CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 153

Episode 153


Aspyn Rose vs. Willow Nightingale

PAS: This was pretty competent, and a better Rose performance then we have seen before. Rose still tries somethings she can't pull off, but less of it, and some of her strikes looked pretty good. I liked Willow Nightingale, she looks like Jill Scott and uses her thickness well, stuff landed solidly and her finishing Death Valley Driver was really nasty looking. Would dig seeing her again, and I imagine a match against SIS would be really good.

Zane Dawson/ Dave Dawson vs. Ray Kandrack/Mike Mars

PAS: I enjoy big boy tag matches, and one of the great things about CWF is the number of big boys available. This is four of their lower tier hosses, but it still going to be pretty thudding. They get most of the heat on Mike Mars, and he is still a little green in the ring (certainly at playing Ricky Morton) and the finish was a bit wonky, but we got some big shots and I dug the Mars/Kandrak double headbutt.

Logan Easton Laroux vs. Cam Carter

PAS: This was really good juniors wrestling. Carter is really athletic and has some impressive flips and feints, really great body control. Laroux is really good at using shortcuts and tricks to keep himself about water. This was a flashy technico against a solid rudo, a tale as old as wrestling itself and one told well. I really liked some of the little beats here. Laroux threw an intentionally weak chop and Carter responded with an open hand heart stopper, I also dug how Laroux tried to force down Carters arm when he was hulking up in a sleeper. I also really like Carters weird mule kick to the face. I did think the finish was a bit abrupt although Carters second rope 450 is cool.  If this had a better finish run I could have easily seen it make a 2018 MOTY list.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 150

Episode 150

John Skyler/Mace Li vs. Aaron Biggs/Keith Mac

ER: This started out rough, with none of the stuff featuring Mac looking good. He threw a bunch of bad hiptosses, the kind that looked like a local high school PE teacher got in the ring to pop the crowd while the wrestlers bumped around for him, and then Mac capped it off with an ugly dropkick. Bad start. But Skyler willed this thing from the grave with a fast sprawling bump to the floor, and once Skyler/Li take over on Mac I get into it. Mac takes a great bump to the floor thanks to Skyler holding the ropes open, and Skyler/Li don't do anything spectacular to pick apart Mac, but they keep things engaging, keep Biggs away, Skyler is good at things like that. I especially liked how he occupied himself to allow Mac draw out the hot tag to Biggs: Skyler had eaten a facebuster and wandered around the ring holding his jaw, in total disarray, going to the wrong corner to tag in Li, all good stuff to let Mac build to that tag. And Biggs is a super fun hot tag, obviously, smooshing the other two and ending things once Li gets whipped into his rib crushing Thesz Press. This recovered quite nicely after

PAS: This is a good example of how a classic southern tag structure has a really high floor. Mac wrestles like a veteran in his 70s still working nostalgia shows (does Thunderbolt Patterson work Georgia indies, imagine that), good shtick, but utter inability to execute offense or take bumps, he is the Ricky Morton in this. Despite that, some good bumping and shtick by Li and Skyler and an awesome looking hot tag by Biggs make this a plus match. Get the crowd behind someone, and delay the gratification for a bit and it is going to be entertaining.

Otto Schwanz vs. Chet Sterling

ER: Is Otto the best (only?) guy to pull off a "tough guy/goofball" persona? He comes out in his velour Fila track suit and comically large chain, jump scares little kids, gets in the ring and does some combination of amateur rolling and warm-up break dancing, looking kind of ridiculous and yet kind of dangerous. "Kind of Ridiculous and Kind of Dangerous: The Otto Schwanz Story". I really liked this match, and loved Otto tossing Sterling around. Sterling would fire back with punches and I thought Otto did a good job picking and choosing which ones to take seriously, and which ones to storm through and ignore. Sterling rushes in with some body shots, Otto chuckles and doesn't slow down a bit; Sterling pops him in the jaw, Otto gets rattled, eyes widen, he cracks Sterling back harder. Otto has this one punch that I really love - and a few big guys use punches like this - where he throws one big shot horizontally across the jaw. It's a cool angle, stands apart from normal stand and trade punches, reminds me of the visual of when Andre would punch across his opponents face and body. I thought Sterling was good firing back with hard overhand chops, loved Otto sinking in bearhugs and elbow drops, thought Sterling bumped around great for Otto (and love that Otto charging shoulder in the corner, that sent Sterling through the ropes to the floor), and the nice high cradle is a believable way to get a pin on a bigger dude.

PAS: This was pretty good, Sterling has some dodgy offense, but is a good bumper and good at getting the crowd behind him, so having him eaten up by Schwanz is a good match structure. Otto is great at making simple things look devastating, nasty bodyslam, really great ragdolling bearhug, nice straight punches, nasty backbreaker. He reminds me a lot of Mark Lewin, who would be the answer to Eric's question for tough guy/goofball combo. Great match for the crowd, who really got into Otto's shtick and Sterling's comeback.

Dave & Zane Dawson vs. Dirty Daddy/Kool Jay

ER: At this point, every Dawsons tag feels longer to me than it actually is. I thought this match went 20, was shocked to see it was just 14. I don't know why, but it feels like there are rarely any changes in pace throughout their matches, they just kind of continuously operate at one level, and the Dawsons are just a bit too dry. They've shown flashes, they've had decent matches, but there's zero nuance to their performance. They sell for opponents in minute one of a match the same as they sell in minute 13, so there's never the impression that a babyface time is making headway or falling behind in a match. They're essentially always equally about to win or about to lose, and that makes things drag. Teams never gain or lose ground against them, they just do stuff to them until the match ends. They're not great at setting up offense for their opponents, but I still enjoyed Jay and Daddy here, thought both had nice punch combos. Daddy had some nice moments showing his really excellent attention to detail, and it's a shame he's been kind of lost at sea for the last few months. He'd be a far more interesting guy with a tag belt than these two. A great detail moment I loved from Daddy was him getting caught by the Dawsons in a crossbody, leading Jay to missile dropkick him, sending him into a pinfall on the Dawsons. But Daddy comes up selling his back, which is huge, as it rarely happens with that spot. Somehow in wrestling physics, if you get hit with friendly fire you don't have to sell it. But Daddy is a smart worker and it really lends credibility to his matches. Dawsons on the other hand make taking a headscissors look about as plausible as Kenny Omega bumping for a blow up doll. I liked Jay taking big bumps and getting planted by the Dawsons, Zane threw a great punch in the corner at one point, but overall the match dragged for me.

PAS: Kool Jay is a great pinball and takes some big time bumps by the Dawsons, and I actually think this would have been a pretty good match, except for Dirty Daddy's lethargic hot tag. He is usually so good as both the hot tag and the face in peril, here it felt like he mailed in the big comeback a bit, which took some steam out of the crowd. Dawsons title reign has taken a bunch of steam out of the tag titles, not sure I have really liked any of their title defenses, this had some moments, but was too long and never hit third gear.

Donnie Dollars vs. Trevor Lee

ER: I've never seen Dollars come out in his button up and 1994 gaudy tie, and I like it. He looks like an IRS/Big Bubba cross, and the IRS look makes sense with his name. If he's supposed to have been some kind of equity trader then I have totally missed that. I dig Lee dismantling big guys, and I've been waiting for a longer Donnie Dollars match, so I was excited for this one and thought it delivered, although less than other Lee main events. Dollars was fun using some shortcuts that a huge dude shouldn't need to use, but I love seeing a heel cheat just to cheat, so Dollars pulling the ref in between he and Lee so he can blast Lee with an elbow, or Dollars kicking the ropes while Lee steps through them. Lee never really felt in danger in this one, which lands this lower than other title matches. Lee was mostly one step ahead of Dollars, with Dollars being the one to get occasional hope offense (like a big running boot), which is kinda backwards. But Lee is fun working ahead on a big guy, stomping early on Dollars' elbow, which Dollars never really recovers from. Dollars was really good at keeping that elbow stomp present, even though we never went back to it. His selling was good enough (without being constant) that it played as a rough move that set him back early in the match, that gave Lee the advantage the rest of the match. Lee would be kicking at Dollars' body, and he would be holding his elbow and leaving himself mostly defenseless against kicks, and it really made it seem like his elbow was messed up if he was willing to take these kicks to protect his arm. Lee amusingly baited him a couple times, like hitting a running elbow in the corner and duping Dollars into following him so he could hit him again. The end was never in doubt, and I wish Dollars had a bit more of a showing, but it was fun.

PAS: I tend to really like lesser Lee title matches, he is more interesting when he works around a formula worker, then just having an indy classic. The structure of this was kind of unique with Dollars playing a heel underdog big man, not a combination I can remember seeing before. Lee almost comes off heelish here, do you really need to break Donnie Dollar's elbow to beat him? I agree that Dollar's elbow selling was great and I thought the built a couple of nice near falls for Donnie. I think this match would have been better if Donnie went on a bit of winning streak before it, so the crowd might buy him a bit more, or if it had just been a sprint. Going this long without Dollars having any chance of winning was kind of odd.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 146

Episode 146

Arik Royal vs. Dirty Daddy

ER: Damn what a keg of dynamite this match was! Ferocious Royal is an absolute king, and this was some of my favorite Royal stuff ever. He worked this as an aggressive Junkyard Dog, lunging in hard at Daddy with diving shoulderblocks and booming headbutts, jumped him at the bell with big punches, just kept on him the entire time. This is some of the more vicious work I've seen from Royal (and makes me more grumpy we got robbed of TV champ Royal doing this stuff every week), and then he ramps things up with a crazy spinning backbreaker, then yanks Daddy's limp body off the mat into a short arm clothesline. I don't know if I've seen someone pull a guy off the mat into a lariat before, and I loved it. Daddy's comeback was a good one (he's a great babyface), and I loved him beating down Royal with chops and forearms and a big running elbow. Daddy always has what looks like a weak delivery on chops and elbows, usually no big wind-up, but they always land hard and look like something that could drop a big guy like Royal. Royal kept at those grounded attacks, and the big upending shoulder tackle is a favorite of mine. Awesome battle.

PAS: Yeah this was a really great compact brawl, this kind of six minute fight is something CWF does really well. Royal is so good as a stooging, shit talking, stalling heel, but he is also really great as a focused killer and he was brutal here. Daddy is also great at intense brawling and I loved his chop and punch beatdown in the corner and his diving clothesline which really hit with a thud. Royal has great explosion, he would have been an awesome middle linebacker, his tackles and cut blocks look great and part of the reason is that he can go from 0-60 so quickly.

Mace Li vs. Snooty Foxx

ER: Fun match and a fine Foxx performance, impressive that he can make someone like Li seem credible, and not just credible because of Coach and Royal at ringside. It's an important distinction. Li is still a hard guy for me to pin down, he'll do something great one moment, then get lazy a moment later. There was a weird moment where Foxx hit a back elbow but Foxx was the one who sold it, and Li went right back on offense. Not sure what happened there. Foxx is really good at big man leapfrog exchanges, love seeing him move quick and time that leaping back elbow, always looks great. I also thought the fight through the crowd was fun, these fans are always right on top of the action and it's always cool to see the workers not hold back right next to them. Finish was probably better on paper, with Royal holding Snooty's boots so he can't kick out, even though his boots were practically hanging off the apron. He's breaking the plane of the ropes, ref! The aftermath is simple match building, Li and Royal jumping Foxx all building to Foxx crushing a huge spear, instantly made me excited to see them fight back in Chapel Hill.

PAS: This was a match where both guys had good ideas, but still lack the execution to pull everything off. The idea of defensive wrestler Li catching a break and damaging the power guys knee. There were parts of this that looked great, but then Foxx would throw a dodgy punch or mostly miss on a clothesline, or Li would really poorly apply an Indian deathlock and I would be taken out of it a bit. These guys are basically still rookies, so the fact that they have good ideas is promising, and I am sure the execution will come.

Cain Justice vs. Cam Carter

ER: I could easily see the Cain/Sharpe team making a nice long run in the Kernodle Cup. Let me rephrase, I want Cain/Sharpe to make a nice long run in the Kernodle Cup. I don't believe we got to see their match from earlier this year, but it's no surprise that these two match up nicely. Carter is slippery and Justice has no shortage of mean tricks, so it's a fun combo. I dug all of Carter's flips out of Cain's wrist control, and Carter has a bunch of precise kicks and knees, and Cain is always game to lean into a kick or knee (that flying knee off the top looked like it bounced right off his jaw). This is a bit different than most Cain matches, as he has Ethan Sharpe running interference on the floor, and I don't recall him ever having someone interfering on his behalf before. I like how Cain typically structures comebacks in his matches, so the interference took away from that a bit and made the result less in question, but the action was good, and I liked Sharpe giving him leverage on an armbar. I don't think I've ever seen someone lock in an armbar and then hold it with one arm while grabbing his partner's arm with another. Carter sells the arm nicely and we get some fun moments, like Cam dodging a crane kick, sidestepping Cain and tripping him into the ropes to set up the 336. Cain is really great at removing or shifting gear to accentuate a beatdown. When I was a kid I would always get a kick out of Greg Valentine turning his shinguard before locking on the figure 4. I had no idea the significance of it, but it seemed cool to me. Cain is good at shifting a kneepad, removing a shinguard, something to signify that this next knee or kick would be somehow even worse. I loved Cam holding onto the ropes while Cain yanked on his arm, and the Twist Ending is always especially mean when he holds the arm and kicks it before locking it in. Tons of fun.

PAS: Cam Carter comes into Square Biz by Teena Marie and immediately vaults hugely up my favorite wrestlers list. This was another great Cain match against a relatively limited opponent. Carter has great athleticism, but doesn't always hit everything cleanly (I know I sound like a coded racist Sports Announcer right now, but he really does get great snap and height on his moves), Cain feeds him some big comebacks and is great cutting off the ring and really doing some vicious arm work.  Justice landed some vicious short kicks on the arm to loosen it up, and he is really great at violent focused attacks. I love how he varies the speed on it, he does the methodical Arn style arm work, but will also be frenzied, and the set up to the twist ending here was great. The commentary mentioning a rumored leg submission he is keeping secret got me excited, I can't wait for him to pull that out to win a huge match.  I do agree that Sharpe was a bit OTT on the outside, and some of the ref distraction spots didn't make a ton of sense. still I loved this match it made our 2018 Ongoing MOTY list and continue to be 100% all in on Cain.

Zane & Dave Dawson vs. Matt Houston/Louis Moore

ER:What a weird, unnecessarily long match. We have now written up over 60 episodes of CWF, and this tag is the 2nd longest tag match during that time! Why did this match go over 20 minutes!? There was not nearly enough happening to fill 20 minutes, and the last half felt like tired tubs lying around gathering their breath for their next move. Having a match this long really played up every participant's weakness: The Dawsons don't have enough interesting offense to be in control for that long, and they're genuinely bad at setting up opponent comebacks, so they took forever to get to the Outlaws' run of offense, and when it finally arrived they didn't do them any favors. This match dragged so much that when the 20 minute mark was announced I called my computer a damn liar. Houston is a guy I want to like. He's a spitting image of Dick Murdoch, skinny legs and an even bigger belly and even facial similarities, and his moonsault was surprising as hell. But the Dawsons have no clue how to set up his hot tag. Seriously they are terrible at finding ways to occupy themselves while waiting for spots, so they end up just standing frozen still, or awkwardly wandering. I had never seen Moore before and I liked how he bumped for a big chop in the corner, but man did he eat it on a rolling somethingorother to the floor: Houston had been "caught" by the Dawsons on a plancha (they dropped him, but he was kind enough to be lifted and held into position, and Moore rolled into everyone with a senton...except he corgi legged the jump, barely hit them, and splatted directly to the floor. I like a couple Dawsons eyepokes, liked Zane's big lariat for a nearfall, but this was just way too long and way too slow. There is no reason to have the Outlaws be the toughest opponents yet for the Dawsons. I'm pretty sure the crowd at one point even started a "This Match Sucks" chant, which is stunning coming from the familial Sportatorium crowd. This really felt like one of those rookie matches where they repeatedly miss signals from the back to go home, and the fed has to start flashing the lights in the building to get their attention. I have never watched the Hero/Punk 93 minute match, and I'm not totally sure how time and space works, but I bet I could have watched Hero/Punk in the time it took me to watch this match.

PAS: This was really ponderous, it felt like they were waiting for someones flight to arrive, like one of those WWF house show matches where Ron Bass and Tito Santana sit in a chinlock for 8 minutes because there was bad weather into Tulsa. Eric talked about Zane's lariat, but I thought Houston straight armed the taking of it, so it looked bad, Zane responded by straight arming the belt shot a second later. I did like the finish, really great looking accidental head smash into your partner and the double powerbomb looked good, but if you just showed me pictures of these four guys I would be totally jazzed for this match, and instead they basically laid an egg.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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BCW/CWF Mid-Atlantic Tap Out Cancer 11/12/17

ER: I saw the full show got posted online (Lee/White Mike, the 4 way, and CW/James aired on CWF TV) and the rest of the card was super intriguing (especially that main event!) that I figured I'd check it all out. This will all surely lead to me doing a NC road trip and doing a road report. I really love the scene they have there and need to start documenting as much of it as is available.

 Chris "TNT" Taylor vs. Beastly Brody

ER: Perfectly acceptable match on a card like this. I've not seen Brody before but he works a little more like Barbaro Cavenario than Bruiser Brody, and an American indy Barbaro would be a welcome thing (although this one has a little more respect for his knees). Taylor is getting there and would probably be better if he dropped some unnecessary flourishes; just focus on throwing a decent lariat or punch, not the 360 spin before the punch or lariat. Both guys do some things I like, Brody commits on a splash and has good energy.

Snooty Foxx vs. Tre G

ER: Pretty simple match with G trying to go toe to toe early, running into a lariat and Snooty's great leaping back elbow, then spending the rest of the match trying to cheat or trying to get Foxx to make a mistake. G is good at stooging into Foxx offense, like jawing with fans leading to him turning around into a side slam. I like how Foxx keeps things simple. There are too many large rookies that get into wrestling now and want to learn a standing moonsault. Foxx is learning more valuable skills like how to be a large guy but still sell convincingly. The end got a little silly with G's second interfering from the floor, leading to a kind of missed ball shot, then some fine fake weapon hiding that Foxx kicks out of. The ending was kind of a mess. But I like Snooty's powerslam finish, and the match was worthwhile.

Ricky Morton vs. Matt Houston

ER: 60 year old Ricky Morton is plump, but still unafraid to wrestle without a shirt, and that still means something in this crazy world. And this was about what my brain pictured a 2017 Ricky Morton match looking like. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great, but there were enough moments to make it an enjoyable watch. Houston is a fat cowboy in his 40s, which is a worker I'm going to like, and he's good bumping around for Morton, running into a boot in the corner, nothing flashy but a good opponent for a 60 year old Morton. Ricky still throws a nice overhand punch, nice kneelift, and ended the match with a really great roll up. The match was probably worth watching for the roll-up. It was a gifable roll-up. He stopped his momentum in the corner by sliding down and grabbing the bottom rope, then yanked Houston by the trunks as he as he ran by, and got in tight for a snug roll-up. It was a roll-up that would believably win a match.

Dave & Zane Dawson vs. The Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude/Rob Killjoy)

ER: You knew these teams would match up nicely, so that's not a shocker. These teams have their bit down, and it's always worth checking out. This had a bunch of fun "Killjoy using Lude as projectile" moments, like Lude rolling into a Killjoy-assisted backdrop or getting launched over to the floor (and caught) or soaring off Killjoy's legs to nail Launchpad McQuack. It's a real fun thing they got going. Dawsons really busted butt here, and they're both good at killing the Ducks while also looking vulnerable to guys so much smaller than them, eating a couple big dives from them and takings ranas (Zane flies all the way across the ring off a Lude rana), and doing Phillie Phanatic prat falls for them. I liked when Dawsons would just brute force their way through a Ducks flying spot, like Lude getting punched out of the air or Dave surprising with a dropkick during a rope running spot. It's a great thing they have.

Cain Justice vs. Darius Lockhart vs. Nick Richards

ER: The match goes a shade past 5 minutes, but they manage to get a lot of cool stuff into those 5 minutes. We get a couple great early moments of alliances turning on Justice, with Lockhart sending him running into Richards (who sidesteps him and sends Cain to the floor), and then Cain getting back in and getting punched by both Richards and Lockhart to send him to the floor again. The brawling around the floor was good, with Lockhart hitting a big flip dive as the other two brawled, and then doing some fun disjointed floor fighting. And by that I mean nothing was timed and dodged, nothing looked rehearsed, just a three man tangle with awkward shots like Richards getting elbowed in the back of the head. I thought everybody worked around being the third man well, and I liked the opportunistic finish with Richards hitting the cutter on Lockhart, but Cain hitting Richards in the eyes and stealing the pin. They made the most of their allotted time.

PAS:  Fun short match. Cain is really great at these small show benefit cards. He is such an expressive wrestler that he can really bring a crowd into what is happening. Even in a random three way with no stakes, he can make you want to see him get his ass kicked (apparently this fed ran Cain vs. Trevor Lee in a cage but that show is not on youtube, talk about a holy grail). I like all three of these guys a bunch and they really kept it moving and kept in entertaining. Cain stealing the pin is the perfect finish.

ER: We wrote up the next the matches (Trevor Lee vs. White Mike, CW Anderson vs. Mark James, and Royal vs. Sterling vs. Skyler vs. Tracer X) as part of CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 135. All three are worth watching, especially the singles matches.

Career vs. Career: Damien Wayne vs. Lee Valiant

ER: Real good match, and a perfectly respectable way to end a 10+ year career. Valiant was allegedly a babyface for a big chunk of his career, but I've only seen him as a heel and can't really picture him as anything else. But, against a bruiser like Damien Wayne it showed through. Both guys worked tight (as you'd expect in a big stips match) and both took some nasty spills. Wayne will take your punches, but he'll be right there to fire back with hard shots to the stomach (Wayne may have the best kicks to the stomach in wrestling) and chops that will be harder than most wrestlers you will ever face. Valiant takes a nice beating, including a Lawler level bump into the ringpost on the floor. Wayne goes in big on everything, so that leaves him open to some big misses, like a huge bump over the top to the floor on a missed charge, and those misses lead to a Valiant comeback. Wayne bleeds big on Valiant's comeback, but was a total monster throughout, hitting increasingly bigger and meaner elbowdrops (a big rotating one, a bigger, meaner, and prettier one off the top, and then the match ender off the top with Valiant under a chair), and a big sunset flip powerbomb off the top. Wayne never skimps on pins, using full body weight, making each Lee kickout seem like a big moment. Very good match, and hats off to some tertiary people in the match: I really liked the moment where Wayne was pissed about a two count and shoved the ref over (while the ref was on a knee standing up). The ref jumped up to his feet and got in Wayne's face that it was only a two count. It was done in a way where Wayne didn't act afraid of the fired up ref, and the ref didn't back down, but never looked like he was getting any kind of shine. And post-match, hats off to whomever filmed this video, as I really liked the looks at Valiant hugging friends in and out of the business, and the close-ups on the wrestling boots he left in the ring. Nice work by everyone involved.

PAS: This was really good. I have also only ever seen Vailant as a sleazy heel, but he was really good working under against Wayne. Damien Wayne is one of my long time favorites and he was a beast here, moving forward lacing Valiant with hard chops and all timer punches. I loved how he cut off Valiant's top rope attack with that hanging neckbreaker and hanging legdrop, such a hard combo to pull off without looking contrived and Wayne and Valiant pulled it off. The double juice helped the stakes of the match too, most of my Wayne experience has been from no-blood Virginia, but that was a great grimy blade job. I did think maybe Lee needed one more big near fall, if he was dropping his career, but otherwise this was great stuff, a quality coda to Valiant's career and a reminder of how good Damien Wayne can be.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 144

Episode 144

Cain Justice vs. Ian Maxwell

PAS: Cain is really great at working with greenish guys and working around their limitations, it is the thing that is most impressive about him being a rookie himself. Maxwell has some fun highspots, and Justice is great at filling in the middle parts of the match around them. I loved his fake knee injury, and how it played off of the Battle Royal. I also liked how he used the ref to distract Maxwell a couple of times, including the awesome finish were he maneuvered the ref in between him and Maxwell who was perched on the top rope. When Maxwell finally dove, Justice snatched him out of the air with a cross armbreaker.

ER: This was a cool twist on the modern indy workrate match, with Cain constantly - awesomely - throwing a wrench into typical modern workrate moments. Every time it would threaten to devolve into This Is Awesome, Cain would just wash to the floor, jaw with fans, sip hilariously from a water bottle, stall, and generally just upset the rhythm. That style works great when you have a great worker upsetting rhythm. Modern indy workrate comes off too much like swing dancing big band, and you need an upsetter to introduce people to the irregular phrases and angular melodies found in bop. Cain as Thelonious Monk? I thought they hit the first armbar spot too long, as I never like when somebody is just able to casually survive in a Cain Justice submission, it does them a big disservice. This one was even weirder as Cain had a fully extended armbar and was looking to KO Maxwell with heel kicks, and with the armbar still extended they do a raise/drop the arm spot. That's weird. Maxwell doesn't pay attention to the arm again even though he was locked in the armbar for 30 seconds. But I liked the rest of this, always like how active Cain is during simple lockups and go behinds, reaching back between his legs for something, looking for hammerlock openings, grabbing for headlocks, punching Maxwell in the hamstring, etc. His elbows land so damn hard, short staccato bursts, and I like the offbeat timing he brings to the standing exchange. Nobody should get excited for back and forth match for match exchanges anymore. They're dull. So once this one starts, I appreciate them mixing it up and not robotically trading elbows. They brought kicks, elbows, a superman punch, and more, a nice variety that was offbeat and welcome. Maxwell has some smooth stuff, really liked his leaping rana, and he has nice timing on his enziguiris. I agree with Phil on how cool the finish was. There were a lot of moving parts, and it was still able to come off naturally, the somersault leap into the armbar was precise and looked great, really fun match.

Mace Li vs. Kool Jay

ER: I liked this one too, although I don't love an overuse of "I kick you and it causes you to stumble, and you sell on your feet until I get up, then you kick me" in a match, I thought they handled a lot of things nicely. I still can't really get a good read on Mace Li, even though he's popped up regularly over the last 4 months. Within a match he'll do some things I really like, here he throws a really great shoulderblock and an awesome missed elbowdrop, really sticking the point of his elbow, and late in the match he planted himself on a DDT; but then he'll do some annoying or lazy things, like a slo mo missed clothesline to get into position for the next bit of offense. But overall I liked him here more than I've liked him in other matches. I am still not over how they handled the Kool Jay RGL title win. It makes no sense to me. Kool Jay now acts like an established fighting champion, and I didn't even get to see him fight for his title win. It is not sitting well with me. It feels like we missed 70% of his story. I think CWF has been mostly really good about working people up and down the card, but Kool Jay already getting a title feels like I just skipped 4 months of TV. And I'm still adjusting to him getting a lot of offense, and I do still think he's a more interesting wrestling working from behind than working even. But I liked his body shot combo in the ropes, and his DDTs go down with a nice snap, so he's still going to be a guy I get interested in seeing. I just feel a little robbed.

PAS: I agree with the silliness of not showing Jay win the title, I do enjoy him as champ though. He has a nice arsenal of little guy spinning offense. I really liked his jumping complete shot and his DDT. Mace has some fun shtick although he definitely still looks a little tentative when he applies moves. The All Stars are a great act and you can pretty much slot in anyone around Jerry Carrey and the Coach and have it be entertaining. 

Faye Jackson/Aaron Biggs vs. Zane & Dave Dawson

ER: This was so-so, but I thought the Dawsons did well to put the whole thing over. Faye Jackson is fun and I like her vibe, like the big butt attacks and her rolling cannonball, but I don't think it really works with these guys. It doesn't help that she appears to gas out pretty hard at the end, taking a long time to leap into a sunset flip and then taking even longer to ready a chairshot after the match. Obviously I miss the Sandwich Squad, and Mecha was my favorite part of that team, but Biggs still brings value on his own. I won't ever get tired of a huge guy doing splashes and avalanches. But the Dawsons held this together, Dave especially was really mean to Faye, hitting a big dropkick under her chin (I liked her sell of it) and pulling on her hair while taunting her in a chinlock. I like the Dawsons cheating to win because basically why not, but they should also work a little harder to make their tag champs look like they deserve to be tag champs. It seems like every single makeshift team takes them to the limit.

PAS: Faye does have really fun offense, although she might be best used as a face manager who comes into hit some spots, kind of like Que Monito. I do love her rolling cannonballs. Biggs is fine, but I am not sure if he is ready to be the A1 in a tag team, he is a little like a good secondary scorer who has to take the majority of the shots when the star player leaves. He may get there, but I am not sure he is there yet. Dawsons were fun in this as dick heads, I loved the taunting of Biggs with the EAT chants, and Dave blocking the low bridge attempt by punching Faye in the face was great.

Chet Sterling vs. John Skyler

ER: I was skeptical when I saw the episode still had 25 minutes left, and didn't think these two could stretch things out that long without me getting restless and wanting the match to end. But I really liked this and came away impressed with how they used the 25 minutes. It was simple stuff but paced well and paid off nicely, with Skyler stalling to start, eventually attacking Sterling's ribs, removing a turnbuckle pad early, and that pad and the early rib work leading to the finish. It's all very satisfying, linear stuff. But what put it over for me is how much the fans in the Sportatorium love Chet Sterling. I was a slow convert on Sterling. We've probably seen 20 Sterling matches now, and it's been a slow burn. I did not like him on first watch, slowly accepted that he was decent in trios, slowly accepted he was good as the Ricky Morton in a tag, finally became a singles match convert after the Royal match, and now I enjoy Chet Sterling. Hearing the fans (and especially all the screaming kids) cheering for him when Skyler was beating him down really made the match. We have so many 25 minute matches where the guys are going to do their match no matter the reaction, and while this didn't feel like the crowd was dictating the pace of the match, it did feel like these two knew exactly what kind of match to give them. The rib work was set up nicely, with simple things like Skyler smashing Sterling ribs first into the apron, or hitting a fat senton, on up to bigger things like Sterling going for a crossbody but landing on Skyler's knee. Sterling's comebacks are good in tag matches, and it was good here. He throws his hot comeback punches from the same arm slot as Lawler's comeback punches. They aren't as good as Lawler's, but that's not a very fair expectation, because Sterling has great babyface punches. They do several moments that are hard to naturally pull off, where Skyler keeps missing offense while Sterling keeps moving out of the way, too tired to counter with anything of his own. The misses usually look hokey but Skyler did them well, especially crashing into the buckles chest first. The end pays off the early work nicely, with Attitude knocking Sterling off the top rope, making him fall on the exposed buckle, leading to Skyler planting him with the Finlay Roll off the middle rope. I got similar vibes during this match as I got during the Foxx/Royal Chapel Hill match, just a hot crowd rooting for their babyface as fans of the hero, not fans of "This is awesome".

PAS: I thought this was a heck of Skyler performance. I loved all of his shtick early in the match, stalling, demanding time outs, begging off, and then flipping the switch when he got an advantage. I loved him catching Sterlings dive with a stomach buster and then just pounding on him with head and body shots. Skyler was really focused on the ribs and small of the back in an entertaining way and they timed Sterlings comebacks really well to keep the crowd engaged. Timing comebacks is a really important part of a traditional face vs. heel match, wait too long and the match just drags and feels too one sided (This was the fatal flaw in the Wrestlemania main event), go too early and it is just a your turn, my turn match with no selling and it doesn't allow the crowd to pop at the comebacks. I don't love Sterling's 1997 ECWA offense, but it was timed great. Finish was awesome too, with Chekov's exposed bolt coming into play perfectly, we get some classic dickhead Brad Attitude and a great second rope Finlay roll for the pin.

PAS: Pretty good show, with everything getting a thumbs up and Skyler vs. Sterling making our 2018 Ongoing MOTY List. 

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 142

Episode 142

Otto Schwanz/Mace Li vs. Michael McAllister/Nick Richards

PAS: I enjoy the McAllister and Richards team, kind of an old school slugfest tag team, kind of like the face Andersons in 1990 WCW. Otto is also a hoot in this, making tons of noise, singing London Bridge just being a nutso. I think this would have worked a little better as a sprint, as working it as a straight southern tag took a little steam out of Richards and McCallister. Still a fun match with good performances by all four guy.
ER: Otto is out driving business away before the bell (noticed a YouTube commenter complaining that he had to turn this episode off because that big guy wouldn't shut up) and amidst all his noises and barks and songs he even comes up with a hilarious improvisation about his Fila track suit. I died. The match was fun and got a lot more time than I expected, and I especially dug the Richards/Otto sections, also dug how McAllister would go right after Otto. Mace Li is still hit or miss for me. I like the dynamic between he and Otto, but some parts of his game could use a lot of work (in this match he threw some of the worst stomps). But we get a lot of Otto/Richards, and Richards is looking leaner (slimming singlet?) and has no problem trading shots with Otto, but Otto pretty much runs this whole match. He's making noise the whole time, throwing fast chops, fast elbowdrops, mugging at people in the crowd in the middle of punch exchanges, never not entertaining. Lots to like here.

Dave Dawson vs. Snooty Foxx

PAS: I like the idea of having big boy punch outs on every episode. CWF has a lot of indy big guys, and matching them up throw at each other is a fun idea. I really liked Foxx's Ronnie Garvin open hand chops, and I am always going to dig a match built around a big body slam. Cheap low blow finish is fine for this kind of match. I am going to miss the Sandwich Squad, but a Foxx/Biggs team is a fun idea.


ER: There really are enough bigger guys in the area to do a match like this every week, and I would be a-ok with that. Snooty is a big guy who is good at working from behind, and his signature offense works as both a surprise comeback move, or as an aggressive in control move. Take his great flying back elbow, here used to surprise Dawson, but often used when he's in a roll of offense; or his big powerslam, which is often used as a big move he breaks out down the finishing stretch, here used as a Samson knocking down the pillars slam, as he hardway muscles Dawson up and down. Snooty's placement on the big slam was great as it was close enough to the ropes for Dave to grab them and not need to kick out. The ending mule kick was fine here, and I dug how they set up the visual early in the match: You had Foxx tying up Dawson with a wristlock, with Dawson having a hard time getting to the ropes to break it. Then at the end you have Foxx grabbing a waistlock, with Dawson again struggling to get the ropes, so he grabs the ref and gets the opening and leverage for the mule kick. It was a really nice bit of foreshadowing. I was also amused by Cecil Scott and Smith Garrett on commentary, talking about the active lifestyles of their moms and grandmas, and Smith does a great job putting over the Dawsons as nasty bar bouncers. I will ALWAYS get into a guy billed as a tough guy bouncer, one of those great old tough guy wrestler trope sidejobs. They went into tons of detail about the bars they work, in the sketchier parts of NC, literally throwing people out the doors, etc. And yes, I'm also excited for a potential Foxx/Biggs tag team, but I'm also curious to see more singles work from Biggs.

Arik Royal vs. Hurricane Shane Helms

PAS: The match starts with the Coach doing the old Chikara gimmick of calling out funny wrestlers who aren't there (although I despise the idea of the great El Dandy being used as a punchline, fuck you Bret Hart you overrated hack, you couldn't lace El Dandy's boots). Helms is there are they have a spirited back and forth match. Royal is on his game these days and I loved his beat down, the huge left hand to set up the splash on the apron was super nasty. Helms still looks good, although he does sort of awkwardly shoehorn in his early 2000s WWE comedy spots. I imagine it is a big deal to get a guy like Helms to commit to appear on every show, but I was really in to the idea of a Royal TV title run and it is kind of a bummer to see it cut so short.


ER: Overrated maybe, but I don't think I could call Bret Hart a hack. He did properly assess the perception of El Dandy in WCW and brought him more American fame than he otherwise would have received (can the weird Los Fabulosos C-show push be attributed to Hart's comment?), as really a short pudgy guy with a teenage mustache and Dustin Hoffman-as-Dorothy-in-Tootsie haircut was never going to be a hit in late 90s American wrestling. Honestly Dandy could have capitalized on his post-WCW internet meme popularity and probably done some nice business working American indies and selling "Who Are You to Doubt El Dandy" merch. Hart gave him a money gimmick the same way someone like Ellsworth can get actual good paydays, or how they gave Shane Helms easy mask merch for life. I get it's not flattering to compare Dandy to Ellsworth, but it probably would have been a smarter career path than wrecking his body going back to hard lucha mats.


And I'm not sure how I feel about the direction of the TV Title. I was so happy to see it off Adler, and was really excited about getting weekly 8-10 minute Arik Royal singles matches. Royal is one of my favorite performers in wrestling, so guaranteeing me weekly matches with him would just sweeten the pot. Helms is still a good worker, but I also know he's been really part time the last few years due to injuries (and I think a pretty major automobile accident). Are we going to actually get weekly or almost weekly Helms matches? That would be great! But if it suddenly turns into a title that is only defended once a month then I think most of the charm of the TV Title will be gone. So the result of this match will be a wait and see. The match itself was pretty awesome, really one of Royal's best performances. He worked like a guy who was losing a title, and a guy who was looking as great as possible against a big name. Royal looked big time here. Helms looked good too although I was surprised he didn't just work as Shane Helms: NC Legend. But I'm happy the People's Elbow missed and allowed Royal to capitalize, but hopefully in future weeks we get more of Shane Helms: big bumping southerner. And he is still a surprisingly big bumper. That's how he came back on my radar, as he was managing on TNA some time last year (I don't think wrestling) but I was surprised at him taking some big bumps on the apron as a manager. So I'd love Helms Classic back, but do not mind the iteration we got. Royal, though. Royal. This is the reason I was so excited for him as TV champ. Dude looked awesome, worked fast, worked more aggressive than I've seen in months while still shtick in at good times (telling that same woman in the crowd that he's going to take her hat again, walking ref Redd Jones away from the corner so that interference could happen), just worked tons of cool stuff into the match. Mace Li had nice interference towards the end, really nailing the batting helmet shot. But I guess my only real problem with the match itself was Royal took so much of it, and Helms took so much damage, that the win didn't totally feel deserved, made Royal look kind of weak and Helms look like too much of a superhero (I know, I know, buts that's not what I mean). Still - and we'll see where this all goes - it was a really good match to cap off a really good episode of TV.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 138

Episode 138

Mike Mars vs. Dirty Daddy

ER: I thought Mars had a big chance to win, but I wasn't expecting this! Daddy came out in the serious title defense braids, and started the match super aggressive. I like the story of the brief match, that Daddy came out hot and went toe to toe, realizing too late that a more defensive approach might have been better. He got caught up in defending HIS belt, and it cost him. All of Daddy's elbows looked great, flying into Mars and almost seeming like it would work, but Mars caught him twice with big, jarring slams. Surprising result, loved the frustration showed by Daddy after the match, but very curious where it goes. Daddy is clearly good enough that he's beyond a rising talent.

PAS: I really enjoyed Daddy coming out ready to brawl and paying for it. Those elbows were great, and all of the big slams felt like match finishing moves. Still a two minute title loss did feel like a bit of a burial for Daddy, the kind of thing Watts would do if a guy was moving on (maybe Watts did this to Dirty Daddy when he left for Continental). Was he riding with Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Grenada last night?

Lance Lude/Rob Killjoy/Matty de Nero vs. White Mike Jordan/Timmy Lou Retton/Ethan Alexander Sharpe

ER: This was a blast, and it seems that the Ducklings and the Gymnasties can't really have an uninteresting match against each other. White Mike gets in a good joke about BattleCade now being 18 years old, and therefor legal. I feel like such a boob for not being into White Mike from the first time I saw him a year + ago. I think I just wasn't expecting him, because by this point he's someone who regularly fills me with joy. His comedy works for me, his athleticism constantly still surprises me, and he's just got this great assured charisma. He's got a build like tiny Akebono with round body and skinny arms, but he's so good! He knows what he's doing. I was also really in the weeds on Matty D. I saw he showed up last BattleCade but nothing else for CWF, and I don't get him. There were a couple of times where he was staring into the camera like someone who didn't know what a camera was. He has the eyes of a new roommate you catch watching you sleep, or like someone who is trying to imitate human skin. I would personally burn him with fire, but I'm all for Sharpe just throwing a his big uppercut at him instead. Launchpad McQuack is one of my favorite tag moves, love how Lude gets launched like a projectile, and Ducks are just a super fun team. I dug Sharpe throwing Retton to the finish, and then getting caught post match and eating White Mike's awesome neck snap can opener, love that we get to see these guys back for Kernodle.

PAS: This was pretty fun stuff, the Gymnasties and Ducks work each other so much that they really have their shtick down pat. I am not sure what Matty D is about, he seemed more like a package of quirks then any real character. He feels like a guy who shows up to college and starts wearing a colorful scarf and smoking a pipe to be an individual, like he hasn't figured out his Chikara gimmick so he is doing 10 at a time,  I did like his diving punch though. White Mike is super entertaining, and it is always crazy to watch him work athletic workrate wrestling, he looks like such a slug and can move like Juventud Guerrera.

Tracer X vs. Cam Carter vs. John Skyler vs. Mace Li vs. Michael McAllister vs. Ray Kandrack vs. Aric Andrews vs. Snooty Foxx

ER: This is a pinfalls/over the top rumble for the Golden Ticket, winner gets to challenge for any belt in any kind of match, which feels like a way to work some fun shenanigans. If I had a Golden Ticket couldn't I could theoretically challenge Trevor Lee in a "Winner Must Be Eric" match. But anyway this was good, although I wish they chose a firm direction, either do a full violent battle royal with a couple monsters dishing beatings (like they had Kandrack doing), or do a wacky AJPW battle royal and have multiple guys pinning one big name at a time to eliminate them, and get us to surprise finalist. But I'm glad we got a big return from Kandrack, treated as a real big deal, building him up like Andre tossing around three men. I do wish McAllister got more of a showing as I loved him in the Nick Richards match. Here he kind of gets run over. But Kandrack plows into people with his body, throws a cool headbutt, leans way into kicks and strikes, catches a crossbody off the top from Tracer X (and catches him low to the mat which is some impressive strength) and slams him, just a cool performance. It comes down to Andrews and Skyler and we get some nice punch exchange, a couple decent nearfalls, good enough for its purpose. Between facing Royal and then potentially facing Andrews if he somehow gets past Royal, I don't see Adler holding the TV title much longer. His reign of terror will be over!

PAS: Fun match, I really enjoy Kandrack as the CWF Undertaker, old guy who is semi-retired, but still comes in an wrecks everyone. It makes me want to go back and watch old Kandrack matches when he was more active. Tracer X is pretty flippy, not my favorite type of wrestler, but man does he take a nasty spear, Snooty just demolishes in mid air. I liked Andrews working full on babyface in this match, and then turning on the crowd during his heartfelt speech. Now just grow the beard back and go get Lee Valiant.

Zane & Dave Dawson vs. The Sandwich Squad

ER: This was a tough concept on paper, a Last Man Standing tag match. I don't know if I've ever seen one before, and it's probably because the execution and booking of one is difficult. You either need to get both men down for a 10 count at once, which seems incredibly difficult, or count men down individually and wind up with an awkward handicap match which should theoretically end shortly after (one man shouldn't be able to last long against two when there are no rules). So there was a little bit of awkward, mainly in the "I'm going to verrrry slowly get ready to hit you with a chair" spots, where one guy would slowly raise a chair and slowly walk toward his opponent, only to get kicked into the stomach or have the chair knocked away. Those spots could have been smoother. But there was some real pain in this match, and that made it work. We got a lot of painful chairshots, and since we rightly don't see many chairshots to the head anymore, we see the different violence brought from chairshots to awkward parts of the body-not-head. So guys take stinging shots to the shoulderblade and the elbow and Biggs gets a chair kicked into his freaking hand, and this little kid chants EAT! EAT! EAT! in a squeaky little cartoon voice. Biggs and Mecha each get chairshotted out of the air on crossbodies, and that looked tremendous. The Squad do a great fireworks spectacular to take out Zane, with Biggs hitting a superplex, Mecha dropping a couple of his great elbowdrops (and Mecha was really awesome this whole match, loved his sharp elbows to jaws and big headbutts), and Biggs hits a big splash while holding a chair. Great way to put a guy down for 10. The finish is some inspired bullshit, with all 4 men getting counted down all at once, looking for sure like nobody is going to respond, and Zane's (on the apron) legs fall over the side and land on the floor, leaving him in a standing position for the win at the 9 count. Pretty great way to have the Dawsons retain, that could have easily come off as cheap.

PAS: I liked this a bunch, and it was the best of the multiple Dawsons v. Squad matches we have seen over the last couple of months. Some of those chairshots were really nasty looking while not causing any brain damage.  I loved Mecha in this, he took and delivered a big time beating, and I loved his big Abdullah style elbow drops. I agree that the finish was really clever, it kept the belt on the Dawson's while still keeping the Sandwich Squad strong (although Pimpgate meant that this was their last appearance.)

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Episode 136

Episode 136

Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Kool Jay/Mike Mars vs. Dirty Daddy/Snooty Foxx/Keith Mac

PAS: Fun six man which does a nice job advancing a bunch of different stories. We have more of Mike Mars bullying Cool J, Mars and Daddy ready to rumble at BattleCade and Sharpe tired of being a joke. Loved the spot where Mac wants to do a comedy spot and Sharpe flips out and stars beating his ass. Would love to see Sharpe go to Chikara as the guy who refuses to play along with the horseshit.

ER: Fun low stakes trios, with Daddy wearing his slick Christmas gear, Keith Mac decked out as a kind of Black Santa/Jimmy Valiant hybrid, and Kool Jay wising up and just teaming with Mike Mars instead of going opposite him (well Jay, the idea was better in theory, buddy). I love Sharpe no selling the comedy spots, refusing to play along with fake physics and yeah Phil's idea of a serious Chikara run for him would be fun. He already has the mustache to make it in Chikara. I laughed when Mars was in against Mac, and to "save" his partner Mars just roared in and clotheslined both of them. Later he'd throw Jay to the floor onto everyone. Daddy had an awesome hot tag, really running wild on Mars, leaping into him with hard elbow strikes. I was a little disappointed with the Mars/Foxx shoulderblock exchange as I usually love shoulderblocks, but Mars held back. So I was stoked to see Daddy punch a bunch on him. Finish was sudden and cool, with Sharpe unleashing the uppercut on Mac, and I continue loving what's happening with Sharpe.

ER: I liked the Christmas gift exchange, with a couple of the presents containing title shots. I liked everyone's banter, though I thought Biggs undersold his jelly of the month gift. Those monthly clubs are expensive, and you'll get tons of jelly you would have never otherwise tried! There's a No Way Jose action figure, Aric Andrews gets Back to the Future II on VHS ("this looks new!"), bunch of fun riffing. If this would have been taped a bit later, they could have done the TNA Feast or Fired stip with one of the gifts containing a pink slip, then Stutts could have participated in the gift opening instead of just emceeing it.

Jesse Adler vs. Cam Carter

PAS: I am starting to feel bad, because it seems like every week it is us just shitting on Adler matches (maybe don't put him on every show? Let us miss him a bit), but I got to keep shitting. This kind of a juniors man in the mirror match really exposes him, they are doing these identical twin spots and every spot Carter looks so much better, his drop kick is better, his armdrags are crisper, his springboard 450 shits all over the Adler shooting star. It is impossible to not come away from this thinking Carter would be a way better TV champ, yet we keep moving on.

ER: Yeah this is a bummer. It just shouldn't be happening. We want to bring positive reviews to the people! Look at how many CWF matches wind up on our MOTY list! And I think we're more than fair as reviewers/critics; we'll be right here talking about the great Adler match/performance when it happens, bet on it. But it certainly hasn't happened yet and it sure seems like he gets more TV time than most guys these days. Phil's points are all accurate, there's just no way someone can watch this and come away thinking Adler looks better than Carter. Mirror match is a good way of describing it, and all of Carter's stuff just smoked Adler's. I liked a middle rope dropkick Adler dished out, but moments later Carter hits the move of the match with a gorgeous dropkick. Le sigh. And the standing shooting star is an absolute disaster, with this one being one of the worst performed. It just should not be a finish, and really shouldn't be done at all. We got gypped.

PAS: Goldie the Mack interviews William Cross to set up LaRoux v. Andrew Everett at BattleCade. I really enjoy Cross as an Eddie Marlin tough guy commissioner, it isn't a role you see much in wrestling anymore and he is good at it.

Zane & Dave Dawson vs. Michael McAllister/Nick Richards

PAS: Nice meaty slugfest. The Dawsons had some really nice double teams here, I loved the big kick into side slam. McAllister throws some blows and Richards is nice hot tag. Dawson's work towards the back row, and some of their stuff has more windup then impact. I did love asshole Cain Justice coming out and wasting Richards with a kick, he has such a hateable smirk. I still am hoping the Dawsons drop the belts, I think McAllister and Richards would be better against some of the others teams in this fed.

ER: This was good, although I'd say the first half was great and the second half was okay, so overall good. First half was some of the best work I've seen from the Dawsons who often look like they should deliver more than they actually do. But they didn't skimp on things they sometimes skimp on. Phil says more windup than impact, which is true, they'll often ramp up for something big and then wimp on out impact and follow through. Here their stomps looked good, Dave threw an awesome yakuza kick into a team backbreaker, and they had a couple nice double teams. McAllister looked really great, a compact powder keg crashing fist first into beardy faces, all his punches and elbows looked super violent, and I dug moments like him flinging Richards off the apron into the Dawsons. Ending gets a little convoluted: We get a couple moments of the Dawsons having to stay standing and pressed together waiting to take a move, and we get kind of a silly "make your opponent DDT your opponent" spot (which was actually somewhat plausibly pulled off in last week's 4 way), but Richards sure flew wildly into that match ending backdrop driver, woof. No arm grazing shooting star press, THIS looked like a move that should win a match.

ER: I loved all the old Christmas commercials during this episode, but I've always loved the aesthetics of Christmas commercials. They always made me feel good growing up. We would always have a fire going inside, the anticipation of Christmas would build all month, and every commercial would be Christmas-y. I still have Christmas commercial jingles from TJ Maxx and Thrifty stuck in my head to this day, so I love seeing the old ads (need a couple Bea Arthur for Shoppers Drug Mart ads), and a modern classic with the genuinely touching (unless you're a monster) Folgers ad. I really enjoyed the episode.

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2017 Ongoing MOTY LIst: Modern Vintage WARGAMES!!

71. C.W. Anderson/Zane Dawson/Dave Dawson/Arik Royal v. Chet Sterling/Mecha Mercenary/Aaron Biggs/Ric Converse Modern Vintage Wrestling 9/16

PAS: Good to see a real War Games as opposed to an Adam Cole stained NXT spotfest. This had fat dudes and balding dudes and some blood just like War Games are supposed to . Great CW Anderson performance, as he was the first man in and last man out. I liked the opening one on one section with Sterling, and Anderson is especially great at working a cut. Keeping Mecha Mercenary on the floor as the heels triple teamed Sterling was a clever way to work around the middle section of War Games which is usually the weakest. The Squad getting into the ring to clean house was a nice moment. I am not a huge Sterling fan, so a match based around him was always going to be a bit of a letdown for me, I also loved the little bit of Royal, but he felt a bit sidelined. Finish was cool and a nice turnaround from earlier, although we could have used a near fall or two on the faces, it felt like as soon as Converse came in, the heels were done. Still this match, if done correctly, has a pretty high floor and I enjoyed it.

ER: You know when an Anderson starts a WarGames it's going to be a great one. And, sure enough, CW is a total king throughout this whole match. He and Sterling start and he just wrecks Chet, busts him open and jams his face into the cage, takes some nice punches from Sterling and gives back far more brutal ones. CW throws a freaking metal briefcase at the worst angle at Sterling's face, just a super violent shot you'd expect from a Black Terry flea market brawl or a Rush/Park beer bottle brawl. Things really ramp up when Mecha Mercenary comes out to even things up, as Sterling has just taken a beating from CW and Zane Dawson at this point. The camera cuts to the door of the cage as Mecha is entering, and from off camera a CW superkick greets Mecha, then another for good measure to knock him to the floor. I love Mecha, but I love matches constructed to keep him out. He's great at selling longterm damage and he's great at hot tags and comebacks, so him suddenly bursting back into a match is always the best. Royal makes a great entrance by just running in with a chair and blasting the Squad with huge chairshots and leveling Sterling with a great one. Chairshots were something we got so numb to seeing, and now that they aren't all over a wrestling card a real good chairshot finally carries some weight again. Royal is a really great weapons worker as he throws relatively safe shots that always look like KO blows. I've written a few times before he's always great at safely working crowd brawls, and with safe/brutal weapon shots just give him another underappreciated skill and show how great he really is. Plus, his WarGames attire is flawless (really all the heels had great WarGames attire). I loved the Squad going on a tear, with fun stuff like Royal getting avalanched by Biggs into the cage/apron. I didn't love Sterling going off the top of the cage, just because WarGames matches aren't supposed to be about cage flying stunts (I understand it's not easy to make a closed roof cage, but don't call attention to it), but Sterling needed a big moment to make up for that beating he took up front. The finish was a terrific bit of pro wrestling, with a perfectly used celebrity cameo: JJ Dillon (introduced before the match) slams the cage door onto CW's head when he's trying to leave instead of facedown all four babyfaces alone, just a perfect way to use someone like that. CW gets tangled into a submission by Sterling and quits, and in taking his excellent match-long performance beyond the match itself, continues after the match by complaining that he never actually quit. We've spent a year hearing a bald heel deny saying things that everybody heard him say, so it was a great topical heel move. Awesome match.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST
COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WEDNESDAY MORNING WARGAMES

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 127

Episode 127

1. Dirty Daddy vs. Cain Justice

ER: Cain comes out with Young Boys! Really, just make Cain the punk leader of a dojo and watch them lay waste to CWF. Gi entrance with Young Boys, match was already 7 stars before the bell. These two obviously always match up well, and this is their final match over the RGL title. These two are always on top of each other, never letting up, and know each other's next move. There's a lot of that in wrestling, but these two actually know how to keep it tight and not spiral into a self-conscious epic. The matches are always 10 minutes or under, and they know how to craft cool little sagas in that time. There has never been one whisper of overkill with these two. Here they break out some things that are tired indy tropes at this point, and make them actually work, like that running back and forth buckle to buckle routine: Dirty was dishing it to Cain in the corner, landed a few shots, went to get a running start and as he turned around Cain was running it to blast him. Usually that spot just looks like guys running back and forth because that was the plan and it looks kewl. Daddy went for the twist ending submission, failed quick, and never went back to it. That's smart, and a cool touch to these matches where guys constantly go for their opponent's finisher. Daddy's elbow shots all looked good, and I love how he mixed up their landing spot, working the jaw and the back. Cecil Scott was great on commentary bringing up a Cain back injury, nothing overblown, but mentioning that he's definitely dealing with an injury; Daddy goes after the back and Cain sells it like a guy who slept wrong and has been dealing with picking things up off the floor differently the last couple weeks. It's enough to make me buy that Cain's reaction time was slowed just enough to have lesser reaction time, and lent credence to Daddy's two vertical suplex/brainbusters as the finish. My only (minor) complaint was that this was a blowoff, and didn't really feel like a blowoff. It just felt like another one of their very good matches. I'm okay with that, but it would have been elevated anymore if it felt like something major was at stake.

PAS: It is amazing how these guys can do stuff I would normally hate, and I enjoy here. There is nothing more tired in indy wrestling then an elbow exchange, here they vary the speed and force nicely and end with Daddy landing body shots and Cain cleaning his clock with a front kick, took a cliche and mixed it up just enough. These guy know how to add just a little spice to a basic match.

I loved their work on the flood with Cain trying to smash Dirty's arm into the ring post (even kissing the post before the slam which is a beautiful bit of wrestling assholeness), Dirty blocks it once, Cain yells "Gimmie that arm" Dirty blocks it again, and smashes Cain spine first into the ringpost, setting the bad back story for the rest of the match. I slept weird on my back last week, so I feel Cain's suffering as he tries to work through a tender back. I loved how he hit the TBD (which should be a kill move in any fed, but especially here) and how the back wouldn't let him pin him quick, spamming that move was my only complaint in their Battlecade match and I liked how they dealt with it here. I agree that the finish felt a little weak for the end of a feud. I thought Cain did an awesome job selling fatigue, but the two brainbusters weren't brutal enough to close out the feud. Still a hell of match, and if they keep these guys apart for a while, I can imagine their match over the Mid-Atlantic title is going to be awesome.

2. Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham/Frankie Flynn vs. Ian Maxwell/KL3/Bobby Ballentyne

PAS: Kind of a messy trios match. A lot of the RGL stuff I have really liked, and AIW's kids 10 man is one of my favorite matches of the year, but the flip side with young wrestlers is that sometimes things won't click. Everyone seemed off here Maxwell slipped off the top rope, Dr. Dan nearly killed him with a botched finisher, some of the rope running was hinky. I continue to like Flynn as he might have been the smoothest guy in the match.

ER: That's funny, as outside of Maxwell's slip on the ropes I thought this was really good, especially for a quick trios. I thought it was one of the better Sharpe performances, and it feels like we've been saying that a lot over the last couple months. He had a bunch of big strikes that all landed great: his standing clothesline had tons of power for something that's basically all upper body, his sliding lariat looked good, real nice shotei, and bumped big for Ballentyne. Ballentyne didn't look good in his other CWF appearance, and looked much better here. His flying back elbow reminded me of Corey Edsel (but Ballentyne will need another 100 lb. before it looks that good). Flynn is good at working fast ropes exchanges, a good guy to be opposite someone like Maxwell. I didn't like a lot of Maxwell's stuff in here (seemed too focused on the dance rather than the contact) but I get the sense that it wouldn't have looked even as good as it did without Flynn opposite him. Rockingham's finish was probably supposed to be a backbreaker, but he straightened his leg so it just looked like a weird Dr. Bomb. And the man is a fucking doctor, why isn't he just using a Dr. Bomb? The move that looked like it should have put Maxwell in traction was the lawn dart he gave him to the middle rope, the angle and landing looked gross. Really, outside of the springboard slip (which was passed by easier than normal since it came at a point where everybody was gonna fill the ring anyway) and the Classic Indy Match Finisher ("I don't know what it was, but it may have been botched, and both men may have gotten hurt") I really liked this.

3. Sandwich Squad vs. Zane & Dave Dawson

ER: A match that I think worked a bit better as a concept than it did in execution. The Squad wait by the lobby curtain to jump the Dawsons, but the Dawsons sneak in from behind and just waste Mecha with a chairshot. Biggs has to go it alone, and I like how seriously they treated the chairshot. It appeared to be safely delivered to Mecha's (very broad) back, but it was treated like a huge deal. Cecil and Stutts turned in another good show talking about how Biggs has noticeably lost weight over the last several months, and how he might not have the strength to go it alone for very long against the Dawsons. Biggs is good in this, especially liked his big full arm shots to the gut. Dawsons (specifically Dave) can be lazy on strikes and missed clotheslines, and there is that, but the match progressed nicely thanks to Biggs' selling. Mecha coming back was the big moment of course, and I thought his selling was great throughout, hitting some big moves and swinging his clubbing arms, and always showing how his neck was affecting him. I was into it. But I thought the ending was a total flop, manufacturing what felt like phony drama wrapped around a rarely enforced rule. Zane and Biggs are down, ref is counting them both down, Biggs is crawling towards Zane to pin him...but the ref counts to 10 and that's the match. It felt pretty damn stupid to count a guy down who was actively crawling towards his opponent to pin him. I've never seen that in a match before, and it immediately became apparent why. It felt cheap, and this fed is way better than cheap.

PAS: That chair shot at the beginning of the match was super nasty, I loved how the back of the chair flew off when it landed. ECW et al have desensitized me a bit to chair shots, but that one felt like it should have felled a giant man like that for the entire match. I thought the match was really made with Biggs and Mecha's selling, as both guys really felt like they were gutting their way through a war. I loved the huge superplex as a double knock out spot. I agree the crawling count out seemed weird. Still that is the rule, if you aren't on your feet by 10 you get counted out, I certainly didn't hate it as much as Eric, and thought it was a semi-clever BS finish. I am still waiting for a Dawsons v. Sandwich Squad match to blow me away, it is always slightly worse then it feels on paper.

4. Aric Andrews vs. Jesse Adler

ER: Whoa, this was not what I was expecting. I am mostly unfamiliar with Adler, only knowing what the announcers tell me and what I saw from him in his return a couple weeks ago (which I didn't care for). So my gut reaction is that I really don't like this move. I guess I'm always more of a fan of a heel champ with a strong babyface chasing him, and in one episode we just shifted to the three singles titles all being held by babyfaces. I'm really bummed, just because I really liked both Justice and Andrews lording those belts over people. Obviously you can't keep everyone champ forever, but I really liked the dynamic we had. Based on the match I've seen, there are a few guys in this fed (and tons more throughout the rest of indy wrestling) who do Adler's style better than Adler, and I'm not exactly going out of my way to seek out more of that style match. These title changes really feel like they could completely change the tone of the program going forward, in a way I'm not as excited for. Obviously it opens up more challengers, but I'm knocked down a peg at the end of the episode. My favorite moment was Cecil Scott calling Lee Valiant a bag of piss.

PAS: Yeah I am out on this, Andrews and Valiant are a great act with the belt, and Adler doesn't show me much. Both of his big highflying moves didn't look that great and highflying babyface is a completely over done act.  I mean this fed still books Andrew Everett, and Adler's stuff doesn't even come close to what Everett can do. Maybe if I see more Adler, I'll learn to like him, but this fell completely flat for me.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 122

Episode 122

1. Roy Wilkins vs. Montana Black

ER: Yeah baby Montana Black is Back! He's a guy we saw seemingly ages ago that I've been wanting to see again, no reason why I should be deprived of this dude. This is worked simply, with Wilkins moving all around Black as he stands tall as an unchoppable tree. Wilkins fights him like a heel Westley fighting a babyface Fezzik jumping on him and trying to take out those legs. Black doesn't have thick legs, so Wilkins' shoulderblocks to the inner knee seem extra tough. I loved him jumping in for an abdominal stretch and how badly everything went when he tried jumping on Black. Black hits a mammoth face buster, picking up Wilkins in a full nelson and just planting him face first. His power looked legit and Wilkins took the bump like Wile E. Coyote falling face first off a cliff. I was disappointed when no dust cloud ploofed up. Black gets distracted and Wilkins blasts him behind the ear with his golden ticket plaque. I really love these 6 minute CWF matches. They always feel like they accomplish so much for the allotted time. I want more Montana Black!

PAS: Montana Black is two for two with me in singles matches. He is legit huge and seems to understand how to use his size, he actually works a lot like Andre the Giant, all open hand thudding chops and immobility. Wilkins is great at working as a cerebral wrestler, and I loved him try to solve the puzzle, before just giving up and smashing Black in the head with brass knuckles. I actually think Black would be a great addition to the All-Stars as a sort of a monster equalizer.

2. Slade Porter vs. Cam Carter

ER: This wasn't a bad 5 minutes, though some parts felt a little too rehearsed, it still had cool stuff. I was admittedly distracted by Cain Justice on commentary, as he wasn't really working in character, instead he came off like a more southern fried Snagglepuss. "That was a nice floatover, a nice drop down, even." We've seen Porter a few times now and this is probably the best he's looked, specifically thought a couple of his more complicated moves looked painful (like that nice leaping back elbow), and I liked Carter's low German suplex. This still felt like more of a touring match, but if you got 5 minutes to make an impression I can see using your touring match.

PAS: This didn't do it for me, I think Porter is one of the worst guys who shows up semi-regularly, and serious Porter was just as try hard and fun loving Porter. There was a section where Porter was throwing punches that were getting blocked which was comically bad looking. Carter has some potential and nice athletic ability, but wasn't going to be able to save this.

3. John Skyler vs. Jason Kincaid

ER: Skyler comes out wearing the one armed, studded leather jacket like Finlay or a Mad Max villain. It's a look I don't think I can pull off. But maybe it's one of those "confidence is key" things, where if you just act like you're someone who can pull off a one armed, studded leather jacket with one armor-like shoulder pad, then you can pull it off. I remember when vests became popular again among men, and I tried one on and just felt like I couldn't make it work. I felt like too much of a phony. So I might *think* that I wouldn't be able to pull off a Mad Max vest, but I don't know for certain. But I liked this match, even though I thought it could have been trimmed a bit. I was surprised how much Skyler was in control. I thought several of Kincaid's comebacks came off unnatural, just because Skyler was doing nothing but hitting him with big moves. Early on he used a lot of speed to stay one step ahead, or logically set up offense off of Skyler's misses, like that sunset flip powerbomb sending Skyler into the bottom buckle. But at a certain point this just felt like Kincaid barely kicking out of something, then just going back on offense. And sometimes the offense he set up felt a little longwinded, like the 619 from the entrance ramp, or the finishing cutter off the top that required Skyler to lift him into position to do the move. I don't like that kind of stuff. But for a longer match I thought they mostly filled the time well, and there were plenty of big (and little) killer moments, like Kincaid's crazy stomp to the face off a ringpost, and Skyler doing a deep back rake to sink in a powerbomb.

PAS: I liked this more then Eric did. I am a fan of Kincaid's fancy offense, it fits well with his character and spots like the double stomp off of the ringpost are legitimately awesome. I also really like Skyler, he is an ex CW Anderson and Preston Quinn tag partner and he has that same methodical yet forceful style. I did think it might have gone a bit too long and I thought the 619 from the ring entrance was kind of dumb, but I thought the finish was great. Stuttsy had been talking all match about Skylers top rope Finlay roll being his killer move and Kincaid reversing it in mid air into a stunner was crazy athletic and cool.

ER: I liked the stuff with Snooty and CL in Chapel Hill, with Snooty showing her his favorite 24 hour restaurant. Not only did I like Snooty (and CL) more after this, it made me want mac and cheese and a chicken biscuit. After all these scary beyond belief fires out here in CA this past week+, what kind of place do you think I can afford in Chapel Hill or Gibsonville? Somebody sell me on NC!

4. CW Anderson & The Dawsons vs. Chet Sterling & The Sandwich Squad

ER: I would have liked 5 more minutes from this, and 5 less from the prior match. I mean before the bell this match already had a woman in the crowd throw her nachos for a total bullseye on Zane Dawson, and then the Squad picked up a couple of the nachos and ate them. The parts of this match where CW and the Dawsons were picking apart Sterling were the best, I could have easily taken more of a heat segment. CW was vicious with everyone. His staredowns are maybe my favorite in wrestling, he never skimps on stomach kicks, and he never tries to get cheers. He is a bad man through and through. I like Sterling more every week, and I think he's especially good as the sympathetic babyface in matches like this. He fights to comeback nicely, sells well (which might be easier to do when Zane is smacking you in the ribs, or Dave is twisting you in a cravate, and CW is throwing big right hands to your face), but I like him getting dropped with a backdrop, coming up holding his shoulder and still wanting to fight, loved CW working that shoulder over his own while digging an elbow into Sterling's neck. I love how CW kept on Sterling, even when things started to break down and everybody got involved, he still lazered in on Sterling until he stuck that spinebuster. I thought the finish was real great as Biggs hits a mammoth Thesz press, but CW breaks up the pin with a killer low superkick; Biggs struggles back to his feet and shoots CW a look, but CW nails another one, Zane hits a lariat, and Dave dumps him with an awesome Saito suplex.  The Converse/Anderson standoff at the end of the episode hyped me even more for WarGames.

PAS: The beginning of this match with the face team all holding their trophies and the heels holding their belts, plus the faces taunting the lady into tossing her nachos was classic wrestling horseshit. Great CW performance, he was the conductor of the whole match, masterminding the beat down on Sterling. Coming in and hitting brutal cheap shots, right hands and his nasty spinebuster. I always enjoy watch the Sandwhich Squad do their thing, and Mecha hits an especial big time lariat. Finish was really great the Thez press by Biggs is world swallowing, and that short superkick by CW looked like it broke Biggs jaw.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 118

Episode 118

1. Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Lucas Calhoun

ER: I liked this, I really like serious EAS. He's a guy who is obviously funny, who I think overuses his comedy, but when he gets serious I really like his work. Calhoun works in the Elvis spots in a couple nice ways, I especially liked him dropping to a knee with the arms out pose to duck a clothesline. As much as I like serious Sharpe, I don't know if that uppercut should be a death move. I was really surprised that was all it took to keep Calhoun down. Also I think Stutts keeps calling Sharpe a "bracket buster" too often. He hit on it a couple times last match and a few times here. If he ends up winning you don't want to be the guy wondering aloud all match long if 123 Kid can beat Razor Ramon.

PAS: I liked the story of this, with Sharpe as a comedy guy who is here to fight and unwilling to go along with Calhoun's Chikarism. He really presses the action, never giving Calhoun a chance to breathe, much less a chance to get his shtick in. I do like Calhoun's backbreaker and senton combo and I would like to see more of him, especially if someone is forcing him out of his routine. I have no problem with the uppercut as a KO move, if you sell something as a killer move it's a killer move and Sharpe's uppercut is pretty great looking

2. Aaron Epic vs. Chet Sterling

ER: This was a much better showing for Epic, as I didn't really like his first round match. Here I really liked his work, liked how he worked in and out of headlocks and cravats, liked his knee to the gut. I liked how he sold for Sterling, like how he took that dropkick on the apron as more of a brush off to set up the big dive. Sterling was there with him, I thought his part of the grappling and mat stuff was good. At one point he rolled through with a wristlock that I wasn't expecting. Unexpected Wristlock feels like an unfinished song from John Darnielle's wrestling album. Both guys traded some painful looking moves, with Sterling throwing a really cool low angle german, and Epic doing an insane running death valley driver into the bottom turnbuckle. That spot feels like something we'll see until it dislocates someone's spinal column. Finish worked as Rose gets up on the apron to distract with a big spike, and Epic goes to hit the piledriver. A flipping cradle reversal works logically, although by the end of the match I was wanting Epic to advance (and assumed he wouldn't).

PAS: I am on a mini roll of enjoying Sterling matches, I still thing he is kind of generic, but in there with a guy providing the sizzle, he can go along. Epic is clearly a polished pro, and I like how he focused the attack on the neck to set up his illegal piledriver. I really dug the diving uppercut to the back of a seated Sterling, really looked like the kind of thing which could slip a disc. That running Death Valley Driver is so much nastier looking then a piledriver that it doesn't make sense as a set up move for a dangerous illegal blow.  What rule set would allow that hideous thing and not allow a piledriver?

3. Alex Daniels vs. Smith Garrett

ER: I liked this use of the killshot elbow much more in this match than in the Cam Carter match. Real Life Joel Edgerton was going through the t-shirt routine and Garrett just blasts him with a perfectly timed elbow as Daniels is removing his final tank top. It seems like they're setting up Sharpe's uppercut vs. Garrett's elbow, and I can get behind that.

PAS: I am holding off on commenting on this until the payoff, and then I will have things to say.

ER: I love the mid 80s powder blue Expos uniforms, so props to Coach for sporting it. But wearing a Pete Rose Expos jersey? Truly a memorable time of his career. I eagerly await his Rickey Henderson Mariners jersey.

4. Otto Schwanz vs. Trevor Lee

ER: What a surprise treat this was, a match that wasn't listed in the episode rundown, an impromptu jumping from Schwanz and suddenly we get a near 20 minute classic. I've been clamoring for a Schwanz showcase and boy did I get it. This match was completely breathless, no rest, no space. CWF is really great at presenting these matches where guys are in each other's face the whole time, and both of these guys are up to that challenge. Schwanz jumps him to start and we never really get much of a stretch of either man being in control. That's a tough way to work a match without it ever seeming like they're taking turns, but this never felt your move/my move, this just felt like a competitive fight between two guys who hate to quit. There were many great moments, without there ever being any overkill, a relentless pace without either guy feeling like they were ignoring damage. The comebacks and tide shifts all felt natural within the match. I love how Otto would use his bearhug not to grind down Lee, but to slam the breaks on Lee's momentum. Schwanz never used the bearhug for more than 10 seconds at a time, instead he would grab him, violently shake him a couple times, drop the immobilized body, and pounce. We got reversals without any kind of dance, repeated moves done not just as a way to allow a missed spot, but because the moves are effective. Schwanz goes to his standing splash a couple times, and there's a weird stigma about doing moves more than once in a match, and there shouldn't be. A move that works is a move that works, and I like how he hit a couple splashes clean at totally different parts of the match, and eventually he misses one but it's not predictable when he'd miss. Lee makes a few attempts at the STF, and I loved Schwanz breaking the grip, prying Lee's hands apart, rolling it over, and then blasting him with a lariat. For the ending Lee makes by far the best use of a finger break spot in a pro wrestling match: Already establishing that Schwanz has the strength to break the STF, Lee attacks the fingers, locks in the cross legged STF, Schwanz still fights back instinctively, but Lee's strategy is too much. Awesome, impressive, hard fought match, expertly laid out and executed. This is one of my favorite matches of the year, and it's not even advertised in the episode! What a treat.

PAS: Yeah this was good stuff, Otto is from an older generation of indy workers, his stuff doesn't look nearly as smooth as Chip Day or even Aric Andrews, he is a big believable country strong brute and everything he does looks like it hurt. Otto sets a really impressive pace for a big guy at his age, he is always pressing forward and attacking and Trevor is forced to counter punch for much of the match. I loved Otto's german suplexes, he just grabs and throws his opponent with such force, and his rolling german's looked less like a fancy spot, then a big dog refusing to let go of a dead rabbit. I want to second the love for the finger breaking spot, normally it is one of my least favorite Trevor Lee spots, it is done as more of a highspot with little connection to the match, here it makes perfect sense as Otto keeps breaking Lee's grip, so damaging his fingers leads right to the finish. Really cool match, and Lee is on a big run of great stuff these last couple of weeks.

5. Caprice Coleman/Darius Lockhart vs. Zane & Dave Dawson

ER: Fun tag, and I came away really impressed by Caprice Coleman. Coleman is a guy I've probably been seeing since 2001 or maybe earlier, and I like that some of these guys who kind of got lost in the shuffle of mid 2000s indy wrestling can now come back as productive vets. I like the idea of him in a mentor role of a tag team, and would like to see more of he and Lockhart. I dug Coleman's double dropkick, liked a bunch of his strikes, love that rope flip headscissors to the floor he does so damn smoothly, and his spin around the ringpost dropkick under the bottom rope looks really cool. Dawsons are good at cutting off the ring and Coleman is good on a hot tag. Now we do get a lot of nonsense down the stretch, and we're clearly building for a rematch. Now, I like some of Lockhart's strikes, he throws big chops, but there were other times I thought he was too tentative, kind of throwing off the timing of pinball double teams. Also, I think Zane Dawson is incredibly lazy and uncreative about getting into position for things, or throwing really half-hearted missed lariats. There were several moments like this that were really bad, like when he needed to get to the apron he got punched, turned around and walked to the apron, then just stood there. It was all to set up Coleman sweeping his leg and then hitting the headscissors, but he couldn't have tried less to get into position. Later he had to get to the turnbuckles for a spot and it was the same thing, get punched, turn around and walk all the way around the ref, eventually reaching the buckles. It comes off so unnatural, it looked like something early 2000s HHH would do to try to bury an opponent. "See how long I had to wait for Booker's axe kick?" I'm not expecting everyone to be Finlay when it comes to naturally getting into position to set up someone's offense, but damn this was some of the most sluggish attempts in recent memory. But I liked the match, and it feels lame to complain a bunch about a match I liked. Still, that Dawson stuff felt egregious.

PAS: I love the fact that a BLM tag team are working as faces in North Carolina, especially against a pair of bearded bikers, very woke booking by CWF.  Good classic southern tag with Lockhart getting worked over leading to Coleman as a fun highflying hot tag. I loved his flip headscissors and spin around the ringpost, both cool highflying moves that work well in the context of a tag match. Colemans punches to the Dawson's looked only OK, but he really wasted the ref with the punch he hit him with, looked like it broke his jaw. I had no problem with the booking in the finish, but it only works if we get a rematch pretty soon, I also really want to see Coleman/Lockhart vs. the All Stars they have plenty of fun stuff set up.


ER: We have two straight weeks of arguably my favorite 2017 Trevor Lee title defenses, this Otto match really hit all the right spots. It was an easy add to the top 20 of our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List.


 

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 117

Episode 117

1. Snooty Foxx/Dirty Daddy vs. Zane & Dave Dawson

ER: Killer match up, easily my favorite Dawsons match and I think definitive proof that So' Time are legit and among the best tag teams in indy wrestling. They complement each other perfectly, come off genuine, unabashed babyfaces, and that's important. Snooty has some of my favorite current hot tags in wrestling, always treating it like the hot tag was the thing he wanted most in the world. It's hard to look convincing when running back and forth corner to corner hitting moves on both opponents, but he makes it convincing. This was the meanest I've seen the Dawsons, and it was great to see. It felt like every spare moment one of them had was jamming their thumbs into eyes. They cut off the ring nicely, ate Snooty's comeback really well and really committed to some of their strikes. The clothesline to set up a german suplex was a fitting ending; it had this slight reckless or sloppy feel to it that made it read more effectively. Also, a negative note: Dirty Daddy has genuine skill and is a naturally likeable babyface. He does not need a fake winky Chikara back story of being a 30 year ver starting over. He doesn't need a gimmick of "worked Carlos Colon in 1982". We don't need to make up a fake title tournament he won in Rio de Janeiro in future episodes. He's doing just fine as Dirty Daddy, 2017 babyface. But I still loved this tag, and would like to see more of this match-up.

PAS: I enjoyed the Kernodle Cup match between these two teams, and they have had some fun interactions in battle royals and things, these are just guys that match up well. Dawson's were appropriately nasty in this match, cheap shotting, hitting hard, punishing Daddy. Loved the hot tag section, especially Daddy's wreckless dive over the top to cut off Dave. Finish was cool, with So Time setting up their elbow/spear double team, Foxx getting cut off, and the Dawson's hitting their double team lariat and german finisher. Man does CWF have a lot of great tag teams, Dawson's may be the least of the big teams and they are pretty great.

2. Priscilla Kelly vs. SIS

ER: I liked their other match against each other, and I like that at the bell Kelly goes back to that low running kick to the patella. She used it later in the first match and I like it a lot as an ambush or evasive move. This match doesn't go very long, and it doesn't really need to go very long, because they both go at it hard. Once Kelly kicks the legs out from SIS she comes in with more low kicks, until SIS catches one from a seated position, drags her to the mat and starts firing off brutal looking side control elbows to the head. And when SIS takes over a match it's always fun, and these two stay close almost the whole time. Everything felt like a struggle. SIS chokes Kelly in the ropes but in a neat twist Kelly is facing the ring, so her neck is being bent back over the middle rope, and this sets up the awesome SIS crossbody. Kelly escapes this time with a win and already - even though their two matches have been less than 9 minutes total - this feels like a good feud. I hope we get a big rubber match showdown. Without Ethan Sharpe coming out unfurling a stack of rubbers.

PAS: This was a nasty stiff fight. Kelly has won a SHINE title since their last match and seems to have really improved. Her kicks really looked like they were really cracking SIS here, and I remember them being a bit more flash then substance before. This felt a little like a southern fried Yamada v. Aja.  SIS is just so great at using her bulk, I loved her in the ropes cross body, and the second rope stomp to the head. I didn't love Kelly semi-no selling the german suplex and the end, but besides that, this was good stuff.

3. Aric Andrews vs. Trevor Lee

ER: I've seen Andrews work over a dozen times now, and my favorite - and first - match of his involved him taking apart a guy's knee, so once I saw him targeting Lee's knee I was game. Now, I assumed it was going to go the way of a lot of the Trevor Lee main events, but they flipped it and totally surprised me with the direction the match took. The build was really unique and avoided any of the predictable back and forth. Andrews did his stalling routine to start and seemed hesitant to lock up with Lee. When they did finally lock up, Lee tooled him on the mat a bit and frustrated him. It wasn't surprising when Andrews went after the knee. What WAS surprising was that The Leg was the whole match. There were no valiant comebacks and convenient lapses in selling, it was Andrews beating the shit out of Lee's knee, and continuing to beat the shit out of it until he tired himself out beating the shit out of it, and got exhausted and frustrated. Andrews was good at ramping up the attacks, and I'll always flip for a guy ripping off a kneepad or bandage or something. Andrews stomps it, locks on a rough kneebar, and then locks Lee into the STF, a move Lee has used to dispatch tons of guys. Andrews locks it on just as mean as Lee, arching him in all sorts of painful ways. And he keeps trying to wrench it in, and Lee somehow never quits. It looked like he should have quit, but he never did. And Andrews sold the equivalent of a fighter who has punched himself out, only this is pro wrestling, so he up and grabbed his belt, grabbed Lee's belt, and threatened to just walk out. But he goes back into the ring with the belts, trash talks Lee, and gets surprised by a great spin kick. Lee locks on a brutal STF and that's all she wrote. This match took some awesome and unexpected turns and made for a great journey, totally class.

PAS: I knew Eric liked this match a lot going in, and I figured I would like it a bunch too, but I was shocked at how great it was, right up there with Richards and Attitude matches, and this didn't have the same tricks and shortcuts those had. I have been waiting to see the breakout Aric Andrews performance and here it was. He was just excellent here, as a vicious nasty prick who was going to do permanent, serious damage to Trevor's knee. The opening amateur mat scrambling looked great, as good as any mat rolling I have seen this year. The Andrews chop block which set up the long knee work was really violent looking as was all of the simple work on the knee. I loved Andrews punching the side of the kneecap, him really twisting on the kneebar, just the focus of what he was doing. Lee's selling was great too, at no point did he shrug off the knee to get his shit in, and he used counters to Andrews knee attacks to mount offense. I loved how he dodged the third cut block attempt, Andrews hit him with it twice, but the third time he dodged it and hit a german suplex. I also loved his sell when he stomped Andrews elbow, that is a typical early match Lee spot, here he didn't get to it until late and when he did it looked like it did more damage to his knee then it did to Andrew's elbow. Loved the finish, Lee has such an awesome STF, he never applies it the same way twice and is always looking for different ways to alter it and crank it in better, he he figure foured the leg first and hooked the arm behind his back. Most wrestlers always apply a move the exact same way each time, and I appreciate him mixing it up.

ER: Andrews/Lee was some choice wrestling, landing easily (and quite high) on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. This one was right up there with the best episodes of wrestling TV this year.

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