MAIN EVENT
The MESSIAH (XPW) (w/ Lizzy Borden) vs. RAVEN (ECW) (w/ Beulah McGillicutty)
THOUGHTS: For those that don't know, The Messiah is XPW's chosen one, but has nothing in common with Jeff Jarrett, might you know. Messiah is a dark individual, and while he doesn't play his role as serious as the (old) Undertaker, he's much more serious of a threat than Gangrel. If he was to be compared to someone else other than Raven, it'd probably be Vampiro. He dramatically plays his mysterious persona up, but when he steps into the ring, high-risk manuevers and aerial attacks can be and should be expected. He's a megaheel, and like Raven, has a unique style.
While Raven uses the simple, yet effective, Evenflow DDT ("The Raven Effect" in the WWF) to finish off his opponents, Messiah counts on his flashy, yet brutal, looking "Godsmack" manuever, which sees him lift his opponent into a fireman's carry, spin around repeatedly, and collapse backward, dropping them into a Stunner (altogether, that'd be called a "Spinning Fireman's Carry [into a] Stunner"). He also uses a crossbody block (non-top-rope [on the ring mat]).
While Messiah is definitely the more aerial of the two, neither man is afraid to occasionally fly off of the ring ma. Raven is known for his double-jump plancha from the second turnbuckle to the outside of the ring, while Messiah prefers to fly onto the concrete using his "Holy Roller," which is an apron-diving somersault body attack. In the ring, though, he prefers using a quebrada (middle-rope springboard moonsault), springboard (from the apron) leg drop, or The Cross Factor (Face Plant).
CANE on a POLE Match
JUSTIN CREDIBLE (ECW) (w/ "The Queen of Extreme" Francine [Fournier] & "The Sexiest Man on Earth" Jason) vs. WEBB (XPW) (w/ Jessica [Darlin])
THOUGHTS: Both of these men are two of the top heels in their respective orginization. The most obvious similarity between these two is their favorite foreign object to use: the singapore cane, made famous by The Sandman. Neither one is afraid to swing the stick, and in fact, every night they go out they look forward to doing just that. However, the similarities don't end just there. Both men have adopted versions of the piledriver. WEBB, who was formerly known as, "White Trash" Johnny Webb, was a well-known indy performer before finding a comfortable home in XPW. He's crowned his variation "The White Trash Driver" (like his nickname), which is a a Sitout Bodyslam (not quite a Michinoku Driver II, as there's not much of a head spike/head drop). Credible, meanwhile, looks forward to setting up his foes with a corkscrew pickup, and then dropping them hard on the back of their necks with a tombstone piledriver. Of course, Credible calls this move, "That's Incredible."
Each has modified a DDT for their use. WEBB not only uses a regular DDT, but has also been known to pull the "Welfare Check" out of his bag. This is an over-the shoulder hold into an falling inverted DDT. Credible has used a swinging DDT on the ring mat as his finisher in several promotions, including ECW and the WWF/WWE. WEBB sometimes uses a shoulder breaker and a submission hold that he calls, "The Trailer Hitch," which is a standing stepover armlock. He also uses a suplex and a swinging over-the-shoulder powerslam. There is actually one last move that WEBB uses, and it sees him avoid usually an attempted lariat by performing a front roll, then a back roll (when the opponent again tries to lariat him down). WEBB then quickly gets back up and dropkicks his opponent down. While all of those moves take a few moments to set up, Credible only needs a split second to drill his signature superkick. Another tip when fighting Credible: try not to move into the corner. Credible has popularized a sitout powerbomb out of the corner.
Both performers also have hot female valets that area lways there to support their man. Credible is always accompanied to the ring by the mischevious "Queen of Extreme," Francine (Fournier), while porn star Jessica Darlin is usually not too far behind WEBB. The storyline for her and WEBB's relationship is that Jessica was an obsessed fan of Webb (back when he was known as "White Trash" Johnny Webb), and after constantly annoying him, he agreed to let be his valet. Credible also usually has the self-proclaimed "Sexiest Man on Earth," Jason, by his side.
Probably the most common thing about each performer is that each have held their respective promotion's top title. At CyberSlam 2000 (4/22/00), Tommy Dreamer pinned then-World Wrestling Federation star and (at the time) current ECW World Heavyweight Champion Tazz to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, his first and only world title in that promotion. Dreamer had been with the promotion ever since it's days in 1992 as Eastern Championship Wrestling, and the emotion in the building at that time was priceless. Dreamer had tears in his eyes as he proclaimed, "I may never make it to WrestleMania, and I sure as hell don't want to make it to StarrCade, but I've finally made it in ECW!"
Suddenly, Credible (w/ Jason) the then-Co-ECW World Tag Team Champion (w/ Lance Storm [as "The Impact Players") emerged from the backstage area, spoiling Dreamer's emotional moment. An impromptu title match occurred, and just when it looked like he was going to retain his title, Francine, who was Dreamer's valet (at the time), entered the ring and low blowed him. Credible took advantage by hitting That's Incredible for the pinfall and title win. Francine and Credible were on the same team, and Credible also had Jason by his side.
Over the next five months, Credible and his new alliance dominated ECW, and the new world champion successfully defended his title against Dreamer, Jerry Lynn, Kid Kash, Lance Storm (his former, "Impact Players" parnter), Raven, The Sandman, Steve Corino, and Yoshihiro Tajiri. At Anarchy Rulz '00 (10/1/00), though, Jerry Lynn again stepped up again and challenged Credible for his title. This time, Lynn posed a serious threat to the title, and it took him exactly 19 minutes to keep Credible down for three seconds. Lynn had unseated Credible for the title, and how great it was that the show was in Lynn's hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Credible continued fighting for the world title in the next few months, but he never captured it again. ECW went bankrupt in March 2001, and Credible soon departed to the World Wrestling Federation.
Webb career took a bright turn, when, at XPW Damage Inc. (8/25/01), The Messiah left XPW's (then) premier heel stable, The Black Army, leaving XPW Owner Rob Black without a partner for his tag team main event match against Josh Lazie & Sabu. The match began with Black getting the piss beat out of him by both of his opponents, both of whom were mega faces with the crowd. Suddenly, New Jack emerged from the backstage area, and he was brawling with...Rob Black! It looked like there were two Rob Blacks! Jack through the Black that he was brawling with into the ring, and the fans finally began realizing that there was both a real Rob Black and a lookalike Rob Black. Upon closer examination, though, it became clear that the Black that Jack was brawling with was actually "White Trash" Johnny Webb! Sabu was about to perform his signature Triple-Jump Moonsault on Webb when none other than former-two-time XPW World Champion "The Real Deal" Damien Steele shockingly appeared at the top of the entryway, apparently making his return to XPW.
With Sabu distracted, Webb climbed out of the ring and rolled Lazie into it, and then climbed back in. Lazie had been put through a ringside table courtesy of the real Black's flying elbow drop, and he was still out, so Webb took advantage of this and pinned him. Due to prematch stipulations, Webb had not only won the XPW World Heavyweight Championship, but both Lazie and Sabu were not allowed to ever appear in XPW again. For the next 11 whole months, WEBB (which he had, shortly after winning the title, changed his name to), now a Black Army member, successfully defended his title against men like Excalibur, G.Q. Money, Leroy The Ring Crew Guy, The Sandman, Terry Funk, and Vampiro.
His biggest challenge, though, came at XPW Night of Champions (7/20/02), when the mystery challenger for his title was revealed to be none other than former-ECW World Heavyweight and Television Champion "The Franchise" Shane Douglas. In the end, Douglas caught WEBB with his signature Belly-to-Belly (non-Overhead) Suplex, and then pinned him to win the XPW World Heavyweight Championship! After the match, Douglas punked out Veronica Caine, Rob Black, and Kevin Kleinrock before aligning himself with Black's own wife, Lizzy Borden! The date and venue of XPW's next show was then revealed, and it was to take place on August 31, 2002 at what was formerly known as, "The ECW Arena," and now known as "Viking Hall." In addition to all of this, prematch stipulations forced WEBB was forced to leave XPW forever!
With both men's love of assaulting their opponents with a cane and all of their other similarities, a "Cane on a Pole Match" would be a great stipulation to add to a bout between the two.
The Dudley Boyz Tag Team Table Invitational Match
Da' Baldies (SPANISH ANGEL & TONY DeVITO) (ECW) vs. The Dudley Boyz (BUH BUH RAY DUDLEY & D-VON DUDLEY) (ECW) vs. The Panthers (K. MALIK SHEBAZ & RAPHAEL MOHAMMED) (w/ Shalid Jihad) (XPW) vs. The Westsiders (BIG ROTT & CHRONIC)
MATCH RULES: There will be two legal men in the ring at all time. A team is eliminated when one of it's members is put though a table via an offensive manuever by another team. The last surviving team is the winner.
No Holds Barred Last Man Standing Match
"The Man-Beast" RHINO (ECW) vs. "The Human Horror Film" SUPREME (XPW) (w/ Kristi Myst)
For those unaware, Supreme is XPW's aptly-named, "Human Horror Film," while Rhino is ECW's incredibly powerful, "Man-Beast." Supreme won XPW's first King of the Death Match tournament, made it to the final round of the second K.O.T.D.M. tournament, won the third tournament, and is the only (to date) three-time XPW K.O.T.D.M. Champion. In fact, nobody else (besides him) has even held the XPW K.O.T.D.M. Title more than once! He has competed in several brutal contests featuring weapons like barbed-wire, broken light bulbs, thumbtacks, and even fire, and he holds the distinctive honor of, along with Vic Grimes, competing in the first-ever Exploding Ring Death Match to occur in the United States. Falls off of 15-foot tall ladders onto beds of barbed-wire and light-bulbs, sick bumps from high heights onto the solid concrete floor, and horiffic crashes through flaming tables have all become parts of the highlight film of - well - the aptly-named "Human Horror Film.
The 5'10", 300+ lb. monster has dripped gallons of blood throughout his XPW career, and his style epitomizes extreme violence. He's far harder than simply hardcore, and his style is very foreign. Relying mainly on brawling techniques, when he leaps off the top-rope and literally squashes his opponent with his gigantic Mekka Toad Splash (Flying Frog Splash), is guarantee that you can add another win to his record. Not one man has ever kicked out of that manuever (and that includes stars like The Sandman and Vic Grimes), a manuever which has earned him such an impressive record that, out of every single performer to ever compete in XPW, he has the highest winning percentage of all, and that's after competing in more than 35 matches.
"High impact" would also be the perfect phrase to describe the finishing move of Rhino, perhaps even more so than that of Supreme. Rhino calls the move, "The Gore," and it's a vicious spear (running body tackle) that absolutely drives everything out of his unlucky foe. As soon as his opponent turns toward him, Rhino runs toward him at incredible speed and absolutely plows him down. Rhino's Gore has about twice as much power as (Bill) Goldberg's spear. Like Supreme's Toad Splash, nobdoy has ever kicked out of Rhino's Gore, and that includes men like Rob Van Dam and The Sandman.
"The Real Deal" DAMIEN STEELE (XPW) (w/ Basil [Steele's bodyguard]) vs. MIKE AWESOME (ECW) (w/ Judge Jeff Jones)
Both of these big men very agile for their size. Each competitor is very young, still with many years ahead of them. Steele, the only two-time XPW World Heavyweight Champion in the promotion's short but exciting history, also uses a basic, yet slightly more innovative, finishing manuever (than C.W.). Called "The Real Deal," it's a Swinging Jumping Hangman's Hangman's Neckbreaker, and it is a very cool move to witness.
Mexico's Most Wanted (DAMIEN 666 & HALLOWEEN) (w/ Lady Victoria) (XPW) vs. The F.B.I. (The Fully Blooded Italians) (LITTLE GUIDO MARITATO & TONY MAMALUKE) (w/ Big Sal Graziano) (ECW)
To many, Damien 666 and Halloween may be unknown. However, many international fans view them as two of the most seasoned tag team veterans in the business. The team now known as "Mexico's Most Wanted" toured around the wrestling world for most of the '90's. They've had successful stays in Japan, Mexico, the U.S., everywhere...One may even remember them from some of the early episodes of WCW Monday Night Nitro! Originally from Mexico, Damien and Halloween have used their world traveling to perfect a unique style, one that combines a hardcore, death match-like style from Japan and a high-risk, aerial, Lucha-Libre offense from Mexico.
The two eventually ended up in XPW, where they were managed by Lady Victoria. In XPW, they adopted another member to their team, that being Rey Misterio Sr., the real-life uncle of Rey Mysterio Jr. Misterio Sr. left XPW after a few months, and Damien and Halloween are back and alone, having only eachother to trust. They've defeated all of XPW's regular tag teams (both past and present), and their innovative, suicidal style shows no signs of slowing down.
Damien 666 has adopted a very creative manuever to finish off opponents. Referred to as the "Martinette" or "Muscle Buster," the move is similar to a fisherman suplex or fishermanbuster (fisherman DDT), but instead of dropping them on their back (fisherman suplex) or head (fishermanbuster), he flips them into a neckbreaker. The move is technically known as a Hanging Fisherman Cradle Neckbreaker. His other trademark holds include an armdrag, a headscissors takeover, top-rope frankensteiner, and a vertical suplex. He's even created a variation of the armdrag where he performs a ropewalk springboard armdrag. Halloween, meanwhile, although a seasoned high-flyer, is the more grounded of the two. His signature manuevers include a missle dropkick, a flying splash, and most commonly, a spinning heelkick.
Best Two Out of Three (2/3) Falls Match
"Mr. 80's" (DYNAMITE) D (XPW) vs. "The King of Old School" STEVE CORINO (ECW) (w/ Jack Victory)
Having been trained by Sam Houston and Terry Funk, D (formerly "Dynamite D") is a decade-long pro wrestling veteran and is probably XPW's best pure mat wrestler. In XPW, where blood, guts, and brutality is the norm, D brings XPW's fans a very unique style than that usually seen. Nicknamed "Mr. 80's," D always reminded the crowd of the classic days of pro wrestling, back when the violence, sexuality, and brutality was almost unseen. He preached and praised matches that were based on athletecism (instead of drama and theatrics) and featured actual wrestling holds and manuevers (instead of brawling and weapons use).
D would even pay tribute to a classic grappler by dressing up like them for his matches, and throughout his XPW career (which began at XPW's inaugural 7/31/1999 show), he has dressed up and impersonated greats like Brother Love, Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts, Randy Savage, Rick Martel, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and The Ultimate Warrior. The hardcore XPW fans, though, proved their unpredictability when they actually began to support D and cheer for him. Although XPW itself was a premier extreme wrestling company, their fans saw the superb mat wrestling talent of D and made it a point to cheer him on against some of XPW's top heels.
D's classical attitude, of course, lasted until early 2002 when he turned on XPW's fans and aligned himself with the invading "So-Cal Jobbers Union," a stable that featured some of Southern California's top wrestling talents. D is the head trainer of XPW's training school, "The Asylum," a place where he worked with and helped jump start the careers as such as XPW stars as Carlito Montana, Damien Steele, Homeless Jimmy, Johnny Webb, and The Messiah. Among various other holds, D commonly use a flying elbow drop and an armbar submission hold. He has several finishing moves, including a Fujiwara Armbar submission hold, "The D-Driver," and "The '86 (a Front [Forward] Russian Legsweep)."
Corino is also, like D, very old school. Upon debuting in ECW, on December 19, 1998 against Nova in The ECW Arena, he made it clear to fans that he was not a fan of the hardcore, merciless brutality that ECW had done so much to popularize. He preached the importance of old school wrestling without the steel chairs, tablebombs, and broken bodies, and quickly aligned himself alongside Jack Victory. After that partnership, he would become a member of The Network, an ECW heel stable also including men like Rhino, Yoshihiro Tajiri, and Cyrus. While he preached against blood and brutality, however, Corino regularly left the arena each night with a hair full of blood, making him one of the elite "bladers" in the business.
At ECW November To Remember in late 2000, he would accomplish his dream and outlast four other incredible competitors (Jerry Lynn, Justin Credible, and The Sandman) en route to winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. While he lost the title to Sandman about two months later at Guilty As Charged on January 5, 2001, he proved to the wrestling worled that he was a force to be reckoned with. Corino has a bunch of finishing manuevers: The Old School Expulsion (a modified Swinging Neckbreaker), The Old School Superkick (a Thrust Kick), a Hiptoss (into a) Powerbomb, a (standard) Neckbreaker, The Old School Bomb, and The VictoryPlex. Other common manuevers he uses are a fisherman suplex, a northern lights suplex, a swinging neckbreaker, and a heelkick (leaping leg lariat).
The similarities between the gimmicks of these two and their styles would surely make for a great scientific bout.
Ladder Match
KAOS (XPW) vs. NOVA (ECW)
THOUGHTS: Kaos (formerly Kid Kaos), XPW's first-ever Television Champion, is one of the very few young studs that would be able to match ECW's Kid Kash move-for-move. Both have extremely similar styles. Both men regularly use a somersault neckbreaker off the turnbuckle. Kaos has, to put it politely, a shitload of manuevers in his arsenal. His most commonly used manuever is called "The Flying Guillotine," and this flying somersault neckbreaker is regularly used by him to finish off opponents. Both men use variations of the piledriver, too. Kash uses a double-arm (underhook) piledrive, which he called, "The Money Maker," as his finisher, while Kaos has adopted two piledriver versions of his own. Most commonly, he uses the "Kaos Driver," a fireman's carry into a Michinoku Driver II. At XPW Freefall (2002),though, he debuted a manuever where he turned a crucifix powerbomb into a piledriver, damn near breaking the neck of his opponent, former-ECW'er Chris Hamrick!
Kaos loves doing the inverted DDT, and he uses several variations, including a move where he charges the turnbuckle with his opponent in a 3/4 facelock bulldog (Stunner) hold, backflips off the top-rope and turns the hold into a falling inverted DDT. That move is perhaps the most creative move ever seen in XPW. That manuever is the quite simply epitomy of innovation. When flying out of the ring to take out an opponent on the outside, Kaos tends to use the tumbleweed (a somersault plancha; he'll sometimes even add a twist [corkscrew version] to it), a somersault pescado (catapult somersault crossbody suicida), or an Asai Moonsault (Quebrada [Middle-Rope Springboard Moonsault] Body Attack) to the outside. Kash, meanwhile, prefers utilizing a plancha (crossbody suicida off of the top-rope), a springboard somersault plancha, and corkscrew somersault body attack off of the top-rope.
Kaos, on the otherhand, will also commonly modify a suplex. He initially turned a vertical suplex into an inverted DDT, but at XPW New Year's Revolution II (2002), he debuted a very dangerous manuever that he called, "Kaostrify." He picked his opponent up in a vertical suplex on the top-rope, but then flips them out of the hold, leaps off and lands very hard, bring them down stiffly on the mat with a facebuster. A quebrada (middle rope slingshot [back springboard] moonsault splash) is also a common move of his. Kash also has commonly used an armdrag in his matches. Kaos also uses some flying splashes, including a flying crossbody block, flying frog splash, and a flying moonsault splash. Kaos also utilizes a Super Huracanrana, sometimes as a suicida, which is where he brings his foe off of the top-rope with a huracanrana, but instead of sending them back into the ring, he flips them out onto the hard, unforgiving concrete.
August 25, 2001's "Damage Inc.," Kaos (then "Kid Kaos"), then a monster face, won a one-night, single-elimination tournament to become XPW's inaugural Television Champion by defeating Konnan in the final round. After the match, Kaos' storyline uncle, Supreme, came out and congratulated him on his win. However, a heel stable called, "The Enterprise," came out, and just when it seemed that Kaos and Supreme would have to fend them off, Kaos bashed his newly-won title belt across Supreme's forehead. He and The Enterprise assaulted Supreme, eventually dumped lighter fluid all over the body of him, severely burning XPW's "Human Horror Film."
Kid Kaos was dead. "The Rock Superstar" was born. Kaos dropped the "Kid" and began going by the alias, "The Rock Superstar," Kaos. He became a top member of The Enterprise (or The E., for short), a stable that The Sandman would eventually join. Along with his new-found allies, XPW TV Champion Kaos destroyed anything in his path, but he had a far meaner attitude. Gone was the fan-loving, smiling, happy-go-lucky Kaos. In was the disrespectful, arrogant, uncaring, and "Rock Superstar."
Kaos and The E. committed sick acts for most of 2002 in XPW, including stripping the clothes off of Lizzy Borden, assaulting Rob Black to a bloody pulp, and attacking XPW's male transvestite, Angel. Kaos developed a far meaner attitude that he had ever shown before, and his rise in XPW never slowed down. As an E. member, he uses "Ode to Joy," (by Ludvig van Beethoven) a classical song, as his theme song.
A match between these two would be a potential "Indy Match of the Year" candidate, mixing top-notch matwork with innovative, high-flying stunts rarely seen before in the United States. A Ladder Match, though, would just add to the manuevers able to be performed.
Intergender (Mixed) Tag Team Match
ANGEL & KRAQ vs. LUNA & VAMPIRE WARRIOR
ALTAR BOY LUKE (XPW) vs. KID KASH (ECW)
CRIMSON & SNUFF (w/ J.R. Benson) (XPW) vs. The PITBULLS (Pitbull #1 & Pitbull #2) (ECW)
The Pitbulls actually had a short stay in XPW during it's earlier days back in 1999. They are two colossal mosters who use their power to control their opponents. That power, though, probably wouldn't be too effective against XPW's Crimson and Snuff, though. Crimson is about 7'0" tall, while Snuff, who's actually played by the the man known as "The Wall" in WCW and "Malice" on the indpendent circuit, is about 6'11" or so.
911 (ECW) vs. TOOL (XPW) (w/ Cypher)
Each of these two men are massive in size. 911 has been with ECW ever since 1993, and he's always been a moster face. He really only has one move, and that's his finisher, an Elevated Delayed Chokeslam Throw. 911 grabs his opponent around the neck, lifts them up high into the air, holds them up there for anywhere from three to ten seconds, and then throws them back down to the mat. TOOL, meanwhile, is usually accompanied to the ring by his manager, Cypher, who is, in real-life, married to the manager of WEBB (see above), porn star Jessica Darlin. TOOL has two finishing moves: a Chokeslam and a move he calls, "The Snuff Bomb," which is a modified Powerbomb. His other signature manuevers include an armdrag, an inverted powerbomb onto the top ring rope (like Eddie Gilbert's Hotshot move, it drives his opponent's throat into the ropes), and a rope slingshot backflip joint armdrag throw. If you're wondering how that last move is done, here's a description: TOOL
G.Q. MONEY (ECW) vs. SPIKE DUDLEY (XPW)