Last night’s PWG show in Reseda, California, was, due to the last four matches, considered one of the best non-BOLA shows in company history, and really not far off the BOLA standard.
– Flash Morgan Webster defeated Brian Cage
This was a big man/little man match as Webster is probably about 140 pounds and Cage is probably 260 or more. They worked the right style to make it work. Cage went for a powerslam and Webster cradled him. Cage was a last minute replacement for Travis Banks, who had visa issues.
– Mark Haskins defeated Adam Brooks
Brooks was making his PWG debut. They went long, doing lots of near falls and having a very good match. It could have been a few minutes shorter, but Brooks got over. He does a lot of comedy and talking but is technically really good.
– Joey Janela defeated Trevor Lee
Excellent match, with the first three minutes being crazy. Janela did a lot of high flying. Lee is more of a standard great worker in the sense everything he does looks great and he can build a match with the best of them.
– Keith Lee defeated Jonah Rock
Rock was so much better here than in BOLA. Lee outright claims to be the best big man in wrestling and then over and over goes out and proves it. Lee showed amazing agility and both did a lot of power spots since both these guys are about 310-330 legit.
Great finish. Rock came off the top rope, Lee caught him, then hoisted him up to his shoulders and like he was going to do a Death Valley bomb, but instead used a jackhammer from there for the pin.
– Sammy Guevara defeated Flamita and Rey Horus in a three-way match
They had a crazy flying match. It was crisp, and this match looked like it potentially could be fun and overachieved. If this was at Arena Mexico, it would be the best match there all year, that’s how good it was.
– Ricochet defeated WALTER
WALTER throws the hardest chops, except for maybe Katsuya Kitamura. Ricochet had an incredible match working with him. With the huge size difference, Ricochet sold a lot but did great flying moves including a Fosbury Flop late.
This and the previous match were the two best. Ricochet should have won even though he’s likely not around much longer, since he’s going against Chuck Taylor for the title tonight.
– The Chosen Bros (Matt Riddle & Jeff Cobb) defeated The Lucha Brothers (Penta 0M & Rey Fenix) to win the PWG tag titles
Super match as well. Riddle & Cobb won clean with a combo GTS where Cobb threw Fenix (I think) into Riddle’s knee. These have to be two of the three or four best tag teams in the world right now. Penta & Fenix have so many unique moves, so much charisma, and you never knew what they were doing next.
There were approximately 200 people in attendance at GILT Nightclub in Orlando, Florida for MLW One-Shot last night. The VOD of the show will be available this weekend on MLW.com, with MLW announcing last night that they will return to Orlando on December 7th for a show called “Never Say Never.”
– Tama Tonga defeated Martin Stone
Tonga wasn’t advertised in advance for the show, so him appearing was a nice surprise. He hit the Gun Stun to win it.
– Seth Petruzelli & Rhett Giddins defeated Saive Al Sabah & Parrow
Petruzelli submitted Al Sabah with an armbar. After the match, Parrow powerbombed Al Sabah for losing.
– MJF defeated Jimmy Yuta
A low blow and a roll-up stole it for Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
– Barrington Hughes defeated Markos Espada
The giant Hughes ran in and splashed the Anti Luchador in the corner for the 30 second squash.
– Darby Allin defeated Jason Cade
This was a good one with a lot of action and high flying. It ended when Allin used his Gibson leg lock pinning maneuver.
– Santana Garrett defeated Mia Yim
They had a hard-hitting match that got some time, ending when Garrett hit a handspring moonsault for the win.
– “Filthy” Tom Lawlor defeated Jeff Cobb
This was a physical match, with Cobb getting busted open at one point. He used huge throws throughout. For the finish, Lawlor was able to roll through and pin Cobb for the victory.
Lawlor issued a challenge to Matt Riddle for a future match, and Riddle tweeted that he’ll face Lawlor on the December 7th MLW show.
– MVP defeated Sami Callihan
MVP and Callihan brawled all over the place, with chairs flying and Callihan running everywhere as they went at it. Callihan went for the Ballin’ Elbow but was cut off, then MVP hit one of his own before winning with a fisherman suplex.
– Shane “Swerve” Strickland defeated Ricochet
This was built and promoted as a main event and it delivered. The match went over 30 minutes and opened with a lot of mat work.
They worked a diverse style with levels of work. Ricochet went for high-flying moves and Strickland wanted to grab his arm for submission attempts. There were multiple sequences of rope running and transitions that were outstanding. They exchanged ferocious strikes and Ricochet’s chest was lit up.
For the finish, Strickland was able to avoid the 630 and the Benadryller before finally gaining control of the arm with a key lock for the submission victory.
PWG’s annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament kicked off in Reseda, California last night and will continue tonight and Sunday. Here are last night’s results:
– Dezmond Xavier pinned Brian Cage with a Japanese rolling crotch hold after reversing out of a double powerbomb spot.
This was a very good match.
– Marty Scurll defeated Flash Morgan Webster with the chicken wing.
Webster took a hell of a physical beating and got over strong. Real good, borderline great match.
– Rey Fenix defeated Rey Horus
There was some amazing athleticism from both guys. Lots of great flying with Horus doing the most spectacular spot on the show with a running dive over the top several rows deep. Fans threw money in the ring when it was over.
– The Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle) defeated Donovan Dijak & Keith Lee in a non-tournament match
This was the show stealer. Cobb and Lee opened doing fast Lucha Libre high spots with high leap frogs that were so impressive for guys of that size. So much great stuff here. Riddle got the pin on Lee to win the match.
This was better than any match at NXT TakeOver. Fans were chanting “five-star classic” when it was over.
– Penta 0M defeated Matt Sydal with a running package piledriver after a reverse hurricanrana.
Really good, bordering on great.
– Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Jonah Rock via submission.
Rock is a really thick guy like an old school super heavyweight wrestler with the big legs. It was power vs. submissions with Sabre winning with an armbar.
– Ricochet defeated Flamita
Ricochet live is something to see as his smoothness doing the most difficult moves is amazing. As great as most on the show were, he’s at a different level.
Flamita is a great flyer but Ricochet sold great for him and was always in the right spot for him. Long match that never dragged but people weren’t expecting the finish when it happened.
Over in Belfast, Ireland, Sunday, Marty Scurll and Ricochet hooked it up in the main event of OTT’s Invasion: Belfast show, the promotion’s second of two weekend events.
While Scurll picked up the win by submitting Ricochet, the highlight of OTT’s weekend was former WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor making a surprise appearance at Saturday’s show, sporting a sweet beard.
The promotion returns to Belfast on Sunday, February 5th with Mark Andrew, Eddie Kingston, and more.
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WrestleCircus ran a show Saturday in Austin, TX, in front of around 500 people according to reader Steve Conway. The promotion is relatively new with just a handful of shows, but they loaded up their lineup this past weekend. Here’s a few highlights with notes from Steve:
– Lance Hoyt b Adam Page in a really good opener.
– Rachel Ellering b Christi Jaynes
– Sammy Guevara b Colt Cabana
– Jade b Joey Ryan in a no DQ match
Leva Bates interfered cosplaying Shinsuke Nakamura. Entertaining with Joey doing his usual intergender schtick. Crowd liked it a lot, especially the finish where the lollipop ended up in a place Joey definitely didn’t want it.
– ACH b Chris Hero
Another match the crowd loved and was really into from the start. Hero played a subtle heel well. Excellent match.
– Donovan Dijak b. Tessa Blanchard
This was not good. A lot of missed spots and the intergender stuff was pretty pointless. This wasn’t comedy, but we’d also already seen the “big v small” spots with other matches, so this brought nothing new to the table.
– Michael Elgin b Jeff Cobb
Crowd wasn’t into this. It was disappointing in they just did forearms, versions of power German suplexes and clotheslines endlessly. They hit the forearms hard and both are really strong, but again we’d seen everything they did already with Lee/Rowe/Dijak. This had very little creativity and very little heat. To be fair, the show was going on five hours by this point.
– Ethan Carter III b Pentagon Jr.
Bad main event for the “Ringmaster” championship. The crowd was very happy to see Pentagon, but EC3 did this thing with a Jame Ellsworth ripoff called the “Trashman” where EC3’s handpicked opponent from the last show came out and interfered. Crowd was more annoyed by it than anything else. Second show in a row EC3 was champ and did virtually nothing. This was a really flat ending to the marathon.
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Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore ran Friday from Philadelphia, PA, delayed by nearly an hour on FloSlam due to some technical issues. Here’s some notes from reader Daniel Kelly who was in attendance:
– Alex Reynolds vs Brooklyn Brawler
Brawler came out and talked about how great it was to be in Philadelphia and what an honor it was to perform in the original ECW arena. He then proceeded to take off his Yankee Jersey and reveal a Flyers jersey under, stating that for one night only he would be the “Broad Street Brawler.” Quick 2-3 min match with Brawler making Reynolds tap with a Boston Crab.
– Lio Rush vs Tony Nese
This was Nese’s last indie show before heading to WWE. Great back and forth match displaying both competitors’ athleticism. Rush continued on with his black heart gimmick that he has been doing as of late. Crowd very over for Nese, hitting him with the streamer show upon entering the ring. Exciting match with a lot of high spots throughout. Nese got the win with his pump handle driver.
After the match, Nese credited Rush and shook his hand. Nese then gave credit to Striker, Reynolds, Bull James, and Dan Barry who joined him in the ring after. Ended with Reynolds hitting a superkick on Nese after embracing and telling him WWE “settled for Marty when they could have had Shawn”.
– Colt Cabana vs Moose
Entertaining back and forth match. Moose able to show his athleticism, executing two moonsaults both from the top and middle ropes. Cabana still looks great and hasn’t skipped a beat in the ring. Crowd split between both competitors, but arena filled with Moose chants throughout. Moose got the victory hitting a playmaker.
– Brian Cage vs Sami Callihan
This was a return match from a previous engagement these two had in HOH. I was in attendance for the first contest which did not disappoint, nor did this one. For some reason, the crowd was not nearly as loud as in the previous matches. Great back and forth action with Cage able to display his freakish strength. A lot of out of the ring work with Callihan executing dives to the outside and utilizing the guard rails quite a bit. Near falls throughout with Cage landing clotheslines and Callihan hitting pump kicks.
Cage hit Callihan with a Weapon-X at one point which resulted in a close near fall. End of the match came with Callihan reversing Cage into a code red which he kicked out of into a stretch muffler. Cage taps to give Sami the victory. After the match Cage tells Callihan it’s 1-1 and extends his hand. Callihan proceeds to kick it away to an ovation.
– Fenix vs John Hennigan
Crowd was over for this one from the moment Fenix walked out. Match began with both Fenix and Hennigan playing the babyface role and competing with one another for crowd reaction. Both competitors did a tight rope walk from corner to corner, with Hennigan crotching himself on the top rope. Lucha chants throughout the match with back and forth action.
Only took a matter of minutes for Hennigan to go heel after getting shown up. Many highspots off the top with Fenix hitting springboard hurricanranas. Closely contested match that saw Hennigan pick up the victory with the End of the World. Great match that the crowd was really into. Both competitors embraced afterwards.
– Matt Hardy vs Tommy Dreamer cage match
Match started with Matt stating “Tommy’s dreamer I knew you’d come” only to get pulled to the outside. Had about a solid five minutes of out of ring action before heading into the cage. Both competitors took bumps on the outside and multiple guard rail spots. Once in the cage, Tommy took majority of the offensive. Some back and forth until Dreamer was able to hit a DVD. Dreamer goes for the cage door, only to have it slammed on his head by the licensed official. Sandman’s music hits, as per usual with an HOH show, as he hits the ring to cane the official, followed up by one to Hardy as he tries to leave the cage.
Another DVD by Dreamer to a near fall. Crowd goes absolutely insane as out of nowhere Brother Nero hits the ring to cane Sandman and throw him into the side of the cage. Jeff then enters the cage and produces a bag of tacks. Jeff attempts a twist of fate but gets reversed and set up for a DVD. Matt hits Dreamer in the head with a cane and follows it up with a side effect on the tacks for the victory. Short match that was saved by the appearance of Jeff.
After the match, the crowd begins a “swanton bomb” chant directed towards Jeff. Hardy teases taking off his jacket and heading to the top, however is reprimanded by Matt for his thoughts on turning back into a spot monkey. Jeff proceeds to flip off the crowd to much dismay. Show ends with the Hardys grabbing the licensed official and dragging him to the back.
The promotion also ran Saturday in Joppa, MD. Here’s the quick results:
Jessicka Haovk def. Taya; Eddie Kingston def. Lance Anoa’i; Matt Stryker/Conor Braxton/Kikutaro def. Vik Dalishus/Benjamin Boone/Hale Collins; Moose def. Brian Cage; Alex Reynolds def. Sonjay Dutt/Dan Barry/Brandon Scott; Tommy Dreamer/Sandman def. Spirit Squad (Kenny/Mikey): Fenix def. John Hennigan.
It was likely inevitable that EVOLVE would eventually encounter streaming troubles on FloSlam, but the timing couldn’t have been much worse than during Saturday night’s main event between Chris Hero and Dick Togo.
The stream went out completely for a decent portion of the match but returned with some minor issues for its conclusion. In what seemed to be the caliber of bout that everyone hoped it would be, the Japanese veteran pinned Hero with his second Pedigree of the night and a senton from the top rope.
FloSlam tweeted that they’re trying to get the full replay of the main event up as soon as possible and blamed the problems on a cable getting accidentally unplugged.
Hero put over Togo after the match and praised the crowd at La Boom in Queens, New York, by calling it a special place. That brought out DUSTIN with a chair. DUSTIN offered to face him right there instead of tomorrow at EVOLVE 75, but Hero struck him and walked off while flipping him off.
Prior to the stream issues, EVOLVE 74 was one of the most fun cards that the promotion has put on all year. The highlight of the show came prior to the main event when EVOLVE Tag Team Champions “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams and Fred Yehi successfully defended their titles against the team of Ricochet and Peter Kaasa in an excellent match.
The finish came when Kaasa attempted a shooting star press on Williams but missed and got caught in a crossface. Yehi prevented Ricochet from breaking up the submission and the Catch Point team held onto their titles as Kaasa tapped out. The match was at its best when Ricochet and Yehi were in the ring, but Williams and Kaasa managed to shine as well.
Williams appeared earlier in the show in an in-ring interview segment with former stablemate Drew Gulak. The returning Larry Dallas interviewed Gulak after his win over Jaka. Dallas asked him if Catch Point was dead, to which Gulak replied that Catch Point is a failure and it’s time to focus on the next chapter of his career — maybe the WWN title.
That brought Williams out to the ring, where he said that Catch Point is bigger than Gulak and always has been. The two will face off in Melrose, Massachusetts, tomorrow.
Gulak was able to get back on the winning track against Jaka in the show’s opener. The match was really good and it was by far the best Jaka has looked in an EVOLVE ring. He held his own with Gulak, who was also excellent in the bout. Gulak won with the dragon sleeper after a great slapping sequence.
Jaka’s tag team partner was also unable to get a victory on the show as Chris Dickson fell to DUSTIN after he hit the Awful Waffle. Dickson and Jaka will take on Darby Allin and Kaasa tomorrow, with Dickinson and Jaka getting EVOLVE contracts if they win.
Allin was in action against Brian Cage tonight. The two put on the exact type of match that you would want to see them have. Allin dove onto Cage as he was making his entrance and then hit a trust fall inside of the ring. Cage took control on offense after that and was victorious after launching Allin onto the stage. Allin lost by countout despite his best efforts to dive back into the ring, but he was able to keep his promise that he wouldn’t be pinned by Cage.
Ethan Page and one of the Gatekeepers (Blaster McMassive) then came down to the ring. Page handed Cage a check and thanked him for taking care of business after his problems with Allin. Page cut a promo on Cody Rhodes before the Bullet Club’s newest member came out for their match.
The overbooked contest saw shenanigans at the end with ref bumps and interference. The Gatekeeper and Cage interfered, causing Allin to come back out and attack Cage. Rhodes gave him a too sweet, but then threw him onto the pile on the outside. Rhodes won with a low blow and the Cross Rhodes.
In his EVOLVE debut, Jeff Cobb defeated Matt Riddle with the Tour of the Islands. The two put on a good match that culminated with Riddle almost getting the win after the Bro to Sleep and jumping tombstone. Riddle tried to apply the Bromission, but Cobb was too big to put the hold on. The two were previously booked against each other in a tag match in PWG and a singles match in AAW before bringing their rivalry to EVOLVE.
Stokely Hathaway hit the ring after Cobb’s win. He said that for the first time in his life he was almost speechless. He attempted to recruit Cobb to the Dream Team by saying that he’d never have to work for anything in his life again. Hathaway said that if there was a dictionary that defined what a professional wrestler should be — the three examples would be TJ Perkins, Timothy Thatcher, and Cobb.
Hathaway offered him a contract to join the Dream Team, but Cobb said the only contract he wants is one for a shot at the EVOLVE Championship against Thatcher.
Final thoughts:
Despite the stream problems at the end, this was a fun show that is worth going out of your way to see. The tag title match was the obvious highlight for me, but Cobb vs. Riddle and the opener with Gulak and Jaka were also very good.
The highlights of tomorrow’s show look to be Williams vs. Gulak, Ricochet vs. Riddle, and Cobb vs. Yehi. I’ll be in the building for it and Beyond Wrestling earlier in the day.
EVOLVE 74 results:
Dick Togo defeated Chris Hero
EVOLVE Tag Team Champions “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams & Fred Yehi defeated Ricochet & Peter Kaasa
