Warrior Wrestling 25 results: Vetter’s review of Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr. vs. Brian Cage and Gringo Loco, KC Navarro vs. Trey Miguel for the Warrior Wrestling Title, Jay Lethal vs. Calvin Tankman, Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe vs. Zach Wentz and Myron Reed, Skye Blue vs. Queen Aminata

This show was just uploaded Sunday, for free, on the Pro Wrestling TV website. The ring is lit but the lights are low, and I’ll put the crowd at 400 to 600. There are local commercial breaks between each match generated by Pro Wrestling TV.

Warrior Wrestling held several excellent, noteworthy shows this spring while Will Ospreay was still their champion. However, they moved the belt to mid-carder KC Navarro, and immediately canceled all their planned summer shows; quite frankly, I presumed this promotion had run out of money and was folding. So, I’m glad to see they returned, but definitely with fewer top-tier indy wrestlers than their prior shows. This show is notable because initially, the headline match was announced as the Briscoes vs. Rey Fenix and Pentagon. AEW intervened and the match was scrapped, with the two teams facing different opponents.

* Frank the Clown hit the ring to a chorus of boos. He’s annoying and earns ‘go-away heel heat.’ He was hard to understand, but he ran down the list of top wrestlers on the lineup. We do have commentary provided by Rich Bocchini and Val Capone, but it is fuzzy and not good quality at all.

1. Storm Grayson (w/Frank the Clown) defeated Davey Bang at 13:01. Grayson has long, Bret Hart-like hair that looks wet and greasy. He’s solid in the ring. Frank kept cheating behind the refs back by hitting Bang, and this was slow early on. Bang hit a Rude Awakening standing neckbreaker at 7:30. Bang hit a mid-ring Spanish Fly for a nearfall. Bang hit a flip dive over the top rope, actually landing in the front row, beyond the guardrail. In the ring, Bang hit a frogsplash for a nearfall, but Frank dragged the ref out of the ring to break up the pinfall. Grayson hit a superkick for the pin.

* The editing is particularly choppy. The sound from some cameras is significantly louder than from other cameras. I have praised this promotion a lot in the past, and this hasn’t been a problem before.

2. Jordan Kross defeated Sam Beale at 3:06. Beale, of course, had a run in Impact Wrestling as one of Brian Myers’ “students/trainees.” I am not liking this editing at all, as they showed some “edited highlights” of the early action in the match, then showed the conclusion of the match. Why not show the match in its entirety? Was it really that bad? They said Kross is a Kenosha (WI) native, and he worked a tag match against Will Hobbs and Ricky Starks at the AEW Dark taping I attended in June in Milwaukee. Again, this match was likely much longer than three minutes, but they edited this down. Beale went for a powerbomb but fell backward, and Kross somehow sat down on his chest for the pin. Everything about this was strange.

* Val Capone intereviewed Jordan Kross at ringside. EC3 came up behind Kross and the crowd popped. EC3 made a challenge for the next show here, shoved him in the face, and left.

3. Luigi Primo defeated Matt Knicks at 9:50. I don’t know these two at all. Knicks comes out to Prince’s “Purple Rain.” Primo came out with a pizza crust that he was flipping in his hands. He kept tossing the pizza up in the air, even after the match started, and this is very cartoonish. Val Capone joked that this is a very serious wrestling match. Knicks got on the phone and ordered pizza, which somehow was immediately brought to ringside, and he hit Primo with the box. Luigi hit a drop-toe-hold, dropping Knicks onto a pizza, then Luigi hit a stunner for the pin. That was brutally ugly.

* As the next match began, Bochinni and Val Capone acknowledge there are sound issues they are trying correct, and almost immediately, the sound improved and you can understand them, much, much better!!!

4. Queen Aminata defeated Skye Blue at 12:03. Blue is from Chicago and gets the nice hometown pop. Aminata, a Black woman, is far better in the ring that what she’s been able to show off in her handful of AEW Dark matches. The crowd chanted “happy birthday” to Skye Blue. Aminata tied her up with a leglock around the waist as they wrestled on the mat. Aminata switched to a Camel Clutch, then a Curbstomp at 5:00. Skye came back with a mid-ring Octopus.

Aminata applied a Britt Baker-style double-armbar, as if setting up for shoving her fingers in Skye’s mouth, but instead she cranked on the nose. Aminata hit a running boot in the corner. Skye slammed her face-first on the ring apron at 8:30, and they brawled on the floor. In the ring, Skye hit a superkick and a top-rope crossbody block for a nearfall. They traded rollup attempts. Aminata nailed a headbutt and a running Air Raid Crash for a believable nearfall. Skye Blue went for a sunset flip, but Aminata blocked it, sat down, and scored the pin. Decent match… far, far better than the first three matches.

* Backstage segment, post-show, of those in the locker room signing happy birthday to Skye Blue, and her joined by Aminata, talking about the match.

* Video from the Briscoes farm, with Mark riding a tractor, intermixed with some video of them in the ring. Entertaining.

5. Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe defeated “The Rascalz” Zach Wentz and Myron Reed at 13:39. Zach and Mark started, then Jay battled Myron. The Briscoes began working over Wentz, and this is a basic beatdown early. Myron made a hot tag at 7:00, and he hit a dive to the floor. Wentz hit a top-rope moonsault to the floor on everyone. Mark set up a chair in the ring and launched off it, hitting a flip dive to the floor at 9:00.

Wentz hit a superkick and a doublestomp to Jay’s chest for a nearfall. Jay hit a standing neckbreaker. Jay nailed the running neckbreaker as Mark held Zach on his shoulders. They were all down at 12:00, and the fans chanted, “This is awesome!” All four brawled in the ring. Mark nailed the Doomsday Clothesline on Wentz for the pin. A good match. Not a great match, but good.

6. Jay Lethal vs. Calvin Tankman (w/Frank the Clown) ended in a time-limit draw at 15:00. Eddie Kingston had to withdraw from the show because of Hurricane Ian, so Lethal — who competed in Alaska a night earlier — was his replacement. Standign switches to open, and Jay couldn’t knock down the much larger Tankman. Lethal avoided the pop-up spinning backfist. Lethal dove through the ropes onto Tankman on the floor at 3:30, then a second dive.They brawled on the floor. Lethal went for a third dive, but Tankman caught him and shoved him into the ring post at 5:30. He shoved Lethal into the ring, and Lethal is selling a back injury.

Tankman planted a knee in the back and slowed it down on the mat, and he was in control of the action. He hit a back suplex at 8:30 and made a cocky, lazy cover for a nearfall. After several attempts, Lethal hit a big suplex at 13:00, then a top-rope elbow drop for a believable nearfall. Tankman fired back with the spinning back fist and a side suplex for a nearfall. Lethal applied a Figure Four Leglock and the bell rang, just as it appeared Tankman was going to tap out. The fans booed at hearing we have a time-limit draw. Tankman beat up Lethal after the match.

7. KC Navarro defeated Trey Miguel to retain the Warrior Wrestling Title at 14:24. I have said this before, but Navarro and Ace Austin are almost identical in size, looks and overall heelish demeanor, and it was a strange decision to put the title on him. Mat wrestling to open, then they sped it up with some quick reversals. They began trading mid-ring forearm shots at 8:00. Navarro hit a tornado DDT. Miguel hit a jumping kick to the back of the head for a nearfall.

Miguel hit some Yes Kicks to the chest. Navarro put Trey on his shoulders and hit a spinning slam for a nearfall at 12:00. KC went for a Sliced Bread, but Trey shoved it off. KC hit a Canadian Destroyer for a nearfall, then a Code Red and a spin kick to the face for a nearfall, but Trey reached the ropes before the pin. Trey grabbed his title belt and brought it into the ring, but the ref confiscated it.

Trey kicked the ref in the back, knocking him down. Trey hit a handspring-back-spin kick for a visual pin, but the ref was down. Navarro hit the mid-ring Sliced Breat for the pin. A masked man got in the ring, removed his hoodie, revealing to be Frank the Clown (for the third time in one show.) He handed the title belt to KC. With some bad camera work, I can’t tell if Frank hit Trey, but I presume he did, before the Sliced Bread move.

* A backstage video segment aired with Frank the Clown and the three men in his stable.

8. Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr. defeated Gringo Loco and Brian Cage at 10:12. Chicago native Gringo Loco also got a nice pop. Loco and Pentagon played to the crowd to see who could get louder chants going. Cage and Pentagon started. The lucha brothers hit stereo flip dives to the floor. In the ring, they hit simultaneous kicks to the heads of their opponents. Loco hit a handspring-back-elbow at 3:30. Cage made the hot tag and he hit a spinning neckbreaker on Fenix.

Cage nailed a German Suplex on Pentagon. Fenix hit a superkick on Cage. Fenix went for a top-rope dive but Cage caught him and nailed an F5 slam at 5:00. Pentagon hit a Lungblower. Cage hit a second-rope moonsault, and Loco immediately hit a top-rope moonsault for a nearfall. Cage tossed Fenix at Loco, who hit a stunner. Loco hit a springboard flip dive to the floor on both Lucha brothers. Cage then nailed a flip dive to the floor!

In the ring, Cage hit a Buckle Bomb. Fenix fired back with a spin kick in the corner. Loco nailed a top-rope Spanish Fly for a nearfall at 7:30, and suddenly, all four men were down. Cage nailed the Drill Claw piledriver on Fenix, but Pentagon made the save. Fenix hit a stunner on Cage. Pentagon hit a pumphandle sit-out powerbomb on Loco for a believable nearfall. Pentagon then hit a Fenix-assisted piledriver on Loco for the clean pin. That was a really good match.

Final Thoughts: While a bit shorter than I’d like for the main event, it still easily was best match of the night, and you can tell that the Lucha brothers have been in the ring with Cage before. Cage is so good for his massive size. Loco was the obvious choice to take the pin here, but this was great action.

Briscoes-Rascalz was solid, albeit below my high expectations, still earning second-best. I’ll take Lethal-Tankman for third-best, with Navarro-Miguel getting honorable mention.

Frank the Clown has been a constant presence on Warrior Wrestling shows, and I have to wonder why. He’s not good. He’s not an entertaining heel. I don’t want to see him get beat up, I just want him to go away. There is an obvious reason I don’t see him appearing on other major indy promotions.

I will be blunt — the first three matches of this show were really, really bad, and the fuzzy sound issues certainly didn’t help (I could tell it was a man talking, but had no idea it was Rich Bocchini until the sound problems cleared up.) If you are watching the free stream, I’d suggest fast-forwarding to 45 minutes into the show, and watching the final five matches. I don’t watch wrestling to put it down, but I can’t pretend those first three were good matches.

The show clocked in at about two hours, 45 minutes. I highly recommend checking out some of Warrior Wrestling’s other shows from earlier this year via the link at the top of the page.