Last week, I brought up a number of issues I’ve had with C4 since starting to reviewing their shows. As much as I have problems with booking philosophy, there are certainly some talents who deserve a greater opportunity to showcase what they can do. Guys like Mike Bailey, Scotty O’Shea, and Michael Von Payton are great to watch in the ring, and if I were running a wrestling company, would certainly try to bring them to the states if financially possible. The one thing I can say about Triumph is these three wrestlers each got to showcase themselves well.
The tag team cups were again decided early on in the show as Checkmate defended successfully over the once undefeated After Party. The match was okay whenever Checkmate had the offensive advantage, but After Party were more obsessed with impersonating the Undertaker than in actually having a good match. Because they were undefeated and had a streak coming into the event, they came out to some of Bikertaker’s old themes and rode out in what appeared to be bicycles designed for little girls. They even did some Taker moves as Lovely hit a tombstone on Knight. In seeing their behavior as well as their gear, they come across as a lower level independent wrestling tag team as opposed to a duo taking themselves seriously and potentially advancing to a higher level. Checkmate winning certainly made sense given the circumstances.
One of the more underrated talents I’ve seen on either Canada or the U.S. scene is Tyson Dux. He wrestled Mike Rollins on this show in an okay match which didn’t get a lot of time to develop, nor did it get a chance to develop into something more than just an average contest. Rollins has his character down pat, and with some in-ring improvement, I could see him being sought after by bigger promotions. Dux won with a death valley driver in the corner, and I’d love to see him in C4 more as a veteran presence who doesn’t rely strictly on a crazy moveset to get over.
Buxx Belmar made his debut in a nothing match against Shane Matthews. I’m not really into Belmar’s disgusting schtick, and he doesn’t do much for me in the ring. This felt like a waste of seven minutes, and I’m really partial to see Matthews in tag team matches with Scott Parker based on what I saw here. Belmar won with a gutbuster.
In addition to all of the other happenings on this show, Beef Wellington was wrestling for the final time in C4. His final match was scheduled for the next night for another promotion. Wellington came out to say good-bye and was of course interrupted by someone making his return to the promotion, Shayne Hawke. I hadn’t seen Hawke wrestle in a number of years, back to the time period when I was first watching Chikara. He’s always been an interesting character and can deliver in the ring too. Wellington won his final match with a butterfly driver. Maybe this wasn’t a classic, but I had fun with it. There was a lot of comedy and some funny spots centering around Wellington hitting a trio of atomic drops and then enziguring Hawke in the ass.
Up next was a surprisingly good match with Franky the Mobster defeating Darkko. Not sure why these two had such good chemistry, but I thought this was genuinely good. Darkko is still a knock-off of some rather popular WWE characters, but the battle of the hosses brought out the best in him. Franky won with the sky high and then challenged Stu Grayson for the C4 championship.
It was said that the match between Rahim Ali and Michael Von Payton was the ending of one of the biggest feuds in the history of the company. If that’s true, then the company needs to build its feuds better. I don’t think having two wrestlers who’ve had one match should be considered a big time feud. And given the context of that one match, I’m not sure this was all that big a deal. Was it a good match? Yes. Von Payton smartly worked over Ali’s back and eventually won with the Mindbender. Not sure Ali was given enough offense to really make this seem like an epic bout, but this was enjoyable and made sense given Payton’s skill level.
In a continuation of an angle that really kicked off last month, Twiggy defended his World Intergender championship against Jody D’Milo. Twiggy again worked the leg and won with the figure four leglock. Obviously, no one is going to present a serious challenge for a bit as Twiggy establishes the gimmick. I personally would have switched this with the previous match so the career versus career match could feel more important (and not come after intermission) but that’s a minor quibble.
The Authority have become the bane of my existence given the way they win all their matches. There was a low blow involved because that’s pretty much how we roll. The Authority team consisted of Sebastian Suave, Mathiew St. Jacque, and Thomas DuBois. They took on the three men who challenged for Stu Grayson’s C4 heavyweight championship at Domination. Jae Rukin, Brent B, and Scotty O’Shea did not come across as threats. This match was awkward, sloppy, and altogether uninteresting. The finish was a fitting end to such a mediocre match. The fact that this match got 20 minutes plus was so odd. Nothing about this match seemed to warrant all that time.
The main event was another very redeemable match as Mike Bailey choked out Eddie Kingston. I was legitimately shocked by this development and give C4 credit for putting this together. Bailey played underdog to Kingston’s bullying style. This was slow to start but eventually turned into something really good by the end with the crowd into things and both wrestlers giving top effort. Some very solid exchanges back and forth and just an overall great way to end the show. Bailey countering the Backfist to the Future with the triangle choke was just a fantastic finish.
I can’t say this was a great or above average show, but I enjoyed the flow of the show, particularly in the second. There were a couple matches which didn’t serve their purpose at all, but the main event was worth checking out by itself.
I actually started watching the next show after this one. There were some major issues with the file. Given I really am not into the product, I’m going to call it a day on these C4 reviews and move onto other promotions.
Grade: C+
**********************************************************************************************************************
-Taped from Ontario, Canada
-Commentator: Adam B.
-C4 Tag Team Championship: Checkmate (Christopher Knight and Lionel Bishop) vs. The After Party (Cecil Nyx and Chaz Lovely)/9:39/**
-Tyson Dux defeats Mike Rollins by pinfall after a death valley driver into the corner./8:48/**1/2
– Buxx Belmar defeats Shane Matthews by pinfall with a gutbuster./7:01/*1/2
-Beef Wellington defeats Shayne Hawke by pinfall with a butterfly driver./7:34/**3/4
-Franky the Mobster defeats Darkko by pinfall with a Sky High/9:24/***
-Michael Von Payton defeats Rahim Ali by pinfall with a Mindbender/15:05/***1/4
.-World Intergender Championship: Twiggy (champion) defeats Jody D’Milo/9:53/**1/4
-The Authority (Sebastian Suave, Mathieu St. Jacque, and Thomas DuBois) defeats Scotty O’Shea, Brent B, and Jae Rukin. Suave choked O’Shea out with the Cobra Camel Clutch./21:46/**
-Mike Bailey chokes out Eddie Kingston with a triangle choke/16:30/***1/2
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