After the success of “Far Beyond Wrestling”, Beyond’s first live streamed event on Powerbomb TV, Beyond announced a plan to stream either a Beyond or Women’s Wrestling Revolution event from Electric Haze in Worcester, MA the last Sunday of every month. October 2017’s offering would be “Apocalypse Dudes.”
Two Midwest teams would return to Beyond for the first time in over a year and a half to test themselves against Beyond’s best. The first Midwest team is the Hooligans who faced Team PAWG of Jordynne Grace and LuFisto. To no surprise, this was a brawl. The Hooligans had things going in their favor until Grace landed a suicide dive onto the floor. Unfortunately, the Hooligans sent LuFisto face first into a brick wall, leaving Grace alone to take the Hooligans wrath. When LuFisto did recover, she unloaded all of her fury onto the Cutters, specifically Mason who took quite the beating from her and Grace in one corner. Mason avoided going ATM and the Hooligans gave Grace a beautiful cutter into a flying bulldog combo, but LuFisto broke up their pin. Devin went for a moonsault but was brought down instead by Grace with a powerbomb. One ATM later and Team PAWG stood victorious. This was fun, hard hitting, and energetic – basically the type of match any event should try to start with. The Hooligans were a great pair to bring in to have PAWG showcase their toughness and hopefully it won’t be another year and a half before we see them again.
I’ll say this about Orange Cassidy vs. Dick Justice – if you think Orange Cassidy is as amazing as I do, you should watch this. If you don’t, skip ahead. Also, a camera man was murdered. RIP in peace.
A team representing the New England Pro Wrestling Academy scored an upset victory over the Pull-It Club last month at “Far Beyond Wrestling.” This month, a similar team squared off against the Secret City Soldiers. Both teams incorporated a female member into their group to get a little WWR representation in the match. Last time, the NEPWA team saw a disagreement between Mikey Webb and Cam Zagami argue over who the team captain was. With no Zagami in this one, Webb served as the makeshift Captain for this bout. Both teams put up a fighting effort, but the more experienced Soldiers did the best job of systematically taking out the opposition and working together. Webb did an admirable job of taking the Soldiers down on his own when he needed to. He was all set for a Death Valley Driver when Zagami ran in from the crowd and hit Webb with a superkick. Whether Zagami was trying to add some extra “oomph” to his Death Valley Driver and meant to hit Webb’s opponent is debatable, but highly unlikely. Da Hoodz swiftly jumped into action and hit the Hood Cutter on Webb to win the match. For only five minutes, the two teams packed in a lot of action. I appreciate Beyond giving some love to the local talent on their live streamed events and think this went quite well. I’m curious to see what direction this Webb and Zagami issue is going. Zagami tried to rally the troops after the match but none of Webb’s partners wanted anything to do with him.
JT Dunn failed to defeat Martin Stone last month. This month, the challenge would be even more daunting as he stepped in the ring with Matthew Riddle. If there was ever a time for Dunn to have a fighting chance against Riddle, tonight was the night, as it was Riddle’s first singles match since his undefeated streak ended, and a couple months after he and Jeff Cobb lost to Doom Patrol. There was not the same momentum behind Riddle as their had been previously. This was my kind of match, where the two guys struck each other with urgency and took calculated efforts into trying to win.. Dunn angered Riddle in the offset, which served him well in “ducking and dodging”, but only made Riddle’s palm and knee strikes all the more painful when connected. Each of them hit moves on the apron and floor, where Riddle also errantly struck the ring post with his foot. Despite this, he fought back valiantly against Dunn inside the ring where he eventually locked on the Bromission and made Dunn tap out. This was to me was executed perfectly. The way these two wrestled conveyed that they understood the value of a victory of their opposition and fought tooth and nail for that victory. The crowds energy rose up and peaked at the crescendo. I expected this to be good, but this was GREAT and most certainly worth your time.
The second Midwest team attempting to make a splash in Beyond once again was the Viking War Party duumvirate of Alexander Rudolph and Jake Parnell. They would be squared up against Doom Patrol of Jaka and Chris Dickinson on this evening. Dickinson declared the match “Valhalla Rules” which essentially meant no count outs or disqualifications, rules the two teams took to heart. Ruldoph at one point introduced a GD chainsaw into the match. Thank goodness Jaka was there to take him out before it could be put to use (and thank goodness it didn’t hurt a fan by accident.) Doom Patrol had Rudolph set up for the Doomsday chokeslam when Parnell came in with a chair and knocked Jaka to the floor. The War Party took out Dickinson with a dropkick out of a powerbomb hold, but Dickinson kicked out. Parnell and Rudolph then set up for a double stacked splash. Jaka however pulled Parnell off the top and to the floor, leaving a distracted Ruldoph vulnerable for an unexpected roll-up pin by Dickinson. For a match with a chainsaw involved, it was an unexpected way to end the match. I sure as heck won’t forget that chainsaw moment any time soon.
Keita Yano was supposed to make his Beyond debut against Jonathan Gresham, but was unable to make the show. In his place would be Flip Gordon, a New England standout turned Ring of Honor superstar. Gordon had made appearances for Beyond in the past when he was still making a name for himself, but had not competed for the promotion in nearly 10 months before tonight. Even Gresham and Stokely didn’t feel Gordon was worthy of a title shot, they decided to grant him one. Of course, Gordon used his incredible acrobatics to take Gresham off his game. After Gresham finally caught him with a hard chop, he trapped Gordon’s leg on the middle rope and declared there would be “no more flips.” Like Gresham did with Brandon Watts’ arm the previous night, Gresham focused his attack on wearing down Gordon’s leg and knee, along with an insulting nut tap along the way. Gresham had battered the leg thoroughly enough that he implemented a strategy we’re not used to seeing from him. When he had Gordon’s legs locked in a figure four, Gresham purposefully rolled Gordon and himself to the floor while keeping the hold applied, sending Gordon’s tightened knee cap into the floor. Gresham listened to the referee’s count to know when was the right time to relinquish the hold so that Gordon would be counted out. At the time it seemed like a smart strategy, but given he defeated Nick Gage by countout the month after, it’s a trend. Some people may not like it, but I think it’s a great way to get somebody whose beloved by most a reason to be hated. He and Gordon told the story very well and got the exact reaction they wanted from the crowd. It’s very risky to have a titles first ever defense end in a countout, but it’s a risk I appreciate being taken.
Coming off his win against John Silver the night before, Martin Stone found himself against Zack Sabre, Jr. The match progressed from match competition, to limb work, to trading strikes, to trading submissions, to then trading pin attempts. It was a simple evolution with the competitors picking up the aggression as the bout went along. Sabre had the quicker reactions and did a better job at exploiting Stone’s weaknesses, which is why he ultimately was victorious when he caught Stone in a modified Gedo Clutch. I enjoyed watching these two wrestle and think both brought their best, but the 22+ minute length was a bit much by this point in the show. After many quick matches and seeing so much on the card already (again, chainsaw) it was hard to keep focused. This is one that I’ll give a rewatch on its own later, but I think in a different spot it would have been overall better received.
EYFBO has been the top team for Beyond in 2017, with an impressive 11-2 record so far in the year. There only two versus two tag team loss was against the American Wolves in this same building back in January. EYFBO had a big fight ahead of them given the size difference. Ortiz couldn’t budge Elgin, but with Draztik’s help were able to do some damage. Cage and Elgin stopped Ortiz in the corner and toyed with him for awhile before Ortiz tried saving the day. Again, Elgin was tough to budge, but some persistence gave EYFBO somewhat of a leg up and the fans very much behind them. Somewhere along the way Ortiz’s ear got cut open and the crowd got even more into his comebacks and kick outs. Eventually, all the damage got to him, and Cage’s Drill Claw (Steiner Screwdriver) led to EYFBO’s second tag team loss this year. I sensed the crowd was burned out at the start of this match, which makes it all the more impressive that they were collectively cheering for EYFBO by the end. While in most cases EYFBO winning is all but a formality, you got a great sense of the uphill climb they faced and earned the crowds respect all over again for it. It’s one of the more unique EYFBO matches from the year and a fun main event to end the show.
Overall: I think September’s live streamed offering may have been stronger overall, but there’s still quite a few matches here worth checking out; specifically, Riddle vs. Dunn, Stone vs. Sabre, Jr., and EYFBO vs. Elgin & Cage. I like having these live streamed shows at the end of each month, as it gives Beyond fans something to look forward to and makes every event feel important.
This show is available through Powerbomb TV, the exclusive home of Beyond Wrestling’s library on demand. Powerbomb TV is an independent wrestling VOD and live streaming service that live streams events several weekends out of the month and boasts a catalogue that includes promotions such as IWA Mid-South, AIW, Alpha 1, NOVA Pro, and countless others from all over the world. You can use the code PWP20 or BEYOND to get 20 days FREE to the service.
For more information, visit Beyond Wrestling’s official website. For a bunch of free matches, clips, and other fun stuff, check out Beyond’s YouTube page. You can also follow them on Twitter and through their Facebook page.
Quick Results/Match Times/Star Ratings
1. Team PAWG (Jordynne Grace & LuFisto) defeated The Hooligans (Devin & Mason Cutter) in 8:10 with ATM on Devin Cutter. **¾
2. Orange Cassidy vs. Dick Justice was issued a No Contest around 8:41 due to Dick Justice accidentally shooting a cameraman. Both participants and the referee ran away.
3. The Secret City Soldiers (Anthony Stone, Kris Pyro, Davey Cash & Alexxis) defeated Team NEPWA (Mikey Webb, Anthony Greene, Brick Mastone & Davienne) in 5:01 when Cash and Pyro took down Webb with Da Hood Cutter. **¼
4. Matt Riddle submitted JT Dunn to the Bromission in 11:45. ***½
5. Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson & Jaka) defeated The Viking War Party (Alexander Rudolph & Jake Parnell) in 8:19 when Dickinson rolled up Rudolph. **¾
6. Jonathan Gresham retains the Powerbomb.TV Independent Wrestling Championship over Flip Gordon via countout in 11:26. ***
7. Zack Sabre, Jr. pins Martin Stone in a modified Gedo Clutch at 22:40. ***¼
8. The Unbreakable F’n Machines (Michael Elgin & Brian Cage) defeated EYFBO (Mike Draztik & Angel Ortiz) in 17:42 with the Drill Claw from Cage to Ortiz. ***½