The Wrestling Society Xperience - WSX Episode Five (3/13/07)
The Cartel "cements" their legacy in Wrestling Society X!
Wrestling Society X - Episode Five
As we are now in a post-fireball Wrestling Society X, this installment is the start of a late-night marathon that served to burn off some of the remaining episodes. Episodes 5 and 6 aired at 11 and 11:30pm EST on March 13th respectively, while Episodes 7-9 aired from midnight until 1:30am on March 14th.
Kris Kloss and Bret Ernst welcome us to the show, then we get a rundown of last week's laserbeam attack on Vampiro. We then get a video package on the attacker, Ricky Banderas. We see footage from January 2006 of Vampiro shoving Banderas in a (heavily-CGI’d) explosive casket, which left him hideously scarred. It also seemingly gave him the ability to make his eyes glow like those creepy kids in Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” music video. He ends by saying that Vampiro’s days on Earth are…
Banderas was a veteran of Puerto Rico's IWA promotion before coming to the WSX Bunker™. In the years since, he'd have stints in TNA as Judas Mesias and Lucha Underground as Mil Muertes. He'd also be the first ever AAA Mega Champion.
We go from Banderas threatening to murder Vampiro to 16-year old rapper Jibbs joining commentary. I really don't know much about the Jibbster, in all honesty.
Team Dragon Gate vs. The Filth & The Fury
Two reviews in a row with Dragon Gate? Huzzah!
In a small detail that will grow in significance over time (for better or worse), Fabian Kaelin’s right eye is done up with eyeliner. We’ll see how this plays out over the rest of the series.
Masato Yoshino and Teddy Hart armdrag each other to start until Hart gets a Russian legsweep for two. Genki Horiguchi and Matt Cross check in, with Cross ejecting Hage out of the ring and doing some very gymnastics-heavy evasion before whipping him into the post. Cross then does a crazy bar hold on the ring post that leads into a splash.
Horiguchi catches a springboarding M-Dogg 20 with a dropkick, then Dragon Gate hits some sweet double-teams. Cross soon comes back with an ushigoroshi on Horiguchi, then counters a Yoshino powerbomb with a hurricanrana for two as WRESTLING SOCIETY X ROLLS ON…
…and we’re back! During the break, Hart and Cross hit a shooting star Demolition decapitation. Back to quasi-live action, Yoshino flies around the ring, landing a tilt-a-whirl armbreaker and applying a Fujiwara armbar. Hart escapes with a gutbuster and a Big Ending-style cutter for two. Hart lands a cradle DDT, but Horiguchi breaks up the cover. Inverted DDT gets two for Genki, but Hart quickly gets a double-underhook Destroyer. Cross hits a shooting star press on Yoshino while Hart lands Open Hart Surgery on Horiguchi at the same time. Both of those get three!
The simultaneous flippy finish is the much sought-after QUIZNOS SLAMWICH OF THE NIGHT!
The Take: I could have used more offense from Dragon Gate, but this was still an enjoyable opener with insane highspots aplenty. It was the kind of stuff you want out of a Wrestling Society X tag. Cross especially got to shine here with his gymnastics-infused style.
The Vibes: Rather strong. If Dragon Gate got to show out a bit more, the vibes would be immaculate.
Backstage, Lacey interviews Scorpio Sky. She asks if Matt Sydal is now “Most Likely to Succeed” after besting him. Sky says he got lucky, and looks to prove his superiority by challenging the one man who beat Sydal so far: Jack Evans!
Sky closes off with his version of a classic Billy Graham-style “Man of the Hour” rhyme. It may not have been delivered with the most conviction, but Sky actually managed to show a little bit of charisma here.
Human Tornado vs. 6-Pac
As Red Bull-and-cocaine-fueled as WSX can be with their production, at least there’s a bit of logic in some of the booking. 6-Pac takes out Human Tornado, Tornado is displeased, and we have a match.
6-Pac made sure to dress extra douchey tonight.
Tornado immediately dodges a charging 6-Pac and lands a big tope con hilo, but Pac rams him into the ringpost to take over. Bronco Buster lands, but a second attempt results in a a crotching in the corner. Tornado comes back with some dancin’ stomps and a splits kick to the junk.
Tornado almost kicks the ref, but Pac uses that distraction to land a spin kick of his own. Nice bump and sell from Tornado on that one. Tornado intercepts a top rope-bound Pac and goes for a hurricanrana, but Pac goes low…forgetting that Tornado has BALLS OF STEEL. 6-Pac then goes to the eyes and hits a top rope 6-Factor for the win!
The Take: This one had 2 minutes, but they packed a decent “youth vs. experience” story in there. I would have put Tornado over here to really establish him as an up-and-coming star, but the match itself worked.
The Vibes: Fairly strong.
During the break, Team Dragon Gate are met backstage by a suited man in sunglasses. He tells them they lost too many times and they must be REPROGRAMMED. He shoves them into a white van, which promptly drives off.
That was odd, but I’m glad they finally have some direction for Yoshino and Horiguchi.
The mysterious sunglasses man was played by Ryan Sakoda, who most would know as one of Tajiri's henchmen (along with Akio/Jimmy Yang) in WWE in 2003-04. Sadly, he passed away in 2021.
Arik Cannon vs. Delikado
Delikado was also known as B-Boy in the US independent scene, mostly wrestling in PWG, CZW, JAPW, and other smaller promotions. He was also Bael in Lucha Underground, best known for getting murdered by Matanza Cueto.
His signature move is the “Go To Sleep”. What’s with guys like Delikado and KENTA stealing the finisher that CM Punk totally invented?!?
Delikado attacks Cannon from behind and hits a Facelift (corner dropkick), but Cannon comes back with a neckbreaker and a corner forearm. Delikado retaliates with a blockbuster, but Cannon manages a step-up enzuigiri and a rope-assisted neckbreaker. Cannon hits a brutal backdrop driver that spikes Delikado on top of his head.
Cannon looks to finish, but the rest of Delikado's gang show up and swarm The Anarchist! The match is thrown out, which kind of flies against the “anything goes” nature of the promotion.
Delikado hits an exploder on the floor, then indie worker (and B-Boy tag partner) Li'l Cholo double-stomps him through a table! Another ne'er-do-well shows up with a wheelbarrow of wet cement, and they proceed to dunk Cannon's head into it!
And because there wasn't enough symbolism, they produce a dead fish and lay it on Cannon's prone corpse.
The Take: I say something positive about the booking of the show, and I’m rewarded with this weird clusterfuck of a finish. I really don’t want to be one of those ‘where’s the video package’ people that clog up AEW Twitter discourse, but this would have worked better if they established who Cannon and Delikado were before the match. Cannon got a generic promo last week, but that was it. I have nothing against a good heel beatdown, but running this kind of angle when all the participants were new to the viewing audience makes it hard to invest in. A truly bizarre way to close out the episode.
The match itself was fine; basically what 2000’s indie wrestling fans might expect from a compressed Cannon vs. B-Boy match.
The Vibes: A tad fishy if you ask me.
This cartel-like faction is creatively named The Cartel. Aside from Delikado and Cholo, it’s comprised of Mongol (who I really can’t find much information on) and manager El Jefé.
NEXT TIME: WSXtra Episode 5, with Keepin’ It Gangsta vs. Luke Hawx & Alkatrazz and Los Pochos Guapos vs. The Trailer Park Boyz!