The opening match of Enjoy Wrestling’s “Striking Distance” is a 4 on 4 tag battle, which includes many familiar faces to the Enjoy audience and a couple new ones.
The first team consists of four individuals that have had their hands all over Enjoy since it’s inception. David Lawless Esq. attorney at law, may be the most hated person in Enjoy. He stole the Enjoy Cup from Lee Moriarty and has been having the hitman for hire, Mr. Grim, chasing after the Enjoy Championship since MV Young has won the title. Joining Lawless is someone who has possibly been even more dastardly in Enjoy in Ziggy Haim.
Ziggy stole the mask of Edith Surreal after losing to her in the Enjoy Cup and then paraded around with the stolen mask during season 2 of Canned Heat, while Edith was out with an injury. She met Edith in a hair vs mask match, which many considered a match of the year. Rounding out this team is The Runway, consisting of The Fashionista of Professional Wrestling, Calvin Couture, and The Style Icon and The Designer to the Stars, Tyler Klein. The Runway have been collecting tag titles and looking good while doing it.
On the other team we have three competitors that are brand new to Enjoy to go along with the veteran Veda Scott. Veda was in the multi person match in the last Enjoy show and has done commentary for Enjoy, along with being a competitor. Joining Veda are Shea McCoy, who is used to being part of a team as they are a regular member of The Outfielders with Weber Hatfield, who are one of the top teams in the indies today. Joining Shea and Veda are 2 wrestlers who have been making a name for themselves recently in AIW, Joseline Navarro and Mikey Montgomery.
Joseline has been tearing up the Midwest and winning titles on the way, competing against some of the best wrestlers, regardless of gender. She even competed against the likes of Ruby Soho and Thunder Rosa recently on an episode of AEW Dark. Mikey Montgomery is another wrestler that is used to being in tag matches. Mikey has been teaming with Eric Taylor as The Bitcoin Boyz. They have been at the top of the AIW tag team division for years now. He will look to use his speed to catch his opponents off guard. With so many different personalities in this match it may come down to which team is able to work together the best.
The look of the entrances is incredible with smoke and lights accentuating these very stylish wrestlers, and also David Lawless. Meg Fair is the ring announcer, who is looking fantastic as always.
We open with Lawless against Mikey Montgomery. Lawless has the size advantage and tries to use that early, but Lawless gets a little too confident and Mikey uses his speed to take Lawless down. Calvin Couture comes in the ring to try to help Lawless, but Mikey takes them both out and makes the tag to Shea. Shea picks up Mikey and drops him with a wheelbarrow splash on Calvin, then hitting a double dropkick on him before Mikey exits the ring and Calvin and Shea battle it out one on one before Shea tags in The Chocolate Goddess, Joseline Navarro.
She proceeds to drive her knees onto Calvin, who is laying neck first on the ropes. Calvin is able to make the tag to his Runway partner Tyler Klein, but he does not have much luck against Joseline either and Joseline tags in the most experienced person in the match, Veda Scott.
Tyler tries to get a quick pin but gets met with some kicks from Veda. Tyler is able to make the tag to Calvin and they double team Veda. Lawless chokes Veda on the ropes while the ref’s back is turned, and Calvin makes the tag to Ziggy. Ziggy keeps the pressure on Veda and Lawless officially comes back in the ring with a leg drop on the fellow lawyer, Veda. The Runway come back in the ring and double team Veda. Tyler tries to choke Veda with his measuring tape, but Veda is able to power out and choke him with it.
Ziggy comes back in and looks to keep Veda isolated from their team, but Veda is able to break away and make the tag to Mikey. Mikey comes into the ring with a flurry of chaos. He takes out Ziggy’s teammates and then hits a swinging neckbreaker on Ziggy. Ziggy hits a crucifix driver on Mikey, but Joseline breaks up the pin. She takes Ziggy out of the match, but Calvin returns the favor by hitting her with the Culture Shock. Shea comes in and drops Calvin, but Tyler drives them into the mat with a Full Nelson Face Buster. Veda answers this with a Shining Wizard but is picked up and dropped on their neck by Lawless. Mikey comes in and gives Lawless some Soul Food. Mikey drops Ziggy with the Blu Ray Driver, but the pin is broken up by The Runway.
The Runway look to double team Mikey, but Joseline spears Calvin and Shea hits Tyler with a spinebuster. This leaves Mikey and Ziggy in the ring. Mikey picks up Ziggy, but Ziggy slithers out of his grip. She rolls up Mikey, grabbing a handful of tights in the process and picks up the win for her team. Given the moral compass of her teammates I think they are happy with the win any way that they can get it.
Next up is the main event for episode one. This is a first time match up between two competitors that really need no introduction. Sonny Kiss is a member of the AEW roster and has been mesmerizing audiences across the country. Kiss is taking on the one and only Effy. Effy, who took on Jeff Jarrett the next night in NYC, has held multiple championships, including the Fest Wrestling Championship, which he defended in Enjoy before losing it to the Enjoy Champion, MV Young.
Both wrestlers are crowd favorites and the crowd appears to be torn on who they would like to come out on top. They feel each other out early, as they surprisingly have never been in the ring with each other before. Effy gets the first shot in with a strike to Sonny’s face. He then drops to his knees as Sonny comes off the ropes. Effy does not get into Sonny’s head as Sonny meets him with a boot to the face. He lures Sonny into the ropes and ties Sonny up in the ropes. Effy must release the hold and gets hit with a huge kick to the face when he comes off the ropes. Sonny goes to the outside after Effy and brings the fight to him. Effy eats a few strikes but turns the tide by throwing Sonny into the ring post.
They both go up on the stage, where Effy drops Sonny with a DDT on the stage. They make their way back to the ring and Sonny drives Effy into the ring steps. The crowd chants “This is awesome” as they get back in the ring.
Effy hits Sonny with a cutter and then locks him in a dragon sleeper. The crowd gets behind Sonny as Effy drives a knee into Sonny’s face as Sonny is laying in the corner. Effy drags Sonny to the center of the ring but is only able to get a two count. He goes to the top rope, but is met by an upper cut from Sonny, who picks him up and drops him in the middle of the ring before hitting him with his knees. Sonny hits a springboard in the corner, but misses a kick and Effy goes after Sonny’s knee and locks him into a figure four. They exchange strikes while intertwined.
Effy goes to the second rope, but Sonny catches him again and drops him with a power bomb. Sonny goes to the top rope. Effy moves out of the way and takes out Sonny’s knees. Effy drops Sonny with a Rough Rider out of the corner. Sonny kicks out and the crowd chants “Fight Forever”.
Effy goes to the top again, where he has not had much luck this match. He gets met with a kick from Sonny. Sonny hits a bulldog off the top rope, but Effy kicks out at two. Sonny goes to the top rope and hits a splash off the top with multiple rotations. They exchange pinfalls and Sonny hits Effy with a big kick to the face. Sonny spins Effy around and locks in a crossface forcing Effy to tap out. This match was as incredible as you would think it would be with these two. Two amazing wrestlers who are trailblazers in the sport.
The action from Striking Distance continues next week with two big tag team matches. Violence Is Forever against Yokai and Lee Moriarty & PB Smooth against Darius Lockhart & Suge D. You can see all the action and the previous shows from Enjoy for free on their YouTube channel.