CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 104

Episode 104

BattleBowl! This is a Lethal Lottery style show with the fans picking the matches out of a bowl, not sure if the bowl is worked or not, but it sounds like a concept that's potentially more fun for the wrestlers than the fans.

1. Aric Andrews vs. Otto Schwanz

PAS: Otto is really fun to watch in his role as a veteran who chucks people around with amateur throws. He dominates most of this match until Andrews catches him with a roll up. Schwanz is always compelling but the match itself was a bit underwhelming. Andrews has nice offense but didn't get to show much of it.

ER: Yeah not the match I wanted from a match-up that wouldn't have taken much to make me like it. Otto is one of my favorites in the fed, he's never flashy but he is rock solid at all the little things. You want a guy to throw a mean back elbow, you watch a Schwanz match. I liked where they were going with this, there were a couple cool scrambly mat moves, but the roll up was kind of a shocker, and not in a good way. Andrews is a guy I like, but it feels like they're going too far with him escaping by the skin of his teeth every week. He went from opportunistic heel to a kind of heel Mikey Whipwreck. I think it can work, but with this match and the Mecha match I was left just wanting an actual match.

2. Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Mitch Connor vs. HIM/SIS

PAS: Sharpe is a little over the top for me, less Jimmy Hart more some hacky Chikara heel manager. I really enjoy HIM and SIS as a pair of crowbars though, and they both really laid an asswhipping on Sharpe, at one point HIM just forearmed him full force in the throat, SIS also really roughs him up, they are great it is like Kandori teaming with Kurisu. The story of Connor being too gentlemanly to hit SIS only to pay for it.

ER: Sharpe's shtik is kinda wearing on me. He's featured a lot, and a little of his act goes a long way. But I'm a big fan of SIS, so at least Sharpe gets plastered with a mean elbow drop and her cool crossbody into the ropes. I admit to not really caring about the HIM/SIS gimmick (even though I appreciate the announcers working to make it work), but I like them as a team. HIM hits a great kneedrop to Sharpe's chest, and they both have nice complementary styles.

3. Dirty Daddy vs. Arik Royal

PAS: Really great short match. Daddy has really figured out underdog babyface wrestling. He is super sympathetic and always knows how to time a couple of big moves for maximum impact. The near fall where he times Royal's spear into a sunset flip was awesome, and I love a guy doing monkey flips as big offensive moves in 2017. Royal meanwhile is such a charismatic shit talking heel, he is like wrestlings Draymond Green and I love him for it. I really want to see these guys given some time to stretch out, as I can see them having a classic in them, this was a great tasting menu match though.

ER: This was a cruel tease but a fine WorldWide match. I'm with Phil as they seem like they could really have a great match in them. Daddy has deceptively strong chops, kind of weird in-ring movements, and Royal is really good at showing exasperation while not losing focus. End sequence was really good with the sunset flip reversal of Royal's spear/knee takeout, good nearfall, and setting Royal up nicely to hit the knee takeout anyway.

4. Sandwich Squad vs. Timmy Danger/Nick Richards

PAS: Danger is an OVW trainee they brought in for this show. CWF uses a lot of young guys from other feds, sometimes it is a big win, like Alex Daniels or Dominic Garrini, other times guys just don't look like they belong. Danger seemed very dedicated to his gimmick of using hairspray, but he came off kind of cornball. There was some nice Richards v. Sandwhich Squad stuff, but this wasn't much overall.

ER: I liked Danger's pre-match promo, it kind of accidentally hit a Ghostface level flow: "I'll go two hours just because I can, slapping them around, they'll be all blown up, I'll still look good, pin 'em with one leg." That's like a Fischscale outtake right there. And I liked this a lot more than Phil, though squeezing so many matches into this show made for a lot of unsatisfying match lengths. This match had a lot more to say, but cut to a real quick finish in a similar way that the HIM/SIS tag and the  Schwanz matches did. Cut a match off this show, give the other matches 1-2 minutes, it's a much more satisfying episode. The first 5 minutes of this were really good, I thought. Richards has arguably the best corner clothesline in current wrestling, no hyperbole. They sequence with him nailed Mecha with two nasty clothesline only to be leveled by the nastiest one was great.

5. Roy Wilkins vs. "The Filmaker" Movie Myk

PAS: This was scientific rules, which basically meant no punches or rope breaks. The gimmick didn't really seem to matter in the match. This was a lesser version of the Daddy v. Royal match earlier, with the rookie getting in moments before getting put down. It was fine, I like watching Wilkins, but overall pretty disposable.

ER: The stip was entirely unnecessary during the match, but the match really won me over by the end. Wilkins had some nice knees to Myk's hammy, Wilkins hit a big shining wizard and I LOVED how Myk crumbled off it. It still felt like a too-short match on a too-packed episode, but I like the direction the match went.

6. Cain Justice/Keith Mac/Luke Grimes vs. Snooty Fox/Vlad Boleshav/Cecil Scott

PAS: This was a random partner match which was based around the Cecil Scott v. Cain Justice feud, there wasn't much interaction between the two, but Cecil hit a great looking superkick. Hard to get much of a sense of the other 5 guys, Keith Mac had some dancing spots, Grimes is sort of big. I do think they are building to Scott v. Justice well.

ER: This was way too short, but possibly for the best as a lot of guys didn't look good. I thought Keith Mac especially looked bad. He had a nice charisma to him but the basics all looked bad, loose headlock and off timing on hip tosses. Grimes is apparently a top Corino trainee but didn't show anything. Fox threw hard but awkwardly stiff armed clotheslines. Really this was the Cain Justice show, which easily could have been predicted from the on paper lineup. In fact Cain turns in a pretty spectacular performance in a totally forgettable match. He throws a kick during a lock up and bails, tags in and bails, humorously tries to tag out at an early sign of trouble his tag gets caught (in some excellent timing) by Vlad. Cecil's superkick was a nice moment and Cain hams it up like Hector Garza, spilling through the ropes and flopping onto fans. After the match he sprints out of there and smacks Vlad on the way. Nothing match, but a great showman performance, and I am looking forward to Cecil/Cain.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 98

Episode 98

1. The Dirty Blondes (Mike Patrick/Leo Brien) vs. Sandwich Squad (Aaron Biggs/Mecha Mercenary)

ER: I dig the Sandwich Squad, but then suddenly CWF presents me with a couple of new chubsters and I'm like a raccoon with a shiny object when it comes to new fat guys in wrestling. So they present me with two new chubs, with a great team name, and expect me to not root for them!? So I was rooting for an upset, but this was mostly an extended Sandwich Squash. The Blondes got one little run in the middle, and I really like Brien definitely bringing the Dusty vibes and he threw a great overhand right (that kind of right hand that has a downward trajectory on it, like he's punching down across the nose bridge). But the Squad is too tough, loved the drop down to trip Brien followed by the Mercenary splash. Ending had a couple hitches but this was fun.

PAS: Dirty Blonders were a bunch of fun, tubby, bleach blond hair, big bumps, multiple Dusty elbow combos, just a blast to watch. Would like to see them in a long competitive grudge match. This was a squash, which is literal when you are talking about the Sandwich Squad. Love all the different ways the Squad has to land their flab on someone.

2. HIM/SIS vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe/"White" Mike Jordan

ER: I didn't care for any of the "Sharpe wants to bang SIS" part of this, as I think it took away from a lot of the cool stuff SIS did, and it's a shame as I liked her more than anyone else in the match. Her low crossbody in the ropes was awesome (and look how expertly she rolls out of the way), she had a cool fast standing splash, and I always love her headbutts. Now the HIM/SIS gimmick is incredibly goofy, but it's tough when they have a goofy gimmick AND their opponents treat them like jokes. White Mike gets to run the home stretch, and he whiffs on a double neckbreaker, then does a can opener neckbreaker finish that just looks like he DDTs himself.

PAS: I liked this a lot more then Eric did, I think both HIM and SIS have really nasty offense, and considering how bad they stiffed Jordan and Sharpe I don't think they were treated like jokes. I also think White Mike's finish looks awesome, and it is impressive he pulled it off on a chunky dude like HIM.

3. The Lynch Mob (Joey & Matt Lynch) vs. The Carnies (Nick Iggy/Kerry Awful)

ER: This was fine, though the Lynch Mob didn't do much for me. It felt like for every one nice thing they would do, you'd get something meh a moment later. Carnies don't totally feel authentic to their gimmick, but I liked them in-ring. So I didn't care much for the early parts with Lynch Mob controlling, but once Awful cheapshotted and Iggy followed it up with an awesome dropkick on the mat I was into it. Iggy hits a sick full weight senton, and the finishing stretch was particularly brutal: Iggy disposes one of the Mob to the floor in nasty fashion, Awful hits kind of a sloppy powerbomb on the other and locks in a Boston crab, as Iggy hits a killer kneepad-down kneedrop off the middle buckle to the back of the head. That's a good finisher.

PAS: Lynch Mob felt a little PWGish for me, but I thought the Carnies were killer in this. Awful is a pretty great fat dude and has a bunch of fun ways to throw his flab into people, Iggy is really vicious and I like how he ties in his crazy gimmick with some really violent assaults. The ending was really nasty with Iggy driving his full weight with a knee drop into the back of a Lynch's head and then follows it up with really nasty ground and pound forearms for a stoppage. I want to check out the three way now, as adding Iceberg and Tank can only be an improvement.

4. Lee Valiant/Aric Andrews vs. The Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude/Rob Killjoy)

ER: This had a lot of moving parts, and I think it didn't work because of that. It felt like the whole match was one guy running at another guy, that guy dodging, and then doing a kind of clunky move in response, and then a new guy running at them. It came off too busy, without much substance happening. I liked the last Ducklings appearance, as unhinged big bumping loons. This didn't have as much of that, Lude came off crazier in his last appearance. Killjoy took a big bump off a lariat, and both did dives (into the Hales contingent), but this was all worked pretty even. There was a lot of hinky move set-up by the Ducks, and I just don't think much of it worked this time. Andrews threw a great cut off punch down the stretch, and Valiant always comes out with a great aggressive attitude, but this landed short.

PAS: I liked all the cutting off of the ring that Valient and Andrews did, and if the end run was a bit shorter and polished I would have really dug this. The Ducklings monkey flip senton thing is really cool, as is Valient and Andrews Doomsday device backcracker, this just felt like it kept going though with the cooler stuff more in the middle then the end, it built to a creshendo and then kept going past its natural end point.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 97

Episode 97

1. Snooty Foxx/Dirty Daddy vs. HIM/SIS

PAS: Great little scrap which got me excited about the Kernodle Cup. Fox has looked a little green for singles matches, but is fun as a power hot tag. Really liked HIM and SIS, Him had a nasty cravate where he was kneeing Daddy in the face. I liked how it broke down, really chaotic with HIM wrestling with a fan over a chair and both teams having to be separated.

ER: Short and sweet, really made me want more (luckily we have a massive tag tournament coming up). I was really impressed by SIS in that silly Hardys battle royal thing they did, but that was my only experience with her. And she impressed again here. I really love her whipping headbutts, it's a great worked move and she does it so fast you get the full effect, without having to mush up your brains Kikuchi-style. I really dug the spot where Daddy is running across the ring delivering elbows, and on the third she loads up a nicely timed pump kick. HIM had an awesome cravate while throwing knees to the side of Daddy's head, into a swinging neckbreaker. That's a great spot. Fox gets into the mix with a brutal spear right at HIM's chest, and I agree with Phil that the breakdown to this was pretty mad. HIM fighting over that chair could have gotten real messy, and the pull apart made SIS look like a total badass.

2. Chip Day vs. Otto Schwanz vs. Smith Garrett vs. Aric Andrews vs. Cain Justice vs. Trevor Lee

PAS: Excellent multi-man match which gave everyone a chance to shine and built to some really big moments at the end. I liked how Lee didn't want to tag out at the beginning, proving himself against each of the challengers. I also loved how Cain Justice was initially hesitant to lock up with the guy who trained him but got more confident with each cheap shot. The Lee v. Day stuff was clearly the focus, and was pretty electric, people who saw their singles match said it was off the charts and this got me excited for it. Justice is a great sleaze and I loved him stealing the pin on Day after Lee's KO knee, but also liked how he was sort of babyfaced when he was facing the even bigger scumbag Andrews.

ER: I always heard CWF was good at doing multi man matches, and this was a pretty good testament to that. I didn't always love the actual work, thought some sections got a little too trade-y, but the strengths lied in how they worked several different storylines into the match - advancing existing stories, and bringing up past histories and motivations. You could argue that Stutts was the MVP of this match, as he was on absolute fire for 35+ minutes, with he and Cecil both filling in helpful little details that fleshed the whole thing out. Little things like pointing out Schwanz was the only other Heavyweight champ in the match other than Lee (and how he hadn't held the belt for 15 years), or that Lee/Andrews/Justice being left in the match was the only time the three different fed title holders had been in a match at the same time, going over the history of Justice/Lee, those little things were not just interesting tidbits but actively affected my rooting interests. I liked the little details around tag ins and tag outs, with a lot of psych around who wants to be in and who doesn't, who wants to hang back and let people get eliminated, who doesn't want to face off against who, with Justice not wanting to face Lee and Otto wanting to face everybody, just a lot of fun little character detail. I went in wanting a Schwanz win, but got into Lee as the fighting champ, making sure to start the match out against everybody, not tagging out. Justice was amusingly petty in stealing a pin after a ridiculously pointy Lee knee to Day's face, since it doesn't actually matter who eliminates who, just who is left at the end. Lee was really awesome throughout this and the way he carried himself seemed so cocksure that I was wondering what it would actually take to beat him. Nice match, and I really like all of the things it set up for future shows (which seems to be a major strength for CWF, always making you want to see what happens next).

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