If you’re a follower of my twitter (@JRoche3MR) or a subscriber to the Beyond Wrestling newsletter (which I happen to write) then you already know I’m working on End of the Year awards for Beyond Wrestling. Because this is the largest space that I have at my disposal, all of my recaps and rundowns for the nominees will be placed here, with a final vote and award show being done somewhere else (to be determined). For the record the period covered by this award show is January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2014. I know that puts “Ends Meet” right in the cross hairs, but if something happens this weekend at Fete Music we’ll update the list accordingly.
Voting is as follows — you can use the handy poll at the bottom of this post. You won’t be able to see the results, those are secret only for me until the time awards are officially unveiled. You can also email me at xjdrochex[at]gmail[.]com, or get at me on Twitter (@JRoche3MR). I’ll be looking for feedback and memories about the nominees and your votes so reach out if you can.
The first category for our 2014 Year End Awards is “Newcomer of the Year.” This award will be handed out to the performer who made their debut at either a #SecretShow or at Fete Music this year, and who deserves special recognition.
“Speedball” Mike Bailey: Here’s what happens — Mike Bailey shows up at “Alive & Kicking” and when nobody is paying attention he just slips in and steals the show. Bailey and Biff Busick put on an independent wrestling clinic at “Alive & Kicking” and even if Bailey never wrestles another match of that quality in Beyond again, it’s tough to say that anyone had a better one match sample size than Bailey. I’d argue that this bizarre trio with Mathieu St-Jacques and Buxx Belmar satisfies any fear that he’d be a one match wonder, but man, what a match. It’d be easy to look at Bailey’s performance over #TFT3 Weekend and hand him the award. He had the stand out match on Saturday and it’s still fresh in everyone’s mind. Some of the other nominees have more of a record to work with, but a solid, hard hitting, brutal match with Biff Busick has been known to win awards for people before.
The Young Bucks: Lets forget for a moment that they’re the best tag team in the world. The Bucks made a legitimate splash in Beyond Wrestling in 2014, debuting to much fan fare at “Unbreakable” where I’d guess 1/3 of the people in attendance were wearing “Bullet Club” t-shirts. The Bucks returned to Beyond at “Americanrana ’14” to face the Juicy Product and then put on a wrestling clinic over Tournament For Tomorrow 3 weekend, including wrestling three times on Sunday. The thing about the Bucks is that they impact a wrestling show a couple of different ways. First off, they’re legitimate stars, the atmosphere in the room changes when the Bucks are around. More people are buying merch, more people are excited, more people are engaged. More than that, the boys and girls in the back are motivated. If you want to get a great tag match on your show, book the Bucks – not because they’ll have a great match (which they will) but every other tag team pulls out all the stops to step up when they know the Nick and Matt Jackson are in the room. For my money 2014 was the “Year of the Bucks” as they really turned their act into a worldwide phenomena. Their work in New Japan was great (though irrelevant to this ballot). The matches they’ve had in Beyond have all been amazing, but you can say that about basically every match they’ve had everywhere. The Bucks are always the biggest stars in the room, regardless of who else is in that room and the fact that they went toe to toe with the best that Beyond had to offer at #TFT3 leaves you to wonder what is left for them in Providence should the Bucks come back for 2015.
Jimmy Jacobs: Jacobs debuted by pulling off a lucha mask at “Feeding Frenzy” and stabbing Eric Corvis in the face. It might’ve been a little more involved then that, but the Zombie Princess certainly made an impact in this time with Beyond Wrestling in 2014. Jacobs went toe to toe with Michael Elgin at CRITICAL! Acclaim and had a poorly timed First Blood Match with Corvis at Americanrana ’14. Jacobs is the kind of guy from my perspective that brings more to the table outside of the ring than inside of it. His promo work leading up to the match with Corvis was solid, and his interactions with the Crusade for Change helped grease the skids for the current #CFC that we see in Beyond Wrestling today. It wasn’t Jacobs or Corvis’ fault that Nicholas Kaye got busted open and bled buckets at “Americanrana ’14” before the First Blood Match but it’s tough not to dock the Corvis/Jacobs match points for it anyway. With only two matches under his belt I still thought Jacobs had at least two memorable moments in Beyond — his debut, and Elgin catching him in mid air during a spear attempt at “Unbreakable.”
Stockade: I’m not sure anyone on this list was more consistently involved in the fabric of Beyond Wrestling than Stockade. The Devil’s Favorite Outlaw debuted as part of a show opening Four Way at CRITICAL! Acclaim which you may recall as that time the big fat guy dropped a Cactus Elbow off the stage at Fete. Since then Stockade has been featured at both Secret Shows and on the main show, and has also shown himself to be a pretty adept commentator when called upon to do so as part of the Beyond Wrestling RAW footage. Recently we’ve seen Stockade get involved with Matt Tremont in a feud that looks to turn up the violence at “End’s Meet” in the second ever FANS BRING THE WEAPONS match. I am a huge fan of Stockade, I think he’s absolutely made the most of the opportunity given to him with Beyond Wrestling and the fact that he’s turned that opportunity into a pretty frequent and regular spot in the Beyond rotation is proof positive of a guy who is running with the ball when given the opportunity.
SUPERcop Dick Justice: I’m not sure anyone on this list had a more lasting impact than SUPERcop Dick Justice. The officially unofficial host of Americanrana ’14 only stepped into the ring once at Fete Music but boy did people talk about his performance for awhile after “Uncomfortable”. Sure, most of the talk coming out of his debut revolved around Colt Cabana and rape culture in independent wrestling, but Dick Justice was a big hit in the ring and outside of it and he deserved some recognition.
Brian Cage: Here’s the thing about Brian Cage — he’s awesome. There should be a qualifier in there because I haven’t actually thought Brian Cage was very awesome during his stint in Beyond Wrestling. His debut match against Chris Dickinson didn’t work for me on a number of levels that I’ve talked about before, and his performance in the West Coast v. East Coast elimination match at “Alive & Kicking” only stands out because of how stupid his delay vertical suplex spot was. That being said, Cage is still a premier athlete and he did come into Beyond and go toe to toe with Chris Dickinson, the baddest man on the block.
Jay Freddie: The fact that Jay Freddie exploded on the scene in Beyond Wrestling isn’t a surprise to anyone who follows 2CW in upstate New York. Freddie is an ace and is capable of doing incredible things in the ring. It was only a matter of time before he started to branch out and he got his chance with Beyond this year, most prominently in a series of matches with Brian Fury. I would argue that Freddie only scratched the surface of what he is capable of with his performances in Beyond this year and I expect that we’ll be talking a lot more about him in 2015.
So there’s your ballot, as old style machine politicians would say “vote early, vote often”. The official results will be unveiled after the New Year in a ceremony to be held — well okay we haven’t really figured out what we’re doing yet, but stay tuned.
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