IPW:The 6th Annual BRAWL AT THE HALL, Sun 5th December, Sittingbourne

[Old David]

It should be pointed out that although Mr. Garnell did lose in his final bout to Mr. Stone at the 6YA show, it was his only loss in IPW:UK singles competition, period, and he is the 2010 Hardcore Lottery champion, as well as now being the Hardcore Christmas Rumble winner, finally eliminating Jimmy Havoc last night (full results to that show now online, ipwuk.com). Didn't get a chance to see those shows?

 

http://www.ipwuk.com/shop - go spend so myself and Andy can feed the kids.

 

MERRY XMAS

 

Your point is very well made Daniel, and I happily concede the point.

 

Danny Garnell is (in that case) a perfectly logical contender for Dave Mastiff's IPW title, and I am very much looking forward to the match.

[iamjrichards]

young LDN prospect Wolf Alexander.

Wolf is not an LDN prospect.

He is a paid professional that can be found working on occasional LDN shows amongst others throughout the UK and abroad.

Point taken about his relative unknown factor amongst the IPW faithful. Hopefully that will be addressed in 2011.

[Old David]

young LDN prospect Wolf Alexander.

Wolf is not an LDN prospect.

He is a paid professional that can be found working on occasional LDN shows amongst others throughout the UK and abroad.

Point taken about his relative unknown factor amongst the IPW faithful. Hopefully that will be addressed in 2011.

 

I've done it again, it appears. I suppose it serves me right for going one and on.

 

More apologies, I suppose. In mitigation I would say that "LDN prospect" and "paid professional" do not necessarily contradict one another (unless you know better).

 

Like most fans at Sittingbourne it was the first time I had seen him "in the flesh", and up until then I had only ever seen his name listed on LDN shows, therefore it was an easy mistake to make.

[Alan4L]

That Polish lad was awesome! He hit a sweet Exploder Suplex. Wanted to see more of him.

[iamjrichards]

young LDN prospect Wolf Alexander.

Wolf is not an LDN prospect.

He is a paid professional that can be found working on occasional LDN shows amongst others throughout the UK and abroad.

Point taken about his relative unknown factor amongst the IPW faithful. Hopefully that will be addressed in 2011.

 

I've done it again, it appears. I suppose it serves me right for going one and on.

 

More apologies, I suppose. In mitigation I would say that "LDN prospect" and "paid professional" do not necessarily contradict one another (unless you know better).

 

Like most fans at Sittingbourne it was the first time I had seen him "in the flesh", and up until then I had only ever seen his name listed on LDN shows, therefore it was an easy mistake to make.

Im sure Wolf wasnt deeply offended.

[Big Rob]

Some sample photos coming up, including one of Wolf Alexander (of not just LDN fame) and his exploder suplex. For now, this is how Paul London looked after his 2nd match of the night, more than a little battered and bruised:

 

[Alan4L]

WOW!!!!

[Sixteen Degrees]

Like everyone who has posted I really enjoyed the show. It was worth the drive back in the fog.

 

I won't go long as we've had a lot of in depth thoughts from various perspectives. I love how Old David adds a different perspective with his thoughts on here.

 

Firstly, All Stars vs. Leaders was a fantastic opener. One of the best openers I've seen in a while: great action, good flow, good character work, a clear heel-face dynamic for the kids and loads of action without being too much. It was also very different to their encounter during the Dragon Gate shows this year.

 

Andy deserves a lot of respect for battling through that sore throat, although again it might have been better to let someone else try it. I bet even Andy was probably thinking that the next day

 

Eddie and Mark had a very good match and brought out some stuff I've never seen before.

 

The post intermission 6 man match was exactly what it needed to be, and went exactly how it should have. An almost perfect US style storyline ending match. Wolf Alexander did enough to make me want to see more of him, and I loved how Mark kept selling his leg injury from his earlier match. Gordon played his role Perfectly, and his reactions when Haskins arrived to drive him back to the ring was priceless. I don't think that anyone has mentioned that when Gilligan was leaving the crowd chanted "you tapped out." His reaction: "What do you expect? I'm the worst wrestler in the country!" Quite a few people burst out laughing at that (reference to this years Shitarse list).

 

The main event was very good and helped to bring the second half back in line with one of the best first halves to a wrestling show that I can remember seeing live.

 

Well done IPW, I look forward to seeing what you have up your sleeve next.

[cobystag]

What an absolutely fantastic show.

 

LDR's vs All Stars III was perhaps the perfect opener. Fast-paced, storyline driven and excellent wrestling. I said LDR's vs All Stars II was my favourite all English tag match of this year, but that was to main event a show. This match, while probably not being as good as it's predecessor, knew it's place on the card so it didn't try to beat or even match it, it aimed to be the first match of the night between two teams who knew each other very well and it delievered in spades. And once again, Marty Scurll was on top form in this match. The LDR's did a long sequence of running the ropes and leap-frogging and diving under an All Star (I genuinely can't remember which right now, such was the awesomeness of this show) before ending in a percision times take down/drop kick combination that would make teams the caliber of Speed Muscle and the MCMG green with envy. Scurll also hit a corner suicide dive that looked mental and amazing at the same time. This was everything you needed and more, all 4 men were crisp and sharp in their work, they all have amazing chemistry both as teams and opponents, and they topped the match off with a great small package hold by Scurll and the crowd reacted accordingly to see The LDR's beat the team that bested them for the belts. Like I said, probably the best opener to a show I've ever seen.

 

I have to say, while I like Johnny Moss and think he's a great wrestler, I don't think he would have had as good a match against Leroy as we saw Martin Stone have. Stone just has this aura and charisma and strong connection with the IPW:UK crowd, and this was as good of a send-off match we'll ever see. While the crowd did lull at points during this - Something I have noticed in Leroy's matches in that he's popular and has his own natural charisma, recently he's been pitted against two crowd favourites in Stone and Mastiff so the crowd just feels torn and not behind Leroy as a big babyface like they should - The action between these two were great. And while these two are friends as evidenced by Leroy requesting the match and the sportsmanship before and after the match, during the match they were two no-nonsense heavyweight brawlers, one looking to become ace of the promotion, the other wanting to leave as ace. So this just ended as a simple match of them both just wanting to beat the other, mostly with brawling around ringside, punches and short and to the point power moves. And I will say Leroy's fighting spirit Spear was the embodiment of that. But in the end rather surprisingly it was a London Bridge that downed Leroy so Stone could leave victorious. I will definitely miss Martin and I wish him nothing but the best in the future. His farewell definitely should be an oft-featured IPW moment depending on if Martin can reach the heights we all know he deserves.

 

I will say quite truthfully I am a biased Eddie Edwards mark. But I loved his match against Haskins and would probably say that if this would have been for the ROH TV Title, this would have been Eddie's strongest defense by a country mile. I'd actually go even further and argue that this was probably the best match I've ever see Mark Haskins have in singles competition. And while I did really like his matches against PAC and Matt Cross, this was the true wrestling classic I expected. I guess I could say it felt as if Haskins matches against PAC and Cross felt more like a American cruserweight matches, whereas this match felt more like a Japanese junior heavyweight match. I think this match was the "epic" PPV-esque singles match Haskins and Lion Kid tried for in Broxbourne. But there were so much to love about this match. Some amateur style wrestling at the start. Some absolutely fantastic work on the knee by Eddie and some great selling by Haskins. Just a great back and forth wrestling contest, the crowd solidly behind Haskins (definitely the most I've ever seen in Sittingbourne this year) but Eddie seemingly having the advantage with Haskins weakened knee. Also some great set ups for spots in regards to Edwards backpack jawbreaker and a great dive out of the ring by Haskins. Just a really good, strong wrestling match between two very talented performers and even the finishing stretch was a worthy finale to such a strong match with Haskins eventually getting his tombstone variation for the win.

 

I would love to see Eddie back again next year. Probably would be too much to ask for March so we can see The LDR's vs The American Wolves?

 

All Stars vs Danger Bee's was probably the match in the RRC that stood out to me least. But that in no way means the match wasn't good, because it was, it really was, but the other two matches were truly something special. It feels like this is the match I remember the least, but I know Paul London had his working boots on and the Danger Bee's were such great babyfaces to the All Star's stronger and more aggressive heels. El Generico might actually be the best face in peril ever and there was such a great hot-tag moment. I do feel bad for really having to rack my brains to remember that much about this match, such is eventually writing about it four days later. But it was another good match in what was a full night of them.

 

The Elimination Match probably was the weakest match on the show by some distance, but there was nothing bad about it in the slightest. It was a very strongly character driven match that was the culmination of a feud on-going for 6 months, actually Gordon vs IPW:UK's faces/Sittingbourne going on sometime longer than that. Wolf Alexander didn't really get much opportunity to impress - other than to show off a ghastly unhappy trail - Before he was eliminated in quick order by Redman, making Joel look like a million bucks. Terry Frazier was taken out by Sha Samuels, putting even more fuel on that fire. Mark Haskins was taken out by a low blow. Rees tapped out to Redman's leg-lock in short order to make the move look dangerous - Something Tighe writhing around for five minutes never captured. Gordon attempted to be counted out, only for Haskins to throw him back in the ring where Redman toyed with his prey for a little while before locking in the leg-lock again (the only thing that bothered me about this was Gordon took as long, if not longer, than Rees in the move before tapping out.... Whereas if he was trying to escape the match to begin with, surely you'd take the quick exit and tap straight away?). And then there was a brief re-union of the original Thrillers as Haskins and Redman hit Gordon with a slingshot/superkick combo. I will say I had some doubts in my mind when Haskins was present at ringside while Redman toyed with Gordon, wondering if we'd get a Haskins heel turn seen as he never left The Thrillers on bad-terms, but it wasn't to be.

 

The Title match was everything I thought it would be, and actually worked all the better for being a little bit short. I said in my original thoughts on this match up that Mastiff's game has to be rope a dope his opponents in that he weathers the storms and out-lasts them, whereas Sha's strategy is brute force. But here, if Sha had any other strategy in mind, Mastiff made sure the match was going to be a fight as he attacked Sha before the bell and the two fought tooth and nail in the ring and outside the ring before Sha was going to use his trademark scarf on Mastiff, Frazier returning the favour from earlier in the night, stopping him dead and laying him out for the DQ win. This probably was the best outcome for the match. Sha and Frazier get to finish their feud. Sha didn't lose his Title shot and neither he nor Mastiff look weak. And this was enough of a teaser to show that Samuels/Mastiff II will be a great main event for IPW:UK in 2011.

 

And speaking of main events in 2011, Garnell/Mastiff doesn't really entice me on paper. But then I've only seen Garnell twice - Both in brawls with Martin Stone - But I do wonder if his match with Mastiff will be anything more than a heavyweight slug fest?

 

And then the main event. Dear God the main event. Okay so The LDR's and Danger Bee's are having a wrestling match, there's a little tension as the winner of this match win the Tag Title's, but so far it's just been a back and forth wrestling contest, although The LDR's did themselves no favours by ragging on the OLE! pose/shout. But then.... Generico and Marty get into a bit of a scrap exchanging blows and then one of the hardest slaps to the face from Generico to Marty sends him down to his knees and then EVERYBODY WANTS TO HURT EVERYONE! All four are now outside the ring battering the shit out of each other as their must have been a simultanious black out and all of them see Red. I was thinking to myself whie it was happening that the slap exchange between Generico and Marty would signal the match to turn up another gear, but I don't think I expected the madness that ensued (And the picture of London above is testament to that). And from that point forward, everything was thrown with so much force behind it, and every single move became something that could end the match. Generico and Sabre (I want to say?) hit simultanious dives to their opponents on the outside. The LDR's set up for a Super See You Later, but The Danger Bee's countered and hit a SSYL of their own(!!!!!!!!). Generico and London hit the Brainbuster/Shooting Star Press combo but didn't get the win. The LDR's hit another SSYL but London broke up the pinfall. Eventually it took both Sabre and Scurll caving Generico's skull in with kicks to get the win and reclaim the Title's. An absolutely fantastic and fitting main event. During the early stages of the match I was worried I'd hyped myself up for this match too much and that surely it wouldn't be able to better LDR's/All Stars III and Edwards/Haskins...... But I think it did. Oh yes it did.

 

As many have already summised, IPW:UK is *THE* wrestling promotion in England right now. I encourage everyone to purchase this show on DVD as soon as it comes out (I definitely am, hopefully it will make a great Xmas pressie) and definitely check out Sittingbourne Spectacular, Sixth Anniversary Show and Make Or Break, if just for the absolutely fantastic main event and second encounter between The LDR's and The All Stars.

 

Oh and as for March, if we can't have Eddie as well, Davey Richards vs Zack Sabre Jnr HAS to happen...... I will accept nothing less.

[Rex]

Oh and as for March, if we can't have Eddie as well, Davey Richards vs Zack Sabre Jnr HAS to happen...... I will accept nothing less.

 

Davey Richards vs Zebra Kid has to happen . I've been waiting for the rematch since 07'. As Zack vs Davey would be nice but he has to defend the tag belts.

 

Great photo of London, that guy is a warrior.

[Big Rob]

 

 

 

Few pics from the All Stars/Danger Bees match.

[DannRead]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Leroy vs Mossy the match something always happens to and doesn't go ahead?

[Sixteen Degrees]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Leroy vs Mossy the match something always happens to and doesn't go ahead?

 

Yes, it's the third time it hasn't happened. I believe car trouble and floods were the reasons for the other times (could be wrong). Even Andy mentioned that maybe he should stop trying to book that match.

[Mark Sloan]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Leroy vs Mossy the match something always happens to and doesn't go ahead?

 

Yes, it's the third time it hasn't happened. I believe car trouble and floods were the reasons for the other times (could be wrong). Even Andy mentioned that maybe he should stop trying to book that match.

 

The two previous times -

 

Injured in a car accident was one of them not car trouble, he missed a fair few shows

 

And his entire town was underwater, it was national news, so it was understandable

[Big Rob]

And his entire town was underwater

This makes it seem a lot more awesome than it probably was!