Orange County’s only pro wrestling promotion, OCCW, held a show with nothing but cage matches on April 22nd, 2017 and posted it on YouTube. In this review, I take a look at OCCW and what they have to offer. Plus a special bonus at the end for everyone.
Before the show starts, the guy who runs the Legion got in the ring and did a trivia contest for kids, with the prize being a coloring book about the American flag. Then they played a shitty rock version of the national anthem over the PA. This is pretty much indy wrestling at its most indy.
Luis Tapia vs. Heidi
When I saw Heidi, my first thought was that she was how bad and unconvincing her generic crazy girl gimmick was. Not only was her gimmick bad, but she had no real gear. Just black dress pants, a white dress shirt, suspenders, a tie, and smeared eyeliner. She also did a lot of crazy rambling. The first two minutes of this match were the laziest two minutes of pro wrestling I had ever seen in my life. The entire match was pretty slow and boring. It really wasn’t well structured either. Heidi just went from move to move, with some bad crowd work thrown in, and Tapia moved around the ring very lethargically. I felt like I was watching a backyard-caliber match here. There was a very sloppy Powerbomb off the corner by Heidi on Tapia. The only decent looking move in the match was a Chokeslam by Heidi, and thankfully it was the finish. After she pinned Tapia, she let out a stupid witch cackle and started to choke Tapia before patting him. She also teased hitting him with some walking cane that she entered with, but threw it down and left with it. Good Lord this was bad. I don’t want to hear or see any excuses for this match. It had no redeeming qualities.
Prior to the next match, Party Time (Jay Baker & Guy Cool) entered the ring and announced that they were now in a stable with Sean Black. Seabass also kept fucking around at ringside. That dude must’ve been on some shit.
Sean Black vs. Freddy Flores vs. Seabass
For the opening portion of the match, Seabass just fucked around at ringside some more, while Sean Black and Freddy Flores went at it in the ring. Sean Black hit a standing moonsault, which didn’t look bad, and Flores hit a decent Michinoku Driver before Seabass entered the match. He tried to go after Flores, but wound up taking a suplex instead, which made for a funny comedy spot. At one point in the match, Black went to the middle rope, and Seabass ended up giving him a German Suplex off it, which was an okay looking spot. Seabbass would go for an elbow drop off the top rope, but missed. Sean Black won after hitting a double spear. This match was decent. Seabass was the best part of the match, as he was entertaining. Sean Black had a nice standing moonsault, but aside from that, there was nothing special about this match.
Mikey O’Shea vs. Azreal
This is like the 35235th time the name “Azreal” has been used in indy wrestling. I’m not sure what his gimmick is supposed to be. I’m guessing he’s some self-hating ginger who likes to yell at fans? Azreal attacked Mikey during his entrance outside of the ring, and they brawled for a bit. Azreal hit a DDT on the floor and an elbow drop off the ring apron, and Mikey suplexed Azreal outside of the ring before going inside the ring to actually start the match. Azreal wasn’t really that bad in this. He hit some decent moves and took some decent bumps. There was a hilarious moment where Azreal tried to do a catapult on Mikey, but Mikey struggled to get up and still went through with the spot even though it was pretty much an abortion. Mikey won after hitting Azreal with a modified Muscle Buster, followed by a Tumbleweed Senton from the top rope. This match was ok at best. Nothing bad, but nothing good either.
OCCW Tag Team Championship Match: Party Time (Guy Cool & Jay Baker) (c) vs. Divine Intervention (Damien Soul & Freddy Hellmuth)
Out of all the workers in this match, Guy Cool was by far the most polished and had the best showing. Everyone else was, at best, okay. Jay Baker seems like he needs more work. Divine Intervention aren’t the worst guys I’ve ever seen, but they weren’t really good. They did some decent spot,s but overall they’re two guys who look like what every negative stereotype of an indy wrestler looks like: an average Joe in trash bag gear. I’ll get into this topic later. Like I said, this match wasn’t very bad. Party Time were entertaining in this. Divine Intervention got the win to become the new OCCW Tag Team Champions. Again, Guy Cool was the best worker in this match, and he had a decent performance in this match.
Post match shenanigans: The OCCW Heavyweight Champion Angel Ateu and Heidi came out to join Divine Intervention to celebrate. They honestly looked like total geeks int he ring when they were out there. Angel Ateu cut a promo and introduces a kid named Daniel who had cancer the last time he went to OCCW, and now he’s cancer free, to which the crowd gave him a well earned standing ovation. During this, some drunk guy tried to play fight with Daniel during this serious moment by throwing pretend elbows, which was pretty amusing and fucked up at the same time. After that, Angel Ateu called himself the “Lord Ateu” and took credit for his cancer’s remission. Even though this was in poor taste for people with morals, this was a good heel promo by wrestling standards.
Tony Raze vs. King Favi (w/ Nicolette)
Fun story, I went to Bellator 106 at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center. It was originally supposed to be headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Rampage Jackson, but the fight fell through. Michael Chandler defended the Bellator Lightweight Championship against Eddie Alvarez, and it was fucking awesome. Anyways, before the event, I was dealing with a ticket issue and was waiting to pick mine up at the special Will Call area since they were comps. As I’m waiting for the Bellator people to get things together, I saw a familiar looking face in an ugly Affliction shirt and spiky hair,. Turned out, it was King Favi. I didn’t say anything to him cause it would’ve been awkward.
Anyways, Favi came out with some girl who looks she was trying to be the third Bella Twin. Favi had a “Perros Del Mal” patch on his entrance gear. There was a “Build The Wall” chant. Ugh. Favi got color early into the match. By early, I mean about a minute in. At 1:15:20 in the video, you can see him looking for a blade or blood capsule in his write tape. You could also see him trying to give himself color too. Part of me thought it was a blood capsule, as Favi doesn’t get any real juice. Tony Raze might’ve done a legit blade job, but who knows, or even cares. At 1:20:00, Favi tried to take a backdrop from Tony Raze or something, and they ended up botching their spot. This was a slow comedy brawl between two fat guys. Nicolette was the best part of the match, as she played her role as a valet well trying to get the match into this. Now I know what I’m about to say is sacrilege in the world of professional wrestling, but I’ll flat out say it: I would’ve been able to have put on a performance of a better pro wrestling match than these guys, and I’m not even trained. Nicolette got in the cage to try to help Favi, but he accidentally took her out. Then, Pinky came out to Papa Roach’s “Last Resort” for some reason, and then attacked Tony Raze. The ended up being a no contest.
Post match shenanigans: Pinky and Favi beat up on Tony Raze for awhile until some guy named John Malice attacked them with a chair. After that, Tony Raze got on the mic and challenged Favi and Pinky to a match. Favi accepted a challenge for a normal tag match. Malice got on the mic and told Favi to go back over the wall. Classy. Malice says he won’t get in the ring anytime soon, Raze asks the crowd if they want to see him back, and then caves in. This wasn’t a bad segment, but the match was pretty fucking awful.
OCCW Heavyweight Championship Match: Angel Ateu (c) vs. Rudy Rodgers
My first impression of Rudy was that he looked like he could be the Young Bucks’ Matt Jackson’s mini. Seriously, he could legally be a midget. This match wasn’t all that bad. It was decently structured and had a real story with Rudy trying to overcome the odds (doesn’t that sound original) and overcome Ateu’s size with some pretty decent offense. Rudy also bumped well and wasn’t awful at working submissions in this either. Ateu wasn’t great, but he showed signs of being capable of being a good worker someday, and Rudy seems to have lots of potential to be a solid worker in the SoCal area. The only real moment that made me think this was bad was a really sloppy looking Pepsi Plunge attempt, but it’s hard to shit on them when they were working in such a confined space. I’d really like to see how well they’d improve if they hit up the Santino Bros. Wrestling Academy. The crowd was overwhelmingly behind Rudy here too. Rudy got the win to become the OCCW Champion after hitting a splash off the top of the cage and pining Ateu. This was decent, and the overall best match of the night.
Final Thoughts
You know, there are so many different types of music. Pop, rock, hip-hop, blues, country, electronic, and more. While all music is different, it doesn’t mean it can’t be judged based on its genre. Anyone can listen to Attack Attack’s “Stick Stickly” or Rebecca Black’s “Friday” and know they’re bad songs. On the flip side, anyone can listen to “If I Ruled The World” by Nas and “Flight Of Icarus” by Iron Maiden and think they’re both amazing songs, despite being different types of music aimed at different audiences.
In professional wrestling, people always try to make the excuse that if someone finds a match or show bad, that it’s because that particular match/show is not aimed at them, and this, should be immune to any criticism. I call bullshit on that. Pro wrestling is pro wrestling, and much like music, it can be judged, enjoyed, or hated no matter who it is meant to appeal to. With that said, OCCW isn’t a promotion geared towards me, and that is fine, but at the same time that doesn’t mean I can’t look at with a critical opinion on what looked bad and what looked good. If this were a show put on in front of an audience that goes to AWS or FCW shows, this wouldn’t be a hit as the skill levels aren’t that great for most of the roster here. I made mention about the gear some of these workers had. Look, I know everyone can’t get or afford high-end gear, but some of the stuff these workers were wearing made them look really awful. In Heidi’s case, she didn’t even have real ring gear, just men’s dress clothes. Some workers on the show like Sean Black, Guy Cool, and Rudy Rodgers had decent gear. I know it seems like a dumb thing to harp on about, but workers in SoCal need to realize that if they invest in their looks more (as well as their training) that they’ll be taken more seriously and get looked at more. Unless you can work like Kevin Steen/Owens, you’re not going to be able to pull off the shirt/shorts look no matter who you are.
The main event was the best match of the show, and O’Shea vs. Azreal was acceptable. Same goes for the triple threat match. Rudy Rodgers and Angel Ateu should hit up the Santino’s school, as I think they’d really improve if they did so. Guy Cool had a good showcase as well. Everything and everyone else though, yeah. I will give OCCW credit. They were running against Maverick Pro and PCW, both had bigger names and better looking lineups, and drew a better crowd than them. The show was also entertaining for what it was. Of course the action won’t be on part with the majority of promotions here in SoCal, but this was a neat little look at something different. They also didn’t produce the worst match in SoCal that weekend. What was the worst match on that weekend you might ask?
Louie Louie vs. Super Estrella from RIW in East Los Angeles, CA
This match was abysmal. Anyime I see Louie Louie, I start to hate professional wrestling again. That guy is just awful in so many ways. The most notable moments in this match occur at 2:20 when they had an abortion of an opening segment, the Kick Of Death at 3:40, Louie Louie missing a senton at 4:17 and the reaction it got from FanDeLucha, and the worst finishing sequence ever at 6:00. This match was truly awful, and deserves to be rated -*****.
