Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode 2

Deonna Purrazzo vs. Priscilla Kelly

ER: Is there anyone other than original World of Sport guys who can make those "crawling on knees through legs" spots look good? So far I don't think I've seen it look anything but dumb. Early parts of this had stuff I didn't like, the WoS cosplay, and Kelly weirdly looking like she was barely running during spots that required running, but I thought the last couple minutes delivered. Once Kelly locked in a nasty dragon sleeper I was into it, and only got more into it when Purrazzo cracked her with a great back elbow. Finish was cool with Purrazzo rolling into a nasty Fujiwara armbar that really looked like she was ripping Kelly's arm off. They kept it short and relatively timely, and did enough things that I dug.

Zeuxis vs. Aerial Monroe

ER: Zeuxis is easily one of my favorite ladies in CMLL, and her shiny hair makes her look like she's in a lucha Pantene Pro-v commercial. The secret is conditioner y'all. There was some awkwardness here, possibly due to language barrier, the first couple rope running and strike exchange spots didn't look good. Zeuxis can be pretty vicious in CMLL and appeared to be holding back a bit here, and it was a weird spot to be in as she was up against the clear local babyface (and also awkward that the local babyface also really wanted to trash talk during the match), and should have worked more overtly ruda. The best parts were when that ruda side was at the forefront, like when she was fishhooking Monroe or tossed her crotch first on the top rope and immediately smacking her, and I really liked her bridging pin. Monroe has good in-ring confidence, but got a little too cute with some of her offense. It wasn't bad, but I was expecting more.

Kacy Catanzaro vs. Reina Gonzalez

ER: Catanzaro is really tiny, which only makes Reina look bigger, and I'm glad Reina's back this year. I really liked her opposite Nicole Savoy in last year's tournament, and that armbar finish was one of the best finishes of 2017. And I liked her here and am really bummed she didn't advance. Catanzaro is clearly an impressive athlete but I can't get too excited for another CrossFit wrestler with tiny offense that couldn't crack an egg. The structure of this was problematic too, as Reina slammed her around the ring for a few minutes, but Catanzaro was springing around for the finish. I liked all of Reina's offense here, and working against someone who is barely 100 lb. is only going to help that. She had nice stuff aside from throwing around a Lilliputian, had nice stomps and a good elbow drop. I'm fine with Catanzaro winning with a roll up I guess, but didn't think any of her offense looked very plausible with the size difference. The "three cheers for Kacy!" post bell stuff, lifting her up like she was Rudy after sacking a QB, only made me dislike it more.

Ashley Rayne vs. Mercedes Martinez

ER: Not sure why we get the Madison Rayne name change, has she actually signed with WWE? I guess it doesn't matter; Rayne has been around for ages now and she's never really impressed me, and that didn't change here. She gets up for and takes offense fine, but never leaves a lasting impression on me. I've literally been seeing her in matches for over a decade now and barely remember a thing. Martinez looked good, like the delayed vertical suplex (odd that we don't see that often anymore, a vertical suplex somehow seems special now), a knee into a fisherman's buster is a good finish, although maybe not in a match that also saw her doing a nasty cradle driver. This whole thing was worked fairly even, which is problematic as I didn't think Rayne's offense looked even with Martinez's. This one got the most time of the episode, but overall didn't do a ton for me.

ER: Episode 2 moved quickly but won't make much of a lasting impression. As with last year I'm sure the matches will continue to get better in the later rounds, and this episode wasn't bad, more "mostly inoffensive".

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 117

Episode 117

1. Snooty Foxx/Dirty Daddy vs. Zane & Dave Dawson

ER: Killer match up, easily my favorite Dawsons match and I think definitive proof that So' Time are legit and among the best tag teams in indy wrestling. They complement each other perfectly, come off genuine, unabashed babyfaces, and that's important. Snooty has some of my favorite current hot tags in wrestling, always treating it like the hot tag was the thing he wanted most in the world. It's hard to look convincing when running back and forth corner to corner hitting moves on both opponents, but he makes it convincing. This was the meanest I've seen the Dawsons, and it was great to see. It felt like every spare moment one of them had was jamming their thumbs into eyes. They cut off the ring nicely, ate Snooty's comeback really well and really committed to some of their strikes. The clothesline to set up a german suplex was a fitting ending; it had this slight reckless or sloppy feel to it that made it read more effectively. Also, a negative note: Dirty Daddy has genuine skill and is a naturally likeable babyface. He does not need a fake winky Chikara back story of being a 30 year ver starting over. He doesn't need a gimmick of "worked Carlos Colon in 1982". We don't need to make up a fake title tournament he won in Rio de Janeiro in future episodes. He's doing just fine as Dirty Daddy, 2017 babyface. But I still loved this tag, and would like to see more of this match-up.

PAS: I enjoyed the Kernodle Cup match between these two teams, and they have had some fun interactions in battle royals and things, these are just guys that match up well. Dawson's were appropriately nasty in this match, cheap shotting, hitting hard, punishing Daddy. Loved the hot tag section, especially Daddy's wreckless dive over the top to cut off Dave. Finish was cool, with So Time setting up their elbow/spear double team, Foxx getting cut off, and the Dawson's hitting their double team lariat and german finisher. Man does CWF have a lot of great tag teams, Dawson's may be the least of the big teams and they are pretty great.

2. Priscilla Kelly vs. SIS

ER: I liked their other match against each other, and I like that at the bell Kelly goes back to that low running kick to the patella. She used it later in the first match and I like it a lot as an ambush or evasive move. This match doesn't go very long, and it doesn't really need to go very long, because they both go at it hard. Once Kelly kicks the legs out from SIS she comes in with more low kicks, until SIS catches one from a seated position, drags her to the mat and starts firing off brutal looking side control elbows to the head. And when SIS takes over a match it's always fun, and these two stay close almost the whole time. Everything felt like a struggle. SIS chokes Kelly in the ropes but in a neat twist Kelly is facing the ring, so her neck is being bent back over the middle rope, and this sets up the awesome SIS crossbody. Kelly escapes this time with a win and already - even though their two matches have been less than 9 minutes total - this feels like a good feud. I hope we get a big rubber match showdown. Without Ethan Sharpe coming out unfurling a stack of rubbers.

PAS: This was a nasty stiff fight. Kelly has won a SHINE title since their last match and seems to have really improved. Her kicks really looked like they were really cracking SIS here, and I remember them being a bit more flash then substance before. This felt a little like a southern fried Yamada v. Aja.  SIS is just so great at using her bulk, I loved her in the ropes cross body, and the second rope stomp to the head. I didn't love Kelly semi-no selling the german suplex and the end, but besides that, this was good stuff.

3. Aric Andrews vs. Trevor Lee

ER: I've seen Andrews work over a dozen times now, and my favorite - and first - match of his involved him taking apart a guy's knee, so once I saw him targeting Lee's knee I was game. Now, I assumed it was going to go the way of a lot of the Trevor Lee main events, but they flipped it and totally surprised me with the direction the match took. The build was really unique and avoided any of the predictable back and forth. Andrews did his stalling routine to start and seemed hesitant to lock up with Lee. When they did finally lock up, Lee tooled him on the mat a bit and frustrated him. It wasn't surprising when Andrews went after the knee. What WAS surprising was that The Leg was the whole match. There were no valiant comebacks and convenient lapses in selling, it was Andrews beating the shit out of Lee's knee, and continuing to beat the shit out of it until he tired himself out beating the shit out of it, and got exhausted and frustrated. Andrews was good at ramping up the attacks, and I'll always flip for a guy ripping off a kneepad or bandage or something. Andrews stomps it, locks on a rough kneebar, and then locks Lee into the STF, a move Lee has used to dispatch tons of guys. Andrews locks it on just as mean as Lee, arching him in all sorts of painful ways. And he keeps trying to wrench it in, and Lee somehow never quits. It looked like he should have quit, but he never did. And Andrews sold the equivalent of a fighter who has punched himself out, only this is pro wrestling, so he up and grabbed his belt, grabbed Lee's belt, and threatened to just walk out. But he goes back into the ring with the belts, trash talks Lee, and gets surprised by a great spin kick. Lee locks on a brutal STF and that's all she wrote. This match took some awesome and unexpected turns and made for a great journey, totally class.

PAS: I knew Eric liked this match a lot going in, and I figured I would like it a bunch too, but I was shocked at how great it was, right up there with Richards and Attitude matches, and this didn't have the same tricks and shortcuts those had. I have been waiting to see the breakout Aric Andrews performance and here it was. He was just excellent here, as a vicious nasty prick who was going to do permanent, serious damage to Trevor's knee. The opening amateur mat scrambling looked great, as good as any mat rolling I have seen this year. The Andrews chop block which set up the long knee work was really violent looking as was all of the simple work on the knee. I loved Andrews punching the side of the kneecap, him really twisting on the kneebar, just the focus of what he was doing. Lee's selling was great too, at no point did he shrug off the knee to get his shit in, and he used counters to Andrews knee attacks to mount offense. I loved how he dodged the third cut block attempt, Andrews hit him with it twice, but the third time he dodged it and hit a german suplex. I also loved his sell when he stomped Andrews elbow, that is a typical early match Lee spot, here he didn't get to it until late and when he did it looked like it did more damage to his knee then it did to Andrew's elbow. Loved the finish, Lee has such an awesome STF, he never applies it the same way twice and is always looking for different ways to alter it and crank it in better, he he figure foured the leg first and hooked the arm behind his back. Most wrestlers always apply a move the exact same way each time, and I appreciate him mixing it up.

ER: Andrews/Lee was some choice wrestling, landing easily (and quite high) on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. This one was right up there with the best episodes of wrestling TV this year.

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CWF Mid-Altlantic Worldwide Episode 105

Episode 105

1. SIS vs. Priscilla Kelly

PAS: SIS slings potatoes when she wrestles men, putting her against another woman almost feels like watching an uncomfortably violent intergender match. Kelly, the valet for the Carnies, puts in a game effort, she unloads some nasty kicks and forearms, but SIS just brings the heat. Southern Indy Aja Kong is a really cool thing to have in 2017

ER: Yeah this is actually the first time I've seen SIS against a female, I'd just gotten used to her against men that I've stopped thinking of her as a female. Priscilla Kelly is a name I've seen popping up a lot on FloSlam but didn't realize she was the gal appearing with the Carnies. I also did not realize that she was on (still is on?) some reality show called My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, she is very young (probably just 19 or 20) and has a dad who is basically Jamie Dundee. Her kicks need a lot of work but the ideas are good. I liked all the kicks specifically targeting SIS' legs, especially the running low kick to the patella. The punt on the apron with the leg landing on the top rope, followed by a gyrate, is a pretty great heel gloat (wait she's a heel right? Does that mean SIS is a face!?). The kicks just need to be tightened up. But she leaned in to all of SIS' nasty stuff, the great headbutt, the body press in the ropes, the low german, so I imagine she'll keep getting better.

2. AJ Gray vs. Xsiris

ER: I thought this was really damn good. CWF pulls from a pretty ridiculously deep talent pool, they can bring in a debuting guy like AJ Gray and the guy seems like he's been at it for years, a debuting guy who already has tons of polish. I assumed it would just be an Xsiris squash and what we got was much better than that. Xsiris doesn't really take Gray too seriously, asking someone in the crowd what Gray's name was so he can taunt him. Xsiris looked really good, and should really be on TV more (if Stutts is to be believed on commentary, apparently he has a day job that prevents him from wrestling more often?), he's almost a clone of Brad Attitude, and I would love more Brad Attitudes in wrestling. A great right hand goes a long way with me, and he has that and more. We build nicely to a huge comeback lariat from Gray, and for something I expected to go 90 seconds I was pleased as punch we got a good match out of it.

PAS: CWF does has a really deep talent pool, although in some way that can be a detriment. We can go months with out seeing guys like Xsiris or Lee Valiant, and the shows are often filled with rookies of varying quality. Gray was pretty good, and I liked the story of Xsiris not taking him seriously and paying for it.

ER: (Agree wholeheartedly with Phil's point about a deep talent pool being a blessing and a curse)

3. Aric Andrews/Dave Dawson/Dirty Blondes (Mike Patrick/Leo Brien) vs. Nick Richards/Mitch Connor/Slade Porter/Ace Perry

ER: An okay enough CWF/WAR 8 man, though they don't really do a whole lot with the 10 minutes given. Mitch Connor has a nice Jake Milliman look and babyface charisma, but most of the match is spent with him getting his knee worked, and it's weird to work the middle 6 minutes like that and then just rush through a multiple tag finish. I'd be fine with Perry and Porter not appearing again for a long while, and in turn I want WAY more of the Dirty Blondes. I really liked them in the Kernodle Cup and want to see more of what they can do (and I love Brien's downward angle right hand). I loved Connor's dedication to selling the knee when he finally tagged out, but this wasn't much.

PAS: I enjoyed Connor's selling, and all of the heels were good (it was nice to see Andrews get some offense for once), I thought Perry and Porter's offense wasn't great but they took some big bumps. Porter absolutley died on a back suplex and Perry spiked himself on the Andrews choke bomb.

4. Battle Bowl 10 Man Battle Royal

ER: I think I'm a bigger battle royal fan than most, but this probably got too much time. There were some good things, like Andrews quietly stooging around for Mecha, Wilkins getting sandwiched by the Sandwich Squad, a sick elimination bump from Biggs, Royal getting uppercutted and elbowed around by several guys ("Planet of the Ace is off its axis," said Cecil Scott amusingly), but this didn't have enough for me. And it doesn't always take much for me to get behind a Battle Royal.

PAS: I liked the finish run between Royal and Richards, most times battle royals are going be made on final runs and I thought they were great. Nasty shots, and the battle on the apron was cool with Richards trying to german Royal off the apron and slipping and falling off. Gets the full Worldwide point from me.

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