This week on the Signature Series, we find out the finalists in the Tournament for Tomorrow, while the Greatest Rivals Round Robin series continues.
Quick Results
Masha Slamovich submitted Kaia McKenna in 10:33 (**¾)
Brandon Watts & Randy Summers pinned Edith Surreal & Saint Jaxon DuPont in 10:27 (***¼)
Solo Darling & Willow Nightingale submitted Tre Lamar & PB Smooth in 8:46 (***)
Wheeler YUTA submittedTony Deppen in 14:48 (***½)
Denver Colorado recaps last week’s action then pitches to Paul Crockett and Sidney Bakabella at ringside…
Masha Slamovich vs. Kaia McKenna
McKenna’s a Black & Brave trainee who made her debut last year… Slamovich has four years on her, per Cagematch, including some stints in Japan as recently as last year before everything went to hell.
We open with a tie-up as Slamovich takes McKenna into the ropes before slapping her on the break. McKenna rushes in for another tie-up as she goes to an armdrag, then looked for an overhead wristlick that Slamovich tries to break with hair pulling. Standing switches see McKenna try to restrain Slamovich with a full nelson, before taking it to the mat for some figure four headscissors.
Slamovich tries to stand up, but McKenna just rolls her back down before Slamovich rolled back to try and nick the pin. Clotheslines keep Slamovich in the corner ahead of a bulldog out of it for a two-count, but Masha comes back with a chop to the stomach before a low dropkick left McKenna laying.
Hair-pulling and rope choking follows, with McKenna getting taken to the corner as Slamovich ends up getting tripped as McKenna grabs the legs to block a possible Cloverleaf. Kaia’s leglock’s quickly kicked away, but an inside cradle gets the rookie a two-count, before Slamovich looked to work a half crab. After breaking free, McKenna runs into a bear hug that’s turned into a belly-to-belly for a one-count, as Kaia showed some heart… but got left on the mat for some strikes from above. A headbutt dumps McKenna again, but she tries to fight back from her knees before landing a jawbreaker.
Right hands from McKenna knock Slamovich back ahead of a back elbow… a monkey flip takes Masha out of the corner as some headscissors eventually take Slamovich down into a Rings of Saturn, but that ends in the ropes. A backfist from Slamovich turns things around in a hurry, as a Cloverleaf leads to the instant submission. This one told a good story with the newcomer McKenna looking good early on – the rolling headscissor submission series in particular standing out – but her lack of experience told as she didn’t capitalise, and ended up paying the price. **¾
Tournament For Tomorrow 2021 Semi-Final: Milk Chocolate (Brandon Watts & Randy Summers) vs. Ephemera (Edith Surreal & Saint Jaxon DuPont)
Summers gives Watts a back massage before the bell, as they clearly need time to loosen up. It’s Summers who starts though up against Surreal… but Surreal pulls Summers to the mat as an early leglock attempt ended in the ropes.
Surreal’s back with a side headlock, wringing it in as Summers slipped out for a hammerlock… she switches it as Summers goes to the ropes for a break, before a headlock takedown has things on the mat. Headscissors see Surreal escape, but again the ropes save Summers before they bust out a Test of Strength, with Surreal’s attempt to go for a strait jacket leading to her rolling Summers to the mat for some fish-hooking.
Summers gets back to his feet and rebounds off the ropes, throwing Surreal into a kick from Watts before a big discus lariat dropped Edith for a two-count. Watts tags in and distracts the ref as Summers chokes on Surreal in the ropes, before Summers tagged back in to keep up some stomps. A Goomba stomp splats Surreal on the lower back for a two-count, before Summers dived on Surreal’s attempt to crawl over to make a tag.
A grounded waistlock has Surreal in trouble, with Watts tagging back in to hit a leaping clothesline into the corner. Milk Chocolate keep Surreal away from a tag while exchanging frequent tags of their own… but Randy Summers running his mouth nearly backfires as Surreal again went for a tag.
Watts is back for a chop-assisted sidewalk slam for a near-fall, before DuPont finally got involved, kicking Watts in the ropes before getting the tag in as that top rope looked mighty loose. DuPont’s able to hit a crossbody off it anyway, before a clothesline through the ropes left Watts laying.
Yup, that tope rope looks to have absolutely no tension to it, but DuPont scales it anyway ahead of a missile dropkick for a two-count. DuPont throws Milk Chocolate into each other, then stayed on Summers with a dropkick in the corner. Surreal tags back in and hits a bulldog on Summers ahead of a seatbelt pin, with the neat addition of a Stretch Muffler too… but Watts breaks it up before a Winning Combination on Surreal almost got the win.
Milk Chocolate go for a double-team DDT, but DuPont breaks it up… he distracts the referee as Watts throws a handful of, ahem, hot chocolate powder at Surreal before snatching the win with a roll-up. Milk Chocolate cheat their way to the finals after a pretty decent tag match that could have gone south after the rope malfunction… ***¼
Tournament For Tomorrow 2021 Semi-Final: The Bird And The Bee (Solo Darling & Willow Nightingale) vs. 40 Acres (PB Smooth & Tre Lamar)
The winners take on Milk Chocolate in next week’s finals…
Darling and Lamar start us off, with Solo going for the leg early as Lamar grabbed the rope. An attempt at a mounted sleeper ends in the corner for Solo, with another rope break being forced. A front facelock from Solo has her tag Lamar into the corner, with Nightingale tagging in for a nice rolling leg lock and a back senton for a quick two-count.
A hip attack from Nightingale traps Lamar in the corner, but a floatover from Tre and a big boot from Smooth in the corner drops Nightingale as 40 Acres took the upper hand. Another boot exacerbates things as Lamar grabbed hold of Willow’s hair, before Smooth’s slam and legdrop landed for a two-count.
Lamar’s back as Nightingale’s hot shotted into the corner ahead of a shotgun dropkick for a two-count. A drop toe hold and a splash gets Smooth a one-count, before some cking in the ropes was exacerbated behind the ref’s back. A roll out of the corner from Lamar leads to a kick to Willow’s back, before an Angle slam from Nightingale saw her finally get a shot in.
A tag brings Darling back in, and she charges Lamar into the corner ahead of a Honey Steamer tornado suplex. Lamar gets back up and takes a pumphandle slam… before a Sharp Stinger cloverleaf was pushed away. A floatover from Lamar and a roll through lead to a Pele kick that crushes Solo as tags bring us back to Smooth and Nightingale.
Smooth’s Final Cut legdrop gets a two-count on Willow, ahead of a Rings of Saturn attempt. Solo’s in to kick it apart, before low dropkicks from Solo keep Smooth on his knees as a head kick from Willow get some pinning attempts in. Tags get us back to Lamar and Darling, but Lamar kicks Solo away ahead of a springboard elbow for a two-count, before a Lion Tamer in the middle of the ring sparked some pinning attempts. Solo counters out into a Sharp Stinger… and that’s the submission! Brief, but good while it lasted as 40 Acres’ tactics couldn’t get the job done. ***
Greatest Rivals Round Robin: Tony Deppen vs. Wheeler Yuta
Both men lost their first two matches, so the loser here finishes bottom of the table.
Yuta goes between the ropes to start as he looked to put some distance between he and Deppen, who tried to take things to the mat early. Instead, Yuta suckers Deppen with a right hand as uppercuts take Deppen into the corner early on. A slam drops Deppen for barely a one-count, before Yuta tripped Deppen to the mat.
That leads to a bow-and-arrow hold from Yuta, stretching Deppen briefly as the hold turned into a pinning attempt. Deppen returned with a front facelock, but a side headlock from Yuta proves to be an escape as he shoots Deppen into the ropes. A shoulder tackle has Yuta down before Yuta’s attempt at a springboard armdrag was countered into an armbar from Deppen.
Deppen trips Yuta and stomps on the arm, and there’s the target as Deppen tied up one arm and prepared to stretch the other. The double armbar has Yuta in trouble, but he’s rolled free as Deppen ends up coming back with an armbar. After getting free, Yuta runs into a back elbow from Deppen, but then countered a floatover by crotching Deppen in the ropes… that leads to a leg lock in the ropes and a dropkick to take Deppen to the outside.
Back inside, Yuta stays on Deppen’s leg with a spinning toe hold, then a Figure Four leglock, which forces Deppen to reach for the ropes. After the break, Yuta kicks away at Deppen, then targeted the knee with another low dropkick ahead of a stomp in the ropes.
Deppen tries for a springboard Codebreaker as a desperation move, but Yuta sidesteps and comes back with a Sharpshooter as Deppen again needed the ropes. Taking Deppen up top, Yuta looks for a superplex, but Deppen drops the arm across the top rope before the springboard Codebreaker bought Deppen some time.
Yuta fires back with elbows, but Deppen tries to respond, only to get slapped down as Deppen spun to the mat. Deppen’s back with an Octopus hold in the middle of the ring… that’s countered into back-and-forth pins before Deppen was charged into the corner. Yuta quickly throws in a Dragon screw in the ropes, then a knee breaker before a bridging deathlock… letting go only to taunt Deppen some more.
Yuta bridges back again as the hold ends in the rope… but Yuta’s bringing the aggression… and gets kneed in the head for it. Deppen goes for a powerbomb, but headscissors lead to some back-and-forth pinning attempts until a leaping stomp from Deppen broke the chain… and aggravated the knee some more.
Deppen looks for a running knee, but Yuta side-steps it… the referee almost gets taken out, as Yuta slips in a low blow before dragging Deppen to the mat for a knee bar that gets the quick submission. Yuta’s aggression and change of attitude gets him the win again – albeit by foul means – as Tony Deppen leaves the round robin series in final place. ***½
Next week: it’s the final episode of the Signature Series as Chris Dickinson and Matt Makowski face off to decide the winner of the Greatest Rivals Round Robin series… plus Milk Chocolate take on The Bird & The Bee in the Tournament for Tomorrow finals… oh, and we also have Robo vs. A Very Good Professional Wrestler and Slade vs. Matthew Justice before Beyond follow THAT up with a mystery show straight afterwards.
With four matches in an hour, Beyond packed a lot into the penultimate episode of the Signature Series – and pretty much all of it meant something. From Milk Chocolate continuing to cheat to win, through to Wheeler Yuta’s new-found attitude preventing him from finishing bottom of the round robin. Next week’s finale should be a blast – particularly since we’re getting another go around of what many thought was Beyond’s match of 2020 in Chris Dickinson vs. Matt Makowski.