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5/4 WRESTLING OPEN: RHODE ISLAND REPORT

Wrestling Open RI 

5/4/26 Cranston, RI

Streaming at IWTV.live

Spotlight Match: Stetson Ranch (Steven Stetson & Bobby Casale) def. Allin Bayno & Brett Mettro 

I’m in Mexico at the moment but I def wanted to keep up on this week’s Open RI since we are doing the entire second round of the Wrestling Open title tournament this week! And like the last couple of weeks, we’ll see if my bracket gets busted.

Match 1: Bryce Donovan vs Ichiban (Quarterfinal Match)

No Vinny Scalise. No Mark Sterling. Bryce is on his own tonight in this battle of former Wrestling Open champions….and Paul Crockett quite correctly calls Ichiban “Mr. Tournament”, noting the many brackets Ichi has blown through. Ichiban knows Bryce well and builds up a huge head of steam early until Donovan is able to just club of out of the sky. The crowd is firmly behind Ichiban and do not like the beating he’s taking right now. Ichiban trying to fight back but Bryce keeps cutting off his rally. A black hole slam alllllllmost sends Bryce to the Semifinals. Ichiban survives long enough to his him own BHS on Bryce?!? He blocks an apron chokeslam! Flying chop crushes Bryce and the Ichi Bankai lands! Bryce kicks out?!? Donovan hits a chokeslam! Ichiban kicks out! Donovan getting mad at Ref Scott as the crowd loses their mind at this match. Ichiban tries a springboard…Bryce catches him into another chokeslam!!! Kick out!!! Bryce wants a chokeslam off the top….Ichi flips free! Ichi Bankai! Springboard Ichi Bankai! A Super Ichi Bankai! After that ridiculous trio, Bryce finally stays down after an epic 17-min WAR to kick this show off!

Did I pick this one right? YES.

Liviyah is on the stage with the mic. She is ready for the Wrestling Open Women’s Championship tournament at Wrestivus….but before that? She plans to deal with Kylie Alexa in a singles match NEXT WEEK!

Match 2: Eye Black Jack vs Oxx Adams

EBJ is also a tournament veteran at this point, winning two of them at Open in 2025 alone! But this is a huge test for the BIOPro grad. BRG is nowhere in sight…I sure don’t trust that Brett’s not lurking around SOMEWHERE. Jack may be a big strong boy…but Oxx is a f***ing hoss, man. Oxx’s pure power is punishing EBJ through a lot of this. Jack taking what swings he can but he can’t get the big man off his feet. Oxx hits a damn cross body splash into the ropes. How’s Jack still breathing after that??? A spear cuts Jack in half but Adams MAY HAVE hurt himself on that move? He tries it against but posts himself! Oxx stumbles off the ropes and Jack hits an AA! Jack hits a top rope splash and wins the match!!! HUUUUUUUUGE UPSET Here!

Did I pick this one right? NO. 

Max Caster is out here to talk about why he attacked Bobby Orlando last week. Caster reminds us that HE wrote and recorded Orlando’s theme song. All of the crowd response he gets? It’s because of Max. He thinks Bobby should have given him HIS SPOT in the title tournament. Bobby’s not helping him and is just leeching off his fame and success….so he’s gonna take him out of title contention forever. As an aside, he’s a little miffed that he gave Dustin Waller and Kylon King $50k to take out Ichiban and that guy is still here winning matches. Hmmm. Back to Bobby…Orlando is only here every week because he’s not good enough to be top guy anywhere else. Max lets us all know that on June 5th, Orlando is getting the draw to fight MJF when he returns to Beyond. Caster doesn’t think Orlando deserves this spot and is looking to expose his former friend NEXT WEEK. Rad promo.

Match 3: Dustin Waller vs Corey Duke

Duke won a 4-way to become number one contender just before Ryan Clancy vacated the title. As payback for the lost opportunity, he got a bye in the first round. Dustin Waller has been worked HARD this past few weeks so it’ll be interesting to see if the fresher Duke can capitalize and get into the Semifinals. Despite this, Waller still seems like he’s looking past Duke and not taking this fight seriously. Corey definitely giving back as much as he takes. And then Waller hits a back body drop that crashes Duke into the corner of the apron. Grosssss landing. He makes the count but Waller is right there to punish him more. Duke with a desperate reversal and hits a corkscrew superplex and lays them both out. Waller back up and starts unloading his clip of specials and finishers…but Duke keeps kicking out. Waller goes for the lethal injection…Duke with a rollup! Waller transitions it to a Koji Clutch…Corey almost goes out but battles to the ropes! Waller treating Corey like a rookie. Just mouthing off but Duke fires back up with lariats. He tries a springboard but Waller superkicks him out of the air! Lethal injection! Kickout! Flash splash! Duke kicks out again but he’s looking like he’s fighting on empty at this point. Waller picks him up for the kill but Duke hits a destroyer! Asai moonsault to the floor! Moonsault smashes Dukes knees into Walker but he makes the pin wayyyyy to close to the ropes. Waller grabs Corey’s hair and posts hims. A superkick sets up the brain buster that sends Waller to the semifinals.

Did I pick this one right? YES.

Main Event: Brian Morris (w/ Steven Stetson & Bobby Casale) vs Bear Bronson

Morris got past Anthony Greene in the opening round but the cracks in the Stetson Ranch kept widening. It’ll be interesting to see if Stetson himself can keep things under control tonight. Bear out here with a microphone and definitely makes this point about the ranch not being on the same page…but he’s not coming into this fight without any backup…he’s got the Shooter Boys him! They charge the ring and brawl with Stetson and Casale on the floor. The bell rings and Bronson drags Morris into the fray more. There’s no weaponry at play but the sheer amount of chaos everywhere is making this very much “ref’s discretion” situation for Ref Gina. The Shooters and Ranch brawls out into the lobby, leaving the singles match back in the room to close us out. Now, Bear has been mauling Wonderboy this entire time. He even gets some Wonderbread and gnaws on a couple slices. Wonderboy FINALLY hits a jackjacker and a leg lariat on Bear to get some offense in. Morris rolling as he tries to keep the pressure on and the legs out from under Bronson. Bear keeps trying to power back up but Wonderboy has some kind of answer…until a suplex reversal drops him on his head. Morris staggering around and Bear crushes him in the corner and on the mat. Morris slips out of the Fire Thunder Driver but eats a black hole slam! Bear with the choke bomb! Morris kicks out! Morris rolls to the floor…Bear goes for the FT Driver  on the floor but gets spiked into the floor with a ddt! He barely makes the count back into the ring! Just then the Shooter Boys and Stetson Ranch blow through the curtain, still fighting. They make it into the ring. Shooter Boys get tossed outside. Morris comes up behind Casale to get help with Bear and ALMOST eats a reactionary head kick. Morris is furious. Stetson getting in Bobby’s face over the near miss. Bear plows over the quarreling ranchboys. They try to trip up Bear and let Morris get the pin but Ref Gina gets wise to the shenanigans and ejects them! The Shooter Boys launch themselves at that and make sure they go. Morris tries a rollup in the chaos but Bear kicks out. Discus lariat connects! Fire Thunder Driver! Bear gets the win and he is headed to a second clash with Eye Black Jack next week!

Did I pick this right? YES.

So my picks are 10-1 in the tournament as of now. With Eye Black Jack winning, the results COULD look a little different than I expect but I’m still feeling good on how the final will shake out. Great show top to bottom. Cranston has always been a tight show, usually clocking in between 80-90min most weeks…but it usually has its share of normal Open contests that run about 4-6 min average. Tonight was four solid main event quality matches that really showed off how well Open can book a tournament to help really shine. Great crowd throughout that seemed to make every match feel special. Good stuff. 

 

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