Help! on July 14th, 2012
Matt Cage makes his way to the ring to start the show. He announces that Danny Cannon was not able to make it to the building tonight. Dalton Diamond interrupts but Cage quickly takes care of him. Joey O’Riley comes out and challenges Cage to a match, which he accepts. It will be Cage vs. O’Riley one last time in IWAU.
Opening Match: Ace Hawkins vs. Shank Barzini
Hawkins has a problem with Barzini stemming back a couple of years ago and they’re going to settle it here. Hawkins is very timid early on and stalls for time at ringside. Barzini starts choking him and biels him across the ring. Hawkins finds an opening to begin working over the left leg. Barzini blocks a chair shot but Hawkins kicks out his leg. Hawkins locks in a boston crab but Barzini is able to reach the bottom rope. Hawkins reapplies the hold but Barzini powers out. Barzini connects with a series of clotheslines and hits a slingshot senton. His leg gives out during a death valley driver attempt. Hawkins sneaks in a rollup with his feet on the ropes for the win at 8:31. Hawkins was impressive and I’m glad that he picked up the victory. He found ways to mix up his offense and brought the fight to Barzini. In the end, this match accomplished its goal of making the crowd care about an eventual rematch between these two. **½
Match #2: Aaron Solo vs. Aaron Emery
I’m not familiar with either man but Solo fortunately has his name on his tights. Emery connects with a dropkick and lands a plancha to the floor. He lays in a brutal kick at ringside. Solo takes control in the ring and starts targeting the left shoulder. Emery fights back with a nice roundhouse kick and both men are down. They exchange strikes and Solo goes back to work on the injured left shoulder. Emery connects with an enzuigiri and hits a german suplex for a nearfall. Solo finds life with a kimura but Emery rolls him over into a pin attempt for a two count. Solo hits a spinning fisherman buster. Emery answers with a nice slingshot ace crusher. Emery punts Solo in the chest for the victory at 7:10. I wasn’t sure what to expect but these two delivered a solid match for the time given. They played their roles well and I think that they could find a home in IWAU if they continue making appearances for the promotion. **½
Match #3: Darin Corbin vs. Jason V
Jason gives a peace offering before the match but Corbin kicks him in the midsection for his troubles. Instead of a shoulder block battle, Jason settles for hugging Corbin. Corbin teases a hug and hits an atomic drop. Jason grabs onto a half nelson suplex but refuses to hit the move. He accidentally crotches Corbin on the top rope. Corbin regains control and starts reminding Jason that they are no longer tag team partners. Jason gets fired up and connects with a springboard back elbow. He adds an innovative enzuigiri. Corbin now changes his tone and insists that they’re friends. Jason uses his finisher but instantly regrets it. When he goes to check on Corbin, he gets caught by a small package, giving Corbin the win at 7:25. I don’t think a rating applies here, as Jason was unwilling to even wrestle for most of the match. The idea is that Jason still wants to be tag team partners with Corbin despite him not reciprocating that feeling. They played around with the story decently well and this was a harmless way to spend seven minutes.
Match #4: Zakk Sawyers vs. TJ Perkins vs. Arik Cannon vs. Alex Castle
Castle gets the better of Perkins in a fast-paced exchange. Sawyers calls himself “technical lightning junior” and enters the match. He doesn’t fare very well against Perkins. Cannon is able to ground Perkins for awhile. Perkins headscissors Castle into the middle turnbuckle. Sawyers runs into the ring but gets taken over by an armdrag from Castle. Everyone takes their turn working over Sawyers. Perkins ties up his legs. Cannon chops Perkins, causing him to fall back and inflict damage on Sawyers. Perkins hits a northern lights suplex on Cannon while still having Sawyers tied up. Cannon misses a lariat and gets caught by a superkick from Perkins. He recovers with a stunner. They connect with clotheslines at the same time and tag out. Castle half nelson slams Sawyers and yakuza kicks Perkins. Cannon cleans house. Perkins lures Castle to the floor but gets knocked to the outside as well. Cannon lands a plancha onto Perkins. Castle blocks a dive from Sawyers with a spear and suplexes him into the turnbuckles. Everyone connects with a strike and all four men are down in the ring. Castle and Cannon hit stereo gourdbusters and connect with stereo basement superkicks. Cannon punches Castle and hits Total Anarchy. Sawyers slingshot spears Cannon but runs into a go 2 sleep from Perkins. Castle plants Perkins with an ace crusher for the victory at 17:14. I’m glad that these four received as much time as they did to showcase themselves. The action took quite awhile to become interesting but the finishing stretch produced some excellent exchanges. After winning the 1UP tournament, Castle has a lot of momentum and looks to be the biggest threat to Christian Rose right now. I would call this match a bit disappoint considering the competitors involved, but the contest finished strong and I liked the end result. ***
Match #5: Reed Bentley vs. Davey Richards
Richards controls on the mat early on. He kicks away at Bentley’s shoulder to escape a wristlock. Bentley retreats to the floor after a dropkick. Richards tries to punt him from the apron but Bentley trips him. Bentley hits a suplex onto the floor and takes control in the ring. Richards reverses a camel clutch into a surfboard and connects with a knockout kick. Bentley answers with an enzuigiri. They battle on the top rope and Richards kicks Bentley to the outside. Richards punts him from the apron and connects with a missile dropkick back in the ring. Bentley blocks a charge but gets met with a knockout kick. Richards hits a german suplex and synchs in an ankle lock. Bentley escapes the hold and hits a fisherman buster. They trade forearms and Richards connects with the Alarm Clock. He follows with his sliding kick of doom for a nearfall. Richards transitions into an ankle lock but Bentley counters into a rollup for the win at 11:00. If you predicted Bentley to win this match, pat yourself on the back because this was a huge upset. My favorite part of the contest was how much credit Richards gave to Bentley’s striking game. They had a strong back and forth match in their eleven minutes and it was fun to watch Richards wrestle in this kind of environment. In light of his current situation, Richards gave Bentley a really good match in what has to be considered the biggest win of Bentley’s career. ***¼
Match #6: Joey O’Riley vs. Matt Cage
This will be Cage’s last match in IWAU. Cage stomps on O’Riley’s left arm and throws him shoulder-first into the turnbuckles. O’Riley uses his good arm to connect with a corner lariat and lands a standing shooting star press. Cage catches him with a leg lariat. O’Riley hurricanranas out of a tiger driver. Cage dodges a second corner lariat and clotheslines O’Riley to the canvas. Cage hits a senton and takes over. O’Riley fights back with an enzuigiri and hits a basement bulldog. Cage blocks some maneuver out of a cartwheel and curb stomps O’Riley. He regains control until O’Riley comes back with a backbreaker and a standing moonsault. Cage hits a stunner but falls victim to a slingshot tornado DDT. O’Riley connects with a knockout kick and takes over. Cage dodges a roaring bicycle kick and hits a leaping russian leg sweep. Both men are down. Cage comes off the top rope with an elbow drop and hits a DDT into the middle turnbuckle. He locks in a rear-naked choke but O’Riley is able to reach the bottom rope. Cage reapplies the hold in the center of the ring. O’Riley gets to his feet and tries a quick rollup to no avail. He connects with a roaring bicycle kick for a nearfall. O’Riley flips out of a tiger driver and hits a stroke. He lands a 450 splash for a two count. O’Riley follows with another 450 splash for the victory at 18:34. Since I’ve started watching IWAU at the beginning of the year, these two have had many matches against each other and not one of them has been anything short of highly enjoyable. Although Danny Cannon was scheduled for this match, I cannot think of a better final opponent than O’Riley. Much like the rest of their encounters, the action was kept at a brisk pace but never felt rushed or cluttered. While I think their crowning achievement was their ladder match from All or Nothing, this was another great contest in a series of them. ***½
Match #7: Freedom Brawl
I’m assuming that this will function like an over-the-top-rope rumble. I’ll hit the high points with the play by play for the sake of brevity. The ring gets cluttered early on as there aren’t many eliminations. The entrances of the Intimidator and Doomsday shake things up. Shank Barzini comes out and immediately begins brawling with Scott Parker. Kyle Sykes enters the match but quickly gets eliminated, making me wish he had a match on this show. I’ll actually repeat those sentiments for AT Brooks. TJ Perkins, Alex Castle, and Zakk Sawyers have a couple of exchanges with each other, continuing from their earlier match. Dalton Diamond tries to attack Joey O’Riley during his entrance but gets bicycle kicked in the face. Ace Hawkins tries to avoid entering the ring but Barzini thwarts his plan. Darin Corbin has to spend a good bit of time running away from Jason V at ringside. Brooks and O’Riley have a nice exchange on the apron before O’Riley gets eliminated. Barzini exacts some measure of revenge on Parker by sending him packing. The match comes down to Barzini, Brooks, and Cash Bordin. Barzini and Bordin have a hard-fought back and forth exchange. Brooks sneaks into the ring and eliminates both of them, winning the Freedom Brawl at 39:29. This was a pretty typical rumble and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. When the ring became crowded, it was sometimes difficult to follow exactly what was going on, but the roster was able to weave a lot of different storytelling elements into the match. I appreciated that the match came down to Brooks and Bordin, as they were two men not showcased on the show thus far. I’m going to refrain from a rating, but I think your mileage will vary based on how familiar you are with the current IWAU storylines.
Overall: Help! had a different feel than most IWAU shows due to the card featuring prospective and established outsiders along with the core roster. The show found a nice groove in the middle of the card with an entertaining four-way featuring a nice mix of talent. From there, Reed Bentley picked up a huge win in a solid outing against Davey Richards and Matt Cage said goodbye to IWAU in another great match against Joey O’Riley. Finally, while the main event rumble wasn’t anything to write home about, talent left off the undercard received a chance to shine. I think people already familiar with IWAU will find more enjoyment in this show, especially with Bentley’s win and Cage’s farewell. For everyone else, I would give Help! a thumbs in the middle, leaning up.
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