On Saturday, April 26th I made the 4 hour drive along with a good friend of mine to Cameron to see Omega Championship Wrestling. I have very little experience with live indie shows, but the friend I brought along has been going to them regularly all of his life because his dad is a wrestler himself. We weren't sure how good this show would be, but we knew there was potential and were excited to see it. Thankfully, Omega not only didn't disappoint, but it far surpassed any of our expectations. My friend blatantly stated that this was the greatest show he had ever seen, and I believe him.
The gym wasn't completely packed, but it was pretty close. There was a really long line about half an hour before doors opened and it took about half an hour to get in after they opened from our place in the line. The floor seats were sold out and the bleachers were mostly filled except for on the very edges. The crowd was electric for all of the matches, even ones without well-know talent.
The event began with Cedric Alexander vs Xsiris in the first round of an Omega Championship Tournament. The match was absolutely fantastic. Alexander was the face and Xsiris the heel, and these talents worked very well together. The match was fast paced the entire time and the crowd was crazy for everything they did. From a technical standpoint, everything was solid. Omega couldn't have opened the show in any stronger manner than with these two men. The match went on for a while and there were many near falls and back and forth momentum swings for the two competitors. I expected good things from Cedric who is working his way up the ranks on Ring of Honor, but knew nothing about Xsiris and was legitimately impressed with his ability. Congratulations to these two guys for not only having a great match, but getting what was probably one of the strongest crowd reactions of their careers.
The following match was a singles match that wasn't advertised on the card between a man who's name I don't remember, and Man Scout who is a local talent that dresses as a boy scout and plays the bad guy role. I didn't think this match would be very good, but was honestly surprised. Man Scout was funny and decent in the ring, and the other guy (who I really wish I knew) was incredibly talented. He looked like a young RVD. His skill set was similar, but he was much faster and more agile. He had some of the best spots of the night and the crowd was going absolutely crazy for him. I guarantee that he has never had a crowd go that crazy for him. As a filler match, this one gets 5/5 stars. The two men immediately got the crowd involved and put on an entertaining match. You can't ask for much more from what should have been one of the worst matches on the card.
The third match of the event was another unadvertised match between two men who's names I don't know. I feel bad about that, but I didn't bring anything to write with and didn't realize there would be matches that weren't advertised for the event. This match started with an obvious heel coming out and getting on the mic. He stated that he was born in the town of Cameron where the event was being held, and went on to trash the place with his words and did a great job. He was a natural with the mic in his hands and really had the crowd going. Afterwards, a stereotypical southern guy came out to save the day and the match started. The promo that the heel cut before the match was the best part, and the heel was the strongest in-ring as well. He did a lot of subtle things like kicking out of pins with the ropes or bailing out of the ring when his opponent was getting some momentum that really made you dislike him. By the end of the match, I was cheering for the bad guy just because he was so good at what he was doing. It is incredibly how WWE can spend months and not be able to get a heel over, but Omega just gave an unknown guy a mic for 2 minutes and the whole place was on it's feet booing him. This was another solid and thoroughly entertaining match, and we aren't even half-way through the event yet.
Match number four was the first time that the crowd died. The match was another tournament match between Caprice Coleman and Ric Converse. Coleman and Cedric Alexander (who was in the first match) are a tag team on Ring of Honor, so I expected Coleman to be around the same level of the impressive Cedric. Interestingly, Converse was also advertised as a tag partner with Xsiris in another promotion, although Converse didn't appear to have any similarities with Xsiris. This match sucked. What they did wasn't done poorly, it's just that they didn't do anything. The majority of the match was grappling in the middle of the ring, and the guys just couldn't get any momentum. The crowd completely died except for occasional "you can't wrestle" chants and the match dragged on for two long. At the end Xsiris interfered, and afterwards Cedric came out to an incredible roar and saved the day for Coleman. The match was really boring and Converse and Coleman have no chemistry together. They shouldn't be put in another match at the same time.
After intermission, the only women's match on the card took place between Reby Sky and Darcy Dixon. This match was even worse than the last one. These women can't wrestle. They didn't sell anything, and it really killed the crowd. If Reby weren't hot then nobody would've even watched this. As an educated fan, it is hard to watch something this bad. Everything that happened was just executed poorly, and I was very glad when it was over. 2/5 stars on this one, just bad all around.
After two dead matches, I was really hoping that the two main event matches could turn the event back in the right direction. The first half of the two-way main event was a 6-man elimination tag match between The Hurricane and the Bravado Brothers vs CW Anderson, Konely and Cambino. The crowd went absolutely nuts for Hurricane, to the point where everyone forgot about the Bravado brothers entirely. If this had been a singles match between CW Anderson and Hurricane Helms, it would've been just as good. CW Anderson was the most impressive wrestler in the ring, and Hurricane was the most exciting even though he really didn't do anything out of the box. The match was fine, but the energy level of the crowd amped it up to a whole new level. The place was obnoxiously loud the entire time with tons of chants for Hurricane. Solid first-half of the main event.
The MAIN main event started when Ring of Honor's Briscoe Brothers came out to talk a little on the mic and beat on Hurricane. I was surprised how many in the arena knew who these guys were, chanting things like "man up". The team made references to the promos that were put on YouTube between the Hardys and the Briscoes, which was nice for those of us who kept up with that kind of thing. Predictably, Cameron hit a whole new level of LOUD when the Hardy Boyz music hit, and it was insane. The Hardys were allowed to do some show-boating in front of a crowd that obviously paid to see them return home to Cameron. This match was long, full of energy and down-right fantastic. The Briscoes are great and deserve to go as far as a tag team can go as long as they want to. I can see them on any stage. The Hardys still looked great, I was even surprised by how good Matt was in the ring. Jeff looked fantastic, and it was great of him to be there the night before a PPV with TNA. This match was incredible to be in the arena. Tons of chants and non-stop electricity in Cameron for the entire length of the match.
Buy the DVD if you want to see the event for yourself, but better yet, go out and see Omega for yourself. This is wrestling done right and you will have a great time. Tickets for this event were 18 dollars on the floor after an early date, and 12 in the bleachers after the same date. They were cheaper before said date. Their next event is crazy expensive because the price is set by the venue, but usually you can get in for that cheap. Check out Omegalives.com, there will be DVDs sold there soon. 5/5 indie wrestling show, I had an amazing time.
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