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I have watched enough over the last couple of months to safely say I hate the ICW announcers

 

Oh brother testify, Ive had to watch the last few shows with the volume down, don't get me wrong, I love a shouty Scotsman, I'm a HUGE Gordon Ramsay mark but by god are they full on.  I live in hope Big Damo comes out and clobbers them for no real reason other than because he can.

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Will Ospreay is the newest member of Chaos. He'll debut at Invasion Attack on April 10th against KUSHIDA for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. He's one of "ours" and I'm MADE UP for him.

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I'm going to see Timothy Thatcher live tonight. His opponent is rather mediocre, but I hope Thatcher can get something good out of him.

Who is that for? I can't see him listed on any shows tonight...
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I'm going to see Timothy Thatcher live tonight. His opponent is rather mediocre, but I hope Thatcher can get something good out of him.

Who is that for? I can't see him listed on any shows tonight...

 

 

Oh, sorry about the confusion. It's wXw in Stuttgart, Germany.

I know the thread doesn't fit 100%, but it's the closest thing. ;)

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I don't have anything specific to say about any shows, but....Jesus has there ever been a better time period for European talent? I could usually name one or two guys working over there that I enjoyed, but now you could easily fill a card with European guys I'm a huge fan of. I'm jealous of all you guys getting to see the likes of End, Ospreay, and Scurll on a regular basis.

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First results from the 16 Carat Gold weekend:

 

wXw The Inner Circle
10.03.2016 Essen

1. Timothy Thatcher vs. Tyler Bate - Time Limit Draw (20:00)
2. Toni Storm d. Melanie Gray (5:56)
3. Kim Ray d. Mike Bailey (9:24)
4. Big Daddy Walter d. Kevin Roadster (8:42)
5. Zack Sabre Jr. d. David Starr (19:01)
6. Big Daddy Walter & Timothy Thatcher d. Mike Bailey & Tyler Bate (12:38)

This was a secret show they held on Thursday. I assume only invited guests were in the audience for this one.
Thatcher vs. Bate was said to be very good.
---

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2016 - Day 1
11.03.2016 Oberhausen

0. Alternate Four Way: David Starr d. Tyler Bate, Mike Schwarz & Aaron Insane
1. 16 Carat Gold First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. d. Big Daddy Walter (13:05)
2. 16 Carat Gold First Round Match: Timothy Thatcher d. Sasa Keel (8:15)
3. Toni Storm d. Leva Bates (5:47)
4. 16 Carat Gold First Round Match: Ilja Dragunov d. "Speedball" Mike Bailey (8:52)
5. 16 Carat Gold First Round Match: Will Ospreay d. Shane Strickland (14:28)
6. 16 Carat Gold First Round Match: Angélico d. Trevor Lee (7:38)
7. 16 Carat Gold First Round Match: Drew Galloway d. Silas Young (9:10)
8. 16 Carat Gold First Round Match: Sami Callihan d. Kim Ray (9:09)
9. 16 Carat Gold First Round Match - I Quit Match: Axel Dieter Jr. d. Marty Scurll (23:08)

Big Daddy Walter attacked Zack Sabre Jr. after their match, possibly turning heel.

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When the wXw crew came back to the arena this morning, they had to find out that the technical equipment was destroyed as well as several notebooks were stolen, that contained data necessary for the show (entrance videos etc. I assume). What a bunch of assholes. They still somehow were able to put on everything that was planned just as scheduled.

 

Results for Day 2:

 

wXw Ambition 7
12.03.2016 Oberhausen

1. Ambition First Round Match: Sasa Keel d. David Starr (10:09)
2. Ambition First Round Match: Timothy Thatcher d. Big Daddy Walter (8:35)
3. Ambition First Round Match: Axel Dieter Jr. d. Mike Bailey (5:19)
4. Ambition First Round Match: Bobby Gunns d. Zack Sabre Jr. (7:34)
5. Ambition Semi-Finals: Sasa Keel d. Timothy Thatcher (7:20)
6. Ambition Semi-Finals: Bobby Gunns d. Axel Dieter Jr. (5:06)
7. Dominic "Carnage" Brackner d. Rico Bushido (9:57)
8. Ambition Finals: Sasa Keel d. Bobby Gunns (5:28)

Ambition is an annual shoot-style tournament, that happenened in the afternoon, in case you don't know.
---

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2016 - Day 2
12.03.2016 Oberhausen

1. Tyler Bate d. Silas Young (9:34)
2. David Starr & Shane Strickland d. Big Daddy Walter & Da Mack (11:08)
3. 16 Carat Gold Quarterfinals: Axel Dieter Jr. d. Ilja Dragunov (8:56)
4. Four Way: Marty Scurll d. Angélico, Mike Bailey & Trevor Lee (8:02)
5. 16 Carat Gold Quarterfinals: Zack Sabre Jr. d. Will Ospreay (12:39)
6. Melanie Gray d. Toni Storm (6:53)
7. 16 Carat Gold Quarterfinals: Sami Callihan d. Timothy Thatcher (16:03)
8. wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship - Four Way: Jurn Simmons d. Karsten Beck ©, Absolute Andy & "Bad Bones" John Klinger

After the main event Karsten Beck took off his boots and left them in the ring, possibly signaling retirement.

 

I've already seen several people calling Day 2 a strong show of the year candidate. Alan4L went completely nuts on Twitter, calling four matches on the show MOTY candidates. Although to be fair, he's not completely unbiased.

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Thatcher had three matches in two days for SWA in Scotland last week. That's SWA, who haven't put anything but Flyin' Ryan hype videos on youtube since 2014, and don't sell their shows anywhere. Bastards.

 

I tweeted them asking about the availability of the Thatcher matches. Specifically the Jack Gallagher match, because it's Gallagher and Thatcher. Never got a response.

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Not sure, if anyone cares, but I feel like I have to bring to an end what I've started, so here are results for 16 Carat Gold Day 3:

 

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2016 - Day 3
13.03.2016 Oberhausen

1. 16 Carat Gold Quarterfinals: Drew Galloway d. Angélico (6:39)
2. 16 Carat Gold Semi-Finals: Axel Dieter Jr. d. Drew Galloway (10:08)
3. 16 Carat Gold Semi-Finals: Zack Sabre Jr. d. Sami Callihan (9:06)
4. Silas Young, Bobby Gunns & Vincent the Beast d. Big Daddy Walter, Timothy Thatcher, Mike Schwarz (11:22)
5. Aaron Insane & Toni Storm d. Kevin Roadster & Melanie Gray (10:30)
6. wXw World Tag Team Championship: Ilja Dragunov & Julian Nero © d. Shane Strickland & David Starr (14:37)
7. wXw Shotgun Championship No. 1 Contendership: Da Mack d. Kim Ray & Emil Sitoci (7:45)
8. wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Jurn Simmons © d. Tyler Bate (4:04)
9. Marty Scurll & Trevor Lee d. Will Ospreay & Mike Bailey (20:19)
10. 16 Carat Gold Finals: Zack Sabre Jr. d. Axel Dieter Jr. (12:35)

That's the winner I was hoping for.
Axel Dieter Jr. is like the John Cena Roman Reigns of wXw. The company wants to push him as the megaface of the company, but at least half of the fans hate his guts.
Already read a lot of reports of people that hated that he was once again pushed to the finals.

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I can only imagine how good Bate vs Thatcher must have been. Bate is insanely talented for a 19yr old, and he's got an innate charisma that makes him exceptionally likable. First saw him as a slight sixteen year old boy, and I remember being gobsmacked when he hit a deadlift German suplex, initially laughed off by the crowd, on 300lb+ Jim Diehard.

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On Youtube, and off the top of my head:

 

Tyler Bate & Chris Brookes vs The Henchmen (TXW) - he's only 16 here and spends most of the match selling, but it does include that awesome German suplex spot, plus it's a great match

Tyler Bate vs Jay Lethal (SWA)

Tyler Bate vs Dean Allmark (Great Bear Promotions)

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I've been doing a running write-up of shows I've been to this year over on PWO,and considering they've all been UK indy shows, I thought I'd share them in this thread too. 

 

House of Pain Wrestling - 31/01/16

 

My first show of the year was a House of Pain Wrestling show in Calverton, Notts,. HOP is an academy based promotion, with all the workers coming from their training school, run by BritWres standout Stixx. HOP shows are a nice opportunity to see up-and-coming guys for a reasonable price (6 matches for £5) and a core of workers who are noticeably improving month on month.

 

Joseph Conners & Gabriel Kidd vs Brett Ryans & The Collective  Conners is easily the best guy in the promotion and is one of the better guys in the UK. He’s been working bigger shows than this for years, but he still works HOP shows seemingly for the love of helping to work with less experienced guys. This was a comedy opener, as Conners had another show in Leeds to work that afternoon, but was plenty enjoyable. The face team of Kidd and Conners had plenty of fun mocking their mismatched opponents (Ryans is working a royalty gimmick, whilst Collective seems to be some kind of fashionista, who yells “Collective!” a lot), as well as Conners mocking his partner’s ever-increasing gut size. Kidd is a decent young worker with bags of natural charisma, so this was fun without ever threatening to steal the show. The heels won with a quick roll-up on Conners after a clash of heads.

 

Juken vs Danny Thomas Another nicely-worked match. Juken recently turned face, causing him to jettison his former persona of angry German Jurgen Heimlich, a name which was never going to see him taken seriously. Plus he isn’t actually German. He’s another experienced head in the company, working a few tours of Japanese indies to get more seasoning, and he looked great here, really comfortable on the mat and with nice looking strikes. I’d only seen Thomas before in a six-man tag, and he’d not stood out, but he kept up well here, and I liked the story of his stealing Juken’s moves to try and show him up. They’d fought previously with Thomas winning with a low blow. Here, he hit a low-blow again, but was too cocky with his cover, allowing Juken to cradle him for the win.

 

Lucas Archer, Tommy Taylor & Vasillios vs ABH (Johnny Concrete, Eddy Martins and Dante Deurden) Before the match, we were warned that the action would spill out all over the room, but it actually turned out to be a regular six-man bout that operated almost entirely in the ring. The format really helped, as there were enough quick tags to avoid exposing how inexperienced these guys are. Taylor in particular is a guy I’ve not been too high on in the past, but he looked great here, crisp in his offence and looking more comfortable in the ring, so it was nice to see his improvement. This built logically, with a long face-in-peril section before the big spot of Vasillos slamming the 25 stone Concrete. The faces won by DQ, when Vasillos got laid out with a kendo stick.

 

LJ Heron vs Ritmo Heron is super-solid in the ring, really reliable and the right person to put in the ring with someone like Ritmo, who shows potential but is still a bit green. I saw him before Christmas taking on another green worker and that match felt like it went on too long. Here, Heron was able to reel him in and take control of the bout, resulting in a much better match. There were a couple of minor timing flubs from Ritmo but this was decent on the whole, with Ritmo winning in an upset.

 

Mr Goodman vs Disco Dan This was Goodman’s debut, and his gimmick is one part Mr ZERO, three parts Right To Censor, cutting a pre-match promo in dress clothes with a thermos mug, complaining about vulgarity and tomfoolery. Disco Dan works a comedy disco gimmick, so a lot of this match was based around trying to fool Goodman into dancing, with a test of strength/Saturday Night Fever gag being pretty effective. Probably the weakest match of the day, and it was still fun. I liked Goodman’s serious focus on the arm leading to an armbar tapout win

 

TimbaWolf & Barricade vs The Foundation (Danny Chase & Alex Gracie) This was for the tag titles, held by TimbaWolf and Mike Wyld, but Barricade had to sub for the missing Wyld (in a great bit of heeling, Gracie came out wheeling a spare tyre which he hinted was Wyld’s, and lamenting Wyld getting a puncture). The Foundation of Chase, Gracie and LJ Heron have been the main heel stable in HoP for nearly 2 years, but have been showing signs of falling apart, with Chase failing to help Heron cheat in his earlier match up. I think Chase and Gracie have both gotten really good in 2015, with Gracie stellar on the mic. He’s manages to be a really entertaining talker, whilst also being utterly unlikable, which is a hard line to balance. This was a good tag match, given a bit of time and with a fun heat section on Wolf. Barricade is a beast, as well as a former HoP champion, so he was really effective as a hot tag, overwhelming the Foundation. Predicatably, Heron showed up to run interference, which backfired as he accidentally hit Chase with a spear, leading to a face victory. Really good main event, and the post match fall out of the Foundation falling apart left a cliffhanger for the next show.

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Next, went to see HOPE Wrestling in Mansfield (19/2/15). HOPE started as an off-shoot of HoP Wrestling, and use a few local guys mixed with bigger UK names and the odd import. Since the end of last year, the company have booked a lot of shows around the heel stable Se7en. Se7en consist of one excellent worker, a handful of decent workers, and The Worst Wrestler I’ve Ever Seen. The first half of the show was based around them, with Chris Tyler’s victory over Lionheart being the best of their matches. MVP-lookalike Money Benjamin actually had the best match I’ve seen him in against El Ligero, including taking a superplex from the top rope onto the other stable members on the floor, but his defeat saw him kicked out of the group. Thankfully, “Rough House” Stevie Mitchell didn’t have a match.
Elsewhere, Jack Jester beat Chris Dickenson in a decent bout (Jester is the HOPE champion, and has this magnetic aura that’s made him the leading face in the company) and Jigsaw beat Joseph Connors in a fun main event.

The next week (28/02/16) I went to another House Of Pain show in Calverton. This was another decent show, and a few guys I’d written off surprised me with some good matches. Barricade is a guy I’ve found hit-or-miss over the years, but he had a fun semi-comedy match with Brett Ryans here. HoP champion Alton Thorne is someone who had never impressed me, and he was taking on the decent-but-spotty Ritmo, so my expectations were low, but they ended up having a great match. Thorne has always been a second-rate knock-off Barricade in my eyes, but they worked a giant heel/high-flying face match that really worked. Nice to have my expectations confounded. It was actually better than the main event between Juken and Alex Gracie, which surprised me as I’m quite high on both guys. The match they had was perfectly fine (after some excellent mic work from Gracie), but I preferred the Thorne/Ritmo match.

Finally, I popped back to the lovely city of Coventry for Mother’s Day, and took advantage of being home to check out an AMP Wrestling show for the first time. AMP is the family-friendly offshoot of my favourite Brit promotion, the sadly-on-hiatus Triple X Wrestling. They seem to use a lot of the same wrestlers as TXW, but with some of the antics toned down (for example, Chris Brookes isn’t billed here as “a bit of a c**t” like he is in TXW). What heartened me is how full the venue was, easily 400+, and for a card with no imports and no real big UK names (the most well-known on a national level being arguably Brookes and Mike Bird), and how loudly the crowd reacted for everything. The matches were all super-enjoyable too. Bird had a fun match with local wrestler Rayador in the opener, the Henchmen took onMike Peace and Chase Alexander in a really well-worked tag match that apparently paid off a year of storyline and sent the crowd wild, and Brookes had a short-but-good title match against 300lb champion Scott Grimm. The show finished with a Rumble that featured mainly local trainees I’d not heard off, but was still lots of fun. It ended up with Mike Bird teaming up with the Henchmen to try and eliminate Bison Brody. Both of the Henchmen and Brody are massive, massive guys, so the storyline saw the smaller Bird trying to get the Henchmen to do his bidding, until they got fed up of his orders and threw him out. This left them distracted and Brody managed to recover and throw both of them out to a huge pop. Honestly, I loved this show, and seeing a swarm of kids crowding round a victorious Brody like he was a member of One Direction was the most/best Pro-Wrestling thing I’ve seen in a long time.

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Ful free show:

 

 

Card:

‘Number One’ Damian Dunne vs Drew Parker

Triple Threat – ‘The Kid’ Ethan Silver vs Dan Moloney vs Mike Bird

The Bruiserweights (CJ Banks & Pete Dunne) vs The Culture Club (Tyler Bate & Chris Brookes)

‘White Lightning’ Mark Andrews & Nixon Newell vs ‘Flash’ Morgan Webster & Toni Storm

Wild Boar vs VII Pro Champion ‘The All Day Star’ Ryan Smile

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