Wrestling Society X: Episode 1 Review

Time to enter into the WABAC Machine, step into a phone booth a la Bill and Ted or Dr. Who, or just jump into your Delorean, rev it up to 88 mph and set the destination to the year 2007.
January 30, 2007 saw the debut the of Wrestling Society X on MTV, it was the brainchild of former XPW producer/co-owner/on screen goon, Kevin Kleinrock. Treated more like an experiment from MTV, WSX took the over the top aspects and soap opera story lines of pro wrestling and pushed them to the forefronts, but all the melodrama and crazy antics were backed by some of the best wrestlers on the Indy scene at the time; mainly comprised of Ring of Honor, CZW, and XPW alumni, WSX's roster was stacked with talent.

Wrestling Society X was about setting out to try something different, sometimes that brings success and sometimes, it unfortunately brings failure. Going head to head with the second half of WWE's newly revived ECW, WSX only had a run of nine episodes, it's 10th episode was never aired; I decided on a whim to review all 10 episodes. So here goes nothing.

Episode 1 kicks off with Black Label Society playing a snippet of some mumbling Yeeaaaah Rock; every episode featured a musical guest to start off the show, sometimes they would even join the commentary team of Kriss Koss and Bret Ernst. I'm still undecided on whether this was a good idea or not, I guess it helped give the show a little extra star power.

Match #1 Flippity floppity floop time as Matt Sydal, better known today as the WWE's Evan Bourne, is set to take on Teddy Hart's hetero life partner, Jack Evans. Now, here's one thing about WSX that I hated, their carnival barker of an announcer, Fabian Kaelin. He always sounds like he's trying to dupe someone into a game of Guess Your Weight; its cool to see a guy go bat shit crazy over wrestling, but he does it every time he's onscreen, so it loses some value to me.

What Valentine is usually dressed in

Sydal with the very preppy Lizzy Valentine is first out, followed by b-boy Jack Evans, who flips and break dances his to and in the ring. The action starts off fast as Evans goes for a frankensteiner and gets throw over the top and to the outside by Sydal, which is clear grounds for a disqualification and Evans should of been awarded the match immediately. Sydal hits a cartwheel missile splash and then catches Evans with a roundhouse in the ring when Evans tried a springboard; Sydal gets a 2 count.
Elevated octopus stretch on Evans leads to a flippy escape and some flippy kicks, sending Sydal to the outside, Evans goes for a big cartwheel dive to the outside as the commentary team put over that there's no mats on the floor, just all concrete, which is 1992 Bill Watts approved.

You should make Human Tornado the champ, it worked with JYD.

Back in the ring and Evans' standing corkscrew goes no where, Sydal takes this opportunity and drives Evans into the mat with a pump handle bombs, 2 count and then a standing moonsault gets another 2 count. 

Evans is back on his feet and Lizzy gets dragged into the ring as she was clutching his leg, Evans then uses her as a launchpad to hit a tornado ddt on Sydal, he goes up for his 1070 splash or whatever the fuck it is, and gets the 1-2-3.

The skinny b-boy catches Valentine's eye and commentary makes note of it. I'm not a fan of Jack Evans, I feel like he's always spot-monkeying around, Sydal, or Evan Bourne, did most of the actual wrestling, but it was the right choice to open up the season and show.

We then get a tag-team rundown of Keeping it Gangsta, D.I.F.H. (Doing It For Her), the Trailer Park Boyz, and Team Dragon Gate.

Promo time with Justin Credible. Is the Olive Garden joke still funny? I'll just post this photo instead.

We then get New Jack trashing talking Chris Hamrick, Teddy Hart proclaiming to be "the past,present, and future of wrestling", and the video segment ends with Los Pochos Guapos, the team of Kaos and Aguilera.

Back from the break and it's time for the WSX Rumble, the match that will determine who face off for the WSX Championship. The ring is surrounded by tables, an electrified fence, and a box rigged with explosives, so get ready for the special effects.

Justin Credible is first out and comes to the ring with E-C-Dub chants from the fans, Teddy Hart is man number two and starts off with a big dropkick; showboating and hot dogging doesn't pay off for Hart, as Credible catches him with a super kick after Teddy did his tributesault to uncle Owen. It doesn't take long for Hart to get back on the offensive, hitting Credible with a springboard splash.

#3 in the rumble is Kaos, the longest reigning XPW TV Champion, XPW was on TV? Moving on, both men attack the fresh Kaos. Hart brushes off a Kaos double clothesline that Credible sells, Hart hits a butterfly lock ddt and then a shooting star press.

#4 is Vampiro, who is listed as a WCW champ, I don't remember him winning any titles while he was in WCW, so I looked it up and he won the tag titles with the Great Muta. Vamp cleans house in the rumble with clothesline all around, Hart says fuck that and they get into a brawl, Vampiro cleans again, and commercial time!

Back from the break and we're treated to footage of entry #5 Puma trying a splash from the top,only to be caught and tossed by Vampiro. #6 Alkatrazz, being accompanied by Luke Hawx, springboard shoulder tackles Vamp.

#7 6-Pac is out to a chorus of boos, either this crowd knows about "X-Pac" heat, or they're being told when to cheer and boo. Pac immediately goes for Credible, hits the X-Factor on a couple of guys, and bronco busters Teddy Hart.

#8 High-flying Hamrick with #9 New Jack bringing it up the ass. Hamrick gets throw out by Jack and bumps onto a table, Jack doesn't give up on attacking Hamrick and the ref gets a toy guitar to the head for his troubles.

Best commentary line of the night, "the referee has gotta be dead!"

Up next is the series of spots: New Jack has Hamrick set up on a table and is ready to take a big dive, Hawx side suplexes himself and Kaos into the exploding box, right as Jack falls, Alkatrazz gets throw out and through a table, and finally, Hart hits a jumping top rope ddt on Vampiro.

The 10th and final entry in the rumble is Youth Suicide!

and Teddy Hart goes tumbling over the top; YS enters the ring with a bucket of tacks and the rumble becomes a 4 way ladder match, with the two title match contracts hanging from rafters(along with all the Ricky Morton fans and 90's Sting)

Vampiro bombs YS on the tacks and 6-Pac scurries up and grabs one of the contracts. Youth Suicide climbs the ladder next, only to get pushed off and into the exploding electrified fence. Vampiro is able to grab the second contract as he edges out Credible on top of the ladder, and the episode ends with Pac and Vamp brawling.

I think it was a great opening episode, they really squeezed in as much story line development as they could. Time constraint was what really plagued WSX, and if they only had an hour or aired on a different night, then I think WSX could of lasted longer than one season.

On to episode 2.