The Rap Sheet - from the Crimefighter New Midwest Wrestling's Breakdown II 9/27/2K3 Springfield, IL Due to me taking the month off from writing the Rap Sheet for Breakdown due to what was supposed to be a vacation that ended up being cancelled, and that Stan Sallinger who volunteered to write the rap sheet that month never finished it, the record of Breakdown will be this column written by Blair Russell from www.chicagowrestling.com. I have inserted the winners, records, and match times in the column. New Midwest Review By Blair Russell This past Saturday, I decided to go to the New Midwest Wrestling show. They are a fed that are out of Springfield, and pretty much, all their wrestlers are self-contained. I've heard of them before on-line, but I decided to finally go, due to some prodding from a guy in one of my classes, who just happens to be from the area, and whom goes to their shows. They have a nice "arena" for their shows, and it includes wooden security barriers, a video screen, and even earpieces for the referees. They obviously have loyal fans, who line up at least a half-hour before the doors even open. I figured that they would be fired up, but once the show started, I saw that they were really into the show, and thus, most of the matches had great heat. A good number of the people in attendance were teenaged girls, and well, I didn't even begin to figure out which ones were actual fans, and which ones were members of a rodent species. The wrestling, though, wasn't anything to light the world on fire. There were a lot of bodyslams, clotheslines, suplexes, and about 5 guys at least attempted to do a moonsault. I'm not complaining about the lack of high workrate; I'm just saying that it seemed like many of the guys had a real similar moveset, which just makes things boring for me. As for other positives, they did have a little booklet printed out, which gave info like the card and some short profiles on a few of their personalities, which is always a nice touch. They had some video sketches, but they just led up to one match, which was Match 5. The sketches at least weren't as god-awful as they could've been. Also, their messageboard compared to cw.com's messageboard is like comparing Einstein to RCW fan Marvin in terms in intelligence! The negatives I'll mention here is that the referees could've been better. Their cadence on their three counts wasn't always the same; sometimes, it was way too slow, which to me is a good way of ruining a match. Also, from seeing one show, the booking seems kind of chaotic, but at long as it isn't Russo-like, then I won't complain too much. Most importantly, though, was the absence of El Pollo Loco! Even though he wrestles in a regular Lucha outfit instead of a chicken suit, I still wanted to see what was a goofy name. Speaking of that, as you'll see, these guys do have unique and colorful nicknames. However you feel about those names is entirely up to you. The show started off with a Sports Entertainment Segment, where much happened, like the lead heel owner/CEO/GM/whatever, Marjorie Watson, was fired, a new owner/CEO/GM/whatever, Jason Devall, was hired, and the main event for the NMW Championship was set up, between champ Real World Jeremy, Sage Ramsey, and former champ Guy Smith. By the way, NMW has the usual "Board of Directors". CF: Bing Westlake is now using his real name and gives a long speech on the grand Witchy/Guy Smith/Fraze/Cash/NWQ/Westlake conspiracy. Not explained was how the president wrestling a match is a fireable offense. But Devall explains later that there was some clause in Stan's contract for being NMW president that if he ever stepped in the ring as a wrestler that his role in the office is null and void. Gee, shouldn't the board of directors had warned Stan if he went through the match he'd be canned? It's not like they didn't have enough opportunity to do so. Oh yeah, Witchy has been IMPEACHED, Jason Devall is the new "president", RWJ gives his title shot to Sage Ramsey (yay!) and Guy Smith is added for a triple threat. Match 1: Eric Logan (7-5) defeated El Diablo Silverado (10-6) by DQ. This match was an ok way to start off the card. Sure, there was the cliché Indy Applause Stance, and the series of 2-counts, but besides that, the action was alright, if totally lacking in psychology. JJ Tank attacked the ref with a chair, but he was chased away, and Diablo ended up with the chair, and well, for some reason, the ref DQ's Silverado for having the chair! CF: Clueless James Welden, he got chairshotted himself by Tank and didn't even TRY to connect the dots as to WHO hit him when neither EDS or Logan were in a position of doing the deed. This match SHOULD had been ruled a no-contest. WINNER: Eric Logan DQ -> (8-5) 9:40 mins. *** Match 2: "Rather Charming" Bradley Stephens (3-2) defeated Shane Matthews (0-1). No, Shane was not accompanied by Erik Kramer or Jim Miller, or any other ex-Bears QB's! This match was decent, except for the fact that the psychology was not really existent, and had no pacing at all. CF: I thought this match was very good, for this being Shane Matthews second match ever, he put on a mat classic with the veteran. Crowd was well into it. WINNER: "Rather Charming" Bradley Stephens pin -> (4-2) 12 mins. **** Match 3: The Church of RON (accompanied, surprisingly enough, by Ron) (4-0) defeated Sigma Omega Beta (The Freshman and Toga Steve) (debut) to retain the NMW Tag Titles. The ladies certainly loved The Freshman, but the guys liked Steve, since he is a bald beer-drinker, and the crowd chanted "Toga!" at him. The match ended when The Freshman got pinned, and that upset the females in the crowd, but one little boy that was right by me was so upset at The Freshman getting pinned, he was virtually in tears! You just know that you'll never see that anywhere in the Chicago wrestling scene. WINNER: The NEW Church of RON pin -> (5-0) 5:40 mins. **½ There was a sketch here involving Scotty Cash, where he made fun of his opponent for later that night, Doug Fraze. Cash pulled out a wooden caricature of Fraze (w/ a cut-out mouth) and had a little boy, who was celebrating his birthday, throw cheeseburgers in the mouth! Only in the indies--it was a nice thing to do for the kid, though, because he did get a free prize in a bandana. Fraze obviously came out, and he ended up running himself through the wooden caricature. Match 4: Dredd Walker (with Professor Phillip H. Dempsey, i.e. Professor PhD!) (10-6-1) defeated Lucious P. Cotrain (6-3). This match did have the psychology of Walker attacking LPC's leg, but LPC didn't really sell it all that well. But, at least it did lead to the STF submission win. CF: Another four star match this evening. And the "you sold out" chants REALLY bugged Dredd. WINNER: Dredd Walker submission -> (11-6-1) 13 mins. **** Match 5: JJ Tank & Tom Arson (w/ Cherry Malone) (debut) defeated Earl Grissom & Stan Sallinger (debut). Grissom is a hillbilly character, and Sallinger is a guy in a suit and tie, so they were "The Wacky Tag Team Partners", and didn't get along. At one point in the match, Sallinger tagged out so he could talk on his phone! That was good for a laugh. However, the match itself eventually dragged on and on with a long heat segment that was just dull. There wasn't even a hot tag; after a late save by Grissom (late as in he was late for his cue, and the ref had to stop counting), all four guys fought with each other, with Tank and Arson winning. WINNER: JJ Tank & Tom Arson pin -> (1-0) 14:35 mins. ***¼ Match 6: Jason Wells (3-5) defeated Central Illinois Champion Billy Morgan (w/ Cherry Malone-Kev G) (4-4) by DQ after JJ Tank interfered yet again. Ahh, this match didn't really do that much for me. I'm not sure why Tank needed to interfere in two matches. CF: Real simple, Tank is Billy Morgan's bodyguard. And besides the feud with Logan and EDS, he's gonna interfere in Billy's matches. Obviously, I liked this match better than Blair did. WINNER: Jason Wells DQ -> (4-5) 9:15 mins. ***½ Match 7: Michael Shard (9-10) defeated Quinten Tyler (w/ the attractive blond Emily Darling) (1-2). The match was deliberately thrown, since Guy Smith wanted Shard to be in his gang, along with Doug Fraze and Tyler. The thrown match was by submission, not "The Fingerpoke of Doom", which is always good. After that, Shard attacked Smith. Once Shard left, Smith and Fraze turned on Tyler for no real reason! CF: Darn right about that one. This "throwing of the match" was in exchange for Shard joining up with the Smith/Fraze/NWQ army, but Shard turned on Smith, then Smith and Fraze decided to turn on NWQ for no apparent reason. Doesn't ANYONE want to be tag champs around here??? Bye bye "Dangerous New World" we hardly knew ye. I still to this day don't understand why "Dangerous New World" split up. Shard finally gets to the .500 mark. Unfortunately this is the last time we ever see Emily as she WINNER: Michael Shard submission -> (10-10) 18 sec. DUD Match 8: Doug Fraze (2-3) defeated Scotty Cash (5-6) in what was supposed to be a Taser on a Pole match. The tazer never actually ended up on the pole, though, as Fraze claimed he didn't have it. Instead, the match was a hardcore battle. Personally, I thought this match was bad. The opening few minutes, the guys were acting like they didn't know what to do next. After that, there was a spot where Cash ended up bealed over the barrier into the chairs, which were luckily vacated then. But, right by where Cash landed were a few baby carriages that were occupied! In hindsight, a really stupid move that could've caused a lot of problems for everyone involved. Later on, Fraze delivered a chairshot that was Lance Storm-level weak, which the crowd obviously didn't like. Fraze ended up winning the match after he got the taser from under the ring and used it. CF: Well I was sitting right by where Cash was thrown. Made me mad. Doug should had warned us he was gonna do that. I pretty much guarded the baby carriages the rest of the evening in case it happened again. I seemed to like this match a lot better than Blair did. The man I thought was gonna make a run-in during this match didn't show. This by the way, was Cash's seventh straight NMW singles loss. WINNER: Danger Doug Fraze pin -> (3-3) 13:35 mins. ***½ Match 9: Real World Jeremy (7-3-1) defeated Sage Ramsey (5-4) and Guy Smith (13-6) to retain the NMW Championship. This was the best match of the show, so at least it ended on a high note. There was a hot finish before Jeremy got the win. After the match, Marjorie Watson came back out, but she was literally carried out of the building, but not before Rip Mystic, a guy who was banned by Watson, returned and decked her. CF: Whoa, another four star match this night! WINNER: Real World Jeremy pin -> (8-3-1) 13:35 mins. ****½ Overall, I was entertained by the show. Sure, the wrestling was far from ROH quality, but at least there were other things that made it fun. The most important thing, IMO, is that they have a very loyal crowd that obviously enjoys their product, and God bless them for that, because that isn't something that really happens in the Chicago-area. If you want more info on this fed, go look at www.newmidwest.com. As always, e-mail me at Blairpac{%]aol.com CF: Three matches at the four star level, plus two more at three and half. Easily, the best show of the year for 2003.