WCPW’s busy week saw them roll into Manchester as the World Cup reached its quarter-final stages!
These matches came at the end of a set of tapings for Loaded, so if you’re wondering why this is a short report – there’s other stuff, but you’re going to have to wait to see it!
Pro Wrestling World Cup – Quarter-Finals: Penta el Zero M vs. Ricochet
The ref messes up Penta’s glove toss early on as as Ricochet flips off the Pentagon man… and gets kicked in the gut for his troubles. Ricochet manages to take control early, dropkicking Penta to the outside, then laying him out with a tope con hilo – and for once, we have a loud crowd!
Back inside, Ricochet stomps away on Penta, but he telegraphs a back body drop and gets kicked away as Penta throws in a Slingblade! Some chops in the corner keep Ricochet down, before Penta decides to throw him into the ring post for good measure.
Penta seems to relish in those chops, but Ricochet finally gets back into it, elbowing him in the corner before rolling up into a dropkick! A 619 in the corner and a springboard elbow follows as Ricochet put himself in the driver’s seat, but Penta catches a ‘rana and turns it into an over-the-knee powerbomb for another near-fall. Ricochet fights out of the Fear Factor, and returns with a running cutter then a running shooting star press as the crowd looked to get back into it.
Just like that, Penta snaps out of the corner into a backcracker that sent Ricochet flying, but the Fear Factor’s blocked again… with Ricochet this time trading shots for a while before he hits an uppercut to avoid the leaping Destroyer. A top rope ‘rana takes Penta down, as Ricochet nails a springboard 450 for a really close near-fall, but the leaping Destroyer out of nowhere sends Ricochet onto the apron!
It’s replied to with a springboard Destroyer as Ricochet went tit-for-tat, before a Fear Factor onto the apron damn near killed Ricochet! Back inside, Penta nails a pumphandle driver for a near-fall… before a Romero special led to the finish as Ricochet was pulled all the way down into a pin… both men’s shoulders were down, as Ricochet bridged up at the last second for the win. Commentary played it up as a double pin until they corrected themselves. That was an odd, but effective finish as the story was Penta kinda beat himself. ***½
Pro Wrestling World Cup – Quarter-Finals: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Joseph Conners
Well, someone who’s snarkier than me will openly ask “how the hell do you do this politically?” – New Japan vs. WWE UK. Pete Dunne lost to YOSHI-HASHI the last time we had that conundrum, back at Rev Pro in January.
Daryl’s back out with Hiromu, and my GOD he is over. Like Al Snow’s Head back in the day.
Both men get duelling chants before the bell, but Hiromu decides to parade Daryl some more before he takes Conners into the ropes for chops… and has the favours returned! Hiromu fakes a knee injury after a back flip, but that just suckers Conners in as the former IWGP Junior heavyweight champ takes Conners into the corner, before they head outside so Conners can get his knee dropkicked into the guard rail. From faking an injury… to trying to deliver one!
Back inside, they trade chops and strikes, with Takahashi targeting the knee – as you’d expect – grinding his first into Conners’ knee on the mat. There’s more of the same as Takahashi traps the knee in the corner and dropkicks it again, and this crowd has gone eerily quiet as Conners struggled to get anything going.
Takahashi grabs a leglock, but Conners fires back at the Ingobernable – with words at first, before a clothesline left both men down. Chops from Conners lead to a big slam as he gets a near-fall on his way back into the match, before the push-down stomp out of the corner keeps Hiromu down.
Takahashi catches a kick and brings down Conners with a Dragon screw as another leg grapevine follows, but there’s a rope break as Conners again gets taken down with a low dropkick. A Time Bomb’s attempted, but it’s fought out of as Takahashi’s thrown to the mat for another two-count, and still the match trundles on. It’s amazing, but from the pop and chants he got at the start, Conners seems to have sapped the crowd’s enthusiasm… and they barely murmur when he’s caught in another grapevine.
An overhead belly-to-belly takes Conners into the corner and makes those ropes wobble like jelly. Conners rebounds with a slingshot DDT to almost get the win, and then we head outside as Conners nails a tope, before a big splash back inside gets met with nothing but knees as Takahashi tries to go back to the knee… the latest grapevine’s met with an inside cradle, and that’s the pin! A surprising exit for Takahashi, after a match that felt like it went much, much longer than the crowd wanted it to. **¾
Oh God, they’re not going to have the late substitute go all the way, are they?!
Pro Wrestling World Cup – Quarter-Finals: Mike Bailey vs. Will Ospreay
Another match that reads as “great, on paper” starts with some mocking clean breaks from Ospreay, a la Okada, before they swing and miss with a series of kicks.
They flip out of ‘ranas, and this is incredibly even… at least until Ospreay catches Bailey in the corner and takes him down for a slingshot senton. A modified cloverleaf comes next from Will, forcing Bailey to grab the ropes… which just prompts Will to unload with some more kicks and punches.
It’s a rather slow start, but it’s become the norm with these sort of matches – a slow start before the pace intensifies, rather than a short sprint. Bailey turns it up with a diving kick, before a roundhouse to the back of Ospreay leads to a moonsault knees to the gut of the Aerial Assassin. Heck, Bailey’s vicious in kicking Ospreay to the floor, before he continues with those kicks, and finally Ospreay kicks back as we seem to be doing nothing more than throwing feet.
A handspring overhead kick takes Bailey down, before a twisting senton almost gets Ospreay the win. The springboard forearm follows, as Ospreay calls for the Rainham Maker… and instead falls to a roundhouse from Speedball. Ospreay counters a suplex into a Stundog Millionaire in response, before going for an OsCutter… which gets kicked out of the air.
Bailey replies with a shooting star knee, which misses, before Ospreay’s corkscrew splash also gets some knees, as a Gotch piledriver plants Ospreay for another near-fall. More kicks knock Ospreay down, but he gets back up and invites some more! Some punches follow for a change from Bailey, who then goes back to the cavalcade of kicks before a double clothesline sent both men flipping to the mat!
Ospreay pulls himself up to his feet as Bailey manages to drag himself towards the corner… before popping up for a superplex. He’s caught for a Cheeky Nandos, but that misses as a roundhouse kick and a Dragon suplex takes Ospreay down for a near-fall. A spiking DDT returns the favour as Will calls for the Rainham Maker, but yes, Bailey kicks free, before blasting Ospreay with Ibushi’s Kamigoye knee strike! Ospreay shakes it off and dumps Bailey on the ropes for a shooting star to the back, sending Bailey dropping to the floor!
They tease a Rainham Maker on the apron, but instead Will’s tripped as he takes a moonsault double knees. Back in the ring, a shooting star knee drop takes Ospreay down, but that’s still only good for a two-count as the crowd continued to roar for what they labelled a “five star classic”. Another roundhouse from Speedball follows, but Ospreay catches him up top with a Spanish Fly… another two-count!
A reverse Bloody Sunday comes next… another two-count, then more kicks, before Bailey counters into a Dragon’rana… another two! Yet. More. Kicks. A Revolution kick takes Bailey down, as Ospreay finally hits the OsCutter to end this – once Bailey got the kicks out of his system, this became a pretty good match – just I’m not a fan of all the kicks in my wrestling. A classic, and yes, we’ve got yet another flagship match from these World Cup finals! ****¼
So… we get Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet – a match we probably should have seen coming had we remembered the brackets! That means Joseph Conners gets either KUSHIDA or Zack Sabre Jr. on Saturday!
Pro Wrestling World Cup – Quarter-Finals: KUSHIDA vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
These two met at Rev Pro in April’s Epic Encounters – and had a pretty decent match, albeit one that went on too long. Given that it’s nearly 10.45pm when the bell went, I’m hoping we don’t get another 28 minute classic. Selfishly speaking!
KUSHIDA starts on the mat as he invites Sabre to play his own game. Alrighty then! KUSHIDA manages to get the mount and throw in some shots, but as you’d expect, they remain neutral following those early exchanges.
Sabre grabs a double armbar, and steps over KUSHIDA to increase the pressure… but the hold is reversed before Sabre rolls KUSHIDA down into an attempt at a Kimura. Just like in April, they work a very methodical, technical encounter, with effortless takedowns and reversals from both men as we got a smooth-as-butter grappling exhibition.
KUSHIDA mocks Sabre by spinning on his back, before using an unorthodox trip to take Sabre into a crossface. Sabre escapes and takes KUSHIDA into some headscissors, as that exchange ends… with a stand-off! Rolling snapmares from both men end when KUSHIDA gets his neck twisted between Sabre’s legs, before he eventually replies with a leg grapevine… but they roll into the ropes for a break.
After the rope break, KUSHIDA goes back to the legs with another grapevine – this time a modified Figure Four – but Sabre forces his way free by wrenching KUSHIDA’s wrist back on itself. Sabre snaps into the Article 50, but there’s a rope break, and if it’s not already clear… we’re going long, folks!
KUSHIDA tries to sweep the leg, but both men end up going for simultaneous knee bars… Sabre wins out with his, but KUSHIDA gets ahead… and runs into a boot in the corner before catching Sabre’s leap, turning it into an armbar. Again though, Sabre counters out and reverses the hold back and forth, before they roll into the ropes to force another break.
A springboard chop succeeds for KUSHIDA, but he moonsaults into a triangle armbar, before freeing himself and punting Sabre’s arm. KUSHIDA follows up with a Hoverboard lock in the ropes, and after some more offence from Sabre, he goes back to the Hoverboard lock, only for Sabre to escape and leap into a guillotine choke.
KUSHIDA escapes with another Kimura, and throwing it into a Northern Lights suplex for a near-fall, but Sabre returns the favour with a front headlock suplex, getting an eventual near-fall out of that also. A Dragon suplex gets Zack another two-count as they edged closer to the finish, with KUSHIDA managing to get selected shots in, such as a Pele kick. The handspring back elbow from KUSHIDA’s caught and turned into a triangle armbar, but again the wacky submissions ended with another rope break.
We go to the battling forearms, with KUSHIDA winning out, before a Euro clutch gets Sabre a near-fall… KUSHIDA nails Zack with a handstand kick into the ropes, but gets caught up top in a wristlock, only to level Sabre with another kick on the top rope. KUSHIDA looks to settle things with a flying Hoverboard Lock… and he takes Zack down in the hold, before rolling him into the middle of the ring, as he countered a counter into a Euro clutch… and KUSHIDA wins! Sabre was stunned as he looked to keep fighting like a punch-drunk boxer, but that was the finish… a bloody amazing match. However, like their match in April, was good, but also hampered by the fact that it was a long match in front of a crowd that was not receptive to it. Again, placement and timing is a wondrous thing, and proof that you don’t need every match to go long at this stage in the tournament. ****
Given that we only got four matches, this was a truncated show… but one that still found a way to reach the two hours line! That seemed to be the downfall of this show; one that followed a Loaded taping and so led to what looked like an emptying – and therefore, quietening – crowd. Perhaps a scheduled 6.45pm start and a show that went beyond a 11pm finish wasn’t such a good idea in hindsight?
Away from that, nitpick, tonight’s quarter-finals were nothing short of amazing… save for that elephant in the room. Quite how you make a Hiromu Takahashi outing forgettable is quite something, but the remaining three matches were stellar and well worth your time. Just perhaps not when you’re about to finish after 11pm at night, eh?
So, Saturday’s semi-finals in Newcastle see KUSHIDA take on Joseph Conners, whilst we get another go around the block with Will Ospreay and Ricochet. The finals follow later in the night, with the whole show again being aired for free on YouTube.