Wrestling Review //
Pro Wrestling GRIND
Sinister Urge
December 2nd, 2022
Pulaski Club Easthampton, MA
For the final show of 2022 at Pulaski, GRIND really seemed to pull out all the stops with this card. Every match felt important but it also just had that feeling of something we hadn't seen before combined with the debut of Kevin Blackwood, the return of Myung-Jae Lee and some other points of interest as well.
While I don't go backstage, I do stay among the people and so I will offer up this piece of fan friendly news. Waiting to go in, fans were talking and someone asked if there was a women's match. It was determined that even though there wasn't, Delmi Exo would still likely be there. Then all of the fans waiting to get in basically agreed that we wished Delmi Exo was wrestling. That is, from a fan perspective, very important and breaking news.
Sinister Urge opened with Perry Von Vicious vs Andy Brown and this was just a fantastic match. Andy Brown has all of the tools to be a star and perhaps one of my favorite things about him is how unpredictable he can be. When a fan is booing or heckling him, he isn't afraid to yell back and I wouldn't be surprised one day to see him try and fight a fan. It just feels like you never know with him and that makes it more exciting.
Inside of that ring, Andy Brown and Perry Von Vicious are both very evenly matched. They are both hosses moving well and doing things certain hosses can't do. In that sense, this match did seem to bring out the best in both of these wrestlers and this is definitely a match to go out of your way to see because it was really about endurance I'd say.
Next up we had the returning Myung-Jae Lee taking on Ryan Clancy. At one point, both wrestlers were running the ropes when Clancy just kind of tried to a cross body and landed on the mat to no avail. He also then did this awkward headscissors where it looked more like he was getting taken down than doing the taking down, but it is what it is. The crowd was very much behind Myung-Jae Lee, but sort of seemed to not know (or perhaps care) about Clancy.
I know other wrestlers do it as well, but there's this one move where a wrestler stands with their feet over a downed opponent and just sort of twists like it's supposed to have an effect of trying to twist their neck but it just looks like nothing happened to me. Clancy had a small bit of offense- a sequence which was somewhat impressive- but with Myung-Jae Lee feeding off the crowd this was just his match. Myung-Jae Lee should truly be everywhere and at least on every GRIND show because the matches I want to see seem endless.
Manders and Joseph Alexander were out third and when Manders first came out I was just so excited to see him I kind of forgot he was a heel. He still did heel things in this match and the crowd seems to taking more and more to Joseph Alexander with every show, so that's a step in the right direction. I really liked that there was a technical side to this match until Manders went low, but Joseph Alexander is just one of those talents that has come so far in such a short time that the future is almost scary.
Before intermission was a somewhat important tag team match as MSP took on Miracle Generation. These teams have met thrice before but MirGen has never been able to defeat MSP. So this was a bit of a fun match. I really like how MSP have evolved since I first saw them and I feel like it's been a while now since I've seen a lot of Miracle Generation matches as well and I just wish they'd show me something new.
My "among the fans" bit of news coming from intermission is that Myung-Jae Lee seemed to have the longest line at the merch tables which also might have been because I didn't realize it was forming behind me so I had to stop talking about Canadian money and let other fans have their turn.
Following intermission we went right into Kevin Blackwood vs Ryan Mooney. The GRIND crowd seemed rather receptive of Kevin Blackwood and rightfully so because he just has that style of striking and being technical while hitting hard which just seems to fit with GRIND. But wow is Ryan Mooney popular with the fans and rightfully so. Someone who has really just come up in the past year and made a name for himself simply by doing what he loves and the fans getting behind him in a truly organic way.
The tag team grudge match between Logan Black & Angelo Carter vs Travis Huckabee & Mike Skyros was next. It started off in chaos and it ended up in chaos. I really think there needs to be some kind of stipulation match between Angelo Carter and Mike Skyros, which can then lead to a match between Logan Black and Travis Huckabee. Something where everyone is banned from ringside but whoever wins between Angelo Carter and Mike Skyros can pick the stipulation for the Logan Black-Travis Huckabee match.
Jay Freddie defended the GRIND Grand Championship for the first time against Rip Byson in the main event. This was one of my favorite matches of 2022 and it's interesting to think now who Jay Freddie will defend this title against next. There are several different wrestlers who have convincing cases to be made and so what comes about and how it comes about will be interesting to see unfold as well.
Before the year is over (like right before) GRIND will close out their 2022 as part of The Wrestival in Worcester, MA with "All We Are". So far, Perry Von Vicious vs WARHORSE, The Mane Event vs Violence Is Forever and, oh yeah, Emi Sakura will be here and that's a pretty big deal if you're into professional wrestling at all. I'm not going to shame any fans because there are a lot of wrestlers who are the "it wrestlers" that I just don't care about, but yeah, Emi Sakura is one of those talents you should go out of your way to see if you can.
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