World Power Wrestling 10th Anniversary Celebration
Anaheim Indoor Marketplace
Anaheim, Ca 4/25/04
Depending on whom you talk to today was WPW’s 8th, 9th, 10th, or 11th anniversary.
Rather than worry about which number is correct, I’ll just go with Martin’s
stated 10 and assume I’m not getting worked. The show featured a squash; a decent
six-man tag, a nice match between Shawn Riddick and Eric Matlock, and the usual
intolerable six-man cluster bang before intermission, and a Royal Rumble of
sorts. The 2pm show started right on Indy time at 2:45, when Marcus Riot come
out in full Al Snow pin me pay me mode to do the honors for Psycho Psycho Chewy.
You read that correctly, he is evidently so psycho it’s squared.
As far as I could tell the name Chewy was fitting, as he had about the same
charisma and wrestling ability of the famous Wookie by the same name. He was
wearing a blue jumpsuit with the number 5150 on it, just so everyone would know
how truly psycho he really can be. He started by punching and kicking Riot,
followed by a delayed suplex. He lifted Riot’s shoulder off the mat at 2 following
a Samoan drop, and followed by putting Riot in the corner and delivering a massive
running ass to the face. After getting body slammed, Riot was able to fire off
a super kick, but it was too little too late. The squared psycho hit a harsh
spine buster, and Riot gave up to a camel clutch. The job squad is alive and
well.
Next up was a ceremony where Martin Marin handed out diplomas to graduates
of his training program. 35 diplomas were handed out; so I won’t list the guys
here, email me if you’re interested in a copy of the list. Tag Team of the Year
award was given to Los Chivos; Rookie of the Year went to my favorite rookie,
Kid Omega. El Genio was named Rudo of the Year, and Luchador of the Year honors
went to Lil Cholo. When each member of Soulless Assassins accepted his diploma,
he gave a speech thanking him self. They announced the names of graduates who
were not there to pick up diplomas, such as Silver Tyger and Human Tornado.
After the diplomas, the locker room emptied, and Lil Cholo made a speech presenting
Martin with a special plaque from all the guys naming him the nicest, most swell
wrestling promoter/trainer ever, or something along those lines. As Martin hugged
his wrestlers, I felt a single tear roll down my right cheek, I was so moved
by the moment.
Next match was the team of Infernal, Steve Pain, and Catastrophe, accompanied
by El Agua and Mini Infernal (Soulless Assassins) vs. Sexy Chino, R2K, and the
awesome Kid Omega. Infernal and Chino initially locked up, but powered out.
Omega and Catastrophe got it on in the ring, and Catastrophe tried to wreak
havoc every time Omega tried to go into on of his signature poses. For those
unfamiliar with Kid Omega, he strikes poses during his matches and holds them
no matter what is going on around him. The Assassins tried to break up his poses,
with little or no luck. After Catastrophe and Omega were out of the ring, R2K
and Pain exchanged chops, and things got brutal quickly. R2K did an acrobatic
move on Pain where he circled Pain’s body like 5 times without touching the
ground, and I heard Shawn Riddick’s girlfriend say, " I so want to go swing
dancing with that guy." Who knew R2K had game? At this point Sexy Chino
was in, and he basically acted as a bump dummy for the Assassins. All three
guys worked him over by working his back, and then the referee was distracted,
his balls.
After much punishment Chino made a tag, and it led to the typical Lucha dive
sequence that happens every match. During this sequence Omega hit the mother
of all diving head butts on Catastrophe, and knocked himself into the middle
of next week. As R2K went up top to follow up, Steve Pain was nice enough to
punch him in the nuts. R2K fell off the buckles, where Pain gave him a chair
shot behind the referee’s back. Catastrophe gets three on R2K. Post match, Steve
Pain picked up Chino’s hat and proceeded to stick it in his tights and hump
it. Wow, I’d want a guy on my team that likes to take hats from young Japanese
boys in the name of sexual gratification. As the Soulless Assassins left the
ringside area, I was listening to their music, and was quite surprised by some
of the lyrics. I kid you not, the following lyric was in their song, "Three
things keep me from becoming a Nazi; I’m black, I’m a fag, and my dad’s Liberace."
I just thought it was a bit odd. I’m wondering which members of the group identify
with what parts of those lyrics.
Shawn Riddick and Eric Matlock had a good match. Matlock endeared the crowd
to himself by letting the crowd know he loved brown people, as without them
there would be no one to wash his car or who would be there to mow his lawn?
This, of course, made the fans want to see Riddick kick his ass. While Riddick’s
matches lately have not been as good as they could be, this match made me remember
why I voted for him as rookie of the year a couple years back. Riddick was clearly
on today, evidenced by the intense way he would be thrown to the ropes and accelerate
into them. From the start Riddick intensely attacked Matlock with hip tosses
and arm drags, and off the ropes at one point hit a dropkick that rivals Joey
Ryan’s. After the dropkick the match spilled to the outside, where Matlock picked
up the face mask Psycho Psycho Chewy wore to the ring earlier on and used it
to beat on Riddick.
Back in the ring, Riddick regained control by using a hurincanrana to get 2,
but Matlock still had gas in his tank. Matlock escaped and got in enough kicks
and punches to hit a top rope dropkick, and then a belly to back suplex. Matlock
then pointed in the direction of the fans and said, "Referee, check out
that girl." As soon as the referee looked away, Matlock kicked Riddick
in the groin. When he went for the finish, Riddick resisted and hit a side slam
for the victory. Good match by both guys.
Los Chivos y Karateka wrestled Halcon Torres, Cybernegra (?), and Porky (formerly
Genio Negro). I have no idea how to describe this mess. It made no sense, and
ended when Soulless Assassins attacked and they challenged Chivo’s title as
Tag Team of the Year. Very lame match, but there is always one like this at
the Marketplace.
After this debacle was intermission, and all the kids swarmed the ring to do
their favorite wrestling moves on each other. Mad props go out to the kid in
the Fubu jersey, he was the best. He did a stunner, a people’s elbow, a DDT,
a frog splash, and even a picture perfect rolling thunder. Footage of this youngster
is worthy of being a PWG DVD Easter Egg.
The final match was a Royal Rumble type of match, and before I give any critique,
here is the order of entry into the match:
Lil Cholo
Mr. California
Marcus Riot
R2K
Sexy Chino
Eric Matlock
Mini Infernal
Chippy Sanchez
Caballero de ring
Mini Cholo
Kid Omega
Infernal
Azteca Rojo
Steve Pain
Calibre Ventidos
Vertigo
Azteca Jr
Mystico
El Genio
Diablo Rojo
Al Queda
Porky
Dj Jr
Here is the order of elimination:
Mr. Cali by R2K
Eric Matlock by Sexy Chino
Marcus Riot by Lil Cholo
Sexy Chino by R2K
Mini Cholo by a group
Caballero by Lil Cholo
R2K by Infernal
Vertigo by Mystico
Al Queda by Marcus Riot (he came back)
Mystico by Dj Jr
Ventidos by Dj Jr
Azteca Rojo by Dj Jr
Diablo Rojo by Infernal
Azteca Jr by Dj Jr
Chippy Sanchez by Genio and Lil Cholo
Dj Jr by Lil Cholo
Kid Omega by Catastrophe
Genio by missing a dive and throwing himself out
Steve Pain by Lil Cholo
Infernal by Lil Cholo
Porky by Lil Cholo
Lil Cholo by Catastrophe
This was a fun Rumble. Matlock entered like 5 times, each time with an Infernal
mask and different pants. He competed as Mega Infernal, Super Infernal, Super
Duper Infernal, etc. At the outset, Dj Jr was the referee. Infernal and Steve
Pain did a great spot where they thought they were in a tag match and tagged
in and out while they beat up Lil Cholo. Mr. California was clearly a marked
man, as everyone who had the chance stiffed the shit out of him, including Lil
Cholo giving him the boot stomps to the chest three times in a row, in a very
brutal manner. I’ve seen Super Dragon do them more gently off the top than what
Cholo did to Mr. C. Diablo Rojo was in a good mood, as he began kissing the
hands of fans, particularly the blonde running the video camera. Kid Omega did
a pose where he posted himself upside down on the top rope in handstand position
for like 15 minutes, it was sick seeing how red his face became. The star of
the Rumble was of course the Pride of Anaheim, Lil Cholo, who was in from start
to finish. After being in the match many times, Matlock was finally made a referee,
so Dj Jr could go in and act like a wrestler for a few minutes. The end of the
match was screwy, with Catastrophe being thrown out, then getting back in and
eliminating Lil Cholo as he was celebrating. There was some miscommunication
between referees Matlock and Jr, and they set up some kind of match next week
where someone’s hair is on the line. The whole set up was en Espanol, so watch
for Furby to post and explain exactly what the hell they have planned.
I had a blast today at the Marketplace, with the Rumble being buckets of fun.
Sometimes, when you’re at the Marketplace, it’s fun even if the wrestling isn’t
top notch. It’s nothing I can put into words, but its just atmosphere. Maybe
it’s just a sugar high from too much agua fresca? Anyway, WPW is a great time
no matter who is wrestling, and today was no different. I should have an article
about Danny Faviano up soon.
Thanks for reading,
Benjamin Tomas
The Worlds Biggest Mark
