The Lynch Mob (Matt & Joey Lynch) vs The Carnies (Nick
Iggy & Kerry Awful) vs Tank & Iceberg
Fine fast paced opener. Really felt like Tank and Iceberg
were the standouts of the match, two big, burly men who aren’t afraid to use
their size as a weapon. Loved their big corner splashes, absolutely adored them
hitting cannonballs in the corner to both teams and even Tank putting the full
stop on a fun dive train with an unlikely cannonball from the apron. The other
two teams seemed fine, though the Carnies were responsible for the single worst
spot of the match, where through some convoluted means they forced one member
of the Lynch Mob to give the other a Canadian Destroyer. Can’t put into words
how much I hated that. Quite liked the end, where Tank is taken out with a low
blow, before Awful locks a Boston Crab on Iceberg and Iggy drops repeated knees
to the back of his head for the stoppage.
Shane Marx vs Kyle Matthews
This was a pleasant surprise, with Marx not wrestling at all
like you’d expect. He’s a chubby looking guy so you wouldn’t expect him to be
working complex matwork and reversals like a portly World of Sport worker. Marx
also looks good cutting off a corner charge by Matthews with his size and his
hangman neckbreaker has real nice slap to it. Matthews looks really good too,
really liked the dive he hits. There’s a nice moment where a Matthews tornado
DDT lands pretty softly, but it’s called as such by commentator Brad Stutts and
Marx hits a brainbuster straight from it, so it works. The end sees Matthews
hit a corner dropkick and immediately take Marx down with a quick cradle for
the victory. Enjoyed this.
Matt Knicks vs Stevie Fierce vs Rob Matter
This is a showcase match for Freelance Wrestling. The only
one of these guys I’d seen before was Knicks, who randomly turned up in a
four-way at a HOPE show last month. He seemed decent then, and I liked him here
too. This had the usual issues the most three-ways do, as one guy always seems
to be on the outside of the ring. Knicks not only take a big bump early, but
hits a big suicide dive and an Asai moonsault to the floor. Liked Fierce here
too, though I can’t really remember anything Matter did in the match. Fierce
picks up the win, dropping Knicks on his head with a spider German suplex and
hitting a Tomikaze on Matter for the win.
Torque vs Anthony Henry
Fine little match, and I appreciated the story they told,
that of the overmatched Torque going for broke to win Henry’s PWX title. To
start with, Henry dominated with some big shots: loved him circling the ring to
hit Henry with a big running kick and his big overhead belly-to-belly looked
great. I didn’t mind Torque doing a bit of no selling as he fired up on the
comeback – this was portrayed as the biggest match of his career and as such it
makes sense that he would go a level above. Loved the commentary, highlighting
that Torque winning would get him guaranteed more bookings, especially as he
didn’t wrestle for PWX. Loved Torque’s rana from the apron to the floor, but
some of his other moves looked quite sloppy. His two suicide dives didn’t look
particularly devastating. Henry though is the superior competitor and his work
looked great. He got a convincing 2 count with a big kick to the head after
Torque missed a 450, and his match-winning snap DVD looked terrific.
Sal Rinauro vs Austin Theory
Haven’t seen a Rinauro match in 14 years before this,
unsurprisingly looked a bit different to how I remember. This is worked as wily
veteran vs dynamic young gun, with Theory being only 19. He looks great early
on, really nice quick combo of moves. This forces Rinauro to take a quick
break. Loved how Rinauro used his wits to take control, taking a swig of water,
throwing the bottle into the ring to distract the ref, then spitting it into
Theory’s face. I like the running story that, every time Theory tried to speed
things up, Rinauro was fully aware that he couldn’t keep pace and would slow
things back down, including hitting a sneaky low blow to maintain the
advantage. Theory hits a nice cradle neckbreaker for two, but misses a shooting
star and Rinauro rolls him up for three. Wasn’t expecting a Rinauro win, but
this was decent enough.
The Hierarchy (Chip Day, Adrian Armour & Murder One) vs
Gunner Miller, Kevin Blue & Corey Hollis
This was fine, but mainly worked for an angle, where Hollis
didn’t really want to be part of his team. Really impressed by Miller, he was a
beast chucking Day with three consecutive overhead belly-to-belly suplexes.
Heat ends up being worked on Blue, but Hollis manages to accidentally cause a
distraction by falling into the ring, thus causing the ref to miss the hot tag
to Miller. Miller again looks great on the hot tag, big strong house of fire.
The Hollis storyline comes to a head when he makes a save on a pinfall, which
leaves him at a 3-1 disadvantage. This convinces Hollis to walk out on the match,
leaving it 2-1. The numbers game ends up giving the Hierarchy the win, Day
rolling up Blue with a handful of tights to win. Mainly forgettable stuff.
Scenic Invitational Rumble
Always found indy rumbles an odd beast, as it’s hard to get
any kind of impression of the wrestlers and you’ve no real idea of the hierarchy
of the combatants, as a load of guys I don’t know come into the ring. As a
rule, I pretty much work on the principle that the fat lads and the ones with
the best tights will be the favourites. There were a few guys who stood out:
Mecha Mercenary, a masked fat guy who looks to be pretty agile and has some
real heft to his moves, Cyrus the Destroyer, another large chap who looks great
as he eliminates a load of deadwood and amusingly hurls a guy called Baniac all
the way to the floor in a massive press slam bump and Chris Crunk, who has a
real nice fluidity. The end sees all three members of the Hierarchy left with
Tank, and in a satisfying finale, he gets to eliminate them all. For a match
with a load of guys I’d never heard of, this was a fun match that flew by.
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