IPW 7 Year Anniversary Show - LEADERS VS YOUNG BUCKS

[Catfish Jake]

was there a big crowd?

 

Yeah, it was absolutely rammed. Biggest Sittingbourne crowd I can remember...

[cobystag]

This was without a shadow of a doubt the best IPW:UK I have been fortunate enough to witness live over the past year and a half that I've followed this promotion. This show proved that IPW:UK is in my opinion the best promotion operating in England, and I would go as far to say that this was one of my favourite shows ever put on by a UK promotion. Each and every single match had potential going in, and amazingly each match delivered. The card was built up excellently from a hot singles opener, to a fantastic first time meeting between two of the best tag teams in the world today right now.

 

Martin Stone began the show by coming out to the ring to address the crowd for his reasons to not wrestle against Eddie Edwards as originally scheduled, and The Guvnor got a warm reaction from a crowd that had clearly missed him. I do hope to see him return to the ring in 2012.

 

Scurll vs Allmark was a great choice as the opener. Scurll is a great fan favourite, and with the fact that this wasn't just a random throw away singles match but they were fighting for a chance to become the new IPW:UK Cruiserweight Champion in London in April, this match put across how much that opportunity meant to both men. The match started off slow, Scurll more vocal towards the crowd and brimming with confidence, but it was Allmark who picked up the pace and rocked Scurll with a fake dive out towards the crowd, before diving out for real through the turnbuckle to catch Marty off guard. The match then went in Allmark's favour until Marty managed to fight back in the match by catching Allmark off-guard outside the ring, lifting him onto his shoulders and then hitting a F5-esque move that sent Dean directly onto the ring apron. GEEEZUS~!! That wasn't the end of Dean as he continued to keep himself back in the match, managing to successfully avoid Scurll's torture rack backbreaker on a couple of occassions, one in which he was able to up-right himself in the air to land on his feet, and as he was up in the air about to hit a standing moonsault on Scurll I felt for sure that the match was really about to be his, but Scurll got his knees up. Scurll was the overwhelming fan favourite in this and it was the torture rack backbreaker that earned him the victory, but Allmark got to look especially competative and really impressed in this match.

 

The first tag match of the night saw Project Ego defeat the debuting 4FW team of The Tempest Warriors. Ego make a great and very entertaining tag team with their antics and determination to pull out the victory with every cheap trick in the book. The Saint got to look impressive as it was his strength and power that constantly kept pulling his team back into the match, but on this occassion it wasn't enough. This match saw some fantastic tag team wrestling with an almost Dragon Gate-esque sequence of moves as each attempted to whip their opponents into the turnbuckle, hit an offensive move of their own only for their opponent to move and then his partner is able to strike. The moment of the match and an absolutely incredible move saw a tower of doom set up at a turnbuckle as Trav's attempt to superplex one of his opponents, only for his partner to get up on the second rope with him in an attempt to stop Travis, then Kirby comes running across the ring, leaps onto their backs and grabs Larusso(I think?) for a huuuuuuuuuuuuge superplex. And to think, this was only the second match of the evening!

 

Nigel McGuinness' last ever IPW:UK match was a really anticipated match against Joel Redman, and the two managed to have a really solid technical match. The crowd really showed their appreciation for Nigel on his retirement match, and the methodical chess game as the two attempted to out-wrestle one another was really well received. I have never seen such aggressive hammerlocks and armbars as these two doggedly held on to twist a limb, as their opponent attempted to find their way out, only for him to have firmly kept hold of the wrist all the way through the roll up reversal. Nigel's eventual frustration as Redman kept keeping the advantage finally manifested when Redman charged shoulder first into the turnbuckle and Nigel, feigning concern gave Redman a slight reprive, before targeting Redman's shoulder with a vengeance, aggressively striking his shoulder and even slamming Redman shoulder first into the turnbuckle outside the ring. From there it really was a desperate struggle for Redman to stay in the match as Nigel worked his shoulder relentlessly, all building up for his trademark London Dungeon which Redman managed to escape from. After a failed Tower Of London, Nigel managed to hit the second one but only for a count of two to his utter disbelief. While waiting posed with his arm ready for a Lariat, Redman managed to avoid and score a lucky pinning position with Nigel firmly trapped beneath him for the three count. A very good technical match between two of the finest European style wrestles going today. Even for a very heavy hold wrestling match, the crowd stayed with it and by the end was 80% rooting for a Redman victory. After the match Nigel took the mic for a short speech and praised the talents of the man who beat him on this night.

 

Before intermission, Eddie Edwards destroyed Noam Dar. Edwards, the firm crowd favourite, absolutely mercilessly chopped Noam into oblivion. I have scarcely heard chops so loud. Eddie managed to outwrestle and out-strike the young Dar in the early portion of the match, forcing Dar into a dogged determination to survive and get back into the match with strikes of his own in the form of some stiff kicks. This match really was fantastic stuff. You had some great crowd interaction as Eddie played up to the crowd outside the ring, indulging their wishes with some more brutal and unmerciful chops with Dar pressed back against the front row. Some absolutely fantastic limb work as Dar focused his assault smartly on Edwards knee as he attempted to work his way towards a submission - One thing which I absolutely loved was Dar wrapping Edwards leg against the back of his other knee, and when Edwards had reached the ropes stretched out on his back, Dar simply full forced kicked at the shin stood up from the ring - And you had some really awesome strike exchanges as eventhough Edwards was the heavy hitter with those chops (how Dar's chest didn't start bleeding I'll never know) but Dar refused to go down without a fight. One moment of the match that really stuck with me was Edwards and Dar both on the ring apron outside the ring, exchanging chops and kicks. Noam Dar really did wrestle the match of his life and put on a brilliant first showing to the IPW:UK crowd that had to recognize his obvious talents, even as they were rooting on the former ROH World Champion to put this young kid away. And that he did with a single leg boston crab that ended an absolutely fantastic singles match that brought a close to a so far fantastic first half.

 

Will finish this in a seperate post tomorrow....... Edwards vs Dar was definitely the match of the first half and deserves to be seen when IPW:UK put this show on their On Demand website "within a week" according to Andy.

[Old David]

These are the personal ramblings of one elderly fan, many of you who were also at the show may well have seen things completely differently, especially those of you with younger brains and bodies. Please feel free to air those differences, and let

[cobystag]

And back to the second half of the show!

 

Going into the four-way elimination match it was known that this was going to be a brutal affair. This was billed as a "war" and with four heavy strikers and brawlers like Mastiff, Frazier, T-Bone and Ryan, it was obvious that this was going to deliver. However this wasn't just a war, this was total armageddon. This was like four super powers throwing nukes at each other. There weren't clear heel vs face pair offs either, T-Bone and Ryan battered each other just as much as Mastiff and Frazier did just to put across how far all four were willing to go to win this match. Almost immediately from the out-set the fight spilled outside the ring as all four brutalized each other with strikes, slams, chairs, whipping one another into chairs, into the merch table. With all three larger men outside the ring, Frazier even took a chance and came charging across the ring for an incredible suicide dive onto all three. The "match" itself was just more of a brawl. Stiff, stiff, SSSTTTIIIIFFFFF!!! Frazier was eliminated when he went to the top rope, and T-Bone snuck up from the outside to launch him down to the floor. Not sure how "over" the top rope it could be considering Frazier had already exited the ring via the middle ropes.... But still, Frazier was eliminated cheaply and his feud against T-Bone continues. Ryan and T-Bone attempted to team together to eliminate Mastiff but the team didn't last long, and Mastiff was able to make a comeback and clothesline Ryan over the top rope to eliminate him. And then in short matter, a Finlay roll and Senton splash later, Mastiff had Bone pinned for the victory. Just intensity and competative hatred from all four men from bell to bell.

 

I know a lot of people were sceptical towards the Lion Kid vs Samuels Title match. But I have to say, they really delivered a great match and worthy first Title defense for Sha. Kid started the match with a bang diving onto Sha outside the ring just in front of the entrance, got him into the ring to hit a succession of kicks, went to the top for a 450 splash that got a very close two count. Sha wisely rolled out of the ring to re-group and when Lion Kid went to the top rope again, Sha managed to crotch him and then pull Kid down outside the ring with his leg tied up in the ropes, and then slam the back of his head into the steel that connects the ring ropes to the turnbuckle. Twice. From there Sha dominated, but Lion Kid took all the Champ had to offer, and then began to fire himself back up as Sha dismissively kicked at him, rising up with elbows. Kid managed to keep the match more competative, even engaging Sha in elbow exchanges as he held his own against the larger and heavier man, and both even went nose to nose with each other as Kid really showed his resiliance. But in the end it wasn't Kids night as Sha did end up beating him decisively with a powerbomb, but this match was a tremendous big man vs little man match that got the crowd really into it - The RRAAWWRR sign guys at the entrances seemed to genuinely stun Lion Kid and the crowd was really behind their underdog(cat?) challenger.

 

Post match Sha called out Mastiff then and there, but it was all a ruse as it was Spud in a fat suit. This did bring out Mastiff who was eventually sub-dued by a three on one beat down, Spud spitting directly in his face, saying that the new trio now ran and "owned" IPW:UK, Sha was never going to lose the IPW:UK Undisputed British Championship and Spud was still refusing to relinquish his IPW:UK Cruiserweight Belt. I did feel that surely *someone* would have come to Mastiff's aid as the trio left of their own accord, but the pop when Terry Frazier finally comes out and goes after Sha, almost a year removed from their last encounter, will be immense.

 

To me, the main event should be the match of the night. It should either have a little something on the line worth fighting for, be a match that a lot of the audience have paid their money specifically to see or feature wrestlers that the crowd deeply care about. This match had all of that. The IPW:UK Tag Team Title's really are *the* tag belts to own after all the hard work The LDR's have put into these belts over the past two and a half years and the quality of the absolutely amazing tag title matches they've had in that time. The LDR's vs The Young Bucks was a real dream match between two of the world's best tag teams and as first match announced, this really was the headline match from the outset. And The LDR's are two of the biggest crowd favourites in Sittingbourne each and every single IPW:UK show there. So with all these factors, the match couldn't fail. And it really was a fantastic tag team match and my favourite match of the night. The Young Bucks were the first to show off their precision double team moves with their stereo backflips-dropkicks combo, they pushed matters further by shortly taking Zack and the crowd unawares with a dive as they were at the time battling Marty. But The LDR's quickly returned the favour when the match turned in their favour, Marty at the first opportunity diving after a Buck when he least expected it. From there we saw some of the finest tag team wrestling, some jaw-dropping double team moves, some of the finest submission and technical work as Zack Sabre Jnr really went after that trademark armbar of his. You had everything you wanted to see from a first time meeting, all The Young Bucks key moves, and The LDR's showed off their impressive tag team work. At times it was like watching Dragon Gate as you had some incredibly fluid and precise moves pulled off with split second timing, including reversals, counters, until you were breathless. I do love the fact that the match ended with the original See You Later after TYB were unable to successfully hit More Bang... earlier. The "Super" See You Later was getting used in every match since it's creation when the original SYL was a devastating finishing move, so to see it used again here was great. And the fact it was the finish meaning that the rematch will see increasing escalations as each team really have to dig deep to finish the other off.

 

Overall this was an absolutely amazing show. Top to bottom the finest IPW:UK show I have ever seen. 2012 looks to be another strong year for them and I can't wait for the Eighth Year Anniversary! I'm especially looking forward to Feb 26th as I will be able to take my fiancee to her first ever IPW:UK show. For almost two years now I've wanted to get the opportunity to be able to get her to a show and I know that IPW:UK will always deliver so I can show her the absolute *BEST* of BritWres.

[king_dezeeuw06]

Amazing show, hope we see LDRS vs Young Bucks 2 soon!

 

For me Marty and Allmark just about stole the show, but there were so many good matches to choose from.

 

Special mention to Lion Kid, he is on a roll since DG:UK!

[Snitsky's back acne]

Imagine booking a boxer to fight twice on the same bill ---- I think not!

 

I've seen a few Saturday Fight Nights or whatever they're called on Sky where the boxers compete in a one night single elimination tournament.

 

UFC also used to have the fighters work 2 or 3 times a night in the early days.

 

It's not that unrealistic that wrestling has its performers do the same.

[Old David]

Imagine booking a boxer to fight twice on the same bill ---- I think not!

 

I've seen a few Saturday Fight Nights or whatever they're called on Sky where the boxers compete in a one night single elimination tournament.

 

UFC also used to have the fighters work 2 or 3 times a night in the early days.

 

It's not that unrealistic that wrestling has its performers do the same.

 

 

You are not comparing "like with like" in either case.

 

I have no problem with wrestlers appearing several times if necassary in elimination tournaments --- so do the other competitors!

This was supposed to be one of the most important shows of the year and Marty was appearing later on that same evening to defend his title in the show's main event.

 

As I said before just imagine that happening on a boxing show --- I think not, and we all know why.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Imagine booking a boxer to fight twice on the same bill ---- I think not!

 

I've seen a few Saturday Fight Nights or whatever they're called on Sky where the boxers compete in a one night single elimination tournament.

 

UFC also used to have the fighters work 2 or 3 times a night in the early days.

 

It's not that unrealistic that wrestling has its performers do the same.

 

 

You are not comparing "like with like" in either case.

 

I have no problem with wrestlers appearing several times if necassary in elimination tournaments --- so do the other competitors!

This was supposed to be one of the most important shows of the year and Marty was appearing later on that same evening to defend his title in the show's main event.

 

As I said before just imagine that happening on a boxing show --- I think not, and we all know why.

 

Sure, but your point was 'Imagine booking a boxer to fight twice on the same bill' - it has been done, and against a fresh opponent each time [noteably in said tournaments when one fighter could not continue and was replaced by an alternate].

 

Marty competed in a singles match to start the show and a tag [where there were 3 other guys who, theoretically, could do most of the work] in the main event.

 

It's not really that far-fetched, is it?

[Old David]

Imagine booking a boxer to fight twice on the same bill ---- I think not!

 

I've seen a few Saturday Fight Nights or whatever they're called on Sky where the boxers compete in a one night single elimination tournament.

 

UFC also used to have the fighters work 2 or 3 times a night in the early days.

 

It's not that unrealistic that wrestling has its performers do the same.

 

 

You are not comparing "like with like" in either case.

 

I have no problem with wrestlers appearing several times if necassary in elimination tournaments --- so do the other competitors!

This was supposed to be one of the most important shows of the year and Marty was appearing later on that same evening to defend his title in the show's main event.

 

As I said before just imagine that happening on a boxing show --- I think not, and we all know why.

 

Sure, but your point was 'Imagine booking a boxer to fight twice on the same bill' - it has been done, and against a fresh opponent each time [noteably in said tournaments when one fighter could not continue and was replaced by an alternate].

 

Marty competed in a singles match to start the show and a tag [where there were 3 other guys who, theoretically, could do most of the work] in the main event.

 

It's not really that far-fetched, is it?

 

It is only "far-fetched if you are still attempting to maintain the illusion (we Old Timers are desperately keen to do exactly that) wrestling matches are meant to be viewed as serious competition between sporting adversaries.

 

If you ignore that illusion and accept that it is simply an acrobatic display featuring consenting adults (and I think you do because in your last reply you give the game away by saying where there were 3 other guys who, theoretically, could do most of the work, then of course anything like that goes!

[Snitsky's back acne]

Imagine booking a boxer to fight twice on the same bill ---- I think not!

 

I've seen a few Saturday Fight Nights or whatever they're called on Sky where the boxers compete in a one night single elimination tournament.

 

UFC also used to have the fighters work 2 or 3 times a night in the early days.

 

It's not that unrealistic that wrestling has its performers do the same.

 

 

You are not comparing "like with like" in either case.

 

I have no problem with wrestlers appearing several times if necassary in elimination tournaments --- so do the other competitors!

This was supposed to be one of the most important shows of the year and Marty was appearing later on that same evening to defend his title in the show's main event.

 

As I said before just imagine that happening on a boxing show --- I think not, and we all know why.

 

Sure, but your point was 'Imagine booking a boxer to fight twice on the same bill' - it has been done, and against a fresh opponent each time [noteably in said tournaments when one fighter could not continue and was replaced by an alternate].

 

Marty competed in a singles match to start the show and a tag [where there were 3 other guys who, theoretically, could do most of the work] in the main event.

 

It's not really that far-fetched, is it?

 

It is only "far-fetched if you are still attempting to maintain the illusion (we Old Timers are desperately keen to do exactly that) wrestling matches are meant to be viewed as serious competition between sporting adversaries.

 

If you ignore that illusion and accept that it is simply an acrobatic display featuring consenting adults (and I think you do because in your last reply you give the game away by saying where there were 3 other guys who, theoretically, could do most of the work, then of course anything like that goes!

 

I could argue the point that your original example of boxing being a 'serious competition between sporting adversaries' is fundamentally flawed but that's another debate for another time.

 

Even IF we take the point that wrestling 'maintain the illusion' [which I am as big an advocate of as anybody in most instances] then Marty worked a competitive match in the opening bout where he was not seriously injured. Is it not therefore plausible to assume he could work a tag team match [where, if it were an actual sporting contest, it would be fair to assume his partner, who had not wrestled earlier, could at least attempt to work the majority of the bout in consideration of the earlier match] after a reasonable rest period?

 

I mean, supposedly, William Regal worked shoot contests in Blackpool from the age of 15 against numerous fresh opponents with little to no rest periods in between, as did numerous 'old school' workers back in the day. I imagine nobody had much trouble believing them.

[Froggivizal_Version1.0]

Boxers have months long breaks between fights to train, Wrestlers go out and wrestle the next night. It's been that way for years and no-ones batted an eyelid.

 

And seeing as the WWE has done an angle where a guy wrestles twice in one night, and that was seen as completely plausible by everyone - it can't hurt that IPW do it, surely?

[Old David]

We are going round and round in circles here, I think we will just have to agree to disagree.

 

However in response to the points made it is OK to say that Marty worked a competitive match in the opening bout where he was not seriously injured. Is it not therefore plausible to assume he could work a tag team match, but he had not worked that match before the commitment to the second match was made. The two matches were "booked" for the same night many months earlier.

If one is supposed to "buy" the importance of the Tag Team title match, then surely it requires all 4 men to be focussed on that match, and that match alone?

 

William Regal working originally on the Fairground booths against various opponents is a completely different thing. These were not supposed to be matches of "equals" were they.

 

Quoting the practice of the WWE simply underlines how far away from the ethics of old style British Professional Wrestling we have drifted, and exactly why we should agree to disagree.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Quoting the practice of the WWE simply underlines how far away from the ethics of old style British Professional Wrestling we have drifted, and exactly why we should agree to disagree.

 

I didn't do that to be fair but, yeah, it seems like we're not gonna reach an impasse so we'll agree to disagree on this one.

 

Good debate though. Interesting to see other peopls thoughts.

[aosist]

I'm not a fan of people working twice on the same card either. The art of wrestling is one of illusion; making the audience believe it's a gruelling, punishing endeavour. For me, that illusion is shaken when I see Marty wrestling twice in one night with no major repurcusions coming from one match to the next. I wasn't at this last show, but I saw his Generico/Cole & O'Reilly double bill. I love seeing the guy wrestle, and one on level I was loving see him perform twice on one card... but ultimately it hurt my suspension of disbelief, and almost rubbed it in my face that it's just a performance, and that wrestling doesn't really hurt. I know it's fake (or whatever word folks use) but just like when I'm at the movies, for those few hours it's more fun to believe.

[gadge]

In the case of Scurll vs Generico, Marty lost having already had the tag match earlier. Good logic and also good backstory for a rematch.