Welcome to another installment of This Week in Indies. I am your host for this roller coaster ride of terror and heart stopping illusions, Hack Johnson. This is not my real – that is to protect me while I am in hiding. This is, however, a special Halloween edition. Only because this is the eve of Halloween makes this the Halloween edition but I wil do my best to make this SCARY.. bone chilling.. and GROTESQUE! Since this is the case we must begin our haunted trail in..
NEW JERSEY! Bwahahahahahahahahaha.. *cough* anyway.. here in dirty Jersey we got ourselves one of the most UNIQUELY names wrestling promotion in the indies. Are you ready for it? Are you.. sure? The IWF, aptly and appropriately named, Independent Wrestling Federation did not have one night of terrorific wrestling but TWO! Their 2-day wrestlethon, deemed Evil Intentions, put the best of the best (in IWF) in direct competition.
Day 1: Damian Adams defeated Chachi (ok.. I could make a few jokes here but I won’t because we all know how creepy Ralph Machio is), the next match which I am calling the Long vs the Short of it had Mr. Casino Frankie Amantea coming out on top over Jana, a triple threat match followed as the IWF American Champion; Franciz defeated both Mad Dawg Jenkins and Hush Holiday, Frank Scoleri along with Kraig Stagg won tag team gold off of Stellar Travis Blake and Juicy Justin Corino (he was warned to change his shorts prior to working the match – he didn’t listen). Fady the Arabian Bull beat Evan Schwartz to regain control of the Gaza Strip and, in the terrifying main event, Chris Steeler and Kevin Knight wrestled a full 30-minutes to a draw.
Day 2: American Champion, Franciz defeated Jennifer to keep the gold, Stellar Travis Blake made Evan Schwartz tap out, Damian Adams and Chris Steeler went on to beat Mad Dawg Jenkins and Chachi to ensure they would never be having any happy days in the weeks to come! New tag champs, Frank Coleri and Kraid Stagg, retained their titles after defeating The Arabian Bull and Mr. Casino, Kevin Knight pulled out the win as Dangerous Dan McGuire was DQed.
As scary as Jersey is we now head to the overly haunted Atlanta, GA and WWA4 wrestling! Jake Diamond defeated Amy Morgane, Navy Blue Sweater Vest defeated the “Japanese Luchadore†Sujoso Guerrera and bill the Butcher in a 3-way dance, Jimmy the Kid and Eric Mayne beat Nation and Magic, Ric King lost to TK Parker and Jeebo was handed a loss at the hands of AR Fox.
Before we get to the next series of results from the indies I would not be me without a bit of.. commentary. So Hulk Hogan has joined the ranks of TNA, Nigel McGuinness (now Desmond Wolfe) is being thrown straight into main event status and, as it would seem, the only McMahon left standing is Stephanie. The question I have is this: what the hell is going on? ROH groomed McGuinness and he’s a great worker and will fit GREAT in TNA but is propelling him to the top with ZERO build a good idea? I don’t see a long term partnership between the two. Hogan may be the head of booking for TNA. I say.. crap. The writing team is lousy enough rehashing Ric Rude and Jake Roberts storylines through Lashley and Steiner and coming back with more NWO/Wolf Pac garbage.. now Hogan can book the has beens and buddies. WWE is looking to be a one-woman show but out of all the McMahons she is the worst one to have at the helm. Why? HHH. Let’s see how long it will last before people begin to realize and note that the crap hit the fan and the company is SCARED because TNA may very well try to compete head to head.
Ok then.. on to Tennessee and the SWF (Southern Wrestling Federation). In an odd turn of events the man formely known as Blue Streak appeared center ring and took of hiss mask. He demanded to be known as Pretty Boy Brian Jamison, tossed out an open challenge, and had his ass handed to him by Yukon Jack. Brian, this bud is for you! Shane Rhodes beat Steve Morton by DQ after getting his head between a steel chain. JP Jones retained his heavyweight strap after defeating Gypsy Joe. In the main event New Generation beat Good Ole Boys and Southern Comfort earning themselves a title shot at the next show.
Since we are already in Tennessee might as well stay there with the shocking world of Tennessee Xtreme Wrestling as TXW presented a NIGHT OF TERROR #2! This is an interesting yet scary concept. Sure – WCW had the Halloween thing where the wheel got spun to hit a predetermined match type.. not here! No no no.. here in TXW the fans spun the wheel. This really prepared the boys to be ready for anything! Some match types were downright nasty.. others were just plain numbing. In any case match #1 saw Buggy Boy vs Dr. Cancer in a falls count anywhere match seeing Buggy Winning after pinning Dr Cancer on a shopping cart! Match #2 was for the number #1 contender spot for the tag strap. The wheel landed on a COWARD WAVES THE FLAG match. The champions Ruff Cutt took on the Shenanigand and the Forsaken Angels Build. Ruff Cutt wins when the the other two teams were fighting for the flag and the ref thought they were waving it together. Now, in one of the sickest matches ever.. loser eats dog eat.. Demetria vs Dwayne Windham vs Chris Cameron vs Maskerade for the YouTube TV Title Match (yea, don’t ask me) and in the end Chris Cameron won the match, the belt, and the pleasure of watching the other combatants eat dog food! The Knockdown match followed where you had to knock your opponent down 3 times to win and Rip did so against Travis Sawyer within 30 seconds! The last man standing match followed with Rip and Travis Sawyer wrestling again but this time Sawyer won after a concerto on the concrete. The Bob Squad were able to retain their tag belts against Detroit Funk City in a “one punch loses†match.
Now to Ohio and Mid Ohio Wrestling! The Andolinia defeated Trystan Tyler and Vinny DiMarzio, Moondog Scrap got a win when Preston Steele pulled a DQ, Joey Vengeance made Dylan Bostic submit, Johnny Mercury over the Milwaukee Mauler, the Black and Blue Crew over Hillbilly Jedd and James Avery and the main event saw Onyx lose to Osyris in a casket match.
And that is about it for this week! Be safe out there this Halloween kiddies. Also – a warning- well, another warning since “be safe†is pretty much a warning.. anyway.. independent wrestling is AWESOME. I love it, you love it.. but you know there are some SERIOUSLY bad apples out there in the industry. Guys that do horrendous things that give wrestling and wrestlers a bad name. Remember – that rumors are often based on facts so next time you plan a trip to a show keep in mind everything you’ve heard!
Toodles..
