Hybrid Wrestling -Theory of Evolution 12/6/08

I was sort of sold on this show by the youtube video of the main event , for some reason it took them six months after releasing the video to release the show. I felt like someone anticipating The Dark Knight after seeing the first preview. I have enjoyed parts of the other Hybrid I have seen, although it has been hit or miss as you might imagine. Bummed that there was no Dave Logan on this show, as he was the guy who impressed me most in the other stuff I had seen.

Robert Paulson v. Cody Adams

Rough opener. Paulson kind of looked like an 1990's USWA jobber, with man boobs, greasy hair and shitty metal tattoos. Adams was your generic 22 year old indy worker with kickpads and ideas. Some of the ideas worked okay, some didn't, but his in between kicking, punching and stomping was Fire Ant bad. Paulson did a Code Red which is pretty bad show layout. In a fed full of spectacular athletic guys, a really unathletic guy in your opener shouldn't be doing big highspots.

Luis Diamante/Eric Ryan v. Bleeding My Breaking Sunset

This was hurt some by not having any commentary, this is clearly part of a long term angle with Diamante breaking up with his tag partner, calling out Ryan as a replacement and then his ex-partner has a guy come from the back, who was clearly making a return. I don't know how much a deep understanding of the backstory would have helped me, as the actually wrestling in this was pretty terrible. So far on the show there have been six guys, and none of them can throw a punch or forearm, ominous portent for the remainder of this show.

Corvis Fear v. Starless

Corvis Fear is a JAPW guy who is the better Garden State God and the last Doghouse student. He is a guy I have dug a bunch in the past, as he is really good at taking flippy guys and beating them into good matches. Starless is one of the lesser Hybrid flippy guys and this is pretty much a squash. Still after the first match it is good to see a guy who's stuff looks painful, and I imagine Fear vs. guys like Kendrick, Cockstrong and Brian Lyndon will rule.

Flip Kendrick/Johnny Cockstrong v. A-Team

This is by far the best match on the undercard, it is worked face vs. face. I don't get much of a sense of the A-Team, but Cockstrong and Kendrick are both pretty fun. Cockstrong's gimmick is that he has a steel hard dick, and uses it the way JYD uses his head. I have seen him before and he seems to come up with new variations every match. At one point one of the A-Team gets a bloody mouth after a cock shot, which added a bit of grizzly reality to the gimmick. I also really dug the Go To Sleep with a dick shot replacing the knee. Kendrick was a little subdued here, although he did hit a crazy twisting quebrada.

Myke Quest v. Billy Taylor

Weird match, I used to watch a ton of mid-90's indies and they would pretty much all have fake Tommy Dreamers doing fake Tommy Dreamer matches. Taylor comes out with his Hard Core Cafe t-shirt, beer gut and shopping cart full of weapons, but its 2009, Tommy Dreamer doesn't even wrestle Tommy Dreamer matches anymore. This was pretty bad, Myke Quest is your lesser Garden State God, and while he is willing to take some bumps, he can't carry a guy through a match like this. Taylor is pretty lacking in charisma for a role which requires a ton of charisma, and takes hardly any bumps in a role that requires you to take a bunch. Not good at all

"MDog20" Matt Cross v. Vincent Nothing

Matt Cross seems to have developed sort of a Bryan Danielsoncito gimmcik here, and it was super painful to try to watch these two guys work a technical juniors match. I have a feeling I might enjoy Nothing in a different context, but watch these guys hit the mat, and work dramatic nearfalls was pretty bad.

The Best Around v. Cut Throat Crew

I have really enjoyed The Best Around in JAPW, as they have worked some pretty great spotfests with the Garden State Gods and DNA. Here they are working as stooging heels and it doesn't come off nearly as well. They have a couple of nice heel spots, but Bruce Maxwell isn't very good at clubbing a guy and he does a bunch of clubbing. There was a long beatdown of Morty Rackem, and while he can take a face first bump into a rail well, he isn't particularly good as a face in peril. T.J. Cannon may be the best highflyer no one talks about, so it is a bit of waste to have him grounded. He did hit a shooting star double stomp here, which is a totally lunatic move, however he immediately gets hit with a swanton by Rufio Rapier, so we never get a chance to process the spot. Really poor pacing, very different from the main event, where every big spot and move was sold and appreciated.

Marion Fontaine v. Dave Cole v. Christian Faith v. Brian Lyndon

This is a four way ladder match to crown the first Hybrid championship. Most of the Hybrid shows in the second half of the year had mini tourney to get to these four guys. Most new ideas in wrestling are pretty bad, but the new idea here is awesome, each guy in the match won a bracket of a tourney. Dave Cole is Mr. Blonde, Marion Fontaine is Mr. Pink, Brian Lyndon is Mr. Orange and Christian Faith in Mr. White, there are four ladders around the ringside each ladder is a different color, and you can only grab the belt if you climb your correspondingly colored ladder.

It is a gimmick which solves a bunch of the inherent problems in ladder matches, people can be knocked off ladders and you don’t have to explain why someone doesn’t just scamper up that ladder, you also don’t have to explain why someone would set up a ladder for a dive instead of just grabbing the belt. It also added a new nifty bit of psychology with guys attempting to damage their opponents ladder, and breaking up slams onto set up ladders to “save” their ladder. Near the end of the match Lyndon’s ladder gets broken and he has to place it over the top of another ladder to attempt to climb up.

I enjoyed all four guys here a bunch. Faith is indy big with a mask, and has a bunch of cool power moves on the smaller guys. He also isn’t afraid to take some nasty bumps. Lyndon does a Last Dragon gimmick, he had some moments I didn’t love (he has an opening juniors face off with Cole which is the weakest point of the match) but probably takes the biggest bumps. Cole seemed like kind of strange guy to be getting the big push, he was solid but definitely didn’t stand out the way everyone else did. Marion Fontaine was my favorite, he is another indy guy with a mustache whose gimmick is all about being amused at his mustache, but he owned here. He was playing kind of a pussyish heel who is going to use trickiness and cheap shots to win a match. He eventually takes such a beating that he comes off as a tough fucker. Great execution on his moves, cool innovative spots and a bunch of crazy bumping, he is my Hybrid guy to watch.

For a match that I had been anticipating for a while, this really lived up to my expectations. Cool new concept executed well, which really rescued a poor undercard. Got me excited to watch more Hybrid.