By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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Black Label Pro Wrestling “Slamilton”
Replay available via FITE.TV
December 2, 2023 in Berwyn, Illinois at Berwyn Eagles Club
Sadly, the attendance was maybe 125 for the Saturday afternoon show. I’ve attended AAW and Shimmer shows in this venue in the past, and it’s just disappointing they aren’t able to draw better than this. The lights were on. Dustin Alberty provided commentary. Puf and Kevin Ku joined him in the booth during the show.
1. TJ Crawford defeated Dex Royal at 7:51. Crawford was just at Wrestling Open in Massachusetts on Thursday. I’ve seen Dex a few times now; he’s a thin Black man and he just wrestled on the AIW show last week from suburban Cleveland. Dex hit a flip dive to the floor that destroyed a chair in the front row. In the ring, Dex got a backslide for a nearfall at 3:30, then a standing moonsault for a nearfall. He hit a leaping Flatliner for a nearfall. TJ hit a springboard stunner and a suplex for a nearfall. Dex hit a second-rope Spanish Fly and a Tiger Driver for a believable nearfall at 6:30. They traded forearm strikes and Dex’s height advantage is noticeable. TJ hit a spin kick to the head and a sit-out flipping powerbomb for the pin. Good match.
2. Trevor Outlaw vs. Hayden Backlund ended in a double-pin at 8:30. Outlaw was on ROH TV on Thursday; he’s starting to grow his beard back. I saw Backlund for the first time at a tournament here in September, and I compare him to Josh Woods. Some fun comedy before the bell as Outlaw kept ordering his entrance music — Creed’s “Higher” — to be played, as fans sang along, and the ref was annoyed. Outlaw hit a shoulder tackle and he stalled on the floor early on. Backlund bodyslammed Outlaw on the hard floor at 3:30. They both hit low blows in the ring. There was a double pin on a rollup. The ref got on the mic and told them they both lost at 8:30. The referee said they could wrestle for five more minutes. Outlaw said that Hayden is one of his best friends and they should be fighting with each other, not against each other. They hugged and the crowd booed.
3. Shazza McKenzie defeated Sean Ross Sapp in a special attraction intergender match at 9:24. Ring announcer Val Capone said they raised $5,500 for charity for this match. SRS is a wrestling journalist and he was booed as he came to ring. He is much taller than her; he wore wrestling gear but an orange T-shirt. He tried a spin kick but she ducked it. He took her down but mockingly posed in front of her. He hit an Atomic Drop that hurt him more than her, and he stalled on the floor at 2:00. Puf came to ringside to prevent SRS from leaving. He leapt off the ring apron, but she struck him in the chest with a kendo stick at 3:30. She hit him a few more times with a kendo stick as they circled the ring.
Shazza accidentally hit Puf with the kendo stick! She snapped SRS’ throat over the top rope at 5:00 as they were now back in the ring. He caught her and hit a backbreaker over his knee for a nearfall. Sean got a bag and dumped candy corn on the mat. He applied a knee-bar. She got a plastic boomerang and hit him in the head with it at 7:00. He went for a Stinger Splash but she moved and he crashed into the corner. She tied him in the ropes and hit a series of kicks to the chest for a nearfall. She got a wood board and set it up in the corner. He grabbed her and hit a DDT in the center of the ring for a nearfall at 8:30. Sean made the “Go To Sleep” hand motion and was booed. However, she hit the Splits Stunner, and she speared him through the wood board for the pin. Entertaining enough.
4. “Latinos Most Wanted” Sabin Gauge and Koda Hernandez defeated “Twist and Flip” Darren Fly and Nate Kobain at 8:52. LMW are much taller. Koda hit a hard uranage at 2:00. Kobain hit a doublestomp on Saibn’s chest. Fly hit a top-rope doublestomp to the chest. Koda hit a superplex and Sabin immediately hit a Swanton Bomb at 7:00. LMW each hit a dive to the floor. In the ring, Kobain hit a brainbuster for a nearfall. Koda hit a modified Death Valley Driver after Sabin hit a doublestomp to score teh pin on Fly. I’ve said it before, but Koda is on the verge of breaking out.
5. Orlando Colon defeated Rico Gonzalez at 9:47. A nice pop for Orlando, who looks no different than when he wrestled as “Epico” in WWE. He is much bigger than Rico. They traded mat reversals early. Orlando hit some back suplexes at 2:30, then a brainbuster. He hit a backbreaker over his knee at 4:00 and remained in control of the offense. Rico fired up and hit some Superman Punches at 6:30. He hit an enzuigiri and got a nearfall. Rico hit a huracarana, but Orlando hit a sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall at 9:00. Orlando hit a Lungblower for the pin. Good action. They hugged afterward.
6. Gangrel and Xia Brookside defeated “Naturday Saints” Adam Slade and Bradley Prescott IV at 9:30. The NS are the frat party guys. Slade is bald, heavyset, and a dark black beard. I’ve noted this before, but Gangrel has slimmed down a bit from a few years ago. Gangrel opened; Slade was terrified to tie up. So, Xia tagged in instead and she hit a dropkick on Slade at 2:00. The Saints began working over Gangrel. Xia tagged in and beat up Adam. However, she is listed at 110 pounds and less than half his weight. The Saints stomped on her in the corner. She shoved Prescott into Slade, then hit a running neckbreaker, and they were all down at 7:00. Gangrel made the hot tag and hit a powerslam. Gangrel hit a release Tiger Driver on Prescott. Xia hit a top-rope crossbody block on Slade. Gangrel got her fired up, and they hit stereo DDTs for simultaneous pins. Okay match.
* Intermission
7. Maki Itoh defeated Rachel Armstrong at 11:17. Rachel is every bit as small as Xia Brookside and Itoh. An intense lockup to open and Maki went to work on the left leg. They took turns posing before Maki kicked her in the stomach. Itoh was in control early on. Rachel hit a running neckbreaker for a nearfall at 6:00. Itoh hit a DDT onto the ring apron; she pulled Rachel into the ring and got a nearfall. Itoh applied a Boston Crab, but Armstrong reached the ropes at 8:00. Rachel fired back with a Northern Lights Suplex for a nearfall. They traded rollups. Itoh again applied a Boston Crab, but Rachel again reached the ropes. Itoh dragged her back into the middle and applied a Lion Tamer/vertical Boston Crab, and this time, Rachel tapped out. Good match.
8. Dan the Dad defeated Dirty Dango at 10:52. This should be all comedy. Dan opened while holding his coffee cup. Fandango was busy barking at the crowd and slow to tie up. Dan applied a headlock while sipping his coffee. Some comedy on sunset flip attempts. Dango stomped on Dan and kept him grounded. Dan made it to his corner, grabbed his coffee cup, and it was spinach for Popeye as he fired up and hit some punches after taking a drink. Dan hit a top-rope crossbody block and a spinebuster at 8:30. Dango hit a Falcon Arrow for a believable nearfall. The ref got bumped. Dan and Dango fought over the coffee cup, but it splashed and hit Dango in the face! Dan hit a running backpack stunner for the pin! A fun match. They hugged afterward.
9. Matt Makowski defeated Calvin Tankman to win the BLP National Title at 10:50. Makowski is another Northeast talent; he’s an MMA-style shoot fighter and I’ve been impressed with him. This has an intense feel to it as Makowski hit some spin kicks to the thighs. Tankman pushed him into a corner and hit some blows. Calvin hit a Pounce at 1:30 that sent Matt flying. He hit a clothesine in the corner and remained in control. Matt applied a Triangle Choke at 5:00. Tankman hit some forearm strikes that leveled Matt. Tankman hit a backbreaker over his knee and a hard forearm strike to the back of the head for a nearfall at 8:00. Matt fired back with a spin kick to the head, then an Olympic Slam, showing some impressive strength. He switched to a cross-armbreaker, but Calvin was able to stand up and hit a powerbomb at 10:00. Matt got another cross-armbreaker, and Tankman tapped out! New champion! That was unexpected.
10. Joshua Bishop defeated Camaro Jackson, Myung-jae Lee, and Eli Isom in a four-way at 8:09. Jackson is the short, Black powerhouse who I always compare to Jonathan Gresham in size and stature. Lee is the South Korean who just won the C*4 Title in Canada last weekend. Bishop, the Sid Vicious clone, just debuted in MLW. Everyone immediately charged at Bishop. Bishop hit some hard chops on Camaro. Lee hit a running dropkick on Bishop on the floor at 2:00. Isom hit a flip dive to the floor. In the ring, Isom hit a swinging slam. Bishop and Camaro traded chops in the ring. Both Isom and Lee jumped on Bishop’s back; Camaro speared all three at 5:00.
Camaro and Bishop once again pushed the smaller men to the floor and they brawled some more. Isom hit an Air Raid Crash on Bishop. Lee hit a German Suplex on Camaro. He hit some chops on Bishop at 7:30. Bishop hit a Razor’s Edge on Lee, slamming him down on Isom. Bishop then covered Isom for the pin. Camaro was on the floor during the finishing sequence. That was really good for the time given.
11. Davey Bang and August Matthews defeated “Violence is Forever” Kevin Ku and Dominic Garrini to retain the BLP Tag Titles at 14:27. Ku wore his newly-won Black Label Pro Heavyweight Title belt. Garrini and Matthews opened with some standing reversals. Ku and Bang entered at 2:00. Bang hit a chop; Ku hit a much louder chop. They fought to the floor, where ViF slammed their opponents’ backs into each other at 4:30. In the ring, Ku tied Matthews in a knot. Bang made the hot tag at 8:00 and he hit a stunner on Ku, then a handspring-back-elbow. Bang hit an axe kick on Ku for a nearfall at 10:00.
Ku hit a decapitating clothesline on Matthews for a nearfall. Bang hit his moonsault from the corner to the floor, while Matthews hit his dive to the floor at 12:00, and the former Bang Bros were fired up. In the ring, they set up for Spears Tower, but Ku hit a running kick to break it up. Garrini hit a Muscle Buster on Bang, but August hit a frogsplash on Garrini! They nailed the Spears Tower on Garrini for the pin! Good match; I think the crowd wasn’t ready for that to be the finish.
* Garrini got on the mic but he was inaudible for me.
Final Thoughts: A good show that built to three strong final matches. I’ll go Tankman-Makowski for best, the four-way for second, and the main event for third. I wouldn’t argue with anyone who has them in a different order. Itoh-Armstrong and Dex-Crawford were both good for the time given. This show certainly had its recognizable star power with Dirty Dango, Orlando Colon and Gangrel, and a solid special attraction that was fun and didn’t overstay its welcome.
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