wrestling / Video Reviews
Perry’s Perspective: CZW Seventeen Review
Loading...Date: February 13, 2016
Location: Voorhees, NJ / Flyers Skate Zone
CZW celebrates their 17th year in business tonight. That is a huge accomplishment when you look at the niche market they really cater to. Through the years there have been some future great talents like The Briscoes, Kevin Steen and El Generico who have come through CZW on their ways to bigger things. They currently appear to have a pretty strong roster on paper too with talents like Lio Rush, Drew Gulak, Sami Callihan and Mike Bailey. I say “appear” because CZW is not a company I typically follow. This show and Best of the Best are the two shows I typically check out every year and then that is usually it as I am never blown away. Last year I watched the show that was main evented by Fox vs Bailey in a ladder match as well and that may have been the most CZW I have watched in a calendar year.
If you count the joint show they ran with SMASH last month, this is the second CZW show I have watched this year. I really had little interested in watching this show until I watched the previously mentioned show and realized how talented a good amount of the roster was. There are still a few talents here that I have no idea who they are but matches like Rush/Janela and Callihan/Bailey definitely have my interest.
The show starts with a 10 bell salute to the recently fallen Axl Rotten.
AR Fox vs. MASADA
This is a rematch of sorts as both of these men were in December’s Cage of Death match for the CZW Title, with neither man coming out on top there. Fox used lots of his high risk offense right out of the gate, dives and flips to the outside along with a nice apron leg drop.
Much of the match consisted of Fox hitting a couple kicks or other wrestling moves, followed by AR going to the top rope and hitting a move to get a 2 count. MASADA was finally able to get in some offense when he crotched Fox on the top rope. MASADA would control the last 30 seconds of the match, hitting a Regal-plex for the victory. Very basic and underwhelming match that was mostly just an exhibition of the flippy stuff that Fox can do.
OFFICIAL RESULT: MASADA by pinfall @ 9:02 (**)
The Amazing Gulaks vs. The Dub Boys: I was first introduced to Dave McCall & Nate Carter at last month’s Smash vs CZW show and liked what I saw. I have been a fan of Drew Gulak for a while, Rory I am not too familiar with. Carter and Rory started out the match with some chain wrestling, followed my a handshake. The Gulaks controlled a lot of the offense by working over McCall. This included a very interesting sequence with the two Gulak’s rolling each other up before Rory propelled Drew spear style into McCall in the corner. Carter came into the ring and quickly hit Rory with a Razor’s Edge into the turnbuckle, followed by a t-bone suplex to Drew. Carter wrestles like an absolute beast of physicality and it is a lot of fun to watch. A very impressive spot by The Gulaks saw Drew lean over, Rory ran and leaped off Drew’s back as he stood up and took out both members of Dub Boys on the outside. Later on Dub Boys each took a Gulak and powerbombed them into each other mid-air. Rory finishes off Carter with senton splash. This was loads of fun to watch, you had a good tag team formula match with an impressive array of moves. I have seen Dub Boys twice now and want to see a lot more of them in the future as these guys have a lot of talent.
OFFICIAL RESULT: The Amazing Gulaks by pinfall @ 15:37 (***1/2)
CZW Wired TV Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Lio Rush (c) vs. Joey Janela:
This is just the sixth time that I have seen Lio Rush (EVOLVE 51/22, JAPW 19th Anniversary, CZW vs SMASH and last weekend’s ROH TP match), but everyone has him as a can’t miss wrestler. I have enjoyed the other matches I have seen from him, and the chance to see him tell a longer story in this match really helped sell me on this show. At the same time, Janela is not a guy that has impressed me, including seeing him live at Beyond in January. Rush and Janela start throwing fists right away. Rush got the first pin on Janela at 17 seconds and I can’t even tell you how as I was looking down typing at the time. Rush went for a suplex from the apron to the floor on Janela. Joey countered that into a suplex on Rush right on the ring apron. The two men exchanged a vicious looking exchange of punches and elbows that led to a missed frog flash attempt by Rush, Janella turned it into a crossface. From the floor, Rush flipped Janela off the ring apron and into the steel barricade. Janela won fall #2 by submission to the crossface at 10:24. The start of the third fall saw Janela go to the top rope, only to be shoved off, into the corner of guardrails on the outside! Rush pulled out the most ghetto looking table that I have seen in quite some time. Rush hit his one man Spanish Fly to Janela off the top rope, through the table and we had a double pin, the referee declares the match a draw at 14:30. The CZW VP came out and extended the match with one more fall. Janela would lock in another crossface out of a Spanish Fly counter at 2 minutes into fall #4, this would earn him the victory. This match was full of non-stop action and just like the last match with McCall & Carter, I look forward to seeing more from both guys. Rush has impressed me every time out and Janela really looked great here.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Joey Janela (3 falls to 2) at 16:30 (***3/4)
Six Man Tag: Conor Claxton, Frankie Pickard & Neiko Sozio vs. Scarlet and Graves: Dave Crist is the only member of Scarlet and Graves (actually the entire match) I am familiar with, his teammates are Desmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz. I didn’t catch his name but the guy doing personal ring intros for Scarlet and Graves had mega heat with the crowd, and it was awesome! This was all about getting the faction of Scarlet and Graves over, I would say it worked well as this brief encounter kept the crowd engaged.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Scarlet and Graves by pinfall @ 4:41 (**)
St. Valentine’s Day Death Match: Danny Havoc vs Rickey Shane Page: The additional stipulations of this match are as follows; if Havoc wins, he earns a future shot at the CZW Title. If Page wins, he earns a full time roster spot with CZW. Anyone that read my review of the CZW vs SMASH show from January knows that I typically despise deathmatch wrestling, a good hardcore brawl is great but violence just for the sake of it is usually not high on my entertainment list. Page was bleeding within roughly the first minute of the match. There were chairs, thumbtacks, nails and lots of wood. Havoc hit atop rope superplex to Page through a group of chairs set up in the ring. Page had the coolest spot of the match with an avalanche Awesome Bomb into a huge pile of tacks. However, before he could get the pinfall Tim Donst came out and with a solitary chair shot knocked RSP out for Havoc to get the pin. This was kept brief and never really dragged but it was still garbage wrestling with ZERO story. I have seen better death matches, but I have also certainly seen MUCH worse.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Danny Havoc by pinfall @ 10:56 (*)
CZW Tag Team Title Match: #TVReady (w/Cherry Bomb) vs EYFBO:
This is the CZW debut of EYFBO and they are getting a title shot right out of the gate. EYFBO is made up for Angel Ortiz and Mike Draztik, both guys are talented and I really enjoy them as a team. #TVReady looked good in their six man tag team match last month, but BLK Jeez has always been hit or miss for me. #TVReady did a lot of work on Angel Ortiz during the early portions of the match as they tried showing why they are the champs. Ortiz is able to make a comeback and tags in Draztik, they sent Pepper Parks and Jeez to the outside. This was followed by a few high flying maneuvers to the outside before hitting some high impact offense on Jeez in the ring for a two count. There was just the right amount of interference by Cherry Bomb throughout the match to help her team, but way too much of voice. EYFBO hit a beautiful powerbomb/blockbuster combo on Jeez, but only got 2 before Parks made the save. #TVReady took control after that with double teams on Ortiz, Jeez hit a double stomp off the top for the pin. Another very good tag team match for the night. Not quite on the level of the earlier match, but I think EYFBO proved to the CZW faithful that they deserve a spot on the roster.
OFFICIAL RESULT:#TVReady by pinfall @ 13:04 (***1/4)
Mike Bailey vs Sami Callihan:
This is one of those matches that you don’t really think of how awesome it would be, until you see it booked. The crowd is crazy into this match before the bell can even ring, surprisingly to me their support was going much stronger for Bailey. Bailey was able to get in a lot of his signature kicks and fast paced offense early on, but Callihan quickly gained control and slowed the offense down. Bailey hit a picture perfect moonsault off the top rope and onto Callihan while on the floor. Bailey continued on offense once back in the ring and just laid into Callihan’s chest cavity with at least 15 kicks, Callihan responded with some chops to Bailey. Callihan spit in the face of Bailey after challenging Mike to kick him harder. Neither man could keep the offense for more than a minute or two, lots of nearfalls. Callihan pulled out of the left kickpad of Bailey and sent his leg crashing into the ropes, great psychology to set up for Callihan’s stretch muffler. Towards the end of the match it appears that Bailey may have split his tights down the middle of the back. Callihan hit a tombstone but was barely able to get a 1 count! Callihan responded with a stiff lariat to put an end to it all. This match rocked, I would go as far as to say this is the best match I have ever seen in a CZW ring (granted that number would barely hit triple digits).
After the match Jonathan Gresham attacked Bailey and claimed that it was Bailey’s spot that he doesn’t have a spot on the show. Callihan made the save. The VP comes back out and books Gresham vs Bailey for the 3/26 show, along with Callihan vs MASADA. AR Fox vs the returning B-Boy is also booked. Well at least I can look forward to 1 match on the next show.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Sami Callihan @ 17:23 (****1/4)
CZW Title Ladder Match: Matt Tremont (c) vs Devon Moore:
I have some extreme reservations about this one. Most of the work I have seen from Matt Tremont has been death match (usually against Stockade) either in CZW or Beyond and I HATED it. However in January I saw Tremont wrestle Chris Hero live at Beyond and he had a nice showcase. I am also a sucker for ladder matches. However, with a ladder involved and another hardcore wrestler, this could either be great or a trainwreck. More didn’t even let Tremont get into the ring, hitting a top rope plancha to start the match. Tremont gently fell (more sat) onto a ladder bridged between the barrier and ring apron and it already nearly gave way before Moore hit his spot, the effects of a fat man in a ladder match. I can not be certain but this ladder looks a few feet taller than your typical WWE ladder match. In a reverse of the earlier ladder spot; Moore came off the ladder with an elbow to Tremont laying on the table, but it did not break. Moore went back up the ladder and smashed the table on the second attempt. Less than a minute later both men were battling at the top of the ladder, the battle ended with headbutts from both men that sent Moore and Tremont crashing to the mat. After some more plodding around Moore hit Tremont with an Ace Cutter off the top of the ladder. Death Valley Driver from Tremont to Moore from about 2/3 up the ladder and through a table!! That spot allows Tremont to stroll up the ladder and grab the belt. This match had some cool spots, but they just felt so planned out and then there would be a long dead period of set up for the next big spot.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Matt Tremont @ 20:01 (**)
