Thanks to Will "The Thrill" Sentowski for sending this report in!

XWF House Show
Sunday, December 30, 2001
Brown County Arena Green Bay, WI (across the street from Lambeau Field...Go Pack Go!)

If you've seen the XWF infomercial...the house show looks NOTHING like it. No ramp, no banners, no JumboTrons, no pyro, no lighting truss. They just used the NAWF ring from Chicago, and threw an XWF ring apron on. And around that ring: 2 tiny blue protective mats, 1 on each side. Each was maybe 1/2 the length of the ring.

The "aisle" was an alley with curtain walls, and a curving set of chain-link, leading to regular guardrails surrounding the ring. Yeesh.

Anyway, on to the show...which hardly differed from the Milwaukee card the night before, except no Rena Mero.

I won't even bother transcribing Potzie, the DJ from 107.5 FM.

XWF commish ROWDY RODDY PIPER hits the ring to his old WCW music. Some of the shots he took at WWF include:

"Not one of you kissed a promoter's bum to get in here."
"OUR wrestlers actually like women."
(when a few fans start with "What?") "None of that BS here."
"Here in Green Bay, we actually drink our beer, instead of pouring it over our heads."

Again, Piper threatens to tell a Hart story, and that brings out JIMMY HART with his latest protege, HAIL (who looks a lot like Bill Goldberg.) Piper books a match for the strapping young lad, and it's on right away:


HAIL vs. GREG "THE HAMMER" VALENTINE
(referee: Mickey J)

Valentine is REALLY showing his age and weight...very flabby and leathery. Hail, surprisingly, did all the stalling. Hart had him mock Hogan, doing the big boot, legdrop, earcup to all 4 sides, and legdrop again...but he missed the 2nd time. Valentine locks on the figure-4, Hart rakes his eyes, Valentine goes for Hart, Hart swings megaphone, hits Wall by accident, and The Hammer pins him. Who's carrying who here? A dead opener.


DREZDEN vs. BIG VITO

Vito also kept his old "Mamaluke" WCW music...and gear...and gimmick. Some decent old-school stuff here between the ring and guardrails, I guess. Drezden catches Vito's flying crossbody off the turnbuckle attempt, and hits front fallaway slam for pin. Nothing to write home about.


JOSH MATTHEWS (from MTV's Tough Enough) vs. KID KASH
(female referee)

Now THIS ruled. Good, long matwork sequence to start. Josh's selling is pretty darn good...but neither man could decide who the heel was. Nice little spotfest where Josh baseball slides Kash outside the ring, and Josh hits a flying front somersault over the top rope onto the blue mats...only to have Kash repeat the whole sequence on him moments later. Kash broke out a couple of nice submission holds: surfboard, devil lock (as seen by ACW's Sam Hayne). Kash eventually wins with double arm underhook powerbomb...but he raises Josh's hand aferwards. Easily the match of the night, from a couple of good young kids.


"THE BRITISH STORM" IAN HENDERSON vs. NORMAN SMILEY

Yes, Virginia, Norman Smiley still wears low-cut shoes to the ring, and he still does the "bouncing pecs" gimmick. (Crowd started chanting "USA"...but they're both British, and one lives in Mexico City...ow, my head...) Anyway, after a swinging scoop slam, Norman does the wiggle and gets the female ref to spank him. Uh...yeah...and he gets hit with a falcon arrow (I think) for it. Henderson gets Smiley to submit with some sort of leg scissors headlock.

Penzer pimps Polaroids with XGI Girls (too much eye shadow there, Gorgeous George), and we're at intermission.


THE WALL vs. HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN

Duggan comes out to his same ol' march, and stalls to start with broken board comedy, and "USA" chants. Hacksaw pins Wall with 3-point stance, but Wall beats down Duggan and female ref afterwards. Duggan recovers, and Wall bails. Wall looks to be in great shape, but the match was a snoozer.


TRIPLE JEOPARDY: BUFF BAGWELL vs. "THE ORIGINAL" CURT HENNING vs. VAMPIRO

XWF "Triple Jeopardy" rules mean 2 men start, 1 man on apron, can tag himself in or be tagged in at any time. It's supposed to be only 2 men in the ring at once, but you know how rules go in wrestling.

A LOT of stalling and mic work (nobody since Hart really had used the mic yet at this point) at the start here, with Bagwell and Henning competing for who's-the-bigger-superstar, until Vampiro announces the biggest one is...Mickey J. Huh? Onto the wrestling...Buff and Vampiro take it into the crowd, and Vampiro jumps off the first-level railing (about 10 feet) onto Bagwell...spot of the night. Typical old-school ending: heels can't work together, Henning swings for Buff and hits Mickey J, Henning goes for the knux, Buff swipes 'em and KO's Vampiro for the pin. Vampiro recovers, clears the ring of heels, and thanks fans for supporting XWF's first tour.

So far, a LOT like Milwaukee's card, eh?


Main Event: NASTY BOYS vs. ROAD WARRIORS

Penzer called this one "a grudge tag match 10 years in the making." Huh? Knobbs gets the award for cheapest heat of the night, calling fans "jackasses." (That's as dirty as it gets in the XWF, folks.) Good to see Jerry Sags bumping quite a bit in this match...even smacked Animal with the ringside bell table. Hawk, on the other hand, didn't even get tagged in until the end. Funny chant from crowd to Knobbs: "Cut Your Mullet!" (Too bad half the crowd had 'em.) Textbook send-'em-home-happy ending: Knobbs tosses Mickey J., Sags gets a chair while Knobbs holds Animal, Piper comes down, takes chair and nails Sags with it, Hawk clotheslines Knobbs off top, 1-2-3, Piper and Road Warriors celebrate, end of show.

Then Piper repeats the "we drink our beer here" line, and chugs one in the ring. Good night, everybody! (That's family-friendly?)

Overall...thumbs down. Many of the old retreads just aren't worth watching these days, and the music's TOTALLY cheesy. Some good workers (Vampiro, Matthews, Kash), and with the right feuds, this could go somewhere. But so far, nothing huge. Maybe getting TV would help.

My attendance guess would be around 2,000...in an arena that can hold about 7,000 for wrestling. Lotta empty seats.

Hey, if you folks reading this are ever in eastern Wisconsin, come check out the federation that I'm TV technical director for: All-Star Championship Wrestling. We're on the web at http://www.acwprowrestling.com


Will "The Thrill" Sentowski
Technical Director, All-Star Championship Wrestling TV