Sermon on the Mat (Jan. 17, 2019): CMLL, PCW Ultra, PWG, Shine, wXw, PWX, Alpha-1, Progress, & SUP 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...

CMLL Super Viernes (Jan. 18, 9:30PM Eastern)

1. Akuma, Espanto, Jr. & Metalico vs. Arkalis, Astral, & Magnus
2. Amapola, Dalys, & Metalica vs. La Jarochita, Marcela, & Princesa Sugehit
3. Esfinge, Guerrero Maya, Jr., & Rey Cometa vs. Los Revolucionarios del Terror (Dragon Rojo, Jr. & Polvora) & Virus
4. Gorilas del Ring (Kraneo & Volcano) & Stuka, Jr. vs. Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, & Shocker
5. Diamante Azul, El Valiente, & Niebla Roja vs. Gilbert el Boricua & Los Hijos del Infierno (Ephesto & Mephisto)
6. Euforia vs. Rush

CMLL are back in the legendary Arena Mexico for your weekly Friday night dose of lucha libre action and now this is a little more like it! With the marquee crew still in Japan for Fantastica Mania, these few weeks of January can be rough, but between that awesome-lookin’ main event and the trios in the third and co-main spots, this one should be fun, folks.

Check it out, as always, free for nothin’ on Marca Claro, folks, and the VOD will go up on CMLL’s YouTube channel (where they also stream shows every Monday and Tuesday free of charge) after the fact for those of you who can’t watch live.

PCW Ultra Anniversary 2K19 (Jan. 18, 8:30PM Pacific)

1. Michael Marshall vs. Sinn Bodhi (Watts Rules Match)
2. Garza, Jr. vs Sam Adonis
3. Lucha Brothers (Penta el Zero M & Rey Fenix) vs. Worldwide Underground (Johnny Mundo & PJ Black)
4. Taya Valkyrie vs. Tessa Blanchard (c) (Ultrawoman Championship)
5. Death Machines (Madman Fulton & Sami Callihan) vs. Warbeast (Fatu & Josef) (c) (Ultra Tag Team Championship)
6. Eli Everfly vs. Fidel Bravo vs. Jake Atlas vs. the Oracle (Ultralight Championship)
7. Brian Cage vs. Shane Strickland (c) (Ultra Championship)

PCW Ultra are in Wilmington, California to celebrate their anniversary again, and not only do they have this star-studded card for you, but they’ve got one of the pillars of lucha libre history-- Mil Mascaras will be in the house! And speaking of the card, you may have noticed that they’ve shuffled their title structure around a little and as a result, are in neeed of a new Ultralight Champion since Shane Strickland has moved onto the big belt fulltime.

Get your tickets here or check it out live on FITE, folks.

PWG Hand of Doom (Jan. 18, 8PM Pacific)

1. Brody King vs. Jungle Boy
2. DJZ vs. Puma King
3. Jonathan Gresham vs. Robbie Eagles
4. Laredo Kid & Rey Horus vs. LAX (Angel Ortiz & Mike “Santana” Draztik)
5. ACH vs. Bandido
6. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) vs. the Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) (c) (PWG World Tag Team Championship)
7. Jeff Cobb (c) vs. Trevor Lee (PWG World Championship)

PWG are back in the Globe Theater in Los Angeles, California, and they’ve got their usual high-octane mix of talent on display. Of particular note here are ACH as a late replacement against Bandido, which should absolutely rule, and Trevor Lee getting a chance to add the PWG World Championship to his resume while he makes his way to WWE.

Tickets are still available here as I write this, but otherwise y’all will just have to wait for the DVD pre-order to go up, folks.

Shine 56 (Jan. 19, 3PM Eastern)

1. Dementia D’Rose vs. Riley Shepard
2. Allie Recks vs. Brandi Lauren
3. Jordynne Grace vs. LuFisto (No Holds Barred)
4. Aja Perera (c) vs. Kiera Hogan (Shine Nova Championship)
5. Rainbow Bright (Gabby Gilbert & Luscious Latasha) vs. Twisted Sisterz (Holidead & Thunder Rosa) (c) (Shine Tag Team Championship)
6. Priscilla Kelly vs. Santana Garrett (New York City Street Fight)
7. Allysin Kay (c) vs. Ivelisse (Shine Championship)

Shine are back in New York City for a double-header with Evolve (and of course for more on Evolve check out my preview dropping tomorrow morning) and they’ve got a stacked card with three matches that stand out immediately to my eyes. The AK47 defending her title against Ivelisse being epic is almost a given, but then we’ve got two wild and crazy grudge matches here. Clean-cut Santana goes up against Hell’s Favorite Harlot in a NYC Street Fight (and hey, maybe we’ll see the tampon spot here?), and the one that’s got me REAL excited, Team PAWG explodes as it’s no holds barred when Grace and LuFisto meet!

Get your tickets here or check it out on WWNLive, whether as an individual purchase or at no additional charge through your Club WWN subscription.

wXw Back to the Roots XVIII (Jan. 19, 7PM CET)

1. Bobby Gunns vs. Shigehiro Irie
2. Jay-FK (Francis Kaspin & Jay Skillet) vs. Veit Mueller & WALTER
3. David Starr vs. Timothy Thatcher
4. Avalanche vs. Jurn Simmons
5. Melanie Gray vs. Toni Storm (c) (wXw Women’s Championship Loser Leaves Town Match)
6. RISE (Da Mack, Marius Al-Ani, & Tarkan Aslan) (c) vs. RISE (Ivan Kiev, Lucky Kid, & Pete Bouncer) (wXw Shotgun Championship / wXw World Tag Team Championship Käfigschlacht Match)
7. Absolute Andy (c) vs. Ilja Dragunov (wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship Käfigschlacht Match)

wXw are back in Oberhausen, Germany for Back to the Roots and this card just rules, folks. Dragunov vs. Andy one last time? Check. Thatcher vs. Starr in a grappling clinic? Check. Storm defending her title against Gray in a loser leaves town that I have literally no clue how it ends because Melanie is a mainstay and wXw are getting tight enough with WWE that there’s no reason Toni can’t stick around? Check. And most of all, inside of a steel cage with WarGames-style rules... RISE vs. RISE, titles on the line? Check!

Get your tickets here or check it out when it’s uploaded to wXwNOW!, folks.

PWX X Sixteen (Jan. 19-20)

—Night One (Jan. 19, 7:30PM Eastern)—

1. Slim J vs. Yahya (X16 First Round Match)
2. Harlem Bravado vs. Saieve Al Sabah (X16 First Round Match)
3. Andrew Everett vs. Serpentico (X16 First Round Match)
4. Darius Lockhart vs. Jason Cade (X16 First Round Match)
5. Billy Brash vs. Eddie Edwards (X16 First Round Match)
6. Alexander James vs. John Skyler (X16 First Round Match)
7. Ethan Case vs. Sean Carr (X16 First Round Match)
8. Drew Adler vs. Tracer X (X16 First Round Match)
9. The Revolt! (Caleb Konley & Zane Riley) vs. Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude & Rob Killjoy) (c) (PWX World Tag Team Championship)

—Night Two (Jan. 20, 3PM Eastern)—

1. X16 Quarterfinals, Semifinals, & Finals

PWX are back in Concord, North Carolina for their annual X16 tournament and while the field is a little light on starpower compared to years past, it’s every bit as talented. Take Slim J for example-- yes, the same Slim J from Special K in the early days of ROH, he’s still wrestling and kicking SO much ass while doing so. Plus the Revolt! are back after two years away to lay claim to the tag titles once again, so you know this is gonna be the good stuff folks.

Get your tickets here or check it out LIVE on the Highspots Wrestling Network.

Alpha-1 Buck Wild 2 (Jan. 20, 2PM Eastern)

1. Space Pirates (Shane Sabre & Space Monkey) (c) vs. ??? (A1 Tag Team Championship Open Challenge)
2. Gregory Iron & Rickey Shane Page vs. Savage Society
3. Cheech (c) vs. Josh Briggs (A1 Zero Gravity Championship)
4. Allysin Kay vs. Jody Threat
5. BMD vs. Eric Cairnie (Last Man Standing Match)
6. Monster Mafia (“All Ego” Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) vs. Team MJF (Christian Casanova & PB Smooth)
7. Justin Sane vs. Kobe Durst (c) (A1 Alpha Male Championship)

Alpha-1 are kicking their year off in Oshawa, Ontario and there’s a bunch of neat stuff happening here. We got an open challenge, Briggs trying to reclaim his Zero Gravity Championship, women’s action featuring Allysin Kay, Monster Mafia facing off against MJF’s handpicked all-star team, and in the main event, Kobe Durst defends his Alpha Male Championship against a man very much on his way up, Justin Sane.

Get your tickets at the door or check it out when it goes up on IndependentWrestling.tv, folks.

Progress Chapter 83: Remove Child Before Ironing (Jan. 20)

1. Chris Ridgeway vs. Shigehiro Irie
2. Angelico vs. Jody Fleisch
3. Ilja Dragunov vs. Timothy Thatcher
4. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) vs. Do Not Resuscitate (Chuck Mambo & “Present” William Eaver)
5. Do Not Resuscitate (Drew Parker & Spike Trivet) vs. Eddie Dennis & Mark Haskins
6. CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos) vs. Swords of Essex (Paul Robinson & Will Ospreay) (c) (Progress World Tag Team Championship)

Progress are kicking their year off in London, England, and yes, the shitty little wolf is back-- Kid Lykos teams with Chris Brookes once again for a crack at the tag titles he never lost. Plus, Do Not Resuscitate get to make their mark in a pair of tag team matches, and we’ve got a trio of wild international challenge matches, including my man Timothy Thatcher facing off against Mr. Unbesiegbar himself, and that’ll be a hoot and a half.

Tickets, as always with main series Progress Chapter shows, are long since sold out, but you can have a crack at the official resale site or just wait with the rest of us schlubs for the show to go up on Demand Progress.

SUP I Am King (Jan. 20, 2PM Central)

1. Allie Kat vs. Savanna Stone
2. Mr. Brickster vs. Stokely Hathaway
3. Cabana Man Dan & Mance Warner vs. the Production
4. Jollyville Fuck-Its (Russ Myers & T-Money) vs. Sadkampf (Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku)
5. Brett Ison (c) vs. Nick Gage (SUP Bonestorm Championship)

Southern Underground Pro are back in Nashville, Tennessee with their brand of southern indie wrestling featuring some of the most exciting underground talent around and my god, the King is here! Check out this sweet music video from jrose hyping the main event and then consider that you also get the Boys from Jollyville going against Sadkampf and more!

Get your tickets here or check it out when it hits IndependentWrestling.tv, folks.

Free matches here!

Chris Ridgeway vs. Kenoh

From the folks over at Will Ospreay’s Frontline Wrestling, we’ve got some top shelf talent from Pro Wrestling NOAH facing one of England’s hardest strikers and best grapplers. Ridgeway. Kenoh. Don’t miss it!

“All Ego” Ethan Page vs. Jordynne Grace

From our friends over at Black Label Pro, we’ve got a barnburner for y’all folks. All Ego and Thick Mama Pump clash over the BLP Heavyweight Championship, check it out!

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Wheeler YUTA

From the fine folks over at Beyond, we’ve got two blue-chippers in action here. You know MJF from the AEW press conference, and you know Wheeler from Drew Gulak namedropping him on 205 Live as talent Drake Maverick should look out for, and they make great rivals. Enjoy!

Results

RPW New Year’s Resolution (Jan. 11)

1. Josh Bodom & Sha Samuels over Dan Magee & Kurtis Chapman
2. Great O-Kharn over MK McKinnan
3. Zoe Lucas (c) over Yuu to retain the RPW British Women’s Championship
4. Will Ospreay (c) over Chris Brookes to retain the NEVER Openweight Championship
5. David Starr (c) over Kip Sabian to retain the RPW British Cruiserweight Championship
6. ”Switchblade” Jay White over Chris Ridgeway
7. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) over Hunter Brothers (Jim & Lee Hunter) to become #1 contenders to the RPW British Tag Team Championship
8. Zack Sabre, Jr. (c) over Shigehiro Irie to retain the RPW British Heavyweight Championship

Well hey, that’s a pleasant surprise-- Will Ospreay’s match against Chris Brookes got upgraded to a NEVER title defense! As did ZSJ’s match against Irie, and both New Japan stars passed with flying colors, as it were. Plus Aussie Open are next in line for a shot against the Suzuki-gun team of Sabre and Minoru Suzuki, so that’ll be a hoot when it happens.

Check the VOD on RPW On Demand, 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.