Nick Berk is a staple of CZW. Flash Wheeler is not a member of FTR but both members probably owe him some royalties. This is the first Wheeler match I’ve ever seen although his Cagematch profile shows that he was a regular on Northeast indie shows through the early 2000s. Berk is coming off the title loss on the previous show to Ric Blade, so this feels like a chance for him to regain some momentum against someone with some cachet in Jersey All Pro.

Despite a profane and of its time promo from Wheeler before the match, they shake hands and trade holds to start. That looks good but Flash has difficulties coming off the ropes and ends up tumbling to the outside where the crowd gets on his case.

Flash gets the crowd back on his side by smacking Berk with a hard chop, setting up a chair in the ring and hitting a nice-looking double jump flip dive. Then he gets into with Berk’s manager Poison just because.

Wheeler gets back in the ring but Berk gets the advantage with a northern lights suplex, a pop up facebuster and a second rope frog splash. Wheeler counters a gourd buster into a DDT and Wheeler successfully goes over the top to the apron this time. Berk knocks him off and has a scary dive through the ropes where he nearly whacks his head on the guardrail.

They get back in the ring and Wheeler takes control with a Last Ride powerbomb but he pulls Berk up at two. He hits a leg lariat but decides to choke Berk instead of going for the pin. Berk counters another powerbomb into a rana and hits the Berk Driver (sit out DVD) to get the win.

Final Thoughts: A simple match to get Berk back in the win column after his title loss. Both guys had some rough moments in the match but they both had some good moments as well. Wheeler’s dive was impressive and got the crowd back after an early mistake. He was also able to keep the crowd engaged and his arrogance toward the end of the match was a nice bit of character work that played into his pre-match promo. It wasn’t a smooth match but they did what they needed to. **- A basic match with a few cool moments that established that Berk was still someone to keep an eye on after his title loss. Wheeler’s a name I didn’t know before but I’m curious now to see him in different roles.

This match can be found at https://independentwrestling.tv/promotion/japw

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