Big Time Wrestling 8/5/16 TV

"The most anticipated episode of BTW TV so far!" Okay, that's a lot of hype to open the episode with. The will be showing a US Title match between Victor Sterling and Tony Vargas, but they also act like the match has been hyped for months, which it hasn't been. It wouldn't be too hard to hype up TV matches week to week (which they haven't really done, instead wisely using their TV time to focus on promoting live events), but I guess it depends on if they'd rather have more TV viewers or draw some more bodies to live shows. If anything their TV should probably be geared ENTIRELY to promoting upcoming live cards, explaining feuds, showing why the matches matter. We'll see what direction they take things.

1. Kimo vs. Will Roberts

Fun match that wasn't worked the way I was expecting. I've never seen Roberts as a heel and now I never want to see him as anything but. Cocky, undersized heel is one of my favorite wrestling roles and Roberts takes to it real well, and it makes him a nice foil for Kimo's offense. Roberts was great stooging around for Kimo, but hit some real cool stuff of his own (that low crossbody in the corner, annoying little mocking kicks and stomps, that boot scrape from the apron). Kimo played into it nicely, really liked his weird roll up that reversed Robert's momentum off the ropes, and he admirably sold his mouth and jaw after a few Roberts' kicks. Finish was one of the more satisfying "feet on ropes" finishes as it was all about Roberts' attitude while doing it. Afterwards he hilariously leaps into the crowd to celebrate his victory, acting the man of the people. Funny gag to cap a fun match.

2. Victor Sterling vs. Tony Vargas

Nice match continuing their feud, hopefully building to a violent No DQ match (as this ended up getting thrown out when both men kept shoving the ref as they brawled on the floor). Vargas was playing bully here and tossed Sterling with a couple big suplexes. The overhead belly to belly was crazy, looked like Sterling was *this* close to being planted right on top of his head. Sterling doesn't really do underdog, nor should he, so it's fun seeing a bully try to pick on someone who is just as tough. Sterling throws a couple of great leaping knees and I really loved a moment where he rushed Vargas with a forearm and Vargas sold it by spinning and getting knocked into position for a knee. Too many times guys fall into the comeback trap of forearm-back bump-forearm-back bump and I thought that's what was happening, but they too it a welcome, different way. Eventually we brawl to the floor and I loved this, because they haven't had anybody brawl to the floor yet in their small training facility space, and I'm glad they saved the moment for a title match. It's a good sized room, but much less so when you have a large ring and a backstage area. So the area with fans isn't that big, but it's filled with fans. So brawling in and around them looks nice and chaotic. Guys come from the back to break them up, Sterling breaks free and jumps off the apron over the timekeeper, really made me interested in these two having a No DQ match. We shall see.

3. Kimo vs. Shannon Ballard (10/22/11)

Okay, now this was strange. Owner Kirk White does a nice intro talking about how their 20 year anniversary is coming up in October, so over the next several weeks we'll be seeing some classic matches highlighting some of the stars that have come through BTW. Makes sense. Last week they showed a Davina Rose/Bayley match, and she's currently one of the more popular ladies in wrestling. Made tons of sense to show. So now we get Kimo vs. Shannon Ballard?? No offense to either guy, but BTW has had actual big names come through, plenty of ex WWE guys, several other bigger indy names. This match was around the 15th Anniversary show, in the shows all around this one there were some nice sounding matches with "names". Paul London came in several times (reallllly would like to see the London/Kendrick vs. Young Bucks match from 2010),  X-Pac, Matt Hardy, Chris Masters, show their matches! Kimo and Shannon Ballard are fine, but sheesh we already got a Kimo match on this same episode. Spread it out a bit. Just seems like a really "drawn at random" old match to show.

Now this is nothing against the match itself, which turns out to be the best match on the show! At some point Shannon Ballard became a really engaging singles worker, and him as the cheapshotting heel hiding behind a National Anthem singer was gold. He throws a mean right hand, which is not something I remember being a thing. He makes a real competent southern heel and there are some spots that would kill in the south, like Ballard crotching Kimo on the top rope, but then getting crotched himself when he went up top, then punching Kimo off the top and losing his own balance in the process. They do a couple nice callback spots, Kimo gets in some nice suplexes, but damn I might have to do a little digging for 2008-2012 singles match Shannon Ballard. After this he felt like a guy who would have been one of my favorite IWA-MS undercarders, and I have TONS of favorite IWA-MS undercarders!

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Big Time Wrestling TV 7/22/16

More matches from their training facility this week. I don't have any dates on these shows but they all seem recent (okay, got confirmation that they happened in June 2016).

1. Kimo vs. Dylan Bostic

This match was good enough, but it felt rushed. It felt a little more like an exhibition. Hank Renner Jr. annoyed and also begrudgingly impressed me by using "folderol" in a sentence without making it sound out of place. Both guys did some things I liked here, with Bostic impressing me more. I really liked the stooging bump Bostic took to the floor off a Kimo forearm. It was one of those fun 3 part bumps that reminded me of something John Tatum might do, where he flops through the ropes, rolls to the apron, flops off the apron to the floor, etc. Was also impressed by the height he got on a standing rana, nice cravate, and little things he would do like catching a mule kick to the shoulder but immediately holding his jaw, and how he would cheat when facing the crowd (the set up of the building means the crowd is all on one side of the ring), holding the tights specifically when the fans could see it. They were nice touches.

2. Rik Luxury vs. Tony Vargas

Short match, just 5 minutes. I was really hoping for a little more as Luxury is a guy who can work a fun 8 minute match. Vargas seemed to tire out early and I'm not sure if that factored into the quick finish. There was also some confusion as both guys worked heel for the first couple minutes. Luxury complained about a hair pull, but right after Vargas was biting him behind the ref's back. Renner awkwardly talked about how Luxury is the one who is always untrustworthy, but then had to act like Vargas flat out biting a dude's face was just business as usual. Luxury looked good here, love his spot where he locks up with a guy and then gets tossed face down into the mat. He threw a couple great right hands, nice eye poke, planted Vargas with a nice DDT off the ropes. Vargas for his part threw out a nice spinebuster bomb, and a decent enziguiri.

3. Synn vs. Devin Danger

I really liked this one. Synn is a big guy and while Danger isn't exactly small he's clearly smaller than Synn. So we did get some nice brick wall spots with Danger smacking into Synn, and this was maybe the best I've seen somebody work around Synn. I dug Danger's cannonball into the corner, and then he one-ups it by doing a crazier missed one right after, which then leads to Synn hitting a massive one! Danger had some nice straight right hands, loved him finding new ways to slam into Synn and then bumping off it, and the ways he would sneak in offense like snapping Synn's neck over the top rope from the apron and following that up with an unexpected slingshot twisting moonsault. Synn hits his standing splash and Danger kicks out, so Synn hits another and Danger kicks out of that. I was expecting that to be it so suddenly we have a nice fighting underdog on our hands! But Synn splats him with a nice powerbomb (apparently 12 feet in the air, according to Hank Renner Jr....Yeesh.) to end it. This was my first time seeing Danger and I really dug him, would love to see more. Synn is a really big guy, kinda shaped like Akebono (but not THAT big) and brings something different to these shows.

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Big Time Wrestling TV 7/1/16

1. Victor Sterling vs. Tony Vargas (5/13/16)

Really good match, probably the best match they've shown on their TV. Sterling is a guy I like and Vargas I'm less familiar with, but both guys worked stiff and surprised me a couple times with the direction they took things. Sterling works better as a heel so I was happy a minute in when they were working some genial standing grappling and Sterling went to strikes. He started throwing out Garvin stomps to Vargas' arm, and ankle and knee (in a knee brace!), slammed his arm into the mat a couple times, twisted him with a cravate, hit some nice 12 to 6 elbows over Vargas' shoulder, really solid stuff. He also hit a nice knee drop I don't remember seeing him use before. Brawl on the floor was fun with Sterling hitting his nice through the ropes dropkick, then yelling at fans to move so Vargas can get tossed through the chairs. It was satisfying seeing a teen in the front row get displaced from her seat while texting. These kids today, just texting away at their internet telephones while men in their underwear fight literally two feet away from them. The tide shift is really good as Vargas has several big suplexes and Sterling took them all; some nasty release Germans, a huge over the top belly to belly where I was afraid Sterling was going to bounce right on the top of his head, and my favorite was a fight on the top rope that ended quickly with Vargas launching him with a fallaway slam. The struggle up top was believable and they didn't spend forever getting into position to hit their spot, it was nicely handled. I expected a long forearm exchange that looked more like two guys trying to keep their balance, but instead it ended quickly with Vargas kinda deadlifting him into the slam, while Sterling struggled to stop it by grabbing the ropes. Awesome spot.  I wish we could have gotten a decisive finish as it ends in a 15 minute draw, but at least they didn't telegraph the draw by doing "minutes remaining" announcements or scrambling for sudden 2 counts. The 15 minutes was an honest count and that's refreshing, just wish we got an actual finish. Still, really good match. These two have worked each other several times over the years and the comfort and familiarity showed.

2. Ruby Raze vs. Beatrice Domino (5/13/16)

Another good match, and again the best match I've seen from both. Raze seemed to gas a bit by the end so there were a couple of clumsy moments but overall this was good. Both worked stiffer than I've seen them work, with Domino throwing these cool downward strikes to Raze's nose and Raze blasting her with elbows. I don't remember Domino having strikes this good, but the whole match she was throwing really tight punches, and I don't recall Raze ever working this mean, so this was just good all around. Raze hits a nice neckbreaker over the middle rope , Domino breaks out some new offense I hadn't seen like a killer diving clothesline and an impressive spear. At one point they basically lock legs and fight at close range, throwing punches and elbows with Domino knocking Raze hard to her back with a nasty elbow, but Raze fired back with a hard kick right to Domino's chest. Domino sold it great, possibly because she just got kicked real hard in the chest. Real good match that might have gone a bit too long with kickouts, but these two are getting better and better, and I'm especially excited to see where Domino keeps going.

This was a really wonderful half hour of pro wrestling TV, with two of the absolute best matches the promotion has shown, with next to no filler (except for the painfully unfunny Hank Renner Jr. bumpers and the awkward as hell Bret Hart commercial for their wrestling school that airs every week). Even in other weeks when the wrestling isn't great, they at least always make the most of their time. It really puts the old Pro Wrestling Revolution show to shame, when they would regularly air matches with full, long, unedited ring intros, oftentimes not even starting a match until past the 10 minute mark of a 30 minute PAID show.  BTW definitely makes the most of their time, which you think would be a natural thing for a fed paying to air their wrestling show. Good for them for doing the obvious thing.

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Big Time Wrestling TV 5/6/16

Local Bay Area fed Big Time Wrestling started popping up on local TV a couple weeks ago, and I've been meaning to check out their show. Finally remembered to set my DVR (5 AM on Friday mornings!) so let's see what they have to offer.

1. Classic Connection (Levi Shapiro & Buddy Royal) vs. Chaos Inc. (Tony Vargas & Synn) (12/4/15)

This was really good, and a great way to dive into their TV. Vargas was the only guy I was unfamiliar with. Synn looks like a taller, fatter B-Boy. Shapiro and Royal have been working as the Classic Connection for many years, but really seem to be peaking as a team. Chaos worked over Shapiro to start and Shapiro was good bumping around for them, with the best part being Shapiro getting tied in the ropes and getting blasted by a Synn lariat. Shapiro took it great, with his arms tied behind him, and ended up falling back into the ring in a great Terry Funk-like way. But things got really good when the Classic isolated Vargas and began working over his knee. It started simply enough with Shapiro tagging out and holding onto Vargas' leg while Royal dropped a knee on it, but then there were all sorts of low kicks, shoulder tackles, and a brutal spot where Royal gets bodyslammed onto Vargas' prone knee. Vargas was good selling the leg, doing a great fall down on a rope running spot, and him fighting back against the Classics was good. One spot I had to rewind as Royal is setting up a figure 4 near the ropes, and Vargas pushes him off with his good leg, and Royal gets launched over the top to the floor. Great looking spot. Royal gets more bonus points as back in he puts the figure 4 on the proper leg. We build to the hot tag and Shapiro tosses powder in Synn's eyes and hits a superkick. Classics set up a superplex spot with Shapiro aiming to suplex Royal onto Synn, but Synn moves and hits a splash for the win. This was a really good tag with Synn being the only weak point. He looked fine in the first couple minutes, but looked tentative and off on his hot tag, then hit a real weak standing splash for the pinfall. I really liked this tag, really want to see more Classic Connection. This was easily my favorite match of theirs.

2. Shane Kody, Mike Matthews & Chico Navarro vs. Ballard Bros. & El Guerrero (1/22/16)

Oof this one was bad. Ballards looked fine and I liked a couple of Matthews' exchanges, but everybody else looked bad. Chico Navarro has been working in BTW for a decade and looks completely untrained. I mean, right down there with the worst worker you've ever seen on any wrestling show. He's only in for a minute or so, but it's not too hard to imagine any fan from the crowd stepping into the ring and doing at least as well. He has no clue how to position himself, no clue what to do between "moves" other than stand there going "come on, come on", and nothing he does resembles something a pro wrestler might do. Just brutal. Kody is in his early 50s and can't do  much more than throw bad punches and slaps. He is the spitting image of current Jim Duggan, though I'd much rather see current Duggan in the ring.  Guerrero wears athletic shoes and basketball shorts, and does nothing athletic in the ring. He and Kody had a "throwdown" at one point where they I believe were attempting to exchange punches or...something. Looked like two guys leaning against each other waving their arms towards the others' face. Luckily Shannon Ballard works most of this. The commentary crew kept acting as if it were impossible to tell the Ballards apart, even though Shane is a good 30 lb. more than Shannon at this point. But the Ballards did the best with what was available, but man was there nothing at all available. I cannot understand a fed putting someone like Chico Navarro on TV.

This is the third episode, and what a mixed bag it was! A tag I really really liked, and a really bad 6 man tag. However, I did like how they made use of their TV time. A year or two ago when Pro Wrestling Revolution ran TV, it was the most poorly managed wrestling show possible. They would show full ring entrances, really long, bad promo segments that are at best amusing to the crowd there live, and just stretch 10 minutes matches out to fill 30 minutes. It was a mostly embarrassing wrestling presentation. This was a show that was at least clearly edited for max TV exposure. They fit two long matches into the airtime by cutting right to the opening bell and cutting away right after a match would finish. No wasted time. Ring entrances are completely pointless on a show like this, ad BTW gets it. Let the commentary crew explain who is in the match. They also wisely ran upcoming show announcements in a runner at the bottom of the screen. That's way more efficient and doesn't cut away from any ring time. The audio commentary is poorly recorded, but that's the case with most indy wrestling so judging it as bad as it seems. The main commentator was not good, but at least sounded like a professional.

Overall it's an easily digestible half hour of local wrestling television, and I'll definitely come back for more.

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