For my birthday last year, my ex-housemate bought me tickets for this TNA tour. Despite not being a huge wrestling fan himself, he joined me for the show, which featured a steel cage match in the main event. Taking our seats, we settled in to enjoy the show...
Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez vs Bad Influence
Pretty solid choice for an opener. Chavo and Hernandez were pretty over in Nottingham, which surprised me as UK fans often seem to side with entertaining heels, which the Bad Influence boys certainly are. We kicked off with some comedy early on, as a mix-up led to Kazarian accidentally working over the arm of his tag partner on the apron, as well as a spot where Hernandez held Kazarian up for a vertical suplex, whilst his partner rammed Daniels' head into every corner of the ring, before Hernandez finished the move. Chavo eventually got isolated, and Bad Influence worked the crowd terrifically to build up to the hot tag. This was the best possible use of Hernandez, who looked like a tank in taking out Daniels and Kazarian. Eventually, Chavo hit a frog splash on Daniels for the win.
Marty Scurll vs Rockstar Spud
Two of the stars of British Bootcamp paired up here. Spud, despite being absolutely tiny, is great at projecting himself to a big crowd. The Rockstar gimmick has probably added years to his career, both by making him more interesting as a character, but also by limiting the insane stunts which he went for early on in his career (as my friend put it tonight, "Spud appears to have more poses than moves"). Which doesn't mean Spud wasn't impressive here, as he hit a swank tope and a nice Code Red that got a 2 on Scurll. Marty also looked great here, schooling Spud on the mat early doors and looking great in the process, as well as nailing the Rockstar with a perfect tornado DDT. Marty went for his backbreaker finisher a few times, but Spud slipped out and rolled Scurll up for three. Great showcase for both of them.
The Blossom Twins vs Tara & Gail Kim
I missed the last episode of British Bootcamp, so I'd never seen the Blossoms wrestle until tonight, and I was pretty impressed. They looked comfortable in the ring with two relative veterans, and you never got the impression they were being carried. The heel team were having some communication problems throughout, but managed to isolate Holly Blossom and worked her over. The Blossoms look too sweet to be wrestlers, so they were able to illicit sympathy pretty easily, and they achieved a decent pop for the hot tag. Kim managed to hit Eat Defeat on a Blossom, but was pulled off from making the cover by her own partner. Tara then tried to take control, but again the heel bickered. This allowed the Blossoms to switch places in the ring, and roll up an unsuspecting Tara for three. After the match, the heels attacked the Blossoms, but Velvet made the save, managing to have the worst looking offence of the match in her minute long save section. The Blossoms look like they'd be a good addition to the TNA roster.
Rob Van Dam vs Zema Ion
This was better than I was expecting. RVD seems to go through the motions a lot in TNA and, while he didn't set the world on fire here, at least he seemed to be having fun. Ion did a fair bit of schtick work early on, reapplying his hairspray after every RVD attack, until Van Dam stole it, spraying the head of a bald chap at ringside. The match was exactly what you'd expect, though Ion looked pretty good on offence here, with a sweet looking tornado DDT. RVD won a short match with the Five Star.
Magnus & James Storm vs Austin Aries & Bobby Roode
Apparently, the previous night had seen a triple threat match between Storm, Roode and Aries that Storm claimed had ended up more like a handicap match. To combat this, he brought out his tag partner Magnus, who got a huge reception. This match was really good, as you'd expect with workers of this standard, especially with Storm and Roode being so well versed as tag workers. Roode and Aries stooged nicely in the early going, allowing themselves to look foolish to show their opponents superiority. After working through the heat period, we ended up with all four guys in the ring. Aries tried to spit some beer in the face of Storm, but ended up getting Roode instead. Storm hit Roode with the superkick and Magnus followed that with a top rope elbow for three.
The main event was held in a steel cage, so Jeremy Borash had to work the crowd for the ten minutes that the cage was being assembled. All in all, he did a good job, though his attempts to find a Notts Forest fan in the crowd didn't go as well as he hoped. Still, he did a tricky task well.
Sting & Kurt Angle vs Devon & Doc
We actually ended up getting a handicap match for most of this, as Mike Knox attacked Angle before he got in the cage, leading to Sting having to take on both Aces & 8's members alone. The drama of the match came from this, as Angle made repeated attempts to get into the cage only for Knox to keep beating him down everytime he got close, whilst Sting took a battering in the ring. Eventually, Angle hit a low blow on Knox and was able to enter the cage, cleaning house in the process. However, as he had Doc in the ankle lock, a fourth Aces member came in and nailed him in the head with a hammer. Suprisingly, this didn't kill Kurt instantly, as he kicked out at two. A table got set up in the ring, which cued Bully Ray to come to the rescue. He joined up with Sting to hit a Wassup Drop on Doc, before Devon got double chokeslammed through the table for the winning three count.
All in all then, a pretty good night of entertainment. None of the matches were jaw-dropping, but none of them were less than decent either. All the wrestler seemed to be having fun, and the time seemed to fly by. Can't complain too much about that.
Showing posts with label Rockstar Spud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rockstar Spud. Show all posts
Sunday, 27 January 2013
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Southside Wrestling Speed King @ Rushcliffe Arena, Nottingham 22/04/12
Southside Wrestling is a fairly local promotion that seems to run a lot in the East Midlands/Cambridgeshire area, but I've never gotten round to going to one of their shows before. That is, until last Sunday when they ran a show 5 minutes from my house, a one-night tournament to crown the first Speed King champion. After enjoying last years Awesome Wrestling show at the same arena, I went along hoping it would be as good as that show had been. It ended up being far better...
Mark Haskins vs Ego Dragon
Haskins is billed as a TNA star, so it’s nice to see him making the most of his few TNA appearances. Ego Dragon wore a mask that looked near identical to Super Dragons. Haskins got the crowd into the match early, popping them with the Tiger Mask feint followed by a tope suicida. The crowd remained hot for the rest of the night, so that was a good idea. Dragon looked pretty good, but Haskins really impressed, showing some brute strength by picking Dragon up from the mat straight into a powerbomb. The end saw Haskins hit a top rope rana, but Dragon rolled through with it for the win
Max Angelus vs Danny Chase vs Bubblegum
Angelus and Chase are both local, whilst Bubblegum is a slightly bigger name on the circuit with a fun chav gimmick. Angelus impressed me a lot last June, and he was great here, he’s really got the look, talent and charisma to go places. Chase also seemed pretty good, being slighter but pretty crisp in the air. This was an elimination match and Max was first to go after Stixx came to ringside with a chair and, following a tussle between Max and Stixx, Chase accidentally got hit in the ribs, whilst Bubblegum fell to the floor to get Angelus DQ’d. This left Bubblegum with an injured Chase and, whilst he got a few comeback hope spots, Bubblegum picked up the win with a top rope stomp.
Marty Scurll vs Robbie X
Robbie reminded me of Lionel Messi – totally average looking with floppy hair who is actually able to do some incredible things. Some of the high-flying he did in this match was terrific, like hitting a flawless Code Red on Scurll. As well as being absolutely loaded with charisma, Scurll is bigger than Robbie, so used strikes to wear down the smaller man, including an insane lariat that turned X inside out. Scurll followed this with a torture rack into a backbreaker to pick up the win.
Rockstar Spud vs Noam Dar
My friends and I were huge Spud fans back in the day. Nowadays, he seems to do less high-flying (probably wise with his tiny frame) and instead used more character-based stuff to get over. His entrance, him standing on the ring apron, horns aloft, not moving to Living On A Prayer was great. Dar is also pretty small, but had a vicious selection of kicks, and really dished it out to Spud here. There was a nice little bit of storytelling where early in the match Spud hammered Dar against the ringpost, but when he tried again later on in the match, Dar moved which left Spud crotched on the post. Dar stomped on Spud’s leg from the top rope, then got the tapout via an ankle hook.
El Ligero vs Martin Kirby
This was also the opening match of the Awesome Wrestling show I watched in the same arena last year. However, whilst that was a fun opener, this far outshone it, being a tremendous wrestling match. Kirby especially has improved markedly in the last 10 months, during which he worked a match against Finlay that was supposed to be very good. He looked really crisp here, including a delayed suplex that he held for ages. You get the impression these two have worked together a number of times, as the chain wrestling section between the two was very well worked and there were a number of convincing false finishes before Ligero won with a backslide. Really good.
Pac vs Kris Travis
Pac is the big star of the show, and was noticeably much physically bigger than the other guys on the show. Travis attacked Pac pre-bell to start and, while this match started slow, it soon began to pick up pace. A standing shooting star by Pac woke up the crowd, before a twisting corkscrew moonsault to the floor which sent them into raptures. Travis held up his end of the match well, and looked comfortable against a guy who is an international star. In fact, this match was really even throughout, as Pac let Travis get in a load of offence, the highlight of which was a swank Northern Light suplex, which Travis rolled through with before kicking Pac in the head. Indeed, Travis picked up the clean win, as Pac hit knees on a shooting star press, before Travis nailed a double-underhook piledriver for the victory. Fine match, and a total star-making performace by Travis.
Shanna vs Holly Rocamora
Both girls were out there to represent all-female promotion Pro Wrestling: EVE. The match was pretty short and forgetable, but broke things up a little bit before the tournament final. Shanna was the more polished of the two and won quickly with a reverse DDT
Ego Dragon vs Bubblegum vs Marty Scurll vs Noam Dar vs El Ligero vs Kris Travis
This was an elimination match for the Speed King title. One of my favourite indy matches ever is a 6-man elimination from IWA-MS back in 2005, so I was very much looking forward to this. The match started with Bubblegum on the mic, demanding not to get hit in the face and threatening to blow El Ligero’s lucha gimmick. However, before he could do so, Ligero rolled him up for a flash elimination. Following a fun five man in-ring section, that saw the three faces suplexing Travis and Dragon together, the two masked men, Dragon and Ligero soon squared off and went through a strike exchange before Dragon decided to simply kick Ligero in the groin getting disqualified. This left the face/heel split very uneven, so Travis quickly pinned the downed Ligero. Travis, Scurll and Dar worked a fun triple threat sequence from this point, including a 3-way kick exchange that ended with all hitting simultaneous kicks to the head. Dar locked a leglock onto Travis, who tapped out quickly. This left Scurll and Dar, and the ending section for these two was really good, with some convincing strikes from both on the ring apron. Dar started to slightly heel it up, viciously working over Scurll’s leg for the leglock. He locked it in, but Scurll refused to tap. He started to pass out, but gots his arm up when the referee tested his arm for the third time. After a bit more action, Scurll managed to hit the backbreaker to pick up the win. Really fun main event, which managed to revive a crowd that had started to flag a little. Scurll put over Dar after the match and, considering Dar is only supposed to be 18, he looked like a major prospect. Satisfying end to a really good show.
Mark Haskins vs Ego Dragon
Haskins is billed as a TNA star, so it’s nice to see him making the most of his few TNA appearances. Ego Dragon wore a mask that looked near identical to Super Dragons. Haskins got the crowd into the match early, popping them with the Tiger Mask feint followed by a tope suicida. The crowd remained hot for the rest of the night, so that was a good idea. Dragon looked pretty good, but Haskins really impressed, showing some brute strength by picking Dragon up from the mat straight into a powerbomb. The end saw Haskins hit a top rope rana, but Dragon rolled through with it for the win
Max Angelus vs Danny Chase vs Bubblegum
Angelus and Chase are both local, whilst Bubblegum is a slightly bigger name on the circuit with a fun chav gimmick. Angelus impressed me a lot last June, and he was great here, he’s really got the look, talent and charisma to go places. Chase also seemed pretty good, being slighter but pretty crisp in the air. This was an elimination match and Max was first to go after Stixx came to ringside with a chair and, following a tussle between Max and Stixx, Chase accidentally got hit in the ribs, whilst Bubblegum fell to the floor to get Angelus DQ’d. This left Bubblegum with an injured Chase and, whilst he got a few comeback hope spots, Bubblegum picked up the win with a top rope stomp.
Marty Scurll vs Robbie X
Robbie reminded me of Lionel Messi – totally average looking with floppy hair who is actually able to do some incredible things. Some of the high-flying he did in this match was terrific, like hitting a flawless Code Red on Scurll. As well as being absolutely loaded with charisma, Scurll is bigger than Robbie, so used strikes to wear down the smaller man, including an insane lariat that turned X inside out. Scurll followed this with a torture rack into a backbreaker to pick up the win.
Rockstar Spud vs Noam Dar
My friends and I were huge Spud fans back in the day. Nowadays, he seems to do less high-flying (probably wise with his tiny frame) and instead used more character-based stuff to get over. His entrance, him standing on the ring apron, horns aloft, not moving to Living On A Prayer was great. Dar is also pretty small, but had a vicious selection of kicks, and really dished it out to Spud here. There was a nice little bit of storytelling where early in the match Spud hammered Dar against the ringpost, but when he tried again later on in the match, Dar moved which left Spud crotched on the post. Dar stomped on Spud’s leg from the top rope, then got the tapout via an ankle hook.
El Ligero vs Martin Kirby
This was also the opening match of the Awesome Wrestling show I watched in the same arena last year. However, whilst that was a fun opener, this far outshone it, being a tremendous wrestling match. Kirby especially has improved markedly in the last 10 months, during which he worked a match against Finlay that was supposed to be very good. He looked really crisp here, including a delayed suplex that he held for ages. You get the impression these two have worked together a number of times, as the chain wrestling section between the two was very well worked and there were a number of convincing false finishes before Ligero won with a backslide. Really good.
Pac vs Kris Travis
Pac is the big star of the show, and was noticeably much physically bigger than the other guys on the show. Travis attacked Pac pre-bell to start and, while this match started slow, it soon began to pick up pace. A standing shooting star by Pac woke up the crowd, before a twisting corkscrew moonsault to the floor which sent them into raptures. Travis held up his end of the match well, and looked comfortable against a guy who is an international star. In fact, this match was really even throughout, as Pac let Travis get in a load of offence, the highlight of which was a swank Northern Light suplex, which Travis rolled through with before kicking Pac in the head. Indeed, Travis picked up the clean win, as Pac hit knees on a shooting star press, before Travis nailed a double-underhook piledriver for the victory. Fine match, and a total star-making performace by Travis.
Shanna vs Holly Rocamora
Both girls were out there to represent all-female promotion Pro Wrestling: EVE. The match was pretty short and forgetable, but broke things up a little bit before the tournament final. Shanna was the more polished of the two and won quickly with a reverse DDT
Ego Dragon vs Bubblegum vs Marty Scurll vs Noam Dar vs El Ligero vs Kris Travis
This was an elimination match for the Speed King title. One of my favourite indy matches ever is a 6-man elimination from IWA-MS back in 2005, so I was very much looking forward to this. The match started with Bubblegum on the mic, demanding not to get hit in the face and threatening to blow El Ligero’s lucha gimmick. However, before he could do so, Ligero rolled him up for a flash elimination. Following a fun five man in-ring section, that saw the three faces suplexing Travis and Dragon together, the two masked men, Dragon and Ligero soon squared off and went through a strike exchange before Dragon decided to simply kick Ligero in the groin getting disqualified. This left the face/heel split very uneven, so Travis quickly pinned the downed Ligero. Travis, Scurll and Dar worked a fun triple threat sequence from this point, including a 3-way kick exchange that ended with all hitting simultaneous kicks to the head. Dar locked a leglock onto Travis, who tapped out quickly. This left Scurll and Dar, and the ending section for these two was really good, with some convincing strikes from both on the ring apron. Dar started to slightly heel it up, viciously working over Scurll’s leg for the leglock. He locked it in, but Scurll refused to tap. He started to pass out, but gots his arm up when the referee tested his arm for the third time. After a bit more action, Scurll managed to hit the backbreaker to pick up the win. Really fun main event, which managed to revive a crowd that had started to flag a little. Scurll put over Dar after the match and, considering Dar is only supposed to be 18, he looked like a major prospect. Satisfying end to a really good show.
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