Matches from Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory 35 10/28/21

Megasus Megan Bayne vs. Little Mean Kathleen 

ER: There is no other wrestler on the Indies who is as fully formed as Megan Bayne. She is the total package and feels like she could walk into AEW or WWE right now and immediately look like a bigger star than all but a few of the other women. It's honestly crazy she's not there right now. If I'm just now talking about her then that means companies who actually sell professional wrestling to the public should have been already aware of her, but if they're aware of her then why is she doing this act in brightly lit Vets Buildings instead of arenas? Even here she's just working a pre-show match, but is there a reason why she isn't being more prominently featured? Is it a thing where everyone knows she's going to be called up any week now so why bother putting her in main events? Whatever the reason, she clearly has it, and the act would play tomorrow on TV. Little Mean Kathleen is an undersized babyface who is good at playing that, good at getting steamrolled by the Megasus, and good at making the most of her brief time on top (I liked her running on Bayne's collarbones after Meg missed a corner charge). Megasus has strong offense, not just empty muscle. She has a great delayed vertical suplex, her powerslams land, her sideslam lands, and her timing is really good. AEW is filled with people with awful timing, she feels like someone who could actually anchor a messy AEW scramble. Megasus is as can't miss as anyone I've seen on the Indies since maybe Matt Riddle. Hopefully Bayne will be luckier than Riddle and can avoid becoming the worst character on wrestling TV, because right now that feels impossible. 

42. Matt Makowski vs. Ryan Galeone

PAS: Ryan Galeone is a total stud. He's 6'7, 260 lb, great at looking big and mean, and can pull off some breathtakingly agile stuff which actually looks violent. He does this really cool outside-in, inbetween the ropes dropkick and a crazy double jump flipping senton, but he also hits a nasty powerbomb and counters a Makowski armbar by just throwing Makowski across the ring. Makowski really gets into wrestling a big guy. He can hit hard and unloads some stiff kicks, elbows and slaps, and he really thudded an ax kick right into Galeone's shoulder blades, leaving a big bruise. Makowski comes off as always dangerous, able to grab an arm or leg at any minute, and he is able to survive Galeone by grabbing an armbar when Galeone stacks him up for a pin. Both of these guys seem like they are destined for bigger stages. AEW really doesn't have anyone like either of them and should grab and push both. 

ER: This is the kind of style clash I love to see Makowski involved in. Galeone is a real mountain, a huge guy with genuine power who lands with enough consistent thud that he overcomes some of his Dijak tendencies. Makowski is great at countering those tendencies, and his counters always play as a cool cheat code. We see that early when Galeone goes for a really high chokeslam and Makowski uses the upward chokeslam momentum to throw his legs up for a cross-armbreaker, which Galeone gets out of by swinging Makowski around and just letting him go. Later he sends Makowski sliding across the floor into the building wall with a super athletic slingshot dropkick through the ropes. Makowski had a ton of great stuff too, like his awesome top rope Falcon Arrow and his Best In Wrestling axe kick. Axe kicks don't always read even if they land, but Makowski's always looks like it's going to leave a bootprint. I liked Makowski's big run of picking apart the big man, with Galeone absorbing kicks and elbows and a punch to the base of the neck, and the momentum change was awesome when Galeone charged out of the corner with one of the greatest Big Man dropkicks of the year. Honestly, I would have loved if that dropkick was the finish. A lot of things here could have worked as the finish, and I bought that Makowski had some big stuff while Makowski still always had a way out. 

Joe Keys/Dante Caballero vs. Waves and Curls (Jaylen Brandyn/Traevon Jordan)

ER: This was my first look and Joe Keys and I really liked what I saw. He and Caballero are recent ROH Academy guys who worked elsewhere before ROH, and Keys really moves and works like a good version of 2005 BJ Whitmer. Keys has some explosive speed and thinks really quick on his feet, and has good impact on his offense. There's a great spot that could have immediately derailed this match fast, when Brandyn catches his feet on the middle rope and belly flops hard on the floor on a tope, and without missing a beat Keys just picks him up and rolls him back into the ring. He went through the ropes to the floor with a super fast Fuerza bump and that obviously makes him even cool. He takes a mean flapjack bump, hits a killer chop block, and I love this guy. Brandyn hits that tope in the penultimate moment of the match and knocks it out of the park, and I was impressed with him turning around and crushing it on a tope after diving into an empty pool just a couple minutes prior. 

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