Wrestling Weekly Presents: "No Second Chances" DVD Review from Top Rope Reviews (2007)
by Jay Santos, February 2007
Got a chance to watch this show which was presented as a Wresting Weekly show but basically used Frontier Elite Wrestling guys from Indianapolis. The show took place in October 2006 (It's subtlety included in the art on the DVD cover) in Vincennes, Indiana. Our "heroes" - the Wrestling Weekly hosts - were there, with Doc Young doing the ring announcing and Les Thatcher in attendance.
The show begins with the heel commissioner of FEW, Rob Kincaid, coming out and insulting the crowd in a pedestrian rant, calling the people of Vincennes “trash.” It’s a cliched and weak promo that’s been done a million times before, but rarely this poorly. This leads into the first match. Here is a match by match rundown of the event.
Four Way Match: Rob Kincaid vs. “Safari” Stu Early vs. Darc Angel vs. Chapel
This is a jumbled, sloppy, unfocused mess. All four men in the ring at once seem to be performing random moves for no good reasons with a complete lack of pacing or storytelling and no engagement from the crowd. Safari has a couple of high spots including a frog splash that are impressive but mean nothing without any context. Chapel pins Darc Angel after a standing jump onto his torso from the top rope. This match was 15 minutes too long. 1/5
Big Sweaty Mike vs. Smoke-A
The wrestlers are comically mismatched, with the scrawny Smoke-A battling the brawny Big Sweaty Mike. At the start of the match, Smoke-A yells, “he’s not in my weight class!” The match has decent flow and pacing and some thrills as both men sacrifice their bodies with acrobatic high spots. Smoke-A pulls a foreign object from his boot while the ref is distracted and knocks out BSM for the pinfall. An entertaining match that doesn’t overstay its welcome. 3/5
Arm Wrestling Challenge: Coach Randy Hawkins vs. Robert “Ego” Anthony
A high school football coach arm wrestles a former student. Sound exciting? Unless you’re them, it’s not. Boy Toy Bryan distracts the ref and pushes Anthony’s arm down and the coach is declared the winner. Anthony challenges Bryan to a match. Anthony’s trash talking is mildly amusing, otherwise this is not interesting or exciting in the least. 1/5
Robert “Ego” Anthony vs. Boy Toy Bryan
The first match that looks close to real pro wrestling. Both wrestlers have good fundamentals with crisp moves pulled off convincingly (for the most part). Anthony has good ring psychology and is constantly jawing to his opponent and the ref. There’s a sense of power behind his moves. The crowd seems into it. Anthony catches Bryan with a roll-up off the ropes and holds his tights for the pinfall. The best match so far. Shortly after filming this, WWE signed Anthony to a contract and he's in developmental right now. 4/5
After the match, Romeo Roselli comes to the ring and distracts Doc and then shoves him to the mat (I was expecting Les to jump in and come to his rescue, and start this whole big angle, but unfortunately and oddly, he played no part in the show except being acknowledged as being in the audience.).
Roselli cuts a heel promo and forms “The New Heart Throbs” with Skip Raddison. Gunner Hansen comes out and challenges the duo. Roselli blindsides Hansen and and attacks him with Raddison joining in. Ro-Z runs in and clears the ring. He challenges Roselli and Raddison to a tag team match against Ro-Z and Hansen (which happens to be the main event).
Josh Abercrombie vs. C.J. Otis
The most professional looking match yet. You might now recognize Abercrombie as Josh "Jug" Raymond from Wrestling Society X, but this was filmed before that show hit MTV. Both wrestlers demonstrate technical mat wrestling skills and deftly transition between holds. There is a credibility of wrestling technique here that was missing from earlier matches. At some points the wrestlers acknowledge the crowd too much and stop wrestling, which interrupts the flow of the match. Both wrestlers sell injuries from moves well which adds to the realism. They both appear exhausted by the end of the match. Abercrombie wins via pinfall after a double knee backbreaker off the turnbuckle. The pacing and flow started off well, but the wrestlers lost the flow and the crowd somewhere during mid-match, making for an anticlimactic finish. 3/5
Chapel vs. Chris Kage (for FEW King of Xtreme title)
This match is a step down in terms of the skill level of the wrestlers. They are technically sloppy and lack crispness. Compared to Abercrombie and Otis they look amateur. There is no sense of urgency to the match, and as a result the pace drags. Chapel performs a flip piledriver to score the pinfall and the FEW King of Xtreme title (whatever that’s worth). 2/5
Romeo Roselli & Skip Raddison vs Ro-Z & Gunner Hansen
Skip Raddison comes out and taunts and insults the crowd, calling them fat and poor (I’m not sure if he’s looked in the mirror recently).
This is a poorly paced match without much flow that is more comical than exciting. The fact that two of the wrestlers are quite overweight and out of shape (Skip Raddison and Ro-Z) doesn’t help. The lack of athleticism and sloppy execution make it difficult to take seriously.
On the plus side, Ro-Z sells the power moves well and has good crowd interaction. After Roselli accidentally hits his own man and knocks him out of the ring, Hansen hits him with a modified neck breaker and Ro-Z finishes him off with a splash off the ropes, resulting in a pinfall with Ro-Z and Gunner victorious. For a main event this was very weak. 2/5
Overall the DVD is a mixed bag of mostly mediocre to poor wrestling mixed in with a couple of decent matches that approximate real pro wrestling. The highlight matches are Abercrombie vs. Otis and Anthony vs. Bryan. The rest ranges from mediocre to very bad. Frankly, if the future shows will be like this, we don't want a second chance.