CHIKARA Young Lions Cup II Night 1 2004

Ash vs Shane Storm

This was awful. Everything about it felt disjointed and clumsy, especially in the performance of Storm. He sets a bad tone by going down too early on a neckbreaker and is constantly out of position. Ash tries hard here, liked his running knees to the corner and his trio of sentons, but Storm is so bad. They blow a collision spot, before Storm hits a Shining Wizard to advance. At this point, Storm needed to stick with working guys he’s trained with, as he looked so lost in this one.

Larry Sweeney vs DJ Skittlez

This is probably the best Skittlez match I’ve seen, mainly because it comes across as a Poundland version of a Ric Flair vs Sting match. Sweeney (who was accompanied by 3 unnamed henchmen) controlled the match, with Skittlez making comebacks, and did some fun basic heel shtick – begging off before a poke to the eye, pinfalls with feet on the ropes and distracting the ref to allow his henchmen (who were no Anderson or Blanchard) to beat up Skittlez. Sweeney’s execution isn’t perfect, but he’s a magnetic personality already. To further the Flair/Sting allusion, Skittlez hits a nice Stinger Splash, a decent top rope clothesline, catches Sweeney on the top rope to slam him off and hits an inverted DDT. That has to be deliberate, right? He does botch a spinning slam, but his diving clothesline over the top rope to wipe out Sweeney’s goons looked great. However, a distracted ref allows one of them to come in, nail him with a chokeslam, and Sweeney picks up the victory. This was fine.

Spider vs Gran Akuma

Spider is just a normal looking guy, but he hits a big dive to the floor as Akuma makes his entrance to grab some attention. Quite a decent showcase for Spider here, as he seems happy to commit to taking bumps, both on moves taken and moves given, leaping off the mat as he delivers a swinging neckbreaker. Aside from one awkward flub, he doesn’t botch anything, though he does have a goofy way of selling some early strikes. Akuma looks good too, loved the big spinebuster he hits. There is a lack of transition to offence from both guys though, as if a switch has flicked and it’s the guy in perils time to go on the attack. Akuma finishes it with a slingshot powerbomb and complicated submission, and this was better than I expected.

Arik Cannon vs Jay Lethal

For two more experienced guys, this wasn’t particularly great and had a pretty ugly ending. Not as ugly as Cannon’s ring gear, which is terrible pleather binbag gear. The structure here was pretty weak, with Cannon basically dominating 75% of the match before Lethal just decided to go on offence. Cannon’s stuff looks good though, and there appears to be a focus on Lethal’s back. I mean, Lethal never sells his back as hurting, but Cannon hits a big spinebuster, a knee to the spine and a back-cracker in quick succession, so at least there’s intent. Cannon also drops a vicious knee across Lethal’s throat. Then, after hitting 2 suplexes, a third is blocked and Lethal just takes over. Simple as that. Then, the sudden ending. Cannon runs into a Lethal back elbow, and this seems to knock him spark out. Lethal takes ages to cover him, Bryce Remsburg only counts two, then realises Cannon aint getting up, so counts three.

Mike Quackenbush, Mister Zero & Icarus vs Skayde, Ultramantis Black & Hallowicked

Fun trio match to break up the tournament. This is 2/3 falls, but seeing as how the whole match goes 10 minutes, they could just have made it one fall to a finish. This is as fast-paced and action-packed as you’d expect, with lucha tag rules meaning there’s no resting. Loved the Skayde/Quack section at the start to lead to a sweet Quack dive, and Ultramantis takes the Hamrick bump to a matless floor, which had to hurt. The rudos win the first fall with a Black/Hallowicked slingshot/big boot combo on Icarus. The heat is maintained on Icarus in the second fall, until a fun spot where the rudos keep hitting a triple team move, only to let the technico out and having to repeat the spot on his replacement. This obviously end with Quack being the last technico involved and reversing the move. A trip on Hallowicked is followed by stacking Skayde in a submission on top of him for the equalising fall. The third fall fair breezes by, though Skayde looks pretty sloppy throughout it. He seems to stumble his way through a sequence with Quack, before rolling him in a crucifix to win the match for the rudos.

American Gigolo vs Anton Arakis

No idea who Arakis is, but he doesn’t impress here. He moves really oddly, and his standing moonsault looks naff. In contrast, Gigolo seems to be working hard here, a few stiff strikes and some nifty work on the mat, tangling up Arakis’ legs, help carry the match. He also eats turnbuckle on a missed splash with gusto. Gigolo gets the rope-assisted pin after Arakis misses a top rope legdrop

Eddie Kingston vs Jolly Roger

Probably the best Roger match I’ve seen to date, mainly because Kingston really forces him out of his comfort zone. Kingston is vicious here, chopping nastily in the corner, hitting double-foot stomps and nailing a tough Yakuza kick in the corner. Roger seems to be aware of the risk of being eaten up, so fires back with his own nice blows, and gets great height on his own stomps. A top rope cutter is a bit clumsy still, and Walk The Plank is a move that never looks good, but I liked his big dive to the floor. Still, Kingston rightly wins, kicking ref Bryce Remsburg into the ropes as Roger goes to the top, and nailing a top rope exploder to pick up victory.

Blackjack Marciano vs Jimmy Jacobs

Marciano is so much fun as a stooging heel here, really playing up to the antics of Jacobs (who was in full “Barbaric Berserker” mode here). Loved him heelishly putting Jacobs on the top rope, then doing a muscle pose despite his entirely average body. Marciano initially outwrestles Jacobs, so Jacobs retorts by biting him on the arse. Marciano is a lot of fun in control, posturing and showing off, and I like how Jacobs’ comeback wasn’t just due to his speed, but also because he was striking Marciano pretty stiffly. A big boot to the face looked great. The end sees Jacobs try the Contra Code, but Blackjack stops it and nails a reverse powerslam to win. All good stuff.

Sabian vs Niles Young

These guys both come from the CZW wrestling school, and you can tell by the early going, which is all pretty slick in a “we’ve practised this every week in training” kind of way. Sabian decides to focus on Young’s spine, hitting a dropkick to the back, followed by a rolling senton and a penalty kick all to the spine. I loved Sabian’s smarts when, after getting locked in a half grab, he pulls at Bryce Remsburg to pull himself to the ropes for a break. Sabian hits a dropkick to Young’s face so nasty it earns applause. A back-cracker and a sweet looking straitjacket Camel Clutch give Sabian the win.

Jigsaw vs Rorschach

Big sign of Quack’s faith in Jigsaw, as he gets the main event and against a guy who’s been pretty unimpressive in previous shows. One of the fun things about watching CHIKARA from the start is seeing the guys who evolve quicker than others. At first, these two guys felt very similar, thanks to their near identical look, but before the bell rings, you can see Jigsaw has better poise, a better looking physique and better gear, showing an improvement. Here, he works a pretty decent match and Rorschach has never looked better. This is leagues ahead of the Jolly Roger stinker from a few shows previous. Both guys bump big, Jigsaw eating an overhead suplex to the corner and tumbling to the floor, whilst Rorschach takes a nasty spill to floor from the top. Both guys also take big dives, which were impressive. They even get perfect timing on Jigsaw springboarding into the ring, and into a dropkick from Rorschach. Not everything looks good – we’ll not talk about Jigsaw’s twisting moonsault that barely touches Rorschach – but this was a good main event with a great ending, as Jigsaw hits a middle-rope Jig’N’Tonic to definitively put away Rorschach.

SWA Summer Blowout 2014

The SWA is the Shropshire Wrestling Alliance, who run shows (unsurprisingly) in the Shropshire area. I saw on Twitter they were having a DVD sale, and picked up this interesting looking show. It turned out to be very good.

 

Damian Dunne vs Mark Andrews

This is for Dunne’s British Lions title. Dunne is working heel here, which he’s really good at, throwing in nice little touches like forcing Andrews to clap hands whilst in a hammerlock. Andrews is the quicker of the two, and when he starts to use his speed, he’s able to take control, which in turn forces Dunne to slow the pace down. So whilst Andrews uses a quick standing moonsault in his offence, Dunne prefers to choke his opponent over the ropes, as well as nailing his ever-sweet kneedrop (honestly, Dunne might have the best kneedrop in BritWres). I enjoyed the story they told here, which was simple yet effective: Andrews always has the advantage when they speed things up, so Dunne will cut off his offensive flurries at any opportunity. Dunne gets a backcracker for two, before Andrews is able to rebound. He hits a top rope rana and a standing shooting star press for two. Dunne gets two when he catches a springboarding Andrews with a spear for two. Looked great. Dunne brings his title belt in, which the referee stops him using. However, this seems to have been Dunne causing a distraction, as he punts Mandrews down below unseen, and rolls him up for the win. Great opener

Sebastian Radclaw vs Marshall X vs Robert Rochester Rose

Interesting mix of characters, with Marshall being a white wannabe gangster, Rose being an aristocratic snob and Radclaw being a unique oddball. Radclaw is accompanied by Skat Monkey, his frankly ugly looking puppet, and Marshall decides he wants the Monkey. Not for any real reason, but to bully the naïve Radclaw. The two heels gang up on Radclaw and wear him down. I loved Marshall X filming the beatdown on his mobile happy-slapping style. Rose is a big lad, but some of his blows looked a bit milky, especially the elbows to Radclaw’s head. The two-on-one beatdown continues with Marshall hitting a nice double-underhook suplex. Eventually, the heels union dissolves when Rose is the first one to try a pinfall on Radclaw, to the chagrin of X. This argument gives Radclaw time to recover, and he springboards in with a nice rolling clothesline. Radclaw hits a nice split legged moonsault on X, and rolls up the charging Rose for the victory. Good fun.

The Vulture Squad vs Pete Dunne & Ryan Smile

The Vulture Squad consist of Chris Brookes and Nixon Newell, so we’ve got an intergender aspect to this match. Pete Dunne is apparently in the process of turning heel, which leads to an explosive start. Dunne cuts a promo essentially saying that if Newall is in the match, she needs to be prepared to be hit like a man…then blindsides her with a stiff forearm. Brookes hurls Dunne into the crowd in response, only to get taken out by a Smile plancha. Quite the start. Things slow down a touch, with the Squad working over Smile, until Dunne cheapshots Newall from the apron. Dunne gets big heat by viciously working over Newall, slamming her knees into the mat. Really nasty looking stuff, and Nixon looks tougher for holding on and making the hot tag to Brookes. Everything breaks down, and Dunne hits a vicious backbreaker and facebuster to Newall for two. I loved Brookes sacrificing himself to absorb a corner charge meant for Nixon, in part because it allowed a fresh Nixon to hit a big tornado DDT and a Shining Wizard for a close two. Makes it a good strategic move by Brookes. Dunne’s nasty side really helps the ending run look great. First, I loved him catching Newall during Poetry In Motion and powerbombing her onto the prone Brookes. Then, after a ref bump, he low blows Brookes and locks a cloverleaf on Newall. Even though she makes the ropes, the ref being down allows him to stomp on her until she releases the ropes and drag her back into the middle for the tapout win. Just brutal heel aggression. Really well worked tag match.

Joey Sanchez vs Marc Morgan

This was set up earlier in the night, with heel manager G John Chase promising a mystery opponent for SWA champion Sanchez. Now, call me cynical, but I’m always suspicious when a promotion is full of guys I’ve heard of, but the champion is a complete unknown. Makes me worry that they’ve booked some good talent in order to promote some no-mark they’ve made champion. So I’m happy to eat my words and say this was a good little match. This was non-title, so it’s always more than likely that the champion loses, but they did a fun job of keeping the result in question. I liked Sanchez’s fire after Morgan did a lot of stalling, going outside to hit him with some stiff shots. Some Chase interference gave Morgan an opening and he worked over Sanchez’s left arm. I dug him using Old School, ending with a leg drop to the arm, felt like a good smug heel move. Morgan tried it again, however, and got caught, leading to Sanchez hitting an enzuigiri to take control. Sanchez’s selling of the arm was really good, firstly only hitting offense like superkicks that didn’t require use of the limb, then not being able to lock in a sharpshooter due to the pain. When he’s able to grit through it and lock in the hold, a distracted ref doesn’t notice Davian Vayne enter to hit him with a low blow, leaving an opening for Morgan to hit Soylet Green for the win. Surpassed my expectations, a pleasant surprise.

Dan Moloney vs Edwards

So, with two unknown guys putting on a good bout, I had high hopes for a match featuring a guy I like in Moloney against another guy I didn’t know in Edwards. This…wasn’t so good. I enjoyed Moloney hiding in the crowd during his entrance to ambush Edwards, but it went a bit downhill following that with some sloppy brawling on the outside. Edwards in particular didn’t look particularly impressive here. Back inside the ring, Edwards hits an admittedly decent uranage and a swanton, but Moloney no-sold right away and hit a monster clothesline for the win.

Tyler Bate vs Jay Lethal

This is for the RoH TV title, so the result is never really in doubt, but this is one heck of a match. I’m no big fan of Jay Lethal, he seems to fill too much space in matches with your-turn-my-turn strike exchanges (which happens three separate times here), but he was a good match for Bate here. I saw Lethal one year previously taking on another 18yr old in Robbie X, and the difference between Lethal’s muscular frame and the less in-shape Robbie made those strike exchanges feel very unbalanced. Bate, however, is in very good shape, stocky and with a big European uppercut that makes him competitive against Lethal. Tyler was ON IT from the bell here, catching an unsuspecting Lethal with a superkick and a dive to show he meant business. Lethal threw in some fun bits, loved his crucifix surfboard on Bate. The commentary team raise a good point about it being easier for Bate to scout Lethal than vice-versa, with Bate proving this by countering the Lethal Cutter into an airplane spin (with an insane number of rotations). Bate also got to hit a few of his great strength spots, reversing a Lethal suplex into a deadlift one of his own, while later hitting a lovely German suplex for two. The end to this was so heated, as Bate hits an insane running backflip out of the ring onto Lethal, throws him in the ring to try a corkscrew moonsault, but misses and is left prone for the winning Lethal Cutter. Fantastic match, the crowd were into it every step of the way and surround the ring, banging the apron in appreciation at the end. Splendid stuff.

Zero-One 18/03/2005

Having not reviewed any puro for a while, I thought it best to look through some of the shows I'd not got round to watching yet. This one, with an odd mix of puro wrestlers and US indy talent, was the first one to catch my eye. The main event has a particularly random line-up...

Osamu Namiguchi vs Lil Nate
Oh man, to see Lil Nate is to hate Lil Nate. Coming to the ring with a ridiculous strawberry-blonde afro and "quirky" ring music, he looks like Lauren Harries crossed with a hyperactive schoolchild , and I really want him to die here. Therefore, Namiguchi schooling him on the mat is quite the treat, locking in headscissors and Boston crabs to wear him down. Your enjoyment of the match will probably be dependant on just how much you enjoy Lil Nate being tortured, so I did enjoy this very much. It's not totally one sided, as Nate gets a brief comeback and a few roll ups, but the end soon comes with Namiguchi grabbing him by his stupid hair to hit a top rope bulldog and a la majistral cradle to win.

Kevin Steen vs Takashi Sasaki
Fun to note how young and lean Steen looks here. This is perfectly fine wrestling, but it's fair to say this is "just a match". It gets to a point where Steen yells for the package piledriver, and I realise the only note I've made on the match is "Lovely moonsault by Steen" (and to be fair, it really was a beauty). Not that anything was bad per se, but just that some stuff happened, and then it was time for the finishing sequence, as both guys get nearfalls, before Steen actually gets the package piledriver (which I'm glad there was a bit of a fight for) to win.

Steve Corino & Amazing Kong vs Spanky & Saki Maemura
This is a mixed tag bout, but not one fought under mixed tag rules. The reason for this is likely the fact that Kong is both taller and bigger than Spanky. There is an underlying story that Kong has a "thing" for Spanky. I did enjoy Spanky being more scared of fighting Kong than fighting Corino, especially as he kept flying off her when trying shoulderblocks. Maemura fares better, as she uses speed and roll-ups to try and outfox Kong. Of course, this nearly backfires when the rules allow her to be in the ring, as the same time as Corino, who cockily bullies her until she hits a flying headscissors on him. We get a few sexual comedy spots, as Spanky avoids the advances of Kong, who ends up accidentally making out with Corino, before the smaller team repeatedly ram Corino's head into Kong's chest rather than the turnbuckle, and a few fun spots I'd not seen before. One involved Kong and Corino pressing Maemura off them during a pinfall attempt, only for Spanky to catch her and drop her back onto Kong. Spanky hits Sliced Bread #2 on Kong, but turns into a Corino lariat for the win. This was pretty entertaining.

Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Ricky Reyes
Reyes was always my favourite Havana Pitbull, mainly due to his stocky build. This kicks off with some fun matwork, as I liked the fact they made it look like a real battle to lock in each hold. Takaiwa used a fantastic single-leg crab during this, holding Reyes at a painful looking angle. Outside, Reyes takes a few nasty bumps when he gets thrown into chairs and the bleachers. This was a match where Reyes always felt like he was in it, so not a squash, but at the same time it always felt like he was a shade behind Takaiwa, so it was no surprise when Takaiwa finished with his double powerbomb into a Death Valley Driver.

Minoru Fujita & Ikuto Hidaka vs CW Anderson & Jay Lethal
Pretty even tag match in the early going until Lethal tries to double-cross Fujita on a handshake, at which point things start to pick up. Anderson and Lethal play subtle heels here, and it's nice to note Anderson still has pretty sweet punches. Love them suplexing Fujita into a load of chairs at ringside. Hidaka gets a nice offensive flurry inside, before Lethal goes for a tope con hilo, which only hits his partner, with no opponent in site. Hidaka is a guy I've always liked, and he looks great here, reversing a CW spinebuster into a sunset flip in a really fluid motion. Anderson had a few staple spots that looked great, like his delayed superplex and the spinebuster (which he does eventually hit), and the match has a really nice ending sequence that only really goes overboard when Lethal is allowed to kick out of a spike tombstone piledriver. In the end, Hidaka pins Lethal following Sliced Bread #2. Fun match.

Takao Omori & Ryouji Sai vs Shinjiro Otani & Kohei Sato
No intros here, as the team of Otani and Sato attack before the bell. Omori ends up fighting Sato in the ring, but does a terrible job of trying to rip his shirt off in between strikes. Hulk Hogan, he is not. Otani is in prime dickish mode here, doing nasty little things like lifting his opponent up by the mouth, and I love his nasty dropkick to the face when he gets Sai in a tree of woe. Sai is the one chap in the match I don't know, and he gets to look really good here, really nailing Sato and Otani with his strikes and kicks, which all look crisp. In the second half of the match, Sato and Otani start to work over the arm of Omori, clearly to stop him throwing his big lariat. Otani in particular hits some nasty kicks to the limb. Omori does manage a two count on the Omori Driver, but his attempt at the lariat is thwarted by Otani kicking the arm, and avoiding a second attempt with a roll-up for the win.

Alex Shelley & Masato Tanaka vs Dick Togo & Sonjay Dutt
Here are two odd looking teams. This is a TLC match where pinfalls are valid. You've got to love the sight of Tanaka, five minutes into the match, shoulder all bandaged, diving from a ladder outside the ring to put Togo through a table to "ECW" chants. Tanaka proceeds to bloody Togo outside the ring, leaving Dutt at a two-on-one disadvantage. Predictably, he gets battered, with Tanaka crushing him with a ladder for two. Togo looks awesome coming in off a hot tag (though this is the only tag in the entire match, and Shelley and Tanaka had been treating the match like a tornado tag. Nonetheless, Togo shows great fire when he comes in). A suicide dive to a seated Shelley looks awesome. There is another lovely moment, where Togo pushes Shelley off the top rope to the outside, with the camera angle making it look like he's pushing Shelley into oblivion. There are a few nice spots in the closing moments of the match, including Dutt pushing Tanaka off a ladder into a Togo cutter through a table, which looks great. Dutt survives a superplex from the ladder through a table to hit an off-target Phoenix splash onto Shelley's face for the win. Really fun stunt match, though the Togo/Tanaka sequences were a lot smoother than the Shelley/Dutt moments.

TNA Against All Odds 2009

One thing I've noticed is that I do seem to review a lot of TNA shows on this blog. This isn't a deliberate choice, more that, due to having a Lovefilm account and having Challenge TV, I get a lot of easy access to TNA shows, and I'm pretty much happy to watch any wrestling I can. This show was sent to me by Lovefilm last week, a show from the midst of the Main Event Mafia\TNA Frontline feud. The result? A mixed bag of a show that never really gets great...

Alex Shelley vs Eric Young
This was the evolution of a smarter, non-cowardly version of EY, and he looks good in the opening stages, outsmarting Shelley and hitting a big dive. Shelley is great as a smug dick here, and after EY hits the guard rail on a failed top rope dive, Shelley zones in on the ribs of his opponent, which is logical strategy on a larger guy. It also gives him an edge, in that he has an area to aim for to abruptly stop Young gaining momentum. I love the big bump EY takes, diving into, then over, the ringpost from the apron. Even when locking on a cobra clutch, Shelley holds Young over his knee to also impact the ribs. I don't think EY looks quite as crisp as he does nowadays, as he's clearly one of the elite performers in TNA today, but his selling adds to the match, with just little subtle winces as he feels the ribs hurt. EY gets to kick out of a lot here, but it feels consistent with the new confidence he's showing. This more confident side costs him however, as he gets into a row with the ref and rolled up for the win. Fun match.

Scott Steiner vs Petey Williams
Steiner rightly dominates to start, as Williams stupidly tries to match strength with him. When he uses his speed instead, Williams has more luck, but he sadly suffers from having offence that looks like it wouldn't hurt at all (or "a case of the Ziggler's" as I call it). In comparison, Steiner hurls Petey from the top rope with a swank overhead suplex like it was nothing. This is a borderline squash, as Steiner decimates Williams, then repeatedly picks him up rather than just pinning him. Petey comes back with the campest leaping forearms I've ever seen, but you just know Steiner isn't taking the Canadian Destroyer so it's simply a case of when Steiner will pick up the victory. Petey does get a great nearfall after feigning jamming his shoulder into the ringpost, which is a nice spot. Petey tries to springboard out of the ring to hit a rana, but Steiner just powerbombs him to the floor. Petey is allowed to make the ropes during the Steiner Recliner, but the fucking Steiner Screwdriver is enough to kill Wiliams off for good.

Chris Sabin vs Brutus Magnus
Losing the first name was the wisest thing Magnus could have done. Well, along with losing the stupid gladiator get up. He does some nice chaining of holds in the initial stages that he doesn't do so much nowadays. I remembered Magnus being much greener than he looks here, but he looks crisp on offence, and there is a nice little sequence from a Snake Eyes to a kneedrop that looks good. He's a little restholdy in places, but you can see the start of a good wrestler here, and it may be fair to say he should be better today than he is, based on his performance here. Sabin helps, bumping big for a powerbomb and peppering the match with highspots to keep the crowd in it. Magnus wins with his twisting Samoan drop (Tormentum) and this was perfectly ok.

ODB vs Awesome Kong
Jim Cornette comes to the ring before the match starts to make the Kongtourage (Raisha Saeed, Sojo Bolt and Rhaka Khan) leave the ringside area or Kong loses the title. It's quite fun seeing a knockouts power match, with ODB favouring impact over finesse in the opening stage, before Kong cuts her off. Things slow down a bit when Kong goes on offence, and one thing the match loses from ODB's comparative size is the fun cat-and-mouse element you get from most of Kong's TNA run. They do build up nicely to a slam spot with two failed ODB attempts meaning the successful third gets a huge pop. However, Kong swiftly hits the Implant Buster for the win. Felt like a decent TV match rather than a PPV encounter.

Shane Sewell vs Booker T
This was during Sewell's "wrestling referee" gimmick, that lasted not very long. On commentary, they put over how focused Sewell is, whilst Booker is paying him no attention, so Sewell has to pull off the upset here, right? Booker pretty much dominates to start off, so maybe he was right to be cocky, as Sewell gets nothing in. Bookend only gets 2, and Sewell starts to hulk up. Unlike the Williams comeback, Sewell looks intense enough and his offence looks effective enough to cause Booker some problems, but Sharmell grabs his leg to allow Booker to hit the Ax Kick for the win. Match was barely anything, and seemingly only existed for AJ Styles to come out at the end and beat up Booker.

Matt Morgan vs Abyss
For maybe ten seconds this seemed quite good, with a fun shoulder barge exchange, but the second Morgan throws some pathetically weak blows, it goes downhill. He punches like a giant Jenna Morasca. Abyss seems shocked when the ref wont let him bring a steel pipe into the ring, as if he'd totally forgotten the rules of wrestling. We get treated to some of the least inspired crowd brawling ever, typified by Morgan chosing to simply sit down on the stairs as his method of selling a blow to the head. They return to the ring and Abyss, like a fucking idiot, throws some weapons into the ring, then again acts shocked when Rudy Charles grabs a steel chair from his hands. IT'S NOT NO DQ, YOU STUPID TWAT. Morgan's run on offence at least involves a bit of wrestling, and I did dig his top rope cross body. I don't mind big men showing some agility if it makes sense to do so, and Morgan hurling his body weight at Abyss to down him does make sense. Morgan leaping off the top for no other reason than to get caught in a chokeslam, not so much. Ref bump leads to a big pop, as the crowd now knows weapons are getting involved, with Morgan hitting a few chair shots. Abyss hits the shittest chokeslam ever on Morgan. Two absolutely awful Black Hole Slams get the win for Abyss. This was wank, but apparently Morgan went into the match just removed from surgery, so this was maybe to be expected.

Beer Money vs Lethal Consequences
Strange to think the least interesting guy in this match is the only one to make it to WWE TV, albeit as the world's most irritating face wrestler. I'd forgotten about the Beer Money boozer cruiser, such a great addition to the act. Lethal Consequences clear the ring early using their quickness, though they aren't especially dynamic for a cruiserweight team. We get some token "gay" comedy on the heels and Beer Money are having to dumb down into "clumsy comedy" mode to keep LC looking competitive. Beer Money getting on offence makes things way more interesting, as they're the crisper, more capable team. Creed is nursing a shoulder injury, so BM wisely zero in on this, and use offence which not only works the arm, but could conceivably earn them a pinfall, which is a hard balance to strike. The hot tag comes when Lethal decides he's had enough of waiting, and clears house before rolling Creed into their corner. Feels like that shouldn't really count. Lethal gets a few closes falls on BM, but you never really feel like there is any danger of the titles changing hands, and a few minutes later, Beer Money pick up the win following a chainshot to Lethal's head. Decent tag action, but no more than that.

Sting vs Kurt Angle vs Brother Ray vs Brother Devon
This is a fatal fourway featuring 2 members of the Main Event Mafia (Sting and Angle) and 2 from the Frontline (Team 3D).This match really shows how weak the Frontline faction was, as their best hope for the world title is a tag team that no-one believes will win. The dynamic is enough to keep things interesting though, as Team 3D are a tight unit, whilst Angle is clearly quite happy to screw over Sting to take the title for himself. This leaves Sting feeling like an island out there. Amusingly, 3D don't break up each other's pin attempts and indeed, having cleared the ring of Sting and Angle, Ray lies down for Devon, before Kurt breaks up the count. Should have just put on an armbar and tapped out instead. They do start to fight properly, losing their advantage of cohesion, and get beaten down, leading to a pedestrian brawl outside the ring. The MEM members lock in a dual Scorpion Deathlock and Ankle lock on 3D, but even more fun is the dual submissions by 3D. Partly because Ray's figure four is so bad, that Tenay has to cover by calling it a "figure four variation", but also because Kurt crawls over whilst stuck in a Boston crab to try and pin Sting (still in the figure four), which is wonderfully dickheaded. This gives Angle a bit of an opening to work over Sting's leg, though this doesn't last long until all four are in the ring, exchanging finishers and power moves, before Sting isolates Ray for the match winning Scorpion Deathdrop. Match result was never in question, but this was way more fun than expected.

TNA Hard Justice 2007

Having not done as much writing on the pro-wrestling as I'd have liked last year, it's nice to get this one published early for the year. I got this from Lovefilm as a random show, so looking forward to seeing how well it's aged

Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt vs the Motor City Machineguns vs Christopher Daniels & Senshi
Only two men are allowed in the ring at any time.This is a prime example of the hot opener, with all the offence looking super slick and fun enough to pop the crowd. Lethal ends up as face-in-peril and I love the way the Guns and Triple X have to rely on blind tags to get in the match, keeps it realistic that they wouldn't just tag each other in. Daniels shows a bit of character by posing whilst standing on Lethal's back as he's drapped across the middle turnbuckle. Dutt gets the hot tag, but the Guns just decide to come in too. At this juncture, it turns into a spotfest, so they don't try to pretend there are rules. I like Shelley locking an abdominal stretch on Dutt outside, as it means it makes sense for him to be there when Lethal levels him with a suicide dive. Rad dive sequence ends with Dutt nailing a swanky top rope Asai moonsault on everyone. Even Skipper gets involved, taking advantage of a distracted Earl Hebner to nail the ropewalk rana on Sabin. We get a lovely combo of moves by Dutt and Lethal on Daniels, which culminates in a standing Shooting Star Press by Dutt for two. After everyone gets in the ring, nailing spot after spot, Lethal picks up the win...with a small package on Daniels. Really fun opener, maybe not one you'll remember in a weeks time, but super enjoyable and it sent the crowd wild. Job done.

Raven vs Kaz
Kaz left Serotonin to set this up. It's pretty fun to start with, as Kaz nails all three members with a kendo stick, and the other Serotonin members bump like loons for it. Havok tries to take Kaz out with a huge dive, but nails everyone BUT Kaz. In ring, Raven hits a victory roll(!) for two 2. Kaz takes an insane bump on a kneelift, as it sends him over top rope. Raven seems pretty slow here, taking his sweet lazy time between moves. There is some dissension in the ranks as Raven shows his anger with Martyr, after he accidentally takes out Havok when aiming for Kaz with a superkick. Kaz hits a massive clothesline to send himself, Raven and Martyr over the rope, which followed by a nutty rana off the apron on Havok. Kaz is doing everything he can here to get over. Kaz reverses the Evenflow to nail a dropkick to the face to win. Decent enough, certainly put Kaz over huge.

Rhino vs James Storm
This is a bar-room brawl, instigated by Storm taunting Rhino's past addictions to alcohol. This is pretty good to start, though the mass slugfest in the crowd makes it hard to see what is happening. Thankfully, they soon get to Storm's silly looking "bar" set up by the ring, where Rhino pretty swiftly gives into his addictions and necks a beer. No willpower there. This causes Rhino to just explode, as he levels Storm with crutch and a barstool. Next, he backdrops Storm onto the bar as West and Tenay lament Rhino falling off the wagon. To hammer home the point, he opens a bottle of vodka and has a big swig. Storm is just getting massacred, as this is all Rhino. Maybe Rhino should have got pissed more often, could have been world champion. Jackie Moore saves and Rhino is briefly slowed down by being thrown out of ring onto a ladder. He fires back with an ace snap belly-to-belly suplex, though he is starting to show subtle signs of being drunk. A moment of hesitation causes Rhino to gore a table as the Cowboy moves, which gets two for Storm. Storm clobbers Rhino with a one man conchairto, then smashes a beer bottle over his head for three. Interesting booking, which started with Storm getting destroyed, but Rhino giving into his demos ultimately cost him the match. Really nasty brawl too.

Voodoo Kin Mafia vs LAX
This is from the odd period where Roxxi was added to the act as a voodoo practicioner, as if this linked to BG and Kip James in anyway bar their McMahon-baiting name. VKM use a combination of their smarts and strength to dominate Homicide early. Nice release Northern Lights by Kip James is the highlight of their offence. The heat section on Homicide is pretty brief, and whilst Hernandez shows good energy on his hot tag, a face of powder from Roxxi lets Kip hit a Fameasser for the win. However, Hector Guerrero comes into the ring to show the ref the powder on the ring apron, and Homicide wins with a rollup on Kip. Short and inoffensive.

Eric Young vs Bobby Roode
This is an Ultimate Humiliation match, with the loser getting tarred and feathered. They show a promo video beforehand, where Roode already tarred-and-feathered EY on an episode of Impact, so that seems odd. EY gets a brief flurry of offence, before a distraction by Ms Brooks lets Roode level him outside the ring. Roode's dominance of Young is pretty fun, Roode being pretty explosive on offence and EY bumping nicely for him. Young also has a natural connection with the crowd, which helps him earn sympathy. Love Roode lowering his kneepad before hitting a kneedrop from the 2nd rope. EY has some surprisingly crisp punches and shows some real strength to hoist both Roode and Brooks onto his shoulders for an attempted DVD. Some Brooks distraction and a pair of brass knucks give the win to Roode, after a pretty fun match.

Postmatch sees Gail Kim make the save for EY, and Ms Brooks ends up tarred and feathered. Special word to the kick to the Roode bollocks by EY - Christ!

Chris Harris vs Black Reign
In 2014, Dustin Rhodes is one of the best workers on the planet. In 2007, he was substantially porkier and wrestling in a Poundland Goldust costume. It's no surprise to learn that he wasn't so impressive. I do enjoy his outsmarting Harris by coming out of the other entrance ramp and attacking from behind (Harris must be some kind of idiot, as he wait ages for Reign before the blindside attack). As you'd expect, Reign still has impressive punches and him wailing away does look pretty great, with the satisfying sound of fist on skin. Harris is busted open and has had zero offence, as Dustin takes out two referees. The idea here is pretty cool, but the execution, especially the outfit, is lacking somewhat. Harris wins by DQ after attacking the third ref, but looks nothing like a winner after getting cuffed to the ropes and attacked by Black Reign's spiked weapon. I admit, I liked this more than I expected too, especially how vicious Dustin was, but the cheapness of his look ruined the effect.

The Steiner Brothers vs Team 3D
This is the match I've been looking forward to most on the show. No matter that these two teams are past their best, this is TNA bringing a proper tag team dream match to life. Looking at Brother Ray here, it's remarkable how much he slimmed down for his current role as Bully Ray, as he was huge. Though a bit slower and a bit bulkier than their prime, the Steiners still are able to throw 3D around early. The turnaround comes when Ray grabs Scott by the arm and yanks his recently injured shoulder over the ropes. 3D wisely focus their offence on this injury, with the livid purple scar acting like a target. The heat section is actually a bit short, but I did love the fresh Rick hitting suplexes on both Team 3D members. Scott joins in with a top rope belly-to-belly on Devon. 3D get two after a Doomsday Device on Scott, but it's a top-rope Frankensteiner on Devon that brings the crowd to it's feet. The top rope Steiner Bulldog on Devon gets the win. A bit sloppy in places, but a total crowdpleaser of a match.

Christian Cage, AJ Styles & Tomko vs Sting, Abyss & "The Punisher" Andrew Martin
Martin is better known as Test. The winner of the pinfall gets a world title shot, and the match is held in a cage with barbed wire around the top. To add to the overbooking, you can't get pinned unless you are bleeding. Christian's Coalition attack Abyss before his partners can emerge, but Martin and Sting (arriving after the lights go out) make the save. We get some average brawling outside the cage to start, then the Coalition lock Sting outside the cage to leave it 2-on-3. Cage attacks Abyss with some glass to make him bleed. The Coalition dominate in the ring, but Sting climbs the cage with wire cutters and is able to get in past the barbed wire. Styles and Cage nailing Abyss with dual frog splashes was pretty cool. Cage, like a beautiful coward, escapes the cage through the gap Sting created, leaving his team 2-on-3 down. Styles is swiftly Black Hole Slammed onto the broken glass by Abyss for the win. Pretty pedestrian affair, and not particularly violent for all the hype about the violence.

Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe
This is for Joe's X Division and tag titles, as well as Angle's IWGP and TNA titles. Joe looks to be in great shape here, and I dug the ceremonial Samoan dancers he had for his entrance. The story here is that Kurt is upset that Karen Angle has left him, and his mind isn't on wrestling. Joe dominates early, and Kurt isn't helped by Karen arriving at ringside with a new beau. Joe is confident and remains one step ahead of Angle: when Kurt pulls the straps of his singlet down to stop Joe pulling it, Joe pulls it down even further on a sunset flip to expose Angle's backside. The facewash on Kurt looked brutal. I also love Joe reversing an Angle German suplex into a sickening release version of his own. The height Joe gets on his leaping enzuigiri whilst Angle is on the top rope is impressive too. It's ridiculous how good he used to be when in shape and motivated. Angle looks a step behind him at all times here, though that may be due to the story of the match. Joe is able to reverse every big move Kurt goes for, until an Angle Slam gets two. Kurt hasn't gotten much offence in at this point, so it doesn't feel like a ruined finisher. Joe only getting two on a musclebuster feels less defendable, however. An anklelock/Kokina Clutch reversal series feels a little forced. A ref bump leads to Angle tapping to the clutch with no consequence, before Karen "shockingly" passes Kurt a chair to level Joe with and consolidate all the titles. This was decent rather than good, as it felt a bit laboured due to the angle, and the ending was both predictable and made Joe look like a fool.

Southside Wrestling Menace II Society III

So this weekend, I took in two wrestling shows, both featuring Sabu on his UK tour. The first one, in Nottingham, was on the Friday, and featured the following action...

El Ligero vs Pete Dunne vs MK McKinnan
If you want to know the definition of loneliness, then I felt it here: being the one person in the venue who wanted Pete Dunne to win this match. The other two guys are far better known in the area, so Dunne met with silence with a sprinkle of boos, despite this being three faces in action. Aside from the opening minutes, they avoided the usual pitfalls of the triple threat match, that being taking it in turns to have one guy on the outside selling whilst the other two fight. Here, all three guys were involved in the action, either through double teams or one guy taking out both of his opponents at once. This got a great reaction from the crowd, with even Dunne (because he's awesome) winning the crowd round with a double crab on both guys. Ligero hitting a top rope stomp with both guys in a tree of woe was also pretty swank. With Dunne being hardly known and Ligero embroiled in a feud with Martin Kirby, MK was the obvious choice to win and he did with a shining wizard to Pete. Good opener.

RJ Singh & the Hunter Brothers vs Martin Kirby & the Predators
There is some long standing dissention betwen Singh and the Hunters, so they were a far less smooth unit than the heel team, who delighted in singling out first Singh, then one of the Hunters. The brothers Hunter showed no interest in tagging in Singh, focusing their early quick tags between each other, leaving Singh frustrated on the apron. This allowed the Hunters to show a more heelish side, which I think is their strength. Paul Malen was fantastic in this match, like a rabid cheerleader on the apron every time his partners were in control. Eventually, Singh did get tagged in on the hot tag, and looked to have the match won with a Swanton bomb, but he took exception to a Hunter trying to make the pinfall and broke it up, allowing the heels to regroup and the Predators hit the Trophy Kill on Singh for the win.

Mark Haskins vs Darrell Allen
This match will be forever known to those in the crowd as the "hotdog" match. Basically, as Haskins came to the ring, slapping hands with the ringside fans, he knocked a hotdog from the hands of what appeared to be a handicapped fan at ringside, whose mother went ballistic at Haskins. Despite Haskins leaving the ring to talk to the fan, this didn't appease the mother, who took the son from the venue. Haskins looked ever-so guilty, and the fans didn't help him, woth chants of "sausage slapper" and "Hotdog Haskins" ringing out throughout the match.

AS for the match itself, it was solid, with Haskins working over the left arm of Allen for the bulk of the match. Though the match started off evenly, once Haskins had started to work over the arm, it gave him an easy way back into the match whenever Allen tried making his comebacks: just hit him in the arm. Haskins is one of the more pushed guys in the promotion, so it made sense that he dominated most of the match, with Allen's selling of the arm putting over the lingering damage. The armwork also played into the finish, with Haskins holding onto the arm during a missed Allen kick, and hitting a pumphandle driver for the win.

Stixx vs Super Crazy
The match started off with Stixx claiming he was a big fan of Crazy, and would be wrestling a fair fight throughout; this of course lasted until the first move of the match, where he hit a sneaky low kick. Crazy was massively over here, and you could tell he was delighted by the reception he received. These two guys combined well here, with Stixx bringing his power game and Crazy making his comebacks using some high risk maneuvers. I loved him cracking out a plancha over the referee, who was looking at Stixx on the outside, especially as he could have gotten away with doing far less in front of this partisan crowd. Stixx picked up the win in a good match by hanging onto the ropes after sitting down on a sunset flip.

Robbie X vs Jay Lethal
Robbie here was challenging for the Speed King title which he lost at the show of that name in May. I've been impressed every time I've seen Robbie previously, but this felt like a real career match for him. Lethal looked considerably bigger than Robbie, which meant that every blow he landed looked like it broke him in half. There was a strike exchange in the middle, which is something I've never been a fan of, but here it felt warranted, like Robbie was trying to show Lethal that he could keep up with him. Lethal even gave Robbie a number of nearfalls, to the extent that you felt like Robbie was going to regain his title, but Lethal finished him off with the Lethal Combination followed by a top rope elbow for the three. This got a standing ovation from the crowd, which it deserved.

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tommy End
This was my pick for match of the night. What I loved here was how the strikes were used. Whilst both guys exchanged strikes during the match, you felt like they were actively trying to break each other down with their blows, and it was a battle of whose body could hold up the longest. I like the way that they couldn't even afford to rest for a moment, shown by ZSJ pausing to catch breath after landing another blow on End, only to be quickly grabbed for a belly-to-back suplex. Sabre had a plan of attack, which involved going for an armbar on End at every opportunity. However, this led to his downfall, as his final attempt saw End counter it into a choke, which he held onto until the referee stopped the match. I loved this, it felt like a real battle and both guys came out of it looking kingsized.

Sabu vs Jimmy Havoc
This match got pretty hard to see at times, primarily when they fought on the outside and pretty much the whole crowd flocked around them. This was a total crowd pleaser of a match, as Sabu knew exactly what the crowd wanted to see from him, and they got it. This didn't bode so well for Havoc, who took a shedload of offence. Havoc got thrown through chairs, took chairs to the head, was on the receiving end of a chair-assisted springboard dive to the floor and finally took an Arabian facebuster through a table for the Sabu win. There wasn't much Havoc offence, unless he got in a load I couldn't see on the floor, but that isn't what the fans were there to see, and Havoc got a standing ovation afterwards for the abuse he'd gone through. Fine main event

TNA Webmatches: Episodes 1-3

One of the things TNA has got right over the years is their weekly webmatches. Free of the chaos and poppycock that frequently dominates proceedings on Impact, the webmatches are a great way to see the lower card wrestlers of TNA, who are generally all above average, without having to endure most of the usual nonsense. I'm going to do them in order, so here are the first few TNA webmatches.

Jay Lethal vs Kip James (Season 1, Episode 1)
James is going by his "Cute Kip" moniker by this point and is accompanied to the ring by the original, and best, Beautiful People. Lethal stops during his entrance to put his shades on Don West, who instantly does a Macho Man impression. God, I miss Don. The typically shitty Impact Zone crowd are cheering for both guys, they seem to love themselves some Kip James. They work a decent speed vs power match. Kip showboats and misses a Stinger Splash in the corner, hitting his head on the ringpost and Lethal takes over with high-paced offence. Beautiful People interference leads to Consequences Creed coming out to even the odds and Lethal finishes with an average looking elbow drop. Short and fun like a midget stripper.

Robert Roode vs Consequences Creed (Season 1, Episode 2)
Roode is a tag-champion at this point, and Tenay's commentary tells us that Beer Money were facing Lethal Consequences at the next PPV. I'd forgotten how good some of Creed's offence was, he throws a nice punch and hits a decent springboard dropkick. Beer Money was the best thing that could happen to Roode, he was going nowhere fast as a singles guy before the team formed, but he's still a terrific singles wrestler and he eats Creed's offence like a champ during the comeback, especially those ace punches. He also has a nice bridging fishermans suplex which wins him the match.

Eric Young vs Cute Kip (Season 1, Episode 3)
Kip was pretty much the king of the webmatches at this time, which is the best way to use a wrestle like Kip James: short matches where he can work with the younger guys, using his experience to carry the match and put guys over. Angelina and Velvet both look great here, though Kip's flowery trunks leave a lot to be desired. EY still has long trunks and blond hair at this time, and he actually looks taller than he does now. More Kip chants. Kip gives a fair bit to Eric in the opening stages, but decks him with a thunderous clothesline. This match is slightly better than the Lethal match, James and Young seemed to mesh better as Young can use a bit more of a power game than Lethal. James misses the Stinger Splash again and they go into a brief finisher reversals series that sees EY pick up the win with a roll-up