C*4 (R)Evolution 613 DVD Review

Recently, I had a chance to check out my first ever C*4 show. What the heck do all those c’s stand for? Capital City Championship Combat, The company started back in 2007 and is one of the top promotions in the Ontario/Quebec area. This is a chance to see guys like Kevin Steen, El Generico, and the Super Smash Brothers, wrestlers American fans should be familiar with, in a bit of a different light. Guys who should be in more American companies like Ethan Page and Josh Alexander can also be seen. Alexander specifically plays a huge role in season five right from the premiere. However, despite the stars I was familiar with, I want to see some quality Canadian talent. I wanted to get a chance to stay ahead of the curve and “discover” wrestlers even the hardest of the hardcore U.S. indie fans wouldn’t know. Right from the first match, I got my chance. I’m not going back to November 2011 ion a random whim. I wanted to pick a logical starting point and also review a really solid stream of shows over the next month to two months. This seemed like a good one.

Scotty O’Shea is someone I’ve seen sparingly, but I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing him on a number of these C4 shows based on what I saw in the opening four way. He defended his Moonshine Brand Wrestling Championship over Brent B, Lucky Sabiti, and Jae Rukin. This wasn’t high art and was even a little sloppy at times, but it also wasn’t boring and got the crowd into the show right from the start. Brent B could easily just be a Sugar Dunkerton knock-off if you just see him, but he honestly would have fit in with Chikara just as well based on his moveset and and execution. O’Shea came across as dominant as he cannonballed all three men at the same time before pinning Sabiti. Very fast-paced and okay match.

Sebastian Suave was out next with Selezyia Sparx, a young lady that AIW and ROH fans have become familiar with over the last couple years. Sparz debuted at the season four finale. On this night, Suave would play a key factor in the main event in addition to his victory over Cheech Hernandez. It’s a shame Hernandez doesn’t get more chances in certain northeastern indies because he could be a solid lower card or midcard singles wrestler. This was a bit more of a traditional wrestling match with Suave as a big-time heel. Suave even cut a pre-match promo and talked about becoming a star. These two slowed the pace down after a crazy opener. I liked what I saw from both guys and think they played their rolls well. Suave was a great heel and got the Ontario faithful to really hate him. He won with a modified Ki Crusher thanks to some help from Sparx, but this still felt meaningful.

Overall this felt like a premiere in a positive way as a number of threads were started. Another came in the next tag team match as the Afterparty of Cecil Nyx and Chaz Lovely defeated the Wolfmen of Twiggy and Beef Wellington. I’m not a fan of the looks that these guys present because it just screams INDYRRIFIC, but the action was solid for the most part with the exception of an awkward start. This was apparently a new version of the Afterparty, and they were indeed successful. After the match, dissension was teased between Twiggy and Wellington. This will be something to watch over the rest of the season.

In season four, Josh Alexander, Rahim Ali, and Michael Von Payton were a faction. Then they lost a match at the finale to El Generico, Twiggy, and Beef Wellington, so they had to break-up. Therefore, the premiere saw a three way match to see who the most dominant member was. I usually loathe three ways because it tend to devolve into the familiar pattern of having two wrestlers battle in the ring while the other rests. There was some of that, but I at least got a sense there was a reason for this to happen. Even better, Alexander thoroughly dominated in the end by powerbombing Von Payton while Ali was on his back. Then he sentoned Ali into Payton. Finally, he covered both men. That’s how you build someone up and make them look like a force in the company. Perhaps I’m biased toward Alexander, but I for sure thought this was some smart booking in combination with good action. Von Payton is really good but doesn’t have the charisma to really break out. I love watching him wrestle nearly ever time I’ve ever seen him. These guys started fast and rightfully brought the intensity for the ten minutes they wrestled. This was one of my favorite matches of the show. Sidenote to this match: Ali broke out a packaged brainbuster, something I’ve never seen before. Looking forward to seeing more of him in C4.

My favorite match of the night was almost a lay-up given the participants. Brodie Lee wrestled one of Canada’s best high flyers and another guy who may never get a real opportunity to break out in the states because of a lack of charisma or personality. Bailey is a spectacular high flyer, and Lee served as a great base for his offense. Lee obviously was able to excel in a match like this because of his Chikara background and working against other Luchadors. I totally get why Lee won in the end, but there were some great moments of Bailey almost getting the elusive three count. Great back and forth action and Bailey is another guy to watch. In fact, by the end of this show, he was honestly the wrestler I was most excited to watch again.

When I saw Eddie Kingston was wrestling against Mathieu St. Jacques, I was at first excited at the prospect of seeing two big guys just beat the hell out of each other. What I got was some okay action combined with disastrous technical snafus. This is an excellent place to talk about my major issues with the DVD. There were times buzzing could be hear d INSTEAD of in-ring promos. I wasn’t able to hear what Kingston said after his match, nor was I able to hear what Stupefied said before the main event. In addition, the commentary audio was at times way too loud to the point where the crowd could barely be heard. And then there’s the camera work. We got one camera the whole night, which wouldn’t be a big deal if not for what happened when Kingston and St. Jacque brawled to the outside and toward the hard cam. Witnessing the hard cam get wiped off and missing some of the match was outright embarrassing and something no independent wrestling company who wants any credibility should ever put forth. It took me out of the match and likely hurt my rating. That and the finish where we first had a ref bump. Kingston hit a Backfist to the Future but no official. St. Jacque had a foreign object which he used to nail Kingston and hit him with a back suplex. I get that the Grand Champion couldn’t lose clean for whatever BS political reason, but I’m not sure this match set out what C4 intended.

Lionel Bishop and Christopher Bishop, called Checkmate(one of those things that might take you a second or two to get) wrestled Aerform in the semi-main event. Very solid tag team match as Kendrick didn’t look sloppy and basically connected on everything quite well. Knight and Bishop could probably use a better finish based on how I saw them finish off Aerform, but this a good match featuring a lot of movez but a minimal amount of story or psychology.

The main event featured the heavyweight championship on the line as Player Uno wrestled Stupefied in a direct rematch from the finale. Unlike so many other federations, the Super Smash Brothers have been allowed to explore their singles wrestling oats. I was enticed to start reviewing the company based partially on getting to see what SSB had to offer by themselves as opposed to just being a team. The only crime was we got a decent to good match instead of something epic. I think an extra 5-8 minutes could have made this even more meaningful, especially since the gimmick was this being Uno’s last title shot. Stupefied had been teasing a heel turn but made it official here as Sebastian Suave and Mathieu St. Jacque interfered on the champion’s behalf. Stupefied won with his dragon sleeper. Considering he’s already been champion for many months and has defeated a number of quality wrestlers, it’ll be interesting to see how the rest of his title reign goes. Uno had to be saved by a number of babyfaces. A lot was packed into this match. It didn’t always have the feel of an epic main event, but this certainly pushed the story forward and gave C4 a direction to head into for season five.

There are some positive and negative things to say about my first experience with C4. I liked the way a number of different threads were started as this felt like the start of something which would eventually climax at the end of the season. A lot of the wrestling and much of the talent deserves to be seen more by people like and other indie wrestling aficionados. On the other hand, the technical aspects of the DVD had a lot to be desired as some crucial parts were missed. I’m looking forward to watching future shows and genuinely hope to see continued improvement.

Grade: C+

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-Taped from Ontario, Canada

-Commentators: Adam and Mike Rotch

-Scotty O’Shea defeats Brent B, Lucky Sabiti, and Jae Rukin to retain his Moonshine Brand Wrestling Championship. O’Shea pinned Sabiti after a cannonball to the corner./8:43/**1/2

-Sebastian Suave (w/Selezyia Sparx) defeats Cheech Hernandez by pinfall after the Ki Crusher./11:01/**3/4

– The Afterparty (Cecil Nyx and Chaz Lovely) defeat The Wolfmen (Twiggy and Beef Wellington) by pinfall after Lovely elbow drops Wellington. /7:41/**3/4

-Josh Alexander defeats Michael Von Payton and Rahim Ali by pinfall after a running senton./10:24/***1/4

-Brodie Lee defeats Mike Bailey (C4 Tag Team Champion)  by pinfall after a sitdown powerbomb./10:49/***1/4

– Mathieu St. Jacques defeats Eddie Kingston by pinfall after a right hand with a foreign object and back suplex./15:25/**

– Checkmate (Lionel Bishop and Christopher Knight) Aeroform (Louis Lyndon and Flip Kendrick by pinfall  after Knight plants Kendrick off the top rope./12:47/***

-Stupefied (C4 Champion) defeats Player Uno by pinfall/10:35/***

For more information on C*4, including upcoming shows and a shop to buy DVDs directly, check out their website. You can also buy their DVDs, MP4s, and online streams at Smart Mark Video.

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