CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 152

Episode 152

Tag Team Battle Royal

ER: A lot of good teams in this, teams I really would not mind seeing in actual regular action. I love the idea of an Otto/Dollars team, like Daddy/Kool, Justice/Sharpe, Biggs/Foxx, just a good mess of teams. I love battle royals a lot, and this really had the makings of a great one. We eventually hit that annoying moment where three teams get eliminated at basically the same time, immediately cutting our participants in half, which takes a lot of the wind out of the sails. But even with that, this battle royal is fun as hell. Aaron Epic hasn't been seen in CWF for half a year, and makes a nice return here, really throwing big shots, stooging when needed, and going after Biggs. Biggs also turns in a great performance as the biggest guy in the match, lumbering around chopping people and squishing them into corners, walking Kool Jay to a press slam elimination (so many press slams in battle royals weirdly don't end in eliminations, it's good to see one actually come to its logical conclusion). I loved one moment where Biggs was slumped in the ropes and just reached out and chopped someone who wandered near him. It felt like King Kong swatting away a compy who had come to investigate if he was dead or sleeping. Cain understood proper battle royal behavior, wearing a shirt to the ring specifically so he could choke people with it. Dirty Daddy also made the most of his time, throwing some of the nastiest strikes of the match during his camera time (he had a downward strike elbow to the back of the neck that was absolutely brutal). I even laughed at Schwanz' elimination, as Schwanz keeps barking and saying words that aren't, while Donnie Dollars keeps asking "Are you kidding me!?" I wish it didn't wrap up so suddenly, this was shaping up to be a barnburner.

PAS: Battle Royals are mostly punches and kicks, so you want a match full of good punchers and kickers and CWF is loaded with them. Lots of wandering around and throwing forearms and guys like Otto and Dirty Daddy have awesome forearms. I loved Biggs in this too, and the Biggs vs. McAllister showdown was great with both guys just laying into each other with chops and headbutts, McAllister is really fun and perfect for Battle Royals. Unsurprisingly Kool J takes the sickest bump of the match, getting press slammed to the floor by Biggs (which seems like kind of a dick move for a face to do, no need to kill the kid.)

Aaron Biggs/Snooty Foxx vs. Aaron Epic/Abel

ER: I much prefer this kind of finish to a battle royal, where the two survivors then have an actual match. The match is short, but good, with Abel and Epic keeping Snooty away from Biggs with simple stuff, I liked a basement dropkick from Epic, and I think Foxx is just a super strong babyface. His selling during the beatdown was really good, he's a guy with size who can garner sympathy, and Biggs is great on the apron wanting the tag. I wish we could have gotten more once Foxx tagged out, as we fairly quickly go to the finish with the Biggs press. I'd like to see an actual tag match between these two, not one coming at the end of a battle royal, but a good 12-15 minute tag. I think all would match up really well.

Arik Royal/Mace Li/Rick Roland vs. Chet Sterling/Lucas Calhoun/Proletariat Boar of Muldova

ER: Roland is a big guy who's been around for awhile but I don't believe I've ever seen him, and he's filling in for Roy Wilkins in "the clean up spot". This match gets a lot of time, 17 minutes, and I think it was strong but could have been much stronger. Sterling put in a good babyface performance getting beat down by the All Stars, but I think his babyface work was kind of negated by Calhoun getting the hot tag and immediately working all of his comedy karate spots. It's kind of amazing to me that guys go along with those spots, but it's just not my bag. We do get a real nice second life to the match, as Mace Li of all people comes in to put a stop to Calhoun's five finger death punch nonsense, and Li puts in some of his finest work that I've seen from him. So we get a second nice All Stars control segment, a bunch of silly abdominal stretch heel work, with Li getting leverage from Royal on the apron who gets leverage from Coach who gets...and we get a nice Sterling run where he absolutely dumps Royal with a half nelson German, fun match overall with nice peaks and valleys. I was also really impressed with Rick Roland. I had never seen him before although I'd seen his name and I know he's been around awhile, but never heard much about him. He's big, looks almost the exact same as Parrow, and wrestles like a way better version of Parrow. His power offense lands heavy and he has a couple awesome tricks, like this slingshot rolling senton from the apron that absolutely splats onto Sterling. I'd love to see more of Roland and think he would fit in awesomely at CWF, hope he's not one of those guys who just shows up once a year on CWF shows.

Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Hurricane Helms

ER: Cecil Scott goes around ringside and gets a fan to pull Helms' title challenger out of the fishbowl, and the fan sees Sharpe's name and doesn't even want to say it in the mic, just tosses it back at Scott and walks off while rolling his eyes. Awesome. CL Party looks down at Cecil and says "No good?" Funny moment once Sharpe comes out and you realize who the kid was eye rolling about. Helms pins Sharpe quickly, and we go right into a tag match with Helms' mystery partner.

Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Cain Justice vs. Hurricane Helms/Ric Converse

ER: Pretty simple tag that I think needed Sharpe Justice to work a little more stiff to make up the size difference. Without that it felt like Helms and Converse taking 80% of the match while Sharpe and Justice just kind of clubbed away during their control. Helms even dominated the submission parts of the match, locking in his really cool figure 6 submission a couple times, and then reversing a Cain armbar attempt into a cool triangle, hooking his long leg around Cain's jaw. So Hurricane got the big submission moments, Converse got to come in throwing big punches and a big sitout powerbomb, Hurricane got to hit a big trapped arm facebuster on Sharpe, Cain took a big bump off a clothesline, really felt like my boys got a little steamrolled here. Sharpe hit his nice jawbreaker but I needed more out of my guys, and definitely didn't need them easily tapping to a dual submission (Hurricane's figure 6 + Converse's figure 4 = takes us to a figure 10, as called by Smith Garrett). CWF has a ton of guys they use, really think we can do better than just having Cain tap to a figure 4 after not being in the match a ton.

PAS: I thought this was a fun send the crowd home happy big star tag. Helms looked really good, all of his offense popped and the figure 6 is a great looking submission, I also loved the countering of the armbar, I am a big Helms fan from way back, and I never thought of him as a mat guy. I get Eric's beef with the heels getting dominated, and it does seem like they are shifting Cain to more of a stooging tag worker, but he is pretty great as a stooging tag worker, and the Cain/Sharpe team make a fun pair of John Tatums to get bumped around a ring.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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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.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 111

Episode 111

1. Sandwich Squad vs. Cam Carter/James Ryan

ER: Yeahhhhh this was a real meaty Sandwich Squash, a real Dagwood. The whole episode starts with a flat brutal Mecha clothesline and things don't really slow down from there. Both guys were working overly stiff the whole time, big splashes, crushing avalanches, thundering chops, just squishing these two into the mat. Carter and Ryan stood up to it and gamely took the worst of what the squash dished out.

PAS: The Culture is a really great tag team name, and they did there job here, hit a move or two, but get mauled by a pissed off Sandwich Squad. Holy moly did they get mauled too, not at Cool J v. Donnie Dollars level, but fans of fun violent squash matches will dig this a bunch. I am excited to see mad Sandwhich Squad go on a rampage.

2. Zane & Dave Dawson vs. Lucas Calhoun/Proletariat Boar of Moldova

ER: Calhoun and Boar are down from Chikara. Calhoun's fat Elvis get-up and gags don't do a lot for me, but at least his strikes land with a nice thud. I actually like Boar's look, and he's got some size, but his punches and boots land light and he ends up working like a not very good Berzerker. The match felt like it wandered a bit too much. Calhoun acted like a heel, and the Dawsons are heels, so the fans weren't really that interested in showing sympathy for Calhoun's knee getting worked over, and the leg work didn't really go anywhere compelling anyway (though I did like the kneebreaker on the apron to start it). Again, at least Calhoun had some hard shots (which makes sense as he teamed with Kingston and Jacobs for awhile), because most of this didn't move the needle. I hate how Zane is billed as a guy with "the best" lariat, when he doesn't even know how to throw a halfway decent missed lariat, and his actual lariat looked nowhere near as devastating as Mecha Mercenary's just 20 minutes prior.

PAS: I didn't love this either, I was on board for Calhoun, I liked his rockabilly sleaze look and his Elvis Karate landed well, Boar didn't do much for me and the Dawsons kind of sucked. I do think the Chikara kids were working face, but I am not sure their brand of goofy shit works with the audience, it sure doesn't work with me.

ER: Phil and I were just talking on the phone earlier this week about Cain Justice, how high he'd go on a 500, with Phil comparing him to some of those U-Style guys who came in and immediately understood wrestling, and we talked about other guys who just came in and were already this good. I don't even think Cain has wrestled 25 matches, which is just nuts.

PAS: Very cool promo package. Is Cain working outside of CWF-MA? Is there tiny NC indies I need to track down so we can do a C+A Cain Justice?  I am totally in the bag for the kid, he is so much fun to watch.

3. Logan Easton Laroux vs. Chet Sterling

ER: Are they cross-promoting a Chikara show or something? That's not a direction I was hoping for. And I did not like this match. It felt like apartment wrestling where the guys were afraid to touch, or if Matt Sydal cloned himself into two lesser wrestlers who proceeded to have a lesser Matt Sydal match. The 1% gimmick just doesn't work for me, especially in indy wrestling, because you can tell when someone doesn't actually have money. So here's a guy who is in the 1%, with the same gear as every other indy wrestler, who wrestles like every indy wrestler I already avoid watching. Laroux seems kind of afraid to bump, there was always a delay before taking a clunky, tentative bump. Maybe that's the 1% in him coming through? Afraid to get his hands dirty? It's possible that he's just not that good. I think there was a good forearm in here.

PAS: Laroux isn't a Chikara guy, he is one of the top guys in NOVA pro, and I saw this matchup live earlier in the year and thought it was awesome. That match was built around Laroux faking an injury and being a total smarmy dick, this was much more their touring athletic exhibition match and was less effective. I still liked this a fair amount more then Eric did, I thought the Sterling bump into the ringpost was really nasty as was his bump into the turnbuckle. I also liked when Laroux let his inner asshole shine, the viscous eye rake, the shoving of the ref into the turnbuckle. It did feel a little dancey at times, and there was some questionable punches, but I thought it was slightly above average, and am optimistic about Logan in CWF going forward.

ER: I had not seen Logan before, but he has worked a LOT of Chikara. I'll try to keep an open mind. He *did* put his hands on Phil in a threatening way, that counts for something.

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