Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Dec 23, 2016 1:13:57 GMT -6
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THE WEEK IN BRITISH WRESTLING: IPW:UK FILMS A SUPERSHOW FOR FLOSLAM
BY ALAN BOON | @indysleaze | DEC 22, 2016 8:58 AM
Here’s five things you need to know about British wrestling this week:
1) New allies helped Jimmy Havoc end the year as IPW:UK Champion
Surprising heel turns by Zack Sabre Jr. and Tennessee Honey saw them come to the aid of International Pro-Wrestling: United Kingdom Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Havoc at the climax of last Sunday's SuperShow 5.
The event, filmed for broadcast on FloSlam at the Casino Rooms in Rochester, was topped by an I Quit match between Havoc and the man who has been chasing him for much of the year, Sammy Smooth. When the final curtain fell, Sabre Jr. and Honey -- along with Joseph Conners -- had tricked Smooth into saying those two important words, and the reign of Havoc continues into 2017.
Both Sabre Jr. and Tennessee Honey had lost matches earlier in the show, with the technical wizard going down to Matt Riddle's Bromission, and the former IPW:UK Women's Champion losing a shot at her old title against Pollyanna when the title was vacated by WWE-bound Mickie James (who was nonetheless in the country for Bellatrix and WAW). Pollyanna's reign was short, with The Amazon cashing in the title shot she earned last month to become the new champion after an impromptu match.
The women's title wasn't the only one to change hands, as the Swords of Essex -- represented by the unusual pairing of Will Ospreay & The Amazon -- were beaten by the London Riots in a match which also featured former champions DND. Like The Amazon, Ospreay had also worked earlier in the card, losing to Cody Rhodes.
The show -- which will be broadcast on FloSlam on December 22nd -- also featured an All-England title defense by Scott Star against Zack Gibson, a win for Tom Dawkins over Joseph Conners, and the latest 10,000 Cuban Peso Challenge, which saw recent WWE-UK signee "Bodyguy" Roy Johnson accept the invitation. IPW:UK return on January 14th.
2) A (not so) surprise return helped ATTACK! save Christmas
The last few Christmas spectaculars from ATTACK! Pro-Wrestling have ended with Sebastian Radclaw (and his trusty Scat Monkey) saving the day from the evil Anti-Fun Police, and when Ryan Smile was down and at the mercy of the AFP's Chief Deputy Dunne (and his assistant Sergeant Banks) at the end of last Sunday's show, there were more than a few nervous looks around Bristol's Trinity Centre for someone to save Christmas.
A heavily-costumed elf had been hanging around all night and he revealed himself as Radclaw, saved Smile, and sent the sell-out crowd home deliriously happy. It capped two days of massive fun, which started with night one of the Under The Mistletour at the secret bingo hall in Cardiff's Cathays Centre.
That show was main evented by Eddie Dennis' first defense of the ATTACK! Championship he won at the Walkabout last month, and he and Chief Deputy Dunne brawled over the building in a punishing encounter.
The rest of the Cardiff action saw Sergeant Banks beat "Ravin'" Danny Jones, Mark Andrews win a grudge match against his former tag team partner Nixon Newell, and Bowl-A-Rama finally save their Hackney bowling alley home when they beat the ATTACK! Tag Team Champions #CCK.
"Extremely Confused" Drew Parker -- who took a blow to the head at the first secret bingo hall show and now believes himself to be in ECW in 1996 -- turned up as Bubba Ray Drew-dley, complete with Tyler Bate as T-Von, but they lost to Bird & Boar.
The next night in Bristol saw Parker imitating Rob Van Dam (with a whistle-blowing Danny Jones doing his best Bill Alfonso) to beat Martin Kirby, and then briefly losing his ATTACK! 24/7 title to Jones before stealing a pin from Kirby to win it back.
El Ligero -- dressed as a bauble-decorated elf -- beat Sergeant Banks, Bird & Boar teamed again to defeat FSU, and a six-man between Bowl-A-Rama & Tyler Bate and #CCK & Nixon Newell ended with Chris Brookes blaming Newell for his team's loss and Newell turning back to the light side after being corrupted by the now-departed Pete Dunne. The show will be available to buy soon on ATTACK!'s On Demand service, and they return to Cheltenham on January 13th.
3) The New Nation caused a stir -- and won a title -- at Tidal's Silent Nightmare
After last Sunday's Silent Nightmare 3: Wreck The Halls at the O2 Academy in Leeds, all the talk about Tidal Championship Wrestling's latest show should have been about how The New Nation -- Alexander Henry & Jason Prime -- captured the tag team titles from arch-rivals The Proven.
However, in a pre-match promo, Henry used some homophobic slurs against his opponents, which caused a stir on social media. Henry has since issued a comprehensive and humble apology, and you can only hope that he'll use a strong 2017 to wipe away a youthful error.
Tidal's other champions successfully defended their belts, with Heavyweight title holder Rampage Brown facing Dave Mastiff for the second time in eight days, and Liam Slater defeating Bubblegum in the Open division.
ProJo graduate Chuck Mambo was supposed to face HT Drake -- his place taken by "Lighting" Lewis Howley because of injury -- but there was plenty of representation from the PROGRESS school with Jack Sexsmith beating JD Boom and Kyle Ashmore falling to Dara Diablo.
The Tidal Women's Championship was up for grabs due to Violet O'Hara's recent injury, and Lana Austin took advantage of her rival's misfortune to lift the title after beating Little Miss Roxxy and Ruby Summers in a three-way, and Dan James was fired when he took the pinfall in a loser leaves Tidal six-man. They return on February 19th with HT Drake vs. Jimmy Havoc.
4) Myers captures his best friend's title but trouble is on the horizon
Capping a year in which they consolidated their position (but perhaps had their thunder stolen a little by WCPW, with whom they work closely), New Generation Wrestling drew a sell-out crowd to Hull's City Hall last Saturday for Eternal Glory 2016, headlined by a title vs. title match between two best friends.
When the dust had settled it was NGW Gen-X Champion Matt Myers who pinned NGW Undisputed title holder Nathan Cruz to become a double champion, but was then briefly confronted by Joseph Conners and his cohorts, before they disappeared into the darkness.
The night saw something of an invasion take place, with scene veteran RJ Singh leading half a dozen youngsters -- who he called "the future of British wrestling" -- in an assault on JD Boom and all things NGW, including the absent Bubblegum's valet Chardonnay. Singh then accompanied one of his charges, Jake McCluskey, to the ring for a Gen-X Rules victory over Robbie X.
Before they made their intentions towards Myers perfectly clear after the main event, Joseph Conners and his crew had some business to take care of, with semi-reluctant member Liam Slater being verbally berated and then welcomed back into the fold by Conners, under threat of violence from Cyanide.
The night's other action saw Rampage Brown and Zack Gibson go to a double countout, The Proven beat The London Riots, and Joe Hendry retain the NGW tag titles in a ladder match against Stixx -- an unusual occurrence of a tag team title being settled in a singles match! You can see NGW action on local cable TV all over the UK, and on the Fight Network, and they return in 2017.
5) 4FW celebrated Christmas with The Big Guy (and other stuff)
As part of his tour of the UK, the former Ryback -- now going by the name The Big Guy -- made a trio of appearances last weekend. Two were for the south-west's 4-Front Wrestling, at the MECA in Swindon on Friday and at Bristol's City Academy on Sunday.
In between, 4FW also ran a free show at Emerson's Green Village Hall, to fill a solid weekend of graps for the region. The Big Guy won both his 4FW matches, beating JD Knight in Swindon, and Saul Adams in Bristol, and was joined by James Storm and an unannounced Robbie E on the former show.
One of the semifinals in a tournament to decide a new 4FW Junior Heavyweight Champion took place in Swindon, with Wild Boar defeating Mega Pegasus. The other, also scheduled for the same night, was postponed because Pete Dunne turned up in Pro Wrestling Guerilla. There were wins across the weekend for Tiger Ali, Doug Williams, The Saint, and Saime Sahin, and 4FW return on January 20th in Oxford with Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes joined Ryback on his third weekend date, at Preston City Wrestling's debut show in Bradford last Saturday. The duo were very popular with fans wanting photographs, and Rhodes competed in the main event, defeating Bubblegum to end the night on a high.
Earlier, "The Big Guy" defeated Johnny Moss, and there were also wins for T-Bone (the benefactor of a Joey Hayes DQ), Danny Hope (against a debuting Saime Sahin), Ashton Smith (who beat CJ Banks), and Martin Kirby (over Chris Ridgeway). There was also an interesting PCW Academy vs. IPW:UK Academy graduates match, which the home side won. PCW are back with some pre-WWE UK shows in Blackpool in January.
Finally, up in Ayr, Scotland, Pro-Wrestling Elite ran the Citadel Leisure Centre last Saturday with a show entitled Higher Power. The eponymous figure was revealed to be Red Lightning, recently fired from ICW, who announced he was in PWE to take over.
The show was main evented by the final of a one-night, four-man tournament to decide a new PWE Heavyweight Champion. Iestyn Rees beat Joe Coffey to lift the title for the first time, after both men had earlier won semifinals (against Bram and Jack Jester, respectively).
PWE Tag Team Champions Chris Renfrew & BT Gunn of the New Age Kliq beat The Magnums to defend their titles, and have new number one contenders in the shape of Polo Promotions, who beat Kid Fite & Liam Thomson to earn that honour. The show also featured Stevie Xavier, Kenny Williams, and Davey Blaze, and PWE return in 2017.
THE WEEK IN BRITISH WRESTLING: IPW:UK FILMS A SUPERSHOW FOR FLOSLAM
BY ALAN BOON | @indysleaze | DEC 22, 2016 8:58 AM
Here’s five things you need to know about British wrestling this week:
1) New allies helped Jimmy Havoc end the year as IPW:UK Champion
Surprising heel turns by Zack Sabre Jr. and Tennessee Honey saw them come to the aid of International Pro-Wrestling: United Kingdom Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Havoc at the climax of last Sunday's SuperShow 5.
The event, filmed for broadcast on FloSlam at the Casino Rooms in Rochester, was topped by an I Quit match between Havoc and the man who has been chasing him for much of the year, Sammy Smooth. When the final curtain fell, Sabre Jr. and Honey -- along with Joseph Conners -- had tricked Smooth into saying those two important words, and the reign of Havoc continues into 2017.
Both Sabre Jr. and Tennessee Honey had lost matches earlier in the show, with the technical wizard going down to Matt Riddle's Bromission, and the former IPW:UK Women's Champion losing a shot at her old title against Pollyanna when the title was vacated by WWE-bound Mickie James (who was nonetheless in the country for Bellatrix and WAW). Pollyanna's reign was short, with The Amazon cashing in the title shot she earned last month to become the new champion after an impromptu match.
The women's title wasn't the only one to change hands, as the Swords of Essex -- represented by the unusual pairing of Will Ospreay & The Amazon -- were beaten by the London Riots in a match which also featured former champions DND. Like The Amazon, Ospreay had also worked earlier in the card, losing to Cody Rhodes.
The show -- which will be broadcast on FloSlam on December 22nd -- also featured an All-England title defense by Scott Star against Zack Gibson, a win for Tom Dawkins over Joseph Conners, and the latest 10,000 Cuban Peso Challenge, which saw recent WWE-UK signee "Bodyguy" Roy Johnson accept the invitation. IPW:UK return on January 14th.
2) A (not so) surprise return helped ATTACK! save Christmas
The last few Christmas spectaculars from ATTACK! Pro-Wrestling have ended with Sebastian Radclaw (and his trusty Scat Monkey) saving the day from the evil Anti-Fun Police, and when Ryan Smile was down and at the mercy of the AFP's Chief Deputy Dunne (and his assistant Sergeant Banks) at the end of last Sunday's show, there were more than a few nervous looks around Bristol's Trinity Centre for someone to save Christmas.
A heavily-costumed elf had been hanging around all night and he revealed himself as Radclaw, saved Smile, and sent the sell-out crowd home deliriously happy. It capped two days of massive fun, which started with night one of the Under The Mistletour at the secret bingo hall in Cardiff's Cathays Centre.
That show was main evented by Eddie Dennis' first defense of the ATTACK! Championship he won at the Walkabout last month, and he and Chief Deputy Dunne brawled over the building in a punishing encounter.
The rest of the Cardiff action saw Sergeant Banks beat "Ravin'" Danny Jones, Mark Andrews win a grudge match against his former tag team partner Nixon Newell, and Bowl-A-Rama finally save their Hackney bowling alley home when they beat the ATTACK! Tag Team Champions #CCK.
"Extremely Confused" Drew Parker -- who took a blow to the head at the first secret bingo hall show and now believes himself to be in ECW in 1996 -- turned up as Bubba Ray Drew-dley, complete with Tyler Bate as T-Von, but they lost to Bird & Boar.
The next night in Bristol saw Parker imitating Rob Van Dam (with a whistle-blowing Danny Jones doing his best Bill Alfonso) to beat Martin Kirby, and then briefly losing his ATTACK! 24/7 title to Jones before stealing a pin from Kirby to win it back.
El Ligero -- dressed as a bauble-decorated elf -- beat Sergeant Banks, Bird & Boar teamed again to defeat FSU, and a six-man between Bowl-A-Rama & Tyler Bate and #CCK & Nixon Newell ended with Chris Brookes blaming Newell for his team's loss and Newell turning back to the light side after being corrupted by the now-departed Pete Dunne. The show will be available to buy soon on ATTACK!'s On Demand service, and they return to Cheltenham on January 13th.
3) The New Nation caused a stir -- and won a title -- at Tidal's Silent Nightmare
After last Sunday's Silent Nightmare 3: Wreck The Halls at the O2 Academy in Leeds, all the talk about Tidal Championship Wrestling's latest show should have been about how The New Nation -- Alexander Henry & Jason Prime -- captured the tag team titles from arch-rivals The Proven.
However, in a pre-match promo, Henry used some homophobic slurs against his opponents, which caused a stir on social media. Henry has since issued a comprehensive and humble apology, and you can only hope that he'll use a strong 2017 to wipe away a youthful error.
Tidal's other champions successfully defended their belts, with Heavyweight title holder Rampage Brown facing Dave Mastiff for the second time in eight days, and Liam Slater defeating Bubblegum in the Open division.
ProJo graduate Chuck Mambo was supposed to face HT Drake -- his place taken by "Lighting" Lewis Howley because of injury -- but there was plenty of representation from the PROGRESS school with Jack Sexsmith beating JD Boom and Kyle Ashmore falling to Dara Diablo.
The Tidal Women's Championship was up for grabs due to Violet O'Hara's recent injury, and Lana Austin took advantage of her rival's misfortune to lift the title after beating Little Miss Roxxy and Ruby Summers in a three-way, and Dan James was fired when he took the pinfall in a loser leaves Tidal six-man. They return on February 19th with HT Drake vs. Jimmy Havoc.
4) Myers captures his best friend's title but trouble is on the horizon
Capping a year in which they consolidated their position (but perhaps had their thunder stolen a little by WCPW, with whom they work closely), New Generation Wrestling drew a sell-out crowd to Hull's City Hall last Saturday for Eternal Glory 2016, headlined by a title vs. title match between two best friends.
When the dust had settled it was NGW Gen-X Champion Matt Myers who pinned NGW Undisputed title holder Nathan Cruz to become a double champion, but was then briefly confronted by Joseph Conners and his cohorts, before they disappeared into the darkness.
The night saw something of an invasion take place, with scene veteran RJ Singh leading half a dozen youngsters -- who he called "the future of British wrestling" -- in an assault on JD Boom and all things NGW, including the absent Bubblegum's valet Chardonnay. Singh then accompanied one of his charges, Jake McCluskey, to the ring for a Gen-X Rules victory over Robbie X.
Before they made their intentions towards Myers perfectly clear after the main event, Joseph Conners and his crew had some business to take care of, with semi-reluctant member Liam Slater being verbally berated and then welcomed back into the fold by Conners, under threat of violence from Cyanide.
The night's other action saw Rampage Brown and Zack Gibson go to a double countout, The Proven beat The London Riots, and Joe Hendry retain the NGW tag titles in a ladder match against Stixx -- an unusual occurrence of a tag team title being settled in a singles match! You can see NGW action on local cable TV all over the UK, and on the Fight Network, and they return in 2017.
5) 4FW celebrated Christmas with The Big Guy (and other stuff)
As part of his tour of the UK, the former Ryback -- now going by the name The Big Guy -- made a trio of appearances last weekend. Two were for the south-west's 4-Front Wrestling, at the MECA in Swindon on Friday and at Bristol's City Academy on Sunday.
In between, 4FW also ran a free show at Emerson's Green Village Hall, to fill a solid weekend of graps for the region. The Big Guy won both his 4FW matches, beating JD Knight in Swindon, and Saul Adams in Bristol, and was joined by James Storm and an unannounced Robbie E on the former show.
One of the semifinals in a tournament to decide a new 4FW Junior Heavyweight Champion took place in Swindon, with Wild Boar defeating Mega Pegasus. The other, also scheduled for the same night, was postponed because Pete Dunne turned up in Pro Wrestling Guerilla. There were wins across the weekend for Tiger Ali, Doug Williams, The Saint, and Saime Sahin, and 4FW return on January 20th in Oxford with Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes joined Ryback on his third weekend date, at Preston City Wrestling's debut show in Bradford last Saturday. The duo were very popular with fans wanting photographs, and Rhodes competed in the main event, defeating Bubblegum to end the night on a high.
Earlier, "The Big Guy" defeated Johnny Moss, and there were also wins for T-Bone (the benefactor of a Joey Hayes DQ), Danny Hope (against a debuting Saime Sahin), Ashton Smith (who beat CJ Banks), and Martin Kirby (over Chris Ridgeway). There was also an interesting PCW Academy vs. IPW:UK Academy graduates match, which the home side won. PCW are back with some pre-WWE UK shows in Blackpool in January.
Finally, up in Ayr, Scotland, Pro-Wrestling Elite ran the Citadel Leisure Centre last Saturday with a show entitled Higher Power. The eponymous figure was revealed to be Red Lightning, recently fired from ICW, who announced he was in PWE to take over.
The show was main evented by the final of a one-night, four-man tournament to decide a new PWE Heavyweight Champion. Iestyn Rees beat Joe Coffey to lift the title for the first time, after both men had earlier won semifinals (against Bram and Jack Jester, respectively).
PWE Tag Team Champions Chris Renfrew & BT Gunn of the New Age Kliq beat The Magnums to defend their titles, and have new number one contenders in the shape of Polo Promotions, who beat Kid Fite & Liam Thomson to earn that honour. The show also featured Stevie Xavier, Kenny Williams, and Davey Blaze, and PWE return in 2017.