School of Roc: Class Wars was one of, if not my favorite thing in all of wrestling in 2012. I am always a fan of people “going for it” and taking risks. This was something so different from how wrestling is presented today and I loved it. It was the perfect mix of storytelling and genuinely good and fun professional wrestling. No other company cultivated and fleshed out their characters so fully. You always knew what their motivation and reasoning behind their actions was. It’s rare for a wrestling show these to draw me in to the point where I say “I cannot wait to see next week’s episode”, but the School of Roc did so.
To say I was disappointed when Season 2 was unceremoniously dropped would be a massive understatement. There were so many new guys I was looking forward to seeing be cultivated through the series, such as Mat Russo, Joe Pittman, Buck Boulder, and others. I presume the relaunching of their brand as “Wrestling is Heart”, but I can only speculate. Needless to say, I was really looking forward to watching their first show. It was like an opportunity to catch up with old friends I had not seen in months. It had been roughly half a year since the first (and I guess technically last) School of Roc show, so I was also anxious to see how much everyone had improved.
The opening match was supposed to see Saturyne and Heidi Lovelace take on Los Ice Creams, but a last minute change saw the Estonian Thunderfrog join the femme fatalles and Juan Francisco de Corando partner up with the dairy deviants. The Rudos jumped the Tecnicos at the beginning to get this off to a hot start. Saturyne ended up getting her back worn down by her opponents for a good while. She was able to shove the Ice Creams together and sole butt kick Hijo to get in Lovelace. Coronado’s Manservant Herbert tripped Lovelace so Coronado could take control. She managed to take Los Ice Creams to the floor and neutralize Herbert by diving onto him. Finally, the Thunderfrog came in and impressively fought off the entire trio with ease. Once he got pitched to the floor, Lovelace got to drill Jr.’s head into the mat with a Frankensteiner and pick up the win. Very energetic and good way to open the show. The problem is that this crowd is quite small, significantly smaller from the October School of Roc show, so it was tough to really get any notable noise going.
Buck Boulder and Darin Corbin did their best to get the quiet crowd riled up. They had the typical arrogant out-of-towner vs. hometown hero story going from their opening remarks. In case you’re unaware, Boulder is a very tall individual, and they used that to tell most of the story.
Corbin got tossed off the top rope, failed to move the mountain man after a crossbody, then was able to take out his legs and get in some offense. Corbin stole the win with a backslide and his feet on the ropes. The problem is, with his awkward positioning, it required two counts from the referee and it came off as inorganic. The wrestling was fine, about what you would expect from a match of this nature, but nothing remarkable at all.
I could not believe my eyes when I saw that Christian Rose was facing a character named Sea Man. Yes, Sea Man. Was somebody watching the “Super Best Friends” episode of South Park when they were thinking of a gimmick? Rose won me over by bringing out a hammer and a plastic bin to play his own entrance music due to technical difficulties. Sea Man looks a lot like a member of the Aquabats. He was decent at best, but plodding and not interesting. I’ve seen Rose a few times and think quite highly of him, so it stinks that he was stuck with a character that nobody could possibly take seriously. I honestly stopped paying attention when Sea Man was on offense, of which he got too much. He’s like a parody of a bad independent wrestler, but he’s not trying to be. The crowd seemed to agree with me as they booed when he tried to get them to do the wave and were chanting gross remarks towards. Thankfully, Rose took the W after his “Ride the Lightning” finisher (a KneeKO). I hope Rose has a promising future in the Wrestling Is companies he’s involved in, but Sea Man should be washed away and never to be seen again.
When I saw the Kentucky Buffet come out and get a nice reaction, I was hopeful for a good tag match given their track record. I didn’t know much about Devin Bliss outside of his National Pro Wrestling Day appearance (which wasn’t all that hot) and nothing about Chris Castle. Bliss looked to have improved quite a bit from his NPWD outing and Chris Castle held up his part of the bargain very well. He has a lot of energy and looks quite crisp given that he’s an unknown entity, and anybody who can do a 630 splash will get some love from the crowd. The KYB definitely injected some charisma into the bout and kept things together, but I’m optimistic that with more seasoning Bliss and Castle will become a well-rounded team. Right now, character is the biggest thing they need to work on. The work is there and will come with time but it seemed like it was and upward climb for them to get the crowd invested in what they were doing. Both teams got positive responses from the crowd and you could tell they had an appreciation for the work put in.
Dale Patricks was a guy I always really enjoyed from the School of Roc. He had a certain babyface charisma too him, almost in a Ricky Steamboat type of way. He and Arik Cannon had a different type of match than anything on the show so far. This had the most defined characters since the opener and the crowd was happy to play along. They took a slower, more methodical approach and it payed off. While the earlier matches seemed content to get reactions from spectacular moves, this was all about personality. Cannon was a jerk who worked Patricks’ leg while mocking him and the crowd. It helped make Patricks’ surprise win (getting an Oklahoma Roll after Cannon missed a moonsault) a big deal. This is definitely a match I hope to see again. You could argue that they had a little too much time but I never got tired of it so I will lobby no such complaint.
Billy Roc and Reed Bentley had great chemistry during the Class Wars show and a fun exhibition earlier this year that was put on YouTube. I was really excited to see these two paired off on the first show. Familiarity from the audience and clearly defined roles made this such a joy to watch. Reed baited Roc in by being more polite than usual, only to sucker him in with a cheap forearm. Being his trainer, Roc had Reed’s trademark moves scouted, so Reed had to change up his game and catch him by surprise to keep control. He ended up defeating Roc with the Reed Awakening (a pop-up forearm to the face) for what some would consider an upset. This may have been my favorite match on the card, just because the story was simple and effective. Reed Bentley is a guy I can see being a tour de force in the independent scene very soon. Hopefully people are paying attention to him.
A clash of old timey folks is exactly the kind of cleverness I love seeing. Jervis Cottonbelly came out sporting a huge faux mustache to mock his opponent, “Big” Sue Jackson. The giant monster story here worked much more than Boulder vs. Corbin because Jackson was the heel monster and Cottonbelly was the valiant fighter trying to keep him down. It was totally fine for what it was but nothing to go out of your way to see. Quite frankly, I like Jackson, but think he’s most entertaining when with his compadres in the League.
Speaking of The League, Tripp Cassidy was originally scheduled to face Francis/Frank O’Rourke but instead took on Hallowicked. I am one of the biggest O’Rourke fans out there, but I think for Cassidy’s sake it worked out better that he took on someone like Hallowicked. I don’t know how many people in the crowd would have known who O’Rourke was, but Hallowicked got arguably the biggest pop out of anybody on the show. They seemed pleasantly surprised by this familiar face. Hallowicked gave them what you would expect from him sans dives to the floor. Maybe it’s just me, but all of his matches are the same nowadays. I can almost see the spots in my head before they happen. That’s to no fault of Cassidy, who went after the mask to create some genuine drama. It didn’t really lead to much but it at least turned the crowd against him. He also picked up an upset win with his “Don’t Be A Hero” finisher, leading to all three members of The League winning in back to back to back contests. I’m a fan of that.
The main event saw a story of two mat wrestling specialists (Green Ant and Mat Russo) take on the two arrogant jocks (Joe Pittman and “Mr. Touchdown” Mark Angelosetti). Pittman cut a promo before the match to establish himself as someone who thinks he is better than everybody in the crowd and in the ring. This is what this company needs: more established characters. It’s one thing to have good wrestling matches, but if I don’t know what the guys wrestling are like personality wise or what their motivation is, who cares? He and Angelosetti’s pre-match promos really got the crowd against them to the point where they couldn’t help but cheer Russo and Green Ant. Here you had the cunning and skill of the green team against the power and deviousness of their foes.
Overall: There wrestling was good enough for me to give it a moderate recommendation, but it’s certainly not the School of Roc I knew and loved. The problem with these “Wrestling Is” shows is that there’s few promos and little to no establishment of characters outside of what they do in the matches. A lot of the times it makes it tough for the audience to connect emotionally with what’s going on. If we’re supposed to buy the shows for the quality in ring work, that could use some improvement as well. This isn’t to diminish the quality of the show, as the opener, the KYB tag, Cannon/Patricks, Roc/Bentley, and the main event were fun and worth giving a look if you’re interested in those characters. The company just lacks heart. Pun fully intended.
You can purchase this show as an mp4 from Smart Mark Video, or stream it on SMVOD.
For more information on Wrestling is Heart, check out their website. You can also follow them on Twitter. Also check out my “Wrestling Is” Tumblr for information on all the Wrestling Is companies, which is also siphoned through the CHIKARA Special Twitter.
Quick Match Times/Results
The Estonian Thunderfrog, Heidi Lovelance, & Saturyne def. Los Ice Creams (El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.) & Juan Francisco de Coronado at 12:15 when Lovelace gave Jr. a low, spike Frankensteiner. **½
Darin Corbin def. Buck Boulder with a rope-assisted backslide at 5:51. *¼
Christian Rose def. Sea Man with “Ride the Lightning” at 6:47. ½*
The Kentucky Buffet (Matt Cage & Alex Castle) defeated The Pride of Indiana (Devin Bliss & Chris Castle) when Cage pinned Chris Castle with the MoKnee Shot at 9:58. **¾
Dale Patricks caught Arik Cannon off guard with a schoolboy to secure the victory at 15:48. ***
Reed Bentley scored a victory over Billy Roc with the Reed Awakening at 8:12. ***
“Big” Sue Jackson defeated Jervis Cottonbelly with the Close Shave at 5:26. *½
Tripp Cassidy put away Hallowicked with “Don’t Be A Hero” at 8:07. **¼
Green Ant & Mat Russo defeated “Mr. Touchdown” Mark Angelosetti & Joe Pittman when Russo made Pittman tap out to the Calf Slicer at 15:41. ***