Matches from Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory 5/8/19

Chris Dickinson vs. Josh Briggs

ER: This was a really fun Power Plant style match. It's probably the best possible version of Hardcore Holly vs. Test, and that's something I'd want to see the best version of. Dickinson really feels like the indy wrestler with the best chance at taking over Eddie Kingston's mantle. His personality has the potential, his execution is excellent, intensity is strong, and he makes offense look good. Kingston is a legend, but Dickinson certainly has a Kingston ceiling. And even if this is the best he gets, he's a guy that I seek out, and these days I don't have the time to seek out the number of guys I used to so that means something. There's a lot of simple stuff in this that looks good, with Briggs throwing out several nice big boot variations (nice forceful one out of the corner, nice surprisingly fast one during a strike exchange, nice traditional one after an Irish whip) and a couple late 90s big guys slams. Dickinson works this like the great aggressive asskicker he is, hitting hard shoulderblocks (and eating a nice one from Briggs), really hard clotheslines, quick elbows, tough kicks, shoves Briggs violently off the ropes, and beats at his leg. We get a couple really good rope breaks, with Dickinson locking in his cool trailer hitch reverse figure four in a couple really convincing ways, and earlier Briggs scrambling and reaching for the ropes in a Boston crab variation. I try not to use the expression "hard fought" as much as others use it, as it feels like a too frequent touchstone, but this was a hard fought match that didn't skimp on the basics, and felt like fun throwback to/improvement on a match style from a popular era.

Chase Burnett/Jefferson Saint/Zane Silver vs. Eric Corvis/Johnny Cockstrong/Nicholas Kaye

ER: Phil wrote this one up already and was having a fun time on the phone with me talking about how Beyond has somehow been around long enough to now have its own old man Baba tags. And I'm someone who really unironically loves old man Baba tags. So we get a fun 6 man with older versions of guys I've liked, many of whom had been completely retired several years from wrestling before this match. They almost all have real life/age appropriate bodies and paleness and hairlines, and it's great! Kaye is in probably the best current ring shape, but everyone has some stuff that looks good. Burnett hit a cool sunset flip bomb off the top and then smacked Corvis hard with a moonsault kneedrop to the back of the head, Kaye had some nasty shots including a really mean apron splash to Burnett, Silver hit this gross senton that landed on the back of the neck to a seated opponent, everybody hit relatively hard and the comedy was kept surprisingly low. As much as I love old men Kings Road matches, guys aren't typically getting roughed up and taking nasty bumps in them. I fully expected this to be a "Jefferson Saint is Eigen, Kaye is Momota, Corvis is Mighty Inoue, Burnett is Rusher", etc. I would have totally understood and honestly even expected these guys to work a jovial match with mostly comedy and maybe a few big moments. Instead everyone took the time to show that they didn't forget what made them entertaining and really killed themselves in the best way possible.

Jordynne Grace vs. Orange Cassidy

ER: This was recommended to me - as someone who isn't a real big Orange Cassidy fan - as a match where someone turns his comedy on him and makes him pay. The reason I don't seek out Cassidy matches are that I really don't enjoy comedy wrestlers whose comedy comes entirely at the expense of the match and their opponent. The best in-ring comedians (think Buddy Rose or John Tatum) were great at making themselves the butt of the joke while still being effective and dangerous wrestlers. Cassidy's brand of comedy is completely selfish and relies on his opponent to essentially stand still and look like a doof while he works through all his bits. An in ring comedian who can work in comedy while not damaging the structural integrity of a match is a special thing, but he's a guy who writes 100% of the jokes for himself while his opponents have to act like a perplexed high school principal whose car got filled with inflated balloons by those damn seniors AGAIN. So I'm all for somebody making him eat his own jokes, which does happen here...occasionally. Overall the match still had way too much of him working his routine and bits, which may not have been bad if his wrestling looked good once it got to that point. But a lot of it doesn't. Cassidy has a few "missed shots" that wouldn't have come close to landing, a back elbow that soars two feet over Grace's head, a missed lariat thrown from an overhand arm slot, as if he was throwing out a first pitch, and hit a tope so soft that the announce crew had to drop the dreaded "well I don't think he got all of that one, but...". He feels like a guy who started focusing a ton on his comedy because he knew his wrestling looked bad. And I appreciate that hustle! Recognizing strengths and working towards those is a goal we should all strive for, so I fully get it. I wanted Grace to eat his lunch a bit more, and wanted him to actually show ass for once. If you're dishing shots to a guy with his hands in his pockets, you should be stiffing the hell out of him for making you look like a clown, and he should eventually be selling that he fucked up by keeping his hands in those pockets for too long. Neither happened. We get a comedy spot with him bodyslamming some white guy with dreads, who later slams Cassidy onto Grace. I couldn't imagine voluntarily let a scuzzy white dreads guy grip my taint for a comedy spot, although I did willingly let a white security guy with dreads did check my body for drug paraphernalia before entering an Umphrey's McGee, so maybe we're not all that different after all. When somebody actually forces Cassidy into having their match instead of going all in on his match, I might be interested. Until then I'll be just skipping right past his matches with my hands in my pockets

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Chase Burnett BACK!!

Dylan and I were talking about turn of the decade bump freak Chase Burnett on twitter, and I checked youtube and apparently he was back in wrestling! Then hours later he shows up on Beyond's show. I figured I would check out some recent Burnett and see what he has been up to!

Chase Burnett vs. Flip Kendrick BCWA 9/22/18

PAS: Burnett is balding and bearded now and looks like the bassest in a math rock band. He is still completely nuts, as the half decade or so away from wrestling has allowed him to heal his assuredly broken body. He takes his crazy Fuerza bump right on the gym floor, and lands on his head in a couple of gross ways. He has these really bony elbows which make his elbow shots look nastier then you would expect from a little guy. Kendrick is a really fun early 2010s junior who never seemed to get the profile you would expect. He still has some really crazy aerial moves, including a inverted 450 and no hands flip dive to the floor. Everything didn't hit clean, as you might expect from such a high difficulty match, but there was some really cool stuff and neither guy has seemed to lose much of their explosiveness.

Team Beyond(Chase Burnett/Zane Silver) vs. Aeorform (Flip Kendrick/Louis Lyndon) BCWA 10/27/18

PAS: This was matchup which got run a fair amount in the early part of the decade, they had a great match in Beyond and even worked opposite each other on one of the early EVOLVE shows. This had a bunch of the fun spots that their earlier matches had, although the pace was a little slower. Silver was always a bit of a weak link in these matches (in this match his gear didn't seem to fit great), but I enjoyed his Minoru Tanaka style exchanges with Lyndon. The match had some sick stuff, including Silver brainbustering Lyndon on Burnett's knees, and Lyndon's sliced bread into a dragon sleeper. Good to see all of these guys doing their thing, we got a Red vs. Low-Ki match last year too, now we need someone to book Homicide vs. Teddy Hart to truly bring back the 00s.

Chase Burnett vs. Weaponized Alex Weir BCWA 4/20/19

PAS: Weir looks like Jamie Dundees cousin who got a strip mall black belt, which is a pretty great gimmick. His kicks were a bit hit and miss, but the hits really hit, including a wheel kick which looked like it parted Burnett's beard. This had a bunch of the fun Chase stuff you want, including a flip bump off the ring apron right on his spine, and some his nasty bony elbows. He also has some really creative rope feints. I didn't like the finish, with Weir hitting a low blow and then the authority figure reversing the decision. Probably kept this match from being list, but I dug both guys, and would be into a rematch.

Chase Burnett/Zane Silver/Jefferson Saint vs. Eric Corvis/Johnny Cockstrong/Nicholas Kaye Beyond Wrestling 5/8/19

PAS: It is pretty crazy that Beyond has been long around enough to have a their equivalent of Baba All Japan legends six man tags. Not sure how many of these guys are still active, but they pretty much all looked solid to good. Cockstrong is basically the Cage to Joey Ryan's Eminem, Ryan stole his stuff and made it mainstream. The air raid crash on the top turnbuckle he hits here is nastier then anything Ryan has done. I thought our boy Chase looked the best here, his sunset bomb into a moonsault double knees to Corvis's head was the highlight spot of the spotfest. Now that he is back Beyond should definitely bring him in more.

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Tell Eddie Kingston it's August, I'm Gone to November

Eddie Kingston vs. Eric Corvis Wrestling is Cool 7/20/13 - GREAT

PAS: Really enjoyable Kingston semi-squash. He comes out like someone having a rage induced psychotic break, throwing merch on the floor, trying to start fights with fans, spitting at the camera man. This is exactly how you want Eddie Kingston to be acting in a fed named "Wrestling is Cool". Corvis hits some shots, including a great big knee, but this was Kingston kicking his ass, and he can kick someones ass. Kingston is such a great in ring actor, and he really felt like a drunk abusive stepfather about to throw a chair through a TV.  At one point he stares down a little kid, and it wasn't it a cutesy Chuck Taylor way, I almost thought he might punch the kid. Corvis is a NE Indy guy I have always enjoyed, but he was a passenger here and Kingston was a great conductor.

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Beyond Wrestling Americanrana ‘14 Review

Tag Team Battle Royal

This was a tag team battle royal, so like you would expect we have lots of guys with pun tag team names throwing clubbing forearms. There was some Johnny Cockstrong comedy spots, although not as funny as it has been in the past. Really hard to get much of a sense of anyone in a cluster like this.  They kept it moving at least so I wasn’t bored.

Pinkie Sanchez/Sugar D (Sex and Candy) v. Dave Cole/Aaron Epic (Fear in Loathing in New England)

This was based apparently on a breakup of a Sanchez/D/Epic stable, so was a little more heated then a lot of Beyond I have seen. I was happy to see that, but I didn’t love this match. Cole and Epic seemed like pretty generic tights and boots indy guys, lots of double stomp double teams and yakuza kicks. I did like Sugar D’s fired up Mr. Wrestling 2 babyface act, but I think Sanchez hurt himself and the finish was a bit wonky.

Nicholas Kaye v. Anthony Stone

This was a loser must retire throw in the towel match. This is a long running feud I am unfamiliar with, I have probably seen both guys before but they didn’t make much of an impression on me. The match started out like a pretty fun garbage brawl stunt show, Kaye catches the side of a chair in the face early and gushes blood which always adds to this kind of match. I also had no problem with the interference which had Kaye’s second Myke Quest (who looks like a sleazier Dean Ambrose, which I was surprised was possible) and Stone’s sister Natalya brawling on the floor. I was all set to recommend this, but the ending was super dumb, Stone handcuffs Kaye to the ring and goes and gets a chainsaw which causes Kaye to throw in the towel. Really silly, and anti climactic,  it almost felt like a comedy spot, he might as well have gotten a bazooka or a bayonet. It felt like they were building to something pretty cool, but the finish took it out of me.

Bryan Myers v. Ryan Rush

Myers is the former Curt Hawkins who is a WWE guy I know existed, but remember very little about. This was student v. teacher and worked as kind of an IWA Mid-South touring exhibition match. I thought Rush had some pretty nice athleticism, he had big time hops on his dropkick for a solidly build dude. Myers was clearly professional an well trained, although a little bland. There was a fun spot where Myers took a bump into the crowd an laid out four fans, that might work better on a show where everyone watching is a wrestler.

Team Tremendous (Dan Barry/Bill Carr) v. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor/Trent Baretta)

I think I have made my feeling about Chuck Taylor wink and smirk wrestling pretty clear, Baretta I remember being a generic Velocity junior in the WWE, but he is in Taylor land now. I have liked Barry in the past but he is along for the yucks here. Finish is clearly improvised as Baretta blew out his knee on a dive. Very much not my thing, although I suppose if you like Taylor’s horseshit, you might enjoy this.

Eric Corvis v. Jimmy Jacobs

This was a first blood match and was one of the two matches which caused me to buy this show, I haven’t seen a ton of Jacobs recently, but he has always been a guy I liked a lot, and someone who is really great at working a gimmicked brawl, Corvis is one of my favorite Beyond guys, I am not a usually a fan of guys working innovator of offense gimmicks, but he does pull out some cool moves and is also a pretty good brawler. This was good stuff for the lions share of the match, I liked all of the teasing  of spikes and there were some nasty looking stuff with chairs including Corvis hitting a spring board moonsault Van Damninator. Then unfortunately the booking kicks in as the TJ Marconi and Darius Carter heel invasion stable comes out and cuts a promo in the middle of the match, as Dany Only in an V for Vendetta mask comes out and stabs Corvis in the throat with a corkscrew, the carving up of Corvis was pretty nasty, but Jacobs totally got black holed as he had to stand around when they ran their angle. Nothing wrong with setting up something for the next show, but it sucks that they didn’t let the Corvis v. Jacobs feud work itself out.

Drew Gulak v. Tommaso Ciampa

This was a European Rules match, and was kind of a mix of a Gulak style match and an ROH indy match, Ciampa was fine on the mat, and the early parts of the match had some very cool matwork, including a bunch of really nifty spots built around knuckle locks. At one point it kind of flipped to a bunch of elbow exchanges and suplexes into turnbuckles and that stuff was a lot less compelling. I liked the end run OK as they did a bunch stuff working around the specific rules, each exchanging low blows to get an advantage, and Ciampa staying down during the 10 count and taunting Gulak. Good match, and a fun Gulak performance, although not at the level of the best stuff he has done this year.

Kimber Lee v. Silver Ant

I am not sure what the point of working intergender matches completely equal, it feels like less of a big deal when the woman pulls an upset. Silver Ant was pretty good, I liked the counter mat wrestling he was doing and kept himself looking strong while putting over a tiny girl.

Juicy Product v. Young Bucks

This was similar in a way, to the main event with the Beyond guys working a match in the style of their opponents. I liked this a little more, as I have more tolerance for Young Bucks Spotfests then Elgin matches, although neither are my thing.  Lots of crazy spots one after another with minimal selling or little downtime. I thought the Juicy Product seemed very comfortable doing this style which has a high degree of difficulty, this isn’t what I look for in wrestling, but I enjoyed it OK

Chris Dickinson v. Michael Elgin

I couldn’t get into this. Really was clear that Dickinson wanted to a work an ROH main event style Elgin match and that is something it is going to be very hard for me to get into. Lots of fighting spirit stuff, diffident selling, very much not my thing. I can see fans of this style liking it, Dickenson looks credible throwing blows with a big dude like Elgin. Lots of interference which didn’t help.

Not my favorite Beyond show, had a handful of matches I was enjoying ruined by booking, and some stuff that was not up my alley. Gulak v. Ciampa might be worth the individual match price though as Gulak is having himself a year

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Beyond Wrestling Secret Show 4/13

I heard some good things about this show, and I always like Beyond Wrestling more then I should, so I threw down $5 and checked it out

Connor Claxton v. Frankie Pickard

Both of these guys are CZW trainees, and this was a hell of a four minutes. Really aggressive amateur wrestling by both guys. Reminded me of the Steiners v. Gordy and Williams matches in WCW, like UWFI with a colligate wrestling base, instead of a Martial arts base. We had one strike, a great headbutt by Claxton, and one suplex an overhead by Pickard. The rest was just grappling. I am not sure if they have a longer match in them, but they are on my radar.

Supercop Dick Justice v. Leon St. Giovanni

Justice looks like a young Ron Jeremy and is working a 80's patriotic babyface gimmick. Giovanni hams it up as a heel. A couple of clever spots, but the whole thing was turned up to 11, and I didn't find it nearly as amusing as the participants did.

DJ Hyde v. AR Fox

Really surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Fox was working heel, as was fun as a cocky asshole who would flip around and taunt Hyde. Meanwhile Hyde was working as kind of a poor man's Ian Rotten, as he was countering the flippy taunts with some nasty potato shots. I really liked him countering Fox's lucha armdrag by just chucking him face first into the mat, and he threw a elbow that knocked Fox across the ring. Finish was cool as Hyde survived a couple of cool in ring dives before obliterating Fox with a lariat.

Darius Carter/TJ Marconi v. Det Dan Berry/Monsta Mack v. Kevin Graham/Punisher Van Slyke v. Thomas Dubois/Mathieu St. Jacques

I like that they have been keeping these matches pretty short, without the bloat which can effect indy wrestling. This gave everyone a chance to hit some big impressive stuff, get in and get out. Mack is the vet here and he looked the best, he took a bunch of big bumps, hit a diving rana off the top, and a superfly splash. The Dubois/ St. Jacques team looked like the French Canadian mafia guys that killed Dino Bravo and I wouldn't mind seeing more of them.

Jay Freddie v. Eric Corvis

I have always dug Corvis, he was a JAPW guy back in the day, and is a Beyond guy I look out for. He kind of reminds me of Sami Callihan. He has an innovator gimmick, but usually has pretty cool sensible innovations. Here he seemed to be less about innovation, and more about Tenryuish stiff shots from odd angles. He had this great spot, where he placed his foot on Freddie's knee and smacked him with a jab. Freddie is a little bland, but isn't afraid to deliver some shots of his own. Fun stuff and Corvis is as nifty as I remember him.

Brandon Watts/Randy Summers v. Sugar Dunkington/Pinkie Sanchez

Didn't love this. Lots of dancing and gay shtick with out much substance. There was a nice running boot by Watts, but not much else of note. Smirky Beyond Wrestling is not my bag, it comes off like a a bunch of Vine making hipsters winking at their inside jokes.

"Dirty" Buxx Belmar v. "Speedball" Mike Bailey

I like Bailey, he is a spot guy with some fun variations on spots, kind of like Matt Sydal back in the ROH days. Belmar is working a dirty guy gimmick, and this match was a victim of him needing to get in all of his "I don't take a shower" spots. We only get glimpses of what Bailey can do, fun glimpses and I want to see more, but this was a waste.

Nicholas Kaye v. Benny Martinez v. Ryan Rush v. Shyron

Spotfest with four dudes doing some stuff. Not as many big spots as the tag spotfest, but everything was executed fine. This kind of match has diminishing returns this late on the show, probably would have been better off as an opener.

JT Dunn/David Starr v. Jaka/Chris Dickinson

This was set up earlier in the show with an angle and was a big workrate tag. Workrate tag wrestling is not my cup of tea in 2014, but I enjoyed this. Dickinson, Starr and Dunn are basic indy American Wolvesalikes, but Jaka is working as indy Haku, and indy Haku makes the rest of guys more tolerable, Dickinson has gotten a lot better too, his stuff is really solid looking, stiff kicks and nice amateur take downs. Dunn and Starr didn't make a huge impression on me, but this built to an exciting finish and didn't have an overdose of near falls.

Biff Busick v. Timothy Thatcher

These are two of the three (along with Drew Gulak) of the most exciting new group of guys in Indy wrestling. They are working Euro style matches, although Euro style that owes more to Billy Robinson and Terry Rudge then Johnny Saint and Mark Rocco. Tight agressive mat wrestling and nasty uppercuts and punches. Nothing fancy just hard hitting and rough.  The big highspot was an uppercut that knocked Busick into the wall, and came off as a bigger deal then any of the crazy shit in earlier matches. I loved Busick finish here too, great sensible counter to lock in the choke nastier and looked really tight, I bought Thatcher going out. I could watch these guys work each other a ton of times.

This show was really good, 5 matches which I enjoyed and nothing I hated. Worth your $5, throw them some cash.

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