Category: Indies

Submitted by Alex Keeling from Ybor City, FL

Rob Naylor introduces So Cal Val and the Premiere Athlete Brand. Gary Jay comes out to challenge Caleb Konley,

Caleb Konley defeated Gary Jay

The first three contests flowed seamlessly into each other, with the Premier Athlete Brand’s opponents coming out one after another; a cool way to transition between opening matches. The first match saw debuting Gary Jay take on Caleb Konley. I had never seen Jay before, but he played a good babyface. By the end, Jay had the crowd behind him but it wasn’t enough as Konley finished with a moonsault. Fun opener.

Trent Baretta defeated Rich Swann

Baretta as a heel is a lot of fun to watch and a nice change of pace from what he usually does in PWG. With his mannerisms and antics intensified, Baretta was in control for the majority of the match. High point was when Baretta gave Swann a half nelson suplex on the apron, eliciting “holy shit” chants. This was the best of the first three contests, with both guys on their A game. Swann makes a couple comebacks throughout the match but eventually falls to the Dudebuster. Premiere Athlete Brand up 2-0.

Andrew Everett beat Anthony Nese 

I was expecting more out of Everett here. This may have worked better had it been switched with the previous match. That being said, solid effort by both guys, just nothing remarkable. Nese worked on Everett’s bad knee for the majority of the match. Everett hit a shooting star press for the 3, giving the Premier Athlete Brand it’s first loss of the night. After the match, Everett challenged Konley for the FIP title the next night at Evolve 46. 

Chris Hero beat Trevor Lee

These two had no problem just tearing into one another. If you liked either of their previous encounters (one in PWG, one at Evolve 43), you’ll be into this one. Stiff match. Lee took several cringe-inducing elbows and kicks to the face courtesy of the Knockout Kid. Lee hit a powerbomb for a near fall. Hero finished with multiple elbows. They told a story of Lee coming close again but still not being able to beat Hero. One would expect them to do a third match with Lee getting one last chance, given how close he came here. Great match. Afterwards, Hero heels it up on the mic, saying he’s the best. If not him, who is the best, he asks. Someone in the crowd says Zach Sabre Jr and Hero talks some smack, saying he’s beat Sabre multiple times in the past, in NOAH and elsewhere. Hero and Sabre will meet at Evolve 48. 

Zach Sabre Jr. submits Roderick Strong

Fans were in for a treat here, as the card had to be changed that morning when Davey Richards (scheduled to face Sabre) couldn’t compete. Instead, we got Roddy/ZSJ II, a rematch from PWG’s April show. Words can’t do this one justice. Gabe’s tweets and emails indicated that he was “hotshotting” matches tonight for the sake of the fans, and he wasn’t kidding. Incredible, incredible match. Chain wrestling at the opening reminded me of Malenko/Guerrero in 95. Sabre won most of the exchanges, staying a step ahead of Roddy at every turn. Sabre worked Roddy’s arm most of the match with lots of inventive offensive. Every little thing meant something here. Roddy went for Sabre’s legs, building to his Stronghold boston crab. The match only got better and better, with finishing sequences that reminded you of the closing minutes of AJ/Okada. Eventually, Strong succumbed to an armbar, bringing the series between these two to one fall a piece. One can only hope there’s a rubber match in the works. Just terrific stuff here.

Timothy Thatcher defeats Drew Galloway to win the Evolve and DG USA World Heavyweight Championships

There was no way anything could follow that last match, so these two had their work cut out for them. Thatcher asked that the match be a title match, and Galloway agreed to put both belts (Evolve and DGUSA World Heavyweight Title) on the line. Thatcher looked really great here, but Galloway was no slouch. A great wrestling match, nothing at all like the brawls Galloway had been having with Roddy. Crowd was seemingly dead after the last two matches. Thatcher wins in a shocker with an armbar! I felt bad for both guys as they looked to be trying to make it a big moment but the atmosphere just wasn’t there. Galloway is hesitant to give up his belts at the end of the match, but he eventually does so. With Thatcher taking on Hero the next night in a rematch of their classic from Mania weekend, one would assume that becomes a title match.

All in all, an amazing show from Evolve. Hero/Lee and Strong/ZSJ are both worth going out of your way to see. If Sabre wasn’t stuck doing multi-man matches in NOAH, one would think he’d be a contender for wrestler of the year, given the quality of his performances in the US. The kid is incredible.

Global Force Wrestling announced that IWGP jr. heavyweight champion Kushida will be appearing at its 7/24 TV taping in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena. Kushida, who beat Kenny Omega to become the singles star of that division on yesterday’s show in Osaka, will also be appearing at Ring Of Honor’s Field Of Honor 8/22 show at MCU Field in Brooklyn.

By Dave Meltzer, WrestlingObserver.com

– IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks will face AAA dream team Rey Mysterio Jr. and Alberto El Patron in the main event of Northeast Wrestling’s 4th annual ‘Wrestling Under The Stars Show’, set for August 1st at Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls, NY. This will be the first ever match between either of the Bucks and Mysterio. 

– On Twitter Tuesday, Jeff Jarrett said that he will do a sitdown interview tonight with Mike Tenay to discuss the future of GFW working with TNA. While not specified, my belief is this was taped on Saturday or Sunday and that’s what will be released by Jarrett tonight instead of a live interview.

– Tommaso Ciampa b Johnny Gargano: said to be excellent

– Joey Ryan & Candice LaRae b Josh Alexander & Ethan Page: Crowd loved Alexander, knowing he’s about to go under the knife. He was doing a retirement sendoff and Page attacked him and laid him out. Got good late.

– Biff Busick b Timothy Thatcher: excellent

– PWG Champion Roderick Strong b Speeball Mike Bailey: Said to be a blow away match.

– Brian Cage b John Silver: Comedy that Silver thought he was bigger and stronger than Cage

– Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara, her fiancee Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike movies) and Chris Bauer (True Blood) were in attendance at the show.

– Zack Sabre Jr. b Chris Hero via ref stoppage after a kick to the head.  Hero’s finger was bleeding everywhere and Sabre worked on the hand.

– Young Bucks b Trevor Lee & Andrew Everett to win the PWG tag titles due to interference from Roderick Strong.  The Bucks & Strong laid out a ton of people and the show ended with the lights out and Super Dragon making a heel turn forming Mount Rushmore 2.0 with Dragon, Strong and The Young Bucks with new T-shirts.

– Was told Busick vs. Thatcher, Strong vs. Bailey, Sabre vs. Hero and Bucks vs. Lee & Everett were all  **** or better.

Thanks to John Carey and Guillermo Monti

Submitted by Blake Sims

– From Hot Rods Baseball Stadium in Bowling Green, KY

Chuck Taylor vs Cliff Compton

Both Chuck and Cliff were billed from Kentucky, Murray and Louisville respectively. With that, Chuck was playing the heel for this match. He came out yelling at the crowd, threatened to leave if they didn’t stop yelling “Chuck Sucks”. He did try to leave, but slowly made his way back to the ring. Decent back and forth to start, Compton threw Taylor into the ropes, and there was a loud crack. The ropes were a little loose, although it didn’t break (the ring tech came out after to fix the problem). Compton went over in the end. He got a decent reaction from the crowd.

Jimmy Rave vs Jigsaw vs Sonjay Dutt

Fun tripe threat match, there were a few fun spots. Dutt and Jigsaw both got great reactions from the crowd. Jigsaw won the match.

“The Adonis” Chris Mordetzky vs Shelton Benjamin

Local radio personality Tony Rose was brought out, he said he had gotten his license to be a wrestler, but didn’t want to wrestle tonight. He said he wanted to do something a little “easier”, be a wrestling manager. This brought Jim Cornette out to the field. Cornette cut a classic heel promo about Bowling Green, Kentucky. Even with that the crowd liked Cornette more than Tony Rose. This ultimately led to Cornette in Mordetzky’s corner, and Rose in Benjamin’s corner.

The match was fun, little bit of interference from Cornette, tripping Benjamin, etc. Benjamin and Mordetzky both got good reactions from the crowd who recognized them from their WWE tenure. Cornette tossed in the loaded racket to Mordetzky while he and Rose ran around outside distracting the ref. Benjamin dodged the racket and landed a superkick and got the 3 count winning the match.

Thea Trinidad vs Lei’D Tapa

A real “David vs Goliath” matchup. Tapa controlled the majority of the match, tossing and slamming Trinidad all over the ring. Tapa went to the 2nd rope for a body splash, but Trinidad rolled out of the way, this lead to a superkick to Tapa and a roll up for the three.  After the match, Tapa grabbed the ref and did an unfortunately botch gorilla press.

INTERMISSION

Moose vs. Doc Gallows

Huge reactions for both Moose and Gallows, the crowd was split 50-50. Lots of “MOOSE” and “BULLET CLUB” chants. They went back and forth, Gallows landed a superkick. Moose hit a really clean dropkick. After a series of blows back and forth, Gallows hit a school boy roll up and got the 3 count.  This was a really quick match, it almost felt like the 3 count was a botch, but none-the-less it was fun. Post match Moose went for a handshake, Gallows played to the crowd seeing if he should. He went for the shake and paused, then threw up the “too sweet” sign. Moose reciprocated, and Gallows raised Moose’s hand.

Before the match Jeff and Karen Jarrett came out to greet the crowd. They gave out thanks to the Hot Rods staff and the fans in attendance.

The Young Bucks vs Andrew Everett and PJ Black

First out was Everett and Black, Black got a decent reception. Like Benjamin and Mordetzky, the crowd recognized Black from his WWE run as Justin Gabriel. The Young Bucks came out to the biggest reaction of the night, the crowd was super into them.

Everett and Black attacked the Bucks before the match began, the crowd instantly booed them for it. The Bucks came back and threw Black and Everett out of the ring, following them out to deliver the first set of  superkicks of the match.

Lots of fun spots in this match. The Bucks took a lot of offense for the first part of the match. Everett and Black did a spot where they mimed tossing a baseball and swinging on it. Everett mimed swinging first and left the ring and ran the bases. He came around 3rd base and hit Nick Jackson with a drop kick on the outside at home base. Then it was Black’s turn to mime swing, he ran the bases, but was met with a superkick by Matt Jackson, this spot got a huge reaction from the crowd. After this The Young Bucks took control of the match, they delivered their signature spots leading into “the Indie Taker” which led to the 3 count. Again the Bucks got the biggest reaction from the crowd.

After the match, the Young Bucks and Jeff Jarrett stayed in the ring to take photos with the fans.

Submitted by Charles Humphreys

– Sonjay Dutt d. Jimmy Rave with a splash from the top rope in about 10 minutes. 

– Jigsaw d. Chuck Taylor in 6:20 with a double foot stamp off the top. 

– Karen and Jeff Jarrett promo. Karen thanked the sponsors. Jeff thanked the Mississippi Braves. Karen led a “Thank You Jeff” chant.  

– Thea Trinidad d. Le’D Tapa with a hurricanrana in 5:55. Thea used a 619 near the end too. Tapa attacked multiple officials post match. 

– PJ Black & Andrew Everett d. the Hot Shots in 12:20 after a springboard 450 splash from Black. Hot Shots were your typical southern 80s Memphis tag team. Black & Everett are great. Match was fun. Post match the Hot Shots did some heel mic work. 

– Doc Gallows d. Luke Hawx in 7:57 with a two handed choke slam. They announced Doc from “Jacksonville, GA by way of Tokyo, Japan”.  Crowd sort of died for this one. Bad call having Gallows work heel. 

– Scott Steiner promo interrupted by Chris Masters. Refs had to pull them apart. 

– Shelton Benjamin d. Chris Masters in 13:02 with Paydirt after a ref bump and Steiner hitting Masters with a bat. Shelton to pre-match mic work and announced he was fighting for the honor of Scott Steiner. 

– Post show pics with Steiner & Jarrett for $20.

Submitted by Lak Gill

Dark Match

Josh Bodum def. Tommy End

The Revolutionists (Sha Samuels & James Castle) def. Joel Redman (c) & Jake McCluskey to win the British Tag Team Titles

Before the tag title bout, it was announced that RPW Tag Champion Mark Haskins was dealing with “personal problems” and wouldn’t be at the show. Taking his place in the match was Jake McCluskey. Castle got the pin after low-blowing McCluskey behind the ref’s back. Redman heelishly pushed around McCluskey after.

Big Damo def. Tomohiro Ishii

Damo (who looks like an overweight, hairier Daniel Bryan) impressed many. Most of the match involved Ishii getting pounded on. Some crazy moves including a superplex from Ishii on the 300+ Damo and a Damo Van Terminator. Damo scored the upset win following a Running Senton. 

– Annouced for Uprising 2015 on Oct 2nd was an all New Japan tag match: Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Jushin Liger & Hiroshi Tanahashi

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Roderick Strong

A great match. Strong was replacing Ricochet who for the second time had to cancel on RPW, this time due to visa issues. The first ten minutes involved the crowd berating Strong on his “Shitty Little Boots.” Strong paced back and forth on the entrance ramp, enraged at the chants which included a rendition of Hey Jude with the lyrics changed to mock Strong’s boots. Nakamura and Strong worked hard, really laid into each other. Nakamura won after a succession of Bomb Be Ye kicks. 

– After the match, Big Damo came out. A bemused Nakamura turned to the crowd and asked “Who is this guy?!” Damo challenged Nakamura to match at Uprising 2015. Nakamura answered his challenge with a “YEOW!” Intermission followed.

Will Ospreay def. Matt Sydal in 2 out of 3 Falls Match to retain the British Crusierweight Title

Match of the night. This was outstanding. Sydal won the first fall via a Shooting Star Press. Ospreay got the second after countering a Sydal move into a cradle. The last fall was just nuts. Ospreay kicked out of the Shooting Star and beat Sydal with a Corkscrew Shooting Star. Sydal did everything he could to make Ospreay look like ‘The Man.’  After the match, promoter Andy Quildan revealed that Sydal had the same visa issues as Ricochet but “went above and beyond” to make it to London including buying his own airfare. Sydal only arrived in London a few hours before the show started.

Colt Cabana & Matt Classic (Grado) def. “Lord” Gideon Grey & Rishi Ghosh

This was the match CM Punk cut a promo for. Grado was under the mask as Matt Classic. Cabana & “Classic” won this total comedy bout to reinstate Cabana into RPW. 

AJ Styles def. Marty Scurll to win the British Heavyweight Title

Scurll came out with his Revolutionist colleagues, they were promptly send to the back. Good bout but it couldn’t top the Nakamura and Cruiserweight Title match. Styles got the win via the Styles Clash. Styles put over Scurll on the mic and asked him to shake his hand. Scurll suckered AJ in and put the boots to him. Will Ospreay made the save. He longingly stared at Styles’ British Heavyweight Title. Quilidan quickly arranged Oct 3rd’s British Heavyweight Title bout: AJ Styles vs. Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay.

October 3rd’s Uprising show will feature Tanahashi, Okada, Nakamura, Styles, Gedo and Liger. The show is being billed as co-promotion with NJPW unsurprisingly.

Submitted by Lou Pickney

Brandon Baxter and Matt Douglas warmed up the crowd right as the 7:30p.m. bell time hit. Baxter did a good job handling the ring announcer/hypeman duties.

Tate Twins beat the Best Friends (approx. 15 minutes)

The audio system temporarily crashed as the Best Friends made their way onto the field, so they killed time by pantomiming the throwing of a first pitch by Trent Beretta to Chuck Taylor. After watching Best of the Super Juniors, it was nice to see a Beretta match without hearing that grating Roppongi Vice song.

Sonjay Dutt pinned Jamin Olivencia (approx 10 minutes)

Dutt won after a tornado DDT & top rope splash.

Thea Trinidad pinned Lei’d Tapa (approx 6 minutes)

Nothing match. As I noted elsewhere, Trinidad is very attractive, though her beating the much larger Tapa out of nowhere was low on believability.

Moose pinned Kevin Matthews (approx 11 minutes)

After the original pinfall of Moose by Matthews, who had his feet on the ropes for leverage, it was overturned by a second ref who came in from the opposite side of where it happened. The match was restarted and, almost immediately, Moose hit the spear and got the pin. It was great that the show had announced time limits, though for some reason this match was one fall with a 15 minute time limit.

INTERMISSION

Chris Mordetzky won by submission over Dustin Star (approx 11 minutes) with the Master Lock

The ref did the “raise the arm and drop it” routine on Star, and after one drop he called for the bell, so it wasn’t a tapout or verbal submission by the babyface Star. In contrast to Moose’s 1/15 match, this was one fall with a 45 minute time limit.

Brandon Baxter introduced Jim Cornette, who announced to the crowd that there would be a 10 bell salute/moment of silence for Dusty Rhodes. The crowd was respectfully quiet for this.

Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows beat the New Heavenly Bodies in approx 8 minutes

Cornette cut a scathing promo on the NHB before the match, essentially calling them out for not exactly having the proper physique to use the Heavenly Bodies name. The finish saw the NHB try to use a foreign object to cheat, which led Cornette to get up to the ringside table to stooge it off to the referee. When that was ignored, Cornette soon after waylaid one of the NHB guys in the back with an incredibly loud tennis racket shot which led to the pin.

The following is from a third party:

Wrestleview.com’s Adam Martin had the opportunity to sit down with Global Force Wrestling owner and founder Jeff Jarretton Wednesday evening to discuss the upcoming debut of GFW this weekend in Jackson, TN and Knoxville, TN. Jarrett also discussed his reaction to TNA pulling Tyrus from upcoming live events and the latest on the TV tapings in Las Vegas this July.

On the use of social media to promote the GFW brand: 

“I love it in a real positive way. Global Force Wrestling or Jeff Jarrett can touch the consumer, the viewer, the fan instantaneously and we don’t have to go through traditional channels. When I was growing up when I first broke in, you would have the local promoter come out. He’d write the story and it’d come out at the very best three or four days later. That is really best case scenario. Then as time went along you may get a live news hit, the sports guy come out and do a live news thing. Then you roll through time and you’ve got 500 digital channels and you’ve got streaming services – Netflix, Roku, Amazon, going on and on. YouTube. Social media. Instagram. Vine. Snapchat. That’s really where the fans are. You were on the field with us, tweeted the first pitch and the whole world saw it in 30 minutes? 15 minutes? I like that as a promoter. You can touch the fan base.”

His reaction to TNA pulling Tyrus (former WWE star Brodus Clay) from live events:

“Am I disappointed that George Murdoch can’t be part of it? Absolutely, but life happens. TNA, it’s very obvious that they don’t have the vision and don’t have the mindset that I do. That it was without question, you know, George, yep you’re going to be on our non-televised events. And that’s where we stand. He agreed to it. He was legally available for us and then whatever happened – I don’t want to speak for George. I don’t want to speak for TNA. I don’t know. He told me, “I can’t make it.” I’ll sort of leave it at that. When one door closes on a situation, that’s opportunity and the door is opened for other talents to come on. In the month of July we got a couple different announcements coming up. Some former World Heavyweight Champions (will) be part of the Global Force Wrestling roster.”

When more details about GFW and a television deal is expected:

“I release information when I feel the time is right. I think you guys have accepted that fact. I think it helps everybody, the anticipation. Professional wrestling is no different than the music business or other forms of entertainment. 15, 13 years ago, the CD is how the music business made its money. Then you went to .99 downloads or $1.29 downloads. Now it’s streaming. It’s a different form of how the consumer consumes content. My goal, Global Force Wrestling, I’m standing on global. We got alliances with 13 promotions on 5 continents and we are on a much smaller world than we used to be. My goal is to make sure that the content we produce is going to be able to be consumed on a global basis. The ‘TV deal’ – those details will be released at the appropriate time. Traditional forms of cable network television, they are definitely in the rear view mirror.”