By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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Beyond Wrestling “OK Corral”
Replay available via IndependentWrestling.TV
November 19, 2023 in Foxboro, Massachusetts at Six String Grill
This venue is a big bar/restaurant. Lots of people in the background are eating their dinner at tables, and clearly not there for the wrestling. Thus, I’m not going to estimate a crowd, but the fans who are there for the show are standing right next to the ring. Paul Crockett and Sidney Bakabella provided commentary.
1. Matt Makowski defeated Ryan Clancy in a best-of-three-falls match at 18:44. Makowski is the shoot fighter who recently returned from an ACL injury and he’s been tearing through the Northeast wrestling scene. Matt immediately applied a crossarm breaker. Clancy hit some deep armdrags. Matt again applied a crossarm breaker, and Clancy tapped out at 6:57. Sidney said Clancy was smart to tap out right away before he got injured. The action continued after maybe a 15-second break. (I didn’t stop the stopwatch.)
Matt whipped Ryan around the mat and kept him grounded. He hit a powerbomb for a believable nearfall at 11:00; I thought that was it. (I wouldn’t be surprised if this ended 2-0.) Clancy hit a dropkick and was fired up. Clancy hit a frogsplash for a pin at 13:45 to tie it at 1-1, and Crockett stressed that was the first pin on Makowski since he returned. Matt immediately mounted Clancy and hit some punches to the face. Clancy hit a jumping knee that sent Matt stumbling to the floor. This is the really short ring that is maybe two feet tall.
Makowski applied a Boston Crab at 17:30, then a running knee to the jaw for a believable nearfall. Clancy’s throat accidentally struck the top rope. Matt applied a rear-naked choke and Clancy passed out. Good match.
* Brother Greatness replaced Sidney Bakabella on commentary.
2. Love Doug, Landon Hale, and Notorious Mimi defeated Clara Carerras and “The Hispanic Mechanics” Jos-A and Jos-B at 8:46. Again, Mimi had a short NXT run as Sloane Jacobs and was a top star in the Apple+ series on the Monster Factory. I’m not sure if I’ve seen Clara before. Doug and Mimi wore similar angel wing costumes. Funny. The women opened and Mimi has a height advantage. Clara hit a rolling cannonball for a nearfall. Doug and Jos-A entered. They did some comedy with them lined up. Jos-B hit a F5 Slam on Doug at 5:00. Clara dove through the ropes onto everyone. Hale hit a jumping knee to the jaw on one of the Mechanics.
Hale hit a Sasake Special to the floor at 6:30; I haven’t seen that from him before! The women jumped on the shoulders of men and had a ‘chicken fight.’ It turned into a tower spot out of the corner and everyone was down. Hale hit an enzuigiri on Jos-B, then a Lungblower. Doug immediately hit a Rebound Lariat on Jos-B for the pin. Adequate match with decent comedy and a good crowd reaction.
3. RJ Rude and Rex Lawless defeated “Above the Rest” Gabriel Skye and Tristan Thai at 9:08. This match somehow isn’t listed on IWTV’s lineup. Thai and Rude opened. Thai hit a snap German Suplex. Skye entered; he still has his right shoulder taped but seems determined to power through his injury. AtR worked over Rude extensively. Skye hit a German Suplex. The muscular Lawless hit a Pounce. Meanwhile, Rude got a rollup out of nowhere for the pin. Okay match. Lawless was barely in this match. Crockett agreed with me that this was a minor upset.
4. Ichiban and “Miracle Generation” Kylon King and Dustin Waller defeated Channing Thomas, Ted Goodz, and Little Mean Kathleen (w/Sidney Bakabella) at 12:02. Bakabella berated the crowd for drinking alcohol and swearing at wrestlers when there are children in the crowd. LMK is STILL in her wedding gown; the wedding was months ago! Waller hit a 619 in the first minute, and the babyfaces worked over the slimy Channing. Kylon gave Kathleen a Claudio-style Giant Swing. Kathleen hit a Tornado DDT on Kylon that defies reality. Goodz entered and worked over Kylon. Channing and Goodz hit a slingshot suplex at 4:00.
Ichiban made the hot tag and he hit a missile dropkick on Channing. Kathleen got in Ichiban’s face and screamed at him, she she hit the “Spike Dudley bulldog.” Waller hit a superkick on Kathleen (it showed a LOT of light.) Ichiban hit a series of punches and a dropkick on Goodz. Ichiban hit a dive to the floor but was caught, so Waller hit a dive onto everyone. Kylon hit a moonsault to the floor on everyone at 8:30. All six brawled on the floor. In the ring, Kathleen hit a Doomsday Clotheslines! Waller nailed a double stunner at 10:00.
Bakabella got in the ring and he peeled off his jacket. Waller grabbed Bakabella, who immediately apologized, but then he kicked Waller in the groin. Bakabella hit a Canadian Destroyer on Waller! “What did I just see????” Crockett said. Kylon got in the ring and clotheslined Bakabella. Meanwhile, Ichiban and Channing returned to the ring, with Ichiban hitting a top-rope Doomsday legdrop on Channing. The three babyfaces piled on Channing for the pin. Messy at times but plenty of fun.
5. Rickey Shane Page and Vincent Nothing defeated Atticus Cogar and Otis Cogar at 12:36. RSP wrestled at the MLW show a night earlier. I’ve seen Atticus Cogar just a handful of times and I don’t think I’ve seen Otis. These guys are brawlers and not really my style. Otis and Vincent started; both men are bald but Otis is thicker. (He shares some characteristics of WWE’s Otis as a short, thick man.) RSP and Atticus brawled; Page is much thicker. WOW the crowd was quiet for this one. RSP hit a frogsplash at 11:00 for a nearfall. Someone jabbed skewers in Otis’ head; that is gross and just completely unnecessary. (Do you really want blood near where people are eating???) Some unknown kid hopped in the ring and hit a DDT on Atticus Cogar. RSP jumped on the prone Atticus for the pin. I didn’t like this at all; read more below.
* RSP said the kid is a member of the Cogar family, but he’s taking him into his faction. This was so awful I can’t pretend to care… An intermission was edited out.
6. Ray Jaz defeated Richard Holliday at 13:56. Jersey meathead Jaz got on the mic and was booed. Intense mat reversals to open. Holliday hit a series of chops in each corner at 4:00. Jaz took control of the offense, and the crowd rallied for Holliday. Jaz applied an anklelock at 10:00. Holliday escaped and hit a stunner, then a backbreaker over his knee for a nearfall. Holliday hit a powerbomb for a believable nearfall at 12:30. They traded chops. Jaz got a backslide for a nearfall, and he he applied the Jazmission/modified Crossface, and Holliday tapped out. Good mat-based match; neither man ever left the ring.
7. Allie Katch defeated Puf at 12:37. Again, Puf is 400+ pounds and quite unhealthy; he was in the Adam Cole-MJF skit where MJF made fun of the “fat guy” in the gym. He is beloved and got a nice pop. Allie also was wrestling in Seattle on Friday and Saturday for GCW and Defy. They decided there was “an invisible man” also in this match, so they started selling moves by the unseen individual for some comedy spots. They tagged in and beat up on the invisible man. The crowd was having fun and playing along. However, at 4:00, Allie began beating up Puf. She can’t get her arms around him on a German Suplex attempt. She was unable to bodyslam him, too. “She’s just going to give herself a hernia,” Brother Greatness said.
Allie finally got a schoolyard takedown to finally get him off his feet, and she hit a senton at 7:00. She leapt off the top rope but he caught her and hit a bodyslam, then some punches. She hit a rolling cannonball in the corner for a nearfall at 9:00. She hit some mid-ring buttbumps, then her piledriver out of the ropes for the pin. The crowd was totally into this. Not my thing… but this is the type of match you have in a restaurant surrounded by a lot of people who probably showed up to eat and had no clue there would be wrestling, too.
8. Masha Slamovich defeated Aaron Rourke in an intergender match at 12:20. Masha also was in California on Thursday and Friday; she has seemingly fought and beaten every top indy male wrestler this year. Rourke is the effeminate guy who paints half his face and I can’t help but compare his look to Malakai Black. She hit a twisting dive through the ropes at 2:30 and they brawled on the floor. Aaron slammed her on the ring apron. He kept Masha grounded in the ring. He hit a backbreaker over his knee for a nearfall at 5:30. Masha fired back with a second-rope missile dropkick, then a Helluva kick, then her spin heel kick to the jaw for a nearfall at 7:30.
Masha nailed the Northern Lights Bomb for a nearfall. They got up and traded forearm strikes. He hit a modified piledriver move for a nearfall at 9:30. Aaron applied a Figure Four Leglock. She hit a Death Valley Driver on the ring apron for a nearfall at 11:30. In the ring, she hit the White Knight piledriver for the pin. Good match; she somehow always looks believable against bigger men, and the crowd chanted, “That was awesome!”
9. Alec Price defeated Marcus Mathers to retain the IWTV Title, with special referee Avery Good, at 22:18. Worth reiterating that Price wrestled in Massachusetts on Thursday, then in Seattle on Friday, and is back here for a Sunday afternoon show. That’s a crazy schedule. The last time these two had a singles match, Brian Milonas interfered so we didn’t get a decisive winner. Intense reversals to open and this has a great ‘big match’ vibe. Price hit a springboard crossbody block at 5:00. Mathers hit a Northern Lights Suplex for a nearfall. Mathers hit a top-rope crossbody block for a nearfall at 8:00. Price nailed the Rebound Lariat and both were down.
Price hit a half-nelson suplex, then a dive to the floor at 10:30. In the ring, he hit doublestomps to the chest as Marcus was tied in the Tree of Woe. He set up for the Surprise Kick but Mathers avoided it. Price hit his running knees in the corner. Mathers hit a German Suplex and a sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall at 13:30. Mathers hit a flip dive from the ring onto Price who was on a stage next to the ring. Price hit a cool tornado DDT into the ring for a believable nearfall at 16:00.
Mathers hit a superplex into the ring but Price popped up and hit a neckbreaker over his knee, and they were both down. They got up and traded forearm strikes. They hit stereo clotheslines and were both down again, with the fans chanting “This is awesome!” Price accidentally hit a Helluva Kick on the ref! Mathers hit an Awful Waffle piledriver for a visual pin at 21:00 but we had no ref! Mathers woke up Avery and he was livid. Price hit a Frankensteiner and a Superkick, then the Surprise Kick/step-up mule kick for the pin. Every bit as good as I hoped for.
* Mathers seemed upset but he shook Price’s hand and left. Matt Makowski came out of nowhere and got in the ring. Price immediately punched him. Matt tied up Price on the mat. Matt wanted to make an alliance with Alec? Alec responded by hitting a superkick and leaving. Interesting. I’m not sold on this story but we’ll see where it goes.
* A backstage segment with Warhorse, who noted he used to be IWTV champion and he never got a rematch. He’s tired of waiting…. he said this isn’t fun for him anymore. The pinnacle of his career is when he was IWTV champion and he wants it back.
Final Thoughts: A stellar main event. These two showed why they are being booked every weekend all over the country. I’ll take the Makowski-Clancy match for second best, and I love how they made a big deal out of Makowski losing a fall, even though he eventually won the match. Even with some of the cartoonish stuff, I’ll still take Ichiban and Miracle Generation’s six-man tag for third. Masha-Rourke was really good for honorable mention. The comedy of Puf-Allie was fine; it’s better than him selling for her unrealistic offense. Again, it got a great response, and I always point that out if it’s the case, particularly when I personally don’t like it.
But I didn’t care for the RSP-Cogar match and I need to vent about it for a minute. Sure, the match wasn’t clicking for me and the crowd was really quiet. That said… imagine a 35-year-old mom in the crowd. The family is eating Sunday dinner. Her boys are being ages of 7 and 12 and they were enthralled by the Ichiban-led six-man tag. Mom is thinking maybe she will take kids to a show because this was fairly family-friendly fun. Then in the very next match, the Cogar-RSP garbage happens. And suddenly, for no reason at all, cooking skewers are jabbed in the head of a man and he’s bleeding all over, not far where families are eating. What does she think? Is she bringing her boys back? The answer is no. I’ve been to free shows in parking lots. It is just a difference crowd than an entirely paid audience, and you need to play to your audience. The six-person tag, even with the over-the-top Sidney Bakabella and LMKathleen, was fun. The bloody skewers was just… so wrong-headed, tone-deaf booking for the crowd they were in front of, I just can’t get my head around it.
Despite that one match, this was definitely worth tuning in for if you have an IWTV subscription.
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