Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory episode 1 review: The Bad Boy is back!

Hey everybody! Beyond Wrestling’s shiny new webseries Uncharted Territory debuted today (Apr. 3, 2019) on IWTV, and this is a little bit of a different format than my usual recap/review combo-- we’re going to do dry results and then I’m going to break things down into good and bad, and because Beyond have pushed the nautical theme, guess what? You’re stuck with it just as much as I am!

Land Ho!

1. SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, & Scorpio Sky) over Team Pazuzu (Angel Ortiz, Chris Dickinson, & Mike “Santana” Draztik) by pinfall after David Starr interfered and let them pin Ortiz.
2. Maxwell Jacob Friedman over Kimber Lee by pinfall with the slingshot piledriver.
3. Beaver Boys (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) over Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) by pinfall with the double-team Emerald Flowsion.
4. Mick Moretti over Gabriel Skye by pinfall. (Discovery Gauntlet)
5. Kris Statlander over AR Fox by pinfall with a folding press. Post-match, Kimber Lee came to save her from Fox and his partner Ayla only to blindside her and choke her out!
6. Jordynne Grace brings Brian Cage out as her dream match tag partner and Orange Cassidy introduces a new IWTV Independent Wrestling Championship title belt before introducing his partner... SESSION MOTH MARTINA!
7. Brian Cage & Jordynne Grace over Session Moth Martina & Orange Cassidy by pinfall with a pumphandle driver on Cassidy after a misdirected stream of orange juice mist took Martina out.
8. Cam Zagami interviews Mick Moretti at ringside, who feels significantly delightful and says as long as the winner remains, he’ll be here for a long time and his Australian countrymen will forgive him if he has to stay here and conquer.
9. Americanrana ‘19 is announced for Sunday, July 28 at the Foxwoods Resort & Casino in Connecticut.
10. Masato Tanaka over David Starr by pinfall with the sliding elbow, after a bit of assistance from a returning Joey Janela and a brutal chairshot.

X Marks the Spot

• SCU vs. Team Pazuzu kicked things off in style: This was an appropriately hype dream match to kick Uncharted Territory off with, slow and steady in the early going until all hell broke loose. Ebb and flow, the California trio cutting corners and grinding Pazuzu down but you can’t keep the LAX boys down, and it’s right on to big spot city until the finish.

Not quite an instant classic, but a pitch perfect statement of intent for a weekly indie wrestling series. Hot wrestling, a solid angle with self-proclaimed Ace of Beyond David Starr rolling in and pulling Dickinson off the apron, good stuff all around.

• MJF is a dick: A lot of fun before the match even begins, with the crowd serenading MJF to mock the video that just came out of him appearing on Rosie O’Donnell’s show as a child and then Maxwell going full chauvinist pig only to get his face slapped off. The match itself was whatever, pretty bog standard “big strong man controls intergender action until woman manages to fight back” action with a bit of an abrupt ending, but the pre-match stuff was fun.
• The Discovery Gauntlet is just a cool idea: Every episode of Uncharted Territory is going to have one of these matches, with the winner from last week’s show advancing to next week’s, creating kind of a perpetual tryout match. As far as the match itself goes, it was fun outing from two guys I’m not familiar with, which I imagine will be a common theme as the Discovery Gauntlet continues, and I’d be happy to see both these dudes grace a Beyond ring again and again.
• Wrestling with the alien: I’ve seen Kris work a few times before this but haven’t really had a chance to really pay attention to her wrestling since she’s started breaking out over the last few months and I have to say-- she’s the real deal. She has a real super fun back and forth with AR Fox, ducking and dodging, keeping up with every beat, busting out some cool off-the-wall stuff that fits the alien gimmick and squeaking out a victory despite Ayla Fox’s best efforts. Really good match, I’m on the Statlander train for sure.
• I think Jordynne Grace just earned a title shot: I mean, the comedy powerhouse of Orange Cassidy and the Session Moth meeting the sheer brutal strength of Thick Mama Pump and the Machine himself?! This is as delightful as it sounds, folks, from the obvious comedy action early through the building pathos and the sheer dogged determination of the IWTV champion. And Grace winning and setting up a title match provides an obvious path to a future title match that should rule. Wins all around!
• The Bad Boy is back!: Tanaka and Starr absolutely beat the holy hell out of each other until a ref bump opened things up. Starr seemed like he had the match won off a low blow but Penelope Ford came out, followed shortly thereafter by the Bad Boy himself, Joey Janela, back from his knee injury! He proceeded to make a statement to Starr before handing the match to Tanaka, during which we got a chairshot which was the only real blemish on this match.

Walk the Plank

• Beaver bothered: I love me some Aussie Open, but the Beaver Boys just continue to leave me cold. Like, they do cool stuff but the matches just don’t hang together for me and have trouble holding my attention. I don’t get it, and it’s the one thing that keeps me from completely connecting with Beyond’s current product. Honestly that’s one of the reasons why I decided I wanted to review these shows, because I feel like maybe if I spend ten plus weeks paying close attention and trying to form coherent critical thoughts about their matches maybe I’ll finally come to understand their appeal.
• David Starr’s poor skull: Okay, okay, I never like to be the fan railing on danger in pro wrestling because I get it-- I’m not a wrestler, never will be, and it’s never as simple as just sorting moves into boxes labeled “safe” and “unsafe.” I’ve even been known to argue that the blood and piledriver bans do more harm than good by taking two simple, effective, and largely safe tools out of the wrestler’s toolbox, but... I just can’t do these hard chairshots to the head, and it’s really truly the one black mark on the night for me.

On the Horizon

Announced for next week, Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) vs. Sadkampf (Dominic Garrini vs. Kevin Ku), and Anthony Greene vs. Gangrel! Plus Mick Moretti returns as the Discovery Gauntlet rolls on!