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Better Late Than Never
Once again, I’m kicking things off with a belated recap. This week, it’s a look back at Day 2 of Progress Chapter 135: Super Strong Style 16. Off we go!
Progress Chapter 135: Super Strong Style 16—Day 2
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Day 2 of the 135th chapter of Progress took place at the Electric Ballroom in London, England in the United Kingdom; it served as part two of the three day long Super Strong Style 16 weekend. Day 1 of course only consisted of all eight round 1 matches; Day 2 saw round 2 of the SSS16 tournament take place along with a thrilling ladder match for the Progress Tag Team Championship, two singles matches (including one non-title), an eight-man tag team match, a three-way dance involving the Progress women’s roster, and—as thrilling as the ladder match—an “I Quit” match where the loser would leave Progress.
There were three matches out of the ten that took place that I enjoyed. The best match from the SSS16 tournament would have to go to Charlie Dempsey vs. Chris Ridgeway. The two wrestlers from two different brands—NXT UK and Progress respectively—showcased their technical wrestling abilities including grounded submission maneuvers that were exchanged back and forth, as well as a handful of hard hitting moments including Ridgeway showing his intense and vicious side near the end of the match as we have seen in previous chapters of Progress when it comes to knowing what’s on the line or what’s in the horizon, especially the Progress World Championship which was what the tournament winner would receive.
Outside the tournament, there were two more thrilling—as I noted in the beginning of this recap—matches that took place, and they were both the opener and closer. The opener was a triple threat tag team ladder match for the Progress Tag Team Championship between the 0121, the Sunshine Machine and the Smokin’ Aces. Not only did we see hell break loose when it comes to fighting on top of or from ladders, but also a great amount of action in and outside the ring coming from the three teams.
The other non-tournament match that I enjoyed was the main event “I Quit” match between Cara Noir and Spike Trivet. This type of match, where the non-winner would leave Progress, was a great way to end a bitter rivalry between the “Black Swan” and the “Sovereign Lord” even with moments that made me jump out of my seat at times as well as the closing moment that surprised those that have watch the two wrestlers and their rivalry that began last year where Cara Noir refused to accept Spike Trivet’s challenge for the Progress World Championship. If that rivalry doesn’t go down in history as one of the best rivalries in Progress, I have no idea what would.
Here are the Progress results from London…
Match #1: The Sunshine Machine defeated the Smokin’ Aces and the 0121 in a triple threat tag team ladder match to become the new Progress Tag Team Champions.
As soon as the bell rang, Chuck Mambo stood on TK Cooper’s shoulders to reach for the belts while their opponents got out and grabbed ladders; as soon as their opponents brought the ladders to the ring, Mambo got on one of the ladders to reach for the titles, but was unable to get them. During the match, Dan Maloney was trapped underneath two ladders while the Sunshine Machine and the Smokin’ Aces were fighting at the tops of the ladders. Then, as soon as Charlie Sterling and Nick Riley were knocked off the ladders, Mambo and Cooper reached for the titles until Maloney—while on his back—tipped the ladders, causing Cooper to fall off and Mambo to—like Liv Morgan at Money In the Bank—bounced off the rope with one foot before falling off and springboard into the Smokin’ Aces who caught him at ringside and hit him with a superkick/piledriver combo on the floor.
Later on, while Sterling and Maloney had a tug of war with the ladder, Mambo stood on top of the ladder that the two were fighting over until Man Like Dereiss took off the Sunshine Machine member with a springboard blockbuster. As soon as the 0121 and the Smokin’ Aces were recovering near the end of the match, Cooper told Mambo to “get the tables” (ala the Dudley Boyz), and Mambo ended up getting a surfboard from under the ring; it was used to build a structure that consisted of two setup ladders, a surfboard used as a bridge for the two ladders, and another ladder bridging between one setup ladder and a corner of the ring. All three teams fought at the structure with Sterling hitting Dereiss with a backdrop onto the bridging ladder, and then the Sunshine Machine hitting Sterling with the Designated Driver through the surfboard before climbing up and grabbing the belts for the win. Afterwards, Jody Fleisch came and checked on the 0121 before the three showed respect to the new Progress Tag Team Champions. My score: 4/5
Match #2: Big Damo defeated Dean Allmark.
Both men shook hands as soon as the match began. During the match, Damo threw Allmark into the chairs in the audience, then went for a cannonball, but missed and crashed into the chairs before Allmark hit him with a top rope crossbody at ringside. The match ended with Damo hitting Allmark with a Vader Bomb for the win. Afterwards, Damo helped up Allmark and shook his hand. My score: 2.5/5
Match #3: Gene Munny defeated Malik in round 2 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
Like in round 1, Munny worked a strap on his left shoulder, and Malik coerced Simon Miller to say “aaaa” while introducing him as “The Hitta” before Munny went right after him seconds before the bell rang. Munny won after hitting Malik with the James Blunt Force Trauma (released spinebuster) followed by, after Malik kicked him away for a moment, the Ainsley Lariat. Post-match, Munny shook Malik’s hand until Malik was livid. My score: 2.75/5
Match #4: Luke Jacobs defeated Big Guns Joe in a non-title match.
Towards the end, Jacobs hit Joe with a chokeslam on the apron and then a Death Valley Driver through the chairs in the audience; he would then hit Joe with a powerbomb for two, followed by the Burning Lariat and a piledriver for three. Afterwards, Jacobs thanked Joe for the match and then started to talk about Axel Tischer until Tischer came into the ring; Tischer wondered if Jacobs was changing his mind about defending the Progress Atlas Championship against him and getting arrogant until Jacobs told him to STFU and vowed to retain the title and not disgrace it like Tischer’s former group Ringkampf. My score: 3.5/5
Match #5: Chris Ridgeway defeated Charlie Dempsey in round 2 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
Near the end, Dempsey had Ridgeway in a bridging ankle lock until Ridgeway got out of it and stomped his face before hitting him with a Randy Orton punt to the head and a brainbuster for the win. Dempsey received a standing ovation from the fans afterwards. My score: 4/5
Match #6: CPF defeated Maggot, Robbie X, Rickey Shane Page & Jack Evans.
Like Laurance Roman in wXw, CPF also had the ICW Shop theme song but with the lyrics sung like on ICW. During the match, Evans challenged Danny Black to an impromptu dance off; the two danced until all eight competitors decided to take part of the dance off before Black, Callum Newman, Joe Lando and Maverick Mayhew hit Evans—who was doing a headstand—with a quadruple dropkick. This would then lead to the action spilling out of the ring, starting with Page throwing Maggot into CPF at ringside, followed by Page (with a tope), Robbie X and Evans diving onto the four; things would then turn around with CPF coming back in the ring and then—in order—Black with a tope into the Out of the Black to Page, Mayhew and Newman diving onto their opponents, and Lando with a shooting star press to their opponents at ringside.
As soon as the action moved back into the ring, Charles Crowley ran in and interfered until Page and a couple CPF members fought him away before Crowley was taken away by security. The match ended with Newman hitting Evans with a corkscrew moonsault for the win while, at the same time, the rest of CPF dove onto their opponents from the same corner where Newman performed the corkscrew moonsault. My score: 3.75/5
Match #7: Alex Windsor defeated Raven Creed and Eliza Alexander in a triple threat match.
This was the first time Eliza competed on Progress as “Eliza Alexander” instead of “Lizzy Evo.” Near the end, Raven hit Alex with the Hellmouth until Lana Austin came and pulled the referee out of the ring. Raven went after Lana until Lana took her down and put her in her own straitjacket; Raven headbutted Lana and Eliza away while trying to fight out of the straitjacket, then used it to choke Alex until Alex freed herself—as well as Raven from the straitjacket—before winning with a fisherwoman’s suplex into a Michinoku driver. My score: 3/5
Match #8: Warren Banks defeated Kid Lykos (w/ Kid Lykos II) in five minutes in round 2 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
Banks, who had kinesio tape on his right shoulder, charged at Lykos II and kneed him in a corner before the match. Towards the end, Lykos hit Banks with a top rope Brainbusta for two, followed by a Brainbusta for another two; Banks came back with the Bullet Vehicle on the apron, another Bullet Vehicle at ringside, and then a third Bullet Vehicle in the ring for the win. My score: 1.5/5
Match #9: Johnny Progress defeated Aramis in round 2 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
During the match, Aramis took off his jacket, leading to Progress “inflating” his flexing muscles like a balloon. Near the end, Progress went for the Starship Pain but missed, leading to Aramis hitting him with a botched springboard Codebreaker (looked a lot like a springboard facebuster to the knee to me) followed by an airplane spin slam for two. Aramis then went for a kick, but Progress blocked it and countered with a leg trapped crucifix rollup for the win. Aramis bowed to the fans afterwards. My score: 3.5/5
Main event: Spike Trivet defeated Cara Noir in an “I Quit” match, making Cara Noir leave Progress.
Cara Noir wore a hood, instead of his mask that was destroyed by Trivet chapters ago, to the ring. Also, fans had “FUCK YOU SPIKE” signs with a black swan being used as an asterisk on the signs. Both wrestlers got busted open during the match; Trivet was bloodied after Cara Noir hit him—while he was equipped with a chair—with a baseball slide, and Cara Noir got bloodied after Trivet hit him with a piledriver at the entryway before the “Black Swan” returned from backstage with four steel chairs.
Trivet—who set up a table at ringside before his opponent returned—tried to make Cara Noir by closing the four chairs onto all four of his limbs including closing them with the Garvin Stomp as well as using another chair to close them on the limbs; he then said “Next phase” and attempted to suplex Cara Noir from the apron through the table until Cara Noir brought him back in by hitting him with the Madame Guillotine onto a chair. Cara Noir then set up a second table next to the one Trivet set up, and Trivet threw chairs at him while trying to put him through the two tables until Cara Noir hit him with the Rude Awakening neckbreaker onto the apron. A third table was then set up by Cara Noir until Trivet hit him with a bag that was filled with lemon juice and thumbtacks; Cara Noir put him in the Blackout sleeper/bodyscissors combo until Trivet slammed him onto the tacks, and then—after Cara Noir surprised him with another Blackout—poured lemon juice all over his wound on the forehead before spitting the juice on his tack covered back.
Trivet then made the match look like Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa at NXT TakeOver: Chicago II by taking apart the ring mat and exposing the wooden boards until Cara Noir hit him with a low blow and then a package piledriver onto the boards. Cara Noir then went elsewhere in the venue and brought a trampoline to the ring before having Trivet on the three tables; he then bounced off the trampoline until Trivet got out of the way, causing Cara Noir to go through the three tables. Trivet found another bag with a lock and chain, and wrapped it around Cara Noir’s neck on the top rope until Cara Noir hit him with another low blow before having the referee give him the key; as Cara Noir was freeing himself, Trivet hit him in the back several times with a chair.
Trivet then found Cara Noir’s wife Claire and threatened to attack her at ringside until Cara Noir told him to stop and said “I quit”, thus making Trivet the winner. Afterwards, Trivet was showered with debris by angry fans, and then Cara Noir and Claire left the venue; then, fans surrounded the ring and chanted “Thank you Cara” while pounding on the mat. My score: 4/5
ICW Fight Club
Belated recap aside, we head to the GPWA in Glasgow, Scotland in the United Kingdom for an episode of ICW Fight Club.
More matches were made for ICW Shug’s Hoose Party 7, including one Ravie Davie asked for as you’ll see in the results. These matches include—as I predicted two issues ago—Levi taking on Aaron Echo, the Young Team taking on K.O.E., Martin Kirby taking on Sheikh El Sham, Andy Wild taking on Jason Reed (made by Coach Trip), and—I’m surprised that this wasn’t mentioned before or after the main event match that I’ll get to shortly—Mark Haskins taking on “The Outlaw” Stevie James in a two-out-of-three falls match.
Related to one of the matches made for SHP7, Coach Trip getting under the skin of both Andy Wild and Jason Reed was one of the storylines that Fight Club focused on this week. As noted in the paragraph above, Trip created the match Wild vs. Reed for SHP7. Trip explained to Reed—who disliked the idea—that it’s because Reed should be on a higher level than the “deadweight” Wild, and then asked him “Friends or title?” when Reed was telling him that wasn’t a fan of what Trip created. Later on the episode, Wild—who also disliked the idea of his and Reed’s match at SHP7—approached Trip who said that he wanted what’s best for Reed until Wild said that it was “bullshit.” You can definitely tell that Coach Trip will indeed be a factor in his own creation for SHP7, and I got a feeling that this match won’t go too well. Plus, I was getting used of seeing Reed and Wild getting together as a team after it was water under the bridge after they fought for a shot at the ICW World Heavyweight Championship episodes ago.
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Four matches took place this week on Fight Club; it started off slow—as well as comedic—until things picked up as soon as the first match of the episode came and went. My favorite match of the episode would have to go to the main event bout between Mark Haskins and “The Outlaw” Stevie James. This match not only showed a good hard-hitting battle as well as Mark’s wife Vicky being the wildcard, but also showed both James working on his comeback trail after fighting Kez Evans for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship weeks ago and Mark—along with his wife Vicky—turning heel with the dead giveaway being Mark refusing to shake Daz Black’s hand after their match not too long ago.
Here are the match results from Glasgow…
Match #1: Mr. Ian Skinner vs. Mr. Charles Vyce ended in a double disqualification.
Ravie Davie was the special guest referee for this match; he wasn’t wearing a referee shirt for this match, but showed that he had stripes on his sneakers. Davie unnerved both members of Thatcher’s Cabinet by doing five counts when Skinner or Vyce were resting on the rope to take a breather; other antics included checking his phone, slapping competitors and making them think that their opponent is the one responsible for slapping, slow pin counts, and fast ring out counts. Davie even coerced the two to fight each other until Skinner and Vyce hit him with a double superkick, leading to him calling for the double DQ. Afterwards, Davie challenged them to a tag team match at Shug’s Hoose Party 7; Skinner and Vyce will take on Davie and—the host of the event—Grado. Special guest referee matches aren’t really my thing, but it did earn brownie points for giving me a good laugh. My score: 1.5/5
Match #2: Luke Kyro defeated Theo Doros.
Doros worked on Kyro’s ribs during the match, then attempted to finish him off with a German suplex until Kyro countered with a rollup for the win. My score: 2.5/5
Match #3: Moxie Malone defeated Harley Hudson.
This was Harley’s ICW debut. Moxie won after making Harley submit to a sleeper/bodyscissors combo. My score: 3/5
Main event: Mark Haskins (w/ Vicky Haskins) defeated “The Outlaw” Stevie James.
Towards the end, Mark hit James with a Michinoku driver, and threw his elbow pad to the apron; Vicky took the elbow pad and distracted the referee, leading to James rolling up Mark and getting the pin count too late. Then, Mark put James in an arm-trapped crossface, and then rolled him away while converting the submission hold into a crucifix rollup, pinning him—with his foot on the bottom rope—for the win; Mark and Vicky ran to the back afterwards while James was ticked off by the outcome. My score: 3.5/5
NXT
We now head to Orlando, Florida in the United States for an episode of NXT.
The aftermath of the Great American Bash took place, and the episode kicked off with a whodunit. No, it wasn’t a murder mystery. Roxanne Perez was ambushed in the parking lot before the episode began, and everyone—especially those on NXT’s women’s roster—were trying to find out who attacked her; there were even fingers pointing at Toxic Attraction, mainly because Roxanne cashed in her NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament win for a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship held by Mandy Rose. As soon as the main event match for the championship belt occurred, the answer to who attacked Roxanne ended up being an ending that no one—not even those of us that watched GAB last week—expected.
This won’t be the first time we’ll see JD McDonagh in NXT action; we have seen him compete on NXT back when it was still a black-and-gold brand, and also at last year’s NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver where he and Santos Escobar fought in a ladder match with the winner—Escobar in case you want your memory refreshed—emerging as the official NXT Cruiserweight Champion. The Irish Ace is scheduled to compete—under the new name JD McDonagh—next week against Cameron Grimes who was coming up with plans after fighting Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship at GAB before being interrupted by the former NXT UK wrestler. The match between McDonagh and Grimes was made after McDonagh told him to wrap up his “pity party” and take it backstage until Grimes vowed to make him an “Irish Asshole” after daring him to blindside him like he did to Breakker at GAB. I’m looking forward to seeing what Jordan Devlin…oops…I mean JD McDonagh has in store for the now multicolored brand NXT come next week.
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Seven matches took place on NXT this week, including three bouts that I liked. My favorite match of the episode would go to the opening bout between Apollo Crews and Giovanni Vinci. It was good to see a clash of two wrestlers that have black-and-gold in their veins in the ring, especially the former Fabian Aichner—Vinci of course—who is back to singles competition ever since Imperium broke up days after WrestleMania. Crews is doing very well too, on his possible run for NXT gold, regardless of the match result he ended up getting as well as what—or better yet who—caused him to get that result that he didn’t want.
Here are the NXT results from Orlando…
Match #1: Giovanni Vinci defeated Apollo Crews.
Near the end, Vinci stole a fan’s cell phone and threw it in the ring; then, when the referee wasn’t looking, Xyon Quinn came from the crowd and attacked Crews before Vinci won with a powerbomb. My score: 3.75/5
Match #2: Tatum Paxley defeated Kayden Carter (w/ Katana Chance) in three minutes.
Ivy Nile came to ringside to manage Tatum after she was dropkicked out of the ring. Kayden put Tatum in a reverse Figure Four until Tatum grabbed the bottom rope before rolling her up for the win. My score: 1.5/5
Match #3: Sanga defeated Duke Hudson in three minutes.
This match was made after Hudson got mad at Sanga for laughing at the Great American Bash intro where Sanga surprised Hudson with a cannonball into the swimming pool. During the match, Hudson rips the hair off Sanga’s chest. Near the end, Hudson hit Sanga with a big boot until Sanga came right back with a chokeslam for the win. My score: 0.5/5
Match #4: Solo Sikoa vs. Von Wagner (w/ Sofia Cromwell and Mr. Stone) ended in a double count out.
Sikoa got out of the ring and fought Wagner at the entryway before the match started. Towards the end, Wagner bounced Sikoa’s head off the announce table but instead of making him (something Led Zeppelin is familiar with) dazed and confused, the bounce angered Sikoa. Both continued to brawl until the match ended in a double count out; the brawl—with referees trying to separate the two—would spill backstage to an area where members of the NXT women’s roster were arguing over who attacked Roxanne Perez (especially Amari Miller, Sloane Jacobs and Arianna Grace), and then into the parking lot. Once the two were separated, Sofia settled down Wagner while Mr. Stone told Sikoa “This isn’t over” until Sikoa threw him into a dumpster. My score: 3.5/5
Match #5: Indi Hartwell defeated Lash Legend in three minutes.
Before the match, Lash did a promo while dribbling a basketball, vowing to bounce Indi like the basketball, then as she left, the basketball rolled away and was stopped by Alba Fyre’s baseball bat. Near the end, Lash fought Indi in a corner until she saw Alba on the stage with both the bat and basketball, leading to Indi hitting her distracted opponent with a spinebuster. An epic fail then occurred in the ring as Indi’s springboard elbow drop attempt went awry, leading to Lash pinning her until Indi rolled her up for the win. Afterwards, Alba chased Lash to the back with her bat. No score.
Match #6: Stacks & Tony D’Angelo (w/ Joaquin Wilde and Cruz del Toro) defeated Edris Enofé & Malik Blade.
Last week, D’Angelo said that he sent Santos Escobar to the hospital after being mocked for not winning the NXT North American Championship; during the match, Vic Joseph—on commentary—announced that Escobar was discharged from the hospital. The team of Stacks and D’Angelo picked up the win after D’Angelo hit Blade with the Nikki A.S.H. neckbreaker (known as the “Fuhgettaboutit”). My score: 1.5/5
Main event: Mandy Rose (w/ Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne) defeated Roxanne Perez (w/ Cora Jade) to retain the NXT Women’s Championship.
Before the match started, Mandy mocked Roxanne for not being “woman enough” to fight her for the belt until Cora vowed to step in for Roxanne; Roxanne, with a referee trying to talk her out of competing (as did Cora), came to the ring with taped ribs and decided to fight Mandy for the championship. Near the end, Roxanne hit Mandy with a tope suicida and then took down the rest of Toxic Attraction before hitting her with Pop Rox on the floor. Suddenly, after Roxanne put Mandy in the ring, Cora hit Roxanne from behind with one of the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship belts prior to Mandy winning with a pump knee. After the match, Cora berated Roxanne and then attacked her with—even though it broke before making contact for some reason—her skateboard. My score: 2.5/5
NXT UK
We now return to the United Kingdom, but this time, we head to the BT Sports Studios in London, England for an episode of NXT UK.
We could be seeing the NXT UK Women’s Championship and the NXT UK Tag Team Championship on the line on a later episode of NXT UK, even if Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen are defending the tag team belts against Pretty Deadly on next week’s episode of NXT per se. Footage from last week after NXT UK was shown where Meiko Satomura and Sarray were celebrating their win over Xia Brookside and Eliza Alexander, and Sarray asked Meiko for a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship. Meiko didn’t respond even though she and Sarray walked away after Sarray asked for the shot. Sarray is indeed a good competitor as we have seen especially on NXT; I would love to see her go at it with Meiko for that belt since she has been on a roll time and time again on both American and British soil.
As for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship, the new team of friends Mark Andrews and Wild Boar (I’m curious to see where Flash Morgan Webster and Dani Luna are nowadays since we haven’t seen the rest of Andrews’ team Subculture for a while) challenged Briggs & Jensen for the tag team titles. Both Andrews and Wild Boar appear to be working well as a team after being in tag team bouts on past episodes of NXT UK, and I’m curious to see how this goes when they clash with NXT’s Briggs & Jensen for the NXT UK tag team belts in the near future.
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Speaking of championships, my favorite match of the episode would go to Mark Coffey’s rematch for the NXT UK Heritage Cup against Noam Dar. Dar looked to make lighting strike twice by defeating Coffey to retain the trophy while Coffey wanted to win singles competition gold for Gallus for the first time. It was a good back and forth battle that lasted for six rounds, even with both competitors looking for plan B when it comes to being stuck in a submission hold or trying to win in a score of either 2-0 or 2-1.
Before I continue, yes I did see Wolfgang wearing a “She Wolves” t-shirt during an earlier this week interview where was talking about wanting to fight Ilja Dragunov for the NXT United Kingdom Championship. Wolfgang is indeed a former ICW competitor going back to before I started watching ICW on Peacock.
Anyway, onto what happened on NXT UK in London…
Match #1: Oliver Carter defeated Teoman (w/ Rohan Raja and Charlie Dempsey).
Near the end, Raja distracted the referee and Carter kicked Dempsey away; Carter then went back to fighting Teoman before winning with a running heel kick in the corner. Afterwards, Die Familie attacked Carter and then Teoman hit him with a flipping headlock driver (now known as the Evil Eye). My score: 2/5
Match #2: Amale defeated Stevie Turner in four minutes.
Blair Davenport joined Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness on commentary. Amale won after hitting Stevie with the Hope Breaker. Blair sarcastically clapped at Amale afterwards. My score: 1.5/5
Main event: Mark Coffey defeated Noam Dar 2-1 to become the new NXT UK Heritage Cup Champion.
Sha Samuels was banned from ringside, and ended up watching the match backstage. Also, before the match, Dar coerced a crewman to wear a cap and scarf like Samuels. After round 1 ended in a draw (as well as both competitors slapping each other seconds after the ending), Mark took the 1-0 lead after making Dar submit to a gator lock (headlock-like crossface) fifteen seconds into round 2. Then, after Dar almost hit Mark with the Nova Roller as round 3 ended, Dar tied it up 1-1 after making Mark submit to the Champagne Super-Kneebar 38 seconds into round 4. Then, after Mark pinned Dar too late after a superplex in round 5, Dar tried to make the clock run out in the final round before hitting Mark with the Nova Roller at ringside; Mark came back in at nine, then fought back and won with a running basement back elbow. Afterwards, Samuels appeared and was upset—throwing betting slips everywhere—over Dar losing, then Wolfgang and a handful of wrestlers and trainers celebrated Mark’s win before chasing Samuels to the back. Then, Joe Coffey came back from a brief sabbatical and celebrated with his brother Mark. My score: 3.25/5
NXT: LVL UP
Finally, we return to Orlando, Florida for an episode of NXT: LVL UP.
Out of the three matches that took place this week, two of them were fairly better in my opinion. One was the opening match between Ikemen Jiro and Quincy Elliott. Jiro and Elliott have been doing very well in singles competition besides having lots of fun before, during and after matches. The other match I enjoyed was the tag team main event between Chase University members Bodhi Hayward & Andre Chase and the team of Myles Borne & Javier Bernal; with the exception of what happened near the end, a good amount of tag team chemistry was shown in the ring from all four competitors.
Here are the NXT: LVL UP results from Orlando…
Match #1: Ikemen Jiro defeated Quincy Elliott.
During the match, Elliott blew kisses at Jiro, and Jiro crumbled them up like balls of paper before hitting the last kiss with a jacket punch. Near the end, it looked like Elliott was going to give Jiro a Stink Face (ala Rikishi), but hit him with standing hip attacks instead; Elliott then went for a running hip attack, but Jiro blocked it before rolling him up for the win. Both men shook hands afterwards. My score: 2/5
Match #2: Kiana James defeated Sol Ruca in four minutes.
This was Sol’s debut. Kiana won with a slingblade-like flatliner. My score: 1/5
Main event: Bodhi Hayward & Andre Chase (w/ Thea Hail) defeated Myles Borne & Javier Bernal.
Near the end, Bernal held Chase for Borne to hit him with a big boot, but Chase dodged and Bernal ended up getting booted. This would then lead to Hayward and Chase winning by hitting Borne with the Fratliner. My score: 2/5
Next time…
Again, my usual four as well as a belated recap of Day 3 of Progress Chapter 135: Super Strong Style 16. Oh, and yes, I’ll get to recap both wXw events—True Colors and the 32nd episode of We Love Wrestling—at a later date.
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