Labor of Love/SHP WrestleJawn (4.3.24) 

 

April 3, 2024  

 

WRESTLEMANIA WEEK REVIEW #4  

 

Source: Independent Wrestling.TV ($10 per month) 

We’re in Philly (for the first time!) at Attic Brewing. I approve of using breweries as venues. It beats the shit out of some basketball arena box. For the first time this week we have a full card ahead of time.  

I’m hyped for Mike Bailey vs. Paul London but it’s also interesting to see the Colony in action. And also, *checks notes*, “The Chad”. Hosts are Mike Rotch (yes, really) and Veda Scott. This changes to Scott Holladay and Joey T as Veda has to leave with Bailey to go to his show across town. It’s pissing it down outside so wrestlers are coming to the ring in coats. Brilliant.  

 

Mike Bailey vs. Paul London 

Paul London has evolved into a Bond villain/supervillain from a Superman cartoon. London’s insistence at singing “Thunderball”, in full mind you, on a show that’s already 20:00 late starting is the most Indie thing I’ve seen in a while. Bailey is on first so he can make his own show, for fuck’s sake.  

One issue with this venue is there’s nowhere for the hard cam. Which makes the venue look very full but we’re strictly ringside for coverage. Bailey does very little here, presumably leaving something in the tank for the other 18 matches he’ll wrestle in the next two days.  

 

When he does get going he unloads a bunch of cool shit, although I see that thigh slap Michael and I don’t much care for it. I enjoy London’s mentality in this, where he looks to ground Bailey and work over his legs to stop the kicks. They trade Figure Fours and sing at each other. Bailey singing “American Pie” is pretty cool. They go balls out after that and Bailey takes it with the Shooting Star Knees. He’s got to head out quickly to make his show. This was fun. Paul London was an asshole, both guys sang, we did some spots. What’s not to like? ***¼ 

 

Curt Robinson, Logan Black & Awakening (Harleen Lopez & Vita VonStarr) vs. Big Callux, Duncan Aleem, Shea McCoy & Crusher 

There are 36 (thirty-six) wrestlers on this show. I know it’s nice to book all your mates but come on. This is a big old clusterfuck. I’m already exhausted of multiple person matches and we’re only on day two. The fans seem into it. The match has a lot of scoop slams. Robinson gets the pin on Aleem, and the spots can stop happening. Thankfully. 

 

Bobby Orlando vs. LJ Cleary 

Orlando is a crowd favourite, who plays air guitar on his goat “Bobby Jr”. Comms have no idea who LJ is, which is funny. Doesn’t he wrestle for NOAH? Like, I don’t even watch wrestling and I feel you should know who he is, lads. LJ flummoxes comedy wrestler Orlando. It helps, in comedy matches, if one guy is prepared to make an ass of himself. LJ starts explaining how holds work.  

 

When they get going, they do some good stuff. They click well and the various counter holds work effectively. The stream goes down and I miss the finish completely. Cleary won, apparently. I was enjoying this, until the stream crapped out. No idea what to rate it, but it was heading for the ***-ish territory.  

 

Jimmy Lloyd, Sean Henderson & The Chad vs. Fresh Air (Junior Benito & Macrae Martin) & Jaden Newman 

The Chad is wrestling in joggers and a hoodie. My normal complaints about t-shirts are bypassed because it’s quite cold and, The Chad.

Sean Henderson is the SH is SHP. He’s booked the bulk of this. The Chad ends up being awesome and doing all the best stuff in the match. Newman gets pinned too. Just good times all round.  

 

INTERMISSION (which is painfully long) 

 

The Colony (Electro Ant, Ultimo Ant & Worker Ant) vs. Xyberhawx (Danjerhawk, Razerhawk & Thvnderhawk) 

My favourite Colony memory is when their music stopped, and they stopped marching until it started again. This is Worker Ant’s first match since 2019. For me the Chikara style can be extremely hit or miss. It depends how much they lean into lucha and how good the guys are at lucha style. A lot of the mistakes in this are sold as ‘attempted blocks’ but they’re not.  

 

The crowd seem invested but all I’m seeing a bunch of spots and half of them suck. Sorry. The Colony decide not to help Ultimo Ant at the finish and leave him to be pinned, after disagreeing with his bad sportsmanship. This sucked. Due to the frenetic nature of the clusterfuckery spots, I’m sure most people will like this, but they’re wrong.  

 

Labor Of Love Citywide Title #1 Contendership Six Way Match 

Dan Champion vs. Travis Huckabee vs. Eli Isom vs. Dr. Ethan Wilde vs. Ryan Radix vs. vs. Jay Stynes 

John Cena’s music briefly wakes me up before Eli Isom turns up with a cardboard cut-out. Big Dan chugs a beer and trips over the ropes as he gets in. Splendid work. After the opening spots, Dan heads to the bar for another one. He’s certainly winning me over. Everyone else just does stupid scramble spots. Stand out in these things by doing none of this horseshit. Big Dan eventually wins by pinning Jay Stynes. Hey, he should celebrate with a beer! He does. Huzzah!  

 

Clint Margera vs. Colby Corino 

Nice to see Clint on the show. Seeing as he’s getting booked in the USA now, maybe he could pay me back the £10 he owes me? No rush, mate. I like how they start out here, walloping each other with chops instead of going straight to the plunder. Then it goes from normal to nasty in five seconds flat. Clint sticking a plastic spork through Colby’s ear lobe. Eww.  

The broken plastic is horrible. They’re carving each other up with this shit. Electric Chair Driver into a board of forks finishes and Colby Corino strikes again. I could make a case for him being in the three best matches of the weekend so far. ***½ 

 

Labor Of Love Citywide Championship  

Weber Hatfield vs. Cheeseburger 

The LOL belt is vacant. Whoever wins as Big Dan waiting for him.  

There’s a surprising amount of Zack Sabre Jr spots in this. They also lay the strikes in nicely. It’s a decent little match. They do a good job of staying in contact and breaking out interesting counters. The execution is nicely crisp and clean. It’s a winner. It does feel like it doesn’t escalate but rather just be a bunch of spots, one after another. But then, we do escalate into the shotei strikes. Weber kicks out of the second one at ONE. Jay Driller finishes instead, and Cheeseburger takes home the gold. This was fucking fun, but I was tired after a long day, and I thought they went a bit long*. ***½ 

 

*Prepare for me to get really pissed off come WrestleMania time where the main events have 17 false finishes.  

 

The 411: 

Hey, this was a good show. It finished strong with a couple of top end bangers. It will be easier to watch on VOD without the painful intermission. It’s finishing up and we’re at 1:35AM. I was hoping to be in bed a while before this. So, you’ll have to excuse the lack of wrap up. Let’s get some Z’s ahead of tomorrow, eh?