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ISPW SEASON'S BEATINGS IN FREEHOLD, NJ LIVE REPORT: SIX WAY LADDER MATCH: CROWBAR, DANNY DORING, LITTLE GUIDO, BIG VITO AND MORE

Tommy Fierro's International Superstars of Professional Wrestling returned to the "ISPW Arena" (Baseball batting cage venue 3-2 Count) in Freehold, New Jersey on Saturday 12/26 for Season's Beatings, a solid old school independent wrestling show.  The show was something of a throwback to the type of indy cards I'd see about 10-15 years ago promoted by the likes of Tommy Dee and the late Dennis Coralluzzo (who was Fierro's mentor).    Unlike a lot of shows today that try to pattern themselves after that ECW style of having 5-9 main event style matches being worked up and down the card, this was more of a "less is more" type of show with the WWE Raw blueprint overlaid over it with promo segments and company storylines evolving over the course of the show.  That certainly was not a bad thing, as the majority of the 200 fans in attendance were young kids with their families. 

The show opened with Tammy "Sunny" Sytch being announced the special ISPW General Manager for the night.  She came out and ran down the card while playing up to the audience.  She ran down the Money in the Bank main event competitors, listing all of them as former WCW/WWE/ECW competitors except for Danny Inferno (former WWE developmental star Danny Giomundo).  Inferno came out and jawed back and forth with her, insulted that she didn't praise him in the manner that she had the others.  He ripped on her for being a star who was now just appearing here.  Sunny responded that she was on Wrestlemania this year and Raw a year ago, but what had he ever accomplished in his entire career.  She then warned him she was the GM for the night and if he didn't leave by the count of three, she'd disqualify him from the Money in the Bank match tonight.  He protested but at the two count, Inferno leaped out of the ring.  He went to get back in the ring and she began counting again, so he stalked to the back, staring at her.

Former WWE star Vito (with Noel) pinned Nicky Benz (longtime Philadelphia area independent star and former CZW champion Nick Berk) in a Loser Wears a Dress match with an Implant DDT.  Benz is a Vegas lounge singer gimmick, a la Tony Clifton, complete with bad toupee, drawn on mustache and powder blue tuxedo.  Vito got a lot of offense in early.  They were building to a spot where Vito would rip the toupee off but it flew off when Benz was whipped into a turnbuckle.  That was funny.  Benz made a slight comeback but in the end was caught with the DDT.  After the pin, Vito helped him up and put him over on the mic, saying that was  hard fought match and Benz was a great competitor.  Benz thanked him and said he appreciated not having to wear the dress.  Vito then said that when you make a bet with him, you don't squelch.  He told Benz to put it on, saying real men wear dresses.  Benz finally put it on and Vito laughed, saying he can't pull it off.  Noel then put a blonde wig on him.

Former ECW star Danny Doring came out to "Under the Boardwalk", which might be the greatest ring entrance music ever.  In the weeks leading up to the show, Doring had torn apart the MTV reality series Jersey Shore on his podcast, which led to Tommy Fierro getting the grand idea of booking someone from the show.  I was told the week of the show one of the male cast members was booked but the night of the show, was nowhere to be seen.  I have no idea whether anyone was actually ever booked or not.  Doring tore down the show again and said he had issued an open challenge to anyone from the Jersey Shore to come down and now was their time.  Out came...someone nowhere near associated with the show.  He claimed to be Sooki's boyfriend Big Pooki.  He cut a short promo on Danny and slapped him lightly.  Doring looked incredulous, then offered to make peace.  They started doing some silly dance the cast of the show does, then Doring beat the crap out of him.  He laid him out and told Pooki to send a message to the show that they suck and he is the real Jersey Shore and was going to win the Money in the Bank match tonight.  Pooki was actually a student of Little Guido.

"The Escort" Eric Andretti pinned Ricky Reyes with his feet on the ropes.  Reyes is the former ROH Tag Team champion who has also worked New Jersey.  Andretti was a loud mouth local heel.  Reyes controlled the match early.  Andretti stole the bout and told Reyes, "Welcome to ISPW."  Reyes got a nice round of applause as he was leaving.

Out came Little Guido with Baby Hughie.  Hughie was a heavy guy with a half shirt and a diaper.  Think Eugene.  Hughie was scheduled to face ISPW General Manager Nicolas Nice, who was announced as "having taken his vacation."  Out of nowhere, Guido attacked Hughie, who he had been mentoring for the last year, and slapped him around.  He said he had been waiting a year to do this and trashed Hughie, saying we're all going to see the real Guido win the Money in the Bank later.  The idea here is that Guido was in cahoots with Nicolas Nice the entire time to set up Hughie.

ISPW champion Judas Young pinned ISPW Tri-State champion Rob Eckos.  Eckos came out in a dazzling ensemble of pink and white polka dots, plus a jacket featuring flashing lights and headset mic.  He was singing Queen and Journey songs during the bout to get heat.  Young is a long-time NJ area worker who was trained by the late Ted Petty and does a punk rock gimmick.  They had a solid back and forth bout.

Matt Logan fought Bryan Logan to a no contest when Little Guido laid out both with stiff chair shots.   From an athletic, technical standpoint, this was the best thing on the show.  It was billed as a Dream match and was a babyface bout between the two legitimate brothers.  I kept waiting for a heel turn here from one, but it was not to be.  Guido attacked both and destroyed them, saying he was sick about hearing what a great tag team they were.  He then said people seemed to have forgotten that he was one half of one of the best tag teams of this decade, the FBI.  He said that he was challenging the Logans to face himself and Tony Mamaluke (in his first wrestling bout I can remember in a LONG time) when ISPW returned on 3/27.

Tommy Fierro came out and inducted ISPW ring announcer Ean Levy into the promotion's Hall of Fane,   He'll be inducting the late Dennis Coraluzzo on 3/27.

Danny Inferno won a six way Money in the Bank Ladder Match to earn an ISPW championship bout.  The other competitors were Chase Del Monte (doing an 80s rocker deal), Little Guido, former WCW star Crowbar, Danny Doring and Ace Darling.  This went about 20-25 minutes with everyone working hard and doing all sorts of fun spots with the ladder.  Crowbar did a dive through the ropes onto Inferno, who was sitting in a chair.  A piece of guard rail was bridged from the ring to the railing at one point, while a ladder served as another bridge.  There were a lot of bumps off the ladder but done in a safe manner.  At the end, Crowbar was alone in the ring and going for the briefcase (which in hilarious indy wrestling fashion, had a dollar sign painted on it via glue and glitter) when a mysterious masked woman came to ringside to taunt him.  They had been running a storyline about a woman from his past haunting him, which sort of hinted at Daffney appearing.  While he was yelling at her from a corner of the ring, Inferno scampered up to get the case and win the shot.  Inferno laid out Crowbar and the woman unveiled herself to be Tammy Sytch.  She bragged that they had been in cahoots all night.  They worked over Crowbar for a long time before Judas Young hit the ring with a chair.   There were some sore workers after the bout, but no injuries.

Notes: A fun show for what it was.  The work was all about trying to get the crowd to react, not doing 10,000 spots except for the main event where it was all ladder-based stuff.  It seemed like the workers and the crowd were all having a good time.  I wasn't a fan of advertising the Jersey Shore appearance or a Loser Leaves Town bout with Nice vs. Hughie and then not delivering either, but it didn't seem like the crowd noticied or cared.  I also thought some of the WWE references were going way over the audience's head since the majority were so young....The crowd was down from the last few ISPW shows here due to the weather as there was a terrible downpour all afternoon and evening.  The road leading to the venue was actually flooded over before the show began and was shut down by local authorities by the time the show had ended....Vito, Sunny and Guido signed autographs during intermission...The venue, which purchases the show, were selling ISPW T-shirts, DVDs and signed photos in their store area...It wouldn't be an old school indy show without a 50/50 raffle....Overall, an entertaining show for the audience it was targeting.  There were a lot of really happy kids after the show getting photos and autographs from the local workers, some of whom were getting mobbed as they left the venue...Announced for the 3/27 return is ISPW champion Judas Young vs. Crowbar vs. Danny Inferno with Inferno cashing in his title shot, The Logans vs.  The FBI of Little Gudo and Tony Mamaluke, Rick Fuller vs. Bill DeMott (announced as "former WCW star Hugh Morrus") and a "Memphis Legends match" featuring Dutch Mantel.   No idea who the other "Legend" is.  The company is titling the show "ISPW Mania" as it's the day before Wrestlemania and will also feature a Fanfest in the afternoon prior to the show...For more on ISPW, visit www.ISPWLive.com.

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