Break It Down: CZW Southern Violence

Southern Violence on August 7th, 2010

Opening Match: CZW Wired Television Title: Drew Gulak © vs. Rich Swann
Swann snaps off a few armdrags and hits a suplex. He dropkicks Gulak to the floor and armdrags him back into the ring. Gulak fights back with a gutwrench suplex. Swann tries a sunset flip but Gulak blocks it and takes control. Swann connects with a missile dropkick and adds a nice spin kick. Swann finds knees on a standing 450 attempt and Gulak rolls him up to retain his title at 7:16. They were going along fine until the abrupt finish. This match could have used five more minutes to develop, especially considering that the crowd was behind Swann and believed a title change could occur. **¼

Match #2: A.R. Fox vs. Facade
I’m used to watching Facade at my local promotion (IWC) and I’m interested to see how he fares in CZW. They trade armdrags and Fox connects with a dropkick. Facade responds with a spin kick. Fox sends him to the outside but gets tripped up on the apron. Fox hits a twisting brainbuster and lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Facade finds success with a springboard bulldog. Fox blocks a springboard and hits a neckbreaker. Facade answers with a springboard enzuigiri and connects with a spin kick. He walks up the ropes and lands a dive to the outside. Facade comes off the guardrail and hits a blockbuster on the cement floor. Fox avoids another springboard maneuver by simply throwing a chair at Facade. He hits a guillotine leg drop and lands a moonsault. Back in, Facade dropkicks a chair into Fox’s face but misses a split-legged moonsault. Fox slips on a springboard and hits an innovative chinbreaker. Fox follows with an air raid crash onto a chair for the win at 9:18. These two were extremely impressive here and CZW should start booking Facade on a regular basis. They packed a ton of action into nine minutes and put together a visually-stunning spotfest. Despite one spot going awry towards the end, they managed to hit all of their big moves and just found numerous ways to be innovative. ***

Match #3: DJ Hyde and Greg Excellent vs. T.J. and Kirby Mack
The winning team will qualify to compete in a tournament to crown new CZW World Tag Team Champions. Team Macktion stall early on. Excellent makes their double teaming backfire. Hyde punishes Kirby with some chops. He misses a corner charge and Team Macktion connect with stereo yakuza kicks. They isolate Hyde until he spears Kirby and makes the tag. Excellent hits a samoan drop on Kirby and lays out TJ with a modified gourdbuster. Kirby plants Excellent with a tornado DDT. Hyde hits a swinging side slam on TJ and dropkicks Kirby into the turnbuckles. He then overhead suplexes TJ into Kirby. Excellent follows with a corner cannonball. Sami Callihan and Joe Gacy come to ringside and distract Hyde and Excellent. Team Macktion hit a chinbreaker-backcracker combination on Excellent for the victory at 10:35. Most of the early portions of the match were devoted to comedy and playing up the crowd. The action settled into a groove but this contest ended up being used for storyline advancement with the Switchblade Conspiracy being involved in the finish. Still, I’m glad that Team Macktion qualified for the tournament, as I much rather see them in tag team matches than Hyde and Excellent. **

Match #4: Tyler Veritas vs. Sabian
These two had a match at Home Sweet Home but it only lasted three minutes and was inconsequential overall. Hopefully they can improve upon it here. They start with some mat wrestling and the crowd seems appreciative. I guess we really aren’t in Philly. Veritas connects with a leg lariat and the action starts becoming intense. Multiple expletives from Sabian follow as well as stiff strikes. Veritas answers with an enzuigiri and hits a powerslam. Sabian finds success with a finlay roll and lands a frog splash. Veritas hits a half nelson suplex and applies a crossface. Sabian fights out and hits a rope-assisted DDT. He tries for a pin attempt but Veritas gets his foot on the bottom rope. Sabian low blows the referee out of frustration. He plants Veritas with another DDT. Adam Cole enters the ring and chases Sabian away. The referee gives Veritas the win via disqualification at around 10:00. These two don’t have much chemistry together and the action was too back and forth for my liking. The finish was also incredibly puzzling. Sabian just doesn’t seem to even try sometimes and he did a terrible job of putting over his frustration during the finish. I would like to see how Veritas works with wrestlers who actually put forth some effort. *½

Match #5: Sami Callihan and Joe Gacy vs. Danny Havoc and Scotty Vortekz
Everyone starts brawling immediately. Vortekz snaps off a headscissors on Gacy and clotheslines him to the floor. Callihan russian leg sweeps Havoc onto a chair. He trades forearms with Vortekz and hits an overhead suplex onto a chair. Havoc falls victim to an unprotected chair shot. There’s an incredibly dumb spot that I’m going to have a hard time getting over. Callihan tries to brainbuster Vortekz onto two propped up chairs. Havoc comes over and takes out Callihan’s legs, causing Vortekz to essentially be dropped head-first onto the chairs. Of course the crowd loves it. Gacy blasts Havoc with an unprotected chair shot to the head. The Switchblade Conspiracy powerbomb Vortekz. Callihan gets caught with a lungblower-dragon suplex combination. Havoc drapes Gacy across the boots of Vortekz. Gacy powerbombs Vortekz onto a chair while Callihan missile dropkicks Havoc. Callihan applies a stretch muffler on Havoc but Vortekz breaks it up. A table is setup in the ring. Gacy powerbombs Havoc through the table for the victory at 9:48. This was less along the lines of a deathmatch and more of a heated brawl. No one bled profusely, they spaced out their weapon usage, and the action was pretty continuous. For my money, this is the type of hardcore match I want to see from CZW. While there were a few questionable moments throughout, I think these four did a good job of delivering an engaging brawl that held the crowd’s attention. **½

Match #6: CZW World Junior Heavyweight Title: Adam Cole © vs. Ryan Slater
These two had a good match at Lines In The Sand. Cole’s entrance music starts skipping but he makes the best of it. Slater attacks from behind but walks into a few armdrags. Cole clotheslines him to the floor and follows out with a dive. Interference by Rodney Rush allows Slater to springboard dropkick Cole off the apron. In the ring, Slater hits a hangman’s neckbreaker and adds a slingshot double stomp. Cole misses a crossbody and Slater hits another neckbreaker. He controls until Cole connects with a superkick out of nowhere. Cole comes off the middle rope with a forearm smash but Slater responds with a tiger suplex. Cole hits a wheelbarrow german suplex. Slater answers with a powerbomb and adds a flying elbow drop. They trade punches and the referee accidentally gets knocked down. Rodney Rush tries to involve himself again to no avail. Cole connects with the Corona Kick to retain his title at 10:16. While this outing wasn’t bad, I prefer their previous match by a mile. They weren’t as fluid here and the action was missing a sign of psychology to keep everything together. Nevertheless, these two are definitely capable of producing a quality match when called upon and it’ll be interesting to see how they progress in the coming months. **¾

Sabian attacks Cole after the match. He lays out Cole with an implant DDT and swears at the crowd.

Match #7: CZW World Heavyweight Title: Jon Moxley © vs. Drake Younger vs. Nick Gage
Moxley tries his best to mock the crowd and does a tremendous job. The action goes to the outside where Younger whips Gage into the crowd. Back in, Gage misses an elbow drop and crashes into a lighttube. On the floor, Gage breaks a lighttube over Younger’s head and throws a chair at Moxley. Younger murders Gage with about seven chair shots. Moxley breaks a lighttube over Younger’s back and locks in a figure four on Gage. Younger breaks it up and throws Moxley into the arena wall. He applies a sharpshooter on Moxley but Gage breaks it up with a lighttube shot. They start brawling outside of the venue. Younger pushes Moxley off the bed of a truck. Gage back drops Younger onto a picnic table. Moxley connects with some vicious headbutts on Gage. Younger runs across picnic tables and lands a dive onto them. Moxley and Younger exchange quick pin attempts on grass. Moxley plasters Younger with a guitar and it doesn’t break. They work their way back into the building. Gage wakes up with a few lighttube shots. Younger whips him into the concession stand. In the ring, Younger uses a stapler against Gage, who responds by overhead suplexing him into lighttubes. Gage sentons Younger through a table while Moxley looks dazed on the floor. Moxley lays out Younger with an ace crusher onto lighttubes. Gage spikes Moxley with a piledriver to become the new CZW World Heavyweight Champion at 18:59. This was the best deathmatch I’ve seen since I started reviewing CZW. The weapon spots worked without a hitch and all of the brawling outside of the venue was extremely inventive. Younger was a trooper throughout the whole match, taking a lot of punishment and continuing to persevere. Gage winning the title is an interesting decision and we’ll see how it plays out. Regardless of your opinion on the outcome, this match is worth watching simply because it’s something different without coming off as too over the top. ***¼

The 411: Southern Violence is a decent show but the wrestling quality just isn’t high enough. CZW seems to be delivering shows that I don’t mind watching but nothing that I can fully recommend to others. Fox and Facade proved to be the standouts on this show early on and the main event certainly came through. However, the rest of the card is filled with contests that didn't quite reach the next level. While I'm at least interested to see what the next show brings, I can't give this release a recommendation.

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]