The Rap Sheet - from the Mad Conservative
Midwestern States Pro Wrestling (Video Review)
2/26/2K5  Wheaton, IL


No witty comment from me here.

The views expressed by Crimefighter are solely his own and do not reflect the views of anyone else.  The intended audience of the rap sheet are those who follow indy wrestling in the midwest,
smart fans and insiders who read books like "Wrestling's One Ring Circus" and "The Death of WCW", or read websites like 1wrestling.com, 411mania.com, pwinsider.com or insidepulse.com. If you shun that sort of stuff, you probably won't like the writing style I use. And as a wrestling fan, I like my workrate a lot more than the BS, cause the nuts and bolts of the show IS the wrestling after all.

Now this event occurred the same day as the event I went to downstate.  Since DDS came down to Springfield the following month to wrestle, I bought the tape from him as he was leaving since it had the debuts of Shard and Elite in MSPW.  There's also an event coming downstate in eastern Illinois outta Charleston, which it looks like I will be going to if I get a ride to help move the ring and setup.  Live from the Wheaton Grand Theater in Wheaton, IL.

Little note, anytime I say opening trio, that is to mean shoulderblock or armdrag, hip toss and slam in sequence.

Mr. Elite 220lbs. Minneapolis, MN w/ Rian Cruz vs. Michael Shard 165lbs. Santa Monica, CA -- Rian Cruz in Elite's corner?  Yep.  Your referee is Andy Long.  Have no idea what music is being used for Elite, but Shard enters in using Elite's current theme (sound goof?).  Only one camera angle here though.  Elite worms the arm but Shard trips him for one.  Shard works the arm, Elite gets the hammerlock, Shard shoveoff shoulderblock, but Shard gets the opening trio.  Shard charges but goes sailing over the top but legscissors Elite out.  Elite fires back, choke in the corner.  Shard reverses a whip and gets the splash in the corner, clothesline gets two.  Elite catches Shard in a stun gun.  Rian uncharacteristically chokes Shard on the ropes.  Elite with a side neckbreaker gets two.  Elite spinebuster on Shard gets two.  Elite whips him in the corner and hits a clothesline from heck for two.  The straps come down, full nelson!  But Shard runs up the ropes and turns it into a TORNADO FLATLINER for two!  Rian's yelling at the ref.  Elite catches Shard's foot but dodges the enzuigiri.  Elite goes for a piledriver, Shard blocks it, Texas Cloverleaf for Shard and Elite taps!  Decent enough opener.  

WINNER:  Michael Shard submission -> 7 mins. **½

These guys made a mad dash back to Springfield in time for their home fed's show in the evening.

Adam Evans 220lbs. Los Angeles, CA vs. Black Dagger 215lbs. Tokyo, Japan - Lockup and they roll around the ropes but get no where.  They lockup again and roll on and off the mat and fight for an armwringer.  Dagger gets a crossarm breaker.  Evans gets out, so Dagger gets a wristlock, Evans throws a knee on the ropes, Dagger gets a hip toss, Evans with a stun gun.  Evans works the arm and yanks it down against the mat, Evans with a flying hammerlock drop.  Another one is blocked, Dagger rollup for two.  Adam goes back to works the arm and wrist.  Evans with a TORNADO FLATLINER gets two!  Heh, he must had seen Shard do it earlier.  He tries it again but gets blocked and Dagger side suplexes him down.  Dagger with the flying forearm, whip clothesline, hits the drop kick. Evans won't stay down, Dagger with a spinebuster gets two.  Dagger whip to the corner, goes for the monkey flip but it's blocked and Evans pins him with the legs on the ropes.

WINNER:  Adam Evans pin -> 7:10 mins. ***¼

Dinn T. Moore 285lbs. Billings, MT vs. "The Natural" Chris Black 200lbs. Memphis, TN - Man they are cutting out half the ring entrances here.  Dinn T. Moore was one of the involuntary volunteers for Simon Dean's crapfests.  Chris Black I first saw in Brew City.  Black complains about pulled hair after being shoved down.  Black fires off the kicks, they try for rollups but Moore hits the clothesline, slam and hip toss.  Black runs away and takes a seat in the front row.  Moore slingshots him back in, kick to the back and gets two.  Moore with the nuggies, haha.  Black gets out but runs into a back elbow, Moore slam, hops off the second with an elbow for two.  Moore rams Black into the corners and slaps him on the chest...BIG SPLASH!  Moore goofingly yells are you okay and slaps him in the face.  Whip to the corner, Moore charges and goes FLYING over the top rope to the floor!  Wow, no ring apron around that ring at all!  Black beats him on the floor then chokes him in the ring.  Oh Black puts on the camel clutch... but Moore stands up and backs him against the ropes.  Moore tries another charge to the corner but crashes!  Black tries to suplex, Moore gets the fisherman's suplex instead for two.  Black manages to get the Boston Crab but can't hold the weight!  He tries a cover but gets two, then argues with the ref and goes back to kicking.  Black still can't hold him down.  Moore catches another kick, and throws him down face first.  Moore gut wrench suplex, clothesline, Moore with a SUPERKICK!  Side slam Moore gets two.  Black gets a rollup holding the trunks and gets the pin.

WINNER:  Chris Black pin -> 11 mins. **¾

They cut to some guy is bullying the ring announcer, oh it's Mike Venom.  He says anyone that's been in the ring with him has been killed.  He won the battle royal for the title shot and Jason Reign's arse is his.  Reign says there's nothing to add so they can do this right now.  Quick brawl that sees Venom retreating.

"Superstar" Bryce Benjamin 180lbs. Hollywood, CA vs. Brandon Blaze 215lbs. Chicago, IL w/ Ami Zane - Bryce is no longer a cheerleader I guess, and brings in a woman from the crowd to dance.  The All Stars say they aren't through with Bryce, oh I guess he broke up with them recently.  And Blaze jumps him from behind.  Bryce dodges a charge and chops away, hard whip to the corner and he hits a monkey flip and dropkick.  Hard clothesline and elbow to the head, he goes to working the arm.  Bryce with the flying headscissors and drop kick.  Blaze takes a powder as the crowd chants "lets go pinky".  Bryce blocks an attack and slingshots Blaze in for two and goes back to working the arm.  Blaze whips Bryce in the corner, Blaze hops over and he appears to have hurt his leg...or so he wants us to think.  Steve Stone and Mike Horning come in the ring to check on Blaze, Blaze finally stands up and CLOTHESLINES Bryce down.  Yep.  Blaze hits the dropkick and gets two.  Bryce is dumped on the floor to be worked over, toss back in gets two.  Blaze uses Bryce as a rocking horse on the ropes.  Miss Zane joins in the choking.  Bryce comes to life, crossbody off the top gets two.  Blaze takes him down, makes a wish and drops the leg.  Benjamin gets a boot, then a clothesline.  Bryce whip and forearm, back body drop, running splash in the corner gets two.  Bryce tunes up the band...misses the kick, reverse powerbomb Blaze gets two!  Zane's on the apron, Stone passes a weapon to Blaze, KO PUNCH and Blaze gets the pin.  Barf!

WINNER:  Brandon Blaze pin -> 10:40 mins.

Oops, after someone comes to the ring to argue, the brass knucks fall out of Blaze's hand and hit the mat.  The ref sees it and restarts the match, Bryce rollup gets the pin.  Haha.

WINNER:  Bryce Benjamin pin -> 10:50 mins. **½

Stone and Blaze are arguing in the ring, Zane tries to keep them apart but they walk to the back separately.  Well I can see why they had a match down south about a month later to settle it.

MSPW Hertiage Championship
(c)Delicious Danny Scott 222lbs. Joliet, IL vs. "Waterboy" Mike Horning 185lbs. Davesville, FL - This is a weird relationship we got here, they're feuding in Chicago yet they put together the newest version of XXXPlicit Content for downstate.  Scott has some sort of snack box with him.  Horning smacks it outta his hand, Scott takes him down and slugs away on the mat!  They lockup proper and Horning works the arm, Scott with a takedown and torques his arm.  Scott shoots him off, sunset flip Horning gets two, Scott rollup gets two, armdrags traded, double drop kick gets nothing but air and they are at a stalemate.  They circle, Danny gets the headlock, gets the opening trio and hits a legdrop for two.  Danny Scott takes Horning to the corner and bounces his head off all three turnbuckles ten times, heh.  Horning misses the charge in the corner, Scott misses the clothesline, spinning heel kick by Horning.  Horning dumps him out, and his corner man beats up Danny Scott outside.  Back in, Scott tries a flurry of punches but Horning hits the side suplex for two.  Horning with the headlock on the mat, DDS fights his way up but Horning dropkicks him in the face for two.  Someone shouts "son of a monkey", haha!  He goes back to the chinlock, DDS fights out again but gets a elbow to the face for two.  Horning has DDS for a tornado DDT but DDS blocks it and back body drops him over.  DDS blocks a boot and SPINEBUSTERS him for two.  Horning hits a powerslam for two.  Horning forearms in the corner, whip DDS misses a tackle, Horning with a kick to the back of the head, he covers with the feet on the ropes, ref catches it and waves off the three count.  Waterboy slam, he goes up, crossbody off the top, DDS floats over...THREE COUNT!

WINNER and STILL CHAMP:  Delicious Danny Scott pin -> 13:30 mins. ***

Oh the sore losers beat the crap out of DDS, Bryce in, flatliners Horning, Germans the other guy to make the save.  

"Metalhead" Steve Stone 220lbs Whitelands, IN w/ Ami Zane & Brandon Blaze vs. Tony Rican 160lbs. San Porte, Pureto Rico - Hmmm, they're still arguing a bit from earlier.  Rican hands his jacket to a lady in the crowd.  Blaze pulls Rican out and slugs him, ref EJECTS Blaze.  I wish more referees would do that.  Stone gets the opening trio of moves, Rican with a couple armdrags and a dropkick.  Stone and Zane LEAVE for a while.  Back in, Rican fights for an armdrag and Stone bails again to take a seat in the crowd.  Back in, Rican forearms like mad, misses a charge, Stone off the ropes with the CLOTHESLINE FROM HECK getting two.  He dumps him out for Zane to kick around.  Hard chop by Stone, snap mare, running neck snap gets two.  Rican fires back but gets hit with a hard knee lift, ram to the corner and Stone works him over.  Stone with a HARD clothesline to the corner, a second one meets a boot, but Rican charges into a powerslam for two.  Stone chokes away on the ropes, Zane joins in and slaps Rican.  Stone on the second rope, axe handle meets a fist to the gut, Rican with a flying forearm, drop kick, hurraconranna gets two.  Rican whipped to the corner, Tony hops nothing but air, Stone suplex blocked, gets caught in a spinebuster for two.  Rican reverses a whip, Zane is looking away and tries to trip Rican but ends up hooking Stone's leg. Stone yells at her, Rican with a rollup gets three!

WINNER:  Tony Rican pin -> 10 mins. ***

Blaze is out here again and pounds the heck outta Rican, calls for Stone to get in the ring.  The table is set up, Blaze puts Rican on the top rope.  POWERSLAMS HIM OFF THE TOP THROUGH THE TABLE!  Great, call in the EMTs...

MSPW Heavyweight Championship
(c)"State of the Art" Jason Reign 220lbs. Chicago, IL vs. "Human Massacre" Mike Venom 285lbs Parts Unknown - That canvas is loose all over, they keep having to smooth it out with a broom.  They do some prelim maneuvers before Reign takes him down and works the leg.  Reign actually PUNTS Venom in the rear, but can't whip him off the ropes.  Reign gets the takedown again and really torques that leg.  Reign kicks away, but STILL can't whip him off the ropes, until Venom hits him with an elbow.  Venom with a big headbutt, and slugs him in the back.  Venom with a KO punch and locks in the camel clutch.  He turns it loose when he won't quit (gee, it takes time for those to work!) and goes for the slam and elbow for two.  Venom continues to stagger Reign around with the punches to the head.  Venom with the suplex, and goes back to punching the back.  Venom fires off the trash talk to the fans, Reign tries a sunset flip but it's blocked, side kick is caught and Venom with a gut wrench suplex.  Venom shouts "come on Reign!" and slugs away some more, HARD WHIP TO THE CORNER and CRASH goes now less than state of the art.  Another whip to the corner, Venom just walks over and forearm smashes in the jaw.  He steps back, charges and misses his man.  But Venom gets the slam, goes up, Reign cuts him off and throws some uppercuts, Venom shoves him down, axe handle meets a superkick to the face!  They're both back up, after a brawl Venom gets a spinebuster for two.  Venom argues with the ref and they get into a shoving match, Reign gets a small package and the ref does a very fast three count!  Word of advice, don't threaten the referee.

WINNER and STILL CHAMP:  "State of the Art" Jason Reign pin -> 10:15 mins. **½

More of a brawl than a wrestling match, but decent enough to wrap up the show.  Venom has the mike, he says Reign lucked out, he wants a rematch in Lockport, IL.  Reign wonders why the bad guys always want a rematch at the next show.  Jason Reign begrudgingly agrees due to tradition.  The show is over.

The Verdict:  I can say there wasn't really anything that was stellar but there wasn't anything that was bad either.  It's all about average across the board and that's where I come down on this, so I can't complain.  Video production values need work however, it's not too difficult with Windows Movie Maker and a TV out on the PC to slap an opening and ending on it.

Thumbs leaning up.