July 28th, 2018
Opening Match: Dominic Garrini vs. Brian Johnson vs. Victor Benjamin vs. Bobby Shields vs. GPA vs. Isaiah Frazier
GPA was the standout roster member when I used to review a promotion called UnderGround Wrestling a few years ago. Coincidentally, I think the lesson learned in this four-minute opener was that GPA deserves a second look. Harlem Nights featured a packed card, but these six could have used more time. Frazier, for instance, hardly received any time to shine and ate the pin. Unsurprisingly, the action felt rushed given the short duration. Shields won in 4:16 when he rolled up Frazier. *½
Match #2: Mia Yim vs. Harlow O’Hara
Yim ran wild in the opening minute, O’Hara caught her with a neckbreaker in the ropes and took control, and then Yim hit a piledriver out of nowhere for the win. That’s a fairly textbook four-minute match and it was seemingly just used as setup to have Angelus Layne attack Yim after the match. Again, I cannot speak much of the match quality as four minutes is hard to do anything of substance with. This wasn’t bad by any means but it wasn’t anything I could recommend. Yim won in 4:42 with a piledriver. *
Match #3: Allie Kat vs. Angelus Layne
They started the match brawling, as Kat saved Yim from Layne’s attack after the last contest. Layne controlled for most of this contest, with O’Hara and Terra Calaway interfering from ringside when the referee wasn’t looking. The finish itself (Layne handcuffing Kat to the venue door and winning via countout) took too long to actually setup. Layne wrestled a smart match insofar as she did everything she knew how to win, but it didn’t translate into the most exciting match. Layne won in 8:09 via countout. *¾
Match #4: Josh Fuller (w/ Mack Buckler) vs. Coach Gator (w/ Isaiah Frazier)
Gator agreed to wrestle this match with one hand tied behind his back. Coach Gator, of course, is usually a manager but Fuller isn’t the most intimidating presence. Fuller controlled with a sleeper hold until Gator eventually freed his arm. Again, this match was harmless given its short duration, but nothing on this card thus far has really captured my attention. Fuller won in 3:55 after a low blow. ¼*
Match #5: Jordynne Grace vs. Rain
Rain, a veteran, quickly determined that she either needed to ground or out-smart Grace in order to neutralize Grace’s power advantage. The match played out from that point in an interesting way. Rain controlled for longer stretches of time but Grace arguably inflicted more punishment with spurts of offense. They ended up working well together and this was the first match of the night that felt like a complete package. Grace winning with a bearhug may not happen often, but it made perfect sense in the context of this match. Rain delivered a really solid performance here. Grace won in 10:10 with a bearhug. ***
Match #6: Timothy Thatcher vs. Jonathan Gresham
Thatcher’s EVOLVE Title reign absolutely sucked and it’s something that follows him when he goes to promotions like PWG. In NOVA Pro, however, the crowd gave Thatcher a fresh look and he got to just have a fun match with Gresham here. They didn’t really play up the height difference much and instead just went back and forth trading vicious submissions. The crowd reacted positively to the uniqueness of everything. For instance, down the stretch, Gresham dives through the ropes and lands on Thatcher applying a sleeper hold. They smartly highlighted Gresham’s resilience and somehow Gresham remains an incredibly underrated professional wrestler. This ended up being a smart pairing. Gresham won in 12:55 with a sleeper hold. ***¼
Match #7: Sage Philips vs. Alexander James
This match suffered from the classic problem of having two talented wrestlers with good chemistry working together but featuring no discernible story to save the action from feeling inconsequential. As a result, it just felt like they were trading moves. The post-match happenings with Logan Easton LaRoux scolding James for shaking Philips’ hand were interesting and James being the one to break away from the 1% makes a lot of sense. I think this match would have functioned better earlier in the card, as the crowd loves to rally behind Philips. James won in 9:32 with an implant DDT. **½
Match #8: Wheeler YUTA vs. Logan Easton LaRoux
These two had a great match together back in February where LaRoux narrowly escaped with a victory. YUTA was extremely determined to avenge his loss and he brought tremendous energy to the action that fired up the crowd. The finish meant that this match wasn’t going to match the quality of their last outing. Stokely Hathaway tried using a chair on YUTA, but Alexander James came out to chase him away. The distraction by James allowed YUTA to catch LaRoux with a rollup for the win. However, the foundation has certainly been set for the tiebreaking match between these two in the future. Given that these two are the only winners of the Commonwealth Cup thus far, that rubber match should be made to be a big deal. YUTA won in 8:21 with a rollup. **¾
Match #9: Veda Scott vs. Terra Calaway
Calaway is not the most thrilling power wrestler and Scott is not the most thrilling when fighting from behind, so this match didn’t really click for me. Calaway’s offense doesn’t look nearly impactful enough to buy her as a legitimate threat. I don’t know what purpose this match served on a card with so many matches. Calaway won in 8:05 with a full nelson slam. ½*
Match #10: Faye Jackson vs Madison Rayne
In theory, there were some good ideas here such as Rayne mocking Faye’s dancing, but at this point in the card, I just wanted to see high-quality wrestling. As we progress, this card is feeling the effects of having way too many matches. With still two more matches left, my patience was wearing thin with the antics in this contest. I imagine fans of Jackson or Rayne will enjoy this one more than I did. Jackson won in 6:09 with a half crab. *¼
Match #11: The Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude and Rob Killjoy) vs. The Philly Marino Experience (Marino Tenaglia and Philly Collins) vs. Beau Crockett and Jake Hollister vs. Cabana Man Dan and Lucas Calhoun
This match started off a bit sloppy but soon recovered with a divefest followed by a tower of doom spot that popped the crowd. The crowd also loved the Ugly Ducklings (for good reason) and they clearly stood out here as the most cohesive team. Additionally, Coach Mikey is one of the best managers I’ve seen in quite some time in terms of getting the crowd vocal and not taking away from the wrestlers he’s managing. The action became disjointed again and I think ironing out some of those moments would have made this an unexpectedly great four-way tag, even at seventeen minutes in length. As it stands, they did enough to really capture the crowd’s attention and this remained a solid effort. The Ugly Ducklings won in 17:54 with the Ducksday Device on Hollister. **¾
Match #12: Street Fight: Tim Donst vs. Nick Gage
To the surprise of probably no one, they delivered a fun, spirited brawl in what was a satisfying main event. Donst works best in this setting and although I haven’t been a huge fan of his “safety first” gimmick, his contrasting mindset during this match added to the brawling. The best part about the action was that they escalated the violence and took the crowd on a journey throughout the nine minutes. These two have been having solid weapons-based brawls together for quite some time and this was just another entry in their series. The match ultimately ended with Donst rolling up Gage, so it will be interesting to see if this feud is actually over. Donst won in 8:33 with a rollup after hitting Gage with a bundle of light tubes. ***
-Show Grade: C+
–You Need to See:
–You’d Enjoy Watching: Gresham/Thatcher, Donst/Gage, Grace/Rain
–You Should Avoid: Scott/Calaway