Review: Uncharted Territory, Season 1 Episode 14

byThatRoseTattoo •
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Uncharted Territory, Season 1 Episode 14
Original Air Date: July 3, 2019 (Re-aired May 14, 2020)
Episode Venue: White Eagle in Worcester, MA
Streaming on IWTV.live
The Bad Boy celebrated his ‘dirty 30’  this episode, and the turnout for Janela’s birthday bash was huge. The show lineup was just as large! With another eight-match card on board for Episode 14, this clocked in at the longest show of the season with nearly two and a half hours of action (with very little downtime, at that). I’m grateful to Beyond and IWTV for allowing full time for the show to run past its scheduled length rather than taking the ‘mainstream’ option of cutting matches short to meet the limits. Absolutely all of these matches benefited from having plenty of time to play out.
On Commentary: Paul Crockett, Sidney Bakabella, Joey Janela
In my opinion, this was the best commentary line-up all season. I love the Crockett and Bakabella chemistry, and Joey Janela is in a class all by himself when it comes to color on the mic. Granted, Joey was a little thrown off his commentary game after he received his ‘surprise’ birthday gift from his SLITHER partner Chris Dickinson, but damn if it all wasn’t absolutely entertaining.
Match 1: Chris Dickinson vs. Sonny Kiss
The Dirty Daddy didn’t even know he was going to have a match this episode! He was serving as the master of ceremonies for Janela’s birthday party and had a massive surprise gift that he wheeled out to great trouble. Joey was excited as hell, but things went sideways when none other than Sonny Kiss popped out of the box and punched Dickinson right in the face. At least now we knew who Dickinson’s latest challenger would be, right?


Janela did commentary for the first half of the match as Sonny and Captain Dickey went at it. Hell of a debut for Sonny Kiss on Uncharted Territory; I have to admit I didn’t know how he’d do as a challenger against Dickinson as they have such different in-ring techniques. There’s a level of versatility to these two competitors, however, and seeing them adapt to one another’s style is fun to watch. Wild ending to this opening match; Dickinson took the win after sending Sonny through the birthday box he’d arrived in via a Death Valley Driver from the ropes.


Match 2: Bear Country (Bear Beefcake & Bear Bronson) vs. The Stunt Doubles (Logan Stunt & Marko Stunt)
The first two matches of this episode looked like a yin/yang with the bringing together of different skills and sizes. In this case, you had two gigantic beefy bears going up against two compact kegs of dynamite. I swear, if anyone were watching the debut of Marko and Logan Stunt and seeing them for the first time (like I was when I first saw this episode last July)...you would likely think this would be a massacre. This was totally not the case, because the Stunt Doubles are a couple of badasses and this is the match to find that out. Logan and Marko both took a beating from the bears but they gave just as good as they got. The Bears, however, remain the aces of the tag team division, and after quite a bit of effort they were able to hit the elevator drop on both Stunt Doubles for the win.


Bear Country won the match, but the Stunt Doubles won the respect of their opponents. Just as it looked as if the match would have a happy ending, the challengers to Bear Country’s title as tag team aces arrived. Team Tremendous was believed not to be in attendance, but Bill Carr hit the ring and landed a devastating multiple-swing Boss Man Slam on Marko Stunt. Before things could get too hectic Bear Country ran their rivals off, but the tag team feud amped up considerably.


Match 3: Christian Casanova (w/Cam Zagami) vs. Breaux Keller (Discovery Gauntlet match)
The Top Talent returned to the Gauntlet this week with Cam and his leather pants and velvet rope in tow. It’s pretty clear at this point that Cam has aligned himself with greatness and changed up his look accordingly. His attention-seeking behavior didn’t take anything away from Casanova’s performance in this match, though. Breaux Keller was a very different Gauntlet opponent than Leyla Hirsch, but Casanova matches his high-flying skills just right. Excellent Gauntlet match on this episode and even though I think it got just the right amount of time I’d love to see Breaux Keller back on Uncharted Territory again just for a second match. Casanova takes the win and gets one more week in the Gauntlet...and if it wasn’t hot enough in the White Eagle before, the heat was certainly intense when Cam took over the post-match interview. They. HATE. Him.


Match 4: Anthony Greene (w/the Platinum Hunnies) vs. The Patriot
What would a 4th of July themed show be if you didn’t have The Patriot booked? Anthony Greene and the Hunnies arrived decked out in red, white, and blue, looking quite festive indeed. The Patriot is still a tank of a man even well into his 50s, and he’s got an all-American tan going that made me doubt his alleged Worcester residence, I had no idea they got that much sun up north. During the livestream live tweet for this match it was said that this match was reminiscent of a WWF Wrestling Challenge match from back in the day. I agree. This one had a delightful old school feel to it. The Patriot gets the feel-good win and the audience celebrates with a rousing rendition of the National Anthem. God bless America!


Match 5: Wheeler Yuta vs. Alex Reynolds
I think Alex Reynolds had Silver on the brain more than anything else in this match. This was his first singles match since the Beaver Boys split, and on the previous episode of Uncharted Territory Reynolds showed Silver there was definitely a grudge held. Meanwhile, Yuta has his own ongoing feud against Chuck O’Neil. As good as this match was, it felt like messages were being sent out to rivals more than a legitimate rivalry going on between the two competitors. Yuta gets the win in the end, and afterward Cold Steel is hot on his tracks, eager to trap Yuta in an armbar. Chuck wouldn’t get what he wanted on this occasion, but the message Yuta sent in this match was received and Chuck’s response was prompt.


Match 6: Solo Darling vs. Leyla Hirsch
This was one of the most enjoyable women’s single matches I’ve seen in Season 1. Leyla only made her debut as recently as Episode 13 but she made a strong impression in the Discovery Gauntlet. It’s good to see a Gauntlet competitor get invited back so soon, too. Solo featured her considerably adaptable skills in this match. Leyla’s clearly the power wrestler of this bout, but Solo can work that style just as well. This would have been a major win for Hirsch if she could have rallied back from last week’s Gauntlet loss to score a victory this time around, but there’s no stopping Solo Darling when she’s on fire and she’s had an excellent run so far this season. Solo gets the win, but Leyla is still legit as hell.
 

Next out was Thomas Santell, who was scheduled to appear but was ambushed by Christian Casanova and Richard Holliday, who have aligned themselves with Santell's new nemesis Cam Zagami (still in his leather pants). The attack, however, was cut short by the least likely savior...enter Nick Gage to even the score! And from there...a classic union was forged.


Match 7: Mike Quackenbush, Razerhawk, Green Ant, Thief Ant vs. Cornelius Crummels, Sonny Defarge, Cajun Crawdad, Hermit Crab (Atomicos match)
The CHIKARA Atomicos match was off the wall, off the chain, and out of BOTH pockets. What started as a tag team matchup led to a trios match, and now we’re here in a 4x4 lucha rules contest including Mike Quackenbush(!!). The action went everywhere in this match, inside the ring, outside of the ring, and all around the crowd. This would be the match I’d show to someone who wants a good idea of what kind of talent CHIKARA has on their current roster. Quackenbush and his team of tecnicos end up with the victory after a series of amazing and increasingly wild spots. Loved it!
Match 8: Josh Briggs vs. Joey Janela
Joey’s big birthday present earlier in the show may not have been up to his expectations, but this main event match with Josh Briggs surely made up for it. In keeping with Beyond’s hot streak of finishing the show with a banger, this one delivers. Briggs is just as much of a beast in this match as he was in his main event match with Kris Statlander. Janela’s got a bigger challenge in Briggs than he did with Statlander, but damn if Joey didn’t take Josh’s punishment and somehow rally himself forth to come back at several points to control the match. You have to see this match to appreciate how awesome both these guys are in working with one another. For anyone still tossing around the tired phrase ‘vanilla midget’, maybe you should watch more David and Goliath style matches like this one and allow yourself to be impressed. Janela gets his birthday boy win after hitting a massive burning hammer on the equally massive Josh Briggs for the pinfall three count. Very, very good match and one that should be on the ‘best of’ career matches list for both Janela and Briggs.
Post-Show Thoughts
Sure, this was a longer episode, but it’s worth every moment of your viewing time. I don’t think it’s by accident that we see parallels in Uncharted Territory to the good old days of 90s Monday Night Raw/Warzone and WWF Wrestling Challenge. Beyond’s booking has a way of courting nostalgia wrapped up in a sick and sleek modern bow, and fans love to see it.
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