There’s more time travelling goodness on the latest episode of Freedom’s Road!
We open backstage – indeed, the Dome’s loading bay – with Damon Moser frustrated that he’s unable to wrestle. David Francisco mockingly consoles him, as Moser says he’ll address the crowd later.
Speaking of, Damon Moser’s suddenly in the ring with a microphone. At the time this was taped, he was barely two weeks out from when James Drake broke his jaw. Moser barely gets a word out when David Francisco’s music cuts him off, and “Fantastic” is out with his belt… and is dressed to compete! Francisco’s miffed that Moser had time to say he wasn’t going to wrestle… especially when the two of them were apparently meant to be facing each other. It seems that David Francisco has the same speech impediment for the word “fantastic” that Marius van Beethoven has for “gold”… anyway, we have a match, with Francisco now facing Danny Duggan.
David Francisco vs. Danny Duggan
Duggan’s perhaps more well known for his tenure in IPW:UK, where he’s currently one half of their tag champions along with Cieran Donnelly. Moser’s on commentary for this, and they claim that he’s got a long undefeated streak. I could have sworn James Drake broke that… and his jaw, unless they’re keeping Freedom’s Road in the same lineage as ENDVR? Anyway, Duggan frustrates Francisco early by shoving him into the corner, before going after the arm in what’d best be described as a methodical opening series. A leapfrog just about sees Francisco clear Duggan, who replied with a dropkick and a series of chops as commentary made wisecracks about Francisco’s “nonspecific championship belt”.
Francisco again powders to the outside and gets cut-off with a chop before a swift kick to the ribs puts the brakes on Duggan’s attempt to get back into the ring. Danny drags Francisco back onto the apron for some more punches, only for Duggan to get shoved into the ringpost as Francisco urges the referee to start the count-out. Of course, Duggan beats the count-out, but takes a series of kicks from the so-called Portuguese champion until Duggan’s leg lariat got him back in it.
A crossbody off the top takes Francisco back down, as do some German suplexes, before Duggan’s caught with the Fall From Grace (pop-up Flatliner)… but Danny kicked out at two! Unfortunately, Francisco gets too enamoured with Damon Moser, and mocked him with a Knee Trembler… but Duggan moved away and pulled out a schoolboy for the win. Pretty decent, but these sort of matches between guys who are rarely on the show always struggle. After the match, Francisco superkick’d Duggan before Moser hit the ring to save Duggan from a knee trembler.
Ahead of the next match, we’re given a warning: it contains time paradoxes. Alrighty then…
The Bodyguy comes out next. Yes, he’s got new music, and I seem to have teleported. Unlike the microphone, which he has to motion for until the disembodied voice of Freedom’s Road brought it along. We’re getting a Wasteman Challenge, and out comes Robo Mambo! Who needed some help to not get beheaded by the entrance curtain!
Mambo’s bedecked in shininess – with a boxy robot head and what I can only assume was tin foil over his knee pads. Chuck reckons he’s been to the future, so he knows how this is going to work… so he’s going to the past to mess with it. That’s going to set off a butterfly effect, even if for now he’s just finishing the Bodyguy’s sentences. Mambo’s urged to tell the Bodyguy about the future… so he does. “You end up in this massive tournament in Blackpool…” oh dear!
Roy Johnson vs. Chuck Mambo
There was a LOT of comedy here, with Mambo escaping out of holds – knowing what to expect before it happened! As a nice surprise, TK Cooper’s on commentary, and he’s audibly annoyed that everyone’s playing up to Mambo’s time travelling. Chuck Mambo plays air guitar whilst surfing on the Bodyguy – and yes, we got music – before Johnson reversed a sunset flip for a near-fall. We get the flip Mambo dive to the outside after Johnson avoided a Reef Break (Meteora)… he avoids it again and hits one of his own as the space/time continuum threw up a distortion!
Next up was a stalling suplex right as TK made Callum Leslie corpse on commentary… like Roy Johnson, apparently he’s got a medal to bring out. This one’s for participation though! They also show Dahlia Black near the commentary table, but she’s on the wine instead… Back in the ring, Johnson dumps Mambo with a full nelson slam for a near-fall as Mambo’s memory failed him, but he managed to come back in with a Blockbuster as he looked for the Reef Break again. Yet again, Johnson avoided it and hit a powerbomb, before a bicycle kick loosened Mambo’s tin foil knee pads… and finally he gets the Reef Break!
Mambo calls for the Chuck You, but Johnson escapes and looked for the Last Set, but Mambo too flips out and superkicked the Bodyguy for a near-fall. Another attempt at the Chuck You is countered as Johnson teased a Pedigree, before hitting the Last Set for the pin. Pretty good stuff here as the Bodyguy gets a win, and Mambo’s time board seemed to fail him!
Just like that, the show crashes to the end credits with TK admonishing Callum for humouring Mambo… once again, nothing’s teased for next time, but this was a pretty solid episode, if only for the character development of Chuck Mambo. Now, I wonder if we can see him and the time board at Super Strong Style this weekend?