This week on Loaded, we had a four-way to find out who’d face PAC at Lights Out…
After a plug for No Regrets in May from Manchester, we have the obligatory recap from last week, featuring David Starr beating John Klinger and the little bit of afters with Gabriel Kidd and Joe Hendry. Dave Bradshaw and James R. Kennedy are on commentary in a rather smoky venue to pitch straight to tag team title action…
Defiant Tag Team Championship: Team Whitewolf (A-Kid & Carlos Romo) vs. South Coast Connection (Kelly Sixx & Ashley Dunn) (c)
Whitewolf are back after their last appearance here ended in rather screwy fashion…
Sixx and A-Kid get us going on the mat, as A-Kid looked for an early armbar, then an ankle lock as Sixx had to dive for the ropes to get some safety. In the end, Sixx ended up tagging out, but Ashley Dunn didn’t fare much better as the Spaniards were all over the tag champions. A-Kid leathers Dunn with kicks and right hands, before Sixx grabbed hold of A-Kid in the ropes, providing a distraction of sorts until a neckbreaker from Dunn got a near-fall. A suplex from Sixx gets a near-fall as the champions found their groove, before a uranage, a standing moonsault and a standing shooting star press got a near-fall over A-Kid.
Sixx absorbs some shots from A-Kid, but an enziguiri knocked him loopy before A-Kid dropkicks away Dunn as he finally got free to tag in Romo. Chops and forearms from Carlos led to him taking Dunn into Sixx for an accidental DDT… a running knee gets a near-fall for Romo, before a German suplex and double superkicks almost led to a title change. A-Kid’s left in there as he tries to pick up Sixx again, but duelling enziguiri have him rocked before the camera misses a lungblower in the ropes and a moonsault for a near-fall. A superkick from A-Kid knocks Dunn down, but it just sparks a Parade of Strikes that ended in a standing Spanish Fly and a standing moonsault as Dunn and Sixx barely clung on.
Dunn can’t stop Sixx from taking a 619 in the ropes as Romo comes in to follow up with a Blockbuster… for some reason Dunn grabs a tag title belt as things go a little screwy, with Sixx hitting a low blow to A-Kid while Romo ate a belt shot on the top rope, as a spike belly-to-back piledriver (the old Roppongi Vice Strong Zero) got the champions the win. This was pretty good while it lasted, as the crowd continue to loathe Sixx and Dunn. How long before Will Ospreay appears to disown them though? ***
Backstage, Simon Miller has a set play to set up his catchphrase with Adam Foster… but Joe Hendry interrupts to demand a match with Gabriel Kidd to find a winner. Except Hendry missed out on his chance. He wants a tag match against Gabriel Kidd, but the card’s full tonight… so Adam gives him the match next week.
Gia Adams vs. Lizzy Styles
We’ve an inset promo before the match from Laura di Matteo, who challenged Lizzy to a match next week… so this may be a short one. Adams and Styles exchange shots early on, only for Gia to land a sidewalk slam… only to miss a charge into the corner and get covered for a one-count. A clothesline from Styles is good for a two-count, before Adams got back in it as the crowd were damn near silent for this. Styles escapes a suplex and punts Adams in the chest… and that’s it. A squash, and one that the crowd just didn’t seem to care about sadly.
Backstage, Tuck Shop – Jack Sexsmith and Visage – are reading Simon Miller’s list of whys. Prince Ameen arrives to see them, and says that with a few more wins, they’ll be in line for a tag title shot. First though, they’ll get a shot for the No Fun title… but they had to pick who’d get the shot, and it’ll be Jack Sexsmith vs. No Fun Dunne in two weeks.
Chris Brookes vs. Robbie X vs. El Phantasmo vs. Mark Haskins
Winner faces PAC at Lights Out later in April… and Chris Brookes is getting booed here, following his attack/antagonising of Laura di Matteo last week.
We have a flying start as everyone went for pins in the opening seconds, before Chris Brookes powdered to the outside. Meanwhile, a STF from Haskins forces Robbie X into the ropes, then to the outside as ELP cuts off a Haskins dive, only for Robbie to return for a series that saw him land a cartwheel dropkick into the Canadian. Brookes pulls Robbie X outside, before he hurled Mark Haskins through a guard rail as his new attitude led to him picking his spots. A stomp to an unsighted ELP in the ropes led to a two-count before a knee drop gave Brookes a similar result, before Phantasmo began to take to the air… forcing Brookes outside as Robbie X hit the ring again.
Haskins leaps over a dive from Robbie X, who spilled into the guard rails before a pair of topes from Haskins wrecked another guard rail and sent Brookes into the stand where the hard camera’s held. The dives continue into the hard camera side of things, with Robbie X’s moonsault partially obscured by the hard camera stand, efore the pace continued back in the ring. A gamengiri from Robbie X has ELP loopy… as does a belly-to-belly into a cornered Brookes, before kicks from Haskins left almost everyone down on the mat. ELP recovers to go for a brief spot of rope walking, taking down Haskins, Robbie and Brookes on the way as again the tight hard camera proved to be problematic in keeping up.
Haskins tries to force a submission with a bridging armbar… giving it up to avoid a standing moonsault from Robbie X, who took the hold too as Brookes had more success, before we got duelling submissions as an Octopus and a Sharpshooter looked to get Brookes and Haskins a win. Those two inevitably squared off until ELP got involved… and ate a slingshot cutter before Haskins roll-up death valley driver led to a near-fall.
The insanity continues for a little longer before an ELP Quebrada broke up a cover to give everyone a breather. A whirlibird neckbreaker nearly gets ELP the win on Brookes, who rolled out of the ring to avoid an aerial attack from ELP… then went to the back. So, the remaining three-way saw Robbie X clock Haskins with a Pele on the corner, before an X-Express saw him land in a cross armbar from Haskins, with a big splash from the top from ELP breaking that up, as a springboard moonsault from Phantasmo got him the win… and his (latest) shot with PAC. Should be a good one, like this match, which wasn’t too hectic despite having so many bodies flying. ***½
Backstage, Gabriel Kidd gives John Klinger some money to “solve the problem”. Except the German hands it off to someone else, who we don’t see…
Commentary runs down the card for Lights Out on April 17 in Leeds:
PAC vs. El Phantasmo
David Starr vs. Gabriel Kidd
Joe Hendry vs. John Klinger
Next week on Loaded: Joe Hendry & David Starr vs. Gabriel Kidd & John Klinger and Laura di Matteo vs. Lizzy Styles for a shot at Kanji’s Women’s title at Lights Out.
Micky the Dragon vs. Rory Coyle
He’s no longer Micky Mann, it seems, and given the opponent, he may not be for long… Apparently Coyle wanted this non-title exhibition match, and he starts by throwing right hands, only for Micky to catch him with a spinning heel kick. A missed charge in the corner keeps Coyle on the back foot, but the champion’s able to come back, pulling Micky into the corner for some more shots before a short-arm clothesline. Coyle keeps up with a standing uranage, before he bit Micky’s nose ahead of an Air Raid Crash for the win. Splat.
Post-match, Coyle lays out Micky with the title belt, before he went all Doink ‘93 with that mannequin arm… then threw a fireball at the Dragon. That’s irony. Coyle continues to beat down some referees, before he hog-tied Micky with some car jump leads as things took a turn for the worse as he began to pour petrol on his foe.
THAT was the cue for Prince Ameen to come out and interrupt. Yeah, petrol was the line, it seemed. Ameen enters the ring as he offered to talk out issues… as Coyle then demanded that Ameen turn up in a burlap sack as Coyle promised to hold a eulogy for Rampage next week. That sack might just fit Ameen as a pair of shorts…
So a main event segment prolongs Coyle’s run as a villainous champion as we went off the air with nary a mention of the fact that he threatened to immolate a human being. In-ring, this was a really good episode of Loaded, with the opening tag title match and the four-way delivering… you could question whether this really needed to have both of the squashes to keep the four-match format, but neither of those segments outstayed their welcomes, nor were they too much of a distraction.
- Watch Loaded #17 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kbF1mnOxJo