[2003-10-18-FWA-British Uprising II] Burchill vs Hampton Court (Duke of Danger & Simmons) (Handicap)

[TonyPulis'Cap]

This is another match that the FWA had been building up pretty much all year, with the Duke of Danger – a stereotypical British aristocrat heel – having been ducking the challenge of Burchill. He is one half of Hampton Court, alongside his butler Simmons, who was massively over as the put upon loveable baby face.

 

Burchill meanwhile is coming in as the unstoppable monster with the Goldberg push that has been destroying lower card wrestlers – often in similar handicap matches – since debuting. The Simmons dynamic makes all this rather odd though. Whereas usually you might expect the crowd to be fully invested in the sneaky heel that has been ducking a challenger to finally get his comeuppance, because of how over Simmons was, and how entertaining the Hampton Court act had become, there doesn’t seem to be that desire to see the Duke get killed in the ring.

 

This match is the first time that Burchill is forced to sell and take any sort of damage, with the Duke and Simmons getting a fair bit of offence in for a sustained period. At one point you even think they could get a count out win when Burchill takes a really brutal looking fall through the ringside table. It’s a match very strange in execution, and because of this it doesn’t really work. While there are fun moments, and Burchill again getting to show off his vast range of impressive moves, he ends up selling too much while the crowd is also fairly behind Hampton Court. Both acts would have been better off in different situations and in different matches. (* ¾)