Club Cancun, a Rice Street bar with a Mexican/Tropical theme, hosted an interesting blend of Asian style kick-boxing and sports entertainment, before a crowd containing few of the regulars one sees at a wrestling show. Serving as ring announcer was some new guy with a really dorky looking red bow tie. I didn't catch his name.
1.) Big Daddy Hoofer pinned Playboy Pete Huge. This was a heel vs. heel
match. Good opener. Early in the match Hoofer connected with a face
first power bomb. Pete fought back, later on hitting a DDT. Hoofer
responded with a powerbomb and a Hogan legdrop. He got the pin after
reversing an attempt by Huge at an inverted DDT. Both men looked good
under challenging circumstances. The crowd was real quiet as they
probably weren't familiar with the pair. The referee was a woman named
Sandy, who looked real good in a two piece, striped outfit, but had
some trouble exerting authority in the ring. She shows promise though
in being a heel ref. Look out Frank Stool.
2.) K-Train (heel) pinned Dr. Darin Davis (face). The other female
referee, Lacey, worked this match. She is very young and showed
potential. K-Train got a rise out of the crowd early with stiff
offense, including a Russian leg sweep. Doc slowed the pace and battled
back working over the left arm of his foe, and hit a sharp snap suplex.
Eventually he connected with a drop toe hold putting K-train on the
ropes and tried to apply The Glove, but was stopped by the ref. K-Train
responded with a top rope shoulder block. Davis countered with a low
blow and attempted a fireman's carry but K-Train slipped out and scored
with a DDT. He then hit a Diamond Cutter/Stunner/Whippersnapper and got
the three count. Another good match.
3.) Shifty (heel) pinned Sherrif Johnny Emerald (face) to win the MIW
Cruiserweight Title. By this point in the evening the crowd was
starting to wake up, and Shifty played them like a harp from Hell,
generating legitimate heat. At the beginning of the match Sherrif
Johnny hit a good clothesline, but overall he stayed in the backround
to let his opponent shine. Shifty intimidated referee Sandy and mixed
crowd work with his offense, connecting with a sidewalk slam, a good
looking drop kick, and an over the rope leg drop from the announcer's
table. He got the crowd so riled that at one point when Sherrif Johnny
threw him out of the ring a female customer in the front row kicked
him. When other fans made masturbatory jestures his way, Shifty
responded: "He's chokin' his chicken over there!" Following a DDT and a
powerslam, Shifty missed a moonsault, allowing SJE to come back with a
monkey flip and a bulldog. Shifty responded with some kind a
blockbuster which resulted in a pin. But Shifty wasn't done yet; he
continued to work over the crowd and demanded that referee Sandy put
the strap around his waist. Which she did, only to then kick him in the
ass and knock him out of the ring. This was the best match of the
night, a performance just about as good as you get at this level.
Then came four Muay Thai kickboxing matches, about which I know nothing
other than that they seem to require liberal amounts of Ben-Gay,
because the room was thick with its smell by the time the matches were
over.
4.) Mitch Paradise (face)pinned Ian Xavier (w/The High Rollers, heels)
to retain the MIW Heavyweight Title. Mitch came out to a good sized
pop. Xavier, for the first time in this reporter's memory, removed his
trademark hockey jersey and wrestled in a KISS T-shirt. The match began
with Ian offering a "Test of Strength" to Paradise, which Mitch won. He
followed up with a big body slam, only to miss with a flying head butt.
The ring made a satisfying slam noise whenever one of these two true
heavyweights came down on it. Ian got heat by saying "Shut up Queer" to
a customer. The High Rollers added their unique presence, working over
the crowd and Paradise. Xavier picked Mitch up and gave him a good
looking bodyslam, but the Champ countered with a top rope clo thesline.
Ian then delivered a suplex only to have Paradise respond with a belly
to belly of his own, and finished the Canadian off with a fallaway
slam. After the pin Ian called out the High Rollers and laid them both
out with his fist wrapped in a chain. Another good match. Especially
the ring noise. This was a pretty good card, better than I was really
expecting. High Rollers vs. Mitch Paradise is a candidate for local
feud of the year.