Post by tom on Nov 7, 2010 17:57:35 GMT -6
In front of a building as full as I've seen in a while at the Lafayette Theatre in Lafayette, IN...
The show opened with Billy Roc and Guy Lombardo coming out, sharing their personal stories of the strain that cancer puts both on the people that unfortunately have to suffer from it, as well as their families and friends. They then urged everyone to go give time or money to help those in need who either suffer from, or are in a family where someone suffers from cancer. Quick plug: if you couldn't make it, but would like to help the cause, go to www.communitycancernetwork.org. A Roc/Ricochet jaw-jacking session followed to set up the main event.
In the opener, JOHNNY MOTLEY beat DUSTIN RAYZ.
Motley was put into this match with Rayz (a stand-out from Indianapolis' Insanity Pro Wrestling and someone who worked Chikara's Young Lions Cup this year), according to Billy Roc's Facebook blog, because Roc saw a lot of potential in him and wanted to see him work someone who had traveled and could help him learn. It was a solid match; an ordinary junior heavyweight opening match with some hot moves, but definitely not too much (an issue that a lot of people complain about with independent wrestling in 2010). There's something to Motley, but hopefully he gets to travel some more and explore upon it in 2011. There's something to him; he's a young-looking, long-haired guy who can get sympathy when he sells. The big issue I saw was that he doesn't open up enough and works very small on his comebacks. The crowd came up when he first came back, but they came down a bit once they saw him throwing these tiny little back elbow swats and barely swinging his arms when he'd knock Rayz down. But, like I said, there's potential in Motley if he just gets the chances to travel, work more places, and gain experience in front of crowds.
In a three-way super-heavyweight match, MARC HOUSTON defeated BILLY BART and HILLBILLY JEDD.
Jedd, who's always been a rather rotund fellow, looks the absolute biggest I've ever seen him. It blew my mind how he could run the ropes, let alone do a TOPE SUICIDA, to which I think he's even bigger than the fattest guys I can think of ever doing that dive (the Headhunters and Super Porky). They did a couple of neat spots, including a big ol' Tower of Doom spot out of the corner, but it was what it was. Houston, physically, looks the most impressive I've seen him, as he's gotten a good tan and looks to be trimming down and leaning out to make his body look TV-friendly. Houston went over with a big boot that looked like it OBLITERATED Jedd's face, while Jedd had Billy Bart (another 300-ish pounder) up on his shoulders in a Samoan Drop, followed by Houston pinning both.
SCOTTY VORTEKZ d. KYLE O'REILLY
In this match you had a lot of those hard kicks and forearms that the kids like. I was impressed with O'Reilly, who's relatively young and usually works on super-workrate-type shows where it's all about the moves and having good matches to impress the Internet, was able to switch things up a bit once he realized they weren't working in front of a crowd that'd react like those type of crowds do. There was a really unique moment where he went from mimicing Kaval's "shoulders back, head forward" pose after a stalemate, to selling his elbow EXACTLY like Paul Orndorff after missing an elbow drop and powdering out of the ring. The LOL moment of the show came when O'Reilly did his spectacular butterfly suplex chain and some large fellow with a Southern accent bellows, "YAY! THAT WAS IMPRESSIVE!". Vortekz went over after hitting Masato Yoshino's Lightning Spiral (kind of like an Angle Slam Driver). It was probably the deadest match on the show because of how they had to adapt for the crowd, but ended up going back to the more workratey-type stuff for the finish and the crowd came down. But, they worked hard and it was a nice little showcase for O'Reilly's offense.
The Irish Airborne (DAVE & JAKE CRIST) w/ Greg Carey d. The Alaskan Moonhoppers (COLT "Boom Boom" CABANA and TIM DONST).
If you're not a Colt Cabana fan, you really need to give him a shot on a show like this, in front of a crowd that's far more there to see good guys punch in bad guys' faces than to see good workrate and whatever people like these days. Cabana is amazing on these type of shows. I haven't gotten to see him live since he got released from WWE, but he's been able to keep his high energy level and his ability to work big and wide, while dropping a lot of the "wink, wink...don't you just love how fake pro-wrestling is?" stuff that he used to do. His energy and charisma is really not done justice on tape whatsoever; he's probably the best live performer not under contract to WWE right now (not saying he's the best wrestler, but he seems to understand the concept of performing in front of a pro wrestling audience, making a big show out of everything, and involving the audience in every single moment of everything he does, better than anyone out there who isn't one of the tippy-top WWE performers). I was disappointed at first that Cabana and Donst weren't the heels since Irish Airborne have the flashier offense and Donst has done great things this year as a heel in Chikara, but the typhoon of energy that Cabana brought erased it away. Colt got more out of revealing that manager Carey's "secret nickname" was "Bubbles" than most guys do out of any move they do. They did a very simple, easy to follow, formula tag match, but it was performed so well that it really didn't matter that you knew what was coming next. They made sure you knew that once the good guys got their hands on the bad guys, there was trouble a'comin', but before they gave you what you wanted, they teased it repeatedly over and over and got the crowd up to a fever pitch. Heck, Cabana on the apron trying to get the big hot tag from Donst was amazing in that he toned down the silliness, but was still able to move around and work so that every single person in the building could see his desperation in needing the tag...but it didn't come off as phony and cheesy. Really, I can't praise Cabana enough...in this role, he's one of the best in the world at what he does. The heels ended up going over, but after the match, Cabana and Donst made people happy by chasing Carey back into the ring and punching him to the approval of the masses.
"Sexy" SHAWN COOK d. GUY LOMBARDO via DQ.
Lombardo and Cook are pretty much synonymous with the Lafayette scene and had worked each other at least a billion times before this match. Personally, I'm not a fan of either guy's stuff (Shawn can be good when you have the right guy in there with him, but otherwise, not my cup of tea), but the one thing you can say about them is that they know their crowd (NWA Indiana, their "home" group, runs the Theatre monthly) and they know how to work for those people. Again, I didn't enjoy it a ton, but it wasn't there for people like me to enjoy. The finish was heel Cook planting brass knuckles on Lombardo, so the ref caught him with them during the comeback and DQ'd him. It was a somewhat awkward finish, but the crowd came back up when Brian "The Beast" Roberts, who's feuding with Cook in the BMF Wrestling Alliance (another local group) jumped in the ring and speared Cook to promote their Last Man Standing match at BMF later this month.
"The King of Indiana" BILLY ROC d. RICOCHET.
I'll admit it in the middle of this report that I'm biased. I know Billy and I like him a lot as a person, so I was excited for this match for him, considering he's wanted this match for years (back to when they'd be booked together at IWA Mid-South...but always in 3/4/5-ways). Roc had a really cool entrance where they used the theatre's big screen to play a slideshow of pictures of his father while he made his entrance, in a really emotional scene. This was the best athletically Billy's looked since he announced he was done travelling all over the place for wrestling. Ricochet and Billy worked really well together and pulled off a lot of complicated stuff. Plus, I was also really impressed with Ricochet. For a guy who isn't exactly known for his audience awareness and charisma, he was shockingly great at both. He didn't just do move after move for the sake of it; they worked a nice match built around a big moment towards the end where Billy came SCREAMING across the ring with a spinning wheel kick that was one of the more impressive moments of babyface fire that I've seen this year. They did some hot moves for the falsies (including a GREAT near-fall off of a Code Red). Roc finished Ricochet off with a top rope shiranui to a standing ovation of a very supportive crowd.
Overall, it's the best live show I've seen out of the local Lafayette scene in a long time. The talent was unique for the area without lacking a couple of local favorites that the local yokels could relate to, the show was run tight (if it wasn't for a microphone issue, the show would've started right on time at 1:30 PM, as the ring announcer was in the ring ready to go and then the microphone went out, and even then, it was still over before 4:00 PM), and there was legitimately something for everyone without it being beat over the audience's heads. Plus, this was a prime example of how you can bring groups together to do good. Groups working together every single show leads to a big mess and is usually counter-productive anyway, but on this show, three different groups (including two groups who run Lafayette and have their fair share of bad blood) came together to help Billy put together what ended up being a pretty darned good event, and good was done for all parties (both local groups got to promote their next live events via flyers in the building, BMF got to run an angle for their next show, and all three groups got put over multiple times over the house microphone).
Plus, at the end of the day, a good chunk of change was raised (according to Billy's Facebook, over $2,600) for a really good cause. That's the big thing that matters in the end. Thumbs up to everyone involved, just for that.
The show opened with Billy Roc and Guy Lombardo coming out, sharing their personal stories of the strain that cancer puts both on the people that unfortunately have to suffer from it, as well as their families and friends. They then urged everyone to go give time or money to help those in need who either suffer from, or are in a family where someone suffers from cancer. Quick plug: if you couldn't make it, but would like to help the cause, go to www.communitycancernetwork.org. A Roc/Ricochet jaw-jacking session followed to set up the main event.
In the opener, JOHNNY MOTLEY beat DUSTIN RAYZ.
Motley was put into this match with Rayz (a stand-out from Indianapolis' Insanity Pro Wrestling and someone who worked Chikara's Young Lions Cup this year), according to Billy Roc's Facebook blog, because Roc saw a lot of potential in him and wanted to see him work someone who had traveled and could help him learn. It was a solid match; an ordinary junior heavyweight opening match with some hot moves, but definitely not too much (an issue that a lot of people complain about with independent wrestling in 2010). There's something to Motley, but hopefully he gets to travel some more and explore upon it in 2011. There's something to him; he's a young-looking, long-haired guy who can get sympathy when he sells. The big issue I saw was that he doesn't open up enough and works very small on his comebacks. The crowd came up when he first came back, but they came down a bit once they saw him throwing these tiny little back elbow swats and barely swinging his arms when he'd knock Rayz down. But, like I said, there's potential in Motley if he just gets the chances to travel, work more places, and gain experience in front of crowds.
In a three-way super-heavyweight match, MARC HOUSTON defeated BILLY BART and HILLBILLY JEDD.
Jedd, who's always been a rather rotund fellow, looks the absolute biggest I've ever seen him. It blew my mind how he could run the ropes, let alone do a TOPE SUICIDA, to which I think he's even bigger than the fattest guys I can think of ever doing that dive (the Headhunters and Super Porky). They did a couple of neat spots, including a big ol' Tower of Doom spot out of the corner, but it was what it was. Houston, physically, looks the most impressive I've seen him, as he's gotten a good tan and looks to be trimming down and leaning out to make his body look TV-friendly. Houston went over with a big boot that looked like it OBLITERATED Jedd's face, while Jedd had Billy Bart (another 300-ish pounder) up on his shoulders in a Samoan Drop, followed by Houston pinning both.
SCOTTY VORTEKZ d. KYLE O'REILLY
In this match you had a lot of those hard kicks and forearms that the kids like. I was impressed with O'Reilly, who's relatively young and usually works on super-workrate-type shows where it's all about the moves and having good matches to impress the Internet, was able to switch things up a bit once he realized they weren't working in front of a crowd that'd react like those type of crowds do. There was a really unique moment where he went from mimicing Kaval's "shoulders back, head forward" pose after a stalemate, to selling his elbow EXACTLY like Paul Orndorff after missing an elbow drop and powdering out of the ring. The LOL moment of the show came when O'Reilly did his spectacular butterfly suplex chain and some large fellow with a Southern accent bellows, "YAY! THAT WAS IMPRESSIVE!". Vortekz went over after hitting Masato Yoshino's Lightning Spiral (kind of like an Angle Slam Driver). It was probably the deadest match on the show because of how they had to adapt for the crowd, but ended up going back to the more workratey-type stuff for the finish and the crowd came down. But, they worked hard and it was a nice little showcase for O'Reilly's offense.
The Irish Airborne (DAVE & JAKE CRIST) w/ Greg Carey d. The Alaskan Moonhoppers (COLT "Boom Boom" CABANA and TIM DONST).
If you're not a Colt Cabana fan, you really need to give him a shot on a show like this, in front of a crowd that's far more there to see good guys punch in bad guys' faces than to see good workrate and whatever people like these days. Cabana is amazing on these type of shows. I haven't gotten to see him live since he got released from WWE, but he's been able to keep his high energy level and his ability to work big and wide, while dropping a lot of the "wink, wink...don't you just love how fake pro-wrestling is?" stuff that he used to do. His energy and charisma is really not done justice on tape whatsoever; he's probably the best live performer not under contract to WWE right now (not saying he's the best wrestler, but he seems to understand the concept of performing in front of a pro wrestling audience, making a big show out of everything, and involving the audience in every single moment of everything he does, better than anyone out there who isn't one of the tippy-top WWE performers). I was disappointed at first that Cabana and Donst weren't the heels since Irish Airborne have the flashier offense and Donst has done great things this year as a heel in Chikara, but the typhoon of energy that Cabana brought erased it away. Colt got more out of revealing that manager Carey's "secret nickname" was "Bubbles" than most guys do out of any move they do. They did a very simple, easy to follow, formula tag match, but it was performed so well that it really didn't matter that you knew what was coming next. They made sure you knew that once the good guys got their hands on the bad guys, there was trouble a'comin', but before they gave you what you wanted, they teased it repeatedly over and over and got the crowd up to a fever pitch. Heck, Cabana on the apron trying to get the big hot tag from Donst was amazing in that he toned down the silliness, but was still able to move around and work so that every single person in the building could see his desperation in needing the tag...but it didn't come off as phony and cheesy. Really, I can't praise Cabana enough...in this role, he's one of the best in the world at what he does. The heels ended up going over, but after the match, Cabana and Donst made people happy by chasing Carey back into the ring and punching him to the approval of the masses.
"Sexy" SHAWN COOK d. GUY LOMBARDO via DQ.
Lombardo and Cook are pretty much synonymous with the Lafayette scene and had worked each other at least a billion times before this match. Personally, I'm not a fan of either guy's stuff (Shawn can be good when you have the right guy in there with him, but otherwise, not my cup of tea), but the one thing you can say about them is that they know their crowd (NWA Indiana, their "home" group, runs the Theatre monthly) and they know how to work for those people. Again, I didn't enjoy it a ton, but it wasn't there for people like me to enjoy. The finish was heel Cook planting brass knuckles on Lombardo, so the ref caught him with them during the comeback and DQ'd him. It was a somewhat awkward finish, but the crowd came back up when Brian "The Beast" Roberts, who's feuding with Cook in the BMF Wrestling Alliance (another local group) jumped in the ring and speared Cook to promote their Last Man Standing match at BMF later this month.
"The King of Indiana" BILLY ROC d. RICOCHET.
I'll admit it in the middle of this report that I'm biased. I know Billy and I like him a lot as a person, so I was excited for this match for him, considering he's wanted this match for years (back to when they'd be booked together at IWA Mid-South...but always in 3/4/5-ways). Roc had a really cool entrance where they used the theatre's big screen to play a slideshow of pictures of his father while he made his entrance, in a really emotional scene. This was the best athletically Billy's looked since he announced he was done travelling all over the place for wrestling. Ricochet and Billy worked really well together and pulled off a lot of complicated stuff. Plus, I was also really impressed with Ricochet. For a guy who isn't exactly known for his audience awareness and charisma, he was shockingly great at both. He didn't just do move after move for the sake of it; they worked a nice match built around a big moment towards the end where Billy came SCREAMING across the ring with a spinning wheel kick that was one of the more impressive moments of babyface fire that I've seen this year. They did some hot moves for the falsies (including a GREAT near-fall off of a Code Red). Roc finished Ricochet off with a top rope shiranui to a standing ovation of a very supportive crowd.
Overall, it's the best live show I've seen out of the local Lafayette scene in a long time. The talent was unique for the area without lacking a couple of local favorites that the local yokels could relate to, the show was run tight (if it wasn't for a microphone issue, the show would've started right on time at 1:30 PM, as the ring announcer was in the ring ready to go and then the microphone went out, and even then, it was still over before 4:00 PM), and there was legitimately something for everyone without it being beat over the audience's heads. Plus, this was a prime example of how you can bring groups together to do good. Groups working together every single show leads to a big mess and is usually counter-productive anyway, but on this show, three different groups (including two groups who run Lafayette and have their fair share of bad blood) came together to help Billy put together what ended up being a pretty darned good event, and good was done for all parties (both local groups got to promote their next live events via flyers in the building, BMF got to run an angle for their next show, and all three groups got put over multiple times over the house microphone).
Plus, at the end of the day, a good chunk of change was raised (according to Billy's Facebook, over $2,600) for a really good cause. That's the big thing that matters in the end. Thumbs up to everyone involved, just for that.
