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Csonka’s Free Match Reviews With Adam Cole, WALTER, & More
Loading...Csonka’s Free Match Reviews With Adam Cole, WALTER, Jay Lethal, & More
– From EVOLVE 113: Velveteen Dream defeated Darby Allin @ 16:20 via pin [***½]
– From EVOLVE 107: Adam Cole defeated WALTER @ 14:04 via pin [****]
– From the ROH 17th Anniversary PPV: Champion Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven went to a 60-minute time limit draw [***½]
Velveteen Dream vs. Darby Allin: Dream stalls to begin, just playing to the crowd. He teases using a chair, heads back in and mocks Darby. They lockup and Dream overpowers him. He offers the handshake and Darby cradles him for 2. The crowd is great for this. Darby picks up the pace and the cross body follows for 2. Dream quickly cuts him off and they trade, arm drags by Darby as Dream powders and Darby attacks on the floor. They brawl and Darby then hits a suicide dive. Back in and Dream cuts him off with a big boot. He then follows with strikes in the corner, grounding Darby. Dream controls with ease, taking the heat and celebrating a bit. Dream grounds him, working a camel clutch. Dream heads to the ropes, and follows with the forearm smash for 2. Darby fires back, but Dream turns him inside out with a short armed clothesline and pulls him up at 2. Dream takes his shirt and wipes of Darby’s face paint, Darby fires back and is quickly cut off. To the floor and Dream follows him out, rolls him back in and grounds things again. Darby battles back, pulls the arm bar and transitions to the guillotine. Dream escapes, but Darby cradles him for 2. Back to the arm bar and Dream escapes, they trade and Darby follows with code red for 2. Darby fires up and delivers strikes, slaps and Dream is rocked. Darby unloads with a flurry until Dream hits a German, heads up top and Darby crotches him. They work up top, back down and Darby hits John Wooooooooo, and the stunner follows for 2 as Austin Theory pulls out the ref. Dream follows with a spinebuster but only gets 2. Dream argues with Theory, Darby flies and wipes them out and back in, Theory takes the ref as Darby locks on the last supper. The Dream valley driver and top rope elbow drop finishes it. Velveteen Dream defeated Darby Allin @ 16:20 via pin [***½] Like you’d expect, Dream comes off like a star here, especially in the smaller setting due to his charisma and the fact that the EVOLVE fans were thrilled to have a big star on the show. Darby was also over big as EVOLVE’s lovable underdog, showing that crowd connection and skill that had him on WWE’s radar until eventually signing with AEW. The match was very good and enjoyable, even if I could have done without the Theory stuff (but it played off of the night before).
Adam Cole vs. WALTER: Cole was the NXT North American Champion at the time this match took place. Timothy Thatcher is at ringside with WALTER. We have a great crowd here as WALTER overpowers Cole to begin, causing Cole to back off. Cole then fires back with kicks and strikes, and then chops WALTER. That wasn’t wise as WALTER cuts him off, and destroys Cole with chops. WALTER simply pummels him now, caving in Cole’s chest. Cole spills to the floor, WALTER follows and fires away with uppercuts before suplexing him to the apron and delivering chops. WALTER then misses a chop and hits the post, allowing Cole to attack the hand and arm. Back in and Cole focuses on the injured hand, follows with elbow strikes and grounds the big man. WALTER fires back, gets the choke until Cole counters out and he ends up on his ass after WALTER hits John Woooooooooooooooo. WALTER is pissed and chokes out Cole, lays the boots to him and delivers strikes. Cole fires back, but WALTER quickly cuts him off until Cole goes back to the hand but runs into a big boot. Cole counters the powerbomb, but WALTER counters into a crab. Cole fights and makes the ropes. The enziguri follows and Cole keeps firing with kicks as WALTER fires up and is taken down by the enziguri for 2. WALTER counters the superkick, lands chops and covers for 2.He fires up and kills Cole with a lariat for 2. WALTER follows with strikes, Cole counters the powerbomb and is cut off with a knee strike and one armed powerbomb for 2. The crab follows, Cole fights and WALTER pulls him away from the ropes but Cole counters into a small package for 2. WALTER quickly counters into the choke, Cole attacks the bad hand to escape and the superkick follows and another gets 2.The last shot follows and WALTER kicks out. Cole hits superkicks and the exposed knee last shot finally finishes WALTER. Adam Cole defeated WALTER @ 14:04 via pin [****] This was great and I need a rematch sooner rather than later in WWE/NXT. This was also proof that Cole doesn’t need the overly bloated, 30-minute NXT melodramatic formula to have a great outing. This one is more than worth your time.
Champion Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven: They brawl right away with Taven taking control and beating down Jay in the corner. Jay fires back, lays in chops and slams Taven to the buckles. Taven cuts him off with a suplex, and grounds the action. Jay fights out and follows with a basement dropkick for 2. Knee drops follow and he covers for 2. Jay lays in chops, but Taven lays in rights in the corner. Jay cuts that off and hits the cartwheel into the dropkick for 2. They trade rights, and Jay follows with a suplex and covers for 2. Taven now hits the clothesline, and that gets 2. Taven grounds things now, working a camel clutch variation. Jay fights out and hits the dragon screw. He follows with strikes but Taven fights off the figure four and cradles Jay for 2. They work into counters; spin kick by Taven and the cover gets 2. He dumps Jay. Back in and Jay hits a dropkick, but is favoring his shoulder after the spin kick spot. The back breaker follows for 2. He follows with chops, but Taven cuts him off with a dropkick. He charges in and Jay hits the powerslam for 2. He follows with a grounded cloverleaf, but Taven fights out. Jay follows with chops, Taven counters but his knee buckles. Jay dumps him to the floor, and follows with a suicide dive. He looks for a second and it connects. He sets up for the third, and it also connects and Taven is down on the floor. Back in and Taven rolls back to the floor and Jay hits a suicide dive to the back of Taven. Back in and Jay covers for 2. He starts attacking the knee again, and covers for 2. Taven hides behind the ref, rakes the eyes and posts Jay on the bad shoulder. The single arm DDT follows for 2. Taven looks for an arm bar variation, Jay fights but Taven keeps him grounded. Jay counters into cradle for 2. Taven cuts him off and locks on the crossface, transitions to a rings of Saturn but Jay makes the ropes. Taven follows with strikes, talks shit and Jay fires up with chops until Taven attacks the arm and cuts him off. The gut buster suplex follows from Taven, he heads up top and misses the frog splash; lethal combo by Jay connects and both men are down. Back to the feet and Jay lays in chops, the flying forearm and then an enziguri. Jay up top, Taven follows him up and Jay knocks him off. Vinny arrives and so does TK. Vinny lays out Jay, Gresham arrives but gets cut off. They take out his knee with a chair shot. They set up a table as Haskins & Williams make the save and chasse the Kingdom away. Low blow and climax by Taven but Jay kicks out. Taven follows with a neck breaker; heads up top and the frog splash connects for 2. Jay counters the second frog splash, hits the cutter, and that gets 2. They trade strikes; Jay gets the rack and then rolls through, covering for 2. The Spicolli driver follows; Jay up top and the elbow drop is countered into a crucifix for 2. Jay immediately locks on the figure four, but Taven reverses it and Jay rolls it back. Taven finally makes the ropes. Jay then works the figure four in the ropes. They fight over a suplex, but Taven suplexes Jay over the ropes from the apron and falcon arrows him through the table at ringside. Back in and Taven covers for 2. Taven now lays in chops, takes Jay up top, and hits an enziguri and lays in more kicks to the shoulder. The backpack stunner gets 2. The crowd is getting less invested on the near falls. The blue thunder bomb follows for 2. Jay fights back and hits the climax for 2. Taven shoots him the middle finger; superkick and knee strike by Jay follows. The lethal injection only gets 2, and crowd bit hard on that one and are getting back into it. Jay then hits a cutter on the apron, and then one on the floor. Back in and Jay pulls out a table. He sets it up, lays Taven on it and heads up top. Taven is up and Taven DDTs him on the apron. Taven gets a ladder, makes a bridge at ringside, and Jay fights off the powerbomb. He dropkicks Taven onto the ladder. Jay heads up top and the elbow drop MISSES as Taven moves. The ref and staff check on Jay, and Taven hits the big tope to wipe them all out. Back in, and the cutter and just the tip follows for 2. Taven hits just the tip three more times, lays in rights and hits just the tip again for 2. Taven up top and flies into a cutter, and Jay covers for 2. They trade from their knees, and back to he feet. Superkick by Jay and another. The third connects and the lethal injection connects but Taven kicks out again. Time expires. Champion Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven went to a 60-minute time limit draw [***½] This was every “important” Taven match ever. It starts fine, then drags, and then the goof troop gets involved to really kill any and all momentum. This was also just way too long for what they delivered; too much Wyatt Earp and not enough Tombstone. This was nowhere near the level of the usual great Lethal title matches, but they worked hard, largely kept the crowd invested and the closing stretch came off well. I’m was not a fan of the MSG match becoming a triple threat, and as we all know, Taven winning there was rather disastrous.
The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 99. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka is joined by Steve Cook. Jerome Cusson, & Kevin Pantoja to talk the big news of the week, review the latest episodes of NXT & AEW TV, & do a retro review of WCW Uncensored 2000. The show is approximately 201-minutes long.
* Intro
* News Roundup (Coronavirus based cancellations, Mania to the PC, Gronk to WWE, Alberto Returning or Just Bullshitting?, More): 6:45
* AEW & NXT Reviews (3.18.20): 39:35
* Jerome Cusson talks ROH looking to rebound in 2020, the possible damaging effect on Mania week event cancellations due to Coronovirus, & more: 1:23:07
* Retro WCW Uncensored 2000 Review with Kevin Pantoja: 2:17:06
* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play
– End Scene.
– Thanks for reading.
