[2000-02-25-JAPW-Valentine's Day Massacre] Da Hit Squad vs The Big Unit (Rick Silver & Dave Desire) vs Russ & Charlie Haas (Elimination)

[soup23]

The Haas brothers look huge in there. They are doing a quasi-Briscoe Brothers gimmick with rebel flag bandannas and all. I also had an eureka moment with Dixie seconding them and his name makes sense a lot more now being a part of this group. The match went on WAY too long but had some highlights. At one point, another team interferes and takes out Big Unit. Da Hit Squad are polished here with their brutal offense and overall reckless nature. Johnny D turns on the Haas Bros at the finish and aligns with Da Hit Squad where they win the JAPW tag straps. ***

[Loss]

This was pretty awesome, and I didn't expect to like this nearly as much as I did. Hit Squad can go and looked really great here, as did the Haas Brothers, especially Charlie. Big Unit did fine in the role they were in. I thought they did a good job early on of laying groundwork for a Hit Squad vs Haas Brothers finale, and they really made me want it when the two teams had this crazy intense brawl on the outside in the early part of the match, and the end didn't disappoint at all. Seems like Hit Squad could have easily filled whatever void the Dudleys left behind in ECW. I was expecting a plunder-based brawl for whatever reason, but they kept this almost entirely in the ring and there was really only one time they went out of the ring, and they didn't really rely on weapons at all. This was a wrestling match, and a really strong one. ****

[Robert S]

I really dug the two heat segments, as they were very competently worked. The final fall was also done pretty good, the beginning of the match not so much. They wanted to do too much there and the timing for the more complex stuff was often off. I could have also lived without the horrible catfight.

The crowd was very ECW-ish, there were chants like "she's a crack-whore", "you fucked up", "J-A-P".

[Mattsdmf]

This was a good, fun brawl but I agree with Chad in that this was a bit too long. This was my first time watching JAPW but I've always heard about their shows. I'm glad to be watching Da Hit Squad again.

[Tim Evans]

I love that the name of the promotion basked on the graphic is JAP. Guess they had to change that quickly. I enjoyed the match for what it was, Hit squad killing fools and Charlie Hass not selling a damn thing. I forget who it was but Mafia just destroyed one of the unit guys. Looked like he was concussed from a clothesline and then the poor guy lands on his head doing frankensteiner. Hass no sells getting powerbombed through the table. Finish was wonky and the match went a little too long but it is what it is.

 

Best moment of the match was the little kid putting money in the woman valet's top. That was classy.

[Laney]

I think this went way too long and could have been better if they tightened it up. The Big Unit looked horrible when they were on offense, so thankfully they spend the first half of the match just taking a beating. This beat-down goes on way too long though as it seems like DHS and the Haas brothers are just coming up with awkward double team moves to try. Oddly enough, the Big Unit doesn't get pinned, a team runs-in and they get counted out for brawling with them. It's kind of pointless for them to take such a beating and then go toe-to-toe with a fresh team.

 

The second half of the match is just DHS vs the Haas brothers and it is a pretty entertaining brawl. Since it is 2000 you get a turn in the finish. Then they tease that the turn is a swerve, but that swerve turns out to be a swerve. Yeah, this is 2000 indie booking at its finest. I remember the CZW shows from this time period having a turn every show.

 

***

[Migs]

Loved Da Hit Squad in the early 2000s.

 

Mafia doing the plancha with the steps was fantastic. The Big Unit take a good beating, but are just so damn indy. The first 15 minutes is literally just the two better teams beating on those dudes. This would be great for sympathy, except the crowd hates them. And they don't even get pinned! Awful.

 

The back half of this is the sort of nasty brawl that DHS would become known for. So many unprotected chair shots. This part was pretty fun.

[Moonsault Marvin]

The early part of this was a mess with people standing around waiting for dives. The guys in the Big Unit really struggled as they botched a lot of moves. Da Hit Squad were the only compelling part of the match, since they had some strong offensive moves. The match seemed really long, and needed to be cut in half. Below average.

[jasch]

This is a typical GYSI early 2000s indies match. I love DHS dishing out a beating.Hope some higher end DHS matches are in the pipeline.

[GSR]

Three way dance elimination match for the JAPW tag titles. Plenty at ringside for this with the Haas Brothers seconded by Little Dixie and Johnny D, while the Big Unit (Rick Silver and Dave Desire) have Kristy Kiss in their corner. Charlie Haas and Dave Desire kick things off and this is all very indy looking. Dive train sequence ends with a Monsta Mack tope through the ropes. They return to the ring and Silver struggles applying an Indian Deathlock, before countering a Mack left with a ‘Crippler crossface’. Mafia is in to break it up and a big gorilla press slam. After two of Silver’s clotheslines have no effect, Mack obliterates him with super stiff one of his own. Silver has been legit knocked silly by that, and a chokebomb from Mafia as Silver is really struggling. He somehow reverses a powerbomb into a frankensteiner (although almost breaks his neck on landing) and is able to tag his partner. Desire with a springboard elbow drop, but a top rope legdrop is missed as Mafia rolls out the way. Running powerbomb by Mafia, nasty looking regulation one from Mack and he tags Charlie. Slingshot shoulderblock by the Haas Brothers and Desire is clearly a glutton for punishment as he kicks out of the pin. Combination camel clutch/Boston crab from the brothers. Whip to the turnbuckle and Desire blows what I think was supposed to be a moonsault crossbody off the middle, however he just crashes backwards into the Haas’. Double spinebuster, but the brothers then miss a double team Tajiri style handspring into a moonsault (Russ), twisting legdrop (Charlie) as Silver moves out the way. Hot tag to Silver who clears the ring of the Haas’ and calls on DHS. Never a team to back down from a fight Mafia accepts with glee. Silver with a low blow and a DDT when some music plays. No idea who this team is but they go straight after The Big Unit, although we don’t see much as the camera man is more interested in getting panty shots of their valet and Kristy Kiss as they roll around on the outside. Unbelievably after how the match has gone so far it this results in the Big Unit being counted out! Russ slingshots Mafia to Charlie who catches and plants him with a belly to belly. A clothesline sends him tumbling through the ropes to the floor and all four are getting it on outside. Russ breaks a crutch over Mafia’s back, but then Mack creams him with a full force chair shot to the head. A cracking little realistic looking brawl at ringside, and DHS lay Charlie on a table they’d earlier set up on the arena floor. The duo then powerbomb Russ off the apron and onto his partner breaking the table. Back inside and Charlie level Mafia with three hard chair shots dropping him. The brothers manages enters the ring and makes like he’s going to hit Mafia with a kendo stick, but then turns on them and nails Charlie instead. Mafia literally collapses on him for the pin and Da Hit Squad are the new JAPW tag team champions.

 

First off this was smartly booked as they kept the Haas Brothers and Da Hit Squad away from each other until The Big Unit had been eliminated. I couldn’t get over they were protected though and were counted out of the match! They’d took so much punishment and some seriously stiff shots and bumps yet they can’t do a clean job? Maybe that was their reward for being abused by DHS! The beatdown went on too long and there were several occasions I thought this must be it, only for them to kick out of the pin or have their partner break up the attempt. Parts of the first half were also pretty bad and it screamed indy due to all the blown moves (primarily by the Big Unit who came across as a pair of backyarders). Things picked up when it was down to the Haas’ and DHS due to the physicality they showed, and there was a tremendous realistic looking ‘fight’ on the floor at one point. You can see why WWF went after the brothers, as although green, the potential is clearly there and I was also surprised at how big they looked. DHS are the most polished of the three, but I winced at the brutality and stiffness of some of the stuff they were dishing out on the Big Unit (one clothesline and one powerbomb in particular).

[Edwin]

I didn't like this as much as everyone else and thought it was kind of a mess for the most part. Everything involving the Big Unit was bad except for when they were getting steamrolled by the Da Hit Squad. I wasn't too impressed by the Haas Brothers either. They try to put together some cute tag team combos, but they look rather weak.

 

I like Da Hit Squad a lot, specially when they're running people over, but I felt this wasn't their best performance.