Usually I don’t do too many recaps at one time because they take a lot out of me. Today I did a very grueling, emotional SHIMMER show, which you can read about here. And in the spirit of Wrestlemania weekend, I went to MPX tonight.
Dark match: Claudia vs. Livi La Vida Loca
Claudia seemed to be channeling LuFisto with bringing her Batman doll to ringside. It seemed like it had a name. We had some cute comedy in this beginning. The match centered around this doll. It was like I went to an SNL skit and a wrestling match broke out. During the rest holds, the crowd had the tendency to be lost. I’d like to see Livi work on keeping the crowd in it.
Winner: Claudia
After seeing a day full of SHIMMER, I’m kind of in a mode where I expect my women’s wrestling a little more serious. But it was a cute opener. We had our opening and introduce everybody. Hawke did better with his lines.
First match: “The Left Hand of God” Matt Andrews w/Kyle Valo vs. Carrion Arcane
So Arcane has been going through every member of the Following trying to get to Valo. This was not really the match I thought we were going to get. This was above and beyond where I thought it would be, being close to the sleeper match of the night. Andrews wrestled in a such a way that it didn’t look like Arcane vastly outmatched him size-wise. Andrews brings a lot of commitment to this character. What he lacks in build, he makes up for in performance. I’d take 100 Andrews over a single Chris Masters because of his ability to get a crowd to react.
Winner: Arcane
You have to give it to Arcane for taking a very predictable match and adding some depth to it. This is one of my reasons he’s always one of their MVP’s.
Second match: Li Fang w/Nigel Rabid vs. Zero the Antihero with Frankie Fisher as the guest referee
So we’re continuing the storyline that Nigel is getting to choose all of Li’s opponents. He chose Zero the Antihero who is MPX’s version of Barry Horrowitz. Zero spends a lot of time studying the business so he’s always a delight to watch. We had a rana, a plancha, a Steen cannonball.
I heard the loudest kick I’ve ever heard from Li. Now the story of the match is that Frankie wants Li. Frankie did the Special Guest Referee gimmick where he would not count anything in favor of Li. It was REALLY funny. My only problem is that it went WAY too long. It was like watching a Family Guy episode and a wrestling match broke out. When Li was out of the ring, Frankie did a fast count to award Zero the win.
Winner by countout: Zero
It’s easy to call Zero the most over wrestler in the company. Fans were making the letter “Z” with their hands for him. If that is not over, change your definition. After the match, Nigel sat up a match with Frankie to where if Li won, Frankie’s services would belong to Nigel.
Third match: Dave Dunnings vs. Kenny Steele vs. Joshua City vs. Viktor Tadlock
So we had one of the members of every tag team in singles competition tonight. Kenny is looking a little bulkier and looked a lot crisper in the ring. I didn’t notice any botches tonight. Tadlock has a nice amateur background so I like watching him for what he uniquely brings. Tadlock had Kenny taken down and City did a catapult off Tadlock’s back. And the look on Tadlock’s face was priceless. Kenny took a really stiff spinebuster from Dunnings.
Winner: Kenny
They announced a 4-way elimination match for the next show tag match for the title the next show. This would have been a perfect time for an intermission (hint, hint). Gregory James and Barrett Brown were doing a “Pick Your Poison” thing where they were choosing each others’ opponents. Greg’s opponent was Scott Murdoch.
Fourth match: Scott Murdoch vs. Gregory James w/Kyle Valo
This is time for my public service announcement. If you have chest tattoos, do not wrestle Murdoch unless you are needing to get them retouched. You know that memo that says that wrestling is fake? Murdoch wiped his butt with it. Just when I think another wrestler has stiffer chops (Nobe Bryant, Josh Prohibition, Hailey Hatred), I see a Murdoch match. It’s also easy to forget how great of an athlete Greg is. He did a dive onto Murdoch that had insane Hang Time. I am renaming him Air Greg. The crowd was into this match the entire time. We had a move I am calling the Clothesline from Hansen, as Clothesline from Hell is already taken. There was an Andy Dalton video that played during the match that distracted Greg long enough to get the pin.
Winner: Greg
Fifth match: Kristopher Haiden w/Paige Turner & Nigel Rabid vs. Danny Saint w/Claudia
Haiden noticed a problem with the ring. So we had a scramble to fix the ring. Normally I’d be going nuts, especially with no intermission. However, earlier in the day I waited for a Internet PPV feed for them to assemble a steel cage. Steven Kirby wielded a sledgehammer whereupon I thought it should have been appropriate to play this. There was really nothing wrong with this match except I wanted an intermission. Haiden is looking a little slimmer. Saint has become a good “Everyman.” He has a certain Blue Collar style about him that connects with the people. While she has wrestled a few times, this is my first time to see Ms. Turner live. I LOVE her look. I also think that between her and Claudia, we might be in the midst of MPX’s first lady feud.
Winner: Saint
After the match, Haiden was mad at Nigel. He’s promised Haiden wins and he hadn’t delivered. Paige whispered something in his ear. It worked as she is now the Smack Whisperer. Nigel also gave Haiden an envelope which we can only assume had money in it. I’m think that or negatives of the pictures Baby Doll had to blackmail Dusty Rhodes.
Sixth match: Barrett Brown vs. Apoc
Yes, that Apoc. Apoc has been a bit of a mainstay in the Dallas-Fort Worth indies scene for a long time. He had been out of the business for a few years, so the reaction was mixed. There were a lot of fans who didn’t know who he was. But for those of us who knew the name, this was a huge return, like a Mike Foxx or a Franco D’Angelo returning. He cut a quick promo about how he was on a self-imposed exile until he found something worth returning for. So Apoc came back to make Barrett. He had some killer chops on Barrett which were sold best by Barrett’s mom who was ringside as photographer. (And I don’t she was selling so much as reacting.) It was a nice “passing of the torch” match. The crowd was riveted and into it. It ended when Greg came in to attack Barrett.
Match: Ruled no contest
Main event: Mike Foxx w/Kyle Davis vs. Kanoa in a Street Fight where the loser left MPX
My favorite part of this match was that for once I had no idea who was going to win this. Being as deep into wrestling as I am, it isn’t very often that I’m able to be left in the dark when it comes to a result. So matches where I don’t know the result like Punk-Cena at Money in the Bank, Steen-Corino at ROH a few years ago, those matches, I get to sit back and watch as a fan. This was a great plunder match filled with lots of Kendo Sticks and chairs. The near-falls were aplenty. We had a Van Terminator from Kanoa onto Mike Foxx. We had a chairshot to the head from Kyle onto Kanoa. I’ll spare the soapbox sermon on chairshots since there was only one. There was a senton from Kanoa onto an empty ladder which hurt me to watch.
Winner: Foxx
We thanked Kanoa for his time and went around to hug and thank everybody.
All in all… I thought this was a pretty good show. Andrews-Arcane pretty much stold the show. Zero-Li was a really entertaining match. And the return of Apoc was a great surprise. The build-up to Greg-Barrett is probably the best build-up I’ve seen them do.