I have a feeling this should be the “Jaxon Stone Special”, as we pay trips to AML, Chaos and Bar Wrestling for our latest quartet of matches…
Jaxon Stone vs. Damien Wayne
We’ve got Jakob Hammermeier, who sounds like a South Park Canadian a little, and some other guy on commentary here from AML’s All For The Glory show in February 2018. The crowd heckle Jaxon’s jacket routine, so much so he just takes it off angrily.
At the bell, Stone instantly goes onto the apron to wind up Wayne a little, before he continued to get in the crowd’s bad books by throwing Wayne aside to do his “Lights… Camera… Jaxon” taunt. He goes for it again and turns around into some chops, eventually getting felled for a one-count. Wayne keeps up with a Stinger splash in the corner, but he misses a second before going back to those chops, only for Stone to charge out of the corner with a lariat to the back of the head for a near-fall. A knee drop does the same thing, before an old school double axehandle off the top gets a two-count out of a rather lackadaisical cover.
Stone keeps up with a rear chinlock before another axehandle smash is cut-off with a shot to the gut, prompting a fightback from Wayne by way of slams. A Buddy Landell-ish elbow gets a near-fall, before Stone shoves the ref into the ropes, prompting Wayne to spill off the top rope and almost get pinned with a DDT. AML’s got a wacky camera on the bottom turnbuckle which gives some unusual shots, including one of a lariat from Wayne.
Damien heads up for a Tennessee Jam, connecting with the top rope legdrop for a near-fall… as Stone tries to catch Wayne with a superplex to the floor… Hammermeier was wittering on about ambulances as they jostled on the ropes, before they both fell off and spilled to the floor, leading to the double count-out. The crowd did not like that result, and Stone scarpered to the back before Wayne could get his hands on him again. Pretty solid stuff – nothing flashy, but it got the job done. Shame about the finish. **½
Latin American Exchange (Ortiz & Santana) vs. Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero M & Rey Fenix)
Moving away from Jaxon Stone here, we’re going to Bar Wrestling’s March 2018 show, “March of the Pigs”, and it’s a pretty loaded tag team main event between a team that was originally booked to be in wXw’s 16 Carat Gold tournament (were it not for Lucha Underground yanking them)… and a duo that’ll be heading back to Germany pretty soon!
Once we were done with Penta flinging his glove to the referee, we got going with Santana getting clocked with a superkick from Fenix… who then kept the frantic stuff going with a double dropkick to both halves of LAX as the Lucha Brothers were going balls to the wall! A tope con giro from Fenix is added to with a senton bomb that almost ripped the decorative drapes off the ceiling once again!
When that initial flurry of offence didn’t work… a pair of superkicks to LAX took them down before Penta wheelbarrowed Fenix onto them for a near-fall. Things finally calm down as Fenix and Penta looked to isolate Ortiz, but it backfires as Penta’s popped up into a slam as LAX issued a taste of their own medicine, with those drapes almost getting pulled down with yet another tope con giro! Fenix gets isolated for a spell next as LAX double-team him for a near-fall, as the entire concept of tags seemed to be rather novel. Hey, the impromptu tornado nature allowed for a lot of double-teaming and some nice sequences as the momentum swung back and forth so rapidly it was hard for commentary to keep up!
Fenix monkey flips Penta into a stacked-up LAX in the corner for a pair of near-falls as commentary broke out that dreaded “there’s too much to call!” line. Finally, stuff slows down as Penta and Ortiz trade boots and superkicks, but we’re quickly back to tornado’ing as Fenix broke up a pin after a suplex/stunner variation from Ortiz.
Fenix comes back with a spin-out Muscle Buster-turned-Ki Krusher to Ortiz that almost won the match, but Santana’s back to try and kick off Fenix’s head… before an Ace crusher from Santana earned him… a kick to the head from Penta. Standard. Santana springboards into a nasty pumphandle driver from Penta, who dumped him on his head for a near-fall. Then we move onto chops, with Santana and Penta giving as good as they got, before Ortiz and Fenix decided to have a go… baring their chests for the extra audible responses.
More superkicks and a roll-up double Ace crusher put down LAX… who reply with a double stunner of their own to Penta as all four men were left laying. They’re back with Penta clocking Santana with an enziguiri, only for Santana to crash into him with a cannonball as those drapes again were put at risk with a Doomsday Blockbuster out of LAX for another near-fall… before Fenix springboards into a superkick and a double-team inverted suplex.
Fenix avoids another Doomsday Blockbuster as he rolled up Ortiz for a near-fall, before Penta returns to lift up Ortiz for a spiked package piledriver for the win! I’m torn on this one. Way too much of this felt massively choreographed, and done at such a clip that a lot of it easily washed over you… but at the same time, it was so effortless and done without any obvious flaws that you can’t help but appreciate. As a one-off, this was a work of art, but likewise a match that many folks will surely have a love/hate relationship with. ****½
Dick Riley vs. Will Ospreay
We’re off to Bristol’s Pro Wrestling Chaos for this, and the main event of their January 2018 show “The Wrestle Squanchers!”. Yeah, it’s because I got the DVD in a WrestleCrate… but the show’s up on Powerbomb.tv if you have that subscription.
Ospreay takes Riley down to the mat early on, as commentary tells us that Riley has had some fairly high-profile losses in Chaos, against Marty Scurll, Pete Dunne and Mike Bailey… with some seeds being planted as to Riley perhaps benefiting from favouritism. The crowd quickly cotton onto penis-related jokes as the pair continued the feeling out process with brief holds on the mat before Ospreay suckered him in for a punch.
Ducking it, Ospreay charges out with dropkicks and ‘ranas before doing the pose of that sushi place that all of the CHAOS guys seem to be doing in New Japan. Riley manages to squeeze in a neckbreaker as Ospreay’s caught out, but Riley can only get a one count as Ospreay starts to fight back with the Shibata dropkick into the corner. From there, Ospreay worked over Riley with a trapped armbar, but it’s escaped, only for Riley to get tripped as a standing moonsault got Ospreay a near-fall, where he followed up with an Octopus hold as he looked to assert his dominance over “Dirty Dick”.
Riley does break free, but he’s again tripped… and this time he blocks the standing moonsault by getting his knees up, before hitting one of his own as he sprung off the middle ropes. Ospreay headed to the outside, where he was eventually met with a corkscrew senton off the middle rope, before he kept up with a flapjack back suplex as Ospreay was on the run. A Tiger Bomb almost causes the upset, as does a spinning heel kick as Ospreay’s sent outside and onto the stage… somewhere where Riley quickly followed as Ospreay was placed in a fan’s chair ahead of an attempted dive, which Ospreay cut-off as he instead tried to suplex him into the chair.
That was unsuccessful, but Ospreay hit back with a nice double springboard forearm, off the chair, then the top rope, before getting a near-fall. That was impressive! Riley tried to fight back, catching an over-the-ropes 619 and returning with a gamengiri, before hauling Ospreay back into the ring, only to get caught with a Stundog Millionaire! A running shooting star press nearly got the win for Ospreay, whose attempt to go airborne ended when Riley crotched him on the ropes.
Ospreay slips free of a superplex, but his Cheeky Nando’s is avoided as the pair turned up the pace, whacking each other with superkicks before Ospreay dumped him with a standing Spanish Fly. It’s way too quick to call as Riley returned the favour, as the pair opted to fight back to their feet. That battle’s won by Ospreay as he kicked Riley down again as commentary goes back to the penis jokes, just as Ospreay swipes Dick with a slap. It worked if the plan was to get Dick riled up, as he decked Ospreay with a forearm shot, before having a go at the Ranhei (Kofi Kingston’s SOS), only to take a reverse ‘rana as the match looked to be coming to a climax. A decapitation forearm smash nearly does it, but Riley’s up, and manages to block an OsCutter… countering it with a pop up cutter of his own for a near-fall!
Riley followed up with a Ranhei, but he folded Ospreay up too much as a rope break stopped the count. Ospreay plays possum and nips up to take Riley in for a Cheeky Nando’s, but Riley kicks him in the head repeatedly before absorbing a Rainmaker and countering with a tombstone! Someone’s been watching his Okada tapes! Another Ranhei’s attempted, but Ospreay swiftly counters with a Rainmaker and an OsCutter… and that’s your lot! A really spirited outing from Riley, although the disparity between the two meant that it was always going to be a struggle to see Ospreay win – especially as he was days removed from winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title! ****
Jaxon Stone vs. Axton Ray vs. Billy Brash
We had been hoping to wrap this up with the Jaxon Stone/Alexander James match from NOVA Pro… but that hasn’t gone up on Powerbomb.tv yet, so we’re taking a dip into America’s Most Liked Wrestling’s April show, “The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall.”
We’ve got Matt Rhodes and Jakob Hammermeier on commentary – the latter of which I’ve found distracting whenever I’ve watched AML in the past, but let’s see how it goes today. Ahead of the match we’ve a 90s-style inset promo from Stone, bragging about his “Goldberg-like winning streak”… which consists of a win over Montana Black and the double-count out we reviewed earlier. Axton Ray gets a promo too, but the “Renegade” is very smart-casual in his promo, dressed in a not-at-all-renegade-like shirt and tie. Coming from the office to do a promo, eh?
The crowd aren’t fans of Jaxon, and they don’t let him have his moment in the sun to take his coat off. Instead, Billy Brash just attacks Axton Ray from behind as Stone powders to the floor… where he’s joined by Brash after a missile dropkick from Ray. Jaxon quickly rushes in to knock down Axton with a forearm for a near-fall, as I know I’m going to mix those two names up, and we’re into the revolving door thing as Brash pulls Stone out as the pair argue over who’ll fight Axton… arguing for so long they’re met with a plancha!
Stone eventually makes it back inside with Ray, where he catches a leap off the top and turns it into the Rolling Stones fallaway slam for a solid two-count. Punches from above followed as Stone throws Ray into Brash on the apron, keeping the match one-on-one ahead of a big slam and a pose for the crowd.
Jaxon moves to a chinlock, so he could keep an eye on Brash… and when he gets back into the ring, Stone again throws Ray into the third man before clearing the ring in a bid to pin Ray again. Brash swaps places as he slings his way back into the ring to take down Stone with a lariat for a near-fall, before Axton’s missile dropkick took everyone down as he began his comeback on Stone and Ray. An “accidental” DDT on Stone follows as Brash was caught with a neckbreaker, and it’s all Axton here as he took Brash up top for a gamengiri, before his superplex was turned into the Tower of Doom by Jaxon.
Stone tried to cheat with a roll-up while having his feet on the ropes, but Ray kicks out, then looked for a powerbomb, only for Jaxon to escape with a back body drop. Jaxon’s right on top of him with a slam that landed as a DDT (*insert move name here*), forcing Brash to break up the cover to keep the match alive. Brash hits a flatliner on Stone into Ray in the corner as his comeback continued, leading to a slingshot cutter from the apron in as he almost took home the win there.
Ray comes straight back with a destroyer to Brash, before he turned around into a hiptoss knee as Stone could only get a near-fall, but Ray’s able to mount a comeback with a running knee that Stone looked to have avoided. After the kick-out though, Ray heads up top and nails a frog splash… and that’s the streak over as Jaxon ate the pin. A pretty solid three-way, but it’s a shame that Ray’s final flurry of offence wasn’t as clean as it perhaps could have been. ***
That wraps up another batch of “Odds and Sods” – if there’s anything you think we should take a look at in this little vacuum, hit us up via that Contact form!