Monday Wargames: -PWX- Team Revolt vs. Team Xperience

Team Revolt (Harlem Bravado/Lancelot Bravado/Zane Riley/Jake Manning/Caleb Konley) vs. Team Xperience (CW Anderson/John Skyler/Gunner/Corey Hollis/Adam Page) PWX 3/13/16 - GREAT

PAS: PWX really set out to run an old school War Games match. They got the double rings, cut down on the highspots and had a bunch of good brawlers brawl. CW Anderson opening a War Games is what you want, and he and Manning threw some pretty thudding punches. Skyler was the star here, taking the biggest bumps, bleeding the most (not enough blood was my main complaint in this match, just a bit from Manning and a lot from Skyler at the end). They do a little booking at the end with Corino (managing the Xperience) jumping a Bravado and stopping him from joining as the 10th man, only for Corino to get run off by Ethan Case. I thought Zane Riley was a bit loosey goosey for the supposed hard hitter, but I dug Gunner as the heel powerhouse. There was a bit of a muddled focus at the end, which is to be expected with this many guys, but the actual finish of Skyler getting jabbed in the eye with a screwdriver was a War Games finish.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WARGAMES

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Wednesday Morning War Games: CWF Mid Atlantic - Team Destiny v. Team Dynasty 2/4/07

After watching the early 90s WarGames for the All Time MOTY list, I decided to check out some of the indy wrestling War Games available on youtube to see if there are any hidden gems. It is a hard gimmick to mess up (although WCW certainly tried in the late 90s). First up here is a War Games from new Segunda Caida favorite CWF Mid Atlantic

Team Destiny (Joey Silvia, Steve Greene, Jake Manning, Gemini Kid, Ty Dillinger) v. Team Dynasty (Ric Converse, Brad Attitude, Xrisis, Kamakazi Kid, Commissioner William T. Cross) CWF Mid-Atlantic 2/4/07

PAS: This was match with the Commissioners office being put up in a WarGames match, with Dillinger and Cross playing the J.J. Dillon and Paul Ellering roles as non-wrestlers (I know Dillon and Ellering used to wrestling, but you know what I mean). Lots of this was really great, I loved the opening section with a pre Man Scout Manning and Brad Attitude. Manning bleeds buckets, and Attitude has great punches and some really cool dives between the two rings. I also really liked Silivia who had some nutso athleticism, including maybe the best Scott Steiner backflip powerslam I have ever seen. They used the two rings really well, including an insane superplex from one ring to another.  I thought this match had a couple too many cage dives, that is a huge spot which is really diluted when four different guys try one. Finish also was a lot of booking, we get a run in and the heels handcuffed all of the faces to the cage except for Converse, the actual finish was awesome with Converse getting hit with a vicious chair shot, and as the heels threatened him again, Cross submits to save his career. It just took a little long to get there, the last seven minutes or so are just setting up for that final moment and we lose the momentum of the match a bit. Still overall a very entertaining version of this match with some really high highs. Well worth watching

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Lawlers Gotta Have A Lot of Nerve

Jerry Lawler v. Jake Manning NEW 3/23/12 - FUN

ER: I had earlier called another a Lawler match vs. Brian Anthony the most barebones Lawler match possible, but I was incorrect. This was a sparse Lawler indie match, going just 7 minutes. That has to be the shortest Lawler indie match I've seen by at least 5 minutes. I'm not sure why this was so short. All of the elements of your basic Lawler indie match were there, him getting slammed, him getting backdropped, the punches comeback, the piledriver finish. A lot of bullshit was cut out to trim the match time, which depending on the opponent can be a blessing. Jake Manning was a guy who felt like kind of a modern Gambler, decked out in scout troop uniform and short khaki shorts, calling himself the "Man Scout". He took all of Lawler's punches really hammy (in a way that I enjoyed) that immediately reminded me of Gambler taking Sting's offense. So the Man Scout was a guy I would've actually liked to see more bullshit from. You can take your 20 minute Romeo Roselli matches, give me some Man Scout bullshit! I picture him standing on Lawler's throat while reciting the Scout's Pledge, or tying Lawler to the turnbuckles with the tag rope, using knots that he learned for his Knots Badge. Really for every scout badge there is, there's bullshit you can easily associate with it. Get on the mic and talk about your Public Speaking badge, carefully climb the ropes and point to your Safety badge, ape a bunch of Tatanka tomahawk chops for your Indian Lore badge, etc. Endless. So I'm bummed we got none of that here. Still, Lawler gets smashed into the ringpost a couple times, and the finish was fun with Manning taking down both of his straps only to immediately get caught in a Lawler piledriver.

PAS: Yeah I would have liked to see this go longer too. Manning is a guy I have seen before and is a really solid wrestler. Not flashy, but does everything well. He doesn't have as much Scout shtick as Eric suggests maybe Eric should be ghostwriting for a Southern indy Chikara knock off. Lawler looked great in the things he got to do, the postings were super brutal looking and the punches and piledriver looked great but this was the indy equivalent of a WMC studio match.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KING

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