wXw: The Vision DVD Review

wXw comes to America! 
-Interesting that wXw comes to the United States and they run where it seems every other indy fed has run the last 15 years, The Arena in Philadelphia. I believe CZW lended a helping hand as far as the maintainance of the show goes. We’ll see if that’s a positive or negative thing.
-Taped from Philadelphia, PA
-Your hosts are BRYCE! Remsburg and a cast of thousands
– wXw Lightweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TJP
I noticed the CZW logo on the ringside banners. Guess that gives it away CZW is indeed helping out with this show.  Lightning fast kicks that don’t hit. Back and forth and no one gains an advantage. Sabre takes TJP down and grabs the leg. He shifts to working on the arm. Sabre misses a forearm. TJP doesn’t. Kicks to the leg and some strikes. Sabre misses a dropkick the first time. He gets it the second time. Sweep of the legs. TJP hooks a schoolboy for two. Achilles tendon lock (Hero called it). Kicks to the leg by both men. Nasty. Forearm and slaps by both men. TJP with a leg submission. Turns into a series of pinfalls. Northern lights suplex by Sabre. TJP gets the pinfall once again. These guys have had their hands locked together for the last couple minutes. TJP wins the test of strength. Sabre kicks off the ropes and ducks through the legs. Cross armbreaker by Sabre. Sabre continues working the arm. He turns an arm submission into a two count. Both men kick each other in the back of the head. European uppercut by TJP. Sabre hits a forearm. Kick exchange. Dragon screw leg whip. Sabre responds with a kick to the arm. Roll-up by TJP. Cloverleaf. TJP tries to apply a Boston crab. Sabre gets a roll-up for two. Kick to the shoulder. OW! Another kick to that shoulder. TJP with a kick to the midsection. Sabre with a kick to the head. 1-2-NO! Kick to the midsection. Cross armbreaker. TJP turns it into a two count. Cross armbreaker once again. TJP switches into a cloverleaf. Sabre grabs the ropes. More kicks to various body parts. They sure do like kicking each other. TJP sits down and almost gets three. Sabre reverses to a pin of his own. Brainbuster blocked by Sabre. Small package leads to the cross armbreaker by TJP.  TJP has no choice but to tap.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL wXw Lightweight Champion- Zack Sabre Jr./12:31/***
-I enjoyed this match for what it was. The psychology went somewhere, and the ending was logical. Unfortunately, the crowd heat was non-existent and they couldn’t feed off the energy. Solid opener.
-Big Van Walter vs. Eddie Kingston
Having seen Walter wrestle three times in a short period of time, I can safely say this is the last guy I want to see right now. I hope Kingston punches him right in the face… many times. Crowd wakes up for Kingston’s entrance. Kingston tries chopping away. Walter no sells. Closed fists work. Kobashi chops also work for Kingston. Kingston goes for a belly-to-belly suplex but Walter strikes him. Dropkick. Chop. Series of blows and a clothesline. Kick in the chest. He stands on Kingston’s throat in the corner. Chop exchange. Walter misses a charge. Running yakuza kick. Walter with elbows and a running kick. More chops by both men. Walter hit s butterfly toss. 1-2-no. Irish whip. Kingston dropkicks the knee. Dragon screw leg whip. King with a half figure four. King goes for a backdrop driver. Walter hits one of his own. German suplex by Walter. 1-2-NO! Walter climbs to the top rope. Kingston hits a palm thrust. Biggest superplex ever. Walter no sells. Kingston dropkicks the knee. Regular dropkick. Kingston misses the back fist. Strike exchange. Kingston with an armdrag. Lariat by Walter gets two. Walter with a sloppy powerbomb gets three.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Big Van Walter/8:21/*
-Slow and boring. Only two words I can think of to describe this match. Maybe sloppy too. Nothing looked all that great, and Walter’s refusal to sell takes away any drama in his matches.
-Karsten Beck vs. ???
Beck doesn’t even have an opponent. He claims to be a star. I think he’s lying. Crowd heckles him to no one’s shock. I can barely understand a lot of what he says. Doesn’t matter because we have an opponent.
-Karsten Beck vs. Nick Gage
Gage is a CZW regular, so he just starts brawling with Beck immediately. He uses a chair right away. Series of forearms. Beck backdrops Gage into the second row. Hey, our first stupid bump of the night. And it was a CZW guy. Who would have thunk it? Beck is a pudgy Jack Swagger. Easiest visual I can provide for you find readers. Beck works over Gage back inside the ring. Doesn’t last all that long. Uranagi by Gage ends the match.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Nick Gage/2:23/DUD
I’ll just move on quickly. Crowd is all into Gage, but I could care less.
-wXw World Tag Team Championships: Switchblade Conspiracy (Jon Moxley and Sami Calihan)(champions) vs.  American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards)
Hell yes. Something to work with. Kingston joins Bryce on commentary. That’s also a win. Edwards hooks an anklelock almost immediately. Moxley tags in to lock up. Richards slaps Moxley in the back. Edwards and Moxley go to the mat. Calihan once again for a chopfest. Edwards can’t fight off both members of the Switchblade Conspiracy. Heat segment on Edwards. Edwards shoves Calihan into the corner. Richards hits a headbutt and a big clothesline. Kick to the back. Pace picked up. Forearm exchange with Calihan followed by a kick. Edwards in again. Calihan takes control of the match. Chop the chest. Moxley grabs the leg and trips his opponent. Edwards crawls to the ropes. Forearms. Moxley with a Polish hammer to the chest. Chop exchange. Moxley grabs the eyes. He grabs the arm, but Edwards takes him into his own corner. Richards and Moxey fight over a vertical suplex. Moxley finally gets it. Calihan with an elbowdrop and a kick to the back. Headbutt. Chop. Moxley in again. Heat segment on Davey now. Richards quickly kicks Calihan to get the hot tag. Clothesline by Edwards. Doesn’t even get a one count. Calihan reverses a bodyslam and he gets an O’Connor roll for two. Edwards hits a belly-to-face suplex. Richards hits a missile dropkick. Wolves go to work on Calihan. Neither team can seem to decide who the heel or babyface is. This lack of direction is hurting both the quality of the match and the crowd heat since no one knows who to cheer for. Calihan hits a DDT. Moxley sends Edwards into the guardrail. Hot tag? Mocley with a shoulder block and a running forearm. Richards with one of his own. Moxley hits a Bossman slam. Hey, Eddie called it. Moxley can’t quite a belly-to-belly suplex but he does manage an armbar. Richards runs into a Moxley boot.  Edwards gets backdropped on to the floor. Richards runs into the post shoulder first. Fujiwara armbar applied by Moxley. Edwards has to push Calihan to break the hold. Champions runs into Edwards. All four men battle in the ring. Richards kicks Calihan on the top rope. Moxley battles both challengers. Edwards lifts him, so Davey can hit him with the alarm clock. Superkick by Edwards leads directly to the German suplex and a roll-up by Edwards for two.  Edwards and Mocley rotate waistlocks. Calihan boots Edwards in the face. Double team acecrushers. 1-2-NO! Richards breaks it up. He tosses Calihan. Strike exchange. Moxley with a high leg lariat. Edwards hits a leg lariat. Bulldog by Calihan. Calihan hits a backdrop driver. Richards immediately comes back with a clothesline. Crowd finally into the action in the ring. All four men slowly come to their feet. They fight each other. Calihan suplexes Richards over. Edwards kicks Moxley right in the chest off a sunset flip. He climbs to the top. Moxley punches him. Superplex by Moxley. Splash by Calihan. Moxley gets two. Calihan rams Richards into the post back first and chops him. Richards comes back with kicks. Edwards hits a superkick on Moxley. Double kicks by both members of the Wolves. 1-2-NO! Wolves screw up a lungblower/powerbomb combo badly. Edwards applies a half crab, but Moxley small packages him and gets three.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL wXw World Tag Team Champions- Switchblade Conspiracy/18:43/***1/4
-The scariest aspect of this match is it could have been even better if they had established clear roles for themselves. Obviously, one team didn’t have to go complete babyface, but I think the heat was hurt by the fact they didn’t know who to cheer for. The screw-up at the end was minor and didn’t ruin things all that much at least. Best match of the night up to this point.
-Tommy End vs. Claudio Castagnoli
This match is very European and was also teased at the end of a four way match the previous week. Too bad the dynamics are different here as Claudio is a heel and End is a babyface.  Feeling out process. Leads to a bit of a shoving contest. Claudio ends up on the outside. Biggest problem with this match is actually the same as the previous one. Claudio, while a huge babyface in Europe, is a heel in almost every company he wrestles in here in the states. And End isn’t the most charismatic guy in the world, so it’s hard for him to get the tough Philly crowd behind him. Claudio starts overpowering his smaller opponent, but End shows some moxy. He hits a one-footed dropkick that frustrates Claudio. Series of kicks to the body by End. Headscissors and a springboard moonsault. Sliding dropkick. Uppercuts and a bodyscissors. Claudio goes under the ropes. Forearms by End. He comes off the ropes but gets bicycle kicked. Gutwrench suplex gets two. Chinlock. Claudio pulls End by the hair back to the mat. He tosses him by the hair out of the corner next. That’s just mean. Claudio drags End out and throws him against the guardrail. Series of chops. End fights back with chops of his own. Claudio simply goes to the eyes. To the top, the second, no he just jumps down and kicks End. Camel clutch. Legdrop. Knee placed between the shoulders. Irish whip. End hits an acecrusher. Forearms by End lead to more kicks. Sliding dropkick. Dive to Claudio on the outside. End misses a double stomp. Claudio misses a second double stomp. Enziguri by End. Rana gets a long two. Kick and a deadlift German suplex. 1-2-NO! End hit a leaping kick. Once again to the top. Claudio steps up and hits another bicycle kick. Super gutwrench suplex by Claudio. 1-2-NO! UFO airplane spin. 1-2-NO! Ricola bomb turned into a small package. Toss and a European uppercut by Claudio. 1-2-NO! hard lariat. 1-2-NO! End sure is getting a chance to show some fight and resilience. Claudio hits another flying European uppercut for three.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Claudio Castagnoli/13:28/**1/4
-Pretty forgettable match really. Nothing awful but nothing of note to report either. Once again, this was a tough match because End isn’t a guy that might be well-known by the philly faithful and Claudio clearly played the heel role.
-End doesn’t even get a hand from the crowd on his way out. Ouch.
-wXw World Heavyweight Championship: Steve Douglas (champion) vs. Bad Bones
After watching 45 minutes of Douglas defending his title recently, I’d say this is about the last thing the card needed. Douglas actually tries to get everyone to stand for a playing of the German national anthem. He also threatens the fucking United States flag. This is the cheapest heat you’ll ever see. I’m repulsed by this attempt at getting attention. Bones actually waves the U.S. flag to garner cheap babyface heat. Match is a joke already, and the bell hasn’t even rung yet.
Douglas hits a lot of high impact moves early in the match. At least they’re not wandering around the ring for 10 minutes. Already a step up from the match with Absolute Andy.  Douglas of course rubs the flag between his legs and chokes Bones. Douglas chokes the challenger with the German flag as well. When the referee takes that one away, Douglas breaks out another German flag. That’s a blatant rip off of Aries’ spot with the ties. Very sloppy but not completely offensive match between these two. They break out various weapons for no real reason other than it’s something to do I guess. We of course get a couple chairshots to the head to prove no one ever learns anything in the world of pro wrestling. To show you how little of an understanding these two goofs have of wrestling, Bones throws a bunch of chairs into the ring, suplexes Douglas, and lands on the chairs as well. Just a moment earlier he pushed the referee into the ropes when Douglas was prone to jump. Keep in mind Bones is supposed to be the heroic babyface. Douglas hits Angel’s Wings, and Bones does a complete oversell. To the point where the crowd laughs. Douglas does a Flair flip. He should be made to apologize. Crowd chants “You both suck” as they battle on the apron. Both men sloppily go through the table on the outside of the ring. This match has fallen off a clip. Bones gets into with a rather portly member of the crowd. Keep in mind. He’s the babyface in the match. Bones continues yelling at the fan inside the ring. Crowd is just livid at this point. Pace picks up. Crowd boos. Seriously. GO HOME! Okay, Douglas hits a crappy German suplex and gets two.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL wXw World Heavyweight Champion- Steve Douglas/19:21/DUD
-The match didn’t start out badly, but it went down the tubes in a hurry. Crowd turning on the match didn’t help obviously, but these two guys flat-out didn’t perform to the crowd’s liking and they’ve got no one to blame but themselves. Yes, the Philly crowd is tough, but they’re not unreasonable. They’ve given countless young guys in CHIKARA and CZW a fair chance.
-Bones yells at the fans after the match to show what a classy guy he truly is. Bullhorn continues to interrupt him. As much as I hate bullhorns, Bones should have taken the damn hint and left. Bones spits on the flag and throws it down multiple times. Security actually has to restrain this moron from going after some idiots. What a hothead. Bones did a fine job insuring he’ll never get booked by any company here in the states. And I for one endorse this. If you can’t take the heat, fuck off. I don’t care how stupid the Philly mutants are.
-I was waiting for a match that would make my blood boil and anger me as much as the LWA showccase did. Congratulations to these two goofs because they came close.
-Chris Hero vs. Alex Shelley
That last match killed any remaining interest I had in this show. Even these two coming out for a match does little to interest. Also doesn’t help I saw these two wrestle a couple weeks ago in PWG.  They run through a feeling out process very similar to their PWG match minus the red hot Reseda crowd. Polite applause is the best these two could hope for. Shelley is still wearing something across his back, so I can only assume he’s still nursing an injury. Pace picks up as Shelley takes control and works the arm. Hero forearms Shelley to the outside of the ring. Facefirst into the ring apron with no particular vigor attached. Hero works the head and neck. Some members of the crowd yell out “boring.” What a wonderful group of people. Shelley tries to bite his way out but gets elbowed for his trouble. Eye rake by Shelley. Another elbow by Hero. Shelley is moving awfully gingerly in the ring. His back must be a complete mess. Shelley and Hero go through a pretty uninspired sequence to virtual silence. I honestly feel sorry for these guys. Shelley is clearly hurt. Crowd clearly got killed by the last match and by a series of mediocre matches. These two certainly try their best with some false finishes. Shelley eventually wins with a modified roll-up. Gutsy performance by him.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Alex Shelley/16:00/**1/4
-I’m glad I got to see these two perform in front of a better crowd in a better match on a better show. I’m giving these two a pass because of Shelley’s injury. Just unfortunate these two couldn’t treat the fans to the kind of match we all know they can deliver on.
-Drake Younger vs. Thumbtack Jack
Can’t think of a better way to end this dreadful show than with a mindless brawl. Weapons are everywhere. They go through a token wrestling sequence for God knows what reason. I think Younger is capable of having good matches, as evidence by the Jeff Peterson cup, but wrestling in this garbage isn’t going to do his career or body any favors. Stupid headshots galore with sticks. Both guys bleed all over the place. We go through about a billion and nine finishes that get kicked out of. What an amateur indy brawl. I’m sure this gets over with the CZW crowd, but I can’t stand these ultraviolent death matches. It’s why I’ve never reviewed CZW or companies of that ilk. Both guys go through glass and get dropped on their head multiple times. Jack frogsplashes Younger while he has a glass board with barb wire prone on top of him. 1-2-3. Thank God this match and show are over.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Thumbtack Jack/20:19/DUD
-I had zero matches that offended me really badly in the first half of 2010 before this show. Now I have two. Young is for sure a guy who has talent. Why are these two lowering themselves by mutilating their bodies? Ridiculous.
Final Thoughts: Didn’t think it could any worse than the JAPW anniversary show from this year, but wXw did everything in their power to top that crapfest. I’ve got two of the last three matches at DUDs, which is unacceptable for any wrestling organization. wXw is a company that’s survived for over nine years in Europe. This was an opportunity to make a dramatic debut in the United States and create a new audience. I don’t see how they were successful. None of the regulars were involved in anything special. Bad Bones behaved reprehensibly and the main event was the kind of violence that will turn a lot of fans off. Big thumbs down for this show, and I don’t forsee myself buying anymore wXw other than the 16 Carat tournament.