WWE Monday Night RAW #1437 Review - McIntyre & Sheamus vs. Styles, Miz & Morrison

 
 

This week’s RAW had an interesting card on paper. The on-going issues between WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and Sheamus were highlighted as the pair tagged up to take on McIntyre’s TLC opponent AJ Styles, Mr. Money in the Bank The Miz and John Morrison in a three-on-two handicap match, Randy Orton went one on one with Bray Wyatt in a rematch from their dreadful WrestleMania 33 bout and Asuka and Shayna Baszler squared off for a mouth-watering first time ever match-up. Plus, Kofi Kingston vs. Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley vs. Jeff Hardy and Ricochet & Dana Brooke vs. SLAPJACK & RECKONING in a mixed tag team match.

It was the last show of WWE’s residency at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, so the ‘E were gonna pull out all the stops, right?

Three-on-Two Handicap Match: AJ Styles, Mr. Money in the Bank The Miz & John Morrison def. WWE Champion Drew McInytre & Sheamus

The main story this week centered around the issues between Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, AJ Styles, The Miz and John Morrison. Aside from a Styles promo on Miz TV, you’d be hard pressed to work out what the WWE title match at TLC was, as the problems between the two weren’t as well-defined as what we saw between McIntyre and Sheamus or even the Celtic Connection and Miz & Morrison.

Beginning with Miz TV (not sure why WWE have dropped the Dirt Sheet or why Morrison has essentially become Miz's caddy), we got a quick interview with AJ Styles. The interview was mostly generic TLC based threats, before Sheamus interrupted, followed by his pal and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. Whilst Sheamus looks absolutely hilarious at the moment (something he’d make a nod to on RAW Talk later in the night), McIntyre was on good form ripping apart Miz and Morrison for a perceived lack of balls, including a mildly amusing line about Miz borrowing Morrison’s because Miz’s wife Maryse kept them in her purse. In someone else’s hands this probably would’ve come across as pretty lame (like Miz and Morrison’s Scottish and Irish accents earlier on) but McIntyre has a knack of taking sloppy scripts and making it sound cool. McIntyre & Sheamus brawled with Miz & Morrison to close the segment, whilst Styles and his bodyguard, Omos, hung around the outside. Of course, the fact that Styles didn’t help out would get absolutely no reference later on. A clip of McIntyre launching Miz’s Money in the Bank briefcase from the ring to the top of the entrance ramp would be replayed multiple times throughout the show.

The match was fairly standard stuff with Styles only wanting to tag in when McIntyre had been subdued. This was watchable for the most part with solid action, but not a whole lot to talk about until the finish. Actually, that’s a little bit unfair on John Morrison who pulled out some creative offence on a handful of occasions, whilst also taking a major bump off a double fallaway slam from Sheamus & McIntyre, with the Shaman of Sexy getting launched over the announce table. Outside of that you had Sheamus as the Celtic Warrior in peril with Miz and Morrison doing some good heel work, before a hot tag from McIntyre. The pace of the finish was very good however lifting the whole match as Sheamus cleaned house on the heels, until a sweet back and forth sequence with Morrison lead to the Celtic Warrior nailing his own partner with the Brogue Kick. The shock allowed AJ Styles the time to pick up the win for his team with a Phenomenal Forearm. My main takeaway from this was that Morrison is way too good for his current role and I’d be interested to see him switch to go after Miz’s MITB briefcase sometime soon (A Mania ladder match between the two has major potential).

 

The post-match brawl between Sheamus and McIntyre backstage was a lot of fun with the build-up to the confrontation being well handled, creating more tension before the pair exploded on each other. These two are fantastic brawlers and didn’t hold back for this as they leathered the fuck out of each other, until stooge Pat Buck decided to try and break them up. The hapless Buck got launched through a table for his troubles in a wicked spot, before McIntyre and Sheamus laughed off their issues. I’m enjoying the story with Drew and Sheamus at the moment and their relationship is something that hasn’t been seen in WWE for a while, as they’ve been positioned as friends with a healthy rivalry who aren’t afraid to have a scrap if they need to settle something, but will still go for a pint when it’s all over. RAW Talk put an exclamation point on their relationship with the pair coming across very well on that show, with Sheamus happy to show off the shiner that McIntyre had given him. I’m not sure why this is happening during the build-up to McIntyre’s match with Styles a week on Sunday though.

 

Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt ended in a No Contest  

 

This is a feud that we’ve seen before and as much as WWE is trying to put a new spin on it with The Fiend and Alexa Bliss, it’s still the same feud. Orton’s promo to open the show was okay, but I’ve always felt like anytime WWE try to push Orton as (in his own words) “the most evil son of a bitch on planet Earth” it doesn’t feel like a natural fit. There is some a decent story to be told here but shoehorning Orton in a box that he doesn’t really fit into isn’t the way to do it. Another issue I had with this was Wyatt’s turn in the Firefly Funhouse. I didn’t get it at all. Wyatt hosted a gameshow (alongside his puppet friends) called “Let’s Get Randy” (see what they did there?) and it went on for ages, had absolutely nothing to say and wasn’t remotely funny. I’m really not sure why this happened. Wyatt does play both sides of the coin well, but his eventually change of pace was not worth having to sit through the gameshow for so long. Eventually, Orton challenged Wyatt (not the Fiend) to a match later in the show, despite the segment having been promoted as Orton going to the Firefly Funhouse.

 

Orton vs. Wyatt went on last and produced some solid action. Despite being two talented dudes with a lot of parallels, the pairs record when opposite each other is less than stellar (WrestleMania 33, anyone?), so it was nice to see them tie up and actually work a decent match with no bells and whistles. Wyatt having a big smile on his face whilst Orton beat the shit out of him was fun stuff. The lad looked absolutely buzzing to get his ass handed to him and played his moments well. Admittedly, the match was fairly paint by numbers stuff but with a couple of nice storytelling touches to keep things interesting. Wyatt being unable to hit Sister Abigail after multiple attempts and Orton initially having his signature back drop on the announce table turned on him, before managing to hit it later on worked well, amongst the standard beatdown-comeback structure. Your mileage on the finish will probably come from how hokey you find the way WWE plays the relationship between The Fiend and Bray Wyatt, but I have to admit that I found it pretty cool when the lights went out mid-RKO and revealed the Fiend lying underneath Orton when they came back on. Finishing the show with a non-contest isn’t all the fun though and without any new direction, cliff-hanger or reason to tune in next week, this ended could have done a lot more. Personally, I’d have ended the show on the brawl with McIntyre and Sheamus as that would have worked as much a better hook for next week.

 

RAW Women’s Champion Asuka def. Women’s Tag Team Champion Shayna Baszler

The top women’s segment this week focused around the build towards the unlikely duo of Asuka and Lana challenging the previously unlikely duo of Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax for the Women’s tag straps at TLC. The scrap between RAW Women’s Champion Asuka and Baszler was the best action on the show this week with the pair have a real physical clash, with plenty of energy. In a way, it feels like a waste of their first one on one clash, as this pairing have so much potential opposite each other that it should have been saved for a PPV, rather than thrown in to push a tag team storyline that is being used as a vehicle for a less capable performer (Lana). The submission sequence with Asuka grabbing a flying armbar before Baszler was able to counter into the Kirafuda Clutch with Asuka reversing into a roll-up and grabbing hold of the Asuka Lock before Baszler got to the ropes was superb stuff indeed. So smooth and yet still full of animosity and intention. The finish, of course, saw Lana and Nia Jax get into it on the outside, with Lana eventually sending Jax into the ringpost with a hurricanrana, before Asuka grabbed a schoolgirl roll-up victory on the Queen of Spades. A good match, but one that could have been great in the right storyline and setting.

 

Following RAW Talk, I was left wondering why Jax & Baszler aren’t allowed to show as much personality on the main show. On RAW we saw them talking before the match about wanting to put Lana’s boobs on her back, but on RAW Talk the Women’s Tag Team Champions were actually entertaining, showing real chemistry and having some fun interactions with Charly Caruso and R-Truth. WWE continues to stilt it’s talent and expect them to make chicken salad out of chicken shit scripts. R-Truth comparing Lana to Goldberg and constantly chanting “Lanaberg” was also entertaining as hell and did a great job of winding up the heels. Truth really is a national treasure and deserves more credit for his work.

 

RAW Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston def. Shelton Benjamin

Cedric Alexander def. RAW Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston

We time-travelled back to 2008 as Kofi Kingston and Shelton Benjamin renewed their ECW feud and produced a mediocre match. I was expecting much better out of Kingston and Benjamin here, but at times they looked like they’d never seen each other before, putting together a number of awkward sequences. Moments that would have been pretty cool had they been performed with the pairs usual slickness, such as Benjamin reversing an SOS attempt with a Gutwrench Powerbomb, came off as flat because the crispness and speed just wasn’t there. After four minutes or so Kingston pulled out the victory with a Trouble in Paradise. The follow-up match Kingston had with Cedric Alexander (after Alexander had called Kofi back to the ring) was a better match, continuing to tell the story of Kingston having an injured leg and doing a much better job with that element. It wasn’t all plain sailing and was hurt by a horrible looking SOS from Kofi, but the scaffolding of the narrative helped out a short match. The aggression from Alexander as he targeted the leg and Kingston’s selling were spot on, with some great storytelling in the finish as Ceddy took advantage of Kofi tweaking his leg coming off the top rope to pick up the win with the Lumbar Check. With Alexander picking up victories over Kingston and Xavier Woods in consecutive weeks, it looks like we’ll get New Day vs. Hurt Business scheduled for TLC on next week’s show.

 

Alexander & Benjamin turned up on RAW Talk later on, but the only noteworthy moment was R-Truth confusing Shelton Benjamin with Benjamin Button.

 

United States Champion Bobby Lashley def. Jeff Hardy

 

Perhaps surprisingly this was Lashley and Hardy’s first one on one match in WWE (although they had two bouts in TNA in 2014 and 2017) and this was certainly a match that happened this week. Nah, seriously, this was solid but much more about building to feud between Lashley and Riddle than it was about putting on an impressive singles match. The wrestling here was fine, with Hardy mostly fighting from underneath as he took beats from Lashley, whilst Riddle’s appearance allowed the Charismatic Enigma some breathing space against the United States Champion. The pair put together some nice exchanges like Lashley attempting to turn Hardy’s Twist of Fate into the Hurt Lock submission and the finish where Lashley dodged the Swanton Bomb to nail a spear and get the submission win with the aforementioned hold. However, for a match that went nearly 15 minutes, there was very little of note and I feel like the pair could have made better use of their time here.

 

Post-match, Lashley lobbed Hardy at Riddle (who kept turning up with his “Bronuts” throughout the show and earlier suggested he and Jeff could team as “The Hardy Bros”). If Riddle wasn’t such a trash human then this could be an interesting feud.

Mixed Tag Team Match: Ricochet & Dana Brooke def. RETRIBUTION (SLAPJACK & RECKONING) 

Remember when Retribution were a big deal? Now they’re getting beaten by Dana Brooke in under two minutes. Brooke and RECKONING had a cat fight, Ricochet hit a rana and corkscrew tope on Slapjack, Slapjack hit a Falcon Arrow on Ricochet then missed a cannonball, RECKONING hit a Jon Woo on Brooke, who instantly recovered to win with a Samoan Driver. That was it. Quite fun to watch, but completely pointless.

After the match Mustafa Ali kicked off at SLAPJACK and RECKONING, so maybe that’s going somewhere. But let’s be honest Retribution has been a complete disaster.

 

Finally…

 

ATPW Scale Rating – 3.68/10

All in all this was a watchable episode of Monday Night RAW, but one that didn’t provide a whole lot to talk about heading out of the show. Besides, the brewing issues with Drew McIntyre and Sheamus that are completely overshadowing what should be a massive showdown between McIntyre and AJ Styles at TLC and a hokey finish between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt, I’m sure what my main takeaway from this episode was. Asuka and Baszler had a good match that was needlessly thrown away on TV, Shelton Benjamin and Kofi Kingston looked awkward as fuck with each other and the rest of the action was somewhere in between. Meanwhile, I wasn’t given much of a reason to tune in next week (Nia Jax vs. Lana?) and arguably even less of a reason to give a shit about TLC.

 

PPV Review // Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XVIII //

I don't know about you, but I can't remember an Impact Wrestling PPV having this much buzz in a long time. Now, a lot of that buzz came from a number of rumoured returns and debuts, as well as the card having to be reshuffled after a number of high profile firings, but Impact has done a brilliant job of building the hype around their promotion being shaken up at the PPV with some great hype packages and a well worked social media campaign over the last few months. On paper, the card wasn't all that great, but still looked like it had the potential to be a sleeper hit if things went the right way and the surprises were nailed. Our main event featured a scrap over the vacant Impact World title with Eddie Edwards, Ace Austin and Trey being joined by the returning Eric Young and Rich Swann, whilst the odd ball tandem of Sami Callihan and Ken Shamrock challenged Ethan Page & Josh Alexander of The North for the Impact World Tag Team straps and The Rascalz's Dez & Wentz had their open challenge answered by the Motor City Machine Guns as well action featuring Tommy Dreamer, Madison Rayne, Willie Mack, Moose and Kimber Lee...but was it any good? 

// Impact World Championship // 

// Five Way Elimination Match //

// Eddie Edwards def. Ace Austin, Rich Swann, Eric Young and Trey //

Eddie Edwards captured his second Impact World Championship reign, three and a half years after his first, when he pinned Ace Austin at the end of an exhilarating five way elimination match, but before we get into that, lets talk about our surprise returns. After six months on the shelf, Rich Swann made his return to Impact in what was, if we're being brutally honest, a bit of a letdown. After the build-up Impact had given this mystery spot in the match, it was hard not to be disappointing when it was a guy already on their roster and, for someone who doesn't watch their programming on a regular basis, a guy I didn't even know had been out for such a long time. Some of that is on me! BUT Impact knew what they were doing and they got me with the big swerve when Eric Young's music hit and the World Class Maniac entered for his first match in an Impact ring since March 2016. To be fair, having Swann come out before EY meant that I gave much more of a shit about Young, than I would have done if Young had come out as the surprise entrant on his own. That's because after some of the guys Impact had teased, Young is clearly not the biggest name, but after the initial disappointment of Swann (not a comment on either man's abilities in the ring), the swerve with Young felt like a much bigger deal. I like to think Impact knew exactly what they were doing, especially considering their were three more returns/debuts still to come! 

After the initial buzz for big mad EY turning up, the match did not disappoint as five high quality workers unsurprisingly put on a high quality match. In the early stages, Trey Miguel was completely stealing the match for me. Trey absolutely killed everything he did here, looking almost effortless in the ring with crisp and clean wrestling, strong babyface fire and exciting highspots. Opposite Rich Swann he produced high-paced, intricate, flippy fun shit that was joy to watch, with Ace Austin he showed off thunderous aggression that really got across the personal issue that's been brewing between the pair for sometime and then pulled off a ridiculous, difficult-to-describe-how-fucking-sweet-it-was spot that saw him duck an Eddie Edwards clothesline and simultaneously fly under the second rope to nail Swann with a sick as fuck Canadian Destroyer on the floor. Lads, I really like Trey. Even being the first eliminated from the match, following a well-worked high spot with Austin and Edwards that saw him stumble into an EY piledriver, Miguel shone brightly. Here's hoping Trey continues to get big opportunities like this, because he's gone under the radar for too long. 

The rest of the match continued to produce at a high level with a spectacular high spot, some strong storytelling beats and number of convincing near falls once we got down to our final two. Lets begin with that spot! Edwards and Austin battled on the top rope for some time with one guy either side of the turnbuckle, at the same time Young had set Swann up for a powerbomb, before having second thoughts and using Swann as a battering ram to knock Edwards and Austin off the top rope and through the time keepers table below. It was creative and looked great with good timing from all involved, with the build creating a real sense of intrigue as I wondered what exactly was about to happen. The storytelling was most focused around Rich Swann and came after he managed to get an upset pin to eliminate Young. EY was vicious in his post-elimination assault, embodying his World Class Maniac gimmick as he went absolute bat shit mental, targeting the leg that kept Swann out of action for six months with a steel chair. This set-up two interesting storylines for the future, one where Swann looks for revenge on Young (and judging by their interactions in the match the pair have promising chemistry) and another more immediate story, where Swann had to battle with a major injury against Ace Austin. Swann sold the injury for everything it was worth, creating a number of dramatic moments as he managed to grab a couple of near falls, all whilst keeping that leg injury at the forefront of his performance. Once, Swann had succumbed to Austin's The Fold (Running Blockbuster) finish it was down to old rivals Edwards and Austin to battle it out for the vacant World title. Crisp, physical and with plenty of twists and turns this was a more than solid finish to the match with both men coming close to sealing the victory (Edwards with the Boston Knee Party and Austin with The Fold) but it was a second Boston Knee Party and a Diehard Flowsion that were enough to see Edwards walk out of Skyway Studios with the Impact World Title. 

The after-the-bell action was as notable as the match, as Good Brothers made good on their midnight promise and made their presence felt at the close of the show. The returning Doc Gallows and the debuting Karl Anderson have collected tag gold in WWE and NJPW and the pair initially teased a partnership with Austin and Madman Fulton, only to join forces with Edwards to wipe out the villains and give us a feel good finish to the show. Gallows & Anderson join a growing tag team roster, that offers a number of interesting match-ups against the likes of The North, Motor City Machine Guns, The Rascalz, XXXL, Reno Scum, even Heath & Rhino, so there's a lot of potential for the Good Brothers, whilst a partnership with Edwards opens up more intriguing options. Who knows where this is going to go?! 

Then as the show looked to be heading off the air, we got what, for me, was the biggest return of the night. Three slashed lines appeared on the screen, before a hooded figure appeared on screen. The hooded figure turned round, removed the hood and revealed himself to be...Ethan Carter III. Carter smashed a glass against a wall and left and the show faded to black. Saving this rumoured surprise until the very last moment, when many had decided that we were getting no EC3 appearance was a great bit of business. There's now a mystery around what EC3 is going to do next, we have no idea who is going to be coming after or exactly how he's going to fit back into the promotion, but whilst we didn't get any answers, we did get one big reason to tune into Impact Wrestling on Tuesday night. 

// Impact World Tag Team Championship //

// Tag Team Match // 

// Ethan Page & Josh Alexander def. Sami Callihan & Ken Shamrock //

I have mixed feelings on the show's Tag team title match, because it was for the most part a 
very entertaining match, but the booking of Ken Shamrock as an indestructible machine throughout the bout did bug me. This is for two reasons, one being that this is a man in his mid-fifties who basically shrugged off anything that was thrown at him by Page & Alexander and at points looked genuinely unstoppable. The second was that the booking of Shamrock disrupted the flow of the match on numerous occasions, leading to a very stop-start narrative, that wasn't always to the benefit of the match. Of course, Shamrock would end up taking the pin off The Monster Mash, but this was only after Ken being a mad bastard lead to him deciding to attempt a dive over the top rope. Another problem this match was faced was that the latter stages completely disregarded the concept of the legal man, with one awkward spot that saw Shamrock and Alexander lock in Ankle locks on their respective opponents making this stand out even further. 


Now, let's get to the positives, because as I said this was an entertaining match and despite moaning in the previous paragraph I think I did actually enjoy it. In many ways, this match managed to be a four-man clusterfuck, with a lot going on and a lot of what was going on performed well. The North have got some lovely tandem offence, Callihan and Page worked a nice back and forth sequence with some intensity, Shamrock hit an overhead belly to belly suplex that sent Alexander out of the ring, there was a lot of cool spots to enjoy for sure. Both Shamrock and Callihan got decent near falls, that would have been even better in front of a crowd, even if there was little to no regard to who was supposed to be the legal man. I think, if I'd had a couple of pints and could have been less bothered by the booking of Shamrock, then I would've enjoyed this much more, but the action was always interesting and despite going over 15 minutes it didn't outstay it's welcome. 


Post-match, The Motor City Machine Guns continued to make their presence felt, informing The North that they'd be facing each other on Tuesday's Impact Wrestling. Impact clearly knew they had a lot of eyes on them with this PPV and the build up that they'd done and the company making an effort to build future match-ups and storylines to get people to tune in on Tuesday was a good bit of business.

// Tag Team Match // 

// Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin def. Dez & Wentz //

Lets talk about those MCMGs a bit more, because Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin are back as a team in Impact for the first in over eight years! The Detroiters answered The Rascalz open challenge at the top of the show and I popped huge for it. The obvious money was on The Good Brothers and MCMGs hadn't even crossed my mind. As a massive fan of both teams, this was one of those dream matches that I hadn't even considered a possibility, so to get it out of nowhere was pretty damn cool. There's an argument to be made that the buzz could've been even higher for this match had Motor City Machine Guns actually been announced for it and not having a live crowd robbed us of the pop they could've got from the surprise appearance, but honestly I don't care. It provided a nice moment, that hooked me straight into the PPV from the very beginning and I got to watch a super cool match that I wasn't expecting. That's all good with me. 

However, both teams still had to deliver the goods and considering their paths have never crossed before this could've ended up being a letdown, but man, did Shelley, Sabin, Dez and Wentz deliver the goods here. The action was as speedy as you'd want it to be, with the Machine Guns more than keeping up their end of the bargain against the younger team, full of beautifully smooth wrestling, physical strikes and double team manoeuvres. Often I'd forget that I was supposed to be writing notes about this, because I was simply just enjoying how fluid the wrestling. Dez in particular moves like water and his hot tag was an absolute delight. There was a little bit of narrative here and there, with MCMG's working more aggressive and taking the defacto heel role in the match, with their being elements of the classic veteran team vs. up and coming team trope, but this was definitely not explored as much as it could have been. The finish did however use this, as Dez went for a Poetry in Motion-esque move that he'd used to knock Shelley apron earlier in the match, but the veteran team had it scouted and countered, using the space to pull out a number of their greatest hits double teams. It was a nice little touch, that lead to MCMG's getting the pin on Dez with the Dirt Bomb, and with just a little bit more of this the match could have been better than it was. I'm definitely looking forward to these four going toe to toe again at some point in the future.

// Knockout's Championship // 

// Deonna Purrazzo def. Jordynne Grace (C) // 

This was an absolute belter. Just a really good professional wrestling match, which told a story and kept things simple. There were no bells and whistle here, no crazy booking decisions, just Deanna Purrazzo and Jordynne Grace wrestling each other for 15 minutes. It was a classic power vs. technique style match, playing into the size differential between the pair, as Grace looked to plough her way to retain the Knockout's title, whilst Purrazzo quickly zoned in on the champions arm to set up her numerous armbar style submissions. Grace seemed intent on hitting her Grace Driver finish, but this would often leave her open for another attack on the arm as the pair weaved their offensive moves together in a number of cute sequences, performed with finesse. In fact, there were couple of really couple of downright clever sequences, including a strong near fall for Grace after blocked an O'Connor roll attempt by locking in a Coquina Clutch, whilst moments later Purazzo had to relinquish a guillotine armbar thing after Grace was able to pin the challenger's shoulder to the mat. 

Purrazzo's work on the arm was lovely stuff, locking in a number of submissions after targeting the body part early, whilst, for the most part, Grace's selling was spot-on. In numerous breaks in the action, Grace would be trying to shake life back into the arm, keeping the injury in the mind of the viewer, whilst the commentary team did their best work (of a disappointing night). I think the match could have benefited from having seen Grace struggle with a few of her power moves or strikes, as more often than not Grace appeared to be having no trouble at all during the action. Grace was even throwing strikes with the supposedly injured, including multiple forearms at one point, which was a little frustrating to see. Chucking in a few spots where Grace was struggling to hit her big moves would have lifted this to the next level. 

All in all, this was a cracking clash between two well suited opponents. I wouldn't argue with anyone if they wanted to give it the nod for match of the night.

// Knockout's Championship Number One Contendership // 

// Gauntlet Match // 

// Kylie Rae def. Taya Valkyrie, Rosemary, Kimber Lee, Kiera Hogan, Neveah, Alisha Edwards, Madison Rayne, Rosemary [John E. Bravo], Havok, Susie, Katie Forbes, Tasha Steelz and Taya Valkyrie [John E. Bravo] // 

Oh my christ. This was easily the worst match on the show and very well could end being the worst worked match of the year. There's some talent in this match for sure, but unfortunately very little of it was on display here. I don't even know where to begin. Okay, I'm lying, I do. Who the fuck is John E. Bravo? And what the fuck is he doing in this gauntlet? Him dressing up as Taya Valkyrie and Rosemary may have been in funny in...no, it would never have been funny. Even if it was funny, the reason for his appearance given by the commentary team made absolutely no sense whatsoever. They explained that Bravo had entered a #3 because his mate Valkyrie didn't like her number so sent him instead. Okay, I can deal with that, I suppose. That is until Valkyrie herself turned up at #10. How the fuck does that work? Then Bravo was back out as fourteenth and final entrant dressed as Rosemary, who was already in the ring! In kayfabe, what happened here? Why was Bravo allowed to enter the match? Outside of kayfabe, why on earth was Bravo booked eliminate Havok? This was awful. 

The shithousery doesn't stop there however, as this match was rammed with stupid shit. Katie Forbes and Susie both got eliminated during entrances, which is dumb because it means we miss the elimination and it ends up meaning very little. Susie's palm strikes seemed to be socially distancing from her opponents, Kylie Rae seemed to miss her cue for Tasha Steelz elimination, Madison Rayne started doing a little jig at ringside to pop Josh Mathews when she thought she was off-camera, the booking of Rae and Kimber Lee in the closing stages was nonsensical, only Havok looked remotely interested in getting a shine when she entered the ring and most importantly there was absolutely no story or thread running through the match. Nothing. The highlight ended up being a fun comedy spot where Rae attempted to gorilla press Alisha Edwards, eventually getting some help from Havok who then lobbed Edwards at Rae. By the time the match finished with an awfully overworked and awkward looking sequence between Rae and Valkyrie, I was more than happy it was over.

// TNA World Heavyweight Championship // 

// Moose (C) def. Tommy Dreamer // 

This was much better than it had any right to be. I wouldn't go as far as to call it good, but as an undercard plunder brawl it worked well. It was brawly, it had a couple of weapons and a handful of decent spots and a solid near fall for Dreamer. There was also a nice intensity throughout from both men, with a sprinkling of comedy thrown in as well. Moose was saying all kinds of mad shit and I actually sort of like this character that he's developed lately. Dreamer taking all kind of verbal abuse as Moose pushed his face towards some thumbtacks only to be able to find a second wind when Moose claimed he'd never watched ECW was genuinely funny and quite sweet moment of the match. I'm honestly not sure why Tommy Dreamer is still getting a run out in 2020, even if he is trying to emulate his mentor Terry Funk, for me "The Innovator of Violence" doesn't quite have the same appeal, but fuck it, this wasn't bad.

// X Division Championship // 

// Chris Bey def. Willie Mack (C) // 

Tucked away at the bottom here, we had Chris Bey becoming the 45th X-Division Champion in a very fun match with Willie Mack. This was ten minutes of action-packed wrestling, in the style that you'd expect from the X-Division. Not a whole lot of substance, but an exciting fireworks display non-the-less. The two went back and forth for the majority of the match, with both men putting together some lovely combinations, with slick movements, include the build to Mack hitting a standing moonsault and Bey hitting the slingbeyed out of the corner. The ref bump for the finish didn't feel particularly necessary, but maybe I've missed something by not watching Impact for a while, plus considering this was the only mildly screwy finish of the night, I'll let it slide. An eye rake and brand new finish, The Art of Finesse (a funky springboard cutter type deal) gave Bey the victory in a match that reminded me I liked wrestling following directly on from the gauntlet match. 

// Promo // 

// Heath's debut //

Heath is here and he's got kids! It was a cool to see Heath Slater in Impact, he's a fun character that could become even more of a joy to watch given the extra freedom he should be afforded in Impact. However, his segment with Rohit Raju was hard to watch, because it was clear that neither man's mic was working. At one point, the commentary team were audibly heard talking to each other in the background. A real shame. Slater would quickly rebuff Raju, hitting him with a variant of the Zig Zag. We'd later see Slater reuniting with his former WWE tag partner Rhino backstage, only for Scott D'Amore to break up the chat, informing Slater that this was a closed set and seeing as he was a free agent he had to leave immediately. Impact might be rehashing the storyline from a few years ago when Slater ended up being undrafted by either RAW or SmackDown, but I really don't care, if done properly it still has entertainment potential. The segment closed with Rhino telling Slater to turn up on Tuesday anyway, setting up another point of intrigue for Tuesday night.

// ATPW Rating // 

// 5.97 out of 10 // 

Oh man, without the Knockout's Gauntlet this would have been a really high scoring PPV. Even with the horrendous amount of production errors throughout the show (certainly this was the most poorly produced PPV in TNA/Impact history), the wrestling on display was of a really high quality. The main event and Deonna Purazzo vs. Jordynne Grace both delivered in spades for different reasons and I'd find it hard to separate them for my match of the night, whilst MCMGs vs. The Rascalz wasn't far behind either. Even matches like Tommy Dreamer vs. Moose, which one paper had no right be anything resembling a watchable match, ended up being just that. That's without getting into the company seriously beefing up it's roster in a number of areas with EC3, Eric Young, The Good Brothers, The Motor City Machine Guns and Heath Slater all making appearances throughout the show. Impact put themselves out there with ambitious promotion around returns and debuts, but their regular roster made sure that Scott D'Amore and Don Callis have more than a few headaches when it comes to the booking heading into the next PPV, October's Bound for Glory...

All the best xoxo

James 

PPV Review // WWE Evolution // Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella

On 28th October 2018, just over three week's removed from Super Show-Down, WWE presented it's first ever women's only PPV, Evolution, at the Nassau Colliseum in Uniondale, New York. Billed as a historic moment for women everywhere, the show was main evented by Ronda Rousey defending her RAW Women's Championship against Nikki Bella, whilst other top matches saw Charlotte Flair get a shot at Becky Lynch's SmackDown Women's Championship in a Last Women Standing match and an NXT Women's Championship match between champion Kairi Sane and challenger Shayna Baszler, whilst Sash Banks, Trish Stratus, Natalya, Mickie James and Kelly Kelly were all also in action. But was it any good? Lets take a look.

Trish Stratus & Lita returned for their first matches since the Royal Rumble in January, picking up the victory over Mickie James & Alicia Fox in a simple and fun opening match, that had more than a little nostalgia to help it through. Whilst both Stratus & Lita have performed on a number of occasions since their "retirement" matches, this was the longest either has spent in the ring since 2006, so it would be unfair to comment on some of the sequences being a little awkward, especially considering there was more than enough that worked. A handful of nice moments between Stratus and James, especially the build up to the top rope rana, made this more than worth it's spot on the card. James and Fox both worked hard to make their opponents look every inch of the stars that they possibly could, with some sound and solid heel work, helped by logical booking, whilst James in particular sold very well, in one of her best performances since her return. It's a shame that Alexa Bliss was out injured as her involvement would have upped the level of "moments" that could have taken place within the match and whilst Fox has a nice Northern Lights suplex, she felt more like someone there to make up the numbers and even ended up being out of position on breaking up a nearfall right at the end. What really made this match come together though was the crowd treating it as something special, getting behind Stratus & Lita and booing James & Fox, stuff like that makes all the difference for me as a viewer at home adding to each moment or spot the ladies went for. 

Dasha Fuentes interviewed The Bella Twins with Nikki possibly cutting her best promo of all time, heeling it up fantastically as she dedicated her match to Ronda Rousey's Mom.

The IIconis got some promo time before the battle royal, which was cute, they mocked the legends and putting themselves over. You can guess the first spot of the match. 

Nia Jax earned a shot at the RAW Women's Championship, by last eliminating Ember Moon, in an entertaining over-the-top rope battle royal. The majority of the legends included were used to put over the regular roster with that and the fact that almost every elimination felt like it's own moment, meant that there were a number of wrestlers who came out of the battle royal better off for having taken part. The IIconics got a lot of time before the match before their instant elimination, Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose eliminated Molly Holly, Kelly Kelly and Torrie Wilson before Rose turned on Deville, Carmella got to dance with Ivory before helping her new friend to eliminate Rose and Asuka worked a nice sequence to eliminate Ivory. The highlight for me had to be Ember Moon eliminating Asuka, because the crowd was hot for a showdown between the two former NXT rivals and Moon finally managed to get one over on the woman she could never take the NXT Women's title off. There was some awkardness though, as Lana ended up being out position for a spot involving Jax and Tamina, whilst Carmella and Moon ended up cocking up a tilt-a-whirl rana spot, which Michael Cole would describe as rather unique. The crowd seemed to be behind Moon winning the match when it came down to her and Jax, which is always a problem when going for a babyface final two, but if it leads to something more substantial down the two, who have been portrayed as friends on RAW, then this finish will be absolutely fine.

After the match, Jax was interviewed by Charly Caruso about whether she'd rather face Nikki Bella or Ronda Rousey for the title, with Jax wishing them both the best and telling them to enjoy the moment, because it won't last long. Short and simple and got a big pop, lovely stuff. 

Toni Storm won the 2018 Mae Young Classic in a ten minute sprint of a match with Io Shirai. The bout was choc-full of action from the beginning, kicking off with some technicality before launching into a series of big moves and reversals that didn't stop until Storm hit her second Storm Zero for the win. Obviously, with more time the pair could have worked some better storyline elements into things and created a match with more depth, but the brevity also made the match stand out on a card that was packed with big time singles matches in it's second half. The two have competed a number of times together in Stardom in Japan over the last two and half years and that was clear to see from the crispness of their action, the speed at which they moved and the number of risks they took for a couple of memorable spots. The work towards the German suplex on the apron from Storm and Shirai's beautiful moonsault to the outside stand out in particular, whilst Shirai's sunset flip was something else too. It was a shame we didn't get a few more convincing near falls for Shirai, which felt mostly down to the time the two had, but to pack ten minutes with such high quality, exciting pro wrestling is a testament to the talent of both women. Hopefully we see a lot more them both in NXT and NXT UK soon.

Bayley, Sasha Banks and Natalya picked up the win over Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan (collectively known as the Riott Squad) in a six woman tag that was put together well, but fell apart later on for a number of reasons. The first of these reasons was Sasha Banks seemingly being at least a half step of the pace for her hot tag, which did come after some lovely work from the Riott Squad and Bayley as the hugger in peril. There were a number of sequences that Banks had that just weren't up to scratch, that featured good ideas, but didn't pay off. With The Boss working the hot tag this obviously hurt the match, killing the pace and knocking timing off in other areas. The biggest problem came when Banks attempted what I think was supposed to be a tope con hilo and had to be saved by her opponents. The other issue for me was the spot that saw Bayley jumping on top of Banks to save her from a diving senton from Riott, which was just a stupid thing to do. Maybe if the timing had been better it would have looked like a heroic moment of friendship, but at the time it happened simply pushing Riott off the top rope or moving Banks out of the way made much better sense. There were some nice moments like Morgan breaking up a double sharpshooter from Natty on Riott and Logan, the bout was structured nicely for the spot on the card it had, which makes it even more frustrating that the bout didn't live up to it's potential had everything gone to plan. The Riott Squad losing another big match so soon after Super Show-Down probably means it's time to end the group and send Riott out on her own.

In the only title change of the night, Shayna Baszler won back the NXT Women's Championship from Kairi Sane in Evolution's second best match, using the Kirufuda clutch for submission victory. Whilst a notch down from their NXT Takeover: Brooklyn 4 match, Baszler and Sane continued to show plenty of chemistry, with their two characters seemingly made to get the other over. The back and forth flurry at the start grabbed the crowd well with the brawling being some of the best work in the match as Sane looked to go toe to toe with the harder striker. Sane's diving crossbody to the floor, as well as Baszler getting lobbed over the barricade onto some NXT performers at ringside provided the match with some replayable moments later on and whilst the narrative wasn't as strong as their last encounter Baszler did some solid work targeting the arm that Sane sold well. The finish was perhaps a little overbooked with Baszler's Four Horsewomen pals Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir getting involved for a couple of spots on the road to Baszler being able to lock in the Kirafuda Clutch for a second time. This followed on from a call-back near fall as they repeated the finish from Brooklyn, that perhaps deserved a better reaction from the Nassau Coliseum. I'm looking forward to seeing where this feud goes next on NXT, how Sane goes about looking to regain the title and how the Duke & Shafir play into the story.

The match of the night came in the form of a Last Woman Standing match that saw Becky Lynch retain the SmackDown Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair. This was easily in the Top 5 of it's type in WWE (maybe higher) for me, with Lynch and Flair producing a physical and compelling match-up with plenty of big spots and animosity. The crowd being almost completely behind Lynch throughout with Flair able to flip into a tweener role worked well, for a number of sequences, without diluting the edge that has made Lynch's "heel turn" so fun to begin with, including an early moment with Lynch going nuts with a kendo stick. There was some recycled tropes that from recent Last Man Standing matches, like Lynch burying Flair under a pile of chairs, but more often than not the action was creative with a general feeling of escalation for each highspot and near fall. Particular highlights for me included the nasty looking back suplex onto a chair from Flair, the Figure Eight using the ladder and the mad leg drop off a ladder through the announce table from Lynch. Flair's back suplex onto a chair. There were a couple of moments that didn't seem to go anyway, with the brawl in the crowd being a particular creative cul-de-sac, as well as the terrified look on Lynch's face when Flair escaped the rubble, which I'm sure looked good on paper but came across as particularly lame in execution. Often these types of matches can struggle to find a satisfying finish after packing in so much action, but I felt Flair and Lynch came up with big enough spot to conclude this one with Lynch powerbombing Charlotte off the apron through a table to retain her title. The move looked brutal and both women sold it well, whilst there was also a question about whether Flair could still make it back to her feet to keep the match going. Overall, I feel like this is the match that the PPV will be remember for amongst the majority of fans and both women should be proud of what is probably their best match since leaving NXT.

Whilst it probably would've had been better received in a different spot on the card, Ronda Rousey's victory over Nikki Bella, was a serviceable main event that did a stellar job of placing Rousey in an underdog role. The structure was simplistic but played to the strengths of the three characters involved, perhaps ironically using elements of the finish of Rousey's Four Horsewoman stablemate Shayna Baszler's NXT Championship match earlier in the night, as Brie Bella allowed Nikki to control the mid-section of the match following absolute domination from Rousey. It's easy to dislike the Bella Twins, especially one returning to main event a PPV, meaning there was lots of fun to be had in Rousey lobbing both of them about the place, including sending Brie over the announce table and perhaps into orbit. A couple of big spots gave the match a WWE main event feel, with  the double reverse kata-gurama, the aforementioned announce table spot and a sweet top rope transition into the armbar as the finish standing out, whilst Bella also got a strong near fall off an slightly awkward Rack Attack 2.0. Yes, it could have been longer, but another five minutes almost definitely would have exposed either Rousey or Bella, probably both. There's a strong argument to be made that Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch deserved to be the main event with the pair much more capable of closing the show, and personally I can see that this swap would have benefitted both matches, whilst also understanding WWE's decision to have Rousey (who is one of the biggest stars of any gender in the company right now) close their first ever women's only PPV as they make her focal point of the promotion. The fact that Rousey main evented the show could also provide fuel for the rumoured WrestleMania match between Rousey and Flair. 

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.94/10 

Show in a Sentence - A real triumph, that proved many doubters wrong, showcasing the depth and potential of the current female roster, whilst celebrating the stars of the past. 

Written by James Marston 

Tournament Preview // Fight Club: PRO Infinity 2018

On the 26th October, Fight Club: PRO present the 8th annual Infinity Trophy tournament at The Hanger in Wolverhampton, with one of the strongest line-ups in a long time. The list of winners reads like a who's who of Fight Club: PRO with Trent Seven (2010 & 2013), MK McKinnan (2011), Clint Margera (2012), Chris Brookes (2014), Pete Dunne (2015), Travis Banks (2016) and Omari (2017) all having walked out victorious, but who could be looking to join that list in 2018? Our sources say this year's tournament will follow the new format set down by last year's show, with four singles matches as semi-finals, before an elimination four-way final. There's a huge potential for storytelling in such a final, especially with the recent FCP vs. Schadenfreude storyline that has taken over the promotion over the last few month, as well as a number of super interesting semi-final possibilities. Lets take a look at the field, their recent record in FCP and tournament history, before evaluating their chances of winning and possible opponents and stories that could be told along the way. 

All photos courtesy of The Ringside Perspective. 

Tyler Bate 

On paper, Tyler Bate has to be the bookies favourite heading into Infinity on Friday. Obviously, matches aren't won paper, but it's hard to look past the run of form the Big Strong Boi has been on, as well as his obvious tournament credentials. Bate hasn't lost in FCP one on one since February 2016 and whilst a lot of his focus has been on tag team action with Moustache Mountain and British Strong Style, the run of eight straight victories has included putting away the likes of Will Ospreay, Daisuke Sekimoto and Jeff Cobb, as well as Travis Banks on two occasions. Bate also has the most wins in all match-types in FCP this year, totalling 11 out of 15. The 21 year old has also built up quite the tournament pedigree, famously winning WWE's United Kingdom Championship Tournament in 2017, topping FCP's other tournament the Dream Tag Team Invitational with Trent Seven earlier in the year and CHIKARA's King of Trios in 2017 with Seven and Pete Dunne. Further back, Bate picked up victories in Great Bear Promotions URSA Major One Night Tournament and Junior Heavyweight Cup in 2013 and 2014 respectively, as well as Shropshire Wrestling Alliance's British Lions Cup (also 2014). This will be Bate's fifth appearance in Infinity, but the first under the current format, having previously come out on the losing side of the 2014 final against Chris Brookes.

Bate's style is perfect for tournaments with his ability to fight from underneath, sell sublimely and gather crowd support creating a compelling atmosphere that is amplified in a tournament setting. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little excited about the possibility of Bate having to face Trent Seven in the semis, with that match having previously only happened in WWE. 

"Speedball" Mike Bailey 

In terms of Fight Club: PRO, Mike Bailey is the least experienced guy in the tournament, but his international credentials should put him amongst the favourites. Speedball made his FCP debut in June at International Tekkers: Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted, winning a wonderful four-way fatal match over David Starr, El Phantasmo and last year's Infinity winner Omari. Most of Bailey's time recently has been spent in Japan with Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) and Germany with Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), where in terms of tournaments it's been a year of near misses. A strong performance in D-Ou Grand Prix was followed up by reaching the final of both Road to 16 Carat and AMBITION 9 in wXw only to lose to Marius Al-Ani and Timothy Thatcher respectfully. The Canadian's last tournament victory came in 2016 at Quebec's North Shore Pro Wrestling in their Standing 8 tournament,with Bailey also being victories in DDT's DNA Grand Prix in 2016, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW)'s Best of the Best in 2015 and Capital City Championship Combat's (C4) Snowbrawl in 2014.

Speedball is arguably the guy with the most varied style in the whole tournament, able to fly with the best, strike hard and mix it up technically, after his superb showing at Tekkers I'm looking forward to seeing him get in there with some more of FCP's best.

Trent Seven 

The only former FCP Champion in the tournament, as well as being a two-time Infinity winner and four time finalist, Trent Seven has the most impressive record of anyone in Fight Club: Pro, having also won this year's Dream Tag Team Invitational, but hasn't had a singles match in the promotion since losing to Travis Banks at DTTI Hangover in May 2017. To that end Seven is winless in his last four singles matches in FCP, going down to Banks again in the final of Infinity 2016, Mikey Whiplash at Breaking into Heaven and Pete Dunne at Pulp Fixxion Part 2, leaving Seven without a one on one victory in over two years (a win over Mark Haskins at Project Mayhem V in September 2016 was the last success for the Super Don). Tournament wise, Seven's only success outside of FCP came in CHIKARA's King of Trios with Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne, whilst he reached the final of Adriatic Special Combat Academy (ASCA)'s Super 8 tournament and Melbourne City Wrestling (MCW)'s Melbourne City Invitational Tournament, both last year. 

Beyond than the tournament, I'm super stoked to see a Seven singles match in FCP after such a long time, because for me Seven's style was such a big part of what made me a Fight Club: PRO fan in 2014 and I'm looking forward to him chopping the shit out of someone, nailing 46 piledrivers and doing some ridiculous no selling. Will his issues with Schadenfreude members Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis play a part? We'll find out Friday.

Jordan Devlin 

Jordan Devlin has been on a marvellous run in FCP in 2018, with victories over MK McKinnan, Angelico, Naoki Tanizaki, Trey Miguel, Scotty Davis and El Phantasmo. In fact, Devlin's only loss this year came at the hands of the current PWG World Champion & ROH World Television Champion Jeff Cobb in July. The 28 year old Irishman reached last year's final, besting fellow 2018 competitor Kyle Fletcher in the semi-finals, only to be eliminated 2nd by another 2018 entrant, Mark Davis. Despite a strong showing, Devlin comes into the competition without a single tournament victory to his name, with his only other final appearance coming back in 2011 at Fight Factory Pro Wrestling (FFPW) in their European Cruiserweight Title Qualification tournament, where he came out on the losing side against B. Cool. 

Devlin has recently been involved in a feud with Millie McKenzie and Pete Dunne (with Jinny on his side), so there's a lot of potential in doing a Devlin vs. McKenzie singles match in the semi-finals, but there's also the prospect of Jordan avenging last year's elimination at the hands of Mark Davis. With a whole extra year of experience and will the Killer Import be able to go any further this year?  

Millie McKenzie 

Millie McKenzie has become one of the most popular acts in FCP over the last 12 months, helped by her association with mentor Pete Dunne and the dynamic of their tag team The Bruisermates. She comes into Infinity on a run of form, having put away both Jinny and Bea Priestley lately, as well as winning the Pro Wrestling Revolver Tag Team titles with Pete Dunne at FCP in June. McKenzie ended up being eliminated in last year's semi-finals by eventual winner Omari and has managed a number of semi-final appearances in other companies tournaments, reaching the final four of the PROGRESS Wrestling's Women's Title #1 Contender's Tournament in 2017, Revolution Pro Wrestling's (RevPro) British Women's Title Tournament, Defiant Wrestling's Ringmaster Tournament and wXw's Femme Fatales Tournament this year. Could she go one further and make the final four of Infinity? 

Whether technically Millie is ready for the win here and the spot that comes with it, I'm not entirely sure. Her popularity is undeniable, with her in-ring performances being improved from working with world class wrestlers like Pete Dunne, but personally I think she needs a good 12 months more to develop as a singles competitor before reaching a regular main event spot. That being said, I think there's a number of interesting potential match-ups here, with the Jordan Devlin one being the most obvious because of their issues lately, whilst a clash with Mark Davis would he elements of what made Davis' match with Kay Lee Ray in last year's tournament one of the strongest bouts of the night. 

Mark Davis 

And so we reach our first of two Schadenfreude members in the tournament. Mark Davis is undefeated one on one in FCP, beating all four of the opponents that have been put in front of him over the last 18 months. Kyle Fletcher, Kay Lee Ray, Clint Margera and MK McKinnan have all fallen to the Aussie, whilst Davis also made the final two of last year's Infinity, eliminating Jordan Devlin in the final four way, before Omari was able to pull out the win. It's been a great year for tournaments for Davis, both with Aussie Open partner Kyle Fletcher and a singles performer, having won PROGRESS's Natural Progression Series V and Thunderbastard Tag Team Series, as well as reaching the final of the Dream Tag Team Invitational. Outside of 2018, Davis has often found himself in the final, but struggled to complete the deal, coming second in Pro Wrestling Alliance Queensland (PWAQ)'s Tag Team title tournament with Mason Childs (as the Sex Panthers), both PWAQ's Rise of the Warriors 5 & 6 in 2011 & 2012 and Newcastle Pro Wrestling's Kings of the Castle 2013 with Ryan Eagles, before coming second in both of FCP's last two tournaments. Will it be third time lucky for Dunkzilla? 

With a whole new attitude since joining Schadenfreude its difficult to see how Davis couldn't be considered a favourite for the tournament.

Kyle Fletcher 

Kyle Fletcher may have claimed to be Fight Club: PRO Champ for a little bit, but that title wasn't really his and he didn't even steal it himself, then got battered by the delightful Meiko Satomura upon her return. That being said, since joining Schadenfreude Fletcher has been able to pick some impressive victories, besting both former FCP Champion Travis Banks and last years Infinity winner Omari, when before joining the group the Aussie Arrow had lost every single one on one contest he'd been placed in. The 18 year old has limited tournament experience, especially as a singles performer, most recently finding himself out in the First Round of RevPro's British J Cup, Defiant's Ringmaster tournament and Riptide Wrestling's Brighton Title tournament. In a tag team, Fletcher has reached finals, including this year's DTTI, as well as Newy Pro's Kings of the Castle 2017 with SnapChad. 

Fletcher has a lot to prove coming into this one, after his antics with the belt and the presence of Schadenfruede could prove fruitful. If Davis and Fletcher both manage to make it to the final, it will be difficult to look past one of them taking the Trophy. 

El Phantasmo 

El Phantasmo has become a real slow-burn favourite in FCP for me and I think for many others as well. Initially confined to scrambles, it was difficult to get fully invested in the Canadian, even if his rope-walking spot is rad af. However, since breaking into singles matches, his worked has really began to shine. Unfortunately, those performances haven't translated into victories with ELP falling to Jordan Devlin, MK McKinnan and Tyler Bate in his last three, whilst also suffering a loss to the seldom seen Elijah back in 2017. That leaves ELP with just one singles victory heading into Infinity (against Adam Brookes in January), whilst also only being able to win one of the eight scramble matches he's taken part in. To say that Phantasmo is the tournament's outsider would be an understatement. However, he has shown tournament prowess elsewhere this year, having won RevPro's British J Cup in September and reached the final of Defiant's Ringmaster tourney in July. The 32 year old has also won Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW)'s Pacific Cup in 2009, as well as reached the final an impressive three further times in 2008, 2013 and 2017. 

Could El Phantasmo create a huge upset and take the Trophy at The Hangar?



There's a lot of questions that I can't wait to find out the answers to heading into Infinity! I'll see you here after the show for the full review! All the best xoxo 



Written by James Marston