Style Battle returned for their second show, in a more familiar setting, as another batch of wrestlers went through a one-night war.
We’re back in Ybor City, but it’s not the garden centre/wedding venue this time – instead, we’re in WWN’s usual home of the Orpheum as eight men look to add their name alongside Dave Crist in the end of season Style Battle tournament finals.
You know the drill by now – an eight man tournament, with a Fray match in the middle. We open with Trevin Adams and Mister Saint Laurent – that’s the first time I’ve ever seen him on camera without him wearing a basketball jersey – and after their brief introduction, it’s straight into action!
First Round: Dan Barry vs. Sami Callihan
The A-Team music is the cue for Dan Barry to make his way out for the opening contest, and he demands a handshake from Callihan before he gets going. So Sami licks his palm before offering that handshake, and that’s a sucker as Barry rushes in for a headlock before knocking down Callihan with a shoulder tackle.
He then dives down with a headlock as he’s more than matching Callihan in the opening exchanges, scoring some early near-falls that ends up with Callihan snapping into a big boot on Barry. Callihan uses the ropes to “hang” Barry as he falls to the outside, and Callihan makes use of the crowd as he sits Barry down then runs into him with a chop. A forearm against the ring post follows as Callihan runs from the bar into another chop, before a lap of honour around the ring ends with Callihan being met with a cannonball senton off the stage.
Perhaps Sami should have looked at Barry moving away onto the stage whilst he was running around the ring?
Barry takes Callihan back into the ring as a slingshot into a senton gets him a one-count, before a baseball slide sees him caught in the apron as Callihan looks to force a count-out. Barry returns and gets thrown out again, and he’s joined as Callihan grabs him by the throat and shoves him into the wall.
Again, Barry beats the count as Callihan was posing to the crowd, and almost stole a win with an inside cradle, only for Callihan to reply with a clothesline to the “comedy wrestler”. Barry hits back with a dropkick as Callihan was on the top rope, and “Detective Dan” manages to pull off a superplex!
The pair trade forearm smashes, before Callihan sends Barry onto the apron… but Dan rushes back in with a DDT for a very near-fall. They keep trading blows in the ropes, before Callihan’s up-kick and a fireman’s carry leads to the “Sleepy Time Tea” (Go To Sleep mixed with a TKO) as Callihan scored a two-count. Barry gets a boot up in the corner as Callihan keeps rushing in, before he escaped another Sleepy Time Tea.
Barry hits a wrist clutch driver for a near-fall, before he aborts a top rope moonsault attempt so he can blast Callihan with a forearm. Sami comes back with a Tiger Bomb for a near-fall, switching into a Stretch Muffler after the kick-out, and that’s Sami in the semi-finals. A really good match, and I was surprised by how good Barry looked here. I’m not sure why Callihan’s wrestling in a waistcoat, but it works for him, I guess… ***¼
First Round: Tracer X vs. Fred Yehi
Tracer X is the latest in a line of wrestlers with the same surname. I wonder if he can join Robbie, Juvenile and Marshall to reform X-Factor on the indy scene?
Yehi’s getting a second chance here after being eliminated in that time limit draw with Anthony Henry on the first show. Tracer works a hammerlock early, but Yehi counters it into a suplex, before a waistlock takedown sees Tracer work back into that hammerlock. A shoulder tackle knocks Tracer down, but he’s at least smart enough to avoid an early stomp attempt.
A second stomp connects with Tracer’s hands as he’s chopped back down, but he comes back with a ‘rana and a monkey flip, only for a European uppercut to knock Tracer down. Tracer recovers quickly as he gets a bunch of one-counts, but they end up outside as Yehi chops Tracer by the ring apron. Back inside, Yehi pancakes Tracer, then hits a deadlift side Salto suplex as the relative unknown is forced onto the back foot.
Yehi forces several kickouts after a suplex, but Tracer comes back with a big cross body off the top, before he’s pulled into a prat-fall as Yehi stomps and dropkicks him back to the mat. Some bodyscissors follow as Yehi tries to force a submission… that doesn’t work, so he just levels Tracer with a forearm smash.
Yehi catches a kick then throws down Tracer, but he swerves away from a stomp and hits back with a neckbreaker for a two-count, before he blocks a uranage. A back body drop takes down Tracer, who is then pulled up by his arm into a German suplex by the impressive Yehi. Some kicks from Tracer daze Yehi, who then takes a pumphandle vertical suplex called “The Fairytale Ending”.
Tracer goes up top but gets brought down in a superplex as Yehi hits a Fisherman Buster for a two-count, but it’s not long before the tables turned again, courtesy of a shotgun dropkick. Yehi catches Tracer’s slingshot attempt, but his uranage is blocked, and Tracer quickly snatches the win with a roll-up. That was a massive shock, and one that the crowd perhaps didn’t see coming… Decent until then, but the involvement of an unknown led to fairly muted crowd reactions. ***
After the match, Yehi interrupted Tracer’s promo to tell him that he deserved the win, before wishing him the best of luck for the rest of the show.
First Round: Anthony Henry vs. Caleb Konley
Anthony Henry’s the guy who’s using some old wXw overdub music for his entrance, whilst Konley has gotten a little bit of fame lately in TNA.
Like Yehi, Henry was getting a second chance here, and he started by forcing Konley into the ropes. Konley comes back with an armbar, but Henry works free into some headscissors, only for that too to be reversed into a front facelock as the chain grappling continued.
After going into a corner, we get a series of hiptosses before Konley put on the brakes as Henry hiptossed himself. A roll through leads to an indy’riffic series of pinning attempts, before Konley gets a La Magistral for a near-fall as the quick-paced stuff continued. Another roll through gets Henry a near-fall as he pulled off a Drago-inspired pin, as the back and forth continued with Konley ducking a clothesline, ending with him going onto the apron where he springboards back in with a dropkick.
The pair head outside as Konley chops away at Henry, before he pulls off a bow-and-arrow surfboard stretch to Henry, who flips out into a lateral press for a two-count… only for Konley to take him back down with another dropkick. Hendry makes a comeback, throwing Konley into the middle rope before landing a Blockbuster neckbreaker, before pulling a Dragon screw leg whip as Konley was trapped in the ropes.
Henry kicks away at Konley’s leg, but Caleb comes back with some strikes as they keep chopping away at each other. Konkley hits a tope as Henry sent himself to the outside, but Henry rolls away from a step-up moonsault, only to see his knee-bar attempt blocked and met with a German suplex. Konley stays on top with a Samoan driver for a near-fall, before he goes straight back to it as Henry rolls into an ankle lock.
Despite getting the ropes, Henry pulls him away into a bridging German suplex for a near-fall, and they go back to the chop battle. Henry wins that out, but he runs into a Superman punch, then a backfist, but Henry lands a kick at the same time as both men crumbled to the mat. Konley counters a charge into the corner with a push-down stomp, but he falls into another Dragon screw in the ropes, only to catch a slingshot and drop Henry on the apron with a death valley driver.
Konley rolls Henry back in so he can go for that step-up moonsault, but that only gets him a near-fall, so he goes for a powerbomb and a bucklebomb combo. Caleb tries for a third, but Henry counters it into a Texas cloverleaf, sinking the hold in to force a submission. A pretty good match, starting out really hot before cooling down into a the back-and-forth that ended with a submission out of nowhere. ***½
First Round: AR Fox vs. Drew Galloway
Perhaps the highlight of the first round going in… and they explained that Fox was given a second chance in the tournament because of his performance in the first episode of the tournament. Something tells me we’ll be getting a lot of duplication in the (overall) 64 man series!
Galloway uses his size advantage to hoist Fox onto the top rope early on, before a waistlock takedown sends Fox scurrying to the ropes. Somewhere in here, Trevin Adams mentions that Galloway’s been out injured – and he blames it on Matt Riddle. I guess the real injury with Joseph Conners thing isn’t what they’re working with here…
Galloway sits down, just like Fox, before he blocks some headlock takedown attempts, eventually getting dropkicked after shoving Fox off. A massive shoulder tackle drops AR, who then swerves some strikes before connecting with an enziguiri at the second attempt. Fox gets a springboard wheelbarrow bulldog after bouncing across the ropes… and that angers Galloway to the point where he throws a chair into the wall, before falling to a moonsault from Fox.
Fox tries a Shiranui off the bar, but ends up dishing out a superkick instead as Galloway takes an enziguiri from the floor. Another dive off the stage sees Fox hit a Rob Van Dam-esque legdrop across the apron, then a senton bomb for a near-fall. Another enziguiri on the top rope rocks Galloway, who replies with an up-kick as Fox tried to leap over him seconds later.
Drew keeps up the pressure with a lariat for a near-fall, before a release overhead belly-to-belly suplex takes Fox into the corner. The pair trade slaps before Fox rushes in with a neckbreaker to take the big Scotsman down, then with a hangman off the top rope and a missile dropkick… but Drew rolls outside towards the bar.
Fox takes that as an invitation to hit an over-the-turnbuckles tope con hilo to Galloway, before a springboard clothesline off the middle rope gets a near-fall once Drew had returned to the ring. Galloway catches Fox as he tried for a Lo Mein Pain, but Drew counters it with a swinging side slam off the top rope as he almost won the match.
Fox blocks the Futureshock DDT, but gets taken into the corner as Drew goes up to the top rope… where he’s crotched as Fox kicks the ropes. The Lo Mein Pain (the springboard Arabian moonsault slam) is successful for another two-count, before he tries to follow up with a springboard… which Drew catches and turned into a tombstone before the spinning Futureshock DDT gets him the win. Another good match here with Fox throwing his best at Drew… and for such a disparate set of styles, this didn’t clash as badly as it could have done. ***¾
Semi-Final: Tracer X vs. Sami Callihan
Callihan takes down Tracer with a bicycle kick at the bell as he looked to end this early… as second one gets just a one-count, so Sami drills Tracer with a powerbomb as he then kicks him out of the ring.
Fair enough!
Sami takes Tracer around the venue, dumping him onto a fan’s chair, which then gets hurled into the ring, as Tracer avoids a powerbomb on the floor by clinging to the ropes, then dives into Sami with a seated senton off the apron.
After that, Sami just pops back with another powerbomb attempt, but Tracer counters into a ‘rana as he takes over with a few kicks. A pair of topes shoves Sami into the bar, but he counters what looked to be a flying Codebreaker into a powerbomb as Callihan takes over with a series of crossface punches. Callihan lands a major forearm to the back of the head for a near-fall, as Tracer was left unable to defend himself, following up with a headlock takeover that ended up almost like an Anaconda Vice.
Tracer comes back with an enziguiri and a flying clothesline for a near-fall, but Callihan counters with a big boot after trapping him in the ropes. Callihan stays on top of Tracer with some forearms in the ropes, before Tracer hits that Fairytale Ending (pumphandle suplex) for a near-fall.
Callihan takes a series of kicks on the ground, before he catches one and pulls Tracer into an electric chair position, dumping him on the top turnbuckle. A German suplex is blocked as Tracer lands on his feet, before a pair of superkicks take Sami down to his knees… and then Sami pops up with a lariat to end that momentum. A roll-up powerbomb gets a near-fall, which Callihan turns into a Stretch Muffler from the kick-out, but again Tracer gets the ropes.
Tracer gets dragged back into the ring, but he escaped as he then pulls the rug under Sami (literally), with a slingshot flatliner from the apron getting his second upset of the day. A pretty good match, with a unique finish at the end to explain the upset. Not quite a literal banana peel finish, but close enough! ***½
After the match, Sami Callihan looked to repeat what Fred Yehi did earlier, but instead he just attacked Tracer further, using the microphone to knock the youngster down.
Semi-Final: Anthony Henry vs. Drew Galloway
Henry leaps into Galloway with a dropkick for an instant two-count, as Henry tried to end things quickly.
A snap German suplex attempt follows, but Drew blocks it, so Henry just kicks away some more before landing an enziguiri. Drew comes back with a flapjack before he lays into Henry with some chops, as an overhead belly-to-belly puts Henry on the back foot.
Another big boot knocks down Henry, as Drew just tosses him to the outside, where the bar again becomes a no-go area. A slam onto the apron follows, as a swinging slam into a pole leaves Henry helpless on the floor. Drew tries to throw Henry into a pole, but Henry gets onto the apron and kicks him into it, before narrowly beating the ten count. Drew doesn’t… so that’s a three-minute count out loss. Way too short, and really the story followed after. *½
So THAT explains why they’ve been hammering home the “it’s now a ten-count on the outside” rule change… and it looked like Galloway didn’t catch the change. Drew drills Henry with a short piledriver and a Futureshock DDT, so we now have two really beaten-down finalists. Another piledriver adds the exclamation point as the Florida fans shout “one more time” – showing sympathy for the finalist!
After the match, Drew takes the microphone and continues his paranoid beliefs, thinking that the WWN crew were against him… but he’s not going to be chased out because he believes that WWN will fall apart without him. We have an intermission as they evaluate Tracer X (and I’d guess, Anthony Henry too).
Style Battle Fray
First match back from intermission is another Fray – think of it like the PROGRESS Thunderbastard, with more men and more unknowns!
Our first two are Alan Angels and Tommy Maserati. They’re both wearing the same t-shirt, so I’m guessing they’re tag partners, so they start a variety of kicks, before Angels lands a Rainmaker Cutter for a near-fall. Maserati gets a reverse ‘rana, before Angels lands a standing Spanish Fly as we’re starting with the big spots!
Connor Braxton comes out next, without a count-down, and Braxton goes after Angels with a clothesline. A backdrop knocks Maserati onto the apron, but he comes back with a springboard that’s caught and turned into a suplex for the first elimination. Ah, we’re back to transition move eliminations already, huh? Eddie Machete comes out to no fanfare, and he dumps Angels with an ushigoroshi for the next elimination.
Braxton and Machete are both trainees of Seth Rollins’ Black and the Brave training school, which they play up on commentary, and they shove at each other as Braxton gets dumped with a German suplex for a near-fall. The next man out is Xander Killen, who comes off the stage with a leaping cross body, before dropkicking Braxton into the corner. Killen gets a boot up to Machete, before another cross body misses.
Braxton takes an enziguiri from Killen, who then lands another springboard crossbody for a two count as Ashton Starr comes in and launches into Killen with a crossbody. Spinning clothesline for all from Starr, before Braxton takes some headscissors, as a Northern Lights suplex almost eliminated Killen. Braxton then kicks Starr and there’s an elimination as Starr barely lasted a minute.
Alex Taylor comes out next, and after a DDT he dropped Machete in a powerbomb. Trevin Adams tells us that Taylor’s missed his father’s funeral to be here, which I don’t think makes anyone look good – surely the promoting crew here could have given him a shot on the next show, when, y’know, he’s NOT GRIEVING?? Taylor hits a top rope ‘rana, as Austin Theory comes out to a loud pop (relatively speaking).
Theory rolls into the ring for a dropkick on Taylor, before a slingshot stomp rocks Braxton. Another one drops Killen, and the next man out is Jackson Kelly, bringing an Australian flag that looked a lot like it’d come from that Simpsons episode. His finisher had better be kicking someone up the arse. Kelly spears Theory, and yes, he runs in with a punt to Machete’s arse! Then Killen! Then Braxton!
CT Brown comes out next, “the nerd with attitude”, and he takes out everyone with wild clotheslines, before Theory takes a neckbreaker and a back senton for a near-fall. Killen drops Braxton with Eat Defeat, before Machete lands a curb stomp on Braxton for the next elimination. A headlock driver by Killen gets rid of Machete, but we miss that because Matt Palmer comes out for his second Fray match of this “series”. We miss another elimination as Theory gets rid of Killen, as Palmer tornado DDT takes down Theory. Kelly takes a knee to the midsection and a low dropkick from Palmer, before Alex Taylor takes a brainbuster and that’s him gone.
Snoop Strikes is the next one out, looking like a discount Rocky Romero, and he flies in with a missile dropkick. A clothesline then an outside-in dropkick stuns Brown, before he drops Kelly with a dropkick. Theory takes a Shiranui from Strikes for a near-fall, whilst Kelly is eliminated courtesy of an ushigoroshi (I think) as they tried – and failed – to pull off simultaneous pinfalls. AC Mack comes out next, and he immediately drops Strikes with a DDT, before Palmer eats an enziguiri. Theory takes a back elbow, before Brown hits a running big boot, as Palmer rolls up Brown for the next elimination. The final four are Mack, Palmer, Theory and Strikes, and they all lay into each other with strikes.
Palmer superkicks and drops Mack with a bridging German suplex for an unpopular elimination, before Strikes gets a tiltawhirl DDT on Palmer. Theory capitalises on that with a brainbuster to eliminate Strikes, before catching Palmer’s slingshot into the ring and hits a suplex into an over-the-knee neckbreaker for a two-count. A Fireman’s carry follows, but Palmer elbows out and gets one of his own, before landing a brainbuster for a two-count.
Theory catches Palmer as he’s climbing the ropes, but he’s shoved down, before Theory rushes in with a forearm as he takes down Palmer with a TKO off the top rope, somehow bloodying his own nose in the process – and that’s enough for the win! At least they didn’t have as many “basic move pins” as the first one, but this Fray was beset with problems, mostly production-related stuff as guys came out as others were being pinned. Quick note, towards the end, MSL mentioned that winning a Fray may get you into a future Style Battle tournament… we’ll ignore that Theory was in the first one, yeah? **
Trevin Adams brings out Tracer X for an update on the finals. So the story going in was that both Tracer and Henry were beaten down after their semi-finals. The latter, so badly that they thought he wasn’t going to wrestle… Tracer comes out holding his neck, and he instantly gets booed when Adams tells the crowd that Henry was “in no condition to compete”. Yeah, I can see why, as Tracer was handed the victory by default… but Tracer fluffs his lines as he refuses to accept the win. He demands a match against Henry – who comes out and says he’s going against doctor’s orders. So we have our finals?!
Finals: Tracer X vs. Anthony Henry
So we have two guys here who were both supposedly wrestling whilst badly hurt… and they’re selling their injuries during their entrances.
Henry pushes away a headlock as Tracer looked to get things going, only for Henry to score an armdrag from a wristlock. Tracer rolls up and reverses the hold, before getting a headlock takedown, and already we’re getting chain wrestling with only a hint of selling. Anthony grabs his neck as he had some headscissors in on Tracer, who keeps going for a headlock, only to get chopped hard.
A hiptoss rebounds off the ropes into a lucha armdrag for Tracer, who takes a stomp to the lower back instead. Henry turns a butterfly suplex into a cross armbreaker as Tracer scurries to the ropes, before he recovered to hit a rope-hung spinning neckbreaker, then a plancha as Henry went to the outside.
Tracer gets a crossbody and a TKO for a pair of near-falls on Henry, but they switch up into a striking battle as a series of forearms end with Henry landing a knee to the gut. Henry hits a springboard blockbuster neckbreaker, before he tries to connect with a Dragon screw in the ropes, eventually landing a back suplex from a kneebreaker position. Henry looks to go for a Texas Cloverleaf, but he’s rolled up into a small package as Tracer looks to fly… and nearly misses the top turnbuckle as he leapt to the top rope. That sees Henry hit the Dragon screw off the top as he goes in for a Figure Four, but Tracer rolls through into the ropes to force a break.
Henry tries to pull Tracer off the ropes, but he turns it into a headscissor takedown before getting a tiltawhirl DDT for a near-fall. A folding powerbomb almost wins it for Henry, who then tries for a Texas Cloverleaf again, before simply kneeing Tracer in the face. They go back to strikes as an enziguiri rocks Henry, but he barely moves as he returns with an enziguiri of his own before both men kicked each other simultaneously.
Both men pull themselves back up, as Tracer runs into another forearm as Tracer lands the Fairytale Ending into the turnbuckles. Tracer goes up top, but he misses a 450 splash, before he runs into another kick and a snap German suplex. A spinning brainbuster almost gets the win for Henry, but after Tracer kicks out, he takes some more forearm smashes on the apron before he slaps Henry… then grabs a reverse hot shot and the slingshot Flatliner for another two-count.
Tracer tries to capitalise with a 450 Splash, and that’s it! These two went from barely able to compete, to putting on a 15 minute match. Maybe Style Battle needs doctors who can better gauge a wrestler’s ability to compete… or just ditch the storyline if they’re not going to paint it as “beating the odds”, then it’s just a waste of a story. Take that out, and you had a decent final, but the fact that Tracer had to go to the limit against a guy who was on the verge of being medically eliminated did him no favours. **¾
What Worked: The continuation of Drew Galloway’s paranoia is intriguing, especially as it played into him losing via a recently-changed count-out rule. Just another piece of the bigger jigsaw, folks…
What Didn’t: I get what they were trying to do with the beatings, but considering how little it played into the finals, it was just a confusing waste. Speaking of… that Fray was marginally better than the first one, but they need to tighten things up. Perhaps don’t have eliminations as guys come out? Counting down to entrances would help avoid that…
Thumbs: Middle