I’ve never really been a fan of Combat Zone Wrestling. With a few exceptions their style of wrestling just doesn’t appeal to me. But seeing as The Wrestling Channel here in Britain have now given them their own regular Supercard Sunday slot, I thought what the hell, I might as well add Point of No Return to my ever growing list of reviews.
We begin with tag-team action, Andy Summer and Drew Gulak taking on Jon Dahmer and DJ Hyde. It starts off as a squash match, with Hyde and Dahmer using Gulak as a punching bag, until the youngsters score an upset victory. After taking Hyde out with a con-chair-to, they both apply an armbar submission for the win.
On to singles action, as Eddie Kingston, who has Robby Minero along for company, goes up against Gran Akinwa. Tag champs Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli come out with Akinwa, but are soon sent back to the locker room. I couldn’t get into this one for some reason. These two were meant to be old rivals who had caused each other injury, but there was no intensity here, it was as if they were just going through the motions, with Kingston getting the win after a power bomb.
Time for the first title match of the evening, as Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli defend against Team Masturbation, Beef Wellington and Excalibur. Definitely the best bout of the show so far, with Hero and Castagnoli putting together some great double team moves, and Excalibur and Wellington looking like they were going to win the match several times, until Hero got the win for his team, reversing Wellington’s E-Coli bomb attempt and taking him out with a sit-down power bomb.
The second title match next, as Kevin Steen defends the Iron Man title against El Generico. What started off as a friendly bout between two good buddies soon got turned up a notch when Steen became far more aggressive. A good match here, with Steen impressing me a great deal, the first time I’ve seen him in action. After some great wrestling from Steen and some great high-flying from Generico, the match ended with Steen retaining his title after the awesome looking package pile driver. Great stuff here.
Sticking with singles action, and the masked Voltaire, along with manager Pandora, taking on Nate Webb in a bout not sanctioned by CZW. This was more of a fight than a wrestling match, with some great intensity from both men, with Webb getting screwed out of the win after a second masked man came from under the ring and clobbered him with a chair while Pandora distracted the ref. Voltaire then used a Gory special and launched Webb into the turnbuckles for the win. Another good bout here.
On to the next title match, for the Junior Heavyweight title, six way action with Heretic, Nick Young, J.C. Bailey, Sabian, Mike Quackenbush, and champion Derek Frazier. Fought under elimination rules, this was a fast-paced bout as expected, with Sabian impressing with his high spots and Quackenbush really impressing with his wrestling skills, and we had some great action at the end between Frazier and Quackenbush, with the champion retaining his title after a full impact driver in a highly enjoyable bout.
Time for our CZW title match next, as Ruckus defends his title against Nick Gage. It’s little more than a hardcore brawl here, but sadly, it’s not a very entertaining one, due in part to Ruckus’ poor psychology. For instance, Gage performs a con-chair-to like move on Ruckus’ ankle, but the champion shows no effects of this attack at all, and when Ruckus launches himself from the top rope onto a ladder, again, he shows no signs of any effect the move has on his legs, making Ruckus either a tough SOB, or poor at selling moves. Thankfully, it wasn’t an hour long brawl as the bout came to an end with a Ruckus roll-up, and the champion retaining his title.
On to our main event, a tables and thumbtacks match as Justice Pain takes on Nate Hatred, with a late appearance from Toby Klein, making it a three way dance. Only just slightly better than the title match, with several table shots, and Pain and Hatred getting dropped on the tacks, with Pain getting the pin after his version of the Angle slam on Hatred. Definitely not a mat classic, with three guys who looked kind of lost towards the end, and certainly not a match worthy of it’s lofty main event status.
In conclusion - well, it’s CZW. A poor start, improving a great deal in the middle, but going downhill at an alarming rate with the final two bouts. Production wise, well, it’s CZW. The sound quality made it very difficult to hear any of the ring introductions or wrestler promos, and there were no on-screen graphics introducing the wrestlers, which meant you were screwed if you didn’t know who they were. Eric Garguilo, and later Eddie Kingston, did okay at the announcers table. But the sad thing is, if it wasn’t for the fact that this was shown free on The Wrestling Channel, I probably wouldn’t have bothered tuning in. Point of No Return certainly has done anything to make me want to buy any other CZW shows, although I’ll probably tune in the next time their on TWC.
We begin with tag-team action, Andy Summer and Drew Gulak taking on Jon Dahmer and DJ Hyde. It starts off as a squash match, with Hyde and Dahmer using Gulak as a punching bag, until the youngsters score an upset victory. After taking Hyde out with a con-chair-to, they both apply an armbar submission for the win.
On to singles action, as Eddie Kingston, who has Robby Minero along for company, goes up against Gran Akinwa. Tag champs Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli come out with Akinwa, but are soon sent back to the locker room. I couldn’t get into this one for some reason. These two were meant to be old rivals who had caused each other injury, but there was no intensity here, it was as if they were just going through the motions, with Kingston getting the win after a power bomb.
Time for the first title match of the evening, as Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli defend against Team Masturbation, Beef Wellington and Excalibur. Definitely the best bout of the show so far, with Hero and Castagnoli putting together some great double team moves, and Excalibur and Wellington looking like they were going to win the match several times, until Hero got the win for his team, reversing Wellington’s E-Coli bomb attempt and taking him out with a sit-down power bomb.
The second title match next, as Kevin Steen defends the Iron Man title against El Generico. What started off as a friendly bout between two good buddies soon got turned up a notch when Steen became far more aggressive. A good match here, with Steen impressing me a great deal, the first time I’ve seen him in action. After some great wrestling from Steen and some great high-flying from Generico, the match ended with Steen retaining his title after the awesome looking package pile driver. Great stuff here.
Sticking with singles action, and the masked Voltaire, along with manager Pandora, taking on Nate Webb in a bout not sanctioned by CZW. This was more of a fight than a wrestling match, with some great intensity from both men, with Webb getting screwed out of the win after a second masked man came from under the ring and clobbered him with a chair while Pandora distracted the ref. Voltaire then used a Gory special and launched Webb into the turnbuckles for the win. Another good bout here.
On to the next title match, for the Junior Heavyweight title, six way action with Heretic, Nick Young, J.C. Bailey, Sabian, Mike Quackenbush, and champion Derek Frazier. Fought under elimination rules, this was a fast-paced bout as expected, with Sabian impressing with his high spots and Quackenbush really impressing with his wrestling skills, and we had some great action at the end between Frazier and Quackenbush, with the champion retaining his title after a full impact driver in a highly enjoyable bout.
Time for our CZW title match next, as Ruckus defends his title against Nick Gage. It’s little more than a hardcore brawl here, but sadly, it’s not a very entertaining one, due in part to Ruckus’ poor psychology. For instance, Gage performs a con-chair-to like move on Ruckus’ ankle, but the champion shows no effects of this attack at all, and when Ruckus launches himself from the top rope onto a ladder, again, he shows no signs of any effect the move has on his legs, making Ruckus either a tough SOB, or poor at selling moves. Thankfully, it wasn’t an hour long brawl as the bout came to an end with a Ruckus roll-up, and the champion retaining his title.
On to our main event, a tables and thumbtacks match as Justice Pain takes on Nate Hatred, with a late appearance from Toby Klein, making it a three way dance. Only just slightly better than the title match, with several table shots, and Pain and Hatred getting dropped on the tacks, with Pain getting the pin after his version of the Angle slam on Hatred. Definitely not a mat classic, with three guys who looked kind of lost towards the end, and certainly not a match worthy of it’s lofty main event status.
In conclusion - well, it’s CZW. A poor start, improving a great deal in the middle, but going downhill at an alarming rate with the final two bouts. Production wise, well, it’s CZW. The sound quality made it very difficult to hear any of the ring introductions or wrestler promos, and there were no on-screen graphics introducing the wrestlers, which meant you were screwed if you didn’t know who they were. Eric Garguilo, and later Eddie Kingston, did okay at the announcers table. But the sad thing is, if it wasn’t for the fact that this was shown free on The Wrestling Channel, I probably wouldn’t have bothered tuning in. Point of No Return certainly has done anything to make me want to buy any other CZW shows, although I’ll probably tune in the next time their on TWC.
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