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Monster Factory Pro Wrestling
At the Monster Factory Wrestling Training Center
Paulsboro, New Jersey
Saturday August 16, 2014
Ring Announcer: Stephan Benson
Referee: Steve Chaz
This was my second live event at the Monster Factory Training Center. I was there back in January, primarily for appearances by Colt Cabana and Cliff Compton, but also because I respected the name and the history behind the place. What I saw that night was a group of hard working young wrestlers, with a love for the craft, and a special bond with their fans. Head Trainer/Owner Danny Cage, along with trainers The Blue Meanie and Bill Wiles, have clearly done an excellent job not only showing their students the wrestling basics, but also how to carry themselves, and how to treat their fans. I would leave my second trip to the Factory feeling a similar vibe.
The doors opened at 6 PM, and the fans swarmed in. Some I could see were clearly regulars, holding signs for their favorites, and wearing Monster Factory T Shirts. Some I spoke to, were just regular wrestling fans from the Philly area, who were experiencing their first event at the venue.
The show started right on time, and it was announced to the fans that they were about to be a part of the first ever taping of Monster Factory TV, which will debut on Roku later in the year. That concept sounds really good to me, as not only will they be able to televise their current product, but they have a vast library of Monster Factory affiliated shows from the 80s and 90s.
Match One: Major McClendon w/ Claudia vs. Brolly
McClendon is a legitimate veteran, and is currently playing a military style heel, with evil Claudia by his side. He is also a former Monster Factory Super Sonic Champion. He also main evented their first show. Brolly is a former Monster Factory Tag Team Champion, as a member of the Legion Of Anarchy. This was a good, physical match, and a vicious clothesline at the beginning from Brolly, set that tone. McClendon took over during the middle, and worked Brolly’s leg, attempting to make the big man submit. On the outside, Claudia mocked the young fans as McClendon had the advantage. However, Brolly made a big comeback, throwing McClendon over his head with a big time belly to belly suplex, and hitting a form of a fireman’s carry bomb for the win.
WINNER: Brolly
Match Two: “The Hype” Will Ferrara vs. “LSG” Leon St. Giovanni
Ferrara is a cocky heel, most well-known for his Ring of Honor appearances for the past two years. “LSG” has wrestled in indies throughout Maine, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Canada. Coming into this match, he had apparently been on a losing streak at Monster Factory shows since late 2013. Ferrara mocked him on the mic before the match because of his losing ways. These two started out lightning quick, with a fast opening sequence. The crowd was solidly behind the underdog, LSG. Ferrera had the advantage but missed a 2nd rope move. LSG rebounded with a tilt a whirl side suplex, but Ferrara took the reins after hitting a huge leaping tornado DDT. However, he got greedy, and while attempting to hit a move in the corner, LSG reversed for the pin.
WINNER: “LSG” Leon St. Giovanni
Match Three: The Old School Empire (Mike Booth & Preston Quinn) vs. Milk Chocolate (Brandon Watts & Randy Summers)
The Empire is active in the Mid Atlantic area, and both men have held various NWA championships. Milk Chocolate are a young tag team, who have some experience in Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey. Watts and Summers are a charismatic tag team, very crowd friendly. Brandon Watts especially impressed early on, with an incredible dropkick and a standing moonsault that was both high and graceful. As a team, Milk Chocolate were the clear fan favorites, as “Milk Chocolate” chants were prevalent throughout the match. They also kept the crowd entertained with various double team moves. Booth put a stop to their momentum with an awesome spinebuster, but he was ultimately small packaged for the pin.
WINNERS: Milk Chocolate (Brandon Watts & Randy Summers)
Match Four: “The Last Warrior” Greywolf vs. Nick Comoroto
Greywolf is a muscle bound dude with a painted face ala The Road Warriors. He has wrestled throughout the tri state area, and he is a former OTW Heavyweight Champion. Comoroto is a 6”3 275 pounder with an intimidating look. This match was brawl based, with a lot of heavy shots traded back and forth. Comoroto showed a lot of potential with his crowd work. He made sure the crowd saw his enjoyment and heard about it, every time he had their hero down. However, the two brawlers fought onto the floor to a double count out. Post-match, Comoroto attempted to hit Greywolf with a chair, missed, and was thrown into the steel post. The men brawled all the way to the back, and their fight continued backstage until they were finally separated.
DECISION: Double count out
Match Five: “# 1 Contender to the Super Sonic Championship 4 Way Match”
Rikki Roxx vs. Alverado vs. Mike Burke vs. Anthony Bennett
Roxx is a former PWS Tag Team Champion, who rocks a hair band/rock star gimmick. He kind of reminded me of Ricky Morton. Alverado has wrestled in PPW and ECPW. Burke has been on Monster Factory shows in the past. Bennett is referred to as “The Pride Of Paulsboro,” and was a standout wrestler and football player at Paulsboro High. The match starts with a 4 way test of strength, which turns into four inverted atomic drops, one for each. Bennett’s charisma makes him stand out amongst his opponents. After playing to the crowd, however, Bennett is rocked by a clothesline from Burke. Alverado has Roxx trapped in the corner, unloading with stiff forearms, and a brutal clothesline. Bennett recovers, hits a cross body from the top rope onto both Alverado and Burke, which he follows up with a Sliced Bread. Burke then hits a running cutter on Bennett, but somewhere in the confusion, Alverado gets the win, and earns a title shot against the winner of the Super Sonic Championship match later in the evening.
WINNER: Alverado
At intermission, while promoting the upcoming Monster Factory TV Roku channel, a Roku is given away to one lucky ticket holder.
Match Six: Ryan “Adrenaline” Rush vs. “Doomsday Jesus” Ahtu
Rush is a big guy, listed as 6”7 and is a former NYWC Heavyweight Champion. Ahtu is a well-known name and I’ve seen him on several sites as one of the top ten guys to watch on the indie circuit. He’s wrestled all over the east coast against names such as Low Ki, Damien Darling, Papadon, and The Warlord. Ahtu has great presence, both in his entrance, and in the ring. Ahtu begins the match muscling around Rush, and takes him to the mat with an amateur takedown. He offers his hand, but Rush refuses, showing no sportsmanship. They worked well together, as each power move seemed to mean something and progress the match, plus they were both very vocal, Rush talking trash and Ahtu selling the moves. Rush threw some mean forearms and then snapped off an amazingly athletic and high dropkick, for a guy his size. He then locked a sleeper on Ahtu, who muscled out and hit a big power slam. The crowd chants for one more, but Ahtu has other ideas and he lifts Rush high over his head for a press slam. Rush lands on his feet, frustrating Ahtu, who beats him into the corner until the ref breaks it up. With Ahtu distracted, Rush hits a sunset flip and gets the victory!
WINNER: Ryan Rush
Match Seven: For the Monster Factory Tag Team Championship
The Factory’s Finest (Mike Spanos & Clutch Adams) © vs AC Roc (Shaheem Ali & Marc Cruz)
The Factory’s Finest are both the Monster Factory Tag Team Champions, and the WXW C4 Tag Team Champions. AC Roc are former Monster Factory Tag Team Champions, and Cruz is a former Monster Factory Heavyweight Champion. Firstly, AC Roc comes out to “Let’s Get Ridiculous” by RedFoo. The crowd was so into their interactive entrance, singing along to the song and dancing along with the challengers, that it was almost a Sandman/Al Snow effect in ECW type of deal. It was very cool to see, and the whole atmosphere was…you guess it….Ridiculous! (in a very good way…) On the flip side, Spanos and Adams come out and antagonize the fans. Clutch tries to speak and is pretty much drowned out by the Factory faithful! When the match starts, Cruz and Adams engage in some great chain wrestling. As Spanos and Adams take the match over, they were totally in sync with everything, their moves, their attitude in ring, everything. Adams at one point hit a great dropkick, followed up by a flying back elbow that was right on the button. They control Cruz for a while, as Spanos comes in and hits a big time drop kick of his own, causing Adams in the corner to say, “That was beautiful, man!” After some back and forth, Cruz finally makes the hot tag, and Ali comes in on fire. He cleans house, and sends Adams out of the ring with a leg lariat. AC Roc hits a double team move, and almost gets the pin, but Adams makes the save for Spanos. Ali hits an awesome somersault into the corner, but gets caught shortly afterwards with a front flapjack/leg drop combo from the Finest, which they call “Realest On The Rise.” Unfortunately, Shaheem Ali appeared to be hurt at the end of the match, with what looked like a knee injury. He wound up being stretchered out, and his condition hasn’t been updated as of yet.
What an awesome match! I don’t feel silly for saying I think that match wouldn’t have seemed out of place on any nationally televised wrestling program.
WINNERS AND STILL CHAMPIONS: The Factory’s Finest (Mike Spanos & Clutch Adams)
Match Eight: Rhett Titus vs. Billy Damiana
Rhett is a well-known wrestler worldwide. He was initially trained by both Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson. He is a former ROH World Tag Team Champion. Billy Damiana is a star on the rise. He has a lengthy list of accolades, including a six time wrestling All American, a world team alternate for Greco Roman wrestling, having the most wins in his county and in the state of New Jersey’s history, he’s also a South Jersey Wrestling Hall Of Famer, and he has three black belts. Now in pro wrestling, he’s a clear case of a blue chipper, but facing Titus should be a big test for him. As the match begins, Damiana outwrestles Titus and clearly frustrates him. After Titus reverses a series of moves, Titus takes a power and insults the fans. After returning to the ring, Titus gets the upper hand, working Damiana’s ribs, and hitting a stiff double knee drop. The crowd was really behind Billy, who started a comeback by hitting a fireman’s carry takedown, and a nice German suplex. He locked on a Boston Crab, and the crowd thought it was over, but Titus got to the ropes. After a reversal into the ropes, Titus hit a dropkick right in the mush. The two grappled over to the ropes, and Titus wound up on the apron, where Damiana landed several stiff kicks. After Titus reentered the ring, Damiana scored with a nice northern lights suplex for the win. Post-match, Titus refused the referee’s help, as he limped to the back.
WINNER: Billy Damiana
Match Nine: For the Monster Factory Super Sonic Championship
Tim “Good News” Hughes © vs. Francis Kipland Stevens
Stevens came out first, and had his supporters. Hughes comes out with a ton of energy to “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen. The two had a humorous exchange, where Hughes had a towel, and Stevens countered with a handkerchief, as they argued over the merits of each. As they began to wrestle, I noticed how fluid Stevens was in the ring. His nerdish type of character may distract from that, but the guy can go. As for Hughes he completely lives that character from the second he comes through the curtain, and maybe even before that. Stevens hit a nice gourd buster (which you don’t see enough these days!) but he takes too much time getting to the top rope, and Hughes counters his attempt with an X Factor. Hughes hits the running Earthquake splash after, gets the win, and retains his title.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: Tim Hughes
Match Ten: For the Monster Factory Heavyweight Championship
Luis “The Punisher” Martinez vs. “The Benchmark” Bill Daly
Martinez, along with being the current Heavyweight Champion, is a former Monster Factory Tag Team Champion. Daly is known for competing in Ring of Honor since late 2013. Martinez is clearly a huge fan favorite at the Factory, as his pop was huge, and there were signs, homemade shirts, and the fans were doing his hand signal along with him. After watching a few minutes of the match, one thing was clear; Bill Daly is really, really good. Per my research, he may not have too many years under his belt, but he is very, very good in the ring already. After a big clothesline to the floor, the two brawl, only to have Martinez post Daly back first. However, when they get back into the ring, Daly attacks the big man’s leg, and makes that his focus. He wraps the leg around the ring post, hits a few chop blocks, and cinches on a single leg crab. Martinez gets to the ropes, and after another exchange, he changes the momentum with an enziguri, however Daly goes right back to the leg with another chop block. Daly is clearly back on the advantage, and takes the time to mock the crowd. Daly goes for a roaring elbow and is met with a superkick from the champion. Martinez hits a nice flying back elbow, and then puts Daly in the punphandle position. He converts that into an Oklahoma Stampede style power slam. Daly is reeling now, and Martinez hits a massive spear. And then it is all she wrote, as Martinez hits a sit out choke slam off the second rope.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: Luis Martinez
FINAL THOUGHTS: This was a great show! Everyone had their working boots on, and the crowd clearly appreciated it. The older fans I spoke to were all impressed, and the younger fans definitely had a ball. For those of you who say good pro wrestling has disappeared in the Philadelphia area, I strongly disagree. Danny Cage, The Blue Meanie, and Bill Wiles are putting on a consistently great product just over the bridge, and the buzz is continuing to grow.
My highlights from this month include, the convincing victory by Heavyweight Champion Luis Martinez, the unfortunate injury to Shaheem Ali, the surprising victory for Ryan Rush over Ahtu (Rush may be working his way towards some title shots?) and the dual Tag Team Champions, The Factory’s Finest reigning supreme once again. The sky is the limit for those fellas.
Next month, former WWF World Tag Team Champions, The Headbangers, return to the Monster Factory. The early word is, they will be facing the Monster Factory Tag Team Champions, The Factory’s Finest. Mike Reed will also be returning, and there will be an appearance by QT Marshall. That event takes place on Saturday Night, September 20th, at 7 PM. I cannot recommend these shows enough. It’s fun, it’s just a ride over the bridge, and you get a huge value for your dollar. Not only can your kids be a few steps from the ring, but the wrestlers aren’t afraid to involve them, and as an adult, you will see great wrestling from some hard working up and comers.
For more information, please go to www.monsterfactory.org
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