GPW Battlefield II - DVD Review

British wrestling is on the agenda once again as we pay a second visit to the land of Grand Pro Wrestling. This time around out DVD review sees us going back in time to June 2012 and the Rose Club in Wigan for Battlefield II.

The show began with an in-ring segment which saw El Ligero inducted into the Mexican Hall of Fame. Well, that was the plan until heinous heel manager Alan Tasker came out to complain about the situation before introducing his own masked Mexican star, El Oscuro.

Oscuro proceeded to attack Ligero and his sombrero-wearing friends before his opponent for the evening, Zack Diamond, appeared to save the day.

What followed was a very entertaining encounter. Diamond controlled the action early on before Oscuro took control. The masked man did a good job of taking Diamond down, with occasional assistance from Mr. Tasker.

Diamond’s final confrontation with Tasker led to his downfall. When the manager jumped onto the ring apron Diamond dragged him over the top rope and into the ring. But as he prepared to take him out Oscuro attacked, invoking the spirit of the Great Muta by spraying mist into Diamond’s eyes. Now blinded, Diamond was easy prey for Oscuro’s winning pin.

The singles action continued with Professor Mike Holmes taking on Jason Logan.

This was your basic speed versus power battle. Holmes tried to use hit and run tactics before Logan used his superior strength to take him down.

When then saw a spot with a bunch of bananas and Logan taking a puppet down with a DDT before the big man took the pin after taking Holmes down with a powerbomb.

The first tag team match of the night saw the Masterplan’s Jiggy Walker and Cameron Kraze taking on L.A. Austin and GPW British Champion Ste “Bin” Mann.

I quite enjoyed this one. It began with Mann and Austin pulling off some nice double team moves before Austin got the crash test dummy treatment from the Masterplan boys.

Walker and Kraze looked pretty good as a unit as they tried to take Austin apart, but after Austin got the hot tag all hell broke loose as the mass brawl began.

Eventually our heinous heels were made to pay and after Austin took Walker down with an Ace Crusher he climbed on top of Mann’s shoulders while he sat on the top rope. He then came flying down to take Walker out with a big splash before Mann sealed the win with a big splash of his own.

After an in-ring segment involving the four main event competitors it was back to singles action as Damon Leigh took on the Masterplan’s Bubblegum.

This was a nice little bit of storytelling. It began with Bubblegum playing up his heel persona, mainly by jumping out of the ring to avoid contact after Leigh took him down.

But after Leigh had a bit more success Bubblegum began to target Leigh’s knee as he attempted to put the bigger man away. It was a sound piece of work.

Leigh made a brief comeback until Bubblegum regained control, and with his man draped over the middle rope Bubblegum came down from the top with his Indigestion stomp before Leigh rolled out of the ring.

As the referee began his count Bubblegum was convinced he was about to get the win, so much so that he put on his ring jacket and hat. You can probably imagine his surprise when Leigh just beat the count.

Bubblegum then removed his hat and coat, intent on taking Leigh down once again for all. But then Leigh suddenly sprang to life with what looked like a Michinoku Driver, and a three count later Leigh had taken the win.

That was the end of things though. As the referee raised Leigh’s hand in victory Bubblegum came up from behind and delivered a kick south of the equator, leaving the winner laying in the ring.

The penultimate match saw the Blackpool Blondes, Axl Rage and J.D. Sassoon, putting their stolen Tag Team Trophy on the line against a couple of mystery opponents, Mark Starr and A.J. Casey, two guys nobody had heard of, even though the Blondes claimed they were one of Europe’s top teams.

Basically what we had here was a quick squash match. Starr and Casey got in a few good shots, but it wasn’t long before the inevitable happened as the Blondes took Casey down with a combined Boston Crab/Camel Clutch for the submission win.

The Blondes then turned their attention to Starr, taking him out with a DDT before one of the true co-holders of the Tag Team Trophy, Chris Echo, stormed the ring, sending the Blondes running for cover.

That wasn’t the end of the pain for Starr and Casey though. As the Blondes were running out of the building the mystery team known only as the Headshrinkers, accompanied by their manager Simon Valour came down to the ring and inflicted further damage.

The main event was the No DQ High Stakes four way featuring Jack Gallagher, Cyanide, Dirk Feelgood and Martin Kirby.

Each man was putting something on the line here. Gallagher was putting his Gallagher’s Gold title up for grabs. Cyanide was putting his number one contender’s spot on the line. Feelgood was offering up his career, while Kirby was defending his GPW title.

To say this was full of action wouldn’t be overestimating things, especially when you consider what was on the line.

What we had here were four very good performances. They pulled out all the stops throughout in what proved to be an enthralling encounter.

There were the usual double team moves as well as a few highly impressive moves when one man would take out two of his opponents at the same time. The best of these was when the massive Cyanide executed a simultaneous Samoan Drop and dropkick.

As the match neared it’s conclusion Kirby and Feelgood were the last two men standing. There were numerous pin attempts from both men as well as furious kick outs before Kirby took his man down with his Dreamland leg drop from the second rope, retaining his title and ending Feelgood’s career at the same time.

In conclusion - well, I can say without reservation that I’ve enjoyed my second sample of the Grand Pro Wrestling product.

From top to bottom it was packed with great action, another fine example of the current British wrestling product. There really wasn’t a bad match here.

As for my match of the night I strongly considered going for the four way main event. But as good as that was I’m going to plump for the Damon Leigh/Bubblegum encounter for it’s good old fashioned storytelling.

So with all of that out of the way there’s only one thing left to do, and that’s to give Battlefield II the thumbs up.

With thanks to the powers that be for supplying a copy of this release. GPW Battlefield II can be purchased online at www.grandprowrestling.co.uk