Written by: Bob Colling
Squared Circle Wrestling presents The Big Event
Date: 7/15/2011
From: Watertown, NY
Opening Contest: Jason Axe vs. Matt Taven: Axe backs Taven into a corner but is shoved away by Taven. They trade a couple of hammerlocks until Taven takes Axe to the canvas where Axe controls with a head scissors. Taven kicks out of the hold and they have a standoff. Axe fakes Taven out on a test of strength kicking Taven in the midsection. Axe went for a Death Valley Driver but Taven gets out and eventually hits a running knee on Axe. Taven goes for a cover but Axe kicks out at two. Taven dropkicks Axe into the corner and goes for a monkey flip but Axe sits Taven on the top rope delivering a punch. Axe is met with a big boot and Taven hit a top rope cross body for a two count. Taven takes Axe over with several arm drags. Taven hits a running uppercut in the corner but Axe stops Taven with a jumping kick and a running knee lift in the corner. Taven crashes to the canvas and Axe has control of the match. Axe hits a running senton splash for a two count. Axe yanks Taven down to the canvas by his hair to maintain control of the match. Axe uses his boot to scrape Taven’s eyes. Taven gets out of a slam attempt. Axe plants Taven with a sit down power bomb! Axe takes Taven down with a vertical suplex for a near fall. Axe misses a dropkick as Taven hangs onto the ropes. Taven attempts a springboard moonsault but Axe gets his knees up. Axe drives Taven down with a Death Valley Driver for a near fall. Axe fakes the referee out for a punch and low blows Taven. Taven counters a fisherman buster and rolls Axe up for the win. The referee gave a fast count and ran out of the ring. (**1/2. It was a solid opening match as they both looked pretty good. I enjoyed the action and liked that the match continued the issues between Axe and the referee. They had issues at Funk U. A good start to the show.)
Second Contest: Muscle Marcos vs. Isys Ephex: It is kind of painful to see Ephex trying to get a reaction from the crowd and nobody reacting to him. Marcos attacks before the bell, but Ephex quickly gains control with a kick. Marcos drops Ephex across the top rope and attempts a cross body but Ephex sidesteps the attempt. Beast grabs Ephex’s leg but Marcos gets backdropped over the top onto Beast. Ephex proceeds to take both men out with a slingshot cross body to the floor. Ephex takes Marcos out of the corner with a head scissors but Marcos hits a standing Slice Bread for a two count. Marcos hits a kneeling head scissors to drive Isys face first into the canvas. Ephex gets out of a sleeper with several strikes and a dropkick. Ephex goes to the top rope missing a leg drop and is almost pinned by Marcos. Ephex stops Marcos with a tilt a whirl back breaker. Ephex nearly wins with a springboard corkscrew leg drop off the middle rope. Marcos manages to hit the Slice Bread but Ephex kicks out at two. Marcos has grabbed the shake weight but Ephex locks in his version of a Half Crab after dropping Marcos onto the weight for the submission win. (*. I guess it’s not as bad as I was expecting it to be. Ephex is a good worker when he’s motivated to be one like he was in the earlier 2CW days. This feud never interested me when it was happening in real-time.)
Third Contest: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Cheech: Claudio attempts a rollup at the start of the match but only manages a two count and Cheech goes to the floor freaking out. Cheech kicks stones onto a fans wheelchair! Claudio has Cheech on his shoulders to hit a back suplex after Cheech was taunting the fans. Claudio goes to a baseball field that the show is occuring at and runs the bases before sliding at home plate. Cheech decides he’s going to do the same thing. Cheech pretends to hit a ball and takes his time running the bases. Cheech gets to home and gets decked by Claudio! Back in the ring, Cheech controls Claudio with a nerve hold, but Claudio rolls through the hold quickly. Cheech goes back to the nerve hold but Claudio gets out of the hold again. Claudio puts a nerve hold on Cheech, who also rolls through but Claudio slams him face first onto the canvas. Cheech goes to the floor to regroup. Cheech wants to do pushups. They have a pushup contest. Cheech cheap shots Claudio with a dropkick after seeing Claudio could do a lot more than him. Claudio recovers to hit a military press slam. Cheech rolls to the floor again to stall after Claudio got control of the match. Cheech gets back in the ring and plays to the camera. Claudio poses for the fans much to the delight of the fans. Cheech does the same thing but gets booed. Cheech takes Claudio down with a back suplex and mounts Claudio delivering right hands.
Cheech works over Claudio with shoulder rams in the corner before locking in a body scissors and does a few sit-ups before getting a two count with a rollup. Cheech runs into a big boot. Claudio misses a middle rope elbow drop. Cheech works over Claudio with a few strikes and spears him in the corner. Claudio blocks a suplex but can’t get Cheech over for one of his own. Claudio does get Cheech down with a vertical suplex. Cheech knocks Claudio to the floor with an eye rake. Cheech chokes Claudio with some of his wrist tape which the referee didn’t see happen. Cheech goes into his tights and has a rag but Claudio blocks the rag. The announcer is teasing that the rag has ether or just smells bad for being in Cheech’s tights. Claudio runs into a big boot in the corner and Cheech hit a rolling cutter out of the corner. Cheech follows up with a running dropkick in the corner. Cheech tries to get a cheap pin using the ropes for leverage. Claudio hits a springboard uppercut to stop Cheech. Claudio pops up and spins Cheech around with the Giant Swing. Claudio goes for the cover but only gets a near fall. Claudio rubs the rag into Cheech’s face and hits a slam with the rag for the win. (*1/2. The comedy stuff was okay, I guess. I’d rather this have been a competitive regular match but instead they relied on the comedy and a lot of stalling it felt like. Thus, this was kind of a disappointment.)
Before the next match, Jimmy Olsen takes some time to rip on some people in the crowd. Including, asking one guy if it’s worth his time to have sex with his own sister.
Fourth Contest: 2CW Tag Team Champions The Olsen Twins (Jimmy & Colin) vs. Super Smash Brothers (Uno & Dos): Dos and Jimmy kick off the match. Dos scares Colin off the apron as she circles the ring. Jimmy controls Dos with a wrist lock but Dos kips up out of the hold and plays to the crowd. Jimmy has a waist lock on Dos but doesn’t maintain the hold very long. Colin gets tagged in and slowly enters the ring climbing the ropes and lands into the ring. Uno gets tagged in and Colin bails to the floor to stall. Colin comes in and does a workout routine to try and knock Uno down but knocks Uno down with a slap to the face. Uno comes off the ropes with a shoulder block and slaps Colin after telling him to look at the airplane. Colin tries to trick Uno but gets slapped followed by a back suplex. Uno tags in Dos and they hit a side slam/springboard splash combo for a two count on Colin. Uno delivers palm strike and a slingshot suplex on Colin for a two count. Dos comes off the apron with a slingshot senton from the apron. Dos knocks Jimmy off the apron but Colin comes back with a dropkick. Jimmy tags in and works over Dos with a few elbow strikes and chops in the corner. Uno tries to get involved but is held back by the referee. Jimmy continues to work over Dos with a stomp. Jimmy takes Dos over with a snap suplex for a near fall.
Colin tags back in and keeps control over Dos with a rolling neck snap. Jimmy enters without a legal tag and stands on the hair of Dos while pulling him up to maintain the cheap advantage. Uno gets the hot tag and cleans house on Jimmy with a jumping kick. Colin enters and is tossed with a fallaway slam. Jimmy begs for mercy but pulls Uno face first into the corner. Jimmy tags in Colin who delivers a head butt to Uno’s ribs. Colin knocks Dos off the apron and keeps control of Uno in the corner with strikes. Uno tries to fight out of the corner but is stopped and Colin delivers a running knee strike. Uno gets yanked down by Jimmy as Uno was breaking free of a headlock. Jimmy tags in Colin but Uno runs through a double clothesline and knocks the champions down with a clothesline of his own. Dos gets the tag and hit a missile dropkick off the top! Dos cleans house with clotheslines and jabs the champs. Dos gets distracted by the manager of the champs. The manager runs away and goes towards the baseball field. “Same old shit” is heard as Dos is chasing the manager around the baseball paths. Dos is out there and is trapped in a pickle. Dos gets another pickle but decides to shoulder block Colin at home plate. Dos super kicks Jimmy while the referee is arguing with the manager who gets thrown out. Brodie Lee, who is injured, comes out and gets ejected too. Dos and Colin return to the ring where Dos drops Colin with a spinning elbow shot. Dos goes to the top rope and hits a swanton bomb for a two count as Jimmy breaks the cover. Jimmy plants Dos with a DDT and Colin comes off the top with an elbow drop but Uno makes the save on the cover attempt. Colin hits a Gory Special on Uno and Jimmy hit a head scissors for a two count. Uno hits a Slice Bread on Colin who also DDTs Jimmy on accident and there’s almost a title change. Colin gets sent to the floor leaving Jimmy alone in the ring.
Jimmy tosses Dos to the floor but Uno splashes Jimmy in the corner. Uno runs into a forearm strike from Jimmy. Dos knee lifts Jimmy and hits a big splash in the corner. Colin runs into a big boot and a super kick. Uno lifts Colin into Dos who hit a Death Valley Driver sending Colin into Jimmy in the corner leading to a two count on Colin. The referee was pulled out by the champions manager. The manager gets knocked down by Dos with a baseball slide. Jimmy crotches Dos on the top rope and gets decked by Uno. Uno clotheslines Colin over the top to the floor and goes to the floor where Colin hits Uno with a nightstick. Colin hits Jimmy with the nightstick on accident and tosses it to Dos. The referee sees Dos with the object and disqualifies the challengers. (**. Well, I’m gonna let some frustration out here. First of all, it took FOREVER to review this match because the disc for the event skipped a shit ton of times. So, my level of frustration is at an all time high right now. Secondly, upon seeing the whole match after numerous attempts, that’s the finish they go with? It’s a decent match, but the hassle to watch it certainly wasn’t worth it at the end.)
You’ve got to appreciate 2CW for using a younger picture of Sunny for the match graphic for the women’s match. When she comes out, she doesn’t appear to be in awful shape and she looks good. Obviously, this is well before her venture into porn with Vivid. Portia Perez remembers being screwed by Sunny at Living on the Edge against Sara Del Ray, but now she’s smarter. Perez has someone who can provide law and order to the match. We hear the COPS theme song and out comes Johnny Law and Pete D. Order.
Fifth Contest: Portia Perez vs. Sara Del Ray: Sunny is the special referee for the match. Perez complains to Sunny when Del Ray has the early advantage. However, Sunny doesn’t really care to hear about it. Del Ray keeps control of Perez on the canvas with a leg lock. Portia continues to complain about a hair pull and gets met with a hip toss from Sunny. Johnny Law distracts Sunny and Perez and Pete D. Order try to attack, but they fail. Sunny ejects them and Perez hits Del Ray with a nightstick to get the cheap advantage as Sunny was distracted. Perez keeps a simple offense on Del Ray working mainly on the left knee. Del Ray fights back with a leg drop a couple of times. She’s using the healthy leg to perform the leg drop. Perez has a rollup but uses the tights luckily Sunny sees her using the tights. Perez shoves Sunny out of frustration. Sunny plants Perez with a stunner. Del Ray covers and that’s good for three. (*. The usage of the referee getting revenge of some kind sees really played out on this show. It happened in the first match, too. As per usual, I wasn’t entertained by a women’s match in 2CW.)
Sixth Contest: 2CW Heavyweight Champion Slyck Wagner Brown vs. Jay Freddie: Slyck attacks Freddie from behind during his entrance to get the cheap advantage on the floor. Slyck sends Freddie into the guard railing chest first. Slyck whips Freddie with his ring jacket before bringing the action into the ring. Freddie tries to fight back with chops but Slyck knocks Jay down and works over Freddie with stomps. Freddie battles back with chops but runs into a forearm shot from the champ. Slyck slaps Freddie several times over the back. Slyck connects with a standing dropkick to keep control of the match. Slyck pummels Freddie in the corner. Freddie chops Slyck and comes off the ropes hitting a dropkick to knock Slyck to the floor. Freddie baseball slides Brown into the railing. Freddie attempts a slingshot cross body but misses and crashes to the floor. Slyck pulls Freddie up and drops him across the railing throat first. Slyck chokes Freddie with his t-shirt before returning to the ring. Freddie rolls back into the ring and is quickly attacked by Brown. Slyck takes some time to taunt the fans. Freddie battles back with chops and strikes before dropping Slyck groin first over the top rope. Freddie dropkicks Brown off the apron to the floor. Freddie follows up with a suicide dive to the floor!
Freddie goes to the top and nails Slyck with a missile dropkick for another two count. They begin to trade strikes while on their knees. Freddie kicks Slyck but is stopped by an eye rake. Slyck goes for a suplex but Freddie counters with a knee strike and a reverse DDT! Freddie delivers a flurry of forearms and a knee straike followed by a dropkick to a seated Slyck. Freddie clotheslines Slyck in the corner and hits a diamond dust in the corner for a two count! Freddie goes for a Scorpion Death Lock but Slyck rolls Freddie up for a two count. Slyck stomps Freddie in the corner. Freddie kicks Slyck and goes for a springboard cross body but gets caught and Slyck nearly wins with a swinging side slam. Slyck casually boots Freddie but Freddie comes back with forearm strikes. Slyck forearms Freddie but Freddie plants Slyck with a DDT! Freddie gets to his feet and super kicks Slyck! Freddie climbs to the top rope but Jason Axe came out to drop Freddie across the top rope. Brodie Lee tosses Axe over the railing into the crowd. Lee follows Axe into the crowd. Slyck plants Freddie with a sit out spine buster. Slyck locks into the Texas Cloverleaf in the middle of the ring. Freddie is able to crawl to the ropes to break the hold. Slyck knocks Freddie off the apron into the guard railing.
Slyck has the ring bell but the referee prevents Slyck from using the bell. Slyck settles for tossing Freddie into the guard railing. Slyck continues to work over Freddie with strikes to the chest on the apron. Slyck stomps on Freddie some more. Brown misses a slingshot springboard moonsault back into the ring. Freddie spikes Brown with a tombstone piledriver! Freddie heads to the top rope and loses his footing. Freddie hits the diving head butt. Freddie goes for the Sharpshooter after playing to the fans and has the hold locked in. Slyck is crawling to the ropes and reaches successfully. Freddie drags Slyck back into the middle of the ring and Slyck taps out. (**3/4. Alright it’s a solid match and I enjoyed the action between these two. However, the finish had me cringe. It seemed like Freddie got a little to excited and lost track of his pacing. It’s noticeable when he goes for the Sharpshooter the first time and stops to sell for the crowd to rally behind him. It’s a good moment for 2CW and Freddie in his hometown of Watertown. The guy started as a camera guy for the company and is now the champion. Slyck played his heel role well here, too. I’d just say it lacked big time emotion to truly get the big moment feel.)
Main Event: First Class (ZSIII, Punisher Van Slyke & Kevin Graham) vs. Killer Steves & Loca Vida in a no holds barred match: Mick Foley is the special referee for the match. I have to think this is the main event only due to Mick Foley’s involvement. Quite honestly, due to DVD problems, this show has taken me forever to get through. As you might imagine, the match is a brawl featuring plenty of weapon shots and brawling around ringside. At one point six chairs are setup in the ring by Steves and Vida. Kruz attempts a suplex off the middle rope on Graham but Punisher stops him. Van Slyke tosses Kruz onto the chairs with an overhead suplex. Vida and ZSIII are brawling in the bleachers. Vida head scissors ZSIII off the bleachers and ZSIII lands onto the other wrestlers. Vida continues with a cross body off the bleachers onto First Class. ZSIII tosses powder into Foley’s eyes. Foley recovers and gives a Mr. Socko to Van Slyke and ZSIII. Steves and Vida hit First Class with cookie sheets but only manage a two count. All three members of First Class are driven face first onto chairs with double arm DDTs and all three are pinned. (*1/2. There were a couple of entertaining spots, but this was pretty basic and predictable with the involvement of Foley here.)
Final Thoughts:
The show ran for probably 2 1/2 hours on DVD, but due to various times that the DVD decided to not work, I easily spent double that amount of time trying to finish the show. There’s nothing on here that is overly memorable. It just felt like a feel good show with mostly faces going over. A few of the matches felt too similar and hurt each other as a result. Having two legends as special referees also kind of diminished the importance of that. Freddie as champion is probably the only positive that came out of this viewing, but that match wasn’t overly special or memorable.
Thanks for reading.