Vietnam is Jericho

[simonworden]

Here we go with another wrestling report from Vietnam, did I mention I live there? Last night I attended VPW (Vietnam Pro Wrestling) Immortal Glory as always held in VAIB studios in Ho Chi Minh City. I think I covered the venue in my previous report a few months ago but it's a big warehouse/ TV studio meaning it has a decent lighting rig, big screens for use and sits around 300-400 people comfortably. I didn't report on the last show mostly as I was far too drunk and have very little recollection of anything in detail however this time I remember very well. 

The start of the evening had an immediate highlight that local craft brewery and sponsor Heart of Darkness had custom VPW roster cans of golden ale which ran out pretty quick. I actually think they had to door a supply run at sometime before/ after intermission.

I'm terrible at move names so please don't expect masses of technical explanations here.

Pre-Show: Chi Bao Vs Sansyu

This was technically a pre-show match while people are entering the building, I missed it as my Grab (our Uber) took us a stupid way to the venue but it looked solid enough for a 5 min tussle. Chi Bao is a big young dude who is currently doing the black trunks/ boots rookie combo that happens in Japan his opponent was Sansyu from Japan who is a former student of FugoFugo Yumeji and a 17 year veteran. Chi Bao is a decent looking lad, tall and if he can loose some of his puppy fat will be quite the specimen. I believe Sansyu won but I was still outside.

Match 1: Ares Vs Sonny Z

Ares (pronounced Aries) is a big stocky local lad with a mean looking face (he's quite nice in real life) while Sonny Z is an older veteran of the sport. Originally from China he now operates a weed shop out in Pattaya Thailand and as he came across as a happy go lucky aging surfer dude I guess his gimmick is himself. Both men spent some time giving each other hard hitting power moves before moving into a chop fest.  They then returned to some more brutal looking power moves before Ares got the pinfall cleanly. 

Match 2: Ten man battle royal for the Heart of Darkness Crown

This was a match of two halves. The opening saw Fuego Yameji swatting away some of his newer trainees while also dealing with the large and impressive D.Austin. Eventually through numerous shenanigans the heels eliminated Fugo and his trainees as well as some others leaving Phong Tran a BTSesque face against Damien Wolfe, British Horror and his dog collar wearing lackey Khoa. Eventually it came down to The British Horror and Khoa who told a good story of being conflicted between obedience and eliminating himself and  winning the crown. While his back was turned The British Horror dumped Khoa out of the ring to win the crown. 

 

Match 3: VPW Tag Team Championship - Venom Shank (c) Vs The Mystic Warrirors

This was a decent tag team match with the Venom Shank twins getting the win from a fast rollup after a disallowed 3 count. It looked like the twins were trying to use the mist and I think one of them swallowed it before they could use it leading to the alternative finish. 

 

Match 4: VPW Openweight Championship - Rocky Huynh (c) Vs An D

This was a heavily built up match as the two competitors had a lot of history being two of the founding members of VPW. Taking a little time to get going the match had a good level of chain wrestling between the two before Rocky scored the eventual pin fall following some entertaining false finished. I started attending shows not long ago so at times found the storyline a little more challenging to get into than some of the longer attending fans but the did pull me in with the decent wrestling and finish. After the match they two hug until two of An D's cronies entered the ring and a brief 3 on 1 assault on Rocky followed.

 

Match 5: Billy with Xavier Patrick Vs Hy Draco with Phuong Nam

This match was essentially a manager's choice match. Xavier Patrick is the ring announcer and also the very enthusiastic guy from the Jericho podcast earlier this year. Phuong Nam is a fairly famous comedian who entered the rumble a few months ago and took somewhat of a dislike to Patrick. The underlying tone seemed to be that Phuong Nam feels he should be treated better due to his fame and the fact he is Vietnamese but luckily the weird undertones of that were heavily muted this time. Phuong Nam and Hy Draco played the heel roles for the most part and eventually got the win due to miscommunication between Billy his tag partner Bobby and Patrick. I really enjoyed Phuong Nam's heel work and the fact he still babyfaces up for his non wrestling fans, he also got into a fun back and forth with me in the crowed with a few birds flipped. Hopefully he didn't take it too personally. Overall this was a fun sports entertainment bout that few in attendance expected to set the world on fire.

Main Event: PCW Ultra Women's Championship - Viva Van Vs Sumie Saki

This was a hotly anticipated and welcome match for the audience and VPW roster. Viva Van is an American born Vietnamese wrestler out of the Cali area. A couple of years ago she stated a funding campaign that helped VPW get their first real wrestling ring. Sumie Saki is of course a notable Japanese veteran and the fist Women of Honor champion in ROH. Both had wonderful presence and went with a hard hitting technical affair eventually won cleanly by Viva Van. I thought the match was maybe a little shorter than hoped and think an extra 5-10 mins would have been brilliant. 

Post Show

Following the match the roster came out to have a small thank you celebration for the ladies before Xavier Patrick took the mic and announced a surprise. Out of nowhere Judas starts playing with the video on the screen and Chris Jericho himself walks out to say a few words, thank everyone for coming and wish VPW the best. Although some of the younger Vietnamese fans were a bit confused by who this was the pop was deafening and say what you want about Chris Jericho it was an extremely meaningful moment for the Vietnamese wrestling community to have him here. Also I marked out like a 10 year old and can't speak today still!

Overall it was a brilliant show an I'll continue to go along as it's nice and local. There isn't one for a few months now to get the New Year festivities out the way. Having Jericho turn up was also nice personally as 10 years ago I was introduced to him through a friend and told him all about my hopeful dreams to move over to Vietnam, I reminded him of this when I got a quick moment to speak to him, he said he remembered but I think he was humoring me which I honestly don't mind. Thanks for coming Chris! 

EDIT: At some point I'll workout how to post photos but there's plenty already floating about online if you can't wait. 

Edited December 4, 2023 by simonworden

[Loki]

So, wait... Chris Jericho flew out to Vietnam for the show but didn't wrestle?  He didn't even manage to interject himself into whatever was the hottest feud, and get booked with the biggest rising star?

[simonworden]

17 minutes ago, Loki said:

So, wait... Chris Jericho flew out to Vietnam for the show but didn't wrestle?  He didn't even manage to interject himself into whatever was the hottest feud, and get booked with the biggest rising star?

From what I know there's a documentary being made about the promotion and he came over to be involved. I assume it must be a well funded documentary and they probably paid for him to come out unless he funded it himself. 

[TildeGuy~!]

I read he’s friends with the promoter and been on his podcast several times.

[The King Of Swing]

Venom Shank, is an awesome name. 

[Keith Houchen]

Great write up! Hope you manage to do more!! Is this the sort of thing Meltzer would publish if you sent it to him?

[RedRooster]

1 hour ago, Keith Houchen said:

Great write up! Hope you manage to do more!! Is this the sort of thing Meltzer would publish if you sent it to him?

I’d second this - Wade Keller is always calling for people to send wrestling results his way. Maybe lead by flagging the Jericho appearance and I’m sure they’d publish it on his site. I’d imagine Meltzer would too. For all the effort you’ve put into this @simonworden, it would be great to see it in front of a larger audience than just us. I genuinely think it’s post of the year worthy.

[JLM]

https://tjrwrestling.net/news/chris-jericho-vietnam-pro-wrestling-show/

Little clip of it here. Venue is absolutely buzzing, what a great moment for the local scene, I love it. Thanks for the write up!

I did try the VPW Youtube channel first to try and give them the clicks instead, but doesn't look like they've had a chance to put it up yet.  I've subbed anyway, the channel  is here: https://www.youtube.com/@VietnamProWrestling4Life/videos 

 

 

 

[simonworden]

15 hours ago, TildeGuy~! said:

I read he’s friends with the promoter and been on his podcast several times.

I'm not sure about friends, I don't even know quite how the podcast thing got together. I think I was told but over a few beers which means it's slipped my memory. 

10 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

Venom Shank, is an awesome name. 

I love it, they are fantastic those twins they look like devilsh looking chicken shit heels with a nasty streak. Their English is really good too so I could see them going far as an act over the next few years.

Thanks for all the feedback on this. I might ping it off to the dirt sheets later today. It really is a great crowd and awesome fun at every show. 

[air_raid]

On 12/3/2023 at 6:41 AM, simonworden said:

Sumie Saki is of course a notable Japanese veteran and the fist Women of Honor champion in ROH.