Break It Down: CZW International Incident

International Incident on April 10th, 2011

Opening Match: Sami Callihan vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Callihan charges at the opening bell. They exchange strikes and stare each other down. Callihan hits a northern lights suplex but gets caught by a series of kicks. O’Reilly hits a backbreaker and connects with a two knee drops across the back. Callihan responds with two dragon screw leg whips and a gamenguiri. O’Reilly avoids a facewash kick and blocks a dive with an uppercut. They brawl around ringside and O’Reilly connects with a missile dropkick in the ring. He starts to favor his left leg. Both men fall to the canvas after another strike exchange. They trade strikes yet again and O’Reilly hits rolling butterfly suplexes. Callihan answers with rolling german suplexes. Now O’Reilly utilizes rolling german suplexes. Callihan hits a dragon screw leg whip in the ropes and connects with a facewash kick. O’Reilly reverses the stretch muffler into a crossface. Callihan goes back to the stretch muffler and grapevines the hold for the win at 10:58. This match progressed exactly how I expected, with relentless action that would have fit perfectly on an EVOLVE undercard. However, the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm hurt this contest. These two were having extended strike exchanges and hitting multiple german suplexes to almost no reaction from the crowd. Still, both men put in a solid performance and Callihan picked up a nice win over Adam Cole’s partner. **½

Match #2: CZW Wired Television Title: Drew Gulak © vs. Zack Sabre, Jr.
Gulak has been the champion for a year. I would list all of his memorable title defenses, but that would take too long. Sabre creatively escapes a side headlock and applies one of his own. He locks in a bow and arrow and Gulak desperately reaches the bottom rope. They trade control on the mat. Sabre gains the advantage and connects with a stiff kick. He tries a few quick pin attempts to no avail. They exchange headbutts and Gulak finds success with a rollup to retain his title at 8:51. This was a fine showcase of mat wrestling but the action never reached a higher gear. There were numerous other roster members that I would matched up with Sabre. **

Match #3: Sabian and Joker vs. Azrieal and Bandido, Jr.
Joker and Bandido have a fast exchange that ends in a stalemate. Azrieal and Bandido snap off stereo hurricanranas. Sabian catches Azrieal with a dropkick. Bandido hits a suplex on Sabian and Azrieal follows with a slingshot senton. Joker connects with a basement dropkick on Bandido and Philly’s Most Wanted isolate him. He avoids a back drop from Sabian and makes the tag. Azrieal connects with an enzuigiri on Sabian and adds a missile dropkick. Sabian quickly returns the favor. Bandido hits a lungblower on Joker while Azrieal connects with a flying double stomp on Sabian. Joker wins a strike exchange against Azrieal and holds him in position for a dropkick from Sabian. Bandido connects with a shotgun dropkick on Joker and hits a backcracker on Sabian. He hurricanranas out of a powerbomb attempt by Joker. Bandido misses a flying double stomp and Joker rolls him up for the victory at 11:05. These two teams delivered a solid match that was only held back by some moments of miscommunication. Azrieal and Bandido looked pretty good in the ring and I wouldn’t be opposed to them appearing in CZW on a more consistent basis. **¾

After the match, Sabian takes a cheap shot and both teams brawl to the back.

Match #4: CZW World Junior Heavyweight Title: Adam Cole © vs. Rich Swann
Swann connects with a dropkick and gets the crowd behind him with a thumb to the eye. He tries a springboard maneuver but Mia Yim grabs his foot, allowing Cole to connect with a Corona Kick. Cole hits a northern lights suplex and takes control. Swann comes back with a wheelbarrow stunner and connects with an awesome pele kick. He follows with an innovative leg drop but runs into a superkick. Cole hits a fireman’s carry neckbreaker. Swann hurricanranas him off the middle rope and lands a standing shooting star press for a nearfall. Cole recovers with a superkick and hits the Corona Crash to retain his title at 8:33. Although I wish that this match received more time, these two were still able to produce a worthwhile contest. Cole has been on a tear as of late and Swann was on point with his exciting offense. They generated some believable nearfalls towards the end and woke up the crowd in yet another entertaining title defense for Cole. ***

Match #5: A.R. Fox vs. Ty Hagen vs. Ryan McBride vs. Ryan Slater vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Alex Colon
McBride takes down Slater and Gresham with a hurricanrana and lands a handspring moonsault. Hagen connects with a leg lariat on Colon and takes him out with a dive to the floor. Fox headscissors Slater and hits a twisting brainbuster. Slater responds with a german suplex and a tiger suplex. Gresham lands a moonsault off the apron. Colon, McBride, and Fox follow with dives of their own. In the ring, Hagen catches Fox with an enzuigiri. He hits a german suplex and adds a running knee strike. Colon hits a backslide driver on Hagen. Gresham hits a snap suplex on Colon and lands a top rope senton. McBride plants Gresham with a flipping death valley driver. Slater hits his piledriver in the ropes on McBride but Fox breaks up the pin attempt with a splash. Fox hits a michinoku driver on Slater and follows with an air raid crash for the win at 8:16. Fun sprint that never took the time to settle down. Everyone was clean with their offense but no one managed to stand out besides Fox. **½

Match #6: Jon Moxley vs. Jake Crist
This is Moxley’s last match in CZW before he leaves for WWE developmental. Jake connects with a leg lariat and hits a neckbreaker. Moxley fights back with his hangman’s suplex but gets caught by a flying knee strike. Robert Anthony interjects himself, allowing Moxley to connect with a baseball slide. He throws Jake into the guardrail. In the ring, Moxley hits a piledriver onto a chair. He applies an STF but Jake reaches the bottom rope. Jake elbows Moxley to the floor and follows out with a dive. Moxley retreats into the crowd where Jake catches him with an asai moonsault. In the ring, Jake connects with a missile dropkick. He nails Moxley with a knockout kick and hits a brainbuster for a nearfall. Moxley synchs in a fujiwara armbar but Jake rolls through and locks in a triangle choke. Moxley powers out and hits a bucklebomb. Jake lands a flying crossbody and hits a tiger suplex for a two count. Anthony provides a distraction, allowing Moxley to sneak in a rollup for the victory at 8:28. After a great showing at Best of the Best, Jake impressed once again. He contributed a lot to this match and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back in CZW at some point in the near future. Moxley was solid as usual and this contest could have went somewhere with an extra five minutes. **¾

Moxley and Anthony attack Jake after the match. Devon Moore runs to the ring and superkicks Moxley. He starts brawling with Anthony, leading to…

Match #7: CZW World Heavyweight Title: Devon Moore © vs. Robert Anthony
Moore enzuigiris Anthony off the apron and comes off the top with a double axe handle. They brawl through the crowd and make their way back into the ring. Anthony hits a suplex and connects with corner punches. He takes control, talking trash on the microphone in the process. Anthony mentions Trent Acid and Moore fights back with a series of punches. Anthony accidentally dropkicks Moxley. Moore superkicks Anthony and connects with a yakuza kick to retain his title at 6:00. Incredibly underwhelming first title defense for Moore. Anthony insinuating that Trent Acid isn’t in heaven was tasteless and the constant interference from Moxley was annoying. The match clocks in at a whopping six minutes, although it felt much longer. *½

Moxley lays out Moore with a piledriver after the match. Anthony attacks him with a chair. Maven Bentley tries to break things up but Moxley plants him with an ace crusher onto a chair. Finally, DJ Hyde comes out to clear the ring. This leads to…

Match #8: DJ Hyde vs. Daisuke Sekimoto
Hyde knocks down Sekimoto with a shoulder block. They trade chops and Hyde hits a scoop slam. Sekimoto answers with a suplex and comes off the middle rope with a dropkick. He impressively gets Hyde up in a torture rack. Hyde hits a spear but Sekimoto responds with a german suplex. Sekimoto wins a lariat battle and hits a dead-lift german suplex for the win at 7:26. This was another puzzling booking decision, as there were a lot of matchups that I would have liked to have seen with Sekimoto and none of them involved Hyde. This match was a fine showcase for Sekimoto but nothing more. **

Match #9: Jun Kasai vs. Necro Butcher
Necro attacks before the opening bell. They brawl through the crowd and up the bleachers. Necro airplane spins Kasai through the crowd as Larry Legend informs us that falls count anywhere. Necro botches a sunset flip and almost kills himself on the concrete floor. He bulldogs Kasai onto a chair and sets up two more chairs in the ring. They have a punch exchange while sitting on the chairs. Kasai kisses Necro and throws a chair at his face. He grabs Necro by the beard and sends him onto a propped chair. They battle up top and Necro hits a superplex onto some chairs. Necro chokeslams Kasai onto the chairs and hits a tiger driver for a nearfall. He drops Kasai back-first across two propped chairs. Kasai hits a german suplex onto the chairs and adds a butterfly piledriver for a nearfall. Kasai lands a top rope splash for the victory at 11:17. These two decided to stick to wrestling and were fine at trading moves. However, the problem was that they were doing most of their moves onto chairs, making the chairs themselves meaningless. Additionally, they never really sold the effects of the chairs and the action became repetitive. If you want to check out Kasai’s work, I would recommend his match against Danny Havoc at Best of the Best. **

The 411: I’m not sure what the problem was, but International Incident has very few redeeming qualities. While there was some great talent on the card, none of the matches went over twelve minutes and there were some questionable booking decisions. I just don’t feel that Drew Gulak was the best opponent for Zack Sabre, Jr. and the same can be said for DJ Hyde and Daisuke Sekimoto. Besides some fun matches in the undercard from the junior heavyweights, the match quality was below average. There’s no way that I can recommend this show, which is unfortunate after a very good Best of the Best X.

Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]