wrestling / TV Reports
Hamilton’s ACTION Wrestling Eyes On The Throne 02.12.21 Review
Loading...Quick Results
Akira defeats Angelus Layne via disqualification in 7:40 (**¾)
Adam Priest pinned Robert Martyr in 6:30 (***)
Alex Kane pinned Chase Holliday in 6:46 (***)
Fred Yehi submitted Kevin Ku in 11:43 (***¼)
Matt Sells pinned Jaden Newman in a One and Done Challenge in 3:32 (NR)
Arik Royal pinned AC Mack in 23:49 to win the ACTION Championship (***½)
We’re back at the Roger Spencer Community Center in Tyrone, Georgia for this one… If you have IWTV, this show’s up as part of your subscription – otherwise, you can sign-up at iwtv.live using promo code ACTION for a free trial.
Angelus Layne vs. Akira
Layne complained a few shows back about not being booked… well, she’s got a shot here against the debuting Akira, who’s brought his doggo with him…
Akira starts off hot with a Koppo kick, taking Layne into the corner for a running knee and a face-washing boot for the hell of it. A hesitation dropkick almost KO’s Layne, but she shakes it off and boots him in the ropes before roll-through gave Akira a chance to apply a cross armbar, only for Angelus to make it to the ropes.
Heading onto the apron, Layne tries to compose herself, but Akira joined her as they fought by the turnbuckles, eventually hotshotting Akira off the buckles to the floor. Layne keeps going, slamming Akira on the floor, before chops and kicks took Layne into the post… before a charging Akira got knocked into the side of the ring by Layne.
Akira fakes out Layne, dragging her into the ropes for a leg lock from the apron, but he misses a hip attack in the corner and ends up getting STO’d into the buckles. Layne’s running double knees find their mark in the corner and gets her a two-count, before they descended into back and forth strikes as they were on their knees.
Elbows from Akira earn him a poke to the eye, then some headbutts before he hit some capture headbutts as Layne returned fire with a bridging Northern Lights suplex for a near-fall. Akira’s back with a German suplex and a Kimura, rolling Layne down to the mat… but Suge D and Kevin Ryan run in to stomp it apart, and there’s the DQ win for Akira. Nolan Edward makes the save, but Layne gets back to her feet… and it looks like she’s on Suge’s side. This was a pretty intense opener, but one that served to further the Good Hand story. **¾
Suge takes the mic and berates the “indie darlings” who come in to take spots, and says that his crew will be here to give them this kind of welcome. This all ended with Brett Ison coming out to make the save for Edward and Akira, clotheslining Kevin Ryan before the rest of the Good Hand pulled him to safety.
Adam Priest vs. Robert Martyr
Priest’s doing a selective-memory deal when it comes to his win-loss record, and my God, I cracked up at the sign guys in the crowd wheeling out an unofficial height chart for Priest. Martyr’s doing the rounds on the indies right now, having first popped up onto people’s radars as a proverbial warm body on MLW (I mean he did get squashed in 74 seconds to Calvin Tankman…)
The early lock-up attempts go nowhere, as Priest throws Martyr away ahead of back-and-forth armdrags and a stand-off. A single leg from Martyr keeps Priest on the mat, as Martyr was here to GRAPPLE. Priest tries to neutralise him in the corner, following in with chops and uppercuts before Martyr hit back.
A knee lift from Martyr keeps Priest away ahead of a missile dropkick, before a release German suplex dumped Priest on his head. A diving kick keeps Priest down, but Priest then pulls the ref in front of him as he looked to get an opening… one he capitalises with with a lariat and a DDT, before a brainbuster put Priest a little further ahead.
Priest stays on Martyr with a chop in the corner, before a cravat keeps Martyr down… Martyr escapes and tries for a mounted chicken wing, but Priest backs into the corner to break it up. Staying head with chops, Martyr dumps Priest with a rolling elbow, but an enziguiri and another German suplex, but a Tiger driver from Martyr saw him come painfully close in return.
Martyr goes up top, but gets caught with a dropkick as Priest snuck back in with a superplex, before a frog splash to the back gets Priest the win. A decent attempt by Martyr here, but Priest capitalises on the little mistakes and leaves with the win. ***
Chase Holliday vs. Alex Kane
I loves me some Alex Kane – get me a guy who suplexes for fun, and you’re halfway there!
This was a debut for Holliday, who locks up with Kane into the ropes before faking out a back elbow. The crowd’s not happy with that sportsmanship, but Kane replies in kind before he went for a German suplex off the ropes. Holliday breaks the hold and has the same idea, but ends up getting planted with a belly-to-belly as the crowd were holding up counters for Alex Kane’s suplexes. There’s another.
After taking a Stinger splash in the corner, Holliday floats over Kane and blistered him with a chop. More of those follow in the corner as Kane was being taken out of his game, before a stalling uranage barely got Chase a one-count. Kane gets thrown to the outside, but he fought back with forearms on the outside, before Chase broke the count… and gets German suplexed (kinda) into the ring post.
Back inside, Kane’s kept away from Holliday, but it’s a ruse as Chase elbows Kane ahead of a suplex of his own for a two-count. Kane replies with an X-Plex, before he chained together some rolling German suplexes, landing a four-some of those before Chase popped up and returned fire with a lariat. Chase hits the ropes for another lariat, but Kane’s up at two from that and returns with a ripcord Angle slam for the win. A lovely sprint of a match, with Chase holding his own, but Kane’s starting to get a cult following in ACTION – and it’s showing. ***
Kevin Ku vs. Fred Yehi
After Dominic Garrini’s win in the first show, it’s time to see if Violence is Forever go two-for-two in singles action.
Ku wastes no time going in with elbows, before a headlock takedown ended quickly as Yehi seemed to be taken aback. Yehi shakes it off and comes in with shoulder charges and a chinlock, but Ku escapes and ties up Yehi in a deathlock, mixing that up with a front facelock before the pair rolled free.
Yehi retaliates with some punches to the ribs, before dropping Ku with a slam then a chop. A side headlock takes Ku into the corner, where Ku breaks with a cheeky kick before Yehi’s back elbow stuffs a charge as he then rolled Yehi down for a half crab. Yehi’s quickly back to his feet as a neck crank breaks the hold, only for Ku to bust out an Alphamare Waterslide.
Ku stays on top of Yehi with a running punt that sent himself flying to the outside, before returning to the ring so he could go for a tied-up STF. Yehi’s easily able to reach the ropes though, but Ku just rolls him down for a punt to the back. Replying with a chop, Yehi asks for another kick to the back, then another, then another before a barrage of kicks from Ku started Yehi into life, with stomps to the feet and knee.
Yehi stays on Ku, but gets caught with a small package and an enziguiri as both men took their time to reset. We resume with back-and-forth elbows, before an axe kick from Ku and a back-fist from Yehi led to a small package for a near-fall. A quick Mongolian chop from Yehi earns him a brainbuster as Ku came close, before a diving knee gets him another two-count.
Yehi recovers with a chop block to Ku, buying himself more recovery time, before he returned to tie up Ku with a Figure Four. Ku tries to punch his way free, but instead rolls into the ropes for a break, only for Yehi to keep going with stomps. Some punches and a kick to the back from Yehi lead to a Koji clutch, with some hammer fists in the hold forcing Ku to meekly tap out. A good outing for Yehi, who kept chipping away at Ku, baiting him in before finally ekeing out the submission. ***¼
Post-match, Adam Priest slides into the ring to attack Yehi from behind – he’s still sore at losing to Yehi in November, but Garrini makes the save as things calmed down.
Jaden Newman vs. Matt Sells
It’s a “one-and-done” special – so a one-count fall match, in other words for Sells, who’s a bit of a cult favourite around these parts. Maybe it’s the early days DDP look?
Sells explains the rules of the One and Done Challenge, but asks Newman about the “done” part. Newman accepts an extra rule: if he loses, he’s done in ACTION… so we get going with raised stakes. Newman starts with a wristlock, but it gets reversed back and forth before Sells trips Newman and looked for a toe hold… which ends in the ropes.
Newman goes for Sells’ arm, but Matt rolls through and comes back with a kitchen sink knee… before Newman dragged himself outside before Sells could think of a roll-up. Sells catches Newman back in the ring, but Newman rolls back outside as he baited Sells into a dive that didn’t materialise.
Newman kills time on the outside, doing push ups and star jumps before Sells held the ropes open for him. Of course, Sells lets go as the ropes twang into Newman’s nether regions, before Sells faked out a punch… and rolled up Newman for the winning one-count. That’s Newman done with ACTION Wrestling, hoisted by his own petard, after a match that was more of an angle than anything else.
Post-match, Newman throws an ungodly temper tantrum in the ring and gets carted away by security as Sells sang the goodbye song. Just like the good ol’ days!
No Disqualification for ACTION Championship: Arik Royal vs. AC Mack (c)
Back in December, Royal beat Mack via DQ – which meant he didn’t win the title… so we have this logical rematch. Mack came in two days short of holding the ACTION title for 800 days – having won a four-way for it back in December 2018.
Mack’s coming in with a bad leg, injured on an earlier show at the hands of a “paid off” Graham Bell, but he charges at Royal at the bell, hitting a leaping hooking lariat, then some double knees in the corner and a low dropkick as he had the much bigger Royal on the back foot. An attempt at the Mack 10’s quickly back body dropped out of, as Royal looks to hit a knee drop, but Mack hits and runs before a leg lariat was caught and turned into a Dragon screw.
Mack tries to kick Royal from the mat, but another Dragon screw spins Mack away as Royal chokes AC with his own bandanna as commentary reminds the crowd that it’s a no-DQ match. That says a lot about the regular running of a promotion that no-DQ is such a wild change that they need to tell the fans about a stipulation – in a good way!
Royal wrenches Mack’s leg back, then stomped on it in the ropes before a toe hold left Mack on his back. A Figure Four keeps it going as Mack’s trapped in the middle of the ring… and a rope break doesn’t save him either because there’s no consequences for not breaking the hold. I loved that detail. Mack eventually rolls the hold over, then slips free as Royal broke the hold.
In the corner, Royal goes for the bad leg again, hoisting up Mack for a knee breaker, before he found a way in with a Regal Stretch. It feels like ages since I’ve seen someone bust that out instead of a STF. Elbowing free, Mack manages to get a breather, but Royal just tosses him outside, then grabbed a pair of pliers?
Ooh, we’re going to get a submission via Bad Dentistry! Nope, they’re snippers, as Royal is removing a turnbuckle pad. Mack returns to the ring, and kicks away Royal as he apparently tried to stab him with those snips, before Mack tried to wear down Royal with some body blows in the corner. A right hand keeps Royal there, but Arik just pulls up Mack and throws him knee-first into that exposed turnbuckle.
It goes from bad to worse for Mack, as Royal torques his knee across the top rope, before a slingshot into the corner’s blocked as Mack tries to come back with a flying leg lariat. It misses, jarring Mack’s leg, as Royal just pulls him out to the post… only for Mack to pull the challenger back in towards the post.
Mack heads back outside, charging Royal towards the stage before grabbing a fan’s chair that he uses to jab into Royal. Arik’s tossed into the side of the building, before they headed up onto the stage by the hard camera, where Royal tries to hoist up Mack for a powerbomb through a table. Mack wriggles with all his might, and eventually fought free before he had to resist Royal’s attempt to throw him off the stage and into the ring… instead choosing to shove Royal off the stage, bouncing him off the ropes and down to the floor.
Finally, Mack seems to have made an opening for himself, leaping off the stage with a knee as Royal staggered back to his feet. Back in the ring, Royal pounces with a leaping lariat, but Mack’s able to kick out, and retaliates with a Meteora out of nowhere for a near-fall. A diving kick gets another two-count, before flipping out of a backslide into the Mack 10 (Pedigree), but Royal’s up at two!
Mack tries for a Meteora, but Royal counters it into a sit-out powerbomb for a near-fall, rolling through the kick-out into a half crab that’s eventually kicked away from. A Flatliner from Mack counters a clothesline… but Royal grabs the rope to break a pin, and that’s my first “EH?!” moment, given how a rope break didn’t count earlier in the match.
Another attempt at Mack 10 is countered as Royal pushes him into the corner, following up with a takedown and a pull-up into a lariat as Mack was just getting ragdolled here… but he’s still got something left in the tank. Royal heads back outside for a chair, then brings it into the ring… but Mack gets him low and drills him with a Mack 10 onto the chair… only for Mack to reinjure his knee on the landing.
The time it took for Mack to make the cover allowed Royal to roll outside – right as Graham Bell popped in to use that chair so he could claim a bounty… but Alan Angels runs out to make the save, only to swipe Mack in the leg with a chair. Damn you, Five! Angels pays off Bell, presumably with an envelope full of that Dark money, then hit the Wing Snapper to Mack, before Royal ran in with a pounce… and that’s enough for Royal to make the three count, and ending AC Mack’s 2 year-plus reign. History made in Tyrone, as it took three men to dethrone Mack – and that looks to set up Mack vs. Angels in the near future. As for the match – the no-DQ stipulation was made good use of, without it turning into a plunder match… but that rope break deal really took me out of it towards the end. ***½
After the match, Royal demanded he get the same treatment as AC Mack – down to the ring announcer holding the belt aloft as he cut a promo, declaring that the era of the “Acegawd” is now beginning.
