Tangled Web 5 on August 11th, 2012
Opening Match: Rich Swann vs. Shane Strickland
Swann is making his return to CZW after his last appearance against Sami Callihan in January. They have a fast-paced exchange and Swann connects with a dropkick. He teases a dive but Strickland catches him with a dropkick of his own. Strickland lands a springboard splash to the floor. Swann follows with an impressive dive as well. In the ring, Swann takes control until Strickland fights back with a leaping neckbreaker and a gutbuster. Swann hurricanranas him off the middle rope and lands a standing shooting star press. He finds knees on a frog splash and Strickland hits a german suplex. Strickland lands a frog splash of his own for a nearfall. Swann hits a handspring ace crusher for a two count. Strickland ducks a lariat and kind of hits a flipping piledriver. Strickland adds a 450 splash for the win at 9:17. This was the kind of athletic opener that you’d want to kick off an iPPV. Swann was absolutely on fire and while Strickland could have been cleaner with his offense, the crowd didn’t mind that he upset Swann and gave him a solid ovation. **¾
The Gulak Campaign makes its way to the ring. The crowd prevents Gulak from talking with airhorns. He introduces his “advocate for women’s suffering in professional wrestling,” who turns out to be Kimber Lee. Greg Excellent interrupts and talks about how he thought Gulak would change after his no-rope barbed wire match against Danny Havoc. However, Gulak is just the same obnoxious phony. Gulak calls Excellent a joke and challenges him to a match…
Match #2: Drew Gulak vs. Greg Excellent
Gulak attacks before the opening bell. Excellent takes him down with a shoulder block and shoves toilet paper into his mouth. Gulak comes off the middle rope with a double axe handle. Excellent responds with a samoan drop and a corner cannonball. Kimber Lee saves Gulak from a tiger driver. The distraction allows Gulak to apply the Gu-Lock for the victory at 4:04. A four-minute match, mostly played for comedy, and featuring a screwy finish isn’t ideal. I have to agree with Excellent’s pre-match comments – it’s a shame that Gulak hasn’t changed since his hardcore outing against Danny Havoc. *
Match #3: CZW World Tag Team Titles: Azrieal and Bandido, Jr. © vs. Devon Moore and Lucky tHURTeen
4-Loco attack before the opening bell. The Nation of Intoxication send them to the floor and Moore follows out with a dive. Lucky adds a springboard corkscrew splash. In the ring, Bandido pokes Lucky in the eye but he’s able to respond with a standing corkscrew. Azrieal interjects himself from the apron, allowing 4-Loco to isolate Moore. He catches Bandido coming off the top rope with a superkick and makes the tag. Lucky hurricanranas Azrieal. 4-Loco hit a superkick-german suplex combination on Lucky for a nearfall. Moore plants Bandido with an ace crusher. Chrissy Rivera sneaks into the ring but Moore superkicks her. Lucky connects with an enzuigiri on Bandido and the Nation of Intoxication become the new CZW World Tag Team Champions at 9:26. I enjoyed 4-Loco’s title reign and I’m glad that they were given the belts for a significant amount of time. I imagined their reign ending in a more notable way, but the crowd popped huge for the title change. The match itself was decent but never truly reached second gear. **½
Match #4: Sami Callihan vs. Ruckus
Before the match, Callihan says that AR Fox was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he received a fireball in his face last month. Callihan charges forward with a bicycle kick. Ruckus tries a headscissors but Callihan almost reverses into the stretch muffler. Ruckus connects with an enzuigiri but gets bicycle kicked off the apron. He trips Callihan on the apron. Ruckus lands a shooting star press from the apron to the floor. Callihan sends him into the guardrail and connects with another bicycle kick. Callihan hits an exploder, sending Ruckus into a staff member at ringside. In the ring, Ruckus hits the Razzle Dazzle and lands a top rope splash. Callihan anticipates a cartwheel maneuver and hits a saito suplex into the turnbuckles. He connects with two facewash kicks. Ruckus dodges a third one and lays in a coast-to-coast dropkick for a nearfall. Callihan reverses a moonsault leg drop into the stretch muffler for the win at 8:05. This was an effective way to keep Callihan looking strong after the events that took place at New Heights. They worked well together and the finish was inventive as well as an awesome visual. I’d be curious to see what these two could put together with five or so more minutes. **¾
Match #5: CZW World Junior Heavyweight Title: AR Fox © vs. Alex Colon
Fox snaps off a headscissors and connects with a dropkick. He lands a split-legged corkscrew senton. Colon takes him out with a dive. Fox connects with a yakuza kick at ringside. A distraction by Chrissy Rivera allows Colon to hit a sliced bread by utilizing the ringpost. Back in, Colon takes over until Fox comes back with a spinning brainbuster. Fox gets sent to the outside where Rivera interferes again. In the ring, Fox matrixes to avoid a lariat and connects with an enzuigiri. He follows with a springboard dropkick and a blue thunder bomb. Colon comes off the middle rope with a tornado DDT. Fox blocks a charge and lands a dive to the floor. The action goes to the apron where Colon hits a death valley driver. He jumps off the apron and catches Fox with a flying knee strike. They trade forearms in the ring and Fox hits a rolling death valley driver. Colon avoids a springboard 450 and goes up top. Fox knocks him to the floor and onto a staff member at ringside. Fox lands a dive over the ringpost. He rolls Colon back into the ring and gets a nearfall. Colon tries to counter Lo Mein Pain with a german suplex to no avail. He catches Fox with a michinoku driver for a nearfall. Colon connects with a basement superkick but Fox won’t stay down. Colon grabs a chair but Devon Moore runs out to take it away. Fox connects with a slingshot dropkick and hits a shooting star cannonball. Fox follows with Lo Mein Pain to retain his title at 17:28. Fox is having a standout year and Colon is severely underrated, so it’s no surprise that this match delivered. Fox’s offense is spectacular on its own, but Colon was able to incorporate some unique reversals to keep the crowd guessing down the stretch. Fox was most likely not going to lose the title in his first defense, but Colon created some doubt with an excellent showing. I’m looking forward to Fox’s matches against Ohio is for Killers. ***½
Fox runs into a rowdy fan with an Ohio is for Killers’ shirt on. When he walks through the curtain, he sees another shirt hanging on a rack. Fox challenges Dave Crist to a ladder match next month where both the World Junior Heavyweight Title and the Wired Television Title will be on the line.
Match #6: CZW World Heavyweight Title: MASADA © vs. Joker
They exchange forearms and trade control on the mat. MASADA hits a back suplex. Joker fires back with a thesz press and reigns down punches. He attempts a cross armbreaker but MASADA punches his way out of the hold. MASADA actually busted Joker open with repeated headbutts. Joker connects with kawada kicks and hits a saito suplex. He follows with a running knee strike. MASADA reverses a hurricanrana attempt into a powerbomb and locks in a cross armbreaker of his own. He transitions into a triangle choke and connects with MMA elbows. Joker powers out of the hold and both men are down. Joker sends MASADA to the floor and follows out with a dive. They start brawling and both get counted out at 7:39. Joker takes out the referee and staff members come out to calm him down. He punches Maven Bentley and stares down MASADA as the situation eventually dissolves. Well, those were the first seven minutes of a highly entertaining brawl. Usually, I would complain about CZW doing the post-match angle to compensate for the double countout, but I honestly don’t see how anyone couldn’t be looking forward to a rematch between these two after the post-match happenings. **½
Match #7: Tangled Web: Matt Tremont vs. DJ Hyde
Both men immediately get busted open by headbutts. Tremont utilizes a staple gun and hits Hyde with a chair. Hyde responds by hitting Tremont with a traffic sign and returns the favor with the staple gun. He grinds a barbed wire bat across Tremont’s forehead. Tremont then headbutts the barbed wire bat into Hyde’s forehead. Tremont connects with a series of chops and punches in the corner. Hyde spears him into a screen of barbed wire. Hyde misses a cannonball and crashes into the barbed wire. Tremont hits a vader bomb into the barbed wire. Hyde levels him with a traffic sign shot and connects with a barbed wire chair-assisted facewash kick. A table is brought into the ring. Hyde back drops Tremont into the screen of barbed wire. He dumps thumbtacks onto the table. Hyde misses a top rope senton and crashes through the table. Tremont pushes a fork into his forehead and lands a kendo stick shot. Hyde falls onto barbed wire caging propped between the apron and the guardrail. Tremont lands a frog splash from the top rope onto him. They move to the top of the tangled web structure. Hyde chokeslams Tremont off of the structure, but Tremont misses the table and his head bounces off of it. Staff members immediately rush to Tremont’s aid. They tape the gash on his left arm and he somehow returns to the ring. Hyde hits him with a stop sign and connects with a lariat for a nearfall. Tremont charges at Hyde, who back drops him through the table on the floor. Hyde connects with a final lariat for the victory at 28:30. I want to be hesitant in calling this match a “spectacle.” It’s a bit alarming that someone has gotten injured in the last three Tangled Web matches. The spot from the top of the structure was brutal to watch, and Tremont is a warrior for pushing forward. As far as deathmatches are concerned, this one delivered on the hardcore side of things and the crowd was extremely receptive to the action. You’ll know whether or not you’re going to enjoy this match before you watch it, but this was a pretty solid deathmatch. ***¼
Joe Gacy runs out and attacks Tremont. MASADA and the Nation of Intoxication make the save. Greg Excellent comes out and uses his last wish to grant Tremont a rematch against Hyde next month.
Overall: Tangled Web 5 was a show that definitely had its high points. AR Fox and Alex Colon delivered in a big way and the main event should be enjoyable to most deathmatch wrestling fans. However, I wish some of the undercard bouts like Callihan/Ruckus, MASADA/Joker, and the tag team title match would have received more time to play out. As it stands, I’m at a thumbs in the middle for this show and another solid undercard match might have tipped the scales. But if you’re curious about the main event or any of the storyline advancement, I don’t think you’d regret purchasing the replay or DVD.
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I’ve seen some pictures of Tremont’s arms after the match. He had five or six nasty slashes, including one on the left arm that was so bad I could see the fat tissue in there.