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[2000-02-25-JAPW-Valentine's Day Massacre] Low Ki vs Don Montoya (Shoot Fight)


soup23

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Montoya has a big promo pre match and Homicide takes offense to that and has some words to say. It is said that after all these years, I still recognize Hansen as the referee. Montoya is shooting. The crowd chants for Low Ki even before he comes out and he has no boots on tonight. After clamoring to the fans, the match starts proper. Ki gets in a nasty tight choke right away and takes Montoya down. Montoya reverses that into a great armbar and I love how you are really seeing the escapes and strategies play out here. Ki goes after the leg which is a sound strategy on the big man. Montoya really lays in in with some cross forearms and a nasty crossface. Homicide calls for Ki to dump him on his head. The German that Don delivers looks especially brutal. Ki has Don choked out with the bullshit finish happens. Hansen gets pulled to the outside. Someone hits Ki with a chair and Ki is knocked out for the 10 count. A really gritty match. Afterwards, Da Hit Squad informs us it was Mark Reil so Ki retreats to the locker room and beats the shit out of this kid in the ring. This whole unit looks like something not be fucked with. ***3/4

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Montoya goes right for the gut with the heel promo before the match. Homicide's promo is hard to make out completely, but Montoya "shoots" by mentioning Homicide going to jail last year and how we all know what happens in jail. From the bits and pieces I can make out of Homicide's response, it sounds like when in jail, he is a top. This is one of those times that all the pre-match bullshit is actually a lot of fun, as they maneuver their way into a "shoot match", which they consider submissions and knockouts, but has to be explained. Funny. Montoya insists he's an entertainer, not a shootfighter. Tremendous. Montoya goes pure Memphis and talks about his bad knee and neck. He tries to bail, but Ki grounds him and pounds him and we have ourselves a match. This was awesome at building heat up in a big way, because these people really hated Montoya by the time the match started. Ki's offense just looks spectacular and this is the perfect stipulation and booking to get him over strong. I love how he's just mercilessly schooling Montoya on the mat. Montoya will occasionally have moments of hope, but they are fleeting. This ends up a much better version of Benoit-Raven at Souled Out '98 in that regard. The run-in with the chair I could have done without, but it's not a bad finish either, considering how much this style was a push for an American indy at this time, and it does put a lot of heat on this feud. Montoya eeks this one out with the numbers game on his side and Ki still looks like a badass, only now he's pissed off and has a purpose. That post-match ... wow. This was something else. JAPW has quickly won me over. ****1/4

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  • 3 weeks later...

Montoya in his Raw is war shirt comes out for a "shoot" fight. I guess that's JAPW's version of Last match standing? Nice to see Homicide is the same now as he was 17 years ago. As for the match, I didn't care much for it. Montoya had some decent strikes and Ki had some good offense but it just went too long and even the crowd was chanting "end this match". The post match was the best part. Ki killed that poor guy with the second rope Ki krusher.

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This is really a three-act-piece. The whole thing would not have worked without the opening angle (as Low Ki took much of the much this was the heat segment) and it would have left the crowd really flat at the end without the killing of that kid. My favorite thing was The Hit Squad stiring things like some schoolboys yelling while another kid beats up the class-nerd.

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The match and post-match beatdown are both great. The match is well worked with Low Ki mostly dominating while Montoya just tries to survive, but hangs in there with a few moments of hope. Montoya is able to sneak away with the win here after the referee gets distracted and Mark Reil interferes. I liked that Low Ki didn't let go of the hold while the referee was distracted, it's a bit of an annoying trope where you see the guy tap and the guy releases the hold and this broke the mold there.

 

The post-match beatdown is brutal and displays the Low Ki we all know and love.

 

****

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  • 2 weeks later...

I enjoyed the match - a little more BattlArts-y than is usually my taste, but Ki is great here and Montoya definitely holds his own. You can see where if Ki gets a guy who really embraces this style with him (perhaps a guy working in a mask in Texas at this time?) that there's a lot of potential there.

 

The top rope Ki Krusher in the beatdown was spectacular and fuck Ric Blade for kicking out of it last month.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Montoya seems much better suited to being a heel and really had the crowd against him during the opening promo. I really enjoyed the "shoot fight" with its emphasis on matwork and reversals. Low Ki was impressive when working from underneath. Watch how he punches Montoya in the side or moves his feet to gain position when trying to get out of holds. Low Ki decimated that small guy after the match. Very good match.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I thought this was really good. The opening promo was surprisingly long but I loved the MCW and Lawler call outs. The match was very gritty, stiff and the mat work was snug. I even bought the BS finish to keep the belt on the cowardly champion. The post match beat down was nuts!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

This was the first time in my life to see a Low Ki match, I kid you not. I guess it was more of a Low Ki segment than a Low Ki match. Overall, I thought it was a reasonably strong segment. I'm only familiar with New Jersey through television and movies but this sure felt like Jersey pro-wrestling. Montoya seemed like a Kevin Smith character but that may just be me talking out my arse. The match run a bit long and the post-match beatdown was a bit gratuitous for my liking but I did like that dude hanging himself upside down in the ropes while mocking Low Ki's victim. For a 30 minute segment, it kept my attention throughout so overall I'd call it successful booking. More Low Ki awaits, I'm sure.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Don Montoya is out first and is accompanied by Nick Berk and Gabrielle Leigh. He takes a sign from the crowd which has ‘JAPW #1’ written on it and asks the crowd if they agree with this? Of course they do, and he says how he was recently with his good buddy Reckless Youth and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, and the best promotion on the planet is in fact Memphis Championship Wrestling. Montoya moves on to talking about how all the ‘smart marks’ on the internet were wondering who he’d be wrestling tonight, whether it would be Cash, Homicide or even Low Ki (the crowd were already chanting Ki’s name before he’d even mentioned him). He goes on to explain that no-one signed his open contract so he wins by forfeit! Homicide’s music plays, he’s carrying a chair and is pissed. He cuts an expletive laden short promo calling Montoya ‘a bitch’ and ‘to fuck this wrestling bullshit’, before telling him to get his ass back in the wrestling ring. The two ‘shoot’ and go back and forth with Montoya saying how the only shooting Homicide knows about is the shit that got him put in jail last year! Homicide responds that he’s not a shooter, he’s a fighter, but he’s got someone in the lockerroom who loves to shoot fight. It’s Low Ki and he’s in MMA fighting gear, not his normal attire. Homicide gets the promoter in there and asks him to make this a shoot fight, to forget wrestling and just let them go and try and knock each other out, where the only way to win is by KO or submission. The crowd approves and the promoter turns to Montoya and says how he signed an open contract to defend his JAPW title in a ‘match’, he didn’t say what kind of match. Montoya tries to backtrack and claims to have no beef with Low Ki, and that he’s an ‘entertainer’ not a shoot fighter. The promoter asks the audience whether they want to see a ‘shoot fight’, and when they all cheer he lets them know that they will “as this is JAPW and it’s the fan’s promotion”. Montoya tries to get Nick Berk ‘a new member of the WWF developmental squad’ to take his place, and when that doesn’t work says he’s not under contract to anyone here so is just going to leave.

 

That was all a ploy on his part as when Low Ki turns his back he jumps him, however Ki immediately flips him over and crossfaces him. Montoya cowers in the corner, but as soon as he’s back to his feet Ki starts kicking at his leg. Rear naked choke and Montoya just about gets his foot to the ropes. More kicks and strikes from Ki and a front chancery which Montoya escapes from and turns into a Fujiwara armbar. Kicks to the head by the big man and then he applies a rear naked choke. Ki with a straight armbar which he doesn’t initially break when Don again gets his foot over the ropes. Guillotine choke that Ki fights his way out of, and he even gets Montoya up for a release German before returning to the rear naked. Nice touch with Homicide pushing Don’s foot off the ropes when the referee wasn’t looking so Ki was able to keep it cranked on for a little bit longer. After appearing done for Montoya rolls through for an ankle lock (not greatly applied) and then transitions to a kneebar. Release German by Don. Ki with a kneebar into an almost Dragon sleeper/camel clutch combination. Montoya taps but the referee is distracted by Homicide, Berk and Leigh on the outside. As he tries to separate them and regain control, Mark Reil is out and nails Ki in the head with a chair shot off the top. He quickly disappears, the official gets back in the ring and Montoya orders him to count Ki out. He doesn’t beat the ten count and Montoya retains his JAPW Heavyweight championship. The ‘WWF developmental squad’ don’t stick around and Da Hit Squad are out to inform Ki about what just happened. As they continue to goad him on, Ki heads to the dressing room and brings Reil back to the ring. He crossfaces him, kicks him in the face, ‘Ki Krusher’ and then calls out Billy Reil for ‘dodging him’. A second ‘Ki Krusher’ off the top (which looks nasty as with Reil taking it right on the back of his neck) and Reil is carried out of there by the promoter.

 

I enjoyed all of this tremendously. First time in seeing Montoya and I liked his ‘WWF developmental’ gimmick and the guy was also very good on the mic. Homicide is an intimidating chap and whether legit or not, you get the impression that he’s absolutely capable of shooting someone! I don’t know how much shoot fighting Montoya has ever done, but he and Ki pulled this off. It actually felt like a battle in there and they did an excellent job of incorporating plenty of legit MMA holds (rear naked choke, guillotine, armbars, kneebars etc). There’s also a real aura and intensity about Low Ki which works in a match like this. I liked how the finish both protected Ki and also resulted in Montoya retaining, but I wish they had done something other than the chair shot. It was so light that it’s stretching things to believe that it could have KO’d Ki. Maybe knock him out with a chain around his fist instead? Post-match beating on Reil looked as legit as these things come, and that ‘Ki Krusher’ off the top was nasty the way Reil took it on the back of his neck. Another great job from Ki and different so what we’ve already seen off him in the Ric Blade and Billy Reil matches.

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  • 4 months later...

I liked the pre and post match stuff a lot but the match less so. Ki looked great and against someone more similar to him in style this could have been a real good match. The problem was that it didn't seem to play to any of Montoya's strengths. His pre match promo is very Indy but it's good. He's very sports entertainment like if you will as far as the heeling it up goes. Which was good but then you want him to work a match that fits the pre match character and working ground game holds wasn't that. Maybe if it ended up being worked more around striking games than ground games it would have worked better and been less like Low Ki wanted to do something with a guy who wasn't a good fot for what he wanted to do it with. Post match is really good though. Didn't the match was overly good but as a complete segment I definitely didn't regret watching it.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Montoya does a decent job with the franchise gimmick, the stuff about Lawler and Memphis got a laugh out of me. Kind of got dragged down by Homicide yelling the word "shoot" ten times to build up to the shoot-style match (I did like the authority figure bringing keyfabe back into it later though). Thought the actual match was pretty boring, Low-Ki is pretty much the main reason I ever go digging into obscure early 2000s indies this is the earliest I've seen him and he didn't seem to have it together yet. Homicide on the other hand seemed about the same, came across as the star of the segment.

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  • 1 month later...

This was nuts. Montoya did nothing for me, but I thought Low Ki looked really good. Him coming out barefoot with his fists all wrapped up and ready for a fight was great. His crossfaces looked good, as did his counters to Montoya's suplexes with the modified armbar and rolling kneebar. He also did an excellent job at putting over Montoya's kneebar by screaming in agony.

 

I really dug that brawl on the outside between Homicide and Nick Berk. It seemed like it was a legit shoot fight.

 

The finish was weak as Mark Reil barely grazed Ki with the chair shot. That post match beatdown looked brutal.

 

***

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  • 4 months later...
  • GSR changed the title to [2000-02-25-JAPW-Valentine's Day Massacre] Low Ki vs Don Montoya (Shoot Fight)

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