We’re going to take a look at a rematch – and the latest chapter of Bryan Alvarez’s feud with Marko Stunt.
With the original match in November, Alvarez chopped his way to a win before issuing a challenge to Stunt – which was meant to have culminated in a tag team match at Black Label Pro’s WrestleMania weekend show. Injuries and conflicts led to that match changing a dozen times, before it eventually became Orange Cassidy vs. Alvarez. So here we are, seven months on, and we’ve got a No Holds Barred rematch. Well, once we get past a raffle…
No Holds Barred: Bryan Alvarez vs. Marko Stunt
Alvarez has ditched California Love AND the top knot, so this is a massive upgrade on the original match. He’s got a pre-match promo too, which, unlike the newsletter, is all his own work. I assume.
Alvarez has some facts for us: he reckons he broke Stunt’s legs (and not that Destroyer in GCW last year). Oh, and a fan gives us fact three: “Vinny’s better than you!”. There’s no comeback, nor a real life equivalent of a drop button, as Bryan then proceeded to show off Mama and Papa Stunt. The latter of whom was wearing a shirt proclaiming how they “make stunts for your entertainment”. I howled.
Bryan promises to chop “All Elite Marko”, “because I’m a nice guy,” while Marko has his own facts. Which included ordering the ref out of the ring so they could swing chairs. Pop for Dave Prazak throwing out the ol’ “plans change” line.
They sting their hands with chair swinging, but it’s Marko who has Bryan on the run. Specifically into Barry Windham’s gimmick table. Roaming cameras give me mobile sickness as Marko throws Bryan into a padded wall, before he got some of the crowd to hold up Bryan for chops. Bryan begs for mercy in the ring, like he was being forced to watch modern day WWE, but it’s a ruse as he flung Marko into a chair “by his special broken leg”. Commentary’s words, not mine. We’ve got the Owen Hart stuff next as Bryan tried to kick his leg out of his leg, then flung him into the ropes with a head giant swing. We’ve comedy as a “small door” comes into play, propped in the corner, but we’re back to chopping. Right in front of the Stunts.
Back in the ring, Marko’s leg gives him trouble as Bryan Owens him once more ahead of a Figure Four, but the bully Alvarez keeps up on him. Logan Stunt gets involved, as he’s thrown into a chair in the corner. Last to get involved were the parents, who chop Bryan, only for Bryan to get posted by Papa Stunt. Good on him.
Marko whacks Bryan with a wiffleball bat, only for Bryan to superkick Papa through the wood. Nobody wants to help him, it seems, so Bryan gets another door, and some chairs as he makes a makeshift table. Which he ends up moonsaulting through, which led to a Peter Griffin sell of his shin. Aaah. Ssssh. From there, Marko goes for the Figure Four, and forces Bryan to tap. Typical, only geeks seem to tap to that in 2019! This was fun for the blow-off it seemed to be, looping in the whole family to fend off the evil sometimes-sheet writer. ***
This was a fun main event – perhaps a little too plunderiffic, but aren’t indy No Holds Barred matches this way? You didn’t really need to have a full working knowledge of the feud for this one, as Bryan did his job well portraying himself as a bully, while Marko was a real good “babyface in peril”. Saying that, that’s pretty much his career role to date, so you’d expect it!