RIOT CITY WRESTLING – BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY 2010 (12.04.2010)

Houseshows, Reviews, Shows

 RIOT CITY WRESTLING – BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY 2010 (4 Dec ’10)

A hot Adelaide night sees the last major event for 2010 for RCW. The commentators are Josh Armour and debutant Kurt Murphy. Small-ish crowd, but when they get going they are really loud.

Match 1: Lou Lou v Savannah Summers.
This is Lou’s RCW debut. Weird choice for an opener. The structure was kept simple, obviously for the rookie to feel comfortable. She interacted well with the crowd, but her lack of experience showed through with Savannah a step too fast. One or two missed spots. However, a decent debut from Lou and Savannah showed once again why she is one of the best female wrestlers anywhere. Savannah won with a big boot to the face. Okay match.

Match 2: Fatal Four Way Luke Santamaria v Elliot Sexton v Tim Burgundy v TJ Rush.
First pin to win. Elliot started the night in fine form molesting Josh Armour as he tried to make ring introductions. Started as almost a tag match with the faces (Luke and TJ) against the heels (Sexton and Burgundy). This was non-stop action with at least three going at it at all times. None of this pairing off normally seen in four-ways, it was two on one the whole time, just the one being different, except when it was all-on-all. The middle portion was a long beat down on Luke while they took it in turns knocking TJ out of the ring, and this got the crowd so hot and into it that it was deafening. The end came when TJ hit a shooting star press onto Sexton for the three-count. Afterwards TJ and Sexton had words, TJ offered a handshake, Sexton slapped him away. Strong, good match, and I feel this should have been the opener.

About here the venue’s powerboard blew, and so lighting became an issue, in that the house lights were used instead of spots. So if you decide to buy the DVD next year of this show, they apologise in advance.

Match 3: Eliza Sway v Miami.
A face v face match, and a technical match for the most part, something I am not used to seeing when females wrestle. It was a good change. Sway missed a spot or two, but the ground-based work was effective and looked very strong. The crowd, though, just didn’t get it. They accept Marvel and Mimic doing this, but not the ladies. Shame. They also acted like they were marathon exhausted at the end. However, Miami won with a sweet Samoan drop into bridging pin, and the girls made all nice afterwards. Good match; at least, I liked it, even if half the crowd didn’t.

Match 4: Brad Smyth v Fuzion – strap match.
The match that we’ve all been waiting for! The feud that’s been building all year, the storyline arc that’s been going for more than 2 years! The blow off match! And… Brad laid down and Fuzion reluctantly pinned him with one foot on the chest for the quick win. Brad then just wanted out of there.
            But Commissioner Jack came out and said he was granting the rematch right now, but instead of it being pin rules, it was going to be traditional rules – touch all four corners rules. This sort of filled me with dread because while I’ve seen Piper/Valentine (and I know that was a dog collar match), I’ve also seen Bagwell/Riggs.
So:
Match 4b: Brad Smyth v Fuzion – strap match, the rematch!
The match that we’ve all been waiting for! The feud that’s been building all year, the storyline arc that’s been going for more than 2 years! The blow off match! Fuzion attacked early and from then on it was back and forth until a long beat down section on Fuzion in the middle. And they used every strap match cliché. Fuzion’s back was whipped raw and he was almost scalped from behind (I mean it – there was a lot of blood at the hairline) by the strap. This was a stiff, stiff match. Fuzion’s chokeslam over the top rope to the apron looked really sick. And then after more back and forth, Fuzion hit the mother of all spine busters on Smyth, touched the four corners and won.
            That’s how you blow off a feud, and sometimes it’s good for the face to go over! Match was possibly 5 minutes too long, but it was cool to see this sort of old school goodness on a show and have it feel fresh because most of the crowd weren’t even watching wrestling back when Austin/Vega had their not bad strap match from one of the In Your House PPVs. (Yes, I’m old! I know!)

Match 5: Jacko Lantern and GD Grimm v Adam Brooks & Matt Silva, RCW v BPW.
This was set up last month when Brooks and Silva caused a no finish to the title match between Grimm and Jacko. After a fast paced start it went into the standard tag team formula, which works well when the wrestlers carry it well, and three of these four carry it very well, while the other is getting there. Some good tag team wrestling that had the crowd wild. This was as stiff as and with the added bonus of Jacko and Grimm still having unresolved issues. And just as I wrote that in my notebook, Grimm walked off and left Jacko 1-on-2, a handicap match. And he did well, but the heels worked his leg clinically and textbook like (which Jacko sold throughout), but it was all too much and Jacko was pinned by Silva after a Brooks senton bomb. A good match, but more angle advancement than ending anything… and with shows once a month, that’s not a bad thing. In the day and age of televised wrestling, we the audience need to remember that we need this at times on monthly shows to push things along.

Match 6: The Rude ones (Marvel and Del Taurino) v Only The Strong (Voodoo and Mimic) for the key to the city.
The stipulation came about because of so much interference in previous matches, so this was basically set up as not a normal tag match, but an anything goes, 2-on-2 match with two referees (one in the ring and one outside) and no DQ. So, to explain: If the Rude Ones win, Del Taurino gets the key to the city, and if it’s OTS, then Voodoo wins the key.
            Before the entrance music even stops they were at it and referees, security and backstage personnel struggled to keep all four men apart. Nice touch. Oh, and I should point out that Voodoo looks bigger than ever, muscle-wise.
            The match proper. This was non stop hardcore action. Through the crowd, onto the announce table, using anything they could get their hands on. But not just hardcore brawling – some great moves, especially some of the double team moves that I could not do justice in describing. Highlights include- a Mimic piledriver on Marvel from the ring apron through a table; Del Taurino kicking out of a Voodoo Canadian destroyer; a DVD player shattered on Voodoo’s head by Taurino; way too many unprotected head shots with chairs and street signs. The end came when Del Taurino hit a spine buster on Mimic on top of a metal garbage can for the three. Match Of The Night.
            Key to the City winner is Del Taurino, but he proclaims it has been won by all the Rude Ones. And to punctuate it he kicks Josh Armour down as the announcer presents the key to Taurino.

Overall: A good show, but not a blow away show. The heat and technical difficulties probably had something to do with that, but I have to also remember not every show is going to be the greatest ever. Having said that, I could count the bad matches RCW have presented this year on one hand. A promotion that deserves much wider acknowledgement. Buy their DVDs (suit all regions), check out their YouTube channel, come to Adelaide and watch them.
            And I hope I’ll be back doing this again in 2011.

Australian. Father. Perpetual student. Started watching wrestling before Wrestlemania 1. Has delusions of grandeur and was known to regularly get the snot beaten out of him in a wrestling ring. Also writes occasionally in other Pulse sections.Thinks Iron Mike Sharpe is underrated. http://stevengepp.wordpress.com