Eddie Edwards vs David Starr
This was actually the match I was most excited for when I got the show. Originally this was supposed to be Chris Hero vs David Starr but when Hero got injured and Eddie replaced him I was still almost as excited as I was. I’m a big fan of both of these guys but this just wasn’t very good. There was clearly something missing from it and I just felt like it took forever to get going and once it did it was just kind of weird. The crowd chanted “That was awesome” after the match. It wasn’t. Doesn’t change my opinion of either of them but it is just sad because I know these guys can do so much better. **
Da Hit Squad and Brian Fury vs Da Hoodz and Anthony Stone
This was fun throughout because Da Hit Squad is great and their offense is so entertaining. Sadly the other team was extremely sloppy all the way through which hurt the match a lot. There were sooo many botches and things that just looked awful to the point where I couldn’t rate this very high and then the finish was just horrible. Stone and Da Hoodz seemed like they have potential but all three were sloppy, especially Stone. This was a fun brawl but sadly was ruined by sloppiness and the finish. **1/2
Lufisto vs Alexxis vs Jordynne Grace vs Veda Scott
This was a showcase for Drew Cordeiro’s Women’s Wrestling Revolution. I consider myself to be a fan of Lufisto and Veda but I haven’t seen enough of the other two to have a real opinion. This was chaotic and they all worked hard but it wasn’t very good. Not much to say about this, Lufisto looked very dominant as a large portion of the match was her beating up Alexxis. Not necessarily bad (there were less mistakes than the last match for sure) but I’ll forget it happened in an hour. *3/4
Crusade for Change vs Team Atlanta
I’m a big fan of Fred Yehi and enjoy Peter Kaasa and Shynron but I don’t care for anybody else in this match. This was very average and it didn’t help that it was the third “chaotic” multi-person match in a row. Not bad but not good. **
AR Fox vs Keith Lee
This was one of the matches I was most excited for because both guys are amazing. This time one year ago I wasn’t very into Fox but his matches in AAW and a couple other places this year have been so enjoyable so I’m back on board with him. Keith Lee is someone who I didn’t know who they were a year ago but he is so great and I haven’t seen a match of his I didn’t like. This was no exception as it was a very exciting and fast-paced match. The whole thing was good but there were two completely insane spots that made me jump out of my chair. Great match. ***1/2
Dan Barry vs Chuck O’Neil
I had heard before I got the show that this was a very short match so I didn’t really have any expectations going on. This was a complete squash and while I don’t have a real problem with squash matches it is just disappointing that Dan Barry never gets the chance to show how good he is. When Team Tremendous is actually able to wrestle they are one of my favorite tag teams but they wrestle so rarely and for whatever reason no companies really give him a chance as a singles guy. He’s so good and it sucks that this kind of stuff is what he has to do. N/A
Jonathan Gresham vs Tracy Williams
I was pretty excited for this as Gresham is pretty good and Tracy Williams became one of my favorite talents in the world in 2016. Sadly it was not as good as I was expecting. It started out strong with many of the impressive technical exchanges that you would expect from these two, but it never really became anything more than that. I’m sure some people enjoyed it and I do not in any way have a problem with purely technical matches but both men are capable of much better than this. **1/2
Matt Riddle vs Chris Dickinson
I was very excited as going into this one as Riddle is one of the best in the world and Dickinson is one of my favorite northeast guys. When looking at this match I think of it in two parts. The first part of the match was the majority of the match until the last minute or so. This part of the match was fantastic with great counters, brutal striking exchanges, and just great wrestling in general. These two worked so well together and were very much on their way to having the match of the night up to this point. They worked so hard to put on a great match, and succeeded…until the finish. I don’t have a problem with interference. In some cases I feel like interference elevates a match, such as Michael Elgin and Kenny Omega’s Ladder match from last year. But this was the second poorly executed and confusing interference-based finish of the night. These two were killing it and there was no reason for there to be interference, but if there’s going to be then at least do it right. Basically Chuck O’Neil got on the apron, Riddle acted like he was distracted but really was trying to lure in Dickinson. Dickinson went after Riddle, knocked Chuck off the apron and then just stared at him waiting an embarrassingly long amount of time to Riddle to kick him in the head. The kick didn’t even look good after it was finally executed. With all the brutal strikes in this match it looked awful for this to end with a strike that didn’t even look like it connected. If this had a hot last minute or so instead of what happened I probably would’ve gone anywhere from 3.5 to 4, but no. Please stop with these awful finishes, Beyond. ***1/4
Donovan Dijak vs Tommy End
I was somewhat excited about this match because Dijak is great and End is most of the time very fun to watch. However I did not have very high expectations going in as before this 2 of the 4 matches I were excited for were just not very good and one of the two that was very good was hurt by interference. Thankfully this did not have interference and they just let these guys show how great they are. So many brutal strikes, sequences, and exciting nearfalls. This is a very good and fun match. ***1/4
Overall Review: There were only three matches above *** and none above ***1/2 so there wasn’t anything REALLY special on this show but I think Fox vs Lee and the last two matches are very much worth seeking out, especially if you’re a fan of the guys involved. Two disappointing matches in Edwards/Starr and Williams/Gresham and two matches hurt by bad finishes. Even though the wrestling wasn’t exceptional and was for the most part very average there were three really fun matches, no matches were actively bad (even the six man tag match which was insanely sloppy was fun), and it was a pretty quick watch so I’d say I recommend it.
Overal Rating: 6.5/10