By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

WCA “2013 Race for the Ring Wrestling Tournament: Bracket A”
April 27, 2013
Los Angeles, Calif.
By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

Nigel McGuinness and Les Thatcher introduced the show overlooking LA. Nigel explained the rules saying each match has a 10 minute time limit and wrestlers earn points by pin fall, submission, or count out. If a wrestler is DQ'd they lose a point. If the wrestlers are tied, they go to a 3 minute sudden death overtime. If neither wrestler earns a point in OT, they are eliminated from the tournament and replaced by a new wrestler in the next round.

Larry Legend kicked off the show and introduced the participants from Bracket A of the tournament.

Maria came into the ring and said she had never been surrounded so many hot guys. She announced that 25% of ticket sales had been donated to charity, which would go to a local children’s hospital. Two women then entered the ring to sing the National Anthem.

1) Kyle Matthews vs. Colt Cabana in a Bracket A First Round match. Cabana got an early submission with the Billy Goat's Curse. The match dragged until the final minute with Cabana initially not taking Matthews seriously, but eventually realizing he was in a fight. They had a TV set up as a scoreboard at ringside, which was a nice touch. They went to a double pin with a shade under a minute left and Matthews got his shoulder up to tie the match at 1-1. They showed a replay of Matthews getting his shoulder up. Cabana bailed to the floor to force overtime.

Matthews rolled through a sunset flip and hit a super kick for a 2 count. Be big another super kick for another 2 count. Cabana sucked a third kick and went for a rollup, but Matthews rolled through and hit a third super kick for the win.

Matthews was interviewed after the match. He put over Cabana. Cabana came in and got on the mic and put Matthews over and shook his hand. Matthews said it didn't matter who he faced next because he was here to win.

Winner: Kyle Matthews 2-1 in OT. The match dragged after the initial submission point by Cabana, but there was an element of tension down the stretch as Matthews tried to tie it down 1-0. The action picked up in the OT period when Matthews quickly put Cabana away.

(2) Drew Gulak vs. Bobby Sharp in a Bracket A First Round match. Sharp fought off a leg submission and caught Gulak by surprise with an elbow. Sharp then hit a face buster to go up 1-0. Sharp continued to work over Gulak, but Gulak fired back and surprised Sharp with a single-leg crab. Sharp struggled, but got to the ropes. Sharp dropped Gulak with a by forearm, but Gulak fired back with an arm bar. Sharp fought it for a long time, but managed together the ropes. Sharp fired back and continued to work over Gulak on the mat. Gulak went for a read naked choke, but Sharp blocked it. Sharp went for a suplex, but Gulak rolled over into the rear naked choke to tie it at 1-1. The fans chanted for Gulak as a replay aired. Gulak immediately grabbed another rear naked choke and the ref called for the submission win to put Gulak up 2-1. Sharp could not recover and the time limit expired.

Gulak was interviewed after the match. Gulak said Sharp came all the way from Canada. He said Sharp should have tapped out quicker so he would have had more time to try to tie the match. Gulak thanked the fans.

Winner: Drew Gulak - They painted Sharp as a slight underdog on commentary, but he went up early and dominated a lot of action until late in the match when Gulak caught him in a series of submission to eventually pick up two points to win the match. The action was solid throughout, but a bit methodical given the time limit.

(3) Jamin Olivencia vs. Ryan Taylor in a Bracket A First Round match. Taylor is replacing Sami Callihan I the match because Callihan's father was very ill at the time this show took place. The fans tried to rally behind Taylor as
Olivencia worked a headlock on the mat during the early stages of the match. Taylor got a nice nearfall with a pinning combination a short time later. Taylor got another pinning combination with a bridge a short time later to go up 1-0.

McGuinness said perhaps Olivencia had taken Taylor too lightly during the early stages of the match. Olivencia fired back with a huge forearm a short time later that sent Taylor flying into the corner. Taylor caught Jamin in the corner and hit a big monkey flip a short time later. Olivencia fired up and hit a really nice jumping DDT to tie the score 1-1. Olivencia pounced on Taylor right away and hit a series of knees to his head before pinning Taylor with a backslide to go up 2-1.

Olivencia went after Taylor in the corner and got a nice twisting belly to belly suplex that caused the crow to gasp. He tried to follow up with a splash a short time later, but Taylor got out of the way. Taylor recovered and peppered Olivencia with some kicks to the leg. Olivencia slipped around him coming off the ropes a short time later and hit a big clothesline for a nearfall.

They went back and forth and Taylor caught Olivencia with a twisting headlock driver for a nearfall. Olivencia fired back with a clothesline and hit a splash off the top to go up 3-1 with under 30 seconds left. The time expired before Taylor could recover.

Olivencia was interviewed after the match. Olivencia shook hands with Taylor after the match. Olivencia said whether the fans like him or not, he's winning this tournament. He then made the announcer say his name while he spun around in the ring.

Winner: Jamin Olivencia 3-1. Olivencia looked impressive here and was dominant after Taylor caught him with a pinning combination during the early stages of the match. Olivencia appears to have some potential, but he needs to cut down on the goofy mannerisms to be taken as a true threat to win this tournament.

(4) Davey Richards vs. Kyle O’Reilly in a Bracket A First Round match. O’Reilly got an arm bar right away and Richards tapped to give O’Reilly a 1-0 lead. Richards got a leg/arm combination submission, but O’Reilly fought out. The pace picked up and Richards fought out of an arm submission before hitting a dropkick. Richards then hit a running kick to O’Reilly’s head from the apron. Richards went back to work on O’Reilly with another arm/leg combination submission that he turned into a pinning combination for a nearfall. O’Reilly fired back and took down Richards with a leg sweep after a flurry of strikes. O’Reilly went back to working over Richards and targeted his arm.

They battled up top. Richards grabbed a kimura up top, but had to let it go. Richards shoved O’Reilly to the mat and came off the top with a double stomp, but O’Reilly got out of the way. They went back and forth and Richards caught O’Reilly with an ankle lock to tie it at 1-1. Richards went right back on the attack and hit a missile dropkick. Richards missed a charge in the corner. O’Reilly hit a kick to his shoulder, but Richards countered O’Reilly a short time later and got an arm bar. O’Reilly slipped out and countered into an arm bar of his own. They continued to exchange counters until O’Reilly got a rollup for a nearfall. O’Reilly caught Richards with a knee strike as he charged at him, but he couldn’t capitalize as Richards fought out of all of his attacks. They went to a big exchange that ended with Richards hitting a double stomp and both men were down with a minute left and the fans fired up. Both men were slow to get up. They began exchanging kicks in the middle of the ring. Richards hit a big series of kicks in the corner. Richards tried to grab O’Reilly out of the corner, but he held on to the ropes and time expired.

The 3 minute sudden death period began with both men going right at it and exchanging strikes. Richards went for a springboard, but O’Reilly caught him. Richards fought out with a knee strike. They went back and forth and O’Reilly hit a Regalplex with a bridge for a nearfall and the fans fired up. O’Reilly hit a series of strikes and a brainbuster, but Richards kicked out. O’Reilly grabbed a guillotine choke with a little over a minute left. Richards fought out and eventually countered a tombstone attempt from O’Reilly into one of his own for a nearfall. Richards went up top with under a minute left and hit a double stomp for a nearfall. O’Reilly countered Richards and got a guillotine choke. Richards grabbed O’Reilly in the ankle lock at the same time. The clock wound down and time expired and neither man tapped.

The crowd booed when it was announced that both men were eliminated from the tournament. Richards and O’Reilly teased continuing the match. The ref stepped between them. The crowd chanted that they wanted more as Thatcher said an alternate would replace them in the second round.

Richards got on the mic and told the announcer the match wasn’t awesome. He said he had come to LA for a fight. Richards said he wanted to determine who the better man was. Richards and O’Reilly shook hands.


Winner: Richards and O’Reilly were eliminated from the tournament because they went to a draw 1-1- This was a fantastic match that had the crowd going crazy by the end of the match. Both men did some excellent submission work throughout the match. The hard-hitting exchanges down the stretch and in the overtime period were fantastic. It’s a shame they couldn’t have a conclusive winner for this match. It was a really good sprint under the rules for this tournament.

(5) Pepper Parks vs. Vordell Walker in a Bracket A First Round match. Walker slammed Parks to the mat and got the full mount for a 2 count. Walker grabbed a leg submission, but Parks escaped. Walker caught Parks coming off the ropes with a suplex a short time later. Walker hit a belly-to-belly suplex before tying Park’s leg up in the ropes and nailing him with a pair of running kicks. Parks cut off Walker with an elbow as he went for another kick to the leg, but Walker caught him with a rolling knee bar to go up 1-0. Walker continued to work over Park’s leg after getting the first point of the match. Both men then went to a big exchange of strikes. Walker got another leg submission, but Parks managed to kick himself free. Walker ran right into a knee to the head. Parks followed up with a twisting neck breaker to tie it up at 1-1.

Parks went up top a short time later, but Walker caught him with a jumping kick for a 2 count. Walker lit up Parks with some chops in the corner. Walker went for a superplex, but Parks blocked it. Parks ended up hitting a sunset bomb off the top. Parks got up and climbed the turnbuckles with a little over 2 minutes left. Parks connected with a jumping neck breaker off the top for a pin fall to go up 2-1. The fans tried to rally behind Walker, who was slow to get up. Parks came off the ropes, but Walker caught him and hit a one-handed slam with under a minute left for a 2 count. Walker went for the anaconda vice and then transitioned into a cross-arm breaker, but Parks got the ropes. Walker went for a single leg crab with under 15 seconds left. Parks managed to not submit and time expired.

Both men shook hands after the match. Parks was told by the announcer that he didn’t have an opponent because O’Reilly and Richards went to a draw. Parks put over Walker as a tough opponent. It was a little hard to hear what Walker was saying because there was an echo in the house mic.

Winner: Vordell Walker 2-1 – The action was solid throughout, but the crowd wasn’t into the match until the last couple of minutes. Walker didn’t really sell his leg much after getting the upper hand on Parks as he went up 2-1. That took away from the drama down the stretch as Walker tried to tie the match with time expiring with a single leg crab submission.

(6) B-Boy vs. Jeff McAllister in a Bracket A First Round match. B-Boy got one of the bigger receptions coming out for this match. B-Boy got the upper hand and hit a neck breaker off the ropes, but was slow to cover McAllister and only got a 2 count. B-Boy hit a shining wizard a short time later to go up 1-0. McAllister acted groggy, but surprised B-Boy with a rollup for a nearfall. McAllister dropped B-Boy stomach-first over the top rope a short time later. He followed up with a springboard leg drop and a double stomp for a 2 count. The fans tried to rally behind B-Boy, but McAllister took him down with an elbow. McAllister began targeting the mid-section and he covered B-Boy a short time later, but only got a 2 count. McAllister hit a pair of snap suplexes, but only got a 2 count. McAllister took forever to cover B-Boy after catching him with a knee to the mid-section and the announcers pointed out how much time he was taking to capitalize on his attacks.

McAllister continued to work over B-Boy with just under 4 minutes remaining in the time limit. The fans chanted “You can’t do it” after McAllister failed to get a pin fall on B-Boy. McAllister finally locked in a Texas cloverleaf submission to tie the match at 1-1 with just under 3 minutes remaining. They went to a spot where both men hit a double clothesline and were slow to get to their feet. The crowd tried to rally behind B-Boy, as both men exchanged strikes. B-Boy caught McAllister with a sit powerbomb, but only got a 2 count and the crowd groaned. B-Boy followed up with a shining wizard, but was too tired to make a full cover and he only got a 2 count. Both men began trading blows with a minute left in the time limit. B-Boy hit an air-raid crash out of nowhere to go up 2-1. McAllister was slow to get up with 20 seconds remaining in the time limit. McAllister caught B-Boy by surprise with the cross-face, but the time limit expired and B-Boy didn’t tap out.

The announcer came into the ring to conduct the post-match interview. It was hard to hear what B-Boy said until he indicated that nobody in the tournament could beat him.

Winner: B-Boy – The action was solid throughout and the fans were into B-Boy, who wrestles in the area frequently. McAllister dominated a lot of the match and targeted B-Boy’s mid-section before finally getting the typing point with the Texas cloverleaf. There was some good drama down the stretch as McAllister tried to tie the match, but ultimately couldn’t get B-Boy to tap to the crossface.

(7) Steve Anthony vs. Caprice Coleman in a Bracket A First Round match. Coleman stayed step ahead of Anthony with a series of headlock takeovers during the early stages of the match. Anthony seemed to be step slow at the beginning of a sequence of exchanges that ended with Coleman catching him with a dropkick off the ropes. Anthony fired back and tossed Coleman head-first into the middle turnbuckle. He then nailed Coleman with a dropkick as he got in his first sustained offense in the match. Anthony signaled for the 450, but he took a long time to go up top and Coleman cut him off. Anthony blocked a jumping hurricanrana and followed up with a 450 to go up 1-0 with a shade over 4 minutes left.

Anthony hit a side-slam variation and covered Coleman for a 2 count. Coleman fired back and caught Anthony with a big punch after he came off the ropes. Anthony rolled to the outside. Coleman went for a springboard, but Anthony got out of the way. Coleman landed on his feet and connected with a kick around the ringpost a short time later. Coleman caught Anthony with a kick from the apron and went for a springboard senton on Anthony. He connected, but ended up kicking one of the chandeliers as he came down. That looked dangerous with the glass flying down towards the ringside area. One piece of glass actually hit Coleman in the head. The spot fired the crowd up as Anthony and Coleman went at it. Coleman hit a big cross body off the top for a nearfall. They showed a nice replay of the spot. Anthony fired back and went up top. He went for a 450, but Coleman got out of the way and got a nearfall with a rollup. With under a minute left Coleman went for a series of pinning combinations, but could not get a pin. Anthony hit a flying knee strike and there were only 30 seconds left. Coleman hit three northern lights suplexes with a bridge, but Anthony kicked out.

After the match, the announcer came into the ring and said there was no glass ceiling in that match. The crowd booed him. He asked Anthony about the match, but Coleman interrupted him. Coleman grabbed the mic and told the crowd to give Anthony a round of applause. Coleman said they’re two of the oldest competitors in the tournament full of young wrestlers. He said they showed that they could still wrestle. Anthony put over Coleman, but said he was just a little bit better.

Winner: Steve Anthony 1-0 – This was a very good match. It was a shade below Richards-O’Reilly, but they put together some really nice sequences and Coleman got a chance to show what he can do as a singles wrestler and he impressed. I hadn’t seen Anthony before, but he was impressive as well. The spot down the stretch where Coleman accidentally kicked the chandelier was scary, but it got the crowd fired up and the energy carried through until the end.

(8) Adam Cole vs. Anthony Nese in a Bracket A First Round match. The announcers pointed out that Nese was in better shape than Cole. They went to a big exchange that ended with both men going for superkicks at the same time before pulling back. Nese came off the ropes and tied Cole up in a nice combination submission before he switched it into a pinning combination for a 2 count. Nese charged at Cole, who back dropped him to the floor. Cole hit a slingshot plancha to the floor before tossing Nese back into the ring. Nese nailed Cole with a dropkick and went for a slingshot plancha, but Cole nailed him with a superkick on the floor. Nese barely beat the ref’s count, but walked right into the Florida Keys German to give Cole a 1-0 lead.

Nese fired back and favored his leg but still managed to connect with a springboard moonsault for a 2 count. Nese continued to work over Cole with under 5 minutes remaining in the time limit. Cole countered Nese a tossed him over his back and Nese landed on his injured Knee. Cole hit a neck breaker over his knee for a nearfall a short time later, but didn’t focus his attack on Nese’s injured leg. The crowd tried to rally behind Nese. Cole ended up hitting a dragon screw and Nese sold his leg. Cole grabbed a leg submission with 3 minutes remaining in the time limit. Nese fired back and caught Cole with a spinning kick. Nese favored his leg, but managed to take Cole down with a running clothesline for a 2 count. Nese hit a pump-handle tiger driver for a nearfall with under 2 minutes left. Nese hit a one-handed buckle bomb on Cole after he kicked out of a pinning combination. Cole was slow to recover and Nese didn’t immediately capitalize. Cole went for a jumping code red, but Nese caught him and hit an inverted piledriver on Cole to tie the match at 1-1. Nese went right after Cole with 30 seconds left. Cole tried to apply a figure 4, but Nese fought it off. Cole got the figure 4 with under seconds left, but Nese hung on and the time limit expired.

Cole went right after Nese’s leg at the beginning of the overtime period. Nese fought back and they began exchanging forearms. Nese fired up with a series of kicks on Cole and hit a German with a bridge for a nearfall. Nese held his knee and was slow to go after Cole. Cole countered a suplex into a neck breaker over his knee for a nearfall with under 1:30 remaining in the OT period. Nese fired back and sent for a dive off the second turnbuckle, but Cole hit him with a superkick. Nese tried to surprise Cole with a rollup, but Cole countered it and got the three count to win 2-1.

Cole was interviewed after the match and the fans applauded him. Cole said he saw an opportunity and took it. Cole said he reigns supreme in independent wrestling. Cole said he was going to win the Race for the Ring. Nese got on the mic and put Cole over as one of the best wrestlers he’s been in the ring with. Nese wished Cole good luck in the rest of the tournament.

Winner: Adam Cole 2-1 in overtime – This was a very good main event. They built the story around Cole going after Nese’s injured leg. The action down the stretch was very good with Cole eventually getting Nese in the figure 4 only for Nese to hold on and force the match to go to an overtime period.

Overall thoughts: (6.5) – The concept of a tournament of matches with a 10 minute time limit might give some people pause when it comes to purchasing WCA’s “2013 Race for the Ring Tournament: Bracket A,” but the concept works out quite nicely, especially as the match nears the time limit and wrestlers are scrambling to either tie or win the match down the stretch. I really admire that WCA is donating 25% of all of their tickets sales to charity and hopefully as the tournament goes on, they will get more support from independent wrestling fans out in the Los Angeles area. On this show, WCA ended up donating 50% of their ticket sales to a local children’s hospital, which was a great thing to do considering the attendance.

The feeling of anticipation as to whether or not a wrestler could tie or win the match had me into every contest here even if I didn’t know some of the participants. Having a variety of independent talent representing various independent promotions was a good idea and I think once WCA irons out some kinks, they will have a compelling tournament for independent wrestling fans around the world to watch on DVD.

The undercard started slow, but the show picked up once O’Reilly-Richards took place. O’Reilly-Richards was a fantastic match and they had a very good hard-hitting battle that stole the show. They wrestled at a heck of a pace and the overtime period was excellent and had the fans in attendance going crazy. I really could not believe how much these two fit into the match in such a short amount of time.

I hadn’t seen Steve Anthony before, but he was really good in his match against Caprice Coleman. The match was a shade below the Richards-O’Reilly match, but the second half of Coleman-Anthony was very good and the crowd got into the action down the stretch. The spot where Coleman kicked the chandelier going for a springboard senton was scary, as his back foot hit the chandelier and glass went everywhere. Luckily nobody was hurt and the crowd heat went up after the accidental spot.

The main event featured Adam Cole taking on Tony Nese in another really good match. I really enjoyed the story they told with Cole going after Nese’s injured leg. Nese did a good job of selling his leg and even though the stipulations once again added a lot of drama to the final minutes of the match and overtime.

On this show, WCA utilized a lot of the different scenarios possible given the rules. Richards and O’Reilly failed to advance and will be replaced by another wrestler because they after the overtime period. There were several different scenarios given the rules and just about all of them played out during this show. The only rule that didn’t apply was a wrestler losing a point for getting DQ’d. It will be interesting to see how that plays out further into the tournament, which features a 32 man field.

I would give the show a higher score, but the menu made it frustrating to navigate through the show. There was no option to play the entire show at once, so the viewer is forced to click on every single segment on the show and watch each segment individually. If that doesn’t bother you, you can boost my score by a point because this was a fun show to watch with several very good matches. Hopefully the future DVD releases can fix this problem. It was also difficult to hear the in-ring promos at times. I like the idea of an interviewer coming into the ring after every match to interview the winner, but sometimes I couldn’t hear what was being said very well because there was an echo in the mic.

There are a lot of positives to be found on this show and if WCA can iron out the kinks and find a way to draw more fans to their shows, I would love to see this concept executed every year.

You can purchase “2013 Race for the Ring: Bracket A by clicking HERE or by visiting WrestlingCares.com

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