On one side, Steph, the FrenchNygma, your Impact Wrestling specialist, with 38 years of wrestling, and a viper tongue when she’s decided. On the other side, John “Deathman”, our Deathmatch specialist and a fan of Japanese wrestling, with more than 15 years of wrestling. We may be the strongest team when it comes to news, we have decided to confront our opinions on events, wrestlers… but with the 2022 look. Well, we decide to collide, just for the pleasure of it…

SteelChair Mag team we are both a part of has covered pretty much all the Mania weekend shows, with WWE, NXT, The Collective, ROH, AAA, NJPW, and Impact Wrestling (also ChocoPro and ICW NHB). But two shows remained unreviewed, the ones that we have decided to collide about today.

The Intro – What are these shows about?

Nygma: Every year, WrestleCon hosts its SuperShow which, since 2018, has been rechristened the Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow in honour of Mark Hitchcock, an artist and wrestling fan who assisted in DVD production for Highspots, who tragically passed away shortly before the 2018 show. The USA vs The World show was created in 2019 and has become the exclamation point of a convention that reunites wrestlers from all other the world. It was only its second edition as WrestleCon was stopped by COVID like all of us. In 2022, the convention took place and allowed thousands of fans to celebrate together around their favourite sports entertainment.

The “Mark Hitchcock Show” Choice

Quick Results

• Bandido defeated Mike Bailey
• Mia Yim defeated Athena
• Tomohiro Ishii defeated Timothy Thatcher
• Dirty Dishes Match – Taya Valkyrie defeated John Morrison
• Laredo Kid, Michael Oku & Rey Horus defeated Black Taurus, Ace Austin & Josh Alexander
• Minoru Suzuki defeated Biff Busick
• Team Onita (Atsushi Onita, Colt Cabana, Juice Robinson, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) defeated Team PCO (PCO, Dango, Barry Horowitz, Jimmy Wang Yang & nZo)
• Mark Briscoe & Jay Briscoe defeated Low Ki & Homicide

The match

Cabana and Horowitz started with a hug, but Barry was in no mood for someone marking out for him, as he grabbed a side headlock, and then patted himself on the back. Colt joined in, then tagged out as we switched to Juice and Dango. A sunset flip from Juice was blocked as Dango waved his arms around like a mad man before he eventually punched his way free. Colt sneaked in and hit a slingshot on Juice into those Dango’s, prompting nZo to tag in and fall into the ring. nZo did his thing, then tagged in Jimmy Wang Yang and he flipped around Juice, taking him down for a standing moonsault before some mounted punches in the corner, as PCO then tagged in.

Juice chopped PCO, who pulled down his shirt for some more, before Onita tagged in and misted PCO. Things spilled outside, as PCO took a DDT, then got flung into the guardrails before Ricky Morton came in as the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express double-teamed PCO. nZo attacked them from behind, as PCO proceeded to throw Morton into the corner as Ricky ended up taking a beating. We get the “Ricky to Robert” as the match broke down, leading to Juice and Colt doing the Dusty punches. PCO clobbered them both, then hit a Tope con Giro onto Colt and a Leatherface on the outside. A second one followed, this time on Juice before PCO went up top and hit his Senton onto Juice on the edge of the ring.

Team PCO: N-Zo (Enzo Amore), Dirty Dango (Fandango), Barry Horowitz & Jimmy Wang Yang

vs.

Team Onita: Rock N Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton), Juice Robinson & Colt Cabana

??? @wrestlecon #wrestleconsupershow pic.twitter.com/sF5WEdWEqQ

— Pat Laprade (@PatLaprade) April 1, 2022

Back inside, a sidewalk slam from PCO left Juice laying, before a chair got thrown in, so PCO could try and hit a moonsault onto it on top of Juice. It missed, as Onita wandered in to put the boots to PCO, but PCO fought back as the ref tried to enforce a tag. Onita was taken into the corner as Dango tagged in to play pass the parcel with a chair but Onita just kicked it into his head. More mist sprayed Dango ahead of a stunner, and that was all folks.

Why this match?

Deathman: Why wouldn’t we pick this glorious clusterfuck of a match? Just looking at the people in this match is enough to pique curiosity. On one side, you had PCO, the absolute non-human madman paired with a who’s-who of indie talent and legends and on the other, you had Atsushi Onita, another madman and the pioneer of the Exploding Deathmatch joined by the most unusual team ever through The Rock N Roll Express, Juice Robinson and Colt Cabana. I had Onita in this one because all though I question the company he keeps; Onita is an absolute legend of the business and as tough as they come. The fact he’s in his 60s, still doing deathmatch and travelling the states makes me respect him all the more. Plus, you hear “Wild Thing,” you get pumped. He’d even brought Leatherface along as an additional bit of spectacle. Was it good? That’s debatable. Was it entertaining? 100%. It might be one of the most random things I’ve seen in quite some time with this mishmash of generations and styles all colliding to create the weirdest match they could.

Nygma: This is my Monster… I have said it again and again in my IMPACT reviews but a French Nygma and a French Canadian Frankenstein… I love the character, period. Except for Dango, I have serious doubts about the rest of the team. I’m not sure Mr. Deathman was born when Barry Horowitz began in WWF… This was a popcorn match – everyone got their stuff in, their spots, and their mannerisms, but this match perhaps encapsulated the issues you have in trying to cast such a wide net – you’ll have your fans who want to see the old stars at conventions and shows, you’ll have those who want to see the dream matches… and when you mix those two into one pot, you’ll get something that perhaps just doesn’t land but make people happy.

The “USA vs The World” choice

Quick Results

• Sam Adonis defeated Golden Dragon, La Hiedra & Mr. Iguana to retain the Warrior Wrestling Lucha Championship
• Rachael Ellering defeated Jessica Troy
• Mike Bailey defeated Davey Richards
• Aramis, Arez & Aeroboy defeated Flip Gordon, Gringo Loco & Kaleb Konley
• Bandido & Extreme Tiger defeated JD Drake & Anthony Henry
• Calvin Tankman defeated Big Damo
• Michael Oku defeated Rich Swann to retain the Rev Pro Undisputed British Cruiserweight Championship

The match – Speedball Mike Bailey vs Davey Richards

A tentative start saw Bailey’s waist lock countered as Richards rolled him to the mat for some headscissors, which Bailey floated out of. Richards followed with an overhead suplex out of a knuckle lock for some two-counts, before Bailey rolled back to reverse the knuckle lock. The counters continued as Bailey had Richards in a Straitjacket before a kick from Bailey forced Richards into the corner. We continued with Bailey flipping into a wristlock as he held on despite Richards’ attempts to escape. Richards used the ropes to his advantage, climbing out, then back into the ring to wrap Bailey’s arm up. Bailey returned with a dropkick to take Davey outside. A front kick missed, with Bailey getting hung up in the ropes for a kneebar.

Richards stayed on the knee, driving his elbow into it, as a kneeling Cloverleaf had Bailey in trouble. He was able to crawl into the ropes though, then returned with the Speedball kicks before he booted Davey off the apron. The triangle moonsault followed to the floor as Bailey pushed on, but a buzzsaw kick was ducked as Davey instead countered back with a Trailer Hitch. Bailey managed to grit his teeth and clawed his way to the ropes for a break before the pair found themselves on the apron trading kicks. Richards caught one and pulled Bailey between the ropes for a Dragon Screw before he cleared the floor and teased a German suplex off the apron. A leg sweep saved Bailey as he then landed the moonsault double knees.

ULTIMATE WEAPON FROM MIKE BAILEY TO GET THE WIN OVER DAVEY RICHARDS! 3-4 on his 7 matches SO FAR this weekend! #WrestleCon pic.twitter.com/jHVWKsrCsp

— I Gif All The Wrestling (@Aregularindyfan) April 2, 2022

Bailey’s trip up top was stopped though as Richards cut him off with some rapid-fire headbutts before an avalanche brainbuster brought Speedball down to earth. A series of kicks led to Bailey going for the tornado into the corner, only for Richards to catch it and turn it into an ankle lock. The push-off earned Bailey a PK before Davey went up top for a crushing double stomp for a near-fall. Richards followed with a brainbuster for a near-fall, before a roll-up and moonsault knees put Speedball back in it with a buzzsaw kick also getting the Canadian a near-fall. The tornado kick followed into the corner, then the Ultima Weapon, and that was enough for the win.

Why this match?

Nygma: I personally chose this match for 2 reasons, Davey Richards who has just been fantastic since he came back to wrestling. And there’s Speedball Mike Bailey, an Impact Wrestling guy, a wrestler Scott D’Amore decided to bet on and welcome on his roster. I saw Bailey on Friday defeat Alex Shelley in a stunning match. This one was almost a sprint-like pace, with Bailey continuing his stellar weekend in style. The guy wrestled 9 matches, in 3 days, respect…

Deathman: So this is quite the interesting one. You have two people who share the same work ethic and love for wrestling but their styles couldn’t be more different. It was Davey Richards repping the USA and his Team Ambition and it was Speedball Mike Bailey repping Canada. These two have both plied their craft all over the world and now we’d see what happened when they clashed. After the madness we chose for the last show, we picked something more straightforward but no less intriguing for this one. it delivered too. This was quite the intense contest as Richards forced Bailey into his type of match, trying to break his legs. Speedball didn’t stay down forever and we got the competitive match we wanted to see. Bailey had so many matches this week that you’d be forgiven for missing a few but if you have access to this show and the time to kill, this is one hell of a wrestling match between two veterans of the business with all the passion in the world for it.

Overall – Bet on the right horses, Nygma…

Deathman: That wraps up that. I like to think we picked a fun duo of examples to look into. Let’s not BS, these shows are stacked and it’s a shame they’re probably going to fly under the radar. Between the world vs everyone super fights, the Lucha madness, the comedic hits and so much more, WrestleCon had a decent set of shows that we couldn’t ignore. If you want another recommendation for both of us, check out the dishes deathmatch between Taya Valkyrie and Johnny WrestleCon. That too proved to be hilarious fun with another deluge of creativity. Good housekeeping, eat your heart out. Back on track, this was just meant to be a bit of fun that brings attention to more of the shows going on during WrestleMania weekend. Were they the best matches? That’s subjective so give us your thoughts on it too. All I’ll say is before these shows had you even thought about what would happen if PCO and Onita had the most random teams ever conceived and went to war against each other? If the answer is yes, I need your imagination.

All pics, and captures courtesy of WrestleCon and Fite TV – Tweets courtesy of their owners