RETRO POST: GPW Review 06/18/2000 -- Maritime Pro Wrestling Forum

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Date Posted: 21:33:51 06/21/01 Thu
Author: BMN
Subject: RETRO POST: GPW Review 06/18/2000

GPW at the North Sydney Forum
June 18, 2000

BMN was so far having a splendid birthday, the crew re-secured the usual location, and the show did start at 7. So the evening was looking up right away. As well, I mistook the WWF's PPV for this weekend when it is actually next weekend. So GPW had a chance to win people over for next week.

1. Bobby Rude vs Stan Neilson (*** 1/2)

I predicted last week that these two could have better and better matches if they kept feuding. True to my word, they turned out the best GPW match of the year thus far. Congrats, Emile (or whomever booked the show) for booking a conclusive finish at the beginning of the card; splendid! Of course, Neilson was building major face heat on our side of the building so Rude's pinfall was met with disappointing groans.

The finish actually looked a bit weak, but overall this was a well paced, well worked match that really showcased Neilson's ability and potential. He also amused the audience with his ongoing taunt war with one lady at ringside. Neilson seemed to carry the affair, but Rude didn't slow it down any and did a good job portraying the man who is dominated for most of the match only to pull the win out of his back pocket.

2. Big Al vs Todd Douglas (* 3/4)

Poor Douglas: stuck with Al again. Al is not in good shape, and can not work a good match. To Douglas' credit, this wasn't a complete horror show and he did get booked to win. The match was, well, there and at least flowed decently, even without a crowd-popping move. I took a 1/4 * down because it wasn't as good as their first North Sydney encounter.

3. Cuban Assassin vs Rene E Dupre (** 1/4)

Perhaps the most talked about event of the evening was that Cuban actually worked tonight! This match was hardly a gem, but what boosted it from a * 1/2-** affair to ** 1/4 for me was the sheer fact that Cuban was trying so hard. He seemed to really be feeding off of the crowd.

Cuban still did rely on the played-out "foreign object in the pocket" bit and actually looked terrible in parts. Yet he supplanted some good bump-taking with some ringwork (some takedowns and an excellent piledriver that literally brought people to their feet wildly). While not spectacular, Rene made Cuban look more credible in jobbing than he has in going over in the last year.

4. Kurrgan vs Hans Schultz (* 3/4)

Could anyone possibly believe this guy was German? I've been a little easier on Kurrgan since he departed New York. This is a good thing because he did almost all of the work in this match. I thought Kurrgan would be a major draw but he had to fight to keep the crowd in this one as Schultz just didn't seem interested. Schultz does seem like a good athlete and they did give him some heat by having him kick out of some nice Kurrgan moves (such as what I call the "Pineapple drop"), so match wasn't a waste by any means.

5. "Wildman" Austin vs Chi Chi Cruz (***)

At times the match was a little too garbagy: an intense feud does not entail hitting someone with a Scrabble board (although that did allow me to yell out "Triple Word Score!" at a wrestling event for the first time). They did march around quite a bit and incorporated a table spot (Chi Chi slamming Austin). The match sort of hovered around the ** star mark for me, but they did incorporate some wrestling spots in between to increase the suspense which bumped the rating up for me. The pacing was far superior to the past two weeks although the "fight and walk" spots were sometimes tiresome. The match ended cleanly: giving Emile & co. a clean sweep for the night.

But now for the real glorious parts of the story:

Firstly, Austin's clean pin of Chi Chi actually brings the feud to a sensible and decisive conclusion. Secondly, Dupre comes out to save Chi Chi from an Austin beating. Chi Chi takes exception to the help and turns on Rene. Austin and Chi Chi perform a wicked spiked powerbomb to a thunderous face pop. Rude and Douglas then make the save. Then, Austin cuts a great promo on the three in the ring. This is followed by a GREAT Chi Chi promo, possibly the best I've heard in the Forum, in which he denounces Rene as a pretty boy and explains his motivations to Austin and the crowd. Finally, Rene rises up superpissed and attacks Austin, leading to a brief but hellacious brawl in which Rene takes a super-stiff lamp shot from Austin.

I don't make a practice out of ranking angles but the whole scenario gets **** 1/4 from me.

Highest match ranking: *** 1/2 (Rude v Neilson)
Lowest match rankings: * 3/4 (Big Al v Todd, Kurrgan v Schultz)
Avg. match ranking: Approx. ** 1/2
Event ranking: *** 1/2

We still haven't had a **** star match yet but tonight's show had nothing under * 1/4 and two matches that were *** or higher. A great show to convince people to come out before the WWF PPV next week. The post-matches angle drives the event rating up an entire point for me.

This was booking at its finest: something simple and performed convincingly. It was reminiscent of ECW circa '95-97 in which one feud springs immediately from another with great results. The Chi Chi turn itself was great not because it was shocking (which is all Vince Russo tries to do) but because it sets up a war with great potential: the wrestlers preferred by the "hardcore" audience versus the so-called pretty boys. Insert a suddenly revitalized Cuban and Stan Neilson into the mix over time and this could actually provide a story that will give heel/face heat to just about every wrestler on the roster. Most will side with the Austin/Chi Chi faction while some will take up with the standard 80s face side, and much heat will be garnered by all.

Best birthday ever.

BMN

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Re: RETRO POST: GPW Review 06/18/2000 -- brec7, 00:08:39 06/25/01 Mon