Thursday 14 March 2019

RE-POST: WAW May Mayhem III - DVD Review

This past May, the World Association of Wrestling travelled down to Bournemouth to take on their counterparts in the Frontier Wrestling Alliance for the first ever British Inter-Federation Cup, and just two months later, WAW, in association with Pinfall Productions, have released this great show on DVD.

The show begins with our hosts for the evening, John Johnson and Dan Ambrose,giving us the rules for the night’s tournament, with an explanation on how thescoring system works. We then go backstage, but as WAW Commissioner StevenHoward-Platt is about to announce the brackets for the tournament, the rowdy man,Ricky Knight appears. Knight lays into the commish about hisconcessions towards the FWA team. Needless to say he is not a happy man.

Then it’s on to the first match of the tournament as Jason Cross takes on Stixx, a battle of youth against experience. A good, solid opener sees both men put on a good showing. The end came as Cross reversed a Stixx Boston Crab attempt with a roll-up for the pin. Team WAW were two points ahead.

Next up, a mouth-watering prospect as the Zebra Kid took on Doug Williams. What follows is a great match between the two best wrestlers in Britain at the moment, move countered by move, tons of near falls, and the on-going dissention in the Knight family as Zebra gets annoyed by the Sweet Saraya’s attempts to interfere, and as Zebra shows respect for his  FWA counterpart. There really was only one way this bout could end, and that was in a draw. Team WAW were now leading 3-1.

Then it was the turn of James Tighe, taking on Zak Zodiac, with the experience levels about even in this one. With Zak  using many of his high-flying tactics, it wasn’t enough to put Tighe away. Eventually the wrestling machine was able to  lock in the Texas Cloverleaf for the submission victory. The score was now tied at three apiece.

It’s something of a David v Goliath battle next as Ricky Knight takes on Spud. It’s even more difficult for Britain’s smallest wrestler as Saraya accompanies the Rowdy One. Before the bout begins, Knight argues with the commish, complaining about everything he can. Despite the constant interference of the queen of the harpies, Spud does well against Knight’s power game, so well that Knight underestimates Spud’s ability, and it costs him the bout as it goes to the time limit. Backstage, Spud is congratulated by his team-mates. Going into the final bout, the scores are level at four apiece.

In his dressing room, Bash cuts a promo while putting on his make-up….I mean face-paint.

Non-tournament action follows, as Bash takes on The Kraft in a bout to determine the number one contender for the British title. What starts off as a good bout goes off the boil as time goes on. Once again, Bash uses his faithful friend to get the win, clobbering Kraft with the baseball bat after referee Andy Quildan takes a snooze.

Backstage, we hear from Ashe and Alex Shane about the upcoming title match, with Alex again proving that he could talk for England.

Then it’s on to the action itself, as Ashe defends his British Heavyweight title against Alex Shane. A ton of controversy in this bout. Having scored the first fall after his One Night Stand in the second round, Shane was saved from being pinned by one of the judges, FWA official Andy Quildan, who over-ruled Ashe’s pin. A few moments alter, Shane scored with a big boot for the second pin. Ashe lost two-nil, and WAW had a new British Heavyweight Champion.

The final bout of the evening saw Team WAW take on Team FWA, with everything to play for. With the eliminations coming thick and fast, and the dissention among members of the Knight family growing, Doug Williams earned the victory for his team, pinning Ricky Knight and the Zebra Kid in quick succession. Afterwards, Knight had to be restrained after attacking his son, angry that WAW had lost two titles in one night.

DVD extras come in the form of the two team talks before the show. See if you can spot the part where Ricky Knight almost gave me a heart attack.

In conclusion - this was a great show to attend in person, and Pinfall Productions, from top to bottom, have done a great job here, making this a worthy addition to any fan’s DVD and video collection. It was great reliving those memories, even though the show only took place a couple of months ago. Both WAW and Pinfall will have to go a long way to top the quality of this DVD.

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