Featured Post

Thank You, Axl Rotten (And R.I.P.)

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Alan Wojcik Reviews XPW Season 2 TV DVD

Courtesy of Alan J. Wojcik:

In its prime Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) ran in California and the home of the other extreme promotion ECW; Philadelphia, PA and had a TV show. It had a roster of legendary wrestlers like Terry Funk, Sabu, Shane Douglas, Rey Mysterio Sr., Tracy Smothers and Chris Candido mixed with some new stars like Supreme, the Messiah, Kid Kaos and some lovely ladies named Lizzy Borden, Jessica Darlin and Krysti Mist. But like ECW, XPW is a memory thanks to the legal troubles of its owner Rob “Black” Zicari and his wife Borden AKA Janet Romano, who also ran Extreme Associates an adult film company which Borden was a performer. The duo was indicted in federal court on ten counts including distributing obscene materials via the USPS and internet (the case is still pending.)

Big Vision Entertainment and XEG (the company Zicari sold the library to) released season 1 of the XPW TV product and recently added XPW Wrestling Television: the Complete Second Season. Like the other XPW releases it is hosted by Kris Kloss and Larry Rivera. Many people felt I ripped Kloss in my WSX DVD review but I was really not happy with his co-host MTV stuck him with. Kloss actually shines in this release and Rivera is very entertaining, keeping the fans in the match and reminding them of old school wrestlers. There are some great matches on this release including a young “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels vs. Donovan Morgan, Terry Funk vs. Sabu, Chris Candido vs. Shane Douglas and Supreme vs. Messiah in a Death Match.

That is the good news; the bad news is listed on the packing of the DVD: “Since season 2 did not contain many actual wrestling matches, we have included over an hour of never before released matches.” The entire set feels like Total Nonstop Rob Black (as opposed to Total Nonstop Angle currently featured on Spike TV.) The season is dominated with his obsession with getting rid of then XPW champion Sabu and keeping Borden happy as “White Trash“ Johnny Webb keeps stealing cars and other items. I guess it would have helped if I had seen season one of the TV to understand why Black was playing a Playstation game system with no TV or walking around in a bathrobe, or talking to then WCW president Eric Bischoff or talking to a magic eight ball for all the major decision in his life. The wrestling matches that are featured make it worth buying even if you weren’t a fan of XPW.

This DVD set is available in stores nationwide and also through www.bvdvd.com. There is an XPW info site for you to check out the history of the group www.thexpw.com