It’s a one-match show on this week’s British Wrestling Weekly, as Zack Gibson made for the unlikeliest of good guys.
Once we’re past Mark Labbett’s “don’t try this at home” warning, we open with a recap from last season, where Nathan Cruz lost his NGW title belts to Matt Myers… only for the celebration to get ruined by Joseph Conners and friends.
We cut to the arena now as Nathan Cruz comes out to address the fans… except he’s dressed to compete. Cruz talks about how strange it feels to not be the champion, and how he’s now thinking about winning a title shot via the Destiny Rumble… but he’s interrupted by Joe Hendry and his IC-not-overdubbed music. There’s still some folks in the crowd who try to do the arm waving…
Hendry’s not alone, as Kid Fite heads out with him, as the NGW tag champions are gatecrashing again. They mock Cruz for having no belts, before saying that everything in NGW belongs to them. There’s a challenge issued by Hendry, and it seems the crowd… sorta want to see it? Hendry turns it into a handicap match… but before a ref can hit the ring, we have another interruption in the form of Zack Gibson. Zack’s toned down his promo a lot, and it leads to him getting jumped as our tag match gets going!
Nathan Cruz & Zack Gibson vs. Team Insane Fight Club (Joe Hendry & Kid Fite)
We’ve a frantic start as Cruz and Gibson dropkicked the Scotsmen to the outside as the show went to a break – just like Superstars back in the day! There’s no filler as we return to Cruz and Gibson hitting planchas as white meat NGW babyface Zack Gibson is just weird to watch.
Back in the ring, Cruz lands a springboard crossbody to Hendry for a near-fall as the ill-fitting crowd noise rears its ugly head again. It’s pretty one-way stuff here as well, as Gibson quickly worked Kid Fite into the Shankly Gates, but Joe Hendry threatens to interfere… and that opens the door for Fite to kick the ropes into Gibson as the tag champions took those proverbial shortcuts.
Fite wrenches away on Gibson’s face as the Scotsmen played Cruz’s temper against himself, which allowed for plenty of double-teaming behind the ref’s back, as everything built up to the hot tag to Cruz. A kick to the leg of Gibson kept Fite on top as those two-counts really had Gibson on the back foot as we went picture-in-picture for the announcement of more names for the Destiny Rumble.
Fortunately, we return just in time for Zack to make a comeback from a front facelock, only to run into a double clothesline as Gibson and Fite hit the mat. Cruz finally gets the hot tag as he blasts through Joe Hendry, who staggered into the corner and missed a Stinger splash as Cruz throws in a lungblower… but Hendry wasn’t the legal man? Except when you rewind 30 seconds he blatantly was, unless the camera missed a blind tag.
Fite returns to go for a hammerlock DDT, but he’s instead thrown into a Gibson forearm before Cruz lands the Thanks Tully slingshot back suplex for a near-fall. After the kick-out, Cruz tags in Gibson, but Nathan gets taken outside as the he’s thrown into the ringpost… leaving Zack in there two-on-one against the tag champs, as an assisted DDT gets another solid near-fall. Hendry brings in one of the tag title belts, but Cruz stops the belt shot with a Show Stolen to Hendry… before hitting Fite with a forearm as Gibson hits the Helter Skelter spin-out suplex for the win! This was an enjoyable outing, even if it was weird as hell to see Zack Gibson as the white-meat babyface. ***¼
These one-match episodes can be a little tough in terms of storyline development, but this week firmly put the spotlight on Nathan Cruz’s road back to the title… with a few warnings on the way that that road isn’t going to be a smooth one for the man now calling himself the “Professional”.
Next week: Jake McCluskey, Robbie X, El Ligero and Bubblegum are in a four-way match to decide the next contender for the Gen X trophy!
- NGW’s TV show can now be seen via their YouTube channel…