WHAT! Wrestling
Wrestling Has A Tomorrow
Debut Show (Youtube Running Time: 2hrs 49 mins)
No Current Roster At This Time
No Promotional Champions At This Time
Yeah, like UWF I'm cheating a little bit here on my definition of what current means. So far there are two shows up for this promotion, so I figured I'd give the first one a chance. The show is live with the cool logo plastered on the screen. A purple and green shaded Roman numeral “I” appears to signify it’s the first show and we’re given text of “1-14-18 Fete Music Hall Providence, RI” and a catchy club ditty. As it hits its crescendo, “The Voice of New England” Rich Palladino comes out from the entrance tamp (with “Top Shelf” Tray Nelson with him). Palladino is our ring announcer this evening. The crowd is literally swarming the ring and it’s a damn sight. Nelson is at the broadcast table. Palladino announced the referees tonight as well: Jack Hill, Tony P, and senior official Rich Bass. Nice touch. He’s here to start the night off with the first WHAT! Scramble – a Five Way Match.
Bear Bronson vs. Anthony Stone vs. Danny Miles vs. “Riot” Kellen Thomas vs. Little Guido
Everybody has pretty kickass music. Kellen Thomas came out to a remix of “Go Getter”. Hey, Nunzio is here with the Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive” remix. Commentary remained silent as the five came out. That’s refreshing, but I have no idea what kind of guy any of them are except Guido. So it’s a pro and con, fingers crossed commentary helps me out when the match starts. Palladino introduces each man and where they’re from for the audience. Guido is even called an ECW Original here. They all square up, but before the match officially starts, Volbeat’s “Warrior’s Call” played. The Owner of XWA, Mike Antonucci, is here to say a few things. Crowd knows the guy, chanting his last name. He tells everybody that’s in the ring that their resumes are impressive, but he wanted to raise the stakes. Winner will receive an XWA Fire Brand Championship Match. Wait that’s not all…because another song is played. Some Eminem tune is heard and…Teddy Hart comes out! He wants to make the Five Way a Six Way. Also reminded Antonucci not to forget Teddy’s Cage Match (I take it that’s for XWA, not here, and that’s solid continuity but now I’m sorta confused to how much XWA is WHAT).
Now we get Nelson on commentary, and he has some fire to his voice. Said he had to fight back from talking with all the things going down. Palladino joins him to make this a 2-Man affair. The match is a gigantic brawl with the classic Toss These Guys Out So The Remaining People Inside Can Have A Match. All these guys were trained in different parts of the world, mostly Danny Miles is hyped for this as he has been touring Japan. Anthony Stone is nicknamed Hardcore Jesus and I can see why with his appearance. Got a high-flyer vibe to him. Bear Bronson legit has that hoss aesthetic yet gave the crowd a Suicide Dive (there were a lot of these on this show). Teddy Hart is the real talk of the town here though, as he took the ref’s hand and walked the ropes for a well-balanced Moonsault (never seen a ref assist anybody). Of course for those that didn’t know, Teddy Hart was the last “survivor” of the famed Hart Dungeon. Guido’s history as a WWE Cruiserweight Champion is mentioned. Underhook Canadian Destroyer by Teddy Hart and good God what a killer move. Teddy pinned Kellen Thomas right after. Fine opener with Teddy being the odds on favorite since he came to the ring. It will be Teddy Hart vs. Fire Brand Champion Ace Romero in the future.
He took the time to celebrate, helping Thomas back up to his feet, and they hug. Teddy bumped fists with the crowd and the XWA Owner. Even gave a kid in the audience a photo opportunity. Good opener.
Richard Holiday Is Here
This was shot on a cheap Go Pro, and is the low, low point of production. Just ugly looking. Holiday isn’t in the event today and is trying to withhold his anger. He’s the most marketable man in wrestling. Kellen Thomas, still in pain, walked behind him…and Holiday stopped what he was saying to attack him. “I won’t be disrespected!” he lets the interviewer know, and he is off to talk to management.
”All Ego” Ethan Page vs. Simon Grimm
Again, commentary is quiet and give the wrestlers time to show us who they are. Page is ego-centric, and his speedos let us know it’s the Era of Ego. Grimm had a cool red-eyed mask that lit up and he does have a nutty presence about him. Page is dubbed “The Hottest Free Agent” and…wait…Simon Grimm took his mask off and I can’t believe it. He’s Simon Gotch of Vaudevillain fame. Why on earth would he wear a mask that covers that exceptional 'stache? Grimm stretched his legs out on the top rope impressively. Page imitated him and fell on his ass. Commentary announced that JT Dunn and Tommy Dreamer will fight later tonight. Page was on the apron, dived between the ropes, and delivered a Cutter to Grimm and it was nice. Sambo-style suplex, otherwise known as a Book End, gets Ethan Page the win. It’s clear Ethan Page isn’t popular here, like “crowd doesn’t care” unpopular. They went quiet when they revved up his theme. He mouths the chorus to his own song. Grimm needed help getting up the ramps for his exit.
This Guy Wants to Get Violent
Go Pro is back with an unnamed man sitting down (this is when the show decides to forget giving us a text graphic, because they gave one for Holiday but nobody else backstage). Guy says the “Bayoum Badass” Dan Maff and Bulldozer will collide in a violent fight tonight. I don’t know which one he is.
My Name Isn’t Triplelicious
Triplelicious, a pimp looking bloke, was asked by Go Pro about he it feels to make his debut here. First, he is calling himself Trigga Da OG here in WHAT. Second, give him twenty seconds and he’ll show us what he has to say.
Trigga Da OG vs. Sully Banger
Trigga grabbed the mic and delivered a great heel promo. “Can we start by having everyone from ringside taking their disgusting dick beaters off my canvas, then we can get this started!” Crowd banged loudly on the apron in response. “What I would like right now is for all you basics to shut your mouths because the OG of New England got something important to say. Claims he’s from Providence State, and the fans rip him to shreds on this botch with a “Trigg Can’t Read” chant. He dubbed himself 100% native to Providence, the Face of 2018, and he’s Trigga Da OG. Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” played for Sully Banger. Banger is an aged rocker type with a mullet and winged tiger jacket. Trigga is a 20 year veteran but doesn’t look it. Banger’s ankle gets fucked, and Trigga took immediate advantage of this with a Spinning Wheel Kick for the pin. Glad they didn’t blur kayfabe too long here like they did in my Defiant review, as the crowd was still into it with only a fraction getting quiet as part of that dissension. Trigga back on the mic telling us there’s no competition. “Ina-Gadd-Da-Vida” played, and you’re damn right I marked out for the music before seeing who it was. It’s Dan Maff who looks like he decapitates kittens for fun. Trigga ran away quick, fast, and in a hurry.
”Bayoum Badass” Dan Maff vs. “Bulldozer” Matt Tremont
“Separate Ways” by Journey started for Bulldozer, and he’s the guy that did the backstage interview. The crowd is unplugged for him. A long intro gives the camera time to glide around the audience and not a single person looked bored here. Tremont does as the camera did and he goes all the way around the crowd, high fiving the world. Fantastic visual as it’s apparent that he’s a ring veteran. Has a crazy “Ha!” shout he does with fans.
An hour has passed in this program, but it doesn’t feel like it. Show hasn’t dragged and I think that’s magical since there are no commercial breaks here.
(Quick note: Judging by appearance and mannerisms, both of these men are obviously more at home with cheese graters and flaming prosthetic legs than they are in a normal match.) Dan Maff is hyped as an indy icon – ½ of Hit Squad. I’M LOSING IT…they started using technical moves like wrist locks, and I thought okay these two are gonna surprise me. Bulldozer shouted “C’mon Maff! Nobody wants to see that shit!” and now we’re getting a brawler’s fight. Commentary tells us Matt Tremont shed blood with an old running mate of Maff’s, Lowlife Louie, and that’s a hell of a coincidence due to me reviewing UWF before this. They said Tremont is the King of Deathmatch Wrestling (ha, called it) and oh shit he jumped off the top rope and was met with a Cutter. Burning Hammer (!!!) is good for the 3 and Maff won.
Shockingly these two weren’t gassed halfway through this thing and there was no blood to speak of. Surprisingly athletic bout. Maff gets a mic. “Give a round of applause for Tremont!” They do. “Goddamn, it’s good to be back here.” Him out of breath actually helps this speech. Hypes the crowd up with where they’re at. “We know what Hit Squad can do…now it’s time to see what Danny Fuckin’ Maff can do!” Out with the old, in with the new is uttered just like it was in Tremont’s backstage segment. Wrestling has a tomorrow. This was a heartfelt moment for sure.
Guy I’ll Figure Out Later Wants AR Fox
Another ??? on-screen and he wants AR Fox. This doesn’t look like the old Go Pro style (Yes!).
AR Flips Around
Captured on a cellphone here, but it kinda works with this guy. He leapt into an empty practice ring with a flip, and exited the ring via somersault. He said he heard Ace screaming about how he wanted him (I take it this is Fox and ??? was Ace Romero). “Wrestling may have a tomorrow, but you may not be so lucky.”
Still image of Ace and Fox from a previous match. They’re up next. This bit of news is happening with lightning execution, and I’m not a fan. I hope commentary gives a reason for this, like maybe it the last couple of segments were a social media splicey or whatever. I doubt it though.
”Acey Baby” Ace Romero vs. “The Highest Flyer In The Game” AR Fox w/Ayla Fox
Damn Fox and his valet are pure energy. AR flipped into the ring. “Hey!” chant from AR. “I Just Wanna Use Your Love Tonight” is Ace’s theme, and even the Foxes are reacting to it, with AR dancing to the beat. This had me in stitches and the crowd is clapping for it. (Aight minor note: there’s a huge weight difference between these two men. AR Fox has exactly what the Cruiserweight Division would kill for. He’s very fit. Ace is a walking plum. Dual chants for both combatants. Fox legit has that star quality look to him. Repeated Suicide Dives aren’t enough to knock Ace down. He goes for a third but slides over to Ayla for a kiss. Eye poke here in front of the ref isn’t called. Ace can go for a guy his size honestly, doing dropkicks left and right that would have gassed me out in a few minutes flat. Ayla got up on the apron and it helped AR for a moment. “I’m gonna kill him!” Ace shouts. Oh nice AR caught him with a Diamond Dust variant. 450 Splash…and it isn’t enough to get the W (This bout is way, WAY longer than the last ones, and I’m skimming through the big moments here). Ace HITS A FUCKING CANADIAN DESTROYER and it still wasn’t the end. Another kayfabe blur here as the referee checked AR’s shoulder. Ayla snuck in and low-blowed Ace. This was good enough for the pin. Both men did look like money by the end of this. AR favored his shoulder after the fight as refs come down to aid him.
Fox’s theme is still heard as Go Pro gets JT Dunn’s attention. He’s clutching a kendo stick. “Tommy Dreamer can’t fucking TOUCH me. Tonight I end Hardcore wrestling. Tonight I end Tommy Dreamer.” I can smell the money from here, too.
We get an emotional hype video about JT Dunn’s journey on the indy circuit. He is a New England favorite, and feels it’s his responsibility to make New England THE place for independent wrestling. It’s clear Dunn is a heel, but this added a new depth to him that you really don’t see much in mainstream wrestling. It wasn’t something that mocked anybody. No typical heel attitude anywhere here. Just Dunn legit having a reason to fight Dreamer and does have it in his mind that he’s the good guy here. He’s doing us the favor. “Tommy Dreamer…Death By Elbow.”
Fatal Four Way for the WWA4 Internet Championship: Tommy Maserati vs. Leon Ruff vs. Bobby Flaco vs. “The Street Fighter” David Ali
Ruff is this lunatic headbanger hypeman. Flaco wore two baseball caps and I loathe him for it. Maserati is what you imagine when you think vanilla midget. “Last Resort” by Papa Roach is heard throughout the arena and you can feel the teenager in your soul orgasm. “No he didn’t!” one bloke says audibly. Ali is fired the fuck up.
So I tend to leave individual fans out of these reviews. They never really serve a purpose, but sometimes they’re just so noticeable. There’s an old white guy sitting a few feet away from the entrance and he’s been nodding his head to most of the performers’ music. Dude is in another universe when Papa Roach played.
Ref held the title and allowed the wrestlers to touch it as a sign of respect. Cool little moment. Commentary states that each man in this match was trained by AR Fox, so that should give you an idea of what style they all share. It was a high-flying, flipping madness. Leon suplexed Masarati into Flaco’s pin attempt and ooouch. “What Just Happened?” chanted. Flaco got into a complicated stretch submission called the Run Him and Ali submitted!!! We have a new champion in WHAT! From another promotion. Odd, but kinda cool. The crowd gave us more of that meh attitude as they didn’t feel for Flaco just like they didn’t feel for All Ego a while ago. The clear favorites were Ali or Leon Rush.
Cashflow Killanova Give Themselves A Name On The Spot
A team debuting want to beat the piss out of Private Party, get money, and go to “The Strippy”. “If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense.” Solid catchphrase.
Cashflow Killanova (Ken Broadway & Christian Cassanova) vs. Private Party (Marquin & Isaia Cassidy)
Cashflow Killanova are hustlers tossing their fake money around and they came up with that name just before the bout. Private Party got silly string and the cure for all my problems with their “Shots!” theme. I want to party with these gents. They’re billed from “A Location Where You Need An Invitation” and they’re here at a combined weight of “4 Ounces of Red Bull and Vodka”. One animated guy in the crowd recognized Private Party from GCW so Cashflow got a one man chant of “Get The Fuck Out”. Broadway grabbed the referee while Cassanova smacked Cassidy with a chain. Commentary said that chain blended well against Cassidy’s tights and they’re not wrong. Falcon Arrow is only get for 2. Cassidy springboards from the middle rope to the outside and that was gorgeous.
So that one GCW shirt guy was clearly drunk during this match and tried getting a “Rhode Island” chant in by slapping hard against the apron. Said “Get Him!” a lot close to the final minutes. Sorta added to the fight, sorta annoyed the shit out of me. Unprettier + 450 Splash combo is good for the W as Private Party took the W. They celebrate by dancing with various people in the crowd. This team is over like Jordan’s basketball career.
Go Pro in The Gorilla Position
Here’s low quality again to get their thoughts. They can’t wait for more competition, and they’ve partied all over the world, from Spain, to Atlanta, and now to Rhode Island.
Sonya Meets Go Pro
I get what their doing with Go Pro. It’s different. Never seen it executed this way before, and quite honestly I think there’s a place for it in this production. But the quality is terrible. They need to put more money in this thing if they’re going to use it this often. Anyways Sonya is shadow boxing with headphones in. Go Pro gets her attention and she tells us that she is here to represent Wrestling Has A Tomorrow, today.
Sumie Sakai vs. Sonya Strong
Commentary lets us know this should have been Alisha Edwards (Eddie Edward’s wife) up against Sonya Strong, but she had to back out, so now it’s Sakai, another indy veteran, against a young upcomer. Sakai’s music is what you’d expect for a Japanese superstar in the indies, but I’m just glad it wasn’t “Turning Japanese” here. Sumie wanted a handshake and, for the first time as a wrestling fan, I’m witnessing the crowd chanting for that handshake. They do, Sonya turned around, and Sumie took advantage with a club to the back. Match here is some classic young vs. old thing – Sakai has been around since the millennium and Strong is hot and hungry. Strong wanted to go for the Suicide Dive (They should really all have a pow wow backstage about this move. Yeah, it’s an easy crowd pleaser, but not everybody should be doing this tonight), but Sakai kept grabbing random fans to hide. This was awesome as Sakai played dirty with that old school prowess and Strong is just a bomb ready to blow up here. Strong kicked out of Sakai’s finisher, a Fisherman Suplex. Sonya got the best of her with a Vicious DDT. Great contrast in styles here.
They shake hands again…and Sakai planted a long, wicked kiss on Strong, shoving them both down to the mat. Nice, I don’t blame Sakai here. Sonya is a goddess. “Sumie Sakai kissed me, and that’s legendary,” Strong said, heading back to the entrance.
Ring announcer Palladino said they’ll be back February 11th. Tenille Dashwood, formerly known as Emma, will also be there. Fucking sweet.
Dreamer’s time with Go Pro
Dreamer respects Dunn. Dunn has been undergoing sobriety, but Dreamer took exception to Dunn for no-showing his House of Hardcore bookings. That doesn’t fly with Dreamer, and that was disrespectful. So we got several reasons for these two to fight, which I’m a HUGE fan of and I’d love seeing this deployed more in wrestling. Wrestlers can fight over more than one thing at a time. Fighting for the sake of fighting is not how I envision future wrestling, so good on WHAT for seeing that too. Also kinda cool to see WHAT give companies like XWA, WWA4, and how HoH a stage for their feuds that benefits WHAT greatly I think. It’s not ready to have its own identity juuuust yet but it has an idea of what it is while in the meantime other promotions are flocking to it. I dig that.
JT Dunn With the Promo of the Night
JT Dunn said if Tommy thought he was disrespectful before, he’ll want to stop the video now. So the video legit pauses itself before playing again. House of Hardcore sucked and it reminded JT of ECW and that makes him sick. He’s mad that this was his hometown and the first person WHAT announced for the show was Tommy Dreamer. He said Tommy killed ECW twice and now he wants to kill what’s JT’s. F*** Dreamer, F*** Sabu, F*** Sandman, F*** Raven, F*** Rob Van Dam, F*** Nunzio, F*** Super Cra- and it’s cut back to the ring, leaving Dunn on a tirade of shitting on ECW off-camera that was FANTASTIC. Took me a minute to realize part of Dunn’s gimmick is that censor so when I type asterisks instead of saying fuck, that’s because those words were bleeped out while everyone else saying fuck backstage goes unfiltered.
Main Event: Tommy Dreamer vs. JT Dunn
Tommy came out to the song we all know him by, “Man In The Box” by Alice In Chains. So..."Enter Sandman" played right after and everybody in the arena did a double take. Get this: JT Dunn parodied Sandman’s entrance from One Night Stand. He walked around the upper deck with a kendo stick in hand and a EC F’N W shirt on, but the letters were crossed out. Strummed the kendo stick like a guitar. Back of shirt says “F*CK ECW”. He’s also the XWA Heavyweight Champion and has the title around his waist. He got on the mic. “Shut the fuck up! Don’t get it twisted – that fucking song sucks! ECW fucking dies tonight in the Fete Music Hall motherfucker!” Stellar.
Tommy asked for his own mic mid-match. JT was on the outside, and the ref was going for the 10 count. He asked the referee to stop counting JT (Can…can wrestlers do that?). Said wrestling, just like comedy, the great ones don’t need to curse. Besides, children are here. He told the ref that JT pulled his hair, and it’s for things like that that he has a bald spot. Glad they’re in a bar, because without bars there would have been no ECW. Gives them the nostalgia talk. Spike Dudley is in the upper deck. “They never chant WCW because that shit sucked (damn shots fired)!” He cuts to the chase and requested that they go old school tonight. Oh yeah. Made the match a Hardcore. Falls Down (lol) Anywhere Match. Crowd ate it up and give him the “YES!” chant. “This ain’t Smackdown, but it’s Daniel Bryan Rules…Extreme Rules Bay-bay.”
XWA members dressed as fans shove JT back inside the ring. Dreamer spat water in Dunn’s face. Took him for a walk…and let a kid slap JT on the chest, the whole place went nuts. Kid’s name is Chris and his father was The Wolverine, dammit (no shit? This is Mike Sanders’s boy? Get out). Tommy goes to the back…and he has a chain in one hand and a chair in the other. Set chair on JT’s abdomen and whipped him with the chain. Fairly safe spots visually. JT is back up, grabbed the Kendo stick, and whops Dreamer in the legs, shoulder, back, etc. Tommy snatched the stick and gave Dunn a White Russian Leg Sweep a la Sandman. Hit JT a few times, winded up for a strong smack, JT dodged, and the referee is knocked down. JT gave Dreamer a Cutter (I’m making a list of most used moves and this is on it). Tommy low-blowed JT, and DDT’d him into the chair. Not enough for the new referee to count the three when he was pinned. Dreamer goes out to the crowd and gets…a table that had cloth over it…oldest table I’ve seen in a wrestling match. Dreamer propped it up against a corner post but Ethan Page interfered, low-blowing Dreamer. “The Biggest Elbow in The Smallest State”, a running Elbow Smash, puts Dreamer away for JT Dunn to pick up the victory. The table was left unused. MEGA HEAT as JT rested his back against the table, clutching his kendo stick. See, this is how to get a crowd to hate the villain. Every other heel that won the crowd couldn’t care less. Meh reactions galore. But Dunn winning was an interesting turn. That’s the sweet spot – get the fans to care about the villain but not to the levels of liking the villain. JT got up, high-fived Ethan, and together they stomped the holy hell out of Dreamer. Fans chant for Spike Dudley, whose been offscreen this entire time, but commentary reminded viewers that he’s retired.
But Bulldozer came in and knocked them both out of the ring. Tommy’s music played. Tommy got back on the mic and told production not to play his music because he didn’t earn that right. He lost, and that’s how it is sometimes. He’s doing Cena better than Cena here, with a natural gracious loser thing going for him. He said he’d fought 9 times this January already, and needs to recuperate…but he’s not booked February 11th. He wanted JT Dunn again, and asked him to find a partner (umm…
and Tommy will find a partner (…like… I wonder who…
. He does clear up this obviously silly speech by stating that he will be back February with a partner voted on from his website. Phew that makes things a bit easier to digest.
JT’s Jaw is Broken
Backstage JT is selling a broken jaw and Ethan is there with the Go Pro man to claim it’s called Wrestling Has A Tomorrow because of guys like JT and himself, not Tommy Dreamer.
Commentary is on-screen to thank us for checking them out. That’s rather nice of them.
Venue: Fete Music Hall had a few iron chandelier-looking things around the ring and a beam that was used in a few matches. From the static cam, there didn’t look like there was any standing room, with the crowd swallowing up the outside of the ring, but other cameras cut to the stage, which had several rows of steel chairs, and other parts of the arena there were seats. The steel frame makes another appearance here.
Crowd: Well, they were definitely their own entity on this show. Probably the best range of people I’ve seen on an indy show yet, with children, seniors, and twenty-somethings all invested in this show. Didn’t feel a moment of boredom from these guys, and yeah one or two got annoying close to the end but they were harmless. It was a three hour show, so I think that sort of thing was to be expected. When the crowd were heated, they were straight fire.
Characters: So many people with so many styles and mannerisms, but a few I will remember as they were definitely stars. AR Fox, Private Party, JT Dunn, Trigga, Grimm, and even Sonya Strong had some prescence to her. Ethan Page and Leon Ruff have massive potential, but they didn’t shine like Fox and Dunn did. Even the vets had their moments here, with Sumie Sakai and Dan Maff being that exceptional old guard. Tommy hasn’t lost his touch, but he just seemed to drone on a little for me. There was a bit of everything for everybody here and I can’t do a 3 hour show justice.
Wrestling: A chore at times, honestly. Not because it was shit – this was probably the best display of athleticism I’ve seen on the independent scene yet. Even behemoths like Ace Romero surprised me here. It’s not that the wrestling was bad, but there were so many moves repeated through the night and that does bug me. I keep a Flippy Counter to see how true the stereotype of that is, but I should have kept tally of all the times I saw a Suicide Dive, Cutter, 450 Splash, and even the Canadian Destroyer was deployed more than once. It’s a three hour show and if I notice these moves done over and over again, there’s a problem. Shame too because this was good wrestling, but they need to mix their maneuvers up a bit more.
Production: Solid commentary, phenomenal choice in music, lighting was a problem not because it did a bad job hiding empty space, but because it did a good job hiding how many were in attendance. Ringside camera work was good, if not a little shaky. Go Pro needs to die a horrible death or upgrade, because Jesus that got on my nerves. No pyrotechnics but in this venue there was no room for it.
Flippy Counter: 28
They kept segments super short and matches fairly long. If you’re interested in the fight more than what is going on anywhere else, then WHAT does seem to veer in that direction. Obviously this show is in its infancy, so it’s probably a good idea to have partnerships with XWA, WWA4, HoH, etc to help it along. All in all, I enjoyed this product. The lead-up to the Main Event was a terrific example of what I’d want from a narrative and I want to see where each character goes from here. It’s a show that is building its own personality from the ground up and I dig that. Only time can tell with something like WHAT, but the debut was fun so I hope it keeps that up.
Up Next:
NWA - Tim Storm vs. Jocephus (Special Feud Review)
