FIGHT! Nation’s Lethal Lottery reached it’s climax on this week’s Wednesday Night Wrestling, as the tournament winners fought for a British title shot.
The show opens up with footage from the Lethal Lottery tournament, and then the usual sit-down promos with Psycho Phillips and James Castle narrating it all. They remind us of Castle dropping Phillips with a diving knee en route to winning the tournament, and that’s our main event this week.
Apparently we have a rematch to start us off though, as Sid Scala and Lewis Howley rematch against Liquid Dreams after last week’s bout. Howley and Scala have a sit-down promo first, and it’s intriguing how they’re talking about building a team where there’s no tag division to speak of here. I like how these segments set the table for matches, without them going twenty minutes long like they would on other shows.
We’ve changed venues again, and it’s back to the Pavilion in Weymouth for this week’s show.
Liquid Dreams (Jakey & Brucey) vs. Sid Scala & Lewis Howley
Liquid Dreams try to sucker-punch from an opening handshake, but they end up being taken down with a pair of bulldogs in the opening exchange. Howley lifts up Scala for a bunch of assisted-dropkicks, before a double dropkick from Howley keeps the heels on the back foot.
Howley wrings Brucey’s arm, whilst Jakey suddenly becomes Russian again and gets kicked off the top rope by Howley as Brucey does a Flair Flop out of the corner. Jakey does the other half of the Ric Flair act as he’s thrown off the top rope by Howley. Scala tags in and trips up Brucey with a drop-down, before a low dropkick from Howley keeps the babyfaces on top, before Jakey attacks Scala in the ropes as the referee was distracted by… something.
Scala is kept isolated for a spell as Jakey teases a double axehandle off the top rope, and we go to a break as the heels stay on top. Brucey holds Scala back with a leg grapevine whilst somehow being able to make a tag himself, and the heat stays on as Liquid Dreams do their leapfrog thingy before just kicking Scala in the corner.
Brucey slams Scala for a near-fall, but Scala makes a comeback with a slingshot into a roll-up for a near-fall, only for Bruce to again cut him off from making a tag back out to Howley. Jakey lands a shoulder charge into the corner, but a second one is again countered into a roll-up for a near-fall from Sid.
Another set of leapfrogs sees Scala scurry underneath and finally make the hot tag out to Howley, who clears house and clotheslines Brucey out of the ring. Jakey takes a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near-fall, before he follows up with a slingshot DDT from the apron and into the ring. Brucey breaks up the cover again and drops Howley with an Eat Defeat, before a double superkick from Liquid Dreams earns Jakey a near-fall.
Howley dropkicks Jakey into Brucey as they argued, and followed up with another leg lariat. Scala tags in and goes flying with a rocket launcher, but Brucey’s got the referee distracted… until Howley goes flying with a tope con hilo! Scala gets distracted by that, but he turns around into a low blow, and Jakey steals the win. Jakey does several laps of honour around the ring to celebrate, but that was at least better than last week’s affair. Now, can we have at least a week without Liquid Dreams on this show?! **¾
Back from commercial, and we’ve got Paul Robinson at ringside and he’s ranting at Lewis Howley. That distraction clears the way for Scott Wainwright to jump into the ring and beat down Scala and Howley as the Swords of Essex make their appearance known in FIGHT! Nation. Howley takes a curb stomp from Robinson, before Scala unwisely runs at Wainwright, who delivers a pop-up powerbomb to him. Finally, a heel tag team that’s not going to be a comedy jobber act!
Following a commercial, they replay the finish of the tag match, and then the debut of the Swords of Essex. We get a replay of last week’s Haskins/Gibson match, by way of a music video with zero crowd noise or Gibson’s opening promo. Next week sees Haskins defend his title against Joseph Conners again. Just because.
Then another replay of the entire Lethal Lottery tournament highlights from start to finish, covering all three matches, and then… our last commercial break.
Winner Gets a British Heavyweight Championship Shot: James Castle vs. Psycho Phillips
From the opening tie-up, both men go into the ropes and try for reversals until they break apart. Castle yanks Phillips down to get out of a headlock, before he applies one himself. More headlocks, which Castle eventually breaks out, before taking a back elbow and a big boot. Castle ducks to avoid a punch, and when he stands back up, Phillips surprises him with a suplex for a near-fall.
Phillips lifts Castle into a Fireman’s carry, but Castle wriggles out and knocks him onto the apron, before he dives off the ropes to spear Phillips off the apron and onto the floor. To minimal reaction. Castle yells at some fans in the front row to move out of their seats… but they don’t, so he has to throw Phillips into the ringpost instead. We need more stubborn fans at indie shows.
Back inside the ring, Phillips kicks out at one as Castle fish-hooks at his mouth. Castle rakes the eyes and throws down Phillips in place for a double stomp which gets him a near-fall. A brief flurry from Phillips ends as he runs into Castle’s boots in the corner, and takes a couple of chops as Castle takes him around the corners.
Castle easily distracts Phillips by getting him to look at the crowd for something, and from there he drills Phillips with a forearm. An uppercut and a left hand from Phillips gets him a receipt, before he comes back with an Ace crusher for a near-fall. Sensing blood, Phillips lifts Castle up into a Fireman’s carry, but Castle works free and gets a brainbuster for a near-fall. Some nonchalant slaps from Castle end up with him running into a bicycle kick from Phillips, and then a pop-up powerbomb for yet another two-count.
Phillips calls for a tombstone piledriver, but after a ripcord action, Castle grabs hold of Steve Lynskey to block the move. As Phillips argues with the referee (again, for no reason), Castle pulls down a kneepad and rushes in with a diving knee to score the win. As a main event, this didn’t hold a candle to what we had last week with Mark Haskins and Zack Gibson, but at least the better guy won here. ***
All in, an average episode of Wednesday Night Wrestling, but after last week’s episode, it was going to be hard to follow. Next week’s episode should be an improvement, particularly with the Joseph Conners/Mark Haskins main event on tap.