Tags
Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow, Dublin Street Fight, Main Event Madness, No Holds Barred, Sheamus, Smackdown, WWE, WWE Smackdown
As I said in yesterday’s article, I have been scouring the web for different types of matches that the WWE or anyone other organization has hosted. After stumbling on the parking lot brawl, I also discovered that ten years later on the June 28, 2013 episode of Smackdown, they kicked off the show with a Dublin Street Fight that saw Sheamus take on Damien Sandow. Damien and Cody Rhodes had been pests to Sheamus over the past couple of weeks and Sheamus wanted some revenge on Sandow in a match that best serves his fighting spirit. The match started with Sandow coming at Sheamus with a new sense of viciousness that included a shot with a kendo stick. It wouldn’t matter much as Sheamus used his strength and punishing style to put Sandow on the mat very quickly. After slamming Sandow’s head on the bar tap table, he delivered the sweet sounds of the Beats of the Bodhrán. Sandow was no slouch either as he gave it back to Sheamus slamming him against one of the bar tap tables. He couldn’t keep the advantage for very long as he got hit with a keg toss and beat with a sack of potatoes. After beating each other with kendo sticks, brooms, and whatever else they could get their hands on, it was time that someone was going to win. That advantage would go to Sheamus who after setting up two chairs in the ring, hit Sandow into a seating position thanks to the Kendo stick and then proceeded to deliver a brogue kick that put the superior intellect out for good. Sheamus was the winner of the match.
For today’s Main Event Madness match, we are going back to the indies to check out a man who has been making a name for himself in the indies. We are watching Cody Rhodes taking on another man who say goodbye of sorts to the indies in the one and only Chris Hero. The two locked it up at Evolve 67 which was emanated from the Saint Finbar Catholic Church Gymnasium in New York City and according to cagematch.net, it is a highly recommended match to watch which is why we are checking it out today as well. Cody Rhodes had proven to this point that he could hang with the best of them but he hadn’t faced Chris Hero, a true legend of the underground who stood his ground and was originally let go from the WWE for it (as far as his weight issue). Before any action would ensue, they were looking for affection from the crowd which seemed to lean more towards Cody. Cody would ultimately extend his hand for a handshake before the match, but Hero wasn’t having any of it as he slapped Cody in the face. An ultimate sign of disrespect from the knock out artist, but no worries as Cody retaliated with a dropkick that caught it’s attended target. After putting the boots to him, Cody would look for a handshake again, but Hero wasn’t having it.
To continue the mind games with Hero, Cody went to the outside and he shook the hand of everyone in the front row. Hero would finally go to shake Cody’s hand, but he attacked him during it, but Cody got the best of the exchange with some vicious chops and he lifted him for what looked to be a vertical suplex, but he held him in the air for at least 20 seconds or more and just dropped him on his face. The battle would pour out into the crowd where both men just brutalized themselves in the name of wrestling. Chris would eventually get the best of the mayhem as when both competitors entered the ring, he was in control of the match. During an exchange, Cody had reversed an Irish whip to the ropes by sending Hero towards them, but when Hero went over, he manage to land on the apron, but it looked like he had tweaked his knee a little during the landing. Apparently, he had entered the match with a knee injury of sorts, but he is a tough guy who wants to continue. So, the match was temporarily halted while Chris was walking it off. But it was all a trick as he shot out of the corner of the ring with a big kick to the head of Rhodes.
Hero was in firm control of the match as he dished out the brutal attack of his which included the discus elbow (death by elbow), but he couldn’t get the pinfall. At one point, he was distracted by a fan on the outside who was holding a big head sign of Dusty Rhodes’s head to which he grabbed and used it as a weapon on Cody. After a little bit of showboating with the sign, Hero decided to climb the ropes with it, but Cody cut him off and delivered an awesome superplex. Hero tried to use the knee injury again to stop Cody’s run, but he didn’t buy it as he attacked Hero. Cody would then try to hit a moonsault from the corner, but Hero caught him and hit him with a cutter. He would follow that up with the death by elbow, but Cody refused to quit as he kicked out of the ensuing pin attempt.
Both men were trying everything at this point to put the other down. Hero would go for the ripcord elbow, but Cody would counter. Both men would hit each other with impressive bicycle kicks and Cody even hit Hero with the disaster kick, but Hero refused to quit. Cody would try for the cross-rhodes, but Hero would counter it into a short piledriver, but Cody still refused to stay down. Hero would look to try the ripcord elbow again and he connected, but no dice on the pin attempt. At this point, you were wondering in the hell was it going to take to win? Then it happened, a moment that would shock the crowd for sure. Cody had just hit Hero with the cross-rhodes, but Hero had kicked out. While on the ropes trying to catch his breath, Drew Galloway came out of nowhere and hit Cody with a cowbell. After three rolling elbows and one ripcord elbow, Hero pinned Rhodes for the 1-2-3. Thanks to Galloway, we had a winner that night and a what a way to ruin a run. Hey, don’t forget to like our page on Facebook at 
Just like Monday Night Raw, WCPW (What Culture Pro Wrestling) holds there own show on Mondays called Loaded. This past Monday’s episode of Loaded featured an interesting match as WCPW Internet Champion “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes defended his title against the 2016 Battle Of Los Angeles winner “The Villain” Marty Scurll. It promised to be a very interesting match as we already saw Cody Rhodes defend his title against Zack Sabre Jr. who happens to also team with Marty Scurll on occasions. How was Cody going to handle an opponent like Scurll especially after the fact that Scurll beat Cody at PWG Battle Of Los Angeles in 2016. As per usual, the crowd was very into the match with what seemed like half cheering for Cody and the others cheering for The Villain. The match started with a lit mat technical wrestling, but it really started with a little taunting with Cody first giving the gun shot hand gesture and then it followed with Scurll giving Cody the DX suck it gesture. The techincal mat wrestling continued afterwards with Marty Scurll getting the best of Cody until when they were both up on their feet and he slapped him in the face.
That pissed off Cody to the point that when Scurll was done showboating, he kicked him in the stomach, dropped down and uppercutted him, and followed it with a kick to the midsection that sent Scurll to the outside to regroup. Cody got a little cocky and tried to deliver an axhandle smash to the outside, but Scurll was able to change the complex of the match by using the umbrella to hit Cody in the midsection. He began working on Cody taunting him with every slap and kick even putting him in a submission I have never seen before in my life. Scurll was smart, he began working on the arm of Cody Rhodes and it proved beneficial to the challenger in moments such as when he tries to counter your suplex, you just wrench the arm enough that he slams to the mat which is what Scurll did. But once again, Scurll got too cocky during the match and he paid for it with a superplex from the top rope. The question then became whether Cody could capitalize on it or was there too much damage done to him?
After a nice series of exchanges between the two, Cody tried for a moonsault, but no one was home and Scurll superkicked him four times in a row to the temple, but Rhodes would kick out on the pin attempt. A painful moment would follow as Cody dropped down to his back to do that patent uppercut to his opponent, Scurll grabbed his fingers and snapped one or two of them. At this point, they began trying tho throw everything they could at each other to end the match from a pump-handle neck-breaker from Scurll to the figure four lock from Cody (which was broken up by Scurll snapping the fingers by the way). Then all of a sudden, Scurll retreated to the outside and grabbed his umbrella to use as a weapon, but Cody stopped him and grabbed it. While the referee was arguing with Rhodes to get rid of the umbrella, Scurll was under the ring grabbing something. When came back in, he threw what was powder at Cody, but Cody ducked and it hit the referee.
Cody took advantage by kicking Scurll in the undercarriage and hit him with a disaster kick, but the referee wasn’t there for the pin attempt. When Cody went to check on the ref, Scurll got back up, returned the favor with a kick to the nuts, and hit Cody with his own move the Cross Rhodes. When he went for the pin attempt, the referee was there to count it, but Cody kicked out at two. Frustrated that he didn’t get the pinfall, he got up and declared that he was going to try the chicken wing, but Cody countered it into a Cross Rhodes. When covered him for the pin, it was an easy 1-2 and 3 for the grandson of a plumber. At the end of the match, Scurll gestured to Rhodes that they were 1-1 against each other which may be a sign that they are far from finished with each other. I for one was very pleased with this match more than the Zack Sabre Jr. match that Cody had.
One of my favorite indie companies overseas lately has been WCPW (What Culture Pro Wrestling) and it was a no brainer for me when it came to choosing a match for today. The company held it’s internet PPV KirbyMania a couple weeks back from the Liverpool Olympia in Liverpool and it featured some great matches including this one which saw The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes defending his WCPW Internet Championship against the technical wizard Zack Sabre Jr in what promised to be a very methodical match up between the two. For Zack Sabre Jr. this was his debut match for the company so you had to wonder if there were any jitters, but highly doubtful from the CWC semifinalist. The beginning of the match showcased why Zack was a technical wrestling wizard as he was getting the best of Cody Rhodes, but Cody was quick to remind him who he was with a nice shoulder block that sent Sabre to the mat quickly. It was starting to look like Cody was making a big mistake trying to match Sabre in the technical aspect, but then a quick Gory special would sort of change your mind.
As soon as I say that Sabre quickly reminds me and the crowd why you don’t mess with him and his mat skills as he took Cody to school. Cody had to exit the ring to try and regroup and maybe rethink his strategy against Sabre. Sabre definitely had the first advantage as he wasn’t allowing Cody to garner much of an offensive attack always bringing him back to the mat to work on his arm and shoulder. At one point, I thought the tide was surely going to change after Cody hit Sabre with the hangman’s DDT, but in one quick instance and a dragon suplex, Sabre was back on the offensive. It just seemed that the tone of the match was set and that Sabre was on his way to winning the match, but in the blink of an eye it all changed. Cody was trying to slap on the Cross-Rhodes to which Sabre was able to turn it somehow into a pinning combination. Cody kicks out to which now Sabre is going to try and turn the situation into a submission, but Cody’s strength allowed him to reverse out of it and he nails the Cross Rhodes out of nowhere and gets the 1-2-and the 3 for the win as Cody retains the championship. A pretty decent match from the two of them especially if you love mat wrestling from the technical wizard Zack Sabre Jr. I’ll give the match an B+ for a final grade.While you’re at it, don’t forget to like our page on Facebook at 
I am not really sure what I am exactly doing with this challenge of sorts, but I am just seeing where it goes cause I just spent the last 366 days watching a film a day. So, I am not calling it 365 matches in 365 days, but rather Main Event Madness. The first match that I chose for today was the second installment in the Cody Rhodes/Kurt Angle saga which took place at SilverBlades Ice Rink Altrincham in Altrincham, England for WCPW (What Culture Pro Wrestling) True Legacy 8. Cody who had the balls to leave a job that he could have had for life made a list and initiated that list by wrestling Angle in New York. He got the win over Angle the first time after hitting the cross Rhodes, but now he wanted revenge. Both competitors came out to ring receiving standing ovations from the crowd at hand and when the match started, Angle had gotten the best of Cody in the beginning.
After regaining his composure, Cody stopped to perform a cart wheel in the ring and challenged Angle to do one. After Angle obliged and did one, they made the referee do one in the ring to which he pulled it off. After the bit of fun, they got serious and things became serious when Cody tweaked his ankle doing a leap frog over Angle. Like any true veteran of the ring, Angle took advantage of the injury and he brought it to Cody stomping on his ankle any chance he had. Anytime, Cody would try to take the advantage in the match, Angle was there to cut him off with some German suplexes. What ensued next was a challenge of finishers and what I mean by that is we see Cody hit the disaster kick first, but Angle kicks out. Kurt hits the Olympic slam, but Cody kicks out of that. Cody hits the cross Rhodes (which finished off Angle in the first match), but Angle kicks out. Angle will then try to lock in the ankle lock, but Cody is too good and he gets out of it. He then proceeds to try and hit the cross Rhodes again, but Angle counters into another ankle lock. This time around, Cody was not so lucky as he tapped out to give Angle the win and even up the series. I am going to give the match a B+ because it was fun, it had it’s spots, but it’s not match of the year. We’ll see if we ever get Rhodes/Angle 3!
I announced some time ago that we were going to do a tournament because there are just way too many wrestlers to choose from. So we did that back on Tuesday and we unleashed the indies brackets (it needed two) and the TNA bracket. As usual, we left it up to you guys to decide who you wanted to move ahead to be in the final set that actually competes for Wrestler Of The Year. Right here, we have the results of the indie brackets which includes wrestlers from Ring Of Honor, Revolution Pro, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Lucha Underground, and more. All matches were chosen at random from a hat and you voted. The first match up of the tournament saw former Revolution Pro star Zack Sabre Jr take on Lucha Underground star Pentagon Dark. You guys voted and unanimously voted Sabre through. The second match saw NJPW star Kazuchika Okada take on Ring Of Honor’s Bobby Fish and he ultimately moved on as Fish only received a vote.
Ring Of Honor’s Adam Cole took on the indie sensation Ricochet in the third match, but Cole won big with Ricochet only gaining a vote as well. The fourth and final match of the first bracket was a toss up as the 2016 NJPW Best of the Super Juniors tournament winner Will Ospreay fought Jay Lethal valiantly and won by getting 50% more of the votes. There was just way too many great indie stars that we couldn’t leave it to just one bracket, so we brought on another one. This bracket featured a couple of lopsided victories as Yujiro Kushida shut out Jeff Cobb and Kenny Omega also shut out his fellow Bullet Club brother Cody Rhodes. The other lopsided victory goes to The Villain Marty Scurll as he held Mexican star Fenix to only one vote. The big upset of the first round belongs to Kyle O’ Reilly who 72% of the votes over his opponent Kota Ibushi. So with all that being said, look below to find out who your second round matches are going to be and also be on the lookout for the second round voting.
I don’t watch a lot of TNA Wrestling or at least as much as I would like to because then I would know a lot more of what was going on in the company. Anyways, it was actually a decent PPV for the most part, but the match of the night is going to go to The Great War which was The Broken Hardys who defeated The Decay in an epic match that featured barb-wired bats, barb-wired tables with thumb tacks on them, chairs, and so much more including smashing pumpkins. The night also gave us the debut of Cody and Brandi Rhodes even thought that was very brief, but still fun to see. My least favorite match of the night award goes to EC3 (Ethan Carter III) and Bobby Lashley who in my opinion wrestled in a very uneventful match. Bobby Lashley being world champion in TNA is mostly the problem because he’s not that exciting of a wrestler. He hits you with a couple of suplexes and spears and he calls it a day. In a no holds barred match, the first object he decides to pick up is his belt when there is tables, chairs, and just about anything else. It was nice to see Gail Kim get honored for what she has done for that company over the years and of course it was nice to see her win the Knockouts title for the sixth time.
It was so weird seeing Awesome Kong there because she has changed so much since the last time I had seen her. It was also nice to see Taryn Terrell back in the Impact Zone and I wish her nothing but the best in her future. DJ Z and Trevor Lee kicked off the night in the right fashion delivering us a good solid match. The Bound For Gold Gauntlet match was interesting to say the least and it had some comedic moments to it. Congratulations by the way to Eli Drake for winning it. Here’s to hoping the company is around long enough for you to take advantage of it. Aron Rex proved why he is someone to watch in professional wrestling giving it all against one of my personal favorites in Eddie Edwards. I’m not 100% sold on Moose, but he did have a good match with Mike Bennett. Liker I said, it was a decent night of wrestling for TNA, but what does this mean moving forward for them? Are they going to be around? Or will the WWE buy them out and close them down? I went 3-4 on my predictions which sucks, but is fine with me. I am going to give this event an B- for a final grade even though the Lashley match stunk that bad.
