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.

Zona 23 – La Guerra Comienza

Zona 23 is my favorite promotion that I've never watched a full show from, well was now that I've watched a full show from them. I love their youtube stuff and I just love the idea of a wrestling promotion in the middle of a junkyard. Lot of people I'm seeing for the first time on this show, but a few I've seen in other stuff since I just watched an IWA:MS King of the Deathmatch tournament

Guerrera Negra vs, Sadik Maiden

You know it's going to be good when the match starts with them just smashing a bunch of lighttubes over each others heads. Sadik knocks Negra to a seated position then hits running knees to the back of the head with some lighttubes. Negra takes the advantage after some brawling ringside and sticks some lightubes down the back of Sadik's shirt and smashes them with double knees to the back. Sadik makes a comeback and drapes Negra over the ropes and neckbreakers her off them. They go back to the outside and start exchanging strikes. Sadik grabs Negra by the hair and charges her into the crowd as none of them bother mobing out of their chairs. Sadik piles chairs on top of Negra and one fan who didn't move and starts hitting the pile with more chairs. Negra breaks out the skewers and hammers them into Sadik's forehead. Sadik returns the favor and for the first time I've ever seen gets every skewer to stick in. The shen pulls them out and bites the forehead. Sadik comes off the second rope with a splash onto lighttubes and Negra for the win. The top rope is a little loose so she wisely doesn't go up there.

The match has a little too much of them no selling stuff and who has control of the match randomly changing that a lot of deathmatches can suffer from, but otherwise this is a fun brawl between the two women and while they don't go too crazy with any huge spots they do have them build up to bigger stuff throughout the match which is another thing a lot of deathmatches mess up so kudos to them for not doing that.

6/10

Lanatik Extreme vs. Lunatik Fly

We start off with some nice lucha wrestling and escapes for each other and Fly sends Extreme to the outside and hits a dive. We take a turn to the hardcore as Fly slams Extreme repepeatedly into a car near the ring. He thin hits a legdrop off the car onto Extreme, good height on that jump too. Extreme takes advantage and hits an avalanche falcon arrow onto the remains of some lighttubes for a two count. He follows that up with a powerbomb into the corner onto lighttubes. Extreme goes for a double stomp onto the apron, but Fly moves out of the way and then hits a beautiful asai moonsault on Extreme. Back in the ring Extreme regains control and hits a powerbomb onto his knee for the three count.

A fast paced affair between these two and an enjoyable match. My favorite kind of deathmatch where the two competitors just have a good match where some weapons happen to be involved. The leg drop on the outside is insane.

7/10

Joe Lider vs. Super Mega vs. Ultimo Gladiator

A short three way exchange of crazy happens and Ultimo knocks everybody to the outside and hits a suicide dive on Lider. Mega gets back in the ring and hits a suicide dive onto the other two with a bunch of lighttubes in front of him. Mega hits Lider over the head with an unfolded chair like a jerk as they brawl over toward a car. Ultimo suplexes Lider from the hood to the roof then climbs on top of a trailer and hits a splash onto Lider on the car. Lider rolls off the car and Mega suplexes Ultimo onto the roof then takes Lider into the ring. Mega charges at Lider in the corner who counters with a hiptoss through lighttubes and a pane of glass. Mega sets up a barbed wire wrapped chair and runs Lider into it after shoving some skewers into Ultimo's head. Lider breaks up a pin attempt and shoves a bunch of skewers into the forehead of Mega. Lider then gets some skewers courtesy of Ultimo. Ultimo and Mega suplex Lider onto some lighttubes. Mega hits a superplex on Ultimo onto a pile of chairs and lighttubes that gets a two count. Lider drops an elbow with a lighttube and gets the three count.

The three way rule really helped this match be going at all times and led to a bunch of great spots throughout the match and good work from all three of these men. The actual pinfall was pretty anticlimatic and probably should have come more quickly after the superplex, but whatever. Still got a ton of great hardcore spots and good work throughout.

8/10

Pirata Morgan, Super Crazy & Toxico vs. Histeria II, Psicosis II & X-Fly

Psicosis II hits a sloppy tilt a whirl move, but follows it up with a nice suicide dive and has already made his way to the car where he hits a tombstone piledriver on Toxico on the roof. The action is crazy and all over, but it gets back in the ring and the rudos are teaming up on Pirata Morgan. The technicos make a comeback and start brawling around ringside again. Crazy has set up the hood of a car over three chairs on the outside. Psicosis II strips Toxico's shirt off then powerbombs him onto thumbtacks. Psicosis tries to roll out of the way of a Crazy moonsault, but doesn't go far enough and still gets hit. They brawl to the outside and he puts Crazy on the carhood and jumps off the top rope with a legdrop, but Crazy moves. The ref calls for a disqualification victory for the rudos because Pirata Morgan hit a dick kick with lighttubes, but considering all the other stuff going on I don't know why the fuck that would matter.

This match had too much going on to focus on anything and a lot of the people in this match looked pretty bad during it as well. For a while I was worried they were going to restart the match, but all the talk afterword didn't lead to anything thankfully.

2/10

Eliminatoria de cachetadas

A masked wrestler I don't know is in the ring and has issued an open slap challenge and a bunch of fans get to come in and accept it. He's a thoughtful guy so he lets the fans strike first. He no sells the two fans strikes and fucking rocks them with slaps. Dumb, but fun to see. The fans really tried, you love to see it.

Aeroboy vs. Ciclope

Aeroboy Irish whips Ciclope through a barbed wire board then Ciclope Irish whips him into a car hood. Aeroboy hits a suicide dive that slowly sends Ciclope crashing through the chairs. The brawl back and forth on the outside with some lighttube usage involved. A car hood is setup over to chairs with some lighttubes on top for good measure. They brawl on the outside until Ciclope slides off Aeroboy's back into the ring. He trips Aeroboy down then bounches off the far ropes and hits a crossbody through the bottom ropes that sends them crashing through the car hood, awesome spot. Aeroboy recovers despite his back being a bloody mess and gets the barbed wire chair and slams it over Ciclope's back several times. They exchange lighttube shots then brawl over to a car. Aeroboy suplexes Ciclope onto the room then climbs up a stack of trucks and misses a senton that destroys the roof of the car, and probably Aeroboy's insides. Ciclope is lazy so he has the ring crew carry Aeroboy into the ring for him and only gets a two count. Ciclope comes off the top with a moonsault with a bundle of lighttubes and misses. They have a nice exchange of big moves that culminates in Aeroboy hitting a senton followed by a tiger driver for the three count.

The beginning of this match was kind of not much, but sloppy brawling, but once they get out to the car it becomes a lot more entertaining. Some fun bumps and cool stuff from the two guys, but this definitely suffered from death match random control change issues and the biggest spot kind of happening in the middle of the match. A fun match between these two guys though.

6/10

Fly Star vs. Miedo Extremo

Some back and forth exchanges leads to Miedo rolling to the outside and Fly Star hitting an Asai moonsault then chucking a paint bucket at him. We get a lighttube broken over Miedo's head and Fly Star then uses the remains to cut his forehead. Unfortunately that just powers Miedo up who returns the favor, but does a better job of opening a cut. Both men just start grabbing whatever they find at ringside and hitting each other over the head with it. They climb to the top of a trailer and Star throws Miedo off it then goes for a senton that misses. Back in the ring Miedo kicks a bundle of lighttubes into Star's chest then hits a half and half suplex for a two count. He follows up with a big powerbomb onto a car hood and lighttubes in the corner for two. Star drops Miedo stomach first on some lighttubes then hits a sitout fisherman suplex on light tubes for a two count. They exchange some striles before Star hits a german suplex that Miedo no sells then hits one of his own leaving both men down on the mat. Both men struggle to their feet and Star hits a springboard Canadian Destroyer onto some lighttubes then puts Miedo on the top rope. He drags the car hood over then sets it up on some chairs then he lights it on fire of course. Miedo shoves Star off the ropes through the fire. Miedo hits a big lifting reverse DDT then puts a bundle of lighttubes on Star before hitting a 450 for the three count.

A really good brawl between these two guys with some nice wrestling sequences mixed in as well. It was a little directionless before the car spot like the match before, but it gets to that part sooner and does more after it as well. A great use of weapons and they escalate the spots well. Crazy to know the finish doesn't involve the fire spot and still isn't a disappointment. Miedo's 450 was beautiful as well. Both men hit some really good looking suplexes throughout the match as well.

8/10

Matthew Justice vs. Demoledor

After a few stale mate lockups we get a chop exchange between the two men that quickly morphs into a forearm exchange. Demoledor runs to the corner followed by Justice and backflips over him, pretty impressive for a dude his size, but Justice charges and spears him to the mat. Demoledor charges the corner and Justice Demoledor so he flips over to the ground. Justice follows up with a pescado. Demoledor hits some strikes and puts Justice in a chair with some lighttubes then hits a suicide dive. They brawl around the ring taking turns slamming each other into the ring posts with a few light tube shots mixed in. They climb up to the top of the trailer and the roof of the car has been so destroyed they put some glass panes on it as well. They brawl on the roof then Demoledor lifts Justice up and tosses him off with a DVD. The crowd hypes Demoledor so he jumps off and misses a senton. They exchange strikes and then Demoledor puts some skewers into Justice's forehead. The two men get in the ring and exchange chair shots to the head. Demoledor gets the advantage then piles the chairs up with some light tubes thrown in for fun. He climbs the ropes, but Justice cuts him off with a chair shot and powerbombs him onto a chair. They brawl to the outside again and then climb up a different stuck of trailers and trucks next to a car. Justice kicks Demoledor off the ladder onto the chair then hits a big splash for the three count.

A good brawl from tehse two men with some good stuff, but they make the biggest mistake a deathmatch can do and thats have the finish not be a bigger bump than the stuff they did previously. I let some of the earlier matches off after doing the bump onto the car and doing other stuff, but just doing a different one, but without glass this time as the finish is a let down. That being said it is an entertaining brawl before hand and both men do good work throughout the match.

7/10

Overall: This was a fun show to watch and the first whole Zona 23 show I've watched. I usually just check out matches they upload to youtube, but this was a show that built up well with the matches being pretty normal deathmatch stuff until the matches near the end had way bigger bumps and lasted longer. Every match had a bunch of promos afterword, which since I don't speak Spanish since I'm too lazy to do my duolingo lessons seemed to last a while, but I also don't love promos after death matches as it kind of takes the impact out of the damage the wrestlers have done to each other. Must have been some rain fairly recently as it wasn't as dusty at ringside as I've seen it before. Definitely a fun show to watch and a reminder of wrestling shows with fans before the pandemic started.

IWA Deathmatch 97

I'm watching the version with 2005 commentary getting me Dave Prazak and Trik Davis to help me through this show. We get an opening highlight video set to Queen's “The Show Must Go On,” which is a very good song for that kind of video. This ring looks even sketchy then it ends up

Cash Flo vs. Ian Rotten

Rotten has hit Cash with a thumbtack bat to the head and piledrived him on thumbtacks and we're just starting this match. After brawling on the outside Cash turns the tables and hits Rotten with a bunch of lighttubes. The ref isn't wearing globes and gets a thumbtack in the hand while counting a pinfall. Ian hits a bunch of big moves to Cash on the thumbtacks before hitting a DVD and putting him down for the three count.

Pretty much just a squash match from the booker here and Cash really proves how tough he is in his first deathmatch showing I believe. Ian is limping from doing a legdrop onto a thumbtack bat onto Cash's chest.

3/10

Bull Pain vs. Rollin Hard

This one starts with Bull Pain backing Hard into the corner and some punches before dragging his head across the rope, nice that we start with some wrestling before getting right into the big spots. Pain effortlessly throws him over the makeshift rope guardrail and into the chairs. Hard is busted open from anb unprotected chairshot and wisely covers his head the second time. They brawl to the outside, but no camera gets to the action right away. The camera guy gets outside, but its so dark its not much better than not seeing it. After a bunch of brawling on the outside they get in the ring and Hard backdrops Pain onto the tacks. Pain takes Hard to dick kick city and hits him with the thumbtack bat a couple of times. Hard hits the worst fucking tornado DDT I've ever seen onto the tacks for a three count.

This was a fun crowd brawl and a very good change of pace from the previous match. Both men do some decent wrestling and get some color. The finishing move looking terrible kind of hurts the match, but still a fine display.

5/10

War Machine #1 vs. Balls Mahoney

War Machine is the first guy wearing regular wrestling gear so he gets respect for that. Although Balls is also wearing the only gear I've ever seen him in even if it is jean shorts and a shirt. The green sign a fan is holding has been used in all three matches so far. Now Balls is using the rope guardrail to choke Machine, I like the resourcefulness. Back in the ring and Machine takes the barbed wire bat to the forehead of Balls and busts him open. Balls gets Irish whipped into two barbed wire boards. Hero does question if it's the same ring IWA:MS kept using in '05 and allegedly it's not. Machine takes a slow Irish whip into a board and then Balls hits him with an inverted piledriver for three.

This was decent when it was a crowd brawl, but back in the ring the match was very perfunctory and was over pretty quick.

4/10

Axl Rotten vs. War Machine #2

Machine gets tossed out of the ring into a pit of mousetraps. He even gets up with one stuck to his tights. Axl dents a chair over Machine's head then sets up the barbed wire panel over two chairs. Axl hits a powerbomb through the board for three.

This match was also nothing like the first one so a disappointing first round.

2/10

Tower of Doom vs. Mad Man Pondo

Doom wins a test of strength to put Pondo to his knees. Pondo with an uppercut to the dong and then a stop sign to the head. Pondo grabs a testicular claw then shoves him into the pit of thumbtacks and barbed wire. Doom hits a terrible sidewalk slam onto the mousetraps since he didn't want to drop into them as well. Then he hits a piledriver onto some broken glass and Doom is not happy about hitting that move. Pondo then grabs some glass and cuts Doom open. Doom goes up to the second rope and hits a missile dropkick that gets two before Pondo gets a foot on the rope to break it up. Doom grabs a bunch of thumbtacks and individually pushes them into Pondo's head. Doom hits a legdrop off a chair onto Pondo who's on a barbed wire panel. Doom gets laid out on the barbed wire panel and Pondo hits a crooked Harlem Hangover for the three count.

This had some substance to it, but it's also the bad kind of deathmatch where they hit each other for stuff and nobody really sells anything and there's no flow to the match at all. It's just them hitting stuff. I will say that these guys used the weapons a little more fun than the others though.

3/10

Doug Gilbert vs. Ox Harley

Gilbert throws Ox into a barbed wire board then Harley reverses an Irish whip and sends Gilbert into the barbed wire. Ringside Gilbert puts a panel on top of Ox and double stomps it onto him. Bryce is on commentary and makes a joke about quarantining after all the blood in a match and that really hits different now. A bunch of brawling in the ring leads to Gilber hitting a piledriver onto the barbed wire with a lazy kick out then he follows it up with a piledriver that looked super dangerous. Gilbert taunts too much and Ox rakes the forehead of Gilbert with barbed wire. Ox goes up to the second rope, but Gilbert cuts him off and throws him off the top through a barbed wire panel for three.

A little more back and forth and something resembling a real match here, but Gilbert has too much of a need to taunt during the match, but at least it seems more like wrestling.

4/10

Rollin Hard vs. Ian Rotten

Some brawling and barbed wire use has lead to both men being busted open again, granted it's pretty easy since they were both bleeding earlier in the night. The brawl outside and Ian hits him with a bunch of different signs that the fans have at ringside. Ian and some ring crew or fans put in a barbed wire contraption with some glass as well. Ian barely lives Rollin up enough for a powerbomb and basically hits him with a throwing piledriver and we get the first Holy Fuck out of Prazak for the night.

This was some okay brawling and chair shots and Ian nearly killing Rollin Hard so not a lot there, but at least we get an impressive spot at the end. Rollin Hard is a real bloody mess after the match too.

2/10

Balls Mahoney forfeits from the second round because h has an ECW Championship match coming up which is stupid so just have him lose in the first round.

Doug Gilbert vs. Mad Man Pondo

They lockup and Pondo backs Gilbert into the barbed wire, but he no sells and superkicks Pondo into the opposite side ropes barbed wire. The first crazy bump that looks like something that happens now when Gilbert suplexes him off the side of the ring with no ropes into the barbed wire and broken glass. Prazak leveling up from “Hook the leg Man” to yelling “Hook the Leg you Fuck!” when Gilbert does a cocky cover after a piledriver. Gilbert gets a hot shot onto the barbed wire and that gets him the three count.

This match was not good at all, and maybe because I don't get why Doug Gilbert is so cocky all the time it kind of hurts the match, but it's a deathmatch tournament get your shit together.

3/10

Ian Rotten vs. Axl Rotten

The setup of this match is cool as its electrified barbed wire ropes with lighbulbs on the ropes that are providing illumination for the match. Doug Gilbert is a coward and doesn't want to wrestle in the finals so it's just a Rotten match up so that's good. Axl wins a test of strength and delivers some knees to the chest. Some scuffling on the mat leads to the getting close to the edge and Axl rubs the barbed wire on Ian's head. They are using normal lightbulbs on the ring and not light tubes and they are much harder to break so that might be why thigns change in the future. Breaking the light bulbs doesn't seem to work too well, so Ian just grinds the broken remains into Axl's forhead to draw more blood. Uppercut to the dick from Ian and he hits a legitimately good dropkick to Axl that surprised me and Prazak on commentary. Doug Gilbert runs in and hits a piledriver on Ian, but the ref is distracted enough that he can't get the three. Gilbert runs back in and piledrives Axl and the ref starts a count. Ian gets up at ten and falls back down and wins the match.

This was a pretty standard brawl with some cool deathmatch shit hanging around it, but Gilbert not wanting to wrestle then piledriving both guys to lead to a shitty ten count finish for Ian it is so bad.

3/10

This show is so fucking bad. It might have been slightly better at the time, but I doubt it, because I've seen cooler deathmatch stuff from earlier than this as well. Almost none of these were good matches and this is back in the times when most of the deathmatch wrestlers didn't bother to learn how to wrestle a good match. I wasn't expecting much, and this show underdelivered on that. I can't believe the bullshit finish to the tournament.

I wouldn't recommend watching this show, but I'm glad shit like this is saved online anyway. I don't know why, but it's kind of a nice bookmark for how deathmatch wrestling has evolved from where it started at in America. This show really highlights the shitty version of how deathmatch wrestling works and also has so many people dropping out that it proves how tournament booking is tough if you're dumb. IWTV has good stuff even if this show isn't. I'll prove it by writing up a review for a good recent deathmatch show tomorrow.

H2O Last Extravaganza Night 1

The building is way too filled with fans, even if they are all wearing masks so off to a bad start, but I'm not one of the people there so whatever. One of the commentators starting the show by saying It's a packed house Covid be damned is also pretty stupid. Anyway time to watch guys get fucked up in a deathmatch tournament. A bunch of new wrestlers to get acquainted with so that's also a nice treat,

Mouse vs. Bam Sullivan vs. Connor Claxton vs. Eric Ryan vs. Aiden Baal

Some Deathmatches use the weapons to tell a story, sometimes it's a bunch of guys doing a bunch of cool shit and using weapons. This is the latter. The five man nature kind of necessitates that. We get some fun weapons as its vaguely kitchen nightmare themed and there are some tongs used, a board with a bunch of plastic forks on it and then more normal weapons. Including a Nerg Gun with a bunch of tacks on the bullets. Eric Ryan gets a short advantage and hits a bunch of cannonballs and face washes on everybody in the corners. The tables are turned and he gets beat up by everybody culminating in a tiger driver through the fork board. Bam Sullivan eventually gets the win with a spear through some kind of board for the three count.

A fine match, nothing special, but some good stuff throughout it. 4/10

Scotty Vortekz vs. Devon Moore vs. Lucky 13 vs. Drew Blood

This match starts off fast. Moore takes Blood to the outside then Moore stops a dive from Scotty in the ropes and Scotty powerslams him onto the apron whehn he charges at him. Lucky 13 charges and does a fosbury flop over Scotty to Moore on the outside. Both thumbtack strip boards have been broken already, but we've still got a barbed wire board and a barbed wire frame that's really going to suck. Blood and Scotty battle on the top rope and Blood gets the advantage and hits an air raid crash through the barbed wire table. A bunch of back and forth action from everybody that is some good hard hitting action including Moore hitting a great superplex on Blood. Scotty takes Moore out and hits a double knee on him and rolls through right into a cookie sheet shot from Lucky 13 who covers Moore for the win.

A fun and pretty damn good match between these four men. Would have been a good match even without the weapons which make it more fun. Only downside would be when Blood got thrown through the barbed wire frame he didn't really hit it very well. 6/10

Brandon Kirk vs. Orin Veidt vs. Alex Colon vs. Tim Donst

Colon and Veidt get tossed through doors in the corner to start it off then get up with the remains of the tables and smoke Kirk and Donst over the head then start brawling. We get a dive train that culminates in Colon hitting a suicide dive into a spinning DDT. Colon and Veidt are fighting over control of the door when Donst puts Kirk through it with a DVD. We get some back and forth action in the ring before we get a barbed wire board introduced. Veidt lifts Kirk up with a suplex and just chucks him through the board. Then he stops Colon on the top rope and carries him across the ring to hit an electric chair driver on top of Kirk. Donst and Veidt start exchanging chops in the corner. Donst superplexes Colon off the top rope and on top of Kirk. All four men grab a chunk of door and start going apeshit on each other in one of the coolest spots ever. Veidt climbs up the scaffolding next to the ring with Kirk draped over a door in the ring. Colon cuts him off with a door shot then climbs up and hits the flipping belly to belly off the platform through the table for the win.

This match was awesome. Just a great match between these four guys and a bunch of cool spots throughout it. They do a great job of managing the four people in the match and making it have a flow and story. Plus who doesn't love four dudes just beating the shit out of each other with broken doors? 9/10

Lowlife Louie vs. Mitch Vallen vs. Stockade vs. SHLAK

As the last match was a bunch of guys who are good at wrestling doing deathmatch stuff. These guys can't wrestle so they just brawl and do deathmatch shit. Mitch starts the match by beating the fuck out of Louie with different bats and busts him wide open. Shlak and Stockade both mess up piledrivers that they both no sell. Shlak pulls out a plastic bag and starts suffocating Louie then starts stabbing him with a baby railroad spike. Stockade hits a good German suplex. I didn't think he had it in him. Stockade sets up two chairs back to back then climbs up to the top rope and Mitch throws him off over the top of the chairs. Shlak grabs Mitch and hits a DVD through a chair then Louie smokes Shlak with a bat. Louie uses a modified La magistral to get the win.

This is like the classic bad old style of deathmatches where everybody just starts beating the shit out of each other with lots of blood. Granted Louie bleeds a lot which helps add to that kind of match and we get some cool spots. It's not my cup of tea, but I know it works for some people. 3/10

Ryan Redfield vs. GG Everson vs. Dylan McKay vs. Austin Luke

A fast paced match between these four guys with a lot of pinfall attempts and break ups early. GG gets the first advantage hitting McKay with a huge sitout spinebuster then a couple of cannonballs in the corner. Redfield and GG work together for a bit until Redfield breaks up a pinfall attempt from GG. Redfield wrecks McKay with a motherfucker of a lariat. McKay gets the advantage and hits a corner dropkicks on GG then Redfield and Luke hits a coast to coast dropkick on McKay as he finishes the dropkick. Redfield hits a rock bottom then a springboard moonsault on GG who does the laziest kickout ever. McKay and Luke teamup to hit a double stomp tower of London on Redfield. Dylan McKay throws Luke off the platform onto Redfield and GG taking everybody out then hits a shooting star press off the platform for the three count.

Can definitely tell these guys are still students and new at this stuff. They've got some good stuff they can all do, but it's not a very well put together match. There are a few botches and really awkward stuff, but promising from some young talent. 4/10

Jeff Cannonball vs. Kit Osbourne

Kit fails to move Jeff with a shoulder tackle so Jeff hits im with one and sends him through the stack of cinder blocks. Then puts one on Kit's back and breaks it with another brick. Then he crushes Kit's hand the same way. Kit makes a comeback targeting the leg of Jeff, but it evens out again. Kit then dropkicks a cinder block into Jeff's head then grabs a gusset plate for revenge and rakes his forehead. Jeff's draped over the middle rope and Kit slams a cinder block across his back breaking it. Kit starts using a bunch of the carpet strips as weapons and goes to town on Jeff's back. He then puts a block on Jeff's chest and hits a double stomp on it. Kit sets up a chair in the corner and climbs to the top rope, but Jeff pulss him off into a slam onto it. Jeff hits a sitout piledriver for a two count then pulls out some of the blocks from the corner and hits a second piledriver on them for the three count.

Good match from these two. It's the obvious story of a big wrestler against the smaller underdog, but it works really well and both of these guys put in the work here. Not sold on carpet strips as weapons, but I love the use of cinder blocks.7/10

Frankie Pickard (c ) vs Marc Angel vs. Sean Henderson vs. Xavier Cross vs. Steve Sanders vs. Jimmy Lloyd

This match is a mess. Which makes sense with how many guys are in the match. A lot of people flying out of nowhere to hit somebody and some standing around as some people aren't in the right spot at the right time. Once the ring clears out we some we get some good spots in the match. Sanders hits a piledriver off the top through a table. Lloyd sets a door up between the ladders and hits a spinning suplex through the door. He sets up another door over the some tables and Henderson comes in with a superkick and yakuza kick to stagger him then Henderson climbs the ladder and Lloyd follows him up. Henderson hits some punches then hits a Canadian Destroyer off the ladder through the table, but can't capitalize as he's hurt too and Pickard comes in and covers Lloyd for three.

Too many people and not enough idea of what they want to do with this match. There's some cool spots, but its nothing special. 4/10

Matt Tremont vs. Rickey Shane Page

RSP goes to the lighttubes early in the match and within the opening minute Tremont is busted open and gets wipped into the barbed wire and tubes. RSP breaks a lighttube in Tremont's mouth, disgusting. RSP keeps control and breaks a ton of tubes over Tremont. He sets some on the ground and hits a powerslam then grinds the remnant of a tube into Tremont's forehead. Tremont finally counters an Irish whip and sends RSP into the barbed wire. Tremont trips RSP into the tubes and goes to the outside. RSP tries for a tope suicida onto Tremont through the tubes, but Tremont moves. It's all Tremont now and he takes RSP to lighttube hell and just keeps smashing them across his head, chest, and back. RSP escapes a powerslam attempt and chokeslams Tremont onto a lighttube bundle. Tremont's wife comes in to stop RSP and kicks him in the balls then breaks a lighttube bazook over his head. The lockerroom comes down to stop 44OH from interfering.Both men are on their knees and exchanging lighttube shots, but RSP dodges both of Tremont's attempts. Tremont eats a ton of lighttubes, but counters when RSP goes for a move and hits an Angle slam onto a bunch of lighttubes. They both go up to the platform and brawl and RSP throws Tremont off through a stack of lighttubes, pane of glass, and barbed wire board. RSP covers and gets two. RSP then starts chucking all of the lighttubes at Tremont and mixes in all of his big moves and finally gets the three count with a DVD.

This match was fucking insane. They broke so many goddamn lighttubes in this match and it is all spectacle in this one. Halfway through the match every step they take is kicking away broken glass and sounds insane. Some deathmatches use good wrestling and spots to tell the story and sometimes its just a dude about to retire who's refusing to stay down against an asshole who keeps chucking lighttubes at him. Tremont plays the underdog against the guy on the indies everybody wants to see get their comeuppance. This has some fucking crazy spots that looked awesome and Tremont's never say die attitude in this match was dope. 10/10

There are a lot of pretty whatever matches on this show. All those multi-man matches aren't really the easiest matches to make work so its not really surprising to me. But the two matches that are really good are fucking awesome. Honestly everything on this show could have sucked except for the main event and it would have been worth it. It's a spectacle in the best way and has a great story behind it. If you like deathmatch wrestling at all you should watch this show.

AEW Dynamite One Year Anniversary Review and Year One thoughts

 

Dynamite is celebrating its one year anniversary of being on the air. AEW has been a breath of fresh air to the wrestling world and has delivered a lot of quality wrestling and entertainment during that time. It's not all sunshine and rainbows on the show though. Even without the pandemic messing things up there have been issues with AEW's booking in certain areas. The anniversary show is packed with every champion defending their title. I'm going to do a quick review of the anniversary show then do an overview of the first year of Dynamite.

Best Friends vs. FTR

Some back and forth in the beginning of the match and then Trent gets beat up by FTR for a bit as that's what he's best at. Trent hits Wheeler with a big clothesline, but Wheeler gets a tag and Harwood cuts Trent off before he can get the tag then gets him on the top rope and hits a huge avalanche belly to back suplex. Wheeler tags in for a two count then goes for a splash and Trent gets his knees up for a hot tag to Chuck. Chuck clears the ring then hits a big somersault plancha over the top onto FTR. Tully Blanchard interferes and FTR tries to get the advantage, but Trent comes in and makes a save for Chuck then they hit the Soul Food half and half suplex combo for a two count. Harwood takes Chuck off the apron and they double team Trent with an assisted powerbomb for two. Best Friends hit the Strong Zero and Wheeler barely breaks up the count at two for the save. Wheeler hits Chuck with a sick brainbuster on the outside and Trent hits a diving dropkick through the ropes sending Wheeler to the outside. Harwood ends up in front of an arcade cabinet and Trent charges and breaks through it. Wheeler carries Trent into the ring and Trent counters a shatter machine with a DDT. Rick Knox dodges out of the way and doesn't see Wheeler hit Chuck with the belt and Harwood rolls him up for a three count. Very good match between these two teams. I haven't been a fan of FTR in AEW so far, but they're definitely starting to fit in more and work with all the other teams better. The finishing segments were a little rough with some weird timing, but the idea of it was good. Definitely a great way to start the show. 9/10

Miro and Sabian beat up Best Friends after the match for breaking the arcade cabinet.

Miro & Sabian vs. Sean Maluta & Lee Johnson

Miro is just beating the shit out of both men. Sabian hits a splash then Miro locks in a camel clutch to get the submission victory. It's a whatever squash. 0/10

Miro and Sabian complain about Best Friends breaking the arcade cabinet and call them out. Then we cut to Archer beating up Moxley in the back.

After the commercial break MJF is out to make an announcement and brings out the Inner Circle.

We then cut to Britt Baker getting a massage alongside Schiavone who is interviewing her. We get her hyping up her comeback match and mocking Schiavone.

Cody Rhodes vs. Orange Cassidy

Cody knocks Cassidy's glasses off and Cassidy goes into the match pretty seriously with a tight lockup. Cody uses some amateur wrestling to take the advantage, but Cassidy uses some lucha rollups to get some close two falls. Cody hits a big front suplex and starts to bully Cassidy as we go to PiP. Cody hits a big hiptoss that sends Cassidy over the ropes to the outside. Cody gets mad at Cassidy's lazy kicks and shoves him back and gives Cassidy enough space to hit a real superkick that sends him to the outside. Cassidy hits a suicide dive that sends Cody near the Dark Order section of ringside and Silver steals the TNT title to hit Cody, but Cassidy stops him and the Dark Order get thrown out. Back in the ring Cody rolls through a crossbody block then sets Cassidy up for a cross rhodes, but he blocks it with a roll up. Cody hits a low dropkick then drags Cassidy to the corner and slams his leg against the guardrail. Cody hits a huge reverse suplex off the top and covers for two. Cassidy counters a ringpost figure four then climbs up to the top and hits a diving DDT for two. Cassidy hits a brutal Michinoku driver for a two count. Cassidy's knee gives out as he tries to lift Cody up and Cody grabs the leg and locks in a figure four. Cassidy rolls enough times to get to the ropes and break the hold. Cassidy lifts Cody up and hits an air raid crash on the apron. They get back in the ring and fight back and forth and Cassidy hits a bunch of his big moves, but can't get a pinfall before the time limit expires. A good match between the two men. I kind of started to lose interest when they showed Darby was getting a title shot at Full Gear and kept cutting to him in the stands because he has unfinished business with Cody and I figured Cody wouldn't lose the belt. Being the big powerhouse taking it to the smaller indy guys isn't really a style that suits Cody a lot, but it was okay here. Although it was also them seeming to go back to heel Cody that was teased in the initial title run then kind of went away when he started feuding with Brodie. 7/10

Moxley attacks Archer backstage to get revenge and let us know he's still good to go for the title match.

Matt Hardy is interviewed by Schiavone and we see Sammy Gueverra burning some pictures of Matt so that feud is still going on.

Schiavone is in the ring with Bryce and Paul Turner and a spinning bucket to determine the four teams in #1 contender match next week. Private Party, Silver & Reynolds, Butcher & The Blade, and The Young Bucks are the selections. Unsurprisingly all four teams start fighting.

Hikaru Shida vs. Big Swole

Match started with some technical wrestling between both women that looked really good. We get the action to spill to the outside and Swole gets a short advantage shoving Shida into the cameraman, but she quickly turns the tables and drops Swole over the guardrail and hits a jumping knee off the chair to Swole. Shida suplexes her over the guardrail to the floor then the action gets back into the ring. Swole misses a sunset flip powerbomb but shoves Shida off the top to the ramp and hits an ace crusher off the bottom rope then rolls Shida into the ring and hits another one for a two count. Shida hits a sloppy straight jacket german suplex then hits a falcon arrow and Swole kicks out at two. Shida hits some strikes then Swole blocks and hits a ripcord elbow for two. Shida ducks out of a second attempt and hits a big knee then a couple other sliding knees to get the pinfall. These two were a bit sloppy at times and the intensity was there, but not the execution. It was also noticeably shorter than the other title matches tonight, weird. 5/10

Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer

Mox hits a quick DDT for two, but Archer is fired up and takes Mox to the outside. Mox fights free and rolls into the ring to hit a suicide dive. A bunch of brawling outside they go back inside and Mox hits a bunch of strikes and Archer shrugs it off to hit a Pounce that sends Mox to the outside. Archer sets up a pair of tables on the outside. Archer dominates for a while with some hard strikes before Moxley makes some space and hits a release german suplex then gets a chair and clobbers Archer. He sets up two chairs facing each other and Archer chokeslams him through the chairs. Archer takes Mox to the apron and sets up for a move, but Mox hits a low blow then hits a double arm DDT off the apron through the tables. Mox gets him inside and hits a paradigm shift for two. Archer escapes the bully choke and hits a DDT of his own for two. Archer gets Mox in the corner and hits the Blackout for a two count and Mox rolls him up on the pin for three. I hate this finish and AEW has used it a bunch of times already. I don't really love this kind of slugfest match and have never been much of an Archer fan. If you're going to do a no-dq brawl I need more reason for it to be no-dq than a few chair spots. 6/10

After the match Archer attacks Moxley, but Kingston has the Lucha Bros come in and make the save and starts cutting a promo about how great Moxley is. Then of course hits a backfist to the future and starts choking Moxley out. Lucha Bros stop the refs from coming into the ring so Kingston can choke him out.

The show started awesome and trended downward from there. I'm always going to be sad when Best Friends and Orange Cassidy aren't getting wins though. Sadly the women's title match was pretty sloppy and the main event was more of a slugfest than I like. A bunch of the segments throughout the show seemed pointless and could have been used to give future storylines some juice. A Nyla promo or some of the competitors in the number 1 contender tournament would have been a good idea.

The Elite are the bookers of the promotion and have made themselves important factors in the company. As you would expect from the people who were the biggest names in the indies and in the company when they started the promotion. Kenny Omega coming in as the biggest deal in wrestling has kept a pretty low profile beside being the tag champ for a good chunk of that first year. He's had some great matches in the company and as the tag team relationship with Hangman started to fall apart the fact that he was AAA Mega Champion started to get highlighted more and he had a couple of defenses of that title on Dynamite. Hopefully he starts to become more of a factor in the singles scene as he's one of the best wrestlers going today.

Obviously Hangman Page has had a similar role as Omega as the other half of the tag champs, but his status as an up and comer has really been helped by the tag run and has led to some good singles pushes for him and has also let him showcase his charisma outside of the wrestling ring with his angles. Like Omega, I'm hopeful he'll be moving further up the card in the singles run.

The Young Bucks have been really low key in most of their work in the company. They're always there and having good matches, but haven't been the focus of much except the feud with the Inner Circle. Currently they're feud with FTR has seen them attack somebody backstage and throw some money at AEW officials to pay their fine. Like Omega they also haven't had as much focus and chance to have great matches as I'd expect although their feud with FTR has been stretched out as it seems they're hoping to have fans for their inevitable confrontation. The biggest downside of that to me is the effect it has had on the Best Friends and their ability to win the belts. Best Friends have had big feuds, but they're not the biggest and they don't seem to have much chance of winning the belts as that's a minor issue in the bigger picture feud.

Cody Rhodes has had a lot of attention with big feuds and has been very over during his promos. I'm not a huge fan of Cody, but I can't deny that his work on the mic is very good and his work in the ring is good, but not something I'm a huge fan of. His style is largely like the WWE's that he left. Which isn't surprising, because he never changed much while working the indies or NJPW. He has wisely not put himself in a main event position and that is smart, and the crowd reactions to him justify his heavy usage. His big matches generally live up to the hype as he knows how to utilize bleeding and theatrics to make the matches work.

Outside of the Elite there are some talent I love that aren't being utilized as much as I'd like that I'll get to later, but the biggest problem with the promotion so far is the way they woman's division is booked. This obviously isn't a new observation about the company, but it needs to be stated. The women's roster started pretty strong, but a lot of the top tier talent are now stuck in Japan because of the pandemic and have left the company pretty devastated. However that's not a great excuse when there is a ton of great talent on the indies they can bring in and have started to do now. Hikaru Shida is one of the my favorite talents out there so I was excited when she won the belt, but her run as champion has been pretty uninspired despite having some really good title defenses against Penelope Ford and Thunder Rosa that kind of came out of nowhere. The matches have been good, but many of the storylines leading up to them have been lackluster and there only seems to be one feud focused on at a time for the the division. Nobody really has much experience running a promotion and a lot of the other divisions have been booked pretty half heartedly, but have a bigger roster that they have managed to make work with longer match times and better talent. WWE has done a great job signing the best talent they can find and Impact has an strong Women's division as well. AEW will have to spend a lot of time building up younger talent and they haven't really managed to do that yet.

Undeniably my biggest disappointment with AEW's booking is that the Lucha Bros are just a random midcard team. Part of that does seem to be due to the pandemic as they were set to team up with PAC and probably be a bigger factor, but they have always been on the periphery and haven't seemed to come back from that at all. They are two of the best workers with Pentagon being an amazing brawler and Fenix is probably one of the best all around wrestlers and the preeminent high flyer and rope worker right now. I'd have built the company around them so pretty much anything AEW did was going to disappoint me with them.

As I previously mentioned the Best Friends seem to be in a holding pattern along with Orange Cassidy. The Best Friends have been built up as big deals in the tag division and gotten their title shots only to be shunted aside for other feuds. First with FTR showing up in the company and now with the inevitable Young Bucks vs. FTR feud over the titles taking precedence. Their popularity has continued to grow and don't get their title run. It's a similar move to WWE where you have a very over group of wrestlers and you know you can just keep them near the top and the crowd will always pop for them whether they win the belts or not. It will work for awhile until they've just never won anything for long enough and the crowd gets embittered by it.

The World Championship has been booked really well. Jericho was a good idea as a first champion since people know who he is and Moxley as the second champ is an even better choice as he has been on fire in the ring and on the mic since leaving WWE. I don't always love his challengers and the matches they produce, but a lot of good stuff has come from the run so far, especially the recent hm Moxley since he didn't give up title match from Moxley since he didn't give up title match from Moxley since he didn't give up.

MJF is getting a push and I don't care for MJF so that sucks. I guess a lot of people really enjoy him so I don't really have a problem with it, but I just like to point out that I don't like MJF.

They do seem to like bringing in ex-WWE guys in too much and aren't really pushing the younger indy wrestlers they've signed enough. Kind of a weird complaint after talking about them pushing MJF, but it is what it is. Joey Janela, Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus, and Sonny Kiss have gotten stand out matches, but no real push despite a bunch of fan support. Cody's TNT title defenses against random indy people was cool as well as showcasing the less pushed talent on the show.

AEW is a good promotion and their shows have a lot of good wrestling on them and have produced some great matches in its first year. Maybe my expectations were too high, or were just different from what AEW was going to deliver. It's my second favorite promotion behind NJPW right now so it's in a good place, but it hasn't really gone the way I'd hoped and hasn't hit the heights I wanted just yet, but there is plenty of run left in AEW to improve.