[2002-12-15-FWA-Season's Beatings] Doug Williams vs Jonny Storm

[TonyPulis'Cap]

Seasons Beatings was the last FWA show of 2002 and came at a time when the company was really starting to gain momentum. At the previous show Christopher Daniels had just won the British Heavyweight Title so this was about finding a No. 1 contender to go to America to get the belt back. To determine who would get the title shot, a round robin tournament between Doug Williams, Jonny Storm, Jody Fleisch and AJ Styles was devised with 20 points for a pinfall/submission win, 15 points for a count out/DQ win, 10 points for a draw and no points for a loss. The wrestler at the end of the night with the most points would be No. 1 contender. Given that matches involving Doug, Jonny and Jody were fast becoming the highlights of the British scene this was a card built around the premise of seeing them all face each other in different combinations.

 

Doug vs Jonny brought with it the simple dynamic of a more powerful competitor against a high flyer. Doug is by no means a giant, but he dominates a lot of the match, with Jonny at this time being a great underdog seller with his wiry frame, and taking moves like it looked like it was killing him. The added storyline going in was that Jonny had never beaten Doug, who was being presented going into the tournament as the favourite, not least as he had been in the Iron Man Match to crown the first ROH champion that summer.

 

Most of the match is spent with Jonny trying to up the pace, and hit and move, whereas Doug is trying to catch him with a submission or with his suplexes, given his superior technical skills. The familiarity of the guys in the tournament means that they are all able to wrestle at speed and most of the tournament matches are fun sprints, given both the X Division style being popularised at the time and also the structure of the tournament with each guy having to wrestle three times. Jonny picks up the upset victory by catching Doug with a flash pinfall to take the 20 points. (***)