Just back from the Point a while ago. To be honest, I was initially very impressed with the WWA set-up. It’s basically the WCW before McMahon bought it – only on a much smaller budget – so I was quite familiar with the aesthetic: the ring, the roster, the camera work (yes, they had a TV crew there, and a big screen) and so on. And overall the quality of the matches was good. But there was something lacking, I dunno… It started off well, the Point was absolutely packed. I mean, I’ve been to seven live wrestling shows now, but until tonight the Point had never been full before. The first match was pretty entertaining, Juventud Guerrera versus Psicosis (who wore his mask to the ring but took it off for the match, which was a bit lame really ’cause he looks like Ralph Macchio without it), albeit short. The rest though were passable (probably made more so by the crowd who were kinda whipped into a frenzy) but nothing to write home about. There was a funny dancing sequence in the middle of the show though, after the Disco Inferno/Grandmaster Sexay match.
However, then came a twenty minute intermission. I hate intermissions. There’s no point in leaving your seat in the Point because the queues for anything are always miles long. And besides that, the show lost momentum big time. The spark went out of the crowd. And the gay tag team thing was a bit crass. (I mean, they’re heels, Lenny and Lodi, so they wouldn’t be good posterboys for GLAAD… and they called themselves homos… and their finisher is called the Gay Bomb… the gimmick would work better maybe if they were less direct about it, like the way RuPaul doesn’t run around screaming ‘I’m a drag queen!’ at people – she just works it, girl.) The main event was a bit of a let down. I think most people would agree that the Road Dogg isn’t top card material. And the whole commentating thing was a bit ludicrous. I mean, we really don’t need a running commentary while we’re sitting in the arena, it only really works for the folks at home.
But whatever about my criticims: the promoter guy certainly seemed impressed by the reaction for his roadshow. It was a sell-out, after all. So they’re coming back in May. And they might be doing a pay-per-view…. what’s more interesting about this is that it’s fair to assume the WWF was keeping an eye on the performance of this tour, with regard to their own tour in the new year…. in short, if they’re guaranteed a full house (and in this climate, they certainly are) then they’ll return. Which’d be nice.
Here’s the run down of the card from the show:
- WWA International Crusierweight Title match: Juventud Guerrera (Champion) defeated Psicosis
- Vampire Warrior defeated Luna Vachon
- Hardcore Tables match: ‘Screamin” Norman Smiley defeated Crowbar (this one was pretty funny, Norman screaming in agony and all, and a table got smashed, which was nice)
- Grandmaster Sexay defeated Disco Inferno
- Konan and Nathan Jones defeated ‘The West Hollywood Blonds’ Lodi and Lenny Lane (that Nathan Jones guy is like Test, or a young Kevin Nash, only cooler-looking. Test is shit, so the WWF should really have a look at this guy)
- Buff Bagwell defeated Stevie Ray (this was much better than Bagwell’s match with Booker T on Raw a few months ago, proving to me that he’s capable of pulling off a good (not great) match, and it begs the question: why did he blow his big chance? He could be on a guaranteed $100k per annum contract at least if he’d just tried that night)
- WWA World Title match: Jeff Jarrett (Champion) defeated Road Dogg (bit of a let down, for a main event, I have to say)
But enough about wrestling. There’s a documentary about the Pixies on Channel 4 right now, which I intend to sette down to watch.