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Reviews from Across the Pond – 1PW Know Your Enemy 2006 Night One

September 10, 2011 | Posted by Jack Stevenson
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Reviews from Across the Pond – 1PW Know Your Enemy 2006 Night One  

1PW KNOW YOUR ENEMY 2006- NIGHT 1

You may or may not have heard of 1PW. If you haven’t, here’s a brief history. It’s a British promotion that arrived on the scene in October 2005 with it’s debut show, entitled ‘A Cruel Twist of Fate.” Matt Hardy was originally scheduled to headline it (hence ‘Twist of Fate’) but he had to pull out due to his newfound WWE commitments (hence ‘A Cruel.) Despite this early setback the promotion quickly garnered rave reviews. Nobody in the UK was doing anything quite like 1PW. Their shows saw top international talent mixing it up with prominent homegrown stars, in front of an incredibly loyal fanbase. Combine this with it’s heady mixture of hardcore, high flying and technical wrestling, and it’s no wonder it was branded “The British ECW.”

By the end of 2006 though, things were faltering. Rumours were flying around the industry of bounced cheques and mounting debts. The company brashly soldiered on, booking the Great Muta for it’s January 2007 event “No Turning Back.” The event never occurred, as 1PW collapsed early in the month. With Muta livid and apparently telling people back home that British promotions were dangerous to work with, RQW and 3CW, two other wrestling groups over here, stepped in to save the day. RQW, who were running a show the night prior to No Turning Back, persuaded Muta to wrestle for them, and their professionalism saved British wrestling a lot of face. Meanwhile, 3CW picked up the fragmented pieces of No Turning Back and put on a show in Doncaster, where the event was scheduled to be held.

Since that day, 1PW has been resurrected and inevitably put to sleep by a series of different wannabes, each seemingly more incompetent than the last. Right now, the promotion seems finally to be dead and buried, it’s name dragged through the mud by Danny Rodd, who headed up the most recent events, and of whom no one seems to have a nice word for. However, the DVDs are still available through Amazon, and there’s no denying that, despite the constant backstage turmoil, 1PW put on some great shows. Here’s hoping this, the first night of their May 2006 double shot in Doncaster (their home base) is one of them.

Your hosts for this evening are occasional ROH commentator Joe Dombrowski, and British manager extraordinaire (and, from the five minutes I’ve spoken to him, tremendously nice guy) Dean Ayass. He chastises Dombrowski for being American and not knowing enough about wrestling. Joe takes the abuse silently, and then announces that Homicide and Justin Credible will not be appearing tonight. They were both meant to be appearing in tonight’s tag title tournament, with Homicide partnering Ricky Reyes and Credible alongside Lance Storm.

MATCH 1- STEVIE LYNN VS DRAGON AISU VS PAC

You hopefully all know Pac, but Stevie Lynn is pretty great as well. Dragon Aisu’s a poor man’s NOAH wrestler, but he works just fine as a cheap alternative.

Lynn and Aisu plan an attack on the lightweight before the match, but it doesn’t pay off. He takes them both out with a handspring back elbow in the corner, but gets whipped by Aisu right into a Stevie Lynn enzuiguri. Neck snap by Aisu, running uppercut by Lynn, but they obviously can’t agree on who makes the cover. They decide to put this aside for a little while to tenderise poor Pac’s spine. Overhead neckbreaker by Aisu, and Lynn has to break up the cover. Slam and a standing senton from Stevie, and now it’s the Dragon breaking up the count. They decide to team up again, but the future Dragon Gate star flips out a back suplex and dropkicks both men out to the floor, before following up with a beautiful Shooting Star Press to the floor! Before he can follow up, Aisu’s manager Gabriel Gray canes him in the gut, slowing the Man who Gravity forgot down no-end. In ring, Aisu batters Stevie with chops and nails a backbreaker for two. Lynn elbows out of a half nelson suplex and counters a bulldog into a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Pac’s back! Chicken Wing Suplex for Stevie! Backdrop Driver for Aisu!

Lynn comes back with a big clothesline, sending Pac spiralling through the air. He and Aisu unite again to get a double backdrop. The alliance ends quickly with a trio of suplexes by Stevie, only for Dragon to counter the third one into a half nelson suplex. Pac breaks up a cover with a ridiculous 630, and covers DA for the three count.

Rating- ** ¾- Nothing more than a short spotfest to get the crowd into the show, with no selling to speak off. Nothing was botched though, and it was undeniably entertaining. It was performances like that that got Pac worldwide attention.

In the back, Austin Aries & Roderick Strong are intent on taking the 1PW Tag Team Championships over to the USA. Austin promises to take out their opponents, Jonny Storm and Jodie Fleisch, and then brush their teeth. HA HA HA, ENGLISH PEOPLE HAVE BAD TEETH. HA HA HA. Strong proclaims that they’re the best tag team in the world, and threatens to break the backs of Jonny & Jodie.

Meanwhile, Jonny Storm has to cut his promo on his own, being as Fleisch hasn’t arrived yet. He tries to rally England behind them, and says they’ll win the titles like England will win the 2006 World Cup. There’s a reason why Storm’s a wrestler and not an expert soccer pundit.

MATCH 2- 1PW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER FINAL- STORM/FLEISCH VS GENERATION NEXT

Storm & Fleisch were all the rage in 2002, making appearances for ROH, CZW and in Japan among others. They’ve cooled off since then, but they remain a top pair of British wrestlers.

Handshakes by the Brits are met by slaps from Aries and Strong. Duelling chants from the Doncaster crowd. Storm and Aries reel off a nice technical sequence to start, and then trade… forward rolls. Jonny pulls off a flying headscissors. Tag to Jodie, tag to Roderick. More slick counter wrestling, with Strong utilising his power advantage. Fleisch gets a hip toss and dropkick, sending the Americans out to the floor to regroup. Roddy is able to force Fleisch into the splits, and flips him into a pinning position for two. Funky. Jodie tries to come back, leaping onto Strong’s shoulders, but he gets dumped throat first against the top rope. A Double tags in, and illegal chicanery follows. Back in comes Roderick, who promptly gets caught with a high crossbody. He fires back with a nasty lariat an a fallaway slam, which Austin follows up on with a slingshot senton. Leaping backrake! Aries, you sick fuck you. Back suplex for two.

Strong breaks out the chops! Standing butterfly suplex for two. AA’’s figure four is thwarted, but he takes out Jonny Storm to prevent the tag. More chops from Strong. Fleisch finally rallies, connecting with a handspring moonsault and enzuiguri. Hot tag to Storm! Huracanrana, and Michinoku Driver to Strong! He German Suplexes Fleisch off the top rope into a moonsault! One, two, not three. Fleisch gets sent to the floor, and Generation Next obliterate Storm with double teams. Jodie tries to fight back, but gets deposited to the floor. Jonny sends Strong into Aries who was perched on the top rope though, and it’s a Tornado DDT from Fleisch to the Messiah of the Backbreaker- for three!

Rating- ***- Like the first fifteen minutes of a phenomenal tag match. They got the nervy opening and the heat segment down perfectly, but it desperately needed more near falls, and despite Dombrowski trying to sell it as a super special 720 DDT, it still looked to me like Fleisch finished off Strong with a Tornado variant, which just made Roddy look weak. Still a good match mind.

In the back, the Blue Meanie is concerned about facing Hamrick & Smothers, because it’s his first match back from surgery. Al Snow isn’t pleased to learn about this. Meanie scampers when Al threatens him with a Heart Punch. Fun segment.

MATCH 3- 1PW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS QUARTER FINAL- SOUTHERN COMFORT VS AL SNOW & THE BLUE MEANIE

Pre match, Smothers points out Mick Foley in the third row. I don’t know whether it was just a look-a-like. Pity me, I’m an incompetent reviewer. Anyway, Tracy isn’t pleased that the fans are chanting that Smothers sucks, so they’ll be no dance off tonight. He points out that Snow is jacked, leading Al to go through a posing routine. Meanie shows off his guns as well, which doesn’t impress Hamrick. Southern Comfort offers Snow £3 or $5 to turn on Bluey, but the moralistic Snow isn’t impressed, even when the offer is raised to £5. £7 is rejected with rude gestures! Smothers threatens to take off his shirt if Al doesn’t accept this final offer of… £10! The fans seem to think he should take the money, so Al does, and we have… a singles match? Snow Vs Meanie? They actually do a pretty good sequence, until Meanie scolds his so called partner for trying to punch him. At that point, Al just decides to give up with the singles match, and the tag match is back on! Snow drops the money down the Blue Meanie’s shorts. Smothers decides that he wants to put the last few minutes behind him, and offers to shake the Blue Meanie’s hands. Da Blue Guy tentatively accepts… only to get poked in the eye.

Meanie wrestles for about thirty seconds before needing his inhaler. Inhaler to the eye of Smothers! Clotheslines for all! Tracy hugs the legs of Chris, which is a little too close for comfort. Hamrick and Snow tag in. The J.O.B squad member… ahem… rides him into the mat. Trio of snapmares (Manassas would be thrilled.) The crowd demand a dance-off… and they get it! Tracy busts out the swim! Snow works those hips and kinda sorta does the worm. Hamrick hits the ring… and decides to flip the bird instead of flip the… dancing move of some desciption. In comes Meanie, who sort of just flops around. What in the hell am I watching? The crowd unanimously rule in favour of the JOB Squad. Finally we get some wrasslin, which Snow and Meanie dominate. Big splash by the Blue Guy to Smothers, so Tracy steals the timekeepers hammer and jabs Meanie in the lung! One, two, three.

No Rating- Can’t rate it being as the actual wrestling was limited at best, but that was the funniest comedy match I’ve seen that didn’t involve Colt Cabana or Delirious. Wacky shenanigans throughout. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea (or whatever you drink in America) tough.

MATCH 4- ICEMAN VS KEVIN STEEN

Now this is going to be in stark contrast to the previous match. Iceman’s your typically foul-mouthed, fat, shirted death match wrestler, but I’ve always thought of him as a cut above the CZW or IWA-MS guys. Admittedly I hate death match wrestling so the amount of it I’ve seen is minimal, but for me, taking into account all of these violent grapplers in the 21st century, only the Necro Butcher bests Iceman in bringing a genuine air of menace to his matches. Sadly, I believe he retired last year. He’s also stated in the past that he’s a devout Christian, but that’s so at odds with his style and character I’m convinced he’s working people.

Pre match, Iceman says that when he last entered a 1PW ring, he threatened the company unless he received stronger competition. His promo is rudely interrupted, first by fans, then by Jay Phoenix, cowardly, scrawny Scotsman. Now, if memory serves me correct, Phoenix stuffed an unidentified item inside a pillowcase at a previous 1PW show and knocked Samoa Joe out with it. Thus, he walked around claiming he KO-ed Joe with nothing more than a pillow. Anyway, Jay knocks out an interviewer with the pillow and steals his money, before saying that Joe pussied out of the event when he heard Phoenix would be in attendance (in reality, he was injured.) He then reveals he has “I kicked Samoa Joe’s ass” written on the pillow.

The promo ends, and Steen takes the opportunity to get a sneaky roll-up on Iceman for two, though the main purpose is to get into the head of the Icy one. Shoving contest ensues, and then another roll-up from Kevin gets two. Forearm and chops are thrown. Steen nails a spinning wheel kick, and shushes people for a chop in the corner. Instead, he pokes him the eyes! Missile dropkick! Iceman tries to take a breather, so Steen follows him out with an impressive tope con hilo! Iceman comes back on the floor though, whipping the Canadian right into the guardrail. And again! They both commandeer a camera, and take turns filming the violence. Steen is sent into the post.

Back in it’s an inverted atomic drop, followed up by a senton for two. Side slam for another two. Leg drop misses, and Kevin gets a seated dropkick followed up by his standing somersault leg drop. Iceman fires back with a corner clothesline and a knee to the head, Steen sitting against the bottom turnbuckle. Cannonball! That’s a senton against the turnbuckle by the way. Two count. KS rallies with a DDT for two. Face wash in the corner, and the PWG mainstay is rolling. Charge to the corner doesn’t work, and a back suplex from Iceman buys him the time to head up top. Kevin intervenes, and hoists him onto his shoulders for a gutbuster. 450 Splash! Iceman grabs the ropes. One superkick doesn’t knock the British brawler down, and a second is caught, then twisted into a nasty spike back suplex, Kevin making a full rotation! That’s enough for three.

Rating- ** ¾- This was my idea of a fun big man match. They just unloaded all their power onto one other, whether it manifested itself in strikes, weaponry or head dropping. There was an element of just trading moves to it, and it definitely would have worked a lot better with a story, but this was mostly just good wrestling.

Colt Cabana and Darren Burridge (imagine Colt Cabana, but British) or Team SHAG as they’re more commonly known, have taken to the streets of Doncaster in preparation for their tag team tournament match. Unfortunately, they’re a day early. Or rather they were, because they are ready to wrestle… next!

MATCH 5- TEAM SHAG VS RICKY REYES & CHAD COLLYER

Not a bad choice to replace Homicide.

The SHAGgers double monkey flip Collyer to the floor, and send Ricky out to join him with a double big boot. This allows Colt and Darren to… have some fun with the referee. CC briefly takes control and takes in Reyes, which prompts Burridge to go into an unusual but surprisingly effective defence mechanism. Colt controls with his comedy submissions. Double nipple twist for RR! Big suplex by Burridge gets two. Double elbow drop. Team SHAG utilise quick tags to stay one step ahead. XR3I (hip toss into a neckbreaker) forces mini-Malenko to break up the cover. Reyes finally gains some traction by targeting the knee of Burridge. Now it’s Team Alliteration in control. Chad restrains Burridge for a Ricky flying knee. Finally, the sole Brit fires back, engaging in a strike exchange with Collyer. He’s sent head first into the crotch of Reyes, and it’s hot tag to Colt Cabana! Flip, flop and fly, and a modified quebrada gets two on Collyer. They do one of the most hilariously deliberately convoluted double teams of all time, but the time spent doing it allows Chad to floor Darren and try for the Collyer Cloverlead. Colt intervenes, and a double Colt. 45 gets the three.

Rating- ** ¾- Another solid but unspectacular tag match. Team SHAG’s antics were a lot of fun, but the heat segment in the middle felt like they were just going through the motions.

Back in the hotel room, Darren Burridge wakes up a jetlagged Colt Cabana by trying to sell him the 1PW Know Your Enemy program. His selling technique is energetic, I’ll give him that. I hope he never tries to sell me anything though.

MATCH 6- AJ STYLES & CHRISTOPHER DANIELS VS LANCE STORM & ANDY BOY SIMMONS

Andy Boy Simmons is a pretty good wrestler and cowardly heel, but I’d argue Jay Phoenix from earlier in the show played the character better. I always found Andy a little bland in 1PW as a result, so his teaming with Lance Storm doesn’t excite me that much. Let’s see if he can prove me wrong though.

Simmons gets in Daniels’ face to start and shoves him. This does not go down so well with the Fallen Angel, who pushes Andy head over heels and sends him flying with some arm drags. Simmons bails to the floor and starts jawing with the fans. Styles tags in, and Andy holds his own quite well on the mat. Lance still tags himself in though, and predictably indulges in some great technical action. Duelling chants from the Doncaster crowd. Lance gets a delayed vertical suplex for a two count, and a spontaneous “ECW!” chant. Because nothing says extreme like vertical suplexes. AJ flies back with a dropkick. Chris Daniels tags and joins in for a double hip toss into a slam. Flying leg lariat, and it’s the Americans that are rolling. Storm is able to force his way into the corner and tags in Andy Boy. He gets a good swinging neckbreaker on Daniels for two.

The TNA representatives retake control through double team, with a back suplex-clothesline combination. High knee drop from AJ gets two. He sweeps Simmons’ leg, and Chris follows it up with a flying clothesline for two. A backdrop sends Daniels out to the apron- he lands on his feet, but Lance is there to knock him out to the floor. They take this battle into the ring, with Storm nailing a flying leg lariat of his own for two. Piledriver countered into a back drop, but the Canadian wrenches on the leg of the Fallen Angel, preventing him from making the tag while bringing in his own partner in Andy. The Brit gets into a scuffle with Styles. Tag to Storm, who leaps in with a flying axe handle and a nice dropkick for two.

Daniels gets a desperation STO and makes the tag to Styles, who cleans house. Phenomenon to Lance Storm! Two count! Suplex into a neckbreaker forces Simmons to break up the cover. Lance hits a jawbreaker and his trademark superkick, and it’s Daniels who has to make the tag, before dragging his partner into the corner to make the tag. Blue Thunder Bomb gets two. Storm out of nowhere floats into the Canadian Maple Leaf, and AJ is in no position to break it up! Chris makes the ropes though. Simmons soars in with a missile dropkick for two. He charges right into a Death Valley Driver, and it’s Lance making the save- only to be caught with a Pele Kick! This sends him out to the floor, and AJ dives onto him. Uranage from Daniels to Simmons. AJ gets a frog splash, Daniels gets a Best Moonsault Ever, and that gets the pin on Andy Boy Simmons.

Rating- *** ¼- This was the best match of the night so far, with a great pace and a sound beginning, middle and end. It could have done with a better defined fan favourite/rule breaker system- ostensibly, AJ and Chris were the bad guys, threatening to take the titles back to the USA, but they got the biggest reaction throughout. Simmons put in a good shift here, and to be honest was probably an improvement on Justin Credible.

In Doncaster, Team SHAG are at the Doncaster Rovers soccer stadium to support the ‘slags,’ but unfortunately they’re not playing.

MATCH 7- NUMBER ONE CONTENDERSHIP FOR THE 1PW CHAMPIONSHIP- STEVE CORINO VS CHRISTIAN CAGE

Pre match, Corino and Cage engage in a great, duelling, shoot style promo. I usually hate this style, but they delivered it with a ton of intensity and never strayed out of character. Steve is baffled as to why Cage would be cheered when he decided not to participate in a previous 1PW show, so he could make a movie. He also claims Christian’s NWA Championship would be dead if it wasn’t for the King of Old School, and if it hadn’t been for him, CC would have been looking for a job after Vince fired his ass! Cage tells Corino that him making a movie is called having a career, and he should try it some time. He quit the WWE, he wasn’t fired. Steve doesn’t take kindly to Christian’s complaining, and thinks he has it OK making tons of money in WWE and TNA. Captain Charisma says Corino could do it to if he didn’t suck. The Euro-Peeps are among the best in the world, and he would never desert them. He also brings up that Corino missed the last tour in 1PW because he was wrestling in Japan. Steve says at least he was wrestling, not acting like a good sports entertainment. Corino then goes after the children for having the temerity to cheer for CC, just because he’s on TV. Christian reminds Corino that he at least made one show of the weekend, rather that Steve who missed it in it’s entirety. To conclude, he threatens to infect Steve with foot-in-ass disease. Winner of the debate in my opinion- Christian Cage!

That incident divides the crowd, and leads to an intense start to the match, Cage starting off strong with a flying forearm. They brawl to the floor, where they go into the guardrail and timekeepers table. Back in, Cage nails a high crossbody from the top rope for two. Steve comes back with a high knee, and then drops one. Sleeper hold slows the pace down. Back to their feet, and then right back down as they just slam into each other. Christian rallies and gets a back body drop. Inverted DDT for two. Inside cradle for the same. Spinebuster! Two! The action heads up top, where they battle over a superplex. Corino is sent down to the mat, but a frog splash gets only knees. Christian decides to target said knees, and locks in a Texas Cloverleaf. This isn’t locked in for long, as Steve speedily fights back to his feet. STO for two. Lariat blocked, big suplex isn’t, two count only. He takes off his elbow pad and charges, but Cage hooks the arms and tries for the Unprettier. It’s blocked, so he improvises into another Texas Cloverleaf, forcing Corino to pass out!

Rating- ** ¾- This didn’t have the intensity or purpose that the pre match promo and number one contenders status deserved. It was a fine, back and forth battle in it’s own right though.

MATCH 8- NOAH GHC TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS- MOHAMMED YONE & TAKESHI MORISHIMA VS DOUG WILLIAMS & NIGEL MCGUINNESS

This is the match I’ve been anticipating during the show. Pre match, the announcer erroneously claims this is a quarterfinal match in the titles tournament, which the fans quickly correct him on. The announcers are referencing a time limit for the first time in the night (30 minutes) so I’ve got an inkling of the way this will go.

Yone and Morishima attack behind the bell, but the British quickly fight back and send the champions to the floor, before starting up a patriotic “ENGLAND!” chant. McGuinness and Morishima opt to actually wrestle instead of just lariating each other in the face like I thought they would. Eventually things do get a bit more physical, Takeshi coming out on top of a forearm exchange. Williams and Yone have a more tentative battle, though it does in the end lead to the trading of strikes. Doug gets a quick roll up for two. Yone just boots him down with a Yakuza Kick, and tags in big Takeshi Morishima, who slams him down and stomps him.

Mohammed comes back in and batters Williams with kicks. Both the champions work over him for a while, but eventually a fired up McGuinness is tagged in, getting great elevation on a dropkick to Morishima. The momentum doesn’t last though. Nigel tries to do his headstand kick in the corner, but Yone counters that with a simple kick to the face. This sends Nigel out to the floor, and Takeshi holds his fellow future ROH champion for Yone to race around ringside and knee him in the face. Hip-block by Morishima follows up. Back in, Mohammed drops a leg for a two count. Sick kick to the face! I’d forgotten how nasty Yone’s kicks were. Morishima gets a handspring into a clothesline in the corner. Throughout this heat segment the Japanese team had been utilising the usual tag-team tactics to prevent Doug Williams coming in, but after McGuinness is able to drag Takeshi from his feet to the mat, he is finally able to make the tag!

Williams capitalises with a flying elbow off the top rope and a gutwrench suplex to Yone. Pair of high knees take Morishima off his feet, and he follows it up with the Bomb Scare knee drop off the top rope for a two count. Sadly for Williams, he charges right into a Sidewalk Slam, and Yone follows up with a guillotine leg-drop. Lax cover gets two. Doug fires back with a belly to belly suplex, and brings McGuinness back into the match. Lariat! European Uppercut! High knee from Doug! Handstand kick in the corner! Two count. Tower of London connects, forcing Morishima to break up the cover, and just flattens Nigel with a Thesz Press! German Suplex by Williams, impressive display of strength. Spinning heel kick from Yone, and everyone is down. McGuinness responds to another Yone wheel kick with a Lariat. Morishima and Williams go at it, with Takeshi nearly taking the Brit’s face off with a boot. He heads up top but Williams is ready for him- huuuuge superplex! Two count only. Takeshi shoves Doug down and tags in Yone for a double lariat. Nigel sneaks in to make the save. Morishima takes him out, and it’s a lariat from Yone for two. Musclebuster, but McGuinness sees it coming and makes the save, hoisting Muhammad up for a Doomsday Device, Williams providing an uppercut. Morishima blocks the Chaos Theory- Backdrop Driver! Nigel brawls with Takeshi to the floor, allowing Yone to hit the Musclebuster in the ring. McGuinness recovers in time for a two count. Williams comes back, but the time limit has expired. Shocker! Post match, we get a respectful handshake.

Rating- *** ½- Very good, all action tag match. At times it was a bit too formulaic, and there wasn’t much selling down to the stretch, but mostly this lived up to expectations, and it’s the first bout of the evening where they went all out.

MATCH 9- STERLING JAMES KEENAN VS SPUD

Spud is a plucky, diminutive high flyer who had a cup of coffee in ROH earlier in 2006. SJK you may know as an indy journeyman who seems to reinvent himself every five seconds. He has also made sporadic appearances for ROH, and had been tormenting Spud in 1PW, hence this grudge match.

Spud goes right on the attack but gets dumped with a Wheelbarrow suplex. Forearm drop gets two. Back suplex for the same, and also with a nasty backbreaker. Spud tries to roar back but charges right into a spinebuster for another two count. Finally the little guy gets some offence in with an enzuiguri, taking both men down. Wheelbarrow facebuster by Spud, but he charges into an elbow in the corner. He recovers to get a leaping leg lariat on SJK for two. Swanton misses, but he ducks a kick and spins through into a DDT. Frog splash! Two count! Keenan rakes the eyes, but his finishing MK Ultra is countered into a roll-up for two. The referee gets squashed in the corner, and that’s a cue for SJK’s good friend and 1PW Champion Abyss to hit the ring! Spud weighs less than Rey Mysterio, as a reference point. He tries his best but quickly gets dumped with a Black Hole Slam. MK Ultra gets the pin.

Rating- **- Fun, fast paced filler to bridge the gap into the main event and progress 1PW’s main angle- everyone bullying poor old Spud.

MAIN EVENT- 1PW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP- FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE- ABYSS VS ULF HERMANN

Ulf is a German deathmatch wrestler, and he’s OK for what he is.

Shoving contest starts us off before they slug away at each other. Ulf pulls off a hip toss and clotheslines the champ down twice. All this is just a pretence to spill to the floor though, Abyss whipping Hermann so hard into the guard rail that it buckles. They battle it out in the crowd, and scale towards the upper reaches of the Dome. Both guys almost spill over a balcony, but in the end Ulf just spills down some steps. Ulf comes back by choking him with… something. There’s so many people in the way it’s hard to see. He continues the choking with a plastic bag. In the end, they actually fight outside the arena and into the presumably chilly Doncaster night. The hardcore German leans some spare guardrail against the exit doorway, but ends up getting sent into it himself. That gets a two count. Eventually the action comes back to ringside, while Ulf flies into the ring post.

At last we go back to the ring, where Abyss sets up a table in the corner. Ulf goes into it, cracking but not breaking the table. Somehow, Abyss has got a hold of Steve Corino’s son Colby, and throws him across the ring. Steve Corino leads the rest of the roster out to check on him. Normally I’d feel this was distasteful, but Steve Corino was the booker of the promotion at the time, and so would have suggested this himself. Thus, I’d think everyone whose opinion matters on this (namely Steve and his son) was supportive of the idea, and the bump he took was relatively easy. Still, it kind of darkens the tone of the match, as the crowd quieten. Abyss tries to splash a chair into Hermann, but the German sends it into his crotch instead. Ulf continues to tenderise the genitalia of the Monster. Andy Quildan gets flattened, meaning Hermann’s DDT doesn’t get the three count. He goes to check on the referee, and that allows Abyss to smack him with the 1PW Title… for two. Abyss busts out the thumbtacks, but ends up getting chokeslammed into them himself! One, two, not three! Next up, he tries to set the champ on fire, but Sterling James Keenan comes to the rescue. He tries to powder the eyes of Ulf, but it backfires, and Abyss, blinded, mistakenly give the referee a Black Hole Slam, before chokeslamming Keenan. Hermann nails him with the belt, but a second referee comes out too late to count the pin. Abyss roars back with the Black Hole Slam into the drawing pins, and that does it.

Rating- ** ¼- Middling brawl with some fun spots and an iffy angle. I think we were meant to be apoplectic with rage that Abyss would target Colby Corino, but the DVD didn’t catch where Steve’s son came from, so it all felt a bit sudden and confusing. The crowd meanwhile chose to react with muted horror, and the whole match after it felt low-key and half hearted as a result. Good effort, and as death-matches go it was far from the worst, but I couldn’t get into this.

The 411: It's a pity 1PW has had it's name dragged through the mud so many times since it's first death in 2007, because in it's inaugural run, as I alluded to at the start of the review, it was genuinely something that no other promotion in the UK could match. Bringing in top independent talent may not have been a financially solvent plan in the long term, but it did attract huge crowds for a British wrestling show and provided tons of great matches and memories. This is not one of their best shows, and as it was the first night of a double-shot you got the feeling some of the wrestlers were holding back in their matches. However, the show is remarkably consistent and aside from the main event flows very well. I'll review shows in the future that serve as a superior introduction to 1PW, but this card wasn't bad at all. Thumbs up.
 
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]  legend

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