wrestling / TV Reports
Csonka’s WCPW World Cup US Qualifier Review
Loading...Csonka’s WCPW World Cup Japanese Qualifier Review
OFFICIAL RESULTS
– WCPW World Cup US Qualifier: David Starr defeated Bobby Fish @ 9:55 via pin [***]
– WCPW World Cup US Qualifier: Jay Lethal defeated Moose @ 17:20 via pin [**½]
– WCPW World Cup US Qualifier: Keith Lee defeated James Storm @ 10:10 via pin [**]
– WCPW World Cup US Qualifier: Ricochet defeated Matt Sydal @ 9:47 via pin [***]
– WCPW World Cup US Qualifier: Jay Lethal defeated David Starr @ 12:20 via submission [***½]
– WCPW World Cup US Qualifier: Ricochet defeated Keith Lee @ 18:50 via pin [****]
– I don’t get around to watching WCPW much, mainly due to a lack of time. But I saw that they were posting their World Cup qualifying shows on Youtube, and thought I’d try to fit some of them in. They are using a ton of familiar names and ones I enjoy. Today I’m moving onto the US qualifiers, you can check out my review of the Japanese qualifiers at this link.
– Follow all of my reviews at this link.
David Starr vs. Bobby Fish: Starr looks to ground Fish right away, but Fish puts a stop to that. Fish then starts to target the leg, trying to soften up Starr for the fishhook. Starr trips up Fish, cradling him for 2. Starr then dropkicks Fish to the floor and hits a suicide dive. Starr takes some time to celebrate, but Fish fights back and sends him to the floor and goes back to work on the legs. Back in and Fish works kicks and follows with the slingshot senton. They trade strikes and kicks, but Starr cuts him off with a knee strike and lays in running chops on the corner with forearm strikes added in. Starr then hits a clothesline in the ropes and a flatliner for a good near fall. Fish goes for the fishhook, but Starr gets the ropes. They spill to the floor, with Fish again targeting the leg. Back in and Fish works leg kicks, continuing his assault on the legs of Starr. Fish hook applied center ring, Starr fights and bridges into a pinning attempt for 2. XPLODER to the buckles by Fish gets 2. Starr hits the last shot, fires up and looks for the product placement, but Fish kicked the knee; Starr hits a lariat to the back of the head, and hits the product placement (straightjacket German) for the win. David Starr defeated Bobby Fish @ 9:55 via pin [***] Good opening match, with Fish doing some nice work on the leg, but Starr being the better counter wrestler, and surviving long enough to pick up the win. The work here was nice, crisp and clean.
– They shake hands and hug post match.
Jay Lethal vs. Moose: Lethal is tentative to begin, circling and not wanting to rush in on the big man. Moose then makes fun of Lethal for being small, so Lethal lays in chops and a superkick. Moose cuts off the lethal injection, and they work into a series of counters to each other’s signature stuff. Lethal low bridges Moose and follows with two suicide dives, but Moose catches the third and powerbombs Lethal onto the apron. Lethal barely beats the count, and Moose takes the heat right away. Moose then hits the dropkick, covering for 2. They roll to the floor, with Moose working over Lethal with chops and following with a bicycle kick. Moose continues to beat down Lethal at ringside, hits another bicycle kick and then breaks the count. Lethal beats the count back in, but it’s all Moose here as he easily beats down Lethal. Moose then hits the pop up powerbomb and senton for a near fall. Moose now slows things down, working a bear hug. Moose starts to rag doll him a bit, but Lethal fires up with rights and then bites Moose to escape. Moose cuts him off with a big boot, but Lethal hits the superkick. Lethal then hits a cutter, taking Moose down. Lethal heads up top, jumps down, Moose tries to cut him off with a boot. He locks in a figure four, but Moose escapes and Lethal hits the Lethal combination. Moose blocks the suplex attempt, hits another bicycle kick but Lethal fights back, finally hitting the suplex and covering for 2. Lethal follows with rights, but Moose fires up with his Moose chant. Lethal hits a dropkick to the back of the head, Moose gives him the double bird salute and lays in jabs. They trade kicks, Moose hits corner attacks and then the hesitation dropkick, covering for 2. Lethal blocks a charge, to the ropes but Moose hits sky high and that gets a good near fall. More chops by Moose follow, and he looks for the run up high cross but Lethal sort of caught him with a cutter for q. The Lethal injection only gets one. Lethal hits an enziguri, three superkicks and a 4th and another enziguri and hits the Lethal injection and wins. Jay Lethal defeated Moose @ 17:20 via pin [**½] I have no idea why people keep booking Moose in long matches, it plays against his strengths and constantly exposes him. He’s much better served in short, hard-hitting and athletic sprints where he can maximize everything he does well. This felt really long, they had some good ideas, but it then started to feel really repetitive. It ended up fine, but with some editing could have been much better.
Keith Lee vs. James Storm: Lee easily overpowers Storm early on, using his size then picks up the pace, doing some fun lucha style passes and rolls. Storm sends Lee to the apron, he tries to slingshot in but Storm catches him with a code breaker. Storm hits a series of clotheslines and takes Lee down. To the corner and Storm works over Lee with strikes, but misses a charge and Lee fights back with shoulder blocks. He then follows with a RANA, hits the corner splash and follows with double chops on Storm. More chops by Lee follow, but Storm fights back, hitting an enziguri and a clothesline. Lee hits the big boot, heads to the ropes and Storm hits an enziguri and hits a RANA off the ropes. Storm up top and sort of hits a splash, hitting about two feet away and then hitting Lee; that was REALLY ugly. Storm looks for the whirly bird, but Lee counters out and hits a big left to drop Storm, and he covers for 2. Lee heads up top, but Storm grabs his leg. Lee lays the boots to Storm, Lee climbs and Storm grabs him off the ropes and hits the slowest whirly bird ever for 2. Storm sets for the superkick, but lee counters and hits the ground zero (DVD powerslam) and picks up the win. Keith Lee defeated James Storm @ 10:10 via pin [**] This wasn’t a bad match by any means, but it was certainly one where the two competitors didn’t gel well at all. This ended up being a bad match up, which will happen from time to time in the tournament setting. It was almost as if neither man really knew what to do with the other. It was ok, nothing more, nothing less.
Ricochet vs. Matt Sydal: It’s a clash of former tag team partners. They shake hand and we’re friends to begin. They work a slower than expected opening stretch, with Ricochet looking to ground Sydal. They then pick up the pace, working some really smooth counters and Sydal going for pins and then attacking the knee of Ricochet. The corner dropkick follows, and Sydal goes back to work on the knee, forcing Ricochet to take a powder to the floor. Sydal follow shim out and continues to attack the leg. Back in and Ricochet cuts off Sydal with a dropkick, but Sydal immediately goes back to the leg, grounding Ricochet and locking in the half crab. Ricochet makes the ropes, tries to gain some momentum, but Sydal cuts him off and hits the spinning heel kick. Sydal now works a Muta lock, but Ricochet escapes. Sydal attacks with leg kicks, and follows with rapid-fire strikes. Ricochet hits a desperation lariat, avoids the corner charge and hits the 619. The springboard uppercut follows, and then a cutter and running shooting star press for 2. Sydal blocks hail to the king, but Ricochet blocks the RANA and looks for the benadryller, and they kick each other at the same time, and Sydal covers for 2. Sydal up top, Ricochet avoids him and they trade back and forth. Ricochet hits a charging elbow, but Sydal hits a snap mare driver and heads up top. Sydal misses the shooting star press, eats a knee strike and spin kick, the benadryller connects and Ricochet wins. Ricochet defeated Matt Sydal @ 9:47 via pin [***] This was good, but far from either man’s best. It felt like they were really holding back, and Ricochet’s dodgey selling of the knee didn’t help things either. It was good, and it was fun, but it was far from great. I believe that Sydal was hurt from the Impact tapings, so that would explain a lot.
Jay Lethal vs. David Starr: Both guys are banged up after their first round match. Starr attacks at the bell, but Jay attacks the leg and takes Starr to the floor. He continues his attack of the leg as they brawl around the ring. Starr fires up, but he couldn’t do a dive as his knee gave out and Jay immediately goes back to the attack, targeting the leg. Jay then hooks the leg of Starr in the ropes, as he picks apart Starr. Stomps to the leg follow, he trips up Starr and looks for the figure four, but Starr rolls him up for 2. Starr manages to hit a knee strike and sends Jay to the floor and hits a short suicide dive. Back in and Starr lays in strikes and chops, a corner splash follows and he covers for 2. Chops and forearms by Starr connect, and he covers for 2. Starr tries to maintain control, but the leg buckles on him. They trade strikes center ring. Starr cuts off the lethal injection, goes for product placement but Jay hits a cutter for the double down. Jay heads up top, Starr cuts him off with chops and follows him up. Jay stops that and attacks the leg. Starr keeps fighting, but gets knocked to the mat. Jay hits the top rope elbow drop for 2. Jay hits leg kicks, but the lethal injection is countered with a German. He then DDTs Jay on the apron, hits a lariat and hits the last shot but Jay kicks out on a great near fall. Starr hits a rolling forearm, but Jay counters out of the product placement and hits the lethal injection for the near fall. He transitions to the figure four and Starr fights, tries to turn it but Jay counters back, clubs away at the knee and Starr finally has to tap. Jay Lethal defeated David Starr @ 12:20 via submission [***½] This was a very good match, and the best thing on the show so far. They smartly played off of Starr’s first match and his knee injury, Starr‘s selling and fire were really great and Lethal got to use the figure four to win for once. This was really well done, if a bit slow at times, but considering the layout and work of the knee, it made sense that it was a little slow. They made up for that with some great intensity and selling by Starr.
Ricochet vs. Keith Lee: These two had a great match back at EVOLVE 80 back in March. They shake hands and we’re friends to begin. Ricochet is a bit playful early, tries to shoot for a takedown, but gets tossed away by Lee. Ricochet then stomps on Lee’s foot, but Lee overpowers him and shoves away a shoulder block. Ricochet goes for a headlock, but lee sets him in the corner and backs off after patting his cheek like Ricochet is a child. Ricochet hits a RANA, they move into a fast paced section of counters and Lee hits a great looking dropkick. Ricochet fires up with strikes and chops, but Lee answers back and Ricochet drops to the mat. Lee takes him to the corner and pummels him with body shots. Ricochet counters the corner splash, hits a dropkick but Lee then hits a big lariat to cut that off. Lee then stands on Ricochet’s chest, and then chokes him out in the ropes. Ricochet then fires back with forearm strikes, he goes for a springboard but Lee wipes him out with a running cross body. They’re playing the power vs. speed dynamic well so far. Lee then tosses Ricochet all the way across the ring and follows with the big corner splash. Lee then tosses Ricochet across the ring again. Lee follows with another corner splash, and Ricochet is down. Lee goes to toss him across the ring again, and does; Ricochet is selling these tosses so well. Ricochet then collapses to the mat. Ricochet fires up and counters the corner charge and hits a fall away slam, which was impressive as hell. Ricochet hits a running forearm. The springboard uppercut and running shooting star barely gets 1 as Lee kicks out right away. lee fights off the benadryller and hits a huge spinebuster for the near fall. Ricochet hits a kick from the corner, and then hits a springboard missile dropkick and Ricochet hits the springboard 450 for a near fall. lee again fights off the benadryller, but Ricochet follows with a series of kicks, but Lee follows with an overhead belly to belly and a spinning powerslam for a great near fall. lee now heads up top, but misses the moonsault. Ricochet hits the bicycle kick, a knee strike and then a spin kick. Ricochet goes for the benadryller, gets Lee up and hits it but Lee is still up. Ricochet takes out the knee, head kick and Ricochet up top and hits the shooting star press. Lee goozles him, and hits the spirit bomb for another great near fall! Lee looks to finish him, looks for the Ricochet but Ricochet counters into a cradle and picks up the win! Ricochet defeated Keith Lee @ 18:50 via pin [****] They heavily played off of their EVOLVE 80 match here, and I am perfectly fine with that because it was another great match from them. Lee playing the super athletic and almost unstoppable monster against Ricochet’s never say die babyface plays extremely well. This was great and worth the watch.
– Jay Lethal and Ricochet advance.
– End scene.
– Thanks for reading.
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”
