-Taped from Livonia, Michigan
-Your hosts are various wrestlers, producers, and managers who have some involvement with this tournament.
-A bit of an unusual format to this tournament as there are four semifinal matches leading to an elimination match between all the remaining teams to determine a winner. At least it means these teams only have to wrestle twice instead of thrice.
-2010 NPCI Tag Team Tournament Semifinal: Too Sweet (Bryce Benjamin & Joey Marx) vs. Power Rangers (White & Blue)
Match in Five Words or Less: Lord Zedd Would Be Jealous
Match Summary/Analysis: The Power Rangers are introduced as being from Angel Grove High School. Hilarious. Blue Ranger and Marx feel each other out. Benjamin in to help his partner out with some double teaming. White Ranger enters and executes a nice armdrag and headscissors on Benjamin. Rangers work Benjamin over. Up and over goes Benjamin. Blue Ranger hits a tope con helo. Marx with a twisting dive of his own. White Ranger doesn’t want to be left out, so he hits a flying crossbody on everyone. Marx with some nice athleticism leading to an enziguri. Blue Ranger hits a double axehandle off the top. All four men quickly battle in the ring. Dropkick into a powerbomb on Marx. 1-2-Benjamin breaks the count. Backcracker by Benjamin on White Ranger. Blue Ranger breaks the count. Double team cutter gets Too Sweet the deuce. A fun little sprint to start off night two. Interesting to see Too Sweet break out two different finishers in this tournament.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Too Sweet/6:08/**1/2
-2010 NPCI Tag Team Tournament Semifinal: The Better Halves (Gavin Quinn and Tommy Treznik) vs. Victorious Secret (Cameron Salem & Mason Conrad)
Match in Five Words or Less: They Really Are Better
Match Summary/Analysis: Basic to start between Salem and Treznik. Things heat up. Armdrags into an armbar by Salem. VS double teams the larger Treznik. Quinn comes in and gets kissed by Salem. Well then. Conrad hits a back suplex. Wheelbarrow splash for two. Heels try to attack but Victorious Secret maintains the advantage. Salem becomes distracted by the illegal Treznik. Quinn leaps over and guillotines Salem across the middle rope. Heat segment. Quinn and Treznik are clearly a step above just about every team in this tournament talent wise. Salem rolls through into a neckbreaker. Conrad with clotheslines and high knees for everyone. Belly-to-belly suplex on Treznik. Quinn takes Conrad over. Air raid crash variation by Salem for two. Double team legdrop by Victorious Secret. Treznik drives Salem down with a modified bulldog (called Bus Driver) to get his team into the finals. A bit of an out of nowhere finish, but this was perfectly acceptable.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: The Better Halves/10:03/**
–2010 NPCI Tag Team Tournament Semifinal: Aeroform (Louis Lyndon & Flip Kendrick) vs. Bump N Uglies (Bubba Mackenzie & Josh Movado)
Match in Five Words or Less: Good Form
Match Summary/Analysis: Apparently the Bump N Uglies are just referred to as BNU #1 and BNU #2. Not that you can tell them apart anyway. This is a battle of babyface tag teams. Comedy early on in the match as Aerofrom has some fun with Bump N Uglies. Kendrick hits a nice dive. Aeroform works over BNU #1. BNU #2 tags in. Back and forth with Lyndon. Aerofrom once again takes over. Double superkicks in the corner. Island Driver by leads to a bulldog/splash combo by BNU. 1-2-Kendrick breaks the count. Lungblower by Kendrick. BNU #2 saves his partner and his a DDT. Lyndon saves. Kick to the head only gets two. Lyndon comes off with a springboard moonsault to get the win and send his team to the finals. The one thing I can say about this tournament is it’s moving along quite quickly, and none of the matches are wearing out their welcome. Right team definitely won here as Aeroform put on another solid performance in their victory.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Aeroform/7:03/**
–2010 NPCI Tag Team Tournament Semifinal: Night-Life (Dave Manzo & Jack Night) vs. Wreck N Roll (Wreckingball & Will Vendetta)
Match in Five Words or Less: What A Finish
Match Summary/Analysis: Wreckingball and Jack Night start. Manzo tries charging the big man and eats a series of bodyslams. Well, he’s just an idiot. Vendetta and Wreckingball double team Manzo. Hard forearm into a backbreaker climaxing with a Russian legsweep. He powders. Vendetta dropkicks Night off the apron. Vendetta leaps off his giant partner for a dive to the outside. Night grabs Vendetta’s leg. Night-Life uses shenanigans to take over on Vendetta. I thought Night-Life were babyfaces the previous night, but I guess I missed that memo. Wreckingball tags in but the referee misses it. Can’t believe that spot has only been used once. Wreckingball hot tag and Night-Life has to feed themselves into Wreckingball because of how portly he is. Uranagi on Night. Manzo knocks him down. Manzo and Vendetta battle Shining wizard takes out the referee. Manzo hits an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Everyone is down. Bearhug by Wreckingball on Night. The referee DISQUALIFIES WRECK N ROLL. WHAT?! Vendetta accidentally takes the referee out with an enziguri and gets his team DQ’d? How does that make any sense? Weak finish to a blah match. Least the right team advanced.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Night-Life/10:45/*
-Tyler Elkins vs. Austin Manix vs. Dave Crist vs. Jake Crist (Non-Tournament Bout)
Match in Five Words or Less: Wacky
Match Summary/Analysis: No tags are necessary in this match. Lots of chaos as you might expect for a match like this. How is Irish Airborne in this match but not in the tag team tournament? Action goes into the crowd with a series of dives. Back in the ring as Elkins is nowhere to be found. Airborne double teams Mannix. Elkins tosses Mannix down in a facebuster. Crossface and Mannix has no choice but to tap. Too short to mean a whole lot.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Tyler Elkins/5:01/*1/4
-2010 CHIKARA Young Lions Cup Qualifying Match: Cameron Skyy vs. J. Miller (CLASH Heavyweight Champion)
Match in Five Words or Less: Aces Wild
Match Summary/Analysis: I’m assuming this is non-title since the announcers don’t indicate otherwise. But a spot in the 2010 CHIKARA YLC is on the line. Just pretend you haven’t watched that show to see who won this match. Both guys know each other very well as is shown in the early going during the feeling out process. Skyy slows the pace down. Miller hits a series of kicks to the chest. Springboard elbow for two. Exchange of strikes. Skyy with a twisting neckbreaker. Miller hits a nice springboard dropkick. Charge but Skyy hits a kick in the corner. Dropkick by Miller sends Skyy outside. Miller goes for a dive but Skyy forearms. Roll through. Dragon suplex by Skyy. Clothesline and both men are down. back elbow by Skyy. Kick misses and Skyy nails a Russian legsweep. He throws his deck of cards but is tripped down. Miller misses a springboard moonsault. Sliced bread by Skyy. 1-2-NO! Forearm exchange. Boot by Miller. Forearm by Skyy. Miller catches Skyy and drives him into the second turnbuckle. Vicious running kick. 1-2-NO! Miller misses a dive but rolls through. Skyy roll-up for two. Small package finally gets Skyy the victory. Very well-worked by two guys who obviously have a lot of familiarity with each other. It’s easy to see why Clash would want to send either one of these guys to Chikara for the YLC.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Cameron Skyy/10:03/***1/4
-Nevaeh vs. Mena Libra
Match in Five Words or Less: Sloppy
Match Summary/Analysis: Naveah, who has cut two of the worst promos I’ve ever seen in indy wrestling, quickly sends Libra to the floor. Libra sends Naveah in the corner and follows up with a butt splash. Spear by Naveah and a two count. Skull fuck. Wish I had another name for that move. Botched sunset flip spot. Surfboard by Naveah but she can’t quite get Libra up all the way. She drives Libra down and says the match is over. That’s a telltale sign it isn’t over. Libra blocks…something. Series of clotheslines. Naveah sent into the corner. Libra hits a neckbreaker and gets a long two count. Neveah fights out of the fireman’s carry. Libra again sends her in the corner. Splash misses. Neveah small package and it’s the finish. Not a fan of two straight matches ending in the same way. This was an awkward match, and the two girls didn’t seem to click at all.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Neveah/6:38/*
-2010 NPCI Tag Team Tournament Final- 4 Corners Elimination Match: Too Sweet vs. The Better Halves vs. Night-Life vs. Aeroform
Match in Five Words or Less: Too Good
Match Summary/Analysis: The two babyface and heel teams huddle up before the contest for whatever reason. And we have a dance-off. Having one of these before the final of a tournament is an interesting decision to say the least. Babyfaces dance to “Beat It.” I wonder what 3.0 would think of this. Match finally starts as the heels attack. Guys take turns battling away in the ring. Things finally break down into a regular tag team match. The Better Halves, ironically the biggest heels, are the only ones in their corner for the first couple moments. Quinn hits a backpack cradle into the corner on Lyndon. Heat segment ensues as he and Treznik work him over. Marx breaks the count for whatever reason. Lyndon leaps over Treznik to make the tag. Kendrick pretty much takes out three other teams by himself. Aeroform hit double asai moonsaults. Treznik knocks Lyndon off the top. Dragon suplex. Quinn breaks the count. Rolling neckbreaker by Marx. Clothesline sends Benjamin end over end with a clothesline. It’s complete chaos right now. Wheelbarrow legdrop by Night-Life eliminates Aeroform in 8:01. Double team by Too Sweet on Manzo. A simple double elbow drop eliminates Night-Life in 8:31. Just like that, there are two teams left. Better Halves isolate Benjamin. Comeback Benjamin. Crossbody leads to a hot tag. Springboard dropkick on Treznik. Quinn taken down. 450 splash for 1-2-NO! Treznik breaks it up. Treznik hits a spin kick. Benjamin with a spear. Superkick by Quinn in the throat. 1-2-NO! Now Marx breaks the count. Double team. Marx double stomps both men. Treznik tosses Marx. He nails a Bus Driver. 1-2-Marx breaks the count. Double knees by Marz. Forearm exchange between Quinn and Marx. Superkick into the roll-up gets Too Sweet the victory and tournament victory. A decent little match. Benjamin and Marx put together some very good performances and seemed to get over with the crowd quite well with their athleticism and personality.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating:Too Sweet /14:35/**3/4
Line of the Night: Nothing to report.
Finish of the Night: Too Sweet’s double cutter to win their semifinal match wasn’t extraordinary, but it was the best of the night.
MVP: Too Sweet had two quality performances in their matches and deserve this award.
The Verdict: This tournament is a chance to see some fresh faces and new talent. Nothing is going to blow you away, and a couple of the finishes have a lot of be desired, but everything is kept short. No one exposes themselves too badly either. Tough to recommend unless you’re a big fan of teams like Aeroform, Too Sweet and The Better Halves.
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