-Taped from Chicago, IL
-Your hosts are Dr. Keith and C-Red
-Dr. Keith previews the card until he’s interrupted by Funaki. They argue about being number one. Funaki critiques Keith’s performance. Zach Thompson chimes in and says Keith makes them all look bad. That was actually funny.
-A look back at the Resistance tag team title tournament. If you watch the package and ignore the results, this is an amazing look back. We get a look at the first year of the company’s history next. And what a year it’s been. Full of inconsistent booking, Jessi Corgan, and a gong. This video package was pretty outstanding from a production standpoint and made it feel like a big event though.
-The Baron brothers come out. You know, at least when Jim Lynam gives his monthly spiel, we’re not subjected to it on the actual DVD. They talk about the guest stars who are in the building and the people who have been in the company over the last year. Jacque talks. They call Billy Corgan out. He says stuff. This never should have aired. Finally, Robert Anthony, the new Resistance Pro heavyweight champion, comes out to talk. At least he’s a wrestler. Anthony apparently gets to pick his first opponent. Anthony doesn’t pick right away and puts over his own Twitter. He calls out Jay Bradley… to talk. Anthony calls Bradley a failure for not winning the belt. He talks about winning the belt fair and square. Bradley says the company was built on his back. Bradley says the title should not be around Ego’s waist. More putting himself over. He officially makes the challenge to wrestle Anthony. Anthony calls out his opponent… Jay Bradley. Cut out the first half of this promo, and you’ve got a nice set-up for the main event.
-Jessi Corgan comes out dressed in military garb. Chris Hall is with him. Just what this show needed. More talking. Corgan talks about starting a revolution. Chris Nowinski is in the first row. Corgan yells at him and uses some rather foul language. This was uncomfortable and again, had no place on the DVD. Nowinski mentions hope and change. Let me tell you. Veda Scott and Gregory Iron coming out would send this show up about 10 spots in my book. Ruff Crossing runs into the ring as we’re apparently going to have a match at last.
-Chris Hall (Jessi Corgan) vs. Ruff Crossing
Match in Five Words or Less: Finally Wrestling… YAY!
Match Summary: The bell for the first match rings at 22:27. Jesus Christ. Forearm exchange. Dropkick by Crossing. Series of strikes. Off the ropes and a dropkick sends Hall down. Blow to the back. Bodyslam attempt fails. Hall sits on his back. Crossing with a kick to the midsection. Another failed bodyslam attempt. Boot by Hall. Chop in the corner. Crossing with boot and chop. Whip send Hall front first into the corner. Bodyslam and Hall heads out of the ring. Blow to the back. Chop across the chest. Hall with a running shoulder block. Crossing comes back in the ring. Hall hits a release German suplex. Whip by Crossing fails. Polish hammer. Hall with a lazy cover and two. Hall sends Crossing into the mat head first. Choking along the bottom rope. Corgan joins in with the choking. Series of punches. Running avalanche. Flying shoulder tackle. 1-2-NO! Forearms from Crossing. Whip across. Elbow by Crossing. Double axehandle turned into an exploder into the corner. Stomp. Vader bomb misses. Crossing with strikes. Hall misses a clothesline. Flying elbow by Crossing. Another clothesline misses. Sitting powerbomb for two by Crossing. Hall talks with Corgan on the outside. Crossing goes after him. Hall wants a timeout. Crossing goes for the choke yet again. Nowinski grabs what Corgan was holding. He whips him. Good lord. Knee to the midsection by Hall. Sunset flip by Crossing and he picks up a huge upset win.
Match Analysis: Good to see Crossing get identified correctly and get a nice win. He looked solid for the most part. Hall was an appropriate force in this contest. Take away the Corgan and Nowinski garbage, and you had a solid opener to the show. It established Crossing in a nice way and showcased Hall’s skills as a powerhouse. After all that talking, I’m relieved we got a decent match to start.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Ruff Crossing/9:50/**3/4
–Thunderkitty promo. She’s wrestling D’Arcy Dixon. She talks about being a wrestler and questions Dixon’s aptitude in the ring. Thunderkitty only knows one protein drink, whiskey. I like her already.
-D’Arcy Dixon vs. Thunderkitty
Match in Five Words or Less: The Set-up
Match Summary: Someone needs to book Thunderkitty and Matt Classic. I genuinely appreciate Thunderkitty’s gimmick since it’s old school fun and she can focus her offense to a more basic style and doesn’t need to dumb movez to get over. Thunderkitty with a roll-up as Dixon misses a blind charge. Bodyslam by Thunderkitty. Running leg drop misses. Dropkick and a kick by Dixon. Choking along the middle rope. Thunderkitty rammed into the turnbuckle thrice. Choking along the top rope. Dixon flair flips over to the apron. Forearms by Thunderkitty. She puts Dixon back in the ring. Clotheslines. Double chops. Sleeper hold by Thunderkitty. Dixon sends her into the corner. Series of chops. again to the sleeper hold. Jawbreaker by Dixon. Boot by Thunderkitty. Dixon counters and hits a fishermen’s suplex. Three out of nowhere.
Match Analysis: Not much time given. Hard to really say this was good or bad. This obviously was more important considering the angle about to take place.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: D’arcy Dixon/3:41/*
-D’arcy Dixon talks about doing things herself and wrestling instead of managing. She says this match was too easy and lays down an open challenge. Uh oh. My God, that’s Amazing Kong’s music.
-Amazing Kong vs. D’arcy Dixon
Match in Five Words or Less: D’arcy Dixon… Dead
Match Summary: C-Red loving Kong on commentary was pretty hilarious. Charge misses. Shot to the back by Dixon. Kong just looks annoyed. Slap to the face. Chokeslam. Big splash. She lifts Dixon up before three. Amazing Bomb and it is over.
Match Analysis: A fun squash to establish Kong with the Resistance Pro fans.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Amazing Kong/1:10/N/R
-The Warden says he is going to bring home the tag team titles. He runs the KOA penitentiary. I get it. Warden lets Aaron Epic and Sugar Dunkerton talk. One year ago, they got locked up. They’re winning the belts tonight for themselves. Dunkerton cuts a promo that would be amazing on any other indy DVD but was especially so on this one. Great speech about giving it their all. “Failure is not an option.”
-Fatal Four Way-Resistance Pro Tag Team Championship: The P-Dawg Millionairz (Shawn and Arya Daivari) vs. Rising Sun 2.1 (Lince Dorado and Aztec Emperor) vs. Steven Walters and Jocephus vs. Lock-Up (Suge D and Epic w/Warden Myers)
Match in Five Words or Less: Wow
Match Summary: One year ago, the Briscoes and Team Ambition advanced in two qualifiers for these tag team titles. Neither one of those teams ever wrestled again for Resistance Pro. I guess we should be happy the right team is about to pick up the victory. Not only is this elimination, but both team members must be pinned or submitted. A stupid and unnecessary wrinkle added to the match because some people think of wrestling as avant garde. WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE WRESTLING SO COMPLICATED? Also, one member from each team is legal, thus making this impossible to call. This is just a complete mess. The teams at least try to take turns going in and out of the ring. Arya Daivari gets a three count on Epic, and he is out of the match. Jocephus low bridged out of the ring. Dunkerton dives on top of him. Jocephus tosses Dunkerton into the side of the ring. Dorado on the offense on Shawn. Bridging German suplexes. Dorado with elbows. Series of shots to the back. TKO. Big splash and leg drop combination. Dorado is gone. Emperor helps Shawn for whatever reason to double team Jocephus. Clotheslines on both men. Shawn rammed head first into the corner. Whip across. Elbow by Shawn. Chop on Jocephus. Chokeslam. Shawn Daivari is eliminated. We have one complete team in there. Emperor gets chokeslammed. Done. Arya in. Jocephus and Walters work him over. Dunkerton comes back with right hands. Running headbutt. Another right hand. Walters with a superkick. Two count. Dunkerton heads to the table. Head first into it. Arya chokes Walters. Into the ring for a one count. Arya sent front first into the corner. Walters covers for two. Russian legsweep by Dunkerton on Arya. Arya with a knee. Dunkerton sent outside. Dropkick back to Walters. Twisting forearm by Arya. Shawn hits a splash. What? Referee disqualifies Arya. That was fucking stupid and makes the Daivaris look like complete geeks. Dunkerton has a visual pinfall but no referee. Chop on Walters. Front facelock. Walters brings him in head first into the corner. Jocephus in with a boot. Flying shoulder tackle. Two count. Boots from Walters on Dunkerton. Short clothesline. Leaping stomps. Front chancery. Dunkerton with blows. Walters pulls him down by the hair. Backbreaker off the firemen’s carry. Walters taunts Epic. Roll-up by Dunkerton gets three. Now we’re down to two. Jocephus stalks Dunkerton. One chop across the face sends Dunkerton down. More judo chops across the face. Headbutt. Dunkerton with boots. Off the middle rope with a facebuster. Dunkerton climbs to the top rope. Frog splash. 1-2-NO! Cross body caught. Dunkerton out of the powerslam. Into the Warden. Warden nails Jocephus with something. Dunkerton doesn’t want to cover. 1-2-NO! Off comes the jumpsuit. Double axehandle caught. Belly-to-belly suplex. 1-2-NO! Jocephus puts Dunkerton on the top rope. Headbutts send Jocephus down. elbow drop and Dunkerton gets the win. He and Epic win the championships.
-Sugar Dunkerton talks about earning the belts and tells the warden to go away. Dunkerton sits down Indian style… that looks familiar. Dunkerton talks about the terrible mistakes they’ve made. Part of me thinks there is something more to this promo. This is one of the best promos in 2012 and well worth checking out on Youtube. Dunkerton says no one wants them. However, they are the first ever tag team champions.
Match Analysis: How can you not be happy for Epic and Dunkerton? They absolutely deserve the titles and are clearly one of the best aspects of the promotion. However, this match was jacked up. The early portion was complete chaos and very hard to follow. Also, the elimination stipulation left the wrestlers by themselves. This is a tag team title. We saw very little actual team work from anyone. Epic might as well have taken the night off given he did like three offensive moves during the match. The problem isn’t with Lock-up or any of the other three teams. They got handicapped by all the stipulations and complications. At least at the end of the day, Dunkerton and Epic stood strong. They deserve to be the first champions since they’ve shown a clear loyalty to the promotion and have taken a terrible, borderline racist gimmick and made it into something special. I tip my hat to them and hope for a long reign for the KOA.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW Resistance Pro Tag Team Champions-Lock-up/17:48/*1/2
-Ashton Vuitton doesn’t have a match at Sad Wings of Destiny. He doesn’t want to be with the fans, but they have to see him. He says his abs are worth it. Vuitton is done.
-Zach Thompson is out putting over the new champs and the next show, which is at Bourbon Street. Funaki’s music hits. Lovely. More talking. Out comes Jake Roberts. He talks about recent developments in his life and the memories of past memories. Roberts talks about drinking or doing drugs. Now here comes Raven. You know, if these two had feuded in their prime, they’d have drawn billions. Now? It’s just two old guys fighting. The talking continues until Ashton Vuitton walks out. He’s dressed to wrestle, but the odds of anyone bumping for him are about 50-1. Vuitton says Roberts and Raven are wasting time. They paid money to see him. The fact that the fans boo this says a lot about the current state of wrestling in 2013. He says he’s the brightest star in the company. Things get physical as Vuitton and St. Vaughn beat Raven up. Roberts DDTs Vuitton. Out comes the snake. Really, this was more sad than anything else.
-BJ Hancock vs. Marshe Rockett (w/C-Red) vs. Mr. 450
Match in Five Words or Less: A Winning Streak
Match Summary: Double team on Mr. 450 right away. Leapfrog on Hancock. Rockett nails him in the back. Kick by 450. Slide. Off the ropes with a springboard forearm. Dropkick. Kicks across the chest. Last one misses. Rockett with a knee to the midsection. Blow to the back. 450 with a headscissors. Bicycle kick doesn’t go well for Hancock. Enziguri by 450. Hancock with a tilt a whirl backbreaker. Rockett breaks the three count up since it’s not elimination. Strike exchange. Dropkick by Rockett. Bodyslam. Leaping leg drop. Springboard moonsault hits for 450. Full nelson slam by Rockett. Chop on Hancock in the corner. Whip across. Stinger splash misses. Leaping kick by 450. Bulldog /clothesline combination. Hancock goes for the German suplex, settles the back suplex. Hancock low bridges over. Kick by 450 to Rockett. Tornado DDT back in the ring. Dive on Hancock. Chops on Hancock. Forearm. Rockett planchas onto both men. 450 climbs to the top balcony. Of course Hancock and Rockett move into a very convenient position. Balcony dive takes everyone out. 450 tosses Rockett in the ring. DDT blocked. Springboard caught. Rockett gets the acecrusher. Hancock breaks the count. Acecrusher blocked. Hancock plants Rockett head first. 450 on the top rope. Hancock cuts him off. 450 with a leaping kick. 450 splash. Another win for the Luchador
Match Analysis: Three ways are tough to execute. This wasn’t inherently awful but just merely there. 450 has had flashes of brilliance and this consistent push could do a lot for him.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Mr. 450/8:35/**
-450 says he’s number one in Spanish. Next, he speaks in English and answers why he comes to the ring in a mask. The mask is a symbol of him going for the heavyweight championship. He talks about representing his people and vows to take the mask off once he wins the championship.
-C-Red and Marshe Rockett are in the back. C-Red says Rockett is one of the best wrestlers in the company. He turns his attention to the tag team titles. C-Red says they’re going back to the basics. He teases the rest of the Soul Touchaz coming back to Resistance Pro.
-I Quit-Resistance Pro Women’s Championship: Melanie Cruise vs. Nikki St. John
Match in Five Words or Less: Finally We Have A Champion
Match Summary: After months of odd finishes and booking, it’s time to settle this. Cruise runs in the ring and splashes St. John. St. John tries running away. Into the table head first she goes. Then into the post. St. John with forearms. Into another table goes St. John by her head. She comes back with boots. Cruise sent into the wall, and the wall breaks. That is an AWESOME way to get kicked out of the building you’re running. Choking as St. John is on the table. The brawl continues into the concession area. Forearms by Cruise. Cookie sheet to the head. Cruise sent into the door. Right hand to the head. Cruise cookie sheet shots. St. John sent head first into the apron. Cruise whipped into the post and he collapses into the chairs. St. John has a chain. Thesz press back in the ring. Cruise is bleeding. St. John punches Cruise with the chain. She rakes Cruise’s face with her own boots. She transitions into some choking with the chain. Choking along the middle rope. St. John pretzels Cruise. Bridge out by Cruise. St. John crossfaces Cruise. Belly-to-belly suplex by Cruise. Into the sleeper. Now Cruise tries choking St. John with the chain. St. John works out of the way. Boots from Cruise. Chop in the corner. Into the top turnbuckle goes St. John. Low bridge takes Cruise out of the ring. Right hand by Cruise. Running boot to the midsection. St. John sent gingerly into the police barricade. St. John into the ring stairs. Cruise sends St. John into the stairs. Choking on the floor. St. John’s head bounced off the floor multiple times. Boot by St. John. Facebuster. Series of boots. Elbow drop to the midsection. Chinlock. Series of boots. Cruise kicks her away. Double axehandle to the back. Choking in the corner. St. John takes her down. She stretches Cruise’s leg out. Chair introduced. Cruise grabs it. St. John heads in the ring. St. John with a kick. Chairs to the back. St. John just chokes Cruise with the legs of the chair. Cruise powers out. Now she has the chair. Shot to the back. Chinlock. Cruise drags St. John down by the hair. St. John tossed down face first. Side slam. Bodyslam plants St. John. Elbow drops. St. John manages a sleeper hold yet again. Cruise appears to be nearly out. Cruise uses the fans to get herself back into the match. St. John pulls her by the hair. Russian legsweep. Series of stomps. Choking with her foot in the corner. Boot by Cruise. Into the torture rack. She spins. Referee taken down. Cruise Control. It’s table time. Cruise sets the table up. St. John placed on the table. Lou D’Angeli tries to come from behind. Cruise fights her off. Now D’Angeli put on the table. St. John placed on top of D’Angeli. Cruise leg drops… and the table doesn’t break. D’Angeli punched out of the ring. Cruise gets some sort of extension cord. Choking with the cord. Referee back in the ring. Cruise hangs her across the ropes. St. John has no choice but to quit. Cruise is the champion once again.
Match Analysis: I cannot believe this match went almost 30 minutes. These two certainly got time to tell a story and showcase their best. They worked extremely hard and tried to have an epic match. This was far from perfect as there were a number of dead spots. Both girls have improved so much this last year and deserve increased opportunities in the realm of indy wrestling. R-Pro gave them the stage to showcase themselves, and the women’s title might finally mean something one year after the gong show.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW Women’s Champion-Melanie Cruise/27:00/***
-Amazing Kong interrupts Cruise’s celebration. Security and other officials do their best to separate them.
-Cruise is not happy with Kong’s interruption.
-Jocephus and Almighty Sheik come out FOR MORE TALKING! Sheik talks about winning the first match in company history and not being successful. He complains about Robert Anthony getting every opportunity to succeed. He says he’s going to talk a little longer. Just great. Waste even more time. Sheik takes shots at Adam Pearce and Colt Cabana… what the hell does this have to do with Resistance Pro? He calls out Corgan for being egotistical. Shoot comment. Love them. He says everyone has been warned. Whatever.
-Resistance Pro Heavyweight Championship: Robert Anthony (champion) vs. Jay Bradley
Match in Five Words or Less: Trilogy Complete
Match Summary: Although technically the previous month was a three way dance, these two pretty much battled the whole contest given the rather early elimination of one Bobby Lashley. Bradley won the first singles match, and Anthony won the title at Point of Entry. Feeling out process. Very different start than the previous matches they were all involved in. Anthony maintains a pretty hearty hammerlock. Shoulder block and a side headlock by Bradley. Anthony with a cross armbreaker. Bradley grabs the hold. Shoulder tackle. Bradley goes to the sleeper hold. Shoulder tackle by Bradley. Hip toss. To the chinlock. Bradley with another shoulder tackle. Anthony with a Lucha roll and he grabs an armbar. Anthony to the ever popular headlock. Bradley reverses. Leapfrog, flip, and a dropkick by Anthony. Bradley heads to the outside. Bradley with a boot on the outside of the ring. Bradley sent in head first. Bradley sent into the police barricade. Anthony runs around the ring and hits the flying elbow smash, which looks more like a flying hip attack. In the ring goes Bradley. Left hands from Anthony. Running elbow. Bradley puts Anthony on the top rope. Forearms. Slap by Anthony. Slap by Bradley. Elbows to Anthony’s knee. Dragon screw leg whip. Bradley pounces and sends Anthony’s knee into the side of the ring. Continued leg work. Stomps from Bradley. Forearm. He drops his weight on Anthony’s left leg. Foot in the back of the neck. Bradley with elbows to the side of the knee. Bradley stretches the leg back in the ring. Standing on the leg. Bradley brings Anthony’s leg over and sends it into the mat. Bradley taunts Anthony with his own finisher as he locks the legs up and slaps him in the back of the head. Anthony with a backcracker. He holds his injured left knee. Bradley with a shot to the knee. BOOMSTICK! Anthony immediately rolls to the outside. Series of covers but Anthony won’t go away. Blind charge misses. Anthony sends his leg down. Dropkick. Series of forearms. Elbows to the side of the head. Anthony comes through the side and sends Bradley down. O’Connor roll countered. Anthony kicks Bradley out of the ring. Bradley with a knee strike. Anthony sent head first into the turnbuckle. Bradley climbs and pulls Anthony with him. Enziguri by Anthony. Rana on Bradley. Can’t make the cover though. Series of elbows and axehandles by Anthony. Kick from Bradley. Acecrusher by Anthony. Powerbomb blocked. Bradley with a back drop. Shining wizard. Tope suicida! Cover in the ring for two. Anthony with a knee to the face. Small package but this time it only gets two. Boot blocked. Clubbering blow by Anthony. He sends Anthony over. Running back elbow by Bradley. Anthony with a superkick. Death valley driver. Anthony gingerly makes it to the top rope. Moonsault. Anthony retains in an awesome contest.
Match Analysis: By far the best match these two have had in Resistance Pro. Anthony showed why he’s the MVP of the first year with performance. He was able to sell the knee the whole time and come across like the sympathetic babyface needed to be. Bradley played his role as a bruising heel unmercifully working the body part to perfection. Great to watch two pro wrestlers know how to get a match over and be able to do it without cheap tricks or overbooking. I think I liked this match slightly more than the previous singles contest and Ego’s match with John Morrison.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL Resistance Pro Heavyweight Champion-Robert Anthony/26:20/***3/4
-Dr. Keith talks to the heavyweight champion. Anthony says he’ll be ready in January at Bourbon Street. He doesn’t care about the condition of his knee. He vows to defend the title and lays down an open challenge.
-Mr. 450 says he was going to reach his goal of being the heavyweight champion by putting on the mask.
-Raven yells at Jay Bradley. Oh no.
The Verdict: On a three hour independent wrestling show, there was between 45 minutes and one hour of talking. For the consumer who likes actual wrestling, it’s tough for me to recommend a show like this even though I liked the last two matches. I love certain pieces of Resistance Pro, but the whole promotion is missing that sense of cohesion that defines placed like PWG, AAW, and even Chikara. No company is perfect. All of them have negatives, but the key is to have that sense of continuity with the talent and the booking. The tag team division, particularly the final match held on this night, reveals the very real problems of the company run by the brothers Baron and Billy Corgan. Minor thumbs down for the anniversary show.
For more information on Resistance Pro, including event information and the opportunity to purchase this and all other DVDs, please check out their website.
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