CZW: Jon Moxley - Parental Advisory Explicit Violence 5 Disc Set Review

After months of having the majority of this review done, I'm here with the full thing. This is a five disc set that Highspots released that covers Jon Moxley's entire CZW career along with a few random matches from IWA Mid-South and NWA Force-1. It's time to take a look back at the early years of a man now known as Dean Ambrose.

1) Jon Moxley vs. Roderick Strong - IWA Mid South: 2008 Revolution Strong Style Tournament - 12/5/08
Being a fan of both guys, I was looking forward to this one right off the bat. This was a first round tournament match and didn't go very long although there were some good exchanges here. All in all, it's not anything special, but it was cool seeing these two lock up considering it will likely not happen again any time soon.

Match rating - **

2) Jon Moxley vs. Jon Dahmer - CZW: Total Havoc - 3/14/09
Much like the match with Roddy, this was pretty short. The reason this one was kept short was probably because it was the opener. Mox & Roddy made good use of the time they had however and the result was a decent opening match. Moxley wins with a DDT on a steel chair. Another rather short yet enjoyable match. Hope things pick up soon.

Match rating - **

3) The Switchblade Conspiracy (Jon Moxley & Sami Callihan) vs. Brain Damage & Drake Younger - CZW: An Eye For An Eye - 4/11/09
I said in the previous match review that I hope things would pick up soon. Well, my wish was granted as we got one hell of a match here. The first two matches on the set were pretty short and weren't brutal at all so when chairs, tables, & a fork came into play, I knew this one would be the first hardcore bout on the DVD. There were number of brutal moments here such as Moxley digging a fork into Damage's head and lip. If I remember correctly, all four men got busted open at some point in the match. The most jaw dropping spot saw Moxley throw Damage off the top turnbuckle to the floor through a table. I say through a table, but Damage hit mainly the floor although the table did break despite him only catching half of it. Good hardcore brawl.

Match rating - ***1/4

4) Jon Moxley vs. Brain Damage - CZW: Blood Pressure Rising - 5/9/09

Best of AJ Styles in IWA Mid-South Review (Discs 2 & 3)

This is the second & third discs of a multi-disc set I got from Highspots. The first four discs feature Styles' best matches from his tenure in IWA-Mid South in the mid 2000's. I reviewed the first disc that featured a phenomenal (pun intended) match with Christopher Daniels. My review of that disc can be found here. That leads us to the next two discs which I've reviewed below.

Disc 2: Best of AJ Styles In IWA Mid-South - Part 2

8) AJ Styles vs. Chris Hero - Winter Wars 2003 - 12/19/03
This was the first ever meeting between these two men in any promotion. Prior to this match, I had only seen them face off once and it was 2 years after this encounter out in PWG at their Chanukah Chaos event. That match was good however I felt like they only scratched the surface of what they could do. I felt like this match was just as good as their PWG encounter that would happen two years later if not a bit better. The first half of the match saw AJ work over the leg of Hero in a number of ways including dropping him knee first on a chair. Hero sold it very well throughout the entire match. He finally was able to create some separation by hitting a backbreaker on Styles with the only downfall being that he used his hurt knee to do so. It ended up being the turning point in the match though as things were more evenly matched from that point. Styles was never able to hit the Styles Clash in this match despite several attempts. Hero came up with several unique counters to the move, one of which earned him a victory as Hero rolled out of the move and locked in a crossface variation to get the win via submission. Solid match, very well executed.


Match rating - ***1/4

9) AJ Styles vs. Michael Shane - 12/20/03
After Styles' match with Hero, Shane came down to the ring and had a staredown with him which was a nice precursor to this bout considering it took place just one night after the encounter with Hero. For that reason, I expected this one to be intense and blow me away since it had somewhat of a backstory, but unfortunately it was just an average bout. Not really much to talk about here aside from the finish where Styles hit a Styles Clash off the top rope for the victory.

Match rating - **1/4

10) AJ Styles vs. B-Boy - April Bloodshowers - 4/9/04

Best of AJ Styles in IWA Mid South - Disc 1 Review

I recently bought an 8 Disc AJ Styles set from Highspots and instead of posting everything in one huge review, I decided to separately post them by disc. The first four disc are AJ's best matches from IWA Mid-South. This is the first of those discs.

1) AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels - 2002 Ted Petty Invitational Night One - 11/1/02
I don't think there's a better way to start this set than with a Styles/Daniels match. They never cease to amaze me no matter how many times I see them square off. The case was no different here which actually surprised me. Considering that IWA is a smaller Indy company, I didn't expect Styles & Daniels to leave it all in the ring like they did. This match was the definition of a lost gem because it's every bit as good as their famous bouts in TNA. Ian Rotten called it the best match in IWA Mid South history at the time on commentary. It was THAT good. Words won't do it justice but there's one exchange that I just have to mention. AJ went for his signature inverted DDT, Daniels countered out and went for the last rites, as he went for it, AJ reversed immediately and nailed Daniels with the inverted DDT. Exchanges like that are what made this match (and all Styles/Daniels matches) so great, they knew each other so well that they do multiple never before seen counters that will make your jaw drop. Some other highlights here include several picture perfect moonsaults from Daniels and AJ somehow managing to kick out of Angel's Wings. Awesome match!

Match rating - ****1/4

Highspots Presents: Claudio Castagnoli - A Very European Collection 6 Disc Set Review

Highspots presents: Claudio Castagnoli - A Very European Collection 6 Disc Set

After being blown away by the in-ring abilities of Cesaro in WWE, I began looking back on his work before he signed to WWE. The first pre-WWE part of Claudio's career that I checked out was in PWG where I saw him have fantastic matches with the likes of PAC (Adrian Neville), El Generico (Sami Zayn), Doug Williams, & Chris Hero. From that point on, I was hooked on Cesaro's wrestling. This led me to purchasing this 6 disc set released by Highspots.com which highlights Claudio's time in IWA Mid-South and Combat Zone Wrestling. It features a total of 47 matches against the likes of CM Punk, Alex Shelley, Chris Hero, Jimmy Jacobs, El Generico, Sami Callihan, Drake Younger, Sara Del Rey, Michael Elgin & many more. I can't wait to get into so let's get started.

1) Swiss Money Holding (Claudio Castagnoli & Ares) vs. Chris Hero & Mark Wolf - IWA Mid South: We Are Family - 7/4/03
This DVD gets off to a great start as Claudio enters the ring wearing a badass suit while Chris Hero comes out to "Rape Me" by Nirvana. Unfortunately that was the only real highlight of this match. Claudio & Ares did some solid heel tag team work here by dominating the majority of the match and using some nice double team moves. Hero got worked over most of the bout which built towards him finally getting the hot tag to Wolf. Wolf comes in cleaning house only to recieve an inadvertant elbow to the jaw from Hero which ends up costing them the match. All in all, the match was pretty basic aside from a unique double team manuever by Claudio & Ares where Ares wheelbarrowed Claudio up and drove him shoulder first into Hero in the corner. Everything else was basically just body slams, arm drags, and rest holds. The match was your typical heel heat format early on with the babyface comeback at the end never really happening. Not a "bad" match per say, but it was pretty dull. Could have been better if they had gotten more time because the finish felt like it came out of nowhere although it was a logical way to end the bout.

Match rating - **1/4

2) Swiss Money Holding (Claudio Castagnoli & Ares) vs. Steve Stone & Beef Wellington III - IWA Mid South - 7/12/03