Review by twosheds316

THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
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Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
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Time to head back to my old stomping ground with a much-delayed review of the World Association of Wrestling’s Meltdown DVD, recorded last summer at The Talk in Norwich. Our hosts for the evening are Dan Ambrose and John Johnson.

Our evening begins with Commissioner Steven Howard-Platt introducing the match for the vacant Academy title, but he is rudely interrupted by Ricky Knight and Jason Cross, as they blame the commish for the loss of the Inter-Federation Cup to Team FWA, and of the WAW title to Alex Shane. As Knight and Cross threaten to beat the crap out of SHP, he introduces his insurance policy, none other than the UK Pitbulls.

We then move on to the bout for the vacant Academy title, as Rock Weiler faces Ty Tanium. A match which is a little messy at times, but then that’s to be expected from two wrestlers in the early stages of their careers. Rocky emerged victorious in this one, pinning Ty after a urinage to win the vacant title.

Backstage, we hear from Majik, still angry at Bash’s baseball bat attack at Who Dares Wins II, and promising to get revenge.

On to women’s action next, as Jetta faces Sweet Saraya, following on from their encounter in the women’s four way at the previous Norwich show. Fought over six rounds and over the best of three falls, Saraya takes Jetta to school with some excellent technical wrestling. But the English Rose doesn’t have it all her own way though. With the scores at one fall apiece, and after Saraya is sent to the outside of the ring, Destiny storms in and literally flattens Jetta before bad mouthing Saraya, with the referee declaring the bout a draw. A hell of a bout here, and once again evidence that the Sweet Saraya is the best female wrestler in Britain at the moment.

On to the grudge match, with Bash taking on Majik. Before the match begins, the Commissioner insists on taking Bash’s baseball bat away from him, a stipulation that Bash reluctantly agrees to. This bout is more of a street fight than a wrestling match, as the two rivals beat the hell out of each other, with a somewhat controversial ending. After referee Mickey Stocks accidentally gets clobbered, Bash pushes the Commissioner down and retrieves his trusty bat, but Majik manages to get the weapon off him and uses it himself, clobbering Bash over the head and gaining the win when the ref came to. Afterwards, the Commissioner sanctions a street fight between the two for a later date.

Back to Academy action, and six man tag action, with Dynamo, Malachi and Taurus against Rude Boy Roberts, Red Hellion and Dave Daniels. A great little bout here, with Roberts taking a pasting from his three opponents, until he manages to get the hot tag to Red Hellion, and while everyone else is brawling on the outside, Hellion takes Dynamo down with his version of the Canadian Destroyer piledriver.

Backstage, referee Joe Williams is about to explain the rules of the main event match, but he’s interrupted by the UK Pitbulls, as they emerge from the Brit Pack’s dressing room, saying that it’s a job well done.

Back to the action, as Ethan Moore takes on The Kraft. Before the match starts, Dan and John announce that the Brit Pack have been taken to the hospital after the Pitbulls’ attack, and that they may be out of the main event. Back to the match though, and a battle between two graduates of WAW’s Academy. Another good match, with Kraft showing just how much he’s improved since his debut in 2002, and Moore also showing some good moves and putting in a good showing against a more experienced opponent. Kraft got the win here, taking Moore down with a two-handed choke bomb.

On to our main event, the Three Stages of Hell, as the UK Pitbulls, the Zebra Kid and Zak Zodiac face Ricky Knight, Jason Cross, and Ashe and Crash, who replaced the injured Brit Pack team of Andi Rush and Karl Harker. Before the bout begins, the Commissioner is irate at Knight’s barbwire baseball bat. After some hard fought action, Zodiac got the fall for his team after taking out Cross. Then it was on to the submission stage, with Cross evening the score with a Texas Cloverleaf. Then it was on to the hardcore stage - and all hell broke loose. With the Bulk getting busted open and Big Dave taking him back to the dressing room to get treated, it was four against two, and the Zebra Kid got the crap beat out of him by all four of his opponents. Eventually, the Pitbulls returned, but it wasn’t enough as Knight slammed Zodiac through a table, earning a pinfall victory for his team. Afterwards, Knight causes more damage by cutting off the Bulk’s prized beard.

The final match is the second women’s rumble match for The Talk trophy. I hate reporting on these bouts. Nikki Best eventually emerged victorious, eliminating Kharisma to win the match.

On to the DVD extras, and these come in the form of a Meltdown music video, the chance to view the show without commentary, and a match from WAW’s run at the Atlantis Arena in Great Yarmouth a few weeks later, as “The Showstealer” Alex Shane makes the first (and so far only) defence of his British title against “The Wonderkid” Johnny Storm.

In conclusion - a solid card from WAW here, with a few mishaps in the Academy matches, but as I said before, that’s to be expected with guys taking their formative steps in the wrestling business. But overall, a good show. Production wise, Pinfall just seem to get better with each effort, and although they wrongly called a few moves, messrs Johnson and Ambrose did a good job of calling the action.

To purchase a copy of this DVD, log onto www.pinfall.net.

THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail:
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
Official Sponsor: A-Merchandise - www.a-merchandise.co.uk - for all your FWA, TNA, ROH & NOAH needs.

A second dose of WAW action for you all this week, with a review of their last Norwich show of 2005, and my last show as their chief reporter, October Outrage VII. Once again our hosts for the evening are Dan Ambrose and John Johnson.

We begin with singles action, as “The Dark Angel” Ashe, still bitter about his title loss to Alex Shane, takes on the Kraft, accompanied for this bout by the lovely Kharisma. This was the third time I’d seen these two go up against each other, and I was expecting a great deal from them. They delivered. A good opener with Ashe countering Kraft’s Essex Bomb attempts, with Kraft eventually taking him down with his Essex Driver.

It’s the battle of the brothers next, with Zak Zodiac taking on the Zebra Kid, who brings along his new manager, Tommy Lee. This is the Zebra Kid in full heel mode here, bending the rules whenever he can, and getting tons of help from Lee as they attempt to take down Zodiac, who plays the role of the plucky underdog extremely well. It’s big brother who emerges as the winner this time though, as Zebra takes out Zodiac with a tombstone, following up with his Zebra Crossing elbow drop. Afterwards, Commissioner Steven Howard-Platt reads a letter from the absent Ricky Knight, who challenges Zebra to a steel cage match.

Then it’s on to the first title bout of the evening, as the UK Pitbulls defend their tag titles against the reformed team of Bash and Crash. When I saw this match live and in person, I wasn’t very impressed, and sadly, my view of this match hasn’t changed after seeing it on DVD. Poor execution on the part of the challengers, and Crash in particular, had the knock-on effect on the champions, with a poorly executed finish, with Bash clobbering Big Dave with one of the title belts to win the championship for this previously unranked team.

Sticking with tag-team competition, with students from the Academy in an elimination match, with Dynamo, Taurus, Sam Slam, Dave Daniels and Dan Tempest against Red Hellion, Rude Boy Roberts, Ty Tanium, Scott Fusion and Johnny Cougar. A mixed bag from the trainees here, although Sam Slam and Taurus impressed with their power moves, and a couple of the others didn’t really get the chance to show what they can do. After a ton of quick eliminations, Roberts emerged victorious taking out Tempest and Dynamo in quick succession.

On to the women’s division, with Destiny taking on newcomer Melody. It seems odd not to think of Destiny as a newcomer, but four years into her career she’s starting to come into her own. Despite a few moments of offence, Destiny dominated Melody in an impressive display, finishing her opponent off after an avalanche in the corner and a big splash in the middle of the ring.

Main event time, and the second title bout of the evening as Steve Quintain defends his Cruiserweight title against Jason Cross in a bout fought under the WAW championship match rules. What starts off as a sporting, technical bout turns into a grudge match as Cross shows the aggression that served him well in the previous shows, and this sees Quintain responding in kind. With the score at one apiece, and after some great technical action, the two men begin brawling around the ring, and Cross gets busted open after being rammed into the ring posts. As Quitain’s temper boils over, referee Joe Williams has no choice but to disqualify Quintain, awarding the title to Cross. Straight after the match the Commissioner orders an immediate re-match for the title, which annoys the hell out of Cross.

Backstage, a bloodied Cross gloats about his title victory, promising another win in the re-match.

DVD extras come in the form of the usual commentary options, and the three-way final of the summer’s Atlantis Cup tournament, between Rock Weiler, Red Hellion and Zak Zodiac.

In conclusion - I had mixed feelings about this show then, and I still do now. While it’s definitely not WAW’s best DVD release, there’s still some good action here, and thankfully some of the most controversial elements from the night aren’t included here. Production wise, Pinfall once again have done a good job, with announcers Johnson and Ambrose again putting in a good performance behind the mic.

To purchase a copy of this DVD, log onto www.pinfall.net.

THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail:
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
Official Sponsor: A-Merchandise - www.a-merchandise.co.uk - for all your FWA, TNA, ROH & NOAH needs.

They’ve finally done it. Having provided us with extensive MMA coverage over the past few years, Eurosport’s Fight Club series finally brings us some action from the Pride Fighting Championship, beginning with the Shockwave 2004 show, which took place in December of that year.

First up, Stefan Leko takes on Ikuhisa Minowa. A quick bout to open the show here, with Minowa quickly synching in the leglock for the win.

Then it’s on to former WWE star Giant Silva, as he goes up against Choi Mu Bae. Lasting a little longer than the opener, Choi dominates the fight, despite the fact that Silva had a massive size advantage, and after just over five minutes of action. Choi got the tap out win, applying a choke on the big man.

Then it’s time for Ryan Gracie to go up against another wrestler I used to enjoy watching in the old UWFI a few years back, Yoji Anjoh. Gracie controls the match right at the beginning, taking Anjoh down and dominating. However, there was a little controversy as the ref moved the action back into the middle of the ring, and as he tried to put the fighters into the positions they were in before the break, Gracie pushed him, earning himself a yellow card and a severe telling off for his troubles. When the action re-started, Gracie continued to dominate, but Anjoh did his best to stop Gracie’s attack. But it wasn’t enough, as Gracie applied the armbar, and Anjoh just had to tap.

We move on then to Anderson Silva against Ryo Chonan. Silva took the advantage early on, applying a rear waistlock, and trying to apply a rear naked choke several times, before Chonan managed to escape the hold and get into the full guard, pounding down before Silva got into the full guard position. The first round ended with the stand-up game, and this was how the second round began, although Chonan escaped a Silva take-down attempt. Eventually, Chonan got the takedown, and looked the better of the two as the round came to an end. The third started out very slowly, until both men began to brawl, and from out of nowhere Chonan applied a leglock and got the quick submission victory.

Then it’s on to a re-match from the Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament, with Mirko Cro Cop seeking revenge against Kevin Randleman. A fast one here, as Randleman went after Cro Cop quickly, but the Croatian synched in a guillotine choke for the win.

Next to Jens Pulver taking on Takanori Gomi. Surprisingly the two grapplers spent all the time on their feet, preferring to slug it out, until Pulver took one punch too many, going down after a strong left uppercut. The referee had no choice but to stop the match as Gomi was announced the winner.

Then it’s the turn of the undefeated Wanderlai Silva to go up against former K-1 star Mark Hunt. A fight that promised much delivered in spades here. The first round was a great back and forth affair, Silva using his superior grappling skills to take Hunt down, with Hunt using his superior power to get out of the situation, and then taking the advantage for himself. The round ended with Hunt bleeding from the nose. The second proved to be just as action packed as the first. Hunt kicked Silva down early on, before Silva grappled his way back, before Hunt again powered his way out of danger. The third round was action packed as well, even though both fighters were now tiring a great deal. Silva tried the ground and pound, but Hunt defended himself well as the round and the bout came to an end. The judges decision - Hunt got the win on a split decision, handing Silva his first ever defeat in Pride.

On to the main event, and out second re-match of the show, Antonio Rodgrigo Nogueira against Fedor Emelianenko, the two having met in the final of the Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament, that bout having been declared a no contest after an accidental clash of heads. The first round seemed more like a chess match, with two giants of the MMA world trying to work out what the other was going to do, although Fedor clearly had the edge here, until Nogueira took him down towards the end of the round. Fedor tried to keep the bout upright at the beginning of the second, until Nogueira managed to take him down in a closed guard, although it wasn’t long before Fedor returned the fight upright, before taking Nogueira down himself. The round ended with Fedor taking Nogueira down again. Fedor took Nogueira down again at the start of the third, before we returned to the upright game a few moments later. When the action went down to the mat, Fedor was always a reluctant participant, and the third round and the fight ended with both men slugging it out, and the judges awarding Fedor the fight by unanimous decision.

In conclusion - it’s great to see Pride finally make it’s debut on Fight Club, having previously appeared on Men and Motors in thirty minute segments, which never really did the shows justice. However, although the majority of the bouts were great, the production could have been better. The lavish entrances and introductions weren’t missing, and the usual Pride announce team, Mauro Ranallo and Bas Rutten, were replaced by Fight Club regular Wim Wanders, who missed calling a lot of the action, instead hyping Fight Club’s current competition. Poor commentary can often detract from a show, and sadly, that’s what Wanders did here.

Fight Club returns to Eurosport on May 8th, with the K-1 World Max Final elimination show.