“If a tree falls in the woods, and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” – some old guy coping with senility.
This old saying can be applied to WPW’s latest effort, “Best of the West 2”. If there’s a good show going in at the Anaheim Indoor Marketplace, and nobody is there to see it, is it still a good show? Probably not, but since 30 people did manage to catch this show, there is definitely evidence of a good show, and yes indeed, it was a good show. I’ll stick to my words: this was the greatest show that nobody saw. Don’t get it twisted though, I’ll explain this later on in the review…WPW Best of the West 2 Mega Review!
By Stan aka SoCal Strong Style and Scrub
Attendance: approx. 30
Scrub: As soon as I pulled up to the Anaheim Indoor Marketplace, I seriously thought the show was cancelled. I didn’t see too many cars parked outside, and I saw quasi-SCU staffer Stan aka SoCal Strong Style talking to Lil Cholo and Infernal outside. This didn’t look good. Once inside, there looked to have been 20 people there. Crowd consisted of the Rev Pro crew, friends of wrestlers, a few SoCal regulars and a handful of kids. Show starts an hour late, probably because WPW was trying to wait for more people to fill the seats. But that would be like me waiting for the plumber to install my gold toilet. But right before the show was about to start, a family of about 10 people walked in! Good times, good times.
A very inexperienced referee refereed the entire first round. He smiled a lot and responded to a lot of cat calls. He didn’t ask for those closed fists to open him. He didn’t ask wrestlers out of the corner. He counted pinfalls very fast. He also counted for pinfalls when wrestlers were laying on their side. Last time I checked, that’s only one shoulder to the mat, but what do I know? The refereeing was so bad to the point where Rev Pro’s Johnny Paradise offered his services to ref the rest of the show (and he did a very good job at it too).
At this point, it was 9pm with a show that was supposed to start at 8pm. I was pretty agitated and frustrated. I was almost convinced that everybody on the show was going to wrestle in “cruise-control” and “mail it in” aka not try so hard. When the first match was about to start, I tried my hardest to get into it. But the crazy thing was that I didn’t really have to try that hard to get into it. The wrestling spoke for itself, and that’s how it should be. Before the match started, all the tournament participants came out to the ring and Martin Marin gave out medals.
First Round
Disco Machine vs. Jardi Frantz
Scrub: First match had everyone’s favorite dancer Disco Machine versus everyone’s favorite stoner Jardi Frantz. These two worked their butt off! Not just these two, but also everyone else on the show worked really hard, which was awesome. Frantz finished off Disco with what looked to be a huge top rope falcon arrow for the win. Me and Stan aka SoCal Strong Style were just looking at each other all surprised and were like, “Man, that was a really good match!” WPW’s 1 for 1.
Stan aka SoCal Strong Style: This was a very good opening match. Both guys were working very hard. Disco comes out to a good reaction from the 30 of us. Jardi got very little reaction other than Scrub and myself. Match highlights include a nice springboard DDT from Jardi and a very brutal piledriver by Disco. These two were dishing out lots of stiff back and forth action. Post match Disco was still laying in the ring having trouble getting up. I hope he is alright. Both guys shined in this match and gave the fans their all. For some reason fans kept chanting”sharpshooter and pedigree” during this match. Not sure why.
Scrub: That’s because there were a lot of kids in the crowd that only watch WWE. That’s all they are familiar with.
Stan: Yeah, I guess that makes sense.
Phoenix Star vs. Lil Cholo
Scrub: One of SoCal’s fastest rising stars Phoenix Star versus the defending Best of the West Champion Lil Cholo was up next. These two were going at it super fast from the get-go. They were trying some really intricate stuff, although their execution was a little hesitant. “A” for effort, though. One cool spot of the night was Phoenix Star applying the Tapatio submission to Cholo on the outside. Sure, you can’t win a match on the outside, but it was still cool! I would definitely like to see a rematch from the two.
Stan: This was a match pitting the 2 lucha stars of the tourney against one another. As expected from any lucha style match, the opening of this match was loaded with armdrags and reversals. This match was solid but had a few slow points where stalling set the match back a bit. Some of the highlights include an awesome suicide dive into an armdrag by Phoenix Star. Phoenix also put Cholo into a surfboard submission on the floor and hit his patented (well, it’s not really patented) reverse Angle Slam. Cholo’s highlights include a nice boston crab into an STF transition and a nice top rope rana. Cholo gets the pinfall on a rollup on Phoenix Star. Solid match that had a few slow points that brought it down a notch. This match was not nearly as good as the opener, but very solid.
JJ Perez vs. Puma
Scrub: Inoki Dojo’s Puma versus APW’s JJ Perez was up next. There was a lot of hype for JJ Perez going into this tourney, and he definitely lived up to it. Puma was definitely an excellent choice for an opponent. Good work-rate style match that you would expect from the two. Puma has already proven time and time again he can hang with the elite here in the SoCal scene. JJ Perez needs a chance to prove that he can do the same out here in SoCal. I’d like to see more of JJ out here.
Stan: This was, in my opinion, one of the best matches of the night, if not the best. This match had very good mat work to start from both guys. Good back and forth action with lots of stiff chops. Some of Perez’s highlights include a rolling armbar and a diamond cutter. Some of Puma’s highlights include a surfboard choke, lots of stiff kicks and chops, and his signature triangle choke in the ropes. Puma had a big flurry towards the end but was pinned after receiving the Chris Daniels’s finish “the Last Rites” from Perez. This was a very solid match from both guys. At one point during the match, some fan held up his Puma tennis shoe as Puma came to the ring, in support of the man of many monikers. This was my first time seeing Perez and I was very impressed. He was every bit as responsible for the great match as Puma was. SoCal promoters take note of this youngster and get him booked on some SoCal shows. He is very good!
B-Boy vs. Melissa
Scrub: Next up was my favorite tournament match of the night. Arguably the #1 female wrestler in the USA, Cheerleader Melissa going up against the New Age Punisher, B-Boy. I’ll be honest, she was one of the draws for me for Best of the West. Melissa is hardly out here in SoCal these days, so I took advantage of her rare appearance at the Anaheim Marketplace. She has a lot of hype to live up to, not only being billed the top female worker in the USA, but being billed a “future legend” by the Cauliflower Alley Club, sharing that same title with Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, and Donovan Morgan. With all these accolades, she is definitely deserving of some more high profile bookings, not only in SoCal, not only nationwide, but worldwide.
Melissa had the advantage really early on in the match, out-wrestling B-Boy, whether it be hold-for-hold chain wrestling, armdrags, etc. Everytime Melissa would outwrestle B-Boy, B-Boy would become more frustrated.
Before you know it, B-Boy lays in some huge forearms into Melissa for the first “Oh Damn” moment of the night. The next huge strike comes from a super loud chop to Melissa’s chest, and the fact that she’s wearing a top, and still got that huge chop is nuts. B-Boy was sick of being outwrestled by a girl so he went all out and unleashed the brutality. Snapmare into the infamous dreaded INDY KICK~! right to the back of Melissa, with a huge sickening THUD. The crowd was cringing, all 30 of us.
Finish saw B-Boy hit Melissa with a huge arsenal of his famous finishers, but B-Boy could not keep Melissa down for the 3 count. Melissa had strong style fighting spirit on her side, and was mounting a huge comeback until B-Boy executed a really cool fireman’s carry rolling cradle variation, which setup Melissa perfectly for the brutal shining wizard to the face. The brutality in this match was unheard, especially with a female.
Melissa kept up with B-Boy the whole match. She dished out her fair share of stiffness as well (in addition to outwrestling him earlier on in the match). The fact that she can take such punishment like that is insane and for that, I have so much respect for her. Not only did she take a beating, but never did she look lost in the ring. NEVER. She looked so natural in that ring, and moved so fluid and smooth, a quality lacking in a majority (if not all) of the USA women wrestlers. In my eyes, she is the #1 USA woman worker. This was my favorite tournament match and my Match of the Night. This would be just the beginning of B-Boy plowing through APW’s elite.
Stan: Damn Scrub, you wrote a lot about that one match! One word can best describe what happened in this match up: STIFF. Prior to this match, I thought only Sara Del Ray could take this kind of punishment from the fellas. Boy, was I wrong. Melissa stayed and hung with B-Boy in the most brutal male versus female matches I have ever seen (with the possible exception of the Mickey Knuckles vs. Ian Rotten match from IWA-Mid South). B-Boy was incredibly stiff! Match began with B-Boy playing the scared role by kicking -like a girl out of the corner when Melissa came close. The fun was soon over as B-Boy dished out one of the worst beatings I’ve seen him give anyone, let alone a woman. The match started out with B-Boy delivering a stiff clothesline, a stiff chop, and a stiff kick. This set the tone for what would become a match so stiff; it became hard to watch at points. At one point B-Boy spit on Scrub for calling him an asshole for being so stiff. But that didn’t slow the assault down one bit. Melissa had a few offensive highlights such as a nice German suplex, a northern lights suplex and an attempted huracanrana that B-Boy reversed into a crossface. Match came to a close with B-Boy hitting the shinning wizard and getting the pinfall. This match was neck and neck with the Puma/Perez match for “Match of the Night” at this point. Melissa looked very good and looks to have dropped a bit of weight. She impressed the hell out of me with her toughness in the ring. SoCal needs to bring Melissa back more often, because she definitely has the goods. B-Boy continued his streak of great matches. B-Boy was as good as usual, but I could have lived without the spitting (Note to B-Boy: it’s a filthy habit, dude. I love you as a worker, but spitting on fans is just gross).
Semi-Finals
Jardi Frantz vs. Lil Cholo
Scrub: Moving on to the second round, we saw Lil Cholo up against Jardi Frantz. These two have faced off a handful of times up north in APW, so it’s safe to say that these two were somewhat familiar with each other. These two put on yet another good tournament match and again, they were busting their ass out there. In a huge surprise, Frantz won the match with a rollup that came out of nowhere. The defending Best of the West champ has fallen. A new champ will be crowned!
Stan: At this point of the show, the referee was replaced by Johnny Paradise. The first ref made Junior from WPW seem good.
Scrub: Ouch, that’s harsh.
Stan: This match was solid but not as good as either guy’s opener. Highlights include Jardi hitting a nice springboard rana and Jardi running the wall and flipping ala Ruckus from CZW (while putting a big hole in the wall in the process). Cholo then drilled Jardi’s head into the wall. Jardi gets the pinfall after a springboard dropkick and a roll up. Solid match that kept the fans very involved. Hmmm, 5 matches in and zero duds. Looks like the “mailing it in for small crowd” theory is out the window.
JJ Perez vs. B-Boy
Scrub: B-Boy versus JJ Perez was also one of my favorite tournament matches of the night. I believe these two have worked each other before up north, so the familiarity and chemistry was there. I found myself cheering for JJ Perez solely based on his in-ring ability. But Supa Badd reprimanded me and said I should be cheering for the good guy, not the bad guy. He also informed me that I ruined wrestling by not cheering for the good guy. Then he slapped me right across the face! JJ Perez proved once again that he “ain’t no joke” in the California Indy scene. I’m sure he turned several heads that night, proving that he can hang with SoCal elite. I must reiterate: this guy needs more bookings out here. B-Boy gets the win, moving on to face Jardi Frantz in the finals.
Stan: Very good match again that had me doing more watching than note taking. I don’t have a ton of notes on this, but I do remember that this match was really solid. B-Boy hit his infamous corner dropkick on Perez. Towards the end of the match, Perez delivered a shining wizard to B-Boy which set B-Boy off. At this point B-Boy delivered a shining wizard of his own and got the pinfall. Again, Perez impressed me quite a bit. He doesn’t do anything really flashy but is very solid overall. I’d like to see him invited back to SoCal in the near future.
Silver Tyger, R2K, Sexy Chino, Quicksiver, Kid Omega, and Human Tornado vs. Chris Bosh, Chippy Sanchez, Infernal, Infernal Jr., Steve Pain, and Catastrophe
Scrub: Next up was a break from tournament action. WPW brought to us one of the biggest and baddest matches out there today, the 12 man tag!
Stan: This was one of the craziest and funniest scramble-type matches I’ve ever seen. So much crazy goodness that I’m sure to leave some good stuff out. Pre-match, Bosh comes to the ring being pushed on a cart. As the wrestlers were announced, referee Johnny Paradise points out all the champions involved in the match. Funny moment because all of the guys with belts were champions from different feds. I’m going to just point out the really good moments from the match because there were so many moments. One of the funniest moments came when every wrestler in the match (even guys on his own team!) lined up to give chops to Kid Omega. Omega acted as if his chest pad was masking the pain. He then returned the favor by chopping every guy in the ring back (yes, including his team too). Other highlights include Bosh giving Quicksilver an STF on the floor, Bosh throwing a chain at Quicksilver’s foot and a double dive by Chippy and Tornado to a group of guys on the floor. Also at some point during this match, something happened that involved R2K, Chippy, and Silver Tyger. I didn’t see what happened but R2K took a bad bump and seemed hurt and this really set off Chippy for some reason. It became obvious very quickly that Chippy was really pissed. Chippy kept circling the ring in a fit. Then before you know it, I see Silver Tyger charge at Chippy and they start fighting legit at ringside and have to be broken up by the other wrestlers. Chippy got the worst of it and came up bloody. At this point, Chippy is up and pissed as the match is coming to an end. R2K is down in the ring with what appears to be a legit injury. Chippy then picks up a half gallon water bottle and throws it at R2K’s head who is still lying in the ring. He did it very hard from about a foot away too. Not too cool! I’m not sure what set the whole thing off. Don’t remember who got the win because of all the craziness at the end of the bout.
Scrub: The heels won. R2K was pinned with a nasty looking driver.
Stan: It was one of the best scramble matches I’ve seen in quite a while. So much goodness and great performances, it amazes me that I saw this in WPW.
Scrub: I may be overhyping this match, but this was definitely one of my favorite scramble 12-man tags ever. Although I must say, I don’t know of too many 12-man scrambles. Every guy involved played up to their strengths. If they were a great wrestler, they did that. If they were funny, the did that, etc. Bosh and Quicksilver had some great interaction going on. Steve Pain looked really good in this match up. Steve is very underrated around these parts. Like Stan said, way too many details to mention about the match. You just need to know that the action was on point, as was the comedy. Nothing bad to say about this match at all. Too many great moments to mention. Just looking at this match on paper looks crazy enough, don’t it?
Best of the West Finals
B-Boy vs. Jardi Frantz
Stan: This was another very solid match. It has been a while since I’ve seen these guys lock up. Seeing them square off again reminded me of all the good stuff they did during the APW/GSCW days. These guys worked well together as they have every time I’ve seen them. I don’t remember a ton of move info, but I liked the match quite a bit. Jardi did hit a nice springboard 450 splash and got a near pinfall on B-Boy. The finish saw B-Boy getting the pinfall after hitting a top rope electric chair driver (Vito Thomaselli, Chris Hero and CZW’s Joker use this finisher). This was a solid match from both guys. They both did a good job of carrying the same level of energy into the main event as they did in the first and second round matches. It was just a shame that there were only 30 of us there to see it.
Scrub: Yes indeed it was a shame. I wanted to note that B-Boy just demolished and ran through all of APW’s top guys in one night. Crazy huh. Melissa and JJ were in the corner of Jardi and Cholo was in B-Boy’s corner. I liked the idea of corner men (and women) in the finals, as it added a sense of prestige and drama to the finals. I had a feeling B-Boy would be taking the finals, as he is the “hometown hero” sorta. Losing to Cholo in the finals at last year’s Best of the West, I kinda saw B-Boy’s tournament victory coming. But nevertheless, good match and overall, great tournament.
Stan: In closing, I’d like to say a few things. First, it was sad as hell to see a crowd of 30 people for a show as good as WPW ran Friday night. I heard a few people complaining about the absence of Super Dragon and Bobby Quance in the tournament being a problem. Let me be the first to say that this was not an issue. I was very impressed by the fact that the workers didn’t “mail it in”, as is seen in most poor drawing shows. Everyone on the show busted their ass to make sure the fans got a good show. They did start a little late.
Scrub: A little? Try 1 hour.
Stan: But the late start was understandable with the crowd that was present at 8pm. Waiting the extra time more than tripled the crowd size. I felt really bad for Cholo getting such a poor draw for his event. He did a good job last year and with this show. I wish the fans could have shown him a little more respect and dragged their spoiled asses down to the show. SoCal fans in general are getting very jaded by all the good shows we have been given in the last 6 months. Last year, this same show would have been a “must see” show. Now it’s not good enough to get more than 30 people to show up? Hell, even Marvin’s fed drew more than that. People need to remember that we need to support the smaller shows as well as the big PWG and Inoki Dojo shows. If we don’t show our support, the wrestlers don’t get paid and the feds can’t afford to run. Don’t turn your backs on the feds who have done so much for us fans over the last few years. I’m not saying not to support the big feds, just reminding you not to forget the little feds that need our help too.
Scrub: Overall, I will stick to what I’ve said on the boards: this was the greatest show that nobody saw. People might take that one sentence out of context though. I’m not saying that this was the greatest show in the history of SoCal. I’m saying this was the greatest show with the lowest turnout. But this show was definitely up there as one of the better shows SoCal has to offer. With a huger crowd in attendance, this show would have garnered so much attention. But due to date changes, roster changes, lack of press releases and message board hype, this show drew very poorly. With PWG raising the bar immensely, shows like WPW’s “Best of the West” easily get overlooked and are found under the radar. It sucks though, because everyone in the tournament was good. I am very grateful that everyone involved on the card worked their ass off even with the small crowd size. Huge props to the APW guys for making that hellacious drive and contributing to a stellar show. An even bigger thanks goes to Melissa for taking such a huge beating, hanging in there, and putting on yet another great match. A lesson to WPW: with better promoting of shows, better spokespeople, more solid cards, more professionalism, and keeping the show indoors, you too can put on good shows with the rest of the big boys.
Send all questions, comments, concerns, hate mail or paypal payments to Scrub. Any comments for Stan can be emailed to me, or just post them on the SCU Message Board.
