ICW Expect The Unexpected 11/30/2001

Written by: Bob Colling

Impact Championship Wrestling presents Expect The Unexpected
Date: 11/30/2001
From: Queens, NY

Opening Contest: Jimmy Hustler vs. Danny Demanto vs. Kevin Matthews: Demanto is double teamed in the corner to start the match. Danny comes off the ropes to hit a double clothesline and takes both men over with a power slam and a vertical suplex. Danny gets double teamed again as Matthews comes off the top to leg drops Danny throat first across the top rope. Hustler hits a sloppy looking hurricanrana off the apron to the floor. Matthews drives Danny down with a neck breaker/leg drop combo but misses a twisting senton off the ropes. Danny plants Matthews with a big splash off the middle rope and gets stomped by Hustler. Matthews misses a spear and hits the ring post shoulder first. Hustler hits a springboard somersault neck breaker on Matthews before being decked by Danny. Danny clotheslines Matthews over the top to the floor and dumps Hustler to the floor, as well. Danny goes for a dive over the top but comes up short and hits the ground head first. Boy, the fans let him know about it, too. Danny drives Hustler down with sit out Death Valley Driver. Danny goes to the top hitting a frog splash which gets the three. (*1/2. I’ll assume these guys were students at the time and this was just a way to showcase Danny. It’s nothing great and is rather sloppy throughout.) After the match, a blonde female comes into the ring and gives Danny a lap dance in the middle of the ring. She goes to take her top off but here comes Xavier to cover her up and kicks Danny out of the chair.

Second Contest: ICW Tag Team Champions the SAT vs. The Briscoe Brothers: Jay and Joel kick off the title match. Joel takes Jay over with a head scissors and hurricanrana at the start of the bout. Jay comes back with the same sequence and they have a standoff. Mark tags into the match as does Jose. Mark takes Jose over with a head scissors and Jose does the same. They duck clotheslines and attempt dropkicks but settle for a standoff. They trade right hands and they both take back bumps, which looked odd. Mark is backed into the corner and worked over by the SAT. Mark is planted by a double spine buster and a double team back breaker for a two count. Jose takes Mark over with a snap suplex for a near fall. Jose continues with a clothesline a three times, with the third one turning Mark inside out. Jay replaces Mark and hits a sit out power slam for a near fall on Jose. Jay delivers a kick to Jose’s head and tags in Mark to keep the advantage in their favor. Mark gets a near fall following a suplex. Mark slams Jose and hits a springboard knee drop from the apron for a near fall. Jose is double teamed by the Briscoe’s but refuses to stay down on the covers. Jay puts a dragon sleeper on Jose but Joel makes the save. Jay takes Jose over with a snap suplex but only manages a near fall.

Jay drives Jose across his knee and Mark comes off the top to hit a knee drop for a near fall on Jose. Mark continues with a suplex but can’t get a three count. Jay plants Jose with the Jay Driller! Mark prevents Jay from going to the top and attempts a moonsault himself but misses. Jay gets tagged in as does Joel, who cleans house. Mark gets monkey flipped into a spear from Joel. Jay is taken over by a snap power slam by Joel. Jose heads to the top and hits a missile dropkick on Jay followed by a sit out back suplex. Mark plants Jose with a Rock Bottom. Jay takes Jose out with a somersault dive over the top to the floor. Joel hits a springboard moonsault to the floor. Mark gets to the top and takes everyone out with a twisting dive. Jose nearly pins Mark with a sit out power slam. Jose gets stopped on the top rope with a kick to the face. Briscoe Brothers hit a middle rope power bomb/neck breaker combo on Jose for a near fall! Jose plants Jay with a backpack driver. Joel stops Mark in the corner and the SAT hit the Spanish Fly to win the match. (**1/4. The early sequence was not very good as it wasn’t logical and rather sloppy. It’s a sloppy match, but you can see these two teams having a lot of promise and they provided an average, yet entertaining tag match.)

Third Contest: Red vs. Scoot Andrews: Andrews uses his size advantage to toss Red across the ring a couple of times and poses for the fans. Red fights back with a few dropkicks and Andrews bails to the floor. Red goes for a somersault dive, and lands in the crowd. Red continues to work over Scoot in the corner with strikes and kicks in the ring. Red hits a running neck breaker for a near fall. Scoot stops Red on the apron to hit a middle rope leg drop across the middle rope for a two count. Scoot hits a sit out power bomb but Red kicks out at two. Andrews dumps Red to the floor but continues to work over Red after he returns to the ring. Andrews nails Red with a spinning heel kick for a near fall. Scoot drives Red down with a face buster for another two count. Scoot dropkicks Red but doesn’t get a three count on a cover. Scoot catapults Red across the bottom rope and taunts the fans. Red head scissors Andrews but Scoot hits a face buster to counter a head scissors. Scoot dumps Red over the top to the floor. Andrews sends Red hard into the guard railing. Andrews only gets a two count following a Styles Clash. Red battles back with a DDT to stop Scoot. Red goes to the top hitting a senton splash for a two count. Scoot counters a sunset flip to hit a Cross Rhodes neck breaker but Red kicks out. Scoot gets kicked by Red a few times. Red hits a standing shooting star press for the win. (**1/2. A good match and it is kind of interesting to see Andrews hit moves that would be made famous by other wrestlers. They worked well together, too.) After the match, Andrews looks like he destroys Red with a modified Steiner Screwdriver, three times.

Fourth Contest: Divine vs. Quiet Storm: A slow start to the match as it had a mat wrestling start and general stalling. Storm arm drags Divine but Divine comes back with one of his own. They have a standoff again as they know each other very well doing the same spots. Divine attacks Storm from behind after shaking his hand. Storm hits a standing hurricanrana sending Divine rolling to the outside. Divine gets a two count on Storm for a near fall. Divine places Storm across the top rope and botches a springboard dropkick knocking Storm to the floor. Storm drops Divine face first across the top turnbuckle and had a interesting head scissors submission but couldn’t keep the hold on. Storm misses a middle rope moonsault. Divine nearly wins with a double hook German suplex. Divine slams Storm before heading to the top but is crotched by Storm. Storm puts Divine over his shoulder and hits a slam keeping a pin but Divine kicked out. Storm misses a top rope diving head butt. Divine gets the win following a brain buster. (*1/4. Good lord, these guys botched a lot and seemingly tried to do things they just aren’t good at doing. This makes me wonder how they got a spot in early ROH.)

Fifth Contest: Mike Bell vs. Tim Arson vs. Tom Marquez in an elimination match: Arson is someone I never heard of, Bell is a known jobber that often appeared on WWF television and Marquez was a jobber in ECW. Arson got some decent heat prior to the match cutting a promo and ripping on the fans. Arson low blows both men at the start. Marquez plants Arson with a power bomb and Bell comes off the ropes to hit a leg drop. Arson is pulled up by his legs and slammed by both opponents. Bell hits a northern lights suplex but can’t pin Marquez. Marquez tosses Arson with a release German suplex. Marquez hits a springboard moonsault hitting both opponents for a near fall. Arson tosses Bell with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Arson drives Marquez down with a delayed vertical suplex. Arson slams Marquez before going to the top to miss a moonsault. Marquez hits a power bomb on Arson and Bell apparently breaks up the pin to get the pin fall. Marquez grabs Arson’s valet and power bombs her onto Arson. Arson has been eliminated. Bell controls Marquez with a leaping kick and a bridging fall away slam for a two count. Bell hits a spinning heel kick. Marquez plants Bell with a lifting face buster and that gets the win. After the match, DeVito enters from behind and attacks Marquez. DeVito hits a side slam off the middle rope and stands over Marquez. (**. They tried to make it enjoyable and it held my interest, but there wasn’t anything by these guys that was overly fun.)

Sixth Contest: ICW North Eastern Champion Xavier vs. Prince Nana: Xavier attacks Nana from behind but Nana drops Xavier with a clothesline causing the champion bail to the floor. Xavier works over the left arm of Nana after returning to the ring. Xavier shoulder blocks Nana bur is met with an atomic drop. Xavier attempted an atomic drop but sold the knee. Xavier splashes Xavier twice causing the champion to bail to the outside again. Nana slingshots Xavier back into the ring from the apron. Nana drops Xavier with a clothesline. Xavier ducks a second clothesline and Nana goes over the top to the floor. Xavier takes Nana out with a somersault dive to the outside. Xavier sends Nana into the ring post face first. Back in the ring, Xavier takes Nana over with a backdrop suplex. Xavier works over Nana with chops. Nana battles back with jabs but Xavier gets a near fall after a handspring back elbow. Xavier scoop slams Nana and delivers a leg drop for a two count. Xavier continues his offense with a rolling neck snap and a side Russian leg sweep. They go to the floor where Nana beats on Xavier with something a fan gave him and splashes the champ against the railing. Nana has a steel chair but Xavier blocks the shot and goes to the apron with the chair.

Xavier does a springboard moonsault only to toss the chair at Nana, which just seems unnecessary to do. On the floor, Xavier continues to work over Nana with kicks and basic strikes before they return to the ring. Xavier hits a springboard 450 that saw the champ land on his butt on top of Nana for a near fall. Nana counters a superplex slamming Xavier off the middle rope and hits a middle rope senton splash. Nana goes for a cover and is humping Xavier but only gets a near fall. Xavier hits a pump handle twisting sit out slam for a near fall. Xavier goes to the top but the girl he covered up earlier in the night appears at ringside to distract him. The girl strips and reveals tape on her nipples. Nana gets distracted by this, of course. The camera misses I’m assuming a fireball and Xavier hits a 450 splash for the win. (*1/2. It’s mostly a boring match that lost the audience until the finish involving the female occurred. There is a trend of these guys doing ridiculous things for the basic of moves or spots. This could have been cut a few minutes and been better.)

Simon Diamond comes into the ring and attacks the promoter of ICW who was talking shit about him and his wife, I think. Diamond appears to be taking out several guys on the roster including Divine and Xavier. Diamond puts over the building the various wrestlers that have competed in from the ECW days. Diamond says the guy isn’t a promoter but rather a mark. Diamond is going to beat the $600 that the promoter owes him. Diamond issues a challenge to wrestle him in the ring. The promoter suggests the One Year Anniversary Show in January. Diamond gladly accepts the challenge. I seriously hate when a promoter decides to wrestle in his own promotion.

I just want to note, that disc two starts here and there is another two hours of this show. Go ahead and look at the remaining matches and if you think I can handle another two hours of local nonsense, I just can’t put myself through torture.

Seventh Contest: Trekkie & Wayne vs. Simply Striking vs. The Christopher Street Connection vs. The Solution: Alright, this is a gauntlet match with the winners getting the managerial services of a blonde. I know very little about the Solution and the Christopher Street Connection are a gay couple that seemingly always managed to get a pop from the crowd. Rob Feinstein is with the tag team for the show and acting over the top. The match apparently runs nearly 35-minutes with the final two teams being the Solution and Simply Striking. Solution won the match following a power bomb/top rope block buster. After the match, the promoter comes out and talks to Matt Striker who wants to hit his partner. The promoter turns on Striker and his partner takes him out. The promoter spears a girl in the ring. This stuff just doesn’t make much sense to me.

Eighth Contest: Abunai vs. Ghost Shadow vs. Low Ryda: Ryda hits a bulldog on Abunai to win the match. After the match, Ryda is attacked by the Boogie Knights. Ryda gets hit with a spike piledriver onto a chair. Here come the Natural Born Thrillers to make the save.

Ninth Contest: The Natural Born Thrillers vs. The Boogie Knights: Homicide hits the Cop Killa and wins the match in a relatively short match.

Tenth Contest: ICW Heavyweight Champion Low Ki vs. Eddie Guerrero: Ki is taken down to the canvas by Guerrero who gets control of the champion before a standoff occurs. Guerrero has a side headlock on Ki for a few moments and wrenches on Ki’s arm briefly. Ki manages to knock Guerrero to the outside. Ki kicks Guerrero down to the canvas as they were doing a test of strength. They both attempt monkey flips and they leads to another standoff. Guerrero has the Gory Special on Ki but Ki counters out of it which leads to a series of pin attempts. Guerrero has Ki upside down but Ki gets out of it only to be brought down with a head scissors on the canvas. Guerrero has a modified cloverleaf on the champ with his knee on the upper back but doesn’t get a submission. Ki breaks free with a kick to the head. Ki hits a running clothesline in the corner for a near fall. Ki controls Guerrero on the mat with a head scissors. Guerrero gets free and puts the surfboard on the champ before switching to a dragon sleeper. Ki gets free with another kick to the face. Guerrero chops Ki a few times followed by a right hand. Guerrero drops Ki with a spinning heel kick and a slingshot rolling senton from the apron for a near fall.

Guerrero drops Ki with a side suplex but Ki kicks out at two on the cover attempt. Eddie puts Ki on the top to hit a hurricanrana for a near fall. Guerrero keeps Ki on the canvas looking for a submission. Ki drops Guerrero gut first to the canvas and begins a series of kicks to Eddie’s chest. Guerrero counters a kick and has an STF locked in! Ki manages to reach the bottom rope. Ki hits a handspring kick in the corner to drop Guerrero for a near fall. Ki sets up for the Ki Krusher but Guerrero counters with a rollup and plants Ki with a brain buster! Guerrero hits a second brain buster! Eddie has the cover but Ki kicks out at two. Ki nearly wins with a German suplex. Guerrero elbows Ki in the corner and attempts a tornado DDT but Ki counters and puts Eddie on the top rope attempting a hurricanrana but Eddie held onto the ropes. Guerrero leaps off the middle rope and plants Ki with a tornado DDT! Eddie signals for a frog splash but Ki rolls out of the way! Ki gets to his feet and goes to the top rope missing a twisting 450. Ki rolls Guerrero up and wins the match. (***. It’s not a classic that you’d probably hope for. The start was rather slow and boring as they went an extended time with counters on the canvas. Once they got it going it was a good match, but the finish kind of felt like a cheap way to have Eddie lose, especially since the count seemed really fast for the moment. The best match on the show, but it’s not a must-see nor is a defining moment for Ki, like it probably should have been. At least the local guy went over, though.)

The main event was supposed to be Mahoney & Sandman taking on Da Hit Squad. However, Sandman no showed the event. Mahoney really lays into Sandman for not appearing at the show. Mahoney does have a partner who hasn’t wrestled tonight and it ends up being Ken Sweeney. The fans don’t seem to want that to happen, which backfires on the segment because they really don’t want Sweeney to wrestle. Sweeney has a Joe Dirt kind of look and declines to tag with Mahoney, but Mahoney threatens to force Sweeney to be his partner.

Main Event: Da Hit Squad vs. Balls Mahoney & Ken Sweeney: Oh dear God, just judging by the opening jabs, Sweeney is awful in the ring. Sweeney leaps off the top to take Monsta Mack out with a cross body on the floor. Mack runs over Sweeney with a clothesline. Mahoney is working over Mafia with a cooking utensil. Mahoney uses a plastic cup on Mafia, too. In the ring, Mack nails Sweeney with a chain wrapped around his fist. Mahoney breaks a glass bottle over Mafia’s head and Mack is hanging Sweeney over the top rope. Sweeney and Mack are dueling chairs on the floor which somehow Sweeney wins that exchange and the fans are shitting on it. Mack whacks Sweeney over the head with a steel chair. Mafia drop toe holds Mahoney face first into a chair against the railing. Sweeney is choking Mack with a chain. Mahoney is busted wide open as Mafia used a cooking sheet on him as well. All four men are brawling on the floor at this point. Mafia has been busted wide open thanks to Mahoney. Mahoney is using a knife on Mafia’s forehead, by the way. “Is the blade in my pocket?” Mahoney asks Mafia. That’s nice…

Back in the ring, Sweeney clotheslines Mack in the corner as if anyone cared. Sweeney with a ridiculous leg drop to the back of Mack in the corner. A table has been step up in the corner. Mack goes to the top rope missing a frog splash as Sweeney rolled out of the way. Sweeney is double teamed in the corner as Mahoney slowly rolls into the ring. Mahoney runs over both Mafia and Mack with clotheslines. Mahoney gets a second table into the ring. Sweeney and Mafia get knocked down by clotheslines. Mahoney whacks both Mafia and Mack with a chair. Mahoney places Mafia on the table, but Mafia rolls off and stops Mahoney on the top rope. Mafia goes for a superplex but Balls stops it. Mack comes over and they slam Mahoney off the top through the table. What the hell, Mahoney has been eliminated. I guess this is a tables match?

Sweeney hits a stunner on Mafia, but can’t hit one of Mack. Mack drills Sweeney with a vicious clothesline. Mahoney gets attacked by the Natural Born Sinners on the floor. That leaves Sweeney alone in the ring and is promptly power bombed off the top through the table to end the match. (DUD. Well, this is not only one of the worst main events I’ve ever seen, but it’s probably one of the worst matches I’ve ever watched. Ken Sweeney is just awful and I can’t believe they’d pick him out of anyone on the show, or in the state, to put in the match. He alone killed the match from being anything of entertainment value. What an absolute joke at an attempt to compete in the ring.) After the match, Mahoney smashes a chair over Sweeney’s head to end the show.

Final Thoughts:
I got this show for the Guerrero/Ki match and to see how guys like the SAT, Briscoe Brothers, Amazing Red and a few others looked before making it to a bigger level. In that regard, it’s a disappointment despite it being clear that they all had promise to become something better. This show didn’t have anything standout from it and that main event is truly dreadful. Recommendation to avoid. I think Guerrero/Ki is on YouTube, anyway.

Thanks for reading.