Reality of Wrestling: Summer of Champions V (recap & results)

(Photo credit: Patches Chance)

Reality of Wrestling held their biggest show of the year this weekend for Summer of Champions. With every title on the line and former WWE legends Chavo Guererro and Juventud Guerrera in town, Reality of Wrestling pulled out all the stops.

Cole scrambles to victory

The show started with a 5 man ladder match with the winner getting a contract for a future shot at the Texas Championship. The Reality of Wrestling mid-card is filled with an assortment of great wrestlers, athletes and characters, which was especially evident in this match as Cameron Cole defeated Chad Skywalker, Bryan Keith, Abel Andrew Jackson and Terrale Tempo. Super fun match with everybody getting their chances to shine. Cole and Skywalker in particular were the standouts here, with their quickness and athleticism making them tailor made for this kind of match. 

There seemed to be a bit of a botch at the end as the contract fell to the floor while Tempo and Keith were atop of the ladder. This caused some chaotic scenes as everybody scrambled for the fallen contract, with Cameron Cole being the one get there first before he quickly made his way to the back. Whether it was a botch or not, the quick thinking of Cole, along with the great commentary team really saved the ending from becoming a bit of a calamity. Entertaining match with the right man coming away victorious.

New champions crowned and the Queen retains

The tag team titles were on the line as Zack and Warren defended against the new team of Devin Devine and Mik Drake. The challengers, in only their second match as a team after picking up a win on ROW TV last week against Bryan Keith and Terrale Tempo, were now going under the name The Industry.Classic fast paced baby-face against the bigger heel team match here, as the champs used their speed and experience as a team to out run the challengers early on. The Industry soon took control, though, as they overpowered Johnson fora good portion of the match before Mason got the hot tag to clean house, delivering belly to belly's like they were candy. Mason couldn’t hold out for longas a cutter from Devine gave Drake the chance to get the pin and crown new tag team champions. Good little match, with the title change coming a little out of nowhere but both Devine and Drake are awesome and I’m expecting a good chase from the former champs in the coming weeks. 

JJ Blake defended the TV title against the big Van Harrison. Blake may be the champion of all televisions but he was very much the underdog against his big opponent here. This one was pretty short with Harrison hitting a running powerslam to get the win and become the new Texas Champion. I enjoyed Blakes short title reign, and it seems a little rushed, but it makes sense to put the belt on the big man.

In the diamonds division, Hyan successfully retained her title by defeating AQA. The last time these met Hyan took a nasty stinger after taking knees to the face from a mistimed moonsault from AQA. The commentators did a good job in pushing this and the fact that Hyan might not be 100% coming into the match. AQA controlling the early portions of the match certainly helped this narrative before Hyan outsmarted the challenger by threatening to walk out before attacking AQA. These two have wrestled a number of times recently and this was arguably the best match of the bunch. Showcasing the strengths of each wrestler perfectly, Angela’s high speed and agile offence and Hyan's savvy experience, the heel who is always too smart for the young rookie.

An impressive closing sequence saw Hyan go for the moonsault again, only for the champ to move out of the way and cover AQA for the three count to retain her title.

Lucha Extrema

The battle between Mysterious Q and Ayden Cristiano has gone on for months now. After a no contest in their final best of 5 series match for the Texas Title, a final sudden death match was announced for Summer of Champions. Much like their last match their were big time entrances from Ayden Cristiano, as he accompanied to the ring by a balaclava clad group as well as more accordion playing. I can’t say I’m overly familiar with the Lucha Extrema match but this has been an intriguing rivalry, and this was the perfect way for it to end. After several matches and the Texas Title still in the air, Lucha Extrema seemed very fitting.

Lots of brawling throughout, with Mysterious Q doing his best WALTER impression as he blasted his opponent with some ungodly chops as hard as he could. The match had plenty of interferences from Reina and La Familia, but Mysterious Q delivered Q Cutters every chance he got. After finding themselves fighting through the crowd and onto the stage, Mysterious Q was attacked by someone wearing a balaclava, before it was revealed to be Max Castellanos. A Q Cutter soon put and end to this attack, and after both men came close to victory Mysterious Q hit a Q Cutter on a chair to pick up the win, and finally become the new Texas Champion. 

This was a crazy, all-out brawl with Mysterious Q having to fight his way through all of La Familia to become the new champ.

The reign of Andrews begins in the main event

The main event saw Gino defend his ROW Heavyweight Title against Rex Andrews. This was a rematch of their title match from several weeks ago where Gino took the easy way out by low blowing Andrews for the disqualification.Andrews has claimed for weeks that Gino is protected by Reality of Wrestling and the only reason Andrews is champion is because he hasn’t been given the chances. Booker T joined the commentary team for this match, talking about how both Gino and Andrews were two of his best students and he was looking forward to seeing who was the better man. 

This started out a fight as Gino was more aggressive than usual, knowing he couldn’t out wrestle the ‘Precision Tactician’. Both guys threw in a flurry of chops and forearms as they showed their desire to be the top guy in the company. Andrews teases the armbar throughout, trying to work over the arm of the champ at every chance he could get. Much like he did in their last match Gino tried to take the easy way out by throwing Andrews to the outside, hoping for a countout victory, something which Booker seemed to agree with on commentary. With both men looking exhausted, Gino tried to deliver a Scarlett Letter only for Andrews to evade the and finally lock in the armbar. It didn’t take long for Gino to tap out and finally a new champion was crowned. 

This was a great match with the story of Rex teasing the armbar throughout done to perfection. Andrews is arguably the best wrestler in the company and it makes sense that he deserves a run with the title. Andrews refused a handshake from Booker at the end to close the show. 

Rest of the Show

There was a battle of the legends as Chavo Guerrero faced Juventud Guerrera in an entertaining exhibition match. These two have battled all over the world for more than two decades and they were both making their debuts for Reality of Wrestling. The match itself felt a little out of place on the show but was obviously there to get the fans in the building. As entertaining as usual from these two with Chavo winning with a roll up. 

We then had a bizarre House of Horrors/Final Deletion style match as Clay Roberts entered a disused building for what the commentators called a Hendricks Havoc match. Roberts went from room to room while some ominous music played, looking for Shawn Hendricks. One by one he fought his way through each member of The Legion, using everything from paint cans to fuse boxes. After electrocuting March, Roberts and Hendricks found their way into a wrestling ring, where blood was spat and chairs were used. Finally, Roberts got the better of his demons and defeated Hendricks by placing him in a body bag. Yeah this was different. Think House of Horrors without the fridges and Final Deletion without fireworks and you might be half be way there. As crazy as it was, I found it very entertaining.

Ryan Davidson cut a promo from Japan where he spoke about how everybody was talking about Summer of Champions while he was on the other side of the world. He said that even though he was in Japan he hadn’t forgotten about Reality of Wrestling and he would be back very soon.

Quick Results

Cameron Cole def Terrale Tempo, Chad Skywalker, Bryan Keith and Abel Andrew Jackson in a ladder match to become the number one contender for the Texas Championship

Devin Devine & Mik Drake def Zack Mason & Warren Johnson to win the ROW Tag Team Titles

Hyan def AQA to retain the Diamonds Division Championship

Clay Roberts def Legion in a Hendricks Havoc Match

Mysterious Q def Ayden Cristiano w/Reina to win the Texas Championship

Van Harrison def JJ Blake to win the TV Title

Chavo Guerrero def Juventud Guerrera

Rex Andrews def Gino to win the Reality of Wrestling Championship