Continuing a new format that I unexpectedly walked into, I'm reviewing only two shows on this edition of UnWrest: Ring of Honor (10/26/18 episode) and MLW (10/26/18 episode as well)
ROH Review (10/26/18)
1) Scorpio Sky vs. "Hangman" Adam Page- SCU (SCU!) vs. The Elite (The The Elite). Really solid opening sequence here with Sky and Page trying to get momentum until a big boot by Page gets him that edge. Sky gets dumped to the floor and thrown into the railing around ringside. Page just launches Sky head first into the ring post. Sky catches Page in the corner with a leaping hurricanrana! Draping legdrop by Sky on the apron. Later, both men exchange blows, and Page catches him with a huge lariat out of the corner.
Page goes on offense, hitting some chops and the fallaway slam. Running dropkick into the corner followed by a German suplex for a 2. Another fallaway slam bridge by Page for a 2. Sky goes for a Fisherman maneuver that gets reversed into a rollup. Sky hits a big double stomp on a standing Page. Springboard cutter and Fisherman buster by Sky for a 2. Big lariat by Page. Rite of Passage. 1-2-3 for Page to get the win. (Very good opening match here as both Sky and Page looked really good in this match. Page is going to be a big deal in whatever company he decides to work for.)
2) Eli Isom vs. Shane Taylor happened next. Taylor just spit on Isom instead of shaking his hand. Isom continues to impress with some really good fast-paced offense. Taylor hits a sick guillotine stunner with Isom dangling off the top rope. The story is the young upstart using a lot of high-flying maneuvers facing off against the big guy using his size and power against him. ISOM DEADLIFTS TAYLOR UP FOR A SAMOAN DROP! Dang! Well, so much for the power advantage I just wrote about. Suplex into a Greetings from 216 (Rikishi Driver) by Taylor ends it though. (Isom continues to look good though. 50/50 booking here as Isom beat Taylor in a match weeks ago.)
Isom has a chair around his throat, but Cheeseburger comes to the rescue. Taylor gives him the Greetings from 216 instead. Flip Gordon runs in to fight Taylor and uses a chair against the big man REPEATEDLY! He gets on the mic and challenges Bully to a fight in any match, anywhere, and anytime. Bully comes out and teases a match, but it's not happening tonight. He refuses to face Flip. He's a God. Flip is a nobody. Next week though, he'll meet Flip in Philly in the ECW Arena. They will have guys wrestle against each other. If Bully's guy wins, he can do whatever he wants to Flip. If Flip's guy wins, Flip gets to do whatever he wants to Bully. Bully reveals that it's Silas Young to represent him.
3) Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham vs. KUSHIDA and Jushin Thunder Liger
Every time I hear Liger's theme play, I just smile. It's great to see Liger any time. Kushida finds a superfan at ringside and gives him the wrap-around glasses in a cool moment. Kushida and Lethal start off the match with a great sequence. (These guys have a great chemistry, and if Kushida ever decides to leave NJPW for a full ROH tour, I'd love to see these two have a legit rivalry.) Liger and Gresham tag in and have another really good sequence with Gresham showing his European wrestling style. Liger gets a classic Bow and Arrow Stretch. Gresham tags in Lethal. Gresham gets a sneaky tag in and gets Liger with a German suplex. Liger takes the heat in this match from Gresham and Lethal as they tag in and out to pummel Liger. Liger eventually fights them off and tags in KUSHIDA.
Kushida goes to work on the arm of Lethal with some vicious kicks. Classic offensive flurry by Kushida. AN AWESOME SEQUENCE IN THIS MATCH HAS KUSHIDA AND GRESHAM FLIP OVER BACK AND FORTH INTO MULTIPLE ROLLUP ATTEMPTS. If you get a chance, it's worth a few seconds to find and watch. We come back from break, and Liger gets Gresham in a Mexican surfboard while Kushida gets Lethal in an armlock. Indian Deathlock with a Kimura by Liger?! Wow. Some really good submission and ground work done here by Liger and Kushida with Gresham. Gresham eventually fights them off and tags in Lethal.
Lethal goes on offense with a ton of offense. Lethal Combination only gets a 2 on Kushida. Lethal Injection is met with a kick. Liger gets a big splash when he's tagged in for a 2. Rolling heel by Liger. Mass confusion as all four men are wrestling now. Flying knee off the apron by Gresham to Kushida on the floor. LETHAL INJECTION TO LIGER. 1-2-3. (Lethal and Gresham win a really good main event match. If you are a fan of old school wrestling with a fair mix of technical wrestling and high-flying maneuvers, you should try to find this one.)
Overall, this was a really good episode of ROH Wrestling. Like last week, this flew by. Storylines were advanced in a couple instances, and we got 2 very good matches to bookend the show. Check it out.
MLW FRIGHT NIGHT (October 26, 2018) (On YouTube)
This week's show features PCO vs. LA Park and Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal between Sami Callihan and Jimmy Havoc. It's MLW Fright Night. Basically, this show is an unofficial Halloween Havoc.
The show starts with Low-Ki distracting Tom Lawlor while Sami Callihan attacks Lawlor with a baseball bat.
They show Tony Schiavone dressed in a wig. Is he dressing like Madusa?! Matt Striker is dressed up like a "Rock Lobster."
1) Richard Holliday vs. Joey Ryan- Tony Schiavone sings "Holiday" by Madonna as Holliday gets in the ring. Lol. And Dear God, it's Joey Ryan. Ryan gives his lollipop to a girl at ringside. And he covers himself with baby oil. Dear God, I hate this gimmick. It's everything that's wrong with pro wrestling. I'll still call the match, but Ryan's gimmick is not for me.
Holliday gives Ryan an atomic drop, and Holliday sells that Ryan's _____________ hurt his knee. You can fill in the blanks on that one folks. Holliday and Ryan wrestle a basic match. If anything, I think that Holliday showed a little potential with his work in this match. Ryan makes a big comeback as expected and wins. (I'm disgusted by a lot of Ryan's work as I think it distracts from the fact that he can be decent to good in the ring. Meanwhile, Holliday is someone I want to see more work from.)
Konnan is in the back and is confronted by Low-Ki and his crew. He says he has an opponent to face him. Someone I've never heard of.
Jimmy Havoc won the coin toss and gets to spin the wheel to make the deal. The wheel lands on Spinner's Choice. He decides to go with EVERYTHING. Matt Striker accurately asks "HOW THE HELL IS THAT GOING TO WORK?!"
2) PCO vs. LA PARK (w/ Salina de la Renta)
I haven't seen PCO since his reemergence on the wrestling scene. PCO looks like the unmasked Sub-Zero. LA PARK (LA PARKA) is still playing that air guitar on the chair after all these years.
The bell rings. They collide in the center of the ring. Some Spanish insults from LA Park. Chokeslam by PCO. PCO climbs up and nails the moonsault headbutt. 1-2-Kickout. Thrust kick to the midsection. Suicide Dive by PCO through the ropes! Dang. That's damn impressive for a guy who is at least in his late 40s. LA Park may be injured as he's shaking his left knee. Both men get back in the ring, but they go back outside to brawl. (Tony asks if the fans will count in French next time since they counted in Spanish during the countout. Lol.)
Both men back in the ring. PCO kicks at the left knee. Corner attacks by both men. LA Park does his trademark dancing. PCO and LA Park get some stiff shots on the other. Running dropkick to a sitting PCO by LA Park. PCO goes outside and LA PARK HITS A RUNNING SUICIDE DIVE! Dang! (Again, this is another guy I know has to be near 50. You don't see near 50 year olds doing those type of moves.) Chair to the back of PCO as soon as he comes back in the ring. Both men go back outside. LA Park takes the camera cable and uses it AS A WHIP to PCO. "UNO MAS!" chants by the audience. Lol.
Both men go back into the ring again. They've been all over the place. BIG weight lifting belt to the back of PCO twice by LA Park. 2 count only. These guys are just beating the hell out of each other. Park misses a running dropkick into the corner. PCO powerbombs LA Park and hits a running knee to the jaw. 2 count only. LA Park is on the apron as PCO climbs the corner. Oh no. JEEEZ! PCO MISSES LA PARK WITH A SENTON BOMB ON THE APRON HITTING IT HARD! LA PARK NOW GOES TO THE TOP ROPE AND HITS A HUGE CROSSBODY TO PCO ON THE FLOOR HITTING HIS HEAD COMING DOWN! (This is incredible!) Both men get back in the ring, and LA PARK SPEARS PCO for the win! (That was a great match between two older talents that just did insane action that puts many talent half their age to shame.)
LA Park gets on the mic afterwards and says some stuff in Spanish to put over the future tag team championship shot against Pentagon Jr. and Fenix. This didn't feel like a heel promo at all. And I thought LA Park was one.
3) Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal
Match Stip: NO DQ, No Count-Out; ANYTHING GOES
Sami Callihan vs. Jimmy Havoc
Havoc slaps Sami, and we're off to the races. It takes ten seconds for a steel chair, a dog collar, a stapler, and a baseball bat to be introduced. Brawling on the outside. Callihan hits the post hard with a hard chop by accident. Dang! Staple gun to the sternum of Callihan! Sick. Staple to the head of Havoc during a rollup attempt! Now to his armpit and crotchal area?! DANG! "Tetanus for everyone" says Schiavone. Back suplex now onto the metal dog collar by Callihan for a 2 count. Now, Callihan takes his socks and shoes off. Paper cut between the fingers and feet of Callihan now by Havoc. Now, he rakes the paper cut to the mouth of Callihan and... A LEMON?! He literally is squeezing a lemon over Callihan to burn the open wounds. That's a new one.
Havoc responds with the stapler back in Callihan's crotchal area. 2 count only. Staples to the feet of Callihan. And now, he's literally rubbing salt into the wounds of Callihan. Body bag is out now. And now an URN! "OHHHHHH YEEEEESSSSSS!" But the urn opens up in Havoc's face with ashes in his face. Funk-style Piledriver to Havoc. 1-2-Kickout. Havoc is down on the body bag. Boot to the face now by Callihan. Havoc is in the body bag and has been zipped up. Havoc sits up like Undertaker in the bag. Lol. Another snap piledriver. 1-2-3. (Sami Callihan won a fun hardcore brawl to end this show. There were a lot of sick spots in this with these guys using weapons in an uncomfortable way.)
Overall, this was a very good episode of MLW. Once you get past the Joey Ryan nonsense, the last two matches were great hard-hitting matches that told really good stories. There are a lot worse ways to spend an hour watching wrestling this week. Since this is on YouTube, you pay nothing to see it. I suggest giving this company a try.
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I hope you enjoyed the first week of this combined ROH/MLW review version of UnWrest. Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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