This Week in Indies

You know – I love writing these run downs while listening to a variety of music. Right now I’m listening to old school Metallica; Harvester of Sorrow. Not done by Metallica but by punk band Link 80. And, let me tell you, they masterfully incorporate trumpets into the arrangement! Awesome. I’ve been away for some time – illness and holiday hell. Luckily there really was not much to report anyway. These are lousy months for Indy wrestling. We are approaching Christmas time and any company putting a show on a week or two prior to Christmas is signing their own death warrant unless, of course, you are Vincent Kennedy McMahon or tricky Dixie Carter…

Anyway… on with the indies (oh, btw… on to the next track on the iPod… “Internet is for Porn” from the Avenue Q Broadway soundtrack)…

I love me some brown betty (it’s a dessert you freaks) so let’s head on down to Georgia to get some, ok? WWA4 it is! I am still trying to figure out these guys’ shows. I mean; are they free? They only had 4 matches this time. Ace took a loss to Miguel Rivera, Navy Blue tossed out his periwinkle scarf to the plaid covered crowd as he took down a Nation, Big Nasty got the taste knocked out of his mouth in a Magic moment and Jake Diamond proved he couldn’t cut the glass as he lost to AR Fox.

Collard greens and grits… yum! On to Tennessee and the SWF (Southern Wrestling Federation)! Another short card with only 5 matches and one poorly staged promo. It almost sounds as if El Orreo was there but he was stinking up matches elsewhere. ANYway… Big Cadallac (no, I didn’t spell it wrong…) along with J Rod as his second ran over Shane Rhodes who got himself DQed (ps… this is what we call wordplay) when BC tossed a chain to him. BC faked getting hit. Oldest trick in Ted DiBiase’s book. JP Jones along with Barb Wire Kid AND Cha Z took out White Tiger. The third match saw White Tiger AGAIN but winning against Mr. GL by DQ when apparently Jones didn’t get enough of him previously and hit the ring along with Yukon Jack (I really want to make a slim jim joke or hear the Lumberjack Song ala Python at this point). Big T saved the White Tiger from extinction in this one. Steve-O along with Ashley took the win over Yukon Jack. The main event pitted tag champs, New Generation, against Mach 3. The match ended on a quick count by a ref who wasn’t working the match so New Gen could retain.

Let’s get a golden shower in Golden, CO shall we? No thanks but they did have wrestling there! The biggest mouthful in indie wrestling, IWF Premiere Championship Wrestling, put on a show that was mostly all hardcore action or, as those in the biz like to call it, junk wrestling. HC championship grudge match against Joey Terrofying (da champ) and Adrian Grimm with the champ retaining, championship match followed as the champ, Hoodlum, pulled one out over Matt Yaden, FCW’s own T-Bolt defeated The Miracle That Is Tony (his words; not mine). Next up: Ultimate endurance! A 4-way elimination tag match pitting Capital Punishment (I’m a big fan of this – maybe we can string up Kate Gosselin?), Primal Chaos, The Winning Team (they weren’t by the way) and Blood Money. Damn. This is like an 80’s band lineup. Primal Chaos (the tag champs) pinned Capital Punishment… other teams were eliminated and eventually the champs retained. Sorry – this stuff got CONFUSING! Tommy Bouchet over Unreal Joshua Michael, Rob Ryzin (that explains the looks from the ladies at ringside) over Cam Burnquest and Anderson 360 (I guess CNN doesn’t pay enough?), Paul Stetich over Arik Angel, Jay Synn over Johnny Cash (that’s kind of a dead match) then Jack Mecidol beat Synn.

Staying in Colorado for another show to witness the lunatics at ACW (Asylum Championship Wrestling) as they debut “Cage Wars”! The show opened with a battle royale which saw Buddha winning it (always a fat guy). Tristan Gallo hung Josh Evans out to dry, Mitch Carter made Dallas Murdock quit sending him to AA, Born Again Sunday become the new ACW tag champs by defeating the D-Linquentz as well as Epic and Joshua Michael, Quinn Industries and Se7en lost to Danger Dean and Brandon Bishop, Rob Ryzin (dude is a perv… sheesh) over Joey Kincaide to win the ACW Institutional Championship, in a loser leaves match both Father Jack Mecidol and Father Zane Morris seemed to want to take a dive but, in the end, it was Jack Mecidol who drew the short straw and Zane gets to leave. In the main event Franco D’Angelo retained his heavyweight strap by beating Jesse Williams.

On to my home state of Pennsylvania and to the folks at ACW (Atomic Championship Wrestling). I have a dilemma here… I mean… seriously. I know a LOT of these guys (and gals) and worked/trained with some as well. So – here is my thing – do I do the rundown and leave it or do it MY style and potentially piss someone off? Hmmm… and me without my magic 8 ball! I’ll put on some DIO then figure it out later. Now – until then…

Back to Tennessee and Tennessee Independent Wrestling Federation (TIWF). I love me some biscuits so I was happy to see that John “Biscuit” Roberts defeated the Convict (psst… TIWF – get this guy in a tag team with someone named Todd Gravy… I’m tellin’ ya… it’s gold!), Taylor Payne and Big Brad sent the Royale Executioners to the gallows, PK Ripper and Todd Currie over Jody Day and Marvelous Mike Kelly, a time limit draw was proclaimed between NBOP & Devon Day as they wrestled the Badd Guys and Dre’ Black, Chico Mendoza over Kilo to capture the TIWF Cyberzone strap and FuS!on over Oz and Blaine Divine.

Let’s head over to Joisey for a 2-day event and the National Wrestling Superstars promotion (NWS)! Wrestling is steeped in tradition; respect (usually), rituals and rites of passage. You have heard of guys “paying their dues” and what not (which WWE has forgotten) and one tradition not left is the 10 bell salute to fallen brothers of the ring. This show in Jersey happened just hours after we all learned about the passing of Eddie Fatu. The 10-bell was sounded and the boys gathered to pay their respects. I will say this – WWE pisses me off and I am done with them all together as they have failed to uphold ANY traditions. I will discuss this and other BS in some new prose coming soon… anyway, the wrestling!

Day 1 of the event saw Giavonnie Marraska (no relation to Jenna) go over Thomas Rodriguez which had the fans out of their seats for a 10-minute match, the Nigerian Nightmares destroyed JD Smooth and the NWS champ; Corey Havoc, Tyson the chicken kid over big beef Ryan Angus by a chicken wing, Bryan Harkey and Mr. Nick Gregory wrestled the close to 7’ tall Major Disaster and the Happy Hillbilly Justin Blackwell to a no contest as the match turned into mayhem, the Jock Mafia took on Hurricane John Walters and Too Hot Steve Scott with the Mafia taking the win when Nicky Oceans distracted the other team, Jim Neidhart along with Brittney Savage and Joey Janela fought Kevin Mathews and Danny Demanto with Neidhart’s team coming out on top by a narrow margin. The main event was a 4-way TLC pitting Myke G.Q. Quest against Corvis Fear, Nicky Oceans and Devon Moore. Lumber was thrown, chairs dented and ladders climbed in this barnburner! Quest and Oceans both ascended (that means climbed) the ladders and grabbed their belts simultaneously (that means at the same time) – both retained the respective titles (meaning they left with what they came with).

That’s a hell of a Day 1! Now… to Day 2! Holy crap buzzards, Batman! Anyway. Jim Neidhart was on hand again and this time he was joined by Spike Dudley. They left Joisey and wound up in New Milford, Connecticut! The NWS opened this show with Kong-arilla facing the Illegal Space Alien. Neither wrestler spoke English so the ref had a devil of a time keeping them in line in what would become a battle for Middle Earth! Kong eventually defeated the Alien. The World Famous Wrestling Clown and Indian Chief Draven took the win over Soul Assassin and Jack Spade, Jim Neidhart and cruiser champ Joey Janella beat the NWS heavyweight champ Corey Havoc and junior heavyweight champ Nicky Oceans in the first of two main events. Manuel Manny Moore, the luchadore in residence, took a loss at the hands of Skitzo. In the final main event Spike Dudley defeated J D Smoothie in a loser gets put through a door match. The match took place all around the building until ending in the ring with Smoothie through a door. Knock knock. Who’s there? Yeop… Smoothie.

Well – I decided something… mom used to tell me if you had nothing nice to say; don’t say anything at all. It’s good advice but if you know me then you know I don’t listen to my mommy. So – on to Stevens, PA and the blokes at Atomic Championship Wrestling. Ahhh… forget it. I’m 34. I should listen to mom at least once, right? Right! :D

On another note I was recently at a LVW wrestling event in Allentown and I have to say the product is moving forward! The wrestlers on hand were all making a good showing. Mr. Saturday Night was hand to give one of his funniest promos ever, Dominic Monroe put on a GREAT show, Kevin Payne returned from a broken leg and was better than ever and even did a GOOD heel turn! Dennis Reaper was involved in a great tag match (I think it was the best I’ve seen them put together) and really entertained. I was too entertained to write down all the results – that’s hard to do! lol. And even referee Matt Timlin (now commish) did a great promo. Keep moving ahead.