CZW:  Tangled Web 7

10/18/14

Opening Match:  Pepper Parks vs. Greg Excellent vs. Alex Colon vs. Buxx Belmar vs. Latin Dragon vs. Lucky 13

Dragon and Colon start brawling before the opening bell.  Belmar lands a dive to the floor onto Excellent.  Parks follows out with a dive of his own.  Colon blocks a dive from Lucky with an enzuigiri but then Dragon dives onto him.  Parks blocks a dive from Excellent with a boot.  Belmar hits a cannonball senton onto Excellent and a gutbuster on Lucky.  Colon sunset bombs Belmar into the turnbuckles.  Dragon lands a flying crossbody onto Colon but he rolls through into a camel clutch.  A six-way submission hold ensues.  Lucky connects with a shining wizard on Dragon and everyone gets some signature offense in.  Colon hits a double leg drop from the top rope and all six men are down.  Excellent hits an elevated uranagi on Colon for a nearfall.  He hits a cannonball on Belmar and lands a dive to the floor onto Parks.  The crowd goes crazy for the Excellent dive.  Dragon hits a reverse hurricanrana on Colon from the middle rope.  Excellent hits a tiger driver on Belmar onto Colon for the win at 8:12.  A mixed bag.  The smart focus on the Colon/Dragon rivalry and Excellent actually diving balanced out the extraneous dives and Excellent winning the match.  **¼

Match #2:  Alexander James vs. Kit Osbourne

James likes to retreat to the floor when frustrated, meaning I better buckle in for this one.  James controls on the mat as the crowd chants for Super Dragon.  Osbourne connects with a spin kick and comes off the top rope with a back elbow.  An associate distracts Osbourne, allowing James to hit a brainbuster for the victory at 3:32.  James needed interference to win this squash match.  I’m still trying to figure this one out.  ½*

Match #3:  Joe Gacy vs. Papadon

Gacy attacks Papadon during his entrance.  He rams Papadon into the guardrail with a running knee strike.  Papadon is able to gain control once the action gets into the ring.  Gacy avoids a diving headbutt and connects with a few right hands.  He follows with a bicycle kick for a two count.  Gacy lands a dive to the floor.  In the ring, Papadon blocks a lionsault attempt.  Gacy traps him in the ring skirt and lays in some strikes.  Papadon low blows Gacy behind the referee’s back.  Gacy avoids a shining wizard and connects with a discus lariat for a two count.  Papadon comes off the middle rope with an uppercut.  He finds an opening to connect with a stiff right hand but Gacy won’t stay down.  Gacy hits a handspring stunner but Papadon immediately responds with a superkick and a german suplex.  Gacy ducks a sliding lariat and hits a backbreaker.  Papadon crotches him on the top rope.  Gacy fights off a superplex and lands a top-rope splash for the win at 10:25.  The finish to their previous match at Down with the Sickness was less than desirable, but I’ll give credit to CZW here for letting these two show what they could do together.  Gacy has been having quality matches for the past couple of months and the crowd is noticing.  Papadon finally received a chance to be a serious threat and he impressed as well.  For as much as I complain during these CZW undercards, this match was handled extremely well.  ***

Match #4:  Sabian and Joker vs. Alex Reynolds and John Silver

Silver catches Sabian with an uppercut.  Sabian hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Reynolds and Philly’s Most Wanted take him down with stereo shoulder blocks.  Reynolds snaps off a hurricanrana on Joker and connects with a dropkick.  Joker recovers with a back suplex on Silver and Philly’s Most Wanted isolate him.  He lands a flying crossbody onto Joker and makes the tag.  Reynolds hits a rolling neckbreaker on Joker and follows with a dive to the floor.  Sabian catches Reynolds with a flatliner and locks in a boston crab.  Joker elbow drops Reynolds over Sabian’s knees for a nearfall.  Silver launches Joker across the ring with an overhead suplex.  The Beaver Boys hit a lungblower-german suplex combination on Sabian for a two count.  Joker slams Silver onto the apron.  Sabian takes out Silver with a dive.  In the ring, Philly’s Most Wanted hit a double stomp-dominator combination on Reynolds for a two count.  They argue with the referee about bringing a chair into the ring.  Reynolds then grabs the chair and thinks about using it.  Team Tremendous come out to yell at him.  Sabian rolls up Reynolds for the victory at 12:59.  I’m rarely sympathetic to such wacky finishes, especially in CZW.  The best way to win over a CZW crowd is by having quality matches (or by doing crazy things in deathmatches).  Having a manufactured, cute gimmick like Team Tremendous being against cheating interfere with matches is not going to do much.  This contest was going along decently well until the finish.  **½

Match #5:  CZW Wired Television Title: Shane Strickland © vs. Mike Bailey

They dodge each other’s strikes and find themselves at a stalemate.  Bailey snaps off a springboard headscissors and lays in a kick across the chest.  He connects with moonsault double knees.  Strickland attempts a crossface but Bailey quickly reaches the bottom rope.  Strickland hits an ace crusher and takes control with a delayed german suplex.  Bailey fights back with a roundhouse kick and an enzuigiri.  Strickland rolls to the floor and blocks a dive with a gamengiri.  Bailey enzuigiris him off the apron and lands a moonsault to the floor.  In the ring, Bailey connects with a missile dropkick and lands a standing corkscrew splash.  Strickland hits a reverse hurricanrana out of the corner and follows with a leaping DDT for a nearfall.  Strickland misses a spinal tap.  Bailey connects with shooting star knees from the top for a two count.  They exchange strikes and Strickland hits a backbreaker.  He transitions into a crossface and retains his title at 12:36.  These two did an excellent job in what was a great title defense for Strickland.  The match was only twelve minutes but they built the action in a smart way and had the crowd in the palm of their hand down the finishing stretch.  Strickland’s character continues to develop, as the biggest mistake he made during this match was attempting a new aerial move for the first time.  You feel good after watching a contest like this because both men came out of it for the better.  ***½

Match #6:  Caleb Konley vs. Trevor Lee

Both men try quick pin attempts early on to no avail.  Lee snaps off an armdrag and connects with a dropkick.  Konley trips him up on the apron and hits a tornado DDT onto the floor.  Konley seems satisfied with taking a countout win but Lee makes it back into the ring.  Konley takes control until Lee does his flipping crossbody in midair.  Both men are down.  They trade forearms and Lee hits a dead-lift german suplex.  Konley recovers with a dive to the floor.  In the ring, Lee connects with a double stomp but gets hip tossed into the turnbuckles.  Konley hits a gory slam and transitions into the O-Face.  Lee counters into a sunset flip and hits a bucklebomb.  Konley responds with a michinoku driver for a nearfall.  Lee avoids a double-jump moonsault and connects with a knockout kick.  Konley rolls to the floor.  Lee follows out with a sick dive over the ringpost.  Back in, Konley catches Lee with a michinoku driver from the middle rope for the victory at 12:39.  A great introduction to Lee and it’s shocking that more promotions haven’t gotten the hint to book him.  I was also impressed with Konley’s entourage not interfering once during this contest.  I could see this match happening on an EVOLVE undercard and being really frustrating.  Here, however, they had a very good showcase and it was fun watching the crowd gradually get behind Lee.  ***¼

Match #7:  CZW World Tag Team Titles: Jake and Dave Crist © vs. Bill Carr and Dan Barry

Dave and Barry trade dropkicks.  They botch a hurricanrana so Barry applies a triangle choke.  Jake connects with a superkick on Carr and hits a death valley driver.  He takes out Carr with a dive to the floor.  Dave and Barry land stereo fosbury flops to the outside.  In the ring, Carr catches Jake with a uranagi and goes up top.  Dave hits a rope-assisted DDT on Carr.  Barry may have hurt his knee on the dive.  Team Tremendous hit an assisted flatliner on Dave for a nearfall.  Irish Airborne double team Carr.  Jake connects with a roundhouse kick on Barry and hits a tiger suplex.  Carr hits an exploder on both of his opponents.  He takes them out with a dive AND lands on his feet.  Back in, Carr hits a black hole slam on Jake.  Barry misses a spinal tap.  Dave takes out Carr with double knees.  Irish Airborne hit the Kill Shot on Barry to retain their titles at 7:39.  The rating here should be taken with a grain of salt as Barry injured his knee early on in the match.  They did a respectable job of still trying to deliver solid action with a satisfying finish.  **¼

Match #8:  CZW World Heavyweight Title: Biff Busick © vs. Chris Dickinson

Dickinson gets the better of an early exchange and pursues Busick as he retreats to ringside.  Dickinson connects with chops around ringside followed by a running boot.  Dickinson steals the camera at one point and gives everyone watching on VOD a headache.  Busick back drops him into the front row.  They brawl into the crowd and around the building.  Busick hits Dickinson with a trash can.  Important to note that Sozio holds back his henchmen throughout all of this and lets Dickinson and Busick brawl.  In the ring, Dickinson hits a superplex.  Busick counters a niagra driver and hits a half nelson suplex.  They battle up top.  Busick catches Dickinson with an uppercut and hits another half nelson suplex.  Dickinson pops up and connects with a lariat.  Both men are down.  Dickinson connects with a spinning enzuigiri and hits a burning hammer.  It would have been a three count but the referee refuses to count.  The referee is wearing a DJ Hyde shirt under his polo.  Busick applies his signature choke to retain his title at 14:13.  The finish is the worst because 1) you don’t want to condition fans to believe that there’s even the possibility of referees being paid off and 2) if the referee was paid off, why not just disqualify Dickinson in the opening seconds of the match?  It’s probably best to view this as an angle leading into the next match.  That doesn’t mean this wasn’t a colossal waste of time.  *

Sozio and his henchmen enter the ring.  Sozio cuts a promo expressing his frustrations with Busick.  He boots Busick in the face and we have a match…

Match #9:  CZW World Heavyweight Title: Biff Busick © vs. Sozio

The henchmen enter the ring and hold Busick in place while Sozio attacks.  Sozio lays in a chair shot to the head.  They place the chair on Busick’s head and Sozio stomps it from the top rope.  Sozio becomes the new CZW World Heavyweight Champion at 2:18.  I’m glad they didn’t try to do anything cute with Busick getting nearfalls or Sozio’s henchmen staying idle at ringside.  Again, you generally don’t want titles to change hands in this way but the follow-up will dictate if people remember this title change fondly or not.

Match #10:  Tangled Web: Devon Moore vs. Matt Tremont

They lockup and try to push each other into the barbed wire.  They exchange punches.  Moore sends Tremont to the floor with a dropkick and botches a dive.  Tremont throws him into the guardrail and grinds a barbed wire bat across his forehead.  Moore throws a chair at Tremont’s head and both men are bleeding.  They send each other into the guardrail and battle around ringside.  Back in the ring, Moore monkey flips Tremont into some barbed wire in the corner.  Moore climbs to the top of the scaffold but misses a senton.  Tremont sets him on a table in the ring and climbs to the top of the scaffold himself.  Tremont splashes Moore through the table for a nearfall.  That felt like it could have been the end of the match and we’re only ten minutes in.  Moore fights back with an ace crusher.  They battle on the side of the scaffold and Tremont hits a samoan drop through a barbed wire board platform.  In the ring, Tremont hits a sit-out powerbomb for a two count.  They set a barbed wire board between two propped chairs.  Both men end up on top of the scaffold.  Moore finlay rolls Tremont through the board structure.  The match is not over.  Moore hits a piledriver for the win at 18:58.  I’m certainly not an expert on deathmatch wrestling but I’ve seen enough of it to know that this was not what I want out of a deathmatch.  The action was focused around a few big spots but setting those spots up involved a lot of choreography that made it hard to suspend my disbelief.  It goes without saying that what happens in between the big spots is just as important as the spots themselves.  The crowd chanted “that was awesome” afterwards so I’d be curious to hear what a deathmatch aficionado thought of this one.  **

Overall:  The middle of the card featured some quality matches from who you’d expect – Strickland, Bailey, Lee, and Konley.  However, the card really fell off the cliff with the last three matches.  The tag title match fell short due to Barry suffering a knee injury, the world title situation was a small-scale mess, and the main event was just not an enjoyable deathmatch to me.  I also think that a ten-match card should be something special if you’re going sit through it.  Instead, we had things like an Alexander James singles match.  I cannot give a recommendation to check out Tangled Web 7.