VWAA No Room For Doubt
April 27, 2013
Plainfield, IL
VWAA coming back to Plainfield, IL as they continue to debut new talent and really bringing in some of the top up-n-coming talent on the indy scene. They also are bringing in talents who are right on the cusp of breaking out such as Rickey Shane Page and Eric Ryan, so I hope if you can go to one of their shows, you will give it a chance. Lets get right to the action, as always I appreciate your feedback either at cgstong@pwponderings.com or on twitter @cgstong
Ben Boone defeated Craig Mitchell
For an opening match this was fine. A bit longer than I thought it would be and given that Ben Boone just seems very plodding in the ring, it was ok. Not something I would have started with to get the crowd into the action, but to the credit of Craig and Ben, the crowd seemed to enjoy it. The finish though just seemed to come out of no where and with the tiny miscommunication that there seemed to be towards the end, perhaps something was just forgotten or this was the result of a time constraint. I am far more interested in seeing more of Craig Mitchell after this than Boone and perhaps that is a testament to Boone but after seeing Boone on several occasions now, just not sure what he’s going for.
Submission Squad (Abernathy & Gelistico) defeated 2 Star Heroes (Knicks & Castro)
This match was just not great. There were tag team sequences where I could tell what they were going for, but the timing was bad, the talents for whatever reason just made it very obvious what was going to happen and it actually took me out of the match more than brought me in. Abernathy constantly screaming with a particular female fan at ringside was entertaining but the flow of the match just couldn’t be controled. There was a long period where Abernathy and Gelistico were just brutalizing one opponent with various submissions and basic tactics such as distracting the ref and doing damage from the ringside but that was probably the only storytelling that was worth anything. Once the hot tag was made it was again just a bunch of moves that meant very little. The finish wasn’t great and I don’t blame that on the Submission Squad as it was obvious they were setting up for it and the opponent just seemed confused and at that point I was hoping it was the end, which it was.
“Flyin’ Lion” Joe Firoz defeated Canadian Rainbow Man
The Canadian Rainbow Man made his debut here and I have to say, it was more entertaining than I thought it would be and given the location, got enough heat to make it work. Cheap heat at its finest. This was the match that should have opened the show. The arm wrench sequences that incorporated the easy USA chants and Canada Sucks chants were fun and Firoz and CRM had some good banter and shenanigans, some of which involved Firoz’s skateboard. But overall this was a comedy match though I will admit I popped when Firoz put on the tarantula out of nowhere. There was just way too much talking in this match between CRM and the crowd. Perhaps he was trying to grow their disdain of him, but there would have been easier ways to do that without making the match feel like one huge stalling attempt. It was obvious the match wasn’t working either when the crowd started chanting, “Send them home!” Firoz won with a magistral pin after his skateboard tripped up CRM which not sure how that didn’t constitute a DQ for using a foreign object but whatever. The crowd was glad it was over and so was I.
Rickey Shane Page defeated Gary Jay
This by a far margin was the best match on the card thus far and it brought me back into the match. These two worked a pretty snug style with lots of strikes and Gary Jay tried everything to pin RSP to the mat. I applaud both guys for not letting the crowd dictate the match and put forth the effort to tell the story in the ring. These events cost $9.99 on SMVod.com and I would say this match was well worth $2 of that. With that said there were some clumsy parts of the match where Gary or RSP had a few weird moments where the match slowed down for almost no reason but after the first three matches, this was still a welcome site and brought me back into this event.
Nickie Valentino defeated Bobby Beverly
Nicke Valentino is as exagerated as any wrestler I’ve watched, and that’s not a bad thing. He’s entertaining and if I didn’t like Beverly as much as I do, I might… might.. feel sorry for him. Bobby Beverly of course is becoming one of my must see guys as being one of the most technically sound and intense guys on the scene. There were a few times when perhaps the camera was too close during some segments, but that is neither here nor there, just letting you readers know I was aware of it since it is a very common comment that I get back in feedback that I don’t mention that much. Overall the action in this match was good and I’m hoping these guys can perhaps do more down the line. They had some good chemistry in the ring and both men deserve to challenge for the future Circuit Championship which will be decided on the next show. Nickie won with his feet on the ropes and that cheap win going forward hopefully means we’ll get a rematch.
Thomas Sinclair def. Tripp Cassidy via DQ after a low blow
Thomas Sinclair seemed to be in really good shape for this match. Not saying he usually isn’t but he probably hit the gym a few more times in the last few weeks leading up to this match than before. Tripp Cassidy came into his own for this match and this was probably one of the better single outings I’ve seen him in. As always, Sinclair strikes better than a lot of wrestlers and I’m hoping that most of you will go out of your way to check out his match with Isaias Velazquez on YouTube. Thomas has certainly turned it around since 2012 and he is handling his change in attitude well while still retaining the intensity that he has always brought. This is the first interaction between Sinclair and The League in the ring so I wasn’t expecting these guys to let it all go in the ring but I’m interested to see where this goes going forward, especially with the next event where they are all teamed up. If you’re a fan of a “strong style” of match, then this is the match for you on this event. A purposely anti-climactic end, but it built enough during the match that I want to see more out of these two and what Reed Bentley will bring to the feud. A con-chair-to attempt was stopped but it would have made more sense for Cassidy to just knock the ref out and do it in my book, but it still worked.
Prince Ali def. Eric Ryan with the 450 splash after scary DDT from the top rope
Thank god Eric Ryan calmed down a fun, but semi scary situation where a fan really went too far and followed Ali to the ring just because he did something that any good heel would have done. The fan and another person were holding up the American flag and Ali decided to swipe at it, which essentially forced the fans to drop it to the ground. But even if one felt it was disrespectful, it was clearly within the lines of what a heel would do and it wasn’t a malicious swipe, the fan could have had a better grip on it and it wouldn’t have fallen to the floor. These fans, sometimes its fun and sometimes it is just too far. That was too far. Anyway the action in the ring was as good as you would expect. The part that took me out of it was that Ali resorted to simple “stupid American” references instead of what I thought his character was doing in the beginning and showing the hypocritical behavior that some may feel about the USA. It is one thing to have cheap heat going in, but at this point I felt like Ali should have been doing something different, but given some of the comments from the fans, it worked fine.
These two had a good match, though perhaps a bit less exciting than the Sinclair/Cassidy match or the RSP/Gary match but still deserved of the main event given who both men are and with the time they went, it was still good match with some innovative offense such as kicks after a bump up from the top rope. There was one part near the end of the match where Ali did a reverse face plant onto Ryan onto the bottom rope. To then flip to the outside and essentially suplex Ryan onto the floor. It sounds simple, but when you watch it, you’ll see just how painful it looked. Even made one of the fans who were heckling Ali all night take notice and was audibly impressed. Both men deserved the main event and this could easily be anyone’s favorite match of the night.
On a side note, Ellie Goulding instantly gets points with me and even though Prince Mustafa Ali is an angry young man, but I will still give him points for it. Eric Ryan’s music also gets points, but that is just my bias anyway.
Overall: For me there were only three matches on this event that are worth going out of your way to check out. RSP vs. Gary, Sinclair vs. Cassidy, and Ali vs. Ryan. But for those three matches you get at least an hour’s worth of good quality wrestling. Valentino and Beverly are definitely close and I would say tips my hand in recommending this show. At only $9.99, it’s not a steal but if you happen to have it and want some good wrestling, I’d say purchase this show. VWAA needs to really start putting out some great wrestling matches that are history making for their promotion. At this point I’ve seen enough good stuff that I understand the talent and what their roles are. I hope that VWAA, much like an early ROH or CHIKARA starts putting out matches that are going to get the buzz going about their events because that is what I feel they are lacking at this point. In the end, I’m giving this show a recommendation.
Where to follow VWAA:
You can buy this event for only $9.99 on SmartMarkVideo.com by clicking here
http://youtube.com/VWAAfrontline
Tons of free matches and video up here so you can get a taste of VWAA action and I assure you will enjoy everything they put out so subscribe today.
http://www.facebook.com/VWAAWrestling