HWA World War 3 2010

1. “The Madness” Chris Hall vs. Jock Samson vs. Aaron Xtreme vs. J.T. Hustla vs. Dameon Daniels vs. Jon Murray – Six Man Elimination Match - 3
2. Ron Mathis vs. Sid Fabulous - 6
3. Tim Donst vs. Dustin Rayz - 4
4. Jock Samson vs. Brian Beech - 1
5. Jimmy Yang vs. Chris Carnage - 2
6. Jon Moxley vs. Jesse Emerson - 4
7. AJP (?) vs. Zack Spade - 2
8. The Hybrids vs. The Heat Seekers vs. The Noble Bloods - 3
9. Gerome Phillips vs. Shank Barzini - No DQ, Falls Count Anywhere Match - 5
10. Jake Crist vs. Dave Crist – 4

After a three-month hiatus, HWA returned to action with their annual World War 3 show. Opener was a six-man elimination match with two really small guys (Aaron Xtreme and J.T. Hustla) and four really big dudes. Murray is a 350-pound wannabe Mick Foley. He really wasn’t much in the ring, hitting the ropes like an elephant on downers. Samson bears a close resemblance to Zach Galifinakis of The Hangover fame and is a really fun character. Hall was the glue of the match, hitting his big moves and scoring most of the eliminations. Daniels and Aaron did a thing where they brawled out of the ring and into the crowd and were eliminated. The match wasn’t good at all but would’ve been worse without Hall’s involvement. Mathis and Sid Fabulous blew away any expectations I had. I groan whenever I see Sid’s name on a card mainly because he’s not that great of a wrestler and his gimmick (as a ladies man) has been done to death in numerous promotions, most notably ROH with Rhett Titus. Mathis is probably the most underrated guy in HWA, with his persona and his in-ring work. Sid took a bunch of hard chops and sold them like a champ. By the end of the match, his chest looked like he’d been the recipient of the 100-hand chop by Kobashi. The brawling outside the ring was good, with Mathis taking a couple really hard bumps on the unprotected gym floor. Mathis’ manager, some slug named Gilbert, didn’t look like he was into the match at all, just pacing back and forth and randomly jawing at the crowd. I figured that Mathis would retain the title but Sid scored the upset win. Afterwards, a very large, roided up black dude that I’m unfamiliar with came out and destroyed Sid. Donst and Rayz was a basic, by the numbers match. Donst is always a pleasure to watch because his work is usually on the decent to good side of things. Rayz I’ve never been to high on since I saw him first a last year’s World War 3 show. His offense is pretty bland and his character just comes across as a generic heel. Donst was the workhorse, carrying Rayz to an acceptable match. Samson came back out after getting his ass beat in the opener issuing an open challenge which was accepted by resident weekend warrior Brian Beech, showing up with a small beer gut and wrestling in a t-shirt. The match was a sloppy 3-minute affair with Beech winning with a sloppy superkick. I gave it a mercy point just for Samson’s mic work before the bout. Next up, was another open challenge with Chris Carnage, a very big, muscular guy wearing a cut-off shirt bearing his likeness issuing another open challenge. This time, it was accepted by Jimmy Yang, who was planted in the crowd. The match only went five minutes and mainly got its points from Yang having to carry the rather immobile Carnage. Closing out the first half of the show was Moxley and Emerson, both guys who I enjoy watching. Match was again a pretty basic bout with neither guy really going for broke on any big move. Emerson may not be the most polished guy but I think he’s got a lot of potential and really works hard in his matches. Moxley is always great to watch and can wrestle just about any style. Most of the match was mat work and I think everyone was expecting Moxley to win but Emerson scored the upset win with a roll-up.

Intermission came and went with Jimmy Yang passing out business cards for his pest control business at the merch table. First match back was A.J.P. (at least that’s what I caught from the ring announcer) against a pudgy John Morrison wannabe. A.J.P. was a good heel, insulting the crowd and just running them down. Nothing really of great importance happened and neither guy really seemed all that skilled in their ring work. The three way tag was awful. I was expecting a decent bout but after about 40 seconds it just fell apart. The referee just stood in the ring and looked like Stevie Wonder trying to direct traffic and you couldn’t really tell how each guy looked individually. The manager for the Noble Bloods didn’t look into the match at all and I visibly caught him checking his cell phone while walking back to the corner. Jeremy Madrox of the Heat Seekers looks like he could be a good top-level heel eventually as he is good on the mic but still may need a bit of polishing in the ring. By the end of the match, it had pretty much deteriorated into one big mess with legal man issues galore and the competitors just jumping in and out of the action as they pleased. Eventually, somewhere in the chaos, the Heat Seekers got the win but by that point no one really cared. The No DQ match was pretty fun. Phillips, the former King Vu, is just a beast. His offense looks like it legitamitely hurts and his intensity is just fantastic. Shank showed off some decent moves but ended up taking a beating for most of the match. Brawling, though, is where Shank is at his best. He was just wailing of Phillips with trash cans and chairs which lead to a good nearfall near the end of the match with Phillips kicking out of Shank’s finisher. By this point the show was running way over and the main event with the Crist brothers facing off went on just after 11pm. The main interest for me was to see how they worked together one-on-one. Dave came out with a green mohawk and wearing a punk rock jacket. What a tool. By the way, I should mention that while we were waiting out in the freezing cold, Dave came out to gladhand everyone (to a collective groan from everyone) while we were in line. I liked the mat work that they were doing but it was clear that Dave Crist was more interested in the ladies in the crowd and chewing gum instead of trying to put some effort into his offense. Jake Crist was really the one trying to keep the match together. However, as much as I don’t like the Crist brothers, I will give them credit for busting out a couple really cool looking moves, most notably a really sick springboard DDT that just planted Jake into the mat, in front of a crowd of about 50 people or so. The crowd was so burnt out that by the time the climax of the match hit, they didn’t even pop for Dave Crist getting the win. The show as a whole seemed like it was just thrown together at the last minute and it showed, especially in the undercard. Overall, probably one of the weakest World War 3 shows HWA has done and not much here worth seeking out.