Kylie Rae’s impromptu challenge for the Independent Wrestling title headlined a thrilling episode of Uncharted Territory as Beyond continues to deliver on Wednesdays.
We open with a trailer for Americanrana 2019, and from there it’s into the opening countdown as we’re back at the Electric Haze in Worcester, Massachusetts. Paul Crockett and Josh Briggs are on commentary, as we’ve got the replay and an audio track up quickly!
Chuck Taylor vs. Wheeler YUTA
This was a dream match for YUTA, who had a few boos after his treatment of Solo Darling last week.
Taylor keeps it on the ground early, before we got some lucha-inspired sequences. Oh, and a cheapshot from a handshake from Taylor… there’s chops too, before YUTA got propelled into the ropes with a back body drop as the veteran was literally taking him to school. YUTA made a comeback with a tornado DDT and some ground and pound. That looked to end when Taylor turned a leapfrog into a powerbomb, but YUTA stayed in it, forcing Taylor to the outside with a STF.
On the outside though, Taylor begins to work over YUTA’s leg with single leg crabs. Another rope break gives YUTA a second wind, as he almost won with a roll-up out of an Awful Waffle attempt, before a bridging German suplex took him even closer… before he kicked out of two piledrivers and shocked Chuckie T with a crucifix pin. An excellent TV match – YUTA had his arse handed to him, but he took advantage of Taylor perhaps taking him too lightly and left with a win… and a handshake. ***½
Outside, Cameron Zagami’s interviewing Alex Tavarez, this week’s Discovery Gauntlet entrant. Tavarez wants to come back again and again, and otherwise this was pretty vanilla.
Discovery Gauntlet: Alex Tavarez vs. Mick Moretti
Moretti won the first two weeks’ matches, so he’s defending quite a streak here, starting by trying to outsmart Tavarez on the mat, escaping a waistlock before he rolled around the ring.
The Australian Moretti looked to keep him down, but a rebound armdrag caught the Rapscallion unawares, as did a satellite headscissors. A second try and a lucha armdrag ends with Moretti planting himself in a handstand as he surprised Tavarez, who tries to make a comeback with chops, before a roll-through into a kick’s blocked.
Moretti dumps him with a Fisherman’s buster for a near-fall, only to get caught with a Twister off the middle rope as they upped their game. A back elbow catches Tavarez, but he’s quickly back with a slingshot Blockbuster as Moretti was caught in the ropes. A missed frog splash nearly led to Tavarez’s downfall as he quickly ate a lariat for a near-fall, before a rolling German suplex into a Dragon suplex… gets a near-fall. Christ, they’re kicking out of a lot.
Tavarez manages to hit a roll-up into a head kick, then a pump handled Blue Thunder Bomb, before his latest comeback ended with him landing into Moretti’s knees with a frog splash, as a second pumphandle driver got the win. This had plenty of time, but I’d have liked to have seen more than back-and-forth. Moretti’s quickly finding a niche here, and hopefully this leads to something beyond the gauntlet. ***¼
Cameron Zagami tries to interview Moretti again. Apparently Moretti’s cancelled his flight back to Australia, since he plans to be here forever… forever… forever… He’s a big Terry Funk fan.
Chris Dickinson vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman
Spurred on from last week’s episode, where MJF cheated to beat Dickinson… and this week, there’s no partners to help (or hinder).
MJF’s such an excellent bad guy, but he’s quickly put to the sword as Dickinson had him in the ropes after he blocked a takedown attempt. Friedman tries to respond with an Indian deathlock, but Dickinson counters into a leglock as MJF eventually had to reach for a rope break following a nice, scrambling series.
MJF offered his leg for a takedown, but he just spun away… then had his leg kicked away as Dickinson stopped messing around. All the hard hits came next as Dickinson sent MJF packing with a back body drop. A brawl around ringside opened it up for MJF though, as he began to target Dickinson’s arm, which began to hinder Dickinson… and that was before he had his arm stomped through.
Dickinson manages to fight through it, dumping MJF with an overhead belly-to-belly, before a clothesline out of the corner had the “Dirty Daddy” back in front ahead of a death valley driver. More stomps from MJF get him back in… or so he thought as he ran into a roundhouse kick… only for Richard Holliday to run in and beat down Dickinson for the DQ. So, that’s the arrival of MLW’s Dynasty in Beyond, and I’m guessing we’ll have Slither vs. Dynasty way down the line. This was quite good as a match, and I’m totally digging Beyond continuing to build rather than throwing random matches out there. ***¼
Davienne vs. Kris Statlander
Somehow, this was Davienne’s first appearance in Beyond in almost a year – having appeared more in their sister promotion, WWR.
We start with some slaps back and forth, before Statlander found a way ahead with a twisting legdrop and a dropkick, before she got hung up in the ropes. A clothesline to the outside nearly went awfully wrong, leaving her prone on the apron for a series of kicks. It continued back in the ring as an avalanche caught Statlander in the corner, ahead of a low dropkick as Davienne seemed to have found a way to stop Statlander…
Until she got caught with a bicycle knee. Ouch.
They get back to their feet after exchanging forearms, but it’s Statlander who edged ahead with a big boot and a sit-out front suplex for a near-fall. A Blue Thunder Bomb’s good for a near-fall, before a double wet willie and another thrust kick nearly led to Davienne’s gross demise. Statlander misses a moonsault though, and that opened it up for Davienne, as she quickly looked to put her away with an Air Raid Crash, getting a near-fall. Statlander’s back with an Electric Chair Facebuster and a roundhouse kick… and that’s all. Enjoyable stuff, and I get the feeling Beyond’s putting more and more stock behind Statlander. Hey, why not get in on the proverbial ground floor? ***
Cameron Zagami’s back to interview Statlander. She’s still angry at Kimber Lee after what happened on the debut episode, but Davienne jumps her before Solo Darling made a save. Anthony Greene has a promo too, teasing a surprise for Stevie Richards, who he’s facing on May 5.
Ophidian vs. Rory Gulak
Straight out of CHIKARA (seriously, they wrestled there less than six months ago), and it’s nice and high-paced.
Ophidian’s corkscrew kick takes Gulak outside for a tope suicida that almost turned into a DDT on the way down. Back inside, Gulak lands a powerbomb that folded for a near-fall, as he began to club and chop his way through the slithery Ophidian. A tiltawhirl slam gives Ophidian more problems, as did a Romero special into a chinlock, but Ophidian manages to get free and work his way into an inverted deathlock.
More chops from Gulak have Ophidian in trouble, but a running headscissor counter turns it back around. Ophidian busts out a neat Gory Stretch into a facebuster, before he eventually hauled Gulak up into a lumbar check… somehow, Gulak’s able to dive back in with a lariat, only to get caught in the corner with some knees. A diving Meteora’s only enough for a near-fall for Ophidian, before a mounted cobra clutch got broken up as Gulak just falls on his back.
In the end though, some neat pinning attempts ended when Gulak caught him in a tight Dragon sleeper… and there’s your quick tap. This was fun, but the crowd didn’t seem too invested, which is par for the course when you’ve got some non-regulars together. ***¼
Post-match, Chuck O’Neil hit the ring and attacked both men before laying out Gulak with an armbar. He’d not been on a main Beyond show in almost two years, and he’s back to moan about how Beyond’s dabbled in “melted body losers”… and he’s here to “make Beyond legit again”.
Next week: the Beaver Boys take on the Butcher and the Blade (nice!), Jay Freddie takes on Brandon Thurston for wrestling-not-Wrestlenomics, while Coach Mammone takes on PUF. Hmm.
IndependentWrestling.tv Championship: Kylie Rae vs. Orange Cassidy (c)
Well, it’s been a little over a week since we last saw Orange Cassidy… and with two words, he made this a title match. “Want to?”
We’ve your usual Orange Cassidy comedy as he started out by getting hugged… and it affected him so much, he gave away his sunglasses as he tried to roll-up Rae early on. The hands-in-pockets lucha pops the crowd, and Kylie, before Orange just laid there as Kylie ran the ropes.
Rae seemed to be rather immune to Cassidy’s mind games, which led to her getting a thumbs up. Cue a rather peculiar thumb war, which almost led to Orange tapping, only for him to roll his way free. Beele throws from Kylie put her ahead until she misses a cannonball, as Orange finally gets serious with a series of backbreakers. A splash gets Orange a near-fall as he proceeded to stretch Rae in a chinlock, as the impromptu challenger was firmly put on the defensive.
Irish whips have Rae reeling, but she’s able to ‘rana her way back in, eventually following in with a La Mistica and a crossface attempt. A Dragon screw brings Kylie down as she went for a superkick, but she’s able to lucha roll out of the corner into another crossface. That doesn’t work as a Victory roll ended up countering into wheelbarrow pins, which ends with Kylie cannonballing Orange to the outside, where he’s met with a tope.
Cassidy shows some rare aggression as he went to stomp away on Kylie’s knee, following that up with an ankle lock, but she rolls free… and went in for another cannonball, only for Orange to catch her and roll back up into a spinning Blue Thunder Bomb that almost led to the win. A swandive splash off the top gets a similar result, before a tug of war broke out over some orange juice.
Orange wins, but takes a superkick as a Ligerbomb nearly put him away. Another one, then a Destroyer gets her a little closer, before the crossface is reapplied… clinging on as Cassidy rolled away, before another series of pinning attempts led to Cassidy snatching the win with the Mouse Trap. This was amazing to see – especially that final series, which could have gone either way. Not overly-done on the comedy, this was a refreshing main event to end a cracking episode of TV. ***¾
This third episode of Uncharted Territory was a home run when it came to the bell-to-bell action. Sure, it doesn’t have the over the top polish of, say, WWE but that’s half of the charm of the indys. Here though, you get six matches, all of which delivered, along with a healthy slice of storyline development – all without the need to bash you over the head with it. Mixing a healthy, rotating roster with this is making Beyond’s Uncharted Territory a show you really owe it to yourself to at least try, even if you’ve not been a fan of Beyond’s product in the past.