I think the reason Noam Dar is in this feud with Cedric Alexander is because saying Alicia Fox’s name in his Scottish accent sounds like Alicia Fuuuuuucks.
This is honestly something the dirtsheets have said.
Super-quick informal poll: Is anyone going to watch the UK tournament?
Ms. Cups and I are not because my parents are in town for their annual vacation to see us. Although, TBH, we probably wouldn’t have watched it anyway.
I will, but I probably won’t watch it live unless I feel like waking up early. (When you work nights, noon counts as “early”.)
Aaron Rex (the former Damien Sandow) now has a Liberace gimmick. He wears 10 pimp rings and a white mink stole. Rock Star Spud is now his valet and wears a baby blue chaffeur’s outfit. OMG TEH GAY! Robbie E came out and lambasted them on the mike, and Rex covered Spud’s ears.
Those two make a great pairing. Rex and Spud are two of the funniest wrestling personalities and are utterly shameless.
Here’s yours truly meeting Cody Rhodes at the indy show in Seattle tonight.
Anyway, for a proper review…
This was the very first show for DEFY Wrestling. There are only a handful of indy promotions in Washington, owing to the fact that the state athletic commission still regulates it as a combat sport like boxing or MMA - wrestlers have to be licensed, there have to be medical personnel on hand, etc. (There’s even a state law that specifically prohibits blading.) This one appears to have some pretty major capital behind it - they had a really nice-looking full-sized ring, several referees, money to pay for music rights, and a good number of uniformed staff and security working the show. The show was held in the ballroom at Washington Hall, a hundred-year-old Danish Brotherhood lodge a few miles east of Pioneer Square, where everyone from Duke Ellington to Hendrix to Black Flag has played over the decades.
Since I bought a VIP ticket, I got to go in early and meet Cody Rhodes. I was one of the first people to get to him. I told him I loved his match at Wrestle Kingdom and he said it was the most fun ten minutes of his life. I got his autograph on a show poster that’s going on my wall right next to my autographed NXT poster. The VIPs were supposed to get a gift bag - that ended up not happening, but I did get a VIP lanyard and a bunch of free drink tickets (which I couldn’t use because I had to drive back to Olympia afterward, I shouldn’t be drinking anyway, and the only beer they had was Miller, so I just gave them to some other people). The show was catered by a couple downtown Seattle food trucks. There were maybe 300 people or so in attendance - there were two rows of seats at ringside and standing room behind them, and another row of seats in the balcony.
and the ring announcer was Steve Migs, a DJ from the local hard rock station which has been sponsoring/promoting the show. The crowd was red-hot from the get-go. No sooner did Migs hit the ring than streamers got thrown at him and the chanting started. His wireless mic kept cutting out on him as he tried to introduce the show, which lead to a chant of “HEEEEEEEEEEY, WE WANT A NEW MIC” before one of the techs brought a wired mic out to him.
The opening match was Matt Cross (Son of Havoc) vs. King Khash. Khash hails from Bellevue and is a mainstay of the Seattle scene, and is one of the “local talents” that I’ve seen get squashed in dark matches when WWE comes to the northwest. Here, he was working an evil Iranian gimmick a la Iron Sheik - he came out with the flag, was yelling about how Iran number one and America hack-PTOOEY, he even had the pointy-toed shoes. Solid opener, lots of action from the get-go. Cross won with the same top-rope foot-stomp he uses on LU. The program said this was a quarter-final match in the DEFY Championship tournament, though the announcer didn’t mention it.
Next up was Mr. Fitness vs. Eddie van Glam. Mr. Fitness is a pretty-boy heel, though he isn’t actually that buff, and he insisted (after a bit of arguing) that Migs describe him as “the muscle Confucius”. Van Glam has an ‘80s rocker gimmick and is described as “the King of Thong Style” - he comes out to "Livin’ On a Prayer" (the original, not a knockoff and the crowd sang along to it) and just before the match starts, he reaches into his shorts, grabs the bands on his G-string, and stretches them up over his shoulders like suspenders. He’s a local boy - by day, he’s a hairstylist at a salon in Wallingford. He was over big with the crowd, but tragically, he wound up jobbing when Mr. Fitness rolled him up and grabbed a handful of tights for the win.
Next was Mike Santiago vs. Ethan HD in a loser-leaves-town match (how old-school is that?) Santiago is another local, hailing from Tacoma, whereas Ethan is from Chicago. Santiago was supposed to be the heel here, but he was also getting a good amount of face heat for being the hometown boy. There was lots of chanting and heckling of him - a “FUCK TACOMA!” chant, followed by a hail of boos, followed by him landing a big power move and a chant of “T-TOWN ROCKS!”, and so on. He eventually won the match.
The last match in the first half of the show was an intergender fatal four-way match between Derek Drexl, the Catch, Nick Radford, and Kate Carney. Drexl is a Rob Zombie-looking guy who’s introduced as hailing from Camp Crystal Lake. I don’t really know anything about the Catch - I think he’s Samoan? Apparently, he and Big Jack (who I’ll discuss later) are kayfabe brothers and occasionally work as a tag team. He’s also a heel. Nick Radford is a babyface cruiserweight in a rainbow singlet with cats on it. Kate Carney is the sole female participant in the match - she hails from Bellingham and is “the Queen Midas of wrestling”, and comes out in an all-gold-and-glitter outfit and throws confetti in the air, and tosses the wreaths she wears around her head into the audience. (I caught one of them!)
In WWE, a lot of four-ways just turn into one-on-one matches where the other two guys roll around on the floor until it’s their turn to do a spot. This wasn’t like that. It was almost two matches at once - Kate vs. Drexl and Radford vs. Catch. Kate eventually rolled up Drexl for the win. He was royally pissed off and began to administer a post-match beatdown, before some familiar music started playing and out ran who else but former ROH champion and current TNA talent DAVEY RICHARDS (hailing from eastern Washington) who chased Drexl off. He cut a promo about how he wasn’t able to get his license in time to be in this show, but that at DEFY 2 in April, he’ll be entering the championship tournament.
After intermission was Jeff Cobb (Matanza) vs. Big Jack (also hailing from Bellingham). You may think from seeing him on TV that Matanza is a big ol’ hoss. That he is, but Big Jack is even bigger. He’s got about six inches on Cobb, and is at least 400 pounds - I’m not sure if he matches the 468 lbs. of the late John “Earthquake” Tenta, but he’s gotta be damned close. This match was kind of slow-paced and comedic - there was a spot where Cobb was challenging Jack to a test of strength, but every time he raised his hand up, Cobb would lower his and raise the other hand instead. Lots of very impressive power moves, and though neither of these men are very agile, they pulled off some impressive stuff - Jack did the Undertaker’s rope-walking spot, and Cobb gave Jack a superplex that made the ring shake. Cobb eventually won.
After that we got our sole tag match of the evening - Los Sexi-Mexis vs. the team of Greengo Loco and Batboy. I don’t know anything about these guys, but I think at least some of them are affiliated with Lucha Volcanica, the local lucha libre promotion and academy. Los Sexi-Mexis were billed as having “a combined weight of 832 Tinder matches”, and they were ostensibly the babyfaces, whereas Greengo Loco and Batboy (who had the famous Weekly World News photo on the back of his jacket) were the heels. This match was contested under Mexican rules, meaning that attacking the mask is illegal and if a luchador leaves the ring, his partner can take his place without having to make a tag. Very fast paced, lots of high flying. There were a series of stage dives that took place right in front of me - one of the luchadors actually hit the barricade in front of me and pushed it so close to me that it brushed up against my jeans.
In the finish of the match, one of the Sexi-Mexis was distracting the ref while the other ripped off his mask, tossed it to Greengo Loco, and then covered his face and mimed being in pain. When the ref turned around, he saw Greengo holding the mask and immediately DQed him, giving the Sexi-Mexis the win. I usually hate DQ finishes, as well as finishes where the babyface team cheats, but that was a really clever way to finish the match and I have to admit I liked it. Big Jack marched back out after the match and attacked the heel team for reasons unclear to anyone, then put Greengo Loco through a table. Migs’ response was “Well, that was unexpected.” This was also listed on the program as a tournament match, but Migs didn’t mention it - I guess we’ll have to wait 'til DEFY 2 to find out.
Finally, it was time for the main event - Cody Rhodes vs. Shane “Swerve” Strickland (I.e. Killshot). This match was for Cody’s GFW NEX*GEN Championship, because GFW is somehow still a thing. They both got a hero’s welcome when they made their entrances. Shane came out first and got a “2-5-3!” (the Tacoma area code) chant. Cody was in his Bullet Club gear and came out to a remix of the Bullet Club theme, but got cheered nonetheless, so it was basically face vs. face - the local boy working a match in his hometown for the first time in his life (he was born on Ft. Lewis but raised in Germany), versus the American Nightmare.
It took a few minutes for the match to really get started because of how hot the crowd was. One guy in the balcony yelled “STARDUST!” - Cody gave him a death-glare, and a chant of “FUCK THAT GUY!” ensued. They shook hands before they finally got into it and spent about 20 minutes giving a clinic. Highlights included Shane putting Cody in a figure-four which lead into a sleeper-hold and Cody superplexing Shane, the both of them having to be careful because Shane’s feet were literally brushing against the roof of the ballroom. Cody eventually got the win, but they both celebrated and took their bows afterwards, shook hands, and put each other over. Cody implied that they’ll be fighting again in the championship tournament (“Well, I HAVE to be back for the rematch, right?”) and, in response to a “YES!” chant, mentioned that he’d been talking to Daniel Bryan earlier that day and told him that DEFY was going to be the best damn independent in the northwest.
Overall - great show, top to bottom, especially considering that this was the company’s very first night. Solid ring work, the crowd was red-hot from beginning to end, and I had a great view even though a cameraman kept getting in my way. (I assume they were filming it for YouTube.) This was really well put together - I’m really looking forward to their next show, and if they can keep up this level of quality and booking, I can definitely see them getting the same level of attention that companies like PWG or CZW get.
(Missed edit: I meant to say that Cobb/Jack was a quarter-final match, not the tag match.)
Cool that you got to see a couple of LU stars in their other identities.
Hee hee… speaking of Cody, he’s currently on the RoH episode I’m watching. The maybe last time Steve Corino and Nigel McGuinness will be on their show, the latter of whom was included in the UKCT I just watched. More on that later.
This is the best I’ve ever seen Cody on the mic. He’s heeling on the audience, and one of them shouted “Where’s your TNA wife?” and the audience laughed. Cody went silent, turned around and glared at the guy like he utterly loathed him. “You guys want to see Brandy? You don’t deserve to!”
And now, thoughts on the UKCT…
It wasn’t nearly as good as the CWC, but it was still a pretty good show. They did a great job of presenting the UK wrestling culture. They showed some regional wrestling personalities and promoters in the audience, including Finn Balor, who trained a couple of the participants. The crowd was really the star when the action came to a lull.
Michael Cole and Nigel McGuinness make a good commentary team. Cole’s a lot more intelligent when he doesn’t have Vince squawking in his ear, and Nigel provided some cool background info.
Trent Seven vs HC Dyer
Seven reminds me of one of those flabby has-beens who book themselves to win in local promotions. Dyer looked much younger and more in shape, but obviously a novice. Seven wins and twirls his mustache a lot.
Jordan Devlin vs Danny Burch
Burch used to be in NXT and Devlin is one of Finn’s trainees. Devlin looked like a heel munchkin. Burch looks like kinda like bald Batista and was obviously the established pro. Devlin was being the dominant heel, but he doesn’t have the size and presence to pull it off. He does however, kick the back of Burch’s head and produces a bleeder. It looked like Burch kicked out of the ensuing cover, but the ref ended the match. I’m guessing there’s some kind of overseer anti-blading policy, ergo the weird ending. I guess Devlin was slated to win anyway, because Devlin attacked Burch after the match and had an interview with Charly.
Saxon Huxley vs Sam Groodwell
Happy Jesus vs an orc from Lord of the Rings
The crowd stole this match. Saxon looked lazy, and Groodwell seemed to pause a lot as if he were trying to remember what to do next. The crowd did a Cena chant on Saxon: “Let’s Go Jesus! Jesus Sucks!” They then sang Hey Jude, substituting “Jesus” for the final two words. Then they substituted Jesus’s name in Hey Baby! Groodwell won, and the crowd chanted “Thank You Jesus!”
Peter Dunne vs Ray Johnson
Dunne is a scary looking midget. His head looks like a talking shovel. Johnson says in his intro that he’s “Wavy.” In case you don’t know what that is, if you’re not about it, you don’t talk about it. He reminds me of No Way Jose. Dunne is a mean-spirited technician who bends his opponent’s fingers in lieu of wristlocks. He calls himself a “Bruiserweight.” Dunne wins in nasty fashion. He’s the master heel in these parts apparently.
Wolfgang vs Tyson T-Bone
Tyson is a tattooed gypsy and Wolfgang is a tattooed rock star guy. Wolfgang is big and agile. Surprisingly, these guys went at a faster pace than the previous matches and did a lot of brawling. Wolfgang wins.
James Drake vs Joseph Connors
Drake looks like a Hell’s Angels without the tattoos. Connors is kind of the Brit version of Jake the Snake Roberts. He has half a left ear, and frequently pulls his hair back to show it. I’m not sure who was supposed to be the face and who the heel, because they both played both parts. Drake went for Connors’s half ear right away, and Connors later attacked Drake’s ear in retaliation. Connors moves like a lurking stalker, like he wants to attack his opponent’s blind side. I think Connors is my favorite participant. Very intense match. Connors wins.
Mark Andrews vs Dan Moloney
It takes me a while to realize this is Mandrews from TNA. They mentioned absolutely nothing about it in the introductory segment. Moloney looks like Hulk version of Christopher Mintz Plasse. Mandrews is a Welsh Lucha, lot of fun to watch. Moloney doesn’t have a natural flow to his moves yet and looked kinda stiff. Mandrews wins.
Tucker vs Tyler Bate
Tucker is another Finn trainee, who looks exactly like Eli Drake in TNA. Bate looks like a mushroom with a mustache. He reminds me a lot of Jack Gallagher in his style, but not quite as theatric. Both guys are springy, but don’t overdo it. This was the best match of the night, and IMO Tucker was the most talented wrestler in this tournament. Bate wins.
Afterwards, McGuinness and Regal introduce the winners and hype the finals of tomorrow’s tournament. You know how whenever Regal announces a match to the crowd in NXT there’s always a fight? Sure enough, it happens again. Just as he finishes his promo, Dunne runs over and clobbers Groodwell. Regal breaks it up and snarls at Dunne as the show ends.
Just finished watching the replay and I loved it. I think it might’ve benefited from being a weekly miniseries like the CWC so we could get to know these guys better, but I can also see how doing it live elevates its importance, especially with the British crowd.
I’ve read that WWE also plans on creating an Asia Championship and a Latin America Championship. In the long run, I can see them maybe creating a new European Championship, an Australia/Pacific Islands championship, maybe a Middle East championship, and affiliating all those divisions with the Intercontinental title almost like the old NWA, elevating it to being the world title of the international division and having the IC champion go against the top draws of the various regions.
Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka has passed away.
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper greeted him in the afterlife with a bunch of bananas, a pineapple and a coconut.
Finished up UKCT. Bloody good show.
Quarterfinals
Pete Dunne vs Sam Gradwell
Gradwell looks a lot better this time and starts off pretty hot on Dunne, in retaliation for the evil gnome punking him out the night before. He’s got kinesio tape on his back, which Dunne exploits by throwing Gradwell’s tailbone on the ring apron. He then powerslams Gradwell into the corner and gets the win. Afterwards, Dunne puts the Bitter End on Gradwell to build on his badass cred.
Mark Andrews vs Jospeh Conners
Half-eared Jack the Snake vs Rey Mysterio
Mandrews did all the speedy stuff and Conners did all the agressive brawly stuff. Conners gets off a cool looking over-the-top rope DDT on Mandrews, but the Welsh Lucha gets off a Shooting Star Press for the win.
Wolfgang vs Trent Seven
Good series when Wolfie does a Moonsault on Seven outside the ring, but hits the floor with his knees before Seven does. As Wolfie recovers, Seven gets back in the ring and gets off a nice looking suicide dive on him. Despite Cole and McGuinness talking up Seven, he just looks puny compared to Wolfgang. Wolfie works his ass off and wins with the Howling Swan Ton Bomb. After the match, Wolfie smiles as blood streams out his nose.
Tyler Bate vs Jordan Devlin
Can’t believe Bate is only 19. He’s got steady poise. Don’t recognize what the audience is singing this time, but I’m sure it was appropriately ironic. Slower paced than usual to allow both participants to go through their entire range of facial expressions. Jordan gets off an Enziguri of Doom on Bate, who makes it look lethal to reflect on Burch blading last night. Jordan tries to get the ref to call off the match when Bate sneaks in a finisher with Tyler Drive 97. What happened to the other 96? Bate waves his hand like Queen Elizabeth.
**
Semifinals**
Pete Dunne vs Mark Andrews
You just know Dunne is going to thoroughly abuse Mandrews, but the Welsh Lucha counters with Hurricanranas and Stage Dives. Dunne grips Mandrews repeatedly in his wrenchies, but Mandrews gets off a HOLY SHIT Standing Inverted 450 Splash that looks like Bugs Bunny physics. High-level performance from these two. Dunne wins with the Bitter End.
Tyler Bate vs Wolfgang
Wolfie does a lot of Big Show’s moves where he takes forever to set up a move and miss. The announcers speculate on his broken nose, and sure enough Bate pops him in the schozz a couple times. Wolfie goes for some kind of driver, but Bate reverses it into the Tyler Drive 98 and wins. Suddenly, Dunne s[rings into the ring and throws Bate’s shoulder into the ring post. McGuinness is just as laconic as he was in RoH, calling for security with no urgency to his voice whatsoever.
Exhibition Match
Neville vs Tommy End
End is a Danish martial artist covered in tattoos and looks like Ragnar Lodbrok. Prior to the match, Neville bitches on the mic about being left out of yet another tournament. End is a new NXT signup, and he obviously has extensive experience. The two work nicely with each other. Neville wins with the Red Arrow.
Finals
Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate
Wonder how often Bate’s schoolmasters winced when they called him “Master Bate?” They’ve been making drama about Bate’s shoulder and how Dunne will exploit it. These two have good chemistry - stalwart good guy vs sadistic villain. Dunne targets Bate’s left arm and smiles like an ogre ready to bite into a children sandwich. Bate is plucky and a lot stronger than he looks. Lots of epic moves and gut check kickouts this match. Bate wins the UK with Tyler Driver 99.
Cheerio.
So the UK tournament is good to watch if there’s nothing else on/We have some time to kill?
I’d say put it on the same level at as one of the NXT Takeovers.
I’d say so, yes. It’s not quite as good as the CWC, but it’s close. The wrestling is consistently good, the storytelling works well, you get to know the guys by the time the quarters and semis come around, and Nigel and Maggle work well as a team.
I’d say the wrestling itself isn’t as good, but the storytelling is better.
Kurt Angle is the latest announced inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017.
Are the others official? I know everyone “says” they’re announced, but this is the first time I’ve seen trips comment on it.
Or am I just out of it?
Angle is the only official one so far. The others were “leaked.”
There is a DDP DVD set coming out in March so it’s probably safe to say he’s in. I won’t believe Rude or the other one (Tugboat? Avalanche?) until they’re announced.
Good lord I am sick of the Nikki Bella / Natalia crap. They’re both horrible actors, it is badly scripted and the entire thing comes off as 3rd grade production of “This is our segment that we get to be on TV for so we can be catty bitches and pretend to air our dirty laundry in public! Look at us! WATCH OUR SHOW!!!”
They’re also driving this “Hey Dolph, explain why you’re a heel now” crap into the ground now. I was literally going “No one cares” and the “I’m here to show the world!” music was playing.
The whole segment with Lawler was painful.