Lucha Forever returned to Birmingham for Catch Me Outside for its second live show of FloSlam. With twin main events of Matt Riddle vs. Travis Banks and #CCK vs. Scarlet & Graves we should be in for a treat.
Lucha Forever
Catch Me Outside
May 25, 2017
The H Suite
Birmingham, England
Watch: FloSlam
Some card shuffling has occurred due to injuries and WWE commitments, but overall things still look really fun.
Viper def. Bea Priestley
Viper is now a member of the anti fun police. Bea’s steadily improving while Viper is always solid in ring. Viper used her size advantage to control Bea early, and the match is built around Bea’s numerous attempts to land a Saito suplex. The finish came when Dunne hit Priestley on the back with a crutch while she is up top, and Viper hit her Viper Driver for the victory. **
Cara Noir def. El Ligero & Kip Sabian
This was an open challenge from Sabian. Ligero comes out and is then followed by 3 flashback versions of El Ligero. Cara Noir follows with an unusual entrance. He’s based on a Swan Lake character.
Action gets underway and it seems like it is going to be Sabian and Noir vs the Ligeros. There’s a lot of comedy which Ligero is great at. Noir clears the ring of the three impostor Ligeros and does so in impressive fashion, although his licking one of the Ligeros was odd. Sabian has issues with the special referee ‘That Guy’ from their debut show, so when the Ligeros hit consecutive Mexican splashes on Noir Sabian pulls ‘That Guy’ out of the ring only for That Guy to lay him out. Meanwhile Noir scored with the match winning package piledriver on Ligero. **1/2
Toni Storm def. Jinny
My love for Jinny grows every time I see her wrestle. She is just so good at getting the fans to truly hate her. All the little looks and mocking the fans chanting who are Toni: just so good. Toni for her part is great in ring and the UK fans really do treat her as one of their own. I loved the “Jinny shops at Primark” chant. In the end Jinny tries to hit Toni with a punch while she has a necklace wrapped on her hand but Toni counters and gets the pin following her trademark piledriver. ***
Number One Contendership Match
Mark Haskins def. Bubblegum, Dan Moloney & Chris Ridgeway
Fast start with to this one as all four guys go for roll ups and then attempting and missing a series of kicks. Mark Haskins was so good here; he was the glue that held the match together. Considering last year we all thought he was going to be forced into retirement to see him deliver to such a high quality is amazing. Ridgeway was impressive in this match also and the moments we had between him and Haskins were the high points of the match. One spot I did not like was all four men sitting in chairs mid ring while they exchanged forearms. Ridgeway scored a close nearfall off a vicious PK followed by a brainbuster, only for Haskins to get the winning pinfall following a pump handle driver and will face the winner of Travis Banks vs Matt Riddle from later in the show. I would like to see a Haskins vs. Ridgeway one on one match in the future. ***1/2
Omari def. David Starr
Omari is a local guy stepping in to face Starr as Starr was due to face Travis Banks before Pete Dunne was pulled from the show which meant a reshuffle of some matches was needed. This was my first time seeing Omari and it was a nice introduction. For such a big guy he is very fluid and athletic if a little over reliant on kicks for his offense. Starr seemed happy to allow Omari to shine and put him over clean as the young Birmingham native scored the pin after he hit Starr with his O-Zone slam. ***1/2
Kay Lee Ray def. Alex Windsor
This was a damn battle. After watching these two women knock the shit out of each other I never want to bump into either of them in a dark alley. They spent the early portion of the match brawling outside the ring and even brawled behind the entrance set so we even saw their silhouettes brawl. When they do make it into the ring and the match proper begins they continue to take turns laying into each other. Back outside and Alex dumps KLR onto a front row chair with a suplex that looked like it did not feel good at all. But KLR gives Windsor a receipt with a Gory Bomb onto the apron. KLR gets the submission victory via Koji Clutch following a swanton bomb. ***1/2
Lucha Forever Championship
Travis Banks def. Matt Riddle
If you enjoy forearm exchanges, chop battles and suplexes then this is the match for you. We get some grappling early on with Riddle coming out on top. The story is that even though he is over matched in many ways Banks is just so resilient that Riddle can’t put him away. We get a series of nearfalls the best of which follows a Bro 2 Sleep bridging German suplex combination from Riddle. But the champ prevailed in the end as Riddle taps to the Lion Clutch after a Slice of Heaven and Kiwi Krusher from Banks. ****
Mark Haskins comes out following the match and we get the obligatory stare down between champion and challenger before they shake hands.
CZW Tag Team Championships
#CCK def. Scarlet & Graves
I am not overly familiar with Scarlet & Graves, but I know they’ve been getting great reviews during their tag title reign. #CCK on the other hand way well be the most over act in the UK right now. A lot of crowd brawling early before we settle in and #CCK dominate Wentz. But its not all #CCK as Wentz scores with an impressive looking standing shooting star press. Once Xavier gets into the match and the action breaks down we see some ridiculous moves from all four but the highlight being Xavier with a corkscrew Sasuke special and a spiral tap from the top rope for a nearfall.  CCK would not be denied though and pick up the win with an Ink Bomb and we have new CZW Tag Team Champions. ***3/4
Final Thoughts:
Overall Catch Me Outside was a fine show that’s an easy watch even if you didn’t watch Lucha Forever’s debut show. The CZW Tag Team titles changing hands on a UK promotions show is a significant moment, and Banks vs. Riddle is well worth checking out.
