NYWC Draw The Line 2017

Blake Morris vs Tracy Williams

Strangely, this is probably my favourite match I’ve seen from either guy, even though I’ve seen them both working better opposition. Nice snug matwork to start, with a really competitive battle over a wristlock which shows a side to Morris that I hadn’t previously seen. Williams manages to get control, at first only in part but gradually maintaining control longer and longer. Morris gets a brief bit of respite by yanking Williams’ arm over the top rope, but makes the mistake of going for a sleeper on the mat. This is Williams’ domain and he’s soon able to take control again. Williams offence looks the best I’ve seen it, loved his back suplex and this is the first time I’ve bought him taking someone down with a clothesline due to the force he used. Morris has real great arsehole charisma, he’s really good at being unlikable and he has a sensible gameplan of using the ringside area to his advantage, throwing Williams into things. Morris gets the win after surviving a brainbuster and hitting a tombstone. Really enjoyed this.

The Punk Relics (Jaden Valo & Ugo) vs The Rep (Nate Carter & Dave McCall)

Really quick match, but it’s all action. Punk Relics started hot, until they got caught in the corners and hit with a Super Collider. The Rep look good bullying Ugo about, and Valo gets to come in again with a burst of quick offence before Ugo gets pinned with a two man flapjack. Goes only four minutes, but it’s a fun four minutes.

Bull James vs King Mega

Man, they’ve really not given Bull the best opponents to work in his title run – 55yr old Scott Norton, shitty comedy mode Joey Ryan and now the weakest worker on the NYWC roster. James manages to fend off being blindsided by Blake Morris, and Mega does the worst “charge and almost hit my partner in the corner by accident” spot, as James had already moved before Mega starts his ambling run. His punches are noticeably bad and James spends most of the match selling after Morris continues to interfere. James breaking a chokeslam with a headbutt was cool and James drags the match up to having a semi hot ending as they exchange and counter moves before Bull hits a pedigree to win.

The Big O vs Johnny Radke

Interesting stuff here, as Big O basically squashes the shit out of Radke hitting a massive clothesline and a big powerslam before a ref bump sees 6 men in black hoodies (I spotted the Punk Relics among them) come in and beat the crap out of Big O. Radke hits a superkick and get the win to pick up the Fusion title. Curious angle, feels like some commentary would have enhanced it, but I’m interested to see where it goes.

Bam Sullivan & Jeff Cannonball vs Stockade & G-Raver

Really loved this match. Some real big boys in here, with Stockade and Cannonball being legit super heavyweights (and the other two aren’t exactly cruiserweights). Cannonball uses his size to control early, until he gets sent outside by an unlikely flying armdrag by G-Raver, then hit by an even more unlikely suicide dive by Stockade. G-Raver hits a huge dive to the floor from the top and the faces do some nice double-teaming until Bam is able to send Stockade into G-Raver to take control. Enjoyed the heat on G-Raver, big boot into the face by Sullivan looked great. G-Raver doesn’t wrestle like you’d expect, doing a fair bit of high-flying despite looking like a generic death match worker, and he hits a nice Asai moonsault to Cannonball to break the control. Stockade is awesome as a hot tag, really like how he uses his size to his advantage, throwing his weight around to make everything have more impact. We get a melee, and G-Raver hits a good looking Swanton on Bam, only for Mouse to interfere with a barbed wire covered surfboard to give Sullivan the win. This was really great stuff, all four guys looked terrific.

Willow Nightingale vs Terra Calaway

Interesting to see Willow working from below here, as she’s the smaller wrestler for the first time. Calaway is obviously more used to her role in the match, as she’s in control early with a big legdrop and a nice sideslam early. She follows this with a big corner splash and the cannonball, and all her offence looks great. Nightingale has to hit and run for a change, getting in kicks to the head and a missile dropkick. Willow hits a sloppy looking backcracker and a nice second rope moonsault to win. Surprisingly brief, as Calaway seemed to yield pretty easily, but this was fun.

Benson Brothers vs Anthony LaCerra & Mike Verna

Interesting team of LaCerra and Verna, but they work well together, and the opening stages of this are nicely worked. Pretty even until Verna takes Brad Benson around the ring with his ever-impressive slingshot suplexes. This is a really great Verna performance, moving really quickly and all his control looks good. LaCerra hits a massive flip dive, just avoiding the barricades in a crazy spot. Talon interferes distracting Verna who gets rolled up for the win.

Benson Brothers vs Beer Belly Bandits (JT Kasin & Bo Pritchard)

This seems to come about with the Bandits challenging the Benson’s to an immediate match, and then jumping them with a battering ram on CJ when they accept (Kasin is wearing a metal helmet to add more oomph to the move). This doesn’t seem to be a heel turn, as the BBB even admit to being bandits just before the jump, seems like Guerrero-style cheekiness rather than heelish assault. This is very short, with Brad Benson being controlled before CJ recovers and hits a huge swinging side effect. Brad escapes a Magic Killer and rolls up JT to win. Too short to mean anything, but it gave the Bensons two wins on the bounce. The Bensons are becoming a really fun team to watch.

Aidan Baal vs Matt Tremont

This is a 10,000 thumbtack match. So great to see Tremont back in NYWC, he’s one of my favourite indy guys to watch. He’s just got this aura where he manages to enhance brawls with his presence. He’s got some of the best punches on the indies, even doing that bit where he checks his hand isn’t broken after the punch. Tremont lets Baal back into the match by spending too long getting the dustbin full of tacks and, whilst Tremont is able to duck a shot with a tack covered bat, Baal is able to block a sunset flip with a mean shot to the head. Tremont takes the first big bump into the tacks, getting dumped off the second turnbuckle as he tries climbing the ropes. Tremont hits a Samoan drop into the tacks, which sees him take as much of the puncturing as Baal. The ending nicely helps build the feud between the Extricated (Sullivan, Cannonball, Baal et al) and the Awakening (Stockade, G-Raver, Tremont) as both parties comes out and brawl on the outside. In the melee, Devon Moore comes out, cutters Baal and Tremont hits a DVD onto the tacks to win. The Awakening had lost a lot of matches in the build to this, so they needed the win, and Tremont was really kingsized in this. This really builds up the Psycho Circus match, can’t wait for that to get online.