Wrestling Review // Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory, Season 3, Episode 8 11/25/21 @ White Eagle, Worcester, MA

http://beyondwrestlingonline.com/ 

As soon as it was announced and I saw the match graphic for Masha Slamovich vs Charli Evans for this show, I knew we had to go.  The fact that this show took place on Thanksgiving made things a little bit easier because that meant Quentin could go with us because he didn't have school the next day.   To be fair, if Beyond Wrestling announced Charli Evans vs just about anyone else I would have likely shown up just to see Charli Evans because her return to Australia is sooner than later.  The fact that this was the match with Masha Slamovich pretty much everyone wanted to see just made it that much sweeter and I was extremely excited for this one.

After Thanksgiving with the family, Quentin and I hit a little bit of traffic because we passed an accident that hadn't happened too long before but we made it to the White Eagle in enough time to not miss the first match and to grab seats near where the wrestlers come out.  The White Eagle had a good crowd and it felt this level of energy where people were just pumped.  I mentioned before that I wanted to go to this show to see Masha Slamovich vs Charli Evans, but right after I found out about that match I also found out that every other match on this card also had that big match feel.

In the pre-show type match Love, Doug defeated Nolo Kitano.  We saw Nolo Kitano last weekend at Pro Wrestling GRIND in a match which he lost to Perry Von Vicious, so perhaps one day we will see him pick up the win.  But, this was Love, Doug's night and when Love, Doug came out he threw his flowers at me and that seemed to set the tone of the show for me-- I knew the night would be something special.

The show officially opened up with Alec Price taking on Matt Taven.  I have a lot of thoughts on this match that I won't type out, mostly because I am not a fan of Matt Taven, but this was one of those matches where I can at least admit that I respect Matt Taven because of the hard fought loss he put up here.  One of the things I didn't like about this match going into it was that there was this discussion beforehand about how Matt Taven came from ROH so therefore he was better than Alec Price and a lot of fans seemed to agree with that.  But if you're at a Beyond Wrestling show, wouldn't you want it to feel like Beyond is at the same level or even possibly better than another promotion?

For what it's worth to me, when ROH was having their shows months ago and so was Beyond Wrestling, I feel like Beyond was putting on consistently better shows.  I think Beyond Wrestling has a better core roster than ROH does, though that is not to say that ROH doesn't have wrestlers I have enjoy because I really love Bandido, amongst others.  But it's just weird and a little backwards that Matt Taven will insult Alec Price for having not been in ROH and fans in Beyond Wrestling are just like "Yeah! What have you ever done, Alec?" rather than recognizing the wins that Alec Price has in Beyond Wrestling.  Again, it just makes it feel like the implication is "ROH > Beyond", which whether you agree with or not shouldn't be the feeling at a Beyond show.

This took us into the first of two tag team matches of the night, which was a rematch from this past Saturday at Pro Wrestling GRIND, as the Shook Crew took on The Mane Event.  This match started once again with Jay Lyon wrestling Bobby Jr and The Mane Event even seemed to score a win in a similar manner.  When the Pro Wrestling GRIND show is available on replay I think it would be fun to watch them both back and see just how similar they are, but the Beyond fans absolutely love The Mane Event (and rightfully so) and are still mixed on Shook Crew because some of them think Bobby Jr is a sheep.  

Most of the time when I go to wrestling shows it is just a means of my admitting that I don't know anyone's entrance music.   Though, Shook Crew and The Mane Event both have the best entrance music in the game today.  I also know Slade's entrance song but since Matt Makowski came out first this did not really seem to matter.  This match was insane, from Makowski coming out from under the ring with a football helmet on to the spot where they destroyed the entrance way.  I legitimately thought that since Matt Makowski spent so much time moving people and walking so far back Slade would get out of the way, but Matt Makowski absolutely crushed Slade, that chair and the entrance curtains, which was just unlike anything I've ever seen before.

Up next, Trish Adora took on Suge D for the only Championship that really matters.  This was our second episode of Uncharted Territory that we went to live and it should not be seen as a coincidence that Trish Adora has defended her title on both of them.  This was a hard fought match that I didn't know how it would end, but unlike the match against Jordan Blade I was at least on the side of Trish Adora here, as most of the crowd was also booing Suge D, and it just felt less conflicted.  This was also our first time seeing Suge D wrestle live and that was quite the experience so achievement level unlocked.

Halfway through the show and we had already seen enough matches that could have been main events on other shows.  This brought out Ted Goodz and LMK to take on Max Caster.  I just remember that Max's diss rap said something about LMK looking like a little girl and then he compared Ted Goodz with Joe Biden and that was some funny shit.  I liked this match and Max Caster won with a low blow so apparently this feud is not over.  I really just wish that more places booked Ted Goodz.  I know he's in some MA promotions (Top Rope Pro shout out) but how do we get him to Blitzkrieg! Pro or Chaotic Wrestling?  Even a promotion outside of New England would be cool.

We reached the point where I knew I was going to have to go to the bathroom before the end of the show, but I also was trying to figure out the match order.   Waves and Curls came out to defend the Tag Team Discovery Gauntlet against Brick City Boyz, so I didn't know if Masha-Charli would main event or not but I was kind of hoping it would.  The story in this match was that Brick City Boyz just defeated one member of Waves and Curls, it felt more like a 2-on-1 match and the crowd absolutely hated BCB over it.   After their win, when they did an in ring interview I went to the bathroom because I felt like that was going to be my only shot and it was a good thing that I did.

Since coming to the US on this run, Charli Evans has done some absolutely crazy things.  You can go to Cage Match or whatever and see the match history, watch those matches and just be utterly impressed.   This meant that I wouldn't have been surprised if this match broke down into a brawl with weapons, but it didn't.   Instead, Masha Slamovich and Charli Evans told a story of pure wrestling with submission holds, powerful strikes and technical moves.  When was the last time two wrestlers had a match like this?  Maybe never.  This wasn't just match of the night, it has to be on lists for match of the year and when you consider how the rest of this card looked that really is saying a lot.   This match was simply everything that I wanted it to be and so much more.  I would like to see them run it back one day.

In the main event, Mike Bennett took on Ryan Galeone.  We had never seen Ryan Galeone live before and he is much more impressive in person than the television gives him credit for and, let's face it, even on tv he's pretty damn impressive.  After a hard fought victory, Mike Bennett seemed like he was going to do the honorable thing but instead Bennett and Matt Taven beat down Ryan Galeone until Ted Goodz came out to make the save.   This got the crowd to turn on both members of the OGK.  

One problem I have, which I feel needs to be addressed here, is that whenever someone comes to a promotion like Beyond Wrestling or even Blitzkrieg! Pro or Chaotic Wrestling (since I mentioned them before) it always feels like they're cheered if they're from somewhere like ROH or WWE.  This just gives off such strong vibes to me of "I know you from the tv!" and it's almost like fans are impressed by their celebrity status.  The last time I watched ROH (and it's been a while) Bennett and Taven were heels and I feel like they were heels for most of their careers, so why not boo them? And this was just kind of proven as they did heel things here and eventually did get booed.  

There are other conversations that people aren't ready to have yet about wrestling but I digress.   From top to bottom, this was one of the best Beyond Wrestling cards on paper and inside of that ring every match delivered.  I feel like this is the type of show that even a year from now we're going to look back upon and think "Wow, the fact that we saw that was crazy" because of where everyone will hopefully be going within the next year.  Ryan Galeone has that star power and I shouldn't need to tell you that everyone else on this card does as well.