We’re back to the FWA for two more episodes from their “Frontier Wrestling” show, starting with an episode that aired on September 9, 2001.
Yep, episode 9 aired on 9/9, and the show started with a backstage segment with FWA commissioner Victoria – who I swear was trying to come as close to being nude as TV would allow, as she seemed to be wearing only a jacket and the world’s shortest skirt. She’s interrupting two women, one of whom’s introduced as “Mrs Pippa”.
Victoria plays the “do you know who I am?” card, before laying into the other woman by saying that “she gives Scott Parker for free, what others charge for”. I’m guessing that’s Parker’s valet, Angel, with dyed black hair now? The last time we saw her, she was blonde and was trying to pull of the cowboy look… Victoria snaps at the smiling Angel, saying that she’s booked Parker in a handicap match. Yeah, the acting wasn’t tremendous, but we’ve seen a lot worse here.
After the credits, we see James Tighe and Mark Sloan in the ring, with a load of streamers, bizarrely. They then show us Angel breaking the bad news to Scott Parker, as Guy Thunder tried to talk him out of doing the handicap match, noting that Parker’s ribs are still hurting. Parker’s annoyed that he didn’t get his rematch against Doug Williams… it took Thunder to spill the beans that it was Angel who caused this Sloan/Parker match to become a handicap match, and we’re back in the badly-acted territory.
The ESTablishment (Mark Sloan & James Tighe) vs. Scott Parker
Mark Priest reminds us how Doug Williams broke Parker’s ribs a few weeks back, yet he’s still wrestling… Sloan and Tighe attack Parker from behind and put the boots to him straight away, before Tighe lands a bodyslam.
Sloan drops knees and legs onto Parker, before the pair throw Parker onto the aisle. Parker’s thrown back in, but the heels stayed on the ramp, and ended up getting knocked down with a plancha from Parker. Tighe ties up Parker with an abdominal stretch, as Sloan leaps in with a double axehandle onto the prone Parker, before a double suplex takes him down yet again. Sloan and Tighe continue the offence with a camel clutch and dropkick combo, as the Fan Cam gives us a random gratuitous shot of Angel’s backside. We almost see Mark Sloan hit the corner as Parker sidesteps, but the “Specialist” put the brakes on, before Parker smashes their heads together.
Parker’s comeback continues with an elbow to a cornered Tighe, before slamming Tighe down. A press slam sees Sloan land on top of his partner, before a powerbomb-style shoulder breaker doesn’t even get Parker a one-count over Tighe. Sloan drops Parker in the corner with some kicks, before he spends an age arguing with the referee, eventually holding up a count as Parker had the match won with a schoolboy.
The heels keep on by stomping on Parker on the apron, before Sloan’s attempt at a tope con hilo onto the ramp missed. Back in the ring, Parker drills Tighe with the Golden Arrow, but Angel had gotten onto the apron to cheerlead… and ended up distracting the ref. Parker orders her down, and that leads to a low blow, before the Kick Soup (a superkick-assisted German suplex) earned the ESTablishment the win. Pretty much an extended squash match, with nothing at all happening with regards to Parker’s supposedly broken ribs. I get that there was months between the two events these were taped at, but why bring up a kayfabe injury if it’s not going to be used? **½
Angel shrugs her shoulders, then waves goodbye to Parker as she leaves sort-of with the ESTablishment, as the show goes to a break…
Mark Priest still likes to get down at funky parties with the FWA soundtrack!
FWA Tag Team Championship: La Familia (Jorge & Alex Castano) (c) vs. Paul Travell & Jack Xavier vs. New Breed (Ashe & Curve)
Travell and Xavier jumped the champions during their entrance, and somewhere in this the New Breed also came out.
Xavier dropped Jorge Castano with an Iconoclasm, before Travell’s body splash on the same one led to… an Electric Chair Drop as Alex fell onto Jorge. Mark Priest confirms that this isn’t an elimination match, which I guess explains why there was no attempt to pin earlier, since the covers would have been broken up. Travell throws Ashe onto the ramp, before following up with a shoulder charge as the pair eventually fight into a pop-up rana, as Travell bounced off the ropes (outside the ring) into Ashe. Travell follows up with a Quebrada onto Ashe, before Curve slammed Travell back into the ring, and then superkicking Travell back onto the ramp.
Back in the ring, Jack Xavier tags in… but Curve rushes to tag in Jorge Castano, who took down Xavier with a suplex for a near-fall. Alex Castano’s briefly shown getting into it with fans, before Jorge gets a spinning neckbreaker on Xavier for another two-count, as Curve slowly gets into the ring to break it up. Xavier drops Jorge with a tornado DDT for a near-fall, before Alex flies in with a top rope rana to counter things.
Alex gets nothing but knees from a Quebrada, before Xavier hit back with a spinebuster with an elbow thrown in at the same time. Xavier follows with an enziguri to Curve, before tagging out to Travell, who finally takes him down with some punches. Travell looks to set up for a crucifix powerbomb, but instead takes down Ashe with a Dominator out of the corner.
Travell misses an elbow off the middle rope, before Ashe nailed a Whoopee Cushion out of the corner… only for it to be reversed into a Sharpshooter as the Castanos broke up the hold. We get a T-bone suplex out of Travell on Ashe as the Castanos instead focussed on the crowd once again. An elbow in the corner sent Travell flying out of the ring, which somehow meant that Xavier came in and was left alone against both of the New Breed.
The Breed set up for their rolling thunder/big splash pairing on Xavier, but they only get a near-fall out of it. They bring in a chair and set up for the Lynchpin (Coast to Coast), but Ashe ends up dropkicking his own partner as Xavier moved out of the way, before running into Ashe’s knee. Ashe goes up top, but gets crotched by Xavier, but Curve runs back in as the Breed hit a Blockbuster/Powerbomb combo… only for the Castanos to run in and steal the pin. Without making a pin? How’d that work? Aside from the iffy finish, this was actually a decent match given what the rest of the product was like… maybe it’s because they got time?? **¾
We move onto episode 10, with a flashback to commissioner Victoria wheeling out Kerry Cabrero as a challenger for Doug William’s FWA title. They replay highlights of Cabrero’s win over “Mr Blonde” from two weeks ago, and that leads us to tonight’s title match.
But first, a women’s match, out of nowhere, featuring Pippa – you know, the mystery woman from last week who wasn’t Angel?
Shelby vs. Pippa
Neither woman got a surname here, but Pippa (L’Vinn) seems to have moved onto doing “custom matches” since this. Or apartment wrestling, whatever you want to call it.
They started with a collar and elbow tie-up, with Shelby moving onto an armwringer, before a snapmare took down Shelby (Beach), Pippa slowly gets a La Magistral cradle in for a near-fall, before a second attempt leads to a cross armbreaker. We’re told that Shelby has a manager… “Doctor Jon Farrer” – a name that British wrestling fans of a certain age will remember for mixed reasons!
Shelby fights free and takes down Pippa with a fireman’s carry, but Pippa comes back with an X-Factor, then gets a suplex for a near-fall. Another suplex gets a similar result, before a clothesline from Pippa just didn’t get sold… so instead she grabs a headlock, before Shelby flips herself free and gets a two-count. We get some chops in the corner from Shelby, who then lands a tiltawhirl backbreaker, and holds Pippa in place briefly.
Shelby drags Pippa into the corner and rolls through a leg grapevine, before trying the leg whip again. Instead of making the cover, Shelby slingshots Pippa into the mat, rather than into the turnbuckles, before a crucifix pin out of nowhere gets Pippa the win. Shelby immediately stomps down on Pippa after the bell… and this wasn’t that great. A low bar was certainly there for women’s wrestling at the time, but this felt like a training match at times with the slow pace and general awkwardness. *¾
Uncharacteristically, we go straight into the next match… and Kerry Cabrero doesn’t even get an entrance! We do, however, get Steve Lynskey giving instructions before the match, and it’s odd seeing him without that heavy American accent after watching all that old UWA.
FWA British Championship: Kerry Cabrero vs. Doug Williams (c)
This was the main event of the FWA’s “No Surprises 3” show, which would explain the time it got… they started with Williams and Cabrero rolling into the ropes as they tried for a wristlock, before a roll through after a leapfrog earned Williams the first near-fall of the match.
Cabrero gets caught in a full nelson, before they reversed back and forth, with Cabrero slipping out, only to end up in a hammerlock on the mat. A sunset flip got Doug a one-count as they switched into a brief indyriffic series of near-falls as we went to a commercial break… we returned to see Williams grabbing a steel chair, then throw it at an airborne Cabrero. Eventually they return to the ring as Williams keeps working over the veteran, before a Saito suplex takes Cabrero down for a near-fall. Cabrero comes back with a Northern Lights suplex, before Doug kicked out at two, and then went back to the full nelson, before turning it into a full nelson bomb. Williams clubs away at Cabrero’s back, with some bodyscissors almost forcing the submission.
Somehow, Cabrero slips out into a Jushin Liger-esque seated surfboard, before missing a guillotine legdrop off the top – an uncharacteristic move for Cabrero, it had o be said. That gives Williams an opening to go outside for that chair again, which results in an unprotected chairshot to Cabrero’s head… for no disqualification. It does lead to a near-fall though, as Williams then piledrove Cabrero onto the chair, again for a two-count.
Williams sets up the chair again, as he looks to superplex Cabrero through it, but instead he’s met with a lariat as Doug leapt up to the top rope using the chair as a springboard. The chair’s set up again as Williams is backdropped onto the ramp… and then Cabrero tries to use the chair as a springboard, but it gives way, sending the veteran crashing into the ropes. I don’t think Kerry meant to channel Sabu there…
With Cabrero selling the knee, Williams took the remnants of the chair and set it on the mat, before falling into a small package for a near-fall. Cabrero popped up to stop Williams on the top rope, before a superplex attempt was countered with a sunset flip powerbomb, as Cabrero’s head hit the chair on the way down. That got Doug a near-fall again, before he popped back with a series of rolling German suplexes.
Cabrero tries to elbow himself free, and manages to get a La Magistral cradle on the champion for a near-fall, before another Northern Lights suplex leads to a near-fall as Williams just about got his shoulder up. A jack-knife roll-up gets Williams a two-count, before he pulled off the Chaos Theory (O’Connor roll into a German suplex) for another near-fall.
They tease the match may roll into the next week’s show, as Williams sets up for a superplex, only for Cabrero to counter with a Flatliner off the top to almost take the win. Straight after kicking out though, Williams hit back with the Revolution DDT to retain the title. That was quite something. I wasn’t a fan of the unprotected chair shots, or the extra chair use that meant nothing by the end, but as a match, this was by far and away the best thing on this series so far. ***¾
As Doug celebrates, we get some weird cut-ins from the New Breed as they promised another episode of Breed TV next week. I can wait… As a pair of shows, this was more like it. Aside from the women’s match, there was solid wrestling all over the place, and stuff that actually made sense. Bring on the rest!