KB Reviews Indies — page 5

NWA Tri-State
Date: March 24, 2002
Location: Old High School, Harrisville, West Virginia
Commentators: Matt Fessenbecker, Litch Fit

The indy run continues as we dig up the NWA one more time. This is a show from a very weird time in wrestling history as WCW and ECW had been gone for about a year each and places like NWA TNA and Ring Of Honor weren’t factors yet. That means this is going to be a bit of the wild west (Virginia), but there are certainly some stars on the show. Let’s get to it.

Ballroom Brawl 12
Date: July 13, 2019
Location: Commodore Ballroom, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Commentators: Peter Brown, Cody Von Wilson

This is Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW), another promotion that I have heard a lot about but never actually seen. Again, thanks to the magic of Highspots, I get to knock another indy promotion off of my list and see what I can find out there. The card isn’t exactly big but there are some interesting names. Let’s get to it.

Nice Night For A Neck Injury
Date: December 21, 2019
Location: The Basement East, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Dylan Hales, Steve McCash

This is from Southern Underground Pro, which I have seen in a co-promoted show over Wrestlemania 37 weekend and it went fairly well. I’m not sure what to expect here but there are some names that I recognize on the card. Granted I don’t know what they are going to do, but at least I won’t have to look everyone up. Let’s get to it.

WrestleCon Supershow 2022
Date: March 31, 2022
Location: Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Veda Scott

This is one of the biggest and most interesting shows of Wrestlemania Weekend as you do not know what you are going to get on any given show. Some of the matches are going to be announced in advance, but sometimes you are just going to get some wrestlers without opponents. This is the non-WWE ticket I make sure to get every year and this was no exception. Let’s get to it.

Zicky Dice’s Trouble In Paradise 2
Date: April 1, 2022
Location: Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Jonny Loquasto, Zick Dicey, Matthew Rehwoldt

This is another of the Wrestlemania Weekend shows and in this case, it is another WrestleCon show. I didn’t actually take this one in as I went to Axxess instead and I’m not sure what this is going include. That can make for some very fun shows as well and hopefully that is the case again. Let’s get to it.

War Of The Felines
Date: October 13, 2018
Location: Forrest Lodge, Sellersville, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Tim Taylor, Brad Demayo

This is Excellence Professional Wrestling and for reasons I don’t think I want to know, its shows have cat themes. I’m not sure what that is going to mean here but you never know what you are going to find in the indies. I know some of the names on this show and that might not be a bad thing, as this feels VERY Chikara style. Let’s get to it.

Summer Bash 2016
Date: June 24, 2016
Location: Evolution Sports Gym, Elizabethtown, Tennessee
Commentators: Matt Rhodes, Mike Cooper, Heath Snead

This is from NWA Smoky Mountain as I continue a trek through some random independent companies (or as independent as the NWA is). As usual, I have no idea what to expect from this show but it’s the NWA in Tennessee so you can imagine the fans are going to be pretty into the show. Let’s get to it.

Defyance Forever
Date: August 23, 2019
Location: Temple Grand Ballroom, Tacoma, Washington
Commentator: Rich Bocchini

This is another promotion that I have heard a lot about over the years without ever actually seeing one of their shows. The promotion is based in Seattle and Tacoma is close enough. I’m really not sure what to expect from this one and that makes things a lot more interesting, at least most of the time. Let’s get to it.

Time Capsule
Date: April 10, 2021
Location: 81Bay Brewing Company, Tampa, Florida

This is Beyond Wrestling out of Massachusetts and somehow I’ve never looked at them before. At the same time, this is the last of the Wrestlemania XXXVII weekend shows that I had meant to do but never got around to. I have no idea what to expect from this but since it’s Wrestlemania weekend, guests tars are likely. Let’s get to it.

Shallow Graves
Date: April 10, 2021
Location: Cuban Club, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Drenen, Kid Osborne

This is another one from Wrestlemania Weekend and I’m not sure what to expect. I have a bad feeling that I’m getting into another hardcore/deathmatch/no rules kind of show and that is not going to be my cup of orange juice. Hopefully they surprise me and there are some talented names on the roster. Let’s get to it.

rSpring Break
Date: April 9, 2021
Location: Cuban Club, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Emil Jay, Kevin Gill

This is arguably the indy weekend main event and the show is hit and miss to say the least. You never know what you are going to see at something like this and that could go multiple ways. I’ve had a good time at these things before, but those were all the Joey Janela versions. Janela is on the card, but his name is no longer on the show. Let’s get to it.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 20th Anniversary: Chronicle Volume 4
Date: November 22, 2020
Location: Yokohama Arena, Yokohama, Japan

I’m going to make this very clear: this is likely to be a disaster. A commenter on a site I contribute to thought I would like to try some Japanese wrestling outside of New Japan so here I am with a 4+ hour show with only Japanese commentary and a bunch of wrestlers I don’t know. This is going to be completely based on the action and whatever I can pick up out of any videos they might have. Hold on because let’s get to it.

Acid Cup 2021 Part 2
Date: April 9, 2021
Location: Cuban Club, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Kevin Gill, Emil J.

We’re back with the second half of the single elimination tournament and the first round could have been a lot worse. Granted we have a bunch of matches yesterday with no brackets for the second round, but then again there is a chance that those don’t exist just yet. Let’s get to it.

ICW No Holds Barred Volume 11: Then And Now
Date: April 8, 2021
Location: 81Bay Brewing Company, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: The Struggles, Ron Niemi

This is another promotion where I don’t know anything about it coming in but this seems to be a more violent promotion, which is not likely to be in my wheelhouse. I’m not sure what to expect coming in and I’m not sure about who all is on the card. Hopefully it is going to be a bit better than what I’m picturing so let’s get to it.

Acid Cup 2021 Part 1
Date: April 8, 2021
Location: Cuban Club, Ybor City, Florida
Commentators: Kevin Gill, Various

This is another show from GCW’s the Collective and as you might have guessed, it is part of a tournament called the Acid Cup. While I’m not entirely sure, I would assume that it is held in honor of the late Trent Acid, which I’m sure will be confirmed during the show. Tournaments are about as easy of a concept as you can get in wrestling so hopefully this works out. Let’s get to it.

Violence X Suffering: Lucid Dreams
Date: April 9, 2021
Location: Cuban Club, Ybor City, Florida
Commentators: Various

We’re back with another midnight show from GCW’s the Collective and that could mean a lot of things. I don’t know anything about this promotion or anything about this show, so as usual I’m coming in blind. That is kind of the point of a show like this, but hopefully they aren’t on until almost 3am again. Let’s get to it.

Have Fun Be Sad
Date: April 9, 2021
Location: 81Bay Brewing, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Various

This is from Action Pro Wrestling and Southern Underground Pro Wrestling coming together for a show. I have no idea what that is going to mean as I don’t know anything about either promotion, but there is always the chance that they could pull off something good. It’s certainly a different kind of show title. Let’s get to it.

For The Culture 2021
Date: April 8, 2021
Location: Cuban Club, Tampa, Florida
Commentator: Big Perc

We continue the Wrestlemania weekend run with our first offering from the Collective. This is from Game Changer Wrestling which has some rather unique options at times. They have a rather solid collection of talent from what I’ve seen so far, which could make for a pretty awesome show. Let’s get to it.

IWTV Family Reunion 2021 Part 2
Date: April 8, 2021
Location: 81Bay Brewing, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Various

Must like the first part all those hours ago, this is something of a sampler of the various promotions offered by Independent Wrestling.TV. That means we are going to get a nice mixture of stuff, hopefully with mainly different offering than part one. This could be quite the collection so let’s get to it.

IWTV Family Reunion 2021 Part 1
Date: April 8, 2021
Location: 81Bay Brewing, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Various

We’ll start the marathon wrestling weekend with this, part of the Showcase of the Independents. I watched the Family Reunion show two years ago and had a good enough time with it to try another version. IWTV is a wrestling streaming service with all kinds of indy promotions available and this is kind of a sampler of some of their bigger names and promotions. Let’s get to it.