JAPW Counter Strike 8/2/2003

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

What up boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen and animals, and welcome to another McReview. My head is throbbing after a nice night of drinking and wrestling action. Last night, JAP ran a show out in Rahway, NJ, and it was heavily hyped as JAP’s return, after a 4 month hiatus. Let’s run down this shit fast, so I can go to bed lol.

PRESHOW: Pounded beer with a billion people in Marc’s apt. Check out Mikey’s review for the whole shindig. But there were about 60 bottles of beer devoured in a record amount of time. Factor that in with the hippie lettuce, it was a great way to start off the show.

We go to the Manhattan center on the subway, and shit, Low Life Louie turns into a fat Sabu with Abby tendencies. Shirt off, huffing and puffing, he scared some Asian people to death, even sending them into their next afterlife reincarnation. DOI TV had this covered, and it’s a knee slapper.

Gotta give props to JAP for running a FREE bus from NY to JAP. I shit you not, you had about 45 people who always go to Elks Lodge shows, out in Rahway, NJ. CSWF ran in Rahway a few times, and there were more people on this bus than at their shows. Maybe CSWF could do this in the future? Smart move by Fat Frank and JAP.

After a lot more liver beating, the show started, and this is how it went down in my eyes.

JAP opens up with King Nothing by Metallica, and your ring announcer comes out. He basically pumps up the crowd and gets them ready for today’s show. He introduces everyone to Da Bald Guy, who hypes up JAP a bit, and says he has a special guest with him. Mafia (with fanny pack) then comes out, with his JAP World Title over his shoulder, and hits the ring. Mafia hypes up his match with Al Snow. He then gets personal to the fans, and talks about his recently deceased father. He said from now on, whenever he puts his thumb in the air, that’s for his father. All of a sudden, the Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz (KC Blade and EC Negro) come out, with their JAP Tag Titles around their waist. KC Blade, is doing the talking this time, instead of EC Negro. Nice change. Basically, KC Blade tells Mafia to “Shut up” and “Quit whining about your sob story” and EC Negro kept saying “Waaaaaaa.” EC Negro then adds “Wait till you see La Familia later tonight.” After the harsh statements the DRS make, the refs come out to separate Mafia and DRS before they could tango.

Your ring announcer, whose name I forgot, comes out. He introduces us to a try-out ref, and a try-out ring announcer. What is this USA Pro? LoL. The guest refs name is Sal and the guest ring announcer is Justin. Justin looks like Budnick from Salute Your Shorts. The crowd let him know it. Anyway, the first match of the night is a JAP Light-heavyweight Tournament match. And it was…

Corvis Fear w/Church and Eddie Thomas went to a no-contest
I’ve seen these guys go before, and they can get it done in the ring. Unfortunately, the ugly face of interference reared its head into this match. About 3 minutes in, out walks Mega and Slugger (The SkyScrapers) with Allison Danger and Johnny “Cheesesteak” D. Mega and Slugger annihilate Thomas and Fear, even going so far as seeing the impressive Slugger chokeslam Corvis Fear from the ring, through a table on the outside, and seeing Mega throw Eddie Thomas over the ring into a table. Talk about establishing their power. Slugger then bodybags the ref. (A fall down bodyslam, putting impact on the face/head) Mega then gives a huge full nelson front slam on Mr. Budnick. This would’ve been cooler if it wasn’t the first match, as we already saw a lengthy interview segment before, and this was just a no-contest match. Still though, a pretty cool segment. We are then told that Corvis Fear and Eddie Thomas would not be able to continue for the rest of the night, turning the finals of the tournament into a 3 way dance.

Nick Berk d. Ruckus in the JAP Light heavy weight Tourney match.
Pretty good match. Ruckus was very impressive, hitting all sorts of flips and spins, but working them in with ring psychology and a great mat presence. Berk was pretty solid here too. Some great moves in this one, including a triple twist dive by Ruckus. The finish was very unique, and it was impressive, as it was just a rolling small package all over the ring. Basically, both guys just rolled around reversing small packages into their own. (There’s a dick joke to be made in that last sentence somewhere lol) Nick Berk wins the struggle and the match, and gets the pinfall to advance into the finals of the tourney.

It’s announced that Terry Funk v. Homicide headlines the next JAP show, scheduled for Sept. 27. Sounds good.

In another JAP Light Heavy Weight Tourney match
Monsta Mack d. Deranged
Deranged is out first and cuts a promo on the crowd. He says Rahway sucks, and since most the people aren’t from there, they cheer. Deranged tells the crowd to stand up when they see Deranged, and the crowd gets out of their chairs. Good sign of respect from the crowd. All of a sudden out comes Monsta Mack, to join this light heavy weight title fray. When you think Light Heavy Weight wrestlers, you think of Rey Misterio Jr, The Amazing Red, Jushin “Thunder” Liger, and now, Monsta Mack. It was pretty funny seeing Mack in this tourney, but you can look at it at two ways, one thinking that it takes away the seriousness of the title, as Monsta Mack isn’t a light heavy weight, or you can think that it’s pretty funny. I mean, I wouldn’t want to see A-Train go head to head with Rey Misterio for the WWE Cruiserweight belt. I guess Mack is the exception though, for me, as he is a solid wrestler, and while I think the JAP Light Heavy Weight title, lost a good champion in the recently departed Rain, I guess they were trying to add prestige to it, by having an international superstar and champion such as Mack in it. But in all seriousness, Monsta Mack could “Zack Gowen” his leg, and he’d still be a heavyweight. Onto the match. Very good match. Deranged is accompanied by his H-Effect partner, Dixie. They did speed vs power in this match, and it was well executed. Monsta Mack hit some sick suplexes on Deranged, even an overhead into the turnbuckles. Deranged is one of my favorites to watch, as he always puts on great matches, and has really stepped it up any time he gets in the ring, from Monsta Mack to Low Ki to The Grim Reefer. Great match. Monsta Mack hits the famous Van-Mackinator, although there was no chair to add the impact to the move. But hey, two feet from a guy “who just made the weight cut” straight into your fucking face has to hurt worse than a candy cane from Mike Tyson. Mack picks up the pinfall victory, to advance against Nick Berk and the winner of the Reefer/Azrael match.

Azrael d. Grim Reefer
This was the match of the night for me. Great fucking solid match. Both of these guys are capable of stealing any show, as they did tonight together. Azrael has been on a roll of late, having great matches with Papadon, Dan Barry and tonight with Reefer. Reefer is also on a roll, and rolling things up, as he’s been great against Dan Barry, Deranged and against Azrael tonight. Some great submissions in this match, such as the crossface, and the tight head scissors, that are staples in Reefers arsenal, which people steal from regularly. Azrael was on the move tonight, looking crisp with each suplex he hit, such as his rolling northern lights sequence. Azrael gets the pinfall here, after hitting a reverse blockbuster from the top rope, to advance into the final match of the JAP Light Heavy Weight title tourney against Nick Berk and Monsta Mack.

Fat Frank comes out and pumps up the Sept. 27 show, and announces intermission. Got to catch up with some luminaries at the show, which were aplenty. In no particular order, at the show were: The DOI Family, Marc, Mikey, Wizard of Buns aka Joel, Fatty Bastard, Brian Myers, Rhino, Manslaughter, Zombie, Tony Lazaro, Low Life Louie, Papadon, Ref Garry, Low Ki, Scotty Chong from Tough Enough III, Megan, Melissa, Layce, Abby, Cynthia Fulle, The Dirt…er Motivator, Angel, Chino, the beer cooler, Dexter Weiner, Above Average Angelo, Johnny Bravado, Doug and more that I’m forgetting in my hangover. After drinking some more and a trip to the head, we were ready for some more JAP action.

April Hunter d. Ariel
Solid womens match. Both worked hard and were vicious in their offense. At one point of the match, April Hunter was working on Ariels leg, even hitting a leg lock submission in the ring. All of a sudden this 400 pound man beast, The Fat Bastard, gets up out of his seat, and goes ringside to look down April Hunter’s shirt. Very classy move by Fat Bastard lol. He even acknowledged that the top of the mountains are very nice, as he gave everyone a thumbs up. I’m sure she was looking to see what Fat Bastard thought of her breasts lol. Aside from that, this was really a great women’s match. Ariel hit one of the sickest german suplexes I’ve ever seen, man or woman match. She followed it up with a nice frankensteiner on April. April was on the mark tonight, hitting great slams, and submission moves. The ropes were slick all night, as it showed in various matches, and April looked good handling them, as she turned what could’ve been something ugly into something good, as Ariel kicked the rope and sent her crashing to the mat. We even saw a perfect plex in this match. This was def a match between 2 of the best women on the indy circuit. April Hunter gets the w in after a top rope neckbreaker.

Out comes The Skyscrapers again, with Johnny “Cheesesteak” D and Allison Danger. April Hunter has already left. Ariel is in the ring. Johnny tells Ariel that you’re either with us or against us. Ariel slaps Johnny in the face, and then gets beaten down by Allison Danger, and receives a Bodybag from Slugger. Where this goes from here I don’t know.

For the JAP Tag Titles in a No DQ, No CO match
The Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz (KC Blade and EC Negro) d. Shaolin Wrecking Crew (Magic and Suba)
A great entertaining match, that featured a lot of brawling. DRS were heels tonight, and this is where they excel. I hate seeing them as faces everywhere else, as DRS are true heels, and they shined here tonight. Nothing against the SWC, but the DRS/SWC matches, are the best performances I’ve seen from SWC. These teams really know each other well, and it showed here tonight. At one point in the match, EC Negro tried to re-create the finish from the last time these two teams squared off. As a matter of fact, it’s how the DRS retained last time. Negro comes into the ring with the belt about to hit Magic. Magic turns around, and Negro tosses him the belt, and falls down. The ref comes in the ring, after attending to Blade/Suba, and sees Magic holding the belt, and Negro on the floor. (Last time, this called for an immediate DQ, and the DRS tricked the SWC for the DQ win) The ref says there are no DQ’s in this match, and EC Negro gets up immediately. Hilarious spot. The DRS then try to leave the arena, but the ref informs them that this is a no countout match. SWC go out and chase after them, and this leads to a brawl all over the building, which is a hockey rink. KC Blade got two minutes from Suba in the penalty box. The brawl was all over, which is good and bad, because one it’s exciting and two there is no camera to look at, so you can’t see what’s going on at times. This match will def shine better on TV, in that respect. All 4 men finally get back into the ring, and out comes the JAP Champion, Mafia. Mafia then goes to hit the DRS for their comments before, but then decides to kabonk the ever living shit out of Magic and Suba. The DRS get on top and get the pinfall win. The DRS retain the belts.
POSTMATCH: Negro says this is “La Familia.” Some latino music plays and Mafia and the DRS are dancing. Eh, I guess there aren’t enough Puerto Rican groups in indy wrestling. I’m a fan of Mafia and the DRS, but I think it would be cool if they were just kick ass heels, instead of Puerto Rican heels. I mean it’s been done so many times, you lose interest, hopefully this will be different in the future. I don’t think Mafia should be a heel either, as he was doing great as a dominant champion, even like a Bret Hart champ, as he defended against everyone and was in the match of the night. I mean he was only a face champ for 2 shows. Either way, this should be interesting where they go from here, and it was great seeing the DRS using their heel heat to bring Mafia back to the dark side. Well worked on all accounts by all three men.

For the JAPW TV Title
Crazy Ivan w/Pete aka A Big Bald Dude d. Jay Lethal to become the new JAP TV Champ
Good match here. Lots of action, and some new moves by Ivan, including a top rope Russian leg sweep. Beauty. Great wrestling in this match, and Ivan really stepped it up against the more technically sound Jay Lethal. Ivan gets the duke here, as Pete holds Lethal’s legs, on the outside of the ring, as Lethal is draped on the middle rope, and Ivan comes crashing down with a rolling leg to the head, for the pinfall victory. Man, talk about dominating, Ivan is winning titles left and right like it’s going out of style.

Slyk Wagner Brown w/April Hunter d. Dixie w/Deranged
Good match here, and instead of going with the speed vs power formula, this was a good wrestling match. Slyk is one of the best on the indy scene today, bar none. No word if Fat Bastard tried to look at Slyk’s chest. Slyk gets the win after a picture perfect, holy shit Shooting Star Press. In the words of Vince McMahon, “What a maneuver.”

In the finals of the JAP Light Heavy Weight Title Tournament
Azrael d. Monsta Mack and Nick Berk to become the new JAP Light Heavyweight Champion.
Monsta Mack acknowledged that he made the weight cut to get into the tourney. Must be that Atkins diet that everyone is raving about. Lots of great wrestling in this one, and the match started off with a double team on the bigger Mack. Fast forward a bit, mid way through the match, out come H-Effect, Dixie and Deranged. Dixie distracts the ref, and Deranged does a holy shit flipping powerbomb. Man that was a work of art. Deranged then hits him with a chair, which awakens Mack, and he destroys Deranged and Dixie. Out comes, holy shit making their JAP return, THE BOOGIE KNIGHTS! Mike Tobin and Danny Drake go hogwild on Monsta Mack. Great move here. DHS are the ones that put BK out of commission about a 1 ½ ago, and this was a great way to continue an angle from a while ago. I marked out bigtime! BK then roll Mack into the ring, and Nick Berk covers him for the easy pinfall. Great booking here. After pinning Mack, and a few reversals, Azrael cradles Nick Berk to become the JAP Light Heavy Weight Champion. Great finish, great champion, and hopefully this leads to great Light Heavy Weight title matches. Reefer/Azrael in JAP II, would be great.

Al Snow d. Mafia to become the new JAP Title.
Hmmm… shouldn’t a turn lead to a win. I mean Mafia was dominating and a great champion, but the second he turns, he loses? More on this later. Not as good as the last JAP title match between Mafia/Slyk, but decent. Al Snow woke up the mostly dead crowd, when Prodigy’s “Breathe” came on. I liked how Al Snow did his ECW gimmick, rather then his cornball toned-down WWE one. Al Snow calls the DRS, X-Pac and Haiti Kid. You know, I would agree with that, but Joel Grayon looks more like X- Pac then EC Negro lol! Al Snow informs everyone that X-Pac sucks, and the crowd is loving it. Mafia tells the DRS not to interfere, as he can beat Al by himself. I guess they still want Mafia to be like a HHH champ, who can win matches cleanly without interference. Smart move, but unfortunately, the plan backfired. Gotta also give props to Rhino, who asked Scott Chong from TE III, “When are you going to run in during this match?” lol, fortunately, it didn’t happen. Midway through the match, it went into an allout brawl, as Al Snow and Mafia went through a vendors table. After knocking over garbage cans, and going through 10 rows of chairs, both men finally got in the ring. Mafia went for the burning hammer, but it was reversed, and boom, Al Snow hit the Snowplow, and became the new JAP Champion. Eh, don’t agree with that. Mafia is JAP and has always been JAP, and represented the title very well, and to lose it to a guy making his JAP debut sucks. Now the next show features Al Snow vs Raven for the JAP Title, so between both of these guys, they’ve both wrestled in JAP for a total of one time. Let USA Pro have the ECW guys going for their world belt. I guess I wasn’t a fan of Al winning, because JAP always featured top indy guys as their champion, such as Mafia and Homicide. It looked like JAP is changing their roots by giving WWE guys their belt. Maybe I’m just a purist and think the World Title should be reflected as the ultimate prize in wrestling and not traded off. I mean people would still go see Al Snow vs Raven without a title on the line, and while getting these people to go, they can be exposed to Mafia defending the belt, and be impressed. Maybe it’s just me.
POSTMATCH: DRS attack Al Snow, but out come April and Slyk for the save to close the show.

Final McWord
A good show featuring good matches, but again the Center Cirle has the dead-crowd effect. Maybe because it was 987897 degrees inside, and people were wiping sweat off their head instead of clapping and cheering, but the crowd was dead for a large part of the night. I think it’s the Center Circle disease, as previous shows have had that problem. JAP had no problem getting people there, as I’d say there was 300 people in attendance. JAP is my favorite all around promotion, and it while this show was no where as close to being as good as the last one, it was still a good show. I disagreed with some things, but all in all, I was entertained, had fun, and saw some great wrestling. There is no way I can debate that, and the bottom line is if you’re entertained, had fun and saw some great wrestling, then it was worth the money, the time and it was a good show. Again, props to Fat Frank, for running a free bus, and getting 40 + people from NY. It was like the Elks Lodge crowd in JAP.