Taking a look at Bar Wrestling 22; Day of the Undead from November 1st, 2018. Featuring Jeff Cobb vs. Rich Swann, Brian Cage vs. Austin Theory, and a surprisingly fun main event.
To watch Bar Wrestling 22: Day of the Undead, check out Highspots Network or Bar Wrestling on Pivotshare.
The other day, I reviewed Destination Six Wrestling’s Tales of Halloween. It was pretty bad and had me hating pro wrestling again. Then I started to watch Bar Wrestling 22. While Bar Wrestling has been pretty underwhelming lately, this show was able to make me hate pro wrestling less than I did after watching D6W. Anyways, that’s my introduction for this review. Neat, right?
Luchasaurus vs Douglas James
This was a solid match before Douglas James ended up suffering a bad injury. Both guys had a good performance while it lasted. The end of the match saw Douglas James dislocate his hip after Luchasaurus landed on him during a standing Spanish Fly attempt from Luchasaurus. There really isn’t much else to say about the match. Get well soon, DJ.
Rating: N/A
Heather Monroe & PPRay (Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas) vs Nurse Ratchet & DoomFly (Eli Everfly & Delilah Doom)
I thought this was a solid and fun match. Most of the story centered around Nurse Ratchet being zombie-like while the opposing team were not sure what to make of her. Nurse Ratchet became more animated as the match progressed, even gave PPRay a prostate check. After the prostate check, Nurse Ratchet stuck her hands in Heather Monroe’s mouth. The finish saw PPRay hit Nurse Ratchet with their running body tackle into a running enziguri combo in the corner, followed by Heather hitting a Michinoku Driver on Nurse Ratchet onto a pile of teeth. While this was mostly comedy stuff, it was still a solid match.
Rating: **3/4
Jeff Cobb vs. Rich Swann
Of all the matches on the show, this was the one I had the most interest in. It was pretty much what you would expect from these two. Swann relied on his high flying and speed, while Cobb used his strength to throw Swann around. They did a really good job at using the Big Man vs. Little Man formula here, and several creative counters. There were also some shenanigans and stuff here that I didn’t really care for, but the action was great. Both guys really blended well together and seemed to have good chemistry. There was a really cool spot where Cobb countered a running tilt-a-whirl rana attempt by Swann into a Powerbomb Backbreaker. Cobb would get the win after countering a sunset flip attempt from Swann for a pinfall. This was a very entertaining match. The pacing was good and the action was really fun. I highly recommend checking out this match.
Rating: ***1/2
Joey Ryan vs. Su Yung
As usual with Joey Ryan matches, this was mostly character/crowd work with a bunch of shenanigans thrown in. This also had your usual Joey Ryan antics involving him trying to get Su to touch his dick. Su Yung kept groaning like a zombie in a low budget horror movie from the 80’s. I know that’s her gimmick, but it was really annoying. Then again, I think her gimmick in general is really fucking stupid. The action in the match wasn’t great. It wasn’t like they botched a bunch of stuff, but it felt like they took forever to set up certain spots. After no-selling Joey’s dick flip, Su Yung got the win after spitting blood in Joey’s face before making him tap to a Mandible Claw. This was what it was. The match wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great.
Rating: **1/2
Brian Cage vs. Austin Theory
Before the match, Brian Cage got on the mic and shoehorned an Austin Aries no-selling his finish joke in a pre-match promo. The important thing is Brian tried his best, even if it wasn’t funny. I’ve seen Austin Theory a few times before, but I never really paid attention to the matches he was in. He seemed like a guy who is a solid undercard guy, but he also seemed really bland and lacked a personality. Despite Cage’s joke being a bigger comedy bomb than The Happytime Murders, he had a great performance in this. Aside from the obscene amount of leg slaps, this was a good match that saw Cage get the win after hitting Theory with the Weapon X. Brian Cage is a very underrated in-ring performer, and this match is a good example of what he can do.
Rating: ***1/4
Fans Bring The Weapons: Violence Unlimited (Brody King & Tyler Bateman) vs Rocknes Monsters (Johnny Yuma & Kevin Martenson)
You know, maybe it’s because watching D6W drastically lowered my standards, but this was a really fun match in terms of entertainment value. This started out as a goofy comedy match that turned into a hardcore match. I still think Yuma sucks a lot inside the ring, but even he had a decent performance in this. While his color job looked like his put fake blood all over his face, he took some dangerous and reckless bumps, which was entertaining. One bump saw him go head first into a chair that was set up in the corner and later took a bump off the ropes and onto a steel chair. He should just take stupid and dangerous bumps all the time in matches since he’s not a very good worker.
Overall, this match was pretty wild. As I said above, it started out goofy, but things got violent as the match progressed. Several weapons involved included an old school Nintendo Entertainment System and a PlayStation 2. Candy Corn was also used in the match. At one point Brody King began to eat several pieces off the canvas, which was honestly very disgusting. Some fans at the edge of the ring tried grab some of the candy corn. One looked so desperate to get their hands on the dirty candy that it seemed like it was their life’s mission to grab them all for some reason. The finish saw Bateman and Brody hit a Brainbuster and Powerbomb onto a lot of pushpins to get the win. As I said, this was a really fun match.
Rating: ***
Overall
Maybe it’s because D6W made this look like a 2006-era Pro Wrestling NOAH or 90’s AJPW show in comparison, but I really enjoyed this show overall. Cobb/Swann was an extremely fun match, and Cage/Theory was very solid. The main event was the biggest surprise of the show. I didn’t expect it to be as fun as it was. Joey Ryan vs. Su Yung was the weakest match of the show, but even that had its moments. I highly recommend checking this show out.
To watch Bar Wrestling 22: Day of the Undead, check out Highspots Network or Bar Wrestling on Pivotshare.
