It’s been a while since we’ve dipped our toes in something new… so here’s a look at the first episode of a new series from Hungarian Championship Wrestling.
HCW – and the Hungarian scene – got a fair bit of traction earlier this year after the “Hungarian lads” (and lasses) stood out over 16 Carat Gold weekend. They post a regular show called HCW Underground on their YouTube channel, in addition to full shows that are available with a YouTube channel membership…
Anyway, this entire show is in Hungarian, so apologies in advance for anything I lose in translation…
Quick Results
Bence Toth pinned Mylan in 5:18 (**¾)
Icarus submitted Gulyas Vilmos in 8:49 (***½)
Sitgan Pali is our ring announcer, and introduces us to BT (Bence Toth) – who won a rumble back in August. He’s dressed to wrestle, but first it’s promo time. Promo time that’s quickly interrupted by the music and entrance of Szalai Zoltan as the pair get into a debate that’s hampered by my sheer lack of any kind of Hungarian language skills. Anyway, it descends into BT challenging Zoltan to a match right now, stripping down to his trunks in the process, but of course Zoltan bails.
We’ve another interruption though after Zoltan went to the back, as Mylan came out in his ring gear… and I guess that’s our match?
Bence Toth vs. Mylan
There’s little information about Mylan online – he worked the most recent Passion Pro show (Passion Pro 5), so he’s a blank canvas to me.
BT fixes up his ring gear at the bell as we finally get going with a handshake that Mylan kicked away. We’re meant to boo him. BT backs Mylan into the corner from the opening lock-up, with a patronising break in the corner as Mylan tried to return the favour… only to get taken back into the buckles.
There’s a slap from BT, who then added an armdrag to keep Mylan down. Fighting to his feet, Mylan goes for BT’s hair, but gets lifted onto the apron before he went for the eyes… then dropped BT’s arm across the top rope. Staying on that left arm, Mylan kicks it around the ropes, then hit a Pele-ish kick as BT was left to throw just a desperation up-kick as Mylan stomped him into the corner. Mylan stays on the arm, clubbing away on it before he stepped around and wrapped up BT in a nice cross-armed armbar. BT rolled his way out for a two-count, but couldn’t add a bodyslam as Mylan’s inside cradle nearly ended it… only for BT to burst back into things with a slam and a suplex.
Out of nowhere, a Fujiwara armbar from Mylan dragged BT back to the mat, while a levering armbar added to BT’s woes… but it’s broken up as BT got back up to hit a knee strike… and just like that it’s lights out as the rumble winner put away the threat of Mylan. Going just over five minutes, this was a good introduction for the newcomer, but BT’s sudden-death knee strike was perhaps a sign that Mylan should have gone for the kill sooner. **¾
BT does the universal belt motion afterwards…
We get a sit-down interview with Tamas Szabo, who had been teaming with Renegade as the Budapest Bastards. The still photo leading into this shows Szabo (formerly Nitro) standing over his (former?) tag team partner, so you’re led to assume that they’ve broken up, and Szabo was the one who pulled the trigger. Even without knowing the language, you get the sense that Szabo’s going to be the antagonist in this post-team feud, calling out Renegade by his former name – David Turger.
Icarus vs. Gulyas Vilmos
Icarus is working solo since Dover’s on the shelf… he’s up against Gulyas Vilmos, who’s one half of the HCW tag champions, but Vilmos has his leg taped up and is limping to the ring. So much so that his brother Öcsi (aka Gulyas Junior in wXw) is begging with him to consider things…
Vilmos has the crowd behind him as a sympathetic figure starting the match, with Icarus looking rather dismissively at him. Icarus went for that taped-up left leg, but got pushed aside before he took Vilmos into the corner by the hair. Of course Icarus tries to target the leg some more, but Vilmos pushes him away as Icarus then came in with a wristlock… and got shoved down as he tried the leg again. A shoulder tackle sends Icarus scurrying to the outside, with Vilmos’ attempt to drag him back in ending with him getting dropped throat-first across the rope. Icarus pulls Vilmos’ leg around the rope and dropkicked it as he finally got a strike through to the wounded body part. Every time Vilmos tried to fight back, Icarus kicked him in the leg, before he grabbed almost a high heel hook, targeting the knee and quads.
Icarus’ snapmare leads to a chop to the back, then another leg lock as he ground his knuckles into the taped-up quad. Vilmos finally kicks his way free, but a dropkick to the knee spun him down to the mat for a two-count. An unorthodox leg drop to the leg followed as Icarus torqued away on the knee some more, but Vilmos refused to stay down. Rolling outside, Icarus goes under the ring and finds a chair… Öcsi threatened to get involved, but thought better of it as Icarus laid out Vilmos, before he put Vilmos’ leg into the open chair. Cue a Pillmanizing… but Vilmos moves the chair as Icarus hit it head first, allowing Vilmos to mount a comeback with a gutwrench suplex, then a butterfly suplex… only for his comeback to come to a screeching halt as his knee gave out mid-run.
Nevermind, there’s a big back body drop as Icarus charged at Vilmos… Icarus rolls outside and mouthed off at Öcsi, daring him to take a swing (and cause a disqualification). Instead, Icarus pokes Öcsi in the eye, then dragged him into the buckles to wrap his arm across a turnbuckle iron using the tag rope. I mean, there’s inventive use of the ring and there’s that! Dickhead Icarus got knocked off the apron by Vilmos, who then tried to free Öcsi… only to get cough from behind with a discus clothesline as Icarus went back to the mat with a scissored ankle lock for the quick submission.
A pretty basic story, but one well told to the point where even if you didn’t know who either man was going in, you’d have “gotten it” within moments of the bell. ***½
Post-match, Icarus went after Vilmos’ leg some more, but the freed Öcsi chased him away with the chair… while Icarus in the aisle did the universal belt motioning, before Öcsi sprinted to the back after Icarus cut a promo. He left his own brother in the ring as a referee had to help carry Vilmos to the back as the show closed…
For a quick hit – this show was just 35 minutes long… shorter if you fast-forward through promos – this was a really solid show with the defacto main event doing a good job of telling its story in the ten minutes they got.