Sodom and Gomorrah
Presented by Beyond Wrestling
Live from the House of Independents in Asbury Park, NJ
You can watch the show for yourself here: Sodom & Gomorrah (Use code: BEYOND for 20 free days of IWTV action)
Review filed by Tiffany Rose
Beyond Wrestling continues to expand into new areas, and now they’ve made it to the House of Independents in Asbury Park! Beyond’s Sodom and Gomorrah is a part of a double bill with GCW’s No Sleep, both shows running from the same venue. It’s great to see Beyond at the HOI as it’s an unforgettably unique venue that fits perfectly with the exceptional style of matches that this promotion consistently brings. On to the show!
Commentary: Paul Crockett and Emil Jay
Someone made Sidney stay home for this one! It’s always fun with the chemistry of Crockett and Bakabella at the table but it was refreshing to have a distinctly different commentator at the booth this afternoon, and Emil Jay was great for the pairing.
Match 1: Wheeler Yuta vs. Kimber Lee
Kimber Lee starts out showing she’s all business with an attack on Yuta during the introductions. Both are intense and hostile in this match with Kimber Lee being the more frustrated of the two, seemingly thinking of brutalizing far more opponents than just the one in front of her. This bout goes to the outside early in the match after a dive by Yuta that visibly put damage on both competitors. Yuta prefers to keeps the action on the outside rather than taking Kimber Lee back in, showing more of that fired up and aggressive side. Yuta stays on her, locking in a beautiful submission and has Kimber Lee close to tapping, she manages to get to the rope. Kimber Lee hits an impressive senton from the top rope but somehow doesn’t capitalize and go for the pin, declaring loudly “I’M YOUR LEADER!” (sending a message to Kris Statlander, perhaps). Yuta catches her in her angry distraction with a roll up and takes the win much to the surprise and dismay of Kimber Lee.
Match 2: Bear Country vs. Alex Reynolds & VSK
This one could easily be a ring-breaker with Bear Country involved. The real question is why is VSK getting involved with Reynolds and Mark Sterling, anyway? Both Reynolds and VSK are no slouches when it comes to athleticism, but Bear Country has both size and athleticism on their side in this match. Bear Country dominates the bout in the beginning, but Reynolds and VSK employ treachery with an eye rake and quickness with agile moves to regain control over Bear Bronson in the middle of the match. Reynolds continues the cheating by tying Bear Bronson to the ropes with wrist tape. Bear Bronson gets to Bear Beefcake with the hot and fresh tag, and Bear Beefcake returns the team to domination including an impressive double-man slam to the mat with both Reynolds and VSK as well as one hell of a moonsault from a 300+ man! Reynolds and VSK stay in the match with the momentum going back and forth. VSK interrupts Bear Country’s elevator drop but the Bears continue on. Reynolds has one last trick up his sleeve with a fireball, but he mistakenly hits VSK with it and allows the Bears to capitalize and hit the elevator drop successfully, leading to a pinfall victory for Bear Country.
Match 3: Thomas Santell vs. Kenn Doane (with the Spirit Squad...I mean Club Cam)
Kenn Doane starts off the match letting us all know how much he hates everyone in Asbury Park and how proud he is to be affiliated with Club Cam. He gets back some of his own when the Ovaltine Dream takes control from the jump and gets a hold of Doane, allowing some lucky Asbury Park fans to take revenge with some chops (nice!) The interference in this match was obvious from the get go with Club Cam at ringside and this match ends unfairly with Doane taking the win after Cam pokes Santell in the eye. Club Cam goes for an attack but interrupted by the Dirty Daddy himself. Chris Dickinson clears the ring and is good and ready for his match this afternoon, leading us to the next bout.
Match 4: Chris Dickinson vs. Christian Casanova
Thankfully for Dickinson (but not so thankfully for Casanova), the ref bans Club Cam from ringside after their interference in the last match. Dickinson has had a crazy and wild schedule lately, which could have played a factor in this one if Dickinson were just any other wrestler. As it turns out, this was an excellent match between Dirty Daddy and Christian Casanova with the crowd solidly behind Dickinson. This was also a great chance for Casanova to prove he can go on his own without underhanded tactics from Cam and his cronies. Later in the match Dickinson runs back to the backstage area and promptly returns with a door, raising the stakes to a dangerous level for Casanova. Dickinson employs the plunder to good use with a back body drop on Casanova through the door and the Filthy Father wins, declaring it’s great to be back in Jersey at the HOI. Club Cam returns to the ring to express their disappointment with Christian Casanova who gave it a great shot with nothing to be ashamed of at all - is it time for Casanova to get rid of these deadweights for good? I emphatically approve if so!
Match 5: Erick Stevens vs John Silver
This bout was sure to be a damn good one as we saw Silver get fired up by Eddie Kingston’s inspiring words on this week’s Uncharted Territory. Now it’s time to see him employ that inspiration and use it in the ring. It’s great to see Erick Stevens back in a Beyond ring as well. Both these competitors are in excellent shape, but in particular it seems like Silver needs the win more in this match after a few big-name losses lately. This was a banger that featured a lot of incredibly stiff kicks and chops from both wrestlers. Silver uses the momentum in this match to his advantage and gets the impressive victory over Stevens. Hopefully this is the start of a much better run for Silver that leads into 2020 being his year without fail. Silver then calls out Nick Gage, thanking him for “kicking his ass” and offering to shake his hand. Definitely one of the best matches of the show.
Match 6: Nick Gage vs Addy Starr
In a week full of Beyond returns we see Addy Starr make a return in a match with The King. Gage didn’t delay, interrupting the introductions to attack Starr and send her straight through a door. The Fucking Guy gets brutal quickly, coming off the top rope and landing on Starr who was still underneath the door he put her through. Starr doesn’t take this brutality for long though without returning some of her own, baseball sliding through the ring into a second door Gage was pulling from underneath the ring. Doors and chairs were the order of the day here as these two showed zero mercy towards one another. Starr showed true fierceness here, even kicking out of Gage’s one-winged angel (or as we know it, the Eastern Block Angel). Gage used every maneuver at his disposal to try to take out Starr but she proved to be one tough customer in this match - at one point suplexing The King through another door and then double-stomping him off the top rope onto the broken door! All this did was make Gage angrier as he battered her with the broken door and hit a chokebreaker on her - but she kicked out again! It took a lot to put Starr out but Gage finally hit one last piledriver on top of the broken plunder for the pin and win on Starr.
Match 7: Backyard Summit Scramble with Alex Zayne, Eric Corvis, Johnny Cockstrong, Steve West, Daniel Makabe, and Tony Deppen
We start out solid in this one with all involved tossing Cockstrong in the air “parachute-style” like the kids do in gym class, LOL. The action went FAST in this scramble with these six crazy guys; this was my first time in particular seeing Corvis and West in the ring and I was thoroughly impressed with their involvement. I was VERY excited to see Zayne, Deppen, and Makabe share the ring here. This was crazy with unreal holds and maneuvers, and of course those Zayne flips and acrobatics! All six competitors showcased their best moves. Deppen steals the win, which he’s done a lot lately! (Be sure to watch Deppen vs AJ Gray next week on Uncharted Territory). This match was easily the show-stealer of the night!
Match 8: The Butcher and the Blade vs. Team Tremendous (Dan Barry & Bill Carr)
Season 1 of Uncharted Territory made me a fan of Butcher and the Blade, and I’m still getting to know how good Team Tremendous is. This was a strong and savage tag team battle with neither Barry or Carr bowing easily to Pepper Parks or Andy Williams. The action went everywhere inside and out of the ring with Team Tremendous eventually going foul and getting the dirty win after a low blow on Pepper Parks and capitalizing on the act for a pinfall victory. Damn it, I demand a rematch, just out of fairness and because I’d like to see these guys go to war again. Let’s get this one on Uncharted Territory!
Match 9: Matthew Justice vs. Kris Statlander
I was ready to see this one because I knew it’d be a war! Kris Statlander proved she’s the baddest alien in the galaxy in her match with Nick Gage on the first episode of Uncharted Territory Season 2, and I was very curious to see how much ass she’d kick in a match with Matthew Justice, who is most certifiably insane. This was a match that did not disappoint at all, these two went hard into battle with stiff chops from Statlander and savage punches landed by Justice. The action ramped up after a beautiful Area 4-51 from Statlander that couldn’t put Justice away after a pin. Kimber Lee made a surprise appearance at ringside, but it wasn’t surprising to see what happened next - she interfered with a kick to the head to Statlander, allowing Justice (who didn’t see the interference take place) to take the win with a reverse piledriver. Now it’s absolutely the time to see Kimber Lee vs Kris Statlander, a match that in itself is awesome but with the stakes even higher now that Kimber Lee has made it personal with her low-down actions on Statlander.
Match 10: Warhorse vs. Orange Cassidy (IWTV Championship match)
Hell yes! This was a main event I’d been excited all week to see! Warhorse has come a long way this year and now has made it to Asbury Park to defend the IWTV Championship title against one of the biggest names on the independent scene (and currently in the wrestling business overall), Orange Cassidy. OC starts out by showing Warhorse the empty Jansport that he kept the IWTV Championship in, letting him and everyone else know he wants that title back. The main event begins with OC disrespecting Warhorse by removing his sunglasses and tossing them at the reigning champ, making it all a serious occasion indeed. The former champ did not come to play around or be his usual laid back self - this was a solid back and forth battle that got intense quickly and showed us a different side of Orange Cassidy with his serious determination to get his belt back - not much slacking at all here in this bout! Warhorse took the win over the former champ, but not after Cassidy gave him one hell of a fight. The match ended in a nice show of respect between the two as OC shook the reigning champ’s hand. I’d say this is definitely one of the matches that OC doubters need to know about in order to show them that he’s a diverse and damn good wrestler. This main event proved that Orange Cassidy is absolutely more than just a “comedy character”, and it also proved that Warhorse is indeed a worthy champion and has a great future not only in the Beyond Wrestling ring but all over the indies.
Sodom and Gomorrah was a fine way to introduce the House of Independents to Beyond Wrestling; I’m really looking forward to seeing the promotion run another show from this venue with another awesome card that’s as stacked as this one was. These matches were singularly great and also an excellent way to further many of the stories unfolding weekly on Uncharted Territory. Be sure to check this one out on replay, it merits more than one watch!