After being away for 14 years, the SCWA made their promotional return on August 12th, 2016 at the Underground Auditorium in East Los Angeles, CA. Their return event, entitled the Resurexxion Rumble 2016, has been posted in full on Youtube. In this review, I take a look at the show that featured guys like B-Boy, Scorpio Sky, Eli Everfly, Adrian Quest, Nate Coy, Mariachi Loco, and many more. Enough of the shitty introduction, let’s get to the bottom of this shit.
Nate Coy vs. Adrian Quest
This was a really good opener. Quest and Coy exchanged holds to start off. You can see the influence TJ Perkins has had on him when Quest was doing mat work early on in the match. Quest was dominating the early portion of the match by getting the better of Coy, until Jungle Boy hit a nice rana after running up up and climbing to the top rope. Nate Coy hit a cool Pump-Handle Lifting Reverse-DDT after countering a head kick attempt by Quest. The finish saw Quest hit Coy with a nice 630 off the top rope. Both guys showed each other respkt and shook hands after the match. This was good shit. Both guys didn’t do a million fucking things a minute like a bunch of indy dorks do, they had some nice chain wrestling, had a good flow, hit cool spots, and kept it under 10 minutes. This is how wrestling shows should start off their events.
The Revelation (Terex & Hoss Hogg) vs. The Study Buddies (Darwin Finch & Chaz Hererra)
Before the match started, some goof with the mask and Comic Con vest cut a promo over music that I skipped over. The Study Buddies were pretty over with the crowd. Hoss Hogg looks like he could be a Hispanic version of Stan Hansen. He and Terex attacked the Study Buddies early and got huge heat from the crowd. When the Revelation wen tot the outside, Darwin attempted a tope but was caught, and Chaz hit a Tope Con Giro on the Revelation as they were holding Darwin. The early portion of the match helped establish Terex as a monster inside the ring. Eventually he and Hogg started beating up on Darwin. Eventually there was a hot tag with Chaz showing BABYFACE FIRE and stuff. Terex went for a standing moonsault on Chaz and missed, and Chaz followed it up by hitting a diving headbutt off the second rope to win the match for his team.
After the match, Terex threw Darwin out of the ring, and Hoss Hogg hit a Hansen-like Lariat on Chaz. Terex would then hit a brutal looking standing moonsault on Chaz, and a splash after. Darwin would eventually have to help Chaz to the back. This was an alright match. There were some sloppy moments, but nothing awful. The Revelation’s manager sucks. Still, the match is worth checking out.
V-Pacalypse vs. The Amazing Junior vs. Biagio Crescenzo
First off, Biagio’s entrance was almost 2 minutes long. There’s no reason for him or anyone else to have a such a long entrance in such an unimportant match on the undercard.
On to the match. After the first sequence, I came away impressed with Junior and was wondering why he wasn’t getting more bookings in SoCal. This was a usual triple threat match, where it’d start out with all three guys going at it, and one guy eventually going out of the ring for awhile as the other two opponents go at it in the ring. They also did a Tower of Doom spot. Shit seems standard in multi-person matches these days. V-Pacalypse was pretty good as the big man who could throw guys around and base for their flying shit. Dude also busted a tope suicida. He could use better gear though to add to his presence. To his credit though, the OTM Fight Shorts are a huge step up from basketball shorts, pleather trash bag pants, shit from Hot Topic, jorts, and the many other types of atrocious types of clothing that has disgraced the world of professional wrestling for decades now.
Back to the match, Crescenzo was alright in this. He took some bumps. but he didn’t do anything impressive. Junior won when he hit a one man Spanish Fly off the ropes on Crescenzo. After the match, Biagio refused to show RESPKT to his opponents. This was a solid triple threat match. I was surprised by V-Pacalypse and see some potential in him to be a good big man wrestler. Junior seems like he should be getting more bookings in SoCal. Good shit here.
Dogtown Street Fight: Donnie Suarez vs. “Rockey Boy” D’Marco Wilson
Before the match started, D’Marco Wilson got on the mic and talked about how Donnie Suarez was talking shit on social-media, so he wanted to challenge him to a “Dogtown Street Fight.” It was basically just a hardcore match with a skateboard related name to play up D’Marco’s gimmick. Despite there somewhat being a story behind this match, it still seemed stupid and pointless to make this a street fight when this was the promotion’s return event.
Anyways, onto the match. They had a fun brawl around the ring to start the match. D’Marco had control in the early portion of the match until Suarez started working over D’Marco’s arm and shoulder for awhile. Suarez would use D’Marco’s skateboard and a chair to work over D’Marco’s shoulder. D’Marco would eventually dropkick a skateboard deck in Donnie’s face. Suarez tested using a lighttube in the match, but D’Marco was able to avoid it. They wouldn’t use many weapons up until the last few moments of the match where D’Marco hit an awesome looking dropkick off the top rope, sending a skateboard deck into the face of Suarez. That shit was awesome. D’Marco, with the help of Nate Coy, brought what looked to be an old ass table found on the street into the ring. One of the table legs was broken too. The match ended in a draw after Suarez knocked himself out by putting D’Marco Wilson though the table that was set up in the corner with a variation of a uranage. Both guys had to be helped out of the ring.
This was a good match. It had some good psychology, but D’Marco’s selling of Suarez’s arm work could’ve been a better. There were also some moments where one of the guys would be standing around for seconds waiting for the other guy to do his spot. That’s not just something they do, it’s something nearly everyone in professional wrestling on all levels does, and it always looks bad. This needs to change! I also felt the match would’ve been way better had it been 5 minutes shorter, as it went about 20. Aside from that shit, this was a good match. I recommend checking it out.
Mariachi Loco vs. Eli Everfly
Lots of Lucha shit, pinning sequences, and arm drags to start off the match. Mariachi Loco also danced. The fat masked goof who wears the Comic Con vest was at ringside for this. Mariachi Loco controlled the early portions of the match until Eli made a comeback. Eli botched an Asai Moonsault attempt, but was able to recover nicely to hit the move on a second attempt. Eli would begin working over Mariachi Loco until Mariachi Loco did a comeback of his own. The finishing stretch of the match saw both guys hitting clots on each other, then the goofball masked manager distracted the referee, and Eli blinded Mariachi Loco with green mist. Eli hit some moves, including a standing reverse rana after spring boarding off the ropes on Mariachi Loco. Eventually Mariachi Loco got the win by rolling him into a cradle pin after hitting Eli with a superkick to the dick after Eli went for some springboard move. This was a good lucha style match with cool spots and stuff.
FCW Heavyweight Championship Match: B-Boy (c) vs. Cara De Leon
Man, Cara De Leon’s gear might be the worst looking gear in SoCal. His mask doesn’t look like a lion. It looks like a blackface mask with a Josh Koscheck wig glued on it. Cara De Leon also had two entrances for some reason. I imagine the music guy was fucking up because 4 and a half fucking minutes for B-Boy to make his entrance from the time Cara De Leon made his first entrance. Holy fucking shit, SCWA, way to waste everyone’s fucking time.
Now for the match. Cara De Leon tried to do shit like dropkicks and stuff, but B-Boy was having none of that shit and would deliver punches and shit on him for awhile. Cara De Leon would eventually hit a tope suicida to get some control, but B-Boy ended up countering Cara De Leon’s offense and started working him over during the mid portion of the match, including delivering some stiff chops on Cara De Leon, and would work over his neck. Cara De Leon would make an eventual comeback after countering a suplex attempt by B-Boy and would begin to get some offense in, and eventually both guys would exchange strikes before doing a double KO spot before getting back to this feet. B-Boy hit a cool move that I can only describe as a Fireman’s Carry into a Lungblower. The finish saw B-Boy deliver a sick piledriver on Cara De Leon on the ring apron, and after Cara De Leon kicked out, B-Boy finished him with a Tiger Driver ’98. This was a really good match, but I feel like it could’ve been better had been shorter like several other matches on the show.
Scorpio Sky vs. Danny Limelight
This started out with thumb wrestling. I’m not joking. Sky and Limelight were thumb wrestling in the ring. After that they started playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. Finally after about 7 minutes of entrances and fucking around, we get a match. Some people who were in attendance at this show were telling me about how they thought it was unnecessary cause of how long the show was running. More on that later. As for the match, it was was good. Sky’s performance was good as usual, and Limelight didn’t look stupid or sloppy as he usually does, although the climbing the rafter to deliver an elbow on Sky looked like a stupid spot. Later in the match, there was a spot where Limelight went for a 450 Splash, but landed on his feet after Sky moved, and Sky hit a flying knee on him.
The match ended when Eric Watts ran in and attacked Sky. Danny Limelight handed Watts a chair as he was beating up Sky until Douglas James made the save. For some reason, the match was ruled a “no contest” even though Sky was the one attacked. The match was alright, Sky was really good in it, but the finish was stupid. I know it was meant to set up the main event for their next show, but I really just didn’t care. This show is starting to feel overbooked now too.
Resurexxion Rumble Match
A lot of you might already know about this infamous match, or might’ve seen the video I made while I was really stoned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vZAHayKhk8
Yes, this is that match that made Douglas James into a SoCal Folk Hero. A lot of things have been said about what happened in this match. Supposedly the guys with questionable credibility were only going to work each other and none of the other wrestlers in the match. What happened after that and before the match itself depends on who you talk to. In the match, Douglas James basically took these guys to task and tried to see what they were made of.
They weren’t made of much.
But really, let’s talk about the real problem with this match. In the days after this match, a lot had been said on social media by wrestlers, fans, the promoters of SCWA, and even the guys who were in this match had things to say, some even claiming that they’ve had some training in the past. I don’t know if these guys are full of shit or telling the truth, but it was painfully obvious that the guys who looked bad in the ring with Douglas James didn’t belong on a show that was advertising professional wrestling with legitimate pro wrestlers on the card. What SCWA did was put the integrity of legitimately trained professionals booked on this show at risk, and also could’ve put other wrestlers’ safety at risk. SCWA promoters have claimed they won’t be using these guys again, but who knows if they’ll stick to their word. Only time will tell.
With that said, let’s get to the match.
Order of entry:
1. Douglas James, 2: Some white dude who came out the the Offspring’s “Pretty Fly For A White Guy”, had no real ring gear, and pushed some guy for faking him out on a high five, 3: Some black guy who didn’t have real ring gear and came out to “You’re The Best Around” from the original Karate Kid soundtrack, 4: Some 16 year old kid with no gear and was a camera man earlier on in the show, 5: Some fat, middle aged goof who entered the match in his underwear, 6: Riki De La Paz, 7: Another fat goof with no ring gear and shitty face paint, 8: Some goof in a mask and no gear, 9: Some green haired goof who (surprise, surprise) had no ring gear, 10: Human Tornado, 11: V-Pacalypse, 12: Oso Loco, 13: Nate Coy, 14: Mariah Moreno, 15: Osiris Mittens, 16: Hoss Hogg, 17: Ruben Iglesias, 18: Damien Soul, 19: Darwin Finch, 20: Oso Blanco, 21: Biagio Crescenzo, 22: Adrian Quest, 23: Sean Black, 24: Terex, 25: Eric Watts, 26: Othello
I’m gonna review this match in two parts. The first part will be about Douglas James vs. the Goof Squad, and the other part will be about the legitimately trained guys in the match. To view another angle of this match, check out this video from FanDeLucha on Youtube.
Part 1:
The first goof in the ring with Douglas couldn’t handle an opening sequence where he took a dropkick. The guy fell on the floor for a minute and didn’t want to do anything. He seriously looked like he was sandbagging Douglas James. The second goof in the ring was sorta better than the first goof, but that’s not saying much. He almost fell on Douglas when Douglas went for a suplex, and Douglas ended up landing a stiff senton on him. A third goof, who was a 16 year old backyarder with no ring gear, entered the match and did the Chong Li from Bloodsport point to Douglas when he entered the ring. He got dropkicked really hard in the face at 7:18 by Douglas. It was awesome. The fourth goof who entered the match had no gear. He was in underwear. Riki De La Paz was the only legitimately trained wrestler who entered the ring when Douglas was dealing with the Goof Squad. The fat guy in his underwear spent most of his time in the match trying to hide his gut.
The The fifth goof who entered was really fat and did the Ultimate Warrior rope shake. He was the worst. Now, I’ve never trained to be a pro wrestler, but I’m willing to bet that I could bump better than he can. Yes, I’m saying that. Fuck you if you’re upset about it. The sixth goof who entered the ring couldn’t even do a standard opening chain wrestling sequence. Douglas ended up giving him a soccer kick to the head before eliminating him. The last of the Goof Squad, who was some green haired goof with no wrestling gear aside from shin pads, took some kicks from Douglas James in the corner, and then was worked over by Douglas and Human Tornado. Green Haired Goof tried doing shit with Douglas James, but he botched shit, so Douglas tried to toss him. The Green Haired Goof kept holding onto the bottom, but Douglas James ended up tickling him to get the Green Haired Goof to let go of the rope to get eliminated. After that, the match began to feature guys who are actually booked on shows and have ring gear. Now onto part two of this match review.
Part 2:
So now we have a typical “Royal Rumble” style battle royal. It was full of shit that wasn’t worth caring about. You ever seen a battle royal or a Royal Rumble? that’s what the second half of this shit was. Some guys did some neat stuff at some points in the match, but after the infamous Douglas James vs. The World portion of the match, there was nothing worth caring about in this. The entry times in this match were very inconsistent. At some points, one guy would come out 10 seconds after the last entrant entered the ring, and other times there’d be four minutes between entries. I honestly wanted to stop watching this shit at several points, but I actually watched the whole thing because I have to for review purposes. The match came down to Douglas James and Eric Watts. They did stuff. Douglas eliminated Watts, but Danny Limelight was distracting the referees, so they didn’t see the elimination. While the referees didn’t see it, the live commentators were talking about how Watts was eliminated and the referees didn’t see it. Apparently the referees who were on this show are deaf. This was the worst Dusty Finish I’ve ever seen in wrestling.
After the match, Douglas James was being beat up by Watts and Limelight until Scorpio Sky made the save. Because elf this, the main event for the next show is going to be Watts and Limelight vs. Sky and James. End of show.
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned earlier in the Sky/Limelight match, there was shit I was going to address. I spoke to several people who attended this event, and they had the same complaints about the length of the show and how the event went past midnight. By the time the Sky/Limelight match started, the fans already sat through more than two hours of show, and had a Battle Royal after it, so this was going long for the people in attendance, which is never a good thing. The undercard of a show with a Battle Royal type match should either be full of short matches, or have a limited amount of matches on it. Nobody wants to sit through all that. Another problem with the show was the live commentary. It was pretty annoying and distracting. Honestly, live commentary at shows is the worst.
Matches like Quest/Coy, Suarez/Wilson, Everfly/Mariachi Loco, B-Boy/Cara De Leon were really good, and the tag match was also good. Those matches could’ve been the undercard for the show before the Battle Royal main event and the show could’ve probably been better. You could tell from watching the show on Youtube that it dragged on too long. The structure of the card and booking of the matches really hurt the show overall. which is a shame as the matches I had mentioned in this paragraph were all really good, and the later matches could’ve had a better crowd if they hadn’t sat through a long show.
I won’t even go on about Douglas James’ infamous moment in the main event. Everyone’s talked about it to death. All that needs to be really said is whoever booked that shit didn’t think things through. The show overall wasn’t bad, but the people running SCWA need to shorten their shows. Aside from that, Quest/Coy, Suarez/Wilson, Everfly/Mariachi Loco, and B-Boy/Cara De Leon are all worth checking out.
