Joey Lynch vs. Matt Fortune Empire Wrestling Entertainment’s Crazy From The Heat 2014

From Dylan Hales:

On August 7th and 8th, the first ever (and hopefully first annual) Scenic City Invitational tournament will be held at the Empire Arena in Rossville, Georgia. 

In an effort to get people excited for this tournament and Southern independent wrestling in general, in the weeks leading up to the event, this blog will be looking at matches from each individual participant in the tourney.  We hope you follow along, enjoy the matches, and find some new favorites along the way. 

For more information on the Scenic City Invitational check out their Facebook page. 

This was a First Blood match.

Here we have one of the lesser known wrestlers in the tournament, Joey Lynch, wrestling his brother, Matt Fortune, in the Empire Arena (with the excellent Dan Wilson on commentary).  Given all of that, in some ways this was the perfect final match for the SCI project, as it gives us a look at an under appreciated, regional talent looking to break out (really two of them), in a big time match, in the venue where the SCI is taking place, with one of the people who will be calling the tournament’s VOD/DVD release behind the microphone.

Like most big Empire matches, this is a match that is probably helped if you followed the build, week-to-week, but even absent that background, it is hard not to find this charming.  On the surface, that may seem a strange thing to call a match filled with plunder shots and guaranteed to culminate in blood loss, but the unique atmosphere of the Empire Arena, combined with the way these two wear their influences on their sleeves, really did leave me with a smile on my face.

What is most interesting about this bout is that, generally speaking, I would not be a fan of a First Blood Match that was worked this way, as there was not a ton in the way of traditional toe-to-toe brawling spots.  In fact, the match was almost worked as a modern iteration of Sabu v. Rob Van Dam, including Van Terminator and Triple Jump Moonsault spots from Lynch (the latter of which included a literal Sabu tribute gesture), a style of wrestling that I haven’t been particularly high on in well over a decade.

And yet, this somehow worked perfectly.  On a big show for Empire it made sense to me that both guys would go for broke.  I also thought the match was much more nuanced than the average Sabu v. RVD affair in that all of the big time offensive spots were done by Lynch, with Fortune being on his heels throughout, and constantly resorting to more “dastardly” tactics.  I mentioned a few of the big spots already, but it’s also worth noting the crazy Matt Fortune bump into the chairs (one of the nuttier bumps of this kind I’ve ever seen), and the follow up Joey Lynch swanton onto him.  This match even made a Canadian Destroyer work for me, as I thought the set up for it was shockingly well done, and for the way the match was worked it was the perfect killshot.

The post-match – with Lynch attacking Fortune’s cut with punches and then wiping the blood on his chest – was a fitting visual climax to a brother v. brother feud where blood was spilled.

If this match and his 2/3 Falls match v. Drew Delight (that is available for free on the Empire website) are any indication, Joey Lynch is a guy who knows how to make his big matches count.  On 8/7 at the Empire Arena his first round match against Corey Hollis could be the biggest match of his career.  I have no doubt he’s going to deliver.