WWE Raw 5th January 2015 Review

        First Raw of 2015, y'all! So they're gone make it big one, right? Explosion and shit, perhaps? Midgets on unicycles? Big Show in a diaper? Let's find out! 

John Cena Appreciation Night

     The main storyline this week centered around the return of The Authority and there attempts to get to John Cena. Following a recap of the end of last week's show, the show opened with the "entire" roster in and around the ring, although the focus was clearly on the red and yellow clad John Cena. Cena cut a promo about going back on his word last week, with his usually angsty facial expression, I don't think this promo was particularly needed, neither was it particularly impressive. Everything Cena said had been communicated to the audience in the recap at the start of the show. Luckily, after interupting Cena, Stephanie McMahon did a much better job, playing her patronising boss character perfectly, with Triple H also doing a decent job, gaining the group a decent amount of heat. The Authority thanked Seth Rollins by placing him in the World Heavyweight Championship bout with John Cena and Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble, which definitely makes the match more interesting for me. Finally, the duo announced that tonight would be "John Cena Appreciation Night", which would clearly be the main event segment. 

       To tie in with the John Cena Appreciation Night theme, a number of vignettes featuring big moments from Cena's career, starting with Cena's debut answering Kurt Angle challenge on Smackdown in 2002, winning the WWE Championship for the first time from JBL in 2005 and being drafted to Raw on an edition of Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel also in 2005. These clips have been pretty much played to death over the last few years and I'm not sure if they were supposed to be annoying to play into The Authority's ideas behind the John Cena Appreciation Night deal.

      The main event segment started with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon winding up John Cena in the ring, by going over how much they appreciated him bringing them back. Stephanie was once again on point here, but Triple H launched into one of his rambling promos that never quite goes anywhere. Eventually, Ryback, Erick Rowan and Dolph Ziggler were bought out to the ring, with The Authority talking about their futures as if they weren't in the ring. This worked really nicely, as I think a lot of the viewers would be able to relate to having a condescending and frustrating boss talk in such a manner. 

    Eventually with The Authority retreated to the ramp, they revealed they had decided the fate of the three member of Team Cena, with Stephanie doing her best Mr. McMahon "You're Fired" impression. With Cena continuing to pull his conflicted face, streamers and balloons came down from the ceiling for his Appreciation Night, contrasting with reactions of Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan as they left the ring. This gave a nice visual for the end of the show, whilst also leaving a number of open questions, that made me want to tune in next week. It's important that Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan aren't seen for sometime in my opinion to push the fact they have been fired and to get the biggest reaction out their respective returns. Personally, I would want them all to have, at least, a month off television and perhaps even longer, a Ziggler return at WrestleMania to return the favour for Sting could get a huge reaction and be well worth the time off.  

Ambulance Match

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt

      This match would the be the zenith of the Wyatt vs. Ambrose feud that's been raging on since late October. This was confirmed in a pre-taped promo from Bray Wyatt that aired earlier in the night. It was Wyatt's usual style of promo, talking about Ambrose's father and the devil. I think having a clear direction for where the promo should go helped Wyatt here as this was one of his stronger efforts as of late. Dean Ambrose also had an opportunity to get the match over on the microphone, with his own pre-taped promo. Everything he said, the way he said and his expression made me want to watch a fight. Can't ask for more than that really. 

      I'm not a big fan of Ambulance matches, and I also haven't been convinced by the majority of the Wyatt and Ambrose's feud, however I rather enjoyed this bout. Almost certainly the strongest match on the card and pretty much the only bout that the crowd gave a shit about either. The early brawling between the two was convincing and it got across to any new viewers that these two didn't like each other a whole lot. The pair fighting out in the crowd and near the Ambulance early was a nice twist to the regular pattern of the Ambulance match. It was here that the story of the match really came together, with Wyatt slamming the Ambulance door into Ambrose's leg, going on to focus a lot of his offence onto this leg. Again this was another welcome addition, and suited Wyatt's character down to the ground, whilst also allowing Ambrose to really show off his selling ability. 

       The spots were kept simple and used at effective point during the match, which gave the bout a strong flow. Ambrose's unique offence and character worked was more often than not tied into these spots, hitting a lovely version of his pendulum lariat using a stretcher, as well as the stand out spot of the night hitting an elbow drop off the top of the ambulance through a table (which was painted white with a red cross, which looked ridiculous). All the time Ambrose was selling the leg, aiding his crowd reaction as a babyface, whilst Wyatt's offence was kept simple and dirty, which is all good with me.

      The finish played into Ambrose's leg injury as he grasped at his leg following the elbow drop through the table, which allowed for Wyatt to hit a Sister Abigail into the ambulance, followed by one onto the concrete and pick up the victory. This worked as a satisfying finish to the match as the story all came together, but I'm not sure how Ambrose will be effected going forward from losing this feud. However, I also think Wyatt needed to win this one, after his feuds with John Cena and Chris Jericho in 2014, so I am a little conflicted. I am happy to see how things move for both men going forward and I'd still expect both to featured in big matches on WrestleMania in March.  

Intercontinental Championship Two Out of Three Falls Match

Dolph Ziggler (C) vs. Bad News Barrett

         Part of the show opening segment involved the announcement that Dolph Ziggler would be defending his Intercontinental Championship against Bad News Barrett, with the reasoning being that Barrett had never lost the the title, after having to vacate the title back in July. I was left a little confused, as on the previous weeks Raw Barrett had returned and appeared to be a babyface, defeating Cesaro after Cesaro had cut a heel promo and offered an open challenge. Now, was this match just to make Cesaro look silly for his previous comments about the company, or do creative just not give enough of a shit to bother with something silly like consistent storytelling? 

     The first part of the match saw Barrett completely dominate, using mainly strikes and rest holds. The Corpus Christi crowd didn't seem to be into this at all, being very quiet, with a mild clap for Ziggler whilst Barrett had him locked in a headlock. I'm not sure if like me they were also confused with Barrett's sudden and unannounced switch back to a heel. Pretty much out of nowhere Ziggler managed to steal a victory with a rather nice crucifix pinning combination as a reversal for Barrett's Wind of Change. This first part of the match wasn't anything near what these two are capable of doing, their match on Raw last June would prove that.

     However, the pair would be given a reprieve, as after losing the match Barrett went on to absolutely batter Ziggler around the ring. Using everything around the ring, Barrett's insensity here was particularly impressive. He looked strong and showed a different side to his character that we perhaps hadn't seen in a while, it made sense that he would be frustrated after dominating the match, but it also made it easy to see him a "sore loser" type guy, meaning he should have gotten a bit more heat that he actually got from a rather quiet crowd. After Barrett had finished his beating, Kane made his presence felt by revealing that the match was supposed to be Two out of Three Falls and hence the match would continue. 

      With the match continued and I still found myself feeling a little disapointed with the quality of the action. Barrett quickly got a cover after a big boot and Wasteland, meaning the match was tied at 1-1. Following this there was just far too many rest holds for my liking, especially considering how long the match was and how quiet the crowd was, neither guy really attempted to get the crowd into the match. The closing stages bout something a little extra than the rest of the match, with a decent sequence that ended in Barrett hitting the Bullhamer elbow to pick up the win and pick up his fifth Intercontinental Championship. Personally, I would've liked Ziggler to have got a lengthy title reign heading into WrestleMania at least, but with the event elsewhere, it was clear that the title needed to be drop for that storyline to work.

Two-on-One Handicap Match

Ryback vs. Seth Rollins & Kane

     Ryback's initial punishment from The Authority was a handicap match against Seth Rollins and Kane. Ryback was one of the most over guys on the show with the crowd, with numerous "Feed Me More" chants throughout the match, and the Big Guy did a good job of playing to the crowd and for the most part looked good when on the offence, a nice belly to belly suplex in particular stood out for me.

      Where this match fell apart for me was an over reliance on rest holds, Kane in particular seemed to be in love with headlocks. The match could have easily been four or five minutes shorter and been much better off because of this. Rollins and Ryback did seem to have at least something regarding chemistry when allowed to go at it, with a nice sequence building towards a spinebuster from Ryback. Rollins picking up the victory following two Curb Stomps after Kane had recieved a Shellshocked, was a strong and satisfying ending to the bout that finished up the numbers game story that the match told.

Singles Match

Big Show vs. Roman Reigns

        The build up to this match began with a video package detailing the rivalry so far, which has essentially been each man tipping the announce table on each other, for the craic supposedly. A Roman Reigns interview with Renee Young was also presented, in which Reigns explained what Big Show could expect in the match later on. I couldn't help feeling that Reigns is trying too hard with promos, I'd like to see him relax a little and allow that natural charisma to he does have to come through, because everything here felt a little too forced. 

      I was pleasantly surprised by this match, as Show and Reigns worked around their limitations by presenting a decent story to follow of Show working over Reigns stomach, which as the commentary pointed out would be where Reigns' recent surgery took place. Reigns' comeback is perhaps the strongest part of his game, as many would have known from his days in The Shield, and we saw some of that here when Reigns exploded out of the box with multiple close lines and an impressive Samoan Drop. Unfortunately that was cut short with a DQ finish after Show used the steel steps, before Reigns hit a Spear on the inside meaning the steps landed on big show. Personally, I think this should have been a clean victory for Reigns, as whilst this match wasn't bad I have no desire to see the feud continue and Reigns could have used the momemtum heading into the Royal Rumble.

Six Person Mixed Tag Team Match

The Usos & Naomi vs. The Miz, Damien Mizdow & Alicia Fox

       There was a surprising amount of build up going into this match, firstly with a recap of last weeks show which saw The Usos regain the tag titles from The Miz & Damien Mizdow, followed up by a backstage segment that saw Alicia Fox attack Naomi. It was a shame that this attack seemed to be forgotten about by these performers once the bell rang, as there was a lack of any real aggression between the two women in the match. The rest of the action between the men in the match was dull, as Miz spent most the match in control, and as soon as the hot tag was made for the Usos, the match was over with a confusing finish that saw Miz pick up the win with a school boy roll up.

Special Guest Referee's Match

Erick Rowan vs. Luke Harper

       The Authority continued to punish the members of Team Cena by placing J&J Security as the special guest referees for Erick Rowan's match with Luke Harper. As you could guess this was a very quick match, with Noble & Mercury's antics getting in the way of Rowan's attempts at victory. Harper picked up the victory after a clothesline and a quick count from the pair, with the three continuing the beat down after the bell. I'd like to see what these two could do when given a bit more time, as I think an extended feud with Harper could do wanders for Rowan, both in terms of in-ring work and getting more over with the crowd.

Singles Match

Adam Rose vs. Big E 

       Going less than a minute, it was difficult to get much of a feel for either Big E or Adam Rose, who now seems to be a full on heel, in this one. Even then the bout included a headlock, which there really was no need for at this point. It was caught short when two of the Rosebuds, dressed in morph suits attacked Big E and the rest of his New Day partner, giving Big E the DQ win. The two men hit a terrific double team move, before revealing themselves as Cesaro and Tyson Kidd. If the two teams get given time for their feud this could potential provide some entertaining match ups, whilst also elevating both teams at the same time, but that's a big if in today's WWE.

Singles Match

Nikki Bella vs. Natalya

     Before this match, Paige came out to show support for Natalya, with the pair sharing a hug at ringside. This again, showed a lack of consistency for WWE, as to the best of my knowledge Paige has been playing a heel on television for the last six month. This was too short to really get anything going, although Nikki did pull off a rather nice headscissors which would be my highlight of this bout. Natalya picked up the win with a roll up, following Nikki getting distracted by Paige and Brie on the outside. Nikki attacked Natalya after the match, Paige would make the save hitting a Superkick. Perhaps, if Paige had made a run in, rather than coming down to the ring earlier, the moment would have had a lot more impact.

Tag Team Match

Ascension vs. ???

     Ah, The Ascension. What has happened here? Before the match Konnor and Viktor cut a shouty promo running down Demolition and the Road Warriors, which was very odd indeed. Are the Road Warrior going to make a run in? No, one of them is dead! So don't trash talk about them! Their match against a pair of unamed local talent, was dominated by JBL talking about how pissed off he was that they mentioned the Road Warrior and he did seemed genuinely annoyed. The match was less than a minute and the Ascension picked up the victory following the Fall of Man.

Rusev & Lana Promo

       United States Champion Rusev and Lana were involved in a short pre-taped promo segment, which was essentially all the stuff we've heard from Lana for some time. Rusev did get some time to talk and wasn't awful, but did nothing that particularly made him stand out either. This seemed to be included just give the pair some face time on a packed show.

Finally...

      Bar Ambrose and Wyatt's enjoyable Ambulance match, these wasn't a single match on the card that looked to stand out as better than average, whilst a number of the matches were dull or felt unimportant. Elements of The Authority storyline worked, especially Stephanie McMahon's performance which was spot on all night long, and created a number of interesting possibilities going forward. This was a great Raw to start the new year on, it's time for WWE to kick it's self into a new gear, as WrestleMania is only three months away! 

GFW presents NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9 Review

   

     


       There was a lot of speculation surrounding how Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling would operate, so their first broadcast in conjuction with New Japan Pro Wrestling (arguably the hottest property in wrestling over the last few years) was hotly anticipated, by me and many others. I've made it clear in the past that I felt I needed a way of getting into New Japan, as without any English commentary I felt I was missing elements of the on-going stories being told and whilst the wrestling was always stellar, I found it difficult to make an emotional connection with the performers, which I think is one of the most important things to have as a wrestling fan, as demonstrated by Daniel Bryan's performances at this years WrestleMania. So with the announcement that Jim Ross and Matt Striker would be on hand to provide the English commentary for this show, I was all over it like white on rice. Could I be converted to one of those people that goes on about how good New Japan is constantly? Let's find out, eh?

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match

 

Kazuchika Okada

 

 vs. 

 Hiroshi Tanahashi (C)

      
       Even if you don't follow New Japan, I'd imagine someone over the last few years has mentioned the names Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi to you at some point or another. The two biggest names in the company going at it on the biggest stage available, everything about this match felt special. It was one of only two matches to get a build up package, although this was presented in Japanese with no English subtitles, which was a little annoying. GFW seemed to have very little involvement in the production of the show, and were simply providing English commentary over the top of the Japanese visuals. However, the commentary team did a stellar job of getting me up to speed on the prestige of the match, and the pairs previous encounters.

      This match was an absolute delight to watch from start to finish, as two of best wrestlers on the planet put on a real show. This over-thirty minute bout had a little something for everyone pulling in a number of different styles throughout the bout. There was sound brawling as the pair battled on the entrace way, ending with a Death Valley Driver from Okada, terrific high-flying spots like a diving crossbody over the barricade to the floor from Tanahashi, some great technical wrestling and sequences and then there was, of course, the story telling.

     What particularly caught my attention was the sophistication of the storytelling in the bout, as about half way through Tanahashi hit a Dragon Screw Leg Whip, just seconds after avoiding a Rainmaker Clothesline from Okada, and the match instantly changed. Tanahashi's focus stayed on the leg for quite some time, both neutralising Okada's quicker paced offence and moving towards his cloverleaf submission hold. Okada's on-going subtle selling and the other on-going story of Okada attempting to hit the Rainmaker clothesline meant that the bout could move into different areas, whilst being able to come back to the Okada's injury with another dragon screw leg whip allowing Tanahashi to take the control that would allow him to take the victory and retain the title following multiple High Fly Flow's (Frog Splash). 

      Even if you'd never heard of Tanahashi or Okada heading into this match, I'd like to think you'd come out of it thinking they were both world-class performers and on par with any top performer in the United States or elsewhere, because that's exactly what they are. Everything the pair did in the ring felt like it meant something and looked great, therefore even if the rest of the card had been terrible (it wasn't), these two performers would have convinced me to come back on the strength of this match alone. I felt this match was possibly Jim Ross and Matt Striker's strongest performance of the night as they were clearly up to speed on Okada and Tanahashi, which hadn't always been the case throughout the night and allowed for that extra level of understanding that I wouldn't have had if I had watched with Japanese commentary. 

IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match

 

 Kota Ibushi

 vs. 

 Shinsuke Nakamura

 

      Everything about Shinsuke Nakamura screams superstar. I'd previously caught glimpses of Nakamura in clips on Youtube, as well as the Ring of Honor/New Japan joint shows last year and had been impressed with his performance against Kevin Steen (now WWE NXT's Kevin Owens), but it wasn't until I saw him walk to ring here, with Matt Striker talking about how Nakamura had been influenced by Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson, that I realised what a consumate showman Nakamura truly is, with the proceeding match only compounding this thought. Ibushi was a bit more of an unknown, I'd seen some of his stuff from the indy DDT promotion on Youtube, during one those late night tralls that usually included shoot interviews and Botchamania clips, so wasn't quite sure what to expect from him heading in.

    This bout was the classic Rising Star vs. Established Star story that I'd expect anyone in the US would be familiar with, but told almost flawlessy. Helped along by Ross and Striker on commentary, Ibushi and Nakamura produced a match that would rival the main event for match of the night, with Ibushi playing the arrogant former Junior Heavyweight making the step up to the heavyweight division, whilst Nakamura took on the role of experienced main eventer. Both wrestlers excelled in these roles, with Ibushi mocking Nakamura on numerous occassion, including attempting to get the victory by using Nakamura's signature Boma Ye Knee Strike in one of the standout near falls from the bout.

      Nakamura took an absolute battering from his opponent, with Ibushi in control for much of the match, using his speed and high flying offence to his advantage, pulling out a Springboard into a top rope hurracanrana, a corkscrew moonsault, an attempted phoenix splash and a lot more throughout the match, whilst also throwing in some beautifully executed technical manoevre's like a half and half suplex and ridiculous german suplex lifting Nakamura off the apron whilst standing on the second rope. Nakamura's own offence of mainly strikes constrasted nicely, whilst some well timed no sells from Ibushi and Nakamura's own selling allowed Ibushi to look even stronger. 

      When Nakamura managed to pull out the victory following a Top Rope Falcon Arrow and the Boma Ye, it felt like a true star had been made, out of the defeat, in Ibushi. Compounded by the show of respect and hand shake at the finish, this seemed to be Ibushi receiving the New Japan stamp of approval. The booking here was spot on, allowing Ibushi to be elevated, whilst still keeping the title on Nakamura, setting up a potential rematch between the two later on down the line. With this and Okada vs. Tanahashi going on last, the final hour or so of this show was pure unadulterated wrestling porn. 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Four Way Match

The Young Bucks

   vs.

Forever Hooligans

 vs.

Time Splitters

 vs.

reDRagon (C)

       This match opened the show, this was a wise decision for many reasons. Firstly, you can't really go wrong with multi man matches as an opener, they warm the crowd up nicely, get them settled for the show, presenting anything to heavy here would potentially kill the shows momentum straight off. Secondly, all of these tag teams have competed on the American indy scene, most prominently in Ring of Honor, with Alex Shelley perhaps the best know from his time in TNA as part of the Motor City Machine Guns alongside Chris Sabin, so it was a good way of introducing any new viewers watchign on the GFW feed, as they most likely would be familiar with the talent in the ring. That's forgetting that all eight of these men are phenomenal wrestling talents in their own right.

     The match went pretty much as one would expect, plenty of fast paced action, exciting highspots and a plethora of superkicks from those cheeky Young Bucks. There wasn't much in the way of story telling or psychology, but there didn't need to be, this match was all about fun, best shown by a pacy sequence that saw a number of flips to the outside, including a suicide dive by Rocky Romero, tope conhilo from Alex Koslov and a stunning corkscrew plancha from one of the Young Bucks (Like the Usos I can't tell them apart when the action is this quick!) 

       The bout was paced very nicely, with a spirited Romero hot tag mid-way through being a nice addition, as the bout moved towards it's crescendo very naturally, with a number of exciting near falls, double team manoevres and quick tags. The Young Buck's Meltzer Driver is a straight up silly move, and having to have a number of the other wrestlers break up the fall after was a good touch. The Meltzer Driver was the climax of a sequence that saw The Young Bucks land on their feet following an attempted double Doomsday Device, with KUSHIDA delivering the clothesline with the Bucks positioned on Koslov and Shelley's shoulder, before superkicking everyone in sight. If it weren't for the eventual winners of the bout, I'd be picking The Bucks as my MVP's of this bout.

     That winning team was reDRagon, who were outstanding throughout the bout. Both Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish had been on a massive roll throughout 2014, holding the Ring of Honor tag titles for most of year, and with O'Reilly finding singles success holding the PWG World title, I'd imagine 2015 is going to be an even bigger year for the pair. En route to victory they pulled out a backbreaker/diving knee drop combo, an unbelievable Double Arm DDT/Wheelbarrow Suplex combination, with Fish hitting a top rope Falcon Arrow and stunning Exploder Suplex, before the pair used their signature Chasing the Dragon double team to pick up the pinfall victory on Koslov. This topped of a superb opener nicely and set the tone for what was to come.

    

Singles Match

AJ Styles

 vs.

Tetsuya Naito

 

       I really really want to hate AJ Styles and write nasty things about him, because he seems to be a bit of a nobhole. "But he's a heel, he's supposed to annoy you" Be quiet! There's being a heel to get a reaction in a building and then there's being unprofessional outside the ring and for me Styles crosses that line. But I can't write nasty things about him. "But you just have, you called him a "nobhole"" Be quiet! I can't write nasty things about him because he's fucking good wrestler and puts on matches like this here bout with Tetsuya Naito.

      The match centred around Styles working over Naito's knee and leg, supposedly to set up for the Calf Killer submission (perhaps the commentary team forgot Styles used the move, because there was no mention of it until it was locked in), this offence from Styles was similar to what was seen out of him in the latter stages of his TNA run and works nicely for his heel persona. As soon as Naito was locked in the Calf Killer, his selling was on the button, making it so easy to will him on to reach the ropes, as the villainous Styles played his part in the drama as well. 

      I was a little disapointed then not to see the leg play a bit more into the finish of the bout, as it could have been easily tied in with the other on-going story of Styles attempting the feared Styles Clash at any opportunity. With Styles perched upon the top rope, Naito attempted a Super Frankensteiner, only for Styles to hold on and manage to set up for a Styles Clash off Bret's rope. A little grab of the leg before Styles' managed to set up for the Styles clash would have been the icing on the cake for me. This is probably the most nit picky paragraph I have ever written in a wrestling review and for that I am truly sorry.

     Bar a few slight slips and hiccups, this was a top notch slice of wrestling action, that could have easily main evented any wrestling show going and not received a single complaint. Styles has been rejuvenated since leaving TNA, whilst Naito joins the long list of Japanese talents that severly impressed me on this show and another talent that TNA managed to let slip through their fingers! 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match

Kenny Omega

 vs.

Ryusuke Taguchi (C)

        I'm not quite sure what to make of this one, if I'm honest. It was neither here or there, and I'm not quite sure what they were trying to do with this one. Whilst there was some cool looking moves, and elements of story telling with The Young Bucks antics at ringside, there wasn't much in way of chemistry between the two and I just couldn't get into the match as much as I was expecting I would do. Maybe it was because we'd seen all the flips in the Four team Junior Tag match earlier in the show and there was no real attempt to create a strong story thread to follow.

     Apart from an awkward double dropkick spot (Does that spot ever look good?), the wrestling was of a high quality and I thought the bout picked up the pace nicely in the second half, so there was certainly something to enjoy in this match. I think perhaps it was also hurt by being a little too long and being placed directly after two hard hitting bouts in the form of Suzuki vs, Sakuraba and Makabe vs. Ishii. With Omega picking up the win via pinfall following the One Winged Angel, I'd suspect this wasn't the star making performance he'd have hoped for, but he's certainly talented and I'd be surprised if he wasn't turning heads with his run as Junior Heavyweight Champion in the near future.   

NEVER Openweight Championship Match

Togi Makabe

vs.

Tomohiro Ishii

         Two mean bastards beating the shit out of each other. This match had intensity on tap, as Makabe and Ishii looked to send each other into another dimension. That's at least what it seemed like as the pair unleashed a series of stiff strikes and big power moves on each other for just over twelve minutes. I was completely drawn into this one, with some stunning moves from both men including a powerbomb variation each, a delayed verticle superplex from Ishii and Northern Lights and Dragon Suplexes from Makabe, this match had a little bit more than your regular WWE power vs. power bout.

       The stiff back and forth strikes battles and continued cat and mouse style, showcased just how evenly matched the two were and made a nice change of pace from the babyface fighting from underneath style that was showcased elsewhere on the card. I perhaps would have liked Ishii's taped up injured shoulder to have played a little bit more of a role in the match, especially considering it was bought up multiple times by Striker on commentary. This style of match won't be for everyone, but it certainly worked for me. 

UWFi Rules Match

Minoru Suzuki

vs.

Kazushi Sakuraba

       Hearing Matt Striker detailing the rules of this match filled me with dread, as I've never been a huge fan of MMA mixing with pro wrestling, mainly because it points to your other matches being pre-determined and makes it a little harder to suspend your disbelief going forward. Luckily, that wasn't the case here, as the veteran Suzuki and Sakuraba used a convincing style, all submission holds and strikes, whilst incorporating the pro wrestling theatrics, such as a hard fought battle on the ramp, over the top. This made it feel much more like a vicious pro wrestling match, than an MMA bout, which is perfectly fine by me.

        The bout had a clear and defined story that saw Sakuraba focus the majority of his attack on Suzuki's arm, after being able to lock in a Kimura whilst on the ramp. This was helped along by Suzuki's stellar selling of the injury, as well the last man standing style elements with Suzuki battling to get to his feet before the ten count, which created a decent underdog-style story. When Suzuki made his come back with a huge kick, followed up by a Rear Naked Choke that eventually saw Sakuraba pass out from the pain, and whilst this worked well as an ending, it did feel a little like a John Cena-Hulk Hogan superman-esque comeback, which didn't quite mesh with the style presented earlier. Kudos to Matt Striker for really putting both of these guys MMA credentials over throughout the match, it definitely helped me as a viewer understand everything going on.

IWGP Tag Team Championship Match

Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata

vs.

BULLET CLUB (C)

        This is where Matt Striker and Jim Ross being on commentary really worked for me. Had it not been for their performance on commentary, telling the story of Goto and Shibata being on the same college wrestling team and the rest of the pairs backstory that gave the bout an extra dimensionm, I'd have struggled to get into this. The flow felt a little bit off kilter and the teams didn't quite connect with each other the way I was hoping they would. All four men, particularly Karl Anderson, had their own moments that impressed me, but I don't think the match came together in the way it should have.

Six Man Tag Team Match

BULLET CLUB

  vs.

TenKoji & Tomoaki Honma

 
     This bout was a fairly basic six man tag, going a little over five minutes there wasn't much room for the competitors to move in terms of the story they could tell. The heel BULLET CLUB, consisting of Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi (perhaps best known in the US for his 2009 run in TNA as part of the No Limit tag team) and former WWF, TNA and WCW wrestler Jeff Jarrett, spent most of the match working quick tags and working over Satoshi Kojima, before a hot tag allowed for a comeback. There was some American style antics from Jarrett and his trusty guitar, but that aside, with the babyface's picking up the win following a diving headbutt from Tomaki Honma, this was your run of the mill short tag bout, with nothing particular noteworthy.

Eight Man Tag Team Match

Suzuki-gun

  vs.

Naomichi Marufuji, TMDK & Toru Yano

       I found this match a lot more entertaining than the aforementioned six man tag, although it was essentially a "get your shit in" showcase. That's maybe a bit of a harsh term to use, but this match essentially allowed each man to show off a little bit of what they could do in the ring, whether that be Shelton Benjamin hitting his leaping release belly to belly suplex on Marafuji, the power game of Davey Boy Smith, Jr. (formerly WWE's DH Smith) and Lance Archer (formerly WWE's Vance Archer & TNA's Lance Hoyt/Rock), the brawling style of Toru Yano and Takashi Iizuka, the speedy double team work of TMDK's Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste or the flawless skill of Naomichi Marufuji. For what it was, this is was a fun match, but was let down by the commentary team who didn't quite seem to know what was going on during spells of outside interference.

Finally...

        What else is there to say? This was fantastic pay-per-view event, Okada vs. Tanahashi and Nakamura vs. Ibushi were a different class, whilst Styles vs. Naito, the Junior Tag Team Four Way, Makabe vs. Ishii and Suzuki vs. Sakuraba are all worth watching and for entirely difference reasons! Striker and JR did a sound job on commentary, after settling into the show, although it was clear that Jim Ross didn't quite know as much about the product as he should have. I'd like to see Striker return for another show, as once he calmed himself down, he was an informative and interesting listen, perhaps they could team him up with an old New Japan gaijin, who might know a little more about the product? Was it worth the £25 that Flipps app were charging for the stream? Probably not, I'd want to be there live for that sort of money, bring the price down to £15-£17 and I'd definitely hand over my student loan for action this good. 

Best of British II - Insane Championship Wrestling

The Lestrange Lock's Lily Lestrange puts her case forward for Insane Championship Wrestling being the best wrestling company in the United Kingdom today!

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           It was about 2011 when my passion for wrestling rekindled itself.  I casually watched WWE whenever it was on TV before that, following the career of CM Punk as he claimed The Nexus as his own before finally winning the WWE Championship. After that I was hooked. I would talk to my fellow fans online every Monday whilst watching RAW and then the same went for any PPVs as well. This went on for ages as my amazement with the promotion grew but it wasn’t enough. I was beginning to get bored and needed something more. I asked about on Twitter and it was suggested to me that I go to live shows right here in my hometown of Glasgow, held by a promotion called Insane Championship Wrestling. Wrestling? In Glasgow? Surely there wasn’t a promotion right on my doorstep that I had no idea about?! Turns out that there has been for a good while now, more the fool me!

         I was told that ICW were branching out by putting on a show in the Edinburgh Playhouse that had matches featuring Colt Cabana and Sabu. I’d known of Colt from following Punk’s career and every wrestling fan knows of Sabu, so I got myself a ticket and off I went to their sold-out show “Dave’s Not Here Man”. This was my first time going to a live show and my first experience with an indy promotion so asides from the obscure references in their event names and the imported stars I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I mean, how could a promotion based in my city ever compare to WWE? Well let me tell you, ICW blew them out of the water that night and they have continued to do so for me to the present day. 

 

The second match on the card for that night was Kay Lee Ray vs. Carmel in a Last Woman Standing match and I was completely astounded that women could wrestle like that these days; after having to deal with the Divas division in WWE for years before now I just couldn’t believe what was in front of me. At one point Carmel DDT’d KLR from the bar and for want of a better term I marked out something stupid. These two are some of the best female wrestlers that the UK has to offer; I was sure of it at the time and after watching them feud over the past year I’ve never been more convinced of it. As soon as that DDT happened that was it; I was already booking my tickets to the next show in my mind. I was still chanting away as I wandered lost about Edinburgh on my own after the show and I didn’t even care because I had so much adrenaline running through me that I would’ve superkicked anyone that looked at me the wrong way.

      I stayed true to it as well; for the remainder of 2013 I only missed one show and I’ve only missed a handful this year. I’ve watched the promotion go from struggling to sell out a community centre to having its own documentary on the BBC (and a sequel soon to follow), be the only promotion in the UK to have an online streaming service and selling out one of the greatest venues in the world, the Barrowlands. But how has ICW managed to achieve such greatness, you ask? Bringing in talent from overseas has definitely brought in a wider audience: we’ve had people like Prince Devitt, Paul London and Brian Kendrick become regular faces at shows plus some one-offs like Hardcore Holly who only a few weeks ago managed to leave our own Chris Renfrew’s chest looking like a pound of mince. Even WWE’s Drew McIntyre, who started his career in the ring at ICW as Drew Galloway, has come back to his roots and is currently the ICW Heavyweight Champion. 

 

      Of course, their regular roster deserves the most credit for their success. B.T Gunn and Wolfgang have been feuding for the best part of a year now and we’ve seen Wolfgang throw Gunn from a sound system and the pair of them nearly hanging each other from the ropes in a dog collar match, this year-long spat is yet to get boring. In Newcastle, Chris Renfrew vs. Jimmy Havoc in a Geordie Rules match saw Havoc spewing at ringside after having one shot of whisky too many and him jamming a dildo into Renfrew’s mouth after knocking him silly with a baking tray. Because rule one of a Geordie Rules match is that there are no rules and dildos are fair game, right? There's also been the Best-Of-5 feud between Noam Dar and Joe Coffey, two lads who don’t need gimmicks because all they have to do is step into a ring together to wow the crowds. If you like pure, unadulterated wrestling then these matches are gonna be your thing. Then of course there’s Grado, Scotland’s answer to Scotty 2 Hotty; people may question his wrestling abilities but he’s undeniably one of the greatest entertainers in the business today. You could hate him in the ring but still sing his entrance song “Like A Prayer” every time; there’s just no hating the guy, he’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face at every show. 

 

       The uniqueness of these kinds of feuds, matches and wrestlers is what makes ICW special; we have absolutely no idea what we’re going to get with the next event and that’s why we love it. Hell, they’ve even sold out shows without even announcing a match on the card before. ICW has something for everyone (as long as you’re over 18) and the sense of kinship from not only the roster but the fans themselves will have you never wanting to miss a show again. 

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      We'd like to thank Lily Lestrange for taking the time to write for us. You can find her other work at thelestrangelock.blogspot.com, as well as follow the blog on Twitter @LestrangeLock. ICW can be found at insanewrestling.co.uk, as well as on Twitter @InsaneChampWres and on Facebook here.