In The Downtime: New England Championship Wrestling: Best Of 2006, Disc One

On November 6th, NECW had its last show. I can’t say that I was surprised—attendance was usually pretty poor even by indie wrestling standards, and a TV deal with Comcast screwed them over even worse than TNN’s deal with ECW (at least TNN put ECW’s product on television—NECW was quickly regulated to being hidden in their OnDemand service).  At least its closing gives me an excuse to look at an old DVD set that I’ve barely looked twice at since I bought it three years ago. (NECW has an event scheduled for May, but it’s a benefit show and I don’t anticipate NECW making a huge comeback, though I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong.)

Before I get to the matches, though, I have to point out four big complaints about this set:

-1.) It is not chronological.  The set jumps all over the place with its match layout—the first three matches occur in December, October, and June, respectively.  There isn’t an indication that it is laid out in a countdown order, and in at least one case, a match’s finish was used to build heat for a match that was shown earlier in the set.  The only reasoning I can figure for this was that the matches were laid out as though it were a wrestling show—no tag matches back to back, no hardcore matches back to back, etc.  That’s pretty weak reasoning, though.

-2.) The production is crap.  I’m not expecting HD cameras or fireworks, but most of the matches just have a hard cam set up and one person working a camera on the floor.  Most indies in 2006 used at least two handheld cameras on the floor.  Even worse, sometimes the cameraman on the floor will zoom in on wrestlers while they are calling spots, making the action look amateurish.  An argument could be made that they could only afford one cameraman on the floor, but I say that if they can afford to set up and operate a big video screen at events (which NECW did), then they could afford two cameramen on the floor.

-3.) The DVDs are of poor quality.  They look like the kind of DVDRWs you can find in any CVS, just with an NECW title glued onto the cover.  Considering that this is a “best of”, and would likely have been one of the most-bought DVDs that NECW put out in 2007 (especially since NECW rarely released individual shows on DVD), more effort should have been put into it.  The first disc won’t play on my TV (I had to play it on my computer in order to watch it) despite being little used over the years, while my copy of Glory By Honor V Night 2 plays like a charm even though I’ve had it longer.

-4.) The commentary is bad.  I had a very brief conversation with owner/booker Shelton Goldberg at their Birthday Bash show in 2007, and he seemed like a nice guy who was actually grateful for my kind words toward his product.  That said, he’s a crap announcer.  Even worse, he’s the only announcer.

With those strikes going against it, let’s dive right in!

-December 16, 2006 – Quincy, MA
Jason Blade vs. “Hurricane” John Walters
Match gets off to a bad start as the announcer relays some info that isn’t picked up well by the cameras.  Blade is an underrated performer, while Walters was an ROH Pure Champion in 2004 with a victory over Nigel McGuinness on his resume and is/was the best part of Lucha Libre USA as the xenophobic RJ Brewer.  Blade and Walters brawl from out of the locker room.  Blade gets the early advantage with basic stuff.  A running kneestrike from Blade looked horrendous.  A missed elbowdrop from the top rope lets Walters get the advantage with a kick to Blade’s arm (called a kick to the chest by Goldberg).  Walters holds a vertical suplex for 17 seconds, which is impressive but doesn’t really help put over his heel act, which is pretty fun to watch.  Walters takes the fight to the floor and does every move that a heel should do on the outside of the ring (guardrail drop, back rake, etc.).  Blade gets the advantage back in the ring with a slingshot senton, but a superkick gets blocked into a Walters powerbomb that gets a two-count.  The action leaves the ring again, and a complicated sequence sees Blade execute a running flip over the guardrail onto Walters.  The moves are sweet, but this is pretty tame stuff for what was billed as part of a long-running blood feud.  Blade misses a charge back in the ring and spills out to the floor.  Walters executes a kneedrop from the top rope to Blade on the floor (which is BARELY captured by the hard cam—see, this is why you have two guys on the floor with cameras, not just two cameras, period).  Blade comes back with a backdrop suplex and a wheelbarrow facebuster for a two-count.  Blade goes up top, but a whole lot of nothing is countered into a falling powerbomb.  Walters puts Blade on the top rope and eventually executes a superplex that sees Blade almost reach the other corner of the ring.  Either that ring is hella small or Walters is hella tall—this being a cheap indie, I’m willing to bet on the former.  A series of pinfall attempts ends with Walters getting the Owen Hart reversal to a victory roll (while holding the ropes) for the win at 12:12.  After the match, Walters hits the Widow’s Peak just in case you forgot that he was the heel.  He gets a ladder out from under the ring and waits 8 millenia for Blade to get to his feet…only for Blade to dodge the strike and hit a dropkick (in theory) and beat up Walters with the ladder (with no strike coming close to hurting Walters).  Blade “hits” a moonsault onto Walters and a ladder, then keeps punching him until he is separated by referees. I like both guys, and they threw some cool stuff into the match, but it never felt like it completely gelled into a cohesive whole.  The bad production and missed spots didn’t help matters.  ** 

-October 28, 2006 – Quincy, MA
“Straight Edge” Brian Fury vs. “The Exotic” Kristian Frost
Fury is a good-looking guy who is easy to get behind, while Frost looks like he would like to easily get behind good-looking guys.  Frost stalls early.  Yawn.  They fight over a lockup and release the lockup without consequence.  BEST OF 2006, ladies and gentlemen.  A second lockup sees Frost hit a cheap forearm, but a third leads to a Fury hiptoss and an armdrag.  And another armdrag.  And another.  Somebody liked WCW’s cruiserweights.  Frost eventually retreats to the outside and stalls until Fury pulls him up by his “Jersey Shore” frosted tips.  A series of unfortunate events leads to Fury charging over the top rope and hurting his elbow on the floor.  Frost gets some heel heat offense, including some ugly kicks in the corner.  Frost crotches himself on a charge, though.  Fury begins making a comeback, including a pretty good spinning sideslam, but Frost dodges a neckbreaker and hits an inverted samoan flatliner for 2.  Frost puts on a cape, but misses a crossbody.  WATCH OUT FOR THAT…mat.  Fury gets 2 off of his neckbreaker, but runs into Frost’s feet on a charge.  Frost misses a roaring elbow, though, and Fury gets a schoolboy rollup for the pin at 10:14.  Fury celebrates for 2 seconds, then gets clocked with brass knuckles.  The early stalling wasn’t needed, but the match got entertaining halfway through.  There’s little here you haven’t seen before, but both guys showed a lot of potential. **1/2

-June 10, 2006 – Framingham, MA
Sabotage (DC Dillinger and “Die Hard” Eddie Edwards) w/ Sean Gorman vs. “The Human Nightmare” Evan Siks and “Hurricane” John Walters
(PWF Mayhem Championship and the NECW Championship are on the line)
Sabotage come out to a certain Beastie Boys song.  Eddie Edwards is good at this point, but not close to the level he’s at now. I went to high school with Evan Siks.  He was a senior when I was a freshman.  As part of a gym ropes course, I saw him almost brain someone into a tree (by accident, of course).  DC Dillinger is built like a basketball player—hella tall but lacking muscle definition.  Walters is a face here.  Siks’s PWF Mayhem and Walters’s NECW belts are on the line—if one of them loses the match, they lose the belt to the man who beat them (but the other belt doesn’t change hands).  In return, Siks and Walters get a chance at shutting up Sabotage once and for all.

Edwards doesn’t want any part of Siks, and Siks and Dillinger go to a lockup stalemate, so Walters tags in and works a sequence of little consequence with Dillinger.  Edwards tags in and takes Walters to the mat.  Walters is all like, “Foo’, I was a Pure Champion, what the hell are you thinking trying to outwrestle me?” and scares Edwards out of the ring. Edwards stalls until Siks tags in, and Edwards outwrestles Siks for a bit.  Siks doing technical wrestling is just as ridiculous as Kane taking down opponents with headlock takeovers.  If you advertise yourself as a monster, what the hell are you doing working like a cruiserweight?  The Sik Hurricanes (hey, why not) work over Edwards a bit, but Edwards escapes and tags in Dillinger, who works a headlock on Walters.  Walters gets out of it and tells Dillinger to look up, leaving Dillinger open for a huge slap. Edwards runs in but gets slapped, too, and Dillinger gets double hiptossed.  Dillinger gets out of trouble with a falling chokeslam.  They’re putting in a lot of moves, but the match seriously needs some structure.  Siks plays Ricky Morton for a bit, which is a good idea since it gives the match a story, but it’s also a bad idea since he’s not good at selling.  An entire second passes between a Dillinger lariat and Siks taking the bump, to give an example.  Dillinger works in a one-armed Cattle Mutilation, which Siks escapes from because…well, the move was completely asinine.  Siks and Dillinger level each other with big boots, which leads to hot tags that sees Walters make Edwards look completely incompetent.  He works in a top rope frankensteiner on Edwards, and then a lungblower on Sabotage at the same time (one knee in the back of each man).  NICE!  The referee gets bumped, Siks gets Superkicked by Edwards over the top rope, and Edwards gets one of the belts while Dillinger restrains Walters.  Walters moves while Edwards is in mid-swing, of course, but Edwards stops himself from hitting Dillinger, making him smarter than 95% of all wrestlers EVER.  Edwards gets tossed over the top rope by Walters, but Dillinger capitalizes on the chaos by hitting Walters with the belt, and the referee comes around to count the pin at 15:02 and give Dillinger the NECW Championship.  Gorman sticks around for too long, and gets a Widow’s Peak for his transgression.  The match was never lacking in enthusiasm, and it got pretty good when Edwards and/or Walters were in the ring.  Most of it was “guys doing moves” instead of “guys doing a match”, but the match felt like 5 minutes instead of 15.  **3/4

-July 22, 2006 – Quincy, MA
Jason Blade vs. “The Exotic” Kristian Frost w/ TJ Wild
A fan wants a prematch handshake, but this isn’t ROH so nobody cares.  Goldberg: “Frost with a go-behind—and how fitting is that?”  Told you.  Standard indie armwork early on.  Ten bucks says neither man is selling an arm at bell’s end.  Blade gets a go-behind (is that fitting, Mr. Goldberg?), but Frost grabs a leg so Blade gets to the ropes.  Wild grabs Blade’s leg on an Irish Whip, but Blade shakes it off and backdrops Frost over the top rope.  Frost recovers by throwing Blade into the guardrail.  Back in the ring , Frost works a choke and a hard Irish Whip into a corner.  There’s some blatant spot-calling in the ring (if I notice it, trust me, it’s blatant).  Blade powers out of a chinlock and hits an overhead belly-to-belly suplex.  Frost comes back with a big clothesline that Blade sells with a backflip.  Blade tries a sunset flip, but Frost sits down on it and grabs the ropes in full view of the referee.  The referee, for his part, gives Frost a “how dumb do you think I am” look.  In Frost’s defense, you’re a referee.  You have tunnel vision, get distracted by chattermouths outside of the ring, and crumple to the ground if a wrestler so much as breathes on you wrong.  Frost puts Blade in a tree of woe and backs away while Wild chokes Blade.  Scoreboard: Frost 1, Referee 1.  Blade eventually hits a dropkick, and the referee starts a ten-count.  Both men recover, and an indie rollup sequence sees Blade find many, many ways of putting Frost’s shoulders against the mat.  Eight hundred billion strikes get dodged until each man settles on hitting rolling belly-to-back suplexes.  Blade rolls through one and faceplants Frost, but Wild jumps on the apron.  Wild takes a nice bump off of a dropkick, but Frost hits Blade with brass knucks for a two-count(?!).  Fan: “Hey Walnuts!  Take a picture, it’ll last longer!”  Oh yeah?  OH YEAH?!  Well, yo momma so fat, she sweats butter!  Yo momma so stupid, she got lost on a one-way street!  You momma so ugly, Jude Law turned her down!  I’ll stop now.  Frost tries the inverted samoan flatliner (screw it, I’m calling it the Gayway from now on), but Blade escapes and goes for the O’Connor Roll.  Frost rolls through, though, and gets the three-count while laying on the bottom rope AND holding hands with Wild at 10:38.  Frost 2, Referee 1.  Inoffensive fun (homophobia notwithstanding), but I get the feeling that Frost was holding back because he wanted to save some stuff for the bigger indies, which is a good attitude to have if you don’t plan on making a living in the wrestling business.  **1/2

-March 5, 2006 – Somerville, MA
PWF Mayhem Women’s Championship Match
“Portuguese Princess” Ariel © vs. Cindy Rogers
This is from the debut show of World Women’s Wrestling, and the difference in production is quite noticeable.  The video footage is much worse (think early YouTube quality), but the lone cameraman at ringside is much better at getting quality shots of the action.  I actually prefer the production work here over the other NECW stuff on this disc.

Ariel shouldn’t be mistaken for Shelly Martinez.  She’s a pretty good worker and easy on the eyes, though not drop-dead gorgeous by any means.  Cindy Rogers has the “tall self-righteous girl” thing going for her.  As I’ve often made a big fuss about this sort of thing, I have to point out that Ariel comes out second and that makes me happy.  The two start off by appealing to the crowd, trying to get more cheers than the other girl.  Ariel wins easily but gets hit from behind.  Ariel recovers, though, and armdrags Rogers out of the ring.  Rogers stalls, taking time to sit on the laps of a few fans while on the floor (it’s funnier than it sounds).  She gets back in and gains control with underhanded tactics.  Rogers works a figure-four leglock variation while Goldberg mentions that her biggest influence in wrestling was…Bret Hart.  Facepalm.  See below for rant.*  Rogers uses a double-underhook suplex to get a delayed two-count.  Ariel hits a pair of elbows and a chop to Rogers’s back, but Rogers recovers with a facebuster and reapplies the figure-four.  Ariel makes it to the ropes, so Rogers hits a hard bodyslam and applies a butterfly lock.  Ariel escapes and reverses a fisherman’s suplex into a Small Package and gets a series of rollups before Rogers loses her patience and rakes Ariel’s eyes.  Rogers applies a seated Stretch Plum.  I approve.  Ariel gets out of it by leaning back and trying to get a pin out of it.  Rogers telegraphs a backdrop horribly, and Ariel makes her pay for it with a lariat and a northern lights suplex for a two-count.  Rogers reverses an irish whip into a russian legsweep.  Ariel recovers with a fisherman’s suplex for a two-count.  Ariel misses a clothesline and gets hit with a neckbreaker.  Rogers applies an armtrapped STF, but Ariel makes it to the ropes and hits a Dariel (armtrapped cutter) for a two-count (an acceptable kickout, though, since Ariel took time to pull Rogers away from the ropes).  Ariel applies a seated hammerlock version of the Cattle Mutilation, and Rogers taps out at 9:07.  The match had some timing issues, but it was still worlds better than the stuff you’ll see on television nowadays.  It actually had a defined story—Rogers trying to get the win by cheap means and stretching Ariel out, while Ariel kept making comebacks with fluke rollups and high-impact offense.  Best match on the set so far, though that’s not saying much.  ***

*I know that statement was made to put over her credentials as a wrestling fan (it makes her sound more qualified to be in the ring than saying that she was a fan of Hulk Hogan), but you are allowed to fib a little in this situation and match up signature moves with their influences.  It’s a little thing, but it would have been an effective piece of commentary if he had just said that she was a Ric Flair fan while applying the figure-four.  As it is, it sounds like a throwaway line thrown out there to prevent dead air.  It would be like a wrestler using a DDT and an announcer saying that the guy grew up idolizing Jimmy Snuka, or a wrestler using a leg drop and an announcer putting over the guy’s admiration of Randy Savage.

-September 30, 2006 – Quincy, MA
NECW Triple Crown Championship Match
“The Human Nightmare” Evan Siks © vs. Jason Blade
We’re skipping a LOT of backstory here.  Basically, the PWF Mayhem and Heavyweight titles were unified with the NECW Heavyweight Title—meaning that Siks found time to win the PWF Heavyweight Title and then beat Dillinger for the NECW Heavyweight title.  Wouldn’t it have been nice if any of that stuff was on here?

Siks, the champion, comes out second.  Yay!  He’s also wearing much more flattering ring gear than he was earlier.  Goldberg: “One thing we were discussing was who is the crowd going to cheer?”  Who were you discussing this with, Mr. Goldberg?  Can you give him a microphone and let him do commentary?  Or were you talking with your friend Zach while searching for subliminal messages in your coffee?  Siks and Blade shake hands before the match.  MONSTERS AREN’T SUPPOSED TO SHAKE HANDS.  What’s next, is he going to work a highly technical match full of schoolboy rollups?  Back to the action.  Siks gets a two-count off of a schoolboy rollup and gets out of a wristlock with a front handspring. …Jesus Christ on a pogo stick.  Blade works a headlock (that wristlock must have worn him out) and takes Siks down with an armdrag’n’twist.  He hits an Exploder Suplex for a two-count.  Um, Blade is skinny.  Siks is fat.  That doesn’t make sense.  Siks recovers with a belly-to-back facebuster and grabs a chinlock.  I’ll admit that Siks’s technical work isn’t bad, but (a) he has several visible tattoos of mean stuff, (b) one of his signature moves is a curb stomp, (c) he wears dark makeup on his face, (d) he calls himself “The Human Nightmare”.  He’s trying to posit himself as someone to be feared, but his work doesn’t match the persona.  One kid starts chanting “We want violence”.  You and me both, brother.  Siks hits a mean powerslam (yay!) and slaps on a chinlock (boo!).  Blade gets two off of a slingshot rolling prawn hold but gets leveled with a European Uppercut (WTF?).  The action goes outside of the ring, and for a few seconds both men are COMPLETELY off-screen.  Siks puts Blade back in the ring and hits a slingshot senton for a two-count.  All he has to do is change your nickname and all of my complaints would go out the window.  Well, most of them anyway.  Blade stops another neckbreaker attempt and hits one of his own.  The kid from earlier has now taken to chanting “boring”.  I wouldn’t go that far, but I understand where he’s coming from.  Blade misses a charge in the corner and hurts his arm.  Siks takes advantage with a lariat (yay!) and another chinlock (boo!).  He switches it into a full nelson, but Blade gets out of it with a chin crusher.  Siks misses a clothesline and gets dropped with a spinning fireball bomb, then gets “hit” with a moonsault for a two-count.  Siks catches Blade on a leapfrog attempt in a powerbomb position (yay!), then lets him down and hits a Flatliner (boo!) into a wristclutch crossface (booo!).  Blade makes it to the ropes, but Siks drags Blade to the center of the ring and applies the hold again.  Blade makes it to the ropes again.  Siks goes for the Siks Sense (death valley driver), but Blade flips out of it and hits a superkick for a two-count.  Siks finds an opening and hits the Eye Of The Hurricane for a two-count.  If I didn’t care about this computer, I would be slamming my head against it.  Siks catches Blade out of midair, and then I don’t know what in the blue hell happened next.  Siks dropped Blade hard, but Blade got up like it was nothing and got a two-count.  Even Goldberg called it as an offensive move by Siks at first.  Blade goes to the top rope but gets interrupted by a video message from John Walters.  The audio isn’t cleanly captured, but the gist of it is that he doesn’t like Blade and he plans on doing very bad things to him in the near future.  When the message ends, Blade jumps off of the top rope, but Siks catches him and hits the Siks Sense for the win at 14:47.  After the match, Eddie Edwards comes out and attacks Siks.  Sean Gorman comes out and hurls some insults at Siks, going as far as calling him “Crayola-Face”.  Siks makes his own save with a spear on Edwards, and Edwards runs away like a ninny.  As far as the match goes, it sucked.  I get that both guys are faces and that working the match in the way it was (instead of having Siks smack Blade around from pillar to post) was key in having Siks remain a babyface, but that’s why you don’t book the match in the first place.  Also, the payoff to all of that work was a screwy finish that made everyone look stupid, and was used to build up the first match on this DVD.  Everything about this match makes me angry.  I’m very tempted to give it no stars, but I’m also feeling generous today.  1/2*

-November 18, 2006 – Quincy, MA
World Women’s Wrestling Championship Match
Nikki Roxx © vs. Jana
This match occurred on an NECW show.  Nikki Roxx is best known for her work in TNA as Roxxi Leveaux, and is generally considered to be a great wrestler that hasn’t received enough credit.  Jana is an angry black woman.  Yep, that’s about it.

Roxx is the champion and comes out second.  Yay!  Armwork done early. Less than a minute into the match, I can tell that Jana is crap. She moves like she has a broom up her butt, and outside of being black, she has no persona (and she doesn’t even play up that one dimension of herself). The people love Roxx, but the ringside cam clearly picks up Roxx telling Jana to reverse a headlock.  Roxx encourages an “Oprah” chant, though, so all is forgiven.  Roxx reverses an irish whip into a…foxtrot.  Jana takes offense to this, so Roxx foxtrots with the referee (Roxx leads, of course).  Roxx dips him, but he falls onto his butt.  Jana remembers that she exists and trips Roxx over the referee, but Roxx gets up and hits a clothesline.  Roxx can clearly be seen and heard calling for a bodyslam (of all the times to NOT use the hard camera!).  She gives Jana a tour of the turnbuckles.  Jana blocks corner punches, though, and knocks her over with an elbow strike.  She gets a two-count off of nothing that looked like it hurt.  A suplex gets another two-count.  She slaps on a seated chinlock, giving me the chance to try to remember where I saw Jana’s pants on sale (pretty sure you can find a pair at Kohl’s).  Roxx comes back with a “flying” jumping forearm and a spinebuster for a two-count.  Jana stops a backdrop and eventually hits a bulldog.  Roxx hits a Double Wristclutch Suplex, but Jana is in the ropes.  Tanya Lee comes out and distracts Roxx, but Jana accidently hits the referee when she tries to attack Roxx.  Roxx tries to revive the referee while Jana gets the belt.  Roxx sees the belt and charges Jana anyway.  STIMPY, YOU EEDIOT!  Jana clocks Roxx with the belt, but there’s still no referee.  She counts her own pinfall.  Twice.  Finally, she gets up and revives the referee.  Roxx gets up and smacks Jana with the belt, earning Jana the win by disqualification at 9:16.  Jana walks away from the match with a laceration.  This match was donkey excrement.  The production exposed much of the work, which wasn’t great to begin with.  Jana had heat, but that was because she was a heel working with a very popular performer—if Jana was replaced with an evil mop, nobody would have noticed a difference in workrate or crowd reaction.  The whole affair is saved from oblivion by Roxx having fun throughout.  ¼*

The 411: This is not a good start to this two-disc set. The booking is solid, but the production and wrestling are all over the place in quality. If you find this disc for purchase by itself, pass on it.
Final Score:  5.2   [ Not So Good ]