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ACTION WRESTLING NEXT UP: EPISODE 4 REPORT

ACTION Wrestling “Next Up: Episode 4”

Taped 8/13/21 in Tyrone, GA

Now Available on IWTV.live

ACTION’s “Who’s Next” series continues, this time taped before ACTION’s August show “ACTION for Southside Support”. In a Venn diagram of “training show”, “tryout show’ and “thanks for helping out”, this series aims right in the center of all these spaces, utilizing a lot of upcoming talent from AR Fox’s WWA4 wrestling school as well as other folks who were in the area to help out. Next Up’s matchmaker Bobby Flaco introduces our ring announcer for this episode, Summer B and our referee for the opening contest, Landon Hale, before letting this show kick off. Scott Hensley is at the commentary table. This show is presented without a crowd but with the wrestlers surrounding the ring to give some ambience to the action. 

Match 1: Zach Mosley vs Morgan Taylor vs Spectre

Mosely calls himself the Million Dollar Mullet. Spectre has upgraded his look a bit since last episode. Taylor’s shiny suspenders are so wonderfully 80’s. Spectre takes control early with rebound shotgun dropkick off the corner and second one to the basement on Taylor. Taylor drops the straps after a corner hip attack and goes for an Unprettier. Mosely is hanging on the outside as Spectre powerbombs Taylor on his knees. Mosely decides to join the fight, hitting a flip cutter for the pin. This was so quick but these guys got a lot of character work in just 3 short minutes. 

Summer B is about to announce the next match but Zamir Zuriel comes into the ring and VERY POLITELY asks Bobby Flaco for a match with Sir Knight Merrick Donovan. Bobby says “This isn’t how we do things here….but those smiles for miles always gets me” and makes that match our main event for the episode!

Match 2: Alonso Garcia vs Jay Lucas vs Jeffery John

Jay Lucas is getting doubled teamed right out the gate but rebounds off the ropes with a double clothesline and goes to work over Jeffery John. Big suplex and a cover but Garcia breaks that right up. Garcia outstrikes Lucas on his feet, stuns with a low kick and hits a basement cutter for two. Jefferey John and Garcia have a moment of disagreement but continue to work together to beat on Lucas until JJ tries to steal the rollup. Garcia is annoyed and tries to steal it back and they are definitely opponents NOW. John with a backbreaker, Lucas cuts off the pin. Garcia with a AA into a legdrop on John. Lucas clears John and drills Garcia into the mat with a double underhook piledriver for the pin! Lucas took a lot of damage here but seized the moment as soon as he had the chance. Good contest!

Winner: Jay Lucas

We get a quick commercial for IWTV’s next installment of their “The Life Of” series featuring ACTION Wrestling’s (current) champion, Arik Royal. Check that out too on IWTV VOD. :)

Match 3: Tony Midas & Chris Mason vs The Good Sisters (Lizzie Blair & Peyton Blair)

Mason and Midas have ref Landon Hale welcome them to the ring with cans of….hairspray? Lysol? If you can’t have pyro….anyways, they’re VERY confident in their chances against their somewhat  smaller opponents. Mason tosses Peyton to the mat quickly. She works Mason off the rope and hits a belly to back suplex. Midas is flustered that his partner had such a hard time and tags in against Lizzie. Midas didn’t learn anything and gets cracked with a slap that staggers him. Lizzie with a bulldog for two. They hit a double suplex, Midas kicks out. Mason tosses a can of that spray in, ref distracted and Peyton takes spray to the eyes. Midas with a neckbreaker, Peyton out at two but Landon Hale is WATCHING for more spray-based antics. Big clothesline as Mason tags back in to get his shots back in on Peyton. Midas with an elbow drop and another near fall. Bulldog onto the knee and a lariat. Midas wants another bulldog but Peyton ducks into a double clothesline. Lizzie gets the tag, stuns Mason and cracks him with a flatliner. Midas tries to clothesline Lizzie but hits Mason instead. The Good Sisters give a nod to their trainers with a Magic Killer on Midas to close this out. Good back and forth action here. 

Winners: The Good Sisters

Black Jack Mack vs AWOL vs “Coach” Kody Manhorn vs Carson Dilbeck vs Tyler Foshie

It’s scramble time….but FIRST, it’s time for a squat-off! Everyone squats, except for AWOL & Dilbeck. Manhorn tries to call out Dilbeck for that but eats a superkick. Foshie tries to defend his friend but get beat up. Dilbeck and Foshie tangle briefly and Foshie clears him with a dropkick. AWOL is very talkative but lands a series of back elbows to Foshie in the corner. Mack with a sunset flip and a pin attempt but no dice on AWOL. AWOL with a pair of Orton-style backbreakers to Mack but walks into a spine buster. Foshie tries to steal the pin and has to apologizes to Mack on that. Dilbeck picks the bones with a bicycle knee, suplex to a knee and a running kick SHOULD have ended the day for Foshie but he rolls out. Manhorne with a flying squat onto Dilbeck’s chest until Mack leg drops him. AWOL pushes Mack and steals the pin on Manhorn. LORDY, AWOL does not stop running his mouth and it makes him effective at being hateable. By contrast, Manhorn is so very over with the folks in this room. 

Winner: AWOL 

Main Event: “Sir Knight” Merrick Donovan vs “ZZ” Zamir Zuriel 

ZZ is all smiles as he gives Donovan his gentlemen’s glove back at the start of the match. This fight is ON for Sir Knight. Donovan with a belly to back suplex, takes reverse mount and slaps at the body. “You said you wanted this”, Donovan keeps reminding ZZ. ZZ tries a rana but Donavan just tosses him out of it. ZZ finally hitting some arm drags and bulldogs. He tries another rana but Donovan powers him up and slams again. Big leg drop from Sir Knight. Big flying crossbody into the ropes and ZZ is gasping for air as Donovan continues to stalk him. ZZ firing up with kicks and Donovan just fwaps him into the canvas. Donovan gets ZZ into a cam clutch and raining clubbing blows from there. ZZ finally stunning him with forearms, pulls him into a backbreaker, a bulldog and a handspring splash. Donovan is crawling as ZZ is reinvigorated. Sir Knight comes to and hits a snap dragon suplex….kick out! ZZ fights out of a torture rack and clubs Donovan to the ground….he comes running but Donovan gets him up in that torture rack position and spins him down into a uranage for the win. HUZZAH! This was David vs Goliath all the way. ZZ gets respect from Sir Knight for bringing the fight to him. This was a lot of fun, even if ZZ didn’t really stand a chance against Donovan, who was a great brute through this contest. 

Winner: Sir Knight Merrick Donovan

And that’s it for Episode 4 of “Next Up”! I don’t think I did a proper wrap-up on my Ep3 results so let’s give a little State of the Series. I really think Action is finding its groove with this show. Ep 3 ramped up the quality bar on some great action, everyone really aiming to stand out here and make use of the opportunity they have to showcase themselves on IWTV. Ep 4 kept that up but started to build something the previous episodes lacked: STORY. Just that one segment of ZZ asking for the match early in the show and having that carry forward to the main event, sooooo important. I know that Next Up’s booking can be based entirely on who’s there at the time but as we start to see the same faces again and again, there’s a chance here to start telling some longer form stories. This is even more so as this episode pulled back the curtain a little, showing and accepting Bobby Flaco as show runner. I encourage this and hope they can continue it in some degree as these shows continue. For presentation, I say nothing needs to change. There’s a cool magic here with their single apron-level camera shot, the show feels alive without tons of over-edits and shot changes. Coming from the Northeast, I’m always a fan of people surrounding the ring, keeping the hype level up…but also having each match’s participants coming in directly from that crowd. It gives it a little bit of a fight club feel. There’s also a level of intimacy you get here as, in the last few episodes, wrestlers have started talking right into the camera lens on their entrances and intros. You get a sense of personality here, as well as with the audible in-ring banter. It’s a nice touch. We’re starting to see the initial effects of this series on the Southeast scene, as folks who I’ve initially seen on Next Up are starting to be sprinkled into ACTION’s main shows, as well as appearing in New South and TWE. It’s seeming to start to put the first stakes down to becoming a launching pad for people. It’s real cool to see. I’ll be in the house for ACTION’s September show this Friday, and ideally the Next Up episode 5 taping as well. Pretty excited for this! Until then!

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