We find ourselves past the half way point of the 2022 Combat League Wrestling reviews, last time out ‘The Trade Off‘ wasn’t the strongest showing so I came into this one hoping for a return to form.

Unlike ‘The Trade Off’ we just got straight into the matches with Lucha DS making his entrance. No talky, more fighty.

House Championship – Two Out of Three Falls – Connor Rose (House Wolf) defeated Lucha DS (House Stag) by two falls to one to retain the House Championship.

A mixed crowd reaction for both fan favourites with Lucha being the aggressor early on yet still looking for fan adulation. After Rose interrupted a ten punch in the corner the boos starting getting a bit heavier towards him, what can I say… wrestling fans love a count along.

The back and forth continued, Lucha dropped Rose into the second rope for a follow up 619 and Swanton Bomb but Rose kicked out. Rose replied with a Cradle DDT but that also got a kick out at two.

Lucha got the first fall with a GTS and imploder senton.

At this point the ring announcer advised the crowd that he forgot that it was two our of three falls so the wrestlers had to keep going and that he wasn’t going to get his bonus and “a spanking backstage”. I really hope this guy gets notes in future shows because that was terrible.

Anyway, the crowd died a little in noise. Rose hit a 619 of his own to even the score. A Swanton attempt was thwarted by Rose putting up his knees but a Cradle DDT couldn’t finish the final fall. After a top rope superplex, Lucha went for a standing moonsault but Connor Rose rolled him up for the pin and the win which deflated the crowd.

This was a calamity in presentation, the crowd were heavy behind Lucha during the first fall and were genuinely excited when he “won” but the error in the match rules set their reactions lower like they were making sure that it was definitely finished and there wasn’t an additional twist.

The match itself was fine, but after the long first fall the back end felt rushed. It didn’t help that the crowd didn’t expect the match to continue after the first fall.

House Wildcat (RJ Cash & Albion de Quincey) defeated House Raven (Brodie Adler & Eric Arkham) by disqualification.

After the opening exchange between Arkham and Cash, Albion de Quincey got tagged in to a massive reaction. The crowd love this guy. He immediately got bullied by Brodie Adler before breaking out of a House Raven double team to run wild.

In quite a unique spot, Cash went for a roll up pin which ended up with Arkham tumbling backwards between the bottom and middle rope out to the floor. Arkham returned to the ring favouring his left knee which RJ Cash jumped on.

Arkham received a public warning for, I think, choking de Quincey with his boot while Brodie Adler was sitting on Albion’s chest in the corner.

There were some shenanigans while the referee was distracted by Albion trying to get into the ring. Third time was not the charm as Cash sent Arkham into the unsuspecting arms of Adler for a headlock and noogie.

There was some dissension between House Wildcat, a laboured breakdown of moves being thrown in to knock everyone down. de Quincey hit a spear on Arkham but the STF tap out was missed due to Adler distracting the referee for ages. Arkham threw de Quincey into the referee to knock him down, Cash brought in a chair, smacked it off the mat and threw it to Arkham for the Guerrero bamboozle. The referee recovered to spot Arkham holding the chair for the disqualification.

This match started to fall apart towards the end with too much happening. The referee was distracted so often and was duped at the end so was made to look like a clown.

Despite being very rough around the edges, de Quincey continues to be a heavy fan favourite and there was plenty of love for The Gentleman. The grey area of team dynamic is still a bit jarring with RJ Cash becoming a de facto good guy because House Raven are both bad guys and Albion is Albion.

Logan Smith (House Raven) defeated Lucas Craig (House Wildcat) by pinfall.

Smith threw his jacket into the face of Craig to get a sneak attack before the bell to set the tone for the match but was knocked back with a dropkick from Craig to send him scurrying to the outside. An eye gouge from Smith earned him his first warning (which saw the yellow card promptly torn up).

After a brief fight back from Lucas Craig, another eye gouge earned Smith a second public warning as he settled into control of the match but a bit too much showboating saw Craig recover to hit a Skull Crushing Finale to reset.

Logan Smith dodged a corner rush to plant Craig into the turnbuckle, retrieving his lead pipe that he entered with. While the referee disposed of the weapon, Smith grabbed another from under the ring to smack Craig right in the forehead for the win…

Or was it? Lucas Craig’s foot draped the bottom rope during the count which caused the match to resume. Smith feigned an injury after a Pay Dirt from Craig to sucker Lucas in to push the referee out of the way, hit a low blow, and finish the job with a Blue Thunder Bomb.

One of Craig’s best matches I’ve seen so far, a simple one on one match with a clear cut line between face and heel. A brief moment of hope with the restart but Smith still comes out victorious. It’s the hope that gets you. Craig still has that arm flappy thing but it was toned down a lot. Logan Smith has a very good match, shocker eh.

Smith attacked the referee after the match with the lead pipe along with an added skelp to Lucas Craig.

House Stag (Taylor Vite & Derren J Blair) vs House Wolf (Glen Dunbar & Lad Chapman) ended in a no contest.

We got the obligatory Taylor Swift chants towards Taylor Vite as he tried to lament about the apparent conspiracy going on in Combat League Wrestling about him. His claims were strengthened by ‘Shake It Off’ playing multiple times over the speakers. Thankfully it didn’t go on forever like at ‘The Trade Off’.

The Taylor Swift chants roared on as the match started with Vite and Dunbar. Dunbar frustrated Vite in the early going by twisting and countering hold for hold. Vite eventually relented and tagged out.

Thanks to a cheap shot from Vite on the outside Blair took control of the match, with quick tags to keep Lad Chapman in their corner as well as goading Dunbar into entering the ring which allowed for some sneaky double team battering while the referee tried restore some order.

Dunbar eventually got the tag in knock down House Stag, busting out a hurracarrana to Derren J Blair to send the boy stumbling into the corner but his momentum was short lived thanks to another undetected shot from the outside from Taylor Vite.

Lad Chapman got tagged in as the match started to break down, all four men started throwing hands, feet, and bodies. Blair hit a nasty back elbow to Chapman that saw him drop like a bag of tatties.

As the chaos continued which saw Glen Dunbar hit with a Magic Killer, Dunbar then hitting a Lowland Destroyer to Taylor Vite, and an lKo outta nowhere, then four brawled out of camera shot with the only bangs and crashes being heard before the eventual count out.

The brawl continued after Vite gloated that it meant House Stag was still in the lead.

Taylor Vite, like a fire at a Sea Parks, is unbelievable, he knew when to throw in some snide comment or get involved to make him look like the most whiny, sneaky toerag. When he jumped into the arms of Blair when Dunbar wound up a punch it was *chefs kiss*.

There was a good bit of vindication for Glen Dunbar who was firing on all cylinders after a disappointing main event at the last show, which I learned later was in large part due to an injury suffering on the night.

The referee wasn’t the best, too closed off with no authority. This worked logically as the more senior referee was assaulted by Logan Smith earlier so it was a back up referee in his, I assume, assigned place.

However, despite my whinge about refereeing, this was a really fun match. Plenty of action, Taylor Vite continues to be a highlight in whatever he does. We didn’t get a lot of what Derren J Blair is capable of but he was really good nonetheless. Chapman always provides a solid performance.

Fight For The Flag Match – Fatal Four Way – Eric Arkham (House Raven) defeated Connor Rose (House Wolf), RJ Cash (House Wildcat), and Derren J Blair (House Stag).

Brodie Adler appeared behind Derren J Blair during his entrance with a lead pipe smack to the back of the skull before throwing him into the ring post. The referee checked him over, and despite Blair’s protests he was withdrawn from the match as Arkham waved him away.

The ring announcer said the rules are there are no rules… then explained the rules to the flag match. Retrieve the corresponding house flag, stick it onto the designated pole that are attached to the ring posts.

Arkham was the first to gain his flag but was slammed on the floor by Connor Rose, RJ Cash got his flag and met the same fate from Rose. Rose and Cash brawled some more while Arkham started filling the ring with plunder.

It got a bit all over the place from this point. Cash started monologuing after hitting a Drive By Kick to the knee of Arkham which only saw him get thrown about by Rose, who then threw Arkham through a wooden board before launching Cash with an Electric Chair Drop.

Rose scaled the ropes but was met with Arkham choking him out with the House Wolf flag. Arkham attempted to scale himself but his knee gave out so he went and got a bucket of Lego. Rose slammed Arkham onto the Lego pile, Cash gave Rose a Spinebuster onto the pile quickly afterwards. Arkham returned to plant Cash face first on the pile so that everyone was even.

Cash found himself handcuffed to the bottom rope by Arkham, who was put into a Rear Naked Choke by Connor Rose. Arkham grabbed a handful of Lego and rubbed them into the face of Rose to escape, lashed him with a Singapore Cane before planting him with a reverse Tombstone Piledriver to leave it academic, placing the House Raven flag on the pole to win. Smith and Adler joined Arkham to celebrate the victory.

A chaotic main event that started a bit slow but was an enjoyable encounter as it went on. They used the *cough* no rules to the max with weapons being thrown around.

I don’t understand what Arkham’s character is. One minute he’s this unstable monster, then the underdog like in this he entered with a young lad (I assume son), then looked like he gladly arranged for one of his opponents to be attacked before the match, but it was Derren J Blair who was a heel. There’s just too many ideas swirling about and no direction.

There’s also the curious case of Connor Rose who has wrestled quite a few good guys and the crowd near always side against him despite him not doing anything quote unquote heely. I don’t know why, maybe Thurso just really likes the underdog.

This was much better than ‘The Trade Off’, each match provided something a little different and there was something to enjoy in each bout, the show certainly benefitted from not having long talking segments that would interrupt the flow.

Next up it’s round five, ‘Monster Mash’.