CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 120

Episode 120

1. Smith Garrett vs. Logan Easton Laroux

ER: I had no idea where the Garrett KO angle was going, and I actually thought this was a pretty good payoff for it. Laroux obtaining Garrett's medical records that show a fractured C6, therefore getting him on a medical suspension, is a pretty great rich guy dickhead play. Using your wealth to obtain blackmail instead of to buy off opponents is an interesting twist to the rich jerk gimmick. Some of the logic doesn't totally add up ("Garrett has been beating opponents in 10 seconds because he can't wrestle for more than 10 seconds!" Wait, so Garrett could just choose to win quickly whenever he wanted to and wasn't!?), and I didn't love the use of shoot name, but I thought the realism was handled well. Garrett tearing up was legit and I bought wanting to compete, saying he'd sign any waiver, and I love the care showed for him by the staff, saying they don't want him paralyzed in this ring, "It's just not worth it", and Garrett getting into Laroux's face and telling him he's coming after him the second he's healthy. I thought this was all effective as hell, and much better than a guy announcing he'd be leaving due to an injury, or the fed just announcing he was injured. But this made me far more interested in an eventual Garrett/Laroux showdown. This angle could have been done terribly, and I thought they knocked it out of the park.

PAS: I will give credit to them for execution, I thought Laroux was a really smarmy prick, he totally came off like a right wing twitter troll who just posted the perfect gas chamber gif.  Garrett looked appropriately distraught, and I thought William Cross was great in the role of promoter who cares too much, but has to do what is right, it had a very Eddie Marlin feel to it and that is a huge compliment. Still the underlying logic of the angle is straight Vince Russo worked shoot orangoutang shit . The idea of Garrett being too hurt to wrestle longer then 10 seconds implies that either "the office" booked the matches to only go 10 seconds, or Garrett decided to "shoot" on his first two opponents because he couldn't go longer, either way BOOOOOO!!!. CWF is really great at keeping its internal logic straight, which makes stuff like this (or dumb Chikara shit like the Mime) stand out even more.

2. Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Chet Sterling

ER: I was rooting for EAS as I'm a fan of his more serious persona, bought into all of Stutts' bracket buster hype, but assumed with no shenanigans that Sterling was probably going to be advancing (and probably deserved to be the one advancing). Sharpe got crossed up a couple times during this one, but I still liked both guys. Sterling snapped my eyes open with an early back elbow, and I'm a big fan of nice back elbows. This one really looked jaw dislocatingly hard. I'm surprised Sharpe didn't make a bigger deal out of trying to hit the uppercut, which was his killshot in his prior two matches, but I don't think he went for it once, which is odd. Still I really like his over the shoulder jawbreaker, and thought he leaned into Sterling's stuff nicely. Sterling hit a nice dive into the crowd, took a mean ring post shot, and effectively worked boots and elbows into the match, unloaded a flurry of strikes on Sharpe that I liked, did the little things like get a high cradle on the finish roll-up. A satisfying match.

PAS: This was a perfectly entertaining bit of television wrestling, which is more then I would have guessed from this matchup on paper. There were a couple of weak spots (Sterling really has some hit or miss punches) but most of this was pretty solid. Really liked Sharpe countering the dive with his jawbreaker, and I loved the roll-up finish.

3. Aric Andrews vs. Isaiah Santero

ER: We saw Santero briefly before in that messy Hardy Boyz tag scramble episode many months ago, and I really didn't like how much of the match he took here. Andrews just went toe to toe with Trevor Lee, now he barely edges out this clown with a bunch of Lee Valiant interference? Santero is okay, though I prefer more stiffness from my exoticos (phrasing?) or big bumps. He doesn't seem to have either, getting up awkwardly for moves and not really landing anything with a thud. My favorite parts were Andrews' stomps to the head, but I think this needed a lot more Andrews control.

PAS: I liked Innocent Isaiah in NOVA pro, but this was mostly shtick, and the actually wrestling in it wasn't great.  This did feel a little like Andrews prison girlfriend showing up to his favorite bar after they both get released. "Why didn't you call me Aric we were supposed to be together"

4. Lee Valiant vs. Rob McBride

ER: Oh my gosh I forgot about McBride! I love McBride! No bumps, meaty strikes with no wind up, minimal body selling but great sympathetic facial selling. He's gotta be a tough opponent to work, and also an easy opponent to work. You're not going to get any of your stuff in, you're going to take a full weight elbow drop, but you know the match won't go too long and the crowd will be into it. McBride would be a fun #500 candidate if Phil and I had enough free time to do an SC500. Valiant is good eating heavy chops and flying into McBride (even leaping off the top to essentially powerbomb himself), McBride splats him with a great elbow and finishes with a big one off the middle rope, and McBride is the kind of guy who feels like he's featured just the right amount of time. There are some guys I want to see more, some I want to see less, but I always like McBride showing up every 3 months.

PAS: Yeah this was totally fun. The commentary went over both guys history and I really want to see Lee Valiant as fake Jimmy Valiant relative. Lee Valiant as a beloved babyface totally doesn't compute. McBride has some really great open hand chops and for a guy who doesn't take bumps (Boogie Woogie taught him well) it is pretty crazy for him to do a second rope elbow, that is a lot of weight landing on a well seasoned hip bone.

5. Logan Easton Laroux vs. Chet Sterling

ER: I really disliked their prior match, but I enjoyed this whole presentation. I thought the match itself was good, disliked the DQ as it happened...but the old school angle that unfolded sucked me in and got me even more hyped for the restart. Both guys were bringing it, Laroux especially just blasted Sterling with a few elbows right to the chin, real nasty shots. I also loved Sterling shoving some kid out of the way so he could stand on his chair and pose. I noticed Laroux telling the ref that he was using an elbow and not a closed fist, and I assumed it was just heel behavior. When the finish happened I kind of eye rolled, but quickly noticed how Cecil and Stutts were reacting. They were just as upset, annoyed and incredulous as I was. The two of them are great vessels for the viewer, not telling us how we should be reacting, but reacting with us. Once I began hearing that they thought the decision was bullshit, I got excited for what was unfolding. A referee ringer? "But if I didn't hire him, and YOU didn't hire him..." I loved how the restart unfolded, Michael McCallister taking out and beating the phony ref, and loved Sterling chasing Laroux down and stiffing him up in the lobby of the Sportatorium. I loved the little twist they threw in once Sterling had dragged him back to the ring, with Laroux immediately hitting his cutter. I really wanted that to be it, just because it would have been a crushing sudden end to the rollercoaster. Once Sterling kicked out of the cutter at one you kinda knew he was taking this all the way, and sure enough Laroux is finished in short order. I thought the overall package of this was a really fun 15 minutes, with little storyline twists that CWF is very successful at. I don't really trust any other modern feds with these kind of angles, but CWF understands the intricacies of them. They easily could have just had these two work a 10 minute match ending with Sterling getting the title shot. But they added extra character, extra motivation, shifting consequences, things that make someone like me care far more about this result than I otherwise would have. Although, my 1999 wrestling brain can't be completely turned off, as Trevor Lee was being so friendly with Sterling during the congratulations that I kept waiting for a cheapshot. But, something tells me they knew someone like me would be thinking that.

PAS: Yeah this was a really fun bit of pro-wrestling shtick. I loved how they didn't have the ref work Tirantes heel stuff, just call it straight right up until the DQ, that is the way Tim Donaghy would do it. I also loved the cutter near fall after Sterling dragged him back, that would have been an amazing way for Laroux to steal a win. Work itself was solid stuff, I liked their first match more then Eric did, and both guys clearly have worked each other a ton and have their timing down pat. I do think the whole angle made the promotion look a little bush league, they don't know a guy has a broken neck, and they have ref's just showing up and reffing matches? They need an office manager.

Read more!

CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 118

Episode 118

1. Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Lucas Calhoun

ER: I liked this, I really like serious EAS. He's a guy who is obviously funny, who I think overuses his comedy, but when he gets serious I really like his work. Calhoun works in the Elvis spots in a couple nice ways, I especially liked him dropping to a knee with the arms out pose to duck a clothesline. As much as I like serious Sharpe, I don't know if that uppercut should be a death move. I was really surprised that was all it took to keep Calhoun down. Also I think Stutts keeps calling Sharpe a "bracket buster" too often. He hit on it a couple times last match and a few times here. If he ends up winning you don't want to be the guy wondering aloud all match long if 123 Kid can beat Razor Ramon.

PAS: I liked the story of this, with Sharpe as a comedy guy who is here to fight and unwilling to go along with Calhoun's Chikarism. He really presses the action, never giving Calhoun a chance to breathe, much less a chance to get his shtick in. I do like Calhoun's backbreaker and senton combo and I would like to see more of him, especially if someone is forcing him out of his routine. I have no problem with the uppercut as a KO move, if you sell something as a killer move it's a killer move and Sharpe's uppercut is pretty great looking

2. Aaron Epic vs. Chet Sterling

ER: This was a much better showing for Epic, as I didn't really like his first round match. Here I really liked his work, liked how he worked in and out of headlocks and cravats, liked his knee to the gut. I liked how he sold for Sterling, like how he took that dropkick on the apron as more of a brush off to set up the big dive. Sterling was there with him, I thought his part of the grappling and mat stuff was good. At one point he rolled through with a wristlock that I wasn't expecting. Unexpected Wristlock feels like an unfinished song from John Darnielle's wrestling album. Both guys traded some painful looking moves, with Sterling throwing a really cool low angle german, and Epic doing an insane running death valley driver into the bottom turnbuckle. That spot feels like something we'll see until it dislocates someone's spinal column. Finish worked as Rose gets up on the apron to distract with a big spike, and Epic goes to hit the piledriver. A flipping cradle reversal works logically, although by the end of the match I was wanting Epic to advance (and assumed he wouldn't).

PAS: I am on a mini roll of enjoying Sterling matches, I still thing he is kind of generic, but in there with a guy providing the sizzle, he can go along. Epic is clearly a polished pro, and I like how he focused the attack on the neck to set up his illegal piledriver. I really dug the diving uppercut to the back of a seated Sterling, really looked like the kind of thing which could slip a disc. That running Death Valley Driver is so much nastier looking then a piledriver that it doesn't make sense as a set up move for a dangerous illegal blow.  What rule set would allow that hideous thing and not allow a piledriver?

3. Alex Daniels vs. Smith Garrett

ER: I liked this use of the killshot elbow much more in this match than in the Cam Carter match. Real Life Joel Edgerton was going through the t-shirt routine and Garrett just blasts him with a perfectly timed elbow as Daniels is removing his final tank top. It seems like they're setting up Sharpe's uppercut vs. Garrett's elbow, and I can get behind that.

PAS: I am holding off on commenting on this until the payoff, and then I will have things to say.

ER: I love the mid 80s powder blue Expos uniforms, so props to Coach for sporting it. But wearing a Pete Rose Expos jersey? Truly a memorable time of his career. I eagerly await his Rickey Henderson Mariners jersey.

4. Otto Schwanz vs. Trevor Lee

ER: What a surprise treat this was, a match that wasn't listed in the episode rundown, an impromptu jumping from Schwanz and suddenly we get a near 20 minute classic. I've been clamoring for a Schwanz showcase and boy did I get it. This match was completely breathless, no rest, no space. CWF is really great at presenting these matches where guys are in each other's face the whole time, and both of these guys are up to that challenge. Schwanz jumps him to start and we never really get much of a stretch of either man being in control. That's a tough way to work a match without it ever seeming like they're taking turns, but this never felt your move/my move, this just felt like a competitive fight between two guys who hate to quit. There were many great moments, without there ever being any overkill, a relentless pace without either guy feeling like they were ignoring damage. The comebacks and tide shifts all felt natural within the match. I love how Otto would use his bearhug not to grind down Lee, but to slam the breaks on Lee's momentum. Schwanz never used the bearhug for more than 10 seconds at a time, instead he would grab him, violently shake him a couple times, drop the immobilized body, and pounce. We got reversals without any kind of dance, repeated moves done not just as a way to allow a missed spot, but because the moves are effective. Schwanz goes to his standing splash a couple times, and there's a weird stigma about doing moves more than once in a match, and there shouldn't be. A move that works is a move that works, and I like how he hit a couple splashes clean at totally different parts of the match, and eventually he misses one but it's not predictable when he'd miss. Lee makes a few attempts at the STF, and I loved Schwanz breaking the grip, prying Lee's hands apart, rolling it over, and then blasting him with a lariat. For the ending Lee makes by far the best use of a finger break spot in a pro wrestling match: Already establishing that Schwanz has the strength to break the STF, Lee attacks the fingers, locks in the cross legged STF, Schwanz still fights back instinctively, but Lee's strategy is too much. Awesome, impressive, hard fought match, expertly laid out and executed. This is one of my favorite matches of the year, and it's not even advertised in the episode! What a treat.

PAS: Yeah this was good stuff, Otto is from an older generation of indy workers, his stuff doesn't look nearly as smooth as Chip Day or even Aric Andrews, he is a big believable country strong brute and everything he does looks like it hurt. Otto sets a really impressive pace for a big guy at his age, he is always pressing forward and attacking and Trevor is forced to counter punch for much of the match. I loved Otto's german suplexes, he just grabs and throws his opponent with such force, and his rolling german's looked less like a fancy spot, then a big dog refusing to let go of a dead rabbit. I want to second the love for the finger breaking spot, normally it is one of my least favorite Trevor Lee spots, it is done as more of a highspot with little connection to the match, here it makes perfect sense as Otto keeps breaking Lee's grip, so damaging his fingers leads right to the finish. Really cool match, and Lee is on a big run of great stuff these last couple of weeks.

5. Caprice Coleman/Darius Lockhart vs. Zane & Dave Dawson

ER: Fun tag, and I came away really impressed by Caprice Coleman. Coleman is a guy I've probably been seeing since 2001 or maybe earlier, and I like that some of these guys who kind of got lost in the shuffle of mid 2000s indy wrestling can now come back as productive vets. I like the idea of him in a mentor role of a tag team, and would like to see more of he and Lockhart. I dug Coleman's double dropkick, liked a bunch of his strikes, love that rope flip headscissors to the floor he does so damn smoothly, and his spin around the ringpost dropkick under the bottom rope looks really cool. Dawsons are good at cutting off the ring and Coleman is good on a hot tag. Now we do get a lot of nonsense down the stretch, and we're clearly building for a rematch. Now, I like some of Lockhart's strikes, he throws big chops, but there were other times I thought he was too tentative, kind of throwing off the timing of pinball double teams. Also, I think Zane Dawson is incredibly lazy and uncreative about getting into position for things, or throwing really half-hearted missed lariats. There were several moments like this that were really bad, like when he needed to get to the apron he got punched, turned around and walked to the apron, then just stood there. It was all to set up Coleman sweeping his leg and then hitting the headscissors, but he couldn't have tried less to get into position. Later he had to get to the turnbuckles for a spot and it was the same thing, get punched, turn around and walk all the way around the ref, eventually reaching the buckles. It comes off so unnatural, it looked like something early 2000s HHH would do to try to bury an opponent. "See how long I had to wait for Booker's axe kick?" I'm not expecting everyone to be Finlay when it comes to naturally getting into position to set up someone's offense, but damn this was some of the most sluggish attempts in recent memory. But I liked the match, and it feels lame to complain a bunch about a match I liked. Still, that Dawson stuff felt egregious.

PAS: I love the fact that a BLM tag team are working as faces in North Carolina, especially against a pair of bearded bikers, very woke booking by CWF.  Good classic southern tag with Lockhart getting worked over leading to Coleman as a fun highflying hot tag. I loved his flip headscissors and spin around the ringpost, both cool highflying moves that work well in the context of a tag match. Colemans punches to the Dawson's looked only OK, but he really wasted the ref with the punch he hit him with, looked like it broke his jaw. I had no problem with the booking in the finish, but it only works if we get a rematch pretty soon, I also really want to see Coleman/Lockhart vs. the All Stars they have plenty of fun stuff set up.


ER: We have two straight weeks of arguably my favorite 2017 Trevor Lee title defenses, this Otto match really hit all the right spots. It was an easy add to the top 20 of our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List.


 

Read more!

CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 116

Episode 116

1. Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Mitch Connor

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

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

2. Cam Carter vs. Smith Garrett

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

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

3. Cain Justice vs. Chip Day

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

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

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

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

4. Roy Wilkins vs. Chet Sterling

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

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

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

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

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

Read more!

CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 114

Episode 114

1. Garrison King vs. Carlos Gabriel vs. Pat Monix vs. Tracer X

ER: Short and sweet 4 way scramble with enough cool spots thrown out that it didn't really matter than some of them didn't totally work. I hadn't seen three of these guys before (only Tracer X) and came away enjoying Monix, and appreciating King and Gabriel's willingness to slip a disk in a showcase match. Monix had some fun combos that land with some thump, is able to work these kind of fast sequences with guys on every side without getting crossed up, and will hit a crazy tope con hilo through the middle ropes and into the front row. They eventually get to one of those stupid "four guys hitting each other at once" spots that always happen in these matches, but I gotta say, at least these guys were clunking each other with hard elbows during that moment. I also thought Cecil and Stutts were in peak form here, tossing out jokes, covering up some dodgy spots, attempting to add substance to a spotfest. Cecil starts talking about Garrison King's "kicks" and how "hype" and "lit" they are, Stutts calls him out for using words he saw on Twitter, Cecil takes the hit and without missing a beat he covers for a botched rana by saying "King went for a rana but shifted to turn it into a legdrop!" which was a quick and convincing cover. They're a good team and matches like this benefit from them.

PAS: This was a bunch of young guys breaking out all of their crazy spots to try to get booked again and it worked for that. Tracer X seemed like the most polished of the four although King's top rope cutter won the battle of craziest spots. I would be fine seeing any of these guys again, although the roster is already super overloaded, and they seem to be bringing in a whole mass of new guys again for the Weaver cup.

2. Boar of Moldova vs. Joshua Cutshall

ER: This one fell short for me. It was one of those big slugfests where none of the slugging really reads. If Boar's chops were lighting up Cutshall, they didn't seem to be. Cutshall throws some nice shots, but also throws some hinky open handed punches that soar over Boar's head. If they were Japanese and in the Tokyo Dome, maybe we could pretend that the bad strikes were there on purpose to cover for injuries and it was actually some next level striking, but few people are stupid enough to actually believe that. Boar needs to tighten things up as I like the look but his execution just comes off weak. Props to Cutshall setting up his elbow to the back of Boar's head by pulling him into it by the tail.

PAS: Boar is a new guy I would rather not see anymore of it. Nothing worse then a big guy working a clubbering gimmick who doesn't clubber. I didn't think Cutshall looked great either but I have liked plenty of Cutshall before so I am blaming the Boar. I did like the birdcage on Cutshall's head and the tail yank into the elbow, but this was forgettable.

3. Aspyn Rose vs. Jessica Troy

ER: Troy is from Australia and seems pretty new, but probably not nearly as new as Rose. So they both seemed a bit green (Rose extra green, what with her mermaid scales and all), but they both showed some promise. They probably bit off a bit too much here, but they went at a fast pace and threw a bunch of things at the wall. Rose hits a corner elbow that lands right in Troy's throat, and Troy tries some World of Sport knucklelocks and go behinds that Rose stooges amusingly for, also liked Troy tripping Rose up on a drop down, with Rose falling into the ropes. Troy had a high bridge northern lights and a nice fisherman's suplex, and I liked Rose selling things like missing a face wash in the corner and jamming her knee. Cecil adds to things by squeezing in little bits of character, like putting over Troy's running double knees by mentioning that Rose had previously injured her clavicle. I do think both have a ways to go, Troy threw a couple lariats awkwardly below Rose's chest, and Rose seems like she actually has no idea how to run, she seemed like she was powerwalking into all over her rope running spots, it looked really strange (a lot of rope running looks really odd in ladies matches, why is that? Do they not have enough weight to get spring off the ropes? Serious question), but I liked what they were going for here.

PAS: I thought this was kind of a mess and went too long. With the Mae Young Classic I have watched more US women's wrestling this month then I have in my life before, so I really didn't need to see more of it. Both of these ladies would be in the bottom 10th of MYC competitors (while SIS for example would be in the top fourth easily), and the match suffered from not having anyone to tie it together.

4. Zane Dawson/Dave Dawson/Cain Justice/Aric Andrews vs. Snooty Foxx/Dirty Daddy/Chet Sterling/ Smith Garrett

ER: Satisfying, crowd pleasing 8 man with a kinda bummer finish. Even with the finish we got 20 minutes of good action, even starting before the bell with Dawsons/Andrews getting in a strategy huddle and boxing out Justice. I could have stopped watching the match then and left happy, as Cain's irritated faces while trying to get in the huddle were hilarious to me. Totally nailed the little brother "You guyyyyyys, let me playyyyyy!" vibe. His opening scramble was also some of the best work in the match, but we also got two nice FIP segments with Snooty and Sterling. I thought Fox was surprisingly adept at being in peril, and the heels were all good at keeping the tags fresh. Later we get a fun comeback run from him, with he and Daddy doing synchronized leaps off the apron, and a great Daddy elbow/Fox spear combo (and Fox has a real nice spear). Finish is kinda wonky, as Sterling is getting the pin and Garrett is letting him get the pin, but Justice shoves Garrett into Sterling to break it up...even though Garrett looks like he barely grazes anybody. Then we get some standing around time as Sterling is in disbelief, before Andrews gets the roll up. I guess that Andrews' TV title was on the line here? But I didn't realize that while the match was going on. And even so, the execution of the finish was lacking. Side note, got a brief - maybe unintentional - glimpse post match of heel Sterling, and I think I could really like him as a heel. I say unintentional because he merely looked frustrated, and any guy is allowed to be frustrated. But in the moment I could see him turning hard on Garrett, and I would have been down. Intentional or not, it's a thought.

PAS: The gimmick of this match is that if any of the heels lost they would have to defend their titles against anyone who pinned them. That is why Justice is sent out there and invites Garrett to pin him, if Garrett or Sterling pinned Cain, they couldn't get a title shot because they were aged out of the RGL. That also explains why Garrett and Sterling were arguing, Sterling though Garrett wanted the pin. It was a clever bit of booking and led to some fun twists to a normal 8 man. I really loved Cain in this, he had some great character moments, and had a ton of cool wrestling moments as well. That opening bit of mat wrestling with Garrett was totally boss, and I loved his nasty armbar. This match also got me excited to see the Dawsons v. So Time and I have been pretty down on the Dawsons lately.

Read more!

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

Read more!

CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 97

Episode 97

1. Snooty Foxx/Dirty Daddy vs. HIM/SIS

PAS: Great little scrap which got me excited about the Kernodle Cup. Fox has looked a little green for singles matches, but is fun as a power hot tag. Really liked HIM and SIS, Him had a nasty cravate where he was kneeing Daddy in the face. I liked how it broke down, really chaotic with HIM wrestling with a fan over a chair and both teams having to be separated.

ER: Short and sweet, really made me want more (luckily we have a massive tag tournament coming up). I was really impressed by SIS in that silly Hardys battle royal thing they did, but that was my only experience with her. And she impressed again here. I really love her whipping headbutts, it's a great worked move and she does it so fast you get the full effect, without having to mush up your brains Kikuchi-style. I really dug the spot where Daddy is running across the ring delivering elbows, and on the third she loads up a nicely timed pump kick. HIM had an awesome cravate while throwing knees to the side of Daddy's head, into a swinging neckbreaker. That's a great spot. Fox gets into the mix with a brutal spear right at HIM's chest, and I agree with Phil that the breakdown to this was pretty mad. HIM fighting over that chair could have gotten real messy, and the pull apart made SIS look like a total badass.

2. Chip Day vs. Otto Schwanz vs. Smith Garrett vs. Aric Andrews vs. Cain Justice vs. Trevor Lee

PAS: Excellent multi-man match which gave everyone a chance to shine and built to some really big moments at the end. I liked how Lee didn't want to tag out at the beginning, proving himself against each of the challengers. I also loved how Cain Justice was initially hesitant to lock up with the guy who trained him but got more confident with each cheap shot. The Lee v. Day stuff was clearly the focus, and was pretty electric, people who saw their singles match said it was off the charts and this got me excited for it. Justice is a great sleaze and I loved him stealing the pin on Day after Lee's KO knee, but also liked how he was sort of babyfaced when he was facing the even bigger scumbag Andrews.

ER: I always heard CWF was good at doing multi man matches, and this was a pretty good testament to that. I didn't always love the actual work, thought some sections got a little too trade-y, but the strengths lied in how they worked several different storylines into the match - advancing existing stories, and bringing up past histories and motivations. You could argue that Stutts was the MVP of this match, as he was on absolute fire for 35+ minutes, with he and Cecil both filling in helpful little details that fleshed the whole thing out. Little things like pointing out Schwanz was the only other Heavyweight champ in the match other than Lee (and how he hadn't held the belt for 15 years), or that Lee/Andrews/Justice being left in the match was the only time the three different fed title holders had been in a match at the same time, going over the history of Justice/Lee, those little things were not just interesting tidbits but actively affected my rooting interests. I liked the little details around tag ins and tag outs, with a lot of psych around who wants to be in and who doesn't, who wants to hang back and let people get eliminated, who doesn't want to face off against who, with Justice not wanting to face Lee and Otto wanting to face everybody, just a lot of fun little character detail. I went in wanting a Schwanz win, but got into Lee as the fighting champ, making sure to start the match out against everybody, not tagging out. Justice was amusingly petty in stealing a pin after a ridiculously pointy Lee knee to Day's face, since it doesn't actually matter who eliminates who, just who is left at the end. Lee was really awesome throughout this and the way he carried himself seemed so cocksure that I was wondering what it would actually take to beat him. Nice match, and I really like all of the things it set up for future shows (which seems to be a major strength for CWF, always making you want to see what happens next).

Read more!

CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 96

Episode 96

1. Otto Schwanz vs. PB Smooth

PAS: This was a fine big guy battle, Smooth is tall which will get you pretty far, it is unclear whether he has much else at this point. I really like Schwanz as a big boy veteran, although this had less stretching then the last time I saw him, really want to see Schwanz versus either Justice or Garrini, at some point I will review a WarGames with PB Smooth in it for WarGames Wednesday morning, hope it is better then this.

ER: This was what it was, which was basically Schwanz muscling around a limited guy his own size and setting up some decent spots for him. I really like Schwanz, he has a really timeless style and I think his look is even better now than when he was an actual mainstream guy. He's a little too nice to Smooth here though, as you get the sense before the match that he's going to make an example of this other tall dude coming into his turf. I don't really understand the point of billing Smooth at 7 feet tall. Schwanz is a really big guy, probably 6'3" to 6'5", and we can all see with our eyes that Smooth has maybe an inch on him. It's weird to be billing one guy as 7', while not in the same breath billing the other guy as 6'11". Is Redd Jones now the 6 feet tall referee? Is Statmark the 6'6" camera man? We all have eyeballs, and 6'6" is huge! No shame in calling a man 6 1/2 feet tall. So, I don't see the point, but I liked Schwanz, and Smooth at least cuts low on lariats and falls properly on slams. That might seem like low praise, but it's a good start for him.

2. Dominic Garrini vs. Cain Justice

PAS: Holy hell, what is this match? I have loved Justice before, but this felt like him taking the next leap, and fuck is Garrini fun to watch. For two rookies, this was off the charts, it felt like watching Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki in their first UWF and Pro-Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi matches. Justice has Judo training and Garrini is a ranked Brazilian Ju-Jitsu competitor and they do an awesome job of showcasing those skills in a prowrestling context. The early mat rolling was really cool, I loved the kneebar countering and how smoothly Garrinin shifted from a rear naked choke into a twister. This was still a prowrestling match, and they both did cool things where they would be rolling for submissions, and one guy would catch his opponent in a cradle for quick pin attempt, getting small packaged isn't something Garrini has to worry about in Abu Dhabi grappling tourneys, and I liked how Justice threw in some pro-wrestling flavors. Justice nearly gets finished by a bunch of submissions and decides to get a little dirty, by banging Garini's arm off the ring post, and then we get a thrilling end run with Justice baring down on the arm while Dominic tries to catch him in chokes.

ER: During Garrini's hype vid last week I was getting really excited for this match, and I wasn't sure what to expect, but I wasn't expecting this. This was awesome. I was excited for the match, but didn't want to hype it up in my head too much, but it delivered far more than I could have expected. Both men try to roll the other's ankle, plant knees in calf muscles, hyperextend knees, a bunch of nice looking rolling that looked like it would be far too easy to end in an accidental achilles injury. Both guys twist in and out of danger, and we get some surprises. I loved Garrini pushing Cain off him with both feet and grabbing him in an armbar on the way down. But I really loved Cain being the one to start integrating pro wrestling elements into things, turning the probably more skilled Garrini into a fish out of water. Cain swinging Garrini's arm into the post was a great turning point, and we still got some great arm work from both guys after, with both forcing the other's arm behind their back. Everything looked extremely painful here, and outside of a sorta hinky running corner charge by Garrini, this was some unexpectedly high end stuff. These guys need to form a stable and call it UWF Mid-Atlantic.

3. Alex Daniels vs. Chip Day

PAS: Really fun workrate sprint match. Both guy unloaded with big shots from the start, Chip Day damn near split Daniels nipple with a chop and Daniels hit a great spin kick. Daniels is working a Ben Affleck gimmick where he yells out Affleck film names when he does moves, it is a little try hard, but I enjoyed his work. He hits some insane looking brainbuster into the turnbuckles which landed Day right on the top of his head, match falls apart a bit there, because there is no way that shouldn't be a finish, and Daniels had to take an inordinately long time setting up a top rope follow up just to get rolled up for this pin, it was similar the one problem in the Dirty Daddy/Cain Justice match at Battlecade, especially in a fed like CWF Mid-Atlantic huge head drops like that should be finishes, if you aren't getting the finish, leave it at home. Still I really dug most of this, reminded me of a fun first round Cruiserweight Classic match.

ER: I'm not sure I understand the Ben Affleck gimmick, as Daniels doesn't really look like Affleck other than being a white male. But it probably gets him more laughs than working a "young David Morse" gimmick. Just as Chip Day shouldn't start working as a vinyl shorts Chris Eigeman gimmick. But this was good, until the ending which Phil already covered. And I think it was good because this is typically a style we see worked in 14 minute matches, and it turns into boring overkill, and here we got it for a hot 6 minutes. The 6 minute length worked, and we got some cool stuff that didn't have time to wear itself out. Chip Day gets a little bit hand clappy during certain strikes, but he throws a nice double knees and his strikes at least look good, and I REALLY like Daniels' spin kicks. That headdrop move into the turnbuckle was ridiculous. Stutts says it's one of the craziest moves he's ever seen in a ring (and he's right...which only highlights how stupid it is to not be the finish), and they ably work some fast sequences. Quality match.

4. Arik Andrews v. Cool J

ER: They do a fun "fan draws Andrews opponent out of a fishbowl" gimmick before the match, and I love CL Party announcing "Cool J" to silence and groans, with one man audibly groaning and eyerolling out a "what the christ". Cool J is super tiny and I believe this is his debut. Announce crew does a great job of putting over just how tough it is to even get to a CWF debut, going over actual numbers of just how many people drop out of the dojo, how many people quit the grueling school because it's too hard, and how there are far more people who quit than people who make it to their debut. It's a way more interesting and honest way of putting over someone's debut than saying rote things like "He brings a lot of skills to this and is very talented" while he's getting massacred. This is an Andrews squash though, as it should be, and Cool J takes a nasty slam on his shoulders.

PAS: Cool J takes some big bumps which is what you want out of a rookie getting squashed, and I did really like the commentary, but this was a 3 minutes one sided squash, not much to say about it

5. Xsiris vs. Smith Garrett

PAS: Short heated brawl which nicely moves along this feud. They kept it intense, and I liked how Garrett used Xsiris's aggression against him to get the roll up. I think I may have liked some of the pull aparts better, but I am sure this is leading to a big blow off, which I am excited for.

ER: This was so awesome, Xsiris is one of my favorite current guys and his aggression is off the charts. All his simple stuff looks great and super painful, and I've really enjoyed everything these two have done so far (except Garrett's weird lip licking thing. That really needs to stop), and this was more good stuff. I know it's going to lead to a killer blowoff. Xsiris has been messing with Garrett, jumping him and beating the hell out of him, and then turning around and leaving, and when Garrett got the roll up win here I instantly thought "Xsiris is going to go nuts eventually". CWF has several of these larger bruising bully puncher types, with Attitude and Schwanz and CW Anderson as well as Xsiris, and it's one of my absolute favorite styles, and one of the reasons this fed is so appealing. Great stuff all around.

ER: Well, Cain Justice vs. Dominic Garrini pretty much blew both of us away, easily earning a spot on our 2017 Match of the Year List. And, after talking it over, Phil and I both decided that it's our current #1. People should be on the lookout for these two.

Read more!

CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 90

Episode 90

1. Donnie Dollars vs. Percy Davis

PAS: Dollars is coming off a heel turn at BattleCade and goes through this match with kind of an dead eyed stare. Davis talks a lot of smack, but is constantly met by huge shots by Dollars. Davis gets a bit of a run, starting out with a nasty looking discus slap, but mostly gets thrown around the ring. Dollars lands some big shots, so this was a pretty entertaining semi-squash.

ER: I liked this quite a bit, and as I didn't watch all of BattleCade I thought Stutts did a good job of explaining what had happened. His commentary in general was really good here, I liked him saying Dollars was like "a puppy with large paws", how they thought he would grow into his size and strength and he really hadn't, until possibly now. It's an expression I had never heard before and I really liked it, might steal it some time. Dollars did thousand yard stare nicely, and Davis seems like he has a fun bag of tricks: he mixed up punches nicely, to the body and a big Superman punch off the buckles, nice mule kick, that discus slap that Phil mentioned, and got tossed nicely by Dollars. Dollars played distant well and threw his offense out accordingly. Playing distant and then doing a bunch of reversal sequences would have been terrible, instead he played it like his reaction time was slower than normal, but his moves were more violent than normal. Very satisfying match.

2. Xsiris vs. Smith Garrett

PAS: This is the result of Xsiris jumping Garrett at BattleCade and was pretty much an all out brawl which never gets started. Really liked Xsiris here, he trapped Garrett in the ring skirt and gave him these nasty looking shots to the back of the head, he also threw a brutal looking palm strike to the throat. Garrett showed a lot of intensity and fire, although his offense didn't look as crisp, energetic fight which definitely wanted to make me see the blow off.

ER: This was awesome. You so often hear "I don't want a match, I want a fight", and then they proceed to mostly have a normal wrestling match. Well Garrett follows through on his promise and never makes it into the ring with Xsiris. I'd never seen either before but came away super impressed with Xsiris, dude looked like an absolute killer. He starts with these brutal clubbing shots, ties Garrett up in the apron skirt Finlay style, pops him in the face, chokes him with the skirt, but then when Garrett gets free Xsiris takes a nasty ring post bump. Xsiris also takes a mean back bump on the floor off a lariat, and a guy who works stiff and makes his opponents' stuff look good is always going to be an instant favorite of mine. The match never starts and the angle was effective, as I definitely want to see them go at it again. Garrett looked okay, didn't love his offense (against Xsiris or against officials in the ring) but his energy was believable and off the charts, and that is arguably more important to a match/feud like this.

3. Tripp Cassidy vs. Nick Richards

PAS: This was another story heavy match, which is something this fed does really well in the ring and explains really well in commentary. The idea is that Richards is an ex-death match guy and brawler who is trying to reinvent himself as a wrestler, meanwhile Cassidy is yet another in the endless indy children of Raven who is going to try to bring him back. Cassidy was pretty cornball in this, at one point he yells into the camera "I am counterculture." There were some nice shots and bumps in this, but I thought Richards wrestling looked kind of hinky, and his brawling wasn't great either. Felt like something which worked better on paper then in execution.

ER: Well Trip Cassidy gets the distinction of being the first CWF wrestler that I never want to watch again. He's got a beyond dated gimmick and a dated brawling style. If he didn't look so joyless I would think he was just doing a silly parody of something that even a parody of would be dated. But by god it looks like he means it. Richards was fine though. It's weird, as I thought his punches to the face sucked, but whenever he would go at the body those shots would look awesome! Dude needs to stick to a program of "punches to body, elbows to face".  He bumped around nicely for Cassidy even if I don't think Cassidy's offense earned it. I'd be curious to see Richards against someone else. I am not curious to see Cassidy against anyone else.

ER: Huge hats off to whomever assembled the episode-closing highlight video. It was professional as hell and looked awesome. Even though it focused more on moments than angles, it still made me feel like I had been along for some kind of ride. Tons of ambition, tons of giant fat dudes, tons of danger, the video was killer and made me want to just go back and watch everything the promotion has done. So again, hats off to whomever put this together.

Read more!

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.

Read more!