CWF Mid-Atlantic Weaver Cup Semi-Finals and Finals 8/24/19

We haven't been checking in on CWF-Mid Atlantic since they go off of YouTube and Trevor Lee left with the belt. They are finally filling the vacancy so I decided to check out the Semi-Finals and Finals of their tournament on Twitch. They keep the shows up for only a couple of days though, so you have to be quick.

Roy Wilkins vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe

This was heel stable versus heel stable, but Wilkins worked face with lots of interference from Corruption. This was fine, Wilkins had some stuff which landed nicely, but last time I checked on Sharpe he had been working more serious threat and he seemed to be back working as a cowardly heel manager. I do like Wilkins' offense, and he was definitely the right guy to go to the final.

Arik Royal vs. Cain Justice

These are my two favorite guys in CWF and I am pretty sure this was a first time match up. I  enjoyed this, but I wanted it to be better. Lots of cool little touches in the match with Cain giving up referees position, and dropping into guard, Royal had some really cool mat takedowns and riding positions, stuff like that. I also liked some of Cain's arm work, including his flip over Fujiwara and some of the takedowns. Still they had some chop battles which really didn't look good, and some time killing stuff, this felt like it would have been better faster, Cain was killing it in 10 minute RGL title matches, and his longer stuff hasn't connected with me as much. The Ethan Sharpe run in felt unnecessary and took some steam out of the finish. I imagine a title match between these two will be better, but this underwhelmed.

Arik Royal vs. Roy Wilkins

This was tag partner vs. tag partner, and I liked the actually work in the match a fair amount. Pretty simple stuff, but these are two big guys who do slow burn wrestling well. We got a slow burn start but never got any sort of finish run. They do a surprise distraction by Mace Lee and somebody else, and then a swerve as the All Stars turn on Wilkins (after teasing a turn on Royal) and help Royal get a roll up. An angle rather then a match really

Pretty disappointing, felt like all three matches under delivered, and the production of the show with the single streaming camera and new commentary team are subpar. I thought CL Party was fine as a Color commentator with Cecil Scott, but she is miscast as a lead announcer and basically didn't call the action of the match at all. I might check in for a big Cain or Arik Royal match in the future, but this didn't want to make me want to start following the fed regularly again.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 148

Episode 148

No Ropes: Trevor Lee vs. Roy Wilkins

ER: Writing about a match like this always seems like I'm stepping on eggshells, as I didn't love it, but am aware that many people did, and I much prefer writing posts based around "this is why I thought this match was awesome!" instead of posts framed around "here's why I'm the low vote on the match". And I guess the reasons for not liking it are fairly simple: I don't think the work within the match was interesting enough to pay off the stipulation, I don't think the No Ropes gave the match any more drama than it would have had with Ropes (ropes could have possibly been more interesting with the same rules, as it would allow for submissions to be applied within the ropes, with no breaks), and I don't think the work within the match justified the near 60 minute run time. I think certain parts of the match peaked too early, while other parts took too long to get moving. I also thought Wilkins looked weak offensively in spots, especially on his stomps. There was one moment where they spilled to the floor and Wilkins threw some of the lightest stomps, and capped them off with a really soft superkick; later, during our big and expected All Stars interference moment, Royal and Li threw more weak strikes to a grounded Lee, making it seem like they were fake putting the boots to a guy with shingles (Li threw a couple especially bad ones, but I think stomps are the weakest part of his game. He should consider dropping them from his repertoire). Overall, the match just didn't work for me.

I think you have to do something pretty special to justify an hour run time, and I don't think there was anything in this match that couldn't have been accomplished in half the runtime. And, I think the longer it went did more of a disservice to the submission attempts. With no rope breaks, we just ended up with several submission attempts that just ended up being applied, and eventually let go by the applier. Rope breaks are a great tool, a great way to build drama and structure some big moments around a narrow escape. But when a guy applies a move, doesn't get a tap, and just drops the hold, I thought it made the subs lose their luster. I can only see a submission being applied so many times, and then being broken without a tap, before it makes the guys look like they must not be very good at applying submissions. I also thought they could have integrated the unique ring set up more than they did. I've had similar complaints when guys worked a mostly normal match inside a cage. Some of my favorite spots in the match integrated the lack of ropes, from simple things like the early match lock ups with each man trying to back the other off the apron, or Wilkins teetering on the edge a couple times, to bigger things like Lee hitting a huge punt while Wilkins was climbing up onto the apron, an angle that would not have been possible without ropes. But the match was overly long, and even the Sportatorium crowd didn't start getting into it until past the 30 minute mark. When you sense a match is going long, you either get an excited reaction of things ramping up (like in Almas/Gargano, a match that ran 25 minutes less than this one, but had the crowd hooked from minute 1), but here it felt more like a "we know this is going long, the first half doesn't matter" reaction. And there were things that didn't matter, that I think happened at an odd part of the match: We get a finger break that didn't prevent Wilkins from doing anything the rest of the match, and not long after we got Lee posting and stomping Wilkins arm, which never stopped him from attempting subs. I liked the home stretch, where it became clear that Wilkins was a corpse and Lee was just going to keep propping him and and setting him in place to wreck him over and over, I liked Lee yanking off Jaray Caray's pristine white kicks - signing them! - and tossing them to the crowd, I liked the babyface locker room running off the All Stars, I liked the babyfaces pounding on the mat while surrounding the ring, but overall the match didn't land with me. It's not easy to work a near hour match, and I hope they're proud of that, at least. Ballads are being sung, but not for me.

PAS: I liked this a fair bit more then Eric did, overall I thought there was enough really great stuff in the match to recommend it overall, but there were some maximalist flaws which are present in a bunch of Lee's biggest matches, and especially his big and long matches which kept this from being on my MOTY list. Nearly an hour is really hard to pull off, especially in a modern wrestling environment which is going to demand big bombs and moments through out. Lee smashed his ankle into the post early which led to concerns of a broken ankle, but the match probably went 35 minutes after that, and we had several mid match KOs which didn't end up going anywhere ect. The run in had the great moment of Lee signing Carey's white shoes and sending them into the crowd, but otherwise was just overbooking and felt out of pace with the rest of the match. There were also some fatigue strike exchanges, which looked soft and kind of overacty.

Despite those complaints though, there was a lot to really love about the match, I was all in on the no ropes stip, and I thought it led to a bunch of very cool twists, especially in the early excellent grappling sections. I loved how Trevor used different levels to apply holds, sometimes coming from below to get torque and sometimes locking stuff on from above. I also thought all of the work around the figure four was cool, the lack of rope breaks added to the drama, Lee had to reverse it to break it, and the end with Wilkins taking a cool unprotected fall onto his head. I also really loved the finish with Lee just pounding Wilkins down and out with big shots until the ref stopped it. Exhaustion KO finish is a great finish for a long match, it makes sense that at some point shots can't be blocked or stopped. It is damn hard to make me want to watch a match this long with a modern work style. This had those flaws, but mostly kept me engaged, and I continue to be fans of both guys. I want to watch their first no ropes match, I imagine four years ago, they might not have had the need to go so big, and I might enjoy it even more.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 141

Episode 141

Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Chet Sterling

PAS: Sharpe continues to impress, as he really lays it into Sterling with hard shots, including a great diving clothesline to the back of Sterling's head while Sterling was tied up in the ropes, and a big time lariat which flipped Sterling around. I liked Sterling getting pissed and yelling at Sharpe to keep talking, but honestly Sharpe is the much fresher act at this point, and probably should have gone over. I feel like I have seen everything Sterling is going to show me, he is like CWF Randy Orton at this point.

ER: I thought both guys looked really good here, and loved how it devolved. We start out kind of expectedly fun, with Sharpe showing off his new merch and Sterling blowing his nose with it, but Cecil Scott was strong at pointing out the strides that Sharpe has made (and I also liked him bringing up the cold NC winters, which have been known to affect breathing the longer a match goes). Sharpe keeps adding cool offense to his repertoire. I kinda liked him as a Stevie Richards heel type with maybe two simple moves that look bigger within context of his matches, like his great jawbreaker. Here he just blows through Sterling with a great diving lariat, and later hits a crossbody/lariat while Sterling is draped over the middle rope. Those things added to simple vertical elbows can fill a match nicely. Sterling takes a super nasty bump through the ropes to the floor, like a trained version of Vince always almost hanging himself when he would get tossed, and I liked how Sterling goaded Sharpe into getting overly aggressive, clearly a trap, and a good enough one that I bought the roll-up nearfall. I get Phil's point about Sterling being the CWF Randy Orton, but I think Sterling continues making strides as well: The last half of the year Sterling matches appealed to me far more than the first half, he's been utilizing his genuinely good right hand at the right moments of matches, and it's working. Real good, satisfying match.

Mike Mars vs. Aaron Biggs

PAS: Fun slugfest to intro Biggs back into the singles realm. Very simple match which delivered what was promised. I thought Mars's somersault escape was a fun big man agility spot which was more like a Kamala leapfrog then a Donovan Dijak juniors spot.  I really liked the finish with Mars hitting the headbutt which staggers Biggs only for Biggs to bounce back with a huge Thesz Press for the KO

ER: This was good, I believe it was my first semi-extended look at Mars against a larger opponent. Since it was only going a few minutes I wish we had more of a big meaty slugfest (it was grounded for a bit in the middle) but I liked what I saw. It was basic, it was good. The finish was what made this super memorable though, as Mars surprises Biggs with his great thrust headbutt, and Biggs counters that surprise with one of his own, just flattening him with a Thesz Press as "out of nowhere" as a 375+ pound man can be. I was expecting Biggs to stagger, was not expecting him to come flying flush with a massive press. The win was a given. Truly one of the greatest Thesz Presses of our days.

PAS: Not sure what is going on with Mars, he has this big undefeated run, including just crushing Dirty Daddy in 120 seconds at BattleCade. Then they have Mars immediately lose the RGL title to Kool Jay, which is a win that they have been building too, but having that big win not get shown on their show really stinks. I get that there was a bunch of turmoil, and maybe there are reasons the footage got black holed, but it really screws up Mars and it stinks that Kool Jay's big moment is disappeared. At least show highlights with re-dubbed commentary if they don't want Bishop Magic Don Juan on their shows anymore. Now Mars goes from sqaushing everyone to losing his title in a dark match to losing to Biggs clean in a shortish match, the booking around this makes no one look good.

ER: Man I was so confused by this, and thinking about it doesn't make it any less confusing. Mars was a beast, running through everyone, including Daddy which was super shocking. I was really looking forward to a longer RGL title from Daddy, so the 2 minutes and change Mars victory was a shock. But to have Kool Jay turn around and beat Mars for the belt....and we don't even get to see it!? That is just stupid. Kool Jay has hardly even snapped off a single piece of offense during his CWF run, so for him to show up with a title suddenly feels like we jumped ahead 4 months in booking. I was really enjoying the slow burn, and CWF is a fed who knows how to do a slow burn. I thought Jay would start getting more and more offense, get a banana peel win, slowly move him to being more than just a bumping death machine, maybe have him cut a promo about how he had died so many times in the ring that he was on his last life and needed to start winning. But instead he shows up with a title that - last we saw - was Mike Mars' title, that Jay apparently won the week before. There was turmoil, it was the holidays, but that just highlights more reasons to NOT do a title change. I wanted to see Jay's journey, and I wanted to see Mars dominate for awhile. This is a bummer.

Roy Wilkins vs. Kool Jay

PAS: I really enjoyed this. The shtick here is that Wilkins has stolen the Mid-Atlantic belt and is now defending it against other champions. Since Kool Jay has the RGL title, he is the joke opponent. Big star treating a youngster like a joke and getting his comeuppance is a great match structure. Wilkins is really great as a contemptuous prick, and Jay is a really great underdog. I thought the opening section of Wilkins dominating went a bit long, this match type is better at 13 minutes rather then 22, but once Jay made his flurries of offense it was pretty great. Jay has a great dropkick and Wilkins really flies out of the ring, both tope's were big moves, and the sliced bread was a great near fall. They tried to make Kool Jay in this match, and mostly succeeded, although he already got his big career defining win and it isn't being shown for some reason.

ER: This was a good match that I think was really tanked by the fact we never saw Jay's title win. And I couldn't help but think the entire, long match, just how much different I would be reacting to this match had Jay been merely building off of the last time we saw him. He hadn't won a match at that point, he had barely been seen on offense, and because of that Wilkins was treating him like a total joke. How big would this match have looked? Instead, we went in knowing that he beat Mike Freaking Mars, a man who before this same episode we had barely seen look weak. Somehow, Kool Jay beat Mike Mars cleanly to win a title. Kool Jay beat a man who had been treating him like a complete punching bag for months. Kool Jay went from not being able to compete at all against Mars, to beating him for a title. And knowing that, makes Wilkins' entire attitude towards him not make any sense whatsoever. Cockiness is cockiness, I get that, but this mystery title change really sucked a lot of the drama and interest out of this match for me. It being overly long didn't help things. Kool Jay beat Mike Mars in less time than it took Wilkins to actually get actively involved in this match. And the final half was really good, really exciting. I don't think the latter half was made any more exciting because of the extended first half, but again the last half was really good. Even when he's on offense Jay tries his best to die (luckily Wilkins reeled him in before he destroyed a few rows of chairs) and I love the multiple tope spot. The interference from Caray and Coach was great, timing was always on point, and I especially loved when Caray grabbed his leg before the first tope, Jay backed him away with a 619 before hitting the second tope. We get a couple nice nearfalls (which again, would have been incredibly exciting without the knowledge that Jay had beat Mars for a title), but the strange programming decision really made this a misfire.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 140

Episode 140

Arik Royal vs. Jesse Adler

PAS: We have Royal putting together about the best possible match you can have with Jesse Adler. Royal is so good at getting a crowd roiled up, and Adler is pretty good at selling, so having Royal dominate and talk shit, while Adler sells is a good match layup. There were a couple of fancy spots which Adler didn't fully pull off (with the reverse rana in the Ultra J match, Splash mountain semi botch in the Attitude match, and Dragon Rana here, maybe they should stop trying to jack 1993 Rey Mysterio spots without 1993 Rey Mysterio). That final cut block looked great with Adler flying and a big impact

ER: The reign of terror is over! The match was the best match involving Adler that I've seen, although you had to buy into Adler being at minimum on an even level or higher than Royal, which I just could not do. I kept getting worried that I jinxed he result, as I stated when the match was set up that I just couldn't see any way that Adler beats Royal. And I was so adamant about it that it felt like I was giving the universe prime opportunity to show me why I specifically don't deserve nice things. But even with way too many shenanigans (far more than it should have taken for Royal to leave with the belt), I was not let down by the result. Some of the equivalency spots were cringe, like Adler somehow German suplexing Royal (i.e. Royal just leaping backwards on his own) or really any of Adler's big shots being treated as equal. Royal was great and Adler took a nice beating, and sold the leg admirably (after Royal catches a plancha and just whips him leg first into the ringpost). The leg injury made a couple things problematic, as really Adler shouldn't be able to suplex Royal with two good legs, let alone with a bad wheel. I weirdly thought the dragon rana spot worked, even if it was ugly. The ugliness kind of worked to its advantage, as this was no liquid smooth Rey flip into a faster Eddy flip, this was an ugly flip caught by Royal, and then forcing his body to roll through it as Adler's weight hung around Royal's neck. We get the visual pin from the standing shooting star press that I assume is supposed to connect, and it's silly we need Coach interference to get Royal a win over Adler, but this whole reign has come off kind of silly. That said, I thought the structure of the match worked, you just had to buy Adler as equal to or better than Royal, which....well there I go again.

Trevor Lee vs. Roy Wilkins

PAS: There was a bunch of individual stuff I really liked in this match (it would be hard not to have some cool stuff with guys this good), but as a match it never really came together for me. It is hard for me to be that engaged in a 3 on 1 match, especially because it made no sense that no one would ever come out to help Trevor. All Stars have run wild on the fed for years, and no one feels like evening the odds? Lots of triple and quadruple teams with Lee fighting out. When it was down to Lee v. Wilkins it was good stuff, but then the interference would come again. I really didn't like the finish either, having the main event of your biggest show determined on the Coach missing and hitting his own guy is pretty lame. I did like Lee's intensity, coming out with "No Matter What it's Still Going to Hurt" painted on his body was pretty badass, I also really dug all the hand work, it made a bunch of sense to stomp and crack someone's fingers if they are going to be using brass knucks. Still I thought this was pretty disappointing, the overbooked main event worked last year, but here it really hurt the flow of the match.

ER: CWF does overstuffed and overblown main events better than anyone else, but this never worked for me. First Blood matches are just about my least favorite stip match (out of stips that are used regularly), so I'm really eager to know if there are actual good ones out there. They seem so backwards. They really should do WarGames rules, where once one of the participants is bleeding, THEN the match officially begins. All the best brawls happen after the guys are already bleeding, so a First Blood match is essentially a "Match Immediately Stops Once Something Cool Happens". Additionally, they don't allow guys to make much sense psychologically, as 90% of things done in a First Blood match wouldn't draw blood. A First Blood match should pretty much be a 90 second long Frye/Takayama punchfest, with guys trying to bust open a nose or brow. That wouldn't be very interesting, so you have to work a mostly normal match, that just ends with no actual build to blood, just "Oh he's bleeding, match over!" So it already had things working against it, and the interference just made no sense to me. Sometimes they would wait until Redd Jones' back was turn, other times they would just all run in at once. It's why southern heel cheating rarely made sense in ECW. You have Coach setting up a cool timed spot where Jones gets distracted with Trevor on the top rope, Coach clips him in nasty fashion and Lee takes a nasty spill...but a few minutes later they're all just in anyway. If you have three guys interfering for you and that's fine, then why weren't they all four just brandishing chairs and gunning for Lee's head? Why didn't Wilkins/Royal/Li hold Trevor down while Coach takes a boxcutter to his forehead? If you're going to give a tainted title reign to someone, don't blue the lines. Now, I don't know if this actually will be a title reign or if it's just a "Wilkins stole the belt but Lee is the champ" situation, and if it is, who wants that? If they had pulled the trigger, had the All-Stars cheat like hell to get that belt, you could have Lee seeking sick sadistic vengeance on every one of them as he fights back to the title. Instead we might just get promos where someone is claiming to be champ but isn't. Everybody involved is good, and the match had several "main event of big show" moments. The final stretch battles of all the brass knux, with knux getting kicked out of hands, knux getting scrambled for, Lee baiting Wilkins into crawling for knux only to catch him in a powerbomb, and Brad Stutts leaving CWF on a high note with a great call of "Just how many pairs of knux we got in this place!?" The Cincinnati Destroyer spot was insane, and would have been a huge moment in a normal title match...but since this is First Blood, again, wouldn't it have made sense to just beat the holy hell out of your opponent's face with one of those chairs, instead of setting them up for a big spot? Why didn't Wilkins come out wearing a crazy Otto Schwanz face mask to protect his head? There were just too many things that didn't add up, and because of that I could never connect with any of it.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 137

Episode 137

Aric Andrews vs. Mace Li

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

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

Cain Justice vs. Joey Lynch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Episode 132

Episode 132

1. Stokely Hathaway/Cain Justice/Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Brian Carson/Joshua Cutshall/Frankie Flynn/Philly Collins/Marino Tenaglia vs. Dirty Daddy/Jesse Adler/Cam Carter/Michael McAllister/Nick Richards/Mitch Connor/Darius Lockhart/Caprice Coleman

PAS: Nifty Cibernetico match which had fun showcase performances from a bunch of different guys. I loved how they had callbacks to a bunch of feuds over the year. Cutshall and Richards flashback to January and beat the shit out of each other, Cain gets his revenge on Mitch Connor by making him tap to the twist ending, McAllister and Richards have a contest to see who can hit Carson harder playing off their mini-feud from last week. The also do a nice job of setting up future stuff, I want to see the Philly/Marino experience face off with the Vanguard after their interactions. They nicely set the table for the Justice v. Richards match coming up, plus I loved the couple of minutes of crazy guy potato fest between McAllister and Cutshall which would be a fun 8 minute TV match. Loved how they continued the serious Sharpe run, by having him beat both Adler and Daddy relatively clean. Would like to see him be the guy to beat Adler and make the TV title interesting again.


ER: This is a really nice lineup for a cibernetico and it's given tons of time, really allowing it to stretch out like some of those early Survivor Series match-ups. It seems bold to do a 16 man elimination match on the same episode as the Party/Caray elimination match, but I can't complain about 30+ minutes of quality pro wrestling. Far more guys looked really good in this than looked missable, with some standout performances from Cutshall, Coleman, Sharpe, and almost everybody got great little moments. Flynn was in briefly but really shined in his minute, making some offense look deadly (this match was filled with guys taking nasty DDT drops, but Flynn and Carter probably took them the nastiest). Cutshall is a huge guy who - just like I said about Otto last week - does "crazy" exceptionally well. I don't always want crazy from a wrestler, but where he excels over most wrestlers who have done crazy, is he'll crack you right in the mouth. The stuff with Coleman probably went too long but had some great payoffs, especially loved him teasing the over the top elimination with all his teammates holding him up. Sharpe matched up a lot with Daddy and those interactions were all good, Sharpe breaking out some surprises from little things (quickly spreading Daddy's feet with his own to bring him in closers for an elbow) to bigger things like a big lariat and huge shotei. Fully on board with Phil's desire to see him take the TV title away from Adler. I cannot get into Adler even one iota. He was easily my least favorite guy in this match. He's fluid and recovers athletically from doing offense, but I don't think any of his offense actually looks good. Stokely is coming along as a wrestler, I really liked his flying back elbow he broke out a couple times (shades of Cory Edsel!); Carter and Lockhart look like potential stars, they carry themselves confidently and look good doing and taking offense. Justice getting revenge on Connor from months back was vicious, and there's always an extra level of vulnerability when Connor is taking a beating. Connor gets these vacant stares and Cain is just blasting him in the back of the head, then when it looks like he's just about to get a stoppage he yanks Connor into a brutal Twist Ending. Then I love Cain's hubris getting the best of him as he spits on Daddy at ringside and turns around right into a Nick Richards cutter. This whole thing was a heckuva lot of fun, loved the concept, the participants were quality and gelled great, really this match could have easily held up a stand alone episode.

2. Kool Jay/Metallico/Number Boy vs. Mike Mars

PAS: CWF has some great big bumping jobbers, and this was as fun a slaughter as one would expect. All three guys take really painful falls, the point where Mars picks up both Metallico and Kool J in a firemans carry and throws them both hard on the mat looked like it would puncture a lung. It feels like they are building up to a big Kool J win and it is going to be awesome when he picks it up.

ER: Mike Mars is real body Khal Drogo and up against three big bumpers you know it's gonna be fun. The drop on that double stack fireman's carry wasn't high, but it looked dangerous as hell. I thought all three guys did a great job grouping their attacks and getting scattered, and Stutts made an apt Gulliver's Travels (while Cecil showed some deep cut knowledge on the Friday the 13th series). Each finish was pretty gross, with a planted chokeslam on Metallico and throwing Number Boy up and headbutting him in the chest on the way to the mat. I liked Kool Jay's little flashes, his spinkick and general spunk. I'm really rooting for that guy.

3. Donnie Dollars vs. Ray Kandrack

PAS: I am all in for a Donny Dollars open challenge series. This was a big meaty punch out, I wish it had been six minutes instead of 2, but I liked the whole two minutes. Kandrack is coming back from injury and it is unclear whether he can take a bump, but he can forearm someone in the mouth.

ER: I'm mostly unfamiliar with Kandrack, as my CWF history only began with last year's Battlecade. I liked his Rumble return, and he's big enough to CWF's history to still have him in the opening episode credits (or was that a new addition...), but damn am I sick and tired of seeing my boy Dollars pick up the L. FIRST, I hardly get to see him wrestle, he hardly ever shows up on the shows, and THEN his match is under 2 minutes? You guys. For a short match this was really fun, but I need to feel more Dollars love.

PAS: Love the Brad Attitude updates, friends with Dolph Ziggler is a such a great 2017 heel move, and a love his name drops. I am not sure why Attitude isn't at least main eventing TNA shows, shit he would make a great traveling NWA champ, talk about a guy who could cut a promo and make you want to see your local guy kick his ass.

ER: Not much to add, other that fully agree with all Phil wrote. Attitude is a superstar.

4. Mace Li/Roy Wilkins/Arik Royal/Otto Schwanz/Jarry Caray vs. Faye Jackson/Snooty Foxx/Sandwich Squad/CL Party

PAS: Fun elimination match, which focuses a lot on the All Stars cutting the ring off and working over people. Royal and Wilkins are a great southern heel tag team, their cuts offs are well timed, their offense looks good and Royal especially has all time great shtick. Really great to watch them stooge for Jackson, work over Foxx and bump for the big Sandwich Squad comeback. Finish was satisfying with Carey getting his comeuppance getting choked out by Party's leg lock.

ER: Yeah this was a fun crowd pleasing elimination match, with a great Royal/Wilkins performance contained within. Royal was great in this, totally classic apron guy (always engaging fans and interacting in non-showoff ways into the match), interacting great with crazy Otto, and then crushing it in the ring when needed. His corner attack on Biggs was maybe my favorite thing in the match, just picking him apart with note perfect jabs, slamming him in the chest with awesome palm strikes, and knowing just how to feed the Sandwich Squad (pun intended). Mecha had an awesome performance in this too, just a killer hot tag down the stretch with big chops, big clotheslines, big crossbody, big everything. Cecil Scott cracked me up early in the match when Faye tagged in and slammed her ample backside into Wilkins' ribs, and you hear Scott just quietly say "Jealous". Can't really blame him. I loved how the stretch played out with the Squad eliminating the All-Stars at the same time, leaving Caray alone with the Squad and Party (Sandwich Party?). Caray and the Coach are totally cool taking the count out loss ("Count faster!" Coach yells to ref Redd Jones as they're walking away) but we get the great late match moment of Faye and Snooty coming back from the curtain to block their way. Caray gets tossed back in and CL Party blasts him with a forearm, then locks on a tight head vice between her knees, aiming to pop his head like a zit. CWF does crowd pleasers really well, and this was plenty pleasing.

5. Trevor Lee/Chet Sterling/Ric Converse vs. C.W. Anderson/Zane Dawson/Brad Attitude

PAS: This was a Triathlon match starting with a singles match, going to a tag, and finishing with a trios. Anderson and Lee face off to start and Attitude comes from the back as a surprise to jump Lee and we open with a fun Lee v. Attitude sprint. I liked Anderson on the floor here, constantly cheap shotting and trash talking. Anderson jumps in and superkicks Lee for the DQ but then we have CW and Dawson take on Converse and a weakened Lee, after Sterling gets jumped in the entrance way. They finish up with a trios match that included the dramatic Sterling return. Finish has Wilkins come out and bust Lee open with knucks, leading to a big assisted pop up powerbomb on Sterling for the heel victory. I liked the Anderson team cutting off the ring and working over the faces, but I was a little dissapointed I didn't get to see Anderson and Lee face off much, I guess they still have that match up on deck for 2018

ER: Based on the prior week's show closing promo I thought we were getting a CW/Lee singles match, so was disappointed at first, but should not be shocked that what I got instead was a pretty great match. I'd never heard of the Triathlon Survivor gimmick (I assume it's a CWF special) where we start with a singles match between any one guy from each team (we get Attitude vs. Lee), then a tag match with any two guys from each team (we get CW/Zane vs. Converse/Lee) and then finish with a trios. It's a pretty cool concept and one that just seems way cooler with the guys involved. Attitude and Lee have a legendary CWF feud, but Lee has no chance in the singles as CW keeps interfering whenever he could. CW was great on the floor and awesome whenever he would hop up to the apron. Attitude and Lee match up so well, and Lee made some great headway even with the interference, loved when he caught Attitude's leg and and snap hyperextended it, then stomped his elbow. Stutts and Cecil were great at putting over Attitude's rehabbed leg, how he opted to rehab instead of get a surgery, how things often don't heal fully or properly. But CW was always there with a shot or distraction, and the superkick for the DQ is a great spot. One of my (and probably a zillion other peoples') favorite spots in wrestling was Rick Rude coming off the top with a kneedrop on Steamboat at Beach Blast 92, getting him a DQ, but allowing him to immediately pin him for his own fall. So CW's team loses the fall but his superkick is always so great that it immediately gives them a leg up for the tag match. Lee is a total nut so he hangs in for the tag as well, and Converse gets to show off his great babyface work fighting against two men. Dawson takes a couple big bumps over the top to the floor, CW picks apart Lee, throws his big left hook, and Converse is just really damn good. I really think he's one of the best Tommy Dreamers ever (and better than Tommy Dreamer). The trios is chaotic as hell, with Sterling coming back from getting jumped and hitting a big flip dive, Lee gets busted open bad by a Roy Wilkins knux shot, CW looks like one of the best workers in the world (seriously this guy has not aged a bit since ECW), just a bunch of great stuff.

ER: Super fun double sized episode, really liked all the big multimans, and the squashy stuff were a couple short big bumping slugfests. Nothing but quality here. The triathlon match landed on our Ongoing 2017 MOTY List.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 125

Episode 125

1. Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Bellamy Koga

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 122

Episode 122

1. Roy Wilkins vs. Montana Black

ER: Yeah baby Montana Black is Back! He's a guy we saw seemingly ages ago that I've been wanting to see again, no reason why I should be deprived of this dude. This is worked simply, with Wilkins moving all around Black as he stands tall as an unchoppable tree. Wilkins fights him like a heel Westley fighting a babyface Fezzik jumping on him and trying to take out those legs. Black doesn't have thick legs, so Wilkins' shoulderblocks to the inner knee seem extra tough. I loved him jumping in for an abdominal stretch and how badly everything went when he tried jumping on Black. Black hits a mammoth face buster, picking up Wilkins in a full nelson and just planting him face first. His power looked legit and Wilkins took the bump like Wile E. Coyote falling face first off a cliff. I was disappointed when no dust cloud ploofed up. Black gets distracted and Wilkins blasts him behind the ear with his golden ticket plaque. I really love these 6 minute CWF matches. They always feel like they accomplish so much for the allotted time. I want more Montana Black!

PAS: Montana Black is two for two with me in singles matches. He is legit huge and seems to understand how to use his size, he actually works a lot like Andre the Giant, all open hand thudding chops and immobility. Wilkins is great at working as a cerebral wrestler, and I loved him try to solve the puzzle, before just giving up and smashing Black in the head with brass knuckles. I actually think Black would be a great addition to the All-Stars as a sort of a monster equalizer.

2. Slade Porter vs. Cam Carter

ER: This wasn't a bad 5 minutes, though some parts felt a little too rehearsed, it still had cool stuff. I was admittedly distracted by Cain Justice on commentary, as he wasn't really working in character, instead he came off like a more southern fried Snagglepuss. "That was a nice floatover, a nice drop down, even." We've seen Porter a few times now and this is probably the best he's looked, specifically thought a couple of his more complicated moves looked painful (like that nice leaping back elbow), and I liked Carter's low German suplex. This still felt like more of a touring match, but if you got 5 minutes to make an impression I can see using your touring match.

PAS: This didn't do it for me, I think Porter is one of the worst guys who shows up semi-regularly, and serious Porter was just as try hard and fun loving Porter. There was a section where Porter was throwing punches that were getting blocked which was comically bad looking. Carter has some potential and nice athletic ability, but wasn't going to be able to save this.

3. John Skyler vs. Jason Kincaid

ER: Skyler comes out wearing the one armed, studded leather jacket like Finlay or a Mad Max villain. It's a look I don't think I can pull off. But maybe it's one of those "confidence is key" things, where if you just act like you're someone who can pull off a one armed, studded leather jacket with one armor-like shoulder pad, then you can pull it off. I remember when vests became popular again among men, and I tried one on and just felt like I couldn't make it work. I felt like too much of a phony. So I might *think* that I wouldn't be able to pull off a Mad Max vest, but I don't know for certain. But I liked this match, even though I thought it could have been trimmed a bit. I was surprised how much Skyler was in control. I thought several of Kincaid's comebacks came off unnatural, just because Skyler was doing nothing but hitting him with big moves. Early on he used a lot of speed to stay one step ahead, or logically set up offense off of Skyler's misses, like that sunset flip powerbomb sending Skyler into the bottom buckle. But at a certain point this just felt like Kincaid barely kicking out of something, then just going back on offense. And sometimes the offense he set up felt a little longwinded, like the 619 from the entrance ramp, or the finishing cutter off the top that required Skyler to lift him into position to do the move. I don't like that kind of stuff. But for a longer match I thought they mostly filled the time well, and there were plenty of big (and little) killer moments, like Kincaid's crazy stomp to the face off a ringpost, and Skyler doing a deep back rake to sink in a powerbomb.

PAS: I liked this more then Eric did. I am a fan of Kincaid's fancy offense, it fits well with his character and spots like the double stomp off of the ringpost are legitimately awesome. I also really like Skyler, he is an ex CW Anderson and Preston Quinn tag partner and he has that same methodical yet forceful style. I did think it might have gone a bit too long and I thought the 619 from the ring entrance was kind of dumb, but I thought the finish was great. Stuttsy had been talking all match about Skylers top rope Finlay roll being his killer move and Kincaid reversing it in mid air into a stunner was crazy athletic and cool.

ER: I liked the stuff with Snooty and CL in Chapel Hill, with Snooty showing her his favorite 24 hour restaurant. Not only did I like Snooty (and CL) more after this, it made me want mac and cheese and a chicken biscuit. After all these scary beyond belief fires out here in CA this past week+, what kind of place do you think I can afford in Chapel Hill or Gibsonville? Somebody sell me on NC!

4. CW Anderson & The Dawsons vs. Chet Sterling & The Sandwich Squad

ER: I would have liked 5 more minutes from this, and 5 less from the prior match. I mean before the bell this match already had a woman in the crowd throw her nachos for a total bullseye on Zane Dawson, and then the Squad picked up a couple of the nachos and ate them. The parts of this match where CW and the Dawsons were picking apart Sterling were the best, I could have easily taken more of a heat segment. CW was vicious with everyone. His staredowns are maybe my favorite in wrestling, he never skimps on stomach kicks, and he never tries to get cheers. He is a bad man through and through. I like Sterling more every week, and I think he's especially good as the sympathetic babyface in matches like this. He fights to comeback nicely, sells well (which might be easier to do when Zane is smacking you in the ribs, or Dave is twisting you in a cravate, and CW is throwing big right hands to your face), but I like him getting dropped with a backdrop, coming up holding his shoulder and still wanting to fight, loved CW working that shoulder over his own while digging an elbow into Sterling's neck. I love how CW kept on Sterling, even when things started to break down and everybody got involved, he still lazered in on Sterling until he stuck that spinebuster. I thought the finish was real great as Biggs hits a mammoth Thesz press, but CW breaks up the pin with a killer low superkick; Biggs struggles back to his feet and shoots CW a look, but CW nails another one, Zane hits a lariat, and Dave dumps him with an awesome Saito suplex.  The Converse/Anderson standoff at the end of the episode hyped me even more for WarGames.

PAS: The beginning of this match with the face team all holding their trophies and the heels holding their belts, plus the faces taunting the lady into tossing her nachos was classic wrestling horseshit. Great CW performance, he was the conductor of the whole match, masterminding the beat down on Sterling. Coming in and hitting brutal cheap shots, right hands and his nasty spinebuster. I always enjoy watch the Sandwhich Squad do their thing, and Mecha hits an especial big time lariat. Finish was really great the Thez press by Biggs is world swallowing, and that short superkick by CW looked like it broke Biggs jaw.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 116

Episode 116

1. Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Mitch Connor

ER: Cool match, never threatened to overstay its welcome. Connor stuck close to Sharpe (love the E# boots, by the way. Have I just not noticed these before? I remember his boots having $$ on them, but my brain could have just filled in that lie) and kept clubbing with chops and meaty fists to the neck, and best of all he keeps doing all these short butterfly suplexes. I've never seen Connor use them in this way before, just bullying his way in close to E# and chucking him low. Sharpe was scrambling and mean, and I like him much more when he's mean than when cracking jokes. His jawbreaker was really great, and the hard uppercut flash finish was deserved. Fun stuff.

PAS: Between this and Cain Justice match I am becoming a Mitch Connor fan. He kind of wrestles like a UWFI American, like Dan Bobish or Gene Lydick. Lots of grinding wrestling, short throws and clubbing shots. I loved how he smothered Sharpe and how Sharpe used distance to be able to land shots. I loved the big uppercut finish and it really felt like a KO blow. Kind of bummed we didn't get to see a Tom Watson at the British open old man run from Connor, but this may have been the best I have seen Sharpe look, so no beef.

2. Cam Carter vs. Smith Garrett

ER: It's not bad to have an occasional surprise finish like this in a tournament. I'm disappointed as I was interested in seeing these two match up, but the big uppercut looked good.

PAS: I read ahead a bit and know where this is going, and I don't care for it at all, outside of that it was a fun 30 seconds.

3. Cain Justice vs. Chip Day

ER: Well this one had me cursing the 10 minute time limit of these 1st round Weaver Cup matches. These two have a pretty great 9 minutes, but then have to play beat the clock in the final minute, so it shifts the tone of the cool match we were getting into forearm exchanges and played out indy wrestling Frye/Takayama fighting. I'm at the point where even if the Frye/Takayama spot looks good, I'm just over it. They did it well, but I thought it was a dumb finish as there wasn't any immediacy to the match for any of the previous 9.5 minutes. Before that finish (and not just how the finish was handled in the closing moments, but the fact that it means neither guy advances, which sucks) I was loving this. Cain is the guy I pretty much want to see against everyone right now, and Day is an especially fun opponent for him. Cain has no problem eating Chip's strikes, not playing along with hold set-ups (loved him rolling out of the ring before getting his elbow stomped, both guys really building to the stomp like a rollercoaster that slows down as it approaches the summit) and still throwing in at least one crazy bump to the floor (with no shoes!! This guy is nuts!). My favorite move of the match was Cain's figure 4 stump puller. The stump puller is an underutilized move. It's really painful, just lifting a few inches and you feel it all up the back of your leg. But I don't think I've seen anyone lock the other leg in a figure 4 before, just adding extra leverage and preventing the person from somehow striking with the free leg/knee. The fact that he eventually rolled back with it was even cooler. So we had that finish, and then we get a long tease for a match restart. Day says that Johnny Weaver wouldn't want a match ended this way, Stutts gets involved, Cain claims he doesn't care about the tournament and walks out. BUT then he runs back in and cracks Day in the back of the head! I'm immediately flipping out for the restart overtime match...but that's it. Match over, no actual restart, neither man still advancing. A real letdown of the finish. I wanted Cain to make a run to the finals, not be used to give someone a Bye.

PAS: I also was a little bummed that both of these guys got eliminated (if they wanted a draw, there were plenty of "eliminate both guys" candidates last week), but I dug this match. Cain has set a pretty high standard for his matches lately, and the tourney format kept this from being at the level of the top tier Cain matches, still it was a nifty little scrap. I loved Cain switching up his attack and going after the knees, and how that slowed down Day's kick attack. Figure four stump puller was cool, but I am intrigued by a possible new leg submission he is concocting, he should steal the Trauma's spinning figure four. Finish was a little lame, but I get why they kicked in gear for the last minute, the commentary kind of sold it as a rookie mistake by Cain, he lost track of time and had to accelerate his attack recklessly. During this match I figured out that Chip Day looks exactly like Chris Eigeman which was pretty distracting.

ER: Chris Eigeman crossed with John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees

PAS: The preview for the documentary looks pretty cool, I was a big fan of Richards v. Lee and the idea of a documentary about a single match is pretty great.

4. Roy Wilkins vs. Chet Sterling

ER: Not a bad match, and normally I'm the guy who is all about the under 10 minute matches, but somehow KNOWING that matches are only going 10 minute max kind of takes me out of them a bit, especially knowing that things just end in a draw at the 10 minute mark. 10 minute matches are great, but 10 minute matches with the Beat the Clock stip seem more forced. Still, both guys know each other and know how to craft a professional match. I didn't think a lot of strikes looked great in this, but the match was kind of made by the bumps and the misses. Wilkins missing a big crossbody, or Sterling getting totally upended by the golf swing uppercut, both guys being generous with the other. I thought the finish was really good, with Wilkins locking in a really nasty cross-legged stretch muffler, really bending and cranking on Sterling. Stutts was good at putting over the time relative to the submission, saying there was no way Sterling could last 90 seconds in it. And Sterling knows this, scrambles to free himself and convincingly reverses the sub into a pinfall.

PAS: I liked this more then Eric I think. I am not a Sterling guy, but I thought this might have been the best CWF match of his I have seen. I thought he bumped and sold really well, and I liked the draw tease roll up finish. The Wilkins missed crossbody bump to the floor right into the Sterling dive was awesome looking. Wilkins has a bunch of cerebral attacks, I love how he uses ring placement to trip up and disorient his opponents.

5. Shane Helms/Chet Sterling vs. Arik Royal/Roy Wilkins

ER: Royal comes out after the match and lariats Sterling in the back of the head, but is then surprised by a Shane Helms surprise return. I assume he hasn't been back in the Sportatorium in a few years (but I was also surprised to see him taking big bumps in TNA earlier this year, as last I heard was that he had been in a bad accident and could no longer wrestle. Obviously my information is dated). And usually impromptu matches aren't this good and aren't this much damn fun. Helms can clearly still go, still bumps hard for shoulderblocks, still throws some of the absolute best corner punches in the biz. Usually impromptu tags end short and unsatisfying, this one actually gets plenty of time and has a nice build. Royal and Wilkins stooge around plenty for the returning star, but they still get to hold onto their local mean streak. Sterling has a nice run as a fighting FIP; he wasn't just strictly selling for a Hurricane hot tag, he was holding his own but coming up short, but still firing back with punches and eventually hitting a nasty DDT. Royal can really come across big time, and that Face Jam is an awesome move, loved how they set it up like the Hart Attack. All Stars know how to deliver a feel good ending without actually coming off weak, and that's a testament to their quality. I was expecting a light breezy match and it ended up being my favorite of the show, all four guys brought it.

PAS: In 1998 I remember seeing Shane Helms and Venom fight Madd Maxx and the Gemini Kid in a street fight at an OMEGA show. Helms did a plancha off a soda machine and Venom chokeslammed Madd Maxx through a couch that I had been sitting on. So it was fun to see Helms two decades later in another fun tag match against a team lead by the now Coach Gemini. Two matches in a row I have dug Sterling, he was a great face in peril and led to a really fun Helms hot tag. I loved him catching the Slaughter/Kernodle Cannon to set up his chokeslam. All-Stars are a great heel team, I could see them having a fun regional run in the 1980s, All-Stars v. Fabulous Ones would have been awesome. I do think the All-Stars have been losing a lot lately, they really need to lay some folks out.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 110

Episode 110

1. Snooty Foxx/Dirty Daddy vs. Movie Myk/Timmy Danger

ER: Well...this was mostly a mess. We've seen Timmy Danger once before, and he didn't look good then. This time he looked like arguably the worst guy who's appeared in CWF (since we've been reviewing shows). He looked completely lost for most of this, and I don't know if I've ever seen somebody lean so far away from contact before. He leans out of punches before they come close to his face, bumps early on a clothesline, throws his own missed clothesline miles over Dirty, gets crossed up on rope running, it's maddening. We get a couple nice spots: Fox's top rope bulldog on Myk was devastating enough that it should have been the finish, and we get more great work from Daddy; his selling was real great, and he single-handedly helped Danger work his arm over. I also liked Myk's manager's interference, throwing nasty shots at Daddy from the floor. This could have been something...if literally anyone other than Danger were in the match.

PAS: Oof Timmy Danger, he was running the ropes like he was terrified of twisting an ankle, and spent much of the match wandering around looking confused. Stuttsy was mentioning he was a 10 year veteran which seems insane, he really looked like a guy who shouldn't have gotten out of the first level of wrestling school class. Fox and Daddy are a fun team and their double team elbow/spear move was awesome, but I am hoping the Timmy Danger experiment is over.

ER: I really liked Mitch Connor's unblinking promo. He seemed a bit crazed, came off like he had a screw loose, and the guy has some crazy eyes. But the message was intense, and the story was good. I like him comparing Cain's motives to his own as a youngster, both understanding him yet also wanting to murder him. Anything with a personal touch is always going to be more effective, and this made me excited for that match.

PAS: Holy shit that was a great promo! Reminded me of a classic Arn Anderson promo where Connor calmly and intensely let Cain know what he was in for. He describes how he sympathizes with a rookie trying to make his name known, but that sympathy wouldn't save Cain. "The attention of certain people is a poison prize." I cannot remember the last time I liked a promo this much, nothing over the last several years comes to mind. Totally sold me a ticket to Cain v. Handsome Mitch.

2. SIS vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe

ER: One of my least favorite matches in wrestling is the "ooooooooo I'm so excited to be physically touching a girllllll". Acting like you're turned on by a headlock or a lock up is pretty fucking stupid, and the banter around it is always cringey. Add to that, the hack Andy Kaufman cosplay just showed how uninspired Sharpe's ideas actually were. Luckily SIS was in there to bring something to this tired exercise. I liked her pantsing to set up her crossbody into the ropes, her headbutt, loved the stomp/senton, and the kiss to set up the match finishing suplex was a good finish for this. But a stilted love story is not really what I was hoping for when watching weekly CWF.

PAS: Nobody will ever be as good at this shtick as Andy Kaufman or Yoshiaki Fujiwara so it should probably be retired unless Fujiwara wants to do it again, or Andy really did fake his death.

3. Arik Royal/Roy Wilkins vs. Trevor Lee/Chip Day

ER: This never really clicked for me, other than the clicking noise in my ears after what had to be a couple hundred thigh slaps. None of the moves done in the match seemed to have any consequences. There would be long sequences of Lee and Day kicking at the All Stars, but it never actually kept the Stars down for that long. So it came off odd within the match that Chip Day was slumped in the ropes for half the match on the apron selling his beating. Nobody else in the match needed recovery time, he needed 10+ minutes, and once he recovered he was fine. Some of the move set ups seemed clunky, and there were a lot of dead ends (like Royal kind of awkwardly getting into position near the ropes so Lee can come off the top and stomp his arm, but we never go back to that arm). Weirdly the thing that worked most for me was the set up of the ref bumps, like Redd getting pulled into an oncoming punt. So many refs got taken out at one point it started to look like the old MadTV Parakeet Caretaker sketch. But this just didn't add up to much for me, even though I like watching the guys involved, and liked watching them here.

PAS: I really liked the first 10 minutes of this, All Stars are a really great traditional heel tag team, I loved how they isolated Day and worked him over, loved the double team that put Day in trouble and Arik Royal was awesome ripping Day's ear, talking shit to the crowd and even singing to him while he was kicking his ass. Match falls apart a bit at Lee's hot tag, and then it just becomes a million head kicks and a ton of near falls. It turned from a great southern tag match until some overkill PWG bombfest. I am worrying a bit about Trevor Lee, I have really liked a lot of his stuff in CWF, but he seems to be bringing in a bunch of bad 2017 habits into the fed.

PAS: Didn't really like any of the matches on this episode much, but that Mitch Connor promo is one of the best things I have seen in 2017 and is a must see.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 108

Episode 108

1. Dirty Daddy vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe

ER: I swear Sharpe is the most featured guy on these episodes. But this was pretty easily my favorite actual match involving him. He viciously choked Daddy in the ropes, dropped an elbow right on Daddy's face, finished the match with a pretty great powerbomb out of the corner (with tights grab), looked overall like a great conniving heel. Phil has pointed out before that Daddy is a great throwback babyface, and that was on display here. He's good at keeping people interested in chinlocks, great at little comebacks, sold his jaw great throughout, nice corner punches, etc. Match was short but accomplished a good amount in that time. Fun match.

PAS: Sharpe's gimmick is that he is a money mark, and it makes sense a money mark would be on most shows. This was by far the best EAS match, I though he actually looked really good here, I loved his diving cut block to take control, and he was really vicious here, mule kick to the jaw, elbow to the face, arm trap neckbreaker. I liked the idea of Dirty Daddy selling his jaw, he does a nice job, and the commentary team does a nifty job explaining it, Cecil Scott talks about how a broken jaw can lead to a build up of saliva is a nice bit of Gorilla Moonsoon style fake medical bullshit.

2. KL3 vs. "The Filmmaker" Movie Myk

ER: KL3 is another guy I'm seeing for the first time, and another guy I came away impressed by. I liked several of his strikes, one of the few guys with a nice superman punch that I've seen. I don't totally get the "Filmmaker" gimmick, if it's a Damien Sandow acting out roles in mid-match kind of thing, or what. If that's the case it feels slightly underbaked and Myk seems talented enough to not need it. But that said, I do like the manager using a clapperboard and yelling ACTION when Myk rolls back in the ring. It also kind of broke my heart that there was seemingly no reaction for KL3 chopping the ring post. Even though it's been done a lot on the indies it's still a spot that makes my arm hairs stand up, ever since the first time I saw it happen to Stan Hansen of all people. Are people that over it?

PAS: I thought KL3 looked pretty bad, outside of that nice superman punch, his other strikes were either too pulled, or super leg slappy and he looked a little awkward running the ropes and getting into position for stuff. I guess Myk putting on a Batman mask was a taunt, as the announcers said KL3 was inspired by the Dark Knight (not sure what that means), but I can't imagine anyone knowing that unless they deep dive students of the angles of the George South wrestling school. This was two rookies, which forgives a lot, still not sure why you would put basically a training match on your TV show.

3. Cain Justice vs. Ric Converse

ER: Goddamn Ric Converse is good. He's an alternate timeline Tommy Dreamer, if Dreamer had been a dad bod everyman steeped in contractor work and well meaning evangelical Protestantism instead of a dad bod sad sack steeped in wrestling fandom and NE Catholic shame. He's a big guy who isn't going to skimp on satisfying little things like stomach kicks. His little things look exactly as they intend: A stomach kick will bend you at the waist, a chop will fire up every nerve ending, his lariats cut low, and an elbow will send you sideways. Cain is a real bump freak and seeing him go down like a shot from an elbow, get knocked sideways on a lariat or bump a DDT off the side of his head is a real treat. I loved the reversals out of Converse's spinning slam finisher, Cain grabbing ropes on one of them and grabbing an arm on the other; one of the reversals lead to Converse hitting possibly the greatest rydeen bomb ever performed. Cain doesn't get his head whipped into the canvas, he lands flat as a pancake, and it looked like a guy doing a swan dive off a hotel roof. Cain has something real organic and unique about him, and Converse is an incredibly welcome throwback. Both are gems.

PAS: I also really enjoyed this match, but thought Cain was the real standout. Converse is fun, but some of his stuff looks a little dated, that spinning slam finisher is a throwback NOVA invention. Cain was awesome in his approach to it though, he found a bunch of different ways to avoid it and counter it before finally getting caught, if you treat something like a death move and it doesn't really matter what the move is. I also really liked all of Justice's stooging, he is like John Tatum if Tatum was a killer on the mat. We didn't really see any shoot matwork from Cain here, but I did love him grounding Converse with knee work, those nasty punches to the patella are things you don't see most wrestlers do.

4. Roy Wilkins vs. Snooty Foxx

ER: I...LOVED this. This was amazing. When I saw the file was at the 31 minute mark and it was the last match on a 53 minute show I immediately thought "How are these two going to fill 22 minutes??" Well, they did it. This is a double or nothing match, where Snooty put up $1,000 and Coach Gemini put up $1,000, and it's winner take all. We start with 7 minutes of minimalist work, stretching things out, both men being careful with a 1K gain or loss staring at them, working headlocks, working go behinds, getting the feel for things. My brain loves minimalism. I own Tony Conrad albums. I've watched Chantal Akerman films. I've seen Rhys Chatham live. Shoot I was actually at the Danielson/Castagnoli headlock match live! Now I'm not saying that a loose Snooty Fox headlock is tantamount to Jeanne Dielman washing dishes or peeling potatoes, but their opening work had me hypnotized. They spill to the floor and Wilkins slams Fox back first into the apron a couple times, and Snooty sells it like a guy who twisted wrong while loading luggage at his airport job. At the 7 minute mark Snooty hits an all time great flying back elbow, just leveling Wilkins. And from there, these two proceed to craft a perfectly paced, perfectly built, simple classic.

This felt like a lost Brad Armstrong/Arn Anderson match from Saturday Night. No, Wilkins ain't Arn, and Snooty ain't Brad, and sometimes their execution is lacking (Wilkins whiffing on some punches, Fox leaning away from a shining wizard), but all the pieces were there and they both knew when to hit for maximum reaction. Coach's interference was great, Snooty had some great nearfalls, Wilkins takes a bulldog as nasty as possible...but before long Wilkins wins with Gemini holding down Snooty's legs...and the fans flip the hell out. You know earlier when I mention how great a babyface Dirty Daddy is? He turns in maybe his finest performance yet, charging in from the back to get the fans even more riled up, motherfucker came out and RESISTED and the fans saw that there was ACTUALLY a chance to get this decision overturned. The people have the power and more and more of the fans rise up to demand justice, and Redd Jones rings for that damn bell! At that point it was like the 2004 Red Sox coming back from 3 games to 0. Once they beat the Yankees, there was no way they were losing another game that postseason. Fox has the people behind him, and his eventual win is academic. He gets that clear plastic case filled with money (a perfect prop, hats off to whoever found that), and he and Dirty celebrate holding that money, and all I can think is "Motherfucker OPEN THAT CASE"....and then they open that fucking case.

It's amazing. You've all been bored to tears when a wrestler plays the "loudest side gets a local radio station t-shirt thrown at them" game. It's terrible. Well watching Snooty grab a handful of bills out of that case and walk slowly around the ring, those same people that cheered passionately for the restart, cheered twice as wildly for free money! They throw some actual money, people lose it like they were on Oprah's Greatest Things, Arik Royal runs out to steal the case, and then....and then....Royal stops near the entrance curtain, with the money...and he does the Heisman pose. End scene. This felt like a match Lawler would have worked in a high school in 1989, if Lawler was allowed to step foot on any high school's property. Snooty got over how important that $1,000 was to him, Wilkins and crew were great slimes, and Snooty is a tremendous babyface. They hit all the right moves, and while it wasn't always pretty, it was effective as hell.

PAS: I thought Eric had to be overselling this match to me when he described it over the phone, but man alive did this live up to his hype. This match is a testament to the value of a crowd which is wholly invested in the outcome of a match rather then the performance. This wasn't a crowd who was ready to see a pair of dudes have a classic match, they wanted to see their hometown guy take out some dastardly cheating jerks. This was a sports crowd not an entertainment crowd, and it really made the match. The NBA finals wouldn't nearly be as fun if the Golden State fans chanted "This is Awesome" during a Kyrie Irving crossover.

Snooty execution isn't all the way there, but he has great babyface timing and charisma, he is a star in Chapel Hill and he conducted himself like a star with all of his big moves feeling like big moves. That tope rope axehandle to the floor taking out the All Stars felt like a bigger deal then any crazy dive I have seen this year. Wilkins is a tremendous short cut wrestler, he is really sold big on commentary as a technical master, but he works differently then a guy like Dean Malenko. Wilkins is less about complex holds and counters, and more about mastering timing and ring placement. He is great at luring Foxx into making a mistake and capitalizing on it. Wilkins starts his long section on top, by reversing an Irish whip into a hot shot, and has multiple other cool counters. Cecil Scott calls him the Floyd Mayweather of wrestling and it is a great analogy, because just like Floyd he is primarily a counter puncher, waiting for his opponent to make a mistake and then punishing him (also I totally believe that if Floyd could get away with it he would have Leonard Ellerbe on the outside of the ring tripping his opponents and cheap shotting them). False finish here was great with Snooty ready to make his big move, the grab of the foot and the killer shining wizard kill shot. Totally perfect heel win for this match, only made better by the restart.

All of the BS in this match is tremendous too, Dirty Daddy coming out and imploring the crowd to right the wrong, throwing the money to the crowd, the look on Royal's smug face as he heisman poses with the stolen clear box of cash, A+ wrestling horseshit.

ER: I thought for sure I oversold that Snooty/Wilkins match to Phil. I was flipping out while watching it, and as I was talking to him I was thinking "Pump the brakes, easssssy, slow it down" but I couldn't help it, I loved the match too much.

PAS: We went ahead and added Foxx v. Wilkins super high on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Wrestling: Saturday Night's CWF

Saturday Night's CWF

Just like the Superstars show that preceded it, this was another 80s throwback show, with the old Saturday Nights Main Event logo and 80s commercials spliced in between matches. It's a good gimmick.

1. C.W. Anderson vs. Ric Converse

PAS: I loved this, talk about an 80s style match (although way more NWA 80s the WWF 80s). Anderson opens the match by catching Converse with a superkick at the bell and he takes over early. I always like when matches deviate from the feeling out process which begins most matches. Anderson was nasty in this, ripping at the arm, jamming his thumb into the tendons, throwing great elbows, hitting his awesome left hand. Anderson also kept taunting the ref, refusing to break the count and daring him to DQ him. Converse is a big rawbone guy who throws big shots and he was really fun as a tough guy fighting from behind. Finish was clever as CW is going down to a crossface he reaches out and punches the ref in the face to get DQed. Fun BS ending which I assume is setting up a no DQ fight.

ER: Man, CW is so damn good. He was one of my favorites 17 years ago, never really considered at the time that he'd still be one of my favorites this much later (though teenage me also probably thought he was in his 40s in ECW, but 58 yr old CW is still going to be someone I want to watch). Did any of his WWECW house show matches make fancam? All of them sound interesting, the Rene Dupree and Stevie ones especially. But this kind of match is my bread and butter right here. I wasn't really expecting Converse to be working so behind the whole match, but it totally worked as CW cracks him with the superkick to start things and Converse is playing catch up from there. Phil makes a great point about matches that deviate from the typical feeling out process. This starts like a gunshot and it makes things more frantic. All of CW's shots look great as he picks Converse apart, but Converse is a big dude so always has a few big blows to land. Loved CW genuinely not caring if he gets DQ'd, just throwing it back in Redd's face whenever threatened with it. Converse came up with some cool stuff, like his spinebuster block, and this is a match up I cannot wait to see get no DQ treatment. Timing on the big left hand is off a bit, but Stutts does a nice job covering up what might have happened. These are the kinds of matches that keep me tuning into CWF.

2. Alex Daniels vs. Trevor Lee

ER: A fun match that I think tried to do a bit too much. I was really getting into the slow burn from Daniels and liked where it was going, looking forward to that moment where he first tried to catch Lee napping (which ended up being great, with Daniels leaping high for an elbow drop while Lee got back into the ring, except it was so high and enthusiastic that Lee just moved). The slow burn was real fun, methodical knuckle locks, bent wrists, and I liked when both guys would toss out occasional nasty slaps (loved the short 3/4 arm slot slaps both men utilized all match). The match breaks open nicely when Lee rolls out of a sunset flip and eats a sliding kick from Daniels. Daniels starts slowly picking Lee apart but Lee locks on a great octopus, and Daniels takes a super high flapjack. We get another nice breakout as Lee gets knocked off the apron into the short ramp (not sure why the section joining the ramp to the ring was missing, but I'm happy Lee utilized it as a dangerous "under construction" area, felt like something Finlay would do). Daniels has a nice habit of taking potentially overthought indy offense and making it look plausible, and vicious: Trapping Lee in the ropes, hopping to the apron and coming back in with a blockbuster could have looked way too silly, but it looked nasty. And from there we go into the long home stretch, which was executed flawlessly, but I think did too much. The moves looked great, but it got almost too inside itself. Once it gets to the point of guys pushing their opponents out of their own rollup to get into position for the next move, my brain starts making distance. I didn't love the strike exchange portion, which had more of that "take a strike in a way that gets you in position to do another strike" style. It's not my thing and I wish it was cut. But the very end is straight fire, with Lee getting that STF at all costs, eating a high amount of slaps and boots to get there. The struggle over the STF and Lee selling the strikes was awesome. I wish this could have been trimmed a bit, but overall this was another high end CWF title match.

PAS: I agree with Eric, this had lots of stuff to really like, but had a bit too much at the end. I also really dug Daniels Larry Z style stalling as he kept bailing out on Lee to look for an opening. The two big momentum shifts were great, the sliding kick was brutal looking and a real surprise, and the bump by Lee was nasty stuff and really put him in plausible danger. I also think the home stretch overdid it, they went to the "Daniels hits killshot, gets a two count and grabs his head" note a couple too many times, and no way should Lee being going back on offense that soon after that brainbuster in the corner (honestly that move should have put him in a neckbrace for two months, with Stuttsy updating his progress in a somber voice week after week). I did really love the battle for the STF, and this match succeeded in making Daniels in the area which was it's goal. It just got a little too 2017 for me to love it unconditionally.

3. Aric Andrews vs. Chet Sterling

ER: The Aric Andrews showcase match I've been waiting for! Phil has been more bearish on Sterling than me in the past, but this was the first time I think he looked actually bad. At worst before this he was "generic cross-fit guy" according to Phil. I always thought his basics looked good, nice headlocks, nice big spots like his snap half nelson suplex; here he looked bad, throwing tons of bad punches that never threatened to look damaging. His punches are better than someone like Abyss, as at least he was aiming them in the right spot, but the landings were poor, the body shots fell short, the speed was slow, just no good. But again, this was an Andrews showcase, and Andrews looked good. I dig his simple things, like a fast missed clothesline or a sunk in Boston crab. He's got long limbs and I like the way he whips them into dudes. So this wasn't a great match, but it was good to see more of what Andrews can do.

PAS: Chet Sterling's gimmick is "I'm Different" except he is very much "the same."  I mean he came out to Living on a Prayer what utter basic shit that is. I liked his big dive at the opening, but the rest did not look good. I did like Andrews in this, but I am still waiting for him to have a good match.

4. Roy Wilkins vs. Mecha Mercenary

ER: It's weird to have a match where each man's partner is not allowed at ringside, but both of Wilkins' seconds are allowed. I'm not really sure why they needed the stip if Coach could still run interference for him. This had plenty of fine moments, though I thought Wilkins' strikes looked off in spots. Still, he flew into a nice Mecha lariat, and I like how Mecha commits the same on hits as he does on misses; his missed leaping elbow drop always looks great, just a big chunk of glacier falling into the Arctic. If a match was going to have a bunch of interference, I liked how this interference worked, with the ref selling GREAT in the corner after getting accidentally squished (someone get me the name of this Woody Strode-esque referee, who sells getting his head whipped into the buckle the same way Tenryu masterfully sells a piledriver. This guy is a flat out keeper!), Mecha getting clonked in the back of the head by a nice belt shot, and then Wilkins locking on his sleeper on an unconscious Mecha. It's much more satisfying than the hell just pinning his opponent, instead making it look like he choked him out and making the ref go through the process of raising Mecha's arm.

PAS: I really enjoyed this, Mecha is a guy who will get hit hard and hit hard back. I loved Wilkins trying his body press and bouncing off Mecha like Wile E. Coyote running into a brick wall. That was a nice ref bump and I loved how all of the second jumped on Mecha like ants on a sugar spill.

5. Dominic Garrini vs. Cain Justice

ER: Hey, you want to see a couple guys have a completely original match that feels like it was inspired by no other match? Watch these two match up. These two fight like they've never seen another wrestling match and just construct it all from scratch. Their movements are weird and the matches don't build with any traditional structure, feels like the first guy who combined chocolate and potato chips on a lark. Garrini throws these weird and cool hammer strikes, using them to attack Cain's torso and also using them to effectively block strikes. Both guys do weird crane kick attacks to limbs, and again, they just move differently, awesomely. Garrini is on the attack from go, blocking a Cain cheapshot that he had scouted coming and grabbing that arm. Garrini kept coming and coming and Justice would only get a break if he was able to dodge and counterattack. I loved Cain getting leveled and falling to the floor, love that spot where a heel gets put down with a match winning shot but by sheer luck lands under the ropes or falls outside the ring. This spot was handled here more naturally than normal, with Cain taking a sprawling bump across the middle rope before falling to the outside. Still, Garrini taps him which I didn't see coming. I was expecting a count out after Cain fell out. This was a blast, just a weird, unique, wholly original 7 minutes of fire.

PAS: This was worked more like a brawl then their first match, and while it wasn't at the level of that out of nowhere classic, it was still a total blast. I loved Garrinni's hammer punches, they really look like a thing a ju-jitsu guy who never trained kickboxing might throw to get closer. Garrinni also threw a nasty delayed german suplex, which was almost Otsukaesque. Cain was more Anderson then Carl Greco here, and had some nasty arm work, including trying to hyperextend it against the rope. I loved the finish with Justice setting up his arm submission, but he stopped briefly to taunt Cecil Scott and got reversed and tapped. Great bit of comeuppance, and I desperately want to see the rubber match.

ER: I don't think the "throwback format" worked anywhere near as well as it did for the Superstars episode. Superstars seemed like a full committment to the presentation, this just had guys coming out to 80s songs and a couple commercials. The wrestling was better on this one, so I can't complain when I get a long CW match, and the whole show was quality wrestling. In fact, we added THREE matches from this show to our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List, no small feat.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 104

Episode 104

BattleBowl! This is a Lethal Lottery style show with the fans picking the matches out of a bowl, not sure if the bowl is worked or not, but it sounds like a concept that's potentially more fun for the wrestlers than the fans.

1. Aric Andrews vs. Otto Schwanz

PAS: Otto is really fun to watch in his role as a veteran who chucks people around with amateur throws. He dominates most of this match until Andrews catches him with a roll up. Schwanz is always compelling but the match itself was a bit underwhelming. Andrews has nice offense but didn't get to show much of it.

ER: Yeah not the match I wanted from a match-up that wouldn't have taken much to make me like it. Otto is one of my favorites in the fed, he's never flashy but he is rock solid at all the little things. You want a guy to throw a mean back elbow, you watch a Schwanz match. I liked where they were going with this, there were a couple cool scrambly mat moves, but the roll up was kind of a shocker, and not in a good way. Andrews is a guy I like, but it feels like they're going too far with him escaping by the skin of his teeth every week. He went from opportunistic heel to a kind of heel Mikey Whipwreck. I think it can work, but with this match and the Mecha match I was left just wanting an actual match.

2. Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Mitch Connor vs. HIM/SIS

PAS: Sharpe is a little over the top for me, less Jimmy Hart more some hacky Chikara heel manager. I really enjoy HIM and SIS as a pair of crowbars though, and they both really laid an asswhipping on Sharpe, at one point HIM just forearmed him full force in the throat, SIS also really roughs him up, they are great it is like Kandori teaming with Kurisu. The story of Connor being too gentlemanly to hit SIS only to pay for it.

ER: Sharpe's shtik is kinda wearing on me. He's featured a lot, and a little of his act goes a long way. But I'm a big fan of SIS, so at least Sharpe gets plastered with a mean elbow drop and her cool crossbody into the ropes. I admit to not really caring about the HIM/SIS gimmick (even though I appreciate the announcers working to make it work), but I like them as a team. HIM hits a great kneedrop to Sharpe's chest, and they both have nice complementary styles.

3. Dirty Daddy vs. Arik Royal

PAS: Really great short match. Daddy has really figured out underdog babyface wrestling. He is super sympathetic and always knows how to time a couple of big moves for maximum impact. The near fall where he times Royal's spear into a sunset flip was awesome, and I love a guy doing monkey flips as big offensive moves in 2017. Royal meanwhile is such a charismatic shit talking heel, he is like wrestlings Draymond Green and I love him for it. I really want to see these guys given some time to stretch out, as I can see them having a classic in them, this was a great tasting menu match though.

ER: This was a cruel tease but a fine WorldWide match. I'm with Phil as they seem like they could really have a great match in them. Daddy has deceptively strong chops, kind of weird in-ring movements, and Royal is really good at showing exasperation while not losing focus. End sequence was really good with the sunset flip reversal of Royal's spear/knee takeout, good nearfall, and setting Royal up nicely to hit the knee takeout anyway.

4. Sandwich Squad vs. Timmy Danger/Nick Richards

PAS: Danger is an OVW trainee they brought in for this show. CWF uses a lot of young guys from other feds, sometimes it is a big win, like Alex Daniels or Dominic Garrini, other times guys just don't look like they belong. Danger seemed very dedicated to his gimmick of using hairspray, but he came off kind of cornball. There was some nice Richards v. Sandwhich Squad stuff, but this wasn't much overall.

ER: I liked Danger's pre-match promo, it kind of accidentally hit a Ghostface level flow: "I'll go two hours just because I can, slapping them around, they'll be all blown up, I'll still look good, pin 'em with one leg." That's like a Fischscale outtake right there. And I liked this a lot more than Phil, though squeezing so many matches into this show made for a lot of unsatisfying match lengths. This match had a lot more to say, but cut to a real quick finish in a similar way that the HIM/SIS tag and the  Schwanz matches did. Cut a match off this show, give the other matches 1-2 minutes, it's a much more satisfying episode. The first 5 minutes of this were really good, I thought. Richards has arguably the best corner clothesline in current wrestling, no hyperbole. They sequence with him nailed Mecha with two nasty clothesline only to be leveled by the nastiest one was great.

5. Roy Wilkins vs. "The Filmaker" Movie Myk

PAS: This was scientific rules, which basically meant no punches or rope breaks. The gimmick didn't really seem to matter in the match. This was a lesser version of the Daddy v. Royal match earlier, with the rookie getting in moments before getting put down. It was fine, I like watching Wilkins, but overall pretty disposable.

ER: The stip was entirely unnecessary during the match, but the match really won me over by the end. Wilkins had some nice knees to Myk's hammy, Wilkins hit a big shining wizard and I LOVED how Myk crumbled off it. It still felt like a too-short match on a too-packed episode, but I like the direction the match went.

6. Cain Justice/Keith Mac/Luke Grimes vs. Snooty Fox/Vlad Boleshav/Cecil Scott

PAS: This was a random partner match which was based around the Cecil Scott v. Cain Justice feud, there wasn't much interaction between the two, but Cecil hit a great looking superkick. Hard to get much of a sense of the other 5 guys, Keith Mac had some dancing spots, Grimes is sort of big. I do think they are building to Scott v. Justice well.

ER: This was way too short, but possibly for the best as a lot of guys didn't look good. I thought Keith Mac especially looked bad. He had a nice charisma to him but the basics all looked bad, loose headlock and off timing on hip tosses. Grimes is apparently a top Corino trainee but didn't show anything. Fox threw hard but awkwardly stiff armed clotheslines. Really this was the Cain Justice show, which easily could have been predicted from the on paper lineup. In fact Cain turns in a pretty spectacular performance in a totally forgettable match. He throws a kick during a lock up and bails, tags in and bails, humorously tries to tag out at an early sign of trouble his tag gets caught (in some excellent timing) by Vlad. Cecil's superkick was a nice moment and Cain hams it up like Hector Garza, spilling through the ropes and flopping onto fans. After the match he sprints out of there and smacks Vlad on the way. Nothing match, but a great showman performance, and I am looking forward to Cecil/Cain.

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