Post by cavedweller73 on Aug 15, 2010 9:46:24 GMT -5
I posted this over on the MECW board so I thought I'd cut and post it over here too...here's some thoughts on last night's show.
I have to be completely honest, a few weeks ago, when I first saw the card for last night's show, I wasn't very impressed and didn't plan on attending. However, once the card was updated and Davey Richards was added, everything changed. When I got home from work yesterday afternoon, I made sure to check out some places on the net to make sure Davey was still going to be there. It wasn't that I didn't trust MECW to bring him in, it's just that I remember what happened the last time Richards was booked to work a show in Evansville last year. Anyway, what I found was that someone ELSE had been added to the card....none other than CHRIS F'IN' HERO!!!! That sure sealed the deal for me and I was already out the door, heading to the show.
I get to The Armory and while I do think it's a good place to hold a wrestling show, man, that place is as hot as an oven! It'll be an even nicer place for a show once this heatwave ever breaks. The show started 30 minutes late, but I got to talk to a bunch of cool people that I know (shout out to The O'boys! ) some I didn't even expect to see there. Overall, the crowd was strong. I'm not sure exactly how many people were there, but it had to be at least over 100, which is always good for indy shows around here. With The Gathering going on in Illinois and NFW running a show at The Metro, I was a little worried about what the draw for this show would actually be.
Before the show, they announced that MECW is getting a TV show on My44. While that's a very cool thing, I have to question why the show last night wasn't being taped. I saw one guy up on the balcony that had a camera set up, but there wasn't anyone shooting the show ringside. Anyway, on to the matches:
J.P. Lightning vs Ryan Drago
Drago was a very nice surprise. I was wondering why he hadn't already been booked for the show since he was quite impressive against Shank at the last MECW show. This time he was facing another of the absolute best talents that Evansville has to offer in J.P. Lightning. The match delivered too! The action went back back and forth with Drago even doing a few "heel-ish" kind of moves. Lightning got in a lot of offense and looked great. Drago used a lot of interesting stretching/submission holds. The only downside of the match was that the crowd was dead for it. That wasn't surprising for an Evansville wrestling crowd. However, being the Japanese wrestling mark that I am, to me, it gave the match an almost Japanese feel to it. In the end, J.P. pulled out a very strong win. Both guys worked hard and pulled off a fantastic opening match! This is the kinds of talent that MECW needs to be building their lower-card talent around!
Lord Humongous vs Chris Michaels
After that strong opener, I was expecting more great things from the rest of show. Man, did those hopes get killed quickly! This was my first time seeing Michaels in person and while I had heard lots of things about him, I hadn't heard very many positive things. Humongous was interesting because I wondered if they were going to have Sid Vicious work two matches. Humongous wasn't Sid though, it was his son. The thing about the Humongous gimmick is that back in the 1980's when Sid first debuted in the wrestling business, he looked the part because his body was pure muscle. I can remember going to USWA shows back then and literally thinking that he was the guy from the Mad Max movie...I was all of about 10 or 11 at the time! Anyway, just putting a hockey mask on a big kid wearing a jumpsuit doesn't make a very good Humongous. They should have just called him Jason or something, but maybe there might be some copyright issues from Japan on a wrestler wearing a hockey mask and calling himself "Jason"...I don't know. Anyway, the match was horrible. Michaels kept jumping out of the ring and was "heeling it up" with the fans. Tracy Smothers should kick Michaels butt just for stealing his lines, but I digress. The highlight of the whole match was when an older lady in the crowd started yelling at Michaels and giving him the finger. She reminded me of the old lady in Ohio that used to throw her shoes at Madman Pondo during the "Brink of Death" deathmatch tournaments. Anyway, once Michaels finally got into the ring, Humongous didn't do much of anything but stand there while Michaels bounced off of him. Finally, thankfully, there was a choke slam and Humongous got the pin and right now, I feel bad that I've written more about this match then I did the J.P./Drago match. NEXT!!!!!
Chris Phoenix vs Chris Thomas
Six workers and half of them named "Chris"...and we still haven't even gotten to the only Chris at the show show who actually matters. Anyway, the less said about this match, the better. Thomas got the win, but honestly, the match was so boring that I don't even remember much of what happened during it. The highlight of the match was after it was over, Phoenix started pushing around the ref and the ref then got mad and pulled off a dropkick onto Phoenix that was a better move then anything that was used in the actual match!
The Metal Master vs. Tony Kozina
My hopes for this being a good show were fading fast, but they were re-sparked by the sight of Tony "Da Man" Kozina. Though he has the look, I just still can't quite get used to seeing him a heel. Anyway, The Metal Master looked good, as always. My hopes were running high that the show was about to pick up. But then, out of nowhere, Master got a pin on Kozina in less then 2 minutes. I literally felt stunned and said to myself, "Really, MECW? REALLY???" But after the match, Kozina started pushing Col...er, I mean Metal Master around and then, Davey Richards hit the ring and attacked Master which then led to a run-in by the man of the show, CHRIS HERO!!!!! Chris then got on the mic and said he wasn't booked for the show (I guess he was just killing time in Evansville...and I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want to do THAT??...but I guess in a way, he really was since he was also working The Gathering this weekend) and challenged Kozina and Richards to a tag match against himself and The Metal Master in the main event! NOW we're talking my language here! Overall, the segment was well-done and an excellent set-up for the main event!
Chase Stevens vs Sid Vicious
I'm so glad they didn't make this match the main event, especially after the set-up of the Kozina/Richards vs Hero/Master match! Anyway, Stevens came out first and cut a promo about Sid not being there...even though he had been walking around up in the balcony...KEYFABE!!! Just then, the lights went out and Sid run into the ring through the front door. The spot was blown though by the fact that the lighting in The Armory was florescent and the bulbs had to warm up before they came back on. Ah...indy wrestling...ya gotta love it! So anyway, the first few minutes of the match were in darkness. Once there was enough light to actually see what was going on, the match actually wasn't quite as terrible as I expected. Sid looks pretty old these days, but man, that guy is in GREAT shape and can still move good! The match ended when, for some odd reason, Chris Michaels came out and attacked Stevens which led to Sid choke slamming him and getting the pin. After the match, Michaels and Stevens cut promos against each other that took FOREVER!!!! In the end, Stevens turned "face" and challenged Michaels to a match at the next Monroe City show. That was the oddest face-turn I've ever seen, but I guess that's a way for them to explain who he is a face in Monroe City and a heel in Evansville.
Tracy Smothers (w/ Jessie Belle Smothers, Isa-Mickie Knuckles-bella Smothers and James "The Muscle" J) vs C. Kane
I don't remember the other guy's name, but he had a big "C.K." on his tights and I think his last name was "Kane", not sure though. Anyway, the first ting I have to say about this match is that I have the utmost respect for Mickie Knuckles. I've talked to her several times and she's a super-cool, sweet, nice person who's been through a lot of crap the last few years. She's a great wrestler too and back in the days when she did deathmatches, her willingness to fight, bleed and do things a woman should probably never do in a wrestling match was nothing short of amazing! All that being said, I never, ever, EVER want to see her wearing cut-off jeans that are cut-off THAT short EVER again!!!! *SHUDDER* Anyway, Tracy did all of his usual heel things, only instead of doing his own lines, he had Isa-Mickie and Jessie doing them. It was nice too to see that they got their southern flag back from Jamie Dundee at The Gathering (a reference to last Wed. night, for those that don't know). Anyway, once the match finally got going, Tracy looked even better then I've seen him look lately. He was pulling off all kinds of old-school Tracy Smothers moves and was awesome at doing them. James J and his "daughters" interfered lots in the match, which had the crowd really worked up (how did I end up in the "Little kids who just want to scream 'YOU SUCK!!!' " section anyway??) In the end, Jessie got into the ring and hit Kane with the flag while Mickie distracted the ref and then Tracy got the pin.
Chris Hero & The Metal Master vs Davey Richards & Tony Kozina
For a smart-mark such as myself, this was nothing short of a dream match! During the match, pretty much everyone from the entire company was standing up on the balcony, enjoying it! And there was a LOT to enjoy too! Hero is so over here in Evansville that it's insane! It was kind of strange to see Davey Richards doing semi-comedy spots, but I guess you can't expect him to be a completely serious, a**-kicker at a non-ROH or FIP show. They teased having Hero and Richards start off the match, but Davey quickly tagged in Kozina. They played off the size differences of Hero and Kozina well. There were a lot of quick tags and the match was pretty much non-stop action. There were a few moments when some of the double-team moves that Richards and Kozina were trying to pull off didn't work so well, but that probably came from the fact that the match was put together on short notice and honestly, those moments were very minor. For a good portion of the match, Richards and Kozina worked over Metal Master. The crowd was so into the match and once Master got the hot tag to Hero, the place went crazy! Hero looked like a ba-zillon bucks too, pulling off one amazing move after another and making every single one of them look so effort-less. In the end, Hero hit Kozina with his "Young Knock-Out Kid" elbow (which was stiff as HELL!!!) and got the pin! An absolutely fantastic match that got a well-deserved "That was awesome!" chant! Hero then got on the mic and talked about how he got his start in the business in Evansville and said that he would be back...and yes, even I was joining in on the "Please come back!" chant! MECW seriously needs to get some kind of a title belt and put it on Hero, just so we'll know for sure that he WILL be back!
So, overall, the show had it's good and bad moments. The J.P./Drago match was great and all the Hero/Master/Kozina/Richards stuff was just awesome! The rest of the show I could have done without seeing and at times, I literally felt bored by it. That's not to say that I'm trashing MECW as a whole and saying, "I'll never go back!" Quite the opposite really. I'm just being brutally honest and I'm actually looking forward to seeing what happens next....and hoping that Chris Hero makes good on his word to come back!
I have to be completely honest, a few weeks ago, when I first saw the card for last night's show, I wasn't very impressed and didn't plan on attending. However, once the card was updated and Davey Richards was added, everything changed. When I got home from work yesterday afternoon, I made sure to check out some places on the net to make sure Davey was still going to be there. It wasn't that I didn't trust MECW to bring him in, it's just that I remember what happened the last time Richards was booked to work a show in Evansville last year. Anyway, what I found was that someone ELSE had been added to the card....none other than CHRIS F'IN' HERO!!!! That sure sealed the deal for me and I was already out the door, heading to the show.
I get to The Armory and while I do think it's a good place to hold a wrestling show, man, that place is as hot as an oven! It'll be an even nicer place for a show once this heatwave ever breaks. The show started 30 minutes late, but I got to talk to a bunch of cool people that I know (shout out to The O'boys! ) some I didn't even expect to see there. Overall, the crowd was strong. I'm not sure exactly how many people were there, but it had to be at least over 100, which is always good for indy shows around here. With The Gathering going on in Illinois and NFW running a show at The Metro, I was a little worried about what the draw for this show would actually be.
Before the show, they announced that MECW is getting a TV show on My44. While that's a very cool thing, I have to question why the show last night wasn't being taped. I saw one guy up on the balcony that had a camera set up, but there wasn't anyone shooting the show ringside. Anyway, on to the matches:
J.P. Lightning vs Ryan Drago
Drago was a very nice surprise. I was wondering why he hadn't already been booked for the show since he was quite impressive against Shank at the last MECW show. This time he was facing another of the absolute best talents that Evansville has to offer in J.P. Lightning. The match delivered too! The action went back back and forth with Drago even doing a few "heel-ish" kind of moves. Lightning got in a lot of offense and looked great. Drago used a lot of interesting stretching/submission holds. The only downside of the match was that the crowd was dead for it. That wasn't surprising for an Evansville wrestling crowd. However, being the Japanese wrestling mark that I am, to me, it gave the match an almost Japanese feel to it. In the end, J.P. pulled out a very strong win. Both guys worked hard and pulled off a fantastic opening match! This is the kinds of talent that MECW needs to be building their lower-card talent around!
Lord Humongous vs Chris Michaels
After that strong opener, I was expecting more great things from the rest of show. Man, did those hopes get killed quickly! This was my first time seeing Michaels in person and while I had heard lots of things about him, I hadn't heard very many positive things. Humongous was interesting because I wondered if they were going to have Sid Vicious work two matches. Humongous wasn't Sid though, it was his son. The thing about the Humongous gimmick is that back in the 1980's when Sid first debuted in the wrestling business, he looked the part because his body was pure muscle. I can remember going to USWA shows back then and literally thinking that he was the guy from the Mad Max movie...I was all of about 10 or 11 at the time! Anyway, just putting a hockey mask on a big kid wearing a jumpsuit doesn't make a very good Humongous. They should have just called him Jason or something, but maybe there might be some copyright issues from Japan on a wrestler wearing a hockey mask and calling himself "Jason"...I don't know. Anyway, the match was horrible. Michaels kept jumping out of the ring and was "heeling it up" with the fans. Tracy Smothers should kick Michaels butt just for stealing his lines, but I digress. The highlight of the whole match was when an older lady in the crowd started yelling at Michaels and giving him the finger. She reminded me of the old lady in Ohio that used to throw her shoes at Madman Pondo during the "Brink of Death" deathmatch tournaments. Anyway, once Michaels finally got into the ring, Humongous didn't do much of anything but stand there while Michaels bounced off of him. Finally, thankfully, there was a choke slam and Humongous got the pin and right now, I feel bad that I've written more about this match then I did the J.P./Drago match. NEXT!!!!!
Chris Phoenix vs Chris Thomas
Six workers and half of them named "Chris"...and we still haven't even gotten to the only Chris at the show show who actually matters. Anyway, the less said about this match, the better. Thomas got the win, but honestly, the match was so boring that I don't even remember much of what happened during it. The highlight of the match was after it was over, Phoenix started pushing around the ref and the ref then got mad and pulled off a dropkick onto Phoenix that was a better move then anything that was used in the actual match!
The Metal Master vs. Tony Kozina
My hopes for this being a good show were fading fast, but they were re-sparked by the sight of Tony "Da Man" Kozina. Though he has the look, I just still can't quite get used to seeing him a heel. Anyway, The Metal Master looked good, as always. My hopes were running high that the show was about to pick up. But then, out of nowhere, Master got a pin on Kozina in less then 2 minutes. I literally felt stunned and said to myself, "Really, MECW? REALLY???" But after the match, Kozina started pushing Col...er, I mean Metal Master around and then, Davey Richards hit the ring and attacked Master which then led to a run-in by the man of the show, CHRIS HERO!!!!! Chris then got on the mic and said he wasn't booked for the show (I guess he was just killing time in Evansville...and I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want to do THAT??...but I guess in a way, he really was since he was also working The Gathering this weekend) and challenged Kozina and Richards to a tag match against himself and The Metal Master in the main event! NOW we're talking my language here! Overall, the segment was well-done and an excellent set-up for the main event!
Chase Stevens vs Sid Vicious
I'm so glad they didn't make this match the main event, especially after the set-up of the Kozina/Richards vs Hero/Master match! Anyway, Stevens came out first and cut a promo about Sid not being there...even though he had been walking around up in the balcony...KEYFABE!!! Just then, the lights went out and Sid run into the ring through the front door. The spot was blown though by the fact that the lighting in The Armory was florescent and the bulbs had to warm up before they came back on. Ah...indy wrestling...ya gotta love it! So anyway, the first few minutes of the match were in darkness. Once there was enough light to actually see what was going on, the match actually wasn't quite as terrible as I expected. Sid looks pretty old these days, but man, that guy is in GREAT shape and can still move good! The match ended when, for some odd reason, Chris Michaels came out and attacked Stevens which led to Sid choke slamming him and getting the pin. After the match, Michaels and Stevens cut promos against each other that took FOREVER!!!! In the end, Stevens turned "face" and challenged Michaels to a match at the next Monroe City show. That was the oddest face-turn I've ever seen, but I guess that's a way for them to explain who he is a face in Monroe City and a heel in Evansville.
Tracy Smothers (w/ Jessie Belle Smothers, Isa-Mickie Knuckles-bella Smothers and James "The Muscle" J) vs C. Kane
I don't remember the other guy's name, but he had a big "C.K." on his tights and I think his last name was "Kane", not sure though. Anyway, the first ting I have to say about this match is that I have the utmost respect for Mickie Knuckles. I've talked to her several times and she's a super-cool, sweet, nice person who's been through a lot of crap the last few years. She's a great wrestler too and back in the days when she did deathmatches, her willingness to fight, bleed and do things a woman should probably never do in a wrestling match was nothing short of amazing! All that being said, I never, ever, EVER want to see her wearing cut-off jeans that are cut-off THAT short EVER again!!!! *SHUDDER* Anyway, Tracy did all of his usual heel things, only instead of doing his own lines, he had Isa-Mickie and Jessie doing them. It was nice too to see that they got their southern flag back from Jamie Dundee at The Gathering (a reference to last Wed. night, for those that don't know). Anyway, once the match finally got going, Tracy looked even better then I've seen him look lately. He was pulling off all kinds of old-school Tracy Smothers moves and was awesome at doing them. James J and his "daughters" interfered lots in the match, which had the crowd really worked up (how did I end up in the "Little kids who just want to scream 'YOU SUCK!!!' " section anyway??) In the end, Jessie got into the ring and hit Kane with the flag while Mickie distracted the ref and then Tracy got the pin.
Chris Hero & The Metal Master vs Davey Richards & Tony Kozina
For a smart-mark such as myself, this was nothing short of a dream match! During the match, pretty much everyone from the entire company was standing up on the balcony, enjoying it! And there was a LOT to enjoy too! Hero is so over here in Evansville that it's insane! It was kind of strange to see Davey Richards doing semi-comedy spots, but I guess you can't expect him to be a completely serious, a**-kicker at a non-ROH or FIP show. They teased having Hero and Richards start off the match, but Davey quickly tagged in Kozina. They played off the size differences of Hero and Kozina well. There were a lot of quick tags and the match was pretty much non-stop action. There were a few moments when some of the double-team moves that Richards and Kozina were trying to pull off didn't work so well, but that probably came from the fact that the match was put together on short notice and honestly, those moments were very minor. For a good portion of the match, Richards and Kozina worked over Metal Master. The crowd was so into the match and once Master got the hot tag to Hero, the place went crazy! Hero looked like a ba-zillon bucks too, pulling off one amazing move after another and making every single one of them look so effort-less. In the end, Hero hit Kozina with his "Young Knock-Out Kid" elbow (which was stiff as HELL!!!) and got the pin! An absolutely fantastic match that got a well-deserved "That was awesome!" chant! Hero then got on the mic and talked about how he got his start in the business in Evansville and said that he would be back...and yes, even I was joining in on the "Please come back!" chant! MECW seriously needs to get some kind of a title belt and put it on Hero, just so we'll know for sure that he WILL be back!
So, overall, the show had it's good and bad moments. The J.P./Drago match was great and all the Hero/Master/Kozina/Richards stuff was just awesome! The rest of the show I could have done without seeing and at times, I literally felt bored by it. That's not to say that I'm trashing MECW as a whole and saying, "I'll never go back!" Quite the opposite really. I'm just being brutally honest and I'm actually looking forward to seeing what happens next....and hoping that Chris Hero makes good on his word to come back!