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5/22 HOUSE OF GLORY IN NYC REPORT

House of Glory was back in their home venue, the sold out NYC Arena in New York City for "Waging War", a big show with stars from AEW and TNA among the HoG mainstays, who always bring their best.

TNT champion "The Jet" Kevin Knight defeated Amazing Red. Knight came in with a lot of extra swagger and antagonistic crowd play.  If he's teasing a heel turn, he's got something to work with.

Lena Kross, half of the AEW Women's World tag champion, defeated House of Glory Women's champion Shotzi Blackheart in a non title Unsanctioned match.  Blackheart was attacked by someone before the match--the streets are saying Steph de Lander--so she came in compromised so Commissioner Solomon changed it to a non title match.  That's a clever booking ploy right there. I liked it.

Angel Jacquez won an exciting 6 way match over JJP of Legacy Pro Wrestling Tag champions Dual Focus, Mikee G, JJ Doze, Jodi Aura, former HoG Cruiserweight champion and current TNA star "Blessed" KC Navarro.  The bottom rope broke early in the match and made for some interesting adjustments from the competitors.  Entertaining bout, as most HoG 6 ways are.

Red hot angle with Jay Lyons demanding his Mane Event tag partner Midas Black come out and explain why he jumped him at the Los Angeles show a few weeks ago.  Strong emotional back and forth.  They almost made up but Black attacked Lyon again from behind.  JJP and KP Prime (Dual Focus) tried to break it up and Black had words for them too.
This was good.

MMA star "Turbo" Phumi Nkuta was in a fighting mood, having lost his first MMA bout the previous weekend on controversial grounds, and issued an Open Challenge.  One answered by Raheem Royal, a former HoG Tag champ and very promising prospect.  Very good match. Nkuta is teeny tiny (5'5, 130lbs) but his being a real fighter gives him credibility and makes it easy to buy into his strikes. I wasn't a big fan of them going to the floor and up to the commentary desk. Save that for the big matches later.  Nkuta won in a close one and is immediately challenged to a second bout, this time by Jacquez and his manager, Dr. Hillary P. Wisdom.  Jacquez is one of the good young heels in HoG.   Unfortunately, he wasn't ready for Nkuta's speed and got caught with a savage running punch for the fast loss. Big pop.

Cruiserweight champion "The Infamous" Darren Richardson beat AEW star "Blackheart" Lio Rush, defending his championship.  "La Sombra" Carlos Ramirez continues shadowing and seconding Richardson with no explanation to date.  This was fine.  Rush seems to have mastered the eerie gimmick but he and Richardson never got the match out of second gear. 

"The Main One" Zilla Fatu successfully retained the Crown Jewel title against former CJ champion, "Ca$hFlow" Ken Broadway, who is looking better than ever.  Good match. The NYC Arena crowd was strongly behind Fatu even though Broadway is a longtime HoG favorite and mainstay.  He responded appropriately, with a lot of edge and aggression, taking the role of the heel.

The best match of the show was something of a surprise as former Cruiserweight champion "Sweet Cheeks" Joey Silver nearly dethroned long reigning House of Glory Heavyweight champion "The Root of All Evil" Charles Mason.  These two go way back but this was Mason handpicking an opponent he thought would be an easy night at work, with Silver coming off a badly unsuccessful chase of Richardson and the Cruiserweight title.  Mason dominated early. Dominated to the point it was a blow out early.  Silver's comeback had the Arena rocking.  Fantastic false finish that looked like the upset was coming.  The ref not only not buying Mason's attempt to get the match thrown out by stealing the old Guerrero trick but turning his back so Silver could use the title belt as a weapon was a great moment.  Mason won with his Reign of Terror rear naked choke but this was so good, they might need to run it back.

The main event saw Matt and Jeff Hardy retain the House of Glory Tag titles against SSB (Super Smash Brothers aka the Dark Order from AEW--Stu Grayson, Evil Uno) in a pretty good match.  Made me remember why I liked the Dark Order in AEW.

All around a top quality show. Probably a few too many ref bumps (there were at least 3) but otherwise, good action and a fiery angle between Mane Event. 

The Real Uncle Dave grade: A (93 out of 100)

Follow me @therealuncdave.bsky.social and DDTDivas.com.

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