Sermon on the Mat (Nov. 10, 2016): RPW/NJPW & Smash cards, AAW, Shine, AIW, IWA-MS, Chikara, and Beyond results, plus free matches

Welcome back to the Sermon on the Mat, your weekly one-stop shop for news from the wider world of wrestling beyond the big cable TV monoliths that get all the coverage.

Before we get into our normal coverage, if you missed my man Duke’s breakdown of NOVA Pro’s standout odd couple Cutie and the Beast, get on it, it’s good stuff.

Coming soon...

NJPW / RPW Global Wars UK (November 10-11, 7:30PM GMT)

—Night One—

1. Sha Samuels vs. Tomoaki Honma
2. David Starr & Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito)
3. Pete Dunne vs. Yuji Nagata
4. Jushin Liger vs. Marty Scurll
5. BUSHI vs. Will Ospreay
6. Chris Hero vs. Tomohiro Ishii
7. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. (c) (Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship)

—Night Two—

1. Trent Seven vs. Yuji Nagata
2. Charlie Garrett & Joel Redman vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & EVIL)
3. Pete Dunne vs. Tomohiro Ishii
4. Jushin Liger vs. Will Ospreay
5. Chris Hero vs. Katsuyori Shibata
6. Leaders of the New School (Marty Scurll & Zack Sabre, Jr.) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & Tetsuya Naito)

Revolution Pro Wrestling and New Japan are teaming up for a pair of shows in London and, well, I know I’m kind of supposed to write up these cards and point out all the cool bits, but, uh... Look at that! Look at all of that! Even after injuries have taken Michael Elgin and Drew Galloway off the shows, they’re still stacked to the absolute gills. That said, the obvious standouts to my eye are Chris Hero’s two matches, against Tomohiro Ishii and Katsuyori Shibata, as well as Shibata’s rematch against Zack Sabre, Jr.

Limited amounts of tickets were still available, but best of all, RevPro have said their goal is to get Night One up on RPW On Demand on Sunday!

Smash Wrestling 4th Anniversary Tour (November 11-13)

—November 11 (8PM Eastern)—

1. Jeremy Elliott & Zack Atticus vs. Well Oiled Machines (Braxton Sutter & Mike Rollins)
2. Jaxon Jarvis vs. Tarik
3. Jenn Blake vs. Kaitlin Diemond
4. Brent Banks vs. Kevin Bennett (Smash Championship Tournament First Round Match)
5. Matt Cross vs. Tyson Dux (Smash Championship Tournament First Round Match)
6. Jimmy Havoc vs. Joe Hendry

—November 12 (6PM Eastern)—

1. Derek Wylde vs. Mark Shaw
2. Dillon Andrews vs. John Greed vs. Tarik vs. either Brent Banks or Kevin Bennett
3. Halal Beefcake (Idris Abraham & Joe Coleman) vs. Well Oiled Machines (Braxton Sutter & Mike Rollins)
4. Jimmy Havoc vs. either Matt Cross or Tyson Dux
5. Joe Hendry vs. Joey Ryan
6. Smash Championship Tournament Finals

—November 13 (5PM Eastern)—

1. Stu Grayson vs. Tarik
2. Joe Hendry vs. John Greed vs. Scotty O’Shea vs. Shane Sabre
3. Andy Williams & Franky TM vs Well Oiled Machines (Braxton Sutter & Mike Rollins)
4. Evil Uno vs. Joey Ryan
5. Brent Banks vs. Jimmy Havoc
6. Matt Cross vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey
7. Kevin Bennett vs. Tyson Dux

Smash are celebrating their fourth anniversary with a three-day tour across southern Ontario, from St. Catharines to London to Toronto, featuring a couple of big guests from the UK in the form of Jimmy Havoc and Joe Hendry. Unfortunately, former Smash Champion Mark Haskins had to vacate the title due to his neck injury, but Smash are making up for it with what should be an excellent four-man tournament to crown a new champion.

Also worth noting is another wrestling appearance from Every Time I Die guitarist Andy Williams (check out their new album Low Teens if you haven’t, it’s neck-and-neck with Ex Lives for my favorite of theirs), as well as a first-time ever meeting of the flyers as Matt Cross takes on “Speedball” Mike Bailey.

You can get your tickets here or, as always, await the VOD patiently on Smash On-Demand or Demand Progress, as part of their working agreement.

Free matches here!

AIW Double Dare 2013

That’s right. The whole tournament, free for nothing! Featuring eight teams in a straight single-elimination bracket— Hooligans (Devin & Mason Cutter), Hope and Change (Gregory Iron & Veda Scott), Jollyville Fuck-Its (Russ Myers & T-Money), NIXON (Bobby Beverly & Rickey Shane Page), Sex Bob-ombs (Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett), Submission Squad (Evan Gelistico & Pierre Abernathy), Team UK (Mark Andrews & Pete Dunne), & Youthanazia (Josh Prohibition & Matt Cross)— and hosted by Marc Summers of Nickelodeon Double Dare fame, it’s surely worth carving out the hour of your time.

Adam Thornstowe vs. Matt Riddle

It’s always a good week when I can include a Bro match, and thanks to the fine folks over at Quintessential Wrestling, I’ve got one! He takes on west coast standout and 2015 King of Indies winner Adam Thornstowe. Take a look!

Drew Gulak vs. Timothy Thatcher (Non-title Fight to the Finish)

Evolve have just been pumping out the freebies lately, folks! This week brought two matches from last month’s excellent Evolve 71. I’m embedding the excellence that was Thatcher/Gulak VI, a wild brawl up and down, inside and outside of the Orpheum in Ybor City, but you should also go watch Hero/Riddle II while it’s up. Check ‘em out!

Brian Cage vs. Keith Lee

Beyond Wrestling have kept up their steady stream of Best of 2015-16 matches coming. I’ve chosen HOSS WAR between Lucha Underground’s Brian Cage and Keith Lee to embed here, but if you’d rather some technical wrestling, may I suggest Jonathan Gresham vs. “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams? Several other matches have gone up as well, so dig in to the archive and find something to watch, folks.

Results

AAW Never Say Die 2016 (November 4)

1. Dezmond Xavier over Joey Janela
2. Kimber Lee over Heidi Lovelace and Jessicka Havok
3. Besties in the World (Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett) (c) over An Officer and a Gentleman (Chuck Taylor & Dan Barry) to retain the AAW Tag Team Championship
4. AR Fox (c) over Jack Evans (AAW Heritage Championship)
5. Kongo Kong over Jeff Cobb
6. Brother Hero & Broken Matt Hardy over Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee
7. Zack Sabre, Jr. over Mustafa Ali
8. Eddie Kingston, Homicide, & Low Ki over Irish Airborne (Dave & Jake Crist) & Sami Callihan

You’ve seen the video clip, now peep the results! It seems to have been a night of awesome looking matchups that met the potential we saw in them. And a night-long story saw Eddie Kingston and Homicide teasing a mystery partner who turned out to be none other than Low Ki! I really hope this results in him getting more work more places, folks, because burnt bridges aside he’s an incredible performer who has a whole slate of dream matches on the table thanks to his low profile these last couple years. The first promotion to book Ki vs. Riddle, for example, certainly has my $15.

It’s not up yet, but you’ll be able to purchase it on VOD from Smart Mark or Highspots soon enough and in the meantime, you can tide yourself over by checking out the trailer.

Shine 38 (November 4)

1. Mercedes Martinez over Andrea (Anything Goes Match)
2. Chelsea Diamond over Priscilla Kelly
3. Tracy Taylor over Miss Rachel
4. Aria Blake (c) vs. Brandi Lauren (ACW Women’s Championship) went to a no contest
5. Rhia O’Reilly over Rachel Ellering
6. Leva Bates over Jessie Belle Smothers
7. Raquel over Tessa Blanchard
8. ACR & Shayna Baszler over C4 (Amber O’Neal & Kennadi Brink)
9. Su Yung over Saraya Knight by count-out
10. LuFisto over Allysin Kay to become #1 contender to the Shine Championship
11. Ivelisse (c) over Vanessa Kraven to retain the Shine Championship

Shine made their FloSlam debut last Friday with a solid show. I missed most of the first two matches due to streaming problems (mostly on my end, thankfully-- once I switched from Roku to laptop and turned the quality down a notch, everything went swimmingly), but once I settled in, it was an enjoyable evening of pro wrestling.

Worth special attention if you’d like to go back and check it out in the archive are O’Reilly/Ellering, Yung/Knight (an incredible brawl up and down the Orpheum, including thumbtacks on the bar!), LuFisto/Kay, and Ivelisse/Kraven. As far as angles being advanced, the Blanchard/Ellering feud continues as both women lost because the other got involved in the match. As well, C4 helped LuFisto secure her #1 contendership to the Shine Championship.

So dial up FloSlam, subscribe if you haven’t, and check ‘em out before Evolve this weekend.

AIW Double Dare 2016 (November 4-5)

—Night One—

1. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech & Colin Delaney) over Space Justice (“Supercop” Dick Justice & Space Monkey) (AIW Double Dare 2016 First Round Match)
2. Jollyville Fuck-Its (Russ Myers & T-Money) over Weird World (Alex Kellar & Evan Adams) (AIW Double Dare 2016 First Round Match)
3. Massage NV (Dorian Graves & VSK) over Twrrk Team (Marti Belle & Ray Lyn) (AIW Double Dare 2016 First Round Match)
4. Team IOU (Kerry Awful & Nick Iggy) over the Full-Blooded Italians (Little Guido & Tracy Smothers) (AIW Double Dare 2016 First Round Match)
5. Catch Point (Matt Riddle & “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams) over EYFBO (Angel Ortiz & Mike Draztik) (AIW Double Dare 2016 First Round Match)
6. Brian Carson & Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham over Cryme Tyme (JTG & Shad Gaspard) by disqualification (AIW Double Dare 2016 First Round Match)
7. Gringo Loco & Steve Pain over Ninja Elite Squad (Facade & Flip Kendrick) (AIW Double Dare 2016 First Round Match)
8. Headhunters (Headhunter A & Headhunter B) over Eric Ryan & Lucky tHURTeen (AIW Double Dare 2016 First Round Match)

—Night Two—

1. Jollyville Fuck-Its (Russ Myers & T-Money) over Massage NV (Dorian Graves & VSK) (AIW Double Dare 2016 Quarterfinal Match)
2. Headhunters (Headhunter A & Headhunter B) over Brian Carson & Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham (AIW Double Dare 2016 Quarterfinal Match)
3. Team IOU (Kerry Awful & Nick Iggy) over To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech & Colin Delaney) (AIW Double Dare 2016 Quarterfinal Match)
4. Gringo Loco & Steve Pain over Catch Point (Matt Riddle & “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams) (AIW Double Dare 2016 Quarterfinal Match)
5. Flip Kendrick over Angel Ortiz, Eric Ryan, Facade, Lucky tHURTeen, and Mike Draztik
6. Jollyville Fuck-Its (Russ Myers & T-Money) over Headhunters (Headhunter A & Headhunter B) (AIW Double Dare 2016 Semifinal Match)
7. Gringo Loco & Steve Pain over Team IOU (Kerry Awful & Nick Iggy) (AIW Double Dare 2016 Semifinal Match)
8. No Strings Attached (Alex Daniels, Gregory Iron, Marti Belle, Ray Lyn, & Veda Scott) over Evan Adams, Garry Baller, PB Smooth, & Space Justice (“Supercop” Dick Justice & Space Monkey)
9. Shayna Baszler (c) over Britt Baker (AIW Women’s Championship)
10. Gringo Loco & Steve Pain over Jollyville Fuck-Its (Russ Myers & T-Money) to win the AIW Tag Team Championship (AIW Double Dare 2016 Finals)

AIW crowned new tag team champions over the weekend, with Gringo Loco & Steve Pain making it through a gauntlet of some of the finest tag teams in indie wrestling, including Evolve standouts Matt Riddle & Tracy Williams and my dudes in Team IOU to capture the gold. Plus Shayna Baszler successfully defending her AIW Women’s Championship against Britt Baker and it sounds like a fine pair of shows.

VOD should hopefully be up on Smart Mark soon enough, so if you want to see some tag team action, camp out right there and be ready.

IWA Mid-South Ted Petty Invitational 2016 (November 5)

1. Trik Davis over Ace Perry (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 First Round Match)
2. Corey Storm over “Littlest Viking” Jake Parnell (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 First Round Match)
3. Rickey Shane Page over Reed “By God” Bentley (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 First Round Match)
4. Cole Radrick over Sami Callihan (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 First Round Match)
5. John Wayne Murdoch over Zodiak (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 First Round Match)
6. Jake Crist over Joey Janela (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 First Round Match)
7. Shane Mercer over Tripp Cassidy (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 First Round Match)
8. Chris Hero over Johnathan Wolf (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 First Round Match)
9. John Wayne Murdoch over Cole Radrick, Jake Crist, and Shane Mercer (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 Semifinal Match)
10. Chris Hero over Corey Storm, Rickey Shane Page, and Trik Davis (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 Semifinal Match)
11. Chris Hero over John Wayne Murdoch (Ted Petty Invitational 2016 Finals)

Chris Hero picked up his second big tournament win of the year, adding the Ted Petty Invitational to AAW’s Jim Lynam Cup that he won last month. Indeed, this is a historic win for the self-proclaimed Greatest of All Time, as he’s only man to have appeared in every TPI to date, winning the first edition of the tournament previously, way back in 2000 when it was still called the Sweet Science 16.

Best of all, IWA and Smart Mark have hurried the VOD release along and it’s already up for sale!

Chikara Counting Backwards / Like Phantoms, Forever (November 5)

—Counting Backwards—

1. Drew Gulak over Lucas Calhoun
2. Lucas Calhoun over Drew Gulak
3. Chuck Taylor™ & DUSTIN over N_R_G (Hype Rockwell & Race Jaxon), Rick Roland & Sloan Caprice, & Team Sea Stars (Ashley Vox & Delmi Exo) (Four-Way Elimination Match)
4. Thunderfrog (c) over Hermit Crab (Chikara Young Lions Cup)
5. The Big Deal over Officer Warren Barksdale
6. Dasher Hatfield & Heidi Lovelace over the heXed Men (Icarus & Mark Angelosetti)
7. Juan Francisco de Coronado over Zack Sabre, Jr.

—Like Phantoms, Forever—

1. Bullet Ant over Rock Lobster
2. Dez Peloton (Donald Kluger & Jasper Tippins) over Cornelius Crummels & Sonny Defarge
3. Wani over Oleg the Usurper
4. The Colony (Fire, Pharaoh, Soldier, & Worker Ant) vs. the heXed Men (Frightmare, Jigsaw, Kobald, & Kodama) went to a double disqualification
5. Princess KimberLee over Max Smashmaster
6. Hallowicked (c) over Ophidian (Chikara Grand Championship)
7. Thunderfrog over Mr. Azerbaijan

Chikara closed up their penultimate double shot of the season and it sounds like it was a lot of fun. Lucas Calhoun, having been beaten by Drew Gulak, asked for a few more minutes before scooping up the Catch Point maestro for a flash pin, the current and former Chuck Taylors squeaked out a win in the elimination tag, Dasher Hatfield vowed to unhex his former teammate Mark Angelosetti, Zack Sabre, Jr. and Juan Francisco de Coronado tore the house down in a technical exhibition, and the Colony and the heXed Men went so hard at each other there was no choice but to call for the double DQ.

Advance cuts of both shows are already up on Chikaratopia, to boot!

Beyond / WWR Tournament For Today (November 6)

1. Chris Hero over Brian Milonas
2. Taeler Hendrix over LuFisto (WWR Tournament For Today First Round Match)
3. Donovan Dijak over John Silver (Beyond Tournament For Today First Round Match)
4. Deonna Purrazzo over Alexxis (WWR Tournament For Today First Round Match)
5. Jonathan Gresham over Jaka (Beyond Tournament For Today First Round Match)
6. Kimber Lee over Sonya Strong (WWR Tournament For Today First Round Match)
7. Matthew Riddle over Chris Dickinson (Beyond Tournament For Today First Round Match)
8. Veda Scott over Jessicka Havok (WWR Tournament For Today First Round Match)
9. Zack Sabre, Jr. over Kimber Lee (Beyond Tournament For Today First Round Match)
10. American Destroyers (Donovan Dijak & Mikey Webb) over Da Hit Squad (Dan Maff & Monsta Mack)
11. Crusade For Change (Anthony Gangone, Darius Carter, Devin Blaze, & Tommy Trainwreck) over Sami Callihan & Scarlet and Graves (Dave Crist, Dezmond Xavier, & Zachary Wentz)
12. Veda Scott over Deonna Purrazzo (WWR Tournament For Today Semifinal Match)
13. Matt Riddle over Jonathan Gresham (Beyond Tournament For Today Semifinal Match)
14. Davienne, Mistress Belmont, & Sami Lane over Solo Darling & Team Sea Stars (Ashley Vox & Delmi Exo)
15. Brian Fury over Hanson
16. Kimber Lee over Taeler Hendrix (WWR Tournament For Today Semifinal Match)
17. Donovan Dijak over Zack Sabre, Jr. (Beyond Tournament For Today Semifinal Match)
18. Secret City Soldiers (Anthony Stone, Davey Cash, & Kris Pyro) over Johnny Cockstrong & Massage NV (Dorian Graves & VSK)
19. Joey Janela over “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams
20. Team Pazuzu (Angel Ortiz, Mike Draztik, & Pinkie Sanchez) over the Gentleman’s Club (Chuck Taylor, Drew Gulak, & Orange Cassidy)
21. Kimber Lee over Veda Scott (WWR Tournament For Today Finals)
22. Matt Riddle over Donovan Dijak (Beyond Tournament For Today Finals)

Oof, I think I put my back out just writing up all those results! On to the show, the Bro joins the Two Tournaments club himself, having won Evolve’s Style Battle round robin early this year. Plus Da Hit Squad turned heel after being beaten by Dijak and Webb, and speaking of Dijak, he worked a day-long injury angle, selling the wear and tear from being in so many matches and then being jumped by JT Dunn prior to the tournament finals. But even in losing, he never gave up, passing out in the Bromission.

It all sounds pretty cool and the raw footage of round one is already up on Beyondemand, so have at it.

As always...

Remember folks, no matter what type of wrestling you like, no matter how down you feel about the state of WWE, TNA, ROH, or any other "big-time" pro wrestling, there's something out there for you. There's a pro wrestling product that can hit you in the right spot and make you love wrestling like you thought you'd never be able to love it again. It's there, I promise. You just gotta reach out and find it, and that, my friends, is what the Sermon on the Mat is all about.