PP: I had my doubts about going to go to this show based on it taking place all the way out in Deepest, Darkest Queens, but in the end I decide to go for it. After all, you would appreciate that I would've died a fiery death just to present a wrestling review for you, the Humble Readers. Anyhow, I bump around downtown Manhattan doing recon work on holiday shopping and somehow manage to stuff an entire Quizno's sandwich (mmmm, Spicy Monterey Club...) into my coat before winding my way out to Queens on the J train (as opposed to J-Train). For those of you that care, the J(amaica) line is old-school as hell as it's almost entirely elevated and some of the architecture along the way dates back to the 1880s. (www.nycsubway.org is your friend.) I get to Amazura around 4:15... Steve DeAngelis and the DOI crew show up a bit later and a grand time is had by all. We're on Eastern Indy Promoter Standard Time as the doors open 40 minutes after the advertised 5:00 listing. Inside Amazura is really nice with a fantastic lighting/smoke rig around the ring plus three video boards showing personalized intros for each worker as well as the live feed from the hard camera. ROH really needs to run a show here just for the Special K lightshow they could do. Clearly no expense is being spared... except on the intro music, which is like the most generic music EVER. More generic than the old GWF music, which I didn't think was possible. Chi McBride^H^H^H^H^H^H^Kingdom James is YOUR ring announcer.

RD: I had heard lots of bad things about the neighborhood the Amazura was in and I really didn't have any plans on going out there. But after hearing that Pete and a bunch of other people from the board had planned on making the trip, I figured I'd tag along, though Pete decided he was heading in early and going from some place downtown, so I took the shot alone. Of course, it didn't help that the weekend is when the city of Manhattan decides to shut down and reroute half their lines and I spent like 20 minutes figuring out how I was going to get into Queens and worrying if I even got there, if the E line was even going to be running. Fortunately, once I got to Queens it was running. It was pretty easy to get to the building as it was within 2 blocks of the assorted train stations. I showed up like a half hour after the doors were supposed to open and much to my non-surprise, the crowd that was there was all standing outdoors. I'll back Pete on the fact that the building does look nice, since it's a dance club they have the whole lighting rig, plus they have a stage. And a fish tank with two big fish. Plus they have a bar serving stuff, it's definitely not the worst facility internally that I've been to that's hosting wrestling. The video screens and presentations were nice, I'm guessing the super generic music was so they didn't have to pay for using commercially released music on tv. The draw back is that all the songs were at most 5 cords and just repeated on a loop. Geez, pay for 5 more cords.

MATCH 1: SHARK BOY vs. ZOKRE
PP: Good opener. Shark Boy is Shark Boy and Zokre has some really fun offense including faking a mortal by diving head-first into the middle rope to break his momentum. He almost Lesnars himself at one point on a Red Star Press but that was really the only quibble to the match. Zokre surprisingly goes over via springboard swanton into Asai moonsault (the old Hayabusa combo). Smart booking on their end as the LXW boy goes over the PPV regular. Ray comments that Shark Boy would've won if he had the Hulk hands with him.

RD: I dig Shark Boy for having one of the greatest indy scum masks of all time, in fact, I actually have one of the fan copies he sold at one of the Jersey J-Cups. I wasn't really digging this. It had some spots that seemed sloppy. Zokre did some cool stuff, like he did one move that was like a flying bell clap where he went up for like a frankensteiner and slapped both sides of Shark Boy's head with his legs. The Red Star Press moment was kind of scary. Zokre survived the Dead Sea Drop at one point before hitting his Hayabusa finisher after a powerbomb. Eh, could have actually afforded to probably been a little shorter.

MATCH 2: OUTCAST KILLAHZ (Diablo Santiago & Oman Tortuga) vs. THE SOLUTION (Havoc & Papadon, w/Spider & John Shane)
PP: The Solution are doing a gimmick where John Shane has taken Spider under his wing because his mom (Shane's maid) told Shane to "make a man out of him" from her deathbed. Of course, this allows Shane and the Solution to beat the crap out of him at random. OK match that sees Havoc attempt to use the ring bell on Tortuga only for Spider to hit the ring and grab it away from him; he tries to lay out Havoc, who ducks and allows Tortuga to get toasted by the bell instead. Solution hit the Problem Solver (Buff blockbuster/Liger bomb combo) on Tortuga and get the win. Postmatch Shane and the Solution berate Spider some more and proceed to set up a singles match for Spider RIGHT NOW~!

RD: Boy, there was tons of potential gay male fantasy stuff for Dean to write if this was on Smackdown. What with all the talk from Shane of Spider "being a confused young boy" and promising to "Make a man out of him." Anyway, the Solution and Shane get ridden on by the DOI guys most of the match and during their mic work. As Pete mentioned, the Solution member on the apron and Shane spend a lot of time abusing Shane on the outside. The Solution for the most part have been on a hot streak in the North East indies of having respectible matches, however, this didn't keep up the trend. There was something in this that really seemed lacking. This was also the first time seeing the Outcast Killaz and I wasn't really blown away. As Pete mentioned, eventually we have Spider getting tired of all the abuse he's taking and trying to nail the Solution with the bell only to screw up and hit Oman, leading up to the finish.

MATCH 3: SPIDER vs. SUPREME
PP: Supreme looks like Oxblood Oxheart from the Popeye movie. That's the highlight here as Spider gets about as much offense in as you might expect. Supreme administers a leisurely beatdown and puts the lad out of our misery with a powerbomb off the apron through a table for the win. I found it rather silly that they would fly Supreme cross-country to do a 5-minute squash match. To show how over Supreme is, most of the folks in attendance spent the match chanting Louie Ramos' name instead. If they're smart they'll book Louie/Supreme down the line for East Coast/West Coast hardcore supremacy or somesuch.

RD: So, Supreme comes out and yells "WHO AM I?" a lot which results me constantly insisting to Pete that he must be Cody. So Supreme comes out and thanks the Solution and Shane for giving him a mouse to pounce on... by punching all 3 of theme. So he's sympathetic to the confused young man? A few friendship is formed? No, he pretty much swishes Spider. This was a whole lot of Spider getting nothing. Supreme powerbombed him over the top once onto the Solution and Shane and then once again over the top through a table before putting this to a merciful end.

MATCH 4: JIGSAW/RORSCHACH/HALLOWICKED vs. ULTRAMANTIS/MISTER ZERO/GRAN AKUMA
PP: The two Mexicans in front of us freak out and party when they hear Hallowicked intro'd as they think he's Halloween. Naturally they're disappointed but they warm up once the match gets started and the Chikara boys do their thing. Sadly all six of these guys are ice-cold to most of the fans and they didn't get much of a chance coming out... and then comes the spot where Hallowicked attempts to powerbomb Akuma off the top rope. This quickly turns into an attempted murder/suicide as Akuma falls backwards all the way to the floor while Hallowicked Hamricks his leg on the ropes. Match understandably falls apart at this point before Mantis/ZERO get the pin on Jigsaw with a sort of bodyslam/elbow spike combo. Mantis heels on the Mexicans in front of us on the way out, which was weird as they worked face for the match. Quack's students seem to get a lot of heat on the net, but the fact that actual Mexicans were giving their work props would seem to be be sufficiently high praise.

RD: This one was pretty much met with apathy by everyone when the 6 came out. The powerbomb spot was really really scary because you saw Hallowicked just loosing his balance and Akuma just toppled over to the floor. Lucky it was on the side that had a little padding on it. Fortunately he was ok and I was really surprised that Akuma not only got up from the spot, but actually did a lot more stuff in the ring. After that bump though, I was kind of hoping the guys would just get through this without killing themselves. The finisher was kind of weird, but I haven't really seen any UltraZero matches with them as a team so I don't know if the move was a regular finisher of theirs. I'm not exactly sure what was up with them heeling the fans that were looking for a handshake/autograph after the match, but they could have been pissed off about them getting razzed and the blown powerbomb spot.

MATCH 5: VIC GRIMES vs. GRIMM REEFER
PP: We were sorely disappointed as the smoke machines were RIGHT THERE for Reefer's intro yet they stayed off. Tell me that wouldn't have been the greatest intro ever, especially if they made up his eyes and had him come out with a bag of Cheetos or White Castles. Match proper is a great brawl as Reefer bumps well and lord knows Vic hasn't met a stupid bump he didn't like. Second half of the match is entirely on the floor as a table and ladder come into play. Vic sets up a table on the floor and teases powerbombing Reefer off the stage onto it, but Reefer reverses it and Frankensteins Vic onto the steps (owie). Vic eventually takes over, tables Reefer and puts him through it with a Drive-By off the stage to get the pin (at which point this became a Falls Count Anywhere match is anyone's guess). Vic goes on to face Supreme and Corporal Punishment at the next show for the LXW Suicidal title.

RD: A bunch of the fans get on Vic about his weight and were cheering for Reefer, so Vic spent a bunch of time jawing with them. This was pretty good. It was in the Suicidal tournament and as far as it being a match were Vic Grimes tries to kill himself, this was subdued, but that's not a bad thing. Reefer did a spot where he knocked Grimes down and did the big splash off the apron with a ladder was on Grimes. There was also a funny spot where Grimes climbed up on the top of the big steps they had set up Grimes set up for a hipbuster on the top and started to run like he was going to jump but stopped and just hopped down to the next step, flipped off the fans who booed him and then hit it from the bottom step. As Pete mentioned, the frankenseteiner counter on the steps was pretty crazy and Vic hit the big somersault senton off the steps through a table on Reefer for the win. After the match, Supreme showed up on the video screens to taunt Grimes about the fact that they'd be facing again at the next show along with Corp Robinson. This was pretty good.

INTERMISSION
PP: DAHHHH DAAHHHHHHH *ding* DAHHHH DAAHHHHHHH *ding* DAHHHH DAAHHHHHHH *ding* DAHHHH DAAHHHHHHH *ding*

RD: OK, I understand them using the generic music for tv, but it's intermission, we don't have to listen to the same 3 cord generic theme on infinite loop during the breaks. For Christ sake, I was begging for DJ Anthony to be there and pop in "NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC VOL. Avagadro's Number."

MATCH 6: AERIAL EXPRESS (Quicksilver & Scorpio Sky) vs. MEXICO'S MOST WANTED (Damian 666 & Halloween)
PP: The Mexicans get to nerd out for real this time as La Familia hit the ring for their match. Halloween was wearing a shirt with the CMLL logo crossed out on the front and "LA FAMILIA DE TIJUANA" on the back in sort of a Cramps sans serif font, which would be #1 on my "Must-Get T-Shirt" list were it not for the fact that someone in the crowd had a shirt with their faces on the front and "PURE TIJUANA ASSHOLES" en espanol on the back. Match is fun as Aerial Express looked good and Halloween was awesome here. MMW take it via Damian gianto swing on Quicksilver so Halloween can dropkick him in the head. Both teams make with the "hail fellow, well met" hugs and Damian trades witty banter with APPLLE Mike on the way out.

RD: I was digging this a lot. Halloween is yo daddy. Scorpio Sky has neat looking gear/mask combo going on. Halloween steals the microphone and does the big intro of Damian in Spanish followed by Damian getting the microphone and doing the same for Halloween. Halloween works in about 3 or 4 different crotch copped variations to give to Sky and 'Silver. MMW were both wearing sort of cargo pants with mesh shirts so they looked like a heavier and seedier Hardy Boyz. Halloween was the star of this match, all his stuff looked great. He hit some great punches, kicks, drop kicks and a really nice spear at one point too. Of course, they were getting a pretty great reaction from the Spanish population too. Damian looked ok in this, but it looked like he was feeling all those years of working and killing himself, but this was really a match that felt like it woke me up after the first part of the show. Halloween's drop kick for the finish the looked all sorts of hurty. I also used by message boards comic thread to do a nerd out joke of suggesting that since Quicksilver is on Aerial Express they could go by the name the West Coast Avengers.

MATCH 7: SCORPIO JR. vs. ANGEL THE HARDCORE HOMO
PP: Originally this was going to be Angel/Justice Pain, but Pain is a no-show and Angel calls out Scorpio Jr instead. He also challenges people in the crowd to... service him; someone yells out "I'LL DO IT!" It's Louie. Angel obligingly drops trou and Louie is halfway to the ring when Scorpio (CAPE~!) comes out and the match proper gets underway.  Live Scorp looks so much like Triple H that it's downright scary... at one point Ray wanted to know what Scorpio's finisher was and I said "Pedigree." This was OK while it lasted as Scorp threw some good suplexes and Angel was fun. I was curious to see how Angel stocked up against local gay wrestling flag-bearers Mace and Buff E... he does a bit of schtick at the beginning of the match to establish the gimmick and later minces while running the ropes but other than he seems to be a straight wrestler, no pun intended. Angel wins after hitting a nasty DDT on Scorp and getting the pin despite Scorp having his foot on the ropes.

RD: Angel wasn't as over the top as the CSC are and pretty much did straight forward wrestling without much schtick with the exception of the once mincing run which Scorpio busted up by getting up early while Angel was running so he tripped. Scorpio actually looked respectable in this match as he pretty much has a reputation of sucking. But Scorp's stuff looking strong, his chops looked good and and clotheslines looked good, so it wasn't as bad as it could have potentially have been. Pete and I also ammused each other by going back and forth of Scorpio looking like either Triple H or Tim Arson. There was also the whole whackiness of them flying in Scorpio to have him put over Angel, but Scorpio was given some protection by the fact he was in the ropes. He shoved down the referee, who I think was Chikara ref Bryce for the match. Also at one point, Angel's gut was hanging out from his t-shirt which resulted in some people chanting that Angel was pregnant.

MATCH 8: TARO/PHOENIX STAR vs. AMERICAN WILD CHILD/CLOUDY
PP: TARO's gimmick is freaking hysterical as he's "7'4, 400 pounds" and does the Andre gimmick of stepping over the ropes... only in his case, he has to climb the ropes one by one to dramatically "step over" them.  AWC should be called "Blue Mini" as he's a dead ringer for the erstwhile 3PW promoter. TARO gets beat on near the end until he PUSHES THE BUTTON~! and hulks up on the rudos. TARO/Star win off a sky-high Frankenstein on Cloudy, at which point Smoke Dawg (the former Smoky Carmichael IMSMR) runs in and hits a HUGE dive onto both teams on the floor. He asks about not being booked because he doesn't "wear a mask" until Mike "M-Tizzle" Tobin comes out and informs Dawg that he wasn't booked because he sucks. So...

RD: TARO was used to be Ultra Taro Jr has an Ultraman themed outfit. AWC is announced as making his sexual residence as some place in TJ, I'm sure either a strip club or whore house. Cloudy is doing a raver gimmick, but I think he's the West Coast Cloudy, not the one from ROH. They did a bit pre-show on the monitors where AWC is yelling at Cloudy that they have to be focused for tonight's match. This pretty much played for comedy. TARO's schtick was pretty funny. At one point, they pantsed AWM which resulted in a bunch of people chanting "shave your ass" at him. Cloudy looked pretty good in this as he threw some nice elbows and other stuff in this. They did a big tease around the spot where TARO threatens that he's going to Push the Button which is on the front of the shirt which forces him to go crazy and beat everyone up. Early on in the match, he went to push the button and both Cloudy and AWC charged him and held his arms so he couldn't do it. The finish was TARO/Star hitting a lift into a rana on Cloudy for the win. Respectable and fun match if mostly for TARO. As Pete mentioned, Smoke Dawg did the run in. They had done a video wall thing with Smoke being denied entrance in the building because he wasn't signed.

MATCH 9: SMOKE DAWG vs. M-TIZZLE
PP: HOLY CRAP! Out of nowhere Tobin has become King of Matwork as he was doing all sorts of freaky-deaky stuff. Dawg wins with a sort of Rocker Dropper mutation... okay match but by this point I was starting to get burnt out. No slight on either guy.

RD: Tobin really looked great in this. One of the big knocks on him and Drake was their lack of offense, but apparently he found some a plenty. This was way better than his match at USA Pro. This was pretty ok, but as I mentioned, Tobin's mat stuff looked real good. Smoke Dawg looks kind of like if New Jack had a mini. He won with an underhook into a Rocker Dropper that I've seen Nova use, meaning he invented it for the win. Post match, he was signing stuff for the guys in front of us and he just kept on writing. I swear, it was like he was doing his own personal Sports Mook entry as an autograph.

MATCH 10: ALL MONEY IS LEGAL (K-Pusha & K-Murda) & CHI-CHI CRUZ vs. LOS LUNATICS (Boogalou, Eddie Guapo & Lowryda)
PP: Pre-match they play a video of Cruz paying AMIL to let him be their partner in the match. Lunatics accessorize with matching tights and facepaint although the effect isn't nearly as striking as the Italian Connection outfits they've worn in ICW. Angle here is that Cruz can't concentrate on the match because of a girl (apparently Ariel) sitting in the front row... eventually he abandons the match and takes off with her while the Lunatics murderlate AMIL, Lou in particular as he's just punting the crap out of K-Murda in the corner. K-Pusha eventually falls to a face eraser/Diamond Cutter combo from Lou/Lowryda and the beatdown continues for awhile until they walk out. Lunatics I'm assuming now face Ultra/ZERO and Akuma for the LXW Trios title.

RD: I lost track of AMIL since they apparently had a falling out with Goodman and haven't worked USA Pro in a while. They also changed their names. In the pre-show skit on the stage, Cruz paid AMIL to team with him, but he said they had to lose the gear and have clothes similiar to his, which they ignore. AMIL is also kind of upset that Cruz apparently bought their services for one dollar. Lou is carrying the rubber chick and he doles out some pretty great chicken shots during the match. This was kind of fun as both sides looked respectable. Cruz' who deal was he didn't really want to be in the match and tries to make time which I guess Ariel including trying to drag her out of the building. This was a pretty tame "Lou beats the shit out of guys" match, but it was still pretty fun. Los Lunatics continue the beat down with Lou hitting the Wigsplitter on one of AMIL.

MATCH 11: SHOCKER vs. ULTIMO GUERRERO
PP: The Mexicans in front of us go suitably ballistic as Ultimo and then Shocker come out... this was really where the generic music became a problem as UG has a killer intro with "We Will Rock You" as his EMLL music. Bell rings, UG and Shocker shake hands and proceed to just RIP THE MOTHERFUCKING HOUSE DOWN for 15 minutes. UG brings this Benoit-like intensity to the proceedings and Shocker just oozes charisma... there's quite a few Mexicans in the crowd leading to tons of "Shocker" chants as the match progresses. They start out trading takedowns on the mat for a couple of minutes, then quickly move on to chopping the crap out of each other... I'm talking giant mushroom clouds of sweat flying off each guy as they chop away at each other like lumberjacks while the fans in front of us turn away with these huge grins on their faces from watching the carnage unfold. Shocker ejects UG and hits his Silver King dive and they work each other over around the floor before heading back in for the balance of the match. UG takes over for awhile, working over Shocker's arm with a series of running Kunze Armbars while mocking the "SHOCKER" chants. Shocker makes a quick comeback and hits UG with this freaked-out rollup into a pinning predicament; UG kicks out but the ref mistakenly counts 3. Both guys apparently think quick and pull off a nice audible as they redo the spot before the ref can signal for the bell, and this time he makes the proper pin. Botched finish aside, this was probably 5-10 minutes short of being a bonafide MOTYC as both guys were totally on and everyone ate up their stuff with a spoon. Even the most dense and obnoxious smart marks on the crowd- the ones yelling "WHERE'S YOUR GREEN CARD" at MMW, making Mr. Kotter jokes during the Chikara match (Rorshach = Horshack- it's funny, hahahahahahahaha)- shut the fuck up and gave these two maestros their props.

RD: As Pete mentioned, there was a bunch of moments during the night where I really hated the crowd for shitting on matches without really giving them a chance, but everyone who was doing that clammed up for this. Shocker was over huge and Ultimo did a great job of goading the crowd into cheering for Shocker even more. There were lots of "still shots of sweat flying from magazine" moments in this as both guys were sharp with their chops. Shocker was also bringing the yakuza kicks in this. Ultimo was great on the mat, including busting out his stretch muffler on the mat where he puts on the head scissors too. I make Pete lose it as I call one of Ultimo's counters "HE ESCAPED THE SHOCK BOTTOM!" as Shocker was going for a Rock Bottom early on in the match. Shocker kicked out of one Guerrero Especial (a standing on the top rope inverted facelock suplex). Guerrero goes up for another, but Shocker flips through so he lands on Ultimo. Aside from the blown finish, instead of the end looking bad, Shocker and Ultimo no sell the ref saying 3 and just go to another roll up to finish the match. 

FINAL THOUGHTS
PP: I had my doubts that LXW could actually put on a family-friendly show as promised based on some of the workers and attitudes here, but I'll be damned if they didn't come through. No blood, no obscenity-laced promos, nothing overly gay-bashing with Angel... take away the Solution dropping a couple of f-bombs (off-mic) and this was probably the cleanest NYC show I've seen live in years. Do massive fly-ins + small crowds = long shelf-life? Fuck no, but I'll keep coming as long as they keep giving me guys like Shocker (who they seem to be building the group around), UG, MMW etc. You will also never see me bitch about a show that wraps up at 9:30 and gets me home before 11.

RD: The show went about 3 hours, which is just right for a wrestling show. I appriciated the early start and for all the talk of the show being in a bad neighborhood, it's probably easy to serpentine to the building and when the show gets out, there were a fair ammount of fans to mingle with on the way back to the station. Along with Pete, I have my doubts about the longevity of the product with all the fly ins for guys who aren't quite name talent and the crowd sizes. But in their defense, apparently LXW did try their best to get the word out to the Spanish speaking community as they were doing commercials on Spanish Radio as well in the papers. The show picked up after the half way point and I really appricate the fact that guys like Shocker, UG and MMW came in and didn't mail it in. UG and Shocker really made the show end on a positive note and ending on a high note is a good way to make me consider coming back for another helping.