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

NXT, 4/8

NXT showcased the events of WrestleMania Axxess, showing the mini-tournament for a spot in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. The quarterfinals are Balor/Corbin, Dempsey/Breeze, Itami/Jordan, Neville/Kalisto, though they only showed the semis and finals.

Starts with a wrap up of media talking about WM in the Bay Area. Showcasing lots of NXT stars at media events alongside main roster guys. Breeze in a golf tournament with R-Truth was not something I ever expected to see.

Recaps of first round. First ever meeting between Balor and Corbin. Balor surprises Corbin with a crucifix. Breeze defeated Bull with a Beauty Shot. Itami defeated Jordan with a running single leg dropkick. Neville defeated Kalisto with a Red Arrow in a match I would’ve liked to see the entirety of.

First match of the show, Adrian Neville vs Hideo Itami in a first time meeting (in NXT but possibly ever). Think it’s funny how they have “Previously recorded” in the top right corner, like we don’t all know NXT is always pre-taped.

Looks like a pretty big crowd for these Axxess matches. They get in each other’s faces right away, Neville avoiding the kicks from Itami and they start off trading holds.

After Neville jaw jacks with some fans, Itami takes control. He lands a big penalty kick and clotheslines Neville to the outside, who uses 9.9 seconds to get back in the ring.

Neville getting lots of boos in this match. Not really working heel but I guess Itami is just that beloved. Neville slowing it down a little, keeping Itami on the mat and in the corner, hitting a big kick and big chops.

Itami ducks a head kick from Neville and locks in a sleeper then transitions to a dragon sleeper but Neville gets to the ropes and Itami hits a fisherman suplex and gets a 2.

Itami teases the GTS but Neville wiggles out. Itami hits a few kicks and secnds Neville into the corner and sets up for a dropkick but Neville pulls himself up and hits a super kick. Neville positions for a REd Arrow but Itami moves lands a kick and puts Neville in the corner and lands the corner drop kick. Sends him off the ropes and hit the single leg drop kick and pins Neville.

He’ll meet winner of Breeze/Balor.

Breeze ducking Balor at first, laying on the top rope and telling the ref to back off Balor. Balor then mocks him laying on the top rope and throws up a quick Too Sweet as Breeze rushes in and Balor evades and rolls him up for 2. Balor lands some big chops but Breeze stops him with a knee to the gut.

Balor hits the slingblade then sends him into the corner with the shotgun dropkick. Balor goes to the top and lands the Coup De Grace double stomp for the win. Balor meets former tag partner Itami in the finals.

More Dana Brooke hype videos. They’re really pushing this girl hard. I hope she doesn’t disappoint. She’s got a great look and seems to have good charisma. If she’s good in the ring they could really have something with her. She’s good looking, blonde and fit but not as muscular as Beth Phoenix or Kaitlyn. Seems like she’s angling to be on Total Divas too. She debuts next week.

Some behind the scenes looks at the NXT show at San Jose State University as well as scenes from the show itself. (“NXT sold out in Ohio. NXT sold out here in under an hour. NXT is the hottest thing on the planet today because of one person and his name is Kevin Owens!” - Kevin Owens)

Itami vs Balor finals in the middle of the show, 25 min left. What will they end this episode with?

Start off quickly exchanging holds and reversals. Go to punch each other but hold up since they are friends.

Crowd split for these guys. Neither can really gain an advantage for a bit but Itami lands some kicks and locks in a rear chinlock on the mat.

Balor reverses the single leg drop kick with a sling blade and sets up for the double stomp but Itami surprises him and sets up for the GTS. Balor wiggles out and rolls up Itami for 2. They stand up and Balor rushes in and Itami lands the single leg kick and pins Balor for a spot in the Andre the Johnson. Balor and Itami shake hands and hug afterwards and Balor raises his hand.

After the match, they show a Hideo Itami mini-documentary, highlighting behind the scenes look at his path to WWE and taking part in the Andre the Johnson.

Hideo has two kids apparently and the older one messes with Tyler Breeze while Breeze is playing a video game, looking to continue the family feud.

Showing highlights from his NXT San Jose match against Tyler Breeze and hitting the GTS. The crowd erupted when he hit the move and obviously, his GTS is way better than Punk’s.

Lots of WWE guys talking up Itami, especially Seth Rollins who said that within 6 months Itami came into the company and is at WM, which took him years. Big Show also congratulates him and says he looks forward to working with him more.

WWE.com article about several new NXT students

http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/wwe-performance-center-welcomes-new-class-of-recruits-27287363

Multinational crew of highlighted new guys like Cassie McIntosh and Jessica McKay from Australia, Nhooph Al-Areebi from Canada, Axel Tischer from Germany, Oscar Vasquez from Mexico, Radomir Petkovic from Serbia, Peter Howard from England, Kenneth Crawford, Thomas Kindgon, Sesugh Uhaa, Levis Valenzuela Jr. from America.

Lots of the already have some in-ring training but obviously the one I’m most looking forward to seeing is Uhaa Nation. For someone as hugely muscled as Nation, he does some of the most athletic stuff I’ve ever seen. I haven’t watched much Dragon Gate (where he gained a lot of exposure) but I have seen YouTube clips and some matches in PWG. When you see a dude who is like 250-260 pounds of pure muscle doing a standing moonsault followed by a standing shooting star press, you’re gonna take notice. If he has competent mic skills, he’s gonna be a star in WWE.

Lucha Underground, 4/8

LU opens in Dario Cueto’s office. He’s talking to Konnan and Prince Puma and telling them he wants the Trios Titles to be an important part of his temple, almost as important as the title Puma has, which is why he wants his biggest stars vying for them. He tells Puma he needs to find two partners to face a team next week Cueto has personally assembled – King Cuerno and two guys who will join him at ringside later. Oh and the title is on the line tonight.

The opening match is a Trios tournament match. Ivelisse, Son of Havoc and Angelico take on Drago, Aerostar and Fenix. Dueling Son of Havoc/Ivelisse chants. Drago/Aero/Fenix is a pretty stacked team. Fenix getting a big reaction and Catrina isn’t with him.

Fenix and Drago working over Angelico early. Ivelisse tags herself in at one point but Angelico tags himself back in quickly.

Fenix hoists Aerostar on his shoulders for a big splash from the top but Drago pulls him off and tries to make the cover. Clearly these dudes still have issues from their ongoing series and won’t be able to work together. Fenix is trying to separate them.

No wanted tags from Angelico, Havoc and Ivelisse, all blind tags and tagging themselves in. But they are working over Aerostar well. Tornado DDT from Aero who goes to tag Fenix but Drago tags himself in. Hits a tornado DDT of his own and tags in Fenix, who launches  Drago onto Angelico. Fenix sets up to dive but Aero tags himself in and hits a corkscrew springboard dive to the outside.

Havoc working against Drago and Aero and finally breaks free and tries to tag Ivelisse but she jumps off the apron and leaves him hanging. But Drago and Aero can’t decide who should take advantage and start pushing and shoving each other. Aero rushes in and Havoc bumps him up over the top to the outside. Drago rushes in and eats an enzugari and Havoc hits a SSP to win and advance his team. Ivelisse and Angelico look very surprised that they advance to the finals (I guess there’s gonna be 3 or 4 teams in the final match? That’s a little much)

Konnan tells Puma he’s found the perfect partner for his team – Hernandez – and says they only need to find one more person. But Johnny Mundo is there and tells Konnan Puma has already found another partner and they do an epic bro handshake. Mundo says King Cuerno is sneaky and Mundo has his back tonight. Konnan doesn’t look happy about Mundo and says they can trust him. But if he gets out of line, Hernandez or Konnan with his cane will split his wig. 

Next match, Sexy Star and Super Fly have to face each other since they lost.

Super Fly gets the jobber entrance and is already in the ring before Star comes out.

But before the match starts, Cueto interrupts them. He says he knows they’re friends since Star helped save Super Fly from Pentagon last week. That was an act of mercy and he wants them to have no mercy tonight so he’s giving them something to fight for – so he’s decided to make it a mask vs. mask match.

They start off chain wrestling and showing respect but Super fly kinda cheap shots Sexy with a kick, apparently he doesn’t want to lose his mask.

Eventually Star starts working back into the match and getting momentum and hits a big cross body from the top rope to the outside.

Sexy Star avoids a moonsault from Super Fly and rolls him up with a mahistrol cradle for the win. And Super Fly has to unmask. They shake hands and Super Fly asks her to take his mask off of him. But she really doesn’t want to since it goes against lucha libre tradition to take a luchadore’s mask. A lucha de apuesta match (mask vs mask or mask vs hair) usually only happens as the finish to a longstanding feud or hatred between two wrestlers, not just a normal stipulation because the mask is a huge part of the lucha libre tradition.

But as Star is leaving the ring, Pentagon Jr. runs in and knocks her off the apron and attacks Super Fly with the Package Piledriver and then breaks his arm.

In the main event, Prince Puma comes to the ring mocking King Cuerno, wearing a puma pelt and head on his head.

King Cuerno comes to the ring followed closely by his teammates – Cage and Texano! Damn, that’s gonna be a crazy Trios match.

They start chain wrestling but it breaks down quick. Cuerno escapes the ring and Puma goes to dive on him but is caught by Cage and Texano who toss him up into an assisted neckbreaker by Cuerno. Mundo and Hernandez come over to try and even the odds but Texano holds them off with his bull rope.

Cuerno takes control back in the ring after getting help from Cage and Texano, keeping him on the mat stomping on his knees and ankles to keep Puma grounded.

Puma starts gaining momentum, hitting some big kicks on Cuerno and a huge tope con hilo over the top rope. Cage and Texano move in to check on Cuerno and to make sure there’s no funny business, Mundo hits a rolling dive over the top taking out Texano and landing on Cuerno. Cage and Hernandez start trash talking each other and Cage rolls Cuerno back in and Hernandez just yells at Puma to get up and into the ring.

Cuerno avoids a 450 and hits two Germans and a vertival suplex but only gets a 2 count. Cuerno picks him up for the Thrill of the Hunt but Hernandez distracts Cuerno as the ref moves to tell Cage to get off the apron. Cuerno drops Puma and Hernandez boxes his ears and Puma hits a head kick. Puma yells at Hernandez to get down, that he can do this himself and hits a 630 senton to pin Cuerno.

Hernandez gets into the ring and brings Puma his title but Puma is still upset with Hernandez. But before long, Cage attacks them and Mundo gets in to even the odds and everyone is brawling. Their Trios match is next week and will face Ryck/Mack/Killshot and Havoc/Ivelisse/Angelico in the finals.

Ring of Honor

A few stars have been announced since the last show for the ROH/New Japan joint shows – Takaaki Wantanabe, Kushida, Gedo and some guy named SHINSUKE NAKAMURA.

Also make sure to check out ROH TV this week which showcases two big matches from Supercard of Honor 9 – Jay Briscoe vs Samoa Joe for the ROH World title and Jay Lethal vs Jushin “Thunder” Liger for the TV Title.

ROH also announced today that the Bullet Club will also be at War of the Worlds/Global Wars. The graphic only showed AJ Styles, The Young Bucks, Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson and Doc Gallows. So unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga or Yujiro Takahashi are coming. I was really holding out hope that Omega would be coming over but it doesn’t seem like he will be. At least we’re getting Shinsuke.

CZW Best of the Best 14 results

I was at CZW’s Best of the Best 14 on Saturday at the Flyer’s Skate Zone and it was actually a pretty good show. I haven’t been to CZW is a long time but BOTB is usually a pretty good show since they bring in lots of outside talent to make the one-night tournament interesting.

I took some quick notes during the show to go along with the results:

Tommy End advanced, defeating Aaron Williams and Caleb Konley

Konley was sporting a different look than I remember seeing him last time and looked like he was putting on some more muscle too. It was also the first time I’ve seen British wrestler Tommy End, though I’ve heard a lot about him. Good opening bout.

Jonathan Gresham advanced, defeating Tracy Williams and Trevor Lee

Lee has been blowing up on the indies lately and he got a huge response on his entrance (even though he used “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift as his theme music which you’d think would immediately get sh*t on by CZW fans). I haven’t seen Gresham in a long time either and he has this weird heel gimmick right now, going by “The Octopus” Jonatham Gresham. Was a decent opening round match but it kinda deflated the crowd when Gresham reversed a small package to eliminate Lee.

CJP advanced, defeating Joe Gacy and Joey Janela

BOTB was CJ Parker’s second indy date and he probably got the biggest heel reaction of the night. Though at first, it seemed like the CZW legit hated him being there and wasn’t just booing him because he was a heel. Tim Donst accompanied CZW Wired Champ Joe Gacy to the ring and David Starr came out to trash talk him, that he can’t wrestle anymore and shouldn’t be taking up time from active wrestlers. He got involved later, going after Donst with a chair but Gacy stopped him and got hit with the chair, causing his elimination. Also, I’d never seen Janela work before but he has a great personality and will definitely be a big star in the next few years.

“Speedball” Mike Bailey advanced, defeating Andrew Everett and “Dirty” Buxx Belmar

This was the best opening round match by far. Any of them seemed like they had a good chance of advancing but Bailey got the win after a shooting star knee drop on Everett. If I remember right, Everett eliminated Buxx with a 630 senton, which I’m surprised he was able to pull off given CZW’s extremely loose top rope. Buxx is a great talent and his gross-out gimmick works really well in CZW so it’s great to see him getting over in the Dub.

After the match, DJ Hyde came out and said that next month, Andrew Everett will face Trevor Lee and Everett agreed, if Hyde tightens his top rope.

The Deej also announced the first Tournament of Death participants – Josh Crane (a student of Drake Younger) and Matt Tremont. TOD 14 will be on June 13^th at 2 p.m. in Townsend, Delaware.

In the Deathmatch Trial Series (which I think is a series of deathmatches “Wrench” Conor Claxton has to go through to join the Nation of Intoxication), Devon Moore defeated Claxton after diving off the scaffolding onto a barb wire board laid on top of Claxton. Pretty decent deathmatch, though it took way too long to set up two barb wire boards and wheel out the scaffolding, not to mention there was an intermission right after the match.

Afterward, Moore asks DJ Hyde to put Claxton in TOD and the Deej says ok – as long as Claxton faces him in the first round. And next month, Claxton faces Danny Havoc in a panes of glass match.

In the first semifinal match, Gresham defeated End by Figure Four to advance to the finals. I’m not sure if it was because Gresham is working slower because he’s a heel or if their styles didn’t mesh but this match never seemed to get going. It was slow and nothing seemed to really work.

In the second semifinal match, Bailey defeated CJP in what was probably the match of the night. CJP cut a great heel promo when he entered the ring, trash talking CZW and the fans. Though Bailey won with a shooting star knee drop from the top, CJP got a great reaction at the end of the match and legit won over people who had no interest in him being there earlier in the show. And he played it great too, acting like he was really appreciative of their reaction but then flipped everyone off as he left.

Lucky 13 and Danny Havoc challenged OI4K for the CZW Tag Team Titles in what was probably the worst match of the night. I’ve never really been impressed with OI4K as a team and they continued to underwhelm me here. One of the Crists was trash talking a fan to start the match, saying he banged his mom and other gross stuff. Then he said the guy’s mom was dead. So he was basically saying he banged a corpse. Then the guy said his joke took an hour and Crist kept doing the Steve Austin “What?” at him so, yeah great way to start the match. After a lot of brawling outside the ring with chairs and stuff, some dude (don’t even know who it was) ran in to help OI4K and the match ended in a DQ. Devon Moore came out to help his NOI teammates and OI4K threw fire in his face then kept beating everyone up and one of the Crists started taking his clothes off and before he was able to take his briefs down, wrestlers from the back ran out to chase them off and acted hugely concerned for Moore’s face burns, even though they did nothing about it during the 5 minute beatdown after his face got burned in the first place. So yeah as the old saying goes “Sh*t don’t make no sense.”

  

This was followed by Alexander James and two security guards coming to the ring and James complained about his CZW Junior Heavyweight title being stolen. Suddenly the lights went out and Dewey Donovan was in the ring and from nowhere NICK F’N GAGE makes his return to CZW after four years in prison. Gage hit James with the chokebreaker followed by a boot scrape and James hightailed it before he got beat down more.

Gage trash talks people in the crowd who clearly don’t know who he is and then Matt Tremont comes out and they have a stare down. Gage says he sees who Tremont has been fighting and he’s not impressed. But then CZW Champ Sabian (Blk Jeez, whatever) comes out and this already long segment gets even longer. He talks trash on both of them challenges Tremont. But Gage then tells Tremont next time he sees him, he’s taking down the ropes and putting up barb wire and before he leaves he says he wants his title back.

Also, Gage is looking jacked. I guess that’s what four years in prison will do for you.

In the finals of BOTB, Mike Bailey defeated Jonathan Gresham in a pretty good match. It took a little while to get going and Gresham was working Bailey’s knee a lot, taking away his kicks and high flying. He put the Figure Four on Bailey twice and the second time, I was legit worried Bailey would tap out. But he ended up winning with a shooting star knee drop and all was right with the world. Bailey looked beat to sh*t after the long night and cut a great face promo to send everyone home happy.

  

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla

The most recent PWG show “Don’t Sweat the Technique” is up for sale (pre-order) on the PWG merch site. And, unsurprisingly, it looks amazing.

Also, PWG announced the annual DDT4 tournament will take place on Friday, May 22.

Announced teams are:

Team Tremendous

Fourth Gunn (Drew Gulak and Biff Busick)

Beaver Boys

World’s Cutest Tag Teams

Inner City Machine Guns

Monster Mafia

Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee

Love Gun (Matt Sydal and Chris Sabin)

Two non-tournament matches have been announced:

Johnny Gargano vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey

PWG World Title match:

Roderick Strong (c) vs. Brian Cage vs. Chris Hero

PWG also announced its events for the summer:

Rock and Shock the Nation – June 26

Threemendous IV – July 24

Battle of Los Angeles – August 28-30