Santino Bros. Wrestling: Don’t Trust Anyone Review

Tyler Bateman vs. Brody King in an Iron Man match. Eli Everfly and Ruby Raze go at it. Matt Vandergriff is now YOUR new favorite wrestler. Click  now to read the best review ever of “Don’t Trust Anyone” from Santino Bros. Wrestling.

We open with Bateman and Raze coming out to the ring. Bateman cut a promo talking about the situation with him, Raze, and Brody King. It came off like the three of them are about to go their separate ways after being the Santino Bros’ resident “Manson Family.” Then Bateman started talking about not being able to trust anyone. He asks Raze if he can trust her. Then they were interrupted by Eli Everfly’s music.

Eli got on the mic and said he didn’t “know what type of love triangle” they had going and said “it’s kinda affecting my shit bro.” Before Eli could finish his thought, Ruby cut him off and wanted to start their match right there.

Santino Bros. Submission Championship: Eli Everfly (c) vs. Ruby Raze (w/ Tyler Bateman)

This was a really good match. Raze hit a cool variation of an Ippon Seoi Nage  (I’m not a Judo expert and it was hard to tell from the angle, so I’m probably wrong) on Eli that looked cool. She also stretched Eli really well. Towards the end of the match, she put him in a Boston Crab with Eli’s body in the ropes. They both stiffed the shit out of each other in one heated striking exchange. It was really fun to watch them chop each other. Eli also took two sick bumps onto the floor. One after Raze dropkicked him from the apron onto the floor, and the other after Raze suplexed him onto the floor.

The finish saw Eli spit in Raze’s face during the aforementioned Boston Crab in the ropes. After that, he grabbed the title and left the ring. Tyler Bateman was standing at ringside, and could’ve prevented him from leaving. Instead he let Eli run out of the Dojo, resulting in a No Contest. Raze looked at Bateman  and went“You let him go?” as she fell to the mat, looking depressed with blood coming from her mouth.
Rating: ***3/4

Like I said, this was a really good match. While I haven’t seen some of her recently praised matches in FIST aside from her B-Boy match, I thought this was Raze’s best match so far this year. Eli also had a spectacular performance. The storyline with Raze and Bateman was also done well.

Four Way Match: Alonzo Alvarez vs. Darwin Finch vs. Suede Thompson vs. Matt Vandergriff

Darwin Finch’s nerd character is cooler than Suede Thompson’s character. I’d much rather party with a guy like Darwin. This was Matt Vandergriff’s pro wrestling debut. In one match. Dude is gonna be a strong contender for Rookie of the Year when he becomes eligible for the award.

This was a fun spot fest sprint. The star of the match was Vandergriff, who did a standing Sky Twister. What a way to start a pro wrestling career. Vandergriff has more athleticism than 80% of active workers in SoCal right now. Alonzo Alvarez was also really entertaining here, and Darwin Finch had a solid performance too. Aside from Suede Thompson being a dork and doing a Dab while selling a move, this was another really good match. Alvarez got the win after making Vandergriff to the Rings of Saturn. Vandergriff is the future.
Rating: ***

Heather Monroe vs. Koto Hiro w/ Guy Cool

This was a continuation of a story from the last show. Koto Hiro was a special guest referee during the Killer Baes vs. Study Buddies match, a match in which Heather’s team lost. Heather attacked Koto at the start of the match. She kept talking shit to him while she was on offense. There was a moment where they both stood around looking confused, but Heather was able to salvage things well. Koto did the Eddie Guerrero spot pretending his opponent used a weapon on him. The weapon here was an invisible sword. Heather was on offense for most of the match, but the final moments was more even. The fans got behind Heather, despite the fact that she was a heel. Heather got the win after hitting a Facebuster Suplex into a Reverse Bridging Chinlock. This was solid. Nothing great, but it was fun overall.
Rating: **1/2

Jesse James (w/ Hoss Hogg) vs. Zokre

This was another match that was continuing a storyline from the previous show. Before the match, Zokre cut a promo about True Grit beating up his student, El Cheetah, and disrespecting Lucha Libre and Mexico. He called them out for a fight, which led to a match with Jesse James.

This was a pretty fun match with clashing styles. Zokre worked Lucha style, while Jesse James worked an American style. Hoss Hogg also got involved during the match at various points trying to distract Zokre. This matched flowed really well, and the crowd was very into it. The ending of the match saw Hoss distract the referee, which allowed James to hit Zokre with a chair to the head. James would pin Zokre for the win. After the match, True Grit hit Zokre with a Powerbomb Neckbreaker combo.
Rating: **3/4

Robby Phoenix vs. Dom Kubrick

Before the match, Robby cut a promo about Jake Atlas. He talked about how Jake Atlas got himself booked on another show despite getting a concussion at the last show. He said he’s going to be mentoring Jake and is gonna be like his dad now. It was a weird promo. Much like Matt Vandergriff earlier, Dom Kubrick was making his pro wrestling debut on this show. Unlike Vandergriff, Kubrick has a pretty outlandish character. A creepy one at that. He’s overly sexual and a sadomasochist. He gets pleasure from being beaten and stretched. He cut a very perverted promo about making his “first time” memorable. Holy fuck.

The match itself was interesting. At one point, Kubrick was enjoying being chopped. Then he insisted that Robby chop his ass. He received a kick for his troubles. Despite his overly creepy gimmick, Kubrick was really solid inside the ring. He was able to blend his creepy character with his ring style very well. Robby Phoenix got the win after hitting a Powerbomb into the corner, followed by a Tiger Driver ’98. This was a solid match. It went a little long I think, but this was enjoyable. If Kubrick ever gets a more serious gimmick, I could see him being a very good performer in the future.
Rating: **1/2

Santino Bros. Heavyweight Championship – 30 Minute Iron Man Match: Tyler Bateman (c) vs. Brody King

This was a great match. Part of me was wondering how this would go though.

I felt like Bateman had been sorta stale and redundant for awhile. In the past year or so, it seemed like Bateman hit a plateau Maybe he’d been nursing an injury. Maybe he wasn’t motivated. Maybe people were telling him dumb shit (like “slow it down, work a hold!”). In this match, he not only showed more inside the ring, but he also showed more personality. People tell me outside the ring, Bateman is a funny guy with a dry sense of humor. He should embrace that. The way he was making snide, snarky comments in this match really cracked me up. It also comes off as more natural for him.

Another thing I was wondering about this match was how would Brody King perform in a thirty minute match for a guy with his experience level. While I think Brody is going to be a star someday, workers who have such young careers like him don’t seem thrive in these sorta matches. Brody did well here though, and it helped that there were one minute intervals between falls. This would come into play later.

The match was very well structured. There was solid technical wrestling in the opening minutes of the match. Eventually the intensity picked up as the match went on with some stiff striking exchanges in the middle of the match. Bateman would get an early lead, going up 2-0. This would lead to Brody catching up with around 20 minutes left in the match. The finish saw the match tied at 3-3 with both guys fighting it out during the final minute. Ruby Raze ran in with a chair and hit Bateman in the head with a chair.. This resulted in Brody being DQ’d, and Bateman was awarded a fall to go up 4-3. Since the match was in the final minute and the time limit would expire after the minute interval, Bateman was named the winner of the match.

Like I said, the match was very well structured. Both guys put on a really fun, hard hitting match. This match really should be seen by as many people possible. Plus the finish was booked really well.
Rating: ****

Final Thoughts

This was a really good show. Eli vs. Ruby and Bateman vs. Brody were both really good, and the four way was a lot of fun. The two debutants on the show, Matt Vandergriff and Dom Kubrick, both have so much potential. I highly recommend people check this out.

About the Author

Andrew
SoCal's favorite son. Won 1st Place in my division at the 2013 Gracie Worlds. 2019 East San Fernando Valley Water Champion. Keyboard Warrior.