CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 152

Episode 152

Tag Team Battle Royal

ER: A lot of good teams in this, teams I really would not mind seeing in actual regular action. I love the idea of an Otto/Dollars team, like Daddy/Kool, Justice/Sharpe, Biggs/Foxx, just a good mess of teams. I love battle royals a lot, and this really had the makings of a great one. We eventually hit that annoying moment where three teams get eliminated at basically the same time, immediately cutting our participants in half, which takes a lot of the wind out of the sails. But even with that, this battle royal is fun as hell. Aaron Epic hasn't been seen in CWF for half a year, and makes a nice return here, really throwing big shots, stooging when needed, and going after Biggs. Biggs also turns in a great performance as the biggest guy in the match, lumbering around chopping people and squishing them into corners, walking Kool Jay to a press slam elimination (so many press slams in battle royals weirdly don't end in eliminations, it's good to see one actually come to its logical conclusion). I loved one moment where Biggs was slumped in the ropes and just reached out and chopped someone who wandered near him. It felt like King Kong swatting away a compy who had come to investigate if he was dead or sleeping. Cain understood proper battle royal behavior, wearing a shirt to the ring specifically so he could choke people with it. Dirty Daddy also made the most of his time, throwing some of the nastiest strikes of the match during his camera time (he had a downward strike elbow to the back of the neck that was absolutely brutal). I even laughed at Schwanz' elimination, as Schwanz keeps barking and saying words that aren't, while Donnie Dollars keeps asking "Are you kidding me!?" I wish it didn't wrap up so suddenly, this was shaping up to be a barnburner.

PAS: Battle Royals are mostly punches and kicks, so you want a match full of good punchers and kickers and CWF is loaded with them. Lots of wandering around and throwing forearms and guys like Otto and Dirty Daddy have awesome forearms. I loved Biggs in this too, and the Biggs vs. McAllister showdown was great with both guys just laying into each other with chops and headbutts, McAllister is really fun and perfect for Battle Royals. Unsurprisingly Kool J takes the sickest bump of the match, getting press slammed to the floor by Biggs (which seems like kind of a dick move for a face to do, no need to kill the kid.)

Aaron Biggs/Snooty Foxx vs. Aaron Epic/Abel

ER: I much prefer this kind of finish to a battle royal, where the two survivors then have an actual match. The match is short, but good, with Abel and Epic keeping Snooty away from Biggs with simple stuff, I liked a basement dropkick from Epic, and I think Foxx is just a super strong babyface. His selling during the beatdown was really good, he's a guy with size who can garner sympathy, and Biggs is great on the apron wanting the tag. I wish we could have gotten more once Foxx tagged out, as we fairly quickly go to the finish with the Biggs press. I'd like to see an actual tag match between these two, not one coming at the end of a battle royal, but a good 12-15 minute tag. I think all would match up really well.

Arik Royal/Mace Li/Rick Roland vs. Chet Sterling/Lucas Calhoun/Proletariat Boar of Muldova

ER: Roland is a big guy who's been around for awhile but I don't believe I've ever seen him, and he's filling in for Roy Wilkins in "the clean up spot". This match gets a lot of time, 17 minutes, and I think it was strong but could have been much stronger. Sterling put in a good babyface performance getting beat down by the All Stars, but I think his babyface work was kind of negated by Calhoun getting the hot tag and immediately working all of his comedy karate spots. It's kind of amazing to me that guys go along with those spots, but it's just not my bag. We do get a real nice second life to the match, as Mace Li of all people comes in to put a stop to Calhoun's five finger death punch nonsense, and Li puts in some of his finest work that I've seen from him. So we get a second nice All Stars control segment, a bunch of silly abdominal stretch heel work, with Li getting leverage from Royal on the apron who gets leverage from Coach who gets...and we get a nice Sterling run where he absolutely dumps Royal with a half nelson German, fun match overall with nice peaks and valleys. I was also really impressed with Rick Roland. I had never seen him before although I'd seen his name and I know he's been around awhile, but never heard much about him. He's big, looks almost the exact same as Parrow, and wrestles like a way better version of Parrow. His power offense lands heavy and he has a couple awesome tricks, like this slingshot rolling senton from the apron that absolutely splats onto Sterling. I'd love to see more of Roland and think he would fit in awesomely at CWF, hope he's not one of those guys who just shows up once a year on CWF shows.

Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Hurricane Helms

ER: Cecil Scott goes around ringside and gets a fan to pull Helms' title challenger out of the fishbowl, and the fan sees Sharpe's name and doesn't even want to say it in the mic, just tosses it back at Scott and walks off while rolling his eyes. Awesome. CL Party looks down at Cecil and says "No good?" Funny moment once Sharpe comes out and you realize who the kid was eye rolling about. Helms pins Sharpe quickly, and we go right into a tag match with Helms' mystery partner.

Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Cain Justice vs. Hurricane Helms/Ric Converse

ER: Pretty simple tag that I think needed Sharpe Justice to work a little more stiff to make up the size difference. Without that it felt like Helms and Converse taking 80% of the match while Sharpe and Justice just kind of clubbed away during their control. Helms even dominated the submission parts of the match, locking in his really cool figure 6 submission a couple times, and then reversing a Cain armbar attempt into a cool triangle, hooking his long leg around Cain's jaw. So Hurricane got the big submission moments, Converse got to come in throwing big punches and a big sitout powerbomb, Hurricane got to hit a big trapped arm facebuster on Sharpe, Cain took a big bump off a clothesline, really felt like my boys got a little steamrolled here. Sharpe hit his nice jawbreaker but I needed more out of my guys, and definitely didn't need them easily tapping to a dual submission (Hurricane's figure 6 + Converse's figure 4 = takes us to a figure 10, as called by Smith Garrett). CWF has a ton of guys they use, really think we can do better than just having Cain tap to a figure 4 after not being in the match a ton.

PAS: I thought this was a fun send the crowd home happy big star tag. Helms looked really good, all of his offense popped and the figure 6 is a great looking submission, I also loved the countering of the armbar, I am a big Helms fan from way back, and I never thought of him as a mat guy. I get Eric's beef with the heels getting dominated, and it does seem like they are shifting Cain to more of a stooging tag worker, but he is pretty great as a stooging tag worker, and the Cain/Sharpe team make a fun pair of John Tatums to get bumped around a ring.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 149

Episode 149

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

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

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

Aric Andrews vs. KL3

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

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

Chapel Hill Street Fight: Arik Royal vs. Snooty Foxx

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

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

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

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

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 146

Episode 146

Arik Royal vs. Dirty Daddy

ER: Damn what a keg of dynamite this match was! Ferocious Royal is an absolute king, and this was some of my favorite Royal stuff ever. He worked this as an aggressive Junkyard Dog, lunging in hard at Daddy with diving shoulderblocks and booming headbutts, jumped him at the bell with big punches, just kept on him the entire time. This is some of the more vicious work I've seen from Royal (and makes me more grumpy we got robbed of TV champ Royal doing this stuff every week), and then he ramps things up with a crazy spinning backbreaker, then yanks Daddy's limp body off the mat into a short arm clothesline. I don't know if I've seen someone pull a guy off the mat into a lariat before, and I loved it. Daddy's comeback was a good one (he's a great babyface), and I loved him beating down Royal with chops and forearms and a big running elbow. Daddy always has what looks like a weak delivery on chops and elbows, usually no big wind-up, but they always land hard and look like something that could drop a big guy like Royal. Royal kept at those grounded attacks, and the big upending shoulder tackle is a favorite of mine. Awesome battle.

PAS: Yeah this was a really great compact brawl, this kind of six minute fight is something CWF does really well. Royal is so good as a stooging, shit talking, stalling heel, but he is also really great as a focused killer and he was brutal here. Daddy is also great at intense brawling and I loved his chop and punch beatdown in the corner and his diving clothesline which really hit with a thud. Royal has great explosion, he would have been an awesome middle linebacker, his tackles and cut blocks look great and part of the reason is that he can go from 0-60 so quickly.

Mace Li vs. Snooty Foxx

ER: Fun match and a fine Foxx performance, impressive that he can make someone like Li seem credible, and not just credible because of Coach and Royal at ringside. It's an important distinction. Li is still a hard guy for me to pin down, he'll do something great one moment, then get lazy a moment later. There was a weird moment where Foxx hit a back elbow but Foxx was the one who sold it, and Li went right back on offense. Not sure what happened there. Foxx is really good at big man leapfrog exchanges, love seeing him move quick and time that leaping back elbow, always looks great. I also thought the fight through the crowd was fun, these fans are always right on top of the action and it's always cool to see the workers not hold back right next to them. Finish was probably better on paper, with Royal holding Snooty's boots so he can't kick out, even though his boots were practically hanging off the apron. He's breaking the plane of the ropes, ref! The aftermath is simple match building, Li and Royal jumping Foxx all building to Foxx crushing a huge spear, instantly made me excited to see them fight back in Chapel Hill.

PAS: This was a match where both guys had good ideas, but still lack the execution to pull everything off. The idea of defensive wrestler Li catching a break and damaging the power guys knee. There were parts of this that looked great, but then Foxx would throw a dodgy punch or mostly miss on a clothesline, or Li would really poorly apply an Indian deathlock and I would be taken out of it a bit. These guys are basically still rookies, so the fact that they have good ideas is promising, and I am sure the execution will come.

Cain Justice vs. Cam Carter

ER: I could easily see the Cain/Sharpe team making a nice long run in the Kernodle Cup. Let me rephrase, I want Cain/Sharpe to make a nice long run in the Kernodle Cup. I don't believe we got to see their match from earlier this year, but it's no surprise that these two match up nicely. Carter is slippery and Justice has no shortage of mean tricks, so it's a fun combo. I dug all of Carter's flips out of Cain's wrist control, and Carter has a bunch of precise kicks and knees, and Cain is always game to lean into a kick or knee (that flying knee off the top looked like it bounced right off his jaw). This is a bit different than most Cain matches, as he has Ethan Sharpe running interference on the floor, and I don't recall him ever having someone interfering on his behalf before. I like how Cain typically structures comebacks in his matches, so the interference took away from that a bit and made the result less in question, but the action was good, and I liked Sharpe giving him leverage on an armbar. I don't think I've ever seen someone lock in an armbar and then hold it with one arm while grabbing his partner's arm with another. Carter sells the arm nicely and we get some fun moments, like Cam dodging a crane kick, sidestepping Cain and tripping him into the ropes to set up the 336. Cain is really great at removing or shifting gear to accentuate a beatdown. When I was a kid I would always get a kick out of Greg Valentine turning his shinguard before locking on the figure 4. I had no idea the significance of it, but it seemed cool to me. Cain is good at shifting a kneepad, removing a shinguard, something to signify that this next knee or kick would be somehow even worse. I loved Cam holding onto the ropes while Cain yanked on his arm, and the Twist Ending is always especially mean when he holds the arm and kicks it before locking it in. Tons of fun.

PAS: Cam Carter comes into Square Biz by Teena Marie and immediately vaults hugely up my favorite wrestlers list. This was another great Cain match against a relatively limited opponent. Carter has great athleticism, but doesn't always hit everything cleanly (I know I sound like a coded racist Sports Announcer right now, but he really does get great snap and height on his moves), Cain feeds him some big comebacks and is great cutting off the ring and really doing some vicious arm work.  Justice landed some vicious short kicks on the arm to loosen it up, and he is really great at violent focused attacks. I love how he varies the speed on it, he does the methodical Arn style arm work, but will also be frenzied, and the set up to the twist ending here was great. The commentary mentioning a rumored leg submission he is keeping secret got me excited, I can't wait for him to pull that out to win a huge match.  I do agree that Sharpe was a bit OTT on the outside, and some of the ref distraction spots didn't make a ton of sense. still I loved this match it made our 2018 Ongoing MOTY list and continue to be 100% all in on Cain.

Zane & Dave Dawson vs. Matt Houston/Louis Moore

ER:What a weird, unnecessarily long match. We have now written up over 60 episodes of CWF, and this tag is the 2nd longest tag match during that time! Why did this match go over 20 minutes!? There was not nearly enough happening to fill 20 minutes, and the last half felt like tired tubs lying around gathering their breath for their next move. Having a match this long really played up every participant's weakness: The Dawsons don't have enough interesting offense to be in control for that long, and they're genuinely bad at setting up opponent comebacks, so they took forever to get to the Outlaws' run of offense, and when it finally arrived they didn't do them any favors. This match dragged so much that when the 20 minute mark was announced I called my computer a damn liar. Houston is a guy I want to like. He's a spitting image of Dick Murdoch, skinny legs and an even bigger belly and even facial similarities, and his moonsault was surprising as hell. But the Dawsons have no clue how to set up his hot tag. Seriously they are terrible at finding ways to occupy themselves while waiting for spots, so they end up just standing frozen still, or awkwardly wandering. I had never seen Moore before and I liked how he bumped for a big chop in the corner, but man did he eat it on a rolling somethingorother to the floor: Houston had been "caught" by the Dawsons on a plancha (they dropped him, but he was kind enough to be lifted and held into position, and Moore rolled into everyone with a senton...except he corgi legged the jump, barely hit them, and splatted directly to the floor. I like a couple Dawsons eyepokes, liked Zane's big lariat for a nearfall, but this was just way too long and way too slow. There is no reason to have the Outlaws be the toughest opponents yet for the Dawsons. I'm pretty sure the crowd at one point even started a "This Match Sucks" chant, which is stunning coming from the familial Sportatorium crowd. This really felt like one of those rookie matches where they repeatedly miss signals from the back to go home, and the fed has to start flashing the lights in the building to get their attention. I have never watched the Hero/Punk 93 minute match, and I'm not totally sure how time and space works, but I bet I could have watched Hero/Punk in the time it took me to watch this match.

PAS: This was really ponderous, it felt like they were waiting for someones flight to arrive, like one of those WWF house show matches where Ron Bass and Tito Santana sit in a chinlock for 8 minutes because there was bad weather into Tulsa. Eric talked about Zane's lariat, but I thought Houston straight armed the taking of it, so it looked bad, Zane responded by straight arming the belt shot a second later. I did like the finish, really great looking accidental head smash into your partner and the double powerbomb looked good, but if you just showed me pictures of these four guys I would be totally jazzed for this match, and instead they basically laid an egg.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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

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

 Chris "TNT" Taylor vs. Beastly Brody

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

Snooty Foxx vs. Tre G

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

Ricky Morton vs. Matt Houston

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

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

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

Cain Justice vs. Darius Lockhart vs. Nick Richards

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

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

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

Career vs. Career: Damien Wayne vs. Lee Valiant

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

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


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 145

Episode 145

ER: The YouTube thumbnail for this episode looks like a Ghost album cover.

Snooty Foxx vs. Ric Converse

ER: Good match, and one that I hadn't really considered since it's face/face. Converse seems really energized by the CW feud, and he knew all the right ways to feed Snooty here, knew how to leave openings for Snooty's strengths. The winner was never really in doubt, but he made Snooty look strong enough that the big bulldog was a legit near fall. I was really impressed by how Converse muscled him around, threw some nice back elbows (and I always like Snooty's back elbows, so we had some good elbows this match), took a huge fast tumbling bump to the floor, and I liked how Converse was working slightly more aggressive. This was face vs. face, but he didn't play it as two best buds shaking hands, he still acted like a man defending his title. Converse is putting in some of the best work of his career.

PAS: There was some awkward moments in this, but a pair of grizzlies pounding on each other shouldn't be silky smooth. I also really bought into the bulldog as the finish, and I loved the veteran getting one up on the rookie with the foot on the ropes. Hard to not enjoy a pair of rawbone guys throwing hands and this was a fun 7 minutes.

Brad Attitude vs. Hurricane Shane Helms

ER: I'm still a bit bummed that we didn't get the Arik Royal TV Title run. I pictured it being like when WWE was giving Matt Hardy, Christian, and Finlay 10 minute TV matches nearly every week with a variety of opponents, guaranteeing a money match. If Helms will actually be showing up regularly to defend, I'll be cool, but I think Royal would have excelled at that role. This never really feels like a title match but it was still good. It was mainly used to set up the Attitude/Sterling rematch, which is fine by me as the BattleCade match was awesome and this should be even better with some hatred sprinkled in. Attitude using the Zig Zag is a great modern dickhead heel shoutout to his modern douche bestie, though I do wish Hurricane would just wrestle as Shane Helms. I never liked some of his Hurricane comedy offense, really don't like his novelty chokeslam. I mean, people know him as Shane Helms, he's among friends. He doesn't have to be Robin Williams being "on" at a small gathering dinner party. But these two are pros, they'd work together well no matter the situation.

PAS: I liked parts of this, Attitude is a guy who is always going to bring fun stuff to every match he is in. He is good at stooging bumps and facial expressions and brought all of that to the match. Helms is also a pro, although he has really dated offense. Early 2000s was a nadir of wrestling offense and his whole arsenal is complete shots and twisty NOVAish neckbreakers and final cuts. Just the worst of Kanyonish innovation that takes forever to set up and doesn't look good. I did like his figure four variation he used, but that felt like a bit of a time killer. Sugar Shane Helms had cool offense, Hurricane Shane Helms does not. This was fine, but I agree with Eric felt a little throwaway for something which was the advertised main event.

ER: Eventually Phil and I will have to go back and watch the early episodes of CWF (or at least cherry pick) and see the original Wilkins/Lee match, but I liked the hype package for it. Wilkins was so skinny and Lee had some really bad hair a few years ago (though his hair against Wilkins was better than his mushroom 'do I've seen in other early Lee).

PAS: I really liked a lot of the stuff they showed from that match, and it got me excited to check out the rematch. Lee looks like he has a bunch of fun spots around the no ropes stip, and I am sure has thought of some new ones in the last couple of years

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 142

Episode 142

Otto Schwanz/Mace Li vs. Michael McAllister/Nick Richards

PAS: I enjoy the McAllister and Richards team, kind of an old school slugfest tag team, kind of like the face Andersons in 1990 WCW. Otto is also a hoot in this, making tons of noise, singing London Bridge just being a nutso. I think this would have worked a little better as a sprint, as working it as a straight southern tag took a little steam out of Richards and McCallister. Still a fun match with good performances by all four guy.
ER: Otto is out driving business away before the bell (noticed a YouTube commenter complaining that he had to turn this episode off because that big guy wouldn't shut up) and amidst all his noises and barks and songs he even comes up with a hilarious improvisation about his Fila track suit. I died. The match was fun and got a lot more time than I expected, and I especially dug the Richards/Otto sections, also dug how McAllister would go right after Otto. Mace Li is still hit or miss for me. I like the dynamic between he and Otto, but some parts of his game could use a lot of work (in this match he threw some of the worst stomps). But we get a lot of Otto/Richards, and Richards is looking leaner (slimming singlet?) and has no problem trading shots with Otto, but Otto pretty much runs this whole match. He's making noise the whole time, throwing fast chops, fast elbowdrops, mugging at people in the crowd in the middle of punch exchanges, never not entertaining. Lots to like here.

Dave Dawson vs. Snooty Foxx

PAS: I like the idea of having big boy punch outs on every episode. CWF has a lot of indy big guys, and matching them up throw at each other is a fun idea. I really liked Foxx's Ronnie Garvin open hand chops, and I am always going to dig a match built around a big body slam. Cheap low blow finish is fine for this kind of match. I am going to miss the Sandwich Squad, but a Foxx/Biggs team is a fun idea.


ER: There really are enough bigger guys in the area to do a match like this every week, and I would be a-ok with that. Snooty is a big guy who is good at working from behind, and his signature offense works as both a surprise comeback move, or as an aggressive in control move. Take his great flying back elbow, here used to surprise Dawson, but often used when he's in a roll of offense; or his big powerslam, which is often used as a big move he breaks out down the finishing stretch, here used as a Samson knocking down the pillars slam, as he hardway muscles Dawson up and down. Snooty's placement on the big slam was great as it was close enough to the ropes for Dave to grab them and not need to kick out. The ending mule kick was fine here, and I dug how they set up the visual early in the match: You had Foxx tying up Dawson with a wristlock, with Dawson having a hard time getting to the ropes to break it. Then at the end you have Foxx grabbing a waistlock, with Dawson again struggling to get the ropes, so he grabs the ref and gets the opening and leverage for the mule kick. It was a really nice bit of foreshadowing. I was also amused by Cecil Scott and Smith Garrett on commentary, talking about the active lifestyles of their moms and grandmas, and Smith does a great job putting over the Dawsons as nasty bar bouncers. I will ALWAYS get into a guy billed as a tough guy bouncer, one of those great old tough guy wrestler trope sidejobs. They went into tons of detail about the bars they work, in the sketchier parts of NC, literally throwing people out the doors, etc. And yes, I'm also excited for a potential Foxx/Biggs tag team, but I'm also curious to see more singles work from Biggs.

Arik Royal vs. Hurricane Shane Helms

PAS: The match starts with the Coach doing the old Chikara gimmick of calling out funny wrestlers who aren't there (although I despise the idea of the great El Dandy being used as a punchline, fuck you Bret Hart you overrated hack, you couldn't lace El Dandy's boots). Helms is there are they have a spirited back and forth match. Royal is on his game these days and I loved his beat down, the huge left hand to set up the splash on the apron was super nasty. Helms still looks good, although he does sort of awkwardly shoehorn in his early 2000s WWE comedy spots. I imagine it is a big deal to get a guy like Helms to commit to appear on every show, but I was really in to the idea of a Royal TV title run and it is kind of a bummer to see it cut so short.


ER: Overrated maybe, but I don't think I could call Bret Hart a hack. He did properly assess the perception of El Dandy in WCW and brought him more American fame than he otherwise would have received (can the weird Los Fabulosos C-show push be attributed to Hart's comment?), as really a short pudgy guy with a teenage mustache and Dustin Hoffman-as-Dorothy-in-Tootsie haircut was never going to be a hit in late 90s American wrestling. Honestly Dandy could have capitalized on his post-WCW internet meme popularity and probably done some nice business working American indies and selling "Who Are You to Doubt El Dandy" merch. Hart gave him a money gimmick the same way someone like Ellsworth can get actual good paydays, or how they gave Shane Helms easy mask merch for life. I get it's not flattering to compare Dandy to Ellsworth, but it probably would have been a smarter career path than wrecking his body going back to hard lucha mats.


And I'm not sure how I feel about the direction of the TV Title. I was so happy to see it off Adler, and was really excited about getting weekly 8-10 minute Arik Royal singles matches. Royal is one of my favorite performers in wrestling, so guaranteeing me weekly matches with him would just sweeten the pot. Helms is still a good worker, but I also know he's been really part time the last few years due to injuries (and I think a pretty major automobile accident). Are we going to actually get weekly or almost weekly Helms matches? That would be great! But if it suddenly turns into a title that is only defended once a month then I think most of the charm of the TV Title will be gone. So the result of this match will be a wait and see. The match itself was pretty awesome, really one of Royal's best performances. He worked like a guy who was losing a title, and a guy who was looking as great as possible against a big name. Royal looked big time here. Helms looked good too although I was surprised he didn't just work as Shane Helms: NC Legend. But I'm happy the People's Elbow missed and allowed Royal to capitalize, but hopefully in future weeks we get more of Shane Helms: big bumping southerner. And he is still a surprisingly big bumper. That's how he came back on my radar, as he was managing on TNA some time last year (I don't think wrestling) but I was surprised at him taking some big bumps on the apron as a manager. So I'd love Helms Classic back, but do not mind the iteration we got. Royal, though. Royal. This is the reason I was so excited for him as TV champ. Dude looked awesome, worked fast, worked more aggressive than I've seen in months while still shtick in at good times (telling that same woman in the crowd that he's going to take her hat again, walking ref Redd Jones away from the corner so that interference could happen), just worked tons of cool stuff into the match. Mace Li had nice interference towards the end, really nailing the batting helmet shot. But I guess my only real problem with the match itself was Royal took so much of it, and Helms took so much damage, that the win didn't totally feel deserved, made Royal look kind of weak and Helms look like too much of a superhero (I know, I know, buts that's not what I mean). Still - and we'll see where this all goes - it was a really good match to cap off a really good episode of TV.

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BCW Pro Wrestling North Carolina 10/8/17

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

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

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

2. Snooty Foxx vs. Tre G

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

3. Cain Justice vs. Number Dad

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

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

4. Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Mitch Connor

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

5. Cam Carter vs. Jesse Adler

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

6. Lee Valiant vs. Nick Richards

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

7. Arik Royal vs. Chet Sterling

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

8. Trevor Lee vs. Lance Lude

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


COMPLETE & ACCURATE CAIN JUSTICE

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Episode 136

Episode 136

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

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

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

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

Jesse Adler vs. Cam Carter

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

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

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

Zane & Dave Dawson vs. Michael McAllister/Nick Richards

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

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

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

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 130

Episode 130

1. Mace Li vs. Snooty Foxx

PAS: I thought this was a really good 5 minute match, by the far the best Li has looked. It was the story of Fox's superior strength versus Li's guile. The spot early on where Fox spinebusters Li into the corner and then cannonballs him was awesome. Li takes over with a DDknee and then works over Fox's knee. Fox did an awesome job selling it, trying to do all of his same moves but a little tentative and awkward, great vulnerable babyface performance, and another quill in Fox's rookie year performance, he has been overshadowed a bit by how legendary Cain Justice's rookie year has been, but Fox has been a strong #2.

ER: What a fun little short story match, super impressive performance from Foxx. Phil makes a good point about how Cain's rookie year has overshadowed Snooty's, it's totally true. Foxx has this assured confidence of someone who has been there longer than he really has, and it makes me forget he is even a rookie at times. Mace Li doesn't do tons for me yet, but I liked half his strikes here. He tried a bunch of different strikes from different angles, and I think that's a pretty smart plan with iffy strikes. You have bad corner punches? Weak punches from mount? No worries, through in some body shots and downward elbows to the traps, doing that makes it all look like part of an aggressive attack where individual strikes don't really matter as much. Snooty's knee selling was great. Before that we get that awesome corner spinebuster with the huge rolling hip attack, so Li wisely works to flatten Snooty's tires. Snooty climbing the buckles with a weakening knee actually had me inch forward in my seat, dude's selling was so good it was making me picture a horrific Sid scenario. The more I think about this match the more I like it.

ER: Can't believe Phil didn't mention the Aric Andrews shaved face comedy politician vignette. I'll say, on its face, I don't like it. I liked the Lee/Andrews dynamic that we had. Andrews suddenly being Bob Backlund stumping for a title shot seems like a big step back. Add to that, he had an awesome look with that beard. Now suddenly he shows up with no beard, and goes from looking like a pill dealing Black Crowes roadie to looking like Tim Robbins in High Fidelity. Jesse Adler coming back has just gone and messed everything up.

2. Michael McAllister vs. Nick Richards

PAS: I loved this match. It was an old fashioned potato fest, reminded me of some of the great Ian Rotten matches from IWA-MS, just a pair of guys laying in meaty chops and forearms, no leg slapping here all of the sound was thudding impact. Every shot felt like it was a little deeper and nastier then you would expect. I really dug the story of Richards constantly going for the cutter and getting cut off in nasty ways, at one point McAllister pegs him in the back of the head. I also really liked all of the work around the Cobra Clutch.  Richards also takes a couple of crazy bumps to the floor because he is nuts. This is the first chance I have had to see McAllister since we started watching CWF, and he was great, he does a good job of seeming nuts without overdoing the facial expressions.

ER: Man what a great fight. McAllister hasn't done a lot for me in the year we've spent watching, but it also feels like even though we've seen in him in several matches, we haven't really seen him. He was in a goofus gimmick in a tag team where his partner SIS outshone him, he's been in pull aparts and rumbles and multimans, this is I think the only actual singles match we've seen. And what a way to debut! Both guys are rocking a good pudge, McAllister has a grumpy mug like scowling Patton Oswalt, and Richards keeps trying to escape with a cutter. Every time he goes for that damn cutter McAllister makes him PAY and that's the whole match, and that's all the match you need. These two both land with some thump here, and I loved how we started with both a little tentative, both making fists but knowing that once it starts, it's on...and once we're on we never look back. Richards takes a nice backdrop, and McAllister starts landing heavy elbows and palm strikes to Richards' head and nose. They brawl all over without it ever seeming like a brawl, if that makes sense. It felt like Richards was always trying to veer this to the finish of a wrestling match, but McAllister kept immediately derailing him. The stuff on the floor was great, with Richards missing a dive (and I know I point this out a lot, but the guys here are such pros that they keep the family vibe during crazy matches without taking away from the match: Richards takes this huge missed dive bump while not making any of the regulars need to scramble out of the way) and McAllister splats him with a splash off the apron. Every time one of them turned their back on the other they paid for it, with McAllister running into boots and knees or Richards getting caught with elbows, a nice sliding lariat, and a nasty cobra clutch. This whole thing had meanness running throughout, and I love that they never hammered any kind of redemption story for McAllister, just let the action speak.

PAS: Ethan Sharpe gives a pretty great promo about losing the iron man rumble record, and how that was his big achievement. Serious Ethan Sharpe is pretty great.

3. Arik Royal vs. Chet Sterling

PAS: Really great match, easily the best Sterling match (at least tied with the Logan Easton Laroux match I saw live) I have seen. Sterling comes into the match with tape on his neck from being jumped by Brad Attitude at the Rumble, and Royal even calls him out on it at the beginning of the match. With Mark Henry basically retired, Royal is the best in ring shit talker in wrestling, and he is at peak form here as he takes apart Sterling's neck. I loved him just shoving Sterling awkwardly into the rope to take control, and the big ring apron powerbomb was a great huge move, and I loved the Coach and Jerry Carey raising his hands victoriously in the ring. Same with Royals low tackle which sent Sterling flying into the camera man. Couple of minor quibbles, I really liked how Sterling's blown dive worked in the context of the match, but they really should have audibled and delayed his comeback a bit, here he violently crashes on a blown dive, but still moves right into the planned comeback. I also really am lukewarm on Sterling's offense, he is a great seller and underdog babyface, but then he comes back with these lame half nelson suplexes where he barely lifts Royal at all. I also thought it maybe went one kick out too much, that powerbomb near the end was super brutal and probably should have ended it. Still a great Royal performance and some great Sterling selling and a really nifty main event.

ER: WOW this was a blowaway great match. I just got back from seeing a great noisy violent show (the screaming high energy of METZ with killer band Moaning opening for them in Portland) and I came back from the cold and threw this match on and was treated to a different kind of violence. Before the match Royal points out Sterling's bright red kinesio tape and yells out "You just gave me a target!" We've all seen guys work over a knowingly injured body part, but rarely do we get a heel calling his shot right before the match. And man does that neck get targeted in some nasty ways. Royal does something that more wrestlers should do, but you somehow don't see enough: use the ropes. Finlay was someone who was really great at using the ring as a weapon, but it's not something you see outside of apron spots thrown often awkwardly into matches. You don't even see anyone using a hotshot anymore. But early on Royal violently throws Sterling backwards into the bottom and middle ropes, and from there I knew I was going to love this. Royal used the ropes to cross Sterling up with rope running, throwing him through the ropes and to the floor (which later gets used against him), and then doing an actual apron spot that added to the match, brutally powerbombing him into the apron (with his neck hitting the bottom rope). Sterling couldn't be kept down but his comebacks always felt smart and fit nicely within the match. I actually liked his half nelson suplexes, as he really shouldn't be able to lift Royal that much, and they weren't treated like killshots but more like hard takedowns. I also liked how Royal didn't take them on his neck. No need to. Royal keeps working in shots to the neck, even Gemini sneaks in a shot on the floor. Sterling gave a great gritty performance, stumbling around, bringing fight, hitting a nice senton off the apron after Royal misses his Thesz press. But Royal is one nasty MF and he absolutely wrecks Sterling with a sick powerbomb. That powerbomb really should have been the finish, and watching it back you can really see Sterling's head whip. Gross spot. But Royal has tons of great offense and looked like a mega star here, and Sterling's performance really kept me into this beyond just being a great Royal singles. This match was just what I wanted and then some, the kind of stuff that makes me recommend CWF to everybody.

ER: On paper I didn't think too much of this show. It didn't look bad but wasn't something I was rushing home from work to watch. And it might be the under the radar best hour of wrestling TV of the year. The opener was a hot 5 minutes with a great powerful-but-vulnerable babyface, we got a killer slugfest in McAllister/Richards, a great promo after that match from Cain Justice and Ethan Sharpe, and then a 20 minute main event that stands up to some of the best main events of any fed this year. This episode slayed, McAllister/Richards and Royal/Sterling are easy additions to our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List, and I can't say enough nice things about these guys. I gotta get my butt to the Sportatorium in 2018.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 128: The CWF Rumble

Episode 128

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 126

Episode 126

1. Cain Justice/Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Dirty Daddy/Faye Jackson

PAS: Faye Jackson is a thick African American lady who works the thickness into her style. Early in she is kind of toying with Sharpe until he loses it and slaps her, I really like how Sharpe has been slowly getting meaner every week, and loved how Dirty Daddy went ballistic and started kicking his ass. This was primarily another showcase for the great Daddy v. Cain feud, and although they didn't have a ton of interactions, they were all great. I imagine the next week is their final singles for quite a while, and when they pick the feud back up in a year or two (maybe over the CWF title?) it will be epic stuff. Two intergender matches is two weeks is a little much, although I liked Jackson more then Alley Cat

ER: I like how Phil still hasn't noticed that Allie Cat is a pun name. Really Cat just needs to find a partner like Faye Jackson who can go by the name Junkyard Dawn and I'd happily seek out their tag matches. This match was a real good time, with comedy used the right amount and nicely balanced out by fast, heavy work. A few months ago Sharpe the whole match would have just been based around Sharpe going googly eyed every time his face would up in either sets of Faye's cleavage. This was a much more satisfying version of what could have been. With her assets you KNOW Faye is going to bring some butt offense, and it looks good, dropping that bombs away and really snapping that running hip attack in the corner. And I chuckled at Cecil Scott's "down with the thiccness" line. That's a t-shirt right there. I love the build to Sharpe snapping and just belting Faye with a huge chop, leading to a righteously pissed Daddy tagging his way in. Sharpe/Cain's interactions with Daddy were all good, with Cain dropping stomps and knees on Daddy's limbs, and Sharpe doing a nice necktie neckbreaker, a simple, cool move that looks like it could hurt the neck and the shoulder. Daddy's fiery comebacks are some of the best, and I love him flying into Sharpe with a headlock takeover that cared more about doing damage than looking pretty. His elbows down the stretch were suitably hard, you can buy each guy getting stunned by them. Real fun tag, obviously cannot wait for the singles blowoff.

2. Joshua Cutshall/Otto Schwanz vs. Sandwich Squad 

PAS: Really disappointing match. On paper this should be a blast, four big dudes smacking the crap out of each other is smack dab in the Segunda Caida wheelhouse. This however was mostly booking with Cutshall attacking his own partner, it seemed like he was working almost a Missing Link "doesn't understand wrestling" gimmick, which is sort of silly and something he doesn't need. I think Schwanz v. Cutshall could be great, but we could have gotten a good match and a post match angle to set that up, instead we got this waste of potential.

ER: Yeah this was a downer, and Phil is right that we could have at least gotten a good match that deteriorated at the end and blew up post match, instead of what we got. This on paper looks like a match that Segunda Caida would book, and those hurt the most when they end up wildly undershooting their mark. Cutshall as a guy who doesn't comprehend tag team wrestling is a bit much since we've seen him in plenty of actual matches where he clearly understands the rules. I'll give them some leeway, as they've earned it, and maybe it will eventually break down that he doesn't understand the concept of trusting another man and therefore thinks every tag match is just a 4 way. But I'm sure there are also tons of tags that he's performed normally in that I haven't seen. But they could go deep with this, explore his history of abuse that lead to his personality and his distrust, opening the doors for a face turn when someone actually reaches out and gets to the heart of his problems, allowing him to trust society again. That's probably a bit too heady for a pro wrestling show, but I'd have confidence in them pulling it off. I felt sorry for Biggs in this one, as he had the tough task of having to sell for an extended length of time while all the partner fighting unfolded, despite him not having taken much of a beating. I was hoping for a lot more from this, but we'll see where it winds up.

3. High Profile (Shea Shea McGrady/Will Demented) vs. The Gymnasty Boys (White Mike Jordan /Timmy Lou Retton) vs. The Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude/Rob Killjoy)

PAS: I totally loved this, it was just a balls to the wall crazy guy sprint, nobody outstayed their welcome, the big spots were big ass spots and everything was hit cleanly. First time I have seen the Gymnasty Boys and they are fun as shit. White Mike is great of course, and surprisingly at home in this kind of high difficulty spotfest, Retton is a big dude and insanely agile, he looks like a smaller Big E, but can flip like Red. I had never even heard of High Profile, but I dug them too, they look like Harmony Korine characters, and take crazy bumps. White Mike hits the best can opener I have ever seen on Shea Shea, who is 130 at most and thus really gets spun . Ducks are of course bumping like lunatics, and hitting nutty spots, I loved them hitting duel poison ranas on Retton and just spiking him on his head. I could watch a version of this match over and over again.

ER: Yes Yes Yes! A total burner that doesn't overstay its welcome, every guy playing to their strengths, all killer, yadda yadda yadda. This was everything it could have and should have been. I've loved the Ducks since first seeing them in CWF, and this was the showcase match for them, Lude especially. Lude keeps looking grimier and grimier and keeps wrestling crazier and crazier. Within the first minute he had hit a wild dive out to the floor past the turnbuckles, later he hit a big flip dive, got launched on Launchpad McQuack (that monkey flip into an insanely fast cannonball in the corner was my favorite spot of the match) and late in the match gets shoved far off the top rope into Coach Mikey on the floor (also, it's nice to see Coach Mikey back, I love that guy's look). Never seen High Profile before but would happily see more: big bumps, nice headscissors, cool combos (Demented went on a quick 15 second run ending with a whipping spinkick that all looked good). McGrady is lean and takes some big shots, and I might need to see him teaming with or matched up against "Weird Body" Evan Adams, Team Heroin Chic. Looking at them I wouldn't guess that White Mike and Retton would work so well in this kind of match, and if they did you'd think they'd be the bases for assorted craziness, but they work just as quick as anyone.\ and know how to integrate their big spots. Retton gets dropped by consecutive reverse ranas, Mike hits a huge sitout powerbomb, and Mike's can opener seems to defy physics as he spins McGrady around 10 times before snapping it. This whole thing was a bank full of money.  

4. Brass Knuckles on a Pole: Arik Royal vs. Snooty Foxx

PAS: Snooty Foxx main events in Chapel Hill are my favorite thing in 2017 wrestling. It is just a testament to the value of an engaged crowd with a rooting interest. Snooty is a home town hero, born and raised a block away from the community center where they run the shows. The crowd is clearly filled with friends and family who aren't looking for five star matches, but instead are looking for their cousin to whoop this guys ass. Royal is a master in this atmosphere, he has the cultural rhythms of a southern black crowd in his veins, and knows exactly how to roil them up. It is like watching Bernie Mac work his first Def Comedy Jam show. The work in the match was pretty basic, but the timing on the big spots was perfect, and I loved the brawling on the hoops court. The basketball right to Royal's head was awesome. They did some great teases of the brass knuckles, and a nifty BS finish with Royal using a second illegal pair of brass knuckles to KO Foxx, and then does a slight of hand switch out of the bad knucks for the good knucks. Standing ovation to whomever came up with burying Foxx under the Duke flag, just an incredible bit of troll theatre.

ER: This didn't hit me as hard as the Foxx/Wilkins Chapel Hill match did, but these Chapel Hill shows are total gravy. Royal knows how to play the crowd like a conductor, and Foxx doesn't need to play at all, just soak up all the love. Not much in wrestling beats a hot crowd, and while I liked the stuff in the ring (and you can see a lot of Foxx's improvements, things are getting a lot tighter, here he really cracks Royal with a flying back elbow), I was dying for them to take it to the floor. Sure enough, on the floor Royal knows exactly where to direct the action, knows exactly who to taunt. He tosses Snooty into a woman who doesn't break her absolutely furious staredown with him the entire time. Purse clutched to her lap, I probably would have lobbied Phil for this to be #1 on our MOTY list if that woman had stood up and cracked Royal with that purse. Royal is clearly directing traffic out there and you can see him tell Snooty just where to toss him into the crowd, and Royal is awesome at stumbling through chairs and falling into people, threatening to throw Snooty into a little girl who runs off hiding, just great stuff. The outside brawl is tons of fun, walking around the gymnasium and building to a great spot where someone throws Snooty a basketball and he banks it off Royal's head with a perfect chest pass (wish I hadn't seen a gif of that ahead of time as I would have lost it). Royal takes a nice bump into the fence around the basketball court, and there's a hundred fans crowded around them all losing it. Carey looked legit concerned that the crowd outside was going to start throwing stomps to Royal. Back inside and we start going after the knux, with both guys taking big knocks off the top (loved that big Snooty powerslam) and the final sneaky knux shot was finish worthy, both men played it huge. The fans get loud as hell and Royal starts chomping on a bag of sweet tarts as Foxx gets buried in the Duke flag. That's some cold business. Royal struts on our of there and still talks trash on his way out, heel through and through. This one didn't land with me like the Wilkins match, and I thought it had a few lesser moments (Royal was feeding Foxx and directing traffic a little too blatantly, and the Carey/Li attack to Snooty on the floor was some of the absolute weakest looking interference I've ever seen) and it didn't have that impossible frenzy of the babyface squad throwing actual money to the crowd, but this was a 20 minute smile for sure.

ER: We were told to be excited for the Chapel Hill episode, and I guess people are getting an idea of what we're into. The tag and Foxx/Royal landed on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List, which is now ridiculously weighted towards CWF.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 125

Episode 125

1. Ethan Alexander Sharpe vs. Bellamy Koga

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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