wrestling / Video Reviews

Beyond Wrestling – Uncharted Territory Episode 2 Review

April 27, 2019 | Posted by Jake Chambers
Beyond Wrestling UT2
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Beyond Wrestling – Uncharted Territory Episode 2 Review  

Match Results

Aussie Open defeated Sadkampf by pinfall @ ~13 mins
– Wild, stiff, and fun as hell.
Wheeler Yuta defeated Solo Darling by submission @ ~9 mins.
– A precise technical contest saw Yuta demonstrate his masterful submissions in a human chess match with a game Darling.
Beyond Discovery Gauntlet: Mick Moretti defeated Tristan Thai by pinfall @ ~7 mins.
– After a pretty spirited few minutes, Moretti held on to the gauntlet for another week.
Ruthless Ambition defeated The Platinum Hunnies by pinfall @ ~ 3 mins.
– Mostly a showcase for the devestating offense of Maria Manic.
Gangrel defeated Anthony Green by pinfall @ ~14 mins.
– Gangrel coming out of the coffin with some serious fire and sinking his teeth into a hell of a match.
David Starr & MJF defeated Joey Janella & Chris Dickinson by pinfall @ ~18 mins.
– A good attempt at regular tag team strategy by the cocky heels eventually turned into all-out mayhem by the fired-up faces in thrilling second half.

Episode Summary

For the second week in a row, the episode started out with wrestlers standing ready in the ring, as Sadkampf and Aussie Open were looking actually excited and hyped to be here to fight. This is not your regular mainstream TV pro-wrestling show! And all that enthusiasm kind of killed any intention of a traditional tagging-in contest for too long, as this one turned classic All Japan “top this” free for all endurance-fest pretty quick. The mid-match chop-down between Sadkampf’s jujitsu specialist Dom Garini and Aussie Open’s beachy bruiser Mark Davis was a continuous volley of brutal shots that would make Marat Safin and Roger Federer jealous from their 2005 Australian Open Semi-Finals classic.

Next we get a face-off between bitter rivals David Starr and Joey Janela. Starr, as usual, orates with bombastic swagger as he introduces MJF as his mystery partner for the scheduled main event tag match against Janela and his partner (?) Penelope Ford. Janela corrects the graphic for the show, and says that his real partner will be Chris Dickinson, and then proceeds to announce that this team will from now on be known as Slither.

Wheeler Yuta and Solo Darling kept the crowd quietly engrossed with a very technical contest, displaying (as usual) the variety possible at a marquee independent show. Afterwards, Yuta makes his intentions known to challenge Chuck Taylor on next week’s episode.

Uncharted Territory - Episode 2 - 4/10/2019

Continuing the Beyond Gauntlet is Tristan Thai challenging last week’s winner Nick Moretti. Beyond’s commitment to promoting the next round of indie stars is part of their mandate, and this showcase series for Uncharted Territory is a neat idea. As it goes with indie performers wrestling in front of audiences who generally don’t know who they are, the emphasis here turned to the use of innovative move variations and combos. Moretti wins again, establishing his rep and character along the way.

Ruthless Ambition (Penelope Ford & Maria Manic) took on Anthony Green’s Platinum Hunnies in their Beyond tag team debut. The Hunnies were making out okay against Ford, but once the Manic came in they were brutally out-sized and finished quickly.

As Green checked on his fallen valets, red-tinged lightning signaled the entrance of his retro-opponent for the night: Gangrel. The vampiric one must have just sucked someone dry before the match, as he moved with seemingly ageless stamina against the younger opponent. Being that I hadn’t seen Gangrel wrestle in a long time, I was pleasantly surprised by the quick pace, variety of moves, and hard-hitting nature here; more Gangrel would definitely be welcome.

And in the main event spot we had Starr and MJF take on the newly dubbed Slither in a hectic tag team grudge match. Of course, getting a renewal of the Janela/Starr feud is always gonna be awesome since every time these two got at it the result is intense and realistically fun. Dickinson also has a continuing grudge with Starr, who seems to fearlessly welcome more enemies as a good bad guy should. Starr, of course, knows he can keep pace with both Beyond superstars in the ring, and is always capable of outsmarting his opponents by goading them into emotional response. MJF adds to the smarm factor that made the clash of characters here almost as entertaining as the in-ring action.

Move of the Night
Any time you see a Garvin Stomp, that will always be my move of the night. And I’ll give you three guesses for who did it? Nope, wrong–it was Gangrel!

Uncharted Territory - Episode 2 - 4/10/2019

Shock of the Night
I’d have to say that I shockingly embraced the new tag team moniker of Slither for Dickinson and Janela as quickly as the live audience seemed to. However, when Ophidian shows up next week he might have a problem with crowd hissing gimmick infringement.

Episode MVP
Joey Janela
Gotta give it to the “Bad Boy” this week for his first match in Beyond since his injury last year. To my eyes he looked as good as ever, and firmly established his spot on the show by seemingly sliding back in to the “Ace” position as if he was never gone.

Uncharted Territory - Episode 2 - 4/10/2019

Best Match
David Starr & MJF vs. Joey Janela & Chris Dickinson
As much as I loved the eye-popping performance by Gangrel in 2019, and a contender by Aussie Open for the second week in a row, there’s no denying that the four men in the main event are working at the peak of their powers right now. This was the kind of tag team main event that would have made mid-2000s ROH proud, and the continuity of Starr getting a bit of revenge for last week’s distraction loss to Masato Tanaka was a great way to maintain story with simple payback arithmetic.

How Did It All End?
A pair of insanely great promos by Dickinson and Janela. First, it was Dickinson with the NSFW, #MeToo be damned, verbal assault on MJF’s career, girlfriend, and his motherfuckin’ crew. Then Janela chimed in with a reprise for independent wrestling and a vow that, despite his AEW contract, he will be here every week.

8.0
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
Week Two of this new chapter in Beyond Wrestling history was just as good as the first episode (even without any Orange Cassidy!). There's something for everyone who loves professional wrestling: great tag teaming, technical wrestling, newcomers, legends, and epic main events. Worth searching out!
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