Championship Wrestling Episode 357 Review

Grant interviewed Ray.  He was going nuts for him as he gets to wrestle for the championship against Scorpio Sky today. Nikko came on stage and read a text from Scorpio that he’s busy recovering from getting his eyebrows threaded, so that’s not happening today. Nikko’s becoming such a tease lately, not sure how I feel about that. But he’ll get Ray something soon. Ray was speechless and left the stage.

Rixon vs. Ty Matthews

Rixon is from Tel Aviv making his second appearance on CWFH.  Ty came out fully dressed in suit and tie again. Ty and Rixon are evenly matched and the crowd was pretty quiet to start, even during the striker vs. grappler setup. It was a trip watching Ty wrestle in business attire. Rixon looked good until he took a jawbreaker, some clotheslines and an exploder from Matthews. Rixon’s been solid, but only very basic wrestling has been seen so far. Matthews gored Rixon in a quick match.

This was a very quick match and a solid showing by Matthews. However, it was a very limited showing by Rixon. Some matches are like that where nothing works. I did like what he managed to do however.

Adrian Quest Interview

Pinx wrecked his debut, but Adrian Quest, Young Fuego, gets knocked down and always gets back up. Strong words by Quest, and we are back to action.

American Thunder Dickey Mayer vs. Bateman 

The main man versus the boy in the man’s world. This has been one of my favorite grudges CWFH has thrown out there. Both of these guys are so talented. The match started off clean with some tie ups and grappling, until Bateman started pounding Dicky down with strikes, and a face wash with a running knee in the corner. Dicky rolled to the center of the ring, Bateman went to bring him up and quickly rolled up Batman for the 3 count! Bateman is shocked, he started getting in the ref’s face and then gave Dicky a Death from Above, and just beat Dicky down, gave him a brainbuster for good measure. The bell kept ringing, but Bateman paid no attention. He dumped Dicky outside and then started choking him with a cane. The refs got involved and Dicky fought back, but got leveled by Bateman and trapped him in the stairs and brutally kicked it.  Bateman then sat on the steps like it’s his throne. Dicky is still down when they go to commercial.

Ray was interviewed by Grant again. Ray was asked if Scorpio should be worried since he already has a victory over him. He then mentioned Scorpio is a duck in water. Andy Brown then entered the stage and says he’s come to wrestle the best, so he challenges him. Ray accepted. Well this card fired up a bit.

Jody Summers vs. FIdel Bravo

Bravo came out with Pinx, and Fidel probably outweighs Summers by 50 lbs. He took advantage right away and just beat on Summers. Summers did manage to get in an enziguri on Fidel. Fidel extinguished this with a fisherman’s suplex. A sunset flip by Summers got countered with a basement dropkick. Summers went for his Summertime Sadness and got a two count. Summers went up top, but is dissuaded by Pinx. Bravo nailed his Shining Eagle to his La’ Revolucion for the victory.

Another quick match, Summers got gamey for a minute or two, but was overwhelmed by the slimy Fidel’s wrestling and his plus size bodyguard Pinx’s presence. 

Ty Ray and Zicky Dice vs. Tomaste and Ryan Taylor 

The commentators spoke about chemistry and flow for the tag team, particularly for Tomaste and Ryan Taylor. Zicky started things off with a nipple twister. Tomaste answered with a springboard hurricanrana. Taylor got Zicky into a pendulum and then Tomaste cleaned it up with a drop kick. Zicky answered back with brawling and Ty Ray then tagged himself in. Ray tagged him back in for some double teams, but Zicky just pushed his teammate away and worked himself into the match. This happened a few times. Ray got caught in a leg lock and Zicky teased the tag and finally got in. He’s nobody’s friend apparently. Ryan Taylor kept fighting back, but Zicky kept on fighting like he’s in a bar room. He mocked Taylor and then got stuck in an arm bar that got broken up by the ropes. Taylor’s been in the ring for most of the match, and it shows. Tomaste finally got tagged in and did a sky high cross body and drop kick. He got going against Ty Ray but Zicky interfered. Tomaste went up top and nailed Ray with a stomp to the back of the head, followed by a Death Valley Driver. Tomaste then popped a 450 for the 3 count.

This was a faster paced match with a lot of isolation by the impromptu teaming of Dice and Ray. Tomaste and Taylor looked good, too.

Royce Isaacs is interviewed by Grant

Grant interviewed Royce and mentioned Suede as his opponent. Royce told him that when was his last 450, 20 lbs ago? When he wrestled him Suede had to it take to a level he didn’t even know he had just to be able to beat him. When he took that victory from him at the cup, he took a part of him away. This is personal. You can put a dollar sign on that. It looked like we’ll get the rematch next week.

Andy Brown vs. Ray Rosas

A “both these guys” chant started early. Andy has wrestled some guys in Hollywood lately, so he’s been primed and ready for this level of guy in Ray. This match was back and forth. Andy nailed his hip-toss back-breaker combo and then hit Ray with a drop kick. Ray fought back with savvy, upending Andy and then completed a springboard splash on his back from the outside. Ray kept his attacks on Andy’s back and lumbar area. Andy fought back, Ray took control, and then a commercial hit.

Ray was in control after the break, working to ground Andy and his superior athleticism. Andy nailed a heavy forearm and spinebuster that shook the ring with great elevation. Andy got a couple of near falls and some reversals start happening. Ray dumped Andy out and hit a tope suicida to the outside and the match picked up. Ray went up to for his elbow and nailed it (oooh yeah!!!)  for a near fall. Ray missed a springboard moonsault, and took another heavy forearm for a near reset to a forearm battle on their feet. Ray and Andy rang each other’s bell, nailing each other with a clothesline. Andy went for his COD, but Ray hit his Adios Amigos for 3 to take the match.

This was a great match, highly contested, heavy hitting, and exciting. Both guys looked great in this.  It made a good finale for the show.  Andy and Ray stole some TV and made something out of it.

Final Thoughts

Quick, quick, quick. All of these matches were fast. The impromptu main event was great. Five matches in an hour show is really hard to pull off here, without them all being squash type matches. It felt like they pulled it off here, but it was close. It’ll be interesting on what the fate of DIcky is after the attack by Bateman. Ray established his credentials on an up and comer at CWFH in Andy Brown. Fidel established himself as dominate, and just as despicable as ever. Tomaste and Ryan Taylor might be figuring it out. These matches helped establish storyline progression, if nothing else. There is some good wrestling here as well, just short matches. The replacement commentator was outstanding in relief; he really injected some life into the show.

New episodes of CWFH air on FITE TV at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time on Saturdays (new time!), and on demand anytime after that. You can also catch CWFH on KDOC in the Los Angeles/Orange County Area on Saturdays at 4:00 p.m.