Time to pick through an old Vimeo buy we never got round to watching… with another round of OTT as they went Extreme.
ECW may have died in 2001 (and again in 2010), but it’s not stopped a slew of shows using the E-word… even if in this case the only extreme presence on the card is Tommy Dreamer. And even here, his appearance ends up being advertised as a singles that turned into a random tag match. Huh?!
We’re at the Tivoli Theatre in Dublin for OTT’s card from November 2016, and we’ve got the usual pre-show gumph with Aonghus Og McAnally and Don Marnell. Not sure what’s going on, but Marnell sounds a lot quieter than usual compared to Aonghus, not that I’m complaining! Don tells us that Martina’s up against Joey Ryan tonight… of course, her OTT women’s title isn’t on the line.
Kenny Williams vs. Jordan Devlin
Oh lord… so Kenny Williams’ entrance image doesn’t fit the OTT screen, so all we see is his chest and name, before they fix the aspect ratio. Testing! Marnell and McAnally act as if Devlin’s booking here was a surprise, but it seems Devlin’s still in the opening match. Unfortunately, Devlin hadn’t been in an opening match for OTT since June, so that storyline felt a little wonky…
Devlin starts with a shotgun dropkick and a brainbuster to get a two-count in the opening seconds. Williams comes back with a springboard dropkick… then hits a wall in the venue with a tope. Not a good landing! Devlin goes after Williams on the outside, but Williams comes back with a cannonball off of the crowd barriers.
More aerial assault sees Williams land a back elbow for a near-fall, but he’s quickly knocked down with a discus elbow, then taken into the corner for a big boot, as he then cut-off an attempted comeback by raking Williams’ eyes. Devlin blocks an O’Connor roll out of the corner, then hits a superman punch to spart some back-and-forth strikes, ending with a rebound uppercut as Williams came off the ropes.
Back-and-forth forearm strikes see Devlin take the lead, but he loses a package piledriver and gets caught in an O’Connor roll, then a PK for a pair of near-falls. Devlin blocks a tiltawhirl from Williams, then boots Kenny for a package piledriver, and that’s the win. Well, the story they were telling was that Devlin wasn’t happy with curtain jerking, and his short-order win here told that effectively. ***
Paul Tracey heads out and hugs Jordan Devlin before he cuts a promo, ordering Williams to leave “his arena”. Tracey then switches his match, and now his “street fight” with Tommy Dreamer is becoming a two-on-one match, which I guess fits within the no-rules element of the street fight.
Young Lions (Lucky Kid & Tarkan Aslan) vs. The Lads From The Flats (Paddy M & Workie)
The Young Lions are regulars in the German Wrestling Federation… however I’m not too sure on the name of that team. Lucky Kid is 24, Tarkan Aslan is 34 (who don’t get named by Butch for some reason)… where do you draw the line at “young”? Anyway, both of these guys have been included in the German brackets for WCPW’s 2017 World Cup, so this’ll be a good first view of them… and my first impression is that they’re heavily inspired by the American Wolves. All they need to do is have painted-on claw marks on their chest and they’ve gone full Wolves!
More technical wonkiness sees Paddy M’s graphic come up first, but the Lads from the Flats get separate entrances, despite both guys using the same music. I… don’t get it? The Lions get heel heat by having the ring announcer “thank the crowd for welcoming us to the UK”. We then get a Paddy M promo, but he’s so softly spoken I can barely hear him. Something about a tribute to Fidel Castro… *Yano shrug here*
Somehow this morphs into a game of football, with the Lads’ jackets being used for goalposts. It’s Ireland vs. Germany… but the Lions backheel the ball into the crowd, then jump them when they try to take the kick again, and now we have a wrestling match!
The Lions get thrown into each other in the early seconds, then take a tope from Workie to the outside. Tarkan takes the Dudley’ “wassap” headbutt, before Workie tries to fly, but he cowers out and hits his elbow drop off the bottom rope. Lucky Kid tags in and hits a single-leg Codebreaker for a near-fall, but he’s quickly forced to defend some chops from Workie.
A double Codebreaker from the Lions get a near-fall as they continue to isolate Workie in their corner with chokes and stomps. Standard heel work sees Paddy M inadvertently distract the referee as the Lions choke away some more. Aslan elbows Workie, who was trying to roll away again, before Workie breaks a double clothesline to bonk the two Lions into each other, then bring in Paddy M. Paddy’s hot tag sees him clear out both of the Lions, then hit a crossbody, only for the Lions to hit back as this broke down something fierce.
A four-way forearm spot sends everyone reeling into the corners, before the Lions hit each other… that lets the Lads hit a moonsault/reverse DDT combo for a near-fall, but the Lions come back with a double stomp onto a Paddy as he was laid over the knees of Aslan… but that’s only enough for a near-fall.
The Lions set up for their finisher – the Circle of Life – but the chop-assisted German suplex is blocked, allowing Workie to hit a TKO, with Paddy finishing off the Lions with a high angle senton. Once this got going this was quite decent, but the character stuff didn’t pop with me. **½
The Social Elite (Paul Tracey & Jordan Devlin) vs. Tommy Dreamer & Danny Butler
Originally advertised as a Tracey vs. Dreamer street fight, this turned into a two-on-one match, with Tommy Dreamer getting his old WWE ECW theme. Seriously guys, nobody had a copy of Man In The Box?? Or even his half-baked TNA cover?
This was held when the Broken Matt Hardy stuff was really hot, because the imaginative chants here for the heel Tracey was “delete”. That ages well, doesn’t it! Dreamer gets some cheap pops by mentioning his Irish heritage, then mentions he’s got a partner to even things up: Danny Butler. Yeah, some fans wanted Sandman, but Dreamer told the fans that Sandman couldn’t leave the country…
Match was pretty much what you’d expect – it morphed into a no-DQ outing fairly quickly, and seemed to feature a lot of Paul Tracey mocking Dreamer’s poses. They brawled around the ring for a bit, into the crowd, then headed back so Dreamer could take an atomic drop over a handily-available guard railing. Devlin scores the win with a package piledriver on Butler, and now we know why this was made a tag match! **¾
After the match, Dreamer rips into Butch (the ring announcer) for asking the crowd to cheer the losing team… then has a go for them finally digging out Man in the Box. Butch did look really sheepish after all that.
Martina vs. Joey Ryan
You know we’re not going to see a technical masterpiece here, right? Martina grabs Joey’s lollipop and shoves it down there… he digs in for them and pulls out a string of condoms, before oiling himself up to send Martina into raptures.
Martina’s eager to avoid a Penis suplex, but Joey pulls her by the hair and tries to give her a Boobplex. He pulls out some stuffing and tries for it again, and the bulk of this match is Joey Ryan eagerly wanting Martina to “touch it” vs. Martina wanting to wrestle. In any other context… sexual harrassment, but that’s Joey’s gimmick, right?
An atomic drop actually hurts Martina’s knee, before she sits down on a sunset flip, then uses some headscissors to drag Joey into her nether regions. Joey’s offence drew what I believe were chants of “that’s too rapey” as he licks Martina, before claiming to have won twice after getting a trio of near-falls.
Martina lingers from a Bronco buster, and ends up getting caught with a Boobplex. She comes back with a satellite DDT before she shoves her hand up Joey’s rear end. A basement dropkick in the corner comes next, before Martina’s attempt at Mr Durexo is met with the lollipop that was shoved up her… y’know. That’s broken up with a Penix suplex, but Ryan only gets a near-fall, before Martina returns the favour with, erm, a Vaginal Claw for the submission. If there’s ever a match that needs that “your milage will vary” tag, its this one!
The second half of the show is interrupted by Gerry Humperdink – the kayfabe owner of OTTand a man who’s either dying his beard or his hair. EIther way, the beard looks so white it’s gotta be a fake. Gerry apologises for not being there and announces “WWE superstar Hornswoggle” and Ricochet for the Christmas shows. Instantly we cut to the entrance of William J. Humperdink – who’s back after being kicked out of the company, and the evil son of the owner comes out to complain that he’d been “tricked out of his company”.
WJH says he’s “sick and tired of Daddy dearest” treating his friends badly. Yeah, heel complaining at heels being buried. William’s got an announcement too: Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet… but only if he gets his half of the company back. We cut back to Gerry on the big screen, and he agrees to it all. This just felt rather rushed for such a big call, but hey, pre-recorded segments eh?
Kings of the North (Bonesaw & Corvin) vs. Angel Cruz & Tyler Bate
The Kings came out looking for their title shot, but the current tag champions – the Gymnasties – weren’t present. Instead, they’re interrupted by Angel Cruz who wants the Kings to put their number one contendership on the line against “the number one tag team… me”. Cruz has a new partner though, “Prince Pretty” Tyler Breeze… or in reality, Tyler Bate.
It’s amazing to see how Tyler was booked and received in November 2016, just two months before getting the WWE UK title. Before the bell we get Tyler and Bonesaw comparing their calf muscles (seriously), Of course, that leads to a squat challenge, with Tyler becoming a human version of Buckaroo… it turned into a ruse with the Kings of the North booting Cruz’s “security” off the apron after taking Angel out, only for Tyler to take over by himself with a tope.
Cruz teases a tope, then just throws one of his security guys out as it becomes a bit of a cluster on the floor. Too many dives to mention end with Bonesaw hitting a flip senton off the apron, across the turnbuckles to the outside, before the Kings get chopped by Bate back inside. Angel tries it, and fails miserably. Comedy!
Angel tries and fails again, so his security guys come in and hand him a knife. The actual hell? The ring clears as Cruz threatens to slash someone, “because this is the extreme supershow”. Perhaps someone’s taking the show name a little too seriously…
Corvin attacks Cruz from behind as the crowd chanted “knife the ref”. Seriously? A crossbody from Cruz is easily caught by Bonesaw, and the beatdown continues from there… but Bate was able to come in and show off his rebound Koppo kick to Corvin, before dropping Bonesaw with a brainbuster. The end quickly came when Cruz looked to drill Bonesaw with a big boot… but he hit Bate instead, and it was Tyler who got rolled up whilst Bonesaw had his feet on the ropes for the win. Yeah, two months later, no way would Tyler be taking that fall! A pretty decent match once you got past the ha-ha stuff with Cruz, his security team and his knife. **¾
After the match, Cruz brought out a glitter-covered selfie stick, still thinking he had partnered with Tyler Breeze. Bate refused, and they played this up like the ending of this team. Of course it wasn’t!
Next up are clips from Ospreay vs. Ricochet at Korakuen Hall – as a build-up to OTT’s rematch between the two on their Christmas shows.
NLW Championship: Fabian Aichner vs. Marty Scurll vs. Pete Dunne (c)
We started with Marty Scurll whacking Aichner with an umbrella straight out of the gate. Apparently that was the first thing Marty’d ever done in an OTT ring. I’d have to go back and check “Even Better Than Our Best” from earlier in the year, since this wasn’t Marty’s debut. Not by a long shot.
Scurll and Dunne tried to work together, but they were quickly put on the back foot when Aichner landed a springboard High Fly Flow to the outside, before he slipped on a springboard back into the ring as he ended up flopping onto the canvas. After trying to bite away on Aichner, Dunne turned his focus onto Scurll, who countered a brainbuster then chopped him in the corner until the Italian Aichner came back with a spinning heel kick to the Villain.
Dunne took over with a double single-crab to a stacked up Scurll and Aichner, but both men made the ropes to force the break. Aichner responds with a figure four to Dunne, then locks a crossface on Scurll for a double submission attempt. Neither man gave, and instead we moved into a double chickenwing attempt from Scurll, before Aichner gave both men a double Samoan drop. Stacked-up spots for the win!
Aichner took a couple of superkicks then ended up having to fight off of a wristlock from Dunne, who this time threw in some nipple tweaking on the Italian. We go back to the double teaming from Scurll and Dune, but Aichner again outsmarts them, cartwheeling away before launching in with clotheslines and a springboard crossbody. Scurll superkicks Dunne outside, which allows Aichner to hit his springboard moonsault for a near-fall as the two then battle over a backslide.
A reverse Samoan drop gets Scurll a near-fall, and we go back to back-and-forth strikes from the two Brits, until Dunne hits his X-Plex for a near-fall of his own. Dunne hits a double stomp off the top, then a sit-out powerbomb before Aichner broke up that cover… Aichner comes back with a wheelbarrow suplex on Dunne, then a Finlay roll sending Scurll onto Dunne, before the champion avoids the moonsault and hits a Bitter End for a two-count.
Scurll backdrops Aichner as he had Dunne in a chicken wing… but Dunne bites free and eventually helps with a double-team as Aichner had one hand bitten and the other snapped. Another parade of moves ends when Aichner’s springboard crossbody ends with a double superkick, but then we move into the three-way spots with forearms, chops, and finger biting. A swinging side slam from Aichner leaves Dunne laying, before he goes up for the Severe Impact frog splash… it connects, but Scurll pulls him into a chicken wing… which Dunne breaks up with a double stomp off the top rope. Another Bitter End follows, and that’s enough for Dunne to retain. A fun main event, perhaps veering into the territory of patterned three-ways, but worth the watch nevertheless. ***¾
After the match, Scurll challenged Dunne for the NLW title. You know, the one he was just in a match for. Dunne accepted… but since then he’s lost his title before getting around to defending against the Villain one-on-one. Oh well. Plans change!
Well, this was a weird one to watch some four months after the event. Extreme Supershow 2 felt like a comedown of sorts between October’s WrestleCon shows and the December cards, and this did feel like the proverbial “after the Lord Mayor’s show”. No, this wasn’t a bad show, it didn’t feature any bad matches, but it didn’t feel like a must-see show – as borne out by the fact that it’d laid unwatched in my Vimeo account for many months!
You know what you’re getting with OTT – some good wrestlers, some good matches, some comedy. The commentary is there – Aonghus Og McAnally’s got his moments, and Don Marnell does come across like he tries too hard at times, which leads to the Matt Striker-esque moment where he’s yelling about the first thing Marty Scurll’s done in OTT was an umbrella shot… and not a run-of-the-mill waistlock from his debut six months ago. And since someone keeps searching this website for that, Hi Don!
It’s something for everyone, but how much of that “something” you enjoy really depends on who’s booked. I’m not that keen on Joey Ryan, so normally I’d have skipped this. If you’re a completionist, give it a go, otherwise… save your pennies for one of the bigger cards!