Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

By Nicholas Jason Lopez

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 1/2/15)

Can’t Stop The Wrecking Crew

– We kick off 2016 coverage by proudly adding the West Coast Wrestling Connection under the PWO banner. A little history on WCWC, started in 2005, is an organization based out of Salem, Oregon that airs its television show every Saturday at 11 PM on KPDX-TV in Portland, Oregon and uploads replays to its YouTube page every Monday at noon pacific time. It boasts a young, hungry roster upon a typical “indy show gym” look, but is quite professional and sleek in its broadcast presentation.

– We started off with the Daron Corbin (who might want to change his name if he wishes to go far, since it stems too close to another wrestler)-Jessy Sorenson bout. Corbin looks like your typical “ginger” with red hair upon his head and face, but had some worthy mic skills as he cut a promo on Sorenson prior to the match about him being a Champion. Sorenson’s pre-taped promo response was average at best, but his look and way he carries himself showed promise in WCWC. The two had some nice chemistry, Corbin’s facial expressions making his selling all the more entertaining. The action didn’t last too long before Sorenson pinned Corbin clean after a fierce forearm strike finisher. With the idea of a push for Sorenson, this made sense in that context. Would like to see some more of Corbin too in the future, as he has something tangible that could be polished as the year progresses.

– One of the show’s highlights were the great heel duo of Greg Romero (a 1950’s “Greaser”-esque character) and his manager, Mr. Tubbs (who has an over-the-top personality with the attire to match – suit/tie, white gloves, top hat and heavily grown chinstrap beard) which hyped up Romero’s upcoming match with Justin Alexander. Romero had a Samoa Joe-esque intensity to his promo, so he could speak for himself too. We expected more from Alexander’s response promo which focused on Romero’s eight-ball. As for the match itself, we saw some good action, with Romero pulling off typical heel tactics like purposely leaving the ring after the bell to bide some time, getting the crowd to boo him. The finish overshadowed the action, but that was a good thing, as Alexander knocked Tubbs off the apron and walked into an eight-ball to the face wrapped in a t-shirt for Romero to win cheaply. That would be a strange finish to the referee though – are people allowed to use their own attire as weapons in this place? Wouldn’t that be a DQ elsewhere? Anyways, we liked the development here since it put Romero/Tubbs over.

– The Wrecking Crew, WCWC’s top heel stable, made their presence known in the backstage interview which hyped the main event WCWC Legacy Championship match between Champion Grappler III (muscular man in a mask) against “The Irish Juggernaut” Mikey O’Shea. Jeremy Blanchard (who sort of resembles WWE’s Big Show) carried the bulk of the talk and did so in convincing fashion.

– As a side note, we love that WCWC talent actually star in their local sponsor’s commercials, which spanned from everything to a local burger joint to a furniture store.

– Not crazy about the Kassius Koonz name, but “The Thrill-Billy” is a better description, as his match against Jack Manley (one half of the WCWC Tag Team Champions, The Whirlwind Gentlemen) showed off his in-ring skills for his debut match. Liked Koonz’s promo, which was essentially all southern rage. He had Grappler III with him, so that also told us Koonz was associated with The Wrecking Crew. Manley had a decent pre-taped promo response, as he had his partner, Remy Marcel with him, and was eager to show Koonz who he was. We like the bright blue suit-and-shades-that-light-up look of the Tag Champs for sure. As for his in-ring skills, Manley proved he could fly around and deliver some loud chops. We’re glad Manley got to show off some, because the story here was Grappler III interfering several times behind the Referee’s back to help Koonz get the win, which also gave The Wrecking Crew some momentum headed into the main event.

– One wouldn’t look at Ricky Gibson and call him a “Rock God,” but being under the management of Tubbs can only do good things as we saw in the backstage promo where he put Gibson over. However, Tubbs was absent from ringside when Gibson took on Marcel in a match. Marcel was another show highlight, as he put over his “light it up” gimmick in his pre-taped response promo, expressing he was going to do what he had to whether Tubbs was there or not. Marcel looks like a blend of Eugene and the afro dude from LMFAO, but it’s hard to deny his popularity amongst the WCWC faithful and his charisma. Marcel’s “Five-Star Fro Splash” ended the match on a high note, as he celebrated with the fans outside. Gibson did have the out of not having Tubbs there to help him, but we’re not sold on Gibson just yet.

– We were wondering why we had yet to hear from the babyface challenger in the main event, but O’Shea’s “angry-faced close-up” backstage promo made up for all that. He put over that Grappler III tried to end his career, but failed the task and would now get what was coming to him. Good, intense promo to lead into the main event match.

– The WCWC Legacy Championship main event between Grappler III and O’Shea lived up to the “main event” picture and was basically O’Shea eager to get his hands on Grappler III, beginning the match by jumping off the apron to land on Grappler III/Koonz on the outside. O’Shea had a good look in his promo, but once he came out and we saw that singlet, we almost second-guessed ourselves. His cross logo sort of rips off Sheamus and that singlet is far from flattering for someone his stature. Nevertheless, his personality won over everything else and we bought him as a credible threat to Grappler III’s Title. Some nice in-ring psychology as Grapper III slowed things down and targeted O’Shea’s arms in the middle portion of the match. Poor Koonz tried several times to intervene, but got knocked on his ass by O’Shea. In the end though, it was Koonz who got the last laugh, as he distracted O’Shea long enough so that Grappler III could take him down with a Big Boot finisher to retain. Post-match developments saw The Original Grappler come down to the ring and attack Grappler III, clearing him out and making it clear he was after him. We’re intrigued to see where it leads. All in all, a decent start to the year for WCWC, with talent like Romero, Tubbs, Marcel, Koonz and Sorenson standing out the most.

Quick Results

• Jessy Sorenson def. Daron Corbin via pinfall
• Greg Romero (w/Mr. Tubbs) def. Justin Alexander via pinfall
• “The Thrill-Billy” Kassius Koonz (w/Grappler III) def. Jack Manley via pinfall
• Remy Marcel def. “Rock God” Ricky Gibson via pinfall
• WCWC Legacy Championship – Grappler III (Champion) (w/Kassius Koonz) def. Mikey O’Shea via pinfall to retain