Milk Chocolate (Brandon Watts & Randy Summers) vs High
Society (Blake Morris & King Mega)
This was a fun little tag match. I’ve enjoyed three of these
guys previously, whilst being unconvinced by Mega, and for the most part this
was good stuff. Mega still looks awkward taking offence, but he earns bonus
points by how nice his falling slam is after catching a Watts crossbody. High
Society work heat on Watts, loved the spot where Morris grabs Watts by the
trunks and pulls him back into a big diving lariat to the back of the head.
Morris does more shit-talking here than I’d seen previously, which was a nice
addition to his presentation. Watts pulls out a few little touches here that were
really nice, really struggling to escape as Morris held him in place for a Mega
splash, and using the turnbuckle to elevate himself into a tornado DDT for the
hot tag. A double pump kick by Milk Chocolate on Mega looks pretty weak, but
the end of the match is well done, as Morris ducks a rolling elbow attempt by
Summers, and he turns into a Mega chokeslam for the win.
Alex Reynolds vs Robbie E
On the other hand, this was a bit disappointing. Just too
much clunky comedy which took away from the match. Reynolds does a really goofy
sell after getting his head rammed into the buckles, where he keeps ramming his
own head into the buckle, stumbles then falls face first. There’s a brief bit
of actual Reynolds control that actually works nicely, like him standing on
Robbie’s throat whilst doing an arrogant muscle pose. Robbie bits Reynolds’ arm
to escape a crossface, before we get more clunking comedy as Robbie keeps
rolling away from a Reynolds attempt at a top rope moonsault, whilst Reynolds
keeps climbing different turnbuckles like a goof. To add to the terrible
nature, when Reynolds does try the move, he half lands on Robbie’s back despite
the fact he’s supposed to miss. Reynolds picks up the win with a crossface,
where he knees Robbie in the head whilst holding it, but on the whole this wasn’t
great.
The Big O vs Maxwell Jacob Friedman
This is for the Big O’s Fusion title. Friedman tries to
cheapshot the Big O after claiming he wants out of the match, but it doesn’t go
too well as O hits him with a big overhead throw, a pounce and a huge powerslam
for the win.
Born & Bred (Jesse Vane & Anthony LaCerra) vs the
Benson Brothers vs Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) vs J-Redd
& G.I.T.
Four way match for Born & Bred’s tag titles. This only
goes 8 minutes before being ruled a no contest, but this feels like a teaser
trailer for 4 or 5 different tag matches you leave the bout wanting to see.
J-Redd and G.I.T. feel like the weakest links, but all the other teams make the
most of their chances to shine, and there’s some really fun spots in the match.
Loved CJ Benson backdropping his partner into Born & Bred, loved Private
Party’s manager holding up Brad Benson from the ring apron which allowed Quen
to hit a brutal looking double stomp to the floor and CJ takes a huge bump as
he dives to the outside, whacking his legs on the metal barricades. Born &
Bred soon follow him out with a wicked looking stereo flip dive/top rope
crossbody, which soon leads to a double countout. Really fun taster of the tag
division.
Willow Nightingale vs Karen Q
Really getting to enjoy Nightingale now, this was the second
solid performance I’ve seen from her and though she’s still a bit green in
places, she’s obviously improving. This was worked as face vs face, and had a
slight exhibition-y feel. Liked the early grappling where they exchange throws
whilst still maintaining a lock-up, and when they do up the pace, the offence
from both looks good. There’s great timing on a missed Nightingale senton
followed by an impressive exploder suplex by Q. Really liked Q’s standing
moonsault, really whipping herself over on the move, before Nightingale picks
up the win with a vicious looking DVD. Dug this.
Stockade & Joe Gacy vs Aidan Baal & Bam Sullivan
This is for Stockade and Gacy’s Tier 1 tag titles. Stockade
seems to be working face here, and looks to be having fun with it. It suits
him, impressive for someone who came across as a career heel. The face team are
two big, hairy guys and they look really good on offence, moving really well.
There’s something quite endearing about two burly looking guys exchanging high
fives whilst bulldogging their opponents. Gacy becomes face-in-peril after
Sullivan grabs him by the waist as he’s running the ropes, and the heat section
is pretty fun. I was particularly impressed by Baal, who doesn’t have a very
impressive look, but has a great high takedown on Gacy and sells his comebacks
nicely. Bam always struck me as the better Sullivan in the Hounds of Hatred,
and I dug his rolling cannonball into the corner. Stockade is on fire as the
hot tag, he’s really good at putting his weight behind his moves, so a flying
clothesline looks devastating. Loved him hitting a double DVD on Sullivan and
an interfering Mouse. Sadly, we get a terrible spot where the heel valet tries
a crossbody on Stockade, gets caught and then reverses a powerbomb into a rana.
Aside from the unlikely physics of this tiny woman being able to move the
massive Stockade, it’s stupid because she’s a heel and shouldn’t be outpowering
massive face wrestlers. The valet ends up giving Stockade a low blow for an
underwhelming DQ finish, but the meat of this was really good
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