Your commentators are: Todd Keneley & Joey Ryan
Match #1: Young Hollywood (Todd Chandler and Brandon Parker) vs. Jarek Matthews & Jason Strife vs. Lucha Machine & Sindarin
I believe this is actually the same Jason Strife of IWA-MS fame. Haven’t seen him in a long time.
Jarek & Chandler start off. Chandler exchange some takedowns before Sindarin tags in off of Jarek. Parker tags in off Chandler and he and Parker double team Sindarin. Chandler goes for a springboard move, but slips on the rope and crashed pretty hard. Lucha Machine tries to capitalize with a bulldog for 2. Jason Strife tags in off of Lucha Machine and drops an elbow for 2. Strife hits a snapmare and a quick dropkick for 2. Lucha Machine tags in off of Strife. Chandler goes for a headscissors takedown but Lucha counters into a backbreaker. He and Lucha hit a wheelbarrow splash doubleteam move for 2. Sindarin catapults Chandler towards Lucha, but Chandler knocks Lucha off the apron and hits stereo clotheslines with Sindarin. He makes the tag to Parker who goes wild on Jarek and Strife. Parker then hits a combination of backbreakers for 2. Jarek hits a clothesline in the corner followedd by a wrist-clutch exploder. Jarek puts Parker up top, but Parker drops him with a double leg takedown sending him to the mat. He hits a double stomp. Strife comes in and hits an arm-clutched olympic slam essentially. Lucha hits a brainbuster on him. Parker hits a headscissors counter on Lucha. Sindarin hits a Shiranui on Parker as all of the competitors are down. Young Hollywood take out Sindarin and Lucha Machine. Strife and Jarek take advantage. Strife hits that olympic slam on Chandler and Jarek hits a guillotine leg drop to steal the win!
Match Result: Jarek Matthews & Jason Strife win via Jarek hitting a Guillotine Leg Drop on Todd Chandler in 6:53
Decent match. Ironically enough, the botch by Chandler made for a better story to it since everyone decided to go after him. Jarek and Jason winning really surprised me, but both of them showed good work here and I am interested to see what the future holds for them.
Match #2: Hector Canales w/Ricky Mandell vs. Zokre w/Phoenix Star
The two of them lock up. Hector taunts Zokre. Zokre drop toeholds Canales. Zokre picks up Canales’ bandana and throws it at him. Hector gets pissed and takes down Zokre. Hector then stomps Zokre in the corner. Hector picks him up and throws him in the other corner and kicks him again. While the ref is distracted, Mandell chokes him. Hector dropkicks him in the head. Zokre gets a headscissors and tries to take advantage, but Hector pulls him into the middle turnbuckle. Hector picks up Zokre and hits a suspending vertical suplex. He picks up Zokre again and the two exchange chops. Zokre ends up on the apron and hits a springboard clothesline. He hits a knee and follows up with a springboard moonsault for 2. Zokre gets Hector to one knee and goes to the ropes. Mandell grabs his foot and Hector takes advantage with two snap suplexes and a Fameasser. He goes for a cover but gets 2. Zokre gets a rollup for 2. Zokre goes for another rollup for 2. Zokre gets an Enzugiri. Mandell gets on the apron distracting Zokre. Hector tries to attack, but Zokre moves and Hector hits Mandell. Zokre hits a russian leg sweep and then follows up with a unique submission hold, putting his left leg across Hector’s head and pulls on Hector’s arm, forcing Hector to tap.
Match Result: Zokre makes Hector tap in 7:07
Post-match, Hector and Mandell try to attack Los Luchas but Los Luchas get the upperhand and Hector & Ricky bail to the back.
Match #3: Ray Rosas w/Peter Avalon & Rico Dynamite vs. Ryan Taylor w/Famous B
Aaron Bolo is seemingly not here for no real reason. Rosas hits a dropkick on Ryan. He goes for another one, but Ryan counters with a pair of clotheslines. Ryan hits a pair of armdrags. Rosas hits a dropkick. Rosas throws him to the ropes, but Ryan counters with a rollup. Both men exchange pinfall variations. Ryan counters one into a single leg crab, but Rosas makes it to the ropes. Rico & Peter try to console him. When Rosas gets to the apron, Ryan suplexes him from the apron into the ring. Ryan signals for the Gojira Driver, but Rosas counters. Rosas hits a backbreaker/neckbreaker combination for 2. Rosas throws Ryan to the ropes, but Ryan leaps over. Ryan catches Rosas with a fist and then hits a clothesline for 2. Ryan goes for the Gojira Driver again, but Rosas counters and looks for a Boston Crab. Ryan reverses, but Rosas gets a knee. Rosas goes to the ropes, Ryan goes for a clothesline, but Rosas counters with a bridging german suplex for 2. Rosas waits for Ryan to get up and goes for a kick. Ryan looks to counter with a Hangman’s Roundhouse Kick, but Rosas shoves him off. Ryan almost takes out the referee. While the ref is distracted, Rosas kicks Ryan straight in the crotch. He goes for a cover but gets 2. Rosas argues with the referee. While he is distracted, Ryan rolls up Rosas and gets the victory.
Match Result: Ryan Taylor wins via roll-up in 4:47.
Famous B and Ryan pose post-match, but Rosas/Peter/Rico attack them. Rosas pulls out a pair of scissors. He and Peter cut a strand of Ryan’s hair. They dump Ryan and B to the floor and pose for the crowd.
Adam Pearce is in the back with Jonathan Loquasto who looks for answers from Adam Pearce after last week. Pearce asks Loquasto if he has ever had anything taken from him that he may value more than life itself. Pearce says he has wronged a lot more than he has righted. He is not telling anyone that he is a changed man, but he has paid the right for what he has done. He has lost the feeling in his right arm and has lost the world title. He says it is time for Adam Pearce to take one last ride. He does not know for how far or how long. He says that this is the ride for him, the guy that dared to dream, the guy who wanted to change things and went out to make it come true, and others. He says if Cabana wants to know why he did what he did, then Cabana can ask him himself. Pearce concludes with mentioning that the best thing about losing the feeling in his right arm is that he can swing it harder than he ever has before. Really fantastic promo.
Match #4: Be A Star TV Title Tournament Match James Morgan w/Stu Stone & Attorney Mortimer Lipschitz vs. Disco Machine
Both men lock up. Disco uses his dancing to get Morgan to break it up. Morgan gets a hold of Disco’s arm. Morgan tries to throw Disco towards Stu who is standing on the apron, but Disco reverses. Disco gets Morgan in an armbar. Disco hits a pair of snap suplexes and a gordbuster for 2. Morgan goes to Disco’s eyes and then ties Disco up in the ropes. Stu Stone pulls him to the floor. Disco gets back on the apron, but Morgan drops Disco’s left arm across the top rope. Morgan looks to suplex Disco in the ring, but Stu Stone grabs onto Disco’s leg as Disco tries to counter. Morgan hits a running boot to Disco sending him into the guardrail. Stu Stone is getting in Disco’s face, including doing Disco’s trademark dance in his face. Morgan comes out and puts Disco facefirst into the guardrail. Stu Stone once again gets in Disco’s face. The referee then decides to eject Stu Stone from ringside. Referee Chris Massie comes out to help and actually puts Stu Stone in a headlock as he takes Stone to the back and we go to commercial break.
Back from commercial and Morgan now has Disco in the ring. He hits a legdrop for 2. Morgan then ties up Disco’s arm. He has Disco in the corner and drives his shoulder into him before irish whipping him into the opposite corner hard enough to send Disco to the floor. Morgan hits a double axe handle off of the apron. Morgan then drops Disco’s arm across the steps. Morgan breaks the referee’s count and then goes back out and chokes Disco. Morgan once again hits an armbreaker and puts Disco in the ring but gets 2 due to rope break. Morgan throws Disco to the ropes, but Disco counterss into a full nelson lock. Disco looks for a chokeslam, but Morgan counters and goes to the middle rope with Disco and hits an armbreaker for 2. Morgan goes for another crossface chickenwing, but Disco counters with a powerslam for 2. Disco picks Morgan up and holds Morgan’s arm and goes to the top rope and then hits a legdrop for 2. Disco picks Morgan up and goes for a chokebreaker again. Morgan counters, but Disco counters with instead more of a choke-side effect. Disco then puts Morgan in position and goes to the top. He goes for a flipping splash, but Morgan once again goes to the Crossface Chickenwing. He puts Disco into the corner and falls back with it. Disco Machine taps, although we don’t see it because the episode cuts off before hand.
Match Result: James Morgan makes Disco Machine tap in about 10:30 (shown)
Good main event this week which focused on Morgan going after Disco’s arm significantly. After many heel shenanigans on this show seen in the previous two matches, Stu Stone getting ejected was a sigh of relief. Morgan winning makes sense at least since they are pushing him as one of their top heels and he won cleanly here despite Stone’s ejection. Good stuff. ***
OVERALL THOUGHTS
While not a blow-away show, this episode was enjoyable. There was essentially no backstage stuff besides Adam Pearce’s promo. Solid action and we got some intriguing semifinals for the TV tournament now in SoCal Crazy/Joey Kaos and James Morgan/Scorpio Sky. Out of those four, Scorpio seems to be the easy choice to win the TV tournament, but that remains to be seen.
Jayson Strife, aka the guy who wrestled a seven hour match. What a crazy bastard.