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Indymania 2019


RIDDUM_N_STYLE

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11 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I saw that Bloodsport thing all over Twitter last night. How does it work? Seemed to be a ring with no ropes. Saw footage of Mir and Severn in what looked like shoot wrestling but other stuff that looked like bad worked MMA.

That's more or less it - it's meant to be a bit of a tribute to UWFi style "shoot-style" wrestling, but this year has had much more of a genuine MMA influence than last year's did, with more actual MMA fighters involved. 

I'm assuming Mir and Severn was an actual shoot, though I couldn't say for sure. 

IIRC, it's submission or knock-out to win, 20 minute time limit, DQs for targeting the eyes or groin, for use of a weapon, for outside interference, for laying hands on the official, or for fighting outside the ring (though that one seems a bit more nebulous). 

The worst matches on the card were those that tried to be nothing more than worked MMA, the best were those that found an interesting middle ground - Suzuki vs Barnett was superb, and a few other matches were fun. Definitely an improvement on last year's.

It's the sort of thing I think we should see more of at Mania weekend - it's such a captive market, with so much going on, that while all the big indie dream matches are fun, it should be seen as an opportunity to try new and more interesting approaches that might not draw elsewhere, but make you stand out from the crowd this week.

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First day completed. Absolute slog of a day in hindsight, as I figured I'd been watching wrestling for over 12 hours straight at one point! 4 shows in total, with the quality ranging from great to pretty turgid. Decided to keep track of everything I watched in a spreadsheet.

EVOLVE 125:

Harlem Bravado vs Adrian Jaoude - * 1/2

Kazusada Higuchi vs Curt Stallion - *** 1/2

AR Fox and Leon Ruff vs John Silver and Alex Reynolds - ** 3/4

Darby Allin vs Anthony Henry - ***

Angelo Dawkins vs Colby Corino - * 1/2

JD Drake (c) vs Angelo Dawkins - WWN Championship - *** 3/4

Shane Strickland vs Montez Ford - *** 1/4

Eddie Kingston and Joe Gacy vs MAO and Konosuke Takashita - EVOLVE Tag Championships - *** 1/4

Austin Theory (c) vs Kyle O'Reilly - EVOLVE Championship - ** 1/2

Probably should've listened to the advice of Accident, and given this a miss. It was everything I'd heard about EVOLVE summarised in one show, essentially. Uninspiring, solid wrestling. Perfectly acceptable on most occasions, but for Wrestlemania Weekend, with all these new eyeballs you'd want something a little more exciting to take advantage of the potential new eyeballs. Higuchi looked good and got over well, Allin vs Henry was a decent match but a really crap finish, Dawkins/Drake was the best match of this show in a hard-hitting 15 minute or so encounter. Theory vs O'Reilly was a proper dud though. Theory may look like a superstar, but he's got a real problem with the pacing of his matches and keeping a crowd invested. Absolutely zero bonus points awarded for having their show go off air with their champion being sent packing by Undisputed Era, and the EVOLVE fans finally coming alive to chant "NXT!". That was a big problem with this show. Absolutely nobody felt over to any degree. It was very evident who the stars were, and it wasn't any of the EVOLVE guys.

Bloodsport:

Phil Baroni vs Dominic Garrini - *

Kratos vs Simon Grimm - ** 3/4

Killer Kross vs Davey Boy Junior - *** 3/4

Jonathan Gresham vs Masashi Takeda - ****

Chris Dickinson vs Andy Williams - ** 1/2

Frank Mir vs Dan Severn - *

Timothy Thatcher vs Hideki Suzuki - *** 1/4

Minoru Suzuki vs Josh Barnett - **** 1/4

I really liked the concept of this show last year, but thought the execution wasn't delivered in the right way. Too much couldn't escape the idea of "wrestlers playing MMA". This show hugely exceeded my expectations I had coming into the show to say the least. Baroni/Garrini was the only dud of the whole thing, because I got at least some mild enjoyment out of Mir/Severn as an MMA fan. Kross/DBS was excellent, and Kross is someone I'd be surprised to see not get signed by WWE in the near future. Gresham/Takeda was really good, Dickinson/Williams was a decent scrap whilst it lasted, Suzuki/Thatcher was alright but weirdly paced and the ending felt a little flat. Suzuki/Barnett was great, two hard bastards going at it in front of a really hot crowd, with a satisfying enough finish considering it left both men protected. This was great. The show absolutely flew by, with the matches transitioning between one another smoothly and the crowd doing their part to keep everything heated. The best show of the day.

Wrestlecon Mark Hitchcock Memorial Show:

Masato Tanaka vs Eddie Kingston - ***

Rey Fenix vs Penta el 0M - *** 1/2

LAX and Sammy Guevara vs Puma King, Samantha Heights, DJZ and Tajiri - ** 1/2

Robbie Eagles vs Flamita vs Arez - *** 1/4

Revolt! vs Hurricane Helms, X-PAC and Jushin Liger - * 1/2

Dragon Lee vs Cavernairo - N/A

Zack Sabre Jr vs Shane Strickland - N/A

SCU vs Best Friends and Orange Cassidy - ***

Will Ospreay vs Bandido - **** 1/4

A loooooong show. Kingston vs Tanaka was a fun opener. Fenix vs Penta was a fun spotfest, but the complete lack of tension or stakes hurt this one. Still fun though, Fenix is genuinely one of the best in the world. The 8-man tag was a bit of a mess, quite sloppy, but Tajjers showing up was nice. Flamita/Arez/Eagles was a fun little spotfest, the crowd didn't help it though - felt though they were playing this out in near silence. Arez looked good, he made a solid impression given his lower name value. Liger's 6-man tag did nothing for me. It didn't need to go anywhere near as long as it did. There's no reason why Hurricane Helms is out there working for 15+ minutes. Stream fucked out for Sabre/Swerve and Lee/Cavernairo, so will catch up later. SCU vs Best Friends/Cassidy was alright, and they worked hard to engage the crowd, but fucking hell, by this time the crowd was knackered. The show started late, and still featured a 30-minute intermission. This could've done with losing half the time. Cassidy is great. Gets a bigger reaction from putting his hands in his pockets than Robbie Eagles does when he lobs himself onto his head. Main event was good, as it was always going to be with those two involved. A so-so show, which was hindered considerably due to the timings, long delays, and trying to squeeze too much onto the card. Less is more.

AIW Slumber Party:

Bestia 666 and Damian 666 vs Bobby Beverly and Eric Ryan - Mexican Deathmatch - ** 3/4

Dominic Garrini vs Joshua Bishop - Submit or Surrender Match - ****

Infinity and Beyond (c) vs Jollyville Boys vs PM Experience vs Production - AAW Tag Championships - ** 1/2

Eddie Kingston vs Shinjiro Otani - ****

Hornswoggle vs Scott Steiner - ***

Ethan Page and MJF vs Colt Cabana and Space Monkey - * 3/4

Mance Warner vs Nick Gage - ** 3/4

I'd not seen AIW before, but plumped for it over iMPACT after seeing the card, with names like Steiner and Otani drawing me in. I was really impressed with what I saw! The opening deathmatch was an absolute car crash, in the best sense. Garrini/Bishop was completely unexpected, with the match building excellently, with each spot building upon on one another with the crowd staying hot throughout. The finish might have been a little OTT, but made sense within the context of the match. Kingston vs Otani was the best I've seen Kingston work, an excellent back and forth match which managed to exemplify the best aspects of both guys. Kingston being booked more frequently in Japan off the back of this wouldn't shock me. Hornswoggle vs Steiner was great. Steiner is wildly entertaining, and showed his chops by letting Swoggle get in a decent amount of offence on him. Probably the best match these two could've gotten from one another. I had a blast watching it, regardless, difficult as it was to give a proper rating. Cabana/Monkey vs MJF/Page was a slog by this point, because I don't really enjoy any of these guys, but they kept things short and inoffensive. Gage/Warner wasn't really landing with me. They worked hard, and gave each other some proper lumps, but by this point the amount of wrestling I'd seen was taking impact. The show on the whole was great though. Really made a good first impression.

 

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Great stuff, Adam! Pretty much confirms my watch list for tomorrow, along with everything else that I'm cherry picking.

I started my 'Mania week this morning by gulping down IWTV's Family Reunion, and it turned out to be a fun, colorful and breezy show that clocks in at just under 150 minutes. If you're cherry picking from the show, check out Gary Jay vs Jake Parnell; a great brawl from two hungry up-and-comers looking to tell their story.

Also, managed to squeeze in ISW:Boner Jam 4 before Takeover. Again, another really fun show! It had a few pacing issues and some of the talent needs some work, but it's raw and it doesn't take itself too seriously. The main event Lego deathmatch and Andy Williams/Pepper Marks vs Ugly Ducklings are the essentials, hell even the food fight battle royal is a spectacle worth seeing.

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Was at the Impact show last night. It was solid wrestling wise, although slightly rushed because of the time and then needing to wrap things up for people to get back to NYC. 

The RVD/Sabu/Lucha Bros match was less than 10 minutes for example and I’d guess a fair few of the other matches were too. 

 

 

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People like to whinge about WWE’s camerawork, but I watched some clips from the Impact show on Youtube and was shocked by how bad it was.  Not bad like WWE make a choice to do it in an unpopular style, but bad like it was from an indy show from 2005.

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21 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Cheers for that PUNQ 😆

LOL, worst thing, I was considering doing something similar, but I voted against it. Not healthy 😋

But I must admit there are a lot of great looking matches on the cards. On top of all the wrestling happening in New York, AJPW's hosting their Champ Carnival, CMLL continue their usual schedule and DDT continuing their business in Japan while also invading the US. It's amazing how much wrestling there is these days. Easily over 50 shows available each week now. Wrestling is a happier world these days, but it's also the easiest place t o burn out now.

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Yesterday was a bit easier. Only three shows, being more spaced out which allowed me to come into them a lot fresher and less fatigued. I still need to find the time to catch up on DDT, and I've also added Night One of JJSB to my watchlist, because after TakeOver I was frazzled.

Wrestlecon: USA vs The World

Brian Pillman Jr vs Emil Sitoci - * 3/4

MJF vs Ethan Page - * 1/2

David Starr vs Daga - ** 3/4

Darby Allin vs Black Taurus - ** 1/2

Jiro Ikeman vs Rich Swann - *** 1/4

The Rascalz and Trey Miguel vs Robbie Eagles, Adam Brooks and Australian Suicide - *** 3/4

LAX vs Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith - **

Sammy Guevara vs Puma King - ** 1/4

Brian Cage vs Masato Tanaka - *** 1/2

As was an issue with the other WrestleCon show, the pacing of this was pretty much all over the show. Nothing was given time to develop or play out, and subsequently you get matches that should be great being a disappointment, because you've chosen to book 10 matches and can't commit in terms of time constraints. Starr vs Daga was the perfect example of this. They went about 6 minutes, and it was 6 minutes of nothing but moves. That's fine, but when I've seen that type of match 30 times already this weekend, it becomes incredibly hard to be engaged or interested. Black Taurus has a great look, but I'm still to be properly impressed by Darby Allin. Ikeman has a great charisma about him, and he scored the upset win over Rich Swann. The 6-man was probably match of the night, it flowed really nicely and everyone got a nice shine period to show themselves off. LAX vs Hart/DBS was just all over the place, in a negative way. Never ever got going and rounded off with an abrupt finish. Guevara and Puma worked hard and tried to differentiate their match by relying more on their characters, but it was a weird clash of styles which didn't compliment either man. Cage vs Tanaka was a nice ending though. Hard-hitting affair which didn't overstay its welcome.

CHIKARA:

Still Life with Apricot and Pears vs Carlos Romo - Young Lions Cup - ** 3/4

Princess Kimberlee vs The Whisper - NA (it was a squash, albeit an entertaining one)

Tony Deppen, Travis Huckerbee and Icarus vs The Colony - *** 1/2

Dasher Hatfield (c) vs Mr Touchdown - CHIKARA Grand Championship - Ladder Match - **** 1/4

Now this was a lovely surprise! I had a bit of time to kill before RevPro, so found CHIKARA, which is a promotion I'd heard lots about, but hadn't ever really looked into. This certainly convinced me to take another look the next time they run a show. They had a perfect blend of variety, good wrestling, storyline involvement with clearly defined characters with clearly defined motivations, and a good bell-to-bell pace. Lots of indies could take notes from the way CHIKARA structure their shows. After a show that seemed to be nothing but guys doing "movez" this was great. Still Life vs Romo was a serviceable match with good character work, Kimber Lee vs Whisper was a squash which made sense in the context of the storyline defined by Quack on commentary, the 6-man was great and didn't rely on guys trying to kill themselves, and the ladder match main event was brilliant! The crowd were hugely invested, they managed to work in some creative spots I hadn't seen before, featured excellent psychology and storytelling, and had a satisfying ending. One of my favourite matches, and shows of the whole weekend to date.

RevPro - Live in NYC:

Clark Connors and Karl Fredericks vs CCK - *** 1/2

Kid Lykos vs A-Kid vs Carlos Romo vs Flamita - ** 1/2

OJMO vs Brian Cage - * 3/4

Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki vs Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay - **** 1/4

David Starr vs Tomohiro Ishii - **** 1/4

Aussie Open vs Roppongi 3K - *** 3/4

A really good effort, with nothing really coming as a surprise in terms of quality, but still an enjoyable show throughout. The opener was a nice surprise, going a lot longer and featuring the Young Lions getting a lot more offence that I'd have presumed going in. Lack of Shibata was disappointing. OJMO vs Cage was a bad match, though. Really sloppy, which is seemingly a staple of Cage matches when he's working with someone considerably smaller. Sabre/Suzuki vs Ospreay/Tana was great. Suzuki and Ospreay had some interactions which might lead to a match in the G1, and Sabre is so, so good at playing the arrogant, overconfident dick. Obviously they weren't going all out because of MSG, but this was comfortably one of the matches of the day because of how talented these guys are. Ishii getting two successive wins over Starr, when Starr is headlining their next York Hall show is a weird one, but the match was good. Their characters at the moment are perfectly aligned for a great match. Aussie Open and Roppongi 3K worked hard but the crowd had clearly peaked by this point. Still a fun time though, Aussie Open showing up in New Japan wouldn't look out of place at all.

 

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I watched both PWR's Pancake and Piledriver show (without pancakes) and IWS Unstoppable. Neither of which were very good. I turned Pancakes and Piledrivers off when I saw another multi-man match. I think I'm numb to them now.

Over the course of today and tomorrow I'm going to catch up with both nights of JJSB, and the DDT show which I'm hearing excellent reviews for, and then try and pick out my top 10 indy matches over the course of the weekend. It's been a slog!

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Some real great stuff over the course of the weekend.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Josh Barnett at Bloodsport was still my match of the weekend, just brilliant stuff.

The six-man scramble in the first part of Spring Break was insane, and my first time seeing five of the wrestlers involved, and impressed by most of them. Shane Mercer is a beast.

Dustin "No Legs" Thomas is probably already fully booked up for the rest of the year. Honestly amazed they didn't have him win the Clusterfuck on the "both feet must touch the floor" technicality.

Ricky Morton hitting a Canadian Destroyer and a Suicide Dive was wonderful.

Invisible Man vs. Invisible Stan was great stuff, Bryce Remsburg is a gift.

Masato Tanaka vs. LA Park was all I ever wanted it to be.

Blackcraft Wrestling put on what might have been the worst wrestling show I've ever seen.

I wish people would stop booking Teddy Hart. Everyone laughing it up while he walks about with a clearly drugged/terrified cat. Utter prick.

 

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