Uncharted Territory started with a real shock this week as a blast from the past confronted Chris Dickinson.
We’ve had a few changes, with two of the five matches advertised last week having switches as the Bird and the Bee were replaced by Bear Country in this menagerie of a card… while John Silver replaced Christian Casanova against Orange Cassidy. It’s Denim Night here, so Rich Palladino’s in what you’d call smart casual attire… as usual, commentary is from Paul Crockett and Sidney Bakabella.
Chuck O’Neil vs. Chris Dickinson
Dickinson stormed the ring as this show started off hot, and there’s a whole lot of clubbering at the bell.
They quickly spill outside as O’Neil got posted, but the pair go tit-for-tat before they headed back inside, where Chuck pushed on, dropping Dickinson with a German suplex for an early near-fall. Mid kicks follow, but Dickinson just fires up with clotheslines and a death valley driver for a near-fall. Dickinson pulls the kneepad off of O’Neil… but he’s stopped by Larry Legend, who stole it back as a rear naked choke from O’Neil led to Dickinson’s first singles loss in Beyond since February. Good while it lasted, but the fight for the Pazuzu kneepad continues… **¾
Commentary did a decent job telling newer fans that Larry Legend was previously in Team Pazuzu. I hope he brings the XL iPad to the show going forward. Pinkie Sanchez stops Larry, but took a Michinoku driver from O’Neil, as it seems we have a new pairing in Beyond. They don’t beat Dickinson for nothing, so expect a lot of these two going forth.
Team Sea Stars (Ashley Vox & Delmi Exo) vs. Bear Country (Bear Boulder & Bear Bronson)
The Sea Stars brought their SHIMMER tag titles with them, and it’s definitely Bear Boulder this week.
“Team Sea Stars have informed me that they want to see Bear Country kiss” – Rich Palladino
“What, why?” – deadpan Paul Crockett
Bear Boulder says they’ll do that if they win… so here we go. We start with Bear Bronson taking Delmi into the ropes, but she returns with an elbow before she was forced to use her speed to keep away from Bear Country. Tags brings in Bear Boulder (yay, they keep it straight!) and Ashley Vox, and of course the Test of Strength isn’t on, as Vox was picked up… then flung onto the apron. Vox tries for a slingshot Flatliner, but instead has to low bridge Boulder to the outside… then Bronson as Delmi Exo helped out with duelling low-pes. Bear Country quickly turn it around, but Bear Bronson’s tope hits his own man, giving the Sea Stars time to come back… albeit on Bear Boulder.
Problem is, Boulder overwhelms them with a double clothesline, before an Elevator Drop was teased… only for Exo to get her feet up. Boulder looks for a shoulder charge, but gets nothing but the ring post as the Sea Stars tried for a double-team suplex… only for Bronson to scoop up Delmi for an attempted Fire Thunder Driver. The Sea Stars finally chain together some offence as Paul slips the old name in… Boulder tried for a slam off the top but ended up coming down with a double-team Iconoclasm for a near-fall. Sea Stars hit a flip senton, with Vox bouncing off of Exo’s shoulders on the way down for a near-fall, before they tried to focus on Boulder. He snuffs them out as he picked them up at the same time for a stacked up death valley driver. Bronson’s back sentons pancakes the Sea Stars too, before the Elevator Drop was attempted again…
…except this time Team Tremendous came through the crowd to drag Bear Boulder into the ring post, while Ashley Vox (I think) rolled up Bronson for the pin. They get the win, but lose the bet as Bear Country again fell to Team Tremendous’ chicanery. **¾
Paul Crockett pitches to Orange Cassidy “arriving earlier today”, but the door’s locked so he can’t get in.
Josh Briggs vs. Tony Deppen
Briggs’ recent results have been disappointing, but he starts off by just booting Deppen in the head.
Deppen’s back with some World of Sport-like sequences, but his crossbody is easily caught… like the German suplex was blocked. So Deppen kicks Briggs in the head and gets shoved outside… which just let Deppen back in via a springboard dropkick. Running forearms from Deppen stopped the EVOLVE champion, but a slingshot from the apron turned into a backbreaker as Briggs got into gear. Lifting Deppen up top just led to another dropkick, as Deppen went after Briggs’ knee… only to get stopped with a front suplex. Briggs tries to run into Deppen in the corner, but his knee gives away, so Deppen goes right back on it, which really restricted Briggs’ mobility. He tries to catch Deppen with an elbow, and eventually hits a Calaway clothesline, then a running boot in the corner and a backbreaker as Briggs’ knee seemed to be holding up.
Until he hit a backbreaker on the bad wheel.
Briggs goes outside, where he caught a pescado as Deppen again stuck and move… going for a Trust Fall to the outside, only to get caught with a Go To Hell knee. A tope con giro from Deppen quickly followed as Briggs was left laying… but they head back inside as they continue to slug it out, before Deppen avoided a chokebomb. The knee’s kicked out again as Briggs remained on the defensive ahead of a diving elbow that almost put Briggs away. More running uppercuts from Deppen keep Briggs in the corner, but Josh rushes out with a big boot before the chokebomb almost put Deppen away. So Briggs headed up top for an avalanche chokebomb, but Deppen low blows him ahead of a del Rio stomp… then a springboard lungblower as Deppen plants Briggs with a brainbuster for a near-fall!
Deppen misses another stomp, but followed in with a knee strike, before a X-Plex dropped Deppen again. The Chokebomb followed, and that’s enough for the win. Christ on a bike, that was a hell of a sprint – it’s another loss for Deppen, but the focus’ll be on his performance, not the result, as he went all out. ***½
Josh Briggs does Rich Palladino’s job for him as he introduces his “three best friends” – and we’re up to our next match…
Anthony Greene & The Platinum Hunnies (Angel Sinclair & Ava Everett) vs. Whatever It Takes (Alex Reynolds, Mark Sterling & VSK)
Ava Everett started out by looking for a chokeslam on Sterling… then opted to go “middle school” with an Undertaker-like spot of rope walking off the bottom rope.
Tags bring in Reynolds and Sinclair, who caught a kick and instantly took Reynolds down, driving his head into the mat for a near-fall. Greene and VSK follow, but Greene walks VSK around the ring to break a wristlock, before VSK cowered away from a chop. Sterling’s back now everyone’s had a go, but he’s instantly running away as Greene went chop-happy.
Headscissors to VSK keep Greene ahead, as Everett returned, only to get thrown down to the mat. She’s back with a chokeslam to Reynolds, as the “Avataker” came to play, but Reynolds countered a Destroyer with an Air Raid Crash with ease. VSK and Sterling tag back in, with the latter landing a suplex for a two-count, as the bad guys cycled through tags. Everett pulls down Reynolds’ trunks to avoid a sunset flip, and that full moon was out for quite a while as Greene tagged in to clean house. VSK buys Reynolds time, but took a superkick as Reynolds’ arse was still out, and on full display as he almost lost to an abdominal stretch bomb. FINALLY they’re pulled up, as VSK pulls out Greene…
The Platinum Hunnies try to focus on Reynolds, with Everett landing a running knee into the corner, only for VSK to run in with a standing shooting star press that almost went horribly wrong as he caught his feet on the ropes. It starts a Parade of Moves, before Reynolds countered a butterfly suplex into a double-arm DDT that Sinclair broke up. A hip attack from Angel keeps things going, but she’s caught with some brass knuckles from Reynolds… and that’s enough to get the win. This broke down towards the end, but they managed to pick it up as WIT took the win through foul means. **¾
We’ve a promo from Facade, who’s entering the Discovery Gauntlet. He’s not been in Beyond since March 2010, but having recently appeared for Impact, GCW and DDT, he’s back with a lot more experience.
Discovery Gauntlet: Facade vs. Gary Jay
Jay’s back after unseating Matt Makowski last week, and this is an interesting clash of styles.
Facade starts with a springboard roundhouse kick, taking Jay outside… but he can’t follow up as he’s knocked outside for a quick series of topes, as FIVE topes finally knock Facade down. Back inside, Facade rolls through a sunset flip before he ran into a pop-up knee… then returned with a leg lariat. Facade headstands in the corner to try and catch out Jay, and does so, kicking him away ahead of a running back elbow and a springboard double sledge as he almost slipped. A springboard flip senton finds more luck for Facade, as he found Jay on the outside, then hit a springboard cutter back into the ring.
A springboard coast-to-coast is next from Facade, as was an uppercut with Jay on the top rope as he went back up the ropes for a moonsault/fallaway slam off the middle rope for a near-fall. Jay goes up with a springboard spinning flatliner to spike Facade, following up with a stomp and a rolling elbow for the win. There’s something to be said that the finish looked “eh” compared to the rest of the match, but both men seemed to bring their flashy stuff – which made for a nice exhibition, even if a story didn’t seem to be told. ***
Gary Jay headed to the back, as AC Mack quickly came out with ACTION and SUP title belts. The IWTV connection at work here. Mack makes Rich Palladino hold up his titles as Mack introduced himself to the Beyond faithful. They weren’t exactly pleased to see him, but he’s eventually interrupted by Leyla Hirsch, whom Mack patronised… Hirsch double-legs him and sent Mack packing… along with his baseball cap. We pitch backstage as John Silver’s warming up next to Orange Cassidy, with varying levels of intensity. Orange was almost corpsing…
Team Tremendous (Bill Carr & Dan Barry) vs. Nerder Death Kill (Nick Gage & Thomas Santell)
Since their change in attitude, Team Tremendous have been on a bit of a tear, looking to reclaim that unofficial role of the “aces of Beyond”.
We start out on the outside as both teams quickly spilled to the floor, where Gage looked to rake Dan Barry’s back… but Dan just goes for the eyes as Team Tremendous looked to take the upper hand. Eventually a mobile camera caught up with all four of them, as Dan Barry proceeded to hit an Asai moonsault to the floor, but back in the ring Nick Gage takes a shot at Bill Carr. Yeah, that descends into back-and-forth forearms, with Santell getting involved too… only to get dumped with a lawndart/Flatliner combo. Team Tremendous begin to focus on Santell, isolating him in the corner with a slap… but Santell flipped back and hit a Saito suplex, giving him enough time to tag out to Nick Gage.
Gage hits a quick spinebuster to Barry, then one to Carr, only for Carr to come back with an apron clothesline to stop all that momentum. Carr comes in to keep Gage grounded, as Team Tremendous keep going on Gage, who manages to sneak in with a DDT and make the tag out. Santell’s straight in with chops and forearms to Barry in the corner, following up with a butterfly suplex before a scoop slam to Barry led to nought… because Bill Carr had blind-tagged in. Carr deadlifts Santell off the mat, but can’t escape a guillotine after Santell floated over him. A superkick from Barry earned him a chokebreaker from Gage, who in turn took a Bossman slam from Carr that looked to lead to a bad landing. Santell manages to hurk up Carr with a Fisherman suplex, but Barry pulls out the ref… and ends up posting Gage for good measure.
Back in the ring, Santell manages to trip Carr into a Sugar Free Hold, but Barry German suplexes him away. Another Santell comeback’s stopped with a low blow that the ref completely missed, before Bear Country came out to distract Barry from an Irish Carbomb attempt… allowing Santell to get the win with a roll-up. As a match, this was definitely not one for sticklers of tag team rules, but this had a good atmosphere as it seems that we might be in for a three-way tag feud to close out the year. ***
After the match, Gage took the mic and called himself and “the Nerd” the best team in Beyond. Yup. They’re edging there. Except Gage announces that he, Santell, Bear Country and Kris Statlander will be representing Team Beyond in next week’s don’t-it-a-Survivor-Series match.
Next week on Thanksgiving night: Danhausen returns… Gary Jay vs. Aaron Rourke… Team Beyond (Kris Statlander, Thomas Santell, Nick Gage, Bear Bronson, Bear Boulder) vs. Independent Wrestling All Stars (WARHORSE, Matthew Justice, 1 Called Manders, Kevin Ku & Dominic Garrini) in an elimination match…
John Silver vs. Orange Cassidy
Hey, Orange turned up to denim day! Fancy that…
Silver starts by shoving his hands in Orange’s pockets. Looking to cop a feel, is it? He keeps repeating the trick, trying to get under Orange’s peel, forcing a pithed off Cassidy to spin him around so he could put his own hands in his own damn pockets. Cassidy ducks some haymakers from Silver as he just repeatedly bows, before Silver took him down… so he could leap over him. I mean, he could just stop, but Orange is having a lie down, and John decides to lay down next to him so he could try and steal the pin. It doesn’t work, as everyone’s whispering, including the commentators, who seem to be trying out for snooker…
Silver can’t believe it, and nearly gets rolled up as Orange opened up his usual playbook, with hands-in-the-pocket dropkicks. That makes Silver head to the back out of frustration, and he’s back as “Banana John”. Like Orange Cassidy, but a little more amped up. Cassidy took exception to that, as we got the slow-mo graps, complete with Cassidy working over Silver’s thumb.
The pace rockets as they go in for lucha stuff that drew a bunch of one-counts and a stand-off… as they then calmed down by putting the sunglasses on. They go all Doink 1993, until Silver clobbers Cassidy with a clothesline as he reverted back to just plain John Silver. There’s a Beal throw to Cassidy, who remained on the defensive, taking mid kicks before he avoided a big boot and finally came back in, only to see his satellite DDT countered into a DDT.
A log roll from Cassidy trips Silver, who’s taken outside with a Superman punch ahead of a tope. Back inside, a crossbody follows, then the satellite DDT, only for Silver to lawndart him into the ropes with a one handed press slam. More kicks follow, but Cassidy hits a Stundog Millionaire out of nowhere before he just ran into another clothesline for a near-fall. Silver keeps up with the kicks, but a barrage of palm strikes from Cassidy just led Silver to knock him into the ropes before a rack bomb was countered with headscissors.
A Michinoku driver from Cassidy spikes Silver for a near-fall, before Silver stole and quaffed Cassidy’s orange juice. There’s nothing left! That earns Silver a superkick and a Destroyer, before a shotgund ropkick took Cassidy back into the corner. The rack bomb follows for a near-fall, before a crossface-choke almost forced the submission, only for Orange to get to the bottom rope. Orange is back with a superkick, before he caught Silver off guard with a magistral cradle… and there’s the win! This wasn’t quite your usual Orange Cassidy match – he actually showed emotion! All jokes aside, Cassidy’s mind games derailed John Silver’s mini-run – and it looks like Silver changing his game plan was a big mistake. ***½
Post-match, Silver looked forlorn in the ring, but eventually hugged it out with Cassidy as the show went off the air with him chugging some more orange juice.
Story-wise, this was another strong week for Uncharted Territory – especially as they seem to be nudging towards a log-jam for the unofficial title of “Aces of Beyond” in the tag division. I’m intrigued where the Team Pazuzu splintering continues from here, with Larry Legend coming back as a mouthpiece for Chuck O’Neil. Can they/do they find Jaka and bring him back from retirement, or are there more moving parts in store?
That being said, I do wonder if Beyond using this show as a showcase for the indies hurts the product in terms of having a large number established set of guys appearing most weeks as their standard bearers. Then again, the crowds at the White Eagle are growing week on week, so whatever harm it may be doing in my eyes clearly isn’t being replicated by the live audiences. Uncharted Territory’s going to be building up to Heavy Lies The Crown – and in the coming few weeks, we should be seeing a lot more direction and firmed-up matches for Beyond’s usual show to ring in the new year!
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