A few weeks back, we reviewed the first show from the English promotion GOOD Wrestling. It took a while for their second show to emerge, after a late postponement, but their May event, entitled “2 GOOD 2 Glorious” is now up on YouTube, free for everyone to watch. So we did.
If you want to take a look, it’s up now at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9VXG-ZtTVs
We’re back at the Craufurd Arms in Milton Keynes here, and we’re straight into the action with Gene Munny and his sparkly jacket, against Terry Isit. GOOD have kept up the standard indy presentation of cutting out entrances.
Gene Munny vs. Terry Isit
Isit’s back here, after his tag team partner turned on him before their match on show one… but instead of getting revenge on Cy Gregory, we’ve got this. The lighting for this show seems worse than the first show, which may be a massive negative as we go along, but hey, at least the ring announcer didn’t fish for “one falls”.
Munny’s wrestling in a t-shirt with his name on, which makes him massively easier to identify, and he starts by taking Isit into the corner before being generally annoying. Isit replied with a headlock out of the corner as he tries for the most unlikely submission, before Munny knocks him over with a shoulderblock.
Motormouth Munny gets taken down with some tiltawhirl headscissors from Isit, as an armdrag leads to an armbar attempt. Isit then ducks a couple of clotheslines then trips up Munny, who then staggers into a forearm from Isit.
Isit mocks Munny by doing a headstand on the bottom turnbuckle, before kicking him as he charged in. Munny then dragged the referee in front of him as a human shield as Isit went for a double axehandle off the top rope, diving for cover on the outside, and even taking a seat in the front row as he takes a breather. You can tell this isn’t an ultra-smarky crowd, because (hallelujah) we’re not getting the “count one ahead of the ref” gimmick either. I’m in heaven!
Back inside, Isit grabs Gene Munny’s ring gear, and he’s wearing the sparkly jacket and white hat, which brings Munny back in… eventually hitting a spear through the ropes for just a one count on Isit. Munny finally takes off his t-shirt, and gives Isit a stinkface (thankfully clothed) in the corner whilst humming “The Stripper”. That becomes ominous seconds later, as Isit yanks down Munny’s trunks to show a gold thong (and I shudder), before completing a sunset flip for a near-fall.
Munny continues to wrestle with his trunks around his ankles, and instead of pulling them up, he continues with a sidewalk slam for a near-fall. Finally the tights go up, to an applause from the crowd, and Munny goes down with a diving clothesline for another near-fall. A series of short-arm clotheslines from Munny decks Isit, who ducks a third one then lands an enziguiri, sparking the Isit comeback.
A springboard back elbow out of the corner grounds Munny, before Isit lands a tornado DDT, springboarding out of the corner for a near-fall. Isit’s attempted kick was caught by Munny, who dropped him to the mat, before leaping in with a legdrop, but didn’t make any cover. Isit leaps over Munny in the corner, then lands a crossbody, only for Munny to roll through and snatch the win.
As an indy opener, that wasn’t too bad, but nothing to write home about. Gene Munny’s gimmick seemed to be Jack Sexsmith plus a couple of stone, which seemed odd given that Sexsmith was on the same card! **¼
Fowler vs. Ross Lee
This is apparently a showcase match from the Wrestling Institute of Northampton (according to the graphic, anyway). Fowler doesn’t have a first name, but he does have tattoos and the pre-match graphic makes him look like a grown up ‘Swoggle, whilst Lee unfortunately screams “generic”.
Fowler doesn’t care much for sportsmanship, and they start with a lockup, as Fowler shoves Lee into the corner, before Lee takes a breather to the outside. And there’s the annoying gimmick. PROGRESS and Tye Dillinger have a LOT to answer for…
Lee got back in the ring, and went straight into a waistlock from Fowler, before reversing it and having his foot stamped on. Waistlock reversals ahoy until Fowler takes down Lee with the waistlock, then worked on Lee’s arms with a double wristlock to stretch back the arms. Lee reversed that, and you can see where this is going. Fowler tried to flip out of the stretch, but Lee sat down on it and turned it into a seated arm stretch, before bridging into a pinning predicament for a near-fall.
Lee gets backdropped onto the apron, but comes back in and tosses Fowler out of the ring, before doing laps proclaiming “I’m going to WrestleMania!”. He forgot to point to a sign…
Fowler hangs Lee over the top rope before making it back into the ring, and kicking Lee with a back spin kick for a near-fall. A whip into the corner sees Fowler follow up with jumping knee strikes and a suplex out of the corner, before he slaps Lee in the midsection. Fowler kept Lee grounded with some body scissors, before nailing Lee with the Big Ending for a near-fall.
Lee gets taken down with a stiff bodyslam, before choking his opponent in the ropes and then lifting him up into a bear-hug. Lee fights himself free, then drops Fowler with a couple of clotheslines, before he’s caught in an Angle Slam-esque drop for a near-fall. We go back to the bear hug, but Lee breaks out, before leapfrogging over a pop-up attempt from Fowler.
Lee’s comeback continues with a shoulderblock, then a backbreaker and a sidewalk slam, before finishing with a Michinoku driver for the win. A good little match between two up and comers who managed to win the crowd over. **¾
Earl Black Jr. vs. Jack Sexsmith
On GOOD’s first show, Sexsmith beat Earl Black Jr.’s tag team partner – Darrell Allen – by disqualification, so it’s time for the other half of the Dazzler Team to try their luck. Black’s already infuriated at having to face “this pantomime”.
Black takes down Sexsmith with a waistlock takedown then slaps him on the mat. Sexsmith returns the favour, but with his own little twist on things, which leads to Black wiping his rear on the ropes to get rid of the feeling. Sexsmith gets taken down with a headlock, before reversing it into some headscissors, only for Black to firmly boot him in the head when his attempted reversal goes sexual.
Black’s attempted leapover in the corner sees him take a pair of atomic drops, but he crotches Sexsmith on the top rope before a stalling suplex attempt goes wrong, with Sexsmith getting a near-fall with a roll-up. Sexsmith takes a little more punishment before taking a hiptoss from Black Jr. for a near-fall.
Another hiptoss from Earl Black is reversed into a pinning predicament from Sexsmith, who scores a few near-fall before a wheelbarrow roll-up is blocked and turned into a wheelbarrow suplex from Black. A monstrous German suplex folds Sexsmith in half, but Black again delays going for the cover, instead opting for some rolling German suplexes, with Sexsmith elbowing free… but only into the clutches of Black for an overhead belly to belly.
Sexsmith gets tossed to the outside by Black, but he returns to the ring and lands a series of clotheslines, before Black charges him into the corner repeatedly. “Bulldoggy Style” from Sexsmith gets him out of the corner (think the old Dudley Dog finisher), and Jack goes into his trunks for Mr Cocko, with one fan chanting for lube… but Black ducks it, and instead takes a bunch of hip attacks. Props to the commentator for the Taguchi reference!
Black then sets up Sexsmith for an unorthodox (by his standards) move… the moonsault! He gets caught climbing the ropes and met with a sunset flip powerbomb, before Black heads to the outside to regroup. Making his way back in, Black drops to his knees and invites Mr Cocko and Jack’s whipped cream, but as the referee takes away the can of cream, Black lowblows Sexsmith and gets the win. Eh, I could have lived with a different finish if Black had to go over, but this was a decent match for what it was. **¾
Chris Tyler vs. Mike Bird vs. “Pastor” William Eaver
Apparently this was meant to have been a one-on-one match, but Mike Bird’s planned opponent – Ryan Smile – dropped out, so we ended up with a three-way instead. Bird takes Eaver into the corner and chops away at him to start us off, but the Pastor fires back with a shoulder tackle and a backbreaker, before landing the Snake Eyes.
Bird gets clotheslined to the outside, as Eaver turns into a spinning heel kick from Tyler for a one-count, and it’s all Tyler for a while, landing a snapmare into a standing double stomp on Eaver for a near-fall. Tyler kept knocking Bird off the apron every time he tried to re-enter the ring, as he looked to keep this as close to his original one-on-one match as he could.
Eaver fired back with a backbreaker and a running powerslam on Tyler, before hitting a running uppercut and then dishing out forearms to Tyler and Bird, who’d made it back into the ring. A diving forearm connected with Bird, as Tyler stepped aside, before Tyler ducked the Clothesline from Heaven. A superkick from Tyler left Eaver in the middle ropes, where he took a lungblower out of the corner, as Bird came in to lay waste to Tyler with forearms.
Bird landed a gutbuster on Tyler, before turning his focus to Eaver, who landed a uranage backbreaker, before Bird went for a crucifix powerbomb on Tyler for a two-count, as the cover was broken up by Eaver… and from nowhere, Eaver landed a lariat that turned Tyler inside out, and that was it. For a three-way, it was alright, but it seemed way too short and that finish came out of nowhere. ***¼
The London Riots (James Davis & Rob Lynch) vs. This Ain’t No Picnic (Big Grizzly & Panda Cub)
Both of the Riots turned up today, and “This Ain’t No Picnic” is the pairing of Panda Cub and Big Grizzly, who disappointingly isn’t wearing a bear mask.
James Davis and Panda Cub get us underway with some wristlocks, before they work a knucklelock which sees Davis take down the Cub in a STF-like setup. Cub returns the favour and tries for a Boston crab, before Davis recovers and takes him down in a waistlock. Panda Cub powers up, but gets taken down with a La Magistral pin for a near-fall before Davis gets armdragged and dropkicked to the mat by the Panda Cub, who then lands a standing senton.
At this point, the match switched to an isometric hard camera view (a stationery GoPro, but the view worked almost like a security camera, albeit one that was about fifteen months out of date!), whilst a caption pops up to apologise for the lower quality of video and sound in this match – which was nice, although the only thing I noticed was that the bright lights were even more pronounced here than elsewhere in the show.
Lynch and Big Grizzly tagged in, and they locked up, with Grizzly taking Lynch into the corner for an instant rope break. Rob Lynch returned the favour, before things descended into a Daddy-and-Haystacks style shoving contest. They traded shoulder blocks for a while, before Grizzly picked up Lynch and hit a fallaway slam with ease, sending Lynch into the front row. Davis was tossed out to join him, with their opponents quickly joining them as both teams ended up fighting out of range of the hard camera.
A cricket bat was used by Davis (off camera) as he and Grizzly left the room, before Rob Lynch went walkies with the Panda Cub. We just about saw the Panda Cub slammed onto a dustbin outside the ring as Grizzly returned to the ringside area.
Back inside the ring, Lynch got a one-count on Cub, before a stiff clothesline got him a two-count. James Davis came in to double team on the Panda Cub briefly, but the Cub fought back with some forearms, before being taken down and dragged back to the Riots’ corner for some more double-teaming.
Davis landed a back senton on Panda Cub for a near-fall, but the Cub got tossed to the outside for some more double-teaming from Lynch, and it seemed a matter of time before the Riots would pick up the win. A suplex from Lynch scored another near-fall on the Panda, who then back body dropped Lynch out of the way and finally made the hot tag to Big Grizzly, who cleared house on both of the Riots.
The mobile camera picked up just in time to see Grizzly drop Davis and Lynch with body slams, then avalanche splashes in the corners, before taking down Davis with a diving clothesline. Lynch avoided a chokeslam, before spearing Grizzly, but he’d made a blind tag to the Panda Cub… who came in and switched a pop-up spear attempt into a tornado DDT!
Grizzly popped up for a spinebuster on Davis, which the Panda Cub finished off with a rotating frog splash, and the team of the bear and the Cub picked up the shock win! A pretty good Riots-style brawl… well, what we could see of it, anyway. ***
GOOD Wrestling’s first show was value for money as a digital download. Their second show, is a no brainer, especially as it’s up for free on YouTube. Unfortunately, technical problems hit them during the one match they could have done without them, as the Riots’ tag match went all over the arena, as is customary with them. Still, it inadvertently created a unique look, and one that with some tweaks could actually work!
Granted, there’s “only” five matches, but at 72 minutes in length, it’s a fun show to watch. Give it a shot!