2CW Gets Lucky 3/16/2013

Written by: Bob Colling

Squared Circle Wrestling presents Gets Lucky
Date: 3/16/2013
From: Ithaca, NY

Opening Contest: EMT vs. Loca Vida: Vida kicks off the match with a couple of dropkicks in the corner but gets caught on a cross body attempt and is slammed to the canvas. EMT misses an elbow drop attempt on two chances. Vida dropkicks EMT on the floor into the railing and hits a suicide dive to the floor. EMT cuts off Loca with a strike to the midsection and sends him to the floor. Vida avoids a sit down splash and nearly wins with a seated cross body. EMT counters a crucifix pin attempt with a Samoan Drop for a two count. Vida avoids a splash in the corner and hammers away on EMT right hands. Vida knee strikes EMT from the middle rope but can’t hit a tornado DDT. Vida kicks EMT into the corner and delivers a kick from the apron. Loca hits a top rope bulldog for the win. (*. A harmless five minutes match between two local guys. Loca was once wrestling some top names for 2CW, but has been regulated to working virtual unknowns for the last several years now.)

Second Contest: Steve McKenzie vs. Kage: Early on, Kage scoop slams McKenzie with ease and follows up with a shoulder block. Steve delivers a shoulder block from the apron and gets a near fall with a sunset flip. Steve drives Kage to the mat with a side Russian leg sweep for another two count. Kage fights back with a swinging neck breaker but can’t keep Steve down on the cover. Kage stops Steve with a back elbow. Kage rams Steve head first into the corner but runs into a back elbow from Steve followed by a super kick for a near fall. Kage sends Steve best first into the corner and plants Steve with a full nelson slam for the win. (*1/2. Similar to the open in that it was a quick match. Kage displayed some fine power moves and Steve sold well for the big guy. It was just your basic match for the most part and kept short which was nice.)

Prior to the next match, Hamin cuts a promo ripping on the fans. He declares that 4/20 has been cancelled and there will be no drugs for anyone. Springate runs down and starts the match.

Third Contest: Bin Hamin vs. Zaquary Springate III: Hamin works over Springate with strikes in the corner but misses a splash. Springate hammers away on Hamin and they go to the floor where Springate sends Hamin into the railing a few times. Springate stomps away on Hamin in the corner followed by more right hands. Springate tosses the referee to the mat and he gets disqualified. (NR. Only a couple of minutes and there wasn’t much action. I prefer the local guys not getting much time, aside from Carr, Freddie, Pun and Graham, off the top of my head.)

Fourth Contest: Sean Carr vs. Jason Axe: Axe slaps Carr in the corner and backs away. Carr avoids another slap and hammers away on Axe before hitting a head scissors and atomic drop. Axe gets knocked down following a spinning heel kick. Sean runs into a big boot in the corner and sends Jason over the top to the floor in the corner. Carr flips over the top rope and takes Jason out with a dive. Carr stomps away on Axe back in the ring to maintain control of the bout. Axe hits a pump handle overhead suplex to gain momentum. Jason continues with a scoop slam and a senton splash. Axe drops Carr gut first across the ropes and slaps Sean to add insult to injury. Axe rams Carr back first into the corner from a Death Valley Driver position. Carr is placed over the top turnbuckle and Axe hits a running knee to get a near fall. Axe sends Sean shoulder first into the ring post. Axe gets knocked off the middle rope and Carr delivers a kick to allow himself time to hit a moonsault but doesn’t go for the cover. They begin to trade right forearms until Carr avoids a Death Valley Driver into the corner and nearly pins Axe with a super kick. Carr hits a standing hurricanrana and a spinning kick to the face for a two count. Sean goes to the top but Axe kicks him in midair for the win. (**1/2. I was kind of surprised by the finish there, but it was a fine match between these two. Carr is starting to get traction for his baby face singles run and works a style that I enjoy watching. Axe is a decent heel and held his own here with Carr. Axe going over makes sense considering he is often in the main event picture and Carr isn’t quite there yet.) After the match, Axe lets us know that he is ready Isys Ephex, who should be expecting blood in their Stairway to Hell match.

Prior to the next match, Slyck Wagner Brown lets us know that he does big things at Living on the Edge. Last year, he beat Brodie Lee so bad that he went to Florida. Wagner went and got himself some executive protection in the former of Big Business. Big Business is probably the tallest manager I’ve ever seen in my entire life. The fans are making various references to Diesel towards the bodyguard.

Fifth Contest: Slyck Wagner Brown vs. Isys Ephex: Early on, Slyck works over Ephex in the corner with a couple of strikes. Ephex takes Slyck down with an arm drag and hits a Thez Press before hammering away on Slyck. Isys comes off the ropes but is met with a knee to the midsection and Slyck regains control of the match. Brown delivers a dropkick and taunts the fans before getting a near fall. Wagner catches Ephex in the corner but Isys wiggles free for a rollup and a near fall. Ephex delivers a kick and a back suplex for a near fall. Ephex hit an awkward looking vertical suplex and kicks a dazed Brown. Ephex heads to the top but Slyck puts the referee in the way. Isys dives to the floor where Big Business catches him, but falls and rams Ephex into the ring post back first. The referee is distracted by Big Business as Jay Freddie confronts Jason Axe. Kevin Steen enters the ring and hits an F5 on Ephex. As Steen runs away he decks an injured Freddie. Brown covers Ephex and gets the win. (*1/2. There wasn’t a lot of action between the two, however it advanced some feuds taking place in 2CW at the time. Ephex and Steen were set to wrestler at LOTE Night One, so Steen’s involvement gave some heat for that title match. Freddie getting involved allows him to probably get in another feud with Axe when he returns, as they have a long history anyway. So, while the match wasn’t overly great, the advancement of angles for future matches was nicely done.)

Sixth Contest: 2CW Tag Team Champions Pun Van Slyke & Kevin Graham vs. 3.0: Matthews and Pun kick off the title match. Matthews attempts a shoulder block but Pun doesn’t budge. They begin to trade shoulder blocks with Pun knocking Matthews down only for Matthews to stop Pun with a shoulder to the gut. Pun delivers a vicious chop in the corner several times. Matthews bails to the floor following a running shoulder tackle. Graham and Parker are tagged into the match. Parker works over the left arm of Graham to get the early advantage but Kevin pops up quickly. Parker takes Kevin over with an arm drag but runs into an elbow in the corner. Kevin nails Parker with a knee lift and hits a suicide dive to the floor. Pun drops Matthews with a big boot in the ring. Parker enters and sends Pun to the floor with a forearm shot. Graham returns and sends Parker into the corner a few times. Graham gets hits boots up but is yanked off the middle rope by Matthews. Matthews stomps away on Kevin and taunts the fans before hitting Pun on the apron so he can choke Graham while the referee is distracted. Matthews scoop slams Graham and drops an elbow for a near fall.

Parker tags back in and Graham is getting worked over in the corner. Parker hits a hard forearm shot and tags in Matthews while holding Graham to allow Matthews to yank on the left leg of the champion. Matthews is attacked by Pun, who distracts the referee and that allows Parker to get some cheap shots in on Graham. Parker yanks Graham down his hair to keep control after a headlock wasn’t getting him anywhere. Graham runs into a forearm shot but Graham comes back with a swinging neck breaker. Kevin kicks Matthews away and Pun gets the tag. Pun cleans house with several forearm strikes and a splash in the corner on Parker. Matthews slows him down with a forearm strike but Pun hits a gut wrench power bomb on Parker for a near fall. Pun misses a running attack and goes over the top to the floor. Matthews dropkicks Graham but the champs come back with a botched atomic drop/shining wizard combo. Pun is shoved into Kevin and Parker hits a missile dropkick on both men. Parker leaps off Matthews back to hit an elbow drop on Graham and a double neck breaker on Pun. Parker kicks Pun in the corner but Graham hits a sit out spine buster. Matthews hits a spear on Graham but Pun takes Matthews over with an Angle Slam of sorts. Everyone is hitting each other with clotheslines or a big boot causing everyone to go down. Kevin with several forearm shots to Matthews and the champs hit a chop block/clothesline for a two count as Parker broke up the cover attempt. Parker super kicks Pun to the floor and hits a Gory Special on Graham for a close two count. Parker heads to the top but Bin Hamin comes out to distract him for some reason. Pun grabs Parker and the champs hi a back breaker/leg drop combo for the win. (***. A solid tag match as all four men put forth some good action and kept a good pace. There weren’t many slow parts to the match as the constant action made this a breeze to sit through. The involvement of Hamin was confusing as he hadn’t had any association with anyone involved previously.) After the match, Shane Matthews cuts a promo saying they are from Canada and they hate that they are in a town where they cheer for the Syracuse Orange. They are sticking around to support their friend, Kevin Steen.

Seventh Contest: 2CW Heavyweight Champion Kevin Steen vs. Michael Elgin: They lockup and Elgin shoves Steen to the canvas. Steen complains of a hair pull as he is knocked to the canvas again. Steen kicks Elgin in the midsection and attempts a shoulder block but doesn’t budge the challenger. Elgin delivers a shoulder block of his own and Steen is surprised by the power behind it. They continue to trade shoulder blocks until Steen delivers a knee to the gut but Elgin hits a power slam and Steen bails to the floor. Elgin follows and decks Steen with a forearm shot. Elgin continues to hammer away on Steen on the floor as the fans cheer but Kevin eye rakes Elgin and pulls on his mouth. Steen sends Elgin back first into the railing and continues to taunt fans at ringside. Steen kisses a fan at ringside who was talking smack! Elgin hits a slingshot shoulder attack for a near fall back in the ring. Elgin drops Steen with a delayed vertical suplex for a two count. Elgin backdrops Steen to the apron but gets pulled to the floor and rammed groin first into the ring post. Steen celebrates his accomplishment by posing on the apron.

Steen maintains control by choking Elgin over the middle rope. Steen sends Elgin hard into the corner and continues to work over the challenger with basic strikes. Elgin nearly wins with a quick rollup but Steen regains control of the bout. Steen delivers a dropkick on the apron with Elgin across the middle rope. Elgin backdrops Steen and hits a dead lift power bomb! Elgin knocks Steen down with a few forearm strikes but runs into a back elbow. Elgin rams Steen into the corner and follows up with a leg sweep/clothesline. Elgin clothesline Steen in the corner a couple of times and drives Steen down with a backdrop driver. Steen comes back with a sit down power bomb for a two count.

Elgin avoids the Stunner attempt and chops Steen for a near fall. Elgin heads to the top but Steen gets up and stops him. Elgin knocks Kevin off the middle rope and hits his twisting senton for a near fall. Steen can’t hit the F5 but ducks a right hand to hit a sleeper hold suplex and a cannonball splash in the corner for a near fall. Elgin blocks another Stunner attempt and hits a bicycle kick. Elgin hits an impressive dead lift German suplex but Steen kicks out at two. 3.0 runs into the ring and Elgin takes care of them with a Samoan Drop/fallaway slam combo. Steen hits the Stunner but only manages to get a two count. Steen heads to the top rope but Elgin gets his knees up on the Swanton attempt. Elgin hits a Stunner of his own for a two count. Steen low blows Elgin with the referee out of position and hits the Package Piledriver for the win. (***1/4. A solid title match with Steen really doing well playing the heel and getting the kids at the show involved in the match. Steen’s antics got Elgin over with the crowd a lot easier. Obviously they aren’t going to go full steam ahead when they aren’t in ROH, but this one worked well and I enjoyed it.) After the match, Steen hits the Stunner on 3.0 as well. Steen was obsessed with the Stunner because the date being 3/16. 3.0 get dropped by Elgin with a couple more Stunners to end the segment.

Main Event: Matt Hardy vs. Colin Delaney: Early on, Hardy knocks Delaney down with a shoulder block but misses an elbow drop as Colin rolls out of the way. Colin hits a head scissors and arm drag before a standoff between the two. Delaney keeps Hardy on the canvas with a hammerlock but Hardy gets out of it and nails Colin with a right hand before playing to the crowd. They begin to trade chops and then forearm shots with Colin getting the better of the exchange by hitting an arm drag and a kick to send Hardy to the floor. Colin hits Hardy with the over used suicide dive. On the floor, they continue to trade blows. Hardy attempts the Twist of Fate on the floor but Colin shoves him away and Hardy hits the ring post shoulder first. Delaney attempts a slingshot but gets punched in midair by Matt. Hardy clotheslines Colin in the corner and delivers a leg drop a few times for a two count. Hardy drops Delaney with a modified Side Effect it looked like for a two count.

Colin gets out of a choke slam attempt but comes off the ropes only to be met with a power bomb for a two count. They begin to trade pin attempts and they both go down following a double clothesline. They trade right hands with Delaney getting a few more forearms and hits a kick to Hardy in midair on a hip toss attempt for a near fall. Colin goes up top but misses Hardy and hits an elevated face buster for a two count. Delaney avoids the Twist of Fate and hits a springboard Stunner for a two count. Hardy dropkicks Colin off the apron to the floor. Colin rams Matt face first into the top turnbuckle and attempts another springboard Stunner but Hardy hits the Side Effect for a near fall. Hardy comes off the middle rope to deliver an elbow to the back of Delaney’s head. Colin counters the Twist of Fate with a backslide for a near fall. Hardy gets up and hits the Twist of Fate but Delaney gets his foot on the bottom rope.

Delaney nearly gets a victory with a rollup but Hardy gets up to run over Colin with a clothesline. Hardy goes to the top but is met with a dropkick from Colin. Delaney attempts a superplex but Hardy fights off Colin sending him to the apron to deliver a clothesline on the apron. Colin drops Matt throat first across the top and attempts his pull up splash from the apron but Hardy rolls Delaney up for the victory. (**1/4. Hardy gets a lot of crap from wrestling fans, but this could have been a lot worse. He clearly puts forth a good effort when he wrestles for 2CW. Yeah, he isn’t anywhere near the level of wrestler he was as late as 2009, but his name recognition carries him a long way for casual fans. He sold for Delaney to make the match watchable.) After the match, Hardy puts over Delaney and thanks him for the match. Hardy puts over 2CW was the purest and truest form of the business. He proceeds to put over the fans who came to the show and put over the wrestlers for doing this because they love it. Hardy proclaims that he is 2CW.

Final Thoughts:
This show comes in just under two hours, which was surprising to see from 2CW as most of their shows run nearly three hours live. However, some of the matches had their entrances cut, which makes for a quicker show for people who buy the DVD. Anyway, for the 9.99 that I paid for the show, it was a good show all around. Carr/Axe put forth a decent match on the undercard, the tag titles match was full of consistent action, Elgin/Steen was a solid title match and the main event was your average match involving two notable names. The bad stuff is kept to a minimum. I felt like it was a worthwhile two hours spent on this one from 2CW.

Thanks for reading.