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The big news leading into the show was what was going to happen with New Jack. The Gangstas were scheduled to face BLK OUT in a Steel Cage match but Jack had injured his ankle at the Pittsburgh iPPV and openly announced he needed surgery and wasn't happy with the promotion for not fronting the money needed. At that point, the company pulled him from the show, feeling they couldn't put him in the ring after he announced he was hurt. Jack, as you could imagine, hit the roof at that point and there was a lot of angry things said via social media. In the end, all sides came to an agreement, so he was booked to do a run-in, get hurt and be taken out. In the midst of all this, Mustafa (who gets flown in from Las Vegas, where he lives) was canceled and it was too late to get him back on the show, so instead Thomas Rodman dressed and impersonated Mustafa wearing a black hoodie and did a good job of it. Security grabbed him as he left the dressing room, and most of the crowd was none the wiser. I actually thought it was Mustafa the first time I passed him in the locker room, so they did a really good job in that regard.
Lots of minor injuries on the show. Jerry Lynn got a black eye from an errant Homicide punch and it swelled up bigtime in the back. Facade badly cut his finger during a railing spot and needed help getting the bleeding to stop. He actually taped up his finger during the match. Jeez injured his leg during the cage match as well.
We already mentioned the New Jack situation. Once that went down, the promotion booked The Maximos to work as Los Dramaticos under masks and then booked the Briscoes with Ring of Honor's blessing. The Briscoes were never in the dressing room and were hidden in an office near the front of the venue all night. They actually missed their music cue because they couldn't hear their song. The crowd was really happy to see them. Due to their ROH contract, the cage could not be on the iPPV but there was talk of releasing it for free online.
Raven was very vocal backstage about too many people being allowed in the back to visit and at one point, complained about Blue Meanie's guests being there. The company is going to lock down the backstage area for future shows.
There were promos shot backstage building the Matt Hardy vs. Luke Hawx and Stevie Richards vs. Raven feud. The latter will be built up for a long time.
The 4/4 return to Philadelphia, PA will be at the National Guard Armory. The promotion was looking into another venue but it didn't pan out, so they will return there. Super Crazy and Damien 666 will debut that weekend. The company will run State Island, NY on 4/5 and 4/6 at the Warriors of Wrestling warehouse with the gimmick for the shows being that the fans will be able to vote on the matches, something All Japan used to do annually.
Cody Michaels, who helps run backstage, was not there due to a family commitment.
Alex Reynolds and John Silva from NYWC earned a regular spot with the promotion with their showing in the three way. Both were suggested by Papadon.
Matt Tremont was a last minute substitute for Steve Mack, who had car trouble and missed the show. He was scheduled to debut and team with XL. The promotion is high on Mack, so I expect he will pop up there in 2013.
There is talk of dropping the live bands playing before the show and intermission next year.
The company was happy with the crowd, but hoped to top 1,000 at the show. They were not happy with their own delays and disorganization in certain aspects and want to improve that in 2013. They are also working on production upgrades, specifically sound and lighting.
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