NYWC Sideshow 2018

This show is the last stop before Psycho Circus, the annual show headlined by the eponymous titular match, equal parts Wargames and Cage of Death. The matches here build up nicely to the show, a lot to enjoy in this one.

Bull James vs Johnny Radke

This is part of a “Pick Your Poison” deal, with Alex Reynolds and James picking opponents for each other before their title match at Psycho Circus. At first, I thought James was selling disinterest, working over the leg of Radke whilst looking uncommitted, but then I realised he was showing his reluctance to hurt Radke. There’s no commentary, so James has to get this story over purely with his facial expressions, and he achieves this, including some fun bits where Radke tries to escape from the mat, only for James to casually down him again. By the end, James realises he’s got to finish it, and swats away an attempted top rope crossbody by Radke, and finishes with a seated senton. Nice bit of storytelling.

Alex Reynolds vs John Silver

As a counterpoint, James has chosen Reynolds’ long time tag partner to face him, and Silver looks fired up. I saw at the start that this match was 17 minutes long, and I had a bit of trepidation. I like both guys, but Reynolds is particular has had a few off matches in my NYWC watching, and I wasn’t sure they could fill the time entertainingly. So, it was a real relief that this was really fun. Reynolds has an entourage of Rick Cataldo, King Mega and Blake Morris, and they wisely work a bit early on where the three get evicted from ringside following some interference, which keeps the rest of the bout from being filled with cheap interference. I liked how both men seemed to know what the other was about to do, part of them knowing each other so well. Silver hits some nice throws during the match, using his diminutive stature to get underneath Reynolds and sending him flying. Both have some nice offensive moments, like Silver blocking a sunset flip by holding the ropes, using them to drag Reynolds into position then hitting a big double stomp. Meanwhile, Reynolds nicely chains a side Russian legsweep into a crossface. Silver has real nice execution on his moves, some nice snap to his uppercuts. The end sees Cataldo coming back out to distract the ref, and I loved the nearfall as Silver takes out the rest of the returning entourage, only to get rolled up for two. Reynolds hits a Stundog Millionaire and locks in another crossface for the tap. Really good stuff.

Beer Belly Bandits (JT Kasin, General Romero & Bo Pritchard) vs Anthony LaCerra, Jesse Vane & Joey Conway

Neat six man tag, thought this was a heap of fun. I’m really high on LaCerra and Vane, think both guys have great athleticism and move really well, coupled with really nice looking offence. Loved the height Vane gets on a pop up dropkick. The heat gets worked on Kasin, with some nice Born & Bred double teams. Loved LaCerra holding a leglock on Kasin to allow Vane to hit a springboard splash, just solid tag team wrestling. First time I’ve seen Conway, and whilst he was notably a step below his partners, he looked fine. LaCerra and Vane hit nice simultaneous kicks on Kasin, and LaCerra looks good chaining moves on Kasin, not giving him time to recover. Pritchard gets the hot tag, moves really well for a big man, but he gets distracted by LaCerra wielding a beer, and a dual superkick to the head finishes him off.

Benson Brothers vs The Rep vs Punk Relics vs Matt Striker & Tinder Tom

Bit of a mess this one. This match would have been improved tenfold if the Striker/Tom team wasn’t a part. Really didn’t like Tom from the start. He looks like a scrawnier Colin Delaney, one of his first acts was to dry hump the mat, then he ends up in some “hilarious” accidental 69 positions with Striker. Even aside from that, the work from the other teams looked a bit sloppy in places, though all three teams also did bits I liked. I just feel like any combination of the three good teams in a 2-on-2 match for the same amount of time would have been better. The Bensons win with CJ flipping Brad into a moonsault on Striker for the win.

Matt Tremont & G-Raver vs Aiden Baal & Mouse

This is a lot of fun. Because Baal is the only credible member of his team, Mouse takes a fun beating at different points in the match. Loved the huge Samoan drop Tremont hits on him, and because Mouse has an appropriate rattiness about him, it’s really entertaining watching him take a beating.. Baal doesn’t do anything fancy on offence, but what he does looks really good. Really solid looking elbow drops. The heat gets worked on G-Raver, with Mouse’s cameo not looking too bad, before G-Raver hits a diving DDT on Baal to make the hot tag. Tremont looks great coming in, battering Mouse before blasting the heels with a great double clothesline. He hits a Death Valley Driver on Mouse ONTO Baal, and G-Raver hits a swanton for three. Really liked this.

Willow Nightingale vs Vanity

This works for the most part. There are some awkward exchanges, a few moments where they almost seem to pause as if to remember what to do next, but there’s also a lot here to like. Willow is really good in the early stages at selling her frustration when Vanity is getting the better of her. Willow messes up Vanity’s hair after an exchange, which felt like a good way of taking control of someone with that moniker. Vanity has some good looking offence, and I like how she controlled her focus on one area, clubbing at the back of Willow. She maintains this control with a decent looking camel clutch. Willow hits a nice spinebuster, not much elevation on it, but it looks like she’s trying to drive Vanity into the mat. The match winning DVD for Nightingale feels like it comes out of nowhere, but on the whole I enjoyed this.

Stockade, Devon Moore & Terra Calaway vs Bam Sullivan, Jeff Cannonball & Victoria von Black

This is a Doorway to Hell match, which means there are a load of doors in the ring with sharp objects attached to throw your opponents into. The winning team gets the advantage in the forthcoming Psycho Circus match, though I didn’t know this until it was announced after the match. Which is good, because that would have given away who was going to win. With this acting as almost a preview to that match, they don’t give everything away, but the spots we do get are still pretty nasty, no half arsing it here. Moore gets brutally slammed through a door with jagged metal sticking out by Cannonball, but is able to use his speed advantage to evade the big man and in return dropkick Cannonball into a door with sliced up beer cans poking through. There’s no real story, with people fighting on the floor while a member of each team does battle in the ring, but it’s a fun spectacle. Stockade looks great, love how he uses his weight to add to his moves. His bulldog looks like he’s really dragging opponents to the floor, and his Shining Wizard looks deadlier when a man that size is flying at you. More fun spots follow, Sullivan getting backdropped into a door covered in carpet strips and Cannonball crushing Stockade with a full weight cannonball. The women aren’t highlighted much until the finish, where Calaway goes to slam von Black onto light tubes, only for Cannonball to punch her, causing her to fall backwards onto the lights, von Black landing on top for the win. Man, I really can’t wait for the Psycho Circus match.

Limitless Wrestling - Hybrid Moments

Ace Romero vs Sami Callihan

Really hot opener. Romero is a really big guy, with a sort of Dusty Rhodes physique. The story here is that Romero has gone from main eventing the last show to opening this one, so he’s got something to prove. Proper hard-hitting back and forth contest, with Callihan seemingly trying to use his pace advantage early, hitting and running. Romero bumps big for a guy his size, missing a top rope senton to the apron, as well has connecting with a big senton on the floor. He maybe needs to leave visible air when hitting big boots, but he impressed here. Both got to kick out of some big moves – Romero hits two more sentons on Callihan inside the ring, whilst Callihan hits an unlikely DVD on Romero – but that worked for the story they were telling. An exchange of slaps ends with Romero hitting a big lariat to win.

Jordynne Grace vs Jessicka Havok

Really fun power battle between these two, kicking off with a shoulderblock battle that Havok wins. Grace finds herself in the rare position of being overpowered, so she has to resort to using her speed advantage instead, attacking with sudden bursts of energy. Loved her running elbow in the corner to a seated Havok. In turn, Havok looks great using her size advantage, really liked the standing Full Nelson she locked, which had Grace completely off the mat. The end was a bit sloppy, as Grace couldn’t fully get Havok up for a top rope powerbomb, but this was decent.

Josh Briggs vs Darby Allin

Briggs comes across as one of those guys who’s very tall, but not particularly imposing. He seemed fine, but it’s Allin who does all the noteworthy stuff in this match. He gets great height on a springboard armdrag, does a lovely move where Briggs kicks out of an O’Connor Roll and Allin deftly leaps to the bottom rope and flies back with a crossbody to the seated Briggs, as well as taking some big bumps when he gets posted outside the ring. Allin impressively flips out of a chokeslam and gets in a rapid chop combo, but the power advantage pays off for Briggs, as he wins with a huge facebuster slam. Allin looked great in defeat.

Maine State Posse (Danger Kid & Alexander Lee) vs The Thick Boys (John Silver & Jay Freddie)

The commentary seemed to suggest that this incarnation of the Posse didn’t seem to be gelling very well, referring to a third member who apparently works better with Danger Kid. Loved the huge flip dive Danger hit early on, seemed at odds with his unimpressive look. Alexander Lee didn’t really impress, seeming a bit tentative on his kicks, but I loved how Silver worked with him here, rolling into his legs to send Lee crashing into the ropes and hitting a big rebound German suplex. Things break down with the commentary highlighting that Danger Kid still hadn’t tagged into the match, and as soon as Kid accidentally kicks his partner, the result is pretty obvious, as the Thick Boys hit a double Rubix Cube on Lee to win.

Matt Cross vs Petey Williams

Two elder heads of the indy scene colliding, and this is a comfortable, amiable match. Nothing fancy, but both guys are experienced enough that you suspect they could work this bout in their sleep. Petey does some token legwork, but you don’t really watch a Matt Cross match for his selling, so it’s not a huge surprise when he starts his comeback with cartwheels and springboards. Petey locks in a decent looking sharpshooter, and I loved the smarts in him leaning back to grab Petey’s hand to try and prevent a rope break. Cross does two moves in a row that end with a double stomp, just to make sure you know his leg is totally fine. The Canadian Destroyer is reversed into a Jig’N’Tonic for two, before a springboard cutter gets three for Cross. Pretty easy going stuff.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs Jonathan Gresham

Nice change of pace here, as both guys decide to work a load of character-based schtick rather the big-move workrate style seen in other matches here. It’s a fun dynamic, the loudmouth vs the technician, and they work it well here. Gresham gets every opportunity to make MJF look foolish, including trying him up in his own trunks in order to hit a move on his prone opponent. Friedman gets a run of control and starts focusing on the arm and shoulder of Gresham, sending him into the ringpost. Gresham fires back with a nice sequence, hitting a jawbreaker, an enzuigiri and a German suplex in quick succession for a 2 count. MJF takes advantage of a distracted ref, however, to hit a low blow and tie up Gresham with an armbar for the win.

Cam Zagami vs Chris Dickinson

Zagami cuts a fun heel promo, offering an open challenge, before getting blindsided by Dickinson, who hits two Pazuzu Bombs for the quick win. This was really more of an angle to let Dickinson call out Eddie Kingston on the mic afterwards, but it was fun enough.

Christian Casanova vs Ethan Page

Probably the weakest of the featured matches. Casanova seemed fine, even if he spends a lot of the early stages re-tying his hair, but there’s definitely some sloppy moments. They even blow the spot where a heel pretends to be about to throw his opponent through the crowd but instead throws them back into the ring, as Casanova accidentally throws Page into the camerawoman by the apron. Page is a guy with a lot of hype, but it felt like there was good and bad to his performance. I liked his cross-armed iconoclasm, but his through-the-ropes stunner looked poor. Page’s swanton looked decent, before we get a ref bump. Mr Grim comes out, seemingly to attack Casanova, but instead levels Page with a Pounce, and Casanova hits Page with a gold chain to win. Not great, but this was fine.

Skylar vs Willow Nightingale vs Davienne vs Ashley Vox vs Kennedi Copeland vs Terra Calaway

Pretty fun little match, basically non-stop action. There’s a nice dive sequence on the floor, highlighted by an unlikely second rope moonsault by Nightingale. Copeland hitting a series of sloppy cutters is the only questionable bit, but there’s lot to enjoy here. Dug Calaway hitting a series of big cannonballs in the corner, liked Davienne following that by dropkicking people into the ringposts in the corners, before Calaway ends up alone with Copeland, hitting a full Nelson slam to win. Evenly worked to give everyone a little shine, fun spotfest to break things up before the main.

JT Dunn vs Anthony Greene

Though this was really good, both men really impressed me here. Dunn was really good working from beneath, as he works most of this match selling a leg injury. His selling is believable, firing off his good leg when hitting punches on his comeback and really stretching to hit a blow when Greene is JUST out of range. Greene had really nice execution to his stuff, real snap to his moves. His roaring elbow looked great, and I loved his instant focus on the leg when Dunn goes down injured. Both guys get convincing nearfalls, with Greene hitting a top rope cutter and Dunn nailing him with Death By Elbow. The end sees a double count out, as Dunn hits a tombstone on the apron, sending both men tumbling to the floor. Dunn is on the brink of getting back in, but Greene holds onto his leg, ensuring the match ends a draw. Really enjoyed this, thought Dunn was far more effective as a face than in the previous match I’d seen where he was a heel, and for a guy I’d never heard off Greene was a really fun discovery.

Beyond Wrestling - Bye Bye Beautiful

Mike Verna & Ryan Galeone vs EYFBO (Mike Draztik & Angel Ortiz)

Fun opener here, really liked the heel team of Verna and Galeone. Though the smaller EYFBO hit a pair of dives to kick things off, the power of the heel team soon becomes apparent. Verna hurls an opponent off the top rope onto Galeone’s knee then shows off his power by hitting a slingshot suplex that sees him go around all four sides of the ring. Wasn’t so taken with EYFBO, some of their offence like a slingshot double stunner by Ortiz looked a little corny, but this goes along at a decent pace, albeit a bit too short before the heel team get disqualified thanks to Rex Lawless using a crutch as a weapon on the floor.

Martin Stone vs JT Dunn

This was slightly disappointing, I think maybe I expected a bit more from them. Quite liked the early mat work, with Stone controlling after working over the hand of Dunn. Some nasty digit manipulation and I liked some of the big blows both guys hit. The kicks of Dunn looked nasty and Stone hit some beautiful European uppercuts and a massive clothesline. What I didn’t like was the early pointless strike exchange, and a cutter by Dunn looks a bit sloppy. The end was also pretty poor, featuring a sequence where both guys hit a finisher (Tower of London for Stone, big elbow for Dunn) only for the other guy to kick out at one. Ridiculous shit. Dunn ends up winning with a roll up and a grab of the ropes.

Brandon Watts vs Zenshi

Hadn’t seen Zenshi before, and I’m still not sure how I felt about him. Some of his stuff looked pretty goofy, but he hit some unique high-flying offence that actually worked with the goofiness. Liked his flipping cannonball headbutt from the apron and the way he slipped out of a tornado DDT attempt looked great. Didn’t come off as rehearsed, Zenshi felt more like someone naturally flexible just sliding out of the move. Even a bottom rope 450, which sounds stupid, was really effective thanks to how Zenshi whipped himself into the move. For his part, Watts was reliably good, really liked his STO on the apron and how smoothly he caught a handspring into a backcracker. The end was nice too, as Zenshi tries a 630, misses but tries to roll through, only for Watts to pin him to the mat as he tries, getting the win.

Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson & Jaka) vs Matt Riddle & Jeff Cobb

Some absolutely hard hitting big boys here, and this match doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. The fun part was how well the early matwork was thrown in as Riddle and Dickinson tussle on the ground. Felt like the Steiners/MVC matches where you expected big blows from the off, but you got to see collegiate athletes showing their mat skills first. When we do get to the suplexes, the sheer size of these guys makes everything look impressive. It’s probably lucky for Riddle that his lovely rolling gutwrenches on Jaka get highlighted first, because the ease with which Cobb just hurls Jaka around is mindblowing. Dickinson and Jaka can’t compete with that, so they work some big strikes instead. Dickinson’s legs are like tree trunks, so his big kicks look and sound vicious. Riddle isn’t one to back down from a strike battle, and soon both Riddle and Dickinson have bright red chests. At one point, Riddle hits a series of chops to Dickinson’s chest that just sees a sheen of sweat fly off his body. The end run is pretty hot, but the Doom Patrol win through smarter tag team tactics, as Dickinson takes out Riddle with a bucklebomb, which leaves Cobb isolated for a high/low to give them the win. Really great match.

John Silver vs Zack Gibson

Really nice mix of characters here. Gibson’s pre-match promo sees him getting booed constantly, he’s barely audible. For his part, Silver is a little pocket rocket, and I love that after all Gibson’s big talk, Silver just blasts him at the bell, nearly picking up the win right away. Match was really nicely worked, with Gibson focusing heavily on the left arm of Silver in preparation for the Shankly Gates. The hammerlock slam on the apron was nasty looking. Silver peppers in a few nice comebacks, and something about his compact frame makes his strikes look more forceful. Superkick to a kneeling Gibson looks great, as does a pump kick, but Gibson always has the arm as an opening. Eventually, Silver hits a Batista Bomb (should be ridiculous from a guy so small, but he whips Gibson down with real force) and a knee to the head to win.

Travis Banks vs Tracy Williams

This was good, but not without flaws. For starters, I couldn’t tell if either guy was playing heel or not. Banks seems to be early on, going for a kick when offering a handshake and kicking Williams from a rope break, but after that he wrestles the match pretty straight with the crowd supporting him. Williams, as I’ve felt in previous matches, has strikes that don’t look particularly effective, but are sold as being on a par with Banks’, which look much stiffer. Banks hits a corner cannonball at speed that looks great. Williams applies a crossface that I initially thought looked sloppily loose, but when Banks rolls out to escape it, Williams is there to meet him and hook him into a piledriver, so it works. Banks ends up winning with the Slice of Heaven.

Donovan Dijak vs WALTER

This was a really interesting match, really well worked. This is Dijak’s last match for the promotion before heading to NXT, and he really takes a beating here. Despite his size, Dijak is the underdog throughout as WALTER just keeps on him like a bear. There’s one lovely spot where Dijak breaks a sleeper hold by making the ropes, but before he can turn around WALTER launches him with a big German suplex. Even though you suspect Dijak rarely works from beneath in matches, he’s really good at timing his hope spots, but he doesn’t get too many. The corner combo, as Dijak turns and levels WALTER with a series of shots including a rolling big boot, looks great, but soon his comebacks feel like they’ve got less and less behind them as WALTER wears him down. Dijak flipping out of a powerbomb attempt is super impressive, but he promptly eats a WALTER lariat. Even when Dijak gets to hit Feast Your Eyes, WALTER hits a massive clothesline as he falls to stop any momentum. In the end, Dijak uses his last scrap of energy to power up from a sleeper, hit a second Feast Your Eyes and barely win. Really great bout.

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.

Filsinger Games - Legends of Wrestling 2014

So yeah, here's an interesting little show. Basically, me and technology have never been the best of mates. I'm a bit of an old luddite at heart. But, I decided that it might save me time and money to start downloading shows rather than buying them. I got this from Smart Mark Video, and I basically chose it because it was the cheapest show I could find, and wanted to make sure I actually was able to download easily. As it turns out, I had no problem, so here is a very odd show. My research shows that Filsinger Games are a company who made a Legends of Wrestling card game, and seemingly put on this show to promote it. However, a look at the line-up will show that only Brutus Beefcake (and at a stretch Stevie Richards) fit the term "legend" - well, a little research revealed that Marty Jannetty was also due to appear, but no-showed in classic Marty fashion. Still, the rest of the show looks like an interesting enough curiosity...

Alex Reynolds, John Silver & Papadon vs Bill Collier, Brandon Thurston & Jimi The Flying Hippie

Pretty decent six man opener here. The heel team of Reynolds, Silver and Papadon all seemed pretty decent, especially considering the opening stages saw all three having to stooge about for Jimi. The Flying Hippie is a gimmick I’m almost pre-designed to hate, and he was pretty annoying. He seemed fine in the ring, bar a rolling senton to a bent-over Papadon that looked utterly painless. Papadon was probably my favourite guy in this, thought he sold well (including some wonderful stooging on a airplane spin), did some nice offensive touches like rebounding off the bottom two ropes to hit a low clothesline and did some fun shit-talking while on offense, which saw him eat a punch to the face. Thurston looked pretty green, bar a nice tilt-a-whirl into an armbar, so I was surprised to learn he was a 10-yr veteran at this point. The heels work heat on Thurston until Collier tags in, and he’s basically the world’s best Colin Cassady. Moves like a big guy, uses his weight and size to crash into people, and showed nice strength in holding all three heels up for a fallaway slam/Samoan drop combo. Everything breaks down with a string of finishers and Collier simply punches Reynolds in the face to knock him out for the win.

Stevie Richards vs Chuck Taylor

This was for Taylor’s 24/7 Kentucky Hardcore title. Stevie looks in fantastic shape here, looking really cut. Before the match starts, a fat Doink waddles out and rolls up Taylor to win the title. Stevie quickly gives him the Steviekick, and becomes the defending champion going into the match. This sets the tone for a really disjointed comedy match. There’s a load of terrible Taylor schtick at the start of this, which is really annoying, and it’s utterly infuriating how he can’t sell a move without pulling a stupid face or yelling at a fan. I like the way the commentators put over Richards’ hardcore experience to explain his dominance early, and he takes maybe the best bump on the show as he’s hurled through a chair into a bin. Stevie takes control again with some lovely punches, before the match totally drops off a cliff.

Basically, commentator Robert Evans enters the ring with a mic, explaining he’d made a deal with another promotion, and had a court order to stop the show. Because the middle of the match is the perfect time for that. Stevie rips up the paper, teams with Taylor to beat up Evans, then the match resumes. Just bafflingly bad booking to properly take me out of the match.

Anyway, the restart goes maybe two minutes. We get a ref bump, both guys hitting low blows, some guy in a mask hitting a DDT on Stevie, then Taylor retaining. Just a hotchpotch mess of a match, though Stevie looked really good. I don’t blame this shit on him.

Brutus Beefcake & John McChesney vs Bennett Cole & Rocky Reynolds

Right, let’s be honest to start: no, this isn’t a great match. Even in his prime, Beefcake wasn’t great and this is him aged 57, so it’s unlikely he’s going to be great here. But, to be fair, he also wasn’t terrible– he worked over the arm of Reynolds nicely, worked a double-team or two with McChesney, could still get his leg to face height to hit a big boot and, most importantly, looked happy to be there, and you can’t expect much more from him than that. Most of the match was Reynolds working McChesney, and that was pretty good. Reynolds was like a mix of Fritz von Erich and Crash Holly, small with a gravelly voice and a real fun presence in the ring. I thought he looked pretty good, loved little things like him selling his injured arm after hitting an ax-handle. Cole was a big fat guy, and his stuff looked pretty wimpy. At one point McChesney hits a top rope rana, which sees him land on the floor before Cole manages to take a bump, and that’s on Cole. I thought the Reynolds/McChesney segments were good, and Brutus tried, so I enjoyed this for what it was. The end saw Brutus lock the sleeper on Reynolds, drawing two associates of Reynolds’ manager into the ring for the DQ. The faces knock these two men out, and cut of their hair, which gives the show a crowd pleasing finish.