The second season of Who’s Next continued, with some more hopefuls in front of a rather eclectic trio of judges.
We opened with a recap of last week’s outing for the Thrashman and Kevin Lazar, before finding out that Thrashman got through to the next round of the fan vote. On the panel this week: Jody Fleisch, Ahmed Chaer and Angelico! Told you it was an eclectic trio! This week, we’re introduced to Tom Tom, who is hoping to navigate his way through to the next round. He’s only had one match, and I’m trying to figure out where I’ve heard his music before.
Ah yes, WCPW.
Tom Tom tells us he was trained by Orlando Silver, and that’s about all we know of him. Nothing about why he’s wearing a mask, or anything else. Nervousness!
His foe today is the Red Rage – or Marcel Bock, whatever you prefer to use. According to Cagematch he made his debut in 2011 and took some time off in 2015, returning in 2017 for Athletik Club Wrestling, where he’s made the vast majority of his appearances. During his entrance, Rage gives a kid a wristband, before his promo was just a shortened version of his to-camera piece. It’s not exactly a rousing “wow, I wanna cheer for him” promo.
Tom Tom vs. Red Rage
Our five-minute match starts with the crowd largely on Bock’s side, as he works in a headlock against the masked Tom Tom, as they keep things basic.
Tom elbows out of a headlock, but gets bulled down with a shoulder tackle, before leaping over the charging Rage and catching him with a hiptoss. A dropkick from Tom looked like a pair of knees as he tried to get the crowd on side, before a sunset flip gets him a one-count, with Rage replying with a kick as he heeled on the crowd. Now the judges are starting to turn on him for not having a defined character…
The match descended into a spot of clubbering, as Rage slammed him for a near-fall, then takes him into the corner for some chops. Rage takes Tom into the corner, but the kid leaps over the charge and rolls him up with a sunset flip for the win! A nice, basic match, but one that definitely seemed like Rage slipped on a banana peel to lose.
The most-match judging saw Angelico peg Tom Tom and Red Rage at opposite ends of the spectrum, before telling Tom that for a flyer, he needs more flashy moves. Ahmed Chaer called out Tom Tom for not knowing English (the kid’s 17 for crying out loud!), before knocking Rage for his promo. Ahmed liked the finish of the match, but not the fact they didn’t use their whole five minutes, while Jody Fleisch was very complimentary of Rage’s look. All in all, this was a solid episode – while the car crash stuff from season one is perhaps the more perversely entertaining, this week saw Who’s next give us a couple of guys who were competent – and at least have something to build up from.