Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Mar 20, 2015 10:51:32 GMT -6
This past weekend was a perfect example of how far we’ve come, as Preston City Wrestling presented three shows in two days that made up its Road To Glory tournament. There were two main hooks for the show, the first being Chris Masters – who won the trophy last year – challenging Uhaa Nation to try and recapture his Heavyweight Championship in a match where the loser would leave PCW forever. The other big news was that Lionheart, who broke his neck in a match with AJ Styles at this very event last year, returned to the ring attempting to win the tournament. So what went down? Let’s take a look ...
PCW ROAD TO GLORY WEEKEND 2015 – EVERY THORN HAS ITS ROSE, FAIRYTALES THWARTED AS TEAM SINGLE RISE TO POWER.
Tournament participants: El Ligero, Ricardo Rodriguez, Sha Samuels, Dave Mastiff, John Morrison, Will Ospreay, T-Bone, Rampage Brown, Carlito, Bubblegum, Ashton Smith, Matt Hardy, Martin Kirby, Chris Daniels, Lionheart, Joey Hayes.
Show #1
The first show took place on Friday night and all eight matches were first round matches in the tournament. El Ligero took on Ricardo Rodriguez, a surprise entrant to replace the injured Alberto Del Patron, in the opening match and Ligero picked up a clean victory over the former WWE superstar to advance. We then saw controversy as Sha Samuels and Dave Mastiff brawled to a double count-out outside the ring and both men were eliminated. This was played up in a way where Sha realised he couldn’t break the count in time, and grabbed Dave to prevent him doing so either. Dave was furious and this issue clearly is not finished! Cruiserweight champion Bubblegum pinned Ashton Smith to advance after accidentally knocking down the ref, and hitting a low blow.
Then we had the bizarre segment of the night, as we do at every PCW event. Eugene came out and decided to host a musical chairs match with himself playing against Viper, Noam Dar, Dave Rayne, Charlie Garrett and ring announcer Richard Parker. All sorts of shenanigans in this one, Rayne screwed Eugene by knocking him off a chair and then Viper finally won it. Back to the serious stuff, Matt Hardy eliminated Rampage Brown from the tournament in another decent match.
After the intermission, T-Bone did what his tag partner Rampage could not do, and advanced to the quarter-finals with a win over Carlito. Then we had the match of the night as John Morrison beat Will Osperay to advance in a phenomenal match which got about twenty minutes and was just all-out wrestling, ton of high spots and cool reversals in this one. Martin Kirby beat Christopher Daniels clean in the semi-main event and finally, Lionheart kept his dream alive at least for now, as he pinned pretentious heel Joey Hayes to end the show. Lionheart had laid Hayes out with a Rock Bottom on the ROH Supershow months earlier to set the match up, and did it again for the victory.
Show #2
The second show was an afternoon show, or the “hangover show” as it’s known as fans were worse for wear from the after-party the night before. El Ligero pinned Matt Hardy in the opener in a very good match to advance to the semi-finals. Then we had a slew of non-tournament matches as first Carlito pinned Charlie Garrett, and then a pair of matches to hype up the evening main event as Chris Masters and Uhaa Nation defeated Dave Rayne and Joey Hayes respectively. Rayne put in another great performance playing up being scared of Masters and “giving it his best shot”.
We had an obligatory eight-man tag with Rampage, Sha Samuels, Bubblegum and Chris Daniels beating Dave Mastiff, Noam Dar, Will Osperay and Eugene. This made for a pretty fun match with bodies flying everywhere; they did a great job of Bubblegum sitting outside the ring trying to avoid being tagged in because he had a bye and wanted to rest for the tournament later. We closed out with the last two quarters, as T-Bone cheated his way to victory over John Morrison, and Lionheart outwrestled Martin Kirby in an excellent main event to advance.
Show #3
As always PCW saved the best for last and the third and final show was amazing. Martin Kirby beat Ospreay, Daniels, Garrett, Hayes and Dean Allmark in a six way match to open. This was one of those insane all-out matches where guys are diving out the ring on top of everyone and generally going nuts. The crowd just loves this stuff every time they do it, especially as an opener. Next up, Lionheart pinned T-Bone to advance to the final. After the match, T-Bone hit a piledriver on Lionheart attempting to break his neck again and take him out, and he was carried out by trainers to huge heat. Bubblegum eliminated Matt Hardy from the tournament in another very good semi-final, to set up our main event.
The highly anticipated “Loser Leaves PCW” match between Chris Masters and Uhaa Nation came next and we went to swerve city on this one. During the match as Masters was about to nail Uhaa with a chair, it was announced the match was suddenly no disqualification. Team Single hit the ring and viciously beat down Uhaa, allowing Masters to beat him and win the Heavyweight title back. After the match, ring announcers Joanna Rose turned heel and revealed she was the new GM and that her and Masters were “friends with benefits”.
John Morrison wrestled Noam Dar in a great technical match which got about fifteen minutes, making this the second great Morrison match of the weekend. Dar looks to be being repackaged as a serious contender again, which they alluded to by having him challenge John in the first place. The toughest female in England, Viper, had a match with Toni Storm, beat her, and then issued an open challenge. T-Bone hit the ring and challenged her, and of course, he drilled her with the piledriver and beat her.
The main event saw another huge shock, as Bubblegum beat Lionheart to win the Road To Glory tournament, with a pedigree. After all the hype being around Lionheart’s fairytale comeback from injury and him being heavy favourite to win, he couldn’t overcome the odds and Bubblegum walked away with the trophy. The show ended with Bubblegum, Rampage, T-Bone, Chris Masters and Joanna Rose in the ring on each corner holding the trophy, and the Heavyweight, Cruiserweight and Tag Team Championships. The new and improved Team Single has become the all-conquering super heel faction and the entire landscape of the promotion has changed. Brilliant creative ending to an all-round great weekend.
PCW ROAD TO GLORY WEEKEND 2015 – EVERY THORN HAS ITS ROSE, FAIRYTALES THWARTED AS TEAM SINGLE RISE TO POWER.
Tournament participants: El Ligero, Ricardo Rodriguez, Sha Samuels, Dave Mastiff, John Morrison, Will Ospreay, T-Bone, Rampage Brown, Carlito, Bubblegum, Ashton Smith, Matt Hardy, Martin Kirby, Chris Daniels, Lionheart, Joey Hayes.
Show #1
The first show took place on Friday night and all eight matches were first round matches in the tournament. El Ligero took on Ricardo Rodriguez, a surprise entrant to replace the injured Alberto Del Patron, in the opening match and Ligero picked up a clean victory over the former WWE superstar to advance. We then saw controversy as Sha Samuels and Dave Mastiff brawled to a double count-out outside the ring and both men were eliminated. This was played up in a way where Sha realised he couldn’t break the count in time, and grabbed Dave to prevent him doing so either. Dave was furious and this issue clearly is not finished! Cruiserweight champion Bubblegum pinned Ashton Smith to advance after accidentally knocking down the ref, and hitting a low blow.
Then we had the bizarre segment of the night, as we do at every PCW event. Eugene came out and decided to host a musical chairs match with himself playing against Viper, Noam Dar, Dave Rayne, Charlie Garrett and ring announcer Richard Parker. All sorts of shenanigans in this one, Rayne screwed Eugene by knocking him off a chair and then Viper finally won it. Back to the serious stuff, Matt Hardy eliminated Rampage Brown from the tournament in another decent match.
After the intermission, T-Bone did what his tag partner Rampage could not do, and advanced to the quarter-finals with a win over Carlito. Then we had the match of the night as John Morrison beat Will Osperay to advance in a phenomenal match which got about twenty minutes and was just all-out wrestling, ton of high spots and cool reversals in this one. Martin Kirby beat Christopher Daniels clean in the semi-main event and finally, Lionheart kept his dream alive at least for now, as he pinned pretentious heel Joey Hayes to end the show. Lionheart had laid Hayes out with a Rock Bottom on the ROH Supershow months earlier to set the match up, and did it again for the victory.
Show #2
The second show was an afternoon show, or the “hangover show” as it’s known as fans were worse for wear from the after-party the night before. El Ligero pinned Matt Hardy in the opener in a very good match to advance to the semi-finals. Then we had a slew of non-tournament matches as first Carlito pinned Charlie Garrett, and then a pair of matches to hype up the evening main event as Chris Masters and Uhaa Nation defeated Dave Rayne and Joey Hayes respectively. Rayne put in another great performance playing up being scared of Masters and “giving it his best shot”.
We had an obligatory eight-man tag with Rampage, Sha Samuels, Bubblegum and Chris Daniels beating Dave Mastiff, Noam Dar, Will Osperay and Eugene. This made for a pretty fun match with bodies flying everywhere; they did a great job of Bubblegum sitting outside the ring trying to avoid being tagged in because he had a bye and wanted to rest for the tournament later. We closed out with the last two quarters, as T-Bone cheated his way to victory over John Morrison, and Lionheart outwrestled Martin Kirby in an excellent main event to advance.
Show #3
As always PCW saved the best for last and the third and final show was amazing. Martin Kirby beat Ospreay, Daniels, Garrett, Hayes and Dean Allmark in a six way match to open. This was one of those insane all-out matches where guys are diving out the ring on top of everyone and generally going nuts. The crowd just loves this stuff every time they do it, especially as an opener. Next up, Lionheart pinned T-Bone to advance to the final. After the match, T-Bone hit a piledriver on Lionheart attempting to break his neck again and take him out, and he was carried out by trainers to huge heat. Bubblegum eliminated Matt Hardy from the tournament in another very good semi-final, to set up our main event.
The highly anticipated “Loser Leaves PCW” match between Chris Masters and Uhaa Nation came next and we went to swerve city on this one. During the match as Masters was about to nail Uhaa with a chair, it was announced the match was suddenly no disqualification. Team Single hit the ring and viciously beat down Uhaa, allowing Masters to beat him and win the Heavyweight title back. After the match, ring announcers Joanna Rose turned heel and revealed she was the new GM and that her and Masters were “friends with benefits”.
John Morrison wrestled Noam Dar in a great technical match which got about fifteen minutes, making this the second great Morrison match of the weekend. Dar looks to be being repackaged as a serious contender again, which they alluded to by having him challenge John in the first place. The toughest female in England, Viper, had a match with Toni Storm, beat her, and then issued an open challenge. T-Bone hit the ring and challenged her, and of course, he drilled her with the piledriver and beat her.
The main event saw another huge shock, as Bubblegum beat Lionheart to win the Road To Glory tournament, with a pedigree. After all the hype being around Lionheart’s fairytale comeback from injury and him being heavy favourite to win, he couldn’t overcome the odds and Bubblegum walked away with the trophy. The show ended with Bubblegum, Rampage, T-Bone, Chris Masters and Joanna Rose in the ring on each corner holding the trophy, and the Heavyweight, Cruiserweight and Tag Team Championships. The new and improved Team Single has become the all-conquering super heel faction and the entire landscape of the promotion has changed. Brilliant creative ending to an all-round great weekend.