Csonka’s Matches I Missed in 2017 (Part 1)

In 2016 I reviewed 456 wrestling shows, and still did not get to everything I wanted to. I have decided to try and keep track of match recommendations from those whose opinion I trust, partly because they will make for the occasional fun column but also because it will help in my year end tracking. I am hoping by doing this I can catch some great stuff from companies I don’t have time to during my regular review schedule (this time around is wXw, CWF Mid-Atlantic, STARDOM, PROGRESS & REVPRO); I hope that doing a little “a la carte” in 2017 I can up my overall coverage and even better, meet some new performers. Feel free to suggest stuff, specifically Lucha, Joshi, Dragon Gate, AJPW and UK stuff since they’re not in my regular rotation). Enjoy…

From wXw Back to the Roots: Melanie Gray vs. Alpha Female – Steel Cage Match [****]: This was part of an ongoing feud, where if Gray won, Kevin Roadster would get five-minutes of cage time with Marius Van Beethoven; thus felt very 1980s NWA. With all due respect to the ladies of the WWE, who have bee working very hard and getting chances many thought they would never get; nothing they have done has come off with the intensity these ladies brought to the cage. Hell, these ladies brought more intensity to the cage than most men do. Warning if you seek this out, Gray gets rather brutally beaten and bleeds; I know some people do not dig that). This is an amazingly brutal and one-sided match. It was the Alpha Female show, as she constantly beat down and kicked the shit out of Gray. Gray got her hope spots, but could never overcome the power and brutality of Alpha Female. Alpha Female finally got tired of beating Gray into a bloody pulp and hit the dominator for the win.

From CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide #88 – Arik Royal vs. Andrew Everett [****]: Everett is a gifted performer, he can do a lot but you wouldn’t know that because TNA gives the X-Division any time. It’s places like AAW, CWF and PWG where Everett gets to show off his skills. Royal is a bigger dude with good agility, and feels similar to someone like Keith Lee. Royal puts Everett into big trouble early, leading to Everett using his speed and largely going insane to survive. This is when thing get really good, because Andrew Everett gives absolutely no fucks about his health, taking some wild bumps and doesn’t care about himself, he just wants to survive. You almost get uneasy when he takes to the ropes, fearing for his health. In the end, Everett couldn’t overcome, he didn’t have the tools to do so; the bigger, more powerful and had a better grasp of how to use his skills to become the winner. Royal killed Everett with a pounce and picked up the win. Keep an eye on him.

From The Stardom 6th Anniversary: Io Shirai vs. Viper [****]: While Melanie Gray vs. Alpha Female was a war between two women trying to kill each other, Io Shirai vs. Viper was the resilient and violent champion vs. the bigger an stronger challenger. I have seen some of Viper’s work in the past and had not been overly impressed, mainly due to the fact that I never felt she fully embraced the monster role. Here she’s facing who many feel is the best women’s wrestler walking the Earth. They worked a very even, back and forth match, which in a way was a bit surprising. Io fired up, got pissed and wrapped a chair around Viper’s head and hit the dropkick; allowing Io to take control on Viper, who was the heel. Io has great heelish tendencies, but it almost came off as too mush heat from her, but the work was excellent. Viper’s offense was a bit sluggish at times, and I feel that Io almost controlled too much, but it all came together in a complete package. In the end, Viper missed the top rope splash and her chance to put Io away. She sold her back, leading to Io hitting a pair of Germans and then a moonsault to the back to finally put her away.

Progress Atlas Championship: Champion Rampage Brown vs. Matt Riddle [****]: I haven’t seen a lot of Brown, which is another reason I am exited to do this project. This was for Brown’s Progress Atlas Championship, and this was an open challenge match. Brown had successful defended the title three times, but the open challenge bit him in the ass here. Brown has the size advantage, and looks to bully Riddle; nut he’s used to this thanks to his battles with Chris Hero. Riddle’s never overwhelmed, but Brown gets a lot of control. The big take aways here are that they never fuck around or try to play around and drag this out, it’s all great action. Riddle continues to evolve and improve; his selling is great, he keeps expanding and doesn’t ever feel like an MMA guy playing wrestler and he has an awesomely realistic explosiveness. His playbook is getting bigger; he often looks as if he’s killing guys but never is. Since Matt Riddle is the mother fucking truth, he skips the bro-mission, takes Brown to the mat and beats the shit out of him for the finish and wins the title.

From wXw London Calling – wXw Unified Champion Axel Dieter Jr. vs. Marty Scurll [****]: This is my first time seeing Dieter, which is the fun of this project for me. I’ve seen my fair share of Scurll, and generally really like his stuff. So when I saw this match pop up on the FloSlam gimmick, I figured that this was a good time to meet someone new. Dieter worked the arm early, looking to set up the Dieter Jr. Special (which I always called the Iron Maiden), it’s a full nelson, using your legs. They did a lot of mat work, which was very well done. Many forget that Scurll can do the grappling game, but he often gets overlooked in that regard because of guys like Zack Sabre Jr. Commentary was really good here, as someone that doesn’t watch the product regularly, they did a great job of telling me about their background and the battles that they had against each other, and the fact that the turning point was an I Quit match that they had, and that Dieter hasn’t been the same since. The crowd is awesome here, making this feel like a big time match and providing a great atmosphere. Scurll also spent some time working the arm, setting the stage for the chicken wing. Dieter plays the over confident asshole well here, picking up the intensity with a great set of strikes. Scurll eventually made the comeback, attacking the legs and grounding Dieter. They escalated the action well, building constantly towards the finish. The home stretch was really strong, with some great near falls and Scurll digging deep into his arsenal to try and put the champion away. Scurll looked to put Dieter away with the finger break spot and the chicken wing, but Dieter survived and locked in the Dieter Jr. special, and Scurll had to quit. This was a great match with a tremendous big fight feel to it. Axel Dieter Jr. is a guy I hope to catch more of during this project.

From CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide #88 – Trevor Lee vs. Brad Attitude [****¼]: This was from the same show, making for an excellent hour or TV. This is for Lee’s CWF Mid-Atlantic Championship. Like the last match (but in a completely different way) this was an exercise in two good brothers beating the shit out of each other. This match also has a stipulation; if Attitude lasts the match’s time limit, he wins the title. Similar to Everett, if you want to get a real look at what Lee can do, CWF, AAW and PWG are the places to look. With the time limit gimmick in mind, Lee runs wild early, but Attitude cuts him off with weapons of mass destruction, using really wild and unprotected chair shots, which bust Lee open. Lee appears dead, with Attitude just hovering over his corpse, but Trevor Lee gives no fucks, fires up and slaps the shit out of Attitude. Attitude works the counts to the limit, using the weapons and just trying to straight up murder Lee. The whole layout, including Attitude’s abuse and use of the weapons and the way that Lee survives, sets up their role extremely well. Lee did the secondary blade job as Attitude escalates his attack, Lee makes his comeback and keeps attacking the arm, mainly just using his body as a weapon but not using all of the toys Attitude has used. Attitude keeps going after the bloody head of Lee and looks to use a bottle to break it over his head. Attitude goes after Lee with a bottle but Lee kicks him in the face and stomps on the bottle, breaking it into Attitude’s hand. We get a ref bump, we get a run in and that allows Lee to break the bottle over Attitude’s head and wins. This is where the match loses something for me. It could have been and should have been better with a good finish. Lee fights for all he’s worth; fighting and crawling for all he’s worth, surviving the ref bump and possible screwing and then he uses the bottle and wins, hit a move dude, do something that makes you look as if you earned it. With a better finish, this is looking like ****½ because it had great action and told a great story. The only thing that bothered me after watching these CWF matches is that they pissed me off, they made me very angry because you watch these matches, you see the talent of Everett and Lee and then you realize that TNA has no clue what to do with them; that’s the real shame.

From RPW High Stakes 2017 – Champion Katsuyori Shibata vs. Matt Riddle [****¼]: Shibata and Riddle are two of my favorite performers, so when I heard that the fine folks at RPW were putting on a match with them, I had to check it out. The story of the match was that Shibata didn’t respect this punk. They did some really awesome mat work, lots of chain wrestling and working for submissions. It was some really great stuff, and made sense due to the fact that they both have background in MMA. Riddle uses this as a great base, but has expanded his repertoire so much in such a short amount of time that he never has to fully rely on it as he is becoming really well rounded; that was on display here against a top tier performer in Shibata. Riddle eventually fires up, and takes control with strikes, but couldn’t put him away. The pacing here is great, there is no down time or doing shit just to do shit. Riddle just couldn’t put him away, and Shibata eventually starts to no sell this bullshit. Riddle’s biggest mistake was insulting Shibata by using his sleeper/PK combo; Shibata eventually tells this punk to fuck off, kills him with the PK and finishes him to the sleeper. Superior work by both guys, Riddle looked as if he belonged in there with Shibata and lost nothing in defeat, as he hung with him the entire way and was never intimidated.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”