Uncharted Territory, Season 2 Episode 13 (Season Finale)
December 26, 2019
Live from the White Eagle in Worcester, MA
Streaming on IWTV.live
by Tiffany Rose
Have we made it to the end of the season already? Time has flown by over the past 13 weeks! I’ve had a fabulous time watching and recapping the episodes of Uncharted Territory. Specifically I’m more than satisfied with the way the stories have been told this season as well as thrilled by the matches and the card lineups featured. It’s fascinating to me how Beyond can put out such a fresh product over a number of weeks and no show feels the same as another, yet each episode flows together perfectly. Now that we’re just days away from Heavy Lies The Crown things have gotten increasingly frenzied on Uncharted Territory, and tonight’s show would be the culmination of all of the latest events leading into the big end of the year show.
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Tonight’s Commentary: Paul Crockett and Sidney Bakabella
I’m not looking forward to Thursdays without these two. Wednesdays were rough after Season 1 ended and there was no Crockett and Bakabella chemistry to enjoy in the interval. I highly recommend rewatching the entire season just to pay close attention to the highly entertaining (and often brilliant) commentary for each episode.
Spotlight Match: Kenn Doane vs. Robo the Punjabi Lion
The Spotlight Match for the season finale was all about revenge. Two weeks ago Kenn Doane attacked Robo prior to the Tournament for Tomorrow match that was supposed to have had Robo facing Christian Casanova. Doane took the spot instead, and this week Robo took his opportunity to get some payback with this match. Robo is an amazing talent and it’s a shame he didn’t get truly featured on the show this season; hopefully he’ll have time to shine in 2020. Robo takes the win here despite a huge size advantage on Doane’s behalf and gets his comeuppance.
Match 1: Legit Legends (Violence is Forever and Chuck O’Neil) vs. Buffalo Brothers (Puf, Kevin Blackwood, and Daniel Garcia)
The most dominant faction currently in Beyond is out first with Larry Legend starting out the season finale by introducing the Legit Legends. The crowd favorites from Buffalo are out next, and it’s great to see Daniel Garcia back on Uncharted Territory again. Brandon Thurston appears early in this match near the entrance to the ring, not to run interference but instead to watch closely over the Buffalo Brothers, a team he fully takes credit for guiding. Ku and Blackwood faced off near the beginning of the bout before Puf and Chuck were both tagged in. O’Neil was business as usual, having none of Puf’s fun and games. The Buffalo Brothers still had strong defense against such merciless opponents, especially when Blackwood and Garcia were in the ring. Red Death would not be taken out so easily by the Legends and Blackwood looked great against Ku and Garrini. I would pay good money to see Garcia and Ku go to war one on one if that’s not happened yet. O’Neil gets the win for his team, choking out Puf and thoroughly disappointing Brandon Thurston. Excellent opener for the season finale!
Match 2: Brandon Thurston vs. Megabyte Ronnie
Thurston stood smug in the ring after watching his proteges lose a hard-fought battle and berating them all the way to backstage. He came prepared to teach a lesson of his own to yet another talent he’s mentored, Megabyte Ronnie. Thurston declares that Megabyte’s too concerned with hot dogs to utilize the talent he has, but Ronnie is back on Uncharted Territory to show Thurston he’s a lot more than just a ranked competitive eater. With 16 matches behind him, Ronnie’s got a solid start as a wrestler and had a fine showing in this match against his trainer. Daniel Garcia made an appearance midway through the match to watch the action from afar much like Thurston had done earlier. Thurston gets the victory against his protege after leading most of the match in skill, even seeming to teach Ronnie a few things here after some literal hot-dogging from his apprentice. Thurston remains wickedly pompous to the end here, sitting on Ronnie after his victory to make a point of dominance. Red Death took an issue with this, however, and came to the ring to challenge Thurston at Heavy Lies The Crown. I enjoy these mentor-protege matches and am happy to see Garcia featured at the big end of the year show after a long period of not seeing either him or Thurston this season.
Match 3: John Silver vs. Jody Threat
After a series full of fantastic intergender matches John Silver ends the second season of Uncharted Territory going up against Jody Threat, who has deservedly earned her spot here on the main show after previously impressing us all in tag and singles action in Spotlight Matches. Compelling is the best word that would describe this match; both Silver and Threat did a wonderful job of keeping me drawn into this one. They kept the action not just steady but wild - Threat pulls off an incredible skateboard spot that should be seen to be appreciated (catch the replay!) - and I was even more impressed with Threat than Silver by the end of the match. Silver took the win after hitting a Spin Doctor on Threat and I have a feeling next season’s going to be huge for both of these awesome competitors.
Match 4: Arik Royal and the Ugly Ducklings (Rob Killjoy/Lance Lude with Coach Mikey) vs. The Head of the Class (Logan Easton LeRoux, Eel O’Neal, and Killian McMurphy)
The best of Flying V Fights is featured on Uncharted Territory tonight! I love the Ugly Ducklings and have seen them on CHIKARA shows, and it’s great to get a chance to see the rest of the talent that Flying V has on their shows as well. Arik Royal is a beastly guy and deserves all of the television and streaming time he can get, and Logan LeRoux has a star’s look and skills. These Flying V guys can go with the best of them; all involved in this match looked excellent including the standouts on both teams. Lude and Killjoy are astonishingly good luchadors and will take your breath away in certain moments. The Head of the Class get the win here over Royal and the Ducklings once LeRoux got the pin on Killjoy after hitting a quick and sharp cutter.
Match 5: Aaron Rourke vs. Slade (Discovery Gauntlet)
Tonight we would see the final match in the second season’s series of Discovery Gauntlet matches, and Aaron Rourke was coming in strong and hot and full of glitter after a progression of victories. Once we found out his opponent for this week, however, shit got REALLY real. Rourke was undaunted going into this match, as fierce as ever, but Slade is the most legitimate of killers and it didn’t matter how much fire Rourke had going into this match when this was the opponent he’d have to face. Slade dominated this match as expected and took the win, putting him at the top of the Discovery Gauntlet as we move towards a new season. Slade was out for more than just the victory tonight, though - in his post match interview he had one word to answer as to what he had in mind next…”GAGE!” To call out the King this suddenly takes balls that I think only Slade could have, and now we have quite the interesting setup of events for season 3!
Match 6: Kris Statlander vs. Anthony Greene (with Ava Everett)
The discord between AG and Josh Briggs has gotten so all-encompassing that it’s been hitting home and hitting where it hurts lately - interfering at pivotal moments in each other’s matches. Ava Everett’s been caught in the middle of the feud this whole time, and AG’s been progressively treating her worse over the past few weeks. This all made it much easier to cheer on Kris Statlander during tonight’s match, but we’re left to wonder how much longer Ava would stand this untenable situation with her closest friends (even as she moved to Statlander’s corner in this match in a display of defiance). Greene and Statlander were exceptional in this match which had AG much more savage and relentless in his moveset, far removed from his happy-go-lucky days earlier this season. Ava seemed to be more of a distraction to AG than anything else here, and Statlander won the match after hitting the Big Bang Theory and getting the pin. Ava immediately departed from ringside after the loss, not sticking around to comfort an even more upset AG.
Match 7: Christian Casanova vs. Richard Holliday (Tournament for Tomorrow final)
It is TIME for Christian Casanova to step further ahead into the spotlight! Season 2’s best evolutionary story has been Casanova’s emergence from Club Cam into his own glory. Tonight’s tournament final match would either be a satisfying way to close his chapter on Club Cam for good or we’d see Cam and his cronies have bragging rights over the New England independent wrestling scene. I admittedly had butterflies for the majority of this match as Richard Holliday is nothing to take lightly in the ring and Casanova had a hell of a challenge ahead of him. There would be no nods and winks and easy victories over conspiring teammates here. And as a result of that? WHAT A DAMN MATCH! This was over 20 minutes of supremely great wrestling and near the end there were some wild near-falls that left me holding my head in shock. All credit to Holliday for being a beast in this match, it took three Dirty Dianas from Casanova and one final Sucka Kick from the top rope to take him out for good and leave Christian Casanova as the winner of the Tournament for Tomorrow. Awesome victory for Casanova, who afterward announces that he wants to take on Tony Deppen next week at Heavy Lies The Crown. Imagine me trying to pick an early winner for that match...
Match 8: Warhorse vs. Josh Briggs (IWTV Championship Match)
The champ is back on Uncharted Territory one week before he’s set to take on 1 Called Manders for the title at Heavy Lies The Crown! Warhorse is here at the White Eagle on his birthday to rule ass, but big Josh Briggs as we all know is not so easily handled...at least not when he doesn’t have a number of distractions in the match. We all knew that Briggs would be at some disadvantage going into this match with Anthony Greene somewhere around the building to possibly interfere, it was only a matter of when. Briggs and Warhorse go to battle for a good part of the beginning of the match and the balance of power sways from one to the other, then finally all in Briggs’ favor. AG inevitably comes to ringside just as Briggs has full control over Warhorse. I’ve got a feeling he’s not just here to scout out his former friend. Ava Everett comes to ringside not long after AG does, seemingly to keep some sort of peace between the two. Unfortunately for Ava her good intentions came to naught here as Briggs, caught up in the action, accidentally kicks Ava and sends her down to the floor. This chaotic moment also sends the match into confusion as Briggs leaves the ring to assist Ava; Warhorse is the only one remaining in the ring at this point and is the winner by countout. It’s time for Briggs and AG to stop dipping into each other’s matches and finally settle this one on one, as much as you hate to see it.
Match 9: Rickey Shane Page (GCW Paper Champion) vs. Chris Dickinson
Yeah yeah yeah yeah RSP is great for Beyond, wonderful guy, but let’s not forget that he’s a current asshole in GCW. Speaking of both promotions, this main event would be a historic one as it was simulcast on both IWTV and FITE.tv as the latter was airing GCW’s “Jimmy All The Way” in Philadelphia at the same time as Uncharted Territory’s show in Worcester (this match aired live on FITE during GCW’s intermission). This was a very cool moment for wrestling fans and I’m hoping this happens more often in the future. Dickinson and RSP clashed hard here even though there was no title on the line; this turned out to be one of those matches that made me respect RSP just a little bit more since the guy can move so damn well in the ring. Just as we were getting heated up for a strong finish here, Kevin Ku and Dominic Garrini run to the ring to attack Dickinson, and the Legit Legends are out to run their bullshit in what was a great cross-promotion main event. Pinkie Sanchez is out next to defend Team Pazuzu, but the 3-on-2 disadvantage just seems too strong for El Presidente and the Dirty Daddy. Just when you think you couldn’t hate Chuck O’Neil any worse than you already did...the end of show shocker happens! The biggest return of the season happened right at the height of tension as Jaka returned to Uncharted Territory to reunite with Team Pazuzu and finally give the Legit Legends the ass-beating they have coming to them!
If this is how Season 2 ends, my God...how enormous is the beginning of Season 3 going to be?!
Post-Show Thoughts
With this final episode of Season 2 I’m completely left in awe at how Beyond Wrestling continues to operate such a small promotion on this huge level it’s currently functioning at. With a major PPV in the week ahead and the table set for what looks like a first-rate next season I’m hoping 2020 is an even bigger year for Beyond and more viewers start tuning in to see what all this buzz is about. I’m predicting that Heavy Lies The Crown will be a monumental moment in Beyond’s future (much like Americanrana) and open up a lot of new doors for the talent not just in the New Year but in the next few years ahead.