Sermon on the Mat (April 11, 2019): AAW, CMLL, CZW, A1 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...

AAW Epic (April 12, 7:30PM Eastern)

1. Kris Statlander vs. Shazza McKenzie
2. Fatu vs. Larry D
3. Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara
4. Adam Brooks vs. David Starr
5. Besties in the World (Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett) & Jessicka Havok vs. WRSTLING (Curt Stallion, Eddie Kingston, & Jake Something) (Bourbon Street Fight)
6. DJ Z (c) vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman (AAW Heritage Championship)
7. LAX (Angel Ortiz & Mike “Santana” Draztik) (c) vs. Lucha Brothers (Penta el Zero M & Rey Fenix) (AAW Tag Team Championship)

AAW are celebrating their 15th anniversary this weekend in Chicago, Illinois and even though Impact have pulled heavyweight champion Sami Callihan from his scheduled appearance, this looks like it’s gonna be a hoot of a show. You got the rematch between LAX and the Lucha Brothers for the tag titles, a WWE-bound DJZ putting his title on the line against MJF, a wild and wooly six-person street fight, and more, including a hype meeting of alien and Aussie when Statlander and McKenzie do battle!

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

CMLL Super Viernes (April 12, 9:30PM Eastern)

1. Akuma & Espanto, Jr. vs. Principe Diamante & Robin
2. Black Panther, Rey Cometa, & Stuka, Jr. vs. Hechicero, Polvora, & Vangellys
3. Dragon Lee, El Valiente, & Niebla Roja vs. El Terrible, Gran Guerrero, & Negro Casas
4. Angel de Oro & Bestia Del Ring vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Titan vs. Blue Panther & Mascara Ano 2000 vs. Caristico & Mephisto vs. Euforia & Guerrero Maya vs. Flyer & Forastero vs. Rey Bucanero & Triton vs. Sanson & Soberano, Jr. (Torneo Increibles de Parejas 2019 First Phase)
5. Gilbert el Boricua vs. Volador, Jr.

CMLL are back in Arena Mexico for your weekly Friday night dose of lucha libre action, and what’s that? It’s tournament time yet again! This time, it’s all heel/face tag teams competing for who can cooperate the longest! Plus we’re getting a really sweet trios match right before hand with Terrible, Guerrero, and Casas holding down the rudo side with so many of their partners in the tourney, and that should be a lot of fun.

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.

CZW Best of the Best 18 (April 13, 8PM Eastern)

1. Fred Yehi vs. Gary Jay vs. John Silver vs. Kris Statlander (Best of the Best 18 First Round Match)
2. IFHY (Johnathan Wolf & Shawn Kemp) vs. YDNB (Charlie Tiger & Ellis Taylor)
3. Leyla Hirsch vs. Shazza McKenzie

CZW are back in Voorhees, New Jersey, and it’s Best of the Best time! The annual junior heavyweight tournament has only had one match announced, but with a field also including CZW World Heavyweight Champion Mance Warner (who will be defending his title throughout), B-Boy, David Starr, Myron Reed, Anthony Greene, and others, it’s stacked!

Get your tickets here or check it out when it hits CZW Studios, folks.

Alpha-1 Here We Go Again (April 14, 4PM Eastern)

1. Danny Adams vs. Josh Alexander
2. BMD (c) vs. Cheech vs. Kody Lane vs. Trey Miguel (A1 Zero Gravity Championship)
3. Anthony Greene & Mark Wheeler vs. Gregory Iron & Hornswoggle
4. Allie Kat vs. Bear Bronson vs. EZE Eric Cairnie vs. Jody Threat vs. Joey Ryan vs. Justin Sane (c) vs. Matt Knicks vs. PACO vs. Rickey Shane Page (A1 Outer Limits Championship Gauntlet Match)
5. Lotus (Gavin Quinn & Juntai) vs. Space Pirates (Shane Sabre & Space Monkey) (c) (A1 Tag Team Championship)
6. Brian Cage vs. Chris Dickinson vs. Kobe Durst (c) (A1 Alpha Male Championship)
7. ”All Ego” Ethan Page vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman (Dog Collar Match)

Alpha-1 are back in Hamilton, Ontario, and All Ego’s feud with MJF is about to hit a raging, bloody climax in a dog collar match! Plus Danny Adams has a death wish and has chosen Josh Alexander as his opponent in a bid to get Alpha-1 to give him better opportunities, a giant gauntlet for the Outer Limits title, and more!

Find out how to get your tickets here or check it out when it hits IWTV, folks.

Free matches here!

Logan Black vs. Terra Calaway

From our friends over at Dropkick Depression, we’ve got a match pitting the Queen of the Dinosaurs against the King of Chaos. Check it out, and be sure to support their charitable efforts, folks!

Kris Statlander vs. Penelope Ford

From the good people up at Limitless Wrestling in Maine, we’ve got the Bad Girl taking on an alien entity. Statlander. Ford. Enjoy!

Kana vs. Sara Del Rey

In honor of the first-ever women’s main event of WrestleMania, Chikara have dug into their archives for a match that should be of interest to everyone. Former SmackDown Women’s Champion Asuka takes on the NXT coach and trainer at the beating heart of the women’s revolution, Sara Del Rey. Don’t miss it!

Results

Evolve 125 (April 4)

1. Adrian Jaoude over Harlem Bravado
2. Kazusada Higuchi over Curt Stallion
3. The Skulk (AR Fox & Leon Ruff) over Beaver Boys (Alex Reynolds & John Silver)
4. Anthony Henry over Darby Allin (There Must Be a Winner Match)
5. Angelo Dawkins over Colby Corino
6. JD Drake (c) over Angelo Dawkins to retain the WWN Championship
7. Montez Ford over Shane Strickland
8. The Unwanted (Eddie Kingston & Joe Gacy) (c) over Konosuke Takeshita & MAO to retain the Evolve Tag Team Championship
9. Austin Theory (c) over Kyle O’Reilly to retain the Evolve World Championship

As always since I can point you to my recap I’ll do that and keep it short and sweet here, but suffice it to say Evolve 125 was a really fun show with some really great title matches and a special farewell from one Mr. Stokely Hathaway.

Check the VOD out on WWNLive, whether as an individual iPPV purchase or at no additional cost through your Club WWN subscription, folks.

GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport (April 4)

1. Dominic Garrini over Phil Baroni by reversed decision
2. JR Kratos over Simon Grimm
3. Davey Boy Smith, Jr. over Killer Kross
4. Masashi Takeda over Jonathan Gresham
5. Chris Dickinson over Andy Williams
6. Frank Mir over Dan Severn
7. Hideki Suzuki over Timothy Thatcher
8. Josh Barnett vs. Minoru Suzuki went to a time-limit draw

For full details of this show you can check out our recap courtesy of Jim Rohan in the FanPosts, but suffice it to say this was a fun slice of vaguely shoot-style pro wrestling, folks. My favorite match was Takeda/Gresham by a fair amount, but aside from Frank Mir sadly stumbling through a match against the Beast nothing here was bad by any means.

Check the VOD out on FITE, folks.

MLW Rise of the Renegades / Battle Riot II (April 4-5)

—Rise of the Renegades (April 4)—

1. Ariel Dominguez over Brian Idol
2. Jordan Oliver over Kotto Brazil
3. Brian Pillman, Jr. over Maxwell Jacob Friedman
4. Jacob Fatu over Barrington Hughes
5. Rey Horus over Ace Austin
6. Low-Ki & Ricky Martinez over ??? & ???
7. Myron Reed & Rich Swann over Jimmy Yuta & Lance Anoa’i
8. Minoru Tanaka over Daga
9. Dynasty (Alex Hammerstone, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, & Richard Holliday) over Hart Foundation (Brian Pillman, Jr., Davey Boy Smith, Jr., & Teddy Hart) (Tables Match)
10. Josef Samael over Ace Romero
11. Gringo Loco over Puma King
12. Mance Warner vs. Sami Callihan went to a no-contest
13. Air Wolf over Rey Fenix
14. Tom Lawlor (c) over Jimmy Havoc to retain the MLW World Heavyweight Championship (Street Fight)
15. LA Park over Pentagon, Jr.

—Battle Riot II (April 5)—

1. J-Rocc over Troy Hollywood
2. El Hijo de LA Park over Gringo Loco
3. Lucha Brothers (Pentagon, Jr. & Rey Fenix) over Air Wolf & Rey Horus
4. Mance Warner & Sami Callihan over El Hijo de LA Park & Ricky Martinez
5. Alex Hammerstone over Gringo Loco (MLW National Championship Tournament Semifinals)
6. Brian Pillman, Jr. over Rich Swann (MLW National Championship Tournament Semifinals)
7. Teddy Hart (c) over Ace Austin to retain the MLW World Middleweight Championship
8. Minoru Tanaka over Myron Reed
9. Tom Lawlor (c) over Avalanche to retain the MLW World Heavyweight Championship
10. LA Park wins Battle Riot

For full details be sure to keep an eye on our man Manolo’s excellent coverage of MLW, but with Lawlor avenging his loss to Jimmy Havoc in a bloody war he has no time to rest, because LA mother[REDACTED] Park is coming for that title off of a Battle Riot win, the same way Lawlor himself earned his shot at the title!

Check it out as episodes of MLW Fusion on BeIN Sports, MLW’s own YouTube channel, or now in the UK on FreeSports!

WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow / USA vs. the World / Joey Ryan’s Penis Party (April 4-5)

—Mark Hitchcock Memroial Supershow (April 4)—

1. Masato Tanaka over Eddie Kingston
2. Rey Fenix over Pentagon, Jr.
3. DJ Z, Puma King, Samantha Heights, & Tajiri over LAX (Angel Ortiz, Diamante, & Mike “Santana” Draztik) & Sammy Guevara
4. Robbie Eagles over Arez and Flamita
5. Hurricane Helms, Jushin Liger, & X-Pac over the Revolt! (Caleb Konley, “Man Scout” Jake Manning, & Zane Riley)
6. Dragon Lee over Barbaro Cavernario
7. Zack Sabre, Jr. over Shane Strickland
8. SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, & Scorpio Sky) over Best Friends Gentlemen’s Club (Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy, & Trent?)
9. Will Ospreay over Bandido

—USA vs. the World (April 5)—

1. Brian Pillman, Jr. over Emil Sitoci
2. Maxwell Jacob Friedman over “All Ego” Ethan Page
3. David Starr over Daga
4. Black Taurus over Darby Allin
5. Jiro Kuroshio over Rich Swann
6. The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Trey Miguel, & Zachary Wentz) over Adam Brooks, Australian Suicide, & Robbie Eagles
7. Hart Foundation (Davey Boy Smith, Jr. & Teddy Hart) over LAX (Angel Ortiz & Mike “Santana” Draztik)
8. Puma King over Sammy Guevara
9. Brian Cage over Masato Tanaka

—Joey Ryan’s Penis Party (April 5)—

1. Ultimo Dragon over Black Taurus, Green Ant II, Mr. Iguana, Puma King, and Shark Boy
2. DJ Z & Shigehiro Irie over Arez & Bestia 666
3. Tracy Smothers over Su Yung
4. DEMONxBUNNY (Allie & Rosemary) over Twisted Sisterz (Holidead & Thunder Rosa)
5. Timothy Thatcher over David Arquette
6. Bill Carr over Dan Barry (Deathmatch)
7. Yoshihiko wins the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship Staggered-Entry Battle Royal
8. Colt Cabana, Mike Babchik, & Tommy Dreamer over Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) & Matt Striker
9. Johnny Penis & Taya Valkyrie over Lucha Brothers (Penta el Zero M & Rey Fenix)
10. Session Moth Martina, Priscilla Kelly, & Scarlett Bordeaux over Joey Ryan, Sexxxy Eddy, & Val Venis

WrestleCon’s trifecta of shows were a smorgasbord of variety, from the dream match weather-themed trio of Hurricane, Liger (Thunder), and X-Pac (Lightning), to a definitive 5-4 victory for the United States over the World, to a shock appearance by Ultimo Dragon in the animal scramble, to an even more definitive victory of lady garden over gentleman’s area in a match that featured Priscilla Kelly dressed like a tampon!

Check the VODs out on Highspots Wrestling Network, folks.

ISW Boner Jam IV: Balls Out (April 4)

1. Sanchez over Jigsaw, Tony Deppen, and Werewolf of Wall Street
2. Jae Rukin over Daniel Makabe
3. GymNasty Boyz (Timmy Lou Retton & White Mike) over Team Tremendous (Bill Carr & Dan Barry)
4. Sexxxy Eddy (c) over Hornswoggle to retain the ISW Falls Count Everywhere Championship
5. Sean Henderson wins the Bastian Snow International Food Fight Invitational
6. Fluffy the Killer Bunny over Leon St. Giovanni
7. Butcher and the Blade (Andy Williams & Braxton Sutter) over Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude & Rob Killjoy)
8. Chris Dickinson over Chris Brookes
9. Matt Tremont over Addy Starr (c), Jeff Cannonball, and Nick Gage to win the ISW King of Crazy Championship (Fans Bring the Brightly Colored Toy Blocks We Can’t Legally Mention Deathmatch)

Since this is one I have a recap for I’ll point you at it and keep things succinct, but holy hell this show was wild. From the opening scramble to the LEGO deathmatch finale, this one had a little something for everybody and is very much worth checking out.

Which you can do on IWTV, folks.

Shimmer 113 (April 5)

1. Nicole Savoy (c) over Hiroyo Matsumoto to retain the Shimmer Championship
2. Hyan over Allie Recks, Brandi Lauren, Brittany Blake, Indi Hartwell, Leva Bates, Shotzi Blackheart, and Veda Scott (Scramble Match)
3. Allysin Kay over Kris Statlander
4. Shazza McKenzie over Su Yung
5. OGs (Cheerleader Melissa & Mercedes Martinez) (c) over Twisted Sisterz (Holidead & Thunder Rosa) to retain the Shimmer Tag Team Championship
6. Tessa Blanchard over Dr. Britt Baker, DMD
7. Kris Wolf, Solo Darling, & Team Sea Stars (Ashley Vox & Delmi Exo) over Blue Nation (Charli Evans & Jessica Troy), Steph de Lander, & Zoe Lucas
8. Samantha Heights over Dust (c) to win the Heart of Shimmer Championship

Shimmer’s Mania weekend offering wasn’t overflowing with notable happenings, but rather just good solid pro wrestling start to finish, with standout matches including Savoy/Matsumoto, Kay/Statlander (and the alien has made a believer out of me over the course of the last week!), and the atomicos match that featured Kris Wolf’s farewell.

Check the VOD out on WWNLive, folks.

Chikara Once Upon a Beginning (April 5)

1. Cornelius Crummels & Sonny Defarge over CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos)
2. Missile Assault Man over Boomer Hatfield
3. Estonian Thunderfrog, Jigsaw, Razerhawk, & Stokely Hathaway over Arik Cannon, Cam Zagami, Hallowicked, & Hermit Crab
4. A-Kid over Air Wolf
5. Still Life With Apricots and Pears (c) over Carlos Romo to retain the Chikara Young Lions Cup
6. Princess KimberLee over the Whisper
7. Team FIST (Icarus, Tony Deppen, & Travis Huckabee) over the Colony (Fire, Green II, & Thief Ant)
8. Dasher Hatfield (Interim) over Mark Angelosetti (c) to win the Chikara Grand Championship (Ladder Match)

Dasher Hatfield has legitimately won the prize he claimed and Missile Assault Man is already lined up as his next challenger, folks. Plus Sidney Bakabella is your new Director of Fun, Team FIST picked up another victory in their forever feud against the Colony, and our nonbinary Young Lions Cup champ picked up a big win over half of Team White Wolf.

Oh, and “Stokely Hathaway” up there? Well, turnabout is fair play, because Chuck “DUSTIN” Taylor avenged the loss of his name by taking the rights to the man currently going by Court Moore in NXT’s other indie name!

Check the VOD out on Chikaratopia and IWTV, folks.

WWN Supershow Mercury Rising 2019 (April 5)

1. Anthony Henry (c) over Absolute Andy to retain the FIP World Heavyweight Championship
2. Anthony Greene over Barrett Brown, Colby Corino, Cyrus Satin, Harlem Bravado, John Silver, and Shotzi Blackheart to earn a WWN Contract (Elimination Match)
3. Miyu Yamashita (TJPW) over Allysin Kay (Shine) to win the Shine Championship and retain the TJPW Princess of Princess Championship
4. Austin Theory & Brandi Lauren over Darby Allin & Priscilla Kelly
5. The Unwanted (Eddie Kingston, Joe Gacy, & Shane Strickland) over Team wXw (Alexander James, Jurn Simmons, & Marius Al-Ani)
6. JD Drake (c) over Kazusada Higuchi to retain the WWN Championship
7. DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao, & Tetsuya Endo) over the Skulk (Adrian Alanis, AR Fox, & Leon Ruff)

Again, with Mercury Rising I have a recap to point you to, but despite feeling somewhat out of continuity and featuring a real down ending to Darby Allin’s quest for the title, Mercury Rising was a really fun show and definitely worth checking out.

So feel free to do so on WWNLive, whether as an individual VOD purchase or at no additional cost with your Club WWN subscription.

GCW Joey Janela’s Spring Break 3 (April 5-6)

—Part 1 (April 5)—

1. Marko Stunt over Joey Janela
2. Tony Deppen over Dustin Thomas
3. Jungle Boy over A-Kid, Australian Suicide, Jake Atlas, Shane Mercer, and Slim J (Scramble Match)
4. Nick Gage (c) over Shinjiro Ohtani to retain the GCW Heavyweight Championship
5. Invisible Man over Invisible Stan
6. TAKA Michinoku over Orange Cassidy
7. Starman over “All Ego” Ethan Page
8. Masashi Takeda over Jimmy Lloyd (Anything Goes Deathmatch)

—Part 2: The Greatest Clusterfuck (April 6)—

1. Jungle Boy over Joey Janela
2. LAX (Angel Ortiz & Mike “Santana” Draztik) over Rock & Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)
3. LA Park over Masato Tanaka
4. The Greatest Clusterfuck went to a no-contest

I dunno what to put over first here, folks-- the fact that they actually ran a match featuring two invisible wrestlers, the Bad Boy’s in-ring return, legless wonder Dustin Thomas kicking all kinds of butt, Virgil, as Starman, beating All Ego for his soul and ensuring that he would once again have to wrangle the Clusterfuck, or the fact that the Clusterfuck ended in a no-contest when all the women Joey refused to book hit the ring and cleaned house!

Check the VOD out on FITE, if you will.

GCW Orange Cassidy is Doing Something or Whatever, Who Knows??? (April 6)

1. Allie Kat over Kris Statlander, Saraya Knight, and Shotzi Blackheart (Swamp Monster Lumberjack Elimination Match)
2. Chris Brookes over Logan Easton LaRoux (7/13 Falls Match)
3. Jigsaw over Air Wolf, Dan Champion, Jake Atlas, Lucky 13, Sonny Defarge, and Tony Deppen (Third Annual Jansport Invitational)
4. Session Moth Martina vs. Nate Webb went to a draw (5 O’Clock Somewhere Last Person Standing Match)
5. Blue Team (Arik Royal, Faye Jackson, Red Eagle, Terra Calaway, & Wheeler YUTA) over Red Team (Daniel Makabe, Jeff Cannonball, Sage Philips, Shazza McKenzie, & Veda Scott)
6. Shinjiro Ohtani over Jonathan Gresham
7. Trent? over Chuck Taylor
8. Nick Gage over UltraMantis Black (Yuletide Deathmatch)

This was a really fun show, or what I caught of it at least, with Brookes and LaRoux doing a great job playing with the stipulation and our originally scheduled dodgeball game turning into a ten-person tag when Maxwell Jacob Friedman, upset at not being picked, took his balls and went home. This lead to chants of “Wrestling sucks!” and “We want dodgeball”, which is just wonderful.

Check the VOD out on IWTV, folks.

WWN MoreThanMania 2019 Wrap-Up Party: DDT Pro vs. Kaiju Big Battel (April 6)

1. Bodega Boys (Kung Fu Chicken Noodle & Silver Potato) over Honey Nut & Pink Bear to become #1 contenders to the Double Danger Tandem Championship #1 Contender’s Match
2. Burger Bear over Hot Cop
3. Dusto Bunny & Faded over Gomi-Man & Mizuki Watase
4. Konosuke Takeshita & Sanshiro Takagi over Dr. Cube’s Posse (Erebus & Super Minion 13) (Anywhere Match)
5. Los Plantinos (Paco & Pedro Plantain) (c) over Is Is Kinder & Monger King to retain the Double Danger Tandem Championship
6. Blanco Loco & Sunbuster over Su Yung & Tucor
7. American Beetle (Southern) & Powa Ranjuru (Grand) over Dr. Cube & Hell Monkey to retain their KBB Grand Championship and KBB Southern Division Championships

Folks. Folks. This was wild and wacky. Check out my full results post for more details, because I... I can’t write more or better words about this show than to just tell you what happened.

Check the VOD out on WWNLive, whether as an individual purchase or at no additional cost as part of your Club WWN subscription.

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.