WCCW Star Wars 1981

As a sucker for WCCW, and more specifically the von Erichs, this show appearing as a Hidden Gem on the WWE Network was a real treat. 

Mil Mascaras vs Killer Tim Brooks

This kicks off with a bang, Mascaras hitting a flying chop to send Brooks to the floor. They work a nice battle over a test of strength, with Brooks heeling it up, sending Mil to the mat by pulling the mask and working a top wristlock. Brooks has little moments where he acts like a face, shaking hands when both men get back to their feet, but then digging in with cheap shots and little short punches to the head. Mil gets a neat headscissors from a test of strength that looks great. Brooks takes a big bump, flying over the top into the ring post on a corner charge, before Mascaras gets the win with a top rope crossbody. Good stuff

Fritz von Erich vs the Great Kabuki

I’m a sucker for Fritz matches, probably the biggest gap between “shitty human being” and “wrestler I really like watching”. There’s a nice contrast between the two, as they both play it cautiously to start. Kabuki is all weird gestures and oddness, whereas Fritz is just a fighter, plain and simple. Both give the vibe that one good shot will give them control, and that makes their caution more effective. Fritz misses a big punch, and Kabuki takes advantage with kicks and stomps. Kabuki bites Fritz on the mat, but this lets Fritz take his own opening and apply a stomach claw. There’s also a lovely spot where Kabuki applies a nerve claw with both hands under Fritz’s left arm, but this leaves the right hand free to apply a claw with nothing to defend against it. They really make this work with very little offence, with everything feeling important. Gary Hart gets involved from ringside, grabbing von Erich’s leg (and drawing a fan from ringside to attack Hart) and this in turn draws out David von Erich to attack Kabuki. A dropkick and a backdrop, and Fritz gets the win. Fritz needing his son to win the match for him feels a bit off, and Kabuki losing to a backdrop doesn’t help, but this was nicely worked.

Kerry von Erich vs Harley Race

This is for Race’s NWA title, and Race really puts Kerry over here. It’s mentioned that Kerry beat Race in a non-title match with a sleeper, and it makes it a big deal when he reverses an early vertical suplex into a sleeper. Race looks to be out before Race takes advantage of the ref positioning to hit a low blow and break the hold. Race really sells the effects of the move, looking dazed and hitting a diving headbutt in part because it only involves falling. KvE is all fire and energy, and Race is only able to get his control spots due to his savvy. He breaks pinfalls by knowing he’s near the ropes and getting his foot in place, and he avoids Kerry’s elbow drops to give himself more time. However, Kerry is so energised that he’s able to rebound, thwarting Race from being in control too long. We get the two fighting outside, with von Erich locking on the claw. A ref bump gives Kerry a visual pin to keep him looking strong, before they head back outside. Race slams Kerry on a table, but misses a diving headbutt from the apron (a bump that has to suck, but it’s the opposite side to the hard camera, so it’s missed by the TV audience) and we get a double countout, Race grabbing Kerry’s leg to stop him getting back in.

David & Kerry von Erich vs Hercules Ayala & Ali Mustafa

This is for the heels’ NWA tag titles. This was really great, the von Erich boys looked terrific and the heels played their roles excellently. Mustafa in particular is a sneaky dickbag, breaking pinfalls, getting cheapshots and stomping Kevin behind the ref’s back. Kevin is explosive, hitting a sudden slam and a big elbow right from the bell. Nice von Erich double team, with David elevating Kevin into a splash on Ayala. Even as face-in-peril, Kevin is all motion, trying to scurry to his corner and forcing Mustafa to stay on his toes to block the tag. The faces do get a lot of tags in this match, but find it hard to maintain control as the heels keep cutting them off. We get a few melees, with all four men brawling. Nice spot with Mustafa hitting a slingshot into a big Ayala forearm, and it gets paid off with the finish, as he sets up a slingshot on David, who battles and hold him bent in place to allow a top rope sunset flip from Kevin for the victory. Great match, huge post match celebrations make this feel like a big deal.

Battle Royal

Big names here include Bruiser Brody, Jose Lothario, Ayala, Mustafa, Tim Brooks and a bunch of filler. I’m a sucker for a battle royal, but they’re a pain to recap. Mustafa and Ayala don’t spend as much time teaming up as you’d expect them to do. With pinfalls and submissions allowed, we get a few dogpile pinfalls, which is always a neat spot. We get down to Mustafa and Brooks against Brody, which makes the winner pretty obvious. Ali holds Brody in place, but he ducks and Brooks sends both himself and Mustafa to the floor to give Brody the win. Sub ten minute match, pointless but painless.

Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode #3

Kaitlyn vs Kavita Devi

This felt like it veered between really good bits and being very amateur. At times, Devi looked pretty lost, and there were awkward transitions where neither looked like they were sure what to do next. On the positive, Kaitlyn really whipped Devi over with a snapmere, hit a really nice shoulderblock and flew into the corner on a cannonball. It wasn’t a pretty match, but was quite nicely hard-hitting. Kaitlyn won with a spear.

Toni Storm vs Jinny

This was comfortably match of the episode, both ladies worked a nice competitive opening and gave a real air of aggression. Jinny slapping Storm feels like a mistake, as it prompts Storm to fire back, with Jinny taking a big bump from a Storm kick. Jinny comes back with a nasty kick to the spine, and I loved her Japanese armdrag into the corner. She locked in a surfboard that looked absolutely vicious, and it felt like Toni really had to battle to make the ropes. Eventually, she does escape, planting Jinny with a German suplex, charging her in the corner and hitting a Tiger Driver to win. Great stuff here.

Xia Li vs Karen Q

Li really impressed in last years tournament, and she looked like the extras year’s experience had helped continue her progress. The opening exchange, where both girls went for each other with some martial arts, really popped the crowd by being so different. Q slapped Li in the face, and at a monstrous barrage of strikes in the corner. This was briskly paced, with Q hitting a lovely back elbow and an exploder to take over, Li firing back with a nice range of kicks, before Q missed a frog splash, giving Li an opening for a flipping ax kick for three. Only 4 minutes long, but I really enjoyed this.

Mia Yim vs Allysin Kay

Bit of a disappointment here, both ladies have big reputations and are experienced working together, but this felt like they were just throwing things out there with no rhyme or reason. There’s a poor opening scuffle supposed to indicate animosity between the two, but the hatred never feels that real. There’s some nice wrestling, loved Yim’s big kick from the apron and her suicide dive, but then you get the moment like Yim violently chopping the post by accident that never goes anywhere, and you wonder what the point of that was. Kay taking over and choking Yim with her hair was nicely done, and she does nail a lovely discus clothesline, but then there’s a strike exchange that almost feels like a reset. Yim gets the win in the end with a top rope Eat Defeat, but I didn’t love this.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 30/06/1986

Pedro Morales vs Bob Orton

Solid match, though neither guy feels like they’re really stretching themselves. Orton is on the defence early, with a big goofy sell of a slam and of an atomic drop. A good chunk of this match is built around punches, but luckily both guys have neat looking strikes. Orton sends Morales to the floor with a lovely flurry and slams him onto the concrete. Morales shows some fire when he fires back with a nice range of punches himself. Orton tries to suplex Morales to the floor, but settles for crotching him on the top rope instead, drawing the DQ. Nothing bout, but enjoyable enough.

Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik vs Danny Spivey & Corporal Kirschner

This was a very poor bout. Crucially, Kirschner is really bad here, looking really lost in the opening matwork. Sheik would take him down, then just roll over to try and give the impression that Kirschner had reversed it. They heels work the heat on Corporal with Spivey yet to get in the ring. It’s a brief heat, though they force in a false tag in those few minutes. Spivey gets tagged in, not exactly a house of fire and is soon locked in a really poor abdominal stretch by the Sheik. It’s so bad that both Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Al call him out on how bad it looks. Sheik does hit a cracking gutwrench suplex moments later, so it’s not all bad. Kirschner gets tagged back in, looking barely trained with some awkward bumping, before Sheik “loads the boot” and gets the pin following a kick to the gut (with Kirschner selling it with a front flip bump, fair play for that). Terrible stuff.

Hercules vs George Wells

On the other hand, this goes less than 5 minutes and is really great. Herc keeps it simple, but his punches look crisp and he hits some great driven knee drops. Just nice connection. Herc goes up top, and Wells catches a crossbody and nails a backbreaker. He immediately misses a corner splash and Herc drives a forearm into his face for the win. Good, simple stuff, executed really well, with one super impressive strength spot by Wells midway through.

Bret Hart vs Jim Brunzell

Delightfully, this is really neat too. Bret reverses an early wristlock to a headlock by yanking the hair, then really works the hold, keeping it locked in despite getting whipped to the ropes. Brunzell starts working the arm, yanking it on the mat whilst forcing Bret’s head away with his boot. Bret turns the tide with a lovely knee to the gut, and proceeds to wear Brunzell down by wearing down the torso, nailing headbutts and boots. Lovely spot where Bret ties Brunzell in the ropes and charges, but Brunzell escapes and Bret gets tangled up at extreme speed. Brunzell bites Bret’s nose, returning a move from Bret earlier, and gets a great nearfall off an O’Connor roll. Brunzell gets the win with a sudden backslide. Really good stuff.

King Kong Bundy vs Hillbilly Jim

Very brief match, but nothing much to complain about. Two big lads hitting hard-hitting, yet unrefined bombs. Hillbilly avoids what looks to be an unlikely Bundy dropkick early doors, but meets boots in the corner. They do some shtick where Bundy won’t let Jim back into the ring, before Jim gets the boots up on an avalanche. Jim gets a few moves in, but makes the mistake of trying to whip Bundy into the corner. Of course, he reverses it and nails the Avalanche, then hits a huge splash for the win.

Sivi Afi vs Ron Shaw

This puts an end to the “really good stuff” run, though I kind of liked Shaw here. Big goofy looking guy, but he moved well, looked athletic on a leapfrog and nailed a big jumping knee. His back breaker was pretty soft though. Afi doesn’t do much here, few headbutts and a lot of armbars held from armdrags, before a top rope crossbody gets the win. Meh.

Big John Studd vs Paul Orndorff

Orndorff is wearing a protective cast on his right arm, which features prominently in this match. Studd is sluggish, but Orndorff is fired up and works around the fact you can’t do much with Big John by milking the most from every shot he hits. Studd catches him on a crossbody and roughly slams him in the corner, but then bizarrely goes to the top rope, predictably eating a cast shot to the stomach on his way down. Studd hits a sloppy looking atomic drop and telegraphs Orndorff skinning the cat by clearly talking to him and gingerly throwing him over the top rope. Orndorff hits Studd with a flurry of neat shots and nails him off the top with his cast, but Heenan comes in to break up a bodyslam, earning the DQ win for Orndorff. Great performance by Mr Wonderful.

WWE Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode #2

Deonna Purrazzo vs Priscilla Kelly

This is the best match of the episode, thought it put over Deonna well whilst still letting Kelly stand out. Purrazzo bamboozles Kelly early on, throwing in a few WoS spots to confuse her, before Kelly takes over with a big boot. Really liked Kelly’s Dragon Sleeper, she really worked the hold to make it look like an attempt at a submission. There’s a slightly shaky bump for a phantom hiptoss, but this is good stuff on the whole. Loved the ending, as Purrazzo snaps her down with a quick Side Russian Legsweep and quickly chains to a Fujiwara armbar for the tap.

Zeuxis vs Aerial Monroe

This felt like the two weren’t really on the same page. The opening seems especially awkward, with nothing looking like it was really connecting. I liked Zeuxis really heeling it up by responding to Monroe’s angry “Don’t touch the hair” by almost exclusively doing hair-based offence. Hair throws across the ring, an abdominal stretch where she grabs the hair, just hilariously dickish. She also locks in a Camel Clutch where she just rips at Monroe’s face. A Zeuxis roll up looks really ungraceful before Monroe comes back with a sliding flatliner and some nice strikes in the corner, but Zeuxis hurls her to the top rope on a corner charge and hits a Spanish Fly for the win. Zeuxis’ heeling was the best thing about this match, a lot of sloppy offence.

Reina Gonzalez vs Kacy Catanzaro

Really big size difference here, with Gonzalez being billed as 1 foot and 100lbs bigger. Thought some of Gonzalez’s power offence was really good here, loved her spinning Catanzaro round in a front facelock and she hit a few big slams along the way. Also loved her really flattening Catanzaro with a big elbow. Catanzaro is obviously a tremendous athlete and showed a lot of potential, but she was also very green in places. Her kicks looked a bit milky and her offence looked unconvincing at times. Needed to lay it in a bit more, but the potential is obvious. Great visual with Gonzalez bending Catanzaro over her knee with a backbreaker, made Gonzalez look like a monster. Kacy gets the win after a neat springboard dropkick (going from the apron to the second rope inside the ring in one move) and a victory roll.

Ashley Rayne vs Mercedes Martinez

This was the biggest disappointment to me as I like both women, and thought this had the potential to be a good bout, but it was pretty underwhelming. They work it pretty evenly until Martinez absolutely plants Rayne with a cradle driver in what should absolutely have been the match finish. Rayne is back on offence not long after that, which really undersells the move. Martinez reverses a Rayne tornado DDT to a long delayed vertical suplex, but she tries another straight away and Rayne casually slips out, so I guess it didn’t hurt too much. Rayne’s offence didn’t look particularly convincing at first, but she starts to sink it in more as the match progresses. Martinez’s offence on the other hand looks good throughout, and she just plants Rayne with a spinebuster. We get a few more clunky looking moves and reversals before Martinez finally hits a Fisherman Buster for the win.

Scenic City Invitational 2018 Night Two

Darius Lockhart vs Scorpio

Glad to see another showing from these two, despite going out in the first round. Scorp has some nice kicks on display, including getting great height on a spinkick. Lockhart hits a few nice elbows to the face, and a decent cradle hammerlock DDT, which gets him a two, and he got to look decent working even exchanges with Scorpio at the start. The two shows have definitely made me want to see more of him. Scorp hits a flipping kick and a moonsault leg drop to win.

Corey Hollis vs Nick Gage

Hollis continues his performance from night one by heading straight out of the ring. This may not have been his best plan, as Gage isn’t opposed to fighting outside the ring. It’s very much his playground. Hollis gets hurled into chairs and gets taken to the top of the bleachers, only for Gage to throw him back down again. Liked the continuity, as Hollis tries the same sneaky low blow that won him his match on night one, only for Gage to catch the kick and hit a chokebreaker. Hollis is undeterred though, and when the ref prevents Gage from using a hammer as a weapon, Hollis does get the kick to the groin and a small package to win. Kudos to Hollis for selling the win by sprinting to the back.

Jake Parnell vs Gary Jay

Both were guys who went though against potentially more interesting opposition the night before, so I was hoping to be impressed on night two. Thought Parnell was really good here, looking really fired up. He hit a nice dropkick into the corner, before catching the third of Jay’s suicide dive trilogy and hitting a big Northern Lights suplex on the floor. He also takes a backdrop straight onto rows of chairs, which must have been a horrible landing. Jay seemed fine, but Parnell gets the best of the offence, hitting a lovely half Nelson suplex and a stomp to the floor. Parnell comes off the top to the floor with another stomp to the neck, and looks for the countout victory. Jay does this cringeworthy comedy sell of realising he’s about to get counted out before getting back in the ring. Parnell tries another stomp, but eats a big forearm to give Jay the win.

AJ Grey vs Fred Yehi

This was good stuff, like how they played off some of the spots from their matches in night one. At one point, AJ tries the Yehi “stuff your opponents arm inside the ringpost” spot from the previous night, but Yehi elbows him in the head to escape and sends him crashing to the floor with a dropkick. Yehi controls a lot of this match, wearing Grey down, but Grey stays in the fight, including a lovely reversal when Yehi tries a top rope German, only for Grey to roll through and nail a springboard dropkick whilst Yehi is still in the tree of woe position. However, the end sees Grey miss a twisting moonsault, and Yehi stomps him down and locks in the Koji Clutch. Grey won’t tap, so Yehi stomps him twice more and reapplies the Clutch whilst punching Grey in the face until the ref stops it. Really loved the ending, showed Grey’s heart whilst still putting over Yehi as a wrestling machine.

PCO vs Joey Lynch

I enjoyed this a stupid amount, just non-stop from start to finish, which is really what a match like this needed. After the huge abuse PCO withstood on night one, Lynch does the right thing in taking the fight to him right away, and following him out with a suicide dive. This is really a match of big hits, and my notes contain a lot of moves followed by exclamation marks. Lynch hitting a superplex on PCO onto the apron is utterly insane, and it’s followed by Lynch hitting a moonsault to the floor that looks like he’s only just caught. PCO is playing a sort-of Undertaker-esque unstoppable monster role, and he’s soon back in control, hitting a tombstone and a moonsault for two. This is played up as Lynch desperate to win in his hometown, so I can kinda forgive him kicking out of what should be a death move. Lynch hits a top rope Canadian Destroyer and a moonsault, but PCO sits up. Lynch hits a second – PCO sits up. A third has the same result. A fourth….finally keeps him down. Lynch plays it safe, hitting three more moonsaults to finally put PCO away. Utterly, utterly daft, but hugely enjoyable.

Marko Stunt vs Shaggy vs Matt Lynch vs Ike Cross vs AC Mack vs Cyrus the Destroyer

This is a neat scramble match that’s just to kill time before the finals. Cyrus is aptly named here, as he just bulldozes through everyone. Cross eats a huge Samoan Drop, before Stunt is speared through Mack and Shaggy. He also wipes them out with a cannonball later in the match, which is particularly satisfying coming after some weak comedy between Stunt and Shaggy. Loved Cyrus grabbing Stunt by the ankles, swinging him around as a weapon. Eventually, Cyrus is taken out of the match by Cross spearing him to the floor, and Stunt nails the tilt-a-whirl codebreaker on Lynch…only for Mack to sneak in with a roll up for the win. This achieved what it needed to.

Cain Justice & Mance Warner vs The Carnies (Kerry Awful & Nick Iggy)

This was underwhelming. Justice is really misused here as Warner’s stooging partner. Not to say he isn’t good at it, as he’s a lot of fun here, but it’s the second night in a row that I’ve been left wanting more from him. He does get to show a bit of what he can do, locking Iggy in a cross armbreaker and twisting away at his fingers while doing so before Awful breaks it by dropping Warner on top with a death valley driver. Aside from that, Justice is getting hit in the face by his partner accidentally and generally being made to look like a goof. The Carnies are a team I enjoy, though they do have the single shittiest move in tag wrestling, where they contrive to make one opponent accidentally hit a Canadian Destroyer on his partner. The end comes quite abruptly, as the Carnies hit a double-team piledriver on Warner from the apron through a table, and the pin is quickly counted on the floor.

Joey Lynch vs Fred Yehi vs Gary Jay vs Corey Hollis

This is the four-way final to declare the 2018 winner. Hollis sticks to type and immediately leaves the ring as the bell goes. Liked Yehi dragging Hollis out from under the ring, where he was hiding, and holding him in place for a Lynch moonsault. Hollis plays up his opportunist role, sneaking in and trying to gets pins wherever he can. This turns into a real Lynch showcase, as he pins Yehi after hitting a moonsault whilst Yehi has Hollis in a Koji Clutch, and then pinning Jay after a Canadian Destroyer and a moonsault. This leaves him against Hollis, which is smart booking as Hollis is the one guy in the match guaranteed not to get cheers. Hollis gets another low blow, but this time only gets two, and as he argues with the ref Lynch rolls him up for a close two. A Canadian Destroyer and a moonsault finally give Lynch the win.

WWE Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode #1

Tegan Nox vs Zatara

Great to see Nox back in action. She looked noticeably happy to be here, and puts in a decent first round performance. Zatara also looked decent, liked her early running knee and she does some nasty looking offence to Nox’s bad knee. Loved the spot where she put Tegan in a leglock on the mat, and Nox tried for the ropes, gave Zatara a few strikes to the face, then went for the ropes again, realising she needed to soften Zatara up first. Nox sells the knee well, and hits a nice looking crossbody. Because Nox was going through, they let Zatara get a bit of shine with a running knee in the corner, before Tegan ducks a kick from behind and nails the Shining Wizard for the win. Solid opener.

Rhea Ripley vs MJ Jenkins

It almost felt surprising to hear that Ripley is only 5ft 8, as she carries herself much bigger. She beasts Jenkins throughout a lot of this, hitting a big dropkick to send Jenkins to the floor on an attempted springboard and really smothering her with an abdominal stretch. Loved her adding elbows into the ribs too. Jenkins seems to have a lot of charisma and hits a nice back elbow, but a roundhouse kick is caught for a huge powerbomb by Ripley for the win.

Lacey Lane vs Vanessa Kraven

Kraven towers over Lane, and this is worked as a fun David vs Goliath sprint, with Lane hitting these nifty looking kicks to stagger Kraven. Lane is smart at keeping her distance from Kraven, and though there’s one early botch on a springboard armdrag, it doesn’t hurt the match too much. Kraven is hyped as being very agile on commentary, but aside from a nice cannonball in the corner, she looks a little clumsy in spots. She also throws some missed punches way over Lane’s head. Kraven misses a second cannonball and Lane gets a crucifix bomb for the win.

Meiko Satomura vs Killer Kelly

As predicted, Satomura looks great in this, and Kelly manages to keep up with her and looks excellent in the process. Satomura is so great offensively that it makes Kelly look super tough to eat some of the kicks that get dished out, and Kelly isn’t shy about laying in some of her own. The opening matwork looks really snug – when Satomura has Kelly in a headlock, Kelly tries to break free with a headscissors, only for Meiko to fight it off. This means that, when Kelly DOES get the headscissors moments later, it makes it look earned. Satomura gets a lovely 2^nd rope armdrag chained into a half crab that is just SO fluid a move. Loved Kelly blocking Satomura as she goes up top, and locking in an awesome Dragon Sleeper into a tree of woe. A Fisherman’s Suplex on Satomura gets a close two in a really convincing nearfall, before Meiko escapes a German suplex and hits a Pele, then nails a Death Valley Driver for the win. Just terrific stuff.

Mid-South Wrestling 13/02/1982

Wild Samoans vs Rick Ferrera & Bill Ash

Enjoyable squash. Liked Afa holding Ash in the air by his jaw, looked really painful. Ferrera tags in, hitting a big flurry of punches, but immediately eats a Samoan Drop for the three.

Paul Orndorff vs Bryan Blair

Enjoyed this, really well worked competitive match, with Orndorff just being a bit too high in the pecking order for Blair to deal with. Orndorff is surprisingly sporting in this bout, even extending a handshake to Blair. Some decent matwork to start, loved the manoeuvring to escape a hammerlock into an armbar. Blair keeps up with Orndorff, which seems to frustrate him, as he gets annoyed when both men are tangled in the ropes. Both go over the top rope, with Blair seemingly catching his face on the bottom rope, and Orndorff hits a driving knee from the top to get the win.

Junkyard Dog vs Bob Roop

JYD is making a title defence here, and they build this up nicely by highlighting how the previous two weeks have seen title changes. Decent competitive stuff before the end sees some enjoyable hoopla. Roop has a fun spot where he rams JYD’s head into the corner from a full Nelson and he later hits a lovely jumping knee. JYD’s diving headbutt looks spot on too. They go to commercial with Roop on the floor, with his foot tangled in the bottom rope, and I liked that we came back to find the match over, but with the ending recorded. Adds a nice touch of realism. This is where the stuff’n’nonsense comes in, and it’s a lot of fun. First Orndorff comes out, accidentally hits Roop, and JYD hits the Thump on Roop. Orndorff tries to break the pin, but JYD gets up and slams Orndorff onto Roop. Next Bob Orton comes out, only for JYD to press slam him onto Orndorff on the floor. While the ref is looking at those two, JYD nails a big forearm to finally pick up the win.

Ted DiBiase & Mr Olympia vs Ed Wiskowski & Bob Orton

This is the first of the standby matches. Heels never really feel like they’re in this one, even when they get to work heat on DiBiase. Orton stooges about in the early going, swinging and missing with wild punches and flailing madly whilst held in a wristlock. Fun spot with Wiskowski slamming DiBiase to break a wristlock, but DiBiase holds on to send Wiskowski back to the mat. The heat is worked on DiBiase, it’s brief and includes a false tag, before Olympia dropkicks DiBiase onto Wiskowski during a slam attempt. We get a melee as Orton accidentally hits his partner, Olympia locks a sleeper onto Wiskowski and DiBiase picks up the pieces for the win. Enjoyed all this.

Ron Cheatham vs Frank Monte

Final standby match with a few minutes to go. Nothing much to this, though the matwork is quite decent. Liked Monte’s driving knees with a hammerlock held, and he at least tries a few quick pins as the time ticks away for a draw.

Scenic City Invitational 2018 - Night One

Curt Stallion vs Joey Lynch

This was a majorly hot opener, really set the tone for the rest of the night. Both are working face, though Stallion does some nasty things to ostensibly play the heel role – taking a cheapshot on a test of strength or standing on Lynch’s throat in the ropes. Both guys looked really good – I’ve been impressed with Lynch in the past, albeit with one or two reservations, but this was the best I’ve seen him look. There are some great moves from both, with Stallion hitting a nasty German suplex and beautifully reversing a Canadian Destroyer into a cradle neckbreaker. Lynch makes a nice comeback after slipping out of a back suplex, great looking knee to the face and a nice falcon arrow. Loved the DDT Stallion hit, pulling Lynch off the mat into the move in one slick motion. Stallion heels it up cockily with some casual slaps to the face, but this leads to a lovely spot where Lynch hits a Canadian Destroyer from running the ropes. Moonsault only gets two, which is sold as a big deal. Stallion hits a huge German suplex from the top, but Lynch rolls into a crucifix to get the win. Great stuff.

Jake Parnell vs Darius Lockhart

Really impressive performance from Lockhart here, seemed to have a natural charisma and he looked really smooth working the mat early. Parnell gets his big opening with a stomp from the apron to Lockhart’s back. Parnell hits some slightly goofy offence, with a series of falling splashes and the JYD crawling headbutts. Both guys have nice strikes interspersed through the match. Lockhart hits a lovely cradle hammerlock DDT, but Parnell gets his foot on the ropes. After the nearfalls of the previous match, I really liked how they worked this ending as a contrast. Lockhart misses a charge to the corner, and Parnell swoops to hit a chicken wing suplex, a big lariat and a top rope stomp in quick succession to get the win. Rather than risk a kickout, Parnell just hit three big moves in a row to get the victory.

Corey Hollis vs Ike Cross

Hollis is great working the crowd, stalling and giving a real impression of not giving a fuck. Cross is apparently only a two year pro, but he seems really impressive so far, loved him attacking Hollis straight away when he finally gets into the ring. Cross is all motion, as if he realises he can’t afford to let Hollis escape again. This culminates with a big suicide dive. Dug Hollis using his smarts, using Cross’s momentum against him and avoiding a corner charge to take over. Hollis then hurls Cross into the corner, looked terrific. Hollis gets on the mic, though the sound quality isn’t great, and he runs down the ref and his opponent. Cross gets a few hope spots amidst the Hollis control, but Hollis stops him dead with a huge lariat. Cross misses a massive top rope splash, but Hollis is too cocky and gives Cross time to recover and nail a spear. However, Hollis uses the ref to block a second, and hits a low blow in the confusion to get the win.

Cyrus the Destroyer vs PCO

This is a clash of two big boys. No storytelling here, and barely any real selling, as these two just exchange big moves, which is fun if unsubstantial. Initial impressions are bad, as Cyrus blocks a suicide dive with a weak elbow and PCO looked like he’d never had any intention of actually trying the move. After that though, things heat up and it’s a lot of fun. Big running dropkick by Cyrus, PCO hits two chokeslams and a cannonball, Cyrus gets a big overhead suplex and finally PCO does hit a suicide dive. A Cyrus slingshot senton looks great for a near 400lb man, but he misses a second rope headbutt and a PCO moonsault gets the win. Just good fun.

AJ Grey vs 2 Cold Scorpio

This is fought with a much friendlier feel, with the commentary putting over that Scorpio is Grey’s idol. Lovely even matwork to start, with Scorp showing he’s still got some agility as he flips out of a wristlock. Nice spot as Scorp does a lovely dropdown and leapfrog on a rope running section, with Grey aping it just moments later. Grey hits a terrible attempt at a rana, but makes up for it with a great leg lariat. Aggression starts to increase and they exchange some nastier blows. Scorp has a few sloppy moments, with a powerbomb reversal looking off and a somersault legdrop only just grazes the side of Grey’s head, but he does hit a nice moonsault for two. Grey catches a spinkick and turns it into a slam and a frog splash gets the win. Match was only decent, rather than good, but it was nice to see Scorp and this was another welcome change of pace.

Cain Justice vs Gary Jay

This ended up being pretty short, but it was a neat ending. Justice attacks at the bell, but gets sent out and ends up eating three suicide dives. Jay is put over as a super striker, though it’s hard to buy a his average looking clothesline warranting a 360 sell from Justice. Justice briefly works the arm after Jay chops the ringpost, but this doesn’t last long as Jay catches Justice with a forearm to the face as he comes off the ropes, and wins on a knockout. Bit disappointing as I’d have liked to have seen more Justice, but the ending was really effective.

Mance Warner vs Fred Yehi

This is intense from the start, and I loved Yehi as the better wrestler suddenly getting a takedown during a strike exchange, to allow him to rain down blows on the mat. Warner sets up some chairs on the floor, but Yehi blocks a superplex attempt by shoving Warner’s arm down a hole into the ringpost, and just pummels it. It comes out covered in grease and grime, which makes it look much worse, gives the impression of a mangled limb. Yehi then throws Warner into the chairs for good measure. From this point on, Yehi is in full control, though Warner gets a few comebacks by irritatingly attacking with the bad arm. Yehi just stomps him down, and looks comfortable in control, before avoiding a running knee, crushing Warner in the corner and hitting a powerbomb for the victory. Good hierarchy match, as Yehi takes control early and doesn’t really relinquish it until the end.

Kerry Awful vs Nick Gage

This doesn’t go long, and really isn’t pretty, but it’s very effective. They go outside, and Awful eats a backdrop into the bleachers right off the bat, nasty looking bump. Awful blows his nose onto Gage when he gets him onto the floor, and this feel like a big mistake on a guy like Gage, who blasts him with a chair. Awful does a little armwork, stomping the arm of Gage onto a chair then hitting a senton onto the arm, before hitting a huge seated senton in the ring. Gage gets the chokebreaker for just two, before Awful locks in an unlikely figure four. Gage escapes, hits a second chokebreaker and a piledriver for the win. Again, selling was at a scarcity, but it was a fun spectacle.