JAPW Awaken 3/21/2015

JAPW has been around in some form for 15 years or so, and has been one of the great under the radar indies. They seem to run really sporadically, and I was really excited to see a new show pop up in the dark corners of the internet. I am watching this without a match list so I am pretty excited to see who pops up.

Opened with a 10 bell salute to Perro Aguayo, which Chris Dickenson comes out to interrupt. Dickenson is a really hit or miss guy, but he is apparently working Low-Ki in a grudge match, and he seems like a guy who will have a fun unprofessional grudge match with Low-Ki. Low-Ki is with MVP and Samoa Joe as part of their TNA stable, and I see Teddy Hart and Necro Butcher ringside, that is a bunch of guys I like (and MVP).

Silver Ant v. JT Dunn

Silver Ant used to be Green Ant and JT Dunn I have seen before as a member of indy workrate tag team Juicy Product. This was a Beyond Wrestling showcase, and very much felt like a indy wrestling showcase match. Lots of counters and dramatic two counts, and blah blah blah. JT Dunn is very much an indy wrestler, and he does lots of convoluted ways to hit cutters and faceplants. Nice tope by Dunn, but otherwise very forgettable

Steve "Monsta" Mack v. Jaka

On paper very exciting stuff, I am long time Monsta Mack fan, saw the Hit Squad live a bunch of times always enjoyed them, there is an awesome early Low-Ki singles where he works like Vader, loved the Hard Hitters team with a big white guy whose name escapes me. Jaka is Chris Dickonson's tag partner who kind of works an indy Haku gimmick. So this should have ruled. Unfortunately it starts with both guys no-selling german suplexes, and Mack badly blowing a jumping rana, and then right into a bad forearm exchange. One of the worst opening couple of minutes I have seen in a while. It gets a little better at the end as Mack just kills Jaka with some huge throws and clotheslines before pinning him with an awkward nasty powerbomb, still they couldn't dig themselves out of that early hole. Still love Monsta though.

Archadia v. Bandido Jr. v. Smiley v. Joey Janela v. Kimber Lee

Juniors five way with all the flaws that style promises. There were a couple of cool highspots from Bandido Jr. who is a undercard JAPW guy I have always liked, he did a crazy springboard rana, and a cool dive. Otherwise this was kind of mess. Finish was especially stupid, Joey Janela just randomly climbs to the top of a really high pillar, Smiley follows him up for some reason, and the throw some bad punches, and Joey Janela does a flip onto a bunch of security guys, I guess it was supposed to be a bump off the pillar, but it really looked like that what was he was trying to do, looked super fake and dangerous for no reason. Then when those two get back to the ring, everyone else is gone and Janela hits a suplex and pins him. Total mess.

Christopher Daniels + Frankie Kazarian v. Bravado Brothers

Indy wrestling workrate tag, which is a style I just can't get into. Everything was executed slickly (it is a Chris Daniels match) but it didn't add up to a ton. Kazarian does have some cool springboards, and the Bravados have some double teams which look good, but I forgot everything about this a minute after it was done.

Necro Butcher + The Hooligans v. The Viking War Party

The wild Necro brawls around the Rahway Rec center were my favorite thing about the latter day JAPW, this was in that spirit, but was surprisingly subdued. Necro actually spends a fair amount of the match in the ring, instead of reckless fling chairs in the crowd. There was some good craziness including the fat Viking getting smushed through a guardrail, and the Littlest Viking eating a running powerbomb in the rail. This kind of thing is always fun to watch, but this wasn't close to  the level of the great Necro/Brodie Lee matches from a couple of years ago.

Azrieal v. Black Jeez

Surprisingly solid juniors match. Haven't seen a Black Jeez match in years and while he was pretty terrible in CZW back in the day, he was OK here, definitely should have put him on the list of black guys LU should have brought in instead of Killshot. He works pretty stiff here, and applies his stuff well. Azrieal was one of the solid JAPW juniors back in the day, he was no Dixie or Insane Dragon but probably a bit better then Elax the exploited child, he had a nice tope and some solid mid range juniors offense, still nothing about this leaped out at me and didn't stick out in my brain 10 minutes later.

Teddy Hart/Chris Hero v. Samoa Joe/MVP

There are tons of indy wrestlers in the world doing "crazy guy" gimmicks, but how many of those guys spend time training their cats. Teddy Hart is such a legit lunatic that he is compelling to watch. Teddy's valet comes down with a fluffy Persian who seconds him and Hero during that match. Joe and MVP are working their TNA gimmick with Homicide at ringside, pretty fun match. MVP keeps refusing to take any of Teddy Harts moonsaults including moving so he smashes some fans on a dive, it almost felt like a weird inter promotional Puro match where guys are not cooperating. The match was mostly shtick, although Teddy had some nice brawling with Joe. There was also a great moment where Homicide just decides to break a chair over Teddy's head for the hell of it, I love that feud, and hope JAPW runs some more of it. Postmatch had Hart making a lot of jokes about his Pussy and thanking Jesus, what a kook.

Low-Ki v. Chris Dickinson

PAS: I was pretty low on Dickinson in the past, I described him as a fake Davey Richards which is about the worst way you can damn somebody. He has removed a lot of the extraneous bullshit, and is now mostly working on stiffness and his despicable charisma. He has to be one of the most hatable wrestlers I can remember, he feels like the kind of high school linebacker who would organize a gay bashing or gang rape, and add in the crew of creeps he runs with and you get a really compelling act. Low-Ki, especially in JAPW is a guy you want to see beat the shit out of someone, and man does he beat the shit out Dickinson, although Chris dishes it out too. Match starts out with some karate sparing, which is an interesting way to open a match, and then some decent takedowns and mat wrestling before the asskicking starts, Ki would blister Dickinson and he would fire back with some big shots, and also some fun cheap shots, Dickinson has a great looking eye poke. One point Dickinson kicks Ki really hard in the back and Ki fires back with this awesome four punch combo which they replayed from five different angles, so awesome, and really fit the somewhat ragged and uncooperative feel of the match. This match also had one of the cool superplexes I can remember seeing as Dickinson through Ki almost to the other side of the ring.

ER: Really cool match with some inventive asskicking and painful stretching. We get some nice early mat stuff with Dickinson controlling Ki and Ki almost going for broke early with a couple of double foot stomps. This was a nice change-up as Ki doesn't normally go for those so early so it was a neat indication that he thought he was in trouble, outmatched. Dickinson counters Ki's early attempts to finish with nice little cheats, a low blow here and an eye poke there. Dickinson keeps trapping Ki in this nasty submission with Ki's arms hooked behind his back and Dickinson's feet pushing against Ki's neck. At one point Ki does a great job of getting to the ropes, but facially expressing that it's hurting him WAY more to get to the ropes than was maybe worth it. Dickinson ups the stiffness by booting Ki in the back, and Ki puts it over great by slowly standing up back turned to Dickinson, clearly in pain but not wanting to show it. And then he punches Dickinson a bunch in the face and chest and everything is great. There was some good struggle throughout, especially loved Ki desperately grabbing behind Dickinson's knees to block a powerbomb. Later Ki went for a vertical suplex but Dickinson tried to sandbag him, which backfired and ended with him taking a sort of brainbuster DDT that looked vicious. There were a lot of nice little things like that, and those little things elevate a match. Even the finish had one of those moments with Dickinson hung in the tree of woe and Ki going for the Warriors Way. Now usually guys have to just kind of hang there like dinguses and then find a way to look up before getting their chests stomped in, but here Ki stands on Dickinson's knees causing him to sit up in pain, and then Ki hits the Warriors Way. Nice.


Post match was fun with Dickinson's crew brawling to the back with Joe, MVP and Homicide and Monsta Mack saving Ki from a sneak attack, only to do a big turn on him. Could really dig heel Monsta Mack against Ki and Homicide, and I hope JAPW runs again soon.

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Beyond Wrestling Americanrana ‘14 Review

Tag Team Battle Royal

This was a tag team battle royal, so like you would expect we have lots of guys with pun tag team names throwing clubbing forearms. There was some Johnny Cockstrong comedy spots, although not as funny as it has been in the past. Really hard to get much of a sense of anyone in a cluster like this.  They kept it moving at least so I wasn’t bored.

Pinkie Sanchez/Sugar D (Sex and Candy) v. Dave Cole/Aaron Epic (Fear in Loathing in New England)

This was based apparently on a breakup of a Sanchez/D/Epic stable, so was a little more heated then a lot of Beyond I have seen. I was happy to see that, but I didn’t love this match. Cole and Epic seemed like pretty generic tights and boots indy guys, lots of double stomp double teams and yakuza kicks. I did like Sugar D’s fired up Mr. Wrestling 2 babyface act, but I think Sanchez hurt himself and the finish was a bit wonky.

Nicholas Kaye v. Anthony Stone

This was a loser must retire throw in the towel match. This is a long running feud I am unfamiliar with, I have probably seen both guys before but they didn’t make much of an impression on me. The match started out like a pretty fun garbage brawl stunt show, Kaye catches the side of a chair in the face early and gushes blood which always adds to this kind of match. I also had no problem with the interference which had Kaye’s second Myke Quest (who looks like a sleazier Dean Ambrose, which I was surprised was possible) and Stone’s sister Natalya brawling on the floor. I was all set to recommend this, but the ending was super dumb, Stone handcuffs Kaye to the ring and goes and gets a chainsaw which causes Kaye to throw in the towel. Really silly, and anti climactic,  it almost felt like a comedy spot, he might as well have gotten a bazooka or a bayonet. It felt like they were building to something pretty cool, but the finish took it out of me.

Bryan Myers v. Ryan Rush

Myers is the former Curt Hawkins who is a WWE guy I know existed, but remember very little about. This was student v. teacher and worked as kind of an IWA Mid-South touring exhibition match. I thought Rush had some pretty nice athleticism, he had big time hops on his dropkick for a solidly build dude. Myers was clearly professional an well trained, although a little bland. There was a fun spot where Myers took a bump into the crowd an laid out four fans, that might work better on a show where everyone watching is a wrestler.

Team Tremendous (Dan Barry/Bill Carr) v. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor/Trent Baretta)

I think I have made my feeling about Chuck Taylor wink and smirk wrestling pretty clear, Baretta I remember being a generic Velocity junior in the WWE, but he is in Taylor land now. I have liked Barry in the past but he is along for the yucks here. Finish is clearly improvised as Baretta blew out his knee on a dive. Very much not my thing, although I suppose if you like Taylor’s horseshit, you might enjoy this.

Eric Corvis v. Jimmy Jacobs

This was a first blood match and was one of the two matches which caused me to buy this show, I haven’t seen a ton of Jacobs recently, but he has always been a guy I liked a lot, and someone who is really great at working a gimmicked brawl, Corvis is one of my favorite Beyond guys, I am not a usually a fan of guys working innovator of offense gimmicks, but he does pull out some cool moves and is also a pretty good brawler. This was good stuff for the lions share of the match, I liked all of the teasing  of spikes and there were some nasty looking stuff with chairs including Corvis hitting a spring board moonsault Van Damninator. Then unfortunately the booking kicks in as the TJ Marconi and Darius Carter heel invasion stable comes out and cuts a promo in the middle of the match, as Dany Only in an V for Vendetta mask comes out and stabs Corvis in the throat with a corkscrew, the carving up of Corvis was pretty nasty, but Jacobs totally got black holed as he had to stand around when they ran their angle. Nothing wrong with setting up something for the next show, but it sucks that they didn’t let the Corvis v. Jacobs feud work itself out.

Drew Gulak v. Tommaso Ciampa

This was a European Rules match, and was kind of a mix of a Gulak style match and an ROH indy match, Ciampa was fine on the mat, and the early parts of the match had some very cool matwork, including a bunch of really nifty spots built around knuckle locks. At one point it kind of flipped to a bunch of elbow exchanges and suplexes into turnbuckles and that stuff was a lot less compelling. I liked the end run OK as they did a bunch stuff working around the specific rules, each exchanging low blows to get an advantage, and Ciampa staying down during the 10 count and taunting Gulak. Good match, and a fun Gulak performance, although not at the level of the best stuff he has done this year.

Kimber Lee v. Silver Ant

I am not sure what the point of working intergender matches completely equal, it feels like less of a big deal when the woman pulls an upset. Silver Ant was pretty good, I liked the counter mat wrestling he was doing and kept himself looking strong while putting over a tiny girl.

Juicy Product v. Young Bucks

This was similar in a way, to the main event with the Beyond guys working a match in the style of their opponents. I liked this a little more, as I have more tolerance for Young Bucks Spotfests then Elgin matches, although neither are my thing.  Lots of crazy spots one after another with minimal selling or little downtime. I thought the Juicy Product seemed very comfortable doing this style which has a high degree of difficulty, this isn’t what I look for in wrestling, but I enjoyed it OK

Chris Dickinson v. Michael Elgin

I couldn’t get into this. Really was clear that Dickinson wanted to a work an ROH main event style Elgin match and that is something it is going to be very hard for me to get into. Lots of fighting spirit stuff, diffident selling, very much not my thing. I can see fans of this style liking it, Dickenson looks credible throwing blows with a big dude like Elgin. Lots of interference which didn’t help.

Not my favorite Beyond show, had a handful of matches I was enjoying ruined by booking, and some stuff that was not up my alley. Gulak v. Ciampa might be worth the individual match price though as Gulak is having himself a year

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