BRM Reviews Style Battle S1 E6

[Big Red Machine]

Style Battle S1, E6 (8/4/2017)- Ybor City, FL

FIRST ROUND MATCH: Chip Day vs. Ethan Case- 4.5/10
I’m not one to dump on a wrestler for just looking like a normal dude, but this Chip Day guy is an exception. Dude! You’re a pro wrestler! At least get yourself some gear that doesn’t look like something a tourist would wear at Disney World. The match was... acceptable, I guess. Both guys came off to me as just mediocre wrestlers with nothing special about them at all. Case’s post-match promo didn’t do much to disabuse me of that idea.

FIRST ROUND MATCH: Thomas Sharp vs. John Skyler- 5.5/10
These guys were having what looked like it was going to be a good big guy vs. little guy match but it just abruptly ended with a victory roll. This was extra disappointing for me, as I was hoping to see Sharp vs. Yehi in the finals.


JOHN SKYLER PROMO- great promo by Skyler and a good job by the interviewer to put the idea in our minds that Skyler’s ribs might a problem later.

FIRST ROUND MATCH: Caleb Konley vs. Barrett Brown- 6.75/10
Konley jumps Brown to start things off. Konley worked over Brown’s back and back sold it well. That series of powerbombs Konley hit ending in an Orange Crush type of move looked really cool.

FIRST ROUND MATCH: Jarek 1-20 vs. Fred Yehi- 4/10
This Jarek guy’s gimmick is that he is a magician. Really. After the introductions, asked “who wants to see a magic trick?” and picked a lovely young plant out of the crowd to help him. As she was getting in the ring, this young woman endeared herself to me by shouting “I thought you were going to wrestle” at him. She apparently wasn’t the only one, as while his card trick was going on, we got chants of “RING THE BELL!” and “PLEASE START WRESTLING!” I hereby declare this crowd to be the best crowd of 2017 (aside from that one asshole who was chanting “SWEET!” after the two-counts earlier in the show).
During the match, Jarek pulled something out Yehi’s ear. He also hit Yehi while making a deck of cards appear, which I guess should be a DQ because that’s a foreign object. Actually, now that I think about it, a heel magician using sleight of hand to hide foreign objects would be a great gimmick for CHIKARA. After that, Yehi started to get sick and I was afraid he was about to start vomiting funky colors. Instead, it was just a playing card.
This was a decent wrestling match interrupted by an interlude for magic tricks, which totally took me out of the match.

FRED YEHI PROMO- fine

SEMIFINAL MATCH: Ethan Case vs. John Skyler- 8/10
Awesome match. Case finally showed me something, but I’m still not quite behind him. Maybe this seeming descent into heelishness will help with that.

ETHAN CASE PROMO- good

SEMIFINAL MATCH: Caleb Konley vs. Fred Yehi- 7.75/10
A very intense match between the two guys who are think were the favorites to take this tournament. These two always work great together, and this match was no exception, with Konley being his usual excellent heel self and Yehi being a great babyface.

DANI J vs. PRISCILLA KELLY- 3.75/10
I think Priscilla is hoping that if she licks that new SHINE Nova Championship belt often enough, no other woman will ever want to win it and she can be champion forever. Kelly won, and the outcome was never really in doubt. I really just don’t see what all of the WWN promoters (including Prazak) seem to see in her.

WINNER GETS A SPOT IN THE NEXT STYLE BATTLE TOURNAMENT: Tony Midas vs. Kavron Kanyon vs. Alan Angels vs. David Ali vs. James Bandy vs. AC Mack vs. Ashton Starr vs. Leon Ruff- 6.75/10
These guys are all A.R. Fox’s students… and it shows. This was one of those matches that not only felt choreographed, but as if they had rehearsed it several times beforehand. And yet... when you’ve got this many people, that is quite the feat, and I can kind of appreciate the extra effort they put into everything to make sure they had an entertaining match here.

STYLE BATTLE SEASON 1, EPISODE 6 TOURNAMENT FINALS: Ethan Case vs. Fred Yehi 7.75/10
Another GREAT match, ending in Yehi finally getting his big win in Style Battle after going to a thirty minute draw to get eliminated from episode one and making it to the finals of the previous two episodes. After the match he cut a promo hyping up his FIP World Heavyweight Title defense against Tracer X and his challenge for the PROGRESS Atlas Title next Friday against WALTER.

A pretty good show from Style Battle, although now that Yehi has finally gotten his big win, I probably won’t keep watching until they have that big tournament of champions in episode nine.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Trevin Adams said that Skyler’s victory over Sharp was a sign that his “roughneck style” that he learned from the likes of C.W. Anderson and Steve Corino was working.
He won the match with a victory roll.