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Beyond Wrestling – Uncharted Territory Episode 8 Review

June 8, 2019 | Posted by Jake Chambers
Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory Episode 8
7
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Beyond Wrestling – Uncharted Territory Episode 8 Review  

Previously on Uncharted Territory: Episode 7 Review

Episode 8 – Match Results

Skylar defeated Solo Darling by pinfall @ 13:01
– a tricky ground game stalemate switched midway to an intense hard-hitting battle that ended with a surprising short cut.
Beyond Discovery Gauntlet: Thomas Santell defeated Jaxon Stone by submission @ 11:10
– Stone unsuccessfully attempted some jerky mind games this week to try and break the winning streak of Santell.
Nick Gage defeated Josh Briggs by pinfall @ ~7 mins.
– an unrelenting and unapologetic Gage took it to the injured Briggs.
Ophidian defeated The Whisper by submission @ 8:10
– two CHIKARA stablemates returned to the show this week to put on a twisty and kinetic display.
The Platinum Hunnies defeated Milk Chocolate by pinfall @ 6:11
– the bubbly Hunnies answered an open challenge and got the surprise win in a lighthearted match against the arrogant jocks.
Chris Dickinson defeated Erick Stevens by pinfall @ 12:14
– a close one that saw Stevens prove that, after almost a decade out of the ring, he can still hang with one of the best.
Bear Country defeated Beaver Boys by pinfall @ ~20mins.
– as is the law of nature, Bears beat Beavers.

Episode Summary

As usual, we open up another episode of Uncharted Territory in the ring, ready for a match, and this week it’s series regular Solo Darling we’re seeing first. And by “seeing” I’m being literal, as the Electric Haze venue has been lit differently this week, making this show instantly brighter and clearer than previous episodes. And, hey, just in time to see a nifty surfboard battle between Darling and her opponent Skylar.

After Skylar gets frustrated by seemingly losing the grappling portion of the match, she hits a hard forearm which switches the tone of the mostly technical match into one of heavy strikes and power moves. The audience who were patiently enjoying the ground display, eats up this switch in tone, especially because it involves the spotlighted Darling with whom they have forged a clear emotional connection.

Episode 08 - 05/22/2019

Watching that organic booking (I keep using this term in my reviews of this show, not even sure what it means, just keeps coming into my head while watching) demonstrated is one of the great charms of Uncharted Territory. And interesting, the generally rule-abiding Skylar used a distracted roll-up with her feet on the ropes to get the surprise win here, were she also seemingly aligned with another Darling foe, Davienne, afterwards. Stacking the deck against a hometown favourites, sounds like a great dramatic obstacle for our hero to overcome!

As has also been a UT tradition before the Discovery Gauntlet matches, Cam Zagami interviews the challenger, Jaxon Stone this week, who sets himself up as an instant jerk, complaining about being disrespected for even having to be in this match as a seasoned professional. Got a feeling this is gonna work well against the nerdingly beloved holder of the Gauntlet, Thomas Santell.

And thus Beyond is able to swing with the simplicity here, since they’ve worked hard to establish the win-and-move-on concept of the Gauntlet, and locked in Santell as the “champion” of the format the audience doesn’t want to see lose under those stakes. When (or if) Santell actually loses, that crowd is going to go bananas, and whoever gets that victory will have a great head start and big shoes to fill. The Discovery Gauntlet concept has been an unmitigated success (except for there not actually being a gauntlet for the winner to carry around).

Following the victory by clean cut Santell, we get the wildly vulgar Nick Gage who brashly calls out Josh Briggs with some completely un-2019 verbal provocations. Briggs, who is seemingly recovering from injury even though he’s competed the past few weeks, doesn’t take being compared to female genitalia like he’s back at football practice, leave the commentary position and comes out for the brawl.

In the ensuing match, they do play up the hip injury of Briggs and how the ruthless Gage takes advantage of it as much as he can, until finally getting the win. And then afterwards, despised anti-Beyond MMA star Chuck O’Neil starts abusing the injured Briggs, which brings out Anthony Greene to make the save for his friend. We learn later that Greene and O’Neil will have a match next week.

Members of the CHIKARA roster, who made one Uncharted Territory appearance apiece so far, Ophidian and The Whisper, went up against each other next in a heelishly friendly match to try and gain some momentum in Beyond. Ophidian got the win with a kind of inverted Anaconda Vice.

Then we are treated to the entertaining presence of the tag team Milk Chocolate, who rip into the crowd and roster before throwing out an open challenge. Surprisingly, it was accepted by Anthony Greene’s Platinum Hunnies, who like Milk Chocolate, are 0-1 on Uncharted Territory so far. And after a surprising number of “stinkfaces”, the Hunnies actually got a clean win.

The next match was one I was super looking forward to, and never expected to see let alone on Uncharted Territory. One of my favourites from the late 2000s in ROH and FIP, Erick Stevens, dropped off the wrestling map since, and only recently made some rumblings online about making a comeback. Well, Beyond threw him from retirement into the re-fire-ment, so to speak, against their gatekeeper, and one of the best wrestlers in the world at the moment, Chris Dickinson.

Uncharted Territory Promotional Photos

And the match satisfied all curiosity about what Stevens still had left, in what was a thrashing Dickinson-esque war. Looking forward to hopefully seeing more of him in Beyond, and also the continuation of Dickinson’s march to Americanrana by tuning up each week with some of the more intense wrestlers on the indie scene, including next week against Tom Lawlor.

Speaking of curious, I’ve enjoyed the short appearances by Bear Country so far on Uncharted Territory, two absolute animals that almost looked to be outclassing their competition at times. So for them to be in the main event slot against the Beyond tag team aces, John Silver and Alex Reynolds of the Beaver Boys, would be interesting from a length and pacing standpoint of what we’ve seen from the Bears so far.

Episode 08 - 05/22/2019

And it was an interesting mix, since the match did tip to the strategy of the Beaver Boys, who isolated both Bears and wore them down one at a time. The visual was thus a bit unique, as the bigger team was being somewhat dominated by the smaller men. But it was recent drama that brought on the ending after Silver accidentally kicked Reynolds out of the match, there was a pretty fantastic sequence between Silver and Bear Bronson, leading to a stalemate and Silver needing the tag. The tensions of past weeks had boiled up too much though, and Reynolds denied the tag and walked off.

Move of the Night

Off the hot tag, Bear Beefcake stacked Silver with a power slam and Reynolds with a power bomb position, and dropped them to the delight of the crowd.

Shock of the Night

Former WWE superstar Ken Doane happened to be in the crowd, and was interviewed at first in a very friendly manner, praising Beyond for putting on a show just a few minutes away from his home. Then the dude quickly ripped off his shirt and started comparing his body to that of the those in the crowd and the wrestlers in the ring, and looked like he wanted to start a number of fights with people in the crowd.

Episode 08 - 05/22/2019

Episode MVP
Chris Dickinson
This guy just continues to anchor the promotion and provide that weekly go-to match on Uncharted Territory that you know is going to rule. This is a level of consistency that we don’t actually see on serialized pro-wrestling television anymore, where you’re getting this promised great match from the biggest star on the show, and it delivers each time out. Dickinson can do it with Beyond regulars, or like this week, a completely fresh opponent who had barely even been in the ring for the past decade.

Best Match
Chris Dickinson vs. Erick Stevens

By popular demand, the match was released on YouTube for the world to see. I highly recommend checking this one out!

How Did It All End?
After Alex Reynolds left his long-time tag partner John Silver hanging after yet another recent miscommunication, you’d think Silver would then be easy pickings for the massive Bear Country 2-on-1. Amazingly though, Silver kicked out of the first big double team move, Bear Country’s finisher, and fought hard by himself, even getting a stunning near fall on Bear Beefcake. Silver did eventually succumb, but it was the little extension of the tension that was just one of those nice touches you get on Uncharted Territory, an organic surprise embedded in the story of the match, not–oh, I don’t know–say, someone just entering a multi-man match at the last minute with no logic and winning the whole thing. And in the meantime, in about 3 weeks, Beyond just created a main event tag team from nothing. That’s pro-wrestling.

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
Uncharted Territory continues its streak of good shows, and is probably the only weekly wrestling show you should be watching if you want great in-ring action and logical wrestling-style storytelling. This one features a must-see match between Chris Dickinson and Erick Stevens; be sure to check it out!
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