Bar Wrestling 2 Review by Kody Goss

Last month Bar Wrestling debuted with a killer show that set SoCal a buzz for what was to come. They announced their second show was going to be on the 4th of July and announced a handful of talent for the event.

I heard some moaning and groaning online from people online about the show being on the 4th, but I didn’t mind and got my ticket as soon as I could. Despite the holiday the place was packed, and was almost immediately turned into a giant sweatbox. Pretty shortly after I got inside the show started and it was Lucha Undergrounds Melissa Santos on announcer duty. She announced the first match was a tag match, and then right into entrances.

Taya Valkyrie and Luchasaurus vs. the Killer Baes

I am not going to lie, I was a little surprised when Bar announced the Killer Baes for the show, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. I think a lot of people were surprised by this match up as well, but it was still a fun opening match. Taya was wearing American flag gear and Luchasaurus came out with an American flag in hand, the Killer Baes came out doing their normal white girl twerking gimmick to quickly establish the heel/face dynamic of the match. I was a little confused about Luchasaurus being the face, because Bar 1 ended with him attacking Cobb and Mack from behind, but I quickly got over it. Taya and Laura started and both made tags around the same time. When Heather saw Luchasuarus she tagged Laura back in and they switched off tagging in and out until Taya came back on. They ended up doing that spot twice if I remember correctly. The Killer Baes put some heat on Taya and they did a good job teasing the hot tag to Luchasaurus and when they finally did it got a good pop. At one point he picked Laura up for a military press, but ended up putting her down, making a heart with his hand and kissing her instead.

Other then that I can’t really think of any spots that stood out. The match was a good fun opener but nothing super special. The Killer Baes won with a double face buster on Taya. Taya always impresses me and tonight was no exception. Luchasarus kind of confuses me, he is a giant, tatted lizard man but he drinks beer with the audience and does funny stuff. It’s a weird combination but I really dig it. The Killer Bae’s had a decent showing, there were a few wild moments on their part but it wasn’t terrible. Heather has a great look and has been solid in the ring so I am stoked to see where she ends up.

Kikutaro vs. Yoshi Tatsu

Comedy wrestling is pretty interesting to me. It’s a pretty niche thing that can be hard to get over with, but Kikutaro is definitely one of the masters of that style of wrestling and I respect him for that. Yoshi Tatsu came out to nuclear heat. Everyone loves the Bullet Club, so seeing a Bullet Club hunter didn’t sit well with the majority of the audience, but Tatsu played it off like he didn’t care about the crowd.

The match itself was decent, Kikutaro was caught in a submission early and every time Knox asked if he wanted to quit he answered with things like “maybe” and “50% there” before reversing the hold. Aside from the finish the only spot that I remember really standing out was Tatsu in the corner and Kikutaro running at him only to eat a boot, over and over again before whipping Rick Knox into Yoshi Tatsu, then running in again himself and eating another boot. The finish saw Yoshi get Kikutaro in pedigree position and give the fans a suck it and hitting the pedigree, then landing a spinning heel kick from the top for the pin.

Hot Young Briley v. Shayna Baszler

Next up we got Briley Pierce out to some heat from the crowd. He took a mic to cut a promo and much like the first time, he kind of forced the audience into a chant (this time it was whiny bitch, last time it was cum drunk). I haven’t seen enough of him to know if that is a regular thing (I assume it is part of his gimmick) or if he just does it for Bar but either way I am not a big fan of it, even though I am becoming a big fan of his overall. He cut a promo calling out the biggest, baddest person in the back, and the challenge was answered by Shayna Baszler, and she got a huge pop from the crowd.

The match started with Briley backing away every time Shayne came forward, and then he slapped her and headed to the curtain, apparently deciding he was done with the match. Before he could get all the way back he was stopped by Jessamyn Duke, who was a member of MMA’s ill fated 4 Horsewomen (along with Shayna, Ronda Rousey and Marina Shafir). Shayna followed behind him and delivered a nice hook to the body and through him back into the ring. She celebrated with Jessamyn, which gave Briley time to recover and he cut her off as they reentered the ring. Briley got in some good offense and went to hit a fameasser, but Shayna got out of the way and jumped into a submission. It was hard to see what the sub was from my side, it looked like a RNC but the results show armbar. Either way Briley tapped and Shayna got the win.

Last time I talked about how Shayna has a great presence, is a legit badass and the crowd loves her, but she was missing something. After watching her again I think the biggest thing she needs to improve on is her selling, and once that is mastered she will easily be one of the top female performers. Briley is great at drawing heat, and inspired one of the top chants of the night. During the match he yelled “I only do men” which started a “he does men chant” which was followed up by “that’s okay” and “we won’t judge you” chants. Overall the match was very short, but entertaining and had the crowd pretty hot.

PPRay (Peter Avalon and Ray Rosas) vs. Cody Rhodes and Joey Ryan

A lot of stuff happened around this match, so I broke it into 3 sections.

Pre Match

I was very pleasantly surprised to see PPRay come out for this match. Peter and Ray are two of SoCal’s best and I have probably seen these guys live more times than I have seen anyone else. They don’t team up super regularly anymore, but it is always fantastic when they do. They came out to mixed reactions from the crowd, but as soon as Melissa Santos announced Cody Rhodes as their first opponent, it was clear PPRay would not be getting cheered in this match. Cody got an insane pop and the audience was clearly on his side from the get go, and having Joey Ryan as his partner was just icing on the cake. Cody took off his shirt and was going to throw it into the audience, but instead he pulled a little girl into the ring, tossed her the shirt and gave her a too sweet. Joey also too sweeted her, and I caught the little girl throw a H.A.T.E sign at Ray, but I didn’t see what prompted it.

After Cody’s pre match ritual it was time for Joey’s. The crowd went crazy when he asked who wants his lollipop, but couldn’t decide so he told Cody to pick. Cody was also having some trouble, so he told Rick Knox to pick and he ended up picking some random girl in the audience. Next he was on to oiling himself up, and he asked Cody to rub it into his back and Cody obliged. Once he was nice and oily he asked Peter to touch his penis and Peter contemplated it while the audience chanted for him to touch it. (Random aside: Peter Avalon has the best facial expressions in all of Pro Wrestling). Eventually Cody got in the ring and touched Joey’s penis, then made Rick Knox touch it, then grabbed Joey by the hand and walked him around the ring letting everyone in the front row touch it, which got a big pop. At some point Peter tagged Ray in, who also refused to touch it but initiated the actual wrestling part of the match. Joey’s whole routine doesn’t really change much, but it doesn’t matter. Everyone eats it up because its super entertaining and I have said before Joey Ryan’s penis is one of the most over things in indy wrestling.

Actual Match

As one might expect this match was very good from a wrestling standpoint. All four of these guys are fantastic at what they do, which makes them fun to watch. Joey started out in the ring and took some heat from both members of PPRay, but nothing too excessive. Ray and Peter work very well together and look like a legit tag team. Every time Cody was tagged into the match the crowd would lose their mind, it’s cool to see how he has blown up since leaving the WWE and how over he has gotten. Cody hit a beautiful disaster and teased the Crossroads a couple times. Joey pulled the lollipop out of his trunks and Ray ended up with it in his mouth. I thought the finish of the match was fantastic, Joey set Peter up for the Youporn Plex and Cody hit him in the back of the head with a beautiful disaster into the Youporn Plex for the win. This match was super entertaining and aside from a certain spot in the main event probably got the best crowd reactions of the night.

Post Match

After the match Joey grabbed a mic and dropped to one knee (reminiscent of his proposal to Laura James) looked up at Cody and asked if he could join the Bullet Club. The question got mixed reactions from the audience, some people (like me) popped pretty hard for it, and other’s started a “no chant” and booed. Cody said some stuff about the Bullet Club being made up of the people, and him not having the power to make that decision. He did announce though that the next Bar exclusive shirt would be a Bullet Club shirt!

After that Cody talked about a wine venture he is investing in, and showed off 2 bottles. The first was black with yellow polka dots, and was referred to as the dream bottle. I didn’t get to see the label on the 2nd bottle; I assume it was Bullet Club related. He told us he wanted to film a little commercial for the dream bottle and told us to be loud when he pulled it out, and it was honestly one of the craziest pops I have ever been part of, hopefully it suited his needs well. After that Joey announced we are going to intermission

Intermission

After Cody and Joey did their thing it was time for a 15 minute intermission. About half way into it, I caught Joey sliding into the ring where he hit a school boy on Laura James and got the 1-2-3 to win back the DDT Pro Ironman title.

Brian Cage vs. Kevin Kross

Kevin Kross is someone whose name I see often, and am friends with on FB but I had never actually seen him live. He was a late replacement for Rey Fenix, who pulled out for undisclosed (that I am aware of) reasons. I was pretty stoked to see Fenix, but I still had high hoped for Kross because I had only heard good things. And I am super high on Brian Cage so I figured it would be a good match. Both of these dudes are absolute monsters. They are both jacked and look intimidating in different ways. Cage looks like he could pick you up and throw you across the room, Kross looks like if you stabbed him in a back alley he would smile and smash your face in. Both guys had some big throws, and I was impressed to see how easily Kross picked Cage up and tossed him around. Cage hit a big move (that I can’t remember; discuss lariat maybe?) and only got a one count. Kross also popped right back to his feet after a German suplex which made him look like a mad man. Cage ended up getting the win with a discuss lariat (it took 3). After the match Kross got a “Please come back chant” and I saw him say “I fucking will” and I hope he does. I definitely became a fan.

Rocky Romero and Super Panda vs. Willie Mack and Boone the Bounty Hunter (F.K.A. John Morrison, A.K.A., Johnny Mundo, A.K.A. John Hennigan)

This match. Ohhhh this match.

Rocky and Panda came out with Cuban flags (which I know now are very similar to Puerto Rican flags) but they still got a big ovation. Hennigan was introduced as Boone the Bounty Hunter, which is the name of his character in the movie he made, which is also called Boone the Bounty Hunter.

The match started out with some good hold to hold exchanges between Panda and Boone. Everything JoMo does is so smooth, and he can make anything look like its crazy athletic. There were a couple spots where Boone tried patting down Rocky and Panda. Eventually he got Panda down and found a bag of mysterious white powder deep in his singlet, and that is where the match went insane. Super Panda tried throwing a handful of the powder into Boones face, but he ducked and got referee Rick Knox instead. Knox felt the rush from the alleged cocaine, and super kicked all four competitors, which got an insane reaction. He then hit a Tope over the top onto the 4 competitors.

I lost track of what was going on after that, but I saw a barstool fly into the ring apron and I think Knox threw it, then next thing I knew Knox ran by me to the back with blood gushing from his face. The action returned to the ring and Morrison gave Taya a referee shirt so she took over as ref. At one point Boone and Willie were in the buckles across from each other, and Rocky buried his face in the *alleged* cocaine and hit clothesline after clothesline on each guy, dropping down and doing another line and then continuing. A bloody Rick Knox did end up returning, but Taya counted the pin for Boone and Mack after a 3D. This match was not the best “technical wrestling match” but it was absolutely nuts and super entertaining.

After the match Boone cut a promo bad mouthing the current POTUS and then called out the guys in the back to come drink with him. They had a little mini party in the ring while “America, Fuck Yeah” played and ended the night fun.

Final Thoughts

This show was admittedly not as good as the first, but for being on the 4th of July, and only $10 G.A. it was more than worth it. I am a huge believer in Bar Wrestling and am going to continue supporting it while I can; they give us big name talent for inexpensive prices and the guys and girls come to put on a show. At some point during the show Melissa Santos announced the next show was going to be 8/17 and that tickets would be on sale right after this event ended. She also announced Tommy Dreamer will be there, which was enough to convince me to buy my ticket right after the show, literally in the parking lot. Since then they have announced the Worlds Cutest Tag Team, Luchasaurus, Jeff Cobb and SoCal legend B-Boy. It’s shaping up to be a great show.

Bar Wrestling 2 is now available on BarWrestling.Pivotshare.com. Tickets for Bar 3 are available now at BrownPaperTickets.com. Free Bullet Club t-shirt with all presale ticket purchases courtesy of Cody Rhodes & Pro Wrestling Tees.