Summertime Blues on August 31st, 2012
Opening Match: Marek Brave vs. Ace Hawkins
They trade control of a wristlock. Hawkins lays in a series of chops. Brave knocks him off the apron and teases throwing him into the crowd. In the ring, Hawkins hits an overhead suplex and connects with a dropkick. Brave blocks a plancha and takes control. Hawkins flips out of a suplex attempt and connects with a basement lariat. He snaps off a hurricanrana but runs into a knee strike. Hawkins recovers with a headscissors and lands a springboard swantan for a nearfall. Brave ducks a knockout kick and hits a crucifix slam. He follows with a blue thunder bomb for a two count. Hawkins headbutts him off the middle rope and hits a blockbuster for the win at 11:48. The last time I saw Brave, he wrestled a couple of short matches in IWA Unlimited’s 1UP Tournament. I’m glad that he was given more time here to showcase himself and he’s a lot of fun to watch in front of smaller crowds. There were a few moments of miscommunication that held the action back, but the crowd still managed to stay invested in the match. **½
Match #2: Joey O’Riley vs. Gunner Franks
Franks frustrates O’Riley early on with some mat wrestling. He pays particular attention to O’Riley’s left arm. O’Riley creates an opening by sending Franks into the middle turnbuckle with a headscissors. He returns the favor by kicking away at Franks’ left arm. O’Riley hits a snap suplex and takes control. He’s able to elevate Franks into a samoan drop. O’Riley lands some kind of handspring splash. He spends too much time arguing with the referee and Franks hits a samoan drop of his own. They exchange strikes and Franks finds success with a fallaway slam. He connects with a running knee strike. O’Riley hits a backbreaker-neckbreaker combination. Franks blocks a charge and dead-lifts O’Riley into a german suplex for a nearfall. Franks applies a dragon sleeper. O’Riley knees out of the hold and sneaks in a victory roll for the win at 10:18. O’Riley is extremely effective as a face, but I might like him better as a heel. He transformed his offense perfectly for the role and really got the crowd behind Franks. Speaking of Franks, this was the best performance that I’ve ever seen from him. His power-based style worked well against O’Riley and this was a solid little match for the time given. ***
After the match, Doomsday appears in the ring and carries O’Riley away.
Match #3: Knight Wagner vs. Brandon Espinosa
They begin with some chain wrestling and find themselves at a stalemate. Espinosa snaps off a few armdrags and connects with a dropkick. Wagner yanks him off the middle rope and he hits hard on the canvas. Wagner takes over until they both collide on crossbody attempts. Espinosa hits a half nelson backbreaker but falls victim to an electric chair slam. Wagner follows with a michinoku driver. Espinosa dodges an axe kick and hits a stroke for the victory at 7:24. Wagner made a great first impression in this contest. He shined much more in a singles capacity here than when I’ve watched him apart of a tag team in AAW. He seemed to have decent chemistry with Espinosa and I’d imagine that they’d have a better match in them if given more time. **½
Match #4: Doomsday, Joey O’Riley, and Reed Bentley vs. Alex Castle, Christian Rose, and Angelus Layne
Apparently, Doomsday was recruiting O’Riley for his team earlier. Layne surprises O’Riley and Bentley with a flying crossbody before the opening bell. She also low bridges Doomsday to the floor. Castle charges at O’Riley with a forearm and hits a gourdbuster. Castle giant swings O’Riley around the ring while in a headlock and hits a butterfly suplex. Layne adds an airplane spin and a northern lights suplex. O’Riley continues to get worked over until he creates an opening with an enzuigiri on Rose. He follows with a handspring moonsault and tags out. Bentley now finds himself in the wrong corner and Team Castle remains in control. Doomsday enters the ring and single-handedly turns the tide in his team’s favor. Rose is isolated until he catches O’Riley with a superplex and makes the tag. Castle mule kicks Bentley and hits a half nelson slam. Layne follows with double knees. O’Riley plants Castle with his slingshot tornado DDT. Team Doomsday work over Castle until he hits a chinbreaker on Doomsday and tags out. Rose bucklebombs Bentley and then powerbombs O’Riley into him. He hits a falcon arrow on O’Riley. Castle absolutely plasters O’Riley with a kick from the apron. Rose hits a gutbuster on Bentley and Castle spears him on the apron. Castle lands a rolling dive onto Bentley. Doomsday blocks a dive from Rose, who responds with a springboard dropkick. Rose lands a dive to the floor onto all three of his opponents. In the ring, Doomsday hits a torture rack backbreaker on Layne for the win at 22:58. It felt like all six participants knew each other well in the ring, as the action flowed nicely for the entire twenty-three minutes. Layne never felt out of place and it’s a shame that she doesn’t see more bookings in promotions that showcase women’s wrestling. My major concern with this match is that it felt unnecessarily long and the multiple heat segments could have been trimmed while still making the same point. The end result was productive, though, as the eventual Castle/Doomsday showdown has been built well. ***
Castle challenges Doomsday to a street fight at the next show. Doomsday accepts the challenge.
Match #5: Markus Crane vs. Matt Cage
They trade forearms and Cage hits a slingshot senton. Crane sends him into the middle turnbuckle and lays in repeated knee strikes. Cage immediately returns the favor. The action goes to the floor where Crane connects with a running knee strike. Cage back drops him onto the floor . In the ring, Cage connects with a springboard double axe handle. Crane responds with a spin kick and takes control. Cage comes back with a fisherman neckbreaker and hits a DDT into the bottom turnbuckle. Crane connects with a go 2 sleep variant to halt his momentum. Cage misses a slingshot stunner but applies a crossface chickenwing. Crane escapes the hold and hits a dragon suplex for a nearfall. He synchs in a hangman’s clutch but Cage is able to reach the bottom rope. Crane gets caught by a chinbreaker and Cage follows with a slingshot stunner. Crane dodges double knees and hits an implant DDT from the top rope. Both men are down. Cage counters a rollup into a crossface chickenwing for the victory at 16:35. Much like Wagner earlier in the show, Crane surprised me with a solid performance. There was a lot of fun back and forth wrestling showcased throughout the course of the seventeen minutes, and this main event did enough things well to earn match of the night honors. Also, Cage has a lot of momentum going forward after winning in the first two main events of FIGHT’s history. ***¼
Overall: With Summertime Blues, FIGHT decreased the number of matches and gave every match more time. As a result, Summertime Blues features only a five-match card, but every contest is enjoyable and three of the matches cracked three stars. It’s tough to give a recommendation here, as there’s nothing “must see” and you really have to make the most out of a five-match card. Still, I like the “quality over quantity” mindset employed with this show, and I’ll be curious to see what future shows look like as the talent roster expands.
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