1. Wahoo McDaniel/DJ Peterson v Tom Stone/Mike Tolos

 

Kind of a nothing match, only goes a few minutes with Trongard calling every single that Wahoo does "judo". Judo chops, judo throws, just a judo master.

 

2. Kevin Kelly v Lance Allen

 

Oh gracious this thing went way too long. And it was only 4 minutes. It was literally 3 minutes of Kelly holding an armlock, then hitting a snap suplex for the win.

 

3. Greg Gagne v Larry Zbyszko

 

I'm kinda torn on this one, as I actually liked it, but there was stuff I didn't like about it. It went 18 minutes, and it was mostly slow-paced (shock). The first 10-12 was on the mat, and it was fairly engaging stuff. I liked Gagne here, and he threw some nice punches and showed good fire. He did some nice things on the mat, and Larry kept cheating with hair pulls to gain back the advantage. Once they got to their feets Gagne hits a nice headscissors and dropkicks Larry to the floor (Larry takes a big bump through the ropes off a weak dropkick), and then they just kinda fight on the floor to a double CO. Weak ending, and really only felt like half of a match. Part of me wants to push this forward, part of me wants to hold it back. I expected to be bored by it, but wasn't at all, so that has to count for something.

Wahoo McDaniel/DJ Peterson v Tom Stone/Mike Tolos

 

I actually liked the opening moments a good bit as they worked pretty hard and I dug the sunset flip spot with Stone and Peterson. Verne complaining about Peterson using the trunks on a suplex was comical and felt like a WrestlingClassics talking point. "In my day we deadlifted people on suplex (pronounced supley of course), not like these non wrestling pussies today who have to use the tights to lift them."

 

Greg Gagne promo. Curt shows up and rundowns Verne and Greg slaps him. Then Curt cuts a pofanity laced promo. This ruled. EXTRA

 

Lance Allen v. Kevin Kelly

 

Kelly looks like a cross between Mike Enos and Dan Spivey, but wrestles like a cross between Jeep Swinson and Tiger Jeet Singh. Seriously this guy is one of the worst ever.

 

Scott LeDoux profile talking about how he is coming back from his broken arm and going after Larry Z. LeDoux's gimmick being "boxer who got his asskicked by great boxers but never got knocked down" is funny. EXTRA

 

Greg Gagne v. Larry Zbyszko

 

I was actually surprised at how little Larry Z stalling there was and at how well done the early rope running stuff was mainly because Larry is a guy you expect to start at a literal snail's pace and that was not the case here. The stalling actually comes in the second stanza here and I think the match is probably better for it as it has a slow pace but doesn't come across as a "when the fuck is something going to happen?" type deal. This kind of had the feel of one of the early 80's AWA matches which has it's plusses and minuses but the key is that there was no bad work and the good spots were pretty good. For example I loved all the stuff with the headscissors as Greg had some cool counter ideas and it was a good base for Larry heel tactics. I also loved the fact that Greg was the first guy to throw a punch and that Greg was tossing out headbutts as it sort of sold the "frustrated face" thing that Larry's character constantly feeds off of. The cartwheel escape of the monkey flip going straight into the headscissors was pretty cool and Greg working straight to his awesome Indian Deathlock makes me happy every time. Larry ends up taking back over with his back spinkick off of a corner break and actually targets the midsection which I thought was cool. The camera angle on the ab stretch escape was great. I thought the finishing run here was actually really good as they mixed in some good near falls, some pretty good offensive spots, Larry took some big bumps on the floor, et. This is better than a lot of matches that have been nominated and includes plenty of good stuff to go along with good build.