Big Vision Entertainment
XPW Wrestling TV (3-disc set)
The Complete 3rd Season
Reviewed by www.alanwojcik.com
Just when you thought it was safe to sit ringside, Rob Black’s Xtreme Pro Wrestling is back with another DVD release, Season Three of its TV show which is now part of the Big Vision Entertainment library. I gave a history of XPW in my review of season two so look it up if you have no clue what XPW is/was. Once again it’s hosted by the very entertaining duo of Kris Kloss & Larry Rivera. When we last left XPW TV, the World Champion Sabu was gearing up to face Rob Black’s newest challenger the hardcore icon Terry Funk. That match in addition to their roster made XPW a national name.
Well XPW owner Black (real name Rob Zicari) and his Black Army were not happy with the outcome of the match. His crusade to take the championship off Sabu leads to the arrival of one of the Japan’s feared wrestlers Onita for an exploding ring title bout. I think the WWE & TNA writing staffs watched this set because several soap opera style storylines are going at the same time including Black’s issues with Sabu and his manager. Black’s assistant /VP of Operations Kevin Kleinrock who appears to be everyone’s whipping boy is back along with the bodyguard Kraq. They are joined by some interesting “people” namely a Santa Claus doll called N.C., a teddy bear named Rollo and a small gift from Onita, a doll called Sulu. These characters interact with Black and anyone who walks into his office, no I am not kidding around.
The other storylines include Black’s lovely wife Lizzy Borden (Janet Romano) who was kidnapped by two boneheads named Rocco & Jocco. Their uncle Pauley and cousin Giuseppe hired them to get revenge on Black for stealing his car. Borden has good comedic timing during these segments. The next one involves “White Trash” Johnny Webb and his girlfriend Jessica Darlin going in search of their friend Homeless Jimmy. Along the way they run into Darlin’s estranged husband Luis Cypher (not to be confused with Florida based wrestler Lou Cypher) and his masked buddy Tool (think the Gimp from Pulp Fiction.) Crap I forgot to mention the arrival of former AWA World Tag Team champion “Playboy” Buddy Rose who mentors “Gigolo” Steve Rizzono in his crusade to achieve superstar status. Plus the never ending battle between Supreme & the Messiah for the King of the Death Match championship which goes from a brawl outside the XPW offices and all over California.
Like the season two set, it is good comedy combined with good work from Rivera/Kloss who call competitive wrestling matches from XPW live events, not many but they include an Exploding Ring match between Onita and Hyabushi which is off the charts in violence plus matches featuring Sabu, Kid Kaos, Juventud Guerrera, Jon Kronus, Christopher Daniels, Donovan Morgan and Big Dick Dudley. The matches are in the episodes or you can access them through another menu. In addition there are music videos and fan cam style footage from the XPW live events. The DVD is available in stores plus on www.bvdvd.com where you can check out the library of items that also include the Sci-Fi Channel series Ghost Hunters. XPW can be found online www.thexpw.com