Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Feb 14, 2016 23:56:36 GMT -6
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THE WEEK IN BRITISH WRESTLING: WILL OSPREAY & MARTY SCURLL "EVOLVE"; BODOM VS. DIJAK ROCKS REVPRO
BY ALAN BOON | @indysleaze | FEB 11, 2016 10:25 AM
Here’s 5 things you need to know about British wrestling this week:
1) Preston saw the formation of the New Age Assh*les.
Although I sometimes like to talk of the “Big 3” of ICW, PROGRESS, and RevPro, there are other promotions that – if you slightly changed your criteria for what makes a “big” promotion – could easily take the place of any of those outfits. WAW in Norfolk, for example, run big shows and have speculatively taped TV to hock around, and no-one runs as many shows a year as Brian Dixon’s All-Star Wrestling. However, if you’re judging on the criteria of big names being brought over, few deliver more on that front than Preston City Wrestling, and their first shows of 2016 were filled with celebrity guests.
TNA champion Matt Hardy led the list of imports – although his recent heel turn seemed to hit his photo sales in the intervals – but he was ably backed by a trio of WWE nostalgia acts (who can still go) in Billy Gunn, Tajiri, and Mr Anderson. Those three formed a trio to take on the home-grown team of Martin Kirby, Joey Hayes & Dave Rayne, and were quickly dubbed The New Age Assh*les. The weekend of shows – PCW like to run a 3-show swing in the same venue – was built around the Road To Glory tournament, and the final was an outstanding contest between Drew Galloway and Rampage Brown, with Brown coming out on top. Earlier in the weekend, Brown, his Team Single partner T-Bone, and the hated Bubblegum had all turned babyface, and this was quickly adopted by the PCW regulars.
The climax of the weekend was a PCW Heavyweight title match between champion Dave Mastiff and challenger Sha Samuels – not just two of the best big men in the UK, two of the best period. Samuels took the match – and the belt – after interference by some masked men, but this story will run and run. PCW return in March with a joint show with Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling in Blackpool.
2) Bristol put in another great shout for Wrestling City of The Year.
For the English city with the 8th biggest population, wrestling in Bristol used to be confined to All-Star shows at the Colston Hall. Since that venue closed its doors to grappling in 2003, various smaller groups have tried to promote the city but it’s only in the last few years that a wrestling revival has taken hold, and there are now four regular promotions running the city, seemingly in harmony. Although ATTACK! Pro-Wrestling tend to grab most of the headlines with their whacky, technically-sound brand of fun, one group to really up their game in the city this year is Pro-Wrestling Chaos, and they held their first show of 2016 at a sold out BAWA Club last weekend.
The show had a slight TNA influence, with X-Division champion Trevor Lee, and the recently “fired” Grado, making their way to the south west to take on the Chaos regulars, but much of the attention before the show focussed on the old-school, British Mountevens Rules match between the veteran Johnny Kidd and one of the early standouts of the year so far, Pete Dunne. Dunne, who defeated Sonjay Dutt at RevPro the next day, also triumphed over Kidd, in a technical showcase that – if you love that kind of thing – will be well worth tracking down.
Outside of the ring, the night’s biggest story was a “pipe bomb”-style promo cut by “Flash” Morgan Webster, on the Chaos fans who voted him Wrestler of the Year. Deriding them as “smarks” who only know as much about the business as the wrestlers let them know, he vowed to take everything from Chaos and give nothing back. For a wrestler who spends much of his time as a babyface (although no-one likes a mod, surely?), this was as spirited a heel promo as you’ll see, and it’s available on YouTube. Also on the show were Eddie Dennis, Wild Boar, and Pro-Wrestling Chaos champion Jeckel. Chaos return on March 12th.
Flash Webster
3) RevPro taped more TV with a surprising standout match.
Even though the footage from the last show, held on the first Sunday of the year, hasn’t made it to air on their YouTube TV show yet, Revolution Pro-Wrestling returned to the Cockpit, in Marylebone, last weekend for another set of TV tapings, and with another stacked card. The biggest news coming out of the show, though, was about a match which wouldn’t be happening any time soon – RevPro Undisputed British heavyweight champion Zack Sabre Jr versus number one contender Marty Scurll.
The two are longtime friends, and Scurll acknowledged this, and claimed that – as long as Sabre Jr remained champion – he wouldn’t contend for the title. Instead, he proposed they reform their tag-team, the LDRS Of The New School, and challenged RevPro owner Andy Quildan to find them the best opponents in the world. Not wasting any time, Quildan signed them to a match against Ricochet & Matt Sydal – who could well be IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag-Team champions by that point – at April’s big show in Reading.
Alongside a superb technical showcase between Scurll & Timothy Thatcher, and a main event which saw Sabre Jr tie Will Ospreay in knots, the show was stolen by a humdinger of a contest between Josh Bodom & Donovan Dijak, who put everything on the line to carve out a compelling and brutal encounter. Well worth the watch when it finally airs. Also on the show were Colt Cabana, Big Damo, and Mark Haskins, and an accomplished trainee opener in the style of RevPro partner New Japan. They’re taping again on March 6th.
4) Marty & Will are going west.
After their incredible pair of matches for RevPro and PROGRESS at the start of the year, the buzz about Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay has grown to deafening volume, with Ospreay rewarded for his efforts with a shot at the New Japan juniors, beginning in April. Their chemistry – with each other, and pleasingly with just about any opponent you put them in with – has also been noticed in the US, and if you are in Dallas on Wrestlemania weekend you will have the opportunity to witness for yourself just how special these pair of talents are.
As well as repeating their epic encounters for WrestleCon on the Saturday night – well worth skipping the Hall of Fame for – the two have also been snapped up by Evolve, who are running as part of WWN’s More Than Mania weekend, on Friday afternoon, and Saturday lunchtime. Already announced for the Saturday show is Ospreay versus Ricochet, and you can be sure that whatever the other contests are, our lads will attempt to steal the show.
Evolve Wrestling
5) On a quiet weekend, there were still some cool shows.
In the unique atmosphere of Wolverhampton’s Planet nightclub, where the ring is surrounded by a cage that the crowd beat their approval – or disapproval – loudly upon, Fight Club:Pro opened their 2016 with All The Best last Fridaymain event of the show saw TNA X-Division champion Trevor Lee defeat Trent Seven, and the show also featured Mike Bird, Nixon Newell, Damian Dunne, Wild Boar, and the Hunter Brothers. The big story coming out of the show, though, was that after Pete Dunne had beaten Tyler Bate, his FCP nemesis Clint Marghera informed him they would face off in a death match at the next show on March 18th...
Further south, on Saturday evening, Future Pro-Wrestling staged Reloaded in Sutton, south London, headlined by an FPW Championship match between Jimmy Havoc and Paul Robinson. Havoc retained his title, as did the London Riots who beat the GZRS in a tag-team title encounter. Earlier in the show, Ryan Smile upset Will Ospreay to advance in the Zero-G Championship tournament, but the night was closed by a rumble, won by Darrell Allen. The big story from that is that RJ Singh – who lost a Loser Must Retire match to Stixx in PROGRESS in 2014 – made his comeback. Breaking stipulations is bad, but Singh is too good to not work if he wants to.
The stars of the British Wrestling Weekly TV show, New Generation Wrestling, were also in action over the weekend, presenting Proving Grounds at the Beverley Memorial Hall in North Yorkshire. This, too, was finished off by a rumble – this time for entry into the rumble at their big Destiny show in Liverpool next month – and that was won by Ace Matthews, who had earlier defeated Caz Crash. Also on the show were NGW Heavyweight champion Nathan Cruz, who teamed up with Matt Myers to take on the New Nation, el Ligero, and The Proven. NGW’s weekly TV shows are free to watch for a week on their YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/user/WrestletalkTV
THE WEEK IN BRITISH WRESTLING: WILL OSPREAY & MARTY SCURLL "EVOLVE"; BODOM VS. DIJAK ROCKS REVPRO
BY ALAN BOON | @indysleaze | FEB 11, 2016 10:25 AM
Here’s 5 things you need to know about British wrestling this week:
1) Preston saw the formation of the New Age Assh*les.
Although I sometimes like to talk of the “Big 3” of ICW, PROGRESS, and RevPro, there are other promotions that – if you slightly changed your criteria for what makes a “big” promotion – could easily take the place of any of those outfits. WAW in Norfolk, for example, run big shows and have speculatively taped TV to hock around, and no-one runs as many shows a year as Brian Dixon’s All-Star Wrestling. However, if you’re judging on the criteria of big names being brought over, few deliver more on that front than Preston City Wrestling, and their first shows of 2016 were filled with celebrity guests.
TNA champion Matt Hardy led the list of imports – although his recent heel turn seemed to hit his photo sales in the intervals – but he was ably backed by a trio of WWE nostalgia acts (who can still go) in Billy Gunn, Tajiri, and Mr Anderson. Those three formed a trio to take on the home-grown team of Martin Kirby, Joey Hayes & Dave Rayne, and were quickly dubbed The New Age Assh*les. The weekend of shows – PCW like to run a 3-show swing in the same venue – was built around the Road To Glory tournament, and the final was an outstanding contest between Drew Galloway and Rampage Brown, with Brown coming out on top. Earlier in the weekend, Brown, his Team Single partner T-Bone, and the hated Bubblegum had all turned babyface, and this was quickly adopted by the PCW regulars.
The climax of the weekend was a PCW Heavyweight title match between champion Dave Mastiff and challenger Sha Samuels – not just two of the best big men in the UK, two of the best period. Samuels took the match – and the belt – after interference by some masked men, but this story will run and run. PCW return in March with a joint show with Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling in Blackpool.
2) Bristol put in another great shout for Wrestling City of The Year.
For the English city with the 8th biggest population, wrestling in Bristol used to be confined to All-Star shows at the Colston Hall. Since that venue closed its doors to grappling in 2003, various smaller groups have tried to promote the city but it’s only in the last few years that a wrestling revival has taken hold, and there are now four regular promotions running the city, seemingly in harmony. Although ATTACK! Pro-Wrestling tend to grab most of the headlines with their whacky, technically-sound brand of fun, one group to really up their game in the city this year is Pro-Wrestling Chaos, and they held their first show of 2016 at a sold out BAWA Club last weekend.
The show had a slight TNA influence, with X-Division champion Trevor Lee, and the recently “fired” Grado, making their way to the south west to take on the Chaos regulars, but much of the attention before the show focussed on the old-school, British Mountevens Rules match between the veteran Johnny Kidd and one of the early standouts of the year so far, Pete Dunne. Dunne, who defeated Sonjay Dutt at RevPro the next day, also triumphed over Kidd, in a technical showcase that – if you love that kind of thing – will be well worth tracking down.
Outside of the ring, the night’s biggest story was a “pipe bomb”-style promo cut by “Flash” Morgan Webster, on the Chaos fans who voted him Wrestler of the Year. Deriding them as “smarks” who only know as much about the business as the wrestlers let them know, he vowed to take everything from Chaos and give nothing back. For a wrestler who spends much of his time as a babyface (although no-one likes a mod, surely?), this was as spirited a heel promo as you’ll see, and it’s available on YouTube. Also on the show were Eddie Dennis, Wild Boar, and Pro-Wrestling Chaos champion Jeckel. Chaos return on March 12th.
Flash Webster
3) RevPro taped more TV with a surprising standout match.
Even though the footage from the last show, held on the first Sunday of the year, hasn’t made it to air on their YouTube TV show yet, Revolution Pro-Wrestling returned to the Cockpit, in Marylebone, last weekend for another set of TV tapings, and with another stacked card. The biggest news coming out of the show, though, was about a match which wouldn’t be happening any time soon – RevPro Undisputed British heavyweight champion Zack Sabre Jr versus number one contender Marty Scurll.
The two are longtime friends, and Scurll acknowledged this, and claimed that – as long as Sabre Jr remained champion – he wouldn’t contend for the title. Instead, he proposed they reform their tag-team, the LDRS Of The New School, and challenged RevPro owner Andy Quildan to find them the best opponents in the world. Not wasting any time, Quildan signed them to a match against Ricochet & Matt Sydal – who could well be IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag-Team champions by that point – at April’s big show in Reading.
Alongside a superb technical showcase between Scurll & Timothy Thatcher, and a main event which saw Sabre Jr tie Will Ospreay in knots, the show was stolen by a humdinger of a contest between Josh Bodom & Donovan Dijak, who put everything on the line to carve out a compelling and brutal encounter. Well worth the watch when it finally airs. Also on the show were Colt Cabana, Big Damo, and Mark Haskins, and an accomplished trainee opener in the style of RevPro partner New Japan. They’re taping again on March 6th.
4) Marty & Will are going west.
After their incredible pair of matches for RevPro and PROGRESS at the start of the year, the buzz about Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay has grown to deafening volume, with Ospreay rewarded for his efforts with a shot at the New Japan juniors, beginning in April. Their chemistry – with each other, and pleasingly with just about any opponent you put them in with – has also been noticed in the US, and if you are in Dallas on Wrestlemania weekend you will have the opportunity to witness for yourself just how special these pair of talents are.
As well as repeating their epic encounters for WrestleCon on the Saturday night – well worth skipping the Hall of Fame for – the two have also been snapped up by Evolve, who are running as part of WWN’s More Than Mania weekend, on Friday afternoon, and Saturday lunchtime. Already announced for the Saturday show is Ospreay versus Ricochet, and you can be sure that whatever the other contests are, our lads will attempt to steal the show.
Evolve Wrestling
5) On a quiet weekend, there were still some cool shows.
In the unique atmosphere of Wolverhampton’s Planet nightclub, where the ring is surrounded by a cage that the crowd beat their approval – or disapproval – loudly upon, Fight Club:Pro opened their 2016 with All The Best last Fridaymain event of the show saw TNA X-Division champion Trevor Lee defeat Trent Seven, and the show also featured Mike Bird, Nixon Newell, Damian Dunne, Wild Boar, and the Hunter Brothers. The big story coming out of the show, though, was that after Pete Dunne had beaten Tyler Bate, his FCP nemesis Clint Marghera informed him they would face off in a death match at the next show on March 18th...
Further south, on Saturday evening, Future Pro-Wrestling staged Reloaded in Sutton, south London, headlined by an FPW Championship match between Jimmy Havoc and Paul Robinson. Havoc retained his title, as did the London Riots who beat the GZRS in a tag-team title encounter. Earlier in the show, Ryan Smile upset Will Ospreay to advance in the Zero-G Championship tournament, but the night was closed by a rumble, won by Darrell Allen. The big story from that is that RJ Singh – who lost a Loser Must Retire match to Stixx in PROGRESS in 2014 – made his comeback. Breaking stipulations is bad, but Singh is too good to not work if he wants to.
The stars of the British Wrestling Weekly TV show, New Generation Wrestling, were also in action over the weekend, presenting Proving Grounds at the Beverley Memorial Hall in North Yorkshire. This, too, was finished off by a rumble – this time for entry into the rumble at their big Destiny show in Liverpool next month – and that was won by Ace Matthews, who had earlier defeated Caz Crash. Also on the show were NGW Heavyweight champion Nathan Cruz, who teamed up with Matt Myers to take on the New Nation, el Ligero, and The Proven. NGW’s weekly TV shows are free to watch for a week on their YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/user/WrestletalkTV