CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 124

Episode 124

1. Cain Justice/Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Otto Schwanz vs. Dirty Daddy/The Prolotariat Boar of Moldava/Ian Maxwell

PAS: This was a six man focusing on the Daddy v. Cain rivalry and was a total blast. All six of these guys had different roles to play and they all played them to a tee. This by far the most I have enjoyed the Prolotariat Boar, as the match built this great mini rivalry between him and Otto where they were constantly jawing at each other and every time the matched up it was slobberknockerish. Maxwell had some nice moments of flash, Sharpe was great as a crazed guy demanding respect. Of course the main pair of guys was great as always. Loved Cain cheapshotting and avoiding Daddy, luring him into mistakes finish run was great with Dirty figuring a counter for the twist ending and hitting a airplane spin into a brainbuster for the win. It is gold every time these two are in a ring together and I am loving the build to their final showdown.

ER: This was good, and it definitely helped whet my appetite for Daddy/Justice. Dirty Daddy is so good at these small match babyface performances, able to get sympathy and support in far less time just due to his charisma. I'm sure I'm in the minority liking serious Sharpe more than comedy Sharpe, but now that we've seen several episodes in a row where he's working like a slimy punk, he's a guy I actually look forward to seeing. I still wasn't super impressed by Boar, but he was definitely better here than in his other appearances. I especially like catching a guy and doing a squat lift with him before disposing of him (although that's really more of a heel move). The most impressive thing about the match was taking six different personalities and playing it with a straight face. The teams felt like teams even though they aren't regularly teams, and really it just made me want to see Dirty/Cain. Every time Daddy even got tossed near the corner I was just waiting to see what Cain would do. That singles is gonna be good.

2. Arik Royal vs. Trevor Lee

PAS: This was a maximalist title match with both guys (plus three referees, Jerry Carey, the Coach, Roy Wilkins and Snooty Foxx) throwing it all at the wall. The promotion did a great job setting up the stakes for this match. If Lee won he would break Royals record for longest CWF title reign, and they made it feel like a very big deal. Royal was at his troll best early in the match, stealing a hat from a lady fan and wearing it, powerbombing Lee into the ringpost and then getting on the mic and talking shit. The middle of the match had all of the booking, with Carey getting penalty kicked and sent to the back, Coach throwing powder in Lee's eyes, a blinded Lee breaking both the refs hands, Coach punching two refs with brass knucks, Wilkins coming out to interfere and Foxx coming out to run him off. It was a lot, I get that the Wilkins title match set the stage for lots of interference in the All-Star matches, but rather then spread out the booking it all came in one huge wave and all of that didn't really factor into the finish.

After all of that was cleared out, we move into a more traditional big near fall title match. I really liked Royal refusing die on the multiple vicious penalty kicks, and the finish was great with Royal trying a british leg escape and Lee catching his legs in a figure four for a nasty STF variation, Royal had the knucks on his hand but couldn't use them before he had to tap. I liked large parts of this a lot, but I think they could have either stretched out all of the overbooking or just toned it down a bit, I am not a clean finish fetishist, but booking should be a bit like cumin, a little bit makes a dish delicious too much makes in inedible.

ER: The more I've fallen in love with CWF, the more I love their bullshit. This was a lot of bullshit. And I use that term lovingly, not dismissively. This was probably too much bullshit though. But CWF  is really great at bullshit, and the fact this still ended up as damn fun as it was is testament to all the performers and all the goodwill the promotion has built up. They don't cheap out on anything, and they never start something they can't finish. So when you start getting bullshit in a match it's far more enjoyable than other feds because you know it was actually mapped out, know it has a purpose. I'm picturing this same layout happening in current WWE and I'm hearing phony Michael Cole putting over the outrage of it all, and it already sounds terrible. But in this environment? I'm in. The moments were probably too many, but I loved the details of the moments. I loved Carey getting punted (first time I think I've seen him take offense) and loved Gemini throwing up the X for him; loved Royal robbing the beret and talking trash on the headset, then chastising Stutts for saying "hell" in front of children; loved the ridiculous spot with Lee breaking the ref's hands, with the ref staggering around the ring screaming and yelling at Gemini that he can't count the pinfall, leading to Gemini just decking him with the knux; loved Gemini about to get the punt, and the way he handled it by wobbly-knee backing himself into the ringpost, accepting his fate (before the excellently timed save from Royal). All that bullshit was super fun, but my oh my there was a lot of it. You could practically see Jeff Goldblum watching this match in Jurassic Park and exclaiming "That is one big pile of shit." Gemini took out so many people with knux that we were well past a Parakeet Caretaker scenario. It's like he hit someone with the knux and just couldn't stop, like potato chips or masturbation.

A huge strength of the match that may have been washed away in all the madness, was how important Scott and Stutts put over the whys and the hows of the match, the importance of the CWF title, the lineage and the history, how Corey Edsel didn't want to be supplanted by Royal but couldn't avoid it, and how Royal may be feeling the same about Lee. I especially loved how they put over how Royal was CWF champ in the years before the weekly YouTube TV show, and Lee has been the champ when the most eyeballs in CWF history were on them. Scott compares it to a great NBA player in the 70s being completely forgotten once the run and gun showtime era hit. Here's Royal, holding the record for longest CWF reign, and there are tons of fans watching the fed now (like me!) who had no idea what a big deal he was. It added big time gravity to the match for me, and really Mike Quackenbush is probably the only other announcer who can explain the history and the importance of a feud or match like these guys (and it doesn't hurt that I like the product they're putting over much more than Quackenbush's product). I don't really have tons to say about the actual moves in the match, other than I thought what they did totally worked, they just kind of took a backseat to the rest of the Muppet Show that was happening. Gemini made the Astros helmet to Royal's face really count (plastic novelty helmet not an easy weapon shot to make look good, and it did), and I thought Lee double, triple, quadruple pumping on the kicks was good. You don't want to just shoot a zombie once only to find out he's not actually dead. Royal not able to pull off the knux shot and being forced to tap was a masterful finish, much like Otto not being able to break the STF due to the finger break. I really love this fed.