Time to drop by for IWTV’s latest indy supershow, and a look at the main event as Alex Shelley challenged for the IWTV title.
This one’s from a revamped H2O Wrestling Centre in Williamstown, NJ…
IWTV Independent Wrestling World Championship: Alex Shelley vs. Wheeler Yuta (c)
This was the 102nd defence of the IWTV title, with Yuta having last defended the title against Leyla Hirsch some 24 hours earlier (kinda killing the 101st Defence vibe!). Yuta’s previously beaten Dave Cole, Lee Moriarty, Willow Nightingale and Killian McMurphy, while going to an hour-long draw with Daniel Garcia on his list of defences.
The night before, Shelley had beaten Daniel Garcia at Beyond, but had taken a lot of shots to his knee in the process – and of course, Yuta was going for that early on. Shelley matched Yuta hold-for-hold early on, slipping out of a side headlock before Yuta tied up the legs… and took Shelley into the ropes. Resetting, Shelley stretches Yuta out, but Yuta’s able to break free to grab a side headlock – and cling onto it as Shelley tried to push out. When he did, a high paced exchange ends with a dropkick from Yuta, before Shelley chopped and elbows his way away from a back body drop.
A quick side headlock’s turned into a Saito suplex by Yuta… Shelley rolls outside to try and shake it off, but he rolled back in at seven and ended up taking a bunch of stomps and kicks before a caught kick led to Shelley measuring up for a Dragon screw, which looked to jar Yuta’s elbow as much as his knee. Spotting that, Shelley grabs a Corning hold on the arm, wrenching the elbow and bicep some more, as Yuta’s escape just led to him getting caught in an armbar. After escaping, Yuta’s taken into the corner with a Complete Shot, before a charge into the corner was floated over, with Yuta coming again off the ropes with a dropkick.
Shelley’s taken outside, but swats Yuta away with a forearm, before he dropped a knee on the apron. The pair fight around ringside, with Yuta tasting the apron again before he took a brainbuster onto it (from the floor), almost like a Last Shot. Ow. Back inside, a cobra clutch was resisted by Yuta, only for him to get caught in a straitjacket hold as Shelley looked to be settling in. Yuta rolled free to reverse the hold, but Shelley’s back on top, bridging the straitjacket over his knees before letting go – presumably to try a different tactic. Shelley misses a punt to the arm as Yuta fought back, hitting another dropkick before almost a springboard Torpedo Moscau out of the corner cracked Shelley en route to a bridging German suplex.
Yuta goes up top but misses on a big splash, allowing Shelley back in with a Mistica into a Border City Stretch… but Yuta gets to the ropes as parts of the locker room empties out to bang the ring for extra noise. Shelley yanks Yuta’s arm with an armbreaker, before an elbow dropped Yuta to his knees. Yuta’s back with an Alphamare Waterslide for a near-fall, before a fight for a gutwrench ended with Yuta clubbing Shelley away, leading to a Yu-Tap that Shelley rolled out of for a near-fall. A superkick followed, but a Sliced Bread’s countered back into Yu-Tap… Shelley wriggled free and spiked Yuta with a Shell Shock, only for Yuta to pop up!
A clothesline and a second Shell Shock gets Shelley another near-fall, before rolling Yuta into a Border City Stretch for the submission… and NEW! Playing a little off of the Beyond action the night before, this in its own right was a cracker of a match, but while Yuta managed to last an hour against Daniel Garcia, it seemed like that apron brainbuster was the tide-turner as Shelley left with some new gold… but not before a show-closing speech that put over Yuta as the future of wrestling for following the road that Shelley had paved.
Result: Alex Shelley submitted Wheeler Yuta to win the IWTV Independent Wrestling World Championship in 17:59 (****)