Saturday, November 29, 2003
Just a quick update based around me and Spadger watching the All-Star Wrestling at the Leamington Spa Centre
1.Brooklyn Brawler vs Kid Cool- Disappointed that it wasn't the WWF Brooklyn Brawler, although I did like the way he'd yell "Who the man?" occasionally. Kid Cool came out to Year 3000, which earned him bonus points, but then proceeded to suck ass which took them away again. Brawler won with some tomfoolery, pretty shit really. DUD
2.Five Star Flash vs Johnny Lee Cassidy- For anyone who has seen Flash's stats on EWR and noticed that they are pretty good, seeing him live is a let down. Spadger pointed out how bald he was, with a HUGE forehead. Cassidy made me chuckle by giving some small kids the finger and by looking like a retarded Randy Orton, so again I ended up cheering the heel. Cassidy won due to a blow to the testicles. Again, quite awful DUD
3.Lucious Lucy Furey vs Miss Pippa Page- At this point this was the match of the night. It was still shit. Page had a look, claimed Spadger, that screamed "council estate" and I couldn't disagree. Furey was very thin, yet had suspiciously large, pert breasts. They fought in the crowd, I didn't care. Furey won with a spinebuster 1/4*
INTERMISSION
The Fat John Virgo look-alike ring announcer showed us the merchandise, which was terrible. Went to the bar- luckily, because the whole audience was made up of kids, it was really easy to get served :-D
4.Robbie Brookside vs Darren Walsh
This was a ladder match for Brookside's British title. Brookside looked like Edge on a diet of Special Brew, so me and Spadger cheered for him, much to the annoyance of the retarded man in front of us. Hey, Brookside was wearing a Kendo Ka Shin t-shirt, so there was no way I was cheering for local boy Walsh. The ladder was really small, but Brookside bumped like a trooper for the less talented Walsh, then stretched the shit out of him, while doing a pisstake Brummie accent ("Come on Darren"). Brookside hit the Iconoclasm on Walsh, but got cocky and pinned for 3. Luckily, he quickly grabbed the belt and ran off, never to be seen again. While all around chanted "bring it back", Spadger started the small chant of "run away", good work **
Frankie Sloan/ Jonny Storm vs Wildman Whiplash/ Lee Butler
Hooray, Jonny Storm, someone I'd seen before. He's wrestled in CZW, NWATNA, XPW and had a WWE tryout, so I was psyched to see him. Lee Butler was very fat and had "Middle Man" printed on his ass. Can't remember much about the match (Sloan/ Storm won), but I remember enjoying it, so *1/2
Overall= That was pretty piss poor to be honest. Will we return- damn right, in February, they've promised us Gangrel and David Flair (WHOOO!)
DC
(ivory_rules@icemaiden.co.uk)
1.Brooklyn Brawler vs Kid Cool- Disappointed that it wasn't the WWF Brooklyn Brawler, although I did like the way he'd yell "Who the man?" occasionally. Kid Cool came out to Year 3000, which earned him bonus points, but then proceeded to suck ass which took them away again. Brawler won with some tomfoolery, pretty shit really. DUD
2.Five Star Flash vs Johnny Lee Cassidy- For anyone who has seen Flash's stats on EWR and noticed that they are pretty good, seeing him live is a let down. Spadger pointed out how bald he was, with a HUGE forehead. Cassidy made me chuckle by giving some small kids the finger and by looking like a retarded Randy Orton, so again I ended up cheering the heel. Cassidy won due to a blow to the testicles. Again, quite awful DUD
3.Lucious Lucy Furey vs Miss Pippa Page- At this point this was the match of the night. It was still shit. Page had a look, claimed Spadger, that screamed "council estate" and I couldn't disagree. Furey was very thin, yet had suspiciously large, pert breasts. They fought in the crowd, I didn't care. Furey won with a spinebuster 1/4*
INTERMISSION
The Fat John Virgo look-alike ring announcer showed us the merchandise, which was terrible. Went to the bar- luckily, because the whole audience was made up of kids, it was really easy to get served :-D
4.Robbie Brookside vs Darren Walsh
This was a ladder match for Brookside's British title. Brookside looked like Edge on a diet of Special Brew, so me and Spadger cheered for him, much to the annoyance of the retarded man in front of us. Hey, Brookside was wearing a Kendo Ka Shin t-shirt, so there was no way I was cheering for local boy Walsh. The ladder was really small, but Brookside bumped like a trooper for the less talented Walsh, then stretched the shit out of him, while doing a pisstake Brummie accent ("Come on Darren"). Brookside hit the Iconoclasm on Walsh, but got cocky and pinned for 3. Luckily, he quickly grabbed the belt and ran off, never to be seen again. While all around chanted "bring it back", Spadger started the small chant of "run away", good work **
Frankie Sloan/ Jonny Storm vs Wildman Whiplash/ Lee Butler
Hooray, Jonny Storm, someone I'd seen before. He's wrestled in CZW, NWATNA, XPW and had a WWE tryout, so I was psyched to see him. Lee Butler was very fat and had "Middle Man" printed on his ass. Can't remember much about the match (Sloan/ Storm won), but I remember enjoying it, so *1/2
Overall= That was pretty piss poor to be honest. Will we return- damn right, in February, they've promised us Gangrel and David Flair (WHOOO!)
DC
(ivory_rules@icemaiden.co.uk)
Monday, November 24, 2003
Ok, this is the last review I'll be able to post for a while due to excessive laziness, but, as I'm halfway through a review of the CZW Extreme 8 show, that should be ready next week. I will be adding the results of the All-Star Wrestling show that I'm hitting tomorrow with Vern and Spadger.
WCW STARRCADE 1990
Your hosts are Jim Ross and Paul E. Dangerously
“BEAUTIFUL” BOBBY EATON vs “Z-MAN” TOM ZENK
The Starrcade Stats list Bobby’s hometown as “The Dark Side (formerly Huntsville, Alabama)”. Z-Man takes an early advantage with a pair of crossbodies and proceeds to work over Eaton’s arm. Eaton makes the comeback with a clumsy looking shoulderblock, but Zenk regains control after landing on his feet following a monkey flip. Zenk suplexes Eaton out of the ring and flies over the top rope with a crossbody to the ramp, which looked pretty cool. Eaton takes the advantage with a bulldog, followed by the Alabama Jam, but doesn’t cover. Another top rope move is met by a Zenk superkick. Zenk misses a top rope dropkick, which allows an Eaton small package for 3. Good fast paced little match, which put Eaton over as a singles competitor, but also allowed Zenk to retain some credibility (for the time being at least) **1/2
Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament: Round One
SOUTH AFRICA (COLONEL DEKLERK & SGT. KREUGER) vs USA (STEINER BROTHERS)
Kreuger is Matt Borne before his proper WCW stint as wrestling lumberjack Big Josh and DeKlerk is the late Ted Petty, better known as “Flyboy” Rocco Rock. DeKlerk dishes out the early offence on Rick, with a leg lariat and hits a tope suicida, where Rick sadly fails to catch him, letting him drop to the floor. Tag to Scott leads to a tilt-a-whirl slam and the Frankensteiner for 3. Far too short, as will be the case with a lot of the matches on the tape, but it was pretty good while it lasted. *3/4
GREAT BRITAIN (CHRIS ADAMS & NORMAN SMILEY) vs MEXICO (KONNAN & REY MISTERIO)
The Starrcade Stats show Norman as hailing from the West Indies, which doesn’t speak well for the national pride of the British team. Misterio looks totally badass and not what I imagined Rey Jr’s uncle to look like. Really good fast-paced match, with no resting at all. Adams clears the ring with his trademark superkick, but the Mexican’s comeback with a nice doubleteam, where Misterio dropkicks Norman into a Konnan backslide for 2. The Brits show their own doubleteam skills with another Adams superkick into a Smiley German suplex on Konnan. Konnan finishes Smiley with a nice reverse suplex from the top. Excellent match, especially for the timeframe, and easily the best of the first round matches ***
NEW ZEALAND (JACKO VICTORY & RIP MORGAN) vs JAPAN (GREAT MUTA & MR. SAITO)
Dangerously tells us that he thought Muta was going to be the Black Scorpion, which in retrospect would have been a pretty cool choice. Victory and Muta start off with a pretty nice sequence, which culminates with a Muta top rope shoulderblock onto the ramp. Saito slows the pace with some matwork on both New Zealanders. Muta hits some of his usual beautiful offence (powerdrive elbow, handspring elbow). The end comes when Morgan misses a clothesline on Saito and hits Victory into a Muta German suplex for 3. Not great, but not terrible, but still too short to be any good *
CANADA (BULL JOHNSON & TROY MONTAUR) vs RUSSIA (VICTOR ZANGIEV & SALMON HASIMIKOV)
Canada, home of some of the greats in modern wrestling, get the most laughable team of the tournament, consisting of a fat Native American and a what looks like an early prototype of Blackjack Bradshaw. The Russians also look pretty odd and quite gruesomely hairy. Zangiev starts with Johnson and stretches the shit out of him. Johnson tries his own matwork, but Zangiev makes him look pretty silly and downs him with a sweet belly to belly. Montaur tries his luck against Hasimikov, but gets suplexed an armbar for 3. The high spot of the contest comes when Johnson tries to scare the Russians away with a laughable “war dance”, in spite of the total asskicking that has just been administered. The Russians looked really good, but they were working with morons here ½*
TERRY TAYLOR vs MICHAEL WALLSTREET
This is Wallstreet during the infamous “York Foundation” angle, which, if nothing else, proved that Terri Runnels is no natural beauty. A clock appears, timing down from 8:32, which is how long the computer claims Wallstreet will need to beat Taylor. Taylor is all over Wallstreet to start, with a pair of dropkicks and a massive flying clothesline, before Wallstreet comes back to work over the arm of Taylor. A Taylor comeback is cut short by a Wallstreet backbreaker. Taylor’s second comeback is more successful, as he hits the FiveArm, but it knocks Wallstreet close enough to the ropes for him to force a break on the pin. Wallstreet fires back with a StunGun and the Stock Market Crash (Samoan Drop) for 3 with 1:40 to spare. Much, much better than IRS vs the Red Rooster should have been **3/4
MOTORCITY MADMAN & BIG CAT vs SKYSCRAPERS (SID VICIOUS & DANNY SPIVEY)
The Madman looks like a really fat DDP. Total squash as the Skyscrapers hit a pair of clotheslines in the corner and double powerbomb the Madman out of WCW. Really short, as it should have been and it was kinda fun to watch so ¾* is what it gets.
TOMMY RICH & RICKY MORTON vs THE FABULOUS FREEBIRDS
Rich and Morton are accompanied by Robert Gibson, who is on crutches due to a Freebirds attack. Rich and Morton would later become stablemates in the York Foundation. Morton and Rich take the advantage and secure stereo figure four leglocks on the Birds, which is an attempt at getting vengeance for the leg injury caused to Gibson. Kind of a disorganised mess with nothing of any real note to talk about, and Ricky doesn’t even get to be face in peril. Match ends (thankfully) when the Birds manager, Little Richard Marley, attempts to break Ricky’s leg from the top rope, but gets knocked off by Gibson onto Jimmy Garvin. This prevents Garvin from giving Rich the DDT and leaves him prone to a Morton roll-up for 3. The Freebirds assault Marley after the match, giving them a string of future managers including Diamond Dallas Page and Big Daddy Dink (Sir Oliver Humperdink). Rich and Morton make the save, as all good faces should, but in doing so leave Gibson on his own for the Freebirds to assault. HAHA! Match was dreadful, dreadful, fucking dreadful DUD.
Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament: Round Two
STEINER BROTHERS vs KONNAN & REY MISTERIO
Handshake to start, and Rick and Konnan do a nice mat wrestling sequence to start. The Steiners hit a double team top rope bulldog on Konnan, leading to an abrupt end, where Rick catches Misterio on a rana attempt for a powerbomb for the victory. Given some time (i.e., more than two minutes) this could have been great, but as it was, it was far too short *1/4
VICTOR ZANGIEV & SALMON HASIMIKOV vs MR. SAITO AND THE GREAT MUTA
Again, far too short, but at least the Russians got some offence in, as both Zangiev and Hasimikov are able to demonstrate their beautiful suplex variations. Saito picks up the win over Zangiev following a suplex *1/2
STAN HANSEN (champion) vs LEX LUGER (Texas Lariat Match for the WCW US Championship)
A Texas Lariat match seems to be identical to any other bullrope/ chain match, but the announcers play it up as Hansen’s speciality. The two men brawl back and forth, until Luger takes the advantage by choking Hansen. Hansen takes the advantage with a chairshot. Nice touch, where Luger regains the advantage, but tries to pin Hansen, proving that Stan has the advantage in his speciality match. Hansen hits a clumsy back suplex on Luger and touches 3 turnbuckles, before Luger cuts him off with a clothesline. Lex dominates Hansen and hits four turnbuckles, but knocks out referee Randy Anderson while hitting the fourth. This allows Hansen to hit Luger with his boot and hit all four turnbuckles in front of replacement ref Nick Patrick. However, the power of the Dusty finish comes in, as Anderson wakes up and reveals that, in fact, he DID see Luger hit all four turnbuckles, which gives Luger his US title back. Rather a dull brawl, with a cheap finish, that went on far too long, especially compared with the other matches on the card *1/2
DOOM (champions) vs BARRY WINDHAM/ ARN ANDERSON (Streetfight for the WCW Tag Team championship)
Now THIS is how to do a brawl. Barry is replacing Ric Flair here, which is OK because Windham is better suited to the brawling style of Doom. Both teams dish out a vicious ass-whipping here, with some brutal looking belt shots by Arn Anderson on Ron Simmons. AA savages Simmons’ legs on the ramp with a chair, before levelling Butch Reed with a sick chairshot. Doom fight back with some badass offence of their own, with Simmons slamming Windham on the ramp before taking Anderson down with a huge spinebuster. The only thing that brings this match down is yet another cop out finish, this time a double pin, with Windham catching Reed in a small package while Simmons pins AA following a clothesline. Both teams fight to the back. In spite of the dumb ending, this match was awesome, especially in contrast to the rather flaccid brawl that preceded it, and it still holds up well today ***1/2
MR SAITO & THE GREAT MUTA vs THE STEINER BROTHERS (Pat O’Connor Memorial Tournament Final)
This match can essentially be split into two parts- the good part (whenever Muta is in the ring) and the bad (whenever Saito is in the ring). Why a man so clearly out of shape as Saito was booked in three matches here is beyond belief. Muta and Scott start with a nice sequence, which is followed by the lamer Rick and Saito sequence, where the only move Saito does is punch, punch, punch. Rick end up receiving the heat section, being rammed into the ringpost by Saito, then getting hit with the ring bell by Muta. Saito chokes Rick, and the evil Japanese double team Rick behind the ref’s back. Rick tags Scott after a Steinerline, but then Scott too ends up in peril, receiving a vicious looking spike piledriver. Scott makes the blind tag to Rick, who pins Saito with a top rope sunset flip. Disappointing end to the tournament, especially as Mr. Saito was clearly knackered at this point. The Scott/ Muta sequences carried it though, but the result was never in doubt *3/4
STING (champion) vs THE BLACK SCORPION (Cage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight championship)
Dick the Bruiser is the guest referee, prompting Paul E to make very appropriate Popeye jokes. Four different Scorpions come to the ring, before a mysterious spaceship lowers to the ramp, before opening up to reveal the REAL Black Scorpion. The mask doesn’t fit the Scorpion very well however, as flashes of silvery blond hair pop out from the edges. Sting blocks an attempt to ram him into the cage and takes the advantage, only for the Black Scorpion to stall and take over with a cheap shot. Scorpion uses a very methodical offence, mainly because he has to hide his usual style from the fans. He doesn’t do a great job- a funny spot occurs when the Scorpion uses the ropes for leverage during a chinlock, Bruiser takes them down, Scorpion puts them up, Bruiser puts them down. This repeats at least eight times. Sting comes back with a gorilla press, but flies into the cage on a missed crossbody. Bruiser is a terrible ref, counting really slowly and generally being out of position. Scorpion piledriver gets 2. A Stinger Splash reveals more of the Scorpion’s style, as it prompts the Black Scorpion to do a Flair Flop. Of course, the fact that some fans are chanting “Nature Boy” shows that no one was fooled. Black Scorpion gets to the ropes on a Scorpion Deathlock and when Sting pulls off the mask, another mask is being worn underneath. The Scorpion goes up top, but gets crotched. A top rope crossbody gets 3 for Sting. Suddenly the other Scorpions attack Sting and Bruiser, getting unmasked to reveal Sgt. DeKlerk, among others. As Sting grabs the Scorpion, Windham and Anderson come back to the ring, and kick his ass with some vicious chairshots. The Steiners, alongside the other faces make the save, allowing Sting to unmask the Scorpion as….Ric Flair, to the surprise of no one. Not as good as Sting/ Flair normally is, but considering the bullshit storyline around it, they did the best they could **1/2
HIGHEST RATING: ***1/2 (Doom vs Barry Windham and Arn Anderson)
LOWEST RATING: DUD (Freebirds vs Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton)
AVERAGE RATING: 1.73 stars (24.25/14)
In spite of the poor average star rating for the event, I reckon this show is certainly worth searching for. Not only do you get a couple of excellent matches (Doom/Horsemen, Mexico/UK, Taylor/Wallstreet), but you get the end of one of the most infamous angles ever, the start of Sid’s dominant career as a monster, and the opportunity to see some wrestling styles not normally associated with early 90’s WCW. No match, bar the US title match, is long enough to outstay it’s welcome and the end result is a fun little wrestling show.
Ok, I think that's all for today. I'll leave you with the thought that the best thing about Children In Need was Phil Collins...it's true.
DC (ivory_rules@icemaiden.co.uk)
WCW STARRCADE 1990
Your hosts are Jim Ross and Paul E. Dangerously
“BEAUTIFUL” BOBBY EATON vs “Z-MAN” TOM ZENK
The Starrcade Stats list Bobby’s hometown as “The Dark Side (formerly Huntsville, Alabama)”. Z-Man takes an early advantage with a pair of crossbodies and proceeds to work over Eaton’s arm. Eaton makes the comeback with a clumsy looking shoulderblock, but Zenk regains control after landing on his feet following a monkey flip. Zenk suplexes Eaton out of the ring and flies over the top rope with a crossbody to the ramp, which looked pretty cool. Eaton takes the advantage with a bulldog, followed by the Alabama Jam, but doesn’t cover. Another top rope move is met by a Zenk superkick. Zenk misses a top rope dropkick, which allows an Eaton small package for 3. Good fast paced little match, which put Eaton over as a singles competitor, but also allowed Zenk to retain some credibility (for the time being at least) **1/2
Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament: Round One
SOUTH AFRICA (COLONEL DEKLERK & SGT. KREUGER) vs USA (STEINER BROTHERS)
Kreuger is Matt Borne before his proper WCW stint as wrestling lumberjack Big Josh and DeKlerk is the late Ted Petty, better known as “Flyboy” Rocco Rock. DeKlerk dishes out the early offence on Rick, with a leg lariat and hits a tope suicida, where Rick sadly fails to catch him, letting him drop to the floor. Tag to Scott leads to a tilt-a-whirl slam and the Frankensteiner for 3. Far too short, as will be the case with a lot of the matches on the tape, but it was pretty good while it lasted. *3/4
GREAT BRITAIN (CHRIS ADAMS & NORMAN SMILEY) vs MEXICO (KONNAN & REY MISTERIO)
The Starrcade Stats show Norman as hailing from the West Indies, which doesn’t speak well for the national pride of the British team. Misterio looks totally badass and not what I imagined Rey Jr’s uncle to look like. Really good fast-paced match, with no resting at all. Adams clears the ring with his trademark superkick, but the Mexican’s comeback with a nice doubleteam, where Misterio dropkicks Norman into a Konnan backslide for 2. The Brits show their own doubleteam skills with another Adams superkick into a Smiley German suplex on Konnan. Konnan finishes Smiley with a nice reverse suplex from the top. Excellent match, especially for the timeframe, and easily the best of the first round matches ***
NEW ZEALAND (JACKO VICTORY & RIP MORGAN) vs JAPAN (GREAT MUTA & MR. SAITO)
Dangerously tells us that he thought Muta was going to be the Black Scorpion, which in retrospect would have been a pretty cool choice. Victory and Muta start off with a pretty nice sequence, which culminates with a Muta top rope shoulderblock onto the ramp. Saito slows the pace with some matwork on both New Zealanders. Muta hits some of his usual beautiful offence (powerdrive elbow, handspring elbow). The end comes when Morgan misses a clothesline on Saito and hits Victory into a Muta German suplex for 3. Not great, but not terrible, but still too short to be any good *
CANADA (BULL JOHNSON & TROY MONTAUR) vs RUSSIA (VICTOR ZANGIEV & SALMON HASIMIKOV)
Canada, home of some of the greats in modern wrestling, get the most laughable team of the tournament, consisting of a fat Native American and a what looks like an early prototype of Blackjack Bradshaw. The Russians also look pretty odd and quite gruesomely hairy. Zangiev starts with Johnson and stretches the shit out of him. Johnson tries his own matwork, but Zangiev makes him look pretty silly and downs him with a sweet belly to belly. Montaur tries his luck against Hasimikov, but gets suplexed an armbar for 3. The high spot of the contest comes when Johnson tries to scare the Russians away with a laughable “war dance”, in spite of the total asskicking that has just been administered. The Russians looked really good, but they were working with morons here ½*
TERRY TAYLOR vs MICHAEL WALLSTREET
This is Wallstreet during the infamous “York Foundation” angle, which, if nothing else, proved that Terri Runnels is no natural beauty. A clock appears, timing down from 8:32, which is how long the computer claims Wallstreet will need to beat Taylor. Taylor is all over Wallstreet to start, with a pair of dropkicks and a massive flying clothesline, before Wallstreet comes back to work over the arm of Taylor. A Taylor comeback is cut short by a Wallstreet backbreaker. Taylor’s second comeback is more successful, as he hits the FiveArm, but it knocks Wallstreet close enough to the ropes for him to force a break on the pin. Wallstreet fires back with a StunGun and the Stock Market Crash (Samoan Drop) for 3 with 1:40 to spare. Much, much better than IRS vs the Red Rooster should have been **3/4
MOTORCITY MADMAN & BIG CAT vs SKYSCRAPERS (SID VICIOUS & DANNY SPIVEY)
The Madman looks like a really fat DDP. Total squash as the Skyscrapers hit a pair of clotheslines in the corner and double powerbomb the Madman out of WCW. Really short, as it should have been and it was kinda fun to watch so ¾* is what it gets.
TOMMY RICH & RICKY MORTON vs THE FABULOUS FREEBIRDS
Rich and Morton are accompanied by Robert Gibson, who is on crutches due to a Freebirds attack. Rich and Morton would later become stablemates in the York Foundation. Morton and Rich take the advantage and secure stereo figure four leglocks on the Birds, which is an attempt at getting vengeance for the leg injury caused to Gibson. Kind of a disorganised mess with nothing of any real note to talk about, and Ricky doesn’t even get to be face in peril. Match ends (thankfully) when the Birds manager, Little Richard Marley, attempts to break Ricky’s leg from the top rope, but gets knocked off by Gibson onto Jimmy Garvin. This prevents Garvin from giving Rich the DDT and leaves him prone to a Morton roll-up for 3. The Freebirds assault Marley after the match, giving them a string of future managers including Diamond Dallas Page and Big Daddy Dink (Sir Oliver Humperdink). Rich and Morton make the save, as all good faces should, but in doing so leave Gibson on his own for the Freebirds to assault. HAHA! Match was dreadful, dreadful, fucking dreadful DUD.
Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament: Round Two
STEINER BROTHERS vs KONNAN & REY MISTERIO
Handshake to start, and Rick and Konnan do a nice mat wrestling sequence to start. The Steiners hit a double team top rope bulldog on Konnan, leading to an abrupt end, where Rick catches Misterio on a rana attempt for a powerbomb for the victory. Given some time (i.e., more than two minutes) this could have been great, but as it was, it was far too short *1/4
VICTOR ZANGIEV & SALMON HASIMIKOV vs MR. SAITO AND THE GREAT MUTA
Again, far too short, but at least the Russians got some offence in, as both Zangiev and Hasimikov are able to demonstrate their beautiful suplex variations. Saito picks up the win over Zangiev following a suplex *1/2
STAN HANSEN (champion) vs LEX LUGER (Texas Lariat Match for the WCW US Championship)
A Texas Lariat match seems to be identical to any other bullrope/ chain match, but the announcers play it up as Hansen’s speciality. The two men brawl back and forth, until Luger takes the advantage by choking Hansen. Hansen takes the advantage with a chairshot. Nice touch, where Luger regains the advantage, but tries to pin Hansen, proving that Stan has the advantage in his speciality match. Hansen hits a clumsy back suplex on Luger and touches 3 turnbuckles, before Luger cuts him off with a clothesline. Lex dominates Hansen and hits four turnbuckles, but knocks out referee Randy Anderson while hitting the fourth. This allows Hansen to hit Luger with his boot and hit all four turnbuckles in front of replacement ref Nick Patrick. However, the power of the Dusty finish comes in, as Anderson wakes up and reveals that, in fact, he DID see Luger hit all four turnbuckles, which gives Luger his US title back. Rather a dull brawl, with a cheap finish, that went on far too long, especially compared with the other matches on the card *1/2
DOOM (champions) vs BARRY WINDHAM/ ARN ANDERSON (Streetfight for the WCW Tag Team championship)
Now THIS is how to do a brawl. Barry is replacing Ric Flair here, which is OK because Windham is better suited to the brawling style of Doom. Both teams dish out a vicious ass-whipping here, with some brutal looking belt shots by Arn Anderson on Ron Simmons. AA savages Simmons’ legs on the ramp with a chair, before levelling Butch Reed with a sick chairshot. Doom fight back with some badass offence of their own, with Simmons slamming Windham on the ramp before taking Anderson down with a huge spinebuster. The only thing that brings this match down is yet another cop out finish, this time a double pin, with Windham catching Reed in a small package while Simmons pins AA following a clothesline. Both teams fight to the back. In spite of the dumb ending, this match was awesome, especially in contrast to the rather flaccid brawl that preceded it, and it still holds up well today ***1/2
MR SAITO & THE GREAT MUTA vs THE STEINER BROTHERS (Pat O’Connor Memorial Tournament Final)
This match can essentially be split into two parts- the good part (whenever Muta is in the ring) and the bad (whenever Saito is in the ring). Why a man so clearly out of shape as Saito was booked in three matches here is beyond belief. Muta and Scott start with a nice sequence, which is followed by the lamer Rick and Saito sequence, where the only move Saito does is punch, punch, punch. Rick end up receiving the heat section, being rammed into the ringpost by Saito, then getting hit with the ring bell by Muta. Saito chokes Rick, and the evil Japanese double team Rick behind the ref’s back. Rick tags Scott after a Steinerline, but then Scott too ends up in peril, receiving a vicious looking spike piledriver. Scott makes the blind tag to Rick, who pins Saito with a top rope sunset flip. Disappointing end to the tournament, especially as Mr. Saito was clearly knackered at this point. The Scott/ Muta sequences carried it though, but the result was never in doubt *3/4
STING (champion) vs THE BLACK SCORPION (Cage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight championship)
Dick the Bruiser is the guest referee, prompting Paul E to make very appropriate Popeye jokes. Four different Scorpions come to the ring, before a mysterious spaceship lowers to the ramp, before opening up to reveal the REAL Black Scorpion. The mask doesn’t fit the Scorpion very well however, as flashes of silvery blond hair pop out from the edges. Sting blocks an attempt to ram him into the cage and takes the advantage, only for the Black Scorpion to stall and take over with a cheap shot. Scorpion uses a very methodical offence, mainly because he has to hide his usual style from the fans. He doesn’t do a great job- a funny spot occurs when the Scorpion uses the ropes for leverage during a chinlock, Bruiser takes them down, Scorpion puts them up, Bruiser puts them down. This repeats at least eight times. Sting comes back with a gorilla press, but flies into the cage on a missed crossbody. Bruiser is a terrible ref, counting really slowly and generally being out of position. Scorpion piledriver gets 2. A Stinger Splash reveals more of the Scorpion’s style, as it prompts the Black Scorpion to do a Flair Flop. Of course, the fact that some fans are chanting “Nature Boy” shows that no one was fooled. Black Scorpion gets to the ropes on a Scorpion Deathlock and when Sting pulls off the mask, another mask is being worn underneath. The Scorpion goes up top, but gets crotched. A top rope crossbody gets 3 for Sting. Suddenly the other Scorpions attack Sting and Bruiser, getting unmasked to reveal Sgt. DeKlerk, among others. As Sting grabs the Scorpion, Windham and Anderson come back to the ring, and kick his ass with some vicious chairshots. The Steiners, alongside the other faces make the save, allowing Sting to unmask the Scorpion as….Ric Flair, to the surprise of no one. Not as good as Sting/ Flair normally is, but considering the bullshit storyline around it, they did the best they could **1/2
HIGHEST RATING: ***1/2 (Doom vs Barry Windham and Arn Anderson)
LOWEST RATING: DUD (Freebirds vs Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton)
AVERAGE RATING: 1.73 stars (24.25/14)
In spite of the poor average star rating for the event, I reckon this show is certainly worth searching for. Not only do you get a couple of excellent matches (Doom/Horsemen, Mexico/UK, Taylor/Wallstreet), but you get the end of one of the most infamous angles ever, the start of Sid’s dominant career as a monster, and the opportunity to see some wrestling styles not normally associated with early 90’s WCW. No match, bar the US title match, is long enough to outstay it’s welcome and the end result is a fun little wrestling show.
Ok, I think that's all for today. I'll leave you with the thought that the best thing about Children In Need was Phil Collins...it's true.
DC (ivory_rules@icemaiden.co.uk)
Saturday, November 22, 2003
A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS
*Rugby- 99% of the time no-one gives a shit about rugby. Let us all face it, rugby is dreadful, the points system is stupid, it's too stop-start-stop orientated and 2 months ago NOT ONE OF YOU would have recognized Jonny Wilkinson if he'd slapped you in the face with a dead mackerel. So why is all the media suddenly obsessed with it. Just because England won something (and I'm not saying this just because I'm "a bitter Welshie" (quote Chris Webb 2002)) doesn't mean you have to pretend you actually give a shit about it. The Coventry Evening Telegraph claimed that it was a greater achievement than the 1966 World Cup because England won away from home. BOLLOCKS- 1966 is one of the most memorable moments in British sport ever. Ask your average person to give a quote connected to that game and everyone will start echoing Kenneth Wolstenholme's famous "They think it's all over" speech. Can anyone give me a quote from the rugby world cup? Thought not. I don't mean to dismiss the England performance and I'm glad they won, but go to alomst anyone in the world and ask them "Who won the last World Cup?" and their answer will be "Brazil!"
*I forgot to mention that coming up soon will also be the Ultimate Ric Flair Collection review (it is 10 hours long though, so it will take me some time to write about) which will also include the rules to the Ric Flair drinking game
*Visit www.geocities.com/monsters4gods for all you dirty Swansea indie-rock needs
*New Blink 182 album- review coming shortly. All I can say now is WOW!! They've really shook off the immature punk tag and the new album is killer. I can see why it's self-titled, as it really is a rebirth for the irrepressible punkers. Certainly better than the Green Day attempt at reinvention
Coming up tomorrow is the WCW Starrcade 1990 review and I've started work on a review of CZW Extreme 8, featuring all your favourite CZW stars (Trent Acid, The Messiah etc)
Take care of yourselves and those around you
DC (ivory_rules@icemaiden.co.uk)
*Rugby- 99% of the time no-one gives a shit about rugby. Let us all face it, rugby is dreadful, the points system is stupid, it's too stop-start-stop orientated and 2 months ago NOT ONE OF YOU would have recognized Jonny Wilkinson if he'd slapped you in the face with a dead mackerel. So why is all the media suddenly obsessed with it. Just because England won something (and I'm not saying this just because I'm "a bitter Welshie" (quote Chris Webb 2002)) doesn't mean you have to pretend you actually give a shit about it. The Coventry Evening Telegraph claimed that it was a greater achievement than the 1966 World Cup because England won away from home. BOLLOCKS- 1966 is one of the most memorable moments in British sport ever. Ask your average person to give a quote connected to that game and everyone will start echoing Kenneth Wolstenholme's famous "They think it's all over" speech. Can anyone give me a quote from the rugby world cup? Thought not. I don't mean to dismiss the England performance and I'm glad they won, but go to alomst anyone in the world and ask them "Who won the last World Cup?" and their answer will be "Brazil!"
*I forgot to mention that coming up soon will also be the Ultimate Ric Flair Collection review (it is 10 hours long though, so it will take me some time to write about) which will also include the rules to the Ric Flair drinking game
*Visit www.geocities.com/monsters4gods for all you dirty Swansea indie-rock needs
*New Blink 182 album- review coming shortly. All I can say now is WOW!! They've really shook off the immature punk tag and the new album is killer. I can see why it's self-titled, as it really is a rebirth for the irrepressible punkers. Certainly better than the Green Day attempt at reinvention
Coming up tomorrow is the WCW Starrcade 1990 review and I've started work on a review of CZW Extreme 8, featuring all your favourite CZW stars (Trent Acid, The Messiah etc)
Take care of yourselves and those around you
DC (ivory_rules@icemaiden.co.uk)
Friday, November 21, 2003
Just to clarify what I was referring to when I mentioned that XPW owner Rob Black was facing prison time due to a controversial porn film, I bring you this news flash from the XPWTV.com boards.
"--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHALL WE GET right down to it? The penultimate segment of a pornographic video called Ass Clowns 3 — one of five videos at the center of a federal obscenity case — begins with an Ashleigh Banfield look-alike reporting from Afghanistan.
Within moments, she is kidnapped by an Al Qaeda terrorist, who drags her back to a cave occupied by Osama bin Laden and a third terrorist. For the next 20 minutes or so she is slapped, repeatedly spat upon, stripped, and raped, forced to take part in oral and anal sex and vaginal intercourse.
"America!" the bin Laden character says at one point, glowering at the camera before hocking an extraordinary load of phlegm in her face. "America, ha, ha, ha!"
A few minutes later, as bin Laden is doing her anally and she’s simultaneously forced to give a blowjob to her kidnapper, she pauses to ask, "Oh, Mr. bin Laden, does this mean you’re going to give me an exclusive?"
I could go on, but why? Eventually, American and British soldiers arrive. They kill the three terrorists, bin Laden by rather gory, if cartoonish, decapitation. And then they have sex with our foreign correspondent, only this time it’s consensual.
There are many things you can say about this video, none of them good. The graphic, close-up sex is about as erotic as Intestinal Surgery Night on the Learning Channel. The rape brings the proceedings to an entirely different level of offensiveness and misogyny, unconvincing though the simulated violence may be.
But perhaps the most important thing about Ass Clowns 3 is this: it could land its distributors, Robert Zicari (a/k/a Rob Black) and his fiancée, Janet Romano (a/k/a Lizzie Borden), in prison for the next 50 years."
The wonderful irony is that that sentence is double the one allocated to Hemant Lakhani, the British national who was charged with trying to sell a surface-to-air missile to government agents posing as terrorists seeking to shoot down a commercial jetplane. While a 50 year sentence is a little extreme, it's also very funny to think that, while making this film, Black would never have imagined that such actions would later be taken against him.
I'll be adding more exciting video reviews in the coming months, including-
*WCW Starrcade 90 (actually already complete, but I need to save something for tomorrow)
*Best of the Ultimo Dragon
*CZW Cage of Death 4
*Best of the Amazing Red and the SAT in Japan
*RoH Era Of Honor Begins
*MAW Hardcore Cup 2003
*The History of Hayabusa Vol 1
*AAA When World's Collide
Plus more classic WCW, ECW and WWF/E material
I'll just leave you with a link to this website which is very cruel, yet very accurate. If the link didn't work, that's www.laddertheory.com. Remember, I'm always e-mail able at ivory_rules@icemaiden.co.uk
DC
"--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHALL WE GET right down to it? The penultimate segment of a pornographic video called Ass Clowns 3 — one of five videos at the center of a federal obscenity case — begins with an Ashleigh Banfield look-alike reporting from Afghanistan.
Within moments, she is kidnapped by an Al Qaeda terrorist, who drags her back to a cave occupied by Osama bin Laden and a third terrorist. For the next 20 minutes or so she is slapped, repeatedly spat upon, stripped, and raped, forced to take part in oral and anal sex and vaginal intercourse.
"America!" the bin Laden character says at one point, glowering at the camera before hocking an extraordinary load of phlegm in her face. "America, ha, ha, ha!"
A few minutes later, as bin Laden is doing her anally and she’s simultaneously forced to give a blowjob to her kidnapper, she pauses to ask, "Oh, Mr. bin Laden, does this mean you’re going to give me an exclusive?"
I could go on, but why? Eventually, American and British soldiers arrive. They kill the three terrorists, bin Laden by rather gory, if cartoonish, decapitation. And then they have sex with our foreign correspondent, only this time it’s consensual.
There are many things you can say about this video, none of them good. The graphic, close-up sex is about as erotic as Intestinal Surgery Night on the Learning Channel. The rape brings the proceedings to an entirely different level of offensiveness and misogyny, unconvincing though the simulated violence may be.
But perhaps the most important thing about Ass Clowns 3 is this: it could land its distributors, Robert Zicari (a/k/a Rob Black) and his fiancée, Janet Romano (a/k/a Lizzie Borden), in prison for the next 50 years."
The wonderful irony is that that sentence is double the one allocated to Hemant Lakhani, the British national who was charged with trying to sell a surface-to-air missile to government agents posing as terrorists seeking to shoot down a commercial jetplane. While a 50 year sentence is a little extreme, it's also very funny to think that, while making this film, Black would never have imagined that such actions would later be taken against him.
I'll be adding more exciting video reviews in the coming months, including-
*WCW Starrcade 90 (actually already complete, but I need to save something for tomorrow)
*Best of the Ultimo Dragon
*CZW Cage of Death 4
*Best of the Amazing Red and the SAT in Japan
*RoH Era Of Honor Begins
*MAW Hardcore Cup 2003
*The History of Hayabusa Vol 1
*AAA When World's Collide
Plus more classic WCW, ECW and WWF/E material
I'll just leave you with a link to this website which is very cruel, yet very accurate. If the link didn't work, that's www.laddertheory.com. Remember, I'm always e-mail able at ivory_rules@icemaiden.co.uk
DC
Never forget everyone..."Are You Ready For Hogg?" is the greatest game in the world
XPW FALLOUT
Considering the lovely Rob Black looks like spending several years behind bars for his production of the most disgusting type of pornographic videos, I thought it would be timely to look at his attempt to start a wrestling promotion. Due to my curious nature, I once bought an XPW video to see how it compared to the company it would clearly love to be, ECW, and found myself bored to tears by match after match of talentless losers “wrestling” with weapons. However, I was reliably informed that this video was from the Shane Douglas days of booking, featuring stars like Super Crazy and Juventud Guerrera, so I once again ventured back into the world of the X-treme….
Live from the XPW/ CZW/ ECW/ 3PW arena, your host for this event is Kriss Kloss, though I’m sure that isn’t his real name.
POGO THE CLOWN vs THE SANDMAN
We kick things off with the Sandman in the ring calling out Pogo. Pogo slowly walks to the ring, carrying a spade for some reason. Sandman attacks Pogo as he enters the ring, then strikes him in the face with a beer can. Sandman drinks the beer, then spits it into Pogo’s face. Irish whip to the corner, Pogo reverses and charges, but Sandman moves, sending Pogo to the ring post and tumbling out of the ring. Sandman follows him out with a pescado. Sandman disappears down the aisle and returns with a section of the security railing which he puts in the ring. Pogo takes the advantage. Pogo chokes Sandman with (I can’t believe I’m writing this) a rubber chicken, but Sandman fires back with a pair of clotheslines. Back in the ring, Pogo slugs away at the Sandman, “slug” being the operative word. Sloppy looking face first suplex by Pogo, who then heads up top to deliver….um, I’m not sure if that was meant to be a splash or an elbow drop, but it looked shitty. I think it was a splash, but only his arms actually touched the Sandman. The Sandman’s wife then does a run in with a cross body from the top, but Pogo catches her and delivers the Close Capture Crunch, then splashes her. Sandman is back up- he whacks the Clown with repeated cane shots, as only a drunk who has just seen his wife get beaten up can, and the cane-assisted russian leg sweep gets 2. Sandman grabs the railing he brought in earlier and balances it against the ropes. Suplex attempt by Sandman, but Pogo is clearly too damn fat and Pogo reverses to a VICIOUS looking powerbomb on the railings for 3. Pogo wins. The only thing keeping that atrocity out of negative stars is that sick looking bump at the end, bringing this kicking and screaming up to a DUD
JULIO DINERO vs JUVENTUD GUERRERA
Funny bit to start, as the Juice delivers a long winded, though thankfully subtitled, promo, telling the fans the are all fucking marks, that he is the Juicy one (“which means I am the fucking best ever”) and calls his opponent Julio Candido, which, as we find out later, somewhat ruins the surprise of just who is the mystery opponent for Shane Douglas. He then tells the ring announcer that he sucks, and introduces himself AGAIN. Dinero attacks, but Juvi reverses the Irish whip, allowing Dinero to blow a tilt a whirl reversal into a reverse DDT for 2. . Juvi elevates Dinero over the ropes, but Deniro lands on the apron and tries to suplex him out of the ring, reversed by Juvi to a reverse DDT on the apron. They brawl on the outside and Juvi takes control with a flying head scissors. Juvi charges, but Deniro counters with a drop toehold to the security rails. Deniro places Juvi’s head in between the rails, then stands on the Juice’s back to choke him, but Juvi’s throat is clearly nowhere near the bottom of the railings, no matter how much Kriss Kloss claims otherwise. Juvi places a chair around Deniro’s neck, then rams him again into the post. Damn, that looked painful. Deniro slowly crawls into the ring, only to be met halfway by a HUGE springboard leg drop from the Juice. Gets a 2 count. Irish whip reversed by Deniro, Juvi with the bodyscissors, attempt at a bulldog, NO caught by Deniro, but Juvi is near enough to the top turnbuckle to push himself off to finish the bulldog. Powerbomb gets 2 for Juvi. Deniro hiptosses the Juice onto the top rope and plants him with a cool-looking reverse top-rope suplex. Suplex gets 2. Another is reversed to a Juvi Driver, doesn’t go for the pin, but goes up top for the 450. Deniro pushes the ref into the ropes, crotching Juvi. Deniro blocks a Juice rana attempt, but gets planted with a tornado DDT. Juvi brings a chair into the ring, but Deniro kicks it into his face for 2. Full nelson into a Rock Bottom gets two for Deniro. Deniro tries a suplex onto the chair, but Juvi reverses to a Juvi Driver onto the chair for the 1-2-3! Juvi clearly carried this one on his shoulders and it certainly wasn’t a bad match, but…it wasn’t really a good match either **1/4
MEXICO’S MOST WANTED (champions) vs DEAD PREZ (XPW Tag Team Championship)
Actually, Dead Prez aren’t named as such during the match, as they are 2 men “from the street” (thanks Kriss) who run in to attack MMW, but the larger of the two is former RoH wrestler
Boogalou from the Natural Born Sinners. Dead Prez take an early advantage with some nice double teams, including a clothesline into a German suplex and a Hart Attack, which prompts Kriss to wonder if the two men are called Bret and Jim. Damien 666 fights back, sending the smaller Dead Prez member (DP2 from now on) face first into Boogalou’s groin with a drop toehold. Tag to Halloween, who attacks with a double spear. Damien hiptosses DP2 into a Halloween powerbomb for 2. MMW ram Boogalou into the corner, then ram his ribs into the post. DP2 catches both of MMW with a cross body from the top to the floor. In the ring, Boogalou gets a cross armbreaker on Damien, who reverses it into a knee lock, which prompts Halloween and DP2 to take turns kicking their respective foes, then both apply a head scissors to their opponent. Boogalou gets crotched by Halloween and Damien catches DP2 with a spear. MMW set up the Montezuema’s Revenge (Damien 666 gives the opponent a giant swing, until Halloween stops it with a dropkick to the head) which is enough for the win. Dead Prez give MMW a massive beatdown after the match and escape through the crowd. Match was too short, but it was non-stop action and great fun while it lasted **3/4.
CHRIS HAMRICK vs CHRIS CHETTI
Chetti looks a lot trimmer than in his ECW days. Series of armdrags to start, which leads to a blown spot when Chetti sells an armdrag before Hamrick has gotten back to his feet. Hamrick misses a flying clothesline and goes straight through the ropes to the concrete floor, prompting the first “Holy Shit” chant of the night. Chetti follows him out with a beautiful corkscrew plancha. Hamrick gets on the apron, then takes Chetti down with a top rope split legged moonsault. Chetti back on the apron, Hamrick drapes him on the top rope and takes him down with a springboard legdrop for 2. Chetti comes back with a series of kicks and gets an axe kick for 2. Hamrick blocks a back body drop by hooking Chetti up for a face first suplex, but dropping Chetti face first on his knee. They exchange kicks, Chetti goes to the top, but Hamrick sends him to the floor with a big Yakuza kick. They brawl inside the ring, Chetti goes for the Amityville Horror (fireman’s carry into a Michinoku Driver), but Hamrick lands on his feet and hits Chetti with the Dixie Driver (suplex into a stunner). Hamrick goes up top for a Guillotine legdrop which gets 2, much to the surprise of Kriss Kloss. Chetti goes to the top, but gets crotched. Hamrick tries a frankensteiner, but Chetti stops him and hits him with a top rope Amityville Horror which is enough for the Chetti victory. Kloss plays this up as a huge upset, which seems surprising considering how well Chetti did in ECW. Chetti was pretty sloppy in this match, although Hamrick looked impressive, but almost every transition move was a kick of some sort, which didn’t help the flow of the match **
PSICOSIS vs SUPER CRAZY
Now THIS match should rule it. Psi takes advantage of Crazy playing to the crowd by shoving him from the apron to the rails, but Crazy avoids a Psicosis cross body, leaving Psi to land on the rails. OUCH! Crazy down him with a moonsault off the railings. Back inside, Psi misses a drop kick in the corner, but elevates Crazy out as he charges in. Psi tries to take advantage with a tornado DDT to the floor, but Crazy blocks it and sends Psi back in with a big clothesline. Crazy comes back in with a springboard moonsault, but stops to pose for the fans, resulting in Psi rebounding with a running powerbomb for 2. Crazy sends Psi outside with a top rope armdrag and a baseball slide sends Psicosis into the crowd. Crazy follows him out with a top rope Asai moonsault into the crowd, which gets the “Holy Shit” chant it so rightly deserves. Back in, spinning heel kick sends Crazy back outside, and Psi follows him with a HUGE plancha, clearing the ring by several feet. Back inside, Crazy blocks a Psi bronco buster the subtle way- with a boot to the groin. Crazy gets Psi into the corner for the Spanish 10 punch countalong, but Psi drops him face first to the turnbuckle by number 9. Crazy charges Psi in the corner, but gets met with an elbow, setting up the Psycho Stunner (Diamond Dust). Psicosis goes to the top for the Guillotine legdrop, which is enough to finish Super Crazy. Crazy snaps after the decision, attacking Psi with a chair, then tearing Psi open with a spike, which XPW, being truly hardcore, censors. Fantastic match from these two, who both lived up to their names with some insane bumps, as you would have expected, and certainly nothing else on this video is going to beat it ***1/2. Especially not…
MALICE vs VIC GRIMES
From the sublime to the ridiculous. Malice starts off with a dull heel promo, insulting the fans and discarding the XPW-given name Snuff in favour of his NWA:TNA persona of Malice. Of course, no-one really hates TNA that much, so this gets no reaction, no matter how much Kriss tells us (and boy does he keep telling us) that Malice has a problem. They brawl to start and Malice takes the advantage with a German suplex on the 350 pound Grimes. Grimes comes back with a powerslam as they suddenly cut to clips from a previous match, which was won by Snuff. Nice overhead belly to belly by Grimes. Malice is slumped in the corner and Grimes ascends the ropes Vader bomb-style to drop a headbutt on Malice’s groin. Grimes goes up top, but Malice greets him with a top rope belly to belly suplex. Hey, I’ll admit it, this is much better than I thought it would be. Malice misses a 2nd rope leg drop. Grimes grabs Malice by the arm and walks the ropes Undertaker-style, only to come down with a huge legdrop across the arm of Malice! That’s impressive agility for a man that size. That gets a 2 count. Malice is thrown out of the ring and Grimes follows him with a clothesline from the apron. Malice comes back with some chairshots, but a Grimes low blow turns the tide. Grimes hits a powerbomb, the goes up top for a frog splash. Didn’t quite get the elevation of Eddie Guerrero (or even D’Lo Brown), but as I said before, that’s one big man up there. Grimes goes to the opposite corner for another top rope splash, this time not of the frog variety. Only gets a 2 count. Grimes goes outside and sets up a table in the aisle. Malice gets a chair, but Grimes punches it into the face of Malice. Malice is set up on the table. Grimes goes up to the top rope and (FUCK!!) hits a SWANTON FROM THE TOP ROPE THROUGH A TABLE TO THE FLOOR. Now THAT deserves a “Holy Shit” chant and it gets it. Back inside, the pin is academic. Grimes rubs salt in the wound by telling Malice that TNA sucks, Jarrett sucks and Russo sucks. Less than a year later, only one of these promotions is still in business. Have to admit, despite my worries coming into this match, both men proved something to me. Both men moved quickly for men their size and there was almost no resting. It wasn’t a great match, but seeing as how I was expecting this to rival the Pogo/ Sandman fiasco, colour me impressed **3/4
SUPREME (champion) vs ALTAR BOY LUKE (XPW King of the Deathmatch championship)
Bit of a contrast between the two here, as Luke is a skinny cruiserweight, who recently wrestled a dark match for the WWE, and Supreme is a big goofy looking heavyweight. Supreme takes advantage with some power moves, but Luke takes over with a nice springboard hurancanrana. Luke knocks Supreme onto the apron and a springboard dropkick sends Supreme flying into a bed of lightbulbs. Luke puts a bed of barbed wire in the ring, but gets caught by Supreme. Snapmere puts Altar Boy down, but he rolls through with a Russian leg sweep, sending Supreme into the barbed wire. That gets one. Luke follows this with the Halo (springboard moonsault from the ring apron back into the ring) on the wire for 2. Fameasser by Luke puts Supreme back into the barbed wire. The barbed wire seems to be stuck in Supreme’s skull at this point, which is quite sick. Supreme takes the advantage with a flourescent lightbulb and hits a fallaway slam onto, you guessed it, the barbed wire. The problem with this match is that every move ends with either Supreme or Altar Boy back on the barbed wire, which seems less interesting each time, especially as the injured party spends 30 seconds yelling on the barbed wire before the next move. As if sensing this, Supreme takes Luke outside and slams him onto a bed of lightbulbs. Nice to see him expand the moveset. The rubber chicken makes it’s return, allowing Kloss to make a lame “Chicken Supreme” joke (sigh). Supreme takes Luke down the aisle to the stage, where he threatens to powerbomb Luke off the stage through some tables, when he gets blasted with a lightbulb by Angel (“the Hardcore Homo”, Kloss tells us). Supreme gets thrown off the stage, where Angel sets him up on the table and covers him with a bucket of thumbtacks. Luke follows him down with a 450 splash through the table for 3. Match was a collection of vaguely interesting spots with lots of stalling in between each one. Luke looked really impressive, but he clearly had to carry Supreme through this match and he wasn’t quite up to the task *1/4
KAOS (champion) vs DANNY DORING (XPW Television championship)
Kaos is accompanied by GQ Money, who is maybe the most irritating man (in a good heelish way) I can imagine. Doring clears the ring to start and Kaos starts walking to the back. Doring catches him and Money with a double clothesline upon their return. Doring takes the advantage and applies a nipple twister on Kaos, which someone in the WWE is surely going to steal soon. Money gets on the apron and gets the same treatment. Kaos takes control when Doring gets distracted by the idea of giving Veronica Caine (Kaos’ stereotypical skank manager) the same treatment. Doring tries a pescado, but misses and hits the concrete floor. OW! Doring regains control with a reverse DDT, but a top rope legdrop misses. That’s the fourth time someone has used that move on this video. Botched Bubba Cutter gets 2 for Kaos. GQ and Kaos double team Doring with a rolling thunder legdrop (Money)/ 450 splash (Kaos) combination. Only gets 2. Kaos puts Doring in the tree of woe, but Doring grabs a charging Kaos to apply a stunner. Doring downs Kaos and Money, drawing Caine into the ring. They do a brief wrestling sequence, which ends with a Caine armdrag sending Doring outside. Yeah, nice move XPW. That’s the way to make your babyface look credible. Kaos elevates GQ over the ropes onto Doring, but overshoots, sending GQ crashing into the rails in a sick looking bump. Back in, Doring tries an F5 variation, but knocks out the ref in the process. Kaos comes back with a Ganso Bomb (!) which only gets 2 from the groggy ref. Quick series of reversals ends with Doring getting the Wham Bam (like Shane Douglas’ Franchiser) for the 3. BUT WAIT. Before Doring can get too attached to his new belt, GQ storms in to take the title away, claiming the match was non-title. Doring cuts a dull babyface promo in response. Despite the Dusty Finish and the STUPID Veronica Caine wrestling sequence in the middle, these two really clicked, as Kaos played the asshole champion to perfection and Doring used his experience to make nicely timed comebacks ***.
SHANE DOUGLAS (champion) vs ? (XPW World Heavyweight championship)
Douglas cuts a long, rambling promo before the match, taking credit for making ECW, giving wrestling fans something to watch instead of the WWE and leading XPW into the future. Yeah, that turned out well for them. This draws out his former stablemate Chris Candido, a really disappointing choice for a mystery partner, with Tammy Sytch. He also cuts a long, dull promo (guess he learnt something off Shane) about fighting his demons and how he was hurt when Shane didn’t leave WCW when they fired Chris, so he’s there to take the only thing Shane cares about- the XPW title. This gives us….
SHANE DOUGLAS (champion) vs CHRIS CANDIDO (XPW World Heavyweight championship)
They brawl to start and Candido gets a quick DDT for 2. Clothesline takes both men out and Candido goes up top with a huge crossbody to the floor. Candido sets up a table in the ring and sets Douglas on it, but Douglas catches him going up top and throws his over the table. Douglas props up the table in the corner, but Candido wins a battle for a suplex. He sets up the table AGAIN, but Douglas moves, as Candido crashes through the table with a top rope legdrop (AGAIN! Why is that move so popular here?). They go through a series of moves where they attack each other in the groin, but Douglas hits Candido with a belly to belly suplex. This draws Sytch into the ring to attack, prompting a catfight with Doulgas’ pornstar valet Lizzy Borden. This is ended when Douglas plants Sytch with a belly to belly suplex, which is the last we see of her tonight. This angers Candido, who attacks Douglas, culminating in a diving headbutt for 2, when Borden puts Douglas’ foot on the rope. She distracts Candido, who then walks into a Douglas chairshot (literally- he turns around, looks at Shane holding the chair and walks towards him to be hit). REALLY sloppy Pittsburgh Plunge gets 2, but a second one on the chair gets 3. Neither of these men are ageing that well, both looking much fatter than their ECW glorydays. All the ECW cliches were here, from the catfight to the finisher-on-the-chair ending, but it was at a much slower speed and really, it was a hugely disapointing main event ¾ *.
HIGHEST RATING: ***1/2 (Psicosis vs Super Crazy)
LOWEST RATING: DUD (Pogo the Clown vs the Sandman)
AVERAGE RATING: 2.08 stars (18.75/9)
OVERALL: If ever a wrestling event could be summed up as average, this would be it. Everything was watchable, except the opener, and the Psicosis/ Crazy match was very good. XPW certainly improved in the 6 months between the first video of theirs I watched (and trust me, that abortion is still to come), but not enough to be a company going out of your way to watch. All of the big names, except Doring, Psicosis and Crazy looked like they were going through the motions, but I’d rather watching an average Juvi match than ANY Pogo the Clown match. Indeed, if this promotion was run by anyone other than someone like Rob Black, I’d have been sad to see it go out of business, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Considering the lovely Rob Black looks like spending several years behind bars for his production of the most disgusting type of pornographic videos, I thought it would be timely to look at his attempt to start a wrestling promotion. Due to my curious nature, I once bought an XPW video to see how it compared to the company it would clearly love to be, ECW, and found myself bored to tears by match after match of talentless losers “wrestling” with weapons. However, I was reliably informed that this video was from the Shane Douglas days of booking, featuring stars like Super Crazy and Juventud Guerrera, so I once again ventured back into the world of the X-treme….
Live from the XPW/ CZW/ ECW/ 3PW arena, your host for this event is Kriss Kloss, though I’m sure that isn’t his real name.
POGO THE CLOWN vs THE SANDMAN
We kick things off with the Sandman in the ring calling out Pogo. Pogo slowly walks to the ring, carrying a spade for some reason. Sandman attacks Pogo as he enters the ring, then strikes him in the face with a beer can. Sandman drinks the beer, then spits it into Pogo’s face. Irish whip to the corner, Pogo reverses and charges, but Sandman moves, sending Pogo to the ring post and tumbling out of the ring. Sandman follows him out with a pescado. Sandman disappears down the aisle and returns with a section of the security railing which he puts in the ring. Pogo takes the advantage. Pogo chokes Sandman with (I can’t believe I’m writing this) a rubber chicken, but Sandman fires back with a pair of clotheslines. Back in the ring, Pogo slugs away at the Sandman, “slug” being the operative word. Sloppy looking face first suplex by Pogo, who then heads up top to deliver….um, I’m not sure if that was meant to be a splash or an elbow drop, but it looked shitty. I think it was a splash, but only his arms actually touched the Sandman. The Sandman’s wife then does a run in with a cross body from the top, but Pogo catches her and delivers the Close Capture Crunch, then splashes her. Sandman is back up- he whacks the Clown with repeated cane shots, as only a drunk who has just seen his wife get beaten up can, and the cane-assisted russian leg sweep gets 2. Sandman grabs the railing he brought in earlier and balances it against the ropes. Suplex attempt by Sandman, but Pogo is clearly too damn fat and Pogo reverses to a VICIOUS looking powerbomb on the railings for 3. Pogo wins. The only thing keeping that atrocity out of negative stars is that sick looking bump at the end, bringing this kicking and screaming up to a DUD
JULIO DINERO vs JUVENTUD GUERRERA
Funny bit to start, as the Juice delivers a long winded, though thankfully subtitled, promo, telling the fans the are all fucking marks, that he is the Juicy one (“which means I am the fucking best ever”) and calls his opponent Julio Candido, which, as we find out later, somewhat ruins the surprise of just who is the mystery opponent for Shane Douglas. He then tells the ring announcer that he sucks, and introduces himself AGAIN. Dinero attacks, but Juvi reverses the Irish whip, allowing Dinero to blow a tilt a whirl reversal into a reverse DDT for 2. . Juvi elevates Dinero over the ropes, but Deniro lands on the apron and tries to suplex him out of the ring, reversed by Juvi to a reverse DDT on the apron. They brawl on the outside and Juvi takes control with a flying head scissors. Juvi charges, but Deniro counters with a drop toehold to the security rails. Deniro places Juvi’s head in between the rails, then stands on the Juice’s back to choke him, but Juvi’s throat is clearly nowhere near the bottom of the railings, no matter how much Kriss Kloss claims otherwise. Juvi places a chair around Deniro’s neck, then rams him again into the post. Damn, that looked painful. Deniro slowly crawls into the ring, only to be met halfway by a HUGE springboard leg drop from the Juice. Gets a 2 count. Irish whip reversed by Deniro, Juvi with the bodyscissors, attempt at a bulldog, NO caught by Deniro, but Juvi is near enough to the top turnbuckle to push himself off to finish the bulldog. Powerbomb gets 2 for Juvi. Deniro hiptosses the Juice onto the top rope and plants him with a cool-looking reverse top-rope suplex. Suplex gets 2. Another is reversed to a Juvi Driver, doesn’t go for the pin, but goes up top for the 450. Deniro pushes the ref into the ropes, crotching Juvi. Deniro blocks a Juice rana attempt, but gets planted with a tornado DDT. Juvi brings a chair into the ring, but Deniro kicks it into his face for 2. Full nelson into a Rock Bottom gets two for Deniro. Deniro tries a suplex onto the chair, but Juvi reverses to a Juvi Driver onto the chair for the 1-2-3! Juvi clearly carried this one on his shoulders and it certainly wasn’t a bad match, but…it wasn’t really a good match either **1/4
MEXICO’S MOST WANTED (champions) vs DEAD PREZ (XPW Tag Team Championship)
Actually, Dead Prez aren’t named as such during the match, as they are 2 men “from the street” (thanks Kriss) who run in to attack MMW, but the larger of the two is former RoH wrestler
Boogalou from the Natural Born Sinners. Dead Prez take an early advantage with some nice double teams, including a clothesline into a German suplex and a Hart Attack, which prompts Kriss to wonder if the two men are called Bret and Jim. Damien 666 fights back, sending the smaller Dead Prez member (DP2 from now on) face first into Boogalou’s groin with a drop toehold. Tag to Halloween, who attacks with a double spear. Damien hiptosses DP2 into a Halloween powerbomb for 2. MMW ram Boogalou into the corner, then ram his ribs into the post. DP2 catches both of MMW with a cross body from the top to the floor. In the ring, Boogalou gets a cross armbreaker on Damien, who reverses it into a knee lock, which prompts Halloween and DP2 to take turns kicking their respective foes, then both apply a head scissors to their opponent. Boogalou gets crotched by Halloween and Damien catches DP2 with a spear. MMW set up the Montezuema’s Revenge (Damien 666 gives the opponent a giant swing, until Halloween stops it with a dropkick to the head) which is enough for the win. Dead Prez give MMW a massive beatdown after the match and escape through the crowd. Match was too short, but it was non-stop action and great fun while it lasted **3/4.
CHRIS HAMRICK vs CHRIS CHETTI
Chetti looks a lot trimmer than in his ECW days. Series of armdrags to start, which leads to a blown spot when Chetti sells an armdrag before Hamrick has gotten back to his feet. Hamrick misses a flying clothesline and goes straight through the ropes to the concrete floor, prompting the first “Holy Shit” chant of the night. Chetti follows him out with a beautiful corkscrew plancha. Hamrick gets on the apron, then takes Chetti down with a top rope split legged moonsault. Chetti back on the apron, Hamrick drapes him on the top rope and takes him down with a springboard legdrop for 2. Chetti comes back with a series of kicks and gets an axe kick for 2. Hamrick blocks a back body drop by hooking Chetti up for a face first suplex, but dropping Chetti face first on his knee. They exchange kicks, Chetti goes to the top, but Hamrick sends him to the floor with a big Yakuza kick. They brawl inside the ring, Chetti goes for the Amityville Horror (fireman’s carry into a Michinoku Driver), but Hamrick lands on his feet and hits Chetti with the Dixie Driver (suplex into a stunner). Hamrick goes up top for a Guillotine legdrop which gets 2, much to the surprise of Kriss Kloss. Chetti goes to the top, but gets crotched. Hamrick tries a frankensteiner, but Chetti stops him and hits him with a top rope Amityville Horror which is enough for the Chetti victory. Kloss plays this up as a huge upset, which seems surprising considering how well Chetti did in ECW. Chetti was pretty sloppy in this match, although Hamrick looked impressive, but almost every transition move was a kick of some sort, which didn’t help the flow of the match **
PSICOSIS vs SUPER CRAZY
Now THIS match should rule it. Psi takes advantage of Crazy playing to the crowd by shoving him from the apron to the rails, but Crazy avoids a Psicosis cross body, leaving Psi to land on the rails. OUCH! Crazy down him with a moonsault off the railings. Back inside, Psi misses a drop kick in the corner, but elevates Crazy out as he charges in. Psi tries to take advantage with a tornado DDT to the floor, but Crazy blocks it and sends Psi back in with a big clothesline. Crazy comes back in with a springboard moonsault, but stops to pose for the fans, resulting in Psi rebounding with a running powerbomb for 2. Crazy sends Psi outside with a top rope armdrag and a baseball slide sends Psicosis into the crowd. Crazy follows him out with a top rope Asai moonsault into the crowd, which gets the “Holy Shit” chant it so rightly deserves. Back in, spinning heel kick sends Crazy back outside, and Psi follows him with a HUGE plancha, clearing the ring by several feet. Back inside, Crazy blocks a Psi bronco buster the subtle way- with a boot to the groin. Crazy gets Psi into the corner for the Spanish 10 punch countalong, but Psi drops him face first to the turnbuckle by number 9. Crazy charges Psi in the corner, but gets met with an elbow, setting up the Psycho Stunner (Diamond Dust). Psicosis goes to the top for the Guillotine legdrop, which is enough to finish Super Crazy. Crazy snaps after the decision, attacking Psi with a chair, then tearing Psi open with a spike, which XPW, being truly hardcore, censors. Fantastic match from these two, who both lived up to their names with some insane bumps, as you would have expected, and certainly nothing else on this video is going to beat it ***1/2. Especially not…
MALICE vs VIC GRIMES
From the sublime to the ridiculous. Malice starts off with a dull heel promo, insulting the fans and discarding the XPW-given name Snuff in favour of his NWA:TNA persona of Malice. Of course, no-one really hates TNA that much, so this gets no reaction, no matter how much Kriss tells us (and boy does he keep telling us) that Malice has a problem. They brawl to start and Malice takes the advantage with a German suplex on the 350 pound Grimes. Grimes comes back with a powerslam as they suddenly cut to clips from a previous match, which was won by Snuff. Nice overhead belly to belly by Grimes. Malice is slumped in the corner and Grimes ascends the ropes Vader bomb-style to drop a headbutt on Malice’s groin. Grimes goes up top, but Malice greets him with a top rope belly to belly suplex. Hey, I’ll admit it, this is much better than I thought it would be. Malice misses a 2nd rope leg drop. Grimes grabs Malice by the arm and walks the ropes Undertaker-style, only to come down with a huge legdrop across the arm of Malice! That’s impressive agility for a man that size. That gets a 2 count. Malice is thrown out of the ring and Grimes follows him with a clothesline from the apron. Malice comes back with some chairshots, but a Grimes low blow turns the tide. Grimes hits a powerbomb, the goes up top for a frog splash. Didn’t quite get the elevation of Eddie Guerrero (or even D’Lo Brown), but as I said before, that’s one big man up there. Grimes goes to the opposite corner for another top rope splash, this time not of the frog variety. Only gets a 2 count. Grimes goes outside and sets up a table in the aisle. Malice gets a chair, but Grimes punches it into the face of Malice. Malice is set up on the table. Grimes goes up to the top rope and (FUCK!!) hits a SWANTON FROM THE TOP ROPE THROUGH A TABLE TO THE FLOOR. Now THAT deserves a “Holy Shit” chant and it gets it. Back inside, the pin is academic. Grimes rubs salt in the wound by telling Malice that TNA sucks, Jarrett sucks and Russo sucks. Less than a year later, only one of these promotions is still in business. Have to admit, despite my worries coming into this match, both men proved something to me. Both men moved quickly for men their size and there was almost no resting. It wasn’t a great match, but seeing as how I was expecting this to rival the Pogo/ Sandman fiasco, colour me impressed **3/4
SUPREME (champion) vs ALTAR BOY LUKE (XPW King of the Deathmatch championship)
Bit of a contrast between the two here, as Luke is a skinny cruiserweight, who recently wrestled a dark match for the WWE, and Supreme is a big goofy looking heavyweight. Supreme takes advantage with some power moves, but Luke takes over with a nice springboard hurancanrana. Luke knocks Supreme onto the apron and a springboard dropkick sends Supreme flying into a bed of lightbulbs. Luke puts a bed of barbed wire in the ring, but gets caught by Supreme. Snapmere puts Altar Boy down, but he rolls through with a Russian leg sweep, sending Supreme into the barbed wire. That gets one. Luke follows this with the Halo (springboard moonsault from the ring apron back into the ring) on the wire for 2. Fameasser by Luke puts Supreme back into the barbed wire. The barbed wire seems to be stuck in Supreme’s skull at this point, which is quite sick. Supreme takes the advantage with a flourescent lightbulb and hits a fallaway slam onto, you guessed it, the barbed wire. The problem with this match is that every move ends with either Supreme or Altar Boy back on the barbed wire, which seems less interesting each time, especially as the injured party spends 30 seconds yelling on the barbed wire before the next move. As if sensing this, Supreme takes Luke outside and slams him onto a bed of lightbulbs. Nice to see him expand the moveset. The rubber chicken makes it’s return, allowing Kloss to make a lame “Chicken Supreme” joke (sigh). Supreme takes Luke down the aisle to the stage, where he threatens to powerbomb Luke off the stage through some tables, when he gets blasted with a lightbulb by Angel (“the Hardcore Homo”, Kloss tells us). Supreme gets thrown off the stage, where Angel sets him up on the table and covers him with a bucket of thumbtacks. Luke follows him down with a 450 splash through the table for 3. Match was a collection of vaguely interesting spots with lots of stalling in between each one. Luke looked really impressive, but he clearly had to carry Supreme through this match and he wasn’t quite up to the task *1/4
KAOS (champion) vs DANNY DORING (XPW Television championship)
Kaos is accompanied by GQ Money, who is maybe the most irritating man (in a good heelish way) I can imagine. Doring clears the ring to start and Kaos starts walking to the back. Doring catches him and Money with a double clothesline upon their return. Doring takes the advantage and applies a nipple twister on Kaos, which someone in the WWE is surely going to steal soon. Money gets on the apron and gets the same treatment. Kaos takes control when Doring gets distracted by the idea of giving Veronica Caine (Kaos’ stereotypical skank manager) the same treatment. Doring tries a pescado, but misses and hits the concrete floor. OW! Doring regains control with a reverse DDT, but a top rope legdrop misses. That’s the fourth time someone has used that move on this video. Botched Bubba Cutter gets 2 for Kaos. GQ and Kaos double team Doring with a rolling thunder legdrop (Money)/ 450 splash (Kaos) combination. Only gets 2. Kaos puts Doring in the tree of woe, but Doring grabs a charging Kaos to apply a stunner. Doring downs Kaos and Money, drawing Caine into the ring. They do a brief wrestling sequence, which ends with a Caine armdrag sending Doring outside. Yeah, nice move XPW. That’s the way to make your babyface look credible. Kaos elevates GQ over the ropes onto Doring, but overshoots, sending GQ crashing into the rails in a sick looking bump. Back in, Doring tries an F5 variation, but knocks out the ref in the process. Kaos comes back with a Ganso Bomb (!) which only gets 2 from the groggy ref. Quick series of reversals ends with Doring getting the Wham Bam (like Shane Douglas’ Franchiser) for the 3. BUT WAIT. Before Doring can get too attached to his new belt, GQ storms in to take the title away, claiming the match was non-title. Doring cuts a dull babyface promo in response. Despite the Dusty Finish and the STUPID Veronica Caine wrestling sequence in the middle, these two really clicked, as Kaos played the asshole champion to perfection and Doring used his experience to make nicely timed comebacks ***.
SHANE DOUGLAS (champion) vs ? (XPW World Heavyweight championship)
Douglas cuts a long, rambling promo before the match, taking credit for making ECW, giving wrestling fans something to watch instead of the WWE and leading XPW into the future. Yeah, that turned out well for them. This draws out his former stablemate Chris Candido, a really disappointing choice for a mystery partner, with Tammy Sytch. He also cuts a long, dull promo (guess he learnt something off Shane) about fighting his demons and how he was hurt when Shane didn’t leave WCW when they fired Chris, so he’s there to take the only thing Shane cares about- the XPW title. This gives us….
SHANE DOUGLAS (champion) vs CHRIS CANDIDO (XPW World Heavyweight championship)
They brawl to start and Candido gets a quick DDT for 2. Clothesline takes both men out and Candido goes up top with a huge crossbody to the floor. Candido sets up a table in the ring and sets Douglas on it, but Douglas catches him going up top and throws his over the table. Douglas props up the table in the corner, but Candido wins a battle for a suplex. He sets up the table AGAIN, but Douglas moves, as Candido crashes through the table with a top rope legdrop (AGAIN! Why is that move so popular here?). They go through a series of moves where they attack each other in the groin, but Douglas hits Candido with a belly to belly suplex. This draws Sytch into the ring to attack, prompting a catfight with Doulgas’ pornstar valet Lizzy Borden. This is ended when Douglas plants Sytch with a belly to belly suplex, which is the last we see of her tonight. This angers Candido, who attacks Douglas, culminating in a diving headbutt for 2, when Borden puts Douglas’ foot on the rope. She distracts Candido, who then walks into a Douglas chairshot (literally- he turns around, looks at Shane holding the chair and walks towards him to be hit). REALLY sloppy Pittsburgh Plunge gets 2, but a second one on the chair gets 3. Neither of these men are ageing that well, both looking much fatter than their ECW glorydays. All the ECW cliches were here, from the catfight to the finisher-on-the-chair ending, but it was at a much slower speed and really, it was a hugely disapointing main event ¾ *.
HIGHEST RATING: ***1/2 (Psicosis vs Super Crazy)
LOWEST RATING: DUD (Pogo the Clown vs the Sandman)
AVERAGE RATING: 2.08 stars (18.75/9)
OVERALL: If ever a wrestling event could be summed up as average, this would be it. Everything was watchable, except the opener, and the Psicosis/ Crazy match was very good. XPW certainly improved in the 6 months between the first video of theirs I watched (and trust me, that abortion is still to come), but not enough to be a company going out of your way to watch. All of the big names, except Doring, Psicosis and Crazy looked like they were going through the motions, but I’d rather watching an average Juvi match than ANY Pogo the Clown match. Indeed, if this promotion was run by anyone other than someone like Rob Black, I’d have been sad to see it go out of business, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
