CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 121

Episode 121

1. Jason Kincaid vs. Chip Day

ER: I really like Kincaid, glad they brought him in and I hope we see him more. He's possibly the most athletic guy to also own multiple Blind Melon CDs. He's probably the most athletic guy out of all guys called "dirt weed" by their friends. I kind of need to see a team of Kincaid and Aric Andrews, two lanky scuzzy dudes, Team Black Crowes Guitar Tech! Kincaid flops around nicely for offense, leans into kicks (and I really like Day's spin kicks to the chin, and his kicks to take out Kincaid at the shins). Day is a guy with a lot of offense, and much of it he pulls off effortlessly, a guy who has a moveset that actually feels like his moveset, in spite of it being large. And I like how his moveset can also be complicated enough to make him vulnerable. This was plenty of fun, and yeah I hope we get more Kincaid.

PAS; This was good stuff, felt like a touring indy match, with both guys getting to show off their cool spots and a sensible well worked finish. Kincaid has a bunch of really innovative stuff that all makes sense and doesn't look contrived. Most guys who work an innovator style end up throwing in a bunch of superfluous junk, Kincaid is flashy but it all connects. I especially love his top of the ringpost double stomp, he missed it here but it always looks dangerous. Day was landing his kicks good, and I really liked his ankle pick submission attempt. I am not sure what Day's persona is though. I think he should just lean into his new Wikileaks gimmick , have him dox his opponents before the match, he can leak emails of tag partners talking shit about each other, Day could be the guy who got LaRoux Smith Garrett's medical records. Maybe you could have Gabe sending in EVOLVE guys to take Day out, Day v. Fred Yehi or Keith Lee could be really great.

2. Cain Justice vs. Dirty Daddy

ER: I love Justice coming out quick following the previous match, and immediately getting into Day's face. I already want to see Justice against just about anybody, but he has a way of adding to potential future match ups, always setting up little reasons for other people to want to fight him other than "we were booked against each other off camera". It's little, but it adds a lot. And this match rules as Cain goes after Daddy's left arm in some sick ways, including snapping it back over the top rope. And Daddy is so good as a fighting babyface, always firing back at Justice with hard shots. I loved how Cain smacked him a couple times and then was shocked to find Dirty hits harder. Dirty is also super mindful of his injured wing, selling appropriately at all times. Loved Cain blasting him with a lariat and the look on Cain's face when Dirty doesn't budge. Daddy's offense looked killer here, I especially liked him purposely over-rolling Cain on a backslide, sending Cain flipping over right into a vicious knee to the face. I loved the spot, as at first I thought he had just come in too hot on a backslide, then I realized it positioned Cain perfectly and naturally to take the knee. Very clever. Cain matches always seem to go just the right amount of time, and there's always a lot of high end action packed into them. There are usually a couple little match stories going on and we usually get satisfying results to those stories. This couldn't have been more than 8 minutes but had so much neat stuff going on, with a nice satisfying ending, I'd really love to see these two continue to match up.

PAS: I thought this was really great. Watching these two guys match up is like seeing early Flair v. Steamboat or the first Low-Ki v. Danielson matches, just a pair of prodigies at the start of what should be an all time great rivalry. Dirty comes in throwing bombs, clearly fired up trying to drop Justice early, his ripcord elbow is really sharp and violent looking. Cain of course goes after the arm, and is really sadistic, very early he tries for a crossarmbreaker and when he gets counters, he immediately switches to the other arm. There is a great spot early where he rubber bands the top rope into Dirties eyes, and later in the match when he tries it again Dirty just stomps a mudhole into him. I loved the end with Cain knocking Daddy silly with some brutal forearms to the back of the head, when the ref pulls him up, Daddy spits in Cain's face, it was a great "fuck you" before dying, and leads right into Cain superkicking him and slapping on the twist ending. I want to see every single match up these two ever have.

3. Arik Royal vs. Beau Crockett vs. Mike Mars vs. Mecha Mercenary vs. Aaron Biggs vs. Snooty Foxx

ER: This was a bit of a rushed mess, but with a "winner gets title shot" stip like this you either work a long match and then have the winner gassed for his title shot, or you work a short inconsequential match that's just a lead in for the main. I guess I'd rather have the latter, as the main event singles has potential to be the better match. But this is one of those short multimans where guys are selling way too much way too early, and it's a shame because I like how a lot of these guys match up. Still, even in the short time we still get Royal taking a beefy clothesline to the floor (hitting his knees in rough fashion on the apron on his way down), Mecha throwing meaty chops, clotheslining Mars in the face, a big Snooty spear, a huge Biggs samoan drop on Royal, obviously some fun stuff. When you put some of these guys in a match and let them do things, those things are going to be fun. Crockett and Mars seem to just be in there for the same reason Misawa has Satoru Asako on his trios team or Stan Hansen has Lacrosse as a tag partner, or how Eric has the hottest wrestling analogies from 1997. But one of those guys were clearly in there to eat a pin, and it doesn't make a lot of sense that they'd even be this close to title contention. This was a "2nd chance" 6 man, when did Crockett or Mars ever get a 1st chance? I'm fine with the end result, as I love the Squad and would love to see them in more singles, but at this rate they may as well have just given Mecha an offscreen title shot.

PAS:  This was a fun idea, I like putting all the big dudes in one ring and let them pound on each other, but the execution was wanting a bit. Mars I understand because he is large, but Beau Crockett isn't 300 pounds so he is an odd man out and an obvious candidate to get pinned. Some of the work here was fine, but I would have rather had this go a big longer and have some drama.

4. Mecha Mercenary vs. Trevor Lee

ER: Yes yes yes! This is the first time I've seen Lee against a monster fat dude, and the first time I've seen Mecha in a singles match (let alone a long main event), and it all couldn't have gone much better. Outside of one moment where it looked like Mecha let Lee out of a tight pin, this was a fully plausible monster vs. scrappy brave defender with some awesome twists and constantly killers spots. These two blast each other with strikes the whole match, huge lariats from both (Mecha turns Lee inside out a few times with his great lariats, and one of the best moments of the match is Lee hulking up and practically dislocating his shoulder to crush Mecha with a standing clothesline), and some really cool learned behavior. Lee made up the size difference by being nasty and persistent. Mecha may chop harder, but Lee can chop you right in the eye, motherfucker! I loved all the play around Lee's apron kick, with Mecha catching the first attempt and grabbing him in a fireman's carry, other attempts see Mecha swinging at Lee's legs with Lee jumping over, and finally Lee hits one and adds another for good measure. They were really good at showing Lee's normal attacks might not affect the big man as much, or might work differently: I loved when Lee went for the STF and couldn't really roll him over, so Mecha ended up on top in a very close pinfall. Mecha goes into the match seeing the trail of bodies Lee's title reign has left in its wake, and clearly ramps things up, sometimes to his disadvantage: He goes to the middle rope two different times and never looks comfortable up there, but knowing how effective his awesome elbow drops are from the mat, think of the damage he could do from the middle? Lee is crafty and makes Mecha pay for it, and the build for this was really good. Part of me was rooting for Mecha to win the belt, part of me was rooting for Lee to figure out a way to take down this giant and put another notch in the belt. The finish was coconuts and well played, with Lee flying off the ropes and getting caught in what surely would have been a crushing powerslam, but coming in so fast and rotating so quick that he flips through and lands on top of the powerslam. The move looked awesome, and the pin was handled perfect with Lee getting barely enough for the 3, the reversal surprising Mecha just long enough to keep him down, kicking out right at 3 but a split second too late. Money.

PAS: Really good stuff. I love how diverse Lee's title matches are, especially lately and it was fun to watch him work basically a modern day One Man Gang. Mecha is really great at projecting his size, sometimes guys that big will want to show off their athleticism, but Mecha is great at being a mountain to climb. Even a simple cradle is super impressive when it is a refrigerator sitting on your chest. I loved how they set up Lee's german suplex, even great big men like Vader would jump a little too much when they got thrown, Mecha obviously had to assist on the german, no way a human could throw a guy that big with out help, but he didn't leap, Trevor muscled him over and it looked like an enormous feat of strength. I also loved the second rope moves backfiring, Mecha isn't showing off his moonsault, he doesn't belong up there and paid for his hubris. Also that finish didn't even look humanly possible, again somehow Mecha made a move that requires cooperation look like a one man miracle.  I watched it three times and have no idea how either guy pulled it off. I also love the multi match story they are telling about Lee's arrogance, calling Mecha a bitch and telling him to hit him harder, is exactly the kind of thing which will cost Lee his belt, whenever he loses it, and they are doing a great job of sowing seeds for his fatal hubris.

ER: These shows have been flying high lately, I can't believe how many we've already reviewed. And, as is becoming a trend, we've added another match to our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. Mecha vs. Lee was another in an awesomely booked main event program.