Written by: Bob Colling
Premier Wrestling Federation presents Explosion
Date: 1/12/2003
From: Pottstown, PA
Opening Contest: Chi Chi Cruz vs. Prince Nana: Nana is working over Cruz in the corner with right hands but Cruz comes back with a headbutt and a backstabber. Cruz continues to work over Nana with strikes in the corner. Nana fights back with a series of chops in the corner, as well. Nana drops Cruz with a running clothesline. Nana avoids a head scissors out of the corner and tosses Cruz over the top to the floor. Nana beats up Cruz in front of the ECW Hat Guy, who calls Nana a fat slob. Cruz takes Nana over with a northern lights suplex. Cruz attempts a Death Valley Driver but his back gives out. Nana finishes Cruz off with a leaping DDT. (NR. The match was joined in progress, so I’m not sure what I missed. They both played the role of heel, so it was evident that nobody knew who they should be booing since both wrestlers were actively trying to get heat.)
Second Contest: Simply Luscious & Damian Adams vs. The Well Hung Warriors: The Warriors are greeted with a loud “faggot” chant and it continues even leading into the introductions of their opponents. I’d be lying if I said I knew who the Well Hung Warriors were. Simply Luscious was dating promoter Steve Corino at this time, so that likely explains her appearance on the show. Luscious displayed some decent offense for her opening sequence and came across like a main point for the match. Adams gets worked over by the Warriors for several moments. Adams fights back with a Sharpshooter but gets nailed with a superkick. Adams is able to withstand the offense of the Warriors, though. Luscious gets the hot tag and takes both Warriors out with a top rope cross body. She connects with a tornado DDT on both opponents. Luscious delivers a stunner/DDT combo for a near fall. Warriors nearly won with a superplex/big splash combo. Luscious gets the win with a rollup. (*1/4. It’s kind of annoying for Luscious to get so much focus just because she’s dating Corino. That’s the only reason I could think of for her involvement in the match. The match was fine for being filler, but nothing memorable or overly good.)
Third Contest: Rapid Fire Maldonado vs. Rockin’ Rebel: They go to the floor early on with Rebel brawling with Chi Chi Cruz and Rapid Fire. Rebel focuses more on Cruz during the opening stages of the match. Rapid drops Rebel with a heel kick to the back of his head. Rebel sells it like he’s unconscious. Several officials come out to check on Rebel. Matt Striker has come out as well along Damian Adams to check on Rebel. Are they doing an Owen Hart circa 1995 angle here?
Fourth Contest: Samoa Joe vs. Homicide: They go with a slow start focusing on mat wrestling and basic holds. Neither man gets a clear cut advantage. Homicide bails to the floor to regroup and get out of a chin lock. Homicide comes back in and quickly gets an arm bar on Joe. Joe counters into a half Boston Crab but isn’t able to submit Homicide. Homicide continues to go to the ropes to prevent Joe from following up on his attack. Joe delivers a few knee strikes but Homicide takes him down and Joe reaches the ropes quickly. “Hit him with a baseball bat or something.” A fan yells. They slap each other and Joe drops Homicide with a shoulder block. Joe stomps away on Homicide followed by a boot scrapes in the corner. Joe takes Homicide over with a vertical suplex for a two count. Joe drops Homicide with several knee strikes to the face. They begin to trade vicious chops until Homicide pokes Joe in the eyes to keep him on the mat. Homicide works over Joe in the corner with a series of chops followed by a running knee strike. Joe nails Homicide with a running boot in the corner. Joe hits a fisherman suplex for a two count. Homicide stops Joe with a quick dropkick. Homicide chokes Joe in the corner but nails Joe with a running big boot.
Joe catches Homicide in the corner to deliver an STO but Homicide kicks out at a two count. Joe drops Homicide with a few strikes. Joe delivers a flurry of strikes to drop Homicide but only gets a near fall. Homicide clotheslines Joe followed by a middle rope dropkick for a near fall. Homicide nails Joe with a boot to the face and goes for another one but Joe cuts him off with a clothesline for a near fall. Homicide drops Joe with a side suplex for another near fall. Joe slaps Homicide followed by a power bomb and puts an STF on Homicide. Homicide is able to reach the bottom rope. Homicide plants Joe with an ace crusher for a two count. Fans are yelling for someone to close the apron instead of watching the match. Homicide nails Joe with a shining wizard. Homicide goes for the Cop Killa but Joe breaks free. Joe delivers a knee lift and gets a choke hold on Homicide. The bell sounds for some reason. Apparently the time limit had expired and the match ends in a draw.
Apparently the match continues for five more minutes. Homicide delivers a few dropkicks to the knee of Joe to keep control of the match. Homicide puts a STF on Joe but isn’t able to get a submission. Homicide misses a clothesline and Joe gets a full nelson on before hitting a suplex for a two count. Homicide counters or simply rolls over and pins Joe. (*1/2. Well, that was a complete disappointment. These two would go on and have some classic battles in ROH. The fans just crapped on the match here and didn’t seem to care about the guys wrestling. It is really bizarre considering what they’d do in other companies. I don’t think I’d believe you if you told me that these two would be two of the biggest independent stars starting in 2003/2004.)
Fifth Contest: Da Hit Squad (Dan Maff & Monsta Mack) vs. Joey Matthews & Michael Shane: Lou E. is the manager for Matthews and Shane. Mack and Matthews kick off the tag match. Mack runs over Matthews with a shoulder block causing Matthews to run to his corner to regroup. Shane tags in and taunts Mack by showing his muscles. Mack shoulder blocks Shane causing Shane to do the same thing Matthews had done moments prior. Mack tosses both men down and follows up with a double clothesline to knock them both to the floor. Matthews and Shane decide they have had enough and head towards the backstage area. Sign Guy breaks up the count, which makes no sense considering he’s a manager. Shane and Matthews run back to the ring making that spot pointless. Maff and Shane are now in the ring with Maff nailing Shane with a heel kick. Maff continues with a boot and senton splash for a near fall. Mack tags back in and continues to work over Shane. Matthews tags back in and kicks Mack several times. Mack blocks being sent into the ropes and tosses Joey with an overhead suplex. Maff comes back in and Matthews gets to the ropes quickly.
Maff and Mack hit a wheelbarrow suplex/clothesline combo on Matthews. Mack splashes Matthews and Maff goes for a cannonball but Matthews is pulled to the floor. Maff takes both Shane and Matthews out with a suicide dive. Shane shakes the ropes causing Mack to fall off the top and sells his knee. Matthews wraps Mack’s left knee around the ring post. Matthews hits Mack on the knee with the chair. Shane has the cover but the referee was out of position costing him a pin fall. Matthews comes back in and works over the left knee with an elbow drop. Mack continues to get his left knee worked over as he struggles to not submit. Shane drives Mack down with a knee breaker for a two count. Matthews gets tagged back in and works over Mack with another knee breaker. Mack is able to kick Shane to the mat with his free leg and starts to crawl over towards Maff. Shane enters and knocks Maff off the apron to prevent a tag. Mack gets worked over in the corner as Matthews delivers a clothesline. Mack is able to drop Matthews with a clothesline of his own. Mack kicks Matthews away and Maff gets the tag. Maff cleans house with right hands. Maff drops Matthews with a right hand and sends Matthews into Shane. Shane decks Matthews on accident and Maff drives Shane down with a flapjack followed by a dragon suplex. Maff goes to hit Sign Guy in the corner as he got in the ring and drops Sign Guy with a right hand. Maff goes for the cannonball but Alexis Laree got in the ring to prevent that. Maff decides to go for the Burning Hammer but Shane comes in and hits Maff with Sign Guy’s phone and wins the match. (**. A decent enough tag team match. The stable of Shane, Matthews, Laree and Sign Guy can be a fun young heel stable. Mack did a fine job selling the knee, too.)
Sixth Contest: The SAT vs. Matt Striker & JR Ryder: Striker and Jose kick off the tag match with Jose bailing to the floor to avoid any physical confrontation. Jose slaps Striker and taunts the crowd acting proud of himself. Striker drops Jose with several right hands and an elbow strike. Striker misses a clothesline but knocks Jose to the floor with a big boot. Striker and Ryder punch Joel a few times as well. Ryder gets tagged in and works over Joel with a shoulder block but Joel drop toe holds Ryder and delivers a quick dropkick. Ryder tosses Joel into a corner and connects with a clothesline. SAT’s are sent into a corner and Ryder works over them both. Striker leaps off Ryder’s back to splash SAT in the corner. Ryder drops Joel with a knee lift and monkey flips Joel out of the corner followed by a big boot. Ryder continues his offense with a gut wrench suplex. Joel stops Ryder with a knee breaker in the corner and is going to focus on the left knee it looks like. Joel dropkicks a seated Ryder for a near fall. Joel hits a leaping forearm in the corner to stagger Ryder. Ryder runs into a big boot and Joel comes off the middle rope with a kick for a two count. Oh shit, a fan jumps the railing that SAT was bothering before the show. Joel pulled his sweatshirt over his head causing the fan to jump the railing. The fans are very aggressive verbally towards Joel. That could have gotten real ugly, but security got control of the situation quickly.
Joel slams Ryder and comes off the top rope hitting a Swanton Bomb for a two count. Joel goes to the top again but slips and crotches himself. Ryder gets to the middle rope but is shoved away. Ryder takes Joel out with a spear. Ryder kicks Joel away and Striker gets tagged in as does Jose. Striker hammers away on Jose with right hands. Striker plants Jose with a DDT. Striker works over Joel and is on his shoulders managing to hit a hurricanrana. Striker and Jose brawl to the floor for a moment before getting into the ring and trading strikes. Striker hits a Play of the Day but some guy wearing a white t-shirt attacks Striker causing a DQ. (*1/2. The most entertaining part of the match was when the fan jumped the railing because I thought there was going to be a riot. The SAT’s were really able to get a lot of heel heat for their actions and that was entertaining. The action was rather basic and nothing really stood out all that much.)
Seventh Contest: PWF Junior Heavyweight Champion Quiet Storm vs. Rob Eckos: Storm takes Eckos down to the mat and goes for a Stretch Muffler, but Eckos reaches the ropes quickly to break the hold. Storm keeps Eckos on the mat working over his legs until Eckos reaches the ropes. Storm puts a modified Indian death lock on Eckos but can’t get a submission. Storm arm drags Eckos a few times and Eckos rolls to the floor. Eckos complains on the floor with the crowd yelling at him. Eckos sunset flips into the ring but Storm dropkicks Eckos. Storm works over Eckos in the corner with several strikes. Storm takes Eckos over with a swinging neck breaker. Eckos eye rakes Storm followed by a dropkick. Eckos controls Storm with a sleeper hold. Eckos nails Storm with a good looking super kick. Storm fights back with a suplex on Eckos for a two count. Eckos takes Storm down with a side Russian leg sweep. Eckos thinks he’s about to be the champion. Eckos heads to the top rope and misses a flying cross body. Storm charges at Eckos and they collide with stereo clotheslines. Storm forearms Eckos and hits rollings suplexs for a near fall. Storm plants Eckos with a brain buster and heads to the top rope. Storm dives off the top hitting a diving headbutt for a near fall. Storm signals for the Storm Cradle Driver. Eckos is able to counter it since Storm screamed what he was going to do. Eckos clotheslines Storm in the corner and puts him on the top rope. Eckos connects with a top rope hurricanrana and hits a frog splash as well for a two count. Eckos plants Storm with a tornado DDT out of the corner but Storm kicks out even with Eckos using the ropes for an illegal advantage. Eckos misses a forearm and Storm hits the Storm Cradle Driver for the win. (*1/2. I’ve never been entertained by Quiet Storm and this match felt like a by the books kind of match. They seemed to get the crowd invested, but the action wasn’t overly great.) After the match, Storm grabs a microphone and asks who the man is. It would have been better if his microphone wasn’t cutting out early on. He proceeds to talk about being a fighting champion for the past eight months. The fans are heckling him during the promo. Storm thinks that Low Ki is a coward and is afraid of him. Storm wants to know where Low Ki is. Ki’s music hits and Storm starts to panic. Low Ki slowly walks towards the ring! He wasn’t in Zero-One! Storm attacks Ki with right hands but Ki battles back with chops. Ki destroys Storm with kicks causing Storm to bail to the floor. Ki gets a microphone and says he accepts Storm’s challenge.
Eighth Contest: Simon Diamond & Josh Daniels vs. Jack Victory & Chris Hamrick: Lou E. Dangerously is in the corner of Victory and Hamrick for the match. Allison Danger is in the corner of Josh Daniels and Simon Diamond. Daniels gets worked over early on by both Victory and Hamrick. Daniels ducks a double clothesline and hits a double clothesline of his own. Daniels takes Hamrick over with a snap suplex and dropkicks Victory. Hamrick low blows Daniels followed by a DDT. Daniels is being tripled teamed until Simon Diamond’s music hits and he runs into the ring finally. Diamond hammers away on the heels and backdrops Hamrick. Diamond superkicks Hamrick over the top to the floor and plays to the crowd. Simon Diamond cuts a promo about Al Wilson being dead because of Dawn Marie, but he’s alive so that should prove the kind of guy he is.
Hamrick and Daniels kick off the tag match with Daniels countering a suplex with a German suplex for a near fall. Jack Victory comically falls into the ring to stop the count. Hamrick kicks Daniels in the midsection and eye rakes Josh to keep the advantage. Daniels hits a northern lights suplex on Hamrick for a two count. Hamrick complains that Daniels pulled his tights. Daniels takes Hamrick over with a full nelson suplex and Hamrick crawls to Victory to regroup. Victory tags into the match to try his luck against Daniels. Diamond tags in as well before Victory has any interaction with Daniels. Diamond backs Victory into a corner and Victory complains of a hair pull. Victory comes off the ropes to shoulder block Diamond and follows up with a few right hands. Diamond battles back with jabs and a right hand to drop Victory for a two count. Diamond takes Victory down to the mat with a wrist lock. Daniels tags in and kicks Victory before sending Jack into the ropes and is met with a kick to the chest. Victory holds Daniels in a power bomb position but Hamrick comes off the top to hit a blockbuster! Hamrick low blows Daniels while the referee was distracted by Diamond. Hamrick connects with a running clothesline in the corner. Victory takes the camera and holds it in the corner. Victory brings Daniels over and gouges his eyes before dropping Daniels to the mat with a right hand.
Daniels hammers away on Hamrick but Hamrick comes back with a running boot coming off the ropes. Daniels is choked over the middle rope and Hamrick delivers a slingshot knee drop to the lower back of Daniels. Daniels nearly pins Hamrick with an inside cradle but Hamrick stops Daniels with a dropkick. Daniels comes off the ropes and dropkicks both Victory and Hamrick. Diamond gets the hot tag and he cleans house hammering away on the heels. Diamond takes Hamrick over with a snap suplex a few times before hitting a front slam. Joey Matthews and Michael Shane brawl with Diamond on the floor and to the backstage area. That leaves Daniels by himself. Hamrick has Daniels over his shoulder and spikes him with a piledriver for a two count. Lou E. Dangerously tosses powder into Hamrick’s eyes on accident. Hamrick punches Victory and Daniels hit a top rope cross body knocking Hamrick over Victory and pins Hamrick for the win! (**. I thought this was a fine undercard tag match. Diamond didn’t seem to do very much in there. The heels comically failing to cheat their way to victory seems to always entertain men. Victory is great in that role.) After the match, Victory heats on Daniels while Hamrick spikes Allison Danger with a middle rope piledriver! That was insane! Alexis Laree pins Danger while Hamrick and Victory count the fall.
Prior to the main event, it’s announced that Christopher Daniels will be defending a championship he holds in FWA. So, this is essentially a title vs. title match. I can’t imagine Chris Divine will win the FWA Championship, folks.
Main Event: PWF United States Champion Chris Divine vs. Christopher Daniels: Trinity is in the corner of Chris Divine for the title match. Daniels works over Divine as soon as the bell sounds in the corner. Daniels clotheslines Divine for a two count and chokes Divine briefly. Daniels continues to work over Divine in the corner. Divine avoids a splash and dropkicks Daniels followed by a hip toss and clothesline to the floor. Daniels walks around ringside trying to figure out a game plan. Daniels gets back in the ring working over Divine but Divine battles back with a few kicks and an arm drag. Daniels puts a head scissors on Divine to keep him on the mat. Divine comes off the ropes with a shoulder block and hip tosses Daniels. Daniels misses a clothesline and is nearly pinned. Divine wrenches on the leg of Daniels and nearly wins with another rollup. Divine takes Daniels over with a snap suplex for a near fall. Divine backdrops Daniels to the apron but is met with a right hand. Divine knocks Daniels off with a springboard dropkick off the apron. Divine takes Daniels out with a slingshot twisting cross body. Divine kicks Daniels followed by a dropkick to avoid a backdrop. Divine runs into a big boot in the corner and Daniels hits a neck breaker. Daniels continues his offense with a knee drop. Daniels knee drops Divine and locks in an STF. Divine isn’t going to give up.
Daniels takes Divine over with a snap suplex and continues to try and get a submission on the mat but Divine refuses to give up. Daniels drives Divine down to the mat with a back suplex for a two count. Daniels chops Divine and attempts a springboard moonsault but Divine moves and dropkicks Daniels for a near fall. Daniels stops Divine with a Flatliner and has the Koji Clutch locked in. Daniels lets go and goes towards Trinity who slaps him. Daniels takes out Trinity with a sliding dropkick through the middle rope. Daniels gets back in the ring to drop Divine and hits a tilt a whirl slam for a two count. Daniels hits a sit out vertical suplex for another near fall. Divine counters a side slam with a side Russian leg sweep and both men are down. Divine backdrops Daniels followed by a dropkick. Divine runs into a big boot in the corner and Daniels hits a tornado DDT. Daniels tries for a German suplex but Divine lands on his feet and hits a German suplex of his own for a near fall. Divine puts Daniels on the top and connects with a hurricanrana! Divine goes for the cover but Daniels powers out at two. Daniels slams Divine and hits the Best Moonsault Ever for a near fall. Daniels attempts Angel’s Wings, but Divine counters with a backdrop. Daniels connects with a step up kick for a two count. They trade right hands in the middle of the ring. Trinity gets on the top rope and plants Daniels with a tornado DDT. Divine comes off the top rope hitting a splash but Daniels pops his shoulder up at two. Daniels stops Divine with a jaw breaker but Divine arm drags Daniels and nearly wins with a rollup. They trade a few rollups. Daniels slams Divine and uses the ropes for leverage but Trinity stops him. Daniels flips Trinity into the ring. Divine misses a splash in the corner and Daniels plants Trinity with an STO. Divine hits a float over DDT to stop Daniels. Divine checks on Trinity and is rolled up by Daniels, with a handful of tights, to win the title. (**. The finish came across kind of poorly as Divine just abruptly went over and checked on Trinity. The biggest pop of the night came when Daniels dropkicked Trinity on the floor. The action okay and there was a decent pace to it. There wasn’t much substance to it and it was rather obvious Daniels was going over with the stipulation announced just before the match started.)
Final Thoughts:
A weak PWF show to start of 2003 for the company. There was some decent action, but just nowhere near enough to classify this as a good show. I’ve got to give it a thumbs down this time around.
Thanks for reading.