C*4 Presents: THE DEPARTED (March 17) Results and Review

VANIER COLUMBUS CLUB
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA

Watch: Smart Mark Video

From beautiful Vanier, Ontario, Capital City Championship Combat (C*4) Wrestling put on one of the best shows on Canadian independent scene. It was St. Patrick’s day and instead of going out with my friends for a night of green drinks and all the pizzazz, I ventured to the mystical land of Vanier for my first C*4 event. I’ve been in Ottawa and meaning to go to a show since I’ve heard nothing but good things. Needless to say, all the praise C*4 gets is well deserved. Onto the show!

C*4 UNDERGROUND CHAMPIONSHIP
BENJAMIN TULL DEF. KOBE DURST ©, KEVIN BLANCHARD, BRUTE VAN SLYKE, SPACE MONKEY, DEENO, MATT KNICKS, STEVIE FIERCE & JAMES STONE

Kobe Durst is both the C*4 Underground and C*4 Champion and hasn’t defended the Underground championship in months. So, he defends in a nine-man gauntlet match that started with four men in the ring. Durst was one of the first four and left the ring to be counted out, a great heel tactic ahead of his C*4 Championship match later in the night. A new champion was guaranteed to be crowned. The action was non-stop in this encounter, which is to be expected with four men in the ring at once. Brute Van Slyke was an absolute monster and had to be eliminated by three competitors (Monkey, Tull, and Blanchard) in order for his undefeated streak to come to an end. In the end, after some great elimination, Tull outlasted the others to become the C*4 Underground Champion in only his second appearance in the promotion. Great stuff from all involved that set a great tone for the night.

CECIL NYX & SUPERCOP DICK JUSTICE DEF. BMD & VELVET JONES

Cecil Nyx is on a mission to eliminate drugs, booze, and drugs from C*4! So he called in some backup against High N’ Mighty’s Velvet Jones and BMD: the Supercop himself Dick Justice! This was fantastic comedy wrestling that had the crowd invested the entire time. All of us in the crowd wanted Dick at all times. Dick is God. Highlight of the match was Supercop Dick Justice accidentally shooting a young ring staffer and members of both teams covering it up by rolling him up in a carpet and chucking outside the venue. Oh damn, I wasn’t supposed to say that. Uhhh… changing subjects.

BRENT BANKS DEF. MARK WHEELER & MJF

To continue with the murder theme, these three guys killed it. MJF is such a good heel and had the crowd in the palm of his hands. All three competitors are very talented and I’m glad I was able to catch them before the bigger companies eventually come calling. The crowd was a little flat after a nice dose of Dick, but they woke up when the action spilled to the outside with some beautiful Topé Suicidas. By the way, the Canadian Destroyer is the best move to come out of Canada. I have seen way too much of MJF’s ass though, would rather see Dick again. This was a good three-way dance between three talented individuals.

MATT ANGEL DEF. DAVID STARR

I’m going to cut right to the chase here, this is the best professional wrestling I have ever seen live. This was absolutely fantastic. I have never seen Matt Angel before, but I am now a fan. As you know, David Starr is really good at wrestling and this proved that as an absolute fact of life. There was no wasted movements in this showdown and the story of underdog wrestler versus world-travelled veteran was played to a peak performance. The sequences in this match showcased the strengths of both men and really put the shine on Angel. Absolutely brilliant stuff that reminds me of the Kevin Steen vs. Mike Bailey bout from C*4 years ago – where it boosted the career of Bailey to epic proportions that led to a PWG run. The star of Matt Angel was made in this match and he is one to watch for the future of professional wrestling.

EVIL UNO, FTM & TYSON DUX DEF. STU GRAYSON, THOMAS DUBOIS & VANESSA KRAVEN

This feud has been building for a while now and this six-man tag team brawl captured the essence beautifully. Twiggy, the manager of Uno, Franky, Dux, and C*4 Champion Kobe Durst, is one of the most hated people in Vanier. This match was a bit slow at times for my taste, but the storytelling provided an excellent feel for the reason of the match. Kraven hit a massive choke-bomb on the referee during the match and it was a tremendous bump. This was good but kinda fell flat after the big Angel/Starr match. Oh, and I love the “Tabarnak” chants – a truly Canadian thing.

SHELDON JEAN DEF. MICHAEL VON PAYTON

If you followed Pro Wrestling NOAH late last year, you may be familiar with Sheldon Jean. He made his debut in January for C*4 and scored an upset victory of MVP. This was the rematch. Both Jean and Von Payton put in some good work and put a lot of effort in the match. MVP plays a really good heel but Jean seemed to have an answer for every dirty trick he was looking to play. After Rahim Ali, MVP’s second, was ejected from ringside, Jean reversed a rollup with a rollup of his own to get the win in another upset victory. Decent stuff.

JOSH ALEXANDER DEF. TEDDY HART

It didn’t really come through in the video of the show, but there was a vocal portion of the crowd who were not happy to see Teddy Hart wrestle – there was a lot of chatter about his past, which I won’t get into here, a quick Google search will give you all the details if you are not familiar. The match started off a bit hot, but I didn’t find Teddy Hart’s submission and technical based offence to be particularly strong, especially when its compared to Josh Alexander. Hart looked a bit clunky and botched a bit in big moments of the match. Alexander sold really well and is such a solid talent. Did you know that Teddy Hart does moonsaults? I think this went a little too long for what it was. A good standout performance from Alexander as usual, and the other half was a Teddy Hart match.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT DEF. PRIVATE PARTY

I was super impressed by all four competitors in this match. Fight or Flight consist of the duo of Gabriel Fuerza and Vaughn Vertigo, whereas Private Party is the duo of Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen. This match started off with a dance off that involved a bottle of some good ole Canadian drinkypoos – would you expect anything else? It is St. Patty’s Day after all. I don’t know how he did it, but Quen nearly wrestled the entire match while wearing a pair of sunglasses. This was a decent match between two fun teams. Fight or Flight remind me a lot of a young Young Bucks (which would be a hell of a match if they ever did battle) and I see a big future for both of them.

C*4 CHAMPIONSHIP – I QUIT MATCH
KOBE DURST (C) DEF. MATHIEU ST-JACQUES

This is our main event of the evening and was absolutely brutal from start to finish. Kobe Durst may be one of the most underrated guys in wrestling and should have a breakout year on the worldwide independent scene in the near future. It didn’t take long for the plunder to come into play in this blood feud. Chairs were destroyed, tables were shattered, and bodies were broken. Durst screwed up an Asai Moonsault and landed face first on the ring apron and it looked absolutely brutal. Durst was fine though and soon went from Vancouver to St. John’s in a beautiful Coast 2 Coast. ST. JACQUES HIT A DAMN PILEDRIVER THROUGH A TABLE OFF THE STAGE! This was insane and the match continued! Things weren’t done between these two as both men eventually were pierced by thousands upon thousands of thumbtacks – Durst getting the worst of it by being superplexed into the tacks! Absolutely insane stuff that ended with a fireball attack from the champion followed by a Sharpshooter on top of the thumbtacks that forced St-Jacques to tap out, signalling the non-verbal acknowledgment of “I Quit”. This was a fantastic brawl that was an absolute thrill to watch live. Great stuff between two of the best on the Canadian indy scene.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was a great show to attend live and was a great rewatch. I hear a lot of people talk about C*4 being the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla of Canada and I do think it has very close resemblances but is, overall, it’s own product. Definitely check out this show for the fantastic Starr/Angel match and the brutal main event between Durst/St-Jacques. If you’re in the Ottawa area, definitely go check out C*4’s next event “END OF DAYS” on April 14th! It is a great show to see live. Great stuff here in Ottawa!