Power X- December 1, 2010

Once again, its time for Daniel Pollaski to go through the news, reviews, and rankings for the week that was in PWX!  All comments are strictly the opinion of Daniel Pollaski, and do not reflect the opinion of PWX, its management, or its wrestlers (including the one’s he manages)

The PoWer X inspirational thought of the week

Oh, what a night, late December back in ’63
What a very special time for me
As I remember what a night!
Oh what a night,
You know I didn’t even know her name
But I was never gonna be the same
What a lady, what a night!
Oh, I got a funny feeling when she walked in the room
And I, as I recall it ended much too soon
Oh what a night,
Hypnotizing, mesmerizing me
She was everything I dreamed she’d be
Sweet surrender, what a night!
I felt a rush like a rolling bolt of thunder
Straining my head around and taking my body under
- “December 1963 (Oh What a Night)” Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Hey kids

So, December has finally arrived, and with it, the promises of the coming Holidays and the end of yet another year.  For PWX, that means END GAME (and Oh, What a Night that will be!), and, of course, the inevitable year-end awards shows.

Oh, and the second ever Power X-Traveganza, which will be hitting the presses sometime after the calendar changes.  And yes, things are being relooked at after some of the controversies surrounding the October edition.

But until that day comes, it appears we have three to four shows left in 2010, and with the rivalries that are heating up in the ranks of wrestlers, ‘inflammable’ would be the best word to describe them (actually, I have a few other words about next weeks, show, but you’ll have to read on for those).

So, rankings!

We welcome one newcomer to the rankings, and wave a fairly apathetic farewell to Nick Riot and JJ Hart, both of whom appear to have been released from the roster.  That leaves twenty wrestlers eligible for rankings.

As far as the actual flow, a bit of movement, but nothing amazingly earth shattering.  The top three remained the same, and after that, just a bit of shuffling.  Expect things to shake up in a massive manner in a couple weeks, after End Game hits.

Anyways… let’s count them down!

#20- CASH MONEY (Up 1 from 21st)
Well, once again, fans of good wrestling the world over can cross their fingers, as Cash Money’s eligibility window for ranking is once again at its end.  Without him being booked next week (unless ANOTHER goddamned surprise match comes up), don’t expect to see this loser around for much longer

#19- GIOVANNI TORRIO (Down 4 from 15th)
Two weeks ago, in the four-way contest, Giovanni definitely managed to carve out a bit of a name for himself, despite him ultimately being unable to get the win.  This week however, Torrio flatlined- and in a bad way, being picked apart by Johnny Saint easily.  This week, Torrio enters the tag ranks for the first time.

#18- JOSH GRAVES (Down 1 from 17th)
Jeremiah Belmont has to be furious after the miserable showing Josh gave him in their match against the WhirlyBirdz this week.  Considering he’s coming off another awful showing at Never Say Die, and a few more disappointing (but not dreadful) outings in the mean time, you have to wonder just how long PWX management will be willing to put up with Josh Graves’ backsliding.

#17- JENNA HIMMLER (Up 1 from 18th)
It should be interesting to see if Ojeda and Jenna have managed to kiss and make up after their match a couple weeks ago.  Oddly, Himmler had both last week, and this week off, so it’ll be interesting to see when she gets back in the ring again.

#16- BEN STEVENS (Down 3 from 13th)
Wow.  Not a very good outing for Stevens, as Jacob Wright picked him apart in fairly short order.  To make matters worse, the villianous Victor Jace returned after the match, and took revenge on Stevens for injuring him and taking his Evolution title back in October.

#15- NATE RIVERS (Newcomer)
Thanks to StarrZoe suddenly coming alive, Nate Rivers’ debut didn’t quite go the way he had been hoping for.  Still, there’s a lot of potential in this guy, and considering he appears to be the friend of fellow rising star Luke Blue, we definitely oughta start seeing more of Rivers come 2011.

#14- LUKE BLUE (Remained at 14th)
Blue took a well deserved week off after being involved in a sham of a match against Ashley Blades.  It looks like Blue is prepared to try his hand in the tag team division now, alongside newcomer Nate Rivers.

#13- ANTONIO LOPEZ (Down 1 from 12th)
Tough break for Lopez, who tried going big on Hollywood, and ended up going home with antoher loss.  Things don’t look to be getting any easier as we move towards End Game, as Lopez finds himself in a massive clusterfuck

#12- ALEXANDER STARRZOE (Up 4 from 16th)
Now THERE’S the StarrZoe we were all looking for!  After a couple of disappointing weeks, Alexander finally lived up to his potential, dispatching newcomer Nate Rivers in fairly convincing fashion.  With an inexplicable (and I daresay inexcusable) off week, hopefully Starr can keep his momentum going into End Game.

#11- JOHNNY SAINT (Remains in 11th)
I’m not entirely sure if Saint looked really good against Torrio, or if Torrio just looked really bad against Saint.  Either way, Saint’s doing well now, but he still lacks that big eye-popping win.  A win over Tweeder might not cause orbital sockets to empty, but it’s definitely gonna raise a few eyelids.

#10- JACOB WRIGHT (Down 1 from 9th)
Not Wright’s best night against Stevens, but it was still enough for him to get the job done.  Interesting enough is Wright’s growing animosity with Jeremiah Belmont as End Game approaches.  Could Wright suddenly become a wild card in ‘Miah’s attempt to take the Belt off Ojeda?

#9- TWEEDER (Down 2 from 7th)
Well, I had a feeling that something was going to break during the main event of last week’s show, and sure enough, it did, with Tweeder turning around and walking out on Ashley Blade, dooming her to her fate.  Definitely an attempt to get inside Ash’s head going into End Game, but will it work?  And will Tweeder face retribution this week, in his match against Johnny Saint?

#8- ASHLEY BLADE (Down 3 from 5th)
*PWX EVOLUTION CHAMPION*
Here’s some food for thought- each of the PWX’s top three females has been successful against one of the other girls, and has struggled against the other.  For Ashley, her nemesis has become Valerie Belmont, who pinned her again at Adrenaline 55 (although Tweeder walking out on his partner sure as hell didn’t help matters).  Oddly enough, the last person to beat Ashley was also Valerie Belmont (A-51), and before that?  Johnny Moxie (49).

#7- BRIAN HOLLYWOOD (Up 3 from 10th)
Brian’s admitted he’s a humbled, reformed man, but whatever’s going on outside the ring isn’t even close to the transformation he’s undertaken INSIDE of it.  No longer is this the Hollywood content on just cheating and doing whatever he can to get by- this guy’s turning into a force- one akin to his domination earlier this year.

#6- WENDY BRIESE (Up 2 from 8th)
*PWX TAG TEAM CHAMPION*
Wendy’s crept back up the rankings with a couple of solid wins in the tag ranks.  Wendy stands a lot to gain from next week’s tag team match, considering the calibur of the team across from her.

#5- JEREMIAH BELMONT (Down 1 from 4th)
After the debacle at Adrenaline 55, there’s no way that Jeremiah can be too happy with Josh Graves right now.  Even worse, the #1 contender to the Grand Prix title keeps finding himself mired in tag matches.  Not a good way to build momentum going into End Game.

#4- JOHNNY MOXIE (Up 2 from 5th)
I’m not entirely sure its possible for Moxie to ever feel out of place anywhere, but if it is, this week might be the week Moxie feels a bit like a… well… fourth wheel, as now he has to cooperate not just with Valerie Belmont, but the entire Twisted Emotion stable!

#3- VALERIE BELMONT (Remained in 3rd)
*PWX HYBRID CHAMPION*
Well, Val was right about one thing- her and Moxie kicked ASS as a tag team.  Yeah, Tweeder and Ashley couldn’t function as a unit, but I don’t think it would  have mattered in the least.  But remember- in just a couple of weeks, they face off for the Hybrid Championship.  Can they manage to keep the peace between them until that day gets closer?

#2- TERRENCE THOMPSON (Remained in 2nd)
*PWX TAG TEAM CHAMPION*
Well, I’m sure the little speech Terrence gave to Shawn Lester last week more than smooths over any animosity between him and Lopez.  That could be one of the underlying stories heading into next week.

#1- JOHN OJEDA (Remained in 1st)
*PWX GRAND PRIX CHAMPION*
So I think I’ve figured out the secret to John Ojeda’s success- stay out of the ring before the big match.  Not only will John Ojeda not compete the week before End Game (two weeks, actually), he didn’t compete the week before Never Say Die, the Civil War, and Respect is Earned, as well.  He did have a match before Do Or Die III- against legendary powerhouse Jarome Owens.  I’m sure Ojeda calls this smart, but now that his secret’s out, how long until JPO calls him on it?

And there you have it, kids!

And finally

ADRENALINE 56: END GAME?  MORE LIKE “EH, LAME!”

So I honestly cant remember a more head scratching pre PPV lineup in a long time.  I mean, where to even begin?  Just four matches? The #1 contender to the Grand Prix championship in an eight man tag match that has NOTHING to do with the champion?  No Victor Jace, who returrned last week from an injury?  Hell, no Alexander StarrZoe, who’s just starting to catch fire?  And of course, as we already mentioned, don’t expect the GP Champion to actually exert himself, or anything.

Yeah, anyways

TAG MATCH
#14 Luke Blue & #15 Nate Rivers vs. #16 Ben Stevens & #19 Giovanni Torrio
This one actually bears the merit of beign the most sensible match on the whole damn card.  With Luke Blue’s friend Rivers joining PWX, it appears we have a new tag team in our ranks.  Interestingly enough, their first match comes against Blue’s former tag partner, Ben Stevens.  Stevens has had Blue’s number in singles competition, but between Blue & River’s (supposed) chemistry and Torrio’s (supposed) unreliability, this is actually an easy call.
WINNERS: Blue River (Please don’t really call your team that)

#9 Tweeder vs. #11 Johnny Saint
So here we have the official #1 contender to the evolution title (Tweeder) facing off against a man who actually does have a legit claim to be the #1 contender as well (Saint).  No word on whether anything’s on the line here, but this should be a good showdown between two of PWX’s newer talents.  Tweeder’s beaten Saint before, but that was in a four-way mess.  I think I’m gonna pick Saint to go with the upset.
WINNER: Johnny Saint

#7 Brian Hollywood vs. #8 Ashley Blade
Even though only a space seperates these two in the rankings, this appears to be a match between two wrestlers heading in opposite directions.  Ashley is hoping to get some momentum back after being hung out to dry by Tweeder, and Brian has been unstoppable as of late.  Honestly, this one could go either way, but I’m gonna have to go with Hollywood to keep his win streak going.
WINNER: Hollywood

EIGHT MAN TAG MATCH
#2 Terrence Thompson, #6 Wendy Briese, #10 Jacob Wright & #13 Antonio Lopez vs. #3 Valerie Belmont, #4 Johnny Moxie, #5 Jeremiah Belmont & #18 Josh Graves
Okay, so this is actually more a five man (Thompson/Wright/Lopez/Moxie/Jer), two women (Val/Wendy), and one androgynous fucktard (guess) match, but that’s really just too long to say.  Anyways, this is certainly a late nominee for the “Most overbooked pointless clusterfuck tag team match” award, rivaling such classics as Zion/Wright/Szatkowski vs. Thor/Ojeda/Hollywood (A-29); Szatkowski/Graves/Pariah vs. Ojeda/Poole/Silkk (A-33), and of course, my personal favorite Wright/Belmont/Thompson vs. Ojeda/Szatkowski/Thomas (A-35)

Goddamn PWX likes its clustefucks

Anyways, the only saving grace to this match is the sheer star power involved (like, five of the top six, anyone?).  That being said, it’s pretty much anyone’s game, because of the factors involved.  I’m gonna pick Team A (Birdz/GR) because, well, I’m a fucking homer.  Sue me.
WINNER: Thompson/Briese/Wright/Lopez.  Wait.. that’s who that team is, right?  Fuck it, i’m not looking again.

Okay, that’ll do it for this week.  We’ll see you next week, for more rankings, and a preview of END GAME!

Please god, let it be better than this show.

Anyways, POLLAAAAAAAAAAAAA OUT!