7/4/2024 - Independence Day

The 4th of July was celebrated on the beach of Muskegon, Michigan.  Hundreds of fans braved the heat to come watch some of the Great Lakes finest fighters compete in a rather unique setting.  Sam Hewitt and Brian Shelzi welcomed us to the festivities, announcing that the show was being taped in a non-live format and would appear soon on YouTube in an edited capacity.

The bell sounds and the match begins with a lock-up, the Canadian Shield easily overpowers the Crazy Boy and sends him rolling backwards to the mat.  Norris turns and taunts the crowd, but eats a dropkick to the knee as he comes back around! With Norris down on one knee, Crazy sprints to the ropes and shows off his lightning fast speed as he wraps his legs around Norris' head and neck and sends him airborne with a flying headscissors attack! Crazy Boy exits to the ring and rallies the Michigan crowd behind him as he leaps onto the top rope, then twists in midair to execute a quebrada on Norris as he's just getting back to his feet! The crowd is on their feet just moments into the match! Crazy Boy covers!

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3-NO!

Crazy Boy sits Norris up and delivers a few kicks to the back, but goes to the well one too many times.  Norris grabs a leg and gets back up, holding a hopping Crazy Boy's leg hostage.  CB gets spun around and grabbed in a rear waist hold, Norris quickly transitions into a full nelson...

SNAP! DRAGON SUPLEX!

Crazy nearly rolls up into a ball but falls backwards into the corner.  Norris sizes Crazy Boy up in the corner and delivers a kick to the gut, then picks him up and hooks both arms over the top rope to expose his chest.  Norris unleashes a knife edge chop, eliciting a WOO! from the crowd.  He follows it up with a few more before referee Tubby Thomas orders him away.  Crazy Boy falls into a heap and Thomas begins a ten count for him, CB crawls to the ropes and pulls himself up by five and Norris is right back on him.  He drags Boy into the middle of the ring and stuffs him between his legs, gutwrenches...

POWERBOM-NO!

Crazy Boy delivers a series of punches, then drops to his feet.  He scurries between Norris' legs and does a forward roll, leaping onto the second rope and bouncing off with an enzuigiri! The shot stuns Norris as he staggers back into the ropes, Crazy pops to his feet and snapmares Norris to the mat.  He exits to the ring and scales the turnbuckles, leaping off with an attempt at his spectacular 630 Splash.

Norris rolls out of the way and gets right to work, collecting Crazy as he writhes in pain and makes matters worse with a snap suplex.  He grabs Crazy's legs and applies a sharpshooter to a good chunk of boos, but the resilient Crazy Boy is able to get to the ropes to the cheers of the crowd! Norris waits until he's off the ropes and drags him back into the middle of the ring and tries to apply the figure four leglock!

Unfortunately for Norris, Crazy uses those short and strong legs - well, one of them - to shove Norris off into the ropes.  Crazy tries to scurry to his feet, but the Canadian Shield comes flying back in with the Super Gordie! The Hidden Blade style elbow connects to the pop of the crowd, but they are disappointed just the same! Norris gets up and gloats at the crowd, which earns some criticism from Hewitt and Shelzi on how much time he's wasting.  Norris goes back and drops a knee on Crazy's chest and holds it.

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3-NO!

Norris looks displeased, but Thomas bluntly asks him what he expected.  The Canadian Shield rolls Crazy on his stomach and grabs his legs, torquing him up to an insane angle and getting a quick tap out with the Red Deer Rebel Yell! He holds it for a few seconds extra, then releases and asks Thomas the same question - "what did you expect!?" before refusing to have his hand raised.  Norris climbs the ropes and celebrates in the jeers of the crowd. 

Gideon Dube is tasked with this trios match and he calls for the bell! Jeremy Squire starts things off with SANGRE and there's dancing, of course but SANGRE cuts that short by hitting Squire with a savate kick. Squire returns fire with his unorthodox style of striking and obtains the upper hand initially, but the raw aggression of the newly unmasked SANGRE swings things in his favour. Tags are made and Orville Newton replaces Squire while Azalo steps in for SANGRE. Azalo attempts to score with some high-flying tactics, but "The Brains" does a great job of keeping the Herkman grounded and forces him to resort to some dirty tactics. Newton's mask is ripped open after Azalo bites him, receiving a public warning from Dube. Rick Hull finally gets tagged in after minutes of trying and argues with Azalo, who just mocks the Punch Line member by repeating what's being yelled. Newton tags in NEXUS who appears to be somewhat disconnected, even Dr. Victor Turing is frustrated by his inaction.

Rick Hull uses his own striking to light up the 6'3" / 245lbs NEXUS, attacking the joints. Hull shows his growth as a tag team specialist as he keeps his in-ring time limited, tagging in SANGRE and Azalo and returning to the ring himself multiple times in a 2-3 minute span. Newton finally hops down off the apron and asks to see Dr. Turing's tablet and NEXUS' manager hesitantly agrees. After some time looking it over, Newton makes some suggestions and Dr. Turing rubs his chin but agrees - and NEXUS comes to life! The calculated, precise moves between dominating SANGRE, but he exits and Azalo comes in - only to be caught in mid-air and bodyslammed to the ground! Rick Hull also comes back in and suffers the same fate!

As the trio of SANGRE, Azalo and Rick Hull argue on the floor, Jeremy Squire ascends to the top and leaps off - taking all three men out! SANGRE is thrown back inside and NEXUS delivers a backbreaker, Newton tags in and applies a crab hold but gets interrupted by Azalo. As Azalo is beating on Newton, Hull slides in and tries to get the Herkman to execute a double team move with him but the language barrier seems to have been run into as Azalo simply repeats Hull's words back to him, leaving the Punch Line member confused and vulnerable. NEXUS scoops BOTH Hull and Azalo onto his shoulders and executes a fireman's carry takeover slam, an F-U to anyone who is anti-AI!

SANGRE tries to sneak in the back door but gets waylaid by Squire, who serves him up for Orville Newton's Lightsabre Suplex (Northern Lights). NEXUS is still the legal participant, so he whomps SANGRE with a running knee and follows it up with a Neural Spike (Brainbuster DDT) and secures the victory for his team! Azalo and Rick Hull come to blows outside the ring, leading to security intervening. Once SANGRE comes to, he screams at them in his slowly improving English that they are to blame for the loss! Dr. Victor Turing once again thanks Orville Newton for his input and happily celebrates NEXUS' win while Squire dances and Newton... well, attempts to after a bit of encouragement from Squire.

The crowd in Muskgeon is buzzing with anticipation for its main event - the MAX Japan promoted bout for the World Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team titles. 

Mixed response as Hirai finishes prepping his hair. 

The champions raise their belts before handing them off, Earth Warrior quickly asks the crowd to respect the beach and environment and to not litter... which earns him some boos. 

As the bell sounds, Earth Warrior and Jin Hirai start things off.  A quick lock-up results in a knee to the gut from Earth Warrior, followed by a snapmare and a stiff kick to the back! A fan heckles Hirai, saying the stiff kick is because of the shampoo he uses! Hirai storms back to his feet and goes nose to nose with Earth Warrior, then delivers an elbow! Warrior returns fire! Hirai shakes his head and invites Warrior to hit the ropes, which he does.  On the return, Hirai clips him with a kick and halts him momentarily - Hirai runs into the ropes himself but gets arm dragged for his efforts! He gets back up, same deal! Hamada calls out to Hirai and tags in, but immediately motions to METAL HERO...

Indeed, HERO comes in after a tag and the two men square off.  Circling about, Hamada and HERO lock-up and jockey for position repeatedly.  Hamada gets him in the corner and the two men are so tied-up that Thomas has to intervene to separate them! As he does, Hamada delivers a brutal kick to the side of HERO's leg - buckling him as Thomas is backing him up! Thomas warns Hamada and yells at him to back up as he checks out HERO, who insists he's good to go.  Hamada storms in and kicks HERO in the face! He tries to grab HERO in a waist hold, but METAL HERO executes a standing switch and delivers a quick sidewalk slam! He rolls away and tags Earth Warrior back in.

Warrior comes in and grabs Hamada as he's getting up, Irish whipping him into the ropes.  He arm drags him down to the mat and then rushes him with a dropkick as he attempts to get back up.   A quick cover, but only a one count.  Warrior looks at HERO who nods, then makes a quick tag.  Warrior holds Hamada down, but is forced to abandon his post as Hirai comes in.  As such, HERO's knee drop misses and you can see there's likely some validity to Shelzi's statement.  Hamada grabs HERO and dumps him out on one side of the ring as Warrior and Hirai brawl on the outside of the other.  Hirai seemingly low blows Warrior, but neither the referee nor the cameras catch it.  He shoves "Earth boy" aside and marches over to Hamada and HERO, where the champion is hobbling as he gets rung off the guardrail head first! Hamada and Hirai speak Japanese to one another and Hirai looks at the ring, then the crowd laughs as he gives the most language-free "I don't want to but I will" answer.  Hirai climbs onto the apron, then up onto the turnbuckles.  Hamada smacks HERO a few times, then lifts him up - crotching him on the guardrail.  With the bad leg exposed on the closest side, Hirai shouts "ZERO G! MOTHAFUCKA!" as he does a flying attack on that leg! Hirai lands kind of rough in the sand at ringside, but gets up as HERO doubles over in pain.  Thomas shouts for the teams to get back inside as we go to break.

[BREAK]

We return to the action where Hirai has HERO in a rear waist hold in the middle of the ring, but the champion elbows out of it.  Hirai staggers into a tag and Hamada comes in, leaping over the top rope.  He grabs HERO up in a fireman's carry, but Warrior pulls his partner out of it.  Warrior grabs Hamada and starts pummelling him, but Hamada hoists him up like he's going to deliver a spinebuster...

HIRAI WITH A FLYING HIP ATTACK!

"ALL ASS BABY!" he shouts as Warrior is sent to the mat.  They make a cover, but Warrior is not the legal man! The challengers turn their attention back to HERO, grabbing him in the corner.  Hirai comes flying in again, but his hip attack misses and he crashes over the top! Hamada tries to take out HERO, but eats a VIOLENT SPIRIT LARIAT for his efforts! He covers!

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2-NO!

Hamada kicks out and all four men are down! Hamada gets up first and signals for something, but HERO intercepts him and blocks - FRIGHTENING BLAST! The uranage plants Hamada to the mat!

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BROKEN UP BY HIRAI!

Hirai stomps on the leg a few more times before Warrior comes in and chucks Hirai back out, then delivers a slingshot plancha to him to take him out.  HERO hobbles to his feet and grabs Hamada...

POWER-NO!

The usually snappy and impactful powerbomb turns into a triangle choke for Hamada! The crowd is wild as HERO tries to reach the ropes.

HERO grabs the ropes and Hamada releases on three.  HERO is very slow to get up as the metal guardrail clangs in the background, Hirai whipping Warrior into it.  Hamada pulls METAL HERO to his feet in a reverse chancery... KNEE!

KNEE!

KNEE!

Hamada is staggered, stunned back into the ropes by three consecutive knees to the dome.  METAL HERO is fighting to survive at this point, using his bad leg to deliver those shots.  Free to return to his feet under his own volition, HERO starts back up.  Hamada beats him to the punch...

HERO SWEEPS HIS LEGS OUT!

The champion tries to turn Hamada over for the World Peace Crab, but Hamada does an excellent job of defending it.  He gets a leg free and begins using his heel to smack into HERO's bad leg! Finally HERO goes down and Hamada gets back up, ready to pounce...

THOMAS STOPS HIM!

Thomas backs Hamada up and orders him to stay put, Dr. Nick Pierson comes to check on HERO who seemingly refuses the medial attention.  Thomas and Pierson confer and the referee signals for the bell! The crowd boos as Marvelle hands the titles to Thomas, then announces...

Hirai grabs his belt and Hamada's, handing it to his younger partner.  Hamada looks a little salty he wasn't able to keep beating on METAL HERO, but Hirai is just happy to have some gold.  The fans cheer up some as Crazy Boy and Jeremy Squire rush the ring and hug their WAG1 teammate.  Hamada scoffs and exits the ring, shouting at Hirai to come on.  Hirai seems torn, but tells his guys he'll catch up with them later.  Crazy Boy and Squire begin dancing, Hirai joins in momentarily before leaving.  They continue dancing before Thomas and Pierson shoo them away to get the rest of the medical staff in.  Earth Warrior checks on his partner as we return to the podium.