Mae Young Classic 2018 - Round 2 #1

Toni Storm vs Hiroyo Matsumoto

So this episode kicks off with a cracker of a match. Loved the opening, evenly worked matwork being paid off by Matsumoto heeling it up by booting Storm in the stomach from a handshake. From there, Matsumoto controls Storm, breaking her down with a lovely missile dropkick and focusing on the back. Toni gets a lovely snap German suplex and a corner charge, but after both ladies build up momentum by running the ropes, it’s Matsumoto who takes advantage with a massive clothesline. Hiroyo hits the Vader Bomb kneedrop and shows great strength by muscling Storm up for the Rock Drop, but Toni makes the ropes. Matsumoto hits a pair of vicious clotheslines, but showboats too much, allowing Toni to reverse a third into a bridging cradle for three. Storm ate a lot of punishment here, so it made sense that her win would have to come from a reversal, and Matsumoto’s hubris came back to haunt her.

Rhea Ripley vs Kacy Catanzaro

There were bits of this I really dug, mainly the bits where Ripley’s raw power let her muscle Catanzaro around, but I’m still unconvinced by Kacy’s offence. I liked Rhea having enough awareness not to fully sell a glancing flying headscissors, stumbling but not going over. Kacy getting a small package when Ripley was too nonchalant going for a suplex made sense, looked like she really caught Ripley unaware. Ripley hits a neat low dropkick to Catanzaro’s face as she sits up and a great delayed vertical suplex, walking her around the ring. Rhea whips Catanzaro off the mat, through her legs, to lock in a neat cloverleaf variation. Kacy gets a small run off offence, fun tilt-a-whirl DDT and a nice twisting plancha, but her botching a springboard dropkick and just repeating the spot is a bit iffy. Ripley plants her with a sitout powerbomb for the win.

Taynara Conti vs Lacey Lane

I’m totally becoming a believer in Conti, thought she was excellent here. She’s believably cruel in her actions, loved her getting Lane off the ropes by a pair of nasty kicks to the hands. Lane has some flash, but Conti provided the meat of this match, with a big judo throw and a slam from the corner both looking great. Conti goes for the judo throw sideslam that won her the last match, but Lane reverses to a crucifix bomb for the win. This was brief, but fun.

Meiko Satomura vs Mercedes Martinez

This match had the potential to be excellent, and it massively achieved it and then some. Both women are portrayed pretty evenly, as two veterans and two of the top seeds in the tournament. Satomura sets the bar early, with a nice kick combo polished off with a big legsweep. Martinez slaps Satomura, before laying into her with a series of big strikes and a flurry of elbows to the head. At one point Satomura gets fired up and looks to be mounting a comeback, only for Martinez to crotch her on the top ropes and nail a swinging neckbreaker. Loved how Satomura’s comeback was worked, as she caught Mercedes unaware with an armbar, giving her the opening to then lay into her with some kicks. A pair of nasty looking DDTs followed, but Martinez blocks a Pele kick to nail a Fisherman Buster. This only gets a two count, and Martinez tries to lock in a surfboard. However, Satomura breaks it, and kicks Martinez as she tries to get up. The Scorpion Kick finishes it moments later. Really great hard-hitting stuff, with Satomura being just a little too quick and focused for Martinez.

WWE Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode #2

Deonna Purrazzo vs Priscilla Kelly

This is the best match of the episode, thought it put over Deonna well whilst still letting Kelly stand out. Purrazzo bamboozles Kelly early on, throwing in a few WoS spots to confuse her, before Kelly takes over with a big boot. Really liked Kelly’s Dragon Sleeper, she really worked the hold to make it look like an attempt at a submission. There’s a slightly shaky bump for a phantom hiptoss, but this is good stuff on the whole. Loved the ending, as Purrazzo snaps her down with a quick Side Russian Legsweep and quickly chains to a Fujiwara armbar for the tap.

Zeuxis vs Aerial Monroe

This felt like the two weren’t really on the same page. The opening seems especially awkward, with nothing looking like it was really connecting. I liked Zeuxis really heeling it up by responding to Monroe’s angry “Don’t touch the hair” by almost exclusively doing hair-based offence. Hair throws across the ring, an abdominal stretch where she grabs the hair, just hilariously dickish. She also locks in a Camel Clutch where she just rips at Monroe’s face. A Zeuxis roll up looks really ungraceful before Monroe comes back with a sliding flatliner and some nice strikes in the corner, but Zeuxis hurls her to the top rope on a corner charge and hits a Spanish Fly for the win. Zeuxis’ heeling was the best thing about this match, a lot of sloppy offence.

Reina Gonzalez vs Kacy Catanzaro

Really big size difference here, with Gonzalez being billed as 1 foot and 100lbs bigger. Thought some of Gonzalez’s power offence was really good here, loved her spinning Catanzaro round in a front facelock and she hit a few big slams along the way. Also loved her really flattening Catanzaro with a big elbow. Catanzaro is obviously a tremendous athlete and showed a lot of potential, but she was also very green in places. Her kicks looked a bit milky and her offence looked unconvincing at times. Needed to lay it in a bit more, but the potential is obvious. Great visual with Gonzalez bending Catanzaro over her knee with a backbreaker, made Gonzalez look like a monster. Kacy gets the win after a neat springboard dropkick (going from the apron to the second rope inside the ring in one move) and a victory roll.

Ashley Rayne vs Mercedes Martinez

This was the biggest disappointment to me as I like both women, and thought this had the potential to be a good bout, but it was pretty underwhelming. They work it pretty evenly until Martinez absolutely plants Rayne with a cradle driver in what should absolutely have been the match finish. Rayne is back on offence not long after that, which really undersells the move. Martinez reverses a Rayne tornado DDT to a long delayed vertical suplex, but she tries another straight away and Rayne casually slips out, so I guess it didn’t hurt too much. Rayne’s offence didn’t look particularly convincing at first, but she starts to sink it in more as the match progresses. Martinez’s offence on the other hand looks good throughout, and she just plants Rayne with a spinebuster. We get a few more clunky looking moves and reversals before Martinez finally hits a Fisherman Buster for the win.

WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 8 (Semi Finals)

Mercedes Martinez vs Shayna Baszler

They play up the teacher/student relationship between Martinez and Baszler, and in keeping with that Baszler shakes hands with her opponent for the first time in the tournament. Tentative start, with both hesitant to commit, but it’s Martinez who draws first blood, reigning down chops, forearms and even throwing some feints on Baszler. She also misdirects Shayna before locking in a chinlock. When Baszler gets an opening, she hits a nasty looking strikes combo, throwing shots to different parts of the body (crucially including the knee) that Martinez can’t block. Loved Baszler’s rolling gutwrenches, showing off a bit of strength. They exchange strikes in the middle of the ring before Martinez is able to hit the Fisherman Buster. However, her knee has been broke down by the assault by Baszler and she can’t get over to cover in time. Martinez is able to hit a series of suplexes, but Baszler reverses another Fisherman Buster attempt into the choke to win.

Kairi Sane vs Toni Storm

Calling bullshit on the commentary claims that these two have never faced each other before, primarily because I saw them on opposing tag teams in London last year. Nice chain wrestling sequence to start, with Storm getting in one sharp blow to the right arm of Sane. Sane does these really fun sells of Storm’s uppercuts, as if she’s desperately trying not to show weakness by falling. Sane hits a big crossbody to the floor in an impressive moment. Storm avoids the Sliding D by getting feet up, again causing pain to the arm. Loved Sane countering the hip attack with a massive spear. First attempt at the big elbow is stopped by Storm getting a bridging muscle buster for two. More damage is done to the arm as Storm blocks the spinning backfist and pulls her down into a bridging armbar, which looks nasty. What I like is how the elbow injury is played. Sane knows her arm is injured, but also knows her elbow drop is her killshot, so she takes the risk to hit the top rope elbow and, when she does, it gets the win. Really good match.

WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 7 (Quarter Finals)

Abbey Laith vs Mercedes Martinez

As they lock up, it suddenly dawns on me that earlier this year I wrote up a match they had for AAW, which I really enjoyed. This wasn’t quite so go, mainly because it didn’t get as much time to develop, but it was still good. Probably the best Martinez has looked in the tournament, with little touches like her using Laith’s momentum to roll through an armbar into a pinning cradle. Loved her aggression early on, throwing some big shots in the corner. Laith is a likable face working from underneath, though her strikes seem less impactful than those of Martinez. Mercedes pretty much telegraphs a failed suplex from outside by having her arm under the top rope as she goes for it. Laith unsurprisingly reverses this into a nice German for 2. The end seems to come from nowhere and isn’t really built to, as Martinez rolls through the Alligator Clutch and hits a fisherman buster to win.

Candice LeRae vs Shayna Baszler

I came into the tournament unconvinced by LeRae, and she’s not really done anything to change that view. That said, this is her best showing in the tournament. Her suicide dive into a DDT on the outside looked great. Between that and the Yim dive in the second round, Baszler has ended up being a surprisingly good base for high flyers. LeRae goes for the Gargano Escape, but when she tries to roll through to keep Shayna from the ropes, the more experienced submission wrestler is able to escape easily. Candice goes for the 2^nd rope neckbreaker, but Baszler reverses into the choke for the win. Nice little sprint, again puts over the danger Baszler poses, being able to lock in her finisher from anywhere.

Piper Niven vs Toni Storm

Another match I’ve seen before, this time in a leisure centre in Mansfield. Kinda neat to see it taking place in a WWE ring. This is a really great match, possibly the match of the tournament thus far, despite the commentary not really telling the story of the match. The story, which both ladies show by their actions and expressions, is that they’re clearly close friends – Piper laughs off Storm stealing her “gentle punch to the chin” taunt and they work a fun knucklelock sequence ending with them shaking hands whilst bridging on their necks. This is vital for the next stage, where Storm is bridging again, having escaped another move, and Niven just thinks “Fuck it” and hits a big surprise splash for two. At this point, the tone changes and Niven blitzes Toni in an attempt to win. She nails two crossbodies and a senton, all getting two, before Toni is able to fight her way back into the match, avoiding a cannonball and hitting a hip attack in the corner. The Michinoku Driver gets 2 for Niven, and we see her frustration kicking in. She goes for a Vader Bomb, but Storm gets up and hits a second rope German suplex (also paying off her failed attempts to hit a German earlier in the match). A top rope legdrop gives her the win. Really great stuff.

Kairi Sane vs Dakota Kai

Another good match, with both ladies being similar in size and style. This is the first time Kai hasn’t been the smallest competitor in the match, so it was nice to see her in a role other than underdog. Loved Sane hitting a pounce from nowhere to catch Kai unawares. Kai’s curling running kick into the corner looks great every time. I enjoyed Sane avoiding the corner stomp by virtue of the tactic of “not holding herself up into position” before following it with a neat diving elbow strike from the top. Kai misses a second corner kick, and the Alabama Slam is followed by Sane’s top rope elbow to win.

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 2

Mercedes Martinez vs Xia Li

Li has a massive disadvantage in terms of experience, as this is played up as her first ever match. In contrast, Martinez is the veteran, and obviously someone the WWE trust to work with their green talent. With that said, Li looked terrific here. She’s got a unique look that makes her stand out, but her offence was really on point here. Loved her range of kicks and her movement to slide into a crucifix behind Martinez. Her running punch to a kneeling Martinez was really great before she gets caught in a lovely looking spinebuster. Mercedes gets the win by locking in a surfboard into a Dragon sleeper. Bit of a Li showcase, but an effective one, with Martinez moving on to get more chances to shine later.

Marti Belle vs Rachel Evers

Considering how good Li looked in her match, the fact that these two put on such a stinker is more telling. On the positive side, Belle does some nice character work as a condescending heel, but the rest…terrible. There’s an early tell as Evers barely gets over on a suplex. Evers and Belle exchange some woeful looking punches, though Evers does hit a nice looking senton. An Evers spinebuster looks sloppy, and she then takes an odd looking bump from a Belle Stroke. They just don’t look to be on the same page, so it’s a relief when Evers gets the win with a roll up. The worst match of the tournament so far.

Rhea Ripley vs Miranda Salinas

Another match with some impressive rookie performances. Ripley in particular had some great looking dropkicks, a lovely running boot in the corner and a diving dropkick into the corner. Salinas does some nice work in getting over as a heel despite being substantially shorter and her heel control was perfectly fine. Ripley gets the win with a full nelson slam, and both girls looked promising here.

Mia Yim vs Sarah Logan

You can really tell the fact that these two are more advanced than a lot of the competitors, as this is a really good match. They cut a much faster pace, working fluid looking sequences. Loved the sudden dropkick Logan hits to a kneeling Yim, and Yim fires back with some stiff kicks. They also exchange some nasty blows on the mat. A German suplex to Logan looks a little off as Logan has to roll into place to have her shoulders down after initially landing out of the pin. Logan misses a leaping kneedrop and Yim hits Eat Defeat for the victory. Really good stuff. 

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 Tag World Grand Prix 2003

After the first CHIKARA show (previously reviewed), there's a gap of filmed shows until this one from a year later. This is a tag team tournament, with 12 teams competing. A mixed bag this one, though it does improve as the show progresses.

The Nightshift (Blind Rage & Hallowicked) vs Team Midwest (Brad Bradley & Jimmy Jacobs)

Fun opener here. Bradley is the wildcard factor of the match, being substantially bigger than the other guys. He dominates both of the Nightshift with his strength, before press slamming his partner to the outside onto their opponents. He follows with a super-impressive tope, with Jacobs holding the Nightshift in place as a nice touch. The heat, logically, is worked on Jacobs, with some nice double-teams. Particularly liked Blind Rage hitting a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and holding Jacobs in place for Hallowicked to drop an elbow. They establish Bradley as an easily distracted hot-head here, as Nightshift barely have to provoke him before he tries rushing into the ring, distracting the ref. Bradley looks great again on the hot tag, with both Nightshift members taking big flips off clotheslines. Great back suplex on both heels by Bradley, before his short-attention span costs his team the match. Hallowicked grabs his foot as he runs the ropes, prompting him to leave the ring, leaving Jacobs to get pinned following a bridging O’Connor roll from Rage. Good tag formula.

Team Toryumon (Arakencito & Skayde) vs the Superfriends (Chris Hero & Mike Quackenbush)

This one never felt like it got going in a meaningful way, and felt too exhibitiony for most of it’s time. Before the match, it’s announced that Arakencito only needs to pin Hero or Quack for a 2 count to win, and they’d need to pin him for a 4. Arakencito is a little spark plug here, and I dug his run of offence in the closing stages, hitting repeat leaping headbutts on Hero in the corner. The opening stages, however, are given up to some matwork between Quack and Arakencito, and Skayde and Hero. It’s all very smooth and enjoyably goofy (loved Skayde turning a Hero hiptoss into an abdominal stretch), but it all feels quite uncompetitive, like none of the wrestlers are really trying to win. There is an Arakencito tope to Quack that looks great, but there’s no sense of trying to stop tags or actively win the match. The end sees Arakencito try and ill-advised Tiger suplex on the much bigger hero, and Hero instead locking in the Hangman’s Clutch for the tap.

Team FIST (Gran Akuma & Icarus) vs The Conundrum (Jigsaw & Rorschach)

This wasn’t very good, which surprised me because some of these guys were really good within 12 months, but a lot of this was very awkward and sloppy. The reversals of go-behinds by Jigsaw and Icarus looked really co-operative. Akuma hits a lovely dive on Jigsaw, which I hoped would kick start things to life. Jigsaw does some nice heeling here, arguing with the ref whilst draping his knee over his opponents throat, and opportunistically slapping his opponent from the apron. There are some good moments from the heels, including a series of reverse and normal atomic drops, but there are several signs of greenness and hesitancy throughout. The faces regain control following a terrible looking twisting splash that misses by Jigsaw. Rorschach grabbing Akuma to go all the way over on a sunset flip and instead be hit with the Jig N Tonic was nice, before Jigsaw takes a stunner/crossbody combo for the loss. Patchy at best.

American Gigolo & Jolly Roger vs UltraZERO (Ultramantis & Mr ZERO)

At first this feels like a step in the right direction. Mr ZERO looks terrific in the early going, showing himself to be quite graceful for his size and showing nice touches like slapping Roger’s chest to open him up for a headlock. Gigolo and Roger seem to be working heel, and gain control of Ultramantis by Gigolo simply outwrestling him. There’s a lot of headscratching moments throughout, like Gigolo trying to whip Ultramantis towards his own corner during the heat section (and worse, Ultramantis deciding to reverse it), and there’s a few sloppy moments like Roger having to stand like an idiot and watch Ultramantis climb to the top. The faces win with a double-team neckbreaker on Roger, who gets abandoned by his partner.

Swiss Money Holding (Ares & Double C) vs Senior Assault Team (Lester Crabtree & Melvin Snodgrass)

Double C is, of course, the future Cesaro. Brief comedy squash, with the SAT being two masked lads playing old men. Double C sends Irish Whips Snodgrass, sending him off very slowly. This gives the Swiss time to destroy Crabtree in the corner and still have time to hit the onrushing Snodgrass with a double-team spinebuster/neckbreaker combo. Effective enough.

Mercedes Martinez & Sumie Sakai vs The Wildcards (Blackjack Marciano & Eddie Kingston)

Intergender tag match here, and one that does show some of the pitfalls of the genre. Mercedes is pretty tall and looks quite strong, so it’s not too much of a stretch to see her keeping up with and controlling the Wildcards, especially when Marciano is cockily underestimating her. Sakai, however, is tiny, and as talented as she is, it doesn’t look believable for the heels to bump for her. A top rope crossbody to the floor looks very safe given how easily they catch her en route to the floor, and you can see Marciano clearly protecting her on some slams. I did like the story of Kingston in particular being dismissive of Sukai, with some loud mouthed trashtalk, before Sukai gives him comeuppance, but some timing issues mean Kingston is on his feet looking like an idiot on more than one occasion before getting downed with a missile dropkick. Kingston takes slow looking ranas from both women, before Sakai accidentally dropkicks her partner. This allows Marciano to roll up Sakai for the victory. I do like Sakai, I’ve seen her have very good matches with other women, but even in those matches she looked small, so against two men she looked positively tiny, and her offence didn’t look tough enough to overcome that.

The Nightshift vs Team FIST

On the retrospective commentary on the first CHIKARA show, Mike Quackenbush revealed that Blind Rage had some wrestling experience before coming to learn in CHIKARA, and boy does it show. He’s really on here, love the sequence where he hits a necksnap on Akuma, slaps Icarus in the face then holds a chinlock on Akuma whist staring daggers at Icarus on the apron, all in one slick sequence. Everything looks a level above the last FIST match, as the Nighshift are both more experienced than the Conundrum. Icarus looks really good on the hot tag, nicely fired up, though he soon falls prey to a huge crucifix bomb by Rage. The end sees Hallowicked hitting a Michinoku Driver near the ropes, with Rage holding onto a leg to guarantee victory. This was fun

Swiss Money Holding vs The Superfriends

This was a whole heap of fun, and despite going 30 minutes, didn’t feel overlong or padded out. All four guys exchange some really nice mat sequences at the start, including Double C falling victim to the Sword in the Stone from Quackenbush. There’s a fun early spot where Ares twice fakes getting slapped in the face off a rope break by Quack, so on the third time, Quack does just slap him. Things heat up with a dive series, with a Quack flip dive followed by a Double C tope and a twisting dive from Hero. This takes us to the second stage of the match, where SMH work a heat section on Quack, including a great STO/Side Russian legsweep double team. After a long heat period on Quack, Hero then becomes face-in-peril, and this is even better. They pepper in enough hope spots to keep it interesting, but you get little details like Hero ending up in the wrong corner to prolong the heat. Things break down and the SMH spinebuster/neckbreaker only gets two. Hero’s Welcome on Ares gets 2. Hero locks in the Hangman’s Clutch on Ares as Double C locks a chickenwing on Quack and it’s a race to see who taps first…only for the bell to go for the 30 min time limit. Dig the fact they didn’t do any time announcements so as not to telegraph the result.

The Wildcards vs UltraZERO

They were always going to struggle to follow that, being two teams of rookies, but this was also really good. Wildcards jumped their opponents at the bell, which is a sensible change of pace from the previous match. The Wildcards do nothing fancy in this match, they’re just dirty cheating heels, and this also helps their opponents stand out. They concentrate an assault on Mr ZERO’s leg, and I love all the cheating from the apron behind the ref’s back, and Kingston trashtalking to the other corner whilst holding a Boston crab is great. Hot tag is made, and even when all four guys are in the ring and it breaks down, Mr ZERO still sells the legs, which I appreciate. Lovely sequence sees Marciano block the Praying Mantis bomb with a Northern Lights suplex, which Ultramantis holds onto and hits the Praying Mantis bomb second time round. It ends disappointingly though, as Ultramantis hits a really shit looking top rope…suplex? Kingston looks legitimately angry at his landing and ZERO awkwardly covers for the win. Until then, this was good.

UltraZERO vs The Nightshift

This is the tournament final, filmed on another day, but they’ve helpfully added it to this show. UltraZERO control this to start, with Ultramantis frustrating Hallowicked with armdrags, and I dug Mr ZERO holding an abdominal stretch on Hallowicked whilst Ultramantis dropkicked him, with Hallowicked having to eat the full impact. Blind Rage’s offensive run on Ultramantis is really good looking, love the big back suplex and a nice Fujiwara armbar. Rage also has nice little touches like rubbing his head after giving a headbutt, putting over how much thrust he put into it. ZERO tags in, and both Nighshift members take hilarious flip bumps from Mr ZERO clotheslines. Odd moment as Ultramantis goes for the Praying Mantis bomb on Rage, and Hallowicked runs at him but elects not to stop it, instead breaking up the pin on a two count. Hallowicked plants Ultramantis with a top rope brainbuster, and this gets the win and the tournament for the Nightshift.