ACTION Wrestling Presents Action! Video Review-- February 27

Photo by Matt Watkins From Larry Goodman: ACTION has never looked or sounded better on an IWTV livestream. Kudos to Jose Torres and Stephen ...

Photo by Matt Watkins

From Larry Goodman:

ACTION has never looked or sounded better on an IWTV livestream. Kudos to Jose Torres and Stephen Johnson on the production. ACTION CEO Matt Griffin has spiffed things up with better lighting, replays and a high-angle camera with a panoramic view.  The puke green tint the walls of Roger Spencer Community formerly had on videos is gone. Cooper Cumbee's audio mix was spot on.

The show drew a nicely full house of 200 and aired live on IWTV with Rob Weathers on play-by-play. "Shiny Shoes" Kody Manhorn and Jaden Newman split the color commentary duties with a cameo by Queen Tiffany.

ACTION Wrestling presents Action! was not the super duper premium grade version of this product. The show had four title matches but this was not a night when titles were changing hands. I suspect ACTION is saving their best for the company's 8th Anniversary in April. As always, the wrestling was several cuts above your typical indy. 

The excitement level peaked in the mid-card: Krule retained the  IWTV World Championship in a chaotic match with Grayson Pierce via a count out loss. Jameson Shook beat former ACTION Champion Tim Bosby and his loudmouth manager Dylan Hale to retain the TWE Championship.

The video opened with a promo by an uber confident Good Hand. Tyler Stevens and Kasey Owens said Top Team was in for more of the same treatment they got at Bangers Only 6. Suge D wasn't just bringing the thunder to his strap match with Alex Kane. He was bringing a shovel to bury Kane's ass.

Cut to a clip of Darian Bengston defeating Tim Bosby to win the ACTION World Championship at Bangers Only 6.

The show opened with Bengston coming to the ring to be presented with a brand new ACTION championship belt. Bengston said he was proud to be the ACTION World Champion and represent this region. Bengston was interrupted by Channing Thomas. He said Bengston was not in his league. Bengston challenged Thomas to prove it right now. Thomas begged off saying he was main event talent.

Top Team (Jay Lucas & Terry Yaki) defeated The Good Hand (Kasey Owens & Tyler Stevens) to retain the ACTION Tag Team Championship in 10:40. Good Hand hit the Strong Arm (Stevens heaves Owens into an opponent like a human missile) on Lucas. Yaki broke up the pin but had to go it alone. Good  Hand smoked Yaki with a pop up uppercut forearm combo and tried to finish Lucas with another Strong Arm. Yaki pulled Lucas to safety at the last split second, causing Owens to crash land. Top Team went on to pin Stevens with a stuff J Driller.

Good opener. Both of these teams operated like well-oiled machines.

Isaiah Broner defeats Bobby Flaco via pinfall in 5:41. Broner was making his first ACTION appearance since the DEAN event during Wrestlemania week 2024. Flaco over like crazy in Tyrone like always. Flaco came in hot and put up a good fight but fell victim to the superior size and flat out nastiness of Broner. Broner over with a lariat.

ACTION creative must have something in mind for Broner. Flaco is bullet proof at this point.

Adam Priest defeats Damon Stryker via pinfall in 7:51. Stryker make a huge production out of taking off his ring jacket. Priest tried the jacket on for size and got too cute with it for Stryker, who clubbed Priest from behind to start the match. 

Stryker hit a move I'd never seen - starts like a package piledriver then spun out to neckbreaker. Priest kicked out of that so Stryker raked his eyes and pulled the tights but did not get the job done.. Priest tossed Stryker's ring jacket in his face and snapped of the DDT for the three count.

Postmatch, Priest put Stryker in the figure four until referee Kevin Blicker threatened to disqualify him. Priest put Stryker's ring jacket on Blicker. The ACTION fans were subjected to referee swivel hips action. 

Priest is revered in Tyrone. A good showing for Stryker and more personality than I'm used to seeing from referee Kev.

IWTV Independent Wrestling World Championship Match: Grayson Pierce (with Herculon Rage) defeated Krule (c) via countout in 10:25.  Pierce cut an obnoxious promo before the match.  Claimed he beat Krule fair and square last time in this building and told Krule to get his disfigured ass out there so "The Young Gun" could prove why he was the future of this business.

Pierce is an insufferable prick, so easy to hate on.

Rage was a thorn in Krule's side throughout the match. Pierce came within a hair of winning the IWTV Championship with a 450 splash. Krule's avalanche fallaway slam looked like the beginning of the end for Pierce but Rage distracted Krule. Pierce brought a chair in. Krule punched through the chair. Chaos ensued. The monster had had enough of Rage and beat his ass, fun stuff like  repeatedly slamming Rage's head against the wall,  Darryl Hall reluctantly counted Krule out.

Chaos reigns supreme every time Krule steps into this building. Rage makes a great heater for Pierce.

Jamesen Shook defeated Tim Bosby with Dylan Hales) via pinfall to retain the TWE Championship (total time 10:05). The crowd chanted "you tapped out" at Bosby. Hales spun it as a deep fake and said they got robbed by the most corrupt organization in the history of Western Civilization. He put Shook on the map as the Starmaker and the history of TWE ran through him. Ergo, Bosby was due a title match. 

Hales slipped a foreign object to Bosby and it was lights out for Shook. Bosby was declared the new champion. As Bosby and Hales tried to leave with the title, ACTION CEO Matt Griffin confiscated Hales' backpack. Senior official Kevin Blicker found brass knucks inside the backpack and restarted the match. Shook pinned Bosby with the death valley driver in no time flat.

The finish worked like a charm. Hales is a heat magnet. The more I see of Bosby, the more I appreciate his skill set.

Strap Match: Alex Kane pinned Suge D with Mark of Kane in 10:28.   Suge's attempt to attack Kane before the strap was on his wrist was an epic fail. Suge showed cowardice. Kane was giving him no mercy. in desperation, Suge went low and whipped Kane with the strap. Kane did his signature splash on the apron. It was that move and Kane's technical ability that caught my eye during his run in ProSouth during The Pandemic. Suge made wicked use of the strap. whipping Kane in the face and applying an Anaconda Vise using the strap. Kane with a gorgeous stalling suplex for a near fall. Kane produced a thick belt from underneath the ring. The ACTION fans voiced approval. Suplex #4 by Kane was Perfect Plex. Kane kicked out Suge's corkscrew neckbreaker using the strap. The die had been cast. Kane decisively pinned Suge with Mark of Kane.

I liked the match but it didn't come across that well on video because there wasn't much heat.  There was a sense of inevitability about the outcome. 

Postmatch, Kane mopped the mat with Suge, rubbing it in the face of Good Hand. While laying in the ring, Suge had the audacity to challenge Bomaye South to a streetfight at the 8th Anniversary show. Said he was bringing the most deranged man in The South. Who might that be?

ACTION Wrestling World Championship Match: Darian Bengston (c) defeated Channing Thomas via submission in 18:48. The match story was Bengston's Cattle Mutilation submission vs. the piledriver of Thomas. Thomas targeted the neck of the champion. Thomas tried for the piledriver  and Bengston countered with a backdrop that sent the challenger sailing over the top rope to a gnarly landing on the edge of the ring apron. On the comeback, Bengston connected with Whisper in the Wind and used a package piledriver to tee up Cattle Mutilation. Thomas was able to roll through into a nasty fisherman brainbuster. Thomas almost landed on his head taking this wild cazadora off the ropes from Bengston.  Bengston hit the East Ender lariat and applied Cattle Mutilation with a sense of urgency but had to abandon the hold due to the damage to his neck. Thomas hit the piledriver but could not follow up quickly enough and Bengston kicked out. Bengston went to the hold that won him the championship, the Makabe lock to retain.

They had a top notch title match. They had their work cut out for them getting the fans in Tyrone to buy into the possibility of a title change in Bengston's first  defense.