THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail: twosheds316@aol.com
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
This edition of TSR sees us taking a second trip down under, as we take a look at Greystoke Entertainment’s latest DVD release, Wrestlerock 2. The hosts for this show are Wrestlerock regulars Chris Fresh and Julian James.
The first match sees singles action, Brave Dave v Slex. Dave immediately annoys the crowd by putting a coat on the scantily-clad ring girl Emily Grace, something which Slex rectifies by bringing her straight back out and taking the coat off her. These two aren’t the best built guys in the world, but at least they look like wrestlers. This is a very enjoyable opener, with Dave starting the action before the bell starts, Slex coming back well, and pulling off a great suicide dive to the outside, before getting the win after an exchange of chops with a high execution kick.
Then it’s time for the return of Ricky Diamond’s Hardcore Hotel, with guest referee, the “employee of the month”, Crackerjack, with Diamond himself facing The Cremator, a big bear of a man who looks like one mean SOB, and the Cremator’s appearance clearly upsets Diamond. Plenty of weapons shots in this one, with Crackerjack clearly favouring his “boss”, and even helping him to win by throwing powder into the Cremator’s face as he was about to put Diamond through a table. Diamond got the winning pin after a stunner through the table. Afterwards, Crackerjack praises Diamond, saying that his boss needs a holiday. Diamond responds by handing the keys to the Hardcore Hotel to his protégé. A slightly disappointing match this one, with long periods of time with nothing going on mixed with a lack of intensity.
Outside the building, Rohan Herbstreit cuts a promo with his man Steve Frost, praising him to the heavens, promising that his man will defend his Wrestlerock title.
Back inside, it’s an arm wrestling match to determine who will be the “sheriff” of Wrestlerock, with Sebastian Walker’s Bulldog facing the Ox. There’s tons of stalling before the match actually begins, and Walker’s attempted interference fails, as Ox wins the match to become the sheriff. Then, as seems to be the case with most in-ring arm wrestling matches, there’s the usual extra-curricular activity as Ox spears Walker, and then slugs it out with the larger Bulldog before taking him down with a second spear, before Ox himself is taken out by the Shoot Fighter with a super kick. But the big man doesn’t stay down for long, and soon takes out the intruder with the third spear of the evening. Ox then promises to clean things up, announcing the Ox Invitational for Wrestlerock 3.
Tag-team action follows, with Laser and Daniel Swagger going up against “Mr. Saturday Night” Blade and “The Most Beautiful Man in the Cosmos” Stefan Cool, otherwise known as Vanity, Inc. For those who don’t know, Blade is your typical Australian male, while Cool seems to have borrowed greatly from Adrian Street’s image, which is what makes their combination interesting, and while Cool’s wrestling is a bit off at times, Blade is certainly impressive. It certainly is an interesting bout, with both Blade and in particular Swagger putting in good showings, with a show of dissention between the baby faces. As Laser came off the ropes and delivered an axe kick to finish Blade off, Swagger got the blind tag, and as Laser went for the cover, Swagger pulled him off the fallen Blade and got the pin for himself. As Laser questioned Swagger after the match, the cocky youngster took him down with a stunner, then paint brushed Laser’s mate Tricky D.
Main event time, with Steve Frost defending the Wrestlerock championship against Mad Dog. Frost has his manager Rohan Herbstreit along for company in this one. This is another one of those matches that goes under the “interesting” category, and highlights the major flaw of having James and Fresh doing live commentary over the venue’s PA system. As the referee was tied up with Herbstreit on the outside of the ring, Frost grabbed Mad Dog’s barb wire chair and bashed him over the head with it, which the commentators mentioned. So how come the referee didn’t hear the commentators talk about this? Anyway, back to the match itself, a match which has a bit of a sloppy start as Dog mis-times a jump to the outside, but does get better as it goes along. Mad Dog gets busted open by the aforementioned chair shot, and a miscommunication with Herbstreit leads to the referee taking a snooze after colliding into a steel briefcase. Mad Dog then brings a second into the equation, clobbers Herbstreit with it, but misses out on clobbering Frost with it. Frost then connects with a power bomb onto the chair, and as the referee comes to, Frost covers Mad Dog for the title retaining pin, although why he didn’t disqualify Frost when the chair was clearly in sight during the pin remains a mystery.
DVD extras come in the form of Julian James and The Ox making a promotional appearance on an Australian radio show, and Wrestlerock off-cuts, in which we get to see Rohan Herbstreit fluffing his lines.
In conclusion – two good matches, two that were interesting to say the least, and an arm wrestling encounter that ends in the usual way makes Wrestlerock 2 a hit and miss affair. There were clearly some flaws in this show, with the commentary being the main one, and although I’m sure that messrs James and Fresh will continue to have live commentary for the somewhat rowdy crowd in attendance, I would still prefer it if the commentary was kept totally separate. That way, we wouldn’t have them screaming about a sneaky chair shot behind the referee’s back!
One word of warning though – given the colourful language used by the majority of the participants, this DVD is definitely not for youngsters. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
With thanks to Rohan Herbstreit and the Wrestlerock guys for supplying a copy of this DVD. For more information on Wrestlerock, including news on upcoming shows and information on how to purchase a copy of this and other DVDs, visit www.wrestlerock.com.au.
Now it’s time to plug a couple of items;
The final voting for the 2006 Two Sheds Review Awards is now open, with Edge, John Cena, Shawn Michaels, C.M. Punk and Samoa Joe up for the Wrestler of the Year award, and Mirko Cro Cop, Chuck Lidell, Tito Ortiz and Georges St. Pierre up for MMA Fighter of the Year. There’s also ten other categories to vote in. Log onto www.twoshedsreview.com to find out more!
And finally, some of my work has made it into book form, with the first two stories of my 1990 Anglo-Force series, co-written with my brother Paul, available to buy online at www.lulu.com/twosheds316.
