Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted October 1, 2011 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 1, 2011 No. 3 - Dave MastiffScore: 493 pointsTotal 1st place rankings in 2011 votes: 52010 ranking: 2nd(2009=6th; 2008= 11th; 2007=25th; 2006= 24th; 2005=32nd)Last year's runner-up to Martin Stone, Birmingham big man Dave Mastiff slips a single place this year, meaning El Ligero and Zack Sabre Jr (in no particular order) will finish ahead of him this year. The former Dave Moralez is also one of the handful to have been ranked in the UKFF UK50 every single year. As well as being the top star in IPW:UK, the FWA and All Star/Superslam Wrestling have been Big Bad Dave's main UK haunts, though he has also made one-off appearances for SWA in Scotland, DPW in West Yorkshire, GPW in Lancashire, Showtime in Northamptonshire and memorably headlined Pro Wrestling NOAH's 2011 UK event. Mastiff started the 2011 UKFF UK50 as the babyface Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion down in IPW:UK, having run up a series of hard-hitting heavyweight wars with Leroy Kincaide, Takeshi Morishima and Johnny Moss in the first half of 2010. At the Kent promotion's "6th Anniversary Show" in August, Mastiff again retained his belt against Pro Wrestling NOAH opposition, defeating Go Shiozaki in a 20-minute blinder. He decisively put an end to his competitive rivalry with Kincaide at "Make or Break" in October, beating the London actor/rapper 2-0 in a 2-out-of-3 falls title bout. Mastiff's IPW:UK 2010 ended with a defence against the promotion's new top heel, Sha Samuels in December, but no conclusive decision was reached as the interference of Samuels' bitter enemy Terry Frazier saw the match thrown out.In 2011, Mastiff easily pushed aside the challenge of Danny Garnell at "No Escape" in March, and was then announced as a major part of Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling NOAH's UK return in May. Indeed, Mastiff was to challenge for the GHC Heavyweight Title in the main event singles bout, no less, against champion Takashi Sugiura. Taking place in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, the bout was a corking 20-minute offering, including The Man They Call Dave busting out his "big match" moves such as the incredible double-spring moonsault he had only performed on rare occasions before. Dave failed to take home the GHC gold that day, but was back in action later that NOAH weekend as IPW:UK presented it's "2011 Sittingbourne Spectacular". Originally set for a rematch defence of his Undisputed British Heavyweight Title against Samuels due to the ending of the previous bout, Mastiff's 2010 opponent Takeshi Morishima was added to the match to make a 3-way headline showdown. The two English rivals teamed up to eliminate Morishima in the opening minutes of the match, leaving Mastiff and Samuels to duke it out for the belt in the match that should have happened. Big Bad Dave's 15-month reign came crashing to an end as Spud smacked him with the title belt and allowed Sha to pick up the big singles victory. Dave, Terry Frazier and the returning Lion Kid seem set to feud with Samuels, Spud and their bodyguard T-Bone for the rest of 2011. Big Bad Dave's forays into All Star Wrestling have seen him face Shadow Phoenix, Brandon T, Tony Spitfire, Kid Cool, El Ligero and Domino in town halls across the country, as well as having an unsuccessful Heavyweight title shot against UEWA European champion James Mason and a series of bouts against Superslam British Champion Dean Allmark. As a top heel in the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, Mastiff has been established as a part of the promotion's nonsensical main storyline. As part of "The Agenda" with Alex Shane, Martin Stone, Iesytn Rees, Joel Redman, David DeVille and Colossus Kennedy, Mastiff has supposedly been working for hidden forces acting within the organisation of British wrestling. As such, Mastiff has teamed with his Agenda colleagues against "Resistance" members such as Leroy Kincaide, Sha Samuels, Nick Riley and Bubblegum, though has not featured on the promotion's exhibition events in 2011.What did the UKFF think?"Amazing match at the NOAH UK event. Does a better moonsault than Jonny Storm""The best heavyweight in the UK""Top matches whether it be in IPW:UK or All Star. He never fails to put on a good match""Looks like what a heel should be, reminds of a 1980's heel, with great worth ethic and great athletic ability, just a pleasure to watch surely even bigger things will happen for him""Dave is a tank with the engine to match, great look, great worker. Deserves his place in this list easily""Best big man in the Country, absolute pleasure to watch whether he mixes it up with Heavyweights or Junior Heavyweights he always manages to adapt and perform at the highest standard""whether working the British style (vs James Mason for SCW) or changing things up for other opponents (Pro Wrestling NOAH in Broxbourne), Dave Mastiff/Morales is possibly the most believable performer in British Wrestling. Able to combine power-based moves with a shit hot springboard-style Moonsault (amongst other things), he really should be working full-time Stateside or in Japan""Solid performer, match with Takashi Sugiura at NOAH was spectacular. Really has cemented his place as top 3 guy in the country""Best big man worker today. Looks brilliant each time. Would be at home in Japan""Needs little comment really. Fantastic. Unbelievable moonsault. Agile, solid, aggressive, credible, just brilliant. Everyone knows about Dave and his great matches. Deserves a high ranking once more, and will undoubtedly get it. Next stop surely Japan""The big man that goes and goes and goes""I haven't even seen his NOAH stuff, but he is pretty great""Great big man, does moves you wouldn't believe possible. May have stolen the show at NOAH in Broxbourne""Saw him for the first time live this year and he’s every bit as good as I expected, plays the monster heel brilliantly but is as athletically impressive as guys half his size""For a guy this big to be as athletic as him is ridiculous. Looks so menacing, and is instantly believable as the mean heel""THAT suplex at NOAH could be a reason alone to nominate Dave this year, but that would be unfair as the whole main event at Broxbourne was fantastic and like Zack it was great to see him on the big stage in a main event! There were some doubters in that audience at NOAH but when things got going and Dave showed what he can do, they and I were on our feet in amazement which isn't something that happens too often for me""The big man has excelled himself this year, everything I've seen has been great including his match against Shiozaki for IPW:UK that I've seen on DVD. Unfortunately I couldnt get to Broxbourne for that NOAH show and haven't seen that DVD yet but just getting to a point where he could have a match for the GHC title puts him up to the top of the tree""His NOAH match at Broxbourne was one of the best British matches of the year. Quality big man""Really had great matches this year. Seems to really have "got" telling a story about how he's the bigger man in matches, which crowds understand and react to""The true power guy on the UK scene. Really showed how he can hang with the best""Great big man, the best in the UK""Similar to CJ Banks except without the traditional body builder look. Looks like he should have been named Juggernaut instead""Mint (haw haw bloody haw - BBHG). Makes moolah""The thing that makes Dave Mastiff stand out from so many others on the list is how believable he is, he looks like would kick the shit out of you and then go and eat a live lamb.... that's what a wrestler should look like for me""His NOAH main event should be the match hat really breaks him worldwide. Awesome big man""I've never seen him have a match that isn't off the charts""Had a ridiculously good match for the NOAH tour at the Broxbourne show, and a really strong year for IPW:UK, spending most of it as champion, and ending the year with a compelling feud with Sha. Has an awesome look and a moveset that goes beyond what he initially appears capable of (Asai moonsault?)""Every time I have seen him, he has brought the best out of the opponent he has been working. Looks like what a heel should look like from the 80s and is amazingly athletic"Finally, this monster quote from Cobystag, that he posted in the voting thread, sums up things very nicely: Dave has definitely become my favourite big man in England by quite some distance. He began my voting period by having a fantastic match against former GHC Heavyweight Champion, Go Shiozaki. Had a great heavyweight contest against Leroy Kincaide that showed his improvement and stand out matches weren't reserved to facing only the best Japan had to offer. He closed out my voting period by having an astounding match challenging Takashi Sugiura for the GHC Heavyweight Championship, being only the second Englishman to ever challenge for that belt, and the first on European soil. I'm sure he was my #2 in my list last year, and I predicted he could only get better and eventually take the top slot. So... Why didn't he? Honestly, I'd probably blame the booking of the matches more than I would big bad Dave's involvement. He had a fine short brawl with Sha that got thrown out and set up for a rematch down the line. His next defense of his IPW:UK Undisputed British Heavyweight Title came in a lackluster match against Danny Garnell who at that time was only doing the one kind of match, and to see a guy like Garnell cheat and attempt to dominate a guy like Mastiff.... Yeah. And his IPW:UK Title reign came to a very disappointing end with such a sub-par three way match against Takeshi Morishima and Sha Samuels. I guess expectations were built too high after his singles matches with the pair, but the three-way never even came close to what the crowd wanted. Regardless, Dave is still one of England's best and that match against Sugiura will go down as a classic and one of the stand out matches of NOAH's first night in Broxbourne. I may even go as far as saying Mastiff might have been Sugiura's best defense against a gaijin, or at least coming close to the Giant Bernard match" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted October 1, 2011 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 1, 2011 Still to come... THE 2011 WINNER and RUNNER-UP: Â (alphabetical order) Â El Ligero (last year placed 4th) Â Zack Sabre Jr (last year placed 5th) Â I can tell you that one of these wrestlers received 15 individual 1st-place rankings in 2011 votes... the other received 14.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fye Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Still to come... THE 2011 WINNER and RUNNER-UPalphabetical order)El Ligero (last year placed 4th)Zack Sabre Jr (last year placed 5th)I can tell you that one of these wrestlers received 15 individual 1st-place rankings in 2011 votes... the other received 14....I will be gutted now if our champ doesnt get number 1 spot as I voted for him as my number 2, placing Kirby ahead of him for his versatility Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 I never 'got' Dave Moralez [as he was then]. I remember people raving about him when he teamed with Jack Storm and I'd think to myself 'I don't get it. He looks like an angy fat kid and Storm looks like his girlfriend. He's not even that good'However, he has evolved into a top notch worker, he's really got a grip on the subtleties and nuances of his 'angry meat-head' character and, while less clothing for a man of his size is not necessarily something I want to see, the decision to ditch the 'indy-rific' shorts he used to wear was the right one. Much deserved ranking for Big Dave in my opinion. A great talent Britain can be proud of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo9292 Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Well done to Dave overall. I don't know if it was but i believe it was when he went to OVW he debuted the Dave Mastiff gimmick wasn't it? Such a great hardworking guy and deserves the spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixteen Degrees Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Well done to Dave overall. I don't know if it was but i believe it was when he went to OVW he debuted the Dave Mastiff gimmick wasn't it? Such a great hardworking guy and deserves the spot.Yes, you are right. I think part of it was due to the US fans wondering why a big white guy from the UK had a hispanic sounding surname (Moralez). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo9292 Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 But didn't he have that stupid guy as his manager? D. West! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotlightmagnet1 Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 'Charming' Don Charles? I watched his 'Bring your jeans' match with Spud and he was bloody awesome as the dick manager you just wanted to see beaten into a pulp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobystag Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Nope, they mean a manager he had during his time in OVW/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishAndChips Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 'Charming' Don Charles? I watched his 'Bring your jeans' match with Spud and he was bloody awesome as the dick manager you just wanted to see beaten into a pulp.This guy was awesome tho , I'd love it for them to bring back SAS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixteen Degrees Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 But didn't he have that stupid guy as his manager? D. West!Yes, D-West was Mastiff's manager and sometimes tag partner in OVW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo9292 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Some how i've got a feeling Zack Sabre Jr is going to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Southside crew Posted October 4, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 Some how i've got a feeling Zack Sabre Jr is going to win. Â Â Me too and I've thought that since the very beginning but i'm pulling strong for Ligs !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra_gordo Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Ligero all the way for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted October 4, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 If Bieber wins, we riot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.