The second season of Uncharted Territory came to a close as Josh Briggs challenged for WARHORSE’s IWTV title.
We’re at the White Eagle in Worcester, Massachusetts for our post-Christmas graps. Paul Crockett and Sidney Bakabella are on commentary, but a sneering Larry Legend cuts them off for our opening match introductions.
Legit Legends (Chuck O’Neil, Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku) vs. Buffalo Brothers (Daniel Garcia, Kevin Blackwood & Puf)
Larry’s mic seemed to drop on the TV mix halfway through – and we’ve got some aggravation before the bell.
Garcia and Garrini start us off with some grappling, as commentary pointed out that Brandon Thurston was staring from the entry way. Dualling leg locks from Garcia and Garrini are broken out, with Kevin Blackwood coming in next, as did Kevin Ku, but Blackwood pushed ahead… until Chuck O’Neil stared him down. Puf willingly tags in, and gets his legs kicked out of his legs. He fires back with some forearms, but O’Neil counters by grappling him into the ropes as we got a Manny Yarborough reference on commentary. A waistlock takedown from Puf takes down O’Neil, before Blackwood blind-tags in after a Puf slam, so he could get tilt-a-whirl slammed onto Chuck as Garcia’s running knee got a quick two-count.
Garrini and Ku come in to take over on Garcia, hitting an uppercut-assisted German suplex, before Ku took Garcia into an armbar, then an arm triangle. Blackwood tries to make a save, but he just distracts the ref as Garcia was double-teamed… then recovered to hit a shotgun dropkick on Garrini… and a NICE overhead suplex to send Ku into the corner. Blackwood gets the tag in as he looked to continue the momentum, helped with Garcia’s clothesline for a spinning Total Elimination. O’Neil runs in to hurl Blackwood into Puf, as those two go back at it again, with a rear naked choke from Chuck almost putting Puf out. A Pretty Pumped from Puf flattens Chuck, as did a back senton, but Ku breaks up the pin… then took a Saito suplex as bodies continued to fly.
Garrini’s back in to choke out Garcia, but a GODDAMN double stomp from Blackwood breaks it up as we get back to Puf taking a rebound German suplex, then a bunch of kicks as a rear naked choke forces the stoppage. Add another one to the list of “you can never have a bad trios matches” – a wild opener, that continued to put steam under the Legends. ***½
Thurston yelled at the Buffalo Brothers after their loss. Such a Grinch. He gets the mic and issues a challenge to the “other” remaining Buffalo wrestler… the competitive eater, Megabyte Ronnie.
Brandon Thurston vs. Megabyte Ronnie
Thurston instantly takes Ronnie down for some ground and pound, before some kicks were caught as Ronnie dumped Thurston with an overhead suplex.
Brandon’s right back in as he began to go after Ronnie’s arm, throwing in some kicks for the heck of it. Daniel Garcia’s apparently out as Ronnie tries to chop his way back in, following in with an overhead belly-to-belly before he… pulled a hot dog out of his bum bag. The literal hot dogging was slapped out of Ronnie’s mouth, so we get some back-and-forth forearms, leading to suplexes from Thurston, who then ran into a sidewalk slam. Ronnie’s back in the bum bag for another hot dog, and lands a hot dog elbow before a ripcord Sky High almost got the win… only for Thurston to kick out and go into a Fujiwara armbar. Ronnie powers up, but had no answer for a brainbuster as Thurston left with the win. A solid, basic outing, which Ronnie looked decent in for his experience. **½
Post-match, Garcia consoles Ronnie before he took a microphone and challenged Thurston for Heavy Lies The Crown. I’m up for that.
Time to sweep away the hot dog debris…
John Silver vs. Jody Threat
After beating Eddie Kingston last week, John Silver’s resurgence in the singles division of Beyond Wrestling is almost complete…
We start with a tie-up as Silver began to work over Threat’s arm, before she shot him into the ropes for an eventual shoulder tackle. Jody’s back with a flying ‘rana out of the corner, before a boot through the ropes and a diving clothesline wiped out Silver. A German suplex is flipped out of as Silver boots Threat and hits a German of his own for a near-fall, with more kicks from Silver adding to her woes. Silver tries for a tornado DDT out of the corner, but it’s countered with a Northern Lights suplex into the buckles, sending him outside for cover as Threat followed with a cannonball off the apron. She grabs her skateboard and propels herself into tiltawhirl headscissors, before a second bit of skateboarding was cut-off with a superkick.
Back inside, a face-washing boot and a brainbuster from Silver gets a near-fall, as the pair went to back-and-forth shots, which almost led to a backslide… but Silver rolls out, throws more kicks then ran into a Michinoku driver for a near-fall. Silver counters a spear as Threat began to pile on the pressure, only to get stopped with a rack bomb as Silver eked out the win. Good stuff, with Threat looking real good here. ***
Arik Royal & The Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude & Rob Killjoy) vs. The Head Of The Class (Eel O’Neal, Killian McMurphy & Logan Easton LaRoux)
This was a way to plug Friday’s Flying V Fights show, and we’re under lucha rules…
Killjoy and LaRoux start us off, flipping around as they avoided each other’s attempts at offence on the way to a Killjoy dropkick. O’Neal and Lude are in next, but Lance slips in the ropes on the way to a lucha armdrag, before the Ducklings hit some nice double-team offence on O’Neal. In comes McMurphy and Royal, as Arik hits a ‘rana before he used a back body drop to dump McMurphy outside. Royal follows him out with a seated senton press to the outside, before O’Neal and LaRoux were thrown outside for some dives. Coach Mikey strips off and prepares to dive, but LaRoux kicks him then used him for a step up plancha to the outside. The look on Logan’s face after that was anything but BLANK…
Back inside, McMurphy dumps Killjoy into the buckles with an Exploder to start a Parade of Moves, forcing Royal in to break up a Billy Goat’s Curse with a STO as the Parade continues. Royal tries to clear house, leading to a Duck Launcher onto McMurphy in the corner… it took out Royal too, and it means there’s nobody left to make the save as a cutter from LaRoux got the win. This was fine, but it felt like it didn’t connect with the crowd too much… **¾
Discovery Gauntlet: Aaron Rourke vs. Slade
Slade’s arrival came with the background that he was… unhinged, to say the least. He got right in Rourke’s face before the bell, but Rourke jumps him and hit some running knees into the corner for an early two-count. Rourke slaps him around, but just gets hurled across the ring as Slade snapped, following up with a clothesline and a thumb to the throat – almost like Bad Luck Fale’s Grenade – for the win. Very much a squash – now if Uncharted Territory’s back soon-ish for season three, Slade’ll be able to build some steam from this.
Post-match, Slade called out Nick Gage…
Anthony Greene vs. Kris Statlander
This was Greene’s first outing since he was upset in the Tournament for Tomorrow – and he’s not exactly jolly these days. Meanwhile, Kris tries to eat a streamer…
We start with Greene rolling outside and doing his best Macho Man impersonation, ordering Ava Everett to stand in the corner. So Kris follows and moves her. In the ring, Greene swings and misses with a forearm in the corner, before Kris pulled him by the ears on the way to an abdominal stretch… and a thumb in the bum too. Greene responds with a shoulder block off the ropes, before Kris came in with a low dropkick as the pair were going tit for tat. A Thesz press was countered into a powerbomb by Greene for a two-count, and that opened the door for Greene to push on a little, as he keeps Statlander on the mat with a selection of chops and forearms. Heading outside again, a chop misses as Greene hit the ring post, but he’s able to pick up again back inside, as he grounds Statlander with a chinlock.
Some hair pulling from Greene along with a falling slam gets him a near-fall, and it’s back to the chinlock before Statlander’s attempt at a comeback was quickly snuffed out. A head kick works, as did a Blue Thunder bomb, but Greene’s up at two, and responds with an overhead belly-to-belly before Kris found her way back with a running knee. Greene almost got the win with a back suplex/pancake, before Statlander went back to the kicks… she’s caught with another knee, then thrown into the corner as Greene looked to finish things off… but Kris lands on her feet and crab walks. A superkick stops that for a near-fall, as did an abdominal stretch driver, only for Statlander to cut off Greene’s 450 attempt… and bring him down with an electric chair from the top! The Big Bang Theory package tombstone’s next, and that’s a loss for Greene – a really good back-and-forth match, with Greene not exactly getting momentum ahead of Josh Briggs on New Year’s Eve. ***½
Pride Of New England Tournament For Tomorrow Final: Christian Casanova vs. Richard Holliday
So, the latest Tournament for Tomorrow turned into a ballad of Club Cam, with former member Christian Casanova looking to get one over another of Cam’s charges in the final.
On the plus side, Zagami’s doing a cracking cosplay of Razor Ramon HG. All he needs is the cap and he’s as good as ready for that WrestleMania weekend match on Effy’s show… After some roughing up, Casanova gets charged down with a shoulder tackle… then popped up and landed a dropkick before a springboard clothesline had Holliday down. Another pop-up had Casanova rolling through for a near-fall, before he got crotched hard on the top turnbuckle as Holliday took over, choking away on Casanova with a boot in the corner.
Holliday misses a knee drop as Casanova fought back, but just runs into a kitchen sink knee to the gut, before a big boot just cut off a floatover attempt. A delayed springboard clothesline from Casanova’s turned into a Bossman slam for a near-fall for Holliday, but Casanova’s able to mount another furry of offence, countering a 1984 into a superkick, before the match descended into more back-and-forth. Casanova ties up Holliday in the ropes for a springboard legdrop, which got a near-fall right by the ropes, before a spinebuster was countered into a DDT. A spinning cutter from Casanova nearly gets it, before Holliday blocked a lungblower and murdered Casanova with a lariat. Another spinebuster drops him for a near-fall, before Casanova just got spiked with a DDT… and it’s still not enough!
A gutwrench from Holliday’s blocked… so he turns it into a Destroyer instead, only for Casanova to reply with a lungblower, before a kick on the top rope led to Holliday countering back with the 2008 twisting suplex of the top for another near-fall. The crowd starts getting behind Casanova from there, as a Stock Market Crash turned into a sunset flip… before a hattrick of Dirty Dianas from Casanova left Holliday rocked, leaving him prone for a Sucka kick off the top for the win. A heck of a final, and I’m glad they didn’t feature Cam any more than being a guy at ringside for this one. ***½
…Cam rushes the ring to try and claim credit, and he gets laid out with a springboard clothesline. I think that’s your definitive split confirmed. Casanova then asks for a match for New Year’s Eve: against Tony Deppen. Okay?
IWTV Independent Wrestling Championship: Josh Briggs vs. WARHORSE (c)
A win for WARHORSE here means he’ll have 18 defences – and thus take the record for the most defences of this title in it’s relatively brief history to date.
Briggs and WARHORSE lock-up from the off, and their early exchanges saw WARHORSE almost having to stick and run, before a Cactus Clothesline saw both men bounce off the ropes before they headed to the apron. WARHORSE pushes on with a DDT on the apron, then a flying stomp off of it, but Briggs replies with backbreakers back inside. WARHORSE low bridges Briggs to the outside and went wild with a birthday tope con giro into the crowd, but back inside Briggs took over once again, using his boot to choke the horse in the corner. A running boot almost took WARHORSE’s face into the crowd, getting a near-fall too, before WARHORSE mounted a comeback with some clotheslines into the corner. More clotheslines stun Briggs, and eventually knocks him down after WARHORSE took another big boot.
Heading up top, WARHORSE misses a stomp then gets booted in the back of the head as Briggs hits a pumphandle knee to take the champion onto the apron… from where he pulls him into a backbreaker before things broke down into chops. WARHORSE ducks a big boot and counters in with a powerbomb as Anthony Greene wanders out to ringside, but just watches on as the match continues. If anything, it’s WARHORSE who gets distracted by Greene, and he gets caught with a chokeslam off the top rope… with Briggs landing right by Greene in the ropes. Ava Everett’s out to try and neutralise Greene… which led to an argument on the apron that ended with Briggs booting Ava to the floor. Greene runs away, while Briggs tended to Everett on the outside, carrying her away like Shawn Michaels did with Sherri at SummerSlam in 1992… and there’s your count-out as Briggs failed to make it back in time. All we were missing was Greene and a bucket of water… the finish kinda made me a little mad, but then again Beyond’s building to Greene/Briggs in less than a week, so we were never going to get a clean finish. ***¼
They run down the card for Heavy Lies the Crown on December 31:
Fans Bring The Weapons: Bear Country (Bear Bronson & Bear Boulder) vs. Team Tremendous (Dan Barry & Bill Carr)
IWTV Championship: WARHORSE (c) vs. Manders
Kris Statlander vs. John Silver
Wheeler Yuta vs. Fred Yehi
Slade vs. Nick Gage
Brandon Thurston vs. Daniel Garcia
Tony Deppen vs. Christian Casanova
Josh Briggs vs. Anthony Greene
David Starr vs. Erick Stevens
Legit Legends (Kevin Ku, Dominic Garrini & Chuck O’Neil) vs. Team Pazuzu (Chris Dickinson, Pinkie Sanchez) & ?
Chris Dickinson vs. Rickey Shane Page
This was being simulcast with GCW’s PPV – after we’d a live spot of ring fixing on TV. Page’s GCW title wasn’t on the line here, as he’s lifted Pete Dunne’s old old theme here.
Dickinson looks to work the wrist early on, but Page counters as I’m sure someone’ll be gasping at Rickey starting with holds. They continue to trade holds, before Page charged into Dickinson with a shoulder tackle, only to get tripped as Dickinson went for a Figure Four, and I’m wondering what my coffee got spiked with. Page is right by the ropes, so we’ve an instant break as Dickinson eventually rolls him into a STF, but again it’s right by the ropes. RSP flips off Dickinson, and the bird’s bitten, as Dickinson goes lucha style with springboard armdrags and a tiltawhirl armdrag, before a dropkick took Page outside for a baseball slide dropkick.
Page avoids a dive, and hits a snap slam back inside, as Dickinson eventually fought back with a spinning enziguiri… only for RSP to hit one of his own seconds later. Chops keep Dickinson on the back foot, but he’s back with chops before he slipped on a springboard something or other, crashing and burning badly coming in from the apron. Dickinson shrugs it off with another spinning enziguiri, then hits a clothesline out of the corner before a death valley driver planted Page for a near-fall. Another enziguiri and a back suplex has Page right back on top though, coming in with a frog splash off the top rope for a near-fall, as we went back to chops, with Dickinson… then running into a boot. RSP tries for a suplex, and eventually hits the Saito before Dickinson ran in with another enziguiri.
A deadlift German suplex impressively ragdolls Page ahead of a lariat, which would have gotten the win, had Page not gotten a foot to the rope. Page is back in with a cutter, before Dickinson caught him on the top rope for a superplex… which legit broke the ring, then rolled into a Falcon arrow that almost did the deal! From there though, we get back-to-back screwy finishes, as Kevin Ku and Dominic Garrini hit the ring to attack Dickinson, and there’s your DQ. This was just about getting into a higher gear, but again, building to the bigger show means we’ll have to wait for a rematch. ***¼
Chuck O’Neil and Larry Legend are out too as we get to see just how bumpy the ring is… Pinkie Sanchez tries to make a save, but he took is swarmed and dropped with a Michinoku driver onto the broken ring. Dickinson’s held up for a mugging, as Chuck ran his mouth… only for the lights to go out. In among confusion in the crowd, we hear a YE-OW… and IT’S JAKA! Jaka single-handedly drops O’Neil with a reverse DDT as Ku and Garrini were dispatched… and for old time’s sake, we’re teased with a Death Trap to Chuck, but he scarpers as the show closes. It looks like Jaka’s the mystery man – wrestling for the first time in almost a year, having taken a sabbatical after last appearing for FIP back in January. It’d have been over a year since Jaka was in Beyond too, having lost in the first round of a tag team Tournament for Tomorrow in November 2018. It’s good to have Jaka back, I think…
The “difficult second album” that was season two of Uncharted Territory wasn’t exactly made easier given the tectonic shift that also went on in the independent scene at the same time. Season two starting around the same time as the fabled Wednesday Night Wars initially hit whom Beyond could use, although AEW’s more recent signings were far from exclusive… saying that, there were some notable omissions from season one: Solo Darling’s gone from a featured part of the show to something of a cameo act, while the Top Dogs faction of Skylar and Davienne didn’t appear at all in season two. Meanwhile, the Discovery Gauntlet perhaps didn’t click as well as in season one – but acts like Thomas Santell don’t crop up every day!
All in all, while the future of Uncharted Territory is up in the air – we’d no news of a season three, nor much about Beyond outside of their Please Come Back show in late January. Perhaps we’ll have an announcement or two at Heavy Lies The Crown, otherwise it looks like Beyond’ll be going back to their prior format of monthly shows… for now.
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