Beyond Wrestling Secret Show 4/13

I heard some good things about this show, and I always like Beyond Wrestling more then I should, so I threw down $5 and checked it out

Connor Claxton v. Frankie Pickard

Both of these guys are CZW trainees, and this was a hell of a four minutes. Really aggressive amateur wrestling by both guys. Reminded me of the Steiners v. Gordy and Williams matches in WCW, like UWFI with a colligate wrestling base, instead of a Martial arts base. We had one strike, a great headbutt by Claxton, and one suplex an overhead by Pickard. The rest was just grappling. I am not sure if they have a longer match in them, but they are on my radar.

Supercop Dick Justice v. Leon St. Giovanni

Justice looks like a young Ron Jeremy and is working a 80's patriotic babyface gimmick. Giovanni hams it up as a heel. A couple of clever spots, but the whole thing was turned up to 11, and I didn't find it nearly as amusing as the participants did.

DJ Hyde v. AR Fox

Really surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Fox was working heel, as was fun as a cocky asshole who would flip around and taunt Hyde. Meanwhile Hyde was working as kind of a poor man's Ian Rotten, as he was countering the flippy taunts with some nasty potato shots. I really liked him countering Fox's lucha armdrag by just chucking him face first into the mat, and he threw a elbow that knocked Fox across the ring. Finish was cool as Hyde survived a couple of cool in ring dives before obliterating Fox with a lariat.

Darius Carter/TJ Marconi v. Det Dan Berry/Monsta Mack v. Kevin Graham/Punisher Van Slyke v. Thomas Dubois/Mathieu St. Jacques

I like that they have been keeping these matches pretty short, without the bloat which can effect indy wrestling. This gave everyone a chance to hit some big impressive stuff, get in and get out. Mack is the vet here and he looked the best, he took a bunch of big bumps, hit a diving rana off the top, and a superfly splash. The Dubois/ St. Jacques team looked like the French Canadian mafia guys that killed Dino Bravo and I wouldn't mind seeing more of them.

Jay Freddie v. Eric Corvis

I have always dug Corvis, he was a JAPW guy back in the day, and is a Beyond guy I look out for. He kind of reminds me of Sami Callihan. He has an innovator gimmick, but usually has pretty cool sensible innovations. Here he seemed to be less about innovation, and more about Tenryuish stiff shots from odd angles. He had this great spot, where he placed his foot on Freddie's knee and smacked him with a jab. Freddie is a little bland, but isn't afraid to deliver some shots of his own. Fun stuff and Corvis is as nifty as I remember him.

Brandon Watts/Randy Summers v. Sugar Dunkington/Pinkie Sanchez

Didn't love this. Lots of dancing and gay shtick with out much substance. There was a nice running boot by Watts, but not much else of note. Smirky Beyond Wrestling is not my bag, it comes off like a a bunch of Vine making hipsters winking at their inside jokes.

"Dirty" Buxx Belmar v. "Speedball" Mike Bailey

I like Bailey, he is a spot guy with some fun variations on spots, kind of like Matt Sydal back in the ROH days. Belmar is working a dirty guy gimmick, and this match was a victim of him needing to get in all of his "I don't take a shower" spots. We only get glimpses of what Bailey can do, fun glimpses and I want to see more, but this was a waste.

Nicholas Kaye v. Benny Martinez v. Ryan Rush v. Shyron

Spotfest with four dudes doing some stuff. Not as many big spots as the tag spotfest, but everything was executed fine. This kind of match has diminishing returns this late on the show, probably would have been better off as an opener.

JT Dunn/David Starr v. Jaka/Chris Dickinson

This was set up earlier in the show with an angle and was a big workrate tag. Workrate tag wrestling is not my cup of tea in 2014, but I enjoyed this. Dickinson, Starr and Dunn are basic indy American Wolvesalikes, but Jaka is working as indy Haku, and indy Haku makes the rest of guys more tolerable, Dickinson has gotten a lot better too, his stuff is really solid looking, stiff kicks and nice amateur take downs. Dunn and Starr didn't make a huge impression on me, but this built to an exciting finish and didn't have an overdose of near falls.

Biff Busick v. Timothy Thatcher

These are two of the three (along with Drew Gulak) of the most exciting new group of guys in Indy wrestling. They are working Euro style matches, although Euro style that owes more to Billy Robinson and Terry Rudge then Johnny Saint and Mark Rocco. Tight agressive mat wrestling and nasty uppercuts and punches. Nothing fancy just hard hitting and rough.  The big highspot was an uppercut that knocked Busick into the wall, and came off as a bigger deal then any of the crazy shit in earlier matches. I loved Busick finish here too, great sensible counter to lock in the choke nastier and looked really tight, I bought Thatcher going out. I could watch these guys work each other a ton of times.

This show was really good, 5 matches which I enjoyed and nothing I hated. Worth your $5, throw them some cash.