By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
After the tempestuous waters caused by ‘The Storm’, the choppy sea for our Riptide wrestlers led to ‘Point Break’ just under a month later. A show main evented by a triple threat tables match including Jimmy Havoc, Matt Riddle and Keith Lee that hilariously had Havoc put himself through a table as soon as the match begun to try and get a point (the match would be won Riddle in the end). However, with none of these three men challenging for the gold at Pride, our focus instead turned to those who did qualify, starting with the very first match on the card.
Having fought at the second show for the promotion, Candyfloss and Dahlia Black were back again, though this time under gimmick match rules: a Sweets and Candy Death Match! In an attempt to show there were no hard feelings after the previous match had seen Black defeat Candyfloss, the New Zealander would offer some sweets to Floss, only for it to become apparent that the bag contained liquorice – an acquired taste for many. This did kickstart the action as Black kneed a distracted Floss in the stomach, whilst the sweet loving face would quickly attempt her tiltawhirl into an armbreaker, only for Black to get the ropes. A camel clutch allowed Black to force feed the liquorice to Floss, yet moments later it was Candyfloss who was smearing her namesake into and about Black’s face.
A sweet assisted superkick following a brief chase around the ringside led to a camel clutch by Black that utilised fizzy laces to increase the pressure on Floss. This was never quite going to work as Candyfloss bit through the sweets and used the sugar rush to unleash some dropkicks on her opponent. Black would hit a neckbreaker and flatliner combination, but the decision to introduce Celebrations would be her downfall; Candyfloss was able to reverse the move that finished her the last time and land an arm takedown into the candy. A cross armbreaker saw Black turn it into a powerbomb onto the aforementioned Celebrations, but moments later it was Candyfloss who came out on top with a cross armbreaker following a strike exchange.
With a record that was now 0-2 and 1 no contest, Spike Trivet was back to try and turn around his run of fortune in a contest against Damon Moser, a debutant for the promotion at this show. Though Trivet is most definitely a heel, Moser wasn’t exactly the most convincing babyface, getting pops almost by default as much as anything else. Both men would trade early grappling down on the canvas played out to a chorus of ‘Jeremy Corbyn’ chants. Trivet just about manage to avoid a charging knee, but was less lucky with a flapjack, a stomp and a superkick. As Trivet rolled to ringside, he took the opportunity to ingratiate himself further with the fans as he spat water in one of their faces, although this did at least lead to him getting a brief beatdown at ringside. Moser would end up getting posted though, allowing Spike to score a nearfall with a springboard codebreaker for two.
A back suplex into a pin earned Moser his first real nearfall, though Trivet was quick to go to the eyes to halt any momentum. Calling Moser a ‘ginger knobhead’ after earning a two count off of a wheel kick just seemed to fire up the de facto face, who would land a cannonball, go coast to coast with a dropkick, before hitting an elbowdrop with a quick spring up to the second turnbuckle for added height. Trivet was not yet finished, catching Moser with a Slingblade and a Death Valley diver bomb, though it almost ended for him soon after as Trivet hit a rolling suplex variation into a cradle for two. A beautiful sequence of reversals took Moser to the canvas for a Trivet Rings of Saturn, yet the decision to badmouth Moser backfired as he hit a spinning fisherman buster and a running knee to leave Trivet without a win in the first four shows.
Coming off the back of a singles victory at ‘Riptide Returns’, Chuck Mambo was looking to make it two in a row as he faced off against Chris Brookes. Whilst both were ostensibly faces, there was only ever going to be one of these guys do the leg work as the heel. After Mambo had accompanied a wristlock escape with a dance and big tens for Brookes, a ‘no wolf, no fans’ chant at Brookes felt a little unfair, a feeling he encapsulated seconds later by using Mambo’s middle finger as an instrument to show his disgust. More shenanigans would include Mambo pretending his hand was a phone and riding Brookes like a surfboard, the move that finally saw Brookes snap. A shove, a slap and a kick to the knee out of a handshake would then see Brookes throw Mambo to ringside to inflict more pain. A face rake brought the violence up close and personal to the fans, before Brookes would plant Mambo back first onto the ring apron and then stamp on his hand for good measure.
A big boot led to the big wet willy from Brookes, following up with a stamp on the back of the head as he continued to punish Mambo’s transgressions. A tiltawhirl backbreaker gave Mambo legs in the contest as he then hit three running forearms in the corner and a second turnbuckle blockbuster. A sequence of reversals would send Brookes to the outside after a superkick, with Mambo not giving him a moment to rest as he nailed a springboard rolling senton to the floor! Back in the ring, a Death Valley setup into a gutbuster scored Mambo a nearfall, though a springboard saw him eat a huge superkick and almost lose the match following a draped spinning neckbreaker. Both men would trade huge strikes, but it looked like Brookes was in command after a springboard cutter and a sitout slam variation. This was only furthered after Mambo was unable to put Brookes away with his White Noise-style finished and missed his springboard splash. However, a reversal into a rollup subsequently allowed Mambo to nail a Canadian destroyer and White Noise for the finish in what was arguably an upset. A post-match handshake showed that there were no hard feelings.
The Aussie Open Challenge was up next and as two teams answered the challenge (Session Moth Martina and Shay Purser alongside The OJMO and Big T Justice), Mark Davis mentioned how fun a triple threat match would be. This heralded the arrival of No Fun Dunne and Los Federales Santos Jr. to deal with this outrageous situation and seemingly interject themselves into the contest. Dunne insisted that fun was cancelled, before the match begun with Martina deciding that the best way to give Dunne some fun was to grind at him, although that does just earn her a kick to the gut. She is quick to get her revenge with a double vagina handbreak on both members of the Anti Fun Police, before grinding on Santos Jr. after Purser helps halt a tombstone attempt with a dropkick.
This was not all about Martina though; Justice and Davis would tease chops on Fletcher and the OJMO respectively, though it would be Santos Jr. who took the blows, as well as Dunne eating a double team flapjack. A mid-ring collision between Davis and Justice had both men struggling, whilst it was time for the Police to have some success, isolating the OJMO in the heel corner. The OJMO would managed to fight his way out of the corner with a dropkick to Dunne, tagging in Fletcher to gain some much needed respite and to allow the Aussie to plant Dunne with a springboard dropkick. An assisted double foot stomp off the top earned Aussie Open a nearfall, though it was suddenly the Purser who was unleashed as he hit a cutter on Fletcher and helped Martina hit the bronco buster.
The speed of Martina’s revolutions on a spinning DDT were enough for Davis to collapse, leading to the spot being repeated moments later with a more effective outcome. Davis wasn’t having much luck at this time, getting beaten in some ‘big man’s wrestling’ by Justice as well. This, and a slam on Santos Jr., ended up with an opportunity to launch the OJMO over the top rope to take out the majority of the other competitors. Justice wasn’t having it all his own way though, getting nailed with a low blow and a beer-assisted suicide dive by Martina. Not to be left out, Purser hit a rolling senton off of the top rope, Fletcher hit his step-up dive and Santos Jr. flung himself through the ropes with a suicide dive. After each team had one more chance to shine, including a somewhat ridiculous attempt by Fletcher to powerbomb Justice, a misguided superkick by Dunne wiped out Santos Jr. and allowed the Aussie Open to hit the fidget spinner for three.
Two of the more vibrant characters in Riptide collided in our final match as Cara Noir competed in his first singles match as he met the undefeated Jack Sexsmith. Sexsmith’s happiness to see two wrestlers who explore ideas around gender and sexuality in the ring at the same time is immediately tempered when Noir blasted him in the face with a forearm. Sexsmith would land two atomic drops, though a neckbreaker and a choke with the belt that Noir had around his waist would put him straight back in trouble. Noir continued to reach into his tights for other things to attack Sexsmith with, choking him with a sash before taking him out with a clothesline for a two count. Noir ended up taking too long to apply his lipstick, yet once again was able to halt a Sexsmith comeback by nailing a John Woo dropkick.
The resulting corner lick from Noir only served to piss off Sexsmith who retaliated with a superkick and a bum to face in the corner after sliding his tights down to reveal the full moon. A superkick and Sliced Bread #2 almost had the match won for Sexsmith, but Noir was then able to block an attempted Mr. Cocko, almost taking the win himself with a suplex into a neckbreaker over the knee following a vicious snap German suplex. Noir would lift up a limp Sexsmith to dance with him and give him a kiss, yet this would just spark Sexsmith for one final comeback as a jumping DDT and a double foot stomp to a standing Noir was enough to pick up the victory for Sexsmith.
Things were not quite finished for the Pansexual Phenomenon as Spike Trivet would hit the ring and catch Sexsmith with a low blow as he was celebrating on the turnbuckle. Damon Moser would also head to the ring to seemingly defend a Mr. Cocko attempt by Trivet, only to punch Sexsmith in the face and for Trivet to reveal that he bought off Moser. Not content with a running knee from Moser and a butterfly into a neckbreaker over the knee, Trivet would get Moser to Pillmanize the leg of Sexsmith with a chair, even being so smug as to halt Moser to allow himself to get a better view.
By the end of this show, not only had the intensity of the Trivet versus Sexsmith feud ratcheted up a notch, we had begun to see the willingness of Trivet to purchase his way to the top, a concept that was far from over. As for the rest of the qualifiers, ‘Point Break’ was a good nice. Candyfloss, Aussie Open and Chuck Mambo all continues to establish themselves, either by gaining wins over past foes, defeating a myriad number of tag teams, or picking up a win over a name opponent; all three could be pleased with their nights work.
