I’m going to be honest. They did not draw as well as they usually did. So I think I wasn’t expecting that great of a show. But I learned it’s not the size of the crowd. It’s how “on-fire” that crowd is. Less than two weeks ago, we saw how one crowd could carry an entire show at a WWE Monday Night Raw. Tonight, the MPX crowd made the show.

We began with Kyle Davis and Kody Kox who introduced Kate. She was called the “heart and soul” of MPX. Even MPX’s naysayers say she’s great.

Kate introduced Frankie Fisher who walked out and looked intimidating and jaw-jacked with the fans. And then Jerome Daniels’ music hit. He walked out with a purpose carrying a kendo stick. He has a nice voice and cuts a nice promo. But the promo he cut tonight… I would have to put this up at the top of MPX’s greatest promos: “Just” James Johnson’s heel turn, the Haiden-LaMotta back-and-forth, the promo I cut on Kenny Steele (ok, so I threw that one in there for the fun of it). The promo centered around how he and Frankie were going to have “a moment.” It reminded me of the promo R-Truth cut on Miz on Raw in December. (“I’m going beat you up every night and unwrap this present cause Little Jimmy said it’s okay.”) But this promo was coherent and did not set black people back 20 years.

First match: Matt Palmer vs. Gregory James

Now you’re probably wondering (as was I) how in the Blue Hell this was the first match. So I spent some time thinking about this. The MPX crowd is one boring match away from dying. I believe this match was put here to wake the crowd up. Palmer has some nice new ring gear. He is also looking a little bulkier. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting. But the match I got was very story-centered. You can’t fight the same match here that you would at Anarchy down in Austin. Palmer had some huge chops. The crowd took a while to get there but they were engaged in this match. I wrote down that there was lots of emotion in this match. And the best part about the emotion was the crescendo it took to get there. Palmer is so expressive that he carries every emotion on his sleeve.

Winner: Headbanger

After the match, they shook hands. I liked the sportsmanship. They had a cute vignette with Viktor Tadlock and Ben Wylde playing putt putt. I love them introducing different characters.

Second match: Dave Dunnings vs. Regrub w/The Following

My main goal as this match started was to not gouge out my eyes. I do like the work of Dunnings plus I get to chant “Double-D.” He’s country and I love the country element. Plus, he’s such a good character. The crowd loved him. The crowd also loved to hate The Following. Regrub did the forearm to the chest. The only problem with that is that Sheamus does it very well and very loud. At first I was expecting a squash and then it wasn’t. It kept going on a little more.

Winner: Dunnings

If Dunnings and Regrub are having a feud, that’s fine. But he’s a tag champ. I’m a stickler for protecting champs. Kyle Valo was well-received with a “Shut up, Kyle” chant.

Scott Murdoch came out to say there was no competition. He worked the live crowd well. You can always tell when somebody has experience with live crowds because he had quite the fun with them in a sadistic “kid torturing an ant with a magnifying glass” kinda way. He sat down in the chair and waited for competition. His back was turned and James Hawke snuck an attack but he did attack him from the front. It was a brutal brawl. Security had a hard time separating them. Hawke was ON FIRE. I’ve done my share of mocking him for being John Cena. This was not John Cena. One angle and MPX fixed him. WWE, why can’t you fix your Cena?

Third match: Kristopher Haiden vs. Danny Saint

One of my favorite guys to watch in wrestling is PAC. I love his high-flying, aerial moves. There were no PAC moves in this match. This was a hot feud. They weren’t fighting from the get-go. Saint crouched in the corner as Haiden walked out. Then when the bell hit, Saint was on fire. I hate it when guys have feuds and they start off with a side headlock. There was none of that here. This was a good feud match. This was simply violent. Two guys who hate each other beat the s*** out of each other. Haiden won with a clothesline from Hell.

Winner: Haiden

After the match, Haiden took the microphone and set up Haiden vs. Headbanger for the next show. During the intermission, the faces came out and mingled with the crowd. It was a good family atmosphere.

Fourth match: Viktor Tadlock vs. Ryan Gauge w/The Following

I’ve never seen Tadlock as a face and I was kinda blown away. He is quite versatile. He can do the angry heel but he can do that monster babyface too. The comparison that comes to mind is Batista, except Tadlock wants to be there and will not injure himself walking to the ring. At first Tadlock was supposed to get Arcane, but Arcane decided that Tadlock wasn’t fighting him. He was going to get Ryan Gauge. Poor Ryan. Tadlock started telling him he wanted no part of him. Gauge slapped him. So Tadlock took him to the turnbuckles and slapped his chest a little. And by little, I mean hard. He got squashed.

Winner: Tadlock

After the match, Arcane told Gauge he was out and then The Following beat on him until he was saved by Tadlock & Wylde. Do I smell a 6-man?

Fifth match: “Just” James Johnson vs. Jerome Daniels

This match had a nice enough premise. Johnson wanted the belt and why should Daniels come in and get a title shot? You can tell these two are veterans who have wrestled each other many times. There were so many “little things” and nuances these guys got right. Johnson spit or something thereby prompting a “That’s disgusting” chant. I told you it was a pretty awesome crowd. The two guys really brought it. Nigel Rabid came out and interfered in full British mode.

Winner by dq: Daniels

Li Fang came out to the rescue. Both Daniels and Johnson were laying down in the ring. Li Fang went up to the top rope. Fang should come to the rescue of Daniels, right? But he attacked Daniels, turning heel. And thus was introduced “The Asian Nation.” I’m not seeing Nigel in it yet, but I will see how it transpires.

Main event: Bling & Sting vs. Kenny Steele & Frankie Fisher

Bling and Sting ($Payday$ and WASP respectively) had matching tights so they looked like a tag team. $Payday$ tried some new moves out. While they did not come out as smoothly or fluidly as he probably would have liked, I like that he’s working on finding himself a wider repertoire. The big knock on John Cena is the “5 Moves of Doom” (or as I say about Davey Richards, the “25 Moves of Doom”). $Payday$ is not content to do the same moves in every match. And the more opportunities to try his moves in front of different crowds, the more successful he will become. One spot I think he nailed was the suplex into the Stunner. WASP was pretty strong with the crowd reaction. He kept them engaged. Somebody in the crowd (or security) started chanting “WASP is gonna kill you.” It caught on. The high moment of the match (and the night, quite frankly) was when Frankie and WASP were fighting over by the merchandise table. I couldn’t see what the move was exactly from where I was sitting but Frankie went through the table. It was a total “Holy s***” moment. It wasn’t like the Spanish announcers table at a PPV where you take bets on which match destroys the table. It was the sacred merchandise table, which is the only table MPX uses. It got a “That was awesome” chant. With those two doing that on the outside it was between Kenny and $Payday$. $Payday$ made the pin.

Winner: Bling & Sting

Frankie sold his table bump like a pro. All the fans had to walk past him on his way out.

All in all… This show was perhaps the best I have seen from MPX. Top to bottom, this was a really good show. There were about 4 good matches. Even the ones that didn’t knock my socks off weren’t bad. There was a really great promo, decent heel turn and a really awesome table spot. While still not perfect, I’m really looking forward to the major show in two weeks.

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From the brand new Fropac Productions Studios in Buffalo, NY, ThinkSoJoE hosts another edition of BWF Radio!  Joe, along with G and JT, discuss the week in the wacky world of professional wrestling.  From thoughts on RAW, SmackDown, IMPACT, and ROH, to all the news that has come our way throughout the week, it’s all covered here on BWF Radio 18.

Plus, highlights from Justin Ruff’s interview with MPX booker and Texas wrestling manager Kyle Davis, which you can get in full tomorrow here at BoredWrestlingFan.com!

BoredWrestlingFan Radio Episode 18

We begin with highlights of the Davey Richards and Kevin Steen confrontation from last week.

ROH Intro

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So TNA has their Lockdown PPV this Sunday. Do I care? No, not really. Here’s the deal, I got virtually 45 minutes of sleep last night, and have been up since 5:30AM yesterday. Tried to call in to work at the night job, and then it started fucking snowing which means there is NO ABSOLUTE WAY I’m getting out of my shift. Ugghhh… still have to get up at 5:30AM tomorrow as well. Needless to say, my patience is VERY thin right now, which doesn’t bode well for Impact from this smark’s POV. But, it is what it is… let’s just get this over with, shall we?

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Well it’s back, well for this week anyway. Since I was’t able to partake in this weeks BWF podcast due to the Easter holiday, which I hop you all had a nice day, I figured I’d chime in on a few things :

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The following interview comes to us courtesy of Angrymarks.com, who recently conducted an interview with Impact Zone Wrestling’s own Jermaine Johnson. Johnson discusses his career and experience wrestling with the Oklahoma-based organization, just to scratch the surface. Hit the jump below to check out this 30 minute interview, and continue to support independent wrestling!

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What do you mean it’s Tuesday and I have to review SmackDown?  I can’t even begin to tell you what’s wrong with that statement.  What’s that?  It’s a special Super SmackDown:  Blast From The Past edition?  And G can’t make it?  Alright, I guess I’ll do it.  Besides, they’ll probably break out the big blue fist for this, won’t they?

Nope.  Dammit.  Oh well.  Let’s go.

(more…)

Last week was perhaps one of the greatest Raws in history. How do you follow it up? I’m very concerned because I believe that the WWE is really good at having a good episode. But a streak of good episodes is something all together different.

We begin with a promo about the Three Stooges. Johnny Ace comes out with his lackey David Otunga. He said that David Otunga is not here to entertain us. I was so relieved because if he were supposed to entertain us, he’s doing a very bad job. Johnny Ace plays a video package and then introduces Brock Lesnar. I’m a little disappointed they’re letting him speak yet, but ok. Brock doesn’t need Paul Heyman this time. He cut the best promos in the UFC (aside from Chael Sonnen). He was the man you loved to hate and was so good being that villain. Cena slapped Brock and then Brock did the takedown. They brought out ALL the wrestlers. It took the entire roster to separate both men. And Brock bloodied John Cena’s mouth.

Johnny Ace is humiliating Teddy Long. Please. That man once managed Jim Powers in WCW. He is beyond humiliation. Now Eve wants her some Ace Crusher and he isn’t having it.

We had a nice match that happened way too early. This crowd was not last week’s crowd but the match was pretty decent. Santino did the face in peril to perfection. And the match was really well put together. Dolph bumped like Shawn Michaels in 1994. Funkasaurus got the pin.

Santino is looking for the Three Stooges. Why not?

R-Truth is taking on Cody Rhodes. So apparently he’s doing the Brian Pillman “wear a dress until he wins” thing.

Sean Hayes was on Raw. That was surreal.

Yoshi Tatsu got killed by Lord Tensai. At least they aren’t trying to pretend A-Train never existed. Then he did the claw on Yoshi again. It seems they are focused.

They continued the CM Punk-Jericho feud. Punk cut a promo. It wasn’t up to the caliber of  the usual Punk promo. But it was real and emotional. Then Jericho appeared on the screen.  Then Punk lit up. It was a thing of beauty. There was genuine fire. And then they killed any possible emotion by bringing out Mark Henry. Punk got dq’ed, mostly on purpose. Then Mark Henry did the beatdown followed by Punk getting a beer-bath.

Zack Ryder got squashed by Alberto del Rio. I do have to say that Ryder did a really great job of bumping for him.

They did a really cute segment with Will Sasso (Curly) doing Hulk Hogan. Then Kane came out squashed him.

Brock did an interview. He has always been a great villain wherever he’s gone.

David Otunga was in a main event (which made me cry a little, to be honest). They just really need to stop pushing guys this big. Lesnar came in and gave Cena a low blow. Then he had the most sadistic smile ever. EVER.

This was another pretty good Raw. The wrestling wasn’t that great, but the angles were pretty good. They look focused. I want to see Extreme Rules more than I wanted to see Wrestlemania.

He’s the Bee’s Knees.  He’s the Cat’s Pajamas.  He’s The Whole Shebang, Johnny Gargano.  The current Dragon Gate USA Open The Freedom Gate Champion joins BoredWrestlingFan’s ThinkSoJoE and Justin Ruff to talk about his career.  Johnny talks about his thoughts on Vince McMahon, the independent wrestling scene, what he would like to do for a living if it were possible, Daniel Bryan, Gregory Iron, Brodus Clay, and a whole lot more in this 41 minute interview.

Download the full Johnny Gargano interview here.

Gargano – If he’s not kicking you, he’s spearing your sorry self from the outside.

DGUSA Wrestling:  DGUSA.TV

WWN Live:  WWNLive.com

Johnny Gargano Twitter:  @JohnnyGargano

Johnny Gargano Facebook:  Johnny Gargano

Gargano – Hurts Donut! You’re finished, dude.

That’s right folks, we’re back!  Justin Ruff joins ThinkSoJoE and G as they discuss the week in this wacky world of sports entertainment.  The trio discuss what they feel could have been the best RAW in quite a while, the continuing rise and decline of the TNA product, whether or not SmackDown continued the momentum of RAW.  A five minute highlight package of BWF’s interview with Johnny Gargano that will be available tomorrow at noon is played, then the hosts talk about the news and rumors that have popped up throughout the week.

And a reminder, kids, to not try this pro wrestling stuff at home.

BoredWrestlingFan Radio Episode 17

Since the brownout in Florida caused fans to miss a couple of iPPV matches, Ring of Honor is putting Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly and All Night Express vs. Young Bucks FREE on YouTube.