By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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Dreamwave Pro Wrestling “Anniversary VIII”
Streamed on IndependentWrestling.TV
April 22, 2023 in La Salle, Illinois at the KOC Hall
This show was sold out in advance, It was held in a small room so a sellout means maybe 250 fans. The ceiling is somewhat low; a wrestler standing on the top rope can probably reach up and touch it. Veda Scott joined in on commentary.
* Warhorse is injured and off the show; he was set to face PCO. Johnny Dreamwave (Hennigan) was in a car accident earlier in the day and missed the pre-show fan event. In a nice touch, Dreamwave posted on Twitter and signs around the building, warning fans that if they bring young children to the show, they might not want to watch the Second Gear Crew match later because it is going to be violent.
1. Stephen Wolf defeated Marcus Mathers at 11:26. Wolf is the guy who is dressed like he bought his outfit at a Mortal Kombat fan convention. Mathers is a rising star from the Northeast and he’s been on a lot of GCW shows. Quick reversals to open and a standoff. Mathers hit a top-rope crossbody block at 6:00 and they were both down. They got up and traded chops. Mathers hit a mid-ring Spanish Fly, then an overhead powerbomb for a believable nearfall. Wolf hit a Helluva Kick in the corner and a spear into a corner, then a jumping Tombstone Piledriver for the pin. Really good opener.
* Vic Capri hit the ring and he’s in regular clothes. He talked about closing in on his 50th birthday and he has some injuries; it sounds like he is hinting he is going to retire. However, Several heels dubbed Those Damn Coyotes (TDC) came to ringside. I turned up the TV because it’s really quiet. Connor Hopkins offered to fight Capri to put him into retirement permanently. Capri left. The heels grabbed Capri’s daughter by her hair, so Vic ran back to the ring to make the save. This match will happen later in the show!
2. Florida Man defeated Victor Inestra, Jordan Kross, and Dyln McKay in a four-way at 4:56. The winner gets a slot on a show June 17. Inestra has long hair and he wore traditional Mexican garb. Kross is the super-scrawny kid I’ve seen on a few Warrior Wrestling shows. Florida Man wore a Hawaiian-style shirt, sunglasses and shorts. McKay is the Northeast talent who usually teams with Mathers (from the first match.) This had been announced as a pre-show match on Youtube but that obviously didn’t materialize. FM is a bit taller and heavier than the other three. McKay hit a Pele Kick on the ring apron on FM at 4:00. Florida Man got a rollup with his feet on the ropes for the cheap pin. Too short to show off anyone’s skills here.
3. Arik Cannon defeated Ricky Morton at 7:16. The crowd chanted, “Rock and roll!” Morton is 66 and fairly immobile. Cannon was annoyed at the chants and he stalled on the floor and yelled at the referee. Morton finally hit a shoulder tackle that sent Cannon back to the floor at 3:00. Back in the ring, Morton grounded him with a headlock. Morton hit some clotheslines. Cannon got a rollup, put his feet on the ropes for leverage, and scored the pin. The exact same finish of the prior match; how does that happen? Yuck. Almost a completely bump-free match.
* Justin Fowler hit the ring, berated the crowd, and was booed.
4. Justin Fowler defeated Marshe Rockett at 3:53. I’ve seen Rockett in northern WI in singles matches against Carlito and Rhino, and of course, he’s had a good run in NWA. Fowler is white, shorter and overall much smaller than Rockett. Early in the match, Rockett hit a fallaway slam that sent Fowler all the way across the ring. Rockett hit a high back suplex at 3:00. Aaron Alexander ran in the ring, but Rockett caught him and hit a stunner. Fowler immediately got a rollup with a handful of tights for the cheap pin. So, essentially the same finish as the prior two matches. Really…
* Fowler was cocky and made a challenge. Bad idea…
5. PCO defeated Justin Fowler at 5:00 even. Fowler attacked from behind. He hit some kicks but they had no effect on PCO. Fowler hit a Whoopee Cushion buttdrop and an Angle Slam for a nearfall at 2:30. PCO fired up and the crowd was with him. PCO hit a DDT and a clothesline, then a second-rope legdrop on the neck. PCO nailed the top-rope moonsault for the pin. Satisfying squash.
6. Vic Capri (w/Shelley) defeated Connor Hopkins at 9:58. The commentators talked about how Capri was all set to retire but has been pulled back into this fight. Connor reminds me of a young Matt Taven; really cocky and arrogant. The veteran Capri always made me think of Davey Richards, with their wide muscular frame on a short body and the same grizzled vet look. Hopkins was in charge early on and worked him over with some basic offense. Capri hit an Exploder Suplex at 6:00. Capri hit a snap German Suplex, then a dive through the ropes, with Capri’s upper chest hitting the guardrail.
Back in the ring, Connor blocked a Sliced Bread #2. The ref got bumped, and Connor’s heel teammates (Those Damn Coyotes) immediately jumped in the ring and beat up Capri. Shelley jumped in the ring and began kicking all the heels. She hit a low blow punch on Connor. Shelley hit a Doomsday Device clothesline on Connor. The ref was awakened as Capri covered Hopkins to score the pin. Passable. Capri hugged Shelley and his teenage daughter.
* The next match is a tag team gauntlet. The winning team is the first Dreamwave Tag champions in several years, apparently. The match lineup has five teams involved.
7A) “The Hype” Hunter Holdcraft & 12-gauge defeated “Those Damn Coyotes” Brooks Berna & Damien Deschain at 3:02. I don’t know these guys and only team names were displayed. One of the TDC hit a running knee to the back of a head for a believable nearfall at 2:30. One of The Hype hit a German Suplex with a bridge for the pin.
7B) The Hype defeated “The Four Star Heroes” Matt Knicks & Chris Castro at 5:13. The Four Star Heroes attacked and beat them up on the floor. In the ring, the heels worked over Holdcraft for the bulk of the match. 12-gauge got the hot tag at 4:00 and he hit a stunner. One of The Hype got a rollup for the clean pin. Immediately after the pin, Knicks and Castro hit them with kendo sticks.
7C) “Seduce & Destroy” Aaron Xavier & Buck Nasty vs. The Hype at 2:00. The commentators say that S&D are veterans who are returning to win the tag titles, and they also are heels. One of the S&D guys applied an anklelock, and Holdcraft tapped out.
7D) Seduce & Destroy defeated “The Dope Kings” CJ Esparza & Brubaker to win the vacant Dreamwave Tag Titles at 4:36. I saw Brubaker compete at a prior AEW Dark taping in Milwaukee. Buck and Xavier were in charge as they worked over the smaller Esparza. Brubaker made the hot tag at 3:30 and he hit a spin kick to the jaw, then a suplex into the corner. Brubaker hit a fisherman’s suplex. Esparza went to the top rope, but a heel manager threw powder in CJ’s eyes. This allowed for a low blow while the ref was distracted and Seduce and Destroy got the pin.
* But wait! We have a surprise sixth entrant!
7E) “Wasted Youth” Dyln McKay & Marcus Mathers defeated Seduce and Destroy to win the Dreamwave Tag Team Titles at 2:04. I mentioned above that McKay and Mathers have been tearing up the Northeast indy scene (and I wrote that before we got to this surprise, bonus match.) McKay hit his top-rope Shooting Star Press, and Mathers immediately hit his top-rope 450 Splash for the pin. (When the four-way ended, I was stunned that McKay didn’t hit his Shooting Star Press; he was saving it for here.) Veda Scott said there will be a long list of future challengers to Wasted Youth. Not really good action over five mini-matches, but it told a decent story.
* An obscenely long intermission. I actually watched two matches on GCW while waiting for this to return.
8. Gringo Loco defeated Alex Shelley, Nick Wayne, and Mike Bailey in a four-way to retain the Dreamwave Alternative Title at 20:27. Loco is the champion entering the match. Loads of talent in this one. All four fought at the bell and we immediately had a four-way submission spot. Wayne worked over Shelley’s left arm, and he hit a standing moonsault on Shelley for a nearfall. On the floor, Bailey hit a superkick on Wayne at 4:30. In the ring, Bailey unloaded a series of kicks on Wayne.
Bailey and Shelley began working together in beating up Loco and Wayne in the corner. Bailey hit a baseball slide dropkick to Wayne’s face as he was tied in the Tree of Woe. Bailey and Shelley then worked over Loco’s knees. Loco ducked, and Bailey accidentally kicked Shelley in the face at 8:30. Loco hit a top-rope Clout Cutter on Bailey. Wayne nailed a mid-ring Spanish Fly on Bailey for a nearfall.
Shelley hit a top-rope jawbreaker on Bailey at 10:30. Loco hit an inverted Angle Slam on Wayne for a nearfall. Bailey hit his running Shooting Star Press on Loco for a nearfall. We had another four-way submission chain spot on the mat. Shelley hit a Flatliner on Wayne onto the middle turnbuckle. Wayne hit his modified 619 and a doublestomp on Shelley’s left arm, then a Poison Rana on Loco. Shelley applied the Border City Stretch on Bailey, but Wayne made the save. Shelley set up for Shellshock, but Loco avoided it.
Shelley hit a double Sliced Bread for a nearfall at 14:30, but Wayne hit a Swanton Bomb to make the save. shelley hit the Shellshok on Bailey. Wayne hit a flip dive to the floor on Loco. In the ring, Wayne hit a double Clout Cutter for a nearfall. Bailey hit a standing moonsault kneedrop onto two opponents. Bailey nailed the Tornado Kick on Shelley, but Loco stopped Bailey from hitting Ultima Weapon. Bailey nailed the Ultima Weapon on Wayne, as Nick was lying across Loco’s shoulders! Awesome.
Bailey nailed the triangle moonsault to the floor at 18:00. Loco hit a top-rope summersault onto all three opponents on the floor, and we have our first “this is awesome!” chant of the evening. In the ring, Loco and Bailey fought on the ropes in the corner. Loco hit his inverted Angle Slam off the top rope. Loco slammed Wayne face-first to the mat. Loco then nailed his top-rope swinging powerslam on Bailey for the clean pin. Incredibly good, and every bit as fun as you’d expect from these four.
9. “Second Gear Crew” Mance Warner and 1 Called Manders defeated Hartenbower and Mike Bennett at 24:55. I’ve seen Hartenbower a few times; he’s bald with a goatee and a passing resemblance to Josh Alexander. The commentators talked about the warning signs that this match could get violent, noting that everyone brought chairs to the ring. They sat down on the chairs and traded blows. They got beers and drank them while still brawling. They went to the floor and Hartenbower was bleeding from his forehead.
Bennett also was bleeding heavily from his forehead. Mance cracked a crutch across a back at 6:30. Manders and Bennett traded hard chops in the ring. Bennett hit a Death Valley Driver on Mance onto several open chairs. Mance was bleeding heavily and this was disgusting. The SGC shoved doors into the ring at 12:00. Mance hit a second-rope superplex on Bennett through a door bridge, and Manders immediately hit a frogsplash for a nearfall.
Bennett hit a piledriver. Hartenbower speared both SGC through a door propped up in the corner. Bennett then hit a Death Valley Driver on Mance through the door in the corner, drawing a “holy shit!” chant. Manders is now bleeding too, so everyone is dripping red. They all got up and traded forearm shots, and then they all collapsed. They all began hitting each other with shards of the door. Bennett dumped a bag of thumbtacks on the mat at 19:00. However, Bennett and Hartenbower got slammed onto the thumbtacks.
Manders got handcuffs from under the ring; he’s really bleeding now. Manders handcuffed Bennett to the ropes. Mance hit Hartenbower over the head with a garbage can. The SGC took turns beating down Hartenbower but they couldn’t get the pin. This has gone on way too long. Mance applied a crossface. A second ref came out with a key to the handcuffs but Mance and Manders shoved him to the ground. Mance re-applied the crossface on Hartenbower, who finally passed out. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
* Another long break to clean up the ring. That match should have gone on last so people could have left before it started. (A very common practice at the IWA-Mid South shows I have attended in the past, where the hardcore match went last but many fans had vanished.)
** Quick background: A week ago, John Hennigan (Johnny Morrison) defeated Canadian actor Harley Morenstein in the third round of a legit boxing match. I admittedly didn’t pay any attention to this when it took place.
10. Christian Rose defeated Johnny Dreamwave (f/k/a John Morrison) for the Dreamwave Championship at 19:24. Johnny wore an ugly red cowboy hat to the ring and his big black robe. The commentators talked about how he had been in a minor car accident earlier in the day but still made it to the show. Johnny had his stupid ‘drip stick’ and he sprayed the crowd with water. Rose has long blond hair in a mullet; he’s somewhere between Dolph Ziggler and Zicky Dice. Rose hit a shoulder tackle that dropped Johnny. Lots of stalling early on.
Johnny hit a hard kick to the back at 3:30. Rose hit a gut-wrench suplex. Johnny hit a side Russian Legsweep for a nearfall at 6:30, and Rose bailed to the floor. Connor Hopkins and his teammates came to ringside. In the ring, Rose hit a hard kick to the spine. Johnny got on the mic and said they were going to settle this with a “quick draw contest.” I think I saw him do this on the Australia shows in early March. “Is this legal?” one announcer asked. “Who knows what’s legal at this point,” the other responded. So yes, they each were handed a drip stick and walked paces, but Johnny turned and caught him in the face with the water.
Rose hit Johnny over the head with the drip stick and they kept brawling. Rose hit a delayed vertical suplex. Johnny hit a running Shooting Star Press for a nearfall at 16:00. Hopkins and TDC reached into the ring, so the ref ejected them. However, the distraction allowed Rose to hit a low blow uppercut and a Styles Clash for a visual pin. The ref ran back to the ring but Johnny kicked out at two. The ref got bumped. Johnny hit Moonlight Drive swinging faceplant, then Starship Pain corkscrew split-legged moonsault, but the ref was down. Harley Morenstein hopped in the ring and chokeslammed Johnny. Rose applied a Boston Crab on Johnny. The ref woke up, checked on the knocked-out Johnny, and called for the bell.
* Rose got on the mic and said no one can beat him. Out came Vic Capri who made it clear he was next in line for the title.
Final Thoughts: If you have an IWTV subscription, check out the four-way. It was fantastic and all four guys are on top of their game. They clearly are familiar with each other’s moves and delivered a stellar performance. But after that? I’d struggle to say any other match really earned second-best here. There are a lot of wrestlers I really like here — PCO, Mike Bennett, Wasted Youth, John Morrison, Arik Cannon. But none of them had a standout match. I guess I’ll go with Mathers-Wolf opener for second place, which I wouldn’t have expected going in, and Hopkins-Capri for third place. Of the local Chicago-area guys who aren’t on the national scene, CJ Esparza and Brubaker show the most promise.
At 25 minutes, that brawl was just way too long and didn’t hold my interest. Just a disgusting match. I really dislike seeing everyone bleeding, as that’s when you risk blood-borne diseases. And while I like the high-flying Johnny Morrison, the dorky Johny who loves juvenile humor like drip sticks drives me nuts. They sure didn’t do a lot of moves over a 19-minute match, either. I am glad I have an IWTV subscription and it allows me to check out a variety of promotions. But I’ll be blunt… this show looked better on paper than it played out live.
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