Written by: Bob Colling
Combat Zone Wrestling presents Truth Or Consequences
Date: 6/14/2003
From: Philadelphia, PA
Opening Contest: CZW Heavyweight Champion The Messiah vs. BJW Death Match Champion Nate Hatred vs. Nick Gage in a steel cage match: Gage goes right after Hatred sending Hatred into the cage several times face first. Hatred is bleeding already after being sent into the cage several times. Messiah and Gage trade right hands until Messiah backdrops Gage into the cage. Hatred tries for a press slam, but Messiah counters with a rollup. Hatred manages to press slam Messiah into the cage on a second attempt. Hatred digs into Messiah’s forehead and the champ is now bleeding. Gage is bleeding as well. That means all three men are busted open within two minutes. Hatred takes Gage over with a German suplex for a two count. They all trade right hands in the middle of the ring. Messiah climbs to the top of the cage, but Gage follows after a neckbreaker to Hatred. Messiah hits a sunset flip powerbomb! Hatred nearly pins Gage after driving him down to the mat. Hatred rakes Gage’s head across the cage. Messiah works over Hatred with strikes in the corner. Hatred stops Messiah with a spinebuster.
Messiah stops Hatred with a running boot strike. Messiah climbs the cage and drags his manager, Dewey, into the ring. Gage sends Dewey into the cage. Hatred nails Gage with a clothesline. Messiah hits a backbreaker on Hatred and Dewey is trying to escape the cage. Dewey manages to get out of the cage and drags Gage to the door and slams the cage door into Gage’s knee a few times. Hatred beats on Gage with right hands while Messiah kept a figure four locked in. Hatred stops Messiah at the top of the cage, but Gage comes over to hit the Tower Of Doom. Gage takes Messiah over with a back suplex and leaps off the middle rope, but Hatred delivers a clothesline. Hatred decks Gage with another clothesline for a two count. Gage counters a powerslam with a dragon sleeper. Messiah and Gage trade blows on the top rope until Gage tosses Messiah to the mat. Hatred grabs Gage to hit a press slam off the top of the cage. Messiah nearly pins Hatred with a suplex. Hatred plants Messiah with a powerbomb for a two count. Messiah is backdropped into the cage by both Hatred and Gage as Hatred had a chin lock on Gage. Gage plants Hatred with a DDT for a two count.
Gage plants Messiah with a brainbuster. Hatred and Messiah shake hands to work together and beat on Gage. Gage gets powerbombed into the cage but Gage kicks out on the pin attempts. Gage gets sent into the cage and Hatred gets another two count. Hatred nails Messiah with a clothesline on accident and Gage fights back with roaring elbows and a side suplex on Hatred. Dewey accidentally slams the door into Messiah’s head! Hatred powerbombs Gage right on his head for a two count. Gage avoids a clothesline by Hatred and rolls Hatred up to get a three count and is the new BJW Death Match Champion! After the match, Hatred and Messiah beat on Gage with stomps and strikes. The Backseat Boyz come down and help beat on Gage some ore. Messiah hits the God Smack on Gage. Hatred embraces Dewey. B-Boy is out there too and it appears that is the Hi-V. Messiah, Hatred, Boy, Acid and Kashmere. (***. It was a little repetitive with the spots and I’m not sure why Messiah kept going to the top of the cage since escape didn’t matter, but it was an enjoyable match. The finish felt a little flat with the rollup and seemed to be a pointless match with the secondary title changing hands. I’d have to believe a Messiah/Gage match is the blowoff.)
Backstage, Hi-V is interviewed and Messiah asks if people really thought he wouldn’t have a game plan going into the match. Messiah says that Gage got his ass kicked. Messiah realized something after their match last month. Messiah wondered why he’d wrestle Hatred again since the clothesline knocked him out every time. Kashmere chimes in and says that people laugh at them and they don’t take them seriously. Kashmere says they have to be taken seriously because of Nate Hatred, who is their newest member. Hatred wasn’t there to defend his championship or win the CZW Heavyweight Championship. Hatred was there to beat on Nick Gage and Gage is a loser. He is with winners now. John House enters the scene and gets put over.
Second Contest: Deranged vs. Sonjay Dutt: They trade arm drags to kickoff the match. Deranged misses a kick and they slap each other. Dutt keeps Deranged on the mat with a test of strength and they monkey flip each other. They bridge up at the same time and Dutt keeps control on the mat with slaps. Deranged and Dutt do handstands and slap each other. They get up and slap each other some more. Dutt heel kicks Deranged and taunts the crowd. Dutt dropkicks Deranged coming off the ropes for a near fall. Dutt slams Deranged followed by a leg drop. Dutt dumps Deranged to the floor and hits a springboard somersault senton to the floor. Dutt scoop slams Deranged followed by an elbow drop for a near fall. Deranged plants Dutt with a tornado DDT and a head scissors. Deranged nails Dutt with a spinning kick for a two count. Deranged keeps Dutt on the mat with an STF, but Dutt reaches the bottom rope. Deranged low blows Dutt followed by a moonsault kick. Deranged goes to the floor and grabs a chair. Deranged kicks the chair into Dutt’s face and Dutt rolls to the floor. Deranged jumps off the chair to take Dutt out with a somersault dive to the floor. Deranged hits a hurricanrana and a hip toss sit out face buster.
Deranged climbs to the top rope and misses a twisting splash. Dutt forearms Deranged followed by a cutter for a near fall. Dutt hits a Muscle Buster, but Deranged kicks out at two. Deranged plants Dutt with a cutter after countering a back suplex. Deranged hits a Code Red, but Dutt kicks out at two. Dutt nearly pins Deranged with an inside cradle. Deranged goes to the apron and tries for a springboard, but Dutt hits a sit out spinebuster. Dutt hits the Phoenix Splash to win the match. (**1/2. I was rather disappointed by this. Deranged appeared to be a little off here and wasn’t as crisp as he tends to be in other promotions. It was a decent match, but I was hoping for a star making performance by Deranged that wasn’t achieved here at all.) After the match, they shake hands and the fans giving them a standing ovation.
Third Contest: Grim Reefer vs. Jon Dahmer vs. Niles Young: Dahmer runs into the ring and that causes Young and Reefer to bail to the floor. Dahmer clotheslines Reefer and beats on Young with strikes in the corner. Young punches Dahmer with a low blow and Reefer leaps off Young’s back to dropkick Young off the turnbuckle to the floor. Reefer takes Dahmer down with a snap suplex and a springboard somersault dive onto Young. Young trips Reefer, but runs into a gut buster by Dahmer for a two count. Reefer stomps on Dahmer and trades strikes with Young. Reefer misses a kick on Young and Young hits a springboard facebuster off the middle rope. Young plants Dahmer with a DDT for a two count. Reefer drives Young down with a neckbreaker for a near fall. Reefer hits a walking swanton off the top for a two count on Dahmer. Reefer and Young trade several chops and Dahmer gets involved to hit a double side suplex. Dahmer sends Young shoulder first into the post. Dahmer locks in a middle rope Boston Crab and Reefer kicks Dahmer to break the hold. Young is sent into another post across the ring. Dahmer hits a middle rope spinebuster for a two count on Reefer. Dahmer spikes Young with an over the shoulder piledriver to win the match. (*1/4. Reefer and Young displayed a couple of cool high risk moves throughout the match. Naturally, they have the least talented of the three to get the victory. Dahmer seems to be a little awkward and not very crisp with his moves.)
Fourth Contest: Danny Rose, Adam Flash & Ian Knoxx vs. Derek Frazier, Greg Matthews & Z-Barr: Flash and Matthews kickoff the six man tag match. Rose tags in instead to try his luck with Matthews. Rose hammers away on Matthews, but misses a clothesline. Rose backdrops Matthews followed by a few clotheslines. Rose spikes Matthews with a piledriver for a two count. Flash tags in and works over Matthews with chops and a double clothesline with Rose for a near fall. Flash nails Matthews with a leg lariat for a near fall. Knoxx tags in, but Matthews hits a drop toe hold over the middle rope. Frazier kicks Knoxx over the middle rope. Frazier drives Knoxx down to the math with a Slingblade. Knoxx gets control with chops in the corner and decks Frazier with a clothesline. Knoxx hits a sit out spinebuster on Frazier, but Barr enters to hit a modified Flatliner. Barr hits a moonsault for a two count. Matthews chokes Knoxx in the corner and keeps control with strikes. Matthews misses a knee strike in the corner and Knoxx tries for a toss off the middle rope, but gets knocked to the mat. Rebel has setup a table on the floor. Matthews low blows Knoxx in the corner and powerbombs Knoxx over the top to the floor through the table!
Barr enters the ring and slaps Matthews for doing something dumb. Matthews is held back by Frazier. Barr taunts Matthews but Danny Rose has a chair in the ring as Rebel grabs the microphone and fires Barr from the Army. Rose hits the Death Valley Driver onot a chair and Flash spikes Barr with a piledriver onto another chair for the win. (*. There wasn’t much going on here. It was funny that the powerbomb spot was just really a random move and didn’t have much build to it. This just felt like a time killer.)
Fifth Contest: GQ vs. Chris Cash: They trade some mat wrestling holds with Cash hammering away on GQ for a moment. GQ blocks a few strikes and Cash kicks GQ several times. GQ nearly wins with a rollup and they trade rollup attempts. Cash plants GQ with a DDT followed by a clothesline and a leaping knee strike. GQ bails to the floor to regroup for a few moments. GQ pulls Cash to the mat by his hair followed by stomps. GQ and Cash trade wild strikes on the mat and continue to trade right hands from a standing position. Cash clotheslines himself and GQ over the top to the floor. Cash sends GQ into the guard railing rib first. Cash chops GQ on the apron followed by an eye rake. Cash climbs to the top and gets caught on a crossbody attempt. GQ rams Cash into the ring post back first. They continue to trade right hands on the floor until Cash sends GQ face first into the ring post. GQ backdrops Cash on the floor by the railing and on to a steel chair. GQ scoop slams Cash and taunts the crowd poses in the corner. Cash takes advantage with right hands. GQ stops Cash on the top rope, but Cash hits a hurricanrana.
GQ smashes Cash with a chair shot to the legs. GQ drives Cash down with a knee breaker and locks in a figure four leg lock. Cash avoids a few kicks and hits a Burning Hammer! Cash is favoring his leg in pain and can’t followup quick enough for a pin attempt. They collide in the middle of the ring on stereo springboard attempts. Cash superkicks the referee on accident. Cash tries to wake the referee up. Cash can’t hit the Cash Flow and GQ is able to hit the Camera Shot for a near fall. GQ decks Cash with brass knuckles and wins the match. (**. That was a bit sloppy and not a great showcase. Clearly Cash is over with the crowd, so GQ getting any win is going to hopefully get him over. The match fell flat for the crowd and wasn’t overly exciting.)
Sixth Contest: B-Boy vs. Jimmy Rave: They counter each other on the mat for a few moments leading to a standoff. Rave tries for a head scissors arm bar, but Boy avoids it. Rave avoids a shining wizard and they have another standoff. Rave gets arm control for a moment, but Boy doesn’t give in. Boy delivers a few stiff blows to the face and chops Rave in the corner. Boy puts Rave in the tree of woe, but Rave pulls himself up only to be met with a kick to the back. Boy stands on Rave’s groin. Boy keeps a head scissors on Rave on the mat, but Rave reaches the ropes. Rave tries for a sunset flip, but Boy stops Rave with a double stomp. Boy locks in the Southern California Stretch, but Rave reaches the ropes to break the hold. Rave backslides Boy, but Boy connects with a swinging neckbreaker for a two count. Rave hammers away on Boy with strikes against the ropes and hits a head scissors arm bar takedown. Rave lets go and delivers a kick followed by a side suplex for a two count. Rave hits an overhead belly to belly suplex off the top and a crossbody. Rave comes off the ropes to hit a running knee strike for a two count. Rave drives Boy to the mat with a tiger suplex for a near fall.
Rave chops Boy against the ropes, but Boy manages to spike Rave with a piledriver. Boy plants Rave with a fisherman buster for another near fall. Boy leaps off the top rope missing a leg drop. Rave connects with a powerbomb and switches to a Crossface, but Boy reaches the ropes again. Boy slaps Rave in the corner to stop Jimmy’s momentum. Boy sits Rave on the top turnbuckle and hits a bridging suplex followed by another suplex into the corner. Rave avoids a shining wizard and locks in the Crossface again. Boy crawls towards the ropes, but Rave pushes the ropes away with his foot, but Boy reaches the ropes anyway. Rave dropkicks Boy on the knee and Rave misses a shining wizard. Boy hits a backdrop driver and finishes Rave off with the shining wizard. (***. A solid undercard match and they told a good story to keep me invested in the action. They have really put over Boy’s shining wizard as a big deal and that’s a great touch.)
Seventh Contest: CZW Iron Man Champion Nick Mondo vs. Tony Mamaluke vs. Tom Carter vs. Nick Berk: Carter forearms Mondo after Mondo insulted him. Mondo drives Mamaluke down with a Blue Thunder Driver and the same goes for Berk. Mondo spin kicks Carter to the floor. Johnny Kashmere enter the ring and runs backstage to avoid Mondo after getting involved briefly. Berk dropkicks Mamaluke, but Carter forearms both men. Berk hits a double jawbreaker and dropkick. Berk drives Mamaluke to the mat with a vertical suplex. Berk and Carter trade more right hands. Carter tries for a submission on Berk, but Mamaluke breaks the submission quickly. Carter stops Mamaluke with a jawbreaker and a reverse DDT to Berk for a near fall. Carter slams Berk and hits a top rope knee strike. Carter ties Berk up and nearly wins the match. Carter knee lifts Mamaluke to the mat. Carter focuses his attack on Mamaluke’s arm. Mamaluke takes Carter down to the mat with a side Russian leg sweep and puts a submission on Carter, but isn’t able to get a submission.
Mamaluke forearms Berk and sends Berk shoulder first into the ring post. Mamaluke tosses Berk with a northern lights suplex and locks in the Divorce Court, but Berk doesn’t give in and Carter breaks up the submission. Carter uppercuts Mamaluke several times. Carter plants Mamaluke with an arm trapped DDT. Berk drives Mamaluke down to the mat face first, but Carter counters. Berk hits a face buster and the Stroke for a two count. Berk rolls Mamaluke around the ring for a two count. Berk hits the Drunk Driver, but Mamaluke kicks out. Carter decks Berk with a clothesline and a brainbuster for a two count. Carter sits Berk on the top turnbuckle and hits a cutter while also dropkicking Mamaluke for a two count. Carter sits Mamaluke on the top rope, but Mamaluke counters a tornado DDT and locks in a choke hold. Mamaluke gets met with a double powerbomb and a double Boston Crab. Mamaluke manages to counter, but can’t make either man submit. Mamaluke takes Berk down with a dragon screw leg whip. Berk knocks Mamaluke down with a kick to the head. Mamaluke crotches Berk on the top rope and hits a superplex. Carter hits a frog splash on Berk, but Mamaluke locks in a choke hold. Carter puts a leg lock on Berk and that forces Berk to submit. Mamaluke and Carter both win the match, as a result. (**1/4. It sure felt like Nick Mondo was the guy that everyone wanted to see, so having him in there for maybe 15-seconds was a bit of a letdown. They had some decent moves, but there wasn’t much going on here for me to be overly entertained by. I think the poor pace to the match, which was just hit a move and break the cover formula, didn’t help matters either.)
Eighth Contest: CZW Junior Heavyweight Champion Ruckus vs. Ric Blade: Ruckus arm drags Blade and keeps control with a headlock on the mat. Ruckus blocks a bridge and almost keeps Blade down long enough. Blade messes up a springboard and Ruckus hits a head scissors moments later. They trade abdominal stretches. Blade staggers Ruckus with a kick to the head. Ruckus hits a vertical suplex to gain control of the contest. Blade spin kicks Ruckus followed by a slingshot elbow drop from the apron. Blade nearly wins following a springboard top rope leg drop. Blade kicks Ruckus on the floor a few times. Blade drops Ruckus over the railing groin first. Blade hits a springboard Swanton bomb onto Ruckus over the railing! Blade misses a running boot in the corner and Ruckus delivers a dragon screw leg whip. Ruckus locks in the figure four leg lock. They begin to trade chops with Blade getting the better of the exchange, but Ruckus stops Blade with an eye rake. Blade counters a handspring splash with a victory roll for a two count. Ruckus dropkicks Blade on the knee to keep the advantage. Ruckus drives Blade’s knee down to the mat followed by a kick to the knee. Ruckus continues with a vertical suplex and standing twisting splash for a near fall. Ruckus hits a handspring splash in the corner followed by a spinning kick for a two count.
Blade kicks Ruckus on the top turnbuckle and walks the ropes to hit a hurricanrana, but Ruckus rolls through and puts a Boston Crab on Blade for a moment. They trade a few pin attempts. Blade drops Ruckus over his knee for a near fall. Blade hits two moonsaults, but misses a twisting moonsault attempt. Ruckus slams Blade to the mat and hits a twisting senton splash for a near fall. Ruckus counters a victory roll attempt and wins the match. (*1/4. Well, aside from the ridiculous swanton onto the guard railint by Blade, I was not entertained by this. Several people noted that these guys “tore it up” in this and I’m hoping they just got confused with a different match of theirs. This was a bad match.)
Ninth Contest: CZW Tag Team Champions Backseat Boyz (Trent Acid & Johnny Kashmere) vs. Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark): Mark and Acid kickoff the tag team title match. Acid keeps wrist control on Mark and they counter each other for a moment. Acid takes Mark down with a fireman carry. Jay tags into the match and focuses on Acid’s wrist. Kashmere enters the match and tries for a hurricanrana, but it met with a powerbomb by Jay. Kashmere delivers a DDT and they trade blows. Kashmere knocks Jay to the floor. Mark and Kashmere kip up and they are both sent to the floor. Acid and Mark trade blows. Jay hammers away on Kashmere, but Acid hits a missile dropkick. Mark dropkicks Kashmere to the floor. Mark hits a dragon suplex on Acid. Mark tosses Acid with a suplex for a near fall. Briscoe’s hit a side slam/top rope leg drop combo on Acid for a two count. Jay continues with a snap suplex on Acid. Jay gets kicked by Kashmere on the apron and Acid connects with a superkick. Kashmere bites Jay’s forehead in the corner. Jay is driven down with a double DDT from an elevated position. Acid kicks Jay away but Jay plants Acid with an ace crusher. Mark hits a missile dropkick on Kashmere and clotheslines Acid.
Mark sits Kashmere on the top turnbuckle and hits a cutter. Acid sends Mark to the floor. Jay backdrops Acid to the apron and Mark leaps off the top to hurricanrana Acid off the apron to the floor onto a few chairs. Jay hits a Falcon Arrow on Acid for a near fall. Kashmere sits down with a twisting driver on Jay. Mark rolls in and gets speared by Kashmere followed by Acid hitting a leg drop and a running dropkick for a two count. Mark tosses Kashmere with a suplex, but Acid delivers a yakuza kick. Jay nails Acid with a yakuza kick and the Jay Driller, but Dewey pulls the referee out to prevent a title change. Kashmere tries for the Cradle Breaker, but Jay counters. Dewey decks Jay from behind and the Backseat Boys hit the T-Gimmick off the middle rope to pin Mark and retain the titles. (**1/2. It was a solid match considering they tossed out any idea of what rules are and kept a fast pace. The action was mostly just big moves and lacked any real storytelling. The closing sequence was done very well as the crowd bought into the Briscoe’s winning the titles. I was hoping for a more traditional tag match, but that might be too much to ask from CZW.)
Main Event: Zandig vs. Rockin’ Rebel in an I Quit strap match: Rebel works over Zandig with his belt before tossing Zandig to the floor. Rebel sets a table on the floor against the railing. Zandig sends Rebel through the table. Zandig whacks Rebel over the back with a steel chair. Zandig sends Rebel into the ring post a few times. Zandig digs the belt buckle into Rebel’s forehead. Zandig whacks Rebel over the head with a kendo stick. Rebel low blows Zandig and Rebel beats on Zandig with kendo stick shots. Rebel drops Zandig with another kendo stick shot. Rebel lays a table across the apron and railing. Zandig brings Rebel into the ring from the apron and proceeds to slam Rebel over the top through the table on the floor. Zandig whips Rebel with the belt over the back. Zandig digs the belt buckle into Rebel’s forehead. Zandig grabs the strap that has thumbtacks on it. Zandig whips Rebel over the back with it. Rebel ducks a swing with the strap and clotheslines Zandig. Zandig returns the whips with the strap over the back. Rebel beats on Zandig’s forehead and Zandig has a decent cut on his forehead. Rebel sets a table up in the ring. Rebel lays Zandig onto the table, but Zandig rolls off and whacks Rebel several times with the kendo stick. Zandig puts some tacks onto the table. Zandig puts Rebel through the table with a superplex.
Ian Rotten and JC Bailey come out through the crowd and here is Corporal Robinson. They are beating up security at ringside. Rotten nails Zandig with a vicious chair shot over the head. Zandig gets tied to the ropes and Rotten taunts Zandig. Rotten says this is about respect. Rotten staples money to Zandig’s face and chest. Zandig’s wife enters the ring and JC Bailey grabs her. They tie Zandig’s wife to the other side of the ring. Rotten threatens to hit his wife with a chair, so Zandig quits and Rebel wins the match. Rotten destroys Zandig with a chair shot. (*1/2. It’s just your typical brawling kind of main event for CZW. The main takeaway is the IWA invasion, which brought an incredible crowd reaction and atmosphere.)
Rotten says there is one more person that’s associated with them. Rotten continues to rip on Zandig saying that he’s not worth shit. Fans are tossing trash into the ring. Fans proceed to toss their chairs into the ring as this has gotten really out of hand. Rotten, Bailey and Robinson are arrested. A police officer gets on the microphone and is looking for a man who hasn’t paid child support.
Final Thoughts:
I went into this hopeful that CZW would produce a strong show and I was left disappointed. There are a few decent matches on the show, but too many matches didn’t deliver what they could have. The most memorable part of this show is the invasion by IWA and that’s the last ten minutes of the 3 1/2 hour event. So, while I’m interested to see how IWA/CZW plays out, I can’t recommend this show.
Thanks for reading.