WrestleForce Spring Fling 3: Extreme Warfare
4-21-12
TLC Bar & Grill
Columbia, SC
On April 21, 2012 with rain threatening the premeire of WrestleForce, eight of the best talents in the southeast did battle to be known as the first WrestleForce Heavyweight Champion. In addition to the World Title tournament, former stars from ECW, WCW, & WWE including Raven, Axl Rotten, & Lodi joined forces with local favorite Jon Malus & villains Timber & Sixx to go to war in a steel cage. The following is a recap of the event and #1MansOpinion of the matches & the show as a whole. Matches are rated 1-5 stars the show is rated 1.0-10.
WrestleForce Title Tournament QuarterFinals
Steven “The Fever” Walters vs “The Obsession” Caleb Konley
The tournament kicks off with a first time matchup between Konley & Walters. After a feeling out process the two go into some very nice chain wrestling reversing one another and staying evenly matched for the majority of the match. Konley finally got the advantage wih a low blow but Walters hit a codebreaker out of nowhere as Konley was springboarding into the ring for the opening round victory.
#1MansOpinion: These two worked very well together, it was a crisp match. With this being an opening round match they may have not “went for it” as they normally would but I would personally enjoy seeing these guys together again for a longer time. ***
“The Queen City Killer” Zack Salvation vs Marcellus King
King was brought in as a late replacement for the injured Aden Chambers and as you PWEvo fans may know he has a long history with Zack Salvation. The two did NOT disappoint! The match started out in a brawl and that's the way it ended as well. King took Salvation outside whipping him into the guardrail and the ringpost before bringing him back inside and working him over. Salvation went for a hurracanrana but was lifted up by King into a devestating powerbomb which King turned into a cloverleaf submission. The great exchange continued as QCK reversed that into a rings of saturn but King once again came out on top blocking the “Zacklash” attempt and hitting a spinning reverse ddt. The time was ticking down in this one and Salvation went for a small package which each man reversed several times but before either could get a pin the 20 minute limit expired and the match was declared a draw. The crowd chanted “5 more Minutes” but King hit Salvation with a brogue kick and the “murder go round” letting the Columbia, SC know he doesn't play around. Heavy boos for King as he left the ringside area & ring announcer Brett Wolverton let the crowd know both men were eliminated from the tournament.
#1MansOpinion: MOTN without a doubt. These two told the best story of the night and left the crowd wanting more. King & Salvation obviously work well together and did a great job of building interest in their rivalry for some fans who might not have been as familiar with them as some NC crowds. ****
John Skyler vs “King” Shane Williams
Skyler, the hometown boy came out to a tremendous pop. Williams soaked up the boos from the crowd and started in on Skyler raking the eyes, using a low blow and anything else he could to take advantage. It wasn't until Williams went for the piledriver and Skyler was able to hit a backdrop that Skyler was able to get a brief advantage. The King hit another low blow to regain he advantage and whipped Skyler into the ropes but Williams caught a beautiful superkick as Skyler got the pin to advance to the semifinals.
#1MansOpinion: This is my first time seeing Williams live and while he is reminiscent of Jerry Lawler in his in ring style he provided a good heel character for the hometown Skyler and the two had a good match. Again being an opening round match it was pretty basic. ** 3/4
Chase Stevens vs Vordell Walker
The final match of the opening round was between former TNA talent Chase Stevens and former WCW talent Vordell Walker. Walker offered a handshake to start and Stevens responded by spitting in his face. Walker hit a couple of armdrags and then it was Stevens who offered the handshake but Walker this time responded spitting in his face. The action then spilled outside and Stevens hit a suplex on the concrete as “The Natural” took control of the match. Stevens kept control until he was hit with a missle dropkick as he was jawing with the crowd. Halfway through the match Stevens hit a low blow and got a cradle to advance.
#1MansOpinion: Both men are very athletic but again this opening round match lacked some story and proved to just be a “warm up” the action was good but not long enough as I was expecting a closer “Nail Biter” type matchup between these two veterans. ** 1/2
Special Challenge Match
“The Human Hand Grenade” Dany Only vs Sick Boy w/ Lodi
This one was a pure brawl going back and forth. In the end “The Insane Lumberjack” Timber attacked Sick Boy's manager Lodi allowing Only to get a schoolboy rollup for the win.
#1MansOpinion: Sick Boy looked pretty good here, having not seen him since his WCW days with The Flock. Only was a pure brawler, not a lot of “wrestling” moves here. **
Six Man Tag Team Action
L.E.G.I.T.(Bradford Steele & Brandon Paradise) & Steven Stifler vs Hoss Hagood, Billy Brash & Brady Pierce
Very good action in this one. Nice tag team wrestling early on by L.E.G.I.T. and Brash & Pierce. Brandon Paradise hit a spectacular dive onto all 5 men on the concrete outside. Steele, Paradise & Stifler took over working on Brash as Steele hit a brutal overhead belly to belly into the corner. Brash finally gets the tag & crowd favorite Hoss Hagood came in taking out all three men and it broke down into a 3 on 3 brawl. Brash climbed to the top of a nearby roof & dove off onto L.E.G.I.T and Stifler, Hagood then hit the “Alabama Slam” on Stifler to earn the win for his team.
#1MansOpinion: Perhaps the most exciting match on the card. L.E.G.I.T. was very good as were Brash & Pierce. Stifler provided the comedy and someone for the crowd to pick on, an important role which he did well. Hagood is a local favorite and was over with the fans in attendance. This was a very fun match. ***
WrestleForce Title Tournament SemiFinals
Ring Announcer Brett Wolverton announces that due to the time limit draw earlier Chase Stevens receives a bye to the tournament Finals.
Steven “The Fever” Walters vs John Skyler
Handshake to start as this match sees tag team partners Skyler & Walters battling to get to the final round. Very nice technical wrestling early going back and forth as the crowd is divided 1/2 and 1/2. John Skyler tweaks his knee on a sliced bread attempt and retreats to the corner. Walters is unsure how to proceed but waits for Skyler to get back to his feet and the match resumes. Skyler favoring the knee and is unable to support the weight to hit the superkick, again Walters unsure how to proceed but hits the codebreaker and only gets a two count. Walters then goes for a bodyslam and Skyler rolls him up into a small package to advance to the finals of the WrestleForce title tournament.
#1MansOpinion: Really good match here, a nice story told with the knee injury to Skyler. Both of these guys are ultra talented in the ring therefore the in ring action was crisp. I would like to see these two go all out for 20 minutes plus at some point. *** 1/2
Derek Ryze & Jesse Windham vs “The Modern Classic” BJ Hancock & “Mr A-List” Michael Frehley
Good tag team wrestling early from Windham & Ryze. Ryze was all over the place with dives and kicks, very quick. Ryze hit a moonsault off of Windham's back before being doubleteamed by Hancock & Frehley for a majority of the match. Many attempts to tag in Windham were cut off as “FreeCock”(that was the announced tag name of Frehley & Hancock) cut off the ring. Finally Windham gets the tag and clears the ring but Frehley gets a schoolboy using the ropes for leverage as Mr A-List & The Modern Classic get the victory.
#1MansOpinion: All four men in this match were very good. Hancock & Frehley(minus the obvious nickname) worked extremely well together. Ryze is a modern “X style” worker flipping using hard kicks. Windham has a good look & was good in the ring. Thus far on the whole the tag team wrestling is really overshadowing the singles action on this card. ***
WrestleForce Heavyweight Title Tournament Final
Chase Stevens vs John Skyler
It was announced that Skyler had wrestled over 23 minutes in the title tournament while Stevens with his 2nd round bye had wrestled just 10 and 1/2 minutes. Stevens made his way confidently out to the ring as his opponent John Skyler was helped to the ring by Steven Walters. Skyler assures Walters he's ok and the referee asks Walters to go to the back. Stevens immediately attacks the injured knee and works the leg for the whole match, foiling any comeback attempt by Skyler until a superkick out of nowhere gets Skyler the win as he becomes the first WrestleForce Heavyweight champion.
Inaugural WrestleForce Heavyweight Champion: John Skyler
#1MansOpinion: Obviously the story here was Skyler's injured knee & Stevens being the fresher man. I thought the announcement of how much time they'd wrestled to this point was unnecessary as the crowd was already fully behind Skyler's quest for the title. The match itself made perfect sense with Stevens working the knee & in the end the crowd was pleased as Skyler became the first(Very deserving) WrestleForce champion. ***
Extreme Warfare
Team Malus(Jon Malus, Lodi, Axl Rotten, & Raven) vs Team Timber(“Insance LumberJack” Timber, “Salem Sinner” Sixx, Jay Batista, & Dany Only)
First it's announced that CW Anderson isn't there and will be replaced by “The Human Hand Grenade” Dany Only. The cage goes up as night begins to fall on the show and Team captains Timber & Malus are going to start. “The Insane LumberJack” decides against starting and calls out Sixx. The two start off for the initial two minute period and it's announced that Team Timber has won he coin toss & Timber is next in. Sixx & Timber take advantage and double team Malus hitting him with cookie sheets & a trash can until Lodi enters to even it up. Next in is Dany Only, followed by Axl Rotten for Team Malus. The “Chair Swingin freak” Axl Rotten comes prepared and doles out chair shots to each member of Team Timber. The final member for Team Timber is Jay Batista followed by the last man for Team Malus, Raven. Raven brings a singapore cane in and attacks each member of Team Timber with the cane. Pinfalls, Submission, and Surrender is now in play with all 8 men in the cage. This doesn't last long with all 8 men in there as Team Malus stacks up Team Timber in the middle of the ring & Malus hits a top rope elbow with the trash can, followed by quadruple DDTs from Team Malus as they pin all four members of Team Timber to win Extreme Warfare. Post match Timber destroyed his entire team and left the cage, Sixx then chokeslammed Only and left the cage.
#1MansOpinion: For me this match would've worked better as a street fight. With all 8 men in the ring it was impossible to see what was going on and seemed impossible to do much with such limited space. Rotten & Raven were limited in their roles and this match was a brawl which was expected but just couldn't seem to develop as it would have had it not been inside the cage. ** 1/2
#1MansFINALOpinion: The WrestleForce title tournament had plenty of talent in the bracket. There was plenty of opportunity there to have several MOTN contenders but it seemed WrestleForce opted to go for a more formulaeic path to crowning the first champion. The opening round matches(excluding the time limit draw) were build ups to the later round matches. The tag team matches on the card(including the 6 man) were very good, entertaining matches with a lot of talent on display. The main event should've left me wanting more, however it left me feeling as though I didn't see what could've been. In such a heated rivalry between Malus & Timber with some heavy hitters involved in the end it just fell short. The Tag team matches as well as Marcellus King, Zack Salvation, John Skyler, & Steven Walters stole this show and seemed to be a cut above tonight.
Overall Show Rating: 6.5/10
Comments, Questions? I'd love to hear YOUR opinion please leave a comment or find me on twitter @The1andonlyJer–Thanks!