RADICAN’S DVD REVIEW SERIES
“FIVE DOLLAR WRESTLING LIVE V”
APRIL 5, 2014
NEW ORLEANS, LA.


This edition of "Five Dollar Wrestling" was filmed live at WrestleCon during WrestleMania weekend last month. The show begins with Marty DeRosa and Colt Cabana watching clips of hideous wrestling matches while riffing on them. Cabana and DeRosa are set up in a ring with two screens behind them that show the audience what Cabana and DeRosa are watching on the computer.

This might have been a good setup for the live crowd, but watching this show on DVD is hard at times because it’s difficult to see what Cabana and DeRosa are watching when the camera just shows the footage on the two big screens behind them. It would have been better if they could have done a picture-in-picture shot with Cabana and DeRosa in the smaller box and the footage in the bigger box. Sometimes the footage does appear in full screen, but it would have been better if they had gone picture-in-picture for the entire show.

There are some known wrestlers that appear in the footage shown during the first half of the show. Cabana and DeRosa watch a clip of Steve Corino wrestling Bully Ray. What happens in the footage shown is nothing short of amazing as Ray goes to get Corino on the outside and a fan spits water in his face. Cabana freezes the picture and the look on Corino’s face is priceless. Bully Ray looks like he wants to kill the guy. Bully Ray teases a handshake, but ends up grabbing the man’s hand and shoves it in his face. For unknown reasons, Bully Ray then lightly sprints to the back.

One of the most ridiculous pieces of footage features Nikki Roxx making her entrance at an independent show. The entrance is lined by teenage boys and one of them grabs both her breasts when she walks by him. DeRosa deadpans, “You have a young Colt Cabana in the crowd.” Cabana says, “This was definitely me when I was 13.” Roxx continues to make her entrance and she has a scowl on her face and Cabana hilariously says, “What, can’t smile about getting felt up by a 12-year-old?” Cabana and DeRosa were hilarious narrating this piece of footage.

Another highlight features footage of ROH wrestler Matt Taven doing a moonsault to the floor onto George "the Animal" Steele and another wrestler. The problem is that Steele has no idea that Taven is doing a moonsault and Taven crashed and burned upon landing on Steele and the other wrestler.

Kevin Steen ends up running into the ring and he has Cabana freeze the footage right when Taven lands on Steele. Steen reveals that Taven split his nutsack in half right at the moment. This clip is so ridiculous and Steen, Cabana, and DeRosa’s commentary on it is worth the price of admission alone. Chris Hero ended up joining them in the ring and he did an impression of Steele when they checked on Steele after Taven landed on him and said that he thought his neck was broken.

I wouldn’t believe wrestling this bad existed if it were not for 5 Dollar Wrestling. They show a match where someone on the outside is trying to set up a wrestler to take a moonsault to the floor. The wrestler keeps going to the wrong place after the man on the floor tries to punch him into position. The guy waiting to do a moonsault to the floor actually points to where he wants the wrestler to be put in position to take his dive. Of course, the guy doing the dive to the floor does a moonsault and the wrestler on the floor doesn’t even bother to catch him. Cabana calls the wrestler trying to hit a moonsault to the floor a young Shane Douglas.

The show ended with an angle involving Steve Corino that got the crowd hot. Corino came out to talk about the footage of his match against Bully Ray, but when Cabana asked Corino to leave, he ended up turning heel on Five Dollar Wrestling and challenged any wrestler from Five Dollar Wrestling to come out to face him.

The fans popped big for Freight Train and chanted “F—him up Freight Train, f--- him up” when he made his entrance. Corino told Freight Train that he has exposed the business. He said Jim Cornette hates Freight Train’s guts for what he’s done to the business. Corino said he would give Freight Train one punch, but he ended up hitting Freight Train with the mic.

A boy came into the ring in a tiger mask to ref the match. The match between Corino and Freight Train, who was accompanied by Miss Black Elizabeth, was a blast to watch. Freight Train’s comeback with the help of long-time rival Jake Manning was great and the bump that Corino took for Freight Train’s clothesline would make the Shawn Michaels that faced Hulk Hogan envious. After the match, Freight Train offered Manning a handshake. Manning hesitated and then hugged Freight Train to end their bitter rivalry.

Overall thoughts: (8.5) – This show had a little bit of everything from what Five Dollar Wrestling has to offer. Cabana and DeRosa were hilarious narrating the various clips, especially when they showed the footage of Matt Taven hitting a moonsault on George Steele, who wasn’t aware of what was going on. Kevin Steen and Chris Hero coming out to add to the story were great as well. It’s a shame Matt Taven wasn’t in the room to explain his actions during that match.

This edition of 5 Dollar Wrestling being live added a lot to the show. Cabana and DeRosa did a good job of keeping the crowd involved given that it was early in the a.m. when this show was filmed at WrestleCon. The crowd did a good job of playing along during the “Sabu: Make it or Miss it” game, which I feel is must-see. Corino appearing at the end of the show was also a nice surprise and his segment and match with Freight Train was a blast to watch.

I really enjoy Five Dollar Wrestling and if you’re looking for a place to start and haven’t purchased one of their DVDs before, this is a great starting point.

You can purchase “Five Dollar Wrestling Live V” by clicking HERE or by visiting Highspots.com.

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