RoH Final Battle 2021

 

Going back to Ring of Honor for the ifrst time in a long time to watch the last show of the companies run. I missed the first match of The Righteous vs. Shane Taylor Promotions because I was making and eating lunch and making sure my dog didn't steal the food from me. What I watched seemed like a decent match to start the show.

The Hex & Chelsea Green vs. The Allure & Miranda Alize

This is my first time really watching Alize wrestle and I really like her style of hard hitting strikes and fast paced offense. After Chelsea Green gets worked over Allison Kay comes in with a killer hot tag. Love cuts off a dive from Belle with a forearm shot and Mandy Leon hits a pretty bad Made in Japan for the three count. A decent match, but nothing special and just there to get people on the show. The ending was pretty flat and didn't help with this.

3/10

The Bouncers, CB, Flip Gordon, and PJ Black vs. LSG, Demonic Flamita, Will Ferrara, Sledge, and Max the Impaler

There are a lot of wrestlers I don't care about in this match, but probably just as many that excite me and the action kept up at a good pace. Plus they put most of my favorites on a team with Sledge so that works for me. As its a giant tag match we of course get a series of dives including Sledge barely making it over on a moonsault and Max suplexing CB out of the ring onto everybody. Flamita fakes the crowd out on a dive and Bruiser teases powerbombing him to the outside, but Flamita escapes and hits a tornillo off the top. The wrong team wins, but a Canadian Destroyer to LSG off the shoulders of Gordon by Black looked cool and was a solid finish to the match. A fun ten person tag team match, but there were some rough spots scattered throughout.

4/10

Rey Horus vs. Dragon Lee

They do a short back and forth technical exchange before Lee hits a big suicide dive and then just takes control of the match and puts some work in on Horus. Horus hits some high flying moves to change the momentum including a nice change of direction tope con hilo. Lee gets control back with two spinning backbreakers as he continues to target the back and follows up by a brutal looking single leg crab. Lee gets distracted by the thought of a strike exchange and gives up the momentum. Horus hits a body scissors driver off the top rope and Lee waits until the very last moment to kick out. Lee hits an inferno knee that only gets a two count so he hits two more variations to get the win. A really good match between these two men. Good back and forth and a hard hitting and high flying match. A great way to start off the main card of the show.

7/10

Dalton Castle vs. Rhett Titus vs. Silas Young vs. Joe Hendry

Dalton is spending a lot of time goofing around and popping the crowd to start the match letting the other three men do the wrestling in the match. Hendry is doing a lot of strong man stuff in this match and it is a lof fun. Titus becomes the target of Castle and Hendry demonstrating who can do moves better who called back to their tag team before Castle gets jealous and yells at Hendry. The ref gets bumped and Hendry uses the belt on Castle and other shenanigans happen and Titus hits Young with a dropkick and gets the win. A fun fast match between these four men and Titus is the right choice as the last TV champ for the company. I don't know about winning with a dropkick though, I don't care how high he elevates on it.

6/10

Brian Johnson vs. Josh Woods

Woods gets two rope breaks out of Johnson early in the match, but Johnson hits a jawbreaker over the ropes and a suicide dive and takes control of the match. Woods can't get his footing on the ropes to count Johnson, but still powers him off with a suplex then hits a series of suplexes showing off his strength. The two men go back and forth with neither able to get the other over for a vertical suplex until Johnson lifts Woods up and they both tumble over the ropes then start forearming the shit out of each other on the floor. They get back in the ring and start firing off big shots again. Woods takes Johnson to the ropes in a head and arm choke to make him use his last rope break, but while the ref is signalling to the announcer Johnson hits a poke to the eyes and takes advantage. Woods hits a nearly deadlift chaos theory for a two count. Johnson puts Woods up top and goes for a suplex, but Woods grabs him with the head and arm choke and puts Johnson to sleep. I really liked this match. Johnson does a great job of perfectly using the rules and the ref enforcing them to cheat to win the pure title which I enjoy. Woods is just a very good wrestler and I'm looking forward to him being a big deal somewhere else soon.

8/10

Kenny King vs. Shane Taylor

This match is a brawl from the start of this match and Taylor has the advantage early but the first big spot comes when King stops Taylor from suplexing off the top then he hits a blockbuster out of the ring through two tables on Taylor because he's insane, it looked awesome as fuck. Taylor hits a monster STO out of the corner on King through a garbage can. Taylor sets King up on a table then hits a running splash off the apron that looks brutal. Taylor sets up a table in the corner and King fights back then picks Taylor up and hits a running DVD through the table. King hits a splash off a ladder through an elevated ladder for two. Taylor's right hand is very crisp looking and then a sick knee and a sitout piledriver for a very close two count, so good. They both stand on the ladder balanced across the ring and the guardrail and start exchanging strikes. King has to do too much to keep Taylor up which kind of hurts in this kind of match. Taylor hits a package piledriver, and they just kind of slide off the ladder and hit the floor, somehow King is fine. The end of this match was a little too much talking and took away from the real blood feud feel the rest of the match had, but it was still a very good brawl especially considering I've never liked Shane Taylor before so this was a lot of fun.

8/10

Willow vs. Rok C

Rok-C goes for a cartwheel and Willow pulls her arm out under her is such a good touch. This match and its reversals is dedicated to watching tape on your opponent and I like it. Rok-C blocks a moonsault attempt from Willow and hits a sitout powerbomb for two. Willow catches Rok-C up top and hits a superplex then follows up with a moonsault for a long two. Rok-C catches a superkick then hits a Code red for the three count. Rok-C has a lot of work to go on her in ring work, especially her running the ropes which was pretty rough for her here. Willow did a lot to make Rok-C look good in the match. Crowd was all in on Willow so the ending really didn't work here.

5/10

Violence Unlimited vs. The Foundation

Rocky and Williams started this off with some nice technical wrestling. Deppen tagged in and came in with a lot of fun offense. Riccaboni points out that Homicide was wearing his gear from the first show which is a very baggy jumpsuit. The match breaks down and Homicide hits a beautiful tope suicida like he hasn't aged since the first RoH show. Rocky goes for a hurrincanranna on the outside, but Rust catches him and powerbombs him through a bunch of tables. Homicide like a real sick stabs EC3 in the armpit and mouth with a fork. A bunch of crazy shit is happening while everybody is hitting RoH originals finishers. Brody King hits a Ganso bomb on Isom for the three count after a very fun multi man match. Just a bunch of chaos even if I didn't write a lot of what happened, but in these kind of matches so much stuff is happening everywhere it's kind of hard to get it all. EC3 served no purpose in this match and the aftermatch angle was dumb as fuck.

7/10

The OGK vs. The Briscoes

A really good back and forth tag team match between these two teams and of course RoH goes out with the Briscoes as tag team champions because it couldn't really go any other way. I didn't take much note of what happened in the match, but it was very good. These guys just went all out and hit great moves and a ton of tag team moves. Taven's clothesline dive into a doomsday device to the floor was fucking nuts. All of these guys put their bodies on the line to make it a great match and they did it well. It's just two polished teams doing their thing and doing it very well.

8/10

Jay Lethal vs. Jon Gresham

A back and forth match early with Lethal wrestling his style and Gresham targeting the shoulder of Lethal. Gresham nearly gets a three count with a roll up so Lethal just smacks the fuck out of him and stuns him. A rolling inerted samoan drop from Lethal was very cool looking. Lethal goes for Lethal Injection, but his shoulder gives out and Gresham hits a lionsault on the standing Lethal then gets the chicken wing locked in. Gresham gets the Octopus hold and gets the submission to be the Champion. A damn good match between these two men as much as I hate to admit Lethal does anything good, but great selling from both men and I loved to see Gresham just target the shoulder and go to work the whole match and see it pay off for him and stop Lethal from hitting the iconic moves he wanted to hit. Gresham is just so goddamn good in the ring and delivered a very good match here. Loved the lockerroom emptying to come down and watch the finish of the match. Kind of wish they had kept going for longer after the lockerroom came down or they had been there the whole match. The right call for the last RoH champion.

9/10

A really good show from Ring of Honor to end? the promotion. They ran a lot of angles that might be for the reboot, or more likely are going to happen in other promotions that kind of helped pay for the cool shit to happen after stuff matches. The last two matches and the fight without honor were very good and everything else was fine, although on rewatch I'd probably dislike the women's match more, but the crowd was so into Willow and she was killing it in that match so that helped. Loved all the taped wrestlers talking about what RoH meant to them in between matches as well. I don't know if the reboot of RoH will be good, but if this is the last show it's a great way for the company to go out.

Farewell Ring of Honor

Ring of Honor might be coming to an end. It's possible that Sinclair comes up with a way to reboot Ring of Honor and keep it going as a company, but after releasing all of the talent they have under contract there's no way its going to be the same company after all that. There are arguably earlier time periods when RoH stopped being the company it started as, but they always managed to find some way define themselves and stand out from the other companies. Thankfully the indie wrestling scene is good right now with several companies that stand out of the field. GCW has a strong case with a bunch of hype and momentum for all their shows and they did just sell out the Hammerstein Ballroom which is always a goal for US companies. PWG is back with their big shows. AIW and AAW are holding strong shows in the midwest and there are a ton of other smaller companies holding shows regularly on IWTV or Fite TV. For me Beyond is definitely the company that holds the same spot with a tendency to over deliver on their cards, but always doing it in a surprising way.

Ring of Honor introduced me to a lot of my favorite wrestlers and delivered great moments in wrestling. He wasn't there for the start of the company, but perhaps no name is more synonymous with the beginning of Ring of Honor than Samoa Joe and his dominant title run that set the tone for the company. The highlight of early RoH for me was always the Texas Wrestling Association guys who came up. Its hard to argue with a group of wrestlers that included Bryan Danielson, Spanky, Paul London, Michael Shane, and Masada. The feud amongst London and Shane in particular produced a great hardcore match that saw the creation of the “Please don't die” chant. The first batch of RoH stars were an unreal group of talent that filled the card with great matches, but they didn't rest on their laurels.

At the show Generation Next they had announced a tournament for a bunch of guys who had worked undercard matches and a lot of dark matches and shows for the company that were going to get an opportunity to win a contract. A bunch of them showed up with a different idea. Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, and Jack Evans offered the other competitors the choice to join them or get beat up as they hijacked the show that led to an amazing eight man tag on the show and the rise of Generation Next was the focus on Ring of Honor for quite some time in the company as all four guys got over and became champs. This was a favorite of mine as Alex Shelley was and still is my favorite wrestler so anything involving him and pushing him to a level of importance was great in my book. Shelley sadly committed more to TNA so Aries replaced him as the main star of the company, but he still got some shining moments so it wasn't all bad.

As an escalation to the Code of Honor the company also created a new division and belt with the Pure Wrestling Division. The rules really focused on the technical wrestling aspect of the company. Each wrestler got three rope breaks for the match. After they used all the breaks the ropes couldn't save them they had to get out of a hold and they would also lose a break for any rule infractions. The initial tournament concluded interestingly with Punk and Styles who are good technical wrestlers, but not really the style that either guy is known for. However they both stepped up to the challenge of this match and delivered a classic. Some found the division confusing with its rules, but I loved the division and how people adapted to the rules or failed to and went back to the regular division. It provided a great home for guys like Chad Collyer, Matt Stryker, and John Walters. It was especially nice as storylines started to become more of a focus in the company and they needed shenanigans to end matches and it still provided a home for the original style that made RoH what it was.

They also did a good job of bringing in foreign talent that they treated like a big deal. WCW always brought in luchadores and Japanese wrestlers and valued their wrestling ability, but used them to fill up time in the undercard of shows and that was the extent of it. In RoH them bringing in AJPW was the theme of the second Final Battle. When they brought in a wrestler from NOAH it was the theme of the tour with them. Culminating in them having Morishima come in and be the champion as they first started to appear on PPV. As the company fortunes in Japan changed they created a partnership with NJPW and were the destination for young lions on excursion before or after their time in CMLL, the company that RoH also started working with thanks to their deal with NJPW and after AEW took away a lot of their big name wrestlers they utilized a lot of the CMLL wrestlers to shore up their roster and Rush and Bandido lead the company as champs.

There's a lot of great feuds that built up over the years and wrestlers who would have good runs there before going to other companies and doing their thing there. I could spend a ton of time talking about so much of the good and bad of RoH in the early years, but it really was just a treat to see so many great workers showcase their skills with no limits. It's run of hot shows lasted a long time and it was just a monster of a company for so long with no easy way to watch its shows which is insane to think about now.

Over time I fell off watching Ring of Honor live, but every once in a while I'd check back in. Except for local indies the shows I went to were Ring of Honor shows and I even drove fourteen hours to Philadelphia to watch tv tapings for RoH, although that was the end of the War of the Worlds tour and I got to see a bunch of NJPW talent and the RoH debut of Chuck Taylor. I never would have looked at other indie companies or puro without finding RoH and that's something I'll always love RoH for. I got to see my favorite wrestlers live at their shows and was introduced to so many of the wrestlers who would go on to become my favorites. So while Ring of Honor is going to be dead its spirit is going to live on in all the wrestling today. Not just because they revitalized the indies, but the American Strong Style became the style of wrestling in the United States.

As a taste of what I loved about Ring of Honor I made a twitter thread with some of my favorite matches they have on their youtube channel, plus I'm going to list some other matches I just enjoy.

RoH matches twitter thread

Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong (Supercard of Honor)

Homicide vs. Steve Corino (War of the Wire)

Xavier vs. John Walters (Final Battle 2003)

Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer (Throwdown)

BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs (All of the matches)

CM Punk & Ace Steel vs. BJ Whitmer & Dan Maff (Death Before Dishonor 2 Night 2)

Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi

Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Briscoe

Jay Briscoe vs. Samoa Joe (At Our Best)

Briscoes vs. AJ Styles & Amazing Red  

Nation Extreme Wrestling One Review

 

These announcers sound so professional to start this show. I don't know if they're actually good at their job yet, but a nice start. Like the production to start this show even if the promo that starts it off is a little weak. Really like the venue with the giant windows on one side letting you see the outside.

Travis Williams vs. Judas Icarus

I find it very funny that the guy named Judas is the face in this match. They do a good job of working the start of this match. Judas controls early until Williams cuts him off and starts working him over. Judas makes a comeback with some big strikes. Judas did such a slowly dropped, crisply executed DVD into the neckbreaker over the knee it was awesome. A really nice finishing sequence between the two closes out the match with Icarus hitting a Pepsi Twist for the win.

6/10

Illa Tribe vs. Voros Twins

Both these teams are fairly green looking in this match. Its biggest problem is being way too back and forth without letting the heel team get control of the match and work over somebody. I'm also not completely sure there is a heel team in this match. I'd have thought it was going to be the pretty boys but I was wrong. The faster paced this match got at the end with bigger moves and guys coming in to break stuff it became really evident that neither team has a lot of experience. Except for Shug messing up coming in to break up a count when his partner was under the rope and the ref not counting and him just laying on the ground nothing was poorly executed except for the Voros Twins' finisher. They were just always too obvious or slow about getting into place. With more seasoning I think these guys could be good teams, but only time will tell.

3/10

Evan Rivers vs. Sebastian Wolfe

A rought start from these two before Rivers does a pescado to the floor and that floor looks like a motherfucker to bump on which Wolfe does a good job of catching Rivers and dropping down so it's not a hard bump. They brawl to the outside and the camera just films them through the windows which is fun. They brawl back into the ring and mess up a reversal spot into a slam. Rivers definitely has higher aspirations as a wrestler than he has the execution for currently with a lot of his strikes not really hitting as hard or as accurate looking as you'd like. Wolfe gets an elevated flatliner to pick up the win. A pretty rough match that had a lot of mistakes early that really turned me off and they just couldn't get a good flow going for the match.

3/10

Veda Scott vs. Jacky Lee

I'm normally a big fan of Veda, but she seemed to be moving slower than normal in this match. She does a good job of controlling the match early on, but her stuff just doesn't pop. Jacky has a decent come back although his clotheslines were pretty weak. The ending to this match makes no sense. On the plus side compared to the previous matches Veda knows how to structure a match that wet fart of an ending aside.

4/10

Nicole Matthews vs. Daniel Makabe

I've never seen Matthews wrestle this technically before and she's doing a good job, but obviously outclassed by Makabe as that's his thing, but she does manage to catch him a few times. They do some work in the corner and Makabe breaks up the technical wrestling display with a dropkick right to the head with some stank on it. I like that Matthews keeps hitting two strikes then yells for emphasis and Makabe blocks it and takes the advantage back. Matthews traps him in the corner and puts his knee over the rope and dropkicks it, love that spot. Big fan of changing the target of a move to a specific body part, it's the best. They exchange holds back and forth again and Makabe does some nice work to turn it into a cattle mutilation and its so smooth and nice looking. Makabe hits a disgusting leg hook German suplex that drops Matthews right on the back of her head. Matthews hits a nice spider German suplex off the top and pulls herself up to go for a moonsault, but Makabe rolls out of the ring. Makabe wins a battle of leg control and gets her into a weird looking leg submission that gets the tap out. Great hold exchanges throughout this match especially considering both of them have been out of the ring for like eighteen months. One nice touch I really enjoyed is that I don't think either one of them did a normal cover they were always getting extra pressure for a cover and ready to turn a kick out into a submission. Great stuff from these two.

8/10

$hareef Morrow vs. Bishop

A slight change of pace as we get a smaller high flyer against a big boy. Morrow presses the advantage early on the outside until Biship catches him and chokeslams him on the apron. Morrow keeps picking his moments and countering the big moves to avoid real punishment. He slips out of a razor's edge and gets on the top rope and jumps off with a code red to get the three count. A simple match, but perfectly fine and both guys looked good in it.

5/10

The Wisemen vs. Fergie & Elliot Tyler

The look on Elliot's face as he watches Fergie dance down to the ring is phenomenal. Tyler and Suede go back and forth with more of a technical exchange. Fergie and Baronie tag in and it becomes a hoss boy battle with Fergie getting the advantage then dropping the straps and hitting a delayed vertical suplex. Tyler gets on his hands and knees as Fergie bounches off the ropes. Fergie steps on Tyler's back and crushes him to the ring as their opponents laugh. Fergie knocks them all off the apron then Tyler jumps off Fergie's back. Great sequence love that goofy shit. The Wisemen get Tyler in the corner and start punishing him. Tyler hits a blockbuster then makes a hot tag to Fergie. They do the everybody comes in and hits their moves spot and Baroni casually picks up the big Fergie and hits a DVD. Tyler accidentally hits Fergie with the bell and the Wisemen hit their finisher for the three count. A fun tag match between a solid team of heels and the crowd favorite goofy big man. A well worked match that just worked well. After the match Fergie takes exception to having been hit by the bell and belly to belly suplexes Tyler then puts a beatdown on him. Amazing how he went from getting a huge face pop to getting booed. Good work.

6/10

Mike Bailey vs. Artemis Spencer

A nice back and forth at the start of the match with some strike exchanges and some really loud chops. Bailey kicking Spencer in the stomach during the chop exchange and immediately paying for it is great. Bailey's kicks sound and look so brutal. I like Bailey's change from smaller high flying baby face underdog, to cocky dickbag who is a hard striker. He always had the kicks, but he's really added some extra oomph to them now. Everytime Artemis gets an advantage then takes a second to plan ahead Bailey hits something and takes the advantage back. Both men go to get back into the ring, see they're facing off, and start brawling on the apron. Spencer's chest is pretty fucked up looking already in this match. I like the difference in their kicks where Spencer hits with his shin, but Bailey is connecting with the top of his foot which is why Spencer's chest is so much more fucked up. Bailey hits the shooting star press knees to the back of Spencer and lands on his feet. Spencer breaks up the cover by grabbing the bottom rope just in time. Spencer stops Bailey's attempt to springboard into the ring then jumps up the ropes and hits a Spanish Fly for a two count. The two men brawl into the crowd and Spencer charges for a kick, but Bailey backdrops him through a table then makes his way to the ring for a countout. Spencer breaks the count and the two men brawl on the corner and Spencer knocks him down to the mat then hits a spiral tap and gets a three count. A fun back and forth match between the two. A lot more strikes exchanges where they just stand and wait for the opponent to hit them than I really like in a match.

8/10

The show had some great matches and some real green indie wrestlers on it as well. So its a real fun show to watch. If you don't have a ton of time to watch mediocre wrestling just check out Makabe vs. Matthews and Spencer vs Bailey that are around the 1:10 and 2:00 marks respectively. The show had some great production value for an indie show and the commentary was really good. One of them was definitely trained as a sports commentator because he had the voice down pat.

Wrestling is Fun

 

We all get invested in different forms of media. I love music, movies, books, and television, but when it's done right none of those compare to professional wrestling. The most intensely I've felt that was after AEW's All Out. Except for the Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall every match on the show could have been a main event to a PPV. Every one of their shows has gotten me excited to post and tweet about the show, but this one made me bummed out that I didn't have somebody to talk to in person about it. It was the kind of show where after watching if for four hours I almost started it back up and wanted to talk to anybody about it for just as long as it aired. I haven't felt that way about wrestling in a long time and it rules.

The last time I really felt this way was near the start of Ring of Honor and when I found out about the company as a whole and the idea that there was independent wrestling that wasn't on television following the demise of ECW and WCW. There are always moments that get you hyped up in wrestling, but they don't always last like this one has. Especially since I was a WWE fan for a while. Everytime they did something great like when Nakamura and Asuka won the Royal Rumble in 2018 and then neither really mattered at their Mania matches and both lost, you kind of get trained to accept disappointment after something cool happens in WWE.

And to be honest that is probably the best thing about AEW. The booking rewards you for being a fan. You can get invested in the faces quest for the gold because he's going to win the belt. Hangman is away for Paternity leave and when he comes back the crowd is going to go apeshit and he is going to fight for the world title and be the one to defeat Kenny Omega because that's been the story since they were the tag team champions. Hangman leaving actually works well with all the big names coming in, plus when Bryan Danielson fails to dethrone Omega it will be even better when Hangman does it.

AEW has had plenty of shows filled with great matches so the difference this time is everybody who showed up. Starting with CM Punk who we knew was wrestling on the show, but getting to see him return to the ring after seven years was a treat and he did a great job. Then we get the surprise debuts of Minoro Suzuki, Ruby Soho, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson and it just changes everything.

To me Ruby's debut is the most definitive statement of why AEW is so much fun to watch. The other three are big deals in their promotions, but Ruby was never given anything to really do in WWE despite the crowd clamoring for it. She was maybe a midcard talent when WWE released her, but she came to AEW and the crowd popped because she proved how good she was before she was in WWE and they were ready to see her be the athlete she is without any handcuffs on her. That debut pop was just as good as the others and she never was treated with that kind of fanfare before going to AEW.

As much as my favorite tag team winning the tag belts in my current match of the year is a factor in how much I love this show, the undeniable biggest factor is Bryan Danielson being in a company that embraces the same idea of wrestling as him. The promo against Kenny gives me hope of him racking up wins against the indy guys on dark to build up his resume. Is that because I would love to see him wrestle Lee Moriarty, Daniel Garcia, and Wheeler Yuta. Yeah, of fucking course it is those guys all rule and I would love to see them work the American Dragon. And then obviously the matches against Kenny Omega and the other signed AEW talent, especially the match Punk said he wanted of teaming with Danielson against the Young Bucks.

But it isn't just the debuts and possibility of the future, the matches that happened on the show all mattered too. Kingston and Miro had a feud with like two weeks of build, but with a minute of promo time between them they made the match matter and then had a fucking banger of a match with both men throwing bombs and refusing to stay down. It's a match I knew Kingston could do, but didn't know Miro could and he backed up why he's treated the way he is in AEW. The star of the show for me is Young Bucks vs Lucha Brothers. I can't be objective about this match these are the two best tag teams in wrestling for the last two decades and they've always had great matches against each other and in the steel cage they upped the dramatics and violence and had an all time classic that is the match of the year and one of the best tag matches of all time.

What I find the best is that after this show I'm not just excited about AEW shows and the future I'm just excited about the idea of professional wrestling in general. I'm back to watching random matches on youtube, paying attention to live shows on IWTV and even watching NJPW shows again. I went and played around at the basketball court and spent time thinking about how I want to open up a wrestling themed bar. I haven't felt that way in a long time and its just so awesome that AEW has reopened that part of me. I never stopped liking wrestling, but as CM Punk tweeted years ago in WWE this poop isn't fun anymore and as he tweeted after All Out, This shit is fun again.

WWE Summerslam 2002

 

I decided to rewatch this show because of that viral tweet talking about how the IWC would hate this show if it existed in 2002 which it did and I was part of and I remember being hyped for this show. Mostly I was really looking forward to HHH vs. HBK which is one of my favorite WWE matches ever and when I saw the rest of the card I was surprised I didn't remember anything else on this show. The card looked great so I figured it was a good time to rewatch this show.

Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio

Pretty sure these two men don't have bad matches against each other. Cocky heel Angle is very good and he is really disliked by the crowd despite how good he is at everything. I love the bit where the ref stops Rey from doing a dive to check on the opponent and then Rey just leaps over the ref, crowd loves it to as it gets a “Holy Shit” chant from the crowd. Love when Rey hit the West Coast Pop as a springboard 'rana instead of a plancha really spiked Angle with it too. Angle does a good job of countering so many moves and escapes by Rey into the ankle lock even if Mysterio gets out of a lot of them pretty quickly.

On rewatch I remember the match and watch it fairly regularly. It's a great example of how to do a short sprint of a match. A great way to start the show off even if the heel got the win. I watch a ton of Rey matches because he's great, but I don't watch enough Angle stuff anymore and so much of the little touches he does in this match really make this match sing and they stand out more. Angle's full body follow through on his clotheslines is delightful. Angle has enough size on Rey that he can play the bully, but not so much that he can't wrestle just as quickly and smoothly as Rey and it just works really well.

8/10

Chris Jericho vs. Ric Flair

A lot of solid wrestling to start the match off between the two men and Jericho does a great job of both dominating Flair and selling for the offense that Flair gets in. These guys are both great and they demonstrate it in this match where Flair can't quite do the Flair flipping bump over the corner to the floor so Jericho just hits him with a clothesline over the top. No awkward pause after something didn't go right or setting the spot up again they just keep going with the match. Around six minutes in Jericho starts to go for some shady tactics like uncovering the top of the ringside guardrail, loosening turnbuckle pads and choking Flair with his wrist tape. Love Flair getting to stop Jericho on the top rope and throw somebody off. Flair hits a beautiful belly to back suplex on Jericho with some taunting before, during, and after. Flair fighting off Jericho's figure four is a masterclass in selling and how to be in a submission. Not a big fan of the ending to this match, but I'm guessing its so these two could keep feuding.

Despite a kind of abrupt ending to this match is was a really good back and forth affair and Flair really holds his own in this match, its not Jericho doing all the work to make him look good. An impressive performance from a man Flair's age. It is just a really well wrestled match and doesn't rely on the charisma and storytelling ability of both men, although that is present from both men as well.

7/10

Eddie Guerrero vs. Edge

Edge sells a hurt arm and Eddie goes after it with a vengeance after he sees it. Love Edge hitting a suplex over the ropes to the floor on Eddie. Big fan of the Edgecution, never should have switched from that to the spear as his finisher. Eddie stops a superplex and throws Edge to the ground then hits a frog splash onto the injured arm. Edge hits a spear with the injured shoulder and grabs Eddie for the three count.

Eddie does a great job of working the shoulder after Edge hurts it falling to the floor and just wraps his entire offense around destroying that body part. Edge then does a shit job of selling that injury. Yeah, he walks around selling its hurt, but whenever he's wrestling it doesn't effect him and how he does his moves which is a bummer. I could overlook it more if it wasn't the entire point of the match. It's still a really good match because Eddie Guerrero is at the top of his game at this point and he just viciously demolishes the arm, its beautiful work. Edge is good as well, but this is just a showcase of Eddie.

6/10

Lance Storm & Christian vs. Booker T & Goldust

Storm tosses Goldust over the corner to the floor in what has become a theme on this show dudes taking bumps over the ropes straight to the floor. Heels isolate Goldust int eh corner and beat him up and then do my least favorite spot in wrestling where the ref doesn't see the hot tag and nullifies it, then lets the heels make a tag behind his back. Booker eventually gets the hot tag and its a good one. Storm kills the ref with a leg lariat and he misses a three count on Christian and then Test runs in and nails a big boot on Booker T so Christian can get the three count.

A perfectly fine tag team match from these guys. All four of them are really good wrestlers so that's not really much of a surprise. Only really impressive thing is Booker hitting the axe kick on Christian and Storm at the same time.

5/10

Chris Benoit vs. RVD

A bunch of striking exchanges between the two men before Benoit hits a brutal German suplex. RVD's offense works very well for getting spurts of the advantage against the relentless style of Benoit. He's not going quite as all in on working the arm as Eddie did earlier, but Benoit is modifying his moves especially the northern lights suplex to make sure RVD is landing on the arm. RVD is also not doing a great job of selling the injured arm. RVD counters the avalanche belly to back suplex with a crossbody then hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the three count.

Really good hard hitting match between these two men. Benoit's arm destroying offense is not as viscerally satisfying as Eddie's earlier, but he does have the submission move that really focuses on the body part which is a nice touch to working on the arm.

6/10

Test vs. Undertaker

Test controls the early parts of the match with some shady tactics before Undertaker powers up by the cheers of the crowd and starts to get the momentum on his side. Storm and Christian run down to interfere and both of them get choke slams and an especially impressive one on Storm who loves to jump super high for those moves. Test tries to cheat with a chair and it backfires on him with Taker hitting a big boot knocking it into his face then hitting a tombstone.

Much better than I thought I was going to get from a Test vs Undertaker match. This style never really did much for me, but both of these guys are moving pretty well in the ring as well as hitting each other with some nice moves in between punches and elbows.

6/10

HHH vs. Shawn Michaels

First match back in years and Michaels wrestles it in jeans and cowboy boots, as well as his belt having a big buckle on it as well. He's a crazy person. Michaels dominates early until HHH hits a backbreaker and follows up with a second and Michaels is selling like its broken again. HHH does an Irish Whip to the corner where he throws himself to the mat to add more momentum and its such a nice touch. Michaels is often a very animated seller so there's a lot of times in this match when he takes a shot to the back and he just acts like he's dead to sell and it really adds more to it since its so out of character for how he sells. HHH brings the sledgehammer in, but Michaels hits some kicks to the midsection to stop HHH then falls to his knees and crawls forward to keep hitting HHH with punches to the midsection. He's fighting so desperately to get some offense in. HHH hits a nice backbreaker over the chair and destroys the seat. HHH comes at Michaels with the chair and he hits Sweet Chin Music to send it into HHH's face and he is immediately a bloody mess. Michaels hits a running forearm then kips up and the place comes unglued. Michaels steals Hugo's boot on commentary and hits HHH with it. Michaels sets HHH up on the table then cliumbs to the top rope and mimes being crazy before jumping off to the floor with splash. Michaels sets up the ladder in the ring and hits the elbow drop off.

This match still fucking rules. HHH's dominance in the early part of the match just makes Michaels' comeback even better and the fact that HHH hits a gusher of a blade job just makes all of that even more perfect. A great use of weapons throughout the match and just a strong story throughout while both men are just working their asses off and selling perfectly. Michaels hits all of his signature spots in this match in different ways and the splash off the top is phenomenal. The craziest thing to me is that it has the rollup win to stop a definitive win from happening with HHH beating Michaels up after the match and it takes nothing away from this one. This is two guys who work perfectly with each other having a perfect match.

10/10

Brock Lesnar vs. The Rock

Rock rusn down eager to start the match and gets an overhead belly to belly suplex for his troubles. Heyman is very actively interfering in this match to help Brock. Cole talks about how Heyman could become a millionaire managing Brock and Taz says hopefully he becomes a billionaire because he owes a lot of people money. Brock dominates early and hurts himself when Rock dodges out of a spear in the corner and Brock hits the post. Both men end up down and kip up at the same time. Rock makes a comeback, but the crowd seems pretty against Rock and for Brock even with all the Heyman interference. Rock does a slingshot into the ringpost and Lesnar jumps so fucking high to hit the post. Rock puts Heyman through the announce table with a terrible looking Rock Bottom because Heyman can't jump. Back in the ring Rock hits a beautiful Rock Bottom because Lesnar jumps really high and kicks out at two. A nice back and forth exchange of finishers and counters ends with Lesnar hitting the F-5 for the win.

This match was a little too long for what it was. The sharpshooter so early in the match and lasting as long as it did while it looks bad doesn't help the start of this match at all. A bunch of Heyman interference that doesn't really do much for the match either. This would rule as an all out sprint version in seven minutes that at times they were doing the pace to have. This match also isn't well served following the previous match. With all that said it is a good match its just not the best match these two guys could have. Everything they do looks good, except for Rock's sharpshooter, and you can't go wrong with Brock's intensity when he is on in a match.

7/10

This show fucking rules. The worst match on the show is a perfectly fine tag match so you should definitely rewatch it if you haven't in a while. It has what is one of the best opening matches you're going to see on a wrestling show and also one of my top ten favorite WWE matches so the fact that the rest of the show is all good as well is just a nice cherry on top of that.

CZW Tournament of Death 17

 

Jimmy Lloyd vs. G-Raver vs. Casanova Valentine vs. Shlak vs. Stockade

This match starts out awkward as its too many people in the match and they're just kind of hanging out waiting for somebody to make the first move. After the first couple minutes it becomes a good wild brawl where everybody is wandering around and fighting somebody somewhere in the ring or outside it. These way too many deathmatches kind of work better as it gives people time to sell big moves, but still have action going on because others are still good to go. Stockade stacking up a bunch of cinderblocks then powerbombing G-Raver into it was brutal looking. We also get my favorite thing in deathmatches where Shlak powerbombs Stockade through a table with cement blocks on it and the ref counts the pinfall while Stockade is in a V over the wreckage since his shoulders are on a surface. It also starts raining about the same time so that's a good omen. I can't believe they finish the match by climbing a ladder in the rain and Lloyd hits a brainbuster on the top of the ladder which has a bundle of lighttubes on it. This match has some fun moments, but a lot of awkwardness and blow spots so it's not great and it's got too many people to really tell a story. Awesome finish to the match as well as some other crazy spots though so it's a fun watch at least.

6/10

Josh Crane vs. Mance Warner vs. Dale Patricks

This match starts off hot with them breaking a pane of glass and a barbedwire board draped over the apron and guardrail. Mance gets his tongue stapled a couple of times first to the turnbuckle then just the rope. We get a really awkward part as Mance and Crane stand ringside waiting for Patricks to walk on the ropes and hit a moonsault. Them all hitting each other with a bundle of lighttubes at the sametime looked cool as hell though. And the rain stopped for this match which is nice. Patricks hits a piledriver off the top rope through a glass pane for just a two count on Crane. This isn't even the 'safe' way of doing a piledriver off the top Patricks gets it setup like he's going to powerbomb him and jumps to the glass instead of just falling back into it, impressive as hell. Patricks and Crane start fighting and we get a shot of Crane leaning against the guardrail drinking a beer, respect. Warner pushes the official down when he gets back in the ring after Crane has eliminated Patricks and jumps off the refs back to hit a tornado DDT through a glass pane for two. All three of these guys have wrestled the back half of the match with one of the round spike plates in their heads as well so that's impressive. Another of my favorite weird deathmatch things happens in this match. Mance knees a bundle of tubes into Crane's chest then hits a lariat for a win. I love all the crazy bumps through barbedwire and glass and a lariat is how the match is won. This match has less of the awkwardness of the first one, but it has a lot of downtime in it while selling and they seem to have really gassed out in the match. A lot of good spots though keep it a good time.

5/10

Drew Parker vs. RSP

RSP starts the match off just bullying Parker as he usually does in matches, but since Parker is small he can really toss him around. Parker hits a really nice 450 splash onto a bundle lf lighttubes. Parker hits a beautiful reverse 'rana and its cool to see a guy like RSP who doesn't normally take those kind of bumps take them. I really like that for this match they have lighttubes ducttaped to the outside of the ringposts. RSP hits a chokebreaker with some lighttubes over his knee for the win. They keep this match short and moving fast so I really liked this one. They broke a shitton of lighttubes and hit all of the moves crisply and it was just a good match.

7/10

Kit Osbourne vs. Conor Claxton vs. Brandon Kirk vs. Dan O'Hare

I can't believe the tournament matches had a normal match, a three way, a fourway, and a fiveway match and they didn't do them in descending or ascending order and just did them anywhich way. Osbourne gets the new to deathmatch treatment in this match I believe and they bully the shit out of him to start the match with lots of lighttubes shots. Osbourne and Claxton climb the scaffolding next to a spiders net with lighttubes on it and Claxton hits a michinokue driver onto Osbourne then pins him. The crew brings out a six foot high structure with a ton of barbedwire inside of it and set it next to the ring. Kirk hits a spear/crossbody block through the ropes on O'Hare through the barbedwire to get a pinfall and the win as Claxton couldn't compete after the spiderweb bump. This match was pretty bad, but it was short with some really good bumps. So definitely watch this for the two gnarly big bumps, but that's all this match has to offer.

2/10

Jimmy Lloyd vs. Mance Warner

They keep this one pretty short and go pretty hard. They share a beer, punch each other then start going to town with lighttubes. They bring out some fucked up sawblade weapons and Mance takes two straight bumps onto the sawblades and it looks brutal. He fights back and Lloyd traps him on the top rope and hits a tombstone piledriver through a gigantic lighttube bundle for the win. Shorter than I would have expected, but they both fought pretty hardcore and long first round matches so I get it. Not bad, but nothing special either.

4/10

Brandon Kirk vs. RSP

Can't argue with RSP coming out to Bayley's music and her shirt with some purple trunks. RSP hits two huge suplexes where instead of dropping Kirk he just chucks him and one of those is through a ladder, looked brutal as fuck. Kirk comes up with a dumb idea of doing a springboard ace crusher through the carpet strip, lighttube door and takes most of the damage. A lot of back and forth action but mostly RSP is in control and Kirk refuses to stay down and keeps kicking out. RSP may not have the body of a power wrestler, but damn he just chucks Kirk around in this match and it looks really cool. The superplex through the barbedwire board was really damn good looking as well. Just good stuff throughout this match.

7/10

Matt Tremont vs. Toby Klein vs. Jeff Cannonball

Toby Klein shows off his wisdom by letting Tremont and Cannonball fight then jumping them both and going to work on both men with a pizza cutter. Tremont puts a watermelon on Cannonball's duck then goes Gallagher on it. Can't believe Cannonball just left the Xbox 360 hanging around by Klein, we've all seen what he'll do with electronics to people. A lot of genital based violence in this match including a hammer with a phallus as the hard part. Cannonball saves Tremont from getting crushed by a cinderblock by having a cinderblock duel with Klein and Cannonball repays him by hitting a splash with a bundle of lighttubes for the win. Just a crazy brawl between these three guys which is what you're going to get when fans bring the weapons. Lots of bats of some kind and they go hard with those weapons and leave a nice mess in the ring. They show some decent restraint in this match to not overshadow the tournament matches since it's just fun to see Toby Klein back in CZW.

6/10

Jimmy Lloyd vs. RSP

RSP levels up hi stossing suplex by throwing Lloyd through a glass pane this time and Lloyd is busted wide open early in the match. One Irish whip into the barbed wire ropes takes them all out and RSP goes down to the ground CZW should know you can't just put three lines of barbedwire across the posts you got to cross it and use several strands per rope. Lloyd has unwisely taken all the damage to his head so he has a full crimson mask where RSP keeps breaking glass with his back and is nowhere near as bloody. Lloyd brings out a weedwhacker and as that keeps RSP down he sets up a big table contraption since they have scaffolding right next to the ring. It's impressive how smoothly RSP hits the lighttube assisted chokebreaker every time this tournament. Lloyd finishes his table pyramid construction then climbs up the scaffolding and tells RSP to come up with him. Lloyd hits the DVD off the scaffolding through the glass and board and lighttubes and gets the three count. A good main even and finish to the tournament, although it did have a little bit too much setting up stuff and being down forever by RSP. All the wrestling they did was good and smooth though. The scaffolding brawl before the big spot is overdone, but its fine and the spot after that looks awesome so its worth it. This match went for a good time and just looked good and you can't go wrong with RSP getting whipped through a glass pane wall.

8/10

Overall this is definitely a show worth checking out. It's probably for the best it didn't keep raining, but wrestling outside in the rain looks cool as hell and would have been cool, but its dangerous enough doing deathmatches so no need to make everything slippery as well. The worst part of this review is having to acknowledge that Rickey Shane Page was the highlight of this tournament. His matches were the best and he does a great job of making his opponents look good, even while he maintains dominance in the match. Some crazy bumps throughout the show and some crazy spots made even the worst match on this show worth checking out.

No Peace Underground - You Will Never Be One of Us

For a wrestling show atmosphere you got to respect a bar with no wrestling ring where they use the stage and a semi-circle in front of of it to wrestle deathmatches. Once the pandemic ends I'm definitely heading to Orlando to watch one of their shows. Sometimes wrestlers don't really know how to utilize this space without a ring, which isn't surprising considering its not a normal way to wrestle, but its fun to see who can adapt to it and how fast they can do it. I have seen some awkward matches because of that, but this show doesn't really have any matches like that. Watching the show live can be kind of a bummer as they take a good amount of time between matches cleaning out the broken weapons and setting up new stuff, but that's pretty standard for deathmatch stuff.

Parrow vs. MV Young

Brawling on the stage starts the match off until MV kicks Parrow down to the floor. MV leaps off the stage with a crossbody, but Parrow catches him and hits a fall away slam into the guardrail. Parrow accidentally knocks the camera feed out for a bit with a chair before circling MV and hitting a chair shot to his back. Parrow sets up two chairs facing each other and MV smokes him with a chair to the knee then hits a double stomp off the stage to the back of Parrow leaning on the chairs. MV sets up a guardrail over some chairs and Parrow escapes to the stage. Parrow fights back and picks MV up for a powerbomb and slams him into some lighttubes that are setup on the wall. Commentary from Janela and Drennan tell us about how Parrow's husband was mad about him going through lighttubes at the last show. Parrow then sets up lighttubes on the guardrail table and MV fights out of the powerbomb attempt then sends Parrow through the tubes with a backbody drop for a two count. MV sets up the door over the guardrail, but Parrow fights back and powerbombs MV through the table. Parrow stands up after the pin attempt and his back is a bloody mess. Parrow hits an inverted piledriver and gets the three count.

This is a great way to start the show with a hard hitting match with some nice weapon usage, but it doesn't go too hard with that and leaves lots of room for the later matches to go really hard with it. Parrow really displays his power against MV and the piledriver finisher of this match looks really brutal.

6/10

Beastly vs. Otis Cogar

They start by exchanging forearms strikes before Cogar grabs the lighttubes and just nails Beastly over the head. They brawl onto the stage and Beastly takes advantage and hits Cogar with some lighttubes in revenge. Cogar gets the advantage again and sends Beastly to the floor and comes off with a suicide dive. Beastly is leaned against a table, but moves out of the way and Cogar sends himself through it. Beastly puts the door on top of Cogar and wails on him with a chair. Cogar turns the tables and wallops Beastly with the chair. Beastly sets up a door over two chairs and hits Cogar with some more chair shots. Beastly looks in Cogar's bag and gets scared and Cogar chokeslams him through the door to get the three count.

A brawl between two brawler dudes. Not a whole lot to be excited for in this match. It's fine, they don't mess anything up, but its not that exciting either.

4/10

Lindsay Snow vs. Neil Diamond Cutter

Snow wins the strike exchange to start the match then breaks a lighttube over his head. NDC isn't phased and tells her to break more over him and she kicks two of them into his chest. NDC hits her leg to stun her then headbutts a lighttube over her head then rubs the broken end into her forehead. Then he grabs a gusset plate and headbutts that into her head. Snow hits a nice snap suplex on the floor. They brawl back and forth before Snow sits NDC on a chair and locks in a sleeper. NDC trips Snow into the chair then puts it around her neck and throws her into the stage then drop toeholds her and Snow breaks the chair with her impact. NDC sets up a door with lighttubes and because he tries to pump up the fans Snow hooks him from behind and essentially hits a pump handle slam through it. After getting a two count Snow grabs a lighttube and sets it off on NDC's finger a couple of times. Snow sets up a bunch of chairs facing each other and NDC fights onto the stage and picks her up to hit a running air raid crash through the chairs for a two count. NDC sets up a ladder as the Orlando Death Squad brings out a barbed wire spider net over the top of a door with some mousetraps on it. Then the crew brings out a lighttube structure to put on top of that. NDC climbs the ladder to go for a tornado DDT, but Snow low blows him then press slams him off the ladder through the glass and barbed wire and gets the three count.

I love this match. Can not tell that its Snow's first deathmatch as she seems right at home with all of the weapons they use and both of them are bloody messes at the end of this match. They do a great job of escalating the violence building up to the end and the action is a fun watch. NDC is a guy I started watching last year and he's quickly become one of my favorite wrestlers to watch. And its capped off with a great spectacle of a bump that I could watch over and over again. You have to check this match out.

9/10

John Wayne Murdoch vs. Matthew Justice

Murdoch loses the chair duel and gets a stiff shot to the back. Murdoch gets a few chair shots in then Justice throws him against the guardrail and clotheslines him over and they brawl to the outside. Murdoch suplexes Justice on the street outside as a car is directed around them wrestling. Back inside the building they exchange heavy chops before Justice charges and gets backbody dropped over the guardrail back into the pit area. Justice hits a stinger splash to Murdoch on a ladder, but Murdoch holds onto him and hits an exploder onto the ladder. Both men grab metal buckets and start wailing on each other. Then they both sit down and start smacking each other with cheese graters. Justice picks Murdoch up and hits a DVD onto a chair and the guardrails.Justice gets a staple gun and starts stapling tips onto Murdoch. Justice goes onto the stage and leaps off and goes through a chair and door to the floor and it looks brutal. Murdoch gets on the stage and misses his own dive and smashes through the other door with a bunch of lighttubes on his back. Justice and Murdoch grab the remains of doors and smack each other in the head with them. Murdoch wants to go for a Canadian Destroyer, but Fonzie smashes a lighttube bazooka over his head and Justice spears him through the guardrail for a two count. Justice sets up a door and a ladder on the floor then he and Murdoch brawl on the stage. Murdoch hits a Canadian Destroyer off the stage through the ladder and gets a two count. All the debris gets stacked up on the floor and Murdoch hits another Canadian Destroyer off the stage to the floor. Neither man gets up by ten and the match is a draw.

This match is too long of a brawl for my tastes and the ending doesn't really help anything. I've seen good matches from both of these guys, but this definitely felt like one of those matches where people wanted to make it an epic match and it just had too much stuff and wasn't concerned with being a good match to start with before it becomes epic. There's also a lot more sloppiness than I'm used to from these two guys.

5/10

Bam Sullivan vs. Alex Ocean

They start with the traditional deathmatch greeting of breaking lighttubes over each others heads. They dodge each other to avoid the door before Sullivan catches Ocean and hits a side Russian leg sweep through the door. Ocean breaks some U shaped lighttubes over Sullivan's back then grinds the remains on his forehead. Oh no the bucket of syringes and Sullivan stabes two into Ocean's arms. Ocean dodges a lighttube attack and returns the favor of syringes to the arm and then stabs a bunch to his forehead. Sullivan sets up a door on the stage then dumbs the syringes on the door. As Sullivan checks the syringes Ocean pops up and hits a diamond cutter through the door. Ocean spends a bunch of time setting up some contraptions and Sullivan recovers and hits an enziguri twice but fails to break the lighttube either time before he just hits a running kick to break the tube. Sullivan drop toe holds Ocean onto the lighttubes set across the bottom run of the ladder, but they don't break. Sullivan jumps off the stage with lighttubes across his back and smashes through Ocean and the door he was leaning against. Bam Sullivan sets up another door and hits a sitout DVD through the door to get a two count. The Orlando Death Squad comes out with another contraption starting with a door over some chairs then a couple pallets for walls with a pane of glass with some Christmas lights on it and then a second pan of glass above that. Sullivan removes Ocean's shirt and smashes him with a lighttube as the squad lights the glass pane on fire. Sullivan goes for a suplex, but Ocean counters and hits a falcon arrow through the contraption and gets the three count.

This match was a little too slowly paced and felt pretty long with a bunch of door spots that got repetitve after a while. These two do some crazy shit in between this stuff, but it felt a little too much like wait for each other to do a spot, now I'll take control and do a cool spot. The finish is fucking awesome though and buys a lot of forgiveness in the match for me, but they could have cut like five minutes from this and made it an awesome match. There was a bit where Ocean setup two different contraptions and then didn't use either and it was bad. Still the bright spots of this match were bright and the my god the finish was cool.

6/10

Masada vs. Conor Claxton

Some brawling to start before Masada grabs some records and smashes them over Claxton's head. They brawl to the bar and Masada lays Claxton on the bar and tries to waterboard him with the soda gun. Masada pummels Claxton to the ground with a cinder block then rests it on his back and smashes it with another cinder block. Claxton fights back with a lighttube shot then grabs a mini field goal post with lighttubes and smashes it over Masada's head. Masada grabs the dummy head with skewers on it and smashes it into Claxton's midsection then stabs him in the mouth with the skewers. Masada sets some lighttubes on the stage then lifts Claxton up with a belly to back suplex on the floor and drops him onto the lighttubes. Masada chokes Claxton, but Claxton counters with an eye gouge. He goes to whip Masada into the guardrail, but Masada counters sending Claxton hard into the rails. Masada hits a couple of European uppercuts, but Claxton blocks the third one and hits a brainbuster through a chair for a two count. Claxton sets up a bunch of cinder blocks and sets Masada on top then goes for a moonsault off the stage. Masada rolls out of the way and Claxton misses the blocks and hits the chair on the ground. Masada sets a door up over the cinder blocks and chokes Claxton with a chair before going up to the stage. Claxton chucks the chair into Masada's face then climbs up onto the stage with him. They exchange forearm shots and Masada counters a suplex attempt off the stage with a kick to the dick. Masada grabs some skewers and pounds them into Claxton's head and gets all of them to stick in there. Masada does a standing snapmare through the door then replants the skewers into Claxton's forehead. Masada grabs even more because he's mean then kicks a chair into Claxton's skewered head for the three count.

This was a pretty one sided beat down by Masada which isn't ideal, but Claxton shows a lot of fire making his comebacks and Masada is just really good at laying out matches like this. Masada is a good wrestler and he knows how to build a normal match and then add in the deathmatch stuff. The pace is really good in this match and they keep things going really well. They don't go super big with any spots, but everything they do is well done and makes sense with the flow of the match. Plus this match had a lot of weapons that nobody else on the show was using which made it seem more special as well.

7/10

Overall: I recommend watching this show. As long as you skip the interstitial clips between matches its under two hours and features a lot of exciting matches and gives you a good range of talent to check out. There's only one match on here I don't like at all and even that ones not bad. And I think my opinion about the Justice vs. Murdoch match isn't widely shared so it might have more stuff to enjoy than I think. I like that the show uses the same lighting that the venue does for the bands that play which give it a really unique vibe from other wrestling shows.