Column II - 27 / 10 / 00

Column 2 and it's review time...

I have decided that my opinion is as valid as the next guy (unless the next guy is Barry Norman in which case I would put him through a flaming table!) so to this end I shall review a few things I have watched over my time as a fan. Firstly I am going to review a tape not many of you will have seen, X-treme Pro Wrestling's Baptism by Blood. OK, any of you guys who have seen the 1994 IWA King of the Deathmatch tape, starring Cactus Jack, Terry Funk, Leartherface, Tiger Jeet Singh and Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy will get the idea for this event. For those not lucky enough to have witnessed this then here is the general idea, starting with eight men put them into a tournament which pits them in singles competition but each match contains some "fun" extras. These extras come in the shape of boards of barbed wire, beds of nails glass and the like and the winner of each match is allowed to continue in the tournament to get the shit ripped out of them again. Right so that is the idea behind the event and the IWA version was deemed a classic of the wrestling world so I stuck the tape in with great excitement and a passion to have my hardcore persona fully satisfied and I guess I wasn't disappointed.The card starts off OK and the staging looks good (so it's not WWF or even WCW but for the second card they made it look good). They introduce the card and the concept well enough, followed by a couple of faces most wrestling fans will recognise. Chris Candido and Tammy Sych, who have worked as themselves in ECW and as Skip and Sunny in WWF, come to the ring to challenge the XPW Champ Damien Steele to a title match, which is arranged for later in the card. We are then into the tournament proper, now to me most of the wrestlers are new, a few have worked for other feds most notably Axl Rotten and Kronus who have worked for ECW. The Eight wrestlers who are in the tournament are Supreme, Messiah, Carlos Montana, Homeless Jimmy, Kid Kaos, Kronus, Axl Rotten and "White Trash" Johnny Webb. The Tournament.Basically four first round matches which sees 2 of the 8 wrestlers in singles matches and a few props in the ring. If you have seen the WWF hell in the cell matches or the street fight at this years Royal Rumble (2000) then this is going to be a huge shock, yes it's the same kind of principle, a few gimmick weapons around the ring but XPW go much further. The list below is the list of stuff used in the matches.Bed of Nails hung on the corner posts.Boards covered in Barbed WireBarbed wire topped LadderBeds of Drawing PinsBeds of light bulbsBarbed wire wrapped axe handlesPanes of glassPlus in the final the ropes are replaced with barbed wire as well as all the above!!As I have already said this is not the WWF and they use all these to the highest degree. The matches are not "wrestling" matches they are just crazy bump to crazy bump, saying that it is quite interesting to watch. In the same way every one slows down to look at an accident on the motorway you cannot stop watching the XPW Deathmatch tournament.The wrestlers at XPW may have put there lives on the line for this and the amount of blood that is shed would make an episode of Casualty look like a particularly tame edition of Blue Peter but is it entertainment, well yes it kicks ass! To steal from ECW "it's not for everyone" and many people probably wouldn't get past the first few matches (especially Carlos Montana being backdropped onto a bed of lightbulbs and not even wearing any top). Amongst all this deathmatch action there are guest appearances by Mustafa from the gangsters in ECW and Shane Douglas (who was still under contract to WCW at the time). Douglas produces a great performance and works the crowd very well. There was also the XPW title match mentioned earlier between Damien Steele and Chris Candido, both guys work well in the match but it seems lacking somehow. The lack of interest in this match is probably because of the kind of matches which have come before on the card, the two wrestlers take the fight all over the arena but cannot hope to live up to the bloodlust created by the deathmatches before it. So the bottom line…is it any good? If you like deathmatches or just want to give a new Fed a break then give it a go. If however you don't think that getting a face full of drawing pins and then slammed into a pane of glass is big or clever then give it a wide berth.XPW-it's definitely not for everyone!XPW Baptism in Blood is not commercially available in the UK you may be able to order it from the official XPW web site (http://www.xpwrestling.com) or from a tape trader on the internet.

News Round Up:

WWF No Mercy PPV held on Sunday 22nd October 2000.So the biggest shock of the PPV? Kurt Angle? - No Mideon Back on a PPV (with a title shot)? - NoKevin Kelly still being employed by the WWF? - NoAustin's match being placed halfway through the PPV - YESI have watched quite a few PPVs but never have I seen the WWF kill a crowd like they did at No Mercy. The card started off OK the Tag Team Table (TTT) invitational was fine, although the WWF are still making Tazz and Raven job to everyone. This match was notable for the fact it is the first time I have heard a WWF crowd chant "You Fucked Up" when Grandwaster Sexay put himself trough a table. This is followed by one of the funniest Edge and Christian routines so far (and Oh yes there have been some great ones) Lillian Garcia loves Edge's Nuts.The Chyna/Mr. Ass vs. RTC (Goodfather/Bull) was a good match although not hyped because of the injury to Latino Heat. The crowd took a while to get into the match but some excellent moves by Chyna and the famasser by Billy Gunn and the crown was there. OK so there was a screwjob ending but the WWF needed to keep the heat going between Eddie and Chyna.Y2J and X-Pac came next and this was a cage match, both took crazy bumps and some good chair shots but I was expecting some blood in this match as the other matches they had were mondo violent, but no juice here. I gathered that this was because of the upcoming Austin/Rikishi match.OK onto the biggest shock of the night, halfway through the PPV and the Austin match is on, JR and Lawler had been teasing the "Austin's not here yet" thing, (JR says the Austin is never late to a match but I remember that Austin has been late quite a few times) and Foley says that if Austin no shows then Rikishi is the winner. All of a sudden Austin's Music hits and his truck drives into the arena (Note to WWF "been their done that") There is a brawl which goes into the crowd and back and then Austin gets a chair and busts Rikishi open, as you should know when Rikishi blades he doesn't hold back! Austin then takes a sledgehammer and gets some wicked shots at his head (they obviously miss!) Austin then puts Rikishi into the back of his truck and drives him out to the back of the arena and tries to run him down with his truck. So far this has been fine nothing special but Austin has been out of action for 11 months but Oh My God they have become WCW Austin's truck hits a Police car twice and then around 10 more cop cars turn up and arrest Austin (Note to WWF "been their done that"). OK so it could be that this will turn out to be a fiendish plot by Rikishi but it was just so repetitive, I mean how many times are they going to arrest Austin? So half way through the PPV the major reason most people have been watching is carted away by the cops and so they are left with no sense of the match being over. Now the crowd in the arena is dead, totally without heat, so where do the WWF go from here? Do they put two of the major stars on to get the crowd back? (E.g. they could have put the HHH/Benoit match on here) however they put on William Regal Vs. Mideon. Now I have nothing against Steven Regal, he is a good worker and can get decent crowd heat however put him against Mideon and after Austin and he cannot pull it off. The match is terrible and slow, badly worked and the timing from both men leaves a lot to be desired. Regal has just become European Champion and so I would have thought that he would have given a return to Al Snow as the match on Raw was not bad at all, but Mideon gets the shot, why? Mideon is not a good singles wrestler, has not even had a match on Raw recently and yet he is wrestling Regal for a title? The guy is shite and could not work a good match against the best in the world. This is a DUD and when I come to watch this PPV again I will skip this match! BTW getting you flabby old ass out is not wrestling or entertainment!!!!!!!!WWF bring out the ever-great Hardy Boyz who should bring the crowd back on board! The tag team title match is against Los Conquistadors (Edge and Christian). Wrestling History lesson No.1 Back in the NWA (the original) in the 80's Dusty Rhodes was banned and so wrestled under a mask (because a mask would disguise a big fat man with a strange splotch on his side!) and won the NWA championship. See any similarity with this match. Si senor! Well the match is on and it starts off slow and the crowd is a little out of it still. Eventually the crowd warms up as the Hardys give us the usual highflying moves and well-paced action and then it happens, the Conquistadors win the championship! Personally I would have thought that they would have done this on TV. This leads to a meeting backstage between Edge and Christian and Los Conquistadors setting a tag match on Raw the next night.By now the crowd is back up to heat and ready for the HHH Vs Benoit match. Good match this one and yes HHH is a fan favourite in this match (actual chants of Triple H can be heard)! Triple H is a strange character in the WWF; fans cheer him one minute and jeer him the next but is still x-tremely popular.Main Event Time even though the many the main event was the Austin match). Rock Vs Kurt Angle (w/Stephanie McMahon). I was so behind Angle in this, he has proved himself in the last year, he has become an excellent wrestler (pro), actor, and him mike work is improving all the time. Where as the Rock has become stale and similar with his 4 moves and 6 catchphrases. At the end of the PPVs and TV shows when the Rock has defended his title I find myself wanting the opponent to beat the Rock, I think he needs some time out of the spotlight to increase the fans interest (and mine). So it is with great pleasure I announce your new WWF champion Kurt Angle! It was a good match with some interference, which did actually add to the ongoing story so all in all a good end to an above average PPV (if you discount Mideon).That's it.Later,

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