Tape Reviews
PCN Review: NWA Wildside Freedom Fight 2003
By The Paradise City Ninjas
Oct 5, 2003, 23:09

Tom: I don't have too much to say other than, I did match backgrounds, and Jay did the PBP, with all of us plugging in thoughts.

Patrick: I know I suck at intros, so I'm gonna keep this brief. Hello, I'm Patrick McGovern and you may remember me from such websites as Wrestling Viewpoint!, Ichiban Puroresu and as the alleged "dumb prick" from the Death Valley Driver Video Review MB. You can find my newer reviews at thecubsfan.com in the coming weeks, although I will still be posting at Ichiban (blatant shill). You can address all mail to [email protected] whether you think I suck, I'm offensive or I'm entertaining, I'd like to hear about it. Of course, I'd like to thank my fellow Paradise City Ninjas for letting me intrude on this review, and thank Dames for letting me write here at TSM. Enough about me, though; you good people didn't come to hear about me.

Jay: Of the three people reviewing this tape, I was the least familiar with NWA Wildside, having only seen two full events (Fright Night 2001 and Freedom Fight 2002) and a handful of TV episodes prior to purchasing this tape. Did Freedom Fight 2003 make me want to come back for more? Well, read on my friend....

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The tape starts with an energetic opening from Dan Wilson, putting over the high-stakes War Games main event later on.

Jeff Lewis, Jason Blackman, Slim J and Jacey North vs. Masada, Murder One, Shadow Jackson and Todd Sexton

Match Background: It started at Hardcore Hell 2003: Night One, where Jeff Lewis, up-and-coming rookie in Wildside, got a shot to face established veteran Murder One, who just took the match so he'd have something to do on the show. Lewis brought the fight, and almost beat Murder One. Afterwards, M-1 made it his and his Dark City Soldiers' obsession to take out Jeff Lewis, and his rookie friend/partner Jason Blackman. This included a tag match with Jeff Lewis and Jason Blackman taking on Shadow Jackson and M-1, where, after Lewis went into disguise as M-1's masked bodyguard Posse, he got burnt in the eye with a blunt by Murder One. Then, a month later, Lewis chose Todd Sexton as his partner to battle Shadow and Murder One. But, Todd didn't come out, despite being seen around earlier. Late in the match, Posse interferes....revealing himself as Todd Sexton. It was either after this match or at the next taping where it led into a schmozz with everyone involved in this match brawling. Slim J got tied in since, according to Dan Wilson's commentary, he's got some unsettled street issues with M-1 and the D.C. Soldiers. Masada just sort of joined the Soldiers, and North's involvement in this leading up to Freedom Fight escapes my mind at this moment.

Action: Sexton starts off by working a deep headlock on Jacey North, transitioned into a wristlock. Boot by Sexton caught by North, but Sexton kicks the arm off an irish wip. Another whip, Sexton and North both roll through on a hiptoss attempt, but North grabs a seated abdominal stretch. Jackson shoves North off. Tag to Shadow Jackson, but North stops his charge with a quick armdrag, and tags in to Slim J. Drop toehold by North, and J connects with a basement dropkick to the head. Slim pounds away with forearms to the much larger Jackson�s back, and hits his PRETTY FLY FOR A WHITE GUY (that�s what I call it, not Slim, I imagine Slim�s name is not that lame. Hey, that rhymed, maybe I can rap y�all ) step-up roundhouse kick. That gets two, and he tags in Jeff Lewis. Lewis with a SWEET high elevation dropkick to Jackson, followed up with a quick neafall. Another quick tag, this time to Jason Blackman. Someersault shoulderblock by Blackman, into a snapmare takeover, and he follows through with a spinal tap. Jackson kicks him low to turn the tide, and he makes the tag to Masada. High knee to the gut, couple of kicks to the head, and the tag is made to Murder One. Blazing Lariat by M1, and he brings Sexton in, who hits some textbook legdrops and kneedrops. Tag to Jacey North following a flying clothesline by Blackman, and North gets the Moss Covered Three Handled Family Gredunza (the fact that I know the exact name of that move is pretty sad) broken up by Masada. North dumps Masada, and gets the TOPE PENISIDA on the floor! Slim J is in, but gets dropped with a press slam into a Michinoku Driver (called the Violator 2.0 I think) by M1 for two. Sexton takes over on Slim, but J makes a tag following a leapfrog to North. Blackman and North get a double clothesline on Sexton. North�s powerbomb attempt is stopped by Jackson off a blind tag, and Jackson gets a double-underhook kneebuster into a DDT to eliminate North.

Jackson immediately goes to town on Blackman, and tags in Murder One. Vicious axehandle to Blackman, and Lewis breaks up the pinfall. Tag to Masada, who injures Blackman�s excretory system with a kick to the kidneys. Angry Man Slam by Masada, and he tags Jackson back in. Blackman gets a hope spot with a desperation dropkick, and springs to the top with a rolling clothesline for two. Big clothesline by Blackman, followed up by a two count, but he can�t put him away. An Asai moonsault gets the job done, and Jackson is out.

Sexton comes in, but eats a powerful powerslam from Blackman, and here comes Jeff Lewish. He unloads with forearms, and a BAAACK body drop. (Come on, who else marked for announcer Vince? Liar.) Elbowdrop gets a nearfall for Lewis, but Sexton regains the advantage and tags Masada. Double back elbow by the heels, irish whip, and a more powerful powerslam by Masada. Murder One comes in, and gets a spinebuster, and he chokes out and pounds away on Lewis. Sexton is back in, and he does the FUNK SPINNING TOEHOLD? Does that even hurt? Lewis escapes, and Blackman is LA CASA DI FUOCO~! THE FISTESES ARE A FLYIN�. Low blow derails Blackman, and the Masadamizer (DVD) ends Blackman�s night.

Slim comes charging in with a spinning headscissors, and an EVEN FLY-ER step up enziguiri to Masada. Roundhouse kick, Slim heads up to the top- TUMBLEWEED! NO! CAUGHT! HURRICANRANA! HE HANGS ON FOR THREE!

Murder One flies in and DECAPITATES Slim with the Blazing Lariat (complete with Marty Jannetty sell) and he tags in Sexton. Sexton grabs Slim for a delayed vertical suplex, but Slim comes back with a lightning fast display of kicks to stagger him. Slim tries the rana again, caught, deposited on the ropes- GAME BREAKER (Spike DDT off the ropes) kills Slim dead.

That leaves Jeff Lewis against Murder One and Todd Sexton. The crowds is hyped to see M1 vs. Lewis, but Lewis gets Sexton instead. Back elbow by Sexton, and he keeps up the aggression with a nice spin heel kick. Now M1 wants in, and he covers for two. Back to Sexton, who drops Lewis with a release sitout powerbomb. HBK superkick coming, NO! BLOCKED! QUICK ROLLUP FOR THREE! Now that�s extremely smart booking, because such a quick pin doesn�t give the partner the opportunity to make the save, thus making the face�s fight against the handicap that much more believable.

Now we�re into the match the crowd wants. Back body drop by Lewis, he grabs a double-underhook, reversed into an inverted DDT. Lewis reverses into a Last Rites! Two count, they get up, another whip, and another backdrop. Shadow Jackson on the apron, as Lewis gets the Lewis Driver (modified Pedigree). Sexton breaks up the cover and DRILLS Lewis with a STIFF~! Superkick for�two. The faces return to clear out the Dark City contingent from the ring, and THERE�S THE LEWIS DRIVER AGAIN! JEFF LEWIS IS THE SOLE SURVIVOR! (18:52)

Thoughts

Tom: For some reason, though Jeff Lewis was the guy with the most to win or lose from this, by storyline means, Slim J was announced as the captain. I could possibly understand, since Slim's the highest on the card of the four. Jacey continues to be pushed as a badass ex-Marine by the same guys that, eight months ago, was being mocked for being a comedic wimp. As for the match, I really dug how they went against the usual story-telling mold, of having one main babyface being in peril for the body of the match. Slim J and Jason Blackman both got spots of being in peril, but not for any long periods of time. There were a few awkward spots, but nothing too bad. The funniest spot of the match had to be Jacey North's TOPE PENISIDA~! (tope suicida), with Slim J grabbing his groin to illustrate exactly what part of the body the move's named after, as he held the middle rope down so Jacey could launch himself outside. Slim J also nailed a really cool corkscrew dragonrana. I believe he's added it to his regular offense. The final sequence with Lewis and Murder One blowing off their feud as the other six brawled outside was a really hot finish. Unfortunately, Wildside didn't really follow up on Lewis finally getting his big win over Murder One, but this was still quite the hot finish nonetheless. This was a pretty fun match, with a really good finish, that went against the traditional grain of tag team storytelling.

Patrick: This match had a surprising amount on its shoulders- it had to fire up the crowd for what is known to be Wildside's best yearly event, and it had to blow off the One/Lewis feud in satisfying fashion while keeping the Dark City soldiers (referred to here as the "Suicide Kings", a much cooler name in my opinion as I'm a mark for Christopher Walken) strong. It accomplished all these things and also showed off how good even the bit players in the undercard (like Blackman and Jacey) are. This definitely wasn't a flawless match; there was some definite awkwardness early on, Jacey went out too early for my liking, and the elimination where Blackman landed a quebrada on Jackson appeared to have a blown three count, but those problems aren't nearly enough to bring this down.

J and Blackman, as Tom noted, carry much of the "face in peril" portions of this match on their back, and both of their heat segments go on long enough to be effective without getting tiresome. J in particular is impressive here- last year, it was Freedom Fight that gave him his breakout performance versus Jeremy V, and this year he shows that he's grown into quite the good worker as a face. I still prefer him as a heel, but he's getting better at being able to be both an asshole and a babyface at the same time. Like I mentioned above, Jacey prolly went out a few minutes too early, as he's done a nice job moving from "goofy chickenshit heel" to "tough underdog face", and his offense here is suitably explosive- lots of quick basic stuff, Fisherman's neckbreaker, cross-arm Iconoclasm. Lewis doesn't do much until the last five minutes, but he's tremendous there, showing a lot of fire and bringing the hate when he finally gets Murder One alone.

As far as the heels go, everyone turns in a solid performance, although only Sexton really stands out for pure work. One is great in his role, which often doesn't lend itself to good matches (for proof of that, look no further than his endless, heatless feud with Onyx) but here, with three other guys to carry the meat of the match, he's able to heel it up as much as possible while not detracting from the match. I think that One and Shadow have a lot of potential as a tag team (and god knows that Wildside needs all the tag team help it can get), since Shadow is quite the underrated good worker and you only really need one good worker for a decent tag team.

I may seem overly effusive with my praise for this match, but you have to realize that it looked like a total throwaway going into the show and when I actually watched it, I was really impressed with the work, the heat, everything. Most of these guys get little to no credit for their hard work- especially Jacey and Sexton, who I see almost NO hype for although Todd has been turning out decent-to-great performances since late '01. Here, they prove why they SHOULD get that credit, taking what was intended as undercard filler on a one-match show and making it into a highly entertaining match.

Jay: Freedom Fight 2003 starts off with a bang, with a hot and extremely well-booked eight man opener. Great attention to detail, as moves that worked the first time were scouted on their second attempts. This match did a fantastic job of getting the Lewis/Murder One storyline over, as evident by the crowd�s enthusiasm for it towards the end. By having Lewis overcome two-on-one odds, as well as the interference from Dark City, it put him over as a big player to watch (aka what WWE WANTED to do with Rocky Maivia at Survivor Series �96.) For a rookie, Jeff Lewis shows a lot of confidence and poise in the ring, and the mental attitude is 9/10ths of becoming a great wrestler. Big things are in his future. Another guy I haven�t seen much who impressed me is Todd Sexton. He�s so crisp, athletic and smooth in the ring, and he carries himself in such a way that you think �this guy has got �it.�� Simply put, great match.

Ratings:
Tom: 81
Patrick: 85
Jay: ****

Tom: For some odd reason, there was a backstage segment with Tony Stradlin, Todd Sexton, and Masada here that got taken out on the home video release of the show.

Fast Eddie vs. Don Juan vs. Rudy Boy Gonzalez vs. Tony Stradlin

Match Background: Stradlin was trained at Rudy Boy's TWA school while Shawn Michaels was still teaching there, while Don Juan and Fast Eddie came from the most recent set of Rudy Boy's students to come from the school. Don Juan and Eddie had been sort of feuding up to this point, basically working each other in tags and singles matches at every television taping they had worked at.

Action: Stradlin looks a lot different than the last time I saw him (at CZW� �Ultraviolent Freedom of Expression�)- he�s completely bald, and looks like an exact clone of his former tag partner, Todd Sexton. Gonzalez and Stradlin shake hands, and Stradlin starts off with a headlock. Shoulderblock by Stradlin, and Rudy backs off. Rudy grabs a headlock of his own, Stradlin shoves him off, he gets a shoulderblock of his own. Another whip, Stradlin ducks under, Rudy rolls through. Lockup, Rudy gets a top wristlock, reversed into a hammerlock, reversed again, but Stradlin turns it into a schoolboy for a quick two. Rudy and Stradlin exchange armdrags, and Rudy jumps on top of Stradlin for two. Stradlin comes back with a bodyslam, and Rudy tags in to Don Juan. Don ducks a lockup and tags in Fast Eddie, who gets a quick amateur takedown and works a front facelock. Stradlin reverses to a hammerlock, driving the knee into the arm. Eddie gets back to his feet and reverses to a fireman�s carry takedown, but Stradlin recovers and reverses to another armlock. Irish whip, Stradlin telegraphs a backdrop, but nails a dropkick for two. Don Juan in now, grabs a waistlock, transitioned into a snapmare and a rear chinlock. Stradlin grabs a side headlock takeover of his own, with Don Juan struggling to escape. Juan finally escapes and forearms Stradlin in the chest, another whip, Juan tries for a DDT, escaped by Stradlin who nails a couple of quick clotheslines. Rudy cheapshots Stradlin as the three-against-one nature of the match becomes abundantly clear. Juan drapes Stradlin over the ropes for Eddie to hit the PRETTY FLY FOR A UH, BLIND GUY Moonsault! Cover gets two. Modified backbreaker by uh, Fast Eddie. Stiff spinal tap by Eddie gets another nearfall. Stradlin comes back with an enziguiri, as Masada and Todd Sexton make their way to the ring. Don Juan gets a flying forearm off a criss-cross, kickout by Stradlin. He follows up with a rear chinlock, Stradlin shoves off with an irish whip, and he gets an STO. Rudy Boy won�t let Stradlin rest with a flying forearm. Double underhook suplex by Rudy gets two, and Eddie comes in. Juan and Eddie try a doubleteam, but Stradlin bails. Masada and Sexton stalk Stradlin on the outside. Heel miscommunication foils their dastardly plans, Stradlin heads back in, but THE TWA GUYS SWARM HIM! EDDIE FLIES AT HIM! STRADLIN ROLLS UNDER! JUAN DOES THE SAME, STRADLIN ROLLS UNDER, THE STUDENTS FLYING TO THE OUTSIDE! IT�S MARBLE MADNESS! Clothesline, (and Jannetty sell!) to Rudy! Stradlin with a sunset flip, Rudy hangs onto the ropes, looking for help, he gets none! The ref breaks the hold on the ropes, and Stradlin gets him over for three! There�s dissension in the TWA camp postmatch, and it looks like Rudy�s going to skim their pay triple the normal amount (about 100 bucks I�ve heard) for their blundering. (11:20)

Thoughts

Tom: Let me say this before I start: give Don Juan a month in any Japanese promotion, and he'll be a demi-god just for his ridiculous, yet funny cabbage patch booty dance. Oh, and another thing: despite what his tights might say, Rudy Boy Gonzalez is NOT Batman. Anyway, onto the match. Not insulting Don Juan or Fast Eddie, but Tony Stradlin's work just seemed worlds ahead of theirs. All of his sequences seemed super-smooth. The story of the match is Tony working as face-in-peril against the other three. He's actually a heck of a face, but still not as good as he was as the quarmy, chickenshit heel before he left. It was sort of odd hearing Tony Stradlin, who left the company in December 2002 as one of the most despicable heels on the roster, be put over big as a nice guy and a face by Steven Prazak and Dan Wilson. Todd Sexton and Masada come down to the ring during the match. This was set up in a backstage segment filmed with Stradlin, Sexton, and Masada that was, for one reason or another, kept off the tape. Near the end, Tony makes his comeback against the other heels in the match, including what I thought was a funny comedy spot, with Tony rolling around in a circle, and Don Juan and Fast Eddie accidentally flying outside the ring while diving after him. The finish seemed a little goofy, since it made no sense to put a guy who might never be back over five of your company's heels. Still, I thought this was solid, albeit oddly booked.

Patrick: From a filler match that ended up exceeding expectations to a total underachiever. None of these guys are bad workers; Juan and Eddie are green but carryable, Stradlin is a fine heel and Rudy Boy, regardless of my feelings for his business practices (hint: he's a dickhead), is a good worker, especially for his age. The problem is that the story this match tells isn't exactly one I think people were dying to hear told. Stradlin works as a smiley, happy babyface, certainly not the best role for him. His work here is technically sound, going through some good early exchanges with Juan and Gonzalez, but it's just not all that exciting. A story soon develops with Juan, Eddie and Gonzalez all working as heels and beating down Stradlin and...that's the whole match, really. Masada and Todd Sexton (both TWA students before they entered the greener pastures of the Dark City) come out to make it an even more lopsided beating, yet the crowd is pretty apathetic to all. Me, I'm just wondering why I'm supposed to care about these guys, who are NEVER on Wildside TV. The spot near the end where Stradlin outruns Juan and Eddie, leading to them flying out to the floor, is pretty funny, but this is a match that goes nowhere after a decent opening couple of minutes. I think if Eddie, a natural babyface (he's small! he's legally blind!) ended up siding with Stradlin, things would've been better- but as it stands, it's a match that has three heels that no one cares about doing an extended beatdown, and little else.

Jay: Watching Tony Stradlin work made me really want to see some vintage TNT matches, as he and Rudy carried the students to a very basic, but fun match. The comedy spot at the end is one of the most inventive I�ve ever seen, and got a hearty chortle out of me. I understood the story they were trying to tell (Rudy and his charges gang up on Tony) but like the other guys say, Juan and Eddie would probably work much better as babyfaces. Nothing groundbreaking or outstanding overall, but entertaining.

Ratings:
Tom: 76
Patrick: 65
Jay: **1/2

�Kool� Seth DeLay vs. Altar Boy Luke vs. Gabriel vs. SALVATORE RINAURO~! � -Ladder Match, Wildside Jr. Heavyweight Title

Match Background: SAL~! won the Jr. Heavyweight Title at a television taping, defeating then-champion Slim J cleanly. Since then, he's cheated, scammed, glossed over, and wiggled his way out of seemingly defeat after defeat. He had been cheating Seth out of victories since before he even became champion. Sal beat Luke cleanly once, and then used his Rookie of the Year trophy (which is, sadly no longer with us since Luke broke it with his head....that poophead) to beat Luke in a later match in which he stole Luke's cape and danced around with it. Gabriel had just come into the division after Iceberg injured his partner Azrael during a handicap match which turned into a gorefest. NWA Wildside CEO Rick Michaels took notice to Sal's cheating ways, and put him in a situation he couldn't wiggle his way out of: a four-way dance against three of his top contenders at Freedom Fight. However, the taping after the match was announced, Sal got out-done at his own game, as Seth DeLay (sporting a new look VERY similar to Mark-Paul Gosselaar....credit to Sal for that one) interfered and hit Sal with a Kool Krusher to help Luke score a non-title win over Sal. CEO Michaels then came out and added a stipulation: that the four-way be a ladder match.

Action: Luke and Seth try to jump Sal at the start, but he ducks, and dashes into the ring, only to get chopped in the back by Luke. Gabriel gets Sal in an Electric Chair, Luke tries to DDT him from that position but screws it up. He dropkicks him instead, so does Seth, Sal reverses the Electric Chair to a victory roll, only to get dropkicked in the face. Rinauro gets pounded in the corner by Seth and Luke, and takes an UGLY monkey flip from Gabriel, not rolling through properly and landing on his head. Sal bails, and fights for the ladder with Gabriel, and Luke and Seth baseball slide under it. Now Gabriel and Seth fight for the ladder, but LUKE WITH A LIGHTNING QUICK ASAI MOONSAULT TO BOTH OF THEM! Sal tries to bring a ladder into the ring, but Seth and Luke hang him UPSIDE DOWN, and Gabriel takes advantage with a chairshot to the chest. They keep up the punishment with a Nagasateru legdrop to Sal on the outside. Seth and Luke mix it up in the ring, and knock each other out on a criss-cross. The ladder is set up in the ring, and Sal goes to climb, but gets SHOVED OFF TO THE FLOOR! The faces set the ladder down, and Gabriel DRIVES THE BUTT OF THE LADDER INTO RINAURO�S FACE! Luke and Seth drive the ladder into Sal again! Gabriel grabs a bodyscissors on Seth, and Luke with a SUNSET FLIP FOR A COMBO POWERBOMB/WHEELBARROW SUPLEX! Seth grabs a DDT on Gabriel, Luke grabs a neckbreaker on Seth, and Sal comes off the top with a flying elbow drop to complete the sequence. Luke whips Sal into the corner, Stinger Splash misses, Gabriel grabs a tornado DDT on Sal, kicking Luke out of the ring in the process, but Sal shoves him off. Sal shoves Seth onto the top, and they do the German Superplex trainwreck spot. Luke tries to come back in with the Halo (Asai Moonsault, from the second rope on the apron back in) but it hits knees. Rinauro with a Rude Awakening to DeLay, as Luke and Gabriel brawl on the outside. Sal charges, BUT GETS BACKDROPPED ON THE RAMP HARD. Prazak: �Sal Rinauro was 22.� 450 TO THE FLOOR ON THE OTHERS BY SETH! Gabriel brings another ladder in, but gets whipped into the guardrail by Luke. Another ladder brought in by Sal, who�s climbing, tossed off by Seth. Gabriel tries to climb, BUT LUKE GETS A FLATLINER OFF THE LADDER TO STOP HIM! All four men try to climb the two ladders, and they all gets shoved off, EXCEPT GABRRIEL WHO NAILS AN ACE CRUSHER COMING DOWN! The four combatants recover, Seth and Gabriel try to climb, AND SETH JUMPS TO THE OTHER LADDER AND HITS A HURRICANRANA! Sal and Luke are the two in the ring now, but Seth quickly recovers after some time on dream street. The three climb ladders, but Seth gets shoved off by Gabriel, Gabriel gets shoved off by Luke, and the other two lose their balance and fall off. Gabriel smashmouths a ladder into Seth DeLay, but Gabriel takes one in return from the Kool one. Sal tries a tornado DDT on Seth, blocked, Seth deposits Sal on the top, but Luke drops Seth with a powerbomb. Gabriel springs off Luke�s back for a Poetry in Motion on Sal! Luke folds the ladder and places Gabriel on top of it, he heads to the top- 450! NO! NOBODY HOME AND LUKE TAKES AN UGLY BUMP KNEE-FIRST ON THE LADDER! HOLY SHIT! Gabriel heads to the top now, Luke staggers against the ropes to crotch him. There�s a ladder on the ringpost, LUKE DIVES TO THE OUTSIDE, AND SLAMS THE LADDER INTO GABRIEL, SACRIFICING HIMSELF! Sal and Seth are in, Sal sets up a ladder and climbs- elbowdrop off the ladder misses. Meanwhile, Gabriel hits an Arabian Press on Luke on the outside. Seth tries to climb, but takes a chairshot and a dropkick to the face from Gabriel. Double-pump suplex by Gabriel on Luke. Whisper in the Wind by Luke onto DeLay. Gabriel sets up a ladder between the buckles, and another one for some weird contraption sandwiching Seth. He moonsaults off it- no water in the pool. Gabriel recovers quickly and slingshots Sal in, as Luke grabs a table under the ring. Gabriel has also grabbed a bigger ladder, as Sal gets a neckbreaker on Seth. Somehow they all end up on the top rope, and THEY BULLDOG EACH OTHER ONT OT EH LADDERS! Seth is the least damaged, he springs off the bigger ladder with the Flying Squirrel Press, but that hits canvas. Some other odd chair contraption is set up, Gabriel climbing it, BUT LUKE WITH A HIGH ELEVATION VAN DAMINATOR FROM THE TOP ROPE! Sal gets crotched, and takes a CRADLE DDT~! from Seth! He tries to climb, but gets powerbombed off. Sal tries to climb, but lands on Seth on the outside. Luke deposits Sal on the table, as Seth gets dropkicked off a ladder. Luke is climbing the ropes, as Sal puts Seth on the table instead, AND LUKE PUTS HIM THROUGH THE TABLE ON THE OUTSIDE! They�re both out of this match, leaving Gabriel and Sal. Sal tries for the Phoenix Fury Legdrop (Michinoku Driver II) but gets shoved off, Gabriel�s all alone, he�s so close�inches away� AND THE LIGHTS GO OUT! When they come back on, AZRAEL�S GOT HIM IN A FIREMAN�S CARRY! FALL FROM GRACE TO HIS TAG PARTNER OFF THE LADDER! Azrael has joined the NWA Elite to the shock of everyone, and Sal sneaks in, climbs the ladder, and retains. (24:45)

Thoughts

Tom: The first noticeable thing during the entrances is that Alter Boy Luke, for someone who had less than ten Wildside bookings up to this point, is really over. The match theme was basically everyone getting revenge on Sal for screwing them over during their respective Jr. Title matches. After a while, it was noticeable that it became mainly Seth versus Sal as the main fight. There were plenty of daredevil ladder spots, as a match like this would usually bring. Some came off really well, others were better in theory. Mainly anything that required a good deal of construction didn't work too well. Like I mentioned, Luke's fit in well in Wildside; something I originally thought he wouldn't do. But, this was technically, probably his worst showing in Wildside, as he basically played "spot boy", and had no story ties in the match outside of wanting to screw Sal out of the belt. I thought Gabriel looked really well; he took some good bumps and did some cool stuff (yeah, I'm being non-descript, I know). I didn't think this was the best avenue to continue the Sal/Seth saga heading into the blowoff title switch at the 200th Show taping, but it gave them all something to do. I thought the finish with Azrael hitting the Fall from Grace (not sure if TNA named Daniels's Iconoplasm the FFC before Wildside named Azrael's fireman's carry bomb that) from the ladder on Gabriel and joining the NWA Elite, leading to Sal sneaking in to retain the belt, came off really well. The Lost Boys had basically done everything they could have done in their two years together, and the split would make them both fresh again. Also, the finish kept established in the fans' minds that Sal could lose the belt at anytime, as he once again screwed his contenders out of the win using less-than-honest ways. Overall, it was a pretty good match, with some really suicidal, insane stuff; though I thought it could have been better with a few things tweaked. (One more thing....Sal making out with his belt after the match > Gabe Sapolsky's existance.)

Patrick: Time for a history lesson. Back in October 2001, Wildside had its first four-way ladder match, with Jason Cross, AJ Styles, Jimmy Rave and JC Dazz. It was an epic match, not just for insane spots but for top-notch storytelling, drawing you into the match not for the amount of furniture involved but for the four strong personalities: Cross' arrogant asshole, Dazz's violent bully, Styles' clean-cut fan favorite, and Rave's perennial underdog. Every angle that set up the match was paid off in spades, and for my money Styles is yet to be in a match to top that one. It stands alongside Michaels/Ramon, Benoit/Jericho and Hero/Punk as an all-time classic ladder match.

This match is not nearly as good as the Fright Night '01 match- comparing this one to that one is a bit like comparing New Order to Joy Division (dorky indy music comparisons, I know, bear with me here). The newer version is definitely worth looking at, and has its own good qualities, and even has its standout that is on par with the original (for the sake of this comparison, Rinauro is equivelent to "Blue Monday"), but in the end it just can't escape the shadow of the originator. This match doesn't do itself any favors by starting off in a similarly story-based manner, because while the story of the other three getting their revenge on Rinauro for screwing them over time and time again is a good one, it's given up on too early for furniture spots.

Standing on its own, this is a very fun spotfest, with great performances out of Rinauro and DeLay. Those two bring their ongoing feud to the forefront of the match, leading to the best parts of the match: in particular, the big climactic spot where DeLay sets up to legdrop Rinauro off the top rope to the floor through a table, but Sal sneakily switches places with himself and Luke, thus eliminating 2/3rds of his rivals, is brilliant and my favorite moment here. It all works so well because the crowd wants Sal's blood (poor, misguided fools) while DeLay is the clear favorite in the match, so it only makes sense that they would be the ones squaring off. The battles between Sal and Seth hint at what kind of incredible match this could've been had it taken a different direction.

As far as the other participants go... Gabriel is responsible for setting up many of the sicker spots, and given the complexity of these spots (like what is best described as a see-saw Ace crusher using a ladder), he does a very good job. His match-ending duel with Rinauro atop the Very Tall Ladder is suitably dramatic, as well. Only Luke underwhelms here, as he seems to abandon any sense of flow just for chances to do cool-looking dives off of stuff, and those dives sometimes don't look cool enough to warrant the contrievences. Luke is like so many of the other skinny indy flyers out there: Tons of potential, but it's never going to be lived up to if he works nothing but insane spotfests.

I'm prolly overanalyzing here. Many people watch ladder matches just for the nutty spots, the crazy falls, the ladder-assisted brutality. This has that in abundance, especially coming from DeLay (the aforementioned suicide legdrop, a Flying Squirrel off the top of a Very Tall Ladder, insane 450 splash to the floor onto the other three) and Gabriel. So, to summarize: This is a great mindless spotfest, a perfectly fine wrestling match that, thanks to DeLay and Sal, rises above the level of a stuntman show, but it doesn't quite reach the level of the greatest ladder matches. Oh, and Sal kept his belt (as he always should)- that's good for an extra point from me.

Jay: Well, when you want to do an insane ladder spotfest, you go full-tilt boogie on it, and these guys sure as hell did, firing off insane highspot after insane highspot in such rapid succession you couldn�t even finish processing the first one before the next one hit. As far as the spots go, some were spectacular, some were blown pretty badly, and some were overly contrived. Here is where Wildside�s beyond-terrible crowd audio comes into play. Unless the crowd is REALLY into something (like Lewis/Murder One and parts of the later War Games match) you can�t hear them AT ALL. You really need a crowd �ooohh�-ing and �aaah�-ing to get into a match like this, and because of the audio, it doesn�t happen. This match also proves that you just can�t throw four random cruiserweights into a ladder match and expect greatness every time, because at some points these guys looked very uncomfortable doing this type of match, Sal and Seth especially. I�m going to differ with my buddies here and say Luke and Gabriel were the stars of this match. Gabriel held this together, and proved he�s definitely not the weak link of the Lost Boyz. This was my first time seeing Luke, and the sucker can WORK, making him one of three former homegrown XPW stars, along with Messiah and Kaos (although I think you could make a case for Dynamite D) who don�t suck completely, and are in fact very skilled in the ring. Anyone who will kill himself so recklessly and with gusto gets my respect. The swerve at the end was pretty cool, since absolutely no one thought the Lost Boyz would ever break up. In summation, there are numerous flaws in this match that prevent me from giving it a great rating, but it does deliver on my primary criteria (does it entertain me?) and that�s enough for a good rating.

Ratings:
Tom: 80
Patrick: 82
Jay: ***1/4

Future Shock (Brandon P and Jay Freeze) vs. The Impact (Kaos and Scott Cage) � -Wildside Tag Team Title

Match Background: This one sort of popped out of nowhere, as, a month before Freedom Fight, the Wildside braintrust finally found out that Future Shock didn't have a program for Freedom Fight. So, the default top face team (due to split-ups, injuries, and the such) turned out to be The Impact. So, at the taping before Freedom Fight, Wildside pulled a proverbial audible, and had The Impact, who were sort of being pushed, but not as anything too special, defeat Future Shock for the Wildside Tag Team Titles. This is the automatic rematch that all former champions get after losing the belts.

Action: Kaos is not the XPW one, by the way, it�s some other guy. Future Shock jump the Impact to start, and it�s clubberin� on the floor early. Scott Cage fakes out Future Shock on a plancha, and hits an Asai Moonsault instead. Kaos with a shoulder tackle, and a neckbreaker on Jay Freeze. Double clothesline by the Impact, quickly followed up with a flapjack. Vertical suplex on Freeze, but Jay comes back with forearms and makes the tag to Brandon P. Quick armdrag to P, then an irish whip, Brandon vaults over, Cage clotheslines Freeze and gets a spinning heel kick on P. Cage comes off the ropes, Brandon P trips him up, and hammers away on him. Nice dropkick by P gets a quick nearfall. Tag to Jay Freeze, who spits on Kaos, and Future Shock take advantage with some doubleteams. ECW-era Rolling Thunder by Future Shock, and Freeze hits the chinlock. Cage fights out and gets an irish whip, but there�s no contact except air on a dropkick. Freeze slingshots Cage, Cage lands on his feet on the ropes, takes out Brandon, but Jay kicks him in the gut when Cage tries to spring off the ropes. Freeze continues to work on Cage with chops, but Cage gets a spinning sidewalk slam, and makes the hot tag to Kaos. Clotheslines for everybody! Full nelson slam by Kaos, Freeze kicks out. Kaos dropkicks Freeze into P, and rolls him up for another two count. Future Shock try for a Doomsday Device-type move, but Cage shoves Brandon off, and the Impact hit the TOTAL IMPACT~! (Powerbomb/Buff Blockbuster from a Hart Attack position) to retain! Tank and Bulldog Raines quickly hit the ring though, and beat down the champs.(8:30)

Thoughts

Tom: The reason the belts switched hands as sudden as they did is because Jay Freeze messed up a couple of discs in his back, and really needed time off to get them surgically repaired (he hurt them in March at Hardcore Hell in the ladder match, and didn't get the problem fixed until early-July, insanity). Therefore, this wasn't as good as it could have been, though I totally give Jay Freeze all the credit in the world, for having the balls to work any match in this condition. It was a by-the-numbers, non-descript tag match, but Future Shock still got to be their great heel selves. Again, Jay Freeze amazes me by working a good amount of time in this match, in his condition. Scott Cage played face-in-peril. I loved how Dan brought up how the Impact might be affected by the longer match nature of big shows, as that's the type of stuff that needs to be explained to explain why TV matches are, for the most part, a good bit shorter than most of the big shows' matches. Kaos is still noticeably green, as almost all of his offense seems inNOVAtive (like that isn't obvious who I'm mocking), and he seemed to get lost in a couple of spots. I hope he gets better, because he seems athletic enough to where he might be good someday. The Total Impact finisher that the Impact uses (Rydeen Bomb/blockbuster double-team) looked pretty cool. I thought the title switch from the television show was better, just because they got more time, and the crowd seemed more into the TV match than this one. But, the downfalls are forgiveable when you put Jay Freeze's situation into thought. What isn't forgiveable is the Team Getz/"whatever combo of Future Shock, Jeremy V., and The Impact that's available that weekend" feud that this match foreshadowed. I just really don't like the Dobbinses or Bulldog Raines (outside of the barking and stuff).

Patrick: These two teams had one hell of a match on TV in the weeks leading up to this, with killer build courtesy of backstage promos from FS and Rick Michaels, solid underdog-versus-favorites storytelling, and exciting nearfalls with a legitimately surprising finish. This match is quite less than that one, but at least there's a good reason for that. Freeze, who I'd like to add has improved tons over the course of the past year and half, was working with a completely WRECKED back. He gets all the credit in the world for going out there when he was pretty much in no condition to do so, and his work here is good enough that if you didn't know it going in, you wouldn't be able to tell that he was so badly hurt. Anyway, this is your everyday, formula tag team match, done well since Future Shock are good enough by this point that they could do this match in their sleep. The Impact are fun in the "firy young lion" kinda way, but Kaos is still greener than the smoke in Murder One's lockerroom (that's right, TWO lame Dark City pot jokes in the same review!) so Cage has to carry the brunt of things for his side. There's a very good, albeit short, finishing sequence, leading to Impact getting the clean win with Total Impact to establish that they're not fluke champions. Textbook booking; too bad it was setting them up as victims for Tank & Bulldog Raines in the coming weeks as the Wildside tag division started to slide down the shitter. Here's wishing for a speedy recovery from Freeze.

Jay: Rock-solid Southern-style tag match, with two major flaws. The main one is the lack of crowd heat, because the Impact had not really been built up enough to make the fans care about them (not the booking crew�s fault, Jay Freeze�s injury most likely screwed up the long term plans). The second was that for a title match on a main show, this was way too short. I was impressed with the ring work and the chemistry of both teams, and I�d like to see them hook it up when everybody is healthy (I haven�t seen the title switch the other two are talking about). The Total Impact is the sweetest-looking doubleteam move I�ve seen in a while.

Ratings:
Tom: 73
Patrick: 73
Jay: **3/4

David Young vs. Kevin Northcutt

Match Background: Absolutely none, besides the fact that both are NWA TNA employees.

Patrick: Before we start, here's a joke that Tom told me. "Kevin Northcutt really sucks. Every morning he wakes up, looks in the mirror, sighs and says 'Damn, I'm still Kevin Northcutt'."

Action: The announcers put over the fact that Young recently won the Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling heavyweight title, his Zero One tour, and his TNA appearances, as he grabs a waistlock on Northcutt. Northcutt reverses to a full nelson and takes him down, reversed to a wristlock by Young. Northcutt catches a boot, and armdrags Young off an irish whip. Back to the lockup, Northcutt gets an armbar and drops Young with a kick to the face. Young slaps Northcutt as payback, and Northcutt gives chase on the outside. Back in, they run the ropes, where Northcutt hits him with a clothesline, and gets a headlock on the ground. Mikal Adryan (who looks like a much more jacked, much taller Mike Sanders) makes his was to ringside, and Northcutt quickly bodyslams Young down. Northcutt�s distracted, and Young takes advantage with a couple of enziguiris and a suplex for two. Young hits the chinlock, Northcutt fights out by Young flings him down. Young chokes Northcutt out with a front chancery on the ropes, and rubs his boot into him. Punches by Young, irish whip into the corner, but Northcutt fires back with rights. Young takes him down again and locks in a headscissors on the ground. Northcutt escapes and stomps Young down, but that only pisses Young off and he nails him with a lariat. Young heads to the top, cut off by Northcutt, and there�s a T-Bone Superplex! Northcutt starts the mild comeback with punches and hard clotheslines in the corner, followed up with a big knee to the face. A second Exploder gets a nearfall. Kryptonite Krunch, but Young rolls the shoulders to avoid a pin. Northcutt comes off the ropes, Adryan grabs the legs, Young capitalizes with the SPIIIINE-BUSTER~! for the three count. (10:23)

Thoughts

Thomas: Let me say this: David Young did nothing to deserve this fate. Kevin Northcutt is just....I don't know, "not good", I guess would be the phrase I'd use to describe him. If he were a rookie, I'd say he has potential, but he's been around for a while, and I doubt the potential's developing much more at this stage in the game. David tried his ass off to make this work here, but it just never took off. David turned heel early, which is foreshadowing for later in the match, when Mikael Adrien (who had an open challenge for any big man in Wildside after Stone Mountain "caught the summertime flu" and no-showed his scheduled match against Adrien) came out and distracted Northcutt. David uses his speed advantage to out-run Northcutt on the outside of the ring and get the advantage. David later tries grounding the larger Northcutt, but that was to no avail either. Northcutt uses his obvious size and power advantage to out-do David. Northcutt also decided to use one of my major annoyances in a match, as he used the Air Raid Crash (Kryptonite Krunch, for those who don't know) for a near-fall. That move should only be used as a finisher. I hate when guys get "Philly disease". Anyway, the finish comes when Adrien distracts Northcutt long enough for David to set up, and hit, the Spinebuster for the victory. Post-match, David and Mikael embrace. Okay, I know Wildside's trying to push Adrien, but using David Young, one of the top guys in the company for years, as nothing more than his henchman, is not a good thing. This match was a total and complete waste of the talents of David Young. Hey, at least the Northcutt/Adrien match that they did an angle for here never happened.

Patrick: What an epic waste of David Young. Here is the man that put on a tremendous performance that helped make the 'Holy Wars' match a classic- and one year later, he's nothing more than a tool to put over choads like Northcutt and Mikal Adryan. Northcutt does a Euro leg pick early on, but other than that he's a boring bowl of shit, like always. Young is technically solid but uninspired here (can you blame him), and wins in meaningless fashion. Absolutely nothing else is worth saying about this.

Jay: I�m in total agreement that David Young deserved something much more high-profile than this. If I was booking, instead of having Young try to carry the technically unsound, Sean O�Haire-ish Northcutt, I would have brought in an outside name with NWA ties, along the lines of a Sonny Siaki or a Ron Killings, to put Young over, and it would likely have been a much better match to boot. As for the match itself, it was something really no different than what you�d see at the local flea market or armory for five bucks on a Saturday night, and it gets the appropriate rating thusly.

Ratings:
Tom: 68
Patrick: 60
Jay: *

Prior to the big main event, Wildside CEO Rick Michaels addresses his troops, reminding them of the importance of the stipulations and the brutality of the War Games. Michaels wants his tormentor, Jeff G. Bailey, to know what it�s like to have what you love taken away from you, and tonight, when he gets him in the ring, he�s going to show him, with every punch and every chop. This promo is what professional wrestling is all about, and why I still watch. In the end, it�s not about star ratings, it�s not about backstage politics, it�s not about money or any other smart mark bullshit, it�s about really loving your craft and working your ass of to perfect it, and loving performing for crowds and hearing that pop when you know you�ve done well. I�d put this promo up there with Low Ki�s postmatch dedication to Russ Haas following �Crowning a Champion� for genuine, heartfelt emotion.

Jason Cross/Rainman/Iceberg/Justice (Team Elite) vs. Onyx/Jeremy V/Jimmy Rave/Hotstuff Hernandez (Team Wildside) - War Games

Match Background: Hold on, this'll take a while. I guess I'll start with the main storyline. For over three years, Jeff G. Bailey's ruled the heel side of Wildside. Whether it be as a manager, agent, attorney, or CEO, he's constantly found himself in control. Even if one of his guys gets defeated, Jeff's always found himself back on top of the heap. He's bumped, yet no one's ever gotten ultimate revenge upon him. In comes Rick Michaels. Ever since last year's Freedom Fight, where Rick lost to Rainman in a bloody section of "The Holy Wars", he's been one of the top thorns in Jeff's side. Then, Rick had to call it quits due to a devastating injury to his spinal cord and vertebrae. However, he came back in December 2002 to put his wrestling career on the line against Jeff G. Bailey's reign as Wildside CEO in the Jason Cross-John Phoenix match at Christmas Chaos. Cross won, and Rick got a moment in the sun after the match. The next taping, Rick Michaels is announced as the new CEO. Ever since then, Jeff's tried doing anything in his power to make Rick's life a living hell. He's had the NWA Elite destroy Rick's students, destroy Rick himself....heck, Jeff himself even attacked Rick and whipped him like a dog with his belt. Moving on, Hotstuff Hernandez came into Wildside in early-2003, and immediately got over big. So, the Wildside braintrust saw what a sensation Shawn was causing with the crowd, and pushed him to the moon, having him win a Mega Rumble for a shot at Iceberg's Wildside Title. However, the next taping, after winning a tag match with Jason Blackman, Iceberg took the first opportunity to attack, choking Hernandez to half-death with a coat hanger, in one of the best-executed angles of the year. But, after ending his months-long feud with Stone Mountain at Hardcore Hell, he had to deal with "The Texas Sandstorm" yet again. Iceberg and Bailey threw nearly every obstacle possible at Hotstuff, and he went through them all. Then, it was announced at Freedom Fight that, at the next taping, Hotstuff would get his shot at Iceberg's Wildside Title. Then, there's the saga of Jeremy V. and Rainman. At Hardcore Hell: Night One, Jeremy V. took a spill, and suffered a "neck injury". After Salvatore Rinauro softened it up, Jeremy was chosen to replace the no-showing Tony Mamaluke in a submission match against Rainman (who defeated Jeremy at the previous TV taping in a strong showing by V.). Rainman destroyed Jeremy's neck, but V. got a three-count. However, the match continued since it was submissions only, and Rainman got the win with the Hillside Strangler. From then on, Jeremy's continued coming at Rainman, hurt neck and all. He's taken Rainman to the limit time after time, in both singles and tag matches. That's where Cross and Rave come into play. After a Hotstuff/David Young number one contender's match that ended in a draw due to NWA Elite interference in April, Jason Cross and Jason Blackman came in for the save....until Cross double-crossed Blackman, and re-joined the NWA Elite. Since then, Cross has joined Rainman's side in attempting to take out Jeremy V. once and for all. But, Jeremy hasn't been alone. Jimmy Rave took to V. as sort of a mentor, and had been teaming up with Jeremy, against Cross and Rainman, leading to an offshoot feud between Cross and Rave. Onyx is in due to being one of the few men in Wildside that has been able get as much offense in on Iceberg as Onyx. The stips, as set by Bailey mistakingly signing a contract, thinking it was a fan autograph, are: if the Elite win, Jeff G. Bailey returns as Wildside CEO; if Team Wildside wins, Rick gets time alone in the cage with Jeff G. Bailey.

Patrick: I was supposed to do PBP, but for reasons too inane to mention here (hint: I hate my VCR more than I hate Chris Coey), I'm unable too and Jay has graciously volunteered to do so. Also, Thomas was nice enough to hit all the backstory so I won't bother with that, as I can't do as good a job as he did anyway (also, if you wanna search it up on the Wildside MB, Dan Wilson did an INCREDIBLE hype piece for the match the day before the show).

Action:

Jeremy V and Rainman waste no time kickstarting this match, as they let loose with wild rights on each other. V takes Rainman down and pounds him from the mount position. Irish whip into the corner, and V catches Rainman with a back body drop. He keeps up the aggression with more hard shots to the head. Irish whip, and Rainman turns the tide with a Mafia Kick. Now Rainman is pounding away on Jeremy V, then picks him up and plants him with a Michinoku Driver. Rainman rakes the eyes and rains punches from the mount, and drives a running knee into V�s head. V tries to fight back, but Rainman throws him right back down by the hair, and clocks him with a European uppercut. Rainman then tosses Jeremy V into the CORNER STEEL BARS OF THE CAGE! AGAIN! Jeremy V is busted open, and Rainman opens the cut further by raking his head against the mesh and screaming �BLEED BITCH! FUCKING BLEED!� Rainman continues to punch away at Jeremy V, as the first five minute period elapses.

The NWA Elite team predictably win the coin toss, and in comes �The Role Model� Jason Cross. WAIT A SECOND, SECOND WIND BY JEREMY V, FLYING BACK ELBOW TO CROSS. Jeremy V nails him with chops, but Cross graps him and SPIKES him on that injured neck with a release Dragon Suplex. He compresses the vertebrae further with THE BEST DAMN BRAINBUSTER IN NORTH AMERICA~! Rainman opens V up further with his patented barbed-wire brass knux. Double clothesline by the Elite, and Cross follows up with a running somersault legdrop to the neck.

Jimmy Rave is in now, and he GOES TO TOWN! Knee to the gut on Cross, and he follows up with a running knee to the head! Chops to Rainman, irish whip, Rainman goes for the Spinesplitta (modified Rydeen Bomb)- countered into a rana by Rave! Another whip, and RAVE HITS A SPINESPLITTA ON RAINMAN! Rave pairs off with Cross and V on Rainman, with Team Wildside firmly in control. Chops from Jimmy Rave, but Rainman takes over on V after a low blow�and Iceberg�s in the go position. Uh oh.

Jeremy V gets dropped immediately, so does Rave. Loud �ICE-BERG� chants fire up as the champion slices up the foreheads of Rave and V with his trusty veggie peeler. Roundhouse kick to the head by Cross on Rave, and Rainman�s rubs V�s head into the steel cage. Flying elbowdrop from the top by Cross on Rave, and Iceberg adds to the punishment with a 600-pound Hulkbuster legdrop.

Onyx is in now, AND HE�S POSSESSED! GORILLA PRESS INTO THE CAGE ON CROSS. BIG SNAP POWERSLAM TO RAINMAN! He�s trying to knock down Iceberg, but takes a hard kneelift. Iceberg..heads to the top? No! CUT OFF BY ONYX! OH MY FREAKIN� LORD, SUPERPLEX ON ICEBERG! GREEN MONSTER-SIZE POP! Dan Wilson: �IF WE HADN�T REINFORCED THE RING TEN TIMES IT�S NORMAL STRENGTH, THERE�D BE A HOLE, IN THAT SON OF A BITCH!� Prazak: �As of right now, at this moment, Onyx is the World�s Strongest Man!� Cross and Rainman quickly jump Onyx following that incredible display of strength, and it�s mystery man time.

Jeff G. Bailey has the microphone, �I promised you people a big surprise-he�s a former Heavyweight champion! He�s a monster! He�s my own personal doomsday device! He is�JUSTICE!� Out walks Justice, currently known as Abyss in TNA, and I don�t see why he needs the mask, because he�s just as scary without it. Justice immediately tosses Jeremy V headfirst into the cage like a lawn dart, and ICEBERG�S ON THE TOP ROPE! Jeremy V isn�t MOVING! TOP ROPE ELBOW DROP BY ICEBERG, V IS DEAD! Justice heads to the top now, V is pushing up daisies- BIG SPLASH BY JUSTICE ON JEREMY V! Maggots are crawling into the ring to eat V, and Rainman chimes in with a guillotine legdrop!

Team Wildside�s last hope is Hotstuff Hernandez, and he immediately goes to work, dropping Justice with a clothesline. He picks Jason Cross up for a Razor�s Edge, AND HE FLINGS HIM HEADFIRST INTO THE CAGE WITH THE MEGABOMB! HOLY FUCKING SHIT! For sheer nastiness, that bump is on par with Sid�s powerbombs to Brian Pillman in another famous War Games. Iceberg goes headfirst into the cage, as Hernandez works over Justice in the corner with shoulder thrusts and STIFF chops. Onyx and Justice face off, Justice charges, SPINEBUSTER BY ONYX! Iceberg gets Hernandez with a release Northern Lights Suplex. Justice tries to throw Jimmy Rave OVER the cage, as Bailey slids a chair into the ring. Justice lays the chair on the ground as he heads to the top to get Rave. Onyx hits Justice low, and RAVE GETS A SUNSET FLIP POWERBOMB ON THE CHAIR TO JUSTICE! WHAT THE HELL, OUT OF NOWHERE, VAN TERMINATOR BY JEREMY V TO RAINMAN! Rainman then goes into the cage headfirst, so does Cross. Onyx kicks a chair into Justice�s face, and Hernandez gets a spinning heel kick on Iceberg! Hernandez looking for a spear- ICEBERG MOVES OUT OF THE WAY! HOTSTUFF GOES CRASHING INTO THE CAGE! Oh man, I thought he was going to break the cage with that spear! Legdrop/Reverse DDT combo to Hernandez by Rainman and Iceberg, and it looks like Team Wildside�s luck has run out. Justice is holding Hernandez for Iceberg-NO, HOTSTUFF MOVES! FOREARM CONNECT ON JUSTICE! Iceberg tries to get V instead with an avalanche in the corner, AND SANDWICHES RAINMAN INSTEAD! SPEAR BY HOTSTUFF! V has one last gasp of energy, SHINING WIZARD TO RAINMAN, FOLLOWED UP WITH THE HILLSIDE STRANGLER (seated camel clutch/cobra clutch)-RAINMAN TAPS! RAINMAN TAPS! AGAINST ALL ODDS, TEAM WILDSIDE WINS!

Thoughts

Thomas: I can tell you right now: this match is a real goody. The opening period with Jeremy V. cementing his never-say-die, ultimate underdog babyface role in this match, and Rainman working over the neck, as had been common in their feud, while bringing all the hatred towards each other necessary, was great. V. got a second wind as Cross came in only due to a small break during the coin toss, but Cross and Rainman jumped on his neck like dickhead pirhanas, which, again, was great. Jimmy Rave comes in, and immediately helps the guy he's been mentoring, while taking out his specific enemy in this match, that being Jason Cross. Then, Iceberg comes in, and he single-handedly dominates both faces, since he's obviously the indestructable monster. Both Rave and Jeremy get opened up by Iceberg's veggie peeler, and sell the blood like men. Onyx then comes in, and he tosses Rainman and Cross around. Onyx's superplexing Iceberg off the top rope is an amazing visual. That's why I love Iceberg: he'll take any bump a normal-sized man will take, but when he does it, it looks a million times more incredible. But, Cross and Rainman take advantage of the superplex fatiguing Onyx, and regain the advantage. Jeff G. Bailey's "doomsday device", Justice, then comes out, and the Elite's advantage deepens. The slower beating makes sense, since Justice and Iceberg, the two more dominant Elite members, are slower-paced brawlers. Iceberg commits yet another top rope bump, with a top rope elbow drop on Jeremy V., who's damn well dead by this point from the severe beating he's received, followed by Justice and Rainman doing top rope moves on Jeremy. Hernandez comes in, and bumps some people around, including an absolutely careless, despicable-looking Megabomb (Awesomebomb) on Jason Cross, which put Cross on the DL to this day. Still, even Hotstuff's faults were mostly hidden here. All eight men are in one ring, yet it never seemed to cluster. Rave then gets the proverbial torch passed to him, as he gets to duplicate a sunset power bomb spot off the top of the cage with Justice that AJ Styles did in the 2001 Freedom Fight War Games. The babyfaces then make their big comeback, with V. hitting a Van Terminator and Onyx powerslamming a bloody Iceberg. The one and only thing that didn't make sense in the match happened here, as Iceberg walked right by Rave trying to make Cross submit like nothing was happening. But, Rainman broke it up seconds later. Iceberg then foreshadows his face turn in a big way, as he messes up when Justice holds Hotstuff back, and nails Justice with a clothesline, giving Team Wildside the biggest and final advantage, leading to Jeremy V. locking in Rainman's own Hillside Strangler on Rainman for the win.

This match was about as close to perfect as a match gets. The heels were dicks and monsters, switching off when needed, while bumping like pinballs when the faces got their comebacks. The faces showed tons of fire in their comebacks, which is completely and totally necessary for any face comeback. The emotion that the wrestlers involved showed was perfectly fit with the emotion that such a huge match brought. Jeremy V. basically being the underdog martyr for his team, taking the biggest beating and overcoming the most odds, yet coming back to lock in Rainman's own finisher that had cost him so many matches, and basically getting the ultimate revenge on his most hated rival, was just perfect. Everyone basically going head-on with their one rival in the match when they came in, unless that person wasn't in the cage, made total and complete sense, which is all things should make. I also loved how they brought back spots from previous Freedom Fight cage matches (the barbed wire knux from Rainman, the sunset flip bomb from Rave on Justice). The spot that foreshadowed tension between Iceberg and the Elite where 'Berg messed up and clotheslined Justice by accident, then walked off by himself after the match, was tremendous. Just like the Fright Night 2001 Jr. Title ladder match, and in many ways way more than that match, the stars and moon aligned just right, and everything was perfect. You know, War Games seems to be the flavor of the month right now. MLW did one, TNA did one, but Wildside perfected one. Heck, I saw the TNA War Games, and, let's just say that if this match ate burritos and took a gigantic crap, that piece of feces would probably still be better than the TNA match. I admittedly haven't seen the MLW War Games, but if they truly believe that you can't do a "real" War Games without two rings, two cages, two anuses, etc.....then they're dead wrong. I doubt anything, in any style, any context, any way, will be better than this. I may get disagreeance from a lot of people, but this is my Match of the Year, unless someone, somehow, tops this. Excellent work, excellent storytelling, top-notch emotion....it was all there, and more. This was truly amazing.

Patrick: There's been a 'revival' in the WarGames gimmick recently. People clamored for the WWF to use it for the climax for the underwhelming (to say the least) WCW invasion angle; MLW, in its continued persuit of using nothing but ideas thought of by older, more successful companies, did their own take on it; TNA even stuck it on a throwaway show, and I guess that's the "official" one since TNA carries the legacy of the NWA. Or somesuch bullshit. Well, I can tell you right now, without even having SEEN those other WarGames matches, that this is superior.

This match accomplishes all it was expected to, and much more. It had to be the grand blowoff for the V/Rainman feud that had been going since Hardcore Hell, and it did that (yes, they did a few more weeks of angles after this, but that was more to advance the return of Caprice Coleman). It had to whet everyone's appetite for the upcoming 'Berg/Hernandez match, and it did that; Hernandez, after having some underwhelming showings on TV leading to this match, looked every bit the unstoppable monster here. It had to establish Justice as an instant threat, and it did that- he looked to have lost none of his old form. If anyone had their doubts about Jimmy Rave as a maineventer before, this match put them to rest, and placed him in an instant money feud with Cross (that, thanks to Hotstuff's sloppiness and carelessness, never really took off). Oh, and if you didn't think Jeremy V was anything special yet...let me tell you, after you see this match, you'll know that the boy is definitely something special.

No doubt about it, this is Jeremy V's match. Everyone plays an important role, sure, but the focus is almost constantly on Jeremy's strugle. He's the first one in the cage; his battle with Rainman provides the major ongoing story of the match; his struggle is the primary focus and establishes Team Wildside as the underdogs, especially in the sequence when he endures splashes from Iceberg, Rainman AND Justice. V gives the viewer someone to root for, someone to sympathize with. He's not a powerhouse like Onyx or Hernandez or a technical master like Rave, he's the wrestler as Everyman- fighting against seemingly impossible odds to settle a score. By the time that Jeremy DOES settle that score, putting his hated rival in his own submission hold right in the center of the ring, it's beyond satisfying. This was a grand-scale, brilliant performance from Jeremy.

While Jeremy is the glue that holds the match together, everyone has their part. Rave is clearly portrayed as the heir apparent to AJ "Euroboy" Styles, with one of his biggest moments (the sunset bomb on Justice) directly echoing one of Styles' from the past. Also, like Styles, Rave has to contend with the arrogant dickhead that is Jason Cross, and their fighting, much like Rainman & V, goes on from pretty much the beginning of the match to the end (they, too, climax with a dramatic submission when Rave locks the crossface hold on Cross, and Cross is saved at the very last second, right as his hand was going up to tap). Cross, meanwhile, does what he does best: Act like an asshole. He doesn't steal the show here, but he's a very important part of it.

Rainman, last year, turned in one of the more memorable performances in the WarGames, bloodying and destroying Rick Michaels. This year, he inflicts much of the same punishment on V, busting him open with the barbed wire brass knux. However, in the year that's passed since the Holy Wars, Rainman has become more vicious and more calculated, so his assault this time isn't just pure physical brutality. He picks apart Jeremy's neck and when he and Cross are stomping the shit out of the poor kid in the early going, you can tell that he's breaking down his spirit, too. Rainman illustrates the story crystal clear without uttering a single word- this is his night to, once and for all, get rid of Jeremy V.

Justice may not have much of a connection to the intricate backstory here, but he doesn't need one. He represents dread, fear and hopelessness. You really do buy that he is Bailey's personal destruction device, killing everything in its path. Much like Rave is portrayed as the new Styles, Justice is shown as the new Iceberg- a very important detail considering how Iceberg starts to fall out of favor with Bailey after this match. Onyx is like Justice in that he's the odd man out, lacking a hated rival on the opposite team to feud with. He's had some skirmishes with 'Berg, sure, but nothing on the level of Cross/Rave, Rainman/V or 'Berg/Hernandez. Here, he's merely a guy doing his best to help his friends, as well as being the 'cluch player' since he's the only one with WarGames experience. He plays his role to perfection; whenever Onyx makes an impact, it's a major one (the ASTOUNDING top-rope Superplex on Iceberg, and near the end saving V from the Ground Zero senton by swooping in with a powerslam at the last second).

This leaves us with Iceberg and Hernandez. I'll be honest, I've never been impressed with Shaun Hernandez, and here he...still doesn't impress me. He's easily the least of the eight here, but the others work around him to make his moves that much more impressive. I wish I could say "and Hernandez was good enough to not fuck anything up", but sadly, that's not true, as he gave Cross that disgusting Awesomebomb into the cage. Iceberg is more than good enough to work for two in their sequences, and he adds a lot to the match even when not clashing with his rival, helping destroy V and Rave in his opening rampage.

Of course all of that is good stuff, but me being the wrestling dork that I am, I'm overanalyzing. Just look at the match in the broadest possible terms- good versus evil- and it's STILL amazing. The Elite are the soldiers of darkness, Jeff G. Bailey's army sent to destroy all that is good in the world, and for twenty-five minutes, only Onyx, Jeremy V, Jimmy Rave and Shaun Hernandez stand in their way. By the end, Bailey's forces are broken: Jeremy has had his revenge, Justice has been held back, and Iceberg has been shown to NOT be invincible (much to the obvious displeasure of Bailey...like much of this match, that is important later). It sounds cheesy, but it WORKS. On every concievable level. This is wrestling as grand storytelling, brutal spectacle...and as art. You want EVERY SINGLE FUCKING MINUTE OF THIS MATCH.

Jay: You want great, dramatic booking? Check this out: A monster heel stable, headed up by the biggest asshole on the planet, terrorizes the company and the CEO, who happens to be the most beloved wrestler in the company�s history. Have the asshole heel manager take credit for the beloved wrestler�s career-ending back injury. Put the elite heel stable against a team of totally overmatched babyfaces with ridiculously high stakes, in the most violent match in NWA history. Have the heels promise a �big surprise� for the faces that could doom them. Then, have the faces take an absolute shitkicking (especially the smallest one) but in the end have them overcome all of the odds to get the big blowoff win, with the smallest, most beaten-up one getting the dramatic fall. This is, by far, the most perfectly booked and emotionally intense match I have seen in all of the years I�ve watched wrestling. It made a star out of Jeremy V, it had tons of blood, and most importantly, it does what�s often lost on today�s promoters, IT SENT THE FANS HOME HAPPY. This is your Match of the Year for 2003, nothing comes close and nothing will come close. SEE THIS MATCH.


Ratings:
Thomas: 98
Patrick: 97
Jay: *****

�The Original Chosen One� Rick Michaels vs. Jeff G. Bailey

Action: Hernandez has grabbed the fleeing Bailey and tossed him into the cage. Rick Michaels� music hits, and even Wildside�s crappy crowd audio picks up a MONSTER pop! Prazak�s call of this moment literally give me chills-�YEAH! ALRIGHT OC1 DO IT GOOD PAL!� What makes Wildside�s announcers so great is that they�re not detached from the action, and they don�t equate hype with �randomly screaming your lungs out.� They get into the match as fans, really cheering and booing along with the fans, and it gives them a sense of kinship with the audience. Dan Wilson: �He�s gonna get his shot Steven! Seven long months, and that son of a bitchin� asswipe motherfucker took credit for it! AND NOW HE�S GONNA GET HIS!� Bailey�s got a plan though, and he throws powder in his eyes! Low blow! Bailey stomps away on Michaels, as evil referee Andrew Thomas locks the cage from the inside. Bailey rains right hands on Michaels as �RICK! RICK! RICK!� chants fire up. Michaels makes the comeback with some rights, but Bailey kicks him low again for a fast two count. Bailey chokes him out with tape and goes for Rainman�s barbed wire knux. Rick kicks them out of his hand, and IT�S CARVING TIME! Wilson: �EVERYTIME YOU GLOATED OVER SOMEONE�S PAIN, EVERY TIME YOU GLOATED OVER SOMEBODY�S SUFFERING, EVERY TIME SOMEONE GOT MAIMED FOR YOUR BENEFIT, YOU�RE GETTING IT BACK NOW YOU SON OF A BITCH!� Blood is POURING out of Bailey�s forehead, and Michaels runs him into the cage! Again! Again! Prazak: �This is more than just desserts, that is the sweetest thing possible!� Michaels rakes Bailey�s forehead against the cage some more, and drops him with a right hand. Hard left clocks Bailey good, but Thomas won�t count. Michaels gives chase, and Bailey takes the opportunity to nut shot him again. Michaels no-sells some slaps, and gives Bailey the DOUBLE SHOT ~!(Knee buster into a hangman�s neckbreaker). Thomas still won�t count 3, so Michaels throws his hand down for the win! The entire face locker room empties and carries Michaels on their shoulders to close the show. �LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, A FORMER 4-TIME NWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPION, A FORMER 2-TIME WILDSIDE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, HE IS THE ONLY CHOSEN ONE IN WRESTLING, LET�S GIVE IT UP FOR RICK MICHAELS!�

Thoughts:

Thomas: Going in, no one should have expected this to be a tremendous in-ring classic. Jeff's a manager, and the condition of Rick's back is just horrible. But, they did way more than anyone ever expected them to do. They worked an actual match for seven minutes. I didn't really expect any more than punch-stomp-Bailey does something dickish, but they actually did a couple of moves. Wasn't anything tremendous, but still better than what I thought. Andrew Thomas's performance here was as good as a great heel referee gets. Why TNA books him as an honest, rule-abiding referee, and teased the heel turn with Rudy Charles goes beyond my mind. The match kicked into high-gear when Andrew Thomas hands Jeff the veggie peeler that Iceberg uses, but Rick gets it from Jeff, and carves into Bailey's skull to a HYOOOGE pop (the Wildside crowd micing sucks though, as you can hear a faint roar, but you can tell it's quite the huge reaction when you look out in the crowd), the first time in Bailey's tenure of bragging up his guys making others "bleed red seas of blood" that he, himself, has bleed. The finish was pretty cool, as Rick hits the Double Shot, which is far from what I ever expected him doing here, and, when Andrew stalls for the three count, Rick just pulls his hand down. I never understood why, in the history of that finish, no one just pulled the hand down. The post-match with Bailey being dragged away, and the entire cage filling with the Wildside face roster, as Rick gets his moment in the sun while being carried on the shoulders of his fellow Wildside wrestlers was about as high-emotion as you get in a wrestling ring. By emotion, I don't mean "Oh, snap! That guy just got dropped on his head!" emotion, which is totally a waste of the fans' hearts, no matter how "smart to the business" (when most are dumber than they'll ever know) they might be. To me, the "clap, clap, clap, we all got the clap" type of response from a wrestling crowd means you've turned your wrestling from an art to a freaking GOLF GAME, since, whenever a golfer does something good, he gets the exact same response as some guy receiving a top rope tiger driver on his skull, or something equally stupid, for a goddamn two-count. As for this match, This doesn't really warrant a grade; it was an angle with some wrestling moves. But, this was about a good a blowoff as you get.

Patrick: And for every great story, there is an epilogue. Just like the bloody battle that preceded it, this is an epic of revenge- this time, though, there's an extra real-life element that is tangible throughout. Rick Michaels' injury was unquestionably more real than anything else in Wildside (no matter how much things like the WarGames such you in and make you believe), so his comeback, too, is the most real thing on display, and it adds greatly to his aura of being the conquering hero. Jeff G. Bailey, as he always does, is pitch perfect in the role of vile slimebag. Together, these two put together as good of a match as you're going to see with two nonwrestlers. It may not have the pseudo-shooty hate of Tod Gordon vs. Bill Alfonso, but this strips away the cynicism of ECW and presents it as straight up good and evil and ends up being more entertaining. Credit must be given to Andrew Thomas, who turns in HIS best performance ever here. All due respect to Danny Davis and Brent Blades, but you haven't seen evil reffing until you've seen Andrew do it. His body language is spot-on, especially when he's desperately pleading for his boss to get up and beat Michaels; you can tell that even if no one else thinks Bailey has a hope in hell, Thomas believes he has a shot.

By the end of the match, good overcomes evil, as it does quite often in wrestling, but the moments after Bailey is levelled with the Double Shot have a special resonace to them. You can tell that Rick Michaels has waited nine long months to get this opportunity, and since it's finally happened, you can't help but relish it along with him. The show closes exactly as it should: The lockerroom floods the ring to congratulate Rick and lift him onto their shoulders, while Bailey is left in some dark corner of the arena with his defeated comrades...now, even the Iceberg has abandoned him. The perfect closer to an excellent story. This is what happens when you bother to, y'know, get people emotionally invested in your work. You'd be surprised how many dipshit wrestlers and promoters need to learn that.

Jay: My only problem with this match is that Jeff G. Bailey got way too much offense. A very out-of-shape non-wrestler should not be beating up a former heavyweight champion, no matter how injured he is. This should have been an absolute slaughter. That said, it accomplished it�s goal. Jeff G. Bailey bled buckets (you will NOT see a manager willing to sacrifice for his art like Jeff G), Rick Michaels makes a triumphant return, and I can�t stress this enough, everyone goes home happy. The best ending to a show I�ve ever seen. I�m not afraid to admit it, it brought a tear to my eye, and I had almost no knowledge of Rick Michaels� legacy in Wildside when I bought this tape. It takes a ton of talent, for a company to make you care so much about someone that you don�t even know.

Post-show, Bailey, Cross (looking about as blank-minded as the TNA "brain"-trust), and Rainman are battered and beaten. No one knows where Iceberg is, further foreshadowing the tension. Bailey does a "defeated man" promo in a, well, "defeated man" way. He's out of breath, out of mind, and looks like death. After Bailey promises that the Elite will get its revenge, he finishes the promo, but thinks the camera stopped running. So, he asks Rainman to drive him to the hospital and he passes out. Another completely amazing promo from Jeff G. Bailey, but in a completely different style than usual. He's not triumphantly bragging about Rainman breaking someone's neck, or Iceberg almost killing a man. He's basically admitted defeat, and shows about as much weakness as a man can show. Like I said about Bailey at the CZWFans board, his promos are high-concept in a basic way, something that's completely different and way better than just about anyone cutting promos today.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Tom: I will say, the entire show was not the best Wildside's done. But, the last half-hour of the tape is something to die for. Even if the tape was 5 hours long, and only the last half hour was this good, I'd still recommend it. But the tape's only a little over 90 minutes, by my check, and adding the ladder and eight-man tag match as good material on this tape, you've got about 2/3rds of the tape being at least good. But, the War Games and Bailey/Michaels segment is is an example of how, with good enough long-term booking and great work, you can truly create magic in professional wrestling. I can't go one review without putting over the greatness of Steven Prazak and Dan Wilson. They're usually great, and this show was no exception, especially during the War Games match. The wrestlers helped create the emotion, and Dan and Steven did more than their fair share of getting it over to those watching on tape. I think Dan's celebration when Jeremy V. made Rainman tap, which put Bailey in the cage with Michaels, just about said it all when it came to the aura and atmosphere in the building at that point. I don't freaking care how much you love or hate Wildside; you need this tape in your collection...BADLY. The undercard wasn't downright horrible (especially if you fast-forward through Young-Northcutt....which says something about Northcutt when he's the other guy in probably the only David Young match I'll ever say is fast-forward-worthy), but the main event is worth the price of admission. A proverbial masterpiece, and something you won't want to let go from your sight for a long time to come.

Patrick: I'm kinda wiped, so I'm gonna keep this brief. It's basically a one-match show, but that one-match pays off in every way imaginable, and is arguably the most fun I've had watching wrestling in a very long time (it's between that and seeing Danielson/London 2/3 falls live). For the last part of the tape, Wildside brought back the feeling of watching wrestling as a kid. It was expert storytelling, and I hung on every twist and turn.

The rest of the show isn't worthless, not by a long shot. The opener was excellent and the ladder match was a very good spotfest, and I didn't actively dislike anything aside from Northcutt/Young. Definite recommendation here.


Jay: If you�re looking for a good introduction to NWA: Wildside, I�ll admit this probably is not it. I�d probably go with last year�s Freedom Fight for a proper showcase of the product, as that show is unbelievable from top to bottom and everything just clicked. However, this is still an awesome show. A solid, if inconsistent undercard and most likely the best indy match of the 21st century make this a very strong recommendation. The main event should be required viewing for all indy wrestling fans. It represents professional wrestling at its absolute finest, the pinnacle of what human physical drama can achieve. Watching this show, I felt proud to be a wrestling fan, which I can�t claim happens too often.
Overall Recommendation: GET THIS TAPE.

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Before we go, even without reviewing extras, We'd like to remind you all that Melanie McKee's got Wildside tapes, amongst others, for trade, at this very website. The official site for NWA Wildside tapes, along with t-shirts and event tickets is Wildside�s Official Site Fright Night 2003 is coming up soon, and it�s going to be killer, with the headlining match already announced is an NWA World Title defense by the returning AJ Styles!

So, for all of us Ninjas, good morning....and if we don't see you later, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight! (Yeah, I did just watch "The Truman Show" this morning, why'd ya ask?.....)

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