Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
I drove to the show with my gas tank half full. Once I got to Rahway for Jersey All Pro Wrestling’s show ‘Wild Card,’ my gas was on E. Now, I live in Jersey City which is about fifteen minutes from the venue but due to the bumper-to-bumper traffic I was stuck on route 1&9 for close to forty-five minutes. Once there, I hit the concession and then grab a slice of pizza and Gatorade from the concession. Long line too, it’s about 7:25p and the fans are still lining up outside. Rahway shows for JAPW are usually hot and tonight are no exception. As I head back inside I notice a guy wearing a “I Hate Marks” t-shirt walking back inside with his hot dog being told by someone in charge at the door you cannot bring food or drinks inside. Through no fault of JAPW, it’s the venue security and their rules and that needs to be addressed. If you’re buying food or drinks to go back to your seat and enjoy the show. Anyway, I eat my slice and hide the Gatorade in my pocket on my way back inside. Rebel, I know…
So the show begins a bit early than usual at 7:47p, as the lights dimmed and the the participates of the first match made their way down. Corvis Fear and Myke Quest “The Garden State Gods against “Switchblade Conspiracy” of Sami Callihan and Jon Moxley. Both teams looked well early on, a lot of double teaming in the match by Callihan and Moxley. I was a bit disappointed there was no hot tag for Garden State Gods as Corvis Fear dragged Myke Quest to his own corner and tagged himself in. Garden State Gods wins by submission in eleven minutes. After the match, the Switchblade Conspiracy went back inside the ring to attack the GSG and left. One of the members of the GSG grabs the mic and screams obscenities and that’s all I could really make out. The final words were, “This aint over. The Gods will have vengeance.”
The second match is for the JAPW Light Heavyweight Title Match. Entrances begin at 8:05p. Bandido Jr.’s opponents were yet to be determined before this event as it was deemed “Wild Card” rules—where all the champions didn’t know who they were facing. This was the first title match of the night. Bandido Jr. came out first. Next, CZW announcer Larry Legend comes out with a sharp black suit and red bowtie. The JAPW ring announcer was busting his chops and called him Urkel had a verbal exchange with Larry Legend, who said, “Don’t concern yourself with who I am, but what I am.” Legend introduces Sabian, who wears red trunks and has “Philadelphia” written on the back of his tights. Egotistico Fantastico, Rich Swann and Neeno Capone were the other three participates. Match begins at 8:15. Chaos ensues. Great spot from Sabian who teases a jump on to the outside and midway stops in the middle of the ring to gives the bird. Crowd boos heavily. Great heat. I notice Sabian doing a lot of old school psychology you don't see as much, doing the little things.
Rick Swann is eliminated first by Ego. Swann is trapped in the middle turnbuckle in the corner and jumped onto his neck with both feet landing from the top rope. Shades of Low Ki.. Ego throws Swann outside the ring and goes for the cover and gets the three count. Capone is eliminated second. A few minutes later, Egotistco Fantasico is eliminated by Sabian. Now its down to the Light Heavyweight champion from Newark, NJ Bandido Jr. and the CZW standout from Philadelphia, Sabian. By the way, I love Larry Legend’s body language from the outside. He doesn’t take away from Sabian or the match. He stands still and observes and theres something about his body language that shows he’s really a student of the game. Stay tuned of this guy. Sabian hits a frog splash on Bandido Jr. for a close two-count. Moments later, Bandido picks up Sabian and drops him on his head for the three count. The JAPW ring anouncer asks Larry Legend if he wants to announce the winner. Larry, of course, refuses gets Sabian and they exit. So the winner and still JAPW Light Heavyweight champion—Bandido Jr. via pinfall. I notice they changed ring announcers. Hmmm..
The third match of the evening was another JAPW title defense in Wild Card rules, as the JAPW NJ State champion Devon Moore makes his way to the ring. Moore gets in the ring, grabs the mic and says, “Since I’ve been there, JAPW has thrown every piece of homegrown talent at me and I’ve beaten them all. And since I can't get a shot at Dan Maff [for JAPW World Title], Moore tells the company to send another homegrown talent that he can defeat again and it doesn’t matter who it is.
I get a flash of Ultimate Warrior running in at Madison Square Garden for the first Summerslam, ending Honky Tonk Man’s fifteen month reign as Intercontinental champ. Meanwhile, the song TNT by AC/DC plays and out comes recently released WWE superstar Charlie Haas to a loud ovation. Haas goes right to business; as he doesn’t even Hogan milk the crowd to the “Welcome back” chants. Haas gets Moore in the Haas of Pain submission finisher and squashes him in under ten seconds like yesterday’s Rob Conway. Haas grabs the mic after winning the JAPW State championship and talks about being fired but that he’s glad and now he could wrestle the way he wants to. Haas challenges Dan Maff for the JAPW World title down the line.
The fourth match was Drake Younger vs Nick Cage in what was billed by guest ring announcer for the match, CZW ring announcer Larry Legend! The JAPW further breaks his chops and told Larry the only reason he’s here tonight is to because the CZW wrestlers needed someone to carry their bags. This prompted a short CZW short. Cage comes out second sporting an Oakland Raiders #80 Jerry Rice jersey. They have the fans in the front room all move as a minute into the action they fight into the crowd and near me in the bleachers. A guy next to me screams that he wants blood. There fighting throughout the crowd, as more fans gather around. I can't see.
With the crowd gathering, a guy waddling his way down from the bleachers with the cholesterol level above 230 passes gas right front of me, prompting this poor old woman to grab her purse and move away with her daughter after saying how disgusting it was. I agreed with Grandma and I got the hell out of there myself and watched from one of the vendors' table. Hey! This table is selling ‘I Hate Marks’ t-shirts!
Anyhow, the match gets back into the ring and Younger using a chair on Cage, followed by a running Death Valley driver for a two count on Cage. An unfolded chair is setup in the middle of the ring and Cage executes a suplex on Younger for the win. The land didn’t look right as Younger’s neck connected with the top part of the chair. The referee checks on the longest reign CZW champ in history. After slowly getting up, the crowd claps to the dissatisfaction of the guy behind me continuous telling his father next to him how much he sucks. Match ends at 8:54p.
The fifth match on the card is for the JAPW tag team titles. And out come Monsta Mack and Havoc, “the Heavy Hitters”. After about a seven-second intro into their theme music, I notice it sounds like Sid Vicious’ WCW theme music from 1989. Ahhh well, bad ass theme none the less. Before their mystery opponents make their way out, Mack has a humorous exchange with a fan in the front row who likes his ring attire. Mack asks the kid if he’s gonna buy the shirt. Now this is how its done Triple H and HBK!
The mystery opponents to the tag title match are Eddie Kingston who is followed out second by B Boy. The crowd cheers for Kingston, but wants no part of it by giving the f*** you sign. Bell rings and match begins sharply at 9pm. Kingston and Mack start the match, as Kingston applies a headlock. After Mack takes out Kingston with a shoulder block takedown, he belts out a Ric Flair ‘whoooo’ in B Boy’s face, who’s standing on the apron. After B Boy and Havoc are tagged in, both Hit Squad double team Kingston. Mack, once again, gives another ‘whoooo’. You know, if The Hit Squad is to be taken as serious tag champs and JAPW’s verison of the Road Warriors, Mack needs to stop screaming ‘whoooo’. It makes him look human. His job, along with his partner is to seem bad ass. But ah, to each is own.
In a great spot, B Boy who is the illegal man in the ring, slaps his hand loudly as if he was tagged in by Kingston while refs back is turned. The little things, you guys. Again, great stuff. Fans notice. B-Boy chops Mack numerous times in the corner, and Mack no-sells. Kingston comes in to do a double chop but it fell flat and crowd let them hear about it.
Havoc spears B-boy. Mack spins B-boy in the air and slams him hard to the mat, pinning him for the three count. Heavy Hitters retain at their tag titles at exactly 9:11p.
Lots of people are leaving their seats from the match. Intermission? Nope. People are now running back to their seats. A guy even drops a JAPW DVD Season’s Beating with Christopher Daniels and Dan Maff on the cover on the floor.
At 9:15p, the sixth match of the night is underway. A wrestler walks out to the ring and grabs the mic. I don’t remember watching this wrestler previously, so I ask the same guy who thinks Drake Younger sucks moments after suffering an injury, whats this wrestler’s name. And he tells me “Chrissy’s Dick.” I turn back around. The lady in front of me shakes her head in disgust and tells me Chris Dickinson. Dickinson grabs the mic and calls a fat guy a… you guessed it… a fat piece of trash. Original. Dickinson’s opponent comes out and its Necro Butcher! Personally, I love Necro. He has a great look and I loved his wars in CZW and ROH. Necro is so over. The loudest pop thus far of the night, with Charlie Haas a very close second I gotta say. Necro is sporting a half green/half black tshirt that reads in yellow letters “CHOOSE DEATH”.
Match starts on the outside… and Necro is already busted open?? Geez…Loud chants for Necro. A lot of people are running down the bleachers to get closer as Butcher is slamming Dickinson onto garden rail. They haven't gotten in the ring yet and its been ten minutes so far of the match. Necro is the first to get in the ring and he sits in a chair waiting for Dickenson to enter. Loud “Necro” chants again. Two refs carry Dickenson to the back, causing a chorus of boos followed by a “Man Up” chant. Dickinson runs back into the ring and quickly gets offense on Butcher. He goes to work on Necro with stiff kicks, prompting the guy called Dickinson ‘Chrissy’s Dick’ to chant “Your not Low Ki.” Too bad he was chanting alone. Necro chokeslams Dickinson onto the chair and then follows it with a big powerbomb on the chair for the win. Necro grabs a fan’s hat from the front row, wears it with all the blood pouring from his head… and throws the hat back at the poor schmuck with all the blood covering it! The crowd collectively gasped and “ahhhh”. Classic.
My back is now hurting, now I start walking toward to john thinking this its intermission. I’m wrong. I don’t go back to my seat though. I stand the remainder on the night still writing on my blackberry.
Its announced that May 22nd JAPW returns to Rahway, NJ… and Jushin Thunder Liger is announced to make his JAPW debut. The music of Teddy Hart hits. Teddy just stands out from all the others, let me say. Sporting a fur coat, white pants and sunglasses, Teddy looks cool and tanned. I don’t know why this standout isn’t in the WWE. Oh wait, unfortunately I do and it has nothing to do with his wrestling ability. This guy has the goods in the ring and behind the mic.
Teddy grabs the mic and says he has respect for Liger and that Liger's first match was in Canada. I don’t know if that’s true, but ah well. Teddy says he cant wait to see his Uncle Bret beat up Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania and that Owen [Hart] and [Chris] Benoit would love to see it too. Hart says the Young Bucks (aka Generation Me) are the best tag team in the world—the same team he and partner Jack Evans will be wrestling later that night.
Following his short in-ring interview, Teddy Hart gently throws his fur crowd and sunglasses to a guy in the first row. And yes, he got to keep it! Great memory and souvenir for that guy. Fan proudly wearing the coat and glasses and has The Green Lantern superfan snap of photo for him.
Still no intermission and now we head to the seven match of the evening for the JAPW Women’s title. Sarah Del Ray enters first, as again, Wild Card rules. Her opponent comes out from the dark and it’s Hailey Hatred. Del Ray’s wrestling ability gets better each time I watch her wrestle. Its only a matter of time before we see her in WWE or TNA. She has the goods to back it up. The ladies wrestle outside the ring. Their match spills all around the rec center from literally one end to the other. At 9:46pm, Sarah Del Ray pins Haily Hatred to retain her Women’s championship.
A short intermission is announced at 9:48pm…. I spend the short intermission talking to another promoter who came to the show and one of the photographers in attendance about a May 8th autograph signing and wrestling card (which I am promoting along with PWS and NJ Sports Promotions). TNA World champion AJ Styles, The Pope, Godfather, and international superstar Vampiro and much others will be part of $99 super ticket, followed by a wrestling card at night in White Plains, NY. Check out www.prowrestlingfanfest.com for details.
Short intermission ends at 10:09pm. And now the eight match of the evening is a 6-person inter-gender tag match. The Osirian Portal and Annie Social vs South Side Playaz and Mia Yim. Grand entrance for South Side Playaz. At 10:17pm, The ladies start the match. Back and forth action. A lot of great double teaming by South Playas, heel tactics, distracting referee. In the middle of the match the Osirian Portal’s music plays and it puts a spell on the heels. One of the members of the Portal slaps the crap out of Annie Social. After more action, the South Side Playas & Annie Social steal the win at 10:28pm.
The following International Attraction match pits TNA superstar Samoa Joe against NJPW Star Kazuchika Okada. Flash bulbs all over the venue for Joe. Now is the biggest pop of the night, with Necro and Charlie Haas following as the crowd erupts as Joe's music hits. Chants of “Joe, Joe, Joe.” Joe wins with his finisher. Short match, Joe crushes him like a paper bag.
The tenth match of the evening was the one I was looking forward to most. Generation Me (TNA’s the Young Bucks) in tag team action against Teddy Hart and Jack Evans in underway. Loud “Teddy” chants. I’ll say it again, he stands out from the rest. And this is not a knock on the other guys, but Teddy certainly has the youth and look to go a long way. Teddy goes to the top rope and performs a moonsault onto no one! And suddenly I remembered when TNA was on Wedensday nights with their $9.95 PPV and he did the same thing, only post-match.
In the match, highlights—which they’re a lot of had Evans getting a frankensteiner followed by an arm drag. Lots of double teaming from Generation Me. Teddy gets tagged in and immediately does a flying clothesline off the top rope. Powerbomb by Teddy prompts a “Teddy”
chant. Evans leaps off Teddy's neck and shoulders and does a moonsault onto one of the Young Bucks trapped in the middle turnbuckle in the corner. Great spot. Standing rolling moonsault by Evans. They gave too much in this match. Chants of this is awesome. YoungBucks flipped Evans for a slam, the other jumped off the top rope for a quick 360 splash. Great double team finisher I gotta say. The match of the night. The winners are the Young Bucks of TNA aka Generation Me in over twenty-five minutes. Standing ovation from the crowd afterwards.
JAPW returns to April 17th in my hometown of Jersey City, NJ.
The main event and final match of the evening is for the JAPW World Championship. Dan Maff comes out first and wants for his opponent. A “Hilbilly Wrecking Crew” appears on the screen and its Brody Lee. I’m disappointed that Brody wearing a wife beater and jeans. If your gonna be Brody, you should dress the part. Lee certainly has the look with the beard and hair, he really looks like Brody a bit.
Stiff exchange throughout the match. Brody gives a big boot to the jaw of Maff knocking him off the apron. Brody jumps off onto Maff and hell ensues. They’re all over the arena now. Brody throws Maff into a vendor’s table and the poor guy’s masks are all over the floor. The vendor’s table is also broken and is picking the things off the floor. Brody and Maff countinue going around busting every vendors’ table. This was not planned. A wild brawl, back and forth. Nothing scientific about this. Stiff punches. Both on their knees still exchanges blows. There's blood all over Brody's shirt. Soon after, Maff beats him with running death valley driver. The winner and still JAPW champion, Dan Maff.
Necro Butcher runs in after the match and holds up Maff for Brody to nail him but before he does tag champs—Heavy Hitters run in to make the save. Chair shots by Maff to head of Brody. And then I see the Oakland Jerry Rice jersey again and its Nick Cage, who comes in and gives chair shots to everyone. Charlie Haas make the save. Maff, Haas, and the Heavy Hitters stand in the ring. Haas picks up the belt looks at it and puts it on Maff's shoulder. Maff and Haas shake hands. Chants of “Haas, Haas” closes the show.
My overall thoughts in 75 words or less: Teddy Hart/Jack Evans vs Young Bucks match is gonna be a great one to watch on DVD… I thought the Joe/ Okada match would have more… Too many matches had spots were there was fighting outside the ring… South Side Playaz has one of the best ring entrances on the indy scene… Sabian is gonna be special. Keep an eye on him…
Andrew Khellah, the owner and operator of Pro Wrestling Diary (www.pwdiary.com) is a writer and reporter for Pro Wrestling Insider Xtra. Andrew can be reached at andrew_khellah@pwdiary.com.
