3PW A Night for the Flyboy

Power Pain-Pro Wrestling? This fed is known as a 5th rate ECW, littered with garbage wrestling and faded stars. But this card looked different, a tribute show with some good talent and luckily, as the announcer stated, a night of clean wrestling matches.

Opening ceremony was as well done as possible, highlighted with Johnny Grunge coming out first, looking either still raw from the pain of Rocco's death or in pain carrying the girth he'd put on. On DVD, his promo was kind of hard to hear at points but thought it was strange he kept saying "if he had to go, he would have wanted it this way; driving to the ECW arena."

1) Joey Matthews v. Josh Daniels- 4
Matthews put cocky heel persona into overdrive for this one. Daniels was a muscular smaller guy, who they said patterned himself after Chris Benoit (join the club, funny, you don't hear that one anymore) This so reminded me of this era when guys would do everything they could do get a pose over, as Matthews struck this ridiculous one over and over again; he looked like the Scarecrow from Oz. The match flowed really well though, and most everything meant something. They built up their offense up to the way old school wrestlers used to do. Matthews pulled off a flying clothesline that looked great, which is a move not used very often. Daniels was kind of stone faced but put a lot of emphasis on all his movements, a Benoit hallmark that is a lost art these days.

2) Rob Eckos v. White Lotus - 3
The future Robbie E, came out with sunglasses and a spray bottle and Lotus, who was billed as from Japan, but had a worse tan the Ghost on the Booberry cereal box. I'm glad the announcers even called him out on that one. One of the first spots was Lotus de-pantsing Eckos who inexplicably had a white object stuck in the crack of his ass. I was perplexed and sickened, sort of like watching a David Lynch film. Not sure if it was a thermometer, or the world's smallest dildough but the crowd laughed. The content of the match though, kind of left a lot to be desired. It was a lot of hard to pull off moves where cooperation is key at a time when every one wanted to invent the newest craze move. Heel finish though left me satisfied.

3) Jason Knight v. Del Tsunami- 3
This was interesting, Jason absolutely blew through Tsunami much like his namesake did to the Phillippines a few years ago. I dug Tsunami though, he was a dead ringer for Robin Shou, star of Mortal Kombat movies from the 90's. Knight was dropping some heavy suplexes and offense throughout and even though this was short, it accomplished and showed both men in a good light; Knight as more than a lackey and Tsunami as a jobber you want to watch more.

4) Roadkill v. Christian York - 3
York tried to outdo Matthews in the heel mic work department which he did but also won the contest for "Doughiest midsection." I'm just not into Roadkill at all, never have been a fan. He sells York's punches like some errant water got in his eyes. The big splash from the top should be devastating but falls knees first and leaves a bubble of dead air for York to wait comfortably in, just looked so shoddy. This got more time than anything so far, but it never pulled me in, esp. the interference towards the end.

5) Syxx-Pac v. Ron Killings- 5
Truth comes out hot and heavy with his "Truth" character, and Syxx drops the line "hey, this your 1st time in the ECW Arena? They don't like stalling, they like action!" I'd argue most of those slobs like to mix verbal jabs with the wrestlers. When this got going, I really dug the back and forth. Both guys got their stuff off (most important for any wrestler) but all at opportune times. Liked Syxx's tight Tiger bomb late in the bout. Sabu interference seems to come with general admission in this arena, but at least it was stiff; Truth going to eating corn creamed style instead of cob that night.

6) Blue Meanie/ Jasmin St. Clair v. Rockin Rebel/ Missy Hyatt- 1
Yikes was this terrible. The women seemed to try to make their sloppy tits bounce as most of their offense and yet the two men in the match seemed to take no notice. Rebel had been around way too long at this point, hands down the weakest bumper on this whole card. Meanie attempting an inverted atomic drop was as fascinating as an ostrich shitting. This thing unraveled faster than the sweater your grandma sent you last Christmas and just got ugly, like Jasmin snatch ugly.

7) Jerry Lawler v. Curt Hennig- 4
This got a boring chant at one point and it's a damn shame. Lawler seemed addicted to bumps like his ex-wife Stacy was to bank accounts. I woudln't say Hennig mailed it in but he definitley lessened the Hennig effect of crazy bumping. Both these guys punches were just stellar and how come instead of wasting time and money paying Kidman to teach "The Art of the 5 minute Match" in FCW, bring the King into show pace and punching. Kind of disappointed we didn't get to see either guy's finish and the actual ending of this was bargain basement indy stuff that these guys deserved better.

8) Sabu v. Pitbull Gary Wolfe- 3
First off, Tod Gordon jumps Pitbull gang style off the bat and whips his ass. completely made me disbelieve in Wolfe as champion. Sabu actually showed up to work on this show, really great uppercuts, all his spots came off well (except his flying back scratch into the crowd, looking like Mary Poppins flying with an umbrella). Seeing these two brawl in the back of the iconic ECW Arena where so many classic brawls took place, the weak ass DDT on a table was a joke. Hey, you thought RVD had crappy forearms? Damn, you ain't seen nothing yet, half the time Wolfe missed him, the other half he barely connected, it was pathetic. I can't determine what's the bigger mystery: how Scarlett Johansson's self taken nude pics arrived online or why people keep booking Tod Gordon on shows? Sabu hits a Air Sabu through a table, prompting the announcer to stupidly say "I've never seen him do that before!" Have you ever seen a Sabu match, you shit-dick? Damn as much effort as Sabu put forth, this was a joke of a main event.