CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 143

Episode 143

Aric Andrews vs. Cam Carter

PAS: Yes! Andrews is growing back his facial hair! These guys have really good chemistry with each other, with Carter being really great at being elusive and kind of climbing Andrews like a tree fort. Andrews is great, I loved how he sets pace, the violence of all of his moves and how well he uses height. I loved Carter's missed superkick that he spun right into another one, it felt like how a boxer would throw combos with only the last shot being meant to land. One thing that is weird, is they kept talking about Andrews and Carter having a TV title match, and how close Carter came, and then they made a huge deal about his upset win, "That might be the biggest win of Carter's young career" but they already did this match. Carter already had his big non-title upset win over Andrews a couple of months ago. It almost felt like when WCW would have Terry Taylor turn on Dustin Rhodes on Worldwide, The Pro and Main Event. For a fed that normally pays such attention to its history, this felt weirdly off.

ER: I've liked the other two Carter/Andrews matches quite a bit, love how they match up, but Phil nailed it here. Carter has had his big moment against Andrews, and they really rubbed it in because they easily just could have had Carter have his big moment by actually taking the TV title off him. This felt more like Andrews' status getting lowered than it felt like Carter's status getting higher. But the match in a vacuum was a good one, maybe their best, and if not their best then definitely their most straight ahead match. Their other matches had Lee Valiant running distractions, this was just the two of them. This also might be the most Andrews offense we've seen in a match, and I dug that. The stuff I like most from him is his close game, twisting a guy's neck and jaw, dropping a heavy elbow, planting a knee in Carter's back, and he's always good at stumbling into Carter's offense. Carter, for his part, has nice offense, snaps off a 450 from the middle rope, lands a couple nice kicks, this was a great WorldWide match. Andrews needs that facial hair back. It is his Samson hair feature.

Dirty Daddy vs. Donnie Dollars

PAS: Doesn't really get started, as Ray Kandrack comes out and basically squashes both guys. Kind of a bummer as I like both dudes, and it is especially weird that Daddy has been turned into a member of the Bad Breed for 911 to chokeslam. He was a real highlight of last year, but with Snooty Foxx seemingly set up to team with Aaron Biggs, and him getting punked like this, I am not sure where he has to go.

ER; Yeah Daddy really feels like he's getting shuttled down the card, which I don't understand. He was always reliable last year, then suddenly lost the RGL title in 2 minutes (that he spent the year building towards winning), and now he looks like that level of jobber who doesn't even get to look pissed after his match is interrupted and he's attacked; he's one of those guys who just lies there while the cool guy hits his spots and cracks jokes while leaving. Kandrack throws a great headbutt and is a guy who can still actually make a Frye/Takayama stand and trade look compelling in 2018, but I wanted to see Dollars/Daddy. I don't think I've seen a Dollars match on CWF TV in 6 months, and this looked like a compelling match-up for both guys. The little we got was more compelling than the Kandrack run-in.

Jesse Adler vs. Cain Justice

PAS: This was clearly an attempt to do a big young lions, future of the company showdown, and it was a truly tremendous performance by Cain Justice, in basically a broomstick match. Cain was just great, unhinged, vicious, crafty and violent. I loved how he got the advantage on the floor and just hurled Adlers arm into the ring post a half a dozen times. Just brutal looking, it really looked like he might have broke Adler's wrists. Justice screaming at the announcers when they were talking about how he felt overlooked was a great character moment, as was spitting and flipping off Adler to lure him into a dive, which Justice met with a kick. Adler just wasn't close to holding up his end of the bargain. Not a single bit of his offense looked passable, he threw the worst shoulder blocks I have ever seen, none of his high flying moves looked like they landed with force, I am blaming him for that embarrassing hockey fight spot too. Cain was up for it, he wanted a classic, I just wished he got a more game opponent.

ER: I liked this more than Phil, but thought it wasn't as good as it could have been, and overstayed it's welcome a bit. Adler was the same as he has been, although I think he's looked worse in other matches. He's at his strongest when he's selling damage, which was most of this match. His offense rarely looks good, and that was consistent here. Both of them are to blame for the hockey fight spot, it's okay to call Cain out on stuff that was a bad idea, and really that spot just came off silly within the context of the match (and before the hockey fight, I thought Adler's slaps looked better than Cain's). But the meat of the match is all about Cain taking apart Adler's arm. Adler isn't a very interesting salesman to be sure, and I don't think his selling ever matched the savagery of Cain's attacks, but watching Cain find different ways of killing an arm was awesome. Everything centered around that ringpost was killer, thought Adler took a great shoulder first bump into it from the apron (nudged by Cain's foot), and ye gods Cain wrapping that arm around the post was just beyond painful. It looked violent enough that it almost tanked the rest of the match, as someone really shouldn't be able to last that long with their wing being put through the ringer like it was. All of Cain's twisting looked tough, and then he's kicking it, dropping knees on it, and expertly (and cruelly) bending it before quickly dropping an elbow on it. But I don't love the direction the last quarter of the match went, with Adler still attempting flippy offense. Now it could have been worse and he could have fought back against all odds and won, so I like the end result, but getting there could have been smoother in spots. Still, an excellent Cain Justice performance, and an overall good match.