In this week Jay Cal’s View, I’m going to change it up a little bit. For the first time I’m going to attempt to review a show. NWA Pro/Mach-1’s Centre City Slam. I really had a great time at the show. Plus I’ve got this week’s upcoming shows and last week results. Check it out, won’t you?
Going back to the venue, it was pretty cool to see such an older building being used. Tarps covered the floor to preserve the gym surface. The gym lamented an odor not too unfamiliar to most high school gyms I had ever visited, but the musky odor was a bit distracting at times. A little ventilation would have been a blessing.
The card opened up with an 8 Man Tag Team Challenge, featuring a lot of the W101 students mixed in with some SoCal regulars; Nick Madrid, Mikey Callahan, Andrew Hellman and Jacob Diez vs. Kyle Webb, Jason Watts, Brandon Parker, and Cedric “The Hitman.” The past few Friday Fight Nights, have led to these individuals having problems with each other so it only made sense to put them in one big match. Nick Madrid has a pretty good following or a real big family in attendance, because he got a huge reaction from the crowd. This was the first time I saw Jason Watts in person, he’s a lot bigger than I expected. I was impressed by this match. Mikey Callahan and Watts battle to the back during the course of the match. “The Former Marcus Riot” Jacob Diez was bumping, but looks like he’s gotten some good advice from the W101 as it looks like he has matured a lot since his earlier days. This match was a perfect opener as it got a lot of the fans into action. Diez took a sick bump towards the end of the match and I was a little worried he was legitimately injured. He looked okay at the end of the match.
Disco Machine definitely still has it. The chemistry between “Pretty” Peter Avalon and Disco is fun. Disco really puts on his working boots in Mach-1. Disco wrestled his typical match and it was a lot of fun with Avalon. Both decided to spend some time dancing, with Peter Avalon working dancing with one of the fans on the outside. Avalon steals the W with a hand on the ropes. But what would you expect from Avalon? Post match, Disco shows the lady fans ring side what they are missing out on.
Sawada vs. Divari was quite the International Showdown. Atsushi Sawada is a lot of fun. This guy comes from the Inoki Genome Federation. He has spent time in Southern California for the past few months and has previously spent time training in Ring of Honor under Delirious. His style kind of reminds me of Naoya Ogawa. A lot of Judo throws complete with a Judo Gea. Divari is the younger brother of former WWE/TNA Shawn Divari. The match up was interesting, with the confused crowd chanting USA, which technically would apply more for Divari than Sawada. Sawada encouraged it and hit a lot of his strong style offense. When Divari did get an advantage he missed his “Flying Magic Carpet Ride” when Sawada rolled out of the way. The elder Divari also used to use the same finish in which they would scale the top rope, holding the Prayer Rug and leap into the air with the Frogsplash. It wasn’t a great match, but it was a lot of fun.
Los luchas def. anchors away
The SoCal Pro Offering of this event was a match up featuring Tommy Wilson vs. Socal Crazy. Wilson under his new “Megastar” moniker looked pretty good. The San Diego crowd was very pro Crazy. The match went to the outside a few times. The match ended with a Wilson superkick.
The next match was a tag team match up pitting to heel tag teams against each other. I don’t know if it was for the benefit of the San Diego crowd or the hopes of a larger Hispanic Audience, but Los Luchas worked this match as face. Which is interesting, considering they’ve been working heel on most NWA Shows. Los Luchas are a very fast paced tag team and I was kind of reminded why they wore the NWA World Tag Team Championships for as long as they did. Anchors Away looked pretty good in defeat too. I don’t think Anchors Away get the credit they deserve. They are a nice heel duo that are good at taking a lot of offense and still looking pretty good. Plus the combo they use in the corner with the dropkick to the opponents face followed by the rolling senton corner splash looks pretty devastating.
The Mach-1 Championship Match between James Morgan and champion Willie Mack was as brutal as we thought it would be. Morgan got a lot of heat right away tearing into some fans ringside. Mack got a loud reaction too. Mack is just one of those guys you have to see to believe. He’s a bigger guy, but moves around the ring gracefully. Every match I see of his, I’m more and more impressed. Mack was attacked early on and worked the babyface in peril the entire match. Mack was also attacked by Morgan’s personal Hitman, Cedric. Cedric was responsible for putting Mack on the shelf after an attack on Friday Fight Night a few weeks back. Mack was able to gain a little revenge on Cedric with an enzurgi and was able to finish off Morgan for the 1… 2… 3…
The Mach-1 brief intermission was a long intermission for me as I went hunting for food. Unfortunately I missed the ladies match up. Candice defeated Buggy with a little help from Kitana in the form of a pair of brass knuckles.
“Mr. Wrestling 3” Steve Corino vs. “Magnum” Joey Ryan was a pretty good match too. This was my first time seeing Corino live and considering his “King of Old School” moniker from a few years back I expected him to work more of a style liking to Adam Pearce. But Corino’s time in Japan is reflected in the ring. He sure loves his lariats. The intensity in this match didn’t live up to what I thought it would be. I was hoping Joey would look like he did when he took on Pearce last month. It was still a strong match and I think time became an issue, the match seemed rushed. Joey got off a “Machine Gun” spinebuster, which popped the crowd. And finished off the former ECW World Champion with a superkick.
Match of the night for me was NWA Pro/M1W Heritage Tag Team Champions RockNES Monsters vs. Paul London and Brian Kendrick. Londrick got a strong ovation when they entered the ringside area. I haven’t had a chance to see London live since his days in UPW so it was interesting to see him decked out in Astronaut gear with a laser gun running around the arena. This match many comedy elements in it, but nothing made me laugh more when Goodtime found London’s doppelganger out in the crowd. The look on Goodtime’s face going back and forth was priceless. It was also pretty funny when Goodtime attempted to do his regular entrance with the Power Pad and Lost jumped in with him, nearly pushing Goodtime off the pad, tapping his feet as fast as he could. Kendrick was all business. This match was pretty hard hitting and very fast paced, the kind of match you’d expect from the four. London wasn’t to happy when Yuma used the arm drag to armbar combination, to Yuma strumming air guitar with London’s arm. After that, London was all business. And this match got real physical. Yuma gets the win with a roll up. Really good match and I think it was a reasonable finish. The champions were the under dogs and won like under dogs would.
The main event featuring Shelton Benjamin and Scorpio Sky was a very different match up than I expected. You see a guy like Benjamin on TV and forget that they out weight your favorite guy by like 100lbs. Sky isn’t the biggest guy in SoCal but I never thought of him as being a “small guy.” Tonight, he became a small guy. Benjamin would probably dwarf anyone in SoCal. I liked the story they were telling. Sky wouldn’t stay down and wouldn’t allow himself to be beaten. Benjamin used more of a power offense with less mat wrestling and high flying that I’m used to. Sky stuck to his lightning quick offense and fierce strikes. In the end, Scorpio looked tough in his loss to Shelton, but couldn’t get the job done. This match was good, but I think had potential to be amazing. It was good and worth checking out, but I guess I just had hoped for more. Overall this was one of the best Mach-1 cards ever. Jon and his crew weren’t afraid to bring in some bigger names and I hope this won’t be the last BIG card Mach-1 runs, because I enjoyed the event and look forward to the next one.
Upcoming Events:
The American Wrestling Alliance returns to San Diego on July 30, 2010 with another installment of Friday Night Live from the Unity Lodge 3366 Adams Ave. in San Diego, CA. Belltime is 7pm. Pre-Order Tickets are available until tonight at http://www.awalegends.com/ for only $5. $10 at the door. SoCal Crazy will take on Kid Karamba, Matt Twizted takes on Diamond Azul and in the main event, a Battle Royal with the final two participants will face each other for the AWA Heavyweight Championship at the next event.
Further down the 5 on Friday in Anaheim, NWA Pro/Mach-1 Wrestling Friday Fight Night, live every Friday from the American Sports Center at 1500 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim, CA 92805. Bell time 8:05PM, doors open at 7:30. Tickets are $6 for adults, $3 for students w/ ID and children 12 and under. Los Luchas battle Leo Blaze and Josh Worthy in a match up to determine the top contenders to the NWA Pro/Mach-1 Heritage Tag Team Champions. TJ Perkins takes on “Pretty” Peter Avalon and in the main event, M1W Championship Match Willie Mack defends against Cedric The Hitman. All this and more from the American Sports Center.
Going down further the 5 FWY, then the 101, all the way up to Reseda at the American Legion Post #308, 7338 Canby Ave., Reseda, CA 91335. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla presents Sevenalso taking place on Friday July 30th. General admission tickets are $25 with Front Row tickets are completely sold out. “On July 26, 2003, the first ever Pro Wrestling Guerrilla event was held in City of Industry, CA. Just over seven years later on July 30, 2010, the one-hundred-fourteenth Pro Wrestling Guerrilla event will be held in Reseda, CA, simply titled Seven. However, this event will be more than the commemoration of a milestone for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, it will also be a celebration of a ten year professional wrestling career coming to a close that very night. On July 30, 2010, not only will the lucky fans in attendance see a Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship title defense, a World Tag Team Championship title defense, the first ever Tag Team Guerrilla Warfare match, but they will also witness the final match in the storied career of “The Professional” Scott Lost.”
Saturday Battleground Pro Wrestling’s biggest show of the summer Red, White & Bruisedcomes to 3252 Florista St., Los Alamitos CA, American Legion Post #716 on Saturday July 31st. Doors open a7 7:30, with a belltime of 8PM. Kids just $8 and adults $10. The 5×5 Contract Combat continues with LOUcha Machine vs. Damien Arsenick vs. Dragon Mask vs. Seville Alvarez vs. Famous B. The stipulation is Over-The-Top-Rope Elimination with the prize winning a 1 year contract with BPW. BPW Maximum Championship will be on the line when Anthony “Tank” Alvarado w/ Ruffin Vega defend against Robbie Phoenix in a No Ropes/Weapon On-A-Pole Match. And in the Main Event, BPW Heavyweight Champion “Big Nasty” Jason Watts w/Christian Cole v. Extreme Loco in a Street Fight. All this and more from Los Alamitos, CA.
Millennium Pro Wrestling returns also on Saturday Night, with Return of the Scrap Iron at 7:30PM at 9145 Deering Ave., Chatsworth CA, the MPW Megaplex. The 1st Round Matches will take place for the MPW Tag Team Championship, GQ Money will defends the MPW MaximumChampionship against Angel and in the Main Event, NWA Worlds Heavyweight ChampionshipAdam Pearce defends his title against Ryan Taylor.
Sunday you can check out some lucha with LLII Mas Luchapresents Powerman: Tribute to El Supremo Srat 717 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido CA, at Club Woodies. The show starts at 5PM Powerman and El Migra take on Maquiavelicoand Tony Casanova. In the Main Event, Rocky “Azucar” Romero and Supremm Jr. take on El Hijo Del Dibablo Jr. and Steve Pain. Plus three more matches.
Results:
NWA Pro/Empire Wrestling Federation
Superstars of Summer Tour 2010
Knights of Columbus Hall
Covina, CA
July 23rd 2010
MATCHES TAPED FOR TV
SoCal Crazy def. Gregory Sharpe
“Handsome” Johnny Starr def. Chimaera
Tommy Wilson def. Coconut Joe
EWF Cruiserweight Championship
Ray Rosas def. “Pretty” Peter Avalon
(non taped portion)
Bar Room Saints def. “The One” Devon Willis & The Mercenary.
J.P. Emerald vs The Mexican Warrior was ruled a No Contest when Extreme Loco interfered.
SoCal Crazy def. Mighty Mike Mountain
Non-title match where EWF Heavyweight Champion
Ryan Taylor def. Tommy Wilson by DQ
Main Event American Championship Gauntlet.
Chris Kadillak def. Mondo Vega
Chris Kadillak def. Roger Ruiz
Chris Kadillak def. Jeremy Jaeger by DQ
Liger Rivera def. Chris Kadillak to retain the EWF American Championship.
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NWA Pro/Mach-1 Wrestling
Friday Fight Night
American Sports Center
Anaheim, CA
July 23rd 2010
“Big Nasty” Jason Watts def. “Untouchable” Ruben Iglesias
Shaun Ricker def. Todd Chandler
Tristan Archer def. Jarek Matthews
Ariya Daivari (w/ David Troy) def. Nick Madrid
*Special Thanks to Daniel from San Diego for the results.
