Tag Archive: Fisher

  1. MPX Retribution June 16, 2013

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    This is my first time at MPX after over a month. I needed a break to recharge my batteries and take a break from my writing. I got quite a smack from one wrestler and knew I needed to get out of the house.

    Dark Match: Carlos Esquivel vs. Kenny Steele

    I know I missed a few shows but is Kenny face now? And if he is, does the crowd know it? The crowd is not buying this face turn (I mean, worse than the Randy Orton face turn when he got Ortoned). If Kenny is face, he should spend some time studying some faces in MPX (Frankie, Steven, Jerome) and some guys outside MPX (ACH mostly). Carlos played the heel nicely and did his share of carrying the match. It was just a reactionless match.

    Winner: Kenny

    We introduced everybody. If James Hawke wants to wear a hat, that’s fine, but he needs to wear it backwards. He looks like Kyle Davis with it on front. There is some ring announcer whose name is, as best I can figure out, Not Kate. He wore shorts and tennis shoes. Not exactly my idea of professional.

    First match: JD Kros w/Nigel Rabid & Frankie Fisher vs. Ben Wylde

    Joshua City was missing to be able to wrestle so it was just Kros vs. Wylde. Wylde has apparently swallowed a tapeworm or something. He was looking like he’s lost a lot of weight. The gut is nearly gone, and he looks trimmer than I’ve ever seen. The match was really smart for the experience level of these two guys. Kros worked on a body part the whole match. The match maybe went on a little too long, but it exceeded my expectations. Kros used Nigel’s briefcase to get the pin.

    Winner: Kros

    Second match: Jerome Daniels & Matt Palmer vs. Andy Dalton & JT LaMotta

    This match was really good, probably my favorite match that didn’t include Barrett or Greg this year. You had 4 guys who have wrestled each other all over everywhere. The #DirtyMinds tag team of Dalton/LaMotta, I would put them up against any team in Texas for being the best. Andy Dalton is also becoming one of the best all-around talents in Texas. I would put him in the Top 5 in Texas. Jerome sold and bumped like crazy. All 4 gelled well.

    Winner: #DirtyMinds

    Being really frustrated with the referee, Palmer started attacking him. MPX is continuing a tradition of Fight Survive Win which will have 4 captains. Steven Kirby will be one captain. He was going to fire Palmer but Valo showed up and announced Palmer was a competitor on his team.

    Third match: Paige Turner w/Nigel Rabid vs. Livi La Vida Loca w/Claudia & Puddin’

    Claudia comes out to the ring with a Batman doll she calls Puddin’. Under Claudia’s tutelage, Livi has a Robin doll. No word yet on what the Robin’s name is. It’s the little things this company does so well. I dare call Livi the most over wrestler in the company. She just does this energetic goofball thing really well and the fans love her for it.  This is by no means Mercedes Martinez-LuFisto in work. There is still some work to be done on both sides. Paige is working on her crowd engagement and has some good facials. It reminded me of #GrumpyCherry (Cherry Bomb  in CZW, WSU, aka Evil Cherry, otherwise known as my favorite wrestler on the planet), which is not a name I use lightly. The more I see Livi, the more I think MPX could be on the verge of something special.

    Winner: Livi

    We had an intermission. The wrestlers didn’t seem to mingling as much as they usually do.

    Fourth match: Kristopher Haiden vs. Danny Saint in a Street Fight

    This match was billed as a “Come as You Are” street fight. Haiden wore a Batman t-shirt, and Saint wore his Joker jersey. I loved the irony. This match was brutal. Both were bleeding like crazy. At some point, somebody attacked with a water bottle. It got the water all over me. At least I hope it was water after the story Mick Foley tells about Kevin Sullivan and the dipping spit. This was so insane. My section got cleared out because there was a brawl in the crowd. This was like being there for Necro Butcher-MASADA, at least without the skewers or light tubes. The yellow chair that is used only by MPX during street fights got a chant. I’d dare say it got the second biggest pop of the night. The finish was really good. Saint kept on kicking out so Claudia threw in the towel because of her love for him. I remember a Wifebeater-John Zandig match like that.

    Winner: Haiden

    Haiden, not accepting that, did one more move and then pinned him. Nigel Rabid introduced himself and the third captain in the FWS event and then announced 3 members (Haiden & Glamour Hammer). Li Fang came out. Nigel thanked him for his offer, but he might be busy. That’s where “Just” James Johnson came on the loudspeaker and told Nigel that Li wasn’t wanting to be part of his team. Johnson was the 4th captain, and the team he was captain of was the Asian Nation. Matt Andrews, who had been sitting silently in the crowd, appeared and attacked the Rabid Empire to a “Welcome back” chant. He was revealed as the next member of the Asian Nation. If they are looking for a 4th member, may I suggest Kana? Please?

    Fifth match: BC vs. Scott Murdoch

    BC went out to the ring first and challenged anybody to come out and wrestle him. I knew it was Murdoch. I think everybody but BC knew that Murdoch was coming out. My respect goes out to anybody facing Murdoch. Thankfully BC had a few layers of shirts on. It was a nice short match. Murdoch chopped BC to death. BC got himself dq’ed by choking Murdoch on the ropes past the 5-count.

    Main event: Gregory James vs. Barrett Brown in a 30-minute Iron Man Match

    This is the match that brought me out tonight. This match had a lot to live up to, including the first two times they’d wrestled. Their wrestling was really good. I think the greatest test for these two was if they be able to put together an entertaining match of that length. I didn’t take too many detailed notes because as a fan, I just wanted to sit back and watch this. There were a few problems, including the time clock. I hated the finish. It was tied at 3 as time ran out. So my 30 minutes of watching this were meaningless. I hated this now and I hated it in Wrestlemania XII. In sudden death overtime, Barrett won the belt.

    Winner, and new champion: Barrett

    But we weren’t over yet. Mike Foxx came out to cash in his title shot.

    Real Main Event: Barrett Brown (c) vs. Mike Foxx

    This wasn’t so much of a match as a mugging. Or, as its also known, Foxx being Foxx.

    Winner, and new champion: Foxx

    All in all: So we’ve got a new champion. Not really sure that Foxx needs it, but it adds some legitimacy to the belt by him holding it. I see there being some good names who could face him: Barrett, Murdoch, Jerome, Frankie, his real-life brother-in-law Carrion Arcane, maybe skinny Wylde (?), Franco d’Angelo.

    Both the tag match and the street fight were great. Livi is beginning to improve week after week. There are some things that need to be fixed (*cough, cough, Kate*). Overall, not their greatest show, but it’ll be nice to see where they go from here.

  2. MPX-The Era of Kyle Begins-9-8-12

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    I’m going to have a hard time convincing people I’m not a smark if I use a derivative of the first ever Ring of Honor show. While a far cry from being perfect, I think this is perhaps one of the best shows I’ve seen from MPX. It’s like they’ve been waiting a long time for tonight and everything clicked. This whole night was about Kyle Valo taking over and what the effects would be.

    First match: Frankie Fisher & Steven Kirby vs. Joe Angelo Garcia & JD Kros

    I was quite pleased with Frankie’s work as a face. To me, Frankie is one of the most natural heels I’ve ever seen. But he does the babyface quite nicely. Steven has so much enthusiasm and natural charisma. Between him and Frankie, they both are great pros at listening to the crowd and reacting. It was Garcia’s first match so he gets immunity on his in-ring work. He looked professional and had a nice look. The crowd decided he looked like Mark Wahlberg, but I thought he looked more like Adam from HBO’s hit show “Girls.” The major thing is if you are a heel, tell your family to boo you. This is pretty much Heel 101. The match itself was fun and the crowd was into it. I didn’t see any botches or anything.

    Winner: Kirby & Fisher

    Kirby & Fisher have good chemistry together. Garcia walked back like nothing had happened. Sell, sell, sell.

    Second match: Danny Saint w/Claudia vs. Kenny Steele

    It took the crowd a little bit to warm up with this match. Saint is a good person to pair Steele with. I think he will be good for building up Steele and giving him legit experience. The crowd was weird during this match. They seemed to not care about the chain wrestling/catch-as-catch-can stuff. I liked Claudia in her role with the dynamic she added. At one point Saint had him in a Boston Crab and the crowd was riveted.

    Winner: Steele

    Since this was the first time these two had wrestled, it’s hard to build up a chemistry naturally. Andy Dalton came out without music. Dalton was ON FIRE with his promo. He called Kate Carroll (the heart and soul of the company) every name one could call a lady in a PG world. Out came Kate’s boyfriend, Gregory James, to defend her honor. They play Macho-Elizabeth so well. Greg and Dalton traded some pretty intense promos. Dalton’s dad was brought up. I wanted more of the dueling promos, not from the dueling promos, which I think is pretty nice praise.

    Third match: Kristopher Haiden vs. Barrett Brown

    Well, according to Kyle Valo’s rules, Barrett could not go off the top rope or do anything outside the ring. Barrett might have well been tied with both hands behind his back. I was really impressed by what I saw by both of these guys. The momentum was good. I was able to see Barrett have another type of match. Based on in-ring work alone, (aka, no car hood) this is one of the best matches I’ve ever seen Haiden have. The ref was knocked out and when he came to, Barrett was outside the ring at Haiden’s hands. (I think. The night was difficult for me to take notes). Haiden convinced him that Barrett was cheating and the ref disqualified him.

    Winner: Haiden

    I hated this finish. I hate it any time in wrestling somebody decides to do this. I hated it when Kevin Nash did this on Sid at Starrcade. In football, if you tell a ref there was pass interference, he doesn’t just throw the flag like an idiot. It was insultingly bad.

    Fourth match: Andy Dalton vs. “Headbanger” Gregory James in best of 3 falls

    Wow. These two guys really brought it. Both guys were firing on all cylinders. There was really nice back-and-forth. I gotta admit I didn’t take too many notes as my chair ripped during the last match and I was standing and it was hard to take notes. Dalton won the first fall. The back-and-forth continued. There was a DDT onto the ring apron that was insane to take by Dalton. Greg went back into the ring and there was a countout. The referee was going to do another 10-count. Dalton crawled back in at 9 and a half. He was also showing off a bloody forehead. And then the match got more stiff and more brutal. There were near-falls galore. But Greg came away with the win.

    Winner: Gregory James

    If you do not know the name Gregory James, learn it. This is my choice for “Match of the Year” so far. The crowd was into it, there were lots of near-falls and blood happened. I would have just liked to see this match have maybe a month or two more build-up. Zero the Antihero came out, and talked about how he’d never won a match. He was ready to finally win a match. It was easy to see his influence when he sat down legs crossed in the ring. He did a great job of listening to the crowd and cutting a promo in his character. The crowd loves Zero. I think one of the reasons why is that he’s a video game geek and has that connection with the crowd. Zero and Kyle Valo had a dueling promos segment. The crowd loved it. Valo made a match with Zero and James Hawke.

    Fourth match: Zero the Antihero vs. James Hawke

    I think I’m about to call Hawke “The Crowd-Killer.” I keep on trying to rack my brain on what it is that cools a hot crowd quite like he does. I guess it’s that they just don’t buy him. What I would have him do is take a few months off and then come back fresh. We are at a point where they are shoving him down our throats and with every shove, it makes him harder to come back and the audience care about him. The actual match itself was fine. The two meshed well together. The crowd even popped for the Mortal Kombat spot. Zero looked unable to compete and Frankie came out to his rescue. Kyle Valo ruled him unable to compete.

    Winner: Hawke

    Fifth match: Kanoa vs. Scott Murdoch w/ Steven Kirby

    I’m really liking what I see from Kanoa. You can also tell Murdoch has been working on his physique. Kanoa did a lot of bumping and sold like crazy. Murdoch has a lot of commitment behind his moves. I really like this new chapter of Murdoch’s work here. He is very focused and really brings it. He and Kanoa clicked really well.

    Winner: Murdoch

    Sixth match: Asian Nation (c) w/Nigel Rabid vs. Tad Wylde

    Both teams have connected with the crowd. Tad Wylde is great for the crowd, and the Asian Nation is equally good at keeping them engaged. One thing that I love about Li Fang of the Asian Nation is that his face is so expressive that he doesn’t have to say much. And when he does, it’s in Chinese (or a foreign language I don’t recognize) so it keeps the crowd hating him (because Heel 101 says to speak in a foreign language). One of my favorite spots of the year was Ben Wylde giving “Just” James Johnson what looked like an Atomic Wedgie. It was so entertaining. There was another really awesome looking spot with Wylde doing a double suplex with both members of the Asian Nation. The finish came with Johnson doing his finish on Li by mistake.

    Winner: Tad Wylde

    I’ve watched Ben Wylde from the beginning of his career, so it’s nice to see how far he’s come. He’s worked really hard to make it to this place. After the match, the Asian Nation were in the ring and Kyle Valo verbally berated them on the mic. Johnson began to fire back on his mic. I dare call Johnson one of the best on the mic in MPX. He kept on going on the mic that he didn’t notice that Li & Nigel had both left the ring. When Johnson turned around to call on their support, Li was standing right at the curtain. He bowed and left. It reminded me of what St. Francis of Assisi once said- “Cut your promo. And if necessary-use words.” (Maybe St. Francis said “Preach the gospel” instead of “Cut your promo” but you get the gist.)

    Main event: Matt Palmer (c) vs. The Following in a Gauntlet Match

    Palmer was total bumping machine in this match. First up was Matt Andrews. While their match was short, the actual wrestling part of it was very nice. Choice suffered victim to Palmer’s signature maneuver. Then in next was Regrub. Palmer bumped and sold more.  Regrub stopped during his match and pointed me out. So in response, Hi, back to you, Regrub. And then Palmer made pretty short work of Regrub. Then it was between Palmer and Carrion Arcane. Palmer still had no quit in him. Arcane is such a professional and carries so much intensity in and out of the ring. Palmer had Arcane in a submission hold and they just worked the drama. I loved what they did there with the hold.

    Winner: Palmer (or so we thought)

    After witnessing the carnage and retaining, Kristopher Haiden came out and did a clothesline that best I can figure out, decapitated Palmer. Kyle Valo counted to 3 for Haiden to get the win and win the title from Palmer.

    All in all… As a matter of full disclosure, my sister- and brother-in-law are very close to Haiden and his girlfriend. Haiden was usher at her wedding. He’s also the person telling me about this new place he had just started wrestling at 2 years ago, which was MPX. I also thought it was rather odd that he’s been wrestling forever and this was the first time I’d ever seen his parents there. So forgive me for a moment when I say to Haiden congratulations. You have worked your tail off for the past few years. You not only have worked on your game, but you’ve helped make those around you better. You truly deserve this moment.

    The reason for my personal disclosure is that I am excited with the direction they can go with Haiden on top. There’s a lot of really credible challengers waiting for him: Greg, Barrett, Frankie, Kirby, Johnson. A lot of feuds were blown off tonight, and some new directions were introduced. Oh, and Jerry Lynn on November 10th.

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    photo courtesy of Staci Brown

  3. MPX-Indeed 5/26/12

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    I still remember when I decided I wanted to support indy wrestling and sent a message to my buddy and told me about this new place he had started working. I remember how small and “work-in-progress” this company was. But they concentrated on their strengths: great characters and storylines that kept you coming back. Tonight they had Funaki. Like, THE Funaki. Smackdown Announcer #1. Indeed. That Funaki.

    They opened it up with Funaki coming out to speak to the fans. He was interrupted by the Asian Nation who invited him to become a junior member. Good stuff. And of course it went into fisticuffs. I think everybody was involved except for Kate.

    First match: Barrett Brown vs. Kristopher Haiden

    I of course would like to congratulate Barrett on his recent graduation from high school. This kid is already one of Texas’ best and he JUST NOW graduated high school. Barrett has improved a lot over the past year. He’s adding more and more different kinds of offense into his matches. If you have never seen this guy wrestle before, go look him up on Youtube. Haiden does a great job being the bully. When it comes to being the bully, I think he’s the best in MPX and one of the best probably in Texas. He gave Barrett a clothesline from Hell and got the pin.

    Winner: Haiden

    Haiden asked to be announced as “The Cruiserweight Slayer.” I like Cruiserweight Crusher better. It’s alliteration. We had angry Headbanger come out because he didn’t have a match. He wanted an opponent. He was given Frankie Fisher AND Jason Silver. I liked angry Headbanger. These past few months, he has gotten to show off his range.

    Second match: Tad Wylde vs. Regrub & Matt Andrews w/The Following

    Masked Guy (I still haven’t figured out what his stage name is.) is looking a little skinnier. The classiest thing all night was when Tad Wylde thanked the military. What I thought could have added a nice dimension was asking all the military people to stand, but no biggie. They can do that in November. What Choice lacks in size, he makes up for in personality and commitment. He is a good storyteller and somebody you want to get over your story. Tad Wylde is a pretty good tag team. They work well and did some cool double-team moves. Ben played the face in peril very well. One of the biggest moves of the night was Tadlock doing a plancha. For those unfamiliar with Tadlock, that’s like Rhino doing a plancha. Good, fun match with Tad Wylde getting the victory.

    Winner: Tad Wylde

    I like how they are building up Tad Wylde.

    Third match: Scott Murdoch vs. Danny Saint

    I like both these guys and they were quite entertaining in this match. I’m going to love a Saint-Murdoch feud. The fans win. The chests of Saint and Murdoch do not. These guys were brutal (in a good way). I wrote down I was really happy to not be either. I also wrote down one word at one point, “Wow.” These guys really laid it on the line. I watched a DGUSA DVD yesterday that had some of the best in-ring work I’d ever seen. This was not that type of match yet still kept just as engaged in it. It was still just as intense and emotional and brutal.

    Winner: Double Countout

    Can we already name this MPX Feud of the Year? Kyle Davis interviewed Kanoa. “I’m going to beat people. Who’s next in line?” Not a lot of depth to it, but we’ll see where he goes from here.

    Fourth match: Bling & Sting vs. Asian Nation

    It was nice to see tag team wrestling that meant something. $Payday$ had a great plancha. He’s becoming more smooth and more fluid. There was good comedy. WASP & “Just” Johnson both do comedy really well. I wonder if Nigel might be a little wasted on this tag team. I think James is really good on the mic and doesn’t need any help. I do think Nigel works as an “outside-the-ring” presence. But then again, I’m not sure where you use Nigel if not with the Asian Nation. Anything that keeps Nigel in front of the crowd works for me. I wrote down that it was a fun match with lots of intricate stories. Kenny Steele walked out and stole $Payday$’s belt. $Payday$ went to tag in WASP while he was still recovering after being in the ring for a while. $Payday$ went after him. The two-on-one advantage proved to be too much for WASP.

    Winner: Asian Nation

    Well, with Tad Wylde, The Following, Asian Nation, Bling & Sting, a possible Cash & Carry return, Dunnings & Red, I believe, MPX, you have a tag team division.

    Fifth match: Joshua City vs. Jerome Daniels

    This was Joshua’s debut match so he gets “First Match Immunity.” However, I don’t know if it’s Jerome, but this was actually a pretty good match. Joshua has a lot of personality and kind of understands that it’s due-paying time. As I have learned, it’s not easy cutting your first promo. It takes something to listen to the crowd and be reacted to. I’ve seen a few debuts in MPX. Some I wish I could unsee. This is probably the best debut I’ve seen at MPX.

    Winner: Jerome

    Jerome is supposed to be built-up to be fighting the big match against Frankie and took a little longer than he should have to beat Joshua City, making his MPX debut. James Hawke came out after the match saying that the people were supposed to love him were booing him now. He listened to the crowd and followed them where they took him. This is the John Cena heel turn we’ve all been waiting for.

    Sixth match: Nobe Bryant vs. Kanoa

    I’ve had the chance to see Nobe since back in the day. The man is a great athlete and has an amazing look. Kanoa has a good arrogance to him. Both guys are really good athletes and  had some good agility for their size. Nobe tried to keep the crowd engaged (which sometimes really needs to happen with this crowd). And with respect to Murdoch and Saint, Nobe won for chop of the night. I wrote down that it was a good, decent match. Kanoa won unexpectedly.

    Winner: Kanoa

    Looks like they are giving Kanoa a nice push. I’m intrigued to see what he has for us.

    Seventh match: Frankie Fisher (c) vs. Gregory James vs. Jason Silver

    Well, who wouldn’t want to see James-Silver? I wrote down that I liked the beginning. Frankie is a good smarmy heel. There were some good dynamics. You had James and Silver who are friends but Frankie used that to his advantage. The action was very fast-paced. I was surprisingly able to keep up with most of it. Greg is becoming quite the storyteller. Storyteller + Agility = ∞ limits. Frankie submitted Jason Silver while Greg was outside the ring.

    Winner: Fisher

    This is definitely the strongest I have seen Frankie looked. He looked like a credible champion.

    Main Event: Carrion Arcane w/The Following vs. Sho Funaki

    I’m going to try to see how many times I can fit the word “Indeed” into this match. Seriously, it was fun. We had Funaki live before our crowd. Arcane got in a lot of offense. Funaki did what he did best and one of the reasons he was kept around in the WWE for so long. He sold. The match was very well laid out. After a good night of wrestling, we got to see Funaki get a pin out of nowhere.

    Winner: Funaki

    All in all… The night was pretty decent. The crowd was packed and lively. Some people were worried about it being BYOB for the first time. As Arcane said, “We have a Murdoch.” They left us with some nice questions. That is what a wrestling company needs to be, especially with a lot of people who normally wouldn’t be there. Special props need to go out to Daniel and Anthony the refs. These guys were active and engaged in hot weather doing a very athletic activity for several matches. Joshua had a nice debut. Murdoch and Saint tore down the house. Frankie looked like a real legitimate champion. And I do believe we have the development of a tag team division.

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  4. Metroplex Wrestling 4-14-12 “WASP is Gonna Kill You”

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    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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