Written by: Bob Colling
Pro Wrestling Syndicate presents Fifth Year Anniversary Night Two
Date: 6/2/2012
From: Rahway, NJ
Opening Contest:: Mike Dennis vs. Pinkie Sanchez: Pinkie cheap shots Dennis as he was trying for a test of strength but it’s been a rather slow start to the match. They both a arm drag attempt by Dennis, but they kept going so it wasn’t noticeable to the people in attendance. Dennis dropkicks Sanchez to the floor and leaps off the apron to take Pinkie out with a clothesline. Sanchez stops Dennis with a leg whip and a spin kick. Pinkie misses a splash in the corner and is met with a clothesline from Dennis. Sanchez is begging off and kisses Dennis’s feet. Dennis misses a splash in the corner and Sanchez hits a leaping dropkick in the corner. Sanchez rubs his hand on his balls, blows snot into his hands and locks in an Indian death lock but Dennis doesn’t give up. Sanchez is focusing his offense on Dennis’s left knee. Sanchez drops Mike with a full nelson suplex and just jumps on him near the corner. Sanchez misses a double springboard moonsault off the top. Dennis plants Pinkie with a TKO and wins the match. (**1/4. A decent match here between two rather green workers, it seemed like. Sanchez did a good job of getting crowd heat while Dennis was just there. I’m imagining this was a dark match or something or the attendance is drastically down compared to night one.)
Second Contest: Samuray Del Sol vs. AR Fox vs. Taka Suzuki vs. Star Man: All four men will be wrestling at the same time. Star Man is scaring everyone with a jumping spin kick that is nowhere near being close. Wait, I guess there will be tags now. Taka and Star Man start off with Star just ducking everything and spin kicks Taka after tricking him to look up. Fox comes off the top to hit a missile dropkick. So it is a four way dance, okay. Samuray with a nice handspring head scissors on Fox! They go for a dropkick but they have a standoff after neither man connects. Fox misses a splash in the corner and Del Sol kicks him from the apron. Del Sol arm drags Fox to the floor after leaping off the top. Taka slides in to dropkick Del Sol but is tripped by Star Man. Fox drives Star down with a twisting suplex for a near fall. They are going back to having tags, which I don’t understand. Del Sol slingshots from the apron and hits a 450 splash on Star Man for a near fall. Fox can’t scoop slam Star Man! The other two guys try to slam Star Man, but they can’t! Star Man dumps Del Sol and Taka to the floor but is planted by Fox with a DDT for a near fall. Taka hits Fox with a dropkick in the corner. Del Sol drives both his knees into Taka for a near fall. Star Man takes everyone out and a few people in the first row out with a springboard moonsault off the top onto the floor. Fox comes off the top rope to hit a 450 splash onto Star and Taka on the aisle way. Del Sol takes them all out with a twisting dive over the top rope. Del Sol hits a powerbomb on Fox and quickly has an arm breaker on him but Taka breaks that up. Taka drops Del Sol on his midsection for a near fall. Star spikes Taka with a brainbuster! Holy crap, Fox runs and hits a springboard Spanish Fly on Star. Del Sol follows up by hitting a reverse hurricanrana on Fox for the win! (***1/4. A pretty good four way match here. I didn’t like how they drifted away from any kind of rules to the match. One minute you need to tag, and then the next minute you don’t. Glad to see Del Sol be able to showcase what he can do since he didn’t get any chance to do that on night one. A good showing by the men involved here.)
Third Contest: Scott Steiner vs. Dan Maff: Steiner works on Maff in the corner with basic strikes and threatens the referee as only Steiner can. Steiner brings Maff out of the corner with a hip toss and just stomps away on him. Maff avoids a scoop slam and drops Scott with a right hand. Steiner catches Maff coming off the middle rope and hits an overhead belly to belly suplex. Steiner sends Maff into some chairs and works over him with a chair. Maff low blows Steiner while the referee was out of position. Maff hits a middle rope clothesline but Steiner powers out at two. Steiner avoids a middle rope elbow drop. Steiner makes his comeback with a backdrop and clotheslines. He hits a belly to belly suplex but can’t get the three count. Maff hits Steiner with a cannonball in the corner but Steiner kicks out at two again. Maff side slams Steiner and heads to the top rope. Maff misses a top rope diving head butt! Steiner connects with a dangerous middle rope overhead belly to belly suplex. Steiner locks in the Steiner Recliner and wins the match. (**. Obviously, Steiner isn’t the performer that he used to be but I’m really disappointed in Maff. He looks to be out of shape and not performing to the best of his ability. There were a few good spots, but they are few and far between. It just wasn’t all that good to me.)
Fourth Contest: Phantasio vs. Simon Dean: Well, this feels like it is going to be a comedy match. Phantasio looks to be in incredible condition. Dean runs into some silly string of some kind and bails to the floor out of frustration. They begin to wrestle in slow motion, which is actually funny. The referee is even doing a good job at the slow motion stuff. Dean breaks the magic stick and gets back to regular speed wrestling. Phantasio has a new magic stick and hits Dean with it to win the match. (NR. It’s a comedy match, that was actually funny for what it was. Dean was really good at his comedy routine here.)
Fifth Contest: PWS Tri-State Champion Tony Nese vs. AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion KAI: Neither man can get a clear cut advantage so we have a standoff in the opening minute or two of the match. Nese hits the first big move by connecting with a spinning heel kick but quickly misses a dropkick. KAI bails to the floor after a clothesline and is taken out by Nese with a suicide dive! KAI thinks he may have broken his nose and mocks the referee as he makes a count. Nese misses a springboard moonsault but lands on his feet. Nese kicks KAI in the head and connects on a second attempt for a near fall. Nese goes for a springboard top rope crossbody but KAI dropkicks him in midair. KAI drives his knee into Nese’s midsection a few times to keep control of the bout and locks in a Boston Crab! KAI drops Nese gut first across the top rope and comes off the middle rope to deliver a double stomp for a near fall. Nese counters a running powerbomb attempt with a hurricanrana! Nese nearly wins following a German suplex. Nese avoids KAI in the corner and delivers a running knee strike in the corner. KAI hits a springboard kick to the side of Nese’s head for a near win. KAI hits a wheelbarrow suplex but Nese kicks out before three on the cover attempt. KAI drives Nese down with a modified Cradle Shock for a two count. Nese blocks a frog splash by getting his knees up! Nese comes off the top and perfectly hits the 450 splash but KAI kicks out at two! Nese superkicks KAI but is met with a superkick from KAI! They begin to trade strikes and the bell sounds. That is because it was a time limit draw. (***. A decent match between these two, but that finish was anti-climatic. I mean, usually the time runs out when someone is close to winning but they were just punching each other. At least they didn’t tell us how much time was left during the match. That would’ve just made things worse.)
Sixth Contest: Brittney Savage vs. Alexxis Nevaeh: Alexxis senton splashes Savage early on and delivers a running bulldog out of the corner for a near fall. Savage botches a Back Stabber in the corner. Savage tries to get a submission with a Boston Crab but that doesn’t work. Alexxis drops Savage with a running clothesline. Can this just end already? Alexxis nearly wins with a twisting Flatliner. Savage hits a diamond cutter and that’s it. Thank you.
Seventh Contest: Tommy Dreamer vs. The Sheik: Sheik cheap shots Dreamer in the corner but his offense is short lived as Dreamer connects with a few arm drags. Sheik is tossed over the top rope to the floor by Dreamer. Dreamer comes off the apron to clothesline Sheik on the floor. Dreamer spits a drink into Sheik’s face. They are battling into the crowd where Dreamer tosses a trash can at Sheik. Dreamer rings the bell on Sheik’s groin, twice! Sheik drops Dreamer across the top rope and knocks Dreamer off the apron onto a plastic table. Sheik uses a chair on Dreamer. Sheik whacks Dreamer over the head with a trash can as well. Dreamer misses a spear and hits the ring post. Dreamer is sent face first into a chair by Sheik via a drop toe hold and Sheik locks in the camel clutch! Dreamer kicks a chair into Sheik’s face and puts him in the tree of woe to hit a running dropkick with a chair. Dreamer plants Sheik with a Death Valley Driver and picks up the win. (**. Nothing special of a brawl here. It was just basic and rather uninteresting for the most part.)
Eighth Contest: Vader & 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Jay Lethal & Devon Moore: Lethal and Moore bail to the floor after Vader and Scorpio decide to show they are crazy by hitting each other and then charging at the Reality Check members. Vader and Lethal start off the match with Lethal bailing to the floor after a simple tie up. Lethal tries to chop Vader but that just doesn’t work so he tags out to Moore. Vader drops him with a clothesline quickly. Lethal is back in but he is just being clubbed in the corner several times by Vader. Scorpio tags in to chop Lethal. Lethal gets a two count following a spinning heel kick and a handspring back elbow. Scorpio is double teamed by Team Reality Check as they both come off the top to deliver double axe handle shots. Later on, Scorpio hits Lethal with a frontward spin kick and tags in Vader. Vader comes off the middle rope to splash Lethal but Moore breaks up the pin attempt. Vader hits a second splash but Moore breaks up the pin again. Scorpio comes in to hit a top rope twisting splash but Moore breaks up the pin yet again. Lethal drops Scorpio with an STO. Moore enters and hits a shooting star press but Vader breaks up the pin. Vader choke slams Lethal and clotheslines Moore. Scorpio hits Moore with a somersault leg drop off the top to win the match. (**. The match seriously lacked energy from the crowd, so that hurt the overall match for me. Vader and Scorpio can still provide some entertainment despite their ages. The match wasn’t anything special, though.)
Ninth Contest: Dynomite vs. Freight Train: Jake Manning is the special referee again. Manning is clotheslined by Freight Train, though. That causes a disqualification to take place. Manning is hit by Dynomite with a diamond cutter. Dynomite and Train decide to attack Manning some more and then dance.
Main Event: PWS World Heavyweight Champion Sami Callihan vs. Kevin Matthews in a ladder match: Callihan quickly goes to work on Matthews with kicks and stomps in the corner. Sami continues to tell Matthews that this is what he wanted. Well, Matthews is already bleeding because of stomps in the corner. That seems rather quick. Calliahn hits Kevin with a running kick in the corner, twice. Sami is going to beat Kevin to death. Sami has not allowed Matthews to do anything thus far. Matthews is trapped underneath Sami who is just punching him over and over again. Sami grabs the ladder and slides into the ring. Matthews gets the ladder rammed into his midsection a few times. Callihan begins to climb the ladder but Devon Moore comes out and climbs the other side but Callihan hits an ace crusher off the ladder! Matthews rams the ladder into Callihan’s head. Matthews is pissed and begins to stomp away on Sami. Callihan superkicks Matthews as he tries to climb the ladder. Callihan clotheslines Matthews on the ladder. Matthews blocks a tornado DDT attempt and suplexs Callihan onto the ladder set up in the corner. Kevin slams the ladder onto Sami. Matthews gets a second ladder that appears to be bigger than the first. They are at the top of the aisle way where Matthews suplexs Callihan onto a plastic table. Kevin gets back into the ring and sets the ladder up. Sami returns to the ring as Matthews slowly climbs. Sami hits Matthews with the second ladder. Callihan tries to get the championship but Matthews low blows him and drives both of his knees into his back out of a powerbomb set up. They are trading blows on the ladder until Sami knocks Matthews off and he goes crashing through another ladder. Devon Moore enters and powerbombs Sami off the ladder. Moore tapes Sami to the ropes and that allows Kevin to get up and gain possession of the championship. (**1/2. Kind of a disappointing match for a ladder match. I was expecting more high spots, but that wasn’t the case here. Just an average main event to close the show.)
Final Thoughts:
In my opinion, it was a better night than night one, but with a clear decline in attendance the show just felt a little too flat. I’m going to consider this an average show, but with a bigger crowd or at least a better crowd reaction it could have come across better.
Thanks for reading.
I remember a ladder match with KM and Matt Hardy….Matt did all the bumping.