Csonka Reviews This Week’s Free Grab Bag Matches With Pete Dunne, Ricochet, & Johnny Gargano

Csonka Reviews This Week’s Free Grab Bag Matches With Pete Dunne, Ricochet, & Johnny Gargano

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– From EVOLVE 32: Ricochet defeated Matt Sydal @ 15:40 via pin [****]
– From EVOLVE 41: Davey Richards defeated Johnny Gargano @ 18:31 via pin [***¾]
– From ICW: Shugs Hoose Party 4: Champion Pete Dunne defeated Trent Seven, B.T. Gunn, and Wolfgang @ 14:47 via pin [***¾]

---

Ricochet vs. Matt Sydal: Ricochet was the Dragon Gate USA Open The Freedom Gate champion here. This is a battle of friends and at times tag team partners. This was also the time in 2014 where v was shitting out great performances and getting serious WOTY buzz. They worked a really fun, fast paced, back and forth opening stretch. The pacing is great here as Sydal fires up and cuts off Ricochet with a series of kicks. Sydal then opts to slow the pace and ground Ricochet, working the leg of Ricochet to slow him down. Sydal then hits the standing double stomp, and then immediately going back to the leg. Ricochet makes the ropes, and goes for a standing moonsault but that gets countered. The snap slam follows and he then hits the standing moonsault. The lariat follows, and then a slingshot senton connects. The head scissors follows as Ricochet now slows the pace. Ricochet then lays in strikes and kicks, he then counters a Sydal spin kick abut eats a knee strike and standing moonsault, scoring a near fall on Ricochet. They both hit clotheslines and chops, Ricochet hits the enziguri and Regal plex for a near fall. Ricochet then hits the corner spear and kick, but Sydal cuts him off with a lariat and hits meteora for the near fall. Sydal counters the benadryller into the final cut for 2. Sydal lays in kicks in the corner, takes Ricochet up top but Ricochet flips out of the RANA attempt. They trade kicks, Ricochet hits the northern lights but as he looks to power into the suplex, Sydal counters with a RANA for a great near fall. Sydal up top, but misses the shooting star press. Ricochet lays in kicks, Sydal fires up but Ricochet kicks his heeds off, but Sydal is out at 1! Ricochet hits the benadryller, and 630 to put Sydal away. Ricochet defeated Matt Sydal @ 15:40 via pin [****] On a side note, when you watch these older EVOLVE matches, it really makes you appreciate the production upgrades that he company has made. Sydal was just getting back to work full time, and I felt that this was easily the best that he had looked. His Dragon Gate return was a little rough but you could see the good still, EVOLVE 31’s match with Gargano was better than the Dragon Gate match, but he was still shaking off some rust. Here with Ricochet, much like segments of the DG match, things seemed easier for him. They worked together well, and delivered the high paced and exciting Jr. Heavyweight action that you would expect and Sydal seemed to be back at almost 100%. They really got the crowd going towards the end, delivering a decisive finish as Ricochet connected with the Benadryller, followed by a 630 (just to make sure) to finally put Sydal away. The build to the homestretch was great, and the final moments were excellent as this peaked at the right time.

Johnny Gargano vs. Davey Richards: They work a very basic back and forth opening stretch, with Richards grounding Gargano and looking to work his submission game. Gargano escapes and then takes Richards down, and looking for the Gargano escape, but Richards escapes. He powders to the floor and throws a fit. Back in and Richards takes a cheap shot, allowing him to take control and again take Gargano to the ground. Richards continues to work submissions, making sure to keep control with his grappling. Gargano tries to fire up but eats a dropkick. He rolls to the floor, but cuts Richards off and then hits the slingshot spear. That allows Gargano to take control, they then trade strikes, but Richards hits the STO to stop Gargano’s momentum. Richards shows frustration after hitting a snap suplex and only getting 2. Richards then attacked the knee of Gargano, which was previously injured over Mania weekend. Gargano made the comeback, countering the back handspring into a neck breaker. Gargano takes control, hitting the rolling kick and slingshot DDT for 2. Gargano looks for the lawn dart, but Richards counters out and hits a jumping knee strike. The running kick gets a good near fall. Richards up top now, misses the double stomp but immediately transitions into a stretch muffler. Gargano counters into the escape, but Richards makes the ropes. They trade strikes center ring, and then trade superkicks. Gargano hits the lawn dart, and that gets 2. Back to the escape, Richards fights and rolls back into a stretch muffler. They both work into pinning combinations, but Richards hits the alarm clock, Saito suplex and heads up top. The double stomp gets a great near fall, Richards finally hits the buzz saw kick to pick up the win. Davey Richards defeated Johnny Gargano @ 18:31 via pin [***¾] These two had a very good match. They worked well together, and Gargano sold the leg, playing off of the injury from Mania weekend. They went back and forth and kept a tremendous pace here, delivering the quality that you’d expect from these two. The crowd was happy to see Richards, but he smartly transitioned to a heel role in the match to play off of Gargano’s natural babyface abilities. Richards ended up scoring the win with the buzz saw kick.

WWE UK Title Match – Champion Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, B.T. Gunn and Wolfgang: Seven and Dunne are part of the British Strong Style Stable, so the biog tease is that they will work together. Dunne and Seven take the time to pose and show tribute to uncle Paul. Wolfgang and Gun attack and send them to the floor and we’re underway. Gunn then takes control, working over Wolfgang and sending him to the floor. Seven then cuts off Gunn, but Wolfgang returns to his a series of suplexes and slams. Dunne back in, picking up the pace and he hits a lariat and apron DDT on Wolfgang; regulate that son. Seven hits a suicide dive, while Wolfgang spears Gunn back in the ring. Wolfgang then wipes out Seven and Dunne with a dive, Gunn up top and hits the Nestea plunge onto all three of his opponents. Back in the ring, Dunne cuts off Gunn by biting his hand, but Gunn fires back and hits MX off the ropes. Wolfgang cuts him off, but Seven hits a German, Dunne low blows him and hits the pedigree for a near fall. The lads have turned on each other! Dunne up top, Seven cuts him off and follows him up. Dunne backflips out of the super dragon suplex, it breaks down into superkicks and lariats and then they all attack and all four men are down. All four trade from their knees and then on their feet, superkicks by Gunn, Wolfgang then runs wild hitting slams and gut busters. Wolfgang up top and the senton hits on Gunn, but he kicks out. Wolfgang takes him up top, Dunne and Seven return but get knocked to the floor allowing Wolfgang to hit a superplex for 2. Seven back in, lay out Gunn and piledrives Wolfgang, but Dunne tosses hi to the floor, hits the bitter end on Wolfgang and Gunn then rolls him up for 2. Gunn fires up with kicks and hist the double cutter on the BSS lads for a near fall on Dunne. Wolfgang has brass knux now, lays out Gunn and sends him to the floor. Wolfgang up top, Seven cuts him off and he takes out Dunne. Seven then piledrives Wolfgang off the ropes for a great near fall. Gunn up top, double stomp on seven, brainbuster on Dunne but he kicks out at 1! He then catches Gunn in midair with a forearm strike, hits the bitter end and retains. Champion Pete Dunne defeated Trent Seven, B.T. Gunn, and Wolfgang @ 14:47 via pin [***¾] This was a very good and fun four-way, they had a good crowd and kept the action moving with no dead spots. The only negative is that even though the action and near falls were well done, there was no believable drama due to the fact that there was pretty much no chance that the WWE would allow their championship to change hands on a non-WWE event. Still, this was a lot of fun.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.8

The final score: review Good

The 411

This was an overall very good collection of matches, and worth the watch if you have around 50-minutes to spare.