Beyond Wrestling - To Greektown & Beyond

Sonny Kiss vs RJ City

This starts hot, with City sneak attacking before the bell. Kiss is able to come back, moving really nicely around the ring, but gets hit with a slingshot belly-to-back suplex. Fun spot where City slaps Kiss in the face, but takes too long posing afterwards and gets sent into a corner where Kiss repays the favour with a handspring slap. City has a kind of goofy charisma and Kiss is an exotico, so their personalities mesh really well in this match. City tries to steal a win with a ludicrously over-the-top tight pull, which gets caught by the ref, but he does end up picking up the win after rolling through a crossbody, again with a handful of tights. Fun opener.

Anthony Greene vs Brent Banks vs Josh Alexander vs Kobe Durst vs Seleziya Sparx

This was a decent spotfest, feels like everyone brought something to the match. Fun spot with Sparx early doors, as she shows off her leg strength by getting into a handstand and using a headscissors to ram opponents headfirst into her muscular glutes (and a move that Alexander powers out of, via highlighting to the crowd that he’s married). Sparx continues to impress with a big crossbody to the floor and a nice Widow’s Peak on Durst. This didn’t have much substance, but the big moves were fun: nice mid-ring leaping rana by Greene, Alexander avoiding a pump kick and hoisting up Greene for a big slam, Greene grabbing Banks by the feet in the corner and lifting him into a powerslam in one fluid motion, before Durst hits a piledriver on Greene for the win. Fun fast food of a bout.

Jock Samson vs Puf

I hated this. Really overlong, uninteresting comedy match. Samson is a portly guy in jeans and a too short t-shirt, whilst Puf is an obese chap who dances to the ring. They do some basic comedy wrestling which is executed well enough, before we get a dance off. I did appreciate Samson using it as a lure to attack Puf from behind, and him hitting a back elbow into a dab raised a smile. Puf’s offense is unbelievably bad, with his punches looking soft and choreographed. He felt like one of the worst wrestlers I’ve ever seen. Puf only gets 2 on a splash as I beg for this to end. Samson gets a low blow, before some bloke comes out and leads the crowd through a rendition of the Canadian national anthem, distracting Samson enough to allow Puf to roll him up for three. Shite.

Josh Briggs vs Trent Gibson

The only Gibson match I’ve seen before was a three-way tag match from Smash where he’d impressed, so I was looking forward to seeing what he could do in a singles match. Thought this was a really good match, they played up the size difference between Gibson and the larger Briggs really well. Gibson attacks to try and get an early advantage, but he gets caught on a suicide dive and chokeslammed onto the apron. Briggs easily controls as they fight on the floor, but back inside Gibson slips out of a reverse Razor’s Edge and clips the knee to give him an opening. Gibson hits a successful dive to the floor, sending Briggs flying, and I loved him rushing into the ring, imploring the ref to start counting Briggs out. Briggs just about beats it, so Gibson attacks him as he enters, slingshotting him into the ringpost on the floor, and goes for another countout attempt. This again only gets to a 9 count. Gibson rolls the dice for two and tries to hit Briggs with a cricket bat. The ref stops this, but the distraction allows Gibson to hit a low blow for two. I liked Gibson selling his frustration and goes to the top rope in desperation. However, he only meets a big boot and Briggs hits a chokeslam into the backbreaker to win. Really nicely worked, they told the story really well.

Alexia Nicole vs Kris Statlander

Bits of this were really good, but there were also bits of this that weren’t very good. Statlander has been getting a lot of praise recently, but I’ve not quite seen that performance from her yet. Here, I thought she was pretty solid, she did the lions share of the entertaining stuff. I liked her early cartwheels after escaping an armbar, which lured Nicole into missing a kick to give Kris an opening. Nicole misses a double-knees to the corner and I really liked how Statlander focused her offence on the legs, felt like an organic gameplan. She works the leg with a dragon screw and some kicks before locking in a nice bridging leglock and a reverse figure four. Nicole comes back with a really slow victory roll, then does a load of offence totally ignoring all the work done to her legs, running around with no ill effects and even standing up with Statlander  on her shoulders. Just makes the preceding minutes pointless. Nicole hits a terrible looking spear to really compound the horror, before they brawl to the floor for a double count out.

John Atlas & Space Monkey vs MJF & Stokely Hathaway

This was enjoyable stuff, felt like a classic old school tag with a heel manager on one side and a plucky undersized babyface on the other. The heels sneak attack before the match starts, hiding either side of the entrance, and we get a brawl on the floor. Space Monkey is quickly the face in peril, and Stokely hits some good looking offence, with a big kneedrop and a great DDT that Space Monkey sells like death. MJF works over Space Monkey’s tail for no reason other than to be a dick, yanking it to keep Monkey in their corner. We build to the hot tag, and Atlas seems decent enough. Good press slam into a powerslam. I liked him no selling Stokely’s spear and hitting a huge powerbomb. Monkey comes back in, but MJF hits him with a burning hammer. However, Stokely tags himself back in, giving Space Monkey to opportunity to reverse a fireman’s carry into a small package for three.

Channing Decker vs Chris Dickinson vs Kobe Durst

This started well, but turned into a bit of a mess by the end. Decker was Trent Gibson’s partner in the Fraternity, but here he’s working solo with a hardcore gimmick. This start 1 vs 1 with Decker and Gibson, and these parts are really good. Dickinson is really good at working people into his kind of match, whilst also letting them shine. He’s a really fun mat worker, using his size and strength to overwhelm Decker on the mat. Dickinson batters Decker with some strikes, but Decker gets a sudden Finlay roll and moonsault to gain control, and then just hurls himself with reckless abandon through the ropes with a cannonball. Absolutely insane dive. We get a ref bump as Decker sets up a door in the ring corner, and he hits a DVD on Dickinson through it, causing the table to just explode. Great visual. Here’s where things start getting messy. We get a new ref and suddenly Kobe Durst arrives, attacking both and the match becomes a triple threat. All structure goes out of the window and we just get a few big spots. Durst piledrives Decker off the apron through another door on the floor, which in a sensible match would put him out for good. Durst tries to open a step ladder on the floor, but is unable to do so, resulting in an embarrassing scene of officials trying to open the ladder for what feels like ages. Decker is somehow back on his feet, climbing the ladder to the balcony as the rest of the roster appear as if on cue to allow him to moonsault onto the pile and pin Durst on the floor. Dickinson basically became a non-factor by the end, which feel ridiculous. 

Freelance Wrestling - The Decline of Mid-Western Civilization

Anthony Henry vs Space Monkey

Perfectly weighted opener, with Space Monkey always looking competitive, whilst never realistically feeling like he was going to win. Henry controls from the off by jumping Monkey at the bell and whilst Space Monkey does get in a big tope, Henry hits a big STO on the apron to establish his shine. Henry comes across well in his control, confident enough to allow Space Monkey to get a few kicks in with the knowledge that he’ll be able to catch one and use it to his advantage. The cockiness allows an opening for Space Monkey, as Henry misses a top rope stomp (having disdainfully kicked his opponent into place, which I loved), and Space Monkey comes back with a huge tornado DDT. Space Monkey’s little run of offence is decent – loved him monkey flipping Henry into the corner – but Henry is just a better wrestler, and he avoids a strike, hits a spinning TKO and a nasty looking Rude Awakening for the victory.

Arik Cannon & Ethan Page vs The Four Star Heroes (Matt Knicks & Chris Castro)

Hadn’t seen Cannon in years, and he looked far more credible than in his early 2000s binbag leather attire. He was always a good wrestler, but that outfit was so bushleague. There’s some slightly overlong opening schtick about Page and Castro both being pudgy guys, they work a “slam reversal” sequence for far too long, but the match really kicks off when Knicks and Cannon get in, working a fluid looking sequence. Knicks becomes face-in-peril, with Cannon hitting a lovely looking seated necksnap, though this doesn’t last too long. Page and Castro do at least pay off the earlier nonsense by slamming each other and we get a big melee. Liked Cannon hitting a gourdbuster on Knicks over Page’s back, though I still don’t like Page’s clunky looking between-the-rope cutter. The end sees Knicks avoid the Glimmering Warlock and roll up Cannon for three. Some good stuff here within the comedy, this could have been really solid if paced a bit better. After the match, Page turns on Cannon, and I suspect a more vicious edge might suit Page better than the comedy.

Gringo Loco vs Robert Anthony

This starts with Anthony jumping Loco as he walks to the ring, and is a big old weapons brawl. The commentators mention early that Loco is making a return from a heart attack, and this feels like a strange choice of match to have so early into a return. Anthony beats him around the ringside area, including a big powerbomb on the stage. Anthony does some really half-hearted bumping in this match, with the first coming when he tries powerbombing Loco on an overturned chair and instead takes a shitty backdrop. Loco hits a huge dive to the floor from the top of a ladder, which looks insane. Anthony takes another weak bump when he gets dropkicked onto a ladder that bridges the ring and the barriers, but it’s made up for when Loco hits a huge flipping swanton onto him. There’s no proper end to the match however, as Anthony brings out a taser to audible shock from the audience. The commentators bring up Loco’s heart attack again…and then Anthony tases him. Having a big angle like this totally depends on how the crowd buy it, and here they seem totally sold on it, with real rage directed towards Anthony. This could have gone down badly, either laughed at by the crowd or seeing the audience turn on the promotion, but they just about got away with it.

Xia Brookside vs Kylie Rae

This is face vs face, for Brookside’s IPW:UK women’s title. Rae seems to be working a gimmick not dissimilar to early Bayley, all friendly and smiley. Liked the initial mat exchanges, all cleanly worked, before Rae starts to up the ante with a big shot to the face. Brookside comes back with a rana and a neat superkick to the face of a kneeling Rae. Brookside also hits a nice running knee. Rae gets a nice looking crossface by grabbing Brookside’s arm from nowhere, but when she goes up top she gets distracted by former partner GPA, and Brookside is able to hit the Iconoclasm for the win. This was really enjoyable stuff.

Darin Corbin vs Joey Ryan

This is for Corbin’s Freelance title. Corbin keeps threatening to have a match here, but Ryan is doing everything in his power to bring this back to his bullshit. Call me old before my time, but Ryan’s continued demands to “Touch my dick” are the antithesis of funny. It’s frustrating, because the few times he actually does some wrestling, he’s more interesting than the rather pedestrian Corbin. We get Corbin falling facefirst into Ryan’s crotch and hurting himself, then the Ryan dick flip before Corbin hits a cutter for the win. This was trash.

20 Man Rumble

As I think I’ve said in the past, it’s hard for me to really get to grips with indy rumbles, as often I don’t know who half the guys are, what the hierarchy is and it’s harder for guys to impress with their ring time. Here, the lines are a bit easier to read. The first two entrants, Isaias Velazquez and Stevie Fierce are both fan favourites, and you get the vibe early on that these two could be iron men. In contrast, the next man in is chubby comedy wrestler BD Smooth, so you know he’s not long for the match. Velazquez and Fierce don’t spend much time actually wrestling in the match though, preferring to hang out on the floor killing time. There’s some highlights in the match, with certain wrestlers making the most of their chances to stand out. Chainsaw King looks very impressive, eliminating one wrestler with a huge press slam to the floor and another with a chokeslam on the apron. Anthony Henry’s entry finally brings Fierce to life, with the two of them brawling round the ring. Joey Ryan comes in, much to my horror, and he dickflips everyone in the match, until the two female entrants Hawlee Layne and Shotzi Blackheart clotheslines him to the floor. Arik Cannon comes out at 19, and you just know Ethan Page is going to be #20, and Cannon is so focussed on his former partner that he gets thrown out before Page enters. As predicted, Fierce and Velazquez are the iron men, lasting until the final two, before a returning Henry hits Fierce with a neckbreaker and Velazquez throws him out for the win. Aside from the Ryan nonsense, pretty good stuff.