Wrestling Review // Test Of Strength Wrestling Fight 4 Your Dreams 9/4/21 @ Columbia Club, Torrington, CT

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This was our third time coming to Torrington for Test Of Strength and our fourth TOS show overall.   I was really excited for this show because every match had that main event feel to it.  I often like to judge matches (on paper before the show) as bathroom breaks in case if there is no intermission, but this card had none that I was willing to get up and miss.  I wish every promotion could say the same.

One of the things I've always felt to be true about wrestling and taking Quentin with me, and now Jess as well, is that the wrestling show is the destination- you drive to it and enjoy it- but that doesn't mean that you can't have fun along the way.  When I told my mom that we had been going to wrestling in Torrington she told me that there was a Carvel there and it's right down the road from the Columbia Club so on this Saturday we went and had ice cream before the show.

The doors opened before 6 pm so I felt rushed trying to get in but the show didn't start for a little while after we were in.   The show opened with Nororious Mimi & Andre Moore vs J Boujii & Dan DeMan.   I had never seen Andre Moore before but he really impressed me because he's the type of wrestler who can stand out in a crowd but also can deliver in the ring with the high flying and mat based style.   The way that J Boujii can get the crowd to boo him so loudly is the same way that Andre Moore was able to get the crowd cheering and chanting "Encore! Encore!"  I wouldn't mind seeing them one v one.

Unfortunately for J Boujii he made the mistake of tagging with Dan DeMan.  Though Dan DeMan did not dress like Cruella, he did dress like Thanos and that was kind of neat.   As far as I remember though, Dan DeMan was pinned by Mimi and so J Boujii didn't take the loss and going forward he should just stick with singles or find a tag team partner who isn't going to blow it  J Boujii is not a loser he just didn't pick the best partner.  We can't be blamed for our choices and other peoples short-comings.

The second match is one that I was really looking forward to and it had the chance to steal the show.  For my money, it was Match Of The Night up until the main event.   At some point in my life, back in the early '00's, television wrestling ruined tag team wrestling for me because it became very formulaic.  It was all about one guy taking a beating from the heel tag team, getting the hot tag and then the face tag team winning.  But wrestling (at least outside of television) has changed and this tag team match between Kylon King & Dustin Waller vs the Stepdads was anything but formulaic.

What intrigued me most about this match going into it is that the Stepdads are a tag team and they don't wrestle so much in singles matches.   Though Kylon King and Dustin Waller both have established singles careers and you could consider them singles wrestlers, they also are no strangers to each other and have tagged together before.  So it's just that dynamic of the Stepdads being on the same page but even though they may not tag together as much, Kylon King and Dustin Waller are on the same page as well.

If you think about Kylon King and Dustin Waller as being high flyers and then think about the Stepdads as being more mat-based and technical (with that power) then you have to realize also that during this match it felt like any style one team could do, the other team was there trying to outdo them.   It felt like "Well the Stepdads can win if they just keep them grounded" (pun intended) but at the same time that didn't seem to be true because all four competitors just adapted so well to each other.  Definitely a tag team match for future generations to study and definitely one I'd like to see run back.

For the third match we had our third tag team match in a row.  Vicious Vicki was supposed to team with Davienne but was not here so instead we had Armani Kayos teaming with Davienne as part of the Trust Fund with Jared Silberkleit.  What was odd about this match- and I tweeted it- is that Becca was on the opposite side of the ring from Davienne but they're Scrunchie Pals so I feel like they should have been teaming together.   I realize that in different promotions the same wrestler can be cheered or booed, but I do enjoy when they stay on the same page because I found it so difficult to boo Davienne, especially after the weekend prior.

After this match, Davienne was a bit upset and Armani tried to turn on her but it eventually ended with Davienne getting to beat up Jared Silberkleit.   Sometimes the test of a true professional is being able to go out there and have the crowd either cheer or boo for you because no reaction is really just not what you want.  But the simple fact that Davienne went from being booed throughout the match to being cheered after it was over just goes to show you how great she is.   Not everyone can do that.

Stepping away from tag team matches we had Ryan Fraust take on TJ Howell III in a feud which has gotten out of hand but the loser would have to be the caddy for 30 days.  Thanks to TOS, I also had to explain to Quentin what a caddy is.   This was an interesting match because Aubrey turned on Ryan Fraust but TJ Howell III still couldn't beat him.   Now, though I'm sure the next 30 days will be fun (for everyone who isn't TH3), I'm interested to see where this goes when the 30 days are up.   Do they just go their separate ways?  Do they somehow gain respect for each other and team again?  The mystery of the storytelling is really strong here.

At the last show, Brother Greatness ruined a great match between Garrett Holiday and Mike Skyros, which was title vs title, and though Brother Greatness has become obsessed with Mike Skyros he had to face Garrett Holiday to pay for his sins.   What could have happened here is that Brother Greatness could have defeated Garrett Holiday to become the new SCW Champion and then Mike Skyros vs Brother Greatness could have been a title vs title match but Brother Greatness had other plans.

Following not a three count, Brother Greatness just assumed he won, said he was the winner (he wasn't) and tried to leave but was brought back into the ring for a proper pinfall.   Watching Brother Greatness' descent into madness over Mike Skyros is like when WCW had Sting going from being a surfer to being The Crow.  I don't know what's going to happen to Brother Greatness when he finally gets a match with Mike Skyros because there might be serious side effects for BG if he can't beat Mike Skyros.  The way his mindset is now, he isn't ready to defeat anyone.

The Tag Team Titles were defended in a Freebirds rule sort of match where SWB and Jay Freddie had Ichiban on their side and The Firm had Danny Miles for some reason.   This match was only won by The Firm because a fourth member came out and cost the Kowalski Guys the match.  This either needs to go four on four, it needs to be two on two with a special referee who won't let The Firm cheat or it just needs to be two on two inside of a steel cage.  But either way, The Firm still really doesn't have a decisive victory over Kowalski Guys and it's frustrating.

After intermission we got right into the TOS Heavyweight Championship match.  Karen Bam Bam was defending the title against Bonez and someone named Magnificent Marcos and there was a lot to process here.  First off, when Bonez came out he absolutely frightened a small child on his way to the ring and it's one of three times I've seen a child cry at a wrestling show this year.  Marcos came out first and I didn't remember his name so I yelled "Who are you?" what he said back to me sound like "<something something> Herman" so I said "What? You're Pee Wee Herman?!??"

When Matt DaCorte was doing ring introductions and said that he was Magnificent Marcos I yelled at him "You lied to me! You told me you were Pee Wee Herman!"  Little did we know at the time that Pee Wee Herman would somehow be winning the title.   During the match, after everyone had just been beating the hell out of each other, Evie De La Rosa came out with a chain wrapped around her hands, nailed Karen Bam Bam in the back of the head and that allowed Magnificent Marcos to get the pin and become the new champion.

As Matt DaCorte was going to make the announcement, the GM of TOS- Alex Rojas- grabbed the mic and made the announcement himself.  What I'm wondering is why does Test Of Strength have a GM in Alex Rojas if he's going to watch someone blatantly interfere in a match, causing their champion to lose and then present the title to Magnificent Marcos as if he actually won it.  Evie De La Rosa should be co-champion with Marcos, but if Alex Rojas isn't going to step in and either restart the match or give Karen Bam Bam the DQ win (with no title change) then... I don't know what.  I was going to type that he should have to buy a ticket and sit with the fans but even the fans saw that Torrington Screwjob from 500 miles away.

For quite a while after the match, a number of people were attending to Karen Bam Bam before helping her out of the ring as she had a lot of blood above her eye.   This match brought out too many emotions in me because at first I was upset (and I still am) that the so-called GM of TOS would let such a bullshit call stand.  But then I was just concerned for the well being of Karen Bam Bam and was just hoping that she was okay.

The main event felt like, on paper, it was going to be just a wild match and let me tell you- it was.   This was not only the Match Of The Night but quite possibly the best match I have ever seen in TOS.   You have four components just ready to explode and when you think about putting them into the ring together it just feels like it's going to be something special but it also feels like it's going to be mayhem.

Eddie Edwards chopping the hell out of Jordyne Rowe is a reason enough to go out of your way to watch this match.  Some people say that wrestling matches can feel like a car crash but this one was like the whole interstate backed up because you couldn't blink without feeling like someone just got hit the hardest they've ever been hit in their entire life.    I would love to see Eddie Edwards vs Mike Skyros one on one some day (Whoever books that loves money) but this was just a match that hit everything it needed to (and more) to prove why TOS is one of my favorite places to watch wrestling.