Written by: Sean McCaffrey from http://www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/index1.html
USA PRO MARCH MADNESS 3/8/2003
Hey everyone, welcome to the McReview of USA PRO March Madness. Before I start, Id like to thank everyone who bought a Declaration of Independents newsletter. We appreciate the support over at http://www.declarationofindependents.net We surpassed what we thought we were going to sell, and it’s great that the interest is there. Look for us at an upcoming show near you.
Like usual, Ill give the results and my opinions and then a summary at the end. And its 3 am in the morning, and I’m writing this getting home, leaving 20 minutes after the show ends, so you can tell that USA lived to its reputation of long shows. If I forgot something, feel free to email me at themic@sscwwrestling.com It’s been a late night and sometimes memories fade, especially at a long show. I wrote down all the results, but didn’t write the finishes, and I am doing it from memory, so bare with me. Enjoy!
1- Gauntlet Match
Cage d Static
Pappalicious d Cage
Arson d Pappalicious
Arson d Livewyre
Reefer d Arson
Reefer d J-Train
Reefer d (_____) opponent unknown at this time
Dixie d Reefer
Ghost Shadow d Dixie
Brian XL d Ghost Shadow
Brian XL d Divine
Brian XL d Quiet Storm to become the 2nd ever USA PRO Gauntlet Champion.
Spot of the match: Reefer hitting a Swanton Bomb on a chair on Pat Gunner.
Highlights of the match were Reefer vs. J-Train, Dixie vs. Reefer and Brian XL vs. Ghost Shadow.
I personally, am not a fan of gauntlet matches, especially with 13 other matches on the card, but it was perfectly acceptable wrestling by all the wrestlers involved. My question is this “If you’re the Gauntlet champion, how does this further your career/character? How can you build programs off of it? If say Brian XL right now is champion, and he’s feuding with Ghost Shadow, the only way they can have a title match is if 10 other people are involved. Either way, the wrestling was solid.
From then Knight Life came out to do an interview. If you missed it, Knight Life is: Matt Stryker, Mike Tobin, Danny Drake and Billy Reil. They kidnapped Becky Bayless at the last USA Pro Show. I thought I saw her in JAPW from then to now, but I digress. They cut a promo on her where-abouts, couldn’t get everything, the sound wasn’t the best, and straight from WWE Smackdown, Kruel came down to defend her honor. He would go to the ring to get jumped, and speaking of Smackdown, LITTLE GUIDO was the Titanic Surprise (oxymoron) and cleared the ring! The Elks Lodge went nuts for Guido, and he would be in the corner of Kruel later on, when Kruel went up against Billy Reil.
2. Masked Maniac d Tony Lo
Masked Maniac cut a promo before and after the match insulting the USA fans. With a 6 ½ hour show, this could’ve been cut. Tony Lo looked ok, from what I saw. The promos were longer than the match. Next.
3.The Wall defeated Wayne the Convience Store Guy
Match saw Wayne bumping for the Wall. A mismatch in size, Wayne didn’t look out of place with The Wall, and the match flowed smoothly. Wayne went for the choke slam ala Hurricane at one point in the match. The Wall wound up defeating Wayne by the choke slam. Short and sweet match, and got The Wall over nicely.
4. Low Life Louis Ramos d Damaja (Not the one from OVW)
If you’ve seen Low Life, you know what to expect, and this match delivered. Of course, this match wasn’t all about Shining Wizards and Dragon Cork Screws, but it lived up to expectations of a brutal match. At one point in the match, Low Life stapled a condom (hopefully not used) on Damajas head. Blood was pouring all over the place. Damaja even wrestled till the end of the match with the condom stapled! Great hardcore match and Damaja held his own and had a good outing for a rookie.
5. Stryker and Simon Diamond d. Christopher Street Connection
These gay gimmicks are over with Indy fans. From Dickie Rodz over in NYWC to CSC in USA/ROH, the fans loved CSC at the Elks. Great back and forth match, but you’d expect that as well from these guys. At one point CSC kissed Ref Sean Hanson, and Sean Hanson sold it beautifully, with arms flailing and all. Finish saw Boogie Knights interfere, and help Stryker/Diamond pick up the W.
6. Xavier beat CW Anderson
Fantastic match. Back and forth WRESTLING, something you don’t always see. Xavier continues to have good matches with any opponent, from Cheetah Master to CW tonight. That’s not a knock on CM or CW, it just shows how Xavier can hang with anyone, and make anyone look good with him. I was glad to see Xavier, because he got screwed out at WWE RAW in a dark match due to time constraints I don’t know how they can say time constraints when they can be shooting off T-shirts and playing Sheryl Crow songs on the Titantron, but back to this match. Xavier got the win to a big pop, and CW got an ovation for his efforts in this match.
7. Konnan d. Crazy Skinhead Ivan
Elks popped for Konnan big time in his first match back in Queens. After a few Audilays and Arriba La Raza the match started. Ivan got a lot of heat due to his gimmick and his opponent. Konnan was injured in the foot, so it wasn’t the best Konnan match. He didn’t even wear wrestling gear, just jeans. Decent match, that saw Konnan go over. Ivan looks good in all aspects of the game, in every match that I see.
8. Mafia d. Monsta Mack
Don’t understand why this match was booked. Would’ve made more sense to promote it, and not give it right away. DHS came to the ring, and then Balls Mahoney came to the ring. Mafia whacked Mack with a chair. From a beat down, ensued a wrestling match, as Ref Hanson was right on it. For someone who gets a lot of bad press, Mack looked good in this one. He hit the Van Mackinator, a version of the Van Terminator. He literally flew from one side of the ring to another, with a chair in Mafias face. Spot of the night in terms of brutality. Mafia, of course looked great as well, and is going to be one of the top Indy single stars. Winning the JAPW World Title as a face, and winning this match as a heel, shows his adaptability to a situation. Good match, much better than expected.
9. Tag Team Gauntlet
What 2 Gauntlets in one show? I said the same thing. It’s hard as a fan to sit through these 45 minute fests, which really go no where in the long run. It’s also hard to follow the Mack/Mafia match, and also being the last match without any real meaning behind it.
USA PRO Message Board favorite Josh Deeley vs. Backyard 1 (yes that’s what they were listed as) vs. Backyard 2 (ditto) vs. Boogie Knights
Rules were: every time a team is eliminated, a new team comes out, until there are no teams left. The last team wins. I forget the order; here are the teams that participated.
Iceberg/Plague, Elm Street Kids, King Target, Kraka/Supremice, The Solution, Bravado/Wrecka, Rednecks From Hell, and All Money Is Legal.
Boogie Knights won the match. They lasted from start to finish. Boogie Knights look better in the ring, maybe because they are better together than solo, as they were last show. Again, not to knock the wrestlers, but this match was the bathroom break. 2 gauntlets at 40 minutes each, with a lot of beer will do that to you.
10. Shooter Mike Kruel d. Billy “Highlight” Reil
Interference from Boogie Knights, Becky Bayless and Little Guido were all expected to happen and did happen in this match. This is a USA Pro Highlight, a good storyline, a good match and a good payoff. Seeing Little Guido was great too. Kruel pinned Reil ending their feud for now. Good solid wrestling and Kruel looked even better than his ECWA match against Low Ki and Chris Daniels.
Post match saw ECW alum in the ring, when Simon Diamond came out to hug and congratulate Little Guido for his WWE contract. After embracing, the full blooded Italian, hit Diamond with a jumping unprettier. Sweet move.
11. In the Match of the Night, Deranged d. Red
With similar styles, it must’ve been like wrestling yourself for these guys. Great match, with lots of wrestling, lots of spots and lots of acrobatics. Red and Deranged hit some what looked stiff and wickedly awesome shining wizards. Words do not do this match justice, and if you get the tape, this is the match to watch. Finish saw Dixie, Derangeds H-Effect partner over in JAPW, come out and throw a chair at Reds Head, when he was setting up a flipping power bomb. Deranged rolled him up for the 1-2-3. Standing ovation at various points in the match and at the end.
12. Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz (EC Negro and KC Blade) d. SAT (Joel and Jose Maximo) for the USA PRO Tag Team Championships in a Ladder Match
I thought it was going to be hard to follow up Deranged/Red. No dice. DRS/SAT lit it up. Crowd was very much into it. Some sick spots with the ladder. DRS even got face pops during the match! DRS play the classic tag team heel, with all the facial expressions and selling. If you’ve heard about the SAT, but never seen them wrestle until now, you can understand what all the hype is about. I think this is the one match I would’ve liked to see time extended to. (There was no need for Masked Maniac/Gauntlets) The ladder looked shady and collapsible, maybe that’s why it ended early. Finish saw Dixie/Deranged laying out the SAT. Konnan came to the ring during this, but neglected to do anything. Great match, and definitely the best Indy ladder match Vie seen. Blade took a nasty bump after retrieving the titles.
Post match: Konnan told SAT, screw NWA-TNA, wrestling isn’t all about friendships, and it’s about money. It’s obvious that Kevin Nash taught Konnan a lot in their n W o Wolfpac days. 13. Homicide defeated Balls Mahoney for the USA US and Extreme Championships in a Dog Collar Match and Table Match respectively.
Balls Mahoney defeated Homicide to retain the USA PRO World Championship
This was another solid outing by Homicide and another show by Balls. The only problem was this match didn’t start till midnight, and some of the crowd started to leave. Homicide is the most underrated Indy star today. Back and forth match. I know I will be bashed for this, but it was like HHH vs. Foley back in their 2000 feud. Great wrestling mixed in with sheer violence. Lots of blood. I think my favorite part of the match, was all this hardcore spots and weaponry, and then Homicide hits a basic leg lock, to wrestle Balls down. Great in-match story telling. Would’ve liked to see Homicide get the duke, but Mafia ran out to ensure Balls championship, building this program to a new level.
14. YOUR MAIN EVENT
Raven vs. Sandman
For me this match wasn’t as MUST SEE as the other ones were. Probably because they happened in TNA twice in 3 weeks. Short match, shorter than what I expected. It was hard to follow up Balls/Homicide due to all the hardcore work in that match. Raven defeated Sandman after Sandman dove into a table by accident. Decent.
On a note, for all the crap I hear about Sandman on the internet, Sandman looks like a great guy. After the show ended, and people started clearing out, he got in the ring with a 3-4 year old kid. The kid did some moves to him, even a hurranacarana and Sandman sold them, like he was getting his ass handed to him by Chris Benoit. Good touch to end the show.
Final Thoughts
USA shows all have the same negativity behind them- TOO LONG. If you cut the Gauntlet matches out, you would’ve had a great show. USA PRO and Goodman do get a bad rap sometimes, but USA is the only promotion to deliver big name guys. I can live without the gauntlet matches, but it seems like it’s a necessary evil at USA shows. But with Deranged/Red, DRS/SAT, Balls/Homicide, Raven/Sandman this was one of the better USA PRO Shows, that I’ve been to. Great wrestling by all, and no one looked bad, and Josh Deely wasn’t even in the ring too long! I like how some story lines are being built up now, and this should also produce better matches. A decent outing, but 6 ½ hours is too much, and it really hurts the later matches on the show, because the crowd is drained and some people start to leave. All in all, worth the 20 bucks. Thanks for reading. -Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey
