XPW returned to the Grand Olympic Auditorium on July 7th for Rapture. Once again my expectations were not very high for the show. In the 3 shows previous to this one XPW has delivered one good show, one awful show, and one show I consider average. And the announced card for Rapture didn’t really have me drooling with anticipation.
With an attendance of about 700 the show starts off. Larry Rivera and Kris Kloss come to the ring to introduce the show. While doing their introduction Mr. 80’s Dynamite D comes to the ring as Sgt. Slaughter. Sgt. D orders the show under way and so Rapture begins.
Rob Black and Lizzy Borden hit the ring. Rob cuts a promo about god only knows what. You would think after 2 years Black would have improved somewhat in cutting promos. Rob calls out Vampiro and the Insane Clown Posse. Vampiro and ICP make it to the ring and Rob Black orders the security to guard the entranceway so no Black Army members can get to the ring as a show of faith. Violent J was about the only one in the bunch who should be allowed any mic time. Rob Black asked Vamp and the Clowns to join him, they decided not to so Black Army comes from under the ring and from the crowd and jumps ICP and Vampiro. Pogo the Clown comes out and attacks everyone. He then gets on the mic and challenges ICP to a fight after saying “fuck” several dozen times. Messiah and Vampiro is on for later in the show.
Mexico’s Most Wanted [Damien 666 & Halloween] and Tokyo Gurentai [NOSAWA & Kikuzawa] goes to a double pin.
I expected this to be the match of the show. It wasn’t but it came in second. Overall a pretty decent match. I can’t really call it good but everyone’s effort was solid, even though Damien looked a little rough at times. The match had no psychology to it what so ever. The finish was one guy from each team getting pinned then the ref running out without announcing a winner. Great XPW booking at work again.
White Trash Johnny Webb defeated Steve Rizzono
This match was just about what I expected from these guys. Webb got his ass kicked pretty much the entire match then he ended up winning. Nothing really went on during the match. Forgettable at best.
Lady Victoria defeated Angel in a West Hollywood Street Fight
For those who don’t know, Lady Victoria is a girl. Angel is a guy… kinda. A West Hollywood Street Fight is the same as a bra and panties match. The object is to strip your opponent to their bra and panties. This match was pretty entertaining and Angel was hilarious as ever. However when Lady Victoria won an image was burned into my mind that will haunt me for the rest of my young life. Angel wearing almost nothing is a scary site. Overall a good comedy spot, not much of a match to it.
Major Gunns and Lizzy Borden goes to no contest
This was supposed to be a no interference match so Lizzy Borden handcuffs all the members of the Black Army to the guardrails surrounding the ring. After some running around Lizzy and Gunns start to catfight. Then Rob Black and an Asian woman hit the ring and the Asian woman proceeds to destroy Major Gunns. All of the sudden the sound system blasts Enter Sandman by Metallica. The crowd is on its feet. The Sandman has made his XPW debut. Once the Sandman appears the crowd begins to chant “ECW” ironically enough. Sandman begins to cane everyone and saves Major Gunns. They share a beer and its time for intermission.
During intermission Sandman was selling autographed canes for $40.00. Intermission dragged on a good 25 minutes, which is about 15 minutes too long in my opinion.
Sandman defeats Vic Grimes
This match was a pretty decent short match. Sandman brought a ladder to the ring and they did a couple minor spots with it. Grimes brought a guardrail to the ring. They placed the guardrail on the ring and over to the other guard rail and Sandman suplexed Grimes on to it in a pretty cool spot. Sandman got the pin then he and Major Gunns drank more beer.
New Jack defeated Kronus and Homeless Jimmy in a 3 way dance
Lots of weapons in this match. No one, and I mean no one has the art of beating people with stuff down like New Jack. His mannerisms are classic. Lots of violence in this match. New Jack ended up winning but I don’t remember how. Very entertaining, but if you don’t hardcore wrestling, you wouldn’t have enjoyed this. By the way New Jack did a suplex in this match. That’s right, I said New Jack and suplex. Amazing.
Kaos defeated Supreme in a deathmatch
This was by far the match of the night. The match started off with some pretty good wrestling by both men and actually built up to the hardcore stuff. As soon as Supreme took a sick bump through a table full of light bulbs it turned into a a very good deathmatch. I prefer technical wrestling over hardcore any day of the week, but I can appreciate a good deathmatch. I felt this deathmatch was better then the one between Kaos and Webb at Redemption. Rizzono and company came out and set up a burning table spot. This is where the match took a turn for the worst. For starters Veronica Caine had no idea what she was doing. Way too much lighter fluid was used on the table. The Supreme was put through the table face first. Not all of the lighter fluid could burn up before he went through so of course it got on his clothes and he was therefore set on fire. That’s when the stupidest thing I have ever seen take place in wrestling went down. Instead of putting out Supreme as he ran around on fire, the security guard with the fire extinguisher put out the table first. Supreme was on fire at least 15 to 20 seconds. He was badly burned on his chest and arms. He laid on the ground in shock for about 5 to 10 minutes before he was taken out by paramedics. When they stretchered him out you could see he was burned very badly. I have nothing against these extreme spots that are being done. The wrestlers are the ones who choose to do it. I just think they should do a better job of planning. I mean why was that guy putting out the table before Supreme? That made zero sense. Also as Supreme lay there waiting to be taken to the hospital some XPW fans showed why XPW has the reputation they do by yelling out things like “I hope you die”, “Anyone for BBQ”, “I smell bacon”, among other things. Very disgraceful.
Messiah defeated Vampiro and Sabu to retain the XPW title
After the match got underway Sabu runs out and joins in. The match was pretty sloppy overall as Messiah did the best job of the three. Sabu is past his prime and it was obvious Vampiro is not at 100%. Messiah got the pin on Sabu. Black Army comes out and starts the beatdown, and guess what. The Sandman comes out for the save. Wouldn’t it have been better for Sandman to debut now rather then earlier in the show? Just a thought.
Overall the show was a little better than the last XPW show, Redemption but still had lots of shortcomings. It says something about the promotion when the loudest chant of the night is “ECW”. Still, at least they have improved over the last 2 shows so they are at least going the right direction.
