XCW Midwest -Christmas Carnage 12/12/09

Tommy “T-Dog” Foreman v. Simon Sezz

TKG: This is really fun. I haven’t seen Simon Sezz work face in ages, but “T Dog” Foreman is kind of amusing heel. He’s pudgy white guy working light heavy boxer; comes to the ring wearing gloves and a boxing ring robe. Both guys have some nice execution and Sezz is surprisingly chipper as fired up babyface.

PAS: Foreman was wearing the exact same boxing trunks and boots that I wore when I boxed. For a guy working a 2003 Phil Schneider gimmick he took more bumps then I would have.

Kris “Sky” Walker v New Age Assassin

TKG: Over the years I have seen lots and lots of guys working indy Assassin gimmicks. It’s a role normally given to greenish young guys or older veterans whose faces are too grizzled to buy as credible without a mask. Normally you can easily tell, “that guy is green” or that “guy is really knowledgeable but can’t bump well anymore”. This was a match built around New Age Assassin working over Walker’s arm. And there was lots of neat arm work in it. At the end I really couldn’t tell if New Age Assassin is a young guy with a real huge upside, or an Crippler Jeff Daniels having an underwhelming outing.

PAS: One of the reasons I have been enjoying reviewing IWRG so much lately is that basic undercard lucha libre is a style that is can be fun no matter the talent level of the guys in it. Undercard XCW is worked for the most part in this basic Southern wrestling style which also can be enjoyable with pretty much anyone competent. I didn’t get a real sense of either guy as a wrestler, but I didn’t need to, to enjoy it.

Knuckles and Knives v. Black Diamonds

PAS: This match was also worked very much formula, all four of these guys looked bad, and when your face team was trying to run complicated sequences, the match kind of stunk. However when it broke down to the heels working over the faces it was kind of OK, when you got the hot tag it fell apart again, but still formula is something that can be done.

TKG: I don’t think the formula was able to save this. Dez Coletrain has some really big ups on his offense and did a fine job as FIP, but the execution of everything else was bad and the heels really couldn’t pull off the finish.

2 Tuff Tony v. J.D. Maverick

PAS: Maverick is a guy working a Shawn Michaels gimmick, both in look and wrestling style. He does this elaborate bumping style which is more about him then about a contest between wrestlers. It isn’t a style I particularly care for, although it works better as a pussy heel then as a babyface. Tony is a guy who has been up and down in his 2009 XCW run, he looked good here, hitting his fat guy highflying well and hitting hard (although he does almost Hayabusa himself on a quebrada). Ending was a little flat, but otherwise a fine match.

TKG: Tony has a fine guy eating stuff trying to get audience to start hand clap section here. And his stuff looked rough enough to deserve pinball bumping. For some reason they tried to do a Jerry Lynn two count roll up section which was both looked really shitty and awkward (with both guys blowing roll ups ) and was totally out of place within the context of the rest of the match. They follow up the roll ups with Too Tough Tony chopping Maverick. Those chops felt like a receipt for proposing the Malenko-Guerero section.

Mitch Ryder v. Todd Morton

PAS: This was a No DQ, Falls count anywhere match which was set up earlier in the show by Morton beating up Gerald Lowe who is the guy who runs the rec center. Their earlier 2009 match had lots of spectacular stalling and stooging by Morton. Here this was a No DQ match so it is a brawl from the bell. The first five minutes of this are as good as any wrestling I have seen this year, just Morton delivering a asskicking with Ryder having some really great babyface comebacks. Then it all goes to hell, we get a ref bump (in a no DQ match mind you) and Gerald Lowe comes in from the back and we get a big horseshit Gerald Lowecentric finish. It was like having a delicious gourmet meal that gives you diarrhea shits.

TKG: I ran a rec center for several years. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to see me as face second in main events. I could see people cheering to see me v Abby. Phil mentions how amazing Morton was in the early parts of this, but Ryder also just was awesome eating punches and splaying this way and that. Morton unleashes some nasty kicks to the Ryder's spine. Ryder tries to will himself up with the help of the crowd and Morton dances along to the crowd clapping while the announcer calls down time (five minutes), and you almost think “these guys are going to beat each other for an hour”. But in the end we don’t even get more than 8 minutes.