---Well, another review from me. Two reviews in less than two weeks!!!! I got this tape as a "just because" tape in a trade.....to even out the trade I needed to pick out another tape from the guy I traded from, nothing was jumping out at me as "absolutely must have", so I just picked this at random. As it happens, that turned out to be a good choice. The deal with this review is that I've been itching to actually WATCH the wrestling I've gotten within in the last six months, but due to dubbing, I haven't really been getting around to watching it. This tape has been sitting around practically collecting dust, I never found out what was on it even to make a matchlist, so I said to myself....why not do a review????
---A little variation from other reviews I've done. Usually I try to provide play by play at a fairly accurate rate. However, I didn't really feel like devoting a ton of time to that for this review, so instead I'm doing the "summary/story" review, where I describe the basic storyline of the match (if there is one), highlighting it with some of the major spots. Not necessarily big moves, but major moves that turns the tide of the match or decide the outcome. So keep that in mind when reading this in the case that you've seen this match somewhere else and it doesn't look that accurate, or it seems like I've missed way too many moves. I probably have, my goal wasn't to go move for move. This is actually a much easier way to review, and I might decide to adopt it for other reviews....since my dubbing VCRs and TV are in the same room as my computer, I can just turn around and type out my notes instead of jotting them down from a TV in another room.
---Some pre-review raves....is pre-review a word? Anyway....
1) I have no clue who made this tape but whether it was RF Video or somebody else, it was DEFINATELY from a major tape supplier, because for indy footage this stuff is just incredible EX quality, and only the major tape suppliers get the best Masters for comps. Needless to say though, I was happy and impressed with this.
2) I've tried to supply dates and Feds when and if I could figure them out through looking around the net, but I don't guarantee accuracy in that respect.
3)-- I don't know ALL the finishing moves and trademark moves of all the wrestlers on this tape. So, for example, if a move is performed by a wrestler I'll probably call it by whatever name I know it as from Japan or wherever I've seen it. For example, I do happen to know what the "Infra-Red" is....but if I didn't, I'd just call it a Sky Twister Press w/leg drop and be done with it.
---At the end of 2001, many of these guys were pretty unknown or just considered improving...with many of these guys getting lots of time with NWA: TNA and Ring of Honor, more people know who these guys are now. Well, enough of the preliminaries, here's YOUR matchlist for this 4 hour tape of US indy goodness.....
1. Rob Van Dam vs. Mikey Henderson UPW card Unknown Date, but probably April sometime
2. The SATs (Spanish Announce Team) vs. Ric Blade/Briscoe Brothers CZW 5/12/01????
3. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe CZW 5/19/2001
4. Briscoes vs. Insane Dragon/Dixie Jersey All Pro Wrestling 3/24/01????
5. Low-Ki vs. Xavier UCW Queens, NY 6/30/01 Ladder Match
6. Low-Ki vs. American Dragon ECWA 7/21/01 Ricky Steamboat is Special Ref
7. Low-Ki vs. Red UCW Unknown Date, but soon after 9/11
8. Low-Ki vs. American Dragon vs. Christoper Daniels vs. Scoot Andrews ECWA 9/22/01
9. Red vs. Joel Maximo vs. Jose Maximo ECWA 4/7/01
10. SAT vs. Low-Ki/American Dragon ECWA 12/1/01
1. RVD vs. Mikey Henderson UPW
I will admit right off that I don't know much about Mikey Henderson. As I said in the matchlist, I don't know when this happened, but it's probably sometime in April, because the announcers say "RVD hasn't worked in 3 months" and as the last ECW show ever was in January, that makes it as good a guess as any.
RVD is way over despite Mikey being the local product. RVD and Mikey stall FOREVER before we get started. At least 10 solid minutes of stalling. If there's a story to the match, it would be that RVD has no respect for Mikey. They run through some basic offense in between the stalling, with RVD mock-clapping whenever Mikey gets a decent move. It starts to pick up about 15 minutes in with RVD going to work with all his basic offense (if you've seen an RVD match before, do I need to elaborate?), before Mikey catches RVD off-guard with a few highspots. RVD takes the match more seriously at this point and it remains pretty even for awhile. RVD starts to take over, with Mikey getting some hope spots every now and then to keep the crowd into the match. RVD goes up for the 5 star Frog Splash, but Christopher Daniels runs in and hits the Last Rites (inverted facelock into spinning neckbreaker), bringing out Samoa Joe to chase off Daniels to big pops. Match goes on for a few more minutes before RVD wins it with the usual at right around 21 minutes or so (I only kept approximate times, not exact times). **. Really boring start, but a hot finish saves it.
2. Ric Blade/The Briscoe Brothers vs. The Spanish Announce Team
The Spanish Team is The Amazing Red and the Maximos, Joel and Jose. These guys have all been on NWA: TNA and on the Ring of Honor shows. If anybody goes to 411wrestling.com, Blade got some notoriety there recently by shattering his leg by doing a swanton off a balcony....and missing the target. The Briscoes are 18 year old brothers who've been getting lots of good press in the indys lately. They've also appeared in NWA: TNA and Ring of Honor. The only bad thing is that they look enough alike sometimes it's hard to tell who is who, especially when everything breaks loose in a match.
Very quick start as we get everything in triplicate, with triple dropkicks followed up by triple quebradas. Nice. It settles down back inside for the next 5-10 minutes as everyone pairs off and goes through the normal wrestling sequences before tagging out. The Red/Mark sequence is the only one that looks even remotely good. This being CZW 6 man though, everything quickly breaks loose with no regard for tagging anymore, and everyone proceeds to miss spots left and right. The SAT isolate Jay Briscoe and just murder him with triple team stuff. Joel gets an unknown Briscoe in a surfboard, Jose adds a dragon sleeper, and Red comes off the top with a stomp! Awesome sequence there. We settle back down a bit with Red and Blade going and Red getting the upper hand. An intentional big missing sequence erupts with all 6 guys in the ring and missing all their big moves right in a row. Blade recovers first from all that missing and hits rolling suplexes; a fisherman, twisting fisherman, and then ending it with the Edge of the Blade (an Angle Slam kinda, only more vertical drop). The other guys blow some more spots while this is going on. Jay hits a version of a Liger bomb to come back, but Red hits the Red Star Press (standing shooting star) on Jay. Mark hits a (alleged) Burning Hammer on Red. The CZW mutants start chanting "fuck the Hardyz" here, which is just plain fucking stupid. These guys WISH they were as good as the Hardyz, and should be down on their hands and knees thanking the Hardyz for creating a place in wrestling for super insane bumps. Anyway...
The Briscoes and Ric then try something crazy. Red is sitting on the top. Blade has Mark on his shoulders, and Mark has Jay on HIS shoulders, and they try a triple stacker suplex on Red. Let’s just say they fuck up BADLY and it’s mostly Ric Blade's fault. Of course the mutants are deeply impressed.....personally, I'm just glad nobody broke their neck on that. The Maximos capitalize on that bullshit by hitting The Spanish Fly (opponent on top, the Maximos climb up top and get in Rock Bottom position, then moonsault while still holding the opponent) on Jay, but it's broken up. Some bad chair spots follow. Less said the better. Jay, Mark, and Blade get a sequence now....Jay hits a senton, though barely, Mark totally overshoots his moonsault, and then Blade almost kills Joel when he botches...something....although it DOES get the 3 at about 14 minutes or so. **1/2 Total spotfest, but even with the impressive spots, there were WAY too many blown spots for this to get a high rating. Yeah, fuck the Hardyz, riiiiiiiiiggggghhhhhttttt...when's the last time you've seen the Hardyz miss two spots in a match...the answer is when Jeff was about 15. EACH GUY missed like 5 in this one, and they weren't little misses. Still, it was kinda fun, the effort was there, so it was okay for what it was.
3. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe 5/19/01
As I said in the previous match, the Briscoes are picking up quite the reputation in the indys as a tag team and from ROH, but a great deal of their fame started from this particular match at the CZW Jr. Tourney on 5/19/01.
I didn't really take alot of notes from this one, although I really didn't need to. The beginning starts off with alot of mat wrestling which ends up with both guys controlling their share of the action. About 5 minutes in Mark gets pissed off and slaps Jay, and they start doing some stiff chops and striking. They work a few sequences DIRECTLY from NJPW Jr. matches....it's like they watched a Liger match right before they were announced and decided to do a few of the sequences. Some pinfall sequences get 2 for each guy as we near the 10 minute mark. The last 7 minutes of the match, from this point, will make you think this is a super great match or piss you off, depending on your viewpoint of wrestling. The Briscoes start to run through nearly every big-time finishing move they can think of, hitting Tiger Driver '91, a Burning Hammer, a Fire Thunder Driver, Thunderfire Powerbomb....you name it, they probably did it. Jay eventually finishes this with a double underhook powerbomb from the top for 3 at about 17 minutes. ***3/4.
--Ok, I gave it 4 stars, but now my problems with the match. First of all, the first ten minutes of the match---some great stuff in the middle portion, no doubt, but some of the sequences were DIRECTLY out of NJPW Jr. matches. Not that I have a real big problem with that, per se....to improve, you have to learn from SOMEWHERE, and I HIGHLY approve of the Briscoes knowledge of wrestling...this tape was the first time I've ever seen them, but from the last two matches I can guarantee you that they've watched TONS of Liger, Dynamite Kid, Tiger Mask, Benoit, Guerrero and Malenko. The sequences were too well choreographed for me to miss that. You can only learn from those who are better than you, and with a brother to practice with day after day, you know eventually they could do this automatically. However--it's one thing to do it with your brother, another to do it with another worker you might have never met before. Some of those sequences just felt like guys imitating great wrestling and performing it very good. There's a difference. Still, I forgave that....imitation IS a form of flattery after all. I'm sure Benoit had moments like that early in his career when he was patterning himself after Dynamite Kid...but Benoit learned to incorporate the imitation into his own style and make the sequences strictly his own. I think (and hope) the Briscoes do the same. Secondly though, the finishing moves. I'm sorry, they were impressive moves, but I DO NOT want to see American indy wrestlers kicking out of Burning Hammers or Tiger Driver '91s. If guys like Kobashi and Kawada can't kick out of Tiger Driver '91, should some 18 year old kid be kicking out of it? That's just the way I feel. Also with the rapid-fire finishers, there was no real "build" to the match. Exciting finish, yeah, but no build. They went right from mat work and striking into these super big finishers. Just turned me off there. It felt like a 40 minute Kobashi/Misawa match crammed into 17 minutes...without the middle 25 minutes of the match necessary to be there to build up the story and making the crowd enthralled by the story, not just popping for it.
I don't know...maybe I'm alone in my feelings on those matters. That's just the way I feel though.
4. Briscoes vs. Insane Dragon/Dixie 3/24/01? JPW
I don't really know much about Insane Dragon or Dixie. I know they've worked Ring of Honor a few times, but other than I don't really know what else to give ya about them.
Briscoes work heel here instead of face as in the 2nd match, seeing as how I-Dragon and Dixie are the JPW tag champs and the hometown boys. The Briscoes work on the left arm of Dixie to start for a few minutes. Match breaks down after this into a bunch of flippy floppy from all 4 guys. I-Dragon nearly breaks his neck trying a top-rope rana, then he follows THAT up by nearly breaking his neck AGAIN by underrotating on a running shooting star press from the apron onto the prone Briscoes on the floor. He wasn't even close to getting halfway around on that one, let alone ALL the way. If the Briscoe doesn't react quickly and catch him there we're looking at a newly paralyzed man. Anyway....back in the ring, an unknown Briscoe gets worked over before shit breaks down again for no reason. Sometimes I wonder why indy wrestling even bothers with the fiction of tag team wrestling. We settle down again with a REALLY fake looking UFC mount sequence, but they thankfully abandon that and segue into a neat looking Indian deathlock bridgeback/Kaientai dropkick combo by the Briscoes. That was pretty sweet. Briscoes work over I-Dragon, then hit an INSANE pescado-swanton combo to the outside, popping the crowd huge and almost instantly turning face in the process. That move was like Foley doing the Nestea Plunge early in his career....totally unnecessary. WARNING!!!!----Wrestling imitation example that I alluded to in the Briscoe's singles match....I-Dragon starts a comeback, and they IMITATE a Malenko/Guerrero pinning sequence, which I am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN is supposed to end with Dragon sunset flipping Briscoe from a powerbomb position, but fucking up instead and "saving" it with an almost DDT. That DDT allows the Briscoes to control for a long time though, and they proceed to bust out a whole shitload of cool double team spots to turn the crowd back against them, including a Demolition Decapitation and a double Rock Bottom. Fisherman Buster gets 2. Double underhook powerbomb gets 2. All 4 in to trade stuff for no real reason, and timely interference from the (supposedly face) I-Dragon allows Dixie to hit a forearm in the back of the head for the 3 at about 15 minutes. A fuckin forearm? *** That was one of the stupidest endings I've ever seen....the Briscoes dominated the entire match and the "face" team didn't do nearly enough to establish a mere forearm to finish it. But whatever, you take what you can get. Good match in any case. Postmatch, da Hit Squad come out and destroy both teams for some unknown, and it's unknown because we now move from this match to......
5 . Low-Ki vs. Xavier Ladder match 6-30-01 Queens NY UCW
Low-Ki is of course everyone's indy darling. Xavier is another guy who I don't know much about, other than seeing him mentioned in Ring of Honor a few times.
Lots of striking in the start with both guys bringing the stiffness. Next we get lots of ladder usage as they run through some typical ladder match spots. That goes on for a couple minutes while they brawl. Xavier gets the brief advantage and climbs, but Ki pulls him down into a Tree of Woe on the ladder and then winds up for the MAD stiffness, unleashing the kicks on a defenseless Xavier. Xavier SLOWLY crawls away to the corner and Ki has a chance to climb, but doesn't. Ki pulls down the ladder and wedges it into the corner, trapping Xavier between the corner and the ladder. What happens next? If you said Ki brings the kicks, you're a winner. Collect your prize at the nearest brothel. This crowd is HOT, not unlike yo momma last night. HAHAHAHAHA....I kill me sometimes. Anyway....INSANE SPOT ALERT #1---Ki wedges the ladder between the ropes in the corner and pulls Xavier out so that they can both stand on it. Slugfest, but Xavier gets the advantage and POWERBOMBS Ki on the ladder. Just nuts. The other UCW wrestlers start filtering out of the back to watch this match firsthand. Xavier looks under the ring and pulls out a 2nd ladder and bridges the gap between the apron and the guardrail on the outside. INSANE SPOT ALERT #2---X tries another powerbomb, but Ki reverses and suplexes him on the ladder! Lots of oooohs and OUCHES from the crowd on that spot, rightly so. Rockin reversal sequence next and as each guy tries to get the advantage. Xavier tries a Meltdown, Ki slips out to a dragon sleeper, but Xavier backflips over from THAT, leading to Ki getting backdropped to the outside. Ki recovers to stop Xavier from climbing, and we get lots of brawling and striking, with some suplexes thrown in for the hell of it. Double climb ends with both guys going down, natch. That's almost a requirement in a ladder match. Another double climb ends with a sunset flip powerbomb with Xavier, but he can't capitalize. Xavier nearly has the belt on another climb before Ki follows him up and they fight on the ladder, bumping the ref in the process. Ki wins that battle and gets the Dragon Clutch on top of the ladder! Sweet! Ki holds on long enough to put Xavier out, then grabs the belt for the win before both guys fall off the top of the ladder. BUT WAIT!!! When they fell, Ki dropped the belt to break his fall and it lands right beside Xavier, who instinctively grabs it. The bumped ref revives, sees X clutching the belt....and gives Xavier the win!!!! BUT WAIT!!! The entire UCW roster bolts to ringside to yell at the ref before a different ref runs down and informs the original ref what actually happened. Match gets restarted, much to the chagrin of Xavier. Rolling koppo kick by Ki immediately puts Xavier down upon the restart. Ki climbs and almost has the belt before Xavier gets there, but Ki hits the KI-KRUSHER OFF THE LADDER!!! Holy shit! You know that's knockin out Xavier long enough for Ki to climb again and win the title at about 25 minutes. ****.
---Mini-rant time. Great match, although I'm getting tired of ladder matches being the impetus merely to perform big spots to wow the crowd, rather than the big spots being the impetus to win the match, if that makes any sense. Also another quite amusing note on this match....I was looking up another match date for Low-Ki, and I saw a brief review for this match that said, and I quote "this match puts the TLC matches to shame." I almost died from laughing when I first read that, and I re-read it multiple times to make sure I read it correctly. Maybe it put the LAST TLC match to shame (the god-awful Kane win), but to put THIS match on par with the first 3 TLCs is just plain fucking stupidity. That's what annoys me sometimes about certain "smart" fans.....they think that just because the WWF guys don't put on ***** matches on every single RAW and Smackdown, that they are incapable of doing so. Well, let's just get something straight. For workrate freaks who only want to see insane bumps, ANYTHING that seems to go against the typical WWF-style matches will immediately be picked up just because they want to be different from the "stupid" marks. But those smarts should realize something. Shows like ROH are great, it's true, and I love them for being an alternative.....but people need to face facts. If Vince McMahon decided that he wanted to see a workrate exhibition, be damned any angle that might be running currently, and told his roster that he just wanted to see workrate out the ass with clean finishes, he could EASILY put out a 10 match card with every single match topping ****. EASILY!!!! Just because they DON'T do it doesn't mean that they CAN'T! This was a great ladder match, but it wasn't no TLC.
6. Low-Ki vs. American Dragon 7/21/01
Alright, HERE WE GO! Out of all the wrestlers on this tape, these two actually have a compelling history and story behind their wrestling. This is from ECWA TV, and they show a quick review of their fued pre-match, starting with brief clips of Low-Ki beating Dragon at the 2001 ECWA Super 8 Tournament (I clocked that one at ***3/4). The clip didn't show it, but Dragon had kicked out of everything Ki had in that matchup before Ki finally just starting kicking the ever living hell out of him for almost a full minute and slapping on a crossface variation to force American Dragon to submit. Next clip sees them doing the "partners who don't quite trust each other" thing to team up for a shot at the tag titles. Dragon turns on Ki mid-match, but Ki still wins the tag titles for them. Both guys respect each other, but there's definately a case of "I'm better than you" with these two guys. You know this match is big because Ricky Steamboat is the special ref. Each guy comes out holding their half of the tag titles and just stares at the other. Dragon keeps saying (barely audibly) "I'm the real Dragon!," when he knows the Steamer isn't close enough to hear him. That's a great touch. Low-Ki is WAY over here.....
Lots of cool-ass striking and mat shit to start, ultra stiff. Both guys are WORKIN IT and the crowd loves it! Triple kick sequence by Ki gets 2. More stiff shit from Ki, then he makes a mistake. He whips Dragon into the corner and attempts to follow with his handspring Tidal Krush in the corner, but Dragon bounces right back out and DROPKICKS THE LEFT ARM on the handspring. Ki just COLLAPSES in a heap. Dragon just goes nuts with various submissions on the mat (although at no point does it get boring or become a resthold) as he tries to take Ki's left arm home with him to put on the mantle to fill that space he had cleared for the ECWA Super 8 Trophy. Backdrop suplex gets 2, more to break the mat work rather than trying to get a pin. Dragon chops away, but Ki can't fire back effectively because of his arm. Cross arm scissors spot gets held onto for awhile before Ki finally breaks it. Tidal Krush out of nowhere puts both guys down for awhile. Ki recovers and charges the corner for a rolling Koppo kick and connects, then kicks away, not letting Dragon out of the corner. Dragon takes a beating on the kicks, but comes back with the stiff forearms, forcing Ki to try to block with his left arm, which he obviously can't do. The crowd is immediately on top of this psychology. This is just truly gorgeous wrestling. Dragon fires off more forearms. They trade chops, then Ki gets his Tree of Woe Dragon Clutch, holding on for the full 5 count before Steamer forces the break. It gets 2. Both guys stare at Steamboat for a moment, and Steamer just stares them down like "I DARE you boys to try ME!!!", until they finally look away like little boys that got scolded. Ki and Dragon take out their aggression on each other and bring the stiffness. FOREARMS BY DRAGON!!!! KICKS BY LOW-KI!!! Dragon says "fuck you" and brings the Misawa rolling forearms while Ki tries to desperately block again but his arm hurts just too much. Dragon keeps coming, but Ki catches him out of nowhere with the Ki-Krusher....for 2!!!! Tarantula style dragon clutch in the ropes forces the Steamer to break it up. TIDAL KRUSH!!!! GERMAN SUPLEX!!!! False start on an attempted drag.....BRIDGING DRAGON!!!! FOR ONLY 2!!!! This crowd is psyched now. Ki is desperate now, maybe remembering Dragon's kicking out of everything at the Super 8. Spinning 450 gets only 2 for Ki. Ki decides to fall back on his mainstay, his trusty kicks, and crushes Dragon with two running high kicks for 2 each. He comes off the ropes for another, but Dragon REVERSES into the CATTLE MUTILATION!!!! (opponent on stomach, attacker locks the arm in a Tiger suplex position, but then bridges forward). Ki is so fucked here....he's holding out...holding out...the crowd is screaming for him....holding out....he submits!!!!. Awesome match. ****1/4. Just an awesome display of some bitchin Japanese strong style shit for 20 minutes, with both guys laying in Ohtani-like BITCHMASTER stiffness to each other. I liked American Dragon in that Super 8 match, but THIS match made him one of my new favorite wrestlers.
7. Low-Ki vs. Red UCW unknown date, but sometime soon after 9/11
This will be one of my shorter reviews as the story for this match is quite simple. On a recent ROH show, these two had a match that began with a sequence that alot of people on the net called "The Matrix Minute." Well, I haven't seen that ROH match as of yet, but this one starts off (I assume) the same way. The first minute is filled with them going through a super-fast martial arts sequence that was obviously highly choreographed, although it was no less cool. The crowd is pumped after that sequence. They stare each other down for a bit, then go to some strong style shit for a few minutes, with lots of striking kicks and mat work. Nice, although Red doesn't rule it on the mat like American Dragon does. They trade more kicks and each guy hits a rana. Ki takes control by dropkicking the knees off a whip, goes up top, but Red moves. Red hits a NICE reverse rana, heads upstaris, but misses the Infrared as Ki rolls out of the way. He still eventually gets 2 when he recovers. Another similar sequence ends with Ki hitting the Ki-Krusher for 2. Question--does he ever actually, you know, FINISH anybody with the Ki-Krusher???? Just wondering....Ki takes Red upstairs and looks for the top rope Ki- Krusher, Red fights it and tries to reverse to a rana a few times, but Ki blocks THOSE and hits the top rope Ki-Krusher for the win at about 10 minutes. I was gonna say....that had better get the win. ***1/4 On the short side, but good, and damn fun.
8. Low- Ki vs. Scoot Andrews vs. American Dragon vs. Christopher Daniels
ECWA 9/22/01For a guy that's been voted best US indy wrestler the last two years, this is Daniels only wrestling appearance on this tape, which is quite the bummer. Scoot Andrews has been on ROH a few times, but other than that I don't know much about him. Sadly to say, the only real info I can give you on him is he's black. Anyway, this match has a simple story....Scoot wants to KILL Daniels in the worst fucking way. No, wait a minute...he doesn't just want to kill him...rather, he wants to kill him and then bring him back to life and then kill him again. Ki and A-Dragon are basically there as unwitting accessories so that Daniels can taunt Scoot but never have to lock up with him....although Ki and A-Dragon have their own issues of course, but that's put on the side for the most part in this particular match.
This is a tag in match rather than all 4 guys in there at the same time. Daniels taunts Scoot mercilessly before the match so that Scoot will start. Scoot obliges, so Daniels tags out to Ki and laughs in Scoot's face. The first 15-20 minutes is really quite easy to imagine. All 4 guys tag themselves in whenever someone moves near a corner (cause you can't get the win standing on the apron, after all). Daniels is always careful to avoid being in there with Scoot. When Scoot is in the ring with either Ki or Dragon, he tries to overpower them since he's the biggest guy in the match. To counter that, Ki and Dragon bring the stiff kicks and elbows as this is their best strategy, while generally avoiding locking up with Scoot, as he can then use his strength. Ki's quickness lets him stay on top of Scoot; Dragon isn't as quick and sometimes gets caught. Whenever Daniels is inside, he tries to take it to the mat against Ki or Dragon. This works well on Ki as it neutralizes his legs, Dragon less so as their sequences are always very even. And when Ki and Dragon are in there together, stiffness abounds while Dragon ALWAYS looks for Ki's left arm (building on their previous match two months prior to this). Crowd loves every tease that Scoot might possibly get his hands on Daniels.
Given the previous paragraph, I don't think it's really too hard to picture the structure of the match. Lots of basic moves with a big move here and there. Although the first part of the match was decent, it probably went a bit too long. The match REALLY starts as Dragon gets the upper hand on Scoot and pounds him down to the mat near Daniels' corner. Seeing Scoot open for the beating, Daniels tags himself in to take advantage, only to have Scoot hulk up and no-sell once he sees Daniels in there. Daniels immediately tags out to Ki. Scoot DESTROYS Ki with a lariat, but Ki comes back with kicks. Final Four (modified figure four) and a regular Figure Four by Ki. Scoot reaches the ropes, they trade some stuff, then Dragon tags himself in again. Dragon goes directly for Ki's left arm and Ki sells it like death itself. Cattle Mutilation is blocked, so Daniels tags himself in to take advantage of Ki being down. Ki surprises Daniels with a brainbuster and both guys are down. Ki recovers and tags to Dragon, who almost wins it by simply covering a dazed Daniels for a hot 2 count. Daniels again cheats to win, elbows Ki standing on the apron just because he can, then fucks Dragon over by going after the knees. Question--Wouldn't elbowing Ki count as a tag??? It certainly did at Slamboree 96, Flair/Savage vs. AA/Eddy Guerrero. That one was great, Flair chopping the shit out of Savage, and counting it as a "tag". Anyway.....
Gutwrench gets 2 for Daniels. Daniels continues on the knee and gets an STF, then holds onto it while rolling it into a bow and arrow. Now THAT ruled it, I can't recall seeing that move before. Dragon's knee is messed. Daniels continues cheating to win, but a fluke enziguiri by Dragon buys him some time. Scoot tags himself in for Dragon, but Ki jumps off the apron to prevent Daniels from tagging out. Crowd loves that and Scoot just absolutely kills Daniels with a huge lariat and Rock Bottom. Daniels bails, and then I guess at this point the rules be damned, cause all 4 guys decide that they don't need to tag anymore. Damn it, that is fucking annoying sometimes. Everybody fights for the rest of the match as nobody tags anymore. Ki and Dragon do the "fight each other while taking shots at a 3rd guy for comic relief" spot. The Triple Superplex Spot that the Briscoes and Blade tried in the 2nd match on this tape actually works and rules it....well, these guys are simply better wrestlers than the other guys, so it shouldn't be a surprise. Brawling and striking commence until everybody is outside for Dragon to hit a moonsault from the top onto Daniels and Scoot. Ki hits a 450 onto all 3 to one-up Dragon. Dragon and Daniels climb inside, where Daniels gets double Germans and a Blue Thunder bomb for 2. Misawa forearms by Dragon, but Scoot breaks it up. Saving spots next as everyone hits their big moves before its broken up by the next guy. Daniels hits a Falcon Arrow for 2. Daniels puts Dragon on top, tries a move, but Dragon keeps blocking and finally locks in a jujigatame while falling over the ropes to the outside for leverage. I've seen that counter in joshi a couple times, but I can't recall ever seeing it in a men's match. It SHOULD be used more. Ki hits a running dropkick right in Dragon's face to break that up. Ok, that was just mean....not that I'm complaining. Daniels hits Angel Wings and the double jump moonsault for 2 on either Dragon or Ki, I can't remember who. It's not really important to the next move anyway. Scoot catches Daniels and powerbombs him for 2. LONG pinfall reversal sequence gets about ten 2 counts each for Scoot and Daniels. We get the signal to go home as we start another big save sequence, each guy getting a couple 2 counts on every other guy. Last Rites by Daniels SOMEHOW only gets 2. Daniels can't believe it and sits in shock. Ki and Dragon go next and bring the hurt before a rolling elbow knocks Ki out. Scoot catches Dragon with a PUMPHANDLE RIKISHI DRIVER(!!!) for 3 at about 45 minutes. ***1/2. Long match and very good. However, this is another match that, as I was looking for a specific date that this occured, I came across a two or three sentence summary of the match and star rating for it, with the guy giving it ****1/2 and emphasizing the length of the match as seemingly his best reason. I'm all for long, well structured matches, but just because it's long, doesn't make automatic 4 stars.
9. Red vs. Joel Maximo vs. Jose Maximo ECWA 4/7/2001
WHEN SPANISH ANNOUNCE TEAM MEMBERS COLLIDE!!!!! This was a ten minute match, but I'm shortening this review for my own sanity. This match is ALL about the fact that these guys know each other very well in the ring since they tag with each other, so they turn on each other every 5 seconds as soon as they see the slightest opening. Everything moves way too fast to attempt a true play by play on this one. They work all manner of cool double team shit on each other, depending on who the weak link at the moment is. The match almost borders on comedy for how many times they turn on each other. They trade lots of reversals and moves that can only be done in triangle matches. At about the 10 minute mark it starts to wind down as they bust out every finishing move they use regularly as the other guys break it up. A double-team surfboard/dragon sleeper spot really fucks over Red, and then a Maximo hits a sweet Crown's Gate for 2. A Maximo misses a swanton on his brother allowing Red to follow that up with the Infrared for a very hot 2. Lots of chopping commences, Joel gets knocked outside, and Jose finishes Red with a weird looking powerbomb into an X-Factor for the 3 at about 11-12 minutes. That description of the finishing move doesn't really do it justice. ***. Really fun match that had everything rockin. Despite the fact I only gave it ***, this was actually my 2nd favorite match on the tape.
10. SAT vs. Low-Ki/American Dragon 12/1/01 ECWA Best 2/3 Falls
This is a best 2/3 falls match for the ECWA tag team titles. I've heard about this match from others, so I'm expecting alot.
We spend the first five minutes with a very even trading off of moves as both teams tag out freely. Dragon finally has enough of that shit though and offers a handshake, basically saying "Congratulations, I respect you for wrestling me straight up and holding your own....but prepare for an ass-beating." Clean shake, but Dragon opens up kicks and takes it to the mat on Joel. Joel tries some flippy-floppy to keep control, but Dragon grinds him down because he rules it. Joel's your SAT-in-peril (all 4 guys are crazy over, so there's not really a face in peril.) Ki opens with the kicks, into the triple-stike kicks for a couple 2 counts. Dragon comes back in and chops the ever-living piss outta Joel and just dominates him in every way possible. Dragon and Ki trade some tags and bring the stiff kicks and elbows until Dragon misses a rolling elbow and Joel gets the hot tag. RIGHTS RIGHTS RIGHTS. Bitchin monkey flip/spear spot by SATs just rules it. A Crown's Gate is blocked into a sunset flip by Ki, but Jose counters right back for a rollup to win the first fall at 15 minutes.
Second fall immediately begins and Ki beats the shit out of Jose for DARING to get a pinfall. Ki goes to the UFC-mount position to unload the punches. Joel breaks that up long enough for the SATs to double-team Ki for 2. Ki fights out and gets the hot tag to Dragon, who quickly dominates and gets the Cattle Mutilation on Jose. Joel again saves, but Ki FLIES across the ring to deliver a handspring Tidal Krush that sends Joel flying outside. Jose's now alone with Ki and Dragon, and now YOU KNOW he's in trouble. Jose is kneeling on the mat, staggering to his feet before falling to his knees, and we get a fucking AWESOME moment as Dragon holds out his hand to Ki and says "You first." Ki delivers a sick sounding kick to the back, but Dragon's unimpressed, and I quote, "What the FUCK was that?!?!?! THIS is how you do it!!!!" BOOM!!!! Ki is PISSED at having his manhood questioned in such a manner. They take turns kicking the hell outta Jose for about 10 kicks each, trying outdo the other.....and Jose takes all this LIKE A FUCKING MAN!!! Those were some stiff fucking kicks and he just let them have their way. Joel finally recovers from that Tidal Krush and drags Ki outside to brawl, but those kicks were enough and Dragon gets a relatively easy rollup pin for 3 at about 22 minutes. Ki and Joel keep brawling outside, so Dragon has free reign to go upstairs and hit the flying headbutt....for only 2! Whooo, close call there. Jose recovers and comes back on Dragon. This is a one camera ringside shot, but one camera can't follow all this around. Ki and Joel climb back in. Chops, kicks, punches, elbows! CATTLE MUTILATION by Dragon! Dragon Clutch by Joel on Ki! Neither Jose or Ki will give....ref keeps checking, keeps checking back and forth to see which team will give up first and.....A MOTHERFUCKING RUN-IN AT 25 MINUTES!!!. FUCK!!!!!!!! Both teams get beaten down and the ref calls the 3rd Fall, and the match, a draw. Great match, EXTREMELY shitty ending. ***3/4. I've managed to restrain myself and only take this down a 1/4* due to that shitty ending, instead of the full star I was initially going to take off.
Some individual wrestlers conclusions-- Well, considering that this whole tape is filled with only guys who wrestle mainly on the East Coast (where's Super Dragon???), so I can't definitively say whether these matches were the Best of the Best. I mean, Low-Ki is a very good wrestler, but he's not a requirement. Most of this tape was centered around the same few guys. Well, since they WERE centered around those guys, here's my impressions of them.
Low-Ki-- Well, I certainly saw enough of him. I think he's a very good wrestler, but WHY is he considered to be so good? It's because of his offense and his stiff kicks...well, it doesn't take much of a wrestler to throw stiff kicks out there. I think he's one of the best indy workers out there, but the more I saw of him on this tape the more I thought that he's also blessed with wrestling guys who willingly take the abuse, and blessed by the fact that now he's a big name, he'll always be wrestling the top talent no matter where he is. Low-Ki just seems to me incredibly over-balanced towards the offensive...I don't think he could carry a marginally talented guy to a great match and elevate both the other guy and himself in the process. He has to kick ass to stay over...his opponents should get alot more credit than they're actually getting.
American Dragon-- This guy just rules it. Great offense, great bumping, great transitions....this guy can do it all, and IMHO is the best damn US indy wrestler out there today. Unlike Low-Ki, I think Dragon can elevate both himself and his opponent by giving and taking equal offense. Take for example the Super 8...Low-Ki and Dragon both wrestled three matches. Low-Ki won two squashes and then faced Dragon. Dragon won two matches before the finals and made his opponent look great in the process before going over in the end.
Red-- Small, but lots of quick striking moves. The Red Star Press and the Infrared are just great moves....Kidman better start working his ass off on his SSP (as it's the only thing that has ever kept him over) or he's gonna be left in the dust by guys like Red and John from Tough Enough. Red also can do some very quick and smooth transitions and generally always comes out looking like the best guy in the match no matter whose involved in a spotfest match.
SATs-- Lots of kick-ass double team wrestling and they can hold their own in singles matches. They kinda have that cool Dudleyz aura about them that will get them over, except they're alot more talented than the Dudleyz.
Official Grade-- B+. You can't really ask for much more out of a tape than what you're getting here. Lots of matches over *** and for the most part entertaining as hell. This only gets downgraded a little because of some maches that had way too many blown spots in them and for the lack of transitions moves generally found in ALL the matches. Still, a great tape if you want to see some great indy wrestling...although most of these guys won't be indy wrestlers for very much longer. Alot of these matches can be found on individual compilations of each of these wrestlers and from many other places, so you could pick them up there if you don't want this tape from me. Great tape overall though, the 7/21 Dragon-Ki match in particular is must-see. This tape gets a very high recommendation from me.
Acknowledgements-- This review was brought to you by....the letter B and the number 29, two glasses of Pepsi, one peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and one English muffin. Furthermore, it was brought to you by Great American Bash 1995, which was dubbing while I worked on this and which I turned around to watch at certain points, and from these songs from my Winamp playlist, which was set on random shuffle. If this seems like alot of songs for one review, keep in mind that I get distracted by various shit in between when I start (IMs, phone, etc.). It typically takes me a little over an hour to type up an average review.
I Am The Walrus-- The Beatles
Celebration-- Kool and the Gang
My Favorite Game-- The Cardigans
Ain't That Peculiar-- Marvin Gaye
It's More Fun To Compute-- Kraftwerk
American Woman-- Lenny Kravitz
Sin Wagon-- Dixie Chicks
Chica Mi Tipo-- Sublime
Fire Woman-- The Cult
Land of Confusion-- Genesis
20 Piano Concerto 3rd Movement-- Mozart
Little Black Backpack-- Stroke 9
There's Your Trouble-- Dixie Chicks
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me-- U2
The Kids Are Alright-- Goldfinger
Spirit in the Sky-- Norman Greenbaum
AM Radio-- Everclear
Swingtown-- Steve Miller Band
Police Truck-- Dead Kennedys
Everywhere-- Fleetwood Mac
Forgotten-- Linkin Park
A Stroke of Genie-us-- Combo Mashup of "Genie in a Bottle" w/The Strokes "Hard to Explain"
Born in the USA-- Bruce Springsteen
Ride of the Valkyries-- Wagner
Somebody's Baby-- Jackson Browne
Jane-- Ben Folds Five
Billie Jean-- Michael Jackson
Come As You Are-- Nirvana
Not So Superhero-- Distorted Penguins
Lonesome Day-- Bruce Springsteen
Pennyroyal Tea-- Nirvana
Wrestling Music Theme-- Macho Man Randy Savage
Every Heartbeat-- Amy Grant
The Best Is Yet To Come Undone-- Lit
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm-- Crash Test Dummies
Cryin'-- Aerosmith
Malibu-- Hole
Desire-- U2
Come on Come on-- SmashMouth
Don't Bring Me Down-- Electric Light Orchestra
Stop Draggin My Heart Around-- Stevie Nicks
No Rain-- Blind Melon
Good Riddance-- Green Day
Kate-- Ben Folds Five
Rhiannon-- Fleetwood Mac
Sunday Bloody Sunday-- U2 (got a nice U2 run outta this group)
You Keep Me Hangin On-- Kim Wilde (rock the 80s, ba-bee!)
About You-- Distorted Penguins
Coward of the County-- Kenny Rogers
Last Kiss-- J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers
Lorelei-- Styx
Rock Me Amadeus-- Falco
Season/MME-- Distorted Penguins
Blind Man-- Amanda Ghost
Empty-- Amanda Ghost
Celebrity Jeopardy (Connery/French Stewart/Burt Reynolds)-- Saturday Night Live clipsAnd Finally......
Genius of Love-- Tom Tom Club