XPW Fallout

For all the negative views of XPW (and it was often poor), they did have some good moments. Shows like this one, where they'd imported some decent talent, actually had some worthwhile matches. So, even though the Shane Douglas era pretty much killed off the company, at least we got some good matches out of it. At times...

Pogo the Clown vs the Sandman
Oh God, this match is terrible. Pogo is essentially a big fat lad in a clown costume who seems to be pretty much useless, aside from one nice bump right at the start. Sandman basically tries to carry this with some nutty bumping, but Pogo’s offence is really shitty, with a weak facebuster and a horrible top rope splash. They really go all out to put Pogo over here: at one point Sandman’s wife runs in, only to get caught from the top rope and splashed. Pogo then barely sells Sandman’s rage-filled cane shots and powerbombs him onto some safety railings in the ring for 3. The sad thing is, this is clearly using the big star to put over the local talent, which makes sense, but Pogo is so poor that the fans simply don’t buy it.

Juventud Guerrera vs Julio Deniro

Juvi cuts a rambling promo pre-match, which is amusingly subtitled. They blow something early doors, but recover quickly and work a decent match. Julio looks a bit shaky on the more complicated stuff he tries, but his basics seem pretty good, which means that Juvi is able to carry him well enough. Deniro does hit a pretty good top rope reverse suplex, and I really appreciated him going for frequent pins in an attempt to beat his more illustrious opponent. However, Juvi is too much for him, though it takes a Juvi Driver on a chair for Guerrera to pick up the win.

Mexico’s Most Wanted vs Dead Prez

The Dead Prez team aren’t announced, instead being nameless debutants who enter through the crowd. As far as I’m aware they were Boogalou (of early RoH fame) and Low Ryder, whilst MMW are Damien 666 and Halloween. This is a pretty fun tag match, as both teams are use some fun double teams, and both work a high energy pace. I liked the move where MMW grabbed Boogalou by the arms and legs and rammed him into the ringpost from outside. After a back and forth match, MMW retain the tag titles with the Montezuma’s Revenge, a giant swing into a standing dropkick. Really good fun.

Chris Chetti vs Chris Hamrick

This actually starts off pretty well, despite Chetti selling a phantom armdrag. The fans seem to dislike the face Chetti, until Hamrick takes a ludicrous bump to the floor and Chetti follows him out with a corkscrew moonsault from the top rope. Chetti seems to be trying really hard here, which is good to see. However, there is a minute where everything goes to Hell and never really recovers. In this case, they manage to botch a clothesline-in-the-corner spot twice. From there, things go a bit sloppy, until the end sees Chetti kick out of a top rope legdrop and hit a top rope Amityville Horror for the win.

Psychosis vs Super Crazy

It probably won’t be a huge surprise to learn this is the best match of the night. Crazy is massively over here. You can get an impression of the pace they work here by the fact that Psychosis takes a nuts guardrail in the first 10 seconds. Very high tempo stuff, but everything is cleanly hit and looks good. Crazy hits a sweet looking asai moonsault into the crowd at one point, getting insane air. They run through a nice series of counters and reversals, until Psychosis hits a diamond dust from the corner and nails the top rope legdrop for 3. After, Crazy goes nuts with a spike and starts attacking Psychosis. Great match.

Malice vs Vic Grimes

Before the match, we get a worked-shoot promo from Malice complaining about his XPW gimmick and saying he’s representing TNA. It’s a decent big man match, though Grimes is noticeably running out of breath after the opening minutes. But they throw each other about impressively enough, with Malice hitting a good top rope butterfly suplex on Grimes. Grimes is pretty agile for a big lad, walking the ropes and hitting a nice pair of top rope splashes. Most impressive of all is the finish, which sees Grimes hit a top rope cannonball to the floor through a table (as well as through Malice) which picks up the win. Grimes cuts an anti-TNA promo, but seeing as how XPW is seen as even more of a joke than TNA...hindsight.

Supreme vs Altar Boy Luke

This is for the Deathmatch title held by Supreme. The Altar Boy is better known as Luke Hawx of WSX fame. Supreme actually outwrestles Luke to start, but bumps for a whiffed dropkick and lands in a tray of lightbulbs outside the ring. Supreme pretty much no sells that, which makes sense given his “Human Horror Film” gimmick. We get an odd looking legsweep into barbed wire, where they both seems to take equal impact. I like the fact Luke hits 3 or 4 moves in a row designed to drop Supreme into the barbed wire over and over again. Supreme slams Luke into the wire, and he reacts less well than Supreme had been. Supreme drags Luke to the crow’s nest, but Angel (the “Hardcore Homo”) interferes and helps throw Supreme off the edge. After Angel setting it up, Luke hits a 450 splash through tables and tacks to pick up the shock win. More enjoyable than I expected, with a few fun highspots and Supreme actually holding his end of the bargain up well. Not amazing, but fun.

Kaos vs Danny Doring

The opening stages of this match are shockingly good. Like, really enjoyable pro-wrestling, especially when Kaos threatens to leave and Doring dives off the top rope onto Kaos and his entourage. I also loved how Kaos decided to wrestle with the XPW TV title still on. However, things so a bit wrong after Doring gets blindsided following interference from valet Veronica Caine. First, Kaos botches a few moves, including a sloppy looking cutter. Then Kaos and manager GQ Money hit a rolling thunder/450 splash combo in front of the ref, despite having relied upon ref distractions earlier in the match. Worst of all is a nonsensical sequence, where Doring (the face) gets outwrestled by Caine (the heel valet), which is such an unspeakably stupid bit of booking. Things pick up again shortly after Money takes a sickening bump over the top onto the guardrail. Kaos hits a Ganso Bomb for two, before a fun sequence of reversals leads to Doring hitting a reverse stunner to win. Of course, a Dusty Finish is used to stop Doring getting the TV title, with Money revealing the contract signed was non-title. The good just about outweighed the bad.
 

Shane Douglas vs Chris Candido

You know a match is going to be bad when the ref counts two following a post-match attack, before he’s actually called for the opening bell. There is some very lacklustre brawling to start, though I did enjoy how, following a table being set up in the ring, Douglas and Candido built anticipation to the table spot by gesturing to it and threatening to use it. Eventually, Candido misses a top rope legdrop which sends him through it. We get a sequence where each man uses offence designed purely to hurt the opponent’s balls. Like, 3 moves a piece. The valets (Tammy Sytch for Candido and Lizzy Borden for Douglas) fight in the ring, and Shane gives Tammy the belly-to-belly suplex. Candido hits a top rope headbutt, but Borden puts Douglas’ leg on the rope. Douglas fires back with two Pittsburgh Plunges (the second onto a chair) to retain the title. Boring brawling, not recommended at all       

Southside Wrestling Speed King @ Rushcliffe Arena, Nottingham 22/04/12

Southside Wrestling is a fairly local promotion that seems to run a lot in the East Midlands/Cambridgeshire area, but I've never gotten round to going to one of their shows before. That is, until last Sunday when they ran a show 5 minutes from my house, a one-night tournament to crown the first Speed King champion. After enjoying last years Awesome Wrestling show at the same arena, I went along hoping it would be as good as that show had been. It ended up being far better...

Mark Haskins vs Ego Dragon
Haskins is billed as a TNA star, so it’s nice to see him making the most of his few TNA appearances. Ego Dragon wore a mask that looked near identical to Super Dragons. Haskins got the crowd into the match early, popping them with the Tiger Mask feint followed by a tope suicida. The crowd remained hot for the rest of the night, so that was a good idea. Dragon looked pretty good, but Haskins really impressed, showing some brute strength by picking Dragon up from the mat straight into a powerbomb. The end saw Haskins hit a top rope rana, but Dragon rolled through with it for the win

Max Angelus vs Danny Chase vs Bubblegum
Angelus and Chase are both local, whilst Bubblegum is a slightly bigger name on the circuit with a fun chav gimmick. Angelus impressed me a lot last June, and he was great here, he’s really got the look, talent and charisma to go places. Chase also seemed pretty good, being slighter but pretty crisp in the air. This was an elimination match and Max was first to go after Stixx came to ringside with a chair and, following a tussle between Max and Stixx, Chase accidentally got hit in the ribs, whilst Bubblegum fell to the floor to get Angelus DQ’d. This left Bubblegum with an injured Chase and, whilst he got a few comeback hope spots, Bubblegum picked up the win with a top rope stomp.

Marty Scurll vs Robbie X
Robbie reminded me of Lionel Messi – totally average looking with floppy hair who is actually able to do some incredible things. Some of the high-flying he did in this match was terrific, like hitting a flawless Code Red on Scurll. As well as being absolutely loaded with charisma, Scurll is bigger than Robbie, so used strikes to wear down the smaller man, including an insane lariat that turned X inside out. Scurll followed this with a torture rack into a backbreaker to pick up the win.

Rockstar Spud vs Noam Dar
My friends and I were huge Spud fans back in the day. Nowadays, he seems to do less high-flying (probably wise with his tiny frame) and instead used more character-based stuff to get over. His entrance, him standing on the ring apron, horns aloft, not moving to Living On A Prayer was great. Dar is also pretty small, but had a vicious selection of kicks, and really dished it out to Spud here. There was a nice little bit of storytelling where early in the match Spud hammered Dar against the ringpost, but when he tried again later on in the match, Dar moved which left Spud crotched on the post. Dar stomped on Spud’s leg from the top rope, then got the tapout via an ankle hook.

El Ligero vs Martin Kirby
This was also the opening match of the Awesome Wrestling show I watched in the same arena last year. However, whilst that was a fun opener, this far outshone it, being a tremendous wrestling match. Kirby especially has improved markedly in the last 10 months, during which he worked a match against Finlay that was supposed to be very good. He looked really crisp here, including a delayed suplex that he held for ages. You get the impression these two have worked together a number of times, as the chain wrestling section between the two was very well worked and there were a number of convincing false finishes before Ligero won with a backslide. Really good.

Pac vs Kris Travis
Pac is the big star of the show, and was noticeably much physically bigger than the other guys on the show. Travis attacked Pac pre-bell to start and, while this match started slow, it soon began to pick up pace. A standing shooting star by Pac woke up the crowd, before a twisting corkscrew moonsault to the floor which sent them into raptures. Travis held up his end of the match well, and looked comfortable against a guy who is an international star. In fact, this match was really even throughout, as Pac let Travis get in a load of offence, the highlight of which was a swank Northern Light suplex, which Travis rolled through with before kicking Pac in the head. Indeed, Travis picked up the clean win, as Pac hit knees on a shooting star press, before Travis nailed a double-underhook piledriver for the victory. Fine match, and a total star-making performace by Travis.

Shanna vs Holly Rocamora
Both girls were out there to represent all-female promotion Pro Wrestling: EVE. The match was pretty short and forgetable, but broke things up a little bit before the tournament final. Shanna was the more polished of the two and won quickly with a reverse DDT

Ego Dragon vs Bubblegum vs Marty Scurll vs Noam Dar vs El Ligero vs Kris Travis
This was an elimination match for the Speed King title. One of my favourite indy matches ever is a 6-man elimination from IWA-MS back in 2005, so I was very much looking forward to this. The match started with Bubblegum on the mic, demanding not to get hit in the face and threatening to blow El Ligero’s lucha gimmick. However, before he could do so, Ligero rolled him up for a flash elimination. Following a fun five man in-ring section, that saw the three faces suplexing Travis and Dragon together, the two masked men, Dragon and Ligero soon squared off and went through a strike exchange before Dragon decided to simply kick Ligero in the groin getting disqualified. This left the face/heel split very uneven, so Travis quickly pinned the downed Ligero. Travis, Scurll and Dar worked a fun triple threat sequence from this point, including a 3-way kick exchange that ended with all hitting simultaneous kicks to the head. Dar locked a leglock onto Travis, who tapped out quickly. This left Scurll and Dar, and the ending section for these two was really good, with some convincing strikes from both on the ring apron. Dar started to slightly heel it up, viciously working over Scurll’s leg for the leglock. He locked it in, but Scurll refused to tap. He started to pass out, but gots his arm up when the referee tested his arm for the third time. After a bit more action, Scurll managed to hit the backbreaker to pick up the win. Really fun main event, which managed to revive a crowd that had started to flag a little. Scurll put over Dar after the match and, considering Dar is only supposed to be 18, he looked like a major prospect. Satisfying end to a really good show.

The Best of Mikey Whipwreck

Digging through some old tapes, I found this Mikey compilation I bought about 10 years ago. For the most part, it's his best known matches from ECW, rather than his best matches, but there are a few gems here...

Mikey Whipwreck vs the Pitbull
An ECW TV title match, with Gary Wolfe defending against the highly mismatched Mikey. The Pitbull basically destroys Mikey, sending him crashing to the mat with a standing enzuigiri. Mikey flies over the top rope from a clothesline before getting catapulted over a safety rail. Back in, Whipwreck takes a belly to belly and a powerbomb before the Tazmaniac turns up on the apron to distract Pitbull. Taz takes a kick to the head, but avoids a second one, causing the Pitbull to crotch himself. Mikey rolls on top of the Pitbull and, even though Wolfe raises his shoulder on two, gets the win and the TV title. Basic squash, but a fun angle at the end.

Mikey Whipwreck & Cactus Jack vs the Public Enemy
Terry Funk missed his flight, so Cactus picks a reluctant Mikey to be his partner. Whipwreck tags out right away, and runs off to the back. This leaves Jack on his own to get beaten up, but Whipwreck actually comes back with a small piece of plywood which he uses to clear the ring. Mikey’s first bit of offence is being used by Cactus as a weapon, getting whipped into Rock, before being used as a battering ram to send the Public Enemy to the floor. Mikey actually dominates Grunge in the ring, but is soon getting pummelled again following a DDT onto a steel chair. Whipwreck is face in peril and takes a trademark battering, including a huge powerbomb by Rock and a piledriver from Grunge, but Whipwreck manages to keep kicking out. Mikey is unconscious, so Jack brawls with TPE in the crowd whilst Mikey starts to recover. Back in the ring, Rock moonsaults Jack through a table before going back to Mikey. TPE go for the Drive By, but Jack manages to crotch Rock on the top rope allowing Mikey to cover for the three. Another match that is focused on the angle, but the action was plenty of fun.

Mikey Whipwreck vs the Sandman
This is for the ECW title, and Steve Austin joins us before the match to cut a blistering promo to essentially declare himself the next ECW champ. The big problem with this match is that neither guy really sells much, despite the fact they keep hammering each other with ladders. Indeed, Mikey takes a real beating here, including a Fameasser onto the ladder, but still keeps on getting up. At one point, Sandman props a ladder up on the railings and barrels out with a tope to seesaw the ladder into Mikey’s face, which should have killed Mikey off for good. Instead, Sandman misses a slingshot elbow and Mikey hits a top rope splash onto the Sandman, and a ladder, for the title. Too spotty to be any real good.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Rey Mysterio Jr
Sadly, this is all clipped, making it more of a highlight reel. We do get to see an insane Mysterio tope before it cuts to Mikey winning with La Majistral.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Steve Austin
This was scheduled to be the Sandman taking on Mikey, but Austin beat up Sandman en route to the ring and took his place. Austin is clearly dominant here and, unlike the Sandman match, this provides the match with some structure. Some fans chant “Hogan”, so Austin hits a big boot and legdrop for two in a fun spot. Mikey takes some huge bumps, including a monster over the top rope to the floor. The Stungun gets two for Austin before Mikey wins with a sunset flip. Decent enough.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Taz
This is from Raw in 97, and is a total Taz squash. Mid-match, Sabu dives from the Raw sign onto Taz’s entourage, so Taz responds by throwing Whipwreck over the top rope onto Sabu. Tazmission earns an easy win, but this is a fun curio.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Kidman
Mikey’s WCW debut, and it’s a PPV title match. It was all downhill from here. That said, I liked this more than any previous match on the tape. Mikey plays heel here and, being bigger than Kidman, bullies the smaller guy, which provides a nice change of pace. Mikey’s different attitude allows him to show some nasty looking offense, including wheelbarrowing Kidman face first onto a safety rail. Mikey even gets to reverse a headscissors attempt and powerbomb Kidman! Kidman does get to pop the crowd with a few high spots, including a nice crossbody to the floor, but Whipwreck pops up on a SSP attempt, sending Kidman crashing to the outside. Whipwreck continues to dominate, with a swank top rope clothesline and a monstrous top rope belly to back suplex both getting two counts, before Kidman reverses a powerbomb and hits the SSP for the win. Kidman gave loads to Mikey here, and let the scruffy looking guy most of the fans didn’t know look like a killer. Mikey wasn’t as flash as the other WCW cruiserweights of the time, but his offence looked like it really hurt and he could’ve had a great run as a cruiserweight dick bully. Sadly, he’d be jobbing to Scotty Riggs by the next PPV.

Mikey Whipwreck vs 2 Cold Scorpio
Or 2 GOLD Scorpio as he’s referred to here, putting both the TV title and the tag titles on the line. This starts pretty evenly, but once 2 Cold takes control he starts to decimate Mikey. After getting one or two hope spots, including a flying headscissors and a pescado, Whipwreck misses a crossbody and the Scorpio onslaught is on. Scorpio blitzes Mikey, hitting a tombstone, a moonsault, a powerbomb and a moonsault legdrop, but picking Mikey up on two to be a dick. The ref gets bumped following some brief Mikey offence, but Scorpio is soon well in control with a superkick and another powerbomb. However, his cockiness comes back to haunt him as Cactus Jack takes advantage of the ref bump and knocks 2 Cold off the top rope before hitting the double-arm DDT to allow Mikey to grab the gold. More angle than good match, though cocky Scorpio was a lot of fun to watch.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Sabu
Sabu is wearing a neckbrace. Wonder how much this will affect him. In the early stages, he actually acts like it is, grounding Mikey and positioning his body to stop him reaching the ropes. This is sadly the one time he acts like his neck hurts, as his next move is to hit a top rope rana on Mikey. From this point on, Sabu says “fuck it” and forgets that he’s got a neck injury, using a chair to dive on Whipwreck on the outside. To his credit, Mikey doesn’t forget Sabu has a neck injury, hitting him with a DDT, an enzuigiri and then ripping the neckbrace off before elbow dropping Sabu through a table on the outside. Mikey goes for a countout win, but Sabu doesn’t even hint at building tension, getting in on a 4 count. Sabu gives up all pretence of selling, hitting Mikey with continued highspots, before hitting him with a DDT through a table on the floor. Back in, this gets the win. Mikey tried, but Sabu was awful here.

Mikey Whipwreck & Tajiri vs Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger vs Tommy Dreamer & Jerry Lynn
This is a triple threat elimination match. I liked the opening section which saw Lynn and Tajiri in a blistering sequence whilst Simon just knelt on the mat open mouthed. It soon breaks down into a brawl and the camera man follows Tajiri and Dreamer through the crowd. Being handheld, this becomes impossible to follow. After what feels like forever, the action returns to the ring, where all four faces dropkick chairs into Simon and Swinger’s faces. Dreamer hits Mikey with the DDT, but CW Anderson pulls him out of the ring. This distraction allows Simon and Swinger to eliminate Dreamer with the Problem Solver. They then try a Doomsday Device on Tajiri, but he spits green mist in Diamonds face, leaving him prone on the top rope for a Whippersnapper, which gets the win. Too messy to be any fun.

Mikey Whipwreck & Tajiri vs the FBI
This is essentially a squash for the vast majority of the match. That said, a Guido/Tajiri sequence at the start of the match is terrific. The chemistry between Whipwreck and Tajiri is incredible here, as the decimate Guido and Mamaluke with double teams. I also dug the use of a table here, using it to slide chairs to the outside of the ring into Big Sal to stop him interfering. Whipwreck hits a vile looking one-man conchairto on Guido busting him open. The FBI get granted a small heat section until Mikey reverses a Mamaluke flying headscissors into a stungun to make the hot tag to Tajiri. Tajiri is so fucking good, everything he does is here is gold. Mikey hits a Whippersnapper through a table on the outside (which makes no sense as he goes through the table first), but inside Guido takes advantage of Big Sal distracting Tajiri to hit a Tomikaze onto a chair for the win. Plenty of fun.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Little Guido
This is from Border City Wrestling, and is billed as Mikey’s last match, which would last two years. They play a lot of this for comedy, with Guido stooging for Mikey’s offence, including getting hit with comedy weapons like a plastic sword and a straw doll. Guido sells a custard pie to the face as death. The match is pretty enjoyable given the context, though Mikey is noticeably not as smooth as Guido in the ring. Mikey mists the ref by accident, meaning a Guido Tomikaze doesn’t get counted. A second effort gets a 3 count, but the ref then spots Whipwreck’s foot under the rope. A top rope Whippersnapper through a table (still makes no sense) gets the win for Mikey.

TNA Against All Odds 2012

Man, it's been ages since I've written anything for this blog. Luckily, a few months of upheaval are now over, with the upshot being that I'm going to have more time to watch/write about pro-wrestling. Onto this show, which I started watching about 2 months ago and have only just got round to writing about...

Jesse Sorensen vs Zema Ion
Obviously, this match went short due to the unfortunate injury to Sorensen. I’ve been very vocal in my support of Jesse on this blog, his improvement has been noticeable on a month by month basis. Even in the 5 minutes here, he hits a great Northern Light suplex with real snap. Hopefully he’ll be able to return one day.

Robbie E vs Shannon Moore
Moore is in this match as a result of answering the first Robbie E Invitational. This is filler, but it’s enjoyable filler as Robbie E is one of the most entertaining guys on the roster right now. Robbie makes to leave early following some Moore offence, but Shannon brings him back into the ring. Moore takes a nasty looking bump into the railings to give Robbie the advantage. Jeremy Borash does some nice work on commentary to put over the importance of this match, talking about how he travels with Robbie E, and that he takes the TV title with him everywhere. The Fist Pump drop gets two. I love how excited E gets every time he goes for the pin. Moore hits an asai moonsault on the outside, which is interesting considering the Sorensen interview in the previous match. Moore follows this with a nice top rope rana for two, but Robbie T gets involved, punching Moore in the head as he heads towards the ropes, leading the a Robbie E leaping DDT for 3.

Gail Kim vs Tara
Knockouts title match. Madison Rayne comes to the ring with Gail, and it’s a novel touch that her being at ringside works against Kim, as the champ spends too much time distracted by Madison which allows Tara to attack at the bell. Oddly, Tara is REALLY over in the Impact Zone. Kim starts to target Tara’s knee with a Brock Lock, a move more people should really do considering the massive brace on her knee. She follows this with an Octopus Stretch, which is broken when Tara gets the ropes. Tara gets back in command with a decent powerslam. She hits a top rope moonsault, but hurts her bad knee in the process, so can only get two. Tara goes for the Widow’s Peak, but Gail reverses to a knee-breaker and gets Eat Defeat for the win. Not a bad match, but not great either. I feel like Gail should have done a bit more work on the knee before the moonsault, but that’s possibly a minor quibble.

Crimson & Matt Morgan vs Samoa Joe & Magnus
For two thrown together teams, this was actually a good match. I’m not big fan of Crimson or Morgan, but they were both better in this environment than in singles action. Magnus is a guy who has improved immensely since his TNA debut in 2009, so I’m glad to see TNA use him again. Crimson ends up as face-in-peril after some outside interference from Joe. Magnus and Joe have already developed good tag team chemistry, with some well-worked double teams. They work the heat section on Crimson well, whilst still giving him some hope spots. My favourite of which sees Joe stop a Crimson break for the corner with a crisp powerslam. Crimson does make the hot tag, and Morgan looks decent when coming in. The tag environment suits a guy like Morgan, as he can hot tag in and hit some power moves, whilst not being required to work a full match. Crimson hits an accidental spear on his partner, and Joe/Magnus hit the snapmare/elbow combo to pick up the tag titles. Better than you’d expect.

Austin Aries vs Alex Shelley
When Get Cape video stars collide. Shelley attacks Aries as he reclines in the corner to get this thing started. There is a nice spot early on where Shelley throws Aries out of the ring and prepares for a dive, only for Aries to crawl under the ring and attack him from behind. Aries starts hitting knees to the shoulders of Shelley as the commentary team wisely bring up Shelley being sidelined with a shoulder injury. Aries follows this up with a 2nd rope elbow to the back of a seated Shelley. Shelley takes over after A Double takes ages setting up the Pendullum Elbow. Aries tries to crawl under the ring again, but this time gets cut off by Shelley, who hits a suicide dive successfully. Aries takes over and this time hits the Pendullum Elbow with no build up, which Tenay highlights. Aries hits a sick Death Valley Driver on the ring apron but misses the 450 splash. Shelley hits Sliced Bread, only for Aries to get his foot on the rope. Aries rolls through a roll-up attempt and goes back to Shelley’s neck with a series of knees before the brainbuster only gets a two. Shelley gets another nearfall from a series of kicks to the head, but A Double blocks another Sliced Bread attempt and hits another brainbuster, before locking in the Last Chancery for the tapout win. Really good match, with Aries concentrating on Shelley’s injured shoulder, which also softened Alex up for the submission.

AJ Styles vs Kazarian
Kaz is accompanied by Christopher Daniels, who forces him to wrestle in a Daniels t-shirt. Styles soon rips that off him, however. Despite an early flub where AJ leaps too early on a leapfrog, this surpassed my expectations. Kazarian is a guy I can’t make up my mind about, but I do think he makes a better heel than face. To their credit, they managed to continue the storyline, whilst working a fun match. Styles keeps eyeing up Daniels throughout the match. There is a nice touch where Styles uses an Indian Deathlock on Kaz, and maintains eye-contact with Daniels throughout the move. They exchange finisher attempts a few times too, but again that fits into the story, with them being former stablemates and friends who know each other well. The ending I liked too, with AJ looking like he’s going to springboard into the ring onto Kaz, but instead hitting an insane Asai moonsault to the floor on Daniels. However, this gives Kaz time to recover so that, when AJ does try to springboard in, he gets caught in a Fade To Black for the Kaz win. Good effort.

Gunner vs Garrett Bischoff
I really think Gunner is coming into his own and it’s massively to his credit that this wasn’t utterly dreadful. This is your typical overmatched face vs overconfident heel match, and should lead to a straightforward story. However, the match goes nearly 13 minutes, and that is far too long for the story they told here. The other problem is that Garrett is neither over nor talented, so Gunner had to control the majority of the match, without beating Garrett too badly, which gets old really quickly. Gunner does hit a slingshot suplex to give the match some brownie points, but the biggest pop comes from Hogan decking Eric Bischoff outside the ring. Gunner hits a neckbreaker, calling back to their previous match where Gunner injured Garrett, but Garrett stops Hulk throwing in the towel. This doesn’t stop Gunner hitting a DDT for the win. I don’t think Garrett is unsalvageable as he does show some fire in his comebacks, but he really needs to spend a few years working as many non-televised shows as possible to learn how to put on a proper match. He’s simply not good TV yet.

Bobby Roode vs Bully Ray vs James Storm vs Jeff Hardy
I really enjoyed this match. They threw in enough clever little bits to keep me entertained as a viewer. For example, when Bully departing the ring means Hardy and Storm have Roode to themselves, they hit Poetry In Motion on him, but on a second attempt Storm quickly tries to roll Jeff up for a 2 count. I also dug the moment when Roode and Storm teamed up to suplex Ray, then teased the Beer Money celebration only for Roode to attack Storm part way through. They manage to keep the match pretty high tempo, and everything looks really smooth. One sequence involving Roode, Ray and Hardy, which ends with a Bully Bomb on Jeff is particularly good. Ray looks great throughout, everything he does looks really meaty and like it’s going to hurt. It’s nothing fancy, but he gets more out of his elbow drops than a lot of guys in TNA do with fancier moves. I enjoyed the ending too, with guys hitting their finishers all over the shop before an opponent stops them getting the win. A ref bump gives Roode the opportunity to grab his title to hit Hardy, but Sting stops him. Roode, in spectacular dick heel form, goads Sting into hitting him, only to duck and allow Sting to level Hardy instead. Roode then covers Hardy and insists Sting counts the fall, which he reluctantly does. Good main event, and the ending, though predictable, at least sets up the Sting/Roode match at Victory Road.

TNA Maximum Impact Tour, Nottingham Capital FM Arena 2012

So TNA decided to open their UK tour with a show in my home city. Getting there, the atmosphere already seemed pretty good. There was a good sized crowd there and already there were fliers going round advertising that they'd be back in Nottingham in 2013, so the advance sales must have been pretty promising. My last TNA show was at the Cov Skydome in 2008, but the set up was a fair bit nicer than back then, with the tron in particular being a nice addition.

Douglas Williams vs Gunner
Decent choice for the opener, with Williams getting a sizable pop. Gunner pulls back the floor covering outside the ring early doors, in a nice reference to the Impact match which ended with him DDTing Williams on the floor. Interestingly, Williams seems to work as an underdog babyface here, busting out a bit more highflying than we usually see from him, hitting a nice tope suicida. This slight shift in style allows Gunner to build some heat by dominating Williams, locking in a bearhug and making Williams fight back from underneath. Williams gets a nearfall from a diving uppercut, before a sequence of reversals ends with the Chaos Theory for a popular win.

Samoa Joe vs Crimson
I have a principle of trying not to cheer for heels at live wrestling events, but I really didn’t feel like cheering for Crimson over Joe here. Luckily, most of the arena agreed, and the wrestlers wisely reacted to this with Crimson busting out a choke on the ropes and throwing Joe into the ringpost to heel it up. Joe was really on here, hitting his offence with a nice bit of snap and looking visibly more motivated than on your average episode of Impact. He even dragged the Ole kick from out of the mothballs to a big reaction, but Crimson hit a spear on him from the chair on a second try. The match ended with a double DQ outside the ring, but this was better than I’d expected, and Crimson actually looked pretty good here.

Austin Aries vs Alex Shelley vs Mark Haskins
This was an X Division title match. Shelley and Aries got decent reactions, with the crowd slow to warm to Haskins, despite him being (falsely) billed as being from Nottingham. Aries went to the outside quickly, letting Shelley and Haskins work each other over. They worked a pretty smooth series of moves in there, albeit with Aries sneaking round the ring looking for an opportunity to seize an advantage, where Haskins started to win over the crowd with some nice highflying. He hit a nice tope suicida on Shelley, which Aries followed up with an even better one. Shelley did some goofy selling on the outside, whilst Haskins got the chance to impress against Aries in the ring. He even got a close nearfall, which fooled me into thinking they were about to put the title on him (in retrospect, a stupid thing to fall for). Shelley got back and the three worked an impossibly smooth section before Aries hit Haskins with the brainbuster for 3. Good match.

Gail Kim vs Madison Rayne vs Tara vs Mickie James
Second title match in a row and, whilst the least memorable match of the night, it was still an enjoyable one. Kim and Rayne paired off against Tara and James, until the faces threw them out of the ring (which led to a high five, which Mickie sold in a nice touch). We then got a Tara/James section as the heels refused to get back in the ring. Of course, they waited for the right moment to return and soon took control on the faces, focusing on James after sending Tara into the ringpost. The harmony couldn’t last though, and Kim got in Madison’s face after Rayne tried to pin James for the title. This allowed James and Tara to take over, but a distraction to the ref allowed Kim to nail Tara with the title for the pinfall. Weakest match of the night, but still a fun affair.

Bully Ray vs AJ Styles
We kicked this off with a heeling masterclass from Bully Ray. First he ran down the audience in classic fashion, before luring a fan over the barrier to fight him in the ring (of course, the second he climbed over the barrier, Ray screamed for security). He then tried to compete with AJ for the loudest pop from the crowd when climbing the buckle, which he predictably lost. He then took on Earl Hebner, who’d been getting booed throughout the night, and lost to him too, before finally challenging Christy Hemme, who also beat him. Ray then stalled, avoiding locking up with Styles for as long as possible. Honestly, the Ray heeling act is spectacular live. He ran through his whole repertoire, spitting in the air and catching it in his mouth, before his own version of the Flair strut. Of course, in amongst all this was a wrestling match, and it was a darn good affair for a houseshow. They worked a solid brawler vs flyer match, with Ray using his strength to wear down AJ with a bearhug, whilst AJ outpaced Ray, getting a nearfall from a flying forearm. They also had a nice spot where AJ ran Ray around outside the ring and got fans to put their feet on the railings to ram Ray’s head into. The end came when Ray went for the Bully Bomb, which AJ reversed into a rollup for the win. Bully hit AJ in the head with a chain postmatch which I thought was odd, but made sense with the events to come...

Bobby Roode vs James Storm
This was our main event and, whilst I thought it would be a good match, it felt anticlimactic when the posters had advertised Sting, Angle and others who hadn’t been seen (though I was maybe the only person there disappointed by no Anarquia...). Especially so as it was highly unlikely we’d see a title change and thus we’d have a heel winning the main event. Still the match was progressing nicely, until Roode ducked a superkick and lowblowed Storm for the DQ....

....this drew out Sting to a huge pop, who said the match would restart. This in turn brought out Angle to challenge Storm and Sting to a tagmatch. A pretty good choice for a main event, but then Bully Ray returned to make it a 3-on-2 match. I was waiting to see who the inevitable third man in the face team would be. I thought it might be Anderson, Hardy or Magnus. Hell, when Sting reminded us we were in Nottingham, home of Notts Forest and Robin Hood, I thought he might bring back “Nottingham’s own Mark Haskins”. But he didn’t. With the arrival of Eye Of The Tiger sounding over the tannoy, he brought out no other than Hulk Hogan!

James Storm, Sting & Hulk Hogan vs Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode & Bully Ray
Unsurprisingly, Hogan’s first match in the UK in 18 years brought a huge reaction. The match itself? The best possible match you could have got from this line-up. Hogan didn’t take any bumps, but the heels pinballed around for his every move to a great series of cheers. The faces hit pretty much a greatest hits set of moves, with Storm and Sting working face in peril for large parts in between. I think booking a 6 man tag was the perfect way to headline the show, as it didn’t require guys like Hogan, Sting (who looked terrific here) and Angle to exert themselves too much yet still put on a match the fans really reacted to. Bully Ray added some nice character touches from ringside, including a great sell of a nutshot, made even more impressive when you consider it was a sympathy sell for a lowblow on Roode. In the end, Hogan hit the big boot on Roode (in all honesty, to Roode’s midsection, but I don’t expect miracles) and Storm hit the big legdrop on his former partner for the win. A terrific, terrific way to end a great show.

Top 10 Blog Matches of 2011

The second annual round up of the best this blog has seen in the past year. I think this is a good summary of what I've watched and enjoyed this year. A bit of puro, a bit of 80's US wrestling, a bit of 00's indys, a load of Zenk. Relive the past 12 months of not being Jay Tabb...

10. Ayako Hamada vs Mika Akino (Best of Ayako Hamada)
The Ayako comp was my introduction to the world of joshi, and this match was a fantastic battle. Akino played the underdog to Hamada's powerhouse perfectly.

9. Hacksaw Jim Duggan & the Ultimate Warrior vs Andre The Giant & Ravishing Rick Rude (WWF Fan Favourites)
A really pleasant surprise. Well laid out tag match with Andre playing the role of monster to perfection. Includes the Giant doing a Rude hipswivel.

8. Rick Martel & Tom Zenk vs the Funk Brothers (Best of Tom Zenk)
Though this was an EDILTZ entry, this match is all about Terry Funk and his masterful heel work. Add two good sets of tag workers and you've got a great match.

7. Super Dragon & Disco Machine vs Excalibur & Kevin Steen (PWG Guitarmageddon)
I described the heat section on Disco as being like wrestling's Passion of the Christ, and I stick by that as Excalibur and Steen gleefully kick the shit out of him. Good stiff action and a swerve ending that makes sense.

6. Toshiaki Kawada vs Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 2000)
Two men go to war and the result is spectacular. Felt like a real battle and has that real big match atmosphere. Both guys get to look like killers here

5. Christopher Daniels, Ikuto Hidaka & Dick Togo vs The SAT & Quiet Storm (MLW Reloaded)
That the SAT and Storm have never looked better is no surprise. That this may be the best Daniels match I've seen is another matter, and this is one of the best 6-man matches it's been my pleasure to watch

4. Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard (WWE Bloodiest Steel Cage Matches)
The Sasaki/Kawada match made both guys look invincible. This one makes me shocked that either man survived. A gory, brutal war where even 25 years later you can feel the hate drip through your TV

3. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich vs Buddy Roberts & Terry Gordy (Best of Kerry Von Erich)
2011 is the year is became a big Von Erich fan, especially the magnificent brawling abilities of Kevin. This is a Badstreet match, which basically means anything goes. Stiff, believable war that isn't affected by nont having a finish.

2. Tom Zenk & Dan Kroffat vs Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki (Best of Tom Zenk)
Ahead of it's time tag match, with Zenk/Kroffat being the best team no-one has seen. Kroffat in particular busts out all manner of cool shit, including a Razor's Edge and a Cattle Mutilation. Top drawer stuff.

1. Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart (WWE Bloodiest Steel Cage Matches)
I loved it when I first saw it in 1994. I still love it now. It's just beautifully worked, with both guys trying to escape in the most realistic manner possible. The Harts aren't afraid to get a little snug with each other and crucially, while it was a clean win for Bret, it was so even battled that Owen comes out of it looking like a bonafide main event star. Perfect.

Wrestling Society X: Season One Part One

So I managed to pick up this DVD of the first part of the only series of MTV's shortlived Wrestling Society X promotion (though at this point it looks pretty clear that part two will never get a UK release). WSX had a roster primarily made up of So-Cal indy guys (including anyone from XPW who didn't outright suck) so the talent on display is pretty good, though I'm commenting on each match with the knowledge that these matches were booked not so much as wrestling matches, but insane stunt shows for MTV viewers. With that in mind, let's crack on...

EPISODE ONE

Matt Sydal vs Jack Evans
The future Evan Bourne is accompanied by on-screen girlfriend Lizzy Valentine, playing a young preppy couple. Evans takes an insane bump straight away, hurtling over the top rope to the concrete floor. Sydal follows with a tope. This is absolutely a spotfest, but crucially it’s a really fun one, with everything connecting nicely. Sydal takes a nasty bump onto his head from an Evans leg lariat, which sends him to the floor. Evans follows him out with a cartwheel into a 360 somersault, which is just mental. Valentine interferes to try and help Sydal, but Evans manages to use her back as a launchpad for a tornado DDT, followed by a 630 splash for the win. Really high-octane way to kick off the concept of WSX.

WSX Rumble
Even Vince Russo would look at this and call it an overbooked clusterfuck. Basically, it’s a rumble with tables and “electrified wires” outside the ring and two contracts hanging above the ring. When all combatants are in, the contracts are lowered and the first two to get ladders and grab them get to compete in the WSX title match on the following show.

We kick off with Justin Credible and Teddy Hart, who foolishly celebrates an early modicum of success by moonsaulting off the top into a Credible superkick. Former XPW wrestler Kaos is 3rd, but gets hit with a cradle DDT by Hart. Vampiro is 4th and cleans house. We get a commercial break, during which Puma (5) comes in and gets eliminated, and Al Katrazz (6) is in the ring. 6 Pac is 7th, whilst Chris Hamrick is 8th. Sadly for Hamrick, entry no. 9, New Jack, takes offence to his Southern ways and follows him to the ring straight away, before proceeding to kick the shit out of him. Hamrick and Jack are both gone pretty much straight away, as Jack eliminates Hamrick and follows him out to inflict more pain. Suddenly, a load of stuff takes place at once, as Kaos is thrown into a big box of electricity by Katrazz’s tag team partner Luke Hawx. At the same time, Katrazz and Hart both get eliminated, as final entrant Youth Suicide gets in, and immediately empties a bag of tacks into the ring. Vampiro powerbombs him onto them straight away, whilst 6 Pac grabs contract #1. Suicide tries to climb the ladder, but is thrown off into another box of electricity on the outside. Vampiro then outlasts Credible to grab the second contract. A total fucking mess, with bad camera work and no rhyme or rhythm to the match,

EPISODE 2

Luke Hawx vs the Human Tornado
Haven’t seen a Hawx match since he was Altar Boy Luke in XPW. This is pretty much a showcase for the Tornado character, but Hawx can go and, despite Tornado no-selling a kick to the nuts thanks to his “balls of steel”, Luke soon takes over following an exploder and a leg lariat. Tornado manages to send Hawx outside and hits an insane tope, followed by a Tornado DDT for the win. Brief, but enjoyable. Afterwards, we get a schmozz with Al Katrazz and Hawx fighting the team of Kaos and Aaron Aguilera, a result of the Hawx interference in last weeks rumble.

That 70’s Team vs Team Dragon Gate
The 70’s boys consist of PWG stalwarts Joey Ryan and Disco Machine, with Yoshino and Horiguchi repping for Dragon Gate. Horiguchi and Yoshino are insanely quick here and use this speed to take control early on. Ryan misses a dropkick, resulting in him yelling to Disco to throw him his asthma inhaler in a funny spot. The match soon descends into carnage, with Ryan hitting a superkick on Yoshino for the win.

Vampiro vs 6 Pac
This is for the first ever WSX championship. Both guys put in a surprisingly high effort and the match moves as a fair old pace. The problem is that it’s way too spotty and is pretty much just a collection of moves. A 6 Factor only gets two for Pac (I personally think it lost it’s power when it realised it’s new name didn’t actually mean anything). Vamp hits a tombstone from the apron into (oh yes!) an exploding coffin to get the win and the title.

EPISODE 3

Trailer Park Boys vs The Filth & The Fury
Trailer Park Boys consist of Nate Webb and Josh “Jug” Raymond (aka Josh Abercrombie of IWA-MS fame), whilst their opponents are Teddy Hart and Matt Cross. The Filth & The Fury dominate this right off the bat and this is a massively one-sided showcase until Hart takes a boot to the face attempting a moonsault onto Webb. The Boys have some nice double teams, but this is Hart and Cross’s match, and once Hart escapes Soylent Green, the end is nigh. Hart hits a Canadian Destroyer on Webb and puts him on a table outside before (and I can’t believe I’m typing this) soaking him in water and zapping him with an electrical cable, then hitting Open Hart Surgery on him from on top of some crates. In the ring, meanwhile, Cross hits a shooting star legdrop on Raymond for the win. Actually quite fun early on, but it took a ridiculous turn that I still can’t decide if I loved or hated.

Jack Evans vs El Hombre Blanco Enmascarado
EHBE is PWG stalwart Quicksilver which, being easier to type, is what I’ll call him. That said, his name is probably longer than this match. Quicksilver hits a Fishermans Buster for two, but Jack nails him with a knee to the head and hits the 630 for the win. Essentially pointless

Al Katrazz & Luke Hawx vs Los Pochos Guapos
Los Pochos Guapos are Kaos and ex-Carlito bodyguard Aaron Aguilera. This is a TLC match, only this time it stands for tables, ladders and cervezas, with a 6 pack of beer in the corner. I really like Aguilera’s 1940’s heavy look and this match is pretty well laid out when you take into consideration the WSX policy of rushing through everything. Give it another 5 minutes and it could have been pretty good. Kaos hits Hawx with a Kaos Driver early, but Aguilera stops him hitting a moonsault and tells him to hit it off the ladder, which Kaos promptly misses. Katrazz tries to hit Old School into a tornado DDT on Aguilera, but AA reverses it into a suplex into the ladder. Kaos hits a Ganso Bomb on Hawx and AA tells him to powerbomb Hawx onto the beers. However, Katrazz Irish whips AA into Kaos midpowerbomb, allowing Hawx to reverse it to a facebuster on the beers. That was pretty nicely worked. Katrazz powerbombs Kaos through a table for the win. Probably the best WSX thus far.

EPISODE 4

Matt Sydal vs Scorpio Sky
Sydal is described as the “Cocky Coverboy”, which would be a great gimmick for him to use if he turned heel in the WWE. Due to some poor booking, both guys are essentially working cocky heel gimmicks, though the crowd soon decides Sky is the face. The match kicks off with a series of flips, ranas and dives, until Sky nails Sydal with a backbreaker. Awesome moonsault into a legroller by Sydal. Sky comes back with a pristine tope. Lizzie Valentine distracts Sky, allowing Sydal to hit a standing moonsault for two. The ending is pretty choice, Sydal hitting a one man Spanish Fly that ends with him on top for the victory. Brief but fun, at least everything was crisp. Afterwards, Valentine writes “H8R” on Sky’s back in lipstick, which is a brilliant heel move.

Keeping It Gangsta vs That 70’s Team
KIG consists of Babi Slymm and former CZW champion Ruckus. That 70’s Team come out to answer an open challenge, and prepare for the match by oiling themselves up. KIG are into total control early on due to the fast paced offence of Ruckus. Slymm comes in and retains control, until Ryan helps Disco complete a victory roll by booting Slymm in the gut. Some high-concept comedy ensues involving Ryan wearing a thong, and Ruckus gets the hot tag. Ruckus is a guy ideally suited to tag matches, his high paced offence suits being the hot tag guy really well. Slymm hits an insane spinning sidewalk slam on Disco. Ruckus puts Ryan in the tree of woe, smashes a discoball in his crotch before hitting a flipping moonsault from a blinged-out ladder onto Ryan’s face. What a sentence. Match was pretty enjoyable.

And that is the final match we get. The episode finishes with an angle involving Vampiro, 6 Pac and a debuting Ricky Banderas (plus ludicrous special effects), but we get no more episodes of WSX...

What we DO get is some web-exclusive matches as extras...

Luke Hawx vs Puma vs the Human Tornado
Earlier this year, I reviewed a PWG match which was a triple threat match with a similar line-up, with Davey Richards instead of Hawx. That was a longer match but, taking into account the WSX constraints of time, I think I enjoyed this one more. This is in large part down to the presence of the former XPW Altar Boy, who really gets showcased here. Tornado kicks things off early with an insane tope to both men which sends him through the safety rails, but Hawx soon takes control on him after sending Puma to the floor with a huge Irish whip to the corner. Hawx nearly beheads Tornado with a clothesline, downing him with a vicious looking series of kicks. Hawx retains control and nearly gets two off a powerbomb, but is shoved from the top rope to the floor by a returning Puma. Tornado attacks Puma and hits a corkscrew senton on him for the win. Made Puma look really dumb, but Hawx and Tornado got to look great.

DIFH vs the Trailer Park Boys
DIFH (or Doing It For Her) are Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black rocking an emo gimmick, Jimmy being the sensitive one and Black being the intense one. The commentators spend a lot of the early going talking about Johnny Webb managing the Trailer Park Boys, and how he’s a former XPW champion, as if anyone watching will have any idea what that means. Jacobs is too busy spending the early moments waving to girls, so Black has to kick things off by hitting Jug with some nice strikes. The Boys take over on Black, with some nice double teams in the corner. Jacobs does get in, but Raymond nearly kills himself hitting a suicide dive into the rails (and partially Jacobs). We see some nice character developments for DIFH as Jacobs locks in a Camel Clutch on Raymond, but gets upset when Black comes in a blasts Jug with a dropkick to the face. Jimmy tries again with a Cattle Mutilation, but Black comes in again with a standing Shooting Star. Raymond manages a hot tag after a springboard kick, and Webb comes in and gets the win on Black following Soylent Green. I liked this a lot.

Matt Sydal vs Matt Classic
Matt Classic is Colt Cabana under a mask, and the gimmick is spectacular. Essentially the story is that he is a wrestler from the 1950’s who has been in a coma for 50 years and is returning to action. Cabana plays it to the hilt, with not only a moveset straight out of the black-and-white days, but also wearing large trunks, no kneepads and with ridiculous mannerisms. Classic locks on the dreaded stomach claw early on, but Sydal somehow escapes and uses his speed to take over. Classic manages to lock on the trapezius claw from a Sydal pinfall, but Sydal hits a reverse rana and the Shooting Star Press to win. Really fun comedy match.

Matt Classic vs Scorpio Sky
Another excellent Classic match. Classic brings some more old school to the table, including fish-hooking Sky. Sky downs Classic with a flying headscissors, but gets caught on another move, and Classic downs him with a dreaded airplane spin. A Heart Punch sends Sky straight down, but Classic misses a bottom rope splash which allows Sky back into it. Sky hits a sloppy looking Impaler DDT for the win.

DIFH vs That 70’s Team
The match starts with Disco doing an unnatural amount of gyrating. Jacobs doesn’t seem to want to hurt him, so Black uses his partner as a weapon, whipping Disco into the corner and hurling Jacobs at him. Ryan comes in to attack Jimmy, who ends up as face-in-peril. Machine hits a snazzy looking snap powerslam. Jimmy nails a neckbreaker on Ryan, which causes Joey to need his inhaler. This gives Jacobs time to make the hot tag. The awkward thong comedy comes out again, DIFH rock a nice double team finisher: Black hoists Ryan on his shoulders, Jacobs hits a top rope elbow and Black finishes it off with a sitout driver. This picks up the win. Another perfectly good tag match, better than most of the ones on the main show.

DIFH vs Team Dragon Gate
The third DIFH match on the internet matches and really, they’ve been a highlight of the DVD. This is another fine match, with the opening section with Jacobs and Horiguchi being superslick. Loved seeing Jacobs using the flying headscissors, though it’s not quite the same without the power of the furry boots. Yoshino is still superquick, enough that he starts to make my TV blur, and he gets a two off a tornado DDT. Black is still forced to use the sensitive Jacobs as a weapon, hurling him into Horiguchi for a two count. Horiguchi misses a moonsault, and DIFH use the elbow/driver combination to pick up the win. DIFH were awesome.

Jack Evans vs Marcus Riot
Riot is a guy I know nothing about. Even a quick Google search is revealing nothing. Riot is dressed exactly like Evans, with the storyline being that Riot is an Evans superfan. Riot does a really good job keeping up with the uberfast Evans early on, but he gets blasted with a swank cartwheel kick by Evans. Evans sends him outside and hits a nuts 360 springboard plancha. Riot gets back on offence by raising knees on a standing SSP and nails a roaring clothesline for two. Evans fires back with a reverse rana for two. He follows it with a fantastic standing corkscrew moonsault for two. Evans misses the 630, but he blasts Riot with a Fisherman buster and hits the 630 second attempt for 3. Fun story with Riot being the Evans clone, and he looked pretty good. Shame I’ve literally no idea who he is.