Written by: Bob Colling
Premier Wrestling Federation presents One Year Anniversary Show
Date: 4/7/2002
From: Pottstown, PA
Rockin’ Rebel starts the show cutting a promo on a fan in the crowd. Rebel insults a couple saying that he’s going to call animal control for when the guy has sex with his wife. That Rebel sure is a nice guy.
Opening Contest: Stormchaser & Striker vs. Matt Vandal & Rockin’ Rebel: Rebel and Stormchaser kick off the tag match with Rebel cleanly breaking away in the corner. Legendary ECW Hat Guy is actually in the crowd for the show. Stormchaser arm drags Rebel a few times followed by a scoop slam and clothesline. Rebel goes to a corner and wants a timeout. Vandal tags in and so does Striker. Vandal wants to do a test of strength and gets control. Striker arm drags Vandal a few times followed by a dropkick. Striker has a headlock on Vandal switching to a hammerlock. Striker has a submission on Vandal but Rebel enters to cheap shot Striker in the midsection. Striker dropkicks a seated Vandal and puts a head scissors submission on but Rebel again enters and punches Striker. Stormchaser comes off the top to axe handle Vandal. Vandal takes Stormchaser over with a belly to belly throw and tags in Rebel. Rebel sends Vandal into the corner for a clothesline and Rebel gets a two count after another clothesline. Rebel dropkicks Stormchaser and Vandal gets tagged in Rebel elbow drops Stormchaser leading to a two count. Vandal drives Stormchaser down with a vertical suplex for a near fall. Stormchaser continues to be worked over by Rebel, who delivers a scoop slam and chokes him with his knee. Rebel gets to the ropes to block a sunset flip. Rebel gets chopped by the referee and nearly gets pinned. Rebel gets shoved by the referee again leading to another near fall. Rebel misses an attack on the referee and is chopped again.
Rebel misses a splash in the corner and Stormchaser tags in Striker. Striker cleans house on the heels hitting a stunner on Vandal and a super kick on Rebel for a two count. All four men are in the ring with Striker hammering away on Rebel. Striker and Stormchaser are sent into each other and Rebel hit a spine buster on Striker. Vandal comes off the top with an elbow drop to pin Striker. (*1/2. It’s not an awful match, but it just went on a little too long for my liking. The stuff with the referee was enjoyable and popped the crowd.) After the match, Adam Flash and Danny Rose attack Rebel and Vandal. They cut a promo saying the Rachies will never be broken down. They will always be around to kick Rebel’s ass.
Second Contest: White Lotus vs. Rob Eckos: Lotus shoulder blocks Eckos and goes for a hip toss but Eckos counters with a toss of his own. Lotus rolls to the floor to regroup. Eckos takes Lotus out with a cross body to the floor and they quickly get back into the ring. Eckos springboards off the top to deliver a forearm smash for another near fall. Lotus springboards off the middle rope to nail Eckos with an elbow shot. Lotus scoop slams Eckos and connects with a leg drop for a two count. Eckos hammers away on Louts but Lotus counters with an exploder supex, German suplex and a brain buster for a two count. Eckos takes Lotus over with a tilt a while head scissors but is nailed with a clothesline from Lotus. Lotus works over Eckos in the corner with strikes and nails Eckos with a super kick for a two count. Eckos counters a suplex with a reverse DDT. Eckos is trying really hard to get the crowd behind him, but they aren’t responding. Eckos clotheslines Lotus followed by a dropkick for a two count. Lotus low blows Eckos and blames the crowd for telling him to do it. Eckos stops Lotus on the top rope and hits a top rope hurricanrana for a two count. Tom Marquez comes in the ring and slams Eckos down but is dropkicked by Lotus. The bell has sounded throwing the match out. Marquez power slams Lotus off the middle rope to lay them both out. (**. It wasn’t really going that bad, but the crowd just didn’t care about Eckos and wasn’t going to get behind him on his comeback. They had some good spots going and it was holding my interest. Of course, it had to be derailed by Marquez.)
Tom Marquez has the microphone and wants to talk. Marquez cuts a promo acting as if he was a big deal in ECW when he did nothing there. Harley Lewis comes out and trips on the ring steps.
Third Contest: Harley Lewis vs. Tom Marquez: They start the match trading strikes and Lewis kicks Marquez in the back. Marquez goes to the floor to regroup. Marquez comes back into the ring and sends Lewis into the corner delivering a clothesline. Marquez dropkicks Lewis and hits a suplex out of the corner. Lewis and Marquez brawl on the floor where Marquez hits a snap suplex on the floor. Marquez sends Lewis across the ring but Lewis nails him with a clothesline to win the match. (1/2*. Well, Marquez was nothing in ECW and that continues in PWF.)
Fourth Contest: Gino Giovanni & The Well Hung Warriors (Rick Spitz & Mark Mest) vs. Mike Kehner, & The Damned (Draven & Mad Dog): Aside from Kehner, who is a former ECW referee, I have no idea who these guys are. Kehner was the referee that had done stuff earlier in the show in the opening match. It’s really weird to see Kehner as an in-ring performer even during his entrance. Damned start the match sending the Warriors into each others groins at the start of the match. Kehner is just standing on the apron while his partners are doing all the work. Kehner gets tagged in and tries his luck with Spitz. Kehner gets a few rollups on Spitz for a near fall. Kehner screams out “ECW” on a backslide for an attempted cheap pop, which is just ridiculous. Kehner slaps Gino and they trade right hands. A slap knocks Gino out, but when they trade right hands he stays up. Damned toss Mest over the top onto both Spitz and Gino. Draven dives over the top to hit a dive to the floor. Kehner goes to the top rope as everyone brawls and attempts a somersault dive but didn’t do a full rotation so it was more like his shoulders hitting them. Kehner continues his offense with a standing dropkick. Spits plants Kehner with a tornado DDT out of the corner for a two count. Spitz gets another two count with a clothesline on Kehner.
Gino leg drops Kehner throat first over the middle rope and chokes him for a few moments. Gino continues to chop Kehner calling him a nobody and connects with a DDT managing to get a near fall. Kehner counters a DDT attempt by Spitz with a side Russian leg sweep. Gino and Mark get tagged in but Mad Dog is tagged in and he’s cleaning house anyway. Kehner dropkicks a seated Spitz, who has a weird looking lower back tattoo that I just noticed. Spitz does a headbutt to Kehner’s groin and acts like he’s performing oral sex and tosses saliva at the Hat Guy. Kehner battles back with another DDT on Spitz. Draven gets tagged in and he cleans house too. The heels had to purposely set up a gay sex spot and it was just awful. Damned hit a power bomb/frog splash combo and Kehner pinned Spitz to end the match. (DUD. This went on for far too long and the comedy just wasn’t very funny to me. Kehner was the most popular guy in the match and he did well considering he’s not a wrestler. This just failed to entertain me.)
Fifth Contest: Rapid Fire Maldonado vs. Mike Preston: They trade wrist locks early on until Rapid takes Preston down to the mat with a hammerlock, which Preston counters as well. Neither man can get a clear cut advantage and have a standoff after they both attempted dropkicks. Preston arm drags Rapid a few times, which didn’t look so great. Rapid knee lifts Preston in the midsection coming off the ropes to keep control of the match. Rapid continues with a clothesline and an elbow drop. Rapid delivers a strike to the groin area. Rapid chokes Preston over the top rope and whiplashes Preston to the canvas. Rapid gets a two count after an elbow drop. Rapid delivers a standing heel kick and thinks he has the match in hand. Rapid drives Preston down with a vertical suplex for a two count. Preston gets up and fights back with a series of chops but a knee cuts him off. Preston recovers to hit a side Russian leg sweep. Preston heads to the top rope and misses a frog splash. Rapid loads up his boot in the corner but misses a kick. Preston takes Rapid over with an overhead suplex. Preston attempts a neck breaker but Rapid avoids it and kicks Preston on the back of the head with the loaded boot to win the match. (*. It wasn’t awful, but it’s evident that Preston is a new worker. He has a good look, though. Rapid isn’t the greatest, but this wasn’t offense as I had expected.)
Before the next match, LeGrande and Jack Victory stand in the ring to cut a promo before their tag title defense against Dylan Night. LeGrande talks about challenges and how they never lose, I think. Dylan Night comes out and says he doesn’t have a partner tonight. He thinks he could find a good partner tonight in the crowd. He’s asking the fans who is tough enough to be his partner and a few people seem to be volunteering. There’s an older man in the front row who looks like he’s ready for a fight. Night knows he’s going to lose but he’ll take one of them down with him.
Sixth Contest: PWF Universal Tag Team Champions Guillotine LeGrande & Jack Victory vs. Chris Hamrick & Dylan Night in a falls count anywhere match: Night goes on the attack but here comes Chris Hamrick to help out Night and all four men are brawling in the ring. Victory bails to the floor to regroup. Night and Hamrick stand tall in the ring as Hamrick gets a microphone. Hamrick says he doesn’t like Night but he’ll team with him tonight anyway. Hamrick wants the match to be no rules, and that appears to be agreed to.
Night leaps off the top to take LeGrande out with a cross body on the floor. Victory hammers away on Night while Hamrick takes everyone out with a springboard corkscrew dive to the floor. All four men are brawling in the floor as Hamrick brings Victory over to the stage area of the arena. Hamrick sends Victory face first into the wall. Hamrick pummels Victory with right hands and sends him head first into the wall a second time. Victory has been busted wide open as Hamrick hits him over the back with a trash can. Hamrick has some tongs from the food area and uses it on Victory’s groin. Hamrick rams Victory face first onto a table and a puddle of blood is left. Hamrick super kicks Victory as we see Night and LeGrande brawling with Night hitting LeGrande with a steel chair over the back. Hamrick whacks Victory over the back several times with a chair. Night attempts a piledriver on the stage but LeGrande counters with a backdrop. Victory slams Hamrick into the stage a few times and Hamrick is busted open now too. Victory tosses Hamrick face first into the wall. Victory nails Hamrick with a trash can and sends Hamrick into the ring post face first a few times. Victory whacks Night over the back with a steel chair to help out LeGrande.
In the ring, Hamrick dropkicks LeGrande and connects with a scoop slam. Hamrick delivers ten stomps to the groin of LeGrande. Night is gouging the forehead of Victory with a metal object. Victory saves LeGrande from a surfboard by punching Victory. Hamrick takes LeGrande down to the mat and leaps off the top missing a leg drop. LeGrande clotheslines Hamrick and tags in Victory. Victory works over Hamrick with stomps. So, now there are tag team rules for this match? Victory backdrops Hamrick and plays to the crowd. Victory cuts Hamrick off with a knee lift to the midsection and LeGrande enters to deliver an elbow drop for a two count. Hamrick dropkicks the champs to break free from their offense. Night gets the hot tag and cleans house with right hands. All four men are in the ring with the challengers hammering away on the champs in opposite corners. Hamrick and Victory collide and Night nails LeGrande with a super kick. There is a random cat fight between two blondes that were at ringside. Night spikes LeGrande with a piledriver but the referee doesn’t make the count. Samoa Joe comes out and drops Night on his head with a suplex. LeGrande rolls Night over and wins the match. (**. It was an enjoyable brawl and it stood out from the other matches. I don’t understand how it was no rules and then they made it into a regular tag match. That stuff always bugs me. There was some entertainment value to the match, though.)
Seventh Contest: The SAT vs. Christian York & Joey Matthews in a number one contenders match: Matthews and Joel kick off the tag match with Joel arm dragging Matthews for the quick advantage. Matthews backs away and taunts the SAT. Matthews arm drags Joel, but Joel decks York off the apron. Matthews controls Joel with a headlock and comes off the ropes with a shoulder block. Joel dropkicks Matthews a couple of times and knocks York off the apron. SAT stand in the ring to scare York and Matthews out of the ring. York and Jose are in the match now with York delivering a few elbow strikes in the corner. Jose battles back with right hands but York delivers a dropkick. York misses Joel on the apron and crashes to the mat. SAT put a Boston Crab/chin lock combo on York and Matthews. Joel dropkicks York while in the chin lock and they splash York. Matthews bails to the floor and pulls Joel to the floor. York knees Jose in the ring but gets put in a tree of woe. Jose stands on York’s groin until Matthews comes in and is sent into York’s groin with a drop toe hold. SAT stand on Matthews head to push him into York’s groin. SAT bulldog Matthews and Jose hammers away on York. Matthews comes over and is pummeled too. York stops Jose by dropping him over the turnbuckle and knees him to the floor. Matthews grabs Jose and tells the fans to move out of the way. Matthews fakes them out and just rolls Jose into the ring. Jose takes Matthews out with a suicide dive on the floor!
York rams Jose into a chair on the floor and gets a two count back in the ring. York tags in Matthews and knocks Jose down. Matthews enters to deliver a double elbow strike. Matthews takes Jose over with a northern lights suplex for a two count. Matthews takes Jose over with a vertical suplex. York misses a clothesline and Jose gets a two count with a cross body. They trade right hands until York slams Jose and delivers a standing senton splash for a two count. Matthews rams Jose into the corner head first. Matthews clothesline Jose in the corner and taunts the crowd. Matthews runs into a back elbow and stops Jose on the middle rope looking for a side Russian leg sweep but gets knocked off. Jose plants Matthews with a tornado DDT. York gets the tag and so does Joel who cleans house with right hands. Joel power slams York and takes Matthews over with a hurricanrana. Joel gets sent into the corner as Matthews avoided a bulldog. York slingshots into the ring from the apron to leg drop Joel. Jose is caught and slammed down to the mat with a double power bomb. Jose nearly pins York with a German suplex. Matthews stops Jose with a neck breaker for a two count. Joel gets sent to the floor leaving Jose in the ring. York accidentally tombstones Matthews as Joel dropkicked York’s knee. York gets crotched on the top and Matthews sent to the floor. SAT go for the Spanish Fly and hit it on York! Joel has the cover and gets the three count as Matthews couldn’t make the save. (***. A pretty solid tag match and the crowd was actually into the action, which hasn’t been the case for most of the show. The Spanish Fly is one of my favorite moves and it was cool to see it on this show, too.)
Eighth Contest: ECWA Heavyweight Champion Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe: Joe starts the match trying to kick Daniels, but Daniels blocks it. Joe leg sweeps Daniels and they have a standoff. Joe shoves Daniels away on a lockup attempt. Joe gets a few kicks in and controls Daniels with several kicks to the chest. The fans are literally just yelling things to get themselves over during the match. Daniels takes Joe down to the mat, but Joe counters quickly. They remain on the mat for a few moments. Joe snap mares Daniels and delivers a kick to the back and chest. Daniels dragon screw leg whips Joe to the mat and delivers a dropkick to the right knee. Daniels focuses his attack on the right knee with elbow drops. Daniels slingshots into the ring to knee drop Joe’s right knee and puts a half Boston Crab on Joe. Joe reaches the ropes to break the hold. Daniels takes Joe down to the mat with a knee bar but Joe again reaches the ropes. Joe stops Daniels with an STO. Joe elbows Daniels in the corner and delivers a few kicks to the midsection. Joe clotheslines Daniels in the corner and delivers a few boot scrapes. Joe runs across the ring and boot scrapes Daniels again. Joe slows the match down by controlling Daniels with a sleeper hold. Daniels comes off the ropes and ducks a clothesline to hit a cross body for a two count. Daniels nearly wins with an inside cradle. Daniels jabs Joe several times in the corner but runs into a big boot. Joe comes out of the corner with a kick to the head for a near fall. Joe puts a key lock on Daniels but isn’t able to get a submission. Daniels tries to get the crowd behind him and it’s the rare time that the crowd responded on this show. Joe stops Daniels with a clothesline for a two count.
Joe takes Daniels over with a snap mare and an elbow drop coming off the ropes for a two count. Joe chops Daniels against the ropes but Daniels blocks a backdrop with a kick. Daniels comes off the ropes to nail Joe with a neck breaker. Daniels continues to hammer away on Joe with a right hand and clothesline. Daniels springboards off the middle rope to hit Joe with an elbow strike. Daniels plants Joe with a sit out side slam for a two count. Daniels signals for the Best Moonsault Ever but Joe moves. Daniels lands on his feet and is clotheslined by Joe. Joe goes for the cover but Daniels kicks out. Daniels elbows out of a go-behind and hammers away on Joe until a spinning back fist knocks Daniels off his feet. Joe takes Daniels over with a German suplex and a full nelson suplex. Joe nearly wins with a straight jacket German! Daniels heel kicks Joe and goes to the middle rope. Daniels plants Joe with a tornado DDT for a near fall. Daniels goes for another tornado DDT but Joe blocks it and slaps Daniels on the top turnbuckle. Joe hits a middle rope Flatliner! They trade strikes on their knees with Joe missing a back fist. Daniels slams Joe to the mat and signals for the BME which he hits this time and gets the three count. (***. I enjoyed the match and they worked well together. Some people in the crowd were trying to hijack the match by yelling random things, which is the worst. A good undercard match.)
Ninth Contest: PWF Junior Heavyweight Champion Amazing Red vs. Quiet Storm & Chris Divine vs. Billy Bax in a double jeopardy match: Red comes out to Rhino’s ECW theme song and a few people scream out Rhino knowing that he isn’t going to be there. This is a little weird since that there are two different matches taking place in one, I’m assuming. Quiet Storm seems to be the most over guy in the match.
All four men are in the ring and are doing basically the same spots to start the match, which would realistically end any kind of creditability for wrestling in a real sense. They all lockup with Storm and Red over the lockup of Bax and Divine until Red and Storm hit hurricanranas. Red is backdropped by Storm over the top onto Bax while Storm then takes Divine out with a cross body off the top. Red arm drags Storm and himself over the top to the floor. Divine and Bax enter the ring and they do similar arm drags. Divine takes Red over with an exploder suplex. Storm hammers away on Bax on the floor. Storm nearly pins Red in the ring with a rollup. Red nearly wins with a rollup on Storm. I didn’t even realize there are two different referees for the match. Divine drives Red down with a backbreaker. Red boots Storm in the corner and locks in a cross arm breaker, but Divine puts one on Red. Bax comes over and creates a chain by putting Divine in one, as well. However, nobody submits. Divine and Bax trade arm drags. Divine messes up a power bomb on Bax. Bax low blows Divine and hit a German suplex. Red hammers away on Storm on the floor before getting back in the ring. Storm nearly pins Red with a German suplex. Storm works over Red with stomps in the corner but Red backdrops Storm to the apron. Storm heads to the top and is met with a kick to the midsection. Red nearly wins with a brain buster on Storm. Storm forearms Red a few times knocking Red to the floor. Bax and Divine roll back into the ring after brawling on the floor. Bax drives Divine down with a neck breaker for a two count. Bax attempts a belly to belly suplex but Divine counters with a Death Valley Driver! Divine locks in the Rings of Saturn but Bax doesn’t give in. Storm plants Red with a Gory Special for a two count. Storm puts a cross arm breaker on Red while Bax attempts a Gory Special on Divine, but Storm helps Divine. Storm spikes Bax with a brain buster. Storm takes Divine over with a side suplex. Storm kicks Allison Danger to prevent her from getting in the ring. Red counters a piledriver by Storm and drops him on his head with a dangerous cradle piledriver. (*1/2. This wasn’t very good but that finish made me cringe. Red nearly broke Storm’s head.)
Apparently the Divine/Bax match continues which doesn’t make much sense to me. Bax avoids a suplex and drives Divine down with a belly to belly suplex for the win. Yeah, nobody cared for that. Wait a minute… Red and Bax will now wrestle in a title a match. You’ve got to be kidding me!
Tenth Contest: PWF Junior Heavyweight Champion Amazing Red vs. Billy Bax: The fans are heavily behind Red to win this match. Bax wants a timeout but the bell sounds for the title match. They shake hands to show respect for each other. Red trips Bax but is met with an overhead suplex sending Red into the ropes. Bax takes Red out with a slingshot cross body to the floor. They are both laid out on the floor. Bax rolls Red into the ring but Red dropkicks Bax off the apron to the floor. Red leaps off the apron to take Bax over with a head scissors on the floor. Red kicks Bax in the head before returning to the ring. Red sends Bax into the corner to deliver a forearm shot. Bax clotheslines Red in the corner and puts Red on the top turnbuckle. Red leaps off to hit a neck breaker on Bax for a two count. Bax stops Red with a gut buster for a two count. Red nearly wins with a Code Red. They collide when they attempted clotheslines at the same time. They trade right hands with Red sending Bax chest first into the corner and delivers a kick to the back of Bax’s head. Red sits Bax on the top turnbuckle and delivered a kick. Bax avoids a hurricanrana but misses a moonsault. Red connects with a standing shooting star press to retain the title. (**. As expected, it was a quick match and the crowd was actually invested in the action, so they did well here.) After the match, Bax attacks Red and has Allison Danger by her hair. A large guy looking like Bastion Booger waddles into the ring and power bombs Red. Bax is forcing Danger to watch Red get destroyed. The big guy power bombs Red a second time. Red is power bombed a third time. Bax tosses Danger onto Red before leaving the ring.
Main Event: PWF Universal Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino vs. Gangrel: Corino has a sword with him for some reason. LeGrande and Victory are in the corner of Corino. Corino backs Gangrel into a corner but backs away cleanly. Corino punches Gangrel in the corner but gets decked by Gangrel and backs away. Corino controls Gangrel with a headlock but is quickly met with a shoulder block. Corino rolls to the floor to regroup and talks with LeGrande and Victory. Corino rips on a fan at ringside for talking smack to him. Corino controls Gangrel with a side headlock but is again sent into the ropes and Gangrel delivers another shoulder block sending Corino to the floor. Corino backs Gangrel into the corner and delivers several right hands to get control. Corino misses a splash in the corner and Gangrel clotheslines Corino for a two count. Gangrel scoop slams Corino and comes off the ropes to deliver an elbow drop for a near fall. Gangrel keeps Corino on the mat with a chin lock. Corino drop toe holds Gangrel throat first over the bottom rope to get control of the match. The referee is distracted while LeGrande chokes Gangrel over the ropes. Corino continues to choke Gangrel over the bottom rope and LeGrande gets more cheap shots in. Corino goes for the cover but Gangrel kicks out at two. Gangrel fights back with right hands but runs into a boot in the corner. Corino chokes Gangrel with a tag rope while the referee was distracted again. Gangrel has a sunset flip but the referee is distracted again and only gets a two count. Corino decks Gangrel with a clothesline and poses for the crowd. Corino takes Gangrel down to the mat and gets a two count after a snap mare. Corino puts the Claw on Gangrel and tries for a submission or a pin, but Gangrel avoids both. Corino rams Gangrel into the corner face first and misses a clothesline. Gangrel instead collides heads with Corino and they are both on the mat.
They both stagger to their feet and Gangrel hammers away on Corino. Gangrel backdrops Corino and gets another near fall. Corino punches out of a headlock but Gangrel connects with a DDT for a near fall as LeGrande broke up the cover. Victory and LeGrande beat down Gangrel and the referee calls for the bell. Gangrel fights off all three heels with right hands. Samoa Joe comes out and clotheslines Gangrel. Chris Hamrick and Dylan Night come out and help clear the ring. Christopher Daniels has come out, too. (*1/4. There wasn’t much to the match and the DQ finish was rather cheap. Gangrel was at least in good physical shape for the event.)
Steve Corino has a microphone and cuts a promo. He calls everyone in Pottstown fans idiots and calls PWF his baby and puts himself over. He makes the rules and rules need to be broken. Corino wants to do a four on four match right now. They return to ringside but they decide against actually competing in the contest. Corino tells the fans to pay for that match next time and walks off.
Final Thoughts:
There is some quality wrestling on the show and I don’t feel like I wasted my time reviewing it. I like that there are some notable names on the show and it is cool to see them wrestle on a lower level independent show. I’ll give the show a mild thumbs up. The main event was a downer but on the undercard there was some good matches that kept my interest.
Thanks for reading.