NYWC Psycho Circus 2018

The Benson Brothers vs The Punk Relics

Sloppy, but quite enjoyable stuff here. Not everything hits cleanly, but it’s high energy, ambitious stuff. The early stages establish both teams as being pretty even, with only the size and strength of CJ Benson being an outlier. Ugo of the Relics really works a headlock on CJ to nullify this, but to no avail. The Relics get a little more luck in isolating Brad Benson, with a Valo back elbow looking nasty. The Relics make a tactical mistake by ignoring this control to try and take out CJ on the apron, which causes everything to breakdown. Brad hits a nice cannonball from the apron, though an Ugo top rope moonsault to the floor sees him just graze the crowd below. His top half basically crashes into the apron, which must have hurt. Nice ending as CJ pulls Brad out of a frogsplash/neckbreaker combo, causing the Relics to take each other out, before CJ flips Brad into a moonsault for the win.

Johnny Radke vs Teddy Hart vs Blake Morris

This is for Radke’s Fusion title. This match is basically the Teddy Hart show, as he controls the majority of the bout. Morris gets to hit some nice looking punches in the corner, before his attempt at choking Hart with his boot sees him taken to the mat with a leglock in a fun spot. From here, Teddy runs wild, taking both men out at once with a simultaneous draping piledriver/DDT over the ropes. Hart continues just casually hitting moves on both guys, nailing a huge tornado DDT on Morris and an electric chair backstabber on Radke. However, Morris throws Hart out and steals the pin and the title. A bit disappointing, this did nothing for Radke or Morris.

Willow Nightingale vs Mike Mondo

This is for Nightingale’s Starlets title, which is the women’s belt. Not sure how the very male Mondo got a title match, but hey-ho. Mondo works this as a slightly dismissive chauvinist, confident that he can out-wrestle Willow. He’s the veteran, so manages to lure Willow into attempted shoulderblocks that he laughs off, before suddenly putting his force into a block to send her down. Willow’s ability to comeback fits in with her established character, that being that she’s got a lot of heart. Despite being worn down by Mondo, she wont stay down and this enables her to get up and crotch him as he climbs to the top rope. She hits a series of kicks and gets a German suplex for two. Mondo locks her in a sleeper, but Willow again wont go down and climbs up the ropes for the Bret Hart pin to win the match. Effective match, as Willow looked the best I’ve seen her, confident and with some nice execution to her strikes. The overconfident male vs spirited female is an overused trope in intergender matches, but they worked this really well.

Bull James vs Alex Reynolds

I had high hopes for this match, but this was bitterly disappointing. Bull is a guy I really like, but his title run has been full of underwhelming matches that I don’t think have been his fault – facing the worst regular roster member King Mega, full on comedy mode Joey Ryan and past-his-prime Scott Norton along the way. Reynolds is someone I often enjoy, and the John Silver match on the previous show was maybe the best NYWC match I’ve seen, so I really thought this would be James’ best title defence to date. That it wasn’t isn’t down to the wrestlers, but the booking.

This is fought under “High Society” rules, which seems to mean it’s 2/3 falls with a round system. The rounds seem to mess with their timing, as rather than have a straight match, they have to break the match into sections. So for example, the first round sees them exchange some basic matwork until they realise it’s time for the end of the fall, with James suddenly hitting a clothesline and a buttsplash, only to have his pinfall halted by the round ending. James then wins the first fall in R2 with a cradle. The overbooking starts to kick in in R3 as Reynolds sneak attacks before the bell, controlling and hitting a second rope codebreaker for 2. Rick Cataldo runs interference, allowing Reynolds to hit a brass knuckles loaded punch, also for two. A really nice touch I didn’t notice at first was Reynolds putting the knuckles into James’ s tights. There’s a ref bump and James hits a butt splash for what appears to be the match winning three count, but the High Society members tell the ref about the knuckles in his tights, drawing a DQ and evening the scores to 1 fall each. R4 is sadly the sloppiest of all the rounds, with a terrible looking chokeslam by King Mega onto the apron and James barely getting Reynolds up as he tries to boost him into the post with his legs. Finally, a face full of powder and a belt shot wrap the mess up, giving Reynolds the win and the title. As I said, I like both men, but there was only so much they could do with this booking.

The Awakening (Matt Tremont, G-Raver, Terra Calaway, Stockade & Devon Moore) vs The Extricated (Jeff Cannonball, Mouse, Aidan Baal, Victoria Von Black & Bam Sullivan)

This match also has a lot of booking, but given that this is the Psycho Circus match, you expect and want a big spectacular of a match. The rules take in bits of WarGames, Survivor Series and Cage of Death, as the two teams fight in a ring with walls round two sides, in this case a cage wall and a barbed wire wall, with two men starting the match. Team members join each team alternately, and there’s also elimination rules. This rule really allows for more big spots, as you don’t have to worry about wasting it – there’s generally nine pinfalls in the bout, so you can use 9 big spots and have them all result in pins.

So yeah, this ended up being really fun. I like the way the spots were built to, incrementally increasing in carnage and spectacle. I assumed that the ladies would be the final two entrants for both teams, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Calaway enter first and even the heel Von Black didn’t enter last. Indeed, her entrance saw her blast Moore with a frankly vicious looking weapon that seemed to have plastic cutlery just jutting out of every side. I was pleased to see Baal getting some shine in the match, he’s been really good during this feud and he looked great here from the get-go, hurling himself into the ring as a weapon on his entry. He’s basically the iron man for his team, and gets the pinfalls on Calaway and Moore (who ends the match a blood-soaked mess). They even address the fact that Calaway and Cannonball are a real-life couple for his elimination by having him pretend to play nice at the end, attempt a double-cross and get speared by his partner into a door with tin cans sticking out of it. In terms of big spots, we got a few crackers – G-Raver being eliminated by being pushed off the cage through a large wooden box at ringside, Mouse getting powerbombed violently onto a bin by Tremont, and Stockade pinning Baal after a Death Valley Driver through a barbed wire board. There’s a nice throwback to last year as Stockade eats a big spinebuster on a pile of breezeblocks, which saw him eliminated last year, but he's able to kick out at two this time. Even the overbooked nonsense is fun, as the lights go out, bringing out a returning Boo Sullivan, only for Mikey Whipwreck to also return and take him out. By the time Stockade wins the match (powerbombing Bam Sullivan through a shitload of lightbulbs, through the stage), nearly 50 minutes have passed that haven’t dragged or overstayed their welcome. Really, really fun match.

NYWC Sideshow 2018

This show is the last stop before Psycho Circus, the annual show headlined by the eponymous titular match, equal parts Wargames and Cage of Death. The matches here build up nicely to the show, a lot to enjoy in this one.

Bull James vs Johnny Radke

This is part of a “Pick Your Poison” deal, with Alex Reynolds and James picking opponents for each other before their title match at Psycho Circus. At first, I thought James was selling disinterest, working over the leg of Radke whilst looking uncommitted, but then I realised he was showing his reluctance to hurt Radke. There’s no commentary, so James has to get this story over purely with his facial expressions, and he achieves this, including some fun bits where Radke tries to escape from the mat, only for James to casually down him again. By the end, James realises he’s got to finish it, and swats away an attempted top rope crossbody by Radke, and finishes with a seated senton. Nice bit of storytelling.

Alex Reynolds vs John Silver

As a counterpoint, James has chosen Reynolds’ long time tag partner to face him, and Silver looks fired up. I saw at the start that this match was 17 minutes long, and I had a bit of trepidation. I like both guys, but Reynolds is particular has had a few off matches in my NYWC watching, and I wasn’t sure they could fill the time entertainingly. So, it was a real relief that this was really fun. Reynolds has an entourage of Rick Cataldo, King Mega and Blake Morris, and they wisely work a bit early on where the three get evicted from ringside following some interference, which keeps the rest of the bout from being filled with cheap interference. I liked how both men seemed to know what the other was about to do, part of them knowing each other so well. Silver hits some nice throws during the match, using his diminutive stature to get underneath Reynolds and sending him flying. Both have some nice offensive moments, like Silver blocking a sunset flip by holding the ropes, using them to drag Reynolds into position then hitting a big double stomp. Meanwhile, Reynolds nicely chains a side Russian legsweep into a crossface. Silver has real nice execution on his moves, some nice snap to his uppercuts. The end sees Cataldo coming back out to distract the ref, and I loved the nearfall as Silver takes out the rest of the returning entourage, only to get rolled up for two. Reynolds hits a Stundog Millionaire and locks in another crossface for the tap. Really good stuff.

Beer Belly Bandits (JT Kasin, General Romero & Bo Pritchard) vs Anthony LaCerra, Jesse Vane & Joey Conway

Neat six man tag, thought this was a heap of fun. I’m really high on LaCerra and Vane, think both guys have great athleticism and move really well, coupled with really nice looking offence. Loved the height Vane gets on a pop up dropkick. The heat gets worked on Kasin, with some nice Born & Bred double teams. Loved LaCerra holding a leglock on Kasin to allow Vane to hit a springboard splash, just solid tag team wrestling. First time I’ve seen Conway, and whilst he was notably a step below his partners, he looked fine. LaCerra and Vane hit nice simultaneous kicks on Kasin, and LaCerra looks good chaining moves on Kasin, not giving him time to recover. Pritchard gets the hot tag, moves really well for a big man, but he gets distracted by LaCerra wielding a beer, and a dual superkick to the head finishes him off.

Benson Brothers vs The Rep vs Punk Relics vs Matt Striker & Tinder Tom

Bit of a mess this one. This match would have been improved tenfold if the Striker/Tom team wasn’t a part. Really didn’t like Tom from the start. He looks like a scrawnier Colin Delaney, one of his first acts was to dry hump the mat, then he ends up in some “hilarious” accidental 69 positions with Striker. Even aside from that, the work from the other teams looked a bit sloppy in places, though all three teams also did bits I liked. I just feel like any combination of the three good teams in a 2-on-2 match for the same amount of time would have been better. The Bensons win with CJ flipping Brad into a moonsault on Striker for the win.

Matt Tremont & G-Raver vs Aiden Baal & Mouse

This is a lot of fun. Because Baal is the only credible member of his team, Mouse takes a fun beating at different points in the match. Loved the huge Samoan drop Tremont hits on him, and because Mouse has an appropriate rattiness about him, it’s really entertaining watching him take a beating.. Baal doesn’t do anything fancy on offence, but what he does looks really good. Really solid looking elbow drops. The heat gets worked on G-Raver, with Mouse’s cameo not looking too bad, before G-Raver hits a diving DDT on Baal to make the hot tag. Tremont looks great coming in, battering Mouse before blasting the heels with a great double clothesline. He hits a Death Valley Driver on Mouse ONTO Baal, and G-Raver hits a swanton for three. Really liked this.

Willow Nightingale vs Vanity

This works for the most part. There are some awkward exchanges, a few moments where they almost seem to pause as if to remember what to do next, but there’s also a lot here to like. Willow is really good in the early stages at selling her frustration when Vanity is getting the better of her. Willow messes up Vanity’s hair after an exchange, which felt like a good way of taking control of someone with that moniker. Vanity has some good looking offence, and I like how she controlled her focus on one area, clubbing at the back of Willow. She maintains this control with a decent looking camel clutch. Willow hits a nice spinebuster, not much elevation on it, but it looks like she’s trying to drive Vanity into the mat. The match winning DVD for Nightingale feels like it comes out of nowhere, but on the whole I enjoyed this.

Stockade, Devon Moore & Terra Calaway vs Bam Sullivan, Jeff Cannonball & Victoria von Black

This is a Doorway to Hell match, which means there are a load of doors in the ring with sharp objects attached to throw your opponents into. The winning team gets the advantage in the forthcoming Psycho Circus match, though I didn’t know this until it was announced after the match. Which is good, because that would have given away who was going to win. With this acting as almost a preview to that match, they don’t give everything away, but the spots we do get are still pretty nasty, no half arsing it here. Moore gets brutally slammed through a door with jagged metal sticking out by Cannonball, but is able to use his speed advantage to evade the big man and in return dropkick Cannonball into a door with sliced up beer cans poking through. There’s no real story, with people fighting on the floor while a member of each team does battle in the ring, but it’s a fun spectacle. Stockade looks great, love how he uses his weight to add to his moves. His bulldog looks like he’s really dragging opponents to the floor, and his Shining Wizard looks deadlier when a man that size is flying at you. More fun spots follow, Sullivan getting backdropped into a door covered in carpet strips and Cannonball crushing Stockade with a full weight cannonball. The women aren’t highlighted much until the finish, where Calaway goes to slam von Black onto light tubes, only for Cannonball to punch her, causing her to fall backwards onto the lights, von Black landing on top for the win. Man, I really can’t wait for the Psycho Circus match.

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.

NYWC Trust No One 2017

Milk Chocolate (Brandon Watts & Randy Summers) vs High Society (Blake Morris & King Mega)

This was a fun little tag match. I’ve enjoyed three of these guys previously, whilst being unconvinced by Mega, and for the most part this was good stuff. Mega still looks awkward taking offence, but he earns bonus points by how nice his falling slam is after catching a Watts crossbody. High Society work heat on Watts, loved the spot where Morris grabs Watts by the trunks and pulls him back into a big diving lariat to the back of the head. Morris does more shit-talking here than I’d seen previously, which was a nice addition to his presentation. Watts pulls out a few little touches here that were really nice, really struggling to escape as Morris held him in place for a Mega splash, and using the turnbuckle to elevate himself into a tornado DDT for the hot tag. A double pump kick by Milk Chocolate on Mega looks pretty weak, but the end of the match is well done, as Morris ducks a rolling elbow attempt by Summers, and he turns into a Mega chokeslam for the win.

Alex Reynolds vs Robbie E

On the other hand, this was a bit disappointing. Just too much clunky comedy which took away from the match. Reynolds does a really goofy sell after getting his head rammed into the buckles, where he keeps ramming his own head into the buckle, stumbles then falls face first. There’s a brief bit of actual Reynolds control that actually works nicely, like him standing on Robbie’s throat whilst doing an arrogant muscle pose. Robbie bits Reynolds’ arm to escape a crossface, before we get more clunking comedy as Robbie keeps rolling away from a Reynolds attempt at a top rope moonsault, whilst Reynolds keeps climbing different turnbuckles like a goof. To add to the terrible nature, when Reynolds does try the move, he half lands on Robbie’s back despite the fact he’s supposed to miss. Reynolds picks up the win with a crossface, where he knees Robbie in the head whilst holding it, but on the whole this wasn’t great.

The Big O vs Maxwell Jacob Friedman

This is for the Big O’s Fusion title. Friedman tries to cheapshot the Big O after claiming he wants out of the match, but it doesn’t go too well as O hits him with a big overhead throw, a pounce and a huge powerslam for the win.

Born & Bred (Jesse Vane & Anthony LaCerra) vs the Benson Brothers vs Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) vs J-Redd & G.I.T.

Four way match for Born & Bred’s tag titles. This only goes 8 minutes before being ruled a no contest, but this feels like a teaser trailer for 4 or 5 different tag matches you leave the bout wanting to see. J-Redd and G.I.T. feel like the weakest links, but all the other teams make the most of their chances to shine, and there’s some really fun spots in the match. Loved CJ Benson backdropping his partner into Born & Bred, loved Private Party’s manager holding up Brad Benson from the ring apron which allowed Quen to hit a brutal looking double stomp to the floor and CJ takes a huge bump as he dives to the outside, whacking his legs on the metal barricades. Born & Bred soon follow him out with a wicked looking stereo flip dive/top rope crossbody, which soon leads to a double countout. Really fun taster of the tag division.

Willow Nightingale vs Karen Q

Really getting to enjoy Nightingale now, this was the second solid performance I’ve seen from her and though she’s still a bit green in places, she’s obviously improving. This was worked as face vs face, and had a slight exhibition-y feel. Liked the early grappling where they exchange throws whilst still maintaining a lock-up, and when they do up the pace, the offence from both looks good. There’s great timing on a missed Nightingale senton followed by an impressive exploder suplex by Q. Really liked Q’s standing moonsault, really whipping herself over on the move, before Nightingale picks up the win with a vicious looking DVD. Dug this.

Stockade & Joe Gacy vs Aidan Baal & Bam Sullivan

This is for Stockade and Gacy’s Tier 1 tag titles. Stockade seems to be working face here, and looks to be having fun with it. It suits him, impressive for someone who came across as a career heel. The face team are two big, hairy guys and they look really good on offence, moving really well. There’s something quite endearing about two burly looking guys exchanging high fives whilst bulldogging their opponents. Gacy becomes face-in-peril after Sullivan grabs him by the waist as he’s running the ropes, and the heat section is pretty fun. I was particularly impressed by Baal, who doesn’t have a very impressive look, but has a great high takedown on Gacy and sells his comebacks nicely. Bam always struck me as the better Sullivan in the Hounds of Hatred, and I dug his rolling cannonball into the corner. Stockade is on fire as the hot tag, he’s really good at putting his weight behind his moves, so a flying clothesline looks devastating. Loved him hitting a double DVD on Sullivan and an interfering Mouse. Sadly, we get a terrible spot where the heel valet tries a crossbody on Stockade, gets caught and then reverses a powerbomb into a rana. Aside from the unlikely physics of this tiny woman being able to move the massive Stockade, it’s stupid because she’s a heel and shouldn’t be outpowering massive face wrestlers. The valet ends up giving Stockade a low blow for an underwhelming DQ finish, but the meat of this was really good

NYWC Psycho Circus XV

Joe Gacy vs Alex Reynolds

This is for Gacy’s CZW title. I like both guys, but this wasn’t their best work. For a big guy, there was a lot of needless motion by Gacy, adding superfluous backward rolls into some of his moves at the start. Much more enjoyable was his big dive, where he threw his frame to the outside recklessly. Reynolds wrestles like a proper heel here, refusing the audience request for “one more” chop to dish out an eye poke instead, and nailing a nasty looking kneedrop. His pop-up Codebreaker looked a bit poor however. I also liked the quick DVD that Gacy hit, but by the end this just felt like guys hitting moves on each other. Gacy wins with a handstand cutter and the Rings of Saturn, but both are capable of better.

Anthony LaCerra & Jesse Vane vs Milk Chocolate

LaCerra and Vane are defending their tag titles here. Really enjoyed this match, thought both teams looked excellent. Vane was particularly impressive, guy has a good look and moved really well throughout the match. Both teams shared some fluid team work to start, with quick tags and smooth looking double-teams. LaCerra hits a big flip dive to the floor, which is impressive for a guy so big. He got really good height on it too. Vane eats an STO on the apron by Watts, before Watts nails a huge cannonball from the top rope to the floor. It had been built up by an earlier spot where Watts had been reluctant to go up top, so it got a nice response. The end was pretty effective here, as Milk Chocolate have control of Vane and look to be about to hit a double-team move, but Vane fights back on Randy Summers, and LaCerra rolls up a distracted Watts for the win. Good stuff.

Willow Nightingale vs J-Redd

This is for the Starlet’s title, a women’s belt held by the male J-Redd for some reason. The biggest issue people often have with intergender matches is that they find it unrealistic for the woman to be able to hurt the man. Here, I find it unrealistic that the ratty bag-of-pipe-cleaners J-Redd could cause any damage to the better built Nightingale. She easily wins a test of strength in a fun spot, but this isn’t a good match, with both performers looking tentative and sloppy in places. The best looking move of the match is J-Redd’s partner GIT sweeping out Nightingale’s legs as she runs the ropes, just a nice fluid movement. Thankfully, this is pretty brief, as two other female competitors come out, take out GIT, hit a double Twist of Fate on J-Redd, and Nightingale hits a powerbomb to win.

Bull James, Mouse, Tommy Dreamer & Rex Lawless vs Stockade, King Mega & the Hounds of Hatred

This is a Psycho Circus match, which seems to be an unholy mix of WarGames, Survivor Series and the Cage of Death. There’s two sides of a cage set up on the ring, one laced with barbed wire, and a whole heap of weaponry about. The match starts with two wrestlers, with one member of each team entering alternately, and if you are pinned you get eliminated. To further complicate things, this is for the NYWC title, with the belt going to one of the team captains, Stockade or James, depending on which team survives, and Mikey Whipwreck is guest referee.

On the whole, this was a lot of dumb fun, but there were a few things that weren’t great: in particular, King Mega puts in a rotten performance, barely selling a kendo stick shot from Dreamer, and taking a woeful bump on his elimination from a pedigree by James. He looked awkward and clumsy throughout, and is a detriment to the match. Whipwreck isn’t a great ref, being off the pace when Lawless pins Boo Sullivan for an elimination, and often counting from outside the ring. Also, things do get a bit messy in places, with some wrestlers looking lost.

There are also a lot of positives: this was the best James performance I’ve ever seen. He’s the first man in for his team and goes nearly 40 minutes, hitting some nice offence and taking some huge bumps – getting hiptossed onto a board covered in mousetraps stands out as something that has to have sucked to have taken. Stockade is just a big, nasty monster heel, and again he bumps really well for a guy who is so big. Lawless and Bamm Sullivan also look good, and Dreamer gets a huge pop and looks energised by the response. There are some really nasty looking bumps taken in this bout: aside from Bull getting thrown into mousetraps, we get Lawless blasting Boo with an exploding breeze-block to the head, Lawless getting slammed onto Lego, Stockade getting thrown into a netting made of carpet strips…just a load of bumps that absolutely must have sucked to have been on the receiving end of.

The match boils down to James and Mouse against Stockade. Mouse has been portrayed in the past as a weak guy who really can’t wrestle, so he spends most of the match handcuffed to the ring post after a beating. James frees him later on, but gets turned on with a low blow. A Stockade DDT only gets two, before Mikey takes out Mouse with a big side slam (unbiased ref?). This leads directly to the end, which was suitably match-ending. James placed a wooden board on top of two breeze-blocks, set it alight and spinebustered Stockade on top to gain the 3 count and the title. Despite or or two quibbles, this is a really fun match.

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.

NYWC Going The Distance 2015

The NYWC is the New York Wrestling Connection, a US indy that gave the world the likes of Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins and Trent Baretta, and they've just launched an online streaming service. Seeing as how it worked out as about £2 per month, I decided to sign up and check out what was on offer, and settled upon this show.

Dan Barry vs Jesse Neal

This was a perfectly ok match. Hadn’t seen anything of Neal since his TNA days, and he had some good moments here, nice little heel touches like scraping his boot on Barry’s face and little stomps and kicks. Barry is someone I’ve seen people talk highly about, but he didn’t really shine here. I did like the superplex he hit, especially as both guys really fought over it, but the sloppy flatliner/DDT he hit looked really poor. Barry misses a shooting star press and Neal spears him for the win.

Tony Mamaluke vs Tyler Murphy

Getting older has allowed Mamaluke to fill out some more, he’s not as rake thin as he used to be, and it kind of suits him to be working as a grizzled veteran. Really liked his opening wristlock stuff, and the way Mamaluke cut off Murphy’s first shot at building momentum with a nasty clothesline. Mamaluke also takes a few nutty bumps to help put over Murphy. It was harder to get a read on Murphy, but he looked fine here, really good looking suicide dive. Murphy gets a single leg crab, and Mamaluke does this great sell job, frantically grabbing the ropes then clawing at the ref in an attempt to alleviate the pain. He escapes, but the leg injury causes him to lose his balance on the top rope, and Murphy locks in another crab. Mamaluke sells the shit out of it, and just about hangs on for the time limit draw. Dug this.

The Beaver Boys (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs The Premiere Gods (Tony Nese & Papadon)

I really enjoyed Papadon last time I watched him, and he was still really fun here. He’s great at playing a loudmouth braggart, yelling at the ref when things go wrong and stooging magnificently when the faces take him down, which is the case here. The Premiere Gods take over on Reynolds after ambushing Silver when all four guys are in the ring, leaving Reynolds isolated. I like the fact that Silver is so beaten down he can’t even get to the apron and, when it looks like he might make it, Papadon hurls Reynolds from the ring, sending him crashing into Silver and the railings, and preventing the tag from being made. Silver looked good when the hot tag was made, with a great looking sitout powerbomb on Nese. All four guys end up in the ring, and things break down a bit, leading to a nice finishing run when Papadon hits a Canadian Destroyer on Reynolds, followed by Nese hitting a Jig-N-Tonic for the win.

Angelo Andrews vs Drew Gulak

This was face vs face, with Gulak spending the majority of the bout in control. According to Cagematch, Andrews is very much a rookie at this point, and Gulak controls him quite easily on the mat. Gulak is always portrayed as dominant, but it never feels like he’s taking advantage of Andrews in the ring, just that he’s better. Andrews gets a few nice spots, loved him catching Gulak’s head as he goes for a second headbutt, and hitting a neckbreaker, but some of his offence looked light. There was a lot of air shown on his atomic drop and knee to the face. Loved Gulak’s wristwork, especially when he contorts Andrews’ wrist in such a way that it’s held down under Gulak’s bodyweight, leaving his hands free to simultaneously wrench at his head. In the end, Gulak locks in a Cattle Mutilation, and quickly transitions to a wristlock for the tap.

Joe Gacy vs JT Kasin

This is for Gacy’s Fusion championship. These are two big lads, though there’s something odd about the way Kasin looks. He doesn’t have the movements of a wrestler, he just looks like the local hard lad who’s been put into the ring for a scrap. Gacy works over the arm of Kasin, amplifying this after Kasin rams his shoulder into the post. Gacy actually looks pretty decent throughout, with his armwork looking great, before he gets the tapout with the Rings of Saturn

Stockade vs David Starr

Stockade is the NYWC champion and this is for his belt. Stockade is a big, big lad, so it’s an odd game plan for Starr to try and take him down with shoulder blocks. From then on though, this is a fun match, and it’s even a bit All Star-ish in places, with simple logical work the order of the day. For example, after Starr chops the ring post, both guys act like they should: Stockade grabs the hand and rams it into the railings, whilst Starr quickly tries to put as much distance as possible between him and the monster. I liked the little touches they put into the match, like Starr yelling with exertion when he breaks free from a chinlock. Stockade misses a big top rope senton, but though Starr fires back, Stockade ends his challenge with a big clothesline for the win. Good match

Matt Tremont, Blake Morris & Rex Lawless vs DJ Hyde, Brandon Watts & Randy Summers

Summers and Watts make up the team of Milk Chocolate, so named because of their mixed ethnicity. This is a street fight, and really is a match of two halves. The first half, where all 6 guys brawl all around the building, inside and out, is hard to follow, with the lighting limited. The second half sees them return to the ring, where things get good. The heels isolate Morris alone in the ring, and methodically beat him up, knocking Tremont and Lawless down when they try to save him. It’s well worked, to the point that Morris grabbing a kendo stick and hitting Watts before getting beaten down is an effective hope spot. The heels are really cocky, and are able to casually set up a table in the corner, which they coat in thumbtacks. At this point, they’ve been threatening the tacks all match, so the crowd has been looking forward to seeing them come into play for a while. They set up Morris for a top rope superplex, but Tremont and Lawless have recovered by now, and their attack leaves Watts perched on the top rope, prone for Morris to powerbomb him onto the non-breaking tack-covered table. Sick spot, and Watts sells the fuck out of it. Morris decides to give him another one, again failing to break the table, which earns the three. The big spot really paid off, and the second half of this was enough to pay off the first half.