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Declaration of War occurred on November 3, 2012 & is PWF’s second event & definitely the one that cemented what PWF offers its fans. Removed one month from the debut show Making a Statement which introduced the audience to a significant portion of the roster and introduced a few new faces. What could have been a nail in the coffin for a promotion that was vying to be reputable, the choice was made by the powers that be to not have any stars on the card. It was a move that proved to be risky but paid off in the long run.
John Noble vs. Jordan Kage vs. Sean “The Virus” Harddrive- Triple Threat Match. In typical PWF fashion, the show starts with a match that could be a Match of the Night contender in other promotions. John Noble & Jordan Kage meet for the 2nd time in a PWF ring while Virus is added to the mix after a hard fought loss against Dustin Rayz which made people forget his abysmal & disappointing performances on OVW. In a match that had great offense, what really stood out was how all 3 men worked the crowd (especially Noble whom you don’t expect from him). Winner: Sean “The Virus” Harddrive. During the post match with Virus offering to shake Kage’s hand, Kage hit him with a low blow & set him up & nailed him with the Fuzzy 8×10 which was described to me by John Bullard as the teetertotter to Hell.
Ryan Dookie vs. Derek Neal (w/Billy The P). Best way to describe this one is old school wrasslin’. What I mean is, 2 guys got in the ring, fans knew who to cheer & who to boo, got the crowd interested, the manager got involved, & the winner was determined with the use of a foreign object. Now, there weren’t high spots in this match, but the absence of them doesn’t mean that it was boring or terrible. Winner: Derek Neal. In a post match segment Dookie challenges Neal to a rematch at the next show which Neal tells the hometown hero no but he can face CZW/ROH star BJ Whitmer.
Sweet & Juicy (Johnny Long & Jimmy Feltcher) vs. Zodiak & A Mystery Partner. For anyone who hasn’t seen them, Sweet & Juicy is something that a small town in Kentucky really wasn’t ready for. Johnny Long looks like a rave kid on the weekends away from college while Jimmy Feltcher looks like the love child of Adrian Street & Adrian Adonis who hates flowers & has a strong sense of self worth. In short, they can get a crowd going. Zodiak looks like something Hell would vomit out. That’s all I got to say about him. The mystery partner is Jerry Bishop who has worked in promotions in both Kentucky & Ohio. With the match going with ebbs & flows, everything changes when Feltcher handcuffs Zodiak to the top turnbuckle then double teams Bishop with Feltcher nailing him with a vicious lariat (that was lost in the view of the camera) & a standing moonsault by Long for the pin. Winner: Sweet & Juicy. Post match they proceed to pummel their fallen foes with leather straps which forces John Bullard to intervene by not only offering the key to Zodiak’s handcuffs, but announcing that there will be a double strap match at the next show & that the guest official will be wrestling legend Dutch Mantell!
Mad Man Pondo (w/Crazy Mary Dobson) vs. Corey Statik- Hardcore Match. Not too much can be said about Pondo that hasn’t already been said. The guy’s a vet & has an ingrained audience since he has been a regular with Juggalo Championship Wrestling. Plus the video of him pulling his own tooth shows this is someone who doesn’t cower at the thought of pain. As he’s standing in the ring roasting the people who paid for the treatment & challenges anyone while his young protege stands by & laughs, a local wrestler by the name of Corey Statik comes to accept. If you’ve never seen him, Statik looks like 2002. At this point the terms are settled & they have a hardcore match. What proceeds is as close as you can get to hardcore in Kentucky (read: NO BLOOD) with the use of chairs, garbage cans, Pondo’s trademark stop sign being thrown at his victim, & Pondo shows that it is possible to use a sledgehammer & a cinder block to perform a circumcision on a post-adolescent. Dobson gets involved by executing a top rope hurricanrana on Statik which set him up for the deathstroke. Winner: Mad Man Pondo.
The Wolf Den Featuring Bobby Blade with Shane Mercer, Kole Layton King, & Jason Kincaid. Bobby Blade is a veteran & legend in the central Kentucky promotions, but don’t mistake that as a codeword for hack, he has all the attributes of what they call a good worker in the wrestling business. In the virginal segment of PWF’s version of The Wolf Den, the first guest that deflowered the show was Shane Mercer. The segment consisted of Blade commenting on Mercer’s physical attributes but criticizing him on his weakness: his apparent lack of charisma. During their exchange, a guy who makes you think that that song Carly Simon wrote that song is about him is accompanied by a someone who looks like they escaped an asylum interrupt the segment by introducing themselves as manager Kole Layton King & the pride of West by God Virginia, Jason “The Gift” Kincaid who the night before was in New Jersey competing for the NWA World Title. Even though that title isn’t near as credible as it once was, it still carries a significant amount of weight in the wrestling world so apparently the dredlocked hillbilly has some talent. While King is running his mouth on both Mantell coming in & Mercer in the ring, Blade decides to play matchmaker & let them both fight it out then promptly leaves the ring.
Shane Mercer vs. Jason Kincaid (w/Kole Layton King). When you look at the 2 combatants in the ring, it’s almost like seeing polar opposites. With Shane Mercer you have a guy who comes out in a leather jacket that was put through a paper shredder, solid black gear, uses electrical tape on his wrists & arms, and built either for power or flash depending how he works. Kincaid has his hair in braids, a beard that comes down mid-chest, looks like he weighs 160 after Thanksgiving dinner, & wears a outfit that has “100% Rudos” on the back. What happened after the bell rang was amazing. Mercer shows that he’s not only one of the strongest guys on the roster, he can wrestle & can do moves like his fall away slam standing on the 2nd turnbuckle which he calls the Diablo Driver (most wrestlers his size try to do that move they’d fall head first into the mat due to lack of rotation). Kincaid is fluid, with no wasted movement & if you can catch him make a mistake he can correct himself so fast that it doesn’t look like an outright botch so all the hype everyone heard a few minutes before was legit. Both guys obviously have several years experience with how they work in the ring with very little drag. I have to say, with Mercer, I can see a megastar in the wrestling business; he can wrestle, he has a great look, but he does need to work on his charisma & his mic skills. He has a bright future in the business, but that night he fell short due to being hit in the head with a cowbell by KLK. Winner: Jason Kincaid.
Hy Zaya vs. Lennox Norris (w/Billy The P)- Fans Requested Return Match. This is a rematch from the first PWF show which was a strong Match of the Night contender, with Hy Zaya the victor. This match showed that both men are very evenly matched & work very well together. While Norris has a very effective & traditional moveset, Hy Zaya’s repertoire consists of martial arts strikes & high flying moves that you would think were better suited for a guy 8″ shorter & wearing a mask. They went from doing a series of chain moves to brawling to near falls. In an exciting encounter that shifted from one man to the other & watching Hy Zaya execute a rolling reverse inverted gutwrench suplex kind of thing, the match was decided when Norris pinned The Hood Ninja after Billy The P knocked Hy Zaya’s foot off of the rope. Winner: Lennox Norris. Post match had Hy Zaya challenging Norris to a 2/3 fall No DQ match for the December show which PWF owner Bullard immediately announced.
Kyle Matthews vs. Dustin Rayz (w/Father Fear). When you see a combination like Rayz & Fear, it’s usually because the wrestler really doesn’t have much of a personality or can’t talk. But the combination of Rayz & Fear is like CM Punk & Paul Heyman: both are great personalities, very charismatic, & they work so good together. So, instead of one person who can work the crowd, there are 2 who are equally effective. For all or Rayz’s flash, Matthews is the opposite: in fact, he looks just like your run of the mill indie wrestler. But what makes Matthews stand out isn’t his look; it’s his skill. If anyone can take all those monikers that were abandoned when Bryan Danielson went to the WWE, Kyle Matthews could easily pick one of them up. Especially the Best in the World one. This was a match that wouldn’t be a main event on a PWF show; it could main event any show in the country. This was a match that definitely showed what Kyle Matthews could do, but also showed that Dustin Rayz is a wrestler that any company could be proud to call their top star & even their champion. At the end of the match, one man’s hand was raised, & left the crowd chanting for a rematch. Winner: Dustin Rayz. In what has to be the lengthiest post match sequence to date, it began with Matthews thanking the crowd & saying that he wanted to come back which prompted Jason Kincaid to come out & taunt Matthews because The Gift won his match & then blindsided Kyle. That exchange led to a systematic reintroduction of the wrestlers that night to those in attendance into the fray. This segment has to be best remembered with Virus doing a dive off the turnbuckle onto the wrestlers on the floor which is actually featured on the DVD back cover. It also sets up the announced matchup between Matthews & Kincaid for the first time anywhere.
If Making a Statement got fans in the door, Declaration of War is an example of why they come back. The card was very even and the matches were highly entertaining. The show also introduced fans to Kyle Matthews, Shane Mercer, & Jason Kincaid who have become favorites to many. It’s also welcome to see Digger as ring announcer again; don’t get me wrong, I love Brian & always will, but I look back fondly at the guy who dresses like a biker at a wedding introducing the talent. But what I don’t like is the ring canvas which appeared to be a tarp stretched over the mat, it just looks dangerous to me.
The DVD standard packaging for a 2 disc set. The cover features Rayz & Matthews in the forefront with additional photography by Mike Simpson who was also introduced to PWF at the same show but had to shoot from the audience because he didn’t have a license yet. There were multiple typos, but every organization goes through growing pains. Even though you can tell it was in its infancy at this point, you can see that this was a labor of passion & not to make either a quick buck or brief celebrity. Personally? I remember this night well, I gave up watching Sami Callihan vs. El Generico have a 2/3 fall match live on a DGUSA show to go to this show. The PWF show was good & I watched the DGUSA show the next day since I buy the replays too. So, good choice in my opinion.
Now, go check out a local show.
