[2002-07-28-FWA-No Surprises 4] Jonny Storm vs Justin Richards

[TonyPulis'Cap]

This is a No. 1 contenders match for the FWA British Title, and part of the overarching Old School vs New School storyline in the FWA. Storm is the young up and comer, while Richards was a former champion who had been with the company since the beginning. The storyline for the night was that the Old School wrestlers had all been set the ultimatum that they would need to win their matches on the evening or be fired.

The match has some fun exchanges, but is way overbooked with lots of interference from the Old School’s manager Dean Ayass. While Jonny is a high flyer, Richards is looking to ground him, but aside from a nice top rope German suplex, he doesn’t bring much to the table at all. Richards had good fundamentals but was a fairly uninspiring wrestler, which is why he made a much better trainer in the long run. Storm wipes out both Richards and Ayass on the outside with a plancha before accidentally taking out the ref with a superkick. With the ref down, Ayass goes to throw powder into Storm’s eyes but in cliched wrestling 101 fashion this backfires and a blinded Richards falls to the rewind rana.

As a result Richards is fired from the FWA – and for once it’s a stipulation that sticks as that would be his last match ever for the company – although on the way out he gets a beatdown from his former Old School stable mates who take him out with a spiked tombstone in a decent angle that gets some good heat. (* ¾)