Grado vs Sha Samuels
Interesting how quickly Grado has fallen from the champion
to being a comedy character. It’s arguably a role he’s better suited to, but it’s
still a stark fall in just two weeks. Here’s he’s wearing a suit to show Stu
Bennett that he can be a corporate champion. Samuels controls from the start,
hurling Grado into the barricades. Grado finally gets a comeback by reversing a
piledriver attempt on the ramp. Grado fires up, taking of his suit, and nailing
Sha with the Dusty elbows. Corner splash and a cannonball both look good, and
Grado catches Samuels with a diving cutter for the win. Pretty short, and the “corporate
Grado” storyline was barely explored, but this was fine.
Martin Kirby vs Joe Hendry
This is a result of Kirby walking out on a tag team tournament
match, leaving Hendry to take a beating. Bennett helpfully points out that
Hendry should be much angrier, as he comes to the ring singing and smiling. Kirby
bumps about early, stooging about by challenging (and losing to) Commonwealth
games wrestler Hendry to a mat battle, before taking over with a dropkick.
Kirby is lovely to watch in the ring, hitting a nice running backbreaker and a
big spinebuster. Kirby misses the crabwalk elbow, and Hendry rolls through a
crossbody with a fallaway slam in a really nice sequence. Kirby lands on his
feet on a second attempt and nails a nice enzuigiri. Kirby feigns an injury
after a Hendry ankle lock and gets the sneaky win with his foot on the ropes.
This was good stuff.
BT Gunn & Stevie Boy vs Brad Slayer & CJ Banks
Nice to see the team of Gunn and Stevie wearing matching
gear and facepaint to look more like a unit. Slightly odd to see Banks, who’s
been firmly aligned with Rampage and Sha Samuels, here teaming with a guy we’ve
not seen before. You’d think Banks and Samuels would be the more obvious team.
The face team function really well here, lots of quick fluid tags and nice
double-teaming. We get a brief heat worked on Stevie Boy, with Slayer looking a
little basic on offence. He seems far more comfortable taking moves, as the
faces quickly fire back. Gunn and Stevie nail a diving elbow Doomsday Device on
Slayer for the win. Mainly a showcase for the faces, who looked terrific.
Gabriel Kidd vs Crater
This is Kidd’s “big opportunity” for winning the ladder
match the previous week – 36 stone of Crater. Love Bennett’s big grin as the
match is announced. This is one of those stupid angles where we’re supposed to
feel outraged that the heel GM has forced a wrestler to face another wrestler,
which is basically his job. I mean, Kidd won the ladder match the previous
week, he’s not some feckless jobber, he’s already proven himself to be at least
a competent wrestler. Alex Shane describing this as “the most disgusting act he’s
ever seen from a wrestling executive” just rings hollow. Plus, Kidd does get a
little offence – he nails some elbows to start and gets to break free of a
Crater bear hug. He’s not getting destroyed, he’s just not as good as Crater.
Crater nails an avalanche, a chokeslam and a splash to win.
Rampage vs Justin Sysum
This was pretty good stuff, felt like a big deal. Sysum is a
big boy, but he’s also pretty agile, which gives him some openings here.
Rampage hits him with some meaty blows, but Sysum backflips out of the corner
and nails a nice high backdrop and a side slam. Rampage takes control after CJ
Banks pushes Sysum off the top rope, and Rampage plants him with a big uranage.
He continues the back offence, with some blows to the small of the back and a
spinebuster. Sysum looks good on his comeback, nailing a big overhead suplex,
before sending them both to the floor with a clothesline. However, CJ Banks is
under the ring and he holds onto Sysum’s leg, causing him to get counted out.
You knew that Sysum wouldn’t dethrone the champion so early, so the ending
gives the story a reason to continue whilst keeping Sysum strong. Enjoyed this
No comments:
Post a Comment