Super Saturday on February 4th, 2012
Opening Match: Shane Strickland, Gerome Phillips, Hollywood Dream, and Kyle Maverick vs. Remi Wilkins, Tripp Cassidy, Sue Jackson, and Dale Patricks
Wilkins connects with a spin kick on Maverick, who responds with a nice enzuigiri. Wilkins hits a backcracker but gets caught by a springboard dropkick from Strickland. Strickland hits a dragon suplex on Cassidy. Hollywood Dream boots Cassidy in the face and hits an exploder. Jackson plants Hollywood Dream with a spinebuster and follows with a basement crossbody. Phillips throws Patricks to the floor onto Jackson. Strickland lands a dive to the floor onto all of his opponents. In the ring, they do a big tower of doom spot in the corner. Hollywood Dream misses a flipping leg drop from the top rope. Jackson lands a huge dive to the floor onto everyone. Back in, Phillips hits an elevated powerbomb on Patricks for the win at 5:32. The action never slowed down, that’s for sure. However, no one really received a chance to stand out except for Phillips and this showcase was just kind of there. **
Match #2: Alex Colon vs. Aaron McCormick
The winner will earn a spot in Best of the Best 11. McCormick snaps off a headscissors and a hurricanrana. He snaps off an armdrag and connects with a dropkick. Colon blocks a dive with a gamengiri. McCormick hurricanranas him off the middle rope. Colon connects with a baseball slide and takes control. They trade pin attempts to no avail and McCormick lands a standing shooting star press. He connects with a pele kick and goes up top. Colon crotches him on the top rope but gets sent to the floor. McCormick lands a beautiful shooting star press to the floor. That was incredibly dangerous but looked really good. They battle on the apron where McCormick hits a northern lights suplex. Colon blocks a hurricanrana attempt and powerbombs McCormick into the guardrail. In the ring, Colon connects with a facewash kick followed by a flying double stomp for a nearfall. McCormick tries a quick crucifix for a two count and hits a tornado DDT. Colon elevates him into a michinoku driver for the victory at 8:07. These two became more comfortable with each other as the match progressed and the action started hitting its stride down the stretch. McCormick could find a place in CZW as he brought some unique offense to the table. I think Colon is underrated and I hope he has a little run in Best of the Best this year. **¾
Match #3: Greg Excellent vs. Drake Younger
Younger dropkicks Excellent to the floor and follows out with a somersault dive from the top rope. In the ring, Younger lands a flying crossbody and hits a northern lights suplex. Excellent responds with a samoan drop but gets planted by a half nelson suplex. Younger lands a frog splash. Excellent hot shots him into the turnbuckles and strips down to reveal a Superman speedo. Younger, not to be outdone, reveals Superman underwear. Younger hits a corner cannonball along with a 2k1 bomb. They battle up top and Excellent hits a piledriver after some struggle. Both men are down. They battle on the outside where Younger hits a death valley driver. Excellent hit hard on the floor. Back in, Excellent connects with a hard right hand and hits a saito suplex. He follows with a corner cannonball and a rope-assisted tiger driver for a nearfall. Excellent adds another tiger driver for the win at 10:26. Something about the underwear comedy struck me as odd, especially after seeing Excellent’s promo from the last show where he talked about being serious and bringing the fight to Younger. I only saw that change in attitude from Excellent at the end of the match, when he put Younger away. Excellent is probably most at home trading big moves and Younger gave him the opportunity to do that here, making this a decent exhibition. **½
After the match, Younger says that he’s willing to put his differences with Excellent and shakes his hand. If they had their differences coming into this match, why were they wearing matching Superman underwear?
Match #4: Nevaeh vs. Kimber Lee
Lee slaps Nevaeh and gets speared for her troubles. Nevaeh connects with a basement lariat followed by an enzuigiri. Lee utilizes a hair-pull and gains the advantage. Nevaeh avoids a crossbody and fights back with a flurry of offense. Lee hits a chinbreaker but Nevaeh answers with a german suplex for the victory at 5:28. There wasn't much going on here and the finish came out of nowhere. I've seen Nevaeh a few times in various promotions and she is talented. I would like to see what she could do against Mia Yim in a longer match. *½
Match #5: AR Fox vs. Samuray Del Sol
Del Sol controls on the mat early on and armdrags out of a wristlock. They begin to trade armdrags and both attempt dropkicks at the same time. Fox connects with a bicycle kick to catch Del Sol off-guard. They have a crazy exchange on the floor with a multitude of flips. Fox throws Del Sol into the guardrail and then reenters the ring to land a dive over the ringpost. Fox hits a guillotine leg drop from the top rope and takes control in the ring. Del Sol comes off the top rope with a corkscrew armdrag. They battle on the apron where Del Sol connects with a superkick. He plants Fox with a brainbuster on the apron. Del Sol connects with a tiger feint kick and armdrags Fox into the guardrail. In the ring, Fox finds himself in a cross armbreaker but is able to reach the bottom rope. Fox hits two stunners and lands a springboard 450 to the floor. Back in, Del Sol gets his knees up to block a 450 splash. Fox retreats to the outside where Del Sol takes him out with a springboard corkscrew dive. Del Sol follows with a slingshot splash in the ring. Fox catches him up top with Lo Mein Pain for the win at 11:58. This was extremely flippy, but you’re not going to find someone as clean with his offense as Fox and Del Sol was on point as well. They had a few visually-stunning exchanges at ringside and it was fun watching Del Sol succeed at out-flashing Fox. In effect, this match progressed exactly how you would expect, but that’s not always a bad thing. ***¼
Match #6: Tommy Dreamer vs. Sami Callihan
Dreamer takes down Callihan with a shoulder tackle and mocks his mannerisms. Callihan sneaks in a cheap shot in the corner but walks into a few armdrags. Dreamer reverses a crossbody attempt into a fallaway slam. The action goes to the floor where Dreamer utilizes the ring bell. Callihan crotches him on the guardrail and connects with a running chop. Dreamer trips Callihan on the apron. Callihan lariats Dreamer off the apron and hits him with the ring bell hammer. In the ring, Callihan takes control with a facewash kick. Dreamer tries a quick sunset flip to no avail and finds himself in a figure four. He's able to reach the bottom rope. Dreamer comes back with a superplex and both men are down. Dreamer connects with corner punches and hits a rydeen bomb. He actually applies the stretch muffler but Callihan is able to roll through. Dreamer brings a chair into the ring but Callihan drop toe holds him into it. Dreamer boots the chair into Callihan's face and connects with a chair-assisted hesitation dropkick. Callihan avoids a DDT and hits his rope-assisted splash. He misses a bicycle kick and Dreamer hits a DDT for a nearfall. Dreamer heads to the back and grabs a kendo stick. Callihan dodges a kendo stick shot and hits a saito suplex for a two count. He grabs the kendo stick and hits Dreamer’s left leg with it repeatedly. Callihan connects with a bicycle kick and applies the stretch muffler but Dreamer makes it to the ropes. Dreamer can’t hit a death valley driver due to his bad leg and Callihan low blows him. Callihan hits a death valley driver of his own for the victory at 20:02. The duration and quality of this match completely caught me off-guard. Callihan played the de facto heel but it made sense as he felt the need to use more cheap tactics as the match went on to defeat Dreamer. Dreamer isn’t going to be taking any huge bumps, and he shouldn’t be. However, that fact allowed the limited weapon spots to mean something. Callihan not only used Dreamer’s kendo stick against him, but he ultimately took advantage of Dreamer’s bad leg to defeat him with his own move. I was pleasantly surprised with how this match turned out. It’s also worth mentioning that Dreamer is a class-act. He took every opportunity to put over CZW and did his best to make Callihan look good in this match. ***
In a promo backstage, Callihan admits that he thinks extreme should be dead. First, he defeated Sabu and now Dreamer. He says that when the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Title is on the line, he gets the job done. Dreamer confronts him and tells him that he’s one of the best around today. Dreamer says that he wishes Callihan would be grateful for a change and tells Callihan that he needs to be a flag-bearer for CZW.
Dustin Rayz makes his way to the ring and talks about his injury at Cage of Death. He says that through his recovery, Jake Crist has been there for him. He apologizes to Jake for betraying him. Jake comes out and accepts his apology. Dave Crist and Rickey Shane Page interrupt. Dave calls Rayz a cripple and asks Jake who his partner is tonight. Dave shoves Rayz to the ground and Jake starts brawling with him. Jake eventually falls victim to the numbers game, as Dave and Page beat him down. BJ Whitmer makes the save, leading to…
Match #7: Dave Crist and Rickey Shane Page vs. Jake Crist and BJ Whitmer
Dave and Page take some time to regroup as Rayz gets helped to his feet. Whitmer lands a dive to the floor onto Page. Dave catches Whitmer with a baseball slide. In the ring, Whitmer connects with a leg lariat on Dave and Jake follows with a slingshot stunner. Jake traps his brother in a pendulum and Whitmer knee drops Dave’s head into the canvas. Jake comes off the top rope but Dave catches him with a knee in the gut. Page and Dave isolate him until he lands a flying crossbody onto Page and makes the tag. Dave snaps Whitmer’s neck across the middle rope and the heels now work him over. He plants Dave with a spinebuster and tags out. Jake powerslams Page into the turnbuckles and superkicks Dave. He hits a tiger suplex on Dave but gets caught by a kick from Page. Page hits a death valley driver on Jake. Whitmer hurricanranas Page and hits a fisherman suplex. He hits an exploder on Dave from the middle rope and connects with a yakuza kick for a nearfall. Whitmer suplexes Dave and himself to the floor. Page misses a dive and crashes through a contraption of chairs at ringside. Dave backdrops Whitmer into the front row. Dustin Rayz enters the ring and threatens to hit Dave with his crutch. Rayz suddenly turns around and hits Jake! That only gets a two count. Page connects with a knockout kick on Jake. Dave and Page follow with a double stomp-tombstone combination for a nearfall. Dave plasters Jake with a chair shot for the win at 14:26. Page and Whitmer were excellent choices for mystery partners and this tag team match worked out well. After seeing more of Whitmer, I’m starting to notice how good he is at adapting to his opponents’ style. He had no problem keeping up with the action down the stretch and I hope that he continues to wrestle for CZW throughout 2012. The finish was at least interesting, and hopefully Rayz’s heel turn means that he’ll be ready to return to the ring sooner rather than later. I have a feeling that I’ll like the majority of the Crist brothers’ feud and this match was no exception. ***¼
The camera cuts to Devon Moore and DJ Hyde in the ring for their title match. Before the referee can signal for the opening bell, Scotty Vortekz interrupts. Vortekz says that he doesn’t have a match tonight and requests to be in this title match. After some convincing, Hyde agrees by laying out Vortekz with a forearm, leading to…
Match #8: CZW World Heavyweight Title: Elimination: Devon Moore © vs. DJ Hyde vs. Scotty Vortekz
Vortekz catapults Moore into Hyde. Moore lands a dive to the floor onto Hyde and Vortekz follows out with a moonsault. In the ring, Vortekz lands a standing moonsault onto Moore. Hyde connects with a nasty headbutt on Moore. They begin trading headbutts around ringside. Vortekz and Moore let fans in the front row chop Hyde. Even a security guard lays in a chop. In fact, the cameraman wins the award for loudest chop. Hyde blocks a dive from Vortekz but gets caught by a yakuza kick from Moore. Vortekz innovatively powerslams Moore onto the apron. Hyde hits a swinging side slam on Vortekz. Moore comes off the top rope with a blockbuster on Hyde. Moore superkicks Hyde, who responds with a lariat to eliminate the champion at 8:11. We are guaranteed a new champion. Vortekz hits a spanish fly on Hyde for a nearfall. He misses a flying double stomp and Hyde spears him. Hyde connects with a roaring elbow and hits a blue thunder bomb for a nearfall. Vortekz ducks a lariat and sneaks in a quick rollup to become the new CZW World Heavyweight Champion at 10:38. Moore’s lengthy title reign wasn’t a success to most people, partly because his title defenses were unmemorable and I think partly because the events surrounding the Junior Heavyweight Title picture were attracting everyone’s attention. So I guess it’s worth a shot to see what Vortekz can do with the belt; he’s certainly a hard-worker. However, this triple threat match felt a bit rushed, especially given the elimination rules. I don’t think anyone could have predicted a Vortekz/Gulak world title match at the anniversary show and I’m curious to see how that contest turns out. **½
The locker room empties out to congratulate Vortekz. Drake Younger straps the title around his waist. Vortekz cuts a promo in front of his hometown crowd talking about his time in CZW and how happy he is to be champion.
Match #9: Ultraviolent Rules: Matt Tremont vs. Danny Havoc
Havoc wins a strike exchange with a corner yakuza kick. Tremont military presses him from the apron to the floor. He stabs Havoc's forehead with a fork, busting him open. Tremont brings out staple guns but gets thrown into the guardrail. Havoc comes off the apron with a flying knee strike. He also lands a senton from the apron. Havoc uses the staple gun on Tremont around ringside. Tremont eventually finds an opening to return the favor. Tremont actually staples a dollar bill to Havoc's tongue. I've cried during splinter removal before. In the ring, Havoc throws a chair at Tremont's head. Tremont hits a side slam onto some chairs. They battle up top and Havoc hits a superplex onto the chairs. Havoc lands a twisting senton from the top rope. They trade punches and headbutts. Havoc hits a russian leg sweep onto a propped chair for a nearfall. He empties gusset plates across the ring. Tremont hits a powerbomb onto the gusset plates for a two count. He lays gusset plates across Havoc's chest and hits a vader bomb. Tremont misses a top rope splash and gets a gusset plate stuck to his forehead. Havoc hits a dragon suplex and sets up a contraption of chairs and gusset plates. They battle on the middle rope and Havoc hits a death valley driver onto the chairs for the victory at 15:02. When I review deathmatches, I try to keep in mind that a lot of people don’t care for them. Thus, I try to rate them with the consideration of the people that do enjoy them. For the most part, this was your standard deathmatch of two wrestlers putting each other through escalating punishment. Since Tremont and Havoc are two of the better deathmatch wrestlers in CZW, this ended up being a bit better than the standard deathmatch. However, I can’t really go much higher due to a lack of story or any element to get me invested in the action. **¾
After the match, Havoc takes back what he said about Tremont's toughness last month and shakes his hand.
Overall: Super Saturday was a decent show and about on par with An Excellent Adventure. There were some solid matches in the undercard including a quality exhibition between Fox and Del Sol, a surprisingly great performance from Dreamer against Callihan, and a strong tag team match that continued the feud between the Crist Brothers. However, while last month's show had the historical value of being the last CZW event in the Arena, this show doesn't carry any historical value besides Vortekz becoming world champion. This is truly a thumbs in the middle show for me. I would recommend just taking a look at the comments and deciding for yourself, giving special consideration to the show if the match between Callihan and Dreamer interests you.
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