Colling It In The Ring: NEW Rumble In Rockland 8/25/2016

Northeast Wrestling presents Rumble In Rockland
Date: 8/25/2016
From: Pomona, NY

The show is taking place at a baseball field and it’s naturally raining outside, so that might have an impact on in-ring quality and match length.

Opening Contest: Caleb Konley vs. Kamaitachi vs. Travis Gordon: Konley goes right after Gordon at the sound of the bell. Kamaitachi super kicks Konley and Gordon hit a springboard clothesline to send Konley to the floor. Gordon arm drags Kamaitachi a few times and hits a dropkick. Gordon hits a standing moonsault but Konley breaks up the cover attempt. Gordon with a flurry of strikes and a head scissors takedown on Konley. Kamaitachi drops Gordon with a few strikes and a running dropkick for a near fall. Konley rakes back of Kamaitachi and hangs onto the ropes to avoid a dropkick. Konley leg sweeps Gordon on the apron to keep his focus on Kamaitachi. Konley nearly wins following a spinning chop on Kamaitachi. Gordon drops Konley onto Kamaitachi and a senton splash on Kamaitachi for a two count. Gordon kicks Konley in the corner but Kamaitachi runs over to the corner to hit a power bomb on Gordon, who hit a superplex on Konley. Kamaitachi hits a sit out suplex on Gordon for a near fall. Konley hits a Blue Thunder Driver on Kamaitachi but only manages a near fall. Gordon kicks Kamaitachi off the top rope and Gordon hits a spinning splash off the top onto Konley for the win. (***. I thought it was an enjoyable opener to the show with Gordon impressing me as this is the first time I’ve watched him in action. All three guys got their moments and there weren’t any dull moments to kick off the show. Plus, it didn’t go on super long to wear you out at the start.)

Second Contest: Jake Manning vs. Wrecking Ball Legursky: Manning is reading his book to see if there are any tips for him to defeat Legursky. Legursky shoulder blocks Manning to the floor to showcase his power advantage. Manning returns and attempts a scoop slam but Legursky counters with a slam of his own. Legursky misses a splash in the corner but isn’t impacted by strikes by Manning. Legursky clotheslines Manning and follows up with a delayed vertical suplex. Manning avoids a splash by getting his boot up and fights back with strikes. Legursky catches Manning on a cross body attempt and hits a fallaway slam. Legursky hits a running cannonball in the corner. Legursky with a press slam power slam for the win. (*. There were a few impressive moments for Legursky, but this was just a squash match for him, for the most part.)

Kenny Bengal comes out and says that he was told they don’t have anyone for him to fight tonight. So, that leads to an open challenge and that’s answered by….

Third Contest: Ryback vs. Kenny Bengal: Ryback isn’t in his wrestling gear as he hits a spine buster to open the match. Ryback follows up with a running clothesline and a Samoan Drop as well. Well, that wasn’t an actual match, I guess.

Fourth Contest: Mandy Leon vs. Sumie Sakai: Leon takes Sakai down to the canvas with a headlock and almost get a three count with a rollup. Sakai has control with a camel clutch but isn’t going to get a submission. Leon hits a running bulldog for a near fall. Sakai stops Leon with an eye rake and hits a dropkick. Leon hits a DDT but Sakai kicks out at two. Leon with a reverse Russian leg sweep and has a head scissors submission but Sakai reaches the ropes. Sakai hits a fisherman swinging neck breaker. Leon hits a running Un-Prettier and that’s good enough for three. (**. That was a quick match, too. They kept a fine pace and the finisher by Leon was impactful.) After the match, Sakai rolls on the mat with Leon and leaves the ringside area. That was bizarre.

Fifth Contest: “Broken” Matt Hardy vs. Vinny Marseglia: Vinny goes on attack before the bell sounds and stomps on Hardy in the corner. Vinny catapults Hardy throat first across the middle rope. Vinny puts on Hardy’s jacket and taunts the fans, which ends up with Hardy recovering and manhandling Vinny in the corner. Vinny backs Hardy into the corner and delivers an uppercut to get control of the match. Hardy avoids a splash in the corner and rams Vinny head first into the turnbuckles. They go to the floor where Hardy rams Vinny chest first and head first into the railing and apron. Hardy is sent shoulder first into the ring post and Vinny mounts Hardy with right hands. Vinny decks Hardy with a back elbow strike for a two count. Hardy attempts a vertical suplex but Vinny counters with one of his own. Vinny tosses Hardy to the floor and plays to the crowd. Vinny counters a sunset flip attempt and pummels Hardy with strikes. Vinny delivers a running forearm shot but runs into a big boot in the corner. Vinny stops Hardy with knee strikes and puts Matt on the top turnbuckle. Hardy bites Vinny off the ropes and delivers a middle rope elbow strike for a two count. Hardy goes for a bulldog out of the corner buy Vinny counters with a forearm strike in the corner. Hardy counters a clothesline with the Side Effect for a two count. Hardy goes for the Twist of Fate, but Vinny shoves off and misses a kick. Vinny hits a side slam to counter another Twist of Fate attempt. Matt bites Vinny on the hand and on the foot after blocking a kick attempt. Hardy kicks Vinny in midair and hits the Twist of Fate for the win. (*1/2. It never felt like it got past the first gear and the action felt very basic. Hardy’s character is the most entertaining thing going for him as his in-ring stuff, at least here, doesn’t do much for me.)

Sixth Contest: NEW Tag Team Champions So Over (Jimmy Preston & Mark Shurman) vs. Adrenaline Rush (Daniel Evans & Keith Gordon) vs. The Amazing Graysons (JP Grayson & Tommy Grayson): The champs get dropkicked by both challenging teams and are sent into each other face first. The champs are clotheslined over the top to the floor. Graysons clear the ring with cross body blocks. Graysons proceed to take out the other teams with suicide dives! Graysons nearly win with a wheelbarrow splash on Evans. Shurman clotheslines JP after Evans delivered a knee lift on the apron. Shurman and Evans are aligned now as JP gets beaten on in the corner. JP is slammed by Evans and Shurman tries to steal a cover but that doesn’t work. Tommy and JP hit double cross body blocks off the top to take the other two teams out in the ring. Graysons work over Adrenaline Rush until JP gets met with a spear. Tommy hits a double neck breaker on Adrenaline Rush. Graysons with a double team face buster but Shurman enters to break up the pin attempt. Preston low blows JP from behind and gets the cheap victory. (*1/2. Yeah, that wasn’t anything all that special or great. Grayons displayed some good high flying action, but it felt a little crowded for the match to amount to anything overly good. There wasn’t any substance of rules, which didn’t help, either.)

Seventh Contest: NEW Heavyweight Champion Hanson vs. Donovan Dijak: Dijak and Hanson shove each other to the canvas with neither man getting a clear advantage at the start. Hanson delivers a knee lift and controls Dijak with a headlock. They collide in the middle of the ring with neither man dropping. They charge at each other again but the same result occurs. Dijak manages to knock Hanson down and to the floor with a shoulder block. Hanson’s manager Stevie Stamos enters the ring and confronts Dijak. That allows Hanson to pull Dijak to the mat and ram Dijak groin first into the ring post. Hanson sends Dijak shoulder first into the ring post from the apron. Hanson comes off the ropes to deliver a strike to Dijak and drives his knee into the arm and shoulder of Dijak. Hanson splashes Dijak from the middle rope but only gets a two count. Hanson takes Dijak over with a suplex and keeps control on the canvas. Hanson continues to get a pin with Dijak having a weakened shoulder but it’s not working out for him. Dijak fights back with a backdrop but can’t quickly followup with his bad shoulder. Hanson knee lifts Dijak but is met with a running boot in the corner. Dijak delivers several elbow strikes in the corner and kicks Hanson under the chin. Dijak hits a spinning big boot but Hanson powers out at two on the cover attempt. Hanson counters a choke slam attempt with a power bomb attempt but Dijak gets out of it.

Dijak gets Hanson on his shoulders in the corner to hit a sit out spine buster but only gets a near fall! Hanson decks Dijak with a clothesline but Dijak powers out at two. Dijak hits an overhead belly to belly suplex. Stamos gets on the apron and that allows Hanson to nail Dijak with the championship but Dijak still kicks out on the cover. Hanson misses a middle rope splash. Dijak misses a springboard moonsault attempt. Hanson goes to the top rope rather slowly and he misses a moonsault. Dijak hits a springboard elbow drop for a two count. They are both on their knees trading right hands. Dijak nails Hanson with a forearm shot and Hanson comes back with one of his own. Hanson stops Dijak with a big boot and knee lift. Dijak plants Hanson with a choke slam but Stamos gets involved to distract the referee again. Dijak grabs Stamos and Hanson almost hits Stamos. Dijak big boots Stamos off the apron and that allows Hanson to hit a sit down power bomb for another near fall. Dijak blocks a kick and nails Hanson with a few strikes. Hanson connects with a spinning heel kick and that’s good enough for a three count. (***1/4. The best match thus far as they were able to get the crowd hooked on the action and the near falls were done well throughout the match. I’m glad there was a clean finish here, which is great for a heel like Hanson. This was a fun match.)

Ricky Steamboat is the special referee for the next match, and he shows his respect for Cody Rhodes prior to the start.

Eighth Contest: Cody Rhodes vs. Brian Anthony: Anthony shoves Rhodes in the corner but is shoved back. Cody controls Anthony with a hammerlock but Anthony breaks the hold with an elbow strike. Rhodes kicks Anthony and follows up with a delayed vertical front suplex. Rhodes knee drops the back of Anthony and works over Brian with strikes in the corner. Cody springboards off the middle rope to kick Anthony off the apron. Cody goes to the floor but is sent face first into the ring post. Anthony scoop slams Rhodes on the floor and taunts the fans. They brawl towards home plate where Cody scoop slams Anthony onto the home plate. Cody proceeds to run the bases and slaps hands with fans during so. Cody gets back to home plate and clotheslines Anthony before touching home plate again. Rhodes slaps Anthony with a few different drinks while on the floor. Back in the ring, Cody works over Anthony with several strikes. Cody big boots Anthony but gets crotched on the top when Brian shoved Steamboat into the ropes. Steamboat is upset with Anthony for doing that. Cody is upside down in the corner and Anthony stomps on Cody several times. Anthony jumps onto Rhodes while across the middle rope. Anthony continues his offense with a standing dropkick.

Anthony keeps control with a running clothesline but Cody refuses to stay down on the cover attempt. Anthony atomic drops Cody and drops Cody with an elbow strike. Anthony heads to the top rope and hits a flying elbow drop for a near fall. Anthony heads to the top rope again but Cody stops him with a right hand. Cody hooks Anthony for a superplex and hits it! Cody comes off the ropes hitting a leaping forearm shot. Cody goes for the Cross Rhodes, but Anthony avoids it and sends Cody into Steamboat. Anthony hits the TKO! Anthony has his baseball bat and was going to hit Steamboat, but Ricky got up in time. Steamboat ducks a shot and chops Anthony several times. Cody is up and plants Anthony with the Cross Rhodes! Cody locks in an Indian death leg lock and Anthony is forced to give up. (***. A decent match that for sure geared towards the family oriented crowd. The crowd was into it and Anthony came across like a serious threat to Cody, to me, at least. Anthony has some good heel work and worked well with Cody, who looks motivated on the independent scene.)

Main Event: Jeff Hardy & Jushin Liger vs. Mike Bennett & TK O’Ryan: Liger and TK kick off the match with Liger backing TK against the ropes. Liger hip tosses TK and goes for a pal strike but TK bails to the floor to avoid the strike. Bennett tags in and also bails to the floor to avoid a palm strike from Liger. Liger tags in Hardy to work over TK. Hardy rams TK into the corner face first and delivers a dropkick to the back. Liger sets TK up for a surfboard and has the hold locked in. Hardy dropkicks TK out of the corner and kicks TK into the railing. Hardy leaps off the apron to clothesline both Bennett and TK on the floor. Hardy rams TK into the railing and heads back into the ring. TK avoids a sunset flip and Bennett is able to pull Hardy out of the ring and sends Jeff into the railing. Hardy runs into a big boot from TK, who also hit a missile dropkick for a near fall on Hardy. TK rams Hardy into the corner and drives his shoulder into the midsection of Hardy. TK taunts the fans and hammers away on Hardy. Hardy atomic drops TK and delivers a double leg drop and a dropkick for a two count. TK stops Jeff with an uppercut to regain control of the bout.

Bennett tags in and gets a near fall on Hardy. Bennett sends Hardy into the corner and TK keeps control of the match. Hardy goes down thanks to a double vertical suplex. Hardy is rammed back first into the corner. Hardy hits the Twist of Fate on TK and Bennett! Hardy goes to his corner and Liger gets the tag. Liger cleans house with strikes. Liger nearly pins TK with a hurricanrana. Bennett super kicks Liger but Liger recovers and plants TK with a brain buster. Hardy goes to the top and hits the Swanton Bomb on TK allowing Liger to get the win. (**1/4. Quite literally, this was just a showcase for Liger and Hardy, at least that’s what it felt like. It wasn’t all that competitive but that action shown by Liger and Hardy was entertaining enough.)

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7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Not a bad show this time around for NEW as the opener, Dijak/Hanson and Cody/Anthony were all entertaining bouts. The show runs a little over two hours making it an easy watch. Add in some of the bigger names like the Hardy’s and Liger and I felt like it was a fine two hours spent.