Mae Young Classic Episode 5

1. Rachel Evers vs. Abbey Laith

PAS: This wasn't the mess that Evers first round match was, and has gotten a lot of praise in other places, but this didn't do it for me. It felt very 2017ish, full of forearm exchanges, your turn my turn wrestling, and agonized 2.9 near falls. This tourney has had a lot of different kind of styles, and this was their Seth Rollins v. Kevin Owens match, which for me is a hard pass. Top rope powerslam is a cool move in a vacumn, but if the very next move has the person taking the powerslam winning the match, what is the point.

ER: Yeah this really did nothing for me. It didn't even feel like your turn/my turn, it felt like they let Evers do tons of offense before Laith wins a powerbomb, with both doing tons of Godspell curtain call heavy breathing in between moves. Evers clearly looked better than that 1st round match, and I liked several parts of her offense, but that top rope powerslam should be a killshot. This just felt like it had no build, no flow. Both looked fine without actually accomplishing much.

2. Piper Niven vs. Serena Deeb

PAS: Great performance by Piper, as Serena really didn't bring a ton to the table. Really impressive job of crafting a fun monster v. underdog match in a tourney with a ton of those already and where the underdog really doesn't have a ton of impressive offense or bumping. I liked the simple wrestling story of Deeb trying to bodyslam Niven and failing until she succeeds, and since whoever the agent for this tourney has already run a half a dozen "big girl misses a top rope move and gets rolled up" finishes, I really bought that Deeb was going to win when she missed her big splash.

ER: Fully agree on Piper's performance. Not only did her own stuff look great, but she helped out Deeb tremendously on things that didn't really deserve to look good. You watch Piper violently snap herself back on a neckbreaker, and you see Serena not doing anything to cause that snap, and you just can tell Piper is pushing this thing. Piper gave her a lot and some of it really didn't look great, but it was crafted nicely and the build to Serena hitting the slam was good. I loved all of Piper's splashes and crossbodies and that Vader bomb, she really gets great full force and extension on them, reminds me of Big E. I'm totally with Phil on that finish, it seemed like every bigger gal that lost in the 1st round after taking for ever to do and then miss a top rope move. I saw Piper going back up and I'm going Nooooooooo, already pissed that they were letting Deeb advance, already writing angrily that they were trying to inorganically recreate the Brian Kendrick CWC run and it wasn't working...and then it wasn't the finish. Really happy Piper advanced, really great showing.

3. Princesa Sugehit vs. Mercedes Martinez

PAS: There are a lot of promising rookies in this tourney, but this was a match of professional veterans.  This match took a minute to get going, but I really liked the finishing run. Sugehit really wrenched the Fujiwara arm bar, and I loved all of the way Martinez countered out of it. The big Fisherman's buster was a significantly nasty finish that I bought it ending the match. Martinez has such a badass look, she really looks like the kind of lady who could kick most guys asses.

ER: A bunch of really good stuff here, and yeah this was two pros working a professional match. Rachel brought a lot insight into how Sugehit wears a lot of French high cut over the hip bottoms, and how most gals typically work in more of a boy cut short. Both were generous with the other, with Mercedes leaning way into some Sugehit kicks and both mapping out some nice counter sequences. The Fujiwara armbar was nasty and I thought for sure it was the finish. Watching her yank on that arm got one of the loudest reactions of the tournament from me so far, just kept naturally shouting OH! OH! with every pull. But I liked the counter out of it and agree that the fisherman buster works as a finish (you know, like that top rope powerslam in the first match, but whatever...). Martinez looks like Cris Cyborg decided to go into pro wrestling, though I would like more intensity from her. I hope WWE has some interest in Sugehit as it would be cool to see an actual luchadora there. I know they have Dark Angel under contract, but I think it's as a trainer.

4. Kairi Sane vs. Bianca Belair

PAS: This is the second Sane match in a row I have really liked, but ended up being more impressed with her opponent. That is actually a pretty good sign that Kairi is a great wrestler. Man what a star making performance by Belair though, she comes off like such a athletic marvel, she reminded me of early Goldberg or Dr. Death. The weave as Shoo Baby is such a creative idea and while it came off as more of a comedy spot in the first match, here she really tore her up with whips. The squat suplexes were awesome as was her throws and 450, I can just imagine her debuting on RAW and blowing the doors off the place. Sane was great eating all of Belair's stuff, and also had some real highlight moments of her own, I commented on her last match that Sane was more of a Manami Toyota style worker, and I was an Aja guy, she proves me wrong by unloading with an Aja level back fist, and then does her watch out below elbow. The fact that she doesn't always know where she is going to land adds to the coolness of the move.

ER: Instead of Goldberg or Dr. Death, maybe more Doug Furnas? That surprising flying mixed with legit power. There were a couple times where she looked like she was lifting and switching Kairi's weight without Kairi actually doing anything. The hair whip spot sounds cool on paper, yet the execution somehow FAR EXCEEDS however cool it sounds on paper. No Lucha Underground sound sweetening here, she just blasts Sane with shots. Both women have great charisma, loved Belair's slow turn entrance, loved Sane stomping on a kiss before flying in with an attack. The 450 was just completely unexpected. She had a real great "fuck it" face before attempting it, like she had been keeping it secret and practicing it after hours, and here she reaches deep and brings it out as a last chance move. Sane really works nicely as an underdog and as an...overdog? I'm saying she works well from behind and from ahead, takes offense really well, and once she gets a lead you can see her facially selling the momentum. That backfist was awesome (not quite Aja Kong breaking Chapparita Asari's face on Raw to Vince MacMahon's horror) and that "elbow" is nuts. I'd hate to be underneath it, but agree that not knowing where the hell she's landing is part of the charm, like a less dangerous version of Kidman's shooting star.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 110

Episode 110

1. Snooty Foxx/Dirty Daddy vs. Movie Myk/Timmy Danger

ER: Well...this was mostly a mess. We've seen Timmy Danger once before, and he didn't look good then. This time he looked like arguably the worst guy who's appeared in CWF (since we've been reviewing shows). He looked completely lost for most of this, and I don't know if I've ever seen somebody lean so far away from contact before. He leans out of punches before they come close to his face, bumps early on a clothesline, throws his own missed clothesline miles over Dirty, gets crossed up on rope running, it's maddening. We get a couple nice spots: Fox's top rope bulldog on Myk was devastating enough that it should have been the finish, and we get more great work from Daddy; his selling was real great, and he single-handedly helped Danger work his arm over. I also liked Myk's manager's interference, throwing nasty shots at Daddy from the floor. This could have been something...if literally anyone other than Danger were in the match.

PAS: Oof Timmy Danger, he was running the ropes like he was terrified of twisting an ankle, and spent much of the match wandering around looking confused. Stuttsy was mentioning he was a 10 year veteran which seems insane, he really looked like a guy who shouldn't have gotten out of the first level of wrestling school class. Fox and Daddy are a fun team and their double team elbow/spear move was awesome, but I am hoping the Timmy Danger experiment is over.

ER: I really liked Mitch Connor's unblinking promo. He seemed a bit crazed, came off like he had a screw loose, and the guy has some crazy eyes. But the message was intense, and the story was good. I like him comparing Cain's motives to his own as a youngster, both understanding him yet also wanting to murder him. Anything with a personal touch is always going to be more effective, and this made me excited for that match.

PAS: Holy shit that was a great promo! Reminded me of a classic Arn Anderson promo where Connor calmly and intensely let Cain know what he was in for. He describes how he sympathizes with a rookie trying to make his name known, but that sympathy wouldn't save Cain. "The attention of certain people is a poison prize." I cannot remember the last time I liked a promo this much, nothing over the last several years comes to mind. Totally sold me a ticket to Cain v. Handsome Mitch.

2. SIS vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe

ER: One of my least favorite matches in wrestling is the "ooooooooo I'm so excited to be physically touching a girllllll". Acting like you're turned on by a headlock or a lock up is pretty fucking stupid, and the banter around it is always cringey. Add to that, the hack Andy Kaufman cosplay just showed how uninspired Sharpe's ideas actually were. Luckily SIS was in there to bring something to this tired exercise. I liked her pantsing to set up her crossbody into the ropes, her headbutt, loved the stomp/senton, and the kiss to set up the match finishing suplex was a good finish for this. But a stilted love story is not really what I was hoping for when watching weekly CWF.

PAS: Nobody will ever be as good at this shtick as Andy Kaufman or Yoshiaki Fujiwara so it should probably be retired unless Fujiwara wants to do it again, or Andy really did fake his death.

3. Arik Royal/Roy Wilkins vs. Trevor Lee/Chip Day

ER: This never really clicked for me, other than the clicking noise in my ears after what had to be a couple hundred thigh slaps. None of the moves done in the match seemed to have any consequences. There would be long sequences of Lee and Day kicking at the All Stars, but it never actually kept the Stars down for that long. So it came off odd within the match that Chip Day was slumped in the ropes for half the match on the apron selling his beating. Nobody else in the match needed recovery time, he needed 10+ minutes, and once he recovered he was fine. Some of the move set ups seemed clunky, and there were a lot of dead ends (like Royal kind of awkwardly getting into position near the ropes so Lee can come off the top and stomp his arm, but we never go back to that arm). Weirdly the thing that worked most for me was the set up of the ref bumps, like Redd getting pulled into an oncoming punt. So many refs got taken out at one point it started to look like the old MadTV Parakeet Caretaker sketch. But this just didn't add up to much for me, even though I like watching the guys involved, and liked watching them here.

PAS: I really liked the first 10 minutes of this, All Stars are a really great traditional heel tag team, I loved how they isolated Day and worked him over, loved the double team that put Day in trouble and Arik Royal was awesome ripping Day's ear, talking shit to the crowd and even singing to him while he was kicking his ass. Match falls apart a bit at Lee's hot tag, and then it just becomes a million head kicks and a ton of near falls. It turned from a great southern tag match until some overkill PWG bombfest. I am worrying a bit about Trevor Lee, I have really liked a lot of his stuff in CWF, but he seems to be bringing in a bunch of bad 2017 habits into the fed.

PAS: Didn't really like any of the matches on this episode much, but that Mitch Connor promo is one of the best things I have seen in 2017 and is a must see.

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