MCNEILL'S TAKE McNEILL's NWA Showcase on Dish Network Revue (1/30): Can You Hear The Drums, Cassandro? Jan 31, 2008 - 5:20:03 PM

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By Pat McNeill, Torch Columnist

Welcome to NWA Wrestling Showcase on Colours TV on the Dish Network. Episode Three begins with David Marquez and Rob Conway welcoming us to the show, taped in front of a green screen…I mean, from inside the Plaza Hotel in downtown Las Vegas. In two weeks, we'll have our first matches from the Plaza. Conway answers his cell phone, and it's a call for Marquez. Marquez has to take the call. Conway offers to wait for Marquez to finish the call before starting the show, but changes his mind as soon as Marquez is offscreen. A wacky skit. Color me intrigued. Rob throws it to a commercial.

When we return, Conway has renamed the program the "Rob Conway Show". Conway tries to pronounce the names of the wrestlers in the first match, but all those Mexican and Japanese names stump him. To the match!

(1) T.J. Perkins & Rayo De Jalisco, Jr. vs. Blue Demon Jr. & Hidaka. The chyron is misspelled as "Reyo De Jalisco", so we're already off to a rip-roaring start. Todd Kennelly & Kris Kloss have the call from Unnamed Arena in Parts Unknown. The heels take a powder toward the entrance right after the opening bell. Kennelly runs down the history between Demon and Jalisco, with Demon's father unmasking Jalisco's father in Mexico. We go straight to the comedy, as Jalisco kicks the ropes while Demon is entering the ring, causing severe crotch damage. Perkins and Hidaka take over with some snazzy chain wrestling. Perkins gains the advantage. Demon tries to interfere, but Jalisco runs him out of the ring. Perkins gets a headscissors submission on Hidaka and Demon saves Hidaka with a stomp to the back. Demon refuses to tag in and face Jalisco, so Rayo goads him into the ring with a slap. Demon fakes being hit with a low blow, and the referee warns Jalisco. Demon tries it again and the referee catches him. Perkins and Hidaka are fine, but the masked men are not delivering the best lucha action. Jalisco gives us some more really slow comedy, ended with a butt-butt to Hidaka that doesn't quite work, and the heels bail. Perkins and Hidaka are back in, thankfully. Hidaka gains the advantage with a basement dropkick. Perkins takes over and sends Hidaka to the floor, but since we're under Lucha rules, Demon enters the ring and hit Perkins from behind. Demon offers Perkins a handhake. Perkins accepts, and gets slapped in the face. The heels work over Perkins, with Hidaka giving him a high backdrop. All four men come in and we get a Pier Seis Brawl. Jalisco is just horrible. Demon starts a series of backbreakers on Perkins. Jalisco walks into the ring, past the referee, and takes forever to save his partner. Here's another four-way brawl. Jalisco gets Demon in the corner and has Demon's mask about halfway off before the heel can escape. The faces dump the heels and give us dual suicide dives. Perkins' version was ever so slightly more impressive. Demon gets back into the ring, hits a gutbuster on Perkins, then forces Perkins to submit at 17:24 with a variation of the scorpion deathlock. In summary, Rayo De Jalisco Junior stunk out the joint. We then get an ad for the NWA in Lodi, New Jersey on February 2nd. Commercial time.

When we return, we're back in Vegas, and Rob Conway gets very upset with the producers when he finds out they're showing this next match. To the ring!

(2) "Special E" Eugene Dinsmore vs. "Ironman" Rob Conway. This match is from Corpus Christi, Texas. Ringside is almost completely dark, all the better to hide a small turnout. Eugene offers Conway a handshake, but Conway smacks Eugene's hand away. Conway hits a shoulderblock and gloats, but then Eugene starts outwrestling Conway. Dinsmore catches Conway with a drop toehold and makes Rob give him a horsey ride around the ring. You know, I think this match has become silly. Conway comes back with a flurry of offense until Eugene catches him with a series of JYD headbutts. Eugene almost wins with a rollup, but Rob comes back with a chinlock. The chinlock eventually becomes a sleeper hold. Dinsmore escapes, hulks up, and hits the big boot and legdrop for a near fall. Conway hits a short powerbomb, and this time it's Dinsmore who kicks out. Conway counters Eugene's People's Elbow spot with a powerslam, but can't get the three count. Eugene finally catches Conway with a jackknife cradle for the pinfall at 8:44. This would have been a decent WWE house show match, and it probably was at one point. We go to break immediately following an advertisement for Adam Pearce's NWA title defense against Damian Wayne in Saluda, Virginia on February 16th. They remembered to add the date! Hooray!

When we return, some bad guy named Mark Thompson is interviewing an Australian wrestler named Bobby Jo Marshall. Bobby Jo's in the States to wrestle for the NWA, and he hates it here. I don't know who Bobby Jo Marshall is, but I know that Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

Rob Conway is back, and he has a fruity drink. He's still upset about the producer showing his loss to Eugene, but he sends it to the ring for the next match.

(3) Nick Jackson vs. Rocky Romero. This match was taped at the NWA Dojo in North Hollywood, California. The Dojo is set up to look like the old TBS studio for the Saturday night show. Except without, you know, the audience. Kloss tells us that Jackson is 17 years old. Romero is the heel here. Matt Jackson is at ringside for his brother. Romero does the Tres Amigos for a near fall. Rocky gets another near fall with a Perfectplex. Nick rallies with a near fall after a top rope hurrancanrana. Romero hits a victory roll into an anklelock and Jackson taps out at 4:26. Romero poses as Matt checks on his brother. To the back!

At the Mid-Atlantic FanFest, David Marquez is interviewing Bill Eadie. Eadie says he hopes the NWA can come back together, that the NWA used to be the first class organization in pro wrestling, that the NWA World Title means you're the best in the business, and that the wrestlers today need to remember and respect the wrestling fans. Since the show doesn't tell you who Bill Eadie is, or who he wrestled as, I recommend Google. Commercial time.

Back in Vegas, Mark Thompson tries to get David Marquez to the studio, but Marquez is still on the phone. There's an ad for NWA Anarchy, twice a month in Cornelia, Georgia. Back in the studio, Rob Conway throws it to the final match.

(4) Cassandro vs. Cobra II. This is from Las Vegas, Nevada at the Orleans Arena. Cobra II is T.J. Perkins under a mask, which means we've seen the poor guy on television four times in three weeks. Cassandro is doing a gay babyface gimmick, and Cobra doesn't want to lock up with him. Cassandro wants Cobra II to kiss his hand, so Cobra II bails. Finally, Cobra comes back and accepts Cassandro's handshake, only to spray mist in Cassandro's face. Cassandro fights back by using his rear end as a weapon. Then the little guy hits a ropewalk into a rana, and Cobra powders once more. Cassandro brings Cobra back in, gets in some offense, then misses a charge into the corner and flies all the way out to the concrete. The masked man brings Cassandro back in and hits a slingshot senton. Cobra does the abdominal stretch, using the top rope for leverage. Then he unwraps the athletic tape from his risk to choke the smaller Cassandro. After an escape and near fall for Cassandro, Cobra goes to the full nelson. Cassandro escapes with a series of butt-butts, and then kisses Cassandro. Kloss sells his disgust for this tactic. Cassandro hits a top rope dive, teases another kiss, and pins Cobra II with a victory roll at 10:30.

Back to Las Vegas, Marquez returns and complains to Conway that the caller was trying to sell him Amigo Juice. That's the show, kids.

***

My rating? 4.0 out of a possible 10. This show felt like filler. Kloss sounded silly trying to act outraged over Cassandro. The Marquez phone call skit was an inside joke we obviously didn't get. Hopefully, business will pick up once we get to the footage from the Plaza tapings.

The full show can be viewed on the NWA Wrestling website.

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