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Stars and Stripes
For those of you that live in the United States like I do, I sure hope you had a great Independence Day weekend as well as a good Fourth of July!
Progress Chapter 135: Super Strong Style 16—Day 1
As promised in the last two issues, I would recap two of the shows that came to Peacock while I was away; it starts off with day 1 of the 135th chapter of Progress.
Day 1 of the Super Strong Style 16 weekend—also part 1 of Progress’ 135th chapter—took place on June 3, 2022 at the Electric Ballroom in London, England in the United Kingdom. All of the matches that took place that day were first round matches; matches that weren’t part of the tournament were saved for days 2 and 3.
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This year’s tournament was not like any other SSS16 tournament; the winner of this year’s tournament would become the new Progress World Champion. To refresh your memory with or without pressing the F5 key on your keyboard (yes, I know I sound like a computer geek), the reason why this title was vacant is because Jonathan Gresham was stripped of that title after Lykos Gym interfered in his match against Gene Munny.
Sixteen strong style competitors, hence the name of the tournament, took part of this tournament this year; those 16 competitors were Aramis (who currently competes in Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide as of this writing), Dean Allmark, Rickey Shane Page, Kid Lykos, Callum Newman, Maggot, Robbie X (making his Progress return), Warren Banks, Charles Crowley, Big Damo, Chris Ridgeway, Jack Evans (whom I first remember seeing on the very short-lived Wrestling Society X way before we ever heard of All Elite Wrestling), Charlie Dempsey (from NXT UK), Gene Munny, Malik and Johnny Progress (f.k.a. John Morrison among other names with “Johnny” in them).
All eight matches that took place on that day ranged from fair to very good, including three matches that came close to getting a perfect 5 out of 5 (like Cara Noir vs. Walter and Jay White vs. Alex Shelley have). The matches that I enjoyed in day 1 of the tournament would have to go to Robbie X vs. Aramis, Chris Ridgeway vs. Dean Allmark, and—with the highest score out of the three—Rickey Shane Page vs. Gene Munny. Robbie X and Aramis gave us a great amount of high-flying action from start to finish, Ridgeway and Allmark gave us a good hard-fought bout with lots of technical wrestling abilities coming from the two competitors, and Page and Munny not only gave us some laughs at times but also proved to be serious business when it comes to fighting in a prestigious tournament such as SSS16.
Here are the Progress results from London…
Match #1: Charlie Dempsey defeated Charles Crowley in round 1 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
Crowley taunted the fans who called him a t-word that rhymes with “swat” before the match. Also, Dempsey came to the ring with the theme song and entrance video he previously used before teaming up with Teoman and Rohan Raja on NXT UK. Near the end, Elijah came to ringside to help Crowley, and despite getting Dempsey distracted for a brief moment, Elijah gave some ideas to Crowley—especially hitting Dempsey with a second springboard back elbow after the first one gave him a two count—until those ideas backfired; this led to Dempsey putting Crowley in the Regal Stretch and making him submit to it. Crowley argued with Elijah afterwards, and then—in an interview by SoCal Val—said that he was better off on his own while blaming Elijah for the distraction. My score: 3.25/5
Match #2: Malik defeated Callum Newman (w/ Danny Black and Joe Lando) in round 1 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
Malik coerced Simon Miller to say “aaaa” while introducing him as “The Hitta” before the match started. Malik had Newman on spaghetti legs, as soon as the bell rang, after hitting him with a hard right hand; Newman came back almost a minute later with a slingshot cutter followed by a tope-like cannonball. Towards the end, Newman went for a top rope Code Red until Malik hung on and hit him with a middle rope reverse piledriver for the win. After the match, Malik showed respect by giving Newman a fist bump. My score: 3.75/5
Match #3: Kid Lykos (w/ Kid Lykos II) defeated Maggot in round 1 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
Before the match, Lykos Gym taunted a fan at ringside, and then teased having a security guard eject the fan. Lykos blindsided Maggot, who was handing his crown of thorns to Simon Miller, before the match began. Lykos worked on Maggot’s eyes during the match including, near the end, hitting him in the eyes with a resistance band while Lykos II distracted the referee before scoring a two after a superkick. Lykos would then put Maggot in an arm-trapped crossface, and the referee got distracted by Lykos II who was toying with the bottom rope; this led to Lykos rolling away from the ropes, fishhooking Maggot’s eyes, and making him submit to the arm-trapped crossface. My score: 2/5
Match #4: Aramis defeated Robbie X in round 1 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
This was Aramis’ Progress debut. During the match, Aramis hit Robbie X with a tope suicida until Robbie X came back with a moonsault from the apron before the two came back in the ring where Robbie X hit Aramis with a corkscrew splash (Triple Eight Express as he calls it) for two. Aramis fought back and won with an airplane spin powerbomb. Afterwards, Robbie X high-fived Aramis before hugging him. My score: 4.5/5
Match #5: Chris Ridgeway defeated Dean Allmark in round 1 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
Ridgeway came to the ring with one of the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship belts. (Ridgeway and Yoshinori Ogawa won the tag team championship in Pro Wrestling Noah.) Allmark hit Ridgeway with the Ruby Cutter and the Clash Driver for a near fall before Ridgeway made a comeback; Ridgeway would then win after a buzzsaw kick and a brainbuster. Afterwards, Allmark offered Ridgeway a handshake, but Ridgeway refused and walked away; he then told SoCal Val, who interviewed him, that showing respect is “not me this time.” My score: 4.5/5
Match #6: Warren Banks defeated Big Damo in round 1 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
Banks came to the ring wearing a shoulder strap on his right shoulder. During the match, Damo seated Banks in the crowd and hit him with a cannonball. Banks won after hitting Damo with a German superplex followed by the Bullet Vehicle. After the match, Damo ripped the shoulder strap off of Banks and looked like he wanted to attack him, but then said that Banks didn’t need his strap because he has heart; both men then shook hands before Damo raised his arm afterwards. My score: 3/5
Match #7: Gene Munny defeated Rickey Shane Page in round 1 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
Like Banks, Munny also wore a shoulder strap but it was on his left shoulder. A brief “Big Boy Pants” battle occurred early in the match with Munny pulling up his tights close to his armpits while Page had trouble pulling up his own pants. Page hit Munny with a Randy Orton backbreaker followed by a cutter (P.S.: Get well soon Randy Orton!), then hit him with a tightrope frog splash for a near fall. Munny made a comeback, hitting Page with the DDT before winning with the Ainsley Lariat. My score: 4.75/5
Main event: Johnny Progress defeated Jack Evans in round 1 of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
Evans got under the fans’ skin by saying that he prefers fans from Liverpool when it comes to competing in England. Johnny’s entrance video looked similar to his John Morrison entrance video; it had the tie-dye background, but with bigger letters. Before the match started, Johnny said that he and Evans go way back, referring to their faction on Lucha Underground; as soon as the two had a brief photo-op, Evans rolled up Johnny for two…seconds before the bell rang for some reason. The match spilled to the ringside area early on; Johnny seated Evans and kicked him in the chest, then Evans came back with a whip into a set of chairs in the audience. Later, it was Evans’ turn to seat his opponent, but this time, he hit Johnny with a cyclone kick from the apron followed by a top rope moonsault. Johnny hit Evans with a chair afterwards, and then used a fan’s walker for a decavitator to Evans; then, Johnny threw a jacket—from another fan—at Evans and sucker punched him, then attempted to whip him into the brick wall until Evans ran up it before being thrown into the wall. The action went back into the ring and in the end, Johnny dodged Evans’ 630 splash before hitting him with a shining wizard and the Starship Pain for the win. My score: 3.75/5
wXw We Love Wrestling 31
Onto the second belated recap, which is wXw We Love Wrestling 31; it was also known as “Slam In Den Mai”, which translates to “Slam Into May.”
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This episode of wXw We Love Wrestling took place at the Sportcenter Dassbeck in Weyhe, Germany. Originally, there were seven matches that were scheduled for that episode until two more were made after the tail end of two matches courtesy of wXw’s Director of Sports Norman Harras. We had two championship matches—three if you count one that Harras made as you’ll see shortly—that took place; one was for the wXw Shotgun Championship that I didn’t care for mainly because I wanted to see more from both the champion and challenger in that bout, and the other was for the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship.
Not only did we see matches that ranged from either “meh…” or not too bad to pretty damn good, but we also saw some good storylines come into play. Notable storylines include the conclusion of Robert Dreissker’s suspension with Harras monitoring him, Rott und Flott crying foul—bell and all—from before to after competing in a match, and Harras getting under Maggot’s skin even more after his attempts of winning the Shotgun title end up being short lived like “the summer of George” on an episode of “Seinfeld.”
Back to the matches, not only did I enjoy the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship match between Jurn Simmons and Tristan Archer, but I also enjoyed—what was my favorite match of the episode—the opening bout between Senza Volto and Fast Time Moodo. So far, we have seen Volto and his tag team partner Aigle Blanc in singles competition, and not only do Volto and Aigle Blanc do well as a tag team, but also as singles competitors. The same goes for Fast Time Moodo as we have seen in the past even before Stephanie Maze, his tag team partner, returned from injury. Both Volto and Moodo did a great job in this opener, from high flying action by Volto to grounding tactics with martial arts abilities in the mix by Moodo.
Here are the match results from Weyhe…
Match #1: Senza Volto defeated Fast Time Moodo.
Both wrestlers gave each other a high five as soon as the match began. Moodo went for the Blackbelt Kick, but Volto kicked the leg away before hitting him with the Eiffel Tower (lifting spinning neckbreaker) for the win. My score: 4/5
Match #2: Vincent Heisenberg defeated Levaniel by count out.
Before the match started, Levaniel said that he was proud to be back in wXw after a two-month long absence due to COVID, and that he was resuming his hunt for the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship. Heisenberg fought Levaniel out of the ring, and then sent him head first into a post before coming back into the ring to beat the count of ten. Afterwards, Heisenberg fought Levaniel back into the ring until Jurn Simmons ran in and fought him out of the ring including hitting him with the championship belt; Simmons then told Heisenberg that he’ll come for him real soon after defending the title later on. My score: 1.5/5
Match #3: Rott und Flott defeated Only Friends.
The team of Bobby Gunns and Michael Knight now have another entrance video; this time, there is a heart-shaped handshake inside the O in “Only”, and there is a rotating zebra. During the match, Nikita Charisma went for a missile dropkick until Only Friends caught him and swung him around like Claudio Castagnoli. (Belated congrats and good luck wishes go out to the former Cesaro, Claudio Castagnoli, in AEW!) Rott und Flott fought Gunns out of the ring, then won after hitting Knight with an assisted DDT. My score: 3/5
Match #4: Aigle Blanc defeated Laurance Roman.
Both wrestlers shook hands as soon as the match began. Towards the end, Aigle Blanc went for a 450 splash, but Roman blocked it and then hit him with a wheelbarrow faceplant. Roman then put Aigle Blanc in an arm-trapped crossface until Aigle Blanc got out of it with a leg-trapped rollup for the win. Both men shook hands afterwards. My score: 3.5/5
Match #5: Maggot (w/ Baby Allison) defeated Rick Salem to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship.
Allison stole the crystal ball from Salem, seconds before the bell rang. Later on, Salem tried to get the ball back from Allison, and Maggot attempted to blindside the challenger but missed and almost hit Allison. Maggot came back and won with a spear. Afterwards, Norman Harras appeared and said that the Shotgun Championship lottery pick was “invalid”, then he restarted the lottery; Harras was chosen. My score: 0.5/5
Match #6: Maggot (w/ Baby Allison) defeated Norman Harras in 42 seconds to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship.
Both men brawled into the ring, and Harras appeared to have the upper hand until Maggot won with a cutter. Afterwards, Dan Mallman interviewed Harras, and Harras called Maggot a rat before vowing to get the title back starting with making the lottery history. No score.
Match #7: Oskar defeated Robert Dreissker by disqualification.
Dreissker, who met Norman Harras early in the episode, competed in a “Dog Eat Dog/All Boro Kings” long sleeve, shorts, sneakers, and elbow and knee pads—that Harras gave to him during the conversation—in this match. Oskar won by DQ after Dreissker hit him with Shattered Dreams (ala Dustin Rhodes). Afterwards, the ring announcer said that Harras didn’t want the match to end that way; he decided to make a rematch in the form of a street fight. No score.
Match #8: Robert Dreissker defeated Oskar in a street fight.
Steel chairs (including those broken by Dreissker), a standing room table, a bar stool, a toolbox (not including a set of tools that Dreissker took out as soon as he grabbed the box from under the ring), a couple t-shirts (including Oskar’s own “Fale” shirt), and an 8x10 photo were used as weapons in this match. During the match, Oskar sent Dreissker into the post head first twice, busting him open. Towards the end, Dreissker attempted to hit Oskar with a chair, but missed and the chair ricocheted off the top rope and into Dreissker before Oskar hit him with a Michinoku driver for two. Then, Oskar attempted to hit Dreissker with Shattered Dreams until Dreissker—after uncovering the middle turnbuckle—begged for mercy before Oskar unknowingly kicked the exposed turnbuckle; this led to Dreissker hitting Oskar with two more chairs including one chair on top of another on Oskar’s leg, and then incapacitated him with a camel clutch. After the match, Dreissker put Oskar in another camel clutch, then got out of the ring, took a hammer from the toolbox, and then the wXw Academy Cup; Dreissker then destroyed the cup with the hammer next to the recovering Oskar before walking off. My score: 3.25/5
Main event: Tristan Archer defeated Jurn Simmons to become the new wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion.
Near the end, Archer hit Simmons with La Terreur but Simmons was still standing; Simmons attempted to hit Archer with a spear until Archer made the referee take the bullet. Then, Rott und Flott ran in and attacked Simmons until Levaniel ran in and fought the tag team out of the ring with the belt; Archer and Levaniel would then have a tug-of-war with the belt until Levaniel accidentally hit Simmons with it before Archer fought Levaniel out of the ring and hit Simmons with the Coup d’État for the win. Afterwards, Archer taunted the fans that chanted “bullshit” at him while either flipping him off or giving him a thumbs down and then taunted Levaniel who checked on Simmons afterwards; Simmons wanted nothing to do with Levaniel as he walked off while Levaniel watched in disappointment. My score: 3.75/5
Money In the Bank
Now that I got the belated recaps out of the way, we will head to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for the WWE premium live event (or if you’re old school like me, pay-per-view event) known as Money In the Bank. To quote the late Elvis Presley, Viva Las Vegas!
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This venue in Las Vegas is no stranger to professional wrestling. In 1994, UWF—Universal Wrestling Federation—hosted the television event Blackjack Brawl. Then, from 1996 to 2000, WCW used this venue for their events including Halloween Havoc which is nowadays part of NXT. Approximately 19 years later, AEW—months before they had TV shows Dynamite, Rampage and Dark—hosted its first ever pay-per-view event known as Double or Nothing.
Moving forward to July 2, 2022, the MGM Grand Garden Arena held its first ever WWE event; this event was originally scheduled to be at the Allegiant Stadium, where Summer Slam took place last year, in the same city before the move from one venue to another was made.
This event—which is nowadays as big as Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Summer Slam and Survivor Series—not only had two Money In the Bank ladder matches, but also four title matches…well, five as you’ll see shortly.
To me, both the men’s and women’s MITB ladder matches were very good; I liked the men’s match more. For the women’s MITB ladder match, I saw some crowd-pleasing moments from tops of the ladders to the ringside area, including those that overshadowed few awkward moments that occurred, especially those done by Shotzi such as botching Shelton Benjamin’s running up the ladder maneuver in a corner. Other than that, it was still an enjoyable match.
The men’s MITB ladder match was even better as I noted, not just with moments from—and please forgive me if I sound like a broken record—tops of the ladders to the ringside area, but also dealing with two wildcards in the match; one wildcard was of course Omos whom I’m pretty sure was going to use a much larger ladder like the Big Show (nowadays fighting by his real life name Paul Wight in AEW) did over a decade ago, and the other was an addition to the match that lost a championship belt early in the night. Aside from the ladder matches, my favorite championship match of the night would go to the Usos defending the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship against the Street Profits. It was a great back-and-forth match for the belts, even with moments of seeing both teams closing in on winning the championship. The only thing that made this match go awry was the end of the match that today’s generations would call an epic fail. Despite the ending, it was my favorite match of this event.
Here are the match results from Las Vegas…
Match #1: Liv Morgan defeated Becky Lynch, Asuka, Raquel Rodriguez, Lacey Evans, Shotzi and Alexa Bliss in a Money In the Bank ladder match.
During the match, after Lacey knocked Shotzi off the ladder, she climbed to the top until Raquel clung onto her to stop her; this led to Liv surprising the two—especially Lacey—by hitting Lacey with a sunset flip powerbomb off the ladder. Later on, Raquel fought Asuka at ringside before bridging a ladder between the ring and announce table; Asuka clung onto Raquel as if she was going to hit her with a crucifix driver until Becky took down the two with Asuka landed on the ladder, and then Becky climbed up a tall ladder and hit Asuka who was still lying on the ladder. Near the end, Raquel and Shotzi fought at one ladder while Alexa and Lacey fought on another ladder, and Becky climbed up a taller ladder after knocking down both ladders and all four women, then noticed Liv climbing up next to her; Becky kicked the ladder—with Liv—away until Liv ricocheted off the ropes—as if she were Kofi Kingston saving himself during the Royal Rumble—and knocked Becky off the ladder before Liv climbed up, grabbed the briefcase, and won. Becky was beside herself afterwards, rambling as if she was going to have a panic attack. My score: 3.5/5
Match #2: “The All Mighty” Bobby Lashley defeated Theory to become the new WWE United States Champion.
Towards the end, Lashley lifted up Theory until Theory raked his eyes before hitting him with a spear. Theory then went for the A-Town Down until Lashley countered with the Hurt Lock; Theory tapped out, and Lashley won. My score: 3.25/5
Match #3: Bianca Belair defeated Carmella to retain the Raw Women’s Championship after hitting her with the K.O.D. Post-match, Carmella beat down Bianca who was celebrating before storming off. My score: 2/5
Match #4: The Usos defeated the Street Profits to retain the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship.
Before the match started, the Usos said that they felt lucky in Las Vegas, calling Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins “the twos” before calling each other “the ones.” Then, the Street Profits came to the ring through the crowd; I believe the last time they did so was at Elimination Chamber in 2020. During the match, Ford and Dawkins had the fans chant “suck it” while taunting Jimmy and Jey Uso; fans would then chant “McAfee” to Pat McAfee later on. The Usos won after hitting Ford with the 1D, even though the referee missed Ford’s shoulder being up during the three count. My score: 4/5
Match #5: Ronda Rousey defeated Natalya to retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Natalya handed a pair of sunglasses to a kid ala Bret Hart who celebrated his birthday that day. Both wrestlers traded ankle locks during the match, then Natalya went for Ronda’s armbar until Ronda countered with Natalya’s Sharpshooter. Then, Ronda went for the armbar until Natalya sent her out of the ring, causing Ronda to tweak her knee; Natalya would work on the knee, and then put her in the Sharpshooter on the apron until Ronda kicked her into the post. Back into the ring, Natalya went for the Sharpshooter until Ronda caught her in the armbar while Natalya was still standing, causing the challenger to tap out. After the match, Liv Morgan ran in and cashed in her Money In the Bank briefcase. My score: 3.75/5
Match #6: Liv Morgan defeated Ronda Rousey in 35 seconds to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion.
Ronda put Liv in the ankle lock until Liv kicked her in the worked-on knee before rolling her up for the win. Afterwards, Ronda handed Liv the belt and it looked like Ronda wanted to pull it away from her, but instead she ended up hugging her and then raising her arm. No score.
Main event: Theory defeated Riddle, Seth “Freakin’” Rollins, Omos (w/ MVP), Madcap Moss, Sami Zayn, Sheamus (w/ Ridge Holland and Butch), and Drew McIntyre in a Money In the Bank ladder match.
Theory was not scheduled to be in the ladder match until Adam Pearce made the announcement as soon as all seven original MITB competitors were in the ring. Also, Sheamus sent Holland and Butch to the back as he was heading to the ring. Omos cleaned house early in the match until McIntyre sent him out of the ring with the Claymore. Then, Omos would come back in the ring until Moss and McIntyre fought him out before the two, Sheamus and Riddle buried the Nigerian giant with ladders. Later on, Zayn climbed to the top until Moss surprised him by powerbombing him off of the ladder and onto a bridging ladder in a corner. Then, Riddle climbed to the top of a tall ladder in another corner and hit Moss, Rollins, Sheamus and McIntyre with the Floating Bro from the top of the ladder. Omos emerged from the pile of ladders as if he were Godzilla emerging from the ocean before destroying a city and went after his opponents until Sheamus (with the Brogue Kick), Zayn (with the Helluva Kick), Riddle and Moss fought him out of the ring; then, after Rollins hit Omos with a curbstomp on the apron, he, Sheamus, Zayn, Riddle, Moss and McIntyre then lifted up the giant and put him through the announce table. Near the end, McIntyre took down Sheamus and climbed up the ladder until Butch ran in and put him in a sleeper to bring him down, leading to Sheamus hitting McIntyre with a pump knee; Sheamus then climbed up until McIntyre knocked him off by tipping the ladder before hitting Butch with the Claymore. Then, Riddle and Rollins climbed for the briefcase with Riddle on the taller ladder until Riddle hit Rollins with the RKO from the ladders; Riddle would then climb back up before encountering Theory who would then fight him off, grab the briefcase, and win. My score: 3.75/5
ICW Fight Club
We now head to the GPWA in Glasgow, Scotland in the United Kingdom for an episode of ICW Fight Club.
A couple more matches have been made for Shug’s Hoose Party 7, and this time, they are in a form of a three-way dance and a tag team match.
During an episode of Vibes with Luke Kyro, Kyro noted that he, Theo Doros—who was his guest for the episode—and LJ Cleary will fight in a three-way dance for a shot at the ICW Zero-G Championship which is of course the same belt that Dylan Thorn and Daz Black are fighting for in a ladder match at that same event.
The other match made for SHP7 is for the ICW Tag Team Championship. Lou King Sharp and Krieger returned to tag team action this week, and accused the Kings of the North for ducking them and not having the balls to either fight them or show up at the GPWA. Then, after competing in this week’s main event against the Young Team, Sharp and Krieger announced that they were going after the Kings of the North for the tag team championship. I honestly would love to see Sharp and Krieger go for the gold, especially when it comes to dealing with the hard hitting team of Bonesaw and Damien Corvin who have gone through many teams in each special event as well as Fight Club episode; even though we have seen the Kings of the North make each of their championship matches look like cakewalks, I doubt that this will be an easy way out for the duo when they clash with Sharp and Krieger even if Sharp’s hardcore wrestling-loving antics come into play.
Bringing back Vibes with Luke Kyro in this next paragraph, Kez Evans is currently on vacation—as suggested by DCT weeks ago—in Mexico. When Jack Jester appeared on the episode of Vibes uninvited, he was searching for the ICW World Heavyweight Champion until Evans appeared on video. In the video, he was carrying an envelope with ₤10,000 inside; giving us flashbacks to 2003 when Triple H was targeting Goldberg while leading Evolution, Evans issued a bounty—for the amount of money that he was carrying—to anyone who could take out Jester before SHP7. As soon as the bounty was announced, Theo Doros attempted to blindside Evans with a steel chair until Jester saw with his metaphoric eyes on the back of his head and beat down the “wrestling god”; later on, Charles Vyce of Thatcher’s Cabinet—after calling his leader Thatcher Wright on the cell phone about it while he was training for his SHP7 match against Chris Bungard—attempted to take down Jester in the hallway, but ended up in a moment that may have been seen in Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, Disney shorts, and other cartoons from before my time as Vyce ended up crashing into a wall. Personally, I doubt that anyone will take out Jester as he’s almost a month away from fighting Evans for the title, but you may never know when it comes to pro wrestling storylines.
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There were three great matches that took place on this week’s episode of ICW Fight Club, and my favorite of the three would have to go to the opening bout between Jason Reed and BT Gunn. In this match, we saw Gunn being able to have cooler heads prevail after seeing him become a loose cannon as of late, and also saw Reed appearing to be siding with Andy Wild—who wasn’t at ringside for this match—more than with Coach Trip. In the end, it was the current ICW King of Insanity that was the winner even during and after an argument Reed had with his coach. Not only did we see a possible wedge being driven into the Reed/Trip teamwork after seeing Wild tag along with the two, but also see Gunn give himself a good advantage heading into the King of Insanity match against Square Go! briefcase holder Leyton Buzzard at SHP7.
Here are the match results from Glasgow…
Match #1: BT Gunn defeated Jason Reed (w/ Coach Trip).
Leyton Buzzard joined Billy Kirkwood and James R. Kennedy on commentary as soon as the bell rang. Near the end, Reed hit Gunn with an Olympic slam, but instead of going for the pin, he wanted to hit Gunn with Andy Wild’s Dad Bomb; Reed missed, leading to Gunn winning with a running basement enzuigiri. Afterwards, Wild approached Reed and told him to stop listening to Trip until the coach appeared and told Reed to stop listening to Wild; both Wild and Trip argued until Reed told them to STFU and said that he was on his own before storming out of the venue. My score: 4/5
Match #2: Eddie Castle (w/ ADM and Dylan Thorn) defeated Daz Black.
Castle worked on Black’s left leg during the match. Black went for the Curbstomp, but missed and hurt his worked leg, allowing Castle to put him in a reverse cloverleaf with a grapevine added to it; Black tapped out and Castle won. My score: 3.5/5
Main event: Lou King Sharp & Krieger defeated the Young Team (w/ the Wee Man).
Before the match started, the Wee Man said that there was no shame in Logan Smith and Jimmy Pierce losing to the Kings of the North because they’re back in tag team contention; he would then jokingly have trouble with Krieger’s name (including calling him “Kryback” at one point), and was then surprised to learn that Pierce and Sharp are cousins. Then, the Wee Man called this match a “family feud” until Sharp went after him before both teams brawled. The team of Sharp and Krieger won after hitting Smith with a wheelbarrow slam/top rope bulldog combo. Afterwards, both teams showed respect to each other, then Sharp berated the Kings of the North for not having the sack to put the ICW Tag Team Championship on the line or show up as soon as he and Krieger arrived, then challenged them to a match for the belts at Shug’s Hoose Party 7. 8My score: 3.5/5*
NXT 2.0: The Great American Bash
We now head to Orlando, Florida in the United States for the 2022 edition of the NXT special known as “The Great American Bash.”
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Named after a former WCW and WWE pay-per-view event, this is the third time that NXT had a special episode known as “The Great American Bash.” The first time they did it was in 2020—two episodes long—at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida where then-future NXT and WWE superstars served as the audience. One year later, it ended up being one episode long as the GAB returned to NXT in its current home which is the now former Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando.
This year’s GAB had four championship matches and two regular one-on-one bouts. The first half was quite shaky because I was expecting more from the first three bouts (even though I was happy to see newer champions in the form of Toxic Attraction being taken down a peg), but the second half made this special episode better. Out of the six matches that took place, I enjoyed the main event match between Bron Breakker and Cameron Grimes. Not only did it involve Breakker’s shoulder being targeted by Grimes ever since he injured him on the last episode of NXT, but it also had Grimes giving his all while not having a backup plan whatsoever if he lost. (Perhaps a jump to Raw or SmackDown for Grimes in the near future? Besides, he’s done a great job on NXT in both the black-and-gold and multicolored eras in my opinion.) Not only did we see Breakker emerge victorious, but we also saw a former NXT UK wrestler surprise us afterwards.
Here are the GAB results from Orlando…
Match #1: Roxanne Perez & Cora Jade defeated Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne (w/ Mandy Rose) to become the new NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Near the end, Mandy stopped a pin count by pulling the referee out of the ring until she got ejected from ringside. Then, Gigi and Jacy were making a comeback until Cora tackled Jacy out of the ring, leading to Roxanne hitting Gigi with the Pop Rox and picking up the win. After the match, Roxanne and Cora celebrated their win while being interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell, and Roxanne said that she’s cashing in her NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament win, fighting Mandy for the NXT Women’s Championship next week. My score: 2/5
Match #2: Trick Williams (w/ Carmelo Hayes) defeated Wes Lee in almost four minutes.
Williams came to the ring with a robe that paid homage to the late boxer Muhammad Ali. (The robe read “Trick Willy the Greatest.”) Hayes gave Williams two drinking bottles; one was filled with water, and the other was—what Vic Joseph believed it was—rubbing alcohol. Williams soaked his hands with the non-water bottle, and then rubs Lee’s face with them as if they’re rags covered in chloroform before winning with the Trick Kick. 8My score: 1/5*
Match #3: Tiffany Stratton defeated Wendy Choo.
Wendy surprised Tiffany in the makeup area, blowing handfuls of powder in her face before they brawled backstage; she then gave Tiffany a ride on a wheelchair during the fight before they got to the ringside area, involving a bowl full of potato chips and some hot dogs that were on a grill. Tiffany worked on Wendy’s right hand during the match, including pulling off one of her press-on nails. She would then win with a corkscrew Vader Bomb. My score: 0.5/5
Match #4: Carmelo Hayes (w/ Trick Williams) defeated Grayson Waller to retain the NXT North American Championship.
Williams did the presentation for Hayes on the stage, and Hayes came to the ring with his gear paying homage to Allen Iverson in Philadelphia 76ers colors; Hayes’ entrance also had his catchphrase “Melo don’t miss” in a form and parody of the USA Basketball logo. During the match, Waller tore a fan’s “Melo don’t miss” sign while taking down his opponent at ringside. Near the end, Waller went for a through-the-ropes cutter, but was blocked by Williams who ended up getting tackled by—from the crowd—Wes Lee. This led to Hayes countering Waller’s cutter with a Codebreaker before winning with a diving leg drop (now known as “Nothing But Net”). My score: 3.25/5
Match #5: The Creed Brothers defeated Roderick Strong & Damon Kemp to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship.
Strong slapped Julius—who was on the apron—during the match, leading to Brutus getting distracted before Strong struck him with two jumping knees for a two count. The Creed Brothers won after Julius hit Kemp with a rolling spinebuster followed by a basement clothesline. Strong glared at Brutus and Julius, who helped up Kemp and then celebrated, afterwards. My score: 3.75/5
Main event: Bron Breakker defeated Cameron Grimes to retain the NXT Championship.
Breakker paid homage to his uncle Scott Steiner, wearing a singlet that had stars and stripes like the American flag. Breakker fended off Grimes who had his eyes on the right shoulder until Grimes was finally able to target it. Towards the end, Grimes shoved Breakker shoulder first into the corner (like he did on the last episode sans the top turnbuckle exploding) before hitting him with the Cave In for a near fall. Grimes then jumped from the top rope until Breakker hit him with a spear for the win. Afterwards, Breakker celebrated his victory until JD McDonagh (f.k.a. Jordan Devlin) blindsided him at the entryway before hitting him with the Devlin Side through a picnic table. (McDonagh vs. Breakker for the title in the near future?) My score: 4.5/5
NXT UK
We now return to the United Kingdom, but this time, we head to the BT Sports Studios in London, England for an episode of NXT UK.
Not only did we see four matches take place, but also three matches being made for next week. Besides Noam Dar defending the NXT UK Heritage Cup against Mark Coffey once again, we also have two one-on-one matches. One is Oliver Carter taking on Teoman; this match was made after Die Familie has been unnerving Carter ever since his tag team partner Ashton Smith announced that he won’t compete for a while due to a knee injury, and Teoman, Rohan Raja and Charlie Dempsey have been asking Carter to join the team but Carter has told them several times that he refuses to join them. Carter then vowed to go through all three members of Die Familie one by one, starting with Teoman who accepted the challenge. Die Familie has been a dominant team as of late, not only going through competitors that fly solo but also teams; I’m curious to see what this Ezel-like trio has in store for Carter come next week.
The other match made is Amale taking on Stevie Turner; the match was made after Stevie poked fun of Amale’s encounter with Blair Davenport. It started off with Amale asking what Blair meant when she said she would “crush all hope” before noting that she—Amale—is “The French Hope”; this led to Stevie taunting Amale for what Blair thought about her until Amale challenged her to a match and hoping that Blair would be watching that bout. Amale has been getting a good push as of late even after seeing her clash with Eliza Alexander & Xia Brookside recently, and I hope she has more in store especially for NXT UK’s women’s division—including her opponent Stevie Turner—come next week.
As mentioned, four matches took place this week on NXT UK. Even though the matches weren’t that great, I was still able to do what Gordon Ramsay would do when both teams of cooks didn’t do so well on episodes of “Hell’s Kitchen”; in my form of Ramsay’s “best of the worst” picks, I picked two matches that were fairly better than the rest. My two picks for this week are the opener between Tiger Turan and Kenny Williams, and the main event between the aforementioned Eliza Alexander & Xia Brookside and Sarray & Meiko Satomura. Speaking of which, I think—after seeing this week’s episode of NXT—Chase U is coming to NXT UK. I predict this because a Chase U segment had Thea Hail asking Andre Chase if they should go to London; Bodhi Hayward refused at first until Chase thought that he and his classmates heading to London was a great idea. If so, then yes, I do look forward to seeing Chase, Hayward and Thea getting a taste of NXT UK competition.
Predictions aside, let’s take a look at the NXT UK results from London…
Match #1: Tiger Turan defeated Kenny Williams.
Seconds before the bell rang, Williams charged at Turan but missed and crashed into a corner. Near the end, Williams blocked Turan’s Swanton bomb, and then rolled him up with a grounded crucifix for two; he then read Turan the riot act, believing that Turan is actually Amir Jordan in disguise, until Turan rolled him up for the win. After the match, Williams attacked Turan and hit him with Bad Luck, then took off the mask until it was revealed that Turan was wearing another mask; Williams took off the other mask and revealed that Turan was—you guessed it—wearing a third mask until referees and trainers separated the two. My score: 2/5
Match #2: Josh Morrell defeated Primate.
Primate clotheslined Morrell over the ropes until Morrell shouldered him from the apron; Morrell then won after hitting Primate with a slingshot Code Red. My score: 1.5/5
Match #3: Trent Seven defeated Tate Mayfairs with the Seven Star Lariat.
Afterwards, Seven attacked Mayfairs and put him in a Figure Four until Sam Gradwell chased him out. My score: 1/5
Main event: Sarray & Meiko Satomura defeated Eliza Alexander & Xia Brookside.
After Sarray took down Eliza who attempted to interfere, she hit Xia with the Sunray before tagging in Meiko who then hit Xia with a buzzsaw kick followed by the Scorpio Rising for the win. My score: 2/5
NXT: LVL UP
Finally, we return to Orlando, for an episode of NXT: LVL UP.
Noteworthy, we saw for the first time ever on NXT: LVL UP (even though they’re 21 episodes in per se) a backstage interview—that occurred prior to the episode—take place courtesy of the show’s ring announcer Kelly Kincaid; the interview by Kelly was with Edris Enofé & Malik Blade. It has been a while since we’ve seen backstage interviews—pre-show or during the show—on a supplementary show such as NXT: LVL UP or the nowadays defunct 205 Live. I’m hoping to see more interviews like this on future episodes of NXT: LVL UP.
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Even though NXT: LVL UP’s matches for this week weren’t as exciting as I thought they would be, I still selected one good match out of the three. That match came from NXT’s women’s division as we saw Arianna Grace take on Yulisa Leon. Yulisa has been on a roll—ditto her tag team partner Valentina Feroz—in both singles and tag team competition, and Arianna has been showing progress early in her WWE tenure—especially in the NXT brand—as of late.
Here are the NXT: LVL UP results from Orlando…
Match #1: Dante Chen defeated Myles Borne.
Borne grounded Chen with a side headlock until Chen rolled him up for the win. My score: 1.5/5
Match #2: Yulisa Leon (w/ Valentina Feroz) defeated Arianna Grace.
Arianna worked on Yulisa’s left shoulder until Yulisa came back and won with a fallaway slam into a rolling bridging pin. My score: 2/5
Main event: Edris Enofé & Malik Blade defeated Damaris Griffin & Bryson Montana.
Before the match started, Enofé did his and Blade’s introductions, including Enofé calling Blade “Malik ‘The Freak’ Blade” and himself “Mr. Edris Eeeeeenofé.” Near the end, Quincy Elliott and got both teams distracted while entertaining for the fans; despite that, the team of Enofé and Blade won after Enofé hit Griffin with a top rope elbow drop (called the Enofé Elbow). My score: 1.5/5
Next time…
Once again, my usual four shows. I might even throw in a belated recap of part 2 of Progress’ Super Strong Style 16 tournament. (P.S.: Yes, I am aware that wXw True Colors is on Peacock this week; I will recap that in a later issue.)
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