By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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Prestige Wrestling “The Respect Issue”
Streamed on IndependentWrestling.TV
September 24, 2023 in Los Angeles, California at the Globe Theatre
Jordan Castle and Jack Farmer provided commentary. This venue has been the home of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla the past three or so years. Lighting is really, really poor outside the ring; I seriously can’t identify wrestlers as they walk to the ring. I don’t think it’s inaccurate to say lighting from the hard camera is disastrous, one second fine, one second too dark.
1. Sonico defeated Gregory Sharpe at 8:10. Sharpe is a Black man with wild hair and he always looks deranged to me. Sonico wore a red lucha mask. Basic reversals early on, and they traded chops. Sharpe rammed Sonico’s head into the top turnbuckle, then he hit a uranage for a nearfall at 4:00. Sharpe hit a German Suplex and a devastating brainbuster for a nearfall. Sonico fired back with a springboard crossbody block, then a Dragon Suplex for a nearfall at 7:00. Sonico nailed a Frankensteiner, then his fisherman’s brainbuster for the pin. Good opener.
2. Johnnie Robbie defeated Shazza McKenzie at 4:19. Johnnie has appeared on several recent West Coast Pro shows and she has long, dark hair. Australia native Shazza was just in Chicago on Friday, and she wore her pink gear. An intense lockup to open and they appear to be roughly the same height and overall size. Shazza dominated early and got some rollups; Johnnie bailed to the floor at 3:00 to regroup, and briefly went to the back. The crowd chanted, “where’d she go?”” Robbie returned and hit a huracanrana. They traded rollups, and the ref ruled we had a pinfall. Shazza looked shocked. I initially thought Robbie had a ‘wardrobe malfunction’, with her top coming loose, in the way she was keeping her arms tightly over her chest to keep it in place, which unfortunately led to this ending so quickly.
NOTE: I rewatched the end of the match later. I am hoping she’s okay, because she might have hurt her forearm. I now think her holding her arms in front of her was protecting a damaged arm, not holding loose clothing in place.
* Alan Angels came to the ring and got on the mic, complaining he’s getting “screwed over.” The crowd loudly booed him. He said he doesn’t care about the three opponents in his match tonight.
3. Alan Angels defeated Diego Hill, Jordan Cruz, and Travis Williams in a four-way at 11:35. This is Diego’s debut here and I’m very high on him. He’s Wes Les-meets-Cedric Alexander and he’s a top 20 indy talent. Williams is now bald; he’s a Zack Sabre clone in style and even his ring jacket. Angels and Cruz paired off while Williams battled Diego. Diego hit a series of quick kicks on Travis. Cruz hit a clothesline on Diego, and Farmer noted how much bigger Cruz is than these other three. He hit an Exploder Suplex on Diego. Williams hit a dive to the floor at 3:00. Cruz hit a flip dive onto Williams and Angels. Diego set up for a dive, but Angels cut him off and got loudly booed.
Angels hit a half nelson suplex on Hill for a nearfall. Cruz hit a Flatliner on Angels at 5:30. Diego hit a top-rope Phoenix Splash, earning a huge pop. “Is that real? Did that happen?” Castle asked. Diego hit a running stunner at 7:00. Diego nailed the Fosbury Flop to the floor on everyone. In the ring, Diego hit a springboard clothesline for a nearfall on Angels. Williams hit a brainbuster on Diego for a nearfall at 8:30. Cruz nailed a Frankensteiner, then a second-rope Olympic slam, then a second-rope superplex for a nearfall, and suddenly all three were down, and we got a “this is awesome!” chant.
Diego hit a rebound dropkick, then a double-jump corkscrew moonsault on Cruz for a believable nearfall, but Williams pulled the ref from the ring. Williams hit a clothesline for a visual pin on Diego.. but he looked at Angels, then he stood up and walked away? The commentators were baffled. Me too. Angels hit the Angels Wings faceplant to pin Diego Hill. Intriguing. Castle praised Diego Hill, who was the last guy to leave the ring, and the crowd gave him a loud “please come back!” chant.
* Jordan Castle said Galeno Del Mal’s scheduled opponent had to cancel so he has a mystery opponent. And it turned out to be … Moose! Castle said he’s being told in his ear that Scott D’Amore sent Moose, because Impact Wrestling had previously pulled Alex Shelley from the show, and he thanked D’Amore. Nice.
4. Moose defeated Galeno Del Mal at 8:24. If you haven’t seen Galeno before… think DC comics Bane. He is just a masive luchador and he’s even a bit bigger than Moose. Galeno hit a huracanrana and a dropkick. They traded chops. Moose nailed a big uranage for a nearfall at 3:30. Castle said Galeno is only 22. They traded forearm shots. They hit simultaneous clotheslines and were both down. Galeno hit a rolling cannonball in the corner for a nearfall at 5:30. Galeno hit a reverse suplex, dropping Moose stomach-first to the mat for a nearfall. Moose nailed a top-rope superplex, and they were both down at 7:30. Moose set up for a spear but Galeno avoided it and he got a sunset flip for a nearfall. Moose nailed the spear for the pin. For the time given, that was fantastic. Castle again thanked Scott D’Amore for making this match happen.
5. Lee Moriarty defeated Jonathan Gresham at 17:33. Castle said Gresham is 3-0 lifetime against Lee. They opened in a knucklelock and good reversals. This is mat-based; it’s good action but not much to describe. Gresham applied a Boston Crab at 6:00. Gresham hit a suplex at 10:30, and the crowd chanted, “this is wrestling!” Moriarty went for a mid-ring Octopus, but Gresham fought free. Gresham stomped on Lee’s fingers. They traded forearm shots. Lee hit a running uppercut and they were both down at 15:00.
Gresham hit a dropkick on the knee and got a nearfall. Moriarty hit a reverse suplex, dropping Gresham face-first to the mat. Lee then hit a regular suplex for a nearfall. Gresham hit an enzuigiri and a German Suplex for a nearfall. They traded rollups. Lee applied an Alex Shelley-style Border City Stretch, and Gresham immediately tapped out! That was good stuff.
6. Tom Lawlor defeated Vinnie Massaro at 8:40. Lawlor wrestled in the Chicago suburbs on Saturday before heading here, and he wore his silly tuxedo gear. Massaro is the heavyset over-the-top Italian stereotype gimmick and he handed out food. He’s Hugh Morrus in size with the singlet to hide his gut, and I admittedly am not a fan. They did some silliness to open. Massaro hit a leg lariat at 1:30. Lawlor tied up Massaro’s arms on the mat and snapped the right one backward. Lawlor hit a running Penalty Kick on the ring apron. He looped the ring before hitting a kick to the chest. Massaro hit a baseball slide dropkick to the floor at 4:30.
In the ring, Lawlor hit a snap suplex. He dove toward the corner but Vinnie caught him with a kneestrike. Lawlor hit a Northern Lights Suplex. Massaro hit a T-Bone Suplex. Lawlor hit a belly-to-belly suplex, and they were both down at 7:00. Massaro hit a clothesline. Lawlor applied a sleeper on the mat, and Massaro tapped out or passed out. That finish came out of nowhere.
7. Titus Alexander defeated Rey Horus at 10:00 even. Titus is a top heel here. Horus wore a white-and-yellow mask today. They brawled to the floor at 1:00, where Titus dropped Horus face-first on the ring apron. He then slammed Horus back-first on the apron. In the ring, Titus hit stiff kicks to the spine. He tied Horus in the Tree of Woe and hit a dropkick for a nearfall at 4:00. Horus hit a huracanrana on the floor. In the ring, Horus hit a twisting frogsplash for a nearfall. Horus hit a mid-ring Spanish Fly for a nearfall at 6:30. Titus hit a handspring-back-stunner for a nearfall. They got up and traded forearm shots. Horus hit a springboard twisting DDT for a nearfall at 8:30. He hit an armdrag off the ropes. Titus fired back with a German Suplex, then a superkick. Titus blocked a DDT and he nailed the Sweet Time Driver modified piledriver for the pin. Sharp match.
8. Trish Adora defeated Shoko Nakajima at 9:50. I believe this is my first time seeing Shoko, who is dressed like AEW’s Hikaru Shida. Shoko battled Shazza McKenzie on Friday in Chicago. Adora wore white gear; I don’t think I’ve seen this before. Shoko was covered in streamers. They shook hands and Shoko is really, really short; online she is listed at 4’10” but that might be an exaggeration. Trish dropped to her knees and offered a test of strength and she was booed for it. Shoko hit a dropkick at 2:30. Trish tied her in a mid-ring Octopus; she put Shoko underneath her and did the splits over her, and was booed some more. Shoko tried a dive through the ropes, but Trish caught her and hit a backbreaker over her knee at 5:30.
Shoko hit a flip dive to the floor on Adora. In the ring, Shoko hit a 619. Trish hit a Northern Lights Suplex for a nearfall. She hit a Tower of London stunner for a nearfall at 8:00. Shoko hit a dropkick. Trish hit a German Suplex while on her knees, then a senton. Shoko hit a Northern Lights suplex for a nearfall. Trish nailed the Lariat Tubman clothesline for the pin. Good action, but I’m glad Trish got a big win.
9. Mike Bailey defeated (Tyler) Breeze at 14:14. Again, this was supposed to be Breeze vs. Alex Shelley, but it got changed to Bailey a week ago. Breeze looks great; I think this is now the third match I’ve seen him have in the past month after his lengthy time off. Bailey mockingly did a male model ‘cat-walk’ pose, and that popped the crowd. They traded quick reversals and the crowd chanted “Prestige!” They had a standoff, but Breeze caught him with a superkick at 4:30. Breeze teased he was going to do a 450 Splash, but then just climbed down to the mat and was booed. Funny. This match has great crowd heat.
Bailey hit a second-rope missile dropkick at 8:30, then a series of kicks, but he missed a running Shooting Star Press. He hit his Speedball kicks to the ribs, then a running penalty kick and a moonsault kneedrop, with Breeze rolling to the floor to regroup. On the floor, Breeze hit another superkick. Bailey nailed the Triangle Moonsault to the floor at 10:30. They fought on the ring apron, where Bailey hit some roundhouse kicks, but he missed the moonsault kneedrop.
In the ring, Breeze placed Bailey’s feet on the ropes and he hit a DDT for a nearfall at 12:00. Bailey missed the Ultima Weapon, and Breeze immediately hit the Beauty Shot spinning kick to the face for a believable nearfall. The end of the match somehow got jumbled with some bad editing, and we didn’t see the finish! Bailey was announced as the winner. Luckily, we see a replay of the finish, with Bailey hitting the Ultima Weapon summersault kneedrop to the back for the pin. An excellent match to close the show.
Final Thoughts: I won’t hold it against the main event that we had that weird glitch in the feed at the end of the match. Bailey and Breeze had an engaging match that kept the crowd fully into it, and it earns best match. The four-way was stellar and earns second-best. I’ve been pushing Diego Hill as a rising star for several months now, and it’s great to see Prestige give him this chance to shine, and he didn’t let anyone down. Titus-Horus was really strong for third place. The unexpected Moose-Galindo match earns honorable mention. Some people will have that Gresham-Moriarty higher than I did, but that’s all personal tastes, and I wouldn’t argue with anyone who had that at or near the top.
Prestige Wrestling is really doing a good job of finding some top-notch indy wrestlers and mixing them in with established stars. Not a bad match here, and regardless of whatever happened in that Shazza-Johnnie match, I just wish they could have kept going.
The biggest drawback of this show was the lighting. It could be really good in the center of the ring, but a wrestler would absolutely vanish in the shadows if they moved to the corners of the ring. The ringside cameras were better, but overall substandard for what we see on indy shows. The youthful, energetic Castle continues to be fun on commentary, in a very Don West sort of way, and yes, that is meant as a compliment. Check out this show at IWTV.
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