2014: The Big Year? By Craig Jarrett

I think its safe to say that 2013 has been a really great year for British wrestling and its fans with our scene attracting bigger attendances, more people wanting to attend wrestling schools and learn the craft along with the attraction the UK scene has gotten overseas with a bucket load of imports having successful tours of our promotions and wanting to return for more. We have seen former WWE and TNA wrestlers, US indy talents and a Japanese legend make their mark on the British scene in a year that I think has brought a large number of fans back into the scene. We have also seen a rise in promotions up and down Britain, some good and some bad of course but even so this has given more counties and regions a chance to get out and support their own local promotions and see some wrestling action up close.

The question I know so many British wrestling fans have been asking and have been seeking the answer to is when will British wrestling finally get itself back onto our TV screens. Now I know ICW and UKW have had their own shows on a Sky TV channel a while back but that was a channel that was only available to Sky customers and that nobody really watches and now we also have the British wrestling round up on Challenge but this is really just not good enough as far as I am concerned. We have a market for wrestling in the UK there is no doubt about that, WWE is big here, TNA is bigger here than it is in the US and every British independent promotion I go to or have seen on DVD's and Youtube always manage to get a great attendance. We need jus one channel out there that gets decent viewing figures to wake up and realize that British wrestling is on the rise and will continue to rise fast, I personally would rather see WrestleTalk TV dropped to be replaced by an hour long up to date wrestling show featuring the most recent matches that aren't just a UK guy versus a TNA guy, recent promos, recent DVD/Blu-Ray trailers and also fun stuff from the Science Fiction Studios guys.

I think 2014 is going to be the year that finally makes British wrestling or maybe that is just wishful thinking, I know my comments may be biased due to the fact I am such a huge British wrestling fanatic but I cannot for the life of me see why in one year from now we won't have our scene back on TV where it belongs. The whole country deserves to see what we have to offer, the whole country deserves to be apart of something special like the re-birth of British wrestling, like I have already mentioned in one of my earlier articles when I am older I want to talk to my kids about when I watched British wrestling to see the likes of Kristopher Travis, El Ligero, Martin Kirby, Grado, Noam Dar, Robbie X etc just like my parents and elders talked to me about the likes of Giant Haystacks, Big Daddy, Kendo Nagasaki, Les Kellett and so on.

Now what in 2014 could be the overriding factor that propels wrestling back onto our TV screens? One wrestler? One event? One promotion? Who knows, I really don't know what it will be that will make TV bosses finally wake up and smell the money that could be made from putting the UK scene back where it belongs but I for one am going to help in any way I can to get this to happen before December 2014. I think 2014 is shaping up to be one hell of an amazing year that will top 2013 which is saying a lot, I think the big promotions will continue to get better and better, I think the smaller promotions will continue to grow and grow, I think we will see a lot more talent breakthrough to put themselves up in the ranks of the guys I mentioned earlier and overall I think 2014 will be the year that we all look back on as being THE year that changed it all for British wrestling.

And That’s My Opinion - NJPW World Tag League 2013 Review By Dave Green (@dagreeno)

A few weeks back I gave you a preview to this year’s World Tag League from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Well the finals have been and gone, so here is a review of the final night and what this all means for Wrestle Kingdom taking place at the Tokyo Dome in January.

After a good few weeks of tournament matches, the block standings were finalised with The Killer Elite Squad and GBH as the top two of Block A respectively, while The Bullet Club combo of Anderson & Gallows topped Block B followed by the veterans Ten-Koji. This eliminated the chance of my original prediction of Minoru Suzuki and Shelton Benjamin taking the whole shebang, but never mind. Maybe my backup prediction of Ten-Koji getting their last chance at the belts would come to fruition? Let’s jump in and find out.

Match #1 “The Wrestler” Katsuyori Shibata vs Yohei Komatsu

Shibata has had a tremendous year and it was a damn shame he didn’t win the G1 Climax. He starts the match by no-selling all the strikes that Komatsu can dish out and proceeds to stretch and kick the youngster. Komatsu finally knocks Shibata down with a dropkick and running forearm, but Shibata blocks a slam attempt and hits a vicious open hand to the jaw and punt to the chest. A really tight Boston Crab gets the submission for Shibata. Total 3 minute squash, and Shibata walks straight back to the locker room. Shibata’s demeanour is interesting. He’s a legit tough guy and no-sells as such, daring his opponent to hit harder than he can. His seriousness in the ring really draws you into his matches, although this squash wasn’t a good example of that. This was simply done to keep him dominant on the road to the Tokyo Dome.

Match #2 – Taichi and Taka Michinoku (Suzuki-Gun) vs BUSHI & KUSHIDA

Junior tag team action now in a sort-of preview for January. KUSHIDA is the partner of Alex Shelley in the Time Splitters. They will reunite at Tokyo Dome as part of a 4-way tag for the Jr Tag Belts held by The Young Bucks, alongside the Forever Hooligans and Taka/Taichi. CMLL’s BUSHI fills in for Shelley while he recovers from injuries (seriously, if you haven’t done so already, find Shelley’s Twitter feed where he lists the injuries he’s picked up since joining NJPW and be prepared to gain a level of respect hitherto unknown!).

The faces start off with some great lucha dives, but Taka takes over with some standard rule breaking. The charisma of the heels is infectious, with such blatant cheating it actually entertains the fans, including after hitting a low blow and counting their own fast pinfall. Taichi does his standard ripping off his long tights, and I notice the knee brace he’s used every time I’ve seen him is gone! BUSHI gets a hot tag and hits a great double missile dropkick. KUSHIDA hits his Tajiri-style springboard back elbow. BUSHI misses a dive and the heels hit a double Air Raid Crash for the win in about 6-7 minutes. Decent enough match for its place on the card, really to warm up the crowd and get some momentum for Taka & Taichi.

Match #3 – NWA Tag Champions Rob Conway & Jax Dane vs Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi & Strong Man) (non-title)

Oh dear. I always liked Conway back in his WWE days. Do I ever feel sorry for him here. Back in my preview, I said that if Nakanishi & Strongman got any points in the league, I would be shocked. They got 4 points. The NWA tandem surprised me by getting 6 points and coming close to the semi-finals. In an alternative world, this could’ve been the league finals.......anyway, let’s not think about that.
So, the match......it was there. Kind of wish it wasn’t. Conway rakes Nakanishi’s eyes, Dane hits a dodgy looking spear and Conway wins with the Ego Trip in a 7 minute match that was 7 minutes too long.

Match #4 – World Tag League Semi-Final: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows (Bullet Club) vs GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)

Now this is more like it! Back in my preview, I said that this Bullet Club tandem was a possible semi-final team, so at least I got that one right! I also said that if it were up to me, GBH would be semi-finalists. 2 for 2! Really pleased they got this far, as Makabe has the badass vibe that the crowd clearly love, and Honma just makes everyone around him look good. Predictably Honma plays face-in-peril, making every move Bullet Club throw at him look like he’s being killed. Makaebe gets the hot tag and runs through Anderson with high power slams and lariats, until hits a spinebuster. Honma tags back in for a good back & forth with Gallows, hitting his trademark headbutts. Bad Luck Fale attacks Makabe in the aisle, leaving Honma 2-on-1 until he took the Magic Killer for the 3 count at 9 minutes. Fale choked Makabe with his chain after the match. This feud has been brewing for a while, so I gather it will result in a Wrestle Kingdom match. Good match.

Match # 5 World Tag League Semi-Final: IWGP Tag Champions Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr) vs Ten-Koji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima)

Two teams that know each other very well, having traded the titles between each other over the last year or so. In my preview, I saw this being Ten-Koji’s final chance at the big time. With their injuries and age catching up to them (especially Tenzan), it can’t be long before one or both of them hang up the boots (at least I hope they do before reaching a Nakanishi stage of embarrassment). So this could very well a Cinderella story. My prediction for KES was that they would get to the semi’s only to lose to the team that takes the whole thing. We seem to be going down that road.

Archer establishes his dominance over Kojima early with a stalling vertical suplex, reminiscent of his partner’s dad. Tenzan hits his trademark Mongolian chops early on as well (the crowd’s SSSSHHHH with each strikes shows he’s still very over). Kojima comes in off a hot tag with his rapid fire chops on Archer, following with the corner forearm followed by his unusual top rope elbow (another crowd chant spot). Archer cuts him off with a tremendous full nelson bomb. Smith with a Tiger Suplex for a close 2 count. Smith always looks shocked when he doesn’t win with that move – yet I’ve never seen him win with it, so why be so shocked all the time? KES with stereo powerslams. Tenzan goes for another series of Mongolian chops, but gets caught in perfect position for the Killer Bomb (Full Nelson / Tiger Driver combo) but it’s broken up by Kojima. Crowd really popped for that. Archer gets caught with the double Koji Cutter (aka the 3D) and Kojima hits his awesome Lariat on Smith, followed by a Tenzan moonsault for the 3 in 13 minutes! Great match as always from these four. Despite my reservation as to how much longer than can go, Ten-Koji are still a very over team and work so well with KES. The Cinderella story carries on to the finals.

Following this was the return of Hirooki Goto, announcing that he would return at Wrestle Kingdom to face Katsuyori Shibata. These men had some incredible matchups last summer, most of which led to double knock outs and draws. They were to fight during the G1, but Goto suffered a broken jaw courtesy of Tanahashi. Should be an epic rubber match.

Match #6 – Captain New Japan & Kota Ibushi vs Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale (Bullet Club)

This match came about as a result of the previous night’s action. Devitt & Fale needed to beat Captain New Japan and Tanahashi to get into the semi-finals. CNJ and Tanahashi had not won any block matches at all, with CNJ taking every fall. However the upset of the year happened as CNJ pinned Devitt to take the vital points needed to stop Bullet Club advancing. Also Ibushi challenges Devitt at Wrestle Kingdom, so this serves as a preview.

Ibushi gets the better of Devitt early on, and after Ibushi hot tags in, Devitt doesn’t enter the ring until Fale gains an advantage. Devitt dominates until Ibushi hits his backflip kick, which nearly misses, followed by a great Dragon Suplex. CNJ whips Fale into the barricade as Ibushi sets up Devitt for the top rope Phoenix Splash, which misses and both men clothesline each other. Tags on both sides sees Fale dominate until CNJ hits a Rock Bottom! However he misses a top rope headbutt, Devitt smashes him with a top rope double stomp. Ibushi hits his amazing running corner springboard Asai moonsault. Fale hits his Splash Mountain Powerbomb which knocks out CNJ and the ref calls for the bell in about 10 minutes. Good match with some nice exchanges between Devitt and Ibushi without giving too much away for their WK match. CNJ does a stretcher job to put over Fale’s new finisher. Well anything’s better than the elevated Samoan Spike he was doing before. Surprisingly there was no sign of Makabe after the earlier events.

Match #7 – Yoshi-Hashi & Takashi Iizuka vs Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuraba

Nagata & Sakuraba feuded during the year which saw a nasty elbow dislocation to Sakuraba. However they now join forces to answer the challenge of the Gracie’s at Wrestle Kingdom. Here’s a warm up match against two individuals from the Chaos stable that I have extreme opinions of. I am not a fan Yoshi-Hashi by any means. He does not appeal to me on any level. Iizuka is not a particularly good wrestler, but he is a great brawler and an insane character. His constant abuse of one of the ringside commentators is incredibly entertaining. Tonight’s torture – spray painting his face and upper torso black. This match could be a train wreck. Sakuraba is a MMA fighter primarily and is not known for his love of wrestling psychology. Nagata is a legend, though, and can pull a good match out of most. Iizuka and Nagata brawl outside, during which Iizuka pushes Nagata away and leaps at the announcer again! Funny moment. Not even a minute after that, Nagata is thrown into a row of the audience. As the spotlight tries to find them, out of the darkness comes a father carrying his baby away from the danger zone! Only in Japan. Back in the ring, the match is not as interesting. Nagata hits nice belly-to-belly suplex and spinning heel kick and tags Sakuraba, who hits both Chaos members with roundhouse kicks, before strangling Yoshi-Hashi with his robe belt – no-one told him he was the face, apparently! Iizuka holds Sakuraba for a Yoshi clothesline...and it connects! That almost never works in wrestling! Yoshi hits a sloppy powerslam or reverse DDT or...something, it was that bad. Double roundhouse kicks for the heels, the camera misses whatever was happening to Yoshi and the faces lock in their respective arm submissions for a double tapout in 9 minutes. Sloppy match. The outside brawling between Nagata and Iizuka was fun, the rest was pedestrian. I have my fears for the match against the Gracie’s.
After the match, Nagata holds Iizuka for the announcer to get some revenge. While he’s talking, Iizuka lashes out at him like a dog in a muzzle, making the announcer jump back into the first row. Best part of the whole match

Match #8 – Minoru Suzuki & Shelton X Benjamin (Suzuki-Gun) vs Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano (Chaos)

Ooh this should be a doozy! Yano is a comic heel that’s pretty much loved by the crowd, Ishii is a cult favourite, Benjamin is Benjamin and Suzuki is badass to say the least. Yano and Suzuki pick up their feud with Yano bringing out handcuffs right away (Yano scored a win over Suzuki once by handcuffing him outside) but Suzuki gets them and Taichi at ringside confiscates them. A pier six brawl erupts with Ishii taking some hard bumps into the ringside barrier. The heels isolate Yano, who sells better than I’ve seen from him lately. He’s a former amateur wrestler, so he knows how to work when he wants to. Ishii comes in and seems to be having trouble taking Benjamin down with his lariat. Great forearm exchange between Ishii and Benjamin before Ishii finally hits a lariat. I wouldn’t mind seeing these two go one-on-one. Yano attempts his RVD pose several times. But keeps getting cut off. Nice double team sequence ends with a Benjamin spinebuster into a Suzuki cross armbreaker. Suzuki locks in his sleeper into the Gotch-Piledriver but Yano counters with a water spit into Suzuki’s eyes and a cradle, which is broken up by Benjamin. Oh boy – Yano hits a low blow and pours the entire contents of his water bottle on Suzuki. Suzuki slowly gets to his feet like Carrie after the pig’s blood, and proceeds to punch the crap out of Yano’s face. He cuffs himself to Yano so he can’t get away. Benjamin has the ankle lock on Ishii on the outside. Suzuki decks the ref and keeps beating on Yano for a dq loss at 14 minutes. A pile of Suzuki’s stable mates and youngboys try to pry Suzuki from Yano, who somehow manages to cuff Suzuki to one of the youngboys and scurries from the ring. Yano challenges Suzuki for the Dome show, which surprises me that they’d go there again after so many matches between the two. I personally really enjoyed this match but it wasn’t a must-see by any means.

Match #9 – 10 Man Tag – Naito, Tanahashi, Liger, Tiger Mask & La Sombra vs Okada, Nakamura, Tanaka, Takahashi & Gedo (Chaos)

Holy crap, that’s a lot of names in one match. The double main event of the Dome show is the main focus here, but there are a lot of recent feuds in this match as well. Liger starts off strong against Tanaka and Gedo, amazing to me that he’s 50. It doesn’t take long for a brawl to erupt, with Nakamura and Tanahashi in particular pairing off. Tiger Mask hits a great Tiger Driver on Gedo before hot tagging Tanahashi. Preview of Tokyo Dome takes centre stage as Tanahashi and Nakamura exchange offense, teasing finishers before the other man counters. Tags made and here comes the other preview, as Naito squares off with Okada. They hit some great moves as Okada goes for the Rainmaker, but it’s countered with a forward roll kick. La Sombra is in and he hits an amazing split-legged moonsault. The match breaks down and it goes into the old hit a move, get hit with a move sequence. Naito counters the Rainmaker again with a uranage right on Okada’s neck! Dangerous. La Sombra hits Gedo with the Brilliante Driver for the win in 13 minutes. Excellent match that was all action. The double main event players engage in a dual staredown post-match.

Match #10 – Main Event – World Tag League Finals – Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows (Bullet Club) vs Ten-Koji (Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan)

Here we go then, the finals. All the Bullet Club is out for the match, so there MIGHT be some interference. A quick exchange sees Anderson distract Kojima so Gallows can attack from behind. Tenzan comes in but the Mongolian chops have no effect on Gallows. Tenzan reverses an Anderson suplex leading to Ten-Koji double teams. Devitt and Fale trip Kojima and attack him on the outside. See, told you there’d be interference! And from the Bullet Club no less, who’d’ve thought?! Anderson is such a good heel, constantly cutting off Kojima from tagging Tenzan and vocally taunting him the whole time. Yes it’s simple and old-school, but that’s why it works. Kojima hits a DDT on Gallows and tags Tenzan, who runs into Gallows with a shoulder block, but gets knocked down himself! Sloppy facejam by Tenzan, who runs into a bicycle kick. Anderson tries the Mongolian chops on Tenzan! Kojima hits multiple chops on Anderson in the corner, to the point where Anderson tries escaping over the top rope, but can’t. Anderson hits a running powerbomb. Gun Stun is countered into a brainbuster. Gallows is sent over the top rope. Ten-Koji hit the Koji-Cutter, Kojima hits the Lariat! 1.....2.....Devitt pulls the referee out of the ring! All the Bullet Club hit the ring to attack Kojima. Ah THERE’S Makabe out to get revenge. Double clothesline to Devitt and Gallows, Makabe brawls to the back with Fale. Tenzan hits a diving headbutt for a looong two count. Anaconda Vice is broken up. Tenzan moonsault misses. TKO by Anderson, only 2! Lariat, senton, big splash combo by Bullet Club only gets 2. Koji Cutter on Gallows, Gun Stun on Kojima, Tenzan fighting two men on his own results in a bicycle kick followed by a dropkick/samoan drop combo. 2-count again! There’s the Magic Killer and it’s over in 20 minutes. Bullet Club win World Tag League 2013.

Well they saved the best till last. It was actually kept relatively interference free, in comparison to other Bullet Club matches. Of course there was a screw job in there, as Ten-Koji had the match won. Makabe’s run-in sets up his and Fale’s encounter at Wrestle Kingdom. Seems my back up prediction of Ten-Koji getting their last shot by winning this didn’t pan out, but I’m not too bothered by that. I’m interested by the fact that Karl Anderson wins World Tag League for the 2nd year in a row and goes on to challenge KES once again at Wrestle Kingdom, with a different partner of course. Two monster heel tag teams at NJPW’s biggest show will be an interesting dynamic, with KES probably being faces by default. At least it’s a fresh match.

Overall, this was not a must-see show. New Japan has put on overall better shows throughout the year. While it succeeded in providing tasters for the forthcoming matchups at Wrestle Kingdom and didn’t give enough of those matches away here, it failed by providing too many listless and mediocre matches. I enjoyed both Ten-Koji matches, particularly the main event which was match of the night. The Bullet Club’s antics are benefitting from the less-is-more approach, the 10-man tag was great and I always enjoy Yano’s antics. But I was left feeling a little flat by the end of it.

At least that’s my opinion.

I’ll hopefully have a preview of Wrestle Kingdom up in a few weeks, so I shall see you there. Thanks for reading.

Fight Club: PRO Infinity 2013 Review By Derrie Catton

How many times can one man rain praise on a promotion? Well it will already be a lot by the time review rolls out, and that alone should speak volumes about Fight Club: PRO. But it also sets a bar consisting of a high level of expectation and a promise of greatness, and all things should be judged by how well they meet their promises. You enter FCP expecting strong wrestling, moments of awe and an engrossing atmosphere. As such, these are the ideals to hold it up to.

Fight Club: PRO remains in the basement of a nightclub with a bar providing any alcohol you require. Surrounding a ring is a metal fence which has been pounded into submission by many an excited fan. Fun and rowdy sums up the crowd's personality. Chant what you like and gain a few laughs at the mention of Tyler Bate's moustache or gain a few retorts from Mark Haskin's sharp tongue. All give a great sense of involvement which make being an audience member rewarding. Isn't fun the best way to get your wrestling fix?

And this is wrestling of course, FCP are never one to dance around that. Arguably it was Trent Seven, Chris Brookes, Daniel Mahoney and Wild Boar with the match of the night. After leaving the opener with the hard task of warming up the crowd, the four came out with non-stop action which simply couldn't be matched. Thrills came in quick succession along with moments that generated audible gasps and deserved applause. Each competitor was on high form, with Trent Seven reminding fans why he is a top flight roster member and Chris Brookes putting in one of his best performances to date. Mahoney and Boar complimented the match too, as they begin to stand out as competitors at FCP. Honourable mention has to go to MK McKinnan and Dave Mastiff for providing the excitement a ladder match should deliver. The pair created the most awe inspiring moments of the night, managing to find the right chemistry to put together a strong match.

FCP continues to excel in the field of wrestling, and push forward into the new year with plenty of promise. A challenger seeks a fair fight. A title holder continues to bulldoze the competition. A tournament winner awaits a title match. And a returning Dan Ryder seeks to raise hell. These stories look set to unfold in outstanding fashion, so get to the facebook and the twitter to follow Fight Club: PRO as they reveal their future plans. All in all, it makes 2014 look like a solid year to pay five pounds for a great wrestling event.
Well done for 2013 FCP, and here's to many more.

BWA: Controversey Creates? By Craig Jarrett

As some of you may be aware that follow Harvey Dale and Gareth Thompson on Facebook and/or Twitter, in the Summer of 2013 there was a very heated war of words regarding allegations made against Gareth Thompson's wrestling promotion, Bradford Wrestling Alliance. These allegations included shows being put on with no insurance, performers not being paid and certain performers on shows not having been trained. The war of words that followed between Gareth Thompson and House Of Pain Evolution promoter Harvey Dale ultimately led to Mr. Thompson pulling the plug on his BWA promotion.

The show that sparked the most controversy took place on June the 2nd in Wibsey WMC, the event which was a packed venue of wrestling fans of all ages featured a hardcore match main event in which drawing pins (thumbtacks in wrestling lingo) and blood were on display. Despite the great response from the crowd at the time, later on there were complaints from some parents regarding the level of violence on show for what was a family event. As someone who was in attendance that day I would like to go through the event match by match and break down by opinions on the show, the performers and how the show that brought an end to the company did overall.

The show began with the Anarchy Inc. team of Sean Only and PJ Rockerfella coming out to celebrate their birthday, despite this being my first time viewing the pair I though they showed great confidence of the microphone and as a team. Their celebrations were cut short when Priscilla Queen Of The Ring came out to give the guys a special present, then after a two on one beatdown of Priscilla, Lewy Ripper Paradise came down to make the save. This then led to BWA promoter and champion Gareth Angel coming out to book the match, it would be Anarchy Inc vs the team of Priscilla and Lewy Paradise to kick off the show. The opening match was a great way to warm up the crowd because you had the aggressive style of the Anarchy Inc team put in the mix with the likes of a quick flyer like Lewy Paradise and the always always always entertaining Priscilla, after a great back and forth it was the newly formed team of Priscilla and Paradise who picked up the win, I though this match did a great job of warming up the crowd and I though the right performers were sent out to do just that.

The next match on the card was a return match from the previous show which had Chris Taylor squaring off against Matt Marsay, this was a change in style from that first contest as we saw more of a ground grapple based match but despite that the crowd were 100% into it. The match had showcased a different style of wrestling from what was on show in the first match in which Taylor picked up the victory to level the score at one victory a piece. After the match Marsay got on the mic to ask Taylor for a third and final match for the next show, Taylor accepted, shuck Marsays hand and then Taylor did the classic heel move of sucker punching Marsay with the microphone. Overall I though this match did a great job of keeping up the level of excitement created from the opening contest.

Moving along the next match featured a performer who is making a great name for himself in 2013 making appearances for the likes of NGW and most recently Tidal, this man was Liam Lazarus. Lazarus did a great job of getting on the mic and gaining heat from crowd to get them riled up before his opponent the much bigger Bubba The Butcher Morris came out. This match was a great comedy affair which featured many chops to the chest for Lazarus as well as him being made fun of by the crowd and playing up to the crowd brilliantly. Liam Lazarus really is such a bright talent who I see great things for in the future. Bubba was the one who picked up the victory in this match which led to Lazarus being chased out of the building by the kids in attendance, that was a very funny moment.

Up next on the card after the intermission was the geek of British wrestling and in my opinion as I have said before one of the best comedy wrestlers on the UK scene, JG Nash going up against the grappler Paul Harris. This match was billed as a number one contendership match to the BWA title for a shot at the belt on the next show, JG Nash's Pocket Money In The Bank briefcase was then strangely also put on the line after some mic antics by both men pre match. This was yet again continuing with the theme of the show a very entertaining match perhaps even the match of the show mainly due to the work of one JG Nash who always has the ability to get crowds in the palm of his hands with his comedy work in the ring and on the mic. This wasn't the great "wrestling" contest that was seen earlier on in the show but it had the it factor that a professional wrestling match requires and that is be able to suck in a crowd and keep them entertained, this match did this. Harris was the one who picked up the win in this match which sent the crowd in to silence for the first time in the show and strangely like I said this meant that Harris was not only the number one contender but also had a case to cash in anytime he wanted.

And now I bring you to the main event, the match which was the start of the controversy surrounding BWA and that is the hardcore for the BWA title featuring the champion Gareth Angel (Gareth Thompson) taking on Sebb Strife. Now of course the issue of the promoter of the company making himself the champion is always a controversial thing to do if you are working on the independent scene, if it was me I would never book myself as a champion or main eventer purely to avoid that type of backlash that you are bound to get from fans, workers and other promoters. An added stipulation to this match was that fans could bring the weapons but of course with it being a family show it would be the style of fans bring the weapons match you would see in CZW. I know this match did cause some controversy but as somebody who was in attendance at the time I can honestly say that the crowd of kids and parents were 100% into the match which ended with a win for Angel. This lead to a surprise appearance from Matt Slater who Angel beat to become the champion, we then saw a three on one beatdown of Angel at the hands of Slater, Strife and his tag team partner Paul Harris. The show ended with Slater, Strife and Harris raising each others hands and the newly won pocket money in the bank case which personally I thought would of set up some interesting things to come.

Overall I would give the show a definite passing grade and yes I do know that the show is up on Youtube and no it probably isn't all that good to what but then again nor is wrestling show with no commentary or promos etc. Watching a wrestling event live is completely different story, you are right there to experience it all face to face but when I buy a wrestling DVD/Blu-Ray if it doesn't feature any commentary or promos in between matches then I find it so very hard to watch this can even be said for the early PCW shows. I think the people who actually attended the show would have a completely different view to the people who have only seen it online, it really is far from the same thing.

On a final note, should someone be running a wrestling promotion and not sorting out insurance? Of course not and I think Gareth will admit he was in the wrong there, the thing is he was probably more excited about having a wrestling promotion and bringing regular wrestling to Bradford that he didn't do his research fully into what was needed to run a show. I don't think he intended any harm or to bring British wrestling into a bad light (it doesn't need much help to do that anyway), he was just a fan with a dream who didn't do his homework before hand that is all. I think if Harvey Dale was instead willing to offer out a hand of support being a successful promoter himself instead of trying to bury Gareth the perhaps BWA would still be here and the would be doing business the proper way.

Please follow the wrestlers mentioned on Twitter under these handles
@PJRockerfella @Priscillaqotr @TooDamn_Awesome @MattMarsay @Liam_LZRS @oneballbubba @ItsJGNash @jacklin_paul @SebbStrife @GarethAngel and @truemattslater

The Indy Corner Interviews Jim Cornette

I interviewed legendary wrestling personality Jim Cornette. Of course he has been in the business for years but as this is The Indy Corner my chat with Jim was all about his time in ROH.

There was a number of things discussed including Colt Cabana, Kevin Steen and the man in the news at the moment Davey Richards. All this and more in this hour long interview.

Follow the show on twitter @TheIndyCorner and while you're there give Jim a follow @TheJimCornette and check out his site http://jimcornette.com and if you're in the UK grab the chance to see Jim LIVE as he comes to the UK for the very first time in February 2014 - Tickets available right here: http://jimcornettelive.co.uk

Like our facebook page /TheIndyCorner

The Strange Career of Davey Richards By Adam Timmins

So Davey Richards has announced that he’s parted ways with ROH; not as a result of his potential trip up north, but rather it seems, due to some kind of falling out with ROH management. More than any other wrestler on the indies in the past few years, Richards has divided opinion; he’s usually the first name people bring up as representing everything that’s wrong with indie wrestling – no psychology, over-long matches etc etc. On the other hand, many will argue he’s the best to have come down the pipe in the last few years. Like the result of the race around the world between FDR and Superman, the truth lies somewhere in between….

I felt really sorry for Richards in the first few years of his ROH career, as his increasingly stellar performances were overshadowed by some terrible booking. He had a couple of cracking singles bouts with Samoa Joe and El Generico, but was lumbered with the hapless No Limit Soldiers Remorse Corps for the majority of the year. As the company nose-dived in 2008, Richards became ROH’s most consistent performer – but again was hampered by first Gabe and then Pearce’s hapless booking, most notably having to job to Brent Albright. Then came the American Wolves.

Now, hindsight is always 20/20, and given that the Wolves became one of the best tag teams in the business, most would call their formation a booking masterstroke. In fact, it was a huge step backwards for Richards at the time. Edwards was struggling to get over at the time, while Richards was a top-singles guy waiting to happen. Therefore the formation of the Wolves was a massive stroke of luck for Edwards: not so much Richards. Still, he made the best of it, feuding with Kevin Steen and El Generico for most of 2009, and he also had some very good singles outings with Tyler Black, Claudio, Aries and KENTA, as well as a super-stiff Anything Goes match with Kevin Steen.

The Wolves dropped the tag belts at the end of 2009 to the Briscoes, and Richards by now was set for an ROH title run. The problem was however, that they were still getting around to putting the belt on Tyler Black – by the time Black got the belt at the 8th Anniversary show, arguably his moment had passed. In the meantime, Richards had stated in a number of interviews that he was quitting wrestling at the end of 2010 in order to spend more time with his family and to train to be a fire-fighter. However, a couple of things then happened that would change the course of Richards’s career. Firstly, Richards split with his wife over the summer of 2010, meaning that retirement was off the table. That summer also saw Tyler Black announce he’d signed up to have a two-year spell in WWE developmental. The onus now was to get the belt off Black: his final appearance was slated to be Glory By Honor 9, and there was only one viable candidate to take the belt off him. Richards had already wrestled a couple of classics with Black over the summer of 2010, and it would have been the perfect blow-off to the feud, as well as Black’s ROH career.

There was just one problem however: Richards wasn’t booked at GBH9, as he was already booked to wrestle for New Japan when the show was scheduled to take place. I don’t think it’s a exaggeration to say that this had an adverse affect on ROH and Richards in the long-run. ROH had to resort to putting the belt on Roderick Strong: a talented wrestler, but in no way a guy capable of holding the top belt. Strong vs. Richards was then made for Final Battle: a classic example of booking yourself into a corner. To have taken the belt off Strong so soon would have been to cut him off at the knees; but for Richards to job clean to Strong wouldn’t do much for the latter either. In the end Strong beat Richards via stoppage in a match that was hurt by going longer than it needed to and having too many near-falls; something that was to become an increasing feature of Richards matches.

Richards announced that if he didn’t win the ROH title in his next attempt, he would leave the company. A fairly stupid booking move, given that Richards had just reneged on one retirement pledge – which obviously was a good thing for the fans – but to threaten it a second time made him look a bit like the boy that cried wolf (no pun intended). It also made it a foregone conclusion that Richards would win the belt in his next title shot. To further complicate matters, ROH decided to book a surprise title change, putting the belt on Eddie Edwards at MM4. So it would now be Wolf vs. Wolf at some point: and the match took place at Best in the World 2011. Richards went over in a match that I enjoyed, but a lot of people didn’t. Incidentally, what Edwards three month title reign achieved or was supposed to achieve has never been explained.

So Richards finally had the top prize in ROH; but what should have been a big moment in the end turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax. Sadly, things would get worse from there. Following the purchase of the company by SBS, ROH spent most of the summer on hiatus – a fairly underwhelming way for the champion to start his reign. Furthermore, Richards missed Death Before Dishonour again due to Japan commitments, something that did him no favours at all. Moreover, the rest of 2011 was spent building towards a rematch with Edwards at Final Battle. The problem was that Richards had beaten Edwards clean at BITW, so there wasn’t really much of a jumping off point for a rematch. And indeed, the build was pretty much awful – Cornette was booking by this point, which probably tells you all you need to know. If memory serves Dan Severn was involved in the build-up to the match, despite the fact neither Edwards nor Richards particularly wanted him there in real-life. The bout itself was awful: a forty minute effort that seemed to go on forever and it largely consisted of two wrestlers pretending to be MMA fighters. Once again, Edwards lost clean – 2011 was definitely not his year.

2012 turned out to be a pivotal year for Richards: he hit his lowest ebb, but also made strides towards redemption. By now ROH as a company was dying under the booking of Cornette, and Richards was inevitably associated with it. Kevin Steen was supposed to be a heel; but his taunts towards Richards of being Jim Cornette’s “Ju-Jitsu jackoff” were resonating with a large section of the ROH audience. In the ring Richards was still producing the goods: he had a cracking match with Elgin in Florida, before dropping the belt to Steen in Canada in a super-heated matchup. But 2012 saw Richards rapidly develop a reputation for being unprofessional: he pulled out of a New Japan tour at the last minute following a car accident, as a result of which New Japan stopped booking Richards. Then there was the infamous “Team Bandits” incident: Richards and his cronies/partners Kyle O’Reilly and Tony Kozina ripped off a promoter to the tune of $350 and later bragged about it on the internet, labelling themselves “Team Bandits”. Internet backlash later saw Richards return the money, but the damage was done. Richards once again made noises about retiring.

But a tour of Europe in the summer of 2012 seemed to reinvigorate Richards. He returned to ROH in the autumn of 2012 and made a mea culpa in the middle of the ring, saying he was ashamed of the person he’d been outside of the ring recently. He seemed a lot more relaxed; realising that not every match had to go 20-30 minutes. At Final Battle 2012 the American Wolves reformed, and Richards spent the majority of 2013 tagging with Edwards again, as well as wrestling in singles bouts here and there.

Truth be told though, Richards had pretty much done everything there was for him to do in ROH, and it was time to move on. But sadly, he’s not going to get the farewell match he deserves. No-one’s quite sure what happened behind the scenes: but given the corporate direction ROH has taken in the last few years I’m more inclined to believe Richards statement that they dicked him about. But in a way it kind of sums up the way Richards ROH career went. In my mind he’s up there alongside Joe, Dragon and Punk as a true ROH legend. But many would disagree – and given the man’s undoubted talent, it’s sad that the matter should be up for debate.

Davey Finally Says Goodbye to ROH By Shaun Nichols

I was originally going to write a blog about how I felt that it would make more sense for Davey Richards to wrestle Eddie Edwards at Final Battle for one last time, rather than have them team together against Roderick Strong and Jay Lethal.

However just when I've got the whole thing laid out and about to write it up, I then find out that Davey has decided he's done with the company. Most fans know that the American Wolves have spent time at NXT as enhancement talent, which earned them the new nickname from some fans of the American Interns. Part of spending time down there isn't just about staring at the ceiling but finally convincing the WWE and Triple H especially that they are worth signing.

The good news for them is that the WWE are specifically looking for tag teams, the bad news is that although their wrestling talent cannot be denied. They are both small by the WWE standard and they are not blessed with great charisma. You also cannot tell me that size no long matters in the company, Daniel Bryan is an exception, a clearer and more valid example would be the decision to release Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno) who I would say has far more upside to him than either Davey or Eddie.

Anyway back to ROH, it seemed to be pretty evident that the American Wolves would finish up with the company at Final Battle. They would do the job, hopefully have a great match and endorse the remaining talent and leave to great applause. Sounds pretty simple? Not with Davey around.

The Wolves spent most of the year involved in a battle with the redDragon tag team (former protégé Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) who got the best of it and as I write this are celebrating their second run as ROH Tag champions. They weren't really involved in the biggest feud in ROH that being the feud against SCUM and the anarchic talents of Steen & Corino.

Davey on Facebook posted the following message "With a heavy heart, I can announce I announce that myself and ROH have parted ways for good and I will not be at Final Battle. Please continue to support them and the incredible talent they have, Thanks for the memories. It was an amazing ride."

It sounds that the split was amicable and it was down to the timing of events that he wasn't able to complete his ROH run at Final Battle as most expected.

There is also the fact that he cancelled a tour with NOAH this month so that gives an indication that all he's doing his clearing his diary and ready for the challenge of the WWE in 2014. That though does not take into account comments about ROH he made to the UK's Total Wrestling.

He was very critical of ROH's booking of both the World Title and Tag Team Titles over the last several months and said that he felt they had lost a lot of their importance and prestige. He also lambasted the company for the failure to get internet PPV's right, saying "If they can't get their crap together, that's their problem. I just worry about showing up, doing my job in the ring, and they can do whatever they want with that stuff. It's their deal."

So when he made his return to ROH they were not exactly thrilled with his less than glowing praise to the company that is employing him. Davey on the defensive went with the tried and trusted method of claiming his comments had been taken out of context. Sadly it appears that ROH aren't buying it and Davey has failed to follow the golden rule when talking about your employer. You should praise them in public and criticise in private, watch any Premier League manager on MOTD to see how it's done.

So it appears that the relationship between ROH and Davey Richards as come to end after more than seven years together, where they gave him the opportunity to showcase his talents and in return he gave them dozens of great matches and sterling performances.

To me it's a shame that Davey and ROH couldn't keep things together until Final Battle, it would have been a nice finale to the fans to see him end his time doing what he does best which is wrestling. Instead it all ended with a message on social network site amid accusations and recriminations. He is still listed on the ROH roster page, but his scheduled match for Final Battle as been removed from the show listings. So we will have to wait and see if this is really the end of this particular journey.