CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 149

Episode 149

Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Cain Justice vs. Michael McAllister/Nick Richards

ER: This starts out as a fairly genial, crowd pleasing house show match, the kind where you can see it continuing this way and being a match where Cain and E# show ass the whole match, or one that has a turn in the middle with the heels finally taking it to our 90s Create-A-Wrestler-Singleted duo. So we start amusing, with Sharpe not getting anything rolling, and we have fun house show moments like Richards booing Sharpe from the crowd. I should note that I also really love not just the Chapel Hill crowds, but the giant mural on the wall that often shows up in shots; front and center is a little girl smiling and reading a book, but she's wearing something bright white, and the design always tricks my eyes into thinking it's a big white beard. So this girl looks like Black Jesus holding a giant tome, or Grady from Sanford and Son. It brings joy every time I see it. Anyway, match gets really fun once Cain and Sharpe isolate Richards. Those two are so good at working a crowd like this, and Sharpe keeps adding fun new simple offense that fits his personality (the wind-up elbow drop that ends with him posed over Richards is a keeper), and his 12-6 elbows while standing over a seated Richards looked nasty. Cain throws a bunch of nice kicks, makes me laugh by sticking out his foot for Sharpe to tag in, and always impressed me with how quickly he can get from the ring out to the floor. I also like how he kind of cockily rubs his belly while trash talking opponents. Once you see it you can't unsee it! McAllister trips on his hot tag, so makes up for it by pasting our heels with forearms, hard lariats, and a big back elbow. Sharpe misses his KO uppercut, really swung hard for McAllister's jaw, and Cain makes the cutter look like a worthy finish. Fun match.

PAS: Great example of a formula southern tag, and what a great formula that is. Both Cain and Ethan are great as shit stirring heels. Cain can really stir up a crowd, and is great at flipping the switch between bumbling and vicious. He had some great kicks and stomps. I really dug McAllister's hot tag, he tripped going into the ring, but makes up for it, by throwing some really spudsy clotheslines. I also really dug McAllister's STO which planted Sharpe on Cain. Hargraves Community Center crowds are the best in wrestling and it was fun to watch them do this dance in front of this crowd.

Aric Andrews vs. KL3

ER: Andrews has some facial scruff back and there's no sign of that ponytail wearing smooth faced weirdo who was hanging around CWF for several months pretending to be Andrews. And I'm sorry to KL3 and his family, but Andrews needed a TV win like this. We get GOOD Andrews, dropping high elbows down across KL3's neck, knocking over ref Charles and pointing at Charles to watch it, hitting a great classic kneedrop, holding those hands over the head and then bringing that whole body into a crunch as his knee drops onto KL3's temple, and finishing things off with a couple of big uranage slams. Sinister Aric Andrews is back, and he's got that Golden Ticket!

PAS: Total squash for Andrews, and he looked good, that knee to the temple was brutal. KL3 looked awful, his 15 seconds of offense had no impact at all, including one of the worst kicks to the stomach I can remember, he also bumps really awkwardly on the Asphalt Spike. I am all for Andrew's squashes, but KL3 needs another couple of months in the training center before going back on TV.

Chapel Hill Street Fight: Arik Royal vs. Snooty Foxx

ER: I'm already well beyond hyped just watching the entrances of both men. Royal entrances are maybe my favorite in wrestling (and I'm the guy who writes about Metalico), a real crowd worker. I remember a Norm MacDonald story where he worked the WHCD while Clinton was president, and after his set he was backstage eating a pickle. Clinton comes in and works the room, one person at a time, saying something different to each person, and gets to Norm, shakes his hand and says, "I see you have a pickle" and keeps on going to the next person before Norm can even process what was said. It's not groundbreaking stuff, but it's a person to person unique touch. So Royal goes around the ring, he's waving his big Duke flag (so I know Phil is into this, big Duke supporter, not their sports teams, just their general vibe), he's getting into it with individual fans, mocking one guy with baller motions, making bug eyes at a little girl, purposely whiffing a high 5 with an even smaller kid, making fun of a woman's hair, simple making the rounds stuff you can tell he loves. Snooty comes out and it's night and day, people are overjoyed just to slap hands with him. The fans in Chapel Hill treat Snooty likes he just showed up at the cookout thrown in honor of him finishing his tour of duty serving our country. It's the best.

And this brawl totally delivered. Both guys brought it and were able to work a full 30 minute match without any drag, all while giving us a detailed site map of the Hargraves Community Center. And the cool thing about this brawl was that I dug the in-ring stuff as much as the wild crowd brawl. If it hasn't happened already, this just might be the official Snooty Foxx coming out party. Dude is here, he keeps getting better, and I get the feeling crowds anywhere would have been going bananas for him. Royal stalls to start, leading to Foxx rushing him with a hard forearm shiver, slingshots him into the ring, and then puts on a show by hitting turnbuckle 10 count punches on him all around the ring. Foxx has genuinely great 10 count punches, which is by far one of the hardest punches in wrestling to perfect. Snooty even hits a super early powerslam, with a great battle over whether Royal would slip out of it or not. We go through the crowd and it's all good stuff, love these two hitting each other hard in front of kids, Royal gets tossed through some chairs and kids are running up trying to touch him, merch table gets messed up, and you know we're going to go outside. They fight up on the trailer they use to haul the ring, and it should be noted that Cecil Scott and Smith Garrett were really great on commentary for the duration of the match, but really excelled during the outdoor portions. "Pretty sure we're getting shoplifted while we're out here, not for nothing." "That's a sturdy 1983 vehicle too, that thing is hard as hell" "That's the heartbeat of America right there." "So here's a recap, Arik Royal just hit a child with another human being." Royal throws Snooty off the flat bed just right into the huge crowd of fans that had gathered around. Foxx looked like he was stage diving, just a low fast dive right through a bunch of people, totally crazy looking. They both take great bumps into the fence around the baseball diamond, Royal finds an old hose and does some great chokes on Snooty, even drags him back into the building with that damn hose. Snooty takes a great beating, eats a couple shots with a shovel that Coach brought in, gets one of Coach's batting helmets busted over his head, and we should also note that Royal is someone who understands how to dress for a street fight. I want an action figure of "Street Fighter Arik Royal", complete with Duke flag. Snooty's comebacks are all excellently spaced out, and we get a great near fall that ended with Coach diving onto Redd Jones with his whole body to stop the count. Snooty clearing ring on the All Stars was primo fan stuff, taking them out with a huge dive off the top, hitting his nice one armed spear (so many guys would make that look trash, and he makes it look like a kill shot), and Royal gets perfectly in position to take a top rope bulldog face first into a chair. You know the knux come into play, and while I wish Snooty really waylaid Royal with the final blow, both sold it perfectly. Awesome, awesome match. These Chapel Hill shows are always a big ol' bank full of money. They're the heartbeat of America.

PAS: This is the way wrestling used to be, hot crowd disinterested in seeing MOTY candidates, instead totally invested in watching a beloved babyface beatdown a group of cheating jerks. Foxx is an all time great ticket seller, as he has packed the crowd with his entire neighborhood, there are multiple black ladies in their sixties who might be Snooty's great Aunt. Royal is world class at firing up the crowd too, taunting kids, stealing folks hats, talking trash, one of these days a drunk cousin of Snooty is going to take a swing at him. The Duke flag is a classic troll move, but the batting helmet signed by Coach K is another level. Of course that Coach K signed batting helmet gets busted on Snooty's head. The outside stuff was really great, I loved Snooty getting his head slammed in the truck door, and both guys really flew into all the fencing. Arik Royal tossing Snooty into a 4 year old girl could have gone badly, but instead it ended up being great. Everything didn't land as cleanly as you would hope, Snooty is still clearly early in his career, but the old school heatseeking greatness of this match made up for any execution issues.

PAS: We put the street fight pretty high on our 2018 MOTY List and added the tag match to our C+A Cain Justice

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 147

Episode 147

Dos Hombres vs. Michael McAllister/Nick Richards

ER: Dos Hombres are Kamakazi Kid and Matt Smith. Kazi is a guy with a belly who seemingly works the greater NC area under assorted masked gimmicks (we dug his match against Cain Justice as "Number Dad") and Matt Smith is a younger former CWF guy who dropped out of wrestling for awhile. And I dug them both here. McAllister rocks a beard nicely, and Richards has clearly been busting butt to get into shape, he looks 20 pounds lighter than the last time I saw him. I really had no expectations for this tag and came away thinking it was a real blast. Hombres felt like a last minute gimmick but now I'd love to see them in the Kernodle Cup. They both did really cool things, Kazi snaps off a nice rana and hits a nasty headlock takeover, Smith has impressive energy and tosses in some things you don't see enough of, like his running jumping knee to McAllister's back and a weird (and awesome) flipping fistdrop. McAllister and Richards are really gelling as a team, and I love how stoked they seem to be teaming with each other. McAllister hits a big palm strike at one point that turns Kazi inside out (and I'm pretty sure it was just a great worked palm strike, don't think it actually made any contact) and Richards spikes his cutter (I think Kazi made it look more dangerous than anyone so far), just a ton of fun simple tag match. And looking back at what I wrote, it's pretty clear I came away most impressed with Kamakazi Kid (Hombre #1?). He does so many great little things, really talented guy.

PAS: Eric breaking kayfabe by outing masked guys, for shame. I really liked this too, McAllister and Richards are a really fun team, and the Hombres started out as a comedy team, but ended up being really fun.  I loved Rojo River Jack trying for a step up rana and ending up eating a stomach breaker, and Negro Bart's fat guy snap rana was dope. I loved the wheelbarrow cutter finish that Redemption was using, and thought the Hombres were a fun Conquistadores style masked team, I want to see them against everyone now.

Chet Sterling vs. Brad Attitude

ER: What a slaughter! Attitude cuts one of his great Las Vegas poolside interviews about how he's not there and he's in paradise instead, has the Hombres jump Sterling (with Kamakazi taking the big half nelson suplex bump as Sterling comes back), and then Attitude himself comes out in slacks and a dress shirt and just wastes Sterling with his hard rolling travel suitcase. I don't think I've ever seen one of those used as a weapon before, and as I fly down to Phoenix later this week I'll have to keep that in mind. Attitude chucks it - hard - at Sterling's face, really beats him with it. I mean if you're going to debut a non-canon weapon into a pro wrestling ring, you gotta show why it's a weapon. If that was the worst thing that happened to Sterling in this match, he'd be bad off. Sadly, Attitude catches a plancha and rams him painfully into the ringpost, and then hits probably the nastiest apron powerbomb I've seen. There's no great way to land one of those, but this definitely isn't the way you want to land, head whipping hard and body going right into the edge. I've really gotten into Sterling's comebacks, he makes good use of his great right hand, but the second the ref disposes of a chair Attitude boots him low. This has to be setting up a big time No DQ match, and if it even approaches this 4 minute teaser, that match will SLAY.

PAS: Man is Brad Attitudes entire shtick just gold. The whole promo in the pool with Dolph talking about seeing Vince Neil and drinking beers, what a masterful cock that dude is (Brad Attitude video cameos are BY FAR the best things Dolph Ziggler has ever done in his career). The roller bag hurled at Sterlings face was super nasty, as was that apron powerbomb. Hell he did a Kudo Driver as a set up move. Despite my long established Sterling skepticism, the blow off for this feud is going to be awesome.

Donnie Dollars/Otto Schwanz vs. Aaron Biggs/Kool Jay

ER: Oh man I really like the Dollars/Schwanz team! I don't think we've gotten that pairing before and I love it. Otto is fun in this, rolling around and acting like a kook, and Dollars is probably my favorite underutilized CWF guy. But what sets this match apart is THAT moment. I already thought this episode HAD that moment, maybe a couple of those moments, from Attitude destroying Sterling. You know, one of those moments that makes you exclaim out loud while watching something by yourself. This match is going along fine and then then Jay gets whipped across the ring...straight into an Aaron Biggs avalanche. Jay runs into Biggs like an Eagles fan trying to catch a train, just totally takes the wind out of the room. Awesome moment that was totally unexpected within the match. The reactions from Dollars and Otto are classic, both laughing in stunned amusement at the flattener and the flattened. And we get a nice and long and active control segment from my new immediately favorite tag team, with Dollars dropping some big heavy legs and his patented Kool Jay-destroying bodyslam, Otto snapping off quick elbow drops and squishing Jay with a bearhug, and Kool Jay - you heard it here - is a guy who will absorb a beating. He fights back with what he can, throwing nice body blows at Otto (that get mostly ignored) and really running face first into Otto's boot, propped up in the corner. Dollars and Otto are fun to watch deliver a long beating, Jay makes a long beating go quick. I do wish there was more of a match after the Biggs hot tag though. Jay hits a big stunner on Dollars and gets the tag, Biggs flattens Dollars with the Thesz press, and Jay takes a bit too long hitting the winning frog splash. The ending was a little too neat of a bow, and while it was pushed as a big deal that Jay pinned Dollars, it felt a bit like Cornette tagging in to get the pin after Eaton hits the Alabama Jam.

PAS: Really fun tag team, every time Dollars is in the ring with Kool Jay it is tinged by the horror of that powerslam chokeslam thing he did to him last year. The announcers never mention it, but for me it hovers over the entire match, Kool Jay then eats the accidental Thesz press and it comes off nearly as insane and violent, it felt like surprise car accident in a PSA about wearing seatbelts. A lot of the recent Kool Jay stuff has been based around his offense, which is fine, but his insane bumping is what makes him special. I liked the beatdown by Dollars and Otto and the finish was fine, but I am not sure how many more defining moments Kool Jay needs, is pinning Donnie Dollars in a tag  a bigger deal then beating Mike Mars for a title (a match that has been blackholed), it isn't like Dollars has been kept strong.

Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Ric Converse


ER: Fun unique match-up, with Cain being a great equalizer on the floor for Sharpe. Converse is a really great heavyweight, throwing big hands, great big boot, muscled Sharpe through a powerslam, all his stuff looking real good. I love Sharpe going for his big KO uppercut the second Converse is distracted by Cain, and Sharpe brings a nice attack to Converse, especially liked the draping elbow over the ropes, ending with Sharpe casually resting and posing over the middle rope/Converse. There appeared to be some shenanigans as I noticed a cut in the match - and I usually don't notice subtle clips - but Cain was helping Converse back in the ring, and we get a camera cut and Converse is draped over the bottom rope. The finish is a fun bit or horse business, with the ref KO'd Cain pump kicks Converse in the chest and Sharpe gets the roll up. I really loved how Ric sold the pump kick, like he had been poisoned and was just now realizing his heart beat was changing.

PAS: This was fun stuff, Sharpe has really developed into an effective offensive wrestler, and I actually buy his offense hurting Converse. Cain is nearly as great on the floor as he is in the ring, and the pump kick interference was pretty awesome looking. I am looking forward to seeing more of this tag team, although it does seem like a bit of a side draining of Cain who really should be feuding with Trevor Lee over the title at this point.

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BCW/CWF Mid-Atlantic Tap Out Cancer 11/12/17

ER: I saw the full show got posted online (Lee/White Mike, the 4 way, and CW/James aired on CWF TV) and the rest of the card was super intriguing (especially that main event!) that I figured I'd check it all out. This will all surely lead to me doing a NC road trip and doing a road report. I really love the scene they have there and need to start documenting as much of it as is available.

 Chris "TNT" Taylor vs. Beastly Brody

ER: Perfectly acceptable match on a card like this. I've not seen Brody before but he works a little more like Barbaro Cavenario than Bruiser Brody, and an American indy Barbaro would be a welcome thing (although this one has a little more respect for his knees). Taylor is getting there and would probably be better if he dropped some unnecessary flourishes; just focus on throwing a decent lariat or punch, not the 360 spin before the punch or lariat. Both guys do some things I like, Brody commits on a splash and has good energy.

Snooty Foxx vs. Tre G

ER: Pretty simple match with G trying to go toe to toe early, running into a lariat and Snooty's great leaping back elbow, then spending the rest of the match trying to cheat or trying to get Foxx to make a mistake. G is good at stooging into Foxx offense, like jawing with fans leading to him turning around into a side slam. I like how Foxx keeps things simple. There are too many large rookies that get into wrestling now and want to learn a standing moonsault. Foxx is learning more valuable skills like how to be a large guy but still sell convincingly. The end got a little silly with G's second interfering from the floor, leading to a kind of missed ball shot, then some fine fake weapon hiding that Foxx kicks out of. The ending was kind of a mess. But I like Snooty's powerslam finish, and the match was worthwhile.

Ricky Morton vs. Matt Houston

ER: 60 year old Ricky Morton is plump, but still unafraid to wrestle without a shirt, and that still means something in this crazy world. And this was about what my brain pictured a 2017 Ricky Morton match looking like. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great, but there were enough moments to make it an enjoyable watch. Houston is a fat cowboy in his 40s, which is a worker I'm going to like, and he's good bumping around for Morton, running into a boot in the corner, nothing flashy but a good opponent for a 60 year old Morton. Ricky still throws a nice overhand punch, nice kneelift, and ended the match with a really great roll up. The match was probably worth watching for the roll-up. It was a gifable roll-up. He stopped his momentum in the corner by sliding down and grabbing the bottom rope, then yanked Houston by the trunks as he as he ran by, and got in tight for a snug roll-up. It was a roll-up that would believably win a match.

Dave & Zane Dawson vs. The Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude/Rob Killjoy)

ER: You knew these teams would match up nicely, so that's not a shocker. These teams have their bit down, and it's always worth checking out. This had a bunch of fun "Killjoy using Lude as projectile" moments, like Lude rolling into a Killjoy-assisted backdrop or getting launched over to the floor (and caught) or soaring off Killjoy's legs to nail Launchpad McQuack. It's a real fun thing they got going. Dawsons really busted butt here, and they're both good at killing the Ducks while also looking vulnerable to guys so much smaller than them, eating a couple big dives from them and takings ranas (Zane flies all the way across the ring off a Lude rana), and doing Phillie Phanatic prat falls for them. I liked when Dawsons would just brute force their way through a Ducks flying spot, like Lude getting punched out of the air or Dave surprising with a dropkick during a rope running spot. It's a great thing they have.

Cain Justice vs. Darius Lockhart vs. Nick Richards

ER: The match goes a shade past 5 minutes, but they manage to get a lot of cool stuff into those 5 minutes. We get a couple great early moments of alliances turning on Justice, with Lockhart sending him running into Richards (who sidesteps him and sends Cain to the floor), and then Cain getting back in and getting punched by both Richards and Lockhart to send him to the floor again. The brawling around the floor was good, with Lockhart hitting a big flip dive as the other two brawled, and then doing some fun disjointed floor fighting. And by that I mean nothing was timed and dodged, nothing looked rehearsed, just a three man tangle with awkward shots like Richards getting elbowed in the back of the head. I thought everybody worked around being the third man well, and I liked the opportunistic finish with Richards hitting the cutter on Lockhart, but Cain hitting Richards in the eyes and stealing the pin. They made the most of their allotted time.

PAS:  Fun short match. Cain is really great at these small show benefit cards. He is such an expressive wrestler that he can really bring a crowd into what is happening. Even in a random three way with no stakes, he can make you want to see him get his ass kicked (apparently this fed ran Cain vs. Trevor Lee in a cage but that show is not on youtube, talk about a holy grail). I like all three of these guys a bunch and they really kept it moving and kept in entertaining. Cain stealing the pin is the perfect finish.

ER: We wrote up the next the matches (Trevor Lee vs. White Mike, CW Anderson vs. Mark James, and Royal vs. Sterling vs. Skyler vs. Tracer X) as part of CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 135. All three are worth watching, especially the singles matches.

Career vs. Career: Damien Wayne vs. Lee Valiant

ER: Real good match, and a perfectly respectable way to end a 10+ year career. Valiant was allegedly a babyface for a big chunk of his career, but I've only seen him as a heel and can't really picture him as anything else. But, against a bruiser like Damien Wayne it showed through. Both guys worked tight (as you'd expect in a big stips match) and both took some nasty spills. Wayne will take your punches, but he'll be right there to fire back with hard shots to the stomach (Wayne may have the best kicks to the stomach in wrestling) and chops that will be harder than most wrestlers you will ever face. Valiant takes a nice beating, including a Lawler level bump into the ringpost on the floor. Wayne goes in big on everything, so that leaves him open to some big misses, like a huge bump over the top to the floor on a missed charge, and those misses lead to a Valiant comeback. Wayne bleeds big on Valiant's comeback, but was a total monster throughout, hitting increasingly bigger and meaner elbowdrops (a big rotating one, a bigger, meaner, and prettier one off the top, and then the match ender off the top with Valiant under a chair), and a big sunset flip powerbomb off the top. Wayne never skimps on pins, using full body weight, making each Lee kickout seem like a big moment. Very good match, and hats off to some tertiary people in the match: I really liked the moment where Wayne was pissed about a two count and shoved the ref over (while the ref was on a knee standing up). The ref jumped up to his feet and got in Wayne's face that it was only a two count. It was done in a way where Wayne didn't act afraid of the fired up ref, and the ref didn't back down, but never looked like he was getting any kind of shine. And post-match, hats off to whomever filmed this video, as I really liked the looks at Valiant hugging friends in and out of the business, and the close-ups on the wrestling boots he left in the ring. Nice work by everyone involved.

PAS: This was really good. I have also only ever seen Vailant as a sleazy heel, but he was really good working under against Wayne. Damien Wayne is one of my long time favorites and he was a beast here, moving forward lacing Valiant with hard chops and all timer punches. I loved how he cut off Valiant's top rope attack with that hanging neckbreaker and hanging legdrop, such a hard combo to pull off without looking contrived and Wayne and Valiant pulled it off. The double juice helped the stakes of the match too, most of my Wayne experience has been from no-blood Virginia, but that was a great grimy blade job. I did think maybe Lee needed one more big near fall, if he was dropping his career, but otherwise this was great stuff, a quality coda to Valiant's career and a reminder of how good Damien Wayne can be.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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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 139

Episode 139

Logan Easton Laroux vs. Andrew Everett

ER: Good match, my favorite Laroux performance in CWF, and a damn impressive Everett performance. Everett is like a classic luchador: He started wrestling when he was practically too young to drive, has been doing it for ages even though he's in his mid 20s, has a soft body but pulls off incredibly graceful flying. Here they craft a super fun match around Everett flying around, wrecking his arm and shoulder on a risk, and then commits to selling that damn arm to the bitter end. Everett hits a huge Asai moonsault into the crowd, laying out both of them into chairs, but back in they do an expertly timed springboard spot that sees Laroux knock Everett off balance and crashing shoulder first into the turnbuckle. Laroux is really great condescendingly going after the arm, the best being simple push kicks to a downed Everett, hard enough to really rub it in. Everett straight commits  to letting everyone know his arm is killing him, and I love all that great theatrical wrestling, it's got an  awesome early 2000s indy charm. I remember seeing Mike Modest getting his arm worked over during a match and when he won and the ref raised his bad arm, Modest cringed and made him lift the other arm instead. Love it. Everett does all that great stuff like start to grab the ropes to climb them, then opts to pull himself up with one arm. It felt like Laroux should have really gone after the arm more viciously, but I still really liked what they went for here.

PAS: This was a more vicious Laroux performance away from being a really great match. Loved the bump on the turnbuckles which Everett took to set up the arm work, and Laroux's chicken wing using the ringpost was really nasty looking. Outside of that though, the punches, kicks and stomps by Logan needed more mustard on them to work with Everett's great selling performance. I need him to be more of a mauler, but I never felt the violence. Everett is a hell of a highflyer, he has tremendous explosion on all of his moves, that pele kick was as good as Meiko Satamura, which is high praise, and his SSP is really pretty. I hope him winning the belt means that he shows up more in CWF, I think an Everett v. Cain match could be really special.

Brad Attitude vs. Chet Sterling

ER: Another good one, although with an uncomfortable botch that's tough to ignore, and felt unnecessarily dangerous. Overall the match was a blast, with Sterling stepping up his brawling game and Attitude being the star that he is. All of Attitude's shots look great, and he does little dickish things during a beating like carefully re-smoothing his hair tuft. Sterling has a nice short right hand, good snap, and shakes the fist out nicely after the best ones. Fist shaking after a punch is something that will bump you up a hundred points on the SC500. The crowd brawl was fun, with Brad Attitude falling all over Dylan Hales in the VIP Suite, and Dylan being a good soldier by holding one of Attitude's arms back to make it easier for Sterling to get some chops in. Sterling pays him back by hanging him out to dry on a brutally long high five offering. Match threatens to derail when Attitude goes for an ill-advised splash mountain off the top, and it was supposed to be a Sterling reversal, but somehow both guys get dumped on their heads. It wasn't pretty, but it could have ended up a lot uglier than it really was. Still, Sterling has to sell like he reversed the bomb and didn't also get dumped on his head in nasty fashion, and it's hard to look past not selling what looked like the most insane (accidental) move of the match. But these two match up really well and I thought everything else in the match looked good. Attitude has great follow through on all his stuff, nice low superkick, spine shifting buckle bomb, and we had several convincing nearfalls. Finish was fun Attitude bullshit, with him distracting the ref to mule kick Sterling low, and Sterling catching the kick, leading Attitude to continue grabbing and shaking the ref to get his leg loose and kick Sterling low anyway. Sterling moves up the 500 even more by selling his balls while getting pinned after the match finishing shotgun kick.

PAS: I really liked this, and Sterling continues to have matches I enjoy, it is like he is going to force me to like him, I RESIST! Attitude is such a treat to watch. Honestly he is one of my single favorite guys in wrestling right now. I can't think of a better heel performer, he is such a naturally detestable guy, and is so great at both the little and the big things. He has an awesome spring board senton and flying kick, and a great forearm to the back of the head and flabbergasted sell. I love how he uses the ring apron powerbomb as a momentum changer, and how it sets up all of his future attacks. I didn't mind the botch that much, as it did look like Attitude took the worst of it. Finish was classic horse shit and the perfect finish for Attitudes character.

Cain Justice vs. Nick Richards

ER: I was wondering if Cain would kind of steamroll Richards, to show he was more than ready to step up, but I wasn't sure. We already saw a super quick Mike Mars win over Dirty, didn't think they'd go with another short match. But they did and I think they handled it great. Just like Daddy/Mars it was high energy bell to bell, with neither man holding back for any kind of stretch. They came in throwing, with Richards getting an early advantage and dumping Cain with a nice throw, but Cain catching him with a Crop Cop like high kick, just the heel of Cain's foot to Nick's neck. Cain hits his awesome pump kick, and in a flat out killer reversal Richards goes for the cutter but Cain catches him in a disgusting armbar. Richards' arm really looked hyperextended and I'm surprised he hung on as long as he did. Post match is great with Cain celebrating and Richards pissed, getting helped up.

PAS: This was great, I loved how intense both guys were, they figured if they were going to go three minutes, they were going to press down the pedal. I loved how Richards sold that big high kick, it totally scrambled his brains and he never was able to recover. Finish was my favorite finish of 2018, just a beautiful mid air reversal and Justice just wrenching the armbar, such a cool idea perfectly executed. I love both of these guys and hope we get a longer match down the road, but this was a hell of a three minutes.

C.W. Anderson vs. Ric Converse

ER: Two weeks ago we got the excellent show closing segment with CW cuffing Converse to the ropes but Converse holding the ace of an I Quit threat over CW. This week we get another set of excellent promos where CW talks about how saying "I Quit" 18 years ago has haunted him ever since (goddamn I need to go back and watch that Dreamer/CW I Quit, I haven't seen it since it originally aired) and CW is just SO so great in this promo, really a perfect wrestling promo. If his motivations were different, it could even be read as a babyface promo, confronting demons from his past. CW is the total complete package, one of the best in the world. Converse cut a great promo too, running down his history in wrestling and all of his memories and accomplishments. And you know he's torqued for this fight because he's sporting trunks!!

PAS: That promo was great, I love the idea of I Quit being the ghost that haunts Anderson. CWF does history better then any other fed in the world, and this is such a great setup of a hell of a match.

ER: And this match is awesome. They don't waste any time building to the violence, and within a minute CW is wearing a chair around his neck and getting beat with another chair. The match went quick and the violence ramped nicely. But CW had some nice tricks, including a bucket he brought with some weapons (a chain, barbed wire, a bottle) that would all get involved. CW was awesome as a Finlay type punisher, really feels like he's as good as any wrestler in the world these days. When he was in control he wouldn't let Converse rest for a second, kicking him hard while he was down on his way to get more weapons. CW integrates his wrestling well into a nasty match like this, firing off some perfect left and right hands (arguably best punches in wrestling today), wrenching Converse's arm in awful ways (beating it with a chair, bending and twisting it behind his back), sharp back elbows, his world class spinebuster, all paced perfectly. As often happens, the weapons one brings to a fight can be used against, and CW eats a huge rydeen bomb through a table, gets choked with a chain, Converse really gives as good as he gets. Cecil Scott on commentary was good at pointing out that they were far better off going for pain that a KO blow, how hitting a KO shot could work to your disadvantage in an I Quit match, how causing pain is better. And the finish couldn't have looked more painful, with Converse jamming a roll of barbed wire into Anderson's eye, getting a quick and fully understandable I Quit out of him. I loved this, just a great throwback brawl from a couple Carolina legends.

PAS: Totally great stuff, they come right out wailing, and they do some really violent work with chairs, including CW getting chair shotted while wearing another chair as a neckless. CW does some really painful looking arm work, including an armbar that looked nearly as nasty as Cain's the match before.  This was just two rawbone old pro's throwing bombs, no elaborate prop set ups, just a fist fight with occasional hurled chair or chain shot. I loved the finish with CW violently choking Converse with a chain, only for Converse to pull out a beer bottle from a mail bin like a close up magician and smash CW in the head. The barbed wire to the eye socket is a perfectly reasonable finish to an I Quit match, even one where Anderson vowed never to give up.

ER: Hard to get a better episode of wrestling TV than this. Three of these matches landed on our ongoing 2017 Match of the Year list, pretty neat from one hour of episodic wrestling and not just some "Greatest Hits" show.

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BCW Pro Wrestling North Carolina 10/8/17

ER: This is the kind of show I would be attending if I lived in the southern United States, the kind of show where the ring is set up outside in the backyard of a bar, nice balmy October day, a bunch of kids sitting on chairs in gravel, cars parked everywhere, just great aesthetics for a southern wrestling show.

1. Kool Jay/Labron Kozone/James Ryan vs. Chris "TNT" Taylor/"Big Bite" Martinez/Semi Mutina

ER: I'm mostly unfamiliar with half the guys in the match, and this isn't a very essential trios match, but it's good for making mental notes on guys you haven't seen much, filling in blanks on guys, forming opinions and giving you a history when you see them in other matches. Semi Mutina looked like Big E, only a foot shorter and instead of a powerlifter build he had more of a "fat guy who has really been working out" build, and a cool Afrika singlet. Sadly he seemed really lost whenever he was in there, so I'll have to let his actual ability catch up to his cool fat guy charms. Big Bite was tall and lanky and pulled out some smooth exchanges, nice high vertical leap enziguiri, and hit a huge splash off the top. Him I'd like to see more from. I finally got to see Kool Jay in a longer match, although once he was in with Mutina who ended up out of place and kind of hung Jay out to dry on a flying something-or-other off the top. But Jay had an awesome full leg extension superkick and the flat out greatest chop block I've ever seen, just flying across the ring. It was cool seeing Jay as more of an offense guy than as a big bumping guy, though even with that chop block he's still probably best as a big bumping guy.

2. Snooty Foxx vs. Tre G

ER: First time seeing Tre G and I am definitely down for more. He's a great guy to have on an indy card, with some good shtick and nice basics. He jumps Snooty before the bell, throws nice punches (including some blistering lefts down the stretch), mule kicks Snooty down low, throws a decent spinebuster, drew heat with a somewhat scattered quiet crowd (including from one woman who absolutely would not let up on him the entire match) and bumped great for Foxx. Snooty looked good and had a very impressive rookie year. I like that all the things he can do, he can do against guys his size. That's important. It's easy to look good squashing little guys, Foxx gets regularly put opposite big guys, and it works. He doesn't wimp out on lariats or shoulderblocks (and G leans way into a mean shoulderblock here), has that great back elbow, and plants G with a powerslam. Good match, would love to see more of G.

3. Cain Justice vs. Number Dad

ER: Number Dad is Kamakazi Kid in full "work furlough Call of Duty marathon" gear, gym shorts, too tight shirt stretched over ample belly, Nike cross trainers, white socks. He's certainly in dad mode. But his work is good! He's a guy with great basics, and that's a guy Cain can play off nicely. Dad cuts low on clotheslines, hits some meaty clubs to the back, takes a nasty flip bump on a Cain lariat, throws a nice back elbow, good old school stuff like raking Cain's eyes across the top rope, good banter. He's a local guy you'd look forward to seeing on shows like this. Cain is as fun as you would expect, and it's great seeing him work armbars and throwing mean kicks on an outdoor daytime show, getting beaten into the crowd, rolling in gravel, all fun stuff. The match noticeably kicks up a notch halfway through: Dad does a comically bad Fargo strut and misses a really high standing legdrop, then Cain wastes him with a punt, and hits a brutal flying knee off the top, just right to the chin. Dad is great at leaning into all of Cain's strikes, and Cain throws a couple of KO kicks down the stretch. Dad gets a cool reversal by rolling through one and hitting a fireman's carry slam. Cain finds a nice way to get to the Twist Ending, throwing Dad off the top turnbuckle by the arm and locking it in for the insta-tap. I thought this would be a kind of goof around fun match, and it got a lot meaner than I was expecting, to all of our benefit.

PAS: Pretty strange to see Cain working as full babyface, he is pretty good at it and I imagine when he turns in the CWF Sportatorium it will be like babyface Buddy Rose levels of awesome. Number Dad has a really nasty eye poke, he really looks like he puts his whole wrist into it, I liked how they set that up as a big move which Cain reversed at the end to lead to the twist ending. This isn't as good as the Mitch Connor or Cecil Scott match but you can tell how great Cain is at working veterans, I want to see Cain work Michael McAllister, Ric Converse and Boogie Woogie Rob McBride.

4. Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Mitch Connor

ER: Sharpe has some real good crowd work to start, telling the crowd about his $12,000 robe and personally walking it to the back because he doesn't trust the people to not steal it. Match was goofy fun although it got way too silly at the end with Sharpe challenging Connor to a rock/paper/scissors contest that went on too long before an abrupt finish. But we got fun moments, like Connor battering Sharpe in the ropes like a teeter totter, clubbing him every time he would spring up. We got some Dusty moments from both, with Sharpe floating like a butterfly and nailing punches, and Connor hitting big elbows. I like Sharpe's over the shoulder jawbreaker, liked Connor taking him down with a choke and Sharpe yelling while trapped, but the silliness was a flat note to end on.

5. Cam Carter vs. Jesse Adler

ER: This wasn't bad, and probably better than all the Adler matches I disliked in CWF. That's probably because Adler didn't have a belt here, and his offense wasn't treated like somehow better than his opponent's because of that belt. Adler feels like a good indy worker from 1998, a guy that you'd see on tape and think he had potential to be a Kidman type, and then it never happens. His style feels dated, but he's okay at some things. Carter bumped around big for his Superman punch comeback, and Adler seems athletic for a guy who can come off sorta unathletic. But I'm glad Carter got more of a shine here, liked his Angle slam and some low key flying, but I also can't deny that the crowd was far more into Adler. Sometimes guys connect with crowds for reasons I can't understand, but connection is connection, and it's important.

6. Lee Valiant vs. Nick Richards

ER: I like Richards' goofball charm, slapping fives with practically every person in attendance, not even waiting for people to want the fives, just walking all around the lot fiving and fist bumping. Valiant is good at getting under people's skin, and this was good until it suddenly ended. It was really short, maybe three minutes. Everything in the three minutes was good, but we could have at least extended it out to a decent Worldwide length. Valiant always does little things I like, chokes guys in the ropes, yanks them by the waistband into the buckles, a good stooge. Richards is a good babyface and Valiant flew into the cutter, but this needed more time.

7. Arik Royal vs. Chet Sterling

ER: I love Royal entrances on shows like these, he's a good "trash talker in passing", teasing older ladies, selectively slapping fives, knows how to appropriately trash talk kids, it's always a treat. We also sadly only get part of a conversation between two women in the crowd who say "No he's the daddy but he takes care of him." That's a wrestling show conversation snippet right there, baby! This match was a blast, perfect kind of match for this audience. They brawl all through the crowd and Royal is GREAT at safely brawling through crowds. He's so good at it. He falls all over everyone, gets punched into ladies, gets hit by kids, chopped by women, and Sterling awesome tightens things up for the close proximity fans. They brawl under every canopy, Royal slams his head into every table in the backyard, they brawl up to the patio and hit each other amongst all the t-shirts stretched over beer bellies. Sterling throws some nice short right hands all throughout, and Royal takes shots into a table better than most. Sterling throws great right hands during the crowd brawl, at one point shaking out his fist for a good 8 steps after punching. I'll always love that. We do get some silliness for the finish, with Sterling hitting the People's Elbow (like 18 years after its peak), but does amusingly undo his wrist tape (since he wasn't wearing elbow pads). I liked their struggle over finishers back in the ring, usually those reversal struggles can seem too dance-y but here they somehow made fighting over an Overdrive look like they were getting arms bent in nasty ways. I will always go out of my way to watch Royal in a situation like this, but Sterling delivered too.

8. Trevor Lee vs. Lance Lude

ER: I really dug this. Trevor came out in gym shorts and wrestling shoes mode, and Lude worked as a tiny ragged heel. Lude's physical transformation is one of the better ones in wrestling. He used to be a kind of tinier Matt Sydal, now he's hairy and scruffy and has drunken sailor eyes. They brawl around the yard just like Royal and Sterling before them, a risky move since it literally had just happened, but they add some new twists and make it feel a little more reckless, sending a mother scrambling to shield her youngsters. Trevor gets the crowd to count a long on the outside while he holds Lude in a vertical suplex, but it takes so long that Lude is able to knee his way out of it. Main event Trevor Lee is a good formula at this point, and Lude might be the smallest guy we've seen work the formula so far, and it still works. Lude attacks with quick dropkicks and a big double kneedrop off the top for a good nearfall, and I liked him working heel (just as I also like his babyface Ducks work). Lee is always good at comebacks against heels, not hesitating to match jerk moves. Here he's good at running into Lude's boots, but also has no problem doing a finger break, does an awesome press slam (ending it by flexing one bicep while holding Lude up with one arm) and absolutely crushes him with a match ending double stomp. Fun main event to cap off a fun no frills show.


COMPLETE & ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Episode 136

Episode 136

Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Kool Jay/Mike Mars vs. Dirty Daddy/Snooty Foxx/Keith Mac

PAS: Fun six man which does a nice job advancing a bunch of different stories. We have more of Mike Mars bullying Cool J, Mars and Daddy ready to rumble at BattleCade and Sharpe tired of being a joke. Loved the spot where Mac wants to do a comedy spot and Sharpe flips out and stars beating his ass. Would love to see Sharpe go to Chikara as the guy who refuses to play along with the horseshit.

ER: Fun low stakes trios, with Daddy wearing his slick Christmas gear, Keith Mac decked out as a kind of Black Santa/Jimmy Valiant hybrid, and Kool Jay wising up and just teaming with Mike Mars instead of going opposite him (well Jay, the idea was better in theory, buddy). I love Sharpe no selling the comedy spots, refusing to play along with fake physics and yeah Phil's idea of a serious Chikara run for him would be fun. He already has the mustache to make it in Chikara. I laughed when Mars was in against Mac, and to "save" his partner Mars just roared in and clotheslined both of them. Later he'd throw Jay to the floor onto everyone. Daddy had an awesome hot tag, really running wild on Mars, leaping into him with hard elbow strikes. I was a little disappointed with the Mars/Foxx shoulderblock exchange as I usually love shoulderblocks, but Mars held back. So I was stoked to see Daddy punch a bunch on him. Finish was sudden and cool, with Sharpe unleashing the uppercut on Mac, and I continue loving what's happening with Sharpe.

ER: I liked the Christmas gift exchange, with a couple of the presents containing title shots. I liked everyone's banter, though I thought Biggs undersold his jelly of the month gift. Those monthly clubs are expensive, and you'll get tons of jelly you would have never otherwise tried! There's a No Way Jose action figure, Aric Andrews gets Back to the Future II on VHS ("this looks new!"), bunch of fun riffing. If this would have been taped a bit later, they could have done the TNA Feast or Fired stip with one of the gifts containing a pink slip, then Stutts could have participated in the gift opening instead of just emceeing it.

Jesse Adler vs. Cam Carter

PAS: I am starting to feel bad, because it seems like every week it is us just shitting on Adler matches (maybe don't put him on every show? Let us miss him a bit), but I got to keep shitting. This kind of a juniors man in the mirror match really exposes him, they are doing these identical twin spots and every spot Carter looks so much better, his drop kick is better, his armdrags are crisper, his springboard 450 shits all over the Adler shooting star. It is impossible to not come away from this thinking Carter would be a way better TV champ, yet we keep moving on.

ER: Yeah this is a bummer. It just shouldn't be happening. We want to bring positive reviews to the people! Look at how many CWF matches wind up on our MOTY list! And I think we're more than fair as reviewers/critics; we'll be right here talking about the great Adler match/performance when it happens, bet on it. But it certainly hasn't happened yet and it sure seems like he gets more TV time than most guys these days. Phil's points are all accurate, there's just no way someone can watch this and come away thinking Adler looks better than Carter. Mirror match is a good way of describing it, and all of Carter's stuff just smoked Adler's. I liked a middle rope dropkick Adler dished out, but moments later Carter hits the move of the match with a gorgeous dropkick. Le sigh. And the standing shooting star is an absolute disaster, with this one being one of the worst performed. It just should not be a finish, and really shouldn't be done at all. We got gypped.

PAS: Goldie the Mack interviews William Cross to set up LaRoux v. Andrew Everett at BattleCade. I really enjoy Cross as an Eddie Marlin tough guy commissioner, it isn't a role you see much in wrestling anymore and he is good at it.

Zane & Dave Dawson vs. Michael McAllister/Nick Richards

PAS: Nice meaty slugfest. The Dawsons had some really nice double teams here, I loved the big kick into side slam. McAllister throws some blows and Richards is nice hot tag. Dawson's work towards the back row, and some of their stuff has more windup then impact. I did love asshole Cain Justice coming out and wasting Richards with a kick, he has such a hateable smirk. I still am hoping the Dawsons drop the belts, I think McAllister and Richards would be better against some of the others teams in this fed.

ER: This was good, although I'd say the first half was great and the second half was okay, so overall good. First half was some of the best work I've seen from the Dawsons who often look like they should deliver more than they actually do. But they didn't skimp on things they sometimes skimp on. Phil says more windup than impact, which is true, they'll often ramp up for something big and then wimp on out impact and follow through. Here their stomps looked good, Dave threw an awesome yakuza kick into a team backbreaker, and they had a couple nice double teams. McAllister looked really great, a compact powder keg crashing fist first into beardy faces, all his punches and elbows looked super violent, and I dug moments like him flinging Richards off the apron into the Dawsons. Ending gets a little convoluted: We get a couple moments of the Dawsons having to stay standing and pressed together waiting to take a move, and we get kind of a silly "make your opponent DDT your opponent" spot (which was actually somewhat plausibly pulled off in last week's 4 way), but Richards sure flew wildly into that match ending backdrop driver, woof. No arm grazing shooting star press, THIS looked like a move that should win a match.

ER: I loved all the old Christmas commercials during this episode, but I've always loved the aesthetics of Christmas commercials. They always made me feel good growing up. We would always have a fire going inside, the anticipation of Christmas would build all month, and every commercial would be Christmas-y. I still have Christmas commercial jingles from TJ Maxx and Thrifty stuck in my head to this day, so I love seeing the old ads (need a couple Bea Arthur for Shoppers Drug Mart ads), and a modern classic with the genuinely touching (unless you're a monster) Folgers ad. I really enjoyed the episode.

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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 128: The CWF Rumble

Episode 128

PAS: Incredible ride of a match, my favorite battle royal ever. Just a testament to the booking prowess of the CWF, and pair of all time performances by Trevor Lee and Cain Justice. It is hard to keep the momentum of a 1 hour plus battle royal going, but they had a bunch of nifty mini stories weaving through out. Opening the match with Trevor and Ric Converse was a nice battle of the past champ vs. future champ, and it felt like a big deal when they went nose to nose and slugged it out. I thought Dr. Dan landing on the hoverboard to avoid elimination was a fun bit of battle royal comedy. Loved Otto coming in with fast takedowns on both Trevor and Converse and cracking ribs with nasty bear hugs.

We had the classic middle of the rumble monster run with Mike Mars, getting some big eliminations including Mecha Mercenary (it did irritate me a little when Stuttsy and Cecil pretended the Dawsons v. Sandwich Squad match happened a week ago, and then abandoned the fiction later in the match when talking about the night of the RGL, rare bit of inconsistency from the commentary team), only to have his run ended by Ray Kandrack's surprise return. My CWF fandom is post-Kandrack but he seemed like the biggest deal out of the returning guys (Micheal Yamaha felt kind of unnecessary, but I did love Brad Attitude saying "I thought you were dead".) We have a bump freak competition between Kool J and Nick Richards to see who could die worse on eliminations (Richards by a hair, his kidneys hit the ring apron hard, he was pissing blood for sure.) Your final crew of guys was pretty great (although a bit too much Chet Sterling for my taste), Brad Attitude is one of the most purely entertaining wrestlers in the world, and he has awesome in this, full sleazy prick and his post match mauling of Sterling was awesome. Everything about Roy Wilkins was perfect, he and Gemini orchestrate the entire match, he comes in last, places the brass knuckles on his hand, and walks in with all the confidence in the world, only to get tossed instantly.

What really puts this over the top is the final two. What an incredible 10 minute segment Trevor Lee v. Cain Justice was. Cain loses the RGL title earlier in the night after a classic reign, and is totally made as a main eventer the same night. I loved how Lee almost worked heel here, he had been bloodied and beaten for over an hour, but he was still going to punk out this rookie who felt like he belonged. Lee laid in some savage blows, and Cain was firing right back at him. The moment where Cain got him trapped with the in rope armbar and got Trevor to tap out was huge in the history of the fed, I can see that being a huge deal when they match up again. I also loved the tightness of the elimination, Lee hits the double stomp on the apron and they both tumble to the floor with Cain landing seconds before Lee.

ER: A flat out killer, episode long Rumble. I cannot say for sure that this was the best Rumble I've ever seen - I am partial to the 40 man Berzerker Rumble - but I'm a huge fan of battle royals and this was without a doubt one of the best. I thought there were several standout performances: Ric Converse looked insanely fired up and continues to bring an intensity few can, Mike Mars looked like a hirsute bulldozer, Cain Justice turned in another great ride, Lee put on a performance worthy of the champ, Brad Attitude shit talked and knuckle punched his way through. This was a quick and super entertaining hour + of pro wrestling.

A great Rumble is going to be filled with tons of nice individual moments, with a long narrative thread running through, in and around these moments. Converse and Lee run through some nice teases and set a nice violent tone for the Rumble. Rockingham has a great comedy elimination - and believe it or not maybe my favorite use of Lee's punt - as he gets punted off his hoverboard (which he had landed on to avoid touching the floor), his legs go flying up in the air and the board goes skittering off the length of ringside. Otto brings some big boy strength to the proceedings and I love him interjecting himself into the Lee/Converse scrum and just squeezing the life out of them. I would have liked to see more Donnie Dollars but I was impressed with the huge bump he took on his elimination. Eddy Only was a cool little dirtbag who had no chance but at least came in throwing punches and poking eyeballs. Andrews' appearance just made me angry again that he and Valiant don't have the TV title any longer (and I'm still waiting for Adler to throw one of his signature spin kicks well. We've seen maybe 6 since his brief comeback and they've all looked about 0.2 on the Speedball Mike Bailey scale).

Mecha was still selling his neck from the Dawson chairshot, and I like that detail. Mike Mars was an absolute beast, throwing those big headbutts and causing my favorite elimination of the Rumble, when he just literally throws Kool Jay as far as possible. Jay is a lunatic and I loved how he kept challenging guys during his brief appearance, knowing that it would likely end well for him. He didn't even get to grab a rope to slow down his landing, just got launched. Nick Richards eats a brutal elimination when Kamikaze Kid gives him a brutal driver on the apron. He gets his when Snooty comes in. Outside of Kamikaze Kid we also got Ray Kandrack and Mikael Yamaha as legacy entrants, and I am definitely interested in seeing more of Kandrack (his last CWF match was before my CWF jump in), but Yamaha looked like a guy who hadn't wrestled in a couple years (I remember getting a tape of Carolina stuff from Statmark 15 years ago that had a lot of great Yamaha and Edsel stuff, as well as CW Anderson riding in a tractor to a ring that was set up in a corn field). I actually expected Ethan Alexander Sharpe to go to the final 4, but dug his work here, especially when he cut a promo to camera after eliminating McAllister, only to get snap German suplexed mid sentence by Lee. Coach Gemini stacked Royal/Li/Wilkins in the final 3 spots and I love how that blew up. Wilkins gets the knux and runs at Lee (held by Li), ends up getting himself thrown to the floor. Naturally, he comes back in and blasts Lee with a big knux shot, busting him open. Cain Justice was pitch perfect celebrating Lee's demise with other heels. Brad Attitude goes right after Lee's cut with the meanest punches of the match, real laser focused shots right at Lee's temple.

And this all comes down to Cain Justice vs. Trevor Lee. Cain had worked a hard match earlier in the night and lost his title, Lee has spent his night avoiding eliminations left and right and being the target of everyone. And they have an absolute war, immediately making it look like Cain Justice outgrew the RGL label in one evening. Perhaps inspired by Attitude going hard at Lee's cut, Cain throws more mean punches at Lee's temple. These two scrap well and both are great at selling the exhaustion and desperation. Lee gets Cain to tap by wrenching his knee and neck at once in a real sick looking sub, but a tap won't do much for you in a Rumble. We get a great gross moment where Cain acts like he's popping his knee back into place afterwards. Cain getting Lee to tap while tied in the ropes was a huge moment, as I don't think I've seen Lee lose in any way since watching CWF, this was at least giving me a visual of what nobody else has been able to do over the last calendar year. Cain's RGL loss is a distant memory at this point. He's moved on and shown he can tap the champ. The apron work by both men was excellent, with both clinging to the ropes almost afraid to move, knowing they were each one slip away from a loss. But Lee stomps the absolute hell out of Cain, and Cain BARELY lands on the ground a fraction of a second before Lee. Epic showdown. This is going way high on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 113: Absolute Justice

Episode 113: Absolute Justice

1. Cain Justice vs. Mitch Connor

ER: I thought Cain was awesome in this. Connor is someone with some physical limitations and Cain figured out some pretty crafty ways around those limitations. Cain stayed on him the whole match, and it was great. Connor looked like he was struggling to get some space but Cain would stay on him, lock in hooks, throw shots to Connor's cerebellum, lock on different triangles, kinda showing off while being mean. Connor would get a pinfall, Cain would grab his leg on kickout. Connor goes into the ropes, Cain dives in and trips him. The guy couldn't catch a break. He started playing along, you can see him throwing creative shots at Cain (loved when Cain was locking in a triangle and Connor starts dropping his knee onto Cain's inner leg), and I like how Cain staying so close played into the finish with Connor flash cradling him. Cain has shown how great he is at working with several different styles, and it's pretty damn impressive to watch. Also, shout out to Cecil Scott for pointing out the he (Cecil) went after Cain aggressively in their match, and Cain learned from that and wasn't letting Connor do the same thing. Smart storytelling from a wrestling and announcing standpoint.

PAS: I loved this, loved how Justice would attack with his fancy Ju-Jitsu only to be met with an old fashioned Connor clubbing forearm. It reminded me of the way someone like Tank Abbot would deal with a ju-jitsu guy in early UFC. Cain tries a rubber guard, Mitch punches him in the thigh, Cain goes for a sugar hold, gets met with a forearm. Connor gave my favorite interview of the decade setting up this match where he mentioned having a really damaged neck, so Cain throwing these really nasty rabbit punches to the back of the neck was especially brutal. It really felt like he was crossing a line, trying to paralyze a guy rather then win a match. Also really loved the finish with Connor using Cain's aggression to roll him up, felt like exactly the right way for a wily veteran to beat a overenthusiastic rookie. Another awesome Cain performance, what a rookie year he is having.

2. Jakob Hammermeier vs. Chet Sterling

ER: I didn't love this, but it was only 5 minutes so I can't complain too much. Sterling seems to get sloppier the longer matches go. I was liking some of his stuff early on here, but by the last minute he was quitting on elbow strikes halfway through, and could only do offense that started with him running off the ropes. The action is quick, but not very satisfying. Hammermeier seems like a better talker than wrestler, but again this whole thing was short and inoffensive.

PAS: I am amused at these two feuding over who came up with their hack "I'm wacky" vest and necktie. I actually thought Jakob looked like the better of the two, he had a nice neckbreaker and elbow smash. I just don't get Sterling, he is the one pushed guy in this fed who does nothing for me, and he wasn't much here.

3. HIM/SIS vs. Otto Schwanz/Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Sandwich Squad vs. Zane & Dave Dawson

ER: This was billed as an "Everything to Lose" match, with each team putting something on the line if they eat the pinfall, which is a cool idea. Squad put up "no title shots for a year", Dawsons put up their titles, Schwanz had his career on the line, HIM/SIS put up their masks; those all feel like pretty big things to lose so the match has a lot of extra gravity. Now, you could also ask "why would anybody want to tag in and risk losing?" and...well, that would be a good question. But I also like that means that Sharpe technically has nothing to lose, feels like a nice weasel move. And outside of the moment where the Dawsons ended up in the ring together, they had a nice go go go 10 minute match. My favorites here were Otto and SIS. I love how SIS goes after guys with headbutts and never forces any ridiculous "size difference" spots into her matches. She goes toe to toe with the guys that make sense (like Sharpe) but gets steamrolled by someone like Schwanz. And Schwanz was awesome here. He was back to working like an unfrozen nazi Berzerker, really aggressive and vocal. Everybody was good at getting in and out to keep the action going, and the action was indeed good. We got some wild spots like a Dawson getting launched off the apron into some guys, and Biggs doing the world's biggest Thesz press to SIS. HIM eats the pin and thus loses his mask. I know Michael McAllister is a longtime CWF guy but I've only seen him as HIM, so this didn't really hit that hard with me. But I always thought the whole HIM thing was silly, so I'm glad SIS just walked off and moved on. It felt like the best way to handle things.

PAS: Really loved Schwanz in this, he had his career on the line and he was wrestling with real desperation, he jumps into the Dawsons before the bell and just throws hands, and is at 100 the entire match. Sandwhich Squad are always worth watching, Biggs had an especially nasty powerslam, and this was basically just burley dudes (and a burley lady) throwing hands for ten minutes or so which I am going to enjoy. HIM really wasn't in the match much which is surprising because he lost his mask, if I guy is going to lose his hood, it feels like he should have been showcased a bit more.

4. Aric Andrews vs. Ric Converse

ER: A really fun match with a disappointing but understandable finish. CW Anderson comes out to distract Converse so Andrews can roll him up. It keeps the CW/Converse feud in the foreground so I get it, but it's a finish we've been seeing for awhile in wrestling and this was kind of a bummer as we were well on the way to seeing maybe the most complete Aric Andrews match. Still, what we got was good. I've described Converse as an actual good version of Tommy Dreamer before, and I really think he showed that here. His elbow strikes looked awesome and he's able to bump believably for guys smaller than him. Andrews had a bunch of quick, logical attacks, whipping body shots, smart stuff like neckbreakers, moves going with Converse's natural momentum. It was only 5 minutes but a quality 5.

PAS: This was a nifty fight, Converse took it to him from the beginning, and a minute in Andrews had welts and bruises on his back. Andrews is such a great sleazy dude, like the junkie who sneaks a switchblade into the rehab center, that energy meshes well with Converse's suburban cop who is a little generous with the nightstick vibe. The whole match felt like an allegory for the opioid crisis. Andrews is always entertaining, but I really want to see him get a chance to spread his filthy wings a bit.

5. Dirty Daddy/Snooty Foxx vs. Roy Wilkins/Darius Lockhart

ER: This was fine I guess, but seemed more like a filler match on a big show. But, you gotta have matches like that, and they found a way to get a lot of amusing bullshit into a show. Gemini is barred from ringside and at one point a giant Super Chicken mascot comes out and starts conferencing with Wilkins, obviously supposed to be Gemini. So of course at the end of the match we get actual Gemini running out to drop a fist on the back of Snooty's head to get Wilkins the win. Gemini was dressed in a gross trump wig and "45" jersey, but I'll at least give him credit for being a heel and dressing like a heel. I couldn't get too into the match since it was clear there was going to be a shenanigans ending, but it had some killer moments. Wilkins caused a massive Daddy bump to the floor by holding the ropes, in one of the best versions of that spot I've seen (and Daddy takes a great reckless bump that still keeps the crowd safe - I really love the attention to family friendly crowd safety in this fed), and I loved Snooty's Oklahoma Stampede powerslam before the finish. This was fine.

PAS: I am a Lockhart fan, he is a heel because he is doing a BLM gimmick in North Carolina, but that doesn't mean he is going to do all of the cheap shot stuff that the All-Stars do. He is a man of principles whether you agree with him or not. I am an unabashed So Time fan, but Snooty is still a little green and there were moments here where he seemed a little out of place, still lots to like about this, and I always enjoy Wilkins when he is about his bullshit. Excited to see the All-Stars v. Lockhart as a feud, Wilkins as Jason Whitlock talking down to Darius as Kaperneck could be really great.

PAS: Hanging out with Dolph Ziggler at a pool is about the most heel thing a guy can do in my eyes. What a marvelous prick Brad Attitude is, his bigshotting asshole veteran is my favorite character in wrestling right now.

6. C.W. Anderson vs. Smith Garrett

ER: CW is a flat out beast, and I loved this. I think this match is one of CW's greatest performances, just new levels of mean, knowing his opponent and effectively meshing styles. Right from go CW has his number and they work some hot sequences. Garrett throws some stiff as hell shoulderblocks, CW cracks him with a brutal forearm and then Garrett barely ducks a diving lariat. They spill to the floor and CW takes a killer shot to the post, then Garrett chops the ringpost (which is a spot I love - admittedly overdone - but this one was a cut above) and CW begins thrashing that arm, wrapping it around the turnbuckle supports. Both guys were in sync as CW looked vicious, and Garrett's selling was top notch. Inside and CW continues taking apart the arm, I really liked Garrett going for a sunset flip but CW reversing into an armbar. We get some real good false finishes and twists, stuff we've been conditioned to for years; Ric Converse's music plays and distracts CW when he's setting up the superkick, leading to a convincing 2 count schoolboy (and we've all seen that exact sequence finish so many matches that it's a super effective near fall). CW hits the gorgeous spinebuster for another great nearfall, and we get some really well done "signature offense" reversals, with Garrett slipping out of a spinebuster and CW slipping out of a couple driver variations. Finish was great with CW getting Garrett onto his shoulders, then just tosses Garrett back to a standing position to nail the superkick. This was a hot as hell 10 minutes, CW is world class and Garrett worked as a great babyface, knew when to pepper comebacks and sold great.

PAS: This was a very Anderson style match from CW. CW has always been more of an Arn inspired guy, but this was straight up nasty Ole stuff. He just ripped and tore at the arm in violent and interesting ways, all the while trash talking and pie facing Garrett. I am not totally sold on Garrett as a wrestler (I think his finisher is Nova level goofy, and that tongue thing he does grosses me out) but he is really good at bringing intensity to a fight and selling a beating and that is what was needed to fill out the edges of a great Anderson show.

7. Nick Richards vs. Trevor Lee

ER: Big show, and these two go out and predictably murder each other in the main event, and I feel bad that it didn't totally land with me. I like both guys and appreciate Lee's ability to try to bring something different to CWF title matches, but sometimes I think there's a more more more aspect to them that isn't really present in the very best CWF matches. Lee can take some unconventional routes to selling, but I'm having trouble reconciling how he sold the two cutters at the very beginning of the match. We've seen Richards' cutter treated as a sneaky killshot before, so it was odd seeing Lee just stand up after them. He treated it like Tazz taking a finisher and it just came off odd to me. We got tons of big spots throughout, like Richards getting DDT'd off the top through several set up chairs (and watch the back of Lee's head go crashing through those same chairs just as violently), and Lee takes a cutter with an opened chair wrapped around his neck, which seems like an excellent way to get your neck broken. Absolutely brutal spot. These two have no problem making things look nasty. I'm just not sure what it added up to was worth it. You've seen more overkill than this, and I'm not sure that I would even call this match overkill. It's the main event of a big show, Richards is in his biggest opportunity and wants to prove to himself and fans that he belongs, and Lee is the stubborn fighting champion, so I expected some craziness. The build within the match to the craziness just didn't work for me. I liked the home stretch where it finally became apparent that Richards was in over his head and Lee was setting him up for kills, and Lee locking on a bonkers inverted STF for the tap, but as a whole the match didn't stick for me.

PAS: Couldn't disagree with Eric more, I thought this was excellent, and it is right up there with the Brad Attitude match in my list of favorite Trevor Lee title defenses. I loved the opening with Lee egging on the pro-Richards chants by the crowd, singing along with his intro and walking right into a cutter.  I thought Lee's pop-up was less of a Taz/Hawk no-sell and more like a boxer shaking his head trying to deny he got hit with a big shot. The first cutter gets a pretty close 2 count, Lee gets up pissed and throws some potato slaps and runs right into a second cutter which gets another close 2 count and leads to Richards being in control. I loved Lee working heel here, he figures if he is going to be an overdog he was going to play an overdog, and he was really vicious. Richards as a Tommy Dreamer disciple trying to ECW his way to a title was fun, usually I don't like trash can lid shots, but here as a way to bust Lee up and make him mad they worked well, I also really dug the Trash can shot as a way to break the STF. Your big stunts worked well too, the cutter with the chair was awesome, loved the way it got set up, it looked killer and I bought it as the end to the match. I also liked how right after the move instead of going for the kill Richards tried to set up an even bigger stunt, which ended up being his downfall. It felt like the kind of Icarus move a raised on ECW kid would do. Lee finally realized that this kid was in his league and a really threat so he snaps and unloads, great way to end it the match, that jumping knee was some FUTEN level violence, and the final kick to the shoulder looked like it popped his collarbone, that STF variation was the cherry on top. Really made Richards look awesome dying on his shield like that. My one issue is that is kind of felt like Richards should have won, it felt like his night, and I am not sure how Lee loses that belt a this point.

ER: After finding myself the clear low vote on this match I decided to give it another spin. I don't really like being the low vote on things as I'd much rather enjoy something than be a party pooper. And as someone with a fairly low attention span I can admit that I'm prone to missing nuance on things. Plus there's a chance I watched this match on mute in the bathroom at work, maybe not an ideal match appreciation environment. And, I liked it more on rewatch. I'm still not as over the moon for it as everyone seems to be, but some things definitely landed far more with me on rewatch. I still don't love the two cutters to start, don't love the trash can lid stuff, loved the chair-around-neck cutter....but as much as I loved that cutter it also took the wind out of the match for me, as I have zero clue what could possibly beat Lee at this point. That move felt too big. It looked amazing. It's one of the more dangerous things I've seen this year. But it is apparently not match ending. Phil makes some great points about the structure, and I still liked the end stretch as much as I did the first time, but I still thought there were things that didn't work. As the main event to a special show, it absolutely worked in full, and felt like a natural epic.

PAS: What a great show, I liked virtually every match, and we had three matches hit our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. CWF really knows how to deliver a supercard

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 112

Episode 112

1. Zane & Dave Dawson vs. Tommy Dreamer/Nick Richards

ER: Man this stunk. Everybody looked completely sluggish and every strike landed short or light. Add to that a bunk finish and poorly done interference by a new manager, and this added up to a real poop sandwich. Dawsons get put over on commentary as huge guys with crushing offense, but then you see them throw weak clotheslines and pillow soft avalanches and light stomps and it's all a mirage. Dreamer looked flat out bad, fully going through the motions and not caring what any of his offense looked like. His punches looked atrocious and everything he did was just so damn slow. I normally like Richards' odd strikes but here he must have drank the same water as everyone else. At one point he throws some chops that, well, if they hurt, maybe they just didn't read well on camera. Dawsons had a manager I'd never seen named Clayton, and it seems like he was always out of position. Finish was a real stinker, with Dreamer/Richards getting the win and Clayton getting Dave's foot on the ropes late. Ref awards new champs the belts, then long after the pin he notices the boot on the rope, so restarts the match. I hate things that make refs look like total buffoons. For all he knew that boot could have been put on the ropes 30 seconds after the bell. So the match gets restarted and a weak as hell lariat to Dreamer immediately ends it. This threatened to get compelling in the middle when Dave Dawson was working over Richards, but there was just too much bad almost the whole way through. Post match the fans chant Thank You Dreamer like it was his last match...And of course we end with a Dreamer "boys in the back" promo. Yuck, all of it.

PAS: I thought this was fine. Dreamer has learned to work a match around shtick and two bumps. I am a guy who saw plenty of no knee pads Buddy Landell indy matches in the 90s and have no problem with Dreamer winding down his career as no knee pads Nature Boy. I am amused at Dreamer doing Dusty spots as Dusty was one of those guys ECW was rebelling against, kind of like all of those ex-Hippies voting for Reagan. I also thought Dreamer did a really nice job at selling surprise when it looked like he won the belts, he had this facial expression like "I didn't think I had it in me anymore" Sure not much of the actually wrestling looked particularly good, but it very much served it's purpose.

ER: I oppose DACA: Dreamer As Cody's Antecedent

2. Trevor Lee vs. Michael Elgin

ER: Feel like I'm going to end up being the low vote on this one. It really did not work for me. Elgin works his boss monster style where he can't be killed by conventional wrestling moves, except for those convenient moments where he suddenly needs to sell for an extended period. Lee also works these long matches with him getting a second wind, and then a third wind, and then his tank is on empty and he gets a fourth wind. It's not usually going to be my favorite kind of match, as it's really tough to build something with multiple peaks. The first match peak is almost always the best, and the more you try to fit in the more tiring it gets to keep peaking the viewer. I think they relied on the apron for drama far too often, and after awhile I just got numb. Both guys are impressive as hell and always break out stellar athletic feats, but these feats, in this order, did nothing for me. I didn't end up buying Elgin going down the way he did, and the moves that did put him down weren't effective for me (the overuse of punts to put him down seem like it came way early, as he still had to power through a lot of things later). Again, some things were impressive as hell, Elgin's falcon arrow pulling Lee up and into the ring, Lee's sell towards the end where he takes a shot, goes to return it and collapses forward in a heap; stuff like that worked for me in isolation. I just didn't like the match they were attached to. And the guys got to the end at different times, as I think Elgin came off way too fresh for the finish to work, and Lee came off way too dead for the finish to work.

PAS: I actually liked the finish here, as it was Elgin pummeling Lee with huge shots, talking shit to him about losing in his home arena, and Lee pulling off a tricky inside cradle to steal the win against an over confident monster. I do agree with Eric that it took too long and Lee took too much for it to work totally for me. I am just so numb to matches where the story is "how much can each man take", and lots of spots like the opening forearm exchange felt totally trite. I would have rather this been a quickish sprint with the same ending, but the fact that Elgin did 10 killer finishers for two counts in the middle of the match, really hurt his killer finishers at the end of the match.

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