This weekend there is a pretty good chance that I’ll make the voyage from Worcester to Providence to attend the “Battle of New England,” Beyond Wrestling’s return to Fete Music for the first time since “Americanrana ’14.” In an effort to get you equally excited for a very interesting day of wrestling I’ll be doing a full preview of the show, as voted by the fans on facebook. If you haven’t decided whether or not you will be attending #BONE on Sunday afternoon you can still buy tickets at LookMaNoFans.com or pick them up at the Fete Music box office on Sunday.
*First Time Ever*
Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson & Jaka) vs. Team TREMENDOUS (Dan Barry & Bill Carr)
Preview: At this point I believe it goes without saying that Team TREMENDOUS brings all the boys to the yard. No team better personifies what Beyond Wrestling is all about than Dan Barry and Bill Carr. They’re always featured in a highlight match, they always deliver and absent someone getting seriously injured during this match I don’t see how this could possibly disappoint. The Doom Patrol has been an “on again/off again” figure in Beyond Wrestling for years, Dickinson and Jaka are legitimately lifelong friends who have been delivering solid performances in Beyond Wrestling for years. This is a real contrast in styles as the Doom Patrol is a stiff, brutal, bruising team and Team TREMENDOUS is basically just a wonderful all around team. The one thing that I expect to see in this match will be a display of Dickinson and Jaka’s humor which is often understated but if you’ve seen enough Dickinson you know he has the ability to be just as engaging and funny as Dan Barry, albeit in a very different manner. This should be a really fun match that puts four Beyond Wrestling staples in the main event, for good reason.
*Scientific Showcase*
Timothy Thatcher vs. Jonathan Gresham
Preview: The fact that this match almost didn’t get voted onto the Fete main show disappoints me but I’m thrilled that there was enough movement at the end of the week to push this thing from the Secret Show to the big room. Gresham is one of those guys that always seems like he should be a much bigger deal than he is, and Thatcher has been performing as the poor man’s European version of Biff Busick/Drew Gulak for the last year. I expect this to be a very stiff combination of European and Japanese styles. The only thing that will hold this back from being an absolute show stealer is going to be whether or not Gresham or Thatcher can connect with the crowd. Neither of them is really known for their crowd work and if they’re not able to engage the audience the fact that this will likely be primarily mat based might lose the room and that would be unfortunate for a match between two skilled guys.
*Non Title*
Juicy Product (JT Dunn & David Starr) vs. The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield & Mr. Touchdown)
Preview: Mr. Touchdown becomes the first person to ever lose to Steve “The Turtle” Weiner eight times in one night, disappear for over a year and then return to Beyond Wrestling. I was shocked to see The Throwbacks announced for #BONE but was delighted to see that they’ll be taking on the Juicy Product. Over the past year plus JT Dunn has gone from plucky underdog savior of wrestling in Providence, Rhode Island to showboating d-bag and the room has been turning on him a little more each show. The Juicy Product are doing a great Young Bucks impression and taking on the Chikara Campeonas de Parejas is a nice way to continue that trend.
*A New Beginning*
Silver Ant (formerly Green Ant) vs. Anthony Stone
Preview: Nobody is doing better work with less fanfare than Anthony Stone right now. I talked about his excellent series of matches with Dave Cole before and his violent brawl with Nicholas Kaye gave us a satisfying resolution to that feud at “Americanrana ’14.” Now Stone moves forward mixing it up with the “big names” on the independent circuit and we’re going to see what he’s made off right off the bat. Silver Ant has a style that should mesh with Stone really well and this will be a really good measuring stick for where Stone is. If, as I suspect, he’s operating on a high level right now this will be a beautiful match and that’s exactly what I’m anticipating.
*Running Of The Bulls*
Matt Tremont vs. Stockade
Preview: Oh boy. I’ve been on record saying I’m not a huge fan of “deathmatch” types but Matt Tremont has quickly become one of my favorite things in professional wrestling. I have so much respect for what he does and how he handles himself in doing it, plus he comes across as a real gentleman and I just am very happy to support him and pay money to go to shows that he’s involved with. Stockade has been a revelation for me, and I think a lot of people through his exposure with Beyond Wrestling. I love everything about this match, two big hosses beating the tar paper off each other. Tremont hasn’t disappointed once during his time in Beyond and Stockade is probably going to try to drop a Cactus Elbow off the stage again. This should be excellent and brutal.
*Ultimate Endurance*
Da Hoodz (Davey Cash & Kris Pyro) vs. Minute Men (Tommy Trainwreck & Devin Blaze) vs. EYFBO (Mike Draztik & Angel Ortiz) vs. Milk Chocolate (Brandon Watts & Randy Summers)
Preview: Here’s what we know about this match. Da Hoodz have secretly been the MVP’s of the last year for Beyond Wrestling. While all the insanity happens at the beginning of the show, Da Hoodz always stand out, every time they get into the ring. They have amazing chemistry with the Minute Men and EYFBO because they’ve wrestled each other roughly 10,000 times over the years in New England. Milk Chocolate exists as a thing that I love unconditionally for almost no justifiable reason. Also these four teams put on a match recently in another promotion that was so out of control that Mick Foley posted about it (that’s a thing that happened). There is no conceivable way that this match isn’t insane and amazing and it should absolutely open the show and I feel terrible for whomever has to try and follow this thing.
*#TFT3 Preview*
Hooligans (Devin Cutter & Mason Cutter) vs. Aeroform (Louis Lyndon & Flip Kendrick)
Preview: One of these things I love, one of these things I should love but just can’t get behind. The Hooligans only appearance at Fete was the ill-fated “Feeding Frenzy” 2 1/2 hour no-ring experience which I think hurt them. This is the first time Aeroform has appeared at Fete. This should be a very interesting match and it’s going to be fun to see what the Hooligans have brought back from their Mexican tour. If the Cutter’s show up in lucha masks and their doing rana’s all over the place I’m going to loose my mind.
*XWA Showcase*
Julian Starr vs. Jason Blade vs. Antonio Atama vs. Hanson
Preview: Other than Hanson I know none of these guys. I have every confidence that this will be a fun opener, and Hanson is such an experienced pro that he’ll be able to direct the younger guys in the ring to make sure everything works. It’s almost impossible for these opening four way matches to not work on some level so I’m happy to see what these guys can do and I’m glad that XWA is getting the showcase even though this match features neither Brian Fury or the XWA Champion (David Starr).
So there you have it, the lineup for the Fete Music, main show portion of “Battle of New England.” This is a really stacked card when you consider that a number of Beyond mainstays will all be in California for some other “Battle of…” tournament (never heard of it).
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