The World Association of Wrestling returned to the Atlantis Arena in Great Yarmouth for the second of their summer season, with a strong card, featuring the WAW debut of American indy sensation Colt Cabana. Apologies for this rather shorter review, which is due mainly to my currently suffering from glandular fever. (Send get well soon messages to the above e-mail address!)
The show began with Commissioner Steven Howard-Platt coming to the ring to inform the crowd of a couple of changes to the show. Alex Shane would be unable to defend his British title against The Kraft, with Hade Vansen taking his place, and Ricky Knight’s place in the mixed-tag match would be taken by Steve Quintain.
The show began with two stars making their WAW debuts, as “Da Pukka One” Darren Burridge took on Charlie Rage. This was my first live taste of both wrestlers, and I was impressed. To say that Burridge was over with the WAW faithful would be a severe understatement. This was a great opener, a solid match which saw Rage take Burridge down with a jackhammer suplex.
Next up was the second match in the first round of the 2005 Atlantis Cup. Because of the number of interested parties wanting to take place in this year’s tournament, Commissioner Howard-Platt made this match a three-way dance between two more WAW debutants, Andy Shoes & Fanboy, and the returning J.C. Thunder. To be honest, after the opening bout, this match had a lot to live up to, and although it was good in places, the three way exchanges just didn’t do it for me. It was a far superior bout when it was just one-on-one. Fanboy emerged victorious in this elimination bout, finally taking out Shoes with a roll-up.
The first half of the show saw mixed-tag action, as Steve Quintain & Sweet Saraya took on Paul Tyrell and Jetta. There was a hell of a lot of action in this one, and quite a bit of drama too. During one exchange, Saraya took Jetta down with a face buster, but the promising youngster broke her arm in two places, and could take no further part in the match. Moments later, Quintain injured his knee after Tyrell threw him over the top rope, so this match eventually became a one-on-one bout between Tyrell & Saraya. Despite a brave attempt to overcome the odds, Tyrell eventually put Saraya away with a torture rack into a neck breaker for the pin. Afterwards, Ricky Knight challenged Tyrell to a builder’s cage match. Tyrell said that he would accept Knight’s challenge on one condition - that if he defeated him, the Rowdy Man would have to retire.
The second half began with the third in the series between Bash & Majik, fought under street fight rules. These two literally beat the hell out of each other, and having seen every match of their series so far, this was by far the best of the three. Bash emerged victorious from the series after an unfortunate incident. Having grabbed Bash’s baseball bat, Majik went to clobber him while he was in the corner, but Bash ducked out of the way, and the bat re-bounded off the corner pad and straight into Majik’s head. Bash was able to score the easy pin afterwards.
Then came yet another WAW debut, as Hade Vansen made his first appearance before the WAW faithful, taking on last year’s Atlantis Cup winner The Kraft. What followed was yet another impressive bout, evidence that two of British wrestling’s finest young talents have come a long way in the past couple of years. It may be considered something of an upset by some, but The Kraft came out on top, pinning Vansen after his Essex Bomb finisher.
Then came our final debut of the night, as Colt Cabana teamed with Jonny Storm to take on the U.K. Pitbulls, who were accompanied by their manager Tommy Lee. Cabana & Storm made a great team, complimenting each other extremely well as they gave the tag-team champions all they could in this best of three falls bout. But sadly, it wasn’t enough. With the score at one fall apiece, The Bulk pinned Cabana after the UKP’s leg drop/big splash combination.
In conclusion - a good show. Every match stood out in one way or another, although the show was tinged with sadness following Jetta’s injury. Match of the night goes to the great bout between Hade Vansen & The Kraft.
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