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

For what it’s worth, this DVD kind of works with my TV. My major grievances that I pointed out on the first disc still apply here, though.

-November 18, 2006 – Quincy, MA
NECW Triple Crown Championship Match – Bunkhouse Match
“The Human Nightmare” Evan Siks © w/ Rick Fuller vs. DC Dillinger w/ Sean Gorman
This is specifically called a “Quincy Street Fight” by owner/booker/announcer Sheldon Goldberg.  I expect a stabbing.  Siks, the champion, comes out second.  Yay!  Fuller (who you might remember as a WCW jobber) and Gorman are handcuffed as part of a stipulation.  Gorman talks trash but also looks convinced that Fuller is going to eat him for dinner.  Eventually, Goldberg threatens to call off the match and prevent Dillinger from getting another title shot for a year if Gorman and Fuller aren’t cuffed within one minute.  There’s some complications with the handcuffs.  Fan: “C’mon, man, 30 seconds!”  Also, I just noticed that Siks is being billed from Boston. That’s a pretty bland hometown to have in a Northeast promotion. Even John Cena is billed as being from West Newbury.

Dillinger get the early advantage with cheapshots, but they aren’t very effective.  Siks backdrops Dillinger to the floor—big bump for a guy his size to take.  Dillinger gets tossed over the guardrail.  Siks follows him out and starts whipping him with a belt.  Dillinger gets out of trouble by tripping Siks over some chairs.  Dillinger starts choking Siks with a chair, but gets stopped when Siks throws water into his eyes.  Siks throws Dillinger back to ringside and irish whips him into a Fuller clothesline.  Gorman, whose arm was stretched out as part of the move, looks ashamed of himself.  Goldberg: “You’re not going to see a lot of drop toe holds or chain wrestling in this match.”  Hurray!  Siks sits Dillinger down and goes for a cannonball, but Dillinger moves and Siks goes headfirst into the guardrail.  Oh, senseless violence, how I adore you.  Dillinger works Siks over with a chair and then gets a HIGH legdrop back in the ring.  Dillinger works Siks over with chokes and kicks.  Siks takes a powder but gets his neck snapped over the ropes when he tries to get back in.  Siks tries a comeback but gets leveled with a clothesline.  Geez, when did Siks learn to sell?  It had to have been between June and November because he’s actually pretty good at it here.  Dillinger lays a chair over Siks and hits a springboard legdrop.  Um, wow.  Siks starts bleeding from the blow.  Dillinger takes off his shirt and throws it in the crowd.  It gets thrown back.  E-C-Dub!  E-C-Dub!  E-C-Dub!  Dillinger stabs Siks with a fork repeatedly.  I could make a joke about how this is approaching the level of violence of other specific cities in Massachusetts, but out of the goodness of my heart, I won’t.  Dillinger tries to hit Siks with a chain, but Siks blocks it by hitting Dillinger with a piece of wood.  Siks tries to hit Dillinger with a chain-assisted punch, but it gets blocked and Dillinger starts choking Siks with the chain.  When Siks doesn’t, um, die, Dillinger hits him with a trash can and digs the piece of wood into Siks’s cut.  Siks gets some breathing room when Dillinger starts missing shots, and Siks hits a flying forearm back in the ring.  Siks starts hitting Dillinger over the head with the wood.  Siks retrieves a belt while Dillinger picks up a chair.  Dillinger panics, though, and throws the chair at Siks, who easily dodges it.  Dillinger gets whipped a bit before making an opening with a kneestrike.  Dillinger misses a chairshot in the corner, and Siks throws the chair right into Dillinger’s face.  That’s sick but it only gets a two-count.  Siks hits Siks Sense but Dillinger kicks out of that as well.  Tripleicious runs in and helps Dillinger hit H-Cubed (inverted 3D) onto a chair.  Fuller knocks out Gorman and uncuffs himself for the save.  Kristian Frost starts attacking Fuller, but Brian Fury attacks him, and Fuller and Fury chase him to the back.  Dillinger and Tripleicious work over Siks until Fuller returns.  Tripleicious takes a hike rather than deal with Fuller, leaving Dillinger to take a chokeslam.  Fuller pulls Siks onto Dillinger, and the referee counts the pinfall at 16:25.  Gorman wakes up only to get knocked out with a double chokeslam, and then revived again just so that he can take Siks Sense.  That was a much better street fight than I was expecting, and also more violent than I thought it would be.  Dillinger looks like Test’s goony brother, but he showed great match psychology and surprising athleticism.  The ending was ridiculously overbooked, but it still fit into Sabotage’s heel antics.  Great stuff all around.  ***1/2

-July 28, 2006 – Greenfield, MA
“Die Hard” Eddie Edwards w/ Sean Gorman vs. “Straight Edge” Brian Fury
Edwards stalls early.  He locks in a wristlock and tells Fury to give up.  Fury flips out of it and puts on a wristlock of his own.  Edwards gets stopped at every turn, so he stalls again.  For a while.  And then some.  Blergh! He literally stalls for minutes at a time.  Fury finally slings him back into the ring.  Edwards tries to retreat but Perfectly Crotches himself.  And then he stalls.  I’ve seen fewer stalls in public bathrooms.  He hits on a hot chick in the front row, which is sort of funny and just noteworthy enough to be worth mentioning.  Edwards gets back in and hits some hard strikes.  He misses a charge, though, and takes the HBK Turnbuckle Kicks’n’Crotching.  So what does Edwards do?  He immediately recovers, hits some high-impact offense, and slings himself around like the offspring of Jack Evans and Rey Mysterio.  Psych—he stalls.  Fury hits a crossbody to the floor, but Gorman provides a distraction and Edwards takes control…slowly.  They exchange chops, and Edwards chokes Fury over the middle rope.  Edwards seats Fury down and hits a running…chinlock.  Okay, that was funny.  Typical blown comeback from Fury.  Edwards hits a snap suplex and climbs the turnbuckle.  He misses a splash, though, which leads to more stalling.  They get to their feet, but a Fury O’Connor Roll gets blocked.  Fury depants Edwards and rolls him up for a two-count.  Good thing he didn’t try that on Al Snow.  Fury hits a Chris Sabin-esque springboard DDT.  Goldberg: “Fury, literally, beating the pants off of Eddie Edwards!”  Tee hee.  They exchange strikes, and by exchange, I mean Fury beats the piss out of Edwards while Edwards almost hits him a few times.  Spinning side slam by Fury gets a two-count.  Fury gets his neckbreaker out of an Irish Whip to the corner for a two-count.  Edwards trips Fury and tries to pin him with his feet on the ropes, but that only gets a two-count.  Edwards works over Fury with strikes.  Edwards climbs the turnbuckles, but he gets dropped with a falling powerbomb for a two-count.  That must be a favored spot among NECW workers.  Fury tries to climb the turnbuckle himself, but he gets slowed down by Gorman, allowing Edwards to cut him off and hit the Flux Capacitor for the win at 15:57.  The first half of the match was stalling, which is a great way to get heat with crowds but doesn’t translate well for television or DVD.  The second half was pretty fun, though.  **

-September 30, 2006 – Quincy, MA
NECW Television Championship Match
“The Talent” TJ Richter © w/ Nat Turner vs. “Big Guns” Frankie Arion
Richter, the champion, comes out first, which makes me a sad panda.  Arion has put his career on the line to get this title shot.  I’m not too familiar with either man.  Arion gets the early advantage with some quick stuff.  Richter gets in a cheap shot and gains the advantage with a World’s Kinda Strong Slam.  Turner works a choke in.  Arion hits a dropkick and gets caught calling spots while getting up.  Richter hits a spinebuster for a two-count.  Richter has decent heel mannerisms, but he looks very unsure of himself.  He hits a Suplex Backbreaker for a two-count and gets dropped with an enzuiguri.  Arion hits more kicks to get in control.  Goldberg claims that Arion is in amazing shape, which is a stretch.  He looks better than me, but not by much.  He works in a katahajime, which leads to more spot calling.  Seriously, the cameraman on the floor zooms in on Richter and Arion seemingly having a conversation.  Richter gets to the ropes.  Richter hits a spinebuster for a two-count.  Could’ve sworn I just typed that.  Richter hits crappy punches until Arion decides to make a comeback.  He hits a Thesz Press and hits a running “I JUST LOST MY COOL AND AM NOW COMPLETELY IRRATIONAL” elbowdrop for a two-count (looking like an animation right out of a wrestling video game).  A diving crossbody takes out the referee.  Crash Holly Bulldog takes down Richter, who starts asking Arion for a reminder of what spot comes next.  They’re not even trying to hide it anymore.  Arion covers Richter, but there’s no referee.  Scott Reed counts the pinfall, but he’s just there to be a dick.  Arion beats him up until he tires of it.  Richter hits Arion with the belt and hits a 1/2 Star Splash for a two-count.  He eventually hits a pumphandle facebuster for a two-count.  He eventually hits a pumphandle facebuster for a three-count at 11:58.  Could’ve sworn I jus—oh wait, the second one ended the match.  Richter tries to cause more pain, but Arion knocks him loopy instead.  The production significantly hurt the match, and Richter did not look ready to hold a belt (and not in a “cheap heel” way).  The match had plenty of heat, though, and Arion did his best to make it watchable.  *

-March 5, 2006 – Somerville, MA
NECW Women’s Championship Match
Nikki Roxx vs. Mercedes Martinez vs. Violet Flame ©
Mercedes Martinez is a familiar face in the independent scene.  Violet Flame comes out to “Purple Haze”—I’m guessing that’s 80% of her gimmick.  She’s the champion at this point and she comes out last.  Yay!

The match is announced as being a 3-way dance rules (elimination rules, basically).  Roxx and Flame shake hands before the match.  Martinez makes a big to-do about being checked for weapons, then ducks out of the ring, citing the elimination format doesn’t require her to work right off the bat.  She gets tossed back into the ring and gets double-teamed for a second before she bails…and orders a drink from the bar.  That’s my kind of woman.  Flame works a headlock on Roxx, then works a seated abdominal stretch, then body legscissors.  Not smooth transitions, by the way.  Roxx gains control by, uh, being herself, but Flame hits a bodyslam and a Vader Splash.  The pin is broken up by Martinez, though, who picks Flame up and hits a nasty brainbuster.  Roxx locks in a figure-four variation on Flame, and Martinez puts a Dragon Sleeper on Roxx (I’d make a TNA joke, but it’s too easy).  Both holds get broken, and they trade shots until Flame knocks their noggins together.  Martinez tires of her antics and destroys her with a fisherman’s brainbuster for the elimination at 4:57.  She wasn’t that impressive, so no tears from me.  Roxx hits a delayed side slam for a two-count.  Martinez hits a HARD spinebuster for a two-count.  Martinez is working this match like she wants to accidently-on-purpose knock out her opponent.  She works a rolling butterfly hold, which Roxx escapes from by turning it into a pinning combination.  Roxx hits a crossbody from the top, but Martinez rolls through for a close two-count.  Martinez goes for the fisherman buster, but Roxx blocks it, and the two spend the next 45 seconds fighting for a small package.  The exchange tired both competitors, so the referee applies a ten-count.  They both get up, and Roxx hits Martinez with a chop that wakes her up.  Martinez responds with a superkick that almost knocks Roxx out.  Martinez was too tired to go for the pin right away, so Roxx kicks out.  They exchange strikes, and Martinez hits two rolling suplexes.  A third one, though, is reversed into a vicious DDT.  That hurt MY neck.  Martinez barely kicks out of a pin attempt.  Roxx hits a Wrist-Clutch Suplex, but Martinez kicks out at two.  Martinez reverses an Irish Whip into a sweet german suplex.  Roxx regains her bearings, though, and hits a Barbie Crusher for the win at 11:35.  Seemed longer.  Roxx and Martinez shake hands after the match.  Missy Sampson and “Primetime” Amy Lee interrupt Roxx’s celebration with a sneak attack.  Lee asks for a table, and Sampson obliges.  Ariel makes the save before any major damage can be done, though…just so that she can attack Roxx herself.  Ariel tries to powerbomb Roxx through the table, but the thing doesn’t break, which actually hurts a lot more.  Seriously, it looked like Roxx was almost bent in half by the table.  Ariel, being a genius, tries to powerbomb her again, but the table still doesn’t break.  Just…OW.  Ariel leaves with both women’s titles, and Martinez comes back out to help Roxx to the locker room.  The match was pretty fun, with the last two-thirds basically being just two competitors trying to kill each other (but with perfectly justifiable reasons for doing so).  Throw in the brutal bumps after the match and call the whole affair ***1/2.

-December 16, 2006 – Quincy, MA
NECW Tag Team Championship Match – Hardcore Rules
The Canadian Superstars (J Busta and Dave Cole) © w/ Brian Cairo vs. The Dogs Of War (“Mad Dog” Matt Storm and “Kick Ass” Kyle Storm) w/ Dave “Livewire” Padula
This match is apparently going to be so hardcore, it requires special referee (and former ECW stagehand) Paul Richards to be at ringside.  Brian Cairo comes out first to put over his team’s lengthy reign and threaten to take the titles to Canada.  He personally announces the entrance of his team, meaning that the champions, who look to be “a buck o’ five soaking wet” each, come out first.  I’m a sad panda now.  J Busta jawjacks with a fan who looks like Newt Gingrich.  Cairo asks for the fans to sing along to the Canadian national anthem, but they barely get into it before the Dogs Of War’s music starts up.

This hardcore match starts with two men on the apron.  Yeah, that’s not going to last long.  Cole and Kyle start the match.  Lockup, wristlocks, break with no consequence.  Kyle tags in Matt, and Cole tags in Busta.  Another lockup, another wristlock, but Kyle comes in to kick Busta’s hand.  The Dogs walk to the back and return with a shopping cart of plunder.  The Canadians try to ambush the Dogs, but it backfires.  Kyle hits a neckbreaker with a crutch on Cole.  Busta gets hits with a trash can lid by Matt.  There’s been a lot of brawling that I haven’t detailed, but this is not a smooth video shoot.  Matt smacks Busta’s head into the shopping cart.  The Canadians bumrush Matt into a guardrail, but Kyle smacks both Canadians with a cookie sheet.  The Dogs hits a Poetic Cookie Sheet on Busta.  Cole starts smacking Matt with a crutch, and Busta follows up with that infamous cookie sheet.  Busta also smacks Kyle with the cookie sheet.  DAMN YOU, COOKIE SHEET!  DAMN YOU TO HELL!  The Canadians hit simultaneous kneestrikes with the cookie sheet on Kyle.  Matt applies a chinlock (?!), but it gets broken up with a trash can lid.  Serves him right.  Kyle uses a suplex on Busta while Matt sets up a barricade between a barricade and the ring apron.  Busta saves himself with a DDT.  The Canadians eventually put Kyle into a “tree of trashy woe”, leading to corner to corner dropkicks from the Canadians.  Matt starts attacking with the crutch, which seems to be the only weapon really effective against the Canadians.  Cole straddles the rail and gets hit with chairshots.  Busta gets DDT’d onto a trash can by Matt for a two-count.  Matt hits Busta with a trash can lid, then fires himself up with shots to his own noggin.  Oookay.  Busta almost gets suplexed onto the barricade contraption, but saves himself with cheap means.  The violence here is just getting nonsensical—little build to big spots and big builds to teasing spots.  One face (don’t ask, I can barely tell them apart) uses the “spinning ladder” spot which knocks everyone down.  More brawling, then Cole takes a heck of a flip over a guardrail.  The Dogs pick up a ladder, but Busta flips onto everyone else.  The ringside cam zooms in on Matt and Busta calling spots.  Joy.  The managers start fighting in the ring, and surprisingly, Cairo comes out on the better end of it.  Cairo takes a moment to soak it in, then gets a FIREBALL thrown in his face.  Okay, THAT spot made sense—a section for the heel to get heat (no pun intended), a beat/moment for the audience to catch its breath, and then great execution of the spot.  The wide angle they used, too, made it look like Cairo actually took some of the fireball (as opposed to 98% of shown fireballs which stop clearly short of looking convincing).  I wish that the actual wrestlers had done that spot, though.  Busta gets caught in the ring by himself against both Dogs, and he gets press-slammed onto the barricade contraption.  The finish must be coming, since the spots are actually making sense now.  Cole charges but gets Black Hole Slammed into thumbtacks (wait, where the hell did THEY come from?!).  An elbowdrop by Kyle from the top rope finishes the match at 22:15.  Much more violent than the Siks/Dillinger encounter, but much less smooth and much more nonsensical.  It might sound strange to ask for psychology in a hardcore match, but just because weapons are used doesn’t mean psychology should go out the window.  It is much like “South Park”’s argument against “Family Guy”—you are allowed to throw in as much as you want so long as you can tie it into something resembling a cohesive product (which Parker and Stone insist that “Family Guy” doesn’t do).  Can’t deny that spurts of it were entertaining, though.  **

The 411: Well, that it contained two matches that got 3-and-a-half stars is a pleasant surprise. Most of the stuff on this compilation was fun, but forgettable.  If NECW puts this set on sale, it wouldn't be the worst purchase you could make.  If you plan on picking it up full price or secondhand, though, you won't be getting your money's worth.
Final Score:  5.2   [ Not So Good ]