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RD : Rev Ray Duffy, can't order a sammich right
PP: Pogo Pete Stein, rock rock on
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RD : This report is very late because well, it was a billion degrees most of the week and I didn't really feel like writing. And Pete will almost never start a road report, so this one is on me. I meet up with Pete in Rahway for the show, unknowingly ending up on the same train. There seemed to be a pretty good turn out, but it didn't seem as many as for the Teddy/Homicide show. I was surprised to learn that for a pretty new building, it doesn't have air conditioning and as a result, they won't be running the building for the rest of the summer. The show started early with some dark matches.

PP: I spent the afternoon bumping around a comic convention at the Penta or the PennsylvaniaPavillion or whatever the hotel across the street from MSG is called this month before heading out to Rahway with gargantuan cheesesteak from Charley's in tow. I was hoping to watch the Belmont before heading out, but as it was my mother actually went to the race live (according to her going out on the LIRR was like being on a train to Auschwitz) and phoned in the odd update. Crowd was about the same as the last show, which had to be a disappointment considering the names they had on this. I swing by Mayfield's booth and am absoultely floored as he's got puro magazines with him dating back to 1975. IWE Champion Verne Gagne! Sam Houston Coliseum! Ricky Steamboat w/the world's worst porn star mustache (and think of how much ground that covers)!
 

MATCH 1 : DANNY DEMANTO w/ Fire v. KEVIN MATTHEWS :

RD : After they announced Demanto and said "And his opponent", I jokingly said "KEVIN MATTHEWS!" to Pete and Lo and behold. These two are stuck in like a Jimmy Snuka/Metal Maniac level of getting booked against each other. It seems like Matthews got word of us mentioning him removing his crazy bumps from his last match as it seemed like it was out to make up for the missing ones in his last match, and that's not exactly a good thing. He busted out is crazy leg drop to the back ofDemanto's head as Demanto is leaning on the top rope, but I don't think it looked like more than just a glancing blow. Demanto took a pretty crazy bump too as he ended up getting crotched on the top rope and eating a yakuza kick and taking a fall to the floor. Matthews ended up getting the win a texas clover leaf. Demanto's manager ended up coming out in the same outfit she wore to the ring and sitting in the bleachers with her boyfriend.

PP: I'm pretty sure I got way too giddy at the announcement of Matthews. Matthews is definitely making up for lost time with us as he pulls out a bunch of his retardo bumps for our pleasure, including his enzuilegdrop to the floor. It's pretty funny as the crowd start a "YFU" chant so Matthews yells "NO I DIDN'T! I'm supposed to do that!" Demanto's valet had great boots with flames coming out of the soles, like she's the Joshi Steve Williams or something. Should be interesting to see her in the crowd on camera for the whole show.
 

MATCH 2 : GAVIN QUEST v. PINKY SANCHEZ :

RD : I'm trying to remember if Quest was doing the preppy gimmick on JAPW student shows a few years ago. For some reason he reminded me of an "on a bender" Christopher from the Sopranos. Sanchez is announced as being from the Neverland Ranch. Prior to the ROH split news breaking, we were joking that if Sanchez gets booked by ROH we'll know if RF was gone or not. Sanchez had really great bad tights. I said they were like something David Lee Roth would have worn in the 80's, Pete said they were too loud for that. We both agreed he'd need to have chaps on too for it to be a true DLR outfit. This was an OK match. They did some nice stuff in, I think some good elbows, though it was sort of light on the selling at certain points too. I think both guys wanted to show what they could do so it was sort of really spotty. The finish was Quest setting up Sanchez for what looked like an Alabama slam, but as he slung Sanchez over, he got hooked and Sanchez turned it into a piledriver go score the pin.

PP: Sanchez comes out to "I Believe In a Thing Called Love" and I pop thinking Frank brought in Nate Webb for the show. OK match as they did alot of stuff to pop the crowd. Finish is nasty as hell as Quest goes for the Alabama Slam and Sanchez sort reverses it into the most unprotected Canadian Destroyer ever which Quest takes right on his head for the pin. Egads.
 

MATCH 3 : THE DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELZ (EC Negro & KC Blade) v. ALL MONEY IS LEGAL (K-Pusha & K-Murda) w/ Dizzie :

RD : This was the first "official" match of the show. I'm not sure ifDizzie has been managing AMIL around the horn, but this is the first time I've seen him. I think this had the crowd for the most part and was one of the better DRS outings I've seen in a while as they clicked really well with AMIL. AMIL got to show off a lot of their cool moves and the DRS bump really well for guys and Negro did a really great cross eyed sell of something. There was a really neat bit where Negro got chucked into the corner and just ate a string of moves where one of AMIL would hit him, followed by the other, then the other, then the other, taking Negro from standing to sitting in the corner followed up by one doing a somersault senton landing a headbutt to Negro's groin. AMIL also pulled out a nice drop toe hold off the ropes into a flatliner combo. The DRS ended up both getting caught up on the top rope at one point and K-Pusha ended up giving them both a frankensteiner at the same time which lead to K-Murda hitting a moonsaultsenton. This is the move I've seen the Great Sasuke go for but no one ever take the bump for. It's sort of like a 450 senton with the guy doing a moonsault and rotating through so they land on their back. Well, he hit it on Negro and Blade. Maybe if they send a tape of this to Sasuke, they'll get booked so he can finally land the move. The DRS ended up recovering during some confusion and Negro set up Murda for a beachbreak and Blade grabbing him and hitting a piledriver at the same time. Fun match. I wouldn't mind AMIL getting used again by JAPW.

PP: Really strong debut for AMIL as they've turned into a solid team over the last year or so. Still spotty, but their stuff is dead-on and they also have a lot of charisma, which almost seems to be a Doghouse trademark as most of the DPW kids come off as real characters. Dizzie also has a ton of personality and was clearly enjoying himself, but IMO he was a little too busy on the floor as he was distracting from the flow of the match at times. Finish is cool as DRS pin Murda clean off the assisted BEEEEACH BREAAAAAK. AMIL should definitely be brought back.
 

MATCH 4 : JUSTICE PAIN w/ Johnny D v. DIXIE :

RD : I missed the last show, so I don't think I got the explanation of Johnny managing Pain when he had been managing Kaos against Pain on a previous show. Having never really watched CZW, Pain must not be very tall because it didn't seem like he was all that much taller than Dixie. I think this was a shuffling in the card due to Deranged whacky adventures in Calgary, which the jaded wrestling fan in me thinks is partial a work for H2. Dixie was sort of working face, which was sort of odd. This was better than the match Pain had with Kaos. Dixie did a bunch of high flying stuff to take Pain down. Pain went for a chair which distracted the ref, Johnny ended up getting in the ring and fireballedDixie behind the ref's back. Pain ended up hitting a fisherman buster onto the chair for the win, though it seemed like Johnny or the ref were trying to remove it from the ring, so it's by the edge of the ring, so Pain had the carry Dixie over to it to drop him on it.

PP: Pain looked fine here plus at the previous show against Dragon, which leads me to believe that the Kaos match being such a turd was all Kaos' fault. Goofy finish as apparently fire is illegal yet chairs aren't. All I want is some consistency. It seems like they're teasing a Youth Gone Wild reunion with Dixie and ID reuniting to take out Pain, which I'm down with.
 

MATCH 5 : H2O HIP HOP OVERFLOW (Corvis Fear & Rush Margera) v. THE SOLUTION (Papadon & Havok) w/ Johnny for the JAPW Tag Team Titles :

RD : H2O is kind of a PG-13ish gimmick. They ended up using "Pop Goes the Weasel" by 3rd Base as their music. They worked the crowd and it's odd seeing shiny happy Corvis Fear. The gimmick is goofy that it really feels like it's just waiting for them to do a heel turn with it. Early on Rush does a few things that end up forcing Papadon to dance much to his displeasure. This was sort of squashish and it felt like it dragged a bit as Fear ended up playing face in peril as the Solution had a pretty extensive beat the shit out of him session. Rush made a hot tag at one point, but eventually, the Solution put this away with the Problem Solver. It wasn't a bad match, it just felt like it was dragging a little. After the match, the DRS come out and get into the Solution's faces and there's a fight. During this, some fan took a swing at someone, I think Johnny D. There is high comedy as Security chases him around the building, especially since this guy could have probably run out the front door instead of trying to circle the whole building.

PP: If they're trying to do a heel gimmick it wasn't working with this crowd as they were pretty over once they went into the bleachers... fuck, they're 100% babyface with me just for busting out the 3rd Bass tune.Corvis comes out with a hubcap leading to the PG-13 comparisons; if Corvis goes Jamie Dundee and starts using the hubcap he will be Tom's new #1. Rush's house-a-fire section is pretty great just for the H20 double teams where they incorporate a bunch of old-school rap shtick (i.e. Rush and Corvis doing the Kid N Play dance to kick Havoc, then Corvis screaming "I'M GONNA KNOCK YOU OUT!" before punting Papadon in the head). I hit the facilities at the finish so I miss the start of the festivities with the fan going after Johnny D; he runs past me trying to escape, which confused me since I couldn't see someone hiding from the police on another part of the basketball court when he could've ran right out that front door.
 

MATCH 6 : NICK BERK v. "HURRICANE" JOHN WALTERS

RD : John Walters falls victim to someone sitting near by us having the newest mask magazine from Japan. I'm still puzzled at why the ROH fans love him so much and as a guy who isn't afraid to like the match that everyone else on the show doesn't react to, I find it weird that this is the guy the ROH fans have gotten behind. Berk kept trying to go for the Berkolator in this, but it kept getting countered. Walters did a cross armed reverse lung blower (NYC Striker's fall backwards and drive the guy's back into your knees, though Walters does it to the guy's face/chest). Walters ended up winning with the Hurricane DDT which is a powerbomb into a DDT.

PP: IMO this is more Berk being victimized than Walters getting victimized. In this case they were doubly victimized as not only was there the one dude with the new mask mag (plus the 2004 Mook), but I was also distracted by Mayfield's tape of the most recent Z1 U$A tape. MACE AND BUFFY IN JAPAN, DADDY! Mace himself is hanging out watching the CSC/FEC match... I always get a kick watching guys mark out for their own matches. Berk almost makes my night as he goes for the Berkoset near the end of this before Walters reverses into his Hurricane finisher.
 

MATCH 7 : JOSE & JOEL MAXIMO w/ Amazing Red v. MDOGG20 & JOSH PROHIBITION :

RD : The Maximos getting a pretty good reaction and a "Fuck TNA" chant from the ROH fans. Prohibition seemed to have a pretty big cheering section too, so I guess Rahway has its share of Straight Edge wrestling fans. The Maximos really laid into MDogg and Josh in this, especially with some pretty brutal chops. The Maximo's busted out this really weird move which had them each take I think MDogg's legs into like a stretch Muffler with the both standing and holding him upside down, then grabbing his arms and flipping him over so he landed back first. They did a near submission finish with I think Joel having MDogg in something that looked like a reverse figure four or modified indian death lock as Jose fought with Josh on the floor before Josh eventually fight him off and made it into the ring for the save. The finish was MDogg going up top for I'm guessing the shooting star press, but the Maximos whipping Josh into him, crotching him on the top rope. They took out Josh with a Joel crown's gate and then hit the Spanish Fly on MDogg for the win. After the match, the Maximos teased shaking hands, but ended up pie facing them and flipping them off. This lead to both teams continuing to go at it. Red was sort of sitting back during all this before finally coming in and laying into the Maximos. Jay Lethal ran in to run off the SATs. One of the Maximos got on the mic and bitched about working against two pieces of shit like Prohibition and MDogg, so I guess their heel shtick is that they're better than everyone else.

PP: Really fun match as this wasn't the standard Maximo-by-numbers affair. Maximos control for the most part but Youthanazia also get a lot of offense in and this gets alot of time to develop, like 15-20 minutes. Both teams looked great and this was probably the second best match of the night. Maximos were wearing their "Six Point Four" outfits (still waiting for someone to explain the name BTW) and I'm shocked (SHOCKED~!) that they didn't pimp their main events with World Japan during the heel mic work. Then again, if you work a WJ tour and no one saw it, did it really happen?
 

MATCH 8 : B-BOY v. TRENT ACID :

RD : I will say this for Trent Acid, he does make me want to see someone kick his face in and does a good job of it. This was my first time seeing B-Boy live and for the most part, he and Acid had a pretty good match, though they did some of the kicking out of finishers as Acid kicked out of a shining wizard and B-Boy survived 2 Yakuza kicks (one from the back, Acid followed it from the front but it looked like they airballed it, so B-Boy kicking out wasn't so bad.) Acid took a crazy bump off the top to the floor, landing on the railing I think. Finish was Acid nailing a yakuza kick as they did a bunch of teases with B-Boy ducking out of a few attempts before finally getting beat.

PP: Second time I've seen B-Boy live... first was against Excalibur at the CZW Anniversary show, which was basically the only match that night that didn't make me want to puke on my shoes. I like B-Boy's shtick with his theme music and this was an OK match, although I don't see the point of jobbing him out in his debut.
 

MATCH 9 : MIKE AWESOME & VADER v. DAN MAFF & SAMOA JOE :

RD : Awesome came out first, followed by Vader who did some mic work asking everyone what time it was. Joe got a pretty big reaction from the crowd. Vader ended up wrestling without the mask which was kind of a surprise. He looks really old without it. And he's really huge. But if he charged me, I'd run. Vader pretty much played the monster, but did spots where he'd pound on guys, get rocked a little and then turn things around and return to pounding them. Maff had a few great facials on stuff after getting punched by Vader while he was out of the apron. Vader hit the Vader Bomb at one point on I think Maff, but Maff rolled out of the way of a second. Joe got the hot tag and was using a lot of slaps on Vader. This sort of broke down with them fighting on the floor. Awesome brought a table into the ring and propped it in the corner. They teased him doing a running powerbomb into it on Maff, but Maff slipped out of it and ended up putting Awesome through the table with a germansuplex. The finish was Joe hitting Maff in the back and Awesome hitting a sit out powerbomb for the pin. I fully expected Generalissimo Takada to show up on a video screen dressed as M. Bison but was denied. Takada Monster Army invading JAPW = pure gold. This was slightly better than I thought it would be. I wasn't expecting a whole lot from Vader considering it was an indy show and his current age/conditioning, so he was slightly above expectations.

PP: Hmm... Monsta Mack dressed up as Bison to lead the TakaderMonsta Army. Works for me. I honestly don't know how I would've reacted if five years ago you were to tell me that Fat Frank would be booking former IWGP champions on one of his shows. Vader worked a lot harder than I expected; clearly, the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak as there were points in this match where he looked like his heart was going to explode any second. MKJ's bus trip goons spend most of the match bagging on Vader's weight and I immediately move a couple of rows over. I don't care how out of shape he might be... you will never hear me speak ill of anyone who can stare down a police dog like he did a couple of years back. Let me repeat that. VADER STARED DOWN A POLICE DOG.Joe turns on Maff at the finish, which leads us to question Maff's leadership qualities as he's now feuding 1-on-6 against Joe, Monsta, Awesome, Vader and DRS.
 

MATCH 10 : JAY LETHAL v. AMAZING RED w/ Joel & Jose Maximo v. SONJAY DUTT :

RD : The Maximos seconded Red dressed like they were going clubbing afterwards. Dutt and Red hugged a few times, seeming like it was TNA alliance. I'm blanking on a lot of this, but it was a pretty good match, unfortunately, we were starting clock watch at this point was we were cutting the trains close. I think they did some cool triple tie up spots. At one point Jay busted out a really cool tie up where he had someone in a lock up, I forget what, like a cobra clutch or something and alternated between whipping them backwards into a back breaker move and then whipping them forward into a rib breaker once or twice. I think this had a really psychotic spot with Jay giving both Red and Dutt a double dragon suplex which was really insane. I remember Dutt eating something that took him out near the end and I think that was the move. They went for a table spot some point, but they had a broken leg, which they some how got to stand and not fuck up when they someone got put through it. I think it was a powerbomb counter to a frankensteiner. The finish was Lethal catching Dutt into his straight jacket piledriver thingy. Post match, Lethal went after the Maximos but at this point we were heading out the door.

PP: Interesting to see this as the main while guys like Vader, Joe and Awesome work the semi. As someone who's been watching Lethal develop over the past two years I thought this was really symbolic as he gets his first real main event with the company as a star and perhaps even something of a draw, as opposed to the one time he mained with Rainchild against DHS where he and Rain got fed to them. Match starts out with lots of neato T2P-style triple tie-ups. All really creative and not something that I've seen in the past. Early on they also do the lucha spot where Jay puts a Romero Special on Red only for Dutt to slither underneath and try to steal the pin. Aforementioned dragon suplex was the crazy-go-nuts spot of the night as Dutt tries to give Red a dragon only for Jay to get behind Dutt and dragon both guys over at once. The table spot was perversely entertaining as Red tries to drape (I think) Dutt onto the table, only to be stopped by all 500 fans yelling "NO!" at him. Priceless. We bail out at the finish and high-tail it for the train and I make insane time getting back as I hit home by like 12:15.

RD : Overall, it was kind of an eh show. It felt like something was missing and it really didn't feel like the matches got the crowd going like they were for the DRS/AMIL match. There wasn't anything really horrible, but not anything really outstanding. I'm not sure what the schedule is going to look like for the group since they won't be running Rahway again until September and aside from running an outdoor show in Trenton, I'm not sure the next time I'm going to see the group.

PP: Another solid show from JAPW as the Rahway cards have all managed to deliver in one way or another ever since the venue change. Only problem is that they'll basically be spinning their wheels for the summer as most of their fan base is going to be on vacation in some shape or form... hopefully they can organize another show or two at Seaside.