Revolution Pro held it's fourth anniversary show on November 29th, and the show summed up the last four years perfectly. Rev Pro has always been known for having some great matches on it's shows, with a fairly weak undercard. This show featured one of the best matches in Revolution Pro's history, with probably only their six-man elimination match in March 2002 and Super Dragon versus Rising Son in the finals of the Spirit of the Revolution tournament in 2001 giving it real competition.

Over the last few years Thanksgiving weekend hasn't been a very good weekend as far as drawing goes, so there was some question to how Revolution Pro's attendance would be for what is hands down the biggest match in it's history, and the biggest match in SoCal as far as indy wrestling goes in recent memory.

The show drew about 300 people, which is probably the biggest crowd to have ever watched Revolution Pro, which has to be considered a huge success for the promotion, and hopefully they'll be able to keep some of those extra people who came out for this show coming back.

Stryker, El Mongol, & Jack Durango over Hawaiian Lion, Lee Steel, & Lawrence Tyler [5'29]
I was actually looking forward to this match, as I'd heard good things about the wrestlers from Arizona, but they never really had much of a chance to show what they can do, and the match wasn't very good. It may be time for Stryker to drop the military gimmick, because with long hair, a goatee, and a gut it's just not working for him. Most of the match was El Mongol and Lee Steel in the ring, and both looked better than normal.

Gringo Loco & Nemesis over Xtreme Loco & VEGA [8'22]
Gringo Loco is normally hit and miss, but he's looked pretty decent on some recent lucha shows. The other three are all rookies who've all shown promise at times, but this match wasn't one of those times, as it was probably the worst match on the show.

Johnny Paradise won the Rudos Dojo Battle Royal [14'33]
Once all the participants had been announced, I didn't expect a whole lot from this battle royal, but outside of a few WWE Royal Rumbles I can't think of a better battle royal that I've ever seen. The Human Tornado was super over, easily getting the loudest ovation of the night until probably the tag-team title match later on. At one point Human Tornado (who is the wrestler formerly known as El Negro) hit a springboard dropkick into Charles Mercury's chest, while Mercury was sitting on Johnny Paradise's shoulders that was just insane. It was incredibly stiff. Since this was a Rudos Dojo Battle Royal, the last four men go on to fight in a tag match at a later Rev Pro show, with the tag match winners facing each other for a Revolution Pro contract. I like the concept, but for it to truly work Rev Pro needs to stop using the guys who lose these matches. What is even the point when most of the wrestlers still end up working Rev Pro shows, or have already been working Rev Pro shows for awhile? Anyway, the last four were Human Tornado, Ronin (Hydro), Johnny Paradise (who ended up winning), and Charles Mercury. This was a very entertaining match overall.

American Wild Child, Topgun Talwar, & Babi Slymm over Chris Bosh, Quicksilver, & Phoenix Star [19'27]
If this match would have been about five minutes shorter, it probably would have been a good match. The match was originally announced as American Wild Child, Mr. Excitement, and Disco Machine as being one team. All three men came to the ring, with Disco being in a suit, and American Wild Child announced that both are injured and it's probably the last time we'd see either guy in a ring. Mr. Excitement tore his ACL back in October, and Disco Machine is dealing with a pretty serious shoulder injury. I'd still expect both to be back in the ring at some point. Anyway, it was then announced Topgun Talwar and Babi Slymm would be taking their places in the match. The match itself started out pretty good, with Bosh showing a lot of intensity, though he has seemed to of slowed down recently. At one point American Wild Child juiced, after a drop toe hold. Slymm looked pretty intense during the match when he was on offense too. About 13 minutes into the match Rising Son ran in and hit American Wild Child with a really weak looking chairshot, which brought Disco into the ring to stop Son. Obviously what came next was Disco turning on American Wild Child and hitting him too. This would have been a pretty good end to the match, but it went on another five minutes and American Wild Child got the pin, making the whole run in pointless. Post match American Wild Child gave an overly dramatic speech about how Revolution Pro is a family, and thanked all his wrestlers and the fans,

Shamu Jr. over Piloto Suicida to retain the Mexican Lucha Libre Heavyweight title [5'33]
I have never understood why Revolution Pro even has the Mexican Lucha Libre title in the post Matt Sinister era. While in 2001 and prior it was pushed as Revolution Pro's main (and only at the time) title, once it was won by the Blue Meanie, then never defended for a year, there's been no point in it. It's never been pushed as anything special, none of the top wrestlers in the promotion ever even try for it, and it's always defended at best during the mid card. To top that off it's the focus of a terrible match like this one was. While not as bad as the tag match earlier in the show, it was pretty close. Piloto is actually a pretty good wrestler, and Shamu Jr. has his moments. To though none of those moments have been in a Rev Pro ring. At least the match was fairly short.

Damian 666 & Halloween over Angel & Zokre to retain the Rev Pro Tag-Team titles [13'15]
I thought this was a very good match. Damian 666 and Halloween were on like they normally are, and Zokre and Angel both looked good. Zokre and Angel were accompanied to the ring by their valet Jezebel, which setup a pretty funny moment when Angel had his face stuck in her crotch and he yelled "does it always smell like that"? Anyway, Mexico's Most Wanted dominated Angel for most of the match, with Zokre coming in at times to make the save. Zokre was made to look like he was on Mexico's Most Wanted's level in the match. Mexico's Most Wanted won with a 3D on Zokre to get the pin.

Scorpio Sky over Rising Son to retain the Rev Pro Junior title [5'04]
The match started with Scorpio and Rising Son brawling, then they got into the ring and somehow Rising Son got "knocked out". Sky got the pin. They were trying to make it seem as if Son was legit knocked out from Sky, to play off the worked shoot feud they've been having. So of course Sky puts Son in a sharpshooter after the match. Who knows what the whole point in continuing this silly "shoot" angle is at this point, as all it's doing is wrecking matches that have a chance to be good. Plus Scorpio Sky supposedly "legit" knocked Rising Son out right? Aren't we supposed to suspend disbelief and isn't everything in the match supposed to be real? Also with Sky attacking the "knocked out" Son, if everyone is to believe that Son is really hurt, then that only makes Scorpio Sky out to be a bad guy, and with Son already being the heel in this feud, is it needed to have a heel versus heel feud? The booking here makes little sense. They do have a rematch on December 29th at Revolution X that will be a ladder match. I'm not sure how a knockout punch sets up a ladder match though. After Rising Son was carried from the ring, Sky went over to the PWG merchandise table and knocked over some of their merchandise, which stems from some legit heat between Sky and one of the PWG six.

Super Dragon over TARO by TKO to win TARO's mask [27'17]
Of course this is the match that everyone came to see. The match started with Super Dragon taking off his mask, to reveal his original mask underneath, as a nod to the history between him and TARO. At one point Dragon tried to pull off TARO's mask, which was met with TARO ripping up Dragon's mask so that you could see his eyes. Dragon then juiced in the match and the image of him with his mask ripped and face covered in blood looked really intense. TARO kept reversing everything Dragon seemed to throw at him, including a middle rope psycho driver at one point. Dragon did the double footstomp to TARO's head, then did it again off the ropes. Super Dragon hit TARO with the psycho driver, then pulled him up during the count and hit him with the middle rope psycho driver. TARO was able to kick out of that, then Dragon hit a lariat and TARO kicked out of that. It became clear to Dragon that the only way to win the match would be by knockout. So Dragon picked TARO up and gave him a brutal lariat, then picked him up again and gave him another. Then the ref raised TARO's arm three times, and all three times it dropped to the ground and Dragon was declared the winner.

All together an awesome match, and easily a top match of the year contender. Super Dragon himself said that he feels his match with Joey Ryan from August's PWG show was better wrestling wise, but this match may have been better overall. Right now I'd list it as one of my top three matches along with the Super Dragon and Joey Ryan match just mentioned, and the tag-team match at APW LA featuring Super Dragon and B-Boy facing Bobby Quance and Jardi Frantz.

After the match TARO unmasked and revealed himself to be Kevin Lyon from New York. He then gave an emotional speech and announced that he would be retiring from wrestling after one last match on December 20th. For those who don't know TARO is really banged up from years of taking tons of abuse in the ring, and also a serious automobile accident he was involved in awhile ago. It's pretty amazing he has been able to take the punishment he has over the last year.

On the whole I thought the show was pretty good. Not as good top to bottom as a lot of the PWG or APW LA shows, but had a decent at times undercard highlighted by a really good tag-team match and an impressive debut of the Human Tornado, and of course the must-see main-event.

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With the year coming to a close in less than a month it's getting to be the time to start thinking about the Southern California Year End awards. Every year we start the webpoll for the tag-team of the year in mid-December, and let it run till the end of the year. While the eight nominations for tag-team of the year have not been finalized yet, what I'd like to do is take a look at some of the top tag-teams in Southern California for 2003.

Unlike years past, there hasn't really been the super dominant sure thing tag-team of the year in 2003. Most of the teams were comprised of wrestlers who mainly work in singles matches. Here, in no particular order, are my thoughts on fourteen of the teams that have been talked about as possible nominees for the award.

Hardkore Inc. (Hardkore Kidd & Al Katrazz) - Hardkore Inc. is currently my top choice for tag-team of the year, though the cancellation of UPW's December show is clearly going to hurt their chances. They were pushed as the top tag-team in UPW this year, and have been very effective in that role, for what little UPW has ran. Also they have had very good matches in AWS and in a six-man in PWG. I'd say no matter what they are sure thing for a nomination.

X-Foundation (Scott Lost & Joey Ryan) - While the Lost and Ryan were last year's winners, they are going to have a hard time repeating this year. They haven't wrestled as much as a tag-team in 2003, and last year they pretty much dominated all the tag divisions in SoCal holding almost every tag title at one point or another. Another thing that can hurt them is that Scott Lost has recently been tagging a lot with Funky Billy Kim, which could spread out the voting between the two incarnations of the teams if both are nominated for the award. I'd would guess they are a sure thing to be nominated, but very doubtful as winners.

Los Chivos (Kayam & Enigma de Oro) - Los Chivos are maybe the strongest "pure" tag-team in 2003. They, along with the West Coast Ryders have been pretty much the main focus of the EWF tag-team division, have been pretty successful in FMLL, and they are the main tag-team in SoCal's largest drawing fed, Lucha Va Voom (though it would be hard to argue that they mean much to the draw itself). They did hold the EWF tag titles for about four months during the middle of the year. Their weakest area would probably be in match quality, as they are fine wrestlers at times, and play their roles perfectly, they've had no matches as good as a lot of the other tag-teams this year. They should be nominated, but are probably a long shot to win.

Ballard Bros. (Shannon Ballard & Shane Ballard) - The Ballards are perennial nominees for the tag-team of the year award, and have even won it twice in 1999 and 2000. The Ballards have been one of the top teams in 2003, and should be among the favorites to win the award once again. Their feud with Hardkore Inc. was one of, if not the top feud in UPW in 2003, plus they've done well in PWG and APW CC.

Aerial Express (Scorpio Sky & Quicksilver) - I'd have to guess that Aerial Express is probably the favorites to win the award this year, based on the number of matches they've had, and the high quality of some of their matches, including several matches of the month. I'd say the biggest thing working against them is, that during those match of the month matches, they didn't even seem like the best team in the ring at the time. Still they had good matches all over SoCal and were easily the top team in Rev Pro and AWS in 2003, and are easily one of 2003's top teams, if not the top.

Phoenix Star & Zokre - At this point this is probably the flashiest team in SoCal, and they have at times put on some very good matches, but at the same time matches have gotten away from them at times too. They did hold the AWS tag straps earlier in the year, and I'd be willing to bet they get nominated for the award, but I'd have a hard time calling them the top tag-team in SoCal for 2003. With more experience both wrestlers are going to be really good, and I expect both to get serious looks when it comes time to decide the rookie of the year nominations too.

Damage Inc. (Matrix & Preston Scott) - After last year I thought for sure they'd be one of the top teams in 2003, but with WCWA all but disappearing, it pretty much limited Damage Inc. to PCW and WPW where they haven't really had any blow away matches, though they have been solid all year. They are the current PCW tag-team champions, and if WCWA decides to keep all titles intact when they return they are the current WCWA tag-team champions. I'd expect them to be nominated, but not to have much of a chance at winning.

Angel & Mr. Excitement - Angel and Excitement wrestled together as a tag-team six times in 2003, which is more than a few of the teams on this list, and did a pretty effective job as an odd couple tag-team. Still, I am on the fence about them. They didn't have any real blow away matches, only tagged together for a few months, only wrestled as a team for their one promotion, and I don't think anyone would even consider them the top team in Revolution Pro in 2003.

West Coast Ryders (Under Pressure & Rudy Luna) - Next to the Chivos, the West Coast Ryders are the top team in EWF for 2003, but they run into a lot of the same problems that Angel and Mr. Excitement do. They only worked for EWF, and it would be a tough argument to say they were the number one team in EWF in 2003, especially with not even having gotten a title run.

Mexico's Most Wanted (Damian 666 & Halloween) - While easily one of the best tag-teams around, and last year's runners up, before last weekend I personally didn't even consider them too serious a candidate for nomination. After their match at November 29th's Revolution Pro show I think they probably should get a nomination. They've had six matches so far in SoCal this year, and while that seems like a small number most have been very good. They've wrestled in both XPW and Rev Pro, and currently hold Rev Pro's tag titles. They might not be a strong candidate to win the award this year, but I think they have been one of the eight strongest teams in 2003.

B-Boy & Lil' Cholo - If the award started in the middle of last year and ran to the middle of this year, they would probably be a fairly strong candidate to win. Unfortunately it doesn't and besides a few matches early in the year, they didn't really team enough to get serious consideration.

B-Boy & Super Dragon - Normally a team that only teamed together twice wouldn't even get a second look, but when those two matches consist of two match of the year candidates things change. I personally don't think they should be nominated for tag-team of the year, because I see them more as two great singles wrestlers who happened to team up twice. If they teamed together more, maybe even only a couple more times, this would be pretty much a slam-dunk just based on match quality alone.

Desire & Sexy Chino - These two have teamed together quiet a bit in WPW this year, mainly doing comedy matches. While their matches are entertaining, I don't see them as being nominated due to only working one promotion and overall match quality.

X-Foundation (Scott Lost & Funky Billy Kim) - I'd put this version of the X-Foundation on the fence, as they have worked together six times in 2003, but haven't had the quality of matches that the Lost and Ryan team have. They probably hurt their chances at the last PWG show, having a fairly bland match with Disco Machine and Excalibur. Like I said before if both versions are nominated it will more than likely spread out their votes, as neither team was overly dominant and prevent either team from having much of a chance.

Just a side note, the nominations for the 2003 Southern California Tag-Team of the Year award will be announced on December 11th in the SCU chat room at 8:30 PM PST, and the webpoll will begin on December 15th.

And for those wondering how the nomination process works for the tag-team award, basically the SCU staff, along with a few more fans, wrestlers, and others associated with the SoCal scene send in a list of nominations, then we can make a general list and we debate it from there until we are down to eight nominees.

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For those who haven't heard UPW's fourth anniversary show that was scheduled for December 17th has been cancelled. The Grove is saying that it has been rescheduled to February 20th. We should have further details on this in the next few days.

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I'll be back with more next week.

-Steve