2018 INDIE WRESTLING THREAD

[Jiji]

Excalibur shows why he's the best commentator by joking that he never knew that Jerry Lawler was the defender of women when king came out to wrestle Joey Ryan doing a Kaufman gimmick. 

[Super Ape]

2 hours ago, RIPPA said:

If you look on Twitter - people are posting referral codes all over the place for Fite TV - where if you use one, you get a $15 credit and they get a $20 credit

I made enough credit off referral codes to buy the entire WWNLive block. Twice. I’m gonna be busy this weekend in between delivering Uber Eats on WrestleMania day and watching wrestling on my downtime.

[S.K.o.S.]

There's a theory out there that by the end of the weekend, Keith Lee holds a Triple Crown of a unified EVOLVE, WWN and FIP title. The matchups are there to make it happen.

[Craig H]

I need that Cobb/Ishii match in my life.

[S.K.o.S.]

5 hours ago, S.K.o.S. said:

There's a theory out there that by the end of the weekend, Keith Lee holds a Triple Crown of a unified EVOLVE, WWN and FIP title. The matchups are there to make it happen.

 Theory disproved... by Theory.

[Jiji]

29 minutes ago, S.K.o.S. said:

 Theory disproved... by Theory.

That was going to happen sooner or later.

Is the Crash show from earlier today going up on any streaming service? It was out of the Sugar Mill where the Highspots crew is based out of, so will it be on HS Network? Not a word on twitter from what I can see but I'm not good at that shit.

Sexiful matches that have recently happened or going to happen this weekend:

1. ZSJ vs. Riddle (EVOLVE 102) I think this is their 43rd match this year
2. Ishii vs. Cobb (Wrestlecon)
3. RINGKAMPF vs. Sawa/Sekimoto (EVOLVE 102)
4. Teddy Hart & Jack Evans vs. Lucha Bros (pancakes and piledrivers II, tomorrow morning)
5. Penta vs. Aries (The Crash)
6. Rey Fenix vs. Flamita (The Crash)
7. Daga vs. Cage vs. Mack vs. Callihan (The Crash)
8. Riddle vs. Sekimoto (EVOLVE 103)
9. WALTER vs. Darby Allin (EVOLVE 103) - dark horse for match of the weekend
10. ZSJ vs. Ishii (RevPro)
11. Suzuki vs. Cobb (RevPro)
12. Ibushi, SWERVE Strickland & Flip vs. Ospreay, Romero & Chuck (RevPro)
13. Keith Lee vs. Sekimoto (WWN)
14. Doom Patrol vs. RINGKAMPF (WWN)
15. Aries/Fenix vs. Alberto/Penta (Impact/LU)
16. Eddie Edwards vs. Callihan - I Quit (Impact/LU)
17. Scott Steiner & Teddy Hart vs. OVE (Impact/LU) - this is going to be a massacre
18. All of Spring Break 2
19. WALTER vs. ZSJ (Progress)
20. Kenny vs. Cody (ROH)
21. Juice vs. Starr (CZW)

There's a bunch of other stuff that will peak my interest like seeing how crazy Janela vs. Penta from the Wrestlecon show got. I was a bit disappointed with Chuck's mystery partner but at least he had some fun in playing it up. I'm going to go broke and probably forget to hydrate and eat and by tomorrow night I'll resemble this:

Spoiler

 

[odessasteps]

I think Cubsfan said it will be on highspots network. 

[S.K.o.S.]

33 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

1. WALTER vs. Darby Allin (EVOLVE 103) - dark horse for match of the weekend

 

Bad news, Darby messed himself up on a dive on the Progress show immediately preceding, and EVOLVE pulled him out of the WALTER match. They ran WALTER vs Hot Sauce instead, which was still very good. Tracy got some of the beating that was slated for Darby.

[Beech27]

Injuries aside, I still liked Evolve 103 a lot. Honestly, Riddle/Sekimoto alone would justify the price I paid for it... which was nothing... but still, it would have been worth quite a bit more to me. I certainly can’t say it’s my match of the weekend yet; but I can suggest the United Nations recognize the ability to view it as a basic human right.

[Jiji]

Cobb vs. Ishii was really, really good and it saddens me we had to endure that over-the-top nonsense Elgin threw at Ishii in the NJ Cup instead of watching Cobb and Tomohiro duke it out in front of a hot Korakuen crowd. The crowd at the Sugar Mill for last night's Wrestlecon show was either really dead except for a few highspots per match or mic'd poorly. That's weird because that show sold out quicker than any other show this week.

[Beech27]

That’s the most notable match I’ve yet to see, probably. And at least a full house, however it sounds, is better than Evolve had. I know it had the WWN supershow later and an early start, but there were rows and rows of empties. (Still, I never felt it detracted from the show. Just can’t help but feel some guys killed themselves for a smaller house than they deserved. But that’s the indies.)

[mattdangerously]

Reality of Wrestling is doing their version of a Royal Rumble next Saturday.  I will lose my goddamn mind if Henry is a surprise entrant in it.

[SturmCRF]

I've been at all the WWN shows so far, Evolve 103's audience was decimated by people heading off to the Rev Pro show (plus I guess mainly having different configurations of the same wrestlers who were on 102 and Mercury Rising), but it might be my favourite overall card so far, everyone worked like madmen. Munenori Sawa vs Jaka was right up there with AR Fox vs Will Ospreay for the match of the week, but I think Ospreay vs Riddle just topped everything, those guys have the best chemistry. The crowd was back up to a much more respectable level for the supershow  too.

[Jiji]

Spring Break 2 has started and I'm psyched. No Excalibur on commentary this year, unfortunately. Place is packed and so lively. FUCK YES!

[Jiji]

Teddy Hart in this opener is fucking legendary. Guzzling guys up and no selling. Just was part of the mob to catch three dives and didn't go down for one. SO AWESOME.

[Archibald]

Impact has uploaded their show on twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/247553403

But it isn't working for me? Am I stupid and doing something wrong or is there something wrong on twitch's end?

[Jiji]

Pierre Carl Ouellet vs. WALTER is a legitimate MOTYC. Fucking insane and hilarious and just disgusting.

@Archibald the twitch vid works for me. But we get the best of both worlds on commentary. STRIKER AND MATHEWS. 

[Brian Fowler]

How was the BEYOND show Thursday late night? 

[Rehabilitated Rick]

PCO is hitting moonsaults to the outside, crashing through tables and dueling with chops with fucking WALTER at nearly 2am in New Orleans. Pro Wrestling, folks. 

I'm with Oyaji, that was my favorite match of the week so far

[Jiji]

And now it's Nick Gage vs. Penta. Spring fucking Break, guys!

[Jiji]

What a strange match. Penta kills him with everything and then Gage hits like two moves. I think that chair shot at the very start really fucked him up.

[EricG]

Just now, Oyaji said:

What a strange match. Penta kills him with everything and then Gage hits like two moves. I think that chair shot at the very start really fucked him up.

Gage looks lost. Yikes. That match was really odd. 

[EricG]

Results/random thoughts on JJSB2:

Spoiler

Random note: The specific promo videos for each match are killer. Kudos to whomever put those together. 

Eli Everfly vs. DJZ vs. Tony Deppen vs. Gringo Loco vs. KTB vs. Teddy Hart. Back from jail, it's Teddy Hart! After the cliche scramble stuff, it slows down and just becomes Teddy Hart hitting a bunch of his moves. Hart can't even be bothered to sell for the other dives. Gets a little sloppy in parts. Ten minutes in and Hart finally sells for the first time. Everfly wins with a double-underhook Canadian piledriver from the top. Of course Hart congratulates him with seconds of Everfly celebrating. Hart's then shown walking out of the ring, again no-selling, while the others hobble out.  

Champion vs. Champion: James Ellsworth vs. Matt Riddle. Ellsworth attacks the knee before the bell! Riddle takes control. There's some chin-related spots (Ellsworth missing getting knee'd by the skin of his non-chin) and Ellsworth gets a few hope spots, Riddle easily submits him. Quick and fun. 

Virgil is out. Crowd is chanting "F*CK MONEY!" He says stuff no one can understand. There's an awkward pause, music starts, and he leaves. "There's no way Virgil paid $25 to get his bloodwork done."

PCO vs. WALTER. Crowd is really into WALTER. He takes the mic and gives PCO one last chance to leave before the match starts. WALTER looks like he's had a rough couple days. Decent hoss battle. Big back body-drop to the outside from WALTER to PCO. PCO sets up a table. It's not much except for chops and kicks at this point on the outside. PCO with a moonsault from the top to the outside, it falls short and he's down, ref checks on PCO. They go right to the table spot, WALTER powerbombs him through the table, brings him in for another powerbomb. Ref is down so the count is delayed, PCO kicks out. More chops. PCO is cut from the moonsault botch. PCO tears down the straps, and chop battle! PCO's chest is already heavily bruised. Suicide dive by PCO. Another dive to the outside by PCO. Super frankensteiner by PCO. Split-legged moonsault by PCO. He looks gassed, crowd is getting back into it. Flipping senton and PCO wins it. They exchange one more chop afterward then shake hands! A bit slow in parts but really picked up toward the end. The moonsault looked painful. Probably could have cut five minutes from this, but really enjoyable stuff here.  

Penta El 0M vs. Nick Gage. Man, I can't stand Nick Gage. Sick chair to the face of Gage right off the bat. They're outside already. Penta puts multiple doors inside the ring. Penta already hip-tossed through a table in the corner. Fireman's carry by Penta through the other door in the corner. He cracks a table over Gage's head. Penta with an odd senton onto Gage who's on the timekeeper's table, it doesn't break. Pumphandle driver through another door by Penta. Powerbomb through another door by Gage. Chokebreaker by Gage gets the win. Gage looks out of it. Just a really odd match, not much build up to anything. Gage takes the mic and goes through his usual sh*tty routine of challenging people to a fight, than says he loves the crowd and thanks them, then motherf*cks a few members of the crowd.   

David Starr vs. Mike Quackenbush. Starr handles his own intro. Quack with some great gear. The counter/chain wrestling stuff you'd expect here. All pretty crisp and crowd is into it. Nice counter and then a roll back into an abdominal stretch by Quack. Starr eventually breaks it up and just starts dumping Quack in his head followed by a knee strike to the head. Dive by Starr. Starr stops Bryce from counting Quack out and shows hesitation about just roughing up Quack. Quack fires back. Nice arm-trap dead-lift Northern lights by Starr. Cool tornado DDT and tope suicida sequence by Quack, then a DDT on the apron by Starr. Starr eventually wins with the story arch that he went rough on Quack with the head drops/DDTs. They shake hands. Starr praises Quack and talks about how important he is to independent wrestling. Good stuff. Quack is still so smooth in the ring. 

Spring Break CLUSTERFUCK! I can't make out anything in the vignette before the video and the current announcers don't know anything about it. I eventually figure out it's MJF trying to secretly get in to the show. Announcer tries to explain the rules but I can't make anything out, commentators aren't really adding much. Jimmy Lloyd is out. Session Moth Martina is the second entrant. Moth shakes it and Lloyd with a kiss. Orange Cassidy is next. He SLOWLY makes his way to the ring. The next entrant is out before Cassidy is in the ring. Curt Stallion is next. Facade is out next. Facade with a huge dive! Man, Funchess is bad on commentary. Facade eliminates Stallion. Swoggle is out next. Swoggle with a series of German suplexes. Grado out next (after being on Bourbon Street for the past seven hours and trying to fight Hurricane Helms a few hours ago, according to commentary). Kikutaro is out next! Fun stuff from Grado and Kiku for a minute. The Invisible Man is out next (or is he?). He takes down Swoggle and Grado but Kiku stops him, but Kiku then gets eliminated by Kiku. Swoggle is submitted by the Invisible Man. Joe Gacy is the next entrant. The next entrant is out but no one on commentary can name him. Earl Cooter? Dickinson is in and eliminates Cooter. Dickinson has a mask, hat, is smoking, and is wearing USA sweatpants. Facade and Joe Gacy are eliminated. Jimmy Yuda is eliminated with a Razor's Edge over the top. Dickinson eliminates Grado. Dan Severn is the next entrant. He and Dickinson roll around. Alabama Doink enters and tries to throw down with Severn. He tosses Doink then Severn gets tossed by Dickinson. Rickey Shane Page is out. Marcus Crane is next and immediately screws up a spot so Dickinson just powerbombs him. Crane is eliminated. Aero Boy and Crazy Boy enter. Dickinson is eliminated by the luchadores. Rory Gulak is out with a NO LUCHADORES sign. Nate Webb is next! He goes directly into the crowd for his entrance. Nate Webb is on commentary before he even enters. Nate traditionally doesn't enter until Teenage Dirtbag ends. He eliminates Gulak. Ethan Page is next. He and Webb go at it. MJF is next. He and Page eliminate Aero Boy and Crazy Boy. They team up and eliminate Rickey Shane Page. Session Moth back in, grabs a condom from her drawers, and chokes Ethan Page. She breaks MJFs hand between her legs. Page then rolls her up and she's gone. Orange Cassidy back in and crowd is going nuts for his 'strikes' and 'kicks'! He spits orange juice mist into Page and MJF, then a double-chokeslam! Slow climb to the top but he misses and is then eliminated. Invisible Man is back and cleaning house. JIMMY LLOYD WITH AN ILLEGAL PILEDRIVER ON THE INVISIBLE MAN! The commission comes out and forces Lloyd to leave because of it. They're getting rough with Bryce. He bodyslams MJF then DDTs Page. MJF takes him out. Mikey Whipwreck is out! Frankenmikey! Whippersnapper! Webb eliminates Ethan Page. MJF eliminates Whipwreck. Webb and MJF are the last two. Nate Webb is gone. Wait, the Invisible Man is still in. He schoolboys MJF and wins it! Nate Webb back into to congratulate the Invisible Man. Well, that was rough. Really nothing to go out of your way to see. 

Joey Janela vs. Great Sasuka.  Missed the first portion because the app stopped streaming. Sasuke hypnotizes Janela and he drops him without even touching him. Sasuke getting some junk out from under the ring. Sasuke whipped into the ladder/guardrail combo at ringside. Crowd is really dead for this (hey, it's after 3 a.m. down there). Janela body slammed from the top rope through the stiff timekeeper's table. Sasuke with a nerve hold. Sasuke misses a senton and gets his head caught in one of the rungs of the ladder! Big splash from Janela with an alligator into Sasuke for a two count. Janela sets up the back-to-back chair contraption he used in PWG (Necro Butcher-style). Janela gets powerbombed from the top onto the tops of the chairs. Sasuke goes and gets more junk from under the ring, including a few doors and sets them up in the corners. Sasuke goes head-first into the door, then whips Janela through the other door. DVD on the apron by Janela. Glitch continually dying and freezing now. Janela with a flipping senton misses, from the top, through a chair, and to the floor. Sasuke then with a flip through a table on Janela to the outside. Penelope tries to interfere. Sasuke and Penelope dance and Janela attacks from behind. Figure four by Janela. Moonsault misses by Janela. Another table out by Sasuke. Commentary isn't even saying much at this point. Sasuke with a trash can in the ring. He tries to get the trash can on his head, but can't make it to the top with it on. He eventually just throws it on Janela who is on the table. He dives from the top to the outside but Janela moves and he goes through the table hard. One guy chants 'fight forever' and no one else cares. Ladder back in. Michinoku Driver on the ladder but Sasuke kicks out. Double stomp from the top onto a chair and Sasuke, and Janela gets the win. Janela gets on the microphone and puts him over. He blasts the fans walking out the door and not showing Sasuke proper respect, telling them to go 'fuck themselves' He continues putting him over. Maybe keep it brief at 4:30 EST and 3:30 local for the hungover and tired crowd? He says hit the music and a crumbling Sasuke and Janela sing It's My Life by Bon Jovi. Sasuke with the air guitar solo. Man, all the way through with the song I guess. Sasuke randomly hops the rail and leaves through the crowd. I'm not sure what to think of this. Way too long considering the circumstances and I hope this isn't the last time Sasuke appears in the US.

 

[Jiji]

That was insane. Show fell off a cliff with Nick Gage. Battle royal had a few fun moments but killed a crowd that was already teetering by going 20 minutes too long. Main event was a mess and it was so sad to see Sasuke trying to do a barrel spot with a giant garbage bin instead and he couldn't do it because it was too heavy/unwieldy.  Whatever, WALTER vs. PCO was well worth my money and I'd be shocked if I dig a match throughout the week as much as I did that one. The Teddy Hart display at the start, the finish to the opener, and the Riddle/Ellsworth match were all fantastic. Starr/Quack was pretty good but that wasn't the place to put that match and Beyond guy shitting over Starr dragged it down badly. I don't feel cheated in the slightest but hopefully Janela learns lessons from this. I seriously doubt that, as this show basically made the same mistakes last year's did but way worse.

[RIPPA]

God Bless James Ellsworth