CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 152

Episode 152

Tag Team Battle Royal

ER: A lot of good teams in this, teams I really would not mind seeing in actual regular action. I love the idea of an Otto/Dollars team, like Daddy/Kool, Justice/Sharpe, Biggs/Foxx, just a good mess of teams. I love battle royals a lot, and this really had the makings of a great one. We eventually hit that annoying moment where three teams get eliminated at basically the same time, immediately cutting our participants in half, which takes a lot of the wind out of the sails. But even with that, this battle royal is fun as hell. Aaron Epic hasn't been seen in CWF for half a year, and makes a nice return here, really throwing big shots, stooging when needed, and going after Biggs. Biggs also turns in a great performance as the biggest guy in the match, lumbering around chopping people and squishing them into corners, walking Kool Jay to a press slam elimination (so many press slams in battle royals weirdly don't end in eliminations, it's good to see one actually come to its logical conclusion). I loved one moment where Biggs was slumped in the ropes and just reached out and chopped someone who wandered near him. It felt like King Kong swatting away a compy who had come to investigate if he was dead or sleeping. Cain understood proper battle royal behavior, wearing a shirt to the ring specifically so he could choke people with it. Dirty Daddy also made the most of his time, throwing some of the nastiest strikes of the match during his camera time (he had a downward strike elbow to the back of the neck that was absolutely brutal). I even laughed at Schwanz' elimination, as Schwanz keeps barking and saying words that aren't, while Donnie Dollars keeps asking "Are you kidding me!?" I wish it didn't wrap up so suddenly, this was shaping up to be a barnburner.

PAS: Battle Royals are mostly punches and kicks, so you want a match full of good punchers and kickers and CWF is loaded with them. Lots of wandering around and throwing forearms and guys like Otto and Dirty Daddy have awesome forearms. I loved Biggs in this too, and the Biggs vs. McAllister showdown was great with both guys just laying into each other with chops and headbutts, McAllister is really fun and perfect for Battle Royals. Unsurprisingly Kool J takes the sickest bump of the match, getting press slammed to the floor by Biggs (which seems like kind of a dick move for a face to do, no need to kill the kid.)

Aaron Biggs/Snooty Foxx vs. Aaron Epic/Abel

ER: I much prefer this kind of finish to a battle royal, where the two survivors then have an actual match. The match is short, but good, with Abel and Epic keeping Snooty away from Biggs with simple stuff, I liked a basement dropkick from Epic, and I think Foxx is just a super strong babyface. His selling during the beatdown was really good, he's a guy with size who can garner sympathy, and Biggs is great on the apron wanting the tag. I wish we could have gotten more once Foxx tagged out, as we fairly quickly go to the finish with the Biggs press. I'd like to see an actual tag match between these two, not one coming at the end of a battle royal, but a good 12-15 minute tag. I think all would match up really well.

Arik Royal/Mace Li/Rick Roland vs. Chet Sterling/Lucas Calhoun/Proletariat Boar of Muldova

ER: Roland is a big guy who's been around for awhile but I don't believe I've ever seen him, and he's filling in for Roy Wilkins in "the clean up spot". This match gets a lot of time, 17 minutes, and I think it was strong but could have been much stronger. Sterling put in a good babyface performance getting beat down by the All Stars, but I think his babyface work was kind of negated by Calhoun getting the hot tag and immediately working all of his comedy karate spots. It's kind of amazing to me that guys go along with those spots, but it's just not my bag. We do get a real nice second life to the match, as Mace Li of all people comes in to put a stop to Calhoun's five finger death punch nonsense, and Li puts in some of his finest work that I've seen from him. So we get a second nice All Stars control segment, a bunch of silly abdominal stretch heel work, with Li getting leverage from Royal on the apron who gets leverage from Coach who gets...and we get a nice Sterling run where he absolutely dumps Royal with a half nelson German, fun match overall with nice peaks and valleys. I was also really impressed with Rick Roland. I had never seen him before although I'd seen his name and I know he's been around awhile, but never heard much about him. He's big, looks almost the exact same as Parrow, and wrestles like a way better version of Parrow. His power offense lands heavy and he has a couple awesome tricks, like this slingshot rolling senton from the apron that absolutely splats onto Sterling. I'd love to see more of Roland and think he would fit in awesomely at CWF, hope he's not one of those guys who just shows up once a year on CWF shows.

Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Hurricane Helms

ER: Cecil Scott goes around ringside and gets a fan to pull Helms' title challenger out of the fishbowl, and the fan sees Sharpe's name and doesn't even want to say it in the mic, just tosses it back at Scott and walks off while rolling his eyes. Awesome. CL Party looks down at Cecil and says "No good?" Funny moment once Sharpe comes out and you realize who the kid was eye rolling about. Helms pins Sharpe quickly, and we go right into a tag match with Helms' mystery partner.

Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Cain Justice vs. Hurricane Helms/Ric Converse

ER: Pretty simple tag that I think needed Sharpe Justice to work a little more stiff to make up the size difference. Without that it felt like Helms and Converse taking 80% of the match while Sharpe and Justice just kind of clubbed away during their control. Helms even dominated the submission parts of the match, locking in his really cool figure 6 submission a couple times, and then reversing a Cain armbar attempt into a cool triangle, hooking his long leg around Cain's jaw. So Hurricane got the big submission moments, Converse got to come in throwing big punches and a big sitout powerbomb, Hurricane got to hit a big trapped arm facebuster on Sharpe, Cain took a big bump off a clothesline, really felt like my boys got a little steamrolled here. Sharpe hit his nice jawbreaker but I needed more out of my guys, and definitely didn't need them easily tapping to a dual submission (Hurricane's figure 6 + Converse's figure 4 = takes us to a figure 10, as called by Smith Garrett). CWF has a ton of guys they use, really think we can do better than just having Cain tap to a figure 4 after not being in the match a ton.

PAS: I thought this was a fun send the crowd home happy big star tag. Helms looked really good, all of his offense popped and the figure 6 is a great looking submission, I also loved the countering of the armbar, I am a big Helms fan from way back, and I never thought of him as a mat guy. I get Eric's beef with the heels getting dominated, and it does seem like they are shifting Cain to more of a stooging tag worker, but he is pretty great as a stooging tag worker, and the Cain/Sharpe team make a fun pair of John Tatums to get bumped around a ring.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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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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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 146

Episode 146

Arik Royal vs. Dirty Daddy

ER: Damn what a keg of dynamite this match was! Ferocious Royal is an absolute king, and this was some of my favorite Royal stuff ever. He worked this as an aggressive Junkyard Dog, lunging in hard at Daddy with diving shoulderblocks and booming headbutts, jumped him at the bell with big punches, just kept on him the entire time. This is some of the more vicious work I've seen from Royal (and makes me more grumpy we got robbed of TV champ Royal doing this stuff every week), and then he ramps things up with a crazy spinning backbreaker, then yanks Daddy's limp body off the mat into a short arm clothesline. I don't know if I've seen someone pull a guy off the mat into a lariat before, and I loved it. Daddy's comeback was a good one (he's a great babyface), and I loved him beating down Royal with chops and forearms and a big running elbow. Daddy always has what looks like a weak delivery on chops and elbows, usually no big wind-up, but they always land hard and look like something that could drop a big guy like Royal. Royal kept at those grounded attacks, and the big upending shoulder tackle is a favorite of mine. Awesome battle.

PAS: Yeah this was a really great compact brawl, this kind of six minute fight is something CWF does really well. Royal is so good as a stooging, shit talking, stalling heel, but he is also really great as a focused killer and he was brutal here. Daddy is also great at intense brawling and I loved his chop and punch beatdown in the corner and his diving clothesline which really hit with a thud. Royal has great explosion, he would have been an awesome middle linebacker, his tackles and cut blocks look great and part of the reason is that he can go from 0-60 so quickly.

Mace Li vs. Snooty Foxx

ER: Fun match and a fine Foxx performance, impressive that he can make someone like Li seem credible, and not just credible because of Coach and Royal at ringside. It's an important distinction. Li is still a hard guy for me to pin down, he'll do something great one moment, then get lazy a moment later. There was a weird moment where Foxx hit a back elbow but Foxx was the one who sold it, and Li went right back on offense. Not sure what happened there. Foxx is really good at big man leapfrog exchanges, love seeing him move quick and time that leaping back elbow, always looks great. I also thought the fight through the crowd was fun, these fans are always right on top of the action and it's always cool to see the workers not hold back right next to them. Finish was probably better on paper, with Royal holding Snooty's boots so he can't kick out, even though his boots were practically hanging off the apron. He's breaking the plane of the ropes, ref! The aftermath is simple match building, Li and Royal jumping Foxx all building to Foxx crushing a huge spear, instantly made me excited to see them fight back in Chapel Hill.

PAS: This was a match where both guys had good ideas, but still lack the execution to pull everything off. The idea of defensive wrestler Li catching a break and damaging the power guys knee. There were parts of this that looked great, but then Foxx would throw a dodgy punch or mostly miss on a clothesline, or Li would really poorly apply an Indian deathlock and I would be taken out of it a bit. These guys are basically still rookies, so the fact that they have good ideas is promising, and I am sure the execution will come.

Cain Justice vs. Cam Carter

ER: I could easily see the Cain/Sharpe team making a nice long run in the Kernodle Cup. Let me rephrase, I want Cain/Sharpe to make a nice long run in the Kernodle Cup. I don't believe we got to see their match from earlier this year, but it's no surprise that these two match up nicely. Carter is slippery and Justice has no shortage of mean tricks, so it's a fun combo. I dug all of Carter's flips out of Cain's wrist control, and Carter has a bunch of precise kicks and knees, and Cain is always game to lean into a kick or knee (that flying knee off the top looked like it bounced right off his jaw). This is a bit different than most Cain matches, as he has Ethan Sharpe running interference on the floor, and I don't recall him ever having someone interfering on his behalf before. I like how Cain typically structures comebacks in his matches, so the interference took away from that a bit and made the result less in question, but the action was good, and I liked Sharpe giving him leverage on an armbar. I don't think I've ever seen someone lock in an armbar and then hold it with one arm while grabbing his partner's arm with another. Carter sells the arm nicely and we get some fun moments, like Cam dodging a crane kick, sidestepping Cain and tripping him into the ropes to set up the 336. Cain is really great at removing or shifting gear to accentuate a beatdown. When I was a kid I would always get a kick out of Greg Valentine turning his shinguard before locking on the figure 4. I had no idea the significance of it, but it seemed cool to me. Cain is good at shifting a kneepad, removing a shinguard, something to signify that this next knee or kick would be somehow even worse. I loved Cam holding onto the ropes while Cain yanked on his arm, and the Twist Ending is always especially mean when he holds the arm and kicks it before locking it in. Tons of fun.

PAS: Cam Carter comes into Square Biz by Teena Marie and immediately vaults hugely up my favorite wrestlers list. This was another great Cain match against a relatively limited opponent. Carter has great athleticism, but doesn't always hit everything cleanly (I know I sound like a coded racist Sports Announcer right now, but he really does get great snap and height on his moves), Cain feeds him some big comebacks and is great cutting off the ring and really doing some vicious arm work.  Justice landed some vicious short kicks on the arm to loosen it up, and he is really great at violent focused attacks. I love how he varies the speed on it, he does the methodical Arn style arm work, but will also be frenzied, and the set up to the twist ending here was great. The commentary mentioning a rumored leg submission he is keeping secret got me excited, I can't wait for him to pull that out to win a huge match.  I do agree that Sharpe was a bit OTT on the outside, and some of the ref distraction spots didn't make a ton of sense. still I loved this match it made our 2018 Ongoing MOTY list and continue to be 100% all in on Cain.

Zane & Dave Dawson vs. Matt Houston/Louis Moore

ER:What a weird, unnecessarily long match. We have now written up over 60 episodes of CWF, and this tag is the 2nd longest tag match during that time! Why did this match go over 20 minutes!? There was not nearly enough happening to fill 20 minutes, and the last half felt like tired tubs lying around gathering their breath for their next move. Having a match this long really played up every participant's weakness: The Dawsons don't have enough interesting offense to be in control for that long, and they're genuinely bad at setting up opponent comebacks, so they took forever to get to the Outlaws' run of offense, and when it finally arrived they didn't do them any favors. This match dragged so much that when the 20 minute mark was announced I called my computer a damn liar. Houston is a guy I want to like. He's a spitting image of Dick Murdoch, skinny legs and an even bigger belly and even facial similarities, and his moonsault was surprising as hell. But the Dawsons have no clue how to set up his hot tag. Seriously they are terrible at finding ways to occupy themselves while waiting for spots, so they end up just standing frozen still, or awkwardly wandering. I had never seen Moore before and I liked how he bumped for a big chop in the corner, but man did he eat it on a rolling somethingorother to the floor: Houston had been "caught" by the Dawsons on a plancha (they dropped him, but he was kind enough to be lifted and held into position, and Moore rolled into everyone with a senton...except he corgi legged the jump, barely hit them, and splatted directly to the floor. I like a couple Dawsons eyepokes, liked Zane's big lariat for a nearfall, but this was just way too long and way too slow. There is no reason to have the Outlaws be the toughest opponents yet for the Dawsons. I'm pretty sure the crowd at one point even started a "This Match Sucks" chant, which is stunning coming from the familial Sportatorium crowd. This really felt like one of those rookie matches where they repeatedly miss signals from the back to go home, and the fed has to start flashing the lights in the building to get their attention. I have never watched the Hero/Punk 93 minute match, and I'm not totally sure how time and space works, but I bet I could have watched Hero/Punk in the time it took me to watch this match.

PAS: This was really ponderous, it felt like they were waiting for someones flight to arrive, like one of those WWF house show matches where Ron Bass and Tito Santana sit in a chinlock for 8 minutes because there was bad weather into Tulsa. Eric talked about Zane's lariat, but I thought Houston straight armed the taking of it, so it looked bad, Zane responded by straight arming the belt shot a second later. I did like the finish, really great looking accidental head smash into your partner and the double powerbomb looked good, but if you just showed me pictures of these four guys I would be totally jazzed for this match, and instead they basically laid an egg.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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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 142

Episode 142

Otto Schwanz/Mace Li vs. Michael McAllister/Nick Richards

PAS: I enjoy the McAllister and Richards team, kind of an old school slugfest tag team, kind of like the face Andersons in 1990 WCW. Otto is also a hoot in this, making tons of noise, singing London Bridge just being a nutso. I think this would have worked a little better as a sprint, as working it as a straight southern tag took a little steam out of Richards and McCallister. Still a fun match with good performances by all four guy.
ER: Otto is out driving business away before the bell (noticed a YouTube commenter complaining that he had to turn this episode off because that big guy wouldn't shut up) and amidst all his noises and barks and songs he even comes up with a hilarious improvisation about his Fila track suit. I died. The match was fun and got a lot more time than I expected, and I especially dug the Richards/Otto sections, also dug how McAllister would go right after Otto. Mace Li is still hit or miss for me. I like the dynamic between he and Otto, but some parts of his game could use a lot of work (in this match he threw some of the worst stomps). But we get a lot of Otto/Richards, and Richards is looking leaner (slimming singlet?) and has no problem trading shots with Otto, but Otto pretty much runs this whole match. He's making noise the whole time, throwing fast chops, fast elbowdrops, mugging at people in the crowd in the middle of punch exchanges, never not entertaining. Lots to like here.

Dave Dawson vs. Snooty Foxx

PAS: I like the idea of having big boy punch outs on every episode. CWF has a lot of indy big guys, and matching them up throw at each other is a fun idea. I really liked Foxx's Ronnie Garvin open hand chops, and I am always going to dig a match built around a big body slam. Cheap low blow finish is fine for this kind of match. I am going to miss the Sandwich Squad, but a Foxx/Biggs team is a fun idea.


ER: There really are enough bigger guys in the area to do a match like this every week, and I would be a-ok with that. Snooty is a big guy who is good at working from behind, and his signature offense works as both a surprise comeback move, or as an aggressive in control move. Take his great flying back elbow, here used to surprise Dawson, but often used when he's in a roll of offense; or his big powerslam, which is often used as a big move he breaks out down the finishing stretch, here used as a Samson knocking down the pillars slam, as he hardway muscles Dawson up and down. Snooty's placement on the big slam was great as it was close enough to the ropes for Dave to grab them and not need to kick out. The ending mule kick was fine here, and I dug how they set up the visual early in the match: You had Foxx tying up Dawson with a wristlock, with Dawson having a hard time getting to the ropes to break it. Then at the end you have Foxx grabbing a waistlock, with Dawson again struggling to get the ropes, so he grabs the ref and gets the opening and leverage for the mule kick. It was a really nice bit of foreshadowing. I was also amused by Cecil Scott and Smith Garrett on commentary, talking about the active lifestyles of their moms and grandmas, and Smith does a great job putting over the Dawsons as nasty bar bouncers. I will ALWAYS get into a guy billed as a tough guy bouncer, one of those great old tough guy wrestler trope sidejobs. They went into tons of detail about the bars they work, in the sketchier parts of NC, literally throwing people out the doors, etc. And yes, I'm also excited for a potential Foxx/Biggs tag team, but I'm also curious to see more singles work from Biggs.

Arik Royal vs. Hurricane Shane Helms

PAS: The match starts with the Coach doing the old Chikara gimmick of calling out funny wrestlers who aren't there (although I despise the idea of the great El Dandy being used as a punchline, fuck you Bret Hart you overrated hack, you couldn't lace El Dandy's boots). Helms is there are they have a spirited back and forth match. Royal is on his game these days and I loved his beat down, the huge left hand to set up the splash on the apron was super nasty. Helms still looks good, although he does sort of awkwardly shoehorn in his early 2000s WWE comedy spots. I imagine it is a big deal to get a guy like Helms to commit to appear on every show, but I was really in to the idea of a Royal TV title run and it is kind of a bummer to see it cut so short.


ER: Overrated maybe, but I don't think I could call Bret Hart a hack. He did properly assess the perception of El Dandy in WCW and brought him more American fame than he otherwise would have received (can the weird Los Fabulosos C-show push be attributed to Hart's comment?), as really a short pudgy guy with a teenage mustache and Dustin Hoffman-as-Dorothy-in-Tootsie haircut was never going to be a hit in late 90s American wrestling. Honestly Dandy could have capitalized on his post-WCW internet meme popularity and probably done some nice business working American indies and selling "Who Are You to Doubt El Dandy" merch. Hart gave him a money gimmick the same way someone like Ellsworth can get actual good paydays, or how they gave Shane Helms easy mask merch for life. I get it's not flattering to compare Dandy to Ellsworth, but it probably would have been a smarter career path than wrecking his body going back to hard lucha mats.


And I'm not sure how I feel about the direction of the TV Title. I was so happy to see it off Adler, and was really excited about getting weekly 8-10 minute Arik Royal singles matches. Royal is one of my favorite performers in wrestling, so guaranteeing me weekly matches with him would just sweeten the pot. Helms is still a good worker, but I also know he's been really part time the last few years due to injuries (and I think a pretty major automobile accident). Are we going to actually get weekly or almost weekly Helms matches? That would be great! But if it suddenly turns into a title that is only defended once a month then I think most of the charm of the TV Title will be gone. So the result of this match will be a wait and see. The match itself was pretty awesome, really one of Royal's best performances. He worked like a guy who was losing a title, and a guy who was looking as great as possible against a big name. Royal looked big time here. Helms looked good too although I was surprised he didn't just work as Shane Helms: NC Legend. But I'm happy the People's Elbow missed and allowed Royal to capitalize, but hopefully in future weeks we get more of Shane Helms: big bumping southerner. And he is still a surprisingly big bumper. That's how he came back on my radar, as he was managing on TNA some time last year (I don't think wrestling) but I was surprised at him taking some big bumps on the apron as a manager. So I'd love Helms Classic back, but do not mind the iteration we got. Royal, though. Royal. This is the reason I was so excited for him as TV champ. Dude looked awesome, worked fast, worked more aggressive than I've seen in months while still shtick in at good times (telling that same woman in the crowd that he's going to take her hat again, walking ref Redd Jones away from the corner so that interference could happen), just worked tons of cool stuff into the match. Mace Li had nice interference towards the end, really nailing the batting helmet shot. But I guess my only real problem with the match itself was Royal took so much of it, and Helms took so much damage, that the win didn't totally feel deserved, made Royal look kind of weak and Helms look like too much of a superhero (I know, I know, buts that's not what I mean). Still - and we'll see where this all goes - it was a really good match to cap off a really good episode of TV.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 137

Episode 137

Aric Andrews vs. Mace Li

PAS: Li comes out to interrupt Andrews and they appear to have turned Andrews face, which is a move I can't support. You can't turn the most hateable guy in your fed babyface, it is just a waste of that scuzzy hair and punchable face. This match took a couple of minutes to get going, but I ended up enjoying it. Loved Andrews using his long legs to push Li off and hit a big boot, and the finishing roll up was neat.

ER: Maybe this is just one of those Arena Mexico "rudo against other Mexicans, tecnico against an invader" type deals? Like people will still hate Andrews but just hate Mace Li more? I do love the reaction Li gets in the Sportatorium. It's beyond heel heat, but it's not indifference either; people just seem really, really annoyed by him. The match and moment did feel like it was intended to turn Andrews face, and I think that would be a damn shame. I feel like a long tag run with Lee Valiant would be far more productive, but I will say I'm happy that it appears he's growing back some facial hair. Not a fan of beardless Andrews. The match was fine but didn't have much to it. Li has never looked bad to me, but he also hasn't done a lot to make his matches stick out much in my mind right after watching them. Maybe it's me.

Cain Justice vs. Joey Lynch

ER: I realize one of my favorite things about Cain Justice is that his matches are tight, focused, and have a nice narrative thread. And I didn't really think about it too much until this match. A lot of stuff in this looked good, but I had to keep asking myself why I wasn't getting into it at all. It was overly long, unfocused, and the only narrative seemed to be "Lynch is going to use every piece of offense and every thigh slap he knows, and everyone is going to forget about every move immediately after it happens". This could have really killed if it was maybe 9 minutes instead of 16. I liked all of Cain's attacks on the arm, bending it around the corner buckle and kicking at it, a nice Pele kick that I didn't see coming (with Cain holding Lynch's arm and essentially pulling the arm into a falling kick), but Lynch doesn't pay it much attention. I mean, after the match he hilariously acts like he needs to desperately hold his arm or risk losing it, but during the match he seemed more focused on stringing together his next indy combo. Potentially cool moments like Cain dropping in with an armbar were immediately ignored, and it made it seem like Lynch hitting all his offense was the most important thing to him in the match. I don't like how it makes the guys in other Justice singles matches look, either. All those prior matches showed that Justice is prone to cockiness and rookie mistakes, but his subs and strikes are lethal, here Lynch treated every strike the same, treated an armbar like no big deal, it was just annoying. I liked some of Lynch's work, particularly his bridges, like when he bridged out of the armbar and almost got a flash pin, but he was too go go go when the match would have been more interesting with him throwing out half as much offense. It's a specific style of indy work that I don't care for, right down to waiting in the ring for the post-match 'We Had a War' 'Please Come Back' applause.

PAS: I did think Cain had a fun performance, but I agree with Eric that this match was completely overstuffed. Lynch felt like a guy who was going to have one wrestling match ever, and wanted to get in every bit of cool offense he ever saw or thought up. Some of the stuff did look pretty cool, Lynch has a nasty german suplex, and I liked his clothesline into the ropes, but there was just so much stuff I had a hard time caring about it. Felt like Lynch took control of the match and it ended up being Cain working a Lynch match, rather then Joey working a Cain match. I did think Cain had a bunch of cool ideas, and I love how deadly the twist ending is, but this was real bloaty

ER: Arik Royal gets drawn to face Jesse Adler at BattleCade and...I just cannot see any kind of plausible way that Adler does not get absolutely demolished by Royal. Adler is so much smaller and has not looked the least bit credible in any of his wins against similarly sized guys. On paper this just looks like Royal should completely run over Adler. In singles matches alone this year Royal has beaten Chet Sterling, Snooty Foxx, Dirty Daddy, took Trevor Lee over a half hour, and none of those guys should have trouble beating Jesse Adler. This should lead to Royal holding the TV title, which would be an awesome and welcome addition to my weekly CWF viewing. I really love Royal and seeing him defending a belt against randomly drawn challengers sounds amazing.

Arik Royal/Roy Wilkins vs. Chet Sterling/Ric Converse

ER: Good long tag match with nice performances for all involved. Converse and Sterling are a good babyface tag team and seeing how much I like Converse right now makes me really want to go back and check out all the "peak" Converse that I've never actually seen. He sells damage well for a bigger guy, always surprised me with stuff (like his heavy crossbody early in the match) and always brings nice punches. Sterling is good in a tag setting like this, and he ramps up the crazy here with a huge flip dive way past the ringpost into the All-Stars. Wilkins was good at bumping for Sterling's hot comeback offense, and Royal is the total king, knowing when to bail to the floor and when to toss in great dick moves (like stepping onto Sterling's back instead of just over him to get where he needed to be). The match never settled down, and the restlessness was part of the fun. You got the sense the match could end soon, or go another 20 minutes. and I love the All-Stars go to knux shot, such a great ace constantly looming up the sleeve of all their matches. Royal always makes the knux shots counts and Sterling really took a spill off the top from it.

PAS: I loved Royal in this, great shit talking, cool bodypunches in the corner, great cutting off of both guys. All-Stars are a great old school heel team, and this was a good fired up babyface performance by Sterling and Converse. Sterling is at his his best when he is selling, so a long tag match like this works to his strengths. Also he can just tag out rather then have to do a forced hulk up which always mars his long singles. I loved the knux shot as a body shot instead of to the head, Sterling really sold it like he cracked a rib.

ER: The show closing angle between CW and Converse was a great one. After costing Converse the match CW handcuffs Converse to the ropes and lays out the ref with an all time spinebuster and then pulls up a seat to have a chat with Converse. The build throughout the promo was great, with Anderson playing condescending and dominant champ, wanting that title vs. career match, and Converse - still cuffed to the ropes - able to able to finally get under CW's skin by agreeing to the match...as long as it's I Quit. CW showing vulnerability to that was great, even though his opponent was cuffed to the ropes he was visibly rattled, and the fans were trying to get to him the whole time as well. Awesome segment leading into what looks to be an absolutely stacked BattleCade.

PAS: Yeah it was really great, I loved how Converse pulled out the I Quit match as CW's achilles, mentioning the ECW Tommy Dreamer I Quit he lost. I loved Converse getting the upper hand even though he was cuffed to the top rope.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 134

Episode 134

ER: We get Pop-Up Video running throughout the episode, bringing me back to some Chikara tape I bought 15 years ago.

Mace Li vs. Jesse Adler

PAS: This match happened before Adler won the TV title, on the same show as Arik Royal v. Snooty Fox. These guys train together and clearly have some stuff worked out, but it is still the same Adler match which has been boring me for a couple of months now. He does some good bodypart selling, and if he could develop some decent offense he could do something with that, but as of now his TV title reign is dragging down the show each week.

ER: Yeah I'm beyond over this. Every freaking week with these Adler matches. That standing shooting star is easily one of the worst looking finishers in wrestling. There are plenty of guys doing the same kind of stuff, only gracefully executing it and landing it without looking like they're dragging themselves out of a creek. And that spinning back elbow/fist to the mid section has to go. I am so in the weeds on Adler.

Trevor Lee/Ric Converse vs. Lee Valiant/Aric Andrews

PAS This is an impromptu tag after Andrews interrupts a Lee promo. This is before the Andrew gimmick change, and I loved the sleazy Andrews and Valiant tag team. There is some fun crowd brawling to open including Lee dumping Valiant head first into a garbage can. Converse and Valiant have had a long history (one of the cool things about the pop up video gimmick is all of the history stuff, Valiant and Converse worked a one hour iron man!) and worked well with each other. Fun energetic tag with plenty of shtick.

ER: Man I miss bearded Andrews. It's cruel showing us this older match, with skeezy bearded Andrews, in his great team with Valiant. Man I'd love to see these two with the tag belts. But as cruel as it was, they could give me a hot 7 minute tag like this every week and I'd keep coming back for more. Valiant was awesome here, and he's a guy who needs to be featured more (and was clearly a bigger name in the "pre-TV" era of CWF). He knew just how to work to every age level of this hot Chapel Hill crowd, knew to comically kick his legs a bunch when Lee dumps him in a trash can as kids squeal with delight, but knows how to throw hard shots and bump big to get the adults into everything. Valiant takes a huge spill to the gym floor from the ring, and then gets awesome height on a big time Sky High from Converse, and really sticks himself on a DDT. Trevor Lee is in full gym shorts and tiny boots and I always like that Lee, and teaming with Converse is a natural fit. I second Phil with enjoying all the pop up history, really helps me fill in blanks and backstory. And finding out Lee was only 15 in 2009 made me feel old. as. hell.

Nick Iggy vs. Chet Sterling

PAS: This was fine, both guys are solid wrestlers, it was a bit hammy though. Iggy is a really expressive heel and Sterling is really expressive babyface and having two guys on 10 like that, got a little theatre kidish, I need one guy to play it a bit cool. I did enjoy the Pop Up Video run down of all of Iggy's terrible pun nicknames, Grin Balor? CM Hunk? Oof.

ER: I liked the running gag of half the match being taken up by Iggy's nicknames. And I really want to see Dandy Orton now. Just a foppish powder wig upper crust dandy, but with sinister date rape eyes. It would be difficult to pull off. Not many people have Orton's naturally rape-y brand of charisma, and of those people I'm sure even fewer of them would be caught dead in powder makeup, a trim blouson, or knickers. But it's right there for the taking. The Pop-Ups take a darker turn as they reveal that Iggy has an obsession with Jeffrey Dahmer, which is probably something to keep off your Tinder profile. You don't see Uber drivers listing Ted Bundy as someone they admire. The match itself I thought was good, really fun, and I didn't really notice a lot of the hammy aspects. Iggy takes a great DDT on a show where I thought Valiant was guaranteed to have taken the nastiest DDT, his fishhook camel clutch was nasty, and I thought Iggy especially was really lacing in shots down the stretch. I thought he looked great during the strike exchange, throwing a few different great strikes (nice big punch, sharp elbow, big slashing overhand chop), although Sterling has a habit of pulling away from his own strikes, whiffing on a couple of elbows that were meant to be cut-off spots, and holding back on a yakuza kick. Iggy was great at getting into people's faces, a gal who no sells him and a little kid that jumps, and we build to a great dive from Sterling that levels Iggy (after he had just bumped big to the floor) and threatens to crash into the front row, but damn if every person in CWF is great about keeping their fans safe. Fun match, fun concept show.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 133

Episode 133

1. Jesse Adler vs. Ivan Ali

PAS: Ali is a really big guy, maybe 6'6 or 6'7, and used his size nicely although is clearly really green. I write this every week, but the Adler push continues to befuddle me. He had a nice baseball slide counter to getting whipped into the ropes, but outside of that, it is all bad looking highflying offense which barely connects. That 450 splash gets no height at all, and it looks like he is going to crack his patella one day. There are five or six guys in this RGL tourney, who I would rather see with this belt.

ER: This is my first time seeing Ali and it's pretty clear from just this match that if he wants to make it in  wrestling, he'll make it in wrestling. As Phil noted he's a big guy, tall with some size, and already has a good build. He's already got good offense, with nice long arm chops and tight forearms, delayed spinebuster, great falling clothesline, big fallaway slam, a good base of offense. Adler remains a true mystery. He did a couple things I liked, I thought his inside legs kicks were a smart strategy, and his flip over mule kick after sliding into the corner was timed great and looked smooth. Everything else looked landed somewhere on a sliding scale of "light and soft at best" to "looked terrible" at worst. His strikes all look bad, but there was a particular bad spinning backfist to Ali's stomach that just....wow. The 450 was sloppy, landed short, looked bad, the crossbodies looked like they wouldn't break the run through paper at a pep rally. We do write this stuff about him every week, but we reviewing these shows and he's always on, always earning these criticisms. We aren't really given much of a choice.

2. "The Pitbull" Steven Idol vs. Dirty Daddy

PAS: I really liked this, I have never seen Idol before, but he has a nasty hard hitting style, reminded me a lot of a smaller Rodney Mack. Didn't do anything super fancy, but every blow he landed had force behind it. Daddy is great at these short forceful sprints, and these guys really slugged it out. I loved Idol's sell of the brainbuster, really looked like he broke his neck.

ER: This was really great. I'd not seen Pitbull before and came away impressed, and I always come away impressed by Daddy. Pitbull threw nice shots including a great left hand in the corner, and I loved his elbow drop off the middle rope, just a heavy falling elbow that landed precise. Rodney Mack is a good comparison, this guy is like Rodnito Mack. Daddy always shows up and I always come away amazed by the force he gets with his shots. That standing lariat packed an incredible wallop and his running elbows are always well placed. I like the fireman's carry airplane spin into a brainbuster, disorient your opponent and then dump him on his head, mean.

3. Mace Li vs. Metallico

PAS: Good chance to see Li get a showcase match. He has been mostly been used as the comedy jobber of the All-Stars, but he had some fun offense here. There was a point where Metalico went for a tope and Li just wasted him with a jumping kick to the head. I also liked some of his joint manipulation. Metalico had some highspots which he barely pulled off, he might be better off as a tackling dummy for now.

ER: This is the annoying part of the review where Phil watched the show first, and everything that I want to point out about matches he has already pointed out. There's a benefit to being the first to watch something and I am being punished for my feet dragging. All that to just say that I also really liked Li's awesome pop up apron kick to block a Metallico dive. "Block a dive with a strike" is a thing we see in indy wrestling a lot now and it's tough to make it look good. Usually we see a guy noticeably slow down and poke his head through to get hit. The timing has to be precise, so you aren't expecting the spot to happen. You have to believe the dive is going to happen, and it's tough to turn off all your body tells knowing you're going to get kicked in the face. But this looked great. Li popped up and winged a kick at Metallico's head and Metallico did and awesome recoil. I liked Metallico's smooth lucha headscissors and Li's cool work around the elbow, and it was nice seeing Li presented as something other than "weakest member of his team". Satisfying stuff.

4. Mike Mars vs. Kool Jay

PAS: They are building more and more to a Cool J win, as he had his moments in this match, using his speed to squirm away from Mars multiple times. Of course he could only avoid him so long, and ends up getting smushed. Cool J lands so awkwardly on his bumps, it always looks like a car crash.

ER: Awwww yeah, real body Khal Drogo versus my favorite crash test dummy. I now get really excited when I see Kool Jay on the lineup, and I love how we've seen him 4 or 5 times now and each time he lasts a little longer, has gone from getting zero offense to at least throwing some kicks and evading, and continues to die for our pleasure. CL Party even mentions that people on twitter post about him dying and I hope that she was referring to me saying RIP Kool Jay with that gif of Donnie Dollars introducing him to his maker. Jay throws a nice dropkick even though Mars brushes it off, and we knew were this would inevitably end up, but I liked that Mars had to appear a bit frustrated when putting him away. Jay takes some wild bumps, even on something simple like getting swatted away he kind of tumbles onto the side of his head. He makes slams look incredible and yeah this was fun. I am going to cheer so hard when he gets a win. Not many people have successfully pulled off the Mikey Whipwreck storyline but I can see it happening here.

5. Movie Myk vs. Big Time Yah

PAS: This was a match up between two guys who have trained with each other, and that familiarity allowed them to pull off some fun stuff. First real look at Yah, and I really dug him, he worked almost like Chico Che, big tubby guy with shocking agility. he had a great rana and cool flip dive along with some athletic roll ups. Mykk worked over the arm nicely and has a nice gimmick with his entourage running interference. I would have liked to see Yah advance and face Mars rather then have this end in a draw, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of both.

ER: I thought this was awesome, took a cool angle for a 10 minute draw, and I think could be qualified as a breakout performance for both guys. Yah appeared way earlier this year on CWF - and looked good - in a short match, and we've seen Myk a few times but always in a tag or trios. Yah is a big powerful dude, and I thought Myk had no shot, until Yah awesomely lariats a ringpost and we get the real story of the match, Yah mostly unable to do any of his throws or power offense, even though he would attempt. Yah was really great selling his arm (hopefully this doesn't continue our trend of praising Negro Casas for his rib selling and Brian Kendrick for his broken face sell of the G2S. If I find out Yah tore his bicep here I swear...), and has some of the coolest big man offense around. Early in the match he hits an amazing huricanrana, and he's great about coming up with offense around an injury: His flying clothesline was practically finisher worthy. I liked Myk's boys running interference, and his manager (I keep forgetting his name...) is really good. Myk actually worked in a couple good filmmaking puns (a heel telling the audience "Quiet on the set!" as he locks in a chinlock is wonderful), and thought his work looked good. I would have preferred an actual finish as both of these two vs. Mars would be really fun (and I have to think CWF will eventually run Yah/Mars), but this was a great 10 minutes of wrestling.

6. Mace Li vs. Dirty Daddy

PAS: This was surprisingly short for a semi final. There was apparently a big feud between Daddy and Mace Maeda, but this wasn't very competitive. Li got in some cheap shots, but Dirty Daddy rolled through this match, and got a relatively easy win. Really liked the staredown between Daddy and Mars, DD can really bring fire to segments like this.

ER: This was fine, but I didn't like how easily Daddy handled Li, one match removed from Li actually looking valuable (granted he was against a tackling dummy, but the Metallico match was a dominant showcase which saw him take hardly any damage). I also didn't think Li looked really good in this one, you'd think he'd want to make a couple shots count if he knew he was being dispatched so easily. Daddy looked predictably good, he really is a legit contender for best clothesline currently in wrestling. His elbows looked good, Li had a nice nearfall moment (with a so-so savate kick), and I thought Daddy's match winning small package looked good. And damn I thought Mars/Daddy was happening on this show. It makes sense to be on BattleCade, but I was geared up. I thought they were giving Mars the quick path to the title, having Yah/Myk take each other out so Mars goes in fresh. Now I'm really pissed we didn't get Mars/Yah on this episode.

7. Trevor Lee vs. Darius Lockhart

PAS: They fade to black and come back with Lee making an open challenge to Lockhart after just watching the action in the audience. This was another really good Lee match, he has been on a roll. This was worked face v. face at the beginning, with a lot of initial stalemated grappling. Like a classic face v. face match tempers flared, and it got pretty nasty by the end. Finish was pretty great with Lockhart screaming at Lee to bring it to him, and they had a pretty great strike exchange, not you forearm me, I forearm you, but both guys throwing and landing at the same time. Lockhart absolutely decimates Lee with clothesline, and gets a close 2.9. When both guys get to their feet Lee offers his hand, when Lockhart takes it, Lee throws him to the ground and cranks an STF for the win. Surprisingly heel move from Lee, I was a little disappointed that Lockhart took the hug and respect arm raise at the end of the match, instead of punishing Lee for his Yakubian trickery. It was a little more Martin then the Malcolm I was expecting.

ER: I thought this was decent, and I always like the "old gym shorts casual Lee challenge" idea. I thought it went a nearfall or two too long, and thought Lockhart moved back to offense pretty quick at the end, but I liked a lot of how they got to that point. The slow build was real good, and I dug the tentative grappling. I like the idea of Lee offering this guy a chance, and then kind of silently regretting doing so and turning up the heat. Him bending around Lockhart's arm and wrist was rough, thought the work from both around a Lockhart headlock was really good, and I love down the stretch when Lee uses the threat of a finger break to open up Lockhart to eat a low superkick. I wonder if Lee has witnessed how willy nilly and awful Marty Scurll's finger break spots are and actually thought of great ways to use them but not go through with them. His use here (and in the Otto Schwanz title match to prevent him breaking the crossface) were perfect. I thought they built to the big spots nicely, though I did think they took kickouts too far. Ending was really fun and tied back into Lee's pre-match promo talking about how he had been watching the Flair 30 for 30 earlier. By hook or by crook, Lee took the opening to betray Lockhart's trust and get the tap. I do wish Lockhart would have told him to fuck off after the match though.

ER: Sorry I've been slacking on these reviews, but we'll get back into the swing of them. This was a fun episode that for whatever reason took me ages to get through. That's on me. And Yah/Myk was really fun and could have finished well up our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List with a decisive finish, as it stands we're still throwing it on there, towards the bottom.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 130

Episode 130

1. Mace Li vs. Snooty Foxx

PAS: I thought this was a really good 5 minute match, by the far the best Li has looked. It was the story of Fox's superior strength versus Li's guile. The spot early on where Fox spinebusters Li into the corner and then cannonballs him was awesome. Li takes over with a DDknee and then works over Fox's knee. Fox did an awesome job selling it, trying to do all of his same moves but a little tentative and awkward, great vulnerable babyface performance, and another quill in Fox's rookie year performance, he has been overshadowed a bit by how legendary Cain Justice's rookie year has been, but Fox has been a strong #2.

ER: What a fun little short story match, super impressive performance from Foxx. Phil makes a good point about how Cain's rookie year has overshadowed Snooty's, it's totally true. Foxx has this assured confidence of someone who has been there longer than he really has, and it makes me forget he is even a rookie at times. Mace Li doesn't do tons for me yet, but I liked half his strikes here. He tried a bunch of different strikes from different angles, and I think that's a pretty smart plan with iffy strikes. You have bad corner punches? Weak punches from mount? No worries, through in some body shots and downward elbows to the traps, doing that makes it all look like part of an aggressive attack where individual strikes don't really matter as much. Snooty's knee selling was great. Before that we get that awesome corner spinebuster with the huge rolling hip attack, so Li wisely works to flatten Snooty's tires. Snooty climbing the buckles with a weakening knee actually had me inch forward in my seat, dude's selling was so good it was making me picture a horrific Sid scenario. The more I think about this match the more I like it.

ER: Can't believe Phil didn't mention the Aric Andrews shaved face comedy politician vignette. I'll say, on its face, I don't like it. I liked the Lee/Andrews dynamic that we had. Andrews suddenly being Bob Backlund stumping for a title shot seems like a big step back. Add to that, he had an awesome look with that beard. Now suddenly he shows up with no beard, and goes from looking like a pill dealing Black Crowes roadie to looking like Tim Robbins in High Fidelity. Jesse Adler coming back has just gone and messed everything up.

2. Michael McAllister vs. Nick Richards

PAS: I loved this match. It was an old fashioned potato fest, reminded me of some of the great Ian Rotten matches from IWA-MS, just a pair of guys laying in meaty chops and forearms, no leg slapping here all of the sound was thudding impact. Every shot felt like it was a little deeper and nastier then you would expect. I really dug the story of Richards constantly going for the cutter and getting cut off in nasty ways, at one point McAllister pegs him in the back of the head. I also really liked all of the work around the Cobra Clutch.  Richards also takes a couple of crazy bumps to the floor because he is nuts. This is the first chance I have had to see McAllister since we started watching CWF, and he was great, he does a good job of seeming nuts without overdoing the facial expressions.

ER: Man what a great fight. McAllister hasn't done a lot for me in the year we've spent watching, but it also feels like even though we've seen in him in several matches, we haven't really seen him. He was in a goofus gimmick in a tag team where his partner SIS outshone him, he's been in pull aparts and rumbles and multimans, this is I think the only actual singles match we've seen. And what a way to debut! Both guys are rocking a good pudge, McAllister has a grumpy mug like scowling Patton Oswalt, and Richards keeps trying to escape with a cutter. Every time he goes for that damn cutter McAllister makes him PAY and that's the whole match, and that's all the match you need. These two both land with some thump here, and I loved how we started with both a little tentative, both making fists but knowing that once it starts, it's on...and once we're on we never look back. Richards takes a nice backdrop, and McAllister starts landing heavy elbows and palm strikes to Richards' head and nose. They brawl all over without it ever seeming like a brawl, if that makes sense. It felt like Richards was always trying to veer this to the finish of a wrestling match, but McAllister kept immediately derailing him. The stuff on the floor was great, with Richards missing a dive (and I know I point this out a lot, but the guys here are such pros that they keep the family vibe during crazy matches without taking away from the match: Richards takes this huge missed dive bump while not making any of the regulars need to scramble out of the way) and McAllister splats him with a splash off the apron. Every time one of them turned their back on the other they paid for it, with McAllister running into boots and knees or Richards getting caught with elbows, a nice sliding lariat, and a nasty cobra clutch. This whole thing had meanness running throughout, and I love that they never hammered any kind of redemption story for McAllister, just let the action speak.

PAS: Ethan Sharpe gives a pretty great promo about losing the iron man rumble record, and how that was his big achievement. Serious Ethan Sharpe is pretty great.

3. Arik Royal vs. Chet Sterling

PAS: Really great match, easily the best Sterling match (at least tied with the Logan Easton Laroux match I saw live) I have seen. Sterling comes into the match with tape on his neck from being jumped by Brad Attitude at the Rumble, and Royal even calls him out on it at the beginning of the match. With Mark Henry basically retired, Royal is the best in ring shit talker in wrestling, and he is at peak form here as he takes apart Sterling's neck. I loved him just shoving Sterling awkwardly into the rope to take control, and the big ring apron powerbomb was a great huge move, and I loved the Coach and Jerry Carey raising his hands victoriously in the ring. Same with Royals low tackle which sent Sterling flying into the camera man. Couple of minor quibbles, I really liked how Sterling's blown dive worked in the context of the match, but they really should have audibled and delayed his comeback a bit, here he violently crashes on a blown dive, but still moves right into the planned comeback. I also really am lukewarm on Sterling's offense, he is a great seller and underdog babyface, but then he comes back with these lame half nelson suplexes where he barely lifts Royal at all. I also thought it maybe went one kick out too much, that powerbomb near the end was super brutal and probably should have ended it. Still a great Royal performance and some great Sterling selling and a really nifty main event.

ER: WOW this was a blowaway great match. I just got back from seeing a great noisy violent show (the screaming high energy of METZ with killer band Moaning opening for them in Portland) and I came back from the cold and threw this match on and was treated to a different kind of violence. Before the match Royal points out Sterling's bright red kinesio tape and yells out "You just gave me a target!" We've all seen guys work over a knowingly injured body part, but rarely do we get a heel calling his shot right before the match. And man does that neck get targeted in some nasty ways. Royal does something that more wrestlers should do, but you somehow don't see enough: use the ropes. Finlay was someone who was really great at using the ring as a weapon, but it's not something you see outside of apron spots thrown often awkwardly into matches. You don't even see anyone using a hotshot anymore. But early on Royal violently throws Sterling backwards into the bottom and middle ropes, and from there I knew I was going to love this. Royal used the ropes to cross Sterling up with rope running, throwing him through the ropes and to the floor (which later gets used against him), and then doing an actual apron spot that added to the match, brutally powerbombing him into the apron (with his neck hitting the bottom rope). Sterling couldn't be kept down but his comebacks always felt smart and fit nicely within the match. I actually liked his half nelson suplexes, as he really shouldn't be able to lift Royal that much, and they weren't treated like killshots but more like hard takedowns. I also liked how Royal didn't take them on his neck. No need to. Royal keeps working in shots to the neck, even Gemini sneaks in a shot on the floor. Sterling gave a great gritty performance, stumbling around, bringing fight, hitting a nice senton off the apron after Royal misses his Thesz press. But Royal is one nasty MF and he absolutely wrecks Sterling with a sick powerbomb. That powerbomb really should have been the finish, and watching it back you can really see Sterling's head whip. Gross spot. But Royal has tons of great offense and looked like a mega star here, and Sterling's performance really kept me into this beyond just being a great Royal singles. This match was just what I wanted and then some, the kind of stuff that makes me recommend CWF to everybody.

ER: On paper I didn't think too much of this show. It didn't look bad but wasn't something I was rushing home from work to watch. And it might be the under the radar best hour of wrestling TV of the year. The opener was a hot 5 minutes with a great powerful-but-vulnerable babyface, we got a killer slugfest in McAllister/Richards, a great promo after that match from Cain Justice and Ethan Sharpe, and then a 20 minute main event that stands up to some of the best main events of any fed this year. This episode slayed, McAllister/Richards and Royal/Sterling are easy additions to our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List, and I can't say enough nice things about these guys. I gotta get my butt to the Sportatorium in 2018.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 129

Episode 129

1. Mike Mars vs. Metallicon

ER: Ugh Metallico? I hated his pants (with belt!), hated his stupid soft flipping bumps. He should have left in a body bag. I think Mars was too kind. But I like Mars' look and presence and really look forward to him having a hoss war with someone. Mars vs. Mecha or a match-up with Justice sound really good right now.

PAS: I had no problem with Metallico (or is it Metallicon? Youtube has it one way, Stuttsy said it another), he took a horrid bump on the big boot and landed unfortunately on that spinebuster, he is no Cool J, but I love that CWF-MA has a stable of jobbers willing to die.

2. Otto Schwanz vs. Chris "TNT" Taylor

ER: I had never seen Taylor before, and he seemed to tire out pretty early into this match. It's fine, as the match wasn't very long, but it didn't do much to make me want to see more of him. He did an ugly famouser and looked like he was breathing heavy getting up on the second turnbuckle. The headlock sequences were fun and I love the facials Otto makes while giving and receiving headlocks. Him administering a headlock is the best as he'll throw in rabbit shots to the back of the head and look crazed, and then while Taylor turns the tables Otto gets this funny distant look in his eyes like "this guy is trying this on ME?" We build to Otto catching an axe handle with a bearhug, and he plants him with a nice spinebuster to finish (Stuck him!).

PAS: I will pretty much enjoy Otto in anything, but this tested the limits. Taylor is in the bottom tenth of guy on CWF, those second rope axehandles looked terrible, and his cardio was pretty bad. Schwanz was fun, and he cracked him with that spinebuster. Nothing to see here, keep moving.

ER: Andrews and Valiant come out to try and bully Stutts and a kid dressed as Randy Savage into giving him his title shot rematch. Stutts says that it was actually Andrews who said that Stutts shouldn't decide who gets TV title matches, and I don't think I realized that the "name out of the hat" defense was because of Andrews. We get some fun back and forth with Valiant and Andrews jawing about how their names probably aren't even in the bucket, and the best part was easily Andrews silently mean mugging the kid when he didn't draw his name. I need to learn how to make GIFs just to get Andrews stoic reaction while staring at the kid. Though this just further illustrates how much more I'd rather see regular Andrews/Valiant appearances instead of what they got replaced with.

3. Jesse Adler vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe

ER: This was another in a continuing trend of awesome Sharpe performances, and in the first actual full match I've seen from Adler I was still left underwhelmed. Adler has a lot of  that offense that requires his opponent to run at him in just a certain way. Sometimes the stuff looks good (I liked his little sliding kick in the corner), other times it looks phony. But luckily, Sharpe is a real son of a bitch here, and it makes the match mostly work. Once Sharpe starts attacking the leg we get gold, starting with him grabbing those knees and slamming them patella first into the apron. Man that looked painful. Sharpe was really great with the knee work, I especially loved this low dropkick he did off the ropes: It was so fast and low and precise and violent, genuinely looked like it upended Adler. The longer this went the more I wanted a Sharpe victory. I mean, I wanted a Sharpe victory the moment his name was pulled and he told Andrews to "take his tall ass to the back". But man the brief Adler comeback was really awful, with Sharpe missing a telegraphed elbow and Adler hitting one of those standing shooting star presses that barely make any contact, and look more like Adler slipped on icy steps and landed on his face. This TV title reign is a huge mistake so far.

PAS: I actually thought most of Adler's performance in this was fine. The match mainly called for him to sell a bad knee and he did a nice job. A lot of the cool offense by Sharpe depended on Adler taking creative bumps on the knee, I loved how he dropped knee first on Sharpe's low dropkick. Unfortunately Adler's dated highflyer offense kills matches dead, if you are going to work as an indy highflyer in 2017 you need more then Queenan Creeds move set and execution, that kick/shooting star press combo is rough. Adler should really watch some Kyle Matthews matches, focus on simple stuff and selling and execute it well, he would be much better off with a second rope splash and a dropkick then that goofus kick and no height shooting star. Sharpe has really turned a corner, he is such a fervent asskicker now, he honestly should shave the look at me moustache and dump the "I'm a rich guy" gimmick and just be an asskicker, he has moved past the bush league stuff.

4. Arik Andrews vs. Cam Carter

ER: Fun match with some nice moving parts. You had Lee Valiant cheating on the floor while avoiding Adler. Carter is a good babyface and would have been a more interesting choices as TV champ. We could make a pretty substantial list of CWF guys who would have been more interesting. Carter hits a big flip dive on Andrews and Valiant, later Valiant sweeps his legs on the apron. Andrews isn't a guy with a lot of offense,being capitalizing on guys missing moves or grabbing them by the tights to throw them through the ropes or into a turnbuckle, things like that. I seem to always like those guys. Though I really wish if they were fine with Andrews getting beat, that they would have just actually let the person winning the title beat him in a competitive match. I always hate the surprise flash pin title change. Anyway, we get more great "Are you fucking kidding me?" Andrews face after the match, which almost makes up for this.

PAS: It was a mistake to have a Cam Carter match right after pushing Adler as a highflyer. Everything Carter does has so much more explosion and height then anything Adler does. These guys match up really well, I liked the pace shifts with Carter wanting to go fast and Andrews slowing it down, it is like watching a fast break team like the Warriors play the Memphis Grizzlies. Really liked the way Carter kept escaping the asphalt spike and the finish was really well executed.

5. Mace Li/Arik Royal vs. Sandwich Squad

ER: Quality main, with the Squad chopping and squishing Mace Li. At one point Mecha goes to chop him and you can hear Mace go "Not again!" before his chest gets caved in. Mecha is really great, arguably the best big fat guy we get to see on a regular basis (as sadly the big fat guy appears to be dying off in pro wrestling, which is beyond stupid), he throws big meaty shots and gets good speed on avalanches, and when he bumps you really see his body settle and the ring shake. Arik Royal plays this match with a great detached cockiness, so it totally works when he makes bugged out faces taking a backdrop, drops a smirking elbow on Biggs' side, or he's coldly uppercutting Biggs with a brass knux shot to the back of the head. I've never seen Mace Maeda so I didn't get any of the clear inside jokes about Li/Maeda, but I liked Li's bat shots on the floor as a way to get Mecha out of the match. Finish was good, involving everyone, with Biggs hitting an awesome crossbody to get what probably could have been a 30 count, Gemini distracts the ref and the knux get thrown in, CLvira gets the knux, but Royal gets them (or another pair?) and clocks Biggs. The Squad hasn't really had any classic tags yet, but I don't think there's a match they've had that I haven't fully enjoyed.

PAS: Man did I love Royal in this, he is one of the best guys in the world at combining stooging and violence, he really reminds me of a prime Arn Anderson. He is great at furiously complaining about the match and cringing as Li gets smacked, and then he flips the switch and lays into the Sandwich Squad, his running tackle right into Mecha was awesome, it was like a compact car running into a aquarium full of jello. Also the uppercut with the knuckles was as good a knuckle shot as I can remember seeing. Li was their to take a beating, and he was great at wincing at every huge open hand chop, and brutally eats a Mecha clothesline which was almost Hansenesque.

ER: Also, shout out to CLvira Party. This was a pretty big role for her to have throughout the show and I thought it was consistently amusing. The Elvira intro was good, and I liked her during the apple bobbing segment. If this ever builds to some kind of mixed tag with her and Jarray Caray on opposing sides, I'm game.

PAS: That was a really great Elvira impression, which is kind of strange. How old is CL Party? I am 41 and Elvira was really a reference that was a little old for me, seems strange for a girl in her 20s to have such a pitch perfect Elvira impression in her tool box

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 125

Episode 125

1. Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Bellamy Koga

PAS: Bellamy Koga is a Jimmy Valiant trainee working a kicker/MMA gimmick. I just imagine Boogie Woogie Man going "You got to work towards the triangle out of the rubber guard Daddy!!" Koga has a couple of nice kicks, but looks lost in parts too. Sharpe is a pro, and this was fine, but Koga isn't a guy I necessarily need to see more of.

ER: Boogie training a kickboxer is a pretty amusing premise, and he seemed good enough. He briefly left Sharpe out to dry on a couple of spots and had a quickly executed but dated kick combo, but I think the best thing in his favor was that his missed kicks were really good. He really gunned for Sharpe on a couple missed kicks, one roundhouse and one while Sharpe was on the apron. A lot of indy kickpad strikers go on autopilot when it's their turn to whiff, Koga seemed to miss with purpose. That gives me hope for his future. I also like how he took a big hard splat on a monkey flip. Sharpe looked good, liked his flat foot boot to Koga's chest, he currently has the best jawbreaker in wrestling, and he gave Koga every chance to shine.

2. “Tank Engine” Thomas Munos vs. Cain Justice 

PAS: Tank Engine is a big bulky guy with lots of energy, but his stuff was very hit or miss. Sometimes his shots landed with a thud, sometimes they wiffed. Cain has gotten good enough that he can work a match around a rookie with some energy, and this had some really moments of excitement, including some nasty arm work like Cain throwing a big knee with Munos, arm trapped in the ropes, and the built to Munos big spear nearfall well. Not a great match in the grand scheme of things, but a feather in Cain's cap.

ER: I liked this more than Phil and didn't really see the problems he had with Thomas the Tank Engine. He's not a tall guy, but the undersized hoss is an underrepresented wrestling style, and I thought he pulled it off. Cain is always good at being overwhelmed and I liked Munos' power offense, especially his torpedo shoulderblock (which lead to a nice missed one into the turnbuckles later). But obviously Cain on offense is money, and I loved the way he started dismantling the Tank: stomping on his ankle, kicking his arm while it was tied in the ropes, working like a bully but a bully who is vulnerable to being overpowered. Finish was nice with a simple Cain superkick to the back of Munos' head, another reminder of how respectful CWF is to moves that should be finishers.

3. The All-Stars (Arik Royal/Roy Wilkins/Mace Li) vs. Allie Cat/Snooty Foxx/Jesse Adler

PAS: Alley Cat is a lady wrestler doing kind of a hipster roller derby girl kind of gimmick, she gets picked by the All-Stars to be the representative from the training seminar. She brings out Foxx and Adler who is an ex-RGL champ who has been on the shelf for a year. Sort of a tale of two matches with the Foxx v. Royal and Wilkins parts being really good, that is a great feud and this was a good setup to the Chapel Hill return next week. The parts with Adler and Alley Cat were less successful, Adler is a junior highflyer who's stuff looks way less crisp and impressive then other guys in the same role in this fed (Ian Maxwell, The Ducks, Tracer X), I will give him the benefit of the doubt coming off the long layoff, but he didn't show me much. Cat had some shtick, but her offense looked weak and the All-Stars were really overselling it, I buy SIS throwing german suplexes on men, because they look good and she looks strong and the guys are little, Alley Cat german suplexing a beast like Arik Royal just looks silly.

ER: This one was a bit of a let down. I think the All-Stars are too generous with everyone, and I don't think Mace Li is a very good fit with them (even if this is a one match thing. I think this was the weakest Snooty appearance since we've been reviewing the shows. He seemed off in a few spots. Allie Kat I'd never seen, and I like her committment. She worked well on the apron and hit a really good senton...but yeah she shouldn't ever be suplexing Arik Royal. I am with Phil on Adler's offense (and really don't like that low backfist to the stomach he did a couple times), we already have guys in the fed who do this stuff better. But I thought he excelled at taking offense, and eating a beating in a convincing way is important. So I liked the stretches of him building to comeback, but overall felt the match didn't do enough with the time it was given.

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