 | |
| Me and Carl Moore at the show. |
From the relatively large crowd of the F.W.A.'s "Carpe Diem", my next show took me to Suffolk, and a smaller crowd for the newly re-formed Ultimate Wrestling Alliance. Our main focus for the evening would be a single elimination tournament for the U.W.A. Cruiserweight title. However, the tournament rules would change as the night wore on.
PHIL POWERS v DETROIT
The first bout of the tournament pitted on of WAW's upcoming stars against the far more experienced Powers, and on this night, the rookie sensation took care of business.
Both men impressed in this outing. Detroit with his skill, and Powers overall with his outstanding heel performance, showing that he is perhaps wasted as a baby face. One cowardly heel move had Powers shove his fingers up Detroit's nose, then into the American's mouth.
After several promising looking fight backs, Detroit gained the victory with a sunset flip off the ropes, to progress into the tournament final.
PAUL TYRELL v THE KRAFT (with Kharisma)
The second tournament bout featured Essex Boy Tyrell, again adopting his much loved heel persona, against another graduate of the WAW training school.
While I admit I had been somewhat critical of the Kraft in previous outings, the rookie really impressed me here. Although Tyrell's experience showed, Kraft still put in a good performance.
Like his tag team partner before him, Tyrell showed that he works better as a heel, seeming to have great fun insulting the crowd, especially yours truly.
Despite the outside interference of the lovely Kharisma, including some good looking double-team moves, Tyrell snatched the victory in a cowardly fashion. Reversing an Irish Whip, Tyrell sent Kraft into the corner, before pinning him with his feet on the ropes, to set up a title match with Detroit later in the evening - or so we thought.
SWEET SARAYA (with Tease) v NIKKI BEST
An unusual sight for me to be honest, as the regular tag-team partners went at it.
The match started well for Saraya, using her superior technical skill to overwhelm Nikki. Saraya seemed incensed by the new chant that went through the Stowmarket crowd, as for some reason, they referred to her as a "fraggle". Where on earth do they come up with these ideas? (And before you ask, it didn't come from me!)
The technical side of things soon went out of the window though as a good old fashioned cat-fight broke out, with lots of lovely hair pulling and rolling around in the ring from both girls! (My apologies for sounding sexist here!)
Something of an upset with regards to the outcome though. With Tease's attempted posting having failed, Nikki fought back well, catching Saraya with a middle-rope DDT to pick up the surprise victory.
DARREN RULZ (with Mini Michaels) v XAVIER BLAZE
My first opportunity to see both men in action here. I had heard a few things, mainly good, about young Mr. Rulz before, but Xavier was an unknown quantity to me
Even though for me this was probably the worst match of the night, it was still a good outing, with Rulz particularly impressing me with his high-flying skill. Some of the things I had heard in the past were that Rulz's relative lack of size meant that at times he was little more than a punching bag. While this was true against the much larger Xavier, he also showed that he can come back well. He certainly has the charm and charisma to get over with the crowd.
And he also has the skill. A high-flying five star frog splash, the likes of which could put Messrs Guerrero and Van Dam to shame, sealed Xavier's fate, and Rulz's victory.
There was then some confusion in the arena with regards to our last contest. As Detroit and Paul Tyrell, who this time was accompanied by Tease, prepared for their Cruiser weight tournament final, a disgruntled Powers arrived on the scene, still unhappy with his elimination from the tournament. He was soon followed by The Kraft, who wanted to stick his two cents in. Xavier, then Rulz soon followed, causing a change in the stipulation, as out tournament got a little more interesting.
PAUL TYRELL, PHIL POWERS and XAVIER BLAZE v DETROIT, THE KRAFT and DARREN RULZ
The conditions had been set - a six man elimination tournament, with the surviving man being crowned U.W.A. Cruiser weight Champion.
It started out as a six man brawl, before setting down into regular tag-team action. At times it was fast a furious, with the crowd really into it.
Xavier, who really did look a little too portly to be a cruiser weight, was the first man to fall, thanks to an excellent double-team move from the Kraft and Rulz. Kraft used his new finishing move on Rulz, hoisting him high above his head, before sitting down and slamming Rulz onto the prone Xavier. The big man was history.
The cowardly heels soon fought back, Powers gaining a measure of revenge on Detroit, pinning the American with a good looking bridged suplex. The sides were now even.
Next, it seemed like Kraft had the pin on Tyrell, getting him in a small package, but Powers came in and reversed the pin, Tyrell getting the victory, despite Kraft having a foot on the ropes. It was now two against one.
Things didn't look good for Rulz, especially considering Tyrell and Power's pedigree as a tag-team. But Rulz fought back well against the disadvantage. Powers was the first to fall, Rulz catching him with a flying body press. The sides were now even.
With things all square, it seemed like Tyrell would gain the victory, but Rulz fought back well, and with the cowardly heel lying prone in the ring, Rulz came down on him with a swanton from the top rope to gain the victory and U.W.A. Cruiser weight championship, unexpected considering he wasn't in the tournament in the first place.
This particularly enraged Tyrell, who contested the decision, and decided to take his frustrations out on our poor referee. He couldn't do much damage as the blue eyes swarmed into the ring.
In conclusion, an enjoyable card. The crowd may have been small but they were certainly very vocal, particularly during the last match. I often wonder if wrestlers find it hard to put in good performances in front of small crowds, but the U.W.A. and W.A.W. boys and girls all put in good performances.
And while on the subject of the last match, the six-man tag, this was definitely match of the night. Solid performances all round.
No comments:
Post a Comment