By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
With many a ‘supershow’ booked for this lead up to Wrestlemania, promotions have to do something different to stand out from the crowd. Bloodsport and Spring Break were/are perfect examples of this in action, whilst Beyond Wrestling have produced their own somewhat unique gimmick insofar as all the matches will be intergender. Having the midnight slot would have hurt ticket sales and Beyond aren’t the biggest name at all in all reality, but the product is at least intriguing enough to put some eyes on it you would think. Hey – I’m watching.
With Matt Riddle having one of the more insane workloads of the weekend, his match against Deonna Purrazzo, arguably the ‘main event’, is up first, probably to give him a chance to actually rest up. Riddle and Purazzo shake hands to begin, before Purazzo initially goes for an ankle lock to target the limb that was worked on at EVOLVE. There is an intense but playful tone, with both wrestler slapping hands away after exchanges, whilst Purazzo avoids a Bro2Sleep and stamps on Riddle’s foot. Purazzo scores two close falls early on and has the match under control seemingly, but Riddle hits a powerbomb and a running knee to the face for the victory. It was fun while it lasted, though I thought it might have gone longer even with Riddle’s heavy workload.
Brilliantly, James Ellsworth jumps Riddle from behind with a title belt shot (an Intergender Championship according to Ellsworth) to the face in order to promote their match at Spring Break 2. As Ellsworth channels his inner Riddler, he is quick to run the second that Riddle gets back to his feet. Riddle promises to make him the Bro Bitch the following night, a promise that he is likely to fulfill.
The second match is a tag team contest as Team PAWG (Jordynne Grace and Lufisto) take on LAX (Ortiz and Santana). Santana opens the contest with a boot to Grace’s face, which leads to a PAWG double team beatdown. Grace hits a pounce, before Lufisto hits a rolling senton off of the apron, an assisted senton off the top and a side suplex for an early two count. It is Santana who struggles the most in the first few exchanges, with a brief comeback by LAX halted by a Grace spinebuster and multiple corner moves. Santana and Lufisto end up trading slaps in the middle of the ring before Santana lands a roll into an ace crusher to turn the tide.
LAX hit suicide dives, but a miscommunication crotches Santana on the top rope and allows PAWG to hit a muscle buster/powerbomb combination for a near fall. What had been a really good match suffers a little from what appears to be a botched finish as the Weapons of Mass Destruction on Santana (a con-butt-to, effectively) looks like it is a three, but the referee calls it a two. Grace hits a Michinoku driver for the pin the very next move which adds to the sense that the finish didn’t quite work out the way it was meant to. The first match of the show felt more like an exhibition; this was a good sprint and won me over on two teams I’ve never seen before.
The third match of the night sees Josh Briggs take on Davienne, with Briggs instantly on the defensive as his pre-match taunts on the turnbuckle see him vulnerable to a big powerbomb for a two count. Davienne pushes the pace with a grounded dropkick, several strikes and a big back elbow, whilst she is also not afraid to bend the rules by using a choke whilst the two are in the ropes. Briggs gets dropped with a big German suplex and has had little chance to exert any pressure on his opponent.
That is until he fights his way out of the corner, lands a jumping clothesline and a big spinning sideslam for two. Davienne isn’t down for long, using a Samoan drop before reversing a chokeslam attempt into a facebuster for a nearfall. However, Briggs is able to hit a backbreaker and then a chokeslam into a backcracker moments later for the win. Decent little bit of psychology here with Davienne trying to hit Briggs hard and fast to take him out, and I quite enjoyed what I saw of Briggs, a wrestler I’d never heard of, let alone seen before.
A team that doesn’t seem like the sort who is going to be messing around is The Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson and Jaka). Having not had much of a chance to shine in the EVOLVE Tag Team Scramble match, they are up against The Twisted Sisterz (Holidead and Thunder Rosa). Jaka doesn’t want to engage initially with Rosa, but does eventually force her back into the corner with a big knee and headbutt. However, Rosa uses her speed to hit two lucha-style armdrags on Jaka before landing a running sitdown senton off of the apron after the Patrol scrambled to avoid a dive. Dickinson isn’t messing around with Holidead, taking her to the canvas to ride her back, smashing her with a shoulderblock and planting her with a falcon arrow after ‘Dead traded several strikes futilely.
‘Dead ends up isolated, with Jaka hitting a nasty DDT for a two count and the Patrol using quick tags to cut the ring in half as Dickinson began to target the arm and neck. A miscommunication sees ‘Dead miss a kick in the corner yet Dickinson half sell, but she follows it up with a spinebuster that sees both teams tag in the fresh wrestler. Rosa hits a huracanrana and codebreaker to take control, with a huracanrana that sees Rose jump off the top rope to take Jaka over into a pin earns her a two count. A double team move gone wrong allows Rose to hit a DDT on Jaka, whilst the camera almost misses the suicide dive that follows.
An assisted splash on Jaka means Dickinson has to break the count before three, with Jaka then coming close moments later with a vicious sitout powerbomb. The Patrol are unable to capitalise, and whilst Jaka doesn’t get beaten by a suplerplex/back senton combination, he does fall to a facebuster/double foot stomp double team after Dickinson is wiped out with a mafia kick. It was a perfectly acceptable contest, though the execution by the Sisterz occasionally left a little to be desired.
Karen Q and Jonathan Gresham are up next as we are 2-2, with the men holding the advantage in singles competition thus far with both singles victories. The two trade holds early with Q countering Gresham’s grapples until a handful of hair stops her. Q falls onto Gresham out of a cocky attempt to lock in a bow and arrow for a surprise nearfall, though a standing moonsault from Q is no surprise and earns another two count. They head back to the grappling, with Gresham showing impressive skills to maintain a simple hammerlock with Q’s constant attempts to escape.
After a sequence of pinfalls ends up with both rolling around the ring, there is a mid-ring collision that leaves both down on the canvas. This sets up a big exchange of strikes, ending with Gresham hitting a German suplex with bridge for two. The match has been equal throughout and it is Q’s turn to come close, blasting Gresham with strikes in the corner and hitting an Exploder for a nearfall of her own. Another sequence of waistlock reversals leads to Gresham stamping on Q’s injured arm and a pin with bridge for the victory. A highly entertaining contest which shows me why some people think very highly of Gresham in particular.
We have a mixed tag match just to…ahem, mix it up, as Joey Ryan and Laura James face Travis Huckabee and Solo Darling, otherwise known as the Rumblebees. After giving his lollipop to a man at ringside and oiling himself up, Ryan offers both Huckabee and Darling to touch his dick, but Darling titty twists him instead to take control. Ryan avoids a stretch muffler attempt and tags out to James, but Huckabee is also tagged in and applies the muffler himself. James is like Ryan with her unorthodox moves – she smashes Huckabee with a headscissors into her butt several times, whilst also using a hip attack, a bronco buster and a vertical splash for two. Even the double teams are unique as a drop toe hold by James sees Huckabee collide with James’ behind.
A mid-ring collision with Ryan and Huckabee leads to Huckabee falling head first into Ryan’s balls, but the camera missed the actual lowblow. Darling’s focus is on applying the Texas cloverleaf, but after Ryan halts her attempt on James, he then catches her mid-dive and powerslams her on the apron! The match has broken down at this point, allowing us to head into even sillier territory with the Boobplex, a dick touch and James using her vagina to crush Huckabee’s hand. The stream freezes up at this point, coming back to Darling with the Cloverleaf on James. Ryan breaks it up by putting a lollipop in Darling’s mouth and superkicking her. However, as Darling is a sugar demon (apparently), this just fires her up and she hits a fireman’s carry faceplant (poorly, to be fair) and locks in the cloverleaf for the finish. This is a Joey Ryan match, so fun or frightening depending on your view of him as a worker. It was fine enough by me.
What follows is a big deal for some independent wrestling fans as we get a Princess Kimber Lee match, with her free from the tyrannous yoke of the WWE machine, or something along those lines. Her opponent this evening is ‘Hot Sauce’ Tracy Williams. This is a match for the Powerbomb.tv Independent Wrestling Championship, a mouthful if ever there was one. Williams immediately targets the arm, taking Lee to the canvas before shifting focus to the leg by stamping on the ankle and jumping onto the knee. Lee manages to pick up two nearfalls after doing the splits to avoid injury after Williams catches a kick, but Williams absolutely plants her with a gutwrench into a powerbomb for two of his own.
Lee manages to grab a rope-assisted choke after avoiding a Williams charge, before nailing him with a missile dropkick. Just as it looks like Lee is firing up, she charges into a back elbow. Some brief freezing leads to the video/audio going out of sync. Williams hits a DDT onto the turnbuckle after some scuffling up top, followed by a Death Valley driver for the closest fall yet. Lee sneaks out the back of a suplex and lands a German suplex with bridge that almost wins her the gold, before a swanton bomb also sees the champion barely retain. It has been all Lee in the last moments, but Williams nails a spinning lariat for a nearfall, moving straight into a crossface. Lee fights gamely, but has to tap out. A decent enough match; shame about the technical problems detracting from it for me.
The audio is still an issue as we head to the next match, though it fixes itself as the entrances take place. Tessa Blanchard, Mia Yim and Wheeler Yuta are introduced first, before Maxwell Jacob Friedman introduces himself and runs down all three of his opponents as Stokely Hathaway chimes in with his own two pence from time to time. Oddly enough, the women initially double team Yuta until he suggests they go after MJF; a dropkick from Yim suffices for the time being, though she supplements it with a kick off the apron after landing two in-ring cannonballs in the corner on her other opponents. Each wrestler gets their moment to shine in the opening moments, including Blanchard taking out MJF and Yuta with a dive to the floor.
Yim and Yuta end up with MJF and Blanchard in a leglock/armbar respectively, chopping each other on the back whilst sitting in the holds. The match is still very much about the individual spots, with MJF cheating with an eye poke on Yim and getting a German suplex in reply, before Yim German suplexes Blanchard into MJF in the corner moments later. We get the first teased piledrivers I’ve seen, both halted by MJF as Yuta and then Yim look to hit the banned move. In all the confusion, Blanchard hits a top rope codebreaker on MJF, who subsequently collides with Yuta and ends up eating the pin as Blanchard wins the match. Didn’t do a lot for me; a succession of moves with MJF being a douche the only real thing holding it together.
Jessica Havok and Jimmy Havoc are up next, with Havoc aiming a volley of abuse at an annoying fan for saying something that isn’t particularly audible on camera. Havoc escapes to the floor before Havok can do any damage, trying to convince her to join him. However, he fails and is hit with a big back body drop upon returning to the ring. Havoc does recover quickly, missing an Acid Rainmaker attempt but rocking Havok with a forearm, a running elbow and a dropkick to a seated Havok in the corner. The match does end up at ringside like Havoc wanted, though he does get sent head first into the ringpost for his trouble. He gains some measure of revenge as he retaliates by sending Havok into the ringpost after biting her foot to regain control. This is swiftly taken away from him when a kick off of the apron is reversed into a powerbomb onto the apron.
A missed legdrop upon the return to the ring allows Havoc to hit a DDT and grab a nearfall, yet Havok manages to use a go behind to German suplex Havoc into the corner, following up with a facewash. A sequence of reversals lead to an Acid Rainmaker, but Havok kicks out at two! A second attempt sees him planted with a chokeslam for his trouble, Havok following up with a second chokeslam and a choke bomb for the win. It was…ok. Havoc never brings anything less than 100%, so it had that going for it.
Another mixed tag follows as Joey Janela and Penelope Ford face off against Orange Cassidy and Session Moth Martina. I’ve never seen Cassidy before, but we get some initial lethargy as he barely runs the ropes and crawls through a Janela ‘leapfrog’ and then refuses to get up as Ford hits the ropes after a shoulderblock. It is Martina who brings the passion from her team, hitting a double spear on Janelope, though this does lead to the beer-fuelled suicide dive with Cassidy providing the liquid refreshment. Do-si-doe action almost sees Martina and Ford bronco buster their own partners, but they realise just in time and head in the right direction instead. Ford hits an impressive cartwheel back elbow on Cassidy; a move that Martina has no chance at replicating, but she gives it the old college try on Janela.
We get the mildest of hot tags by Cassidy as the crowd chants ‘holy shit’, though he is cut off with a Janela superkick. Janela takes a pop at Low-Ki for not showing up as Janelope go for double foot stomps, but in missing, they collide and are down. This allows Cassidy and Martina to drink a beverage each, with Ford getting a faceful of beer and Janela some orange juice for his troubles. Marina channels her inner Jack Sexsmith by using Mr Cocko the condom for some mandible claw action, whilst Cassidy hits a Canadian Destroyer on Janela that is effectively a roly poly that Janela sells like death. Cassidy stands up into a Ford crossbody and that is enough for the three count. A more fun match personally than the Ryan match earlier, but it depends on your mileage for the characters involved.
The de facto main event is up now as the intriguing contest of Timothy Thatcher versus Toni Storm goes on last. Thatcher throws Storm with ease in a gutwrench suplex before bending her into a single leg Boston crab – Thatcher isn’t looking to mess around. He attempts to break the ankle and rolls her into a bow and arrow as he is showing no quarter. Thatcher shrugs off some punches from Storm, taking her down to the mat and viciously manipulating the elbow. Storm is game, slapping Thatcher around the face, only to get dropped with a European uppercut and sent into the canvas with a slam.
Storm’s attempts at multiple headbutts and European uppercuts seem to have no effect, but she does end up in side mount after escaping a cross armbreaker, allowing her to catch him with several big forearms. Thatcher fights back to his feet and absolutely blasts her with a slap around the face, yet a headbutt gives her a window of opportunity. Storm lands a German suplex and a hip attack in the corner, only to jump off the top into a European uppercut for two. Thatcher grabs her by the throat, but Storm goes straight into a cross armbreaker with several kicks for the submission victory! A good match to finish off, with Storm seizing her opportunity when it presented itself, however briefly.
Considering this was a show that had little hype outside of the interest in the gimmick, I’d consider it somewhat of a success. It went too long personally, but it was good to see a mixture of match styles within the show, as each match had its own distinctive feel. I enjoyed Team PAWG vs LAX, Karen Q versus Jonathan Gresham and Timothy Thatcher versus Toni Storm the most, though there are definitely over matches worth checking out. A sleeper show, but one worth a look if you have the time.
