RE-POST: WAW Battle of the Champions - DVD Review

My first professional wrestling review of 2009 will in fact be the end of an era (more on that later), as once again I go back to my old stomping ground, the World Association of Wrestling, taking a look at the DVD release of Battle of the Champions, held at the Waveney Sports & Leisure Centre in Lowestoft in October 2004.

This release actually has quite a bit of back story. It was originally film by The Wrestling Channel for inclusion on their UK Round-Up show, with the deal being that none of the matches were included, then WAW would be allowed to release a DVD of the show. So when none of the matches made it onto television, the powers-that-be waited for their fully edited DVD. And waited. And waited. Even after seeing those responsible at countless shows and voicing their concerns, the waiting game continued.

So when they powers-that-be had no luck in finding out what was happening, yours truly stepped in and took matters into his own hands. It turns out that there were two guys who had the footage, and they each thought the other was responsible for the final editing. So after firing off a few e-mails to find out what was going on, the editing got done, and WAW received their copy a week or so later.

So on to the review itself. The show began with “Rowdy” Ricky Knight facing Zak Zodiac, with the winner getting a shot at the British title. This one also had quite a bit of back story. The angle was that while then-Commissioner Steven Howard-Platt was away on business, Ricky Knight, the owner of the company, wangled his way into a number one contender’s match against who he thought would be a weak opponent, the 13-year-old masked star Zak Zodiac. Needless to say that Howard-Platt wasn’t very happy, and this was part of the long-running feud between owner and commissioner. Now for the match itself. This was your typical power versus speed battle, with Knight using his considerable size advantage to simply overpower Zodiac for a great deal of the bout. However, no matter what Knight did to him, he couldn’t keep the youngster down. Zodiac played the role of the plucky underdog to perfection, taking down Knight with some good looking high flying moves, and in the end it paid off for him, eventually. Initially Knight won the match by countering Zodiac’s monkey flip out of the corner with a roll-up, placing his feet on the ropes to get the pin. However, the decision was reversed by Howard-Platt, who ordered that the match should be re-started. Knight then began to heavily punish Zodiac with choke slams and power bombs, but a lapse in concentration saw Zodiac take Knight down with a hurricanrana, before getting the three count needed to achieve victory, earning himself a shot at the British title. (Zodiac lost the title match in Hunstanton a few months later).

The second match of the evening saw Justin Star challenge “The Dark Angel” Ashe for the British title in a match fought under the WAW championship match rules. When I first saw this match live just over four years ago I didn’t really think it was that good, but seeing the DVD version has changed my opinion somewhat. Although it takes some time to get going, mainly due to Starr’s stalling tactics, when it does get going it develops into a good match. Starr is good at playing the whiny villain, while Ashe shows why, at the time, he was considered the best kept secret in British wrestling. With Starr getting the first fall, Ashe played catch-up for the remainder of the match, getting the final and winning fall in round seven. After countering a whip into the corner, Ashe climbed to the top rope and took Starr down with his trademark flying neck breaker to end a very good contest. Well, it was certainly better on DVD than it was live!

Tag-team action followed, with Bash & The Kraft teaming up to challenge The U.K. Pitbulls for the Tag-Team titles in a best of three falls contest. The teaming of Bash and the Kraft surprised many fans at the time, mainly because they were right in the middle of a heated feud. It’s a good example of tag-team wrestling, especially when you consider that this was (as far as I know) the first time the challengers had teamed together. Big Dave and the Bulk, of course, did their usual thing, which can either be good or boring, depending on what sort of mood you’re in. (I’m in a good mood writing this, especially as I’m drinking Woodpecker cider at the same time!) Once again the title holders had to play catch-up, after Kraft got the first fall with a roll-up on Waters. Bulk equalised on Kraft after his Bulk-a-rolla, but the third and deciding fall came when Bash showed his true colours and turned on his partner. After Kraft had taken Waters down with a Samoan drop, Bash came into the ring, and while the referee was distracted, clobbered Kraft, before putting Waters over his now ex-partner, giving the champions the deciding and title retaining fall to end what was a good and well executed match.

The next match saw Klondyke Kate, accompanied by Destiny, challenge Sweet Saraya for the British women’s title. Another match with a lot of back story here. Although the match was meant to be contested under championship match rules, Kate objected to the use of ringside judges. Kate refused to compete until Saraya agreed to Kate’s demands. It’s the usual David v Goliath battle with these two, long before I started using that term when reviewing Gail Kim/Awesome Kong matches. Kate is at her bitchy best here, using every dastardly trick in the book against the English Rose, with quite a bit of help from Destiny along the way as well. Saraya is also at her best here with her never-say-die attitude, although I always thought she was better as a heel. But in the end the overwhelming odds were too much for the champion. Having taken the first fall, Destiny’s constant ringside attacks and Kate’s devilish tactics saw Saraya lose it. After Kate delivered a low blow when the referee wasn’t look, Saraya retaliated in kind. But one slight problem there – the referee saw it, and it earned Saraya an immediate disqualification, giving Kate the title. This may not have been the best match I’ve seen between these two, but it was damn close.

The final match of the evening saw a battle of the veterans, as “Gentleman” Jimmy Ocean challenged “The Tattooed Warrior” Steve Quintain, accompanied by the Elegant Emma, for the Cruiserweight title. These two had had a tremendous match in the same venue a while before, which included Ocean getting a walking stick broken over his back, so this one promised much. It delivered. Bringing back memories of the old World of Sport era, these two put on another great technical match, mixed in with Ocean’s whining and complaining and back handed tactics. After Quintain got the first fall with a bow and arrow pinning combination, Ocean equalised with his version of the Jim Breaks Special. Then, having taking a great deal of punishment to his left arm and shoulder, Quintain got the final and title retaining fall with the help of the lovely Elegant Emma, who got onto the ring apron and distracted Ocean, which gave Quintain the chance to sneak up from behind, taking the Gentleman down with a schoolboy roll-up to end a very good match, the best match of the show.

In conclusion – boy did this bring back a lot of memories, all of them good. There’s not a bad match on this DVD, and it was even better watching this version than it was watching it live, mainly because I didn’t have any annoying fans distracting me as I made my notes.

Now this is normally the bit where I tell you where you can get a copy of this release, but if truth be known I’m not sure it’s even still available. The only thing I can suggest is that you contact WAW through their website at www.wawuk.net.

Sadly, this will be the last time I review an official WAW DVD. Circumstances beyond my control mean that I will no longer be able to get any more DVDs, and this situation is unlikely to change in the future, which I think is a great shame, given that I’ve had quite a few e-mails over the past few months asking me to review more WAW-related DVDs. I’ve got some old fan-cams from 2000-02 I haven’t reviewed, but given the fact that I’ve still got quite a few other DVDs that have been sent to me that I haven’t reviewed yet it may be some time before I get round to doing them.

So as this will probably be my last WAW review, I would like to thank all of the wrestlers who have competed in a WAW ring for giving this writer a great deal of enjoyment. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.