Friday, May 6, 2011

Best of HWA 2005 (Disc 1 of 2)

1) Delirious vs. T.J. Dalton vs. Chet the Jet – 1
Not only was this joined in progress, most of the match was cut out. I’m not sure who the guiding force was supposed to be in this match but whoever it was couldn’t get anything to click properly. These three seemed completely lost and not sure of themselves whatsoever. Delirious had the best offense of the match with his trademark “Shadows Over Hell” move. Not much here to look at. The grade is based on what was shown.

2) Shark Boy vs. Rory Fox – 3
First, let’s look at what was good in this match, which would be the ground work. For the most part, it was acceptable. Yes, Fox was pretty expressionless and Shark Boy just kinda was half-ass selling stuff, but for what it was, it was decent. Now, the bad. The crowd wasn’t into anything at all and during the first few minutes, just sat there with their hands on their laps. These two tried some brawling outside and a high risk move or two but nothing really seemed to click. The final move to put away Shark Boy looked pretty terrible as well.

3) Chad Allegra vs. Cody Hawk (Lumberjack Match) – 3
This was billed as HWA vs. NWF and I did not have high expectations of this one. Hawk’s bumping is just atrocious, flat backing shit and then just popping right up to next spot. His punches are terrible too. He probably couldn’t harm a plush doll with them. Allegra had a couple of bright spots, hitting Hawk with a hard kick and then getting some good mileage out of a sell after he missed a cannonball off the top rope. Hawk hit the world’s worst, and I mean the worst, muscle buster I’ve ever seen as he just gently landed on his knees and fell backwards softly. Finish was awful, Moxley turned on HWA by hitting Hawk with a title belt after interference from NWF stalwart Roger Ruffin and Hawk’s valet, A.J. Sparx, and then it randomly broke down into a giant brawl between all the lumberjacks.

4) Chad Collyer vs. Jon Moxley – 4
Collyer’s mat work was always solid but never outstanding. The majority of the bout was controlled by Collyer on the mat with reversals and such. What the hell is up with the in-ring audio? It’s almost completely muted! Collyer really oversold a basic abdominal stretch. Decent top rope dropkick from Mox. Crowd was really silent, almost like they’d rather be anywhere but at the arena. Moxley’s offensive spurt at the end wasn’t too terrible but it needed some fire. Nice little German suplex from Collyer finished it.

5) Jon Moxley vs. Shawn Osborne – 4
Osborne really didn’t seem all that great. He used pretty simplistic offense. He screwed up a simple snapmare out of the corner. Really dude? How do you mess that up? Moxley looked good. His stalling and heel tactics really managed to get the crowd riled up. His antics were a glimpse into what he would become today. Match was controlled mostly by Moxley and the pace was kept pretty brisk. Moxley’s valet looked like she found her cheerleading outfit from Goodwill and her pom poms from a party store. She even tried to interfere at one point but blew the spot.

6) Nigel McGuinness vs. Jon Moxley – 4
Third straight Moxley match and he looked the best in this one. Mat work in the first five minutes was nice and smooth. Heard some lady in the crowd audibly yelling for Nigel throughtout the duration and yelling “give him a chop” while Nigel was in a hold. Moxley dropkick from the top rope looked like an airball but Nigel bumped for it anyway. Nigel seemed like he was going through the motions, but him mailing it in is better than some indy guys on their best day. Short little 8-minute match but the best match I’ve seen on this disc by far.

7) Nigel McGuinness vs. Matt Stryker – 4
Nigel trying to save himself on a sunset flip looked so choreographed. Good pace was kept up throughout the match with both guys working on the match. A bit of brawling on the outside lead to nothing. Dick Rick was roaming around the ringside area not contributing a thing. Nigel got in a nice superkick that Stryker sold by taking a bump to the outside. Stryker wrestled his standard match even though I think he was supposed to be the heel. Only thing he really did to let show that he was the heel was to put his feet on the ropes for the ending pinfall. Crowd suprisingly popped for a nearfall off a Stryker lungblower that looked better than most of the times that Carlito tried it.

8) Necessary Roughness (Jon Moxley & Jimmy Turner) vs. Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer – 3
Who is this hillbilly on commentary with the usual two goofballs? Sounds like this guy should be commentating NASCAR instead of pro wrestling. Turner has disappeared into obscurity. I’m guessing he went back to bagging groceries at the local Safeway after the team dissolved. Moxley had some great selling during his mid-match exchange with Collyer, putting Collyer’s simplistic offense over and even selling it after tagging out. Ending was a big mess with interference from the Lotus and Crazy J. Then the ref argued with Mox and Turner’s valet for what seemed like forever while Naveah took her precious time coming to the ring. Guess the ref had to stall by explaining the theory of relativity to the valet while Naveah got in position for her spot. More bullshit with the ref reversing the decision. Yuck.

3 comments:

Brian said...

wow.. pretty bad when a company's best of doesn't score anything above a "4".. - i do think you're underselling Collyer considerably..

Didge said...

can i get a best of 2001?

Anonymous said...

Agree with Brian here. Collyer's a great mat worker, he simply has no charisma whatsoever.