CZW "Blood Pressure: Rising"

1. Sabian vs. Rich Swann - 1
2. Drew Blood vs. Pinkie Sanchez - 4
3. Devon Moore vs. Cole Calloway - 3
4. H8 Club vs. The Best Around -1
5. Carter Gray vs. Drew Gulak - 2
6. Ruckus vs. Greg Excellent - 5
7. Egotistico Fantastico vs. Ryan McBride - 4
8. Drake Younger vs. Dingo - 7
9. Jon Moxley vs. Brain Damage - 7
10. Sami Callihan vs. Trent Acid - 5

So, recently I became the proud (or reluctant?) owner of all the '07-'10 CZW shows. I've for discernible reason chosen mid-'09 as a good an era to jump into as any. Let's see what happens, shall we?

Opener was fairly insipid, like two min. long, Swann's still a bit wet behind the ears but showed off some fun acrobatic, flippy shit. I guess his parents got their money worth for gymnastic class, and to think Rich's dad said it'd stunt his manhood. Next match was fine, physical, I liked it a tad more than their pimped bout from the 10th anniversary show (which I reviewed here), less outright bullshit here. Never heard of Calloway but, of all the guys' working a flaming queer gimmick, he's really got it down, complete with holes in his trunks where his ass cheeks reside and a t-shirt that says "tiny penises make me giggle". Moore plays a great freaked out homophobe, probably not a stretch or a compliment to his acting ability. Commentary guy says Devon's Shooting Star Press is the best in the business. I guess he hasn't seen, well, anybody else's.

Wait, that H8 Club shit was a match? Not really. Gage and Hatred just took liberties on TBA and while fun to see those guys bludgeoned there was no finish or anything. Next match was as flavorless as an air-flavored jellybean, something I'm sure Wonka created in his spare time. Gulak was not yet the arrogant pussy role he portrays now, just a dude with bedhead and a bad Kurt Angle ankle lock.

Show started picking up a bit here, Ruckus and Excellent, a match on paper that didn't sizzle but actually not bad at all. It was a BotB qualifier and it actually felt like both guys wanted the win with some nice nearfalls and build. Egotistico and McBride, didn't try to steal the show, but still fun. McBride stole Ego's cape and aped his superhero dive into the crowd spot.

Next three matches were all quite good and I don't know how or why things shifted, as I've seen almost all of the '10 CZW, and while they feel more like a wrestling company now, here everyone was just doing insanely dangerous and crazy shit to each other. Maybe when Zandig was still running things people just were nuttier. Dingo was the IWA MS champion and an invader or sorts. Crowd seemed pretty hostile as was Zandig or someone who popped up once or twice on commentary and buried Ian Rotten. Dingo and Younger really just had a nasty match, no hardcore junk, just big bumps and a lot of their signature stuff except onto steel chairs and other things that just looked extremely painful. Dingo took some unbelievable bumps in this. The guy's way overlooked.

The Moxley match was nuts. He was born, raised, lived, and wrestled in my home area and I never really knew how he made his way to CZW. You can tell here that there was no shortcut. Brain Damage was not holding shit back. These guys did the, bar none, sickest fork spots I've ever seen. Just jamming it deep into each other's foreheads and both spraying blood all over the damn place. I felt bad for Moxley, like this was some sort of sick initiation, but if so he passed with flying colors. Damage has some of the meanest, stiffest right hands in wrestling. He was just drilling John with some shots that'd KO Tim Sylvia. Main event was less intense and exciting as what preceded it, more of a meandering brawl, with Acid returning here, I hate to say it, but you could kind of get the sense he already had one foot in the grave. There was chairs scattered all over the ring, so many in fact if they were dicks it would have been Melina's mouth. Callihan used an electric lift to drop a legdrop from the ceiling in an awesome finish to a match that wasn't great.