By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S BEYOND WRESTLING “AMERICANRANA 2015” LIVE/RAW FOOTAGE REVIEW
JULY 26, 2015
PROVIDENCE, RI
BY SEAN RADICAN, TORCH COLUMNIST

Note: I could only watch the first half of this show live, so the first half of my review will features my live thoughts and the second half of my review will feature my thoughts on the Raw footage of “Americanrana 2015.”

Beyond Wrestling has come a long way since their days of filming shows with only wrestlers in attendance. Beyond Wrestling owner Drew Cordeiro took a gamble when he decided to begin running bigger shows in Providence at Fete Music a couple of years ago by mixing big name independent talent with the Beyond Wrestling roster. The first show, “Americanrana 2013,” was a success and despite some highs and lows since then, Beyond Wrestling is now running live events monthly at Fete Music in Providence. The company also announced that they are expanding to Boston in September and will run a double shot at Fete Music on Sept. 26 and then run the next night in the Boston area with “Arts at the Armory.”

I had a blast at the show and it was a lot of fun to catch up with several wrestlers I hadn’t seen in a long time. One wrestler I spoke to that works in PWG said the fan atmosphere at Beyond Wrestling shows is very similar to what he sees at PWG shows regularly. Make no mistake about it, the fans were jacked for this show and gave nearly every match a ton of vocal support during the first half of the show. Fete Music sold out and it was announced before the start of the show. The fans chanted “We sold out, which was a lot of fun.

The show kicked off with an unannounced match between Speedball Mike Bailey and Danny Cannon. Cannon hadn’t wrestled since last year and the roof seemed to blow off when he came out. Cannon made a name for himself at Fete Music a couple of years ago hitting an insane dive off the large pole that sits right outside the ring. I overheard that there were going to be TWELVE matches on this card, so buckle up and we will take this ride together on the “Americanrana 2015” highway.

(1) “Speedball” Mike Bailey beat Danny Cannon. I’ve been up and down on Bailey, but he left a great impression on me after his match against Trevor Lee at PWG’s “Don’t Sweat the Technique,” which I watched recently on DVD. I’m a huge fan of Cannon’s and it’s a shame that it seems like he doesn’t want to wrestle anymore. These two tore it up in a really fun match. Bailey’s back and forth jumping kick gimmick looks better live than it does on tape and he hit that sequence during the early stages of the match and capped it with a big enzuguri. Bailey ended up getting the win with a standing moonsault slam.

(2) The Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven w/Maria) beat Biff Busick & Drew Gulak. This was the biggest disappointment of what I saw live. I thought this was going to be a great match, but I had a funny feeling when The Kingdom came out goofing off. Busick then came out with his arm heavily wrapped, so it was obvious he was working this match injured. They then began dancing together to Busick’s iconic Beyond Wrestling theme as he came out with Gulak. Gulak got rolled up after a few minutes of action. The entrances lasted longer than match. Oh well. The fans were not happy with the result of the match and chanted “bulls—t.”

(3) Garden State Gods (Eric Corvis & Myke Quest) beat Sybmiote (Rickey Shane Page & Davey Vega) and Da Hoodz (Davey Cash & Kris Pyro) and Anthony Stone & Nicholas Kaye in a Four Corner Survival Tag match. This was the ultimate indie spot-fest and unfortunately it resulted in Vega going for a frankensteiner off the top to the floor onto a pile of men. There was so much action going on that I had a hard time keeping track of it all, but I did turn to ProWrestling.Net staffer Zack Zimmerman and said, “This is the most indie match I’ve ever seen.” Vega ended up opening up a huge gash on his head as he had a rough landing on the floor. I heard wrestlers and officials referring to the cut on his head being like a trap door after the match. Vega turned out to be alright after going to the hospital for 18 staples. The disturbing thing about the match was that after suffering the wound to his head, Vega bounced up to take the finish from The Garden State Gods. The “Beyond Originals” then celebrated in the ring after the match and it was clear they went out to steal the show with a ton of highspots, as everyone hit every move imaginable during the match. The attempt to provide a festive moment on Beyond’s biggest stage of the year was dampened by Vega’s injury.

(4) David Starr beat Johnny Gargano. This was a really crisp back and forth contest. Gargano is one of my favorite wrestlers to watch live and he was really good here. Starr cheated to win and beat Gargano with his own submission finish. The fans didn’t like the result, but it was the right move to put over Starr, who needed a win over an established name like Gargano to cement his heel character.

(5) Beaver Boys (John Silver & Alex Reynolds w/Rex Lawless) beat Brian Myers & Ryan Galeone. This was a match that was just there for me. It could have just been my view of the match at this point of the show. All four men worked hard and the crowd was into it at times, but this didn’t do a lot for me. The Beaver Boys launched Lawless over the top to the floor at one point and Lawless’s leg connected with the big post outside the ring that goes up to the ceiling of the venue. The Beaver Boys got the win with their spinning double slam, which I would describe as a washing machine going around and around, but with a human being and not clothes.

(6) Matt Tremont beat Stockade in a Casket match. I’m not a fan of this style of wrestling, but the fans were jacked for this match. Both guys have been feuding in Beyond for a long time and they got a big reception coming out. It didn’t take long for tables to break, Poland Springs jugs to fly dangerously into the VIP section after being swung from a makeshift stick. They brawled all over the venue and Drew Gulak, a true gentleman if there ever was one, saved me from getting swept up in the destruction. After all sorts of teases near the casket, I believe Tremont hit Stockade with a cinder block and closed the casket for the win. Tremont then cut a “shoot” promo after the match and used Stockade’s real name when putting him over.

Intermission took place and I had to stop watching the show live, so the rest of my review is my impressions of the show from the raw footage.

A.R. Fox came out with Mrs. Fox and cut a heel promo talking about how he wasn’t even on the show even though he had main evented recently. He made an open challenge and Tracy Williams came out to face him.

(7) “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams beat A.R.Fox (w/Ms. Fox). Fox hit three dives to the floor early, but Williams cut him off when he went for a springboard and tapped him out with a bridging chinlock submission that looked like a modified bank statement. This is the way to make someone in one night, although a small pocket of fans booed Williams beating Fox, who is a heel, in short order.

They are doing a fake Chuck Taylor retirement gimmick. Taylor came down to the ring with Trent and they held hands waiting for Team Tremendous. Dan Barry came down to the ring alone and got on the mic. It was hard to hear what Barry said, but he Bill Carr had gotten hurt. Dick Justice then ended up coming out as Carr’s replacement and Best Friends sold shock.

(8) Best Friends (Trent & Chuck Taylor) vs. Dan Barry & Dick Justice. There was a decent amount of comedy early. Then they went to a long heat segment on Barry. He tried to mount a comeback, but Taylor cut him off. Taylor missed a moonsault, but landed on his feet and teased the hand grenade. Carr tagged in Justice, who pointed a handgun at Taylor. Justice held off Trent with a series of punches while keeping his gun pointed at Taylor. Taylor eventually broke up a pin on Trent and then destroyed his gun with an elbow drop. Justice then did Hogan’s comeback. Talk about poor timing. He even did the big boot. Justice went for the leg drop, but Taylor got out of the way. Trent teased a dive, but Taylor stopped him because that’s how he hurt his knee last year at Americanrana. Taylor and Trent hugged and then Taylor went for a dive, but Barry cut him off with a punch. Carr went up top and hit a SSP on Trent, but Taylor pulled him out of the ring. The pace of the match picked up late and Best Friends nailed Carr with a big combination of moves, but he kicked out at the last second. Taylor and Trent then finished off Carr with a dude buster/double stomp off the top combination for the win. This match was a lot of fun to watch. The comedy worked and the fans ate up the finishing sequence.

After the match, the fans chanted for a retirement speech from Taylor. Taylor cut a short promo and the lights went out when Best Friends left the ring. Barry was still in the ring when the lights went out. A voice came over the speakers speaking with modification. When the lights came back on Crusade for Change was in the ring. The fans chanted “f—k you Urkel” at Carter. Carr then took a beating from CFC. Crusade for Change posted over Carr before leaving the ring.

(9) Donovan Dijak beat Brian Fury. This is a teacher vs. student match, as Fury is Dijak’s trainer. Busick and Williams were in on commentary. Dijak blew off a handshake from Fury before they went at it. Busick mentioned that Fury also had trained him at the New England Pro Wrestling Academy, which has a great reputation. Busick said Dijak had broken his hand to Gulak, who joined in on commentary. Fury got cocky after hitting an eye rake and Dijak jumped him from behind. Fury then countered Dijak and suplexed him into the turnbuckles. Dijak fired back and tossed Fury across the ring out of the suplex position. Gulak discussed strategy on commentary going at it against a big man like Dijak and he said he would attack his legs. Dijak smiled and methodically put a beating on Fury. Dijak went for a backpack stunner on Fury and hit it. The announcers said Dijak was a S.O.B. for using Edwards’s maneuver. Dijak followed up with a half and half suplex. Fury mounted a big comeback with a series of forearms. Dijak nailed him with a big kick, but Fury shook it off and went back on the attack. Fury then hit a rollup into the turnbuckles, which Dijak blocked the first time he tried it earlier in the match. Dijak went for feast your eyes, but Fury countered it into a sit out spinebuster for a near fall. The fans fired up and Dijak rolled to the floor. Fury then nailed him with a big splash to the floor. Dijak fired back and hit a sick quebrada to the floor. The fans broke out into a “Beyond Wrestling” chant. Dijak went up top again and went for a moonsault, but missed Fury nailed him with a superkick and folded up on him for a near fall. Fury went for the branding iron, but Dijak fought him off and sent him flying into the ref.

The ref was down and Dijak called for an off duty ref to come into the ring. Dijak gave him the ref’s shirt and told him to ref the match. Dijak then forced the ref shirt onto the replacement ref. They went back and forth and the replacement ref counted after Dijak hit feast your eyes, but Fury kicked out. Dijak went after the ref and Fury got a rollup for a 2 count. The ref nailed Dijak with a superkick and Fury hit a sit out powerbomb. Dijak kicked out, but the bell rang. The announcers said it was a mistake. Dijak fired up and grabbed Fury by the throat. Fury broke free. He nailed Dijak with a ton of strikes, but he wouldn’t go down. Dijak wobbled, but caught Fury by surprise with a kick. Fury countered feast your eyes into the branding iron. The fans fired up and the ref checked on Dijak’s arm, but he raised it up and got the rope. Fury lifted up Dijak and hugged him when they both finally got up selling the teacher vs. student story. Dijak then let him go and hit feast your eyes for the win.

This match was a bit overbooked, but they told a good story and hopefully these two face off again, as Fury was on the verge of winning the match multiple times. Overall, I enjoyed this match a lot and it did have an epic feel to it by the end.

(10) Team Pazuzu (Chris Dickinson & Jaka & Mike Draztik & Angel Ortiz & Pinkie Sanchez)
beat Da Hit Squad (Dan Maff & Monsta Mack) & Nick Gage & Shynron & Eddie Kingston in a 10 Man Atomicos match. All 10 men brawled their way down to the ring. Eddie Kingston made his way down to the ring last and cleaned house on Team Pazuzu. Kingston’s team cleaned house and everyone brawled on the outside. Mack hit a huge superplex on Sanchez at one point. They missed a piledriver through a table that didn’t break off camera. Ortiz cut off Mack up top and EFBYO hit a tandem blockbuster/powerbomb combo off the top. Mack rolled to the floor. EFBYO then took turns slapping Gage, but he turned the tide and ran wild on them. Gage hit a big DVD on Draztik, but Sanchez nailed him right away with a double stomp. Larry Legend got involved in the match at ringside in Pazuzu’s corner. Dickinson and Jaka tried to unmask Shynron in the ring a short time later. They set up for a double Pazuzu bomb, but Maff ran into the ring to help break it up. Kingston and Maff hit a double dive to the floor to wipe out a pile of men. Shynron ended up on the balcony with Draztik. They battled and Draztik ended up hitting a moonsault off the balcony to the floor to wipe out everybody. Shynron then hit a dive to the floor and landed on his feet apparently, but the hard camera didn’t catch it. It’s interesting that Kingston’s gear matches with Pazuzu’s theme. Kingston nailed Jaka with a huge lariat, but Ortiz broke up the pin a short time later. Gage and Dickinson ended up alone in the ring and the fans fired up as they exchanged blows. Gage took a combination of moves capped by a Pazuzu bomb from Dickinson. Gage managed to roll out of the ring to avoid being pinned. One of the shot girls ran into the ring and attacked Mack with a tray. Maff wiped her out with a burning hammer. Ugh. Kingston got isolated by Pazuzu and they went to town on him. Kingston took a quadruple superkick. Jaka then hit a splash off the top for the win. This was pure insanity from start to finish. Larry Legend announced Pazuzu as the winners. I wasn’t a fan of Maff hitting a burning hammer on the shot girl, but other than that this was a great brawl. Pazuzu eventually got chased from the ring by Shynron, Gage and Maff. Kingston got on the mic and said it wasn’t over until he was dead.

(11) Kimber Lee beat Heidi Lovelace. This is a grudge match between Lovelace representing Team Pazuzu and Lee, who has been feuding with them for several months. Legend did the introduction for Lovelace. Lee got a big pop when she was introduced. There was some good hard-hitting action during the early going. Busick and Williams were in on commentary for the match. They went to a big kick and strike exchange and Lovelace raked Lee’s eyes. Lee then hit a Saito suplex, but Lee stood right up and told her to bring it. Lee took a bunch of forearms and fired back with slaps and a huge kick to the head for a 2 count after Lovelace avoided a spinning back fist. Lovelace went for a handspring, but Lee turned it into a German with a bridge for a 2 count. Lovelace got the upper hand and hit a big splash off the top for a 2 count. They ended up going at it up top and Lovelace went for a hurricanrana off the top, but Lee countered it into a powerbomb for the win. Holy crap! This was another very good match and the crowd was jacked to see Lee win.

(12) Death By Elbow (Chris Hero & J.T. Dunn) beat The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson). Denver Colorado and Eric Corvis were in on commentary for the main event. Dunn and Nick went back and forth with Dunn going for elbows and Nick going for superkicks. They finally came to a stalemate. Dunn got the upper hand on Nick and tagged in hero to continue working him over. Nick fired back on Dunn a short time later and hit a handspring back rake and the fans went nuts. Hero teased a dive to the floor, but ate a double superkick on the apron from the Young Bucks. Hero took a beating from the Young Bucks for a long period of time. Hero finally mounted a comeback and hit a short kick to Nick’s face, but Matt ran into the ring and knocked Dunn off the apron before putting the boots to Hero and throwing some crotch chops. Hero tossed a superkick from Nick into Matt Jackson’s head before tagging in Dunn, who ran wild. Dunn hit the Rock bottom on Nick and teased a people’s elbow, but Matt wiped him out with a superkick. Matt then did a suck it version of the Rock bottom until Hero cut him off with a straight right. Hero then went to do the people’s elbow, but Nick tried to cut him off with a superkick. Hero blocked it and hit a knee lift to his face. Dunn then wiped out Nick. Hero then held the Young Bucks down for a double people’s elbow for a near fall. The action broke down and The Young Bucks got the upper hand on Dunn and hit their signature offense, including the buckle bomb/enzuguri combo for a near fall. Both teams went back and forth trading rolling elbows and superkicks. Hero finally decked Nick with a big rolling elbow and everyone was down as the fans lost their minds. Matt did the suck it punches on Hero and smiled. Hero then nailed him with a short right and kicked Nick off the apron.

Hero then popped Matt up and they hit death by elbow, but he kicked out at the last second. The fans fired up and sold shock that Matt had kicked out. Matt took a ton of rolling elbows from Dunn and Hero, but the Nick dragged him out of the way and Hero and Dunn hit each other with rolling elbows accidentally. The Young Bucks then threw a superkick part on Dunn before hitting death by superkick, but Hero broke it up. Hero went at it with the Young Bucks, but they nailed him with a double superkick. The Young Bucks set up for the Indytaker, but Dunn shoved Nick off and Hero reversed it into a spiked piledriver on Matt from Nick. Dunn made the cover, but only got a near fall and the fans went nuts. That was insane! Hero and Dunn took turn nailing Matt with elbows. They then hit death by elbow for the win with Dunn holding off Nick. This was an excellent match to cap off “Americanrana ’15.”

The fans fired up and chanted for Dunn and Hero, who hugged after the match. Colorado and Corvis thanked the fans for checking the show and signed off. Hero got on the mic after the match and said they had just beaten the best tag team in wrestling. Hero said he hadn’t been in the ring with the Young Bucks for almost six years. Hero said they were on the pre-show in the early days of PWG with people ragging on them. Hero said that was 2007 and in 2015 it was an honor to be in the ring with them. The fans all applauded. All four men then hugged. Hero then put over Dunn. Hero said that he came to Beyond for Dunn and he had taken him to the limit and beaten him. Hero said he was incredibly proud of Dunn and hugged him as the fans applauded. Hero called for the DJ to play “MMMBop” to close the show. All four men then did a curtain call together to close the show. They then teased hitting each other, but ended up hugging again.

Overall thoughts: (9.0) – This was one of my favorite independent shows of the year. The atmosphere was one of the most incredible I’ve experienced and clearly it carried over for the second half of the show, which blew the doors off the building with some great action. It says something when match after match is greeted with nothing but love and streamers from the crowd and this show accomplished that match after match. The card really built nicely to a crescendo with Death By Elbow vs. The Young Bucks being the blow away match this card needed to put it over the top as a fantastic show.

The undercard was solid live. Speedball vs. Cannon set the tone for the night and the show never slowed down outside of the disappointing Kingdom vs. Gulak & Busick match, which was only disappointing because it was so short. I really enjoyed everything I saw and even though I’m not a fan of hardcore matches, the Casket match was one hell of a spectacle live. You could tell by just being there live and watching the raw footage that this was a huge show and each and every performer went above and beyond (no pun intended). Drew Cordeiro has built up something very special with Beyond Wrestling over the last few years and the fans really are the bloodline of the promotion right now that drive the wrestlers to great performances.

The second half of the card delivered in spades. An awesome display of domination by Williams when he tapped out Fox quickly set the tone for a wild end to the show. Don’t sleep on Fury-Dijak, which was an epic teacher vs. student match that built and built with twists and turns leading into the finish. The 10 Man brawl was insane with action all over the place, although I’d like to see it again on the final edit because the raw footage didn’t do it justice. The diversity on this card really stood out and the women held their own as well with Lee and Lovelace tearing down the house in the semi-main event.

The main event between Death By Elbow and The Young Bucks was a blow-away end to the show. The people’s elbow spot during the first half of the match was great. The match then built up to some fantastic back and forth action down the stretch before Death by Elbow got the win. The post-match celebration with Hero putting over the Young Bucks and how far they’ve come was fantastic. It was also cool to see Hero put over J.T. Dunn as well to end things before everyone hugged.

I give this show my highest recommendation. This was Beyond Wrestling’s version of WrestleMania and this had an insane atmosphere from start to finish that can only be rivaled by what I’ve seen out of Reseda. Thumbs way up.

Upcoming Beyond Wrestling schedule. “Battle of New England Returns” on Aug. 30, Sept. 26 in Providence, RI, and Sept. 27 in the Boston area. Colorado said they oversold Fete Music.

You can purchase Beyond Wrestling’s “Americanrana ‘15”raw footage by clicking HERE or by visiting LookMaNoFans.com. This show will also be released on MP4, Blu-Ray, and DVD at SmartMarkVideo.com as well as on VOD on SMVOD.com. For more information on Beyond Wrestling visit LookMaNoFans.com
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