Well, after last week’s mixed bag of a show (and that’s me being really kind), I’ve made the call to give episode two of WCPW’s “Loaded” a try. Last week we had 8 WhatCulture staffers on screen to the 12 wrestlers, with a fair number of them assigned to – or fighting for – a WhatCulture staffer. Still, at least the WCPW guys took the criticism in their stride and didn’t make a sarcastic video addressing them. Oh…
Episode two starts with Simon Miller and “King” Ross Tweddell, with the face/heel act from last week continuing as masterfully as you’d expect. They recap the main event angle from last week of a security guard being piledriven by Rampage. “That looked like it hurt, didn’t it?” cried Ross… they then reveal that the security guard broke his neck. Underwhelming reveals, eh?
Advertised for our card tonight is El Ligero vs. Jay Lethal.
We jump to the ring, where one lone fan tried to get a “one Adam Pacitti” chant going, and we’ve got the world’s most awkward GM actually addressing last week’s security guard angle, claiming again that his neck was broken. The fans don’t buy it one bit, and actually laughed when Pacitti references “other, less successful promotions that ban that move”. I hope that wasn’t him being serious… As a result, the piledriver is banned by WCPW, and that draws boos and “bullshit” chants from the caring audience. Pacitti threatens to fire anyone who uses the piledriver, and announces the main event of a card called “Built to Destroy” – Rampage vs. Big Damo for the WCPW title.
Jumping backstage now, and the interview set is now just a plain white sheet – no green screen here with a random brick wall .jpg. Stevie Aaron, getting the easiest paycheck of the night, introduces Adam Blampied (who promptly dismisses him, so what was the point of the interviewer?), and Rampage.
Yay, five minutes in and our first sight of a wrestler! Blampied speaks for Rampage and says that they don’t need the piledriver to rule the company, but if he wants to, he can. “You can break that guy’s neck, you can break Noam Dar’s neck, you can break my neck. That doesn’t make sense, don’t break my neck…”
Did they not think about doing a second take for any of this stuff?
Fake commercial break over, we’re back with Miller and “King” Ross, recapping the piledriver ban. Ross brings out a “piledriver protector” for his guys, and it’s just one of Homer Simpson’s beer hats. We’re about seven minutes in, and now we get our first match!
Drake vs. The Primate
The bickering on commentary is already underway before Drake comes out. Drake’s entrance video brings back some vivid memories of David Flair’s titantron, and I’m sure that’s not what they were going for. For some reason he’s dropped his initials, as he goes by the moniker HT Drake on the local indie scene, and he’s taking on The Primate – aka Jason Prime – and oh crap, I forgot he’d been assigned a WhatCulture staffer in his corner last week, in the form of Suzie Kennedy.
Billed at 5’11 and 250lbs, the Primate seems to be a monster in the mould of Matanza from Lucha Underground. Kennedy unmasks the Primate on the apron, who then gets “kill the jobber” chants.
Drake evades a charging Primate, then goes to work on the corner with some kicks before being shoved away. A dropkick sends Primate into the corner again, but he catches a crossbody from Drake and dumps him into the corner with an Exploder-style suplex. Primate follows up with some German suplexes, but Drake pops up quickly each time, before finally selling an overhead belly-to-belly suplex.
As the commentary team tried to determine if Drake was bleeding (in the end, he was, but not from any obvious place), he avoided another German suplex by flipping out and landing on his feet, before a Northern Lights suplex got Drake a near-fall. Primate tosses Drake again with another Exploder, then lands a spear for the win. Decent TV match, but for the debut of a “dominant monster”, this should have been a squash. **
Throughout the match, King Ross on commentary was doing his best to get in WWE references without actually saying them (“Suplex Town” and comparing Suzie Kennedy to Vickie Guerrero to name just two). There’s a difference between fans screaming “suplex city” and the commentator trying the same – it comes across like TNA back in the day, and very, very bush league.
They quickly faded to black as Drake got the pity “give it up for…” outro, and we’re backstage again with Stevie Aaron and Gabriel Kidd. He was the only one pinned in last week’s triple threat match, and before Kidd can say anything, Prince Ameen comes in and reveals that he’s teaming with him “next”.
We segue to another backstage segment, this time with Kenny McIntosh. He’s there with Drake, who’s bemoaning defeat before being interrupted by manager James R. Kennedy. He tries to bait Drake into challenging Big Damo down the line, and it looks like we have another managerial tie-up incoming. They transition away as Kenny’s signing off, which I guess means that we shouldn’t care about him?
Look, the plain white screen is infinitely better than the green screen of random bricks, but can’t they get a WCPW logo on it? You’re telling me they don’t have a colour printer in the office and some drawing pins? Or even some sticky tape?
We return to Miller and “King” Ross, with the green screen kicking in a second too late, and Ross is banging his truncheon. That’s not a metaphor. They recap what we just saw, before Miller pitches to some “exclusive footage” of Joseph Conners with Joe Hendry. Except we start with Stevie Aaron and Joe Hendry, and Aaron is tripping over his words badly. Hendry saves it with his promo, annoyed over his loss to Big Damo last week, and Joseph Conners appears to bemoan his loss last week as well. And there’s another team, which Aaron proclaims to be a “huge scoop”.
When the wrestlers were talking, it was fine, but when the promo opens with the interviewer stumbling over his lines… yell “cut” and reshoot it. It’s not that hard for a taped show.
Another fake commercial break, and we’re back to Miller and “King” Ross recapping what we just saw. They then pitch back to another backstage interviewer who isn’t named (Jennifer Louise, if it’s the same blonde from last week), and she’s with Conner and Hendry. They’re already doing the quasi-bickering partners act, and so ends the fourth segment in a row that involved these guys. And now it’s the fifth…
Gabriel Kidd & Prince Ameen vs. Joseph Conners & Joe Hendry
Ameen starts by admonishing Kidd, who starts by being taken down with a headlock by Hendry as Ameen tried to get him to do an eye poke to free himself. They trade wristlocks, before Ameen tags himself in forcibly.
After swapping tags back and forth, Conners comes in to high-five Ameen instead of a test of strength. Ameen actually wins the test of strength, bending Conners in half, but he fights back… and gets a knee to the midsection. Conners recovers and clotheslines Ameen to the outside, then brings Kidd back in to fight his battles for him. Kidd gets taken down into a headlock, before shooting off Conners into the ropes, as Ameen comes back in to pick his shots.
Kidd lands a suplex on Conners for just a one-count, before a waistlock takedown gets him another one-count. Ameen tries to one-up Kidd, but his Tiger driver attempt is blocked as Conners backdrops out and tags in Hendry, who clears the ring, punching Kidd and scoring a near-fall from a neckbreaker. Hendry and Kidd combine to land a double team hiptoss into a backbreaker, before Conners lands the Righteous Kill package DDT, with Hendry coming in to steal the pin. Good tag team action here, although I could have done without both teams playing the bickering partners stuff. ***½
Out of nowhere, this part of the video stops and we’re into the next “part”, with “King” Ross struggling with a giant Rubik’s cube. They bring up Noam Dar and “Jack The Jobber”, which is a segment that didn’t air on this “split up” version of the show, but it gives Ross a chance to say the letter W in the most obnoxious way possible… and now back to the ring!
El Ligero vs. Jay Lethal
If El Ligero beats Jay Lethal, he’ll get a shot at Lethal down the line for the ROH title. At least it gives Ligero something to fight for here. Lethal gets his ROH entrance video here, which immediately sets him apart from the majority of the roster’s No Mercy-esque videos, and What Culture’s first fly-in is treated like a star.
Basic stuff to get us going, with Ligero and Lethal working wristlocks and reversals, before Ligero handstands his way out of some headscissors. A series of leapfrogs and armdrags sees Lethal try for the Lethal Injection, before the pair stand-off. Lethal works a headlock again, then hiptosses the masked man for just a one-count, as a backbreaker gets a similar result.
After getting a big boot up to an onrushing Lethal, the ROH champion drops Ligero with a spinebuster for a near-fall. Lethal teased back to his days as “Black Machismo” with a Randy Savage-like elbow drop, but Ligero rolled away before Lethal could make the leap… so Lethal just dragged him closer to the corner, only for Ligero to roll away again. Lethal tried a third time, and once again Ligero rolled away, so Lethal dropped down and opted for a stalling vertical suplex. Ligero tried to knee his way out of it, before turning into some headscissors that sent Lethal to the outside, where Ligero followed up with a cannonball.
Ligero tossed Lethal back into the ring for a near-fall, before dropkicking the ROH champion as he launched into a handspring for the Lethal Injection. Another dropkick got Ligero a near-fall, as they traded punches back and forth, then kicks as the two men slumped to the mat after a bicycle kick and a superkick. Lethal turned a suplex attempt into a small package which got reversed a bunch of times for near-falls, before Lethal drilled Ligero with a STO backbreaker into a flatliner for a near-fall.
A Figure Four leglock kept Ligero on the mat, but the masked one made the ropes easily, but he was unable to connect with the Lethal Injection, as Ligero hit a diving cutter into the ring for a near-fall. Ligero misses a big splash off the top rope, and then all of a sudden Martin Kirby runs in to tease attacking both men… then he does so anyway, leading to a no contest.
Despite being the best match in WCPW’s short history, the finish with Kirby left a sour taste in the mouth. Why book a match when you don’t want to have either guy lose? That’s two matches from the seven in WCPW so far that’s ended as a no-contest, for those counting… ***¾
In his post-match promo, Jay Lethal hints that he wanted to defend the title again against El Ligero, but wasn’t able to get clearance from ROH (“that doesn’t mean it’s not the last title shot you’ll ever get” – hang on, wasn’t this a non-title match?). Lethal promised a title shot regardless for Ligero at some point down the line…
We fade “to the back!” once more, and it’s Kenny McIntosh with the Primate and Suzie Kennedy. Suzie attempts to do the talking for her charge, but they’re interrupted by another bearded wrestler who isn’t identified (Joe Coffey), and they pitch back to ringside. Except they don’t go there, and we return with Kenny again with Rampage and Blampied, building up our main event between Rampage and Noam Dar. The lighting and audio for this pair of segments was pretty bad, again, did nobody look at these and think to reshoot them? Kenny again sends us back to ringside, but instead it’s a fake commercial break, returning with “King” Ross and Simon Miller.
On this form, I wouldn’t ask for, nor trust any directions from Kenny McIntosh.
Rampage vs. Noam Dar
So, Rampage (not Brown, but still from Leeds) gets “Rampage is a Mackem” chants from the Newcastle crowd [for our international readers, “Mackem” is a name used for people from Sunderland, who are Newcastle’s main football rivals. Well, not this season, since Newcastle’s been relegated…]. Nobody ever accused those Geordies of being smart, eh? At least they announce Dar from his birthplace of Israel, and not Scotland…
Dar and Rampage stall for a while to begin with, before finally locking-up as Rampage takes Dar into the corner. The Israeli-Scot tries for a waistlock, but gets taken down with a wristlock instead, as the much bigger Rampage tries to utilise his size advantage. Saying that, Dar does successfully hit a couple of armbreakers, but Rampage quickly went for a piledriver which Dar escaped.
Dar dragged Rampage to the outside, wrapping his legs around the ringpost, following up with a dropkick onto Rampage on the apron. Unfortunately for Dar, he then spent too long on the apron and was shoved into the crowd barrier by Rampage, before dropping a leg onto Dar on the apron. A suplex gets Rampage a two-count in the ring, before toying with Dar with crossface punches.
Dar gets dumped with a back suplex as Adam Blampied outside drinks a beer, before Dar fights back by sweeping the leg as Rampage went for a hold. After ducking a couple of clotheslines, Dar took down Rampage for a two-count with a clothesline, before working over the leg as Rampage missed a bicycle kick and crotched himself on the top rope.
Dar missed a double stomp to Rampage’s knee, and the big guy found himself back on top, chopping Dar in the corner, only for Dar to stagger Rampage with a trio of strikes. A big boot decked Dar once again though, as Rampage kept on top, winning a battle of forearm blows with the Israeli-Scot.
Rampage found himself taking a big boot from Dar, who then trapped him in the Champagne Super-Knee-Bar, but Blampied jumped on the apron to distract the referee. Dar released the hold, but walked into a spinebuster before kicking out at two. Blampied calls for Rampage to hit the piledriver, but Dar gets out and rolls him up for a near-fall, before Rampage hits a sit-out powerbomb for the win. That was a pretty good main event, without any hint of a screwy finish. ***½
The post-match focussed on Adam Blampied being mad at Rampage for not using the piledriver. They’re already teasing dissension? Before that could go anywhere, Big Damo comes out with “Jack The Jobber”, who looks like a lost child out there. Jack, not Damo, that is. Damo and Rampage trade forearms as the camera focuses on a downed Noam Dar before fading to black…
Compared to the first week’s show, this was an improvement – we didn’t have quite as much of the WhatCulture staffers using this show as a love-in, but there is still a lot to do in terms of the format and production.
Let’s get the positives out of the way first: good matches that went over ten minutes? Check, twice. An effective old-school storyline banning a hold for being too brutal? Check (even if the fans didn’t buy one ounce of it). Debuting a monster heel? Erm, if he didn’t sell so much and if we didn’t have Rampage in the main event slot, we could just about check that, I guess?
The promotion have already announced the creation of a Women’s division, which seems a bit odd since there’s been precisely zero female wrestlers even referenced by the promotion to date. They’ll be starting with a match between Bea Priestley and Nixon Newell at the end of the month, so at least the new division has a good chance of getting off on the right foot.
Now for my nitpicks… A lot of these are repeats, I’m afraid!
This show airs “live” on YouTube (in an ever shifting timeslot, first they were going for 9pm Monday nights, then 10pm, with this episode airing at 10.30pm in the UK), before the show goes up on demand in “parts” for some reason, with volume levels varying wildly between segments. Assuming that the two versions are the same, who on earth thought it was a good idea to book five segments in a row involving the same guys (referring to two backstage interviews with Hendry/Conners, plus two throw-in spots from the commentary team, and then the match itself). Likewise, this is a taped show. Let me repeat: taped. So commentary can be re-recorded, for instance. Botched spots, edited out. And as we’re not live, it also gives guys the chance to lay-out what order things will fall in. Seemingly, that’s not happening, as we had some back-to-back backstage segments ending with pitches back to the action, unless “back to ringside” is Kenny McIntosh’s catchphrase!
Constantly making references to WWE (be it under the catch-all “other promotions” veil, or even outright taking shots at WWE terms) may get a pop from smarky fans, but it doesn’t help this group escape the minor league label that they’re quickly earning from their detractors. Nor does having your commentators say stupid stuff like “why isn’t this man (Jay Lethal) in WWE?”… oblivious to the idea that that would mean he wouldn’t be available for the promotion you’re calling right now!
Upgrading their venue to the bigger O2 Academy in Newcastle is a good thing, as it means they’re having no problem selling tickets, but after two episodes of their TV show, it is crystal clear that the in-ring action is not the issue in this group. The booking, commentary, angles, backstage segments and overall production values are at best average, and whilst the live action may be good, this fledgling group quickly needs to practice what they’ve been so eager to preach in their own videos if they’re going to thrive.
Wrestling is subjective. Just ask Vader. But what worries me is that already “battle lines” are being drawn. Fans of this group are already writing off critics as “PROGRESSers”, thinking that it’s impossible to like more than one group at a time, much like the ill-fated 1PW did back in the day when the promotion was eager to group its followers as a cult-like “family”.
I’m not a fan of this product, but I want to see it improve – if only so that there’s another viable avenue for wrestlers to earn a payday, rather than this being yet another fly-by-night promotion that quietly disappears into the night.