Beyond paid homage to a Thanksgiving tradition, as Uncharted Territory brought us all the elimination tags you could ever want!
We’re coming from the White Eagle in Worcester, MA, and we open with a GLORIOUS old-school intro that kept the retro going. We’re thankful for commentary from Paul Crockett and Sidney Bakabella, if those are their real names.
Elimination: Platinum Hunkies (Anthony Greene, Ava Everett & Josh Briggs) vs. The Shook Crew (Bobby Orlando, Bryce Donovan & Max Caster)
Greene and Everett have swapped outfits… as has Josh Briggs, who I hope didn’t skin Angel Sinclair for his. Poor Josh looks oh so defeated already, while Ava seemed a little taken by the Shook Crew… Who rapped before their match.
Briggs responded by booting Max Caster at the bell… and there’s our first elimination! Bobby Orlando just runs into Briggs, who tagged in Everett… and Ava’s straight into the Ava-taker shtick, throwing for Orlando before Ava and Greene hit some bulldogs. A sidewalk slam from Briggs helps his team on, but Bryce Donovan tags in and quickly had to deal with some of Greene’s chops.
Donovan fakes a chop and takes a back suplex instead, before a springboard crossbody off the top got Greene a near-fall. Orlando throws his mascot goat to Greene when he was going for an Unprettier, which gave Donovan a glimmer of hope, and opened the door for the Shook Crew as Briggs and Everett were only able to watch on. Greene goes for a backslide, aided by an errant punch from Donovan as Briggs came in to clear house. Briggs hits a chokeslam, then brought in Greene to hit a tope. Bobby Jr. – the goat – got thrown at Greene, to no effect, as Orlando got press slammed to the floor, with an awful landing. Everett tags in after that, and gets press slammed into the pile before she ran into a Bossman slam as Donovan hit back.
Everett’s up at two form that, before she’s met with a spin-out backbreaker… but Donovan takes too long to pin her, and he’s rolled up for the next elimination. Whoops! Bobby Orlando’s in to try and start a comeback, but he whiffs on a big splash as Greene and Briggs come in to help with a Cerberus bomb, and that’s the clean sweep. Well, the Shook Crew looked okay, but they made too many errors and it cost them in the end. **¾
Afterwards, Greene gave Bobby Jr. the Goat 2 Sleep. Puns! Briggs announced a “New England” Tournament For Tomorrow, which starts next week, and I think it’s all trios based too.
Discovery Gauntlet: Aaron Rourke vs. Gary Jay
Rourke is heavily inspired by Adrian Street, per commentary… and I’m pulling a blank on him as this guy doesn’t even have a Cagematch page!
Rourke caught Jay at the bell with a handspring lariat into the corner but Jay replied with a ‘rana and a dropkick… only to get a lungblower out of the corner as the momentum swung wildly. An overhead armbar keeps Jay down briefly, but Gary’s back with a roll-up out of the corner as the VOD was jumping all over the place.
Jay’s whipped into the corner, but he stops Rourke with an elbow before another handspring lariat was elbowed away. They head outside, with Jay sailing in with a tope, as the “Stiff Robo Ginger” kept up, only to get rolled up as Rourke snatched a near-fall. More elbows deck Rourke for a near-fall, but he’s back in with a rope-hanging facebuster that almost won the match.
A Judo throw and a knee opened the door for Rourke, who got dumped with a death valley driver instead. On the apron, Rourke surprised Jay with a German suplex for a near-fall, as the pair began to trade shots… a forearm drops Rourke again, but he’s quickly up with a uranage backbreaker, a powerbomb and a package DDT for the win. That’s got to go down as an upset – this was a little “movez”-y like last week, but I liked the story of Jay not being able to figure out Rourke. **¾
Post-match, Rourke tells us he’s come back from a bad ankle injury and thanks himself for all of this. Yep, he’s Mister Vain…
Elimination: Team Ohio (Atticus Cogar, Eddy Only, Gregory Iron & JJ Garrett) vs. Team Buffalo (Brandon Thurston, Kevin Blackwood, Megabyte Ronnie & Puf)
Team Buffalo’s a little splintered, thanks to their captain Brandon Thurston, while at least one member of team Ohio had a god damn rotten nickname (in my book). Hint: it’s absolutely NOT Gregory Iron.
Garrett and Puf start us off, shucking and jiving, as Puf easily breaks a waistlock. Puf ran into an elbow, but hits a swinging Flatliner in return, as Eddy Only and Brandon Thurston tag in. Their initial scramble on the mat comes to nought, before a series of leg sweeps and near-falls led to another stand-off.
Megabyte Ronnie comes in as commentary tells us he’s only on his 15th match. He absorbs chops from Iron, but fell to a flying ‘rana before he ended up falling to a DDT. Puf hands over a fanny pack, and Ronnie literally hotdogs, eating one before a People’s Elbow led to a near-fall. Blackwood and Cogar come in next, trading blows until Blackwood decided to clear the Ohio apron… and got met with a shotgun dropkick for his woes.
Garrett’s in with a backbreaker for a near-fall, but Blackwood gets free with a head kick before Puf comes in to clear house. He quickly tags Blackwood back in, but Kevin tags Ronnie too as Eddy Only decided to suplex Brandon Thurston to the floor… all while his team mates watched on. Puf dives to the outside with a low-pe, before a ripcord Sky High nearly put JJ away. Puf’s back, but he’s cornered by Team Ohio as things broke down a little, ending with a senton Coast to Coast from Only to Puf for a near-fall. A right hand from Puf starts a Parade of Movez, ending with a stunner out of the corner from Blackwood, before Garrett’s leap over to Ronnie in the corner almost turned into a stomp, and that’s enough for the first elimination.
Blackwood tries to level things, landing a push-down stomp and a Neutraliser before a Shining Wizard to the back of the head eliminated JJ. The dangerous stuff continued as Only spiked Blackwood with a Burning Hammer for an elimination, before Thurston’s Fisherman buster put away Only. Puf makes a save as Only and Iron tried to double-team Thurston… Brandon slaps Puf, who then took a Flatliner as a moonsault from Cogar eliminated Thurston, and we’re down to 2-on-1 against Puf. Tags seem to have been forgotten about here as Puf’s double-teamed, but Puf fought back, inadvertently squashing Iron in the corner from a shotgun dropkick as a Banzai drop puts Iron away.
We’re down to Puf vs. Cogar – Cogar comes in with a superkick and a roll-up for a near-fall, before back-and-forth shots ended when Puf sandwiched Cogar in the ropes, before Puf countered headscissors into a Puf driver for the win. This was enjoyable, but to me it felt like there were a LOT of unknown faces… and that opening spell establishing everyone didn’t quite click. But still. Puf as the sole survivor is bound to rankle elsewhere in Buffalo… **¾
Danhausen didn’t have an opponent announced ahead of time, which can go one of two ways for him… especially when he called out a “bearded idiot”. That signalled Chuck O’Neil, who said that folks like Danhausen would kill indie wrestling.
Danhausen vs. Chuck O’Neil
Larry Legend announces for O’Neil, sadly without his iPad, while Danhausen looked to go for the Pazuzu kneepad early.
Of course, Chuck wasn’t going to give it up, as commentary told us that Chris Dickinson was on a tour of Australia. Danhausen low bridges O’Neil to the outside, then dropkicked him to the floor ahead of the Tequila kicks… like Chuck was going to stand for that. Sadly, they killed the music, rather than keep it going for a comedy beatdown, but Danhausen struck back, hitting a slingshot German suplex for just a one-count.
O’Neil retaliates with a leaping knee, then a Michinoku driver for a near-fall, before he could pull up Danhausen to choke him out. Very squashy, but at least Danhausen got SOMETHING in here, as Chuck O’Neil’s getting a push towards the end of the season. **
Pinkie Sanchez ran out for the save with a pool-ball laiden sock.
Next week: Nick Gage & Thomas Santell face Danhausen & Pinkie Sanchez… Brandon Thurston faces Jay Freddie once more… AC Mack vs. Leyla Hirsch… Masha Slamovich challenges Aaron Rourke for the Discovery Gauntlet… Jake Atlas debuts vs. John Silver.
Elimination: IWTV All Stars (WARHORSE, 1 Called Manders, Violence is Forever (Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku) & Matthew Justice) vs. Team Beyond (Bear Country (Bear Boulder & Bear Bronson), Kris Statlander & Nerder Death Kill (Nick Gage & Thomas Santell))
The intros for this started with 40 minutes left on the VOD, so this is going LONG.
Team Beyond came out to Kris Statlander’s music, as she was hot off her AEW Dynamite debut barely 24 hours earlier. She had enough confidence in her to try and paint up Nick Gage’s face… and we finally get going as Santell and Garrini opened up with some grappling. Santell smartly grabbed a single leg crab and tagged out to Gage, but Garrini got free and brought in Ku… who ran into a chokebreaker.
Manders tags in quickly, and holds Gage in a gorilla press slam… but Gage pops right back up and hits a DDT. The Beyond team worked well, as tags got us to Statlander and WARHORSE, with Kris giving him a double wet willie only for WARHORSE to hit a chop as the pair reached a standoff. Matthew Justice and Bear Bronson are in next, but Justice has to overcome both halves of Bear Country… and just ends up getting sandwiched. All ten people hit the ring as the ref lost control. Things pick up when Statlander hit a moonsault off the apron to Manders, while Ku and WARHORSE went out for dives onto the Beyond team. Bear Bronson adds to the dives, as does Garrini with a nice springboard moonsault. Matthew Justice has found a GODDAMN LADDER, which he climbs up and hits a senton into the pile underneath as he found a way to keep his death wish going.
Back inside, Justice takes an Exploder into the turnbuckles, before things blew up between NDK and Violence is Forever. Gage and Santell hit some face-washing boots, before Garrinoi rolled up Santell out of nowhere for the elimination as Kevin Ku clung onto Gage… who also got eliminated seconds later with a Total Elimination. With a 5-on-3 handicap, Team Beyond tried to fight back, with Statlander looking to fly into Manders… who just caught her and press slammed her into Bear Country outside. Back in the ring, Ku traps Statlander with a STF, following up with a curb stomp for a near-fall. A senton from Statlander got her time, but Manders cleared Bear Country off the apron. Statlander manages to land an axe kick as Bear Bronson got the tag in… but so did Ku!
Bear Bronson was quickly overwhelmed… so Bear Boulder tags in too and just shallmed everyone. A sit-out spinebuster greets Garrini, but there’s no pin as Ku and Bronson fought on. Ku responds with a GODDAMN back body drop into a powerbomb by Garrini, but Bronson’s up to tag Boulder back in. The big man powerbombs and slams Ku and Garrini, then stacked them up in the corner for a piggy backed cannonball, as Statlander then tagged in to hit a 450 splash onto a stacked-up Ku and Garrini for the double-elimination.
The six remaining entrants slug it out for a bit, as things settled down to Matthew Justice suckering in Bear Country. Back-and-forth splashes by Justice on Bear Country are eventually stopped, as a double-team powerbomb bounced Justice, before the elevator drop saw Bronson pick up the next win. Manders takes over and quickly pins Bronson with a three point stance and a lariat a la Jim Duggan. He signals for Boulder next, as we had a brief hoss fight that ended with a lariat from Boulder… only for Manders to hit one of his own, and all of a sudden Kris Statlander was left on her own against Manders and WARHORSE.
She doesn’t back down, flying in off the top with a dropkick, following in with running uppercuts in the corners before a spin-out Michinoku driver nearly got the win… but Manders breaks it up and hauls her up for a suplex. Statlander slips out and hits a Blue Thunder bomb, as WARHORSE took over, throwing chops as they went back and forth some more, until an enziguiri from Statlander led to a half-nelson suplex that almost put Kris away.
WARHORSE looked to fly again, but his missile dropkick’s turned into a snap powerbomb, before a gutbuster led to another near-fall. A blind tag snuck in Manders as WARHORSE looked to be on the outs, but Statlander keeps going, only to get caught with an Oklahoma Stampede as a big stomp off the top from WARHORSE put Statlander away. An unpopular win, as WARHORSE and Manders were your survivors – but a decent elimination match that sets up for some interesting matches down the line, particularly WARHORSE/Statlander and NDK/Violence is Forever. ***½
After the match, WARHORSE put over everyone they’d beaten, then called out Erick Stevens, who’d called out WARHORSE on an earlier show. He mentions others who’d called out WARHORSE, including David Starr, and confirmed he’ll be there at Heavy Lies The Crown to defend the IWTV title to close out the year. Could Manders be in that mix? Well, he lariats WARHORSE to death and gets himself a visual pin, as the show ended with Manders holding the belt aloft… and since this was broadcast, Beyond have confirmed that WARHORSE vs. Manders is the match, so there you go!
If you’re looking at the star ratings, you’d probably think this was a bad show. Don’t be too dismissive though: while episode 9 wasn’t up to the standards Beyond usually set, the novelty of elimination matches more than made up for it, throwing out some more fresh faces, and setting up some matches for the future… that being said, with Heavy Lies The Crown in a month’s time, the next few episodes of Uncharted Territory ought to get back to the heights of old, as the promotion seeks to close out the year on a high.
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