Scenic City Invitational 2018 Night Two

Darius Lockhart vs Scorpio

Glad to see another showing from these two, despite going out in the first round. Scorp has some nice kicks on display, including getting great height on a spinkick. Lockhart hits a few nice elbows to the face, and a decent cradle hammerlock DDT, which gets him a two, and he got to look decent working even exchanges with Scorpio at the start. The two shows have definitely made me want to see more of him. Scorp hits a flipping kick and a moonsault leg drop to win.

Corey Hollis vs Nick Gage

Hollis continues his performance from night one by heading straight out of the ring. This may not have been his best plan, as Gage isn’t opposed to fighting outside the ring. It’s very much his playground. Hollis gets hurled into chairs and gets taken to the top of the bleachers, only for Gage to throw him back down again. Liked the continuity, as Hollis tries the same sneaky low blow that won him his match on night one, only for Gage to catch the kick and hit a chokebreaker. Hollis is undeterred though, and when the ref prevents Gage from using a hammer as a weapon, Hollis does get the kick to the groin and a small package to win. Kudos to Hollis for selling the win by sprinting to the back.

Jake Parnell vs Gary Jay

Both were guys who went though against potentially more interesting opposition the night before, so I was hoping to be impressed on night two. Thought Parnell was really good here, looking really fired up. He hit a nice dropkick into the corner, before catching the third of Jay’s suicide dive trilogy and hitting a big Northern Lights suplex on the floor. He also takes a backdrop straight onto rows of chairs, which must have been a horrible landing. Jay seemed fine, but Parnell gets the best of the offence, hitting a lovely half Nelson suplex and a stomp to the floor. Parnell comes off the top to the floor with another stomp to the neck, and looks for the countout victory. Jay does this cringeworthy comedy sell of realising he’s about to get counted out before getting back in the ring. Parnell tries another stomp, but eats a big forearm to give Jay the win.

AJ Grey vs Fred Yehi

This was good stuff, like how they played off some of the spots from their matches in night one. At one point, AJ tries the Yehi “stuff your opponents arm inside the ringpost” spot from the previous night, but Yehi elbows him in the head to escape and sends him crashing to the floor with a dropkick. Yehi controls a lot of this match, wearing Grey down, but Grey stays in the fight, including a lovely reversal when Yehi tries a top rope German, only for Grey to roll through and nail a springboard dropkick whilst Yehi is still in the tree of woe position. However, the end sees Grey miss a twisting moonsault, and Yehi stomps him down and locks in the Koji Clutch. Grey won’t tap, so Yehi stomps him twice more and reapplies the Clutch whilst punching Grey in the face until the ref stops it. Really loved the ending, showed Grey’s heart whilst still putting over Yehi as a wrestling machine.

PCO vs Joey Lynch

I enjoyed this a stupid amount, just non-stop from start to finish, which is really what a match like this needed. After the huge abuse PCO withstood on night one, Lynch does the right thing in taking the fight to him right away, and following him out with a suicide dive. This is really a match of big hits, and my notes contain a lot of moves followed by exclamation marks. Lynch hitting a superplex on PCO onto the apron is utterly insane, and it’s followed by Lynch hitting a moonsault to the floor that looks like he’s only just caught. PCO is playing a sort-of Undertaker-esque unstoppable monster role, and he’s soon back in control, hitting a tombstone and a moonsault for two. This is played up as Lynch desperate to win in his hometown, so I can kinda forgive him kicking out of what should be a death move. Lynch hits a top rope Canadian Destroyer and a moonsault, but PCO sits up. Lynch hits a second – PCO sits up. A third has the same result. A fourth….finally keeps him down. Lynch plays it safe, hitting three more moonsaults to finally put PCO away. Utterly, utterly daft, but hugely enjoyable.

Marko Stunt vs Shaggy vs Matt Lynch vs Ike Cross vs AC Mack vs Cyrus the Destroyer

This is a neat scramble match that’s just to kill time before the finals. Cyrus is aptly named here, as he just bulldozes through everyone. Cross eats a huge Samoan Drop, before Stunt is speared through Mack and Shaggy. He also wipes them out with a cannonball later in the match, which is particularly satisfying coming after some weak comedy between Stunt and Shaggy. Loved Cyrus grabbing Stunt by the ankles, swinging him around as a weapon. Eventually, Cyrus is taken out of the match by Cross spearing him to the floor, and Stunt nails the tilt-a-whirl codebreaker on Lynch…only for Mack to sneak in with a roll up for the win. This achieved what it needed to.

Cain Justice & Mance Warner vs The Carnies (Kerry Awful & Nick Iggy)

This was underwhelming. Justice is really misused here as Warner’s stooging partner. Not to say he isn’t good at it, as he’s a lot of fun here, but it’s the second night in a row that I’ve been left wanting more from him. He does get to show a bit of what he can do, locking Iggy in a cross armbreaker and twisting away at his fingers while doing so before Awful breaks it by dropping Warner on top with a death valley driver. Aside from that, Justice is getting hit in the face by his partner accidentally and generally being made to look like a goof. The Carnies are a team I enjoy, though they do have the single shittiest move in tag wrestling, where they contrive to make one opponent accidentally hit a Canadian Destroyer on his partner. The end comes quite abruptly, as the Carnies hit a double-team piledriver on Warner from the apron through a table, and the pin is quickly counted on the floor.

Joey Lynch vs Fred Yehi vs Gary Jay vs Corey Hollis

This is the four-way final to declare the 2018 winner. Hollis sticks to type and immediately leaves the ring as the bell goes. Liked Yehi dragging Hollis out from under the ring, where he was hiding, and holding him in place for a Lynch moonsault. Hollis plays up his opportunist role, sneaking in and trying to gets pins wherever he can. This turns into a real Lynch showcase, as he pins Yehi after hitting a moonsault whilst Yehi has Hollis in a Koji Clutch, and then pinning Jay after a Canadian Destroyer and a moonsault. This leaves him against Hollis, which is smart booking as Hollis is the one guy in the match guaranteed not to get cheers. Hollis gets another low blow, but this time only gets two, and as he argues with the ref Lynch rolls him up for a close two. A Canadian Destroyer and a moonsault finally give Lynch the win.

Scenic City Invitational 2018 - Night One

Curt Stallion vs Joey Lynch

This was a majorly hot opener, really set the tone for the rest of the night. Both are working face, though Stallion does some nasty things to ostensibly play the heel role – taking a cheapshot on a test of strength or standing on Lynch’s throat in the ropes. Both guys looked really good – I’ve been impressed with Lynch in the past, albeit with one or two reservations, but this was the best I’ve seen him look. There are some great moves from both, with Stallion hitting a nasty German suplex and beautifully reversing a Canadian Destroyer into a cradle neckbreaker. Lynch makes a nice comeback after slipping out of a back suplex, great looking knee to the face and a nice falcon arrow. Loved the DDT Stallion hit, pulling Lynch off the mat into the move in one slick motion. Stallion heels it up cockily with some casual slaps to the face, but this leads to a lovely spot where Lynch hits a Canadian Destroyer from running the ropes. Moonsault only gets two, which is sold as a big deal. Stallion hits a huge German suplex from the top, but Lynch rolls into a crucifix to get the win. Great stuff.

Jake Parnell vs Darius Lockhart

Really impressive performance from Lockhart here, seemed to have a natural charisma and he looked really smooth working the mat early. Parnell gets his big opening with a stomp from the apron to Lockhart’s back. Parnell hits some slightly goofy offence, with a series of falling splashes and the JYD crawling headbutts. Both guys have nice strikes interspersed through the match. Lockhart hits a lovely cradle hammerlock DDT, but Parnell gets his foot on the ropes. After the nearfalls of the previous match, I really liked how they worked this ending as a contrast. Lockhart misses a charge to the corner, and Parnell swoops to hit a chicken wing suplex, a big lariat and a top rope stomp in quick succession to get the win. Rather than risk a kickout, Parnell just hit three big moves in a row to get the victory.

Corey Hollis vs Ike Cross

Hollis is great working the crowd, stalling and giving a real impression of not giving a fuck. Cross is apparently only a two year pro, but he seems really impressive so far, loved him attacking Hollis straight away when he finally gets into the ring. Cross is all motion, as if he realises he can’t afford to let Hollis escape again. This culminates with a big suicide dive. Dug Hollis using his smarts, using Cross’s momentum against him and avoiding a corner charge to take over. Hollis then hurls Cross into the corner, looked terrific. Hollis gets on the mic, though the sound quality isn’t great, and he runs down the ref and his opponent. Cross gets a few hope spots amidst the Hollis control, but Hollis stops him dead with a huge lariat. Cross misses a massive top rope splash, but Hollis is too cocky and gives Cross time to recover and nail a spear. However, Hollis uses the ref to block a second, and hits a low blow in the confusion to get the win.

Cyrus the Destroyer vs PCO

This is a clash of two big boys. No storytelling here, and barely any real selling, as these two just exchange big moves, which is fun if unsubstantial. Initial impressions are bad, as Cyrus blocks a suicide dive with a weak elbow and PCO looked like he’d never had any intention of actually trying the move. After that though, things heat up and it’s a lot of fun. Big running dropkick by Cyrus, PCO hits two chokeslams and a cannonball, Cyrus gets a big overhead suplex and finally PCO does hit a suicide dive. A Cyrus slingshot senton looks great for a near 400lb man, but he misses a second rope headbutt and a PCO moonsault gets the win. Just good fun.

AJ Grey vs 2 Cold Scorpio

This is fought with a much friendlier feel, with the commentary putting over that Scorpio is Grey’s idol. Lovely even matwork to start, with Scorp showing he’s still got some agility as he flips out of a wristlock. Nice spot as Scorp does a lovely dropdown and leapfrog on a rope running section, with Grey aping it just moments later. Grey hits a terrible attempt at a rana, but makes up for it with a great leg lariat. Aggression starts to increase and they exchange some nastier blows. Scorp has a few sloppy moments, with a powerbomb reversal looking off and a somersault legdrop only just grazes the side of Grey’s head, but he does hit a nice moonsault for two. Grey catches a spinkick and turns it into a slam and a frog splash gets the win. Match was only decent, rather than good, but it was nice to see Scorp and this was another welcome change of pace.

Cain Justice vs Gary Jay

This ended up being pretty short, but it was a neat ending. Justice attacks at the bell, but gets sent out and ends up eating three suicide dives. Jay is put over as a super striker, though it’s hard to buy a his average looking clothesline warranting a 360 sell from Justice. Justice briefly works the arm after Jay chops the ringpost, but this doesn’t last long as Jay catches Justice with a forearm to the face as he comes off the ropes, and wins on a knockout. Bit disappointing as I’d have liked to have seen more Justice, but the ending was really effective.

Mance Warner vs Fred Yehi

This is intense from the start, and I loved Yehi as the better wrestler suddenly getting a takedown during a strike exchange, to allow him to rain down blows on the mat. Warner sets up some chairs on the floor, but Yehi blocks a superplex attempt by shoving Warner’s arm down a hole into the ringpost, and just pummels it. It comes out covered in grease and grime, which makes it look much worse, gives the impression of a mangled limb. Yehi then throws Warner into the chairs for good measure. From this point on, Yehi is in full control, though Warner gets a few comebacks by irritatingly attacking with the bad arm. Yehi just stomps him down, and looks comfortable in control, before avoiding a running knee, crushing Warner in the corner and hitting a powerbomb for the victory. Good hierarchy match, as Yehi takes control early and doesn’t really relinquish it until the end.

Kerry Awful vs Nick Gage

This doesn’t go long, and really isn’t pretty, but it’s very effective. They go outside, and Awful eats a backdrop into the bleachers right off the bat, nasty looking bump. Awful blows his nose onto Gage when he gets him onto the floor, and this feel like a big mistake on a guy like Gage, who blasts him with a chair. Awful does a little armwork, stomping the arm of Gage onto a chair then hitting a senton onto the arm, before hitting a huge seated senton in the ring. Gage gets the chokebreaker for just two, before Awful locks in an unlikely figure four. Gage escapes, hits a second chokebreaker and a piledriver for the win. Again, selling was at a scarcity, but it was a fun spectacle.

CZW Apocalypse 2004

Ah, my beloved 2004 CZW. Why I love you, I'm still not quite sure...

CKNY vs Blackout
This is Cory Kastle and Niles Young vs Sabian and Joker of the Blackout. CKNY are accompanied by Jude, but Ruckus just beats him to the back. This is a perfectly acceptable little opener, with some nice quick movements to start, ending with stereo dives by CKNY. I like the nastier side of Blackout here, with Sabian holding Young's long hair whilst kicking him in the spine, or Joker grinding his wrist tape into Young's face. Young gets the hot tag after Joker misses a diving headbutt. CKNY are a fine pretty boy face tagteam, though sadly in the worst possible promotion for a team like that to get cheers. Blackout manager Robbie Mireno stops Young on the top rope to prevent a double team Killswitch, and Blackout finish Kastle with the Joker Driver and a senton. Solid stuff.

Rick Feinberg vs Jon Dahmer
Even though Feinberg seems to have have toned down the gay stereotypes of his gimmick, you still know he's got no chance here. Dahmer offers to lie down for him to start, but kicks out at two and just destroys Feinberg. There is a brief Feinberg comeback, but he gets caught with a powerbomb from the top rope and Dahmer finishes with the Move of 1000 Maniacs.

DJ Hyde vs Jude
Bit of a size difference here. I love Hyde reversing a Jude choke into a big Northern Lights suplex. Jude botches something on the outside, so nails Hyde with a chairshot to the head before overshooting on a top rope moonsault. Aside from that, it's pretty much all Hyde, as he nails a nutty German suplex and a Blue Thunder Driver for the easy win. Hyde looked pretty great here.

Ruckus vs Derek Frazier
I always say this about Frazier, but his haircut was terrible. He does put in a good showing here though, with a nice agressive streak. He takes it to Ruckus early with some nasty looking strikes and a few throws to the guardrails. Ruckus' offence is a bit more pony, with some milky kicks and a shitty looking moonsault from the apron. Only a flipping neckbreaker from Ruckus looks especially hurty. The end sees Sabian put Ruckus' foot on the rope following some more vicious Frazier kicks, and Joker shoulderblocks Frazier to the torso, leaving him prone to a half Nelson driver for a Ruckus win.

Nick Berk vs Emil Sitochi
Sitochi wisely understands the crowd he is wrestling for and hits an early tope to win over the fans. Berk is a bit more solidly built, so his offence looks pretty good on Sitochi. Love his hiptoss into a backbreaker, and his big lariat looks great. I only saw a few Sitochi matches on his 2004 US tour, and he always came across as a smooth performer. He has some swanky armdrag variations and a few fun snapmares too - not a phrase you often get to say. Sitochi misses a missile dropkick and Berk locks in the Texas 2K2 for the tap. Fun little match.

Alex Shelley vs Roderick Strong vs Dan Maff vs B-Boy
This is an elimination match to become number one contender to the Iron Man title. Only 2 guys are allowed in at once, which gives a fun bit of psychology, where it makes sense for guys to not be tagging into the match. Strong is soon stooging for some Maff chops, which establishes the big man as the powerhouse of the match. The match soon ends up like a tag match, with Strong and Shelley teaming up against Maff and B-Boy. This works by giving it a face-in-peril section, as S&S take over on B-Boy. It soon, predictably, breaks down to all four guys in the ring, and B-Boy hits a Shining Wizard on Strong to eliminate him. Maff's size and power advantage lets him dominate again, but Shelley is able to reverse a burning hammer into Shell-Shock for three. B-Boy and Shelley exchange some near falls, before Shelley locks in the Border City Stretch. B-Boy manages to reverse this to his own stretch variation for a tapout.

GQ vs Chris Cash
These two trained together, so they should be able to work well. It's a ladder match, but with pinfall rules. There are some slightly milky strikes by both guys, but also some really sick bumps. There is a sick running powerbomb to the turnbuckles by GQ and then a few nasty powebombs onto a ladder. I did enjoy the way they teased and built up a splash mountain onto a ladder as a big spot. A load of chairs get set up outside the ring, leading to a top rope superplex to the floor. Cash only gets two from a top rope Cash Flow, but he hits a second, sloppier version from a ladder onto another ladder for the win. This is probably the best GQ match I've seen, even if large parts of this were sloppy or didn't really work properly (a bit near the end sees Cash and GQ seemingly make up before GQ nails a superkick, to minimal reaction). The big bumps were suitably horrific looking and both guys get a strong crowd reaction at the end, so you have to say it did a job.

Brad Bradley vs BJ Whitmer
This is a first round match in CZW's Extreme Strong Style tournament. Fans don't really seem into this match, and a Bradley chinlock does nothing to win them over. Aside from a typically awful strike exchange in the middle (hate them!), there is nothing particularly strong style about this match, as Whitmer pretty much grounds Bradley by working the left knee. It's all logical and tells a good story, but it's pretty dull to watch. Indeed, it's Bradley who excels, clubbing Whitmer frantically to try and get a breakon a legbar. Bradley shows more guts than brains by hobbling his way to a plancha on Whitmer. The end is quite cool, with Whitmer going for the exploder, Bradley trying to break it and Whitmer hitting him in the face THEN hitting the exploder to win. Nothing wrong with this match, but it is pretty dull.

Chris Hero vs Jimmy Rave
This is for Rave's Iron Man title, which has a twenty minute limit. This...isn't as good as I was hoping it would be. I like both guys, but this is a bit of a mess. The first half of this has some goofy, but fun, matwork, and I did love some of Hero's fakeout work. Stuff like going for an eyepoke off a roaring elbow, or going for a figure four before just stomping on Rave instead. But a lot of this is just Hero (the heel) making Rave (the face champ) look like a total chump. A sequence of Hero locking on various cravates requires Rave to just stand there like a berk whilst Hero contorts around him. The second half of the match is just them exchanging finishers with both the Hangman's Clutch and the Dusk to Dawn Crossface getting ropebreaks, and Rave's running knee and the Hero's Welcome both getting two counts. With both guys having killed all their finishers, Hero gets a fall off a backslide, where both guys are clearly in the ropes. I did like Rave going for desperation rollups, knowing there is only a minute left, but then Hero runs to the back. Rather than waiting and taking the countout to tie the falls, Rave runs into the back with him as the time runs out and both guys are counted out. This means Hero is the new champ, but what a disappointing way to get there.

The Messiah, Adam Flash & Sabu vs Nick Gage, the Wifebeater & Trent Acid
This is an elimination tables match. Big brawl starts things off, and this is pretty fun to start, though you can see Messiah having to slow down his offence to allow Wifebeater to keep up. It's also useful to have heel manager Dewey Donovan involved, as he can set up weapons for the heels to allow the match to flow better. He sets up a few chairs in the ring, ready for Flash to superplex Gage onto them in a fun spot. Acid and Sabu work quite a fun section in ring together, especially for two guys who can be pretty sloppy. Messiah sunset flips Wifebeater through a ringside table, but this is somehow deemed a double elimination as Messiah also went through the table. Gage must be a total idiot, as he learns nothing from this and piledrives Flash through a table, which again eliminates both men. So, please note, if you go through the table with your opponent, you seem to be eliminated too, even if it's clearly your attacking move. Sabu and Acid face off for a bit, before the Messiah returns to help Sabu (clearly Acid's partners couldn't be arsed) and Sabu crashes Acid through a table and is declared the winner, despite the fact that he clearly went through the table with Acid. These rules make no fucking sense and ruined a potentially decent match.

CZW Cage of Death IV (2002)

As stated before, I was a massive CZW a decade ago. While the likes of Bryan Danielson, Low Ki and Samoa Joe were the big indy stars of the day, the Messiah, Trent Acid and Adam Flash were amongst my favourite wrestlers. Pretty much every EWR game I played at the time would feature the Messiah as world champ, with the Backseat Boys as tag champs. Of course, I'm pretty aware now that I wasn't really with the majority on this, so it's going to be interesting to see how this 11 year old show has aged.

Before we get to the opening match, which is the titular Cage of Death match between John Zandig and Lobo, we get a hilarious video where Zandig gets massacred by Lobo and his cronies. They kidnap him in a lorry, hurl him through barbed wire boards and even hang him from hooks through his skin. Lovely. This apparently means Zandig wont be making it to the match, but unsurprisingly, he still comes to the ring, wearing the same bloody rags he got beaten up in a few hours earlier.

Zandig Vs Lobo
We excitingly start off with a load of promos where fun stuff like legality of contracts and double-double crosses take place. To cut a long story short, Lobo has to face Zandig in the cage for the ownership of CZW, with the winner being decided by grabbing a contract hanging from the ceiling. Despite being a bloody mess who we saw getting killed earlier, Zandig totally dominates, with Lobo thrown into the electrified cage within a minute. I do quite like a Falcon Arrow onto a cactus by Zandig. Lobo finally gets a period of offence, but soon Zandig fires back and powerbombs Lobo into a table and drops another plant on him. Zandig sets up a table and a plane of glass over it before both decide to climb to the top of the cage to grab the contract. I was about to sarcastically comment how obvious it was that one of them would get thrown from the top through this table, but FUCKING HELL!! Lobo hits a death valley driver from the top of the cage through two tables OUTSIDE the ring. Absolutely mental. Though the impact of this is kinda ruined as they're back on their feet brawling again within a minute. Zandig puts Lobo on a table outside the ring, then drops an elbow on him from the top of the cage. No attempt to grab the contract. They both climb the cage, and Zandig press slams Lobo from the top through the glass table from earlier before grabbing the contract to win. Absolutely no attempt to tell a coherent story, and some of the brawling was a bit weak, but when they hit the big spots, they really went for it.

Rockin' Rebel, Greg Matthews, "Doomsday" Danny Rose, Chris Cash & GQ vs Chris Stylz, Ian Knoxx, Derek Frazier, Jon Dahmer & Adam Flash
Wrestlers in this match I was convinced 10 years ago would go on to become big stars: Knoxx and Matthews. I was an idiot. This is an elimination match, so expect this to be a bit of a clusterfuck. A few early dives are pretty fun, especially Flash diving onto everyone into the aisleway. Some of the early exchanges with Frazier taking on Cash, Rebel and Matthews are pretty fun, before Matthews pins Frazier with a Snow Plow. Rebel takes out Stylz with a fireball to the eyes and a huge legdrop to make it 5 on 3. Flash takes Matthews out with a top rope facebuster to help the numbers. Flash falls victim to the numbers game as Rose and Rebel team up to eliminate him, with a Rose death valley driver followed by a Rebel legdrop for the pin. Flash decides he's not leaving yet and levels Rebel with a chairshot whilst Dahmer comes in and nails Rose with a lariat allowing Dahmer to pin both men simultaneously. Weak section. Knoxx looks really good here, and it's a shame injuries caught up with him to the extent they did. GQ manages to maintain his one-botch-per-match average by missing a top rope stomp to Dahmer's head. Things break down and Dahmer hits GQ with the Move of 1000 Maniacs to eliminate him. Despite being down 2-to-1, Cash manages to eliminate his two larger opponents, hitting a top rope Cash Flo on Knoxx and a facebuster on Dahmer to be the sole survivor. CZW were clearly looking to give Cash a big push, and he looked really impressive here.

Z-Barr vs Rick Feinberg & the Hurricane Kid
Feinberg was CZW's very subtle parody of the RoH owner Rob Feinstein, a flamboyant camp character, whose ring music was Abba's "Dancing Queen". The commentary seems to suggest that this match is the result of a romantic interlude in a truck between Feinberg and Barr. Obviously. Feinberg and Kid dominate to start, but essentially they're comedy jobbers and Barr soon takes over. Decent tope by Barr takes both down. Feinberg kisses Barr midring, so Barr destroys him with some weak offence. Everything here is slow and telegraphed as the crowd starts to turn on the match. Barr dominates a bit more, before pinning Feinberg with the Donkey Punch. Not very good.

Nick Berk vs Josh Prohibition
This is a submission match. I like both guys, with some reservations, so this should be decent. They trade a few holds, before Prohibition ups the tempo with a suicide dive. The commentators talk up a previous Berk neck injury as Prohibition locks on an Indian deathock. Prohibition keeps on the neck, both with holds and impact offence. Berk hooks on a nice reverse cattle mutilation. A seated guillotine by JP keeps the offence focused on Berk's neck. In an odd spot, Prohibtion hits the Straight Edge and goes for a futile pin. This gives Berk time to recover and lock on a Scorpion. Prohibition nails Berk with brass knucks and locks in a surfboard half-nelson called the Path of Resistance, but Ian Knoxx comes out to distract him, based on a "boozing vs teetotal" feud. This gives Berk time to fire back with a powerbomb, and lock in a Texas2K2 Cloverleaf for the tap. Prohibition really carried this match, as his offence was focused on one body part and made sense due to Berk's known injury. In contrast, Berk just locked on some submission holds without bodypart focus. This was ok, but should've been better.

M-Dogg 20 vs Sonjay Dutt vs Ruckus
The winner of this match becomes the no.1 contender to Trent Acid's CZW Jr Heavyweight title. If this is anything but a spotfest, I'll be shocked. Some of M-Dogg's early stuff looks a bit sloppy, though in fairness they run through a series of reversals that looks super-slick before throwing Dutt from the ring. M-Dogg nails the first bit of offence that actually looks hurty by catching Dutt in midair and ramming him into the turnbuckles. Dogg also hits an awesome highspot, by diving onto his two opponents outside the ring with a huge number of twists. A subsequent Dutt dive is both less impressive and manages to barely hit his opponents. Dogg gets the next swank highspot by getting elevated up a pillar, climbing further up then diving 12ft onto his opponents. A slightly clumsy Tower of Doom spot doesn't come off as well as you suspect they'd intended. M-Dogg tries an overly complicated double DDT that looks like shit. Chris Cash comes out to interfere, but gets beaten up by all 3 competitors, thus totally taking the shine off his big win from earlier. They spend about 3 minutes destroying Cash before getting back to the match. Dutt picks up the win by reversing another overly complex M-Dogg move into a pin and grabbing the tights to win. Frustrating match, which was really fun in places, then boneheadedly awful in others.

The H8 Club vs Chris Hero & B-Boy
Hero cuts a pre-match promo, declaring himself IWA-MS through and through. Man, I forgot how intimidating the H8 Club looked. Hero does a great job schticking it up in fear of Nate Hatred. I always liked Hatred, he always came across as a dominant beast and wrestled like a monster should. The H8 Club pretty much beat the shit out of Hero to start. It takes B-Boy coming in and dropkicking Hatred's leg to give them an advantage. This doesn't last long as Hatred takes his head off with a clothesline. B-Boy finally gets a prolonged period of offence after hitting a twisting neckbreaker on Nick Gage. Hero's cravate-plex on Gage is pretty choice. B-Boy is pretty stiff on offence, and Gage seems happy to take it, so this period of offence is plenty fun, before Gage nails a brainbuster on B-Boy. Hatred just kills guys on the hot tag, blitzing Hero with chairshots. They pancake Hero on a flat table on the floor, which absolutely has to suck. B-Boy gets a very close two after a Shining Wizard on Gage. Decapitator by Hatred turns B-Boy inside out and gets the win. After the match, the H8 Club continue to kill Hero whilst B-Boy leaves him to die. Quite fun, they certainly presented B-Boy as the stronger link of the team here, and it's always enjoyable watching the H8 Club kills guys.

The Backseat Boys vs Ric Blade & "Sick" Nick Mondo
We open with a lengthy sequence of reversals that almost feels like a dance routine, before the face team of Mondo and Blade hit stereo dives on the Backseats. Weaponry is swiftly brought into the ring and a ladder is balanced over two chairs, which Acid puts Blade through with a Blue Thunder Driver. Trent goes to hit a tornado DDT on Mondo onto a ladder, but Mondo reverses into a Northern Lights suplex onto the same ladder. The Backseats remain one step ahead, playing up their tag team familiarity, hurling Blade into another ladder in the corner. They split up, Kashmere and Blade fighting in the crowd as Acid and Mondo stay in the ring. Apparently this is Blade's first match back in 18 months, so obviously putting him into a TLC match makes perfect sense. He's also the worst wrestler in the match, all milky strikes and average flips. Everyone else at least looks like they're hurting their opponents. Splitting up has hurt the Backseats, as both faces take control and they reunite to set up the Backseats on tables next to the balcony, with a ladder drapped over both of them. Blade and Mondo then hit stereo moonsaults on the ladder/Backseats/table sandwich. Unsurprisingly, the faces look in worse shape after that. Back in the ring, they've learnt nothing, hitting dives from the top rope onto another ladder sandwiching the Backseats and AGAIN hurting themselves. Blade hits a legdrop from the top of what must be a 15ft high ladder onto Kashmere, which only gets two. Trent Acid has recovered in this time and takes Blade out, giving the Backseats time to double team Mondo, then both diving through a Ric Blade-covered table. Kashmere puts a ladder round his neck, Terry Funk style, but Mondo stomps on the ladder in a nasty looking bump. The match ends with Mondo getting thrown through a ringside table and the Backseats sandwich Blade in a ladder to win. Spotty as all Hell, but ridiculously entertaining, and the story of the Backseats dominating in a team environment, but suffering when separated, made total sense. The faces were too daredevil to survive, taking bumps even when on offence, and the Backseats were able to hold out longer.

Justice Pain vs the Messiah
Both hold gold here, with Messiah holding the Iron Man title whilst competing for Pain's world title. This is apparently under Iron Man rules, which essentially means anything goes. Messiah is one step ahead of Pain in the opening minutes, until Pain suplexes him into the turnbuckles. I like Pain catching Messiah mid-leapfrog and slamming him down. Messiah is able to come back with a killer tornado DDT. They end up outside the ring, and the logic of booking another hardcore brawl right after the tag TLC is pretty odd. Messiah goes for a cannonball off the apron, but misses and lands on a non-breaking table. Swanky neck-snap on the floor by Pain. Blockbuster gets two in the ring, and Pain is looking pretty good here. His movement and execution is great. He also takes a killer bump as he flies into the guardrail off an Irish whip. They blow a Pain dropkick into a chair, so Pain levels Messiah with a chairshot for two. Insane bump as Pain stands on the apron and Messiah throws himself at him, sending both men onto a pile of chairs on the floor. Nick Gage comes in for a totally pointless run-in, nailing both guys with big moves, though he does helpfully pour a bag of thumbtacks on the canvas. Messiah hits a cutter on Pain onto the tacks for two. The Fall From Grace (running burning hammer) onto the tacks only gets two. Pain gets the Pain Thriller (barely on the tacks) for two. A top rope superplex by Messiah onto the tacks gets a more direct hit, but only gets two. After all that, the Messiah is finally able to pick up the win...with a crucifix. Well, I suppose he's the right man to have perfected that move. Decent main event fight, this is probably the best I've seen Pain look.

CZW Uncivilized 2003

Back in 2003, I was all about CZW. It was the first indy I watched constantly and, despite it's many obvious flaws, I loved it. Many of my favourite indy names were CZW guys and I thought it'd be fun to revisit a show I think I only watched once before.

Jude vs Jon Dahmer
Teacher vs student match here, with Dahmer the head of the CZW academy and Jude but a few matches into his career. As such, it's far from special. Jude has to rely on the more experienced Dahmer to structure the match, and he doesn't do a great job. The match kinda ends up feeling like some moves done at random. That said, there are some positives: Dahmer hits a sick looking German suplex that looks like it kills Jude, and the rookie looks pretty promising here. It's a shame looking at this 8 years later as Jude has some real fire when on offence, and his snap suplex is really good. He hits a pump-handle Emerald Frosion, which gets 2 when it should be a stonewall finisher, before outside interference from fellow rookies Niles Young and Cory Kastle lead to Dahmer hitting the Move of 1000 Maniacs (Gansobomb) for 3.

Before the next match, we get some antics involving Rockin' Rebel and John Zandig to set up the main event: Rebel and Greg Matthews vs Heartbreaker (!?!) and TATANKA! What an odd match.

Adam Flash & Ian Knoxx vs Derek Frazier & Hurricane Kid vs Chris Stylz & Z-Barr
This is an elimination match, though the team of Frazier and Kid are pretty superfluous due to Kid's uber-jobber status. The team of Flash and Knoxx decimate them to start, including a nice doubleteam where Flash elevated Kid up in the air for Knoxx to lariat on the way down. Knoxx really had the look and ability to be pretty big in wrestling before injuries took him out and he looks really good throughout this match. Barr gets tagged in the match and instantly takes Frazier down with a side headlock. And then another one. Then gets on the mic and says he'll hold the headlock as long as he wants. Easy, easy heat. Frazier, who has one of the least imposing looks of any wrestler I've ever seen, actually looks pretty good on offence, nailing a crisp Dragon whip on Barr, and also bumps huge for an overhead belly to belly. The Kid gets tagged in and instantly gets caught with the Barr Driller for 3. Knoxx and Stylz, former tag partners, finally go face-to-face for the first time and it's not really as heat filled as you'd imagine as they circle for position, but their sequence in the ring is really smooth and looks really good.Stylz hits a nice Northern Light suplex for 2. Knoxx regains the advantage with a sweet looking fallaway slam from the second rope before Flash hits a top rope legdrop for the win. This got pretty good after the first elimination and would have been much better as a straight up tag. Stylz would leave CZW shortly after this, which is disappointing as both him and Knoxx looked really good here.

Tai Smiley vs GQ
Tai Smiley is wearing a yellow bodysuit with a smiley face on, and seems to be working a retard gimmick, so don't expect a mat classic. They work through an elementary wrestling exchange before GQ gets on the mic to talk some smack. He then pretends to take off Smiley's nose. The comedy is dying on it's arse, so fortunately GQ is wise enough to go on the attack, hitting Smiley with a vicious belly-to-back suplex and giving him a backbreaker on a steel chair. Annoyingly, every time the crowd are starting to get back into the match, we get some more comedy which pisses them off. A shame, because GQ looks pretty good here in what is, essentially, a squash. He locks in a killer cloverleaf-looking hold and nails a nifty DDT for the win. More wrestling, less bad comedy needed here.

Mike Mayhem Vs Livewyre vs Grim Reefer
I really thought this would suck, but actually I pretty much enjoyed this. Firstly, all the participants brought something to the dance: Reefer was pretty sloppy, but won my heart over early on by hitting two dangerous dives to the floor in the first 2 minutes. Livewyre is far bigger than the other and came to the ring making generic "I'm going to break you" gestures. He's also crucially better known as Mikey from the Spirit Squad and during the match he busted out some cool stuff, including a swank half Nelson suplex and a massive spear that nearly broke Mayhem in half. As for Mayhem, he was less flashy, but actually had a semblance of character which tied the whole thing together and he was arguably less spotty than the others. The oddest thing is seeing a future WWE tag champion, who was the smallest in his stable, get booked like a monster in CZW, but he looked really good here. Reefer wins with a walking Swanton from the middle of the ring to end an enjoyable match.

Stefan Perez vs Nick Berk
This is Perez's CZW debut and he's challenging Berk to a submissions match. Remember this, it's important. Perez takes control in the early going and tries a pinfall. The ref doesn't count, presumably reminding Perez that HE WANTED A SUBMISSION MATCH. Perez then hits the Three Amigos (with Berk actually getting up before him) which ends with a Fisherman Suplex. Still no pins allowed Stefan. Garguilo and House mock him for this, especially as he made the damn challenge. Berk applies actual submission holds to Perez, but Perez keeps making the ropes and hits a nice top rope Blockbuster. He then tries to springboard into the ring, but gets caught and put into the Texas C2K2 for the tapout win for Berk. Perez looked like a moron here and never returned to CZW.

Ric Blade vs B-Boy
Never been a big fan of Ric Blade, but I always dug B-Boy, so it'll be interesting to see who influences the match more. They start out with an exchange of strikes, which is a poor choice as Blade's strikes suck while B-Boy is pretty hard hitting, yet they act as if both guys are inflicting the same damage. We then have to take a break as it looks like Blade pulled a muscle in his leg during the opening stages. It's all made better when Blade flips into the ring, only to get suplexed into the corner by B-Boy. Blade continues to throws kicks at B-Boy so poor that I actually feel bad for B-Boy having to sell them, though it seems B-Boy is content to drop Blade on his head with a neat Dragon suplex. Johnny Kashmere comes out to distract Blade which allows B-Boy to hit a Shining Wizard into a baseball bat onto Blade for the win. Too much shitty Blade offence makes this a pass, though bonus points to B-Boy for selling the knee that crashed into the bat.

Ruckus vs Sonjay Dutt
This is a Junior Heavyweight title match. Chris Cash comes to ringside before the match starts and somehow becomes special referee. The problem with this is you know there will be some kind of screwy finish which could ruin the match. In this case, the problems arise even earlier as Cash refuses to count for either man, at which point you wonder why either man continues fighting. Cash continues in this vein, blocking Ruckus' attempt at the Razzle-Dazzle and pretending to trip into the ropes to knock both men from the top at various points and for some reason neither man assaults him. It's a shame this distracts from what is quite a fun pair of performances from Ruckus and Dutt. As far as early 00's CZW Junior Heavyweights go, both are smooth, unlikely to blow spots and, while maybe over-flippy, they've got a good chemistry which shines through amongst the poor booking. The ending is predictably disappointing- as both men fight on the top rope, Cash nails them both with a ladder to send them both through a ringside table for a double-countout. A shame.

Tatanka & Heartbreaker vs Rockin' Rebel & Greg Matthews
At the time, I was convinced that Greg Matthews had the look and the promise for a big future in wrestling. Shows how much I know. Before the match even starts, Zandig and the Wifebeater beat the tar out of Rebel & Matthews, taking all the heat away from special guest Tatanka. In the ring, they work through a basic, but decent match, as Tatanka dominates both Rebel's Army members before they take control. Nothing fancy, which is sensible due to Matthews' rookie status and Rebel's limitations. Things get less interesting when Heartbreaker eventually gets in, with one of his first moves being an overly fussy (and pointless) springboard kneedrop. He spends most of the match selling, which is probably wise because he manages to hit a shockingly bad spinebuster on Matthews. The end comes when a nameless man runs in the ring, allowing Rebel to hit Heartbreaker with a loaded fist for Matthews to cover him. The in-ring work was fine, especially the Tatanka bits, but the booking was poor. As well as pre-match, Zandig and Wifebeater beat up the Rebel's Army members as soon any time the left the ring, including several shots with weapons, which makes the losers look even worse.

The Backseat Boyz vs The H8 Club
This is for the CZW Tag titles. The story here is that new Backseats manager Dewey Donovan used to manage the H8 Club, so they should have the advantage. It doesn't show in the early stages, as Nick Gage and Nate Hatred decimate the Backseats, who bump like pinballs for the monsters, including a double 360 sell of a Hatred clothesline. A baseball bat shot to Hatred's midsection allows Acid and Kashmere to take over on Gage, which includes a double eyepoke on Gage to cause him to blindly swing for Kashmere, only to get beaten down. Gage gives the smaller wrestlers a lot of offence and bumps well enough that this all looks convincing. The BB's start to work in the Dream Sequence, only for Acid to get folded in two by a clothesline from the returning Hatred, which gives the H8 Club a chance to dominate on the floor. A Donovan distraction allows the Messiah to attack Hatred on the outside and Gage stupidly goes after Donovan, leaving his partner to eat a T-Gimmick from the Backseats, which is enough to win them the title. Really fun power vs speed match and both teams were able to play up their strengths.

The Messiah vs Sick Nick Mondo
Mondo asked for a title match earlier in the night, which Messiah granted. The early stages of the match really don't click- Mondo's strikes look off and he barely catches the Messiah on a plancha. After about 5 minutes, things suddenly click, and they work a nice little sequence of moves and reversals that includes a decent Lionsault from the Messiah. He then hits a double jump splash on Mondo through a ringside table. I always dug the Messiah, even after CZW foolishly turned him heel following his emotional title win after getting his thumb chopped off during an assault at his home. Back inside, they fight over powerbombing the other through a table, which Messiah eventually wins for two. There is one hokey spot where Messiah manages to staple Mondo's hand to his back, but the rest is good stuff, with both guys pulling out all the stops to get the win. The Messiah has control when Big Mac Smack comes to the ring and gives Mondo a bucket of thumbtacks. Mondo downs the Messiah and pours the tacks over him, before hitting a springboard legdrop for two. On the surface a stupid move, but one consistent with the Sick Nick character. An M Bison from the top (a double footed stomp) onto the tacks gets the win for Mondo. A post-match brawl ensues and it's announced that Mondo has won Messiah's Iron Man title, not the World title. A silly end to a good match