We’re back to the grind as more names look to inch closer to joining Jay Joshua in the big title match.
Quick Results
Chronos Medal: ELIJAH pinned Jack Landers in 9:18 (**)
Cerberus Medal: Hollie Barlow pinned Daisy Jenkins, Nina Samuels, Melissa Fierce & Madison Marley in 8:07 (*½)
Chronos Medal: Oscar Prospero pinned Brad Matthews in 7:41 (**½)
After Jay Joshua became the first person to collect three medals and qualify for the Big Match, we’re back at the Kamikaze Dojo in Digbeth as Conor Bailey runs through this week’s card… he’s joined on commentary once again by Lucy Simons and Jetta, and we’re straight into action.
ELIJAH vs. Jack Landers
We’re running with a ten-minute time limit here with ELIJAH making his Grind debut. Landers comes in with a Cerberus medal, by way of his tag team win a few weeks ago.
A tentative opening series didn’t yield any clear advantage, with the pair laughing off shoulder blocks before ELIJAH found a way through with a tijeras and a dropkick. Another dropkick, this time to the back, is good for a two-count as ELIJAH was comfortably in control here.
Landers meets the turnbuckles chest-first before he backflipped out of the corner and caught ELIJAH with a powerslam to spark his comeback. A backbreaker then a senton atomico into the ring connects for a near-fall for Landers, only for a double clothesline to send both men down to the mat.
The pair exchange strike, but it’s Landers who manages to break free of it, hitting the ropes for a handspring stunner before a standing shooting star press almost got the win. ELIJAH rolls out of a pumphandle something or other as the pair looked for a finish with time ticking down, but a missed charge in the corner sets up Landers for an Electric Chair facebuster for a near-fall.
The ropes save Landers after a sliding forearm to the back of the head, but after trying another pumphandle, Landers loses ELIJAH as the Welshman put him away with a cross-jacket brainbuster. **
They recap the Sha Samuels and Joey Slade stuff from earlier in the series, which culminated in Sha binning off Joey after his attempt to help Sha against Riley Nova. This feels like it’s from another lifetime. Anyway, “currently” Sha’s still telling Slade to bugger off, but Joey still wants to apologise.
Sha repeats that he doesn’t want to babysit Joey, but ends up being nagged into watching him wrestle again.
Nina Samuels vs. Daisy Jenkins vs. Melissa Fierce vs. Madison Marley vs. Hollie Barlow
This was Daisy and Nina’s season debut – of course, Nina’s been involved in storylines throughout the season.
Samuels charged at Barlow with a front kick at the bell, taking Hollie to the outside as Jenkins and Samuels seemed to pair up together. It quickly settles down into the revolving door format, with covers being broken up on what looked to be a pretty mild Thursday teatime.
Wash, rinse, repeat a lot, with Barlow breaking up a cover from Samuels before Marley hit a springboard facebuster. Except Nina rolled outside, so we eventually got Fierce and Marley going for quick pins. They both pop up after a double clothesline, just in time for Nina to intervene as everyone but Barlow was in the ring.
Samuels and Jenkins isolate Fierce for a spell, with Nina stopping to swat away Barlow once more before they stretched Fierce in the ropes. That led to an argument as Daisy and Nina argued over who’d get the pin, broken up by a crashing crossbody from Barlow to Jenkins. Nina’s sent outside as Hollie goes back to Daisy for a stunner… Barlow blocks a knee strike and hits an overhead suplex, only for Nina to break it up again.
Marley’s enziguiri laid out Nina as we wait for Melissa Fierce to get back up, sparking a Parade of Moves. Nina lifts up Barlow to the top rope and sends her flying with a head kick, before Daisy dumped Nina back to the floor… we keep going with a superkick from Fierce accidentally wiping out Marley, before we found out way back to Barlow heading back in for an Air Raid Crash and a match-winning diving kick to Jenkins for the win, despite Nina’s despairing dive to break it up. The story in this was good, but the rest left a little to be desired. Multi-person matches can be a poisoned chalice at the best of times, but with varying experience levels and no crowd to play-off, this was a little rough around the edges at times. *½
They recap Tyler Owens’ unsuccessful tilt for a Cerberus medal last week in that four-way match won by Brett Semtex… and Nathan Angel’s run in with Johhny Wildman after the match. Promo time with Nathan has him angry at Wildman hitting him in the face where his face lives.
Another promo now has Tyler Owens annoyed with himself at not winning that third medal… but glad to have never been defeated. He wants another multi-man match because he’s in a hurry to get that final medal..
Next week: Joey Slade vs. Chantal Jordan; Brett Semtex vs. Millie McKenzie; Tyler Owens vs. Joseph Conners vs. Emersyn Jayne vs. Rhio. Two more names, eh? This is starting to feel like pandemic-era AEW dark with the same set and names cycling in and out with various lengths. Who’s the Tony Donati of Spinebuster with the catchy music? I’ll let you judge…
Joseph Conners returns with a promo to remind us he’s got two medals and is looking to get his third one next week. He’s not bothered about the multi-man aspect increasing his odds of winning, but he’s confident he can get the third piece of the puzzle.
Brad Matthews vs. Oscar Prospero
The main event’s got a ten minute time limit… with a grumpy Brad Matthews, who wasn’t thrilled at Conor on commentary recapping his unsuccessful run in the rumble.
The opening lock-up ends with the pair rolling to the mat, but it’s Prospero who took the early advantage, at least until his eyes got raked. Recovering with a shotgun dropkick, Prospero took Matthews into the corner, but a hiptoss led to no count as Matthews didn’t stay down.
A wacky seatbelt pin from Prospero keeps things going for a two-count as we jump cut into a Big Ending from Matthews. Starting to target the knee, Matthews hits a dragon screw to take Prospero down, then stomped at the knee – keeping up Brad’s MO of looking to give others the same injury he had.
Matthews goes to the well too often and gets kicked over the top rope by Prospero… but it doesn’t go well as Matthews drags him into the corner to wrap Oscar’s legs around the post ahead of a ringpost Figure Four. Back inside, a running kick to the knee has Prospero down once more, before Prospero hit back with a pop-up powerbomb out of nowhere.
The bad knee’s holding up as Prospero hits a rolling thunder clothesline into the corner, then an Exploder out of it, before a spin-out half-nelson facebuster almost got the win. Prospero goes for a Tiger Driver, but it’s countered into an Alabama Slam as Matthews followed up with the Poison Ivy (Lion Tamer)… right by the ropes for the quick break.
Prospero’s uppercut stops a follow-up, before some grappling on the mat ended with Prospero sneaking in a crucifix pin for the win. **½
Post-match, Matthews attacked Prospero, hitting a DDT to the knee, then a shinbreaker to leave Oscar laying.
We close out with the medal table – with Hollie Barlow and Oscar Prospero now joining the crowded two-medals club alongside Tyler Owens, Millie McKenzie, Maddy Morgan and Joseph Conners. Two of those have a chance to get their third medal next week, as we continue to see whether that Big Match is going to be one-on-one, a multi-person, or indeed, when it’ll be.