-Your host is Zach Thompson
-Matches were taped in Chicago, Illinois on July 27, 2012
–Anthony talks about not being nervous to wrestle a former WWE star and how much he doesn’t respect the former John Morrison. He’s here to make a point to the staff of Resistance pro by beating him. Anthony says Hennigan won’t ever want to step foot in a ring again. And hey, that coffee looks familiar.
Match in Five Words or Less: The Best
Match Highlights: Perhaps airing this match in its entirety isn’t the smartest idea financially, but it sure does make for a watchable television show. This should eat up over half the hour. Dr. Keith and C-Red are on commentary for this match. Hennigan offers a handshake but Anthony turns him down. They take turns working the arm for a tick. Both men stay on the mat. Anthony hits a dropkick. Test of strength. Morrison armdrags Anthony out of the ring. Some stalling. Crowd asks for headlocks. Anthony obliges. Anthony gets out of an applied headscissors and grabs the headlock once again. Shoulder tackle by Anthony. Leap frog by Hennigan. Armdrag into the armbar. Anthony again rolls to the outside. Anthony brings Hennigan outside but rolls quickly back in the ring. Anthony catches Hennigan’s boot but he gets slapped. Right hands and stomps from Hennigan. Again to the armbar. Anthony battles out. Charge misses. Hennigan rolls underneath and hits the chuck kick. Into a cobra clutch chinlock. Hennigan hits a Russian legsweep. Exotic leg drop of sorts. Anthony cowers in the corner. Shots to the midsection and a big left hand. Hennigan sends Anthony hotshotting into the top rope. Hennigan controls Anthony on the floor. Elbows across the chest. Boots back in the ring. Slingshot into the middle rope. Hennigan kips up. Into the chinlock. Forearms from Anthony take them into the corner. Whip across. Hennigan takes Anthony up and over. Leaping knee strike. Leaping acecrusher from the top rope. 1-2-NO! Baseball slide dropkick. Elbow to the back of the neck. Anthony moves the barricade. Another elbow from Hennigan. Punch blocked so Anthony can deliver one of his own. Shot to the midsection by Anthony. Hennigan slides under the barricade. Leaping clothesline from Anthony. Choking on Hennigan. Snapmare and a solid kick to the back. Anthony goes back to the headlock. Hennigan punches out of it. Punch to the face. More punches from Hennigan. Elbow from Anthony. Back and forth they go. Anthony hits a drop suplex. Swinging fishermen’s buster. 1-2-NO! Anthony works a headlock. Anthony tears him down by the hair. Hennigan sent down again. Anthony grabs the microphone and talks trash while intermittently punishing his opponent. Shot to the midsection and punch to the face by Hennigan. Another right hand and a clothesline. A second clothesline and leaping leg lariat. Swinging neckbreaker gets two. Starship Pain attempt but Anthony won’t stay down. Hennigan places Anthony on the top rope. Hennigan joins him. Anthony blocks the superplex. Powerbomb blocked. Back drop by Hennigan. Moonsault misses. Roll-up by Anthony gets two. Exchange of nearfalls. Series of counters ends in a Hennigan nearfall. More nearfalls. Hennigan rolls over him. Double clothesline and both men are down. Hennigan is up first and he punches Anthony. Hennigan puts his knee across Anthony’s neck and taunts him. Another right hand. Tilt a whirl slam by Anthony. 1-2-NO! Taco Pizza! Hennigan lands on his feet and hits a shining wizard. 1-2-NO! Starship Pain misses. Anthony sends him up and over. DVD. 1-2-NO! The entire crowd stands up and applauds both men. They’re behind Anthony though. Powerbomb countered. Chuck kick. Starship Pain connects. Hennigan wins.
Match Analysis: This was one of the best matches in the history of the promotion and one of the longest. It took a while for them to get going but once they did, this turned into a fantastic back and forth contest. Neither guy held the advantage for a long time, and the crowd spent a lot of time trying to decide who they wanted to cheer for. Robert Anthony has arguably been in the promotion’s three or four best matches. I sincerely hope he’s rewarded with the heavyweight title soon enough. Great match that’s well worth checking out.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: John Hennigan/28:56/***3/4
-Anthony eventually shakes Hennigan’s hand.
-Melanie Cruz video package. She has harsh words for Nikki St. John. Pretty well produced piece of video. Far better than you would see in a lot of other indy feds.
-Commercial for the next show on September 14. My God Gene Snitsky is going to be there. Well, that’ll be something.
-Thompson talks about the build-up to the Smith/Bradley match.
-Bradley promo before the title match. He talks about training with the New Japan dojo in Los Angeles. Harry Smith was also getting a chance. Smith went to Japan. Bradley went to WWE instead. Smith eventually got hired to WWE. Bradley worked in developmental hell while Smith went to the main roster. Bradley talks about both coming to R-Pro at the same time. They’ve come full circle. He says Chicago is the greatest city in the world. Amen.
Match in Five Words or Less: Now What
Match Highlights: Feeling out process. Bradley threatens to hit the boomstick lariat, so the champion exits the ring. Smith spends a great deal of time outside the ring. Bradley charges but Smith cowers. Takedown but Bradley kicks him away. Forearms from the challenger. Headbutt to the midsection by Smith. Boot. Bradley gets caught in the ropes. Forearm followed by a running boot by Smith. Smith stomps on his hand. Series of right hands on the outside. Smith sends him back in. Choking along the bottom rope. Slingshot across the middle rope. Knee strike to the side of the head. Snap suplex. To the chinlock. Smith rips at Bradley’s face. Sleeper. Bradley blocks the powerbomb attempt. Back drop. Bradley comes out of the corner with a forearm. Polish hammer and another forearm. Bodyslam gets two. They collide head to head. Kyle Matthews shoves Smith out of the way. He gets clotheslined for his troubles. Superkick by Smith. He goes for back-to-back covers but gets only two. Cradle piledriver for two. DDT by Smith. Sharpshooter applied. Bradley crawls to the bottom rope, but Smith changes the hold. Bradley finally gets the bottom rope. Smith begins working on the right arm next. Cross armbreaker but Bradley won’t quit. He fights out with forearms. Jawbreaker by Bradley. Smith kicks the arm. Leaping knee strike by the challenger. Running kick. Double sledge. Back elbow. Firemen’s carry slam and a knee drop. Smith sent head first into the turnbuckle. Knee to the back off the top rope. 1-2-NO! Series of right hands by Bradley. D’Angeli distracts the official. Smith goes low. Running powerbomb ends the match. Smith retains.
Match Analysis: Very solid wrestling match even though there is no way they were topping the earlier contest between Anthony and Hennigan. Nonetheless, this was a good match where Smith focused on the arm, and this played into the psychology of the match. Not sure where they go with Bradley, but I’m hoping this opens the door for Anthony to challenge sooner rather than later. But trust me when I say this. Raven serves no point to Smith and in fact leeches heat off him. Keep Lou. Dump Raven.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL Resistance Pro Heavyweight Champion-Harry Smith/18:22/***1/4
-Thompson ends the show by hyping up the “Just a Game,” which takes place September 14.
Final Thoughts: Easily the best of the three R-Pro television shows. This is an hour well worth going out of your way to see. This show overall featured some bad segments, but these two matches were excellent. Four great pros putting together well worked matches that you won’t see in other promotions. This is the best of what R-Pro has to offer. Hopefully we can more of this.
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