Mr Bananas vs Bison Brody
Squash for Brody, who
looks impressive in victory. Massive gutwrench suplex looks terrific, before
Brody hits a press-slam into a World’s Strongest Slam to win.
Ian Williams vs Grado
Williams is playing the role of snivelling cowardly heel, so
it’s fun to watch Grado messing with him. The weedy loudmouth vs the lovable
everyman is a perfect dynamic. Williams blocks off Grado’s bionic elbow twice
before taking control, so it gets a nice reaction when Grado eventually hits it
during his comeback. Williams is fine of offence, if not especially exciting,
but he left Grado get sympathy. Williams tries to escape after taking a trio of
bionic elbows, but gets blocked off by Gideon. Williams re-enters the ring and
Grado nails a F5 to win.
Gideon vs Big Grizzly
Fun big man bout here. Williams has stayed at ringside to
assist Grizzly, and is a constant presence during the bout. Grizz has some nice
offence in his repertoire, with a big legdrop and Samoan drop both looking
impressive. I liked the German suplex Gideon hit during his comeback – it wasn’t
based around him improbably picking up the big man, but instead he allowed
Grizz to rebound back from the ropes, and took him over using momentum. Still
looks impressive without diminishing Grizzly’s size. Dug the finishing stretch
too – Williams’ interference allowed Grizz to remove a turnbuckle pad whilst
the ref was distracted, but a kendo shot from Williams accidentally hit Grizz,
Gideon got into position and flatlinered Grizzly into the exposed buckle and finally
hit a GTS to win. Made Gideon look smart to get into position for the
turnbuckle flatliner, and helps keep Grizzly’s aura – it took three big shots
to the head to keep him down. Good stuff.
Massive Party (Chuck Cyrus & Robbie Caine) vs Steele Dragons
(Alex Steele & Eddie Dennis)
Decent enough match, which although maybe not technically
perfect, is carried along by the fun nature of the stooging, goofy heels, the
popularity and amiability of the Dragons and sticking to standard tag formula.
Massive Party are working a meathead partying gimmick, and I dug them having a
celebratory dance when a Dennis clothesline doesn’t faze them, only to receive
two double eyepokes. Dennis plays FIP, and I dug Steele as the hot tag, using
his speed advantage to outsmart Massive Party. Dennis hits his ever-impressive
fallaway slam/Samoan Drop combo on the heels, and the stereo dives by the faces
looked good. Massive Party get to blitz Steele with a few nice moves in a good
finishing sequence, but a Steele superkick into a Next Stop Driver gets the
win.
Mike Bird vs Trevor Lee
This was really good. Just felt like these two worked well
together, both in character work and in the ring. Bird’s increasing frustration
at Lee’s pre-match dancing led to an early strike exchange, with Bird nailing a
nasty looking headbutt. Bird lures Lee into charging at him and nails a hot
shot to take control, before wearing him down with some basic, but well
executed offence. Bird takes too long threatening a clothesline however, and
eats a uranage for two. Loved how Lee kept hold of Bird’s arm on the pin
attempt and rolled through into a Fujiwara armbar, nice fluid sequence. Also a
big fan of Lee’s penalty kick on the apron, he gets a full exaggerated
extension on the leg to really emphasise the move. Lee gets the sudden win with
a moonsault slam, which feels effective as a flash move to get the pin from
nowhere. Could easily have watched another 5 minutes.
Panda Cub vs Flash Morgan Webster
Webster attacks Cub from behind to start, as this one kicks
off with some real intensity. Webster in particular just lays in the headbutts
to Cub. Hadn’t seen much of Panda Cub before, but I dug him here, nice flip
senton and a reverse rana for a really nearfall. Webster is really good at
being unlikable, so much so that you wonder how he ever gets booked as (a
really likable) face. Cub misses a top rope splash and Webster locks in the
Strangler to win. Webster is higher up in the hierarchy than Cub, but he really
made him look good in defeat.
Pete Dunne vs Johnny Kidd
This is being fought under Mountevan’s Rules, which means
that once a wrestler loses control of a hold, they have to yield and let their
opponent back up, with best 2/3 falls rules. Really excellent bout to watch,
with the matwork being really crisp. Because punches aren’t allowed, both guys
have to be really clever with reversals, and most times a hold is countered it’s
due to a shift in body weight or leverage creating space to escape. Have to
give credit to the commentary too, really puts across how clever both wrestlers
have to be, highlighting how Dunne escapes a bodyscissors by putting his legs
over Kidd’s ankles, forcing Kidd’s knees down and giving Dunne room to drive
his elbows into Kidd’s knees to escape. Just beautiful stuff, and the pinfalls
almost feel irrelevant to the enjoyment of the match (Pete wins the final fall
by luring Kidd into the ropes and quickly schoolboying him for the win), as it’s
a real treat to watch. I’ve got the Chaos show where Kidd takes on Jack
Gallagher under the same rules, and I’m very excited to watch that now. Top
stuff.
Wild Boar vs Jeckel
This is for Boar’s King of Chaos title. Jeckel is
accompanied by Pariah Khan, kayfabe owner of Chaos, giving him a huge
advantage. Thus, even though Boar is on it to start, controlling Jeckel after a
suicide dive early on, Khan’s interference allows Jeckel to dominate for the
most part, with the ref unable to stop it. Jeckel’s pumphandle slam and 2nd
rope legdrop both looked good, before Boar changes the momentum by rolling into
Jeckel’s legs when he’s running the ropes. Really crafty counter, and it’s
followed by a big senton from Boar. Jeckel is really condescending to Boar,
knowing his advantage with Khan, and seems to be toying with him, which ends up
backfiring as a recovered Boar is able to avoid a chairshot and instead hit a
big senton which drives Jeckel into the chair face first. Sadly, we get a
bullshit ending, as Khan pulls the ref out of the ring, and Jeckel tries a
chair sneak attack, only succeeding in hitting the chair into his own head. The
ref sees an unconscious Jeckel and Boar holding a chair and disqualifies Boar.
Disappointing ending to a decent match.
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