By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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Melbourne City Wrestling “Anniversary Weekend, Night 2”
February 13, 2024 in Thornbury, Australia Thornbury Theatre
Streamed on the TrillerTV+
I enjoyed Night 1 a lot so I decided to check out the second show as well. This is the same ornate theater as Night 1 with perhaps 600 fans seated on three sides of the ring, with the stage on the other side.
* The show opened with a recap video, featuring Buddy Matthews losing his MCW Title to Slex due to outside interference, after a heel turn from Adam Brooks. Up first is an elimination match with the winner getting a title shot of their choosing.
1. Tommy Knight won an elimination match at 7:20 to earn a shot at the title of his choosing. There are eight men in this match. Snap and Crackle are a tag team that has me thinking of WWE’s Oddities. Shen. Jake Taylor. Jarvis, the heel that had me thinking of NXT-era Bo Dallas. Tommy Knight is the big bald guy; think Big Damo/Killian Dain but not all the body hair. “The Natural Classics” Tome Filip and Stevie Filip, the superb tag team in the co-main event on Night 1. Snap and Crackle were both pinned at 3:30. Knight speared Shen and pinned him at 3:45. Jake Taylor was pinned at 4:18. Just like that, we have only four left (and all four had matches on Night 1, unlike those first four.)
Jarvis pinned Tome at 5:41 with his feet on the ropes for leverage. Jarvis pinned Stevie Filip with a handful of tights at 6:00 even. Jarvis hit a Lethal Injection on Tommy Knight but Knight barely sold it. Knight hit a Guerrilla Press and a spear, then a brainbuster for the pin. Okay stuff; the crowd was happy with the winner.
2. Caveman Ugg defeated Mick Moretti at 10:35. The first time I saw these guys were at a PWG “Battle of Los Angeles” tournament a few years ago. Ugg looks a lot like WWE’s Ivar. With his bald head but hair on the back, Moretti reminds me of WWF’s Damien Demento (if you remember that long ago!) Basic brawling early on. Ugg hit a doublestomp to the chest at 6:00, then a series of chops and a giant splash for a nearfall. He hit a windup uranage and the crowd chanted “Ugg!” Moretti applied a Fujiwara Armbar, but Ugg reached the ropes at 9:00. Snap, the scrawny kid from the first match, threw powder at Ugg, but it went into Mick’s eyes! “Snap’s plan has backfired!” a commentator shouted. Ugg hit a one-handed Razor’s Edge for the pin.
* Moretti beat up Snap and Crackle after the match.
3. Erika Reid defeated Aysha in a No Holds Barred match at 9:08. Aysha is tall, Asian with long black hair and she came out first. Erika, in white facepaint and blue/purple hair, attacked her from behind on the stage! They brawled at ringside before getting into the ring at 1:00. Aysha hit a snap suplex and she was in charge. The crowd rallied for babyface Erika. Aysha got a chair and she jabbed it into Reid’s throat at 4:30. Reid went under the ring and grabbed a large boomerang, and she whipped Aysha with it. Aysha set up a table at 8:00, and she put Erika on it. However, Erika got up, powerbombed Aysha through the table, and scored the pin. Good brawl without getting too violent either.
4. Delta defeated Emman Azman and Nick Legstrong in a three-way at 6:19. Again, Delta really wowed me with her presence a day earlier; definitely a bit of a Rhea Ripley in her size and style but with Jody Threat’s bright red hair. Emman is a short man of Malaysian heritage. Legstrong is a thinner, smaller Mike Awesome with a ridiculous wig. Delta is taller (and probably heavier) than the tiny Emman, and she shoved him to the mat at the bell. She finally pulled off Nick’s wig; and it’s Nick “Armstrong” with short blond hair. (One commentator pretended to be shocked that it was Nick Armstrong under that wig.)
Emman hit some Stinger Splashes. Legstrong hit a stunner on Delta for a nearfall at 4:30. Delta hit her own stunner on Legstrong. She hit an F5 Slam on Legstrong. She then hit an F5 on Emman, dropping him onto Legstrong. She covered both of them to score the pin. The commentators said she has held her title for more than 100 days. Like I said… she has quite a presence to her; I want to see more.
5. Mitch Waterman defeated Robby Thorpe at 7:24. Waterman has apparently been in the UK since November so his appearance a day earlier was a surprise; I compare him with his long, wet black hair to NXT-era Baron Corbin. Thorpe is like Zack Sabre Jr. in size/build but with black hair. They opened with standing switches. Thorpe is taller and stronger and he took control, dropping a knee on the left arm and working it over. Waterman hit a shotgun dropkick at 4:00 but sold the pain in his left elbow. Thorpe went upside down in the corner, but Waterman kicked him in the face. Waterman hit a running stunner at 6:30, but he missed a top-rope corkscrew senton; Thorpe hit a clothesline. Waterman hit a sunset flip powerbomb out of nowhere for the pin. Good action; probably should have been longer.
* A day earlier, Buddy Matthews lost the MCW title to Slex. It set up this six man tag where ALL belts are on the line — Slex’s MCW Title on his team, and the Parea’s tag team titles on Buddy’s team. Again, BOTH Brooks and Menero turned heel a day ago to help Slex steal the win.
6. Slex, Adam Brooks, and Rocky Menero defeated Buddy Matthews and “The Parea” Eli Theseus and Gabrel Aeros to win the MCW Tag Team Titles at 21:00 even. Again, Slex is like the smarmy Wall Street investor. Brooks reminds me of Alexander Hammerstone, or perhaps a young Shane Douglas. Menero is bald; think Vinci. The Parea are musclebound and similar to EC3 and Wardlow, respectively. All six fought at the bell and went to the floor. Eli is the one I compared to Wardlow. (The lighting above the ring is good; the lighting in the crowd … not so much.) Buddy went into a balcony and he nailed a flip dive to the floor at 2:30 and this RIGHTFULLY earned a “holy shit!” chant. He probably tumbled 15-20 feet onto the other five guys.
The bell officially rang at 3:00 when Buddy and Menero got in the ring; I hadn’t realized the bell hadn’t sounded and this is why I start my stopwatch at first contact or the bell, whichever comes first. Brooks and Gabriel traded offense, with Gabriel hitting a dropkick. The heels began working over Gabriel (the EC3 clone). The commentators talked about how Rocky turned heel and they should have seen it coming. Slex grounded Gabriel with a headlock at 11:00 and they’ve really slowed this match down. Parea hit an enzuigiri and he made the hot tag to Buddy at 13:30. Buddy got in the ring and glared at Rocky, who looked like he had seen a ghost. Buddy hit a series kicks and kneelifts to the chest.
Buddy hit a Jackhammer on Brooks for a nearfall. Eli hit a flip dive to the floor. Slex barreled through the ropes onto everyone at 15:30. In the ring, Gabriel hit a Fameasser. Brooks hit a slingshot DDT. Buddy hit a standing powerbomb, then a sit-out powerbomb on Brooks. Rocky hit a piledriver on Buddy for a nearfall at 17:00. All six stood up and started trading punches. Slex leapt off the ropes, but Buddy caught him, but him on his shoulders, and Buddy nailed a Go To Sleep kneestrike for a believable nearfall at 19:30, but the ref was pulled from the ring. Eli hit Roky with a belt, and Buddy immediately hit a stomp to the head for the pin at 20:53! New champion! (I stopped the stopwatch here.)
The crowd celebrated as Buddy and the Parea showed off their title belts. However, the refs were arguing in the ring. The refs began confiscating the belts! Rocky got on the mic and said “you saw him hit me with the belt! You restart the match right now, or you lose your job.” A masked person hit Eli in the ring! The bell rang (I re-started stopwatch), and Rocky climbed on the prone Eli for the pin. (Yes, the re-started match added just seven seconds to the match.) The masked person took off his hoodie and it’s Jarvis. He celebrated with the heels, who now held all three titles.
Final Thoughts: I really hate “the Dusty Finish.” I never understood having your fans cheer for what was a title change, only to snatch away that moment from them. I fear it just makes fans angry. That said, main event steals the show. Buddy is so talented, and I’m stunned he took that bump from the second level onto everyone down below.
I enjoyed these shows. The building was attractive, lighting was good, the crowd was hot, and I could hear the commentators much better on this show than on night one. If you have Triller+, I recommend checking out these shows, and if nothing else, the main events.
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