The One Where Eddie Goes to the Amusement Park: Top of the Card from NEW Six Flags Slamfest 6/19/22

Sammy Guevara/Tay Conti vs. Ashley D’Amboise/Flip Gordon

MD:  This was not the best use of my time on a Sunday morning but I had a whim, and the whim was to watch this show and after the Eddie match, I sort of felt committed, so here we are. Why not write about it. I was expecting Sammy and Tay to go for huge heat, even with the family friendly crowd, but they were slapping hands and smiling big. I have a feeling we're not going to see this Tay for a while, so one more look isn't the worst thing, given that she's about the most natural babyface imaginable. Flip goaded them into putting their AAA titles on the line and they did. Cagematch says Sammy and Flip haven't wrestled each other since 2017 and the story of the match was it being a brofest between the two of them while the women wanted to scrap. To be fair, some of it, mainly both of them managing to land on their feet after 'ranas or headscissors takeovers was pretty impressive and them rushing to hug after the fact fed into what they both currently are, even if it clashed a bit with Flip's goading. Within the context of the match, you get the sense they just couldn't help themselves. The only heat Flip got wasn't anything to do with Sammy but when he tripped Tay on the outside. Tay had one fairly complex exchange with D'Amboise and then the intricate counter-laden tandem finishing stretch and it was fine. What makes Tay interesting to watch isn't her execution but her enthusiasm and exuberance as she really just throws herself into everything. This had a few too many rolls into moves for me, but you also sort of knew what you were going to get. You can't fault the timing or the athleticism between Sammy and Flip. Finishing stretch was cutesy but again, that's part of the charm of the Sammy/Tay act right now. It'll get old sooner than later, especially in settings where they're not trying to get nuclear heat, but for now I'm not so old and jaded that it's not at least a little bit fun to watch them have the time of their lives. 

Eddie Kingston vs Brian Anthony - FUN

MD: Look, if someone wanted to go GREAT on this, I wouldn't argue, but some of that is seeing the novelty of sanitized Eddie. In 2022, we live in a special world where Eddie Kingston can co-main event a family friendly show like this, get probably the best reaction, and be a variation on himself that still feels completely genuine. Who could have predicted this? SC's last reviews with Brian Anthony are from Lawler matches in 09 and he's just been a lifer as top heel in this promotion. Kingston came down slapping hands and the first half of this was him beating Anthony around the ringside area like only he can. But, remember, this is a family friendly theme park show, so as he chopped him and walked around with him in a headlock, he was sure to slap hands with the crowd. The best part was when he tossed him to the back, rushed back to break the count, and went to get him. He tossed him back through the curtain, disappeared himself for a bit as the fans chanted Eddie, and then came back with a salad to toss in his face. The heel manager, Vito, interfered to set up the heat, which was ok. You have to appreciate Anthony, with nothing in his gimmick to call for it, going for the shoulder claw nerve hold as his main wear-down move in 2022, but Eddie sold it like you'd expect. When the time came, he came back with the exploder, ate some powder from Vito, dodged the double team attempt, and threw a blinded backfist for the win. Post match, he cut off his music, played nice with Vito, backfisted him too, and then tossed his shoes into the crowd in theme park Cryme Tyme manner. Sanitized Eddie. What a sight.

Read more!

When I Look Through the King's Eyes I Get Bitter

Jerry Lawler/Reid Flair vs. Trevor Murdoch/Brian Anthony NEW 4/25/09 -GREAT

ER: This was a really good tag match, much better than I expected. I've seen one Reid Flair match before this (against Chris Hamrick), but considering David Flair is one of the 3 worst wrestlers I've ever seen and Charlotte has all the charisma of a used mop, I was not expecting anything whatsoever from him (especially since he'd had less than 10 matches in his career at this point). But I thought Reid looked good and showed tons of potential. I think his floor would have been something like Cody Rhodes, with a higher ceiling. Lawler starts with Murdock and these two are natural opponents. I'm bummed Murdock doesn't wrestle anymore as there aren't many workers who do his style of stoogey asskicker. He stumbles all around for Lawler but looks like a monster against Reid. Not many guys can pull off both. Reid comes in and works shockingly stiff, throwing some pretty big bombs (nice overhand rights and a cool short left), nice chops and a real mean clothesline. His amateur background appeared to give him a cool power base, as he generated tons of POW on a clothesline that only had one step of momentum. I've seen plenty of guys with a full head of steam coming off the ropes that couldn't get as much power behind it as Reid did from a standing-still position. Reid is still obviously green in there and while he didn't look at all tentative, he did look a little slow and threatened to get lost at times. But Murdock and Anthony were both great at keeping things moving. Reid took their arsenal real well, leaning admirably into a meaty Murdock clothesline and leaning chin first into a couple Brian Anthony flying kicks. Lawler's hot tag was great and we get the elder Flair coming in post-match to clean house with Lawler.

PAS: This was a bunch of fun. I really liked how Reid threw those weird arms akimbo Ric Flair punches, he did take his bumps a little like first day of wrestling school but otherwise looked good. What I really wanted out of this is a long extended Trevor Murdock vs. Lawler feud. Talk about a guy born in the wrong era, Murdock looked like the Dream Machine or Dirty Rhodes, just an awesome hand who could have been slotted anywhere in a territory. Jimmy Hart looked perfect at ringside here, Murdock would have been an awesome member of the first family, and honestly I see no reason he can't play the Danny Crowe role for the Wyatt Family.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LAWLER

Read more!

Lawler is Looking At You and is Drained Outright

Jerry Lawler v. Brian Anthony NEW 5/2/09 -FUN

ER: Uh oh, we got some cool front row fans  in Waterbury, Connecticut! Whole row of dudes in their 20s, getting into Lawler's face as he walks by and acting mega tough, telling him he fucking sucks, really lame stuff. That must be one of the things guys who have enough money to live comfortably reallllllly love about working spot indy shows. Lawler gets in the ring and handles it admirably by pointing out that the whole front row is filled with guys who are so cool that they're all here on a Saturday night without girlfriends. I always like when wrestlers can handle hecklers without getting blue. It still keeps things fun for families. The match itself was okay, nothing groundbreaking. Lawler's punches were extra awesome as he kept pointing to those guys in the front row before blasting Anthony, and their heckling almost seemed to fuel him. He got some insane height on his dropkick and I couldn't help but wonder if he was thinking "I'll show those pricks who's old". This is essentially an extended Lawler squash. Anthony seemed fine in the punch exchanges. His only offense appeared to be a backdrop, which he busted out a bunch. This kind of feels like the most bare bones Lawler match possible. Might make for a cool 90 second Lawler highlight video.

PAS: Anthony brought very little to this, but I think I liked it more the Eric. We always talk about how great Lawler's punches are, but man is he great at taking punches, I imagine if Anthony was punching anyone else it would look like crap, but Lawler looking like he was getting waylaid by Joe Frazier. I hate the stunner but at least it wasn't a finish here. Anthony did just have a backdrop, but Lawler takes a great backdrop, and Anthony got some nice height on the payback backdrops.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KING

Read more!