By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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Beyond Wrestling “Thirty (+Under)”
Streamed on IndependentWrestling.TV
April 30, 2023 in Worcester, Massachusetts at White Eagle
Attendance is in the 200 range. As the title of the show suggests, everyone booked to wrestle on this show is age 30 or younger.
1) Willow Nightingale defeated Anastasia Morningstar at 10:19. My first time seeing Morningstar, who is a little bit bigger in size than Willow, and she wore a green mask and outfit. She has two guys with her dressed like altar boys. So, Willow got on the mic and brought out Waves & Curls to be in her corner. Morningstar missed a Swanton Bomb. Morningstar hit a nice swinging Flatliner for a believable nearfall, but Willow got a hand on the ropes. The four men fought on the floor fought. Meanwhile, Willow hit a moonsault press on a standing Anastasia for the pin. Adequate opener.
2. Ryan Clancy (w/TJ Crawford) defeated Gabriel Skye at 9:33. Skye is a rising star in the team “Above the Rest;” his partner Tristan Thai suffered a bone bruise and missed the show. Clancy is white and he has his black hair slicked straight back like Irwin R. Schyster, and he’s the heel; he recently had a decent showing against Zack Sabre Jr. Skye has long dark hair and a good physique, and I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen of him.
Skye hit a half-nelson suplex for a nearfall at 5:00. Clancy applied a half-crab, but Skye reached the ropes at 7:30. Skye hit a Falcon Arrow for a nearfall. Clancy hit a side Russian Legsweep for the pin. Good match but a lackluster finishing move; when is the last time you saw a match end with that?
3. Notorious Mimi defeated Little Mean Kathleen at 4:42, with Love, Doug as the special referee. Doug is the love-struck hillbilly with a mullet; he’s the indy version of NXT’s Brooks Jensen. LMK is angry at Doug for being slighted in the past. Mimi wore red and she has long red hair, and she’s “pro wrestling’s angel.” LMK shreiked at Doug for checking Mimi for a weapon, as she’s incredibly jealous. LMK charged at Mimi with a plastic knife. This feels like watching a Jerry Springer (RIP) episode. Mimi threw Doug into LMK. Mimi hit a 619 but Doug was reluctant to make the count. Mimi slammed LMK, and Doug slowly, reluctantly, made the three-count. Kathleen shoved Doug to the mat, angry at him for making the cover. Right on cue, a commentator made a Jerry Springer reference, after I already wrote it. Entertaining undercard stuff.
4. Ray Jaz and Channing Thomas defeated Akira in a no-DQ three-way at 11:29. Thomas wears a robe out of the Bobby Roode collection and he’s smug. Jaz is the stereotypical Jersey shore musclehead. This was supposed to be these two heels, and they teased leaving without fighting, but Akira joined in to make it a three-way. In a silly spot, Akira picked up a boy, perhaps age 6, and used the boy as a battering ram to strike a heel. In the ring, the heels worked together to beat up Akira. Of course, they inevitaby began shoving each other when each man tried to score a pin. Jaz and Thomas powerbombed Akira through a door bridge in the center of the ring; they both made the cover for the pin. The official ruling was they *both* won the three-way. A commentator said he was “bewildered” by the ruling; me too.
5. B3cca and Aaron Rourke defeated Janai Kai and Yoya in a mixed tag match at 11:06. This match has tornado rules (no tags required; all four in the ring.) B3cca is the ‘international pop star’ and she came out with a mic and was lip-synching a song. Rourke has the side of his head shaved and his hair is a shade of red/purple. I just watched and reviewed a Kai-B3cca match; I like Kai’s kickboxing look and style. B3cca hit a German Suplex with a bridge for a nearfall on Yoya. Kai hit some spin kicks on Rourke. Rourke hit a Blue Thunder Bomb on Kai for a nearfall at 3:00.
B3cca leapt off Rourke’s shoulders and slammed her weight down on Kai at 5:30, and the heels worked Kai over. Kai and Yoya applied simultaneous submission holds. Rourke nailed a package piledriver on Yoya, and B3cca immediately hit a 450 Splash on Yoya for the pin. Fun match.
6. Ichiban and “The Miracle Generation” Dustin Waller and Kylon King defeated Austin Luke and “Wasted Youth” Marcus Mathers and Dylin McKay at 10:58. Wasted Youth are rising stars and just won the Dreamwave tag titles in the Chicago area. Ichiban wears a mask that reminds me of El Generico. I’ve seen Miracle Generation a few times now; Waller reminds me of a young Trent Baretta. Austin Luke has a short, thick beard and reminds me of a young Tom Lawlor. Luke and Ichiban started, then King faced Mathers. Mathers’ team worked over King in their corner. Ichiban made the hot tag at 6:30 and battled Luke again, with Ichiban hitting a top-rope crossbody block for a nearfall.
Mathers hit a standing powerbomb. Ichiban hit a Canadian Destroyer on Mathers and suddenly everyone was down. All six got up and brawled. Ichiban hit a Poison Rana on Mathers. Waller hit a handspring-back-stunner. Ichiban hit a top-rope elbow drop to pin McKay. Good match, but this just scratched the surface of what these guys can do. Lots of potential here.
7. “Shook Crew” Bobby Orlando and Bryce Donovan defeated “Milk Chocolate” Brandon Watts and Randy Summers at 7:28. Orlando is the dork who carries his stuffed goat to the ring; he recently had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it AEW Elevation match. Donovan has long hair with a passing rememblance to the Young Bucks. Watts is Black and Summers is white; they wore identical red trunks with their team name on the butt. Orlando and Summers started. MC began working over Orlando in their corner.
Orlando finally hit a spear and made the hot tag to Donovan at 4:00. Donovan hit a spinning sideslam on Watts for a nearfall. Orlando hit a top-rope missile dropkick on Watts. Donovan hit a dive over the top rope onto both opponents at 7:00. Donovan hit a top-rope elbow drop for the pin. Fun match.
8. Megan Bayne defeated Shannon LeVangie at 10:44. Shannon has long, straight black hair and a young face, and she appears to be fairly tall, maybe 5’10 or 5’11”. Bayne wore her Amazon outfit including a headdress, and two men helped carry her robe. Bayne has more muscle mass and she overpowered Shannon early on. She bodyslammmed LeVangie and hit a fallaway slam, then a senton for a nearfall at 4:00.
LeVangie fired back with a stunner, and they were both down. Shannon applied a sleeper, but Megan flipped her forward to the mat. Shannon hit three Helluva Kicks. Shannon went off the top rope, but Megan caught her and threw her into the turnbuckles. Megan hit a Falcon Arrow for a nearfall at 8:00. Shannon hit a top-rope Meteora kneedrop for a nearfall. Shannon hit a Flatliner for a nearfall. Shannon missed a top-rope spinning frogsplash. Megan put Shannon across her shoulders and spun her stomach-first to the mat for the pin. Good match. Megan has the size and presence.
* B3cca and Aaron Rourke hit the ring and attacked Shannon! Bayne returned to the ring and hit Rourke!
9. Brad Hollister defeated Alex Coughlin at 14:07. Couglin is the muscular New Japan dojo graduate. Hollister is thick with tattoos on his biceps and chest. They tied up, but Coughlin overpowered Brad, who bailed to the floor to regroup. Coughlin followed him outside the ring, and they brawled on the floor. In the ring, Hollister hit a Divorce Court armbreaker at 3:00 and he went to work on the left arm. Hollister hit a release German Suplex. Coughlin fired up and hit a series of chops in the corner at 6:30.
Hollister slammed Coughlin but missed a senton. Coughlin hit a gut-wrench suplex, and they were both down. Coughlin hit a Black Hole Slam. Coughlin put Hollister on his back, stood up, and hit a Death Valley Driver for a nearfall at 9:30. Coughlin hit a spinning suplex for a nearfall. Hollister hit a sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall. They got up and traded forearm shots and chops. They hit simultaneous clotheslines at 13:00 and were both down. The ref got bumped. Hollister raked the eyes, got a rollup, and the cheap pin. Very good match with a flat finish.
10. Ichiban and “The Miracle Generation” Dustin Waller and Kylon King vs. Alec Price, Ryan Gosselin, and Steven Stetson ended in a double DQ at 5:04. Second match of the show for Ichiban’s team. Stetson is a cowboy character with short black hair. Gosselin has short blond hair. Stetson was going to start, but like a good chickenshit heel, tagged in Price instead. Price hit a second-rope crossbody block on Waller. Price and Stetson argued. All six brawled in the ring, and the ring announcer said it was a double DQ.
Stetson gave Price a chair and he wanted Alec to use it on Ichiban. (This feels like the Sami Zayn-Reigns-Owens segment.).
* Out of the back came Richard Holliday! He teased he was going to hit Ichiban, but he instead turned and hit Stetson, and the heels headed to the back. Holliday, of course, has been struggling with cancer and his MLW contract recently expired. He got on the mic and thanked the crowd. “This is a moment I’ve thought about and dreamed about for a long time,” Holliday said. He said he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in September. He talked about how his trainer, Paul Roma, suffered a heart attack, so Richard took over as head trainer for a while.
“There is nothing I love more than pro wrestling,” Holliday said. He talked about his father dying in 2020, and he had pro wrestling to turn to at the time. So, he said he is returning to Beyond Wrestling. “So, I want to say publicly for the first time, thank you, and I’m in remission.”
Final Thoughts: A lot of the rising stars of the Northeast wrestling scene are here, notably Alec Price, Marcus Mathers, Dyln McKay, Janai Kai, Alex Coughlin and Gabriel Skye. I’ll go with Hollister-Coughlin for best match, even though I disliked the finish. The Wasted Youth six-man tag earns second place, with the Clancy-Skye match coming in third.
The big news here is Richard Holliday announcing he’s healthy and returning to pro wrestling. I have struggled to enjoy MLW in the past year, but before he got sick, Holliday was a highlight. His whole ‘rich spoiled kid’ who talked about his “lawyer/slash/father” was great heel stuff. So, happy for him he’s healthy and gets to return to what he loves.
This was a fun show. Nothing must-see, but I see so much promise on this roster.
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