BRM Reviews LSW Kamala vs. American Dragon

[Big Red Machine]

LSW Kamala vs. American Dragon (9/30/2006)- Bridgeport, CT

It’s the very last day of September, and because it hasn’t shown up yet, process of elimination means that it’s time for the next installment of BRM’s monthly “This Day in Wrestling History” review series. Today we make our first (and almost certainly only) trip to Connecticut-based Liberty States Wrestling, where we will have our minds blown by the sheer “I cannot believe this actually happened” factor of tonight’s main event, which will see the ROH World Title on the line in eponymous match-up of Kamala vs. American Dragon.


All of tonight’s matches are sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance. Good. Now I know who to blame.

THE SILVER BULLETS vs. LOS GECKOS LOCOS- 2.5/10
This was a wacky match between two teams in wacky bodysuits. Los Geckos Locos did ass-biting spots, because apparently geckos are famous for biting.
Something was definitely loose in the ring, because basically every step these guys took caused a lot of rattling around and a loud pinging sound. Factoring in that the match had no commentary, it sounded like I was watching a wrestling match while listening to the soundtrack of a pinball game. I was terrified the ring would collapse when one of the Silver Bullets missed a top rope splash, but thankfully it did not. Los Geckos Locos won a basic tag team match with a Hart Attack.

NWA NEW ENGLAND X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Matt Ledge(c) vs. Beau Douglas vs. McDonald- 5.25/10
The lights went out in the middle of the match, but they had some floodlight somewhere that allowed you to still see perfectly anyway. They came on again, but then one of them went back out. Also the hardcam is slightly crooked.
The match was spotty and chaotic, but they tried very hard despite the fact that the crowd seemed to hate all three guys despite only seeming to having a reason to hate one of them. We got a “ten minutes have elapsed” call that I was certain was BS but when I check the time on my DVD player it turned out it was legit.

KARL ANDERSON vs. FRED SAMPSON- 4/10
Oh. Look. An unexpected bonus first time ever match between Karl Anderson and Darren Young. They did a very good job with the five minutes they were given. Anderson worked over Sampson’s back, then won with a Boston Crab.

SUPER D vs. JUDAS YOUNG- 4.75/10
Super D is a fat guy all black wrestling gear aside from a big yellow star on the side of his mask. He looks like something straight out of a very small territory in the early 80s. Thankfully, despite the way things started off seeming, he could actually move around a bit. They told a little big-man vs. little-man story and threw in Super D repeatedly going for what I assume was his finisher only for Young to always avoid it and finally win by rolling him up out of it.

Next we cut to… someone’s wedding video? What the f*ck? I don’t know who Maggie & Mike are, but when they read this they’re going to be SOOOOOO pissed.
Now it’s pointed way to the right, well past the ring. Now it’s point way up. Why is this happening? But hey! Now it’s straight again! And now we’re constantly zooming in and out slowly while old dudes walk around in the ring.
They had… the match you would probably expect these four to have at ages 54, 48, 48, and 50. It was psychologically sound, but not very entertaining and in no way exciting.

CROWBAR vs. JOSH DANIELS- 7/10
Wow! Something that’s actually good! It would have been nice to know that weapons were legal beforehand and Daniels’ shoulders were actually on a chair and not the mat when he got pinned, but at this point in this show, I’ll take what I can get. This was a pretty great athletic match that built up to its weapon use pretty well.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- a reminder that this show took place in 2006
Crowbar grabbed a mic and said their match was much better than “that watered down crap you see on Tuesday night.” He then ordered the fans to cheer for Josh Daniels, and they did so by insisting that “HIE’S HARDCORE! HE’S HARDCORE!”

THE ROCK N’ ROLL EXPRESS vs. THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey)- 2/10
The hard-cam has gotten even more crooked since our short wedding interlude. Now it’s zooming in.

ACE STEEL vs. JOHN WALTERS- 6.75/10
A good mix of the technical and the high-flying. Ace’s back got worked over but he was able to overcome it and win.

ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH WITH PRINCE NANA AS SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE: Bryan Danielson(c) vs. Kamala (w/Kim Chee)- 4.5/10
The jewel case asked us “does the American Dragon has what it takes to stop the “Hired Assassin.” As someone who likes the jewel case to list all of the matches (or at least previously-announced matches) in order (which this one doesn’t, by the way), you can probably guess that this made me cringe. The answer to this question turned out to be that he did not (or perhaps, more appropriately, “he do not”) because Danielson lost by DQ, presumably because Kamala didn’t want to do a job. In addition to the aforementioned embarrassing error, the jewel case insert also manages to incorrectly refer to the championship at stake here as the “ROH World Heavyweight Champion(ship)” despite correctly referring to it as the “ROH World Champion(ship)” earlier in the same paragraph.
We started off with Dragon offering a handshake, which Kamala did not seem to understand. The fans encouraged Kamala to “BITE HIS HAND!”
We went well over a minute before any contact was made. They locked up and Dragon was quickly shoved down. It’s like watching a Cody Rhodes ROH World Title defense, and I promise that is one of then only times you will hear me compare one of the greatest world champions in ROH history to one of the worst. The difference between them, as shown here, is that while Cody stalled just to try to get heat (or possibly just for the sake of stalling), everything Dragon did was part of the process of telling the story of the match- in this case that Kamala had a major strength advantage, which played out both as an ability to manhandle Bryan and as his strikes down more than Bryan’s.
Nana showed himself to be a biased ref by slow-counting Bryan’s pinfalls, but didn’t otherwise try to screw him, even though he made clear in a pre-match promo that Kamala was his “close personal friend.”
They eventually brawled on the outside and were temporarily back behind the curtain, where we could only see outlines of them. Despite the fact that there was a floor-cam following them, we never once cut to it. They weren’t back there for long, but it just seemed so odd to have that camera but never use the footage. They knocked down the curtain on their way back, revealing that the “backstage” area is actually “outside.” Dragon choked Kamala with the bar that holds up the curtain but this was not a DQ. I would assume this is because Nana knows that Kamala can’t win the belt on a DQ, but if he is so interested in Kamala winning the belt, you’d think he’d be taking a more active role in trying to screw Bryan.
Lom Chee got involved, which was also not a DQ, so Bryan took him out. Nana then tried to attack Dragon so AmDrag tossed him into the wall as well. Danielson then got a chair but Kamala wrestled it away from him and hit him in the head with it in the same motion, which looked kind of cool. Kamala then hit the Best Wrestler in the World with the chair, and Nana called for the bell, but then revealed that he was disqualifying Dragon for putting his hands on the referee (a legitimate claim, although I don’t fault Dragon for trying to get out of this match any way he could when the referee has clearly shown himself to be biased). The match went just over eleven minutes, and, while not good, did feel like the best we could have hoped for with a 56 year-old Kamala and a match that was going to end in a DQ.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- after the wrestlers were in the back someone came out and reiterated to us that it was Dragon who had been DQed. Dragon came out and cut an angry promo on Nana challenging him to pick anyone to face Dragon on his behalf. Nana came out and Dragon chased him away. None of this was ever followed up on in the future, either in LSW or in ROH.

Yeah, this DVD is getting relocated to my coaster drawer. It was unenjoyable in just about every way. The wrestling wasn’t very good, the finish of the main event was terrible, if there actually were any storylines then there was no one there to explain them to us because there was no commentary, the camerawork was poor, the production was of low quality, and the issues with the ring… um… ringing, I guess… gave me a headache. Even the f*cking jewel case had a bunch of problems, and that little interlude of Mike & Maggie’s wedding was completely inexcusable on a commercial product (which this clearly was because it was hardcam footage, not a handheld shot from the crowd. I’ve got a different first time ever match lined up for next month’s “This Day in Wrestling History” review, and it is one that promises to be a hell of a lot better than this.

[NWK2000]

Next we cut to… someone’s wedding video? What the f*ck? I don’t know who Maggie & Mike are, but when they read this they’re going to be SOOOOOO pissed.

So someone's wedding video got taped over in an official release for Kamala vs Danielson? That's the best thing I've ever read lmao.

[savoldiwrestling]

LSW Kamala vs. American Dragon

Hey Big Red Machine, is there any chance on earth you still have this DVD? I've been digging through all our tapes and CAN NOT find the master for the life of me. You're our last hope!

[Big Red Machine]

LSW Kamala vs. American Dragon

Hey Big Red Machine, is there any chance on earth you still have this DVD? I've been digging through all our tapes and CAN NOT find the master for the life of me. You're our last hope!

I certainly do, and will be headed to my parents' this weekend where I store all of this stuff.

Just let me know where you'd like me to send it.

[savoldiwrestling]

LSW Kamala vs. American Dragon

Hey Big Red Machine, is there any chance on earth you still have this DVD? I've been digging through all our tapes and CAN NOT find the master for the life of me. You're our last hope!

I certainly do, and will be headed to my parents' this weekend where I store all of this stuff.

Just let me know where you'd like me to send it.

You're a life saver! You just bought yourself an executive producer credit haha. I can't send PM's here yet. Can you shoot me an email? savoldiwrestling@gmail.com

[Big Red Machine]

Hey Big Red Machine, is there any chance on earth you still have this DVD? I've been digging through all our tapes and CAN NOT find the master for the life of me. You're our last hope!

I certainly do, and will be headed to my parents' this weekend where I store all of this stuff.

Just let me know where you'd like me to send it.

You're a life saver! You just bought yourself an executive producer credit haha. I can't send PM's here yet. Can you shoot me an email? savoldiwrestling@gmail.com

Sent.