By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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ThrashElvania
Replay available via IndependentWrestling.TV
April 6, 2024 in Williamstown, New Jersey at H2O Wrestling Center
Williamstown is about a 30-minute drive southeast of Philadelphia. This show took place at noon, long before WrestleMania that night. But that meant this show was up against NXT’s “Stand & Deliver,” GCW’s “Big Gay Brunch” AND the outdoor “Suplexmania: Block Party.” Thus, not a surprise this show only has about 80-100 fans. This is my third show I’ve reviewed from this venue from WrestleMania weekend.
1. Rhio defeated Shazza McKenzie and Delmi Exo in a three-way to retain the Progress Women’s Title at 9:00 sharp. Rhio had at least two other matches at “The Collective” series of shows. Delmi wore her crown; she’s been on MLW TV of late. They traded rollups in the first minute and Shazza hit a huracanrana, then a face wash for a nearfall at 1:30. Delmi hit a fisherman’s suplex on Shazza for a nearfall. Rhio hit a basement dropkick to Shazza’s back at 4:30, and they traded forearm strikes. Rhio and Delmi traded kicks, and Rhio hit an enzuigiri. Shazza hit a top-rope crossbody block on both.
Shazza hit a Saito Suplex on Rhio, then one on Delmi. She hit a running knee to Delmi’s back, then kicked her in the cheek. They did a tower spot out of the corner and they were all down at 7:30. Shazza hit the Splits Stunner on Rhio! Delmi hit a Stomp on Shazza. Rhio hit a neckbreaker over her knee on Delmi, then a Package Piledriver to pin Delmi. With this announced as a title match, it was obvious Rhio was winning, but this was really good action between these pros.
2. Shun Skywalker defeated Kota Minoura at 6:19. These two are both from Dragon Gate and they appeared on multiple shows over the weekend. The masked Shun is a great heel. Kota wore a long, flowing gold robe and he has a gold flower in his teeth, too. Shun came out second, climbed through the ropes, and immediately attacked Kota. They brawled to the floor with Shun in charge. Back in the ring, it appeared Shun shoved his fingers down Kota’s throat. Kota hit a modified Air Raid Crash at 5:00 and he was fired up. They brawled back to the floor, and Shun was selling the pain from that move, and he headed to the back! Shun re-appeared coming in a door opposite the hard camera, sneaking into the ring and rolling up Kota for the cheap pin. Alright match… but these two can face each other at any time. These two should have faced some U.S. talent instead.
3. Darius Carter defeated Adam Priest to retain the ECWA Title at 8:39. Priest appeared at the ROH PPV a night earlier and I always compare his short, scrappy gatekeeper role to Jaime Noble. Carter is a bald Black man; he headlined the GCW “For the Culture” show late Friday night (so about 10 or so hours before competing here.) Standing switches to open. Priest hit a chop block on the left knee at 4:00 and began working over Carter’s leg. He hit a German Suplex. Carter applied a sleeper. Priest locked in an STF on the mat at 7:30. Priest got pushed into the referee. Carter, who had wrestled as a babyface to this point, hit an intentional low blow uppercut! He had a rear-naked choke locked on and hit a face-first Jarrett-style Stroke for the tainted pin.
4. Robb Radke defeated Alec Price, Man Like Dereiss, LSG (w/Ava Everett), J Bouji, and Lucas DiSangro in a scramble at 10:48. I don’t know Robb and Lucas. ROH veteran LSG had a short match on this week’s TNA. Radke is Black, bald, bearded and thick; think Rodney Mack. Lucas is white with short, black hair. Radke hit a powerslam on LSG in the first minute. Bouji hit a German Suplex on Radke. Price hit a springboard crossbody block on Lucas at 2:00. Dereiss hit a dropkick on Price. LSG hit a clothesline on Dereiss. Radke hit a nice T-Bone suplex on LSG at 5:00. Bouji air-balled a kick on Radke (Robb sold it anyway), then Bouji hit a DDT out of the ropes. Dereiss hit a dropkick on Lucas, then a German Suplex.
Price nailed a half-nelson suplex on Dereiss, then his flying legdrop for a nearfall at 6:30. They did a tower spot out of the corner and everyone was down except Lucas. Lucas and Dereiss traded forearm strikes and European Uppercuts, then they traded rollups. Lucas hit a running knee, then he hit a running summersault from the apron to the floor on several guys at 8:30. Price hit a dive over the top rope onto everyone. Radke hit a moonsault to the floor on everyone. (He got very little lift and nearly hit the ring apron coming down.) Dereiss hit a sit-out powerbomb on Bouji. Price hit his springboard Blockbuster at 10:00. Lucas hit a Blue Thunder Bomb on Price. LSG hit a stunner on Lucas, then a Flatliner. Radke hit a swinging neckbreaker on LSG for the pin. Enjoyable scramble; the two guys I didn’t know are clearly experienced.
5. Andino and Trevor Aeon defeated Eel O’Neal and Miles Millennium at 13:38. This started as just Eel vs. Andino. I saw Eel for the first time earlier this week, and I don’t know Andino. Eel is Black with short, curly blondish hair and he wore a full-body red outfit that looks hal superhero, half scuba gear. Andino also is Black and appears thicker and heavier, and he’s the champion. Eel swung a chair; it ricocheted off the top rope and hit his own head at 1:30. (Weird as you see this at the finish of a mat often, not in the opening minutes.) Eel kicked the ropes to hurt Andino’s groin. Eel threw powder in the ref’s eyes. Andino now swung the chair and it ricocheted onto him. Eel did the Eddie Spot and tossed the chair to Andino. They both tried to do the Eddie Spot but the ref cleared his eyes and took the chair.
They crashed to the floor at 5:00. Millennium beat up Andino on the floor; he got in the ring and helped Eel beat up Andino. Another guy named Trevor Aeon hopped in the ring to help Andino; I don’t know him but at first glance I thought it was Rich Swann. This one is just … not good. Andino hit a dive to the floor. The ring announcer said at 7:30 this is now a tag match. Millennium and Eel kept Andino in their corner. Trevor covered Millennium for what appeared to be a three-count. Andino hit a clothesline to the back of Millennium’s head for the pin. Um… not good. I won’t bash beyond that.
6. Ram Kaicho and Kaia McKenna defeated Ava Everett (w/LSG) and Viva Van at 9:22. “Cosmic Cutie” Everett yelled at the fans before she got into the ring. Viva got a separate entrance. Kaia is tall and wore her tiara. Ram has ghostly white makeup on her face with dark makeup around her eyes; I don’t recall seeing her before. Ram and Viva opened. Kaia tied up Everett on the mat. Viva hit a snap suplex on Kaia at 3:30, and the heels kept Kaia in their corner. Everett hit a swinging neckbreaker for a nearfall. Viva hit running double knees to Kaia’s face at 6:00.
Kaia hit a clothesline on Ava and they were both down. Ram made the hot tag and she hit forearm strikes on the heels. She hit a double bulldog, then a double crossbody block for a nearfall at 8:00. Viva hit a German Suplex on Ram. Kaia slammed Viva to the mat. Ram hit a clothesline; she has to be well under 5’0″. Viva hit a powerbomb on Ram. Ava was pushed into Viva, knocking Van off the ring apron to the floor! Kaia immediately rolled up Ava for the pin. Good match; nice palete cleanser from the prior match.
7. “The Good Hand” Suge D & Kevin Ryan defeated “The Outfielders” Shea McCoy & Weber Hatfield and “The Creeps” Ash Bennett & Irving West and Channing Thomas & Little Mean Kathleen in a four-way tag at 13:42. The Good Hand are from the Atlanta-based Action Wrestling. Shea wore her little red riding hood robe. Channing opened with the MUCH smaller Shea and he shoved her. LMK tagged in, but Shea tagged out before the women could lock up. Hatfield is really short (I see he’s listed at 5’5″ but I think that might be an exaggeration), and LMK tied him up.
Bennett, who has long hair past his shoulders, entered at 3:00. His partner, West, is bald with a mustache (think a smaller Dax Harwood), and The Creeps beat up Kevin Ryan. West hit a dive to the floor on everyone. Weber hit a flip dive to the floor on everyone. Shea clearly wants to hit a dive; she wound up leaping from the apron onto everyone; very comical because she didn’t go far. All eight climbed into the ring and brawled at 6:00. LMK clotheslined Hatfield for a nearfall. Channing tossed teammate LMK onto Hatfield. Channing was arguing with The Good Hand; they are both heels. It allowed Weber to make the hot tag to Shea, who hit some clotheslines and rolling cannonballs at 9:30.
We had a series of quick pin attempts. LMK hit a double stunner on the Good Hand. West hit a suplex on LMK for a nearfall. Suge D hit a Death Valley Driver. Ryan hit a Tombstone Piledriver. West hopped on Shea’s back and applied a sleeper. Ryan hit a superkick on Shea. The Good Hand hit a team powerbomb move on Weber Hatfield for the pin. Messy at times. Both women are really small and just not believable in matches against bigger, stronger athletic men.
8. Alex Kane defeated “Mecca” Brian Johnson to retain the Action Title at 11:59. Johnson was a lower-tier wrestler in the ROH Sinclair era; he’s now bald but still a jerk heel. He jawed on the mic; the bell rang and he stalled in the ropes. Kane hit a belly-to-belly suplex at 1:30. Johnson snapped Kane’s head backward across the top rope, and he hit a top-rope elbow drop. They traded chops in the corner, and Johnson grounded Kane. They hit simultaneous clotheslines and were both down at 5:30. They got up and traded forearm strikes. Kane hit a spear for a nearfall.
Kane hit a back suplex for a nearfall. Johnson raked the eyes and applied a Boston Crab at 8:30. Johnson shoved Kane into the ref, and the ref was down. Johnson immediately rolled to the floor and grabbed a chair, but Kane avoided being hit by it. Kane hit a German Suplex and a clothesline for a visual pin at 10:00 but we didn’t have a ref! Johnson hit a low blow and a chairshot to the back for a nearfall. Kane hit a Michinoku Driver and he applied a Fade To Black sleeper hold on the mat, and Johnson passed out. Good match.
9. Brandon Kirk and Kasey Catal defeated GPA and Laynie Luck at 14:49. Two real-life couples here; GPA and Luck came from the Midwest for this event and they are the heels here (and just about everywhere!) The guys opened; Kirk has a significant height and overall size advantage. GPA stopped in the corner to kiss Luck before tying up with Brandon. The guys did the ‘Eddie spot’ early on, both pretending to have been struck by a chair that was in the ring. The women finally entered at 4:30 and they appear to be almost identical size; Laynie might be an inch taller.
Laynie stomped on Kasey in the corner and she tagged in GPA, who kept Catal grounded. The heels just kept taking turns tagging in to stomp on Kasey, and of course, more kissing to draw heel heat. Kirk finally got in at 10:00 and beat up the heels. Kasey hit a tornado DDT and a piledriver on GPA for a nearfall at 11:30. Luck hit a head-scissors takedown on Brandon. Kasey hit a German Suplex on Luck. GPA shoved a ref (he clearly was legit annoyed the ref hadn’t confiscated a chair he was about to swing). The promoter took a chair away from GPA. Kasey hit a top-rope elbow drop while using a chair to pin GPA. For no good reason whatsoever, Kirk whipped a chair at Laynie at the bell; that’s just unnecessary and really soured the finish of this show.
Final Thoughts: Just an okay show; I certainly saw better shows over Mania weekend, and even better shows in this building. The six-way scramble featuring Alec Price, LSG and Man Like Dereiss takes best match. Women’s matches take the next two spots, as the show-opener with Rhio was good for second, and the Ava/Viva tag match takes third. A solid Kane-Johnson match takes honorable mention. Just one stinker from guys I didn’t know. Perhaps most disappointing is the Dragon Gate guys went short and had a screwy finish; it was one of the matches I tuned in for so I can’t hide my disappointment.
This wraps up my reviews of 16 separate WrestleMania-weekend indy shows: 10 at The Collective, three here at the H20 Training Center, one in a small tent, the HOG-Revolver show in a church, and one at an outdoor street party.
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