We start off strong with a Quarterfinal match for the Johnny Weaver Cup. This one’s between Lucas Calhoun and Ethan Alexander Sharpe. Despite the fact that they’re both comedy characters, they actually have a serious contest. Especially Sharpe who really dishes out some punishment on Calhoun. It really puts into perspective just how important this tournament is when the Elvis impersonator and the guy who tried to woo SIS some weeks back manage to take this seriously. Sharpe wins when he reverses the Shake, Rattle, & Roll with one whopper of an uppercut. The match isn’t a memorable classic, but it’s fine for what it is; solid even.
Our next Quarterfinal match sees Aaron Epic take on Chet Sterling. This match pits agile and technical ability against brute strength. The more I see of Epic, the more impressed I find myself of the guy. He played the perfect brawler heel tonight and, of course, Sterling is always great at playing the underdog. This was a really good match that had a nice finish. Epic tried to hit the illegal Piledriver while Aspyn Rose distracted the ref, but Sterling reversed it with jackknife pinning position for the win.
In another Quarterfinal match, we saw “The Real Life Ben Affleck” Alex Daniels vs Smith Garrett. Daniels spent the first couple minutes removing a plethora of Ben Affleck t-shirts. As soon as he was done, Garrett decked him with a massive forearm for the quick win. Not gonna lie, this finish hurt my soul, man. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of Smith Garrett, but I loved Alex Daniels ever since his match with Trevor Lee awhile back. He should not be treated this way. This is unacceptable. #JusticeforAlexDaniels.
Immediately after, PWI Ultra-J Champion Logan Easton Laroux comes out and professes that he’ll win this tournament, unlike the “Gigli” of the tournament, Alex Daniels. Badmouthing Ben Affleck’s biggest failure crossed the line for Daniels, who laid out Laroux with a Burning Hammer/European Uppercut Combo. To make a point, he covered Laroux and slapped his hand to the mat for a 3-count. Brad Stutts then gets on the mic to say that although Laroux is in the Final Four of the tournament, he will be defending his title next week against Alex Daniels. Looks like Daniels will be getting justice sooner rather than later. All is right in the world.
Afterwards, we get an in-ring interview with Snooty Fox to mention that CWF is hitting his hometown next month. As soon as he mentions how he wants revenge against Arik Royal for last month, The All Stars hit the ring. Royal tells Snooty to keep his name out of Snooty’s mouth. Royal tries to move on to cutting a promo against Trevor Lee and demands a title shot. Honestly, the fact that Snooty let Royal completely disregard him for like 5 minutes to cut a whole promo on Lee made Snooty look like a chump. Not a good look for the guy. When Snooty demands that Royal pay attention to him and face him, The All Stars jump Snooty. Before things get worse, Lee makes the save.
Then Otto Schwanz, the “hired gun of The All Stars” (since when?) attacks Lee. This leads to an impromptu title match between Lee and Schwanz. On one hand, I’m glad that that they had this match because the first time they wrestled for the belt months ago, it went to a no contest. While the match was my least favorite from Lee’s title reign, it was not a bad match. It was good apart from the finish and had potential to be better with a rematch. Unfortunately, this match really did nothing for me.
Above anything else, I just could not buy Schwanz as a serious challenger because I could not believe him winning. I think the crowd felt that way too. They were noticeably less rowdy than they usually are. Perhaps because no one believed Schwanz was walking out as the winner. It’s nothing against him. It’s that nobody buys him winning after failing before and in an impromptu match at that. I’ll give them this: they tried their damnest to make us believe that Schwanz had a shot at winning. Schwanz had about 85% of the offense and he was brutalizing Lee like a machine. It was like watching a Vladimir Kozlov match. You know, if Vladimir Kozlov could wrestle. Thankfully, Schwanz could wrestle and made this match halfway decent. He’s just a victim of disbelief in this case.
There’s usually always a moment in these Lee matches where there’s at least one moment to make us think that Lee could lose the title. This match had no such moments. There were some spots that called for that moment, but none that anyone actually believed because no one believed Schwanz was walking out champion. Those assumptions proved right after Lee retained his title. After struggling to keep Schwanz from breaking out of the STF, Lee locked in an underhook crossface for the submission victory. It was a fine match for what it was, but thanks to a foregone conclusion, it felt underwhelming and at times boring. As much as it pains me to say it, this is my new least favorite Lee CWF Championship match.
Moving on to our main event, The Dawsons defend their CWF Tag Team Championships against “The Revolutionary” Darius Lockhart and Caprice Coleman. This is the match I was looking forward to seeing all night and it did not disappoint. The Vanguard were the perfect babyfaces and as always, The Dawsons are perfect heels. Lockhart and Coleman fought hard for the titles and the crowd were behind them every step of the way. Exciting action all around. The finish saw Coleman accidentally knock out referee Kevin Pierce. This led for Senior Ref, Charles Richardson, to step in after Coleman already got the visible (but unofficial) 3-count. The Vanguard hit their knee strike finisher, but one of The Dawsons hit a Lariat on Lockhart. We got a double pin.
Both referees argue at ringside over who won the match and the titles. The crowd kept chanting for a restart. Before an official decision could be reached, The Dawsons lay out The Vanguard with their titles before agreeing to a rematch. The match is restarted, they pin Coleman, but he kicked out. It wasn’t until they laid him out with their Lariat finisher that he stayed down. The Dawsons retain to end a great tag team title match.
Tonight’s CWF episode was like a tidal wide. Many highs, many lows, many fluctuations in between, but at the end of the day, the episode closed on a great high and that’s all that matters.