By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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West Coast Pro “Under the Bridge”
Streamed on YouTube.com
February 18, 2023 in Los Angeles, California at Don Quixote Nightclub
James Kincaid provided solo commentary. The hard camera is upstairs and overlooks a ring corner; it’s always odd to have it not straight-on. We do have ringside cameras, too, which are widely used. Lighting is good, and the crowd is maybe 200.
1. Jazmin Allure defeated Karisma at 7:43. I’ve seen Karisma at least two times; she’s of average size with long brown hair halfway down her back, and she wore a skirt that flared out like Velvet Sky’s outfits. Allure wore red with long black hair and they are about the same height; she’s been in AEW TV matches in the past. Standing switches. Allure took charge early on and hit a snap suplex for a nearfall at 3:30. Karisma hit some kneestrikes in the corner, and she hit an axe kick to the back of the head for a nearfall at 6:00. Karisma nailed a Flatliner for a believable nearfall. Allure hit a “Teardrop” twisting slam for the pin. Decent action.
* Kincaid said the lineup for the next match was shifted around with guys “traded” from one team to another. It set up a northern California team vs. a southern California team.
2. “Team NoCal” Jaguar Montoya, Ishamael Vaughn, JIah Jewell, and Vinnie Massaro defeated “Team SoCal” Lazarus and Ice Williams (w/Jeaux Braxton), Keita Murray, and Bad Dude Tito at 15:25. Montoya has curly shoulder-length hair. Williams and Braxton are known as “Lights Camera Faction” and they had a match on last week’s ROH TV in a loss to the Outrunners; I date myself by comparing them to the Milli Vanili guys. Tito is the established talent on his team. Vaughn is a tall Black man (think former NXT wrestler EJ Nduka) and he impressed me last month. Jiah is the ‘crazy cajun’ and yes reminds me Lash LeRoux. Massaro is the overly Italian stereotypical gimmick and I always compare him to Hugh Morrus.
Lazarus and Massaro opened and because we’re in Los Angeles, Team SoCal are cheered. Ice and Vaughn entered at 2:00 and these are two BIG guys, and Vaughn hit a delayed vertical suplex. Montoya and Keita traded mat reversals. Montoya applied a Claw to the head and hit a Claw-Slam on Keita at 4:30. Tito got in and he is much bigger than JIah, and he flattened Jewell with a shoulder tackle, then a big backbody drop. Jiah did a Gator Roll on Tito. Ice stomped on Jiah in the corner, and Team SoCal began working Jewell over. Massaro hit a hard clothesline in the corner on Ice, then a brainbuster at 8:30. Keita and Jaguar traded blows, and Jaguar hit a senton for a nearfall. This match is just lacking pacing.
Tito made the hot tag again and he hit a series of chops and a T-Bone Suplex on Jaguar at 11:00. Tito hit a German Suplex on Montoya for a nearfall. The scrawny Jiah got in and hit a series of chops that Tito no-sold, so Jiah hit a tornado DDT. Tito hit a powerbomb. Lazarus entered at 13:00 and hit a diving forearm, then a Doctor Bomb on Jiah for a believable nearfall. Jiah hit an (ugly) second-rope clothesline. Vaughn tagged back in and hit a Death Valley Driver on Lazarus. Ice hit a second-rope forearm to the back of Vaughn’s head. Braxton jumped in the ring and hit a stunner on Vaughn, allowing Ice to get a nearfall. Ice accidentally superkicked teammate Braxton on the apron, allowing Vaughn to hit a spear on Ice for the pin. Fairly standard eight-man action.
3. “Beef” Gnarls Garvin defeated Alpha Zo at 9:02. Zo is a Black man and he’s slimmed down a bit in the past year. These guys are brawlers. They opened with standing switches, not blows. They started trading forearms at 3:30. Beef hit a flying splash and he choked Zo in the ropes. Beef fell through the ropes and crashed on the floor and hurt his left arm; Zo saw it and began targeting the arm. In the ring, Zo hit a uranage over his knee at 6:30. Beef hit a clothesline in the corner. Beef got a rollup for the pin out of nowhere. Zo was distraught at the loss, but he did shake Beef’s hand.
4) Black Taurus and “Los Vipers” Latigo and Toxin defeated Lee Moriarty, Lio Rush, and Jacob Fatu at 15:15. Lio competed in the Dallas area on Saturday for Wrestling Revolver. Lee opened for his team against Latigo and they traded basic mat holds. Lio entered at 3:00 against Toxin, who is in neon green and black tonight. Los Vipers worked together to beat up Lio. Lio hit an enzuigiri on Latigo. Fatu entered for the first time at 5:00 and hit some headbutts on Los Vipers. Los Vipers began working over Moriarty. The crowd wanted to see Fatu vs. Taurus, but Los Vipers kept Lee grounded. Fatu finally got in and hit a Samoan Drop at 8:30, then a handspring-back moonsault on Los Vipers.
Taurus tagged in! He and Fatu hit a shoulder tackle with neither man budging and the crowd chanted “holy shit!” Taurus snapped Fatu’s neck between his ankles, then he hit a powerslam for a nearfall. Taurus hit his pop-up Samoan Drop on Fatu for a nearfall at 10:00. Fatu hit his own pop-up Samoan Drop; Lio tagged in and tried to cover Taurus, but Taurus eeasily flipped Lio’s weight off of him. Lee tagged in and battled Toxin again. Lee hit a dive to the floor on Toxin. Latigo hit a flip dive through the ropes. Fatu hit a dive over the ropes that POPPED the crowd at 12:00. “Are you not entertained?” Kincaid asked.
In the ring, Fatu and Taurus squared off again and fought on the top rope, where Fatu hit a Frankensteiner. Fatu then hit a Poison Rana! Lio hit a Final Hour frogsplash on Taurus, but Los Vipers made the save. Lio hit the Rush Hour stunner out of the ropes. Lee hit a German Suplex at 14:00. Taurus hit a backbreaker over his knee on Lee. Taurus hit a spear on Fatu, and suddenly everyone was down, and we got our first “this is awesome!” chant of the night. LIo hit a Poison Rana on Toxin, but he missed a frogsplash. Toxin hit a superkick, and Los Vipers hit a team slam, with Latigo pinning Rush! I didn’t expect that outcome. “Absolute insanity with action coming quicker than I could call it,” Kincaid said.
* Intermission. I started the show half-way through so I was able to fast-forward through a 28-MINUTE intermission. That is just too long. (I went from being 52 minutes behind live TV to 24 minutes.) I’ve been to numerous WWE house shows and the breaks are kept to 15 minutes. NBA and NFL halftimes check in at 12-15 minutes. After four separate entrances for the next match, it was literally about 40 minutes from the time the fourth match ended and the bell rang for the fifth match.
5. Takuma Iroha and Mio Momono defeated Trish Adora and Queen Aminata at 16:37. Takumi is the champion, but of course the title is not on the line in this tag match. The crowd chanted “All these women!” That’s a new one for me. Iroha and Adora opened with standing switches and they battled in a knucklelock, and Trish has a clear size advantage. Mio entered at 4:00, but she’s even shorter, and Trish caught Mio on a crossbody block attempt. Adora hit a backbreaker over her knee, then a stiff kick to the spine. Aminata got in and they worked over Mio. I want to point out that Team AEW are wearing fairly identical black-and-gold outfits.
Iroha finally got the hot tag at 8:00 ad she hit a series of quick kicks on Aminata. Mio flipped teammate Iroha onto Aminata. Mio hit a top-rope crossbody block on Aminata for a nearfall. Aminata nailed a release German Suplex on Mio at 10:00, then a hard kick to the cheek in the corner for a nearfall. Adora hit a nice Northern Lights Suplex for a nearfall on Mio, then a Bubba Bumb for a nearfall. Mio and Iroha hit stereo flying knees. Mio hit another frogsplash on Adora for a nearfall. Iroha hit a Swanton Bomb for a believable nearfall at 12:30. Trish hit a Mafia Kick, then a backbreaker over her knee on Iroha.
Adora hit a neckbreaker over her knee on Iroha and tied her up, but Mio made the save. Adora hit a hard forearm on Iroha, then a Bulldog Powerslam for a believable nearfall at 14:30, and Trish was shocked she didn’t win there. We got a “West Coast!” chant. Mio hit a leaping dropkick, but Adora hit a hard clothesline. Iroha hit a German Suplex. Adora tied up Iroha on the mat, but Iroha escaped and got a rollup for a nearfall. Iroha hit a series of kicks on Trish. Iroha hit a Razor’s Edge overhead powerbomb to pin Adora. That was really, really good.
6. Chris Hero defeated Adrian Quest via DQ at 6:46. This was set up at the last show; Hero said Quest’s Los Suavicitos teammates wouldn’t be booked so Hero can get his hands on Quest. Hero is taller and heavier. They opened with standing switches, and they traded offense while in a knucklelock. Hero hit a senton at 4:30, then a Mafia Kick that sent Quest to the floor. Hero went to the top rope when two masked goons attacked, and the bell rang. Even before they removed their mask, it was clearly Ricky Gee and Danny Rose, and they helped beat down Hero. Titus Alexander made the save! Hero and Titus beat us Los Suavicitos. However, it was 3-on-2 and the heels were quickly back in charge. Out of the blue, another guy in a hoodie ran into the ring to help the babyfaces. He pulled down the hood and it’s Konosuke Takeshita! We have an impromptu six-man tag!
7. Konosuke Takeshita, Chris Hero, and Titus Alexander defeated Adrian Quest, Ricky Gee, and Danny Rose at 20:56. Hero beat up Rose on the entrance stage. Titus got in and hit a stiff kick to the spine. Takeshita got in at 2:00; unfortunately my stream got really choppy, even though there were no problems with commentary. Takeshita hit a double suplex. (I sure hope this stream gets fixed later; this hadn’t happened at all during the show until now.) Los Suavicitos began working over Titus in their corner. This is truly unwatchable because it is frozen images, but at least we can hear Kincaid describe the action.
Hero got the hot tag at 8:00; the stream is so choppy but you can see him hit some chops and forearm strikes. (I grabbed another computer to make sure it is the stream, and not my computer, that is at fault for this disaster.) The heels worked over Hero in their corner; the stream is still awful, 10+ minutes after it became choppy. Takeshita made the hot tag at 12:30 and he hit a second-rope crossbody block; the stream is marginally improving not but it’s still not a clean signal. Takeshita hit (I believe was) a Falcon Arrow for a nearfall. Quest hit a low blow kick on Takeshita for a nearfall, but Konosuke kicked out.
Alexander made the hot tag at 15:30 and he hit a brainbuster and a backbreaker over his knee for a nearfall; the stream is still not fixed. We got a “This is awesome!” chant. The heels now took turns working over Titus. Hero made the hot tag at 18:00 and he hit a Mafia Kick on Quest for a nearfall. Boy I hope this is fixed in post production because I’m missing a good match. Hero missed a top-rope moonsault. Takeshita got back in and threw around the heels. Hero hit a rolling forearm and a piledriver on Quest for the pin. Literally the entire match had streaming issues. I hoped it would clear up, but it went from “really bad” to “quick frozen pics,” but never a smooth stream.
* Hero got on the mic. POOF the picture just got clear. After 20 minutes we have a smooth stream again. Hero told a story about meeting a 10-year-old boy in Japan while on a tour there… and that boy has grown up and is Takeshita. The crowd chanted “please come back!” at Konosuke. Hero noted it is Larry Sweeney’s ‘heavenly birthday’ and the crowd knows the name, chanting “Sweet and sour!” Hero said they’ll be back here on April 14.
8. Starboy Charlie defeated Aramis to retain the WCPW Title at 16:29. A feeling-out process to open. Aramis hit a huracanrana at 4:00. Charlie hit a dropkick and a moonsault, then a back suplex for a nearfall. Aramis tied up Charlie on the mat and cranked on his left arm. Charlie hit a huracanrana at 8:00, then a flip dive through the ropes with a scary-looking landing but he hopped to his feet. (It’s good to be just 21!) The crowd chanted, “he’s okay!” In the ring, Charlie hit a top-rope Shooting Star Press. Charlie hit a Sliced Bread and a basement dropkick, then a standing corkscrew press for a nearfall at 10:00.
Aramis nailed a dive through the ropes and they wound up deep in rows of chair. In the ring, Aramis hit a spin kick in the corner, and he tied up Charlie’s legs in a modified Figure Four. They got up and traded forearm strikes, then they each hit a Mafia Kick. Charlie set up for a piledriver but Aramis escaped and hit a superkick. Charlie hit a Pele Kick. Aramis put Charlie on his shoulders and spun him to the mat for a powerbomb for a nearfall at 14:00. Charlie couldn’t get a Poison Rana, so he turned it into a German Suplex. He hit a Shotgun Dropkick. Aramis missed a top-rope moonsault, and this match has built nicely. Charlie got a rollup, leaned back for pressure, and scored the pin. That was really good.
Final Thoughts: Charlie-Aramis started slowly with almost nothing to describe in the first eight minutes, but they just kept building and building. I’ll narrowly go with that for best match ahead of the Lio Rush six-man tag. I loved how they immediately set up for us that we wanted to see Taurus and Jacob Fatu lock up, and they built nicely to that, too. The women’s match was really strong and earns third.
The Hero six-man (of what I could see of it!) was fine, and the Takeshita surprise was a blast. I really do hope they can get this fixed when the show gets re-posted (West Coast Pro typically pulls a show off Youtube after it streams and puts it on IWTV. They may later repost it on Youtube).
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