BRM Reviews WCPW Refuse To Lose 2017

[Big Red Machine]

WCPW Refuse To Lose 2017 (10/2/2017)- Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

PRE-SHOW:
LITTLE MISS ROXXY & DRAKE vs. JAY LETHAL & AVA STORIE- 6/10
A solid opener. I can see some people feeling this was too choreographed early on, but it didn’t feel “choreographed” in the spotfest way so much as it felt choreographed because everyone was in position perfectly and everything was hit so smoothly.

MAIN SHOW:
STU BENNETT PROMO- good for what it was
For those who don’t know, it’s Wade Barrett using his legit name. He talks up the card, then announces that after tonight’s show, WCPW will now be known as “Defiant Wrestling,” and there will be a show back here in Newcastle on December 4th.

WCPW INTERNET TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH BEST OF 3 SERIES MATCH 1: David Starr vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey- 8.25/10
This was one hell of an exciting fast-paced opener that now has me totally psyched for the rest of their series.

WCPW HARDCORE TITLE MATCH: Primate(c) vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. BT Gunn vs. “Bad Bones” John Klinger- 6.5/10
This was a plunder match, but they did a few creative spots and moved several storylines along (Primate vs. Gunn, Bad Bones vs. Gabriel Kidd, and some other developments).

JOHNNY MOSS vs. LIAM SLATER- 5.75/10
Slater focuses on Moss’ injured elbow to get the win in this mentor vs. student match. The announcers framed it as a big upset and a big moment for Slater.

THE SOUTH COAST CONNECTION vs. THE PRESTIGE (Joe Coffey & Travis Banks)- 4.5/10
They had a short tag team match. The finish saw Banks tag himself in, resulting in Coffey getting angry at him. The South Coast Connection then took Coffey out but were quickly thereafter beaten by Banks.

WCPW WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Kay Lee Ray(c) vs. Bea Priestley- 6/10

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh.
Veda Scott attacked both women. She tried to give Kay Lee Ray a Snapmare Driver onto the belt but it didn’t look very good. She cut a decent promo saying she wanted a title shot.

MAGNIFICENT 7 BRIEFCASE MATCH: El Ligero(c) vs. Marty Scurll- 6.75/10
A very good match for the time it got, although I could have done without Marty’s attempt to cheat. It’s not that it’s not in character for him so much as it just felt unnecessary. I also could have done without Travis Banks grabbing Scurll right in front of the referee without a DQ being called. The pacing here was really good and the match was mostly a fun match with a heel getting some comeuppance.

KISS MY ASS MATCH: Martin Kirby vs. Alex Gracie- 0.25/10
Gracie jumped the bell on Kirby from behind by trying to pin him with a backslide but Kirby was able to counter it and rolled Gracie up for a nearfall. I thought that was a great way to start the match, and is the sole reason I didn’t give this a dud. They did some eh stuff from there until Kirtby went for his Zoidberg Elbow and, as always, missed it, which makes him look like an idiot. Then Gracie went to pick Kirby up but Kirby just picked him up for a delayed vertical suplex instead… so what was the point of hi missing the elbow? Rather than actually hit a suplex, though, Kirby- the babyface, but Gracie back down on his feet and poked him in the eyes. We got a ref bump and Gracie tried to take advantage of it to win via Eddie Guerrero but Kirby then also did the Eddie Guerrero, and because the chair was around Kirby’s neck, the ref awarded him the win by DQ even though he didn’t really win. You could say that this is poetic justice because Gracie had been trying to cheat Kirby out of the win the same way, but if you’re going to do that then you really shouldn’t have the babyface be the one to cheat first (and especially not right before that). Things then got even worse as Kirby was allowed to designate someone else (in this case El Ligero) whose ass Gracie had to kiss. Why is he allowed to do that? It’s a “Kiss My Ass” Match, not a “Kiss Someone’s Ass” Match.


WCPW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: War Machine(c) vs. The Young Bucks- 7.25/10

WCPW WORLD TITLE MATCH: Joe Hendry(c) vs. Will Ospreay- 9.25/10 (total for the whole match)
This was the basic story you’d expect from these two guys with Hendry working the ankle and Ospreay using his kicks and the Os-cutter and stuff to work the head… except that they took that basic match and just went for broke with some of the stuff, especially Hendry’s work on Ospreay’s ankle. It was BRUTAL the way Hendry just threw Ospreay into the barricade and just kept going after that ankle. Ospreay’s selling also deserv commendation, not just for the actual selling but for the way that he would (often, though not always) manage to take what would otherwise feel like “forgetting” to sell his leg and turn it into a believable rush of adrenaline (though his last spot of the match was way on the wrong side of the line, IMO).
Ospreay took everything Hendry had to give and just kept kicking out and just kept fighting back and finally nailed a huge Os-cutter… and then Marty Scurll came out to cash in his newly-won Magnificent 7 briefcase, making this…
WCPW WORLD TITLE MATCH: Joe Hendry(c) vs. Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll- (see above for rating).
With Scurll now in the dynamic obviously changed and was much more focused on Ospreay and Hendry’s attempts to deal with Marty’s presence, both in terms of facing off against him and in terms of making sure Marty didn’t get the win on the other guy. Marty and Hendry gave us some good heel vs. villain stuff with the cheating and Marty coming prepared with a cup to stop Hendry’s low blows, and Marty eventually managed to make Hendry tap to the Crossface Chickenwing, with Ospreay being a split second too late to break it up.
That final visual sums up this match in a wonderful little nutshell. Will Ospreay wrestled the match of his life, fighting through so much pain, through everything Hendry did to his leg… only for his leg to just not be able to carry him quick enough to break up the submission as Marty Scurll capitalized on the damage that Ospreay had spent all match doing to Hendry’s head in order to steal the title for himself. Go out of your way to see this one.


This was a solid little show from WCPW, bookended (well… the main show part, anyway) by two excellent matches. Those are both worth going out of your way to see, but the rest of it- while perfectly fine for the time it got (aside from the near-dud in the middle)- just didn’t feel PPV quality. Yes, it moved storylines along well, but it really felt more like a long TV show than it did a PPV supercard.