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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