November 24th, 2017
Preshow Match: CRAB Wrestling Title: Mack Buckler © vs. Graham Bell
They trade control of a wristlock and Bell connects with a single-leg dropkick. Bell hits a slingshot bulldog and connects with repeated elbow drops. Buckler responds with a discus lariat and takes control. Bell fights back with a series of kicks and hits a stunner. He connects with a knockout kick for a nearfall. Buckler hits a rydeen bomb for a two count. Buckler follows with a powerslam to retain his title at 7:26. A masked man attacks Buckler after the match. I was quite impressed with Graham as he brought great energy and unique offense to this preshow match. Buckler, on the other hand, was very lethargic in his movements and offense. I think it would be trivially easy for the NOVA Pro crowd to get behind Bell on a monthly basis. *¾
Opening Match: Elimination: The Carnies (Kerry Awful, Nick Iggy, Tripp Cassidy, and Beau Crockett) vs. The Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude and Rob Killjoy), Lucas Calhoun, and Sugar Dunkerton
The Carnies attack before the opening bell. Dunkerton gets cornered so he starts a spontaneous dance party. The Ducklings interrupt the dancing with dives and the crowd is fired up. Dunkerton wins an exchange against Crockett before Cassidy shoves his mouthpiece into Dunkerton’s mouth. Killjoy connects with a missile dropkick on Cassidy. Awful levels Lude with a lariat. Calhoun shows Awful some of his karate offense. The action breaks down with everyone brawling around ringside. Dunkerton catches Crockett with a small package to eliminate him at 10:10. Crockett attacks Dunkerton even after being eliminated and the Carnies isolate him. Lude eventually gets the tag and hits a nice DDT on Iggy. Cassidy hits a tombstone on Lude to eliminate him at 14:34. Calhoun cleans house with more karate. Awful is able to eliminate Calhoun with the Earthquake Splash at 15:28. Dunkerton and Killjoy start trying to battle against the numbers disadvantage. Killjoy hits a saito suplex on Iggy and connects with a shining wizard for a nearfall. Iggy catches Killjoy in midair with a great ace crusher. The Carnies work over Killjoy until he avoids a senton from Cassidy and makes the tag.
Dunkerton lays in a series of strikes to Cassidy. Killjoy blindsides Cassidy with a sunset flip to eliminate him at 21:46. We are back to even numbers. Dunkerton double stomps Iggy in the corner and Killjoy follows with a flying double stomp for a nearfall. The Carnies hit a forced destroyer on Killjoy to eliminate him at 23:06. Dunkerton tries his best, but Iggy and Awful hit Death Comes Calling to become the survivors at 24:19. I enjoyed this match because everything made a lot of sense. The comedy in the beginning played well in the opener and isn’t something NOVA Pro does every show. I think most people expected Dunkerton to eliminate either Awful or Iggy in the final minutes, but it made total sense for the experienced team to finish off Dunkerton. This was a consistently enjoyable twenty-four minutes and everyone was showcased in one way or the other. Dunkerton continues to impress despite not picking up many wins. ***
Match #2: John Kermon vs. Wheeler YUTA
YUTA comes out of the gates quickly with a body slam and senton. He follows with a series of strikes. Kermon blocks a springboard maneuver with a forearm to the face. He takes control until YUTA comes back with a triple-jump springboard dropkick. Kermon quickly applies a rear-naked choke but YUTA grabs hold of the ropes. YUTA hits an olympic slam for a nearfall. He adds a blue thunder bomb but misses a flying double stomp. Kermon lays in a few knee strikes and reigns down punches for the win at 6:29. I liked the idea of YUTA overwhelming Kermon with his agility and not letting Kermon trap him on the mat. The crowd absolutely loved YUTA and actively booed Kermon winning. The finish was also a bit awkward as the crowd wasn’t clear on the referee stoppage. These two had solid chemistry together and probably could improve on this outing with more time. **
Match #3: Triathlon Match: The 1% (Logan Easton LaRoux, Bobby Shields, and Gunner Miller) vs. Sage Philips, Ace Perry, and Cabana Man Dan
This is a 2 out of 3 falls match with the first fall being a singles match, the second fall being a tag team match, and the third fall being a trios match if necessary. Gunner Miller and Cabana Man Dan begin with the singles fall. Miller hits a huge belly-to-belly suplex and showcases his power offense. The man is quite scary. Miller adds a huge german suplex and Cabana has gotten in zero offense so far. Cabana finally finds some success with a jawbreaker but the flip flop chops don’t go so well. Miller hits a huge pounce. Miller hits a jackhammer to win the first fall at 6:24.
The tag fall will be Logan Easton LaRoux and Bobby Shields against Sage Philips and Ace Perry. Philips and LaRoux renew their rivalry from last month in an opening exchange. Shields catches Perry with a dropkick but Perry returns the favor. LaRoux hits a series of suplexes on Philips and the 1% work him over. He creates some space with an enzuigiri on LaRoux and makes the tag. Perry hits a snap german suplex on Shields and lands a dive onto LaRoux. Philips hits Pure Dynamite on LaRoux to win the second fall at 7:58.
The third and final fall will be a trios match with all of the participants. Miller comes firing back with a double shoulder tackle. The 1% target Cabana, who still hasn’t recovered from his singles match. I’m confident that Cabana will have nightmares about Miller for the next month. Philips and Perry eventually get the tag and clean house. Perry hits a lungblower on Miller and Philips adds a slingshot flatliner. Perry catches LaRoux with a shining wizard. Shields hits an STO on Perry. Cabana unloads on Shields with his sandals. Miller lays out Cabana with a spear. LaRoux lands a dive to the floor. Back in, LaRoux tries to hit Philips with the Ultra J Title but misses. Philips low blows and small packages LaRoux to win the triathlon for his team at 7:55. Everyone worked hard to make the triathlon format work, although I am not sure if it’s a concept to revisit. If anything, it went a long way towards making the point that Philips has LaRoux’s number. Additionally, watching Miller absolutely destroy Cabana was a joy. Miller will make an excellent addition to the NOVA Pro roster if he’s back on a consistent basis. I was skeptical of the format coming in, but everyone worked hard and the action was a lot of fun to follow. ***
Match #4: Isaiah Frazier vs. Dirty Money
They trade control of a wristlock. Frazier snapmares Money over and punts him in the back. Coach Gator appears at ringside, seemingly scouting new talent. Frazier crotches Money on the top rope and takes control. Frazier hits a falcon arrow out of the corner at one point for a nearfall. Money finally comes back with a series of punches and a leaping neckbreaker. Frazier hits a hurts donut for the victory at 9:36. Unfortunately, this match felt much longer than ten minutes. The action came off as a collection of moves rather than anything cohesive. They just never clicked and the crowd eventually became more preoccupied with Coach Gator at ringside. *
Match #5: Jonathan Gresham (w/ Stokely Hathaway) vs. Fred Yehi
They quickly get into each other’s faces and the referee has difficulty maintaining control. They exchange chops and Gresham finds a few opportunities to kick at Yehi’s left arm. Yehi creates some space with a dropkick and hits a backcracker. He follows with a northern lights suplex. Yehi takes control until Gresham flips out of a german suplex and connects with a knee strike to the left arm. Yehi hits another backcracker along with a dragon suplex. Gresham is favoring his back at this point. We get dueling chants from the crowd. Gresham wins a strike exchange with an enzuigiri and hits a german suplex. They exchange pinning combinations to no avail. Gresham applies an octopus stretch and lays in repeated elbows for the win at 20:11. Once again, the crowd seems confused at the referee stoppage. I certainly appreciated that they treated this as the grudge match that it was after Yehi’s outing with Jordynne Grace last month. The body part targeting was enjoyable to watch as expected and both men did a great job of selling. I think their previous match together from The Great Grapsy was a bit better, but you can’t go wrong with Gresham vs. Yehi. ***½
Match #6: Elimination: Faye Jackson, Mia Yim, Brittany Blake and Team PAWG (Jordynne Grace and LuFisto) vs. Veda Scott, Deonna Purrazzo, Allie Kat, Laynie Luck, and Sahara Seven
Team PAWG gain the first real advantage with some double team work on Scott. Luck charges but LuFisto punishes her with strikes in the corner. LuFisto follows with a senton and suplexes Blake onto Luck. LuFisto uses Blake as a battering ram to take out their opponents on the apron. Blake lands a dive to the floor from the top rope. Jackson hits a michinoku driver on Luck to eliminate her at 6:53. Yim reigns down punches on Seven and applies a cross armbreaker. Seven is able to reach the ropes. These two are showing some real intensity towards each other. Yim hits a cradle shock on Seven but the referee doesn’t count three even though Seven didn’t get her shoulder up. Yeesh. Yim seems to have injured her knee. Team PAWG hit the ATM on Seven to eliminate her at 10:19. Also, Yim leaves the match due to injury and is eliminated. Scott catches LuFisto with a kappou kick. Kat enters the match for the first time but Team PAWG level her with more double team offense. LuFisto, in a fit of rage, shoves the referee and gets disqualified at 13:04. Jackson tries to calm her down, but LuFisto attacks her. Scott takes advantage and pins Jackson to eliminate her at 13:18.
We’re down to Scott, Purrazzo, and Kat against Blake and Grace. LuFisto and Jackson brawl to the back. Scott traps Blake in a reverse boston crab but Grace breaks up the hold. Purrazzo and Grace have a nice exchange. Grace hits a vader bomb on Purrazzo to eliminate her at 16:03. Everyone trades offense. Scott blocks a dive from Blake by hitting her with a water bottle. Scott eliminates Blake at 17:23. Scott tries to use the water bottle against Grace, but Grace rolls up Scott to eliminate her at 18:05. We’re down to Kat vs. Grace. Kat hits a german suplex and connects with a shining wizard. Grace responds with a spear for a nearfall. She adds a spear but Kat won’t stay down. Kat kicks away a lariat and connects with a headbutt to become the sole survivor at 21:33. Yim’s injury and the confusion around Seven’s elimination meant that not everything went according to plan, but they ended up getting their main point across because Kat’s win felt special and the crowd really reacted to it. LuFisto’s tantrum and Scott’s use of the water bottle were creative ideas, but they led to the sort of rapid-fire eliminations that I dislike in these survivor series matches. I don’t know if they hit the homerun that they were looking for in the main event, but this was still a solid showcase of what NOVA Pro has accomplished with regards to women’s wrestling in 2017. **¾
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-Show Grade: C+
–You Need to See:
–You’d Enjoy Watching: Gresham/Yehi, opener, triathlon match
–You Should Avoid: