Ruckus vs. Ryan McBride vs. Akuma vs. Rich Swann vs. Alex Colon vs. Jonathon Gresham-6 Man Best of the Best Qualifier: Show pretty much opens with this match in the ring. Gresham and McBride start. Swann gets in and so does Akuma who gets lots of boos probably the most over heel. Ruckus hits a sidewalk driver on Colon which looked tough, Colon fights back and attempts and suicide drive but he hits the floor head first. Akuma cuts of Swann for some heat and hits a Snapmare driver. The match breaks down quickly and everyone starts hitting big moves. Ruckus hits his rolling Fisherman buster, imagine the Chaos Theory here. Colon catches Gresham trying to leap over him from the corner and drills him with a sick Michinoku driver. McBride knocks down Colon, spinebusters Gresham on Colon and locks in a sharpshooter and Boston crab on them both. Akuma catches Gresham and hits multiple powerbombs for the win. This was insanely fast paced and it made sense for Akuma to win as CZW were pushing him but he probably looked the worst here. After we get Kimberly (his manager) cut the simplest promo ever didn’t see the need for this.
Greg Excellent Promo: Greg’s out with his Mum and his manager. This whole thing just turned Greg heel basically. He talks for a bit and then Tiger Drivers his Mum. This isn’t long and it shouldn’t have been, it did its point and having him hit the Driver on his Mum was a nice tough in my book. The fans popped for the driver even giving it Air horns and a “Holy S**t” chant. He yells to DJ Hyde (the boss) that it was for him and it would lead to a feud between the two which lasted pretty much all year.
Robert ‘Ego’ Anthony vs. Sami Callihan for Future CZW Title show: We get a great opening video showing how these two switched roles over the year and how Ego turned heel and Sami turned face. Match pretty much begins with Ego taking shots at Sami while on the mic screaming at him, this would have worked better if the Arena fans weren’t dicks. Ego gets distracted by the fans and Sami nails him with a lariat. Sami hits a slingshot lariat and then the Austin Aries “Heat Seeking Missile” through the bottom ropes. They fight through the outside which leads to Ego hitting a running powerbomb over the rail into the crowd. Ego gets Sami into a surfboard but pushes him off into the turnbuckle which leads to him hitting a weird move (imagine the set up to the Cop Killer but turned into a suplex) for a near fall. The two then fight on the top rope resulting in Ego hitting a top rope powerbomb, something I’ve only really seen in a Mike Awersome/Masato Tanaka match. Sami gets on the Stretch Muffler a mover everyone started to use at the time but Sami would add a sick kick to the back of the head when locking it in. Ego fights back with some superkicks, hits that weird move for a second time for the win. We then get a backstage segment with Drew Gulak, we’ll get several of these during the night which just sets up Drew being the special ref for the UVU title match. Anyways this match was pretty damn good it was everything you’d expect from these two and more. It’s a shame Ego has retired now he could of done big things.
Adam Cole(c) w/Mia Yim vs. AR Fox for CZW Jr. Heavyweight title: Cole is just a massive douchebag here and I love it, something ROH doesn’t do is show off how much personality he has. AR quickly knocks Cole to the outside and does a moonsault by running up the ringpost. He then goes for a lucha rope climbing armdrag, he drops on the top to do a flip and Cole catches him with a german suplex. AR fights of a suplex and hits a very nice looking twisting suplex. AR jumps backwards of the middle rope and hits an Ace Crusher (imagine Johnny Ace’s voice here he helps trust me). Cole hits a tombstone but hangs on and hits a twisting tombstone which was really impressive. We get the babyface cruiserweight spot, AR goes for a dive the ref stops him and he dives over the ref. Match ends with Cole faking a leg injury, Mia hits a low blow and Cole jumps of the ropes and hits a “Canadian Destroyer” it’s always getting called that. Afterwards Tyler Veritas comes out and cashes in on his title shot which leads to.
Tyler Veritas vs. Adam Cole (c) w/Mia Yim for CZW Jr. Title: This starts off with Tyler chopping the hell out of Cole and it’s already gone longer than nearly every Money in the Bank cash in. Oh Tyler’s tights say TV, that’s cool. Tyler hits KENTA’s knee strike, don’t tell him though he keeps grudges. Mia eventually gets Tyler’s attention and Cole hits a “Sick Kick” to get the advantage. Ref gets knocked down by a fisherman’s carry spot, you know they spin and legs hit the leg. Tyler gets on the Veritap but Mia sprays hairspray in his face, Cole then locks it in and Tyler is somehow out. I would have preferred the time give to the second match to be gave to AR/Cole but I think CZW realised they had that title shot and had to get it used. The second match did nothing but made Tyler look weak and really in the long run Adam’s become the bigger star out of pretty much everyone in CZW.
Philly’s Most Wanted (Sabian & Joker) vs. Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian)-Finals of CZW Tag Title Tournament: We get a video recapping the entire tournament which included the now infamous “Most Illegal thing in wrestling” video (check youtube for that). It’s funny that it’s these two teams as the Portal are the most PG team while PMW are the most 18+ rated team ever. CZW finally get some new tag belts, the old ones were literally falling apart. For those who don’t know Eddie Kingston & Drake Younger were the tag champs but earlier in the year Eddie had another falling out with CZW management and on a show just quit and threw the belt down. Anyways we get the introduction and the Portal are over, just goes to show if you’re talented you can get over in the Arena, I do miss the Portal. We start with Amasis and Sabian chain wrestling. The Portal goes to hypnotise Joker but Sabian dropkicks Ophidian this leads to PMW getting the heat. Joker’s just striking the hell out of Amasis, why so serious bro? (Sorry I couldn’t resist). Amasis finally gets the tag by sliding to the outside, it is lucha rules and I love when they do such things as it puts over the rules. We get the typical heel spot with Sabian telling people to move but throwing Amasis back in who is back to being legal as they threw Ophidian out, again using the Lucha rules. Ophidian finally gets tagged in and nails Joker with a kick who no sells it, which I like as they’ve done it all match and it puts over that he’s legit tough, he was in the Army. They attempt to hypnotise Sabian but Joker sneaks up and suplexs them both. Big swing into a drop kick by PMW, I love that move. Dual 450’s but the Portal for a near fall. The Portal finally hypnotise PMW and they break out into dancing, not a big fan of this as it’s a final of a tournament and all but the fans loved it and I beat MC Hammer was happy his song got used. The Portal hit the top rope splash/leg drop (the Hardy’s made that famous) for a close fall on Joker. Sabian pulls off Ophidian’s mask and rolls him up for the win. This was good, a little weird at points but good. After the match the Briscoe Brothers return to CZW and this set up the title match for the next month. For those who don’t know the Briscoe’s actually started in CZW way before they legally could and as a result they actually wrestled under masks.
Jon Moxley(c) vs. Homicide for CZW World Title: No real story here, which is odd for your World title match at your biggest show of the year. Basically Homicide returned earlier that year after leaving TNA and he beat Sami Callihan to gain the shot. I love Mox but he was so hurt during this run as CZW didn’t know if he was a face or a heel. Homicide has Jesus on his tights, wouldn’t imagine that for him. The two trade the advantage back and forth at the beginning until Homicide locks Mox in a grounded octopus hold and he keeps doing little kicks which I like. Mox is bleeding from the nose somehow I didn’t see where but I think it was a collision. Homicide does the Three Amigos and doesn’t get booed for it, as long as you don’t do it on Chavo it’s all good I assume. They trade blows on their knees and Homicide says “F**k your nose” that amused me and reminded me of Terry Funk screaming during the barbed wire match with Sabu. They trade “Head of Talent Relations” Crusher, I prefer Ace Crusher personally. Mox gets a backslide and when homicide kicks out locks on a Fujiwara armbar in a very nice spot. I have to say the crowd are pretty dead considering who’s in the ring but the Cop Killer woke them up a bit, Mox then suddenly rolls to the outside. Oh wait the fans still don’t care, I hate the Arena fans I’m glad it’s shut. Mox struggles and hits a weird move, kind of like a Michinoku driver but he pulled him up from a reverse DDT position for the win. Brodie Lee then runs in and hits a big boot to set up a title match for the next month. What’s funny is that in theory we could be seeing this match in FCW. Overall it was a good match but pretty weak considering who was in the ring, the fans being dead also heart it a lot.
Nick Gage(c) vs. Yuko Miyamoto for CZW UVU Title: Funny fact this is the last match Gage worked before robbing a bank! The UVU title is a deathmatch title basically and it was actually retired this past month after Masada won the CZW World title. Gage starts by announcing himself. Yuko is just from Japan apparently, nowhere specific. Drew Gulak and is the special ref, this was to continue the Gage/Drew feud which was going to go into a deathmatch until Gage robbed a bank. Drew has been unbearable on the mic all night long, I think he’s improved over the past couple of years. Basically the match is all about Gage wanting to be hardcore and Drew stopping him until Gage hits him with the Chokebreaker and we get a regular ref. The CZW crew then bring out a range of weapons including a barbed wire web that’s sent on the rail and ring. Quickly Gage runs into Yuko and gets backdropped on the web, Yuko follows that up with a top rope elbow to the outside. They fight through the crowd and make it up to a balcony where Gage drops Yuko off onto a table, gutsy to say the least as it was only 1 table. The one thing I hated about Gage’s work was his constant taunting, at least he wouldn’t take forever doing it (right RVD?). Yuko hits a handspring elbow, we don’t get the mist so Tajiri can’t be pissed. Gage hits 2 piledrivers and then a Chokebreaker for a near fall. Yuko hits a sick Fire Thunder driver for a near fall, I can see why WWE banned Rikishi from doing that. There’s a HUGE ladder in the ring and Yuko hits a moonsault of the very top for the win. A really good deathmatch which didn’t get too violent mainly because the Cage of Death would do that. An odd choice to win as they only just got the title back from a wrestler in Germany called Adam Polak who never even entered CZW, he won it from Thumbtack Jack but in the long run it was a wise move to get the belt off Gage.
Cult Fiction (Masada, Brain Damage, tHURTeen) & Drake Younger w/Billy Graham vs. Suicide Kings (Danny Havoc, Dysfunction, Devon Moore & Scotty Vortekz)-Cage of Death Match: Both team do a promo before the match and Billy cuts a random promo, no it’s not the Superstar but that would be awesome. Little fact Drake wasn’t meant to team to the Cult he was originally meant to be with the Kings but after JC Bailey sadly died, Drake turned heel. We get a fast forward video of the cage getting set up, it’s a weird design with to upright cage side with platforms coming of the top and then 2 slated sides. Just an odd decide but all the Cage of Deaths are odd designs. I like the difference in promos, the Cult only had Drake & Billy talk and the Kings had everyone talk help to put over that everyone is equal in the Kings. The match is War Games style so we get people entering but unlike War games you can get eliminated at anytime by touching the outside. tHURTeen is starting for the Cult and Devon is starting for the Kings, Devon is in a Truffle Shuffle shirt! Billy is just in the ring and there’s only one ring with so many people in this match they really should have made it bigger and get Billy out of the way. Devon nails Billy with a thumbtack bat which pulls out some of his hair. tHURTeen backdrops Devon onto the slated cage, by the way there is barbed wire boards and barbed wire just all over the place. They quickly fight up to a cage platform and Devon hits a Northern Lights Bomb off of it. Damage is in next. Havoc is next out and it doesn’t take long until he goes through a board. There are only 4 guys in the match and they’re already struggling for room. Havoc jumps off the top of the cage with a forearm. Masada’s next. Masada comes off a platform with an elbow through a table onto Havoc. Dysfunction is next out. Damage is thrown through a board and a table to be the first eliminated and we see wire stuck in his arm, within seconds Drake is out. Drake is doing squats outside to warm up, he comes in and throws Dys threw some glass, Devon onto a slated cage and drills Havoc with a backdrop driver. He then does a Hogan pose, an easy way to get heat. Drake hits a belly to back onto Havoc on a steel chair and the chair didn’t give an inch. Scotty finally comes out with a weed whacker and Drake eliminates himself, a great way to be a heel in this match in my view he looked like a killer and then ran when Scotty showed up. The match then stops while Drake cuts a promo, it was that important. Scotty is then eliminated within minutes of coming out so any bonus he got when Drake ran just got destroyed by being eliminated so quickly. The faces have the 3 on 2 advantage, I would mind but there’s been enough war games match for you to know better. Havoc and tHURTeen are on a platform, Havoc gets hit with an enziguiri and is eliminated but seconds later Dysfunction hits a superkick and tHURTeen goes off the other side, it should be noted that there were several barbed wire tables on both sides. Dysfunction is then hanging off the cage and Masada puts his trademark sticks into his head to eliminate him, these eliminates are very sudden. We’re down to Devon and Masada, Devon calls him up to a platform. Masada hits a suplex on a sheet of glass on the platform, the glass raining down looked cool. Billy then climbs up and hits Masada by mistake which leads to Devon knocking Masada off and Devon wins. He then attempts to throw Billy into the ring on some glass but Billy wouldn’t let go misses everything and actually broke his leg. Drake returns and throws Devon off threw that glass. B-Boy returns and sets up a match between them which would have been their 3rd but B-Boy ended up no showing. Overall this match had a lot of problems, the lack of room the confusing psychology at points and you would actually end up missing a lot of spots. Devon did look great as Masada looked like a killer during this match and to be the lone survivor helped him. The show ends with Devon and B-Boy in the ring together.
Overall: Every match had a meaning on this card and it was overall good. No one was on for the sake of it but two of the biggest matches the CZW title and Cage of Death just failed to deliver in my book. Also the Gulak promos were horrible and he got way too much time on this show. But overall it was a good show and it actually set up things for the next month, something CZW hadn’t done in the past.
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