ACTION – DEAN~!!! Review

Dean Rasmussen was a big part of my early online fandom and this tribute show is so nice to see. I joined DVDR as a teenager and started reading Dean. I did podcasts with Dean. Dean’s love of wrestling was beautiful, and this show is beautiful.

Bear with me as I don’t watch much southern indies, so I don’t know a lot of these folks.

From Williamstown, New Jersey on April 4, 2024.

This is a fitting image to start the show:

1. Alex Kane (c) vs Colby Corino
“ACTION Wrestling World Championship”

Corino really worked the headlock in this match, hitting it in various ways, including from the top rope. Corino was really good at working on top throughout the match, and Kane did have some good selling and some nice hope spots. Kane’s suplexes were impressive, including countering the headlock into a suplex for the finish.

Rating: Good Opener

2. The Good Hand (Suge D, Kevin Ryan, & The Wall) vs O’Shay Edwards & Amboss (Robert Dreissker & Laurance Roman)

The Good Hand are the clear heels, and it’s always nice when you can determine that so easily. O’Shay is a big dude, and they have a nice start where nobody wants to face him. The simple stuff always works, folks! As we progress, we get a face-in-peril segment and some good heel work. Including the always fun, almost hot tag, but the person on the apron is pulled off. The simple stuff always works, folks! The hot tag is good, but it doesn’t lead to the pin, as we have a bit more back and forth until O’Shay hits a giant moonsault.

Rating: Solid Stuff

The Ugly Sucklings come out and issue an open challenge.

3. Violence is Forever (Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku) vs The Ugly Sucklings (Rob Killjoy & White Mike)

The Sucklings cheat and taunt throughout the match and mostly control the action. White Mike did a giant swinging headlock, so this match is a win. The Sucklings lose control once they try to outfight Violence is Forever, and it ends with a nice flurry.

Rating: Good Stuff

4. Coven of The Goat (Tank & Jaden Newman) vs Tom Lawlor & Manders
“Gypsy Joe Rules”

This gimmick means there are no rules, and the stipulation was added because Dean would want some violence in the show. Sounds good to me.

We get a stiff, violent brawl all over the arena, including a beer toast to Dean mid-match. There is blood and barely any time spent in the ring. The exchanging headbutt spots to Dean chants was something else, as was Tom Lawler doing a “dive” from a tiny step stool ladder. The last stretch was a fun tornado tag run in the ring filled with stiff shots and The Coven of the Goat hitting a double team on Manders for the win after a miscommunication between Manders and Lawlor. A perfect undercard brawl.

Rating: 7.25/10

5. 3 Flippy Guys (Brayden Toon, Rico Gonzalez, & Bobby Flaco) vs 3 Strong Motherfuckers (Hoodfoot, Danny Demanto, & Isaiah Broner)

Nice DVDR reference, as Dylan Hales (doing commentary) calls this a WAR six-man.

Prematch Danny says let this be a traditional tag match because a lot of violence is coming up later. However, he asks for a single door with “SPO” written on it to come into the ring. Based on the names of the people in the ring, you can predict what this match is, and it’s good. The door gets broken, and the flippy guys do some flips for the win.

Rating: Fine

6. Gringo Loco vs Dr. Cerebro

I haven’t seen Cerebro in so long, and it looks like he hasn’t lost a step on the mat; he’s so damn good at it, and Loco is no slouch, either. We get a pretty traditional lucha libre match, building from the mat into bigger moves and flying. It’s very well done, as both are great veterans. We get some throwbacks to their blood feud from IWRG years ago with some brawling, and it ends with a DQ off a chair shot. However, they keep fighting after that. So, the match is restarted as “No DQ.”

It’s a hot restart. The Super Flacon Arrow by Grino Loco was vicious! Loco hits a Spanish Fly, too, but can’t put him away. Cerebro hits a vicious armbar suplex and makes Loco tap. A good ending to a heated match!

Fans throw money in the ring for the luchadors; what a nice moment!

Rating: 7/10

The head of the IWTV Championship Committee cuts a heel promo and presents a brand new shiny title for the winner in the next match.

7. Krule (c) vs Warhorse Jake Parnell
“IWTV Independent World Championship”

Krule is a huge monster with a mask. Parnell fights, but Krule lives up to his gimmick, throwing him around ringside through chairs and just looking unstoppable. Warhorse’s big dive gave him some hope, but he struggled to maintain control. With each big move, he seemed to gain momentum, but it was never really enough to stop Krule, who just kept coming and coming. Finally, Parnell tried a big dive but got caught with a Choke Breaker (choke slam into a backbreaker). That gets a nice nearfall, but after a battle over a superplex and a big power bomb by Parnell, it still isn’t enough. Two flying elbow drops, and then Krule sits up and hits a super choke slam, wiping both out. The referee gets nailed, and the authority person tries to wipe out Krule, but he responds, and then someone runs out and hits a flying elbow drop for two somehow (he’s not in the match.) The authority dude takes out the second referee and demands the dude finish Krule. Fireball by Krule wipes out the run-in dude, and he pins him. I’m sure this would be better if I watched ACTION.

Rating: Odd Shit

Jonathan Gresham appears then and gets in Krule’s face, and the locker room separates them.

8. Arez vs Matt Makowski

We have a kind of lucha vs shoot style match here, which is a fun contrast. Makowski goes back to his Chikara days, though, and uses some of his lucha to keep up. Arez is very flippy, they have a lot of fun exchanges, before a flying move is countered by Makowski into a quick submission.

Rating: Fun

9. Adam Priest vs Slim J

Slim J is kind of a perfect person to be on Dean’s tribute show. This is a more traditional American style match than others on the show. Priest is a heel, Slim J is the babyface. It’s a nice build, ramping up as it goes along. The Priest control segment on Slim J is great, especially the piledriver nearfall. The comeback is great, as Priest tries another piledriver on the apron and he gets backdropped to the floor. Once back in the ring, the match really ramps up with Slim J back on offense. We get some good exchanges and near falls going down the stretch. It looks over with the guillotine by Slim J, but Priest counters it with a reverse stun gun. Priest goes for the kill, but Slim J counters for the win. This one is really good!

Rating: 7.5/10

10. Sinner & Saint (Judas Icarus & Travis Williams) vs Wasted Youth (Austin Luke & Marcus Mathers)

This is a lot more of a high octane tag with all dudes good on the mat and everywhere else. It’s exciting and fun, and if you are a fan of the modern high-energy matches, this is for you. It’s not really my cup of tea, but it wasn’t offensive like some matches in this style always seem to be. After a lot of nearfalls, a 450 by Mathers gets the win for his team.

Rating: Cool or Whatever

11. Demus vs Mad Dog Connelly
“Dog Collar Match”

What a start with Connelly snapping the chain and it hitting Demus in the face. From there, the war begins!

This is violent and stiff. The lariats and kicks are all brutal, and the chain shots are worse. They brawl all around the arena, and Demus takes out at least 2 fans as he’s thrown around by the chain. The violence does not stop when it gets into the ring. In fact, it ramps up, and Demus finally makes a comeback. We have blood, choking, chain shots, it’s basically a fight, and it’s damn good. The second crowd brawl segment has Demus in control instead, and it may be more intense. By the time they are back in the ring, they are both bleeding. Mad Dog’s comeback is chain-assisted punches, and it may be the most violent thing in the match. They are that vicious. Mad Dog tries to hang Demus if I am not getting over how much of a fight this is. Demus counters with a small package for two and then gets choked out by the chain and a reverse choke.

A must watch match, and this may be hard to top over WrestleMania weekend.

Rating: 9/10

12. Daniel Makabe vs Timothy Thatcher

A long running feud of two of the best technical wrestlers in the world comes to a head on Makabe’s retirement tour in the main event.

This is a RINGS-style match, which is not my typical favourite style, but there was enough here to like, and if this was my style, it may be an all-timer. Thatcher had a knee injury, and Makabe had an injured hand, and they kept coming back to those and having them come into play. The matwork, submissions, and strikes were all stiff. The finish of Makabe just knocking him out with strikes was great.

Rating: 8/10

Makabe gives a nice retirement speech and a nice tribute to Dean and DVDR!

Conclusion

Literally an all-time show as a tribute to an all-time great person in wrestling. Wrestling is great.

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