Beyond followed the Royal Rumble into Philadelphia on the final weekend of January to kick off the year. Beyond also presented a card that was a complete secret. Some talent announcements were made, but no matches were known ahead of time by the audience. This event was also exclusively streamed (and archived) on Powerbomb TV.

With Beyond running CHIKARA’s building (the Wrestle Factory), it would make sense that a CHIKARA roster member would challenge for Jonathan Gresham’s Powerbomb TV Independent Wrestling championship. However, nobody expected Mike Quackenbush himself to answer the challenge. Quackenbush had been retired for years before dipping his toe back into the squared circle in late 2016. Since then, he had only wrestled exclusively for CHIKARA a small handful of times against very specific opponents until this moment. Quackenbush emerging as Gresham’s challenger was certainly a big treat for the crowd. These two put on the tremendous technical wrestling exhibition you would expect, but it fell into the same pattern as Gresham’s other title defenses, where all the great wrestling is an afterthought to the cheap ending. Every defense has been like this and it makes you wonder when the story of his title reign has wrapped what people will say about the defenses themselves. It also felt a little too silly, like neither competitor was coming into this contest with an appropriate level of respect for the stakes at hand. If there was ever a time for Gresham to simply out wrestle somebody, this was it, and it did not happen.

With the Tournament for Today in shambles, Beyond decided to hold a Six Way Scramble to decide the second finalist in the tournament to face Wheeler YUTA next month. YUTA is the only competitor to have fought in every round and made it to the finals, and the six in this match were all previously eliminated one way or another. This started out fine with the action keeping a quick pace and everyone pulling out some impressive offense, with MJF being the glue to hold it together, but it got too goofy and too sloppy to keep it’s cohesion. As expected, MJF and Josh Briggs were the stand-outs and odds on favorite to win before the match began. Briggs had Damian Smith defeated with an impressive chokeslam into a double backbreaker, but MJF pitched Briggs outside the ring and stole the pin from underneath him. The result was the right one given the history between YUTA and MJF, which was seemingly set to be the finals the entire time, but the match was ultimately not great, despite a good start.

John Silver disrespected Jordynne Grace after defeating her at “Heavy Lies The Crown” last month. This month, he would put against her PAWG tag team partner LuFisto, who Silver jumped from behind during her entrance. LuFisto valiantly fought back, punishing Silver where she could, but Silver managed to escape her Burning Hammer and lock her in the same submission that made Jordynne Grace pass out last month – a grounded straightjacket crossface choke. LuFisto tapped out, making Silver 2-0 in singles competition over Team PAWG. Unlike last month, LuFisto stopped Silver before he could attack her after the match and sent her packing. The story was sound but would’ve played much better in front of Beyond’s home audience who is aware of these stories. This crowd didn’t seem to care much until the last couple of minutes.

Dan Barry was surprised to see his former Team Tremendous tag partner Bill Carr across the ring from him in a six man tag match on this night. Carr had not be seen since WrestleMania weekend, and in the time since, Barry had moved on from their partnership and formed the Amityville Project. Barry would team with Ryan Galeone and Rex Lawless to take on the super heavyweight trio of Bill Carr, Kyle the Beast (KTB), and Brian Cage. This was much better than I expected, and told a wonderful story of Dan Barry avoiding Bill Carr for the entirety of the match until sweeping the rug out from underneath him with a schoolboy pinfall to end the contest. I think having Carr and Barry was not only a fun surprise, but makes a lot of sense. KTB is someone I’ve enjoyed watching progress in Beyond, GCW, and elsewhere, and made a great partner with Cage and a fun opponent for Barry’s crew. They may all be heavyweights, but they sure didn’t wrestle like it, and did a wonderful job waking the crowd up. So far, this was the best surprise of the event.

Chris Dickinson saved Bill Carr from a post-match beatdown from the Amitvyille Project, which bled directly into the next contest: Dickinson vs. Joey Janela. The story they laid out was good, with Dicknison having Janela’s number for the entirety of the match and Janela needing Penelope Ford’s help to swing the match in his direction, even if only for a moment. Some of Ford’s offense backfired, and Dickinson even gave her a piledriver, but a low blow from her allowed Janela to polish him off with a double stomp. Even with a solid story, this went 18 and a half minutes for no discernible reason and didn’t use the time effectively. Ideally this will lead to a Doom Patrol vs. Janelope match, but this is a match you can definitely skip over. It’s fine but there are better ways to spend almost twenty minutes.

Flip Gordon made instant enemies with the Philadelphia crowd as he wore Patriots attire one week before they faced (and lost to) the Eagles in the Super Bowl. Gordon was the first person ever to challenge Jonathan Gresham for the Powerbomb TV Independent Wrestling championship back at “Apocalypse Dudes”, and tonight he faced a man who was lined up to challenge Gresham for that very title the following evening: Martin Stone. It wasn’t just simply a battle of a high flier against a technical wrestler. Flip Gordon annoyed the crowd by his mere presence and kept that up during the entire match. They hated whenever he was on offense and loved Stone shutting him down. It all came to a beautiful crescendo when Flip missed a running shooting star press and Stone grabbed a crossface, making him submit. It says something that this match was almost as long as the one preceded it but did not drag or feel long at all. The wrestling here was really good too. I don’t get a chance to see Flip much as I don’t get ROH’s TV any longer, but I am really impressed with how much he was able to hang with Stone. He’s come a long way in just Beyond alone. What could’ve been a styles clash turned out to be a very good contest, with Stone getting some momentum going into his match with Gresham the next night.

Swoggle vs. Orange Cassidy? With Swamp Monster ringside and Bryce Remsburg as the referee? Count me in! Cassidy’s pal Chuck Taylor defeated Swoggle back at “Americanrana”, so Swoggle had a chance to gain some semblance of retribution in this match, albeit with a far more unorthodox competitor. Unfortunately for Swoggle, the Swamp Monster WAS Chuck Taylor, and interfered on Orange’s behalf! One piledriver from Chuckie T was all Orange needed to get the pinfall. Orange Cassidy is one of my favorite wrestlers to watch, and Swamp Monster is the best “wrestler” of all time, so I loved this. Mileage of course varies, but it’s my review, so deal with it.

“Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams and Wheeler YUTA has rebranded themselves as the Wheeler and Williams Grappling Experience due to Mattel’s insistence. Tonight they had their biggest test as they faced Beyond Wrestling’s top team in EYFBO. It seems they’re going by LAX now everywhere, so with a new year, I too will follow suit. LAX easily had this match in control at the start until Williams caught Ortiz and drilled his knees into the mat. Yuta and Williams wore him down for awhile in their corner, but Ortiz maneuvered the duo around in such a way where he knocked Yuta off the apron three times and hopped over Williams to tag in Santana. From then on, it was LAX’s match once more until finally pinning Williams with the Street Sweeper. LAX is a team I never tire of watching, and Williams and YUTA make for a really awesome duo. The action was fast paced, exciting, and all four competitors looked really strong by the end of the bout. Up to this point, this match was my favorite thing on the show.

We’ve seen how capable Tessa Blanchard is when put up against another high-flier when she bested Ricochet over a year ago, and tonight she faced a similar challenge in AR Fox. Tessa kept up with Fox’s pace and matched him using the ropes for offense. Fox raked her eyes to turn things around when both his springback Ace Crusher and Swanton Bomb didn’t do the trick. Even after the eye rake, Tessa was still able to kick out of a Package Piledriver on a one count. Tessa fought back with forearms, but Fox cut her off with a bicycle kick and the Foxcatcher DDT to pick up the win. I really enjoyed the dynamic between these two. Both of them wrestled smart and hard with Tessa especially looking fantastic against a Beyond stalwart. This isn’t a match I would’ve thought of ahead of time, but am glad Beyond pulled the trigger on it because it was very good.

Joey Janela would tell you he’s the Ace of Beyond Wrestling, but David Starr still says he is the Ace despite losing to Janela last month.On this night, he was placed against Matt Riddle who enjoyed a long undefeated streak in Beyond until this past Summer. Still, Riddle is one of the top wrestlers not just in Beyond, but the world, and defeating him would be a major coup for Starr to further cement his Ace status. It was a match that started with a show of respect and ended with the two competitors beating the heck out of each other. The ending sequence was bonkers, starting with starr getting his arm under the bottom rope after a BroStone and running knee strike from Riddle. After three senton splashes, Riddle went for a brainbuster, but Starr countered with Pretty Pumped and a superkick. Riddle finally got the brainbuster afterwards and attempted the BroMission, but Starr countered that with his own pin. It then took Starr a Canadian Destroyer, the running Look At It, and two Product Placements to pin Matt Riddle, becoming only the third man in Beyond history to do so.

Overall: Mystery cards are a tough balancing act, but I think Beyond managed it perfectly with great surprises, awesome first time match-ups, and plenty of quality bouts. All it’s missing is that one “stand out” match, but I still believe it’s worth going back and checking out.

This show is available exclusively 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, CZW, 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. Jonathan Gresham retained the Powerbomb.TV Independent Wrestling Championship over Mike Quackenbush, pinning him with a European Clutch in 14:19. ***

2. Maxwell Jacob Friedman defeated Brandon Watts, Damien Smith, Jay Freddie, Josh Briggs, and Mike Verna to advance to the Finals of the Tournament for Today tournament. MJF pinned Smith after Briggs gave Smith a chokeslam into a double knees backbreaker in 10:02. **

3. John Silver submitted LuFisto to a grounded straightjacket choke in 8:20. **¼

4. The Amityville Project (Dan Barry, Rex Lawless & Ryan Galeone) defeated Bill Carr, Brian Cage & Kyle The Beast in 11:10 when Barry schoolboyed Carr. ***¼

5. Joey Janela pinned Chris Dickinson after a top rope double stomp at 18:35. **¼

6. Martin Stone submitted Flip Gordon to a crossface in 17:02. ***¼

7. Orange Cassidy defeated Swoggle in 5:48 when the Swamp Monster (Chuck Taylor) interfered and gave Swoggle a piledriver.

8. LAX (Santana & Ortiz) defeated The Wheeler and Williams Grappling Experience (Wheeler YUTA & “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams) in 10:23 with the Street Sweeper on Williams. ***½

9. AR Fox pinned Tessa Blanchard with the Foxcatcher DDT in 8:42. ***¼

10. David Starr pinned Matthew Riddle with the Product Placement in 13:53. ***½

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