Indy Minute: Your weekly source for independent wrestling news

Hey everyone, Indy Minute is back this week with a full write up. I didn’t have time to write up a full one during Thanksgiving week but I’m back this week. Also, make sure to listen to Ring Rust Radio this week because yours truly makes an appearance in the RRR Fantasy Draft. Well…listen every week, but especially listen this week.

NXT

  Tyler Breeze opens NXT TV this week. (Rich Brennan, Renee Young, Jason Albert are on commentary) His opponent is Marcus Louis who wanders out to the ring with no music, a towel over his head and no hair or eyebrows. Breeze stares at him and can barely bring himself to look at Louis under the towel. The bell rings at one point but neither have moved to start a wrestling match.

  Breeze gets a mic and asks “Am I actually expected to take on the uggo of all uggos?” Breeze steals the towel and acts like he’s going to puke and tells Louis to just leave and says, “Are you not only ugly but stupid?” Says he’s hideous, a monster, a freak and that no one will ever love him. Louis wanders around but Breeze spins him around and hits the Beauty Shot for the win.

  After losing, Louis continues to wander around, yelling incoherently for a while then, during the break, walks slowly out of the ringside area, and out of Full Sail itself.

  Big Cass and Enzo head out to the ring and they introduce Carmella who still has the worst music ever. They introduce Ol’ Blue Pants (indy wrestler Leva Bates) to take on Carmella. Blue Pants gets a few holds but Carmella eventually hits a shoulder block and some drop kicks before making Blue Pants tap out to that figure four choke submission.

  Finn Balor will have his first singles match tonight against Tyson Kidd.

  The Lucha Dragons (the real ones) have a tag match against Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger. Jordan and Dillinger are mocking Cara and Kalisto a lot in this match but a miscommunication lets Kalisto take control with his high flying offense. Kalisto hits the Selena Del Sol on Jordan for the win.

  We get another Kevin Owens video package. Says he realized the best way to provide for his family wasn’t to work in a warehouse or office, but to fight people. He’s fought for 14 years to get to WWE and now that he’s here, he’ll fight everyone. Loves proving people wrong almost as much as he loves fighting people. And that’s why he’s here and he’s going to change everything.

  Bayley is in the ring. She doesn’t have a match but she wanted to be at NXT anyway. Charlotte isn’t there tonight and she told Bayley to stay away from Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks because they’re bullies. Her mom told her to stand up to her bullies because bullies are cowards...but she’s interrupted by Becky and Sasha.

  They immediately attack Bayley and throw her headband into the crowd. The refs come out to break up the fight and keep Becky and Sasha away. Looks like Bayley’s knee is hurt somehow. How many times are they going to do the same “bullies picking on Bayley” angle? That’s like the only angle she’s ever been involved in.

  Backstage, they ask Natty how she feels about Tyson facing Finn. Tyson eventually cuts off Natty and says that he’s been working with his uncle Bret (Natty goes “Our uncle…”) and that there’s a new Hitman on the horizon. He asks Natty if she’s checked on the cats and that he can’t hug Natty, he doesn’t have much time before the match and has to go Facetime with his cats. Kidd has become an amazing heel. The character he’s developed in NXT is great and the dynamic between how much of a jerk he is and how much the fans love Natty is basically like a modern day Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth.

  We get a pretty unique Vaudevillains video package. Set up like a silent film with old timey piano called “BOOM! Go The Lucha Dragons.”  The police commissioner calls them, apparently the Lucha Dragons are trying to rob a bank…with dynamite! First they train (Aiden English does jumping jacks and push-ups, Simon Gotch shadow boxes and shoot on video of a bear). They go for a run and end up at the bank where the Mini Dragons have set up dynamite. They say the Vaudevillains have fallen into their trap but English and Gotch set up the dynamite behind them before the Mini Dragons explode it.

  Natty accompanies Tyson Kidd to the ring for his match with Finn Balor. Commentary putting over Balor big time, as well they should be. My only complaint about this match is that I wish it was on a bigger stage and got more time because it both guys are amazing.

  Balor gets a go-behind first and Tyson crawls to the ropes for the break. Renee name dropping Tokyo Joe as training Balor in Japan. Tyson and Balor start chain wrestling, trading wrist locks and simple holds. Balor hits a perfect dropkick and sends Tyson to the outside and setting up for a tope but Tyson hides behind Natty and Balor just barely stops before diving.

  Tyson knocks Balor off the apron and hits neckbreaker on the outside and takes control, hammering Balor in the corners, sending him in hard, hitting a catapult to the bottom of the buckle and hanging him in the tree of woe. Kidd yells at Natty after she doesn’t choke Balor “How hard is it to do this?!” then chokes Balor himself and hits a dropkick to Finn’s midsection.

  Kidd has Balor in a deep choke hold. “Ask him ref! Ask him in Irish!”

  Balor blocks a suplex and hits several chops to regain control. Hits a pele kick and nearly pins Kidd with like a twisting suplex, almost like a brainbuster. Charges into the corner but Kidd hits him with a big boot. Balor kicks Kidd off the top but Kidd evades the double stomp and Kidd almost gets the Sharpshooter. Kidd drop toe hold into the bottom buckle and sling shot leg drop Balor to the apron while he was draped over the bottom rope.

  Balor blocks a sling shot elbow drop getting the knees up and hits a running soccer style kick to Kidd’s face. Sets up for the double stomp but The Ascension hit the ring and attack Balor forcing the ref to call for the bell. They hammer him in the corner until Hideo Itami hits the ring to even the odds and the four brawl until refs appear to try and break up the melee. More and more backstage guys (and jobbers?) show up to try and break them up as the show ends.

Lucha Underground

(I thought I had a longer write up of the fifth episode but I can’t find it now)

  Lucha Underground opened with Konnan demanding a street fight against Big Ryck for Prince Puma later in the night. In the first match, Mil Muertes attacked Drago before the bell and won with the Flatliner.

  During the match, King Cuerno appeared at the top of the arena to watch Drago and after Mil won, came down to the ring and hit Drago with a Death Valley Driver variation. Next, Mascarita Sagrada defeated Son of Havoc with a victory roll and afterward, Sexy Star faced Chavo Guerrero. Star slaps Chavo after he grabs her and kisses her. She gets a chair from outside the ring and kicks the ref in the nuts after he tells her drop it but as Chavo begs off, Pentagon Jr steals the chair from her. Chavo holds Star for Pentagon but before he can hit her, Fenix shows up to help run off Chavo and Pentagon.

  The main event was pretty much a handicap match as the Crenshaw Crew were constantly attacking Prince Puma as he fought Big Ryck. Johnny Mundo leapt into the ring from the top of the arena to save Puma as he was tied in the tree of woe on a ladder but accidentally hit him with a chair, allowing Ryck to put Puma through a table.

Also, make sure to check out my write up of Lucha Underground here.

Ring of Honor

Final Battle is this Sunday from New York City and will be live on InDemand PPV at 7:30 p.m.

ROH World Championship

Fight Without Honor

Jay Briscoe (c) vs. Adam Cole

Ever since Briscoe defeated Elgin for the World title, Cole has been hounding him, looking to regain the gold. After Cole attacked Briscoe’s father at a recent event, it became personal and now their World title match will be a Fight Without Honor. Though I definitely like Briscoe and think he’s a great World champ, I’m a huge fan of Cole and feel like ROH would benefit more from having a great heel champ like Cole/

ROH World Tag Team Championship

reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish) (c) vs.

The Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and KUSHIDA)

reDRagon are easily one of the hottest tag teams in the world and recently defeated the Time Splitters for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles in Japan. But now Shelley and KUSHIDA get a chance to win the ROH tag titles in America. This match will be great no doubt, but I can’t see The Time Splitters winning the ROH belts from reDRagon at the biggest ROH show of the year.

ROH World TV Championship

Jay Lethal (c) vs. Matt Sydal

The recently returned Matt Sydal has been tearing it up on the indies and in ROH. But he’s going up against Jay Lethal who has been turning away challengers for the TV title left and right. In his current title reign (which is his second TV title reign), Lethal has successfully defended the TV an amazing 19 times. Though Sydal has been doing really well since returning to ROH, I don’t see him dethroning Jay Lethal.

The Young Bucks and ACH vs. The Addiction and Cedric Alexander

In this six-man tag match, The Young Bucks return to ROH and team up with ACH to make perhaps the most high-flying team in history to take on The Addiction and Cedric Alexander. There hasn’t been much of any build to this match as far as I know, besides the Bucks facing Daniels and Kaz a few times. It’s hard to pick a winner in this one since every guy in this match is incredible, but I’m going with The Addiction/Alexander to win.

Michael Elgin vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Both Elgin and Ciampa have had their issues with ROH in recent months. Elgin has had very public issues with management over his role in the company and their use of him while Ciampa has been at odds with matchmaker Nigel McGuinness over being suspended for attacking ROH staff. This will be an amazingly hard-hitting contest as both guys are powerhouses in the ring. Honestly, considering their beefs with ROH, I could see Elgin and Ciampa teaming up and starting to terrorize the company. But as far as this match goes, I really think (well, hope) that Ciampa is on his way up and a win over a former World champion like Elgin will catapult him into the World title picture.

R.D. Evans (with Veda Scott) vs. Moose (with Stokely Hathaway)

Things have not been going well for R.D. Evans and his manager Veda Scott. First, #TheNewStreak is broken as Evans failed to capture the TV Title from Jay Lethal after Moose hit him with a spear. What seemed like an accident at first then was revealed as part of a larger scheme as former Evans and Scott associate Ramon revealed himself to be a man named Stokely Hathaway and has been working with Prince Nana. It seems that Nana is still upset that Evans helped end The Embassy and recruited Hathaway and Moose to ruin Evans and Scott. Evans is one of my favorite guys in ROH (and in all of wrestling) but getting a win over Moose will be a huge task and I think that with Hathaway and Nana in his corner, Moose takes this one.

Roderick Strong vs. Adam Page

The Decade seems to be splintering as Roderick Strong’s problems with recruit Adam Page spiraled out of control. The two have been at odds for months and it looks like BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs are siding with Page against Strong, who founded the group with Whitmer and Jacobs. It will be interesting to see if former recruit Tadarius Thomas has an impact on this match as he was the first to leave due to the treatment of Whitmer, Jacobs and Strong. It seems like ROH is really behind Page and getting a win over a vet like Roderick Strong will help cement his place as one of the new stars of the company.

  Also, there are several Ring of Honor rumors floating around. The first is from MetsFan4Ever that ROH will be promoting The Hardy Boyz vs The Briscoe Brothers vs The Young Bucks for Wrestlemania weekend.

  The next is from The Meltz who says that ROH and New Japan will run four joint shows in 2015. The shows will return to New York and Toronto while adding Chicago and another new market (here’s hoping for Philadelphia).

New Japan Pro Wrestling

  New Japan recently announced the kick-off of “New Japan World,” an online streaming service for NJPW. And guess what the price is? 999! Well, 999 yen of course (which is about $8.50 American).

  I haven’t signed up for the service but I’ve read online that many Americans have and that it works better than the WWE Network for the most part. NJPW has a huge library of content that goes back to the 1970s too. They apparently don’t have complete shows up just yet but have lots of matches which you can search by venue, event or wrestler. So not only do they have plenty of content from contemporary wrestlers like Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Prince Devitt, Kota Ibushi and Hiroshi Tanahashi but also classic wrestlers like Antonio Inoki, Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono, Stan Hansen, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and many more.

  With NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9 on the horizon, World is a great way for new fans (or fans after watching Wrestle Kingdom) to watch tons of great New Japan wrestling.

Chikara

The Season 14 finale, "Tomorrow Never Dies" is this Saturday is at the former ECW Arena in South Philadelphia – the first time Chikara is returning to the venue since it reopened. The card looks really good and with the Chikara vs Flood storyline coming to a head, I’ve got to imagine fans are in for some big things.

Icarus vs Deucalion

Steel cage match

(Only the second in Chikara history)

The leader of the Flood has been losing increasing control over the Flood in recent months but also himself. He’s turned on many of his own and though it seems like the Flood is losing steam, that only makes the monster Deucalion more dangerous. Chikara Grand Champion laid out a challenge to the leader of the Flood after he killed Archibald Peck for a steel cage to hopefully rid the company of the beast once and for all. But as valiant as Icarus is, the setting will be just as dangerous for him to be locked inside a steel cage with Deucalion. I don’t think the Grand Championship is on the line but I’m sure the Flood will be trying to get their hands on it one way or the other.

Torneo Cibernetico

8 vs 8 tag team match

Chikara vs The Flood

Worker Ant leads the Chikara Heroes against the Flood in this huge elimination match. Joining Worker Ant will be Fire Ant, Silver Ant, Amasis, Ophidian, Kodama, Obaryion and Jervis Cottonbelly. With The Colony, The Osirian Portal, The Batiri and The World’s Sweetest Man fighting for Chikara, I think they have a pretty good chance of turning back The Flood.

The new leader of the BDK, Jakob Hammermeir, has put together the Flood team for the Cibernetico and it’s very formidable. Sydney Bakabella loaned Jakob the Wrecking Crew (Oleg and Jaka) but also Flex Rumblecrunch, a member of the King of Trios winning Devastation Corporation. Joining them will be Oliver Grimsley, Volgar and Soldier Ant.

Though the Chikara team is made up of more seasoned tag teams, the BDK squad is led by a much more charismatic leader in Hammermeier than Worker Ant and the Flood team is much more vicious. The Chikara Heroes will fight to the end but I think that The Flood, with the inclusion of Soldier Ant, will be victorious.

Ultramantis Black vs Delirious

Loser Leaves Chikara

When Ultramantis controlled the Eye of Tyr, he used it to enslave Delirious to do his bidding. Once Delirious broke free of his control (thanks to the BDK), Delirious promised Ultramantis he would make him pay for the years he stole from him. Can the Devious One’s time really be up in Chikara?

I don’t want to see either of them leave Chikara, personally. Both are great talents but if one had to leave for good, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Delirious. He doesn’t wrestle on the indies very frequently anymore and probably doesn’t have much time to as the ROH booker and head trainer.

The Throwbacks vs The Devastation Corporation

2-out-of-3 falls for the Campeonatos de Parejas

The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield and “Mr. Touchdown” Mark Anglosetti) have been the Chikara Campeonatos de Parejas for a long time now. But The Devastation Corporation (Max Smashmaster and Blaster McMassive) have been on a tear in Chikara as of late, especially after winning the King of Trios tournament. While The Throwbacks are formidable champions, I think Sydney Bakabella’s monsters are going to be too much for them to overcome.

Eddie Kingston vs Jimmy Jacobs

Grudge Match

For a long time, Jacobs was doing his best to win over Kingston as a part of the Flood. Kingston held the Grand Championship before the shut down as seemed like the perfect person to win the title away from Icarus and the Chikara heroes. But Kingston finally made the right choice and turned his back on the Flood once and for all. Now the two are going to clash this Saturday with a ton of bad blood boiling over.

“Smooth Sailing” Ashley Remington vs. Juan Francisco de Coronado

Match can only be won by German Suplex

I’m not very familiar with Remington but Coronado is one of the best up-and-coming heels in Chikara right now. Both use the German suplex and at Tomorrow Never Dies, it will be the only way for these two to pick up the victory.

Missile Assault Ant vs Heidi Lovelace

Young Lion’s Cup finals

This will be the 11^th YLC that Chikara has hosted and is showcasing two of the better talents coming up in Chikara. Heidi Lovelace is tough as nails and I think has a pretty good shot at beating a member of the Gekido Colony. But being that Missile is a heel, I wouldn’t put it past him to win the Cup by any means necessary.