Northeast Wrestling presents Holiday Havoc
Date: 12/9/2006
From: Terryville, CT
Opening Contest: Josh Daniels vs. Antonio Thomas
FINISH: Daniels manages to pin Thomas with an inside cradle.
Bob’s Take: Thomas mainly gets heat because he was fired from WWE. They kept a good pace and they delivered some standard wrestling rather well. Thomas did a good job keeping interest in the match with his extended offense to control the match. A suitable opener to get the crowd warmed up for the show.
Match Rating: **1/4
Second Contest: Kurt Adonis & Ariel vs. Nikki Roxx & Ron Zombie
NOTE: This match originally started off as Ariel vs. Roxx and both wrestlers have corner women, who are coaches for the school. Ariel didn’t want someone in his corner from the school, but instead brought out Kurt Adonis. Adonis is wearing rival school gear.
FINISH: Late in the match, Adonis gets crotched by one of the school coaches on the top rope. Roxx hits a top rope crossbody and pins Adonis for the win.
Bob’s Take: Adonis a good local heel and knows how to draw heat. He’s got a face that you’d want to see get punched. His over the top smile and persona can drive an audience nuts sometimes. The crowd popped well for when Roxx attacked Adonis. They actually have the men wrestle the women during the match, which I feel like is not normally the case. it’s a mostly basic match, but the involvement of the coaches for school naturally made the crowd more interested in the action. They did a good job to keep the crowd invested.
Match Rating: *1/2
Third Contest: Sgt. Slaughter vs. Michael Sane
FINISH: Slaughter wins the match with the cobra clutch submission causing Sane to pass out.
Bob’s Take: It’s truly weird to witness a match where Slaughter is described as having the speed advantage when he’s easily thirty years older than his opponent. To his credit, Slaughter does look to be in good shape. I could’ve sworn Sane was presented as a force in NEW and this kind of ended that perception for me.
Match Rating: *
Fourth Contest: Shane Valentine vs. Fred Curry Jr
FINISH: Late in the match, the Outcast Killaz come out and attack Valentine and Curry. Eventually Team 3D come out to run them off. Brother Ray cuts a promo and challenged to them a match that we already know is happening.
Bob’s Take: I’m mostly unfamiliar with both men and without looking them up on Cagematch, I don’t recall ever seeing them in a bigger indie, ever. So, I’m assuming they are mostly NEW guys. The Killaz getting involved makes it more obvious that these two are just students getting a chance to perform for a couple of minutes.
Match Rating: *1/2.
Fifth Contest: Jay Lethal vs. Xavier vs. AJ Styles — Elimination Match Vacant NEW Heavyweight Championship
NOTE: This is the first NEW Heavyweight Champion for over six years.
NOTE #2: Lethal eliminates Styles with a rollup after about ten minutes
FINISH: Xavier pins Lethal following an F5 to win the title.
Bob’s Take: This is a fairly big match on paper for NEW to crown a new champion. I don’t think Styles was ever a reasonable choice to win since he’s a major TNA name. The match is a bit chaotic with a very good pace and a ton of action, not in the sense of anything hardcore. Lethal and Xavier have had history in NEW and it’s only fitting that a new champion would come down to them. Xavier winning the title is fine with me as it gives Lethal the opportunity to chase. That’s where the money is always at. I thought this was an enjoyable match with a hot crowd.
Match Rating: ***1/2
Sixth Contest: The NOW (Collins & Dalishus) vs. Jeff Starr & Mikey Batts
FINISH: Dalishus inside cradles Batts after their female manager slapped Batts and pins Batts.
Bob’s Take: It’s always weird to the see The NOW when they’re so much younger and smaller than they ended up developing into. This is a good tag team match that didn’t keep the formula for too long. They had a good mixture of wrestling and sprinkled in some fun big spots to pop the crowd. The finish was rather lame, but I enjoyed what they did here.
Match Rating: ***
Main Event: The Outcast Killaz vs. Team 3D — Tables Match
FINISH: Brother Ray powerbombs Santiago through a table to win the match
Bob’s Take: There was a little kid in the front row that punched Tortuga several times and he loved every moment of it. He was not shy about hitting the heel. As expected, it’s a hardcore brawl with basic weapon shots for the fans to get their craving of ECW house show level action. They actually made this into a traditional tag match with tag rules despite booking it as a tables match and no disqualification. That’s a pet peeve of mine. Anyway, it’s just a basic match and of course Team 3D is going to go over. It was exactly what I expected it to be.
Match Rating: **
Final Thoughts:
NEW in this era is not the kind of fed that you’re going into thinking you’re going to get classic wrestling counters. There’s going to be a couple of legends, maybe a TNA star or two, and then a bunch of local wrestlers that the fans are attached to. There was some decent wrestling on here and the crowd was hot for the show, so it was easy to watch. It’s an average wrestling show that I found myself enjoying more than disliking throughout.
Thanks for reading.