Innovate Pro Wrestling - Regenesis

This is seemingly the last NWA Smokey Mountain show, as the company rebrands itself to Innovate Pro, and as such has a proper big show feel. There's the feeling of some matches being big blow offs and others being just the first chapter, but it's a really solidly booked show from start to finish.

Lenny Stratton vs Wayne Adkins

This was a decent little opener, both guys seem pretty impressive. Stratton is slightly larger, and was the aggressor in a lot of this match, really liked the combo of moves he hit with Adkins tied in the ropes, culminating in a flatliner draped from the second rope. He also showed great presence of mind when he turned into a handspring elbow from Adkins, as instead of just standing there to take the move, he sold a moment of confusion before walking into it. Adkins showed nice babyface fire on his comeback, had a string of nice punches. Stratton gets a close nearfall from an RKO, but a second try is reversed to a backslide for three.

The Cross Brothers (Aden & Christian Cross) vs The Jones Boyz (Hogan & Cooper Jones)

This is for the Jones Boyz NWA Smokey Mountain tag belts. Both teams seems like well-oiled machines, both showing nice teamwork from the start. Liked Hogan Jones hitting a crossbody in the corner, then staying there, held up on the middle ropes, to trap the opponent to allow Cooper to hit an enzuigiri. The Cross Brothers, based on the commentary, are working a “chip on their shoulders” gimmick, contrasting them with the Jones’, who are very popular with the crowd. Hogan especially seems like a really fun power wrestler, all high energy as he hits a big cannonball in the corner. The Jones Boyz look to be about to win with a Doomsday Device, but it’s stopped, leading to Cooper getting thrown off the top onto Hogan in a neat spot. The end sees Aden Cross go to get one of the belts, only to eat a huge spear from Hogan. However, he hits the belt, knocking himself out and giving the Cross Brothers the upset win. Good stuff here.

James Drake vs Kid Chaos

This is an open challenge, with Chaos answering Drake’s call. Drake seems really impressive, a big, thick no-nonsense looking chap. Chaos is a high-flyer, at times really impressively so, though he does almost flip himself out of the ring at one point. Loved Drake catching a plancha at ringside, hurling Chaos into the ropes to bounce back into a Drake forearm. Great spot. Chaos is really fast, which he needs to be in order to sell the story and be effective against Drake. You need to believe that this skinny guy moves quickly enough to befuddle this big beast of a man, and Chaos is good enough at that. Drake fully commits to missing a big moonsault, but Chaos misses a 450, getting up into a huge running boot and a double-underhook neckbreaker to give Drake the win. Good outing from both.

Rogue 6 (Jeff Connelly, Robert Laveau, Wild Bill & Travis Lee) vs Jason Kincaid, Chance Rizer, Garrett Coleman & Kyle Maverick

This is fought under lucha rules, which makes it a fast moving affair. The heel Rogue 6 group has apparently been plaguing Kincaid for months, so he’s brought in back up in the form of some newcomers to the promotion. The format of the match allows everyone to look good, as guys get in, hit their stuff and get out quickly. Even with that in mind, some guys stand out more than others. Wild Bill is a big fat guy in a mask, who moves really well and even gets an impressive bridge on a Northern Lights suplex. Coleman is another big chap, and he provides the full stop on a dive train by hitting his own big flip dive to the floor. There’s some sloppiness, but this is overall fun stuff, before Travis Lee gets the win with a falling slam on Coleman.

Caleb Courageous vs Chip Day

Really liked this, thought Chip Day looked terrific here. His range of kicks and running knees looked on point, coming in interesting combinations and from different angles, and he seemed to gradually be wearing Courageous down. They had their timing down pat on a few nice sequences, highlighted by Courageous kicking Day in the face from the apron, and Day turning back JUST in time to eat an Asai moonsault. Courageous wins a neat little sprint with a package piledriver, great showing from both men.

The Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude & Rob Killjoy) vs The Brothermood (Myron Reed & Mickey Midas)

Another change of pace here, with this being a quick workrate tag match. These kind of matches live and die by the crispness of the spots and the continuity of the tag teams, and thankfully that was on show here. Loved how the Ducklings wore down Midas when they got control of him, hitting him with a quick succession of springboard moves. The dives in this looked great, Midas hitting a big tope, Reed taking people out with an incredible high leap, and one top rope sequence in particular looking great. Reed hits a frankly ludicrous top rope reverse rana on Killjoy, who bounces to his feet to eat a brainbuster from Midas, only for Lude to come off the top with a corkscrew moonsault for the save. Timing was vital to the success of that sequence, and they pulled it off. The Brotherhood get a convincing nearfall with stereo 450 splashes, but the Ducklings get the victory with Killjoy using his partner as a projectile to throw into both Brotherhood members for the win. This ticked all the boxes it needed to.

Devin Driscoll vs Rob Conway

Probably the weakest match on the show, though it’s more due to booking than performance. Very short affair that sees the two men brawling on the floor, another well-chosen change of pace. Just a big slugfest. Driscoll’s stablemates The Illuminati come out to help him, leading to Driscoll missing everyone and faceplanting on the floor on a dive. Back in and a sloppy looking cutter gives Driscoll the win.

The Illuminati (Austin Tyler Morris, Chris Richards & Jordan Kage) vs The Heatseakers (Elliott Russell & Sigmon) & Axton Ray

This carries on from the last match, with the face trio coming out to stop the Illuminati doing more damage. They manage to isolate Tyler Morris, working him over whilst exchanging some quick tags. Axton Ray is probably the standout of the match, he’s a totally unassuming looking character, but he’s really impressive, with great movement and crisp looking offence. Sigmon becomes face in peril, with Richards being the least impressive member of his team. He’s a big guy, but he hits some really wimpy looking headbutts, where you can see clear air between his head and Sigmon’s. There’s a wonderful false tag, where Sigmon gets cuts off at just the last second. The actual hot tag dissolves things into a fun melee, before Ray gets crotched on the top rope, allowing Kage to hit a rainmaker paydirt for the victory.

Toby Farley vs Timmy Lou Retton

This is for the vacant IPW United States title, and through a slightly muffled pre-match promo, we get both guys agreeing to fight to a finish, effectively wiping out stoppages, DQs and countouts. From there, we go to a big brawl, and this is great from the get-go. Loved the absolute height on Retton’s big boot, hitting Farley square in the face. Farley hits a big powerslam right on the hard floor, which looked painful. Retton seems really good, he filled the match with lots of fun touches, like kicking Farley in the head whilst lying on his back after a two count. Fun little sequence where Farley hits a belly-to-back suplex, which seemingly knocks out Retton. The commentary team mention that this move concussed Retton before, and we get a full on “X” angle, complete with glassy eyed sell by Retton. The rules, established earlier, means the match doesn’t get stopped, and Retton suddenly reveals it to be a ruse by charging for Farley. In a nice twist on the “playing possum” spot, Farley is a babyface who isn’t a complete idiot, being aware enough to side step and hit Retton with another belly-to-back suplex. Retton does get control, and claws away at Farley’s mouth, pulling it apart twice in a way that is played up as having broken Farley’s jaw. In a beautiful pro-wrestling moment, Farley rolls to the floor and tapes his jaw shut. Retton wisely focuses his attack on the jaw, nailing some big uppercuts and a jawbreaker. Loved how this match was built, with moves being sold enough to give everything some meaning. At one point, with Retton fully in control, he hits a swinging neckbreaker from the second rope that should finish off Farley, but landing on the back of his head causes HIM some pain after eating the two earlier suplexes, delaying his cover just long enough for Farley to kick out. A lovely looking running knee to the face only gets two for Farley. In the end, Retton’s own impatience costs him, as he rolls to the floor to get a trophy to use as a weapon. He swings, he misses and Farley plants him with another belly-to-back suplex in one quick motion. Another running knee, this time with the kneepad off (great touch) gets the win. Really terrific bout. Loved the build and the storytelling throughout.