BRM Reviews WCPW Pro Wrestling World Cup Finals (GREAT!)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews WCPW Pro Wrestling World Cup Finals (GREAT!)

Post by Big Red Machine » Jan 7th, '18, 01:40

WCPW Pro Wrestling World Cup Finals (8/26/2017)- Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

PRO WRESTLING WORLD CUP SEMIFINAL MATCH: Joseph Conners vs. KUSHIDA- 8.25/10
What started off as a friendly wrestling match turned into a slugfest as both men became frustrated with the other’s refusal to stay down. Throw in KUSHIDA’s work on the arm- including one hell of a finishing sequence with KUSHIDA hanging on to that Hoverboard Lock like a ravenous dog that has finally gotten its teeth around a piece of meat and not letting go no matter how hard Conners struggled to get out, and you’ve got yourself one hell of an opener.

PRO WRESTLING WORLD CUP SEMIFINAL MATCH: Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet- 8.75/10
This was by far my favorite match that these two have ever had together. They started things off by pushing the idea of how well these two know each other. They first did this with Ospreay going for the OsCutter during his entrance, while both guys were still in their ring robes to try to catch Ricochet by surprise because the element of surprise is key in a match where both guys know each other so well. Ricochet saw it coming and was able to block it and tried to turn it into a Benadryller but Ospreay ducked and we were off to one hell of a start. They did their usual opening display of athleticism and flips (once again showing how well they know each other by being ready for everything the other guy did with an appropriately flippy counter) all with their robes on, then during the “indy standoff” at the end, took their robes off in the most wonderfully “it’s ON, motherf*cker!” way possible.
After a dive they wound up on the stage, where Ricochet hit Ospreay with a brainbuster. Ricochet then cockily walked back to the ring to take the count-out victory, because apparently this match operates under New Japan rules where we only have count-outs when we’re specifically trying to create drama about a count-out tease. When Ospreay managed to sprint up the ramp and seemed like he would make it back in the nick of time, Ricochet decided to change tactics and intercepted him with a big suicide dive, then rolled him back into the ring, climbed up to the top turnbuckle and hit the 630 Senton pub Ospreay kicked out.
This was the beginning of the story shifting to one of Ricochet being cocky and taking his time following up on Ospreay. He would maybe give him a few stomps or something, then try to hit one big move and win but Ospreay would kick out, rinse and repeat. Ospreay would occasionally get offense in small bursts that were almost all targeted at Ricochet’s head, but Ricochet would eventually cut Ospreay off with a big reversal of his own, which also usually wound up affecting Ospreay’s head. They did a great job of keeping you guessing who would win their exchanges with some long series of reversals that did a good job of making this match feel like it was about “athleticism” more so than just “FLIPZ.”
At one point Ricochet went for a Benadryller but he missed the kick because Ospreay was so out of it that he just collapsed rather than instinctively landing on his feet like a wrestler needs to in order for Ricochet to hit the move. From here Ospreay was just barely responsive enough to make the ref not just award Ricochet the match by TKO, but he managed to get in one last big reversal into what was essentially a really hard victory roll for the pin, leaving Ricochet stunned.

“SPEEDBALL” MIKE BAILEY vs. PENTA EL 0M- 6.5/10
Kicks and flips and headdrops.

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN BRIEFCASE MATCH: El Ligero(c) vs. Rampage- 4/10
El Ligero attacked Rampage from behind to start things off but Rampage just no-sold it and turned around to face him, looking none too pleased. This was a lot of comedy, with Rampage either out-muscling or out-thinking the goofball heel at every turn until El Ligero got one over on him with a low blow and an inside cradle for the pin to escape with his briefcase.

WCPW INTERNET TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Alex Gracie- 7/10
Zack wins a great technical match.

WCPW WORLD TILE MATCH: Joe Hendry(c) vs. Jack Swagger- 6.25/10
The few matches I’ve seen of Swagger’s indy run so far have not been as good as I had hoped he would be able to be.

PRO WRESTLING WORLD CUP FINALS: Will Ospreay vs. KUSHIDA- 8.5/10
Ospreay is still selling his head and neck from earlier. KUSHIDA, however, decided to just stick to his usual game plan and worked over Ospreay’s arm all match. After a lot of working over the arm, Ospreay countered one of KUSHIDA’s holds by powerbombing him off… but unfortunately this propelled KUSHIDA right into the referee, who went down. While the ref was down, Ospreay’s girlfriend Bea Priestly showed up and was going to hit KUSHIDA with a title belt but Ospreay stopped her from doing so, and, after an argument, she eventually backed down and got out of the ring. This all prevented Ospreay from being able to follow up on KUSHIDA, so Ospreay soon found himself back in the Hoverboard Lock but was able to get to the ropes to break it up.
After that they sort of went straight into the big, fiery strike exchange spots that have been all the rage the past few years as that thing you do when you want something to feel epic, but unlike most times when guys go into that without really much build to it, these guys actually made it work despite the lack of real build. From there they went into you big, climactic finishers, reversals, reversals and kick-outs phase of the match, until we got a finish which had my jaw dropping in awe at the crazy timing it took to get it right but these guys managed to do it perfectly (and it played off of a spot earlier in the match, too, so it was even better).

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- the trophy was presented to the winner in a totally respectful manner and nothing untoward or controversial happened. I’m only writing this to be comment on the fact that the blocking and everything else about this had me certain that something would happen, but nothing did. Props to them for that. Stuff like this makes it easier to catch people by surprise when an angle actually does happen.

An excellent show from WCPW. Yes, the world title match was disappointing, but the matches that really needed to deliver here were the tournament matches, and all three of them excelled. This whole Pro Wrestling World Cup has been one heck of a fun adventure (enough fun that even though I’ve seen the finals of the tournament, I am going to go back and watch the American, English, and Rest of the World” qualifiers just for fun. The English one looks like it has some great matches, including ones from Ospreay and ZSJ, both of whom I have on my shortlist for wrestler of the year (beating Okada or Omega will be hard, but these two- and KUSHIDA while we’re at it- have been having pretty awesome years under the radar), and the American and Rest of the World qualifiers have a lot of match-ups that just look like fun (Keith Lee vs. James Storm, Bobby Fish vs. David Starr, Sydal vs. Ricochet, Jurn Simmons vs. The French Stallion, Jurn Simmons vs. Travis Banks, etc.). I don’t know if I’d like to see them do this every year, but to do something like this maybe every other year or so would be pretty cool. Props to WCPW for putting this whole thing together!
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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