Event: Northeast Wrestling in Poughkeepsie, NY
Venue: Mid-Hudson Civic Center
Submitted by: Mitch from New Jersey
The was my first time attending anything other than a WWE event or an ROH/Impact PPV. It was as Indy as I’ve got and was surprised how full the show was. Interesting how times have changed: Kenny had a meet and greet towards the back of the venue near the stage while Mick Foley was in the lobby. At the start of the show I’d say 75% full and by the 3rd match or so nearly 85-90 full. Surprisingly a lot of kids who seemed to know a lot of the guys on the card.
The show opened with a hot 6-man ladder match. The most over guy was Man Scout who the crowd seemed to know and really get behind. He came out with a tent which then was used in a big falling tower spot with all the guys crashing into the tent in the ring. There was a good big man Wrecking ball everyone works well off and the winner Hale was a local wrestler from Poughkeepsie. My friend knew him and says he trains David Arquette. Everyone worked well and considering all the spots hit, they were all clean and looked good. I expected this to be more reckless and rather enjoyed it.
The women’s match represented the worst of women’s wrestling and wrestling in general. The “Asian Invasion” vs a stripper. This was divas level bad and I have never seen a wrestler with the ass of the girl who won. This was the first awkward/bad finish of the night.
The third match features the two Kings. To be honest I left for this match to meet a fellow POST Patreon, David. That was cool! I’m not sure but Arquette may have come out for this. Either way, I did not want to see King wrestle. It’s wrong for promoters to book this guy given his health.
PCO got a nice reaction and pulled off some great spots against the NEW champion who felt like a Tazz character. I had a hard time buying their champion being billed as Big Bacon. PCO hit a pretty nice suicide dive and later a moonsault. This finish was awkward when the ref was lame with the three count and it wasn’t obvious the match ended.
Pentagon was super hot and controls an audience with his taunt all match. My only issue with him is how snug and hard hitting all his moves look and that a guy the size of Darby Allin shouldn’t be kicking out of all of them. Penta really destroyed this kid and I felt bad by the end of the match how beat up he seemed. Penta got in like 90% of the offense and it was a great showcase for him.
RVD and Swagger was an awful Raw TV match and seemed like a total waste. The crowd heckled this and RVD seemed to be very into himself. There was not a lot here and Swagger looked bored and not into it. Complete waste and the crowd cooled off after being very hot for Pentagon.
Kenny and Rey Fenix were incredible. I’m sorry I can’t do the match justice with a good recap of moves but this match has everything and being there live aside, I enjoyed it more than his match with Pentagon. Kenny got in his stuff which I loved getting to see live, and there was a crazy Spanish fly spot that the crowd went nuts for. There was also a big spot through a table to the outside. These guys didn’t hold back and delivered a tremendous main event.
After Kenny spoke and really seemed anti-NJPW. While repeatedly saying his loved NJPW and the country, he blamed them for not coming to the Northeast yet and said he wanted to bring this part of the world a taste of the IWGP heavyweight champion and have a dream match with one of the best non-New Japan wrestlers. It did seem like he really wanted to emphasize people weren’t happy he took the booking but he did this on his own. It’s not letting me upload the video of this but I got the post-match speech in full.