8/28 HOG HIGH INTENSITY SHOW REPORT: Kingston vs. Marufugi, Bandido vs. Low Ki, more

HOUSE OF GLORY HIGH INTENSITY REPORT
AUGUST 28, 2022 (RECORDED)
TAPED IN TERMINAL 5 IN NEW YORK CITY, NY
AIRED ON YOUTUBE
REPORT BY JUSTIN MCCLELLAND, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

MLW Fusion Commentators: Rich Bocchini and Joe Dombrowski

(1) MATT TRAVIS MEMORIAL BATTLE ROYAL

Ultra Violet eliminated Smiley to win the Battle Royal. Match was joined in progress with only a few people left in the ring. Ultra Violet and Smiley teamed up to eliminate Urban Warrior and then fought several minutes. Violet gave smiley a ripcord koppo Kick then clotheslined Smiley out.

Ultra Violet gave a teary promo about how much the win and honoring Matt Travis meant to her. Ultra Violet challenged Natalya Markova for the HOG Women’s Championship for a match at a later date.

(McClelland’s Analysis: I can’t judge the whole thing as it was joined in progress. Violet and Smiley had a pretty good match at the end and Violet gave a very good babyface promo.)

(2) CARLOS LA SOMBRA RAMIREZ & ROACHIE ROACH vs. HOGPD vs. ENCORE & KEN BROADWAY

Broadway pinned James with a high angle German suplex. Several crazy dives to start. Much of the match was about Ramirez being a monster and dominating every time he tagged in. Encore and Broadway were finally able to take him down with double teams.

(McClelland’s Analysis: A very strong match. Despite the comedy gimmick, the HOGPD did more serious moves you would expect. There was some comedy early but also several high spots. All six guys looked very good.)

(3) BANDIDO vs. LOW KI

Low-Ki pinned Bandido at 8:53 with the fisherman’s buster. Bandido was replacing the previously announced Killer Kross. Bandido dominated much of the way, countering Warriors Way with a top rope block buster slam to a huge pop. Bandido tried a 21 plex but Low Ki landed on his feet, gave Bandido a jumping double stomp and finished him. Low-Ki gave Bandido his necktie afterwards and shook Bandido’s hand. Fans threw a fair bit of money in the ring as well.

(McClelland’s Analysis: A spectacular match. These guys worked very well together. Bandido wowed the crowd with a series of spectacular moves and was able to win over the previously pro-Low-Ki crowd to his side by the end.)

(4) MIGHTY MANTEQUILLA vs. KC NAVARRO vs. NOLO KITANO vs. GRIM REFFER vs. BUDDY MATTHEWS vs. BRIAN XL – HOG Six-Way Cruiserweight Championship

This was originally announced as Mantequilla vs Navarro but Navarro turned the match into a 6-way match, per the name of the title. Matthews, who doesn’t look like a cruiserweight at all, dominated much of the time, pinning Reefer. After the referee tried to stop Brian XL from using a chair on Matthews, Brian shoved the ref and was DQ’d. Buddy then went ham with the chair on everyone, and was also DQ’d. Mantequilla pinned Kitano with a backslide. Navarro pulled Mantequilla’s mask off to try and thwart him, but Mantequilla didn’t care his face was shown, instead choke slamming Navarro off the top rope and pinning him with a code red at 14:51.

(McClelland’s Analysis: There was a lot of confusing aspects to this match – why was a 6-way scramble title being defended in a one-on-one match in the first place? Why would the heel champ purposefully add four more guys to the match? The unveiling of all the entrants took way too long. The announcers were totally unaware it was an elimination match until after the first fall. All that aside, the match itself was tremendously fun with crazy moves from all the participants, a couple of good stories capped by Mantequilla’s big victory against all odds. Even if you haven’t followed the promotion, it was easy enough to understand this story and enjoy the face triumphing.)

(5) JACOB FATU vs. BRODY KING – HOG Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final

The two immediately started brawling around the ring. King threw a chair at Fatu but instead of just disqualifying King, the ref tossed the whole match out. After some more brawling, the lights went out and Malakai Black appeared in the ring. Amazing Red, who was supposed to have a one-on-one match with Black later came out to even the odds and called for a tag match right away.

(6) JACOB FATU & AMAZING RED vs. MALAKI BLACK vs. BRODY KING

Red and Fatu won via DQ at 12:36. All four guys worked very hard and did some spectacular spots. Red, who is just coming back from injury, had his leg worked over for some time. Fatu and King – both large guys – hurled their bodies around with abandon, hitting superplexes and moonsaults. Fatu saved Red from a super Ganso Bomb and Red was instead able to give King a Code Red off the second rope. Before he could make the pin, Buddy Mathews ran in for the DQ. Fatu was injured outside and The House of Black looked to make mincemeat of Amazing Red until Low-Ki and Brian XL made the save. The faces made a challenge for a House of Glory vs House of Black match in the future.

(McClelland’s Analysis: This match was great until the end, but the finish was beyond frustrating. Having essentially a non-match in a match that’s supposed to crown the world champion is pretty bad but then following up with another DQ feels like a huge waste of time. Typically, singles matches get combined into a tag match so you can get a finish. Red getting pinned in particular would have made sense so he could seek revenge in the upcoming 6 man.)

(7) CHARLES MASON vs. JOEY JANELA – Crown Jewel Championship

Mason pinned Janela at 15:41 with an inverted piledriver through a chair. Match started with a brawl up the ring and Janela throwing Mason around. Mason spit something in Janela’s face and gave him a pendulum DDT to take over. Janela accidentally clobbered the ref, which let Mason grab a choke. Ken Broadway ran out and attacked Mason and put Janela on top, but it only got a 2 count. Following a number of false finishes Mason finally hit his finisher

(McClelland’s Analysis: Mason has an excellent creepy vibe about him and is very charismatic. Match however didn’t have a lot of heat and definitely went too long. There were too many false finishes and given the show was running short on time by this point, they could have stood to trim it a bit.)

(8) THE BRISCOE BROTHERS vs. THE MANE EVENT vs. PRIVATE PARTY – HOG Tag Team Championship

Jay Briscoe pinned Midas Black at 11:05 following the Jay Driller and the Froggy Bow. This was advertised as an open challenge for the tag titles. Max Castor came out with Mane Event as their hype man. Briscoes dominated a lot but also did some selling for both teams. All three teams were faces here. Main Event gave Isiah Kassidy their finisher but Kassidy rolled out of the ring. Jay Lyon gave both PP an Asai Moonsault but that left Black alone with the Briscoes and he was quickly double teamed and pinned.

McClelland’s Analysis: A good match where everyone got to shine. But Mane Event had a match against the Briscoes last month where the crowd fully got on the underdog’s side and desperately wanted them to win only to see them pinned in the exact same way. Mane Even losing the rematch a month later felt redundant and adding Private Party to the mix didn’t add anything to the story.

(9) EDDIE KINGSTON vs. NAOMICHI MARUFUJI

Kingston pinned Marufuji at 7:47. Match was rushed as the show was running out of time. Lots of chop battles with Eddie continually being bested by Marufuji’s chops. Both guys hit their big moves but kept returning to the striking battles. Kingston kicked out of sliced bread and a running knee to the back of the head. Marufuji gave Kingston a jumping knee but he shrugged it off and hit the spinning backfist. Marufuji gave Kingston a second weakened jumping knee but Kingston shrugged that off as well and gave Marufuji two more spinning backfist for the pin. Both guys hugged afterwards and Kingston put Marufuji over as a legend.

(McClelland’s Analysis: Match felt very rushed. Eddie’s continual selling of the chops was a highlight. He was obviously thrilled to be working with one of his heroes.)

FINAL THOUGHTS: The work in this show was pretty good but the show itself was frustrating. Multiple DQ’s in all the matches involving House of Black was particularly aggravating. Time management was also a major problem on this show since they apparently had a hard out at 3 hours. But if that was the case, why did they still take a 15-minute intermission and let the 6-way entrances go on forever? I will be discussing this show further with Chris Maitland on the Dailycast Wrestling Coast to Coast this Thursday.

CATCH-UP: 8/24 WOMEN’S WRESTLING ARMY REPORT: LuFisto vs. Max The Impaler, Laynie Luck vs. Gia Scott