Cleveland, OH – 6.16.2012

This show is a joint production between Beyond Wrestling and St. Louis Anarchy. The numbers next to the wrestlers’ names represent their Beyond Wrestling record.

Team Beyond (Eric Corvis (+11), Jonny Mangue (+2), Chase Burnett (-7) & Zane Silver (-3)) vs. The Beasts (The Pitboss (+7), Matthew Justice (-1), & The Hate Junkies (dany only (+4) & Stryknyn (+2))

Her youu have a team that carries the Beyond Wrestling banner and another that wants to tear the company down. This started out as an all out brawl around the ringside area. The Beyond team got the upper hand early on Stryknyn in their corner. Stryknyn turns the tables when Silver gives him ten punches in the corner, and Stryknyn carries him out to deliver The Last Ride. Pitboss, the leader of the Beasts, received the loudest jeers from the crowd when he tagged and also received the biggest beating on the floor from the Beyond team. Silver becomes the Beats punching bag until he escapes from the grasp of Justice, the man least familiar with Beyond. Corvis comes in to clean house. In case you’re confused, Eric Corvis is the former Corvis Fear. Stryknyn and only drag Corvis to the floor to gang up on him and the turn the match back in their teams favor. Corvis fights only off the top rope and nails a frog splash. Mangue tags in and goes right after Pitboss, his former teammate turned enemy. Burnett takes out the entire Beast team when he’s tagged in. The Beyond team each dive onto the Beasts around the ring. They get put in pile back in the ring. Silver dropkicks Justice into a senton on the other teammates. only suplexes Burnett and Silver so that one DDT’s the other. Mangue looks to have only neutralized, until he turns into a spear from Stryknyn. He is accidentally clotheslined by only. Corvis gives him a spring back Ace Crusher. Justice gives Corvis a corner Death Valley Driver for the pin at 14:30. I really liked the dynamic between the two teams and just how well they worked together. Mangue has quietly improved so much over the past year, and I’m really excited to see him get opportunities elsewhere. Justice has upside and the Hate Junkies have potential to be the big heel tag team for the company. Simply put, this was an exciting, fun opening contest. ***

Arik Cannon (0), Darin Corbin (0) & Christian Rose (0) vs. The Submission Squad (Pierre Abernathy (-1), Evan Gelestico (0) & Gary Jay (-2))

Greg Jovi, some sort of lawyer character, is in the Squad’s corner. Cannon ties out Jay in the opening sequence. Corbin and Rose come in to give him some slams. Even referee Jake Clemons gets caught up in the moment and gives Jay a slam. We get the poorest Michinoku Pro spot EVER, but that was intentional. Abernathy tires himself out running the ropes, so he and Corbin wrestling in slow motion. Corbin ends that sequence with a clothesline. Rose and Corbin just destroy Gelestico. Jay trips Rose face first on a middle turnbuckle, allowing Gelestico to kick him in the face and take control. Rose counters a corner attack from Gelestico by stomping him into the mat. Rose slams Jay onto Gelestico too, then tags in Cannon. He takes out the entire Squad by himself. Gelestico kicks Cannon in the head. Abernathy then pushes Cannon into Jay for a Complete Shot. Corbin breaks the cover and gives Gelestico a standing shiranui. A series of kicks and strikes ends with Cannon buckle bombing Jay and mowing him down with a lariat. Jay schoolboys Cannon and holds his tights to get the pin at 10:44. I’ve said the Squad have improved from the work I’ve seen lately in Beyond and AIW, but I think this may have been their best outing I’ve seen yet. Granted, the other team is filled with really talented wrestlers, but the Squad deserves credit too. I had not seen much of Rose, but I was impressed with what he brought to the table. I also liked the fun, goofy stuff in the beginning. On a show like this with multiple team matches, it’s always nice to do something unique. **3/4

School of Roc Summit Match for the School of Roc Cup
Remi Wilkins (Cup Holder) (0), Dale Patricks (0) & Heidi Lovelace (0) vs. The League (Tripp Cassidy (0) & Reed Bentley (0)) & Nate Stone (0)

This match is elimination rules. If an entire opposing team is eliminated, then the remaining members of the other team will compete with one another until one member of that team is left standing. That person will be the winner, and the School of Roc Cup Holder. “Big” Sue Jackson was supposed to be in this match with his League teammates, but a wrist injury that he suffered at CHIKARA’s “The Contaminated Cowl” event has put him on the shelf. Nate Stone, one of the Leagues’ enemies, replaces him. It will be interesting to see how that team will work itself out.

Patricks and Stone start out. Stone actually has control, but Cassidy for whatever reason decides to knock him out from the apron. Patricks covers him and gets the pin at 1:30. The League seem to rather have this be a handicap tag match instead of teaming with one of their enemies unwillingly. The League now team up on Lovelace. Lovelace is able to make comeback, utilizing a lot of Lucha inspired moves. As impressive as she was, Bentley is able to pop her up into a forearm strike (called The Reed Awakening) to eliminate her at 4:53. Cassidy and Bentley have control of Patricks when Nate Stone comes back to ringside. His distraction allows Patricks to O’Conner roll Cassidy for the pin at 8:20. Stone and Cassidy fight to the back as Bentley keeps on Patricks. Wilkins gets some time with Bentley too, but it’s him and Patricks for the most part. Speaking of Wilkins, Patricks accidentally forearms him when going for Bentley. Patricks ducks Bentley’s ripcord forearm and gives him a German suplex to eliminate him at 12:39. Per the rules of the match, Wilkins and Patricks will wrestle each other. Patricks puts up a good fight, going for his German suplex right away to capitalize on his previous elimination and getting a nearfall with a crossbody. However, it’s Wilkins who gets the win and retains his Cup by giving Patricks a spin-out facebuster at 15:11. I thought everyone in the match delivered in one way or another, and the story they told was very good. The only real complaint I had was that it went a little too long, but then again the match is designed to be that way. I’ve seen better from these guys on their web series and elsewhere, but I think they did the School of Roc justice nonetheless. I hope to see more School of Roc action in Beyond. **1/2

Elimination Match
Davey Vega (+9) & Eric Ryan (0) vs. The Kentucky Buffet (Matt Cage (0) & Alex Castle (0)) vs. The Hooligans (Devin Cutter (0) & Mason Cutter (0))

Vega’s usual partner Mat Fitchett was supposed to be his partner, but a torn quad has put him on the shelf for awhile. AIW Absolute Champion Eric Ryan takes his place. Ryan and Cage have a great opening exchange with Ryan sending Cage out with a huracanrana. One of the Cutters sends Ryan out with an elbow. Castle comes in to try and take Cutter out. Cutter rolls out after a half-nelson slam. Vega missile dropkicks Castle out. The other Cutter hits a standing moonsault after a chest kick. Cage hits an Ace Crusher from the bottom rope and a calf kick. He DDT’s Cutter on the bottom turnbuckle. Cage suicide dives onto both Hooligans. Ryan and Vega then dive onto them. One of the Cutters Asai moonsaults onto everybody. Back in the ring, we get a revolving door of wrestlers fighting for a pin. Vega gives Cage a lungblower. Ryan double stomps Cage into his feet, but Castle is there to break the pin just in time. Cage superkicks Ryan into a Saito suplex from Castle. The Buffet kicks the crap out of a Cutter, but the other Cutter is there to make the save. The Hooligans maul Cage mercifully in the corner. One Cutter double stomps him across the others knee for a two count. They hit a Flying DDT/wheelbarrow combo for the elimination at 7:04. The Hooligans are able to exhaust and take out Vega and Ryan as well. Ryan and Vega are able to throw stereo kicks at one of them. A Total Elimination variant gets them the pin at 9:19. The Hooligans and Matt Cage blew me away. The Hooligans come in as fat, Highlander looking like guys and just went a mile a minute. Cage is so crisp and well rounded that it baffles me that he isn’t booked in more companies. Whether it be as a singles or competitor, or teaming with Rose or Castle, I’d like to see more of him. Ryan, Vega and Castle all did good work too but those three especially stood out. This was an unexpectedly great, fast-paced match. ***1/4

Mark Angel (+14) vs. Drew Gulak (0)

Angel is the current points leader and is accompanied by his tag partner Nick Talent. Currently, Gulak has gone on a streak of avenging his former losses. So far he’s avenged a few losses, and now he hopes to avenge a previous loss he had to Mark Angel in this very match. Both guys approach in this match were very different. Gulak took a more ground-based approach, taking things to the mat where he reigns supreme. Angel on the other hand stuck to a lot of power moves, and when he could, something a little more flashy just to show off. Of course, Talent just had to interject a time or two. One of the bigger moves of the match was Gulak giving Angel a suplex off the apron and to the floor! Back in the ring he slams him in the corner for two. Angel damn near kills himself and Gulak with a super huracanrana that almost went very awry. Gulak clotheslines Angel in the back of the neck twice and gives him a backbreaker for two. Talent gets on the apron. Gulak cocks his arm back, accidentally elbowing the referee. Angel tries to attack, but Gulak rolls him into the Gulock. The bell rings at 17:35 as Angel taps out, but it turns out referee Dave Dawson has called for the disqualification and awards the match to Angel. This match was going along really well until the finish. Obviously this feud isn’t over, which I’m okay with since the wrestling is quite good. I really don’t think either guy gets the credit they deserve. If you only saw Gulak in his CZW Wired TV run, please check out his stuff in Beyond. Dude is a pro. ***1/4

Gulak goes nuts and suplexes Talent on the apron. He then puts Talent in the Gulock for a very long time. It takes Jonny Mangue and Eric Corvis to pry Drew off of him.

ACW Heavyweight Championship
ACH (0) (Champion) vs. Johnny Gargano (-2)

Look at those two names. Just look at them. That’s a match you want to see, right? You can envision the type of match these two would have in your head. The wrestling, I can tell you, is probably exactly what you would want to see. Some fun dives, some nifty strikes exchanges, lots of kicks and forearms, and a crowd who was into all of it. That ended when Gargano put ACH in a cradle type submission in which both guys’ shoulders were at the mat. At 16:59, referee Jake Clemons called for the bell after counting three. He determines that both men’s shoulders were pinned to the mat, and therefore the match is a draw. Johnny Gargano gets on the microphone to say that he should give the fans what they want; five more minutes. That’s not really applicable to a draw, but hey, we’re going to get five more minutes it looks like.

A hot and heavy strike battle kicks off the re-start. Gargano’s lawn dart and superkick only get him a two count. ACH gets two with a cradle DDT. ACH giant swings Gargano in a cloverleaf before locking on the submission. Gargano breaks the hold. He catches ACH with an Ace Crusher before hitting the Hurts Donut for two. He transitions into the Garga-No Escape. The 5:00 time limit expires with no definitive winner. ACH grabs the microphone and puts Gargano over. Gargano returns the favor.

This was very interesting booking. I guess this leaves the door open for a rematch, but I’d much rather they just had a really good 20+ minute match with a clean finish rather than the overplayed five minute restart. That being said, the work put in by both guys was very good. They put on the exciting, fun match that one would expect when seeing their names next to each other. We best get a rematch. ***1/2

#KOA (Aaron Epic (+8), Sugar Dunkerton (+3) & Pinkie Sanchez (+5)) vs. Slaughterhouse (KJ Crush (-6), Maserati Rick (-6) & Tony Banks (0))

Epic is able to take down the larger Banks even though things looked dicey for him. Sanchez and Rick have themselves an exchange. They end up reaching a stalemate and give one another a show of respect. Dunkerton has trouble with the heavier Crush. Dunkerton’s offense to Crush’s buttocks and his basketball related antics only frustrate Crush further. The Slaughterhouse gets in his face when “I Believe I Can Fly” suddenly comes up on the loud speaker. A slow-mo basketball sequence takes place. Sanchez and Epic dropkick all three Slaughterhouse members in the corner, then Dunkerton comes off the top rope with a basketball slam to the head. Sanchez gets caught with a Snake Eyes by Crush, giving the match over to the Slaughterhouse. The Slaughterhouse is not happy when Dunkerton gets tagged in. He manages to take them out. Banks strings an atomic drop and spinebuster together on him. Sanchez saves him by sitting down on Banks’ chest. Rick drops Sanchez with a pump-handle Death Valley Driver. Epic powerslams Rick off the top rope, but then Crush drops Epic with the Jelly Roll for two. Banks spins out Epic into a back cracker from Rick. Epic knees Rick into a lariat from Dunkerton. Rick gets his knees up to block Sanchez’s moonsault. Banks and Crush drag Epic and Dunkerton to the floor. Rick drops Sanchez with a modified reverse piledriver for the pin at 18:15. This went too long, but at least the Slaughterhouse performed much better than I expected. I really want to see more of Rick and Banks. **3/4

The rumor is that this was Pinkie Sanchez’s retirement match, so he gets “Thank You Pinkie” and “We Will Miss You” chants from the crowd. Sanchez gives some emotional words about he can’t continue. After that though, Sanchez spits water into Dunkerton’s face and kicks Epic low. Arik Cannon then hits the ring and gives Dunkerton a DDT. He also drops Epic with a brainbuster. Cannon and Sanchez enjoy a few beers. Jonny Mangue hops on the apron to show his disapproval of Sanchez’s actions. Cannon re-introduces himself and Sanchez as the D.U.F. Man, now I want to see #KOA vs. D.U.F. Let’s hope that happens.

St. Louis Anarchy Championship
Dan Walsh (0) (Champion) vs. Rickey Shane Page (+1)

Page dives onto Walsh as he comes down the aisle. He also gives him a chair assisted slam on the floor. Page sets up a bunch of open chairs, but it backfires as Walsh suplexes him onto the structure. The match officially starts when Walsh brings Page back in the ring and gets two with a back elbow. Page gives him a stunner and a tornado kick. Violence party! Walsh knees him in the gut for two. Page backdrops him into a kick to the spine and gets two with a German suplex. Walsh accidentally rams himself shoulder first into the ring post. Page tries to hop the ropes to the floor, but Walsh throws a chair at Page’s face. Page then falls off the ropes onto a chair back in the ring! Even while bleeding, Page is able to get two with a rolling forearm. Walsh comes back with the Designated Driver and a half-nelson slam for two. Walsh makes Page tap out with a Guillotine at 6:42. As short as that was, they managed to pack in quite a bit of action. Walsh is a good wrestler but is SO bland. Page on the other hand continues to be one of my favorite guys in the Midwest. Walsh puts over Page and invites him back to St. Louis. Page reciprocates the compliments to both Walsh and St. Louis Anarchy. **1/2

Johnny Cockstrong (+11) vs. RD Evans (+2)

This is a culmination of a year long feud between these two that began when Evans cost Cockstrong a Captain’s Fall atomicos match at Beyond’s first live show, “About Time.” Cockstrong was the Wins Leader for a long time in Beyond, and has declared he will retire from Beyond if he loses this match.

Evans wants a handshake, but the crowd wants him to shake his dick. Cockstrong goes for a handshake and tries to shove Evans’ face in his crotch for the In The Pants Piledriver. Evans escapes that, but does get taken down still. Cockstrong catches him with a cock to the face, sending Evans to the floor. Cockstrong stomps his head into the floor. He allows some of the ringside fans to chop him. Evans trips Cockstrong face first on the ring apron, then spins him out into a chest first slam on the apron. Evans works over Cockstrong’s back and stomach back in the ring. Cockstrong throws Evans to the floor to break a waistlock. He follows out, and The Submission Squad emerge from the backstage area. The distraction allows Evans to give Cockstrong a boot. The Squad throw their own strikes at Cockstrong too. In the ring he recovers and hits the Flying Cock Sucker (basically like a Shining Wizard with a cock). Cockstrong gets two with a 2k1 Bomb. Evans blocks a wheelbarrow maneuver with a facebuster. Cockstrong puts him in a headscissor which Evans breaks by putting his feet on the ropes. Evans avoids the In The Pants Piledriver with a jackknife pin. Cockstrong kicks out. Evans gives Cockstrong a gut buster off the top rope for two. After winning a strike exchange, Cockstrong moonsaults cock first onto Evans. Evans however is able to respond with the Gory Special for two. Evans’ diving headbutt can’t get the job done either. Cockstrong is able to pull off the In The Pants Piledriver for two. Cockstrong pulls off a Super Yes Way (Air Raid Crash) into the regular Yes Way for the pin at 21:35. I am genuinely surprised and happy for this result. Cockstrong adds a different dynamic to Beyond and really is synonymous with the company. Without him, Beyond would be a different place. Evans did such a good job working over his mid-section that I could have sworn that the top rope gut buster was going to be the finish. Like a few other matches I thought this was a bit too long, but they made the most of their time while also calling back to the bigger moments of their feud. ***1/4

Overall: I really enjoyed this show. The matches up and down the card were all very good, or solid if nothing else. I appreciated the diversity in talent and wrestling styles and felt each match brought something different to the table. This was a good way to showcase both brands and to expose the masses to some lesser known talents from the Midwest. Coming out of the show, I really want to see more of Matt Cage, Christian Rose, The Hooligans and the Hate Junkies. Guys like Jonny Mangue, Johnny Cockstrong and Drew Gulak who I was impressed with before delivered the goods as usual. Not to mention a match like ACH vs. Johnny Gargano, which alone gives this show a recommendation. This show is a lot of fun and worth checking out.

You can buy the DVD from Beyond Wrestling’s official website. You can also pick it up on DVD, as an mp4 digital download, or stream it On Demand from Smart Mark Video.

Be sure to check out Beyond Wrestling’s official website, Facebook and Twitter. They also have a very active and totally free YouTube page that has loads of free, full length matches.

Also be sure to check out St. Louis Wrestling’s website, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

One thought on “Beyond Wrestling & St. Louis Anarchy Review – Double Trouble”
  1. The Hooligans are actually really good; unfortunately, they tend to be dismissed by a lot of reviewers because they do deathmatches.

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