Da Mack vs Zachary Wentz
This is a WXW vs CZW match. Pretty decent opener, without
setting the bar too high for the following matches. I wasn’t a big fan of Da
Mack’s goofy dancing kicks, but he had some other strikes that looked a lot
better. The opening matwork was a bit perfunctory, but it allowed Wentz to
speed things up a bit to get a bit of personality over. Loved Wentz’s
through-the-ropes codebreaker and handspring leaping knee, but the end was a
bit weak, with Wentz going to the top to hit a diving nothing right into an RKO
to give Da Mack the win.
Tracy Williams vs Martin Kirby
Beyond vs PCW. First time I’ve seen Williams, who I know is
pretty hotly tipped. They work a really nice sequence of counters on the mat,
which isn’t something you always see from Kirby, though he is capable of doing
so. Williams is pretty slick on the mat though, and is always one step ahead.
When they get off the mat, Kirby’s running shoulderblock in the corner looks
typically great. I liked the way they built up to the strikes too, culminating
in a big Williams clothesline that puts Kirby on his head. The end was pretty
good, as Williams only gets 2 off an Emerald Frosion, so chains into a
crossface right away to focus on the neck. Despite the best efforts of Kirby’s
partner Joey Hayes to interfere, Williams is able to get the tap from a second
crossface to win. Good stuff.
Axel Dieter Jr vs Bubblegum
WXW vs PCW. Was really impressed by Dieter Jr here. Loved
his controlled armwork early on, making Bubblegum work to escape. Dieter
catching a Bubblegum dive and hitting a European uppercut instead was pretty
choice, and I loved how he had Gum in control in the corner, casually
sauntering up with his arms behind his back. Just tremendous character stuff.
Sliding diving elbow looked great, and Bubblegum also looks good on the
comeback, with a top rope stomp looking good. I liked how the ending saw both
guys upping the tempo, but both of them made their offensive openings by
reversing the other’s move, not just randomly recovering from the last move hit
on them. Bubblegum wins with a 619
Dave Crist vs Jurn Simmons
CZW vs WXW. Simmons takes a ridiculously long time to get to
the ring – we’re talking Undertaker levels here – so Crist pump kicking him out
of the ring as soon as the bell goes feels fair enough. Crist makes a rookie
mistake by trying to chop Simmons against the ringpost, but only hurts himself
when Jurn ducks. From there, it’s all one way traffic, and Simmons looks great
throughout. Great looking power offence, with a power slam looking terrific and
I loved him whipping Crist to the turnbuckle with real force. Crist seems to be
a better seller than on offence, as a lot of his stuff looks sloppy here, but
him taking a 360 bump from a Simmons shoulderblock is impressive. Simmons hits
a big piledriver and wins a borderline squash.
Joey Janela vs Chris Dickinson
CZW vs Beyond. This is worked around Dickinson having a
power advantage over Janela, and Janela having to work on a hit and hope basis.
This is established early when Janela hits a cannonball from the apron, but
Dickinson rolls through with it and hoists him up to powerbomb Joey on the
apron. Janela manages to create some distance and dives on Dickinson from a
balcony, as this is the only way he’s able to hurt him. When Dickinson does
have Janela in his grasp, he does blitz him, with his kicks looking immense –
his legs are nearly the size of Janela. Joey has to keep taking risks to try
and stay in the match, but when they don’t pay off, he’s really in the shit. He
sits Dickinson in a chair and goes for a top rope flip, but Dickinson moves and
sends Joey ploughing through the chair. Janela is really winning the fans over
here pretty much by killing himself. Joey does manage to hit a tilt-a-whirl
tombstone, but gets caught by Dickinson and takes a face-planting version of a
burning hammer on the apron. Janela kicks out, which makes him look amazing,
but he’s basically out and a Dickinson lariat gives him the win. Really good
bout here, with Dickinson looking unstoppable and Janela gutsy and fearless in
defeat. Both guys left the bout looking great.
Dave Mastiff vs Keith Lee
PCW vs Beyond. These are two big boys here, but both guys
who are able to move about. They work this really smartly, building up to the
big spots. They exchange really thunderous looking blows early on, moving to
running the ropes before Lee snaps off an impressive looking running rana. He
makes the mistake of shit-talking though, and Mastiff whiplashes him into the
ropes and hits the bathtub senton. What’s great is, both guys are agile enough
to bump and make the other guy look immense, with Dave taking a huge powerbomb
from the corner. Lee misses a moonsault and Mastiff hits a German suplex into
the buckles and the Bastard Bomb for three. Enjoyed this.
T-Bone vs David Starr
PCW vs WXW. Starr plays the early stages as a smart-ass,
outwrestling T-Bone and trying to make him look stupid. T-Bone responds by just
beating him up. They brawl outside, and there’s a fun spot with Starr getting
fans to hold T-Bone in place while he takes a run up, but by the time he
reaches him, T-Bone is free and superkicks him. Starr hits this really cool
looking DDT to the apron, with T-Bone draped over the ropes from the inside.
Starr tries going to the top, but gets caught with a draping DDT and a
tombstone for 3. This was fine.
The Hooligans & Danny Hope vs Sha Samuels, Lionheart
& Iestyn Rees
Odd deal this. The vast majority of this is a big brawl on
the outside of the ring that’s pretty entertaining, highlighted by a big
suicide dive by Roy Knight. They take nearly 5 minutes to reach the ring, which
is when Rees and Hope make it there. They have a brief sequence, ending with
Hope trying his own version of the Alpha Lock, getting hit by a Rees low blow
and Rees getting his own Alpha Lock for the anti-climactic win. Very strange.
AR Fox vs Dezmond Xavier
Beyond vs CZW. This is the final match of the night, and as
such you get the sense that they’re going out to steal the show, especially as
they aren’t exactly the biggest names of the evening. This is a full on
spotfest, and those live and die on how good the spots are. Well, the spots
here are really fucking nuts. Fox hits a huge inverted somersault to the floor
that just looks nuts, and Xavier flies out with an insane handspring somersault.
These guys both look like they’re actually trying to hurt each other, with a
minimum of superfluous flipping, whilst still hitting some bonkers stuff. I
could really have done without the piss-poor strike exchange in the middle, but
that aside, this was really fun. Xavier escaping an RKO attempt by just
slipping out looked great – it looked like he was going down, but his head
slips out at the last moment. Fox gets the win with a brainbuster, which oddly
means CZW have lost all four of their matches on the show, which is odd. This
was a worthy main event though.
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