RD: I was kind of jazzed that JAPW was starting up again since they had lost two buildings and pretty much haven’t run a show since May. JAPW ran a free bus from the city and from Bayonne, but since it’s easier for me to go from the city that’s where I went. I hit the city early and got dinner at Gray’s Papaya in midtown. This store is special to me for one big reason : it replaced a porn store. The great part was that Gray’s set up their shop and put up all their signs, but the building next door to it had ads up for “buddy booths”. They finally took that down, but I really wished the Gray’s had put up a sign warning people not to eat the hot dog that was coming out of a hole in the wall. I eventually met up with Pete and we waited for the bus. And waited some more. The bus ended up showing up about 30 minutes late. The building JAPW is a indoor sports complex with a roller hockey ring on one side and a soccer field on the other. Cyberspace apparently runs here too. The building has a lot of size, unfortunately, it doesn’t have air conditioning, and August in NJ in a building without AC is not too fun. The ring is set up in the middle of the roller hockey rink, which is surrounded with hockey board and plexiglass. There’s plenty of room which bodes well if JAPW is able to pull off a good drawing card as they did in Woodbridge for Funk/Lawler, at least they won’t have to worry about the fire marshal. The building is also really close to the NJT Trains, so public trans is an option.

PP: I kill time hitting my usual haunts around midtown Manhattan after getting back from my Colorado vacation the night before (Naimark should be returning my call any day now to set something up). I had to spend a four-hour stopover in the Atlanta airport going out and I took great perverse amusement at how the good people of Atlanta said "FUCK MOVING SIDEWALKS! God gave you two legs for a reason!" This in an airport with concourses that stretch for literally half a mile. I eventually hit the Manhattan Center and immediately confirm that a) the show hasn't been cancelled for lack of tickets sold,  the building hasn't thrown them out, and c) inclement weather hasn't forced a postponement. Ray sees the White Castle sack sticking out of my bag and immediately questions my sanity, but I ate at Sonic in Colorado and now know the true horror of good food gone bad. Mmmm, Sonic. 5:00 passes with no bus in sight and the natives quickly get restless... eventually he shows up at 5:30 or so and we roll out to Rahweh watching someones "Best of Starcade" tape. The Center Circle is pretty good as far as buildings go although everyone was just roasting there in the heat. It almost felt like the Dallas Sportatorium as they had the fans in the walls to keep the air circulating. I see George Mayfield has a table set up and head over to the nearest ATM... 3 blocks away at the train station. Good thing about that is that now we know how close the building is to the train so it's definitely a viable option in the near future.

RD: The show opens up with the ring announcer trying to hype the crowd, which is pretty sedate due to the heat. Bald Guy calls out Mafia and mentions that he’s been through some highs and lows lately. Mafia talks about his dad passing and during it the DRS end up interrupting him. They make fun of him for crying about his dad passing away and we figure they’re dead men.

PP: Mafia's promo dragged on and on and on until the DRS came out for the mercy killing. It was a pretty bad face promo on Mafia's part, which actually made sense in light of what happened later in the show.
 

MATCH 1: CORVIS FEAR w/ Church vs. “EXPLOSIVE” EDDIE THOMAS 
RD: This was one of the tournament matches for the vacated Light Heavyweight Title as Rain is another young man leaving wrestling so he can focus on scholastic studies. There’s also a “trying out” announcer (who sort of looked like the “fan” Pillman forked at the ECW Arena) and referee. This really didn’t go to long before there’s a run in by Johnny D, Allison Danger, Mega and Slugger. The Skyscrapers (which is the name Slugger and Mega are going by) chokeslammed both of them over the top rope and through a table. Church got on the apron but backed off. Unfortunately for Eddie, his table didn’t break, so he took a second one. The referee and announcers also took some moves and got laid out. Not exactly the best note to start your comeback with, a no contest with a run in. Kind of bugged me that they did this to a tournament match too.

PP: The tryout announcer looked like Oliver Humperdink Jr. I can sort of understand the need for them to debut the Scrapers with a bang... just not at the expense of a tournament match. This wasn't Eddie's night as he had to take TWO chokeslams out of the ring to the floor... then again, maybe this was poetic justice for a guy whose theme song (Zebrahead's "Get Back") expresses that he's "got game like Kobe." Work that one out in therapy, pal.

MATCH 2: NICK BERK vs. RUCKUS
RD: And a CZW offer match. This was also a Light Heavyweight title match. Berk continues to piss off Pete and he’s hoping for Berk to bust out his impressive offense like the berkoset (I think that’s the name of his barrel roll into a pedigree move). But we backed him in the match because he was doing the Texas gimmick and it’s always fun to do the hook ‘em horns. Though I was disappointed when Nick went for the big lariat spot and he didn’t murderlize Ruckus. Ruckus is all about the rolling and flipping and stuff. He’s got nice high spots… and nice high spots. Yup. Berk ended up winning as we got a rolling small package hold which was rolling for quite a bit before it slowed down to get the multiple counts before Berk ended up on top. Eh.

PP: Ruckus has dropped a ton of weight over the last several months. Kudos to him, but in a way that actually works against his favor. I mean he used to be a big fat guy doing all these moves so there was some bizarro novelty value to him... now he's just a guy in a gangsta gimmick. This match was entirely servicable as Berk is always fun and Ruckus was doing some matwork to go along with his flippity floppity moves. Berk goes over via small package that rolls all the way around the ring before he comes out on top.

MATCH 3: DERANGED w/ Dixie vs. MONSTA MACK
RD: Deranged came out to do some mic work. He’s in the light heavyweight tournament but says that he wants to face a heavyweight. He takes credit for training Homicide, Low Ki and someone else during this leading to Monsta Mack coming out and accepting this challenge. Work wise, this was fine, but there’s the goofiness of Mack being in the light heavyweight tournament is another thing. Of the matches I’ve seen since Monsta started working singles again, this was probably the best of the lot. He busted out the Van Mackanator again (minus the chair) to score the win.

PP: Insane Dragon and Reckless Youth were originally in the tournament before having to cancel due to injuries. Berk was one of the subs, and we were starting to wonder who the second substitute wuould be. I was wondering if they'd have Don Montoya come back doing his old "Juventoya Guerrera" gimmick to sneak into the tournament... then Monsta comes out so I was sorta close in a way.  Monsta and Deranged look good together before Monsta goes over via the Van Monstanator. Dixie appeared to goad Deranged into challenging "any heavyweight" for the match so this may lead to something between them in the future.

MATCH 4: AZRAEL vs. GRIM REEFER
RD: This was the best match of the tournament and a strong contender for match of the night. They had a fun match in a USA Pro gauntlet before they decided to bring in a chair and Azrael moonsaulted it and hurt his leg. They did some nice back and forth action. Reefer get in his tilt-a-whirl counter into the crossface. I forget if he hit or missed it but he went for the rope walk senton (which I’ve dubbed the Swanton Bong). Azrael hit another great chain of moves where he went through like 5 moves in a row, all different while keeping Reefer tied up and not letting him go. The finish was him hitting a somersault stunner from the top. Think a Buff Blockbuster, but with Azrael jumping over the guy with his back to him and gave him a stunner.

RD: Up next was an intermission that was supposed to go 10 but went like 20.

PP: The heat was borderline Elk's Lodge bad by the time they went to intermission.... they had about 6-7 portable fans set up around the building and I just laid down in front of the one by Mayfield's table. He was showing the Snuka/Brody vs Gordy/Hansen match from the 1987 RWTL (Gordy not having "died" yet) and intermission was very enjoyable from that standpoint as I laid there and watched the match.

MATCH 5: ARIEL vs. APRIL HUNTER
RD: Ariel is really tiny which leads to Pete asking how high she’ll come up to on April. Ariel is totally not afraid to die and bumps like a total freak in this. Though she had to be standing on the bottom rope, she took a clothesline bump over the top. April also killed her pretty good with a german suplex. This was a pretty good match as April had some really shaky matches earlier in the year, but her recent outings with Nikki Roxx and this one with Ariel were both perfectly fine. She worked heel which works when you tower over your opponents. April scored the win with the somersault swinging neckbreaker that Shannon Moore does from time to time from the second rope. Post match, the Skyscrapers came out again and Johnny D tries to recruit her. I forget the mic work, but it sounded like there was a history between the two, but be damned if I know what it was. Anyway, Johnny D says she’s either with them or against them. Ariel slaps him and ends up taking Slugger’s diamond cutter out of a body slam which sounds a lot nastier than it looks.

PP: April's been steadily improving over the last several months and this was a solid affair. This was my first time seeing Ariel actually work a match (she seconded the Christopher St. Connection at the ROH show in Elizabeth) and she looked good, especially WRT selling and bumping as she wasn't afraid to burst into flames on every bump she took. April goes over clean and bails out, leaving Ariel to get a burst of sympathy applause before the Skyscrapers' music hits (anyone who was at the show is free to hip us to the song's identity). Johnny D comes out and gives Ariel "one last chance" to join his group, leading us to believe they must've taped something for TV. Ariel turns him down and gets nuked one last time for her troubles.

MATCH 6: THE DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELZ (EC Negro & KC Blade) vs. THE SHAOLIN WRECKING CREW (Suba & Magic) for the JAPW TAG TEAM TITLES in a NO DQ MATCH 
RD: This is the culmination of the best of 50 series these guys seem to be having. The DRS have basically used screw jobs to retain the titles against the SWC and this was made No DQ to settle things. Negro ends up getting clocked in the head by the boot on the end of Suba’s nunchukshu’s. At one point early in the match, Negro tried to do the finish where he threw the belt to Magic and sold like he got hit. The ref tells him it’s No DQ, he stands up like he didn’t get hit and then gets nailed with the belts. Eventually, the DRS try to bail to the back, but the SWC follow them, leading to the spot I was waiting for which was someone getting thrown into the hockey boards around the rink. Negro sold it great as he took a face first bump into the plexiglass and stayed there to get the face smashed on the glass look. Eventually it gets back to the ring and Mafia runs in with a chair. You figure he’s going to attack the DRS right? Well, he clocked the SWC with the chair allowing the DRS to retain. It turns out that the La Familia group that had been teased on the JAPW website and in various updates turned out to be the DRS and Mafia. Of course, these mega heels music hits…. “Oye Como Va” by Santana. Which is only topped by the DRS and Mafia all dancing to the music. Mafia also got a Puerto Rican flag bandana from someone in the crowd which he put on. The group has potential.

MATCH 7: JAY LETHAL vs. SKINHEAD IVAN w/ white guy with Confederate Flag for the JAPW TV Title
RD: Ivan had a new guy with him so I’m not sure if he’s still in the rainbow coalition of hate with the Sheik and company. Jay hits like two or three nice dives in this. Early I think he hit a straight tope and he hit a nice over the top hilo. With the high ceiling Jay also got to pull out a Benoit style diving head butt. Ivan got in his usual stuff, the leg sweep, the somersault leg drop and the Seig Heil Sweep. I was hoping Jay was going to counter it and hit the Black Power Sweep. Ivan also hit the Seig Heil Sweep from the second rope too. The finish was Ivan ducking and Jay hitting a plancha on the guy on the outside. As Jay tried to get back in the ring, the guy on the outside hooked his leg, Ivan hit the somersault leg drop to the back of Jay’s head as he was caught through the ropes and got the win. Eh. I see a bigger upside in Jay and a bunch of other guys on their roster I’d put the belt on besides Ivan.

PP: Said new guy is a JAPW fan who's been a regular at least as long as I can remember. He had the Confederate flag with him and it seems like they're going to let Ivan get as close to the "Skinhead" gimmick as possible without him using one of the magic words or phrases that would cross the Line of Tasteless Demarcation. Jay barrels into the ring while Ivan's in the middle of his micwork and we're on... the JAPW stage is about 100 feet from the ring with a long carpet, which actually makes for a neat effect as everyone sees Jay run out and the crowd gets heated up in the 5 or so seconds it takes for him to go after Ivan. It's like the Center Circle is the Indy Scum Tokyo Dome. This was a good match as Jay was working at a million miles an hour and Ivan was also working harder than usual.

MATCH 8: DIXIE w/ Deranged vs. SLYK WAGNER BROWN w/ April Hunter 
RD: Slyk continued his hot streak of good matches with Dixie this time out. Given Dixie’s size he was able to throw him around a lot. Unfortunately I procrastinated in starting the report and the heat made me forget a lot of this, but I do remember liking the match a lot. Either this or Azrael/Reefer were match of the night. The thing that surprised the hell out of us was the finish as Slyk slammed Dixie and went up top and we were wondering what he was going for. And then he busted out the shooting star press to score the win.
 

MATCH 9: NICK BERK vs. MONSTA MACK vs. AZRAEL for the JAPW LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE 
RD: I was kind of hoping they’d have Monsta drop out of the match, but he was in anyway. At least the covered by having the ring announcer say “Weighing in at the maximum allowable weight for a light heavyweight” with him out there. We lost it early as Monsta hit a double face crusher on both guys and did a really funny yell while doing it. This went back and forth with some double teams. At one point, Azrael hit a spring somersault stunner where he hit Monsta with the move and I think leg dropped Berk at the same time. Dixie and Deranged did a run in where Dixie distracted the ref and Deranged hit his sunset flip bomb on Monsta who bumped really well for it. Then the Boogie Knights did a run in and jumped Monsta on the floor and beat on him with a bat and threw him in leading to Berk pinning him. Berk and Azrael went a little longer before Azrael pinned him with a small package and the win. I’m glad they’re giving Azrael a shot and if they continue the feud he was starting with H-Effect, the title defenses against Deranged or Dixie should be a lot of fun.

MATCH 10: MAFIA w/ EC Negro & KC Blade vs. AL SNOW 
RD: Snow was doing the crazy gimmick tonight. He did a take down on the announcer before the match started. He and Mafia did a little mic work. Snow asked why X Pac and the Hati Kid were in Mafia’s corner. This went all around the building including them taking out the Modtron table as the crew there scrambled to save their tv and vcr as the table collapsed. They also took out the table which Al was signing autographs earlier. The finish was Al hitting the Snow Plow to score the win. Post match La Familia did a beat down and Slyk Wagner Brown and April Hunter ran in for the save. 

RD: Post show our bus showed up late and had changed. But some left their stuff on the other bus, so we had to drive to the bus garage to get it before we finally get in the city. Overall, this was a mixed bag of a show. Work wise it was fine. Booking wise…. Eh. There were a few screwy finishes, especially around the light heavyweight tournament. Plus I’m not sure I would have put the tv title on Ivan and I’m not sure I would have had Mafia drop the title yet, but oh well. Next show we’ll probably be taking the train in. It looks like this building will be a steady stop as they had dates listed in the program out to Jan. Hopefully the building retains heat in the winter better than it stays cool in the summer.