The annual WrestleCon Supershow certainly featured a lot of big names, but came away feeling very hit and miss, with matches all over the spectrum in terms of quality and enjoyment.
If you’re a subscriber to Demand-PROGRESS.com, the addition of this year’s WrestleCon Supershow was a pleasant surprise – and helped us get a little bit closer to covering those major WrestleMania weekend shows without chipping in for the HighSpots network.
Michael Elgin, ACH & Mascarita Dorada vs. David Starr, Trevor Lee & Caleb Konley
Dorada may be better known to some as El Torito in WWE, so I’m wondering who the “mini man” is on the other side… perhaps Caleb? Certainly the visual of Dorada and Elgin on the same team is wacky!
Starr and ACH, who I think may like anime, start out, with ACH quickly taking a gutwrench facebuster, before rebounding with a hattrick of dropkicks to take out Starr, Lee and Konley. ACH winds up for a chop… but remember, he’s done 16 Carat, and he distracts the referee so he can chop everyone down south! Trevor Lee manages to block it though, so ACH gets some instant payback.
Dorada comes in and plays some comedy where he evades dives as the bad guys jump onto each other until Caleb Konley boots him… only for Caleb to take a headbutt off the ropes! We get a long satellite, tiltawhirl series ending with some headscissors to Konley as Dorada dizzies himself, and that makes everyone else celebrate lucha!
Trevor Lee celebrates stomping on Dorada, before he does a front roll into a cover as the pace really slows down. Dorada gets three groins thrust his way, but it’s all over his head and now we get Big Mike squashing fools with suplexes. Deadlift Germans follow, with Konley and Lee taking one in tandem, before we go wacky again with a satellite DDT from Dorada onto Trevor Lee.
Big Mike press slams Dorada onto the other team on the floor, and that cues up a dive from ACH… but Konley cuts it off, only to take a brainbuster as ACH countered. Dorada throws in a springboard moonsault, and Konley’s stacked up for the pin. Fun stuff, as they gave us so much more than the comedy tag that this could have been. ***¼
Shane Strickland vs. Low Ki
Low Ki’s came a la Sabu – with the lights going out and Low Ki popping up in the ring when the power returned. The crowd LOVED this surprise, especially as Low Ki’s rarely on shows these days.
Yes, I know he’s just won the Impact X Division championship (at time of writing), but we’ll go with this…This wasn’t a high-flying match like you’d have expected out of Strickland, as instead they worked a ground-based match, trading stretches and knuckle locks before a mule kick from Low Ki puts the veteran on top.
Mounted elbows in the corner send Strickland down, leaving the self-proclaimed King of Swerve open for a series of chops and kicks. Shane replies with a dropkick to take Low Ki to the floor, but he’s forced to abort a dive as Low Ki followed in with a dropkick of his own on the floor. They brawl around ringside as Shane takes some more of those chops, all whilst some fan randomly trash talks him against the guard railings. Fair enough!
Low Ki switches a catapult into the corner and comes back with a double stomp for a near-fall. Strickland comes back with a 619 and a rolling Ace crusher to Low Ki, ending with another stomp after Low Ki slid into the ring. A DDT out of the corner gets Shane a two-count, but he takes too long to follow up as Low Ki kicks him on the top rope and kicks him down for a Del Rio double stomp onto the apron! From there, all Low Ki has to do is roll Shane in, and that’s the pin. Really good work from both guys here, and I dare say that on a weekend where Strickland wasn’t working everywhere, this could have been even better! ***¾
Impact Wrestling Championship: Jeff Cobb vs. Lashley (c)
Ah, why’d they have to ruin this by putting the title on the line? Like anyone’s going to think a Lucha Underground guy had a chance of winning the title for a company whose TV he can’t appear on. For some reason, Lashley teases coming out to a Travis Tritt song, rather than his Impact theme, which is just a weird visual… then we get nothingness as Lashley instead comes out through the crowd.
Yep, anyone putting over Impact is automatically a heel in this building.
Cobb deadlifts Lashley for a powerbomb, but he spins out as he instead takes Cobb into the corner for some shoulder charges, almost sending the challenger all the way to the floor. Eventually Cobb lands a suplex and clotheslines Lashley to the floor, where they go around the crowd barriers with chops.
Back inside, Lashley grounds Conn with a side headlock, then with an elbow before he holds up Cobb for a hanging vertical suplex. Cobb retaliates with a pumphandle fallaway slam, but Lashley pops back with a clothesline before going for a triangle choke… which Cobb powerbombed free of. Of course, we got athletic Cobb’s standing shooting star press for a near-fall, then a deadlift German suplex before Lashley rolled through a Tour of the Islands for a near-fall. From the kick-out, Lashley drills Cobb with a spear, and that’s all folks – not bad, but very disappointing considering what these two could have done. **½
Flip Gordon & Sammy Guevara vs. Los Gueros Del Cielo (Angelico & Jack Evans)
Flip Gordon brought out his LDN Wrestling title belt, which I guess he won on a rather undocumented trip to the UK.
We start with some ground-based stuff here, as Angelico tripped Gordon and tried to work a hold, before Flip dances around with some jumping hand-walking. Look, I don’t know what to call it, but it’s time killing stuff from someone that I’d wager a lot of this crowd didn’t know about beforehand.
Jack Evans comes in to face off with Sammy Guevara, but it seems that chants of “Justin Bieber” are what he’d rather start. Guevara just superkicks Evans from there, and the de-facto bad guys pepper Evans with kicks and flips for a near-fall. A springboard thrust kick from Gordon takes Evans to the floor where Gordon joins him via a moonsault off the middle turnbuckle. Sammy Guevara flips over the referee to the outside after he’d originally been stopped, before he squats with Jack Evans on his shoulders. Like a regular Tyler Bate!
Guevara and Gordon exchange frequent tags as Evans was left isolated, but he was able to elbow out of a rear naked choke, then sidestep a charge as a double Blockbuster took down the two Gs. Angelico finally makes the tag in and steps off of Guevara to knee Gordon in the corner, before helping Evans with a standing 450 splash for a near-fall.
The match hurtles towards the end when Evans uses Guevara – who was caught in a Fireman’s carry – as a platform to leap onto Gordon on the floor, allowing Angelico to finish off Guevara with a crucifix bucklebomb. This was fine, but this is also three matches of Angelico’s I’ve seen in a month where he’s suddenly decided to be all technical and not high-flying… which is alright, but it’s not what people expect to see out of him. **¾
Team Ospreay (Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Drew Galloway, Lio Rush & Ryan Smile) vs. Team Ricochet (Ricochet, Sami Callihan, Jason Cade, Dezmond Xavier & AR Fox)
Given who’s involved, this CANNOT be bad. Last year’s ten-man tag at WrestleCon was barely better than a dud…although I cannot understand why they don’t announce the individual members of each team.
Is it so hard to ask?!
Ospreay still has his pink “Love 4 Travis” tights on since this show was on the anniversary of his passing, and this is an insane match from the start, with everyone heading to the outside in the opening minute. Xavier hits a round-the-ringpost 619 to Scurll, before Ryan Smile pulls Xavier into a Blue Thunder Bomb.
Yeah, this is a spotfest, but you know what you’re getting with this. Jason Cade gets flung around by Galloway, who then gets caught in a bulldog by AR Fox. Sami Callihan’s brought his cat mask with him, just to make this a little weird, and the “Space Cat” chokeslams Rush with ease. Will Ospreay counters one by pulling off the mask, and now we’re back to the fast-paced flippy dos… until a ten-way pose-off sparks a dance-off. Yeah, if you’re not a fan of these, this may be a match you’d be best walking away from for a while!
Of course, Drew Galloway ends things with a headbutt, and now our regularly scheduled ten-man tag continues! Plenty of dives, with Xavier and Cade hitting a Sasuke Special and a Space Flying Tiger Drop at the same time… AR Fox does his imploding senton to the outside, taking out the guard rail and the rest of the pile, before a tope con hilo sees Drew end that little series.
Wait, Ricochet’s gotta go, but he’s caught by Will Ospreay, who gives him a Spanish Fly to the pile on the floor! Things settle down again, at least until Callihan fights away from a chicken wing, only for Ricochet’s team to get caught with quadruple Cheeky Nandos, before their attempt at a four-way reverse ‘rana was countered into some more Cheeky Nandos, and a a four-way shooting star press for a load of near-falls.
A axe kick from Ricochet looks to set up Lio Rush for a Benadryller, but that just leads to a parade of kicks from everyone, including a Just Kidding superkick to Callihan. Ryan Smile gets popped up, but turns it into an Ace Crusher… AR Fox lands on his feet from an Ace crusher next, but can’t block Lio Rush’s, and now Sami Callihan counters the RKO into a Diamond Cutter. A Stunner from Galloway gives them something else to spitball around, with Ospreay’s springboard cutter taking down Ricochet off the top rope.
Galloway’s Claymore kick leads to a near-fall after a five-man dog pile’s broken up, and we’re back to the spots as Ospreay takes a Lo Mein Pain before Scurll snapped Fox’s fingers. Ryan Smile takes a sit-out powerbomb, but Galloway takes out Callihan with a Futureshock DDT before a cover can be made, and we’re back to the long sequences which work really well with these ten men. A Stundog Millionaire and an Oscutter get a near-fall out of Ricochet, before Jason Cade hits a Destroyer and a reverse ‘rana on Ospreay. Of course for a two-count, since neither of those moves win matches, but a springboard Dragonrana connected and Cade sat down on Ospreay for the win! That was insane – a galaxy apart from this match last year. You need to see this! ****¼
Everyone involved gets an “all these guys” chant after the match, before Ricochet dedicated the match to Kris Travis in a nice touch as the show headed into intermission.
WrestleCon Rumble for DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship
Joey Ryan was out first for the annual battle royal, which means that his DDT belt is going to be on the line here, initially against Colt Cabana. We’re getting new entrants every minute, and confusingly, it seems that Ryan can be thrown over the top rope to be eliminated… but still keep his title.
It’s your usual battle royal with comedy fare, such as Ryan no-selling a stomp to the balls before Kikutaro comes out as the third man! Slow-mo wrestling for the win! Ryan kicks out of a Shining Wizard to keep his title, before he no-sells some Shattered Dreams… will they never learn?!
The fourth man out is the Underground Luchador, who turned out to be Matt Striker, who did better here than he did against Joe Hendry for WCPW, as he rolled up Ryan to win the title! The Luchador unmasks himself, and he quickly gets battered by the other three men as Joey Ryan eliminates him… Jake Manning is number five, and there’s a gimmick whose comedy probably has no middle ground. As Kikutaro avoids being thrown outside, out comes number six, George South – a 30+ year veteran whose claim to fame these days is a YouTube show after being enhancement talent for WWE and WCW.
Number seven… is Suicide?! Wasn’t Caleb Konley on the show earlier… Suicide’s Nestea plunge takes down South and Manning, before number eight is Mr Hughes! There’s a blast from the past! Somewhere in here George South got eliminated, before number nine reveals himself as Zane Riley – a Georgia indy wrestler, whose gimmick seems to be “Mr 305 Live”. Uh-huh. The tenth man out is 2 Cold Scorpio, in the old school Flash Funk jumpsuit too! Just as Riley plants Scorpio with a Vader bomb, Billy Gunn’s out at number 11, and he quickly plants Riley with a Famouser before eliminating Kikutaro, Manning and Cabana.
Number 12 is Moose. Because why can’t we fuck around with crowd chants for a weekend? Remember when Moose was more than just an annoying bit of crowd participation? That’s what a year in Impact does for you! Anyway, he and Gunn square off, but Swoggle appears at number 13 before they can touch. Oh dear.
Gunn quickly faceplants Swoggle before going off on Moose, who replies with a dropkick as number 14 comes out to “Perfect Strangers”… it’s Shane Douglas! I’m loving these surprises from the past! Mr Hughes eliminates himself as Gunn sidesteps a charge, before Swoggle low-bridges Suicide out of the match. The hell, Kevin Thorn’s out at 15, with his old WWE/ECW theme… Shannon Moore is out next at 16 to keep up the WWE/ECW stretch, and he goes straight for Thorn, then Gunn, before the Hurricane appears at 17!
Yep, that keeps the ECW thing alive, I guess. Thorn takes a chokeslam before he’s thrown out – the first time I think that chokeslam worked – before a Flatliner flattens Joey Ryan, who’s still in here. Another chokeslam takes out Gunn, but Hurricane can’t pick up Gunn, but he does get some help just in time for Abyss to join the fray at 18
Scorpio leaps into an Abyss chokeslam and elimination, before Joey Ryan bumps for a chokeslam. Hurricane tries one too, which fails… and now we get Gangrel! Sadly without the fire stage. Gangrel spits his blood, then clotheslines the Hurricane off the apron and out of the match as Swoggle dumps Moore with a pop-up powerbomb. MARTY JANNETTY rounds up the field, and we get a slow-mo drop toe hold from Marty to Gangrel.
Yeah, this ain’t pretty.
The crowd chant “Marty’s wasted”, and I fully believe them… Marty’s quickly eliminated via a slam from Gangrel, and we’re down to the final four. Moose eliminates Gangrel, before being caught in a Penis suplex from Joey Ryan. Moose somehow resists it, before he’s eliminated by Joey’s Ryan… Swoggle surprises Ryan, and the little guy wins! Somehow that gets Swoggle the DDT belt, which confuses the hell out of me because I could have sworn we saw Matt Striker win it about 20 minutes ago. Or did Ryan eliminating Striker get his belt back? Oh well… It was a Rumble, and not a very good one. *½
Swoggle celebrates with his new belt… but…
DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship: Swoggle (c) vs. Joey Ryan
Joey Ryan schoolboys him to regain the belt. Yawn.
Joey celebrates and gets the microphone to declare himself one of the best, but that is quickly interrupted by Metallica and ENTER SANDMAN! The Sandman looks confused at first, but quickly gets into the groove when his cigarette’s lit. It’s all about the entrance, but once he’s in the ring, it leads to…
DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship: Joey Ryan (c) vs. The Sandman
Sandman offers Joey a beer, but it’s a hoax as Joey gets caned, and Sandman covers him for the title. Such is life.
The referee puts the belt on the Sandman, and he quickly leaves through the crowd as we fade into our next match!
Tables, Ladders & Chairs: Brian Cage vs. Johnny Mundo
Before the bell, Taya Valkyrie slapped Cage for some reason, and that just got her charge taken into the corner for a load of lariats. Mundo manages to rebound and land an enziguiri from the apron, before a springboard enziguiri gets him a two-count barely a minute into the match.
Mundo grabs a chair – as the commentary team of Excalibur and Marty deRosa joke about him pulling out an Ikea table. They save it though, just as Mundo dropkicks the chair into Cage’s head, and apparently this show’s heading past midnight as Taya decides to jump on the downed Cage. Mundo then pulls out a ladder from under the ring, which he then charges into the head of Cage before throwing it at the cameraman. Taya gives us the annual uncomfortable interaction with a fan that Karen Jarrett provided last year, as they head into the ring as a Shining Wizard takes Cage out of a chair. There’s stuff happening, but this crowd is tired and I don’t think are in any mood to watch.
Somehow Mundo leaps over a ladder he’d propped in the corner, but that only trapped him as Cage dropkicked it into Mundo, before powerbombing him on the ladder bridge for a near-fall. A Pele kick rocks Cage, who immediately replies with a backdrop onto a ladder that was just resting on those ropes. Now we get the table, just as someone in the crowd tries to do the Terminator clap, but to no success.
Cage takes Mundo into the corner, but it’s Johnny who gets on top, flipping off the Terminator crowd guy as he tries for a superplex. A chairshot from Taya cuts off a powerbomb attempt, before she tries for a top rope rana… and of course, she eats a powerbomb through the table.
From there, Mundo uses the ladder on Cage and sets up for a Starship Pain onto a ladder on Cage… he hits it and no-sells the ladder, but Cage manages to kick out at two. Another table comes into play, which Mundo props up in the corner, but he takes so long Cage gets back to his feet and grabs a chair… so Mundo grabs Cage’s valet Melissa Santos and threatens her.
That distraction allows Mundo to kick Cage low and give him an unprotected chairshot to the head. Because we know those don’t cause any issues, right? Mundo flips off Santos, who kicks him in the head… before she’s speared through the table. I think we only have a ref bump left on the list o’ cliches, but Cage ignores it as he hits a discus lariat then gives Mundo a chairshot. Which he gets a hand up for… but there’s little he can do to prevent a Steiner Screwdriver onto a chair as Cage gets the win. This… just felt plodding, and overbooked to hell. Just when I was threatening to get into it, they did something to take me out of the match, and that chairshot… sorry lads. Everyone should know better. ½*
Penta El Zero M & Fenix vs. Broken Matt Hardy & Brother Nero
This was a pretty short match, well under ten minutes, but plenty of fun to watch. The Hardys were full-on broken here, which led to duelling chants of “Cero Miedo” and “Delete”.
Hey, we’ve got Chris Roberts as the referee here, and his first job is to take one of Penta’s gloves as both sets of brothers argue over those chants. The Lucha brothers get the upper hands with kicks early, before Penta kicks Broken Matt’s leg out of his leg, before a wheelbarrow splash almost takes the win early on.
More superkicks have me wonder if it’s not the Young Bucks under those masks, before Penta does a Whassup double stomp to Brother Nero’s now-obsolete crown jewels. Fenix takes a Side Effect for a near-fall from Broken Matt as this breaks down, with some impressive avoidances leading to double clotheslines as all four men get laid out.
Penta pulls out Broken Matt to the floor, but he takes a tornillo from Fenix as Matt sidesteps the dive… which leads to a dive from Nero off the apron! Back inside, the Hardys ram their opponents heads into the turnbuckles, then follow in with “Delete/Obsolete” champs, before a pair of Twist of Fates get a pair of near-falls. They try again but it’s countered as Fenix and Penta hit a Gory Bomb/senton combo into the Hardys for a near-fall.
The Hardys go for a Twist of Fate/senton bomb combo, but the senton’s blocked… at least until Fenix takes a Twist of Fate onto his brother, before Nero’s senton onto the pile gets the win. Very short and sweet, but what they did was fine. **¾
With the talent on show, this was always going to be a mixed bag of a show – the battle royal was always going to be a clusterf**k (although not as good or memorable as Joey Janela’s!), whilst we did have some disappointments in terms of matches, with Lashley/Cobb being a shadow of what they could have done. I was surprised at the lack of a women’s match (although WrestleCon did have an entire women’s show… but you get my point!) The highlight of this show was the ten-man tag, which is worth getting a subscription for just to see. Strickland/Low Ki and the opening six-man tag are also fun, but don’t sit through the whole show – your milage may vary, but you’ll probably have better things to do!