WPW Review - March 23rd, 2003
By Benjamin Tomas

I arrived at the Marketplace, things were getting ready to start, and I took my usual seat with my friends Kelly and Wendy. I don't get to the Marketplace as often as I used to, so I relish the opportunity to see this local fed and its group of superstars. There has been much talk on the boards recently about how the mighty WPW has fallen, but I like to approach the fed as just an Indy, and not try to use the past as a measuring stick. With that being said, let's get right to the action.

The show opened with a non-title match between Hardcore Champ Catastrophe and the super over Sexy Chino. Chino did his usual entrance, even going into the crow to show off his body to some of the girls who came to see him shake his booty. They locked up, and Chino seemed to dominate the match up. Every time Catastrophe obtained the upper hand, Chino would somehow manage to turn it around, and near the end hit a very impressive dive onto Catastrophe, and Mike Masters looked on with tears in his eyes for his former partner. Chino picked up the win with a rollup, and an enraged Catastrophe beat the hell out of him post match. The Champ got the mic and offered Chino a match next week for the Hardcore Title. Chino was too beat up to reply, but if I know this kid, and he will rise to the challenge, steel chair in hand.

Next up, the dark and mysterious FANG! FANG! Slithered to the ring, scaring small children all the way. FANG! wrestles few shows, possibly because of the communication problems he has with the English language. After he got to the ring, and the sound system began to blare Poison's "Unskinny Bop." Johnny Paradise came down the ramp. Funny how he loves glam rock, as his work rate reminds me of another mark for hair metal, Matt Sinister. Fang did a lot of aggressive growling, which seemed to confuse Paradise. Paradise followed FANG!'S lead through the match, the highlight being a picture perfect standing dropkick by the masked one, which knocked the glam rocker out of the ring. FANG! followed this up with an impressive pescado to the outside. Somehow after they got back in the ring Paradise got the 3 count, much to the displeasure of the crowd, who'd grown to love his strange, masked opponent. I put the bad ending on the shoulders of referee Mr. California, who is not neck in neck with Junior this year's referee award for incompetence.

The greatest manager in SoCal, Jason Bennett, led the team of Damage, Inc. to the ring. Preston Scott was sporting a shirt; which read "Role Model" on the front, and "Wanna have my abortion?" on the back. He's clearly a class act. Matrix and Scott argued over who should have the match for the Lightweight Title against Scott Lost. Apparently, Bennett had promised the match to both men on separate occasions. Lost came out and offered to wrestle a 3 way with the two of them, and if one pinned Lost, they would get a title shot next week. If Lost won, both men would be out of the title hunt. Damage Inc. begrudgingly agreed. The two tag partners seemed at odds with each other, and Bennett needs to help these two get along, and stop placating them by promising the same spot to both wrestlers.

Black Angel vs. Calibre Ventidos was just what I expected it to be. 2 weeks ago I saw these two hook it up in a match that made no sense to me, and today was no different. The first fall went to Calibre when rolled up Angel. Angel took the second fall after giving Ventidos the most gentle, weak power bomb of all time. I'd imagine that a 1 year old could take this bump and not think anything was amiss. Calibre took the third fall when he pinned Black Angel, and Angel's arm, leg, and head were all sticking on the ropes and turnbuckle. Referee Mr. California made the three count, then Calibre 22 slapped referee Mr. California. As Mr. California had just given him the win, this made absolutely no sense. If anyone can explain the psychology here, drop me an email. Like Crayz told be 5 years ago, "If it makes no sense, you are probably watching Lucha." While I do not always find this to be the case, the statement applies here.

Sugar Shady and Mace teamed up to face off with Supa Badd and SoCal Uncensored's very own rookie of the year, Shawn Riddick. Riddick did the usual bang up job of holding his own, hitting a fantastic leg scissors on the head of Shady to do a rana like move. Badd got tagged in and took massive amounts of punishment. Mace hit a brutal spine buster on Badd, and he was at the mercy of his enemies for a long time. Mace and Shady did a lot of referee distractions so they could beat down Supa Badd like he was Ricky Morton. Just when it looked like the end for Badd, he somehow managed to make the hot tag, and Riddick cleaned house just like his hero the Bulldog used to do after Dynamite Kid or Owen Hart took a big time beating. Eventually this led to all four competitors in the ring, and as Riddick took Shady to the outside, Badd hit an explosive top rope splash on to Mace for the duke. All I have to say after this one is that Riddick proved to the crowd why he was the recipient of his rookie award. His moves are as clean and crisp as ever, and he is developing into a good talent who has a bright future in front of him. People can dog WPW all they want, but working in front of a crowd every Sunday is a great way to improve faster than guys who work 2 shows a month. The extra 4 shows a month can pay dividends, and you need not look farther than Riddick to see the proof.

At this time I used the restroom and waited in a huge line to get a smoothie, more on that smoothie later. I totally missed the entire Matrix/Preston Scott/ Scott Lost match, and that pisses me off. I just saw Matrix get the 3. After the match, Damage, Inc. hugged and made up. I guess Bennett managed to get them on the same page after all.

Steve Pain tagged up with a dude who I'm not going to name. He has recently been released from prison, and the crowed reminded him of this quite vocally through out the match. I'd like to spare him the embarrassment; after all he was exposed to today. The two wrestled against Chippy and Infernal. Mr. X was called many names by the crowd, like "Prag," as well as enduring many references to what services he may have given to other prisoners. In fact, my friend Kelly said, and I quote," If I had a gun right now, I'd shoot him. That's how much I hate him." Talk about a shoot(no pun intended). The entire crowd seemed to echo her sentiments. Mr. X and Infernal battled to the outside, where my seat was. I wasn't in my seat, as I was talking to Michael Masters at the time. Infernal threw his opponent into the bleachers, and destroyed my strawberry banana smoothie as well as my bottle of water. I guess it's the price you pay for loving the Indy scene. All four men battled all over the Marketplace, and it was way beyond being out of control. Mr. X seemed to get stiffed harder than Loony Lane by his opponents, and the crowd loved it. People were calling for blood, and after the match was thrown out, Mr. X and his partner had words. They fought a lot, and X will be showing up while Infernal is wrestling him next week at the Marketplace. He also insulted those in the crowd for their disgusting support of people upholding the law. There was more heat for this match than any other on the card.

As the crowd calmed down for the next match, my friend Wendy taught me to say, "bitch", "sex", "horny", and, "orgasm" in sign language. It led me to wonder where, why, and when she acquired these skills.

Black Angel and Zeus came out to wrestle Chilango and Silver Tyger. Angel was a bit slow due to the earlier war with Calibre Ventidos, but the others picked it up a notch to make it up. Chilango was his usual self, wrestling circles around the opposition and teasing high spots witch had them running in fear. Tyger had a superb exchange with Zeus, which made the crowd pop big time. To be clear, this is not the same Zeus that got punked big time in "Friday" and on PPV by Hogan. This Zeus actually was trained. It was a good match that ended up with Tyger and Chilango coming out on top.

After last week's double disqualification, the main event was a rematch between Los Cholos and Los Chivos. This was a normal Marketplace main, with a lot of good Lucha action. Lil Cholo hit huge spots all over the Chivos, and took control early to win the first fall. Chivos went total Rudo in the second fall to come back when Kayam hit a nice moonsault onto El Cholo to even the score. The third fall was quite emotional, and though the Chivos dominated most of the show, the Cholos battled back to overcome the WPW tag team champions. For some reason, the referee gave the Chivos their belts back. As I do not speak good Spanish, this may have been a non-title match, but I would think a return bout would be for the belts. I suppose next week's show will have the title match, but I'll probably miss it as I'm leaving the Marketplace at 4:10 to go watch Wrestlemania. If WPW put their thinking caps on, they will start the show at 1pm so fans can see both shows in their entirety. Running against the WWE's biggest show of the year is just bad for business.

I had a great time at the Marketplace, and I'd like to say it wasn't just the wrestling. As much fun as the show is, it's also very nice to kick it with wrestling fans, as few of my buddies love the sport as much as I do. Infernal even approached me after his match and promised to replace my smoothie next week. I'm not gonna hold him to it, but it proves what a stand up guy he is. I like to be among those who can relate to my love for wrestling. Good times, good people, and good wrestling make me a happy mark. That's why the scene is here, although sometimes people lose sight of that simple idea.

Thanks for reading,
Benjamin Tomas