Beyond Wrestling Presents ‘Please Come Back’
January 25, 2020
Live from Six Strings Grill and Stage in Foxborough, MA
Streaming on IWTV.live
by Tiffany Rose
It’s been a month since Beyond’s Heavy Lies the Crown and a LOT has happened in such a short few weeks! There’s been big news breaking on the indie scene this month involving Beyond Wrestling and their involvement with an upcoming pilot show taping for a yet undisclosed television network. This is huge for the promotion that has (for two whole seasons) been bringing fans a weekly product that’s fresh, innovative, and from up until now run on a surprisingly small scale for the massive amount of weekly content they offer. We’ve seen some indicators, however, that these upcoming network changes may not be all positive for the Beyond Wrestling we know and love. I am intrigued on where all this will go, yet I was equally interested in the format of the promotion’s second Please Come Back event held on Saturday afternoon. In what could be one of the last Beyond shows that feature intergender wrestling and close fan proximity to the ring, this show is a brilliant concept of uniting future independent wrestling talent with the established and rising names now on the scene.
On Commentary: Paul Crockett and Sidney Bakabella
Another excellent job by one of the best commentary teams in the business! Crockett and Bakabella don’t miss a beat or ever come across as ‘rusty’ despite being in between seasons of Uncharted Territory. Keeping it distinctly old school Heenan/Monsoon in their delivery as always and just fun to listen to, Crockett and Bakabella had better be a part of the upcoming network pilot taping if they want to keep viewers happy. Some of the best praise on social media for Beyond shows is directed at the commentary provided, so here’s to hoping they know what a treasure they have on their hands.
Match 1: ‘Flyin’ Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Chuck O’Neil
As much as I can’t stand Chuck O’Neil (as evidenced in my Season 2 Uncharted Territory reviews), I appreciate him for choosing someone worthy like Brian Pillman Jr. for this opening match. It’s surprising to me that we haven’t seen more of Pillman in the larger promotions on the indie scene, and I wonder if that will change now that Beyond is in the middle of fancy new network negotiations. Pillman looked great in the beginning of this match and had the Massachusetts crowd on his side despite being at a disadvantage against such a skilled veteran as O’Neil. Hate him as I may, there’s no denying that Chuck knows how to dominate a match. O’Neil takes the submission victory here on Pillman with his cross armbar, and despite the loss the crowd is happy to give Pillman the first ‘Please Come Back’ chant of the night while chanting ‘DON’T Come Back’ to O’Neil.
Match 2: Bear Country vs. The REP
This match was my introduction to both Nate Carter and Dave McCall of The REP, and holy shit these dudes need to be booked everywhere in 2020. Just like Bear Country, the REP specializes in big bodies being thrown, slammed, and taken to war in absolute battle. The Bears were proud to show off their flight skills in this match as well with Bear Boulder and Bear Bronson respectively going for a flying crossbody onto both members of the opposing team and a sick spear through the ropes to the inside of the ring - on both opponents! The REP impressed me with their Purple Haze move, a really good version of a tag team facebuster, and if it wasn’t enough to see their innovative moves we also got to see the REP deliver a strong-as-hell Doomsday Device from the ropes on Bear Bronson. Seriously, the REP is damn good! The Bears, however, get the victory over the visiting and reigning CZW tag team champions after their second attempt at their Elevator Drop finisher was successful. Needless to say, the REP definitely earned their ‘Please Come Back’ chant.
Match 3: Willow Nightingale vs. Jaden Valo
Show announcer Rich Palladino let us know prior to this match that both competitors were celebrating a January 25th birthday, and it ended up being pretty apropos that Willow and Jaden shared a birthday since their skill sets were so closely related to each other in this bout. The beginning was essentially a mirror match of moves, letting us all know that both competitors were on pretty equal footing here. Willow takes charge in the beginning but Valo (who I was seeing for the first time here and very excited by his work in this match) wouldn’t let her hold the cards for long, impressing us all with a beautiful cannonball senton at one point that would have even caught Ricochet’s eye as well as a springing crossbody onto Willow, who bounces back not long after with a tremendous POUNCE (period!) that was the highlight of the match. Willow gets the win by submission in the end, but we absolutely must see more Jaden Valo on Beyond television (no matter where they end up) this year.
Match 4: Maine State Posse vs. Whatever It Takes (with “Smart” Mark Sterling)
THIS is the match that made me a believer and a fan of the Maine State Posse! I’d seen the DangerKid and Aiden Aggro before on a Limitless Wrestling show and was satisfied enough with what they could do, but it wasn’t until I saw them take on VSK and Alex Reynolds in this bout that I was completely on board. Whatever It Takes continues to live up to their team name as dirty cheaters who aren’t above ref distractions and foreign objects tossed around in the ring, but the MSP were not at all daunted by the severe level of chicanery that Sterling’s boys bring to the match. Lots of dramatic spots and near-falls here, but the climax of the match came just as it looked as if the MSP had scored a clean victory over Whatever It Takes after successfully hitting the Maine Street Deathdrop on Alex Reynolds. Reynolds, who had just caught a thrown pair of brass knuckles from Mark Sterling, was too slow to use the weapon on his opponents, but Sterling was quick enough of a thinker to convince the referee that the brass knuckles that somehow mysteriously found their way into the ring were used by the MSP. What was a solid victory was then reversed into a bullshit decision in favor of Whatever It Takes. To the MSP - please come back and get your rightful win!
Match 5: Orange Cassidy vs. Dan Champion
And on to the next match! Once Freshly Squeezed arrived on the scene the show began trending on Twitter, to no big surprise at all - Orange Cassidy indeed had his career launched in Beyond Wrestling but he’s known to many more wrestling fans now as an AEW star, and so it stands to reason that many more viewers would be tuning in to this match and hopefully sticking around to see more of what Beyond is all about. The people’s favorite Ace decided he’d take on Dan Champion for this event and if you’re an AEW fan who’s been eager to see more of what OC can do in the ring then this is one you should watch. We start out with the Orange Cassidy antics we’ve come to know and love (much to the consternation of Dan Champion, who even ends up doing squats and push-ups in the beginning with OC on his back) but the Looney Tunes-style of fun here turns to offense in favor of Champion, and that finally gives way to amped-up intensity once Champion makes the fatal mistake of - you guessed it - drinking from OC’s bottle of orange juice...and having the audacity to backwash in it! Our Ace is fired up enough to hit an impressive FU on Champion and did his oh-so-tranquilo dive off the top rope onto Champion for the pinfall victory, much to the praise of the Massachusetts crowd who even gave a hearty ‘please come back’ chant to Champion post-match.
Match 6: Anthony Greene vs. Little Mean Kathleen (later Anthony Greene vs. Oswald Project)
It’s official, according to the Beyond Wrestling faithful AG still does not fuck, not after his egregious actions at the end of Season 2 of Uncharted Territory where he alienated his longtime friends due to his own ego. It looks like AG is in the market for some new company, too, as he lets the crowd know he has no intent of actually wrestling Little Mean Kathleen, but rather recruiting her to take the place of his former girlfriend Ava Everett. Kathleen isn’t here for that mess and wants to proceed to the match. AG comes across here twice as much as an asshole now, soundly and easily defeating LMK after she refused his proposition. But we’re not done here just yet! ‘All That’ Ava Everett is out next and she’s brought company.
It’s Pizza Party Wrestling’s Oswald Project!! I can’t express how excited I was to see Oswald Project make a surprise appearance at this show, especially after seeing his recent GCW debut in New Jersey and being utterly fascinated with his flippy bendy friendly skillset. Oswald is here to challenge AG, who accepts and we get a lengthier match this time, one of the highlights being Oswald’s split-leg powerbomb that looks absolutely amazing on camera. AG gets a dirty victory here after a roll up with rope assistance. Shoutout to Beyond - please let Oswald be the new and quirky companion to Ava Everett and the persistent thorn in Anthony Greene’s side. We love to see it!
Match 7: Solo Darling (with Officer Magnum) vs. Jakob Hammermeier
I absolutely refuse to believe Beyond Wrestling will be taking away intergender matches from us. Not after this banger. Besides how can we go back to watching Solo Darling take on only female competitors when she’s proven how powerful she is against most of the men? Prior to this match I was only vaguely familiar with Hammermeier, but it became clear that Solo chose him for a reason - she knew he could get in the ring with her and put on a hell of a show, which they did! Hammermeier was convincing in the moments of this match where he completely overpowered Solo, but she was quick to demonstrate the level of skill that’s allowed her to beat just as many larger opponents in the past. Despite the fight that Hammermeier brought to Solo, he couldn’t take her out for good and the longer she lasted in this match the worse for him. Solo takes the victory after countering Hammermeier’s suplex and delivering a damaging suplex in return to get the pinfall.
Match 8: John Silver vs. Eric James
Mr. Season 2 of Uncharted Territory is very likely the MVP of the whole show! Both he and Lana’s First Husband put on an excellent match for us - James even came to the ring singing ‘I Want It That Way’ to put us all in that Backstreet mood - and I would be happy to put this one on my list of rematches that I’d like to see. This match is especially memorable (in addition to the solid strikes and kicks delivered) for Silver’s insane top-rope ‘saving grace’ powerbomb on Eric James after what could have been a terrible fall from Silver’s shoulders at a great height. This just goes to show you exactly why John Silver was so heavily favored throughout Uncharted Territory’s second season - the guy is strong as hell and incredibly adept in the ring. Silver hits the Spin Doctor on James for the victory and this turned out to be one of the best matches of the show if not the best post-intermission match.
Match 9: Kris Statlander vs. TJ Crawford
Much like Orange Cassidy, the following that Kris Statlander has amassed lately includes many AEW fans who are just now learning about the excellent 2019 she had in Beyond Wrestling. For any new Statlander fans out there or for those looking for something different that she’s done, this match is one you need to see. Watch it while you can, while there’s still intergender wrestling to enjoy in Beyond! This was my first time seeing TJ Crawford in a match and I’m convinced he could make a pretty big name for himself in Beyond if given the opportunity. This was a fine match that had Crawford battling back from the best that Statlander had in her arsenal until she finally put him out for good with a Big Bang Theory.
Match 10: Josh Briggs vs. Jake Something
There’s a whole lot of something about Jake Something that I really enjoy. He’s another one I foresee having a great year, and this show set him off on a great start. The main event for this show would be a battle of the big guys and Josh Briggs was quick to get badass and brutal here. Plenty of slams, splashes, slingshots, strikes, and suplexes in the beginning, and all of this action would eventually lead to a strong series of clotheslines from Jake Something. We have near falls and even a devastating (but lovely) Michinoku driver from Something, impressive in itself for such a huge man. We see a few near falls and then almost from out of left field Jake Something delivers a huge facebuster onto Briggs for the pinfall victory. You read it right! The only ‘non-Beyond’ victory of the night goes to the main event winner, and I’m wondering if Jake Something’s now being poised to be a future face of ‘Beyond Championship Wrestling’ as Josh Briggs remains EVOLVE Champion. There are a few ways they can go with this huge victory for Something and I’m very interested in seeing where this all will lead in the weeks ahead.
Post-Show Thoughts
So what happens now that the flagship of IWTV.live is in talks for a shiny new network TV deal? I don’t think IWTV will have an issue with content if they lose their flagship show, the streaming service has expanded so much that there’s plenty more to see. But as for ‘Beyond Championship Wrestling’? I get it that it’s going to be a complete 180 from what we’ve grown accustomed to from Uncharted Territory, but what’s the end game here? We leave Please Come Back with more questions than answers, and yet it’s a really good kind of frustration that sparks your imagination with possibilities. What exactly is the future for Beyond Wrestling as we once knew it?