----Arena Report from this past Friday night.
----NEW treated the crowd to some talent from various local promotions from Central Illinois. They have done this with various groups – one from Texas, EWE and others. I am not too big of fan of it, because it doesn’t really mean much to me. I think if I watched TV every week, it would get over the point that talent from other areas of the country are coming in to challenge NEW with NEW winning almost every time. What does this build for?? Do they at some point have a big blow off show?? But, with some of the other promotions not returning, what does it matter?? The fans also don’t seem to respond to any of the invasion type guys, because they do not know them.
----Jason Vendetta with Serenity beat Christian Rose. Vendetta had “Hello Kitty” trunks on. Heat started when Serenity tripped Rose. This was a dark match and I was not impressed with either one. But, it was short. Vendetta doing a bit of a gay gimmick I think. Serenity was really good at ringside – doing exactly what a manager is supposed to do. [*1/2]
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| Divosi getting ready to beat Cage |
----RRO Awards were given out by Terrance Ward and me. Ward did a great job carrying me. I would like to thank Downtown Bruno, Kid Nikels, Ken Wayne and Dan Matthews for their nice comments.
----Jimmy Karryt/Aaron Matthews beat DaCobra/Cecil Cerveza. I liked Jimmy Karryt and DaCorbra. Didn’t think much of the other two. Not fantastic psychology, but steady. DaCobra hit a pretty 450 with his partner ending up being pinned. [**]
----Jon Divosi beat Matt Cage in the best bout of the night. I liked both of these guys. They went out and were given short time, but put on a good match. Cage’s comeback could have had more fire, but overall the best bout on the show. Cage was fast and very solid. Divosi needed some weight – long and skinny – but they worked well together. Divosi with the Savage elbow for the win. [***]
----Jimmy Karryt/Aaron Matthews beat DaCobra/Cecil Cerveza. I liked Jimmy Karryt and DaCorbra. Didn’t think much of the other two. Not fantastic psychology, but steady. DaCobra hit a pretty 450 with his partner ending up being pinned. [**]
----Jon Divosi beat Matt Cage in the best bout of the night. I liked both of these guys. They went out and were given short time, but put on a good match. Cage’s comeback could have had more fire, but overall the best bout on the show. Cage was fast and very solid. Divosi needed some weight – long and skinny – but they worked well together. Divosi with the Savage elbow for the win. [***]
----Austin Lane beat Blake Steel . These two guys just did not jell and it was pretty much all Lane. Lane is a heel here, but fans cheered him, because they knew who he was. Steel seem to be solid, but was not given the chance to do much. Lane was not as stiff as he usually is here [because he probably did not know the guy] and it hurt the match. Lane’s style [in the last few times I have seen him work] has slowed down to the point that you think you are watching a long match, but then it ends. You are always wondering, when is he going to turn it back up?? [**]
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| Matthews/Bruno/Kid |
----Dan Matthews/Kid Nikels beat Truk Thompson/Nick Cutler. Best match I have seen Matthews in since his debut. Just seem totally confident and worked real hard. He was “on” and if he could do this all the time, he could turn into one of the best in the area. I believe Cutler/Truk was calling themselves “Prime Cut.” Good solid team with Cutler working most of the way. Truk a bit green, but it might the deal where he does not know who he is working. Cutler reminded me a bit of Austin Aries. Kid is MONEY!! Just a great all around working hard in and out of the ring. Heat on Matthews – hot tag to Kid. It was good until they cut it off [just for a minute, but I hate that] and then Kid finished it was a flying press from the top rope. Good, but liked it just a hair less than the single match. [**3/4]
----25 in the building…Cage was trained by Elix Skipper and Curtis Hughes…Matt Bowman worked the first match and I believe he agreed to come in to work on regular basis. He is a great ref!!...Downtown Bruno joined Terrance Ward to be the official second announcer for the show. Bruno’s career was talking and getting the angles over – he should do a great job. The bit that I did get to hear was really good…Kevin Charles had a video piece during the Rookie award to Matthews and it was really good…Steel looked like Chuck Norris with dark black hair and should have been able to whip everyone on the show blindfolded. LOL…John Steele was backstage. ..This group really needs to do some advertising. They have a good TV product, but no one in the building. The ones in the building are mostly family and this one little rude boy that shouts out things that are not even funny during interviews. They don’t do the basics of just postering every week. No gate – no money for the boys…Truk apparently just returned about 6 months after an absence from wrestling. This guy has lost around a total of 100 lbs and is in great shape…Thanks to cast and crew – fun time was had by all.
Photos by Erica Jones
