CZW:  New Heights 2014

7/12/14

Opening Match:  Alex Colon vs. Lucky 13 vs. Latin Dragon

Colon snaps off a headscissors on Dragon and follows with a hurricanrana.  Dragon returns the favor and dropkicks Colon to the floor.  He takes out Colon with a springboard corkscrew plancha.  In the ring, Colon superkicks Lucky but almost gets rolled up by Dragon.  Lucky jumps off the middle rope and plants Colon with a nasty DDT on the apron.  Lucky follows with a tornado DDT on Dragon.  Colon slows him down by targeting his left knee.  Colon teases a fancy, chair-assisted dive but instead takes a seat.  Dragon knocks him off the chair with a flying crossbody and hits a michinoku driver.  All three men battle up top and Lucky stomps both of his opponents to the canvas.  Lucky connects with a shining wizard on Dragon for the win at 6:09.  I missed the absurdity of these CZW openers.  While the crowd didn’t react to the DDT on the apron, they came alive for the crossbody through the chair.  The action was fairly mindless but Lucky came away looking decent enough with the win.  **¼

Match #2:  Greg Excellent vs. Buxx Belmar

Excellent tries to out-gross Belmar, but Belmar seems to enjoy Excellent’s antics.  Belmar licks Excellent’s hand and then bites him in the shoulder.  Excellent returns the favor by biting Belmar’s midsection.  Excellent hits a samoan drop.  Belmar escapes a headlock with a chinbreaker and is able to take Excellent down with a series of dropkicks.  They start kissing each other.  Belmar comes off the top rope with a seated senton.  Excellent takes off his singlet and pulls down his tights.  Belmar puts his hand in Excellent’s ass and then tries a rollup to no avail.  Excellent hits a corner cannonball for the victory at 7:39.  I wasn’t a huge fan of this match but the crowd stuck with them and seemed to enjoy the antics.  Who knows, maybe this contest made Belmar more of an endearing figure to the CZW crowds or something.  I’ve seen this kind of stuff from Excellent many times before, but the match was harmless at seven minutes.  *½

Drew Gulak makes his way to the ring with his campaign.  Gulak immediately scolds Alexander James for mouthing off to a fan and kicks him out of the campaign.  Gulak talks about the rich history of CZW and says that some people merely use the promotion as a stepping stone.  He says that the only thing that will allow him to bring about change is wearing the CZW World Heavyweight Title.  DJ Hyde interrupts and reminds Gulak that he brought him into the pro wrestling business.  Biff Busick leads the Front to the ring.  Sozio tells Gulak that he failed to bring about a better combat zone.  Sozio says that the CZW World Heavyweight Title belongs to him and Gulak will never take it back.  Gulak attacks Sozio, leading to…

Match #3:  Drew Gulak vs. Sozio

Sozio regroups with the Front at ringside.  They start brawling again in the ring and Sozio creates an opening with a spinning back kick.  He takes control with some help from Busick at ringside.  The match breaks down when the Front gets into Kimber Lee’s face and the two factions get hostile.  Sozio throws some chairs into the ring and props them in two rows.  Gulak chokeslams Sozio from the middle rope through the chairs for a nearfall.  Busick tries to interfere but Sozio accidentally nails him with a mafia kick.  Gulak applies the Gu-lock on Sozio but he’s able to reach the bottom rope.  Gulak hits the chokebreaker for another two count.   Gulak follows with a regalplex but Sozio won’t stay down.  Gulak applies a modified ankle lock but breaks the hold when he sees Busick distracting the referee.  Sozio connects with a mafia kick for the win at 11:40.  These two worked well together and there were multiple points in the match where I would’ve been okay with the finish happening, such as when Gulak busted out the chokebreaker.  In fact, Sozio looks better for having survived Gulak’s offense than he does for actually winning the match, since that feat required a lot of help from the Front.  The next couple months will be very important for Gulak and I hope the booking reflects that.  **½

Match #4:  Sabian vs. Jonathan Gresham

They trade control on the mat and find themselves at a stalemate.  Sabian offers a handshake but Gresham rejects.  Sabian hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and takes control with a back suplex.  Gresham fights back by out-quicking Sabian and targets his left shoulder.  Gresham makes it clear that he does not care what the crowd thinks.  Gresham lands a moonsault to the floor and Sabian almost doesn’t catch him.  Back in, Sabian avoids a missile dropkick and hits a fireman’s carry neckbreaker.  Gresham hits a chinbreaker, connects with an enzuigiri, and follows with a dead-lift german suplex.  Sabian responds with a saito suplex but runs into a german suplex.  Sabian quickly recovers with a flatliner and both men are down.  They battle over an inside cradle to no avail.  Sabian comes off the middle rope with an ace crusher for a nearfall.  Sabian adds a flying double stomp for the victory at 12:03.  Aside from the scary moonsault spot, this match had great pacing and every move felt like it mattered.  Gresham is pretty underrated right now and Sabian gave me absolutely nothing to complain about.  An effective showcase that raised both men’s stock.  ***

Match #5:  CZW World Tag Team Titles: David Starr and JT Dunn © vs. Alex Reynolds and John Silver vs. Dave and Jake Crist vs. Bill Carr and Dan Barry

All four teams brawl with each other around ringside.  In the ring, Carr corners Dunn in the corner and lights him up with a chop.  Starr saves his partner with a back suplex on Barry.  Dave hits a slingshot stunner on Dunn.  The Beaver Boys land slingshot dives onto Starr.  Dunn catches Reynolds with a leg lariat.  Reynolds is isolated but Silver eventually gets the tag and goes wild.  He is actually  able to throw Carr across the ring as the crowd erupts.  Reynolds hits a canadian destroyer on Carr because why not.  He lands a dive onto Dunn.  Silver back drops Starr to the floor and follows out with a dive.  Irish Airborne out-do everyone with insane dives.  Barry adds a shooting star press, which no one saw coming.  The Juicy Product prevent Carr from diving with a superkick-german suplex combination.  Dave catches Starr with double knees from the top rope.  Silver back drops Jake into the turnbuckles.  Team Tremendous hit a doomsday inverted DDT on Silver for a nearfall.  That was insane.  Carr hits the black hole slam on Starr.  Dunn rolls up Carr while holding his tights and the Juicy Product retain their titles at 9:51.  That was quite the sprint.  You could argue that all of these teams are heavily underutilized and it was great to see the crowd get behind the action to the extent in which they did.  While the rollup finish would usually be tiring, they had teased Carr doing a dive earlier in the match so the finish at least made sense in that regard.  I look forward to the crowd exploding when he eventually lands a dive.  Perhaps it was due to my own lack of familiarity with the teams, but this match felt unique and well-executed.  ***¼

Match #6:  Alexander James vs. Joe Gacy

James comes out to cut a promo following intermission.  He says his chains are off now that he’s gone from the Campaign.  Gacy lays in some punches and lands a dive to the floor.  He grabs a barbed wire board from under the ring.  Gacy hits three consecutive powerbombs.  James tries a hurricanrana but Gacy just powerbombs him into the barbed wire board for the win at 3:46.  A fine squash for Gacy, but James leaving the Campaign could have been somewhat of a fresh start for him whereas this felt like more of the same.  *

Match #7:  CZW Wired Television Title: Shane Strickland © vs. Caleb Konley

They wrestle to a stalemate.  Konley lays in a forearm and some chops.  He hits a powerslam.  Strickland blocks a moonsault from Konley by german suplexing him onto the apron.  Strickland then hits a back suplex onto the apron and takes over in the ring.  Konley avoids a flying double stomp and lands a dive to the floor.  His knees banged off the guardrail but he appears to be okay.  In the ring, Strickland connects with a knockout kick.  Konley responds with a superkick and a flying knee strike.  Strickland blocks a second dive.  Konley fights off an ace crusher and hits a german suplex.  He misses a moonsault and Strickland hits an ace crusher for a nearfall.  Konley hits a michinoku driver and locks in the O-Face.  Strickland escapes the hold and hits an implant DDT for a two count.  They battle up top and Konley botches a reverse hurricanrana.  Konley hits another michinoku driver for a nearfall.  Strickland connects with a superkick and hits a DDT out of the corner.  He adds a backcracker but Konley won’t stay down.  Strickland tries using his title belt but the referee takes it away from him.  Strickland kicks Konley in the face and rolls him up to retain his title at 15:41.  No one knows how to react to that finish.  It looked as though Strickland was going to cheat while the referee was busy with the title belt, but he just did nothing and the finish made Konley look silly.  There were a couple of spots in this match that just didn’t go the way they wanted.  While the crowd didn’t get on their case too hard, they certainly weren’t vocal for the action.  I haven’t seen any of Strickland’s title reign besides this match, but not everything clicked here.  **¼

Match #8:  CZW World Heavyweight Title: Biff Busick © vs. Mike Bailey

AR Fox and Busick argue before the match.  Fox tells Busick he’s champion only because he feeds DJ Hyde’s ego.  Busick attacks Fox and starts working over Bailey.  Bailey sends Busick to the floor with a dropkick and connects with a dropkick through the ropes.  Bailey lands an asai moonsault to the floor.  He connects with a facewash dropkick at ringside.  Busick goes to the eyes to create some space.  Bailey counters a powerbomb by sending Busick into the ring steps with a hurricanrana.  Bailey runs up the steps but Busick catches him with an uppercut in midair.  The champion takes control in the ring until Bailey fights back with a series of kicks.  He lands moonsault double knees for a nearfall.  Busick slows him down with a gutwrench powerbomb.  Busick follows with two more powerbombs.  Bailey counters the third with a triangle choke.  Bailey counters a flying crossbody in midair for a nearfall and lands a standing shooting star press.  Bailey lands shooting star double knees for a two count.  They battle up top and Busick hits a super half nelson suplex.  Busick transitions into the half stranglehold to retain his title at 13:31.  Just an awesome coming out party for Bailey as Busick was the perfect opponent for him.  Bailey’s recklessness will certainly find a home in CZW.  The knowledge that Busick was going to inevitably retain didn’t hurt my enjoyment of the match since Bailey was so much fun to watch.  I haven’t watched CZW in quite awhile but I’m finding a lot of fresh talent on this show being utilized well.  I hope we see more from Bailey as this was my favorite match of the night.  ***½

Match #9:  Ultraviolent Rules: Danny Havoc and Devon Moore vs. Matt Tremont and Ron Mathis

The teams start brawling before the opening bell.  Moore lands a dive to the floor onto both of his opponents.  Mathis plants Havoc with an STO on the apron.  Tremont grabs a ladder and starts using it.  Tremont and Havoc trade forearms in the ring while Moore busts open Mathis at ringside.  Tremont irish whips Havoc into a ladder but misses a charge and collides with the ladder himself.  Havoc hits a ladder-assisted springboard senton.  Mathis hits a saito suplex on Havoc and they exchange forearms.  Havoc lands a dive to the floor onto Tremont.  In the ring, the Forgotten Ones isolate Havoc.  Moore distracts them by bringing out a barbed wire board.  He throws the board at Tremont.  Havoc plants Mathis with a flatliner on the apron.  Moore places the barbed wire board onto two propped chairs.  Havoc repeatedly hits Tremont in the head with a street sign and adds a dragon suplex.  The Forgotten Ones regain control after utilizing a shopping cart.  Havoc sends Mathis onto the cart with a death valley driver and Tremont accidentally splashes him.  Tremont hits a side slam on Havoc onto a barbed wire chair.  Tremont sends Havoc into the barbed wire ladder with a running powerbomb for the win at 14:19.  As far as deathmatches are concerned, this was just decent.  The first couple of minutes were awkward until the weapons came into play.  However, they developed a good rhythm down the stretch.  Again, not for everyone, but this had decent enough action with a satisfying finish.  **½

Overall:  New Heights was my first CZW show for about a year and I walked away pleased but not blown away.  The world and tag title matches featured some exciting talent and great action and were the clear highlights of the show.  The feud between Drew Gulak and the Front seems to have some legs as well.  I can give this show a slight recommendation due to the strength of the roster and the aforementioned matches.  However, this show needed Strickland/Konley to come through or another match to reach a higher level to put it over the top.