Csonka’s PWX: This is How We Do It Review 7.08.17

Csonka’s PWX: This is How We Do It Review 7.08.17

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Jason Kincaid defeated Tracer X @ 8:37 via pin [***]
– Corey Hollis defeated White Mike @ 8:07 via pin [**¼]
– Darius Lockhart defeated Chase Owens, Jason Cade, and Chip Day @ 7:30 via pin [***½]
– Timothy Thatcher vs. Jon Skyler fought to a draw @ 20:00 [**]
– Elijah Evans, The Boss & Timmy Lou Retton defeated James Drake & The Ugly Ducklings @ 11:23 via pin [***¼]
– Martin Stone defeated Fred Yehi @ 11:40 via submission [***½]
– PWX World Heavyweight Title 2 out of 3 Falls Match: Champion Anthony Henry defeated Ethan Case @ 29:45 via submission (2-1) [**¾]

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– Trevin Adams and Brad Stutts are on commentary.

Tracer X vs. Jason Kincaid: Kincaid has been a ton of fun on the WWNLive shows, he’s a very unique performer who can do a bit of everything. Tracer X is a fun, fast paced highflier. They started off working through a bunch of fun and crowd pleasing counters, nothing overly wild but very fun stuff and locking the crowd into the action early. Kincaid took early control hitting an apron double stomp and 619. Kincaid tried to slow down Tracer X with some submission work, but Tracer X was able to pick up the pacing, but Kincaid hit a slingshot hip toss into a slam, which scored the near fall. Kincaid kept up the innovative offense, hitting a cradled abdominal stretch into a slam. Tracer X escaped Kincaid’s compassionate release submission, but then missed a 450; Kincaid then jumped and grabbed onto the rafters, and hit the double stomp for the win. Good opening match that kept the crowd the whole time with a really innovative finish. Jason Kincaid defeated Tracer X @ 8:37 via pin [***]

– White Mike is out for an interview segment. Mike plays to the crowd a bit and brings out Corey Hollis to jeers. The house mics aren’t working so they are just having to promo without them. Hollis runs down Mike, and reminds him that he’s been on national TV. Mike tells him he’s right but he’s been there flat on his back. We’re getting a match.

White Mike vs. Corey Hollis: Hollis clips the knee right away and takes control. Great aggression by Hollis here, the crowd loves Mike and tries to rally him and he fires back and works over Hollis but quickly gets cut off. Hollis is very deliberate here, simply pummeling Mike. Hollis works a good heat segment, and keeps going back to the knee to cut off Mike. Mike hits a desperation neck breaker and code breaker for a good near fall. Hollis cuts him off with a version of the AA, but misses the top rope head butt. Mike heads up top and hits the top rope head butt, which commentary says he always misses, and gets a near fall. Mike drops the straps, and we get a ref bump on a swinging DDT; Hollis low blows Mike and steals the win. This was a solid match, with the goal of solidifying Hollis as a dastardly heel following his split with John Sklyer. Corey Hollis defeated White Mike @ 8:07 via pin [**¼]

Darius Lockhart vs. Chase Owens vs. Jason Cade vs. Chip Day: This is a #1 contender’s match for the ITV Title. Cade has been making waves for the past year as a quality high flier, Owens is a member of Bullet Club, and Lockhart is a PWX & CWF regular. Former ITV Champion Chip Day is a late addition to the match. Cade tries to make allies but runs into repeated attacks, failing to get anyone on his side. It quickly breaks down into rapid-fire offence, bodies flying to the floor and Lockhart wiping out the pile with a tope. Back in we get a series of multi-man spots, Lockhart started to run wild but Day cut him off. Owens then takes control, taking out Cade and then running over Lockhart with a running knee strike. Lockhart escaped the package piledriver, allowing Cade to run wild with a great fire up spot, including a great series of dives that really got the crowd into this. He hit a frog splash, but ate a package piledriver and Lockhart then hit a reverse XPLODER on Owens to pick up the win. This was a very sprint, with good execution and layout. This came at the right time, getting the crowd into things and delivering with the hometown hero victory; this was a ton of fun. Darius Lockhart defeated Chase Owens, Jason Cade, and Chip Day @ 7:30 via pin [***½]

Timothy Thatcher vs. Jon Skyler: Stokely Hathaway is out with Thatcher. Thatcher doesn’t fuck around here, picking the leg and immediately grounding Thatcher. Thatcher is a guy that people either hate or love due to his deliberate grappling style. Skyler fights back and scores a cradle for a near fall, but Thatcher takes him back down and starts working for the arm bar, which is his usual finish. Skyler makes the mistake of shooting in on Thatcher, but is quickly out-grappled as Thatcher keeps him grounded, transitioning to different body parts to keep Skyler of his game. Skyler then tries to bite off Thatcher’s nose to escape the grappling, locking in a camel clutch variation. Thatcher escapes, hitting a delayed suplex and now just stomping away out of frustration. Skyler looked for a sharp shooter, but Thatcher counters into a heel hook and then transitions back to the arm. Skyler has been good enough to keep escaping, working Thatcher to the apron and hitting a spear. But Skyler can’t keep any momentum going here, Thatcher takes him to the mat and works repeated knee strikes to the ribs and again goes back to the arm. Thatcher keeps working to break Skyler down, remaining focused on the grappling and submission work. The crowd remains behind Skyler, who attacks the knee and locks in the Indian death lock, and then transitions into the STF. Skyler is focused on the leg, but can’t get the sharp shooter. Skyler then drops into the figure four center ring. Thatcher eventually makes the ropes. After trading strikes, Thatcher hits desperation belly to belly. Thatcher manages to take Skyler down, works ground and pound and then locks in a sleeper; Skyler kicks off the ropes and almost pulls the Bret Hart finish. Hathaway distracts Skyler, allowing Thatcher to lock in the sleeper. They work through some counters, and Skyler back to the sharp shooter again but Thatcher fights out. This is feeling really long, longer than it needed to be and as we have continued on, the crowd interest has also faded. Skyler locked in the sharp shooter again, but the bell rings and this ends in a draw. Skyler wants for five more minutes, but Corey Hollis arrives and says that he will not allow it. I get that they were trying to make Skyler look like a star by taking the guy with a bigger name to the draw, but it came off as way too lethargic and repetitive for my liking. The wrestling was clean, but I wasn’t feeling the drama despite commentary’s best effort. Timothy Thatcher vs. Jon Skyler fought to a draw @ 20:00 [**]

– The Syndicate (The Boss & Timmy Lou Retton), along with ITV Champion Elijah Evans, are here for their championship coronation, which is planned to be a “45-minute meal.” They took what they wanted and what they deserved and are the best and the top of the mountain. Former ITV champion James Drake interrupts the festivities, saying that The Syndicate stole their titles. IT’S A TRAP as The Ugly Ducklings arrive and hit missile dropkicks and clear the ring. Drake pulls a Teddy Long and books a tornado tag match.

Elijah Evans, The Boss & Timmy Lou Retton vs. James Drake & The Ugly Ducklings: The Ducklings run wild at the start, but the Boss largely no sells their best efforts and takes control. This leads to a hoss off with Drake. Drake runs wild and the Ducklings double-team the boss back in the ring. The crowd loves the Ducklings as they triple team the boss with the help of Drake. The Syndicate cuts off Drake, and the Boss hits a double superplex onto the Ducklings. Drake back in and moonsaults onto the Boss but Evans breaks up the pin. The Ducklings fight back, and hit reverse RANAS onto Retton, but the Boss makes the save, tossing one of the Ducklings into a blue thunder bomb. Great crowd here for this, they are obviously invested in these guys, making for a great environment. Drake and Evans finally come face to face, and they beat the hell out of each other. Montana Black runs in and choke slams Drake, the Boss hits a spinebuster on a Duckling, Retton then hits a shooting star press allowing Evans to pick up the win. This was a good, fun and chaotic brawl that really got the crowd back into the show following the draw, which took them out of it. Elijah Evans, The Boss & Timmy Lou Retton defeated James Drake & The Ugly Ducklings @ 11:23 via pin [***¼]

Martin Stone vs. Fred Yehi: Yehi is a standout performer on the WWNLive shows, while Stone (a former WWE developmental talent) is known to many as Danny Burch on NXT TV & The WWE UK shows. Stone has feuded with Yehi over the FIP title in the past. This is a pure wrestling rules match, no throwing the man over the top rope and only two closed fist punches allowed, more than that and you get DQ’d; there are also limited rope breaks. Yehi quickly grounds Stone, which leads to back and forth grappling. Really nice stuff here, with Yehi looking for the Koji clutch and Stone having to use a rope break. Yehi has such good aggression and crispness to his work, his stuff looks so effortless. Yehi breaks down Stone with stomps, but Stone fires up with uppercuts, not using the closed fist. I like how they are playing into the rules and how commentary is playing it up. Yehi escapes a submission attempt, hits rapid-fire kicks, a German and a fisherman’s buster for 2. Stone hits a desperation cutter leading to the double down. They trade strikes with Stone hitting an XPLODER. Good aggression from both guys, keeping the crowd invested. Yehi cuts off Stone, hitting a double stomp and repeated covers for 2. Yehi burns a rope break, but Stone drags him down into a crossface and Yehi has to tap. Very good match here, they played the style well and this thrived where the draw failed with its aggression and sense of urgency. Martin Stone defeated Fred Yehi @ 11:40 via submission [***½]

PWX World Heavyweight Title 2 out of 3 Falls Match: Champion Anthony Henry vs. Ethan Case: These two men were in the finals of the PWX X 16 Tournament, which Henry won. They shake hands and we’re friends to begin. Henry smartly takes things to the mat and looks for repeated covers as commentary plays up how important the first fall is in a 2 of 3 falls match. The crowd is split here, as they work a series of counters and both go for pinning attempts. Nice stuff here as case takes a powder to the floor. They stall a bit here, Henry takes it back to the mat and again looks for repeated covers. Henry hits a lucha arm drag into another pinning combo and Case powders again. Commentary plays up that both guys have known each other for a long time, and are evenly matched. Case starts looking for pins, hitting a rolling prawn hold for 2 as Henry powders to the floor. Henry back in and runs into a cutter, but kicks out at 2. Henry gets caught up in the ropes, trying to get too fancy but Case saves the spot and Henry hits a delayed tornado DDT. They are trying the groundwork that they are evenly matched and selling that the first fall is vital to the match, but we’re 10-minutes in and this is really feeling much longer than it is. I appreciate what they are going for, but feel it’s flawed in its execution. The crowd involvement has also diminished a lot here, they were once really invested but are now just doing the occasional golf clap. They work a series of counters and Henry finally gets a backslide for the first fall 13-minutes in. Following the mandatory 30-second break, Case runs into a spin kick for a near fall. Case fights back, hitting an electric chair drop for the double down. They work through a series of submission counters, and Case counters the dragon sleeper into a cradle to tie things up at about 17-minutes in. The final fall started with them trading strikes, case then gets a near fall off of the iconoclasm. Commentary plays up the referee stoppage from last month, which they say was controversial and we have the same ref here tonight. They battle to the apron, and Henry hits a stuff piledriver and now looks for the countout to retain his title. I do like that Henry isn’t playing a hard heel here, but is more than willing to take the win on a countout. Case makes it back in and eats a frog splash for a near fall. Henry misses a second frog splash, allowing Case to get a desperation cover for 2. It breaks down into the Frye/Takiyama striking spot, Case hits a pop up uppercut, but Henry comes right back and hits a destroyer. They continue to trade strikes, suplexes and Case hits the cutter, inverted suplex but Henry kicks out. Great fire up spot for Case, and the crowd bought the last pin attempt and are getting back into the match. Henry can’t get to his feet, Case pulls him up and Henry hits knee strikes and a PK for 2. Henry hits the spin kick and kudo driver, but Case rolls to the floor. Back in, they trade near falls and Henry hits a sloppy kudo driver for 2. Henry is shocked, his manager slides in the title belt for him to use. Henry can’t do it, Case rolls him up but Henry kicks him off and into a belt shot from the manager and Henry locks in the dragon sleeper for the win. I think that this is a match that plays better if your invested in the PWX product, as they were hard selling the chase of Case and the fact that he’s been so close, but keeps failing for various reasons. Henry retained, with commentary selling that while he refused to use the title belt, his manager did and he didn’t see it. I greatly appreciate the effort by the commentary team to tell the story, and the guys worked really hard, but this felt way longer than it really was, they lost the crowd for a large portion of the match in the middle and I think that you could have easily told the same story with a higher energy in less time. Again, I think this comes off much better if you’re a regular follower of the product, but felt flat to me as an outsider. Champion Anthony Henry defeated Ethan Case @ 29:45 via submission (2-1) [**¾]

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.8

The final score: review Average

The 411

Trevin Adams and Brad Stutts did a really good job on commentary, as someone who doesn’t have the chance to follow PWX regularly, they were informative and did their best to make me feel welcomed as an outsider. I feel that PWX: This is How We Do It was a really solid show, with enough good wrestling and attempts at storytelling to make me comeback and check them out again.