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I was thinking about the last live event I attended before the pandemic and decided to look up the card. It was kind of wild to read the names of some folks I had absolutely no memory of seeing and I thought it was interesting enough to share. Might inspire other folks to look up some cards too and see what they're surprised by or just remember whatever fun stuff they saw. Feel free to post current trip reports here too as shows start to come back! Since so much of the wrestling landscape has changed since this show, I thought I might also do sort of a "where are they now" for each wrestler. Very helpful since there are some matches I remember nothing about and I have no idea what else I would write about them. Evolve 140 - November 10, 2019 St. Finbar Catholic Church - Brooklyn, NY https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=245740 The 2nd Evolve show I had gone to. I know they don't have the greatest reputation, but it was nearby and I once went to one on a whim and it was a blast. Got to see Walter vs JD Drake and Chris Hero vs Josh Briggs. Went back for another show and this one was nowhere near as good. It was a Sunday night and the crowd was a little dead for most of it, plus there were no big names coming in like the first show. I think there was a table set up where you could talk to Tomasso Ciampa but I didn't go over there. The Unwanted (Colby Corino & Sean Maluta) defeat Kekoa & Mike Verna A completely forgettable opener. So much so that I forgot I had ever heard the name Mike Verna when he started showing up on AEW Dark. He's more recently been doing stuff with CW, Beyond, and NEW. Sean Maluta has also been on Dark but I recognized his name from before this event. Colby Corino now has been doing lots of various indies all over and also participated in GCW's Acid Cup (I think as an alternate)."The Flying Hawaiian" Kekoa is your reigning and defending MCW Champion (Maryland Championship Wrestling). Reina Gonzalez aka Raquel Gonzalez defeats Alex Gracia 100% the coldest match on the card. The silence in the little gymnasium was deafening. The current NXT women's champion was unable to elicit much of any reaction from the crowd and you could see the disappointment on her face. "The Pink Dream" Alex Gracia resonated with me because she was from San Antonio and I was glad to see her when she showed up on AEW Dark. She's also been working for ROH and NWA recently. Babatunde aka Commander Azeez defeats Brandon Taggart Babatunde is a big boy and so is Brandon Taggart. I've heard of Commander Azeez in WWE but I had no idea he was the same person as Babatunde. Apparently he's never actually wrestled for WWE under that name. Is he exclusively a heater or something? Brandon Taggart was a memorable hoss, but unfortunately it seems he hasn't wrestled since the pandemic started. Austin Theory defeats Curt Stallion This was Austin Theory's last match in Evolve and they had a little celebration for him with his heel friends throwing confetti and they had noisemakers or something. The match itself wasn't anything special. Curt Stallion is on 205 Live now, while Austin Theory wrestles for NXT and allegedly harasses underage women. Anthony Greene, Harlem Bravado & Matt Sydal defeat The Skulk (Adrian Alanis, Leon Ruff & Liam Gray) Wow, I completely forgot that I saw Matt Sydal at this show. He did flips and everything, cool! Anthony Greene is August Grey now on 205 Live. Harlem Bravado's one and only match since the pandemic was in February for PWX. The Skulk was a very interesting set of names and I didn't remember that I'd seen any of these folks. Leon ruff held the NXT North American Championship for a short time, while Adrian Alanis and Liam Gray are continuing to team together on AEW Dark. Anthony Gutierrez defeats Donovan Another forgettable one. Neither of these guys have been doing much. Anthony Gutierrez wrestled one match for WrestleMax in St. Louis and Donovan has been doing some stuff recently for GSW. Arturo Ruas defeats Eddie Kingston by DQ I was very excited for this match. Eddie Kingston cut a long promo before the match through a microphone with the most hosed up crackly audio that made it completely indecipherable. What a goddamn crime, that really bummed me out. The match itself wasn't much, Arturo Ruas picked up the win after Eddie's heel crew beat on him. I could've swore I remember hearing Ruas' name come up for Raw Underground or something, but apparently he's only had 3 matches since the pandemic: he jobbed to Humberto Carrillo and Mustafa Ali each on Main Event, and then to Kushida on NXT. Eddie Kingston went on to become the heart of AEW. Shotzi Blackheart defeats Allysin Kay This was also Shotzi's last match in Evolve, but she didn't get a little celebration like Austin Theory did. I was glad to see Allysin Kay as well and they put on a good match. Allysin Kay was the NWA Women's Champion at the time, but she hasn't worked for them since the pandemic. Instead she's appeared for AEW and a whole variety of indies, mostly notably appearing in the women's tournament at Bloodsport 3. Shotzi now drives tanks in NXT. Joe Gacy defeats AR Fox I remember this being a good match, I'm a fan of AR Fox. Kind of sad to see how little these guys have done since then. AR Fox has just done a few GCW matches and Joe Gacy is still hanging around whatever it is that's left of CZW. EVOLVE Title Three Way Match Josh Briggs (c) defeats Anthony Henry and JD Drake Josh Briggs and Anthony Henry are both pretty uninteresting to me and I was ready to head home during this match. I remember thinking it felt kind of awkward as a triple threat and didn't do much to show off JD Drake. Josh Briggs has surprisingly done nothing at all since the pandemic, although I suppose it's possible he's stuck in performance center hell. Anthony Henry finally made it onto NXT and then 205 Live last month as Asher Hall, wrestling against Ari Sterling and Ariya Daivari. Why are there so many wrestlers whose names start with A? Meanwhile, JD Drake has captured the hearts and minds of the Something Awful forums as a part of the Wingmen in AEW. So that was the show, overall not too great but I remember it being still worth going to. I was inspired to write this up when I realized that JD Drake was in the last live wrestling match I saw. I've got AEW tickets for September and I'm gonna pop like loving crazy if he's in the first match I see live again.
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Jun 11, 2021 04:38
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| # ? May 5, 2024 01:27 |
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It was an All Star Wrestling event here in British Columbia, maybe a month before the pandemic. It was indietastic, tiny rec center space, lots of goofy stuff, the last match went outside, someone did a Canadian Destroyer off of a pickup truck onto the grass. I loved every moment of it, begging to have it back.
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Jun 11, 2021 04:40
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Wrestle Kingdom 10 
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Jun 11, 2021 |
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Jun 11, 2021 04:48
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AEW Dynamite #2 in Boston on 10/09/19 Private Party vs the Bucks was dope with PP upsetting the bucks in the tag tournament. Then my edible kicked in so I don't remember a lot until the ending, which had the Darby Allin skateboard entrance and MJF teasing turning on Cody and getting a gigantic face pop when he didn't. Also Cody made a speech afterwards and was ooooooveeeeeer as fuuuuuuck. The Omega vs Janella Lights Out was one of the dark matches, but I missed it because I had to be at work early and dipped. Ton of fun though.
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Jun 11, 2021 05:01
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hoodslam
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Jun 11, 2021 05:06
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Takeover Phoenix with three of my best buds. We hit downtown for drinks starting at Angel's Trumpet and hopping to Sazeracs which has a lot of dicks on the bathroom walls for some reason. We met up with some other buds for more drinks and they smoked us out, and we eventually made it to the venue where I remember almost nothing about the show. Johnny Gargano ripped the mat off the floor at one point and the War Raiders were super over, and that's about all I got. Tbf It's probably not the shows fault. I had canceled my sub after the first Saudi show and wasn't even really sure what NXT was doing at the time. The hype for AEW was building but there was a good chance that Takeover would be the best show to roll through Arizona for years, so I jumped on it. I decided after that I'd never give WWE another dollar and they haven't made that difficult. I've wanted to go back and watch it as it was broadcast but haven't gone through the effort yet. But this post makes me want to do that soon!
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Jun 11, 2021 07:31
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A local indy show in early February of 2020. I'm friends with a friend of someone involved in running it. -Every match had interference. -There was a dominant heel stable based around a dairy farm. The leader of which was an old man who ate milk bones straight out the box. -They tried to do a ladder match for a title. It was kinda set up like a super low-budget Ultimate X match, where there were poles coming up from each ring post, and small cables going crossways. The belt was supposed to hang from the intersection of the cables, but they couldn't support the weight, so they had to hang it from one of the corner poles. -It fell during the match while the participants were brawling on the bleachers. -During this match, wrestlers from another promotion showed up and abducted one of the wrestlers in the match. -The people involved in this angle did not tell show management or the others in the match that this would happen. -There was a guy named Giggles The Clown. He didn't sell poo poo, he stiffed the gently caress out of his opponent, and did a suicide dive. He ruled. -He was fired because he threw a tantrum after the show because his match was cut short. -His opponent in the match was arrested after the show because he had outstanding warrants for taking liberties with a minor. Honestly hearing about the backstage drama was more fun than the show.
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Jun 11, 2021 12:55
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At first I thought it was the Raw in 2019 where Braun shoved Lashley through the set, but I was actually lucky enough to go see the first night of the 2019 G-1 in Dallas. Highlights included: - Seeing Jushin Liger team up with Juice and Toru Yano to defeat LiJ. - An amazing Lance Archer vs Will Ospreay match. This was the coming out party for the murderhawk monster gimmick, with him picking up an awesome win in front of his home crowd. - Sanada vs Zack Sabre. Not much else needs to be said about this pairing. - KENTA vs Kota Ibushi. This was also the debut of Kenta in New Japan and it was a great surprise. Kenta beat the poo poo out of Ibushi with his kicks. Ibushi didn't do as much as he usually does, but it got new Kenta over strong. - Okada vs Tanahashi. The crowd was amazing for the entire match and of course it delivered. My only regret was not getting any Minoru Suzuki. Outside of that, fantastic card and a nice surprise to get in Dallas.
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Jun 11, 2021 13:52
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Takuan posted:-There was a guy named Giggles The Clown. He didn't sell poo poo, he stiffed the gently caress out of his opponent, and did a suicide dive. He ruled. Didn't know the forums had a new word-replace operating for L o w - k i
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Jun 11, 2021 13:59
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Revolution 2020. The last time anything felt normal. An event so good I built a vacation around it.
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Jun 11, 2021 14:08
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The last show I went to wa RevPro High Stakes 2020. It's an event which was fantastic at the time but is a little weird to look back on for reasons which will become obvious: Giselle Shaw def Zoe Lucas to become the new women's champ. A bit of a sloppy start but really picked up. Lucas is such an excellent brat and the place went nuts when Shaw got the win Dan Moloney def Jeff Cobb. Excellent beef fight with a very unexpected winner. Cobb had only just had his mini stint in AEW and wasn't signed to NJPW yet. Deserved win for Drilla (especially as he was one of the good people during Speaking Out) Ricky Knight Jr def Robbie X for the Speed King title. Nice little sprint highlighting RKJ's ability. Hopefully he's less scummy than the rest of the Knight family LA Park Def Eddie Kingston in a NoDQ match. Now THIS is a weird one to watch back. Eddie is a LOT heavier here than he is now and he was facing an even larger LA Park but this was an excellent brawl with decent comedy spots. It's really strange to see Eddie as a main eventer when a year earlier, he was doing this. Rampage Brown and Great O Khan def Damien Dunne and David Starr. Yeeeeeeeeeeeah. Never watching this match again. I was a huge Starr fan so I was pumped for him to be back in RevPro. A big mistake on my part. gently caress that guy forever Michael Oku def El Phantasmo for the RevPro Cruiserweight title. I know Oku had a couple of things come out about him (believe he used the F slur in private) but I still consider myself a fan. The storytelling in this match was excellent with Oku being an incredible babyface in peril. Phantasmo had really gotten his heel character down and the tease for the submission spots were incredible. When Oku finally got his win, he ran straight for where me and my friends were in the front row as we had been cheering him loudly the entire match. He proceeded to dive on us, completely wiping me out. It's possibly the loudest crowd reaction I've ever heard until......... Will Ospreay def Zack Sabre Jr for the British Heavyweight title. Another awkward one. Will is not exactly persona-non-grata like a lot of people from Speaking Out but it's not a pleasant vibe. Which is a shame because this is the best match I've ever seen live. A run-back of a match they had in NJPW a month earlier, this built on that match in every way. Each counter had another counter to it and even some additional counters to that. Pretty much everyone knew Zack was dropping the belt and even then, Zack could make us believe he was retaining. The place went absolutely nuts when Ospreay got the win. The show closed with Ospreay, Oku and Shaw standing in the ring addressing the crowd as the three new champions. They declare that this is a new era for RevPro and a new era for the UK scene. They weren't wrong
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Jun 11, 2021 14:23
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Gatoh Move at the Ichigaya Chocolate Square, 29 December 2019. I was hearing what everyone was saying about how cool the venue was and how sweet it was to experience, but really it was so much cooler than that because I met a bunch of really great people and had lots of fun and even got to hug Emi Sakura (which she requested)!!! Mei Suruga even liked my Riho shirt. I want to go back so hard.
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Jun 11, 2021 14:56
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i went to ngi last year. did it as safe as i could (quarantined with zero human contact for two weeks before, tested the week of the show just in case, tested the week after the show, quarantined for the next two weeks) but i still regret it. needless risk plus the show was boring. the pandemic combined with some other stuff had me so stressed out around then though, like at my breaking point poo poo, and it was such a release to be able to focus everything on hating rsp and screaming at him. been riding off that catharsis ever since.
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Jun 11, 2021 15:17
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Lamuella posted:Revolution 2020. The last time anything felt normal. An event so good I built a vacation around it. Are you me??
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Jun 11, 2021 15:27
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AEW Dynamite Episode 4 - 10/23/2019 from Pittsburgh. This was the episode with the DIppin Dots brawl, but the entire card was stacked and super fun. The crowd was insanely hot from top to bottom, and I know Pittsburgh has a reputation for being a dead crowd in the past. My personal favorite parts were the crowd chanting for Dippin Dots, a "holy poo poo!" chant when Best Friends hugged, and the crowd just erupting for DDP and Moxley, pops I'd never heard in person before. This absolutely reignited my love of wrestling, it was just so much fun. In hindsight it's hilarious that I passed on buying a t-shirt because, as I told my wife, "I dunno if these guys will still be around in a year or so."
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Jun 11, 2021 15:32
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Revolution 2020 so if my last show ever had the greatest tag match of all time, fine by me. Made even better by the fact that I thought I wasn’t going until an hour or so before the show.
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Jun 11, 2021 15:39
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EPW Collision Course, April 15th. A bunch of guys none of you would know unless you follow Australian Indy wrestling, except for the main event which was Robbie Eagles vs Mikey Nicholls. I remember the event being solid, although I haven't rewatched it because EPW is over a year behind getting their events online. One thing that sticks with me was Robbie doing his back and forth with the crowd, which Mikey attempted with less than stellar results. "Robbie, Robbie, Robbie" "OI OI OI" *Mikey pushes him into the corner* "Mikey, Mikey, Mikey" "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" And Robbie is just hanging out in the corner losing his poo poo laughing as Mikey sulks
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Jun 11, 2021 15:44
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The last show I attended was AEW Double or Nothing 2021. It was pretty good
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Jun 11, 2021 20:25
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i went to tournament of survival last saturday. fun show as the visceral impact of deathmatches hit quite a bit different in person and it felt good to go on a trip get out of town and hang out in packed boisterous crowds for the first time since the pandemic started. then ofc i get hit by a truck walking back to the train station but can't complain about the leadup
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Jun 11, 2021 20:41
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The last event I went to was also Tournament of Survival 666 and I was fortunately not hit by a truck but will also not get a huge cash settlement and be able to buy All Japan like Thauros. My second to last event was GCW Run Rickey Run right before the pandemic really hit so I book ended my pandemic with GCW.
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Jun 11, 2021 21:48
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My last live event was most likely a show at my old school, AAPW, where I would have been doing commentary. Other than that, one of the Texas AEW shows (probably the one with the famous Britt Baker "Chubby Whataburger faces" promo).
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Jun 11, 2021 21:54
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TakeXXVover with my father and little brother. I enjoyed cheering for Keith Lee in the preshow, the opener was Roderick Strong vs... a rapist. The third match was Tyler Breeze vs... a pedo. Other than that it was great though. We had the tag title match which was really cool, the women's match was fun and Io was one of my favorite wrestlers at the time (she's still great I just like other people more) and Adam Cole was insanely over in the main event which was a blast. Hearing people cheering ADAM COLE BAY BAY even in the line to get in made the night for me. It makes me excited to see what happens when I get to see AEW in New Jersey, honestly.
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Jun 11, 2021 21:55
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IWS Wrestling Presents Scarred 4 Life 2017 Young Bucks vs TDT. I don't remember much other than the venue was small and definitely overpacked and that Young Bucks vs Tabarnak de Team tore the drat house down. TDT are so drat great. I only own 2 wrestling shirts and they're both TDT merch.
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Jun 11, 2021 21:55
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Royal Rumble 2017 in San Antonio. My wife is a huge Finn Balor mark and she had it in her head that he'd be coming back early. When Roman came out at #30 we got up and left. She gave up on the men's main roster after that. (Next show we already have tickets for is AEW coming to Houston. The pop for Sammy Guevara should be legendary.)
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Jun 11, 2021 22:02
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thought it was an indie show but thinking back it was the Atlanta AEW show right before the lockdown started with the Wardlow/Cody cagematch and Kenny/Page vs Lucha Bros great show
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Jun 11, 2021 22:07
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3-2-1 Battle in Seattle back in March 2020. It turned out to be their last show because one of the co-owners was outed as a sex pest and then COVID happened. I don't really remember the show because it had a full bar, but I had a great time.
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Jun 11, 2021 22:07
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AEW Dynamite episode 2 in Boston. That lights out match is still in my AEW top 5
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Jun 11, 2021 22:09
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Low Desert Punk posted:thought it was an indie show but thinking back it was the Atlanta AEW show right before the lockdown started with the Wardlow/Cody cagematch and Kenny/Page vs Lucha Bros Yeah, I was going to say an AIW show, but actually it was the AEW Cleveland show for me.
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Jun 11, 2021 22:24
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Jerusalem posted:Didn't know the forums had a new word-replace operating for L o w - k i Low-ker. Hitman ring attire is... custom. My last show was somewhere in the fall of 2019. My best friend and my brothers brought me there as a surprise pre-bachelor party thing. I saw signs for Atlantic City and got excited, but we drove past that and ended up in the middle of nowhere to watch a show at the Monster Factory. I don't really remember much about the show and the event isn't on Cagematch, so I can't jog my memory, but I seem to recall it was fine. Nothing great and there was only one bad match, which was pretty funny because the face in it was the most charismatic guy there that night and he proceeded to botch a lot in a squash match before walking off annoyed. The main event was the tag champs vs. Homicide and surprise partner Bull James in a hardcore match. I did have tickets to the Newark AEW show that was going to have Blood and Guts, but then pandemic. I cancelled the tickets because I really needed the money at the time, but yesterday I bought even better tickets for the Newark show coming mid-September.
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Jun 11, 2021 22:33
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Last show I went to was a WWE house show in Knoxville, January 2019. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=220607&page=2 The Murphy / Alexander match ruled, as one would assume. The Seth / Dean match was fun, Dean said he'd beat Seth for the title in like, five minutes, so there was a time counting down five minutes and Dean went nuts when he couldn't beat him in time. Main event was a hardcore Cena / Corbin match. No one expected Cena to be there so when his music hit the place went fuckin' crazy. Also Seth gave Mayor Kane a giant check, I'm assuming that was his blood money show payment.
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Jun 21, 2021 15:56
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The last show I went to was GCW Take a Picture in Austin on 1/20/20. Went to the AEW in Garland TX on 12/11/19 before that. Ironically the first two events I'm going to are..GCW in Dallas on 7/10 and AEW in Garland TX on 7/21.
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Jun 21, 2021 15:58
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last live event I went to was during the pandemic because it was an outside show https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=255342&page=2 GCW The Wrld On GCW Part 2 It had(from memory): Shane Mercer throwing Logan Stunt into the waterworks. a homeless dude that wandered in and started crying because he was so happy to see everyone Matt Justice and Pillman jr talking about covid while hustling shirts a fan getting too excite for Nick Gage, falling over and busting her head, necessitating an ambulance that took 20 minutes despite a hospital being literally across the street.
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Jun 21, 2021 16:08
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A local show with Juvi, Jimmy Jacobs, the remnants of the Kingdom sans Taven but adding Brian Johnson Fun show. Juvi was pretty decent.
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Jun 21, 2021 22:30
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nxt takeover portland still havent watched the playback of it because being there was just another level
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Jun 21, 2021 22:47
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Wrestlemania 30.
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Jun 22, 2021 03:59
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The last show I went to was the Liger downunder event PWA held in December of 2019. I haven't had a chance to go to a PWA show since they returned to running shows. It was obviously all Australian indie wrestlers some who might have a future (Ricky South/VeloCities) and most who won't. It was a pretty good show. The mainevent was Robbie Eagles/Jushin Thunder Liger v Jack Bonza/Bad Luck Fale. It was awesome to see Liger in person. The match is probably somewhere on New Japan world actually. I enjoyed it. I always found it a bit weird how a Sydney indie got a liger appearance during his retirement tour but I am not complaining.
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Jun 22, 2021 04:15
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An ECW show in 2000
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Jun 22, 2021 04:15
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Burn Down Canberra posted:The last show I went to was the Liger downunder event PWA held in December of 2019. I haven't had a chance to go to a PWA show since they returned to running shows. Bonza is awesome and just needs someone to give him a shot
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Jun 22, 2021 04:17
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AEW Double or Nothing I. I witness HISTORY and it was glorious. I had tickets to Double or Nothing 2020. Floor Seats. It got the axe at right around the same time I had to cancel my vacation to Japan. And now we're a whole OTHER Double or Nothing past that one. If I want to see live wrestling I'd have to go to SUMMERSLAM. Barf. gently caress that.
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Jun 22, 2021 09:24
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| # ? May 5, 2024 01:27 |
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AEW Dynamite from 2/26/2020 — Kenny Omega defeated PAC in their 30-minute Iron Man match with a 2-1 score. Omega won the first fall by disqualification when PAC used a steel chair. PAC then scored a pinfall. It ended with a 1-1 tie, but continued under sudden death rules. Finally, Omega won with a pinfall of his own. — After that match, PAC took a shot at Orange Cassidy, who came out for some reason. Later in the show, it was confirmed they would face off at Revolution. — Jurassic Express defeated Ortiz, Santana and Sammy Guevara by pinfall with some help from a distraction by Darby Allin. — Best Friends defeated The Butcher and The Blade by pinfall. — Hikaru Shida beat Big Swole, Yuka Sakazaki and Shanna by pinfall. — Jim Ross interviewed The Young Bucks and the tag team champions, Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page. Tension got high when Page lashed out that The Young Bucks are trying to take away his biggest accomplishment. — There was a weigh-in for Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley that devolved into a brawl which also included Dustin Rhodes and Darby Allin. The Inner Circle, now possibly renamed The Painmaker Posse, stood tall in the end. If I had realized how big the coronavirus threat was at this time I don't think I would've gone to, but I'm really glad I did because goddamn what a show that was. EDIT: My local indie just announced their first show since the pandemic called 78 Weeks Later. They have struggled hard to find a new venue since their old venue (that was absurdly close to my house) closed down in 2020. I'm so loving excited and I can't wait to go. SalTheBard fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Jun 22, 2021 |
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Jun 22, 2021 15:50
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