Watch the entire episode at the bottom of this review.
Last week, CWF was marked by a special occasion as the show saw the commencement of the company’s annual Battle Bowl event. This week, Battle Bowl comes to a close with the Battle Bowl finals, set by the Battle Royal main event. BUT FIRST, we get to see some never before seen footage from the Kernodle Brothers’ Tag Team Tournament to fill out the show’s hour timeslot. Or so we think before CL Party’s announcement gets interrupted by Coach Gemini, who comes out in protest of Arik Royal and Roy Wilkins’ loss in the tournament. Nick Richards comes out to protest the protest, as well as berate the trio for always outnumbering their opponents for the dirty advantage. He dares them to try the same kind of unfair beatdown on him, but CWF Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champs The Sandwich Squad storm out to even the odds. However, Gemini reminds the fans that Richards shouldn’t even be in the ring tonight because he lost his Lethal Lottery match to advance for Battle Bowl. Brad Stutts begrudgingly agrees and bars Richards from ringside, but Cecil Scott reminds us that he’s still to injured and only wrestled last week to get his hands on Cain Justice. Therefore, he gives Richards his spot in the Battle Bowl.
Before we get to the Battle Bowl, we get what CL Party promised us and that’s unseen matches from the Kernodle Brothers’ Tag Team Tournament Weekend. starting with women’s division action between SIS and Priscilla Kelly. Kelly kicks things off unorthodoxly by licking SIS’ face—Bah gawd, not a tongue to the face! She has a family, dammit!—before literally kicking the match off with a big boot to SIS’ chest, then a sound shattering kick off the apron. The two trade blows on the outside before doing the same inside the ring. The two trade moves—including a flurry of kicks from PK and a German Suplex from SIS that would make Brock Lesnar jealous—before SIS clobbers Kelly with a running body press for the win (though it looked like PK kicked out at 4, weirdly enough) in 4:45. I wish the match could’ve gone on longer, but this was a short and sweet contest where the competitors made the most out of their time together. These two were really entertaining to watch in what little time they had and made a strong impression in just under 5 minutes. Wish we could’ve seen more from these two, but a good match nonetheless.
Out next is Xsiris taking on AJ Gray. Xsiris visibly motions that he wants some real competition, opposed to his rookie opponent. Xsiris’ frustrations nearly costs him the match as Cray rolls him up twice for two very close near falls. With Xsiris taking his opponent lightly, Gray capitalizes with a sea of offense before Xsiris tosses Gray crotch first onto the ropes to get back into this one. Xsiris uses both his power/size advantage and some dirty tactics to stay in the match until Gray connects with one whopper of a clothesline, but in no time, Xsiris is back in this with a Stunner off the ropes, followed by a surprising slingshot somersault senton. After some more offense from Xsiris, Gray mounts a full fledged comeback spot, before Xsiris evades a stunning Corkscrew Moonsault from Gray. Xsiris goes for his finisher, but Gray reverses with a Powerbomb for a near fall. Gray lifts Xsiris to his feet, but before he can hit a move, Xsiris finally hits his Double Underhook Impaler finish for the win in 6:20. This was a good way to showcase the newcomer’s athletic ability while also highlighting Xsiris’ new in-ring regiment since bulking up to the heavyweight division, as well as making the big man look strong for a possible CWF Mid-Atlantic Championship pursuit, which he made it perfectly clear he wants to go for next. In Gray’s case especially, you see him nearly get the win over Xsiris so many times that you can’t help but find yourself rooting for the newcomer from the very start. What really impressed me was how despite both men being in the heavyweight class, they both pulled out some surprising high flying actions that rivals what you’d see from the Cruiserweights. This match made me anxious to see where Xsiris fits in the CWF Title picture after this, and where the newbie Gray goes from here. Very good match.
To follow that up, we get to see Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Television Champion Aric Andrews, Dave Dawson, and the Dirty Blondes (Mike Patrick and Leo Brien) team up to take on Nick Richards, Ace Perry, Mitch Connors, and Slade Porter in 8-Man Tag Team action. It’s a pretty standard 8-Man Tag until the end where everything breaks down and everyone hits their big moves on each other. Things take a turning point when Porter gets on the top rope, only for Dawson to toss him off. Porter falls right into Andrews’ Full Nelson finisher to get his team the victory in 9:40. Not too much to talk about here, though the match was highlighted by a scary spot near the end where Connors was on the apron thriving in pain following a grapevine Ankle Lock from Andrews. He stayed down so long that the ref had to check on him and Connors was advised to tag out, which he did and was out for the rest of the match. Hard to tell if that was a well acted spot or it was a real situation. It looked legit, but I’m hoping Connors didn’t get injured here. As for the action, again, standard tag match, but not a bad one. As with most tag matches with this many people, nothing big happened until the breakdown spot in the final moments where we got some cool spots, like a Double Cutter from Richards on the Dirty Blondes. With that said, I can’t deny that everyone involved in the match played their roles exceptionally well.
Afterwards, Brad Stutts cuts a promo thanking the fans for coming to the night’s event from around the world and supporting CWF. He introduces PWI President William L. Cross, who helped make CWF what it is today. He goes on to introduce Don and Rocky Kernodle to thank them for contributing what they have to CWF and unveiled the Kernodle Honorary Suite to thank them. It’s a touching, heartfelt moment before we move on to some action.
Finally, we get to the moment we’ve all been waiting for and the moment that kicked off the show. It is now time for the Battle Bowl Battle Royal, where the winner will represent CWF in the Scenic City Invitational Tournament, the biggest tournament in the Southeast. Participants Nick Richards, Aaron Biggs, Mecha Mercenary, Arik Royal, and Roy Wilkins are already at ringside before being joined by fellow opponents Arik Andrews, SIS, HIM, Vlad Boleshav, and Snooty Fox. For 18 minutes straight, bodies fly out of the ring left and right and plenty of heavy hitters get eliminated until we’re down to Royal and Richards. The final minute sees the two on the apron trying to knock each other off. It ends when Richards fails to German Suplex Royal off the apron and manages to slip off the apron himself, making Royal your winner and CWF representative in the SCI Tournament this August. For a basic Battle Royal, this was a well executed one. Not a lot of Battle Royals are watchable, but this one was and it felt important with enough stakes to keep you interested to see who would come out of this one on top. Though, I will say that the finish did Richards no favors as it made him look like an idiot for even attempting a German off the apron, as he would’ve hit the floor first even if he successfully executed the move. Not sure if Richards slipping off was the planned finish or a mistake, but it didn’t look good either way. Still a good match to close out a good episode. I’d say Xsiris vs AJ Gray was Match of the Night, but the Battle Bowl Battle Royal was enjoyable in its own right and was a nice conclusion to a thrilling Battle Bowl event.