Pro Wrestling World-1 - 02/08/04
Fall River, MA
I guess the best way to describe Pro Wrestling World-1 is that it’s an offshoot of the Zero One promotion in Japan that runs in America. They ran three shows this past weekend, the first two in Pennsylvania. But the third, in Fall River, MA, was a little different, as this show was a benefit for a local four-year-old boy with cancer. I find the mixing of the positive messages of charity and healing with guys beating the crap out of each other a little odd, but that’s just me.
The drive there was less than good, mainly because I had to pass through Providence, which is akin to running around a minefield with a blindfold on. I also screw up the directions and show up late at the Cultural Center, although thankfully I didn’t miss much.
The place was packed, and they had to turn some folks away at the door. The ring looked terrible though, like it would fall apart whenever someone took a bump. When he got in the ring CW Anderson looked down at the floor and said “I’d rather take a bump down there.” There was also about a foot between the ring and the crowd, so no dives and minimal crowd brawling.
Worth noting: old school legend Ox Baker had a table set up and was selling merchandise, but it didn’t look like too many people were buying. I felt kinda bad. Not bad enough to actually buy something, but still bad.
Also worth noting: As I wash my hands in the bathroom, I look up to see Homicide next to me doing the same. So if you ever wondered if Homicide is a sanitary guy, there you go.
There was a pre-show with local indie guys. Due to driving mishaps, I miss Jason The Legend beating Maverick Wilde with a powerbomb.
Mighty Mini & Blade vs. Mike Paivia & Andre Lyons: Not familiar with any of the participants, but they were your basic indie guys: fairly small, on the lean side, most in need of a tan. That said, this was perfectly fine tag team wrestling. Blade scores the win with a Swanton (what is this, 1999?). The most notable fact was that Blade and Mini used Huey Luis’ “The Power of Love” for their entrance music.
Dylan Kage vs. Vinnie Vicallo: I miss a good chunk of this match as this really tall guy decided to stand right in front of me. I ended up standing on a chair for most of the show. Didn’t look like much of a match. Kage’s valet Talia (hope her dad isn’t Ra’s Al Ghul) screws up interference, (in a storyline sense, not in a botched sense) but Kage wins anyway with a rollup.
Slyk Wagner Brown (w/April Hunter) vs. “Latin Fury” Luis Ortiz: Another shockingly decent match from Slyk. At one point Luis gets Slyk up in a powerbomb position and rams him headfirst into the turnbuckle, nearly breaking his neck. Slyk eventually wins with his crucifix powerbomb into a facebuster move.
There was some local newsguy filming the event, and some fans yelled at him for blocking their view, so he turns around and yells, “You try holding a sixty-pound camera!” HEEL CAMERAMAN~~~!!! Someone call Vince, that angle’s money in the bank.
OK, here’s the regular show.
C.M. Punk vs. Homicide: Three people threw streamers for Punk. I’m not sure what number of people is necessary to produce the proper stream effect, but I’m know it’s a lot more than three. Lots of mat wrestling early. Seems like both guys were taking it easy and not hitting any crazy moves, which I can understand since they’ve been killing each other the past few weeks. Punk runs out of the ring and does some jumping jacks about two feet away from me. Stuff happens and then Homicide hits a DVD for 2 and time runs out. I’m guessing it went about 15 minutes. They tease the “five more minutes” bit but Punk bails, saying he didn’t get paid for five more minutes. Actually, since it’s a benefit show, I don’t imagine he got paid at all.
Guillotine LeGrande & The Solution (Havok and Pappadon) vs. Greg Spitz & Alex Law & Ricky Landell: OK match, but Spitz, Law, and Landell are all from the Zero One Dojo and they’re not quite ready for prime time yet. Pier six breaks out and LeGrande gets Landell to tap out to a whacky submission.
Mega vs. Rapid Fire Maldonado: Mega is, as you would expect, a beefy guy. Worst match of the night. You should have seen the fistdrop Mega tried to hit. It was a seven year old trying to fistdrop a stuffed animal. Rapid Fire won when he escaped a move and rolled up Mega for the win. The ref counted fast for some reason.
There was a ref at some point who got in the ring and yelled something about not having a job thanks to Ted Kennedy. A republican ref? Get me Vince on the phone, stat!
Christopher Street Connection vs. Jack Victory & Dr. Heresy: Heresy is a local guy. The usual CSC comedy match, although they did tone down their antics slightly (i.e., not making out in the ring). It was funny seeing fathers cover their children’s eyes. CSC pick up the win when they hit the Gay Basher on Heresy.
Spanky & “Hurricane” John Walters vs. Steve Corino & Jerry Lynn: Since this was a Zero One sponsored show, Spanky was in Leonardo Spanky mode this evening, complete with “My Heart Will Go On” entrance music. Not a lot to say about this one. The crowd was quiet but attentive, and this was my MOTN. Spanky gets beat on for a while until he makes the hot tag to Walters. Pier six with some great action until Walters does the jobski to the cradle piledriver.
Intermission: I pick up a swank Zero One shirt at the merch table. There was a meet and greet with the wrestlers and I get Spanky and Steve Corino’s autographs. Nice guys. Low Ki was out there too but he seemed less approachable.
Josh Daniels vs. Matt Striker: This would be the battle of the PWF tag champs (The PWF being the Premier Wrestling Federation, the group Corino runs out of Pennsylvania. They never explained what the PWF was so I imagine most folks had no idea). It’s funny because when Matt Stryker (the unibrowed one who works for ROH) wrestles in the area, he always gets the “You’re not Striker” chant. Now when the real Striker shows up, a few guys were like “Yay, the real Striker.” Anyway, this was quite a good little match, but was hurt by being in the post-intermission slot. Daniels works the arm for most of the match and gets the win by avoiding the Play of the Day/O-Zone and hitting an Okalhoma roll for the win.
The brought Christopher James Litchfield and his family (and a guy in a huge Spongebob costume) into the ring to present the proceeds from the show. The kid’s dad was too choked up to even talk. Corino gave a nice speech about being a dad, and how you’d do anything for you children. They played a video tribute on the wall (which took forever to set up, but Spongebob did a little dance to kill some time). Really a touching little scene.
Masato Tanaka & Yoshihito Sasaki vs. Simon Diamond & CW Anderson: When Tanaka tagged in some fans were like “He’s gonna kill you,” and Simon says “What did I do?” This was a fun match with the crowd way into Tanaka. Sasaki looked okay but most of his offense was either hitting a spear or putting someone in the Torture Rack (geez, a million finishers out there and he chooses that?). Lots of nearfalls, and the end sees CW hit his spinebuster on Sasaki but then walks into a roaring elbow from Tanaka. Good stuff.
Justin Credible[c] vs. Low Ki (PWF Universal Title Match): I wonder if the belt gets defended in other galaxies. If not, it’s a fraud. You gotta feel for Justin sometimes. If he lives to be a million he’ll never live down the fact that he was Aldo Montoya or a member of X-Factor. I also felt bad for him because Low Ki beat the shit out of him. If Justin’s going to keep doing matches like this he may as well sign up for PRIDE. He hit a horrible tombstone on Ki (the one Linda McMahon took from Kane was more dangerous) but it was only a 2 count, and Ki went on to lock on the Dragon Clutch to win the title. About as good a match as you’d hope for.
So yeah, there was some good action, but the atmosphere was really great. Definitely glad I went.
Next week: Ring of Honor’s second anniversary show.
Joe Gagne
joegagne@charter.net