Review: Uncharted Territory Season 1, Episode 10

byThatRoseTattoo •
0

Uncharted Territory, Season 1 Episode 10
Original Air Date: June 5, 2019 (Re-aired May 10, 2020)
Episode Venue: Electric Haze in Worcester, MA
Streaming on IWTV.live
I’ve had fun watching the crowd at the Electric Haze grow a little bigger with each show in Season 1. By the time episode 10 comes around it’s apparent that Uncharted Territory has found its audience. It’s also around this time Beyond would need a more suitable venue to accommodate the masses. As cool as the close and intimate setting looks at the Electric Haze, the turnout for upcoming shows would only get larger as the season headed to a climax.
On Commentary: Paul Crockett, Anthony Greene, Richard Holliday
Out of every commentary partner Crockett’s had so far, I’d say Anthony Greene has meshed the best with him (despite the puns, which I actually enjoy). Briggs and Crockett make a fun combination as well, but nobody’s been a better jerk on the mic than Richard Holliday. Mr. Most Marketable took over AG’s commentary duties for the last two matches of the show and gave Crockett the proper hard time we all knew he would.
Match 1: John Silver vs. Filthy Tom Lawlor
This was a damn fine match to start out with and a nice way to celebrate Silver’s birthday too; the crowd showed a lot of love to the Meat Man prior to the match with chants of Happy Birthday. Lawlor’s kicks, though, were the gift that he’d keep on giving. I mean these two got brutal with the strikes in this one! All respect due goes to John Silver for hanging with a legitimate MMA badass like Filthy Tom, too. Silver really made him go all out for the victory here; Lawlor gets the win via submission.


Match 2: Thomas Santell vs. ‘Smart’ Mark Sterling (Discovery Gauntlet match)
The Discovery Gauntlet would be a meeting of the minds on this particular episode. ‘Smart’ Mark Sterling (complete with cap and gown) made his show debut in the Gauntlet against returning and yet undefeated hero Thomas Santell. One interesting note about this match that we learned on the livestream replay live tweet is that Santell and Sterling have been wrestling for the same amount of time; they broke into the business together. Their veteran skills showed out during this match, letting us all know they’re good at this. Near the end of the match Santell somehow hit another level of beast mode, kicking out after a powerbomb and two of Sterling’s piledrivers, and maintaining his victory streak (and sixth win!) by making Sterling submit to the Sugar Free Hold.


In Santell’s post-match speech this time he put the spotlight on the interviewer, Cam(eron) Zagami. He realizes poor Cam has lately been the victim of bullying and wants him to stand up for himself by calling out notorious bully Kenn Doane. You know, it’s apparent that Santell means the absolute best...but was this really in ol’ Cam’s best interests? I think the outcome of the next match pretty much determined that Cam was skating by all right for himself before he got any advice at all.
Match 3: Cameron Zagami vs. Kenn Doane
Ok, I’ll finally say it. Poor Cam. Or at least poor Cam as we knew him thus far in Season 1. We lost that guy in this match. Granted, Cam didn’t back away from Santell’s advice and didn’t necessarily sprint out of the Electric Haze when confronted by Doane. Cam even got in some decent offense at some points. However, he also ultimately gets the ass-beating you’d figure someone like Doane would give someone like Cam. And that was the end of the mild mannered Beyond interviewer Cameron Zagami phase.


Match 4: Allie Kat & Solo Darling vs. Top Dogs (Davienne & Skylar)
Allie Kat is back in Episode 10 and this time she’s teaming up with Solo Darling to take on Davienne and Skylar for a measure of revenge. Both Davienne and Skylar (known together as the Top Dogs) took a turn for their unapologetic worst behavior and brought that bad attitude to the ring with them for this tag match. The audience was in strong favor of Allie & Solo, who pair up pretty well together, but no matter how good the team is it doesn’t end well whenever cheating is involved. Allie and Solo were on the losing side of this one after the Top Dogs cheated to get the win, and this feud is far from over.


Match 5: Josh Briggs vs. Chuck O’Neil
Josh Briggs went up against Chuck O’Neil in what may not have been the best decision so soon after returning, but Briggs deserves proper credit for having the fortitude to even agree to a match with O’Neil, who gave Briggs’ best friend Anthony Greene (who was at ringside for support) a savage fight in the previous episode. O’Neil, however, wasn’t choosing this fight for the same noble reason as Briggs. Chuck just wanted to fuck somebody up. 


Briggs didn’t let him get away with that so easily, though, because he went to war with O’Neil in this match and it only served to make ‘Cold Steel’ even angrier. After Chuck refused to back down after several warnings from referee Kevin Quinn, the match was awarded to Briggs by disqualification. Chuck continued his attack on Briggs, prompting Filthy Tom Lawlor to come back out to the ring to try to cool the situation down as a friend. Chuck wasn’t even having that and went after Lawlor for a fight. Probably not Chuck’s smartest choice, but that did indeed set up an Episode 11 match between ‘Cold Steel’ Chuck O’Neil vs. Filthy Tom Lawlor!
Match 6: Chris Dickinson vs. Josh Alexander
This was a match I could watch several versions of forever. WOW. Probably the most daunting challenge yet to Dickinson’s winning streak, the Walking Weapon Josh Alexander brought his best game to this episode of Uncharted Territory. If there’s a Season 3 in the works for later this year or maybe even 2021, I’m hoping for a rematch between these two. Alexander is a true beast; he wrecked Dickinson at certain points in this bout and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dirty Daddy is still feeling a lot of this battle a full year later. Dickinson gets the win after a monster lariat on Alexander and I *loved* this match.


Match 7: Orange Cassidy vs. Shawn Spears 
Now that both Orange Cassidy and Shawn Spears are doing their respective thing in AEW this is a fun match to revisit a year later. The Perfect 10 made his show debut in the main event this episode against Freshly Squeezed, whose style I believe confused the hell out of Richard Holliday on commentary. OC had his amusement in the beginning with Spears, who stayed on top of his own taunt game with several reminders to us all throughout the match that he is, indeed, a 10. Since Spears wanted to play at level 10, OC finally took it to 11 midway through the match and delivered the fight that Spears was looking for; in fact it was likely too much for Spears. 


At the height of action OC was on the top rope and blasted Spears right in the face with a healthy sip of orange juice, but Spears took a larger cheater’s advantage and rolled up Freshly Squeezed for the pinfall victory while holding tightly to the ring rope. Spears got the three-count, but OC let him know that he wasn’t going to be the best sport about it by delivering a perfect superkick to the Perfect 10’s face.


Post-Show Thoughts
One word: STORYLINES! Things move fast on Uncharted Territory from here on out in Season 1 as Beyond builds towards Americanrana ‘19. This was an excellent time to get into the show, and it was around this time last year that the buzz around the show was unavoidable if you were following independent wrestling on social media. Episode 10 was another fine example of just the right amount of time spent on matches and segments to develop the characters and situations without feeling one story’s taking too much time away from another.
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