This review is dedicated to the memories of Theodore James "Flyboy Rocco Rock" Petty and Michael "Johnny Grunge" Durham.
IPW Tag Team Titles Tables Match: The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Flyboy Rocco Rock) (c) vs. The Bad Crew (#1 and #2), IPW Power Hour Episode 4, Fernwood Hotel and Conference Center, Bushkill, PA, May 26, 2001 (taping date; air date unknown)
Historical background: International Pro Wrestling was a Pennsylvania indie promotion that existed from 1996-2004, with a mixture of ECW guys, legends (King Kong Bundy, George "The Animal" Steele, Koko B. Ware), and indie guys. Bad Crew (originally Dog and Rose, later just #1 and #2) were a team that wrestled in various Pennsylvania and Maryland indies, eventually retiring in 2007.
"Here Comes the Hotstepper" and whatever Bad Crew's music was get cut due to copyright. Rocco brings a table with him and Johnny brings a chair. Rocco pulls another table out from under the ring before the match has even started. Johnny throws a garbage can into the ring and Rocco throws in a 45 MPH speed limit sign. Bad Crew object to the plunder and try walking out, until the main commentator tells them that they have 10 seconds to get back in the ring or they are out of IPW. Bad Crew get in the ring and Johnny hits #2 with the garbage can and Rocco hits #1 with a water bottle. It's a brawl, of course, complete with Johnny blading as quickly as he possibly could. Bad Crew whip Rocco into the ropes but he ducks their double-clothesline and hits a Quebrada on them! Color commentator Third Degree Burns is in awe of all this. The crowd starts a "Holy shit! Holy shit!" chant. Johnny and one Bad Crew guy fight in the ring and Rocco and the other fight on the floor, complete with Rocco hitting him with a ceiling tile! One of the Bad Crew hits Rocco with a chair. Again. Then a really nasty shot to the head to put Rocco down on the floor. More chaos leads to the commentators calling for the match to stop. One of the Bad Crew guys bleeds. The announcers have practically given up on calling this. Rocco stacks two tables on the stage. After some more brawling, Rocco drags Bad Crew #1 to the stage and sets him up on the tables. Rocco then climbs up on top of the speakers and hits The Drive-By (Somersault Senton) to drive Bad Crew #1 through the tables for the win. ****
I loved this match from the first time I saw it. The Public Enemy seemed revitalized, getting to do serious brawling as opposed to the watered-down comedy they were doing in WCW. The announcers being so shocked helped a lot too.
You can watch the match here.
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NWA Independent World Champion Sabu (w/Paul E. Dangerously) vs. The Tazmaniac, "NWA Sabu", Lincoln Park Community Center, Lincoln Park, MI, August 19, 1994
Historical background: This was a dark period for the NWA, having cut ties with WCW a year earlier, and eight days before Shane Douglas won the NWA World Heavyweight Title and then threw it down and named himself ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Sabu had his own promotion in Detroit with his own title, and this match was an obvious crossover from ECW.
They tie up and Sabu punches Taz, leading to a slugfest. Taz headbutts Sabu, stomps him and throws him out to the floor. Taz follows him out and somebody says "No disqualification." Taz bangs Sabu's head against the ringpost. Sabu rolls back into the ring and prepares to dive out to the floor but Taz gets out of the way. Taz climbs back on the apron and Sabu goes for a Sunset Flip but Taz doesn't move, sending Sabu crashing to the floor. Taz drops to the floor, picks Sabu up, and hits him with a few chairshots. (This was less than a year before he dropped the caveman/savage gimmick and became "The Human Suplex Machine" Taz, so he wasn't in "I don't need weapons, my hands are my weapons" mode yet.) Taz grabs some big object and hits Sabu with it. Sabu hits Taz with a chairshot of his own. Back in the ring, Taz hits an Overhead Belly to Belly Tazplex and locks on a Cross-Armbreaker. Sabu gets out of it and stomps Taz. Sabu goes out to the apron and goes for a Slingshot Legdrop, which misses. Taz gets an Armbar and works on it for a bit. Some guy starts the annoying habit of yelling "Nightmare" throughout the match. Sabu gets back to his feet and punches away at Taz. Taz goes back to the arm and turns it into a Northern Lights Tazplex. It gets 2. Taz scares the referee, who runs to the floor! Taz punches Sabu but Sabu blocks it and punches Taz instead and follows with a dropkick. Sabu goes back out and this time the Slingshot Legdrop connects. It gets 2. Taz headscissors Sabu...and locks on a chinlock. He turns it into a cover, which gets 1. Sabu gets a side headlock, and Taz turns it into a Backdrop Tazplex. Back to their feet, Taz whips Sabu into the ropes but Sabu ducks the Clothesline and comes up with a Leg Lariat. Sabu tries for a second-rope Springboard Somersault Senton, which misses. Taz locks on a Legbar and the ref counts Sabu's shoulders down for 2. Sabu reverses and turns it into an Ankle Lock. Taz grabs Sabu's hair to break the hold. Taz throws Sabu out to the floor and hits him with a radio and someone says, "Not the Ghetto Blaster!" Taz tries for a Vertical Tazplex, but Sabu blocks it. Taz gets back into the ring but Sabu seems to have disappeared. Sabu gets back in the ring and dives at Taz's leg to take him down. Sabu stomps Taz and drops an elbow for 2. Sabu slams Taz and goes for the Slingshot Moonsault but Taz rolls to the floor. Sabu tries to follow and Taz hits him with a chair. Taz rolls him over and covers for 2. Sabu gets a headlock and Taz tries to turn it into another Tazplex but Sabu shifts his weight and lands on top for 2. Sabu sends Taz to the floor and follows and hits Taz with a chair. For the record, all of this has happened in only the first eight minutes of the match, and there's a lot left to go. Sabu rolls back in with a chair. Taz follows and Sabu hits him with another chairshot. Sabu sets up the chair and positions Taz in the corner and hits Air Sabu. Sabu gets back up and Taz kicks him in the face a few times. Not to overstate the obvious, but, yes, Sabu is REALLY over here. Sabu whips Taz into the ropes and hits another Leg Lariat. It gets 2. Sabu drops another leg. Paul E. throws in a chair and Sabu goes for the Arabian Facebuster but Taz rolls out of the way. Taz gets back up and hits Sabu with a chair and throws it to the floor, missing Paul E. Taz hits a Head-And-Arm Tazplex and locks on a headscissors and turns it into a Cross-Armbreaker. It's almost like Taz is seeing the future, since he's clearly in position where he would normally lock on the Tazmission but he doesn't have it as part of his arsenal yet, so he keeps trying these different submission holds. Taz whips Sabu to the ropes but Sabu catches himself and jumps onto the second rope and comes off with another Leg Lariat. It gets 2. Sabu gets up and Taz crawls over and clips Sabu's knee. Paul says something to Sabu to get him back into the match. Taz ties up Sabu's arms for a Northern Lights Tazplex variation that gets a Joey Styles reaction from someone in the crowd. Taz goes back to the Legbar. Paul and the fans rally Sabu, who reverses the hold again. Taz shoves Sabu through the ropes to the floor and follows. Taz hits Sabu with a chairshot and rolls him back into the ring. Sabu gets up and stops Taz from reentering the ring, and then goes out to the apron and hits an Asai Moonsault! Something happens and Paul calls Taz a "freaking animal!" and someone in the crowd says, "You tell 'em Paul E.!" Taz throws some chairs into the ring. Back in the ring, Taz covers for 2. Taz whips Sabu into the ropes and sets up for a back body drop but Sabu rolls over him and hits a Spinkick. That gets 2. Sabu whips Taz but Taz reverses and sets up for another back body drop but Sabu turns it into a DDT. Sabu tries again and Taz turns it into another Northern Lights Tazplex. That gets 2. Sabu dropkicks Taz, sending Taz almost through the ropes, with Taz pausing and then going out to the floor himself. Sabu follows and hits another chairshot. Sabu sets Taz up on the table and goes for another Asai Moonsault, but Taz rolls out of the way. Sabu lands on the table but the table does not break! It sort of bends but it does not break. Paul E. signals for "Time Out". Sabu crawls back into the ring and Taz hits him with a Tiger Tazplex! Taz hits a Belly to Back Tazplex. Taz sits Sabu up on the top turnbuckle and tries to Tazplex him off but Sabu blocks it with an elbow, and just backflips off for the pin at 18:08! ****.
Long, but, definitely worth the time. You get to see what a big deal Sabu was in Detroit at the time and to see Taz when he was still in the Tazmaniac gimmick but with the potential for greatness and how, even as a caveman/savage, he was already relying on suplexes and submission holds.
You can watch the match here.
Absolutely recommended.