By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
We are looking for reports on all WWE, AEW, NXT, Impact Wrestling, MLW, ROH, GCW, and other notable live events. If you attend a show, you are encouraged to send a report or even basic results to dotnetjason@gmail.com
Pro Wrestling Revolver “Mayhem For All”
Streamed on FITE TV
April 6, 2023 in Clive, Iowa at Horizon Event Center
The venue is a large fieldhouse and PWR always draws 600 or so fans for their shows here. Bork Torgleson and Veda Scott provided commentary. With Ring of Honor taping in Florida, this show will rely on a lot of Impact Wrestling talent. ALSO, PWR has entered into a feud with Prestige Wrestling, and we’ll see if-and-how that continues here.
1. Steve Maclin defeated Mike Bailey to retain the Pro Wrestling Revolver title at 13:00 even. This easily could be the main event. They immediately brawled to the floor. Veda noted that she and Bailey beat Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo in a “married tag match,” which got Bailey this title match. Bailey nearly got counted out but dove back in at 3:00. Maclin was in charge. Bailey fired up and hit a series of kicks, then his running Shooting Star Press for a nearfall at 5:00, then his Speedball kicks to the ribs and thighs.
Bailey set up for Ultima Weapon but his ribs hurt too much to hit it. Maclin hit a second-rope piledriver for a believable nearfall at 9:00. (Music started, thinking Maclin had won.) Bailey hit a superkick, then the Tornado Kick in the corner, but he missed Ultima Weapon. Maclin immediatley hit a buckle bomb. Bailey countered with a Poison Rana, and they were both down. Bailey nailed the Ultima Weapon, but Maclin rolled to the floor before Bailey could go for the pin at 11:30.
Maclin nailed a brainbuster on the thin mat on the floor! Maclin dove through the ropes and barreled onto Bailey! Back in the ring, Maclin hit a clothesline and a double-arm DDT for the clean pin. That was really good; that is about as good as Maclin looks. Bravo.
* A video aired, showing that Roderick Strong is coming to the show on July 1. The crowd popped.
2. Marina Shafir defeated Heather Monroe at 0:23. Monroe has to survive three minutes; if she does, she will get $5,000. A count-down clock is on the screen. Monroe appeared on NWA TV this week in a losing effort, and she’s solid in the ring. Shafir tied Monroe up on the mat and Monroe immediately tapped out. Well, that was highly anti-climatic. I guess I hoped it would get within 30 seconds of the time limit to create some drama.
3. JT Dunn and Allie Katch (w/Phil Stamper) defeated Jessicka Havok and Matthew Palmer at 11:32. Palmer is the carnie guy with bottles of potions; his comedy doesn’t work for me. Dunn and Katch stomped on Palmer in their corner. The heels stole Palmer’s potions and drank from them. Palmer drank his potion and was fired up and had energy for two minutes, but then he collapsed and acted like he was having a heart attack. Jessicka finallly got the hot tag at 8:00 and she hit clotheslines on each heel.
Jessicka hit a basement crossbody block and a spin kick for a nearfall on Dunn, then a sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall, but Katch made the save. Katch and Jessicka traded punches at 10:30. Stamper poured liquid down Palmer’s throat as the ref was distracted. Dunn hit a roaring elbow (the cameras COMPLETELY MISSED IT) for a pin on Jessicka. Blah. One of the worst matches I’ve seen in a long time, and pretty appropriate the cameras missed the finish.
4. Alex Shelley vs. Shigehiro Irie for the PWR Remix Title ended in a no contest at 10:29. I’ll repeat myself here; Irie is thick and similar in size to EVIL and Shingo Takagi, and he’s been touring the U.S. for the past month or so. Shelley got on the mic and swore at the crowd, earning him an “asshole!” chant. Shelley noted he is the Prestige heavyweight champion. Shelley mockingly talked down to Irie, who responded, “F— you” and he began punching Shelley to start the match. They immediately brawled to the floor, and Shelley tried to escape into the crowd, but Irie pulled him back. In the ring, Irie hit his slingshot splash for a nearfall at 1:30.
Shelley hit a basement dropkick to the knee and a dragon screw leg whip, and he worked over the right leg. Shelley applied a Figure Four at 3:30 and he barked at Irie. They traded roaring forearms. Irie hit his crossbody block as Shelley was in the ropes, and they both crashed to the floor at 6:30. In the ring, Irie hit a rolling cannonball in the corner for a nearfall. Shelley hit a Flatliner onto the middle turnbuckle, and he immediately applied the Border City Stretch at 8:00, but Irie reached the ropes. Irie hit some forearm strikes, then his cannonball as Shelley was against the ropes.
Shelley hit a low blow mule kick. The ref got bumped! Irie hit a low blow uppercut! They both struggled to get up, but selling the pain of the low blow. Irie hit another low blow and a clothesline. A second ref hopped in the ring and counted to three at 10:29! New champion! I didn’t expect that. But wait, the original ref grabbed the belt out of Irie’s hands, and he talked to a promoter at ringside, and he declared the match a ‘no contest,’ so Shelley retained. A really good match, and I’m okay with that screwball finish.
* Three ‘frat boys’ hit the ring. They are Alpha Sigma Sigma, “the greatest fraternity alive.” They ripped the Iowa crowd. This brought out “Manscout” Jake Manning. He defended Iowa’s honor, and he brought out 1 Called Manders and Mance Warner!
5. 1 Called Manders, Mance Warner, and Jake Manning defeated Alpha Sigma Sigma at 5:13. I start my clock at first contact. They beat up ASS with their paddling board and with chairs. The bell finally sounded at 2:00, although the music was still playing. Manning hit a Trustfall off the top turnbuckle onto several guys on the floor. Manning speared all three ASS guys in a corner. They them powerbombed one heel onto another for the pin. Harmless squash.
6. Lince Dorado defeated Rocky Romero at 12:20. They immediately brawled to the floor, and over the guardrail and into the crowd. They whipped chairs at each other. They went back to ringside, and Dorado dove through the ropes onto Romero at 3:00. He went over the top rope and Romero threw a chair at his face; Dorado may have tripped himself with his foot on the top rope, as he definitely crashed HARD to the floor, and the ref did check on him, but Dorado appeared to be fine. Romero hit a piledriver on the ring apron at 4:30.
In the ring, Romero placed Dorado along his back and hit a powerbomb move for a nearfall. Romero started to tug at Dorado’s mask and got booed. Romero applied a cross-armbreaker at 7:00, then his Forever Clotheslines in the corner. Dorado got a door from under the ring and threw it in. We also have chairs and a garbage can in the ring now. Romero hit a Sliced Bread #2 out of the corner, sending Dorado through a door bridge at 10:30, for a believable nearfall. Romero again tugged at the mask, drawing more boos. Dorado hit a flying body block, then a top-rope Shooting Star Press for the pin. Good match.
* Intermission. PWR shows a match during the break, and today it is Jon Moxley & Sami Callihan vs. The Unit, from a few months ago. I’ve seen this before, so I skipped forward.
7. Rich Swann defeated Crash Jaxon, El Phantasmo, and Damian Chambers in a four-way at 9:14. Chambers has a great look and he’s a heel heat magnet, but he never wins. ELP and Swann traded quick reversals early on. Crash hit running Stinger Splashes in the corner, and he hit a head-scissors takedown on Phantamso at 3:00! ELP hit a Lionsault for a nearfall. ELP did a tightrope Old School walk and hit a huracanrana on Jaxon.
Chambers hit a head-scissors move that got him a pop. Crash hit a release German Suplex on Swann at 7:00, then a fallaway slam on Chambers, tossing him on the other two opponents. Crash (who is maybe 325 lbs!) dove over the top rope onto everyone, earning a “holy shit!” chant. ELP hit a Swanton Bomb and a moonsault on Jaxon for a nearfall at 8:30. Swann nailed a handspring-back-cutter on Chambers, then a second-rope 450 Splash to pin Chambers. Really good four-way.
8. “The Rascalz” Trey Miguel, Myron Reed, and Zachary Wentz defeated “The Bullet Club” Chris Bey, Ace Austin, and David Finlay in a six-man tag at 7:13. Trey and Bey started with quick reversals. All six began brawling. Myron hit a lungblower. The BC worked over Wentz, who executed a double stomp to the chest, then a moonsault to the floor at 5:00. Finlay hit a backbreaker over his knee on Wentz for a nearfall. Reed and Finlay brawled to the back. MIguel hit a low blow and scored the pin on Bey. That was … shockingly lackluster and far too short. And I’m a big fan of all these guys.
* “The Second Gear Crew” Mance Warner and 1 Called Manders hit the ring. Mance got on the mic and said he wants a scaffold in the building for the next show, because he wants the Rascalz in a six-man tag in “Cage of Horror.” He said the injured Matthew Justice will be back by then.
9. Jox Moxley defeated Jake Crist at 12:09. Moxley immediately tied up the left arm. They traded chops. Crist dove through the ropes onto Moxley, then he hit an Asai Moonsault. In the ring, Crist hit a top-rope crossbody block. Moxley began stomping on Crist’s head and face. Moxley hit a release suplex at 4:30. Moxley applied a half-crab, but Crist reached the ropes. Moxley nailed a Saito Suplex for a nearfall. Crist hit a top-rope crossbody block for a nearfall.
Moxley nailed a Gotch-style piledriver (like Minoru Suzuki!) for a believable nearfall at 7:30; that should have been it. They fought on the ropes in the corner, and Moxley scratched Jake’s back and bit his forehead. Crist got a sunset flip powerbomb for a nearfall, and a series of forearm shots. Moxley hit a hard clothesline for a nearfall at 10:00, and he began hitting the elbow strikes to the side of the head. Crist escaped and applied a Sharpshooter. Moxley was bleeding across his eyebrows as he reached the ropes. (Did anyone place bets on whether Jon would bleed here?)
Moxley went for the Death Rider double-arm DDT but Crist escaped, and Jake hit a superkick. Jake went for a rollup, but Moxley applied a rear-naked choke on the mat. The ref checked on Jake, who had passed out. That was a really good match.
10. Sami Callihan defeated Masha Slamovich in an intergender death match at 16:02. They took a short break to set up weapons in the ring, including barbed-wire-covered boards. Callihan hit a Death Valley Driver onto one of those barbed-wire boards at 2:00. They brawled on the floor. In the ring, Masha hit a dropkick, sending Sami into a barbed-wire board at 6:30. She dove through the ropes onto Sami. She was bleeding heavily from her forehead.
Masha dumped a bag of thumbtacks in the ring at 9:00. She hit a Samoan Drop, sending him into the thumbtacks for a nearfall. She jumped on his back and applied a rear-naked choke and he nearly passed out, but instead, he slammed her back onto a barbed-wire board. He began hitting her with the lid of a trash can; she got the lid and hit him repeatedly over the head. He hit a standing powerbomb and a piledriver at 15:00, but she kicked out at one! “That is one tough woman!” Bork said. Callihan hit a piledriver for another nearfall. Sami hit a third piledriver, this time onto the barbed wire, for the pin.
* Masha and Sami hugged. However, JT Dunn and Allie Katch hit the ring and attacked them both. Dunn got on the mic and said Sami can’t run from him, and he’s going to beat Sami’s ass. Dunn then got on a knee and proposed to Katch, and she said yes. Veda Scott quipped that weddings in wrestling always goes well.
Final Thoughts: I am a big fan of this promotion; if I had been able to convince a friend to make the five-hour trek with me, I would have gone to this show. They opened the show with a bang, and I’ll actually give Maclin-Bailey best match of the show. Moxley-Crist was a really good brawl that didn’t devolve into a hardcore garbage match, and they earned second place, with the excellent Irie-Shelley earning third place.
While the six-man tag didn’t quite land for me, it’s partially because it was so short and the cheap win came out of nowhere. Upon further reflection, I am guessing someone got injured here. We had two guys brawl to the back, and just one of them started to return to the ring when we suddenly ‘went home’ and had the rollup. I certainly hope no one was seriously injured, but that is what makes the most sense here. Because if they *knew* they only seven minutes to work with, they would have gone fast-and-furious for those seven minutes, and that just wasn’t the case.
I’m not a fan of either hardcore matches or intergender matches, but Callihan has shown he can have decent-looking brawls with Tessa Blanchard in Impact Wrestling in the past, and he had a good brawl with Masha here. If you like hardcore matches, this one will probably please you. However, the Matthew Palmer stuff is just bad. The last show here, Alex Shelley had his worst match of the year (and I’m a huge fan of Shelley’s work!) because he got sucked into the cartoonish world of Palmer.
The good definitely outweighed the bad here. PWR continues to put out some of the top indy shows out there, and this is an all-star lineup with some top indy free agents along with Impact and AEW stars. I think they wisely alternate between this venue and in Ohio; by only running in each city every other month, they seem to always get a lively crowd when they return. Check out this show at Fite+.
Be the first to comment