Summer Spectacular on July 16th, 2011
Pre-Show Match: Cousin Bobby vs. Joey Hegland
Bobby is not in a good mood and takes control immediately following the opening bell. Hegland avoids a charge and connects with a few clotheslines. He hits a german suplex but walks into a boot. Bobby hits a spinebuster for the win at 2:14. This was a harmless pre-show match that played out exactly how I thought it would. Hegland didn’t receive too much offense and Bobby looked dominant. ½*
Waylon Beck enters the ring after the match. He sits down in a chair with his guitar, intending to sing a love song to Super Val. Bobby becomes furious and tells Waylon that he'll never get a girl. Waylon begins singing against Bobby's orders. Hegland claims that Waylon's singing sucked, so Waylon lays him out with a death valley driver.
Opening Match: Yabo the Clown vs. Steve Boz
Yabo attacks before the opening bell. Boz responds with a headscissors and a hurricanrana. He connects with a leg lariat and finds success with a crossbody. Yabo takes some time to regroup on the outside. He walks across the top rope and catches Boz with a leg drop. Yabo takes control, focusing his offense around Boz’s throat. You’d think I’m kidding but I’m not. Boz fights back with a tornado DDT and a modified neckbreaker. Yabo hits a sit-out gourdbuster but runs into a spin kick. Boz sets up for a superkick but a video of Silas Young plays on the projector screen. Yabo takes advantage of the distraction and sneaks in a rollup for the victory at 7:32. Yabo seems to work well with everyone and he has been one of the most consistent wrestlers in DREAMWAVE since I’ve started following the promotion. He added a lot to this opener and really made the crowd get behind Boz. Some decent action was followed by an effective finish and I was pleasantly surprised by this contest. **¾
Match #2: DREAMWAVE Alternative Title: “Mr. 450” Hammett © vs. Waylon Beck
They trade armdrags and find themselves at a stalemate. Hammett snaps off a hurricanrana and lands a springboard crossbody. He connects with corner punches and attempts a springboard maneuver, but Waylon follows him to the middle rope and hits a german suplex. Waylon takes control as Cousin Bobby gets involved from ringside. Hammett eventually finds an opening after a beautiful sunset bomb. They exchange strikes and Hammett snaps off a headscissors. Waylon catches him on a crossbody attempt and hits a sit-out powerbomb. Hammett connects with an enzuigiri and hits a pumphandle slam for a nearfall. He goes up top but Bobby pulls him to the floor. The referee proceeds to eject Bobby from ringside. Waylon and Hammett connect with clotheslines at the same time and fall to the canvas. Nikki enters the ring and gets ejected as well. Nikki returns to ringside with a Super Soaker and squirts the referee. Little did she know that the referee hid a more powerful Super Soaker under the ring. Waylon attempts a superplex but gets shoved down to the canvas. Hammett lands a 450 splash to retain his title at 12:26. These two meshed extremely well in the ring and had the crowd at a fever pitch for the action down the stretch. Hammett has proven to be crisp with his offense and plays his role well. Waylon is definitely on his way up the card and put in a great performance here. While the interference from the Beck Family was a bit silly, it still managed to play into the storyline of Waylon's distrust with the group. This match was given enough time to play out and these two made the action stand out. ***¼
JC Costilli is in the ring. He announces that Maria Kanellis will be the special guest next month and she will be running the show. I’m sure she’s caught up on her DREAMWAVE DVDs. Ryland Foxx and Justin McIntyre III interrupt. McIntyre claims that there are a lot of disgruntled employees in DREAMWAVE and introduces Austin Roberts. Roberts is still mad about “Mr. 450” Hammett busting him open during their title match last month. He promises to defeat Al Snow tonight and claims that McIntyre is going to look after him from now on. Roberts tells Jay Repsel to stay out of his business as well. Foxx says that DREAMWAVE’s days are numbered.
Match #3: Justice Jones and Matt Knicks vs. Tyler Priegel and Bucky Collins
Jones forces Knicks to start the match for their team. Collins hits a slingshot senton and Priegel adds a slingshot elbow drop. Priegel throws a dodgeball at Knicks. Jones hits a wheelbarrow slam on Collins and the heels isolate him. He hits a neckbreaker on Knicks and makes the tag. Priegel takes down Knicks with a backbreaker and hits an exploder. Jones violently overhead suplexes Collins into the turnbuckles and boots Priegel off the apron. Jones shoves Knicks out of the way and powerslams Collins for the win at 4:54. This match was solely used to highlight Jones’ dominance and Knicks’ slight improvement since aligning himself with Ace Martino. Priegel and Collins were just along for the ride. The match itself was quite entertaining for its short duration and it successfully got its point across. **
Marshe Rockett, Shane Hollister, and Zero Gravity are discussing their matches in the locker room. Hollister and Zero Gravity show some concern for Rockett, who is losing a best-of-five series 2-0 to Nick Brubaker. C. Red appears out of nowhere and Rockett suddenly becomes more confident.
Match #4: Al Snow vs. Austin Roberts
Justin McIntyre III and Ryland Foxx are out to supervise this match. Roberts attacks before the opening bell while Snow was trying to calm down Head. He takes over until Snow avoids a knee drop from the middle rope. Snow threatens to use Head but McIntyre jumps onto the apron and distracts him. Snow hits the Snow Plow but Foxx pulls the referee out of the ring during the pin attempt. Roberts hits a back suplex for a nearfall. He tries to punt Head across the ring but Snow takes him down with a spear. Snow accidentally irish whips Roberts into the referee. McIntyre tosses Roberts a chair. Roberts throws the chair at Snow and falls to the canvas, hoping for the referee to see Snow with the chair. Snow drops the chair and falls to the canvas as well. The referee doesn't know what happened and begins to ask the fans. Snow hits Roberts with Head and covers him for the victory at 10:28. While extremely overbooked and convoluted, this match was fun for what it was. Snow seemed to be enjoying himself in the ring and if you were ever a fan of his, this might be something to check out. If not, there's no harm in skipping over this contest on the DVD. *
Eryn and Stryc-9 are in the ring. They’re at the show tonight to talk about Eric Marx, who recently passed away. They bring up some memories of Eric while wrestling in RCW. A video package is played in tribute of Marx. Acid makes his way to the ring. He talks about how Marx could light up any locker room that he entered. Acid, Eryn, and Stryc-9 lead the crowd in a chant for Marx.
Match #5: DREAMWAVE Tag Team Titles: C.J. Esparza and Bret Gakiya © vs. Mason Conrad and Cameron Salem
Esparza and Conrad have a fast-paced exchange and find themselves at a stalemate. Gakiya and Salem trade pin attempts to no avail. Salem snaps off a wheelbarrow armdrag and a headscissors. Gakiya answers with a headscissors of his own. Salem catches him with a gutbuster and Victorious Secret isolate Gakiya. He connects with a springboard back elbow on Conrad and makes the tag. Esparza connects with a slingshot double stomp on Conrad. Victorious Secret hit a slingshot gutbuster on Esparza. Zero Gravity lay out Salem with stereo doubl
e stomps. Gakiya and Salem collide after both attempting a crossbody. Esparza connects with a leg lariat on Conrad and hits a backbreaker. He follows with a standing shooting star press. Conrad answers with a hangman's neckbreaker. Gakiya connects with a springboard dropkick on Salem. Esparza enzuigiris Salem into a backslide from Gakiya for a nearfall. Gakiya plants Salem with a DDT but walks into a belly to belly suplex from Conrad. All four men are down. Esparza hits a top rope falcon arrow on Conrad for a nearfall. Gakiya finds knees on a moonsault attempt. Salem accidentally takes out his own partner with a top rope leg drop. Esparza connects with a shooting star elbow drop on Salem and Zero Gravity retain their titles at 11:37. This match could have greatly benefited from more structure. The crowd had a difficult time reacting to the action because it didn't consist of much more than a continuous slew of moves without any focus. Even some of the more intricate exchanges didn't go as planned due to a lack of chemistry between these two teams. I usually look forward to Zero Gravity's matches but for whatever reason, things just didn't click with Victorious Secret. **
In the locker room, Brian Nelson tries to calm down Greg Glover as he's on edge about his upcoming DREAMWAVE World Title match tonight. Glover claims that he doesn't care so much about the title as he does about getting revenge on Mason Beck.
Match #6: Ace Martino vs. Shane Hollister vs. Dan the Man vs. Dan Lawrence
The winner will become the #1 contender for the DREAMWAVE Alternative Title. “Mr. 450” Hammett is on commentary. Dan the Man tries to “out-flex” Martino to start the match. He wins a test of strength and catches Martino with a double stomp. Hollister blocks a dive from Lawrence and connects with a slingshot elbow drop. Dan the Man snaps off a satellite headscissors on Lawrence but runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker from Hollister. Lawrence connects with a facewash dropkick on Dan the Man. Martino adds a delayed vertical suplex. Hollister enters the match and cleans house. He plants Martino with a flatliner. Everyone participates in a tower of doom spot in the corner. Martino covers everyone but can't get the win. Super Val helps Dan the Man succeed on a double crossbody. He hits a code red on Martino for a nearfall. Dan the Man connects with a tiger feint kick on Lawrence but gets forcibly yanked off the top rope by Martino. Hollister catches Lawrence with a stiff knee strike. Martino takes him over with a saito suplex but Hollister is up! Hollister runs into a kick and Martino hits another saito suplex followed by a spear for a two count. Martino adds a TKO for yet another nearfall. He steals the title belt from and Hammett jumps onto the apron. Hollister misses a charge and almost collides with Hammett. Martino synchs in a koji clutch on Hollister for the win at 11:41. The thing that I liked most about this match was that it gave four wrestlers who normally aren't apart of longer matches in DREAMWAVE time to showcase their abilities. As a result, I was really surprised by how well Martino can work in the ring. Even Dan the Man displayed some new offense. Hollister and Lawrence were solid as usual and everything came together nicely in this four-way. The finish was also smart in that Hammett didn't receive his desired match against Hollister and he now has a grudge against Martino. ***
Waylon Beck comes out after the match in a mask and cape. He tries to talk to Super Val but she wants nothing to do with him. Waylon hits a death valley driver on Dan the Man out of frustration. He goes to do the same to Super Val but eventually thinks better of it. Staff members run out to check on Dan the Man.
Match #7: Nick Brubaker vs. Marshe Rockett
This is the third match in a best-of-five series. Brubaker leads the series 2-0. Rockett has a much different entrance now that C. Red is in the picture. Rockett connects with a few chops on the outside and throws Brubaker back into the ring where he lands a flying crossbody. Brubaker takes some time to regroup. Rockett hits a bulldog but gets distracted by Lady Requiem. Brubaker hits a spear out of nowhere and takes control. Rockett is able to avoid a corner charge but runs into a spinebuster. He eventually comes back with a northern lights suplex. Brubaker connects with an enzuigiri but gets caught by a yakuza kick. Another distraction by Lady Requiem allows Brubaker to hit an exploder. C. Red neutralizes Lady Requiem by kissing her. Rockett hits an ace crusher for the victory at 7:28. I'm still waiting for these two to be given enough time to put on the match that they are fully capable of delivering. With that said, the addition of C. Red and its subsequent effect on Rockett's success was a nice touch to the story and should make this best-of-five series more interesting. **½
In the locker room, Mason Beck yells at the Beck Family for their failures tonight. He tells the Beck Family to stay away from ringside during the main event. After Mason leaves, Bobby starts talking about a plan with Waylon and Nikki.
Match #8: DREAMWAVE World Title: Acid © vs. Greg Glover vs. Mason Beck
Beck and Glover start brawling before Acid can even make his entrance. Glover jumps off the apron but Beck catches him and rams him into the ringpost. In the ring, Glover attempts a springboard maneuver but Beck just boots him. Beck hits a splash mountain and Acid finally makes his entrance. Acid unleashes a flurry of strikes on Beck. Acid and Glover send Beck to the outside with stereo springboard dropkicks. They have a fast-paced exchange in the ring. Beck takes them over with a double suplex. He military presses Acid into Glover and takes control. Beck german suplexes both of his opponents at the same time. He also hits a double samoan drop while he's at it. Not a big deal. Acid connects with a shining wizard, sending Beck into the referee. Acid and Glover team up to finally knock Beck down. Acid chops Glover and lands a moonsault onto Beck. Glover lands a frog splash onto Beck but there's no referee. Brian Nelson brings out another referee but the Beck Family pull him out of the ring. Glover lands a plancha onto the Beck Family. He jumps off the top rope but Acid catches him with a lungblower to retain his title at 12:21. Despite not winning the match, Beck came out of this contest with tons of momentum. He didn't take the fall here and that should signal that he has another title match forthcoming. These three provided solid enough action and there were a few nice three-way spots sprinkled throughout. The emphasis put on the Glover/Beck rivalry early on was a nice tough and overall I think the multiple stories contained in this match made for an entertaining main event. ***
Everyone starts brawling after the match. Acid, Nelson, and Glover clear the ring of the Beck Family and stand tall. Acid shakes Glover's hand and heads to the back. Nelson suddenly attacks Glover and hits a burning hammer. Nelson looks stoic as he walks away from what I have to assume is his former partner.
Overall: The only complaint that I've had with DREAMWAVE thus far was that I felt as though many of the matches deserved more time. I'm happy to say five out of the eight matches on this show received more than ten minutes. That fact definitely translated into a higher match quality. “Mr. 450” Hammett had a worthwhile title defense against Waylon Beck, there was an energetic four-way involving a surprising performance by Ace Martino, and the main event came through to end the show. While nothing on this DVD will blow you away, I have to say that DREAMWAVE took a step in the right direction with Summer Spectacular, as the storytelling was solid as always and the in-ring action did enough to warrant a recommendation.
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