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.

Mid-South Wrestling 06/02/1982

Bob Orton Jr vs Ken Woodby

Woodby is pale, portly and auburn haired; a less intimidating grappler you couldn’t hope to meet. Orton controls him on the mat, working the arm to keep him grounded. Orton then hits a back breaker, a leaping second rope forearm and a piledriver in quick succession to win.

Ted DiBiase vs Ron Cheatham

Flavourless squash, as DiBiase controls Cheatham rather easily and hits powerslam and the figure four to win. Meh.

The Wild Samoans vs Junkyard Dog & Mike George

This takes two attempts to happen, as the first sees a fun angle with Ernie Ladd furious that Skandor Akbar has taken managerial control of the Samoans, his charges. He goes on the assault, beating all three men down, until an unnamed One Man Gang comes in a beats him down, hitting a (shitty) top rope splash on his legs to injure him.

Twenty minutes later, after Akbar demands the Samoans be allowed their scheduled match, we get it…and it’s a bit nothing. It’s for the tag titles, held by Dog and George, but it’s too short for much to happen. What it does do is show how useful Akbar will be for the Samoans. After a ref bump, a chair gets brought into the ring and, whilst JYD is able to use the chair to deflect an attempted fireball by Akbar, it gets left in the ring and the Samoans take advantage, hitting a Samoan Drop on George onto the chair to claim the tag belts. I hoped for a better match, but the whole deal was fun.

Bob Roop vs Frank Monte

Short, but with bits to enjoy. Liked Roop showing hid power to muscle Monte through a hip toss after it looked like they’d blown it, and I enjoyed Monte slipping out of a second attempt to hit a flying headscissors, which he then held on the mat. Good ending too, as a clubbing blow to the back of the head by Roop sends Monte into the corner and Roop hits a shoulderbreaker for the win. Good stuff.

Paul Orndorff vs Mr Olympia

Really good stuff here. They work a nice even pace, with some lovely punches thrown by both, before Orndorff takes control by rebounding from the corner with a second rope clothesline. Nice driving knees into the side of Olympia’s face. Orndorff starts getting frustrated as Olympia kicks out of some big moves, with a powerslam and driven elbows only getting two. Olympia reverses a piledriver, hits an enzuigiri and locks in a sleeper that, even though Orndorff tries his best to fight it, gets the victory. Good sprint.

Ed Wiskowski vs Brian Blair

They get the “TV time limit” death spot here, but both guys wrestle like they want to win instead of killing time. This is speed vs power, with Blair showing his skill early by reversing a Wiskowski suplex into a small package for two. From there, Wiskowski keeps hurling Blair into the ropes, first catching him with a stungun, then with two slingshots. Blair kicks out of an O’Connor roll, sending Wiskowski headfirst into the bottom turnbuckle, giving him the comeback until time runs out. Fine enough.

WWF Madison Square Garden 20/03/1983

Baron Mikel Scicluna vs Mac Rivera

Joined in progress opener. Scicluna controls the majority of this with some unconvincing offence, mainly weak blows. Rivera makes a comeback after Scicluna misses a wild swing that was obviously nowhere near Rivera’s head, and Rivera isn’t particularly dynamic on offence either. Rivera at least plays to the crowd. The Baron does hit a nice knee lift before a Rivera hits a sunset flip to give him the win.

Tony Garea vs Johnny Rodz

Liked Rodz throughout this one, especially at the start where he ducked around and tried antagonise Garea, begging off and then hitting a sucker punch. Rodz misses a splash, fully committing to the miss, and Garea takes him down with an armdrag. Garea holds onto the arm for A LONG time. Just holding Rodz on the mat and armdragging him back down every time. Rodz continues to enhance the match with a nice leaping forearm, decent legdrop and a hilarious bump into the ropes where he just gets totally caught up. The end of this got quite exciting, back and forth shifts in momentum that make both guys feel like believable winners, before Garea gets an O’Connor roll for the win.

Superstar Billy Graham vs Jules Strongbow

Is it wrong that I actually enjoyed this match. Took me by surprise how much I dug this, all pretty simple stuff that told a simple story. Strongbow works the arm of Graham, in a far more interesting manner than Garea did in the previous bout, actually making it seem like he was trying to hurt the limb. Graham grabs him in a bearhug…then has to release it as his arm is too damaged to maintain the hold. Loved that. Graham has a brief period of control before Strongbow fires up with a war-dance and locks on a sleeper to a giant pop. The crowd honestly went nuts for it. Graham escapes though, and hits an illegal karate chop to the throat to get the victory. Totally effective.

Salvatore Bellomo vs Ray Stevens

Thankfully, a chunk of this is clipped after we endure a lengthy Sal headlock. Stevens bumps around a bit to try and fire this bout up, but Sal offers very little here, going back to the headlock at the earliest opportunity. They exchange fists and end up fighting on the apron, leading to both men getting counted out. That’s it? Stevens tried to make this interesting, but there’s basically zero content here.

Bob Backlund vs Don Muraco

World champion vs IC champion, though only Backlund’s world strap is on the line. This is billed as a Texas Death match by Monsoon, but this just means there has to be a winner by pin or submission. Though it only seems to be Monsoon who knows this, as he chastises the ref for counting for rope breaks and breaking holds. This starts with some fun schtick based around Backlund holding and maintaining a headlock on Muraco. He works the hold too, which at least keeps it interesting for a while. There’s a great spot where Muraco finally breaks a headlock and wearily climbs the rope, only for Backlund to leap to the top and take him back down with another headlock. This does go on too long though, nearly ten minutes, and it gets tiresome after a while. It finally picks up when Muraco takes control, dropping Backlund headfirst on the steel railing and hitting a legdrop on the ring apron. Muraco wastes some time celebrating though, and gets rammed into a ringpost and busted open. Backlund works the cut, before Muraco hits a sudden powerslam from nowhere. He’s too worn down to make the cover though, selling the bloodloss and the lengthy headlock. The ending is pretty great, nice back and forth as Backlund gets an Argentine backbreaker, Muraco uses his feet on the top rope to flip out, Backlund locks in a chickenwing, Muraco gets the ropes and Backlund finally hits a German suplex for the victory. The overlong headlock spot was really tedious, but the second half of this really delivered.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 23/06/1986

Danny Spivey & Mike Rotundo vs The Moondogs

This is from the period where Spivey was replacing Barry Windham in the US Express. He’s obviously not as good, but this is in no way a bad match. Spivey and Rotundo control early, confusing Spot with some fun teamwork, and the Moondogs find it hard to get into the match until a blind tag lets Rex attack Rotundo from behind. The Moondogs make everything look painful here, with Rex in particular hitting some meaty elbowdrops. The heat is worked on Rotundo, who gets in a few hope spots with a crossbody and a sunset flip for nearfalls. A back suplex leads to a hot tag, with Spivey not exactly lighting things up with a weak swinging neckbreaker. Liked the ending though, as Rotundo hits an airplane spin on Rex and covers him, with Spivey standing guard against a frustrated Spot in the corner. Solid bout.

The Iron Sheik vs Pedro Morales

The commentary team are quick to remind that these are two former world champions, setting the “screwy finish” alarm bells ringing with this being the second match of the show. Gorilla and Lord Alfred also take great pleasure in fat shaming a fan who gets into a big argument with the Sheik. Indeed, arguing and stalling makes up a big part of what Sheik bring to this match. He keeps breaking up every Morales advantage by bailing, and only stays in the ring when he’s got control following an eye poke. Sheik mainly controls with cheap offence, raking the eyes, throwing Pedro to the floor and ramming him into the announce table. Camel Clutch is locked in, but Pedro gets to fight back and make the ropes. Pedro’s comeback is fun, he’s pretty fired up which especially contrasts with the Sheik’s offensive run. The end is inevitable though, as Sheik gets Morales’ foot tied in the ropes, refuses to stop attacking him and pushes the ref for a DQ.

Lord Littlebrook vs Cowboy Lang

Typical midget comedy match with some surprisingly nice moments from Littlebrook. You have to get passed the usual shit first, Lang biting the ref’s arse somehow not drawing a DQ, but Littlebrook looks to throw in some clubbing blows and a proper nice kneelift, before Lang pins him following a rolling cradle. Not worth watching.

George Wells vs Hoss Funk

Man, Wells must have pissed on Monsoon and Lord Al’s chips at some point, as they spend most of the match talking about his size, his ponderous lack of speed and how he’s definitely not winning the match. Wells does get to overpower Funk at first, but gets backed into a corner and Funk just takes over. It doesn’t last too long before Wells blocks a suplex, hits his own and they just seem to reset the match. Right back to Funk trying to shoulderblock Wells down, as he had at the start of the bout. Monsoon says that Wells “starts slow and gets slower”, before a Wells football tackle is greeted with a knee right to the face. Perfectly timed, it looked like it knocked Wells out. Wells does get one last impressive power spot, catching a top rope clothesline and hitting a backbreaker, but a 2^nd rope splash gets knees for the Funk win. Monsoon and Hayes crow at their earlier prediction.

Harley Race vs Lanny Poffo

Interesting match here, as it’s a massacre by Race that somehow lets Poffo come out of the match looking better than he went in. Poffo is competitive in the early going, avoiding a diving headbutt and kipping up into a side headlock takeover on Race. Harley soon take over, lovely gutwrench suplex is followed by a piledriver, with a foot on the rope saving Poffo. Outside the ring, Race hits a brainbuster on the concrete, which is pretty wild. Diving headbutt on the floor follows, as Hayes and Monsoon put over Poffo just for surviving this. Back in the ring, Race drops some nasty kneedrops on Poffo’s face, grinding the knee there. Lanny makes a brief comeback with a flying headscissors, but Race adjusts his balance on a second and drops him into a stungun. Fisherman Buster finally puts Poffo away. Really fun stuff.

George Steele vs Nikolai Volkoff

This…wasn’t so fun. Both are limited guys who can be fun with the right opponent, but against each other it’s not pretty stuff. Volkoff clubs away in an unexciting manner, before Steele charges himself up by eating a turnbuckle. Steele hits Volkoff with a foreign object and blocks a clothesline with a bit in an admittedly fun spot, but when Volkoff refuses to let him back in the ring, Steele bops him with a steel chair. Brief, but not brief enough.

Innovate Pro Wrestling - Regenesis

This is seemingly the last NWA Smokey Mountain show, as the company rebrands itself to Innovate Pro, and as such has a proper big show feel. There's the feeling of some matches being big blow offs and others being just the first chapter, but it's a really solidly booked show from start to finish.

Lenny Stratton vs Wayne Adkins

This was a decent little opener, both guys seem pretty impressive. Stratton is slightly larger, and was the aggressor in a lot of this match, really liked the combo of moves he hit with Adkins tied in the ropes, culminating in a flatliner draped from the second rope. He also showed great presence of mind when he turned into a handspring elbow from Adkins, as instead of just standing there to take the move, he sold a moment of confusion before walking into it. Adkins showed nice babyface fire on his comeback, had a string of nice punches. Stratton gets a close nearfall from an RKO, but a second try is reversed to a backslide for three.

The Cross Brothers (Aden & Christian Cross) vs The Jones Boyz (Hogan & Cooper Jones)

This is for the Jones Boyz NWA Smokey Mountain tag belts. Both teams seems like well-oiled machines, both showing nice teamwork from the start. Liked Hogan Jones hitting a crossbody in the corner, then staying there, held up on the middle ropes, to trap the opponent to allow Cooper to hit an enzuigiri. The Cross Brothers, based on the commentary, are working a “chip on their shoulders” gimmick, contrasting them with the Jones’, who are very popular with the crowd. Hogan especially seems like a really fun power wrestler, all high energy as he hits a big cannonball in the corner. The Jones Boyz look to be about to win with a Doomsday Device, but it’s stopped, leading to Cooper getting thrown off the top onto Hogan in a neat spot. The end sees Aden Cross go to get one of the belts, only to eat a huge spear from Hogan. However, he hits the belt, knocking himself out and giving the Cross Brothers the upset win. Good stuff here.

James Drake vs Kid Chaos

This is an open challenge, with Chaos answering Drake’s call. Drake seems really impressive, a big, thick no-nonsense looking chap. Chaos is a high-flyer, at times really impressively so, though he does almost flip himself out of the ring at one point. Loved Drake catching a plancha at ringside, hurling Chaos into the ropes to bounce back into a Drake forearm. Great spot. Chaos is really fast, which he needs to be in order to sell the story and be effective against Drake. You need to believe that this skinny guy moves quickly enough to befuddle this big beast of a man, and Chaos is good enough at that. Drake fully commits to missing a big moonsault, but Chaos misses a 450, getting up into a huge running boot and a double-underhook neckbreaker to give Drake the win. Good outing from both.

Rogue 6 (Jeff Connelly, Robert Laveau, Wild Bill & Travis Lee) vs Jason Kincaid, Chance Rizer, Garrett Coleman & Kyle Maverick

This is fought under lucha rules, which makes it a fast moving affair. The heel Rogue 6 group has apparently been plaguing Kincaid for months, so he’s brought in back up in the form of some newcomers to the promotion. The format of the match allows everyone to look good, as guys get in, hit their stuff and get out quickly. Even with that in mind, some guys stand out more than others. Wild Bill is a big fat guy in a mask, who moves really well and even gets an impressive bridge on a Northern Lights suplex. Coleman is another big chap, and he provides the full stop on a dive train by hitting his own big flip dive to the floor. There’s some sloppiness, but this is overall fun stuff, before Travis Lee gets the win with a falling slam on Coleman.

Caleb Courageous vs Chip Day

Really liked this, thought Chip Day looked terrific here. His range of kicks and running knees looked on point, coming in interesting combinations and from different angles, and he seemed to gradually be wearing Courageous down. They had their timing down pat on a few nice sequences, highlighted by Courageous kicking Day in the face from the apron, and Day turning back JUST in time to eat an Asai moonsault. Courageous wins a neat little sprint with a package piledriver, great showing from both men.

The Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude & Rob Killjoy) vs The Brothermood (Myron Reed & Mickey Midas)

Another change of pace here, with this being a quick workrate tag match. These kind of matches live and die by the crispness of the spots and the continuity of the tag teams, and thankfully that was on show here. Loved how the Ducklings wore down Midas when they got control of him, hitting him with a quick succession of springboard moves. The dives in this looked great, Midas hitting a big tope, Reed taking people out with an incredible high leap, and one top rope sequence in particular looking great. Reed hits a frankly ludicrous top rope reverse rana on Killjoy, who bounces to his feet to eat a brainbuster from Midas, only for Lude to come off the top with a corkscrew moonsault for the save. Timing was vital to the success of that sequence, and they pulled it off. The Brotherhood get a convincing nearfall with stereo 450 splashes, but the Ducklings get the victory with Killjoy using his partner as a projectile to throw into both Brotherhood members for the win. This ticked all the boxes it needed to.

Devin Driscoll vs Rob Conway

Probably the weakest match on the show, though it’s more due to booking than performance. Very short affair that sees the two men brawling on the floor, another well-chosen change of pace. Just a big slugfest. Driscoll’s stablemates The Illuminati come out to help him, leading to Driscoll missing everyone and faceplanting on the floor on a dive. Back in and a sloppy looking cutter gives Driscoll the win.

The Illuminati (Austin Tyler Morris, Chris Richards & Jordan Kage) vs The Heatseakers (Elliott Russell & Sigmon) & Axton Ray

This carries on from the last match, with the face trio coming out to stop the Illuminati doing more damage. They manage to isolate Tyler Morris, working him over whilst exchanging some quick tags. Axton Ray is probably the standout of the match, he’s a totally unassuming looking character, but he’s really impressive, with great movement and crisp looking offence. Sigmon becomes face in peril, with Richards being the least impressive member of his team. He’s a big guy, but he hits some really wimpy looking headbutts, where you can see clear air between his head and Sigmon’s. There’s a wonderful false tag, where Sigmon gets cuts off at just the last second. The actual hot tag dissolves things into a fun melee, before Ray gets crotched on the top rope, allowing Kage to hit a rainmaker paydirt for the victory.

Toby Farley vs Timmy Lou Retton

This is for the vacant IPW United States title, and through a slightly muffled pre-match promo, we get both guys agreeing to fight to a finish, effectively wiping out stoppages, DQs and countouts. From there, we go to a big brawl, and this is great from the get-go. Loved the absolute height on Retton’s big boot, hitting Farley square in the face. Farley hits a big powerslam right on the hard floor, which looked painful. Retton seems really good, he filled the match with lots of fun touches, like kicking Farley in the head whilst lying on his back after a two count. Fun little sequence where Farley hits a belly-to-back suplex, which seemingly knocks out Retton. The commentary team mention that this move concussed Retton before, and we get a full on “X” angle, complete with glassy eyed sell by Retton. The rules, established earlier, means the match doesn’t get stopped, and Retton suddenly reveals it to be a ruse by charging for Farley. In a nice twist on the “playing possum” spot, Farley is a babyface who isn’t a complete idiot, being aware enough to side step and hit Retton with another belly-to-back suplex. Retton does get control, and claws away at Farley’s mouth, pulling it apart twice in a way that is played up as having broken Farley’s jaw. In a beautiful pro-wrestling moment, Farley rolls to the floor and tapes his jaw shut. Retton wisely focuses his attack on the jaw, nailing some big uppercuts and a jawbreaker. Loved how this match was built, with moves being sold enough to give everything some meaning. At one point, with Retton fully in control, he hits a swinging neckbreaker from the second rope that should finish off Farley, but landing on the back of his head causes HIM some pain after eating the two earlier suplexes, delaying his cover just long enough for Farley to kick out. A lovely looking running knee to the face only gets two for Farley. In the end, Retton’s own impatience costs him, as he rolls to the floor to get a trophy to use as a weapon. He swings, he misses and Farley plants him with another belly-to-back suplex in one quick motion. Another running knee, this time with the kneepad off (great touch) gets the win. Really terrific bout. Loved the build and the storytelling throughout.

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.

ECW Hardcore TV #33 23/11/1993

Kevin Sullivan vs Keith Scherer

Basically a violent mugging from Sullivan. He attacks the hapless Scherer before the bell, battering him with weapons outside the ring, then corner-charging him three times and hitting a double stomp for victory.

Tony Stetson & Johnny Hotbody vs JT Smith & the Sandman

Smith is still recovering from his injured knee that was exacerbated by Terry Funk, so Sandman is reluctant to tag him in. The heel team of Stetson and Hotbody are really solid here, tagging and double-teaming quickly as they work over the Sandman. Sandman gets the odd poor looking roll up, but the heels start to focus on his leg. JT manages to tag himself in, still limping, and I loved Hotbody locking on a spinning toehold to ape Smith’s former mentor. Sandman finds himself forced to tag back in, and the end sees a second attempt at a cane shot by Hunter Q Robbins (the first was no sold, probably by accident) give Hotbody and Stetson the win.

Mr Hughes vs Kyle Scherer

Apparently this is the twin brother of Keith from earlier in the show, but the cynic in me thinks this is just jobber recycling. Scherer has some exaggerated selling, throwing air punches after taking a big blow. Hughes dominates and pins with a sidewalk slam.

Tommy Cairo vs Chris Michaels

Worked as a face vs face match. We get the good and very bad of Tommy Cairo in this match, as he hits a nice running elbow in the corner on Michaels, but then a lot of sloppy moves – awkward missed clothesline, poor running dropkick. The less said about his Thesz Press, the better. Michaels looks far better in control, his execution is really crisp in comparison. However, two back suplexes give Cairo the win. Nothing bout.