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On May 18th, 2012 Chaos Pro Wrestling presented the first part of their Strong Style Summit. In the Strong Style Summit, eight men competed to earn a shot at the CPW Heavyweight Title. On this show, we will find out how the first round played out as well as who walked away with the CPW Heavyweight Title.
Opening Match: First Round: Matt Cage vs. Joey O'Riley
Cage suffers a kick to the midsection and immediately retreats to the floor. The crowd is solidly behind O'Riley, who connects with a nice dropkick out of the corner. He hits a snap suplex and lands a standing shooting star press. Cage sends him into the middle turnbuckle but gets caught by a flying crossbody. Cage goes back to the floor where O'Riley takes him out with a dive. In the ring, Cage blocks a slingshot DDT and connects with a knockout kick. He takes control until O'Riley comes back with an enzuigiri and a basement bulldog. O'Riley handsprings but Cage catches him with a blue thunder bomb. O'Riley hurricanranas out of a tiger driver and hits a standing spanish fly. He handsprings into a standing moonsault and hits a slingshot DDT. Cage dodges a roaring mafia kick but falls victim to a stroke. The action goes to the apron where Cage hits a back suplex. He follows with a lariat for a nearfall. Cage applies a rear-naked choke but O'Riley is able to make the ropes. Cage powers him to the canvas and reapplies the hold. O'Riley escapes the hold but almost gets caught by a rollup. He connects with a roaring mafia kick for a two count. Cage blocks a second roaring mafia kick and connects with an enzuigiri. Cage hits a tiger driver for the win at 13:19. I've seen these two wrestle each other many times and I think it might be impossible for them to have a bad match together. They really impressed the crowd and the nearfalls down the stretch were garnering great reactions. Not only do they have innovative offenses, but they're so familiar with each other that they have innovative counters ready as well. This match perfectly set the pace for the rest of the tournament and was pretty much the ideal opener. ***½
Match #2: Isaac Draven, Aaron XTC, and Number One Bob vs. Bull Bronson, Nick Ferrero, and Mikey McFinnegan
Draven and McFinnegan trade pin attempts to no avail. Ferrero gets caught by an atomic drop from Draven. Bronson enters the match and utilizes his great size advantage against XTC. Bronson lays in a facewash knee strike and Ferrero adds a spinebuster. XTC is isolated and he falls victim to some brutal offense. I’m actually starting to feel bad for the guy. After a powerslam onto the apron, I feel bad for him without question. Even the commentators are begging for someone to pin him. XTC stunners out of a chinlock and makes the tag. Bob cleans house before running into Bronson. Draven sends McFinnegan into the ringpost and trades forearms with Bronson. They brawl to the outside. XTC catches McFinnegan with a small package for the victory at 15:12. If the heat segment on XTC wasn’t so damn entertaining, I would be upset right now. The beatdown of XTC was bordering on tedious and not much of a finishing stretch followed. However, everyone played their role well and there was nothing technically wrong with how the match was structured. Also, someone should give props to XTC for still being alive after this contest. **½
Match #3: First Round: Kyle Sykes vs. Alex Castle
Angelus Layne accompanies Castle to the ring. Castle showcases his power advantage early on. Sykes fights back with a flash kick and teases a dive. He connects with a leg lariat. The action goes to the apron where Castle hits a spear. He takes control, unleashing a nasty kick combination followed by a powerful half nelson slam. Sykes comes back with an enzuigiri and a plancha to the outside. Back in, Castle hits a uranagi into the turnbuckles and connects with a corner yakuza kick. He adds a saito suplex for a nearfall. They exchange forearms and Sykes hits a german suplex. A distraction by Layne goes haywire and Sykes sneaks in a rollup for the win at 10:48. These two meshed well and I was impressed with Sykes for my first time seeing him. This was more of a strike-based contest and they made it work for the most part. My only complaint was that the finish felt totally out of place considering the big moves that were being traded down the stretch. Nonetheless, this was a good showing for both men and Cage/Sykes should be fantastic. **¾
Match #4: First Round: Christian Rose vs. Billy Hills
Rose locks in a side headlock but Hills quickly shrugs it off. Hills easily wins a test of strength. Rose climbs to the top rope to gain leverage but just falls on his face. Hills dropkicks Rose to the floor and sends him into the ringpost. Hills finds success with a double axe handle from the apron. Rose catches him with a double stomp as he reenters the ring. Rose takes control with another stomp and various forearm strikes. Hills avoids a corner charge and connects with a lariat. Rose responds with a springboard dropkick. They exchange strikes and Hills hits a spinebuster along with a bubba bomb. Rose catches him coming off the middle rope with a roaring elbow. Rose impressively hits a falcon arrow for a nearfall and adds a stiff flash kick for the victory at 12:34. This was another strike-based match but it managed to separate itself from the previous contest. Whereas Sykes/Castle was more evenly-matched, Rose had to figure out ways to land quick shots on Hills while avoiding his powerful strikes. Once Rose managed to neutralize Hills' size advantage, all it took was one flash kick. This match didn't feature the smoothest action but the show is called “Strong Style Summit” and these two more than got their point across in that regard. ***
Match #5: First Round: Jeremiah Plunkett vs. Shane Smalls
Smalls is replacing Chic Canyon but Plunkett doesn't think that Smalls is in his league. Plunkett lays in some strikes and yells “you're not Chic Canyon” at Smalls. The man is angry. Smalls shows some signs of a comeback but runs into a superkick. Plunkett hits a suplex on the floor and slams Smalls into the merchandise table. Plunkett maintains control in the ring until Smalls fights back with a leg lariat and a fisherman suplex. Plunkett answers with a saito suplex but pulls Smalls' shoulders off of the canvas during the pin attempt. Plunkett hits a piledriver for the win at 6:47. Considering Canyon's absence, this felt like more of a showcase for Plunkett. Part of me thought that Smalls could pull off the upset by taking advantage of Plunkett being too preoccupied with Canyon, but this match was essentially an extended squash. Plunkett should match up well with Christian Rose and I'm excited for both semifinal matches. **
Match #6: Malakai Cross and Ty Blade vs. Chic Canyon and Hex Gage
Canyon out-wrestles Cross early on. Gage suplexes Cross and gets nice height on a dropkick. He showcases his wrestling ability against Blade. They exchange chops and Blade sneaks in a thumb to the eye. Canyon hits a nice northern lights suplex on Blade and drops a knee. Canyon finds himself in the wrong corner and gets worked over. He plants Cross with a spinebuster but can’t make the tag. Canyon nearly knocks Cross out with a forearm and tags out. Gage hits a sit-out gourdbuster on Cross and connects with a basement dropkick. Blade interjects himself from the apron and low blows Gage. Cross and Blade now isolate Gage until he hip tosses Blade into a DDT and makes the tag. Canyon mafia kicks Cross and overhead suplexes Blade. He back drops Blade onto the floor and then hits an assisted back suplex on Cross. Cross responds with a spinebuster on Gage and both men are down. Canyon superplexes Blade. Gage attempts to follow with a shooting star press but misses. Now THAT was a shooting star press. Blade applies a rear-naked choke but Gage is able to withstand the hold. Gage comes off the top rope with some flip but Blade catches him with a superkick. Cross hits Canyon with a foreign object as he charges across the ring. Cross and Blade lay out Gage with a roll-through powerbomb for the victory at 21:36. One of the great things about watching a promotion for the first time is that it’s genuinely surprising when a wrestler catches you off-guard with a great performance. Gage was absolutely on fire in the ring and I’d think he has to be someone to watch out for once he gains more exposure. Much like the other tag team match on the card, this contest could have trimmed off a few minutes. However, I’d much rather see a match be given time to play out instead of being cut too short. The action was very hit or miss at times, but I think all four men made a solid impression. **½
Jeremiah Plunkett runs into the ring and attacks Canyon with a railroad spike after the match. He hits a piledriver on Gage for good measure. Plunkett busts Canyon open with the spike and stands tall.
Match #7: CPW Heavyweight Title: Jeremy Travis © vs. Zakk Sawyers
Travis makes this match “chaos rules,” which I assume is some kind of no disqualification stipulation. They trade control in the ring before the action quickly moves to the floor. Sawyers props Travis in a chair and charges with a sliding forearm. Travis starts choking Sawyers and throws him into some chairs. In the ring, Sawyers hits a senton and connects with an enzuigiri. He follows with a missile dropkick. Travis resorts to an eye rake to regain control. The action goes back to the outside where Sawyers gets thrown into the stage. Travis hits a DDT in the ring. He takes over until Sawyers creates an opening after a roaring elbow. Once again, Travis goes back to the eyes. Sawyers fights back with two more roaring elbows to become the new CPW Heavyweight Champion at 15:09. I was looking forward to this match but I came out of it feeling a bit underwhelmed. For a match billed as “chaos rules,” things weren’t very chaotic. They basically stuck to formula and the action led to a pretty abrupt finish, which diminished the shock of the title change. I’ve seen Sawyers wrestle before and it seems like he’s really developing in the ring. I’d be curious to see what these two could do in a rematch, as I feel as though they have a better contest in them. **¼
Match #8: NWA Southern Heavyweight Title: Drew Haskins © vs. Ricochet
Haskins attempts to ground Ricochet and they find themselves at a stalemate. Ricochet snaps off a headscissors and teases a dive. He catches Haskins with some strikes around ringside. Ricochet lands a standing moonsault in the ring. He traps Haskins in a surfboard and rams his head into the middle turnbuckle. Haskins avoids a springboard moonsault and connects with a lariat. He takes control until Ricochet comes back with an ace crusher. They trade strikes and Haskins elevates Ricochet into a backbreaker. Ricochet answers with a springboard lariat. He blocks a springboard crossbody with a lungblower for a nearfall. Haskins ducks an enzuigiri and Ricochet accidentally takes out the referee. Haskins tries to use the title belt but gets caught by a knockout kick. Ricochet lands a phoenix splash but there's no referee. The referee recovers in time to see the belt and mistakenly disqualifies Ricochet at 13:39. This match was going along nicely until the finish took the wind out of everyone's sails. Haskins has a fun gimmick and it didn't take long for the crowd to fully get behind Ricochet. Perhaps a clean finish wasn't in the cards for this match – that's fine. I would have just preferred another match in the main event slot. **½
Overall: Strong Style Summit was an effective introduction to Chaos Pro Wrestling as the show combined some promising talent from the surrounding area with CPW regulars. The biggest compliment that I can give CPW is that it looks like they put their wrestlers in a position to have the best match possible. Every match on the card received enough time to fully play out and that was much appreciated. The first half of the show featured highly entertaining tournament matches, especially the Cage/O'Riley opener. However, the second half of the card had a difficult time matching the quality of earlier contests. If your interest in this show is more geared toward the tournament, I could justify a slight recommendation. Otherwise, I would call this a thumbs in the middle show. There's definitely a lot of intrigue for future events, especially for the conclusion of the Strong Style Summit.
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