SoCalUncensored’s Road Warriors bid a fond farewell (?) to Next Generation Wrestling with a live report from their third and possibly final show. We’ll miss you Midnight Thunder! Click here for the full report.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles Report Vol. 9: Next Generation Wrestling 4/14/07
by Paul Newberry and Jay Doring
Welcome to the 9th edition of the Planes, Trains and Automobiles Report, the SoCal live report series with a name that I thought was really funny back in 2004. Though oddly enough neither a plane nor a train have ever been involved in the making of this report. Anyway, this time on the PT&A Report we continue our coverage of Next Generation Wrestling.
On Saturday, April the 14th. NGW presented it’s third offering “Straight Outta Lynwood” emanating live from Lynwood High School in lovely…. I forget the name of the city.
This time around NGW faced some new challenges. Their venue, the “Slam Theatre” had been sold to wrestling hating pinkos. Plus due to running against the debut show from the best promotion in the history of the SoCal (if not the entire planet) SoCal Pro (it’s true, just ask them) as well as other factors, several of the featured talents from previous shows would not be appearing. In turn, NGW had shifted gears a little. First, they filled out their forms and transfered to Lynwood High. Next they brought in some new faces from all around SoCal to fill the void. Would it work? Would they start anywhere near the advertised time? Let’s see!
Once at the venue, I notice that it was a really nice looking school. Almost like a High School you would see on a TV show. Myself having attended an amazingly crappy High School ran by Nazi’s (seriously, everyday felt like an episode of Hogan’s Heroes) I couldn’t help but be impressed with the shiny Lynwood High surroundings.
In a cunning promotional move, NGW had offered half priced admission to any Lynwood High Students who showed up with a School ID. But I didn’t notice anyone who looked like a student in attendance. Which is crazy. Those kids today! I would have killed for a wrestling show at my High School. Closest thing we had was a “celebrity” basketball game with Corey Feldman and some guy who played a gas station attendant on “Married.. With Children” (who ironically enough is probably an actual Gas Station Attendant by now) Why in my day… err anyway yeah.
After about a half hour wait (a vast improvement from the hour plus waits at previous NGW show) we were let in. First thing I notice is how big the gym was… and how empty it looked with only a small ring and a few rows of sparsely populated chairs surrounding it.
At around 8:35 our show begins. Only a half hour late this time, NGW is improving! We start off with NGW Commissioner Marvin Evans gathering all the wrestlers around the ring for a nice 10 bell salute to Dynamite D. Then Ring announcer MIDNIGHT Freaking THUNDER hits the ring. Marvin Evans announced his real name as Ron or Rondell Davis. It was hard to hear, but for the sake of this report, he will be referred to as Midnight Thunder.
Then after roughly seventy four sound system problems (which would become a trend through out the show), it was time for our first match up.
Match One:
Shawn Bateman & Nikki Vs. Infernal & Candice LeRae
Paul: Shawn Bateman (who is the first of 9 NGW debuts tonight) is member of Victorville’s HRW promotion, one of the few we have yet to see in NGW, here he is teaming with longtime SoCal women’s wrestler Nikki, who in a rare instance is without her charges, Los Luchas… however she was with what looked like a masked mini-Nikki! Do they sell those?
Then enter their opposition. First, WPW’s Infernal. Now the last time I saw him was memorable for all the wrong reasons, – the 2006 Best of the West tournament, where he wrestled 3 very underwhelming matches with an injured shoulder. Seriously, that was the only tournament I’ve have ever seen where the fans were screaming “Just end already” at the final match. Now with his shoulder intact, I’m looking forward to seeing what Infernal can really do.
His partner tonight is PWG’s Candice LeRae, who enters with an entirely different demeanor than you usually see her have in PWG (Where she is usually getting slapped or thrown into chairs). Here she is a stuck up bitch… something never before seen at any High School ever.
Jay: I was particularly curious to see this match, mainly because I’ve never seen Candice LeRae wrestle a match live, and while her role in PWG as “shock bumper” is entertaining, it is looking doubtful that she will be actually competing there in the near future. Infernal proved that when he doesn’t have a bum shoulder he can be very solid in the ring, and he’s extremely verbal for a masked wrestler. A fairly standard indy opener, with the bright points being a big suicide dive by Bateman, and Infernal and Candice teaming up for an impressive corner posting/dropkick spot. Other than that, the women weren’t in the ring for most of the match, until Candice was isolated by the face team and planted by Nikki with a Michinoku Driver for the pin.
Paul: This was perfectly acceptable wrestling. Infernal did pretty well for himself here. I would have liked to have seen more from Candice though, she was all heel shtick and with little actual wrestling. Also what was the deal with the Mini-Nikki in the mask? I need answers.
Winners: Shawn Bateman and Nikki
Match Two:
Ryan Mason Vs. Ronnie Tsunami
Paul: Next a man who appeared to be LEBRON JAMES not wearing any pants enters. Soon after, Midnight Thunder informs us that it is actually just HRW’s Ryan Mason wearing a LeBron jersey and no pants. Mason boastfully proclaims himself to be “the world’s greatest wrestler” And I would have to agree with him. Why not? He seems like an honest fellow. He will be squaring off with fellow HRW wrestler, Ronnie Tsunami. Who looked a lot like Shawn Bateman from the last match. Anyway, if you remember your NGW history, these two were actually partners during NGW’s first ever match. Now 5 months later, the one time random tag partners in a random 6 man, randomly explode at random!
Jay: I seriously did not recognize Ryan Mason from the last time I saw him at the aforementioned NGW debut show, as he’s traded in his old gear for the LeBron James jersey and “tap out” trunks. This was an overly basic match, with the only notable moment being Mason’s “Michael Jordan Classic!” Nice to see people still paying their respects to His Airness in the 21st century. Nothing wrong with the match, but it wasn’t even memorable enough for me to remember the finish, except that Tsunami won.
Paul: MICHAEL JORDAN CLASSIC! Excellent tribute to Air Jordan from Mason. Though I never remember Michael Jordan doing a somersault followed by a leaping clothesline before… then again I didn’t follow his Washington Wizards days too closely. Match was very basic as Jay just mentioned. Not bad, but aside from the MICHAEL JORDAN CLASSIC, nothing stood out in my mind. It’s funny how the stupid little things are what you sometimes remember the most from a match. Heck, if Mason did that in IWA:MS, they’d give him the title. But mostly I was just surprised to see Mason lose, him being the greatest wrestler in the world and all.
Winner: Ronnie Tsunami
Match Three:
Markus Riot Vs. Steve Pain Vs. The Human Tornado
Paul: Now it was time for an unadvertised 3-way dance. First out is WPW’s Steve Pain. Who does a front flip into the ring. Which seems to impress Midnight Thunder. Who said to Pain “You have to teach me how to do that!”
Next out is Markus Riot, flanked by Leo Blaze. He also flips into the ring. Midnight Thunder is so impressed with all this flipping, he suggests that Riot and Pain have a flip off. Steve Pain obliges and flips Midnight Thunder off! Ha, walked right into that one.
Next up is a surprise appearance from The Human Tornado, seconded by Infernal. He was announced as “hailing from anywhere but cracker-ass Lynwood” That should sum up where he stands in NGW. Tornado and Infernal walk around the gym offering their comments to fans at ringside, and tells us that we are going to see how things are done in Hollywood. THEN Tornado spots a fan in the crowd and says “Look an emo kid!” then goes up to him and says “Why you gotta be so sad?” Hilarious.
Jay: I found it extremely interesting that Tornado is intent on bringing a heel character all over California when he is beloved everywhere else. Markus Riot apparently forgot his gear (which is all the more hilarious when his “gear” probably matches what he wore to the building) and borrowed an extra pair of tights from Steve Pain, creating an amusing visual. This match was basically a by-the-numbers “one in, one out” three way formula, enhanced by the heel work of Tornado and Infernal interfering whenever he could. Markus Riot eventually had Pain beat with his finisher, but in a common lapse of wrestling logic, tried for ONE MORE MOVE instead of just pinning him. This gave Tornado the opening he needed to come catch Riot on the top rope, and plant him with Dat”Ninja”Dead, landing Riot on Pain and allowing Tornado to pick the pieces for the victory.
Paul: Another fun match, despite the HUGE logical gap Jay mentioned above. Afterward Tornado revisits the EMO kid and tells him “No reason to be sad now, I won!” Again… hilarious. I should note that the EMO kid in question got up and left right after this. Now I would say something like he went to cry and/or cut himself, but I’m sure you could assume that on your own.
Winner: The Human Tornado
Paul: Next Midnight Thunder asks the crowd how many were there with NGW from the beginning (way back in the halcyon days of December 2006), and mentions that now we can relive those shows with NGW on DVD! We later found out that only the first show was available, but who is really going to argue with the word of Midnight Thunder? Those reading this at home can visit www.myspace.com/nextgenwrestling and send them a message to learn how to purchase an NGW DVD yourself! They only sold 4 of them, so cut them a break and buy one!
Match Four:
TJ Perkins Vs. Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson
Paul: The debuting TJ Perkins all set for a softball game, enters to random TJ Perkins entrance music #548. Tonight he will be facing off with another man making his NGW debut, in Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson. Anderson has been carving a nice nitch out for himself lately in SoCal. Scoring recent victories over the likes of Colt Cabana and Frankie Kazarian in PWG, and just the night before he captured the EWF American Title in Covina. These two are no strangers either, having trained at the Inoki Dojo together.
Jay: Karl Anderson is a guy who’s improved by leaps and bounds since his debut in the LA Inoki Dojo last year. Whereas he began his SoCal stint as a generic mid-sized guy with a weird match taunt, he’s evolved into a solid all-rounder with a weird match taunt. Thanks to an association with Joey Ryan, he has developed a nice fusion of high-impact wrestling and spastic comedy. This match with TJ Perkins, a veteran he’s developed quite the familiarity with, might be his best match to date. Beginning with an entertaining display of power where Anderson repeatedly shoved TJ into the turnbuckles, it evolved into a speed/power game where Perkins got around the bigger Anderson and continually outwitted him. In the end, the size and power prevailed as TJ got caught with the Anderson Spinebuster for the 1-2-3.
Paul: This was a lot of fun. I’d say it was the best singles match I’ve ever seen from Anderson. The big man/little man dynamic mixed in with the comedy really made it stand out from the usual Anderson fare. He has really improved since I first saw him in AWS last March. I just wish he wouldn’t scream so much.
Winner: Karl Anderson
Paul: Intermission time! Midnight Thunder informs us that COLD PIZZA AND HOT WATER are available at the concession stand! Jay takes this time to go over and purchase both of those items, as well as NGW’s debut DVD. While I tried to kill time by reading the gym walls. Hey, did you know the Lynwood Lady Knights were National C.I.F. state champions with a 33-0 record in 2002? Well you do now.
Match Five:
Leo Blaze with Markus Riot Vs. Guerrero de Sangre with Marvin Evans
Paul:Next up is Guerrero de Sangre along with NGW Commissioner Marvin Evans. GDS has been pretty entertaining during his NGW appearances. He has that Super Boyish “Large guy who can do lucha” thing going. Plus he has that awesome Chokelift Stunner finisher. One of the cooler moves I’ve seen recently. He will be facing one half of Blazing Riot, Leo Blaze. I know very little about Leo Blaze. In fact aside from an appearance in AWS’ recent 60 man battle royal and a few HPW bookings years back. I have no clue as to his past experience or where he got those stylish pants. He is accompanied to the ring tonight by Markus Riot.
Jay: I was really nervous about the Leo Blaze/Nemesis match when it was announced, due to Leo’s apparent inexperience in singles competition. Nemesis’ mysterious absence from this show actually resulted in a much better match, as Leo got to bump around for the much bigger GDS. What didn’t make sense about this match though, was the finish – Guerrero de Sangre has Blaze beat with his choke stunner, but then Marvin Evans hops up on the apron, ruining the fall for HIS OWN GUY. Thanks to some chicanery from Steve Pain and Markus Riot, Leo Blaze pulled the SHOCKING UPSET. A perfectly acceptable big man/little man encounter.
Paul: Post match, an incensed “H.N.I.C.” Marvin Evans announced that Blazing Riot would face Guerrero de Sangre and Nemesis at the next show in an elimination tornado tag team match, and that “he hadn’t forgotten about Steve Pain either.” Well, I would hope not, he’s standing right there. The match itself was perfectly fine, and GDS’ chokestunner is still awesome. I also like that when someone wrestles a lucha style guy, their offense changes to nothing but arm drag, after arm drag, as Blaze showed us here.
Afterward Blaze, Riot and Pain are left alone in the ring and as NGW history dictates, when guys are left in the ring after a match… they boogie. Blaze, Riot, Pain proceed to bust a move accordingly. UNTIL the new lord of the dance, Midnight Thunder schools them all with some sick dance moves of his own. Bless you Midnight Thunder, you make life worth living.
Winner: Leo Blaze
Paul:Next up, the injured Sonny Samson comes out to say a few words. Somewhere among those words, he mentions that after he returns, he will be sitting at the top of the mountain… naked. He also issues a challenge to Ronin for the next NGW show. But first, Ronin would have to get past Lil’ Cholo tonight.
Match Six:
Ronin Vs. Lil’ Cholo
Paul: Next is yet another NGW debut, in the form of Lil Cholo. A long time fixture on the SoCal scene, you name a SoCal promotion and Cholo has probably wrestled there. BUT tonight he will have no easy task ahead of him, as he will be facing Mr. NGW himself, Ronin. Ronin has been on an absolute tear through SoCal since September of 2006. Embarking on an ultra successful “Battle To The 2007 BOLA tour” in PWG, and here in NGW where he’s had two absolutely stellar matches with Charles Mercury and Hook Bomberry (the best matches in NGW’s short history). Can Ronin make it three in a row?
Jay: Ronin was once again accompanied to the ring in NGW by Dino Winwood, who adds an extra neat audience participation element to Ronin matches in NGW. Lil’ Cholo countered Dino’s presence by enlisting a member of the PWG ring crew to be his “corner man.” Cholo and Ronin hooked up briefly in the opener of PWG’s All Star Weekend 5, Night 2 and had some fun, smooth exchanges. This match continued that trend, but it lacked the special factor Ronin’s previous matches. Rather than Ronin fighting back against a crafty heel opponent, this was more of an even exhibition with Ronin as the more dominant player. Ronin takes it home with the Death Valley Driver. Cholo continues to be one of the more underrated performers in Southern California and deserves more exposure throughout the region.
Paul: I would agree. While I’d enjoyed the match, it didn’t have nearly the same effect as Ronin’s previous NGW outings. For a couple reasons…
A. Unlike before, there wasn’t a strong heel presence for Ronin to feed of off. While Cholo is an excellent wrestler, he was just too darned friendly here. Not even just kinda friendly either. I’m talking Mr. Rogers “Won’t you be my neighbor?” level friendly. Did the fans really want to see Ronin kill kindly Uncle Cholo? Who was shaking Dino’s hand, grabbing fans out of the crowd to be in his corner and kissing babies? No. I only mention this because Samson’s promo before the match made it sound like he was having Cholo do his dirty work. Which would have made for a much more compelling match.
B. Unlike Ronin’s other NGW matches, the crowd was mostly dead here. Naturally -50 people (and dropping) in a huge empty gym can’t recapture the same atmosphere as 100+ screaming fans had in the cozy little Slam Theatre. The crowd factor had helped make the other matches so special was lost in the transition.
With that said, this is still my pick for the match of the night (three in a row for Ronin!) It was a good little exhibition, but it could been so much more.
Winner:Ronin
Paul: In addition to that, I should mention that throughout the show, the crowd of about 65 had slowly decreased to about 30 something. Yes, surprisingly the crowd full of people’s friends did not want to sit through the entire show. How ’bout that?
Main Event
Gunning For Hookers (Top Gun Talwar & Hook Bomberry) Vs. That 70’s Team (Joey Ryan & Disco Machine)
Paul: Main Event time… first up are the team of Joey Ryan and Disco Machine, collectively known as “That 70’s Team” (although Magnum P.I. didn’t even began to air until 1980…) Both enter the ring wearing Disco Machine masks and dancing to the sounds of Les Rhymes Digitales. Midnight Thunder announces them as MTV’s That 70’s Team but Joey corrects him and says they are MTV2’s That 70’s Team. Really, I hope the Indies give up on the WSX thing. It’s long been canceled and replaced by “True Life: I’m dumb enough to still watch MTV in 2007”
Next out are Top Gun Talwar and (as Midnight Thunder calls him..) “The baked potato” Hook Bomberry, collectively known as “Gunning For Hookers”. Honestly, I do not have fond memories of Top Gun and Hook’s 2005 teamings in PWG, which consisted of roughly a 56 match series with Disco Machine and Excalibur. It became a little much after a while. That and I always found Hook Bomberry a lot more entertaining without the goofiness. But I’d expect nothing but goofiness in this one…
Jay: While Joey and Disco are the two biggest names on this card, it still felt very strange to main event a show with a comedy match. TopGun Talwar promised in his PWG matches with Joey that they were “GONNA GET GAY,” and he might as well have said it about this match. The bulk of the match was Joey and Disco continuously falling into, let’s say uncomfortable positions. Hook continues to look far better than he did toward the end of his PWG run, holding up the wrestling end of the match. He did manage to get a nearfall with his Michinoku Driver, but thanks to the distraction of Karl Anderson, Joey was able to catch Hook off guard with the SUPER 70’s SUPERKICK to score the pin fall.
Paul: This was a really well done comedy match. It was very low impact for a main event but it was a lot of fun to watch. One memorable moment was where Disco and Top Gun were fighting all the way back to the end of the gym (a really really long way from the ring) only to realize at the same time “We’re going to get counted out!” so they both make a long dash back into the ring just beating Knox’ 20 count. Then Disco and Top Gun started counting out Knox! Who also barely avoided being counted out. Good stuff from everyone here. I’m really happy to see that Joey Ryan is starting to get the respect he deserves on the national Indy scene. Be it in normal matches, hardcore matches or in wacky comedy matches, the guy never fails to entertain me.
Afterward, Joey and Disco are left alone in the ring. Uh oh, you know what that means! This is the time on Sprockets vhen ve dance! Soon after, Top Gun decides to join in on this dance dance revolution. While Hook Bomberry looks on disgusted, until finally giving into the urge and joining in on the NGW dance party himself. Hook kicks it old school with a break dance routine. Once Top Gun and Hook exit, Joey gave Disco a lapdance… which was… a unique way to close the show.
Winner: MTV Australia’s That 70’s Team
Paul: Midnight Thunder thanks everyone for attending, and wishes us a safe trip home. Closing out another NGW live event…
Final Thoughts:
Jay: Overall a solid night of Southern California indy wrestling, as NGW continues to bring in the highest-quality local talent. The biggest problem with this show though, was the lack of “atmosphere.” Previous NGW shows at the Slam Theater worked because it was a tiny, intimate venue that had great sound equipment (and BIG FLASHING LIGHTS, which I know Newberry hates.) This show was at an enormous and largely empty high school gym with the house lights on, and the sound system was crapping out all night. The fact that much of the audience left halfway through the show (because they were friends of the wrestlers and not actually fans) hurt it as well. NGW went from drawing 100-120 at their two other shows to 65 (and dropping) at this one, likely due to the new venue and lack of promotion. NGW should still be able to settle in to a nice niche, but they need to promote better to become a player instead of a “Bigfoot” fed.
Paul: Jay and I often end up with the exact same opinion of wrestling shows. So rather than repeat what he said, I’ll just say that this was another very entertaining show from NGW. No complaints, I was throughly entertaining through out the event. Definitely, the best show named after a Weird Al album that I have ever seen.
POST SHOW amendment:
Paul: One benefit of finishing this report so late, is that I can acknowledge the recent NGW happenings. Namely, that NGW has canceled their May show (will we ever see the thrilling conclusion to RONIN Vs. Samson?) and announced that the promotion would be on an indefinite hiatus. Now what does that mean? It could mean any number of things, but usually when a promotion says that, it’s really just code for “We lost a crap load of money and can’t afford to put on anymore shows” But who knows what the case is here…
If NGW succeeded at only one thing, it was at being fun. Which is something that is not always easy to pull off in wrestling (just look at TNA Impact) From a live experience stand point, I’ve had more fun at these shows than at pretty much any Non-PWG show I have seen in a long while. While they were a still a little rough around the edges, NGW had been showing a steady improvement with each passing show (maybe they would have finally started on time next time!) I really liked that the shows were fast paced with very little unneeded bullshit to get in the way of things. Not to mention the high level of talent from all over SoCal showcased on each show (many of whom were used better in NGW than anywhere else). Trust me, it’s rare for a promotion not to book anyone that I can’t stand watching (something I can’t truthfully say about any SoCal promotion right now other than PWG) but NGW didn’t.
Also I have to give out some major praise to to NGW’s ring announcer “Midnight Thunder” for making these shows so enjoyable. While I’m no stranger to being excused of having a really stupid sense of humor (just read this report!), I really found Midnight Thunder to be a complete blast. He never failed to make me laugh. It wasn’t so much what he did, but the way he did it. So if this ends up being the end of NGW, I think I will miss the charming tomfoolery of Midnight Thunder most of all. The thought of a world without Midnight Thunder’s ring announcing is a chilling one indeed.
So thank you, NGW. It’s been fun. Don’t stay away too long!
For info on NGW check out www.myspace.com/nextgenwrestling (and send them a message and buy a DVD while you are there! The Ronin-Mercury match is worth the 10 dollars alone) And remember to keep it locked here on SoCalUncensored.com for all the latest news and views from around the Southern California independent scene.
Join us here next time on the Planes, Trains and Automobiles report, as we cover the 5/13 Inoki Dojo show, featuring Japanese Star Masato Tanaka Vs. A Robot? This can’t end well….
