NYWC Draw The Line 2017

Blake Morris vs Tracy Williams

Strangely, this is probably my favourite match I’ve seen from either guy, even though I’ve seen them both working better opposition. Nice snug matwork to start, with a really competitive battle over a wristlock which shows a side to Morris that I hadn’t previously seen. Williams manages to get control, at first only in part but gradually maintaining control longer and longer. Morris gets a brief bit of respite by yanking Williams’ arm over the top rope, but makes the mistake of going for a sleeper on the mat. This is Williams’ domain and he’s soon able to take control again. Williams offence looks the best I’ve seen it, loved his back suplex and this is the first time I’ve bought him taking someone down with a clothesline due to the force he used. Morris has real great arsehole charisma, he’s really good at being unlikable and he has a sensible gameplan of using the ringside area to his advantage, throwing Williams into things. Morris gets the win after surviving a brainbuster and hitting a tombstone. Really enjoyed this.

The Punk Relics (Jaden Valo & Ugo) vs The Rep (Nate Carter & Dave McCall)

Really quick match, but it’s all action. Punk Relics started hot, until they got caught in the corners and hit with a Super Collider. The Rep look good bullying Ugo about, and Valo gets to come in again with a burst of quick offence before Ugo gets pinned with a two man flapjack. Goes only four minutes, but it’s a fun four minutes.

Bull James vs King Mega

Man, they’ve really not given Bull the best opponents to work in his title run – 55yr old Scott Norton, shitty comedy mode Joey Ryan and now the weakest worker on the NYWC roster. James manages to fend off being blindsided by Blake Morris, and Mega does the worst “charge and almost hit my partner in the corner by accident” spot, as James had already moved before Mega starts his ambling run. His punches are noticeably bad and James spends most of the match selling after Morris continues to interfere. James breaking a chokeslam with a headbutt was cool and James drags the match up to having a semi hot ending as they exchange and counter moves before Bull hits a pedigree to win.

The Big O vs Johnny Radke

Interesting stuff here, as Big O basically squashes the shit out of Radke hitting a massive clothesline and a big powerslam before a ref bump sees 6 men in black hoodies (I spotted the Punk Relics among them) come in and beat the crap out of Big O. Radke hits a superkick and get the win to pick up the Fusion title. Curious angle, feels like some commentary would have enhanced it, but I’m interested to see where it goes.

Bam Sullivan & Jeff Cannonball vs Stockade & G-Raver

Really loved this match. Some real big boys in here, with Stockade and Cannonball being legit super heavyweights (and the other two aren’t exactly cruiserweights). Cannonball uses his size to control early, until he gets sent outside by an unlikely flying armdrag by G-Raver, then hit by an even more unlikely suicide dive by Stockade. G-Raver hits a huge dive to the floor from the top and the faces do some nice double-teaming until Bam is able to send Stockade into G-Raver to take control. Enjoyed the heat on G-Raver, big boot into the face by Sullivan looked great. G-Raver doesn’t wrestle like you’d expect, doing a fair bit of high-flying despite looking like a generic death match worker, and he hits a nice Asai moonsault to Cannonball to break the control. Stockade is awesome as a hot tag, really like how he uses his size to his advantage, throwing his weight around to make everything have more impact. We get a melee, and G-Raver hits a good looking Swanton on Bam, only for Mouse to interfere with a barbed wire covered surfboard to give Sullivan the win. This was really great stuff, all four guys looked terrific.

Willow Nightingale vs Terra Calaway

Interesting to see Willow working from below here, as she’s the smaller wrestler for the first time. Calaway is obviously more used to her role in the match, as she’s in control early with a big legdrop and a nice sideslam early. She follows this with a big corner splash and the cannonball, and all her offence looks great. Nightingale has to hit and run for a change, getting in kicks to the head and a missile dropkick. Willow hits a sloppy looking backcracker and a nice second rope moonsault to win. Surprisingly brief, as Calaway seemed to yield pretty easily, but this was fun.

Benson Brothers vs Anthony LaCerra & Mike Verna

Interesting team of LaCerra and Verna, but they work well together, and the opening stages of this are nicely worked. Pretty even until Verna takes Brad Benson around the ring with his ever-impressive slingshot suplexes. This is a really great Verna performance, moving really quickly and all his control looks good. LaCerra hits a massive flip dive, just avoiding the barricades in a crazy spot. Talon interferes distracting Verna who gets rolled up for the win.

Benson Brothers vs Beer Belly Bandits (JT Kasin & Bo Pritchard)

This seems to come about with the Bandits challenging the Benson’s to an immediate match, and then jumping them with a battering ram on CJ when they accept (Kasin is wearing a metal helmet to add more oomph to the move). This doesn’t seem to be a heel turn, as the BBB even admit to being bandits just before the jump, seems like Guerrero-style cheekiness rather than heelish assault. This is very short, with Brad Benson being controlled before CJ recovers and hits a huge swinging side effect. Brad escapes a Magic Killer and rolls up JT to win. Too short to mean anything, but it gave the Bensons two wins on the bounce. The Bensons are becoming a really fun team to watch.

Aidan Baal vs Matt Tremont

This is a 10,000 thumbtack match. So great to see Tremont back in NYWC, he’s one of my favourite indy guys to watch. He’s just got this aura where he manages to enhance brawls with his presence. He’s got some of the best punches on the indies, even doing that bit where he checks his hand isn’t broken after the punch. Tremont lets Baal back into the match by spending too long getting the dustbin full of tacks and, whilst Tremont is able to duck a shot with a tack covered bat, Baal is able to block a sunset flip with a mean shot to the head. Tremont takes the first big bump into the tacks, getting dumped off the second turnbuckle as he tries climbing the ropes. Tremont hits a Samoan drop into the tacks, which sees him take as much of the puncturing as Baal. The ending nicely helps build the feud between the Extricated (Sullivan, Cannonball, Baal et al) and the Awakening (Stockade, G-Raver, Tremont) as both parties comes out and brawl on the outside. In the melee, Devon Moore comes out, cutters Baal and Tremont hits a DVD onto the tacks to win. The Awakening had lost a lot of matches in the build to this, so they needed the win, and Tremont was really kingsized in this. This really builds up the Psycho Circus match, can’t wait for that to get online.

NYWC Til I Collapse

Papadon vs Mike Orlando

Really solid opener here, I’ve been pretty complementary about Papadon’s shit-talking and schtick in the past, and it really helped carry the match here. Orlando was fine but a bit bland here, his comeback towards the end being all clotheslines and dropkicks. Papadon takes his control by luring Orlando into a stungun, he stops Orlando from breaking a headlock by just grabbing him by the nose and giving Orlando his comeback by taking too long climbing the turnbuckle by yelling at the crowd, before fully committing to his miss by faceplanting into the mat. Orlando hits a nice flipping spear for two. Liked Papadon catching Orlando in the ropes and landing a quick combo of 2-3 blows whilst Orlando can’t escape. The end sees Papadon spit at Orlando’s valet, causing a ref distraction and Papadon gives an eyepoke and a piledriver to get the win.

Willow Nightingale vs Kris Statlander

This was a step below Nightingale’s previous title defences, took a while to get going. Nightingale in particular seemed to be moving in slow motion, don’t know if that’s because she was facing a less experienced opponent. Liked Willow’s headbutts here, her big mane of hair looked wild as she swung her hair. Statlander seemed fine, though some of her execution was a little hesitant. Nightingale picks up towards the end, hitting a decent senton and I liked her superplex that she floated over into a fishermen’s suplex for two. A good DVD gives her the win.

Born & Bred (Anthony LaCerra & Jesse Vane) vs The Rep (Dave McCall & Nate Carter)

There’s a great early spot in this where Vane kicks both members of the Rep from the apron, before LaCerra hits a huge flip dive, leaping over Vane in the process. The Rep take over after blocking double monkey flips and throwing both faces into each other. Vane gets worked over competently enough, not sure how I felt about the double team stampede into a dropkick-assisted side slam. Vane lands on his feet from a fallaway slam and hits a dropkick in a nice spot. LaCerra hits a few nice kicks on the hot tag, and a superkick into a German suplex gives Born & Bred the win.

J-Redd, GIT, Randy Summers & Rick Cataldo vs The Benson Brothers, JT Kasin & Bo Prichard

This is a throwaway 8 man tag that stems from, of all things, an in-ring karaoke competition, where the heel team attack the Bensons, Kasin and Prichard after their own performances didn’t go so well. Brad Benson ends up as FIP. Pretty impressed by GIT’s boomerang clothesline, before everything breaks down and we get everyone in the ring hitting moves on each other (J-Redd’s moonsault press is pretty poor). Summers decides he wants to finish singing the High School Musical song he’d been singing earlier, but Kasin and Prichard grab him and hit a double-team swinging slam to win. Harmless enough.

Mike Verna vs Talon

This is billed as a grudge match, but it didn’t feel like one, more like a normal match. Talon controls the majority of the match, and his offence is fine. Liked his STO. Also really liked the spot where Verna hit a top rope crossbody, but Talon got in a blow in midair so that even though the move took him down, Verna ended up taking more pain. Makes sense given that he’s flying through the air with his stomach totally exposed. Talon ends up picking up the win, as he takes a crutch and hits the injured Rex Lawless at ringside. This distracts the ref, allowing Talon to nail Verna with the crutch and a Curb Stomp to win.

Bam Sullivan & Victoria von Black vs Stockade & Terra Calaway

This is an intergender tagmatch. Always thought Bam was the better of the Sullivan brothers, and he looks really good here. Loved an early spot with Sullivan in the corner, von Black gets tripped into him as she attempts to charge Stockade, and Calaway flattens them both with a corner cannonball. Liked Sullivan picking up von Black as if to wheelbarrow splash her onto Stockade, but instead drops her knee first onto Stockade. Made sense as von Black is the lightest person in the match, so dropping her knees onto him feels like it would do more damage. Von Black’s offence is pretty smartly worked, she’s quite small and Stockade is a huge guy, so her offence is limited to chokes and kicks. Calaway gets tagged in after a nice Stockade DDT to Sullivan. Calaway breaks an attempted von Black sleeper with a backpack stunner. The faces get distracted by destroying Mouse, who is accompanying Sullivan and von Black, but this allows von Black to low blow Stockade and Sullivan nails Calaway with a clothesline to win. This was well-worked, enjoyed this.

Bull James vs Joey Ryan

In contrast, I absolutely hated this. Just a terribly unfunny comedy match that makes the NYWC title match the least hotly contested contest of the show. Admittedly, if you find Ryan’s “powerful penis” jokes funny, you’ll love this, but this isn’t a wrestling match, it’s just a load of unfunny shit. The first few minutes is just Ryan trying to make James touch his knob. Hilarious. They then work a load of nonsense where they both pull lollipops out of their trunks and try to make the other eat it. This goes on for 7 terribly unfunny minutes before Blake Morris and Alex Reynolds run in to make this a no contest. A total waste of time.

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 Tour De Circus 2016

Papadon vs Aidan Baal

Really enjoyed Papadon in this. He’s great at throwing out little touches, like shaking out his arm after taking an armdrag. He cheap shots on every rope break, he yells at the crowd whilst wrenching in a headlock and he does that awesome Finlay thing of using the ring apron to capture Baal on a baseball slide. For his part, Baal is a pudgy guy in terrible gear, but he’s surprisingly agile and moves around really well. Papadon hits a nice uppercut to the back of Baal’s head to set up a Rude Awakening and hits a piledriver to win. This was good.

Blake Morris vs King Mega

This wasn’t so good. There’s a big size difference between Morris and Mega, which is interesting as Morris doesn’t come across as a small guy, nor Mega as particularly big, but there’s a good foot difference face-to-face. I should also say that Morris wasn’t the problem with this match – he looked sharp on offence, liked him working the right arm of Mega with strikes and hit-and-run offence. It’s more that Mega comes across as very slow and unimposing, highlighted by Morris sending him “over-the-top rope to the apron”, which comes across more as “Mega casually bumbling over the rope”. Mega does at least sell the arm – until he blasts Morris with the bad arm on a clothesline, then uses it to catch a Morris tope and chokeslam him into a post outside the ring. Morris narrowly avoids a countout and, though he eats a chokeslam in the ring, he holds onto the arm and locks on a triangle choke to win. Would have been better if Mega had sold the arm more.

Angelo Andrews vs Braydon Knight

Really fun sprint here, both guys seem to be adept at competitively working the mat. Both guys go for takedowns, and there’s a nice feeling of aggression between the two. Knight hits a nice running knee off the apron right into Andrews’ face, but gets caught by a kick right to the face as he re-enters the ring. Neither guy goes over easily on suplexes, adding a competitive element to every suplex attempt. Andrews controls the bout, with a vicious clothesline to the back of Knight’s head and catching a diving uppercut attempt right into a big German suplex. Knight hits a big head-droppy looking exploder, but Andrews locks on a crossface to win.

Hounds of Hatred vs Bull James & Mouse

This isn’t particularly good, basically worked as a handicap match of the Hounds against James, as Mouse spends less than 20 seconds in the ring. James is face-in-peril for the bulk of this match, with the Hounds not being very compelling on offence. It’s hard to come across as these terrifying monsters when you’re applying lingering weak bearhugs on your opponent. Mouse gets pulled from the apron by the Hounds’ manager before James can make the hot tag, so Bull makes his own comeback. Has to be said, Bull is very over. However, Stockade attacks Bull from behind and the Hounds double team him to win.

Tyler Murphy vs Joe Gacy vs Mike Verna vs Randy Summers

This is for Murphy’s Fusion title. I’m currently kicking myself because I didn’t notice until today that Murphy is Jolly Roger from CHIKARA, all grown up and a vastly better wrestler. Kudos to him for keeping at it and improving greatly. He’s heeling it up in this one, with the crowd favouring Verna and Gacy. Verna gets highlighted here with some convoluted-but-awesome strength spots, highlighted by a combo powerbomb/falling slam on Murphy and Summers. Gacy looks really crisp on offense and his suicide dive kicks off a dive train that ends with a great Verna cannonball. Loved how a brief “This Is Awesome” chant got drowned out by kids chanting “Man of Steel” for Verna. Gacy hits an unlikely handstand cutter, but Murphy picks up the win with an admittedly poor looking GTS variant on Summers. I think you could put any two of the four into a singles bout and get a better match, but this was still fun.

Stockade vs Rex Lawless

Solid main event. Loved Stockade realising Lawless could actually overpower him (Stockade is a big fat guy, and Lawless is a tall muscular fella), so working over the arm to take that powerbase away. Stockade working as an obese Anderson was fun, big splashes and stomps to the arm. Loved Stockade using his weight to pull Lawless down into a Fujiwara armbar. He also hits a killer spear, like a big fat dart right at Lawless. Lawless didn’t really sell the arm, though he did hit a full Nelson slam using only the good arm. However, after he stupidly threw Stockade into the referee twice, he hits two Baldo Bombs and seems shocked the ref isn’t counting. You just hurled a 400lb man at him twice Rex, he’s not going to be in the best nick. A third Baldo Bomb with a replacement ref looks to finish it, but the Hounds of Hatred enter and draw the DQ. Could have done without Lawless easily picking up a huge man 3 times with a dicky arm, but I enjoyed the story here.

NYWC House of Madness 2016

The Benson Brothers (Brad & CJ Benson) vs The Fella Twins (Eddy McQueen & Rick Cataldo)

Interesting pairing of gimmicks, with the Benson’s being laid-back surfer types and the Fella Twins being two guys working exotico gimmicks. Of the two, McQueen looks more convincing as someone who might live that lifestyle, whilst Cataldo very much comes off as a portly guy in a bad dress. This was actually pretty fun, all four guys looked to have their upsides. I especially dug CJ as your surfer Jim Duggan big brawler, a guy either too laidback or too uncomprehending to release a waistlock when McQueen tries to use escape by grinding against him. Dug Brad using a surfboard on McQueen and actually adding a foot to the back to mimic surfing, though not so keen on him not selling when Cataldo drapes a shinbone over his throat to choke him. The Fellas work the heat on Brad, with Cataldo working a lot of ass-based offence and McQueen driving some vicious knees to the spine. CJ is a fun hot tag, and he flips Brad into a moonsault on McQueen for the win.

Stockade vs Johnny Radke

This is for Stockade’s NYWC title, and is a fun competitive squash. Stockade is a big dude, and uses his size really well. Loved him refusing to go over for a Radke side headlock. Stockade has massive sounding chops and, as a heel, when the crowd chant “One more time!”, he pretends to go for it, then locks on a headlock instead. Stockade looks like a big bear just mauling his prey. Radke gets a brief flurry – I like that Radke’s first offensive blow seems to unsettle Stockade, who then misses a charge into the corner to totally yield control – and you buy a superkick as a potential one-shot kill. It’s not enough, and Radke misses a senton and eats a big DDT for the win. Good stuff.

Mike Verna vs Mouse

Mouse is a slight, ratty-looking kid in a shirt and trousers, and Verna is very firmly in control. Verna knows it too, and doesn’t want to hurt the kid, who wont stop trying to fight him. A cheapshot blow by Mouse seems to enrage Verna, who hits a nice slingshot suplex (which has multiple bounces on the top rope). Liked the sequence where Verna blocks a tornado DDT with sheer power, only for Mouse to chain into a guillotine choke. The end sees the Hounds of Hatred enter and attack Verna for the non-ending.

King Mega, Alvin Alvarez & Ultimo Maya vs GIT, J-Redd & Iri$h

The good thing about trios matches is they’re hard to totally mess up, even if (as is the case here), you suspect the participants aren’t very good. The face team is three lads in vests and jeans, working white-boy gangsta gimmicks. Trouble is none of them impress here – GIT (or Gangsta In Training) at least takes a good beating, but J-Redd’s offense consists of forward rolls or slipping on the ropes when trying to springboard. Iri$h is barely in the match, so he must be the least decent. The heels at least show some spark – I liked Alvarez realising the ref was distracted by the face team, so quickly rushing GIT into the heel corner for a beatdown, and Mega had a nice line in condescending covers, but this wasn’t great, before it ends on a DQ, Maya beating the opposition down with kendo sticks.

Tyler Murphy vs Joe Gacy vs Maxwell Jacob Feinstein

Too short triple threat for Murphy’s Fusion title. Feinstein seemed to be working as a cocky loudmouth, and I enjoyed the two faces quickly throwing him out to work one-on-one. When he does get in, Feinstein tries to work over the arms of both guys, bending the limb in fun ways. Gacy moves well for a big lad, and he hits a fun, if unlikely, handspring elbow on Murphy. This really went by too quickly, and I’m looking forward to watching more from all three guys. Murphy gets the submission with a keylock on Gacy.

Tony Nese vs Mike Orlando

Good match here, though I think they went a bit too long at 20 minutes. Orlando had to control the bulk of the match as heel, and he didn’t have enough interesting ways to fill time. I like Nese, and he’s pretty good as a face, even getting to hit the springboard moonsault he always misses on 205 Live. Orlando is pretty methodical on offence, getting cocky against the more famous Nese, and this gives Nese little openings for attempted comebacks. Orlando has a valet to interfere on his behalf, though she gets thrown out when she puts Orlando’s foot on the rope after a 450, the match’s first false finish. She comes back out when Nese has Orlando in a half-crab (with the camera unfortunately catching Nese telling Orlando to tap when the ref’s back is turned) leading to Orlando low-blowing and getting a roll-up for two. Orlando has a nice flying shoulderblock and a great Rydeen Bomb, and the two false finishes do help the match, as both times you buy that Nese is going to lose, only for him to hit a second 450 for the victory.

The Hounds of Hatred (Bam & Boo Sullivan) vs Alex Reynolds & JT Kasin

Sadly, the main event was probably the worst match on the show. I really dig Reynolds, guy has nice execution and carries himself well in the ring, and I liked Bam Sullivan, but the other two guys brought this down. Reynolds hits a great looking crossbody and suicide dive early, before becoming face-in-peril. Boo Sullivan is really hesitant for a big lad, and has really soft looking offence, but Bam controlled Reynolds better, and I loved his really low Swanton – instead of getting great height on it, he really whipped himself down with force. Giving Boo credit, he really misses an elbow drop with intent, before Reynold’s tags Kasin in. Kasin is an odd guy to watch, he doesn’t feel like a wrestler – his movements in the ring just feel odd. He looks like he should be a brawler, but he hits the worst mounted punches I’ve seen in a while. The end is a real mess, starting with the Hounds of Hatred blowing a double-team move, before some stuff happens outside the ring involving Reynolds and a referee (it’s dark and there’s no commentary, so it’s tough to make out). Inside, Kasin punches the HoH’s valet in the face, rightly drawing boos despite Kasin being a face, and he gets taken out with a loaded blow to keep the tag belts on the hounds. Even aside from the stupidity of having a face punching a woman, this was a sloppy bout.