Fight Club: PRO was back again in London on August 26th for its brilliantly named Capital CockKnocker 2 show. This was a show I was lucky enough to attend (my 14th BritWres show this year) and was the second Fight Club: PRO show that week. Fight Club: PRO had announced a big main event as Jeff Cobb took on Tyler Bate and PWG Champion Chuck Taylor was also on the bill, teaming with his Gentlemen's Club stablemate, Orange Cassidy, to face #CCK, Chris Brookes the current Fight Club: PRO champion and Kid Lykos.
Like I mentioned above this is from a live perspective so as always I'll apologise for any mark out moments in advance. Before the show started Trent came out to do his stick with the crowd which this reviewer will never tire of hearing. Here he shared a funny joke about Triple H. One I won't repeat (sorry folks you had to be there) and showed off his new Nike Kicks. Trent also gave us a little history lesson on why this event had been named Capital CockKnocker 2. The first ever was 20 years ago in his front room and shared some stories about that historic show. Trent then said he would be tonight's ring announcer and obviously he's pretty damn good at that like he is at wrestling. Singles Match: Elijah vs. El Phantasmo This was the dark match and was only available to the fans live in attendance. Both men worked hard and had a nice back and forth throughout the match. I'm still not completely sold on El Phantasmo. Yeah, he does good flips but not a lot else. Elijah on the other hand, I am sold on. He's a good solid hand who always has a good match. Elijah got some good heat working over El Phantasmo with some cracking strikes. After 8 minutes or so of solid action, which the crowd really seemed to get into, Elijah nailed El Phantasmo with his fucked up tilt a whirl sit down powerbomb slam thingy (I don't know what it is called but it looks tremendous). Winner: Elijah Eight Person Scramble Match: 'The Bruiserweight' Pete Dunne vs. Eddie Dennis vs. Millie Mckenzie vs. 'Session Moth' Martina vs. Charli Evans vs. Lee Hunter vs. Jack Sexsmith vs. Jordan Devlin The Bruiserweight was originally scheduled to wrestle Fenix of Lucha underground fame here but alas he had trans problems and was unable to make the show. So they booked Pete into this 8 person scramble which Trent had a snappy name for but it escapes me right about now. Maybe it's the fact I'm a little hungover right about now as I'm writing this a mere 16 hours after the show happened. Early on, the action spilt to the outside and all eight brawled all over the Bush Hall venue. Pete was throwing some great strikes at poor old Millie who looked better than the last time I saw her in Fight Club: PRO. In fact, Millie was the star of the show, but I'm skipping ahead so I'll leave that till later. Martina seemed to take a liking to Jack Sexsmith (obviously) which made Shay a little jealous. The two both pulled out condoms and applied a Mr Cocko to poor old Jordan Devlin. That sick fuck Pete broke it up by biting both Mr Cocko's. Pete sold it perfectly with a look of disgust on his face after tasting both Mr Cocko's. Eddie Dennis had a nice exchange with Shay and ended up throwing him with a Razor's Edge to the outside onto all the fighters, after the scramble everybody does a dive spot. Back in the ring, Pete nailed Shay, Martina and Sexsmith with a pedigree all at the same time. It looked sloppy but who the hell cares? It was an incredible spot which popped this reviewer and the crowd. It was the closing stretches where Millie was made to look like a star as she hung with Pete who worked her over with a number of sweet looking forearm shots. Then Pete nailed her with a pedigree and she kicked out but she couldn't survive the Bitter End and fell to the former FCP champion and current WWE UK champion. Winner: The Bruiserweight Pete Dunne Singles Match: Travis Banks vs. Omari Omari's big push up the card continued as he clashed one-on-one with former FCP champion Travis Banks. Omari took a beating but kept on ticking as Travis worked him with a variety of kicks and chops throughout the match. Omari was having none of it and stood tall in his exchanges with Travis. Omari looked like a star yet again and I'm loving the fact Mr Zaki and Trent are awarding him with this monster push. Omari battled back and tried to set up the O-Zone but Travis had his number at every turn. Travis got a number of near falls with a Slice of Heaven, backwards double stomp, Michinoku Driver and brain buster. In the end, Omari just couldn't withstand a Kiwi Krusher and was pinned clean. This was by far my match of the night. Winner: Travis Banks Callous Hearts (Jimmy Havoc & Clint Margera) Vs Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) This was another match that existed to continue to push Callous Hearts who are on a collision course with #CCK. Both teams gelled well but it had no chance of following the previous encounter between Travis and Omari. The Aussies looked good again out there but unfortunately, Mark Davis didn't do his fucked up reverse DVD Piledriver and I love that move. Before the bell, Kyle flipped off the notorious BritWres fan (let's call him DE) to the delight of the crowd. The match was a brawl early on and both teams went all over the building. Having already seen this scenario earlier in the show, the reaction was lesser than it was earlier on. The only memorable thing is Clint Margera doing a Cactus Jack elbow drop from the second rope to the outside onto Davis. Again, that deserved a bigger reaction. Yeah, it sounds good when they were setting up the match in the back but was it really needed here maybe Clint should have saved it for a bigger match (sorry Clint). The finish saw Havoc nail both Davis and Fletcher with a double acid rainmaker to pick up the win for his team. Winners: Callous Hearts (Jimmy Havoc & Clint Margera) CZW World Heavyweight Title Match: Shane Strickland (Champion) vs. Mark Haskins This match was originally not supposed to be for the C-Zed-W (as Haskins would call it) title, but Haskins laid out the challenge for the belt before the bell and like every good fighter does, Shane accepted after asking the crowd if they wanted the belt on the line. It immediately made this match feel more important now the stakes had risen higher. Early on both kept the crowd quiet with some quality chain wrestling. In fact, I think like a good crowd would they weren't being quiet because of disinterest they were quiet because they were quietly studying the clinic put on before them. Then both men took to the air and dived out onto one another to bring the crowd back to life. Shane came close with his rolling cutter and swinging cutter spots for near falls on the former PROGRESS champion. Haskins came back targeted the arm of the champion (which is logical). Haskins and Shane went to the top rope and teased suplexing one another out Into the crowd but Haskins slipped and fell into position for Shane to double foot stomp him while Haskins was tied up in the ropes. Back in the ring Haskins nailed Shane with a DVD and a Finlay roll and locked in the arm bar and the crowd and this reviewer sensed a title change but Shane just made the ropes. Shane battled back with a big boot, Superkick and another cutter to finish off Haskins. Like banks vs Omari, this oozed quality and both men should be applauded for the type of match they laid out and put on here. Winner: Shane Strickland (And Still CZW World Heavyweight Champion) Tag Team Match: #CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos) Vs The Gentlemen's Club (Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy) After a BritWres 10 minute intermission (meaning it was over 25 minutes long) up next was the return of #CCK as Lykos has been out the last 3 weeks with a shoulder injury after he injured it at Riptide wrestling last month. They got a massive reaction even if they spat water all over everyone. Lykos was sporting his sling early on which lead to some good comedy with Chucky T the current PWG Champion. As Chuck put his hand up for a test of strength but Lykos was wearing his sling. Then out of nowhere Lykos pulled off his sling and nailed Chucky T with a big swinging DDT. Orange Cassidy was in next and I've rarely seen him since his Chikara days I had forgotten how much I loved his "I can't be arsed" comedy. Brookes, on the other hand, was almost perplexed by how to wrestle someone who can't be bothered. 'Freshly Squeezed' showed no remorse or attempt to wrestle Brookes or Lykos then woke up after doing his praying rope walk and dived out onto both CCK members. Chuck was letting his partner get his shit in and I think he'll be more fondly remembered for his hijinks than Chuck, who could have pulled rank and demand to get his shit in but didn't. There was some more comedy as all four men and Shay spat water at one another and Shay was even hoisted up and nailed Orange with the assisted code breaker. Chuck gave Lykos his Awful Waffle which I've seen twice live now and it's a thing of beauty. The finish saw PWG champ Chuck protected as he brawled to the outside with Brooke's back in the ring Lykos nailed orange with another big swinging DDT then Brooke's returned and CCK nailed Orange with the assisted code breaker for the three. It was the most obvious finish and made the most sense to this reviewer. Winners: #CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos) MAIN EVENT Tyler Bate vs. Jeff Cobb Well, how do you follow that well with Tyler bate vs Jeff Cobb obviously? Thankfully Jeff made this show after missing the previous evenings show thanks to trains and these two put on a very good scrap indeed. Early on both men took it to the mat with some nice looking collegiate wrestling spots. Then things got serious as both men showed the other and the crowd who really was the strongest man in wrestling with some sweet looking suplexes obviously Jeff Cobb is the king of this but Tyler was not to be showed up as he nailed Jeff with his dead lift German to pop the crowd and the reviewer. Jeff gave Tyler all of his big suplex spots (eat your heart out Brock) and got a near fall off of every attempt. Towards the end, Jeff came close with a big double underhook suplex off the top rope but Tyler battled back and finished off the big Hawaiian with his Tyler driver 97 to pick up the big and popular win. This match was good but nowhere as good as banks/Omari and Haskins/Strickland but well worth a look once the DVD or VOD drops. Winner: Tyler Bate Overall this was another solid Fight Club: PRO show which delivered where it matters from an in ring perspective. As for storylines there only seems to be one real storyline in Fight Club: PRO at the moment and that is the push of Omari. It does annoy me they're not doing anything else and all they seem to do is deliver dream match not that is a bad thing it's just annoying there not doing more storylines underneath. Don't even get me started on the Fight Club: PRO title which is now playing second fiddle to everything else. I still stand by my assessment that Brookes shouldn't be champion (direct your hate mail via Twitter please). I explained why I thought this was a bad move in my stranger than Fixxion review. I still believe Travis Banks should still be the champion. Anyway, tangent over let's talk about This show shall we. It had some great matches on it and as I said it deliver from in ring perspective. It was great from a live point of view as well I'm sure the other group in Camden won't deliver a show as good as this 24 hours later but will it translate as well onto DVD or VOD. Well, I'll have to let you know. As always I'll say go buy the DVD or VOD once they drop it's well worth the investment and finish with I'll see you at the matches. @Billy_Jay83
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Fight Club: PRO returned for its tenth show this year and their third show at the new WRESTLEHOUSE with a show called International Tekkers: Big Men, Big House. The show would be Fight Club: PRO's second biggest show this year drawing between 500 to 700 fans to a little warehouse in Wolverhampton. In fact, Fight Club: PRO had reconfigured the warehouse to fit more fans in.
This was my first experience of seeing this new venue up close and personal. It's a nice venue but it still didn't leave a much of an impression on me like the Fixxion. It will take time to grow on me but I like this venue but it's lacking that something special. This show Fight Club: PRO announced a huge main event as British Strong Style (WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) teamed up yet again to face Travis Banks, former ROH world champion, BOLA winner, former Super 8 winner, former multi time TNA X Division champion, PWG Champion and NWA Tag Team Champion Low-Ki along with another former ROH World Champion, former multi time ROH World Tag Team Champion, former multi time TNA Tag Team Champion, former PWG Tag Team Champion and former PWG Champion Davey Richards. Unfortunately, Dr Davey couldn't make the show due to him focusing more on his career as a paramedic so he was replaced by a man already booked on the card in 'Mr Athletic' Jeff Cobb. This was probably as big in some people's eyes when BSS faced The Elite at the DTTI Elite Friday show back in April. I myself really wanted to go and see Low-Ki wrestle as I hadn't seen him live since 1PW - Know Your Enemy in 2006. Ok so that was a lot of love directed at Low-Ki let's move on shall we with the actual review. This isn't like one of my normal DVD reviews. It's from a live perspective. So expect lots of mark out moments to make it onto this review. I can only apologise for this in advance. Anyway, let's get to the review already. As before every show Trent Seven came out and warmed up crowd with some jokes and then he was joined by Martin Zaki in the ring and they directed our attention to Twitter. It was announced on FCP's Twitter that British Strong Style would be facing Team Dragon Gate (Mochizuki, Eita and CIMA) and OI4K (Sami Callihan, Jake & Dave Crist) at the next double shot show (Project Mayhem) on September 22nd and 23rd. This made this reviewer very happy being a big Dragon Gate fan. Singles Match: Mark Andrews vs. Elijah Ring announcer Matt Richards-Taylor announced the opening contest would be between two Fight Club: PRO trainees. Out came Elijah who is a pretty talented guy already and from what I've seen of him in ATTACK, I was looking forward to watching him here. The next guy out was 'White Lighting' Mark Andrews, who was making his long awaited return to FCP. It was a joke this reviewer laughed at. Onto the match. Overall I can't say I remember too much from it if I'm honest. Elijah looked competent but there was nothing he did during the match that stood out to me. During the closing stages, Andrews attempted and failed to land his shooting star press which with each attempted was thwarted by Elijah. In the end, Andrews nailed Elijah with a Stundog Millionaire and the Shooting Star Press to pick up the win. Winner: Mark Andrews Singles Match: Mark Haskins vs. Kyle Fletcher This was by far the biggest and toughest match to date for the 19-year-old Aussie Arrow since his arrival onto the BritWres scene. He went up against former PROGRESS champion Mark Haskins. Throughout most of the match, Haskins targeted kyle's Arm but the young Aussie battled back and out of Haskins arm bar at every attempt. Haskins began to beat on the youngster but he battled back and showed his fighting spirit throughout by refusing to stay down from Haskins offence. Kyle fired up and battled back nailing Haskins with a number of big kicks for a series of near falls. Fletcher put up a good fight but couldn't overcome Haskins once he had him trapped in the sharpshooter, and was forced to tap out to the experienced pros devastating hold. This match told a simple but effective story and that is what I love about pro wrestling. Even though Fletcher tapped out clean he was made to look like a star on this night against Haskins. This match couldn't come any more highly recommended by myself once the DVD/VOD drops. Go out of your way to see it. Winner: Mark Haskins Triple Threat Match: Jordan Devlin vs. Mark Davis vs. Spud Jordan Devlin was out next he came out to mega heat and ran down the crowd for chanting at him about his big head. He even had senior official Joel Allen measure his head and Joel even said it was big. Once the comedy was out of the way Jordan called out the biggest man here tonight to come and face him one on one but he got something completely different as Spud came out and accepted Jordan's challenge. Devlin wasn't happy and called out another big man as he wasn't in the mood for beating up some rookie. Out came Mark Davis and we had a 3 way for our next match. Again this match was ok but nothing special. It featured lots of comedy but was more acceptable for this reviewer. Its place on the card was fine and wasn't designed to be anything other than filler. Young rookie sensation, Spud came close on several occasions to getting the pinfall but was out of luck. Davis did some cool power spots and Devlin had a tonne of heat as always. The finish saw Spud come close with a swinging DDT but Devlin kicked out at two. Davis entered and drilled Spud with his fucked up reverse DVD piledriver and covered him but Devlin broke up the count at two and threw Davis to the outside. Devlin then pinned spud for the three count. I hope Alex Shane was watching that young rookie Spud because I can't wait to see him in the FWA tearing it up with the likes of Doug Williams, Jodie Fleisch, Flash Barker, Hade Vansen and Johnny Storm! In all seriousness, I'm in love with this retro Spud gimmick. It certainly has a place in BritWres while TNA...I mean GFW, tries to figure out what it's doing with Spud. Winner: Jordan Devlin Tag Team Match: #CCK (Kid Lykos and Chris Brookes) vs. Extra Talent-ed (Aaron Solow and Ricky Starr) This was another #CCK match I didn't enjoy. My number one pick for the BritWres tag team of the first half of the year awards had another stinker. Yep, I said it. Hate me now on Twitter. Maybe it was because of Extra Talent-ed who I find have very little talent. They have go away heat with me similar to what X-Pac had in 2001. Remember Brookes and Lykos have been on a tear this year so far, but they've had some stinkers with DND in IPW: UK being at the one match that sticks out in this reviewers mind. This was one of them and I think people in the Starworks agreed thanks to gift of silence that was heard throughout the venue. Maybe it was the fact that it was a heel vs. heel match and it just didn't click. Maybe it was the fact most of the action was sloppy or maybe it was because both teams had no chemistry with one another even though both teams tried incredibly hard to put on a watchable contest. #CCK had very little heat which was unusual in Fight Club: PRO. Maybe at this point people just respect them so much they are not willing to boo them anymore even if I tried to get an "if you all hate Lykos clap your hands" chant going which went nowhere. Also, remember this, it was Brookes' first appearance with his newly won Fight Club: PRO title and people really seemed to praise that on Twitter and show love towards Brookes for his title win. It's not like I don't think he deserves it because I do. I pointed out in my last review why I felt it was wrong to have Brookes win the belt and I still believe it was a bad idea to have Brookes win the title. I hope at the next show they at least have a singles title defence lined up for him on the on August 25th or in London on August 26th. Anyway, rant over. The finish saw #CCK nail the incredibly annoying Starr with the assisted codebreaker to pick up the win. Afterwards, Jimmy Havoc and Clint Margera hit the ring. Havoc reminded us #CCK are the current CZW Tag Team champions and Havoc reminded us he had won CZW Tournament of Death. So he challenged #CCK to a Deathmatch at Project Mayhem with the titles on the line. Um ok then! Jimmy and Clint hit the bar and handed out shots to the punters while taking a few swigs for the working man. Winners: #CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos) Singles Match: Omari vs. Kieth Lee This was one of those matches that had a very satisfying ending to it and was very good as well. Early on Lee dominated the much smaller Omari with power moves and beat him down with clubbing blows. Omari was not to be kept down and kept making his comeback time and time again towards Lee. Omari wasn't staying down and Lee couldn't believe this young skinny lad's resiliency. Omari battled back even giving the big Lee a massive German Suplex and belly to belly. Omari was great in the role of the underdog babyface here and Lee played his role of big bad brute tremendously. Both men should be applauded for their hard work. Omari kicked out of Lee's massive moonsualt and battled back to finish off Lee with his O-Zone finisher to pick up the crowd pleasing win. While many who attended this show would probably say match of the night honours go to Fletcher and Haskins, in my opinion, this was match of the night simply for the reaction to the entire match. The crowd in the Starworks were 100% behind Omari in his biggest win to date. The reaction to the entire match was far louder than what Fletcher and Haskins were able to achieve. Omari has star written all over him and Fight Club: PRO can clearly see him as its next big star after big wins over Will Ospreay and now Keith Lee. I would hope Omari continues this year beating imports then next year put him in a long programme with either DAN Moloney or Pete Dunne. He's certainly deserved it and Fight Club: PRO's fan base and I treat this guy like the star that he is. Winner: Omari Barley Legal (Session Moth Martina & 'Stone Cold' Shay Purser) vs. The Worlds Cutest Tag Team (Joey Ryan & Candice LeRae) What can I say about this match other than I loved it? You're either going to love or hate it and I can say I loved every minute of it and it certainly lived up to the hype. I think the people in the Starworks agreed as they howled with laughter just like myself. Shay and Martina are a brilliant comedy double act and I hope both are here to stay in BritWres for a long time. I can't get enough of either of them. Early on, Shay refused to touch joeys penis but Martina was more than willing to touch the 'King of Dong Style's' pecker. Shay got protective of his woman and squared up to Ryan. I honestly can't remember much in the way of serious wrestling between the two teams, but then that was not what we had paid to see. In the end, Joey did his penis plex flipping both Shay and Martina but Martina battled back with a bronco buster for a near fall. Martina even busted out her own version of the penis plex doing a vag plex to Joey. The finish saw Candice drill both Shay and Martina to pick up the win for her and Joey. Afterwards, Shay was carried to the back and Martina did a sexy dance for some lucky stag in the crowd then out of nowhere DAN Moloney attacked Martina and left her lying to monstrous levels of heat for the man who has seen many things. Winners: The Worlds Cutest Tag Team (Joey Ryan and Candice LeRae) Main Event Six Man Tag: British Strong Style ('The Bruiserweight' Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) Vs 'The Kiwi Buzzsaw' Travis Banks, Low-Ki and 'Mr Athletic' Jeff Cobb This was the match that may have been the draw for some fans old and new to come and see as it was Low-Ki's first trip to the UK in a very long time. Early on all six worked with one another in the ring trying to get the upper hand. Then it all broke down into a massive brawl as all six men fought throughout the Starworks warehouse. The highlight of which was Trent Seven, hiding over in my row but I bet he didn't do that as he was stalked by some fans who were crying TRENT every few seconds while drunkenly falling over others to get to their hero. Trent made a quick retreat away from those fans. Back in the ring, BSS did its tribute to Triple H. Either love it or hate it, these spots genuinely work regardless of this reviewer starting to get sick to death of seeing it. Low-Ki was surprising here. He really could have phoned it in but chose not to by doing all of his signature spots including the shining wizard, tidal kick, double foot stomp and K-Krusher. The finish saw Banks mistime his Slice of Heaven and connect with Ki. BSS throw Banks to the outside and PETER drilled Ki with the Bitter End to pick up the win. Afterwards, Ki grabbed a microphone and basically said he teamed with some very talented performers tonight but next time he promised to bring his family with him to face BSS and added it would be with Homicide and Eddie Kingston (yes fucking please) against PETER, Tyler and Trent. Ki then got up in Travis Banks' face and the two seemed to have genuine heat with one another for the miscommunication which led to their downfall, but Jeff calmed the two down and both shook hands to end the show. It was a tease this reviewer is foaming at the mouth over. Overall it was decent main event. One I'm happy I got to see live and in person (take that Darren) and a match I want to see again on VOD because I thought it was great seeing it live but might, as usual, find some faults with it when watching it back. Winners: British Strong Style (The Bruiserweight Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) This was another solid show by Fight Club: PRO the Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Haskins match, Omari vs. Keith Lee, BSS vs. team Travis and Barely Legal vs the Worlds Cutest Tag Team all delivered as well as the other matches on the under card. This was a tremendous show to see live and can't wait to watch it back on VOD. I urge you the reader who hasn't checked out Fight Club: PRO before to go to their Vimeo channel and buy a show now or even a DVD from their Big Cartel store. It's worth the investment and time. Thanks again for reading my review. It's from a live perspective so it may be a little too jaded and will not read like my normal reviews. Thanks again and I'll finish as always with: see you at the matches! @Billy_Jay83 |
Billy Johnson25 years of watching graps Archives
December 2017
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