Indy show recap time!
DEFY is well on its way to becoming America’s next super-indy, and tonight was their biggest show yet, featuring local performers alongside some of the best-known names on the indy scene. (Check out this cover story written about them in the local alt-weekly.) Out of seven matches on the card, five were either for a championship or had championship implications, and the stage was set for tomorrow night’s show, the second part of the two-night “GIGANTIC” event, to be even bigger. Unfortunately, for the second consecutive time, Pentagon Jr. no-showed the event at the last minute, telling the promoters that he and Fenix were mugged en route to the airport. I’m beginning to think he just doesn’t want to come up here, but even in his absence they managed to put on a hell of a show.
This was the first show that DEFY has done away from their home venue at Washington Hall. Instead, they risked the horror that is I-5 traffic, made their way to Tacoma’s Stadium District, and held this show in the Plaza Grand Ballroom, a dancehall on the basement level of the old Masonic Temple. I made my way to Tacoma several hours early, killed an hour or so playing pinball at Dorky’s Arcade, got too-sweeted by a number of passers-by who saw my Bullet Club shirt, had some nachos and a pint of house-brewed IPA at the craft brewery across the street from the Temple, and saunted across the street and down several flights of stairs to somehow wind up in front of the line to get in. The venue itself is very nice and well-maintained; compared to WA Hall it’s roomier and has more space, and it has functioning AC so it wasn’t quite as sweltering hot. I still wound up with a seat where there was a floodlight shining in my face, but it wasn’t as bright as the one at WA Hall that gave me a headache.
A few minutes before the doors opened, promoter Jim Perry stepped outside to address the gathering crowd. “As you might have heard,” he said, “we got boned again. But don’t worry; our card is sick, we have a match I can’t even announce yet, somebody’s getting a shot at a certain world title in our main event, don’t tell anyone, OK?”
The doors opened two hours early for “DEFYCon”, an exclusive mega-meet-and-greet for front row VIPs such as myself (and anyone else who paid an extra $20 on top of their ticket.) Almost everyone on the card was shaking hands, posing for photos, and signing merch; I picked up autographed 8x10s of Joey Ryan, both members of reDRagon, and Davey Boy Smith Jr. (Side note; Kyle O’Reilly has the most stereotypical Canadian accent I have ever heard, he was literally saying things like “I’m oot of $5s” and “It’s pretty warm in here, eh?” to the other wrestlers at the table.) Just as I was getting to my seat, Jim announced on the PA that anyone with a front-row ticket could make their way backstage for a meet & greet with Cody Rhodes. I somehow managed to be first in line for that too and got to see him again, got another photo with him, and got him to autograph an “American Nightmare” Bullet Club shirt for me. (Anyone know how to preserve an autograph on a t-shirt? I might want to actually wear this thing someday.)
The show opened with the World Heavyweight Championship on the line. (How often do you get to say that?) Specifically, Davey Richards was defending against Darby Allin in what was also a semi-final match in the DEFY Championship tournament. Pretty solid opener with an interesting clash of styles - Richards was focusing on mat grappling and submission holds, while Allin was going for acrobatics. Davey got the win via armbar, and cut a short promo afterward about how he doesn’t care who he has to face in the tournament final, because he owns Seattle wrestling now. He was briefly interrupted by a chant of “Who’s house? SWERVE’S HOUSE!”, to which he said “Oh, you wanna waste ten minutes? Go ahead, I still got your money anyway.”
Following that, in tag team action, was Mr. Fitness and “Simply the Best” Steve West teaming up against the sexiest tag team in the Pacific Northwest - the King of Thong Style Eddie Van Glam, and the King of Dong Style Joey Ryan. As Mr. Fitness was making his entrance, I yelled “You suck, Fitness!” at him - and he got in my face, pointed at me, and yelled “No, YOU suck!” Joey made his entrance in his typical grand fashion, and when the Streamer Club (a group of fans who sit in the front row at every show and throw streamers in the ring) pelted the ring with “I (heart) (mustache)” streamers, he deliberately wrapped himself up in them so that a female member of the ring crew would have to get in the ring, drop to her knees in front of him, and peel them off.
Joey and Fitness started the match, after Joey delayed for several minutes to oil himself up and call for everyone with chest hair to flash the ring. As soon as the bell rang he yelled “Touch my dick!” at Fitness (which immediately lead to chants of “TOUCH HIS DICK!” and “STEVE IS GONNA TOOOOOOOOOUCH IT!” and spent the next few minutes trying unsuccessfully to get him and his partner to do so. At one point Steve West kneed him in the crotch and he sold his knee. Eddie Van Glam ended up playing Ricky Morton for most of the match before tagging Joey back in, and all four men started to brawl. The finish came when, simultaneously, Fitness’ hand landed on Joey’s crotch and West’s on Eddie’s buttcheek, and they both proceeded to hulk up and deliver simultaneous dick-plexes/butt-plexes. They then pulled matching lollipops out of their trunks, stuck them in the heels’ mouths, superkicked them, and pinned them both at once for the win. During their walk of shame up the ramp, Fitness and West were constantly wretching, spitting, and acting like they were about to vomit.
Our second title match of the evening was next; Ave Rex, one half of the up-until-recently-undefeated Los Sexi-Mexis, defending the Lucha Libre Volcanica Grand Championship against Tacoma’s own Mike Santiago. (LLV is a lucha academy that runs out of Seattle and does free shows every now and then, though I haven’t had a chance to make it to one.) Santiago had solid heel heat in this match - he only got one streamer thrown at him, and he immediately tossed it back. He managed to crack wise a few times, though - when one audience member yelled “FUCK TACOMA!” at him, he replied “We’re BOTH from Tacoma, you dumbass!” For a lucha match, this was remarkably slow-paced and methodical; Santiago was setting the pace most of the match, focusing on grappling and holds. Ave nonetheless managed to pull off some impressive acrobatics when he was in control, including a Canadian Destroyer (I.e. the single most confusing move in all of wrestling, look it up on Youtube if you don’t believe me.) Ave retained with a combination leglock-crossface submission.
Closing out the first half of the show was a four-way match for the first-ever Tacoma Women’s Cup, featuring Angelina Love, Christina Von Eerie, Su Yung, and Nicole Matthews. (This was originally supposed to be an elimination match, but it ended up being one fall instead.) As previously, Eerie was accompanied by her fiancé Scotty Mac, and Su Yung by Satanic sexual predator Derek Drexl. I managed to get more heat at this point - I told Scotty he sucked and he told me I sucked, and I told Drexl he was sick and he said “Thank you.” 
Matthews, making her DEFY debut, has been known as “the Shimmertaker” due to her having been a dominant figure in SHIMMER, and is the three-time and current world champion in ECCW (I.e. the Vancouver territory), though she didn’t have the belt with her. Scotty was trying to “protect” Eerie from the streamers being thrown at her and started throwing them back at the crowd.
As soon as the bell rang, the babyfaces (Matthews and Love) double-teamed Su Yung and chucked her out of the ring. Eerie fled soon after, and pretty soon, all four women were out of the ring fighting on the floor, up the ramp, on the stage, and practically into the crowd (Su Yung got tossed through a barrier at one point.) This was the most intense women’s match I’ve ever seen live, the ladies doing suicide dives and taking slams and suplexes on the unpadded hardwood floor. Drexl and Scotty got involved a few times, mainly running interference. At one point Matthews tried to steal Drexl’s kendo stick and he yelled “Hey! Don’t touch my stick!” This lead to a brief chant of “TOUCH HIS STICK!”, which ended when Matthews turned to the crowd and said “What? Gross.” The fight eventually made it back into the ring, and Angelina nearly had the match won when Eerie slid in, attacked her, and stole a pin on Su Yung to win the match. The trophy was awarded to her, though Scotty accepted it on her behalf and seemed to be unwilling to let go of it when she tried to hold it up herself, possibly setting up a future angle.
After a half-hour intermission (during which Steve Migs announced the main event would be Cody Rhodes defending the ROH title against Kyle O’Reilly), we came back with a triple threat - Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Bobby Fish vs. Seattle’s own world champion Iron Sheik wannabe King Khash. This match was originally supposed to be reDRagon vs. Davey & Fenix, but the infamous “card subject to change” clause had come into effect. Davey, of course, is the son of the late “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith and Diana Hart, was previously known as David Hart Smith in WWE, is sometimes called “the British Bulldog” himself (even though he has a Canadian accent and lives in Japan), and enters the ring to “Rule Britannia” like his father did.
Davey was extremely impressive in this match. He’s taller than the other guys by at least a head and is built like a brick shithouse. Poor King Khash (metaphorically, that is; I imagine he’s not too upset about getting an unexpected payday) was the Designated Jabroni for this match; the overwhelming majority of it consisted of Davey and Bobby beating the piss out of him, occasionally turning on each other just over the right to pin him. Davey got the win off a piledriver.
Up next, we got the other DEFY Championship semi-final/battle of the Lucha Underground superstars; the King of Swerve Style, Tacoma’s own Shane Strickland (Killshot) vs. Matt Cross (Son of Havoc). I believe this was Cross’ first match since breaking his leg off a botched moonsault at DEFY 1. He got a big “Welcome back!” chant and was nearly getting as good a pop as Strickland, who was wrestling in his hometown for the first time ever. Cross was in control for most of the match, and it seemed like he might get the upset victory after he pulled off a GTS on Strickland, though Shane recovered and was able to hit a 253 (his appropriately renamed version of the 619.) Cross teased his top-rope foot stomp several times but never quite managed to connect, on one occasion getting taken down himself when Strickland jumped up and hit an RKO OUTTA NOWHERE. Cross would pull an RKO off himself later on. There was an unfortunate spot where Cross tried for a top-rope moonsault and botched badly, catching his leg in the ropes, but he was able to recover from it and keep the match going. (Maybe he should just stop trying to moonsault off of things.) The finish came when both men tried to RKO each other at once - Strickland came out on top and immediately locked in an armbar, forcing Cross to tap.
After the match, Davey Richards came out with a microphone. He was about to start talking when Shane grabbed the mic from him and told him that he respects Davey, and in tomorrow’s final, may the better man win - and that man is Swerve. As he turned to walk away, Davey went into full heel mode and attacked him, laying him out and repeatedly bashing his leg against the ringpost as if trying to break it. Most of the babyfaces (including Batboy, who was in costume despite not competing at the show) ran out to break up the fight, and Davey got into a shouting match with booker/commentator Matt Farmer, with Jim Perry holding him back to stop them from getting physical. Eventually, two females in EMT uniforms (I have no idea if they were real EMTs or not; they had patches from the local ambulance company, but they didn’t seem to be acting like real EMTs) ran out and helped Shane to the back, hopping on one foot. I assume this was a storyline injury to build suspense for tomorrow’s match, a la the classic “Can he overcome the odds with an injured limb?” angle.
The main event was originally supposed to be Cody Rhodes vs. Pentagon Jr. Since Penta didn’t show, Kyle O’Reilly got the spot instead. This had originally been announced as an ROH World Championship match, and Cody wore the belt to the ring, but Steve Migs didn’t mention the belt during his introductions, so I guess they were kinda playing it both ways so that it could be a title match in the house but a non-title match for the tapes. Cody was billed as “Cody Rhodes” for this match, so I guess whatever trademark WWE has on the Rhodes name doesn’t stop him from using it at non-televised events. Kyle, despite hailing from Vancouver, insisted on being introduced as “fighting out of Headlock City, Washington”. A few people yelled “Stardust!” at Cody, but didn’t get the reaction that one guy got at DEFY 1. A few people were yelling “FUCK THE REVIVAL!”, in reference to a backstage promo Cody cut on Dash & Dawson a few months ago. (A conversation broke out at one point; “FUCK THE REVIVAL!” “WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE REVIVAL?” “WHO CARES - FUCK THEM!” “I LIKE THE REVIVAL!” “WHAT DID THEY DO TO MAKE CODY SO MAD?” “THEY KNOW WHAT THEY DID!”)
The story of the match essentially revolved around two things; Cody working Kyle’s legs, and Kyle trying to wear Cody down with headlocks and sleeper holds. Over the course of the match, the headlocks went from mundane, to repetitive, to comical; people were yelling “Try putting him in a headlock!”, and I was getting laughs for responding to a leglock with “That’ll never work, you’ve got to lock in the head!” and “OH MY GOD HE’S IN A HEADLOCK! REF, STOP THE MATCH BEFORE HE KILLS HIM!” Some degree of decorum was eventually restored, and despite failing to get the win off a Disaster Kick or Crossrhodes, Cody eventually got the pin off a superplex.
After the match, he laid the ROH title out in the ring and said that somehow, between when he fought at DEFY 1 and tonight, he became world champion, and therefore fighting in DEFY must be good luck. He then proceeded to cut a promo on Kazuchika Okada, telling the crowd that this Saturday in Long Beach, whether you like it or not, he’s going to become the first man to hold the ROH World Championship and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at once. To close the show, he lead everyone in a chant of “FUCK THE REVIVAL!”
Match of the night? Hard to pick one. Every single fight on this card was solid and entertaining. I guess if you held a gun to my head I’d say Strickland/Cross, but Cody/O’Reilly and the Tacoma Women’s Cup are close seconds.
Tomorrow is night two back at Washington Hall, and we know very little about the card - all that’s been announced is the championship final of Davey Richards vs. Shane Strickland, reDRagon vs. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix (which will almost certainly have to be rebooked), and Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. an eliminated tournament semifinalist yet to be named. If it’s anywhere near as good as tonight’s show was, it’ll be one of the best live events I’ve ever seen.
