Beyond Wrestling Caffeine Review
1) Keith Lee vs Jeff Cobb- They tie up a few times and then trade shoulder-blocks. They both leapfrogs on each other which is so impressive from guys this size. Lee hits a forearm and runs Cobb’s head into the corners a few times. Cobb starts throwing chops and Lee hits him with a pounce. Cobb rolls outside and Lee goes for a dive but Cobb gets back inside giving Lee a drop toehold and a moonsault. Cobb dropkicks Lee and deadlifts him into a pumphandle suplex. Cobb chops Lee and then clotheslines him in the corner. Cobb hits a forearm and they criss-cross with Lee hitting a running hurracanrana. Lee hits an avalanche in the corner. He goes for another one but Cobb hits an uppercut and Lee responds with a clothesline. They trade forearms and Lee goes for a spirit bomb but Cobb escapes and beats him down with forearms. Cobb deadlifts Lee into a German suplex but Lee comes back with a victory roll for the pinfall. I would say this could have been longer but these guys wrestled a ridiculous amount of matches this weekend. This was really fun and I could see these guys main eventing anywhere/
2) Lufisto vs Deonna Purrazzo- They jockey for position and Lufisto grabs a leglock. Purrazzo moves into an armbar. They trade leglocks and Lufisto grabs a headlock. They trade hammerlocks and Lufisto lays in some kicks and grabs Purrazzo in a surfboard and then a modified STF. Lufisto gives Purrazzo a butterfly suplex and applies a dragon sleeper. Lufisto drives her down with an elbow. Lufisto misses a charge in the corner and takes a clothesline and then two snap suplexes. Lufisto blocks another suplex but takes a boot to the face. Purrazzo goes for a Fujiwara Armbar but doesn’t get it. Purrazzo hits forearms in the corner but gets caught in a backbreaker. Lufisto drops a leg and then applies a reverse Indian deathlock and drives Purrazzo’s head into her knee. Purrazzo gets the rope but Lufisto keeps on her with chops. Lufisto rams her head into the corner and stomps her down. Lufisto does a hip attack in the corner. Lufisto does a reverse death valley driver. Lufist goes for a torture rack but can’t get her up. They trade German suplexes and then both hit forearms knocking each other to the mat. They get to their feet and trade forearms. Purrazzo hits some kicks and a Russian legsweep into the Fujiwara armbar with Lufisto getting the rope-break. Lufisto hits a fisherman buster. Purrazzo does a spinning headscissors into a Fujiwara armbar and Lufisto gets another rope-break. Lufisto hits a spinning backfist and a tiger driver to get the pin. This was a nice, simple match that I quite enjoyed.
3) Chris Dickinson, Jaka, and LAX (Santana and Ortiz) vs Chuck Taylor, Dan Barry, Bill Carr and Orange Cassidy- Barry and Ortiz start exchanging holds and roll-ups. Jaka and Cassidy tag in and Cassidy grabs a headlock and they do some slow-motion comedy wrestling. They snap out of it and Cassidy does a spinning headscissors. Cassidy does a rope-walk but falls into a belly-to-belly suplex. Taylor and Santana tag in and Taylor hits a shoulder-block. Santana does an armdrag and Taylor hits a dropkick. Carr and Dickinson tag in and do a test of strength broken up by Carr hitting an elbow. Dickinson goes for an O’Connor Roll but stops short and hits an enzuiguri. Carr hits a clothesline and takes Dickinson to the corner for some chops. Carr bodyslams him in the corner and both Barry and Taylor hit Dickinson with sentons. Dickinson grabs Barry in a sit-out driver. Ortiz tags in and stomps down Barry and splashes him. Santana goes up top and double stomps Barry’s arm. Santana and Barry fight on the top turnbuckle and Barry hits a hurracanrana. Dickinson, Jaka and LAX beat down Barry but Barry hits low blows on all of them. Carr makes the save and starts throwing clotheslines. Santana low-kicks Carr but takes a high backdrop. Jaka superkicks Carr. Taylor comes in and suplexes Dickinson onto Jaka in the corner. Jaka and Dickinson go outside and Taylor goes for a dive but Cassidy beats him to it and hits a springboard cannonball tope. LAX both hit tope suicida’s. Taylor goes for a dive but Barry hits a top rope moonsault outside first. Taylor then goes for a dive but Dickinson hits him with a back elbow. Dickinson goes to the top but gets crotched by Taylor who hits him with an avalanche omega driver. Jaka breaks up the pin and hits a sit-out chokeslam. Barry hits a back elbow on Jaka who takes him to the top. Carr grabs Jaka on his shoulders and Barry does a doomsday sliced bread (just watch it). Ortiz hits a dropkick on Carr and Ortiz cannonballs him. Barry gets double-teamed by LAX including a veg-o-matic. Cassidy makes the save and goes for a double-chokeslam but gets superkicked. He spits juice in the faces of LAX and chokeslams them both. Cassidy gets wheelbarrowed by Dickinson and superkicked by Jaka. Dickinson and Jaka trade superkicks with Taylor and Barry but Carr hits clotheslines on Dickinson and Jaka. Carr hits a black hole slam on his partner Cassidy by mistake then gets superkicked by Santana and Ortiz pins Cassidy. This was complicated to recap but was good, clean fun.
4) Sami Callihan vs David Starr- They collide to start and Starr is nice enough to do some thrusts into Callihan’s head. Callihan gives him a tag and then knocks him to the floor with a big boot. Callihan hits a tope suicida and Starr responds with one of his own. Callihan hits a second rope clothesline on the apron. Starr stops a Callihan charge with a DDT on the apron but Callihan then hits him with a lariat in the ring. They trade strikes on their knees and then stand to trade punches. Callihan hits a powerbomb and rolls over into a body crab and then moves into a crossface. Callihan stands Starr up and they trade kicks to the face. Starr gives Callihan a brainbuster onto the knee. Starr hits forearms in the corner. Callihan floats over a charging Starr and rolls him up. Starr gets up and takes a sleepy time tea (Go 2 Sleep variation) and a forearm but Starr grabs a crucifix and moves into a leaping piledriver for the pinfall win. Really fun sprint match. Callihan takes the mic and says he has now wrestled nine matches this weekend. He says that when he left WWE it was for moments like this, to wrestle every day Wrestlemania weekend. He says that the new wrestling is independent wrestling and he couldn’t think of a better person to have a match with than one of his best friends in David Starr. They hug and celebrate together.
5) Joey Ryan and Candace Lerae vs Joey Janela and Penelope Ford- Janela and Lerae square off while Ryan and Ford do as well. Lerae and Ford hit flying facebusters off the top rope on the guys. Ford and Lerae trade forearms and Ford hits a rolling kick. Ford ducks a clothesline and hits a tope suicida on Ryan. Ford and Ryan return to the ring and Ford hits a flying headscissors. Lerae hits a back elbow in the corner but misses a double stomp off the top. Janela suplexes Lerae and Ryan makes the save. Ford pulls Ryan’s chest hair and nipples. Janela and Ford trip up Ryan and Janela hits a dropkick followed by Ford doing an assisted moonsault. Janela misses a top rope moonsault. Ryan grabs Ford in an airplane spin and knocks Janela down. Ryan then picks up his partner Lerae in an airplane spin to knock down Ford and then gives Lerae a death valley driver on Janela. Ryan and Lerae double team Janela in the corner but Janela and Ford pile Ryan and Lerae in the corner for a handspring back elbow by Ford. Janela does a blockbuster on Lerae landing on Ryan. Ford and Janela whip Ryan into the ropes but he stops them and does a suplex on Ford. Ryan assists Lerae in a rope-walk and she gives Janela a hurracanrana from the apron to the floor. Ryan brings Janela inside and gives Lerae a rocket launcher into a DDT on Janela. Ford then gives Ryan a low kick but hurts her shin in the process. Janela slaps Lerae and Ryan uses his package to work over Janela (I’d rather not explain). Ryan then superkicks Janela into a Lerae suplex. Lerae hits forearms on Ford in the corner. Janela drops Lerae face-first on the apron. Ford hits a handspring cutter on Ryan and Janela gives him a top rope splash for the three-count. Lerae’s and Ryan’s antics can be entertaining but I feel ridiculous recapping them, to the point that I just use the term “suplex” for some of their moves. Janela then says because he got the pin he is the DDT Ironman 24/7 Champion. Bryce Remsberg gives him the belt.
6) AR Fox vs John Silver-They tie up twice to start. They criss-cross and Fox hits a dropkick. Silver fires back with forearms. They trade kicks with Fox going outside where Silver hits a tope suicida. Fox hits a 619 on the outside and then does a moonsault off the apron. Fox takes him inside and misses a swanton. Silver kicks Fox in the chest and then throws a crane-kick. Silver gives Fox two big beel throws. Silver gives Fox a vertical suplex and then slaps him and hits a forearm. Fox avoids a clothesline matrix-style and hits an enzuiguri. Fox hits a spinkick, a chinbreaker and a neckbreaker. Fox hits a clothesline in the corner and then skins the cat from the outside into a dropkick. Fox hits a pop-up cutter. Silver hits a forearm and a snap German suplex. Silver gives him a pump-kick to the back of the head. Silver grabs Fox in a wheelbarrow but Fox gives him a bulldog. Fox misses a 450 splash and takes a dropkick and forearms. Fox hits a springboard cutter and a swanton for a near-fall. Fox sets up Silver on the top rope and Silver jumps over him. Silver deadlifts him into a spinning driver. Silver hits a running kick. Silver goes for a monkey flip but Fox pulls him into a cutter. Silver then does a monkey flip into a driver for the pinfall. These two worked well together in another fun sprint.
7) Da Hit Squad of Dan Maff and Steve Mack vs Brian Cage and Michael Elgin- Mack and Maff attack Elgin and Cage during the introductions. Mack hits a tope suicida. Maff takes a boot to the face from Elgin but then hits Elgin with an avalanche. Maff hiptosses Elgin and gives him a senton. Cage comes in and dropkicks Maff. Cage kicks him in the chest and does a springboard tornado DDT. Mack comes in and gives Cage a hurracanrana and an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Elgin is in and trades shoulder-blocks with Mack and then hits him with forearms. They trade clotheslines. Maff gives Elgin a powerslam. Cage gives Maff a spinebuster. Mack gives Cage a Samoan drop. Elgin gives Mack a kryptonite crunch. Elgin goes for a suplex on Mack but Maff cuts him off. Cage superkicks Maff who responds with a shoulder into the gut. Mack and Maff both give Cage cannonballs in the corner and then do a double cannonball. Mack climbs the ropes but Elgin and Cage grab him in a double powerbomb onto Maff. Elgin and Cage hit Maff with strikes and lariats. Cage hits a back elbow on Mack and Elgin hits him with a clothesline. Cage superkicks Mack into a German suplex by Elgin. Cage and Elgin hit kicks on Maff and then do an assisted powerbomb. Cage gives Maff an F5 for a two-count. Mack hits avalanches on both Elgin and Cage and then hits them with a big boot on Cage and a bulldog on Elgin. Mack does a big splash on Cage. Elgin hits Mack with elbows and a spinning backfist. Maff spears Elgin who gets pinned by Mack. This was a fun hoss battle. I haven’t seen Maff and Mack in a long time but they definitely deserve more shots on bigger stages.
8) Donovan Dijak vs Matt Riddle- They do a good job on commentary telling the backstory for these guys in Beyond Wrestling. They trade strikes hockey-fight-style. They trade clotheslines and kicks and Riddle gives Dijak a tombstone. Riddle goes for a sliding dropkick but Dijak catches him and gives him Feast Your Eyes (torture rack into a knee) on the floor. Riddle gets back inside and Dijak attempts a pin. Riddle grabs him in a sleeper but Dijak escapes. Dijak gives Riddle a release vertical suplex. Riddle grabs him in a headscissors and Dijak clubs him with forearms. They get to their feet and trade strikes. Dijak goes for a kick and Riddle goes for a Pele kick that is blocked. Riddle goes for the Bro 2 Sleep but Dijak stops him. Riddle gets the Bro 2 Sleep on the second try and attempts a pin. Riddle kicks Dijak in the chest. Dijak catches a kick and goes for a chokeslam but Riddle rolls through into a cross armbreaker. Dijak escapes and hits a superkick. Riddle reverses out of a tombstone and hits one of his own. Riddle kicks Dijak on the mat and hits him with forearms. Dijak blocks a headkick but Riddle hits a Pele kick. Riddle does a release German and Dijak lands on his feet. Dijak then gives a release German to Riddle who lands on his feet. Dijak hits a Canadian Destroyer but Riddle penalty kicks Dijak and hits his own Canadian Destroyer. They trade forearms on their knees. Riddle throws more forearms and punches. Dijak gets him in Feast Your Eyes for a near-fall. Dijak hits a chokeslam/backbreaker combination followed by a spiral tap. Dijak picks up Riddle for Feast Your Eyes but Riddle blocks it and grabs a rear naked choke into a Bromission attempt that Dijak turns into a pin attempt. Dijak hits a tornado kick then drapes Riddle on the ropes and gives him a knee-lift. Dijak hits Feast Your Eyes but can’t make the cover right away. Dijak goes for the cover but Dijak put him in the Bromission. Dijak tries to escape but Riddle sinks it in and Dijak taps out. This was a fun back-and-forth and I can’t imagine how exhausted both these guys are after so many matches over the weekend.
This was a really good show. They kept the matches at a reasonable length which was necessary both for fans’ attention after a full weekend of shows (with Mania still to go) and for the guys’ fatigue. They all worked hard and pushed themselves beyond 😉 I’d definitely like to check out more of this promotion after this. It was a great time reviewing all these shows this weekend. And to leave things on a great note, I thought I’d let you all know that microsoft word spellchecks Lufisto as Leftist.