Matches from Beyond Wrestling Project Dolphin 6/3/21

Matt Makowski vs. Logan Easton LaRoux

PAS: LaRoux is a guy I saw live a couple of times in DC back in the day, and is really good at being hateable but is also a slick wrestler. He does the 2021 version of Mocking Karate by dickishly dropping into guard, only to have Makowski do a somersault into mount and reverse monkey flip him into an armbar. LaRoux was able to attack the knee with some low dropkicks and a knee bar, and the match became LaRoux attempting to tear the knee up before Makowski could catch him in a crazy submission. Great selling by Makowski and really nasty limb work by LaRoux, until Makowski catches him in a Razor's Edge throw into an armbar for a tap. Great little match, and Makowski keeps coming up with holy shit spots.

ER: This was a really cool style clash, with Makowski getting his knee worked over while still finding cool ways to roll LaRoux into submissions. The beginning action was a real trip, with Makowski hitting a standing moonsault into guard and then monkey flipping him straight into the air while catching an armbar on the way down. Makowski has really fast strikes, maybe the quickest and most impactful leg kicks in pro wrestling, and LaRoux had the exact right amount of leaning into some of the kicks and narrowly leaning out of a couple deadly high kicks. I liked his work on Makowski's knee (I think I'll always love anyone who does a single leg DDT) and Makowski had some really impressive selling. He was good at subtly paying service to the leg work, shaking out his leg and not putting weight on it during exchanges, realistic stuff that he kept up through the finish, wobbling out of the corner while carrying LaRoux in a Razor's Edge. There were several cool sequences (loved a Makowski O'Connor roll that LaRoux reversed by kicking out Makowski's knee) and the finishing leglock (thrown into it by the Razor's Edge) was disgusting. 

Slade vs. Max Caster

ER: Here's a really odd Submission Match that really caught my attention and mostly kept it. Slade is a very new guy who is already very over with the live crowd, and of course I was going to watch him because they are billing him as a Riker's Island convict who is not trained to wrestle. He looks like a cross between 70s Sid Haig and Paul Ellering and wrestles like a guy who is not very trained. And that stands out as pretty interesting right now. He doesn't seem to know how to bump but he has a crazy eyed charisma that obviously connects with people. Caster is an AEW TV regular who is basically Xavier (not early 2000s Xavier, but NEW Xavier when he worked much slower and didn't take crazy bumps), and he is tasked with working a submission match against a guy who is either not very trained or is very good at playing into the Not Trained part of his gimmick (I like it either way). It's a great premise, and their only misstep is that they insanely work a 15 minute match. SHANK isn't going out there working 15 minute matches man. You get an untrained convict from Riker's, who has an incredible farmer's tan and a good presence, you do NOT need to be the 2nd longest match on the show. 

This could have been great with 1/3 of the time cut, this could have been great with *2/3* of the time cut, but I'm still way down with Slade. He wrestles like early Taz, complete with walking around in between throws to effectively cover when he's not sure what move to do next. Slade has nasty body shots and made his worked strikes look really good. They brawl on the floor and Slade takes forever setting up a door spot but the payoff is great, with Slade getting shoved off by Caster's boy (who we could have done without the rest of the match but get a lot more interference) and taking a bump off the stage through a table like someone who has no idea how to bump through a table. He goes through knee, wrist, and shoulder first and it looked sick. That actually leads to the few submissions of the match as Caster goes after Slade's knee and Slade keeps fighting him off like a threatened cobra. Slade comes off like a real threat and I loved him fighting back. Still, inexplicable to go 15 minutes in this situation, and even with that padded time this was a cool match. 

PAS: I agree with this going a bit long and I don't think a submission match really works into Slade's strengths, but man he has some strengths. He has these incredibly sharp elbows that really look like he is taking someones head off, like I am not sure if that first back elbow was a work or he just loosened Caster's teeth for real, but my goodness. He hit a totally gross elbow to the back of the head as well.  Caster was OK, he did a nice job of looking terrified of Slade which is what you need in this match. Not a MOTY list match, but I have a new guy, and it is always fun to have a new guy.

Chris Dickinson vs. Brogan Finlay

PAS: Finlay is the 18 year old son of Fit Finlay and this was his 8th match. He was clearly still getting his sea legs, but had some nice moments. I especially liked him splaying Dickinson's fingers and jamming them into the top rope, and he also hit a nice Finlay roll. Dickinson is a guy who is great, but I don't really think he figured out this match. You really should work it like Tenryu, but he seemed to go back and forth between killing the kid and pulling his stuff. There was an especially long and bad New Japan elbow section which really took me out of it all. The finish seemed completely blown, with Dickinson hitting a Death Valley driver and the ref signaling that Finlay kicked out when he clearly didn't. Dickinson then DVD's the ref and counts his own pin on Finlay who is still lying there. I am not sure if he was supposed to kick out and got knocked silly or they ran an angle which didn't make sense, but it went over like a burp in a synagogue. If they ran this back in six months, with some more seasoning for Brogan, I imagine it will be good.