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Wrestlecon 2019 “U.S. vs the World”
4/5/19 - New York, NY
Match 1: Brian Pillman Jr. vs Emil Sitochi (Netherlands)
Sitochi works Pillman’s ankle through the match. Pillman battles back and hits a cross-arm neckbreaker for the pin. Basic wrestling match here though I wish the moves looked a little more impactful overall.
Winner: Brian Pillman Jr.
Match 2: MJF vs All-Ego Ethan Page (Canada)
Ethan Page grabs a mic and sings “You Are My Sunshine” to MJF, getting the crowd to join in on the fun. A pissed off MJF gets the mic away from him and traps his fingers in the turnbuckle hook. Looked painful. MJF gets Page in a few submission holds, Page fires up when the crowd sings for MJF again. Max keeps working the hand and arm of Page until he’s able to hit the Heatseeker hangman’s piledriver for the pin. Fun bit of action here.
Winner: MJF
Match 3: David Starr vs Daga (Mexico)
Nice fast-paced start favors Daga until Starr slows it down a little and starts stomping and slapping his opponent down. Close two count on a suplex neckbreaker from Starr. Back and forth fight here with them trading kicks, DVD’s and lariats. Rapid slugfest in the center that Starr get the better of until Daga keeps a few near falls on a hurracanrana and German. Starr battles back with another lariat, gets a contested near fall but taps out Daga with a painful looking twisting cloverleaf.
Winner: David Starr
Match 4: Darby Allin vs Black Taurus (Mexico)
Taurus is a big dude….errr…bull. Darby’s getting overpowered and slugged about the ring from the start. Darby gets a wrist lock and uses it to make a few quick pin attempts, trying to stay ahead of the big bull with some lucha moves and a spear to the outside. Taurus has had enough of this and pummels Allin, turning him inside out with a shining wizard. Darby speeds up again with a corkscrew pin attempt and another near fall on a Yoshitonic. Taurus gets caught going for a monkey flip and Allin dumps him to the outside and hits a coffin drop to the outside. Taurus gets the knees up on a second coffin drop and hits a spinning Michanoku driver to get the pin. Good showing here from both guys.
Winner: Black Taurus
Match 5: Rich Swann vs Jiro Ikemen (Japan)
Based on their crowdwork-heavy entrances, this match could just be a bunch of dancing and the room would be fine with it. Swann and Ikeman test each other with shoulder tackles, kicks and dives. Swann is playing the de facto sorta heel, checking on his opponent and then blasting him with another shot. Ikeman keeps Swann down with a leg lock, while making sure everyone can see his fabulous jacket that he isn’t taking off in the ring. Swann gets a good flurry of backlists and kicks in, capping it with a flipping senton to the outside. Near falls on a frogsplash and a step over back kick. Jiro gets back with a long figure-four and puts Swann away with a power slam and moonsault from the top. This was a lot of fun.
Winner: Jiro Ikemen
Match 6: The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel) vs Robbie Eagles, Adam Brookes & Australian Suicide (Australia)
Both teams work the crowd a little for their respective countries. Bell rings and it’s a high-speed action movie of a match full of all the fast sequences, flips, dives, ranas, springboard attacks, destroyers, meteoras, and quick pins that you can handle. Rascalz get the pin on Suicide after a double foot stomp/torture rack slam combo. Wild sprint of a match.
Winners: The Rascalz
Match 7: LAX (Santana & Ortiz) vs The Hart Foundation (Davey Boy Smith Jr & Teddy Hart) (Canada)
Teddy is bringing his cat, Mr. Money, to the ring. The Foundation attacks while LAX is on the turnbuckles. Smith with a figure-four on the outside to Santana. Ortiz is isolated and eats a couple of springboard corkscrew elbow drops from Hart and a stalling suplex from Smith. Santana is back in the corner but Hart keeps him trying to rush in, keeping the ref busy and allowing some cheats double teams to occur. Santana with the hot tag, clears house and wraps Hart in a sharpshooter. Smith makes the save, Ref distracted again and Ortiz gets kicked in the crotch. Hart with an assisted Canadian destroyer on Ortiz to get the pin. Good showing for Smith/Hart but wished LAX was able to show more of their excellent tag team skills. This felt more one-sided than it should have.
Winner: The Hart Foundation
Match 8: Sammy Guevara vs Puma King (Mexico)
They trade several middle fingers in back and forth shows of ultimate disrespect to each other. Lucha sequences, punctuated with more middle fingers. Puma puts Sammy down with a stalling suplex, grabs the mic and pulls a page from Guevara’s playbook and invites people to subscribe to his Youtube. Sammy drops Puma King, grabs a mic and makes sure people know to subscribe to HIS Youtube channel. Guevara with a moonsault to the outside and more disrespect. Sammy dodges a pendulum power bomb from the top into a hurancanrana. Puma hits a pendulum liger bomb out of nowhere to get the pin and leads the crowd to chant obscenities at Guevara. Weird watchable mix of comedy and good spots here.
Winner: Puma King
For those following the unofficial scoring here, U.S. and the World are tied at 4 wins apiece.
Main Event: Brian Cage vs Masato Tanaka (Japan)
Tanaka is aggressive but Cage is a big strong boy. Cage keeps the heat on with running kicks, elbows stalling suplexes and an Asai moonsault. Tanaka keeps making comebacks but he is just bouncing off of Cage’s meat. Tanaka escapes danger with a few DDT’s and puts down Cage finally with a lariat. Masato with a suplex. Cage returns the favor with a suplex from the apron and a diving elbow drop. Tanaka no-sells a buckle bomb and gets a near fall off a diving stunner and a brain buster. Cage gets the knees up on frogsplash and get a two count off a German suplex. Strike battle in the center, Tanaka hits the sliding elbow for a near fall. Cage dodges a second one, hitting a power bomb, a buckle bomb and the Drill Claw sitout tombstone for the pin (and the win for the U.S. contingent). Good fight here.
Winner: Brian Cage.
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