PCW Review - April 27th, 2003
By Benjamin Tomas

Pacific Coast Wrestling 4/27/03
Buena Park, Ca

Today's show was empty five minutes prior to bell time, but by the time it started there was a respectable crowd there to view the action. This review will not be as detailed as my usual stuff, as I wrote one yesterday and worked 8 hours today before going to the show. I brought my adopted little brother and sister, hoping they would have a good time. They really did, I'll be the first to admit the girl had a mouth on her, but after I told her to cool it a bit she was more tolerable. The show opened with Foob Dog against Scott Lost. Foob was quick to slam Lost, who did a kip up off his back and got in a deep hammerlock on Foob. They two began a long test of strength during which Lost held his own, even overpowering the Dog and sending him to his back. When Foob got back up, he hit a clothesline that landed Lost hard on his neck. After a few suplexes on Lost, Lost put together a belly to back followed by a diamond cutter to get the 3. The crowd entertained themselves by yelling all kinds of variations on Foob's name. Post match Bo Cooper attacked Foob with a Singapore cane.

Joey Ryan wrestled Dante. All early matches were very short, so the reviews of them will reflect that. I might not say much, but in some cases it was too short to say much about. They started out doing a lot of rope running, ducks, switches, and the like. Ryan took control and wore Dante down with various slams and kicks. He hit that beautiful standing dropkick I discussed yesterday and a backdrop that looked to break Dante in half. When Dante was in control, he hit a had to be seen to be believed standing shooting star press that brought the crowd to its feet. After Joey got it back together from the press, he hit his signature top rope neck breaker to pick up a pass to the next round of the tournament to face X-Foundation partner Scott Lost.

Next up was pea brained Mike Vega against Philly's own (still not sure how that works) B-Boy. Vega started out in control, hitting a swinging neck breaker. He hit a spinning heel kick, a snap mare, and a top rope leg drop. Pay attention to this next part kids, because this is where it gets stupid. He climbed to the top again, but as he climbed, B-Boy got up and pushed him off the top rope where he achieved major air before descending onto nothing but folding chairs, fans, and asphalt. People might think I'm putting over the bump he took, but anyone reading this who thinks what he does is cool is an idiot. This is as close to backyard as it gets. In previous articles I have called him a masochist, and it has been brought to my attention that some people think I am endorsing this reckless style of non-wrestling. The guy is a buck twenty-five soaking wet, and his body does not have the thickness to absorb the punishment. Despite this, he insists on trying to pass himself off as the next Sick Nick Mondo. He's not Mondo, but with the proper career choices he can share a rest home room with Steve-O from Jackass, and they can spend their 30's swapping catheters. I digress; B-Boy brought him back in for a sick head kick, followed by his famous slide kick to the guy sitting against the turnbuckles. Vega got back some momentum with a kick to the balls, and it gave him the time to attempt a razor's edge. B-Boy wriggled free, and gave Vega a DVD for his trouble. This led to a shining wizard and that was that. It was nice of Vega to show up for a nasty bump to pop the crowd.

The Stepfather and the Red Headed Stepchild took on Mace and Little Cholo (from Philly by way of Anaheim?). While Cholo and Vega dominated most of the match carrying the two less experienced guys to a passable match, this was nothing special at all. There was a lot of referee distraction by the hated Aaron Proctor, and he worked the crowd like crazy. He had the crowd spitting out new wave references and comparisons to Boy George (Wally's son / Buddy's cousin?). At one point Procter got a chair to sit in, and when he stood up some jackass fan took it away while his back was turned. This deteriorated into a cluster bang quickly, Cholo won with a pair of Rudo chest stomps from the top rope onto Stepfather.

The U.K. Kid was introduced as Lucky's last SoCal opponent. I have seen this kid before, and I couldn't have hand picked a better wrestler for Lucky's swan song. Kid was way hated by the fans for his arrogant British attitude, making Lucky a bigger face than he was already. The two spent the first part of the match feeling each other out, exchanging a few takedowns and punches. They mat wrestled for a bit, bringing out the freestyle fan in me. Chain wrestling and exchanging arm drags drew the crowd in, but the fireworks were saved for later. The fans were hurling a lot of insults at Kid, but he seemed unshaken until a "You're a wanker" chant got the entire crowd involved. Kid took a walk to the entranceway, and was about to leave when Lucky drug him back to the ring. They exchanged a lot of roll ups and small exchanges, topped by Lucky's arm drag into a neck breaker. This momentary advantage was cut short by Kid's back breaker and belly to back on his opponent. Kid took a short walk, and then slowed down the pace with a dazzling array of submission holds, all of which Lucky narrowly escaped. Lucky thought he had turned the tide with a double arm suplex, but it was answered with a dropkick. Later on Lucky hit a big slice type move, then climbed to the top rope, where he got nutted. After falling to the mat, Kid just stood on his throat for a bit. Lucky then took a superplex. Good God, that looked like it hurt. Out of nowhere, Lucky reversed Kid's reverse DDT into one of his own for the 3. After the match, Lucky pinned U.K. Kid 2 more times to solidify his victory. At this point the whole locker room ran out to hug and congratulate Lucky and tell him goodbye. A good number of fans did the same. Lucky looked like the happiest man in the world, and also the saddest man I have ever seen. I can't imagine the emotions running through his head. This was an outstanding match that I will remember forever. Mad props to both workers, Lucky was great, but Kid gave him the canvas to paint on.

Joey Ryan wrestled his partner, Scott Lost. This match can be best described as full of even exchanges. Every time one guy got in a big move the other did as well. A nice spot early on saw Ryan run laps around the ring as Lost tried desperately to hold onto a waist lock. Lost was thrown from the ring, and the evil Scrub tried to turn Lost to the dark side by offering him a chair to use. I'm sure the Philipino solidarity made the offer very tempting to Lost. Joey received a lot of kicks and slams from Lost, and then the reverse happened. Each man's offense mirrored his opponent, so it is a bit pointless to keep mentioning the spots, as I'm sure every person reading this gets the idea by now. Ryan won, but not in a way that made him look better than his partner. At this point the Philly Connection jumped both men, and it was an absolute mugging. The X-Foundation was left for dead, and they were beat all to hell. Joey was concussed by a sick B-Boy pile driver, so it looks like their match for the Maximum title will have to wait until the next show.

Bo Cooper had a match with Ian Knox. After a few quick arm drags, it spilled to the outside. After a brief brawl, they got back in the ring to see Bo Pummel Knox with stiff chops and elbow and knee drops. Knox fought back and got a chair, but Bo took it away and put it over Knox's head. Later, Bo hit an awesome Splash Mountain power bomb on Ian, leading to Foob Dog showing up and distracting Bo, and Bo got rolled up schoolboy style for the duke. Foob and Bo busted each other wide with chains, and agreed to wrestle each other next month in a dog collar match.

Matrix and Preston Scott wrestled Shawn Riddick and Supa Badd. I missed all of this trying to help the promoters figure out what they were gonna do, as it was getting very dark and they had no lights. Everyone started to pull up cars to the side of the ring to light the area, but it was to no avail. At this point, there was no saving this show. Sight lines were terrible, and my notes are horrible due to me not being able to see what I was writing. I think Damage Inc. won this match.

Dragon vs. Messiah was a great main event, but two guys wearing black wrestling in the dark is hardly going to be what it could have been. They started with a power lock up, both men trying for an advantage on the other. Messiah got Dragon in the corner and pummeled him with kicks and chops. Dragon escaped and returned the same, but received a power bomb for his trouble. Messiah teased the God smack, but it wasn't in the cards. After the failed God smack, Dragon tried for the psycho driver, but it didn't work, so he started to work on Messiah's right thigh. Dragon dropkicked the thigh over and over, even giving it a boot stomp for good measure. Dragon then worked a variety of submissions on the thigh, like leg-bars and even a half crab. Messiah made it to his feet to deliver a wicked clothesline, followed by a neck breaker and finally putting Dragon in Tony Jones' holy shoot. When Dragon made it to the ropes, he gave Dragon a fisherman's buster, but the Super Dragon kicked out. Messiah gave Dragon a DVD onto his own knee, but it would not silence the Dragon. As Messiah's leg kept giving out on him, Dragon delivered a dragon screw leg whip and an enzaguri (anyone know how to spell that?) When Messiah recovered, he gave Dragon the rude awakening, followed by a Rick Rude hip swivel. He got Dragon in a dragon sleeper, but Dragon made the ropes. Both men teased their finishers, but in the end it was Messiah picking up the victory with a variation on the DVD. Great match, I just wish I'd been able to see it better. I must say this is the first time I have seen a Dragon match without high spots, but how can a man do a high spot when he is unsure the other guy can see well enough to catch him? I liked the grounded Dragon, as this match relied entirely on psychology. I liked to see that from guys not known for wrestling that type of match. Messiah is known as a hardcore/death match guy, and Dragon is a high flyer. It was nice to see them both as wrestlers.

To close, there were two things I noticed tonight. One was how big of bullies grown men can be. I brought a 16 yr., old boy and a 13 yr. old girl with me tonight, and some of the "adults" in the crowd saw fit to tease the boy because his taunts weren't "clever" enough. He's a friggin 16 year old, for crying out loud, and his male role model is a stranger from the big brother program because his dad's a fucking deadbeat. There were three grown men who got their rocks off making fun of him tonight. They told him his mom hated him, that he was stupid, that he was worthless, and his mom was a whore. Well, fuck you guys. You only opened your mouths when I was sitting elsewhere. That says volumes, as you didn't say it in front of a dude whose ass you could probably kick. It takes a big man to mock a teenager, so I hope you fellas went home feeling like men. This kid merely shot of his mouth at the wrestlers, and last time I checked, that was all part of the show. He was a young fan having a good time. For that, he deserves no ill will. Were you ever young and just out to have fun? Of course not, you're too cool to admit you once were a mark.

The other thing that came to mind is that every time I go to show there are a plethora of matches featuring various combinations of the following guys: Scott Lost, Supa Badd, Shawn Riddick, Joey Ryan, Preston Scott, Matrix, Silver Tyger, Little Cholo, and Infernal. I mean no disrespect to any of these fine wrestlers, as I'm a fan of all of them. It just seems that every time I see one guy on this list wrestle, it's against another guy on this list. Promoters seem content to book the same stuff over and over, instead of having a bit of innovation in the booking room. I love to see all these guys wrestle; I'd just like to see different match ups from time to time. Variety is the spice of life. Some promoter should blaze a new trail, maybe someone might that trail was good to follow. I don not have to tell anyone how much I love Indy wrestling, I want it to be as good as it can be.

Good show tonight, just a bad call on the lighting. However, since Messiah and Dragon did a straight match, maybe it was all for the best. It's good to do something different from time to time.

Thanks for reading,
Benjamin Tomas
The Worlds Biggest Mark