5 Star Wrestling [Live] Review // 15th February 2018

On 16th February 2018, 5 Star Wrestling came to us live from the Fly DSA Arena in Sheffield, England. Our main event for the evening saw a Teddy Long Special occur as the previously announced match of Rampage Brown against Rey Mysterio became a tag match with the additions of Zach Gibson & Rob Van Dam respectively. With action also featuring 5Star Tag Champions Max Money taking on the UK Hooligans, 5Star Champion Jake Hager taking on Ryan Hunter as well as Colt Cabana, Flash Morgan Webster and many more. It' not exactly controversial to state that 5Star have picked up a bit of reputation in the BritWres community, not necessarily a good one, but could they counter that and put on a show good enough to silence the doubters?

'Tango' Timm Wylie def. Ricky Knight Jr. // Pinfall

This was a reasonably standard face v heel, junior v heavyweight encounter but with some nice touches with Wylie using the tech fuck-ups that plagued the show right from the start to generate some heel heat, in fact considering the crowd was half not in the room and the other half were reasonably unresponsive, it must be said Wylie and Knight Jr. did a good job of actually getting people into the match. Extra points for Wyle using the Brian Danielson 'I have till five' shouts. Wylie would eventually get a pin with a Twisting Suplex Slam.

Matty Mayhem def. HT Drake and Anthony Young // Pinfall

Not much to comment on here really as this was 9 minutes of crowd-popping spot work, though I must commend them for actually never breaking down into the rotating singles match structure and keeping all three men in the ring practically for the entire match duration. Drake played the bigger lad in this throwing suplexes like no one's business, Young pulled off the night's second Danielson tribute by hitting Yes Kicks on both men, Mayhem hit a GTS, indie-galore. The finish came when Mayhem got a surprise reversal into a Paul Smackage on Drake. Nice stuff, did the job, got the crowd's energy up a bit.

So we opened on a shite promo from Jake Hager which left the crowd going '...k' only for it to be interrupted by a very good promo from Zach Gibson who railed on Hager for being dull and said he's the reason people are switching over to Takeshi's Castle. It was at this point the crowd started to wonder, 'do we like Gibson now? He's right and Hager's the bad guy. But Gibson's also the bad guy...what?' After Gibson left, Hager said he would defend his title, not against Gibson but against one of the UK's best talents. What do you bet this sets up the 'Hager beats up a jobber' story?

Joey Axl def. El Ligero // Submission

We come to part three of the evening's Danielson tribute as Ligero and Axl reinterpreted the classic 'you can't pin a ball' spot from when Daniel Bryan fought Tyson Kidd on Saturday Morning Slam. Beyond that glorious moment, this was a solid match with Ligero giving Axl his best match so far of the 5Star tour. The problem this match had was that it had to follow a laboured Hager promo (more on that later) and an ad-break so any excitement the crowd might have had from the dark matches had been lost by this point so it had to build it back up again. The finish came as Axl tapped out Ligero with the Ayers Rock Lock stretch muffler. Decent enough stuff.

Gibson would pop up again, attacking Rey Mysterio before his match with Rampage Brown, opening the door for Rob Van Dam to make the save, setting for our main event: Gibson & Brown vs Mysterio & Van Dam.

Eddie Ryan def. 'The Wrestling Vegan' Marcus Burke // Pinfall 

First off, Burke walking around the crowd shouting 'I am a vegan! Nooo meat!' was perfect character work, I got where he was coming from and Marcus, if you're ever back in Sheffield, hit me up, we can get some Avocado Wings from Make No Bones. The match itself was a little light on action as there seemed to be a lack of connection between both men thought Ryan, positioned as the top UK babyface of the roster was beloved of the younger fans in the audience. Worth mentioning: this match broke the Danielson tributes with instead Ryan entering with his lion mask and cape combo and Burke hitting a Tiger Driver for a good near fall suggesting a move to Tiger Mask tributes. Ryan eventually won with the Sitout Side Slam for the pin. During the match, Bram was at ringside in a baseball cap and what looked like one of those ponchos they give you at Splash Canyon at Drayton Manor.

Colt Cabana & Grado def. Carlito & Chris Masters // Pinfall

There was another edition of Morgan Webster's Modcast but before it could begin properly, the Masters of Cool interrupted, complaining that they wanted to make it an episode of Carlito's Cabana. Talking of cabanas, actual guest Colt Cabana turned up and was attacked by the Masters but Grado made the save. It wasn't entirely clear to the audience that this was a heel turn as the announcer came out during the ad-break to make sure we knew to boo Masters and Carlito and cheer Cabana and Grado. Luckily once the match began, the team known to many as Irn Jew made sure there was no doubt who to cheer for as they delivered an incredibly fun match, putting on not just the best match of the night but probably my favourite pure piece of entertainment from this entire tour thus far. They worked a simple tag structure but they peppered it with a lot of fun details and most importantly didn't outwear their welcome. It's harder to describe comedy focussed matches than pure wrestling as it's akin to explaining the joke but suffice to say, you won't see a more joyous moment this week than Grado trying to put the Master Lock on Chris Masters. The finish came as Carlito when to spit apple at Grado but he dodged, the apple hit Masters, Cabana pulled Carlito out of the ring opening up Masters for an R-Grado out of naewaer for the pin. Not exactly complicated but just good, clean fun plus Colt and Grado turning up were a genuine surprise and an extremely pleasant one at that.

5 Star Championship // Jake Hager (c) def. Ryan Hunter // Submission

Hager came out first to introduce his opponent, AOW regular Ryan Hunter. This was the standard 'heel champion beats up a jobber but occasionally the jobber does something close to a move which pisses off the champion so he drags out the match to beat the piss out of his opponent' match with Hunter being massively over in a way that you almost felt they could have put the title on him that night and the crowd might not have complained. It went on far too long, all things considered as the crowd weren't into it at all. Hager hit the Ankle Lock for an easy tapout.

Joe Hendry def. Big Grizzly // Pinfall

This match happened because Dave Mastiff and Big Grizzly called out Joe Hendry for hiding behind the commentary desk, so, of course, Mastiff took over on commentary because nothing says 'I'm calling you out' like then not wrestling and instead taking his job. A quick match with Grizzly playing the big man heel and Hendry working underneath till he got a good comeback and shocked the crowd by getting a pin off a Fallaway Slam. Hendry, Grizzly and Mastiff have enough charisma to make this work but this didn't really feel like it achieved much, especially if Hendry is going to stay behind the commentary desk for the foreseeable future.

PJ Black def. Flash Morgan Webster // Pinfall

This was probably the evening's best singles action as the former 3-time WWE Tag Team Champion took on the current ATTACK! Champion is a fast paced bout full of the signature high-flying action that both men are known for. The main things that hurt this match were a lack of time but also that the short snippets of commentary they played in the arena suggested that this was meant to be building the story of plucky underdog Webster seeking his first win in 5 Star yet they put him against Black who was just as over, especially amongst one very vocal group of children. It's not that Webster wasn't able to build sympathy nor Black incapable of working a good subtle heelish performance, more that especially in the arena, a lack of crowd support for the chosen hero hurts the storytelling. Perhaps they could have come out before all the matches and told us who to cheer for, it would have made things easier. Black got the pinfall victory off a Lionsault.

5 Star Tag Team Championship // Charlie Sterling & Adam Maxted (C) def. Roy Knight & Zak Knight // Pinfall

If there's one thing that I hope comes from this 5Star tour, it's more bookings for Charlie Sterling and Adam Maxted as they work well together, really showing a lot of tag team fundamentals and heel characteristics that a lot of people forget. It probably helps that the Hooligans were probably the most over thing on this entire show, well, if judging by the row or two behind me who all were constantly doing the 'hoo-hoo-hooligans' chant and as that was directly in my ear, I can't tell about anything else. They worked a good, solid tag match, making the crowd believe that there was a chance that Norwich's finest might take home the belts and making them all the more upset that they lost their chance due to a surprise roll-up. I did feel oddly sorry for Maxted early on as the Knights seemed to be throwing some particularly stiff-looking shots his way but I guess that is their style. Not much to add but still impressive that this far into the show they were still getting responses as fatigue had set in for this writer somewhere around Jake Hager's title match. Before the match, Pure Dead Brilliant (Kid Fite, Lou King Sharp & Krieger) would invade the ring and talk about once again being deprived of a match and issued a challenge for a tag match before the Hooligans scared them off. The lack of booking for these lads is a really bizarre storyline as they were some of the talents brought to the Press Conference announcing the roster, quite similar to their limiting of Jack Jester to pre-show or not at all this week. In kayfabe, why do it?

Rey Mysterio & Rob Van Dam vs. Zack Gibson & Rampage Brown // No Contest

By this point, it became quite difficult to actually see what was going on from floor level as a hoard of replica mask-wearing children had surrounded the ring, leaning over the barricade to see two true legends of the sport. They also seemed interested in their opponents, some pair of former WWF guys I think. The match worked an odd structure as they seemed to let Rey Mysterio and Rob Van Dam make their opponents look like fools for the longest time before they were able to cut off the faces, twice, because both men wanted to have their hot tag sequence. What worked very well about this match was the psychology behind the heels approach as they could see the crowd were waiting for Rey and RVD to hit their finishers so they knew to wait for them to try and use that to cut them off, making the crowd wait and hate them more each time they delayed their gratification. The faces did work hard to make their opponents look good, Rey, even if he's not quite as quick as he used to be, still is a damn sight better than most and it was a treat to get to see him. Rampage is a sure hand and a great, vicious performer though it really can't be said enough, Gibson is the best thing about 5Star, with every little action he does being used to push forward his agenda, especially with little details like pointing out to the referee about his opponent's breaking rules before using it as a distraction to break some of his own. The finish was a fascinating clusterfuck as after Rampage had taken a 619 and a Five Star Frog Splash, Gibson would pull the ref out of the ring and knock him out before Max Money came in to beat down Rey and RVD but Irn Jew would come in to even the odds, this would lead to a No Contest in theory but it wasn't entirely clear as after they'd sent the heels packing, the faces just raised each others hands and left, no actual bell, no referee response, just a 'let's hear it for Rey and RVD, ok bye everyone'. This did however feature the best moment of the show as after clearing out the heels, RVD seemingly got a bit confused and superkicked Grado out of the ring before trying to go for him while Cabana did the 'Chris Pratt calms the velociraptors' pose. Hilarious stuff. This wasn't necessarily a bad finish to a match but certainly, not exactly the most exciting high-point upon which to end an episode. But if it leads to Cabana and Grado challenging for the tag titles, I'm all-in.

Also this Week

There were some on-screen promos from Hager where Ryan turned up and challenged him for the title in Plymouth next week, that mysterious masked man who screamed about wrestling next week, Nathan Cruz spoke about how he wasn't wrestling but was there anyway to pick up a cheque because he bought an expensive watch with his cheque from last week and something from RVD, Rey and Irn Jew where the sound cut out so who knows what was said? Something about Twixes, probably.

Finally...

As a product, 5Star still has a long way to go with a lot of the book representing the same errors that overly sacrificial WWE booking has suffered from. As an arena spectacle, it is plagued with technical issues and feels empty in the arena spaces as you can hear the sound travel to the back of the room and get lost there. As a spectacle of wrestling, it has enough talent in its roster to put on a good show with obvious standouts like Gibson, Ligero & Webster really showing their talents in a larger arena setting and even certain talents like Carlito and Chris Masters surprisingly really showing up this week. As a wrestling show clearly for a family audience, it's harder to say it's a complete failure. It doesn't quite translate to the television perhaps as well as might be hoped but there was a sense of palpable excitement amongst the kids who crowded around the barrier to watch their favourites like Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam and interestingly enough, Eddie Ryan. Perhaps this really isn't designed to be a product for us, the overly informed snarkastic fans of the internet, maybe it's purely for the kids who either don't know or are willing to overlook the lack of reality. I don't know, it's hard to hate something that's so clearly trying to push beyond what it's capable of in the present yet at the same time, there's a certain air of content 'that'll do' to the overall presentation that equally it's very difficult to love. Also, where was Haskins?

Written By Jozef Raczka // @NotJoeRaczka

5 Star Wrestling Review // 8th February 2018

5 Star Wrestling's show on FreeSports was back for a second week, this time seeing the promotion return to Newcastle at the Metro Radio Arena. This week's episode featured Jake Hager receiving a shot at John Morrison's 5 Star Wrestling Championship, Rey Mysterio facing 5 Star Tap or Snap Champion Mark Haskins in a non-title match and Rob Van Dam seeking to gain some revenge on Zack Gibson as the two faced off one-on-one. Last week's show had been poorly received by most, surely this week couldn't be worse? Lets take a look. 

*No pics yet unfortunately because 5 Star hasn't published any at time of posting.

Jake Hager interrupted Zack Gibson

then...

Rob Van Dam def. Zack Gibson // Disqualification 

then...

5 Star Wrestling Championship // Jake Hager def. John Morrison (C) // Submission 

This week's main story continued to push RevPro's Zack Gibson as the promotions top Brit, as he was all over the show. First, he had a verbal confrontation with Jake Hager [Jack Swagger] about Americans and what have you, before losing to Rob Van Dam via disqualification after pushing the referee and refusing to let go of the Shankly Gates whilst in the ropes and then inserting himself into the main event and inadvertently causing Hager to win the 5 Star title from John Morrison with the Patriot Lock. Gibson's promo was along similar lines as last week, a worked shoot type deal ripping into the company for giving American's preferential treatment. Calling potential opponents "washed-up" is questionable, but it's difficult to question the energy that Gibson brings to the show which is often lacking in other areas. Some of the content about promoter Daniel Hinkels having a weird obsession with Hager, brought out the former WWE star, who said some things about some thing, mostly ripping on Britain for being a shithole. Not quite sure what the aim of this thing was and the lack of back and forth hurt the segment on the whole. 

Gibson's match with Rob Van Dam was not good and it appeared like that had absolutely nothing to do with the efforts of Gibson. I'm not sure it even had anything to do with the efforts of RVD because he seemed willing, but seemingly not able to perform. Almost every move in the match looked awkward at best and laughably bad at worst, with Gibson having to work extra hard to get the former WWE Champion up for moves. There was the overhead arm drag/suplex situation that ended with both men sort of falling over leaving no real idea over who had actually hit the move and a monkey flip on the outside that lacked any power behind it whatsoever. A DQ finish is usually deflating, but here it felt like the match was being put out of its misery. It's sad to see RVD in this way at the moment and the fact that he's booked for future matches for 5 Star does not fill me with hope, especially when you can't even justify that he's a draw, because of the sheer amount of empty seats in the arena, including some front row on camera side. 

Continuing the trend of shitty finishes in top matches, the main event saw Jake Hager win the 5 Star Championship from John Morrison, after Zack Gibson interfered once the referee had been knocked down. Gibson introduced the 5 Star title belt into the fray and after Morrison had sent Gibson to the outside, Hager took advantage, clanging the belt off Morrison's knee, before locking in the Patriot Lock to become the second 5 Star Champion via submission. The finish was moderately exciting in a hot mess, car crash kind of way, but after a handful of screwy finishes on the show having another in the main event was major overkill. The rest of the match was solid, but dull, with a crowd seemingly uninterested by either guy and seemingly a number of extra empty seats where people had decided to go home. The overall story of Swagger having counters for a number of Morrison's signature moves was nice and there was a good sequence into the Hager Bomb (please Greg Lambert or Joe Hendry start calling it this). Hager is a decent technician, but for me lacks that special something that makes him capable of being the figure head of a company. 

Rey Mysterio def. Mark Haskins // Disqualification

For the second week in a row, Rey Mysterio won his match by disqualification. This week's match with PROGESS' Mark Haskins was heating up nicely before Rampage Brown appeared, attacking Mysterio for the DQ and nailing a piledriver in the ring. That's three matches discussed so far and the third screwy finish. I understand the need to build storylines with weekly shows, but if all the matches end in interference or DQ to make another match for the next week, that then has a similar finish, then why is anyone supposed to be expected to invest in this product? That wasn't the only issue as the match had been pushed throughout the show as for Haskins' Tap or Snap Championship, a submission only strap, with Lambert and Hendry pushing the idea that Mysterio wasn't known for his submission prowess. This was switched just as the competitors made their entrances, with no explanation and the commentary team forced to flounder to come up with any reason whatsoever for this happening. Considering the finish, I'm not quite sure why the match couldn't have been for the belt, with only a few changes needed. The action was actually pretty good, apart from a sloppy rana on the floor, with the two connected nicely for a number of Haskins' signature sequences, whilst lifting the pace nicely. Free of the oppressive booking, Haskins and Mysterio could have a memorable match. 

5 Star Tag Team Championship // Charlie Sterling & Adam Maxted def. El Ligero & Jody Fleisch // Pinfall

After two semi-finals last week, 5 Star crowned their first Tag Team Champions this week as OTT's Charlie Sterling & IPW:UK's Adam Maxted, teaming as Max Money, got a victory over Defiant's El Ligero & ICW's Jody Fleisch with their tag finish, the Flex Account (Mid-rope dropkick into a spinebuster). This opened the show and was a sound way to bring the audience in, with lots of action as Ligero & Fleisch stayed on top for almost the whole match. The opening sequence with Fleisch out-manoeuvring Sterling was super slick and there was also a number of sweet double team moves thrown out there, especially in the closing stages. The story that Sterling & Maxted's power wasn't enough to match Ligero & Fleisch's pace was well defined with Max Money eventually resorting to underhanded tactics to gain any form of control. At points it was a little rough around the edges and there's some polishing that needs to be done by both teams, but at least all four guys was trying to entertain the audience and worked hard throughout the contest. We later found out in an interview with So Cal Val, that Max Money with defend the belts against the debuting UK Hooligans, Roy Knight & Zak Knight, next week. There was no reason given to why Knight & Knight were receiving a shot at the titles. 

Primate on the Modcast

then...

Joey Axl def. Morgan Webster // Submission 

This week saw the debut of chat show segment "The Modcast", based around the fact that ATTACK!'s Morgan Webster has his own podcast, with Defiant's Primate making his debut as the guest, before Joey Axl interrupted. Axl brawled with both men, before being challenged to a match by Webster, that concluded with Axl picking up the submission win with the Ayers Rock Lock. The chat show did not go particularly well, especially watching at home, as the set was embarrassing and I learnt nothing about Primate except that he is from Newcastle and happy to be there. The angle where Axl brawled with both was fine, even if these use of the set (which include a rack of clothes and chairs supposedly from someone's breakfast bar) ended up looking a bit shit. Having Webster challenge Axl to a match gave the audience a reason to come back after the break and the match itself was alright. Webster looked good on offence and sells well, but Axl appeared a step or two off pace at times. If we're to see another Modcast on the show hopefully it's got a bit more structure to it and allows the subject more time to get over an actual character or sell an ongoing feud.

Carlito & Chris Masters def. Dave Mastiff & Big Grizzly // Pinfall 

The teams that lost their semi-finals on the Liverpool show went head to head in Newcastle, with The Masters of Cool, Carlito & Chris Masters, going over RevPro's Dave Mastiff & Southside's Big Grizzly after Carlito pinned Grizzly with the Backstabber. The highlights of this came with Mastiff & Grizzly in control of Masters, mostly a sequence of moves in the corner that concluded with a cannonball from Mastiff, with big lads bringing some chaotic energy to their offence. Carlito's hot tag was flat for me and most of the audience it seems with both Masters of Cool being poorly cast in the babyface role, whilst Grizzly appeared to actually murder 17 time WWC Universal Champion when hitting a rolling fireman's carry slam. Seriously, that move looked horrible here. Making the babyface casting even more baffling, the Masters of Cool got the win when Master spat apple in Grizzly's face, leading into the Backstabber. Neither of the ex-WWE lads did all that much for me when they were with the fed and they do even less for me in this role.

Eddie Ryan def. PJ Black // Pinfall

Another impressive performance from PWC's Eddie Ryan this week as he picked up the victory over PJ Black with in one of the stronger matches on the show, with a variation of the Air Raid Crash. The crowd was quiet for most of it, but Black worked well in the heel role and managed to start getting some reaction in the second half of the contest, even if babyface commentator Greg Lambert no sold the underhanded tactics and kept saying both men were playing fairly. The story of Black's experience giving him the upperhand over a naive opponent was simple but worked for getting Ryan over as he managed to over power Black with a series of lovely suplexes. Black also pulled out a cute springboard moonsault, recovering well from the loose ropes to nail a good looking version of the move. This was a big victory, who mostly works in the Southwest and he's beginning to show why he's earned his spot on the show. He's certainly someone I'd like to see more of on the strength and potential of his matches with Black and Hager over the last two weeks. Later in the show, Hager interrupted Ryan as he was being interviewed by So Cal Val and whilst Hager's words had no correlation to what Ryan had actually being saying and the segment itself was trash, it will be interesting to see if Ryan gets a shot at the belt and I'd say that match is pretty much a lock for when the show rolls into Plymouth in two weeks time. Towards the end of the match, Bram was seen clearly front row, but this wasn't mentioned by the comms team and nothing actually happened.

BT Gunn def. Nathan Cruz // Pinfall

BT Gunn picked up his first victory in 5 Star, with a small package win over Nathan Cruz in a solid contest, with a weak finish. Cruz had cut a rambling promo about professionalism before the match, calling out Joe Hendry and talking a lot about his arse being exposed last week. Cruz attacking Gunn before the bell made sense as he sought revenge for Gunn bearing his arse last week. Even if the storyline was pretty lame, at least there was a storyline. The wrestling was all satisfactory, with both getting a stellar near fall as the pair wrestling a couple of nice sequences that saw Gunn come close with a rolling flatliner, before Cruz almost picked up the win with a double knee facebreaker. It was a shame that the small package that got the win looked awful, with it being unclear who's shoulders were supposed to be on the mat, because the call-back with Gunn pulling Cruz' tights down only to reveal Cruz had remembered to wear underwear this week actually made me chuckle and a good finishes would've pushed the match towards the match of the night spot. Still, it was one of the better matches on the show.

Rampage Brown def. Moose // Referee Stoppage

The referee of Rampage Brown vs. Moose had an absolute nightmare at the finish and pretty much ruined what could've been an impactful angle as Lambert and Hendry scrambled to explain what was going on. Basically, Brown attacked Moose before the match and then continued the assault in the ring, the bell rang, Brown hit a piledriver and the match seemed to be done, until the referee wouldn't let Brown cover him. Brown hit another piledriver, the ref refusing to count the pin and then called for a no contest. It was an utter fucking mess. The explanation from commentary made things worse after the break, explaining that the referee didn't award the match to Brown because "he didn't feel like he deserved to win". Just no, stop it. Surely, what happens is that the referee stops the match before the first piledriver, when it was clear Moose was out on his feet and the commentary team were discussing concussions, which is then followed up by Brown hitting a piledriver, to make him look like a real bastard and even more of a bastard when he comes back to hit another one moments later. A few tweaks and there was a really good angle in this, but the attention was on the wrong details and the referee seeming to botch his moment killed it. 

Also This Week

- ICW's Kid Fite and PBW's Lou King Sharp and Krieger kicked off when they found out they weren't booked again from So Cal Val, before heading out to the arena only to be removed by security wearing lime green.

- For the second week running a bloke holding a gas mask was shown standing outside the arena menacingly.

ATPW Scale Rating // 3.3/10

BritWres to Impress // PROGRESS // ICW // FutureShock [Nov. '17 Wk. 3]

Hot diggity dog, ATPW's weekly preview of British Wrestling is back and we're not messing around! With so many mid-week shows, I felt it was silly to keep calling this Ready for the Weekend, so after a quick Twitter poll...welcome to BritWres to Impress! Each and every Monday we'll be taking a look at three of the biggest shows across the week and around the British Isles. This week we're focusing on PROGRESS Wrestling Live at the Dome on Wednesday (15th Nov.) at The Dome in London, Insane Championship Wrestling's double header with France '98 on Saturday (18th) at The Garage in Glasgow and the massive Fear and Loathing X on Sunday (19th) at the SSE Hydro in the same city and FutureShock Wrestling Uproar 97 on Sunday at Stockport Masonic Hall in Stockport, Greater Manchester. 

*Disclaimer - All cards are subject to change*

Also This Week  

Saturday // 4FW Live! // Thatcham, Berkshire // 4fw-online.com

Sunday // ATTACK! Pro Wrestling SRVRSRSLY (This Time It Really Isn't a PPV Tie-In Event) // Cardiff // SOLD OUT

Sunday // 4FW Live! // Portishead, North Somerset // 4fw-online.com

Wednesday // PROGRESS Wrestling Live at the Dome // The Dome, London // www.tickettailor.com/all-tickets/15857/eb5f

Hot off the heels of Chapter 57: Enter Smiling in Manchester, PROGRESS returns to the Dome on Wednesday with a card mixing up and comers with some of the promotions top stars. 

The biggest match on the card features someone who has had a change of heart in recent months, that man is Eddie Dennis. At Chapter 57, Dennis cost former tag team partner Mark Andrews his PROGRESS World Championship match and on Wednesday, Dennis will have his first match with the company since breaking up FSU at Chapter 55: Chasing the Sun. His opponent? The exciting and likeable Chuck Mambo. The gnarly ass pro wrestling surfer might not have the best singles record in PROGRESS, but with The Dome behind him and Dennis' mind elsewhere there's always a chance he could off an upset. The powerful and angry Dennis will have a point to prove and will be looking to back up the points he made in an emotional promo video released last month, whether this will translate to a victory is yet to be seen, but this clash of styles as power and aggression takes on speed and good vibes will no doubt end up being a thoroughly entertaining affair. 

The last show at The Dome, Revelations of Divine Love, featured a Women's tournament that would eventually be won by Charli Evans. The Women's action continues on Wednesday with a pair of intriguing matches. Tournament standout, Millie McKenzie takes on a returning Laura Di Matteo, who hasn't been seen in PROGRESS since losing a Women's Championship match at Chapter 52: Vote Pies in July. The two have a similar intense style and with both women looking to make cases for future appearances, the bout has a boat-load of potential. Coming off a Chapter debut on Sunday, but still without a win to her name, Candyfloss takes on the debuting Nina Samuels, who is seen most regularly in Pro Wrestling: EVE. Whoever comes out on top will be walking away with their first win for PROGRESS and with the Women's roster getting more competitive each and every month, now is certainly the time to start chalking up some Ws! The two have met previously in EVE and Battle Pro Wrestling this year with Samuels currently 2-0 to the good.

The theme of returns continues when Damon Moser faces off with Roy Johnson. Both men are Projo trained but have made limited appearances in 2017 and will be looking to do everything to make sure that isn't the case in 2018. Expect this first time ever clash to be a rough and tumble scrap between two men with a point to prove. Elsewhere on the card, The Bhangra Knights (RJ Singh & Darrel Allen) are back to face the undefeated duo of Big T. Justice and the OJMO, whilst in further tag team action Connor Mills tags with Maverick Mayhew against Never Say Die (Alex Cupid & Dillion D'Angelo).

Saturday // Insane Championship Wrestling France '98 // Glasgow // ticketmaster.co.uk/search?tm_link=tm_header_search&user_input=ICW&q=ICW

Sunday // Insane Championship Wrestling Fear and Loathing X // Glasgow // ticketmaster.co.uk/search?tm_link=tm_header_search&user_input=ICW&q=ICW

The night before the massive Fear and Loathing X at the SSE Hydro, ICW have a taping of their Fight Club series, interestingly named France '98. With the biggest show of the year literally right around the corner, there's a chance that everything could break down! Nowhere is that more evident than the waiver signing that will take place for the much anticipated King of Insanity Death match. Just one night before they step into what is being promoted as one of the most dangerous matches in history, for a company that has made on a name on presenting gritty and violent professional wrestling, Jimmy Havoc, Mikey Whiplash, Chris Renfrew and Stevie Boy will all be at The Garage and chances are the night won't end with them all 100% heading into Sunday! 

The card is littered with intriguing match-ups, but the one that stands out for me is El Ligero's return to the promotion for the first time since 2013, to take on Kenny Williams. The pair are known for their high-pace, action-packed offence, so this should be an exciting clash that sets up Williams for his high profile encounter the following night. Elsewhere, Ravie-Davie has a chance to earn some payback and a spot in a #1 Contenders Ladder match at The Hydro as he faces Bram, the ICW Women's Championship match from the Hydro is previewed as champion Kay Lee Ray teams with the debuting Katie Forbes to battle her two challengers Viper and Kasey Owens in tag team action, Stevie Boy pulls double duty teaming with Filthy Generation teammates Aspen Faith & Lewis Girvan against The Kinky Party (Jack Jester & Sha Samuels) and Jody Fleish in a match featuring an intriguing array of talent, The Marauder's Iestyn Rees battles Aaron Echo, whilst new group The Fite Network (Krieger & Lou King Sharp, with Kid Fite) take on a team who have built momentum in the second half of 2017, Krobar and Stevie James, The Purge.  Then there's the small matter of the first ever Carlos Vanderama Invitational Battle Royal.

Onto Fear and Loathing X, the biggest show promoted by a British wrestling company in 2017. There's a reason I decided to bring back weekly previews this week! After last years event offered spectacle by the barrel load, but lacked an in-ring punch, this years card looks to marry the two concepts. 

With three former WWE Champions on hand, the show also combines homegrown talent with major household names. Kevin Nash will be appearing, with the founding nWo member acting as guest commissioner for the show the chances for shenanigans are high. Nash will be joined by Cruiserweight pioneer Rey Mysterio Jr., in only his second appearance in Scotland since leaving WWE. Mysterio goes one on one with ICW's own Kenny Williams. Williams has never lost at Fear & Loathing, but has also never had a match as a high profile as this one. It'll be youth vs. experience here, as Mysterio looks to wind back the clock one more time and Williams looks to continue building a name for himself. Also appearing, for the first time in Scotland outside of WWE and TNA, is the "Whole F'n Show" Rob Van Dam, who will collide with Lionheart and Zack Gibson in an eclectic three way dance. The feud between Lionheart and Gibson lit up quickly with Gibson beating Lionheart at Eleven in Edinburgh last month, with Liverpool's Number One demanding that he be added to the contest. With Gibson getting his wish after goading his rival repeatedly, this has the potential to be a very heated affair, something which RVD is very familiar with. A win for either Lionheart or Gibson would propel them into the title picture, but their dislike towards each other may end up costing them the opportunity on the grandest stage in British wrestling.

The biggest match for ICW regulars has to be the clash between Joe Coffey and BT Gunn, with both Coffey's World Heavyweight Championship and Gunn's Zero G Championship on the line. After defeating Trent Seven at Barramania III in April, aligning himself with Red Lighting, Coffey has gone through a who's who in title defences, picking up victories over Kassius Ohno, Colt Cabana, Pete Dunne, Moose, Joe Hendry and more. BT Gunn has been on a similar roll in the Zero G Division, since receiving a shot at the WWE United Kingdom Championship at Shug's Hoose Party 4 - Day 1 in July, going on to win the Zero G belt the following day. Since then Gunn has retained against the likes of Jimmy Havoc, Jody Fleisch, Wolfgang, Jordan Devlin and James Drake. The two have clashed multiple times in ICW, as well as WhatCulture Pro Wrestling and Target Wrestling, but never has so much been on the line. This should be a barn-burner.

Jimmy Havoc. Mikey Whiplash. Chris Renfrew. Stevie Xavier. One of these men will walk out of the Hydro with the title of King of Insanity. There's been a weaving and dark story being told involving all four men at various points on Fight Club, but whether that will matter once they step into the ring on Sunday is anyone's guess. What will matter is that these four are known for their risk-taking, their willingness to inflict and take pain,  their cringe-inducing violence and that's what to expect here. The idea that a death match is taking place in a building like the Hydro is a tantalising prospect and knowing these four, this will be something that people won't be forgetting in a hurry.

Elsewhere on the show,  Kay Lee Ray will defend her ICW Women's Championship against Kasey Owens and Viper, as the three women step inside a steel cage for the first time in company history, The Marauders (Wild Boar & Mike Bird) put their ICW Tag Team Championships up against Polo Promotions (Jackie Polo & Mark Coffey), the odd-couple Kinky Party (Sha Samuels & Jack Jester) clash with The Kings of Catch (Aspen Faith & Lewis Girvan) and Bram, DCT, Jody Fleish, Joe Hendry, Aaron Echo and Kid Fite battle it out in a Ladder match for a future title shot.
KLR vs. Kasey vs. Viper.

Sunday // FutureShock Wrestling Uproar 97 // Stockport, Greater Manchester // futureshockwrestling.co.uk/upcoming.html

In August, Ashton Smith won the FutureShock Championship at 13th Anniversary SuperShow in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, defeating Zack Gibson, that same night former champion Tyson T-Bone put his feud with Rampage Brown to bed by winning a Trailer Park Street Fight. In September, during a presentation ceremony, Smith declared that he'd defend the Championship against anyone the fans thought deserved it, this bought out T-Bone, who after a short confrontation landed a headbutt on the champion, leaving Smith on the mat as he held the title that he held between September 2015 and April last year above his head. The two met in June with Smith coming out with the win, after an appearance from Rampage Brown, but with the title on the line will the result be the same? Or will Smith lose the title at the first time of asking? 

It seems like it's a good weekend for returns for El Ligero. After Travis Banks had to pull out, Ligero was drafted in as his replacement in a FutureShock Adrenaline Championship match against Xander Cooper. The last time Ligero stepped into a FutureShock ring was over seven years ago at FutureShock 48 and in that time away it's safe to say that the El Ligero in 2017 is a whole different beast. Xander Cooper, however, took the title from current WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne in September and has been known to enjoy an underhanded tactic or two, to keep a championship belt around his waist. "The Man For All Seasons" and "The Mexican Sensation" have clashed in Preston City Wrestling and Full House Wrestling previously and their clash of styles should produce a tremendous encounter for the Stockport faithful. 

Another change to the originally announced card, sees Chris Ridgeway replace Zack Gibson in a contest against James Drake. It's a shame that the original stipulation of Gibson potentially losing his championship deposit has been lost, but that doesn't mean that this bout won't be just as physical. Ridgeway is yet to taste victory in FutureShock and Drake has been on a downward spiral after winning the Lotto Thunder Tournament in July, so that might just produce the most ferocious contest, from two competitors known for their unforgiving ferocity. No matter who leaves with their hand held high, expect both "Smash Mouth" and "Mr. Mayhem" to leave a mark on each other.

Elsewhere on the show Don Meacho is looking for revenge on Cyanide and the Legacy Tournament begins as "Deadly" Damon Leigh faces Joey Hayes and Danny Hope goes one on one with Abel Stevens in two First Round clashes. 

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Until next week!

Article by James Marston 

iPPV Review: PCW Tribute to the Troops 3 - Samuels v Galloway (James Marston)

It was a historic night for European wrestling as PCW presented the first iPPV event to be broadcast in HD. With 3000 fans on hand at the Preston Guild Hall and their usual mix of imported and home-grown talent, could PCW host a show to match this history making feat? Let's see.

Drew Galloway challenging for Sha Samuels' PCW Championship acted as the show's main event, with Galloway having earned his title shot earlier in the month in a ten man gauntlet at PCW's regular venue, Evoque. The first few minutes would involve some interesting pieces of booking as Samuels' faction, The Firm (The London Riots & Sammy Smooth) would end up getting removed from the ringside area for continual interference. This would be followed by ring announcer and Co-General Manager, Joanna Rose, announcing that she'd "just been informed" that the match was now a "No Disqualification". I struggled to work out the logic of having The Firm removed from ringside to then have the match declared No DQ before they'd even made it behind the curtain. Surely, The Firm just turn straight back around and head to the ring at this point? 

Galloway and Samuels would seem like a good fit inside the ring and when they got the chance to get at it, they did manage to show just a slice of what they are capable of. The duo brawling around the crowd was a difficult thing for the PCW cameras to pick up, especially with the seemingly poor lighting of the guild hall, but what could be seen looked like a lot of fun as the two really went for each other. There was a great sequence of action inside the ring also, perhaps the best piece of wrestling on the entire show as well, where Galloway would pull off a butterfly suplex out of the tree of woe position, before Samuels would duck a Claymore Kick attempt, only to leave himself wide open for piledriver from Galloway for a strong near fall. 

The closing part of the contest played up the No DQ element with The Firm finally coming back out and Samuels nailing a low blow on Galloway. There were a lot of twists and turns with Galloway able to take out both The London Riots and Sammy Smooth with a tope conhilo, before escaping the aforementioned sleeper hold. Galloway got a strong reaction for his near fall off a Tombstone Piledriver, which seemed to have convinced Preston that the match was over. After such a strong near fall, I was hoping to get a stronger finish that would manage to push the bout to the next level, instead Samuels simply locked in another sleeper hold to claim the victory, which felt just a little flat to me. 

Lots of things would happen after that and eventually we'd see Noam Dar win the PCW Championship for the first time, fresh from competing in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic in Orlando. The last part of the show was a real clusterfuck, with The Firm attacking Galloway, T-Bone, Bubblegum and The Hooligans would make the save, before PCW owner Steven Fludder would get on the mic and demand a re-start, also adding Dar to the match. Firstly, Fludder said he didn't want a "screwjob" finish on his first iPPV, when there wasn't actually a screwjob finish. Then I don't quite get the kayfabe logic of bringing Dar out after the first match had taken place. Dar would win by locking the Champagne Super Knee Bar on Samuels, whilst Samuels had a sleeper hold on Galloway. 

Oh my life, The Hooligans vs. The New Age Assholes was a painful 25 minutes of television. 25 minutes. 25 minutes. But the match itself was way under five. So what exactly happened the rest of the time? I don't even know. My notes say "much dicking around". That's about right. Mr. Anderson dicked about for a bit, Billy Gunn dicked about for a bit and The Hooligans dicked about a lot. There was a lot of dicking about. Anderson and Gunn somehow even managed to make the combination of their pre-match schtick painful to watch as they both dragged it on for forever. Having come directly after a non-wrestling segment, to have this much fannying around was more than frustrating. 

It was great news to find out the Zak Knight can do a back flip, despite being by his own admission "fat". It would have been better news if he did it in the match and that this didn't lead to everyone else in the bout going to the top rope to pretend to do a moonsault. This was after the Hooligans had aimlessly wandered around ringside drinking beer and looking like The Bushwackers if the Bushwackers were from Norwich. I've seen these guys put in great performances in the ring for PCW, but I'd much prefer to see them focus on what they do in the ring than whatever this was. Maybe it came across better in the hall, but this kind of thing is not well suited to iPPV. 

So, after so much stalling, the match itself would be good right, right? Think again squire, the match was probably worse than all the stalling. I'd have preferred everyone in the building to have tried to do a backflip than watch this match again. The finish was perhaps the only notable piece of action as Roy hammed it up, with wobbly legs and such, en route to falling between Anderson legs, before Gunn would deliver a Famouser. I don't think my description does justice to just how bad this was to watch. The Hooligans would go on to win with a school boy roll up on Gunn, taking advantage of the shenanigans. This was everything I've ever complained about PCW for, tied up in one match. 

Rob Van Dam continued his undefeated record in PCW, making his first appearance since April 2015, to defeat Lionheart in a solid encounter. This was the case of a fairly simple bout, that was done well, with the crowd being at their loudest for the entire night. The duo kept things simple, with RVD able to run through a number of his back catalogue of moves, first as part of the opening face shine and then later en route to sealing his victory with the Five Star Frog Splash. It wasn't particularly exciting as home viewing, but I'm sure it fulfilled most of the fans in attendances needs in an RVD bout. 

I've been fairly critical of Lionheart in the past, but he played his role well here, allowing the crowd to get their hit from the RVD bong and putting in a good showing when called up to go on the offence. He looked vicious on the attack, throwing RVD into the ringpost multiple times to add a bit of urgency to what was a fairly pedestrian bout in general. This was arguably the best booked contest of the night, making the most of it's two competitors and showing up their strengths well. Whilst RVD remains undefeated in the company, Lionheart has now lost six matches out of seven over the last three month for PCW.

For me, the best action of the night could be found in a three way bout between Toni Storm, Carmel Jacob and the debuting Saraya Knight. The three women produced a hard-hitting clash, with some big impressive moves and plenty of action. Kicking off with a lovely German Suplex from Storm, we'd go on to a fisherman's suplex from Knight onto the wooden floor, a nice suicide dive from Storm onto her two opponents and a nasty looking rope-hung DDT from Knight and Jacob to the outside. 

The match did at times feels a little bit disjointed and despite having some cool moments of action, I felt it struggled to buckle down and hit it's stride. This wasn't helped by Knight constantly jumping the barrier to get into it with fans. Perhaps this was due to how the show was presented on iPPV, but there was more than once when we'd miss what was going on in the ring to see Knight throw some beer over a fan. This got even weirder when following Storm being able to pin Jacob for the victory, we'd see Knight jump the barrier again to snog a fan before pushing him to the floor and covering him in booze. I'm all for getting involved with the crowd to generate heat, but this felt like it was to detriment of the action, rather than improving it.

One of the matches that I was most looking forward to on this card was Team Single vs. London Riots as I'm a big fan of both teams and thought that their styles would suit each well and bring us a brutal tag match, with both teams beating strips off each other. On that count I came away feeling a little disappointing with the action. The two teams didn't seem to connect inside the ring as I was hoping they would, with the final few minutes of the match especially ending up in a bit of a mess. T-Bone slipping in a coast to coast attempt, with his opponent in a tree of woe position, before repeating the spot a few moments later was particular let down. 

Where I think the match could have been saved was an early piece of story-telling that seemed to be thrown away way too soon. Rampage Brown would go for a piledriver on the wooden ramp, only to have the move reversed and take a painful looking back-body drop onto the wood. The London Riots could then take advantage of T-Bone and begin to control the match. I was beginning to get into this idea and was hoping we'd get to see some real moments of drama as Brown looked to recover, whilst T-Bone had to fight against both Rob Lynch and James Davis, therefore allowing the crowd to get more and more behind the babyfaces. Unfortunately, Brown seemed to recover way too quickly and the hot tag didn't feel as exciting as it should. Team Single would retain their belt after T-Bone hit an awkward dragon suplex and Brown closed the deal with a piledriver.

The opening contest would be a four corners match with Martin Kirby, Charlie Garrett, Sammy Smooth and Bubblegum all squaring off. This was a tasty start to the show with the four men working hard to produce some pacy action that would warm the hall up nicely. The bout started off slowly, mainly focusing on introducing the face/heel divide as we saw Kirby and Smooth align with each other as Garrett and Bubblegum attempted to fight passed their underhanded tactics. It took a while to really get going, but I feel it was worth it to get the live crowd settled and accustomed to the show style. 

There was some nice exchanges in the latter half of the contest, as the match became saturated with near falls. There was a clever moment where Kirby was unable to complete a tower of doom spot, so had to call upon his tag partner, Joey Hayes, to help him, with Hayes distracting the referee, Joel Allen, by throwing his chest protector into the ring. Hayes would later play apart in the finish, as Garrett would attempt to chase him from interfering in the bout, causing the distraction that would allow Bubblegum to hit a 619 and then a beautiful Shooting Star Press to claim the victory. Based on his performance in the match, I was more than happy when I saw Bubblegum get the win, as he had been the matches MVP in my eyes, pulling out the best looking offence and looking very crisp in everything he did.

So, it was supposed to be Joe Hendry vs. Joey Hayes, but it turned into Joe Hendry and some guy off Britain's Got Talent and Joey Hayes and Martin Kirby. It was bad. Very bad. Firstly, I had no idea who the heels were supposed to be. Kirby and Hayes had been heels in the Four Corners match earlier in the night, but Hendry was singing and bringing out talent show contestants. The Britain's Got Talent fella even did some singing of his own, trying to get the crowd to sing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's theme, but with the tune being so unrecognisable from the original, I doubt the crowd could even work out what it was. This is a guy that won a competition for singing. Hendry and his BGT friend would win the match after throwing Hayes and Kirby into each other. Yeah. Yeah. 

Chris Masters also made his return to PCW to answer Iestyn Rees' "AlphaLock Challenge". Basically, Rees had been playing a Masters rip-off gimmick and Masters was back to claim it for his own. Masters at least bought some intensity to proceedings as he tried to get at Rees, I suppose. I wasn't a major fan of Masters last babyface run in PCW, so I didn't really get much out of this segment, as he would go on to batter Rees for hesitating to much in putting the AlphaLock on. At least, I got to shout "Dave Rayne" in a room on my own, as Rayne would be the one to re-introduce his former Legion of Boom partner to the promotion.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.24/10

Yup, that's the lowest score I've given for a Brit-Wres show. Only Halloween Havoc 1998 currently sits lower on the ATPW Scale leader board. This show was not a good showcase for British Wrestling and I do hope that anybody who was checking out their first Brit-Wres show on PPV hasn't been turned off by the shambles that was Tribute to the Troops.

All credit to PCW for trying something new with the iPPV gimmick and the stream was reliable and clear throughout the show. Plus I suppose for £3 for the iPPV and most tickets being free, I guess there is a case to be made for "You get what you pay for here". However, with a huge crowd in attendance and the chance of a whole new audience online, I can't help but feel that PCW should have gone all out and put on at least one match that would create a buzz.

There is a specific market that an online PPV will play to and therefore that market needs to be catered to when choosing this business model. I'd like to think of myself as part of that market (well I bought the show, so I am), but this show definitely wasn't for me.