Taking a look at OCCW’s Cage Match 3 on January 12th, 2019, featuring Danny Limelight vs. Amazing Junior. Plus a lot of bad wrestling.
In 2017, I reviewed OCCW Cage Match.
In 2018, I reviewed OCCW Cage Match II.
Now in 2019, I review OCCW Cage Match 3. Oh boy.
After 20 minutes of nothing, Joey “The Bull” Santana introduced the dude who runs the American Legion Post #716. The dude entered the ring and talked for several moments before the national anthem played. 26 minutes into the video, Joey The Bull says the first match is a handicap match. He was then interrupted by Othello and Marcus Fray. Then John De La O got in the ring. They did an angle about Othello being injured and vacating the title. John rambled and at some points was incoherent. Everything about this angle sucked. There were a lot of audio problems with the mic too. What a way to start the show!
La Raza, Alexander Vega and Freddy Flores, entered the ring and cut a promo about not being on the show. John De La O then got on the mic and yelled about them not selling tickets. Yup. After John’s tirade, he booked them in a match against each other in an attempt to break them up or something.
Alexander Vega vs. Freddy Flores
The match started off with some chain wrestling, which was followed by an exchange of strikes. They honestly made Mr. California look like Misawa by comparison. So the match went on and the pace was about as intense as a snail race. It felt like they tried to have an epic match with all these big spots and false finishes. Instead, it came off like a shitty independent wrestling match. Mostly because it was a shitty independent wrestling match. The finish saw La Raza leave the cage at the same time, resulting in a no contest.
After the match, Joey The Bull handed the mic to some guy in a suit as he got in the ring. The guy got on the mic and basically pointed out to the audience how John failed at trying to break up La Raza. Nothing screams “PROFESSIONAL” like having some random guy on a microphone point out how the babyface authority figure is stupid.
Camacho vs. Alan Amos vs. Malkor
Malkor came out to a remixed version of Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls.” Does this mean he’s MDK Gang Affiliated? Camacho is some type of 90s cholo with scene kid hair. Some guy in the crowd then clowned him for it. Alan Amos looks like a skinny teenager with no real gimmick. Malkor pretty much destroyed both guys in the opening moments of the match. The two smaller workers ganged up on Malkor and eventually went at it. I don’t believe in God or religion, but I converted to Christianity during this match just so I can say this: My God their sequence was terrible. Those kids should not be performing in a ring. Malkor got the win. I felt so bad for Malkor. He sorta deserves better than this.
Voodoo Master vs. Vintage Dragon
Before the match, Joey The Bull did the extended intro full of random nicknames for Vintage Dragon. Nice to see Vintage Dragon stealing David Starr’s gimmick that he stole from Steve Corino. This was another bad match. There was almost no crowd heat for this one. Some people tried to chant and make noise, but for the most part, the crowd didn’t care about this. Vintage Dragon got the win. Nobody cared. They didn’t have any reason to though since this match sucked. Plus neither was really a clearcut heel or face.
Gold Coast Federation Championship Match: Danny Limelight (c) vs. Amazing Junior
Danny Limelight spent most of the match working as a heel, and Amazing Junior mounted comebacks. While this wasn’t necessarily a bad match as far as ring work, it dragged really badly. The character work from Danny Limelight really took me out of the match, as he spent too much time jawing with the crowd. It wasn’t bad, but it just felt like he was trying to fill time. Danny Limelight got the win after hitting a Spanish Fly off the top of the cage.
The spots in the match were good, but the way the match was structured made it seem like it would’ve been better if they cut five minutes from this. Despite that, the ring work was solid and the action was good. So far, this was the best match of the show. Amazing Junior is a guy who could break out and be a star if he ever worked more prolific shows. He deserves better than OCCW. Danny Limelight has improved and seems like he could get really good in a few years. More on them at the end of the review.
After the match, some dude got in the ring. He went to raise Danny’s hand and got a superkick instead. Danny got on the mic and cut a promo as his theme music was still playing over the sound system. He demanded a title shot, saying he was promised one if he won. As this was going on, the guy who got kicked left the ring without selling a thing. What a pro! There was a lot of standing around before John De La O cur a terrible promo saying he did promise him a title show, but instead, he put Danny in a battle royal at the next show. So basically, the babyface authority figure made the heel a sympathetic figure by lying to him and going back on his word. This angle was so terrible.
Max X w/ Freddy Hellmuth and Auntie Hydie vs. Daniel Moon
Even though they entered with Max X, Hellmuth and Hydie were nowhere to be found at ringside. Not that they were missed or anything, but it was just something I noticed. This was another match where the crowd was lifeless. They were dead when Max was doing heat spots. They didn’t really react much either when Daniel Moon mounted a comeback either. The ring work in this wasn’t very good. Daniel Moon seems to have regressed as a performer in the last year. He’s gotten really sloppy and doesn’t seem very polished. Max X was okay here, but the problem with this match was that it was super boring and should’ve gone shorter. The finish saw Daniel Moon beat Max X with a crossbody splash off the cage, which got a decent reaction front the crowd. But yeah, this match was bad.
Escape Only Match – Freddy Havoc vs. Freddy Hellmuth w/ Tony Raze
Tony Raze left ringside too during the match, but I didn’t care enough to notice at first. The fans were behind Havoc in this match. I was told he had a lot of his friends and family members in attendance, along with Gustin Uberstud. The match started off with Hellmuth and Havoc fighting on the floor before entering the ring. Havoc had an advantage and got some offense early in the match. Then Hellmuth mounted a comeback. Both guys used a Singapore Cane on each other multiple times. Freddy Havod got some color as the match went on. Havoc got the win after escaping the cage. This sucked a lot. It was boring and the ring work was very bad.
OCCW Tag Team Championship Match: Team Exodus (Tony Raze & Bulletproof) (c) w/ Auntie Hydie & Max X vs. Mikey O’Shea & Azrael
When you look at Bulletproof, the first thing that comes to mind is that he looks like a bootleg Roman Reigns. He even had some fans rag on him for it. I don’t follow OCCW, so I had no idea Azrael was a babyface. Nobody gave a shit about this match for the most part. There was about as much heat as Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska for the majority of it. They were into Mikey’s hot tag sequence though. Aside from Mikey’s burst of offense, this match sucked. Exodus got the win to retain the titles. They’re like a collection of the worst examples of every negative stereotype about independent wrestlers rolled into one stable.
After the match, La Raza came out and everyone brawled. Hydie was so concerned for one of her stablemate that she stood around as he was involved in a fight when he needed help. Bravo!
OCCW Championship Match: Marcus Fray w/ Othello vs. Gustin Uberstud w/ Lois Grain doing some other gimmick
Gustin Uberstud had a lot of friends and family in attendance. This was my second time seeing Gustin. The first time I ever saw him was when he was Todd The Cheeseburger on an episode of Raw as part of No Way Jose’s conga line. This match was also bad. If Gustin and Marcus didn’t have their friends and family at the show, this would’ve gotten no heat. The ring work was pretty bad, and the storytelling was shitty. Gustin, who is a comedy character, got the win and became the new OCCW Champion. A comedy character is their top champion. Yup. That pretty much sums up OCCW right there.
Final Thoughts
I’ve reviewed all three OCCW’ “Cage Match” shows now. This show was just as bad as the other two, but mostly because the majority of the action was dull. With the exception of Danny Limelight vs. Amazing Junior, every match pretty much sucked. What was really interesting was how the booking of John De La O managed to make him look like a liar and an idiot. First there was the angle where he tried to screw over La Raza, but instead, they outsmarted him. Then there was the angle where he admitted to Danny Limelight, a heel, that he lied to him and screwed him out of a title show after promising him one if he won his match. Danny Limelight, the heel, comes off as sympathetic in this situation. None of this made sense!
The only upside of the show (besides the unintentional comedy that goes along with watching bad wrestling) was the Danny Limelight vs. Amazing Junior match. While it did drag for a bit and could’ve had some time trimmed, it was still the best thing on the show.
Danny Limelight has been building himself up on less prolific shows in SoCal during his comeback after going on a sabbatical from wrestling. I’ve watched a few of his matches, and honestly, I think if he can work on diversifying his move-set and improving his match structure, he’ll be someone the SoCal scene is talking about in 2020. He’s got the tools to be a really good performer, but he’s still got so much room to improve.
Amazing Junior is a guy who has been under-the-radar in SoCal for years, but he’s someone who would be blowing up in the wrestling business if he put himself out there. He can obviously work an in-ring style that is very popular among internet fans and can take him to another level in his career. I don’t know what the deal is with Amazing Junior, but the guy is way too good to be having his talent wasted in a place like OCCW.
As I said, their match dragged a bit, but it still had more upsides than anything else on the show. They had a fun sequence to start the match, and Danny Limelight was able to work the crowd, which is important for a show like this. The quality of the action was pretty good, and the finish was really cool.
I feel sorry for you fans in Orange County. OCCW is the only promotion that runs regularly there, and they always seem to put on awful shows like this one. I hope that in 2019 that a respectable promotion runs there more often. You fans in Orange County deserve so much better than this.
Do yourselves a favor and don’t watch this show.
