Jeff Cobb vs Darby Allin
Really nice match up here, with Cobb as the all-powerful
bull being frustrated by a fly that he just can’t seem to swat away. Allin has
to use his speed here, hitting a suicide dive in the first few minutes, but due
to Cobb’s size he can take control with just one big forearm. Allin manages to
hit a tope con hilo on Cobb through a chair, but he takes too long getting into
the ring, and Cobb basically sucks him through the ropes from the apron and
just hurls him. Watching Cobb manhandling an insane bumper like Allin is so
much fun. Cobb hits a stalling superplex and a vicious forearm to the face, and
Allin looks done. Cobb gets cocky though, holding a suplex with one hand, and
Allin knees him in the head to escape. I like how Allin almost seems to accept
this is his last chance, hitting a Coffin Drop from the top and tying up Cobb’s
legs on a roll-up for the upset win.
David Starr vs Martin Stone vs Fred Yehi
All three guys are faces here. Because of these guys' styles
in the ring, we get some gnarly three way grappling spots to start, instead of
the usual string of moves. Yehi uses his stomp based offence to good effect
here, first stomping on Stone’s foot to hold him in place for a back elbow,
then stomping on the fingers of David Starr which Stone had broken moments
earlier. All guys get time to shine, loved Starr’s succession of big dives on
alternate sides, wearing down both men, and I liked the nice touch of Stone
holding down Starr’s arm on a pin so, when he kicked out, he rolled straight
into a Stone crossface. Also have to appreciate Starr making an effort to sell
his fingers throughout. The end sees Stone break Yehi’s Koji Clutch on Starr,
and lock Yehi into a crossface for the tap.
Maine State Posse (Danger Kid, Alexander Lee & Aiden
Aggro) vs Allie Kat, Ashley Vox & Kris Statlander
Intergender six-man here, with each of the ladies having a
silly gimmick (Vox comes from the sea, Statlander is an alien and Kat is….well,
guess). Didn’t take to this, too much goofy shit especially from Allie Kat
whose gimmick seems to take over a lot of the early part of the match. There’s
too much clunky comedy mixed with out-of-place moments of violence. Aggro hits
some big forearms and Lee hits a nasty looking complete shot, then moments
later Statlander will do some “hilarious” alien mind trick comedy. It doesn’t
work and disrupts the flow of the match. There’s some poor looking offence too,
unfortunately, with a really clunky dive train and Vox hitting a terrible
looking DDT on Lee. The end sees all six in the ring in and it’s a mess of bad
timing and bad execution. Kat finally gets the win following a piledriver.
Yeah, didn’t like this.
Dick Justice & Troy Nelson vs DL Hurst & Brett
Domino
Match of two halves here. Dug the first half, where the
heels Hurst and Domino control. They’ve got good swagger and nice heel control,
keeping Nelson contained in their corner. Domino hits a lovely dropkick right
to Nelson’s face. Then Hurst misses a moonsault and it’s like the match resets,
with the heels having to stooge for a load of comedy offence. The faces
basically run wild from the moment Justice gets in and win with a Heart
punch/neckbreaker combo.
Matt Cross vs MJF
After the last two matches, this was like a cool glass of
water in the desert. Just well executed stuff, with MJF as a truly unlikable
heel. After a run of control by Cross, MJF pulls the ref in the way of some
Cross offence in the corner, forearms Cross in the face and throws him into the
ringpost. From there, we get smug heel control, with petty little touches like
stomping on Cross’s ankle. MJF works the arm, with a slingshot Divorce Court,
and a really painful looking Quackendriver focused on the limb. Cross does ruin
the effect by hitting a cartwheel elbow, but he does at least pay lip service
to it for the rest of the match, limb dangling limply by his side as he tries
to fire back with chops. MJF stopping a barrage of strikes by spitting directly
in Cross’s face, a perfect way for such a dick to take over. Cross gets a
cutter from nowhere, but misses a shooting star, landing on the arm which MJF
instantly locks into a crowbar for the tap. Really good stuff.
Tessa Blanchard vs Deonna Purrazzo
Thought Blanchard was excellent here, just comes across as
having a nasty mean streak and her offence looks great. Loved her barrage of
offence when she had Purrazzo leant against the ropes, running at her with
elbows to the back and dropkicks to the neck. Not overtly heelish, just
aggressive and determined. Purrazzo gets a short shine period, luring Blanchard
into going up top and suddenly catching her with an armbar. Purrazzo wisely
uses Blanchard’s aggression against her, moving out of the way to avoid charges
and using this to take her openings. However, Blanchard hits a killshot, a top
rope Codebreaker, which is enough for the win. Really neat little sprint.
Eddie Kingston vs Chris Dickinson
Absolutely loved this, two of my favourite wrestlers beating
the tar out of each other. They open in a really fun way, jockeying for
position on the mat before Dickinson suddenly hits a huge overhead
belly-to-belly from nowhere. Eddie soon retorts by pump kicking Dickinson off
the apron and hitting a huge suicide dive. Kingston is a really smart offensive
wrestler, here putting Dickinson in a neck crank, with the result that it
leaves a wide open spot for him to hammer repeated elbows into the side of
Dickinson’s face. The viciousness of Kingston’s control manages to make a brute
like Dickinson fighting from beneath seem viable. They exchange strikes, and
for once it doesn’t feel awkwardly slotted into the match – Kingston is a man
who won’t stop fighting if he still can, whilst Dickinson is a man who’s too meatheaded
to know he’s in pain. Dickinson hits a huge German suplex, an enzuigiri and a
Death Valley Driver in quick succession, and you can sense Kingston doesn’t
have much left. Another strike exchange sees neither body willing to give in,
until Dickinson throws a thudding kick into Kingston’s head and hits the Pazuzu
Bomb to finally put him away. I loved this.
The Thick Boys (Jay Freddie & John Silver) & Ethan
Page vs Austin Theory, Christian Casanova & Mr Grim
Reasonable six way action here, with the Thick Boys having
some neat offence. Loved Freddie’s pop up powerslam and their flapjack into a
big uppercut. Theory also puts in a good performance here, with a brainbuster
and a standing moonsault looking great. He hits a lot of moves from forward
rolls, which you know will be his downfall later in the match, so it’s no
surprise when a heat section on Page is ended up Theory rolling straight into a
cutter. Silver is a blog favourite and he looks predictably good here,
snapmaring Casanova into a cannonball on Theory in a great spot. Casanova hits
a nutso twirling bulldog on Silver, to keep up the run of fun offence. Even the
guy I knew least about, Mr Grim, gets a fun moment, hitting a full weight DVD
on Silver. However, Grim accidentally hits a pounce on Casanova, and the Thick
Boys hit a big slam to get the win. Just enjoyable stuff.
Anthony Henry & James Drake vs Dorian Graves & VSK
This starts off feeling like a squash, with the team of
Henry and Drake decimating their massage-gimmicked opponents. Henry stomps the
shit out of Graves, but Grave’s hits an unlikely tornado DDT on Henry, really
forcing him down to the mat. There’s a little bad comedy as VSK gives Drake a
shoulder massage to stop an offensive run, but aside from that he looks really
good, and I thought them using massage oil to create a slip-n-slide for a
cannonball was a neat way to incorporate the gimmick. Drake misses a standing
moonsault, and the faces hit Shatter Machine for the unexpected victory.
Anthony Greene vs Ace Romero vs JT Dunn vs Josh Briggs
At some point, the bottom rope has fallen off, so this match
kicks off with only the top two sets of ropes. This doesn’t seem to hold them
back though, and this ends up being a big, daftly entertaining four-way. Briggs
sets the tone early, hitting a big overhead suplex on Dunn before hitting an
insane dive over the turnbuckle. Romero hitting a devastating senton to Greene
also is pretty neat, before we get a big crowd brawling section that ends with
a super-high Dunn crossbody from the top of the lockers. We get utter chaos in
the ring, with Briggs eating a superkick to the face from Dunn whilst he tries
hitting a moonsault. Hurst and Domino, who had been sent to the back by the ref
earlier when they came out with Greene, come out and punch the ref, assumingly
to allow them to interfere freely, but they get squashed when the enormous
Romero hits a dive to take them out. However, Greene still gets the win when he
lets Dunn hit a big elbow to Briggs before rolling JT up for the win. These
matches rely on a minimum of resting and some big well-executed spots, and this
was really good stuff. Greene maybe had the least moments to shine, but then he’s
also the shitbag heel who pulls out a cheap victory, so that kinda makes sense.
Josh Briggs, who had seemed merely fine first time I saw him, looked great
here, in many respects the rich man’s Baron Corbin, hitting all sorts of big
throws and that incredible dive. Excellent main event.
