By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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Fight Life “Numba One”
Replay available via FITE.TV
May 24, 2023 in Milldale, Connecticut at Kinsman Brewery
This venue is a small room but appears to be at capacity of perhaps 150-200 people; you can see the beer kegs in the background and this seems like a fun place for a show. Reginal Kensington III (think listening to Lord Alfred Hayes) and Tiffany provided commentary. I have seen a Fight Life show before and these are entertaining indy events, and Kensington said they are nearing their first anniversary. Lighting is good from the hard camera but is a bit dark on the ringside camera.
* KC Navarro is a last-minute cancellation; JT Dunn issued an open challenge before the show went live.
1. Dustin Waller defeated Sammy Diaz at 14:22. Waller is a Connecticut native and got a nice pop; I’ve always compared him to a young Trent Barretta. He is half of “Miracle Generation,” a rising indy tag team. My first time seeing Diaz; he has short black hair and a thick beard. Diaz hit a backbreaker over his knee at 6:00. He went for a moonsault, but Waller got his knees up.
Waller hit a Death Valley Driver and a running Shooting Star Press for a nearfall at 11:00. The signal to the building was lost a couple of times, which is highly annoying. Diaz hit a Buckle Bomb and a moonsault for a believable nearfall, then a sit-out powerbomb for a believable nearfall. Waller hit a jump-up Frankensteiner, a handspring-back-stunner, then the Mamba Splash frogsplash for the pin. Really good opener.
2) “The Haven” Jay Onyx and Shawn Knyte defeated “Young, Dumb & Broke” Ellis Taylor and Charlie Tiger at 10:09. With his long hair and some chest hair, I always compare Tiger to Cameron Grimes. Taylor has similarly long hair but is much thinner. The Haven are Black men wearing yellow pants; I’ve seen them at least once before. Knyte has his hair in braids and tied back, like a young Kofi Kingston. YDB extensively worked Knyte over in their corner. Onyx made the hot tag and hit some quick offense. Knyte hit a Doomsday Clothesline for the pin. Good, formula tag match.
3. Jordan Oliver defeated Kylon King at 17:13. In my opinion, Oliver is the best wrestler in 2023 who hasn’t appeared anywhere on TV (NWA, AEW, ROH, WWE, MLW) this calendar year, and his presence on this show is why I tuned in. King is the other half of Miracle Generation with Waller. Intense mat reversals and quick reversals to start and a standoff at 2:00. King hit a Northern Lights Suplex for a nearfall. Oliver snapped the left arm back at 7:30 and he hit a hammerlock suplex and he began targeting the damaged arm. King hit a hard clothesline at 10:00 with his right arm but immediately clutched at the sore left arm.
King hit an Exploder Suplex and a dropkick and he was fired up. King hit a missile dropkick for a nearfall. Jordan hit a plancha to the floor. In the ring, Oliver hit a superkick and his twisting crossbody block for a nearfall at 13:30. Jordan applied a Fujiwara Armbar. King powered out and hit a German Suplex with a bridge for a nearfall. King hit another suplex for a nearfall, then a running knee for a nearfall, and fans chanted “Fight Forever!” Oliver went back to the Fujiwara Armbar, and King tapped out. That was every bit as good as I hoped it would be.
4. Yoya defeated Bobby Orlando and RJ Rude in a three-way at 5:58. Orlando is the dork with his stuffed goat; he had an AEW TV match not too long ago. I just saw RJ Rude wrestle Flip Gordon a couple weeks ago, with Rude winning but not getting in any offense before a rollup; he looks like a young Chuck Taylor, as he’s a bit taller with short black hair. Yoya is the short Cambodian man; he’s probably 5’4.” They briefly lost the signal again right after the bell, but it returned quickly. Rude hit a Blockbuster on Orlando for a nearfall at 2:00. Rude and Orlando traded hard chops.
Orlando got his stuffed goat and threw it at Yoya. (Dumb. Am I supposed to actually believe that hurt?) They traded blows while on their knees at 5:00. Yoya nailed a nice Poison Rana on Rude. Orlando hit a top-rope moonsault, but Yoya caught him coming down and hit a stunner. Yoya then hit a Shining Wizard to pin Rude. Decent match; they kept it moving.
5. Ichiban defeated Joey Janela at 15:40. I’ve seen Ichiban a few times lately; he wears a mask that reminds me of El Generico. They traded quick reversals to open and Ichiban hit some deep armdrags. They brawled to the floor at 3:30; no guardrails here. Janela powerbombed Ichiban onto the edge of the ring. In the ring, Janela targeted the back, stomping on it. Ichiban hit a tornado DDT, and they were both down at 7:00. Ichiban hit a stunner, a cartwheel-into-a-stunner and a missile dropkick. Ichiban hit a spin kick to the head for a nearfall.
Janela nailed a Razor’s Edge overhead powerbomb for a believable nearfall at 9:00, then a top-rope superplex, and they were both down. They got up and traded punches. Ichiban hit a flip dive to the floor at 11:30. In the ring, Janela nailed a Death Valley Driver for a believable nearfall. They traded superkicks, and Ichiban nailed a Michinoku Driver for a believable nearfall. This has really been good.
Janela hit a spike DDT and a hard back elbow. They traded more forearm shots. Janela hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker over his knee and a standing powerbomb for a believabe nearfall, and they were both down at 15:00. Janela set up for a powerbomb; unfortunately, there was a glitch in the stream and us at home didn’t see the finish. (I rewound too; it wasn’t a problem on my end.) So, after the Glitch, Ichiban was shown celebrating his win. Disappointing because that match was really good.
* Steven Lust (think Enzo Amore) got on the mic and was booed. He apparently wrestled a pre-show match, and he’s angry about something, and he badmouthed Connecticut. The mic has a terrible echo. Richard Holliday came out to a big pop and he defended Connecticut. He will be fighting at the next show in June.
6. Bobby Ocean, Nolan Pierce, and Mark Alexander defeated “Core Power and Energy” Kenny Powers, Abs, and Vinny Pacifica at 8:24. Outside of Pacifica, I don’t think I’ve seen any of these guys before! Abs wore a ‘Blue Meanie-style half-shirt’ so his hefty gut hangs out; his ring-name is definitely not an accurate description. Ocean, a short Black man, tried a dropkick that came up woefully short. This match is rough; everyone here is really green. Abs hit a double clothesline. Ocean hit a spin heel kick on Abs, and his partners jumped on Abs to pin him. I’ll be polite and just say this match didn’t reach the quality level of the first five matches.
7. JT Dunn defeated Alec Price at 8:13. Again, Dunn’s opponent KC Navarro was off the show so Dunn had a mystery opponent. I hadn’t read anything, so I was pleased and surprised with Price as a replacement. (I’ll take Price over Navarro any day.) Some basic reversals and offense first few minutes, with Dunn in charge early on. Price hit his running kicks in the corner at 4:30, then a second-rope legdrop for a nearfall. Dunn went for his spinning back elbow, but Price blocked it. Price dove over the top rope at 7:00 onto Dunn. Price hit a Canadian Destroyer for a nearfall. Dunn fired back with a wheelbarrow suplex. However, Dunn hit a tombstone piledriver for the pin. Really good for the time given.
8. Masha Slamovich defeated Janai Kai to retain the Fight Life title at 11:21. Yes, Masha holds the title here, just like in Game Changer Wrestling (just clarifying this is not a women’s title belt) and this is her first title defense. I’m a big fan of Janai’s overall kickboxer look and style. Good intense mat reversals early on, and this has a main event feel to it. They began trading spin kicks at 2:30, and Janai slapped her in the face. Janai hit a hard kick to the spine for a nearfall at 5:00. They traded kicks to the face, and Masha got a rolling-forward ‘koppo’ kick at 7:00, and they were both down.
Masha fired back with a Helluva Kick for a nearfall. Janai applied a Dragon Sleeper. Masha fired back with a Northern Lights suplex, and she switched to a cross-armbreaker, but Janai escaped at 9:00, and Janai twisted the left arm. Masha hit a doublestomp to the chest, and she applied a rear-naked choke on the mat. Janai escaped and hit a series of kicks to the spine, but she missed a spin kick. Masha immediately re-applied the rear-naked choke, and Janai tapped out. Good match.
Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed this show, and the northeast indy scene is strong with lots of talent. I wouldn’t have expected it going in, but Janela/Ichiban earned best match, even with the finish somehow clipped off. Jordan Oliver/Kylon King was really good for second place, with the main event taking third place. The Price/Dunn match earns honorable mention and I wish it had gotten a few more minutes to flesh out.
That six-man tag was sub-standard, but the other matches all matched or topped expectations. The signal was lost a handful of times; I don’t know if breaks were really that short, or if those were trimmed down later in editing, which also makes matches shorter. Check out Fight Life on Fite+. Mike Bailey has wrestled on several of their shows, and Jordan Oliver is always worth checking out.
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