WAW, in conjunction with Steve Quintain, presented their last arena show of 2003 and their latest charity show in the Suffolk seaside town of Lowestoft. A crowd of around 1,000 packed into the leisure centre to see local hero Quintain defend his title against Jimmy Ocean, and a main-event tag-team match pitting "Team WAW" against "Team FWA".
THE BULK v HOTSTUFF
The night began with a solid opener between Europe's heaviest wrestler, and one of Britain's most charismatic, in a classic David v Goliath battle. Despite outweighing his opponent by over three hundred pounds, the Bulk felt the need to use underhanded tactics against Hotstuff, choking and delivering several low blows while the referee's attention was diverted.
But in the end these tactics proved to be the Bulk's undoing. Hot Stuff, plain and simply, refused to give up, showing that he had the heart of a lion, not giving up when lesser men would have folded. This frustrated the Bulk, and after he hung Hot Stuff upside down in one corner, he delivered another low blow, this time in full view of the referee. Having already received several warnings from the referee, he had no choice but to disqualify the Bulk. The big man was not a happy man.
THE KRAFT v "BIG" DAVE WATERS
It was then the turn of the other Pitbull to showcase his talents, going up against the ever-improving Kraft in a bout fought under the rounds system.
At the beginning of the contest, the somewhat bald Waters warned the longer-haired Kraft to stay away from his hair, thinking that the Essex Bomb could gain an illegal advantage of some kind. Who was he kidding?
The first fall came in the second round. The Sheringham strongman overpowered Kraft with a devastating full nelson slam, planting Kraft in the middle of the ring to get the three count. Between rounds Kraft complained or a neck injury.
This didn't stop the youngster from making a comeback. Despite Big D's power moves, Kraft was able to rally around, and in round four showed some power of his own as he scooped Waters up and brought him back down with a full-frontal power-slam. The match was now even.
As the final two rounds progressed, it was obvious that the energy levels of both wrestlers were close to zero, and towards the end of the bout, Big Dave tried to win by using several submissions on Kraft, eventually locking in a sharpshooter as the clock ran down in the final round. The fight in the Essex Bomb by that time was draining away quickly, and eventually, he tapped out. However, by this time, the bell had already rung. Big Dave thought he had secured the victory, and was disappointed when the referee informed him that Kraft had tapped after the bell had rung, and that he had declared the match a draw. Then, in a show of true sportsmanship, Big D extended his hand, congratulating Kraft on his performance.
WAW Cruiserweight Championship
"THE TATTOOED WARRIOR" STEVE QUINTAIN (with Elegant Emma) v "GENTLEMAN" JIMMY OCEAN (with Kharisma)
A classic, old-style British contest here, with the legendary Jimmy Ocean going up against the local hero in a match scheduled for ten three minute rounds, under the best of three falls rule, and knowing of Ocean's penchant for breaking the rules, WAW Commissioner Steven Howard-Platt was on hand to make sure that there was no funny business.
With the crowd clearly in favour of Quintain, the two veterans treated the fans to an old school match, with move matched by move and hold matched by hold. In a 21st century world of spot-fests, it was a delight to see good old fashioned wrestling.
The first fall came in the third round, when Quintain lifted Ocean onto his shoulders. After making the Gentleman dizzy with an aeroplane spin, Quintain planted him into the mat with a Samoan drop. Quintain was in front.
In the following round, Ocean let his anger get the better of him. With the capacity crowd getting on his back, Ocean let his game slip a little by turning his attention away from Quintain and onto the crowd, particularly when one elderly couple decided to take matters into their own hands and attack him with their walking sticks! While one lady made it through the ringside barrier, only to be escorted away by security, her husband, still behind the barrier, actually smashed his cane down on Ocean's back. This did not sit well with the Gentleman, and it wasn't long before he turned his attention back to matters at hand, and took his frustrations out on Quintain. Moments later, Quintain was tapping out, courtesy of a half-Boston. The scores were now level.
By round six, Quintain had had enough of Ocean's tactics, which had earned the ire of the referee, who had warned him several times about this. Grabbing his title belt from the ringside table, Quintain levelled Ocean by clobbering him with the belt. Then, positioning the belt in the middle of the ring, Quintain took Ocean down with a lethal tombstone pile driver onto the belt. The referee had no choice but to disqualify Quintain. Ocean had won the match.
And the title, so he thought. As a groggy Ocean claimed the title and held it high above his head in celebration, Commissioner Howard-Platt came into the ring and reminded Ocean that championships could not change hands on a disqualification, and that Quintain was still the Cruiserweight Champion. Jimmy was not a happy man, claiming that because of this injustice, he would never return to Lowestoft again.
"TEAM WAW", "ROWDY" RICKY KNIGHT & "THE SHINING LIGHT" STEVIE KNIGHT (with Sweet Saraya) v "TEAM FWA", THE ZEBRA KID & "THE SHOWSTEALER" ALEX SHANE
There had been a great deal of talk in WAW circles recently about the Zebra Kid's attitude, and of his choice of partner for this match. With Knight's original choice of partner, Thunder, absent because of business elsewhere, the Rowdy Man called in his distant cousin Stevie Knight to help teach his son and the invading FWA superstar a lesson in this best of three falls contest.
This was a bruising contest for all concerned. The Knights used every trick in the book, with Saraya interjecting herself into the contest on several occasions. But the FWA team were clearly at the top of their game, with the Showstealer providing the power and Zebra the speed and aerial ability. This mixture forced the Knights off their game plan several times.
The first fall went to Team FWA as Zebra pinned Stevie Knight following his awesome flying elbow. By this time, the Shining Light was bleeding quite badly from an elbow wound, and wisely, he tagged in the Rowdy Man shortly after the pin.
The bout continued with, surprisingly, the Lowestoft crowd firmly behind the "invaders". The exchanges between Ricky & Zebra were a delight to see, and as Ricky took Zebra down with some devastating power moves, you could tell that Alex felt a great deal safer standing on the ring apron!
When Alex tagged back into the match, it wasn't long before he was brawling with Stevie, and their fight took them right into the crowd. Alex tried to power bomb Stevie onto the concrete floor, but Stevie was having none of it, reversing the attempt with a backdrop that left Alex wishing he was still in that beauty salon chair!
The second fall came when, after the referee had restored order, Stevie came flying down on Alex with a head butt of the second rope. The scores were now level.
The final session was probably the most gruelling of the entire contest, especially for the referee, as he took a hit in the middle of the melee. The Rowdy Man tried to go hard-core on his opponents, but this attempt backfired, and as the referee came to, Alex levelled Ricky with a super kick to get the pin and the victory.
Ricky Knight was not a happy man. Grabbing the microphone, he tried to stand eye-to-eye with the Showstealer, but being about six inches shorter, found this impossible to do until be brought a chair into the ring! Now able to look down on the FWA's head honcho, Ricky accused Alex of not only stealing the wrestling business away from him, but of stealing his son away. Alex denied this, and with the crowd cheering "FWA! FWA!" in his ears, he replied by saying that he had heard that WAW had had a lot of problems when he came here, but that they had some of the best wrestling talent in Britain as well, and despite being fiercely loyal to the FWA, lead the crowd in a "WAW!" chant before he left the ring.
ROYAL RUMBLE
I hate these matches. Well, that's not entirely the truth. I hate reporting on them. There's just too much going on to try and get and handle on everything.
Although this was a highly entertaining contest, as some of WAW's newest and more established stars, both male and female, went against each other.
And for a while it looked like the night would belong to local boy Dan "The Man" Quintain, as he fought hard until he was one of the final two in the ring. The only problem was that his final opponent just happened to be the toughest woman in British wrestling, the Sweet Saraya.
And Dan almost pulled it off, had it not been for the referee's turning their attention away from the bout, and the underhanded, cowardly tactics of Saraya. Despite taking a battering, Dan was able to throw Saraya over the top rope. However, when he did this, both referees were making sure that previously eliminated wrestlers were making their way backstage. This gave Saraya her chance. Sneaking back into the ring, Saraya came up on Dan as he was celebrating his victory, and threw him over the top rope. As the referees came back to the ring, the first thing they saw was Dan lying on the floor, and Saraya celebrating her tainted victory in the middle of the ring.
This did not sit well with the Kraft, who had also entered the Rumble. Contesting the decision and using language that was quite unbecoming of a gentleman towards a lady, the Essex Bomb let everyone know how unhappy he was with the decision. With Rock Weiler backing her up, Saraya told Kraft what he could do with his views.
In conclusion, the Lowestoft shows are always great. It's great to see a capacity crowd really get into it. On this night they were clearly into every match, and in this day and age, it's a delight to see, even if it can be a bit deafening at times!
Match of the night - this time it's a tie between the Quintain/Ocean and tag-team matches. Sorry guys, but you'll have to share the prize this time.
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