CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 138

Episode 138

Mike Mars vs. Dirty Daddy

ER: I thought Mars had a big chance to win, but I wasn't expecting this! Daddy came out in the serious title defense braids, and started the match super aggressive. I like the story of the brief match, that Daddy came out hot and went toe to toe, realizing too late that a more defensive approach might have been better. He got caught up in defending HIS belt, and it cost him. All of Daddy's elbows looked great, flying into Mars and almost seeming like it would work, but Mars caught him twice with big, jarring slams. Surprising result, loved the frustration showed by Daddy after the match, but very curious where it goes. Daddy is clearly good enough that he's beyond a rising talent.

PAS: I really enjoyed Daddy coming out ready to brawl and paying for it. Those elbows were great, and all of the big slams felt like match finishing moves. Still a two minute title loss did feel like a bit of a burial for Daddy, the kind of thing Watts would do if a guy was moving on (maybe Watts did this to Dirty Daddy when he left for Continental). Was he riding with Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Grenada last night?

Lance Lude/Rob Killjoy/Matty de Nero vs. White Mike Jordan/Timmy Lou Retton/Ethan Alexander Sharpe

ER: This was a blast, and it seems that the Ducklings and the Gymnasties can't really have an uninteresting match against each other. White Mike gets in a good joke about BattleCade now being 18 years old, and therefor legal. I feel like such a boob for not being into White Mike from the first time I saw him a year + ago. I think I just wasn't expecting him, because by this point he's someone who regularly fills me with joy. His comedy works for me, his athleticism constantly still surprises me, and he's just got this great assured charisma. He's got a build like tiny Akebono with round body and skinny arms, but he's so good! He knows what he's doing. I was also really in the weeds on Matty D. I saw he showed up last BattleCade but nothing else for CWF, and I don't get him. There were a couple of times where he was staring into the camera like someone who didn't know what a camera was. He has the eyes of a new roommate you catch watching you sleep, or like someone who is trying to imitate human skin. I would personally burn him with fire, but I'm all for Sharpe just throwing a his big uppercut at him instead. Launchpad McQuack is one of my favorite tag moves, love how Lude gets launched like a projectile, and Ducks are just a super fun team. I dug Sharpe throwing Retton to the finish, and then getting caught post match and eating White Mike's awesome neck snap can opener, love that we get to see these guys back for Kernodle.

PAS: This was pretty fun stuff, the Gymnasties and Ducks work each other so much that they really have their shtick down pat. I am not sure what Matty D is about, he seemed more like a package of quirks then any real character. He feels like a guy who shows up to college and starts wearing a colorful scarf and smoking a pipe to be an individual, like he hasn't figured out his Chikara gimmick so he is doing 10 at a time,  I did like his diving punch though. White Mike is super entertaining, and it is always crazy to watch him work athletic workrate wrestling, he looks like such a slug and can move like Juventud Guerrera.

Tracer X vs. Cam Carter vs. John Skyler vs. Mace Li vs. Michael McAllister vs. Ray Kandrack vs. Aric Andrews vs. Snooty Foxx

ER: This is a pinfalls/over the top rumble for the Golden Ticket, winner gets to challenge for any belt in any kind of match, which feels like a way to work some fun shenanigans. If I had a Golden Ticket couldn't I could theoretically challenge Trevor Lee in a "Winner Must Be Eric" match. But anyway this was good, although I wish they chose a firm direction, either do a full violent battle royal with a couple monsters dishing beatings (like they had Kandrack doing), or do a wacky AJPW battle royal and have multiple guys pinning one big name at a time to eliminate them, and get us to surprise finalist. But I'm glad we got a big return from Kandrack, treated as a real big deal, building him up like Andre tossing around three men. I do wish McAllister got more of a showing as I loved him in the Nick Richards match. Here he kind of gets run over. But Kandrack plows into people with his body, throws a cool headbutt, leans way into kicks and strikes, catches a crossbody off the top from Tracer X (and catches him low to the mat which is some impressive strength) and slams him, just a cool performance. It comes down to Andrews and Skyler and we get some nice punch exchange, a couple decent nearfalls, good enough for its purpose. Between facing Royal and then potentially facing Andrews if he somehow gets past Royal, I don't see Adler holding the TV title much longer. His reign of terror will be over!

PAS: Fun match, I really enjoy Kandrack as the CWF Undertaker, old guy who is semi-retired, but still comes in an wrecks everyone. It makes me want to go back and watch old Kandrack matches when he was more active. Tracer X is pretty flippy, not my favorite type of wrestler, but man does he take a nasty spear, Snooty just demolishes in mid air. I liked Andrews working full on babyface in this match, and then turning on the crowd during his heartfelt speech. Now just grow the beard back and go get Lee Valiant.

Zane & Dave Dawson vs. The Sandwich Squad

ER: This was a tough concept on paper, a Last Man Standing tag match. I don't know if I've ever seen one before, and it's probably because the execution and booking of one is difficult. You either need to get both men down for a 10 count at once, which seems incredibly difficult, or count men down individually and wind up with an awkward handicap match which should theoretically end shortly after (one man shouldn't be able to last long against two when there are no rules). So there was a little bit of awkward, mainly in the "I'm going to verrrry slowly get ready to hit you with a chair" spots, where one guy would slowly raise a chair and slowly walk toward his opponent, only to get kicked into the stomach or have the chair knocked away. Those spots could have been smoother. But there was some real pain in this match, and that made it work. We got a lot of painful chairshots, and since we rightly don't see many chairshots to the head anymore, we see the different violence brought from chairshots to awkward parts of the body-not-head. So guys take stinging shots to the shoulderblade and the elbow and Biggs gets a chair kicked into his freaking hand, and this little kid chants EAT! EAT! EAT! in a squeaky little cartoon voice. Biggs and Mecha each get chairshotted out of the air on crossbodies, and that looked tremendous. The Squad do a great fireworks spectacular to take out Zane, with Biggs hitting a superplex, Mecha dropping a couple of his great elbowdrops (and Mecha was really awesome this whole match, loved his sharp elbows to jaws and big headbutts), and Biggs hits a big splash while holding a chair. Great way to put a guy down for 10. The finish is some inspired bullshit, with all 4 men getting counted down all at once, looking for sure like nobody is going to respond, and Zane's (on the apron) legs fall over the side and land on the floor, leaving him in a standing position for the win at the 9 count. Pretty great way to have the Dawsons retain, that could have easily come off as cheap.

PAS: I liked this a bunch, and it was the best of the multiple Dawsons v. Squad matches we have seen over the last couple of months. Some of those chairshots were really nasty looking while not causing any brain damage.  I loved Mecha in this, he took and delivered a big time beating, and I loved his big Abdullah style elbow drops. I agree that the finish was really clever, it kept the belt on the Dawson's while still keeping the Sandwich Squad strong (although Pimpgate meant that this was their last appearance.)

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CWF Mid-Atlantic 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 Episode 131

Episode 131

1. Sandwich Squad vs. Otto Schwanz/Mike Mars

PAS: This is what we wanted the Schwanz/Cutshall v. Squad match from Chapel Hill to be. Four big dudes throwing meaty hands.I really liked Otto in this, he is really great at playing both a crazy person and a talented wrestler. Mars is Green (which actually sounds like the title of a bad 70s sci-fi novel), but a big guy who looks like a homeless murderer and hits hard is going to be enough for me. Liked the finish, and I would much rather see Schwanz and Mars as the tag champs.

ER: When Mike Mars comes into a tag match as the smallest man in the match, there's a good chance I'm going to dig the match. And shock, I did! I could see 8-10 minutes of this every single week. I really love Otto. "Crazy" is one of the hardest wrestling gimmicks to pull off properly. Think of how many indy shows you've been to over the years, with some fresh out of wrestling school rookie working a crazy gimmick, making wacky faces and clawing at their face or hair. It's almost always uncomfortable, because you feel bad for them. Otto works like an unfrozen caveman Berzerker, just storming and clubbing and shouting his way through matches. I don't recall if there was ever a reason given for Otto wearing the face mask, but I love loaded mask gimmicks a ton so I don't really care. For all I know Otto just showed up wearing a giant mask one week and nobody said a word about it. Mecha is really good, a super big man who can sell. He doesn't overbump, all his bumps are earned, but his body part selling is always impressive. We watched him sell his neck for 3 episodes after a chairshot, here I loved him wiggling his fingers on the mat after being blasted with a loaded headbutt. This was good. 

2. Jesse Adler vs. Dirty Daddy

PAS: This was fine I guess. Dirty Daddy is great and is always going to bring cool shit to a match, I loved his forearms and the diving big boot was totally crazy (I loved the Sid name drop from the announcers). Adler is still a mystery to me, he is getting this big push, and he has yet to do one memorable thing in any of the matches I have seen. I also think Aric Andrews new gimmick is kind of cornball, if you are going to do Bob Backlund you have to at least cut off your ponytail.

ER: Another great Daddy performance, but these 10 minute time limit TV title matches work so much better with a heel champ, it leads to more desperation and a more frantic defense from the champ, and makes every move down the stretch from the babyface seem bigger. This was a match with a short time limit that wasn't worked as if there was any time limit. You could argue that the opening pinfall trading sequence was about them trying to finish, but nobody watching this match thought any of those pins were going to finish the match. I second the "Adler as mystery" that Phil is feeling, I just get nothing out of him. And if we're being petty about it, I hate the Van Halen theme music and the EVH taped up tights. I kind of assumed people stopped liking Van Halen after high school, and who can enjoy Eddie in this post-Eddie Van Halen Shreds world? But Daddy was the man. This guy appears to never get crossed up in the ring, always has a response and a surprising move or two. I love his twist during rope running where he slingshots himself around his opponent's waist, just using them to break momentum and change his footwork by hooking their midsection with his arm. His strikes always land surprisingly hard; here he had a diving clothesline that absolutely knocked my socks off. He also planted Adler chest first on the ring apron with a hotshot (Adler took it really well) and that Sid boot was scary but landed hard. Guys. Stop trying to land on one leg like that. It just makes me think of Sid or Gronda every damn time. I still don't love the "blackballed for 30 years" gimmick. It's a cute gimmick, but would be better served on a worse wrestler. Daddy's really good, and his quality more than speaks for itself. He doesn't need a winky cute backstory. 

3. Trevor Lee vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe

PAS: I was a little hesitant about this match when I heard about it, but man did these two guys totally sell me on this by the end. The gimmick here is that if Sharpe survives 20 minutes with Lee he would become the CWF Mid-Atlantic champion. It ended up being like a Tenryu v. Ogawa match and by the end I was sold on a Sharpe, Ogawa style title run. Lee just tortures Sharpe for the first half or so of this match, stretching his body in sick ways, ripping his fingers, kicking him square in the thigh, one of the better Fuchi mauling I have seen. Sharpe is able to take over by tricking Lee outside and posting him, and then it is a pretty competitive match, with Sharpe using cheap shots to stay on advantage. Lee at one point fires back and busts a pimple on Sharpe's chin with a slap, which was super nasty looking (Sharpe has Jim Powers level acne for a guy clearly not on roids), finish is pretty exciting, in the last minute Sharpe throws the ref into the Lee on the top rope and crotching him. Instead of running away and winning the belt Sharpe goes for the kill shot and gets caught in a nasty STF for the tap. Really fun storyline match which works great with both guys character progression. Lee's arrogance almost cost him the match, first by offering the challenge and then toying with Sharpe instead of putting him away. Sharpe is trying to be taken seriously and instead of running away and trying to get the cheap win, he wants to pin him clean and it costs him the title. I was a little lukewarm on Lee earlier in the year when he was on his workrate indy run with the Day, Daniels and Elgin matches, but he has been on a killer run in the last six months.

ER: This was really good, and I like the different tones we get from Trevor Lee. We get a fighting champion, we get confidence that crosses into hubris, we get sinister, a really complete multidimensional champ. I, too, was down on Lee during the workrate part of 2017. I even wrote something saying that we were consistently the low vote on all the Lee matches everyone was praising. Then right as I wrote that within weeks we were among the high votes on Lee/Andrews, Lee/Mecha, Lee/Schwanz, and at this point when I see an episode with a Lee main event I'm excited to see him against anybody. This was no different. Sharpe has turned a major corner during the time we've watched him, and we've turned a corner on him. I don't think I saw any of the E# of this very moment even 6 months ago, but that's one of the great things about CWF: They're faithful to all their guys, and all their guys can surprise you with something great. I wasn't expecting a mean Michael McAllister brawl this year, or a great Cecil Scott comeback match, but those kind of role players deliver. Here we get a simple and tempting premise: If Sharpe can last 20 minutes, he gets the CWF title. Lee is a (deservedly) cocky asshole for offering the stip when he didn't need to, and Sharpe makes the most of it. Sharpe never ran the whole match (even when it made the most sense in the last 20 seconds), didn't try to get a sneaky Masao Inoue title win (even though I wouldn't have totally minded that...), and his stock continues to rise.

Early on I thought this was going to be an extended Lee torture chamber, and it's easy to think that after about 10 more minutes of Sharpe getting stretched. Lee had so much nasty stuff, like that Indian deathlock surfboard where he kept bouncing his knees into Sharpe's back while bending him at the jaw, or that vicious as hell tapatia (sold perfectly by Sharpe, as if he was being drawn and quartered), stomps to the knee and inner thigh, wrist bent, nothing good. Sharpe hits the deck before getting hit with the punt and wisely flings Lee by the tights into the ringpost. That felt like something that heel Lawler would do. And Sharpe then looked really good in control. He was throwing these short left hooks at one point that I've not seen from him, and the extended crucifix submission was an awesome moment for both men. Sharpe was putting all his weight on Lee and Lee kept trying to fight through it. The end was convincing enough that I thought Sharpe could actually come away with the title (even telling myself I would have surely heard that news by now, I was still thinking "but what if...") and I love how he valiantly died on his own running elbow smash instead of just taking the win by running around the ring for 20 seconds. Lee's STF has been an established killshot and getting stuck in that is like getting your tie stuck in an elevator door. Great showing from both men.

ER: And then it truly must be Christmas, as I find out we get CW vs. Trevor. God bless us, every one. Sharpe/Lee is an easy inclusion on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. Now what CWF regulars have yet to show up on our List...

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 129

Episode 129

1. Mike Mars vs. Metallicon

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

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

2. Otto Schwanz vs. Chris "TNT" Taylor

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

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

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

3. Jesse Adler vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe

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

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

4. Arik Andrews vs. Cam Carter

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

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

5. Mace Li/Arik Royal vs. Sandwich Squad

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

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

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

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

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 127

Episode 127

1. Dirty Daddy vs. Cain Justice

ER: Cain comes out with Young Boys! Really, just make Cain the punk leader of a dojo and watch them lay waste to CWF. Gi entrance with Young Boys, match was already 7 stars before the bell. These two obviously always match up well, and this is their final match over the RGL title. These two are always on top of each other, never letting up, and know each other's next move. There's a lot of that in wrestling, but these two actually know how to keep it tight and not spiral into a self-conscious epic. The matches are always 10 minutes or under, and they know how to craft cool little sagas in that time. There has never been one whisper of overkill with these two. Here they break out some things that are tired indy tropes at this point, and make them actually work, like that running back and forth buckle to buckle routine: Dirty was dishing it to Cain in the corner, landed a few shots, went to get a running start and as he turned around Cain was running it to blast him. Usually that spot just looks like guys running back and forth because that was the plan and it looks kewl. Daddy went for the twist ending submission, failed quick, and never went back to it. That's smart, and a cool touch to these matches where guys constantly go for their opponent's finisher. Daddy's elbow shots all looked good, and I love how he mixed up their landing spot, working the jaw and the back. Cecil Scott was great on commentary bringing up a Cain back injury, nothing overblown, but mentioning that he's definitely dealing with an injury; Daddy goes after the back and Cain sells it like a guy who slept wrong and has been dealing with picking things up off the floor differently the last couple weeks. It's enough to make me buy that Cain's reaction time was slowed just enough to have lesser reaction time, and lent credence to Daddy's two vertical suplex/brainbusters as the finish. My only (minor) complaint was that this was a blowoff, and didn't really feel like a blowoff. It just felt like another one of their very good matches. I'm okay with that, but it would have been elevated anymore if it felt like something major was at stake.

PAS: It is amazing how these guys can do stuff I would normally hate, and I enjoy here. There is nothing more tired in indy wrestling then an elbow exchange, here they vary the speed and force nicely and end with Daddy landing body shots and Cain cleaning his clock with a front kick, took a cliche and mixed it up just enough. These guy know how to add just a little spice to a basic match.

I loved their work on the flood with Cain trying to smash Dirty's arm into the ring post (even kissing the post before the slam which is a beautiful bit of wrestling assholeness), Dirty blocks it once, Cain yells "Gimmie that arm" Dirty blocks it again, and smashes Cain spine first into the ringpost, setting the bad back story for the rest of the match. I slept weird on my back last week, so I feel Cain's suffering as he tries to work through a tender back. I loved how he hit the TBD (which should be a kill move in any fed, but especially here) and how the back wouldn't let him pin him quick, spamming that move was my only complaint in their Battlecade match and I liked how they dealt with it here. I agree that the finish felt a little weak for the end of a feud. I thought Cain did an awesome job selling fatigue, but the two brainbusters weren't brutal enough to close out the feud. Still a hell of match, and if they keep these guys apart for a while, I can imagine their match over the Mid-Atlantic title is going to be awesome.

2. Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham/Frankie Flynn vs. Ian Maxwell/KL3/Bobby Ballentyne

PAS: Kind of a messy trios match. A lot of the RGL stuff I have really liked, and AIW's kids 10 man is one of my favorite matches of the year, but the flip side with young wrestlers is that sometimes things won't click. Everyone seemed off here Maxwell slipped off the top rope, Dr. Dan nearly killed him with a botched finisher, some of the rope running was hinky. I continue to like Flynn as he might have been the smoothest guy in the match.

ER: That's funny, as outside of Maxwell's slip on the ropes I thought this was really good, especially for a quick trios. I thought it was one of the better Sharpe performances, and it feels like we've been saying that a lot over the last couple months. He had a bunch of big strikes that all landed great: his standing clothesline had tons of power for something that's basically all upper body, his sliding lariat looked good, real nice shotei, and bumped big for Ballentyne. Ballentyne didn't look good in his other CWF appearance, and looked much better here. His flying back elbow reminded me of Corey Edsel (but Ballentyne will need another 100 lb. before it looks that good). Flynn is good at working fast ropes exchanges, a good guy to be opposite someone like Maxwell. I didn't like a lot of Maxwell's stuff in here (seemed too focused on the dance rather than the contact) but I get the sense that it wouldn't have looked even as good as it did without Flynn opposite him. Rockingham's finish was probably supposed to be a backbreaker, but he straightened his leg so it just looked like a weird Dr. Bomb. And the man is a fucking doctor, why isn't he just using a Dr. Bomb? The move that looked like it should have put Maxwell in traction was the lawn dart he gave him to the middle rope, the angle and landing looked gross. Really, outside of the springboard slip (which was passed by easier than normal since it came at a point where everybody was gonna fill the ring anyway) and the Classic Indy Match Finisher ("I don't know what it was, but it may have been botched, and both men may have gotten hurt") I really liked this.

3. Sandwich Squad vs. Zane & Dave Dawson

ER: A match that I think worked a bit better as a concept than it did in execution. The Squad wait by the lobby curtain to jump the Dawsons, but the Dawsons sneak in from behind and just waste Mecha with a chairshot. Biggs has to go it alone, and I like how seriously they treated the chairshot. It appeared to be safely delivered to Mecha's (very broad) back, but it was treated like a huge deal. Cecil and Stutts turned in another good show talking about how Biggs has noticeably lost weight over the last several months, and how he might not have the strength to go it alone for very long against the Dawsons. Biggs is good in this, especially liked his big full arm shots to the gut. Dawsons (specifically Dave) can be lazy on strikes and missed clotheslines, and there is that, but the match progressed nicely thanks to Biggs' selling. Mecha coming back was the big moment of course, and I thought his selling was great throughout, hitting some big moves and swinging his clubbing arms, and always showing how his neck was affecting him. I was into it. But I thought the ending was a total flop, manufacturing what felt like phony drama wrapped around a rarely enforced rule. Zane and Biggs are down, ref is counting them both down, Biggs is crawling towards Zane to pin him...but the ref counts to 10 and that's the match. It felt pretty damn stupid to count a guy down who was actively crawling towards his opponent to pin him. I've never seen that in a match before, and it immediately became apparent why. It felt cheap, and this fed is way better than cheap.

PAS: That chair shot at the beginning of the match was super nasty, I loved how the back of the chair flew off when it landed. ECW et al have desensitized me a bit to chair shots, but that one felt like it should have felled a giant man like that for the entire match. I thought the match was really made with Biggs and Mecha's selling, as both guys really felt like they were gutting their way through a war. I loved the huge superplex as a double knock out spot. I agree the crawling count out seemed weird. Still that is the rule, if you aren't on your feet by 10 you get counted out, I certainly didn't hate it as much as Eric, and thought it was a semi-clever BS finish. I am still waiting for a Dawsons v. Sandwich Squad match to blow me away, it is always slightly worse then it feels on paper.

4. Aric Andrews vs. Jesse Adler

ER: Whoa, this was not what I was expecting. I am mostly unfamiliar with Adler, only knowing what the announcers tell me and what I saw from him in his return a couple weeks ago (which I didn't care for). So my gut reaction is that I really don't like this move. I guess I'm always more of a fan of a heel champ with a strong babyface chasing him, and in one episode we just shifted to the three singles titles all being held by babyfaces. I'm really bummed, just because I really liked both Justice and Andrews lording those belts over people. Obviously you can't keep everyone champ forever, but I really liked the dynamic we had. Based on the match I've seen, there are a few guys in this fed (and tons more throughout the rest of indy wrestling) who do Adler's style better than Adler, and I'm not exactly going out of my way to seek out more of that style match. These title changes really feel like they could completely change the tone of the program going forward, in a way I'm not as excited for. Obviously it opens up more challengers, but I'm knocked down a peg at the end of the episode. My favorite moment was Cecil Scott calling Lee Valiant a bag of piss.

PAS: Yeah I am out on this, Andrews and Valiant are a great act with the belt, and Adler doesn't show me much. Both of his big highflying moves didn't look that great and highflying babyface is a completely over done act.  I mean this fed still books Andrew Everett, and Adler's stuff doesn't even come close to what Everett can do. Maybe if I see more Adler, I'll learn to like him, but this fell completely flat for me.

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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 119

Episode 119

1. Aspyn Rose vs. Kaci Lennox

ER: I really like Aspyn Rose's look, but she probably works best as a second at this point. This was just about the most not ready for prime time performance I recall seeing. She's new to this, things will get better. But this was rougher than rough. She threw a nice running knee in the corner. That's not nothing. But literally every other moment just shouldn't have been on TV. That kick combo didn't help either gal, as Rose threw bad kicks and Lennox didn't help much on her end, and from there it just looked like Rose had no clue what to do next. We got bad bumps, stumbling moves, and a finisher sub that looked like she wasn't sure how to lock on. For her part, Lennox hit some nice shoulderblocks in the corner, but couldn't do a whole lot with Rose. I like seeing new talent, but I don't think we need to see talent that's THIS new.

PAS: This was the worst match they have put on the show by far. You don't need to air everything you tape. Rose looked first day of wrestling camp bad, that kick combo was cringe comedy. After that the whole thing fell apart badly, I imagine Rose and Lennox drove up with Aaron Epic and there is nothing wrong with giving them a chance, but this should have been left on the cutting room floor

2. Frankie Flynn/Brian Carson/Evan Adams vs. Cain Justice/Dirty Daddy/Movie Myk

ER: I was hoping for more from this one, as I love the inter-promotion feuding dojo grads angle. But it wasn't given a lot of time, and it never got much momentum. Flynn's section with Daddy looked good, really liked Flynn surprising him with fast strikes. Justice looked good the one time he was in, exactly the kind of cocky badass you want in an inter-promotion feud, the kind of guy who just reacts without thinking of consequences. He goes after Flynn's eye a couple times, even reaching in for an eyepoke to break up a pin. "Weird Body" Evan Adams ("built like Angus Young"~Cecil Scott) doesn't seem very good, but with his super tiny build and Toki Wartooth appearance I couldn't help but enjoy him. Carson's over the shoulder backbreaker looked good, Myk had a really nice pinfall save, Cain takes a big (barefoot!) bump to the floor, but I wanted more of a match.

PAS: I enjoyed this, it wasn't at the level of WAR v. New Japan or anything, but I did enjoy Cain bringing out the nastiness with the eye gouges. Most of the match was built around heating up Daddy v. Justice again, and I am excited for another round of that feud. Flynn is a guy I have seen a couple times before and was underwhelmed by, he was nasty here, sharp shots, which were sold especially well by Dirty Daddy, he has gotten so good, and I can't think of a better sympathetic babyface tag worker in wrestling right now.

3. AC Hawkes/Carlos Gabriel vs. Sandwich Squad

ER: Oh man, once these two came out with an open challenge I KNEW we were getting the always hungry Sandwich Squad. Biggs hits a big Samoan drop and then a stiff arm right clothesline on Gabriel that bounces him vertically on his head. Let's get a GIF of that, someone! Ever generous, Biggs and Mecha both gift Hawkes with lariats later, so he can understand what Gabriel went through. We get a big Mecha assisted elbow drop, and I like how Hawkes and Gabriel are at least bringing action to the Squad, not just setting up their offense. I really love the Sandwich Squad.

PAS: Sandwich Squad squashes are one of the most fun things in wrestling. Got to give the pair of rookies credit for really taking the appropriate amount of beating necessary to get over. Gabriel trying the clothesline bump that killed Oro seemed a little much for a internet TV show, but do you. That assisted elbow drop was grimey. They should have either a Squad or Donnie Dollars squash on every show.

ER: I don't know much about Michael McCallister pre-HIM, so I'm not sure what to think of his redemption, as I'm not sure what he needs redemption from, what lead him to put on a mask, I don't even have much of an opinion on him as a worker as his team with SIS always felt like more of a SIS show. So we'll see where this goes.

4. Aric Andrews vs. Cam Carter

ER: I really liked how this was handled. liked Cam Carter in it, and liked the use of interference. I was bummed Carter didn't get more of a showing in the Weaver Cup, and he's a guy who shakes his fist out after punches so I'm automatically on Team Carter. The opening nearfall was really well done, with Andrews' second Lee Valiant hitting a great accidental spear on Andrews (aiming for Carter) and I totally would have bought a title change off it. I like Andrews needing his bacon saved throughout this, the guy came off a tough match with Lee a couple weeks back, needs his boy out there so he can defend his title at 70%. Carter gets run into the post nicely and even with the loss in a 4 minute match I thought he had a nice showing.

PAS: This was one of the more exciting Andrews TV title matches, Carter really brought the energy and we had some really close nearfalls with Andrews doing a good job of stumbling into two counts. Andrews and Valient are a great sleazeball duo, they look like a couple of guys who ended up in county jail for siphoning gas.

5. Logan Easton Laroux vs. Alex Daniels

ER: Daniels cuts the shit and comes out with no Affleck shtick and just jumps Laroux. THAT is a pleasant surprise. This whole thing was a nice hot 6 minute sprint that went some nice directions. I loved Laroux getting surprised and playing catch up, and Daniels was good as an aggressive punk. Once Laroux attacked the knee I liked that direction, his stomp to Daniels' inner knee was especially nasty, and he had several great mocking and condescending attacks to a hurt Daniels. Daniels had some nice nearfalls and kept that aggression up the whole match, really illustrating how much better aggressive Daniels is than chuckle hut Daniels. The misdirection ending worked well, loved Laroux hitting the surprise cutter. This was a real quality Velocity match.

PAS: Daniels is best at these kind of sprints, he has good execution and ideas for a spotfest, and is too busy to try to shoehorn in his hack jokes. The kick to the knee by Laroux was really nasty looking and I liked how focused his attack was. Finish was really great with Daniels going for his finisher, almost getting thrown into the ref and getting caught with a cutter. I liked Laroux as the contemptuous prick who is such a dick that he can even turn the second biggest dick in the fed face.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 113: Absolute Justice

Episode 113: Absolute Justice

1. Cain Justice vs. Mitch Connor

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

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

2. Jakob Hammermeier vs. Chet Sterling

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

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

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

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

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

4. Aric Andrews vs. Ric Converse

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

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

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

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

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

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

6. C.W. Anderson vs. Smith Garrett

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

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

7. Nick Richards vs. Trevor Lee

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

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

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

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

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 111

Episode 111

1. Sandwich Squad vs. Cam Carter/James Ryan

ER: Yeahhhhh this was a real meaty Sandwich Squash, a real Dagwood. The whole episode starts with a flat brutal Mecha clothesline and things don't really slow down from there. Both guys were working overly stiff the whole time, big splashes, crushing avalanches, thundering chops, just squishing these two into the mat. Carter and Ryan stood up to it and gamely took the worst of what the squash dished out.

PAS: The Culture is a really great tag team name, and they did there job here, hit a move or two, but get mauled by a pissed off Sandwich Squad. Holy moly did they get mauled too, not at Cool J v. Donnie Dollars level, but fans of fun violent squash matches will dig this a bunch. I am excited to see mad Sandwhich Squad go on a rampage.

2. Zane & Dave Dawson vs. Lucas Calhoun/Proletariat Boar of Moldova

ER: Calhoun and Boar are down from Chikara. Calhoun's fat Elvis get-up and gags don't do a lot for me, but at least his strikes land with a nice thud. I actually like Boar's look, and he's got some size, but his punches and boots land light and he ends up working like a not very good Berzerker. The match felt like it wandered a bit too much. Calhoun acted like a heel, and the Dawsons are heels, so the fans weren't really that interested in showing sympathy for Calhoun's knee getting worked over, and the leg work didn't really go anywhere compelling anyway (though I did like the kneebreaker on the apron to start it). Again, at least Calhoun had some hard shots (which makes sense as he teamed with Kingston and Jacobs for awhile), because most of this didn't move the needle. I hate how Zane is billed as a guy with "the best" lariat, when he doesn't even know how to throw a halfway decent missed lariat, and his actual lariat looked nowhere near as devastating as Mecha Mercenary's just 20 minutes prior.

PAS: I didn't love this either, I was on board for Calhoun, I liked his rockabilly sleaze look and his Elvis Karate landed well, Boar didn't do much for me and the Dawsons kind of sucked. I do think the Chikara kids were working face, but I am not sure their brand of goofy shit works with the audience, it sure doesn't work with me.

ER: Phil and I were just talking on the phone earlier this week about Cain Justice, how high he'd go on a 500, with Phil comparing him to some of those U-Style guys who came in and immediately understood wrestling, and we talked about other guys who just came in and were already this good. I don't even think Cain has wrestled 25 matches, which is just nuts.

PAS: Very cool promo package. Is Cain working outside of CWF-MA? Is there tiny NC indies I need to track down so we can do a C+A Cain Justice?  I am totally in the bag for the kid, he is so much fun to watch.

3. Logan Easton Laroux vs. Chet Sterling

ER: Are they cross-promoting a Chikara show or something? That's not a direction I was hoping for. And I did not like this match. It felt like apartment wrestling where the guys were afraid to touch, or if Matt Sydal cloned himself into two lesser wrestlers who proceeded to have a lesser Matt Sydal match. The 1% gimmick just doesn't work for me, especially in indy wrestling, because you can tell when someone doesn't actually have money. So here's a guy who is in the 1%, with the same gear as every other indy wrestler, who wrestles like every indy wrestler I already avoid watching. Laroux seems kind of afraid to bump, there was always a delay before taking a clunky, tentative bump. Maybe that's the 1% in him coming through? Afraid to get his hands dirty? It's possible that he's just not that good. I think there was a good forearm in here.

PAS: Laroux isn't a Chikara guy, he is one of the top guys in NOVA pro, and I saw this matchup live earlier in the year and thought it was awesome. That match was built around Laroux faking an injury and being a total smarmy dick, this was much more their touring athletic exhibition match and was less effective. I still liked this a fair amount more then Eric did, I thought the Sterling bump into the ringpost was really nasty as was his bump into the turnbuckle. I also liked when Laroux let his inner asshole shine, the viscous eye rake, the shoving of the ref into the turnbuckle. It did feel a little dancey at times, and there was some questionable punches, but I thought it was slightly above average, and am optimistic about Logan in CWF going forward.

ER: I had not seen Logan before, but he has worked a LOT of Chikara. I'll try to keep an open mind. He *did* put his hands on Phil in a threatening way, that counts for something.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 107

Episode 107

1. Aric Andrews vs. Chet Sterling

ER: I thought this was a much better showing than their match on the Saturday night show. Sterling certainly looked better here and things were a bit more evenly paced. I thought Sterling looked pretty bad last match, and here he was back to the level where my brain typically slots him, so we'll call that one a low outlier for now. Andrews is a tall lanky guy (not sure he's quite 6'6" as Stutts says...) and I like how he looks when taking armdrags and such, those long legs flipping all around. Really liked him catching Sterling in a wild powerslam, and the finish was cool with Sterling faking him out on a blockbuster before actually hitting it.

PAS: This was a lot better then their previous match. I thought Andrews was totally great here, I loved his body work, including some of the nastier pro-wrestling body shots I can remember seeing. I loved that powerslam, Andrews had Sterling hooked in the middle of the rotation so he was fully rolled up. I also loved the commentary on this match, where both guys were concerned that Sterling wasn't sweating enough, which might be a sign of dehydration, just a great example of how Stuttsy and Cecil add to a match.

2. Arik Royal vs. Nick Richards

ER: This started off plenty fun, and things really ramped up for me once things spilled to the floor. It was a real amusing and professional brawl through the building, as the fans didn't really seem to move. So you have a couple guys brawling through people that were stationary, and they had to bump with that in mind. It starts with Richards hitting a tope and him pulling back while Royal catches so that they don't go sprawling through the people in the front row, and they keep working around and falling next to little kids, felt fun and professional. Royal takes a backdrop on the floor and Richards hits a huge elbow off the apron, and by then kids are feeling confident to come up and get a close look. Back in and things get a little too sloppy. Richards missed a sunset flip and Royal wobbled a bit too long before he realized Richards was no longer going for the flip, and there was a ugly enziguiri, a dangerous and ill-advised top rope butterfly suplex; the whole end run just felt too messy.

PAS: I really enjoyed the crowd brawling, felt violent and safe at the same time. Very impressive how well both guys bumped in a way that was reckless but not fatal to small children. Although I imagine whoever owned that crutch that Royal broke on Richards back might have been a bit peeved. I actually thought the top rope butterfly suplex was a nice piece of improv and landed nastily, but I agree that some other in-ring stuff didn't look great.

3. Dawsons vs. Sandwich Squad

ER: This was okay, but I don't think the Dawsons are as good as I thought they were, and by that I mean I don't think they're good at all. I think I was tricked as they looked like one of the only teams trying slightly hard in that Hardy Boys tribute gauntlet mess. They're tubby guys with beards which probably pulled a Jedi mind trick on my brain, but they just don't seem that good. They always seem out of place for stuff, they make normal spots look clunky, and they always have a hard time getting up for moves. In this match alone they made the Squad look bad on a bodyslam and barely got off the ground on a chokeslam. A couple times they were supposed to miss a move off the ropes and I have no clue what it was that they were even supposed to miss. One of the times Dave Dawson appeared to throw a really slow Mongolian chop? I have no idea. Sometimes them being crossed up makes for a nastier spot, like them falling on each other during a double flapjack, but it starts to look bad in a longer match like this. Squad had some nice moments, thought Biggs had a great standing splash, and in the Dawsons favor I do love the "turn face opponent's mask around" spot, but this felt like it should have been better. And again, that's probably due to my inaccurate feelings about the Dawsons going into it.

PAS: I liked this match much more then Eric did, I don't think the Dawson's looked great, but this was a pretty great Sandwich Squad performance. Aaron Biggs has lost some weight, which is good for his overall health but not great for his gimmick, he is moving really well though and his Finlay roll on Zane Dawson was a true holy shit spot, I also loved the cut block/splash combo that the Sandwhich Squad did during a very exciting finish run. Mask turnaround was really nifty as was the brutal chair shot leading to a finish. Dawson's looked off, but I have liked them enough in other things to continue giving them the benefit of the doubt.

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CWF Mid Atlantic Battle Cade 12/30/16

PAS: CWF-MA has been hyped a bunch by people I semi-trust, so I thought I would check out their big Supercard show, and I am sold.

Cain Justice v. Dirty Daddy

PAS: Cain Justice is doing a strip mall black belt gimmick, and comes out with his Judo sensei and sparring partners like a meth lab Aoyagi. Dirty Daddy is a guy doing a Human Tornado style funky black dude deal. Really fun rookie match which delivers some big moves and nice bumping by both guys. I did think that Justice probably should have avoided the Pentagon bomb if that wasn't going to be the finish, especially in a fed which bans piledrivers, I did really like Justice's arm submission though, really nasty looking and something which would differentiate him from most guys in this fed.

Zane and Dave Dawson v. Devin Dalton/Walter Eaton

PAS: The Dawsons have a great wrestling look, big, fat long greasy beards, wrestling never has enough fat biker tag teams. Dalton and Eaton were guys who had held tag team titles with different partners and came out to respond to an open challenge. Stiff energetic tag match which doesn't wear out it's welcome. Four guys smacked each other for five minutes or so and then one fat guy hits a big clothesline and gets a pin. Really like how these undercard matches tell a story, have some nice work and keep it rolling.

Smith Garrett v. Aric Andrews

PAS: This is for the TV title, Garrett gets jumped by Xsiris coming to the ring and gets dropped on his head, he gets helped to the back and Andrews calls for a count. Garrett crawls back just beating the count and we get a nice bit of classic wrestling business. Garrett gets a couple of kick outs, a bit of hope and then gets beat. We leave this wanting Garrett to get his hands on Xsiris, and  get a rematch against Andrews. Again I really like the simplicity of the storytelling.

Aaron Biggs/Mecha Mercenary v. The Storm of Entrails

PAS: I really love how CWF-MA have embraced the giant fat dude in wrestling. EVOLVE could really use some more big fat guys. Biggs and Mercenary are the Sandwich squad and are probably 380 each. The Storm of Entrails are CZW trainees and have the stage crew at a metal fest look that CZW cultivates, Shlak especially is built like a brick shithouse and covered head to toe in creepy tattoos, if a guy will do that to his face, what will he do to yours. This was another fun tag match, with all four guys landing meat hooks, I really like the CZW teams double top rope elbow, and the Sandwich squad has a lot of cool double teams which take advantage of their flab. Another compact entertaining match.

Lee Valiant v. Chet Sterling

PAS: This is for the Ultra J title and is no-DQ piledrivers legal match. This is worked as a juniors sprint with both guys throwing out some pretty big moves quickly. Sterling looked a little off in some of his stuff, but I really liked Valiant, nasty punches and his offense looked really crisp. Sterling has been injured by a piledriver earlier in the year, so he gets his revenge with an avalanche tombstone, which gets the three count and I assume a vacation for Valiant. I do like how in this fed a death move mean death.

Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Him/Sis/Kabuki Ni/Otto Schwanz/The Number Boy v. Donnie Dollars/Matty De Nero/Mitch Conner/Snooty Fox/Rob McBride/Qefka the Quiet

PAS: This was kind of a fill out the card 12 man tag with a bunch of wacky gimmicks. I liked parts of this, Otto Schwanz is a old OMEGA dude and it was fun to see him wreck fools, and I have always enjoyed Boogie Woogie Man Rob McBride and there was a nifty spot where he blocked Kabuki's mist with a pair of workmans googles. Still I really hate Qefka the Quiet and Sharpe working invisible lasso spots in the beginning of the match. One of the cool things about CWF Mid-Atlantic is its sincerity, so stupid winky Chikara shit like that is really out of place.

CW Anderson v. Ric Converse

PAS: I really enjoyed this, Anderson and Converse are a pair of old school dudes who have been wrestling since the 90s and wrestle like they are from the 70s. Lots of big right hands and nice clotheslines. Anderson looks and wrestles like he has been frozen in amber since 2002. Still has that great right hand, and nasty spinebuster. I really liked the finish of this with Anderson hitting a superkick to the back of the head and slapping on the crossface causing Converse to pass out. Loved the idea of a kick to the back of the head be a KO, especially one as nasty looking as Anderson's superkick

Nick Richards v. Roy Wilkins

PAS: Roy Wilkins is working sort of a Zybyzko style technical heel. Lots of counter wrestling along with cheap shotting and stalling (although having a cheapshotting Black heel named after the head of the NAACP during the civil rights movement is a weird bit of retrograde booking by a Southern fed). The story the announcers were putting out was that Wilkins was a technician while Richards was a brawler. The match was worked well around that story including Richards getting the upset by beating the wrestler with a wrestling move. Unfortunately I thought Richards look pretty bad here, and didn't have the execution to pull off the story being told, his brawling looked off and there were moments where he didn't seem to be on the same page with his opponent. I left this wanting to see more Wilkins, but not particularly happy that Richards seems to be getting a big push.

Arik Royal v. Andrew Everett

PAS: First I have seen Arik Royal and he is pretty great, works really stiff, has cool power moves and is an awesome dickish shit talker. There is a point near the end of the match where he has Everett tied up in the ropes and he yells at Everett's niece in the audiance "Andrew isn't coming home tonight" before nuking him with a running uppercut. I have seen Everett work in super indies, but this was by far my favorite match of his, he is comes into the match with an awesome blitz, flying recklessly into Royal, including hitting three crazy dives in a row, I really liked the story of coming out 100 miles an hour and trying to catch Royal off guard, he is also a really reckless in ring bumper, landing super fast and super awkward into the turnbuckles and ring ropes. Match might have gone a bit too long, but they did build to a pretty cracking finish.

Brad Attitude v. Trevor Lee

PAS: This was the apex of a months long feud between the two that started with Attitude turning on Lee and braining him with a beer bottle, and then taunting him at shows that Lee wasn't booked at. Finally to get his hands on Attitude, Lee agreed to a match with a 30 minute time limit, where if he didn't beat Attitude he would lose the belt, also if he got DQed he would lose the belt, but Attitude could wrestle the match no DQ. It is a nifty piece of wrestling bullshit which feels like something The Bullet would have to do to get his hands on Jimmy Golden.

Attitude is awesome in the build up to this and in the match. He is working a failed prospect gimmick, a guy who had his shot at the big leagues (he was on a bunch of early EVOLVE shows and was a WWE developmental guy) but washed out and is now bitter. Now this kid he helped train is the new hot shit indy star working PWG and TNA and he can't take it, this was like if David Carr broke a beer bottle over Derek's head.

Early in the match Attitude dickishly taunts Lee, stalling and killing time, trying to get Lee intentionally DQ'ed, however by the end of the match, all of that is out of the window and he is clearly trying to prove he is better and pin the champ. You don't usually see that kind of character arc in a wrestling match. Lee is fine in this, although it really feels like Attitudes match, I did his firery die on the sword attitude, and he did a nice job of conveying his fury at Brad, but stopping short of losing his cool and his belt. He also took a nasty side of the head chair shot, which either busted him open legit or was a nice excuse for a blade job.

Finish is something I am a little torn on, during Attitude's rampage he had cut the ponytail of one of the refs. After a couple of other refs are laid out  that ref come out slow counts for Attitude and looks the other way as Lee smashes Brad in the head with the bottle. I get that it makes narrative sense, but it feels like a cop out, the better story was either the valiant babyface overcoming impossible odds and prevailing anyway, or the dastardly heel stacking the deck too high. Having Lee win by out cheating Attitude is kind of weak sauce.

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