WWF Raw 06/06/1994

Crush vs Tatanka

This is a repeat of the King of the Ring qualifier from the previous show, this time fought under lumberjack rules. This is given a load of time, running over two ad breaks, and they sadly don’t really need to have so much time. It’s a very plodding match, and the lengthy Crush control is pretty dull. He’s been pretty fun in squash matches, but his offence isn’t very interesting. Twice, he cuts off Tatanka comebacks with sloppy inverted atomic drops. Tatanka is more fun when he makes his comebacks, his chops always looking decent, but he’s made to look like an idiot far too often. He does dumb things like stand and threaten IRS, rather than pay attention to his much larger opponent behind him. The lumberjack spots are pretty fun, things always threatening to break down on the outside, and I appreciate that the heel lumberjacks attacked Tatanka first, which justifies the ending. Crush ends up outside the ring, and like an idiot attacks the faces trying to get him back up. In the melee, Lex Luger comes to ringside, blasts him in the head with the bionic elbow, and rolls him in for the Tatanka victory.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs John Paul

Best Bam Bam squash yet. Paul is a higher rank of jobber, so he’s allowed a modicum of offence, which seems to force Bigelow to not just take his time in the bout. Bigelow’s corner blows actually look deadly for once. Paul gets a nearfall from a sunset flip, but Bigelow hits an odd twisting splash to win. Finisher looked poor, but this was fine.

Razor Ramon vs Keith Davis

Davis is the “artist” better known as Jeff Hardy. Pretty fun squash here, Ramon is such a dick to his jobbers, makes them far more fun to watch. Things like choking Hardy over the ropes, saying “Welcome to the big time, kid”, then booting him in the head. Crowd loves it too, even when Ramon trolls them by picking Hardy up in a Razor’s Edge position, but instead just dumping him stomach first on the turnbuckles. The real Edge gets the win shortly after.

Mid-South Wrestling 12/12/1981

B. Brian Blair vs The Monk

Or “Bryan Blair” as he’s known as here. Nice little bit of matwork to kick off, with Blair using a nice legsweep to down the Monk, followed by a nice leverage battle to push Monk’s shoulders to the mat. The Monk uses Blair’s hair to pull him to the mat, and this seems to infuritate Blair, who ups the tempo. Nice height on a legdrop, before Blair uses an abdominal stretch to pin the Monk down for three.

King Cobra vs Tom Renesto Jr

Cobra looks to be in great shape, and his movement is certainly better than that of the chubby Renesto Jr. Cobra controls with some uninteresting armwork before winning with a headbutt. Not much to say here.

Jimmy Garvin vs Ed Wiskowski

Both guys look pretty hench here, especially the burly looking Wiskowski. As opposed to the previous bout, Garvin actually does some nice work on the arm of Wiskowski, wrenching a hammerlock and driving knees into the elbow. Wiskowski has some really nice looking blows in the corner and soon finishes Garvin off with a running knee to the face, a stungun and a gutbuster. Really good work here.

Junkyard Dog & Mike George vs Jerry Novak & Aaron Holt

Blink and you’ll miss it, as JYD and George hit a double-shoulderblock on Holt and JYD hits the Thump to win.

Iron Sheik vs Buddy Ryan

I’m not even sure Ryan gets any offence in, but he’s a pretty generic looking guy especially in comparison to a man in shape like the Sheik. Sheik just blitzes Ryan with some fun suplexes, refusing to take a pinfall win in order to hit more offence. Nice double-underhook suplex, nice belly to belly and finally a nasty looking deadlift German win the bout.

Rick Ferrara & Diamond Lil vs Tony Charles & Barbie Doll

Really odd mixed tag match, with full-sized men teaming with female midget wrestlers. Never been a big fan of matches like this, as you lose the whole tag dynamic. You can’t really do double teams, it’s harder to work heat on the face and it ends up feeling like two matches bolted together. I thought Charles looked great here, before Barbie Doll pins Lil after a sitdown splash.

Ted DiBiase vs Paul Orndorff

Real fast tempo to kick things off here, really made it stand out from the other matches. Liked the focus from both men with DiBiase working an arm to start, only for Orndorff to take advantage of DiBiase hitting his head on a turnbuckle to put in some nice kicks to the skull. Thought Orndorff looked really good in the whole match, to be honest, felt really driven. The end felt a bit off, as DiBiase (the face) locked in a figure-four on Orndorff, which was then reversed with DiBiase only just hanging on before the time limit goes to save him from submitting. It was probably supposed to make him look tough for hanging on, but it really made him look dumb for getting his own hold turned against him and only not losing because the bell saved him. Small quibble aside, the match was fun.

ECW Hardcore TV #21 31/08/1993

The Koloffs vs The Sandman & Sal Bellomo

Pity poor Ivan, having to sell being outwrestled by the bumbling duo of Bellomo and Sandman. Vladimir has looked actively good on these shows, really nice looking kneedrops and his overhead belly-to-belly on Sandman looks great. Sadly, Bellomo takes off his boot and nails Vlad behind the referees back to get the win.

The Super Destroyers vs Eddie Gilbert & the Dark Patriot

We’re joined in progress here, with one of the Destroyers just making the hot tag. The fresh Destroyer loads up his mask to headbutt Gilbert, but his partner turns on him, headbutting him from behind to give Gilbert the win.

The Headhunters vs Miguel Perez Jr & Mitsuhiro Matsunaga

This is a real change of pace from regular ECW stuff, and this is a real sign we’re heading into new territory for the promotion. This is a big brawl, with action spilling out of the ring right from the get-go. Lots of big spots here, with one Headhunter hitting a powerbomb on Matsunaga early on. Perez hits a superplex on a Headhunter, to a huge pop, and then a missile dropkick before nailing a plancha to the outside. This is really short, but all four guys get over in the time despite the terrible ending – one Headhunter nails a moonsault and big splash on Perez, while Matsunaga rolls up the other Headhunter for a double-pin. Cop out ending, but a really fun match.

Don Muraco & Shane Douglas vs Tito Santana & Stan Hansen

This is really promising, but the bizarre decision to cut the match with the faces in control, show a random video hyping Abdullah the Butcher, then cut back with the heels dominating, ruins the flow. Tito is fun as the face-in-peril, really good at working from underneath. The hot tag is made to Hansen, and the top rope breaks off almost straight away as Muraco runs the ropes. Sadly, the Dangerous Alliance runs in straight away, ending the match. Eddie Gilbert throws a fireball in Hansen’s face to end the episode.

World Class Championship Wrestling 15/10/1982

David von Erich vs Frank Dusek

Decent enough short match. Dusek seems to be a guy with good and bad to him: the kneeling headbutts he hit looked good, but his attempt at a clothesline swung miles over David’s head. Nothing of real note happened here before the weak ending, where Dusek shoves the ref, receives a slap for his efforts and gets rolled up for the von Erich win.

Jose Lothario & Al Madril vs Checkmate & Magic Dragon

This was really good. The highlights were the Lothario/Checkmate battles, but all four guys contributed to the match. Lothario and Checkmate match up really well on the mat, and Checkmate looks really impressive landing on his feet from a backbody drop. Love the way he lures his opponents into a false sense of security by curling into a ball and then grabbing a body part. The “Japanese” Magic Dragon looked very caucasian, but him hitting a snap superkick and trying a flipping second rope senton was nuts for 1982. As the time limit looms, you start to realise what the result will be, but there’s still time for a nutty Checkmate bump, diving through the ropes to the floor, before the inevitable draw. This was all good.

Gran Markus II vs The Samoan

“The Samoan” is the future Samu. These guys don’t mesh well, with an attempt at a slam by Markus looking ugly before they go to a long headlock section. Markus hits a big clothesline, a slam and a senton to win a poor match.

Michael Hayes vs Roberto Renesto

Fun squash, with Hayes hitting a great leaping second rope punch. Hayes shows so much character and fire here, with the crowd reacting appropriately. He hits a bulldog and a piledriver for the easy win. Afterwards, the lumpy Renesto tries to ineffectually jump Hayes from behind, but he’s soon sent packing.

CHIKARA Young Lions Cup II Night 2 2004

Qeenan Creed vs Chris Hero

This is to replace Jay Lethal, who has no-showed the event. Basic match, pretty inoffensive. Hero is pretty obviously the better wrestler, but Creed adds a few bits to the match with his heeling. Stalling to annoy the crowd, doing a quick pose before missing a corner charge – just little bits to add colour to the bout. His offence is basic, but well executed and, though it’s not a match you’ll remember for long, it’s fine. Hero wins with the Hero’s Welcome.

Sabian vs Jigsaw

This was a step up. Both guys are pretty good by this point, and achieve some nice looking sequences. Liked how even this was until Sabian took a chance with a big flip dive, which gave him control. He’s able to easily counter the Jig’N’Tonic into a bulldog in a nice sequence, and hits a big top rope elbow. You can tell they’re putting in a real effort here, some nice stiff shots by both, and they manage to get the small crowd really into the match. There’s one bad botch, where Jigsaw gets his feet caught on the rope on a plancha, and I liked Sabian having presence of mind to mock him to buy time for the ref to check Jigsaw over. There’s also an odd moment where Jigsaw sells having his nipples tweaked by poking the ref in the eye. That oddness aside, the end is pretty fun, as Jigsaw shows decent strength to catch a Sabian crossbody and transition it to the Jig’N’Tonic to win.

Eddie Kingston vs Blackjack Marciano

The Wildcards collide here. This is pretty long, but is also good fun. A lot of schtick to start, with Kingston demanding Marciano take a dive for him, only to Blackjack to roll him up for two. A load of stalling, with both guys mocking the way the other looks or celebrates hitting a move. Eventually, things get rolling, and it’s pretty good. Kingston in particular is happy to work stiff with his partner. Marciano also takes a big bump to the hard floor, landing with a splat. Kingston shows himself to be slightly better than Marciano at this point, a few things like a bad reverse slam don’t look good by Marciano. There’s a fun ending where both guys decide to walk out rather than wrestle in front of an undeserving audience, then suddenly both sprint back to try and get the other counted out, before a bridging pin wins it for Marciano.

Larry Sweeney vs Shane Storm

Truth be told, I was a little anxious heading into this one. Storm isn’t particularly impressing during these early shows and I didn’t know if Sweeney would be a guy to get a good match out of him. As it was, this was pretty fine. Sweeney slaps Storm early, and this seems to fire him up with his corner splashes actively looking good. Storm even hits a reasonable looking suicide dive. There’s a bit of poor refereeing work, as Sweeney’s henchmen mug Storm outside the ring in such a manner that you’d think it’d be impossible to ignore. Sweeney’s offence is pretty basic, but is well executed, so his heat section on Storm is perfectly fine. There’s a few sloppy moments in the match, most notably when Storm hits a shining wizard on his comeback and tries to pin Sweeney right up in the ropes, but nothing glaringly so, before Sweeney gets the roll up win off a distraction.

Chris Hero vs Gran Akuma

Good bit of storytelling this one, though the match definitely goes on a bit too long. Hero has recently started taking the training in the Chikara school, so there’s a sense of domination throughout as Hero tries to see what one of his students is able to offer against him. It feels like a competitive exhibition, as they work control sections on that mat, but Hero soon starts to build up his strikes and moves, striving to push Akuma to perform at the next level. Hero keeps laying in stiff sounding blows, and Akuma just about remains on his feet. Even when Akuma starts to fire back, Hero remains one step ahead and never really looks in danger of losing. Akuma gets the ropes after surviving the Hangman’s Clutch and gets a nearfall from a falcon arrow, before Hero pins him with the Hero’s Welcome. This does go just over 15 minutes, which is too long for the story, but the meat of this was really good.

Jigsaw vs Blackjack Marciano

Pretty straightforward win for Jigsaw, thought it might be a bit more competitive. Marciano shoves Jigsaw to the floor at the bell, causing a big bump, but Jigsaw isn’t fazed for long and soon is in control, hitting a big cannonball from the top to the floor. You can see just how good Jigsaw was getting by this point, as all his strikes look on point. Real vicious looking kicks. Jigsaw hits a neat leap up rana from the top rope, puts Marciano in a tree of woe for a coast-to-coast dropkick and hits the Jig’N’Tonic to win. Pretty much a squash.

Chris Hero vs Larry Sweeney

Hero gets mugged by Sweeney’s henchmen at the outset, but is still able to put up a fight in the ring. That is, until Sweeney hits him with a foreign object to get the win barely 2 minutes in. It’s the only way you’d really buy Hero losing, and it gives Sweeney a freshness advantage for the final, so it makes sense.

Icarus, Mr Zero & Jolly Roger vs Share Cropper, Mano Metalico & Crossbones

2/3 falls match designed to put over Sweeney’s stable of goons. Share Cropper stands out as the most polished of the three, with a nice bridge on a Northern Lights suplex and moving really well in the ring. Metalico is working a gimmick where is right hand is really solid (and it’s at this point I realised his name translates to “Metal hands”, so that makes sense), and is a big guy. Zero takes most of the heat, as well as making one of his key spots – reading the paper whilst holding a Camel Clutch – look like shit by applying it so sloppily. They bravely give the heels a 2-0 win with the falls, winning the first by dogpiling Zero after a big blow by Metalico, and then winning the second by pinning Icarus following a low blow by Crossbones.

Larry Sweeney vs Jigsaw

This was a suitably decent final. Sweeney’s on top form here, stalling outside the ring, complaining that Jigsaw must have something in his hand after eating a hard chop, and beautifully nailing a shot with a foreign object over the refs shoulder. For his part, Jigsaw’s running knee in the corner looks terrific and he’s got some great timing on his comeback superkick. Again, Sweeney’s control is basic, but it’s effective in getting the crowd behind Jigsaw. Jigsaw does hit a sloppy looking top rope stomp that’s pretty poor. There’s a ref bump before Jigsaw hits Jig’N’Tonic, before his former tag partner Rorschach comes in and nails him with a superkick, with Sweeney hitting a piledriver to get the win. They pretty much made Sweeney in one weekend here, whole tournament worked wonders in getting him over.

NYWC Psycho Circus XV

Joe Gacy vs Alex Reynolds

This is for Gacy’s CZW title. I like both guys, but this wasn’t their best work. For a big guy, there was a lot of needless motion by Gacy, adding superfluous backward rolls into some of his moves at the start. Much more enjoyable was his big dive, where he threw his frame to the outside recklessly. Reynolds wrestles like a proper heel here, refusing the audience request for “one more” chop to dish out an eye poke instead, and nailing a nasty looking kneedrop. His pop-up Codebreaker looked a bit poor however. I also liked the quick DVD that Gacy hit, but by the end this just felt like guys hitting moves on each other. Gacy wins with a handstand cutter and the Rings of Saturn, but both are capable of better.

Anthony LaCerra & Jesse Vane vs Milk Chocolate

LaCerra and Vane are defending their tag titles here. Really enjoyed this match, thought both teams looked excellent. Vane was particularly impressive, guy has a good look and moved really well throughout the match. Both teams shared some fluid team work to start, with quick tags and smooth looking double-teams. LaCerra hits a big flip dive to the floor, which is impressive for a guy so big. He got really good height on it too. Vane eats an STO on the apron by Watts, before Watts nails a huge cannonball from the top rope to the floor. It had been built up by an earlier spot where Watts had been reluctant to go up top, so it got a nice response. The end was pretty effective here, as Milk Chocolate have control of Vane and look to be about to hit a double-team move, but Vane fights back on Randy Summers, and LaCerra rolls up a distracted Watts for the win. Good stuff.

Willow Nightingale vs J-Redd

This is for the Starlet’s title, a women’s belt held by the male J-Redd for some reason. The biggest issue people often have with intergender matches is that they find it unrealistic for the woman to be able to hurt the man. Here, I find it unrealistic that the ratty bag-of-pipe-cleaners J-Redd could cause any damage to the better built Nightingale. She easily wins a test of strength in a fun spot, but this isn’t a good match, with both performers looking tentative and sloppy in places. The best looking move of the match is J-Redd’s partner GIT sweeping out Nightingale’s legs as she runs the ropes, just a nice fluid movement. Thankfully, this is pretty brief, as two other female competitors come out, take out GIT, hit a double Twist of Fate on J-Redd, and Nightingale hits a powerbomb to win.

Bull James, Mouse, Tommy Dreamer & Rex Lawless vs Stockade, King Mega & the Hounds of Hatred

This is a Psycho Circus match, which seems to be an unholy mix of WarGames, Survivor Series and the Cage of Death. There’s two sides of a cage set up on the ring, one laced with barbed wire, and a whole heap of weaponry about. The match starts with two wrestlers, with one member of each team entering alternately, and if you are pinned you get eliminated. To further complicate things, this is for the NYWC title, with the belt going to one of the team captains, Stockade or James, depending on which team survives, and Mikey Whipwreck is guest referee.

On the whole, this was a lot of dumb fun, but there were a few things that weren’t great: in particular, King Mega puts in a rotten performance, barely selling a kendo stick shot from Dreamer, and taking a woeful bump on his elimination from a pedigree by James. He looked awkward and clumsy throughout, and is a detriment to the match. Whipwreck isn’t a great ref, being off the pace when Lawless pins Boo Sullivan for an elimination, and often counting from outside the ring. Also, things do get a bit messy in places, with some wrestlers looking lost.

There are also a lot of positives: this was the best James performance I’ve ever seen. He’s the first man in for his team and goes nearly 40 minutes, hitting some nice offence and taking some huge bumps – getting hiptossed onto a board covered in mousetraps stands out as something that has to have sucked to have taken. Stockade is just a big, nasty monster heel, and again he bumps really well for a guy who is so big. Lawless and Bamm Sullivan also look good, and Dreamer gets a huge pop and looks energised by the response. There are some really nasty looking bumps taken in this bout: aside from Bull getting thrown into mousetraps, we get Lawless blasting Boo with an exploding breeze-block to the head, Lawless getting slammed onto Lego, Stockade getting thrown into a netting made of carpet strips…just a load of bumps that absolutely must have sucked to have been on the receiving end of.

The match boils down to James and Mouse against Stockade. Mouse has been portrayed in the past as a weak guy who really can’t wrestle, so he spends most of the match handcuffed to the ring post after a beating. James frees him later on, but gets turned on with a low blow. A Stockade DDT only gets two, before Mikey takes out Mouse with a big side slam (unbiased ref?). This leads directly to the end, which was suitably match-ending. James placed a wooden board on top of two breeze-blocks, set it alight and spinebustered Stockade on top to gain the 3 count and the title. Despite or or two quibbles, this is a really fun match.

ECW Hardcore TV #20 24/08/1993

Interesting week of debuts here, it feels like ECW is starting to move away from some of the lesser workers - we haven't seen Larry Winters in a few weeks - and bringing in better names. This episode also includes a replay of the Terry Funk/Canadian Wolfman bout from a few weeks previous, and the Super Destroyers beating the Suicide Blondes in the tag tournament via forfeit, but these are the only real match this week...

Eddie Gilbert & the Dark Patriot vs Tommy Cairo & JT Smith

Perfectly functional tag match, until a real clunker of an ending. The early period of face control was solidly done, dug Smith holding an armbar, Gibert trying to escape with an armdrag, only for Smith to hold onto the arm and take Gilbert back over again. On the outside of the ring, Freddie Gilbert trips Cairo, luring out a debuting Sensational Sherri to drive him away. That’s kind of odd. The heels work heat on Cairo, with Patriot nailing two ax handles to the outside, before Smith gets the hot tag. Dug the quick fallaway slams Smith hits on both heels. Gilbert accidentally hits Patriot with a chain and Smith nails a springboard..something…that looks shit for the win. The post-match sees Patriot and Gilbert arguing, even though it seems the referee has disqualified Smith…for using the chain? Really shitty ending,badly executed.

Shane Douglas vs Herve Renesto & Don E Allen

Douglas is debuting here, and joins the Dangerous Alliance right away. This is a $10,000 challenge that sees Douglas squash his opponents in seconds, nailing a great belly-to-belly on Renesto for the win.

Don Muraco vs Tito Santana

This is the first time we’ve seen Tito, and he’s instantly rewarded with a world title match. Though nothing groundbreaking, there’s a feeling of steady professionalism with this match that we’ve not always seen in previous ECW bouts. It’s based around Muraco working the arm of Santana early on, and it’s nice to see him really work the hold, whilst Tito sells is accordingly. Muraco heels things up nicely, choking Tito back to the canvas on any attempt at a comeback, then wrapping Tito’s arm around the ringpost. Muraco is accompanied by Freddie Gilbert as his manager, and he actually ends up costing Muraco the match. First, Muraco hits a big move (we don’t see it because the footage freezes), but Gilbert is busy distracting the ref, preventing a count. This is followed by Santana shoving Muraco into Gilbert off an O’Connor roll attempt, then hitting the flying forearm to win. Undoubtedly, the best Muraco match in ECW so far.

PCW/CZW/WXW/Beyond Wrestling World Championship Show 3

Axel Dieter Jr vs Da Mack

I’ve been far more impressed with Dieter Jr in these shows so far, and that trend didn’t buck here. Didn’t buy that Da Mack had hurt ADJ enough to perform a stupid moonwalk into a penalty kick without ADJ trying to block it, as it occurred 30 seconds into the match, though the kick itself looked nasty. I did love Dieter Jr blocking a flying headscissors by just dumping Da Mack face first onto the mat midway through, and his running cross chop is great. It felt like another match where Da Mack was facing someone better than him, as highlighted by a shitty cutter he uses to catch an ADJ dive with. Most annoyingly, Dieter Jr had been targeting the arm of Da Mack earlier in the match, but it was Da Mack who got the win with a Fujiwara armbar from nowhere.

Danny Hope vs Dave Crist

Hope had injured himself in the afternoon show that day, and I assume it must have been pretty bad, as they just work this as a shitty comedy match. More to the point, they recreate the Goldberg/Lesnar match from Survivor Series the previous week. Only here, Hope hulks up at 2 and hits a big boot (complete with 360 sell from Crist) for a nearfall. Seconds later, Crist does a springboard armdrag into a cutter, slipping on the way, for the win. Understandable if Hope was hurt, but possibly would have been better to just sub him out?

Chris Dickinson vs Tracy Williams

Good little match. Liked the opening matwork, nothing too flashy, just felt like two guys trying their best to wear the other one down. Every hold looked like it would hurt. Wasn’t as keen when they got up and started exchanging strikes – Dickinson is substantially bigger than Williams and his blows looked far bigger, so Williams winning the exchange with a clothesline was hard to buy. Williams blocks a top rope superplex by dropping down and giving Dickinson a DDT on the top turnbuckle in a nice spot. Williams is really good here at timing his counters so they fit the match – when Dickinson is giving him mounted punches in the corner, he waits for Dickinson to yell to the crowd as his opening to counter. In the end though, they are very evenly matched, but Dickinson has the size advantage, and he picks up the win with a big spinning kick.

T-Bone vs Iestyn Rees

Dug the start, with Rees taking advantage of T-Bone taking his eye off the match and spearing him. This is quite a methodically paced power match, not especially exciting, though I did like T-Bone’s fallaway slam before Rees gets a sudden win with a kind of Jackhammer slam. Very brief.

Scarlet & Graves (Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier) vs Martin Kirby & Joey Hayes

This was a fun match, really enjoyed to start where both teams were isolating one guy and hitting some nice fluid double teams. Kirby and Hayes ending a Dream Sequence with an eyepoke was a nice touch. Wentz is singled out for Hayes and Kirby to work over, which allows Xavier to look terrific on the hot tag. He’s a very fluid wrestler, moves almost effortlessly, so it gives him a nice opportunity to showcase that. Loved Xavier slingshotting Kirby into a Wentz leaping double-stomp, it looked great. Wentz has a lot of success hitting some springboard moves, but goes to the well too often, getting caught in midair and spiked with a double team DDT to give Kirby and Hayes a win.

Jurn Simmons vs Dave Mastiff

This is the final of the Openweight tournament and is a real prick tease of a match. It starts out brilliantly, as Mastiff spoofs Simmons’s overblown entrance by playing air guitar to his own theme, then air drums, before finally recruiting audience members to bean air band for him. This infuriates Simmons, who complains to the ref, allowing Mastiff to sneak in, hit a German suplex and the corner cannonball….only for the ref not to count because the bell hasn’t rung. Simmons stalls outside, then blocks another German suplex with a low blow and hits a running kick to win. Really promised to be a great match, and ended up as nothing.

Joey Janela vs Keith Lee

This was really fun, both guys blended well as personalities as well as in ring. Janela has real goofy charisma that makes him really endearing to watch, but also leaves plausible openings for him to exploit in this match. At first, he’s getting totally overpowered by the massive Lee, failing with shoulderblocks and getting caught on a cannonball outside the ring. However, with Lee not expecting it, he’s able to turn that cannonball into a rana, sending Lee into the ringpost and giving him an opening to strike with two quick suicide dives. Lee is not just huge though, he’s also quick, and he stops a third dive by leaping into the ring and nailing a shoulderblock. Huge Samoan Jackhammer gets two, before Janela hits an unlikely Canadian Destroyer and a totally ridiculous DVD on Lee for a two count. While Joey plots his next move, Lee suddenly bursts up and nails a MASSIVE Spirit Bomb to win. Really great stuff.

The Hooligans vs Sha Samuels & Lionheart

Super spirited brawl here. Lionheart and Samuels jump the Hooligans outside the ring, but are soon under attack, with Zak Knight hurtling over the top rope towards them on a huge flip dive. The Hooligans are really fun, they’ve got an enjoyably reckless looking way of hurling themselves at their opponent, but not in a way that makes them look untrained. Love Roy nailing a top rope elbow whilst Samuels is prone on a chair. Zak coming off the top with a diving punch also look great. The heels weather the storm and steal a win as Lionheart grabs Zak’s leg on a suplex, causing Samuels to fall on top for the win.

AR Fox vs Bubblegum

This is the final of the cruiserweight tournament, and thankfully goes a bit longer than the openweight match. Thought this went just the right length, as they got to the point of kicking out of a few big moves by the end, but none that you’d call a definite finisher. They start with a little matwork, throwing in nice little touches like Bubblegum pushing at the knee of Fox with his feet to gain extra leverage on a wristlock escape. The kind of details that make it look like a struggle, rather than holds just being given up. Fox increases the tempo with an insane dive over the turnbuckles to the floor. The commentary plays up the fact that the two men had faced each other just 7days previously, so were aware of the moves the other might try. This is highlighted by Fox blocking a satellite DDT by Bubblegum, turning it into a brainbuster. Bubblegum hits a huge bulldog that Fox bumps huge for, and the 619 gets a nearfall. By the end, both guys are selling their fatigue, and this costs Bubblegum, as he takes a little too long going up top and gets caught with a split-legged Spanish Fly and a brainbuster to give Fox the victory. This was really good, great main event.