ROH vs PCW – Supershow Of Honor – 28th, 29th & 30th November 2014
In November of 2014 one of the United Kingdom’s premier independent promotions, Preston City Wrestling, flew in a bunch of ROH talent after securing a deal with Ring Of Honor itself to use it’s name on a series of indy ‘supershow’ events apparently co-promoted by the two groups. In truth these were almost entirely PCW affairs, with ROH simply letting them use their name and a bunch of talent, but the resulting four shows across one weekend (three days) do look rather appetising and unique. ROH has sent over head booker Delirious, ACH, Cedric Alexander, Michael Elgin, Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa, Roderick Strong, BJ Whitmer, Mark Briscoe, Tag Champions reDRagon and World Champion Jay Briscoe so there is a pretty serious contingent of core ROH talent on hand. PCW is supplying plenty of strong British talent…and if that wasn’t enough there’s also an assortment of other top name indy talent too – including Lance Storm, Paul London, Uhaa Nation, Chris Masters, Brodus Clay and Booker T. These shows are all available to download, or you can also buy a DVD/Blu-Ray box set of all four events so there is plenty of avenues available for international fans to check these guys out. I was pretty seriously ill back in November of 2014 so couldn’t attend the shows myself, but have picked up the aforementioned set and can’t wait to check out what I missed. We’re in Preston, UK with PCW’s commentary team Greg Lambert and ‘Stallion’. They are incredibly annoying, utterly horribly at their job and have done embarrassingly little research on Ring Of Honor too. I think one of the audio channels is just crowd noise, and that is infinitely preferable.
Show One – 28th November 2014
This was a Friday night show to get the festivities started. The main event sees reDRagon defend the ROH Tag Titles in a talent-packed fourway also featuring the Briscoes, The Decade’s Strong and Whitmer and PCW’s ‘Team Single’ of Rampage Brown and T-Bone. Other highlights on this card are oddballs Delirious and Mad Man Manson going one-on-one, Tommaso Ciampa battling Uhaa Nation in an ROH vs WWNLive dream match, Michael Elgin squaring off with Brodus Clay in a battle of the heavyweights and Adam Cole looking to outwit the massive TNA British Bootcamp 2 star Mastiff.
El Ligero vs Cedric Alexander vs ACH vs Charlie Garrett vs Joey Hayes vs Dean Allmark
We open with Six Man Mayhem action. ROH has contributed Cedric Alexander and ACH (I’m not sure if this is their first trip to the UK, but they’ve not been booked here too often if it isn’t) who are more than capable of trading spots with the best of them. Hayes is a former PCW Champion and a pretty over heel in the promotion. Allmark and Ligero are experienced British junior workers, and you may recognise Ligero from his appearances in TNA’s British Bootcamp too.
ACH looks quite happy dancing around to all the British wrestler’s entrance themes, although he upsets Ligero by trying to steal his mask. Hayes gets more heat by attacking the ‘luchador’ from behind, before both he and Cedric fall victim to the power of Garrett. ACH and Alexander lock horns, and don’t pull any punches despite being on the same ‘team’. Cedric gives ACH a crunching chop, so ACH retaliates with a brutal dropkick. Hayes fights off EVERYONE…before missing a Ready 2 Rumble double axehandle on Alexander, so all five other guys get to kick his ass. Double superkick from Ligero and Deal to Garrett…before Allmark cracks the masked man with a pop-up European. BERMUDA TRIANGLE TO THE FLOOR from Allmark to Alexander! Hayes increases his unpopularity by stopping ACH from hitting the Air Jordan though. Stallion is pretty much burying the ROH talent at every opportunity. PCW better hope SBG don’t pay too much attention to him, since he’s being a huge dick. Cedric gives Joey the Three Amigos followed by his springboard lariat for 2. Kick 2 Kill blocked…and Ligero saves with EL BOOTO! Slingshot flatliner from ACH to Garrett! RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Allmark kills his momentum with a superkick, only to walk into a brainbuster from Charlie. C4L from Ligero to Garrett! STOKIE FLY from Dean to Ligero! Hayes sneaks in and steal’s the Mexican’s pinfall at 12:47
Rating - *** - Nothing too serious or too heavy, but it was a fun-filled start to the weekend which the live crowd really got behind. I thought it was really well put together in that the ROH guys, who were probably a cut above some of the British talent in terms of how polished they were, carried a lot of the action whilst also allowing some of the less-experienced guys (Garrett in particular) a chance to shine. Hayes, ACH and Cedric were the stars of the show for me. In particular ACH showed far more charisma and personality here than he ever does in Ring Of Honor.
Michael Elgin vs Brodus Clay
When PCW were announcing the cards for these events, this was definitely one of the more intriguing matches booked over the entire weekend. Elgin is a powerhouse former ROH World Champion and used to being a pretty dominating force when he’s inside the ring. He’ll be well out of his comfort zone tonight, taking on the huge and completely unorthodox Brodus Clay (still working his WWE persona). This is an obvious clash of personalities, and it will be interesting to see how Elgin copes with an opponent he can’t simply manhandle. Since this is after Elgin lost the ROH World Title and returned from his Canadian isolation with a massive change in attitude, how will his mental state be in front of a non-ROH crowd?
‘Don’t call Vince’ – Lambert as Brodus enters to his WWE entrance music. Interestingly, Clay then heels out on the crowd by acting serious and demanding that they shut the music off anyway. He then tries to walk out when the fans call him the ‘Funk-asaurus’. He then demands to be called by his TNA gimmick of ‘Tyrus’. Elgin looks like a MIDGET compared to him! Elgin tries to use his speed, dodging some wild swings from Clay then coming off the second rope with a flying tackle. Sadly for him he tries the same tactic for a second time…and sails straight into a headbutt from the colossal Tyrus. There’s nothing fancy from Brodus, who looks to batter Elgin with as little effort as possible. He works the neck with nerve holds and elbows, which according to the commentators makes him unpopular since the crowd are only here for spots. Michael fights him off with a volley of lariats and kicks...and wins it with a bridging German suplex at 05:58
Rating - ** - I heard this was terrible, but I actually didn’t have much of a problem with it. The reality is that Brodus/Tyrus isn’t a great wrestler. He’s also so much bigger than Elgin that it basically rendered Elgin’s entire wrestling routine worthless. In the circumstances they actually worked an entertaining little encounter. I liked Clay’s heel turn, I liked that the match didn’t go long enough to totally expose how limited he is in the ring…and I really liked watching Elgin try to use speed because his entire moveset was off the table.
Mad Man Manson vs Delirious
Expect this one to be weird. Manson is insanely entertaining and probably the best ‘comedy wrestler’ in Europe before his retirement after these Supershows. Delirious doesn’t wrestle on a full-time basis anymore thanks to his office commitments with ROH, but has amassed quite the reputation as an unorthodox performer in his own right.
‘F*cking hell’ – Manson’s reaction to Delirious’ ringbell routine. ‘Oh, this is Ring Of Honor, we have to pretend it’s real’ – more Manson comedy gold. He wants to do amateur stuff since that looks realistic. TEST OF TOE STRENGTH! Five minutes in and they’ve barely wrestled, but some of the verbal exchanges between them have me in hysterics. Then they have a battle to see who can lie on the ground better! ‘I was late to the show so I didn’t see the booking sheet. Who’s winning this match?’ – Manson. He then keeps hold of a microphone and NARRATES as Delirious tries to defeat him with a flurry of pinning combinations. LARIAT DUEL! The sheer effort of ‘actually doing something’ causes them both to collapse into unconsciousness with Delirious on top. He wins at 08:22
Rating - *** - As a wrestling match it probably wouldn’t get any stars at all, but it was 5* comic gold so I had to split the difference. Manson is an absolute joy to watch if you’ve never seen him before. It’s a tragedy that he’s decided to call time on his wrestling career to pursue other ventures…but I’m delighted we got to see this before his retirement. I’m in no doubt this will be one of the most memorable matches of the entire weekend.
Lance Storm vs Martin Kirby
Storm is a totally random but completely welcome addition to the weekend. He has competed for ROH in the past, and even in his semi-retired state remains a hell of a technician. His opponent tonight is Martin Kirby, a highly-regarded worker on the British scene who has been around for a long time. His regular partner in ‘Project Ego’ is Kris Travis, who is currently on a hiatus from wrestling whilst he battles stomach cancer.
Lance gets a standing ovation just for turning up, such is the level of respect he commands. The opening exchanges are the polar opposite of Manson/Delirious as two experienced workers test each other in a succession of holds. Kirby has to hang in there with the veteran, and draws a well-earned round of applause by surviving all of Storm’s early holds then trapping him in a bow and arrow. The Englishman actually starts to frustrate the Canadian as he continually finds ways to snare him in different predicaments. Northern lights suplex, followed by a basement shoulder tackle get 2. Lance hits back with his big dropkick…causing Kirby to clutch at his face in pain. Showing his experience, he stays on the face with a leg drop then facelocks to ensure he presses home his advantage. Martin tries to take the match outside for a brawl on the floor, but finds his attempts thwarted by the former-ECW worker. MAPLE LEAF! Kirby shows his courage by surviving Storm’s finisher…but then totally no-sells it by climbing the ropes for a diving elbow smash. Storm Dropkick dodged this time, into a jumping neckbreaker for 2. Stop Sign Enzi blocked…Superkick blocked! Storm counters a roll-up into a pinning combination of his own to snatch a win at 12:03
Rating - *** - This one felt like it had just gotten going when it ended which is a real shame. These two had genuine chemistry together, and told a nice little story with the veteran of the British scene looking to prove himself against an all-time great technician like Storm. It had just started getting interesting when the finish came rather out of nowhere.
Dave Mastiff vs Adam Cole
This is a true PCW vs ROH encounter. ‘The Bastard’ Dave Mastiff gained some visibility as part of British Bootcamp 2, but has been around the British indies for a long time as a big, bad bruiser. Over the last year or so he has dramatically changed his look and style – greatly improving him as a worker in my opinion. He has a tough task ahead of him tonight though in the form of former ROH World Champion Adam Cole. Cole is the only representative of The Kingdom here this weekend, but knows he needs a good showing as he prepares to face Jay Briscoe for the World Title at Final Battle 2014.
Mastiff easily tosses Cole aside, and taunts the American to emphasise just how out-matched he is. Adam digs into his bag of tricks, first by grabbing the beard then cheekily kicking the Bastard in his ample belly. The ‘Cole Train’ has no effect though, with Dave easily shaking it off. Next Cole attempts his flying crossbody…and literally bounces off his opponent’s massive frame. Finally he finds an approach that works, trapping Mastiff in the corner and superkicking his knee. He starts working the leg hard in preparation for the Figure 4. ROPE RUN KNEE BAR applied! But the ROH worker gets cocky and abandons the leg approach to start laughing and pie-facing the big Brit. Dave roundly dismisses him with a massive dropkick, then chases him around ringside hitting him so violently Adam actually tries to crawl over fans to escape. The commentators have abandoned talking about the match to make fun of Hanson (the wrestler)…who isn’t even booked tonight. Okay, maybe they are more annoying than Kevin Kelly. Mastiff no-sells Cole’s Shining Wizard to hit a LARIATOOOOOOO! Both men down! Credit to big Dave too, because he’s still selling that leg. He also doesn’t have the cardiovascular conditioning of Cole – as proven when Adam is able to pile into him with elbow strikes. DEAD-LIFT GERMAN gets 2 for Mastiff! Cole kicks the leg to block a powerbomb…but can’t get the Bastard off his feet and gets FLATTENED with a diving senton for 2. German suplex blocked a second time…before Cole dodges another jumping senton causing Dave’s bad leg to ricochet off the bottom rope. Cole spits at him and orders him to stay down…so Mastiff GERMAN SUPLEXES HIM INTO THE TURNBUCKLES! BUT THE KNEE GIVES OUT BEFORE HE CAN HIT A CANNONBALL! SUPERKICK BY COLE! GETS 2! FIGURE 4 LEGLOCK! Mastiff hurls abuse at Cole as he battles to the ropes! COLE HITS THE CRADLEBREAKER! MASTIFF KICKS OUT! Panama Sunrise blocked into a MASTIFF-BOMB! LIMPING CANNONBALL! MASTIFF WINS! It’s over at 15:55
Rating - **** - If you’ve ever spoken to me at length about the British wrestling scene you’ll know I’m not the biggest fan of Dave Mastiff. He always strikes me as such a waste of potential. He has an awesome, intimidating look…but never seems to be able to channel the likes of Vader or Dr Death to produce the kind of in-ring performances to compliment his size. Thankfully that was less of an issue here as he was working with a real genius in Adam Cole. You have to remember that Cole was working safe since he was one week away from a pay-per-view main event with Ring Of Honor, and he was also starting to feel the heat after competing with a serious shoulder injury for some time. Relying on just his personality, charisma and a surprisingly competent sell-job from Big Dave, he structured a hell of a contest – where all his cunning and manipulations ultimately couldn’t overcome the sheer size and might of the Englishman. I think we can declare this the showstealer on Night 1.
Uhaa Nation vs Tommaso Ciampa
Nation is something of a regular for PCW…so technically he’s representing them tonight. But this is a mouth-watering clash because it’s something we’d never normally get to see. Uhaa competes for Dragon Gate and is part of the WWNLive promotions in America, meaning he doesn’t get to work Ring Of Honor or ROH talents very often. He’s a big, imposing specimen…but he takes on a similarly big and tough worker in the Sicilian Psychopath. Nation is gearing up for a PCW Title shot at Chris Masters later in the weekend. Ciampa is supposed to be on his best behaviour since he’s still on zero tolerance after attacking Bobby Cruise over the summer.
Tommaso wants to wrestle in his shirt because he finds Nation’s physique so intimidating. It’s actually Uhaa’s pandering to the crowd that presents Ciampa with an opening – as the Dragon Gate star poses to them he turns his back on Tommaso…just as he aims a flurry of boots to the back of his head. Bare Knee strikes score early, driving Uhaa from the ring. He recovers quickly though, hauling Ciampa through the ropes for a PUMPING APRON SUPLEX! MOONSAULT OFF THE APRON! Seriously, if you’ve not seen Nation before, he is an insane talent. Frog Splash gets 2, although again Uhaa delayed by playing to his fans in the audience. NECK DROP GERMAN by Ciampa! But it’s no sold with a jumping knee…so Tommaso crashes into his opponent again with a running lariat for 2. DVD by Nation, and these guys are just throwing everything they have at each other. The amount of different songs the crowd are able to modify into ‘Uhaa’ chants is quite incredible. Ciampa finally catches Nation going for one athletic high spot too many, driving him into the mat with the Air Raid Crash. Ligerbomb by Nation for 2! Chris Masters invades the announce table booth to scout his opponent, as Tommaso lands PROJECT CIAMPA for 2! They go back to the apron for more stiff shots…until Ciampa picks his rival up for an AIR RAID CRASH ON THE APRON! Masters is at ringside now, not that Nation or Ciampa have noticed as they continue to stiff lumps out of each other. UHAA COMBINATION! Masters breaks the fall by throwing the PCW Title at the ref though! Tommaso capitalises with a Bare Knee to the head…and wins at 10:43
Rating - *** - Absolutely no selling to be found here at all, but as ten minutes of non-stop stiffness, neck bumps and head drops it had undoubted appeal. Obviously I could have done without the Masters interference at the end too, but I understand PCW have their own storylines to further and they aren’t here to cater exclusively to my dream match wishes. Even in ten minutes, with almost no psychology at all, you could see the sheer quality of both guys. Ciampa is as under-rated as it gets on the independent scene right now, whilst Nation demonstrated exactly why he’s a lock to end up in the WWE very soon.
Bubblegum vs Paul London – PCW Cruiserweight Title Match
According to the commentary team Bubblegum defeated Brian Kendrick back in September, so Kendrick put a call in to his good friend Paul London…who now returns to PCW looking to avenge that defeat. Paul hasn’t appeared in ROH since 2013, and hasn’t been invited back since no-showing the first live event of 2014. Since then he’s got himself into incredible shape (the best of his career – by far) so I can’t wait to see him in action here.
Gum is aware of Paul’s ridiculously long entrance gimmick…so chases him into the crowd to get the fight started there. It’s nothing London hasn’t seen before though, and he’s soon on top and body slamming the champ onto the hard floor. The match starts with London hitting a flurry of monkey flips, which is quite an achievement considering he has such a big knee brace that he can barely bend his leg. Bubble retorts by dropping him face-first onto the apron. HURRICANRANA ON THE FLOOR BY LONDON! The champ realises he needs to slow Paul down…and does so by camel clutching him and rubbing ASS SWEAT into his face! Paul hits back with BALL SWEAT! He really looks to be struggling with one of his legs, and after breaking out the Drop-sault he stays on the ground really favouring it. Tiger suplex blocked…so he superkicks him into the Waffle Face for 2. Divine double stomp the apron misses though, further injuring his leg. BG capitalises and plants a dropkick right into the braced left knee. That’s enough to end Paul’s night, and Gum wins with the Filthy Habit at 08:04
Rating - *** - Once again it was disappointingly brief (that’s a theme for the show in general it seems), but in what little time they got I enjoyed it. Bubblegum is quietly effective in his heel persona, even if you think his ring-name is a tad ridiculous. He doesn’t overly play to the audience looking for cheap heat, and he has faith in his natural charisma, body language and ring-work to get him over as a heel. Of course it helps that he was in the ring with a super-experienced guy like Paul. London himself didn’t do much more than the bare minimum, although he did seem to be struggling rather badly with an injury to his knee so maybe that’s why.
It’s time for some kind of raffle. Dave Rayne comes out to conduct it, but gets sidetracked defending the actions of his tag partner Chris Masters earlier. That brings out the Masterpiece himself, apparently to renounce his team with Rayne. He then chokes Dave out with the Master Lock. We are right after a Chris Masters heel turn in PCW so this is all to give his new alignment some traction…
reDRagon vs Team Single vs Roderick Strong/BJ Whitmer vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe – ROH Tag Title Match
It is revealed before the match that only the ROH Tag Titles are on the line, not the PCW Tag Titles (held by Team Single) or even reDRagon’s newly-won IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles. Team Single are Rampage Brown and (Tyson) T-Bone who are both pretty sizeable, competent brawlers who probably deserve a little more exposure and support than they get on the BritWres circuit. There is tons on the line for the ROH crew here. Not only would the Briscoes and The Decade like to get their hands on the Tag Titles…but the presence of the ROH World Champion means that potential World Title opportunities could be earned. There’s also heat between BJ and Roddy as they bicker about the future direction of The Decade. They don’t enter the ring together…and you wonder whether they can get on the same page for long enough to even mount a serious challenge for the gold.
O’Reilly and Roderick have issues going back years, and look keen to rekindle that rivalry as they start off together. They actually move too quickly for the unfamiliar PCW camera team to keep up with effectively…with Kyle making an early attempt to lock in Arm-ageddon, prompting BJ to forcibly tag his partner out. In turn Brown barges in himself looking to make an impact, and is confronted with the gyrating, toothless younger Briscoe. Team Single team up on Mark, bringing in the ROH World Champion for the first time to help his brother. Rampage and T-Bone show their prowess as a duo by easily hanging with the Briscoes until Strong sneaks in looking to notch his belt at the expense of the World Champ. He mauls Jay with a couple of backbreakers and even managers some half-hearted attempts at teamwork with Whitmer. The Decade and reDRagon now take turns wearing down Jay for several minutes…until he makes a hot tag to Mark and his Redneck Kung Fu. Jay and T-Bone brawl on the floor and are soon joined by their respective partners. Mark and Rampage actually fight all the way up the stairs. Inside the ring reDRagon and Decade take turns stiffing each other…with BJ scoring with a NECK DROP back suplex on O’Reilly. Death By Roderick on Fish gets 2! Olympic Slam on Bobby, followed by the cradle backbreaker on Kyle! Mark and Brown are all the way at the back of the building tearing lumps out of each other. EXPLODER ’98 from Whitmer to O’Reilly…but Strong breaks the pinfall because he wants to win the match for their team! The Decade start FIGHTING EACH OTHER! reDRagon take advantage with the tilta-whirl backbreaker/knee drop combo to take out Roddy! Axe & Smash into TOTAL ELIMINATION on Whitmer! CHASING THE DRAGON means the champions retain at 13:13
Rating - *** - Probably not the super-epic main event some might have hoped for, but on what is effectively a low key sideshow for the ROH guys before their big ppv date the following week I thought this was thoroughly entertaining. The Briscoes and Team Single worked really well together as two bruising sets of brawlers – and since they meet later in the weekend for the PCW Tag Titles that really sets the stage for them. reDRagon are one of the best teams in the world right now and worked seamlessly with anyone put in front of them, and I really liked that the Roddy/BJ dissension angle was continued overseas and not completely forgotten about.
Team Single return to the ring and attack reDRagon from behind, as if to mark their turf as the ‘home town’ Tag Champions. The Briscoes aren’t big fans of reDRagon…but they like a fight and they pursue Brown and T-Bone into the ring. The PCW Champs try to leave, prompting Jay to issue a challenge for the PCW Tag Titles tomorrow night…
Show One Tape Rating - *** - I expect some people may be a little disappointed by this. Granted I could have done with a few matches (Storm/Kirby, Bubblegum/London and Ciampa/Uhaa in particular) going longer, but on the whole this was actually an entertaining little show. Nothing is outright bad, despite what you may have heard about Elgin/Brodus…and in Manson/Delirious and Cole/Mastiff you have a couple of really memorable encounters. Considering the proximity of this weekend to Final Battle 2014 you can’t expect the Ring Of Honor contracted talent to be working at full speed. All things considered I thought this was a highly promising start to the weekend.
Top 3 Show One Matches
3) reDRagon vs Team Single vs Roderick Strong/BJ Whitmer vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (***)
2) Delirious vs Mad Man Manson (***)
1) Dave Mastiff vs Adam Cole (****)
Show Two – 29th November 2014
Show Two is an afternoon event, and the first of two live shows from the PCW/ROH crew on the same day. Looking at the cards objectively I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this is arguably the strongest of the four Supershow Of Honor line-ups. The main event will see reDRagon defend the ROH Tag Titles for the second time less than 24 hours – this time against the 8-time former champs the Briscoes. Paul London and Roderick Strong meet in a rematch of their classic from last year’s Glory By Honor. Adam Cole faces the outstanding Noam Dar in what could be another showstealer for the ‘King of The Kingdom’ and PCW Champion Chris Masters squares off with Michael Elgin in another enticing battle of the heavyweights.
El Ligero vs BJ Whitmer vs Tommaso Ciampa vs Uhaa Nation
One has to feel for the diminutive cruiserweight, El Ligero, as he steps into the ring with three sizeable hard-hitters. He does bring Mad Man Manson out with him for moral support at least. The stakes are perhaps highest for Uhaa Nation, who lost to Tommaso Ciampa yesterday and will now look to avenge that loss whilst also avoiding injury as he prepares for his PCW Title shot on Show Three. Whitmer is in a perennially bad mood of course, but will be extra pissed off this afternoon after another falling out with Decade stable-mate Roderick Strong which ultimately cost them the ROH Tag Titles last night.
‘You ain’t got a f*cking chance’ – Manson to a seemingly hungover Ligero. The masked man tries everything to avoid facing Uhaa. Ciampa and Whitmer refuse to start, and the ref doesn’t let him use weapons. The official does, however, give Ligero a piggyback so he can be taller than Nation. His attempts a shoulder blocks fail…and in the end Tommaso takes pity on the little man and assists him to hit a satellite headscissors. Ciampa, of course, then decides to take liberties with El Lig himself – brutalising him with chops and knee strikes. A springboard crossbody hopelessly fails (he bounces off Uhaa’s muscular torso) and he gets the pumping suplex for 2. Whitmer saves him from the Uhaa Combination…so he can give him a spinebuster instead. Finally Ligero does tag out, leaving BJ to fend for himself against a barrage of offence from Uhaa. Ciampa sneaks in to hit Nation with a German suplex followed by a Bare Knee strike. Air Raid Crash on Ligero gets 2! Nation capitalises to brutally powerbomb the luchador for 2. Uhaa Combination wins it for Nation at 09:09
Rating - ** - Contested in the same vein as yesterday’s opener, with some comedy and spot shenanigans thrown together to get the crowd into the show. Some of the comedy with El Ligero was particularly funny, although the joke had worn rather thin by the end. Ciampa and Nation have some big matches coming up across Shows Three and Four so it’s unsurprising that they took it easier here.
Chris Masters interrupts Uhaa’s celebrations and invites him to sit in the front row for his match against Michael Elgin which is up next…
Chris Masters vs Michael Elgin
Elgin made an impressive start to the Supershow weekend when he defeated former WWE star Brodus Clay at Show One. He continues his battles against former WWE stars this afternoon, and this time it is in the guise of the PCW Heavyweight Champion. He knows a victory here will put him in pole position for a title shot after this evening’s big PCW Title match…
Elgin is understandably cautious from the bell. For the second night running he’s up against a bigger guy who he can’t necessarily muscle around as he normally would. He can clearly strike harder than the champ, so Masters looks to use his superior reach to continually trap the Canadian on the ground. He isn’t so powerful that he can manhandle Elgin though, and he is defenceless as Unbreakable charges at him with a flurry of shoulder tackles. Slingshot elbow scores for the ROH talent next, and it’s clear that just like against Brodus last night Elgin wants to use his apparent speed advantage. A stalling suplex duel culminates in Michael landing a 30-second suplex that has Masters fleeing the ring. Dead-lift superplex blocked by the Masterpiece, who springs off the ropes into a double axehandle for 2. He then puts fingers into Elgin’s eyes to show what a heel he is, and gets another nearfall with a butterfly suplex. He starts working over the back in preparation for the Master Lock, and makes fun of ROH whilst doing so – even though at this point Elgin isn’t a big fan of Ring Of Honor either. Master Lock blocked though, with Elgin spinning into a vicious left-arm lariat. The Masters assault has left Elgin visibly slowed but he is finally able to rattle off a flurry of elbow smashes. He then totally no-sells the back attack by jumping off the ropes into a flying Codebreaker. DEAD-LIFT DIVING POWERBOMB gets 2! Back to the top goes Elgin…scoring with a diving body press for 2. I’ll generously call that selling the back since normally he hits a corkscrew senton from that position. Buckle Bomb countered with a spinebuster! Just when Masters looks set to finish things off he gets distracted by Uhaa Nation springing onto the apron – revenge for Masters interfering in his match with Ciampa yesterday. Elgin capitalises with a small package and snatches the win at 16:33
Rating - *** - This one was fought at a pace so slow some might consider it to be off-putting, but it really benefited from getting a generous time allowance. Both Masters and Elgin have some serious limitations as wrestlers, but they both worked pretty hard in front of a rather lifeless audience. This was the second Elgin match in a row where I’ve really enjoyed seeing him forced to switch up his usual strategy and usual match routines to wrestle an ex-WWF guy significantly bigger than his normal opponents. Just like with Clay yesterday, he was forced to go with speed and offensive bombs because he couldn’t as easily muscle Masters around. Of course, I could have done with him making more of an effort to sell the back…but it’s not new information that Elgin has issues when it comes to selling. On the whole this was a decent, hard-fought and surprisingly engaging little match.
Masters and Nation continue arguing, and Elgin gestures that he wants a title shot as well!
ACH vs Joey Hayes
These two crossed paths in the Six Man Mayhem which opened the show last night. Hayes is one of the top villains in PCW, and pissed off both the American guests and core British talent alike when he stole an undeserved victory. Can ACH extract some retribution and deliver a chastening loss to Hayes here?
Hayes splits his wrestling trunks during his entrance, causing much hilarity amongst the chirpy PCW fans. ACH is a real treat to watch in an environment like this too. His sad face when Joey boots him in the stomach rather than follow the Code Of Honor is a real picture. Luckily for him he’s so quick and athletic Hayes simply can’t cope…and finds himself getting chopped from all angles. Eventually Joey has enough of his antics and simply shoves him shoulder-first into the ringpost. It’s actually an intelligent strategy from the Englishman – attacking the arm and using multiple grounded submission holds to negate the high-flying and comedy of his American adversary. ACH’s arm gives way on him as he attempts a body slam and he walks right into an ambar DDT. The arm hangs limp by his side now, but it doesn’t stop him delivering a Stone Cold mud-stomping, a Thesz Press then a Stone Cold elbow drop for 2. Stunner blocked…so ACH drops Hayes with the Tornado Kick instead for 2. He can’t lift Joey for that German suplex he’d been using in recent ROH shows though because his arm is so injured. STONE COLD STUNNER INSTEAD! Hayes kicks out! He then kicks the ref into the ropes to crotch ACH as he prepares for the 450 Splash. Joey pins ACH using the ropes at 10:23
Rating - *** - The first two thirds of a decent match, before they missed out the final act altogether and skipped straight to the curtain call. That finish came from nowhere and absolutely killed what was, before that, a pretty decent encounter. Hayes is fun enough as a heel, his work on the arm was solid and ACH did a much better job selling for him than Elgin did for Chris Masters. As I’ve already said a couple of times, it’s amazing how much more entertaining and outright fun ACH is when he’s freed from the restrictions of the corporate Ring Of Honor environment. In all fairness to Joey, he probably couldn’t go too long here anyway given that he is booked against Lance Storm later on in the day at Show Three. He’s now 2-0 this weekend, arguably without deserving either victory.
Paul London vs Roderick Strong
The only victory Paul managed to earn during his brief return to ROH in 2013 was against Roderick Strong in a hell of a match at Glory By Honor 12. A rematch was booked for Wrestling’s Finest at the start of 2014, but Strong wound up getting injured against AJ Styles so had to pull out. Paul London missed the show as a result of ‘travel difficulties’, but has since come out in interviews and complained that ROH didn’t tell him Roddy was injured, and complained that he’d only signed to wrestle Roddy, he was looking forward to wrestling Roddy…and hadn’t agreed to a match with his replacement opponent (Cedric Alexander). Many have since cast doubt on the ‘travel difficulties’ excuse, and there may be some credibility to those doubts since ROH haven’t booked London since. In many ways it’s a shame as he was tearing it up inside the ring and he’s subsequently gotten himself into incredible shape. Tonight he does get his wish for a rematch with Mr ROH. Can he repeat and score another victory? Will his knee, which is still heavily braced and clearly injured, hold out? Can Strong get some payback for his high profile 2013 loss?
Paul London gets to do his full entrance this afternoon, including going into an empty part of the building and high-fiving imaginary fans. It continues through Roderick’s entrance, and gets to the point where he starts it AGAIN! Eventually Roddy decides he wants in on the action and joins in too. It’s clear neither guy is taking things particularly seriously…as Strong leaves the ring trying to find the fan who started a ‘sh*tty little boots’ chant. In between the stalling and relaxed comedy they are still GREAT together though. Strong makes a grab for Paul’s bad leg, leading to an electric exchange of nearfalls…and followed by a sickeningly stiff strike exchange. Strong goes after London’s back with his customary gusto. Anytime Paul looks to mount a comeback he even attacks the heavily-braced left knee to drop him back to the canvas. On the outside he drives him back-first into the ringpost…only for London to spring back at him with a superkick. FLYING DOUBLE STOMP OFF THE WALL! The respite is short-lived though, with Strong dropping him on his back again with an Olympic Slam. Gibson Driver countered with a rana…so Strong looks to block Paul’s superkick into the cradle backbreaker. London blocks that too, into the WAFFLE FACE! London Star Press COUNTERED to the cradle backbreaker! Death By Roderick COUNTERED WITH A MID-AIR DOUBLE STOMP! STANDING LONDON STAR PRESS…GETS 2! LONDON STAR PRESS! STRONG KICKS OUT! Paul freaks out because he can’t hit the LSP off the top rope because of the low ceiling, and as he does so Roderick grabs him for END OF HEARTACHE! He gets his payback victory at 12:08
Rating - *** - Obviously not as good as their Glory By Honor 12 match, but even on a low key afternoon show at a minor British indy company they still had wonderful chemistry as opponents. Just like their Chicago match, their ability to counter back and forth was a joy to watch. In the end the injury Roderick opened up on Paul’s back (as well as London’s existing injured leg) was just too much for the Texan to overcome.
Noam Dar vs Adam Cole
For some reason Dar wasn’t booked for Show One, which is a shame because the guy is a pretty serious talent. He’s another guy who did well in TNA’s British Bootcamp project and now gets to test himself against one of the top acts in Ring Of Honor. Cole stole the show in a losing effort against Dave Mastiff yesterday, and will want to start building momentum pretty quickly as he prepares for Jay Briscoe and his Fight Without Honor at Final Battle 2014.
Dar is another guy whose name provides the crowd with multiple chanting possibilities. Adam Cole’s face as countless jokes only British people would get fly over his head is a real picture. It takes almost five minutes for them to wrestle with any kind of intensity. It’s predictably very good…and Cole soon has to leave the ring in frustration. Eventually he gets an edge by shoving Dar off the top rope all the way to the floor. Cole is bigger and stronger, so starts using that to his advantage. He doesn’t use anything too fancy but is utterly dominant thanks to a barrage of ferocious whips and strikes. Finally Noam blocks the Panama Sunrise with a running kick to the shins. He loves to work the legs, and stays on it with a fisherman suplex (whilst wrenching the leg at a high angle). A basement dropkick trips Cole out of the ring for a TOPE SUICIDA! This is a decent match, so naturally the moronic announce team are discussing how long it takes Great Khali to get drunk. In the ring Dar misses a Khali Chop but doesn’t suffer any consequences because Cole can barely stand up to fight back. At last Adam lands the DVD over the knee, into the Shining Wizard for 2. KICK TO THE LEG! Dar tries to piss off Cole by going for the Figure 4…so Cole gives him the cradlebreaker! Florida Key COUNTERED to the Champagne Super-Kneebar! Both guys are seriously worn down now, and wildly swinging elbows at each other. Dar keeps kicking at Cole’s leg…but is too tired to climb the ropes before getting cut off by Cole. SECOND ROPE KHALI CHOP…BLOCKED WITH A SUPERKICK! FLORIDA KEY! Cole puts Dar away with that at 17:47
Rating - *** - I could have gone higher on the rating if Cole had bothered to sell Dar’s offence at all. However, as with Cole/Mastiff last night, this one was on a different level to everything else on the show so far. Dar is such an exciting prospect, and it’s only a lack of height which will really prevent him from going places in the business. Technically he is an extremely proficient wrestler, and the ways he found to entertain a fun-loving crowd whilst still working a fundamentally solid wrestling match were really unique.
Weirdly, after not bothering to sell the leg once during the match, Cole limps all the way up the stairs back to the locker room.
Martin Kirby vs Cedric Alexander
After pushing the legendary Lance Storm to the limit at Show One, Kirby’s tough weekend continues with the entirely different (but no less demanding) Cedric Alexander. Can the Englishman adapt his no-thrills technical style to combat a powerful, stocky and athletic competitor like Cedric?
The early-going favours Kirby as they try to work the mat…but as the pace quickens Alexander is able to dump him out of the ring straight onto his face. Wisely Martin quickly looks to slow it down and ground proceedings again but finds himself unable to do so after Cedric lands a tilta-whirl backbreaker. Not only is Alexander quicker, he’s also significantly stronger and he proves that as he muscles Kirby around the ring. Having beaten the Brit down he is able to unleash multiple hard-hitting strikes to scramble his brains. Kirby fends him off with a jumping neckbreaker and hangs him in the ropes for a roundhouse kick. Once again he makes an error though – trying to come off the top rope (Cedric’s speciality) and finding his attack easily countered into a Michinoku Driver for 2. He does manage to block Kick 2 Kill, but eats the 540 Kick instead! STOP SIGN ENZI from Kirby…but it’s NO SOLD so Cedric can hit an IED. Kick 2 Kill gets a nearfall! Overtime blocked with knees…and Martin nearly takes Alexander’s head off with a superkick. HEAD DROP ROCKER DROPPER! Kirby wins at 09:26
Rating - *** - Another match that felt like it ended just as things were getting interesting. What I particularly enjoyed about this one was seeing a different side of Cedric Alexander. He’s a very two-dimensional character in Ring Of Honor, who gets very little opportunity to express himself or show any real character motivations. Here he showed heaps of personality – trying to boss around a smaller, slower and supposedly inferior wrestler. In the end he only lost because he got overly confident and started cockily shoving Kirby around – giving the PCW wrestler an opportunity to fight back. I would have loved to have seen them get another five minutes or so to really flesh out that story...
Team Single vs Dave Mastiff/Mad Man Manson/Dave Rayne
Tonight Team Single get to compete in their three-person form, meaning it’s Bubblegum joining Rampage Brown and T-Bone. Rayne is still smarting from getting his ass kicked by Chris Masters the previous evening, and will be looking to restore some pride as he teams with former arch-enemy Manson and the huge ‘Bastard’, Mastiff. The babyfaces have dubbed themselves ‘Team Thug Life’.
‘Man Man Tupac’ – Preston. So he responds by pretending to get shot! Team Single have to cover their mouths in a hopeless attempt to cover up their corpsing. Rampage is in hysterics on the apron. Manson then makes out with T-Bone because that’s ‘more realistic than Roderick Strong’. He then rides T-Bone for a ‘drive-by shooting’. Brown does his best to intimidate Rayne and easily beats him around the ring...as Bubblegum taunts Mastiff. He thinks he can press slam the Bastard and apparently strains so hard that he poops himself. He tags out then runs to the locker room to change his trunks. FIVE-WAY TITTY TWISTER DUEL! THE REF GETS INVOLVED TOO! KRIS TRAVIS IS HERE TOO! The crowd goes nuts as, even weakened by cancer treatment, he gets involved in the nipple crippling! Mad Man appears to be totally dead (for the second night running)…but miraculously keeps kicking out. Rayne tries the RKO on T-Bone…who sells it by simply standing there! Rampage does the same thing! I’m in genuine hysterics watching this. RKO ON MANSON…JUST BECAUSE! Mad Man is really upset about that so convinces Rayne to try it on Mastiff ‘to make it even’. Mastiff and Team Single all tie up Rayne so Manson can get some revenge! He wants to shove something up Rayne’s butt, since they ‘couldn’t afford a dildo’ all he has is a ‘bottle of Coke Zero taped up’. Just as he seems poised to do so Bubblegum runs back in (with toilet paper hanging out of his trunks) to snatch a sneaky pin on Manson. Team Single win at 15:44
Rating - **** - Not a match in any real sense of the word, but it went more than fifteen minutes and had me and the live crowd laughing constantly for the duration. That is enough for me to call this a riotous success as a comedy match and comfortably the most enjoyable bout on Show Two thus far. The feel-good Kris Travis run-in was a wonderful moment too.
reDRagon vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe – ROH Tag Title Match
For the second time in less than a day Fish and O’Reilly defend their Ring Of Honor Tag Titles. Last night they survived three other teams coming for the belts, and now they go one-on-one with the team they beat to claim their first ever ROH Tag Title almost two years ago. The Briscoes have worn the belts a record-breaking eight times, but haven’t held them since that loss to reDRagon. Since they are scheduled to challenge for the PCW Tag Titles later tonight as well, will they leave Preston this weekend with two sets of championships around their waists?
Mark starts with O’Reilly, quickly drilling him with a spinning heel kick that sends him retreating back to the corner for a hug with Fish. Tags all round…and Jay dishes out similar treatment to Bobby. In the end reDRagon resort to cheap-shotting Jay from behind to gain an advantage…before celebrating with some simultaneous pelvic gyrations and promptly losing it. The Briscoes dominate with a predominantly brawling and punch-based style but again fall victim to a cheap-shot from behind. It makes sense that the champs would use their resourcefulness though considering they had been comprehensively outfought in the first five minutes. ‘Put the boot up baby…I mean Bobby’ – O’Reilly. The champs isolate Jay, frequently tagging him out and picking him apart with precision for several minutes. Finally they both miss on stereo diving headbutts, allowing a hot tag to Mark. The ensuing duel between Kyle’s legit MMA ability and Mark’s Redneck Kung Fu is particularly exciting. Urinage suplex on Fish gets 2. Rude Awakening/Froggy Bow combo similarly gets a nearfall, with O’Reilly storming the ring to make a save. Arm-ageddon on Mark until he counters into a small package for 2. JAY DRILLER ON O’REILLY! BUBBLEGUM BREAKS THE COUNT! He’s part of Team Single of course, and he lures Jay Briscoe up the aisle where Rampage Brown and T-Bone are waiting to ambush him. reDRagon finish Mark off with Chasing The Dragon at 13:18
Rating - *** - Not a patch on their multiple strong matches in Ring Of Honor, and probably one of the bigger disappointments of the weekend. It was a perfectly solid, formulaic tag match but we know from experience they are capable of much better than this. Hopefully the Team Single/Briscoes match is worth ruining the end of this one. At the very least, the Jay Driller on O’Reilly produced a seriously hot nearfall.
Bubblegum stays in the ring demanding gratitude from reDRagon for helping them. Since he’s scheduled to defend his Cruiserweight Title against O’Reilly later too, he informs Kyle he expects the favour to be returned. Unsurprisingly, they don’t give a sh*t about him and knock him out with Chasing The Dragon.
SIDENOTE – It’s worth noting that, as of writing, ROH’s website doesn’t acknowledge either of reDRagon’s title defences across Supershow Of Honor weekend as official, sanctioned defences. It does, however, acknowledge the Jay Briscoe vs Tommaso Ciampa World Title bout from Show Four – so you can decide for yourselves whether these were official or not.
Show Two Tape Rating - *** - Much like Show One, if you come in expecting a blow-away show-of-the-year candidate you’ll probably be a little disappointed. In truth, considering the 'on paper' quality of the card, maybe you’d be entitled to expect a little more. Having said all that, for the second show running there’s not a bad match to be seen…and there is plenty of really decent wrestling. Elgin/Masters, London/Strong, Cole/Dar, ACH/Hayes, Cedric/Kirby and reDRagon/Briscoes are all very decent matches in their own right and make for a pretty strong afternoon card. The comedy trios tag stole the show for me though. When these shows were originally put together (i.e. before they added a fourth event due to demand for tickets) Show Three was supposed to be the big finale – with the first two booked to set it up. As ‘set-up’ for the big matches on Show Three both of these first two events have been undeniably effective.
Top 3 Show Two Matches
3) Roderick Strong vs Paul London (***)
2) Adam Cole vs Noam Dar (***)
1) Team Single vs Dave Mastiff/Mad Man Manson/Dave Rayne (****)
Show Three – 29th November 2014
Originally this weekend was only going to contain three events, and this was supposed to be the ‘grand finale’. Certainly it’s PCW’s biggest night of the weekend, as all three of their championships are on the line. Packing two shows into one day means fatigue is bound to play a part as the stars of Ring Of Honor and Preston City Wrestling go to battle once more. Chris Masters has a scheduled Heavyweight Title defence against Uhaa Nation to worry about. Bubblegum defends the Cruiserweight Title against both former members of Future Shock (Cole and O’Reilly). One of the biggest clashes of the weekend sees bruising tag teams Team Single and the Briscoe Brothers collide over the PCW Tag Titles in a grudge match. We also have a star-studded Six Man Mayhem, Lance Storm taking on the controversial Joey Hayes plus the super-entertaining Mad Man Manson’s retirement match.
Martin Kirby vs ACH vs Bobby Fish vs Cedric Alexander vs Noam Dar vs Roderick Strong
It has been a weekend of mixed fortunes for the six men involved in this one. Bobby Fish has been hugely successful, defending the ROH Tag Titles twice alongside Kyle O’Reilly. Roderick Strong lost one of those title defences, but rebounded strongly with a win over Paul London earlier this afternoon at Show Two. On the same show Martin Kirby (who lost to the great Lance Storm yesterday) overcame Cedric Alexander in a super-competitive bout. Cedric and ACH are both winless thus far across Supershow Of Honor weekend.
ACH leads the crowd in ‘sh*tty little boots’ chants, so Roddy rips one of his boots off to throw at him. He and Bobby then join forces to take cheap shots at everyone else in the match. Dar does a hell of a job by working faster than ACH as they lock horns…but his only reward is walking right into a rebound enzi from Alexander. Roddy is keen to get into the ring with Cedric, renewing their rivalry by hitting an Argentine backbreaker for 2. Kirby tags next and continues the assault on Ced’s back with a running backbreaker. Noam breaks out a seriously unique bow and arrow stretch…and it is clear Alexander has become the whipping boy here. With his back already hurting Fish and ACH decide they want to work the leg too. 540 Kick attempted…but ACH dodges it and DOUBLE STOMPS THE BACK! FIVE MAN CHINLOCK! FIVE-WAY JAWBREAKER to counter by Cedric! It means he has nobody to tag of course. He finally forcibly tags his way out to Strong…who suplexes Kirby whether the Englishman wants to go or not. Death By Roderick scores, only for Fish to stop him winning with a Samoan drop. KHALI CHOP from Dar to Kirby! 540 Kick on him by Cedric. SOMERSAULT PLANCHA NAILED! Fish prevents ACH from hitting Air Jordan…but accidentally feeds him straight into Kick 2 Kill from Alexander. He wins at 11:42
Rating - *** - All six guys had opportunities to get their sh*t in, and generally delivered another pretty solid opener. ACH has gotten really over with the PCW fans so it was a shame to see him staring at the lights…particularly since the finish looked a bit botched. Noam Dar looked every bit as good as the ROH talent. I really hope his exposure in British Bootcamp leads to him getting more high profile bookings across Europe and even the US.
Michael Elgin vs BJ Whitmer
Two heavy-handed hard-hitters from Ring Of Honor lock horns now. Elgin is a former World Champion, whilst Whitmer has been in the promotion for countless years. Both would like a shot at Jay Briscoe and the World Title, and will recognise the value a high profile international victory here would have to that end. Elgin is also actively petitioning for a PCW Title shot after defeating champion Chris Masters at Show Two.
The opening portion establishes the fact that these two are evenly matched – both in terms of striking and speed. BJ reaches into his bag of villainous tricks by kneeing Elgin in the guts then punches him square in the mouth. In fact, cheap right hands are amongst Whitmer’s more successful offensive moves. He doesn’t count on Elgin’s ability to quicken the pace though, and falls victim to a serious flurry of armdrags from the big Canadian…including a springboard lucha-style drag out of the corner. He retreats to the floor and thumbs Michael in the eyes, blinding him so he can drill him head-first into the ringpost. A back suplex on the apron finds the mark as well. Every time Elgin looks to mount a comeback BJ thwarts it with a cheap punch or a thumb to the eyes…but he can’t keep it up forever and finally finds himself caught in Elgin’s massive arms for the dead-lift German suplex. Somersault leg drop rocks the neck, followed by the TIGER BODY PRESS for 2! BJ absorbs that and gets up to ELBOW ELGIN IN THE FACE! ELBOW SMASH DUEL! BJ ends it by ducking an Elgin lariat into the whirlwind powerslam for 2. Exploder ’98 blocked…into a Sharpshooter! Whitmer survives that and lands a Saito suplex for 2! EXPLODER! Still only 2 though. Both guys are feeling the effects of this war, so desperately battle for victory in a succession of nearfalls. Elgin eventually counters one into the Buckle Bomb…and wins with the Elgin Bomb at 14:21
Rating - *** - Whitmer has been effective in this type of undercard, strong-style slugfest for a long time…and this was no exception. The crowd was really flat for the most part which is a shame, but I thought they put together a pretty effective little brawl. Elgin proved he was quicker and stronger, so Whitmer cheated his way into the ascendancy. In the end he fell to defeat because he couldn’t put Elgin away before Unbreakable was able to hit his trademark finishing combo. Elgin is now 3-0 across the weekend and in pole position for a PCW Title shot at Show Four.
Sticking true to The Decade’s principles – Whitmer refuses a handshake with Elgin and walks out.
El Ligero vs Tommaso Ciampa
These two clashed as part of the fourway that opened Show Two. Ciampa seemed fascinated by the ‘Mexican Sensation’, but ultimately enjoyed beating him just as much as BJ Whitmer and Uhaa Nation did. Can the luchador score an unlikely victory over the unstable Sicilian Psychopath?
Both of these two look extremely pumped up for this, and it’s clear that Ciampa has very little time for Ligero. He wants to bully the smaller man and looks extremely annoyed when El Lig manages a sliding dropkick into his face. His response is to hoist him all the way over the top ropes to the floor. RUNNING KNEE INTO THE FRONT ROW! Ligero responds by hopping over a ledge, then springboarding off it into a SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! It’s only temporary relief though and he’s soon eating the floor of the building again after Tommaso suplexes him chest-first over the top rope. He tries one last, desperate lunge at Ciampa…and dives right into the Air Raid Crash for 2. Once more the Mexican falls out of the ring, stumbling around completely unsuspecting as Tommaso lines him up for a spear into the ringpost. The Psychopath grows increasingly annoyed that El Ligero keeps kicking out and getting back up. The crowd are right behind him as well and erupt into applause as he lunges off the second rope into a missile dropkick. RUNNING BARE KNEE STRIKES by Ciampa! NO SOLD! SPRINGBOARD ENZI! Both men down! He tries it again though, and dives into another knee. Project Ciampa COUNTERED to a jack-knife pin for 2! SUPERKICKS! BARE KNEES! LARIAT! DOI 555! LIGERO KICKS OUT! AVALANCHE AIR RAID CRASH! STILL LIGERO WON’T QUIT! He fights Project Ciampa into ROLLING ACE CRUSHERS! BACK DROP DRIVER FOR 2! Mexican Splash misses…PROJECT CIAMPA! Tommaso wins at 14:45
Rating - **** - As always, I’m a sucker for a well-told story and I had a blast watching this one play-out. Having seen Tommaso clown around with Ligero during the afternoon show it did feel a little odd watching him act so angrily towards him here…but I suppose that does fit in with his ‘psychopath’ persona. He stomped angrily through the curtain and from the opening bell seemed determined to make a violent example of Ligero. Fuelled by rage at his ‘zero tolerance’ issues in Ring Of Honor and getting pumped for his ROH Title shot tomorrow night he wanted to dish out an emphatic beating to the smaller, masked opponent he deemed inferior to him. But Ligero fought him all the way, enduring a hell of a beating and refusing to stay down even when getting battered with finishing moves. The crowd were into this all the way, and really bit on El Ligero’s hot nearfall at the end. I’m not the biggest Ligero fan, but he and the always-outstanding Ciampa worked so well together here. This was one of the biggest surprises of the entire weekend.
PCW General Manager Lionheart makes an unscheduled appearance to announce Matt Hardy for PCW’s Road To Glory weekend in 2015. He also introduces Booker T to the crowd. Brodus Clay interrupts Booker, apparently looking to apologise to Preston for how he acted last night, and trying to get a front row seat for the inevitable Spin-aroonie. Harlem Heat are coming to PCW in 2015 too…
Mad Man Manson/Dave Rayne vs Delirious/Paul London
This is Manson’s PCW retirement match, although I’m not sure if it had been announced as such beforehand. He teams with long-time friend/rival Dave Rayne for his final outing in Preston. His opponents don’t team regularly, but they are equally whacky characters who should slot in well alongside each other. Paul London isn’t part of ROH right now, but can make nice with head booker Delirious if he delivers a strong performance tonight.
London conducts his full entrance with Delirious crawling along behind him like a pet. The Lizard Man and Manson then eat streamers together Lady & The Tramp style. ‘I like ladies’ – Delirious. London and Rayne wind up starting…with Paul tricking Dave into jumping off the ropes straight into a dropkick. Manson and Delirious tag, and due to an overload of testorone they start wrestling in slow motion. It’s SO slow it makes the PWG BOLA 2014 slow-mo stuff seem positively fast in comparison. Eventually Delirious back rakes Mad Man into a double stomp from Paul for 2. Rayne tags and has so much success wearing London down that Delirious decides to switch sides. He stands alongside Manson and cheers Rayne on even as London hits the Drop-sault. LARIAT DUEL between Manson and Delirious! This is how their Show One bout ended…but this time Rayne is on hand to break the pin when Delirious collapses on top of Mad Man. Dave and Paul have their own lariat duel now! FOUR WAY LARIAT DUEL! FOUR WAY KICK-OUTS! London strips his trunks off so he can look more like Triple H…and crotch chops his way into a PEDIGREE on Manson! HHH WATER SPITTING! STONE COLD STUNNER DUEL! ROCK BOTTOM BY RAYNE! He pins Delirious at 12:41
Rating - *** - More Manson-led hilarity for Supershow weekend. Of his three matches over the first three shows this was probably the least funny, but it was still completely hysterical. As I said during my Show One review, it really is a shame Manson’s career didn’t amount to more as he really is a special talent.
Mad Man Manson gives a classily brief and understated farewell speech, revealing that he’s just wrestled his last ever match. Delirious kisses him goodbye on his way out…
Joey Hayes vs Lance Storm
At Show One Storm took on and defeated one British stalwart of the PCW roster in Martin Kirby. His opponent tonight is another PCW veteran, a former PCW Champion, and a man who is 2-0 at Supershow Of Honor weekend thus far despite arguably not earning either of his victories. Will Lance’s technical wizardry and experience prove too much for Hayes, or will he once again eek out another win through any means necessary?
Hayes allows himself to get distracted by the hostile audience and as a result finds himself getting stretched out on the canvas. Whenever he thinks he’s escaped Storm’s clutches the veteran finds another way to easily haul him back to the mat. Joey’s arm takes the brunt of Storm’s offence in the opening five minutes. Hayes looks rather amateurish in comparison to Lance, particularly when he promptly no sells all the arm work to hit a neckbreaker like it was no big deal. He then uses the arm Storm worked on to apply a chinlock. The match basically dies when Joey is on offence, as he ignores all the drama his experienced rival built up with the arm…but also isn’t capable enough as a heel in his own right to create any drama of his own. It is painfully basic stuff, which the crowd rightly greets with complete silence. Lance looks for the Cradle Piledriver…and when Joey blocks that he channels his friend Chris Jericho to land the Codebreaker instead. Maple Leaf nearly forces a submission, and when Hayes drags himself up using the ropes he turns round straight into Storm’s superkick. Joey retaliates with a flatliner into the Crossface. Storm taps at 13:26
Rating - DUD - This really wasn’t good. Hayes looked terribly limited, vanilla and uninteresting…and since he had to carry the majority of the match there was very little Storm could do to carry the match. Things never really got out of first gear, the crowd didn’t give a sh*t and there was an audible groan when Storm tapped out (in entirely heatless fashion) to give Hayes the rub that he didn’t deserve. In the long term it’s good for PCW. Hayes is their guy and they are invested in him as a heel. Veterans like Lance coming in to put him over is great for business. Unfortunately this was still a chore to sit through and may well wind up being the worst match of the entire weekend by some distance.
Team Single vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe – PCW Tag Title Match
These two tough duos have been at odds all weekend. They brawled all over the building during the main event of Show One, then earlier this afternoon Team Single (including Bubblegum) cost the Briscoes the ROH Tag Titles just when it appeared that they had reDRagon beaten. The ultimate revenge for Jay and Mark would be to take Rampage and T-Bone’s PCW Tag Titles that they’ve held since way back in 2013.
The Briscoes are quick to throw the first punches, still hot after being screwed out of a ninth ROH Tag Championship reign earlier in the day. T-Bone gives Mark a suplex on the floor to hand the champs an early advantage. Jay and Mark don’t mind bending a rule or two, and start using their shirts to throttle Rampage to bring themselves back into things. Team Single respond with some illegal double-teaming in Mark to keep themselves in the ascendancy. It takes several minutes for Jay to get back in, dropping Brown with the Rude Awakening as Mark drops Bone with a back suplex on the apron. Uncle Mule Kick lands on T-Bone, followed by the urinage on Rampage for 2. Jay drops T-Bone on his neck with a snapping DVD…and soon all four on the mat struggling to recover. Doomsday Device blocked, into a JUMPING PILEDRIVER from Rampage to Mark. Team Single retain at 11:02
Rating - ** - An almost entirely boring spectacle, and definitely not worth sabotaging the reDRagon vs Briscoes match from Show Two. Considering they’d built this encounter up over two events already this weekend, it was entirely heatless and dull. Neither team looked motivated and stalled for time from the outset, doing as little as they possibly could before going to a finish. But for how BRUTAL that piledriver looked on Mark I could have gone even lower on my rating. Another pretty major disappointment…
Bubblegum vs Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly – PCW Cruiserweight Title Match
Can the final member of Team Single enter 2015 with his championship around his waist? Bubblegum has already survived the challenge of Paul London this weekend, but now faces an even sterner test as both former members of the tag team Future Shock are gunning for him. Earlier tonight he tried to form an alliance with O’Reilly, assisting reDRagon in defeating the Briscoes at Show Two. Kyle rejected his advances, and (along with Bobby Fish) gave him Chasing The Dragon. Kyle calls himself a ‘belt collector’ so wants to add PCW gold to his collection. Adam Cole is just so self-obsessed he’ll want to win anything going. How will Cole and O’Reilly interact with each other here? Will they join forces to remove the Englishman from the equation or will the heat between them rear it’s head again?
Much to Gum’s relief, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of alliance between Cole and O’Reilly – who immediately start fighting amongst themselves. Kyle isn’t above having some fun though, tripping the ref off his feet then forcing him into a pin on the champ…which gets a huge pop. Bubblegum can’t defend himself against O’Reilly’s striking, but gets an assist from Cole who crotches his former partner on the top rope. They form an alliance and take turns stomping lumps out of the ‘reDRagon’. The petty disagreements between BG and Adam are pretty comical – particularly when they start stealing each other’s signature poses and taunts. They can’t stay on the same page forever though and eat a double missile dropkick from O’Reilly. Arm-ageddon on Cole…which Gum breaks with a running punt. RUBIX CUBE on Kyle gets 2. Cole pounces to put the champion in the Figure 4. Kyle is back on his feet. ARM-AGEDDON ON COLE AGAIN! It’s a race to see if anyone taps before they make the ropes! Nobody taps and they all drag themselves back to a vertical base swinging elbows at each other. DOUBLE JAWBREAKER LARIAT by O’Reilly! He snares Cole in a guillotine choke…only for Bubblegum to break it with a diving double stomp across the chest. Cradlebreaker from Cole to BG gets 2. PANAMA SUNRISE! But Gum collapses out of the ring before either challenger can pin him. Future Shock are left to fight amongst themselves…engaging in an awesome strike battle. JAWBREAKER LARIAT…COUNTERED TO A SUPERKICK FLURRY! Bubblegum sneaks in and snatches a fluke pinfall on O’Reilly before Cole can do anything about it. It’s over at 10:43
Rating - *** - After two incredibly flat matches the show rebounds thanks to three guys having fun and chucking entertaining spots around. Cole and O’Reilly are just magic in the ring together, and Bubblegum more than held his own against two seriously talented opponents. It didn’t go long which meant it didn’t drag or descend too far into typical triple threat clichés, and a punchy little spot-match like this was badly needed to liven up a fatiguing crowd.
Lionheart is back, this time to announce his resignation as PCW General Manager so he can concentrate on recovering from a broken neck and resuming his in-ring career. Joey Hayes interrupts, and is as bad on the mic as he was in the ring with Storm earlier. He wants Lionheart to book him into a PCW Title Match before he resigns since he’s 3-0 this weekend. Lion offers a compromise and books him into the Road To Glory tournament (where the winner gets a title shot). He then drops him with a Rock Bottom. He’ll be in the tournament too you see...
Lionheart pops up again right before the main event. In a parting shot at PCW Champion Chris Masters (who had defied him and attacked him during his reign as GM), his final act using his position of authority is to add Dave Mastiff to the main event.
Chris Masters vs Uhaa Nation vs Dave Mastiff – PCW Heavyweight Title Match
All weekend we’ve seen the big championship showdown between Masters and Nation teased. They are two big, muscular dudes and it was sure to be a real clash of the titans. Masters interfered in Uhaa’s match against Tommaso Ciampa at Show One, costing him a victory there. Nation got a measure of revenge at Show Two by distracting the Masterpiece, causing him to lose against Michael Elgin. There was already plenty of tension between them, and Masters will be less than thrilled to see another of his great rivals added to the mix. Mastiff has come close to beating him for the belt on two previous occasions and will want to finish the job against two unprepared adversaries now. This is under elimination rules…
Mastiff makes a beeline for Masters and savagely beats him into the corner. Perhaps sensing it’s better to be with the Bastard than against him, Nation piles in and helps – joining forces with the bearded monster to kick the tar out of the champion. They take turns to hit him with moves, trying to one-up each other in who can punish Masters more. In the end Chris fakes a knee injury and demands medical help on the hope that Uhaa and Mastiff will start fighting each other. Uhaa tries to use his superior speed, but even he finds the sheer size of Big Dave hard to overcome. It’s an even battle between the two, which ends when they collide mid-ring going for simultaneous crossbody blocks. That’s the point when Masters abandons the pretence that he has an injury and sprints back into the ring looking to seize an opportunistic pinfall on either opponent. Mastiff comes off worse it seems, falling out of the ring as Masters verbally abuses the fallen Nation. He starts targeting Uhaa’s neck whilst also making sure Mastiff can’t get back into the ring to get involved. If he softened up the body part, it isn’t immediately obvious as Nation rallies and nails him with a German suplex. It gives Dave a chance to re-enter the ring – plodding in and clubbing Masters with a mid-air lariat for 2. MASTER LOCK ON UHAA! He fights it and manages to grab a rope before lapsing into unconsciousness…and as the ref checks on him Mastiff shows his ‘bastard’ side by kicking Masters in the balls. SHOTGUN DROPKICK! RUNNING CANNONBALL! UHAA COMBINATION! Masters is eliminated at 16:27, so we are guaranteed a new champion! The crowd buzzes at that…as inside the ring Mastiff and Nation batter each other with strikes. Nation flips into a jumping enzi then shows incredible power to scoop the big man up for a DVD. Mastiff hits back with a running body press, and lands a dead-lift German for 2. Running Cannonball misses! UHAA COMBO MISSES! Nation to the top rope, only to miss a frog splash. FLYING GERMAN SUPLEX INTO THE TURNBUCKLES! NO SOLD! CANNONBALL MISSES! UHAA COMBINATION! Nation wins at 22:55!
Rating - *** - This was heaps of fun. Masters was outstanding as the pantomime villain and it really felt like a wonderful moment when he finally fell to defeat. Nation and Mastiff played their parts as the charismatic babyface and hard-hitting, no-nonsense bruiser respectively, and watching them beat the sh*t out of each other for five plus minutes after Masters’ elimination was just as entertaining. They had the crowd on the edge of their collective seats throughout.
Chris Masters returns to ringside to immediately lay down a challenge to Nation for a rematch. He wants a ‘Loser Leaves PCW’ Match in March 2015…
Show Three Tape Rating - ** - This was my least favourite show of the weekend. It had two of the best matches in Ciampa/Ligero and Masters/Nation/Mastiff…but also two pretty serious disappointments and far too much of PCW’s pretty average core roster dragging things down. Storm/Hayes had so many serious issues, three in-ring segments from Lionheart was way too many, and the Briscoes/Team Single grudge match was a colossal let-down. Compared to the consistently decent quality of Shows One and Two this one was far more of an uneven watch. This weekend is a pretty serious chance to advertise PCW's product to a whole bunch of new fans (i.e. the Ring Of Honor global fanbase) checking them out for the first time. Without wishing to be disrespectful, I have to be honest and say that it felt like they put on a show to impress their core group of a few hundred vocal fans in a nightclub in Preston – and didn’t have any ambition of producing anything of any wider significance. As such the appeal of the entire Supershow Of Honor package (and in particular Show Three) is more limited than perhaps it should have been.
Top 3 Show Three Matches
3) Mad Man Manson/Dave Rayne vs Delirious/Paul London (***)
2) Chris Masters vs Uhaa Nation vs Dave Mastiff (***)
1) Tommaso Ciampa vs El Ligero (****)
Show Four – 30th November 2014
The final event in this marathon weekend was a later addition to the line-up. We have an early bell-time (11:30am) so the US talent can either make their evening bookings or catch their flights, and there are practically no UK guys working at all. They either have bookings elsewhere or day jobs to worry about. Even the sh*tty PCW commentary duo aren’t in the building (thankfully). In fact, there are only two British talents actually booked into a match on this card at all – that being Team Single facing reDRagon in a No DQ Match. The rest of the card is populated exclusively by ROH talent and international fly-ins. It also boasts two colossal championship showdowns sure to end the weekend on a real high. Jay Briscoe defends the Ring Of Honor World Title against Tommaso Ciampa in what should be an extremely physical encounter…and Michael Elgin challenges Uhaa Nation in an ROH vs WWNLive dream match for his newly won PCW Title.
Team Single vs reDRagon – No DQ Match
We see a collision between the dominating Tag Champions of both respective promotions here. Team Single have held the PCW Tag Titles since the summer of 2013, whilst reDRagon have been at the epicentre of ROH’s tag division for even longer than that. Neither set of belts is on the line, but plenty of animosity exists between the two after Team Single intervened in Fish and O’Reilly’s scheduled title defence at Show Two.
T-Bone and Brown hide behind the entrance set-up to ambush reDRagon as they enter the arena. It means the match begins with a mass brawl on the floor and all four men trading heavy shots. Fish hits some seriously violent kicks on Bone on one side of the ring, as on the other Rampage boots O’Reilly into the crowd. He hits a shortarm clothesline to the carpeted floor…before getting ambushed over the guardrails by Bobby. The crowd for this is absolutely AWFUL by the way. It’s a pretty heated brawl but being fought in such silence it may as well be an Empty Arena Match. Brown takes a beating on the outside, meaning the ROH guys can attempt to work a 2-on-1 situation with T-Bone inside the ring. But unfortunately he’s such a beast he fights them both off single-handedly…dropping Fish on top of his own partner with a DVD for 2. Kyle hits back with Axe & Smash, setting Bone up for Chasing The Dragon. reDRagon win at 04:47
Rating - ** - Disappointingly short with an appalling crowd. The brawling between the four guys was actually pretty dynamic, but at less than five minutes this clearly was never booked to go anywhere meaningful. I’m not too impressed by PCW, who book one of the best tag teams on the planet right now in Fish and O’Reilly, but haven’t really put them into a position where they can really showcase their ability at any point all weekend.
Roderick Strong vs Mark Briscoe
These two actually met fairly recently as part of Michael Bennett’s Bachelor Party celebrations. On that night Roddy beat Mark, ensuring he was allowed to drink for the evening whilst Briscoe had to remain sober. In another rather strange environment for them to be doing battle, these long-time rivals jostle for bragging rights. Mark will want revenge on the ROH Triple Crown winner for that lost night of drinking in Chicago…
Roderick’s interactions with the Preston crowd are some of the funniest scenes from the entire weekend. The fans upset him so much he tries to pack his bags and leave…then decides that since it’s Sunday morning he wants to sell merch. Mark refuses to give him a handjob for a shirt…so Redneck Kung Fu’s him and steals one instead. Roderick starts breaking rules – hitting Briscoe in the balls then whacking him with the merch bag. He then Irish whips a young disabled fan at him (which sounds horrible in type form, but is actually a lovely moment on screen). The brawl, like the last match, goes all over the building with both wrestlers desperately trying to get a reaction out of a sullen audience. Strong tries mounted punches on a bar table whilst almost standing on fans…and still gets nothing more than a muted round of applause. Uncle Mule Kick scores for Briscoe, followed by a brainbuster for 2. JAY DRILLER BY RODDY! He pins Mark using the ropes at 07:40
Rating - *** - At Michael Bennett’s Bachelor Party these guys had a pretty tedious, lifeless and by-the-numbers match that nobody really got that that into. Working this style would have been fine for that night in Chicago, and it was fine here at this PCW event as well. Once again the crowd wasn’t ideal but both men worked well to get as much out of them as possible. The actual wrestling was mostly low-impact and very safe…but when they did such a solid job of entertaining nobody seemed to mind.
Paul London vs Delirious
Last night these two oddballs were on the same team. They lost to Mad Man Manson and Dave Rayne, which could perhaps have sewn the seeds of dissension between them. It probably doesn’t help that Paul is on the outs with the Ring Of Honor office at present – whom Delirious works for. I quite like the idea of a masked, Sinclair-suit wearing Delirious admonishing Paul (in lizard-speak of course) in a sleazy Preston nightclub for no-showing an ROH house show ten months earlier…
Even Bobby Fish can’t help but break character and start laughing as Paul London’s lengthy entrance takes him past the ROH Tag Champion, all the way into the toilets before finally going to the ring. The match starts with Delirious acting like a dog and playing fetch with a fans hat (whilst out-wrestling London). With no commentary and a near-silent crowd you can hear just how much Delirious exhausts himself with his gimmick. The guy gasps for air like he’s in the latter stages of a marathon. The two men do almost nothing with any real impact or significance, but through comedy, body language and verbalising they have everyone into every little move they make. They decide to get on all fours and fight ‘like dogs’ next…with Paul’s ‘bear dog’ being so frightening that Delirious hides under the ring. His plan back-fires though, since London vanishes under ring too, then pops up behind him to fake-urinate on his leg! Next Paul adopts a robotic wrestler persona called ‘Robo-Dick’, complete with robot voice and mannerisms. They have done so little with any impact in this match that the sight of Delirious hitting a couple of running sentons has the audience gasping like Kobashi just showed up with a Burning Hammer. London’s flying robotic double stomp gets 2. They battle over pinfalls until Paul turns Delirious’ lights OUT with a superkick. He wins at 12:58
Rating - *** - This was almost impossible to rate in any normal sense of the word. They barely wrestled at all for the first ten minutes, but in truth what they were doing was almost as entertaining as anything else from the entire weekend. London’s oddball antics at times actually made Delirious look sane, which should tell you all you need to know about this one. Definitely a top highlight from all four of the events at Supershow Of Honor.
ACH vs Cedric Alexander – No Loud Noises Match
Since this is a ‘morning show’ the idea is that both of these two are still struggling with hangovers from their Saturday night drinking session. As such, they need everyone to be as quiet as possible so they can perform – hence the ‘no loud noises’ stipulations. These two have had a couple of matches in ROH recently – with a stinker and unfortunate injury at Field Of Honor followed up by a surprisingly strong rematch at Michael Bennett’s Bachelor Party. Cedric won both of those, so ACH (who hasn’t won a match all weekend) will be desperate to put one in the ‘w’ column.
ACH’s hungover entrance is a lot of fun. Cedric doesn’t modify his usual entry routine at all…and as a result apparently nearly throws up in the middle of the ring. ‘That is stupid chanting’ – Cedric as they crowd chant ‘no loud noises’. They respond by whispering it for him instead. They then whisper a ‘Go Go ACH’ chant, and shhhh every time the ref counts or bodies hit the canvas too hard. In the ring Cedric and ACH start criss-crossing the ropes…but quickly run out of steam and collapse. Alexander lands a forcible dropkick, driving his opponent out of the ring. ACH crawls back in, selling Cedric’s chops like total death even though he is barely touching him so as not to make much noise. Ced has to tell a fan off for almost wetting himself with laughter as he executes a mounted ten punch sequence in total silence. Tilta-whirl backbreaker gets 2 and is a signal for Alexander to start a silent but deadly attack on the back. ‘You’re counting too loud’ – Cedric to the ref as he gets 2 with a fisherman buster. Having to wrestle in silence actually forces ACH to concentrate on selling his back too which is interesting. Things start to heat up as they trade strikes…and ACH comes out on top by double stomping the neck for a nearfall. He tries his slingshot flatliner, but Cedric COUNTERS in mid-air to a Michinoku Driver! Kick 2 Kill blocked…but so is ACH’s Hero’s Grip. Lumbar Check ducked, and ACH screams as he hits the HERO’S GRIP! He gets his first win of the weekend at 14:06
Rating - *** - The joke got a little old after nearly fifteen minutes, but I’m assuming they hadn’t planned this gimmick and worked the entire thing in response to the crowd…so you have to salute both crowd and wrestlers for creating this truly unique and memorable spectacle. The silence meant the wrestling took a back seat (for the millionth time this weekend) but on the whole the comedy was on point. This is the third time these guys have wrestled each other (that I’ve seen) in recent months, and each one has left me frustrated to varying degrees – as I know they have a better match in them than what they are showing currently!
The crowd loudly cheer and chant after the bell, which Cedric sells like electric shocks to his brain. Amusingly, the sound guy plays ACH’s music really quietly to put the gimmick over further too…
Adam Cole vs Chris Masters
This is one of the most interesting matches across the four shows of ROH/PCW competition. Both of these two are recently deposed champions of their respective companies. They are both primarily heel workers, they both have huge egos and both back themselves as cerebral performers capable of outsmarting their opposition. Will Cole’s speed and athleticism win out over the brute strength of the Masterpiece? Will it come down to Figure 4 vs Master Lock?
Cole smiles with delight when he realises the crowd think Masters is a ‘dickhead’ but he isn’t. Even a classic villain like Adam can’t help but applaud the audience for some of their chants. He clings to a headlock looking to negate Masters’ power, but eventually is easily dusted aside with a mighty shoulder tackle. Next the ROH competitor uses speed – continually dodging the Masterpiece so he can armdrag him. It means he repeatedly gets the bigger man on the ground where he can work him over. Eventually he gets caught trying to come off the ropes as Masters sweeps him HARD off the turnbuckles to the canvas. Masters works the back using a methodical pace whereby he can ensure he punish Cole as much as possible. Adam jumps into a neckbreaker but is clearly keen to end things now as he makes a rather desperate effort to hit the Florida Key way too early. Shining Wizard lands instead though and gets him a nearfall. Masters bails to avoid a Sweet Chin Music (was Cole deliberately channelling one of Chris’ biggest rivals then?)…and the dethroned PCW Champion actually walks all the way through the curtain to the locker room. Cole wins by count-out at 10:00
Rating - * - What the f*ck was that? To give both wrestlers credit, they’d started something pretty decent (I liked the idea of Masters using strength and Cole using speed...and I loved the idea of Cole impersonating Shawn Michaels) but just as things got interesting PCW decided to book this lousy ass finish? PCW does have a phenomenal live crowd, but on the whole this company is a really frustrating watch…
Uhaa Nation vs Michael Elgin – PCW Heavyweight Title Match
Last night we saw Nation score a hugely popular victory when he survived both Dave Mastiff and Chris Masters to become the new PCW Champion. Wasting no time in showing his intention of being a fighting champ, he immediately defends it against a tough opponent in the form of ROH’s Michael Elgin. These two powerhouses work for different promotions in the States so wouldn’t normally get the chance to work each other. Hopefully PCW can keep their sh*tty booking in check and let these guys produce something decent…
‘Where’s my f*cking song?’ – Elgin after the crowd modify Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’ for Uhaa. Pretty quickly it becomes apparent that both guys are as strong as each other…so Nation goes to his speed and easily leapfrogs the Canadian before nailing him with a dropkick. Not to be outdone, Elgin hits back with the same sequence, albeit not with quite the same precision and grace. He then catches Uhaa diving off the ropes with total ease. Nation retaliates with a moonsault off the apron! The champ looks to take flight again though, and eats a bicycle kick to the face. Elgin then mows into his head and neck with the flipping leg drop from the second rope. He then gives the crowd a stalling body slam since he can’t get Uhaa up for the stalling suplex as he normally does. Uhaa goes back to his speed by flipping out of a back suplex attempt…but lunges into a big boot at the exact same time as Elgin does, leaving them both on the mat. Stinger Splash scores for Nation, followed by ROLLING GERMANS! Nation misses a flying body press though, crashing to the ground into position for the DEAD-LIFT GERMAN from Elgin. Kick Of Death by Uhaa, into a jumping DVD for 2. Next Elgin rolls through a sunset flip attempt and impressively powerbombs the sizeable PCW Champion from a dead-lift position. Ripcord Elbow countered into the Uhaa Combo for the win at 13:54
Rating - ** - I’d consider this a pretty major disappointment. Both guys have a lot of talent, but this really wasn’t an environment within which they could do their best work. Since they tried to wrestle an actual, serious wrestling match instead of make jokes and have fun with the crowd...the audience just weren’t interested. The crowd sat on their hands, leaving these two guys to trade heatless power moves that largely went nowhere.
Jay Briscoe vs Tommaso Ciampa – ROH World Title Match
This is our final contest of the evening, and in many ways saves the best for last as it’s the first recognised Ring Of Honor World Title defence to take place on British soil for many years. Briscoe hasn’t been pinned for more than two years so can be considered a dominant champion, but will know he has his work cut out if he is to successfully fight off the challenge of the erratic and unpredictable Sicilian Psychopath. Tommaso has been operating under a ‘zero tolerance’ policy after attacking ring crew members and Bobby Cruise over the summer. Nigel McGuinness has been keeping him on an oppressively tight leash in recent months. He will know that his bargaining power increases significantly if he becomes the top guy in the promotion with a shock win here in Preston.
Ciampa screams at Briscoe for being ‘protected’ by Nigel and ROH…then f*cking SLAPS THE SH*T OUT OF HIM! Tommaso narrating the opening few minutes makes for compelling viewing, although again since they are wrestling rather than joke around with the fans they aren’t getting a lot of crowd support. Their actual chain wrestling is also seriously intense, actually drawing blood from a small cut on the top of Jay’s head. Eventually Briscoe has enough of Ciampa’s headgames…but when he tries to batter the challenger into the corner Tommaso is quick to turn the tables on him and stomp him into the ground. Both guys are really striking each other violently and Jay seems to really be struggling with the sheer intensity of the assault coming his way. Ciampa forces him under the turnbuckles, and slingshots him upwards into the BOLT (as opposed to the padded buckle cover) which scrambles his brains, further opens up the cut on his head and leaves him in real trouble. Briscoe explodes back with a roaring elbow but can barely stand to follow up on it. Ciampa escapes a DVD attempt…FALCON ARROW INSTEAD! That came out of nowhere and dropped the challenger right on his neck! Jay Driller countered with a knee to the face! Project Ciampa blocked…Rude Awakening blocked too! In the end Briscoe has to ricochet Ciampa off the ropes, duck an elbow then forcibly DRAG him into the Rude Awakening. And still Tommaso hits right back by schoolboy dragging him into the bottom turnbuckle. BARE KNEE STRIKES! Air Raid Crash gets 2! The avalanche version of the same move is escaped, but Ciampa stays on the attack by ducking a flying crossbody attempt from Briscoe and laying him out again with a discus lariat. And still they keep battering each other! The fight can’t be contained to the ring now, and spills out into the crowd. Briscoe whips Ciampa INTO THE BAR! CHOP DUEL whilst standing on a bar table! AIR RAID CRASH ON THE APRON by Ciampa! Somehow Jay survives that…but accidentally clocks the ref with an elbow in the process. Tommaso capitalises by hitting the champ in the balls…but takes too long laughing about it allowing Briscoe to headbutt him in his crown jewels too! ELBOWS! PROJECT CIAMPA! But there isn’t a referee to count the pin! Tommaso is devastated that he isn’t the ROH Champion now, and can’t even put his hands on the ref to revive him thanks to zero tolerance. The PCW crowd want to joke around of course, but this is seriously awesome story-telling! Adam Cole runs in looking to score points ahead of Final Battle…but accidentally NAILS CIAMPA WITH THE BELT! He runs away before Jay can grab him, but gives an inadvertent assist to his rival, who scoops Ciampa up for the JAY DRILLER! The semi-conscious referee counts the pin, giving Jay another successful title defence at 19:53
Rating - **** - Thankfully they ignored the comedy-hungry crowd and worked the match they should have done. This was a full-on war, with both guys beating the piss out of each other in the name of the top prize in independent wrestling. Tommaso Ciampa has blossomed into an amazing worker over the last eighteen months, and he was on fire here. His intensity and his character work were both real joys to watch, and I loved how the finish played up to everything he had already been through this summer as he missed a chance to become champion and sold the ‘zero tolerance’ stuff superbly. Briscoe isn’t the finest wrestler ever, but he can hold his own in uncompromising brawls like this. Great stuff…
Adam Cole grabs a microphone to inform Jay that he intends to take the World Title from him at Final Battle next week. Tommaso clearly isn’t happy about the result either…and throws his hat in the ring to face the winner.
Show Four Tape Rating - ** - Much like Show Three, there were some real glaring issues with the booking, but also some real redeeming moments of genuine quality. Cole/Masters was a joke of a match, and Uhaa/Elgin was a major disappointment. But on the flip side of that, Briscoe/Ciampa was the best match all weekend…and some of the comedy in the first half of the show was great.
Top 3 Show Four Matches
3) ACH vs Cedric Alexander (***)
2) Paul London vs Delirious (***)
1) Jay Briscoe vs Tommaso Ciampa (****)
Supershow Of Honor Tape Rating - ** - This is a tough DVD package to grade. There is plenty of perfectly decent wrestling, lots of side-splittlingly hilarious comedy moments and a number of really decent matches dotted around. But at a price point of £50/$75 (plus shipping) I’m not sure this represents particularly strong value for money. As I said at one point during my review, Preston City Wrestling can be an extremely frustrating promotion to watch. They have a wonderfully creative and supportive crowd…but for the most part it feels like the shows are booked solely to impress those few hundred fans. After four shows, watching endless comedy matches, and countless matches which looked great on paper ruined by stingy time allowances, lousy booking or reduced to juvenile plays for laughs, you will find yourself a little agitated. PCW is a hell of a promotion, and they put a lot of money into bringing amazing talents to the UK. This weekend is testament to that – with the majority of the ROH roster flown in along with the likes of Lance Storm, Paul London, Booker T, Brodus Clay, Uhaa Nation and so forth. But flying in amazing talent then not giving them a platform to produce the matches you know they are capable of, in front of an audience who sit on their hands the second they aren’t being humoured by wrestlers giving them knowing winks and playing up to them for laughs really started to grate on me. Why bring arguably the best tag team in the world (reDRagon) all the way here for FOUR shows, and not let them cut loose once? In truth, these shows reinforced why (after a couple of DVD’s and attending a couple of live shows) I really don’t tend to check out PCW too often. There is a real ‘British PWG’ vibe to it which I like. Except in PWG they give their wrestlers decent time allowances, and the wrestlers actually try to produce legitimately decent wrestling matches amongst the comedy and ‘in-on-the-joke’ live crowd. Flying outstanding wrestlers from across the globe then not giving them a suitable platform to perform, and not booking a great selection of British talent at a time when there are SO MANY really strong British workers out there (seriously, Bubblegum, Dave Rayne and Joey Hayes aren’t a fair reflection of where the BritWres scene is at present) makes the promotion a hard sell for me.
Please don’t let my frustrations with PCW as a promotion and concept blind you to the fact that, on the whole, this was still a perfectly solid weekend. If you don’t let your expectations get away from you, if you’re prepared to have some fun, if you’re prepared to use the ‘skip’ function on your DVD player from time to time, and if you’re prepared to endure some really atrocious commentary there is plenty to enjoy. The likes of Delirious, Paul London and Mad Man Manson (in his retirement weekend) really do produce some amazing moments of comedy. Watching Lance Storm try to help vastly inferior British talents to improve is memorable to say the least. Watching Tommaso Ciampa or Dave Mastiff rise to the occasion and deliver multiple strong matches across the weekend was really cool to watch. Over four shows, lesser known ROH workers like ACH and Cedric Alexander are transformed into legitimate stars in front of the PCW audience – meaning deserving guys like that are ensured future bookings and tours of the United Kingdom.
For all my frustrations with some of the limitations of the product, PCW know their audience and deliver a product perfectly suited to it. They deserve a hell of a lot of credit for putting their money where their mouth is and making this weekend happen. Bringing this many popular overseas talents to Britain, giving UK fans a chance to see them perform, can’t have been cheap. They also weren’t helped by the unfortunate timing of these shows, meaning they took place the week before Ring Of Honor’s biggest pay-per-view of the year (Final Battle 2014) meaning a lot of the ROH guys had to protect themselves. Clearly all the shows drew pretty decent numbers, and I hope PCW are further compensated by as many people as possible buying the DVD/VOD packages. Not everything is perfect…but very little is actively bad and plenty of it will leave you laughing and/or put a smile on your face. Rumour has it ROH officials were pretty pleased with how the weekend went off and I’ve heard it said that they’d be open to working with PCW again in 2015. I’d be happy to see that…although personally I would prefer Ring Of Honor to bring their own crew back to deliver full-scale ROH events on British soil for the first time since 2007. Hopefully the success of these shows makes that a viable possibility.
Top 7 Supershow Of Honor Weekend Matches
7) Roderick Strong vs Paul London (*** - Show Two)
6) Adam Cole vs Noam Dar (*** - Show Two)
5) Chris Masters vs Uhaa Nation vs Dave Mastiff (*** - Show Three)
4) Team Single vs Dave Mastiff/Mad Man Manson/Dave Rayne (**** - Show Two)
3) Tommaso Ciampa vs El Ligero (**** - Show Three)
2) Dave Mastiff vs Adam Cole (**** - Show One)
1) Jay Briscoe vs Tommaso Ciampa (**** - Show Four)