By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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Wrestling Open “Episode 93”
Streamed on IndependentWrestling.TV
October 12, 2023 in Worcester, Massachusetts at White Eagle
On paper, this is the strongest episode of this weekly live series in months, and I think the area fans agree, as the crowd seems much larger tonight than in recent weeks. Paul Crockett and Brother Greatness provided live commentary.
1. “Fresh Air” Macrae Martin and Junior Benito defeated Percy Ryan and Dante Drago at 6:34. Fresh Air are the talented Canadian duo I see a lot of in C*4 Wrestling. The winner of his match will face the winner of tonight’s main event on Saturday. Percy is the weird model who wears bizarre chains along his cheeks and chin. The heels worked over the larger Macrae early on. Macrae hit a spinning kick to Percy’s head at 5:00. Benito, a talented thin Black man, made the hot tag and hit a series of clotheslines and a Blue Thunder Bomb on Drago for a nearfall. Macrae hit Percy on the jaw, and Brother Greatness sold it like it was a shocking blow. Fresh Air hit a team stunner move to pin Drago. Good opener.
2. Pedro Dones defeated DJ Powers at 5:28. I don’t think I’ve seen Powers before; he’s a scrawny white kid with a passing resemblance to “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry, and Paul Crockett says he’s only 18. He showed some decent heel charisma. Dones has been feuding with Ray Jaz, and he his much thicker than Powers. Dones hit some deep armdrags and worked the left arm. DJ ripped off tape around Dones’ ribs and he stomped on the waist, and hit a shoulder tackle to the ribs in the corner. Powers hit a spear for a nearfall at 4:00. Dones fired back with a Samoan Drop and a diving headbutt. He tried to pick up DJ but he sold the rib injury. Instead he nailed a DDT and switched to a cross-armbreaker move, and DJ tapped out.
3. Landon Hale defeated Patrick Saint at 5:42. Hale has just started a new feud with Joe Ocasio. I don’t think I’ve seen Saint before; he’s a Black man who carried a stack of money that he was sniffing as he came through the curtain (think Willie Mack but a bit thinner.) Hale is the Matt Taven clone, even his pants are “Taven purple.” They locked up and the thicker Saint easily shoved Hale to the mat. Hale hit a huracanrana and a dropkick. Saint nailed a running crossbody block for a nearfall at 1:30. Saint hit some backbreakers over his knee. Hale fired back with a dropkick, then a slingshot stunner for a nearfall at 4:00. Saint nailed a Dominator faceplant for a believable nearfall, and the commentators thought that was it. Hale hit a crossbody block into the corner, then a Germa Suplex for the pin. Good action.
4. Hammer Tunis (w/Steven Stetson) defeated CPA at 6:31. Last week, Tunis joined the Stetson Ranch heel faction, and footage of that was shown before the match. Tunis makes me think of WWF’s Skinner. Stetson gave Tunis a gift; Tunis opened a bag and pulled out a bull whip! CPA, the short accountant in his button-down shirt, is always good comedy; he tripped Tunis early and did a schoolyard takedown. Tunis took control and hit a Rude Awakening standing neckbreaker for a nearfall at 3:30. He hit a diving European Uppercut to the back of the head for a nearfall. CPA hit a stunner and his comedy 619 for a nearfall. Hammer nailed a stiff DDT out of nowhere for the pin. Fun match but the winner was never in doubt.
* CPA got on the mic and apologized for losing. The crowd was forgiving. He said there is “something else I need to do.” He left the ring looking quite despondent.
5. Brad Hollister and “The Brick City Boyz” J Cruz and Victor Chase (w/TJ Crawford) defeated Ichiban and Dezmond Cole and Ryan Clancy at 9:11. After a 10-minute time-limit draw last week involving some of these competitors, this match has been announced as having a 20-minute time limit. The BCB wore medallions that acknowledge they won the Eliminator Cup tag tournament last week. Chase and Clancy opened. Julio Cruz entered at 1:30 and faced Ricochet-cone Dezmond Cole, and Cole hti a dropkick. The babyfaces hit a triple suplex spot at 3:00 and they posed together. However, the heels quickly hit a team powerbomb move on Cole and took over. Hollister hit a German Suplex for a nearfall at 6:00, as the heels kept Dezmond in their corner.
Ichiban made the hot tag and he hit a stunner and a flying back elbow, then a top-rope missile dropkick on the BCB. Clancy made a blind tag and brawled with Hollister. Clancy hit a dropkick for a nearfall at 8:00. Dezmond nailed a flip dive to the floor on Chase. Holister naileda deadlift second-rope superplex on Ichiban. TJ Crawford jumped on the ring apron and nailed Clancy! Hollister immediately hit a twisting brainbuster to pin Clancy for the tainted victory.
* The heels wanted to continue their attack, but Alec Price ran to the ring and chased them off. He got on the mic and said that being as he’s out here, he wants to have his title match right now. Brother Greatness pointed out this a disadvantage for Marcus Mathers, who may not be ready yet.
6. Alec Price fought Marcus Mathers to a draw/no contest to retain the IWTV Heavyweight Title at 13:27. These two are great and definitely a reason I tuned in. Price is a babyface in the Northeast but a few fans were all over him. The crowd chanted “both these guys!” before they locked up. They immediately traded multiple rollups. (I personally hate this spot; it looks too cartoonish for a title match.) They switched to some good reversals with them able to avoid each other’s big spots. Mathers hit a shotgun dropkick at 3:00, then a Northern Lights Suplex for a nearfall. Price came back with an enzuigiri, then his series of kneestrikes in the corner at 6:00, but Mathers blocked the last one.
Price hit a tornado DDT for a nearfall. He hit a stunner across the top rope. Mathers fired back with an enzuigiri and a fallaway stunner, then a mid-ring stunner for a nearfall. Price nailed a Superkick; Mathers hit his own superkick at 8:30. Price hit his series of kneestrikes in the corner. Price hit a Canadian Destroyer for a nearfall. Mathers avoided the Surprise Kick. Mathers nailed a head-capture Suplex, then a Gotch-style Piledriver for a believable nearfall at 10:30. Price was out on the mat and the ref checked on him as Mathers seemed unclear what to do next.
Price nailed a half nelson suplex. Mathers hit a series of kicks and a German Suplex, then a sit-out powerbomb at 12:30. Price hit an enzuigiri in the corner, then a Frankensteiner, but he again couldn’t hit the Surprise Kick. Price nailed a rebound clothesline off the ropes and they were both down. Brian Milonas hit the ring and began punching Price, causing the no contest. Milonas beat up both men. That was a fantastic match until the cheap finish. Milonas said he was going to win the title on Friday from Price.
* Footage aired of Tyree Taylor beating up RJ Rude in recent weeks, with Rude’s partner Rex Lawless making the save.
7. Tyree Taylor (w/Brother Greatness) defeated Rex Lawless (w/RJ Rude) at 8:06. Again, Tyree Taylor is similar to Shane Taylor or Mark Henry, while the muscular Lawless is similar to Jaxson Ryker. Lawless charged into the ring and immediately brawled with Taylor, while RJ chased Brother Greatness to the back. Rex hit a spear for a nearfall just seconds in. Tyree bailed to the floor to regroup. In the ring, Lawless hit a Mafia Kick for a nearfall. Tyree took control in the ring with some basic stomps and kicks, and he kept Lawless on the mat.
Lawless finally hit a rolling elbow at 5:30 and a running boot. Lawless hit a rolling cannonball in the corner for a nearfall. Taylor hit a discus clothesline. Rex hit a Code Red for a believable nearfall at 7:30 and the crowd popped for the move. Brother Greatness returned to ringside and distracted Lawless. It allowed Taylor to hit an overhead powerbomb for the pin. Good big-man matchup. Rude hit a flip dive to the floor on Taylor and Brother Greatness. Rude vowed he would get revenge on Taylor.
8. “Miracle Generation” Dustin Waller and Kylon King defeated “Swipe Right” Ricky Smokes and Brad Baylor to retain the IWTV Tag Titles at 15:05. Smokes is similar to Sammy Guevara. I always say the 19-year-old Baylor, with his feathered hair, looks like every jerk in every 1980s teen comedy movie. The ring announcer said this is MG’s 18th title defense. Impressive. Kylon dove through the ropes onto the heels at 1:00. In the ring, Kylon hit a dropkick on Baylor. Waller entered and hit a dropkick on Smokes at 3:30. The heels began working over Waller in their corner. Smokes hit a back suplex for a nearfall at 6:00. Baylor hit a back suplex.
Waller hit a DDT on Smokes and they were both down. Kylon made the hot tag at 8:30 and he worked over the heels. He hit a double missile dropkick. Kylon hit a nice German Suplex for a nearfall on Baylor. Waller hit a top-rope crossbody block on both heels at 10:00. King missed a moonsault. The heels hit some punches on Waller. Smokes hit a TKO stunner on Waller for a nearfall. Waller hit a tornado DDT on Smokes. King hit an enzuigiri on Baylor. Baylor hit a double underhook slam. The heels hit a team stunner move on King, but Waller made the save at 12:30, and all four were down.
Waller hit a handspring-back-stunner. Baylor hit a snap powerslam. King hit a tornado DDT and a brainbuster on Baylor. Smokes hit a Cameron Grimes-style Cave-in Stomp, and all four were down again. Smokes and Waller got up and traded punches. Smokes and King traded rollups, until King got a three-count on a rollup. That was superb.
* Fresh Air came to ringside to save Miracle Generation from a post-match beatdown. They had a nice staredown in advance of their rematch. (They recently fought each other in a different show I reviewed from New Jersey.)
Final Thoughts: This might be the single best episode of Wrestling Open I’ve seen and reviewed. This would be a great show to begin watching Wrestling Open if you haven’t see it before. Even with the non-finish, Price/Mathers earns best match. Just two topnotch guys in their early 20s who are clicking in the ring, working everywhere in the country every weekend. That was a stellar main event that would be best match on nearly any other show. The only drawback is no one thought Miracle Generation was losing here, especially being as they have an upcoming match against Fresh Air. The six-man tag with Ichiban was really good too.
The rest of the show was solid and you can see how much effort Wrestling Open puts into creating storylines, from the Jaz-Dones feud to the Stetson Ranch vs. Brett Ryan Gosselin. This show was really needing a good women’s match to tie it all together. There really is no excuse, with all the great talent out there, to not have at least one on a show. This show gets a strong recommendation.
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