Mid South Wrestling (10.19.1984), Lance Storm vs. Norman Smiley, and other Dream Matches!

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This week, I wanted to do something different: check out a Mid South Wrestling show from 1984! Territory shows are always interesting in how they’re booked and lead to the next thing, and this has some read treats: Sweatpants Jake Roberts, fat jobbers, jobbers who later become something (Frank Lancaster, and some scrawny kid named “Shawn Michaels”), Buddy Landell vs. some pretty good guy I’ve never heard of named Johnny Mantell, and a good Exotic Adrian Street vs. Gentleman Chris Adams match! Also BILL WATTS of all people is probably the first dude to use a rap song as someone’s theme, as Master G faces a jobber.

But wait! There’s more! I A WCW Thunder from 2000 has both a Meng vs. Sgt. A-Wall (aka The Wall with the Misfits in Action) Hardcore Match, and immediately following that is Lance Storm & Norman Smiley trying their level best to have a mat wrestling classic! Except neither guy has the skill nor the cardio to do that! And finally, a match I wanted to see after reading Maffew’s 3PW reviews: their Title Match 4-way between Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles, Chris Sabin & Slyck Wagner Brown! Because those guys’ indie runs are kinda fascinating in how they went to indies all over the world to have “their match” with each other, then occasionally try to “put over” local talent (aka Brown in this match).

MID SOUTH WRESTLING:
(Oct. 19th, 1984)
* I wanted to check out some territory stuff, and Mid-South has always had the angles that sounded like the most fun, AND it has a “Big Cat” Ernie Ladd appearance and I always want to find more of him, so let’s see.

General Skandar Akbar with Jim Ross starts us off, and they show a 1982 match where friends Junkyard Dog & Ted DiBiase wrestle a No DQ match. DiBiase gets flung over the top rope via a counter, and kindly babyface JYD saves him and carefully puts him back in the ring… where DiBiase pulls something out of his tights and knocks JYD out with one shot (GREAT front-face KO sell by JYD here, too) and pins him for the North American Title. Then Jim Cornette does a promo wearing a ridiculous mask, boasting about the Midnight Express going back to basics by being as vicious as they used to be. His boast: “We will END the career of one of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express in the near future- but I won’t say who and I won’t say when!”.

Jake’s sweatpants always remind me of this Adventure Time bit.

MID SOUTH TAG TEAM TITLES:
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL EXPRESS (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) vs. JAKE “THE SNAKE” ROBERTS & JACK VICTORY:
* hahaha oh my god YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS it’s “sweatpants” Jake, dressed like a man with no self-respect wandering to the store for some TP. God did he EVER need to just nut up and wear tights, skinny legs or no. Victory has a classic jobber look already, with a big gut and bad bleached hair. The Express look like total dorks with their US flag bandanas over black tights, and are still the coolest looking people in the match.

Jake easily shoves Gibson off to start, taunting him repeatedly, so he immediately gets faceplanted on the third try and Morton rolls him up. Jake backdrop suplexes him but Morton hangs on with a headlock as Ross points out the Express make up for their lack of size with quickness and teaming. They work over Victory’s leg with switch-offs and slingshot knees to the knee until Jack’s finally able to drag his fat ass across the ring- Jake hairslams Gibson out of an International and immediately tags Victory back in but Morton gets tagged in for a flurry of punches for everyone, but Jake flings him over the top rope behind the ref’s back but Ricky lands on his feet and the Double Dropkick sees Jake upside-down in the corner on the sell (in maybe his biggest bump ever) and a double-backdrop to Double Dropkick finishes Victory at (4:54). Easy night for the RnRs- take some simple stuff from Jake, easily handle Victory by spamming the same moves, then take down both guys. Jake keeps some cred because it’s the jobber who gets beat.

Rating: * (pretty simple match but alright considering it’s squash-adjacent)

“BIG CAT” ERNIE LADD vs. FRANK LANG:
* I wanted to watch this mostly because of Ladd, who is an all-timer dude (6’9″ 300+ lbs. and a SUPER charismatic arrogant heel) who just peaked before the era where people got lots of tapes. He’s in red trunks and past his prime, while Lang is a pretty fit jobber in black. He’s apparently future WCW/WWF jobber & USWA guy Frank Lancaster/Heartbreaker Adonis.

Old-ass Ladd immediately scores a backwards-rolling armbar to Frank, who looks pretty good as Ladd easily hands him his ass, slowly hitting European uppercuts & turnbuckle smashes, using his sheer size. A hiptoss gets two, but Frank gets a short comeback with some clipping forearm shots, but runs right into Ladd’s boot and does a flipover bump on the sell. Ladd just dumps him to be an asshole, covering his ears to ignore the ref’s protests, then a double-hand lift chokes Frank and drops him, then a big boot into a legdrop finishes at (2:18). Easy win from a confident Ladd. But in comes Magnum TA, who has an issue with Ladd! He tries to talk some shit, but Ladd’s booming voice is easily heard even on 1984 cameras- “I’ll SLAP YOUR FACE!”, and he attempts to do just that, but Magnum blocks him and throws shots that back Ernie into the corner, but in comes BUDDY LANDELL, assisting Ladd, who uses the chance to get both his feet up in the corner, then hit a DOUBLE-legdrop to Magnum while he’s bent over, absolutely flattening him, and they shred his shirt off and beat his ass until some jobbers run in and they take a pounding- it’s only Terry Taylor & Brickhouse Brown that can send the heels off. Wonderful beating.

Rating: * (good squash! Lang seemed like he had something- good athletic movements and bumps)

MID SOUTH TELEVISION TITLE:
EXOTIC ADRIAN STREET (w/ Miss Linda) vs. “GENTLEMAN” CHRIS ADAMS:
* Two English athletes go at it, with Street doing his big elaborate “sissy” gimmick with a handlebar mustache and LIPSTICK, plus eyeshadow and pigtails with glitter feathers in his hair. Is the TV Title a large medal? That’s funny. He won it from Terry Taylor via shenanigans. Bill Watts asserts that “Maybe in Southern California or Northern California or some of those weird places, this might be something that someone might look up to, but I’m a bit too old-fashioned to CONDONE…”. Street’s in lavender pink tights, Adams in white trunks.

Street sashays around the ring to get at Adams, then SLAPS him on a rope-break as Ross asserts you can’t be misled by Street’s “packaging”, but Adams counters another by blocking and WALLOPING him with an open hand of his own! Street of course massively oversells this, stomping his feet and whining to the referee about this grievious injustice. Street uses the hair to escape wristlocks, then hooks the arm with his leg and twists Chris’s thumb when the ref isn’t looking. A half-nelson/facelock takes Adams down but he’s quick to counter until Street uses the hair again and twists the thumb, but Adams one-punches him and slams for two. Street beats on him in the corner, but Adams lunges out with a gutshot and throws Street three times in a row, each time Street harmlessly rolling to his feet and celebrating with his arms in the air until Adams is READY for him and POW! Superkick! Street eats shit flying through the ropes and Miss Linda has to help him up- Adams brings him in by the hair but misses a charge and hurts his leg. Street twists the knee in a variety of ways, but gets caught holding the foot and is enzuigiri’d! The fans go nuts, then Terry Taylor runs out to kiss Miss Linda with some Babyface Sexual Assault, causing Street to fling Adams over the top for the DQ (5:58) and grab Linda, who of course LIKED it and is smiling at Taylor in delight, and drag her out by the hair.

Tremendous match here, with Street being a total asshole and trying to mess with Adams by flouncing around but also carefully cheating and fighting for every bit of ground, but all Adams’s comebacks were great- Street celebrating his rolling counters and getting superkicked on the third try was awesome.

Rating: *** (one of the better short matches)

HERCULES HERNANDEZ & “DR. DEATH” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. JIM HORTON & SHAWN MICHAELS:
* Another fun lineup, as the brutish heel squad goes up against to skinny jobbers, one of whom is a dorky young Shawn Michaels in a bowlcut and black tights! Hacksaw Jim Duggan comes out wearing a football helmet to fuck with the heels and distracts them, too. Horton’s in red trunks, Hercules black, and Williams has a blue singlet on as he argues with Duggan over the helmet (claiming he forgot his own).

Shawn starts with Williams- oh boy. Williams hits a fireman’s carry takeover immediately, then counters a go-behind by shoot-lifting Shawn into a German Suplex, then pulls him up at “2”. Nice bump from Shawn (not that he had much choice, haha). Hercules comes in with one of those amazing flurries he was always good at (he’d throw a huge amount of knees & boots until he got blown up), then launches Shawn neck-first onto the top rope. Shawn’s smashed into Steve’s knee and does a great “dead” flop-sell off that, but “the protege of Jose Lothario” catches Williams with his head down and tags out! Hercules no-sells Horton & mauls him, and Dr. Death uses one of those “double-arm-tap” running moves that lucha & joshi puro do, and finishes with the Oklahoma Stampede (running powerslam), doing Duggan’s “thumbs up” gesture at (3:01). Great squash, just mauling these two no-hope losers. Shawn was amazing flopping and flying around, immediately understanding the role of a scrawny jobber, as he’d go down limp and floppy off of everything. Horton was fine- mostly crumpling into a crouch or doing flat-backs.

Rating: *1/2 (great little brutal squash with some good bumping- 4/5 on the squash scale)

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS. I love me a “big fat old man” jobber once in a while.

MASTER G vs. “BAD” BOB OWENS:
* Bob Owens is a portly, “giving up on life” jobber in a blue singlet, and… oh my god is this guy coming out to “RAPPER’S DELIGHT”? Bill Watts of all people was putting rap music in theme songs in 1984! Of course it’s the part where it raps “uh, M-A-S T-E-R, a G with a Double-E, I go by the unforgettable name of the man they call the Master G”. He’s a ripped, muscular black dude in multi-colored trunks. He’s George Wells, who I mostly know from jobbing to Jake Roberts at WrestleMania 2- a former CFL football player.

They lock up and Master G quickly hits a flying mare (Owens is not strong enough or athletic enough to hold him and then take the move), then flips over him and does a dropkick. They grapple a bit and then brutally fuck up a spot (G seems to want to backwards roll while Owens is bent over, but Owens sells like it’s a hit so both flop down). A frustrated G hits a flying shoulderblock into the Masterlock- taking Owens down and figure-fouring his legs around Bob’s and bending it forwards while lying on top of him. Bob seems to figure out seconds in that it’s a submission and gives up at (1:42). oof, rough squash- Owens didn’t seem to know what G was going for.

Rating: DUD (a bit too sloppy and weak- Master G’s stuff was odd, to be fair, but Owens could have sold it a bit better)

“NATURE BOY” BUDDY LANDELL vs. JOHNNY MANTELL:
* This is apparently a rematch- both guys have similar names AND physiques, both looking like kinda soft-bodied jobbers. Mantell is hairy and in blue trunks while Landell is of course bleach blond and in black.

Landell tries to sneak in with a sunset flip but gets punched, then Johnny hits a theatrical bodyslam & fistdrop, then chops & backdrops Buddy, who is so deep into his Flair mimicry act he even takes the bump on his side and does his “lift one arm into the air on the sell” bit. Buddy bails while taunting “have you had enough yet, boy?”, coming in and getting double-legged but they’re way into the ropes. Johnny with a tight butterfly suplex and then an odd amateur-style back-bending throw into a powerslam, Bill himself calling attention to its uniqueness. Buddy hits the floor again and then does another Flair bit, begging off, then Johnny kicks his ass again and spams kneedrops, then works a chinlock with the arm trapped, but Buddy goes into the ropes and Flair Kicks him in the nuts, and they end up grappling to no result at TV Time Remaining ends at (4:31).

Pretty good TV match- I’ve never seen nor heard of Mantell before but he impressed me with his amateur-style stuff. VERY snug and quick turns. Terrible look, though. Oddly the next show doesn’t seem to feature the result. Not a bad show, overall- territory TV was a particular deal- quick matches and non-finishes between stars, but lots of short promos and “just wait till next week” stuff, inevitably leading to something you’d pay money to see, while certain acts get showcased (note how Ernie Ladd demolishes a rookie but Magnum TV comes out to confront him, leading to a dramatic beatdown angle- another tag match has Jim Duggan set up next week BEFORE the bout). But NEXT WEEK is the big show: Big Cat vs. Magnum TA for the Mid South Title! Brickhouse Brown vs. Butch Reed! Hacksaw vs. Dr. Death in a Football Helmet Match! I’ll do that one next week!

They were billing the wall as 6’8″ lmao. Check him next to 6’1″ Haku.

HARDCORE MATCH:
MENG vs. SERGEANT A-WALL:
(WCW Thunder, Oct. 30th 2000)
* So the Wall was given a big push in WCW in 2000 because it was “the land of the guys Vince doesn’t want” and so a 33-year old out of shape guy who did chokeslams was what the doctor ordered. They tried a “911” thing and it got “over” (in the sense that anything in 1999 WCW was over) enough that they pushed him, and of course it fell on its face because it’s JERRY TUITE getting a push and he can’t even work. Here he’s with the Misfits In Action, carrying a table and a double-chin. Anyways, here he is against afro-having 1999 Meng, when the latter was getting a Hardcore push. Lance Storm comes out as he has an issue with A-Wall, claiming he found him an opponent. Commentary suggests that Meng hasn’t been seen for a while but he’d lost to Goldberg only weeks before on Nitro after missing 5 months.

A-Wall catches Meng coming in with some lame knees and stomps, but a stiff chop makes Meng roar to life and thunderously blast him in return- some worked thigh-kicks intermingle with heavy chops and then Meng makes like E. Honda and does some open-hand slap spam, basically whacking A-Wall in the face over and over again in the corner. He works some headbutts and whips A-Wall to the corner, and the fucker is so bad he stumbles back ADJACENT to the corner and has to reposition so he can get his foot up when Meng charges. A-Wall clotheslines him down and throws a chair into the ring, but Meng swings his leg back to get him in the nuts and taps him with the chair. Very good slow-down on his swing to make it get a sound but not just CRUSH the guy. Meng takes forever to set up a table, so A-Wall gets the jump on him with horrible offense, but puts his head down and gets kicked. Meng goes up, but A-Wall recovers and shoves his hand into Meng’s tits! By which I meant he has to awkwardly reposition to his Chokeslam, and A-Wall puts him through the table and pins him at (2:31). Lance gets on the mic afterwards, enraged at his charge, and says “You’re not Canadian, so I knew you couldn’t wrestle… but I heard islanders were at least TOUGH!”, earning him a Tongan Death Grip from Meng. Lance goes bug-eyed but is immediately thrown out of the ring, staggering to the back while holding his throat.

Typical 2000-era WCW match- mostly a quick-run low-effort spam affair. The Wall was REALLY bad- even by 2000 WCW standards he was flaily and unathletic. Meng was no good by this point but at least had some aura- he was able to slap & kick him around until it was time to fly off into that goozle, at which point he froze in helplessness and got easily pinned.

Rating: 1/2* (barely worth anything- 2 minutes of flailing mixed with Haku’s okay offense)

LANCE STORM vs. SCREAMIN’ NORMAN SMILEY:
* Seconds later, Lance comes out, and actually sells his throat by being unable to cut a promo and has to pantomime insisting for the Canadian National Anthem. Well points for selling. Norman is a comedy wrestler by this point, but is wearing a big jersey with a smiley face on it. Mark Madden suggests Norman’s been making money by washing cars in a “very lascivious” way which is horrifying to think about.

They start with mat-wrestling (something Smiley was actually legit good at- he just LOOKS silly and had a goofy dance so there was only one way to be a star), Smiley repeatedly countering to an armbar, then he counters a full nelson with his own, and Norman cartwheels out of a flip attempt and teases his dance. They attempt some fance double-knucklelock spots but seem very hesitant and slow, especially Norman’s little World of Sport-style “spin out of a wristlock and use his ankles to adjust the hold” escape, then sunset flips, countered for two, countered twice more, then Lance hits the apron and necks Norman on the top rope. Storm stomps away and hits a dropkick for two, then a knee to the gut into a backbreaker as the fans lose interest. Norman briefly sells the knee getting tossed out of the ring, gets a back elbow anyways, then is dropped by a clothesline. Storm with a delayed suplex into an Edmonton legsweep into a grounded octopus- Norman fights and sells and tries to get the fans into a comeback- they don’t bite so he just elbows free and twists Lance’s ankle until an eyerake ends that. Storm pounds away in the corner, loudly calls a spot (camera is up their asses, lol) and Norman reverses to the other corner with tit-slaps and a delayed double-arm bomb (like Scott Steiner’s old one). Storm counters a corner whip but runs into a boot, elbow, and 2nd-rope back elbow, gets dumped & baseball slid, floats over on a suplex but can’t get a roll, then Smiley does a very bad, sloppy O’Connor Roll for 1 and pantomimes anal intercourse on Lance after the kickout, finally drawing a reaction. Norman goes for his whirling bodyslam but Lance jawjacks out and hits the Northern Lights Suplex for two (Norman blocks, so Lance runs him into the corner and redoes it). Lance snapmares him and they REALLY struggle with Norman’s bridge-up, Storm hitting a small package and Smiley counters back, then Lance puts his head down for no reason and takes a bridging butterfly suplex into a nearfall- Lance slowly overshoots a clothesline but mule kicks Norman in the nuts (two matches in a row with that spot), goes for the Cradle Piledriver finish but Norman “backdrops” out, Lance flopping over sideways and they stumbling into taking him down with a double-leg (minus the “holding the legs” on the pin), Norman being uncapable of bridging up (Madden calls out “that Flair/Steamboat ’89 spot but they’re both pretty tired”, literally breaking kayfabe), and Lance finally double-legs Norman into the Half-Crab and Norman taps out at (9:32).

This was a very “Lance Storm” kind of match- Fine But Not That Interesting. They were doing some intricate mat-wrestling spots but actually really slowly, probably not helped by Norman wearing a SPORTS JERSEY during the whole thing (which is likely to catch on people at the worst of timeS). Which is bad because the entire match seemed to be the two going “We have ten minutes; why not show them what we can REALLY do”, which turned out to be 10 minutes of antiseptic, slow-motion, kinda sloppy chain-wrestling that didn’t really get over and made Norman in particular look like he was having issues with his cardio/strength (after doing 2-minute comedy matches for years, I can believe it). By the end Norman is struggling to bridge and Lance is going off back body drops sideways (he turns in mid-air on purpose), they’re almost openly huffing and puffing trying to get into position for things, doing the “openly help each other” bit that always happens when guys get tired, and stumbling into place. Like they were aiming for “***1/2 technical masterclass” but haha, guess what? Flair could only do that shit because he was THE BEST and a fucking cardio beast. Which exposes both guys as being sub-par compared to the 1980s guys. Also how the fuck was Madden not immediately fired for that “89 spot” crack, lol?

Rating: ** (it’s funny because they were shooting SO HIGH but couldn’t get it done- there’s kernels of good stuff here but once Norman’s cardio goes it’s rough)

3PW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE:
“THE FALLEN ANGEL” CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs. “THE PHENOMENAL” AJ STYLES vs. CHRIS SABIN vs. SLYCK WAGNER BROWN:
(Pro Pain Wrestling, ECW Arena, January 15th, 2005)
* hahahahaahahHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. When Maffew reviewed this show, I was super curious about this one. It’s basically 3 indie legends and… Brown. A minor-league act that never went anywhere. As he’s the local guy, that means it’s likely that the three “Super Indie Worker” dudes were all hired to come in and make him look good, since if he’s in “That Match” then by proxy “he MUST be good… right?”. Assloads of 2000s indie stuff I’ve seen has some combination of Styles/Daniels/Sabin come in to make a guy look good, have “His Match” with that guy, then let him kick out of some big-name stuff, look shocked, and barrrrrrrrely eke out a win, then shake that guys hand after the match like “YOU HAVE EARNED MY RESPECT” and point at him to the fans like “You should pay monies to see this guy bcuz he is on my level!”. I feel like a big chunk of their careers was spent doing that. Sorta like the indies version of the NWA Champs in the Territories, going from state to state and making local yahoos look like a mere stroke of luck is all that kept them from the World Title.

Case in point: Everyone but Brown only does a handful of 3PW shows per year- Daniels, the reigning champ, did 4 in 2004 and 2 in 2005. Sabin only does 5 or so, Styles 7. They were all in TNA by this point and flew around doing indie shows in addition to that. Brown is the only one who really works for 3PW a lot. You know it’s an indie when everyone is the same height or shorter than the whole front row and three are in black trunks. And yes, this podunk indie that stiffed everyone on their owed monies is calling its belt a World Title. Yes that makes them look EXTRA low-tier trash.

Funny bit to start as Brown tags himself in from Sabin but immediately gets flung around by Styles and decides to tag Sabin back in. Then he tries his luck again, doing it to Styles but getting crossbodied and they just team up on him before he can tag out this time. Double-teams lead to Daniels coming in, hitting some tight offense and his slingshot legdrop for two. Brown comes back but all he has is a boot, clothesline & chinlock- Daniels runs into a knee & Slyck gutbusters him, but Styles tags himself in for his flash kneedrop & delayed suplex- these two can do this stuff in their sleep. Naturally the offense picks up when they’re in. Sabin with a Vader Bomb elbow but Daniels escapes a chinlock only to run into an atomic drop/STO/senton combo. Daniels gets a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker (on the neck cuz they slip out) and STO & tags Brown and we’re back to simplified offense- an elbowdrop & chinlock, then he’s schoolboyed by Sabin for two. Daniels hits Sabin with a backdrop & exploder, then Brown uses a lariat after Sabin tries a comeback. Though his stuff is simple, I appreciate him putting his feet on the ropes and acting like an asshole.

Daniels does his neckbreaker variation and an elbow fight leads to Sabin getting double-flipped into a backbreaker, then Styles runs in and takes one too (but they miss Brown’s knee, haha), then Brown turns on Daniels with a leg lariat for two. He wasn’t legal but there’s a lotta moving bodies.. and after this point the ref just stops paying attention to legality so it’s a Tornado match, lol. Brown with a slingshot legdrop over the ropes for two, then acts like an ass and is delayed so he misses a corner shot and eats an enzuigiri. Styles enters the match for the first time in 11 minutes and we’re back to simple strikes against Brown, but Styles makes it all look REALLY good and a brainbuster hits- Sabin saves. All four hit the ring, Brown doing a weak pescado to Styles, then taking an Arabian moonsault suicida from Daniels. Styles & Sabin add planchas for a quadruple-down, then Sabin hits a tornado DDT on the second try to Daniels in-ring for 2. Sabin with an Argentine backbreaker spun into a DDT for 2- Styles saves and goes for his Asai Moonsault Inverted DDT but is caught, but counters Sabin’s spinning indie uranage for a crucifix, getting 2, then ducks a lariat and hits that DDT for two. It’s comical how obviously they have to keep Brown out of this bit. Speaking of, he FINALLY heads in and hits a NASTY Full Nelson Slam Backbreaker to Styles (who takes the bump diagonally downwards and flips over vs. breaking the fall with his feet), then hits a Straightjacket Sit-Out Powerbomb- Daniels saves. Daniels counters a whip to a Blue Thunder bomb for two, then goes for the Angel’s Wings (sit-out pedigree) but Sabin vaults off Brown’s back to hit an enzuigiri, then goes for the Cradle Shock (fireman’s to michinoku driver), Styles breaking it up, but Sabin escapes the Styles Clash- Brown clotheslines both over then catches Daniels with a Ligerbomb- two! Brown goes for a Razor’s Edge, but Daniels wiggles free and hits Angel’s Wings, Styles being JUST too late to break up the pin at (18:54)- Daniels retains!

This was fascinating and comical from a “how wrestling is actually made” perspective to me, because it shows you these three guys who know each other and can do all of one another’s stuff (ie. not only doing the moves, but taking them, which is more important and often harder), then a fourth guy they don’t know as well comes in and they have to baby him doing simple stuff. Brown comes off as… FINE. Not bad at all, just kinda plain, like an average ** match dude who is in there with good wrestlers and sort of gets carried because they’ll do good stuff with one another and then he’s in and it’s basic stomps, clotheslines & kneedrops compared to Daniels doing his snap-kneedrop or someone hitting an STO. This is most apparent after all the dives, when everyone hits the ring and starts doing intricate counters and saves, and after 2 minutes of that and some big, dramatic stuff, in comes Brown who just hits two big moves to end it all (thus “putting him over” even though it was the simplest stuff). And the same thing happens in the endgame- everyone does elaborate stuff and then Brown takes out 2 dudes and is left alone with Daniels, hitting a big move for a 2.8 count and just barely getting countered to a finish. I’m left wondering in 4-ways are better to wrestle in than singles. While there’s more moving parts and booking decisions, you get to rest WAY more (you can easily do 5 minutes of wrestling in a 20 minute match). As a match, it was mostly fine- good when the good workers were in, “okay” when Brown was, and then Brown hits the BIG MOVEZ (which look cool, but aren’t hard to do since he just sort of runs in and hits them vs. doing them in some convoluted routine).

Rating: **3/4 (an interesting “Indie Template” that makes me wonder how many matches these 3 guys had with random indie dudes)