Pedro DeLucca, the ring announcer, introduced "V Squared", Virus & Virus Grande. Hobo Joe and Bobby Beverly were their opponents. Beverly and Virus started the match. Joe Dombrowski, the play by play man, mentioned that "V Squared" accepted the ladder match challenge of Jake Crist & Vincent Nothing for Wrestlelution. He also said there was a ten man, elimination match that will pit "Team Hobo Joe" versus "Team Clash". The match started slowly with some simple holds. Hobo Joe got tagged in and uped the tempo. Joe's momentum stopped when Virus Grande kneed him running the ropes. Hobo Joe got beat down. The crowd chanted for Joe a majority of the match. Beverly got the hot tag. Beverly set up Virus Grande for a Hart Attack but Hobo Joe got low bridged. After a back breaker from Virus and a brain buster from Virus Grande, Beverly was pinned for the three count. "V Squared" attacked Hobo Joe with a ladder after the match. "The Clash" ripped on Hobo Joe and Bobby Beverly and told them they would lose at Wrestlelution from the entrance ramp. Beverly announced that Zach Gowen would be one of their teammates.
Analysis: It was a solid match up with the correct team winning because "V Squared" is supposed to set a high standard for ladder matches. Adding Zach Gowen to the card helps to draw interest into a match which has little drawing power because of the leaders of the teams involved are jobbers.
After the break, Benjamin Boone was set to square off against Cary Whitner. Boone was said to have a new attitude and played a heel role. Aside from a minor flurry of offense from Whitner, it was a squash match. Boone used the Diamond Cutter as his finisher. Boone grabbed the mic and he said that he is fed up with being a joke. He will prove it by taking on King Kong Bundy at Wrestlelution.
Analysis: Jamie Scott, the color commentator who is the bad cop in the announcing duo, should have supported Boone's change in attitude instead of continuing to make fun of him. The attitude change may help since the PWO needs another physically big heel.
They went to a pretaped promo by Josh Prohibition. He said he'll be the first PWO Heavyweight Champion. Prohibition went on to claim that "M-Dogg" Matt Cross is his protege and that he turned his back on Prohibition.
Analysis: It was a great promo that was direct and had good conviction. The lighting was off though because he was half in shadows which doesn't fit his character who always wants the spotlight.
Matthew Justice took on Cronus. Cronus was on offense to start the match. When Justice got momentum, Aaron Maguire tripped him. Justice went after him but got hammered by Cronus when he got back into the ring. Maguire started talking trash to Bane while Justice continued to get assaulted. Bane came out to the entrance ramp. Maguire pulled out his order of protection. Bane called out "Bloody" Morty Rackem who chased Maguire back to the backstage area. Justice got a near fall off of the distraction. Justice took the offense to Cronus. Justice tried to jump over Cronus in the corner but got caught. Cronus F-5ed Justice for the win.
Analysis: It was a good match that made both competitors look good.
"M-Dogg" Matt Cross had his own pretaped promo. Cross complained about Prohibition being a thorn in his side. He said the match for the PWO Heavyweight Title will finish the argument of who is better.
Analysis: It was a solid promo that wasn't anything special. It looked bad because they seemed to use a low grade webcam from his basement.
Johnny Gargano came to the ring slowly and wandered around the entrance ramp and ring side area. Super Henti made his PWO debut. Dombrowski said he was from Hawaii and trained in Japan. Super Henti took the offense to Gargano for the first couple of minutes. Gargano hit an enziguri and a back stabber. The announcers heavily hyped the Gargano announcement as to whether he would accept Gregory Iron's challenge for a Last Man Standing match at Wrestlelution. Gargano missed a frog splash. Both were slow to recover. Henti got in clotheslines, chops and a head scissors. Gargano got the momentum when he block a second head scissors attempt and turned it into a power bomb. Henti fought off a superplex and hit a top rope splash for a two count. The ref almost got squashed in the corner. Gargano gave Henti the trick knee low blow then hit his finisher, Uniquely You which is a full nelson flip slam. Gargano grabbed the mic and called out Iron. Gargano accepted the match, ran down Iron and told Iron he'll feel more pain than he has already. Gargano promised to keep him out of wrestling for good this time. Gargano then attacked Henti to show Iron what he'd do to him. Iron was held back the whole time by some wrestlers from the locker room.
Analysis: It was a good match because Super Henti was a good worker that gelled well with Gargano. They also did a good job of helping to hype one of the biggest matches of Wrestlelution.
Kevin DiFrango is the hardest working member of the DEJ Experience. Keep an eye out for Dusty, Eric or Jeremy's articles and our Ask the Experience blog. If you feel like you have some ideas to stir into our pot, email us at theaudioexperience@gmail.com
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business...
Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?
AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?