Championship Wrestling from Hollywood Episode 353 Review

The show starts off with a promo by Suede Thompson. He mentioned that he’s been here three years and has always had the goal of winning the PP3 Cup. Well, this is his best chance so far, since he is in the finals with Royce Isaacs. Turn Down For What indeed. There’s a championship match, some tag team action, and the PP3 Cup final. Lots of action coming up on this episode.

Nick Aldis(c) vs. James Ellsworth – NWA Heavyweight Title match 

Aldis had previously put out a challenge if they’ve beaten a world champion, they get a title shot. The announcers are torn over Ellsworth’s qualifications, but he apparently deserves a shot. The presentation was slightly different, harkening back to the old NWA championship matches with the rules and regulations. Ellsworth gets a pretty decent pop when introduced. Nick Aldis is ripped to shreds, but the fans boo him anyways. Ellsworth fakes a knee injury to fool Aldis into a roll up. After the roll up attempt, Ellsworth runs away in comical fashion and nails a drop kick that sends Aldis to the floor. Aldis gets a pin after a tough suplex, but Ellsworth had his leg on the rope. The match is announced, but then overturned and restarted. I then get hit with a commercial.

I see Ellsworth then get a thumb to the eye for a two count. The announcers mentioned he (Ellsworth) almost killed the NWA. I’ll have to admit, seeing James Ellsworth as NWA champion would definitely ruffle some feathers. No Chin Music is caught though and Aldis turns into the “Kingsman’s Cloverleaf” to take this, but doesn’t let go for a long time, to the ire of the fans and announcers. He also attacks Ellsworth after releasing the hold and dumps him outside.

Aldis then gets interviewed by Marquez, Aldis mentions he beat him twice, he didn’t know what the referee’s issue was. He mentions a crusade with his ten pounds of gold. Marquez mentioned that he will be in four continents, including their show in China. He mentions that his opponent will be Colt Cabana! That’ll be a good match, Colt’s got a history with the championship and the promotion.

Peter Avalon will be showing up on next week’s show. That’s awesome as he’s a great wrestler and has been missed.

Dicky Meyer vs. Vintage Dragon

This should be a good match with American Thunder Dicky Mayer. Dragon’s making his debut, and these guys are a clash of styles. These guys trade some holds for a while and Dicky nails some stiff strikes. Dragon then answers him with some slick lucha style moves, but then takes drop kick from Dicky. Dragon nails the La Mystica, and is in control for while, beating Dicky down. Dicky at one point throws his elbow pad into Dragon’s face, which was impressive, and also hilarious. Dicky catches Dragon with a released German and a drove his knee into a kneeling Dragon’s head to finish him off.

Both wrestlers looked great in this, hard shots, varied offense and intensity. Dicky looks so good since he’s been back from Japan, his style has changed into a unique hybrid strong style Olympian moveset that is convincing and devastating. Dragon looked good as well. I’d love to see these guys wrestle again, it was entertaining.

Dicky cuts a promo after the match, they bring up Bateman. Dicky says they are equals, and the record is 1-1. He can’t wait for the next match, so he can finish it.

Richie Slade and Ricky Mandel vs. Tomaste and Ryan Taylor 

Tomaste cut a promo about his new tag team partner, and mentioned that he’s done some deep meditation and he had a friend that told him it wasn’t about the journey, it was about the progress. Ryan Taylor then shows up, apparently he’s the wise soul that gave him the advice.

Slade and Mandel have been a pretty aggressive team since they’ve gotten together. Taylor turns things around quickly though getting a gutwrench to arm bar combo. Mandel gets tagged in and Tomaste begs to get in with Mandel, because he abandoned him in a match a few weeks back and wants revenge.  Tomaste nails a weird looking wheelbarrow to arm drag. Mandel decides to stomp on Tomaste’s barefoot to get advantage again and then tags in Slade. Tomaste is beat down for a while until he nails a headscissors and finally gets Taylor in there and he cleans it up. A belly to back by Taylor gets answered by a superkick by Mandel.  Tomaste nails a heel kick and then Taylor finishes Slade off with the Perfect Circle.

The match started off slow, but really picked up in the last few minutes. Tomaste getting his measure of revenge on Mandel was good, and Taylor looked like a good partnering for him. CWFH has really overhauled their tag team division in the last few months. It’s been impressive.

Suede Thompson Vs Royce Isaacs PP3 Cup Final 

Royce Isaacs is interviewed and slams Suede for being a social justice warrior and he’s a participation trophy type of person. He came here for the big money matchup and when he wins the PP3 Cup he’ll be the big money match guy.  You can bet the house on Royce.

The match built quickly, highlighted with some stalemates and mirrored exchanges, until a missile drop kick gives Suede an early advantage which culminates into a cross body over the top rope to the floor onto Royce. Every time Suede gets an advantage, Royce does something sneaky or sly to regain control.  He used his strength advantage to lord over Suede with slams, elbow drops and some stretches. We then hit commercial.

Royce has Suede in a full nelson when we get back, but Suede tries to counter but eats another full nelson and a backfist for his troubles. Suede gets put up in a long stalled suplex that showed off Royce’s power. Suede finally breaks up Royce’s momentum with a series of knees, even stopping the suplex with them. Suede gets some hard shots in and then climbs the top rope but eats a lariat. Suede ends up hurting his right knee, and Royce nails him immediately with a drop kick to it and focuses his offense on the injury. Suede answers with a double knees and big boot combo. Suede goes for a stomp from the top, but he gets dumped to the mat and brainbustred for a really close three count. The intensity of the match really started to pick up here. Suede hits a Small Soldiers Death Valley Driver on Royce to the apron that looked just brutal. All of a sudden this match has turned into a war.  Royce hits a crazy backbreaker to powerbomb combo. Royce then gets hit to the top rope for a suplex attempt but it’s countered by a 450 from Suede that take the match. He hasn’t pulled that move out for a while, so it was a fitting finish.  Your new PP3 Cup winner: Suede Thompson!

This was a good match, I really enjoyed both guys giving it their all, Royce cheating as much as he could, Suede going at a faster, more intense pace, it made for some good wrestling. The match did have a big match feel, and it felt like both guys were so intent on winning the cup, you really didn’t know who was going to win.

Final Thoughts

This was a great show by CWFH this week. They managed to fit in four matches and all made their statement for ongoing storylines. The Dicky vs. Vintage Dragon match is a sneaky good match on this card. The Aldis and  Ellsworth match was very entertaining. The announcements were good, as they gave the viewer an interest in what’s happening next week with Peter Avalon coming back, and Colt Cabana for the show in China was a shrewd reveal as well.

New episodes of CWFH 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.

1 Comment on "Championship Wrestling from Hollywood Episode 353 Review"

  1. Nice work JR. I was at this taping and it was very enjoyable to watch. I really like Royce Isaacs as a top heel guy.

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