[2000-10-11-UPW] William Regal vs Samoa Joe

[soup23]

Match is worked almost exclusively on the mat and a ton of fun. Joe was just there to listen and be led but he does a good job working in and out of the holds. Anything about Regal being awful or looking out of sorts in the first part of the year is gone as he looks great now. Regal ends up picking up the win. After the match, Naked Mideon kisses Regal to the delight of the fans but not myself. Regal then gets called the f word by the crowd. Regal is on the mic after the match and talks about how lame Mideon is as a surprise. That cues up HHH’s music and he comes out and he runs off HHH. HHH in the aftermath gets on the mic and calls himself the student of the game. Kind of neat in retrospect this happens in the wake of Samoa Joe. Big Schwag interrupts the proceedings and HHH runs through his lackey until he gets pedigreed. Wihtout knowing the context, the crowd goes ape shit for HHH delivering this pedigree. **1/2

[AstroBoy]

Joe was certainly being led around by Regal here, but that makes for a lot of fun.  Regal has his usual great little touches, some shots to the face while he has Joe grounded, and he destroys Joe with some rough forearms after Joe flails with a few weak strikes during a comeback.  Joe had that sense of kind of willingly laying and getting into certain positions at different points, a very transparent participant at moments, but he worked hard and made a good enough impression.  Some of his attempts to come back from underneath fell a bit flat but the match being so ground heavy and physical helped keep this from veering anywhere bad.

 

**3/4

[GSR]

I don’t know what Regal has been up to, but going by the state of his chest it looks like he’s been trading chops with someone in the dressing room.  Joe, who looks so young here, reverses the wristlock into one of his own and as Regal tries to work an escape transitions to a hammerlock.  A swift back elbow brings that escape and a European uppercut staggers Joe.  Regal goes back to the wristlock but again Joe reverses it.  There is a definite ‘Regal feel’ to how this is developing.  Another escape and this time he grounds Joe with a leg trip.  The fingers get interlaced and there’s a nice neck bridge by Joe, withstanding all of Regal’s weight as he tries to flatten him out.  As Joe looks to be getting the upper hand, Regal boots him in the mid-section and applies a Japanese stranglehold which they work the next minute or so around.  Regal sends Joe shoulder first into the ring post and locks on a seated abdominal stretch as he looks for the submission.  He doesn’t get it and Joe with a superkick for a two count.  His Lordship fires back with some forearms and then bring the knee strikes.  Butterfly suplex.  Joe catches him with a release belly to belly for another near fall, before an enziguiri and a spinebuster, neither which is able to put Regal down for the three.  As Joe charges Regal clips out a leg and immediately applies the ‘Regal stretch’ forcing a weary Joe to tap.  Naked Mideon makes an unwanted appearance after the match kissing Regal, although Regal’s facials almost, almost, make it worth seeing a semi-naked Dennis Knight.  Disappointingly that leads to Regal getting “faggot” chants though.  He shows what a proper pro he is when his microphone isn’t working, collecting a replacement from the ring announcer whilst questioning whether he is “attempting to make a bloody fool out of him!”  Regal says how the Undertaker couldn’t be here and how they only got Mideon instead, when Triple H’s music plays and out walks ‘the Game’.  The two go at it with Hunter coming out on top and seeing Regal off.  HHH address the fans, explaining how he’s a student of professional wrestling and came to UPW as he heard they have some of the best independent wrestlers in the world and wanted to check out who he might be facing in the future.  He goes onto insult the ‘scab’, aka Big Schwag, which leads to him coming out.  Schwag tells HHH that this is “the house that Schwag built” and sends in the Drunken Irishman to teach him a lesson.  The Irishman gets handled and pedigreed in double quick time so he calls on the rest of the Schwag Army, however they’ve already hightailed it to the back.  With no-one to do his dirty work and left all alone, Triple H decks and finally pedigrees Schwag to great delight from those in attendance.

Joe does loses his way in there a couple of times but there’s probably not a better person to lose your way in there against, especially as this was a ‘Regal style’ match and it turned into a very solid first look at him.  Angle last month, Regal and Triple H this, the WWF were certainly looking after UPW around this time that’s for sure.