wrestling / Video Reviews

Beyond Wrestling – Uncharted Territory Episode 11 Review

July 10, 2019 | Posted by Jake Chambers
Joey Janela Kris Statlander Beyond Wrestling: Uncharted Territory Episode 11
8
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
Beyond Wrestling – Uncharted Territory Episode 11 Review  

Match Results

David Starr & Eddie Kingston defeated Bear Country by pinfall @ ~13 mins.
– the undefeated Bear Country lose for the first time in Beyond at the hands of two seasoned veterans who refused to lose.
Anthony Greene defeated by Richard Holliday by pinfall @ 6:30
– in the battle of the colour commentators, Greene used physical trickery here as well as he turns a phrase.
Josh Briggs defeated Ken Doane by pinfall @ 3:30
– Briggs gets revenge for the recent bullying tactics by Doane.
EYFBO defeated Youthanazia by pinfall @ 8:39
– a whip-quick match that displayed the sharp moves and double-teaming skills of both long-time teams.
Beyond Discovery Gauntlet: Thomas Santell defeated Travis Huckabee by submission @ 9:14
– the technical brilliance by Huckabee to work a leg throughout was countered in the end by the savvy Santell.
Chuck O’Neil defeated Tom Lawlor by Submission @ 9:19
– in a match UFC wishes they could book, O’Neil claimed another arm.
Joey Janela defeated Kris Stantlander by pinfall @ 27:37
– after a night of relatively short matches, this was an epic masterpiece.

Episode Summary

We start out with tag team monsters Bear Country in the ring, ready to start their open challenge, but before we can here them speak the music hits for Beyond’s resident shit-disturber David Starr, who taunts them before bringing out his partner for accepting their challenge: Eddie Kingston.

Interestingly, the veterans Starr and Kingston utilize the more traditional tag team isolation strategy employed to some success against the Bears by fellow indie veterans To Infinity and Beyond previously on Uncharted Territory. By focusing on the smaller member of the team, Bear Bronson, this did slow down the usual non-stop pace Bear Country generally employ. Where To Infinity and Beyond failed was that after tiring out Bear Country in the beginning they couldn’t hang with the second wind of the big men, but Starr and Kingston were able to absorb that onslaught and dish out their own brand of matching, and ultimately winning, brutality.

Uncharted Territory - Episode 11

The battle of two Uncharted Territory colour commentators was next, as fan favourite Anthony Greene went up against MY favourite new commentator in a long time, Richard Holliday. This was a short but fun one that saw Greene win with a flash roll-up, leading to an angry and cocky Holliday instantly attacking him after the bell.

As Greene’s valets, the Platinum Hunnies, come to his rescue, recent Uncharted Territory unwelcome guest Ken Doane charges into ring and cold cocks Platinum Hunnie Angel Sinclair. The story-stream of the show flows continuously from that disgusting act to an outraged Josh Briggs coming out and demanding a match with Doane.

The two big men were pretty even until Doane tried to take a short cut with some old school powder. However, the other Platinum Hunnie, Ava Everett, returned to the ring and knocked the powder out of his hand, leading to a big chokeslam by Briggs for the win.

Chris Dickinson gets a break from having Match of the Night this week to guest ring announce for the upcoming tag team match with his former stablemates EYFBO against Matt Cross and Josh Prohibition. During this fast-paced match, you could tell Ortiz and Santana were hyped to be in there with their modern indie pioneer opponents.

Ever the fan-favourite, and continued holder of the win-and-return-next-week Beyond Discovery Gauntlet, Thomas Santell was up next against Travis Huckabee in a very smart and technical match. Huckabee worked a number of innovative Stretch Muffler variations that really knotted up the leg of Santell, so much so that when he goes to lock in the toe hold for this Sugar Free submission hold, it doesn’t work. This forces Santell to make a quick adjustment and use mostly his arms to pull off a crossface submission for the win, but it looks like some of these challengers might be starting to clue in to Santell’s patterns. When will the streak end?

The two former UFC-ers were matched up next, and the scrambling ground work, slapping strikes, and squirming chain wrestling was the kind of thing you would expect to see on a mat in an MMA gym (but not in the generally boring Octagon). You really had to put your reading glasses on for this one, as both guys were planning out their moves one step ahead of each other and that made for some interesting sequences throughout.

The main event saw Joey Janella return to action on Uncharted Territory against another Beyond regular who’s missed a few shows lately, Kris Statlander, who is coming off winning and then losing back the Independent Wrestling TV Championship to Orange Cassidy on different shows. Both need a win here, as Statlander seems to be lacking momentum since her big Treasure Hunt tournament win, and with Janella jockeying for a match against an uncooperative David Starr at what’s sure to be Joey’s final Americanrana before starting full time with AEW.

As they mention on commentary, in the early stages it looked as if both had reviewed tape on the other extensively, as they were dodging and reversing each other’s trademark moves and sequences. Midway through the match, neither competitor was able to hold the advantage for any sustained period of time, just a constant back-and-forth until we get to a desperation slugfest that kicked off a escalation of violence for the next 10 minutes that was just utterly thrilling!

Move of the Night

While there was possibly a dozen stunning moves in the main event that could qualify, what stuck with me the most was one of Travis Huckabee’s variations of the Stretch Muffler on the floor against Thomas Santell. Similar to when WWE’s Cesaro will big swing someone into the barricade, Huckabee used the Stretch Muffler position from the apron to swing Santell into the ring post on the outside.

Uncharted Territory - Episode 11

Shock of the Night
Ken Doane took a swing at one of the Platinum Hunnies at the Beyond Secret Show days before this episode, but that didn’t make it any less shocking when he showed up and instantly punched Angel Sinclair straight to the jaw and seemingly knocked her out cold.

Best Match
Janela vs. Statlander
Quite possibly the best match from the first 11 episodes of Uncharted Territory, this long and nuanced encounter was a joy to behold. One major highlight was Statlander, who has famously kicked out of multiple finishers in her biggest Beyond matches, managed to escape a devastating sequence by Janela: Muscle Buster to the apron into a top-rope legs-draping DDT followed by a top rope splash.

From there it became a series of can-you-top-this moments, like in the Death Match main event from Episode 6. They both fought with the “I need this win” desperation seen in the Episode 4 match between Jay Freddie and Brandon Thurston, and it became as realistically hard-hitting as the Chris Dickinson vs. Erick Stevens classic from Episode 8. Beyond never forgets its own history when innovating in the present, and that makes you constantly looking forward to what they’re going to do next.

Episode MVP
Joey Janela

From his clear Match of the Night outing, to his heated exchange to close out the show, Janela put his many talents on display, from technical wrestler to hardcore extremist and gifted orator.

How Did It All End?

Uncharted Territory - Episode 11

Janela once again pleaded for David Starr to renew their longstanding in-ring rivalry and face him at Americanrana. He did this with the emphatic eloquence of an angry drunk guy at a field party, which – by the way – is a compliment in performance, not an attack on character. In response, Starr comes to the ring and uses the contrasting tone of an online know-it-all (again, not an insult) to refute Janela’s points and refuse the match. The current issue between them seems to be Janela signing to AEW, which feels to Starr like a betrayal of their rivalry in some way. And thus when Janela implies that he’s a better wrestler and general human being because he was signed by AEW, this goads Starr into accepting a match if only to hurt Joey’s chances of actually working that contract. And so he wants to defeat and humiliate Janela again and again, in one night, in the 60-minute Ironman Match that has been teased between them for almost a year now. This was just a phenomenal sequence that continues to make one believe that these two men vehemently hate each other.

8.0
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
The last 45 minutes of this episode were some of the most compelling professional wrestling you're going to see on TV. A near 30-minute classic between two of the best independent-style wrestlers working today, followed by an argument between two long-time rivals that was passionate, dramatic, and paid off with a big announcement. With Beyond's marquee annual event Americanrana coming up, you can really see how well the producers and wrestlers have used this new weekly streaming show to plant the seeds for filling out that card. While each episode is wrestling-filled satisfaction, the macro-story that's building up for many of these characters is taking wonderful shape as well.
legend

More Trending Stories

article topics :

Beyond Wrestling: Uncharted Territory, Jake Chambers

More Stories

loading