Jersey All Pro 4-24-04 review

[Pike]

VIOLENT PANDA Wrestling Review #45
by Peter Kent

Jersey All Pro Wrestling
Saturday April 24, 2004
The Rahway Rec Center, Rahway, NJ
Attendance (announced) 720 - It'd be hard to estimate how many people were there... If I had to guess I'd say 500

The crowd was full of young lads aged 13-21, and they were a little on the quiet side. The bus trip fans are a force of nature. The NYC trip was in the bleachers, while I beleive the PA trip was on one side of the ring. They made up the bulk of the chants and really contributed to the atmosphere of the show. Once again I had a Green Lantern Fan sighting - he's like the new Hat Guy. And as a bonus, I heard the bleating of an air horn and that classic phrase over and over: "GEEVE IT TOO HEEM!". Yes he has a jewish fro and an air horn and I don't know his name - but that guy is something special.

Apparently I missed two dark matches:

Kamala defeats Ace Jack

Monsta Mack defeats Killer B 2004

Eric Stevens vs Dirty Money w/ Noel

I'm comfortable enough with my manhood to say Money has a tremendous physique, but just in case, I'll let you know that I captured some mental images of Noel climbing in the ring for later reference. Stevens is a Roderick Strong trainee, so I heard, and he's a barrel chested guy in a singlet. Looked ok. The crowd decided they didn't like him, and whenever he'd do something, it looked pretty good, but the crowd would chant: "You still suck!". At first he just kept wrestling, but as the match wore on he played into it to great effect. Stevens won it with what looked to be a backbreaker into a sidewalk slam variation. Decent match.

Winner: Eric Stevens


Corvis Fear and Rush defeated The Christopher Street Connection w/Jail Bait & some pimp guy.

Corvis and Rush are doing some kind of trendy white boy gimmick. Corvis seems very at ease with what he's doing, while I felt Rush was going WAY overboard with the cartoony over-reactions. We're not complete idiots you know, CSC is GAY and you don't like it, no need to puff up and google your eyes at us every two seconds. CSC was crazy over, as over as much as anyone on the show (including Vader and Awesome). They came out accompanied by a pimp and this girl who looked ten but had big breasts. It was so WRONG that it had to be right. Pimp guy cuts a promo about how he can't wait to party, crowd wasn't buying and just wanted him to shut the hell up. Buff-E took the mic and hit on the marine recruiters. I'm starting to get the impression that Buff-E does most of the fun work in CSC, while Mase is just kind of along for the ride. The match rolls along nicely up until this weird spot: Rush goes to give a moonsault or something on a CSCer, totally overshoots it by a ton and does like an entire backflip into a back bump. It missed by so much it looked totally intentional...? Is this a trademark spot or something? The finish comes when Buff-E and Rush kiss for what had to be 30 seconds (huge pop), and Corvis pins the swooning Buff-E. I was impressed with Corvis' presence and the CSC is very entertaining.

Winners: Corvis Fear & Bam Margera

SHENANIGANS: Mike Awesome and Monsta Mack hit the ring to a good pop. PA fans bust out an "Awesome" chant. CSC bail, while Awesome powerbombs both Corvis and Bam. For added effect, Awesome Awesomebombs Rush out of the ring and THROUGH A TABLE! Rush has got serious balls, it looked brutal and the crowd ate it up. Danny Maff had been on commentary for the CSC match, and he runs in and brawls with Awesome. The JAPW locker room rushes out to split the men up. As throughout the night, I was impressed by the solid booking.

Insane Dragon vs Justice Pain

This was scheduled to be Pain vs Xavier, but hey no biggie. Dragon is your scrawny Jeff Hardy flyboy, while Pain looks like Jerry Lynn when he was de-masked in the 96 Mich Pro Mask tourney (STREET CREDDDD). With a name like JUSTICE PAIN I was expecting a mask gimmick and some serious pissed-off heel antics. He was solid, probbably too short to be an oiled up HOSSTUD for Vinnie Mac though. Dragon did a lot of striking, but that was not good because it all looked really bad. His punches were limp-wristed and missed by a mile, while his kicks were more of a momentary back rub possibly designed to make Pain's neck hairs rise in pleasure. Dragon busted out alot of high-flying stuff that looked sloppy and alot like every other skinny kid who hasn't had his fourth concussion yet. Pain finishes Dragon off with some kind of side-mounted DVD. OK match, seems like Dragon did more to make Red's offense look less impressive later in the night than anything else.

Winner: Justice Pain

Trent Acid vs M Dogg 20 vs Roderick Strong

Originally booked as Dogg vs Strong. Acid looks like Matt Hardy if he had Edge's physique. He was way over with the crowd, playing a kind of laid-back cool guy kind of gimmick. M Dogg 20 I had heard was great - He looked a bit like Brian Danielson with shorter hair with black pants. Strong had on helpful tights which let us know who he was, and he proceeded to impress the hell out of everyone with his intensity and his innovative moveset. Many of his moves involved dropping someone on his knee, and looked really devastating. Early on, M Dogg did a fun plancha tease where he charged the ropes, dove, and hit the ropes so his neck was above the rope while his outstretched arms were below it, bouncing him back into the ring. They did a nice chain suplex off the turnbuckles with M-Dogg the top guy. As they went over, M Dogg did a backflip for added effect, but it was so obvious he pushed off and was backflipping on purpose it didn't get the reaction it should have. The Dogg redeemed himself by busting out the handspring into the shoulder mount INTO THE REVERSE RANA! Crowd ate it up. They traded finishers, and in the end Trent Acid pinned M Dogg with Strong trying to break it up but not making it in time. Crowd at first was a little disappointed that it was over, maybe could have used more time, but then gave all three men cheers for the good, fun match. Roderick Strong was really impressive to me in this match. He's got a kind of fierce intensity that he brings to every little move.

Winner: Trent Acid

[Pike]

TALKING: OK, the main reason I came to this show was Teddy Hart vs Red. Me being one of the five people who watch TNA most of the time, I've only seen Teddy in ten minute matches with no mic time. So finally I truly get to see what the hype is all about. Teddy comes out with his massive entourage, a really good looking woman (and I mean REALLY good looking) and his own personal announcer. As Teddy goes around the ring to touch each and every ringside fan, the Green Lantern Fan gets into it with Teddy and it's a clash of the titans. Teddy cuts his promo, which at first was hard to understand because the PA system wasn't that great, but Teddy eventually worked it out so he would say a few words, then pause to wait for us to decipher it, then continue. He let us know that he cares about us all, he'll spend time with each and every one of us, and possibly also do our laundry for us. This gimmick is tremendous because he doesn't do it ridiculously over-the-top, but tries to play it real. He plays it like he can't see that he's insincere, rather than doing it with a HUGE WINK TO THE CAMERA. As a bonus, he kisses the hand of a handicapped fan and puts a little kid up on his shoulders. Anyway, he's like wrestling Jesus and it rules. He introduces his woman, Jill Love? Someone should post a pic, because I honestly believe she is the best-looking woman in wrestling. No fake boobs, blond hair, thin and young. Teddy lets us know Red's time is done (yikes - by the end of the night I kind of agreed with him) and that Homicide chickened out by not appearing tonight.


JAP Light Heavyweight championship match - Jay Lethal(c) vs Azrieal (No DQ)

Lethal looks like a black version of the late Crash Holly, and he was pretty over. Azrieal is your pale skinny white kid who dresses like Jeff Hardy with Mysterio's horns and Red's old hooded jacket and mis-spelled "Azrael" at a crucial time and is now stuck with it. Things got off to a shaky start as a good three sequences were marred by bad timing or miscommunication. Then they busted out some great-looking submissions. Lethal did one I can't really describe but trust me, it ruled (no - serious, trust me). Azrieal did a tremendous STRAIGHTJACKET KNEEDROP, and soon after lethal blocked a rana and turned it into a HUGE turnbuckle powerbomb. As the match went on, Lethal continued to bust out innovative counters and crisp-looking power moves. Azrieal was less polished and was a bit off on the majority of his stuff. The finish involved an open chair in the middle of the ring, where the two men battled in front of it countering out of moves trying to avoig getting dropped on the chair. It was a great sequence with many teases, finally finishing with Lethal delivering a BRAINBUSTER ON THE CHAIR! Lethal pins for the win. This went a good 15 minutes(?) and to me was the clear match of the night. Lethal was extremely impressive here and deserved every cheer he got.


JAP Tag Team Titles - Shaolin Wrecking Crew(c) vs The Solution

The Shaolins are like Sumo guys in black tights with big red belts. They are very unique looking and seem like they would have fit right in with the WWF in the '80's. I don't mean that as a knock, they have a unique look which really gives the card variety. They can't all be anorexic white kids who jump off high stuff. The Solution are a couple of stocky dudes in matching singlets, which I like - It doesn't seem like there's many tag teams out there that WANT to be a tag team. Half the fans went to the merch tables and bathroom when this started. I couldn't tell if the disinterest was because the fans don't care for the teams, or if they just needed a break. I guess maybe an intermission here would have been good. Anyway, this match wasn't much. A bunch of big guys slugging away. Not a HOSSFEST (not enough pausing to look at the crowd between each stomp). The Solution's manager (who looks just like John Franco of the Mets - did he retire?) threw fire in Suba's face and the Solution guy got the feet on the ropes pin to steal the titles. YIKES. Not much of a match, the fireball looked great though.

Stampede Bulldogs (Harry Smith and TJ Wilson) vs H-Effect (Dixie and Deranged)

At last I get to see Smith, who JR slobbered over in one of his old Stud Reports directly following Davey Boy's funeral. The Bulldogs took the advantage early on with a series of great-looking double-team moves. Then H-Effect isolated TJ (who took great bumps and sold tremendously). Alot of the match involved TJ and Harry trying to get the crowd behind them for the hot tag. They gradually got some clapping going but the hot tag was luke-warm at best. Dixie looks like that guy Kelly Leak - the 'tough kid' from the bad news bears. DeRanged does this gimmick where he's a bit of a dope which really went over great. The best spot was when he had TJ down and told us "HERE WE GO!", then ran off the ropes one, two, three, four times - CHARGED TJ - and cinched in a headlock. The PA fans busted out the "HOLY sh*t" chant which the rest of the arena immediately bit on. Harry finally got the hot tag and threw some lariats that looked good, but H-Effect didn't quite sell them right - I couldn't tell if it was because of the size difference or what, but Harry would lean into them with a great lariat and they just kind of flopped back. I'm not saying they needed to do the Rikishi flip-sell on every one, but they didn't make it feel as devastating as it should have been. The Bulldogs win it with a combination Powerbomb/Springboard Diamond Dust! GREAT move! Solid match. DeRanged, to me, stole this one with his antics.

[Pike]

Teddy Hart vs Red

Red came out in a TNA shirt and the NYC fans went nuts. All these chants were started by them and immediately erupted throughout the arena (well, the parts of the arena who knew what the heck they were talking about, lots of confused looks on the right side of the arena): "FUCK TNA", "TNA SUCKS", "TAKE OFF THAT SHIRT", "FUCK BOB RYDER", "RIP OFF THAT SHIRT". Red responded first with a slight smirk to the "Tna Sucks" chant, and eventually threw off the shirt when brawling with Teddy - he played it like he was fired up and ripped the shirt off in that vein, but it drew a huge cheer. Anyway, Teddy brought out his entourage (including his own PERSONAL ANNOUNCER and the stunning Jill Love). They went at it for 30 minutes? A good ten or so involved brawling throughout the arena. For the record, I hate brawling. Can't see what's going on, and no biggie because they're just punching and stomping each other anyway. One highlight was Teddy climbing the turnbuckle and soaring out of the ring onto Red with a moonsault, and landing on his feet. MY CLOSE PERSONAL FRIEND Mike uses the phrase 'body control' - and I think that definitely applies to Teddy. His aerial grace and ability to soar in an arc an land in position is off the scale. His entrance involves a springboard backflip, and the height he gets is unmatched and the landing is picture perfect every time. At ringside, Red got his hands on Jill Love, who really hadn't done anything at that point, and the crowd didn't really know how to react. I'm glad the fans don't pop for attacking hot chicks anymore, and I couldn't tell if Red was playing a heel or what. The TNA shirt would indicate he was the heel, though. He didn't do much to play it either way. After the brawl, they got back in the ring. Red took the upper hand with some of his trademark moves, which looked sloppy and limp. His standing SSP (does he call it the Code Red or the Red Star Press?) didn't wow the crowd or anything. I guess we've all seen it enough so the impact is lessened. I mean, Victoria does a standing moonsault now. I don't know if Red's injury has slowed him down a bit or if his act is getting stale or what, but I was not too impressed. He didn't do anything new, or adjust any spots into counters or variations, he just kind of showed up and 'pressed play'. I was quite disappointed in this match. Teddy held up his end, but there wasn't much chemistry to speak of. The finish: Red had the upper hand, trying to put Teddy away. Red was perched on the turnbuckle, when the GODDESS JILL LOVE climbed the apron and meekly jerked on Red's pant leg. First Red kind of looked at her, then she gave a good tug and Red took a spill. Teddy hit that beautiful corkscrew thing he does and got the 1,2,3. Could have done without the interference but this isn't WORLD-1 so whatever. Overall a disappointing, disjointed match. Not BAD, not sure what I expected, but I just felt Red didn't hold up his end of it. Next to Teddy's huge charisma, Red just wilts. Jeer of the night: (directed at Teddy) "You're destined to die young!". How awful.

HIJINKS!?! Trent Acid comes out to a nice pop, grabs a PA fan's RESPECT TEDDY SIGN, brings it to the ring and tears it in half. Trent Acid wants Teddy right now. The entourage gets in the way, and Trent levels the whole group of them with a few kicks (looked a little silly with all of them tumbling over like bowling pins). HUGE dueling Acid/Teddy chant. They had an exchange over the mic - Trent thinks Teddy is scared to face him, Teddy informs him he just had a match, he squashed Red - just like he squashed Acid in CZW, remember? Acid remains fired up, as Teddy leaves. Acid wants more cheers and keeps waving at us to make more noise (I hate that) and then leads us in a "pussy" chant.

JAP Heavyweight Champion Dan Maff vs Mike Awesome w/ La Familia

I don't remember if this was for the title or not. Just a couple big guys going at it. A few minutes of slugging in the ring, a little brawling outside the ring, then the finish back in the ring. Awesome got blinded or something (I missed it I guess - kind of boring match), Awesome puts one of his manager-guys (member of La Familia) through a table propped in the corner. Maff hits his finisher for the pin. I still don't see what the deal with Maff is, and why he has the belt.

ESCAPADE: Monsta Mack and the heels pound on Maff. Vader comes out to a good pop (I got the impression the fans were a little tired out by this point - they'd been cheering all night). Note that Vader was not as out of shape as when he was on TNA last year. Vader cleared the ring, Awesome bailed to the back without getting touched. Vader then wanted big cheers and began to wave us on to cheer louder, went on for a seeming ETERNITY. Hey, if we want to cheer, we'll cheer, OK? Stop begging, you remind me of that night I saw Jerry Only fronting the Misfits and he wasn't satisfied with the pop he got at the end so he started begging for more. Ugh. Then we get the SWERVE~! Vader shakes Maff's hand? NO! He punches and kicks him! Here comes Awesome! Can it be? Yes! Awesome and Vader shake hands! They pummel Maff. Vader then makes the 3 count as Awesome covers Maff. Crowd is sort of into it, ready to leave though. Vader and Awesome wave for us to cheer louder for a minute. Then, as people file out, Maff takes a mic and says he's going to get Samoa Joe to face them in a tag at the next show. People are all cheered out though and are already leaving, though. I think I wasn't the only one who came to see Teddy/Red.

Overall a decent show. Good talent, good crowd, good matches, good booking. A fun night all around.

Top 5 moments of the show:

5. The Anti-TNA heat during the Red match/ Also the VENUS-LIKE beauty of JILL LOVE

4. M Dogg's handspring onto the shoulders into the reverse rana

3. Rush taking the Awesome bomb through the table

2. The Teddy Hart promo - the guy is pure gold

1. Lethal's BRAINBUSTER ON THE OPEN CHAIR!


Match of the Night: Jay Lethal vs Azrieal

[Gabe707]

Nice review. Its the most detailed report I seen so far for the show.

[Agent Kev]

If anyone decides to get this tape then hit me up

[Voltage XX]

Nicely detailed review, which at the same time I found pretty damn funny. Seems like the guy didn't know a LOT, but then at times he seemed pretty knowledgable too. Describing what Trent Acid looks like...
I also like how Bam Margera was on the winning team. I'm also interested in seeing this show now I think. But it's probably one I'll live without, because there's a lot more I'd RATHER see.

[Pike]

Thanks Voltage, I am "Peter Kent"(my real name is Sean). I wrote TNA reviews for a site called 1stsourcewrestling (now dead, i think) then I jumped to 411 and did the TNA gig there for about four months.

This JAPW show was the first show I ever went to by myself... It wasn't bad, people were friendly.

I also bought a JAPW tape.. has:
Roderick Strong vs Sonjay Dutt
Teddy Hart vs Homicide
Jerry Lynn vs Chris Daniels

I'm up for trading if anyone's interested. And Voltage, just to keep you up to date, I do plan on ordering a few IWA MS shows from you, but it'll probably be a few weeks as I'm neck deep in Ki Krusher comps and the JAPDUB tape.

[Voltage XX]

Pike said:

I also bought a JAPW tape.. has:
Roderick Strong vs Sonjay Dutt
Teddy Hart vs Homicide
Jerry Lynn vs Chris Daniels

Ah, that would be the Revolution show from last month....absolutely awesome looking show, I think you'll really enjoy it, and throw up a review here after if you want.

I'm up for trading if anyone's interested. And Voltage, just to keep you up to date, I do plan on ordering a few IWA MS shows from you, but it'll probably be a few weeks as I'm neck deep in Ki Krusher comps and the JAPDUB tape.

Sounds good to me. After May 15th I'll have a few more IWA MS tapes too.

[AndyKaid]

As a bonus, he kisses the hand of a handicapped fan and puts a little kid up on his shoulders.

Gosh, is there anything Teddy can do that isn't the greatest thing ever? He keeps topping himself!

Great report, btw.