JAPW 13th Anniversary Night One 12/10/10

JAPW put on two pretty big shows back to back in December, and the DVD's are out. JAPW anniversary shows tend to be good shit, so I have been looking forward to these

Devon Moore v. Jon Moxley

This kind of workrate undercard match isn't going to be the best showcase for Moxley, although I enjoyed him here. I really like the way he takes in ring bumps, very expressive, great pained facial expression. He also can be a real Ginoish sneering bastard on offense. Even in New Jersey I can't really see Devon Moore as a face so he seems like a weird opponent. Moore has some athletic offense, but the way he carries himself really makes impressive things look less impressive. I did love the bump he took on the second rope chicken wing faceplant, although I question Moxley breaking out a super version of his finisher on an opening match like this.

Nick Gage v. Rhyno

Terrible match, Rhyno was fully in cash the check mode, as this was all slow motion side headlock reversals and chinlocks. They blatantly kill some time until the Brodie Lee run in, Lee accidentally kicks Gage which sets up a sub Kelly Kelly spear by Rhyno. If this was a crazy brawl I imagine Gage would have bumped enough to make it semi entertaining, but as far as technical stuff Nick Gage is to Jack Briscoe as Nick Gage is to D.B. Cooper.

Joe Hardway v. Corvis Fear

I like Corvis Fear a bunch, he has some cool looking offense and works stiff, but Hardway is all entrance and they seemed to be on different pages a bunch in this match. I do enjoy the joie de vivre which Johnny D brings to his strip club manager gimmick, I just wish the South SIde Playaz Clube were better wrestlers.

LuFisto v. Kalamity

Surprisingly entertaining womens match, a real potato fest with both ladies cracking each other really hard in mouth and head with kicks and elbows. There was a pretty nasty exchange where both ladies are sitting on the mat kicking each other hard in the teeth. Kalamity who I have never heard of before has some really nice looking offense, including a great spinebuster. About as violent as one might imagine a drunken Comic Con fight between a horse faced girl in an anime costume and a portly goth chick would be.

Necro Butcher v. Eddie Kingston

I like both of these wrestlers a lot, I have really liked this matchup a bunch in the past, and for the most part I liked this. It did fall short of what I was hoping for though. I think part of it might have been card placement, they followed the women's match which was pull of face punching which is going to be a big part of what these guys do, and that dampened the heat a bit. When these guys are at their best they create this frantic intensity, it feels ragged and crazy and even when it isn't currently exploding it feels like it is going to explode. It was just missing here, I felt like I was watching these guys work their touring match, instead of some lunatic fist fight between a fat drunk Puerto Rican and some homeless psychopath. There was some cool shit here though, both guys take sick bumps on chairs, Necro has some of the most violent eye rakes in wrestling history and I love a match which ends on a KO punch. It is a thumbs up for sure, I just wanted more.

Brodie Lee v. Pinkie Sanchez

20 second squash leading to a pull apart with Rhyno. Pull apart sucked Rhyno was just a huge failure, I can't imagine how sucky the title match is going to be.

United States Death Machine v. Da Hit Squad

Wild JAPW tag brawls are one of my favorite things in wrestling. This was one of the lesser versions of that, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it. I didn't hate Dickinson in this as much as I normally do, I kind of enjoyed his Jersey shit talking, and both of his big spots, were big fucking spots. He does a leaping kick from the top of the bleachers down to the middle on Monsta Mack, and takes a burning hammer through a wooden door. Callihan is great in this setting as he is such a rabid dog, that he is always in someones face slapping them or spitting on them. DHS were fun too, Monsta takes a bunch of big bumps for a fat guy, and Maff has a similar kind of frothing anger to Callihan. THe match had some problems, it went too long as downtime really hurts matches like this, and this had some moments where nothing was happening, when it needs to feel like a riot the whole time. Also they clearly built the wall throw (which was an old DHS spot from Bayonne) as a huge moment. In Bayonne they could dart someone from the ring headfirst into a wall, this is a much bigger place and the spot just doesn't look good as a regular press slam throw into a wall. Still the finish was a finish and I wouldn't mind seeing this feud run back.

Jushin Liger v. Bandido Jr. v. Kenny Omega v. Azreal v. El Generico v. B-Boy

For folks that hadn't heard about this card before, that isn't a typo. Outside of the pure weirdness of Liger working rope running exchanges with Bandido Jr., this was pretty average. The BOLH matches in the past have been crazy spotfests, but this didn't have those kind of workers. I thought Omega's three cool spots were hit well, and Liger running in an shotaying everyone was a bunch of fun, but the elimination part of the match didn't have a ton else to it. I actually really liked the final Azreal v. Liger showdown. Liger is historically great at putting over random dudes and he leaned into all of Azreals stuff and made him look like a killer, before crushing him with a top rope brainbuster. Post match Liger was the best as he is so fucking amped to win the JAPW LIght Heavyweight Title, he was on his knees hugging the belt like Rocky at the end of Rocky 2.

A bit of a disappointing show, the on paper great stuff was just good, and some stuff was bad. I am hoping for more from night 2.