WWE 205 Live 17/01/2017

Drew Gulak vs Cedric Alexander

Seems to be a running trend of Alexander’s 205 Live matches revolving round him selling a body part. The Dar series has seen him selling his arm, and here Gulak worked over his leg, following a chop block on the floor. Really loved Cedric’s selling throughout this one: right at the start he hits a dropkick, and goes to the floor yelling in agony, as if he’d not been aware just how hurt his leg was. Gulak goes after the leg in a few fun, vicious ways, really liked his dragon screw around the ropes. Alexander was really good at putting over the leg work, even adjusting his body position as Gulak charged him, ensuring he used the good leg to power Drew to the floor. Gulak countering a back suplex attempt by just holding onto the headlock and grinding Alexander to the mat was choice. Cedric does hit a split legged moonsault, but the impact to his knee slows down the cover attempt, only getting two. Gulak chop blocking the other leg spells the end, with a bridging suplex finishing. This was really good.

Tony Nese vs Mustafa Ali

Ali is a guy who seems to be getting better every week. Here, he had some great early flourishes, breaking a knucklelock by leaping to the top rope and grabbing an attempted Nese kick to hit his own spinkick. Nese fires back with a gutbuster, and either Ali is terrific at selling or this really hurt him, as it seemed to bother him all match. Ali’s rolling neckbreaker still looks great, but Nese German suplexes him into the corner and hits a running knee to the face to win. Good, but a touch short.

Jack Gallagher vs Ariya Daivari

This is an “I Forfeit” match. I felt like I was going to like this match more than I did, and that was mainly due to Daivari. It’s hard to explain – I liked some of the things he did here: his side slam on the apron looked nasty, and his continued focus on Gallagher’s back made sense with a Camel Clutch stretched over the ropes. I liked him grinding a knee into Gallagher’s head and then using his turban to tie up Jack, but something about his execution felt off. There didn’t feel like an urgency to these moves, they were interesting and innovative moves performed without any aggression. Daivari dominated a good chunk of the bout too, so it was hard to get passed. Gallagher was more fun to watch – even tied up, he was able to plant a few iron headbutts to Daivari, and his flexible escape from being tied up fits with how he uses the same flexibility to escape holds. His thrashing with an umbrella and warning Corey Graves before throwing Daivari into the announce table both looked painful and fit his character. Daivari’s Cobra Clutch looked good, but Jack breaks it with an umbrella clasped in his free arm, and then locks in an umbrella-assisted chicken wing for the win. Not dreadful, but didn’t meet the expectations I had.

WWE 205 Live 20/12/2016

Ariya Daivari vs Lince Dorado

Not been too impressed with either guy since 205 Live has started, but Daivari was clearly superior here. He had some nasty looking impact to his strikes, and I dug both the rainmaker neckbreaker and his whip into a big clothesline. After threatening last week to show me something I’ve never seen before, Dorado has been really unimpressive: springboard stunner looks shitty, tope saw him go vertical and basically headbutt Daivari’s thigh and he nearly slipped springboarding into the ring for a rana. Daivari polished him off with a frog splash. Daivari feels like a good worker, just not interesting enough for this division, might fit in better with the heavyweights.

Cedric Alexander vs Drew Gulak

Some of this was really good, but it fell victim to the ongoing Cedric/Fox/Dar storyline. Gulak showed nice early aggression, nailing some big forearms and taking advantage when Alexander takes his eyes off the prize (to talk to the ref) by hurling him into the ropes. Both guys take a big bump to the floor as a suplex reversal takes both over the top, but we get the booking coming in with Fox hurting her ankle, and Noam Dar coming out to carry her to the back. Even with this distraction, Gulak can’t beat Cedric, and the Lumbar Check puts him away. Gulak has lost 3 on the bounce now on this show, guy is far too talented to be enhancement talent when there’s guys like Dorado and the Bollywood Boyz kicking about.

Neville & Brian Kendrick vs TJ Perkins & Rich Swann

Man, heel Neville is already one of the most interesting wrestlers on this show, loved how he was portrayed here. Neville is a mass of muscle compared to most guys in the division, and the power advantage was put over really well here. He battered Swann from the get go, with a seated dropkick to the back of Swann’s head looking like it took Swann out. Neville never looks in any danger, and Perkins can only get in by blind tagging Swann, who looks overwhelmed. Kendrick likewise has to blind tag in, with Neville unwilling to share his spotlight. I liked the dynamic of the face team realising their best chance of winning is to isolate Kendrick, as it really puts over how much of an impact Neville is having on them. Swann tags himself back in, but I love that he’s still so hurt from Neville’s beating that he takes a little too long getting in, giving Kendrick an opening to strike. Swann takes a flatliner bump right on the top of his head, which looks killer. Neville gets back in and nails a great looking deadlift German for 2. Neville has been less flashy than usual, all clotheslines and heavy strikes, and I like that the one time he does get flashy, landing on his feet from a top rope moonsault, he gets caught with a Swann superkick for a close 2 count. With Swann so weak, it leaves Perkins having to carry a lot for his team, and when he springboards into the ring straight into a enzuigiri, it spells doom. The Red Arrow gets three for Neville, and this new attitude really works for him.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

WWE 205 Live 13/12/2016

Jack Gallagher vs Drew Gulak

My two favourites in the division here. Enjoyed the opening exchanges on the mat, managed to showcase how both guys are very close in technique, but Gulak’s hot-headedness at Gallagher’s ways would cost him as he ran headfirst into Jack’s traps. Loved the rolling crucifix, where they cycled around the ring. Though it wasn’t portrayed as such by the commentary team, who saw it as the two men battling for supremacy, it felt more like Gallagher disorientating Gulak and trying to get the pin. Gulak gets a few nice moments, starting with a nasty looking slam into the ropes. This gives him an opening by hurting Gallagher’s neck, which briefly becomes his focus. I liked the way they exchanged strikes, only a few blows, but treated as if they really hurt, culminating with Gallagher’s bullet headbutt. This gives him the opening for the corner dropkick to win. Criminally short, but what we got was great.

Lince Dorado vs Mustafa Ali

Very brief, and not anything exciting. Dorado does a pre-match interview promising to do things you’ve never seen before, but certainly here he does nothing to distinguish himself from any other generic high flier. Ali had the better moments here, slinkily avoiding Dorado in the corner to hit a big roundhouse kick and a rolling neckbreaker. Dorado’s offence looks a bit milky and his handspring stunner is clunky. His big top rope rana was pretty good though. The end sees Dorado hit an Asai moonsault to the floor and it puts both guys out of commission for the double count out. Kinda makes Dorado look like an idiot by putting himself out of action.

TJ Perkins vs Rich Swann

This was fine, but definitely the weakest main event of this show so far. Felt the most inconsequential. The opening exchanges were quite fun, liked Perkins showing some subtle frustration early on. Perkins’ slingshot dropkick to the apron always looks nice, and Swann seemed to do a bit more highflying than he has in previous weeks. His rolling thunder frogsplash looked pretty good. I think being face vs face made this feel a bit more of an exhibition and also affected the crowd reactions, so it was nice to see them work in an injury to Swann’s leg to give the match a bit more story. He injures it missing a moonsault to the floor and, following a sweet twisting pescado by Perkins, it becomes the focal point of TJ’s attack. Swann makes a brief comeback, but tries his leaping 450 like an idiot, causing his knee to buckle on the first jump. This lets Perkins quickly lock in the kneebar for the tap. Nothing particularly wrong with this, but not something you’ll remember for long.

WWE 205 Live 29/11/2016

The new reboot of the WWE cruiserweight division hasn't exactly set the world on fire on Raw, so I was pleased to learn of the new cruisers-specific show on the Network. There's a number of guys I've liked for a while in the division, and the chance to see weekly Drew Gulak/Noam Dar/Brian Kendrick matches, which are actually given some time, really appealed. So, for as long as I'm motivated to do so, I'm going to try and do a weekly look at this show. The first episode set a good tone for the coming weeks.

The Bollywood Boyz vs Drew Gulak & Tony Nese

Absolutely baffling that they would choose to put the Bollywood Boyz over here. They come across as the most bush-league act in the division – generic gear, generic moveset, generic act. It’s really noticeable against someone like Tony Nese. Nese is naturally more athletic than either Bollywood Boy, but he really tones it down here to avoid overshadowing the face team. Still, it’s him and Gulak who really shine here. Gulak takes control for his team with a massive dropkick, followed by a big slam where he drops his opponent in the ropes. It’s just obvious when watching that Gulak and Nese have better execution. One Boy does hit a decent springboard crossbody to the floor, but when they hit a dodgy double-superkick on Gulak to pick up the win, it feels like the wrong team has won.

Jack Gallagher vs Ariya Daivari

Gallagher’s style is so unique, it pretty much serves to get him over right away, as he ties up Daivari on the mat. The crowd seems fascinated by his abilities, with his fluid movement and innate charisma being summed up by him tying Daivari into a ball, miming kicking him in the arse, then doing so to a big pop. Daivari doesn’t get chance to show much, but I did like his big kneedrop to the back to briefly gain control. Gallagher counters a rolling elbow with an absolutely sick headbutt, before hitting a corner dropkick for the win. A star is born.

Rich Swann vs Brian Kendrick

Really dug this. Both guys drop big bombs early, Kendrick taking Swann down with a big back suplex and Swann hitting a nice tigerbomb. Really liked Swann getting to show off his athleticism by leaping to the ringside barriers and hitting a flip clothesline. Because they gave this match plenty of time, especially in comparison to the cruiserweight matches on Raw, they were able to tell a story, with Kendrick deciding to work over Swann’s neck, after opportunistically finding himself in position to hit a neckbreaker over the metal turnbuckles. Swann beats the count, but a dragon suplex and an attempt at the Captain’s Hook further weaken the neck. A second Captain’s Hook really sees the crowd onside with Swann, and there’s a big pop when he reaches the ropes. Swann kicking out of a top rope Sliced Bread did feel slightly too much – a superpowered version of Kendrick’s finisher on top of an already injured neck should have been enough to win. It does lead to the end, as frustration on Kendrick’s part causes him to rush in, and Swann is able to nail three big head kicks to win and gain the title. Really good main event for the first show.

CHIKARA - Best of UK Tour 2016

This was another great DVD that came in a Wrestlecrate box. They've given away a few DVD's linked with CHIKARA UK tours in the past, and they've always been really fun. This was no exception.

Drew Gulak vs Officer Warren Barksdale

Really great Gulak performance here, as he has a really enjoyable match with a guy  who is very early into his career. The opening mat work was really fun, Barksdale not looking out of place against a more experienced opponent. Gulak locks in this wicked Gory Special, squatting low to the ground to really bend Barksdale. Also love Gulak kicking out of a pinfall and keeping hold of Barksdale, muscling him up into a slam. Barksdale keeps it simple on offence, going for basic impact moves, though his back suplex into a bridging pin was really good. The competitiveness of the match really boosted Barksdale, and the end was really nice. Gulak rolls under a Barksdale leapfrog and grabs the leg upon landing to flip Barksdale over for the pin. Really good stuff.

Hallowicked, Frightmare & the Batiri vs Princess Kimberlee, Heidi Lovelace & the Colony

For the most part, I really enjoyed this, and especially the underlying story that carried the match. After some fun early stuff, with neat Colony double-teams and a goofy 8-way submission, Hallowicked and Kimber Lee end up alone in the ring together. Frightmare takes out two of the technicos team with a big flip dive, and suddenly Kimber Lee finds herself in a 4-on-1 situation. To add to this, she’s defending the CHIKARA championship against Hallowicked in a forthcoming match so, having isolated her, the rudos proceed to work over her leg to weaken her for the upcoming title match. Lovelace is the only technico on the apron, and at one point she’s able to take out enough rudos for Lee to tag out….only for Lee to tag Soldier Ant, who has just got on the apron. Lovelace looks rightly annoyed, which feels like it’s setting up something. In a neat twist on the hot tag, the rudos throw Soldier Ant out of the ring, and drag Lee back in by her bad leg, continuing to work over it. Then, in a moment that feels like it undermines most of what we’ve just seen, Lee pops up and nails a string of German suplexes on the rudos, with each guy eating two. So the beatdown, designed to wear Lee’s leg out for the upcoming title match, wasn’t even enough to stop her being able to reel off a ton of suplexes on guys who all weight more than her, with no effect to the leg she’d be supporting all the weight on? Just feels like a waste. Everything breaks down, with no real hot tag, and there are some nice touches – dug one of the Batriri droptoeholding Lovelace face first into his partners knee, and the match-ending cross-legged DDT Hallowicked hits on Lee is pretty great – but the main meat of the match feels for nought.

Fire Ant vs Ophidian

Really great stuff here, these two worked really well together. Absolutely loved the opening exchanges, some really nice counter wrestling including a one minute period where Fire Ant was trying to prevent an Ophidian cobra clutch, stood up with Ophidian draped around his body, carrying his opponent’s entire bodyweight. Ophidian has some nice looking offence here, hitting two big boots to the head and nailing a nasty looking top rope double-kneedrop. Ophidian is really fluid, but gets caught trying to be too clever with an handstand on the apron, and Ant kicks him to the floor with a 619. A battle on the top rope ends with a super Frankensteiner by Fire Ant. The end sees Ant escape a cobra clutch, and nail a rana and a brainbuster for two, before hitting White Noise for the victory. Loved this.

Heidi Lovelace vs Nixon Newell

Even worked to start, but things heat up quickly following a big Lovelace forearm. Nixon nails her with an enzugiri, almost to prove she wont be backing down from hitting some big impact strikes of her own. Really dug Lovelace elevating herself out of the corner, catching Nixon’s head between her legs and propelling her facefirst into the turnbuckles. Looked really good. Really like how evenly they worked this, as the commentary highlights this is Newell’s CHIKARA debut and by being presented on a par with someone like Lovelace, it makes her look legit right off. Double superkick puts both women down and they get up to exchange some vicious looking blows, and both gets really close falls in the closing straight – Lovelace getting two from the Heidicanrana, and only a foot on the ropes prevent Newell winning via the Welsh Destroyer. A second try is blocked and they exchange roll-ups, with Lovelace getting the deciding fall. 

NYWC Going The Distance 2015

The NYWC is the New York Wrestling Connection, a US indy that gave the world the likes of Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins and Trent Baretta, and they've just launched an online streaming service. Seeing as how it worked out as about £2 per month, I decided to sign up and check out what was on offer, and settled upon this show.

Dan Barry vs Jesse Neal

This was a perfectly ok match. Hadn’t seen anything of Neal since his TNA days, and he had some good moments here, nice little heel touches like scraping his boot on Barry’s face and little stomps and kicks. Barry is someone I’ve seen people talk highly about, but he didn’t really shine here. I did like the superplex he hit, especially as both guys really fought over it, but the sloppy flatliner/DDT he hit looked really poor. Barry misses a shooting star press and Neal spears him for the win.

Tony Mamaluke vs Tyler Murphy

Getting older has allowed Mamaluke to fill out some more, he’s not as rake thin as he used to be, and it kind of suits him to be working as a grizzled veteran. Really liked his opening wristlock stuff, and the way Mamaluke cut off Murphy’s first shot at building momentum with a nasty clothesline. Mamaluke also takes a few nutty bumps to help put over Murphy. It was harder to get a read on Murphy, but he looked fine here, really good looking suicide dive. Murphy gets a single leg crab, and Mamaluke does this great sell job, frantically grabbing the ropes then clawing at the ref in an attempt to alleviate the pain. He escapes, but the leg injury causes him to lose his balance on the top rope, and Murphy locks in another crab. Mamaluke sells the shit out of it, and just about hangs on for the time limit draw. Dug this.

The Beaver Boys (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs The Premiere Gods (Tony Nese & Papadon)

I really enjoyed Papadon last time I watched him, and he was still really fun here. He’s great at playing a loudmouth braggart, yelling at the ref when things go wrong and stooging magnificently when the faces take him down, which is the case here. The Premiere Gods take over on Reynolds after ambushing Silver when all four guys are in the ring, leaving Reynolds isolated. I like the fact that Silver is so beaten down he can’t even get to the apron and, when it looks like he might make it, Papadon hurls Reynolds from the ring, sending him crashing into Silver and the railings, and preventing the tag from being made. Silver looked good when the hot tag was made, with a great looking sitout powerbomb on Nese. All four guys end up in the ring, and things break down a bit, leading to a nice finishing run when Papadon hits a Canadian Destroyer on Reynolds, followed by Nese hitting a Jig-N-Tonic for the win.

Angelo Andrews vs Drew Gulak

This was face vs face, with Gulak spending the majority of the bout in control. According to Cagematch, Andrews is very much a rookie at this point, and Gulak controls him quite easily on the mat. Gulak is always portrayed as dominant, but it never feels like he’s taking advantage of Andrews in the ring, just that he’s better. Andrews gets a few nice spots, loved him catching Gulak’s head as he goes for a second headbutt, and hitting a neckbreaker, but some of his offence looked light. There was a lot of air shown on his atomic drop and knee to the face. Loved Gulak’s wristwork, especially when he contorts Andrews’ wrist in such a way that it’s held down under Gulak’s bodyweight, leaving his hands free to simultaneously wrench at his head. In the end, Gulak locks in a Cattle Mutilation, and quickly transitions to a wristlock for the tap.

Joe Gacy vs JT Kasin

This is for Gacy’s Fusion championship. These are two big lads, though there’s something odd about the way Kasin looks. He doesn’t have the movements of a wrestler, he just looks like the local hard lad who’s been put into the ring for a scrap. Gacy works over the arm of Kasin, amplifying this after Kasin rams his shoulder into the post. Gacy actually looks pretty decent throughout, with his armwork looking great, before he gets the tapout with the Rings of Saturn

Stockade vs David Starr

Stockade is the NYWC champion and this is for his belt. Stockade is a big, big lad, so it’s an odd game plan for Starr to try and take him down with shoulder blocks. From then on though, this is a fun match, and it’s even a bit All Star-ish in places, with simple logical work the order of the day. For example, after Starr chops the ring post, both guys act like they should: Stockade grabs the hand and rams it into the railings, whilst Starr quickly tries to put as much distance as possible between him and the monster. I liked the little touches they put into the match, like Starr yelling with exertion when he breaks free from a chinlock. Stockade misses a big top rope senton, but though Starr fires back, Stockade ends his challenge with a big clothesline for the win. Good match

Matt Tremont, Blake Morris & Rex Lawless vs DJ Hyde, Brandon Watts & Randy Summers

Summers and Watts make up the team of Milk Chocolate, so named because of their mixed ethnicity. This is a street fight, and really is a match of two halves. The first half, where all 6 guys brawl all around the building, inside and out, is hard to follow, with the lighting limited. The second half sees them return to the ring, where things get good. The heels isolate Morris alone in the ring, and methodically beat him up, knocking Tremont and Lawless down when they try to save him. It’s well worked, to the point that Morris grabbing a kendo stick and hitting Watts before getting beaten down is an effective hope spot. The heels are really cocky, and are able to casually set up a table in the corner, which they coat in thumbtacks. At this point, they’ve been threatening the tacks all match, so the crowd has been looking forward to seeing them come into play for a while. They set up Morris for a top rope superplex, but Tremont and Lawless have recovered by now, and their attack leaves Watts perched on the top rope, prone for Morris to powerbomb him onto the non-breaking tack-covered table. Sick spot, and Watts sells the fuck out of it. Morris decides to give him another one, again failing to break the table, which earns the three. The big spot really paid off, and the second half of this was enough to pay off the first half.