By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
With Black Water this Friday, and the final day of the Brighton Championship Tournament uploaded on the VOD, it seems pertinent to follow our coverage of Riptide Wrestling through to the current day. As we head back to the lazy days of summer, we are on Day Two of the tournament, with a big loss to Jonah Rock taking the favourite WALTER out in the first round. More worryingly for the fans, all members of Money Versus Everybody are still in the tournament – Spike Trivet, Chris Ridgeway and Damon Moser. They are all primed for an assault on the gold.
As the first round was finished, time was opened up to non-tournament matches such as the opener, Angelico versus El Phantasmo. The early exchanges sought to imply parity between both men, before multiple suicide dives put Phantasmo in control. It was only brief as he would be dropkicked out of midair, though Angelico’s reliance on trying to his crucifix buckle bomb finisher early almost cost him as the second time saw a spinning DDT and Lionsault from ELP for two. A capture spinning neckbreaker variation also scored ELP a nearfall, only for Angelico to turn the pin into a cradle of his own for a rapid victory. Fun while it lasted, with a good nod to the idea that a match can finish quickly if you catch your opponent off guard.
The first tournament match of the night saw Chris Ridgeway versus David Starr as MvsE member took on a friend of Jack Sexsmith. Some early tentative exchanges on the mat would actually see Starr come out on top, including putting on a headlock/crab variation that looked particularly nasty. After fighting over leglocks and coming to their feet with strikes, it would be Ridgeway who took over after sending Starr through the ropes with numerous kicks. Following further strike exchanges, Starr came close to taking the win with the Blackheart Buster and a Han Stansen, but Ridgeway kicked out. Starr would return the favour following a PK and a brainbuster, but would end up smothered in a Ridgeway choke for the unpopular loss. To add injury to insult, MvsE would Pillmanize Starr post-match. A good contest that built well, especially as Ridgeway was able to win without help from MvsE.
Another non-tournament match followed as Wild Boar took on Millie McKenzie. The initial exchanges were all about showing how game McKenzie was against her bigger opponent as the feeling out process saw neither gain control. The first German suplex tease led to a jumping rana and a tiltawhirl DDT when blocked, but a second jumping rana saw McKenzie dumped with a powerbomb. Boar wasn’t messing around with his offense, hitting a back senton to a kneeling McKenzie that had me wincing. This was all about whether McKenzie could come back, made harder when a brief strike onslaught prompted by a successful spear saw her dropped with a T-bone suplex and squashed in the corner with a senton. The big moves kept coming as McKenzie slipped off the turnbuckle to drop Boar with a powerbomb, before a Rikishi-style driver earned Boar the closest fall to that point. However, a superkick, cutter and German suplex set up a roll-up that would earn McKenzie a hard fought win. I’m a big fan of men versus women contest, primarily when the size difference can be worked into the contest. Decent outing.
Back to the tournament, Chuck Mambo was next up against Jordan Devlin. It was all Devlin in the early reversal exchanges, including slapping on an Indian deathlock. Mambo messes around by getting Devlin to ‘answer the phone’ as he reverses a wristlock, but also shows his aerial capability by using the ropes to escape an armbar. Devlin’s flow is impressive as he hits a uranage straight into a standing moonsault, landing a back elbow seconds later and seated meteora knees as well. It was whether Mambo was able to overcome the offensive onslaught of his opponent, and he began to fire back with strikes and a leaping forearm, before hitting a second rope blockbuster for 2.
Devlin’s usual desperation headbutt was almost costly as Mambo collapsed on him for another nearfall, whilst Mambo followed up with air raid crash variation for another quick two count. Devlin’s Spanish Fly after catching Mambo on the top should have been enough, but Mambo kicked out, subsequently hitting a gutbuster and a springboard splash for the win. A good match due to Devlin’s offense being effective to control a contest and Mambo being a good face in peril type.
The match that a lot of people looked forward to the most was next as Dave Benson Phillips teamed with Session Moth Martina to take on the Anti-Fun Police. The ring was covered with protective matting, whilst there was a paddling pool full of gunge at ringside. Between early ‘no grinding’ talk by Sexy Santos (as the crowd named him), consternation over the drawing of finger guns, and Phillips proclaiming ‘It’s me, it’s me, it’s DBP’ after some confusion by Santos, it started how you might expect things to. After some initial work by Martina including a vagina claw on Dunne, the Police would take over. This mean we saw Santos slam Martina on an inflatable poo emoji after she had done the same to Dunne.
A hot tag to Phillips after Martina fought her way out of the heel corner saw him use some strikes before tagging back out, yet after a ref bump, dual bronco busters ended up with Martina needing to grab Phillips away from Dunne. After Martina hit a suicide dive, Phillips would be teasing one, only to get attacked by Kurtis Chapman and Lord Gideon Grey. Unsurprisingly, things went wrong as Grey hit Chapman with a chair by mistake. Moments later, Phillips would chokeslam Santos, and the Police would collide with each other to send the masked man into the gunge. Dunne was dropped with a spear by Phillips, before getting a…gunge clunge tombstone…as Phillips poured gunge down her pants and Dunne was put head first into them and dropped on the top of his head. This was funny, wild, weird – everything you might have expected it to be.
The third contest in the tournament saw Spike Trivet taking on Candy Floss, with Floss both sitting down and jumping around to show her hatred of Trivet based around the chants of the fans. Trivet’s attitude towards Floss was derisory, but she wasn’t to be taken lightly as she slapped Trivet before going to work on his arm and injured shoulder. It was only after Trivet used the referee to block Floss that he was able to fight back, scoring a nearfall with a legdrop and cutting off a comeback with a forearm to the face. Multiple elbowdrops and arrogant kicks to the face only fired up Floss, who would try and wipe that smirk off of Trivet’s face with a facewash and a basement dropkick.
Trivet was able to turn a cross armbreaker into a powerbomb, but after nearfalls on a straitjacket backcracker (Floss) and a superplex (Trivet), Floss would apply the tiltawhirl into an armbar to make Trivet tap…only for the referee to be distracted by Ridgeway! A Moser strike and Trivet’s Birth Right sent the second member of MvsE through to the second round. A post-match Pillmanizing would be stopped by Cara Noir, who teased a corner lick of Floss, only to take the chair away and leave. That Trivet has to get help to win when Ridgeway put Starr away on his own is a nice touch in terms of how they portray the members of MvsE, and Floss’ ire made this watchable.
The third member of MvsE had the literal biggest challenge as he took on Jonah Rock; a position made clear by Rock bullying Damon Moser into position for a Chris Brookes’ wet willy tribute, barely moving on three shoulderblock attempts, and a vicious sitout spinebuster as Moser tried to leapfrog him. It wouldn’t be until Rock hit the ringpost with a kick after the action spilled outside that Moser was able to find a way into the contest. He rammed Rock’s leg once more into the metal, before attacking him with stamps and a dragon screw legwhip back in the ring. Rock’s attempts to fight back were often halted by a kick to the leg, but he was able to hit an avalanche in the corner and a full nelson slam variation for two. Moser took the cheap way with a low blow as the referee was out of position, yet he was unable to put Rock away with a running knee. Instead, Moser would find himself on Rock’s back as the monster stood up out of a chinlock, broke the hold with the turnbuckle, and dumped him with a brainbuster for a comprehensive win. Not only was Rock through, and the first member of MvsE out, but this put Rock on a direct collision course with Spike Trivet in the semi-finals.
A huge surprise followed in the main event as Timothy Thatcher and WALTER answered the Aussie Open Challenge. Can’t argue too much with having Thatcher turn up as an unadvertised wrestler on a card, and he would outgrapple Kyle Fletcher in the opening exchanges with a half Boston crab. Fletcher would show his tenacity by grabbing a quick roll up for two, with each move setting out the stall for the two men. WALTER and Mark Davis were in next for the first of many ‘big man exchanges’, though WALTER showed how little fucks he gave by hitting a big boot to the face after a shoulderblock battle. Davis would be kept in the RINGKAMPF corner for a short while, but a jumping knee to WALTER allowed him to tag for a Fletcher top rope crossbody. However, the Aussie Arrow was soon in trouble after a belly to belly by Thatcher and vertical splash by WALTER.
RINGKAMPF turned the screw, putting Fletcher in a bow and arrow and a Boston crab, one that initiated the second exchange between the big lads, though this one was also finished with a big WALTER boot to the face. When Fletcher was finally able to tag out to Davis, a sliding forearm on WALTER after a clothesline in the corner, a vertical splash on Thatcher and an impressive Alphamare Waterslide had things finally going Open’s way, or so it seemed. Both WALTER and Davis would end up down after a David clothesline, leading to a four move sequence that had all men involved and ended with a frogsplash by Fletcher on WALTER.
Davis in particular was on fire as he hit an enziguri after avoiding a powerbomb by WALTER, whilst a sideslam on Thatcher would break a Boston crab that had Fletcher in trouble. Thatcher would eventually hold Davis outside the ring, but Fletcher managed to kick out following a clothesline. When Davis did finally get back in, he’d land a suicide dive to the outside on both members of RINGKAMPF. It became all about Fletcher as he managed to kick out of a butterfly suplex and escape a Fujiwara armbar, before landing a springboard X-factor for two. Unfortunately, he’d then nail Davis with a dropkick, leaving himself a sitting duck for the powerbomb/European uppercut double team finisher that would win the contest for RINGKAMPF. An excellent match to close the show with some great sequences towards the end to tease the finish.
After a decent first night, things definitely kicked into a higher gear this evening. With able support from the non-tournament bouts, the quarter finals each told their own story and have built up nicely to an intriguing final day of competition. You have two members of MvsE on either side of the bracket, alongside the #1 face Chuck Mambo and Jonah Rock, who has already taken out WALTER and one of MvsE. It definitely left things wide open going into the final day – one that I will review tomorrow.
