My Mini-Review that I posted over at Cage's site:
I’ve been to many live cards over my many years as a professional wrestling fan. I can without a doubt say this was my most enjoyable experience ever at a wrestling event, perhaps outside of Wrestlemania 17 in the Houston Astrodome. Even then, I question that. This absolutely killed any Smackdown or RAW I have been to, and didn’t need the pyro, giant TV screens, or capacity crowd to do it.
The show was held in the Armory in Lawrence, KS, and it certainly didn’t feel like there was much more than 200 people in attendance. Myself and a friend sat front row and were literally 2 feet from the ring. If I wanted to reach over and touch it, I definitely could have. So enough pimpage, let’s go to the card and results:
Opener: Domino Rivera & Michael “Mr. Saturday Night” Berry (heels) v Corwin Star & Craig Keesman (faces)
Mr. Saturday Night got plenty of heat as it was after all, Friday Night. Keesman was his listed name, but he was refereed to as “Krow” by many people at ringside. A good opener, if a bit sloppy at times by the faces. Some very nice technical wrestling throughout, with alot of armbar work. Very fun match with some good heat segment. Finish came with Rivera hit a Flatliner off of the second rope for the pin. I was impressed with the opening contest. ** I was even more impressed when Rivera walked to ringside, grabbed his Mexican Flag Bandana, and flung it into my friend’s face for no real reason.
Paul Diamond (face) v Hype Gotti (heel) w/Girthy
Girthy is a Paul Heyman like manager (but really young, fat, and annoying) that apparantly owns a whole stable of guys in CSW. Gotti gets great pre-match heat right away by getting into the face of this huge black kid seated next to us, to the point where security comes over to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand. Paul Diamond is NOT the Orient Express guy, and is instead a really young blonde kid who didn’t look very good. Gotti had the look and character down perfect. He was such an arrogant punk, and got great heel heat through the whole match. Some spots that stick out include Gotti hitting a powerbomb into the ring apron on Diamond, and Diamond missing a springboard 450 splash coming back into the ring. The finish came when Diamond nailed a beautiful Shooting Star Press for the win. Diamond ended up looking very good after me thinking originally he didn’t look like much due to his appearance. Very good match that was very fun. ***
Mason Hunter (face) v Wade Chism (heel)
Hunter looked like a big dude that should be in the Navy, and Chism was a pretty big Montry Brown lookalike, only with 5 times more gut on him. He got right up in the face of this dude at ringside right next to us that was wearing a Pink polo shirt. No matter how much you know it is a show, it sucks to have a big motherfucker standing in your face. This was a “hoss” match. I wouldn’t be suprised to see Mason Hunter go up to the next level, cause he was tall, athletic, and very powerful. This was a great power v power match, and was pretty clean for the most part. Finish came when Hunter speared Chism as he leapt off of the middle rope, trying something. *1/2
Darrien “Showtime” Sanders v Tony Morales
These guys were super entertaining before the match, and even moreso in the match. Morales comes down first, a mexican guy with a Puerto Rico flag all over him. When the ref goes to check him, he turns, drops to his knee, and puts his hands on his head. Just great work by this dude. Sanders comes down, big tall black guy with a ton of charisma, and goes to take his bling bling off, and can’t get it over his head. The chain busts as he tries to force it over, and the look on his face is great. Morales meanwhile, says that this is what he gets for buying it a a pawn shop. We of course say that he sold it to him, and he responds with “No, I didn’t. I’m the one that stole it and sold it to the pawn shop!”. Then things got great, as they kicked the shit out of each despite the size mismatch. Sanders hit a brutal dropkick off the apron to the floor right to the face of Morales who was legit fucked up a bit. They were right in front of us, and then Morales got a bit stiff with Sanders, who in turn knocked him on his ass with a huge crescent kick. The Finish came when Sanders hit the “tragedy”, which was a Fireman’s carry into a Tombstone Piledriver. VERY impressive. ***1/2
Michael Strider (face) w/Superstar Steve v “#1″ Brett Young w/Hype Gotti
It appeared Young was also in Girthy’s stable, but Girthy didn’t come out for this one. Strider was definitely the most over guy of the locals, with chants of “Strider Nation” filling the ….. gym. He was a nice brawler, but I was ultimately left disapointed by the match, which was all Strider chopping the SHIT out of this dude. His chest looked like mush by the end, so Strider turns to his back, and just brutalizes him somemore. Strider took a sick bump through the ropes right in front of us, landing on the unprotected floor with a CRACK. Then later he did a suicide dive through the ropes right into the guardrail when Young moved. Finish came when Strider hit the “Roll The Dice” move on Young for the win. *3/4
INTERMISSION. During the show, Joe (the booker/management) came out and announced that Raven had been stripped of the CSW Title, which I guess he had held and not defended since October or something. He announced a “Round Robin” for the vacated title next month featuring Derek Stone, Michael Strider, and Mark Sterling. The crowd loved the thought of Strider as Champion.
Colt Cabana (face) v Dingo (face)
This was my first REAL taste of Colt. This was fucking HYSTERICAL. Colt was amazing, and Dingo played his role great as well. Dingo is an Australian kid (The Aussie-Aussie-Aussie, OY OY OY chants wouldn’t stop) and is kind of undersized, so Colt kept giving him an arm, and then taking him to school anyway. Some idiot near me had the audacity to yell out “Boring” while the whole crowd was enjoying itself, so Colt called him out, told him thanks for his money, and invited him into the ring for a lesson. The kid got up, and Colt said ‘I’m dead fucking serious’, and of course the pussy sat down. Colt and Dingo kept going, and did a great spot where Dingo had a keylock and folded down each of Colt’s fingers until he was flipping himself off, and then picked Colt’s nose with the finger, and tried to make him eat it. They end up wiping it on the turnbuckle, and the referee goes headfirst into it in the end, leading to a “Boogerhead” chant which I’m pleased to say I didn’t participate in. Anyway, they do get down to business, and suprisingly Dingo picks up the win on a victory roll reversal of sorts. Great moment at the end as Dingo whips Cabana to the corner, and is rushing in for what I believe should have been the finish. Well, Dingo fucked it up, so Cabana tosses him in the corner and SLAPS the SHIT out of him, and then stiffs him with about 4 fists to the forehead. He whips him again, and they hit the finish this time. Off the charts for entertainment, and the wrestling was still great. ***
Kansas State Title Match: Mark Sterling © w/Valet (heel) v Derek Stone (face)
Never caught the name of Sterling’s valet, who was a nice peice of ass. Stone starts in the ring before Sterling is there, and has the NWA rulebook. He reads from it, saying that a match doesn’t officially start until both me are in the ring, yadda yadda yadda. As Sterling comes out, Stone attacks, and they brawl through the arena, with Sterling taking a NASTY bump right on top of all of our chairs. Then go over the rail, and into the ring for the bell. Sterling goes to SCHOOL on Stone’s shoulder for the whole match. Sterling was brilliant, but Stone’s selling was pretty spotty after 10 minutes of shoulder work. Eventually, Sterling gets Stone to tap out while he has him in a armbar while in kind of a stump puller position. Hard to describe, but great technical wrestling with some nice near falls. *** After the match, a small guy who is apparantely named “Brett” runs in with a chair and attacks Sterling. I later learn that Brett is a former ref that was taken under Sterling’s wing to learn to wrestle, only to have Sterling turn on him. Sounds like a feud to me.
Main Event: Jeremy Wyatt (heel) w/Girthy v Christopher Daniels (duh)
Daniels is obviously mega over. This was a very good match, that had Daniels giving PLENTY to Wyatt. Featured some great high spots and dives as well. Girthy was great at ringside, keeping the crowd plenty involved and drawing some serious heat from everyone at ringside, including me and my friend. The crowd was great at building a heat segment when Daniels was getting killed, but then kind of sucked at MAINTAINING that heat once he went on the offensive. Daniels nailed the BME for a nearfall that I thought was it. Daniels goes for the Angel’s Wings, but Girthy grabs his leg. Wyatt then goes for the Wings, but Daniels reverses, and the ref is bumped for the first time all night. Wade Chism (big Montry Brown looking fucker) comes down and tries to interefere, but Daniels whips him, and Girthy tries as well, to no avail. Wyatt ends up getting a steel chain from Girthy, and clocking Daniels with it just as the ref wakes up. 1……2……3! We’re all in fucking awe. Not only did the heel win, but Christopher Daniels just lost to some punk. ***1/2
Post-Match Daniels gets on the mic and asks if thats how things are run around here. 3 on 1 in the main event. Daniels says that Wyatt just booked himself a rematch, cause Daniels is gonna use his own money to fly out here to Kansas City, drive in to Lawrence, and KICK HIS ASS next month. Great setup, and they got me, cause I’ll be back. Daniels offers to do it right now instead, and Wyatt of course walks.
This was an absolutely great show, and I can’t wait to go back again. Some great technical wrestling, with a bit of stiff stuff mixed in for my liking, and some really good storytelling as well. Having Daniels lose and issue a rematch is brilliant, cause I’m sure everyone there will be back, and probably bring two friends as well. I know I will.
Check them out on the net: www.nwacentralstates.com
Sounds like a great show. wlecome to the wonderful world of indies.
As the aforementioned "friend", this wasn't my first indy show, but I can say that I think it was the best card, top to bottom, that I've been to. I went into the show not expecting much, I just wanted to see Daniels and Colt and figured the rest would be sloppy and somewhat boring, but I was proven wrong.
Domino Rivera's response to the USA chant was great. He took his Mexican flag bandanna of and held it directly in front of my face. When I wouldn't take the bait he just slapped me right in the face with it, which began the theme of the heels being all over Jamie and I for most of the night. It was a great card all the way through.
Congrats guys. Much like WMD said, welcome to the indies.