THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. "THE DOJO BROS" EDDIE EDWARDS & RODERICK STRONG
Kevin Steen is on commentary, and we've already had an Eddie Edwards/American Pitbulls/NXT reference. The Young Bucks superkick the referee, just for fun, and this match is underway. The Dojo Bros beat up on the Bucks, so Kevin Steen draws a penis on a piece of paper because he refuses to watch it.
Line of the night, in answer to the question "who's on first?":
"Your face. Your mother. Do your job, you're supposed to be saying what they do!"
There's actually a great match going on, that I'm totally missing because I'm too busy gushing over how hilarious Kevin Steen is on commentary. Roderick Strong runs into a superkick from one of the Young Bucks, as we're about 7 or 8 minutes into this match. The Bucks double team Strong until he dropkicks both of them (Hardcore Holly reference). In comes Eddie, who cleans house with body slams and kicks, slamming one Buck on top of the other.
Matt Jackson comes back with a springboard X-Factor on Strong, and then moonsaults off the top rope onto Richards on the floor. "This is awesome" chant from the crowd. The Dojo Bros hit Nick Jackson in the corner with flying dropkicks. Superkicks and running knees are flying everywhere. The Bucks try for a Heart Attack, but Edwards catches him and Strong hits the ring for a Heart Attack of their own. The Dojo Bros lock in stereo submission holds, but the Bucks throw them into each other.
Roderick Strong takes the Spike Piledriver from both Matt and Nick Jackson, but Eddie breaks up the pin just in time. Nick tries for the spring board X-Factor but comes up empty, as the Dojo Bros put Matt through a crazy combo of kicks, knees and the works for the 1-2-3. Unbelievable.
Easily match of the night. I'd put it in the 'A-' category, but it could have even been better, if I wasn't so distracted by how great Kevin Steen was on commentary.
Phenomenal match. The Young Bucks give an extremely rare show of respect to the Dojo Bros after the match, and then stay in the ring to a big "please come back" chant from the 2CW fans.
These kinds of matches make my job really easy. All I really have to say is, the match was great, you should go watch it.
**MAIN EVENT**
TABLE WAR
SEAN CARR & KAGE (c) vs. PUNISHER VANSLYKE & KEVIN GRAHAM vs. THE CRIST BROTHERS
The rules are kind of interesting for this match. You can't be eliminated by going through a table by yourself. Your team needs "two strikes" to be eliminated.
I'll be honest, I really don't know who any of these people are, so calling the action is going to be really difficult. To make matters worse, they didn't have introductions, as the match started by an assault on the entrance ramp, and the final team (the Crist Brothers) didn't come out until five minutes in, after one of the teams (still not sure who) had a strike against them. No tags, everyone is legal – this is going to get complicated.
Punisher VanSlyke is a big man, and he takes down CK (Carr & Kage) by himself. The table gets pulled out of the way to make a save; not entirely sure for whom. Sean Carr gets put through a table, so I guess CK has been eliminated, but now they are saying Kage's table spot earlier doesn't count, because the referee may not have seen it. After a few minutes, they announce that CK has been eliminated, which doesn't please the crowd. Weird.
Chairs are introduced into the match, and one of the Crist brothers goes through a table… The bell rings, and they announce Punisher and Graham as the winners? The other Crist brother never went through a table. I have no idea what the hell is going on in this match…
DECISION: WINNER & NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS, VANSLYKE & GRAHAM
After the bell rings, the new champs take out the referee, bring a new table into the ring, and put the other Crist Brother through a table. They cut the feed early as the commentary team is still watching, and go to the end credits. Horrible.
That was awful. I get that 2CW wanted to end the night with their own talents, which is a totally respectible thing to do, but you don't book an AWFUL match like that after a show stealer like the Young Bucks vs. Dojo Bros. I have no idea who put that train wreck together, but nothing about it was right.
Timing was bad; all the guys were just going from spot to spot, with no energy. The spots weren't even that great. No storytelling, just table spot, into table spot. It was maybe 8 minutes long? Not to mention, one third of the guys in the match didn't even come out until half way through. No introductions means new viewers have no clue what they are watching. It's one thing if you put unknown talent on screen, and the produce a 5-star match. It's another thing if they completely ruin the night.
Sorry 2CW. I don't mean to crap all over your product, but this was one of the worst booked matches I've seen all year long.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Wow, that last match was a mood killer. I was all ready to write up a great report about how fantastic this FREE night of wrestling was. And then…that happened. So, just like the pre-show, let's pretend it didn't happen, and move on with our lives.
The Young Bucks and the Dojo Bros absolutely brought the house down. Kevin Steen was equally as good in the ring as he was on commentary, and continues to make every product he's a part of that much better, whether it be 2CW, PWG, Ring of Honor, or a county fair in Wisconsin. He's the best. I'm a giant Steen mark, but he's still the best.
Overall, for a free wrestling show, this was really damn good. I would have paid the usual $15-20 fee for an indie show to see the two aforementioned matches alone. Michael Elgin and AR Fox was an added treat. Johnny Gargano, as per usual, delivers. Basically, what I wanted to see from "99 Problems" delivered, and what I wasn't sure about, wasn't all that great. That makes a lot of sense. The names that carried the show are good enough to be headlining promotions around the country. There were a few people I saw for the first time that caught my eye. Jay Freddie is really good. I like the look of SWB, although he needs to be a bit more prepared if he's going to do gimmicks like Tweeting mid-match. The 4-way brawl was a bit of fun.
This was my first 2CW show, and I was really impressed. That being said, my desire to come back for round two is going to completely depend on who they bring in from outside. The world title rematch isn't selling anything for me. That tag team "main event" was complete trash (sorry, I know we're not talking about it anymore). 2CW has a few homegrown guys I want to see more of, but they need the Kevin Steens, the Michael Elgins, and the Young Bucks out there to beef up their roster, because their usual talent was by far some of the weaker aspects of the show.
IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: Everyone who is even thinking about doing iPPV in the future, or has done so and failed in the past, needs to figure out what the hell 2CW is doing, and copy it exactly. Roughly four hours from the pre-show to the end credits, and not a SINGLE TIME did my audio, or my video have any issues. A completely error-free internet wrestling broadcast.
