Extreme Reunion 4/28/2012

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Reunion
Date: 4/28/2012
From: Philadelphia, PA

The fans chant they want Joey Styles instead of Bob Artese. Artese is trying hard to be a nice guy and give away a free hat but the fans are just not liking the guy. “Throw it back” chant for the free hats! This must be a sign of a long show ahead. Robbie Mireno comes out and puts over the guys in the back as being his hero from his childhood. Oh man, Mireno is the play by play guy for Extreme Reunion. Joel Gertner comes out and is greeted with a “Welcome Back” chant. As you can imagine, his promo is raunchy and I didn’t find it to be one of his better ones or anything.

Opening Contest: the BWO vs. the FBI
Mamaluke isn’t able to get any solid offense in against Richards and quickly tags out to Guido after a chop and elbow drop by Richards. Meanie is tagged in to take on Guido. They have a thumb war in the middle of the ring. Mamaluke tries to save Guido but leg drops his arm! Meanie is attacked as they were going to have a dance off but thankfully that didn’t happen. The FBI deliver a double team elbow drop on Meanie but they can’t get a pin. Meanie battles back with a double bulldog to counter a side Russian leg sweep. Richards gets the hot tag and cleans house with right hands. Richards plants Mamaluke with a powerbomb for a two count. Guido made the save but is sent to the floor by Meanie. Luke Hawke’s comes out of nowhere and distracts Richards to allow Mamaluke to roll Richards up for the win. (*1/2. That was a boring contest to kick off the show. The comedy was hit or miss and didn’t help the match or anything. The fans didn’t seem to know or care about Luke Hawke and his involvement was only mentioned in passing. A lackluster way to kick off the program.)

Second Contest: CW Anderson vs. Al Snow
This is being promoted as a wrestling purists dream match. “F*** TNA” chant directed towards Snow since he is an agent for them. Early on, most the focus is on Snow’s friend Head. Snow tries to use her a few times but Anderson avoids it. They start off with mat wrestling which sees both men counter holds and Snow goes for Head after a hip toss but doesn’t use her. The fans want tables while the wrestlers continue to work a slow pace and stick to mat wrestling holds. They pick up the pace a little bit with Snow slamming Anderson down to the canvas for a near fall. Anderson knocks Snow off the apron and down to the floor moments later. Snow misses a top rope cross body and is rammed shoulder first into the ring post. Snow tosses CW into the crowd but doesn’t follow up. CW throws a chair at Snow’s elbow against the ring post. Snow turns the tables and rams a chair into Anderson’s face. CW drops Snow with an arm breaker to regain the momentum. The fans are getting quite bored by this match as CW’s offense is just working on Al’s left arm. Snow spears Anderson to prevent him from punting Head. Snow nails Anderson with Head but Anderson rolls to the floor. A referee bump in the corner but Snow drives Anderson down with the Snow Plow. Anderson manages to kick out before three. Anderson hits the spine buster after the referee is touched in the corner and steals the victory. (**1/2. That was a bit too long of a match in my opinion. They had a chance to get the crowd into the match when they went into the crowd but they failed to realize that. Robbie Mireno took a shot at the fans for being bored saying that “if this arm bar was happening inside an octagon it would be the best thing ever.” This is professional wrestling, not ultimate fighting, Robbie. An average match that would have been better had they gotten more extreme with the action.) After the match, Al Snow yells at Head and calls Head a whore. Okay, Snow turns on Head by hitting a piledriver.

It’s at this time when a female fan decides to expose her breasts after a dancer of some kind did a tease for the fans in the ring.

Third Contest: Balls Mahoney vs. Axl Rotten
Mahoney decides to have a conversation with Rotten in the ring to say they are the most extreme team in history. They put forth what looks like to be little effort in their punches at the start with Mahoney getting the better of the exchange. They go up the ramp way and are hitting each other with weapons. They brawl into the crowd hitting each other with chairs, but the cameras aren’t getting a good shot of this because the fans are standing on their seats. Mahoney uses a cheese grater on Axl to bust him open. Axl gets the grater and uses it on Mahoney to bust him open. Axl decides to rub thumbtacks on Mahoney’s arm. Axl is slammed onto a chair but quickly gets up and whacks Mahoney over the head with the chair. Rotten gets the pin following a DDT onto the chair. (I’m not sure how to rate this since there wasn’t much wrestling involved in this one. If you enjoy people just hitting each other with weapons, then I guess you’d like this.)

Angel from Da Baldies comes out to cut a promo. He is sick and tired of hearing about who is the best heavyweight champion. He lists Taz, Sandman and Raven and goes on to talk about the legacies of top ECW tag teams. Well, he is cut off by the Gangstas and naturally you know what happens. Jack and Mustafa work over Angel until Blackout from CZW come out to attack New Jack and Mustafa. They just leave the Gangstas laid out before leaving the ring.

Fourth Contest: Devon Storm vs. Jerry Lynn
“Save the show” chants as the bell sounds. Storm cheap shots Lynn with a back elbow after reaching the ropes. Lynn knocks Storm off his feet with a shoulder block and keeps control with a headlock. Lynn sends Storm to the floor with a head scissors but Storm comes back and drops Lynn throat first over the top rope and rams Lynn head first into the ring post. Back in the ring, Storm keeps control with a few kicks and a spinning back elbow. Lynn counters a back suplex and lands on top of Storm for a near fall but is stopped by a clothesline. They fall to the floor when Lynn hits a head scissors over the top rope. Storm grabs a piece of the guard railing and lays it over the apron and another piece of railing. Lynn has a kendo stick from a fan and whacks Storm over the back. Lynn backdrops Storm into the front row and right onto Homicide. Lynn dives over the railing and lays out Storm and Homicide. Homicide is pissed off and tries to get over the railing but doesn’t break free from a couple of people. Lynn flapjacks Storm onto the railing, which looks to be gimmicked. Storm tosses a few chairs into the ring and hits a northern lights suplex with a chair across Lynn’s back. Lynn avoids a top rope hurricanrana and plants Storm with a tornado DDT onto a chair for a near fall. Storm counters the cradle piledriver and leg drops Lynn. On the floor, Storm connects with a vertical suplex onto the guard railing. Back in the ring, Storm tries for a Death Valley Driver onto two chairs but Lynn gets out of it. Lynn hits a hurricanrana off the top and sends Storm crashing through a table on the floor! That was a nice spot. “Thank you Jerry” chant as he is dropkicked by Storm. Storm gets the same chant. Lynn with a vertical suplex onto two chairs in the ring. Lynn puts Storm away with a cradle piledriver onto a steel chair. (***1/2. By far the best match of the night as both Lynn and Storm put together a good match filled with some good spots. Jerry Lynn is 48 years old but is still capable of some good matches. Storm showcased the fact that he is a underrated wrestler. Well done by both men.) After the match, Jerry Lynn talks about how this is his last year of wrestling and he needs to be smart. Lynn puts over the ECW fans for making ECW what it was.

Shane Douglas talks about some problems coming up as the fans are chanting they want a refund. Douglas goes on to say that Sabu was found unresponsive in his hotel room. Douglas says that the ECW family watches out for family. They haven’t heard a credible response from the hospital. Douglas is just talking about history of the night he tossed down the NWA Heavyweight Championship.

Main Event: “The Franchise” Shane Douglas vs. Too Cold Scorpio
A rough start to the match as they try some mat wrestling but it isn’t convincing at all. Douglas works over Scorpio in the corner before they head to the floor where Douglas is sent into the guard railing. Scorpio leaps off the apron to hit Douglas with a shoulder block. Scorpio is dropped groin first over the guard railing and hits Scorpio in the chest with some kind of stand. They trade right hands in the crowd with Scorpio getting the better of the exchange. They have leg locks on each other in the crowd on the floor. Douglas spits some soda into Scorpio’s face to blind him for a moment and they stagger to the ring. Bill Alfonso punches Douglas and chokes him with his towel. Oh shit, Scorpio dives off the top rope and looks for a cross body into the crowd but it looks like Douglas failed to properly catch him so Scorpio hit the ground hard gut first. Alfonso smashes Douglas over the back with a chair and Scorpio thinks he broke a rib. Scorpio avoids a piledriver by ramming Douglas down with a shoulder ram and hits a somersault leg drop! “Just retire” chant directed towards Douglas. Scorpio hits a top rope moonsault but can’t put Douglas away! Scorpio runs into a belly to belly suplex from Douglas for a two count. A masked man comes down to the ring. Douglas hits Scorpio with a chain as the masked man sends the referee into the ring post. The masked man is Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan low blows Douglas and the fans don’t care all that much. Scorpio hits a super kick and hits a spinning body splash but there isn’t a referee. Douglas kicks out at two. Douglas also kicks out of a swanton leg drop. Scorpio hits a double jump moonsault but Douglas kicks out yet again. Douglas hits a rolling neck snap after getting a big boot up in the corner. Scorpio knocks Douglas silly with a Pele Kick. Another masked man comes out and clotheslines Bill Alfonso. The masked man is Tod Gordon! Douglas rolls Scorpio up from behind and wins the match. (*3/4. Well, at least Scorpio was able to provide with some entertainment in this otherwise bad match. The fans weren’t interested in seeing Douglas being portrayed as a man who won’t stay long and they grew frustrated with his kickouts. The finish with Gordon fell incredibly flat and was just a poor way to close the show. )

Final Thoughts:
There seems to be a general thought that the show was a complete failure, but in my opinion it wasn’t the worst show ever. Was it good? No. But, it had at least one good match involving Storm and Lynn. The other matches just didn’t click and they didn’t read the crowd correctly. Unless you are a big fan of Jerry Lynn, there isn’t any real reason to go out and purchase this. Hopefully in the future Extreme Reunion will incorporate guys that can actually still compete at a high level.

Thanks for reading.