June 8th, 2018
Opening Match: First Round: Logan Easton LaRoux vs. Arik Royal
These two wrestled in the finals of the inaugural Commonwealth Cup, with LaRoux giving Royal his first loss in NOVA Pro. They shove each other and Royal connects with a dropkick. He hits a flapjack and tackles LaRoux across the ring. LaRoux feigns a leg injury so he can ambush Royal. He catches Royal with repeated dropkicks but cannot take him down. Royal avoids a charge but falls victim to rolling german suplexes. He fights back with three consecutive exploders and a backbreaker. LaRoux lands a flying crossbody. Royal hangs him up in the ropes and connects with an uppercut. LaRoux tries a quick rollup to no avail and hits an ace crusher for a nearfall. Royal comes back with Space Jam for a two count. He synchs in a kondo clutch but LaRoux escapes. Royal blocks a second ace crusher and hits a pounce for the win at 11:39. Their previous two singles matches took place in the finals of a major tournament and in the main event of the biggest show of the year. Obviously, they were in a different position here but delivered an enjoyable opener. Royal avenging his loss from a year ago was the right result and set the tone for the tournament. ***
Match #2: First Round: Jonathan Gresham vs. Dominic Garrini
Stokely Hathaway is at ringside, although he isn’t favoring anyone at the opening bell. They wrestle to a stalemate and then trade some unique counters on the mat. Gresham finds an opening to target the right arm. He hits a suplex and maintains control. Garrini lands a pretty vicious knee strike to create some space. They trade forearms. Gresham connects with an enzuigiri and hits a german suplex. They go back to exchanging forearms and trade quick pin attempts to no avail. Garrini connects with a leaping knee strike and hits a leaping piledriver for the victory at 12:20. The realism that they were able to bring to the mat work and strike exchanges resulted in a great showcase. Even though Gresham was a replacement for Eddie Kingston, I think we ended up with the more intriguing matchup. After Gresham dominated on the mat, Garrini seemed to catch him with an errant knee strike and quickly put him away with the piledriver. It’s the kind of finish that lends itself to a rematch. ***¼
Match #3: First Round: “Safety First” Tim Donst vs. Fred Yehi
Yehi, of course, is no amused by Donst’s gimmick. Donst low-bridges Yehi but saves him from falling off the apron in the name of safety. They followup with some comedy involving Donst’s safety crew. Yehi connects with a dropkick and hits an exploder. He takes control until Donst hits an STO onto the apron. Donst hits an ace crusher and connects with a northern lariat. Yehi catches him with machine gun stomps but falls victim to a back suplex. Donst follows with a neckbreaker for a nearfall. Donst hits a superplex along with a suplex into the turnbuckles but Yehi won’t stay down. Yehi connects with a flurry of strikes and hits a powerbomb for a two count. Donst hits Safety Last for a nearfall. He goes up top but Stokely Hathaway pushes him to the canvas. Yehi locks in a koji clutch for the win at 15:06. I don’t think I fully understand Donst’s “safety first” gimmick and I know for a fact that I don’t enjoy it as much as most people. It’s odd that he seemingly abandons all safety concerns in the second half of the match. These two showed solid chemistry together down the stretch, but a lackluster beginning portion combined with the interference put a certain ceiling on this one. **½
Match #4: Faye Jackson, Jordynne Grace, and Allie Kat vs. Angelus Layne, Veda Scott, and Terra Callaway
Grace catches Callaway with a few strikes but misses a vader bomb. Jackson and Kat showcase some double team offense on Layne. Jackson misses a corner charge and the heels isolate her. She hits a spear on Scott and makes the tag. Kat catches Scott with a bicycle kick and hits a seated senton. Jackson hits a samoan drop on Calloway before falling victim to a german suplex from Layne. Grace hits a spinebuster on Layne and lands a dive to the floor. Back in, Scott puts a cat costume head on Kat and connects with a knockout kick for the victory at 9:05. Aside from an energetic hot tag from Kat, this was not good. There was a lot of miscommunication and offense that didn’t land. The finish looked a bit rough as well and deflated a crowd that was excited for women’s wrestling. *
Match #5: First Round: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Sage Philips
Jacobs refuses to take Philips seriously early on. Jacobs hits three consecutive suplexes onto the floor. He waits for a countout but Philips makes it back into the ring. Jacobs connects with repeated double stomps and an elbow drop. He takes control until Philips fights back with a flurry of strikes in the corner. Philips hits a german suplex and lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Philips hits a slingshot flatliner. A chop to the back wakes up Jacobs, but Philips hits a standing sliced bread for a nearfall. Jacobs responds with the Contra Code for a two count. Philips counters a springboard ace crusher into a backcracker and hits an implant DDT. Jacobs hits a spear out of nowhere. He follows with four top-rope sentons. Philips anticipates the fifth and sneaks in a rollup for the win at 12:28. They set a tone from the opening bell where the crowd was borderline uncomfortable with how aggressive Jacobs was being in beating down Philips. The five top-rope sentons to end the match punctuated that feeling. You can only do a match like this every so often, but Jacobs and Philips were great in their respective roles here. ***
Match #6: First Round: Tracy Williams vs. Curt Stallion
They trade german suplexes and Williams applies an early crossface. Stallion reaches the bottom rope. Stallion connects with a double stomp but falls victim to another german suplex. He recovers with a hesitation dropkick in the corner. Williams builds some momentum but gets slowed down by a headbutt. They battle up top and Williams hits a DDT into the top turnbuckle. He follows with a discus lariat for a nearfall. Stallion fights back with Buck Off for a two count. They trade forearms and Stallion hits a german suplex. They exchange german suplexes again and fall to the canvas. Williams hits a piledriver for the victory at 12:04. The crowd certainly appreciated how hard they were working and the fluidity of their exchanges captured everyone’s attention. I wasn’t a fan of all of the german suplexes and while everything they did looked clean, there wasn’t any real story to keep me engaged. **¾
Match #7: First Round: Homicide vs. Beau Crockett
Crockett attacks before the opening bell. Homicide fights him off and sends him into the ringpost. He chokes Crockett with cables and slides a chair into his knee. Crockett finds an opening to take control. He connects with a top-rope elbow drop. Homicide fires back with an ace crusher but runs into an exploder. Homicide hits a tornado DDT and a dragon screw leg whip. He follows with a neckbreaker for a nearfall. Crockett finds life with a spinebuster and connects with a short-arm lariat for a two count. Homicide traps him in a kneebar for the win at 11:34. This was a pretty lethargic singles match and felt like a collection of moves rather than something cohesive. The NOVA Pro crowd seemed familiar with Homicide and was excited to see him win, but these two didn’t match up very well at all. *¾
Match #8: First Round: Alexander James vs. Wheeler YUTA
James connects with a few uppercuts. YUTA gains an advantage by using his agility but James blocks a dive with another uppercut. James takes over, working over the left arm. YUTA starts to fight back but gets caught by a rope-assisted cutter. He recovers with a springboard dropkick and lands a dive to the floor onto James. Back in, YUTA synchs in a figure four variant but James punches away at the bad arm to escape. James keylocks the left arm but YUTA is able to reach the bottom rope. YUTA goes back to the leg submission and transitions into an STF for the victory at 12:50. YUTA brought great energy to his comebacks and did an excellent job of fighting from behind. It was nice to see James in NOVA Pro again as well. This was another example of both men being great in their roles and they unexpectedly delivered one of the better first round matches. ***¼
Match #9: First Round: Nick Gage vs. PCO
Gage takes down PCO with a shoulder tackle. PCO then shoulder tackles Gage to the floor. Back in, Gage hits a neckbreaker. PCO lands a dive to the floor and they brawl into the crowd. Both men lay in garbage can shots. Gage starts biting PCO’s ear and punching it. In the ring, PCO connects with a series of kicks and hits a senton. He follows with a michinoku driver. Gage crotches him on the top rope and hits a DDT onto the apron. Gage connects with a shotgun dropkick and a facewash kick for a nearfall. He hits a nasty piledriver twice. Good Lord. Gage hits a tiger driver but PCO won’t stay down. PCO slams Gage to the canvas from the middle rope. PCO lands a swantan along with a top-rope moonsault for the win at 10:12. PCO matches are incredibly difficult to rate. Firstly, this was a charming match. Gage acted like Gage, PCO acted like PCO, and everything felt right in the world. Not all of the offense was clean, but I could easily see myself rewatching this one. Your mileage will vary based on how much you enjoy watching these two. ***
-Show Grade: B-
–You Need to See:
–You’d Enjoy Watching: YUTA/James, Gresham/Garrini, Royal/LaRoux, Jacobs/Philips, Gage/PCO
–You Should Avoid:
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