Event Review: ROH Reach For The Sky Show 2 - The Young Bucks v Marty Scurll & Will Ospreay

On 19th November, Ring of Honor headed to Leicester, England for the very first time for the stop two of the Reach for the Sky Tour at the Leicester Community Sports Arena. The show was main event by The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) defending the World Tag Team Championships against "The Villain" Marty Scurll & World Television Champion Will Ospreay, whilst old rivals reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) and The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) met two on two for the first time in two years and World Champion Adam Cole was opposite Chris Sabin. The likes of The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian), Alex Shelley, Joe Hendry, Dalton Castle and Lio Rush were all featured on the undercard. 

Venue & Crowd - It was my first time at the Leicester Community Sports Arena and I was impressed with the venue itself, which had a great set-up, but it was probably a little too big for this particular event. Whilst there was a relatively sizable crowd, around half of the bleachers were covered and there was plenty of empty seats. Leicester seemed like a slightly odd choice when only running three shows in England and perhaps the event would have drawn better in Birmingham. The crowd on hand though was a lively and appreciative bunch for the most of the event and I get the feeling that this may have been many people's first ever show, as a lot of the earlier matches were getting big pops for relatively simple things. There were a few people heckling at points, which ranged from mildly funny to rude and then homophobic. There's no place for that at wrestling show or anywhere else. 

The main event saw The Young Bucks retain their World Tag Team Champions over World Television Champion Will Ospreay and "The Villain" in a must-see spectacular. This match could have easily been a let down, because fan expectations were so high. I never should have doubted these four gentleman as they delivered one of the silliest spectacles that I've seen this year. This was advertised as a "Dream Match" and it had pretty much everything that you'd want to see as the four personalities collided. There were superkicks from Nick and Matt, there was faux superkicks and villainous antics from Marty and there was flips and tricks from Will. That's is, of course, a horrendous over simplification of how this match played out, because there was so much more that went into it, but it was on these pre-established traits that the rest of the match would orbit around. All the trademark moments that one would expect from the two teams came flying out at breakneck speed, in a style that one might associate more with Reseda, California than Leicester, East Midlands! 

The final stretch of the contest brought together a number of elements that had been introduced throughout the bout as the Young Bucks went for their Meltzer Driver on Scurll for the second time in the match, with Ospreay managing to meet a Jackson on the top rope, but instead of the forearm that The Aerial Assassin used earlier in the match, he pulled out a rana, that sent the Jackson straight into the Meltzer Driver. Like what the fuck? How does that even happen? These guys are made of magic or some shit. If that description doesn't make much sense it's probably because it's not actually physically possible and it was a mass hallucination. That's kind of how I felt watching this entire match. Like none of what these four blokes did was actual real. Too much silliness. How? This was just a glimpse at the potential of Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay in ROH. Imagine what kind of stuff they'll be able to do once the Villain and Aerial Assassin characters are firmly entrenched within the storytelling potential that the companies set-up allows for. 

reDRagon remained The Briscoes bogie team as Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly walked out victorious in the first 2v2 meeting between the teams in almost two years. This was a good solid, face v face tag encounter, that went twenty minutes and never outstayed it's welcome. After some initial comedy from Fish bumping off Mark's redneck kung-fu, the match settled into a nice pace that displayed a number of different styles that the four are capable of. There was hard strikes, smooth transitions, some scrappy brawling and some tough submission work. These two teams could have good matches with each other with their eyes closed and with an arm or two tied behind their back. There's clearly a level of understanding between all four, best seen in the swift sequence between Mark and O'Reilly, where Jay came seemingly out of nowhere with a Death Valley Driver.

Where the match didn't quite reach it's full potential for me was that as soon as things seemed to be heading into the next gear, that sense of momentum that the contest had was halted because The Young Bucks were out on the entrance ramp. It was cool to see these shows get brought into the ongoing stories of the promotion, as Young Bucks and The Briscoes will clash on 2nd December with the straps on the line, but there's no doubt that a more exciting finishing stretch could have been created without the distraction. That lack of top gear held the match back from living up to the potential that I think many had expected it to cash in on. Twenty minutes is a long time to invest into a contest that features all the important action in it's last few minutes and it was hard not to come away from this feeling like it could have been much more than it was.

Adam Cole successfully defended the World Championship against Chris Sabin in a paint-by-numbers clash, that displayed both just well enough to satisfy. The opening exchange perhaps offered the best action of the contest as the pair went back and forth in a number of mirror image spots that concluded with a pair of enziguiris. From there the match came along nicely, taking stops at Cole's Figure Four Leg Lock and rolling through a couple of near falls, but nothing seemed to stay long to create an overall arc for the bout, beyond that initial exchange. There were hints that it could move onto another level, with a gear changing sequence of superkicks and lariats and both men got a solid near fall on the other as Sabin came close with Cradle Shock, whilst Cole seemed to have things done and dusted with a Panama Sunrise. 

There was, of course, one problem that the pair were always going to struggle to overcome and that was that Cole was clearly never going to lose, especially with the title on the line. When you've got a crowd as savvy as the ROH audience tends to be, that can take a little bit of the energy out of an audience and that can in turn take a little bit of energy out of the match itself. Sabin hasn't had the most fruitful time as a singles competitor in ROH lately, losing his last three singles bouts to Frankie Kazarian, Colt Cabana and Jay Lethal, so it was always clear that this was nothing but a "warm-up" bout for Cole's clash with Lethal in London the next night. Whilst the story managed to wrap itself up nicely, with Cole having to resort to a low blow to set up his victory with the Last Shot, I never felt like I could fully buy into it and therefore always felt at least one step removed from what was going on in the ring.

The Addiction's victory over the make-shift tandem of Dalton Castle and Delirious lead me to write such notes as "Just Fun" and "Japes" and that probably tells you how this match went down. The clash wouldn't have looked out of place on an Attack! Pro Wrestling show as Daniels, Kazarian, Castle, Delirious and even referee Todd Sinclair got involved in some mad chicanery, that the crowd ate it up. Seeing Sinclair throwing out a hip toss felt even more bizarre, because it came from a company like ROH, which isn't particularly known for it's funnies. Castle attempting to instigate fisticuffs by shouting "Fight. Fight. Fight" as if on a primary school playground popped me in a place I didn't know it was possible to be popped. However, when things did get more serious, the athletic performance level was there to back up the comedic performance level. Castle's hot tag sequence and the double teams from The Addiction were just the final flurry that the match needed with the wonderful Best Meltzer Ever (Double jump moonsault spike kneeling reverse piledriver) acting as the proverbial cherry.

In the opener, Jay White remained undefeated one on one with a victory over newcomer Joe Hendry, in a solid, yet unspectacular encounter. After the initial excitement of Hendry's theme getting an ROH remix, the clash struggled to grip me throughout it's earlier exchanges and whilst nothing was particularly bad, there was nothing to get the crowd pumped up. I felt like this match needed someone to grab hold of it and create a sense of direction for it. The pair remained more or less babyfaces throughout the entire contest and whilst there were glimpses of Hendry's overbearing "Local Hero" character coming through, this match was in desperate need of someone to take control and grab the audience. Things picked up towards the finish, with White hitting a tasty suicide dive and as well as Hendry catching White coming off the top rope into Freak of Nature (Fallaway Slam). There's potential for these two have a better match in a different environment, with both more settled into their ROH roles, but whilst it was probably a bit too long and out of place as the opener, there's no doubt that this was a decent, watchable bout, by two competitors who will only continue to grow over the next few years. 

Jay Lethal was victorious over Alex Shelley in a good match, that was the first meeting between the two since 2009. It was surprisingly Lethal's first victory over Shelley in ROH, after Shelley won the previous two bouts in 2004. The bout was structured well, with Lethal constantly attempting to hit a suicide dive, with Shelley always having an answer and eventual being able to take complete control of the match. The build towards that move was some of the best use I've seen of the move, especially considering that there were plenty others across the rest of the evening. The two looked extremely comfortable in the ring together, perhaps too much so as there were time where it felt like Lethal and Shelley were quite happy to go through the motions here. When you've got two men as talented and experienced as Lethal and Shelley, that still produces an enjoyable contest, but I definitely got the feeling this wasn't the best effort from either. 

Coming seemingly out of nowhere, Donavon Dijak's victory over Lio Rush, was a ridiculous match, that got the crowd to their feet after ten minutes of excitement and innovation. This was the best match that I've seen out of either man, as they took the power v speed dynamic and ran with it. Despite the lighting rig trying it's best to take the spotlight (geddit?) from them, Rush and Dijak put together some breath taking sequences, whilst also showing that they had the simple stuff on a lock as well. Dijak lobbing Rush around the ring was almost as entertaining as Rush's speedy spots! The exploration of the big man v small man trope was where the match took things to the next level, as Dijak showed he was prepared to take to the sky with a stunning moonsault to the outside, whilst Rush went toe to toe with Dijak on the apron and then hit a ridiculous Spanish Fly off the apron! Having Rush attempt to beat the man who was over a foot taller than him by countout was an astute piece of booking. I feel like everyone in the audience came away with a higher regard for both men than they had when they walked in. If you get the chance to see this, do it.

Before the Delirious/Castle v The Addiction match got underway, there was some comedy japes from everyone involved as Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian attempted to get Delirious to join their stable, by offering a pair of shoes. This was five minutes of pure wonderfulness as the foursome molded their gimmicks together to create some laugh out loud comedy. The Addiction played their part down to a tee, as Delirious uttered non-nonsensical replies and the pair attempted to translate. By the end of the exchange, that concluded with Castle uttering the immortal line "Shoes? Where we're going we don't need shoes", the match between the two teams felt more important than it had before hand and everyone involved had had a jolly good time. Can't complain with that!

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 7.05/10

Beyond perhaps appearances from ACH or War Machine this event had pretty much every ROH talent that I wanted to see on it, so that's always going to be a major positive. In terms of wrestling quality, the main event was straight up silly and managed to live up to expecations, whilst Donavon Dijak v Lio Rush seemed to take everyone by surprise also. The Castle/Delirious v The Addiction contest offered something completely different, but remained entertaining throughout. For the most part, the rest of the card produced some good action, but mainly struggled to either live up to expectation and didn't hit the top level that you'd expect from of the individuals involved. 

In A Sentence - A brilliant main event, a sleeper classic and some entertaining comedy surrounded by a lot of good, but ultimately forgettable wrestling.

Match of the Night - Young Bucks v Scurll/Ospreay 

Review - James Marston

Live Review: PCW/ROH SuperShow of Honor II - Show 2

After putting on a good show to open the SuperShow of Honor weekend, PCW and ROH looked to build on that with the 2nd event. Held at the Evoque Nightclub in Preston, Lancashire from 1pm on 28th November 2015, the show featured Jay Lethal defending his ROH World Heavyweight title against Doug Williams in the main event, as well as Noam Dar facing Cedric Alexander, Dave Mastiff defending the PCW Heavyweight Championship against Silas Young and five more matches involving the likes of reDRagon, Adam Cole, Dalton Castle, Martin Kirby and Roderick Strong. But could the 2nd show live up to the first...Let's find out.


If the crowd needed waking up for the early afternoon bell-time, then the Six way clash featuring Kenny King, Bubblegum, Dave Rayne, ROH World Television Champion Roderick Strong, El Ligero and Charlie Garrett, was the match to do it. The fast-paced, spot-based action never let up with numerous dives, flips and tricks, whilst also taking some time to venture into something a little more comedic usually provided by Rayne. Two stand-out moments for me were a sound back and forth sequence between Bubblegum and El Ligero, harking back to their Triple Threat bout the night before, and Dave Rayne hitting pretty much everyone with a cutter, which the crowd lapped up. When Roddy Strong walked out with the victory following a Sick Kick to Rayne, the crowd had remained lively throughout and were more than warmed up for the rest of the afternoon's action. 


Before the bell even rang for Dalton Castle's clash with Sha Samuels, the duo had had the crowd in stitches. The two characters made for a perfect combination and both men hammed up their performances to make the most of their limited interaction together. There were some splendid ad-libs from both, garnering many a chuckle from the crowd, who had been quick to warm to Castle in what was only his 2nd appearance for PCW. It's a shame that these two aren't part of the same promotion regularly, as a long running feud would have some real potential. 

Bell to bell the action was fairly short, but was essentially just a continuation of what we'd seen between Sha Samuels and Dalton Castle before the match officially began. With plenty of character based comedy, used to drive the storytelling, the contest had a lot of heart and was tremendously easy to watch. Samuels action was smoother than we'd seen the night before and Castle managing to get to the ropes a number of times whilst in the Sleeper hold was a simple and effective way of keeping the crowd hyped for the babyface Castle, whilst continuing to keep Samuels' looking strong. 

Ashton Smith had a real opportunity to show-off his skills against one of the finest wrestlers in the world next, in what was arguably the 26 year old Brit's biggest match in a PCW ring. Cole always being a step a head of Smith made up the back-bone of the contest, with the story playing off the experience difference between the two. Smith was given just enough offence in to allow him to look capable of surprising Cole, meaning that the Interracial Love member came out of the match all the better for being a part of it. His no-sell into Yurinogi sequence was brilliantly done and got a nice reaction out of the crowd on the near fall. It would seem like Smith is being positioned for a run with the Cruiserweight belt, as he was allowed to look like credible contender here, despite falling to defeat. A rematch down the line would surely be greatly received.

After his main event loss to Jay Lethal the night before, Noam Dar found himself in action against Cedric Alexander on Show 2. In what would be the longest contest on the show, the pair connected well to produce some quality technical wrestling in the early going, keeping a steady pace. Despite the quality of the wrestling, there was one thing that everyone came away with from this contest...the ONE chant. Basically, Dar and Alexander ran through a series of roll-ups and pinning combinations each of which would earn them a one count, with a young looking referee seemingly thrown by the situation. The chant would be adopted by the Preston faithful and become a major part of the rest of the weekend.


The pace began to lift throughout the bout, with the action gradually becoming more serious and harder hitting as the contest went on. A series of forearm trades was particularly impressive in their execution. The finishing sequence was incredibly smooth also, with the two going back and forth with a number of reversals, before Dar caught Alexander as he attempted an enziguiri and managed to lock in the Champagne Super Knee Bar for the submission victory. Dar locking in the submission got a big reaction, which almost certainly had something to with it being the focus of the main event contest the night before, and the fluidity of the transition was splendid. 


Oh sweet sweet, Kyle O'Reilly. Bless your cotton socks, fella. The reDRagon member came out looking a little bit worse for wear, for the teams Four Corners bout for the PCW Tag Team Championships with Team Single, War Machine and Martin Kirby and Joey Hayes. Undoubtedly the highlight of the lengthy pre-match entrances, the state of O'Reilly got a hearty chuckle from the crowd, who continued to chant for their newly adopted son. If you'd have wondered up to the bar the night previously, during Chris Brooker and Billy Kirkwood's comedy gig, you'd have known exactly what killed off Kyle for his first match on Saturday.

The bout itself played off this element well, with Kyle O'Reilly struggling to hit a number of moves, in a comical fashion and being helped by partner Bobby Fish a number of times, whilst the crowd chanted "Get Kyle a Pillow" and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion rested his head on the top the turnbuckle. The action was kept fast and furious, with the eight men providing a lot to look at both at ringside and in the ring. The PCW and ROH tandems split off quite early in the bout and almost exclusively working with each other for the rest of the bout. For me, this was a shame as there could have been a bit more exploration of things like the past between Team Single and reDRagon, so it would have liked to have seen this one go a little bit longer. Seven minutes just isn't enough time for eight men to truly explore all the options open to them. Rampage Brown and T-Bone were able to claim a modicum of revenge on Joey Hayes and Martin Kirby as they pinned them following twin piledrivers to retain the PCW Tag Team Championships.


Despite losing to Doug Williams on Show 1, Silas Young was granted a PCW Heavyweight Championship shot on Show 2...go figure. Moving past that questionable decision, this was another stellar outing for Young in his 2nd bout for PCW and he linked up well with Dave Mastiff to create a technically solid encounter. With Young becoming more and more over as a heel by the minute, the Last Real Man spent a lot of the contest trading barbs with the crowd, encouraging them to chant and raising the atmosphere in the building once again. Mastiff was on form as well with a couple of funny one-liners that made it even easier for the crowd to get behind their popular champion. If it was a little longer and with a bit more drama then this contest could've been one of the stand-out contests of the evening, but it still worked as a way of adding another notch to Mastiff's championship bedpost.


In my first chance to see Lionheart in singles action since his heel turn a few months back and I was reminded of what a superb villain he is, in a match with Delirious. A couple of little touches throughout the match, allowed the Evoque to really get on the former Heavyweight Champion's back and the cycle continued. Lifting Delirious shoulder off the mat after having the contest won made him look like a massive dick and also provided a great near fall for the former CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas Champion. For what it was, I felt it perhaps went a little too long, with the crowd losing interest in the middle of the contest, by losing three or four minutes and slim-lining the action I feel the contest would have actually been improved. Plus that three or four minutes could have been given to something like the Tag Championship four way.

Main event time and Jay Lethal was clocking up his 2nd main event of the weekend, this time defending his ROH World Championship against former ROH Pure Champion, Doug Williams. The crowd seemed to take a while to warm to the very technical first two thirds of the bout, as the pair went back and forth, but on a look around the club it seemed like everyone was completely enamoured with the style and skill of the two men. There was even space to continue some of the storytelling from the night previous with Williams focusing in on Lethal's leg. The two had clearly worked with each other before (although not since 2010, but they did work TNA PPV's, TV and House shows between July and October of that year) and that helped to produce one of the slickest finishing sequence of the entire weekend. Williams was able to dodge the Lethal Injection and turn it into a Chaos Theory attempt, before Lethal himself managed a reversal hitting a Superkick and Lethal Injection to retain the championship, neither man put a foot wrong and capped off the 2nd show of the weekend well.

Finally....

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.20 (Good)

Whilst this shows rating dips slightly from that of the first show (6.85), we still got a good wrestling show on a Saturday afternoon. I'd be happy with either Dar vs. Alexander or Lethal vs. Williams being given the Match of the Night title, as both contests contained plenty of lovely technical wrestling and layed on the entertainment level thick. Perhaps my favourite part of the entire show however, was the back and forth between Dalton Castle and Sha Samuels prior to their match, thanks to both the performers and characters seemingly a perfect fit for each other.
The shows rating could have ended up being higher if a couple of minutes was shaved off the Lionheart vs. Delirious contest and handed to the PCW Tag Team Championship Four Corners bout. Even then I still think by this point we hadn't seen a bad match across the two shows and that's why both shows have managed to end up comfortably inside the "Good" range on the ATPW Scale.


Would PCW and ROH be able to keep up things inside the good range or even improve on that, with Show 3? Dave Mastiff would defend his PCW Heavyweight Championship against PCW Cruiserweight Champion Adam Cole in a Thirty Minute Iron Man main event, Noam Dar would tackle Drew Galloway, F.W.B. (Bubblegum, Iestyn Rees & Team Single) would engage with Dave Rayne, The Hooligans and X-Pac in eight man tag action, with six other matches including the likes of reDRagon, Dalton Castle, Martin Kirby, Roderick Strong and Cedric Alexander all also in action. We'll have a review heading your way later this week (as well as the last show of the weekend coming soon)

Live Review: PCW/ROH SuperShow of Honor II - Show 1

After the success of last year's SuperShow of Honor collab between Preston City Wrestling and Ring of Honor, anticipation was high for the second incarnation of the weekend event. Opening on Friday 27th November 2015 at the Evoque Nightclub with Jay Lethal defending the ROH World Championship against Noam Dar in the main event, reDRagon challenging for Team Singles' PCW Tag Team Championship in a Street Fight, Delirious & Dalton Castle facing Joey Hayes and PCW Money in the Bank holder Martin Kirby and five other matches featuring the likes of Doug Williams, Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Cedric Alexander and Silas Young. But could the 2015 edition open in style? Let's find out. 

With El Ligero added to the originally advertised Bubblegum vs. Adam Cole bout, and forced to defend his PCW Cruiserweight Championship by General Manager Joanna Rose, the trio combined to produce a pacy opener. Both Bubblegum and Ligero worked some sweet sequences with Cole, whilst the other man was downed on the outside, but we also got some quality moments including all three men including Ligero managing to turn a variant of the Road Warriors' Doomsday Device into a reverse rana on Bubblegum (RIP Bubblegum's fingers). Throw into the mix the narrative elements of Bubblegum's elimination and consequent Pedigree to Ligero, eventually leading to Adam Cole capturing the Cruiserweight title with his vertical suplex lift dropped into a neckbreaker on the knee signature move, and you've got the makings of a pleasing opening bout that set the tone for what was to come.

Doug Williams is in incredible shape for 43, pretty sure he's found the fountain of youth knocking around. That's enough fawning over the former ROH Pure Champion for one day, let's get onto the match, as the Anarchist faced ROH's Silas Young, in one of the real sleeper bouts of the weekend for me. The two men seemed to connect quickly inside the ring and whilst the crowd was a little slow to buy into it, as the two men progressed with a series of technical reversals and near falls, Evoque was very much hooked by both Williams and Young's work by the end of the contest. Despite the quality of the action, I felt this bout could have lost three or four minutes and still been just as good, if not better for doing so. The finish, however was a fitting close to the match, with The Anarchist escaping Young's Misery manoeuvre, before hitting Chaos Theory for the victory.

Perhaps not the prettiest of matches across the weekend, but Sha Samuels vs. Kenny King was effective in it's execution, had a lively crowd. The bout unfolded nicely with King attempting to evade Samuels, and especially the East End Butcher's sleeper hold, using his quickness and athleticism. There were a few moments that weren't as strong as they could have been, like a dodgy looking clothesline, but for the most part the wrestling was fine and slotted into the tale well. The short encounter suited the two men's styles and made perfect sense, even if the finish, with The Pretty Boy Pitbull having both arms raised and dropped three times whilst in the sleeper, was a bit of a strange one.

Fuck me, this next match was entertaining. Joey Hayes and Martin Kirby would really come of age as an act over the weekend for me, and this was the start of that. Dalton Castle quickly got over on his PCW début and alongside partner Delirious provided a great mixture of comedy and quality wrestling, that worked well with the style of the PCW regulars. A spot where Kirby had a Camel Clutch locked onto Delirious and Hayes just kept running the ropes (instead of, for example, hitting a low drop kick) with the PCW Money in the Bank holder screaming at his partner, was absurdly funny and sums up the relationship between the two characters well. An action section between Kirby and Castle stands out as the strongest wrestling of the contest, with the pair flowing through a series of counters with ease. It was a surprise to see the PCW pair work together to get the victory, hitting an elevated DDT onto Delirious, but worked well to advance their storyline heading into the three other shows across the weekend. It wouldn't be the last we'd see of Hayes and Kirby on Show 1 either...

Following a quick interval it was back into the action

A surprising choice to open the second half was Dave Mastiff defending the PCW Heavyweight Championship against current ROH World Television Champion Roderick Strong, but the bout still managed to deliver. The action took a while to find a groove, but with the crowd more than content to rip on Strong for his boots, which possess the unique qualities of being both little and shitty, things remained entertaining. When the action did get going however, it was very physical in it's execution and easy to watch. Strong hitting a superplex on the Bastard was a spectacular sight, especially with Evoque's low ceiling. Mastiff continued to be presented as a strong champion, getting the clean victory over Strong, with a wonderful reversal of Mr. ROH's sick kick, sending his challenger into the turnbuckle and picking up the victory with a Cannonball. I'd have loved to have seen what these two could have done with another five or ten minutes and a main event slot.

With F.W.B. member Iestyn Rees (replacing El Ligero) on Team PCW (alongside Dave Rayne and Interracial Love duo Ashton Smith & Charlie Garrett) and the newly heel Lionheart being a surprise addition to Team ROH (alongside War Machine's Raymond Rowe & Hanson and Cedric Alexander (who despite usually working as a villain for ROH, used a much more fan-friendly character most of the weekend), this match had a rather unique dynamic, that took a while to bear fruit and get the crowd truly involved in the action. Once that narrative thread of Rees and Lionheart's respective affiliations and issues with their own partners did kick in, things became much more entertaining and the crowd was quick to pick their sides. With Dave Rayne getting destroyed by the opposing team as the finish, this bout certainly gave the fans something different, with the unique dynamic just about paying off.

A Little Backgrond - PCW Tag Team Champions Team Single (T-Bone and Rampage Brown) and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) have been going at it since May 2014, with the two teams trading victories a number of times. Team Single won the initial bout (Supershow 4 - Show 1, 30th May 2014), before reDRagon picked up the victory in a Four-Way that also included The Briscoes and The Decade (Supershow of Honor - Show 1, 28th November 2014) and then won a No Disqualification contest (SuperShow of Honor - Show 4, 30th November 2014). It was time for one more match between the two, this time under Street Fight rules, with the PCW Tag Team Championship once again on the line.


Was this ever going to be anything other than brutal and shit load of fun? No, no it wasn't. Whilst the silly weapons (rubber animals and wrapping paper) were questionable, there was enough physicality that it honestly didn't matter that much. The steel chair battle was a great moment, with the pay-off of Brown hitting O'Reilly in the stomach making a lot of sense for the character and getting a great reaction from the PCW faithful. Even the Christmas paper got a good spot, with O'Reilly wrapping T-Bone up on a steel chair at ringside to deliver a running kick, even if Evoque didn't jump on the obvious "Wrap him up, Kyle, wrap him" chant. Both teams got some ridiculous near falls, with reDRagon being denied after hitting Chasing the Dragon onto a chair and Brown coming close with a piledriver, with the crowd getting hotter as things went on. F.W.B. members, Team Single were able to pick out the victory in the end with T-Bone claiming the bragging rights with a silly vertical suplex dropped into a Tombstone Piledriver, to continue their 909 day reign a top the tag division and close one of the strongest contest of the evening. 


But it all seemed to be over, with Joey Hayes attempting to cash in Martin Kirby's Money in the Bank briefcase for the titles (with a little help from reDRagon's post match title shots to the head). The reaction for this was HUGE, and the duo getting the pinfall with their elevated DDT combo, got one of the biggest pops across the weekend...it was however not to be, as Joanna Rose reversed the decision, because it was Hayes who cashed in the briefcase and not Kirby. Joanna got some nice heat for her involvement with the crowd now clamouring for someone to take the belts of off T-Bone and Brown. An interesting piece of booking, here's hoping that this get's a pay off down the line.

After a stellar undercard, the main event was going to have be something special to provide a satisfying conclusion to the first evening. Luckily we had ROH World Champion, Jay Lethal defend his championship against Noam Dar in a world-class encounter. With Preston backing their regular and former Cruiserweight Champion against the débuting Lethal, the two had a fantastic soundscape to work with and completely ran with it throughout. The early portion of the bout featured some smashing technical wrestling, with the two trading holds and 22 year old, Dar more than holding his own with the more-experienced World Champion.


Where the match really excelled was it's storytelling, with the contest kicking into the next gear as soon as Dar hit a dropkick to Lethal's knee with the "Greatest First Generation Wrestler"'s leg held in a figure four around the ringpost by SOME GUY from the front row. Lethal's selling was spot on, and showed off especially during a sequence of Superkicks where Lethal would grab hold of his knee after each kick, and meant that everytime Dar managed to lock in his Champagne Super Knee Bar submission, that crowd erupted and willed the former Black Machismo to tap out. With the bout rising to a dramatic climax, it was however Lethal who came away with the title, following his second Lethal Injection attempt being successful. Whilst all logical signs pointed to Lethal retaining, it's a credit to both men that the near falls and submissions were so well received. An excellent way to close the first night of action.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.85 (Good-Very Good)

The highest rating I've given a PCW show since I began using the ATPW Scale back in July, this was entertaining event, pretty much from top to the bottom. Not a bad match on the card, with an excitable and involved crowd who were both appreciative of the action and full of creativity when it came to chanting. The main event stands out as the strongest contest of the evening, with Jay Lethal and Noam Dar capping off the evening well and the Tag Team Championship Street Fight also standing out from the pack, whilst also being completely different from the bout it preceded. 


Would PCW and ROH be able to keep up the quality heading into Show 2, with Lethal once again main eventing, this time defending his title against Doug Williams, as well as Noam Dar facing Cedric Alexander, Dave Mastiff defending the PCW Heavyweight Championship against Silas Young and five more matches involving the likes of reDRagon, Adam Cole, Dalton Castle, Martin Kirby, Roderick Strong all in action. Full review of Show 2 (as well as the rest of the weekend coming soon)

PCW The Fourth Awakens LIVE Review

Just under four weeks since Tribute to the Troops 2 (which saw Dave Mastiff defeat Chris Masters for the PCW Championship) PCW was back to celebrate the promotions fourth anniversary in style, with The Fourth Awakens. Packed with talent from around the world, the show was main-evented by current WWE NXT star and former ROH World Champion, Samoa Joe taking on an unannounced opponent, with the likes of Dave Mastiff, Drew Galloway, Joey Hayes, Martin Kirby, Noam Dar, Sha Samuels, reDRagon and more also appearing. The event also featured the well-anticipated return of Kris Travis, in his first PCW match since June 2014, after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Due to being stuck by the bar (outside of the main room in Evoque), I completely missed comedian Chris Brooker's opening speech, although I'd imagine it was a hilarious affair, as usual.

One Fall Six Way Match

Ophidian 

vs. 

Luther Ward 

vs. 

Dean Allmark 

vs. 

El Ligero 

vs. 

Charlie Garrett 

vs. 

Ashton Smith

 Anyone who's seen a PCW show will be more than familiar with the company's six way bouts, by now. If you're not, I'm sure you can figure out what six of PCW's cruiserweight division going at it could potentially look like. The match has become a calling card for the promotion. Plenty of fast-paced action and some quality spots spread throughout the bout, with Ashton Smith's double Olympic Slam and a superplex to the outside standing out as the pick of the bunch. The bout had an interesting dynamic, with the debuting Luther Ward impressing as the only heel in the bout. My only real complaint was that the match was fairly short, and all six of the men in the match could have benefited from a having a bit more time here. I also would have liked to have seen the bout have some kind of consequence (a shot at the Cruiser-weight title being the most obvious option), which could have added a little extra bite, when El Ligero picked up the win with a C4L on Smith.

One Fall Tag Team Match for the PCW Tag Team Championships.

Team Single (C) 

vs. 

The Broleivers

Hmmm...How to review this match? Essentially, what was supposed to happen, didn't happen, and what was supposed to happen wasn't much in the first place. Without going into it too much, Rampage Brown and T-Bone legitimately battered Josh Bodom and Ryan Hendricks for an uncomfortable couple of minutes. The majority of the Preston crowd couldn't have cared less for the debuting Broleivers or their fate chanting on for the usually hated Team Single. The finish saw the referee call for the bell with Bodom in a rear-naked choke from Brown, despite the move clearly being in the ropes and Bodom seemingly never tapping. Make of this what you will. It was not an enjoyable experience to watch this one at all, I'd paid to watch pro wrestling and this wasn't pro wrestling.

Following the match T-Bone, who for some reason was suddenly sporting a funky hat, challenged the winners of the upcoming reDRagon vs. Martin Kirby & Joey Hayes bout for a match later down the line, a strange thing for a heel tag team champion duo to do.

One Fall Match

Dave Rayne 

vs. 

Iestyn Rees

Going in, I was wondering how exactly Dave Rayne and Iestyn Rees would approach this one, with their styles of wrestling being very different. However the pair put on an enjoyable encounter, that although fairly short, played to the strengths of both men well. With a strong structure, that involved Rayne giving Rees the old fashioned run around in an attempt to take control of the match and plenty of comedy thrown into the mix, as one would expect with Rayne. The finish furthered Rayne's issues with General Manager Joanna Rose, as she appeared at ringside with Rayne's #Boom belt, allowing Rees to take control and hit a huge powerbomb to pick up the win. Plenty to enjoy in this one, with some strong storyline development, as Rees' powerbomb after the match suggested that we may see a rematch between the two, further down the line.

One Fall Match

Noam Dar 

vs. 

Drew Galloway

This bout was right up my alley, with Galloway and Dar putting together a top-quality effort. Some strong story-telling which saw Dar focus the majority of his efforts on Galloway's right knee, including hitting a dragon screw leg whip in the ropes, as well as off the top rope! The former Chosen One's selling was spot on throughout, with just enough touches  and winches on the knee, to keep the injury in the mind of fans, meaning that when Dar locked on the Champagne Super Knee Dar, twice, it meant so much more, and got a lovely reaction out of the Evoque Nightclub.

Whilst the crowd in many places around the country would have been split down the middle for these two Scotsman, Preston quickly decided they were behind the regular Noam Dar, serenading him with the usual chants. Galloway's demeanour, walking out slowly with head down and hair across his face, made it easy to side with Dar, over the more well-known former WWE Intercontinental Champion, with Galloway clearly playing to this kind of reaction, unlike previous imports who have clearly been thrown by the reaction opposite the ever popular Dar. The current leader of The Rising's offence seemed very scrappy, suiting his demeanour and adding something different to the show as a whole. 

With two huge near-falls, that got both got terrific reactions out of the live crowd, for Galloway, including a Tombstone Piledriver, it was Dar who was able to pick up the victory, capturing a frustrated Galloway in a small package for the pinfall. Whilst it was a shame not to get a true pay-off on Dar working the leg earlier in the match, it could easily be argued, in kayfabe, that the injured leg made it harder to escape the small package, so all is well with me. A post-match attack from Galloway following a handshake, turning him full-blown heel in PCW, would suggest this isn't the last we've seen of the current ICW World Heavyweight Champion in the promotion, a rematch with Dar certainly wouldn't go a miss for sure.

Elimination Three Way Match for the PCW Championship

Chris Masters 

vs. 

Dave Mastiff (C) 

vs. 

Bubblegum

I can't say I was particularly over joyed when Joanna Rose added Chris Masters to the match, mainly because Master's does very little for me, however his involvement here did provide a solid narrative, and allow babyface champion Dave Mastiff to be seen as the underdog, a role that one of our top five bastards is very rarely able to be in. The best reaction of the match came when Masters' asked Bubblegum to lie down for him, and whilst the logic may have been a little flawed (Why not wait to eliminate Mastiff?), the masses rallied behind their favourite Rent Boy, with Bubblegum eventually able to eliminate Masters with a roll-up. Strangely, Joanna Rose instantly banished Masters' from F.W.B. and PCW, turning him into an awkward babyface, whilst Bubblegum remained heel, despite having the crowd support earlier on. 

With Mastiff quickly able to take advantage once inside the ring, the big man from the Black Country picked up the win with a Cannonball in the corner to retain his title. It was a shame not to be able to see a little more of a one-on-one contest between Mastiff and Bubblegum, as I was interested to see how the dynamic was going to play out when heading to the show. However, this worked well as a way of building Mastiff as a dominant champion, who the crowd is clearly behind when placed against the right opponent. Another potential match for a future show, whilst the Bubblegum babyface turn tease seemed well received, there was a lot to take away from this bout. 

That wasn't the last we'd see of Mastiff on the night, as Joanna revealed that he would Samoa Joe's opponent in the main event, with the current WWE NXT star heading out for an intense stare down.

After a quick fifteen minute interval, with your regular wetting of whistles and perusing of the merch desk, it was back into the action.

One Fall Match

Rockstar Spud 

vs. 

Lionheart

Unannounced before the show, this match seemed to fall flat with the crowd. The problem seemed to be that both men are currently protagonists in the promotion, and so, as can often happen, the crowd was unsure on who they wanted to get behind and therefore...didn't get behind anyone. There were smattering of chants for Spud and a "Sexy Bastard" chant or two for Lionheart, but beyond that the match was mainly played out to crickets. The match having very little consequence or a build heading in, didn't help proceedings either, as there was no particular reason for anyone to care about who picked up the win.

The action in the ring was perfectly fine, as you'd expect with two of the most well-travelled performers here in the UK. The pair flowed nicely in the ring together, and every move looked crisp throughout, I don't think I could pick fault with the action at all. Rockstar Spud's selling was particularly strong, which perhaps made it even more frustrating to watch, as if Lionheart had been playing a full-blown heel role, which was teased at points, it would have completely changed the match around with the crowd being able to truly get involved in the action. Lionheart picking up the win cleanly with a Lifting Side Slam, followed by a Frog Splash, was a big win for the Pro Wrestling Elite promoter and gives him some momentum heading into PCW's autumn and winter shows, with particular eye on the collaboration with Ring of Honor in November.

One Fall Tag Team Match

reDRagon 

vs. 

Martin Kirby & Joey Hayes

With an intriguing pace and slightly off-kilter story, this was a delightful slice of tag team action from start to finish. Almost all of the story was focused on PCW regular's Joey Hayes and Martin Kirby's precarious partnership, with Hayes presenting Kirby with a brand new pair of trunks with his name on them prior to the match, setting the tone for what was toe come. reDRagon worked over Hayes for a good portion of the bout with their usual hybrid style, much to the delight of the Evoque, building nicely to a hot tag to Kirby. With the bout lifting in tempo for the closing stages, with the highlight of Kirby's run as the proverbial house of fire being a double Northern Lights suplex. 

The action was spot-on from bell to bell, and as the bout headed to a climax (following the hot tag to Kirby) the two teams lifted their respective games and the pace to create some good tag team action, with the performers seeming to gel together early on. reDRagon's combination that see's Fish hold an opponent in a wheel barrow position, followed by a double underhook DDT by O'Reilly, before O'Reilly pushes the opponent into a wheelbarrow suplex from Fish, always impresses me for it's creativity and flow, and worked nicely as a near fall here, with the teams going back and forth for a good few minutes either side. 

The Hayes and Kirby story continued to develop when after Kirby had hit Kirby's Dreamland and seemingly had the match won, Hayes tagged himself in, leading to a disagreement between the two and Hayes kicking Kirby in the stomach and tossing him to the outside. Whilst this worked as the finish to the match (after reDRagon took advantage and hit their Chasing the Dragon finish for the win), it was surprising to see Hayes and Kirby split up so early, meaning that the incident was a little underwhelming at the point it came at. reDRagon move onto a Tag Team Championship bout in November, whilst Hayes and Kirby will supposedly now be working a singles feud, perhaps involving Kirby's Money in the Bank briefcase, over the next few shows.

One Fall Match

Kris Travis 

vs. 

Sha Samuels

The moment Kris Travis walked out to wrestle for the first time in a PCW ring since June 2014, was a truly special moment. One of those moments that only pro wrestling can create, when a full to brim Nightclub can show their appreciation to a man who suffered with stomach cancer, for coming back to entertain us. Kris Travis is certainly a one of a kind performer in the ring, but making a return to pro wrestling, when many would have called it a day, makes him a one of a kind human being. Trav is the fucking man, man.

The match itself featuring some superb storytelling and Travis and Sha Samuels had the crowd in the palm of their hands from start to finish. Samuels, the cockney wanker that he is, made Travis' stomach the focus of his attacks throughout the contest, with Travis' selling being so good that at times it was uncomfortable to watch. Travis' fight back produced a stellar false finish with the Shooting Star unable to put away Samuels with a Double Underhook Piledriver. Travis even became the first person to successfully escape Samuels' sleeper hold for another big moment. It was, however, not the fairytale comeback that the crowd was looking for with Samuels able to put Travis away with another Sleeper Hold, this time with his leg wrapped around Trav's waist. For me, having Samuels win here was the right decision for everyone involved, with Samuels getting some lovely heat from the crowd, whilst Travis now has a much more interesting story to follow as his comeback continues. 

A raffle happened, who doesn't like a raffle. With the crowd being directed to the screens, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat was announced as making an appearance for the promotion on October 31st. 

One Fall Match for the PCW Championship

Samoa Joe 

vs. 

Dave Mastiff (C)

For what would many would mark as a dream match, Evoque was very subdued for this one. Maybe it was that the match started way after ten o'clock, maybe it was the crowd needed to come down after the emotional rollercoaster that was Travis vs. Samuels, maybe the match suffered from a similar problem as the previous Spud vs. Lionheart match, maybe it was because we'd already seen both Mastiff and Joe earlier in the night, I'm not quite sure what it was that caused the crowd to be relatively quiet for this heavyweight clash. 

The pace of the start of the match seemed to suggest that the match could potentially be going long, with the pair exchanging holds at a low pace and Joe especially working a headlock for a long time. Although this wouldn't come, there were a handful of nice suplexes delivered from both men (although not warranting the "Suplex City" chant that broke out) and a submission sequence from Joe also stood out, with Joe transitioning from an STF into a Crossface. With F.W.B. and Iestyn Rees charging the ring following a Cannonball from Mastiff, I was left scratching my head a little bit, as the run-in caused the disqualification that allowed Mastiff to retain the title, exactly what the pinfall on Joe would have done. 

The show closed with Chris Masters heading out to make the save for Joe and Mastiff and the trio being able to fight off the four heels. It was Joanna Rose however who had the last word, announcing that Mastiff would be defending his title on October 31st opposite former 5 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Jeff Jarrett. With the pair having a heated exchange back in April at 5upershow - Show 3, this one looks set to be an intriguing encounter indeed, especially if Jarrett's wife, Karen, is involved.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.69

Another strong showing from PCW, that produced a number of matches that I wouldn't argue if someone wanted to call match of the night. Travis vs. Samuels had some superb emotional storytelling, Dar vs. Galloway produced top performances from both men, whilst reDRagon vs. Martin Kirby and Joey Hayes was an unusual bout, but worked well thanks to four top-quality workers.

While there wasn't a "bad" match on the card (let's not talk about Team Single's Open Challenge at this point) there were points when the match failed to capture the crowd, with the biggest example being Lionheart and Rockstar Spud's bout, which would be heavily based around the reasons mentioned above, but could also have done something with the match being chosen to open the show, in a show that seemed to struggle to a gain good flow, in terms of match placement. Having Travis vs. Samuels directly before the main event would work as an example of this. 

With some pleasing storyline development (Mastiff vs. F.W.B., Dar vs. Galloway, Travis/Lionheart vs. Samuels, Hayes vs. Kirby, reDRagon vs. Team Single) this anniversary show seemed much more focused on the future than it did the past. This is a PCW that is continuing to grow as a promotion, and it's was great to see the promotion looking to build, rather than looking back at past successes.

With just over three weeks until the promotion hits Blackpool for Bank Holiday Bash (which is free by the way), which will feature 2 time ROH World Tag Team Champions The Wolves, 3 time TNA Knockout's Champion Mickie James, former  WWE United States Champion Mr. Anderson, former IWGP Tag Team Champion Magnus and former WWE World Tag Team Champions Too Cool, you can find out more about Preston City Wrestling by clicking the name.