Sermon on the Mat (Dec. 14, 2017): AIW, CMLL, GCW, PCW UK, & Shine cards

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...

AIW The Wet Bandits (December 15, 8PM Eastern)

1. Big Moe vs. "Big" Twan Tucker
2. Brian Carson vs. Eddy Only
3. Jock Samson vs. Joshua Singh vs. Kurt Hurtz vs. the Duke
4. Malcolm Monroe III vs. Tre Lamar
5. Colin Delaney vs. Parker Pierce
6. AJ Gray vs. Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham
7. Curt Stallion vs. Joshua Bishop
8. Philly-Marino Experience (Marino Tenaglia & Philly Collins) & Weird World (Alex "Worldwide" Kellar & "Weird Body" Evan Adams") vs. the Production (Colby Redd, Derek Director, Frankie Flynn, & Magnum CK)
9. Dominic Garrini vs. Mance Warner
10. Kikutaro vs. Tracy Smothers

AIW are back in Mentor-on-the-Lake, Ohio and as always these shows are student-heavy and full of trademark AIW experimentation. Where else might you see Kikutaro wrestle Tracy Smothers, I ask?! Curt Stallion makes his debut, SmackDown superstar (he totally counts now) Colin Delaney is in action, there's a lot going on here, folks.

Get your tickets here or check it out when it hits Smart Mark Video.

CMLL Super Viernes (December 15, 9:30PM)

1. Hijo del Signo & Templario vs. Star, Jr. & Starman
2. Mercurio vs. Shockercito (c) (CMLL World Minis Championship)
3. Amapola, Dalys, & Reyna Isis vs. Lady Maravilla, Marcela, & Princesa Sugehit
4. Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja, & Rey Cometa vs. Cuatrero, Forastero, & Sanson
5. La Peste Negra (Barbaro Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, & Negro Casas) vs. Los Hijos del Infierno (Ephesto & Mephisto) & Sam Adonis
6. Caristico, Soberano, Jr., & Ultimo Guerrero vs. El Terrible, Mistico, & Volador, Jr.

CMLL are back with your usual weekly Friday night dose of lucha libre action from Arena Mexico and by god we got a minis championship match! Outside of that it's a solid looking show with all the trios matches looking like they could range from solid to great depending on how the night goes. Not a bad Friday night!

Check it out, as always, free for nothin' on ClaroSports or CMLL's Facebook page, folks.

GCW Ready to Die (December 16, 7:15PM Eastern)

1. Alex Colon vs. G-Raver
2. Eric Ryan vs. Markus Crane
3. B-Boy vs. KTB
4. Homicide vs. Matt Riddle
5. Rejects (John Wayne Murdoch & Reed "By God" Bentley) (c) vs. Viking War Party (Alexander Rudolph & Jake Parnell) (GCW Tag Team Championship)
6. Eli Everfly vs. Tony Deppen (c) (GCW Extreme Championship)
7. Jimmy Lloyd vs. SHLAK (c) (DTU World Ultraviolent Championship)
8. Matt Tremont (c) vs. Nick Gage (GCW Championship)

This is it. GCW returns to Howell, New Jersey for their second anniversary show, and Nick Gage and Matt Tremont will do battle for the third and final time. Their last match saw the ring paved in concrete as they put their bodies on the line in unprecedented fashion, and with two deathmatch legends of their stature I'm sure they have wonders undreamed of in mind for us here.

Get your tickets here or check it out when it hits Smart Mark Video, folks.

PCW UK PowerBombShells / Festive Fury (December 16)

—PowerBombShells (9AM Eastern / 2PM GMT)—

1. Martina vs. Nadia Saphire
2. Rhio vs. Sierra Loxton
3. Nightshade vs. Viper

—Festive Fury (1PM Eastern / 6PM GMT)—

1. Ricky Knight, Jr. vs. Sheik El Sham
2. Arcadian vs. Big T Justice vs. Dave Birch vs. Joe Coffey vs. Martin Kirby vs. Philip Michael
3. Ashton Smith vs. BT Gunn
4. Lucy Cole (c) vs. Rhio (PCW Women's Championship)
5. Chris Ridgeway vs. Dean Allmark (c) (PCW Cruiserweight Championship No Rope Breaks Submission Match)
6. Bubblegum vs. T-Bone (c) (PCW Heavyweight Championship)

PCW UK are back in Preston, England with a double dose of action and just speaking for myself I am really stoked to see that Ridgeway/Allmark submission match. Should be real high caliber stuff!

Get your tickets here or check 'em out live on Powerbomb.tv, folks.

Shine 47: Survival (December 16, 6PM Eastern)

1. ACR vs. Priscilla Kelly (c) (Shine Nova Championship)
2. Aerial Monroe vs. Aja Perera vs. Aria Blake vs. Brandi Lauren vs. Candy Cartwright vs. Dementia D'Rose vs. Dynamite DiDi vs. Ivelisse vs. Kamilla Kaine vs. Kiera Hogan vs. Mercedes Martinez vs. Natalia Markova vs. Rain vs. Robyn Reid vs. Shotzi Blackheart vs. Stormie Lee vs. ??? vs. ??? vs. ??? vs. ??? (Shine Championship #1 Contender's Survival Rumble)

Shine are back in Ybor City, Florida and... is that the entire card? Nope! The deal here is the winner of the Survival Rumble will go on to wrestle Shine Champion LuFisto at Shine 48 and matches will be made based on eliminations from the Rumble to fill out the rest of this show. It's innovative, if nothing else, I suppose. And the first Shine Champion, Rain, is back out of retirement, which is great news! (Do note that the number of ??? entrants I've added there is arbitrary; WWN have simply said more will be added, not that it will necessarily be a 20-woman Rumble.)

Get your tickets here or check it out on iPPV at WWNLive.com.

Free matches here!

Candice LeRae vs. Kimber Lee

From the fine folks over at Women's Wrestling Revolution Pro, we've got action with shades of the Mae Young Classic! Abbey Laith takes on Candice Wrestling in a past life, check it out!

Darby Allin vs. Josh Briggs

From the good people over at Limitless Wrestling we have a clash of up-and-comers. Darby Allin burst onto the scene from out of nowhere in Evolve over a year ago as a daredevil who hasn't yet met the thing he isn't willing to jump off of and Briggs has just erupted onto my radar as a hugely athletic big man so hey, check it out and get yourself a new favorite, right?

CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Ep. #135

I reckon it's time we checked in on our pals over at CWF again because they've got a doozy of a hoot lined up for us tonight as national treasure White Mike takes on CWF Heavyweight Champion Trevor Lee in a non-title match! If you haven't seen Mike in action, you are in for a treat, folks.

Results

MLW Never Say Never (December 7)

"Whoa hey, Rev, what's this? No results again? What are you tryin' to pull here?!"

Well, I'm trying to pull the same thing I did the last time I did this, which is to say that MLW have released this entire show free for nothin' on YouTube! Don’t let me spoil you, check it out right here--

RPW Uprising 2018 (December 8)

1. Kurtis Chapman over David Starr, El Phantasmo, "Flash" Morgan Webster (c), and Ryan Smile to win the RPW British Cruiserweight Championship
2. Jinny over Martina
3. Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) (c) over Josh Bodom & Zack Gibson to retain the RPW British Tag Team Championship
4. Cody Rhodes (c) over Jay Lethal to retain the ROH World Championship
5. Pete Dunne over Eddie Dennis
6. Martin Stone over Dave Mastiff
7. Zack Sabre, Jr. (c) over Matt Riddle to retain the RPW British Heavyweight Championship
8. Bullet Club (Marty Scurll, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson) over #CCK (Chris Brookes & Travis Banks) & Flip Gordon

RevPro closed their year out with a bang as up-and-comer Chapman rose above the fray to become Cruiserweight Champion. Plus Cody retained the ROH title and left plans for Final Battle intact thanks to (or perhaps despite) some interference from Scurll, and while Eddie Dennis' losing streak continues he may not be done in RevPro just yet, as Rob Lias attacked him after his match.

Plus, we've already got a big match made for High Stakes next year, as Zack Sabre, Jr. cut a promo after his match saying he's defended against everybody and wants to challenge, alongside Minoru Suzuki, for the tag titles.

Check it out on RPW On Demand, folks.

CZW Cage of Death 19 (December 9)

1. Storm of Entrails (Dan O'Hare & SHLAK) over Blackwater, G-Raver, John Silver, Kody Rice, & Shane Sabre to win the Ultimate Opportunity Coin
2. Matt Tremont over Jimmy Lloyd (Thumbtack Massacre Deathmatch)
3. Mr. Claxton over Alex Colon
4. David Starr over "All Ego" Ethan Page
5. The REP (Dave McCall & Nate Carter) over Alex Reynolds & Dan Barry, OI4K (Dave & Jake Crist), and Scarlet and Graves (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) (c) to win the CZW World Tag Team Championship
6. Nick "Magnus" Aldis over Tim Storm (c) to win the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship
7. Jimmy Jacobs over Jimmy Havoc
8. Chrissy Rivera & Greg Excellent over Ace Romero
9. Maxwell Jacob Friedman over Joey Janela (c) to win the CZW Wired Championship
10. Rickey Shane Page (c) over "Chainsaw" Joe Gacy and Shane Strickland to retain the CZW World Heavyweight Championship (Cage of Death)

Well, we already covered one bit of big news from the show elsewhere on the site, so I'll skip over that and break down the remainder of what's interesting here. Danny Havoc returned to the Combat Zone to beat on Conor Claxton after his match, DJ Hyde announced Will Ospreay for their WrestleMania weekend show, MJF's victory means that technically Joey Janela's Wired Championship reign never happened, but he paid dearly for it as Penelope Ford at long last rejoined forces with Joey.

And in the main event, Gacy's followers got involved, leading to a cavalcade of interference from the likes of Kit Osbourne, Dan Barry, and Anthony Gangone! As well, after the match, Nick Gage strolled through the crowd and into the cage for a confrontation that CZW are doing their best to scrub from the internet. Work? Shoot? With the King, you never know!

Check it out on CZW Studios, folks.

Evolve 96 / 97 (December 9-10)

—Evolve 96 (December 9)—

1. Dominic Garrini over Joey Lynch
2. Kyle the Beast & Shane Mercer over Matt Knicks & Stevie Fierce
3. Jarek 1:20 over Stephen Wolf
4. Zack Sabre, Jr. over DJZ
5. AR Fox over Jason Kincaid
6. Darby Allin over Austin Theory
7. Catch Point (Jaka & "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams) (c) vs. WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & James Drake) goes to a no contest (Evolve Tag Team Championship)
8. Matt Riddle over Fred Yehi (No Rope Breaks Match)
9. Keith Lee (c) over WALTER to retain the WWN Championship

—Evolve 97 (December 10)—

1. Dominic Garrini over Craig Mitchell
2. Matt Knicks & Stevie Fierce over Brandon Watts & Stephen Wolf
3. Jarek 1:20 vs. Jason Kincaid goes to a ten-minute time limit draw
4. WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & James Drake) over Kyle the Beast & Shane Mercer
5. AR Fox over DJZ
6. Darby Allin over Keith Lee and "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams, earning the right to any match of his choosing in 2018
7. Austin Theory over Fred Yehi (c) to win the FIP World Heavyweight Championship
8. Matt Riddle over WALTER (No Rope Breaks Match)
9. Zack Sabre, Jr. (c) over Jaka to retain the Evolve World Championship

As always when I can point you to my recaps (Evolve 96, 97), I'll do so and keep it short and sweet here, but suffice it to say, I think the new format is a success. I could do without intermissions, but the preliminary matches are a cool way get some new talent in. Plus the push for no rope breaks is pretty sweet and is leading to some innovative stuff.

Check 'em out on WWNLive.com, folks.

Beyond Cold Brew (December 10)

1. WALTER over David Starr
2. Brian Milonas & Cam Zagami over Anthony Greene & Brick Mastone by disqualification
3. Wheeler YUTA over Mike Verna (Tournament For Tomorrow 2017 Semifinal Match)
4. Amityville Project (Rex Lawless & Ryan Galeone) over American Gaijin (Jay Freddie & Rory Gulak)
5. AR Fox & Austin Theory over Brandon Watts & Zenshi
6. Ace Romero over Josh Briggs (Tournament For Tomorrow 2017 Semifinal Match)
7. Matt Riddle over Martin Stone
8. Darby Allin over John Silver
9. Keith Lee over Joey Janela

A couple injuries shuffled the card, but the show must go on and the Tournament For Tomorrow Finals are set with Ace Romero and Wheeler YUTA ready to go head to head! And, as it turns out, Evolve isn't the only place AR Fox has a posse, because the Watts/Zenshi team is finally done for for good, with Brandon turning on the erstwhile Shynron to hook up with Fox and Theory.

Check it out on Powerbomb.tv, folks.

Progress Chapter 59: Whatever People Say We Are, That’s What We’re Not (December 10)

1. Rampage Brown over Doug Williams
2. Chris Ridgeway over Adam Chase
3. Jack Sexsmith over Amir Jordan, Chief Deputy Dunne, Gabriel Kidd, Pastor William Eaver, Primate, Saxon Huxley, and Spike Trivet
4. Joseph Conners over Chuck Mambo
5. Chris Brookes over Matt Cross
6. Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) (c) over Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) to retain the Progress Tag Team Championship
7. Travis Banks (c) over Eddie Dennis to retain the Progress Championship

As always when I recap a show I'll keep it short and sweet here in Sermon and mother of god, travel issues from the weather really did a number on this one, didn't they? The show must go on, of course, and while the absence of British Strong Style, "Flash" Morgan Webster, and Mark Andrews is keenly felt a bunch of new faces got to show their stuff and former champion Rampage Brown made his return!

Check it out when it hits Demand Progress, folks.

As always...

Remember folks, no matter what type of wrestling you like, no matter how down you feel about the state of WWE, Impact, 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.