Reality of Wrestling Review – 08.09.25

It’s another week in Reality of Wrestling, once again from the Walker Texas Lawyer Arena in Texas City, Texas. This week we got a familiar face on the show; we get a match (oof) social media stars and a very entertaining women’s title match. So, with that in mind, let’s head to Texas City, sit a spell and keep it real. Shall We? We shall.

The production seems much better as we actually go to the parking lot (fret not, it is far safer than the NXT lot. Ours is a law and order society here.) And, we see AJ Francis, the ROW world champ, and Quentin Wynters (the tandem known as House Money) head inside to be stopped by ROW Executive Manager Andrew Jackson (note, not the eighth US President.) Jackson stopped them and said they are not on the show tonight. Francis acknowledges that but decided he wants to slum on the B Show. Jackson still won’t let him enter so Francis breaks out the check book and writes a check for an undisclosed amount. Jackson takes a gander and lo and behold, welcome inside House Money. They enter and Jackson looks around and pockets the check. The line between wrestling and politics blurs even further.

We are welcomed to the troika of Brad Gilmore, Carolina Teague and Chris Russo and we have an open challenge tonight. Russo wants AJ Francis to take him to dinner, no shortage of quality eating, well in Houston, Texas City is hard sell. Gilmore then talks to Teague about a women’s match tonight featuring “Hollyhood” Holly J and Kiah Dream. It’s a contest of street swagger vs. Kiah Dream precision. Okay. We also have Matty Ice vs Johnathan Vega which has championship implications as is something that happened earlier.

And we go back to earlier in Jackson’s office with –Castellanos and Gaspar Hernandez already bickering as Matty Ice barges in. He reads the room and accuses Jackson of trying to screw him already. If that was the case, Ice said give him some warming so he could dress for the occasion (I laughed at that one.)
Jackson said this is not Glory (ooohhh.) Jackson brought everyone in so that everything on the show is earned. This is good for business, all three will be wrestling in the next three weeks in singles matches leading to Summer of Champions. If they lose the match, their opponent will take their place in the four way match for the ROW Texas Heavyweight Championship (already included is champ Gino Medina.) He hypes the Platinum show as the premier show and asks if they want to be champions of the flagship show. He emphasizes it’s good for business repeatedly.

So, we go to the opening match which is, in fact:

Matty Ice vs. Johnathan Vega (of La Familia)

Ice heads to the ring with a decent pop with his shimmy and the “ice in the vein” gesture. Suddenly we hear the theme from La Familia and Johnathan Vega hits the ring with his manager, Primo, in tow (Primo Juanito, not Colon.) Primo hops on the apron and Ice has words with him, which gives Vega a chance to ambush Ice and boot him down. Whilst the referee is trying to control Vega, Primo chokes Ice on the second rope.

Meanwhile, Teague is talking about the hatred between the Cubs and White Sox and comparing it to this match. Cubs and Cardinals? Sure. Cubs and Chi Sox? Ummm…that’s a stretch

The ref turns around and Primo releases only for Vega to choke Ice with his leg. Vega scales the turnbuckles and hits a flying bodypress for two. However, A piledriver attempt is reversed to a backdrop and Ice gets a momentarily advantage by clotheslining Vega in the turnbuckle. The advantage is short lived as Vega counters an Irish whip with a boot but Ice counters a suplex with an impressive one arm suplex as he carried Vega around the ring as we carry off to commercials (nothing happened on the YouTube feed)

We return to Ice giving the 10-punch in the turnbuckle spot. Russo keeps the odd Chicago baseball analogy going by saying he is a Harry Carey fan. Meanwhile, Vega is on the apron and Ice was going to run him into the turnbuckle from inside but Primo runs interference. Ice again decides to jaw with Primo as Vega recovers and hits a cutter on the top the rope as Ice goes flying to the mat. Vega heads to the top and hits a springboard clothesline and started to slug away on Ice.

Vega heads to the second turnbuckle and hits a leg drop for two as Primo prematurely celebrates. Vega continues to boot away at Ice and Vega gets a dropkick to the knee of Ice. Gega started to club away on the back of Ice with forearms and boots. Vega than hits a variation of the camel clutch but Ice makes it to his feet and runs Vega into the turnbuckles to break the hold.

Ice snapmares Vega and hit a series of clotheslines and then hits an urinagi. We STRIKE THE POSE!!! but Ice saw Primo on the Apron but this time Ice decked Primo and the manager goes sprawling to the floor. However, Vega recovered and hit a cradle for two. He heads to the top turnbuckle but Ice meets him there and slams him to the mat. Once more we STRIKE THE POSE!!! and we get the Ice Pick elbow drop and the Iceman Cometh (a twisting Death Valley Driver) gets the win.

Post Match: Gilmore gives us a Harry Carey “Holy Cow” impression and Ice basks in the adulation as Teague said Ice will be the only champ coming from the Northside of Chicago.

Now, we get a backstage interview with Emily Taylor with “Hollyhood” Haley J. feels good and confident but she and Kiah are cool. J said she helped Kiah get to where she is now but now it is Haley’s turn to shine. She is done helping and now she is humbling. And she doesn’t play. “And new…..” she ended her interview as she takes her jacket over her shoulder and smacked Taylor on the way off screen.

Contract Signing Will Allday and Danny Limelight

Allday is a cowboy with Jeff Jarrett’s jacket and cowboy hat in tow. Danny Limelight is out next, rocking a Jalen Brunson jersey and a small group of security including MMA fighter Blake Troop (9-6 in competition.) Jackson thanks the two for joining him tonight. Limelight went full bad boy and has sneakers propped on the table and Allday paces back and forth on the other side as Jackson tried to calm him and have him take a seat.

There will be no contact tonight since Limelight has a rider in his contract saying no contact or he forfeits the match, that includes backstage, parking lot and shoe store fights. Limelight grabbed the mic and thanked Jackson for the history lesson. He taunts Allday and said that its sad it has come to this that Allday cannot conduct himself professionally. He said he had to hire Troop since Allday stalks him like a crazy ex-girlfriend.

Limelight said Allday jumped him at a sneaker store and threw him to a barber’s chair and tried to cut Limelight’s wonderful hair and take food off his table. He said Allday is jumping him from behind, destroying public property and is acting more like him than Allday. He sees the hate in his heart.

Limelight looked at Allday’s purple boots (yeah, purple) and said he wore his wife’s shoes. He then asks if she is here and says hello to Mrs. Allday. Allday almost snaps but Jackson restrains him. Limelight said he was just saying hi. If Allday wants to get his hands on Limelight, it is under one condition, Allday puts his hair on the line. Limelight quiets the fan.

Allday agrees to the stip but Allday has a stip of his own, too. He made a deal with Jackson and it is now a hair vs. hair match. Limelight knocked the hat off Allday and stomped it on the mat and kicked it to the floor. Limelight bailed before Allday could retaliate in any shape or form. Limelight also grabbed a kid’s sign and tore it as we tear away to commercials.

We return backstage with Vega who sees Primo come into frame and asks him where he has been and why he is dressed so nicely. Primo said he was handling family business and pulls out a roll of money. Vega is pleased.

Strangely, Primo asked Vega if he ever heard of CashApp. Vega explained the nature of the App. And then, Primo understands and asked an unknown wrestler who walked in front of the camera (all we see is leg) if he has CashApp. Vega looked exasperated and just waved it off.

Title Match Hollyhood Haley J vs. “The Queen of the South” Kiah Dream

Teague called Dream “Our Sweet Georgia Peach.” Sure. She is also respectful and deserving of the title. Haley J is not as she tried to take the belt but Dream gets it back.

They lock up an the two take turns back the other in to the turnbuckle. We get a sort of twerk from J. That being said, J does offer her hand as a sign of respect. Dream’s shakes it but – YOU FOOL!!! – J takes advantage and gets an arm lock out of it. However, Dream reversed it and we get a twerk of our own.

We have a series of pins and reversals and we get another semi-twerk by J. Dream promptly kicked J’s butt -literally. J whipped Dream to the turnbuckles but a charge is met with a sunset flip for two and then a dropkick as we get a quick flip to commercials.

(there was nothing extra on the YouTube feed.)

When we return from commercial, Dream still had control and hit a springboard reverse body press for two. However, a clothesline into the turnbuckle is reversed and J slammed Dream into said turnbuckles and then booted her while on the mat. J threw Dream into the ropes and hit a back elbow for two-and-a-fraction. Dram badmouths Dream as we get a series of slaps and reversals until both hit the ropes and hit simultaneous flying hair slams.

Both struggle to get to their feet but manage to beat the 10 count. Dream hit a clothesline and a drop kick . J whipped Dream to the ropes but Dream stopped the momentum on the ropes and hit a springboard cutter for two-and-a-fraction. Dream stomped away on J and headed to the top turnbuckle. She makes the “sleep” gesture but a meteora is met with knees as Dream crashed to the mat.

J stood up and measured Dream for a superkick. J took her sweet time to land a powerslap BUT HOLD EVERYTHING…ARIANA GRACE SHOWS UP ON THE (we’ll call it the) WALKER TEXAS LAWYERTRON and said she thought about what J said the last time Grace was there – that she was going to slap her face if she saw her here again. Grace said she does not care and will see her at ROW Glory.

J is pleased by this revelation but this gave Dream plenty of time to recover and hit the Cross Rhodes for the victory and Dream retains the title. Dream got a loud pop for the victory. We offer no pop for commercials.

We come back to AJ Francis and Quent Wynters coming to ringside. They walk around and badmouth the fans (Francis tried to grab a sign from another kid.) Francis gets the mic for an open challenge and reintroduces himself and “The Executive Decision” Quentin Wynters.

As we can see, he is the longest reigning ROW champion of all time, ergo he is the greatest ROW Champion of all time. He reiterates he is slumming it here and decided to spruce things up here. AT ROW Glory they will team against Chandler Hopkins and a partner he will never find because no one is dumb enough to team up against them. Ergo, we have an open challenge. If anyone is dumb enough to come out and face them, be their guest but remember the house always wins (is it a secret alliance with Julia Hart? Tune in to the hotline to find out.)

We do have challengers and they are the Vybe Guys – BDE and Brent Oakley. Gilmore and crew extol the Vybe Guys’ social media stardom. They have been in the ring. BDE and Francis start but it is a ruse as Wynters immediately cheap shot BDE in the back of the head. BDE gets a go behind of Wynters and ran him to the ropes for a cradle. However, Wynters hung on and BDE went rolling to the middle of the ring. However, Wynters missed a clothesline and BEDE got a springboard reverse bodypress for two.

Wynters hit the ropes and gives a hard boot to BDE. Wynters booted BDE and landed a Flair sounding chop to the turnbuckles. Another whip to the turnbuckles gets a hiptoss by Wynters. Another Flair chop sends BDE to the turnbuckle. However, Wynters sent BDE to the ropes but BDE held on to stop momentum. A Wynters charge is ducked and “The Executive Decision” went to the floor.

Oakley is tagged and Wynters missed another turnbuckle charge. Oakley dropped his arm on the ropes as BDE gets a splash in the turnbuckles. BDE whipped Wynters into Oakley for a clothesline and then Oakley hit two flying shoulder blocks to Wyners. Oakley gets a FULL BODYSLAM for two.

However, Oakley hit the ropes only to be stopped by Francis and a hair pull. Oakley admonished Francis but gave Wynters time to hit a huge dropkick and some pushups to gloat. Wynters rans Oakley into the turnbuckle and Francis is tagged. Francis and Wynters combine on a flying back elbow into the turnbuckle, a big boot by Francis and a Francis aided flying elbow drop by Wynters. Francis hits his own back senton for two until BDE broke it up.

As the referee tried to get BDE back into the corner, the heels double team and choke Oakley. Oakley, however, reversed the old Andersons spot of throwing your opponent into the headbutt of the other. Oakley landed a forearm to knock Wynters to the floor and a turnbuckle aided dropkick and a series of punches.

Francis ended the comeback with a corner splash and a Tennessee Whiskey running kneedrop in the corner. Wynters was tagged and got a two count on Oakley as Russo said Francis is so slick he could sell sand in the Sahara Desert. Wynters draped and choked Oakley on the ropes. While the ref tried to control Wynters, Francis hit a running boot.

Wynters picked up Oakley and carried him around and dropped him – neck first – on the top rope and hit a flapjack for two-and-a-fraction. Wynters hits the chinlock as the crowd tried to rally the Guys. It worked as Oakley got out and back suplexed Wynters.

Oakley gets the hope crawl and gets the hot tag on BDE. Francis is also tagged as BDE hit a springboard dropkick on Francis. Two flying forearms do minimal damage but a tilt-a-whirl DDT does the trick. Francis gets to feet and is met with a flying knee for two-and-a-fraction before Wynters breaks up the pin.

However, Oakley gets in the ring and hits the kangaroo dropkick to send Wynters to the floor. Oakley then gets to the top turnbuckle and nailed Wynters with a flying bodypress. Oakley is fired up but tried to signal BDE what was happening. IT was Francis lining up BDE for the TFL (spear.) However, that only got two. Francis picked up BDE for the Down Payment (chokeslam) but BDE reversed it to a cutter. BDE tagged Oakley and the two went to the opposite turnbuckles for, probably, stereo flying bodypresses. We won’t know because Wynters knocked BDE off one turnbuckle to the floor and Francis hit the ropes to crotch Oakley on the turnbuckle. NOW, we get a top turnbuckle aided Down Payment. Wynters is tagged and simply pins Oakley for the victory (Francis stood on BDE’s back to prevent interference with the pin.)

Post-match, House Money celebrate on the turnbuckles and Francis grabbed Oakley’s captain’s hat for extra taunting as we go off the air.

Reality Bytes:
One, prepare for old man yelling at clouds in 3…2…1 but who are these Vybe Guys? The internet tells me they have a podcast and play games and what not. Okay, sure. If there is where we are leaning, I guess, more power to ROW as this is a “get” for them, I guess. I get they have clout if they kicked out of two of Francis’ signature finishers.

Two, the production looked exponentially better than last week. We got screen chryon to Identify who is who and we got a backstage interview segment. This seems more of a feel of a WWE Production. Even the commercial breaks were seamless this week.

Three, I still love some of the old-school touches, though. The hair vs. hair match harkens back to days of yore. I like the amalgamation of the old and new on this show.

Four, there has been some talk about Haley J and I can see the hype is warranted. In fact, Wynters also showed me a lot in his tag match. Wynters was very crisp in the ring and all the moves seemed fluid.

Five, the more I watch him, Francis is a star that was just mistreated in the E. Glad to see he is gaining traction and becoming a star.