I had to take off a few months creatively, but I needed to return. Life feels better when I go out and watch some wrestling. I came back to a very different wrestling promotion. The crowd was packed. This was without a doubt the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen, like bigger than the night there was Colt Cabana, Jimmy Jacobs and Athena. Professional Championship Wrestling, a defunct but long-running company in Arlington, TX recently did a reunion, and I think a lot of people needing their wrestling fix tried them out. Whether they keep coming back is an entirely different thing altogether. Not only was the crowd huge, they were on fire.

First match: Andy Dalton vs. “Jiggle-O James Johnson

I walked in as the match was beginning. I’m not sure if they’re doing the “before-the-bell” match as they were previously. You had both firing on all cylinders. Dalton has been working really hard on his physique. The tights were quite loose. Evil Dalton is one of the best things out there. It is hard to describe it, but Johnson has this weird combination of determination and focus that only he can do. It was what you would want in an opener.

Winner: Johnson

We introduced Lance Hoyt who got an incredible reaction. My inner smark never gets over the fact we are looking at a former IWGP tag champ. He cut a great promo about how he was going to win the belt and make it a world title, taking it to South America and Europe and Japan. Out came Scott Murdoch to respond and said that when Hoyt traveled, he would give them the name “Scott Murdoch’s bitch.” This caused a mini eruption, in many ways, a clash of the titans. Out came Franco D’Angelo and the GM’s enforcer. There was a tremendous pull-apart with Murdoch and Hoyt.

Second match: Kristopher Haiden (c) w/Nigel Rabid & Kevin Cross vs. “Irresistable” Eric McDonald

I think this might be my first time to see the mass of humanity known as Kevin Cross accompanying Nigel. The guy is huge, like a building with hair. He has to be legit 6’5 at the least. Haiden came out getting out in the face of fans. McDonald is one of my favorite things in MPX. It is so original, so entertaining and so over with the crowd. It was a nice, full match. McDonald did his standard spots but what was great was Haiden’s reaction to it. Haiden won it with a nice lariat.

Winner: Haiden

Third match: BC & Michael Shafer & JD Kros vs. Tad Wylde & Jerome Daniels

Do Kros and Shafer have a tag team name yet? I believe they were Glamour Hammer, but that worked a lot better when Joshua City was the other member. The first team I would refer to as “Team I Need a Haircut.” BC began with by announcing his arrival. 6’5 my a**. When I think about how far these guys have come since MPX started, one of the guys who’s come the farthest is Ben Wylde. The other tore down the house quite literally later on in the show. Kros has been working on his physique. The crowd was kept in and engaged. The story that happened during this match was Ben Wylde didn’t want to be tagged in but Viktor Tadlock did. The two began to argue. Are we going to have a break-up and feud? And, wow, this isn’t the guy I thought would be heel here. Jerome was left all alone against the 3. I’ve got to give credit to the match that I thought there was a chance Jerome might actually win.

Winner: Team I Need a Haircut

Fourth match:  Carlos Esquivel & Zero the Antihero vs. Mace

I remember seeing Mace from his PCW days. A lady near me asked if this was fair. I let her know that Zero has more testicles than wins. Zero and Carlos sold this spectacularly with lots of fear. It was a great classic squash match, something you would have seen on WCW Worldwide. I just HATE handicap matches.

Winner: Mace

Fifth match: Jason Silver w/Sky de la Crimosa vs. Wally Darkmon

On paper this looked like a really good match. You had two junior heavyweights going at it. Part of me wondered if these two held back for a future event. It was a nice strong style match mixed in with Wally’s trademark psychosis (not to be confused with WCW luchador Psicosis). At one point Wally licked him which I have to admit I haven’t seen too much. Wally did not hold back on the chops though as Silver’s chest was quite red. Sky jumped in and attacked Darkmon

Winner by dq: Darkmon

Silver and Sky proceeded to do an awesome beat-down on Wally. They beat Wally with his iconic cane and mimicked his psychotic laugh. Then Jiggle-O came out to his rescue. They had a face-off followed by a PCW chant. I’m not entirely sure why. PCW is dead company. These people should move on. Now if you need me, I will be chanting “ECW” at Tommy Dreamer.

Sixth match: Steven Kirby w/Nigel Rabid & Kevin Cross vs. Larry Canis

The crowd was delighted to see Canis’ beard. This was our first chance to see the new Steven Kirby after joining the Rabid Empire. Kirby has a very naturally gifted face. He can show off a variety of emotions on his face without resorting to hamming it up. This was a different side of Kirby, slow, methodical. There was never any doubt who was going to win this.

Winner: Kirby

I like the idea of Kirby as a tortured soul, forced to turn this new leaf. I’d like to see more of Nigel taking the role of jaw-jacking with the fans. Kirby doesn’t need that. Matt Andrews and Li Fang came out to talk to the crowd. Li explained his tear and injury. Somebody near me said, “Hey, Li speaks English?” Mace came back out to menace the two. Claudia came out to possibly soothe Mace. GM Kate Carroll came out to make a match between Matt Andrews and Mace for the next show. Gregory James came out for his match and did a lot of complaining. She responded by giving him Matt Palmer.

Seventh match: Gregory James vs. Matt Palmer

Palmer is getting a little bit more recognition on a national stage at Beyond Wrestling. He is now being billed as “The Show-Stealer.” He has earned that name through every show he’s ever done. I put the notebook down for this because I just wanted to sit back and enjoy this as a fan. This match was no dq. I really can’t describe this to perfection because I didn’t take notes but this match was slightly epic. They tore down the ring barriers, fought into the crowd, used lots of plunder. I had to move around a lot to see it. I found myself being caught up in it. It’s nice when I am able to lose myself in a match at this point in my fandom. What really made this match was the near-falls. Every pinfall seemed like that was it. This night the match fell in Palmer’s favor.

Winner: Palmer

Main event: Scott Murdoch (c) vs. Lance Hoyt

This was a great opportunity for Murdoch. There really isn’t a bigger name they could have brought it to establish Murdoch as a legitimate champ. This in many ways was a clash of the titans. These were two guys who beat the snot out of each other. Hoyt can go in a technical match. But he can also go in a brawl and boy did he. This was really wild insane brawl. It just had the unfortunate curse of following Matt Palmer. Both pushed the referee causing him to dq the match.

Winner: Double-dq

Kristopher Haiden came out to cash in his Prospects Championship (which functions a lot like the “Money in the Bank” concept.

Real Main Event: Scott Murdoch (c) vs. Kristopher Haiden

Angry Hoyt took out Haiden before he began this match. The referee started the 10-count and Haiden was able to cover Haiden first and then Murdoch kicked out. Haiden kept on doing every finisher he had and then Murdoch kept kicking out. The story was so good. Murdoch was able to power out and get the win.

Winner: Murdoch

Kirby came out to get involved and then Frankie Fisher came out to attack him. Something tells me this will be one explosive feud. Ring announcer Keith announced that there will be a rematch of Palmer and Greg the next show.

All in all… It was nice to be back supporting some indy wrestling. Palmer-Greg was epic. I’m just curious if two weeks from now is going to be too soon for their rematch. Keith is coming along nice as a ring announcer. Kate is good in her role as GM and Franco as her enforcer. This in many ways is their Season Premeire. I’m intrigued to see where they can go from here.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



RSS Feeds


Posts by Category