CZW Reviews: Tangled Web 8
by
Alex Bodensteiner
For my fourth review of this column I am reviewing Tangled Web 8 the main story of this show was the feud between theВ Nation of Intoxication and OI4K that has been spanning many, many months when Dave and Jake turned heel about 5 or 6В months back. Ever since then the feud has included 3-4 new people in this feud and many violent matches that led upВ to needing the ever so popular Tangled Web stipulation to end the feud once and for all. This show also has built upВ to the end of two other feuds in BLK Jeez and Tremont and David Starr and JT Dunn making this show feel really special,В whereas some of the other Tangled Webs haven’t had much buildup to them, with that being said let’s get onto the show!В Just watching the beginning before everything I can’t help but notice how spiffy the production is looking between theВ video package and everything it looks top notch.
Announcers
: Emil J and Jon Harder
Ring Announcer
:Emil J
Match #1 : Neiko Sozio vs Pepper Parks
Pre-Match : This match has been building up since August-ish when Sozio has been telling people he is Tremont’sВ friend and since Parks and Jeez are feuding with Tremont they decided they would pick on him and have Parks’ wife andВ manager bump into Sozio and claim sexual harassment to get into Sozio’s head. That is what led up to last month’s tagВ match where Jeez pinned Sozio and now Parks is seeking revenge on Parks.
Analysis : This match actually was a really good brawl the feud between these two actually felt pretty heated.В Sozio and Parks know how to work a good, solid match. I feel like this was missing that one extra element to get more heatВ on it in Cherry Bomb, Parks’ manager and wife. She got injured in September at the WSU show breaking her collarbone.Parks SozioВ did a good job shining in this as the dick heel wrestling. Sozio won this with the Yakuza Kick at the end. I honestly hope that this feud continues but if not this was a damn good way toВ end it.
Winner
: Neiko Sozio
Match Rating
: 7 stars out of 10
Match #2 : “The Whole Foxing Show” AR Fox w/Ayla Fox vs “Chainsaw” Joe Gacy
Pre-Match :AR Fox lately has been showing himself to be more cocky, being kind of a jerk to everyone while stillВ showcasing his high-flying style but adding his wife as his manager to help get over his bad guy persona. Gacy has beenВ feuding with Tim Donst on and off since January of this year but they took a month off to face different opponents.
Analysis : This match was a good mix of styles between these two with Gacy being the more hard-hitting ground andВ pound style to combat Fox’s high flying embarass you style. This match was used to get over Fox more even with the finishВ of Donst interfering and costing Gacy the match at the end. Fox has been on a roll in CZW lately and this matchВ showcased it. Gacy had plenty of great spots as well and the psychology in this while not great definitely was there.
Winner
: AR Fox
Star Rating
: 7.25 stars out of 10
Match #3 : The Beaver Boys (John Silver and Alex Reynolds) vs Team Tremendous(Dan Barry and Bill Carr)
Pre-Match : The Beaver Boys are multi-time tag team champions and are a really good team who have been gaining steamВ through the US tag scene. Tremendous is well known throughout the US from Rhode Island with Beyond Wrestling to PWG outВ of California. These two teams have been feuding on and off since November or December of last year when Tremendous wasВ kidnapped Silver and interrogated him before becoming fan favorites. They had a nice little feud that became.. convolutedВ at the end.
Analysis : Beaver Boys attacked Team Tremendous before the bell. This was the first time they have defended the beltsВ together since July which is weird and shouldn’t have been the case but it worked in there favor. This match showed whyВ Carr and Barry are such special performers with their selling ability and the way they can work a match. The Beaver BoysВ are just beasts in the ring very talented and fun to watch they dominated this match with their excellent tag team movesВ and heat seeking ability. The match wasn’t great but it was fun to watch. Tremendous won with a rollup out of nowhereВ for the win.
Match Winner:
Team Tremendous to retain the World Tag Team titles
Star Rating
: 6.5 stars out of 10
Match #4 : Joey Janela vs Tim Donst(c) for the CZW Wired Title
:Pre-Match : Janela has been impressing the CZW faithful since debuting in February with his unique talking style andВ look in the ring. Donst is very good at knowing his character showing no respect for the title even spitting on it beforeВ the match. Janela challenged Donst the month before to a title shot after winning the four way to begin the show. DonstВ has done an amazing job turning the fans against him when I didn’t even think he could after coming back from beatingВ cancer.
Analysis : This match was very damn good. Janela showed off his explosive style flying all over the place wowingВ the crowd and getting them behind him when Donst was on offense. The only thing I didn’t like about this is Donst isВ showing disrespect to the title yet if he doesn’t want it why fight so hard for the title? Other then that I really hadВ no complaints about it. Janela won the match in a feel-good moment and acted like it was actually a accomplishment toВ win this title. Janela won via a chair assisted clutch after Gacy interfered hitting drop toe holding him face-firstВ into the chair.
Winner
: Joey Janela
Star Rating
: 8 stars out of 10
Match #5 : Dick Justice vs Greg Excellent (c) for the Honorary CZW Jr. Heavyweight Title
Pre-Match: This match was made after Justice had challenged Excellent for a rematch the past few months whileВ Excellent has been acting reluctant seeming like he thinks Justice is beneath him. Both wrestlers can be very entertainingВ comedy wise and in the ring.
Analysis : I HATED this match. There was nothing good about it except it furthered Excellents descending into nefariousВ ways and abandoning being a fun guy. This was honestly the worst match of the year in CZW and one of the worst matchesВ of the year in wrestling.
Post-Match : Chrissy was looking at Greg and asking him what was he thinking and he pushed her down and walked awayВ before motioning her to come on.
Winner
: Greg Excellent
Star Rating
: 1.5 stars out of ten
Match #6 : Masada vs Rory Gulak
Pre-Match : Masada had joined the feud back at Down with the Sickness replacing Nick Gage teaming up with Biff BusickВ in Busick’s final CZW match against the Amazing Gulaks. Now the Gulaks have a problem with Masada and want to make hisВ life miserable. Rory and Masada have been feuding on and off for many, many years taking a few years off when Rory retiredВ after Cage of Death XIII when Nick Mondo returned to send Rory into retirement achieving Rory’s dream. Masada startedВ off as part of Billy Gram’s Cult Fiction which was a huge storyline in CZW’s history from 2007ish-2009.
Analysis : These two had a great technical match without to many of Masada’s trademark skewers with Rory skillfullyВ avoiding them to the head in various ways. Rory did different various amateur wrestling moves to make Masada’s headВ hurt and show off how skillful he is. Rory outside of wrestling is a very successful grappling coach now teachingВ current CZW student Curt Robinson at his high school. This match was different then the others on the card and it showed.В Masada tried to work the style of Mondo but gave up eventually when he kept getting outclassed. It eventually led toВ Masada winning the match with a bridging pin combo.
Winner
: Masada
Star Rating
: 7.5 stars out of 10
Match #7 : JT Dunn vs David Starr
Pre-Match : This feud has been building up to this conclusion over a year in the making since the Juicy ProductВ broke up. They have carried it to various promotions battling each other not letting the other rest on their laurels.В Starr kept the feud going by his promos just masterfully working the crowd and building anticipation for someone to shut him upВ which JT finally did by returning to CZW and knocking Starr out to reignite their feud in CZW. THey had a heated warВ of words including Starr talking about Dunn’s drug addiction and more. This has been my favorite feud lately in CZW andВ this was the match I was looking forward to most when it came to a head this month.
Analysis : This match started off hot with Starr having something to prove and wanting to put Dunn away while JT wasВ countering everything making this a exciting match. It went to a lull but was never boring. Then it picked up at theВ end when Dunn knocked out Starr after two Death by Elbows for the win. Wow, what a great match would have been match ofВ the night in my opinion if not for later on.
Winner
: JT Dunn
Star Rating
: 8.5 stars out of 10
Match #8 : Matt Tremont(c) vs BLK Jeez for the CZW World Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match: This feud ending match had been building up for many many months since Proving Grounds in May whenВ Jeez screwed Tremont out of his win for the title by having Parks and Cherry Bomb interfere and cost Tremont the title.В Eventually that led up to Tremont in the biggest moment of his career win the World title in a impromptu matchВ after his brawl with Parks at August’s show Retribution.
Analysis : This match was ok, honestly I was expecting more considering the participants involved but for some reasonВ outside of May’s match they haven’t clicked in the ring as well as I thought they should have. But in the end thisВ accomplished what it needed to accomplish which was giving Tremont another huge win leading into Cage of Death XVII. Tremont won via the sitout powerbomb.
Post-Match : DJ Hyde came out and congratulated Tremont winning the belt which sounded insincere consideringВ Tremont and Hyde’s history which the crowd picked up on immediately as soon as he came out chanting “Shut the F upВ -clap clap- Shut the F Up”. He announced that at the very next show CZW’s Cerebral he would be challenging TremontВ for the CZW World title in a normal match, then if Tremont gets through Hyde he will be putting his title on the lineВ at COD XVII in a Cage of Death match but Hyde still hasn’t decided who so he was going to let the champ decide.В This brought out Devon Moore first coming out to his freaking awesome music to state his case, did for a second, thenВ AR Fox came out to everyone’s surprise but didn’t get a chance to when Masada came out and said he wants his belt backВ because no one else has been able to hold it as long as he had passing it around like a hot potato. DJ then asked whatВ was the champions choice to which Tremont said bring them all on I am a fighting champion. He was about to walk out andВ then riled the crowd up to get them excited because quite frankly the crowd hadn’t been as lively for the announcementВ as they should have been. I really loved this segment it was well done.
Match #9 : Nation of Intoxication vs OI4K in a Tangled Web match
Pre-Match : This match honestly needs no introduction, it was really well built including others and deserved aВ bloody ending to it after brutally battering each other for the past six months.
Analysis : I LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS MATCH! They beat each other with carpet strips, barbed wire boards and bats, usedВ a scaffold and more. The only thing that I did not like is two eliminations occured offscreen featuring Eric Ryan andВ Conor Claxton which I felt made the camera men and CZW look amateurish for even with all the chaos they should have shownВ all the eliminations. For being OI4K’s Jake Crist’s last match in the Flyers Skate Zone this was a wonderful send off, heВ busted his ass and made a impact on his way out.
Post-Match : DJ came back out and announced that this was Jake’s second to last match in the Combat Zone and askedВ the whole crowd to thank him for supporting CZW and being a huge part of their growth in the last year. Then the wholeВ locker room emptied out and made it a very emotional scene. The Nation of Intoxication even broke character and made itВ feel even more special. I loved the little touch of when Jake went to ringside and tried to hug the others they kinda backedВ off and held him a little but were trying to avoid getting his blood on them in a funny moment.
Analysis of the whole event : This was a great big CZW event lots of memorable moments and matches plus Jake Crist’sВ second to last match in the Combat Zone. I liked Emil J’s commentary but I didn’t like he had to keep going back and forthВ ring announcing and commentating during the match, before and after it. Jon Harder debuted and did well but he sounded likeВ their previous commentator Jake Black a lot, which I don’t know what was up with that but oh well. Match of the nightВ by far was the Tangled Web match and worst of the night by far, was Greg Excellent vs Dick Justice.
Star Rating : 8.5 stars out of 10
End of show Analysis : I loved this show there was only really one match I hated and that was Excellent vs JusticeВ which the crowd also did. Must see show of the year so far for CZW in my opinion.
Star Rating : 9 stars out of 10
