In our latest look at the British scene in 1999 – we see more blasts from the past!
The second episode of the UWA Wrestling Rampage show opened with footage from last week where Mad Dog McPhie interfered and helped Jonny Storm beat Paul Sloan, and then Phil Powers making the save. In the middle of this, they replay the segment from the top as we hear the opening music, complete with the slogan “you wanna see some heavy stuff, we’re gonna be here”, before they kill kill the audio. We then see the title sequence air whilst the commentary from last week’s show-ending angle played. How did that get to air like that?
The badly mixed audio continued as Dan Berlinka’s actually in a studio with somebody working. Except we can’t hear him because the show’s title music is still playing… and the entire segment here is badly out of sync. I’m going to skip to the action as the sound is still screwy.
Stevie Knight vs. Doug Williams
“Hotstuff” Stevie Knight looks like a copy of “Hotstuff” Eddie Gilbert, and in keeping with the random valets on the show, Knight has a woman called Sarah out with him. Far from the technical master he’d become, Doug Williams “The Anarchist” comes out looking for a fight.
Before we can get going, Steve Lynskey comes out with his fake American accent and tries to pull Doug from the match. They have a back and forth as Knight tries to tease Williams into the match, but in the end, Williams just walks out as we go to a split-screen of Mick McManus and an unnamed woman just shaking their heads.
In the split-screen, we see another unnamed wrestler come up and ask McManus for the match, despite “being a bit light” and young. Mick gives him the match, as the unnamed woman fills in the ring announcer on the replacement. So we get this match:
Stevie Knight vs. Jody Flash
Or Jodie Fleisch, as he’d become known as. Knight dragged him into the ring by his shirt, and toyed with Jody from the off. A snapmare and a kick to the back stuns Flash, before a side slam and a leg drop leads us to… another split-screen promo.
This time, Mick McManus is addressing Doug Williams’ refusal to wrestle, and the consequences of Doug pulling out here is that if he loses his match against Christopher Daniels, he’ll start the ten-man tournament in the number one slot. If he won, however, he’ll be the last man in that match. Not sure why they had to air that during this match, but there you go.
Back to the ring as Knight’s still chopping away on Flash, before hitting a back suplex following some pointless back flips, as a clothesline turned Flash inside out. A pumphandle slam takes Flash down, as does a release German suplex as Flash is a human crash test dummy here.
Knight pulls up Flash at the count of two from a pendulum backbreaker, and that sparks a comeback as Flash hits a springboard spinning heel kick, before he eats a running powerbomb as he took too long with some mounted corner punches. Knight goes for the Knight Driver – an Electric Chair Facebuster – and that’s it. An utter, utter squash. *½
We’re back to Dan in the studio, who recaps what we saw with Doug Williams and the consequences ahead of their match next week. Next up, another interview with Jameelah and Fallen Angel (Christopher Daniels). For once, it’s not a generic white-meat babyface promo, and my word, Daniels did look odd with hair.
Kerry Cabrero vs. Gran Naniwa
Again, we get the offensive commentary here, “not another Jap in panto”. Somehow in 1999, this wasn’t considered offensive on any level, right?
Cabrero works over Naniwa early on, shrugging off some waistlocks as Naniwa rolls to the outside. Returning to the ring, Naniwa goes straight to a rope-walk chop – y’know, the Undertaker’s “Old School” spot – before biting away on the wrist of Cabrero whilst in a wristlock. A big boot from Cabrero in the corner cuts off Naniwa, but he’s dropkicked to the floor as he tried to climb the ropes.
Naniwa wipes out Cabrero with a cannonball, before grounding him with a chinlock and an eye rake. The referee gets shoved into the corner, before Naniwa rakes the eyes again and lays into Cabrero with a discus clothesline for a two-count.
Naniwa headbutts Cabrero below the belt, then slams him in preparation for the Crab Walk (a sideways walk along the middle rope, ending with an elbow drop – a move that Martin Kirby has adopted in recent years). After a near-fall, Cabrero fires back and throws Naniwa to the outside, before grabbing a steel chair, which is used as a springboard into a pescado to Naniwa.
On the outside, Naniwa grabs the chair and uses it on Cabrero, before a diving body press off the top rope takes down Cabrero. More back and forth ends with an enziguiri from Naniwa, before Cabrero mounts another quick comeback and grabs the win with the Flatliner – a pop-up sit-out powerbomb. Easily one of the best matches in the short history of UWA TV… but my God, that commentary from Steve Morgan was offensive as hell. **¾
We return from commercial as they recap the whole Doug Williams scenario from earlier today…
Before the next match, Anne-Marie Foss is wheeled out – she was one of L!VE TV’s presenters, known for reading the weather in Norwegian. She’s the ring announcer for the next match, and she’s not got a hint of that Norwegian accent she used on TV.
Danny Royal vs. “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels
Daniels’ laser show features a waving American flag, the Statue of Liberty, and an outline of the United States. Because he’s from the USA, see? Such imagination! That had to be a pre-saved laser show…
They start with a lock-up, but Daniels gets the early advantage, slamming Royal and then rolling around him for the sake of it. A series of shoulder tackles keeps the advantage with Daniels, but Royal makes a comeback with a series of slams that sent the Fallen Angel outside for cover.
Once he returned, Royal takes Daniels back down with a back body drop, then a clothesline, before catching a leapfrog and press slamming Daniels down to the mat. Doug Williams makes an appearance here as Daniels was caught in a full nelson, before fighting out and somehow turning it into a Samoan drop.
Daniels drops Royal with a lariat for a two-count, then again with a belly-to-belly suplex, before a sunset flip gets Royal a two-count of his own. Another clothesline drops Royal in place for a Quebrada, as Doug Williams nodded with approval. Royal gets a release German suplex, but doesn’t make the cover, and instead trades more shots before slamming Daniels.
Royal gets a two-count from a clothesline, then again with a stalling suplex, and once more from a full nelson bomb. With Royal remonstrating with the referee, Daniels hits back with the Angel’s Wings out of nowhere, before pulling Royal into the Last Rites (spinning reverse DDT) for the win. That was pretty good, a basic match that got over Daniels signature moves without killing Royal too much. ***
Back to Dan in the studio who tells us what we just saw, before handing over to Steve Lynskey for an interview.
Lynskey’s with Jameelah, and his fake American accent wobbles a bit here. Steve’s talking up the tag team main event, but it’s another unremarkable promo. Did the British wrestling scene not know how to do these or what?!
After commercial, there’s recaps of last week’s main event segment, which leads to some pained howls… and yes, it’s Mad Dog McPhie!
Mad Dog McPhie & Jonny Storm vs. Phil Powers & Paul Sloan
Phil and Paul storm the ring as we have a jump start, with McPhie and Sloan somehow screwing up a clothesline at the start of the match.
Powers and Sloan double-team Storm, who rolls to the outside for cover. Back inside, Powers slams Storm, before Sloan comes in to deliver a slow-motion spinebuster on Storm. A crossbody from Storm is turned into a slam as McPhie runs in and powerbombs him for the sake of it, as the referee just stood by idly.
Storm goes up top to capitalise, and hits a frog splash on Sloan for a near-fall, before tagging in McPhie. “Mad Dog” gets a two-count from a suplex, and again, with a back senton from Jonny Storm getting another near-fall. Storm tries a leaping Magistral cradle and gets another two-count, before a superkick knocks down Sloan.
McPhie tags back in and goes for a Figure Four… what is it with big guys in this group going for technical submission holds like Sharpshooters and Figure Fours?! Sloan rolls over to reverse the hold, before being held in place by McPhie, as the heels hit a leg sweep/flying spinning heel kick on Sloan. I’ll give you two guesses who didn’t go off the top rope there…
A double clothesline knocks down Sloan and Storm, but leads to a hot tag to Phil Powers, who stomps away on Storm in his own corner… yet Mad Dog McPhie didn’t tag in. An Irish whip sends Storm upside down into the corner, before a slingshot Falcon arrow is followed up by a piledriver. Instead of going for a cover, Powers slams Storm again before climbing to the top rope, then connects with a big splash as Steve Lynskey interferes to pull Powers off of his charge.
Powers chases Lynskey to the back, but is interrupted by McPhie’s attempt to hit a powerbomb. That’s backdropped out of by Powers, who instead hits a powerbomb on the floor on the Mad Dog, before returning to the ring for a dropkick Doomsday Device on Storm for the win. There wasn’t much substance to this, but as a storyline way for the babyfaces to get their own back on the heels, it worked, I guess. **¾
Next week, we have the Death Squad vs. Shane and Murphy. No names given, but I think I recognise one of those guys… The show ended with a promo from Doug Williams, who bucked the trend in being a British guy who can actually cut a promo without it being painfully generic!
Compared to week one, this show was miles better, as long as you ignore those weird audio issues at the start. We had a higher quality of matches, and not too much in the way of dead-weight. The only nitpick here was that they wrapped up the Powers/Sloan vs. Storm/McPhie storyline in just two weeks, rather than have it build, but otherwise, good stuff this week!