Big Time Wrestling TV 5/13/16

1. Nicole Savoy vs. Beatrice Domino (2/19/16)

I've been interested in seeing Domino, as she's working a fairly edgy and unique gimmick for wrestling. Now, she paints her face like the Marvel character Domino (not sure how long she'll be able to work this gimmick) but has a BlackLivesMatter slant to her character. Her shirt for this match said "Trayvon - Don't Shoot" and walks slowly around the ring with her hands up in an I Surrender pose. The fans seem really receptive to it and didn't respond to it as a heel gimmick like I assumed.  I'm not sure how far you can really take the message within a wrestling context, but keeping the awareness there is worth something. The announcer instantly shits the bed with a "Shades of the Nation of Domination". Ugh. Early on she at least does her part to fight black stereotypes in wrestling, as she delivers a headbutt and staggers herself. Savoy is really good, easily one of the best bay area ladies. Domino hasn't been around nearly as long so show some awkwardness in spots. Savoy broke out some cool Indian deathlock subs, had some big chops and kicks to the chest, hit a big dive; Domino was a little tentative and clunky, but overall the match worked. Finish was a little sloppy though with Domino turning a snapmare into a small package for the win, but Savoy's shoulder could not have been farther off the mat.

2. Victor Sterling vs. JR Kratos (1/22/16)

They started the show by saying this episode was going to be all lady matches, but I guess that promise only lasted 10 minutes. Still, Sterling is my boy and I was interested in this match when I saw it happened. It didn't quite live up to expectations but it wasn't bad. Kratos worked heel and Sterling worked face, and I think they're each better as the opposite. There were a couple awkward moments where either Sterling got into position too quick, or Kratos wasn't in position early enough, so you had some time stand still action. There was a long weird top rope struggle where a lot of stuff missed but was sold, and it ended with Kratos suplexing Sterling off the top and dumping himself on his head. I think both guys would have matched up much better if the roles were reversed. Kratos doing his power offense as a babyface would have been more effective, and I've seen Sterling's heel stuff and know it's good. Him sneaking in offense against Kratos would have been better than him valiantly fighting back. Kratos hits a decent piledriver that I wasn't expecting, and takes a good bump into the ringpost, Sterling hits a really cool dropkick across the ring corners under the bottom rope after the post shot. I liked the finishing powerbomb-turned-Sterling sunset flip. Sterling whipped over on it real nice and held a high cradle which looked believable.

Well, I really liked Savoy on this episode, I like how current the matches are, and I like how packed the half hour is with wrestling. There's one commercial in the middle, only the necessary parts of matches are shown (meaning most of the entrances and long ring announcements are trimmed) and there are only a couple of cutaway bumpers to the announce crew. It's nicely edited for content, and that's a plus for a self-produced indy wrestling show.