Well here's a curiosity, a wrestling show taking place in my childhood hometown. It's quite surprising - Kenilworth is a small town, a nice place to raise a family, but not the most exciting of places, not exactly a place that struck me as a wrestling hotbed. I wasn't even sure where in Kenilworth a wrestling show could take place (a check showed me it was a social club I didn't know existed), but I couldn't NOT watch this show now, could I?
Hari Singh vs Josh Holly
Fun opener, Singh comes across as a likable babyface (in
spite of his early yell of “Shall I break it?” during an armbar) and Holly has
this smug dick charisma that makes you want to see him take a kicking. Singh
does Bop & Bang, only with a sweeping roundhouse instead of the short jab
Tyler Bate uses. Holly takes over with some nasty shots, big club to the back
and well-timed kicks to the leg. Really liked his pop-up headbutt. I liked how
they worked in Singh’s comeback, as Holly gets into an argument with ringside
kids, allowing Singh to catch him off the top with a flapjack. Singh misses a
kneedrop and Holly picks up the win with a big senton.
TJ Sky vs Damien Black
Black is doing a slightly low-rent asylum inmate gimmick,
coming to the ring in a straitjacket and prison scrubs. Sky is billed as a
high-flyer, but he doesn’t do much high flying and his tall frame doesn’t
convince me he’d be too good at it. Not to say he doesn’t impress here, he
looks really smooth in the ring. I liked his interesting 619 into a splash he
hits early on. Black works the match with move commitment to his character,
clawing at Sky’s face and biting him. He even bites his way free from a back
suplex. Sky’s comeback sees him befuddling Black, slipping through the ropes to
evade and disorientate him. There’s an odd bit where Black brings a wrench into
the ring for use as a weapon, which the ref stops, but Sky gets the win with
Soylent Green Is People. Good stuff.
Danny Jones vs Joseph Miller
Really good stuff here, both guys looked really solid.
Miller heels it up nicely in the beginning, stalling on the floor. When they do
lock up, both men look comfortable on the mat, battling for holds. I was
familiar with Jones having seen him live a few times, but this was my first
look at Miller, and he impressed, his elbow drops and back elbows looked to
have real impact. There’s nice timing here too, as Miller waits until Jones
motions to the crowd to hit him with a sudden clothesline to take control. Love
how Jones reverses a suplex, locking a bodyscissors on Miller on the way up and
grabbing a keylock, looked really fluid. The end to this was really nicely
done, Jones tries a crossarmbreaker on the hurt arm, which Miller first tries
stopping by locking his hands together then trying a roll-up. However, Jones
keeps hold of the arm and, when he breaks the pin attempt he goes right back
into the armbreaker, giving Miller no chance to lock him hands and forcing the
tap.
Dominita vs Nightshade
This is a title-on-a-pole match for the vacant women’s
title. The pole is really short, which is a bit disappointing, neither woman
would actually need to climb to reach the title. Interesting dynamic, as
Nightshade is the heel and someone who is normally bigger than her opponents.
However, as the name suggests, Dominita is also larger than the average woman
and in this case is bigger than Nightshade. They work round this by simply both
laying in their stuff, with Nightshade putting enough impact into her senton and
running corner forearms that they look like they’d down Dominita. In turn,
Dominita hits a big Samoan drop and some big strikes of her own. Nightshade’s
downfall is her cockiness, as she keeps giving Dominita comebacks by running
her mouth instead of winning the match. Nightshade hits a running butt charge
and cannonball in the corner, but Dominita gets up and nails her own versions,
keeping Nightshade down enough to win the title. Decent stuff.
Next Wave 5 (Killian Jacobs & Joey Scott) vs Team H8
(Jeckel & Gideon)
Really nicely worked tag match. Next Wave 5 take control
early, hitting a stereo 619. Something kinda strange about hearing a wrestler –
in this case Jacobs – yelling out “Come on Kenilworth!”. Team H8 take over on Jacobs
as Jeckel levels him with a clothesline after Gideon prevents a moonsault.
Liked Jeckel’s senton, standing on Jacobs and then dropping his weight down.
Scott gets in but soon becomes face-in-peril after Jacobs gets rammed into the
ringpost. I liked that Scott actually worked his comebacks in line with the “Next
Wave 5” chants from the crowd, even though Jeckel would cut them off.
Conditioned the audience to think the chants were working. Jeckel planting
Scott with a gutwrench suplex looked great. Gideon keeps choking Scott behind
the referee’s back, but it ends up backfiring as Jeckel accidentally crashes
into him when Scott evades a charge. However, Scott doesn’t tag out and instead
tries to spear Jeckel. He only ends up hitting Jacobs though, and gets planted
with a Gideon Package Piledriver and a Jeckel Destroyer for the win.
Eddie Ryan vs Terry Isit
Ryan is defending the Full Force title. Ryan has a good size
advantage over Isit, and he controls him on the mat early doors. Isit is cocky,
but because of the size difference he’s never able to fully maintain control
for long. He works his openings well though, luring Ryan to the floor by
slapping him then dropkicking himas he re-enters the ring, or spitting liquid
in Ryan’s face to temporarily blind him. When he does have control, he has to
make his shots look good and he does seem to fully lay in his stuff. I also liked
him choking Ryan on the ropes, sitting on his back and pulling an obnoxious
pose. Ryan is still a physical threat though, and comfortably fires back with
three huge German suplexes. They exchange some nearfalls, before Isit
accidentally his the ref with a dropkick. He low blows Ryan, but misses a
weapon shot, and Ryan hits a sitout piledriver. The ref is still down, so he
only gets a two count for this. Isit ducks a blow, hits Ryan with his weapon
and kicks him in the head for the shock win. Good main event, worked really
well.
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