BEYOND WRESTLING
AMERICANRANA 18
JULY 29, 2018
THE WHITE EAGLE
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

Watch: Powerbomb.TV 

The fifth-annual Americanrana was Beyond Wrestling’s highest profile event ever. The show was headlined by Joey Janela—in his last ever deathmatch—facing off against David Starr in a no-rope barbed wire match to prove who is the ace of Beyond Wrestling. The lineup also featured the Beyond debuts of Brody King and PCO.

TEAM PAZUZU DEF. TEAM WWR

For those unfamiliar with Beyond, Team Pazuzu consists of the Doom Patrol duo of Chris Dickinson and Jaka alongside EYFBO better known as Impact Wrestling’s current incarnation of LAX. Team WWR featured Kimber Lee, Mia Yim, Jordynne Grace and Skylar. The match got plenty of time—well over 20 minutes including intros—but unfortunately just wasn’t very good. Mia Yim and Jordynne Grace performed well but Skylar did not impress and looked slightly out of place in the match opposite Pazuzu. A trademark EYFBO senton cannonball into the corner on an isolated Skylar brought the match to an end. **

AR FOX DEF. “THE RETROSEXUAL” ANTHONY GREENE

This match was not scheduled but Greene was pissed about not being booked on the show so Fox minus the Skulk answered the open challenge. I really enjoyed the antics of Greene and his Platinium Honeys outside of the ring and their look really stood out and left an impression.

Despite scoring with huge moves including a Feast Your Eyes in honour of his friend Donovan Dijak (remember him?!) Greene would come up short as he fell victim to a sitout DDT variation that AR Fox calls the Foxcatcher. ***

JOSH BRIGGS DEF. BRODY KING

I was so disappointed by this match, not because it was bad (it was fine) but Brody King has been getting a lot of hype as a star on the indies and he didn’t impress me much here. Briggs is a New England native and a homegrown guy that Beyond Wrestling is obviously fully behind. This should have been two big guys just brutalising each other with kicks and power moves but it just never reached the level I expected. Briggs would pick up the win with a chokebreaker **¼

TRENT DEF. JONATHAN GRESHAM

This match was scheduled to be Gresham vs. MJF but an injury kept MJF out of the ring and the Dream Team led by Stokely Hathaway had a short lived new member in the form of Trent. Not surprisingly this match had the best in-ring work up until this point of the show.

Everyone reading this will be aware of how good Trent is but may not be so familiar with Gresham. He is a phenomenal wrestler and while some will point to size being an issue (he’s 5ft4) I don’t see it as any issue. Unfortunately this match had a horrible DQ finish with Stokely taking issue with his hired gun for the night Trent when he wouldn’t use a pole bar to attack Gresham. After the bell Gresham would get his moment alone with Stokely and break his arm ***

THE H8 CLUB DEF. MATT RIDDLE & FILTHY TOM LAWLER

The new H8 Club of Nick Gage and Matt Tremont picked up a big win over the first time ever dream team of Matt Riddle & Filthy Tom Lawler. There is no man or woman in all of all wrestling that can match the aura of Nick F’N Gage. He’s not a great wrestler but when Gage in in the ring you can not take your eyes off him. The H8 Club jumped the Filthy Bros before the bell even rang and that set the tone for this match.

The match eight minutes of nonstop brawling and while it wasn’t pretty, it was enthralling. The Filthy Bros showed instant chemistry and it’s such a shame that Riddle is now under contract and we won’t get to see this team all over the independent scene. A double-team DVD lungblower from Lawler and Riddle looked like it hurt like hell but deathmatch veterans proved too much for the MMA maestros as Gage pinned Riddle after he punched a chair into Riddle’s face and put him down with a chokebreaker ***½

BOOMER HATFIELD, MIKE QUACKENBUSH, SOLO DARLING & FIRE ANT DEF. MERLOCK, THE WHISPER, TRAVIS HUCKABEE & VOLGAR

This was a showcase atomicos match for CHIKARA as they have just been added to the Powerbomb.TV library. I have never watched CHIKARA so I have no idea who the majority of these guys are. The match seemed to be worked in slow-motion at points and it was strikingly obvious that these Quack trainees won’t be taking the wrestling world by storm any time soon.

Boomer Hatfield genuinely looked like a child that even Kid Lykos would find funny being in a wrestling. The only highlight of the match was Fire Ant and Quackenbush with a great looking backwards dive off the shoulders of Volgar to the outside. Solo Darling would get the win for the technicos as she tapped out Volgar with a Texas Cloverleaf **½

POWERBOMB.TV INDEPENDENT CHAMPIONSHIP
TRACY WILLIAMS (c) DEF. WHEELER YUTA

Teacher vs. student is a classic pro wrestling story told many many times. While this match won’t be remembered years from now I can always appreciate a simple story within a match. Williams has taken Yuta under his wing in the magnificently named Hot Wheels team and this was the students chance to show just what he had learned thus far. There was some extended chain wrestling sequences but it seemed very rushed despite them having over 13 minutes to tell their story. Unfortunately, Williams’ title never seemed in any real jeopardy and Hot Sauce would retain his belt with two consecutive piledrivers **¾

THE BEAVER BOYS DEF. TEAM TREMENDOUS, MASSAGE FORCE & GENTLEMAN’S CLUB

I loved this match. The perfect amount of comedy mixed in with some fantastic modern day indie action.

While I wasn’t familiar with everyone before this match begun I will remember them now. The Massage Force is definitely a unique gimmick while Team Tremendous and Gentleman’s Club will be no strangers to any indie wrestling fan. Orange Cassidy and his apathy towards everything around him and his “strike” exchange with John Silver gave me great joy. The recently reunited Team Tremendous appeared to have the match won with a doomsday sliced bread #2 but Alex Reynolds snuck in for the cheap roll up win on Dan Barry. After the match Barry would for some reason DDT his partner and leave him laying. A peculiar ending to a real fun match ***¾

BRIAN CAGE DEF. PCO

PCO made his Beyond Wrestling debut as the hype train of his indie run since WrestleMania weekend seems to be now running on fumes. We are all aware that PCO is seemingly insane and will take ridiculous risks in every match he takes part in. This match was no different as we got a tope atomico that he barely survived followed instantly by the ugliest and scariest springboard moonsault I have ever witnessed.

Cage had his moments to shine and his power and ability to move despite his gargantuan frame will never not impress. Cage catching PCO in a suplex position from an attempted senton was awesome. The ease with which Cage was able to lift the veteran up for the match winning Steiner Screwdriver was remarkable. A notable win for Cage but I have to wonder how much longer PCO will get bookings if he doesn’t evolve his act from insane old man ***½

NO ROPE BARBED WIRE MATCH
DAVID STARR DEF. JOEY JANELA

Starr and Janela have been embroiled in a feud for over a year over who the true ace of Beyond really is. Janela tried to suffocate Starr with a plastic bag, Starr piledrove Penelope Ford and this match was to be their final showdown.

In a touch I really appreciated Nick Gage and Matt Tremont, deathmatch veterans, were on commentary for the match to help the viewer fully appreciate what Starr and Janela were going through during the match.

I am not a regular deathmatch viewer so seeing the barbed wire pulling on the skin of both men as they took it in turns to whip the other into the skin tearing barbs made me wince and shiver but I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the screen. This match had barbed wire boards, barbed wire bats, chairs and even cinder blocks. Penelope Ford was not just ringside to watch as she got involved in the match and while attempting to attack Starr with a handstand elbow Starr would evade her and push her through a barbed wire board in real OMG moment.

A Janela superkick would miss Starr and take out the referee giving Starr the opening he needed to Russian leg sweep Janela and himself from the ring through a barbed wire board between the ring and guardrail he had previously set up. That is a sight I won’t soon forget. After Starr, Janela and Ford had all been cut free from the barbed wire and both Starr and Janela had gashes all over their bodies and Starr in particular was an absolute mess, the cinder blocks would come into play. A Janela DVD onto a cinder block wasn’t enough to put Starr away and that was to be the last chance Janela would have. Three unanswered chair shots to the head of Janela and a PILEDRIVER ON CINDER BLOCKS was a cruel and fitting way to end this feud and David Starr proved why he is the ace of Beyond Wrestling and Mr. Americanrana. ****½