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.