Revolution Pro 01/26/01 - Indy Report
by Digable James Cobo
 
When Super F'n Dragon asks where the RevPro report is, you JUMP TO IT as soon as you get home (and check your email and assuage traders and drink a pepsi and listen to Les Rythems Digitales etc). The end result: You're reading it. BUT FIRST:

Things You Missed Last Week!

But nobody cares about the past. So here's TONIGHT'S SHOW!

Pre-Show Festivities

THE ACTUAL MATCHES!

1. "Pretty Hot" Eric Matlock d. Some Guy Who I Don't Recognize.
The mystery guy comes out to D-Lo Brown's old "You Better Recognize" music, causing me momentary confusion. When I first saw Matlock, I thought he'd be working a Too Cool-heel-daze gimmick; as it turns out, he's just a Good Old Fashioned Heel with no real gimmick. And it's very refreshing. It's kind of unfortunate, but these two just don't seem to be working stiff tonight; some stiffness would help this match a lot. In fact, this match is just kind of vanilla; the most remarkable thing is the pacing. Matlock's got a pretty good sense of timing about him, and shows some star quality. If he gets a character, he could be something of a player. In the meantime, the match did have flow and direction, but never really went anywhere. (To be fair, my mind has been warped by MTV, so I have a pretty hard time remembering stuff. Nevertheless, nothing about this match really sticks out in my mind other than Matlock's general heelishness.) But I do want to see more of Matlock, perhaps against Shogun. Call it * 3/4 and move along.

2. "Too Cute" Preston Scott d. Pinoy Boy.
Last week, Pinoy Boy blew spots and showed his greenness. I tell you what, they must have run him through the ringer in the separating week; he still blew his spots (including one that made David turn to me and ask if I thought he was supposed to blow that one), but he displayed a MUCH better grasp of the fundamentals, and in the end, that's what makes a better wrestler. Preston Scott, in the meantime, didn't disappoint; he's VERY fundamentally sound, and I really dig the Old Skool Suth'run Heelness that he has to him (grabbing the bottom rope for leverage, having the match turn on a submission, really simple gimmick paired with a mainly groundwork-based attack, some stiff-ass shots). And the way that they teased the match turning (block into a clothesline, IIRC) and then negated it, only to have the match REALLY turn on the Figure Four reversal... beautyfull. I dug this match significantly more. If these guys develop any sort of REAL flashy offense that they can hit consistently (Pinoy Boy did hit a nice Arabian Press, but he also blew a spot pretty badly), they could be Ones to Watch. Call it **1/4 - if it were any better, it'd be decent as all hell. As it stands, it was enjoyable, but forgettable.

3. American Wild Child/Shogun/Someone Else I Don't Recognize d. Ultrataro Jr./Excalibur/El Gallinero
I'll take "matches that were a billion times better than they had any right to be" for a hundred, Alex. Seriously - AWC was FEELING IT tonight, Shogun was his typical remarkably solid self, Taro and Excalibur were pretty on, Unknown Guy was pretty minimized (although he did miss a Moonsault [on purpose] in pretty spectacular fashion). I'm not sure which was the Best Part - Excalibur's balls-out no-hands tope (I swear to god, he looked like someone Lawn Darted him - it was pretty impressive), the constant Verbal Feud between Excalibur and His Woman (Best Exchange of the Evening: Her: "EXCALIBUR, I HATE YOU!" Him: "YEAH, WELL I HATE YOU TOO!"...ah, sod off. It made me laugh.), the constant underlying story with El Gallinero and the rudos (they didn't want him on their team, so they'd set him up and berate them the whole time... it was SOOOOO Varsity Club, and I was all over it), or the pacing of the match. It actually seemed to have a build; it led off with the "Rudos Hate Gallinero" story, which led into the Uncontrolled Brawling Segment seamlessly (mostly due to the fact that the largest impact of the match up to that point had been by AWC, no doubt - when Shogun got in there, it turned VERY MUCH into a matwork and WRESTLING exhibition), which led into the Highspot Trainwreck. I wish I could remember who turned AWC's Revolution Bomb into a WICKED rana, but it just looked good. And Shogun took a RIDICULOUS chairshot - it was just one of those shots that makes you sit up straight and say DAAAAAAAAMN. It's a pity that it wasn't the focus of the match at the time. And the "everyone misses their highspot" sequence was REALLY well done; it looked all cool as hell and such. My main problems with the match were with AWC's early booking; he took out all three Rudos nearly single-handedly, which, while it got him over as hell in the match, didn't help the rudos at all. Additionally, the Unknown Guy (who made the words "Angus" and "Young" pop into my head) was barely in the match; he looked pretty decent when he was in, but I'll need to see him again before I doth render my judgement. Nevertheless, this was an exceedingly fun, well-worked-within-the-story match; hell, it was probably Match of the Night. Call it ***1/4 and give AWC a Christmas Ham for defying all of my expectations.

(Oh, and I'm officially retracting any "Excalibur = CIMA comments. He's totally on his own now; he's his own brand of cocky heel. He went for the Venus, but it's well-established by now that it's a-gonna get blocked. Besides, the CIMA moves wouldn't even be the highlights of his repetoire if he did 'em; Excalibur officially kicks harder than a pissed-off Mississippi mule. I mean, DAAAAAAAAAMN.)

4. Rising Son d. Disco Machine
DM's turned into quite the little reliable feller in the last month; his moves aren't flashy, but he's got a keen sense of build that gives his moves a lot more impact on the match than they ordinarily would. Son, meanwhile, continues to do amazing things in the air. I'll say his tope atomico looks better than Jeff Hardy's, mostly because (a) he actually makes contact, and (b) the ring's so small that it gives him the (true) appearance that he's flying all the way across the ring. This match... well, it's something of a disappointment in one sense, as it REALLY went a bit short, but in another sense it was a really cool sprint. The thrust of the story seemed to be DM hoping to score a quick pinfall over Son after slowing the match down to his pace, but Son being too fast for him to sustain that attack. Honestly, though, the match earns a minimum of 1/4* if JUST for Son's springboard moonsault, which is literally among the best I've ever seen. I mean, from where I was sitting (behind a small child who kept standing up), it sure looked like he didn't get hurt one iota, while DM took a major ass-kickin' on the move; if you think about it, that's how it should ideally look. I wasn't too big on this match AT the show, but thinking about it now makes me like it a lot more. DM's got great ring presence; his major offensive problem seems to be that his offense, while effective and built up very well by him, just doesn't seem quite suitable enough for him. It doesn't necessarily need to be flashier, but he's just missing that one move (likely his finisher) that just gets MADE by his persona (I'd say he needs something like a TKO for his finisher; something that requires a lot of motion and personal flair). If he can figure it out, he'll be a big name on the indy circuit, making that the third time in this report that I've said that. Anywho, the match was about ***; I liked the psychology, but the match ended REALLY abruptly and got really spotty in segments. Again, though, it was enjoyable the whole way through.

Before the next match gets underway, the announcer adds two more names to the RevPro List of Attrition: Halloween (visa problems) and Mr. Excitement (infection). This brings out Matt Sinister, who just cuts a DISGRACEFULLY (a) racist and (b) long promo involving Mexicans and the Mexican Lucha Libre title. Cries of "SHUT UP!" rang from every corner. It was, to say the least, very heelish of him; I've never been so impressed with him in my RevPro tenure. Of course, he got the job done as sordidly as possible, which is a bit of a disgrace. Nevertheless, since he doesn't have a challenger (sucks, as the Sinister/Excitement blowoff could have been pretty allright), he issues an open challenge, bringing out The Hardcore Kid. Kid cuts an equally long promo (on a mic that screeched like a banshee seemingly whenever anyone picked it up), the gist of which boils down to "I'll fight you". AND WE = ON!

5. Mexican Lucha Libre Title Match: Hardcore Kid d. Matt Sinister (Mexican Death Match)
Here's how you spell "ironicality": before the show, I remarked to Super Dragon (still can't get over that... it's the 12-year-old fanboy in me) that it seems like the good indies always seem to die, while the ones that are all about cutting themselves for no reason (XPW, take a bow!) thrive. And here I was watching a Death Match. Was it a good one? It wasn't as bad as it could have been; Kid did the absolute best job he could have in the opening, throwing some good shots here and there. The match's high point, however, came when Kid nailed Sinister with an unprotected chairshot so hard that it broke the chair, and then just HOOKED some sort of box-like item (possibly a box) at Sinister's face, and making solid connection. They brawled upstairs, to the top deck, where I genuinely thought that one of them would be (a) thrown off the balcony, or (b) shoved down the stairs, both options being tantalizing. Regrettably (for me - I'm sure neither Kid nor Sinister would have enjoyed a fall off the balcony or down the stairs), neither happened. I mean, it was just a brawl. Nothing to it... until Sinister pulled a table from the back, and set it up on the top rope. To put it mildly, I was Marking Out. But the REAL move came when Kid countered into a superplex from the table, which looked like Sinister landed REALLY ugly-like; Kid just pinned him for the win and title. Sinister stayed DOWN, prompting me to wonder if he was legitimately hurt; as it happens, he just thumped a ref and was gone with his bad self. I can't in any good conscience rate this higher than *, but it was REALLY impressive to see live. Makes me wonder who Kid's going to defend against tomorrow.

To Sum Up:
The match ratings might seem a little low, but they don't reflect how entertaining the matches were. Nothing was too offensive (except for Matt Sinister's promo), or if it was, had some definite high points that made the viewing experience worthwhile. Hell, the rating for the trios match was pretty low; it doesn't begin to express how fun it was. Was this a blowaway show like the 1/5/01 show (buy that tape, for the LOVE OF GOD)? No, no it was not. But was it a entertaining show? I'm relieved to report that yes, yes it was. I was expecting a near-funereal atmosphere, mourning the loss of RevPro; instead, I got a celebration of everything that Indy Wrestling could be. And considering that the federation ace wasn't on the show, that's way more than enough for me.

At any rate. I'll be at the one tomorrow, too (and I swear to god, I'm going to stick around afterwards to Meet and Mingle), so expect another one of these tomorrow.

Digably Yours,
Digable James Cobo
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