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WSX Week of Tapings Review
I was planning on attending at least one WSX taping here in Los Angeles, but nwhen my boss at work explained to me that if I did not use my accumulated vacation days before the end of the year I would lose them, I decided to just take the whole week off and attend them all. Yeah, I know I'm crazy, but what the hell, right?
I have never really written a review for a site before, so after seeing the basic results out all over the place, I figured I'd try to do something a little different and offer some overall thoughts and rank what I thought were the top 10 matches of the week. I did not attend the pilot taping so I can't say they were the top 10 for the season, but from what I have read, both those matches were pretty good.
I know that the first difference was that this time they were in a Hollywood studio which I feared would not be the same feel as the warehouse they apparently filmed the pilot in. Once inside, though, it definitely did not feel like WCW Saturday Night. They did a great job of making the place look like an underground fight club which had been discussed as their plan in various online articles I had read before going. Another cool thing was
that not all the wrestlers made their entrances down a main aisle. Some came from freight containers or down stairs, it made the locker room seem less "unified" and more "every man/team for himself".
The roster is really quite amazing. WSX seems to have found the best relatively unknown talent - at least unknown on a national level. I had seem the name Lil Cholo, Tyler Black, Arik Cannon, and others on reviews of the net, but never seen any of them live, and I have to assume that means most wrestling fans who are watching WWE have never even heard of them. Then there were ROH regulars like Jimmy Jacobs, Matt Sydal, and Jack Evans,
who I have seen work long matches, but really seemed to find a way to make the most out of their 5 minutes per match without it seeming like a highspot fest and that they were trying to cram all their moves in. Jacob's gimmick with Tyler Black is awesome and I think something that will definitely get over with the MTV audience.
Speaking of MTV audience, when I talked to one of the producers (I'm not sure what he actually was, but he was working backstage with the talent) and asked him what their ideal audience on TV would be he told me that they were trying to create a wrestling show that would remain true to current wrestling fans but also find new viewers because of it's style and fast paced action and younger talent. About 2 days in to the tapings I found
myself thinking they were doing just what they set out to.
I read somewhere else that there were lots of blown spots during the week. Having been to my fair share of indy shows over the past 10 years or so, including many XPW and PWG show along with a bunch of other groups that lasted a show or two, I have to say I was actually surprised, or even shocked, and that lack of blown spots during the week. I think I saw something like 45 matches or so, and I recall 1 being kind of sloppy overall
and a few having 1 spot that got messed up, but I think I can really count the overall blown spots on 1 hand. I have seen guys like Human Tornado, Disco Machine, Joey Ryan, Kaos, and others dozens and dozens of times, and for some reason they all seemed much more "on" in these matches than I had seen them before. Maybe it was the pressure. Maybe it was knowing they only had to give it their all for 5 minutes. But, everyone seemed "on."
Even when there were messed up spots, like one time Teddy Hart went for his modified DDT where he hooks the guy around his body, and they had to break and do it over, the wrestling fans in the audience could tell, but I noticed that it didn't come off as a blown spot to the hired audience. Teddy did a decent job of covering for it.
Well, enough of my overall thoughts, here are my Top 10 Matches of the week
(so I guess episodes 2-10):
10. Matt Sydal w/ Lizzy Valentine vs. Human Tornado (Episode 7)
As you'll see below, Matt Sydal and Lizzy Valentine were my MVP's for the week of tapings. Every match Sydal wrestled was great. Tornado really impressed me as well. Anyone who has seen the guy knows he does not have a body that would ever get him even looked at for a second by WWE or even TNA most likely, but I am glad he's getting an opportunity to shine in WSX. One of the highlights of this match was Lizzy pushing Sydal out of the way of a sommersault plancha by Tornado who ended up taking out the first and second row of fans! (I think some were plants/local wrestlers).
9. Trailer Park Boyz vs.That 70's Team vs. El Hombre Blanco Enmascarado &
Matt Classic (WSX Internet show - episode 8 or 9, I don't remember exactly
and my notes are kind of messed up)
The Trailer Park Boyz gimmick is great. I mean we've all see white trash gimmicks before, but Nate Webb (who I have seen from his CZW stuff) and Josh "Jug" (who works indys as Josh Abercrombie but I have never seen) were a great team! XPW's "White Trash" Johnny Webb is their manager. El Hombre is PWG's Quicksilver (who I guess had to have his name changed for legal reasons) and Matt Classic is Colt Cabana doing a 1950's wrestler gimmick which is one of the greatest things I have ever seen in wrestling! That
70's team are 2/3 of PWG management Disco Machine and Joey Ryan. This was
the only 3 way match of the entire season and it was just a lot of fun with some really good wrestling. Abercrombie is very good.
8. WSX Title Match - Vampiro vs. 6-Pac (Episode 2)
One thing that really stood out to me was that the 2 title matches were a very different style than all of the other matches of the week. They were much more "Japanese strong style" with lots of stiff moves and not much high flying, but still physical brutality. They also worked a pretty cool bump which ignited pyrotechnics for the finish. You can't really get a 5 star match out of 10 minutes, but the match was damn entertaining and felt
special.
7. Matt Sydal w/ Lizzy Valentine vs. Matt Classic (WSX Internet show
Episode 2)
Sydal, who continues to amaze me with his ROH matches, probably had the best string of matches over the course of the week. Everything he did was just great. Lizzy Valentine (XPW's J-Love) is great as his preppy and annoying girlfriend. Matt plays a heel here but I think he's really going to get over with the audience on his wrestling ability alone and it's going to be hard for people to boo him eventually. Lizzy makes it easier though as she
has the annoying girlfriend bit down to an art. By the end of the week the crowd was doing her "W"/whatever and "L"/loser hand signs back at her. Just a really good match. I guess Matt Classic is being used only on the WSX Internet show which may not be a bad idea - I would go out of my way to catch these matches.
6. Matt Sydal w/ Lizzy Valentine vs. El Hombre Blanco Enmascarado (Episode
6 - not sure if it was for Internet show or TV show)
Not really much top say except for the fact that it was this match that made me really realize how much more WSX is doing with their 5 minutes than WWE. El Hombre never won a match this season, but it wasn't like he was just squashed either. Just a great 5 minutes.
5. Piranha Deathmatch: The Cartel vs. Los Pochos Guapos (Episode 10 -
Season Finale)
I think/hope that the build for this whole match is going to be explained more on TV than it was to the live crowd, but I do know that every time the Cartel won a match or beat someone down, they threw a dead fish on them. Then, at the start of Episode 8, Kaos and Aguilera (Los Pochos Guapos) ran into the ring before the start of the show and challenged The Cartel to get out there and face them. Apparently they recorded something not in front of the live audience to explain this. The Cartel, who are Delikado (B-Boy under a mask) and Lil' Cholo (from WPW and other local SoCal indies) with Mongol Santino (Kaos' tag team partner in FCW and other indies) and El Jefe (manager from UPW and AWS) in their corner. The only other Piranha deathmatch I have ever seen was in Big Japan. They were much more limited by time constraint here, but this match was just awesome. It felt big and important like it was the culmination of a feud, and with the tank outside of the ring on a platform, they were still able to wrestle in the ring and do lots of teasing of the tank outside. This plus the other two season finale matches (though I think the four way tag team match is for the internet show) make for a great end to the first season.
4. Matt Sydal w/Lizzy Valentine vs. Scorpio Sky (Episode 4)
I have seen Scorpio Sky on a number of local shows, including PWG, and he's always been a good worker, but never really stood out as a "breakout" star to me. His performances in WSX changed that. First, his gimmick is pretty good. He plays this cocky, conceited athlete who was his high school's Most Likely to Succeed and Best Athlete (he carries plaques with him to the ring that say that - which is how I got that much) and kind of acts like he thinks he's a face (signing autographs on his way to the ring and posing for photos with fans who did not ask for them) but the fans don't like him. This match was great and Sydal's finisher, his belly-to-belly top rope moonsault - is just breathtaking!
3. Jack Evans vs. Human Tornado (Episode 9)
One thing I liked about WSX's set up was that most matches were announced as a 10 minute time limit. Since everyone at home, or live, knows that the TV show is only 30 minutes, with 3 matches a week, it only makes sense that there needs to be a short time limit on the matches. 10 minutes is believable with commercial breaks. But, they waited until Episode 9 to really play to it. One other thing that I noticed was that while a number
of matches ended with foreign objects or weapons (all of which is legal in WSX apparently), there was only one ref bump the entire season (in my #1 match pick below) and most finishes were clean or as clean as you get now a days. But, this match was extra special because it went to a 10 minute time limit draw. Yes, the crowd was a little disappointed in the finish, but I heard from someone else that during episode 10, there was a promo filmed backstage setting up a rematch between the two in the future. Evans and
Tornado were basically built over the season as the two face singles wrestlers. WSX is heavy on heels, but not really on faces at all. I'm not saying the match felt like Hogan/Warrior, but it was a really, really, good match that kept both wrestlers on even ground without a cheap finish. And, even the "paid audience" wanted to see these guys go at it more.
2. WSX Title Match: Vampiro vs. Ricky Banderas (Episode 8)
Sheer brutality. I mentioned earlier about the different style of 6-Pac vs. Vampiro. This match was that and then some. It will definitely have to be edited for TV because I think it went nearly 30 minutes (I hope they release it on DVD though because it was just intense), but it just looked like they were going through hell. At one point Banderas suplexed Vampiro off of the ring onto the concrete floor. Not too long later he put him through a table covered in light tubes which sliced open Vampiro's back. Banderas then powerbombed Vampiro THROUGH the stage the bands played on, and later chokeslammed him into a coffin, which then exploded, to pin him and become the WSX champion. About as intense of a match as I have ever seen live.
1. Exploding Cage Timebomb Deathmatch: Team Dragon Gate (Yoshino &
Hiroguchi w/ Sakoda) vs. The Filth & The Fury (Teddy Hart & Matt "Mdogg-20"
Cross).
Looking back at my list now, I realize that I have no other matches with Dragon Gate or The Filth & The Fury in them and I have to question my list! Both teams were extremely impressive every time they were in the ring together. I don't want to give much about the match away, but taking into account everything WSX did throughout the season - this match was the perfect capper. Teddy Hart, for all his wackiness, is a damn good wrestler.
Matt "Mdogg-20" Cross, who I had not seen much of, is a damn good wrestler. The DG guys are amazing and Yoshino's speed has to be seen to be believed. This match had two sides of the cage rigged to explode if a wrestler was thrown into it. Then, above the ring, was a scaffold. To win, a wrestler had to climb the scaffold, detonate the time bomb, and have his team escape the cage before it blew up. All I can say is WOW. This match deserved 20 minutes on PPV, but it got 10 on free TV. Can't really complain.
So, in conclusion, I had a great time during my week at the WSX tapings. I wish MTV would hurry up and announce when it will be on. It was a little strange dealing with a TV taping atmosphere and not a true live wrestling show, but as a big supporter of SoCal indy wrestling and fan of ROH and PWG, I'm really excited about these guys getting a chance to shine on a national/international level.
When I got back to work the Monday after the tapings a buddy of mine who I used to go to WWE shows with and was a BIG fan of ECW in it's heyday (who has since "moved on" and does not watch much at all anymore) asked me what I thought. He asked if it compared to the ECW of old. It's hard to say what to really compare it to since no other show has had to work within 30 minutes (I think I heard someone say that they get like 20 real minutes with commercial breaks and all), but the one thing I told him was that WSX is
what the new ECW should have been. I know that re-reading my own review it doesn't really do the action justice. But I really believe that fans who are currently content with the WWE and TNA shows will really enjoy WSX and that with MTV behind them, they may be able to do what TNA has not, and that is bring new fans to the show.
If you want help reviewing the TV show weekly once it starts to air. Let me know.
LJ
