Womens Wrestling Revolution - WWR Vs The World

Kimber Lee vs Alpha Female

I enjoyed this, albeit not as much as their Mae Young Classic match last year. Alpha Female goes on the attack from the off, and I liked her quickly wearing down Lee for an Anaconda Vice, hitting a flurry of blows to the head to weaken her opponent. Kimber Lee goes back on the attack, with AF oddly seeming to slide to her knees just to eat a bunch of kicks. Alpha hits a big Dominator and a lovely big forearm, but we get an awkward moment with a Gory Bomb reversal, where they just seem to fall over. Loved Lee’s swanton bomb, which looked to land flush, before AF hits a clothesline for two and another Dominator for the win.

Thunder Rosa vs Harlow O’Hara

This almost starts with a goofy dance sequence, but I liked Harlow stopping it straight away with a big shoulderblock. Loved Harlow’s big running knee, and I thought she looked really good in this match. Bad habit of swinging way too high on missed clotheslines, but her locking a butterfly guillotine to Rosa, holding it for a few seconds, then suddenly dropping to the mat looked great. Rosa has a few nice moves, hitting a bunch of nasty chops in the corner, but even then O’Hara gets the better of her by chopping her back in the face. Rosa hits a nice running boot to the face and a top rope stomp for the win, and this was all good.

Davienne vs Skylar vs Oceanea vs Alisha Edwards

Fun four way match, where I thought Davienne and Edwards were the standouts. Davienne is really fun working as monster, making the most of her power and size advantage by bending Oceanea over her knee with a backbreaker. There’s a great spot where she’s got both Skylar and Oceanea on the mat, and does a baseball slide dropkick, pushing them both gut-first into the ringpost. Edwards is worlds apart from her role as face jobber on Impact, here working shit-talking heel, and she’s a load of fun, ostensibly teaming with Davienne, but trying sneaky pins behind her back. Oceanea and Skylar seem fine, but do less to stand out before Skylar hits a poor looking double arm DDT on Oceanea for the win.

Penelope Ford vs Jessica Troy

It’s been two years since I saw a Ford match, and she seemed to have improved vastly in that time. Here, she looked totally confident in the ring, with her execution way up on what it was. Loved her rolling spear into the corner and a really good looking Northern Lights suplex. Troy took the offence nicely, but suffered from having a load of terrible looking strikes, with boots to the head that looked weak and flimsy shots in the corner. In contrast, Ford hit a really nice flurry of shots, a big German suplex into the buckles and a great looking rolling cutter. Troy’s non-strike offence was perfectly fine, but she tried a lot of strikes, before Ford picks up the win with a rolling cradle.

Zoe Lucas vs Karen Q

This was really good, felt like they matched up really well. Loved the matwork at the outset, felt evenly and smoothly worked. There’s a slightly blown flying headscissors early on, but crucially they don’t let it throw them or affect the rest of the bout, as Q hits a big combination of moves in the corner. Lucas has some great flexibility that she uses to her advantage here, getting a nice bridge on a Fisherman’s suplex and getting her leg up really high to hit a spinkick, so that it acts more like a clothesline to the face. She also hits a neat slingshot into a splits on Q for a two count. They also achieve the rare feat of making a simultaneous kick to the head KO spot look good. Lucas hits a great looking standing scorpion kick and a rolling DVD, but Q rolls into a Boston Crab, with Lucas tapping immediately. Loved this.

LuFisto vs Shazza McKenzie

Can’t help but feel that McKenzie came into this with the wrong gameplan, as she decides to brawl on the outside with LuFisto early door. This ends with her taking a powerbomb onto the apron, so you can guess how successful this plan was. LuFisto works her on the mat, tying her legs in a deathlock, whilst also grinding her knee into McKenzie’s spine, before following that with headbutts to the back. McKenzie pretty much has to work from underneath, and ends up using her speed advantage to get some respite, slipping through the ropes to avoid a LuFisto charge and tying her in the ropes to lace into her with kicks. It’s not enough though, as LuFisto hits a backfist and a back suplex for two, before a burning hammer gives her the victory. Maybe a little too one-sided to be great, but this was a lot of fun.

Undeniably Impressive (Tessa Blanchard & Indi Hartwell) vs The Bird & The Bee (Willow Nightingale & Solo Darling)

This kicks off with a really great bit of matwork between Blanchard and Darling, felt really competitive and logical. Loved little touches like Blanchard having to work to get a grip of Darling’s finger to wrench a wristlock, Darling not giving up the digits easily. Nightingale and Hartwell in contrast work faster, running the ropes and countering each other, playing to their own strengths. First time I’d seen Darling and she really impressed, like a little buzzsaw with a neat series of kicks. Tessa kicks Nightingale in the back as she runs the ropes to make her face-in-peril, and her team work a series of running strikes to the back with Willow draped in the ropes. I liked Willow blocking a train of moves in the corner after a couple of blows, makes sense that you wouldn’t just stand there and take a beating, but falls prey to a Tessa codebreaker from the second rope. Darling comes in and also gets worn down, with Blanchard chaining nicely into a butterfly suplex from the mat. Even when Darling comes back, Blanchard impresses, really whipping herself into the mat on bumps. Eventually, order breaks down with all four in the ring, and unfortunately the worst move of the match gets the win, with Nightingale and Darling hitting a contrived double team slam on Hartwell that doesn’t really come off, but this match on the whole was great.

Terra Calaway vs Delmi Exo

Brief stuff with Calaway attacking before the bell, and Exo getting zero offence. Terra picks her off the mat during pinfalls after a big sideslam and a full Nelson slam. Harlow O’Hara comes in for the save, before turning on Exo. Oceanea makes the save, and this was more angle than match. Calaway looked great though.

Jazz vs Jordynne Grace

I enjoyed this a bunch, but it clearly suffered from Grace’s real-life ankle injury that clearly bothered her and likely made the match go short. This started really well, liked how they worked the matwork to start, with each powering out of holds rather than working counters. However, after getting tied in a deathlock by Jazz, Grace’s ankle clearly bothers her, as she goes to the outside to shake it off. Jazz doesn’t go after the injury after that, even when heeling it up later, so it must have been affecting Grace badly. Jazz takes control with some cheap moves after both women have exchanged clubbing blows, working her in the ropes and raking Grace’s eyes. She also hits some nasty crossfaces during a Camel Clutch. Grace gets a very brief comeback, but Jazz escapes a fireman’s carry with an eyerake, and hits a Michinoku Driver for the win. This was still good, but feels like a missed opportunity. Would be up for a rematch.

WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 5

Abbey Laith vs Rachel Evers

This was a step up for Evers after her wretched first round performance, but this wasn’t as good as Laith/Gabert from the first round. Laith hits a scary looking dive early where they cut to an angle that disguises the fact that she’s caught her for on the middle rope. Evers hitting an RKO as a random early move seems a bit odd. I like them basically hitting reset on a double big boot, and I really liked Evers hitting a big second rope slam. Laith seems to win out of nowhere, catching an Evers big boot into a powerbomb, and pinning her with the Alligator Clutch. This was fine.

Piper Niven vs Serena Deeb

You have to question the logic of Deeb deciding to try and slam Niven just moments after failing to take her over with a headlock takeover – unsurprisingly it doesn’t work. Despite that, I did quite enjoy how Deeb built up to finally getting Niven on the mat, working a headlock and using the rope to get elevation to take Piper over. A second attempt at a powerslam looks poor, I don’t buy Deeb having the strength to pick up Niven, and it looks really sloppy. With that being the case, her decision to try and pick up Piper into a fireman’s carry seems like a rookie mistake, and inevitably ends up with Niven countering and hitting a cannonball in the corner. Vader Bomb only gets two, despite it looking like a finisher. The actual end is good though, as Piper misses a splash but is able to sidestep the spear and whip Deeb straight into a Michinoku Driver to win. Another good Piper performance.

Princesa Sugehit vs Mercedes Martinez

Not a bad match, but ultimately a little forgettable. It starts with a nice little mat sequence, before a schoolboy in the corner sends Mercedes head backward into the bottom turnbuckle in a nice spot. Martinez goes for the three amigos, looking a bit laboured in the transition (and really, it’s only Eddie Guerrero who has ever made the swivelling of the hips look believable) but I liked it ending with a draped neckbreaker. The end felt like it came from nowhere, as Martinez escapes Sugehit’s armbar finisher and, using the affected arm, hits a fisherman buster to win.

Kairi Sane vs Bianca Belair

Feels like a real breakout performance by Belair here. Everyone knows how good Sane is, but Belair is right there in the match with her. Her hair-whipping was brutal here, making a loud sound as she beats down Sane in the corner. She also gets to show impressive strength – doing squats whilst holding Sane up for a delayed vertical suplex – and some nice highflying – missing a perfect looking 450 splash. You got the feeling that Belair will really be something in a few years if she keeps up at this rate. However, Sane was also impressive here, and facing a larger, more powerful opponent she needs to be convincing at taking down a stronger opponent. Her sliding D in the corner and vicious spinning backfist will certainly do the job. The big elbow gets the victory, and this was a great showing by both.

WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 1

Kay Lee Ray vs Princesa Sugehit

Pretty fun match to kick off the tournament. Liked Sugehit laying in some nice kicks early, bringing the fight to KLR. Kay Lee has some nice early touches too, loved her spinning Sugehit around on the apron to swing her into a nice looking forearm. A sliding flatliner by KLR looks a bit off, but this is the only glaring moment. Sugehit rolls KLR around the ring with a cradle, and it nicely leaves Kay Lee dizzy for some big kicks to the head. A Gory Bomb gets two for Ray, but she misses a Swanton and Sugehit locks in an armbar for the tap.

Serena Deeb vs Vanessa Borne

Interestingly worked, as even though Deeb is the veteran, Borne has a slight size and power advantage that allows her to control the match for the most part. Liked her nasty headbutt that rocks Deeb. It allows Deeb to gain sympathy and she’s really good at working from underneath. Deeb makes a comeback, but hurls herself into the corner in a nice missed move. It leads to a Borne swinging neckbreaker that feels like the ending, but only gets two. Samoan Drop also gets two and Borne starts getting frustrated. This leads to a missed splash, a missed clothesline and Deeb nailing a spear for three. Decent story, nicely told.

Shayna Baszler vs Zeda

This only goes two minutes, but is pretty fun for it’s runtime. They work a nice little grappling sequence before Baszler goes to the strikes. Liked Baszler blocking a suplex, so Zeda instead locks in a standing choke from the same position. Unfortunately for her, Shayna powers her into a suplex, transitioning straight into a rear choke for the tap. Zeda looked pretty competitive considering the length, it’s just that Baszler got a sudden death move for the win.

Abbey Laith vs Jazzy Gabert

They start this really nicely, as Laith tries repeated blows on Gabert only to get thrown away time and again. The audience reacts really well to this. Gabert looks great dominating early, hitting some blows to the neck of Laith and hooking in a neck crank. Loved the flurry of brutal punches Gabert hits in the corner. Laith has some nice comebacks, including an Octopus Stretch in the ropes. Her kicks look pretty weak in comparison to some of Gabert’s strikes. Gabert’s lariat looks terrific. Jazzy seems to be in control, but Laith escapes a Gory Bomb with a cradle for three. Really good match, Laith looks great in surviving and Gabert looked like a monster in control.

AAW Windy City Classic XII 26/11/2016

ACH vs Mustafa Ali

This was a solid opener, though not the blowaway showstealer the commentary team were portraying it as. I’d never seen ACH before, and I liked some of the little touches he did, like stopping on a slid reversal of an Irish whip to sucker Ali in, then hit a sneaky kick. He’s got some heft behind him too, so his springboard splash looked painful. Ali is really fluid, loved the rolling ring entry that flows into a neckbreaker. There is one moment where ACH really obviously sets up a dive following an Ali baseball slide: ACH awkwardly clambers over the safety rail, then unsubtly pushes the rail away to make space for the landing. It’s actually all for naught, as Ali manages to hit mainly chairs on his flip dive. That aside, I dug this, and I really liked the feel of the ending sequence. ACH hit a succession of moves and got two counts on each, but rather than getting frustrated or selling shock, he swiftly hit another move, not giving Ali time to recover, and eventually being rewarded with the match winning 450 splash.

The Hooligans, Buck Nasty & Connor Braxton vs The Wet Bandits (Markus Crane & Dan Lawrence), Kongo Kong & Colt Cabana

With big indy 8 man matches, it gives you a chance to check out a load of guys you’ve not seen before and to remember names to look for/avoid on future indy cards, and I got guys for both lists here. Hard to get a grip on the Hooligan’s gimmick, they’re wearing overalls and no shoes like your typical hillbilly wrestler, but those overalls are covered in punk rock patches. The first half of this match is filled with some insufferable cutesy comedy nonsense, led mainly by the Wet Bandits. It’s not until the heel team finally get to work some heat on Crane that things pick up. Loved the nasty looking body shots by the Hooligans and the long flurry of chops and punches they inflict on him in the corner. They also hit a nice 2^nd rope legdrop/standing moonsault combo, which was impressive from such stocky guys. Kong I’d heard a lot about, and I loved him picking up Lawrence, his own partner, as a weapon to hit a rolling senton on three opponents in the corner. Braxton and Kong hit opposing simultaneous fallaway slams/Samoan drops, whilst both holding two wrestler, which is impressive, albeit a little too cutesy. Cabana and Kong hit top rope splashes on the Hooligans to win. Final scorecard: Hooligans and Kong – like to see more of, Braxton and Nasty – seemed fine, Wet Bandits – insufferable. Not too bad.

Kimber Lee vs Mercedes Martinez

This is for Martinez’s Shimmer title. Pretty decent match on the whole, though not without a few stumbles from both. Both played their roles well, with Kimber as face running through a nice, crisp offensive flurry to start, contrasting with Martinez heeling it up with chokes, at one point doing a double bicep pose with her leg draped over Lee’s throat. Mercedes definitely wins the battle of stiffer looking chops too. Lee’s comeback run is pretty nice, getting two off a decent swanton, but Martinez looks to have been playing possum, kneeing Lee when she tries to pick her off the mat, and hitting a Fisherman’s buster for the victory.

Alex Daniels vs Chuck Taylor vs Jake Crist

Daniels has a Ben Affleck-themed gimmick, which seems to involve him yelling Ben Affleck film titles before his moves. He seems like quite easily the best guy in this match, bumping like a maniac and hitting some lovely offence – great kneestrike to the face, loved his running slam into the corner and his strikes looked sharp. Crist’s offence was a bit shitter, he hit this really indy-tastic facebreaker that I didn’t like, but his character work was fun, doing this arsehole over-the-top mocking of Daniels’ agony after giving him a belly-to-back suplex on the ring apron. I realised this match that, though I intensely dislike Taylor, his execution of offence is actually fine, it’s just his irritating facials when selling and stupid noises he makes that puts me off. That said, his finishing Awful Waffle looked arse here. Want to see more of Daniels though.

Heidi Lovelace vs Jessicka Havok

This is an I Quit match. Like Lovelace’s gameplan here, attacking the larger Havok with a dive to the floor before the bell. Havok’s size and power advantage means she’s going to control the bulk of the bout, but Lovelace absorbs the punishment and waits until Havok makes a mistake to try and capitalise. The only thing is, she has to eat a load of punishment, getting hurled into the ringside barriers and getting folded in half with a single-leg crab. But then Havok will miss a charge into the corner, and Lovelace pounces, rolling through a crucifix in a lovely movement into a Rings of Saturn. Havok’s kicks are a bit soft, but this kinda helps explain how Lovelace is able to recover despite taking big shots like a Stretch Muffler tangled in the ropes. Havok sets up a load of chairs in the ring to hit a top rope Air Raid Crash, but again this gives Heidi time to recover, escaping to hit a sunset powerbomb through the chairs and then choking Havok out with a chair on a Camel Clutch to win. Really well laid out match, enjoyed this a lot.

Eddie Kingston, Homicide & Low Ki vs Brian Cage, Drago & Pentagon Jr

This has the feel of a dream match, but takes an interesting twist early on due to what seems to be a legit injury suffered by Low Ki. Ki ends up on the floor outside with Homicide checking on him, putting Kingston at a 3-on-1 disadvantage (during which time he suffers the indignity of Pentagon hitting a top rope stomp to his nuts). With Ki still hurt, Homicide and Kingston manage to isolate Drago, the smallest of their opponents, and look utterly badass in the process, taunting Cage and Pentagon and battling against the odds. Low Ki recovers enough to get into the matched, and one-legged Low Ki, with Homicide’s bandana tied around his leg to offset the pain, headbutting Drago manages to look even more of a hardcase than his team-mates. Kingston’s character work here is excellent, selling every minor outrage as a personal insult. Ki gets isolated, but everything breaks down when Homicide and Kingston come to the aid of their injured comrade. After a big finisher train, Ki hits Drago with a shotgun dropkick and a top rope stomp to win. Lots of fun here.

Zack Sabre Jr vs Trent Baretta

Interesting bout here. Liked the early stages, where Baretta is ever so hesitant to lock up with Zack, so pokes him in the eye to take control. There’s a bit where ZSJ has to lie on the mat for ages after a back elbow so Baretta can hit some terrible comedy move, but then this leads to angry ZSJ just working the shit out of Trent’s neck. Baretta then misses a charge in the corner, jarring his elbow, and he’s really in the ring with the worst possible man for that. Zack does some lovely arm work, including kicking the arm when tied up in the railings, and I love the way he ground his elbow into Trent’s spine to force him to the mat to take more punishment. Baretta’s selling of the arm is inconsistent, and Zack actually sells a neck injury more, suffering a Jig’N’Tonic and a cradle piledriver, both for two counts. In the end, ZSJ ties Baretta up on the mat and gets the submission. Baretta didn’t feel in the same ballpark as Zack offensively, which made it harder to accept 50/50 strike exchanges toward the end, but this was still fine.

Trevor Lee & Andrew Everett vs The Besties In The World (Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett)

This is for the AAW tag titles, held by Fitchett and Vega. Probably the weakest match on the card, unfortunately, just a bit too unstructured and sloppy. It starts with a dance-off, which is never a good sign, and features too much comedy nonsense. A plethora of those double team moves where through some convoluted machinations a wrestler ends up hitting a big move on his partner that never look good. Lee is very much the standout here, loved him running the ropes and suddenly switching direction to hit a baseball slide dropkick at a different angle. He even makes a double rana look decent. Everett hits a big insane dive over the ring post which also looks good. Ultimately, this isn’t very interesting and the end sees Fitchett unrealistically reposition himself to take Everett’s match-winning shooting star press.

Sami Callihan vs Chris Hero

Callihan is the defending AAW champion here. Loved Hero hitting a senton right off the bat here, giving him an early advantage over the winded Sami. Really like how Sami isn’t able to get any sustained offence in the match unless he cheats, only for his sudden cockiness to back fire – he fakes an injury to sneak attack Hero, only to celebrate and get punched in the chops. He takes advantage with an eyepoke, but again takes his time attacking and again Hero takes control. Any time Sami takes over, Hero is only one strike from recovering. It’s not until Sami takes out Hero’s leg that he’s able to get sustained control. A vicious chair shot to Hero’s leg looks nasty, and Hero’s size means that a leg injury is the best way to keep him down. Hero keeps firing back with elbows and kicks, but his leg gives out on another elbow attempt, and Sami has him in trouble. Hero hits a big piledriver, but isn’t able to cover, and Sami is actually in the perfect position to grab Hero’s leg and lock in a Stretch Muffler for the victory. Really good stuff.

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.