Championship Wrestling from Hollywood Episode 354 Review

This week’s episode started off with Royce Isaacs being interviewed. Royce mentioned that the interviewer hasn’t ever been in his position. He called out Suede Thompson and said this isn’t over. He’s clearly not done with Suede Thompson.

Nick Marquez announced that Professional Peter Avalon is coming back but then he announced the Classic Connection as they enter the ring. They haven’t been on the show for about four months.

Ryan Taylor and Tomaste vs. Classic Connection 

The announcers went on a riff about “Earthing” or going around everywhere barefoot. The Classic connection attacked during the intros quickly turned this match into a brawl. Ryan Taylor grabbed control of this early, and then tagged in Tomaste for a slingshot missile dropkick. Taylor started stretching Levi with some innovative submissions. Taylor and Tomaste did some nice double team work, isolating Levi for quite a while until Buddy broke things up. A hair pull got Levi out of the ring and we went to commercial.

Classic connection was on a roll and started working over Taylor in the corner while distracting the ref. Classic connection nailed a double team atomic drop to Russian leg sweep that looked good. Nico also choked out Ryan Taylor with a towel from the floor, getting some boos from the crowd. Taylor snuck in an arm bar that got reversed into a single leg Boston crab. Taylor was still being isolated as Levi was just wearing Taylor down.  The crowd tried to get him going, but it was an Enziguri that got him the space for Tomaste who did a combo neckbreaker DDT on both Classic Connection members. Tomaste went to the top but got caught by both Connection guys and it was turned back around. Marcus was letting Connection do what they want, but it didn’t matter as Taylor tagged in and both guys crashed to the outside, Taylor snuck through Tomaste’s legs for a suicide dive and Tomaste nailed a springboard moonsault to the floor.  Tomaste and Taylor nailed a double team combo, culminating in the perfect circle, but Tomaste went to the top rope and was nailed by Buddy. The Classic connection took advantage, knocked him off the top rope and hit their finisher.

This was a pretty good opening tag team match.  It went longer than I expected, but both teams looked good out there. Classic Connection did just enough to win this one, but was pushed to their limits by the barefoot warriors.

Tito Escondido Interview

Kevin interviewed Tito who mentioned that he’s worked too hard for this title and that he’s the baddest dude around. Kevin Condron’s going to find this out soon.

Jody Summers vs. Suede Thompson

Suede came out with his darling, the PP3 cup.  So far they make a good couple. The announcers mentioned the PP3 cup match before. This should be an interesting matchup with Summers and his debut. Summers hugged Suede, who then asked if they are going to wrestle. Summers then took his shirt off. Summers is tall, but skinny as hell. They mentioned that he has a victory over Hammerstone in FSW, which is almost as impressive as it sounds. Suede started to get serious, but Summers got in some offense, and went for his summertime sadness, but it was stopped. Royce Isaacs interrupted and started pummeling Suede. Summers tried to interfere but got nailed with Hush Money for his troubles. Isaacs then brainbustered Suede and walked out. Guess this match is done.

Denise Interviewed Bateman 

Denise mentioned that the record between him and Dicky is now 1-1 and Dicky almost beat him last time. Bateman said, “Almost beat me Denise? Are you saying he is on equal footing with me?” He scoffed at the idea and said it’s apples and oranges and that Dicky is a boy in a man’s world. He wants this rematch?  Dicky’s a boy and Bateman’s the main man. Remember that.

Karl Fredericks vs. Richie Slade

They mentioned Fredericks has gotten a few good wins in Arizona and hoped to bring that momentum to the west coast. We’ve been seeing Slade wrestle in mostly tag team matches but those didn’t work out, so this’ll be a fun match to see what he can do. Fredericks and Slade started off fast with lots of action right off the start. Slade got Fredericks into a mid rope tree of woe and bent him around the ringpost. Fredericks fought back for a bit, but Slade stayed in control with some illegal tactics, keeping Fredericks grounded. Slade nailed a good looking swinging neckbreaker. Fredericks got back at him, though, and nailed a nice pele kick and splash in the corner, followed by a moonsault! Slade managed to kick out, cracked Fredericks on the steel post, and then nailed the Stage Dive finisher for the win.

Sort of a shocking win, but it was legit. You can’t question the results, though. Both guys looked crisp and made for a better match than first expected.

Scorpio Sky Interview

Ray vs. Scorpio is a non title match. Scorpio said he’s been here since noon, so why are they interviewing him right before his match. Scorpio also dissed Grant’s tie, which was pretty hideous. Scorpio said he’s going to do his thing and whip Ray’s you-know-what. He also asked Grant who gave him that tie. Grant said his mother gave it to him. Ha!

Scorpio Sky vs. Ray Rosas (non title match) 

Ray came out to the largest pop of the night. I can’t blame the fans; Ray’s a good wrestler and an excellent trainer. He’s got probably his biggest challenge so far in Hollywood, since he’s wrestling the four time champion Scorpio Sky.  Ray looked really focuses for this match. The announcers talked strategy while the match started off slowly with both wrestlers testing each other technically. Ray and Scorpio are evenly matched. Once the guys started chopping and brawling in the corners, it really picked up in intensity. Ray had me flashing back to the Macho Man with a sky high double axe handle from the top rope. This wasn’t a title match, but it sure felt like it had championship intensity. Ray nailed a dropkick to the outside on Sky, but then ate apron after Sky took his legs out, which led to a leg drop that came down hard on Ray. We then hit commercial.

Scorpio was in control when we came back from the break. Scorpio was limping, but it was hard to tell which body part was hurt. Scorpio hit a chokeslam variation on Ray, but the pace was definitely slowed for the match. Ray almost got knocked out by a variation sleeper hold, but Ray stormed back into a great looking backbreaker to side Russian leg sweep combo. Ray went up and nailed Scorpio with an awesome elbow drop.  Ray got caught going up the second time and Scorpio hit him with a stomp right in the back with both feet. Ray avoided the Ace of Spades one time, but got hit with the second attempt, which transitioned into a dragon sleeper. The guys both started countering each other like mad. Scorpio attempted a tights grab but got caught. Scorpio then attempted his spin kick to finish (Big Fat Kill), but Ray caught it and rolled him up for the victory! Ray got the win and Scorpio was in shock.

Final Thoughts

This was a quick-paced show.  I have been digging the announcers lately, who have added some depth to the matches with their mentions of other promotions and history of the competitors.  It’s been a nice touch. The interviews have also had purpose, letting you know what’s upcoming, and where the actual antagonism is between the wrestlers. I’m a little upset that I was baited and switched with Peter Avalon. Getting the Classic Connection back was a nice surprise. Richie Slade looked good in his singles work, Ray and Scorpio put on a good match, and we got to see Summers debut. I’m hoping to see a championship match or two next week.

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.