Modern Indie Wrestling

[SomethingSavage]

Agreed actually. The Man Scout gimmick is one of those things that I find to be really fun in doses, especially if you're a part of that live atmosphere. It can be a little grating when it drags on too long, but meh. As long as it doesn't take up too much time or detract from something that would otherwise be an outstanding match on the card? I have no problem with the gimmick. It's purely shtick, and things like that'll always have their place on pro wrestling cards.

 

Cedric vs. Kendrick seems worthwhile on paper, so I might check that out for myself. Sucks to hear they didn't seem to gel so well though.

 

I've found that I almost exclusively enjoy Everett when he's booked in frenzied, fast-paced Three Way Dances. Otherwise, I don't care much for his stuff. But booking him out there alongside both Aero Star and Jack Evans? Christ on a crutch. That's a bit much. It's almost like "too much of the same thing", and it could quickly feel like stylistic overkill. Could be a neat train-wreck thing though.

 

The 12-man tag is the opposite of the Cedric/Spanky match to me, in that it looks like a complete cluster on paper. But I've seen plenty of PWG matches with the same template, and they generally turn out to be fairly entertaining.

 

I don't care much at all for the Addiction anymore, and I'm probably the only person on Earth that'll say I actually liked their work in TNA (2012-2013) better than practically everything they've done since returning to the indies. I don't care though. This match has Roddy, and I'll watch anything with Strong these days. Bonus points for Liger being there.

 

The main event at least has some name value and makes sense on the star power scale, so there's that. This could have been a "dream match" on somebody's fantasy booked cards about ten years ago, but I don't know. I will say that I've enjoyed the Hardys more & more in garbage matches these last few years all over again though - and I particularly found their TNA series with the Dudleys & Wolves to be surprisingly fun.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your write-up, man. There's just so much wrestling to catch up on right now, and I barely have time to browse around for reviews & recaps. So you guys posting 'em here sure does make all that tracking a lot easier.

[goc]

I could see liking The Man Scout gimmick in another setting. This was just weird because Striker didn't do anything to work with the schtick as he was too busy trying to pass himself off as still a serious wrestler and picking out the one guy in the crowd who heckled him.

[cheapshot]

I'm quite lucky, in that I've got 5/6 decent indies operating within a one hour drive from my house (thought my favourite of the bunch, Triple X Wrestling, have been on hiatus since the end of 2014). The largest of them is a company called Southside Wrestling, who regularly run shows at a leisure centre that's only a 5 minute walk from my house, where over the past three years I've seen them bring in guys like Sabu, X-Pac, Devitt, Super Crazy, Beretta, Jannetty...even an unadvertised Chris Masters match........

 

 

Nice review of the show. What other indie promotions do you check out?

[NotJayTabb]

Thanks.

 

Aside from Southside and Triple X, I regularly go to HOPE and House of Pain shows, which run regularly in Nottingham. House of Pain are academy shows for Stixx's training school, so a lot of the roster aren't quite polished yet (and there are a couple of guys you can tell aren't going to get any better), but the shows are cheap, everyone has a good grasp of the basics so the matches are rarely terrible, and there's a few guys who are really good. HOPE have been running two year, they were maybe a bit over-ambitious to start, but they've settled around a core of really good wrestlers (Ligero, Jack Jester, Joseph Conners, CJ Banks) and are putting on some excellent shows.

 

Outside of them, I've been to a few Coventry Pro shows, which were a mixed bag, and I'm going to a Legacy Wrestling show in Leamington this weekend, who've got some guys I really like (Wild Boar, the Henchmen) and a few guys I've not seen, but heard good things about.

[cheapshot]

Nice mix of promotions you've got there. I mainly stick to shows in my area/locale so I never really get as far south as the Midlands for shows.

 

Who do you rate as the top tier UK workers at the moment out of interest?

[NotJayTabb]

I'm going to find it hard not to reel off a list of about 40 names here, there's so many really good wrestlers around:

 

Well, not including ZSJ or Mark Andrews, as they're barely in the UK these days: Ligero and Pete Dunne for the reasons given above, I've never seen Stixx have a bad match, Tyler Bate is only 18 and is already so good. He's the charismatic, moustachioed Cesaro. Joseph Conners has improved so much in the past 2 years and is great as heel or face. Martin Kirby was great as half of Project Ego, but he's really shining at the moment. He's a heel who isn't afraid to look like an idiot for the sake of putting others over.

 

Tag team wise, I think the Hunter Brothers and the London Riots are probably the two best teams in the UK. Plus, I'm always a big fan of massive dudes with beards, so I'm always happy to see guys like Dave Mastiff, Damian O'Connor or Big Grizzly appear on a card.

[cheapshot]

I'm going to find it hard not to reel off a list of about 40 names here, there's so many really good wrestlers around:

 

Well, not including ZSJ or Mark Andrews, as they're barely in the UK these days: Ligero and Pete Dunne for the reasons given above, I've never seen Stixx have a bad match, Tyler Bate is only 18 and is already so good. He's the charismatic, moustachioed Cesaro. Joseph Conners has improved so much in the past 2 years and is great as heel or face. Martin Kirby was great as half of Project Ego, but he's really shining at the moment. He's a heel who isn't afraid to look like an idiot for the sake of putting others over.

 

Tag team wise, I think the Hunter Brothers and the London Riots are probably the two best teams in the UK. Plus, I'm always a big fan of massive dudes with beards, so I'm always happy to see guys like Dave Mastiff, Damian O'Connor or Big Grizzly appear on a card.

 

Quite a nice mix of people that you're enjoying. Being in the NW of England I normally get the same faces most shows.

 

I really should get to more shows than PCW really. I have been to GPW a couple of times over the years, as well as reffing for them before. I think someone who gets some love, but someone I think some PWO posters (Bill Thompson) would love Jack Gallagher.

 

I'm going to check out Tyler Bate, as what you've said has intrigued me.

 

Martin Kirby and El Ligero are two of the most consistent workers in the world in my eyes and are always great value. Kirby doing the Zoidberg elbow is a good example of his silliness.

[Stiva]

Caught the two latest Evolve PPVs and had fun watching them. I loved the Trevor Lee vs. Chris Hero match from 43. Simple story of younger guy trying to prove himself against an established talent but Hero was really laying into him with the strikes and Lee had some great jelly legged selling. it was like watching a boxer get up from a dramatic knock-down. The main was Galloway/Busick and that was fucking great too. Featured some nice brawling through the crowd and Busick gets so much snap behind his running strikes that Galloway looks tough as fuck getting up from them. 44 had Galloway/Strong, which is becoming one of my favourite match-ups. This had Roderick go after him relentlessly and he looked so great busting out all kinds of hurty offense that Galloway just couldn't mount a consistent comeback. The two mains are definitely worth seeking out.

 

As an aside, as an Englishmen (Newcastle), I feel thoroughly ashamed of not keeping up with UK wrestling. I catch a few local shows that my friend works on but I really need to subscribe to some Youtube channels.

[SomethingSavage]

I've only seen Trevor Lee vs. Hero in PWG, but I absolutely loved it there. Sounds like they worked a similar formula - with Hero bringing the badass strikes, and Lee selling like a champ. The bit where Lee's legs go limp and he sloooowly folds up like a lawn chair is tremendous.

[Laz]

Trevor Lee strikes me as a better version of Mikey Whipwreck a and is meant that as a compliment.

[goc]

Watched the rest of the WrestleCon show. Excalibuar & Marty DeRosa are the announce team on this and they are good. Last 3 matches:

 

Abyss, Brian Myers, Chris Hero, Drew Gulak, James Storm & Tommaso Ciampa vs. Big Ryck, Colt Cabana, Matt Sydal, The Dudley Boyz & Tommy Dreamer (Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley)

 

What a mixed bag of guys I either don't know, don't like, kinda like and then a few I really like. 12 people seems like too many though. They do a lot of schtick to start this including a funny sequence where Hero does a bunch of kip ups and then trash talks Tommy Dreamer into trying one and...well you don't think he can actually do one do you? I definitely get the "dude wrestling in his underwear" criticism about Gulak, he needs kneepads. Things seem like they are going to get heated as Ciampa comes in and german suplexes Colt and then trash talks Bully Ray and calls him in. Amusingly, Ray tags in D-Von and they set up for a double team move that the crowd things is going to be the 3D but then it isn't and all the heat gets sucked out of the room. I am not excited for the big man/big man matchup of Zeke vs. Abyss but that's because Abyss sucks. If you only knew the push that Zeke got in my TEW game...but I digress. Zeke dominates Abyss but tags out way too quickly for my liking. Tommy takes an atomic drop on the guard rail for what reason I don't know as the set up to him being FIP. Like, this is a crowd that is clearly content with these guys doing goofy shit and taking it easy. I just realized that Brian Meyers is the former Curt Hawkins although it's really not that much higher on the "Who?" scale. Hero is not afraid to elbow and kick old man Tommy Dreamer hard in the face. Colt & Bubba do an amusing deal where they steal each other's spots with Bubba coming in and doing the elbow when Colt does his Dusty Rhodes bit and then Colt holding Gulak for the What's Up headbutt. Things break down into all 12 dudes brawling and then it gets down to only Sydal & Ciampa in the ring. Sydal is still so good at doing those jumping knee strikes. I need to seek out his post-WWE run. Abyss chokeslams Big Zeke and looks like he's on the verge of heart attack after. We get a train of everyone running in and hitting their finisher and it ends with Sydal hitting the Shooting Star Press on the former Curt Hawkins. At least they saved the best finish for last. This was fun honestly and the crowd was definitely happy with it.

 

AR Fox, Jushin Thunder Liger & Ricochet vs. Roderick Strong & The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Kazarian)

 

Wow, The Addiction come out to Iron Man and Kaz has Animal paint and Daniels has Hawk's. Never seen a Roderick Strong match either, at least that I can recall. JVK calling him the default CAW is not really fair off the mark but he's fun being a dick during the entrances and shoving Liger. Ricochet is also Prince Puma who I am more familiar with. I am ok with these guys doing the LOD look but not doing LOD spots and acting like they are not power wrestlers. AR Fox has some really shitty looking gear. Damn as soon as I say that he drills Roddy with a dropkick. AR Fox is going to compete with Andrew Everett as the "king of wasted motion" in this match I can feel it. Kazarian decides to call a time out and then go for a handshake. I would like him being a chicken shit better if he wasn't just pretending to be invincible Animal 3 minutes before. Roderick Strong is not staying in the ring long enough for my liking. AR Fox plays FIP for a long time here and being forced to sell is going to keep him from competing with Evertett's crown like I thought. Fox's "babyface firing up during a submission" face needs work. Ok I'm a Roderick Strong fan now. All his shit looks good and he's a real dick head in this match which always scores points in my book. I could see his backbreaker thing getting played out but I have not seen him do it in 100 matches by now so I don't know, it might not. We get like 100 moves in the finishing stretch that ends with Liger hitting a brainbuster on Christopher Daniels. This was fun, but I would have rather had a more traditional structure to the ending than Fox making the hot tag and then like 3 minutes of everyone doing a shit load of moves. But I knew I wasn't going to get that anyway so I was at least happy they did a long FIP sequence that was quite good.

 

No Disqualification: Rob Van Dam & Sabu vs. The Hardys (Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy)

 

Apparently these two teams faced each other a long time ago "in some shitty bar" which Marty & Excalibur discuss after one of them corrects the other about it being a "first time ever" match. Jeff really likes painting his face. I can only imagine how much he argued about that in WWE because they wouldn't let him do it all the time. I know he's supposed to be cleaned up but painted up Jeff just screams "This dude is high as fuck" The best thing I can say about this going in is that I can tell by how much time is left that they aren't going to go real long here. I really don't know what to expect it feels like a very boom or bust matchup here. Sabu has a blonde dressed like I Dream of Jeannie with him which is an interesting addition to the act. They spend FOREVER deciding which side of the ring Matt Hardy is going throw his shirt out to. Wow Matt takes the most awkward monkey flip I have ever seen from RVD. Sabu gets his Genie to give him a chair and it looks like the shittiest wrestling chair ever. Then Jeff gets one from Matt and they duel with them until Sabu throws his at Jeff's head. Sabu sets up that plastic POS chair up to do his signature "jump off the chair into my opponent in the corner" move but Jeff kicks the chair into him as he's running in. Good thing because he would have died trying to spring off that chair. That sets up them doing some fun stuff with cutting off each other's signature spots. We get a ladder in the ring and Matt takes a suplex off onto it and it looked real nasty. Hardys opt for the "use the ladder as a weapon" strategy over the "use it to jump off of" strategy to show that they are older and wiser (minus the taking suplexes on it part) Some of this stuff falls flat though because unless you really blast a guy with the ladder, it usually doesn't look good and feels "phony." These chairs suck so much as weapons. Sabu makes the best of it by just throwing them and not swinging them. The table is pretty much already broken when they set it up so Matt has to go on it really gingerly and Sabu jumps off so fucking fast with his legdrop that it was very comical. Someone hands Sabu a table and not just anyone a "japanese table" and the crowd tells him it's not gonna break. It DOES break when Sabu legdrops Jeff Hardy thru it however. This feels like a mercy killing when RVD his the Five Star Frog Splash on Jeff and ends this. This was a spotfest of the trainwreck variety and not the fun variety. These guys had too many problems with their plunder and they didn't do very good making up for it, or even covering for it and not making it obvious.

 

Overall this was a fun show. Guys I want to see more of following this would be ACH & Roderick Strong. Need to check out some of Matt Sydal's post WWE work also because I loved him as Evan Bourne and he still looked really good here. Pic is included to show just how shitty those chairs in the main event were.

 

[SomethingSavage]

Glad to hear that Roddy quickly grew on you. I don't know if Parv has seen much of the guy's work, but yeah. It's easy to dismiss Strong based on his bland, generic appearance - but the guy can GO. He shifts gears better than just about anyone out there today, and he's REALLY got his game on point lately. His strikes look precise, swift, and vicious. His backbreakers are barbaric. I know Parv is a sucker for variety when it comes to suplexes, so I could see him being sold on Roddy with the right match list viewing. No doubt.

 

Plus, as you pointed out, Strong's suddenly developed this knack for being a total dick to the crowd (and officials). I've absolutely enjoyed every minute of his PWG heel stint since last year. He's just a total prick. He might look like your everyday average accountant (more incentive for Parv there?), but the guy's got a mean-streak and some nasty offense.

 

Something else I've noticed about Strong's improvement over the last year or two also - he doesn't always resort to that "Go, go, go" style like he used to. I mean, sure. He's got all those backbreakers and big "spots", but it isn't always done to the point of overkill. He's much better these days at managing his timing & pacing in matches with that stuff.

 

Don't get me wrong. He still goes for that string of high impact maneuvers towards the end of his matches, but it's usually reserved for that bridge between the meat of the match & the big build to the finish.

 

General thoughts on the rest of your recap for the show - I still want to see the demolition derby of Sabu/RVD versus the Hardys. I don't care. The train-wreck appeal's there until I see the countless botched spots for myself.

 

I liked when Bad Influence came out as the Road Warriors on Impact's "Throwback Thursday" back in the day. Not sure why they did it again here, but I might watch that piece just for that.

 

I've only seen Sydal work PWG and ROH since his WWE release, so I can't speak for his body of work as a whole - but I honestly haven't enjoyed too much of it. I wouldn't say it's actively atrocious or anything, but it's been relatively disappointing. He's had a few good matches here & there, but he worked Chris Hero in PWG for example and couldn't get a good match out of THAT. The foot injury that took forever to heal might have something to do with him seeming a bit "off" at times, but I don't know. Just haven't been blown away by anything in particular - although I will say I liked his makeshift team with Sabin, who's another guy I really wanted to like more outside the usual setting.

[Dylan Waco]

One of my favorite Southern indies (Empire) is running a tournament on 8/7 and 8/8 in Chattanooga. So far they have Moose, Kongo Kong, KT Hamill, Gunner and Gunner Miller announced for the show. They are slow release announcing participants based on Facebook likes. Here is the link to their page:

https://www.facebook.com/ScenicCityInvitational?fref=ts

[Phil Schneider]

Watched the March JAPW show and reviewed it on Segunda Caida

 

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2015/06/japw-awaken-3212015.html

 

-Pretty fun show with a great main event. Low-Ki v. Chris Dickinson. Dickinson is my new favorite scuzzbag heel, he feels like an ex highschool linebacker who hung around his town to deal steroids and statutorily rape 15 year olds.

[concrete1992]

The last time I liked Chris Dickinson he was working Deathmatch wrestlers in AIW. Makes sense that the match that probably shows his best qualities is against someone who will bring a world of hurt to match Dickinson.

 

Tier 1 Wrestling is going to be a new indie out of NYC and it looks WEIRD in the best way possible. This is the card

 

Main Event
Four-Way Elimination Match
Tier 1 Championship

"The Southern Stomper" Luke Hawx
Vs.
"Rudeboy" Riley
Vs.
"The Sicilian Psychopath" Tommaso Ciampa
Vs.
"Speedball" Mike Bailey

First Time Ever
"El Presidente" Carlos Sanchez
Vs
Gran Akuma

Battle of the Beasts
Kyle the Beast
Vs
Fallah Bahh W/ Shining Edward Jackson

Rubber Match
"The Five Star Stud" Joey Ace
Vs
"The Machine" Sam Shields

VALKYRIE Showcase Match
"Bonesaw" Jessie Brooks
Vs
Ashley America

Plus: Caveman, Latin Dragon, VsK, Icarus, Logan Black, Conor Claxton, David Starr, The Disrespectfuls, Style & Finesse, Special guest Bobby Lombardi as well as Homicide for a meet and greet and much, much more to be announced!

 

The BIG MAN match and the main event stick out as a couple of wonderful fun size spectacles. Conor Claxton is someone who looks to become a new favorite of mine as a technical deathmatch wrestler. A weird combo that WORKS!

[shoe]

Progress Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Day 1.

 

I picture Parv in the crowd glaring at everyone deeming them not worthy to listen to his audio. These aren't my people this is a Johnny Sorrow crowd.

 

 

Will Ospreay vs El Ligero

 

They're cutting a pretty fast pace early. Ospreay early using flashy moves to gain the early advantage. Ligero grounds him for a bit. Ospreay back to the flashy moves . We get some counters of big moves. A lot of flash that lacked substance. It's fun, but not my style. It needed to slow down and have a story to go with the moves. 2*

 

Mark Haskins vs Jack Gallagher

 

Haskins is a guy I like. That was an awesome exchange to start. Some real strong mat wrestling mixed in with some carny escapes. Haskins takes it to the air. Haskins is real gritty on the mat. We get a strike exchange that Haskins smokes Gallagher at. Gallagher gets the leg and rips at it. This is tons of fun. Gallagher redeems his strike exchange with some nasty European upper cuts. Haskins drops Gallagher on his head and applies the Stretch Muffler for the tap. A real fun match . 3 1/4*

 

Rampage Brown vs Big Daddy Walter

 

I'm not a Walter fan, but he's over. We're looking at a hoss battle. Yep 2 bad apples going at it. Both guys just beating on one another. Massive boot by Walter. Big time chop exchange. This is a total hoss battle. I enjoyed this for what it was. They played to their strengths and didn't try to reinvent the wheel. 2 1/2*

 

Tommy End vs Roderick Strong

 

I like both of these guys. Strong is my most outstanding wrestler this year at the halfway mark. Strong playing old school NWA champ to get heat. End lighting up Strong with kicks. Knee strike by Strong to take advantage. Roddy has a mean streak. A kick by End turns the tide. He works over Strong with kicks. Strong does his backbreaker on the apron. Strong is going after the back. He's really developed into a ring general. Strong really working over End's core. End with some nasty elbows underneath. Ugly looking Superplex. Roddy with the boots to End. Another End kick switches momentum. Nasty flying double foot stomp to Roddy's face. A nasty spin kick by End. You can tell these guys have been in a war. The finishing run is a little over kill. A good match though. 3 1/4*

 

I'll finish this later.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Progress Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Day 1.

 

I picture Parv in the crowd glaring at everyone deeming them not worthy to listen to his audio. These aren't my people this is a Johnny Sorrow crowd.

.

So, wrestling fans enjoying a wrestling show?

[NotJayTabb]

PROGRESS have an insanely passionate crowd. They managed to sell out their next show, 700 tickets, within half an hour of them going on sale.

 

Decided to check out Legacy Wrestling in Royal Leamington Spa last night. Not a huge crowd, just over 50 people, but hopefully they'll start to pick up some steam. They did a lot of things right. The set up was great, the ring well lit with the ringside area darkened, and they seem to be going for a WoS vibe to the rules, with the use of public warnings, no throwing your opponent over the top rope, and even down to the announcements of the hosting Mr Legacy, who announced weights, times of public warnings and times of pinfalls in a very proper manner.

 

All the matches were pretty fun, with a lot of guys I'd never seen before and now would like to see again. The standout of the undercard guys was probably Jack Starz, a Robbie Brookside trainee who was really crisp on the mat and had some brutal sounding uppercuts. Also, the tag team match between the Henchmen and Arcade/Terry Seddon was a lot of fun. The Henchmen (Jim Diehard and Benton Destruction) are probably my favourite act in the UK, two huge bearded men whose motto is "Pumping iron and pounding beers" and have a nice line in cheating and using their considerable weight to keep their opponents down. They picked up the win here after a great looking senton from Diehard.

 

Which leaves us with the main event between Justin "Hammer" Sysum and the Wild Boar, which was really great. Sysum is nicknamed "Hammer" due to his resemblance to Thor, all long blond hair and muscled torso. In contrast, the Wild Boar is not quite so handsome: he's short, slightly dumpy, and isn't blessed with model good looks. He looks like a feral creature, and he wrestles like one too. After a period of Sysum controlling the match on the mat, Boar gets control (and his first public warning) by viciously biting Sysum in the corner. He gets his second public warning, and a real period of dominance, by charging Sysum as he enters the ring, leaving Hammer's leg tangled in the rope. This gives Boar a focus point, and he's all over the leg from that moment, attacking it every chance he can. In contrast, Sysum's selling of the leg is great. He knows he can out wrestle the Boar if he can only get him on the mat, so he positions himself on all fours, keeping his bad leg as far away from Boar as possible, trying to get a takedown. The end was really good too - Sysum uses a 450 splash as his finisher, so when he gets Boar down, he slowly tries to climb to the top, but Boar is able to cut him off. Boar traps Sysum's arms to give him some headbutts, but Sysum returns the favour from earlier by biting Boar in the face, sending him crashing back to the mat and prone to the match winning 450. Really great main event to a really fun show that delivered more than I was expecting.

[goc]

 

The Henchmen (Jim Diehard and Benton Destruction)

 

Wow.

 

[Dylan Waco]

California indie Premier is live streaming a show on youtube right now

 

[Blehschmidt]

Jumped into the Premier stream just in time to see the Thatcher match end. No sound on the show either. Hopefully they stick the whole thing up for viewing once it is over. Definitely want to catch the Thatcher match, and will probably give the rest a look as well.

[shoe]

Progress Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Day 1 continued

 

Marty Scrull vs Eddie Dennis

 

This match did nothing for me until they worked toward the finish which was done very well. The body of the match not so much. 2*

 

Mastiff vs Noam Dar

 

No clue what they were trying to do. This was a mess. 1/4*

 

Damo vs Ciampa

 

Big knee strikes by Ciampa to start. Damo uses his strength and posts Ciampa's back. Then follows up with a running dropkick on the floor. iampa crawls under the ring in a spot I detest. Rolling Senton by Ciampa. Strike exchange from the wrestlers. Damo uses his size well in this match. Damo is doing a good job working Ciampa's back. I like Ciampa selling the back damage.They told a solid story. 2 1/2*

 

Zach Gibson vs Zach Sabre Jr.

 

I like Sabre Jr. a lot. Sabre jr takes Gibson down on the mat. Both guys looked versed in the British style. Sabre does some very carny escapes. This has been loads of fun. Nice game changer by Gibson hurting Sabre's arm. Gibson goes after the arm. His work is solid on it. Felt Gibson's heat could have gone longer. The comeback came too soon. Sabre working on top with variations of European Forearms. Gibsom wiffed a headbutt. This was good, but Sabre jr. took too much of the match since he was winning. Technically the best match of the show, but it was missing the ebbs and flows of the Strong/End match 3*

 

Regression vs London Riots

 

This is a brawl. Havoc taking these nasty headfirst bumps into the screen. Havoc with a stiff Rain Maker on the apron. These guys are taking some serious looking bumps. Now it slows down and begins a normal tag except Davis is selling death after his killer bump from a minute ago. Davis finally gets back in the game after a 5-8 minute sell job. Davis is a house of fire. This was a good way to end the show. All 4 guys are working hard. It turns into a free for all for the last 8 minutes or so. They really need to take this home. Other than going too long. This was a fun bout. 3*

 

 

Overall this was a solid show. Tons of good workers left in the tournament and it should have better wrestling in night 2.

[shoe]

Chris Hero vs Samoa Joe 6/6/15 Smash Wrestling

 

 

I'm a fan of both guys. Hero is having a great year. A fun feeling out process to start. The styles both guys have along with their reps gives the feeling out process a little zing. Big time strike exchange. Inside and outside the ring. Joe's upper cut looked like it killed Hero. Both guys chests are red. No one has taken an advantage yet. A real back and forth battle. Awesome power slam by Joe. Joe looks to be gaining control using his weight to lean on Hero. Comeback time and Hero with some a variety of nasty strikes. Joe cuts him off and delivers a nasty suplex .Muscle Buster by Joe. Hero rolls to the floor. Hero playing possum and delivers the nastiest roaring elbow. I liked the match. It was stiff . Both guys looked good. I would have liked the match to be fleshed out a little more with longer control segments. It was all action though. It just felt it needed a little breath to take it to the next level. 3 1/2*

[BillThompson]

Watched the PREMIER show from Thatcher onward along with Bohs, Sam, and Dylan. Was really good stuff, and I hope PREMIER keeps doing things like this going forward. They are a hidden gem of an indie, and while they don't run much when they do run their cards are always fun.

[LariatMMBOPPO]

Loss or whoever runs the PWO Twitter raises the question of why intergender is so prevalent these days and one of the responses is that female wrestling fans don't want the women treated as sideshows. Is it me or is that exactly what intergender is?