Denise opened up the show with Tito, who had his belt on his shoulder. Denise asked Tito how he’ll handle Jeff Cobb. Tito mentioned that he finally got to Nico, he’s getting the big guns, the heavy hitters; he’s got him scared and he reacted with his wallet by hiring Jeff Cobb. He’s got respect for Jeff, but he’s going to shove his fist down his throat. It might be a big deal to the guys in the back, but for him it’s another day…Why? Because he’s the “baddest dude in professional wrestling.” Tito vs. Cobb for the main event!
Suede Thompson vs. Julius Coleman PP3 Semi Final
PP3 cup season kicked off with a blast, two highly athletic guys. The announcers named Suede as the breakout star all over the UWN. He’s staking his claim, they said, paying homage to the Cup. One of these guys will face Royce in the Finals. Both wrestlers showed they were evenly matched and knew each other’s game. There were a lot of back-and-forth headlocks, especially one set where Suede wouldn’t let go through reversals. Match still very back-and-forth until the commercial break.
Suede got going for a second but Julius took advantage with a shoulder tackle and a slam to a high knee that got him two. Julius worked over Suede for a while, punctuated with a nice facebuster to the knee transitioned into a good looking flatliner. Suede came back with some fists and did a double knee from the turnbuckle that looked pretty brutal. Julius got a near three count with a super kick. Suede hit a wild looking Russian leg sweep after grabbing the tights of Julius. Julius hit a pump handle backbreaker to sidewalk slam that got him two. Suede nailed Turn Down for What, and then hit a pop up “Small Soldiers” Death Valley Driver to get the three count.
It was a quick, fast paced match that had a good build to it. Suede has really looked better in the ring lately. Julius and Suede both looked good in this, and even somehow managed to work some rougher looking spots and smoothed them out. It was a very enjoyable semi finals match.
Suede got interviewed and mentioned the fans and also said that his goal has been the PP3 cup since losing the semi finals last year. It was a good promo.
Barbie Hayden vs. Shotzi Blackheart
Women’s wrestling on CWFH? I can dig this. I actually wished they would do this more often. Having two really talented women is just icing on the cake. Barbie is based out of Texas, and is also a former Shine champion. She’s probably one of the best 50 female wrestlers in the world. Shotzi has been tearing it up in SoCal for the last several years, just itching to break out on the global stage. Barbie took a jump on Shotzi when she was on the turnbuckle during her entrance and took control early. Announcers also mentioned Barbie was the youngest NWA women’s champion in history. Barbie showed her strength with a crazy head scissor while on the top rope…wow. Three heavy knees on Shotzi were followed by an abdominal stretch. Shotzi finally got some offense in with a flurry of kicks and a step up enziguri. Barbie reversed the momentum with a tilt a whirl body slam. Shotzi hit a triple jaw breaker combo, then ended up getting to the top rope and nailed her Black Lagoon (super senton from the top rope) finisher for the win.
This was a good match, Barbie dominated most of the match, but Shotzi had an inspired comeback that took the match. Both looked great. Barbie looked so powerful, and Shotzi really did well.
Los Rancheros did an interview. Howdy Price mentioned they are going after their masks, and asked them if they want to make a deal.
Tomaste and Ricky Mandel vs. Los Rancheros
Howdy put out his shtick, and ended with his howl. The match started with Mandel gyrating his hips at Rogelio to bait him into a dropkick. Tomaste hit a nice looking headscissor and a pretty quick transition to a moonsault. A headscissors attempt went too far, though, and Rogelio caught him and powerbombed him almost through the mat. Tomaste had some pretty cool moves. Ricky got cheap shotted, so he took off and left Tomaste to fend for himself. Raul nailed tomaste with a couple huge moves and then they went for a double team face plant into a lariat, a big boot and a spiking piledriver the “Price Check”.
Once Ricky took off, this match was basically over. The Rancheros ate this team up and spit them out. Howdy made an agile exit from the ring. Seriously, check it out.
Jeff Cobb got interviewed. He said he has always wanted to wrestle there. He had one caveat, that he wrestle the biggest or “baddest dude”. He was looking forward to it, and I was too.
Jeff Cobb vs. Tito Escondido
David Marquez announced the main event, but had no mustache. The guys here are both similar in size, but I’d put strength at a slight edge to Jeff. Both of them can wrestle and can move, so I was expecting a great main event. Tito backed out of some amateur wrestling, using the ropes to not engage. Cobb threw Tito directly down from a tie up. Tito looked stunned, but then applied a stiff shoulder to answer, but then Jeff returned the favor. A flapjack by Tito slowed Jeff down for a minute and then Tito started going to work with some major chops in the corner, but Cobb retaliated. Cobb nailed a stalled vertical suplex and then did a standing moonsault on him! The announcers were blown away that he could even do that. Then Tito countered a vertical suplex to knock Cobb out of the ring to a crazy Tope Suicida to the outside. We then went to commercial.
When we came back from commercial, Tito nailed Cobb with a leaping clothesline off the top rope. He then started beating on Cobb. The announcers mentioned to swing by for live beatings at the Oceanview Pavilion. Cobb grabs Tito from behind and absolutely launched him in a suplex that sent him to the other side of the ring. Tito climbed the top rope but Cobb nailed him with a dropkick. Wow! Cobb mounted Tito in the corner, but Tito got out of it and somehow nailed Cobb with a nifty springboard blockbuster. They got up on an eight count and went nose to nose in a battle in the middle of the ring. Tito got a heavy blue thunder bomb and then Cobb countered with an athletic plex, a variation around the world suplex. Cobb then deadlifted Tito into a German suplex. The announcer mentioned Dicky would be proud. Tito went to Fade to Black but it was countered by a German suplex. Tito got up right away, lariats Cobb and hit the Fade to Black.
Cobb and Tito tore this match up. It was one of the better heavyweight matches so far this year in SoCal. It’s definitely a must-watch on the program.
Final thoughts:
This was a good show. It had a great opener with Suede and Julius, the women’s match was really good, and the tag match kept the Rancheros looking great, protected Ricky, and set up an interesting matchup with the Stars later. You just feel like this mask or unmasking could happen any moment now with the Stars. Cobb vs. Tito was a treat to watch and was truly a main event level match. It’s definitely worth watching for that match alone, but the other matches are worth it, too. It’s Suede vs. Royce Isaacs in the final for the PP3 cup. It’ll be interesting to see what they throw at Tito next.
Don’t take my word for it; watch this episode on the FITE TV app. They are easy to digest, one hour shows, and are free to stream. New episodes air on FITE TV at 4:00 p.m. Pacific time on Sundays. You can also catch CWFH on KDOC in the Los Angeles/Orange County Area on Saturdays at 4:00 p.m.
