Beyond Wrestling – Uncharted Territory Episode 7 Review

Match Results

Bear Country defeated The Butcher and The Blade by pinfall @ 15:09
– an almost Texas Tornado free for all that cascaded with bigger and bigger moves.
Jay Freddie defeated Alex Reynolds by submission @ 9:53 mins.
– Freddie returned and had another quality outing against an opponent looking for a new singles identity.
Chuck O’Neal defeated Rory Gulak by submission @ 0:52 secs.
– a quick one to solidify the jerky arrogant claims by Beyond’s most hated legit MMA star.
Chris Dickinson defeated Eddie Kingston by pinfall @ 12:25
– a true display of classic hard-hitting indie wrestling from two of the best of all time in that style.
Beyond Discovery Gauntlet: Thomas Santell defeated Juan Francisco de Coronado by submission @ ~11 mins.
– two textbook technicians twisting each other up and keeping the crowd on the tips of their toes.
Solo Darling defeated Shazza McKenzie by submission @ 7 mins.
– Darling picks up another win against a debuting star from across the pond.
John Silver defeated Brandon Thurston by pinfall @10:50
– Thurston also returned this week and showed the same passion and competitiveness in his second UT match against a stalwart Beyond winner.
David Starr defeated Josh Briggs by pinfall @15:24
– a motivated Briggs, back from injury, was looking to make it personal against Starr except that played right into his cunning hands.

Episode Summary

The show opens with David Starr in the ring already mid complaint, which is a bit of a change of pace for Uncharted Territory that likes to start instantly with the in-ring action. Fortunately, Starr is one of the best talkers going right now, and also unfortunately he is quickly interrupted by Josh Briggs who challenges Starr for later tonight.

Then we go right into the first match, as the intense Bear Country face off with The Butcher and The Blade, a match on paper that looks like a total apocalypse based on what these four huge, suffocating bruisers brought to past matches on Uncharted Territory. And they literally threw out the tag-teaming from the get go and just went move for move in a sick game of “top this” that eventually saw Bear Country picking up another big win.

Alex Reynolds came to the ring next with some tuned-up heel-ism despite seeming to be the wronged partly lately in the teased break-up of his Beaver Boys tag team with John Silver. And his opponent is a perfect indie-verse babyface: the regular looking guy, work horse, move smart, Jay Freddie.

https://jonwasher.smugmug.com/Wrestling/Beyond-Wrestling/Uncharted-Territory/Uncharted-Territory-Promos/i-Sq7JsN3/A

Photos via Jon Washer – Freelance Photography

In what seems to be a pattern now for middle of the show singles ~10 minute matches on these Uncharted Territory shows, the matches are very fast paced with a great variety styles that slowly warm the audience up and generally have them rabid for a finish in the final minutes. You can tell this takes real patience and professionalism to harness the attention of a small audience like this with competition and not wild personality or shock-filled feuds.

We get an “On the Map” segment next to show the history between Chuck O’Neal and Rory Gulak, which is a nice addition to the evolving DIY format of these shows. O’Neal has done an amazing job of generating organic heat with his “Make Beyond Legit Again” persona, especially with his legitimate background as an MMA fighter and BJJ black belt. And dude just looks hardcore (and the addition of Childish Gambino’s “Bonfire” as his entrance music is a nice touch), especially contrasted against the face-slappingly pro-wrestling persona of a caped-out, belly bulge-ed Gulak.

https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/1128821625061892097

Having O’Neal make short work of Gulak was actually a great tough because it was frustrating without being cheap, which is some old school pro-wrestling storytelling that works even when you’re expecting it.

Chris Dickinson seems to be quietly on a roll of challenging indie superstars, particularly of the hard-hitting kind like Eddie Kingston. So as he barrels his way towards that highly anticipated hand-picked match with Daisuke Sekimoto at Americanrana later this summer, the metaphor we’re seeing is the Dickinson, win or lose, is in his prime and should be recognized as one of the best wrestlers in the world, as the way super-indies like ROH would have done with their champions in the mid 2000s. Whether or not this will ultimately set up Dickinson as the Samoa Joe or Bryan Danielson that he probably deserves to be, remains to be seen, but grueling matches like this one against Kingston are much appreciated.

As Americanrana 19 approaches @beyondwrestling's Uncharted Territory is heating up🔥🔽https://t.co/D4FIqyL9Yy

— IWTV (@indiewrestling) May 14, 2019

The Beyond Discovery Gauntlet switches things up this week by bringing in a challenger who has had somewhat of a bigger profile than even current holder Thomas Santell might have as a member of the HeartThrobs, and that’s former CHIKARA Grand Champion Juan Francesco de Coranado. Santell, to his credit, has quickly won over the crowd at Electric Haze with is Eugene-meets-Backlund style, and Beyond found an amazing foil for him in the Regal-esque expression work of Coronado. The ring work would have made Lord Steven proud too, as these guys are extensions of his giddy catch-as-catch-can style and goofy grimaces.

One of the other Uncharted Territory regulars, Solo Darling, had another profile match next against match to work her magic against Shazza McKenzie, who definitely had one of the highlights of the night with her middle-rope Stunner into the splits.

https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/1128833900023885829

I know I’m not the only one was was hungry for some more Brandon Thurston following his show stealing debut against Jay Freddie a few weeks ago, and matching him up with one of my all-time indie favourites, John Silver, was an inspired call by Beyond. Both men have similar frames, knowledge and endurance with the x-factor being Silver’s legendary pound-for-pound power, a puzzle for the Thurston’s intellect to try and solve.

You wanna know what’s kind of low-key cool about this match: both guys are wearing tights with their last names written across the back. When I was growing up, decorating your tights was one of the best ways you could really express yourself and get your name into the audience’s head, and it’s just that kind of old school touch that makes me love this show.

https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/1128835958336565255

After the match, Silver’s regular tag team partner, Alex Reynolds, came out to discuss their recent issues, calling on their long-time friendship (including the always potent claim of Silver being in Reynolds’ wedding party), and so we get the announcement that a reunited Beaver Boys will take on Bear Country next week (this isn’t going to go well).

However, the real headline for me next week is the return from the dead of Erick Stevens to take on Chris Dickinson. Major question marks about where this guy has been, what kind of condition he’s in, and if he can stand in there with a guy like Dickinson in 2019 like he would have loved to back in 2009.

For the main event, during David Starr’s Steve Corino-esque introductions, Briggs big boots an interruption and things are off to a brutal start.

https://twitter.com/JonWasherPhotos/status/1128874448315133954

After a chokeslam into a powerbomb combo, Briggs freezes and refuses to go for the pin, instead planning to get some revenge on Starr for costing him a winning streak weeks ago, and trying to get some weapons or exposing the turnbuckle, a mistake that let Starr get his energy back, hit Briggs with a chair while the ref had his back turned, and get the pinfall with a straitjacket German suplex.

Move of the Night
After having worked Silver’s arm a bit in their match, Thurston tries for some kind of back splash, only to get caught in a feat of strength by the his still mighty opponent for one-armed half nelson suplex.

https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/1128836906823966725

Shock of the Night
Richard Holliday, who last appeared as a member of MJF’s frat-boi Dynasty faction a few weeks ago, got in the commentary booth this week and for almost 2 1/2 hours was just a fantastic heel colour commentator. Does this dude have a Communications degree or something? Here’s to hoping they keep him around.

Episode MVP
David Starr
You might not want to like him because he’s so damn brash and continually backs it up, but the guy opened the show and closed it with his A-level mic work, and wrestled a hell of a match against Josh Briggs, and despite not being an actual mainstream “star” he exudes a level of superstardom that elevates this show in ways that might remind of you of Brian Pillman in ECW.

Best Match
Thomas Santell vs. Juan Francisco de Coronado
In three weeks, Santell has become a huge highlight on this series, and this match with Coronado was not just a “Discovery” for two guys with major credentials, but the cleanest and most challenging match on a very solid card full of Beyond regulars. Coronado should be back regardless of losing this one, and as for Santell, how long until we see him matched up with Beyond’s gold-star over-the-top weirdo: Orange Cassidy?

How Did It All End?
After his victory, Starr continued the speech he was trying to give at the beginning of the show announce who he planned to wrestle at Americanrana. And that morphed into a very passionate dissection of his long-time rival Joey Janela, who Starr lambasts for selling out to the first company that put a contract to him (AEW), and because of that he would fight NO ONE at Americanrana. As riveting as the promo was, of course, this must mean he IS facing Janela in what could be his farewell match to Beyond in what might be the rumoured Ironman match we should have gotten on New Year’s Eve? I’m intrigued.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

A card that was absolutely bursting at the seams with in-ring wrestling. And for an almost 2 1/2 hour show, there wasn't another bad or slow or dumb or annoying. Can you believe there's actually a real wrestling show like this live every week that people can watch all over the world? There's some very subtle storylines taking shape with characters like Dickinson, Starr and Darling, which is unique because it's happening through the matches and not being hammered into you first with commentary and bits. And you've got new talent to the promotion like Santell, Bear Country, and Brandon Thurston who have quickly established unique reputations in a short amount of time. There's a lot of care going into these shows, and you gotta respect all that.