Championship Wrestling from Hollywood episode 290 review

I missed last week’s episode but I managed to catch the 290th episode of Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. The show has been really enjoyable lately so let’s hope this is another good episode.

The show starts with Grant interviewing Duke. He will be having a strap match with DJ Hyde in this episode’s main event. Apparently a strap match is one of the most extreme matches in wrestling.

Bateman and Ryan Kidd is up first. This should be good. Championship Wrestling from Hollywood has new lighting and it looks really good. It’s a huge improvement. The beginning of the match consisted of Kidd working over Bateman’s arm. Eventually Bateman takes Kidd down with a huge boot to his face, and we go to commercial. The first commercial is for what I’m guessing is a sort of phone sex line. I’m surprised that’s still a thing in 2016. When we get back Kidd is still controlling the offense. Kidd escapes a suplex and they exchange elbows. Bateman hits a neck breaker and gets a two count. Bateman hits a really good looking headbutt then a brainbuster. Kidd keeps trying to work Bateman’s arm and tries a seated Fujiwara armbar. There is some really good storytelling in this match. Eventually Bateman hits the Death From Above for the win. This was a really good match.

Josh Shibata aka Hideaki Shibata interviews Pac 3 next. Apparently Pac 3 is looking at a new member. I hope it leads to the return of Goalie Howe.

After the commercial Josh Shibata is with DJ Hyde. More hype for the main.

Kevin Martenson versus Devin Sparks is up. At the start of the match Martenson really wants to shake Sparks’ hand. Martenson uses a lot of offense focused around his beard. He tries to force feed it to Sparks, then chokes Sparks out with it. Devin Sparks hits a pretty devastating looking sidewalk slam on Martenson to the apron. Sparks later misses a dive to the outside and Martenson hits him with a spear. Back inside the ring Martenson hits a splash then tries for a leg lock. Ichi and Ni, Sparks’ young boys, climb up on the apron distracting Martenson allowing Sparks to escape. Later Martenson hit a really nice looking tope con giro. Devin Sparks started resulting to dirty tricks. He hit a low blow and then later sprayed Martenson in the face with something. While Martenson was blinded he got Sparks in some weird submission that probably wouldn’t be out of place in a three way porno scene. This was a really fun enjoyable match.

Grant is with Ty Matthews and Eric Watts. Ty cuts a pretty good promo here.

We had a commercial then Grant is with Jarek 1:20. He and Yuma will be having an unsanctioned match on the next show. Spoiler, I heard this match was really good. I’m looking forward to it.

Now it is main event time. Duke and DJ Hyde in a strap match. DJ Hyde attacks Duke before the bell. This was pretty much your typical strap match. Lots of choking and whipping using the belt and lots of brawling. At one point DJ Hyde is calling moves and doesn’t even bother to hide it. More brawling and whipping with the strap. The ref gets taken out and DJ Hyde pulls brass knuckles out of his boots, hits Duke, then removes the strap and hits him with a lariat, puts the strap back on and gets the win to end the show. I didn’t think the bulk of the match was very entertaining though if you haven’t seen a strap match before you might find it interesting. Even though I haven’t been a fan of the feud, the finish fit within the storyline well.

Overall this was another good episode of Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. While I lost interest fast in the main event, the first two matches were really good. As I mentioned earlier the new lighting is also a huge improvement and made the show look a lot better as well. It seems like Championship Wrestling from Hollywood is really picking up steam lately.