So I found out what High Anxiety actually is. Try going off caffeine. Now I haven't gone off cold-turkey, but even the reduction can be pretty killer. So I really have no idea what I watched tonight. So please remember that as I describe the night.
Enter Cranky Old White Man
Also I have to make clear a few things here. These are personal preferences so please understand them as you read this. I abhor violence against women and the post-main event contained that. I get that that was the point. This was a way to get heat on Just James Johnson. I just do not and will not approve that ever. I hated it tonight. I hated it when Hogan did it to Miss Elizabeth. I hated it when Alex Koslov did it to Faby Apache. I hated it when Tommy Dreamer would piledrive Francine or Chastity. And yes, I hated when Andy Kaufman did it (the latter two are personal sacred cows). I also hate the heel ref. Heels can be heels, but I don't like one guy being unable to win. I hated it with Nick Patrick and the nWo. I hate it with Absolute Intense Wrestling in Ohio. I hate it in AAA. So these are my personal biases. I understand the point of both. I just don't like the concept. So please understand that as you read tonight.
Exit Cranky Old White Man
Last night was a pretty decent sized crowd considering the rain. A lot of these fans waited outside through the rain. There were a lot of kids in the crowd. I love watching the kids because we were all them at one time and they are what it's about. MPX has their first sponsor Crypt Tattoo Company in Arlington. It was a special Halloween edition, which was fun to watch. Kate looked good in her outfit (Haven't yet figured out what it was yet).
First match: Doberman vs. Li Fang
These guys were both debuting before the MPX crowd. I knew the name of Doberman just from posters and stuff but this was my first time to see them live. Doberman looks like he's wrestled in Texas before as a heel. He came out draped in an Oklahoma flag. For those of you who are not familiar with Texas, Texas and Oklahoma do not like each other. As the match went on, the crowd began to hate Doberman more and more. Doberman was a good, effective heel and had a nice size. Li Fang was the yin to his yang. He also had a nice size and a good energy. The crowd love Fang and hated Doberman. I hope the green guys in the back were watching how to be a heel from Doberman, because he certainly owned that crowd. One of the highlights was a plancha onto Doberman on the floor. There were some great stiff knife-edge chops. Great drama and a good match.
Winner: Fang
These guys both deserved a “Please come back” match. Fang would make a great face. And I'm already wanting to see Doberman-Scott Murdoch, Doberman-Ben Wylde, Doberman-Keith Lee. We were treated to a vignette of Kristopher Haiden trying to pronounce Seph Annunaki's last name. Funny stuff. Then Kenny Steele got involved. Haiden wished him luck.
Second match: Barrett Brown vs. Kenny Steele
Out of all of Brown's tights I've ever seen, I think this one is the most in accordance with his persona. Again, I think Brown reminds me a lot of Davey Richards. I think it'd be hard for Kenny Steele not to be the top heel in the company. The man came out in a Tigers jersey during his entrance. Pure brilliance. The words I wrote down for Brown were crisp and refined. I wrote down during this match that Kenny is one of my favorite things about MPX. $Payday$'s kids were on the front row all night which made for great entertainment. I'm pretty sure MPX's Feud of the Year is going to be between Kenny and $Payday$'s son. We got a “Let's go Barrett” chant. He put Kenny in a hold I don't know, but I saw Eric Ryan do it during an AIW DVD. Steele beat Brown with the Snow Plow.
Winner: Steele
After the match, Steele got on the mic and said he wanted a seasoned vet. He was accommodated by Kristopher Haiden. He cut a nice promo. I am looking forward to Haiden-Steele. This should be a good feud.
Third match: Bling & Sting vs. Cash & Carry
If Kenny Steele is the top heel in the company, BC has got to be #2. BC showed a lot of focus, more than I've ever seen. WASP continues to get slimmer and looks better. WASP and $Payday$ are working more and more on their tag team thing. They did some awesome tag team moves. I popped for the Dirty Dancing “Nobody puts baby into
back”>how to get your ex backa corner” spot. BC did a vertical suplex on $Payday$ and made eye contact with $Payday$'s son while doing it. They attacked $Payday$ in front of his kids. I know this is a work and it still made me mad. For other companies that might read this, $Payday$ does the face in peril during a tag match really well. During the match, Kyle Valo attacked WASP with a hardcover Twilight book resulting in a DQ.
Winner by DQ: Bling & Sting
Cash & Carry were not very happy and continued their post-match beatdown. WASP began bleeding towards the end. So in case you were curious, Twilight's words DO cut like a knife. During the intermission there was a cute Monster Mash Battle Royal. It was what it was, cute, for the kids, entertaining.
Fourth match: Ben Wylde w/Kyle Davis vs. Frankie Fisher w/Daniel Theman (loser has to wear a dress)
Both managers were handcuffed at ringside. Daniel was supposed to hit Wylde and hit Frankie instead. Wylde rolled him up for the pin. Match couldn't have been a minute.
Winner: Wylde
Daniel and Frankie play off each other well.
Fifth match: Live, Fly & Die vs. Regrub & Zero the Antihero
I was a little confused by this match's booking. We still like Zero the Antihero. We throw streamers at him, cheer him and he shakes his opponents' hands. What would Team Kyle possibly want with him? Zero kind of came off looking like 1990 Sting. The work of the match was good though. Seph and Zero are two minds who totally love the business so the two of them together in the ring was pretty good. Also, Seph and James are really gelling well as a tag team. Of course during the match, they were done with Zero and took him out. Then Kyle continued as Regrub's partner.
Winner: Regrub & Whomever was Still His Partner
Ryan Gauge was the referee so you knew there was no way Seph & Hawke were going to win this.
Sixth match: Viktor Tadlock w/Claudia vs. Andy Dalton
Forgive old cranky white man, but he doesn't like Confederate flags either. But I understand the context it's used in this match. Both have been in the Texas indy scene for a while, so I know the two have met before. They wrestled like they have wrestled each other before. In the spirit of Halloween, Claudia was dressed up as Harley Quinn. Dang. These were two hard-hitting big boys. Grim Reaper stood ringside. I wrote down it was a good match, so it was a nice showing for Andy Dalton before the MPX crowd. I think he was well-received.
Winner: Dalton
The Grim Reaper turned out to be Carrion Arcane. I was really hoping for Laura Harris. (This is for all you Dead Like Me fans.) He said, “I'm not dead.” Then Mike Foxx sent in a video explaining why he attacked Arcane. It has nothing to do with business; this was personal. I feel like Foxx is committed to MPX and helping out this company. There was another creepy film by Aldric. Then it was time for the main event.
Main Event: Fatal 4-Way: “Headbanger” Gregory James vs. “Just” James Johnson vs. “The Choice” Matt Andrews vs. “Center Stage” Danny Saint
Saint looks like he lost a hair vs. hair match. I like the look for him. I'm going to say. This is when the caffeine withdrawl was the worst for the night for me. Also, there were a lot of really great things in this match, so I'm sorry if I missed some of the better parts. Johnson stood out to me a lot. I'm very high on his work. He and Choice played off each other really well. There was a double-thumb-to-the-eye. There were some really great spots, especially the double neck-breaker off the top rope. We got two “That was awesome” chants. Choice was eliminated first by Saint. So then Choice super-kicked Saint and he was pinned by Johnson. (I'm thinking Choice-Saint might be a nice feud.) And then Headbanger won.
Winner: Headbanger
After the match, Johnson and Killer Kody Kox handcuffed Headbanger to the ring. Johnson wanted a title shot and Headbanger wouldn't give him one. Then Kate interfered and Johnson put her in the Crippler Crossface (what it looked like where I was). Cranky Old White Man is gone so I will say it was effective.
All in all… A good show. It didn't seem like there were as many matches and not everything seemed forced (like, we've got to get this wrestler and this wrestler in there). Match of the night was probably the 4-Way.
For more on MPX, click here.
To follow me on Twitter, click here. For Facebook, click here.