wrestling / TV Reports
Hall’s All Caribbean Wrestling Island Vibes Review
Image Credit: ACW
Loading...Island Vibes
Date: March 30, 2023
Location: Common Space Brewery, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Megan, Aloysius Gibergenes III
Time for another promotion you have probably never heard of with All Caribbean Wrestling. It’s another case where I have no idea what is going on here but they are running a show in Los Angeles over Wrestlemania Weekend so it’s time to look. If nothing else, when are you going to see a wrestling promotion from Trinidad & Tobago? Let’s get to it.
Note that I am coming into this completely blind so I have no idea what to expect here. I’m sorry in advance for missing any story notes, character history etc. Granted this is the third event the promotion has ever presented so there isn’t much to know.
Commentary welcomes us to the show and that is as close as I can get to the man’s name. He even makes a joke about how fast he can say the it.
Jay Malachi vs. Diego Hill
Malachi (I think, as there are no graphics and the sound is far from great) jumps Hill to start but blocks the springboard cutter (the Malacutter). They bounce and flip to counter a bit more until a stomp to the back keeps Malachi down. A standing shooting star press gives Hill two but Malachi is back up with some right hands out of the corner.
Malachi gets two off a springboard clothesline (the camera cuts are REALLY weird here as one angle him pulling back for the springboard and the next showed the move landing). Hill pulls a springboard out of the air though and hits a spinning Samoan driver for the pin at 2:33. Well that was quick after a very gymnastic match.
FEW Flares Title: Mazzerati vs. Brooke Havok
This appears to be another promotion’s Women’s Title and Mazzerati is defending. Mazzerati also comes out with another, unidentified title. Havok gets stomped down in the corner and Mazzerati hits Eat Defeat from the apron. Choking with what looks to be a glove ensues and a snap suplex gives Mazzerati two but Brooke jawbreaks her way out of trouble. A basement dropkick gets two on Mazzerati but she’s right back with a rollup and trunks for the pin to retain at 4:02.
Rating: C-. This was quick and to the point but not exactly great stuff. There is only so much that you can get out of something like this as Mazzerati beat her up, got caught for a few seconds, and then cheated to win. That isn’t exactly an exciting match, though what were they supposed to do with about four minutes?
Los Nuevos Gringos Locos vs. Diablo Azteca/Rockero/???
This is under lucha rules and Locos aren’t given individual names (or maybe they did, but the sound quality on this is pretty dreadful). Rockero (thank goodness for names on boots) starts with the bald Loco and sends him to the apron. The bald one is sent outside, meaning it’s off to the big one vs. Azteca. A quick headscissors puts the big one on the floor so the one with hair (Pistolero according to his tights) comes in and gets headlocked by….I think commentary said Diaz so we’ll go with that.
The bald Loco (Fabuloso Pelon, which is apparently the nickname of a Jason Styles) gets in a cheap shot though, allowing Pistolero to hit a clothesline. Rockero comes back in and gets beaten down, only to avoid the big one’s middle rope moonsault. Everything breaks down and Rockero victory rolls the big one (Maskara Infernal) for the pin at 5:04.
Rating: C. I’m not sure which is worse: the fact that the most entertaining part of the match was trying to figure out their names or the fact that we are twenty two minutes into the match and this is the longest match so far. It was a pretty basic six man lucha match with wrestlers who aren’t that high up on the totem pole, but again, you can only be so bad or good with so little time out there. Completely watchable match if you aren’t looking for anything to blow your mind.
Commentary talks….and the camera cuts back to the ring mid-sentence. Come on they’re not that bad.
Isaiah Bronson vs. Elijah Burke
The heck is the Pope doing on this show??? Bronson is a very tall guy and shoves Burke down hard to start. A shoulder does the same as Burke needs to think this out. Burke sends him face first into the corner and hammers away, only to miss a running splash. Bronson starts working on the arm, including dropping some hard knees.
A boot to the arm cuts off a comeback attempt and Bronson lifts him by said arm for more cranking. Bronson’s chokeslam is countered into a DDT and after a breather, Burke gets to rain down some right hands in the corner. Burke gets sent to the apron but flips back in and hits a low superkick. Bronson pops back up and tries a Tombstone, which Burke reverses into one of his own. The top rope elbow gives Burke the pin at 9:26.
Rating: C+. It was definitely the best match on the show by a mile, but that could be to either the talent involved or having some extra time. Burke is clearly a lot better than anyone else around here so far and it was nice to see him get some time here. Bronson is a big enough guy that he might get a look down the road, but for now he’s just tall.
Sidenote: the camera cuts that go back or forward a second were FAR worse in that match as I kept thinking my internet was messing up. Stop doing that.
FEW Tag Team Titles: Nu Nation vs. Bollywood Boyz
The Nation (Oba Zo/Prince Agballah) is defending and the Boyz dance with the ring announcer before the champs come to the ring. Gurv and Zo start things off with the much bigger Zo shoving him down. A headlock works a bit better for Gurv and it’s off to Harv to work on the arm. The legdrop onto the arm sets up an armbar and it’s Gurv coming back in for his own armbar.
Zo finally sends him into the corner and it’s Prince coming in for a running splash. Gurv gets sent into the corner and his back is bent over Prince’s knee. Zo (whose gear looks to be inspired by Kamala’s stomach) comes back in to crank on the neck but misses a charge in the corner. The hot tag brings in Harv to clean house, including an atomic drop to put Zo down. A top rope elbow connects but Prince’s distraction lets Zo get in a belt shot to retain at 8:07.
Rating: C. The string of ok but really basic matches continues as the Boyz, who can do a bit more than this, didn’t have much to work with here. The Nation are a pair of big guys who did basic power moves while the Boyz were out there to pick up the pace. It also doesn’t help that the Boyz are some of the bigger names on the card and they might as well have been any speed team. I’m running out of ways to say “this wasn’t bad but it came and went” because that is the theme of this show.
Commentary: “What happened?” “I do not know.” I….don’t think they can make it much more obvious.
Post match the Boyz grab the mic to say the champs suck and volunteer to face them next month in Trinidad. The match seems to be made.
Intermission.
Jada Stone vs. Ameera Rose
Rose jumps her to start and the fight is on fast. Stone Matrixes away from her though and sends Rose into the corner for the running knees. Back up and Rose sends her face first into the middle buckle and gets two off a full nelson slam. Kicks to the back keep Stone in trouble but she avoids a charge. Stone misses a moonsault though and Rose suplexes her into a chinlock. Back up and Rose forearms her way out of trouble, setting up a splits Stunner for the pin at 3:43.
Rating: C. And now we’re back to where we were before, with the short matches that don’t have time to get anywhere. Neither of them really stood out and it felt like another match that was there to fill in time on the card. Then again if that’s the case, you would think the match would have broken four minutes. If they can’t do more than that (though they very well could), I’m not sure why they’re on a show.
Juicy Finau/Juice Kross vs. Kimo Killer/Big Fonz
Kross (at least I think that was his name) is a martial artist. Finau, who weighs over 400lbs, powers around Kimo (again, I think that’s his name, as commentary is almost impossible to hear a good chunk of the time). Fonz (also called EOC) comes in and dropkicks Killer down, meaning it’s Finau coming back in to run him over. Double teaming doesn’t work as Finau splashes Kross by mistake, allowing Fonz to drop him with three straight clotheslines. Kross comes back in and gets kneed in the face, setting up a top rope double stomp/reverse fireman’s carry slam combination for the pin at 5:03.
Rating: C-. Finau is a rather big man who certainly stands out but the other three involved didn’t in any real way. As has been the case almost all night, this came and went so fast that nothing about it stood out. Getting four people involved in about five minutes can be done but they didn’t make it work very well here, meaning it’s another match that I’ll have forgotten about in a few minutes.
JC Storm vs. Amera
Storm has cotton candy with her. They trade fast rollups for two each until Amera (or Tower of Power as they keep calling her, despite not being very tall) dropkicks her into the corner. A running uppercut into a sidewalk slam gets two on Storm but she starts going after the back. Amera’s belly to back suplex gets a pair of near falls and some hard forearms make it worse. Storm is right back up with a ripcord Downward Spiral for the pin at 4:35.
Rating: C-. At least Amera did some power stuff to make half of her nickname make sense. The cotton candy on the other hand did nothing for Storm, which would have made things more interesting. Other than that, you had two women trading some moves, though Amera was trying with a different style.
Alan Angels vs. Malik Bosede
Angels is “representing the Design” because I can’t escape those people. They fight over a lockup with Angels taking him into the corner to get under Malik’s skin. Malik shoulders him down and grabs a rollup for two before hitting a quick Sling Blade. A twisting splash out of the corner gets two more so Angels bails to the floor, where he uses the ring skirt to trip Malik down.
Back in and we hit the chinlock for a bit to slow things down. Malik fights up and hits a spinebuster, followed by a bulldog. Angels crotches him in the corner though and hits a running dropkick for two. They chop it out with Angels hitting a clothesline for two, leaving him stunned. Malik is back up with a tiger bomb though and a 450 finishes Angels at 8:39 in quite the upset.
Rating: C+. Angels is a name that some might recognize and it can mean a lot for one of the promotion’s stars to get a win like this. While I don’t think Malik is going to be on Angels’ level anytime soon, this is going to make a difference for the ACW shows in the future. It helps that it was one of the better matches on the show, which granted might not mean much.
Commentary plus the next show and we’re out.
