kris Taylor by Rocky
Pitbull then proceeded to grab Ace Wilson’s privates. Kinkaid hit a clothesline on Zak and then followed it up with a Suplex.
Pitbull and Kinkaid then tried working to get Ace Wilson out the ring and was teetering on the top rope and Zak gets himself together and lifts all 3 and their momentum took each over with Zak winning being the last man in the ring.
Zak remained out in the ring and Rocky slowly decides to join him. This was a great match by evidence that I took the largest amounts of notes for it. Ok here goes.
Zak decides to get the crowd clapping and everyone joins in and wants to see the young boy beat the more experienced Rocky to win his first belt. They eventually lock it up and Rocky slams Zak. Rocky in his arrogance decides time for a rest and rests on the top rope across one corner. The participants lock it up again and side headlock changed into an Irish Whip and Zak goes thundering down to the canvas with a shoulder block by Rocky. The chant “Rocky’s a Wanker” starts up and Zak hits 2 deep arm drags and follows it up with a drop kick. Rocky retreats to the outside for a little alone time and to slow the pace down to his pace. Zak doesn’t allow it for long and gets Rocky into the corner and hits a 1 – 10 count on Rocky’s head. Zak then hits a slam on Rocky followed up by 2 sentons and getting Rocky for a 2 count only. They fight it into the corner and the ref gets Zak off Rocky who’s in the corner. Rocky chops Zak and Zak asks for one. Zak fights out with a chop of his own and whips Rocky across to the opposite corner, followed up with a backbody drop and drop kick. Rocky get Zak and pulls him through into the turnbuckle. Rocky picks up Zak and gets him into the suplex position. Lifts him and keeps him vertical for a good long while, without any shake at all, very impressive. Rocky taking the ascendency gets Zak between the 2nd and 3rd rope and grabs the 2 little tassles hair bits that Zak has and wrenches them over the 3rd rope and gives him a clubbing forearm for good measure. This match was not stopping for a breath and it had everything. Rocky tries to hit Zak with a Side Russian Leg Sweep which wasn’t perfectly executed. Rocky continues the beat down with a delayed elbow from coming off the ropes. Rocky then throws Zak out the rings and mouths ‘Just like Cannonball’ with a huge smug smile. They continue fighting on the outside, and Rocky is getting knee lifts into Zak’s head. Rocky goes to whip Zak into the ring post, but Zak reverses it and Rocky clocks the ring post. Zak then lets Rocky taste canvas by driving his head into the ring apron. Rocky is stumbling and is back in the ring, and Zak decides to run from the catwalk, Rocky counters and back body drops Zak back into the ring, but Zak lands hard on his left hand side. Rocky goes for the cover twice, but only gets 2 counts. Rocky gets Zak up and whips him into the ropes but Zak holds onto the ropes and Rocky misses with the drop kick and lands hard. Zak attempts a cover, but Rocky powers out. Rocky powers back with some clubbing shots and hits a high side walk slam. When I say I mean high, Rocky got Zak to his own shoulder height before dropping him down, once again mightily impressive. Rocky climbs the top rope and frog splash, but only a 2 count. Rocky misses a 2nd splash, and Zak proceed to splash (Sting like) in the corner. Zak hits a running bulldog and only gets a 2 counts. Zak goes up to the top rope and Rocky pushes the ref into the rope and Zak falls and has his own Malfunction at the Junction. Rocky then sets up for a Superplex, but both guys slip off the ropes and almost come crashing down, but both men held on, re-setup and Rocky landed the Superplex. Uh Oh! The whole locker room has come out and something is up. Rocky throws Zak out to the catwalk and follows him to setup for a pile driver on the catwalk. Thankfully Zak is able to reverse and back body drops Rocky into the heels. Zak not content with this decides he wants in too, and goes for a suicide dive from the cat walk into all the heels. Zak and Rocky get back in the ring and the crowd start chanting ‘Lets Go Zak, Lets Go’. Rocky gets 2 forceful clubs to the side of Zak’s head. I missed the next move, but the Faces and Heels and the outside starting fighting. With all the distraction, Kris Taylor comes into the ring and hits a Cannonbomb onto Rocky. Zak goes for the cover and 1….. and 2….. and Rocky barely kicks out, but does. The other wrestlers leave the ringside area and somehow the ref is distracted and Rocky has had enough and hits a low blow. Not satisfied, Rocky wants Zak to lose his chips and rolls the dice and snake eyes! Rocky gets the pin 1/2/3 and retains the title. Rocky is declared the champion, but continues beating on Zak. Kris Taylor comes back out, but Rocky is ready and 1 superkick later Kris Taylor is down. Rocky ties Kris Taylor up in the 2nd and 3rd ropes and hits him and talks a bit of smack. Zak has made his way out the back and has a steel chair and brings it back scaring off Rocky. Zak and Kris Taylor both separates the ring ropes for each other out of respect when leaving the ring and although not the winner on the night Zak has done himself proud and certainly on his way to obtaining a belt very soon in the near future.
Overall I enjoyed the night, always a little difficult to fully enjoy it when taking notes, but the crowd left a satisfied bunch. I felt a few strange matches were in the middle of the show, as I think a match between Zak and Josh, although both 2 good guys would have been a pleasure to watch. Zak v Bellows wasn’t anything exciting neither was the Josh and Ice Man match. The beginning started well and finished with a big bang at the end with the Battle Royal and main event Championship match. I believe close to 300 people were in attendance, so it’s a great crowd for a north of Adelaide show. Use of the projector can increase storylines so much more and looking forward to see whether that gets introduced. My rating 6.5/10. Like I said good start and great finish, but middle was a little odd for me.
Mike74