TonyPulis'Cap

A week or so behind so just getting round to watching Superfight, and after a buildup that had really got me invested in the two title matches, unfortunately, once again it was a massive damp squib when it comes to MLW and the big match. Others here have summed it up pretty well - I like El P's description of them as the 'anti epic company' - but I just don't get why they don't seem to get the big payoff's to angles they've built really well to right. Sometimes it's the booking - some cheap finishes or the Ki/Lawlor match going way too short, but sometimes it's the matches themselves just not clicking. Lucha Bros vs Hart Foundation was a case in point. After the Pentagon/Teddy Hart match - which I'm still not sure if I enjoyed or not what with all the ridiculous head dropping - the least I was expecting was a crazy spotfest, but until the last 2 mins or so it was just a mess. I know not many people seem to be high on DBS Jnr, but I've always thought him decent. In this match he was in a different library to Pentagon/Fenix let alone not on the same page. The second match really didn't need to be on this show. I like Kotta, but that match with the angle behind it could surely have been one that could've been hyped up another week, leaving more time for the main event. I'm not someone that believes main events have to be 30 mins for them to be great, indeed, matches that are aiming to be epic usually fall flat, and I also understand the 'real fights can end at anytime' vibe I think they were going for, but surely this, with the build it had got, warranted at least 5 more mins to build to the finish? I'm happy Lawlor won - much as I've loved Ki as champ, too often in wrestling the babyface looks like a loser from blowing their big shot, and what with the talent arms race going on Lawlor is a guy that is fairly unique to MLW that they can get behind, I just wanted more. I was really excited for this match going in, and yet, while what few mins we got was good, the main spot was Low Ki punching a door. Just so disappointing. I'm a fan of Arn Furious' reviews and he's gone in pretty hard on MLW and Court Bauer in his review: https://www.rearviewreviews.com/wrestling/mlw-superfight-2-2-19-review/ I probably wouldn't go that far, as I've mentioned here a number of times, the vibe and aesthetic of MLW is something I really enjoy most of the time as a 21st Century version of a territory, and from listening to him on podcasts I like Court and his vision for wrestling in what he wants to produce, however it's hard to disagree with a lot of Arn's points in his summary. I'm still going to stick with MLW, I like their TV most weeks, but they need to be able to nail those big matches and big moments if they are to survive in a wrestling world where top talent is being taken at a rapid rate and everyone is scrambling for what's left behind.

Co-signing on all these points. I really enjoyed the Pillman/Dreamer match - I thought it was one of the best outings I've seen from Dreamer in a while as they worked the match around the stipulation rather than it just be a mindless garbage brawl. I thought Pillman wearing the different layers was tremendous, and continues that vibe that MLW gives off of being a 21st century version of an old territory. It was something straight out of a Tully Blanchard getting vaseline rubbed on his head in a first blood match. I think I read somewhere that Dragon Lee has been away on a reality TV show for the past few months hence why he probably looked a bit rusty and off the pace. I've rarely seen Swann wrestle much outside of portraying the smiling, dancing babyface so interested to see where this more heelish edge is going. The Yehi/Low Ki match was like the opening 3 mins of what would have built to a great 20 minute match had they not had to then rush to a finish. Would love to see them in a longer contest. Agreed that the build to Lawlor vs Ki has been well done and I'm excited to see that. Talking of Lawlor, the segments with him and Sami stalking each other through the building were a bit campy but I'm a sucker for a show long angle that knits things together. Once again, couldn't agree more - what with the Rush announcement it seems that MLW is really struggling to get a core set of guys they can build consistent stories around. Every new set of TV tapings seems to introduce a new set of guys half of which then get snapped up by someone else. They are like a Benfica or Porto at the minute bringing in great Mexican talent like those teams bring in South Americans only for them to be signed away by bigger teams when they start gaining some notoriety.

I think there's some really valid criticisms of Moose here, and to be honest, I used to think very similarly about him - he would frustrate me by not showing any fire or intensity in his matches, just seemingly going through the motions and trying too hard to work an 'indie work rate style' rather than more of a dominating monster. However over the last year or so I've really started to like him. I thought he delivered in his title match against Aries (although a lot of that I think was down to Aries being very good and leading him through it) and I'd recommend checking out his match with Eddie Edwards he had on the 8 November Impact (I reviewed it here: In that match he showed a lot of fire and I wonder if you might see that as a better performance than his one at Homecoming if you get the chance to check it out.

I've liked him so far in Impact in terms of his look and presentation and he does have a charisma to him, but the major singles match I can recall him in - he faced Johnny Impact for the title on TV just before Christmas - wasn't very good. I was looking forward to it in the buildup, but it was slow and plodding and he didn't show any of the aggression or intensity that he does in his promos. Still think there's an upside to him though, and as others have said, he's not a WWE castoff or a guy who has made a big rep for himself elsewhere so he feels fresh. Fingers crossed his next match, or series of matches, with Johnny are more impressive.

I'm really not sure why the fact BTE doesn't have matches on it is such an issue though, I don't think it needs to. It's background/context/build up to make you want to watch matches - isn't that the basic format that wrestling has always had? I know in the 80s studio wrestling shows had squash matches on them, but essentially the main points of those shows were the interviews, promos and angles to make you want to go to shows. As odd as it may sound, in my opinion too many wrestling TV shows these days actually have too many matches! There should be more use of angles, video packages, personality pieces, promos to help build up to bigger matches, so that there's an actual reason why you want to see them, not just putting two guys out there to have a heatless match for no reason to fill time. And really I think that in 2019, having a 15-30 min weekly online show you can watch anywhere for free and on your phone that helps get over the personalities of guys and the motivations for their actions is a hell of a lot more appealing to a casual viewer than having to have a cable subscription to watch a 3 hour show with lots of matches that have no backstory or reason for happening.

I don't really watch BTE either, but while a different format to the way wrestling has traditionally built to matches, is watching a 15-30 min web show every week to build up to matches on a bigger show/PPV that different to say watching RAW every week to give you the context for why you want to watch matches on a WWE PPV?

Has anyone else had a chance to catch up on the latest Fusion with the Low Ki/Konnan title match? I've enjoyed the build - Konnan is a fantastic talker that just feels so real as a character and I loved the aspect of this old gunslinger in his home town trying every trick in the book to try and beat the dominant champion. The match itself was total smoke and mirrors, but fun for what they were going for...until they got to the end, and - apologies this is a spoiler here for those that haven't seen it - Ki and Promociones Dorado stab Konnan in his kidney... Would just be interesting to hear what others thought of this angle? On the one hand, and as I've said previously in posts in this thread, the over sanitised world of WWE increasingly turns me off, and I enjoy when companies get more 'adult' or serious with their angles, but, I don't know, something like stabbing someone just seems to tip over the scales that little bit too far. I think it's the fact that the crowd - who maybe can't see clearly what's going on, don't seem to react that much, which maybe the fact that fans are quite jaded in 2018/19 to when people try to run serious injury angles. I won't say I completely hated it - I'm intrigued to see where it goes and want to let them tell the story they are going for - but I can't lie and say that it didn't make me feel a bit uncomfortable (not that that's always a bad thing to feel of course).

This was the FWA’s attempt to put together a Royal Rumble, with the prize on offer a shot at the FWA British Heavyweight Title. Rather than 30 men, this is a 15 man rumble, as I’m not sure the FWA’s small roster could’ve coped with making it any bigger. This was also at a time when the depth of the talent pool in the UK was far shallower than it is now. It also means that pretty much everyone in the match is pulling double duty from wrestling earlier on the show. As with most rumble type matches, they are different to judging regular bouts, and while I wouldn’t say this is particularly remarkable in terms of its sequences or the action, it works very well in terms of interweaving a series of different storylines, setting up future matches and having nice call back spots to previous matches and angles in the company’s history. Some of the examples of the storylines that weave through the match includes the first three entrants being the guys that wrestled in the next generation three way at British Uprising III the couple of weeks prior to this. The next entrant is then James Tighe who has issues with all three guys. There’s a nice moment with the fifth guy in being Mark Sloan who trained Tighe and them teaming up for a series of double teams. This then segues to his current partner Stevie Knight entering with the nice comedy touch of playing up him being jealous about his partner working with his former pupil until he then eliminates Sloan ‘accidentally’. As I mentioned, the match works for also setting up future storylines and we get a classic underdog eliminates a cocky heel spot, with Spud eliminating Hade Vansen, who he has a future All England Title match with. Ulf Herman gets to play the monster role in the match eliminating several people when he enters, including comedy heel Knight who jumps over the top rather than face him. Herman then has to face all of Alex Shane’s security Martin Stone (NXT’s Danny Burch), Stixx and Leroy Kincaide who enter successively and who’ve all been tasked with making sure Herman doesn’t win and get to face Shane, the guy who stabbed him in the back. Earlier in the show Tighe had beaten Aviv Mayan via ref stoppage and then assaulted him again in the back, and while I question him being recovered enough to be in the Goldrush and instantly get some heat back by eliminating Tighe, I can see in storyline terms why they wanted to do it. It also leads to a good moment where in his frustration at being eliminated, Tighe takes out the next entrant Jonny Storm with a chair…Storm being the guy who Tighe forced to leave the company in a loser leaves town match earlier in the year and who had just embarrassed him at BU3. As I say, I think the multi-layered stories in the match are very well done. The last man in is Doug Williams, who having just had his near two year title reign ended weeks before and losing a tag match earlier on the show, is increasingly showing frustration at what he perceives to be fates conspiring against him. In the last few eliminations there’s a tease of tension between Stone and Kincaide, which is interesting as those two would go onto feud in IPW:UK over the years following this and also be the key rivalry during the FWA’s ill-fated comeback in 2010. The final two are Herman and Williams, each with their desire to get back at Shane but also with the tension hanging over them of Herman’s interference at BU3 having contributed to William’s defeat. With the two fighting on the ropes we then get Jonny Storm, having never been eliminated after being taken out by Tighe to re-enter and eliminate them both to a good pop. As I mentioned during the review, as a match it’s not got amazing action but weaves lots of stories throughout it, which is what I want from a rumble. It’s a great snapshot of everything that was good about the company during 2002-04 as we come to the end of that period and will see how the quality of the shows starts to decline in 2005. (***)

Fantastic match. As others have pointed out, it's an example of just how good Aries can be. He really thrives as the 'heel champion' and just carried himself like a veteran with wily ring smarts against the stronger and more athletic challenger. Aries is just so intelligent with what he does in the ring, both from a kayfabe and non-kayfabe sense. Moose for his part is really, really good here - showing great fire with everything he does and really conveying a desire to win the title rather than just 'have a good match'. So many great nearfalls and countout teases that had me legitimately biting on when I knew the result of the match going in which is the ultimate compliment. My only criticism would be that the layout and storyline seemed to be set up for a big coronation moment for Moose, which hasn't happened since and he's now a heel. As a match though this is brilliantly laid out, and a great example of how to convey a big title fight atmosphere. **** 1/4

It seems rarer and rarer in today's wrestling world to really get across hatred in a match, but this had it in spades. Everything thing they did was frenzied, hate-filled, almost animalistic. You can sense the importance of the stakes and the rivalry and the match was wrestled to fit that. I thought the plunder and props they used kept on the right side of an intense fight without veering too far off into tired WWF Hardcore Title tropes or where they spent ages setting up spots. As others have outlined, I would've gone with the package piledriver spot through the chairs as the Sami 'arm break' spot is the only part that took me out of the match. Just tremendous stuff, a really visceral feeling match, and for once, a satisfying ending with the head shave and Sami's head shave. ****

Fantastic energy to this, just one of those crazy, plunder brawl where everything comes off and you feel the intensity and chemistry between all the guys. Thought the original LAX looked really good here, reminiscent of their 2006/07 days. It's funny, in any other setting and by himself Hernandez is such a bland performer who offers vert little, but when teamed with Homicide and involved with Konnan he just seems like a star. The storyline going in and the presence of Eddie Kingston and Konnan on the outside made this more than just the spots, and I thought the current LAX with their double teams continue to look like one of the best tag teams in the world. **** 1/4

Feel like Triple H has a few, didn't he try to get over the Indian Deathlock as a viable finisher for a little bit around the same time? I also seem to recall both him and HBK using the crossface for a little while in 2009/10ish as a way of 'reclaiming' it.

Not to be *that* person, but just to highlight it was Andrew Everett rather than Trevor Lee... But agree with all your points on the match! It was awful, and as people have highlighted the worst aspects of modern indie wrestling. Did anyone else catch the weird part where Xavier - who in general I like - went for a backflip into something and just came up short where you couldn't work out what the hell he was trying to do? It was very odd. I'm continuing to enjoy Fusion, some of the matches and segments are rough around the edges but as I'm increasingly put off WWE's over produced and over sanitised presentation of wrestling I am gravitating more and more to thinks that feel more gritty, even if sometimes that's due to them being slightly more low rent (not a critcism!) They've got a lot of things I'm looking forward to as we head into 2019: Low Ki vs Lawlor, Rush vs LA Park, Teddy Hart as Middleweight Champ and the Salina/Konnan rivalry whoever who gets to control the pipeline of Mexican/Hispanic wrestlers coming into the US market, almost like they are rival cartels and dealing in wrestlers contracts rather than drugs.

This is a match that should’ve had a long build to it, and a program that you think the company would’ve looked to be a major part of their storylines in 2005, but was rushed to here because of Burchill’s departure for WWE. This was to be his last match for the FWA. In hindsight, and it’s always easy to be wise after the event, the company should really have utilised Burchill more effectively in 2004 and pushed him up the card sooner, but as is so often the case in wrestling, these things get held off until it’s too late. With Burchill’s departure imminent, you can see why they wanted to do this match when they had the chance. The hastily booked storyline going in, was that after British Uprising III a couple of weeks prior, Shane had jumped Burchill backstage believing that as he was leaving for the WWE, that there wouldn’t be any repercussions. Unfortunately for him, in kayfabe terms, Burchill’s contract had one more month to run until the end of the year and so Shane has screwed himself over. Given how sporadic FWA shows could be at times though, you could feel Shane’s decision had some logic to it… Shane is fresh off winning the British Heavyweight Title at BU3 but this is non-title due to Burchill’s departure, which at least helps to add some drama to the result, which would otherwise have been pretty telegraphed. Before the match we get some funny mic work from Shane, with him trying to weasel his way out of the match by saying that Burchill doesn’t want to risk injury before his big move to the States. That unsurprisingly doesn’t go too well for him and in the early stages there’s a lot of Shane running and stalling in an effort to escape. He’s actually the taller guy, but such was the Goldberg-esque rep the FWA had built around Burchill that the fans are very much bought into him being the one who should be dominating. It should be noted that Burchill is ripped here and much leaner than when he first appeared in the company. We get a number of opportunities early on for Burchill to showcase his power and agility – including a Samoan Crash and standing moonsault - which a lot of reasonably big guys on the indies can do now, but at the time, especially on the UK scene was revolutionary. As I’m finding a lot in my FWA rewatch, a number of matches that didn’t get much love at the time, are actually a lot better viewed now as tastes change. This match is a case in point. At the time, in hardcore wrestling fan circles, people were very much into smaller cruiserweight style or technical wrestlers, while big guys had a ‘WWE stigma’ attached to them. But today, ‘hoss’ matches or brawls between bigger guys are much more en vogue and I enjoyed this as a fun power match. Shane was far from a technical marvel – his counter wrestling at the beginning his really ugly – but as a brawler and a guy that could tell a story in the ring, he was usually able to make his matches compelling, and I think 2004 is a very strong year for him in-ring wise – arguably the best of his career. With him having newly won the company’s title and Burchill leaving, this needed to be far more competitive and even that most of the matches Burchill had been in up to this point. There was enough in the exchanges here that made me think they could have had a really good match if they had been able to have Burchill be the guy to end Shane’s title reign at some stage in the future. After a period of Shane being in control, we get a nice fired up run of power moves from Burchill, culminating in a really impressive looking C4 (standing Spanish Fly), although where due to his size and having to rotate it looked like Shane was perilously close to having his neck broken. We get a fun exchange of big moves; Burchill misses a standing Shooting Star Press, Shane gets a Chokebomb for 2, a second attempt is countered into a hurucunrana before Burchill misses a moonsault from the top rope. Shane going in for the kill hits his One Night Stand finisher…but just for two! Hits another, but once again a kick out. I can see why at the time some FWA fans thought this was killing off the champions finisher against a guy wrestling his last match for the company, but Burchill had been so protected and presented so dominantly that it needed that number of big moves to finish him off, which is emphasised by one of Shane’s security guards Stixx interfering and a final One Night Stand getting Shane the win. I liked this match, but the overbooking in Shane’s matches is something that I can feel (and that I recall from watching at the time) is going to get very old, very quickly. But considering they had to rush to this match, I enjoyed their chemistry. (***) After the match Burchill gets a standing ovation from the crowd and the locker room to wish him well before he left for WWE. Ultimately that was a move that didn’t really work out for him – although I like his run on (WW)ECW which had some fun little matches – but watching this in 2018 when NXT UK has just been established and so many UK guys are in such demand, the contrast with 2004 is incredible. Back then UK guys, and Europeans in general just didn’t get a chance in WWE. I think Burchill was definitely a guy that came around too early and that could’ve been a significant player in NXT UK if he was coming up on the scene now.

This is a match that got a very bad rep at the time, and in many ways it’s easy to see why – it’s way too long, and as was the case when some FWA wrestlers went up against imports at the time, the crowd didn’t buy them going toe to toe. But while I don’t think it’s very good, it’s not the abomination that it was painted as back in the day. This is for the All England Title – the FWA’s IC level belt – and Vansen has been champion for over a year. He’s just finished his feud with Jack Xavier at British Uprising III. Before the match he complains about being forced to defend against Ki claiming that it’s a vendetta on the part of FWA Commissioner Flash Barker as revenge for Vansen ending his career in storyline terms. I’m not sure if they were trying to build to a match between the two, but that’s where the storyline suggests it was heading. I’ll have to see in my rewatch as I go on if we get that match as I don’t recall it ever happening. As was the way with FWA booking between 02-04 there is nice continuity in the storyline, with Barker being Low Ki’s opponent at Frontiers of Honor back in 2003. At this stage in his career, Vansen was getting over as a cocky prick heel from South London, and while I think he’d had a decent in-ring year in 2004, he was still awkward and sloppy at times, exacerbated when in there with someone clearly on a much higher level than him. The storyline of the early part of the match is art imitating life – Vansen can’t hang with Ki, trying desperately to avoid his kicks but instead getting lit up with chops. This match has a lot of chops. That part is fine – as shown in his ROH run at the time, and indeed his current (2018) reign as MLW Champ, Low Ki is great to watch just battering his opponent. The problem with this match comes when it’s time for Vansen to take control. Despite what I said about the fact he’d been improved a lot in 2004 since being pretty dire in 2003, Vansen just didn’t have the skills at this time to put together a coherent or interesting control segment; there’s a bit of leg work, a bit of neck work but nothing to get invested in. His matches with Jack Xavier and Zebra Kid worked as they were frenzied, brawling type matches, but this just goes far, far too long. What’s more, the crowd had come to see Low Ki – who they perceive as being on a far higher level than Vansen – kicking the cocky heel’s arse, but what they get is having to see him sell in holds for long periods. There’s not really a big changing point in the match, Ki, after some prolonged selling just starts to take back control and hits multiple chops and kicks, as we at last get back to the story they set up at the beginning of a desperate champion trying to survive with his title. A springboard kick to the face gets 2 before Ki is able to lock in the Dragon Clutch, but before Vansen taps the 20 minute time expires. Playing back into the storyline before the match and FWA history, referee Steve Lynskey, just as he did at Frontiers of Honor in Low Ki’s match there denies the fans 5 extra mins, until the Commissioner Flash Barker – who was Ki’s opponent that day – overrules him and we get a restart. Ki immediately hits the Tidal Krush and once again hooks the Dragon Clutch, but with Vansen in the ropes, Lynskey DQ’s Low-Ki for not letting go of the hold, which was played up as part of his ‘heel ref’ persona and feeling slighted at having his authority undermined. It’s a pretty terrible end to a match that’s pretty bad, although not the complete shit show that it was perhaps painted as at the time. It’s not good mind. The simple storyline which they should’ve stuck to was Vansen being the sneaky champion trying every trick to escape with his belt, even if you still have the screwy finish, as at least the fans get the cathartic experience of watching Low Ki brutalise an opponent who the hate. Here they get neither. (**)

Drake's a guy that Impact really should be doing more with. As you guys have said, he's got charisma and a good delivery in his promos, even when given some pretty dire material. He's solid in the ring - nothing flashy - but given how many guys now all seem to work that 100mph indy flips and super kicks style, I'm getting drawn increasingly to those guys who just do the basics and leave it that. I'm not sure if his ring ability has reached a ceiling or if there's more to come, but as an example of what he can do when he's in there with the right opponent, I'd recommend people to check out a title match he had earlier in the year with Aries on TV (not the one where Aries beats him in 5 seconds) which I thought was really good. Impact need to find something better for him than feuding with people like Dreamer and Abyss though.

This is Storm’s first match back since being reinstated via a petition after losing a loser leaves town match earlier in the year. He references that before the match, and the role his long term rival/friend Jody Fleisch played in him being brought back, although he teases he wants him in the ring again. For those keeping track, Storm is still declaring himself to be the XPW European champion even though he doesn’t have a belt and that company had gone out of business. Collyer at this stage was a regular with ROH, very much in the vein of the technical wrestler mould of a Matt Stryker or John Walters. And in this match he gets to exhibit a lot of those technical skills, matching up well with Storm. I’m always a sucker for a technician vs high flyer match which gives this a nice contrast in styles, but this was also at the time when Storm was beginning to move away from being a pure cruiserweight/X Division style wrestler and was starting to incorporate a lot more of the traditional British/WOS sequences and counters into his matches, as evidenced by the very British way he is able to escape a wristlock. There’s lots of really smooth transitions in this, but you feel that something a bit more emotionally engaging would take the match to the next level that I think it was capable of, and that it kept threatening to do. We get some duelling limb work - Collyer working at the neck and Storm the arm but nothing that ever really goes too far anywhere. In 2003, Storm had turned heel on Jody Fleisch in a heated angle, but with Jody’s absence from wrestling for 18-20 months, Jonny had gone from a hot heel into more of a comedy heel, and following the petition angle to get him back in the company was basically being treated by the fans as a face. As would be the case these days, his comedy heel antics such as a double springboard to the outside…into a headlock get lapped up by the crowd. It was clear he was now well on the way to being back as one of the company’s top faces. I enjoyed the first half of the match, even if it is a bit subdued, but it really gets fun in the closing stretch with both guys just cutting lose. There’s a Malenko/Mysterio vibe to the sequences with Collyer trying to nail power moves and a series of gutbusters, while Jonny is impressive in his sringboarding of the ropes connecting with both a double jump moonsault and rewind rana. Collyer’s frustration at not being able to finish Storm with the tiger driver and then the cloverleaf leads to his downfall as he changes his game plan to go up top for a super gutbuster, which is reversed into a DDT off the top rope for the win. Fun match. (*** ¼)

This match stems from events in the build up to Uprising III, and then events from that show itself. At BU3, Ulf Herman had made his big return to the FWA after being out for a year following being turned on by Alex Shane. His return came during the Williams/Shane FWA title bout, but rather than get his revenge on Shane, his interference backfired and he inadvertently cost Williams the title. That’s your intrigue for this match – can they get along against Shane’s henchman? Williams also wants revenge on Legend (Just Joe of WWF fame) for bloodying him on the FWA title at Shane’s behest two months before this. Indeed, before the match Legend tries to foster dissent between Williams and Herman by reminding Doug of what happened in the previous shows title match, but the faces get the shine at the beginning and clear house despite a tease of them almost colliding again. Herman was massively over with FWA fans, but I think the polite way to describe is his in ring skills would be ‘limited’. Doug works the vast majority of the match for his team, which is understandable given how much of a class above he is the rest of the guys. The match is much more storyline/angle advancement than workrate, and while the story they are trying to tell – Doug keeps getting isolated and beat up two on one due to Herman’s short temper and him constantly trying to get in the ring illegally, playing up the fact Williams has good reason to be pissed off at him – makes sense, there’s just no interesting work to keep you invested. Both the heels are very bland with their offence, and there’s little to get inspired by; the heat segment on Doug feels very repetitive and much longer than it actually is. Ulf’s overness with the crowd does mean that when he finally gets in they are still behind his hot tag, but just as you hope the match can get some momentum, there’s an odd sequence where everyone misses moves off the top rope. It's really jarring and doesn't fit with the vibe of the match. We then run through a series of nearfalls, with Legend in particular really nailing Doug with a dragon suplex. As is his way, Ulf can’t help going for the weapons, and the stamping on Stixx with the rail looked particularly brutal. Just as at Uprising, Herman’s hardcore temper ends up costing them when in the confusion Legend is able to stop the Chaos Theory with a chair shot and then hit a Flatliner on the chair for the win. After the match Herman cleans house with the chair, leading to an accusation from Doug that he was the one that hit him. The match is more about storyline development than match quality, but even in saying that it is very laboured at times, with the heels bringing little excitement with their work. There was a consistent story to what the guys were doing, it’s just they weren’t doing it in a particularly interesting way. (**)

This is the last FWA show of 2004, and just two weeks after British Uprising III, the apex of the company’s run. I’ve highlighted in the reviews of the matches from that show here on the board, that despite months of good build up, BU3 just didn’t live up to the hype. While I think if watched today it’s a better show than the reputation it got at the time, the fact remains the show made a significant loss, and for a company with little in the way of financial assets, that was a huge blow. The FWA would never reach the heights it would hit in 2004 again – it’s weekly TV show would also soon go off the air due to a lack of funds – but a decline in the quality of shows was not immediate, as shown by Goldrush. As I’ve done many times in my FWA retrospective here on PWO I’m going to quote Greg Lambert in his book Holy Grail on this time period: ‘It’s a commonly held myth that FWA started to downslide immediately after BU3. That’s not strictly true. Just two weeks after the Sky Dome, the first annual Goldrush at Broxbourne Civic Hall was a cracking little show. The FWA was right back on form that night, and most importantly, made money at the box office to ensure the company could keep going into 2005’. The opener gets the show off to a quality start in ring, but the fact that James Tighe – after main eventing (but losing) at both Uprising II and Uprising III is in the opener, shows the problem the FWA had with being able to build up names to refresh the main event scene from the Williams, Storm, Fleisch, Shane stalwarts. It comes about in storyline terms from the fact that Tighe had been the winner of a ‘next generation 3 way match’ at the first British Uprising and was pissed off about the successor 3 way match two weeks previously, of which Mayan was a part of. He’d already beaten the other two competitors – Spud and Ross Jordan – so is now after the hattrick. He’s also coming in frustrated off his loss to AJ Styles at BU3 and being embarrassed by the returning Fleisch and Storm after that match. The result is him taking it out on Mayan. I thought this was a really strong match, with the perfect heel/face dynamic. You can make a strong case that Tighe was the best wrestler in the UK in 2004 in terms of consistent match quality and he is impressive in working over Mayan, with lots of work on the back. He definitely gives off a Roderick Strong vibe at this time, mixing smooth technical wrestling with hard hitting strikes. While Tighe dominates a lot of the match, Mayan gets in some really well timed hope spots to keep the crowd invested. At this time he was a real prospect. Tighe was clear in the build-up that he didn’t want to just beat Mayan but make him tap out, so I liked the finish whereby Tighe wins the match with his Texas Cloverleaf, but Mayan passes out rather than taps. It gave Tighe the much needed win after his high profile losses in 2004, but also furthered his angle of getting increasingly bitter and frustrated, while Mayan looks like a warrior by passing out rather than submitting. (*** ½)

Given that TNA/Impact footage has shown up on the WWE Network several times now in exchange for a plug for their streaming service, it's perhaps not as dramatic news as might be the case, but I was still suitably intrigued to see something today that noted that on the next two EVOLVE cards there will be matches in which you will get WWE contracted talent taking on what I presume is Impact contracted talent with the Street Profits against LAX. Pretty interesting to see how much interaction there will be - one match looks to be a 4 way tag match so you could keep them largely apart, but less chance of that in the 6 man tag they are also scheduled one. As many have said, wrestling in 2018 continues to be pretty strange, but thought it was worth noting in the context of the news about NXT UK guys not being able to work outside of WWE affiliated promotions, but here you have an instance of WWE guys vs Impact guys.

Not much love here for poor Jimmy! I think Migs' description of him as 'comedy garbage wrestler' is essentially what he's turned into over the last year, but around 2013-2015 he was a really captivating character and a great heel - check out his Progress Title reign as evidence of what he can do - but can definitely see where a lot of the criticisms above come from. I still think he can be an entertaining chaotic brawler when he wants to be, but agree that the MLW match with Sami was really disappointing - like a bad early 2000s WWE hardcore title match. If you want to see a much better and hard hitting match between the two, check out the match they had on the Impact vs UK event from the MediaCon event here in Britain a few months ago. I think it's still available on Impact's Twitch channel for free.

Almas vs Gargano has been top of my list for pretty much the whole year. Personally speaking, I absolutely adored the Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham Iron Man Match from ROH TV. In terms of best matches I've seen live, Minoru Sizuki and Zack Sabre Jr vs. Moustache Mountain from Rev Pro in January was a fantastic tag team match that I just wanted to shout out.

Yeah, depends a bit on what we are counting as the Attitude era, but one of the best has to be 13th April 98 RAW which has the show long Austin/McMahon angle building up to their first 'match', which is just a terrific example of episodic wrestling TV. The RAWs in 97 which have the Hart Foundation/Austin angles are also terrific, probably the best one involving Austin hijacking the ambulance. While boasting mega ratings, the 99 RAWs are actually a tough watch as crash TV was out of control, but the RAW where Triple H breaks up Test and Stephanie's wedding is pretty iconic. As Stiva says though, RAW was built on memorable moments but it's challenging to think of consistently great whole episodes. The Dallas RAW referenced with the 10 men tag is also a good example. If we count the Attitude era extending into 2001, then the RAW that sees the ECW guys join up with WCW is a great episode, even if they do burn through months of potential storylines in 2 hours.

Low Ki has been terrific in MLW so far as the champion. I think the reason I really enjoy his matches, is because I'm so checked out on 'your turn/my turn' matches where it's just guys exchanging moves with little opportunity or indeed goal to build an emotional connection. I'm sure it's been a criticism down the years that Ki can take 'too much' of a match and eat up his opponents, but as El P says, it really enables heat and sympathy to be built in his matches as he methodically breaks down his opponent. I wouldn't say his most recent match with Daga was anything special, but I enjoyed it a lot more than the other two matches on the show which were just a series of random movez with no substance.

Lynch 3:16 everything that's right with the wrestling world right now. A believable cutting edge character in a sea of geeks and losers. While in the grand scheme of things of things to get annoyed at it's relatively insignificant, the yearly trope of grown adults bickering over who a team captain is like they are still at school is fairly tiresome.