World of Sport Wrestling #3 11/08/2018

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

World of Sport Wrestling #1 28/07/2018

So, with the return of wrestling to terrestrial UK TV, I thought it might be worth following the show on a weekly basis. They've got a really good looking roster, and it'll be interesting to see if some of these guys start getting better bookings because of it. First show? Bit of a mixed bag, but overall a promising first impression.

Rampage vs Adam Maxted vs Crater vs Sha Samuels vs Justin Sysum

First match to kick off a new generation of British wrestling on network TV, and it’s a poorly booked mess that doesn’t do justice to the talents of the wrestlers involved. First of all, it’s an elimination match with three cheap eliminations and then the end sees a screwy finish where the winner isn’t entirely clear. To a first time viewer, this would be a confusing, convoluted mess. The first elimination sees Crater disqualified for not breaking while choking Maxted on the ropes, and the second sees Sysum rolling up Samuels after Rampage, who had been teaming with Sha, accidentally hits him with a clothesline. The final elimination sees Maxted counted out, with Sysum being declared the winner after beating the count…even though it’s then pointed out that Rampage had beaten the count too. This was the first impression that a lot of viewers will have got for the modern UK scene, and it was too short to let anyone really shine. Sysum got the most shine, getting impressive height on some flying clotheslines and Stinger Splashes, though he nearly crashes and burns on a dive.

Will Ospreay vs British Bulldog Jr

This feels like it would have been a better choice of opener, it told a much simpler story and contained enough action to impress a new audience. They told a basic speed vs power story, before going for an ending run full of nearfalls. The spot where Bulldog tried to throw Ospreay out of the ring, only for Ospreay to springboard into the ropes and rebound with a kick looked great, and deserved the sometimes intrusive mid-match replays. Bulldog tried a little legwork, not extensive focus, but enough that whenever Ospreay landed on his feet, it slowed him enough to give Bulldog an opening. Both hit some big moves in the final minutes which looked like finishers, a midring Spanish Fly by Ospreay and a huge sitout powerbomb by Bulldog. In the end, a top rope powerslam gave Bulldog the win, and I bet more fans were talking about this afterwards than the opener.

Martin Kirby & Joe Hendry vs Iestyn Rees & Kip Sabian

This is an opening round match in the tag team tournament. Really like the team of Sabian and Rees, they complement each other well in the ring and had the look of a proper team. They also came out to the ring together, unlike their opponents, which made them feel more like a unit. Their double teams looked well rehearsed, loved Kip hitting a droptoehold on Hendry, then posing whilst holding him in place for a big Rees elbow. Hendry accidentally knocks Kirby off the apron at one point, preventing him from tagging out, and letting the heel team hit a string of moves on him. Kip misses a missile dropkick, to give Hendry the opening for the hot tag…only for Kirby to jump off the apron and walk out. Hendry is still given a little shine, hitting an impressive double fallaway slam, but the numbers add up, and a top rope neckbreaker/powerbomb give Rees and Sabian the win. Good solid stuff here.

Grado vs Rampage vs Justin Sysum

So after the clusterfuck that was the opener, we get a triple threat main event, based on the fact that Rampage didn’t actually get eliminated in the opener. This highlighted Rampage and Sysum far more than the opener. Liked Grado and Sysum, the faces, repeatedly throwing Rampage out so they could have a straight up match, and Grado hitting a cannonball from the apron was a neat highspot. There’s a little bit of comedy, with Grado side stepping and outsmarting Sysum, causing him to fall on his face, before Rampage hurls Grado around the ring. The bits with all three in look really good and well timed, with Grado hitting a Wee Boot on Sysum, who was about to hit a discus lariat, looking great. Sysum looks to have the match won with a 450 on Grado, but Rampage swiftly throws him from the ring and plants Grado with a DDT to win the WoS title. Makes sense to go forward with a heel champion at this point, and all three looked really good here. Given that Grado maybe works best as a special attraction, it may work best with Sysum chasing Rampage, but it opens up some interesting options either way.