This week in the indies has been pretty slow. Be it the economy or lack of decent storylines I don’t know but there isn’t much to report! I’ll cover what I can and hopefully it will be enough to sustain your agape mouths filled with saliva drooling for the next tasty wrestling morsel! Let us first begin with those crazy bastards in Philly and their sister promotion. Of course I’m talking about Ring of Honor and SHIMMER.
SHIMMER doesn’t have anything going down until November but they still have some ringside seats available for their show on November 8th in Berwyn, IL so check out their site and get your tix if you’re in the area. Until then you can catch the women of SHIMMER on HDNet along with Ring of Honor or purchase one of their Smart Mark Videos.
Speaking of ROH there are some rumors that they may be tossed off HDNet because there really isn’t anyone watching. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that WHEN they’re on reads more like a mystery novel than a wrestling broadcast. In the world of ROH there is a huge feud that they’ve been building up between Danielson and Black which proves to be potentially a match of the year. These two are set to lock horns once again in Chicago on Sept. 19th. August 14th and 15th at the next ROH TV tapings in gorgeous (cough, cough) Philadelphia. The August 8th broadcast was nothing to shout home about. Seeing El Generico in a main event is like watching Dusty Rhodes sport a thong – unimpressive. Oddly enough the high point was Delirious and Silas Young and I don’t care much for Delirious either in ROH or Chikara but he’s still impressive!
Dragon’s Gate USA is one of the most talked about indies since the old ECW and it just had its first show July 25th at the ECW Arena (it’s been a decade – why do we still call it that?) and that was not just their debut show but a pay-per-view taping that will air in September. Dragon’s Gate is a promotion working with much loved Chikara which is why Quack and the Colony were on the card against Hallowicked, Amasis, Akuma, and Icarus. As someone who has seen many Chikara shows this 8-man tag was off the hook sweet and stole the show. The Young Bucks and Scorpio were also on the bill with Yokosuka and Shingo. There were no bad pairings on the card but I would have liked a longer show. A definite watch for fans of the Japanese style.
Florida is a great spot for the indies having two major players: Full Impact Pro and Florida Championship Wrestling. FIP, unfortunately, doesn’t put on many shows but when they do they are worth seeing. August 1st they put on a house show in Crystal River, Florida which featured some young talents. Fans of hardcore were treated to a street fight featuring the YRR and the Dark City Fight Club seeing the YRR coming out ahead. Mike Sydal took a heartbreaking (or something close to it) loss at the hands of Chris Jones.
The major problem with FCW is that it’s WWE’s red headed step child and the best part of FCW is the fact it is WWE’s step child. With Steve Keirn (aka Skinner) running the shows, Dusty doing commentary and a bunch of guys (and girls) hoping to get that big money contract, it shows in the ring work. No big news from the WWE developmental talent but I wonder if WWE “future endeavored†workers come back to FCW or if they gotta sit on their thumbs daily. This weekend (August 15th) is FCW’s next house show and TV taping at the Dade City Armory in Dade City, FL (good guess!).
With the Young Lion’s Cup coming up this weekend in lovely Easton, PA (lol) and the finals in Philly; Chikara is dominating in the “what’s happening†news! If you’re a fan of, and I hate the term, “midget†wrestling and especially luchador wrestling then this weekend is a must for you to check out Chikara as Mascarita Dorado will be coming to the US (8/15 and 8/16)! For as many shows as I’ve been to Chikara has never made me leave feeling like I was just at a back to back TNA taping i.e. unsatisfied. The last Chikara show was held in Reading, PA and included all of the normal faces like the Colony vs. Ultramantis Black, Delirious and Crossbones seeing The Colony coming out on top, Cheech Hernandez and KC Day losing a GREAT match against Brodie Lee and Grizzly Redwood and then the MOST talked match of the night was a PURE wrestling match: Claudio vs. Donst. Claudio got the win but the match was great because you never see real wrestling these days.
If you spend any amount of time watching ROH then watching Pro Wrestling Guerrilla may seem like déjà vu as many of the same stars appear in both federations but just on different coasts. July 31st saw a great card from PWG. To mix things up you toss in a few TNA stars here and there but with exception: uniqueness. Alex Shelley from the Motor City Machine Guns took a fall over Scott Lost (oh, the irony…), Bryan Danielson made Chris Sabin submit, Chuck Taylor rolled up Cabana (a school boy nonetheless – go figure…), Roderick Strong nailing a Tiger Driver on Davey Richards for the win and several more tremendous contests. This show is available on DVD as I type this!
Meanwhile, the biggest news in NWA is that the Blue Demon drinks Full Throttle energy drinks (wow, can you saw white bread babyface? I knew you could…). The last NWA show on record (if there is another – let me know since NWA has like a million indies under their banner) was with MSW. Out of 5 matches the best part of the night was getting up and leaving. The best showing of the night according to the 20 people in attendance was Cruz Control getting beat by JC Dykes Jr. and Karl. Other matches includes Ricky Shane over Eric Brooks, Gene Madrid losing to Ice due to a DQ, a battle royal with Frank Parker winning and Frank Parker along with Red Dragon winning over Bruiser Graham and Bandit. The whole card reads like a noshow-athon.
Now that the WWE no longer has their grubby little fingers in the OVW it’s gotten good again (which explains why FCW has slipped). OVW has a show several times a week with the latest being August 12th which was a TV taping and included Kamikaze Kid over D-West in a good curtain jerk match, Metal Master pulling one out over Jamin Olivencia, Moose beating Mr. B and others.
Indie wrestling comes and goes to such an extent that it is hard to keep tabs on anyone outside of the major outfits. One of the newest indies to hit the circuit is ICWF Universal out of Berwick, PA. The first show in August 21st and is featuring Roxxi Cotton vs. CZW Woman’s Champion, Chrissy Rivera! There are several debuts scheduled including some local boys and the training center’s first graduates! International superstar Kage, IB Green and The Fiend Club will also be on hand! Check the card out at icwfuniversal.com then head out and support a new promotion! (Editor’s note: This link to ICWF Universal’s official site has been added to our blogroll along with other indies, which can be found on the bottom right of PulseWrestling.com.)
With this all said in one big lump.. I hope you are satisfied… this is Michael Johnson tagging out.
