PCW PowerBombShells 2017

Rhio vs Sierra Loxton

Both ladies are pretty young, but you can tell that Loxton is a bit more polished at this point. She’s got a bit more aggression about her offence, putting real force behind her forearms and looking comfortable working Rhio over on the mat. Her hip attacks in the corner look nasty and there’s real snap on her German suplex. Rhio’s offence is a bit softer, but she does take a nice looking bump from a DDT. Sadly, she ends up winning with the worst looking move of the match, some sort of Sister Abigail/Flatliner that doesn’t hit well, but both showed their promise.

Molly Spartan vs Jokey vs Jennie B

Fun triple threat with a mixed cast of characters. Spartan is the largest of the ladies and plays brickwall really well, letting the other two bounce off her. It takes Jokey and Jennie B teaming up to down her. Really liked the bulldog Jokey hit on a weakened Spartan, really drove her face into the mat. I was less of a fan of Spartan selling a Jennie B bronco buster with some disgusted retching, felt a bit of a cheap joke. Spartan gets to hit a lovely looking powerbomb, but Jennie B, who is in the match the least, ends up getting the pin, covering both women.

Jayde vs Lady Chardonnay Darcy

I was more familiar with both of these guys, though I hadn’t seen Darcy since she appeared in HOPE in her “chav” guise as simply Chardonnay. She looks in slightly better shape her, a bit stronger and more athletic. Jayde I saw have a decent enough match with Angelina Love, also in HOPE, but she’s very much the rookie here. They work a fun wristlock sequence to start, both girls looking comfortable with Jayde holding her own. Really liked Jayde breaking a run of Darcy control with a vicious headbutt. Some of her other offence looks a little hesitant, but she carries her weight in this match, and her back suplex looks terrific. Darcy is really smooth here, there’s that certain sheen of competence and professionalism some wrestlers have where you know you’re in good hands, and Darcy definitely has that here. A chokebomb sees Darcy pick up the win.

Jayla Dark vs Sadie Gibbs

Another good match, again pairing a more experienced pro with a relative rookie. Gibbs has a great look, seems to be a natural athlete, but has a few moments where her inexperience tells and Dark gets it back on track. Gibbs has a lovely looking standing moonsault early on, before Dark rolls out to sit on the apron. This seems to be to lure Gibbs in, as Dark drops her over the top rope when she reaches for her. Dark catches a charging Gibbs with a really perfectly timed kick, and it’s this kind of experienced sheen that helps keep the match together. Gibbs does have a habit of posing too much at times that don’t fit the move that’s just taken place, but the basics are there. Dark gets the win with a vicious looking Rocker Dropper.

Session Moth Martina vs Nadia Sapphire

This was a comedy match, but a fun one that broke the card up nicely. These feel like two characters who clash nicely for comic effect, with Sapphire’s high-maintenance egotist schtick working against the Moth’s chain-smoking, heavy-drinking antics. The few bits of actual wrestling here were really good. Sapphire laying out Martina in the ropes to hit a running hip attack was nice. Martina picked up the win with a codebreaker, this did what it needed to do.

Kasey Owens vs Jennie B

Owens was supposed to face Lucy Cole here, but an injury means she’s issuing an open challenge here. This really explains why Jennie didn’t do too much in the earlier triple threat. This was more of a showcase for Jennie, she got in a fair bit of offence and moved with more urgency. Her pump kick on the apron looked really good, aided by some decent selling by Owens. There is one botched DDT, but on the whole this was solid stuff. Owens hits a series of nasty looking running knees. Owens picks up the win with a kick to the jaw, but Jennie got more out of this match than the match she actually won.

Nightshade vs Lauren

This is falls count anywhere. I thought Nightshade was tremendous in this match, she seems pretty vicious and, being larger than Lauren, she makes sure to work the match that way. Her strikes look great and she hits a Michinoku Driver that had real snap. Lauren has some good points and some bad. Her offence doesn’t look like it should hurt Nightshade. Her Drive-By kick barely connects, with the same being true of her flipping elbow. Her strengths seem to be in her agility, as she moves really confidently and bumps like a maniac. Nightshade just hurls her through some chairs. Nightshade keeps overwhelming her, hitting a giant forearm and this massive German suplex. Another huge bump as Nightshade catches a crossbody to the floor and hits a fallaway slam through some more chairs. Back inside, a big kick gets the win for Nightshade. Really left me wanting to see more of Nightshade.

VII: Fight Forever (16/09/2016)

So, there I was browsing through YouTube, when this little beauty popped up on my recommend section. VII Wrestling carried on the good work of the Shropshire Wrestling Alliance (whose Summer Blowout 2014 I reviewed last year on this very blog), before announcing they'd folded just over a month ago. Obviously, a big shame, especially as their YouTube channel looks to have a host of great matches which I'm looking forward to ploughing through in the coming weeks. This is a full show, with a loaded line-up, and it's an actual treat to watch all the way through. Check out the link at the bottom for the full show.

Wild Boar vs Travis Banks

I’ve heard a lot about Banks, but this was the first I’ve seen of him in ring. Enjoyed what I saw, loved the quick flurry of blows he hit to take advantage early on, dug him taking Boar on a tour of the ring by rolling him around in a bodyscissors to disorientate (with amusing dizzy selling by Boar) and a rolling corner kick looked great. For his part, Boar was reliably good. He’s not the biggest, but his offence always looks like it would hurt. Big forearm shots, nice running slam and a wicked exploder suplex (Boar’s lack of height and stocky frame allows him to get right under his opponent, makes suplexes look really good). The finish was kind of blown, with Banks slipping on the rope for a springboard kick, but this was a good opener.

Chris Brookes vs Drew Parker

Brookes is defending his Young Lions title here. Bell rings, and Brookes’s CCK partner Kid Lykos immediately levels Parker with a weapon for the DQ. Chris Ridgeway makes the save, leading to…

Chris Ridgeway & Drew Parker vs CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos)

Parker immediately kicks off the match, following the Ridgeway tag challenge, by hitting a big flip dive on CCK. I’d not seen Ridgeway until he suddenly hit a few local shows last month, and he was really impressive (as well as his ring music helping me get into Slaves). Was interested to see him work face here, and he looked great, really nice on-point strikes. Parker plays FIP early, which makes sense as he was taken out with a weapon in the original match. Nice teamwork by CCK to get to that point, a Lykos flyingheadscissors landing Parker on the middle rope for a Brookes kick to the temple. Brookes looked fantastic here, all his little bits of offence looked nasty. He drops really sharp kneedrops and did some nasty joint wrenching to the downed Parker. After Ridgeway becomes FIP following an outside trip, Brookes hits these painful looking kidney punches in the corner. Parker is a guy I’d never seen, but his hot tag work was great, firing up the crowd with a springboard dropkick to Lykos and hitting a backwards flip to the outside on Brookes. In fact, this is a really great match, until Lykos brings in his weapon to draw another DQ. Felt like a bit of an anti-climax, stick a finish on this and it’s a great match.

Chuck Mambo vs Isaac Zercher

Zercher attacks Mambo at the bell and doesn’t really look back, flinging his opponent into the corner. He also hits a great capture suplex and a snap Samoan drop, which both look brutal. Mambo’s offence doesn’t look as good, but he’s a really sympathetic seller and his timing on a hope spot superkick is perfect, getting a really effective nearfall. Zercher tries for a second Samoan drop, but gets caught in a Mambo crucifix for the win.

Nixon Newell & Dahlia Black vs Jinny & Sierra Loxton

Interesting contrast, as the opening Nixon/Loxton segment sees them take it to the mat, whereas Black and Jinny go straight to the impact blows as soon as they tag in. Jinny is really good here, manages to get across a really nasty character, but also having the ring chops to back it up. Her catching a boot from Black, swinging it backwards and driving a knee into Black’s face in one swift motion looked vicious. I’d only previously seen Black at the BEW/Stardom show in London, where her and Toni Storm basically got destroyed by Alpha Female and Kairi Hojo for 10 minutes, so I knew she could take an effective beating, and she does the same here, with great rubber-legged selling. A Loxton headbutt looks really nasty the way Black sells it. Newell gets the hot tag, making her entrance with a great missile dropkick, before everything breaks down. Nice to see Black give Jinny a receipt for her beating with a stiff kick before Nixon Rolls The Dice on Loxton to win.

Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate

Two long-time favourites here, with Pete defending his heavyweight title against Bate. Dunne’s transformation over the past 12 months has been a revelation, he’s rightly become one of the leading lights in the UK. This match is worked very evenly, with the two almost being portrayed as mirror images of the other. The opening matwork sets the tone, both guys really selling the struggle and working the holds, forcing the other to thing practically about escaping. Bate’s fighting spirit really comes across here, as even when on the mat he finds time to blast Pete in the legs with a few big kicks. They exchange suplexes, in a state of one-upsmanship and showing off, and I love how, even though they both get up after the moves, it takes a bit longer each time, both guys showing the effects. The same happens later as both are worn down, but both try and counter German suplexes, the suplexer holding on partly to hit another and partly to prevent his opponent getting up before them. Bate hits a vicious looking thrust headbutt to send Pete out of the ring to give a moral victory. Loved Pete taking the low road in what had been an even contest by choking Tyler with a towel, and the pair of pump kicks to a kneeling Bate looked on-point. Bate shows his superhuman strength with a Backlund lift to escape a triangle, before Pete rolls him up for two. 15 minutes in, and I hadn’t realised there had been no pin attempt to that point. Bate gives a big airplace spin, but this allows Dunne to quickly roll him up again, this time with feet on the ropes for the win. Excellent match.