Vacationland cup recap by Don Halliwell
Becca vs Davienne
We open the show with non-tournament action. Becca is definitely the underdog in this match as Davienne is one of the top wrestlers in Limitless and Becca is still in her first year in wrestling. Becca opens the match quickly with a superkick for a near fall followed by 3 straight splashes in the corner. She goes for an acrobatic slap but gets caught by Davienne, who gives her a suplex. Becca attempts a spin kick but Davienne catches it, kicks her in the gut and gives her an impressive suplex with a bridge for a near fall. Becca hits Davienne with a swinging neckbreaker that sends her to the outside where Becca hits her with a dive. They come back in the ring and trade forearms, which is something that Becca probably does not want to do, as Davienne has the clear strength advantage, but she stands toe to toe with Davienne and hits a spin kick for a near fall. Becca locks in a very impressive Muta lock in the middle of the ring, but Davienne makes her way to the ropes. Davienne then hits a big choke slam for a near fall. Becca goes to the 2nd rope but slips off the ropes and Davienne takes advantage with a suplex, then a sliding dropkick driving Becca into the ring post and pins Becca for the win. This was a really good way to start the show, especially for new viewers of Limitless. Both women have been really impressive on The Road. Davienne is a top star and Becca has constantly improved since her debut at Pandemic at the Dojo earlier this year.
Lee Moriarty Vs Daniel Garcia
Lee is the crowd favorite among the wrestlers at ringside, as they are not big fans of Daniel Garcia due to his actions at previous Limitless shows. They start out with some grappling on the mat, exchanging submission attempts. They then exchange strikes, in the middle of the ring until Garcia kicks him in the gut and locks in a front chancery. Lee hits his patent flying arm drag, then kicks Garcia in the arm and hits a big dropkick. Lee focuses on Garcia’s arm in anticipation of locking in his arm bar submission. Lee goes to the top rope but is pushed to outside. Once he makes it back into the ring Garcia stomps him and hits a dropkick to the knee. Lee goes back to working the arm, but Garcia hits a forearm, a clip to the back of the knee and dragon screw leg whip. Garcia is really working on Lee’s knee at this point. Garcia goes for an elbow, but Lee turns it into an armbar. Garcia reverses the armbar into a crossface, but Lee gets to the ropes. Lee hits Garcia with an enziguri. He then misses a double stomp the first time, as Garcia slides under it, but Lee quickly turns around and hits it on his 2nd attempt for a near fall. Lee comes off the 2nd and stomps on Garcia’s arm. They exchange strikes in the middle of the ring until Garcia’s arm gives out. Lee attempts some knees, but Garcia counters with an ancle lock. Garcia hits 2 suplexes, but Lee comes back with 2 of his own before Garcia goes back to the ancle lock. Lee kicks out of the ancle lock and hits a tilt-a-whirl DDT from the corner. He then locks in an armbar, but Garcia reverses it into a sharpshooter. Lee is able to get back into the armbar, but Garcia gets to the ropes. Lee kicks Garcia’s arm and hits a Tiger Driver for a near fall. He then goes for a discus forearm, but his knee gives out. Garcia takes advantage by hitting Lee with a shining wizard followed by a pile driver for a near fall. Garcia quickly locks into a sharpshooter and pulls back on Lee’s legs forcing to tap out. This was a great way to start the tournament and was a match of wills between 2 technical wrestlers. During the whole match Lee was focusing on Garcia’s arm and Garcia was focusing on Lee’s knee. It looks like Garcia may be a little worse for the wear going into the tournament finals.
Christian Casanova vs CJ Cruz
CJ Cruz is a big underdog in this match, as he was a late replacement in the tournament and Casanova is one of the favorites to win it all. Casanova picks up the pace early into the match with a quick succession of arm drags followed by a dropkick which drives CJ out of the ring. CJ fires back once he is in the ring with a springboard cross body, then a kick to the head for a near fall. They are both on the mat and Casanova hits CJ with a spinning kick, but only gets a 1 count. CJ is showing that he will not go down easy and is going to bring the fight to Casanova. CJ throws Casanova into the corner and hits a splash. Casanova comes back with a springboard clothesline and he appears to start to get some of his signature swagger. CJ goes to the 2nd rope but gets kicked and is laying prone on the 2nd rope, which gives Casanova an opportunity to hit his springboard leg drop. Casanova goes for Dirty Diana, but CJ is able to avoid it and he hits a spin kick and senton to take control. CJ then hits 2 suplexes and a 619, followed by a flying elbow for a near fall. CJ goes to the top again, but misses this time, giving Casanova the opportunity that he needs to hit him with a scissor kick and Dirty Diana for the win. This was a very impressive showing from CJ, but Casanova was very determined to move on and was able to use his experience and athleticism to hit his big moves when the opportunity came and pick up the victory.
JD Drake v Kevin Blackwood
JD shows off his power advantage early to start the match and Blackwood counters with some kicks to the legs. They exchange strikes, then Blackwood lays in some kicks and a double stomp to the back, but JD brings him down with a huge chop. Blackwood gets thrown to the outside and JD throws him off the ropes and hits him with a forearm off the ricochet. Once they are both back in the ring, JD hits Blackwood with a boot scrape in the corner followed by a senton and a powerslam. Blackwood comes back with some kicks, culminating with one to the back of the head, which bring JD to the ground. Blackwood follows this up with 2 suplexes and a kick to the head for a near fall. He is showing a surge of energy and power, but it is short lived as JD hits him with a Bossman Slam followed by a Vader Bomb for a near fall of his own. JD follows this up with a spinebuster and Blackwood is again able to kick out a 2. JD seems visibly frustrated that he is not able to put Blackwood away. JD goes to 2nd rope but is caught by Blackwood who slams him to the mat and hits a knee to the head for a 2 count. JD comes back with a thrust kick followed by the Drill Bit for the win. Blackwood showed off his toughness, but JD was just too strong and used his power to advance to the finals.
Ace Romero vs Alec Price
This is the third match this year between these 2 in Limitless, they split the first two, so this is the rubber match. Ace starts the match like he did the previous 2, by throwing Alec across the ring. The pace then picks up and Ace hits a big crossbody. Price counters with a spinning DDT from the top, then a running leg drop on Ace, as his throat is on the rope. Ace gets up, but Price hits the ricochet drop kick. He follows this up with a kick to the back of the head, a stomp to the back and then a leg drop from the top rope. Price comes off the top rope again but is thrown aside by Ace and Ace hits a uranage, followed by a huge buckle bomb, crashing Price’s head against the top rope. Ace then hits Price with a pounce, which throws Price of the top rope onto the floor. Price is holding his knee on the outside and the referee goes to check on him, but Ace comes out, grabs Price, and throws him back in the ring. Ace picks Price up but Price uses his momentum to hit a very impressive spinning DDT. We can now see that there is a huge bruise on Price’s leg, and it is obviously giving him trouble. Even with that pain Price is able to hit a jumping knee strike on Ace. Ace responds with a big suplex. Price counters with a kick to the head, followed by a blockbuster from the top rope and a surprise kick. He goes for the pin, but Ace is able to kick out at 2, which is shocking, as Price usually puts his opponents away with this move. Price is frustrated and is basically on 1 leg at this point. Ace hits him with a backfist and a huge spinning lariat, but Price kicks out at two. Ace picks up Price but gets met with a headbutt. Price then brings him down with a kick and hits the surprise kick for the win. Price is hobbling out of the ring after his victory and that leg looks to be a problem for him in the finals. This match was just as good as the first two. I am always impressed that someone the size of Ace is able to keep up with a person like Price and Price really showed his toughness in this match as that bruise on his leg looked like he was taking leg kicks for 5 rounds of an MMA fight.
The Prestige (Channing Thomas & Brett Ryan Gosling) v The Beverage Barons ( PUF & Megabyte Ronnie)
The Beverage Barons come out to “All I want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey and PUF is dressed as Santa Puf today. The match opens with BRG and PUF. Puf throws BRG away with every attempt of an offensive maneuver and BRG gets frustrated and tags in Thomas, who says that he wants Ronnie. Ronnie gives hiptosses to both members of The Prestige and tags in Puf. The Beverage Barons get BRG up for a double back body drop. Ronnie picks BRG up, but BRG slips away and makes the tag to Channing, who holds Ronnie as BRG superkicks him. BRG then proceeds to rip off Ronnie’s fanny pack. Prestige keeps Ronnie in their corner and BRG hits a sunset flip from the top for a near fall. He then hits a bulldog on Ronnie for another near fall. They antagonize Puf and get him to try to come in the ring after them, which distracts the referee. As the ref is distracted, they double team Ronnie. The Prestige pull the hotdog out of the fanny pack and stomp on it, which angers Ronnie and gives him the energy to tag Puf, who lays out the Prestige. Puf hits an inside out sidewalk slam on Thomas and an exploder on BRG. Ronnie looks to go for his elbow but does not have his hotdog. Puf looks into his Santa sack, which he brought to the ring, and after pulling out a few other items he locates a package with a hot dog in it. Ronnie hits the hotdog assisted elbow for the win.
After the match Thomas hits a low blow on Puf and throws Ronnie out of the ring. He goes to hit PUF with a chair, but the Maine State Posse come to the ring and run off The Prestige, which leads us to the next match.
MSP (Danger Kid and Aiden Aggro) vs Sea Stars (Ashley Vox and Delmi Exo)
We open with Vox and Danger Kid and they are even as we start the match. They exchange reversals on the mat and quick pin attempts. They then avoid each other’s kicks, have a stand off and tag in their partners. Aggro and Exo are also pretty even as Arggo cartwheels out of a couple of holds that Exo had him in. Exo is finally able to break the stalemate with a head scissor takedown and a suplex with a bridge. Aggro is able to kick out and make the tag to Danger Kid, who hits Exo with a suplex of his own. Exo counters with a monkey flip and tags in Vox who hits a jumping chinbreaker. MSP hits some double team moves and Aggro hits a cartwheel elbow but appears to hurt his injured shoulder and Vox goes right after it. She tags in Exo who stomps on the shoulder. The Sea Stars show their ruthless side as they continue to work on his Aggro’s shoulder and keep him in their corner. They hit an assisted cannonball in the corner and both cover Aggro, but he is able to kick out. Aggro is finally able to kick Vox away from him and make the tag to Danger Kid. DK comes in with a burst of energy and hits Vox with a spinning brainbuster. DK and Vox then exchange forearms. Vox catches DK with a super kick that knocks him to the floor, but he comes back in the ring and hits a Lobster Roll. It now starts to break down as Exo comes in the ring. She hits an exploder on DK, Aggro hits a DDT on Exo and Vox hits a satellite DDT on Aggro and everyone is down. Vox locks in the fishhook submission on Danger Kid, but DK bites his way out of it. Vox then locks in the fishhook on the gauge on his earlobe. OUCH! DK is able to get out of the hold and hits a flying knee. He then makes the tag to Aggro. Aggro misses a kick in the corner and Exo hits a gut buster. Vox then comes off the top onto Aggro’s back, driving him into Exo’s knees, who covers him for the pin, but Danger Kid makes the save. Vox goes for a cross body off the top but Aggro catches her. MSP hits her with the last vacation, but Vox kicks out at two. On the outside of the ring Exo throws Aggro into the post, then Vox makes the tag and Exo lays into DK. The Sea Stars go for More Sea for your Star, but Aggro grabs Vox on the top and DK rolls up Exo for the win. This was a dream tag team match that a lot of people, myself included, were really excited for whenever it was announce and it did not disappoint. After the match MSP says that these are 2 of the best tag teams and DK says that it is time that they have tag team titles in Limitless. If that happens, I think you are looking at the top 2 contenders.
Rip Byson v Big Beef
This is a hoss fight if there ever was one. Beef jumps Rip before he ever gets in the ring and they fight on the outside. Rip wraps Beef’s arm in the post and chops him. Beef comes back with a headbutt and a chop, he then chokes Rip with a belt and uses it to throw him into the post. Rip comes back with punches, then grabs the belt and whips Beef with it. Beef rakes Rip’s eyes and chokes him on the floor. They exchange strikes again and Rip body slams Beef on the floor then hits a Cactus Elbow. Beef brings Rip into the ring with a vertical suplex and the match officially starts. They resume exchanging strikes, this time in the middle of the ring. Rip tries to pick up Beef, but Beef slips out and clobbers him in the corner. Beef hits a Backdrop driver on Rip, then a power bomb for a near fall. They jostle for the advantage and Rip hits a huge clothesline for a near fall of his own. Beef flies off the top for a splash onto Rip, but Rip kicks out at two. Beef tries another splash onto Rip but misses and goes through the ropes, where Rip hits a dive over the top rope onto Beef. They get back in the ring and Rip hits a Gotch style tombstone for the win. This was less of a wrestling match and more of a fight. Rip continues to improve in Limitless and has proven that he can take on anyone.
4-way Match for the Vacationland Cup and the Limitless Championship- Alec Price vs Daniel Garcia vs Christian Casanova vs JD Drake, elimination style
Price opens the match going after everyone but gets kicked by Casanova and Garcia and gets thrown out to JD who ricochets him off the ropes and hits a forearm. Drake then does the same with Garcia and gives him a slap. He tries the same with Casanova, but Casanova avoids it, and they go back into the ring. JD hits a spine buster on Casanova, and then they exchange chops. Casanova gets JD caught in the ropes and hits a remix leg drop. Price comes in the ring hits a crazy twisting DDT on Casanova and exchanges strikes with Garcia. Drake comes in the ring and takes out both of them. Casanova then comes in and JD hits a rock bottom on him and Price at the same time. JD hits an Alabama slam on Garcia followed by clothesline for near fall. Casanova comes off the top, but misses and JD hits a stunner, a cannonball, and then a senton on Casanova, but Price sneaks in and rolls up Drake, holding the tights, and pins him. With Drake eliminated, Casanova appears to be the freshest competitor, as Price and Garcia are injured, Price with his leg and Garcia with his shoulder. Garcia picks up Casanova onto his shoulders and Price hits a Doomsday blockbuster. This is followed by a Shining Wizard from Garcia on Price, who locks in leg submission and stops on Price’s head. He then lays strikes to his head and the ref must put an end to it as Price is not able to defend himself. It is now down to Casanova and Garcia. Casanova hits a springboard clothesline, but Garcia answers with a big running elbow. Garcia locks in a single leg Boston crab, but Casanova is able to get out by putting Garcia in a pinning position. Garcia hits Casanova with a piledriver, only using his 1 good arm, but Casanova kicks out at two. Casanova hits Garcia with multiple knees to the face followed by a cutter. The two trade chops in the middle of the ring. Casanova goes for Dirty Diana, but Garcia evades and rolls him up. Casanova escapes and goes for Dirty Diana again, this time he is able to hit it and follows it up with the Sucka Kick for the win.
This show was great top to bottom. I really think that Limitless had one of the best years of any independent wrestling promotion and the topped it off with one of the best shows of the year. They showcased the top wrestlers in independent wrestling and the top stars of Limitless that have been making a name for themselves every Wednesday on The Road.