Between the Burnout area, the Aerosmith cover band, the fried bologna sandwiches, the fireworks and the amazing cars on display Lead Foot City might have been trying too hard to be the most Florida thing they could be – but then they tried a little harder by having pro wrestling as well.
Make no mistake about it, BRAWL USA was a success no matter
how you might interpret what I say after this. As part of the "Rev, White and Brews Fest", the wrestling crowd ranged from I’d guess 400 people watching to as many as 600 at any
given time. Every hay bale (yes, hay
bale) was occupied, and the standing room had a body every couple of feet. They were an easy crowd, eager to cheer the
babies, boo the heels and were easy pickings as far as stories went.
Many of the wrestlers were trained at the Jay Lethal
wrestling school, apparently. The actual
wrestling ranged from the surprisingly good to the absolutely dismal. Having booked these kind of shows before for
all kinds of events, I couldn’t help but lament some opportunities that I felt
were lost. But at the same time, the
folks at BRAWL USA actually taught me a thing or two as well.
The show started during the daylight and ended in the dark
with fireworks going off, nothing cooler than that. It reminded me of the Revolutionary WarGames
shows of PCW in that way. I didn’t get
everyone’s name perfectly – when I was unable to find names through research, I
put a question mark basing it on what I thought I heard. The sound quality for being in an open-air
barn was surprisingly good and the lighting was unique and cool for sure. I would imagine that BRAWL USA would be happy
to do shows in conjunction with Lead Foot City events and that Lead Foot would
be thrilled to have them as a cool attraction moving forward. It’s the right show at the right place.
The ring announcer was Zach Romero, who had a clear and
strong voice that was perfect for this kind of thing. He conducted an informal poll as they opened
the show, asking who was going to see pro wrestling live for the first
time. A good number of people raised
their hand. Romero then proceeded to
explain to them what pro wrestling is, and how they are encouraged to interact,
make noise, cheer and boo. I have never
seen this before. And I absolutely loved
it. BRAWL USAs clear mission is to make
new wrestling fans.
“The Compact Cannonball” Dick Danger pinned Samuel C(?)
after a helmet assisted diving headbutt
Samuel C came out and established his heel presence right
away, short handing a couple of kids on high fives. Dick Danger was all in his Super Dave vibe,
replete with red, white and blue stuntman helmet and rampant enthusiasm. There were comedy bits (thumbwrestling and
arm wrestling spots) that worked, I guess.
I don’t think the crowd needed more than one after the initial
thumbwrestling bit. Sam had a good
energy and competent ring work, making Dick Danger look good, finally
succumbing to a leaping headbutt, I think.
A jump happened, a sort of collision, and Sam got pinned. That, I know.
I had to dig to find the name of Andres Reyes’ manager (a
problem for sure. They need to make sure
every person is clearly identified, especially in shows like this that are
essentially spot shows and attractions) but he was pretty good on the stick,
talking up his charge and explaining why they didn’t have a title belt to go
along with the Social Media Champion designation. He declared that this was an open
challenge. Nobody from the back answered
(which says what about the locker room and/or prestige of this title?) so a
vocal “fan” answered the challenge. The
crowd played nice and went along with this.
Social Media Champion Andres Reyes (w. "El
Segundo" Luis Soto) defeated person-from-the-crowd via chokeout
The person-in-the-crowd had a good shtick physically, that
of the mark wrestling fan. He busted out
some moves like the People’s Elbow, and more than held his own with Reyes for a
time. A little more savagery from Reyes
would have been in order, in my opinion, from being shown up by a “fan”. That would have also set off the dynamic they
were going for nicely.
The finish was a nice bit of business as fan was draped over
the middle rope. The manager hit a great
looking curbstomp (a stellar move for a manager, come to think of it) and the
fan bounced haplessly into the ring into a Reyes chokeout. The crowd responded appropriately, but not
passionately. No hand of appreciation
for the brave “fan,” no hearty boos for the cheating and vicious heels. And that is an opportunity lost.
Weezy T pinned Tony Donati after a discus elbow
This was the most solid wrestling match on the card between
two capable wrestlers who could match one another in the ring. Weezy T hit Donati with a number of flying headscissor
variations, all of them done impeccably well and the crowd ate them all
up. Donati’s weapon of choice was a
brutal looking and well-executed German suplex which he employed on three
occasions to move into different phases of the match.
This was an expertly done match, a little light on crowd
work but expertly done. Passing messages
through the referee to make sure they were matching the feel and tenor of the
crowd, having their match build to a logical finish, and the crowd being ready for
the finish and cheering when it happened.
In a Fatal Four-Way “The Baddest Man Alive” Leroy Shogun
defeated Big DOM with a Go To Sleep Variation in a match that also had “Slick”
Max Swift and Lifeguard Izzy(?)
Leroy Shogun stood outside of the ring not engaging for much
of the match. The crowd did not know
whether to interpret this as cowardice or badassedness. Neither did I. The other three proved to be capable
wrestlers, moving from spot to spot fluidly enough. I always hate not having the rules of a
particular wrestling group’s “fatal four way” match. First pin wins, or elimination? Establishing that through ring announcing is
an easy way to get the crowd behind a simple psychology. Are we going to get to
see the best two at the end? Or does every
fall count and bring with it the panic and influence from all four competitors?
In the end, Shogun entered, knocked some heads around, hit
his move and won. I would have loved to
have seen a different dynamic. Is Shogun
that tough? If so, let the others try
and team up against him, only to be laid out by the skills of the bigger
Shogun. Is Shogun just sneaky? Then cherry picking at the end would seem to
be in order. Strong and obvious choices
make for better storytelling with crowds that are watching a wrestling show as
an attraction.
BRAWL USA Champion Taino defeated “Juice” James after a
Death Valley Driver
Taino was the most capable worker I saw out of
everybody. “Juice” Jones was the most
TV-ready as far as his look, no doubt about that. If “Juice” did a stint at the Nightmare
Factory camp, it is not hard to imagine him being put on AEW Dark right away
based on his look and charisma alone. “Juice” tossed out his water bottle after
dousing himself and…it nailed someone in the face. I’ve never seen such a perfect bottle
hit. It was breathtaking. Not that conducive for getting a baby over,
however.
Taino moved Jones through each phase of the match
capably. The chops they exchanged
weren’t great. Nor was the kip up or
attempted hurricanrana on the outside of the ring,. Juice botches 100%. But
Taino kept the match together enough to arrive at a low-blow mule kick and a well-executed
Death Valley Driver for the definitive win.
Doing a title match as the non-main event in a show like
this is perfectly fine – as long as there seems to be a reason for it. Announcing the next match as a #1 contender’s
match would have been an easy way to not only justify what happened at the end
of the match, but tell a clear, concise story that the crowd could quickly
understand and get behind.
The Cheese pinned Reichardt Krieger after a double-shot
variation with a reverse DDT finish
Once he was announced as being from Munich, Germany as the
Imperial Eagle Reichardt Krieger I was ready to buy in all the way. A foreign menace on a wrestling show at an
event that was as Murica as you can get?
An easy sell. I wanted a bigger
heat-getting promo from Krieger. I
wanted more menace. I didn’t want
someone cosplaying a foreign menace, I wanted someone who would fill the role
so well that I could mark out. It didn’t
happen. He was the more capable wrestler
in the match, which was like being the Valedictorian in summer school. The Cheese does a cheese-pun-tastic gimmick
combined with Hulk Hogan’s glory days.
Yes, he wore red and yellow to the ring.
Yes, he had a flag that said “Cheeseamania.”
I would have been okay with all of this if it was played as
a truly strong choice. As it was, some
slipshod ringwork, a finish that makes no sense for the character, and a “hulk
up” where you don’t do it right…if you are going to do Hogan DO HOGAN. No sell shaking, pointing, three right hands,
big boot. None of these were executed
well or at all. With all of the slices
of cheese thrown out of the crowd upon his entrance (no, really) if Krieger had
been worth his salt, he could have had the crowd throwing cheese at him
whenever he wanted. As it was, the match
came to a merciful end. Then Taino
attacked The Cheese because…presumably he’s the top contender now? Again, such an easy story to set up
beforehand. As it is, Taino waylays The
Cheese with a chair, and finally lays the chair on a prone Cheese and splashes
him. No loud declaration from anyone
that this is to be your next title match at the next show, no righteous
indignation from BRAWL USA management, nothing.
An opportunity lost.
First Class (Darling Sterling and Ron Bass Jr.) won by
Disqualification over the BRAWL USA Tag Team Champions Taskforce (Mikey and
DMC), but did not win the titles
Full Disclosure, I love Ron Bass, Jr.’s dad. Meeting and talking to him made one
particular cluster of a convention an actual positive experience, and we had
him as a guest on the Tipping Point before he passed. I am not one to mark out over things, but
when Ron Bass gave me a signed bloody face pic replete with barbed wire, I
count that as one of my most treasured possessions. How was his son? (and yes, that’s really his son). He has the presence for sure, and judging
from comments I heard him making after the show, he gets what wrestling is and should
be.
Taskforce were simply put, pretty great. Athletic, moving smoothly from spot to spot,
willing to fill any role required in the match.
Their goal seemed to be to make Sterling and Bass look good, and they
did that.
The major strength of this match was the heat segment where
Taskforce worked over Ron Bass Jr.’s leg.
The major weakness of this match was that this was the second
heat-leading-to-a-hot-tag part of the match.
Inexplicably, with this kind of crowd, being the only tag match on the
card, they got fancy. It didn’t go over
well, made the match feel overly long, and lost them some steam with the
crowd. Instead of one heat segment being
milked to get a maximum response on a hot tag, it now felt like a series of
moves going on and plateauing instead of rising to a peak.
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