ACTION celebrated their fifth anniversary with some surprising returns amid a mystery show.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Quick Results<\/strong> We\u2019re off to take a look at the full show from ACTION\u2019s fifth anniversary event\u2026 a mystery card, although you reading this far down\u2019s given away who was on it! Commentary from the Roger Spencer Community Center in Tyrone, GA comes from Dylan Hales and John Mosley.<\/p>\n AC Mack vs. Rico Gonzalez<\/strong> Mack started ACTION\u2019s first show five years ago – a loss to Joey Lynch – but he\u2019s come a long way in those years. I\u2019m still a little sour over how his IWTV title run ended, particularly given the promise that the South East vs. North East story had. Anyway, this one had Mack looking a step ahead of Gonzalez early on, almost throwing him out of the ring with a belly-to-belly overhead suplex.<\/p>\n That fired up Rico into a response, so Mack powders outside to take the sting out of things\u2026 only for Rico to follow him outside. It doesn\u2019t go so well for Gonzalez as he got booted out of a chair, before he got thrown off the turnbuckles and onto the apron as he looked to make some inroads.<\/p>\n It looked smooth sailing for Mack from there, particularly as Rico looked a step behind the pace. Except when he scored with a flying stomp onto the apron, then a lap of honour kick on the outside. Mack tries to land the Mack-down\u2026 but the cross-armed Pedigree\u2019s escaped as Gonzalez ends up cradling Mack for the upset. They painted this as the biggest win in Rico\u2019s career, but I\u2019d like to see ACTION build on this – particularly since it was a flash pin that caught AC. ***\u00bc<\/p>\n Kevin Ryan vs. Damyan Tangra<\/strong> Tangra refused to let Ryan (and his sweet No Mercy-inspired gear) stall it out, as they scrap in the crowd\u2026 but Suge D gets involved, and Ryan capitalises with a dive off the top as the Good Hand celebrate like they\u2019d won a tournament or something. Ryan keeps control back inside, but a Sharpshooter\u2019s countered out of\u2026 as was a Tower of London onto the apron before Tangra threw Ryan off the stage and into the side of the ring.<\/p>\n Tangra keeps going back inside with a couple of Bulgarian Gutbusters, then a fireman\u2019s carry gutbuster\u2026 but Ryan snaps back in with a cross-armed piledriver. Suge D demands he be handed a chair, and eventually gets it, but of course it backfires on Ryan, who runs his knees into it in the corner before the trademark Tangra STF forced the submission. We\u2019ve got Tangra vs. Alex Kane down the line, which should be a cracker, but Tangra manages to get one up over the Good Hand by a good margin here. ***\u00bc<\/p>\n Post-match, Suge took the mic and confirmed Tangra would face Alex Kane on June 16\u2026 before the Good Hand double-teamed Damyan. Matt Sells makes the save, and we\u2019ve got the ol\u2019 Heyman special here.<\/p>\n Suge D vs. Matt Sells<\/strong> Sells had Suge on the back foot front he off, but a back suplex on the apron had Sells down and out on the floor. Right hands from Suge keep Sells in trouble, but Sells shrugs off some chops in the corner and returned with some of his own.<\/p>\n A cutter out of the corner gets Sells a near-fall – but with Kevin Ryan still hanging around at ringside, you always got the feeling the Good Hand would be leaving this one with a win. Suge eats a kick-wham stunner, then a clothesline, but Ryan pulls out the referee by the show to break up the count\u2026<\/p>\n Ryan\u2019s ejected, but an unknown dude in a red vest hits the ring to hit a big boot to Sells\u2026 then to the referee. Commentary doesn\u2019t ID him, as a swinging side slam left Sells laying. Suge takes his time as we wait for a new referee, before opting to hit a kneeling facebuster just as the new ref came to count the pin. This one was more memorable for the new addition to the Good Hand, as they got that win\u2026 **\u00bd<\/p>\n Post-match, Suge gets the mic again and tells us the big guy\u2019s name. HE\u2019S THE WALL, BROTHER. No, not that one, but I\u2019d pop if they found a building nearby for him to stand atop of… Suge reckons the Wall\u2019s going to replace Matt Sells on the roster.<\/p>\n Out Of This World (Arik Royal & BK Westbrook) vs. The Skulk (Adrian Alanis & Liam Gray)<\/strong> The Skulk were the first ACTION tag champions, but have lost their way since losing the belts, having hardly appeared in 2022.Things break down early with the crowd being forced to scatter as the Skulk\u2019s lap of honour ended up costing them big time. With things settling down, the Skulk had trouble against Arik Royal, who was the centrepoint\u2026 they had better luck against BK Westbrook, who got caught in the ropes, isolating him as a pair of backbreakers across Alanis\u2019 knee almost put him away.<\/p>\n Royal gave his team a glimmer of hope when he pushed Gray off the top to stop a suplex\/crossbody on Westbrook, before a back suplex\/Kobe combination got the win to condemn the Skulk to another loss. This one didn\u2019t quite land with me on first viewing, but I do kinda dig the Royal\/Westbrook combination as a way to establish BK. **\u00be<\/p>\n Carson Dilbeck, Jaden Newman & Noah Hossman vs. Squatting Dragons (Erron Wade & Kody Manhorn) & Krule<\/strong> We start this as a handicap match, with the Squatting Dragons isolating Carson Dilbeck\u2026 but it\u2019s not long before the TWE lads created a distraction that allowed them to take over. An Earthquake sit-down splash from Hossman nearly puts Wade away, before he posted Manhorn\u2026 cue Jaden Newman tagging in to unload on Wade.<\/p>\n Newman breaks away from the match to get a mic so he could promo-during-the-match, and the \u201cyou ain\u2019t got no friends\u201d line led to the appearance of Krule (technically an ACTION debut, but the return of the guy behind Krule after 18 months away.) Newman throws his boys to the wolves, then saw a cheapshot fail as Krule damn near killed him with a snap sidewalk slam. From there, a full nelson facebuster lays out Newman, before Krule chokeslammed Wade onto him for the pin. This was a nice bit of comeuppance, with Newman in particular being made to pay – it\u2019ll be interesting to see if Krule sticks around in any form. ***<\/p>\n Alec Price vs. Bobby Flaco<\/strong> After some playing to the crowd, Flaco\u2019s able to catch Price off guard with armdrags and headscissors. A clothesline from Price turned it around, at least until he ate a stundog from Flaco\u2026 who followed up with a thru-the-ropes dropkick and a wacky flying hip attack to the floor.<\/p>\n Back inside, Price scores an inverted Alabama Slam into the corner, but a Gotch-style powerbomb begins a series of near-falls\u2026 a running neckbreaker slam keeps it going, before a flurry of offence from Flaco took Price into the corner. In the end, a DDT and a Ayo Driver – a Cop Killa turned into a Poison Rana – gets the win for Flaco in a match that had the crowd going, but for me never really hit a higher gear. I\u2019d love to see them run this back mind you\u2026 ***\u00bc<\/p>\n ACTION World Championship: Daniel Makabe vs. Adam Priest (c)<\/strong> This was Makabe\u2019s first appearance in Tyrone since June last year – and while the crowd were initially happy to see him, Makabe became progressively more surly against Priest as the match progressed. A back elbow from Priest drops Makabe to the mat, where the ACTION champion looked to score a submission, but Priest playing keepaway from there eventually flipped a switch as Makabe did my favourite Owen Hart spot – kicking his leg out of his leg.<\/p>\n Makabe targets Priest\u2019s legs from there, spinning the champion down with a helluva Dragon screw. Priest was able to hit a sheer drop brainbuster, but couldn\u2019t follow-up as Makabe went back on him with a STF. Simply throwing Makabe over the top rope to the floor gives Priest an opening, as did a missed King Kong knee drop as Priest forced his way back in.<\/p>\n Priest goes tit-for-tat, focusing on Makabe\u2019s legs as well, only to run into the Big Unit punch, before the Figure Four eventually forced the stoppage for Priest. Makabe gave this a good go, but Priest seemed to have been more effective in his leg work en route to the short-order win. ***\u00be<\/p>\n Post-match, Priest announced his entry into the upcoming Scenic City Invitational tournament – and vowed to win the whole thing.<\/p>\n Mystery shows can be a bit of a tough sell – but ACTION managed to piece together a show that looks to have set up a name for the future in Rico Gonzalez, paid off (or at least began to pay-off) a feud with Jaden Newman, while Adam Priest continued to solidify himself as champion. If you\u2019ve not dipped into ACTION for a while, this is definitely a card worth checking out – if only to catch yourself up on the lay of the land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ACTION celebrated their fifth anniversary with some surprising returns amid a mystery show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"ACTION Wrestling 5 Year Anniversary Mystery Show (April 28, 2023) review - ACTION celebrated their fifth anniversary with some surprising returns amid a mystery show.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,689],"tags":[6668,1361,5915,5532,5659,2426,4877,2449,5751,2425,6671,5649,4174,5672,5455,5673,5920,6672,3002,5674,5833,6673,6674,5924,5463,3398],"class_list":["post-26889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reviews","category-us-indies","tag-5-year-anniversary-mystery-show","tag-ac-mack","tag-action","tag-action-wrestling","tag-adam-priest","tag-adrian-alanis","tag-alec-price","tag-arik-royal","tag-bk-westbrook","tag-bobby-flaco","tag-carson-dilbeck","tag-damyan-tangra","tag-daniel-makabe","tag-erron-wade","tag-jaden-newman","tag-kevin-ryan","tag-kody-manhorn","tag-krule","tag-liam-gray","tag-matt-sells","tag-noah-hossman","tag-out-of-this-world","tag-rico-gonzalez","tag-squatting-dragons","tag-suge-d","tag-the-skulk"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73vbt-6ZH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/action-5yamystery-logo.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26890,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26889\/revisions\/26890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRico Gonzalez pinned AC Mack in 12:43 (***\u00bc)
\nDamyan Tangra submitted Kevin Ryan in 11:28 (***\u00bc)
\nSuge D pinned Matt Sells in 9:09 (**\u00bd)
\nBK Westbrook & Arik Royal pinned Adrian Alanis & Liam Gray in 12:55 (**\u00be)
\nErron Wade, Kody Manhorn) & Krule pinned Jaden Newman Carson Dilbeck & Noah Hossman in 9:45 (***)
\nBobby Flaco pinned Alec Price in 13:20 (***\u00bc)
\nAdam Priest submitted Daniel Makabe in 12:53 to retain the ACTION World Championship (***\u00be)<\/p>\n
\nThis one\u2019s sponsored by Brandon\u2019s Package. Ooh err. And the insane waviness that the bass of AC Mack\u2019s entrance theme gave the hard camera\u2026<\/p>\n
\nLast time I was regularly watching ACTION, Ryan and Suge D were running roughshod as the Good Hand – that looks to still be a thing. Suge D demanded Damyan Tangra come out, since we\u2019re not getting Alex Kane tonight\u2026<\/p>\n
\nSadly they didn\u2019t New Jack Matt Sells\u2019 theme\u2026<\/p>\n
\nOkay, Arik Royal in a tag team threw me given he was just on his way out as champion when I was regularly watching.<\/p>\n
\nNoah Hossman is such a wonderful name for a wrestler, isn\u2019t it? The mystery show pretence allowed Jaden Newman to run his mouth after coming out, saying he kicked Erron Wade out of his \u201cTWE PC\u201d because he kept losing. Saying Wade had no friends kinda gave away he\u2019d be on the other side, alongside Kody Manhorn.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s an ACTION debut for Price – not counting the ACTION\/SUP show he faced Adam Priest on in Worcester, MA as part of 2021\u2019s Wrestival\u2026 Price doesn\u2019t exactly endear himself down south.<\/p>\n
\nWe\u2019ve already done a full review of this match\u2026 so let\u2019s give it another whirl.<\/p>\n