HOG High Intensity 2024
July 26th, 2024
NYC Arena in Queens, NY
Commentary: Jason Solomon, JD From NY, Dr. Hilary P. Wisdom & Sam Leterna
RESULTS
*Pre-Show: The Cold Blooded Killers (Jay Armani & Raheem Royal) over Rivality (MBM & Ultima Sombra) via pinfall (4:50)
*Matt Travis Memorial Battle Royal: Raheem Royal won when Jay Armani sacrificed himself to eliminate Joey Silver (12:08). Royal has won a future title shot of his choice.
– Participants: Angel Jacquez, Ben Ruten, Billy M Kid, Corey Mac, Daron Richardson, Jay Armani, Jay Champagne, J Boujii, JJ Doze, Joey Silver, KB Prime, MBM, Mikee G, Mr. James, Oni King, Raheem Royal, Rochie Roach, Smiley, Smoothe Blackmon, Toasty Tomm, Ultima Sombra
*HOG Cruiserweight Championship: Gringo Loco (c) over Kevin Knight via pinfall after hitting an avalanche sit-out powerbomb (17:31). These two both showed out in a matchup of opponents whose styles are somehow both similar and different at the same time. Knight left an impression in his HOG debut, and didn’t get much of an initial reaction like the other debuts tonight, but left enough of a mark to win the crowd over at the end and I would hope he would come back here, as these two had one of my favorite matches of the night. (Recommend)
*HOG Tag Team Championship I Quit Match: The Cold Blooded Killers (Charles Mason & Nolo Kitano) over The Mane Event (Jay Lyon & Midas Black) (c) to become *NEW* HOG Tag Team Champions (22:51). The finish came when they threatened to chop off Lyon’s head with Kitano’s sword until the handcuffed Midas quit to save his partner. The positives about this were the different ways the microphone was used in this I Quit match including Mason saying how much he enjoys the pain being given to him and him playing ‘mind games’ with The Mane Event by talking about Midas’ daughter and how he left his partner Lyon and moved to Florida to be with her. The ending of this match seemed to drag a bit which might have been due to either them having issues trying to get the turnbuckle down or Kitano being on the outside for longer than expected. The rest of the Cold-Blooded Killers came in at the end, but it seemed like everybody knew what the finish would be, they just took too long to get to it. And as much as how original some of the mic work was throughout, the ending was a pretty common one for an I Quit match where someone quits to save his partner. Although I did like the upside-down black mist spot from Kitano as well as the referee Giuseppe De Caro getting emotional as Midas had to endure what was happening to Lyon. This does ponder the question ‘What’s next’ for The Mane Event.
*They announce that Joe Hendry will be debuting on September 29th for HOG Say His Name. This got a huge reaction from the crowd and I expect a big turnout, on top of this being the same week that AEW Grand Slam happens in Queens.
*HOG Crown Jewel Championship: Zilla Fatu over Carlos Ramirez (c) via pinfall after hitting a top rope splash to become *NEW* HOG Crown Jewel Champion (11:12). Dr. Hilary P. Wisdom left commentary to distract the referee as Idris Jackson took out Ramirez with a chair shot before Zilla took control. The story was Zilla was originally supposed to face Mike Santana, but it didn’t sit well for Ramirez that Zilla was getting an HOG Heavyweight Championship match on his debut, so he requested to change it and put his title on the line instead.
*Megan Bayne over Diamond Virago via pinfall after hitting a Tombstone (8:35). After the match, The Ultra Violette attacked Virago, not a violent turn, but more just stomped on her and kicked her out of the ring. As it looked like Violette was about to leave, HOG Commissioner Jason Solomon came out and said Violette agreed to defend her title and it was happening right now.
*HOG Women’s Championship: Megan Bayne over The Ultra Violette (c) via pinfall after hitting a Tombstone to become *NEW* HOG Women’s Champion (0:13).
*HOG Heavyweight Championship New York Street Fight: Mike Santana (c) over Steve Maclin via pinfall after hitting Spin The Block (13:12). After losing an opponent in Zilla Fatu, Santana put out an open challenge that Steve Maclin accepted via social media a couple of days before this show to give us an all TNA title match. Maclin had previously only appeared for HOG at the joint show with REVOLVER over WrestleMania weekend in Philadelphia. After the match, Raheem Royal came out with his future title shot contract, before Charles Mason followed and made a “trade” for one of his newly-won HOG Tag Team Championship titles for the contract. Mason then proceeded to warn Santana about taking his title, before making him ‘suffer mentally’ and tried to put fear in Santana’s mind and even mentioned possibly showing up in TNA or even at the playground where Santana will be playing with his daughter. Santana responded by saying he’s from The Bronx and he doesn’t live in fear.
*Swerve Strickland (w/ Flash Garments & Prince Nana) over Amazing Red via pinfall after hitting the House Call (20:59). Huge reaction as expected for the AEW World Champion, but having the original artist for his theme song in Flash Garments to rap him out while Prince Nana had the whole crowd dancing, surely made it a bigger deal. The match started slow until Swerve got on the mic and asked Red why he was wasting his time and said he’d rather be home playing the new EA Sports College Football game and said he traveled from San Diego Comic-Con and Red was disappointed him, and compared him to Jalen Brunson. What got Red motivated was Swerve mentioning feeling sorry for Red’s students and mentioned ‘one in particular’ that got Red to hit the next gear and go wild on Swerve including hitting a pair of suicide dives, crashing onto fans (who luckily seemed to be ok.) (Recommended)
Swerve got on the mic after the match and said he was talking a bunch earlier, but he lied about one thing and said he is never wasting time in a ring competing against Amazing Red. Swerve said he’s in a position where he can pick and choose where he goes, who he works with, and how much money he can make, and at the top of the list was wrestling Amazing Red in House of Glory. Swerve calls Red the innovator of everything that they do and there is no Swerve Strickland without Red. The main event for Forbidden Door between Swerve & Will Ospreay doesn’t happen without an Amazing Red. Swerve talks about how people need to see more Amazing Red to see how truly special he is. Not sure what the reasonings could be, but it’s surprising that Tony Khan hasn’t brought in Red to either ROH or AEW, even if it’s a one-time match-up, and a rematch for this one would be totally fine with me. It was my favorite match of the show and I recommend everyone go watch and Swerve agrees.
The theme of the night was new faces, and new champions as two powerhouses made their debuts tonight and both came out as champions in Zilla Fatu & Megan Bayne. Both were very impressive and were very over with the crowd, and I see nothing but bright futures no matter where they both land. I think Zilla has made the right choice in returning to Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling for some further training and taking the mantle that Jacob Fatu left, by appearing in GCW and now HOG. The crowd has automatically taken to him, and just having any sort of affiliation with The Bloodline gets you super over at the NYC Arena. Not sure what the original plan was, but Zilla was originally scheduled to take on Mike Santana, so not sure if they changed plans in the last couple of days and decided to put the title on him.
When The Ultra Violette originally came out for the scheduled match with Megan Bayne and had her pupil Diamond Virago substitute, I thought it was an old move of HOG of bait and switch, so that neither person would take a loss. I was surprised and happy to see that the title match happened regardless, and Bayne being crowned brings up the capability to do some unique and interesting matches with the talent that HOG brings in. It amazes me that Bayne was signed to AEW and they did absolutely nothing with her. With rumblings of her agreeing to appear in Marigold, make me excited about some of the potential match-ups there for her. The current trajectory that they are both on now, makes me expect WWE (NXT) to be their eventual landing ground.
Charles Mason and his Cold Blooded Killers were a constant throughout the night in many matches as the haunting, slowed-down version of Shania Twain’s ‘Ka-ching’ will be stuck in my head even more. Their heel tactics get the most heat out of anyone at the NYC Arena, and Jay Armani is starting to soak up the ‘pull your pants up’ chants and have fun with the crowd. It wasn’t clear to me if the trade for contract/title was official or not, as commentary (which includes Commissioner Jason Solomon) was questioning this transaction. We will soon find out how those titles are handed in the future if it’ll be Freebird rule between the four or if Raheem Royal is officially considered champion. He sure was walking around the arena as if he was.
Upcoming Shows
* August 17th – Las Vegas debut (joint show with FSW)
* September 5th – Chicago debut
* September 29th – Queens, NY (Say His Name)
