After a week off, WCPW returned for their “Stacked” supercard, headlined by a four-way match as Big Damo’s WCPW title was on the line.
#TLDR: WhatCulture’s second major show saw them crown their first ever women’s title (in a division with… only two women in it), and featured a four-way main event for the WCPW title in what was a good, but bloated card.
The Full Review: Taped on August 24 at the O2 Academy in Newcastle, Stacked was WCPW’s second big supercard – but given that they’ve copied the WWE formula, this was really just a longer episode of Loaded with some slightly bigger matches.
They’re now airing episodes on Saturday night, after realising for a second time that they needed a little longer than a week to get this ready for air… and hey, we’re straight into the action! Which is a little unusual since almost every other major wrestling card opens with some pre-amble, no?
Joe Coffey vs. Moose
I guess this is because Coffey wants to get himself higher on the card… because unless he did the “Unseen” WCPW matches that end up on the cutting room floor, he ain’t getting any lower!
Moose gets a Dave Meltzer-affirming reception, and unfortunately the Moose arm pumps seem to catch on. Coffey grabs a waistlock, and gets taken into the corner as those damned Moose chants catch on. A shoulder block takes down Coffey, before both men try for discus lariats, and we have our first stand-off. They go for a test of strength, which Coffey wins as he slips into a headlock, before resisting some Moose shoulder blocks and finally taking Moose down with a leaping shoulder block of his own.
Coffey levels Moose with an avalanche clothesline, then a suplex for just a one-count. Moose instantly replied with a dropkick, before he fakes out a dive, only to have his leg swept on the apron by Coffey. On the outside, Moose whips Coffey into the crowd barriers, before the Scotsman’s picked up and swung into the barriers in a Giant Swing-like move. A lap of honour from Moose ends with a big boot to Coffey, before a second one ended with Coffey back body dropping Moose into the crowd.
Coffey responds by taking a run-up and nearly obliterating a fan in a wheelchair as well as Moose with a dive over the barriers, and then gets another one-count after Moose was returned to the ring. Moose takes some chops in the corner, before he turns the tables briefly. Coffey tries in vain for a Giant Swing, but he struggles to lift up Moose, and ends up getting dropped with a pop-up powerbomb for a near-fall.
Moose went for a ripcord rolling elbow, but Coffey avoided it and followed with a springboard crossbody off the top turnbuckle to get a near-fall, and then gets another two-count with a bridging German suplex. Coffey sets up Moose on the top rope for a superplex, only for Moose to pop straight up from it and gets a Hitstick (spear) for a near-fall. The pair exchange strikes, before the pair connect with discus lariats.
A bicycle kick and more punches from Moose are followed up with a dropkick to the top rope as Coffey’d climbed up, but the Scotsman shook it off and landed a missile dropkick. Coffey gets a two-count from the Black Coffey discus lariat, before Moose ducked a second and landed a cross body off the top. Moose then landed the Gamebreaker (ripcord rolling elbow) for the win. Not sure how that helps Coffey, but that’s the least of WCPW’s issues. **¾
We go backstage and apparently someone had an idea to have WhatCulture’s “Jack The Jobber” trying to ask out interviewer Jennifer Louise. It was as bad as you’d imagine the character of an awkward, bullied Geordie trying to ask out someone out of his league would be. Are they going back to the “let’s flood this show with WhatCulture guys” motif?
Part two of the show’s headlined “Eric Bischoff & Adam Blampied square off”. Oh no.
The forever-unnamed ring announcer introducers Kenny McIntosh to the ringside area. Needless to say, the crowd aren’t a fan of him… Kenny reminds the fans of tonight’s guest general manager: Eric Bischoff. Yep, they hammer home the usual CV points for Eric, but before Eric can say much, Adam Blampied comes out singing “happy birthday to me”.
Blampied tells Kenny to leave “and let the big boys play”, and this is apparently the “Eric Bischoff of the future with the Eric Bischoff of the past”. Bischoff puts over WCPW as a company with potential… to be honest, the comparisons he drew with WCW might be closer to the truth.
Bischoff introduces his “new protege”, and just screams out “Pacitti!”. Whose video still says “General manager”, even though Bischoff’s meant to have that role for the night. Blampied throws a hissy fit, exacerbated when he’s flipped off, and he calls Bischoff a “has been” and Pacitti “a never-was”. Pacitti again unveils Bischoff as the one-night-only GM, because it’s not like we’ve been told that, and Blampied asks for an explanation. What we end up getting is Adam Blampied and all of Prospect banned from ringside for the main event. Unfortunately, this needed to be sold by the commentary team because of poor sound.
Blampied’s escorted from the ringside area by three referees and “security” as the crowd chants the goodbye song. Well, that was fourteen minutes of self-indulgent tripe. The segment ends with Bischoff pitching to a video announcing Bret Hart’s arrival, and we return to the crowd audibly BOOING this. I guess because Bret’s doing the October 6 and October 8 shows, and not this one? Ungrateful Geordies…
Part three starts with Bischoff and Pacitti still in the ring with the crowd still booing the Bret Hart announcement. Bischoff’s got another announcement: El Ligero vs. EC3 is being turned into a three-way, with the debut of Pete Dunne! I’m guessing Dunne’s a babyface here since he shook the hands of Pacitti and Bischoff.
Pete Dunne vs. Ethan Carter III vs. El Ligero
EC3 won me over by mocking the Newcastle crowd for booing Bret Hart moments earlier, and we start with a tease of a three-way test of strength, only for Dunne to put the boots to Ligero, and then toss EC3 to the floor.
A back elbow from Ligero kocks Dunne, as does a kick to the midsection, before Ligero takes down Dunne with a hurricanrana off the middle rope. Dunne floors Ligero with a clothesline, before EC3 slides into the ring and eventually peppers Dunne with some right hands. EC3’s chop sends Dunne to his knees, and then to the mat, before Ligero comes back in and schoolboys Dunne as he was caught in a headlock.
Dunne takes a double hiptoss from Ligero and EC3, then gets clotheslined to the outside, as EC3 gets a near-fall from a schoolboy. EC3 gets tripped by Dunne and dragged to the outside, as Dunne then pulls back the ring apron and traps Ligero in it as he went for a baseball slide. Ligero fought back in, but took a rope-hung DDT off the middle rope for a near-fall.
Dunne focuses on Ligero with a surfboard attempt whilst holding Ligero’s horns… and then starts to bite on Ligero’s hand. Ligero invites some forearms from Dunne, before he wriggles out of the Drop Dead (pumphandle facebuster) and drops Dunne with a clothesline. EC3 finally returns and clears house on Dunne with a jawbreaker, then a leaping forearm, and a flapjack.
EC3 tries for the One Percenter, but Dunne bites himself free, and knocks EC3 down. Ligero low bridges Dunne to the outside, where he’s joined by Carter, and conveniently put themselves into place for a tope con hilo. Dunne and Ligero go in the ring, but Dunne forearms out of a C4L, before another Drop Dead is countered with a reverse rana from Ligero. Ligero hits a springboard Ace crusher, but EC3 breaks the cover, and goes for Ligero, catching another springboard Ace crusher, and nails him with a TKO for a two-count.
Dunne grabs EC3 in a waistlock, and lands a bridging German suplex, with the pin broken up by Ligero’s Mexican wave splash off the top. All three men exchanged forearms from their knees, but Dunne grabbed two noses. In reply, Dunne had both of his hands bitten by EC3 and Ligero.
EC3 dropped Dunne with the One Percenter, before taking a springboard enziguiri from Ligero after aborting a C4L attempt. Ligero did connect with a C4L on Dunne seconds later, and came away with the win. This was better, and avoided the usual ptifalls of indy three-ways; the action wasn’t too frenetic, and Dunne didn’t look too bad in his debut here. ***¼
We’re backstage again as Adam Blampied’s literally turfed out of the O2 Academy. In broad daylight. If you’re going to film that part, try not to show that it was in the middle of the day, eh?
Doug Williams vs. Drew Galloway
They’ve given Doug three nicknames: The Ambassador of British Wrestling; Indestructible; and Mr. Brexit.
After some stalling to begin with, Galloway grabs an armbar, but after taking Williams to the mat, the veteran counters with a toe-hold, and somehow Galloway counters back into a grounded headlock. Galloway chops Williams to the mat, and keeps up with the chops after taking him back to the corner.
Williams throws Galloway to the outside, but he’s quickly dragged out there as Williams is held against the barrier by several fans, allowing Galloway to chop him. Williams demands that the fans do the same for him, but after only a lone guy does so, he gets met with a headbutt before Galloway replays the chop spot with another set of fans.
Back in the ring, Williams crotches Galloway in the middle way, then dropkicks him to the floor. Galloway gets forearmed as he tried to re-enter the ring, then slows the match down to a crawl with a rear chinlock, and a kneedrop as Williams gets a two-count. Doug yanks Galloway into the turnbuckles, and Drew finally snaps after being slapped, unloading on Williams in the corner with punches, before a clothesline off the top floors Williams.
Doug sidesteps a dropkick from the Scotsman, before Galloway escapes a pair of belly-to-belly suplexes and the Chaos Theory, and then counters a sunset flip by folding down for a near-fall. A rolling elbow from Williams barely rocks Galloway, who replied with a Lo-Down sit-out spinebuster for a near-fall, and then ran into Williams’ boot in the corner. A diving European uppercut and an Exploder drops Galloway, as Williams gets another near-fall with a German suplex.
Williams climbs up to the top rope, with the crowd chanting “please don’t die”. Galloway cuts him off and goes for a superplex, but Doug knocks him down into a Tree of Woe, but pops up and throws Williams down with an overhead belly to belly, before a double underhook DDT gets Drew the win. Another good match, albeit a bit slow at times, but they had a story and told it well. ***½
Our next match is Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll. Not that I’m complaining, but why? Is this a “for the hell of it” special?
We’re outside the O2 Academy with James R. Kennedy moaning about the weather. How British. Lucas Archer and Drake try to enter the building, but they’re carried away by security… and we see them try again, only to open a door to a trio of security guys. They fail at climbing a wall, and instead sneak through another back door. And into the path of a security guard. Kennedy’s having a word with one of the security guards, and tries to bribe him, to no avail. If this had been split up throughout the show, this would have been so much better than a video package…
Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay
Alex Shane lists off Scurll’s CV, including calling him a former two-time PROGRESS champion. Inadvertant PROGRESS spoiler? It’s still jarring, given how much this commentary team go out of their way to insulate themselves when they’re recording for NGW… Ospreay still gets his Wikipedia entrance, as he’s identified as a member of the CHAOS faction. Which would make more sense if CHAOS were represented in this promotion in any way, shape or form!
From a quick start, Scurll takes down Ospreay with a waistlock takedown, before we get the first of Ospreay’s greatest hits, the kip-up reversal out of a wristlock, and they end with a square-off. They go into the ropes, and Ospreay does his Okada “clean” break, with Scurll poking the eye, before a shoulder block takes down Ospreay. A hurricanrana is caught, but Ospreay switches into a sunset flip for a near-fall, and we eventually get another stand-off. More back and forth ends with Ospreay dropkicking Scurll, and eventually getting a one-count, before he goes for an Octopus hold on the Villain.
Scurll takes a forearm after he tried to block an Irish whip, before a kick to the head brushed off Ospreay’s handstand, sending him to the floor, as Scurll eventually followed with a superkick on the apron. Ospreay’s thrown back into the ring, and takes a series of back rakes, before Scurll slams him into the ropes for what’d have been the obligatory Rick Martel reference in another promotion.
A dropkick to the head of Ospreay gets Scurll a two-count, before a big boot in the corner from Will sparks something of a comeback. A rolling clothesline in the corner from Scurll leads to Ospreay getting dumped onto the top rope, but Ospreay countered a superplex into the Cheeky Nando’s kick for a two-count. Ospreay’s shooting star press sees him land in a boot from Scurll, who followed up with a tornado DDT, rolling into a brainbuster for a near-fall.
Scurll slaps Ospreay, and that gets returned quickly, with Ospreay delivering a handspring roundhouse kick to the Villain. A standing shooting star press gets Ospreay a near-fall, but he falls to the “Just Kidding” superkick from Scurll, only to bounce back with a lifting reverse DDT for another two-count. Ospreay goes for a swinging side slam, but Scurll counters with a powerbomb, then a lariat that sent Ospreay onto his neck for a near-fall.
Ospreay goes for a second Cheeky Nandos, but Scurll leapt over and caught him in a chicken wing, but was rolled up for another two-count. An eye poke and a knee to the head leads to a superkick to the head from Scurll, but a Yakuza kick cut-off the Villain, as did an enziguiri. Scurll skinned the cat back into the ring and flipped back to drop Ospreay with a tombstone piledriver for a two-count, and that led to some finger snapping from the Villain. Except it didn’t carry over well into audio form…
Ospreay failed on another Cheeky Nando’s kick, as Scurll’s “Just Kidding” also got nothing, and we end up with Scurll going to the outside for a Space Flying Tiger Drop. A one-man Spanish Fly from Ospreay gets just a one-count, but Scurll’s comeback led to a clothesline that Ospreay avoided by backflipping out of just in time. Will’s diving corkscrew kick keeps Scurll down, as does a double moonsault into a standing shooting star press, with a corkscrew splash out of the corner getting another two-count.
Marty Scurll counters the OsCutter into the chicken wing, but Ospreay rolls back and into a pinning predicament for another two-count. A headbutt from Ospreay leads to an OsCutter, and that’s all folks! A fine match, but at times it felt like it was lacking something. Their fifth singles match of the year so far, and the only one where something wasn’t on the line… yep, it helps when guys fight for something! ****
Travis Banks & Martin Kirby vs. Liam Slater & Gabriel Kidd
Travis Banks, as… the Kiwi Buzzsaw?! Well, it’s nice to see Travis working somewhere else… even if he gets the traditional “we don’t know who you are, so we’ll be quiet” response. At least the crowd reacted for Martin Kirby, who’s gotten this random tag match after beating Will Ospreay last time out. Their opponents are… not Moose, as the crowd screamed for. Instead, they announce Liam Slater and Jonny Moss, but Moss doesn’t appear. Prince Ameen does though, and after announcing that Moss dislocated an elbow, he offers a replacement. After pulling the “ah, you thought it was going to be me” trick, Gabriel Kidd comes out instead, and takes the spot. Yay, two mixed-up teams, featuring two guys relatively new to this group.
Banks and Kirby jump their opponents at the bell, with Kirby stomping on Slater. A headlock’s lost, as Slater armdrags Kirby down for a near-fall. A Northern Lights suplex gets Slater a near-fall, before Kidd tags in and takes down Kirby with a headlock. Banks tags in and gets a headlock, before a shoulder tackle knocks down Kidd, with a roundhouse kick out of the corner getting the Kiwi a two-count.
Kirby tags back in, but falls to a diving uppercut from Kidd, as Slater gets the tag, and a near-fall after an atomic drop/clothesline combination. Another armdrag sees Slater roll up Kirby for a two-count, with the kick-out seeing Kirby propel Slater into a shot from Banks. Travis actively gets the “who are ya?” chants from the crowd, whilst Alex Shane tries to pass him off as Sasha Banks’ brother for yet another entry in the “who let you commentate, and why is nobody stopping you?” folder.
Slater’s bloodied from a shot to the head, and for some reason Martin Kirby heels on Banks by throwing Slater head-first into the turnbuckle, rather than Banks’ foot. Kirby takes a stalling suplex, but Kirby drops him back on his feet for a poke to the eye… which gave us a good shot of some blood spurting out of Liam Slater’s face. To his credit, Slater fights back with chops, before a double cross body knocks both men down.
Slater and Banks exchange waistlocks, before Slater finally makes the tag to Kidd, who drops Kirby with a lariat and a reverse neckbreaker. Kidd nearly Sabu’s Martin Kirby with a big back bodydrop for a near-fall, then lands a butterfly suplex. Travis Banks blind tags in with a dropkick though, then an uppercut in the corner, and finally a cannonball dive, before a missile dropkick from Slater knocks Banks down.
Kirby returns for a Sable Bomb, but Slater switches out into the Finlay Roll, and then uses Banks – on the back of Kidd – as a launching pad. Except Kidd’s not quite strong enough as a base, and Slater crashes and burns to the mat. Gabriel Kidd takes an enziguiri and a lariat, before Kirby throws Banks out of the ring, and scores the pin. Eh, this was hurt a lot by the crowd not reacting much for anyone not called Martin Kirby, but this was pretty good. Poor Liam Slater though… ***¼
Last Woman Standing for WCPW Women’s Championship: Bea Priestley vs. Nixon Newell
This is for the newly-created belt, which is red… and doesn’t have the crowd booing its very existance. Finally, this Newcastle crowd has a leg-up on the SummerSlam crowd! Except they lose that credit immediately by chanting “Moose” after the ring announcer prepares to introduce Nixon…
Priestley grabs a kendo stick and a chair out from under the ring, and is waiting for Nixon Newell to appear. When she did, Newell ducked underneath a swinging stick, and slid into the ring, before just-about connecting with a tope to Priestley on the outside. It’s then Priestley’s turn to duck a swinging Kendo stick, and then tosses Newell into the crowd barriers.
In the ring, Priestley uses the stick to beat Newell with for a bit. It’s a swing and a miss for Priestley, who loses grip of the stick and takes some kicks from Newell, who ends up sweeping her leg back into a face buster. A shining wizard sends Priestley to the outside, and she’s under the ring looking for something… and it’s another red Ikea chair which gets used to cut-off a tope attempt!
Newell drags herself onto the apron, and gets a death valley driver on the apron for her troubles, but Newell replies with a spinebuster after the pair made it back into the ring. I don’t think either woman’s gone for the ten-count yet, and Newell ensures it’ll be a little longer, as she hits a few clotheslines in the corner, before taking a back elbow. Priestley goes up top, but takes an uppercut, then a superplex.
We see some close-ups of a blood-spattered canvas – hopefully all from Liam Slater, and not just an unwashed canvas – whilst the crowd “Moose”’s up the referee’s standing ten count. A poke to the eye then a bicycle kick from Priestley knocks down Newell, before Priestley sets up a steel chair. Newell’s sat in it, and she’s getting a comfortable position for some kicks, before a lick and a slap riles up the Welshwoman.
A headbutt from Newell staggers Priestley, and Newell follows up with a German suplex into the chair, which barely moved. That had to suck. More Moose counts. That can go and suck one too.
Priestley pulls herself onto the chair and flips off Nixon, who replies by curb stomping her onto the chair, before she pulls Priestley through the chair and punts her head off… and that’s all she wrote! Bea barely moves, and Nixon Newell gets the red belt! This was way too short for a last man/woman standing match, but at least the finish suited the stipulation. **½
Adam Pacitti shakes Newell’s hand and gives her the belt, then stands in the ring for a second, applauding. Whatever happened to Eric Bischoff being GM for the night, and why wasn’t he doing this? Add in a “you deserve it” chant (yes, you really do deserve a belt that’s only been around for ten minutes, since there’s no bigger prize…), and there’s some fluff that really wasn’t needed at the end of a match.
The Primate vs. Grado
For a Primate, he sure does have some professional gear… Grado gets his sub-TNA level rip-off of his Madonna theme, and this sure does sound like it’s been dubbed in, with some Goldberg-esque piped in chants. Like those old ECW DVDs that were released in the UK when everyone had dance music poorly dubbed in.
Grado gets speared, and all of a sudden the commentary returns and the sound quality picks up!
Primate headbutts Grado into the ropes, and this is all one-way to begin with, until Grado lands a series of clotheslines, then a backhanded chop. Grado hits the Dusty punches, then the Moose fist pump, before tossing Primate to the outside. The Scotsman chops Primate by the crowd barrier, and we get the same “hey fans, chop this guy” spot from the last Grado match. Because that’ll never look bad!
Primate drops Grado with a lariat, before some fan in the front row tries to get in his face… so Primate just spits at him. Back inside, Primate kicks away at Grado, then lands a suplex, and follows up with a release German suplex. A belly to belly follows, but Grado elbows out of a Fireman’s cutter and lands a Grado cutter. More Dusty punches from Grado, and finally a Bionic elbow!
A second Bionic elbow sends Primate into the corner, and Grado follows with a cannonball splash into the corner, but Suzie Kennedy leaps onto the apron, and of course, everyone’s distracted. Grado goes to kiss her, but Primate drops him with a German suplex, then a spear, then the headscissor-trapped elbows to the head, as the referee waves off the match as a stoppage. I liked how the finish gets Primate over as a monster, but the rest of the match, he was anything but. I don’t get how they book Primate – he’s used as a monster, but he sells way too much in his matches, and sometimes against the wrong guys. *¼
We’re backstage again as Jack The Jobber walks in on Nixon Newell packing her suitcase with her newly-won title belt. He’s trying to get Nixon to wear one of his bobble hats to the ring next time, and he tries to hit on her. This is awkward as hell, but I guess it’s making someone in the office laugh.
Next up, we’re outside the O2 as James Kennedy, Lucas Archer and Drake are sitting on a wall. Adam Blampied joins them, and they all look dejected. Hey, whatever happened to the fourth Prospect guy… Alex Gracie?
WCPW Championship: Joseph Conners vs. Joe Hendry vs. Rampage Brown vs. Big Damo (c)
I’m sorry Dave Bradshaw, this is NOT a World championship. WhatCulture’s not even run a show outside of Tyneside, so at best you can only call this the NE championship…
Joseph Conners is out first, and they’re trying hard to say that the Conners/Hendry team has been put on ice. Hmm… Speaking of, Joe Hendry’s got a new theme, which seems to be from a Sonic game. Except not one of the good ones that everyone knows the music to. Rampage seems to have his surname back, and Damo grabs the mic after the ring announcements, and he puts down his three opponents. Yeah, Damo’s beaten Rampage, he’s beaten Hendry, and apparently everyone’s beaten Joseph Conners. He challenges the three of them, and they all bumrush Damo, but he shoves them off, before taking a dropkick from Rampage.
Damo rolls to the outside, and that leaves Rampage in with Conners and Hendry. After a brief flurry from Conners, Rampage turns a double axehandle off the top rope into a back body drop for a near-fall, as Hendry broke things up. Hendry went for a fallaway slam, but Rampage worked free, only to take a double-team hiptoss/backbreaker from Conners and Hendry, who then do the Royal Rumble “stagger around and bump into each other” gimmick.
Except Damo slides in and drops the pair of them with a clothesline. Conners takes a forearm and some shots in the corner, before he’s whipped hard into the turnbuckles. Damo knocks Rampage and Hendry off the apron, and fights off another comeback from Conners, then goes for a cover, but gets broken up by Rampage… who promptly gets thrown out of the ring again.
Conners sidesteps an avalanche from Damo, before his charge into the corner sees him backdropped to the floor, and it’s now Hendry’s turn for some offence. A couple of clotheslines barely move Damo, before a DDT gets Hendry a two-count, with Rampage coming in. Rampage’s back suplex forces Hendry to kick out at two, and Joseph Conners comes back in with a slingshot into a DDT, before Damo wipes him out with a low crossbody.
Damo drops Hendry with a forearm, but the Local Hero powers up with a fallaway slam that sends Damo flying out of the ring. Hendry climbs to the top rope, but he gets cut-off by Rampage, whose superplex attempt is cut-off by Damo, and… Tower of Doom! With Joseph Conners getting taken out by Hendry’s heel as he stupidly ran into the falling tower. Even kayfabe, there’s no reason why he’d have done that.
Damo and Rampage exchange shots in the middle of the ring, but Hendry and Conners interject themselves. It’s not long before the two big guys prevail though, and Damo quickly drops Rampage with a pump kick. Conners and Hendry pop up and try to suplex Damo, but he easily lifts the pair of them up, then gets a pair of two-counts on them.
After going to the outside, Damo gets that red chair from Ikea, but Hendry shoves Conners out of the ring, before taking a shot. Rampage gets a chairshot too, and then gets left in the corner with a chair in front of him, as Damo prepares to go Coast to Coast… but Rampage pops up and knocks him to the floor.
Rampage runs off the apron with a clothesline to Damo on the outside, and the two men brawl around the ring, ending up with Damo taking a suplex onto the entrance ramp. Hendry and Conners remain in the ring, and they shake hands, but Conners turns and drops Hendry with the Righteous Kill DDT… and the referee counts three, but stops, saying that Hendry had his shoulder up. Referee Steve Lynskey then says something to Hendry (which I’m guessing we shouldn’t have seen, but hey, I guess there’s no decent alternative angle to hide that), and Conners has that red chair in his hand again.
Conners throws the chair at Hendry, then waffles him with it several times, and there’s the pin. Joseph Conners’ heel turn complete, and he’s your new champion… well, it was a way to take the title off of Damo without pinning him, but this match did little for me. Conners’ inclusion to the match just seemed to be “making up the numbers”, and seems to be another example of this group trying to undo a load of bad booking with one result. I guess now he has the belt, he can’t be the next Martin Kirby and end up in a random tag match on the next show… Remember that promo from Damo at the start of the match? Good work WCPW, you’ve told your fans (granted, via a heel) that your new champion is a loser. ***
This was a good show, but again, way too bloated. Would the card have been any poorer without Grado/Primate or the random tag match? Absolutely not. Again, this is where “presenting live events as a TV show” is a major flaw, since having to keep a live audience and an internet audience happy with the same show leads to problems.
I’ve always been conflicted about this group. From day one, their in-ring action has been pretty good, but there’s always something dragging them back. At the start, it was “some of the best of British, with too many WhatCulture guys”, now it’s “some flown-in independent guys, with not-as-many WhatCulture guys”, and that’s worse.
There’s already a promotion in the UK that flies in international talent for exhibition matches, and with all due credit to Revolution Pro Wrestling, they at least have a fanbase that appreciates the fly-ins. This show flagged up how casual the Newcastle crowd is: outside of the guys they know and already loved – your Ligeros, your Ospreays – this crowd struggles. And why shouldn’t they? The last guy they built up with a surprise win – Martin Kirby – just ended up in a generic tag match, one show after beating Will Ospreay!
Now, I’m not saying that everyone who goes to wrestling shows should be the ultra-hardcore fan, but given the waves made by Pete Dunne and Marty Scurll, to name but two, shouldn’t WCPW be making a conscientious effort to either promote guys the crowd already knows, or make an effort to have the crowd care about them. Promoting shows full of one-time only stars (or, as October’s showing, weekend stars) doesn’t do anyone any favours. And lets face it, if the casual WhatCulture crowd struggled with a Marty Scurll, they’re going to be sitting on their hands when this group brings in Desperado and Minoru Suzuki from Japan next month!
As for the guys who won tonight: what does Moose’s win mean? Probably little, unless WCPW’s going to repeatedly book him over a local guy. Drew Galloway and Will Ospreay have the same issue because of their commitments elsewhere, whilst the only storyline coming out of this is “why did Joseph Conners turn? Why is he no longer the comedy guy, and why is he now evil?”
Well, that plus “who’s wrestling Kurt Angle on the next show”, and “what the hell are you going to do with the other fly-ins who don’t have matches yet?”. The odd fly-in isn’t too bad, but right now WCPW is firmly in Rev Pro “random dream match/supercard” territory, which rarely leads to long term success. Is this what they want? Once WhatCulture can find an answer – and stick to it – they’ll be fine. For now though, we’ll still be left asking, as a wrestling promotion “just what are they?”