USA Pro 7/20/2003

Written by: Sean McCaffrey from http://www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/index1.html

Some things first, about USA PRO Fanfest.

– This wasn’t your typical show, as the admission was only $5, and was more the fans than anything else.
– There were dealer tables all over the place, convention style.
– Some people made their USA Pro debut.
– The show was 5 hours long, keeping up with USA PRO tradition!

With that out of the way, let’s run down the show.

Your ring announcer is Steve D’Angelis. Your referee for the whole evening was one of the best, Ref Hanson. I think Ref Hanson wanted a few beers during the show, but you can’t drink and ref at the same time Hanson lol.

Papadon w/Miss Michelle d. Azraiel
Wow. PAW match. Papadon had tights with flames on them. No comment. But in all seriousness, this was a great match. I have heard of Papadon’s legendary ladder match with Homicide, and after seeing him work singles, it’s very easy to believe. Azraiel looked mighty fine here, and wrestled very well here. The opening sequence of the match was pure back and forth chain wrestling, and if the crowd didn’t suck more than a cheap hooker on a Saturday night, the place would be electric. Lots of great moves here, including Papadons suicide dive and Azraiel threatening to hit Miss Michelle. Papadon gets the win here after a version of the hangman neckbreaker.

Knightlife comes out. Knightlife is Billy Reil, Danny Drake, Striker, Becky Bayless, and Tony Lo. (Mike Tobin wasn’t out there, as he was doing something else for Knightlife) Basically Striker slapped Becky’s ass a few times. Billy Reil even commentated about shooting a load in Becky’s face. Such a gentleman. I wonder if he turned it into a candy cane? Anyway, DRS come out, and clear hizzouse, and beat the hell out of Tony Lo. Good way to set the tag title match up later on.

Josh Deeley w/Ms. Sinful d. Danny Demanto w/Tara Charisma
Yes you can go reread that, or I’ll write it again.
Josh Deeley w/Ms. Sinful d. Danny Demanto w/Tara Charisma
One more time, for believement?
Josh Deeley w/Ms. Sinful d. Danny Demanto w/Tara Charisma
What the hell? Josh Deeley picks up a singles win! Let’s be honest, this match was not even close to being the best on the show. I think it was definitely geared towards the fans, so they could bash it. Demanto kept going out of the ring, and grabbing the mic telling Josh he is going to make him a wrestler, and make Josh look good. I am not sure if I really agreed after seeing the match. Maybe adding The Motivator would have saved the match? I don’t know, but the match was at least entertaining. Ms. Sinful low blowed Demanto at one point in the match. Not sure if Danny enjoyed it or not lol. Kevin Matthews would then run out, and hit his version of the perfect plex, without the pin, on Josh Deeley. Demanto would hit the frogsplash or referred to as Hogsplash by some people near me on Josh. Up next was Tara Charisma, as she nailed a money shot on Josh. Not sure if Josh liked that or not. Demanto would then set up Josh for a chair shot, as he held him up for Kevin to whack his fucking head off. But Josh would duck out of it, and Matthews kabonked Demanto square on the head, even breaking the chair in the process. Then in one of the funniest things I’ve seen all time, Josh went to go through Kevin Matthews out of the ring, but Kevin just slowly took his time to get out of the ring, and totally was laughing while going out. In reality, Kevin has a bum knee and is still recovering from surgery, but it was still funny to see. Josh then hit a somersault or swanton bomb on Demanto, then got the pinfall over Demanto. Definitely not a match for the best of USA-PW tape, but it was funny.

Crazy Ivan with the Nazi Title d. Slugger
2 commentators got kicked off during this match. Matt Zombie rules! This match was short. No long promo from Ivan, that sucked, but at least he made fun of both of the Long Island Puerto Ricans. Ivan gets the win here after a DDT, and Ref Hanson missing Sluggers foot on the bottom rope. God dam it Hanson, wake up out there! Slugger was not too pleased about losing, but there is no video replay in wrestling, unless WWE does it to screw someone over once in a while.

For the USA PRO US Title
Mike Kruel d. CM Punk
I had a funny feeling that Kruel would win this match. The crowd sucked in this one, as 2 great wrestlers went all out, and not a peep. Myers was seen going to the bathroom to clean up after seeing his two favorite wrestlers in a match lol. Hey, you can’t blame him, Mr. Armbar Kruel and (even though he don’t drink beer) CM Punk are fantastic wrestlers. It’s great to CM Punk in the NY/NJ area 2 nights back to back, and I’m quickly becoming a fan of him, as he is a great heel. Kruel is always solid, and a fart away from being in the WWE. This match was definitely PAW (Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling) and was a wrestling clinic. Kruel picks up the win after hitting a move that looked similar to Xaviers finisher, then strapping on the arm bar, (He was working the arm the whole match) to get the submission victory.

Fatal Four Way Tag Team Match
Los Lunatics (Boogalou and Low Ryda. I guess they are using the Los Lunatic name, even though Eddie Guapo wasn’t there. Maybe it’s like Demolition?) d. Team Target (Devious and Tekno Heat) All Money Is Legal (Kash and Kaos) and Elm Street Kids (Pyscho and Rayza) w/Danny Yams
Decent match here. All guys worked hard, and you could tell as there was always action going on in the ring, with no dead time. ESK gets eliminated first, after AMIL hit the Dead President (Top rope x factor slam) on Rayza for the first fall. AMIL gets bounced out next, by one of the most impressive moves I’ve seen in a while. Devious had Kaos in the copkilla/vertebreaker, but instead of going down, he flipped him around and sat out into a pinfall. Holy shit that was sweet. Who is gonna steal that move, cause you know someone will? Hopefully Jimmy Rave is satisfied with Reefers move! Los Lunatics hit a tag team move, and get the quick pin on Team Target for the victory. Very impressed with this match.

Intermission. Got a shit load more of beer. Thanks Mike.

D-Lo Brown d. Slyk Wagner Brown w/April Hunter
Very good match. D-Lo looked great in his NY Return. Slyk is always solid, so you can’t expect anything less. April was up to no good in this match, and started in early, as D-Lo went to the ropes, April pulled the top rope down, sending D-Lo crashing to the floor. Lots of chain wrestling and just great action. I don’t remember all the moves, but this is def a match worth getting on tape. Anyway, D-Lo hits the frogsplash to seal up a pinfall win.

Billy Reil w/Knightlife d. Damian Dragon w/Foxxy Dreams
Disturbed Dreams have come back to USA Pro, and had a fine showing here tonight. Some good wrestling to start off, but this match eventually turned into interference city by Knightlife. Dragon hit the sliced bread #2 on Reil. Becky Bayless let the crowd know that Knightlife likes beer. I’m sold. Back to the match, Striker interferes, by hitting that double knee to the back move (which I forgot the name) on Dragon. It came out nice. Reil picks up the pinfall after the interference.

POSTMATCH: Catfight between Foxxy and Becky. Knightlife gets the better of Disturbed Dreams, and they go to the back.

Billy Reil now has the mic, and talks about how USA PRO uses all these former washed up ECW stars. He calls Sandman Hardcore Hak a few times and challenges Sandman to a match. Reil tells the announcer he wants the match and Steve D’Angelis says he’ll find out. Out comes Mr. Goodman and asks the crowd if they’d rather see Sandman/Credible or Sandman/Reil. Sandman/Credible gets the better reaction. Goodman says the crowd decided, and this gets wrapped up.

Striker d. J-Busta
PAW match. Very well done by both guys. I’m a fan of both of these guys, and this was a great match. Knightlife was out yet again for more interference. Even though it’s hard to say a match is good with constant interference, this one was. Busta had the win several times, but Drake put Strikers foot on the rope on one occasion, and Tony Lo pulled Ref Hanson out of the ring at one point. Striker was eventually out of it, and Bayless came in the ring to flirt with Mr. Busta. Instead of planting one on him, she plants a Becky Bayless Stunner and knocks out Busta. Striker gets up, hits a move, and gets the win. A rematch in the future would be good.

Survivor Series Rules 8 Man Tag
Smoked Out/Darksyde/Richie Blayze/Mercenary d. AJ Sparxx/The Motivator/Danny Yamz/ Envy
Smoked Out was the eventual winner of this match. I might get “heat” for this part of the review, but it has to be said. From what I’ve been told, all these guys are ticket sellers, and some of these guys are trained, or have none to little training. It showed here. Smoked Out looked ok, but honestly, everything else was bad. I understand the ticket selling concept from a promoter/booker eye view, but I completely hate it from a fans eye view. In a moment all too real, Danny Yams took a nasty head bump, and was laid out. The match was stopped for 5 minutes, but he eventually recovered, and was able to walk out on his own. What happened if he was really hurt? I don’t know if Yams was trained fully, but I know he hasn’t been wrestling in a while, and you never want to see someone get hurt, so I hope he continues to train, so something like this never happens again. This match was pure garbage for the most part. It was horrible. It’s bad when Ref Hanson is the most talented man in the ring. I can’t honestly say that my friend Motivator, looked good, because he didn’t, no one did, except for Smoked Out, who even looked off working with these people at points. The crowd was laughing at this match, not due to entertainment, but out of grimace. I understand why this match was put on, but I wish ticket sellers who want to get in the business, would take free/or discounted training, and get really good instead of wanting to be put in the ring and looking bad. Shit I’ll put over one of my own here. Brian Myers has been offered a chance to work with some promotions if he sold tickets. He refused it, and said he’d rather train and get good instead of making a fool out of himself. From what I’m hearing from others, he’s getting really good, and once he’s ready, he will look good, and do things right instead of wrestling like a jackass. That’s probably the best way to become a wrestler honestly, not by selling tickets. So to sum this all up, to any wrestler who wants to sell ticks to wrestle on shows (not just USA Pro), see if you can sell tickets to get discounted training, it will pay off more in the long run.

Masked Maniac/Bam Bam Bigelow d. Black and Blue Weiners (Two masked wrestlers)
Masked Maniac made fun of a few fans, including a drunk in the corner. I told Zevon that his short person body can’t hold more than 2 beers, but Mikey was an animal tonight lol.

There was a rumor that Dexter Weiner and Triple A were underneath the masks. I don’t know if they were, but to make this easier, I will just refer to them as these two. This match wasn’t good. Bam Bam Bigelow made up for it, by saying this is how you break into wrestling. (Dexter/AAA are in middle stages of training, for those wondering) Bigelow looked to be having a fun time, and his attitude was contagious. Dexter played the funny heel role here. It was pretty good, just from his selling alone. The wrestling wasn’t the best, but it was entertaining. AAA looks like he needs a lot of work and like a shaved Miguel Perez. Maniac and Bigelow get the win here, when Maniac hits a stunner on Mr. Weiner. At least it wasn’t too long.

For the USA Pro Xtreme Title
The Grim Reefer d. Dan Barry
PAW. This was the match of the night for me. Some parts of the crowd were vocal in this one. This was a great wrestling match. It seems whenever Barry or Reefer go in there with anyone from Ova to Lethal to Hamrick to Deranged, it always produces one of the best matches on the show. Tonight together, they had the best match, in my opinion on the show. Lots of solid chain wrestling in this one. Some great moves like usual from these two. Dan Barry hit the Irish Car bomb, to a huge pop. That move is a work of art. Hanson signaled for a beer, but to no avail. Reefer gets the submission victory, after his headscissors turned into the crossface. Great match. This is the 3rd time I seen these two hook up, and this was probably the 2nd best match out of the three. (The tops was the first time I saw them at NYWC, that match was nuts) I hope Reefer gets well soon, as he popped his left shoulder in this match, and finished the match hurt. True professionalism by Reefer by working hurt. I was later told that he won’t miss any time.

Wayne d. Mace
Good quick match here. Nice match. Wayne is having great matches all over the place. He’s really coming into his own. Mace looked solid. Wayne picks up the win after a powerslam for the pin.

Johnny TNT w/Mr. Big d. Chris Caliber
There were 19 matches on the show. Lets keep this moving. TNT wins, and no one cares.

Low Life Louie Ramos d. Johnny “Bison” Bravado and The New Dynamite Kid
Lots of blood in this one. Louie = hardcore in NY. Louie would be a big coup for any promotion needing a legit hardcore division. Bison looked good here too, as I think the hardcore division is more his element than straight wrestling. Maybe it’s cause I haven’t seen Bison straight wrestle too much. The New Dynamite Kid should be ashamed of calling himself that name. Anyway, Louie pins both of these guys simultaneously for the win. Not the best Louie match in USA Pro, but still 100x better than what other promotions/wrestlers are calling hardcore.

Nuke d. J-Kronik
I’ll be honest, I missed the beginning of this one, as 23 beers will tend to make you urinate quickly. I saw the middle to end, and J-Kronik looked better than what I thought he would do. Nuke has improved in recent months, so that’s a good thing. Nuke gets the pinfall win here.

Virgil d. Southern’ Vinny Stylin’
Probably one of the bigger names SVS has ever worked. Why the fuck is Virgil wearing an n W o 4 Life shirt? It’s n W o for 6 years, as it only lasted from 96-2002. And I don’t think Virgil reaped the most benefits from the n W o. And wasn’t he Vincent in the n W o? Million Dollar Man really needs to come to USA Pro and get Virgil back in order. Anyway, this match was not Virgils best match (I’d say his first one with MDM was better) but SVS shined here and looked good in taking the loss. I should also report that Matt Zombie was marking out big time for SVS.

The Boogie Knights w/Becky Bayless and Tony Lo d. The Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz for the USA PRO Tag champs.

The SAT were stripped of the USA Pro Tag titles today.
Just for the record, from my last review:
SAT win the USA tag titles. Good match, don’t agree with the result. SAT/USA Pro had a lot of beef for a while, and I thought the tag belts would look better and more deserved around The Boogie Knights, DRS, Solution or Mikey/Waynes waists because of USA Pro loyalty and, as they haven’t gotten into a public dispute w/USA Pro, like the SAT.

Looks like that beef came back, as SAT no showed according to my sources. They were also supposed to bring in the Briscoes and that did not happen either. Thankfully, Goodman saves face here, as he said SAT were bringing the Briscoes the whole time.

BK get the win here after they pin KC Blade after lots of interference and a forgien object. Seems like DRS are now going to be faces everywhere, as they were faces here tonight. The DRS had new tights tonight, and they looked good. Boogie Knights are on a fucking roll, and I’m glad to see them have so many good matches recently. I don’t think this match between these two teams, was as good as the last one they had in the Elks, but it was still better than a lot of other matches here tonight. BK are now up 2-0 vs DRS, so where they go with this feud is anyone’s guess. Hopefully BK will hold on to the tag titles for a bit to give it a better image, as the tag belts have been passed around more than (insert hooker joke here)

Justin Credible d. Sandman and Billy Reil (who interfered late and got into it)
Ok match. This looks like it will set up Sandman/Reil at the next show. Should be a big match for Reil if it goes down. Typical Sandman match, and saw Das Freak going for Sandmans beer!

For the USA PRO WORLD TITLE
Raven d. Low Ki
About 970987 times better than the Sunday Night Heat match they had a long time ago. Fantastic match. Raven is on a roll here in the indies. Low Ki is a wrestling god, and tonight he proved his reputation as one of the best wrestlers around. Raven gets the win after a PAW match with an evenflow ddt.

POSTMATCH: D-Lo runs in and challenges Raven to a world title shot at the next show. Finally! USA pro builds a world title feud instead of just announcing it on the message board!

Final McWord
Not the best USA show, but not the worst. This was more of a convention show. 19 matches is rough, and having all these elimination matches just lengthens the show. Oh well, as long as there was beer there, I’m happy lol. All in all, I had fun at this show, and some great matches went down, along with some shit. But the ticket was only 5 dollars, so how could you go wrong. There is no other indy that gives you big names like D-Lo/Raven/Credible/Sandman/Josh Deely and names about to break out big time like Reefer/Barry/Slyk (he might have broken to the next tier already)/Louie and more. All in all this show, was just a transition show to set up the huge August show coming up on the 29th. I also have to say my fucking fingers hurt after typing out this fucking 16 page manifesto of a 6 hour show lol. I’m finished here and keep coming to the DOI site for more interviews/tape reviews/and hilarity.