Indy Minute - Your weekly source for independent wrestling news

  As we head into the winter months, it looks like we’re going to be treated with another NXT live show that everyone should be excited about. Their live shows have been spectacular so far and this one should be one of the best yet. There’s also lots of Chikara results and news about upcoming shows, info on Ring of Honor’s Survival of the Fittest tournament as well as information about the matches Evolve will be showcasing on their tour of China. Let’s get into it!

NXT

  The Ascension opens NXT TV this week. Surprised to see them on NXT still. After losing to the Lucha Dragons, I would’ve thought they’d go up to the main roster by now. Maybe after the next live show we’ll see them on Raw? The Ascension faces Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger. (Alex Riley, Jason Albert and Rich Brennan on commentary)

  Jason Jordan starts off in control of Viktor but the Ascension quickly takes the advantage. He tags in Konnor who bashes Jordan into the corner. Jordan stuns Konnor for a moment and tags out but Konnor takes down Dillinger and they hit the Fall of Man for the win.

  After the match, Hideo Itami’s music hits and he does not look happy. He rushes the ring and attacks both members of the Asension who quickly overpower Itami. They yell at Itami “This is our house!” and hit him with the Fall of Man and leave him lying and refs check on him. Probably not a smart move to take on both Konnor and Viktor by yourself. Itami could really use some help…

  CJ Parker back on NXT for the first time in a long time it seems (last time was when Baron Corbin squashed him I think?). Parker is up to take on Tyler Breeze (so you know it’s gonna go well for him). Breeze is obviously the face in this match, since Parker is way over as a heel, but Breeze is supposed to be a heel, right? I guess he’s a tweener or something, even though he injured Mojo Rawley who is definitely supposed to be a face. Seems like alignments in NXT get kinda murky sometimes as guys are still trying to figure out their place.

  Back and forth match, would’ve expected Tyler to “breeze” through this one but Parker holding his own. Mojo Rawley appears on the stage a few minutes in, holding his arm and looking pissed. Parker misses a high kick and Breeze hits the Beauty Shot for the win. Mojo is at ringside as Breeze leaves, still looking pissed and Breeze works his shoulder as he leaves, mocking Mojo.

  Next is a Baron Corbin video package about “there’s people like us and people like Corbin” in the world and now it’s up to “his kind” to destroy “our kind” and that we “can’t fight fate.” So what, he wants to murder everyone?

  Vaudevillains up now who seem to be acting angrier now. Maybe they’re finally going to start heeling it up more? Albert says they’re “dastardly” now. Up to face Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake. English tags out first and he and Gotch work over Murphy until he tags in Blake. Vaudevillains seem to be working a slower style, grinding out holds and keeping Murphy on the mat. Looks like a new doubleteam finisher for the Vaudevillains. Gotch hooked Blake in what looked like a neckbreaker then hit a European uppercut followed by English into a running swinging neckbreaker that Rich Brennan called “The Gentleman’s Congress.” I almost liked the airplane spin/fall away slam into a senton more though. Plus - calling them gentlemen now? Biting off Jervis Cottonbelly’s gimmick much?

  Bayley out now to take on Sasha Banks. This is just my opinion but if they don’t bring Bayley up to be AJ’s friend against Paige and Alicia Fox, they really dropped the ball. Kaitlyn would’ve been absolutely perfect to help AJ but of course she had to go and quit WWE.

  And how awesome is Sasha Banks? She’s easily the best heel in the NXT women’s division. Charlotte walks the line too much anymore, giving Bayley credit and congratulating her after matches. Not only that but Sasha is excellent in the ring too. Her style seems to constantly be evolving and you don’t often see the same moves from her. I hope she eventually wins the Women’s title because she really deserves it.

  As the match starts, Bayley goes after Sasha first who hides in the ropes to keep Bayley off her. Gets the ref to back her off and takes a cheap shot as she’s in the ropes, then the two roll back and forth trading shots. Bayley has a lot of anger built up against Sasha going into this match, after Sasha’s constant attacks and bullying of her as she goes after Charlotte’s NXT title. Sasha pulls a Kyle O’Reilly move in this match, hitting the ropes and slapping Bayley.

   Sasha takes the advantage with a submission, foot in the back and pulling her arms back then choking her on the ropes. Sasha hits the Bank Statement (backstabber into a crossface) for the win. With a clean win over Bayley and it looks like Sasha is next in line for a shot at Charlotte. Sasha about to leave the ring but goes back to attack Bayley.

  Becky Lynch runs in to chase Sasha off…but Becky attacks Bayley! Bayley turns her back to face Sasha as she goes up the ramp and Becky clotheslines her from behind and it looks like Becky and Sasha are joining forces.

  Enzo and Cass talk to Carmella in the back. Enzo says they sat down with William Regal (“What were you doing, having tea?”) and they got a match for her with Emma. Don’t say when though. Carmella blows off Enzo’s advances again but kisses Cass. “Where’s my sugar?” “It’s in your tea with Regal, bro.”

  Main event time - Titus O’Neill challenges Adrian Neville for the NXT title.  Neville gets Titus in a headlock first, despite being such a huge size difference. Neville using his speed to stay ahead of Titus but eventually the power of Titus comes into play. Titus shoves Neville from the top rope to the floor outside and he seems stunned. Titus follows and rolls him back in the ring but only gets a 2.

  Titus using his strength to throw Neville around the ring. (Pretty sure strength coaches can teach strength and power, Alex Riley) Titus locks in a bear hug (and somewhere Daniel Bryan goes crazy) and thrashes Neville around. Neville tries to get back into it with a series of kicks but Titus knocks him back down and gets a 2 with  big boot. Neville in the corner and Titus rushes in. Neville gets the feet up, knocks down Titus and hits the Red Arrow for the win.

  Neville celebrates on the stage and Sami Zayn comes out to congratulate him. Sami says Adrian is on fire but that he is on a mission and his mission ends with the NXT title. Adrian says wherever, whenever. Sami says he’ll hold him to that and that Adrian should hold onto the title while he can because he won’t have it much longer. Neville says he isn’t worried because “we all know you can’t win the big one.” And as the show fades out someone in the crowd goes “Ooo...you got served!”

  The next NXT live show will be December 11. Based on episodes of NXT TV taped recently some matches at this live show will be:

NXT title

Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn

If Zayn doesn’t win, he will quit WWE

NXT tag team titles

Lucha Dragons vs The Vaudevillains

NXT Women’s title

Charlotte vs Sasha Banks

Finn Balor and Hideo Itami vs The Ascension

  I gotta also believe that Bull Dempsey or Baron Corbin will also be squashing some jobbers and that there will be another tag team match, most likely with Team Thick (Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake).

  I heard that WWE held a tryout at the performance center recently and numerous indy wrestlers such as Uhaa Nation and Veda Scott tried out. Uhaa has worked for Dragon Gate in Japan and Evolve in America and recently made his debut in PWG while Veda has worked all over (AIW, Smash, Beyond, Shimmer, WSU). She had a great feud against Gregory Iron in AIW and also works as a manager in ROH for the team of RD Evans and Moose.

WWE also recently posted a video of tryouts from September that features Rich Swann:

Ring of Honor

  MetsFan4Ever posted on r/SquaredCircle that it’s expected that reDRagon will win the NJPW Best of Super Juniors tag team tournament on November 3^rd and go on to defeat the Time Splitters to win the IWGP Jr Tag Team titles at an upcoming show to help strengthen ROH and New Japan relations (as well as GFW marketing potential) heading into WrestleKingdom in January.

  ROH’s Survival of the Fittest is on November 7 in Columbus, Ohio and November 8 in Toledo, Ohio. The classic ROH tournament is making a comeback this year and it seems like the winner will get a World title shot. The set up for SOF is 12 participants, 6 qualifying matches and the winners go into a 6-man elimination match. A handful of matches have been announced so far:

The Briscoes vs Matt Taven and Michael Bennett in a no DQ match

Survival of the Fittest qualifying matches:

ACH vs Matt Sydal

Adam Page vs Cedric Alexander

Jay Lethal vs Hanson

  Also announced but not in a match yet are – Adam Cole, Tadarius Thomas, Roderick Strong, Caprice Coleman, Tommaso Ciampa and a rare in-ring appearance by Delirious!

Chikara

  As season 14 of Chikara winds down, the heroes have suffered their greatest loss to date. At “Moonraker” in Richmond, Virginia, The Flood’s leader Deucalion killed the time-traveling marching band leader Archibald Peck with a chokebreaker. Peck was instrumental in resurrecting Chikara after it had been shut down and he is undoubtedly the biggest Chikara hero to have been taken out by The Flood.

  Following a match between Eddie Kingston and Volgar, a brawl broke out between the heroes and The Flood. Dasher Hatfield and Shynron were trying to fight off Deucalion, who managed to get his hands on ring announcer Gavin Loudspeaker and was preparing to give him the chokebreaker. Archibald Peck appeared and saved Gavin but the monster Deucalion turned his attention to Peck and killed him with a chokebreaker.

  And I almost hate to bring this up but if you read my blog post back in September previewing the King of Trios tournament (http://delcoelbowdrop.blogspot.com/2014/09/chikaras-king-of-trios-across-three-nights-with-huge-names.html), I predicted that to really make an impact, The Flood would be targeting a bigger Chikara name than the new guys and students that Deucalion had killed so far. Who did I say they should target? None other than Archibald Peck. Usually I’m happy when I can predict what will happen in wrestling storylines…but I don’t feel so good about this one.

  I’m holding out hope that maybe Peck imparted some knowledge of time travel on Shane Matthews and Scott Parker of 3.0 and they can go back in time and revive guys like Peck and The Estonian Thunderfrog. And I guess they could bring back the others (Kobald, deviANT, Latvian Proud Oak, CAW 2 and 3quinox), but I mainly just want Thunderfrog and Archibald Peck back.

  In memory of the fallen band leader, I give you this YouTube clip, which also happens to feature another favorite of mine, Chuck Taylor.

Anyway, next up are results from this past weekend’s “Thunderball” and “Moonraker” events.

Thunderball, 10/25

Gibsonville, NC

The Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black, Hallowicked and Frightmare) defeated The Bloc Party (The Proletariat Boar Of Moldova, Mr. Azerbaijan and Prakash Sabar)

(The Bloc Party really bores me, no pun intended. I really hope they start picking up on some elements of charisma because the last time I saw them, they had nothing going for them besides being foils to the now nonexistent Baltic Siege.)

3.0 (Scott Parker and Shane Matthews) defeated The Aftermath (Chet Sterling and Trevor Lee)

(Awesome that Trevor Lee is working in Chikara. This dude is going to be everywhere soon.)

Ashley Remington defeated Juan Francisco de Coronado

(For some reason until now, I thought Ashley Remington was supposed to be a heel. Not sure where I got that idea but if he’s facing Juan Francisco de Coronado, he’s definitely not a bad guy)

The Osirian Portal (Amasis and Ophidian) defeated The Wrecking Crew (Flex Rumblecrunch and Oleg The Usurper)

(Wonder where Jaka was. He usually teams with Oleg in The Wrecking Crew)

The Devastation Corporation (Blaster McMassive and Max Smashmaster) defeated The Colony (Fire Ant & Worker Ant)

(Devastation Corporation continues their dominance, defeating a veteran team after winning King of Trios. Sydney Bakabella’s monsters should not be taken lightly.)

Silver Ant defeated Shynron

(Shynron is definitely on his way up in the world of pro wrestling but Silver Ant is a crafty veteran whose only getting better. Still, big things are in store for Shynron in the future)

Dasher Hatfield, Eddie Kingston, Icarus and Mark Angelosetti defeated Jakob Hammermeier, 17, Jimmy Jacobs and Nokken

(Grand Champion Icarus and his rival Eddie Kingston team up with the Campeonatos de Parajas to take on a mixture of The Flood and the BDK. The Flood are the major heel force in Chikara right now but ever since finding out that Jakob controls the Eye of Tyr as well as leading the BDK and being revealed as the fake Dr. Cube, he wields some serious power in the world of Chikara as well. Could Jakob’s Cube and BDK forces be on a collision course with The Flood? For the sake of Chikara, I hope so.)

Moonraker, 10/26/14

Richmond, VA

Shynron defeated Missile Assault Ant with a second-rope 630 splash

(Shynron keeps picking up momentum in Chikara. He’s definitely going to be one of the next big break out stars not just in Chikara but in all of wrestling.)

Archibald Peck/Mark Angelosetti/Ice Cream Jr./Shane Matthews defeated Ashley Remington/Dasher Hatfield/El Hijo del Ice Cream/Scott Parker

(Lots of comedy in this one as tag team partners were on opposite teams. Highlights were when Ashley Remington’s point was treated like a real gun and was “shooting” people, leading to Bryce getting shot, dying, and coming back to life doing Undertaker spots. Apparently Bryce pinned El Hijo del Ice Cream for the win. Not sure who counted the pin, then.)

Die BDK defeated The Spectral Envoy

(Jakob got the pin on Frightmare for the win. Delirious was a surprise third member for the BDK, and at the beginning of the match, Jakob gave Delirious the Eye of Tyr. Who knows what he’s going to do with it – who knows what Delirious is ever going to do. But what we do know is that he still has it out for Ultramantis Black who used the Eye to control Delirious several seasons ago and he still holds it against the Devious One.)

Eddie Kingston defeated Volgar

(Jimmy Jacobs accompanied Volgar to the ring and was wearing Kid Cyclone’ cape. I guess Kid left it behind at King of Trios after he ran away from Deucalion, allowing the Flood’s leader to kill CAW 2 and 3quinox. After the match, a brawl broke out and Deucalion appeared. Dasher and Shynron were fighting with him but he got his hands on Gavin and nearly gave him the chokebreaker, but Archibald Peck saved him. But in the process of saving Gavin, Peck was killed with the chokebreaker.)

The Devastation Corporation defeated The Osirian Portal and N_R_G

(Sydney Bakabella’s monsters are still running roughshod through Chikara. Axe Smashmaster, Flex Rumblecrunch and Blaster McMassive were joined by Oleg the Usurper in this one. Haven’t seen N_R_G before, must be Wrestle Factory students.)

The Colony defeated The Bloc Party

(Fire Ant, Worker Ant and Silver Ant defeated the Proletariat Boar of Moldova, Mr. Azerbaijan and Prakash Sabar in this six-man tag. Kinda weird how all the Baltic Siege are gone but the Bloc Party is still around.)

Chikara Grand Championship match: Icarus defeated Jimmy Jacobs

(Icarus retains the Grand Championship against Jacobs in a solid main event. Some reports said he won with the Chikara Special V2 and others said Wings of Icarus so I’m not entirely sure. It was said that after the match, Deucalion came out and threatened Jacobs but was distracted when Icarus attacked him. Afterward, he stared down the Chikara heroes and promised to destroy them all like Estonian Thunderfrog and Archibald Peck.)

The next Chikara show, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” is November 15 in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Some matches have been announced:

The Golden Trio and the Osirian Portal vs The Wrecking Crew

(I’m assuming this is the three members of the Devastation Corporation with Jaka and Oleg)

The Batiri and Spectral Envoy vs The Flood

Shynron vs Proletariat Boar of Moldova

Worker Ant vs Prakash Sabar

Followed by “For Your Eyes Only” on November 16 in South Windsor, CT

Batiri vs Jervis Cottonbelly/Ashley Remington vs ? vs ? in a four corner tag elimination match

Worker Ant vs Hallowicked

3.0 vs The Throwbacks for los Campeonatos de Parejas

Frightmare vs Delirious

The Osirian Portal vs The Wrecking Crew (Jaka and Oleg the Usurper)

  Evolve going on tour in China from Nov 10-16. It will be a four event tour in the Hebei and Sichuan Province. They've been working on this tour for about three years now, said WWN President Sal Hamaoi. Great Wall International Sports Media is bringing the WWN Family to China (Evolve, DG USA, Full Impact Pro [FIP], Shine and others) that will feature Evolve brand.

 

  Tour will be:

11/10 in Yicheng City, Hebei Province at Golden Sport Hall (set up for 2,000 fans)

11/12 in Emei City, Sichuan Province at Emei Sports Hall (set up for 2,000 fans)

11/14 in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province at Wen Jiang Sport Center (seat at least 4,000 fans)

11/16 final date in Beijing at Wan Shi Da Stadium (which can seat over 20,000 fans)

  I posted this info previously but now they’ve announced the cards which are:

November 10
DGUSA Open The Freedom Gate Title Match
Ricochet defends vs. Chuck Taylor

DGUSA Open The United Gate Title Match
Trent Baretta & Caleb Konley defend vs. Fire Ant & Silver Ant

SHINE Title Match
Ivelisse defends vs. Su Yung

Special Challenge Tag Team Match
AR Fox & Rich Swann vs. The Bravado Brothers

EVOLVE Ratings Match
Johnny Gargano vs. Biff Busick

SHINE Showcase Match
Allysin Kay vs. Mia Yim

November 12
Special Six Man Tag Team Main Event
Ricochet, Rich Swann & AR Fox vs. Fire Ant, Silver Ant & Chuck Taylor

DGUSA Open The United Gate Title Match
Trent Baretta & Caleb Konley vs. The Bravado Brothers

SHINE Title Match
Ivelisse defends vs.Allysin Kay

The Rivalry Goes To China Part 1 - EVOLVE Ratings Match
Biff Busick vs. Timothy Thatcher

SHINE Showcase Match
Mia Yim vs. Su Yung

Special Attraction Match
Tracy Williams vs. Earl Cooter

November 14
DGUSA Open The Freedom Gate Title Match
Ricochet defends vs. AR Fox

FIP World Heavyweight Title Match
Trent Baretta defends vs. Rich Swann

Classic Feud Comes To China
Johnny Gargano vs. Chuck Taylor

Grudge Tag Team Match
Fire Ant & Silver Ant vs. The Bravado Brothers

EVOLVE Ratings Match
Timothy Thatcher vs. Caleb Konley

SHINE Showcase Tag Team Match
Ivelisse & Mia Yim vs. Allysin Kay & Su Yung

November 16
DGUSA Open The Freedom Gate Title Match
Ricochet defends vs. Johnny Gargano

Special DGUSA Open The United Gate Three Way Match
Trent Baretta & Caleb Konley defend vs. The Colony vs. The Bravado Brothers

SHINE Title Match
Ivelisse defends vs. Mia Yim

The Rivalry Goes To China Part 2 - EVOLVE Ratings Match
Biff Busick vs. Timothy Thatcher

Special Attraction EVOLVE Ratings Match
Rich Swann vs. AR Fox

EVOLVE Ratings Match
Chuck Taylor vs. Jody Kristofferson

  WWN (the company that represents Evolve, DG USA, Shine and FIP) also recently announced plans for Wrestlemania 31 weekend. Will run on 3/27 and 3/28 in San Jose, CA at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds as well as hosting the shows live on iPPV

  Former MMA fighter who appeared on season 7 of UFC’s Ultimate Fighter Matthew Riddle is now training to be a pro wrestler at The Monster Factory in New Jersey. Training under Danny Cage, QT Marshall, Blue Meanie and Bill Wiles. Riddle has a record of 8-3 in MMA while competing for UFC and Bellator. Riddle’s wife is also training at the school apparently.