Full Force Wrestling - Live In Kenilworth 25/05/2018

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.

WWF Maple Leaf Gardens 02/10/1984

Greg Valentine vs SD Jones

This is for Valentine’s IC title, a belt you’d really have to suspend your belief to imagine SD winning. This is pretty slow in places, but I kinda dug it. Valentine adds a bit of flavour to the match, faking off from a Jones attack, getting his boot caught when trying a kick then getting spun into an atomic drop that he sells with a comical sell. He misses an elbow, and Jones wisely starts working over this arm as his focal point. In turn, Valentine focuses his attack on SD’s legs in preparation for the figure four. However, Jones grabs a big old handful of tights to stop him locking the hold in. They fight on the floor, but Valentine gets in first due to Jones being slowed by his hurt leg, and Valentine is able to hit a back suplex for the win.

Nikolai Volkoff vs Rocky Johnson

This was much less interesting. I liked Volkoff repeatedly teasing to the audience behind the refs back that he just might have a foreign object in his tights, drawing decent heat, especially as it never actually plays into the ending of the match. Volkoff’s actual offence is sloppy here though, missing a kneedrop awkwardly and hitting really weak boots to the gut. Johnson is nicely fired up, really liked him peppering Volkoff with a few shots, which Volkoff counters with a wild swing that misses. Nikolai controls a bulk of this match, but Johnson makes a comeback, only for Volkoff to use this momentum against him and drop him throat-first on the ropes for the win.

Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid vs Goldie Rogers & Bobby Bass

The future British Bulldogs aren’t billed as such here. However, this feels like a great showcase for them. They spend the majority of the match outsmarting and outpacing the heels, who stooge about for them wonderfully. The heels even work a fun sequence of spots where the one on the apron won’t tag in for fear of taking some of the Bulldogs’s offence. This must have looked so ahead of it’s time, as the Bulldogs are an offensive dynamo. There’s a slight bit of heel heat as Davey Boy gets worked on the mat, but by the end DBS is able to plant Bass with a tombstone and hoist an onrushing Rogers onto his shoulder, allowing Dynamite to leap onto Rodgers as a launchpad to hit a diving headbutt for the win.

Andre the Giant vs Kamala

I realised as they approached a steel cage on that familiar rampway, that I’ve already reviewed this match for the WWE’s True Giants set. Didn’t like it then, still found it dull here. Andre attacks at the bell to at least start this with some fire, and Kamala at plays the character well by acting like a scared caged animal, but nothing really happens. Andre hits some big chops, but a lot of this is just Kamala trying for the door and Andre grabbing his leg. For nearly twenty minutes. By the time Andre finishes Kamala with a pair of buttsplashes, I was desperate for it to finish. Not a good match.

OZ Academy - Connect To The Future 02/12/2018

Ayame Sasamura vs Maya Yukihi

Clipped match, with Yukihi looking really good. Really liked her rolling through into a headscissors and using an actual whip to hit Sasamura in the corner, which looked nasty. Yukihi halts a comeback by hiding behind the ref and sneakily gets a roll up for two. Yukihi hits a roundhouse kick to the head for three.

Misaki Ohata & Natsumi Maki vs Tsubasa Kuragaki & Yumiko Hotta

Kuragaki and Hotta have a reasonable size advantage, so Ohata and Maki decide to attack at the bell, culminating with Maki hitting a big crossbody to the floor. They try to keep up the speed advantage before a Maki top rope splash on Kuragaki hits feet. Love Hotta showing off a bit of raw power, hoisting the other two to the top rope and locking in a double torture match. Kuragaki picks up the win with a cross-arm powerbomb on Maki. This is again clipped, but seemed good.

Aja Kong vs Sakura Hirota

This is basically all comedy, with Hirota starting off by giving Kong a present of a signed photo. Hirota kisses Kong and for some reason dances with a bin on her head. Kong hits a backfist and gets the three.

Mission K4 (AKINO & Sonoko Kato) & Ryo Mizunami vs Ozaki-Gun (Mayumi Ozaki, Saori Anou & Yumi Ohka)

The first full match on the show, and this is really good. Ozaki-Gun have a male guard at ringside, and he attacks Mizunami before her partners get to the ring. This kicks off a big arena-wide brawl. There’s a lot of momentum swings in the match, with neither side really getting a sustained advantage. Nice spot with AKINO going to the top, getting the ropes shaken by the bodyguard and Anou getting to hit a really nice top rope rana. Anou tries a backslide on Mizunami, rolling over into a cradle, which looked really good. There’s a longish sequence of no-selling between Ohka and Mizunami which is a bit off, but there’s a lot of action crammed into this. Kato looks to have this won with a sort-of musclebuster piledriver, but the bodyguard breaks the count. Obviously there are no disqualifications as not only does the bout continue, but we get some whips involved as weapons. Kato looks to gain an advantage by using Ozaki as a shield from the whips, but all three members of Ozaki-Gun mist their opponents, and Ozaki hits a big kick on Kato for the win.

Beast Friend (Hiroyo Matsumoto & Kaori Yoneyama) vs Borderless (Rina Yamashita & Yoshiko)

This is for the tag titles, held by Yamashita and Yoshiko. Really fun dynamic between Matsumoto and Yoneyama, with Matsumoto seemingly keen to use her partner as a weapon. In the early stages, Yoneyama seems pretty resistant to Matsumoto’s idea of using her as a missile to drop onto their opponents at ringside. Shortly after, she tries a crossbody to the floor and accidently only takes out her partner. This leaves her isolated, and Yamashita and Yoshiko take full advantage. Big double facewash in the corner, then Yoshiko downs her with a big flurry of blows capped off with a massive senton. Loved the spot with Yamashita spinning Yoneyama with a giant swing, with Yoshiko skipping over her, then deciding to hit a big stomp on the third rotation. This especially works because Yoneyama is a very sympathetic character. Eventually she gets a springboard armdrag to take both out and makes the hot tag. Matsumoto runs riot, and I loved her stacking the two opponents in the corner, with Yamashita placed horizontally between the ropes to lock Yoshiko in place. Things break down with all four involved, and Yoshiko takes a looooong run up to hit a senton on both opponents on the floor, with Yamashita holding them in place until the last second. There’s a really neat twist on the tower of doom spot, as Yoneyama is struggling to hit a superplex on Yoshiko until Matsumoto helps by powerbombing her down, bringing Yoshiko with her. Yoneyama returns the favour, powerbombing Matsumoto onto Yamashita, and the match finishes with Matsumoto clotheslining her partner into a Code Red for the titles. Really great stuff.

Hikaru Shida vs Kakeru Sekiguchi

Shida is the champion, and a bit taller than Sekiguchi, and so Sekiguchi is portrayed as the underdog. However, this is done by Shida no-selling most of her offence, shaking off a series of dropkicks and not reacting to her forearms. It’s strange, because Shida isn’t THAT much bigger than Sekiguchi, certainly not big enough to no-sell dropkicks. Shida controls the match, working Sekiguchi on the mat and dominating when both are on their feet. Shida works over the back, hitting a pair of big backbreakers and sinking in a deep Boston Crab. Sekiguchi manages to hit a crossbody and begins to build some momentum. Two missile dropkicks stagger Shida, meaning some running dropkicks are now able to down her. However, a big knee to the face from Shida puts her down for nearly a 10 count. Shida starts taking her lightly, hitting some patronising slaps, only for Sekiguchi to down her with an armbar. She maintains this arm focus, smashing it around the ringpost. I liked Sekiguchi trying for pinfalls and grabbing the arm every time Shida lifting a shoulder to break the fall. Sekiguchi keeps going for pins, but one more big knee to the face takes her last bit of fight away, and a Falcon Arrow gives Shida the win. This was neat, told a fun story and, though the execution was a bit odd, this was largely enjoyable.

WWE Main Event 09/09/2014

Jack Swagger vs Seth Rollins

Liked the opening stages of this, with Swagger overpowering Rollins, sending him from the ring with a shoulderblock and slamming him into the barricades. Rollins takes over, including an odd spot where Swagger was perfectly in place for a curb stomp, but Rollins opted to dropkick him in the face instead. We get a decent spot where Swagger tries breaking a chinlock by twice ramming Rollins backwards into the corner, only for Rollins to side step the third attempt, sending Swagger crashing into the turnbuckle. The Rollins control is pretty uninspiring, but things pick up with Swagger back in control – nice big boot to the face and a huge overhead slam. Liked Swagger countering an enzuigiri by catching it into the Patriot Lock, but Rollins blocks a superplex by hitting a diving knee from the top and hits the curb stomp to win. Pretty impressive Swagger performance, he looked good in there.

Cesaro vs Zack Ryder

Short, but decent match. Ryder hurts his leg early, so Cesaro focuses his early offence on the knee, slamming it into the concrete floor and working a kneebar in the ring. Cesaro misses a corner dropkick and hits the post instead, which not only looks nasty, but also puts him in place for the Broski Boot in the corner. Ryder does a good job balancing selling the leg and trying to hit some big offence, tilting his dive slightly on a pescado so as not to land as heavily on the leg. However, inside he leaps into a Cesaro swing and an inverted cloverleaf causes Ryder to tap. Really good stuff from both guys.

Titus O’Neill vs Adam Rose

This is a waste of time really, and a waste of Titus. Titus looks really good here, nice big boot and a decent dropdown  backbreaker, but then Rose’s bunny comes down, distracts Titus by bouncing on the ropes, beats up Heath Slater and Rose gets the pin by ramming O’Neill into Slater during an O’Connor roll. Only goes two minutes, hard to find Rose and the bunny at all likable.

Los Matadores vs The Ascension

The Ascension are still NXT tag champs here, and it’s odd to hear them talked about as so dominant when they’re barely a factor 5 years later. I like Los Matadores a lot, but this is mainly them selling for the Ascension, and it’s not very exciting. The Ascension cut off the ring on Fernando, and I liked the crossarm clothesline they hit on him, but that’s it. Diego at least looks good on the hot tag (that the crowd barely react to), hitting a clothesline with more meat than anything the Ascension hit, before missing a top rope dive and getting finished off with the Fall of Man. The least exciting Matadores match on 2014 Main Event, and I guess that shows why the Ascension fell by the wayside – if you’re having less interesting matches with a team than Slater Gator are, you probably aren’t deserving of a decent push.

WWE NXT Takeover: Phoenix

The War Raiders vs Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong

Loved the big elaborate Viking introduction for the Raiders. This was a really neat opener, the two teams really worked well opposite each other. The Raiders were allowed to look monstrous, often no-selling the Undisputed Era’s offence, but only when it was suitable to do so. They picked the right moments to sell and look vulnerable, and it really helped the believability of the match. The Era were very smart on offence, distracting the Raiders from the apron to gain control and working lots of quick double teams when they had the advantage. Lots of fun spots in this – Rowe slams Hanson onto the Era from the ring apron, and Hanson later takes another big spill to the floor, this time trying big dive with no-one present which causes him to land with a huge splat. The UE work a nice heat section on Rowe after this, as he’s isolated without his partner, and they continue to keep Hanson at bay with a big Strong dropkick on the floor. When Hanson does get in, he’s insanely fun as a hot tag, a big unit in motion. He finds interesting ways to hurl his mass at his opponents. Hanson survives the High-Low and avoids a second with an unlikely cartwheel. The Raiders hit the Viking Fallout to win. Great stuff.

Matt Riddle vs Kassius Ohno

Thought this was excellent stuff. Ohno has a poor win/loss record at the moment in NXT, but he was made to look like a beast here. His stomp to the face of a downed Riddle was a thing of violent beauty. Ohno gets a few nearfalls early, including a neat back elbow to the face. I also loved him breaking a German suplex attempt by stomping the bare feet of Riddle. Ohno also goes for some full bodied offence, putting his weight into a moonsault and a full-on senton. This weight makes it more impressive when Riddle hits a big delayed German suplex, just holding Ohno in the air before slamming him down. The end is pretty neat too, as Ohno decides he’s in over his head and tries for a fistbump from Riddle. Instead, Riddle is incensed, dumping Ohno on his head with a sleeper suplex, before reigning down a flurry of big shots for the tapout.

Ricochet vs Johnny Gargano

There were bits of this I liked and plenty that I didn’t. It was neat to see Gargano ramping up the aggression here, like slipping out of the corner and sending Ricochet face first into the corner, which kickstarted the match after a rather nothingy start. Ricochet countered some of Gargano’s signature offence in interesting ways, sidestepping the slingshot spear to hit a standing moonsault to the back, and catching Gargano on the slingshot DDT attempt and hurling him to the floor. However, the bad bits were really terrible. Ricochet landing on his feet from a top rope rana and looking back smugly at Gargano was physically impressive, but played up stupidly. Gargano eating a reverse rana on the floor, followed by a 450 splash in the ring should have been the finish, kicking out at two is just ridiculous. At least the end was decisive, with Gargano hitting a suplex on the concrete floor, followed by finally hitting the slingshot DDT for the win. Not really my cup of tea.

Shayna Baszler vs Bianca Belair

This, on the other hand, was very much my cup of tea. Just smartly worked, with everything making sense. It starts with Belair downing Baszler with shoulderblocks, highlighting her power advantage, but Baszler very quickly uses her smarts to take over, yanking Belair into the ring post by her hair. This gives Bianca an injured shoulder, and Baszler is like a shark smelling blood. Some nasty limbwork follows, with Baszler torqueing the arm in interesting ways. Belair’s selling is excellent, wincing after hitting a spear and rolling into a cover on her back so she can hook a leg with the good arm. Loved how Belair used her unique weapon of her hair to launch a comeback, slicing Baszler open with a hair whip. We get a ref bump to give Belair the visual pin after the KOD, and some horsewomen interference which she avoids, before her 450 splash attempt sees her caught in the Kirafuda Clutch. Loved Belair powering to her feet, almost breaking the hold before her body fails her and she passes out. Really good match.

Tommaso Ciampa vs Aleister Black

This is one of those matches that is absolutely fine in a vacuum, but suffers from the fact that no-one really believed that Black would win. This can be overcome with the right layout – the Velveteen Dream match had me on the edge of my seat, convinced Dream would win – but here Black spends a good chunk of the bout on the defensive after Ciampa attacks his knee and it never feels like he’s going to win. The offence on the knee was nicely done by Ciampa, really liked the suplex on the floor that sends Black’s legs into the ring steps. There were just nice little touches like Ciampa hanging Black in a tree of woe from the bad leg before pounding him in the corner. Black sells the leg pretty well too, allowing himself the odd flurry of offence, but finding himself contained by what the leg would let him do. Liked the smarts of Ciampa when he gets hit with Black Mass, tumbling to the floor, but just about rolling over onto his stomach to avoid being pinned. As I said, the work is good, but this feels like a match you have on TV to try and build up the show. No drama. The end sees Black trying another Black Mass, but hurting his knee again, leaving him prime for the Fairytale Ending from Ciampa. Overall, this was good enough.

ECW Hardcore TV #37 21/12/1993

Tommy Dreamer vs Shane Douglas

This is set up by Dreamer calling Douglas out for costing him the tag titles, but by the time we join the match Douglas is already in control following a neckbreaker. This is still a good match though, logically worked and with a neat ending. Dreamer has a taped up torso, and Douglas targets it nicely. He rams Dreamer into the apron back first, hits a nice stomach buster and locks in a bodyscissors on the mat. All targeted on Dreamer’s injury. Dreamer makes a comeback by throwing Douglas to the floor and hits a few big shots to turn the tide – Douglas gets thrown over a table and takes a big chairshot. Dreamer manages to knock the ref down with a slam, leading to a gloriously shitbird bit of cheating from Douglas. He levels Dreamer with a loaded punch, a chain wrapped round his fist, then wraps the chain around the unconscious Dreamer’s fist, before falling to the mat. This leads to the ref coming round and DQing Dreamer, Douglas walking to the back cackling.

Tazmaniac & Kevin Sullivan vs Mike V & Mike Norman

Just a demolition of a squash. V is sent to the floor right away, and Sullivan liquidates Norman’s insides with a big stomp. Sullivan’s running knee with Norman in a tree of woe looks nasty. Norman is just getting ruined in the corner, and V throws in the towel from ringside to save his partner. Rarely seen, but a nice touch.

IWA Mid-South Crowning of a Champion 1997

War Machine #1 vs Tower of Doom

Tower of Doom is a big lad, but he’s managed to dress in a way that makes him look totally unthreatening, with a big baggy black t-shirt and shorts. Everything feels like it’s at 2/3 speed, with strikes being thrown slowly. War Machine barely gets ToD up on a back suplex before hitting the worst side Russian legsweep I’ve ever seen. ToD at least has a nice elbow drop, full weight. ToD gets the win after War Machine helpfully jumps into a sky high powerbomb.

Kip Morris vs Mike Simpleton

Simpleton is a fat guy in a black t-shirt and a generic mask. Morris amusingly has “Winner” and “I’m Winning” emblazoned on his tights. This is utterly shit though. Morris controls with some plodding generic offence, apart from the amusing moment he suplexes Simpleton, who lands on top of him. Simpleton is really bad, he can’t even get thrown from the ring without getting embarrassingly caught up in the ropes. A side slam looks terrible as Simpleton basically slips from Morris’s grasp. In the end, Simpleton misses a corner splash, gets tripped and Morris gets the win. So bad.

War Machine #2 vs Chris Kidd

This was better. Not perfect, as War Machine really struggled to get Kidd over for a suplex, but some of Kidd’s offence looked decent. Nice leaping clothesline, good spinebuster, perfectly decent execution. War Machine BARELY gets Kidd up for a powerbomb that looked really dangerous, but gets distracted by #1 at ringside, and Kidd rolls him up for three.

Mad Man Pondo vs Ox Harley

Hark at young Pondo coming out with long hair and a Superman shirt, looks very different to the man he’d later become. There’s lots of mic work to start this, and the sound quality isn’t great. Pondo kicks us off with some really shitty armdrags. Harley looks better, nice kicks to the face and a decent clothesline. Pondo does some token legwork but eats a DDT on the floor and a Harley moonsault wins it. Nothing much to this.

Ian Rotten vs Tarek the Great

This is a big step up in match quality. They both look super comfortable working the mat, with the strange image of a fat scarred-up hillbilly and a skinny, balding man going through really neat exchanges on a tatty piece of shit mat. They up the tempo, with Rotten hitting a neat Full Nelson suplex and a really nice top rope rana by Tarek. Tarek does a few moves you really wouldn’t expect, a top rope twisting corkscrew and a nice moonsault press both get two. However, he ducks his head and Rotten hits a huge implant DDT for the win. This was really neat.

Bull Pain vs Justin St John

This was also fun, though Pain never really looked like losing. Pain just beats St John down, but St John does look capable, getting a few nice takedowns. Pain hits a DDT that looks great and, after St John hits a shitty leaping elbow into the corner, Pain swiftly puts him away with a neckbreaker and a top rope splash. Short but effective.

Kip Morris vs Tower of Doom

Into the second round now. ToD looks better in this match, hitting a nice running clothesline and a big legdrop. However, he’s got really lazy covers, barely leaning on top of Morris. Morris takes control on the floor, ramming Doom into the ringpost, hitting his head on the floor and nailing a nice short elbow to the head. ToD is soon bleeding, but hits a killer piledriver that really should have been the finish. ToD sells being too exhausted to cover, so at least there was no kickout. Like in the opener, ToD gets the win after his opponent helpfully leaps into a sit out powerbomb.

Ox Harley vs Chris Kidd

Another very short match, Harley mainly hits punches to control, with a chop to the face looking hilariously nasty. Kidd’s offence is pretty generic, but he too throws some nice punches, so this is at least watchable. Kidd hits a powerslam but misses a moonsault, allowing Harley to hit a reverse DDT and hit a moonsault for the win.

Ian Rotten vs Bull Pain

This starts off awesomely, as Pain throws Rotten to the floor and hits an insane suicide dive for the win. He follows this with a pedigree on the concrete, and I’m totally into this already. But then, we get disaster. The ringside camera seemingly stops working, leaving us with just the hard-cam, and at one point a member of production crew stands in front of it for at least a minute. They’re brawling in the crowd, and it’s impossible to see what’s going on. Ian hits a cannonball from the apron which looks great. We miss more floor brawling, before Pain gets him back in and hits a top rope splash for two. Ian hits his DDT, but is unable to cover and eats an RKO for the Pain victory. I really wish we’d been able to see all this, was hard to really enjoy.

Tower of Doom vs Bull Pain vs Ox Harley

Triple threat elimination for the title here. I liked how there was a constantly switching series of allegiances, with one person getting double teamed at all times. There’s a lovely big double chokeslam on ToD early doors, and we get a few nice spots. Really like Pain and ToD teaming to hit a Hart Attack into a sitout powerbomb, which eliminates Harley. It gets a bit dull from that point, felt like just two guys exchanging moves having used up their inspiration in the previous bouts. ToD hits two powerbombs without going for covers, and some Ian Rotten interference allows him to hit a big legdrop on Pain for the win. Really felt like everyone going through the motion.