There is a world where independent wrestling seems to be thriving and enjoying a great deal of success. Maybe not a world so much as a state. The state of New York boasts multiple successful promotions including 2CW, NYWC, and the company I am about to take a closer look at, FWE. Family Wrestling Entertainment is similar to 2CW in that it brings in some names while also incorporating prominent indy names into the product. Like some companies, that balancing act can be difficult. As we’ll see with House of Hardcore, that process isn’t easy. The best thing I can say about the wrestling on this show was mostly good with one very notable exception that I feel significantly hurt the flow of the show.
The big match on “Welcome to the Rumble” was of course a 30 man knock-off of the Royal Rumble. Whereas WWE has weeks of television to build up possible storylines and introduce all of the competitors, FWE. The first aspect of the booking to hurt the main event was that a number of the lesser known wrestlers came in and got eliminated before many of the big stars did. A lot of the more local individuals came in every two minutes, did a few moves, and then got lost in the shuffle. I’m not opposed to seeing new wrestlers showcase themselves. In fact, this show probably could have used a bit more than that. It becomes tough as a viewer to get behind or enjoy action when I know none of the people in the ring. I was flat-out bored during the first portion of the Rumble until the Sandman of all people came out and started caning people. Even though I’m not the biggest Sandman fan, I at least recognized him. The crowd’s energy noticeably picked up. Having two minute intervals also did the match no favors given the lack of prominent names contained in those first fifteen numbers. Maybe 30 minutes is a bit too breezy, but you can at least burn through the early portion and have the important wrestlers still battle it out in the end. From then, The Young Bucks, Tony Nese, Jigsaw, Jay Lethal (a surprise entrant), and Tommy Dreamer made their way to the ring. The second half was at least more energetic and featured top stars struggling instead of little known wrestlers. Dreamer was “injured” by the Bucks after eating duel superkicks and falling across two chairs. FWE teased Lethal winning a second straight year, but Dreamer came away with the win. Because of the win, Dreamer is now able to challenge for any FEW championship of his choosing.
Usually, I’m not one to talk about announcing so prominently, but it’s worth talking about Matt Striker since this was his first booking after not having his contract renewed by WWE. He was on the broadcast for nearly the entire show, and you can really see the difference between an announcer on the independent scene and someone who’s worked in WWE. There are positives and negatives. The storytelling aspect of announcing is a huge part of what makes a broadcast if you ask me, and Striker tried to bring that in to mixed success. There wasn’t a whole lot of chemistry with any of the people doing the announcing regardless. He did add some pertinent information but not being on the indies led to some deficiencies in knowledge too. Also, the relentless hitting on of Katarina Leigh, whether real or kayfabed, came off as totally inappropriate. Speaking of inappropriate, there was this exchange in the first half of the main event.
Jordan: This ring quickly filling up with talent.
Matt Striker: I wouldn’t go that far.
With all this taken into account, I was stillfascinated by listening to Striker commentate if for no other reason than to hear those differences in the way announcers behave. The differences are (pardon the pun) striking.
Other than the Rumble and Striker’s grating announcing at times, I enjoyed the rest of the show. Nothing was actively bad, but there were no must see or stand-out matches. John Morrison and Carlito wrestled for the FWE title in a match that they could probably have in their sleep on Raw or Smackdown. Morrison looked good and there were a couple of fun counters. I particularly enjoyed Morrison going for Starship Pain and Carlito hitting the backcracker. This played into what happened later on. Unfortunately, they never really hit that third hear to elevate this into the “great” category, but they were solid enough. Morrison won the title with Starship Pain after blocking a second backcracker. A nice play off what happened earlier on.
Rob Van Dam does not wrestle very many indy dates, but I guess he needed to work himself back into shape before WWE. This was probably his last chance to wrestle Tommy Dreamer, and it probably wasn’t all that different from something you’d see in 1997 or 1998. I’m sort of ambivalent to ECW matches, but this wasn’t actively bad. As soon as they started a token mat sequence, I wondered how long it would take for them to end up in the crowd brawling. Sure enough, they were outside not two minutes later. They eventually made it back to the ring where RVD took a few bumps that elevated this just past the okay mark. If nothing else, he looks in really good shape and I’m 10% more intrigued by a WWE return. Van Dam won with the five star frog splash, and Dreamer gave a very emotional speech following.
The other championship match featured Paul London defending the Tri-Borough title against the former Jimmy Yang, now Akio Yang. I actually watched this match twice. The first time I was distracted by the racist commentary and chants from fans just behind the announcers’ table. I don’t even want to address what they said, but it definitely wasn’t okay and should never ever happen again. It is 2013. Chanting various other Asian wrestlers’ names at Yang is plain ignorant. Thankfully, these two had a good wrestling match. On second watch, once I muted the sound, I was able to appreciate the work involved and see how physical they were working. Maybe it’s not 2004 anymore, but they had a good match, and London retained with a shooting star press. Seeing them break out a reverse rana from the top rope was pretty nifty too.
Another positive of FWE is they actually run angles with the women. Maria Kanellis is their champion, but she was in a tag team match on this night. She and Ivelisse Velez of Tough Enough fame wrestled Katarina Leigh and Angelina Love. Thankfully, Leigh did not have Love hypnotized or under some sort of lesbian spell as happened in TNA. Mike Bennett was pretty great as Kanellis’s second. No doubt in my mind those two bring out the best in each other and generate a ton of heat simply for being together and making out on the ring apron. A double team polished Velez off as they seem to be building up three potential challengers for the women’s title.
The best match of the show had to be Young Bucks versus Tony Nese and partner, part deux. In this case, Jigsaw was that partner. I’ve seen Nese and Jigsaw have better matches with different respective partners, but this was still a very good match with well-executed spots and a further continuing of Nese’s evolution as one of the hottest prospects on the independent scene. Bucks won with the spike piledriver in a shorter than I would have liked match. Given all four men were in the Rumble later, I understand the circumstance, but know these four men can top themselves given the opportunity. Favorite spot still had to be Nick Jackson superkicking Nese into a Yoshi tonic by Matt. Looked great and sounded better.
Petey Williams an Brian Kendrick opened the show. I feel like these two guys have solid and many times good matches, but they’re in this weird spot. The appearance makes them seem like flippy X division guys, but they try to wrestle a completely different style, which is more heavyweight based. Jeff Jarrett is someone I felt similarly about. I generally like their matches, but I don’t ever walk away thinking these guys are two of the best in the world. They’re obviously comfortable with the style (and it’s certainly a lot safer than what is typically done), but I’m never going to deviate much pleasure from the matches.
It feels like a lot of the matches fell into the good category, but there wasn’t anything spectacular to really bring the whole show together. If you’re checking this out on-demand, you’ll probably have a relatively easy time watching up until the Rumble. Matt Striker certainly added an interesting element, and in a way could probably help out the announcing with more time to build chemistry and familiarity with the product.
Grade: B-
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-Taped from Corona, New York
Commentators: Jordan Schneider, Matt Striker, Jerry Cross, Matt Striker, Katarina Leigh
-Petey Williams defeats Brian Kendrick by pinfall with a Canadian Destroyer/9:58/***
-The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) defeat Jigsaw and Anthony Nese/11:08/***1/4
-Katarina Leigh and Angelina Love defeat Ivelisse Velez and Maria Kanellis by pinfall after a double team boot/samoan drop combination (FWE Women’s Champion)(w/Mike Bennett)/9:30/**1/2
-FWE Tri-Borough Championship: Paul London (champion) defends successfully over Akio Yang by pinfall after a shooting star press/15:16/***1/4
-RVD defeats Tommy Dreamer by pinfall with the five star frog splash/16:54/**3/4
-FWE Heavyweight Championship: John Hennigan wins the title over Carlito by pinfall after Starship Pain/17:03/***
-Tommy Dreamer wins the 30 Man Rumble/1:00:19/N/R