[2016-03-28-IPW:UK-Supershow II] Will Ospreay vs Tom Dawkins (Loser Leaves Town)

[TonyPulis'Cap]

IPW:UK is no longer as heralded on the UK indie scene as it once was, overtaken by a number of other promotions, but has always been one that I’ve enjoyed. That did mean though that over the last couple of years you get to see some different guys and girls not seen in the more high profile promotions, with them using a lot of younger and not as polished workers that come out of their training school. Writing at the end of 2017 they’ve merged with Fight! Nation to relaunch the promotion, so I’m interested to see how that goes.

Tom Dawkins hasn’t appeared too many times for the more high profile companies but is starting to get more buzz thanks to his Cara Noir persona which is really different from how he appears in this match. Before creating the Cara Noir character his moniker was ‘Black Belt’ Tom Dawkins, which he is going by in this match. You can tell then that his style is to work in a lot of kicks and strikes, and he makes them all look good. The storyline going in was that Ospreay had been acting as a sort of mentor for Dawkins and they had been a tag team, until Paul Robinson had ‘corrupted’ his old partner Ospreay and reformed the Swords of Essex. So this is former tag team partners, one of whom has turned back to the dark side squaring off, with the added stipulation that the loser has to leave IPW:UK.

 

Because of the storyline coming in, and the style of the workers, there is a lot of striking, kicks and knees in the match, but they make everything look really stiff and realistic and they both do well at conveying the hatred. You also get to see a very different style of Will Ospreay match; there is almost no high flying from him in this match, everything is much more basic; kicks, elbows and some nasty looking headbutts. He also works as a complete prick heel and it works to get a crowd that still deep down wants to cheer for him, and on a non kayfabe level not leave the company, to boo him pretty much throughout.

 

Another storyline that works through the match is that on the show when Ospreay reformed with Robinson, they did a double team move similar to the Homicide/Low Ki double stomp/Cop Killer move to Jay Lethal back in ROH in 2005 and injured Dawkins back. Ospreay drops him on the ring apron back first and works it over pretty well. When it comes time for his comeback, Dawkins selling of the back might have been slightly more consistent but it doesn’t really take you out of things too much as a lot of his offence is kick based and his fire and emotion wins you over.

 

The next element is that Dawkins’ girlfriend is front row and Ospreay is constantly in her face, again being a great prick (if that’s not an oxymoron). He is so detestable that on the spot where she ends up pulling the referee out to stop Dawkins from being pinned it comes over as fully justified and not heelish – I popped for her getting revenge. The other reason the spot works is because after a ref bump – something I find a very tired trope in general but something that works in the overbooking of the match – the other third of the Swords of Essex (Robinson is not at the show, potentially due to some of the injuries that have led to his retirement); Scott Wainwright had nailed Dawkins with a chair to the injured back. My biggest low point of the match is that he also nails Dawkins with a pretty awful looking chair shot to the head. I didn’t re-watch to try and see if he gets any hands up, but from a match in 2016 with what we know about head injuries it seemed completely unnecessary, especially as the original chair shot to the back worked more logically in the story going on anyway.

 

To even the score there is a run in from the tag team champions Duggan and Donnelley, who have teamed with Dawkins on a number of occasions, so again it makes sense and returns things to a one on one match. Rewinding to Dawkins’ girlfriend breaking up a pin, the result is that Ospreay drags her into the ring. As with the chair shot to the head, we really don’t need man on woman violence in 2016/17 and thankfully we don’t get any. Just the implication that Ospreay is considering doing it gets the necessary reaction and from there Dawkins is able to take him out by exposing his shin and kicking him for the 1-2-3.

 

I really enjoyed this. The multiple storylines going on in the match: the back injury, the mentor/student tag team being broken up, Ospreay being corrupted by Robinson and the roles played by different characters that have been involved in the feud all helped this to climax to a match where the face was able to get a positive reaction at a time when that is increasingly hard to do in modern wrestling and against a guy like Ospreay who fans deep down want to cheer for. For anyone that thinks Ospreay is all just flips and gymnastics, watch this match to see him acting like a loathsome character and working a match with very few high spots. A word as well for Dawkins girlfriend. I’m not sure if she’s in the business at all, but from her facials and her acting I thought she came across really well and helped the story of the match a lot. (**** ¼)