NXT, Lucha Underground and Indy Wrestling Minute - Your Weekly Source for Independent Wrestling News

NXT TV, 1/8

Sami Zayn kicks off NXT TV this week, his first appearance on the show since winning the NXT Title and being powerbombed onto the apron by Kevin Owens.

Zayn gets in the ring and grabs the mic but drops it and hops the guardrail to celebrate with the crowd who chant “Ole” and “You deserve it” for him. He says the NXT Title proves that you don’t need to listen to what people tell you need to be or what you need to do, you just do you and do it better than anyone else. Then gets all cheesy and says the NXT title doesn’t belong to him, it belongs to everyone in the NXT crowd. He’s not just a wrestler or WWE Superstar, he’s in a band - Sami Zayn and The Zayniacs. “Everbody here plays an instrument, everybody here makes the music with us. We make the music! We do! We write the songs that make the whole world sing!” Everyone starts the Ole chant and he says he loves that song.

Says Takeover R Evolution should have been the best night of his life - except for the way it ended. It ended with Kevin Owens coming out here, with literal blood, sweat and tears all over his face and they had a moment - but he ruined it. Owens hurt him, but didn’t end him. He’s ready to defend the NXT Title anytime, anywhere.

Then Adrian Neville comes out. Has something to say to Sami, has wanted to say it for weeks but hasn’t been able to. Last time they were in the ring, they had a battle, they stood toe to toe and on that night, Sami came out the better man and congratulates him.

Zayn begins to say he’s pretty sure Neville is entitled to a rematch but then William Regal comes out. He puts over their match from R Evolution and says Neville is due a rematch, which will happen next week.

Also, next week is the move to Wednesday for NXT

The first match of the night is Hideo Itami taking on Curtis Axel, who is down in NXT looking to re-energize his career. He’ll have a tough task against Itami though.

They tie up, Axel backs Itami into the corner and trash talks, “I don’t care who you are - you’re a piece of crap!” Alex Riley says Axel thinks of himself as “the only real man” in WWE. So he’s Silas Young now?

Axel throws Itami off the ropes and he ducks several clotheslines and hits Axel with a Sick Kick and several kicks in the corner. Albert and Graves start talking about hats for some reason and go on and on and Brennan has to be like “Will you guys focus on the match, please?”

Axel spends most of the match in charge, using stiff shots and chin locks to keep Itami on the mat while jaw jacking with the crowd. Axel keeps the pace slow, not allowing Itami to gain his feet and use his “kick style.” Axel “Who is this guy? Who cares about him?” and the crowd starts chanting “Hi-de-o.” After getting some momentum going with a clothesline off the top, Itami wins with a spinning head kick.

Byron Saxton is backstage, wanting to get a word with Tyson Kidd but Natalya says he’s busy getting ready for his match next week with Finn Balor. Saxton congratulates Natty on the new season of Total Divas and Kidd interrupts them, asking Natty “When was the last time you checked on my cats?” She says they’re her cats too and Kidd says yeah but when they’re sick I chew up the food and spit it into their mouths so they’re kinda more his cats and she says that’s just weird, that’s what birds do and you aren’t a bird. Tyson has a big match next week but she says has a big match too (teaming with Charlotte against Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch).

Kidd says to Saxton he doesn’t want to look past Balor, but he is, he’s looking at the NXT Championship. And he will finally become the face of NXT. He’s also going to replace Sarah McLaughlin as the face of the SPCA because he’s not just a humanitarian, he’s also a man of the animals. Especially cats. Fact.

Before Lucha Dragons vs Vaudevillains, they show a video package recounting the build toward Bull Dempsey and Baron Corbin. Next week, Bull vs Baron for the first time.

Alexa Bliss out now. NXT needs more Alexa Bliss. She takes on Sasha Banks (with Becky Lynch). This is actually a rematch from a few weeks ago when Banks broke the nose of Bliss in a match.

Banks shoves Bliss but Alexa fires back with a series of forearms. Bliss whips her into the corner and runs in but Banks avoids her. Bliss springboards up and hits a sunset flip (which Rich calls a powerbomb) for a 2 count. Bliss goes for a headscissor but Banks counters into a back breaker.

Bliss reverses a bodyslam into a small package but only two. Then hits a crucifix pin but only two. Throws Bliss into the corner who gets her feet up to kick Sasha, but she catches them, throws them through the ropes, flattens her out with a club to the chest and drops the knees on the midsection of Bliss. Banks brings her to the center of the ring and hits the Bank Statement which Bliss taps to and she holds onto it well after the ref calls for the bell.

Tyler Breeze back in action on NXT. Hasn’t been on TV in a while, not sure why. Takes on some jobber (Chad Gable?). Breeze said his vacation was over, Graves says he was traveling the world scouting a location for a new seasonal residence. Gable is a former Olympian? Guess that’s why they put him in the Kurt Angle adjace singlet. Albert calls him blue collar and Graves says that’s just a term poor people use so they don’t feel bad about themselves.

A Let’s Go Gable chant? What the what?

Gable was a Minnesota state wrestling champion in high school and competed in the 2012 Olympics. Won in the qualifiers but eliminated in the next round.

Gable gets behind Breeze and picks him up and slams him twice before locking in a front headlock. He floats over as Breeze tries to roll out, keeping the hold on. How is Gable getting chants? I’m so confused. Breeze punches Gable in the face then backs him into the corner with kicks. He drops the leg and gets a 2. Commentary references no one has seen Marcus Louis since Breeze made fun of him several weeks ago.

Gable uses an impressive judo throw to reverse a chin lock after fighting to his feet then drops a knee on Breeze’s arm. Breeze hits him in the gut and back him into the corner but Gable grabs his arm and does the Minoru Suzuki arm bar over the ropes. The ref breaks the hold and Breeze walks off grabbing his arm. As Gable gets back and goes after Breeze he gets hit with a Beauty Shot and Breeze gets the pin.

Letting Gable get some good work in against Tyler Breeze tells me that he’ll be someone we’re going to see more of in the future. He looked really good in the ring and has a good look as well. Plus, they really made “the hard-working amateur wrestler against a pretty-boy heel” dynamic work well in this one and I could see them working together more in the future.

Next, Devin Taylor talks to Finn Balor who says he’s always looked up to Tyson. They trained in a lot of the same places but Kidd is a product of the infamous Hart Dungeon. But Kidd will need more than 9 lives to survive Finn Balor next week. And that is a fact.

After a Total Divas promo (whch I fast forwarded) they show a still from the end of Breeze’s match where he’s checking himself out in his phone. But in the background, it looks like someone was watching him from backstage, through the curtains. Marcus Louis, maybe?

Now the Vaudevillains are out to take on the Lucha Dragons.

I really hope Kalisto goes solo eventually and they don’t bring up the Lucha Dragons as a team. He deserves so much more than being paired with Sin Cara. Besides being a botch machine (I’m telling you, it’s the mask), he just doesn’t look like he cares. His body language makes him look so bored and uninterested in what’s happening.

Kalisto starts with Gotch. Kalisto starts fast, hitting a big springboard cross body and a big kick. He tags in Cara and they flatten Gotch with two kicks and Kalisto wheel barrow into Cara and senton drops onto Gotch.

Cara gets a 1 off a backslide but Gotch pushes him into his corner and tags in English. English school boys him through the ropes and goes for a baseball slide but Cara catches him and pulls him out to the floor with a thud. Kalisto runs in and drop kicks Gotch off the apron and the Dragons hit tandem topes.

They announce that Daniel Bryan is having a match this week on Smackdown, the first Thursday show. That’s cool, I thought he wouldn’t be back ‘til the Rumble.

Back to the action, English is cornering Kalisto in his corner but he kicks Gotch off and a multi-jump springboard into an arm drag on English - but Gotch grabs his ankle and Kalisto goes flying instead. Gotch tags in and starts dropping knees on Kalisto and stomps on him. Gotch takes him over with a weird looking pump handle suplex but only gets a two. Tags in English who stomps and punches him, choking him in the ropes.

English controls Kalisto on the mat with a chin lock as the crowd tries to get Kalisto into the match. He breaks free, bounces off the ropes and tags in Sin Cara while hitting a headscissor. Sin Cara fired up, springboard in and hits English with a flying headbutt, clothesline him down and hits a springboard cross body. Gotch runs in but gets caught with a drop kick. Cara throws English to the corner and hits a Sunset Bomb but Gotch breaks up the pin. He goes after Kalisto who low bridges Gotch who flies over the ropes.

English pushes Cara away, into his corner where Kalisto tags in. Cara drops down and school boys English over but lifts him up in a powerbomb as Kalisto goes up top. Kalisto leaps up and spins around, catching English by the neck and slamming him to the mat to get the 3 and retain the titles. Never saw that crazy double team move before and it looked pretty cool but could be tightened up a little. It fits the Lucha Dragons perfectly though, who needed a high-profile double team finisher.

Lucha Underground, 1/7

The gold in the Lucha Underground championship belt is made from the gold of the seven Aztec tribes. Which totally sounds like a real thing. If you had Aztec gold, and you melted it down to make a wrasslin belt, you’d probably be the dumbest person in the world.

Anyway, show begins with a brief recap of Dario Cueto announcing the Aztec Warfare match. In the arena, there’s a bunch of dudes dressed in, I guess, Aztec gear and dudes pounding on drums in place of the house band, which Striker describes as “blessing the temple.”

Cueto is in the ring with the belt welcoming the fans to his temple (who boo him, what jerks). Oh, Cueto invented Aztec Warfare. I’m sure he did.

Two men start, every 90 seconds another enters, anything goes, eliminations only by pin or submission.

Fenix and Johnny Mundo starting the match. Looks like Aztec Warfare is going to be the entire episode. Cueto says it’s a random draw but it seems unlikely that Mundo, who has had problems with Cueto, just happened to be picked second.

Mr. Cisco is 3rd. Striker says “this little cholo is rolling solo for the first time” in reference to his indy name, Lil Cholo. Cisco eliminated almost as soon as he enters. Fenix DVD position and rams him into the corner and Mundo hits the End of the World for the pin.

Fenix tries a quick roll up on Mundo who kicks out then they knock each other down with dual head kicks.

(The upload I watched didn’t cut out the commercials, which was awesome.)

King Cuerno is #4. Son of Havoc #5. Fenix and Cuerno trade dives to the outside. Mundo tries to toss Havoc out who hits the ropes with his shoulders and springboards off into a back elbow. He tosses Mundo over the top rope and lands a huge corkscrew plancha over the top.

#6 is Pimpinela Escarlata. He and Havoc trade shots to start but Pimpy then takes on Fenix and Cuerno at the same time, holding his own easily. He kisses Fenix who rolls out of the ring and tries to kiss the ref.

Prince Puma is #7. He and Mundo start going at it in the ring and Puma gets the upper hand, taking Mundo off his feet with a drop kick and laying in punches.

What I’m noticing about this match is it’s not flowing very well. People just roll in and roll out whenever. There’s so many people in the match, only one has been eliminated so far yet there’s only Mundo and Puma in the ring and everyone else is just kinda hanging around outside the ring. Pacing and flow not going good in this one.

Mundo takes down Puma as he rushes into the corner, only to have Fenix jump back into the ring and hit a big leg drop on Mundo. Striker points out that the Asian chick who has been watching random matches (Cuerno and Drago matches if I remember right) is in the crowd and Vampiro no sells him.

Ivelisse is #8. She takes out Cuero with a hurricanrana and Fenix with a tornado DDT but Pimpy gets his hands on her. Pimpy goes to kiss her but stops then tries to kiss Cuerno, who grabs Pimpy by the hair and dropkicks him. Striker says this is a great week for pro wrestling with Wrestle Kingdom and Aztec Warfare  (but doesn’t reference himself calling WK9 of course).

Ivelisse takes down Pimpy and allows Havoc to pin him with a Shooting Star Press. Havoc rolls out and Cuerno gets his hands on Ivelisse but out comes Drago at #9. He takes down Ivelisse with a sweep kick and Fenix rolls in to meet Drago while Cuerno waits for his spot to attack in the corner. Cuerno has Drago on his shoulders but Ivelisse starts kicking him in the stomach. He hits the Thrill of the Hunt on her and Ivelisse is eliminated. Now Drago takes his turn to scout Cuerno.

Bael is #10. Striker “Bael is a real b-boy from the streets” Striker calls Son of Havoc “El Hijo Del Havoc” and I’m sure Vampiro is just shaking his head.

Prince Puma eliminates Son of Havoc with Ricochet’s move the Benadryller.

Cortez Castro is #11. Cortez and Bael work together to take down Mundo and Puma in the ring. Cuerno hits Drago with a big kick outside as Bael rearranges Puma’s face with a face wash in the corner.

Ricky Mandel is #12. He goes after Cortez immediately then after Cuerno outside. Prince Puma hits a Northern Lights, a Jackhammer and standing Shooting Star to knock out Bael. Mundo uses a running knee to a seated Cortez Castro and pins him.

Big Ryck is #13 but his whole crew is knocked out. Ryck levels Mundo, Puma and Mandel then pins Mandel with a uranage. Drago in the ring and starts kicking Ryck. Ryck shrugs off the attacks and gorilla presses Drago. He tosses Drago onto Cuerno’s shoulders who hits his finisher and eliminates Drago. Mundo then eliminates Cuerno with a crucifix.

Pentagon Jr is #14. He knocks down Puma, Mundo and Fenix but Ryck gets him in a full nelson. Puma and Mundo go to superkick Pentagon but hit Ryck instead. #15 is Super Fly. Pentagon hit a power bomb on the knee on Puma and a crazy back drop power bomb on Fenix.

Chavo is #16. He heads to the ring with a steel chair. Cueto says anything goes so it’s all legal. He nails Super Fly in the head and pins him. Pentagon high fives Chavo and Chavo nails him with the chair and pins him. He then takes the chair to the midsection of Mundo on the outside.

#17 is Mascarita Sagrada. Fenix and Sagrada go at it in the ring, exchanging blows but Sagrada takes Fenix outside with a big satellite head scissors. Sagrada runs off the apron to dive on Fenix but Fenix hits him with a drop kick in mid-air and both guys lands hard on the pads outside.

#18 is Sexy Star, dressed like Ms Marvel. She and Chavo go at it right away. Chavo tries to suplex her over the ropes to the outside but she blocks it and kicks him off the apron and senton onto Chavo.

Sagrada in the ring with Ryck now. Sagrada doing well avoiding Ryck’s big swings and trying to use lucha flippy moves on him but Ryck eventually levels him with a lariat and pins him.

#19 is Mariachi Loco. Loco in like a house of fire taking on Puma, Ryck and Fenix. Uses a knuckle lock corkscrew to take down Puma. Ryck levels him with a lariat but doesn’t get the pin as #20 Mil Muertes enters the match.

Muertes levels everyone in his path. Takes out Mundo, Puma with a spear, Loco with a flatliner and catches Fenix with a fist to the face as he came off the top rope. Mil then pins Loco.

So everyone is in now and those left are Sexy Star, Chavo, Ryck, Puma, Mil, Mundo and Fenix (who entered first). Don’t think I’m missing anyone.

Uh-oh, mastodon battle. Are Ryck and Mil about to throw down? Not really. Ryck tells him to hit him and Mil bounces off the ropes and tries several shoulder tackles but doesn’t budge Ryck. Everyone left gangs up on them in the ring. Ryck rushes into the corner on Mundo who moves and hits Ryck with the End of the World but before he can cover him, Chavo attacks Mundo. Puma SSP on Ryck and Chavo throws him out too. Chavo goes to pin Ryck but as he does, Fenix 450 onto Ryck and Chavo and Ryck is elminated.

Chavo brings the chair back in, hits Mundo in the stomach and nails Fenix in the head and pins him as the crowd boos. Chavo still has the chair and Star gets in the ring to square off with him. He winds up and Star hits him with a drop kick. He catches a cross body and slams her on the chair. He puts the chair on her face and stands on it, before going to the top rope. Blue Demon appears from nowhere and pushes Chavo off the top ropes and when they square off, he tells Chavo to turn around and Star hits him with the chair and pins him. Demon tells Chavo he’s not done with him.

Final four is Sexy Star, Prince Puma, Johnny Mundo and Mil Muertes. Star tries to attack Mil first who shrugs her off but then Puma and Mundo team up to take on Mil. Star headscissor Mundo and rana Puma but Mil spears her and pins her.

Pretty sure Mil is still undefeated going into this match. He probably has a good shot.

Crazy looking spot where Mil catches Puma between the ropes somehow and Mundo leaps over Mil and cross body Puma down onto the apron. (He tossed Puma to the apron who tied to kick Mil. He caught his leg then grabbed the other so Puma was kinda sitting on the second rope)

Mundo and Puma work together to superplex Mil. Puma and Mundo fight until Mundo is knocked down and Puma hits the rope to go after Mil. Catrina trips him up and he drags her onto the apron by her hair. Mil rushes in and almost hits Catrina but stops just in time as Puma ducks out of the way. Mundo springboard off the second rope to inzugari Mil who ducks and he takes out Catrina! Mil looks pretty furious and grabs Mundo by the neck. Puma knees of Meteora on Mil and he’s laid out in the center. Mundo springboard 450. Puma springboard 450 and both pin Mil.

Mundo and Puma are final two left. Mundo has been in there the whole time though. All comes full circle as Mundo and Puma faced off in the first main event on the first episode of Lucha Underground. Mil picks up Catrina’s limp body to carry her out.

Mundo whips Puma into the ropes and rolls Puma into a single leg Boston Crab but Puma gets to the ropes. Puma catches Mundo climbing the turnbuckle and hits a one man Spanish Fly but somehow Mundo kicks out.

Puma climbs the turnbuckle now but Mundo keeps grabbing his leg and trying to stop him. Puma stomps him and climbs up but Mundo follows and hits a top rope reverse rana which sends Puma to the opposite corner. Mundo hits him with the End of the World but somehow Puma kicks out. First time, maybe?

Puma in the other corner and Mundo stomps him. Mundo picks him up and puts him on top and Puma punches him and crotches Mundo. Head kick on Mundo then hits the 630 senton to pin Mundo and is the first Lucha Underground champion. As he celebrates and shakes Mundo’s hand, Konnan comes to the ring.

But because the upload I watched sucks (and the only one I found on Dailymotion) cuts out just then, I don’t know what Konnan did. Apparently he just celebrated with Puma. I hope that’s all that happened. Read like 4 different sites, found a bunch of different uploads and they were all the same.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling will debut a weekly TV show this Friday on AXS TV at 9 p.m. The one hour show will highlight some of the best matches from recent years and feature commentary from former UFC champion Josh Barnett and MMA commentator Mauro Ranallo.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter said on Twitter that the third episode of the New Japan series is the best hour of wrestling TV he’s ever seen.

Also this past week, New Japan Pro Wrestling invaded Pro Wrestling NOAH. Naomichi Marifuji successfully defended the GHC Heavyweight title against Satoshi Kojima (a former IWGP Heavyweight champion and AJPW Triple Crown champion). Afterward, Suzukigun attacked Marifuji and Minoru Suzuki hit him with a piledriver.

TMDK (Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls) defeated Takeshi Suguira and Masato Tanaka for the GHC tag team titles which seems like a good set up for KES vs TMDK (since they faced off at WK9 in the 8-man tag and both hold tag team gold).

But the partnership between Pro Wrestling NOAH and New Japan is important not just because it will help build the brand of both companies and raise their profiles with fans in Japan, but because it shows how wrestling companies should operate with regards to other wrestling promotions.

Working together and sharing talent helps both companies in the long run. Getting guys more matches with different opponents in front of different crowds helps them become more well-rounded wrestlers and will allow for cross-over fans to enjoy both products. It also helps the business by getting fans who would only support one company to start paying attention to another brand.

In America, the reason the WWE is viewed as the “only” game in town (even though it is the most lucrative game in town for most) is because they want all the credit and glory of building stars and promoting shows for themselves and not share it with anyone else. They have this idea that their product isn’t pro wrestling but rather sports entertainment, which is why they make hugely popular, established stars (like Kenta, Kevin Steen, Prince Devitt and countless others) go through “developmental” first.

And it’s because WWE doesn’t work with or acknowledge other companies and help them grow that the product has become so stagnant, why the ratings continue to fall and why fans continually complain about a general lack of direction for the product and an overall drop in quality in recent years. WWE pushed out all the other wrestling companies to the point that the only other promotion with mainstream TV recognition (TNA) is looked at as a second-rate joke. (Granted TNA does that to themselves sometimes, but it’s not as bad as the reputation it’s gotten).

Back wrapping up this tangent – it’s clear that WWE sees the value is wrestlers working for other wrestling promotions before coming to WWE. It’s why they’ve signed Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, Hideo Itami, Finn Balor and so many others. But until they get over themselves and realize that wrestling is wrestling is wrestling that they’re product will continue to only reach the same dwindling audience of fans who are becoming increasingly bored with their product.

#RAWlternative

On January 19 at 8 p.m., several independent wrestling promotions in America will be live-streaming an event on YouTube aptly titled “#RAWlternative.” The event is intended to show the community of pro wrestling fans that there are alternatives to WWE out there as fans have seemingly become more and more unhappy with the current WWE product. (The event was originally called #BoycottRaw but was changed to better suit the theme of the event)

Check out my write up about #RAWlternative with a complete match listing and be sure to sign up to watch on the Facebook page and to keep up with the latest matches added.

Evolve and CZW results

Evolve 36

-Open the Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano defeated Shane Strickland

Strickland is an up-and-coming talent on the indies who I generally identified as a CZW guy so it’s cool to see him getting exposure in other companies. And putting him up against an Evolve/DG USA mainstay like Gargano shows they have confidence in him.

-Biff Busick defeated Trevor Lee

Of all the matches on this card, this one I’d really like to see the most. Trevor Lee had a breakout year in 2014 and Busick gained lots of notoriety as well. It’s amazing to me that Lee is only 21. He’s gonna do big things in pro wrestling.

-AR Fox and Uhaa Nation defeated The Bravado Brothers

I’m not too familiar with The Bravados but the team of AR Fox and Uhaa Nation intrigues me. Fox is an effortless high-flier and Nation is just as agile while also being absolutely jacked. Their teaming would get over anywhere.

-Ricochet defeated Timothy Thatcher

Ricochet has been killing it this past year, winning the Best of Super Juniors tournament, the PWG Battle of Los Angeles as well as becoming the first non-Japanese wrestler to win the Dragon Gate Open the Dream Gate Championship. Thatcher is on his way up in the sport and I’ve heard nothing but good things about his technical style and the clash of styles in this match certainly makes for an interesting combo.

-FIP World Heavyweight Champion Rich Swann defeated DG USA Open the United Gate Champion Anthony Nese two falls to one in a 10 minute flash match

Not sure what a “flash match” is but I’m assuming it’s like an ironman match. These two agile high-fliers have been stalwarts on the indy scene and while Swann is the FIP champion and worked in Dragon Gate in Japan a lot, I feel like Nese could break out this year. With a little work on the mic and developing the Premier Athlete Brand characters (with Caleb Konley), 2015 could be a big year for Nese.

-Evolve Champion Drew Galloway wrestled Roderick Strong to a no-contest in a non-title match

Their match from Evolve 35 (which is free on YouTube) was a hard-hitting brawl that went all over, which Galloway eventually won. He offered Strong a title shot but it wasn’t allowed by Evolve management, saying Strong wasn’t in line for a shot. It’s good to see these two still working each other because they mesh really well together. Roddy is the current PWG Champion and I wouldn’t be surprised if he added the Evolve title to his resume in 2015.

Evolve 37

-Anthony Nese (with Su Yung and Caleb Konley) defeated Shane Strickland

-Ratings Match: Timothy Thatcher defeated Roderick Strong

-Ratings Match: Trevor Lee defeated AR Fox

-Ratings Match: Biff Busick defeated Uhaa Nation

Afterward, Busick challenged Chris Hero to a match on Wrestlemania weekend.

-Evolve Championship Match: Drew Galloway defeated Ricochet

-Losing Team Must Split Up: Ronin (Johnny Gargano, Rich Swann, and Chuck Taylor) defeated The Bravado Brothers and Moose

After the match, Gargano said he will strive to make the Open the Freedom Gate championship the most prestigious title in the world, which brought out Drew Galloway who said the Evolve title is the most important. Seeing as how DG USA doesn’t seem to be a thing anymore, I wouldn’t be surprised if this leads to a title unification match at some point.

CZW’s “To Live Is To Die”

-“Speedball” Mike Bailey defeats Alex Colon

It’s great to see Bailey getting booked more frequently in the states and to see that CZW is again, finally, starting to bring in quality outside talent instead of trying to relying solely on homegrown guys.

- The Beaver Boys vs Team Tremendous ended in a DQ

John Silver started hitting everyone with a chair which ended the match in a DQ (which is crazy to hear happen in a CZW match because when I went, there were no rules and you’d never see a match end in a DQ). During the match, Dick Justice, who had been kidnapped by the Beaver Boys, got free and tried to help Investigators Dan Barry and Bill Carr but was stopped by Rex Lawless (who I think is a CZW student).

-Chris Dickinson defeated “Dirty” Buxx Belmar

Another example of CZW bringing is quality outside talent. Both Dickinson and Belmar have been on the indies for a while working mostly the New England and eastern Canada circuits but are now starting to get booked all over. They both have gimmicks that fit perfectly with the aura of CZW.

- Drew Gulak defeated Alexander James in an impromptu match

Started as Alexander James coming out for an interview but he’s interrupted by Drew Gulak who beats up James and his entourage. Don’t know who James is but Gulak ought to be in the World title picture all the time in CZW, not messing around in the mid-card.

-The Nation of Intoxication (Lucky 13 and Devon Moore) defeated the Genocide Junkies (Matt Tremont and Stockade)

A miscommunication led to Tremont hitting Stockade with a chair allowing NOI to get the win. Tremont and Stockade continue fighting after the match until Tremont issues a challenge to Stockade for an ultraviolent match at the 16^th Anniversary show on Feb 21.

- Joe Gacy retains the Wired Title against Jon Gresham

Afterwards, Tim Donst came out to tell Gacy everyone will stab him in the back to get the Wired title, but he’ll say it face to face and that Donst is going to take the title “for wrestling.” Donst is the current AIW Absolution champion (their World title) and one of the best up-and-coming guys in wrestling right now. He’s a great addition to CZW.

-OI4K retain the tag titles against Pepper Parks and Papadon

It seems like Parks and Papadon have gotten a bunch of title shots lately and hope it ends soon. Their team just seems to be a random pairing and I’d really like to see a more consistent team like the Beaver Boys or Team Tremendous get a shot at the belts.

BLK Jeez retained the World Heavyweight Title against Sozio

Apparently after the match, Jeez tried to hang Sozio with a noose over the ropes and I heard the spot looked really, really bad. Plus afterward, Jeez attacked a female photographer. So let me get this straight – Jeez was basically the face against Sozio, who had the Front with him, and won the World title at Cage of Death last month. Now all of a sudden he’s attacking innocent staff workers and trying to hang Sozio.

From what I heard, “To Live Is To Die” was a really strong show until the last two matches, where the pace fell apart and strange booking decisions just took the crowd out of it. I don’t think anything off happened in the tag title match, just that Parks and Papadon are a boring team. But from everything I’ve read about the World title match, the only thing I can think of is an old phrase I used to hear often when I attended CZW regularly – “Shit don’t make no sense!”

Also, The Young Bucks will be at CZW’s 16^th Anniversary show on Feb 21, taking on OI4K for the CZW Tag Team titles. And announced for CZW’s Best of the Best 14 on April 11 are Jon Gresham, Andrew Everett, Trevor Lee and Tim Donst.