Who’s Next? That’s the question the GWF continued to answer in the latest round of their Tough Enough clone.
A quick recap from last week showed us that Red Rage reached the next round of the tournament. This week, your judges are Tarkan Aslan, John Klinger and Matt Cross, which should be an entertaining outing.
We’re introduced to our competitors: RP Tyson – a 22 year old Hungarian who’s been training for six years but has had about 30 matches so far. That’s… not promising. From his entrance, he’s a rather generic, white-meat babyface who likes to shout into the microphone… and he likes to have fun. Oh God, that’s DEATH. As was the nickname – the RP-nator.
The judges discuss the meaning of the colour purple, which I’m sure will offend some, as RP’s opponent today is someone I’ve actually seen live before: A-Buck. He’s wrestled throughout Europe, appearing in the UK for BEW a few times. He’s had about 90 matches in eight years, which isn’t that good a hit-rate either.
Buck’s nicknames include the “Feet of Jesus”, but the promo’s a little meandering, as he repeats that Tyson’ll be blessed by the feet of Jesus.
RP Tyson vs. A-Buck
Buck shouts down the fans who chanted “Congo” for him, and we’re underway! There’s a bit of a size difference, as we see when Tyson’s Test of Strength is initially overpowered, but he’s able to rebound with inverted and regular atomic drops.
A crossbody from Tyson takes down Buck, as he goes for what looked to be Pete Dunne’s Bitter End… but that’s escaped and met with a clothesline as Buck took control. Buck puts the boots to RP as he took him into the ropes for some choking, then into the corner for more boots and elbows. Aslan comments that he’s not a fan of Buck’s bodyslam, as the follow-up legdrop didn’t draw much reaction as Tyson tried to fight back… only to get knocked into th ecorner again. Shoulder charges follow, as does an avalanche, as Tyson is getting absolutely nothing… until he leathers Buck with forearms. RP barely left his feet for a Thesz press as he went all Stone Cold on Buck… and now the straps are down!
Buck catches a boot, but misses the other as the judges compared RP to Grado… just as Buck rushes in with a big boot and a Samoan Drop Driver for a win. Like a TKO, just without the last bit. That’s pretty much a squash for Buck, as RP brought very little… but let’s see what the judges thought.
“Bad Bones” instantly called them out for going a minute under time, and although he didn’t like the match, he liked the promos. Klinger also wasn’t a fan of A-Buck walking backwards in the ring, while Aslan wasn’t keen on Tyson’s gimmick not touching on his Hungarian roots. Matt Cross is last to weigh in, crediting Tyson for having different ring music, before saying that he was (and still is) scared of Buck’s presence, especially from the moment when Buck shot down the fans who dared cheer him.
So, a competent match for a change – and some constructive criticism – in perhaps the soundest episode of the series so far. I wonder when the car crash entrants return?