-Taped from Rahway, New Jersey

-Pinkie Sanchez vs. Mike Dennis

Match in Five Words or Less: Basic

Match Highlights: Not nearly as many fans here on this night. Some stalling from both men as they play to the crowd. Feeling out process. Dennis ends the flurry with a Japanese armdrag and dropkick right to the back. Clothesline off the apron. Sanchez kicks the middle rope and leg whips Dennis. Leg lariat and a springboard double stomp. Blind charge misses. Dennis hits a clothesline and back elbow. Back drop. Sanchez begs off and even kisses Dennis’s boot. Dennis offers his right boot and hits in the face. Another charge misses and his leg gets caught in the middle rope. Sanchez goes to work on the leg. Dennis kicks Sanchez off and hits a dropkick in the corner. Monkey flip. Cover for two. Strike exchange as both men  are kneeling down. Tiger suplex by Sanchez. Running… splash? That was awkward. Double stomp. Springboard moonsault misses. TKO by Dennis gets him the victory. Dennis actually sells his injured leg as he leaves the ring.

Match Analysis: This was an okay opener, nothing offensive or  anything. Good exchange of moves as Dennis got to showcase some of what he can do. Sanchez is always good for a laugh, and it’s always too bad he can’t get his personal life in order to really forge a fine independent wrestling career.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Mike Dennis/7:50/**

-Samuray Del Sol vs. AR Fox vs. Taka Suzuki vs. Star Man

Match in Five Words or Less: I Wanna Go Higher

Match Highlights: Crowd is behind the wacky Star Man as he dances around the ring. The other three aren’t sure what to do. Star Man spin kicks and all three men duck. Suzuki officially starts with Star Man. SHENANIGANS! Hard chop as Suzuki isn’t screwing around. Off the ropes. Suzuki tells him to stop. Star Man points up. Spin kick. Whip and an elbow out of the corner. Strikes by Suzuki. Del Sol and Fox come in next as the pace picks up big time. Headscissors by Del Sol. Exchange of armdrags. Leg sweeps. Both men go for a dropkick. Stand-off. Fox hits a running kick. Whip to the corner. Blind charge misses. Enziguri and an armdrag by Del Sol. Fox goes outside. Suzuki goes after him. Dropkick on Del Sol. Star Man trips Suzuki. Fox with a quick and corkscrew vertical suplex. Choking. Star man sent head first into the turnbuckle. Back elbow and a suplex. Strikes by Star Man. Del Sol tags in and hits a bodyslam. Springboard splash. Battle to the corner.  Suzuki tags Del Sol and kicks him in the back. Dropkick to the side of the head. Fox tags in and can’t bodyslam Star Man. Star Man is just standing there and he ain’t takin no bodyslam. Suzuki comes in and fails as well. Star Man low bridges them out of the ring. Fox immediately DDTs Star Man. Star Man shoves Fox and hits a one foot dropkick. Series of strikes. Whip in the corner. Fox hits a boot out of the corner. Suzuki hits a sweet running dropkick as Del Sol has to break the count. Strike exchange. Suzuki comes out on top. Del Sol with a whip and running shoulder tackle. Gutbuster. Flying forearm by Star Man on Del Sol. Asai moonsault on Suzuki and Fox. He almost takes out some poor schlub in the front row. Fox hits a 450 to the floor, thus proving he has a death wish. Del Sol hits a gorgeous no hands dive. He brings Fox in the ring. Double underhook into a cross armbreaker. Suzuki has to break the hold. Up and around as Suzuki tosses Del Sol. Star Man breaks the count. Superkick. Star counters a vertical suplex into one of his own. 1-2-NO! Suzuki palm strikes Star Man. Shove. Lo Mein Pain! Del Sol hits a reverse rana! 1-2-3!

Match Analysis: By the incredibly low standards established by this weekend, this was fairly good. Fun action throughout as there was a little bit of high-flying, a little bit of comedy, and a great flurry of action to ultimately end the contest. Hopefully, we don’t fall off a cliff again.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Samuray Del Sol/12:22/***

-Scott Steiner vs. Dan Maff

Match in Five Words or Less: Dream…Match

Match Highlights: Scott Steiner comes out in a motorcycle. Sure, let’s give the maniac a vehicle to ride around. This sounds like a brilliant move. Maff wants Steiner to BRING IT. Knees in the corner and a chop from Steiner. Straight right hand followed by another chop. Ref gets yelled at. Series of stomps in the corner. More strikes. Hip toss. Two running kicks and another chop. Shoulder tackle. Maff counters a bodyslam, gets a boot, and punches him. Double axehandle but Steiner catches him and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. Maff tossed to the outside. Maff tosses about five rows deep. Chair shot to the back. Referee warns Steiner. Steiner declines to listen. Big clothesline and an elbow drop. Right into the push-ups. Maff low blows Steiner. Stomp and a knee drop. Big clothesline. Clothesline off the middle rope leads to  a nearfall. Middle rope splash misses badly. Back to the right hands goes Steiner. Back drop. More clotheslines and into the buckle goes Maff. Chop. Boot out of the corner. Another belly-to-belly suplex gets two. Chop and whip. Maff gets his boot up. Charging back splash. Cannonball. Side suplex. Maff climbs to the top but misses a headbutt.  Belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope. Maff may have been dropped on his head. Steiner Recliner and Maff submits quickly.

Match Analysis: This was a bit slowly paced but not a terrible match by any means. These two knew how to deliver a solid if unspectacular power type match. The finish did come off poorly, and that certainly didn’t help matters, but both guys at looked professional, which is more than I can say for most of the matches that happened the previous night. While we’re not off to a great start, this show is on a decidedly better paced than the previous night.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Scott Steiner/9:17/**1/4

-Phantasio vs. Simon Dean

Match in Five Words or Less: Make This Match Disappear!

Match Highlights: I have no idea who Phantastio is, but he has a rather slutty escort with him. As in she’s a girl. Not judging what she might do professionally. Phantasio has a mask and face paint. Dean makes fun of Phantasio for being a magician and makes a crack about being able to make himself disappear. Dean is probably best known for being a commentator on Resistance Pro television and DVDs. Feeling out process as Dean heels it up for the purposes of getting Phantasio over. Somehow, Dean gets hit with streamers before heading outside. Dean plays with Phantastio’s wand. We go into a slow motion sequence. Where’s Darin Corbin? The fans don’t seem to play along with the slow motion aspect of this. This goes on for a while, as we even get a nearfall out of it. Dean breaks out of it and hits a double sledge. Running double sledge and into the chinlock. Elbows to the midsection and a clothesline By Phantasio. Clothesline takes the referee out. Dean nails Phantasio with his bag and covers. No ref. Dean goes to wake him up. Phantasio pulls out a baton. Shot on Dean. Referee counts three.

Match Analysis: Let’s not kid ourselves. Phantastio is extremely green and limited in his moveset. That much is clear after watching him for eight minutes. Dean is not in a good enough shape to be carrying guys to even good matches, but they used smoke and mirrors to at least try and get something productive. Not something I would ever care to watch again, but at least it was relatively short. Also, babyfaces using foreign objects to win matches should not be considered a good idea.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Phantasio/7:47/*

-PWS Tri-State Championship: Tony Nese (champion) vs. KAI

Match in Five Words or Less: Wrestling! Yay!

Match Highlights: Basic to start. Feeling out process. Shoulder tackle by KAI. Leg lariat from Nese. Dropkick misses. Nese sent outside. Dive prevented by a clothesline from Nese. Tope suicida scatters fans. KAI stalls for a bit on the outside. Boots from Nese back in the ring. Strikes by KAI. Leg trip by Nese. Springboard moonsault misses. Shoulder tackle. Sunset flip blocked. Nese hits the springboard moonsault this time. Forearm in the corner. Whip across. Elbow by Nese. He falls off the top rope. Springboard but KAI lifts his knees up and gets a gutbuster. Running knee strike to the midsection. A second running knee strike. Boston crab. Nese grabs the bottom rope. Punches by Nese. Slap by KAI and a gordbuster into the top rope. Double stomp off the middle rope. Powerbomb countered into a roll-up. Nese ducks a clothesline and hits a mid level superkick. Another kick and enziguri. German suplex gets two. Blind charge misses. Enziguri by Nese. Running knee to the face. Out of the corner for two. Chops by Nese. Springboard enziguri from KAI. 1-2-NO! 2K1 bomb countered. KAI hits a modified German suplex. 2K1 bomb hits. 1-2-NO! Double stomp misses and Nese appears to get his knees up late. Bodyslam and 450. 1-2-NO! Nese is visibly frustrated. Strike exchange from their knees. Superkick exchange and both men are down. Another strike exchange. Bell rings and I guess the 15 minute time limit is up. This despite the match went about 14 minutes. Right hand exchange continues. Why not just go the extra minute?

Match Analysis: As good as Nese was on the previous night, he was definitely off a bit on this night with his timing. With KAI holding All-Japan’s junior heavyweight title and not really being able to come back to defend the PWS tri-state title, a draw was really the only way to go. This match felt like it should have had more intensity to it than what was presented. I’d call this a minor disappointment despite still being a solid contest.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Time limit draw/15:00 officially/***

-Brittney Savage vs. Alexxis Naveah

Match in Five Words or Less: Bad

Match Highlights: Immediate knee by Savage. Drop toehold by Naveah. Running senton. Charging forearm in the corner and a bulldog. Savage counters a whip. Terrible looking backcracker. Stomp and kick to the back. Choking on the middle rope. Dropkick to the back. Shot to the midsection and a forearm by Naveah. Savage stifles the comeback and drives her head into the mat. Boston crab. Into the corner and a running knee. Clothesline misses. Series of forearms by Naveah. Running clothesline. Flatliner gets two. Savage hits a back kick and cutter. I’m just glad this is the finish.

Match Analysis: Ms. Savage might be one of the worst wrestlers I’ve seen in 2012 male or female. She’s just not very good and a borderline danger to herself and whomever she’s in the ring with. Naveah looked alright, but considering how bad Savage is, it’s tough to provide a definitive statement on Naveah. This women’s division? Could use some classing up.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Brittney Savage/3:08/1/2*

-Tommy Dreamer vs. The Sheik

Match in Five Words or Less: UGHHHHHHHHH

Match Highlights: Remember when I said Mike Mondo and Mike Bennett was a match that took place in my nightmares? Well, that was actually an undercard match BECAUSE THIS IS THE MAIN EVENT OF MY NIGHTMARES! Incredibly, they start out with some wrestling. I know folks. I’m as shocked as you. Sheik tossed to the outside. Dreamer hits a clothesline. Time for another tour of the Rahway Rec Center as they brawl. Dreamer even rings the bell across Sheik’s groinal area. Guillotine by Sheik. Forearm sends Dreamer on the timekeeper’s table. Chair to the back and the brawl continues. Choking back in the ring. Strikes in the corner. Dreamer comes out of the corner with chops of his own. Whip across. Shoulder first into the post goes Dreamer. Crossface along the post. Sheik bites Dreamer’s hand. Series of right hands and stomps. Sheik sends Dreamer back first out of the corner. Choking on the middle rope. Dreamer send head first into the buckle. Bodyslam and elbow drop. Whip across. Another whip. Bodyslam and he threatens with an elbow drop. Of course it misses. Boot out of the corner and a series of clotheslines by Dreamer. Punches in the corner. Whip. Sheik gets his boots up. Neckbreaker by Dreamer. Chair brought in the ring. Sheik of course drop toeholds him into it. OH THE IRONY! Camel clutch cause Sheik hasn’t ripped enough stuff from previous incarnations. Dreamer grabs the bottom rope. Dreamer boots the chair into Sheik’s face. Dreamer puts him in the tree of woe. Chair to the lower stomach and a dropkick. Sheik out of a TKO attempt. Clothesline gets two. Whip into the chair and TKO by Dreamer. Done.

Match Analysis: Another generic brawl. The fans were of course into this because Dreamer is basically an icon in this part of the country. I’m not a fan of either guy so my enjoyment of his contest was adversely affected by my dislike for their talents. Plus, whoever thought this going 15 minutes was a good idea should likely have their head examined and booking acumen questioned.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Tommy Dreamer/15:19/*1/2

-Vader and 2 Cold Scorpio  vs. Devon Moore and Jay Lethal

Match in Five Words or Less: Legends Dominate

Match Highlights: On the plus side, at least Scorpio doesn’t have to get his butt handed to him again by Vader. Teaming with him is probably the right call in this case.  Vader again gets on the microphone and asks what time it is. Scorpio and Vader clothesline each other for fun before chasing their opponents out of the ring. That was certainly a unique way to start. Poor Jay Lethal gets to start with Vader. Vader shows off his power with a shove to the outside. Lethal comes back in the ring and locks up with him stupidly. Scorpio walks toward him. Lethal goes back to his corner. I give he and Moore credit for really heeling it up. Chop by Lethal does literally nothing. Boot out of the corner and a chop. Vader says to hit him. Moore tags in. Splash and Moore tags Lethal back in. Duck and a splash by Vader. Series of clubbering blows. Moore says “You can do it.” Vader pummels poor Lethal. Scorpio with an elbow to the back. Chop. Turns into an exchange. Headlock from Scorpio. Shoulder tackle and cartwheel. Nice leg lariat from Lethal. Knee to the head. Handspring elbow by Lethal. Tag to Moore and they work Scorpio over. Scorpio with a version of the pele kick. Vader hits an elbow drop and applies a Key lock. Short clothesline. Off the ropes with another clothesline. Again to the armbar. Bodyslam by Vader. Springboard splash by Scorpio. Chinlock. Straight dropkick and standing moonsault. Chinbreaker and swinging neckbreaker by Moore. Lethal comes in and covers for two. Backbreaker. Strikes by Lethal. Scorpio no sells. Right hand no sold. Combo kick by Scorpio. Vader slams Lethal hard. To the middle rope  and a Vader bomb. Moore has no choice but to break the count. He goes up again and hits a second Vader bomb. Moore again breaks the count. Mask comes off as Vader is angry. He gives chase to Moore. Lethal is dead in the ring. Scorpio comes in and slams him. Splash but there’s no ref. Moore dropkicks Scorpio. Lethal hits an STO.  Moore hits a dropkick off the top rope. Shooting star press but Vader breaks the count. Lethal goes after him. Vader chokeslams him. Moore sent out so Vader can splash him again. Vertical suplex. Scorpio hits a moonsault double stomp to get the victory

Match Analysis: You wanna talk about a match falling apart? I have no idea what these guys were doing in the second half of this match as the heels looked impotent next to the legends. There was no reason for this to go 15 minutes if it was going to turn into a squash anyway.  Not that anyone in this match looked terrible but this felt like it needed  a better structure and likely needed to be a bit shorter. Big props to Lethal and Moore for bumping around like mad men for the legends. Moore actually showed a lot, and I feel like he’s someone who doesn’t get a lot of credit because of where he works.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Vader and 2 Cold Scorpio/15:43/**1/2

-Five Dollar Wrestling Championship:  Freight Train (champion) vs. Dynomite

Match in Five Words or Less: Why?

Match Highlights: I have no idea why this is happening again. Freight Train gets disqualified for accidentally “spearing” Jake Manning. Dynomite clearly put Manning in front of him. So in addition to the bad match, we get a terrible finish. Seriously, how is this the semi-main event? Shouldn’t a card be building to the main event? Yeesh.

Match Analysis: I didn’t rate the first match, and I see no reason to rate this one. I said my peace about including five dollar wrestling matches in my night one review.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL Five Dollar Wrestling Champion-Freight Train/2:56/N/R

-Dynomite and Freight Train dance.

-PWS Heavyweight Championship: Sami Calihan (champion) vs. Kevin Matthews

Match in Five Words or Less: Thank God It’s Over

Match Highlights: Calihan wrestles this entire match in his jean vest. He starts off quickly and takes him  in the corner with a series of stomps. Clubbering blow across the chest as Matthews is bleeding already. Chop across the face. Headbutt back in the ring. Running face wash. A second face wash. Calihan takes Matthews’s shirt off and delivers a strong chop. Another chop sends him in the corner. Into some sort of odd submission as he splashes him while mounting his back. Calihan finally introduces the ladder into the proceedings. Choking. Calihan climbs the ladder while it’s choking Matthews. Devin Moore runs out and gets hit with an acecrusher. Calihan says he will kill every member of Matthews’s group. Ladder shot by Matthews. Series of stomps by Matthews. Ladder set up. Low superkick to the knee as Matthews tries climbing up. Running boot. Chop sends Matthews sprawled across the ladder. Running elbow. Swinging DDT countered by Matthews into an exploder on the ladder. Moore is still at ringside and kicks Calihan in the face. Matthews brings out a giant ladder and tosses it in the ring. Calihan rolls outside and Matthews sort of hits him with it. They go to the entranceway. Matthews hits a vertical suplex that sends Calihan hard onto a table. He begins tossing various tables onto the champion. Matthews begins climbing, but Calihan nails him with the giant ladder. Low blow by Matthews. Powerbomb… no he drives him into his knees ala Tommaso Ciampa. Unlike Ciampa, his version of the move looked like garbage. Matthews climbs once again. Calihan joins him and nails him hard in the upper body. Back and forth they battle. Chop sends Matthews hard into the giant ladder. What a stupid bump. Calihan also got knocked down in the madness. Calihan climbs. Moore nails him from behind and hits a powerbomb. Moore then tapes Calihan’s leg to the middle rope. He does the same to Calihan’s arm. Matthews is of course easily able to climb the ladder and win the championship.

Match Analysis: The ending was perfectly representative of this entire weekend. To be frank, I could care less. PWS doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be and giving the belt to someone like Matthews just proves it. Having a finish like this to cap off the weekend is like a slap in the face and pretty much renders a gimmick like this worthless. Matthews was nothing special, but Calihan did his very best to carry him. This wasn’t completely devoid of merit but again this did not meet the expectations of what a main event on a wrestling show should be.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Sami Calihan/15:04/**3/4

The Verdict: Hey, at least my thumb isn’t pointed as down as it was for night one. There were at least a couple of solid matches peppered throughout this card. I only counted one atrocious match, but even that was kept short. Still can’t recommend night two because of some inconsistent booking and some pretty bad finishes. I seriously doubt I will ever review this promotion again.

If nothing else, the fact that this promotion is running a sister promotion with the acronym of B.L.O.W is very fitting based on what I saw this weekend.

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2 thoughts on “Pro Wrestling Syndicate 5th Year Anniversary Night Two DVD Review”
  1. If it’s the same Phantasio as the one who had one appearance in the WWE, then he’s not green. He’s been wrestling for 20 years!

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