Sermon on the Mat (Dec. 1, 2016): Chikara & HOH cards, AIW, Wrestling World Championships, AAW, & Progress results, and 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.

Coming soon...

Chikara Temple of Doom / Supremacy (December 3)

—Temple of Doom (2PM Central)—

1. Cajun Crawdad & Hermit Crab vs. Los Ice Creams (El Hijo del Ice Cream & Ice Cream, Jr.)
2. Drew Gulak vs. Lucas Calhoun
3. Max Smashmaster vs. Solo Darling
4. Cornelius Crummels & Sonny Defarge vs. Dez Peloton (Donald Kluger & Jasper Tippins)
5. Amasis vs. Frightmare (Mask vs. Mask Match)

—Supremacy (7PM Central)—

1. Jeremy Leary vs. Officer Warren Barksdale
2. Colony (Bullet Ant & Silver Ant) vs. Juan y Wani (Juan Francisco de Coronado & Wani)
3. Chuck Taylor™ & DUSTIN vs. N_R_G (Hype Rockwell & Race Jaxon)
4. Dasher’s Squad (Dasher Hatfield, Fire Ant, Heidi Lovelace, Missile Assault Man, Oleg the Usurper, Ophidian, Princess KimberLee, & Thunderfrog) vs. Hallowicked’s Squad (Frightmare, Hallowicked, Icarus, Jigsaw, Kobald, Kodama, Mark Angelosetti, & Obariyon) (Torneo Cibernetico)

Chikara are ending their 16th season with a bang in Chicago, Illinois. It’s a jam-packed double-header that will surely make a mark on the promotion. Most immediately impactful, you've got Amasis taking on Frightmare in a Mask vs. Mask match. Two long-time Chikara stalwarts do battle, and one of them will quite literally lose his public face! We've got several tag team matches that could have Campeonatos de Parejas implications as teams build up their three points for contendership, most notably Juan y Wani, who are sitting pretty on two and could move right on to challenge Moustache Mountain with a win over the Colony.

And, of course, the annual tradition, the torneo cibernetico. Sixteen wrestlers in two teams with assigned batting orders do battle until just one is left standing tall, even if it means fighting his or her own teammates to the bitter end. And with the very soul of Chikara at stake, Dasher's forces had better bring it to the heXed Men of Nazmaldun.

Get your tickets (for Temple of Doom, as Supremacy is sold out) here, or just wait for the shows to go up on Chikaratopia.

House of Hardcore 21: Blizzard Brawl (December 3, 8PM Eastern)

1. Bull James vs. Kevin Thorn
2. Matt Cross vs. Tony Nese
3. Bob Holly vs. Sami Callihan
4. Angelina Love & ??? vs. Mickie James & Tommy Dreamer
5. Abyss & Dameon Nelson vs. Al Snow & Dave Herro (Unsanctioned Steel Cage Match)

House of Hardcore are making their FloSlam debut live from Waukesha, Wisconsin and they've got a fairly well 2016 card for us, packed full of TNA, Lucha Underground, and WWE Raw stars past and present! You've got former NXT superstar Bull James taking on the ECW revival's own home-grown vampire Kevin Thorn, Lucha Underground's Matt "Son of Havoc" Cross in a rubber match against Raw and 205 Live's Tony Nese, and longtime WWE man Bob Holly stands across the ring from the Callihan Death Machine.

But wait, there's more, as two tag matches headline the show. On one hand, you've got the heart and soul of ECW (and founder of House of Hardcore) Tommy Dreamer tagging up with Mickie James to take on Angelina Love and a mystery partner. (Don't tell anybody, but I've got 50 CageCoins on Davey Richards being the question mark man!) And on the other, an unsanctioned steel cage match featuring hardcore legends Al Snow and Abyss tagging up with Great Lakes Championship Wrestling superstars Dave Herro and Dameon Nelson respectively in what is being billed as the last ever GLCW steel cage match.

Pick up your tickets here, otherwise fire up your FloSlam subscription and get on this bad boy live on Saturday or at your convenience shortly thereafter.

Free matches here!

Candice LeRae & Heidi Lovelace vs. Jessicka Havok & Tessa Blanchard

Coming to us courtesy of the folks over at AAW, we've got sprinty fresh women's tag action featuring two of the purest babyfaces in women's wrestling taking on two who are... not. It's a recipe for excitement, so don't miss it!

El Generico vs. Tim Donst

The fine folks at AIW have a blast from the past for us this week. El Generico takes on Tim Donst in a classic matchup of luchador vs. amateur wrestler. Ole!

Colony (Fire, Pharaoh, Soldier, & Worker Ant) vs. heXed Men (Frightmare, Jigsaw, Kobald, & Kodama)

On the week of their season finale, Chikara have provided us with a suitably epic matchup from last month's Like Phantoms, Forever. The Colony go head-to-head with the heXed Men in a microcosmic representation of Chikara's struggle against the forces of Nazmaldun. Check it out!

Jeff Cobb vs. JT Dunn

Beyond Wrestling gives us another entry in the eternal battle between hybrid technician Olympic hoss and knockout elbow striker. That's right, it's everybody's favorite alleged lucha monster Jeff Cobb going against that Young Knockout Kid Chris Hero's protege JT Dunn. Cobb is literally wrenching Dunn's fingers in the thumbnail, what are you waiting for?!

Results

AIW Hell on Earth XII (November 25)

1. Mike Tolar over Briley Pierce
2. Louis Lyndon over Eddie Kingston, Eric Ryan, and PB Smooth
3. Matt Cross over Colt Cabana
4. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech & Colin Delaney) over Dedication Personified (Brian Carson & Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham) and Ninja Elite Squad (Facade & Flip Kendrick)
5. Shayna Baszler (c) over Heidi Lovelace to retain the AIW Women’s Championship
6. Space Monkey over Karlee Perez
7. “All Ego” Ethan Page over Brian Cage
8. Crazy Pain (Gringo Loco & Steve Pain) (c) over Jollyville Fuck-Its (Russ Myers & T-Money) to retain the AIW Tag Team Championship
9. Zack Sabre, Jr. over Dominic Garrini
10. Alex Daniels (c) over Laredo Kid to retain the AIW Intense Championship
11. Josh Prohibition (c) over Tim Donst to retain the AIW Absolute Championship (Fans Bring the Weapons Match)

Yes, you'll believe a monkey can beat a ghost! At least on a night full of title retentions and Dominic Garrini putting in a star-making performance opposite Zack Sabre, Jr., that is. Plus Matt Cross's grandmother tried to leap the rail to yell at Colt Cabana! What more do you want, really?

Pick it up when drops on Smart Mark Video.

PCW / Beyond / CZW / wXw Wrestling World Championships (November 25-26)

—Day One—

1. Da Mack (wXw) over Zachary Wentz (CZW) (Wrestling World Championships Cruiserweight Tournament First Round Match)
2. “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams (Beyond) over Martin Kirby (PCW) (Wrestling World Championships Cruiserweight Tournament First Round Match)
3. Bubblegum (PCW) over Axel Dieter, Jr. (wXw) (Wrestling World Championships Cruiserweight Tournament First Round Match)
4. Jurn Simmons (wXw) over Dave Crist (CZW) (Wrestling World Championships Openweight Tournament First Round Match)
5. Chris Dickinson (Beyond) over Joey Janela (CZW) (Wrestling World Championships Openweight Tournament First Round Match)
6. Dave Mastiff (PCW) over Keith Lee (Beyond) (Wrestling World Championships Openweight Tournament First Round Match)
7. T-Bone (PCW) over David Starr (wXw) (Wrestling World Championships Openweight Tournament First Round Match)
8. Iestyn Rees, Lionheart, & Sha Samuels over Danny Hope & the Hooligans (Roy & Zak Knight)
9. AR Fox (Beyond) over Dezmond Xavier (CZW) (Wrestling World Championships Cruiserweight Tournament First Round Match)

—Day Two (Afternoon)—

1. Axel Dieter, Jr. over Danny Hope
2. Jurn Simmons (wXw) over T-Bone (PCW) (Wrestling World Championships Openweight Tournament Semifinal Match)
3. Bubblegum (PCW) over “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams (Beyond) (Wrestling World Championships Cruiserweight Tournament Semifinal Match)
4. Joey Janela & Scarlet and Graves (Dave Crist, Dezmond Xavier, & Zachary Wentz) over Joey Hayes, Lionheart, Martin Kirby, & Sha Samuels
5. AR Fox (Beyond) over Da Mack (wXw) (Wrestling World Championships Cruiserweight Tournament Semifinal Match)
6. Keith Lee over Iestyn Rees by count-out
7. Dave Mastiff (PCW) over Chris Dickinson (Beyond) (Wrestling World Championships Openweight Tournament Semifinal Match)

—Day Two (Evening)—

1. Da Mack over Axel Dieter, Jr.
2. Dave Crist over Danny Hope
3. Chris Dickinson over “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams
4. Iestyn Rees (c) over T-Bone to retain the PCW Championship
5. Joey Hayes & Martin Kirby (c) over Scarlet and Graves (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) to retain the PCW Tag Team Championship
6. Jurn Simmons (wXw) over Dave Mastiff (PCW) (Wrestling World Championships Openweight Tournament Finals)
7. Keith Lee over Joey Janela
8. Lionheart & Sha Samuels over the Hooligans (Roy & Zak Knight)
9. AR Fox (Beyond) over Bubblegum (PCW) (Wrestling World Championships Cruiserweight Tournament Finals)

It turns out the best wrestling in the world comes from New England and Germany, or so the results of the Wrestling World Championships would have you believe! Of course, it's a more complex picture than that, as these guys are hardly exclusive and while AR Fox was representing Beyond here, he's wrestled for all four promotions here in the past and was trained by Curtis Hughes' WWA4 in Georgia. The openweight tournament was perhaps more decisive in the sense that Jurn Simmons, while a Dutch national, has made his name in wXw and, as their Unified World Wrestling Champion, is very closely affiliated with them.

Notions of deciding what wrestling is "best" aside, I mean... Keith Lee vs. Dave Mastiff. C'mon guys, that's a lot of beef. Check it out when it goes live, presumably across all four promotions' streaming services, but the safest bet would likely be the host's PCW On Demand.

AAW Windy City Classic XII (November 26)

1. ACH over Mustafa Ali
2. Colt Cabana, Dirty DL, Kongo Kong, & Markus Crane over Buck Nasty, Connor Braxton, & the Hooligans (Devin & Mason Cutter)
3. Mercedes Martinez (c) over Kimber Lee to retain the Shimmer Championship
4. Chuck Taylor over Alex Daniels and Jake Crist
5. Heidi Lovelace over Jessicka Havok (“I Quit” Match)
6. Eddie Kingston, Homicide, & Low Ki over Brian Cage, Drago, & Pentagon, Jr.
7. Zack Sabre, Jr. over Trent Beretta
8. Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee over Besties in the World (Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett) (c) to win the AAW Tag Team Championship
9. Sami Callihan (c) over Chris Hero to retain the AAW Heavyweight Championship

Well, the cat came out of the bag Tuesday night, but the big news out of the Windy City Classic was Mustafa Ali announcing that it was his last show for AAW. And indeed, he's finishing up his indie dates, with his last show being next week's Freelance Wrestling show. But more on that when I preview it next week, folks, for now take in what AAW had on offer here by checking out the trailer here, and then check out the show when it goes live on Highspots or Smart Mark Video.

Progress Chapter 39: The Graps of Wrath (November 27)

1. South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper & Travis Banks) over F.S.U. (Eddie Dennis & Mark Andrews) to become #1 contenders to the Progress Tag Team Championship
2. Pastor William Eaver over Joe Coffey
3. British Strong Style (Pete Dunne & Trent Seven) (c) over London Riots (James Davis & Rob Lynch) to retain the Progress Tag Team Championship
4. Matt Riddle over Will Ospreay
5. Jimmy Havoc over Marty Scurll by disqualification
6. Nixon Newell over Katey Harvey (Natural Progression Series IV First Round Match)
7. Pete Dunne over Jimmy Havoc, Matt Riddle, Sebastian, TK Cooper, Travis Banks, & Trent Seven to win the vacant Progress Championship (Elimination Match).

Progress crowned themselves a new champion at Chapter 39, with Pete Dunne taking the crown. But of course, the Bruiserweight didn't do it on his own, having not just current partner Trent Seven stick around after his elimination, but the other half of Moustache Mountain, Tyler Bate, pledged his allegiance to British Strong Style by cold-cocking Jimmy Havoc and ensuring his man would win the title.

Plus Nixon Newell advancing in the Natural Progression series (get to know her now before WWE snaps her up, folks!), the South Pacific Power Trip becoming number one contenders to the tag shields, and Sebastian making his return to the ring after the injury he suffered at Chapter 36.

Check it out on Demand Progress when it goes up.

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.