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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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 151

Episode 151

Aric Andrews vs. Matt Houston

ER: I'm all for Houston getting some TV singles matches, just as I'm all for Andrews now that he has facial hair again. Houston is a 0.4 on the "Dick Murdoch abilities" scale, but a 0.8 on the "Dick Murdoch physical likeness" scale. And that's a pretty decent combo. He gets a lot of room to work opposite Andrews, Andrews is a little like Stevie Richards, tall and lanky and without a lot of offense. So Houston gets to show off his surprising agility spots, hits a gorgeous heavy dropkick, drops both atomic drop varieties (atomic drops are missing from wrestling today, and that's a shame as it also robs us of atomic drop selling), and misses a guillotine legdrop with conviction. I liked Andrews going after the leg, whipping it into the mat, yanking on it, hyperextending it with some stump puller type moves, working a long compelling figure 4 with a nice simple reversal moment that fans universally get behind. Houston has these great skinny white legs, looking like a million dads at a million summer cookouts, and Andrews hits a whale of a mule kick low to end this cookout. I'd love to see more Houston in the Sportatorium, and Andrews has purpose again.

PAS: Glad to see Andrews back looking like a total sleaze, he is really good, doesn't have a lot of fancy offense, but everything he does looks good. This is the most I have enjoyed Houston, tubby guy with a good right hand is right up my alley and I loved his pair of atomic drops. Andrews is really good at using his length as an attack, everything is thrown from distance, and his figure four looks great with such long legs. Short match, but very entertaining, CWF really knows how to run undercards.

John Skyler vs. Trevor Lee

ER: I've been a big fan of the Trevor Lee title run. Eight of his title matches landed on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List, three of them in the top 20. And this match had me hooked, as I actually thought there was a chance that Skyler could win the belt. I'm not sure the last time I actually thought there was a chance Lee would lose the belt. Maybe the 2017 CWF Rumble? If not that, probably the Nick Richards match from June 2017. I've loved a lot of matches that weren't those matches, but I never thought Lee was losing the title. And after this match I don't see him losing the title. It seems more likely now that they retire this specific title if he ever opts to sign elsewhere, and rename it the Trevor Lee Title, or that he loses it in an Ogawa/Akiyama way to someone like Cain Justice. They've now built up this potential moment for so long, that I think my interest peaked and has since been dipping. I'm sure the right contender would get me interested in a big title fight, but this was the first match where I got Hulk Hogan vibes out of Lee, where you can do all the damage you want, but at some point he's just going to get up, superkick, finger break, and STF you.

I really loved the first 2/3 of this, with Skyler stalling, being the first to strike (and then amusingly rolling to the floor) but building to a strong, focused attack on Lee's ribs. Skyler had a bunch of great stuff focused right at Lee's midsection, and I love a heel with a nice focused body part specific attack, with also a couple of moves that can be established and reversed later. He hits a couple of his big spears, dropped these cool falling headbutts into Lee's side, great kitchen sink knee to the guts, kneedrops to the ribs, heavy senton, a couple of brutal Finlay rolls, and a Boston crab that made my back sore. Just a nonstop centered attack that gave Lee a couple openings (catching a spear, shifting position to catch an armbar on a senton attempt), but Skyler would go right back on the attack. But at a certain point I think my core hurt more from watching Skyler's attack than it actually hurt Lee. I don't think Lee did a great job of putting over the damage that was being done. Once we were through the targeted body attack portion and moved into the "big moments" (ref Charles eating a punt, big belt shot from Sklyer) portion of the match, there was just no service of any kind paid to it. As I was enjoying all the body work done by Skyler, not only was I thinking a Lee loss was possible, but I was excited for all the neat stuff they could do with Lee winning with an injured core. I was excited for Lee locking on the STF, or an armbar, but not being able to hold it because his core couldn't stay flexed long enough to get Skyler to tap. I always love a match where someone with established moves and killshots, suddenly has to find new ways to win when those are taken away from him. But those tools never really felt like they were taken away, we just hit a point where it was in homestretch Lee mode. There were still engaging moments down the stretch, and finish was clever and well executed, with Skyler aiming for a belt shot, eating a drop toehold, hitting his face on the belt, allowing Lee to lock on a painful as hell Regal stretch. But the danger of the opening 2/3 was gone, the match that was looking potentially special was turned into something more expected. For a 42 minute investment, I was hoping for special, and it looked like we were really getting special.

PAS: I liked this a lot more then Eric, I thought all of the early work was interesting and they did some very cool reversals. Loved Lee countering the Senton with an armbar, countering the second spear with a brutal knee, and kicking out the back of Skyler's knees and locking on a sleeper hold. I think Eric is booking a match in his head that wasn't on the screen, Skyler worked the body over to tire out Lee, take his wind from him, just like a fighter will bank body shots for later. Lee sold fatigue fine, but there was never any cracked rib selling he ignored later. This was more a traditional long heavyweight title match, then a match built around body part selling (outside of the vicious late match arm attack which Skyler sold great.) The elbow stomp and finger break is so nasty, it seems so unnecessary when Lee does it against Donnie Dollars or Ethan Sharpe, I like him breaking it out in a desperation flurry during a match he is losing. I thought the couple of near falls on Lee were really good, he will lose this belt eventually, and the ref bump, belt shot STF KO seemed like a plausible way, and I thought Lee's desperation roll through was really cool. I didn't love Skyler going back to the belt in front of the ref like that, but that final Regal stretch was epically painful looking, Lee is one of the better stretchers around. I think they could have easily shaved 10 minutes or so from this, but I thought overall this was very good.

PAS: We are going to throw the Lee vs. Skyler match on our 2018 MOTY List, and we are back on our CWF grind.

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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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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Skyler vs. Hollis Unsanctioned

56. John Skyler vs. Corey Hollis PWX 10/21/17

PAS: I got interested in this feud from reading a great article by Mike Mooneyham in the Post and Courier. This feud is the southern indy version of Gargano vs. Ciampa, long time tag partners have an ugly breakup and a vicious feud. This nicely mixed the more 2000s aspects of brawls (big showy bumps, weapons shots) and some really great 70's and 80's punching and bleeding. They start out by brawling all over the arena, both guys get slammed hard into concrete walls, and Hollis even gets his head stuck in a urinal. Skyler (who is the face in this feud) comes up bleeding badly, at points he even looks like IWA Cactus Jack. Hollis is pretty relentless on the cut, including pounding Skyler with a heavy chain wrapped around his fist. It is hard to do great looking punches with a chain like that, and Hollis really looked like he was waylaying him  Loved the false finish, they set up the table spot really well, with Hollis getting smacked by a ring bell and collapsing on the announcers table, and Skyler diving off the metal post and splashing both guys through the table. They do a whole stoppage with the announcers doing "Owen Voice" and everything. Security starts helping Hollis to the back but Skyler gets a second wind, jumps him, throws him into the ring and starts smashing his head into a chair. Unfortunately the finish brings this down a bit due to the run in by Brady Pierce and Gunner Miller and them triple teaming Skyler until Hollis pins him. I did like the visual of the heels ripping back the padding and exposing the wood beams under the ring although a 3 on 1 beatdown is an unsatisfying finish to a war. This was a balls out killer fight though, and got me excited to check out their I Quit match.

ER: This was definitely Gargano/Ciampa before Gargano/Ciampa, and this had a lot of what I've enjoyed about their big matches only we get blood, a more southern feel (especially during the early crowd brawling), and no Gargano faces! The crowd brawl was really good, making nice use of the venue and the camera was right there with cool shots. Hollis gets thrown far over the guardrail onto concrete, and Skyler climbs the guardrail to leap after him with a clothesline, and we get a cool shot of through Skyler's legs as Hollis climbs to his feet in the background. Both guys lay it in and we don't get any tired "walking and hair holding", just a couple guys kicking asses around an events center, faces slammed on merch table 8x10s as other wrestlers look on, hard strikes thrown, tough whips into brick walls (it's hard to make "getting thrown into a wall" read well, but these looked great), and of course a brawl into the bathroom. The bathroom stuff was great, and I'm happy we didn't get a commentary reproduction of Dusty shrieking about a lady in the men's room (which I'm sure was tempting as they scanned the faces of fans in the bathroom), with Hollis doing the lord's work by flying face first into a couple of toilets, including getting flushed in a urinal. The toilet stuff is disgusting, but I think also weirdly important to establish just how crazy these two are. Once you get thrown face first into a urinal that tells me "well these guys are down for any damn thing in this fight".

And, they really are. Trash cans and ladders and kendo sticks and chairs get involved, but they thankfully shy away from prop set up and instead focus on beating each other with all of those things. Trash can lids can come off flimsy and lame, so the workaround to that is hitting someone with the edge of a lid, slicing open their head in gruesome fashion. Hollis hits a slashing lid blow on Skyler and then works that cut, Skyler's boss Jack Burton tank top getting messed up beyond the damage even Burton himself sustained. They don't linger on these items for too long, there's no Tanaka/Awesome moments, weapons are picked up, used, discarded, but kept around for potential later use. Hollis introduces a chain and I think even the worst chain-wrapped-fist punch would look good, but Hollis hits him with a real blow. I thought the false finish was splendid, Skyler really flew threw that table to crush Hollis, and they just lie in the wreckage for minutes while being tended to. I loved security bringing Hollis to his feet, and really it may have been my favorite part of the match. Hollis' selling was perfection; as he was dragged to his feet and basically carried out, he looked like someone who accidentally took too much Ambien on a flight and had to be carried off by flight attendants and one of the pilots upon arrival. Skyler runs him down, throws him into the ring and goes wild, true babyface comeback. Alas, the finish let the wind out of the sails, even though I fully understand what it was setting up. Once it becomes clear that three guys are just going to beat down one, and nobody is likely coming out to help the one, it becomes more of an exercise in reaching the inevitable win. To get over the desire for a rematch, the 3 on 1 beatdown needs to almost be worse than the match-long beating that preceded it, and I don't think we got there. Country Jacked holding Skyler while Hollis punts Skyler in the balls was a great moment, but to really put it over I was wanting excess. I wanted Hollis to keep punting those balls, build that sympathy back up, make it something that transcends the played out "he hired these goons to help him" No DQ trope. The finish sets up the I Quit, and I'm excited to see the I Quit, but I thought this specific finish could have been worked into the match better.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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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 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 Worldwide Episode 135

Episode 135

White Mike Jordan v. Trevor Lee

PAS: This is kind of Lee working as Flair against Mike Jackson, taking an undercard guy and making him look good before beating him. White Mike has a ton of personality and I really enjoyed how excited he was when he was able to lock on a headlock or get a two count. Lee really blistered him with chops, and I dug Mike begging off only to poke him in the eye. It did seem really heelish for Lee to do the finger break spot to Mike, he should probably save that for blood feuds, not genial comedy jobbers.

ER: This is like Masao Inoue getting a shot at Akiyama, or when Momota got that singles match against Liger. And just like those matches, I loved this! White Mike is a guy I actively look forward to now, although I'm a little insulted that he didn't take his heartfelt CWF retirement seriously. I saw it. I saw him take off his boots and leave them in the ring. And his singlet. And his overshorts. If we can't take wrestling retirements seriously, then what do we have left? Mike is a clear sitting duck for Lee in this match, which makes his moments of control so wonderful. Mike works the first half of this match almost exactly like Haruka Eigen, and I can't help but love his facial expressions as he plays coy in the ropes to avoid more of a Lee beating. He sells some corner chops like Michaels selling for Hogan, then begs off taking more only to sneak in with a perfect eyepoke. Later he runs screaming from Lee's apron punt and hides near the ringpost, only to slyly yank Lee by the trunks into the post. I love that spot, falling backwards while holding onto the front of a guys trunks, sending them face first into danger. And it's a great spot for guys like Mike and Inoue to use. Lee starts taking Mike seriously and Mike responds. I loved the moment Mike crumbled for a big boot, his legs going out from under him rather than just taking a flat back bump, and Lee yanks him up for a suplex but Mike surprises him with a Falcon Arrow for a nice nearfall. I can see both sides of the finger break spot, but I liked it here. It felt like Lee was sick of dealing with Mike's bullshit so was using it as unnecessary punishment, allowing himself a clear path to the finish. This could have been a goof around yukfest, but I really ended up loving both personalities playing off each other and dug what Mike brought.

CW Anderson vs. Mark James

PAS: James is a big barrel chested looking dude, who kind of looks like if CW stopped going to the gym and just competed in arm wrestling contests. This was a really fun southern slug fest, lots of big thumping forearms and punches. Anderson works over the arm and does a nice job of it as one might expect. James hits a great spinebuster of his own, and Damien Wayne and John Skyler come out to distract the ref (Why the fuck is Damien Wayne hanging out and not wrestling on this show? I have to see every random student who drives down in a match.  Aspyn Rose makes TV but Damien fucking Wayne's match is dark? ). One nasty superkick later it is a match. Enjoyed this a bunch

ER: This was awesome, I want this kind of CW showdown every damn week. I had never seen or heard of Mark James but he's the exact kind of guy I like to watch against CW, just a big burly bruiser (looks like and is built like a smaller Tenta) who isn't afraid to dish it out. CW works his left arm in cool ways, once even just punching him right in the arm, which you don't really see. He stomps on it and James is really great at selling it, always aware of it when he tries to throw hands with CW. The forearm exchange is really good as Anderson keeps ramping it up, landing the biggest blow and hitting a nice lefty lariat. But James fires back with his own and hits a nice running big boot in the corner, and even gets a huge spinebuster! Damien Wayne and Skyler run distraction (and yeah, Wayne is there and we get NO Wayne matches on tape out of it!?), and the superkick finish is academic. This is the kind of wrestling I can just watch on repeat, loved how they matched up and love their style. CW can just keep doing this for another 20 years.

John Skyler vs. Arik Royal vs. Tracer X vs. Chet Sterling

PAS: Chet Sterling superman fighting the odds match is not a match layout I am going to love. I just don't buy large parts of what Sterling is selling, so a whole match of him fighting off Royal and Skyler is going to fall short for me. I did like some things in this, I thought Tracer X's elimination was really cool, as he goes for a 450 lands on his feet flips out and gets pounced out of his boots by Royal. Fun way for a flipster to go down. I also liked the Royal and Skyler Demolition Decapitation and Skyler setting up for a superkick only to crack Royal tickled the old school wrestling part of my brain that loves formula. Still this was overly long and was dependent on me caring way more about Sterling then I do.

ER: Yeah this was fine, and I think I've warmed on Sterling a little more than Phil, but I'm getting a little worn with the Sterling Against All Odds situations we seem to get regularly. These kind of matches are usually worth it just for the sheer joy of an Arik Royal small show ring entrance, as it looks like he's having the time of his life just walking to the ring on these shows. But the match does have nice moments despite probably going 5 minutes too long. The Tracer X elimination was bonkers and needs to be on a CWF highlight video. Royal just upends him and flings him halfway across the ring, right after he recovered from a missed 450. It was insane. Sterling fighting back against Royal and Skyler was fine. I liked his flying back elbows, and Royal is great at stooging around for anyone, but it always just feels like Sterling takes too much damage in matches like these to still be around at the end. The Decapitation is brutal and really should be a finish, but I did gleefully laugh when Royal sat down for the pin at the end. The match went long, they could have at least not edited out a Royal post match celebration.

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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 94

Episode 94

1. Cain Justice vs. Montana Black

PAS: Montana Black is a huge guy, probably 6'3 350, and it is fun to watch Cain as a sneaky heel bumping around for a monster. I especially loved the finish as he snatched an arm out of the air and yanked it into a submission. Really got him over as a dangerous guy who can tap you from anywhere. Justice is turning into one of my favorite guys to watch, he just needs to dump that cornball indy name.

ER: Black really is huge, and has a good face, not too hard to imagine him showing up in NXT sooner rather than later. The Mark Henry-cut singlet looks good on him and with his size he could be a big deal. He's got a ways to go but they limited his stuff so they never ended up in trouble, and he showed a couple nice "little things" moments, like when he pinned Justice close to the ropes and tucked Justice's arm so he couldn't grab it. Positioning mistakes are things that 15 year pros make so him doing little things like that is a good sign. There were some moments where both guys were working inside themselves a bit too much, ducking a clothesline that never happened, Justice bumping a lariat before it happened, stuff that's less forgivable from but more understandable from them. I did love both attempts at the arm, with Justice grabbing it and Black powering through to a suplex, and then the one that ended the match. It looked cool and was a believable way to cut the size difference. And I agree with Phil about a name change being necessary. How about....Shane Justice.

2. Patrick Scott vs. Cam Carter vs. Jacob Ryan vs. Ian Maxwell

PAS: This is a rookie 4-way with ever trope you might expect from a rookie 4-way. Tower of doom spot, dive train, every guy hits his finisher run. I thought Cam Carter was probably the stand out, he had the most ups on his dives and bumps, still it was hard to get a sense of whether any of these guys are going to be worth following

ER: This was fine enough for what it was, but it was a bit much to debut four rookies, from four training camps, with four sociopath "two first names" names. I thought Cam Carter was actually the least of the bunch, he had those real floaty Killshot/Petey Williams bumps, and looked totally lost during that final minute segment (though I liked how he bumped an inverted STO on his chin). I'm backing Patrick Scott as the stand out; he kept the flash low but clearly looked like the best base of the group, and glued that dive train together, seemed like he had the most effective bumps and knew when to take his turns. Ian Maxwell felt like he had the most confidence, trying out some unique strikes and some bigger bumps, some of which didn't worked but he did everything assuredly and that goes a long way for me. Jacob Ryan has an unfortunately soft body for a smaller guy, but I did like a running knee he broke out late in the match. I was expecting to like a rookie 4 way scramble a lot less than I did, and each guy did at least something I liked without doing anything egregious, so I think that's a win.

3. Roy Wilkins vs. Dirty Daddy

PAS: I really liked this, I am not sure how much I enjoy Wilkins cerebral gimmick is because of the good job the announcers do in getting it over, but I really enjoy Wilkins cerebral gimmick. Dirty Daddy is a fun fired up babyface, and this a cool Bockwinkle v. Tito Santana style match. I loved how Wilkins kept Daddy close, constantly staying connected grabbing an arm or a leg. I even liked his Flair style cheap shotting and cheating. Great TV match.

ER: I liked this too. Dirty Daddy feels like someone who wouldn't work for me, but I like his weird strikes, he has a killer jab, and his selling is ace. I also liked the Misawa throwback tights. I *do* think Phil is onto something with Wilkins' character getting a lot of help from the announce crew. I think in this match a lot of his motivations were really a Stutts creation, and I'm totally okay with that. We write about pro wrestling and often project motivations or story where they may not be, and I love that part of the game. I really liked when Wilkins tricked Daddy into a punch exchange, and then sidestepped and grabbed an abdominal stretch. Great spot. Coach's interference was also effective, as Wilkins grabbing the towel for leverage looked like legit leverage. You can easily see these two guys working fun matches on syndicated WCW Saturday Night.


4. Rising Generation League Battle Royal

PAS: Aric Andrews comes out and says he will give whoever wins this match a title shot, and I loved how exasperated he got as a bunch of veterans entered the rookie battle royal. It was a battle royal, some nasty over the top rope bumps, but not much else, I did like the quick match with Andrews and the CZW kid, fun bit of wrestling business, but nothing memorable.

ER: I'm a big battle royal fan, especially live. And my god that moment where Cain Justice comes out to see if he could be in the royal, and Andrews hasn't caught on to what is happening but then starts realizing? Gold. And the speed the wrestlers come out from the back is awesome, just a stream of dudes suddenly pouring out. But I think Phil is really underrating this segment. The battle royal was really fun, with Mecha Mercenary wandering around uppercutting people after tossing some rookies, Donnie Dollars also doing some fine punch and wander, and then several really nasty rookie eliminations. The final four eliminations get a little sloppy but up until then we got some pretty great bumps. I thought the Arik Andrews/Tahir James match directly after was pretty awesome. I had never seen James before but liked what we got, and thought it was a really solid "underdog survives longer than expected" singles match. Andrews jumps him with a nasty shot to the back of the head and drags him to a decent beating for 5 minutes. Andrews showed some ass while also looking like a sadistic prick, and I got really into James' comebacks. This whole segment (battle royal/match) was my favorite thing on the show.

5. "The Southern Savior" John Skyler vs. Snooty Foxx

PAS: This match reminded me of Flair v. Sting from the Clash, solid veteran heel taking on a young green powerhouse and making a match of it. Foxx has a ways to go, but he has good energy and a connection to the crowd. Skyler is a great southern indy hand, works in some cheap shots, some nice punches, shows vulnerability and sneaks out a cheap win. I liked Wilkins v. Daddy better, but both were good examples of heel veterans plying their craft.

ER: I also liked this one although I felt it went a bit too long, and both guys looked a little sluggish down the finishing stretch. The crowd is obviously into Fox and he connects with them, and his stuff is coming along nicely. He'll throw a bad looking punch, but then follow up with a nice one, so you get the feeling that things are going to come together for him sooner rather than later. Skyler facilitated him nicely, with a highlight being his massive spit sell after running face first into a Fox back elbow. I liked Fox starting out just steamrolling Skyler but maybe working too hard too fast, leaving an opening for Skyler to ground him and wear him out. I thought the finish run punch exchange was a little silly, as Skyler works at grounding him for 10 minutes and then just decides to stand and strike. Still, this felt like a really good Power Plant rookie vs. southern vet match, and that's a match up I always like.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 92

1. Ugly Ducklings (Colby Corino, Lance Lude & Rob Killjoy) vs. White Mike Jordan/Donnie Dollars/Ethan Alexander Sharpe

ER: I really enjoyed this, classic stooge-y, silly trios match. I've liked what I've seen from the heel side, and I hadn't seen two of the Ducklings before but enjoyed them as well. At least I thought I hadn't, as Lance Lude looks ENTIRELY different than the last time I saw him, several years ago in ROH. If this is the same guy, I'd say this is a step up. He came off like unhinged Pequeno Mark Briscoe, would really like to see more of him. I dug his look, dug how he moved, how he took offense (especially a killer spot with White Mike swinging him around in a front headlock). Killjoy had some fun springboard dropkicks, Corino seems to be improving and has put on a little weight; I think I really dig the Ducklings. Sharpe and Jordan are a fun team, real good at stooging (Sharpe with the bumps and Jordan with the faces), but I can see them getting a more sinister side. Dollars had a couple fun moments; tossing all three Ducks was a fun spot on paper, ridiculous in execution, but I like that they went for it.

PAS: Really fun opening trios, I could have done without the Hardy's coming out in the middle and doing their tired shtick, but I was all in on the actual ring work. This makes me want to seek out more Ducklings as they are great as a a trio of big bumping sleazeballs. I hadn't seen Killjoy before as he seemed to come at weird angles almost Fred Yehish. White Mike is a blast, great John Tatumish stooging and had some killer offense too. Fun stuff.

2. Cain Justice vs. Dirty Daddy

ER: I'm surprised to hear them say Justice is a rookie. There's a few holes there but there's a lot of things he does well. I like a lot of his roll ups, his cheating, his attitude; he looks like a redneck MMA Michael Pitt. This match felt a lot shorter than its 7 minute run time, had some nice logical counters (really liked Daddy's simple sunset flip roll up off the backpack piledriver), snug pins, Daddy has some nice punches off his back and a nice side headlock, just a nice simple match between two guys who seem like they know each other.

PAS: I really liked their BattleCade match, and I enjoyed this a bunch too. Cain Justice is already really good, and very fun to watch. I loved the switch of the armbar when Daddy was in the ropes, and his kicking of the tied up arm. We didn't get to see Cain's nasty finish in this match, which may put it a step blow the BattleCade match, although he did have some nice grappling.

3. John Skyler/C.W. Anderson vs. Roy Wilkins/Arik Royal vs. The Hardy Boys

ER: Was really hoping for this one to go about twice as long as it got, but I really enjoyed it for what it was. They easily could have milked this for 18 without it feeling long, but oh well. The crowd was hot for it, I thought CW looked great, and really that's enough for me. I'd love to see any combo of tag team battles between these three teams, hope this isn't the end of it. My favorite stuff was probably CW opposite Royal, loved the bit of character CW put into it. He chopped Royal's chest and then over-cringed when Royal chopped him back, rinse/repeat, then when CW tagged out he postured for a bit...before buckling his knees slightly, squinting and feeling his chest. They say in baseball that you never rub it after getting hit by a pitch, so I love CW putting over Royal's strike power by succumbing to rubbing it. CW also threw easily the best forearms in the match, and still has that left hand, even if Jeff almost flubbed the timing of it. Jeff flubbing timing and spots could have been the story of the match, if the other guys weren't so on point. Jeff botched both Hardy double teams (somersaulting in place on the senton/fistdrop and somehow whiffing on the legdrop to the groin) and stiffed the hell out of CW on the finish swanton (which, at least looked good). Matt looked much better and I'd love a CW/Matt singles match. Loved Skyler's spit take off a Jeff back elbow, loved Wilkins' golf swing uppercut on CW, the trainwreck finisher run from everybody was fun, so overall I liked this. Just really wanted a lot more time. Most importantly, CW Anderson is apparently ageless and still awesome.

PAS: I thought they treated the Hardy's a little too much like the Road Warriors here. They kind of ate both teams up, and I left this wanting to see Extreme Horseman v. All Stars a lot more then either team against the Hardy's. All four of the other guys in the match looked great, busting out nasty offense against each other, and bumping big for the big shotting Hardy Boys. I am seconding the CW Anderson love, he looked great against Converse at BattleCade, and great here. I would be really excited to see him in the mix in CWF-MA, Anderson v. Lee, v. Royal, v. Everett, v. Attitude all would be awesome.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

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