Each week, I’ll be reviewing Wrestling Society X’s show on MTV, which airs every Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m. along with WSXtra, which airs on wsx.mtv.com after the show airs on MTV. On Friday night, MTV aired a “sneak peak” of the first episode that was filmed on February 9, 2006, almost one year before this episode debuted on TV. On the debut episode, Matt Sydal, along with Lizzy Valentine, takes on Jack Evans in WSX’s debut match, and WSX holds a 10 Man Battle Royal Ladder match to determine which two wrestlers will be the first to have a chance to be crowned the first WSX Champion. On WSXtra, Luke Hawks, The Human Tornado, and Puma face off in a 3-Way Dance.
Wrestling Society X: Episode 1 (Sneak Preview Airdate: January 26, Official Debut Airdate: January 30)
-The show opens up with Kriss Kloss giving a quick rundown about what we’re going to be seeing this episode while footage of the event is played. After that, they do their opening video package with various wrestlers doing moves in an animated hallway. The show begins with Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society finishing up a song. For some reason, it looks like Zakk Wylde popped a zit on his forehead. After the preformence, Kriss Kloss and some guy named Bret Ernst welcome us, and rundown the matches for tonight. After that, Fabian Kaelin (a.k.a. GQ Money from XPW) starts to do the ring introductions. Fabian was running around the ring and screaming as if he were a three year old child after doing speed and drinking 10 cups of coffee. It’s pretty sad that the ring announcer for WSX has more charisma and energy than most of the wrestlers in the WWE or TNA.
Matt Sydal vs. Jack Evans
-Matt came out first, with his manager and college sweetheart, Lizzy Valentine (a.k.a. Valentina). Then Jack Evans is introduced next and he comes out of some random corner in the building, and starts doing flips before he enters th ring and his usual breakdance routine. The announcers did a good job at giving fans a backround on both guys during their entrances, which is something TNA has a hard time at doing. The match itself was what you would expect from these two. Fast paced action, with lots of highspots cramed into the short amount of time they were given. Sydal was able to take control during the begining of the match by countering a few of Jack’s moves. Jack hit a pretty nice Sasuke Special to the outside, and a standing Corkscrew Shooting Star Press that missed. Sydal then hit a Pumphandle Powerbomb type more, and then did his trademark standing moonsault onto Evans for a nearfall. Jack tried to get a comeback, but Lizzy Valentine grabbed him by the foot as he was running to the ropes. He ended up dragging her into the ring while being dragged to the middle of the ring by Sydal. He ended up falling and sat on Lizzy’s head, and jumped off her back and hit Sydal with a Tornado DDT and finished him off with a 630 from the top rope for the victory. Good match to get the fans into things. It’s obviously not going to please the wrestling purists, but I’m pretty sure that nothing on WSX will.
-After the match, there’s a quick highlight package shown, featuring various tag teams that will be featured on WSX this season.
-After a commercial break, Justin Credible cuts a quick promo about the WSX Rumble. After that, New Jack is shown backstage with Chris Hamrick. New Jack’s line was pure gold. “Tonight, your ass is going to get beat to death. Believe that, punk! You ain’t got no business in the ring with me!” He also shoved Hamrick during his line, and Hamrick ended up disapearing from the scene. That was better than anything that’s been on TV in the past 10 years. Then Teddy Hart cuts a quick promo, and Kaos walks up to Aaron Aguilera and tells him to stay focused while Aguilera is talking to the “mamacitas” on his cell phone.
10 Man WSX Rumble featuring Justin Credible, Teddy Hart, Kaos, Vampiro, Puma, Al Katrazz (w/ Luke), 6-Pac, Hamrick, New Jack, & Youth Suicide
-This was a 10 Man Battle Royal (not an 11 Man Battle Royal, as some “reporter” on another site claimed in his review) with tables, an electric fence, and a bed of livewires surrounding the ring and with two contracts for a shot at the WSX Championship hanging above the ring. During Teddy Hart’s entrance, you can see AWS owner Bart standing at ringside! This match was probably the most random match ever. That’s the best way I could describe this match. Teddy Hart no sold some stuff, which was pretty hilarious.The commetary was also funny at some points during the match. Bret Ernst talked about how 6-Pac was an original member of DX, and that they were badasses and that 6-Pac was a gentleman. After that, 6-Pac did what most men with gentlemanly behavior would do, and ended up giving someone a Bronco Buster. Zakk Wylde then mentioned how he did that with his wife everynight. Puma had the shortest run in this match. During the commercial break, he made his way into the match and went for a springboard crossbody, and ended up being caught by Vampiro and then chokeslamed to the outside through a table. After that, the bumps just kept coming.
Hamrick ends up being eliminated by flipping through a table after being hit by New Jack. New Jack goes to the outside and one of referees informs him that he’s been eliminated. New Jack throws the ref into the ring and hits him with a guitar. New Jack is already the best part of the season. New Jack starts to beat up on Hamrick again, sets him up on a table, and climbs up on a storage container. Luke ends up attacking Kaos while he was going at it with Al Katrazz, and hits a belly to back suplex on Kaos through a bed of livewires, setting off the first explosion on WSX. Right after that, New Jack jumps off the storage container and puts Hamrick through the table. Then, as if you couldn’t get enough of all the crazy bumps, Vampiro superkicks Al Katrazz off the ring apron, and sends him through a table. Youth Suicide enters, and the screen says that this was his first professional match. Yeah. Justin Credible ends up eliminating and the ladders are brought into the ring. Youth Suicide was the first to use the ladders, and tries to get the contract. He ends up being powerbombed by Vampiro off the ladder, and into a pile of thumbtacks. 6-Pac climbs the ladder and grabs the first contract. Youth Suicide tries to go for the other contract, and Justin Credible pushes the ladder and Youth Suicide ends up falling into the exploding cage that was set up at ringside. Vampiro and Justin Credible are the last two wrestlers left, and they both ended up climbing the ladder to get the final contract. 6-Pac tries to shake both guys off the ladder for some reason, but Vampiro grabs the other contract for the win. The match itself wasn’t great. It was pretty much all bumps and crazy explosions. Pretty much what WSX was aiming for. New Jack was the star of this match, from the prematch promos, all the way up to his dive on Hamrick.
-The show closes with a quick video preview of what’s to come this season. After that, Vampiro and 6-Pac start to go at it, and 6-Pac hits a dive onto Vampiro as the show ends.
WSXtra: Episode 1
-WSXtra opens up with a highlight package featuring various clips of WSX matches. The show is hosted by Lacey (of Ring Of Honor) and Fabian Kaelin, who is calm and isn’t running around and screaming. They introduce a recap video, highlighting all the highspots from the matches that aired on the first episode of WSX. After that, the video profiles for various WSX wrestlers are played, showcasing the wrestlers’ trademark moves and give the fans some information on them. After that, the first WSXtra match is shown.
The Human Tornado vs. Puma vs. Luke Hawk
-This match was a basic Three Way Dance, with one guy going out at various points in the match while the other two go at it. Tornado was the most over wrestler in the match, even when he wasn’t doing anything. Tornado hit his trademark over the top rope Tope Con Hilo, nearly landing in the crowd and landing on his feet. Tornado and Puma went at it after the dive, with Luke staying on the outside until he jumped in the ring to break up a pinfall. After that, Puma and Luke went at it while Tornado took another break in the match. Luke went inside the ring after whipping Puma in a guardrail and went at it with Tornado for awhile. The action between Luke and Tornado was really fun, with Luke playing the cocky heel, and Tornado playing the underdog. The action was a bit one sided for awhile with Luke getting the advantage, but Tornado was able to comeback and even things up. Luke countered a superkick attempt and hit Tornado with a sitout powerbomb on Tornado. Luke went to the top rope to go for a move, but Puma made his way back into the ring and hit him from behind with a dropkick that sent Luke to the outside. Tornado hit Puma with his double spinning enziguiri, and hit a 180 Twisting Senton Splash from the top rope on Puma to get the win. This match was well paced, and the best match from the first week of WSX. Tornado played his role really well, and the crowd was really into him.
-After the match, Lacey and Fabian mention how Luke was upset about losing the match, and challenged Tornado to a match next week on WSX. They also build up the WSX Title match between Vampiro and 6-Pac to close out the show.
Overall, the first week was alright. The Luke/Puma/Tornado Three Way on WSXtra was the best match of the week, with Sydal/Evans in second. The biggest problem I had with the shows were all the crowd shots. The camera shaking during the explosions were also lame. Kriss Kloss was better on commentary than he was in XPW, but that Bret Ernst guy didn’t really add much to the matches. As I mentioned before, wrestling purists will most likely hate this. I can see casual wrestling fans getting into the shows when they see the highspots. Not a bad start for WSX, hopefully the episodes from the November tapings are better when it comes to the production of the show than the pilot episodes.
