Beyond Wrestling returned to Powerbomb.tv for their second outing – and it was another monster of a show from the Electric Haze!
We start on the pre-show, which kicked off with an open challenge for Brian Milonas… it was answered by Josh Briggs, who beat Maxwell Jacob Friedman here last month.
Brian Milonas vs. Josh Briggs
Milonas jumps Briggs at the bell, and it’s fairly one-way at the start, as an overhead suplex took Briggs into the corner for a hip attack. A missed splash gives Briggs a brief hope, landing a spinebuster for a near-fall, only to run into a spinning slam as Milonas kept showing that his size was going to keep him in it.
Briggs escapes a swinging side slam though, then gets the big guy up for a chokeslam for a near-fall, only to get squashed with a cross body out of the corner… but it’s a moonsault from Briggs that gets the win, with the 7-footer’s aerial stuff catching Milonas out. This was fine as a TV-style match on the pre-show. **½
The Amityville Project (Mike Verna & Ryan Galeone) vs. Jay Freddie & Rory Gulak
So, the ring announcer messed up Verna and Galeone’s team name, which I’m not sure was intentional or not… Dan Barry buries Freddie and Gulak’s choice of team name, falsely claiming that only one of the American Gaijin had been to Japan.
This was a pretty standard tag match, with the Project working over Gulak early, using a pass-the-parcel suplex to take down Drew’s brother. Galeone wrecks Rory with a Yakuza kick for a near-fall, before Verna’s awkward headscissors just about takes Gulak down again. Eventually Gulak makes the hot tag as Freddie hits a couple of Stunners to Galeone – including a Dudley Dog – before an attempted Tarantula took a little longer than usual to hook in.
Dan Barry gets involved to distract the ref as Rex Lawless hits Gulak with his crutch… allowing Galeone and Verna to hit a powerbomb and senton bomb for the win. This was a bit rough in places, but fine for what it was. **¼
After the match the beaten Freddie and Gulak try to fight back, chasing away the Amityville Project with Lawless’ own crutch.
Dante Caballero vs. Sage Phillips
Caballero is apparently fairly new to the US indy scene… we’ve seen him on the original Style Battle way back in January, and since then he’s appeared fairly regularly for Maryland Championship Wrestling.
Dante’s a little bigger than Sage, and he tries to use that size in the early going, drilling him with a swinging back suplex for a near-fall. Problem was, Caballero was getting too cocksure, which led to Sage hitting a tornado DDT out of the corner. They headed back-and-forth until a rebound German off the ropes gets Phillips a near-fall, before Dante hits that swinging suplex again. Commentary notes that Caballero seems to be spamming the same moves… and that cost him as Sage took him outside for a tope, before surprising him with an Asai DDT for the win. This wasn’t too bad, but for a brief pre-show match it was what you’d expect. Phillips showed a little something, which is good given he’s barely been wrestling for two years! **¼
Tracy Williams & Wheeler YUTA vs. Brandon Watts & Zenshi
Last time in Worcester, the team of Watts and Zenshi’s pairing didn’t exactly go to plan, with Zenshi walking out on Watts as EYFBO bested them.
Watts started out here as Zenshi refused to tag in, choosing to take a drink of water and check his phone. Heck, pretty much anything instead of being there for the tag when the chance came. The “Hot Wheels” tandem pretty much took the whole match as Zenshi stood on the apron playing on a Nintendo Switch. I wonder if it was Mario Odyssey?
Zenshi “drops” his Switch, which prevents the tag out, so Watts takes a knee breaker and a superkick instead as Brandon just cannot catch a break. Finally he gets a tag out as Zenshi was caught distracted, but at least he’s able to get going with some backflip kicks and a springboard neckbreaker. Yep, Zenshi loves to fly, but he’s forced to abort a 630 splash as YUTA tags out…
A brainbuster from Williams nearly put Zenshi down, but Watts makes the save… allowing Zenshi to make a comeback, using a top rope Snapmare driver on Williams, before Watts tagged in and accidentally double stomped his own man. That miscommunication left Watts vulnerable, as Williams DDT’d him on the top rope before a submission in a tombstone position from YUTA forces the quick submission. Pretty good stuff this, and I’m enjoying the story between the warring partners who drop things when someone breaks the ice. ***
Ace Romero vs. John Silver
Beyond sure love their big lads – and Ace is no exception. John Silver tries to slap Romero, and just gets obliterated with a running crossbody by a guy whom I’d guess is the best part of twice his size.
Silver’s forced to hit and run, as kicks finally took Acey Baby to the mat, but the big guy’s swiftly back up for a squashing cannonball as Goliath was having his own way. A release suplex dumped Silver awkwardly on his side, but John’s able to rebound into a clothesline, knocking Ace down again. Somehow he even gets off a suplex for a near-fall, but Romero whacks him with an uppercut to brutally snuff out the comeback. He then looked to head up top, but gets caught and ‘rana’d! Silver’s comeback led to a German suplex for a near-fall, but in the end, Romero absorbed a barrage of offence before catching a tope and turning it into a swinging slam on the floor!
Back inside Romero flipped Silver inside out with a discus lariat, and that’s all folks! A really solid big vs. small guy match, with Silver coming close before finding out the hard way that dives can snuff out your chances! **¾
That’s the pre-show over with – now onto the main iPPV!
Team PAWG (Jordynne Grace & LuFisto) vs. Hooligans (Devin Cutter & Mason Cutter)
We’re starting with some intergender action as the Hooligans made their return to Beyond after eighteen months. The Hooligans’ gimmick is that they’re indistinguishable, and from what little I’ve seen of them, I’m far from impressed.
Jordynne Grace tried to outwrestle one of the Hooligans early, but they quickly used their size to knock her down, before things briefly changed as LuFisto headbutted away at one of the Cutters… then got booted down hard. Things got a little tough to follow as we had two separate matches going on for a while, at least until Grace threw herself into all of the Hooligans.
LuFisto gets whipped into a brick wall – and that left Grace alone against both Hooligans, who tried to squish her with an assisted standing moonsault. She recovered and manages to tag in LuFisto, who instantly went to work with some machine gun chops before the Hooligans flattened her in the corner with a knee and a cannonball.
Team PAWG turn the tables with some cannonballs and hip attacks though, before a powerbomb and a sandwiching hip attack got the win! Fun for what it was, but this was more of a come-from-behind win for the PAWGs rather than a showcase for the Hooligans… **¼
Orange Cassidy vs. Dick Justice
Comedy match klaxon! Someone forgot to obscure the music, so we get to hear the Police Academy theme to announce Dick Justice’s entrance. You know what we’re getting here – endless rope running, struggles to climb the turnbuckles, slow-mo leap overs, helpful schoolboys, mock Ospreay poses… the lot. Thing was, this just came across as folks arsing around in a ring rather than anything resembling a match.
After a lot of stumbling around, Cassidy found his way into a big splash, before Justice “held Cassidy at gunpoint”… the ref tries to get involved and ends up setting off the gun, “killing the cameraman”. Everyone’s response to witnessing murder, was to run away. More of a long comedy skit than a match, so I’m not rating. Until the last bit though, this wasn’t hitting with a lot of the fans…
Secret City Soldiers (Da Hoodz (Davey Cash & Kris Pyro), Alexxis & Anthony Stone) vs. Anthony Greene, Brick Mastone, Davienne & Mikey Webb
There’s a whole lot of unfamiliarity here for me, not helped by the lack of any on-screen graphics.
The fixed camera angle makes this harder to follow when all eight were in the ring at the same time… especially when you had Mikey Webb standing right in the camera’s line of sight! It doesn’t get any better when a black screen masks Alexxis’ dive to the outside, and we switch to the mobile camera in time for Davienne to dump someone with a swinging side slam.
The intergender continues when Mastone hits a slam on Alexxis, but that cover’s broken, as Da Hoodz hit a wheelbarrow into a double stomp as mobile camera guy wanders some more. Webb slipped on a Sliced Bread out of the corner, but he recovers, only to get superkicked by Cam Zagami… how’s that not a DQ? Oh, it’s because the Hood Cutter – a wheelbarrow into an Ace crusher is the finish. There was way too much going on here, and for live streams at least, I think it’s safe to say that 8-man tags are too much to handle in this venue. **¼
After the match, Zagami hit the ring to try and calm things. Except he reckoned they’d have lost since he wasn’t involved anyway… he’s chased away, and that’s how we clear the ring, with a tease of a fight backstage.
They announce that the next show on Powerbomb.tv – at the end of November – will be a women’s tournament.
JT Dunn vs. Matt Riddle
We’ve got all the grapples here early as Dunn and Riddle scramble on the mat, but it’s Riddle who edged ahead first, throwing chops and forearms after Dunn tried to sneak attack him coming back into the ring.
Rolling gutwrenches looked to get Riddle further ahead, but Dunn slipped out and lands an Ace crusher. JT finds out the hard way he can’t suplex Riddle, as young Matthew goes through some of his greatest hits, including a Bro to Sleep… but it’s not enough as Dunn finds a way to chop down Riddle’s legs and get him onto the mat once more.
Problem was, they ended up on the apron where Riddle waffled JT with a knee strike and a Fisherman’s buster onto the apron. That looked like an unpleasant-at-best landing! Speaking of unpleasant, some kicks as Dunn was sitting on the apron probably fell into that category, as they stayed outside trading kicks and chops, before JT did the insane… apron tombstone!
That only gets a two-count back in the ring as Riddle draped a foot on the rope, which fired up the crowd into loud “Death By Elbow”/”BRO!” chants, which seemed to fire up RIddle into a ripcord knee before a cradle tombstone slam took Riddle into a Bromission as we found out here that JT… stood for Just Tapped. End-to-end, this was really entertaining stuff, but I could have lived without the apron stuff – but hey, it’s another solid match in the ever-growing body of work that Riddle’s building towards the end of only his second full year in wrestling. ***½
Viking War Party (Alexander Rudolph & Jake Parnell) vs. Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson & Jaka)
Doom Patrol are allowed to have a character in Beyond – although we’ve stopped watching EVOLVE since FloSlam went south, so that could have changed. I doubt it. The Viking War Party are new to us, although we did see Alexander Rudolph in that abomination of a FIP show earlier this year. The match gets turned into “Valhalla Rules”, which I guess is another way of saying anything goes, and it’s not long before all four men end up on the outside.
Parnell takes a powerbomb on the apron as Doom Patrol looked to isolate the tallest man on the show, Rudolph, although I’m not sure how effective Jaka’s tope was, as Rudolph barely left his feet… at least, not by his own choice, as he sure did when it became dive time. The Viking War Party busted out a wacky tag move, with Rudolph chokeslamming Jaka onto Dickinson (who was still in place after a lungblower), but the Doom Patrol quickly swung back in after Rudolph got hung up in the ropes.
Rudolph wanders away from camera so he can bring in some weaponry… the hell, we’ve got a chainsaw?! A superkick from Jaka knocks Rudolph down, and before he can do any more damage… Parnell hits a chairshot to stop the doomsday chokeslam, and the Doom Patrol seem to be on their last legs… until Dickinson schoolboys Rudolph and gets the win. That was fairly anticlimactic, but everything before it was fine. Again, the fixed camera and sometimes-mobile camera really hurts this… ***
Powerbomb.tv Independent Championship: Flip Gordon vs. Jonathan Gresham (c)
Gresham won a tournament earlier in October to win Powerbomb’s Independent title – and I think this was one of, if not the first defence of it. Stokely Hathaway tries to cut a promo before the match, but the crowd drown him out. Heat!
Gresham tries to keep Gordon on the mat, a good way to stop him from flying, but even in a wristlock, Flip finds a way to, erm, flip. You got the sense that Gresham’s already tired of Gordon’s antics, but he gets taken to the outside with a jumping enziguiri as Flip continues to live up to his name. Flip, that is, not Travis. I have no idea how you could “Travis” in a wrestling match. Answers on a postcard.
Gresham tries to pull the referee into the line of fire as Gordon kept up the offence, but Flip stops short as the Powerbomb.tv champion eased into control. A cheeky chop to the balls helped, but Gordon always seemed to be in touch, despite having a bad knee… landing a reverse Finlay roll as Gordon still found ways to fly.
There’s a wonky-looking spot as Gordon fell off the apron in time to take a tope as Gresham tried to out-flip Flip, finishing off with a shooting star press for a near-fall before switching into an ankle lock. That doesn’t work, so Gresham keeps up with submissions, trapping Gordon in a figure four, but Gordon tries to escape it by rolling out of the ring and onto the floor in a kamikaze move.
That looked like it sucked… and that led to the end as Gresham got back into the ring at the count of 8, with Gordon failing to break the count. An unpopular finish, but this was pretty good while it lasted. I don’t know how, but Gresham’s one of those names who somehow doesn’t seem to get the high profile work you’d expect… hopefully that’ll be changing in 2018? ***
Martin Stone vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Commentary notes that this match was added late to the card after both men’s prior bookings fell through. Sabre’s because of the recent natural disaster in Puerto Rico, whilst Stone’s booking disappeared due to another disaster: Canuck Pro. It’s good to see that in as wacky a year as 2017, there’s still some old-fashioned stuff still going on…
You can guess how this one went – plenty of fluid exchanges on the mat, with Sabre schooling Stone in the opening stages, tying him in wristlocks and headlocks. Stone thought he’d escaped a cravat, but he’s quickly taken down as Tracy Williams on commentary reveled in finally being able to call technical moves.
Stone finally gets free and stomps away on Sabre’s arm as he tried to return the favours from earlier, but Zack’s able to fight back, catching Stone in various holds, such as modified crossfaces and chicken wings, before trapping Stone’s arm between his legs and twisting it. Yep, it’s hard to wrestle with one arm… Somehow, Stone found a way back in, but of course Sabre effortlessly escapes the toe hold. He’s got no way around a short-arm clothesline though, before grabbing an armbar as Stone’d gone for a tornado DDT. No matter what Martin does, Zack has a way it seemed. Especially when he was able to throw a paintbrushing slap and a PK out of nowhere for a near-fall!
Despite sinking to his knees, Stone was caught in an Octopus stretch for a brief moment, but despite a brief flurry he’s caught in what looked more like a crucifix into an armbar… only for Zack to have taken it too close to the ropes as a break was called. They switch into some strikes, but Sabre snuffed it out as he goes for a mounted Kimura… which Stone tried to suplex out of, before instead landing an elevated DDT for a near-fall.
Stone keeps up, nearly winning with a headbutt, but both men pulled themselves back to their feet for more slugging, before the pair looked to snatch pinfalls, with Sabre edging one out courtesy of the Euro clutch! This one was a real Marmite match – some will hate the slow, deliberate, technical style, but if you appreciate the style, this was going to be right up your alley. ***¾
There’s involvement after the match from JT Dunn, who hit the ring and blasted Stone with a forearm to the back of the head. Commentary had played up that Dunn didn’t want another match with Stone… but it seemed that he didn’t want Stone in Beyond at all. The crowd make it hard to hear JT, but he lays down a challenge on November 12 – challenging Martin Stone to find a partner to take on the Juicy Product (Dunn & David Starr).
EYFBO (Mike Draztik & Angel Ortiz) vs. Unbreakable F’N Machines (Michael Elgin & Brian Cage)
Commentary notes EYFBO killed it at wXw’s World Tag Team League earlier in the month. That’s no lie.
Once we get past the feeling out stages, we see Draztik charging into a headlock from Cage, before an attempted springboard reverse ‘rana onto the big guy almost went wrong, as Cage stumbled into the ropes before taking the regular ‘rana. Yeah, that move’s high risk for a reason!
Cage and Elgin took over, largely thanks to an Elgin forearm to Ortiz, as Big Mike followed up with a stalling suplex that became a game of Pass-The-Ortiz between the Machines. Draztik’s forced to break up a cover as EYFBO looked to be struggling… and the suffering continued when Big MIke dropped Draztik off the apron with a pump kick.
Against the run of play, Ortiz snuck in a slingshot DDT to Cage, before outmaneuvering Elgin as Draztik came in against both halves of the Unbreakable F’N Machines. The ref doesn’t seem to mind two men being in the ring, so when Cage ate a flying cannonball and a death valley driver, the official’s focus was more on counting the near-fall than clearing the ring. EYFBO busted out a Demolition-ish backbreaker/legdrop combo for a near-fall on Cage, who then replied by throwing EYFBO into each other.
Hey, whatever works!
A deadlift suplex from the apron takes Ortiz back into the ring, as the Machines fired back up, with a Falcon Arrow from Big MIke getting a near-fall. Cage’s luck with reverse ‘ranas continued to be rotten as he fell badly on Draztik’s attempt, but Big Mike was able to effortlessly pull of a normal ‘rana. What the hell?!
Cage recovers and blocks EYFBO’s crossbody and ‘rana attempts at the same time, leading to him slamming and powerbombing them together. Fair enough. The Machines look to finish off Ortiz with a top rope Elgin bomb, but he ‘ranas free as we broke into a Parade of Moves, which somehow busted open Ortiz’s head. Regardless, Ortiz heads up top for a big splash, followed by a 450 from Draztik… but Cage barely shuffled up a shoulder in time!
EYFBO keep up with a Tower of London attempt, but it goes awry as Elgin catches the pair of them and hits the fallaway slam/Samoan drop combo, leaving Ortiz alone for some clothesline sandwiches. The afro’d Ortiz continues to get bounced around, with an F5 from Cage getting a near-fall, only for Cage to obliterate him with a Screwdriver for the win. That was insane stuff to wrap up the show… a few whiffs, but this went to form, at least in terms of the Goliaths getting the win. ***½
Once again, Beyond’s monthly foray onto Powerbomb.tv was a solid outing – one that offered pretty much something for everyone. You had your comedy, your flippy guys, the big lads, the technical stuff… the only thing missing was the token women’s match (although we got two lots of intergender matches, so… if that ticks the box for you, go for it!)
Powerbomb’s been adding a tonne of archive content lately, thanks to their new agreement with SmartMarkVideo, but it’s nice to see that they’re still doing live stuff – making this one of the better $10 you can spend on indy wrestling every month.