Hamilton’s 1PW Devil’s Due 2023 06.10.2023 Review

Quick Results
Leon Slater & Man Like DeReiss pinned Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster in 17:14 to retain the 1PW Tag Team Championship (***¼)
Lance Archer pinned Amir Jordan in 6:33 (**½)
Luke Jacobs pinned Shigehiro Irie in 14:05 (***¾)
Nathan Cruz pinned Will Kroos & Mark Haskins in 18:20 (**¾)
Zachary Wentz pinned Scotty Rawk in 11:02 (**¾)
Robbie X pinned Rampage Brown in 10:20 to retain the 1PW Openweight Championship (***¼)
Martina & James Storm pinned Charles Crowley & Lizzy Evo in 13:35 (**¾)
Will Ospreay pinned Matt Cardona in 15:42 to retain the 1PW World Heavyweight Championship (***½)

It’s safe to say the last 1PW show didn’t quite hit the spot for me, what with the overload of stipulations as 1PW crowned several new champions. This show, from the Engine Shed in Lincoln, doesn’t look as busy… although the crowd sure does. Around a thousand are in attendance for this one, with commentary coming from Joe Dombrowski.

This one’s available on Fite as a pay-per-view, or as part of the Fite+ subscription at time of writing.

We open with a recap of Leon Slater and Man Like DeReiss winning a ladder match to win the 1PW tag titles last time out… before Jess interviewed Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster. They claim they were robbed… and then we cut to Slater and DeReiss geeing themselves up for their first defence.

1PW Tag Team Championship: SubCulture (Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews) vs. Boisterous Behaviour (Leon Slater & Man Like DeReiss) (c)
We open with SubCulture attacking the champions from behind, but Slater’s able to clear them away as we got going…

The champions focused on Andrews early on, swapping quick tags as they leapt onto his arm, before Webster came in and got caught with a nice double-team back suplex/neckbreaker. A fallaway slam from DeReiss flung Webster across the ring, before Flash got hung in a Tree of Woe for a kicking.

Andrews tags in, but he’d left his corner to do so… the resulting confusing allowed Webster to take out DeReiss’ knee as the challengers turned it around. Quick tags keep DeReiss isolated as the former NXT UK champions controlled proceedings, at least until DeReiss nailed a cutter and found a way to tag out to Slater.

Leon ran wild with front kicks, but he too found himself overwhelmed as SubCulture double-teamed him with an assisted Blue Thunder bomb out of the corner. The Special Brew Flip from Webster followed on Slater, before a double handspring back elbow from Slater took care of the challengers.

Dani Luna pulled DeReiss off the apron as Slater was going for a tag… which allowed the double-teaming to continue on Slater. DeReiss is back on the apron and willing on the tag… which finally came after a springboard back elbow to Andrews as DeReiss cleaned house.

DeReiss’ flip out of the corner sees him jar his knee, but he shrugs it off as SubCulture’s suplexed into each other in the corner as the champions pushed on again. Their attempt at a double-team neckbreaker doesn’t come off, so Andrews just gets dumped onto Slater’s knees with a back suplex for a two-count.

Andrews tried his luck with a roll-up, then with a Stundog Millionaire… before Webster’s Shadows Over Malice senton bomb drew another near-fall. A Parade of Moves breaks out from there, but Dani Luna slides in to low blow Slater as he teed up for a dive… before a bicycle knee-aided reverse ‘rana almost put Slater away.

Slater struck back with a twisting suplex before bringing DeReiss in for a blockbuster/powerbomb combo. Again, Dani Luna’s distracting as the referee’s not counting the pin… DeReiss gets in Luna’s face, and despite her throwing the first shot it’s not a DQ for reasons. Dani’s met with a 3D, as the champions then laid out Andrews with another 3D for the win. This one was starting to feel a bit on the long side, but a good opener as Boisterous Behaviour get their first defence in. I’m going to need to be sold on SubCulture as bad guys, because a lot of their heat here came from Luna at ringside. ***¼

We get footage from after All Or Nothing of Lance Archer laying waste to a bunch of randoms backstage, complete with some comedy sound effects getting dubbed in. Perhaps one or two too many…

Amir Jordan vs. Lance Archer
Commentary noted Archer had more or less laughed off a fine that was sent his way from that attack…

Jordan jumped Archer in the aisle before the bell, looking to catch Lance off guard… but when the match got going, Jordan was quickly put on the back foot as Archer chopped him around the corner.

Archer roughs up Jordan in the ropes, then followed up with running elbows into the corner as Jordan was stalling. Metaphorically speaking. We get a little sweary as Jordan hits a dropkick, but his follow-up crossbody’s caught and turned into a fallaway slam with ease. More chops from Archer are eventually ducked as Jordan ended up getting decked, then thrown across the ring with a release suplex.

Jordan almost forced another opening, but he’s cut off on the top rope as Archer went for a Blackout… but Jordan escapes and returned with a neckbreaker. A senton bomb followed for a near-fall as commentary tried to compare this to Abyss and Spud from the original 1PW. Archer tries to put an end to it with a body attack, before Jordan’s inside cradle just earned him a chokeslam and a short-clothesline for the win. This was fine for what it was – an extended squash of sorts. Sorry, Amir… **½

They plug Know Your Enemy’s existence with the Green Day song of the same name… then tell us it’s on October 28 in Doncaster.

Luke Jacobs vs. Shigehiro Irie
Unless someone’s having an off day, this’ll be good… and that’s just based on their match at wXw a few weeks prior.

Jacobs fires the first shot, chopping Irie in the ropes after a break was called… Irie shot back with a forearm before he countered a back suplex into a one-count. Another cheapshot on the break from Jacobs lit a fire under Irie as the pair slapped each other silly, before a big boot from Jacobs took down the then-wXw champ.

Irie sidesteps a charge and returned with another crossbody, leaving Luke laying as a slam set up for the slingshot splash for a two-count. A headbutt from Irie gets him admonished by the referee, who feigned ignorance before he draped Jacobs across the corner ahead of a cannonball. That’s a new twist!

A rear naked choke from Jacobs was elbowed out of, but Luke’s right back on him with a slam and a back senton, before a hesitation dropkick into the corner earned a two-count. They spill outside as Luke chopped Irie around ringside… only for Irie to fire back with elbow strikes once they made it back inside.

Another slam from Jacobs picks up a two-count, before Irie knocked him onto the apron with those 16 Carat Gold elbows… which in turn set up for the wrecking ball-like crossbody to Jacobs’ back. A cannonball follows from there for a near-fall, but a German suplex from Luke keeps him in it, as he proceeded to chop Irie down to his knees.

The back-and-forth leads to Irie squashing Jacobs with the Teddy Bear splash, only for Luke to recover for a brainbuster that almost won it. The ante’s upped with a superplex from Irie for a near-fall, before Jacobs shrugged off a lariat and hit a pair of powerbombs for a near-fall of his own.

Irie goes back in with a cannonball to Jacobs in the ropes, before the battle of lariats resumed, ending with a Beast Bomber that almost put Luke away. Jacobs nails a lariat of his own in return, before a second one finally put Irie down for the count – and this was exactly what I expected, with Luke remaining unpinned in 1PW, and is being kept strong for the future. ***¾

Backstage, Lance Archer’s attacking random crew members again as he vows to take everyone down until he’s champion here.

Mark Haskins vs. Will Kroos vs. Nathan Cruz
This has implications for the Know Your Enemy Rumble later in the year – the winner gets the number thirty spot, while the loser starts at number one. After Matt Myers and Vicky Haskins did special introductions, we got going… but Haskins powders to the outside as he wanted no part of Will Kroos.

Nathan Cruz starts then, having little luck with shoulder tackles on Kroos, who blasts through him in return. Out goes Cruz, in comes Haskins, who also had trouble taking down the big man, at least until he hit a low dropkick. Kroos catches a kick and proceeded to slam Haskins down in return, before a back senton squashed Haskins… and left Kroos open as Cruz attacked from behind.

Kroos squashes Cruz in the corner before distractions from Matt Myers and Vicky Haskins allowed Cruz and Haskins to double-team the big guy, realising that’d be their only chance. Haskins rolls Kroos into a Trailer Hitch as Cruz added some stomps, before Kroos ducked a springboard crossbody as Cruz inadvertently took down Haskins.

That opened the door for Kroos to fire back, splashing Haskins into the corner ahead of a Black Hole Slam for a near-fall. A low bridge from Haskins takes Kroos outside for a misdirection tope… there’s one for Cruz too, as Nathan got rolled back in ahead of a double stomp from Haskins for a two-count. Kroos is back, forcing Haskins to try and cut him off as we go back to the big man getting double-teamed, but a double clothesline has Will ahead.

Kroos looks to scoop up Cruz, but Nathan escapes and slips on some brass knuckles, cracking Kroos with them before Vicky Haskins pulled out the referee to stop the cover. Mark Haskins goes after Cruz, prompting Matt Myers to get involved… and because it’s a three-way, there’s no DQ as a low blow from Cruz, then a Myers cutter almost got Cruz the win.

Cruz kicks Kroos back to the outside, but Haskins is able to find a way back in with an O’Connor roll into a Sharpshooter. He’s leaning back on the hold, but suddenly lets go because Myers is going after Vicky on the outside… she curses up a storm as the Haskins chase Myers to the back.

Kroos rolls back in, right as Cruz grabbed a chair, which misses as a spinebuster and a Fire Thunder Driver looked to get the win… but a wild Myles Kayman appeared to break up the cover. He’s part of Cruz’s Second II None group, and provided a distraction as Rampage Brown came in to hit a piledriver on Kroos… before dragging Cruz on top for the elementary win. This was fine, but could have done with several minutes shaved off of it as the story coming out of this was the expansion of Cruz’s group. **¾

Backstage, Jessy’s with Nathan Cruz and the rest of Second II None… Cruz understandably delighted at getting the number 30 spot in the rumble as he says the crowd wanted to see “Will Kroos”… saying they meant Will Ospreay vs. Nathan Cruz for the title… before celebrating doing that all that in one take. I’d love if it that were actually the fifth crack at it…

Promo time for 1PW Invincible… which doesn’t get a date attached to it.

Scotty Rawk vs. Zachary Wentz
Last time out, Scotty was starting at a lot of lights during the scramble match… while Wentz had one very loud hater in the crowd.

The pair exchanged pinning attempts in a rather tentative opening spell, but things pick up pretty quickly when Rawk scored some satellite headscissors to take Wentz outside. Wentz gets back in and began to wear down Rawk with chops and a chinlock, but Rawk fires back with chops out of the corner, only to get kicked down into a Muta lock.

Rawk manages to slide into the ropes to force the break, before he took Wentz into the ropes for a cannonball to the back. A German suplex took him away from the ropes and into the corner, as Rawk followed up with a roundhouse enziguiri and a face-washing boot into the corner.

Wentz gets caught with a springboard swinging DDT next for a near-fall, before some see-saw pinning attempts led to Wentz landing a running shooting star press for a two-count. Rawk manages to catch Wentz between the ropes as he kicked the knee out, following up with a dive to the outside and a springboard moonsault back inside… but Wentz barely gets the shoulder up in time.

A Pele kick from Rawk has Wentz dazed, but a handspring into a leaping knee from Wentz in return was enough to get the win. That three count felt off – but large parts of this match never really clicked with the crowd, which made for a weird watch. **¾

Post-match, Lance Archer ran out to attack Rawk, throwing him back into the ring for a Blackout. At least I know where Scotty’s slotted here. Right alongside Amir…the ring crew try to help, but they’re sent packing as well, before some new music asked us to “look at the god damn size” – it heralded the arrival of someone who commentary wasn’t exactly in a hurry to tell us the name of. They finally reveal that he’s called Nathan Black, and was originally scared of Archer… and had time to mock the crowd. Anyway, Black’s apparently the majority owner of 1PW. Wait, they’re not even a year old and already 1PW is changing ownership in storyline… are they using 1PW’s original run as inspiration for stories?

Black’s bragging about being rich enough to buy his way into wrestling, while telling Archer it’d not be a good idea to beat up his new boss. He gets another part of the ring crew in to hold a mic before slapping and chasing the ring crew guy out of the ring. Archer’s fed up of this guy trying to channel the Million Dollar Man and goes to chokeslam him… but Black begs off enough for them to kill Archer’s music, before Archer promised he’d end Black if he didn’t get him any gold. This whole segment crammed way too much into it, and yay, we’ve a heel authority figure.

Backstage, Matt Cardona and Steph de Lander are complaining about delayed flight and lost merch, but they’re just looking forward to taking Ospreay’s 1PW belt back home. Ospreay’s watched the promo and isn’t exactly impressed with it, and brought up how Cardona threatened to cancel on 1PW because of not getting a deposit. Alrighty then…

1PW Openweight Championship: Rampage Brown vs. Robbie X (c)
Rampage was a late replacement for this match, replacing Trey Miguel who had other commitments…

Rampage dominated early on, making use of the openweight nature of the match to bounce Robbie X around the ring early on… forcing the champion to try and turn up the tempo… only to get caught with a powerslam out of the air.

Eventually Robbie X finds a way in with a flying tijeras, but a missed plancha allows Rampage to boot him on the outside ahead of a slam onto the side of the ring. A Biel-like throw chucks Robbie over the rails and into the front row, but Robbie X beats the count, only to get flattened with an elbow drop upon his return.

Rampage chops Robbie X out of the ring, then suplexed him back in as the challenger looked more than comfortable in control. Undeterred, Robbie kips up with an enziguiri to Rampage, before he threw a series of lariats in a bid to take the big man down. Rampage resists, but gets low bridged to the outside ahead of a tope from the champion.

Back inside, a missile dropkick keeps Rampage down for a two-count, before a roundhouse into the corner and a shooting star press out of it kept him ahead. Rampage fights back with a superplex, before a Doctor bomb bounced Robbie X for a near-fall, only for Robbie X to come back as he tried a death valley driver.

Robbie’s elbowed away on as Rampage tried to break the grip, but Robbie’s able to follow through with the Finlay Roll ahead of a Spiral Tap off the top for a near-fall. Rampage clotheslines away an X-Claimation attempt, but his follow-up piledriver’s countered with a roll-up as Robbie X pulled out the win from nothing. ***¼

Post-match, Nathan Cruz, Matt Myers and Myles Kayman attack Robbie X in the aisle and threw him back into the ring for a mugging… only for Will Kroos and a chair to make the save.

“Earlier today,” I guess, Martina’s running the bar… but she’s got a long queue as Lizzy Evo and Charles Crowley appeared to mock. James Storm asked why Crowley was dressed like Peter Pan, as we had a brief staredown before the boozers downed their drinks and chased Crowley away.

Will Kroos pops up again as he bemoans being the first man in the Know Your Enemy rumble… but promised to win the rumble and get the title afterwards.

Charles Crowley & Lizzy Evo vs. James Storm & Martina
Evo beat Martina in a Gauntlet for the Gold last time out to win the first ever 1PW Women’s title… there was shenanigans before then, so we’re keeping this feud going.

Evo tagged out at the bell, meaning we started with Martina and Crowley… only for Martina to tag in Storm as the crowd really loved their TNA. Crowley tags out as Evo slapped Storm early on, before things finally broke out with Martina hitting headscissors on Crowley as I was starting to tire of the game of chicken going on.

A missile dropkick from Martina gets an early two-count, before the ring filled up as Evo got thrown into Crowley in the corner. Back inside, Crowley’s twisting elbow drop keeps Storm down, before a hiptoss took Crowley down ahead of a leaping forearm off the ropes from the Cowboy.

Martina tags in for a double sledge to Crowley’s arm… before he tried to commandeer the drink and join in. Except Martina got the drink back and began to drink and fight, only to get cross-chopped as she prepared to spray Crowley with beer. Evo tags in and choked Martina in the ropes, before a suplex almost put Martina away.

Crowley’s back to slap Martina… then quickly tagged back out to Evo, only for Martina to strike back. A snap armdrag and bridging cover put Evo right back on track though, before a double clothesline left her and Martina laying. Tags bring us to Crowley and Storm, with the latter using Lizzy Evo to score an accidental DDT on Crowley.

Storm gets a two-count out of that, before tags bring us to Martina scoring with a spear on Evo. A twisting suplex has Evo rocked, before Martina opts to hit a satellite DDT on the legal Crowley from there for a near-fall. Evo runs in to hit Martina with a German suplex for a near-fall, before Martina got caught up top… so Evo goes for Storm’s beer bottle. She doesn’t glass Martina though as Storm got in the way… before Storm accidentally glassed Evo with his bottle of beer.

From there, Storm sueprkicks Crowley, ahead of a flying lungblower from Martina for the pin. The crowd here were mostly alive whenever Storm was involved, but Martina get a win of sorts as I guess we’re building up to a rematch with Evo? **¾

Post-match, Storm and Martina celebrate before Storm put over the British crowds… then revealed that this might have been his last match in the UK, because age hits us all.

Backstage, Jessy’s telling us how the show’s gotten off to a fantastic start. I mean, sure, but we’ve just got one match left! She’s interrupted by Robbie X and Luke Jacobs getting in each other’s faces, before walking off with Luke reprimanding the cameraman for having “no people skills.”

1PW World Heavyweight Championship: Matt Cardona vs. Will Ospreay (c)
Man, those Burger King crowns have gotten made with better materials since I was a kid… mind you, Cardona’s British Bulldog-inspired robe looked pretty swish.

Cardona was bailing at every opportunity he had early on, looking to avoid Ospreay before a distraction from Steph de Lander was shrugged off as Ospreay scored with a back body drop. Cardona’s taken outside for a dive, before some mounted punches back inside had Ospreay ahead. A backbreaker’s next for a two-count as I begin to ponder whether he’s going to try for a middle rope elbow drop and a Sharpshooter…

De Lander pulls away Ospreay’s hands mid-handspring, allowing Cardona to take over with some choking on the mat. That prompted the Lincoln crowd to dub Cardona a “woo woo wanker,” before Cardona hurled Ospreay chest-first into the turnbuckles, a la Bret, before de Lander again took shots at Ospreay from the floor. Whatever happened to Greg Burridge, who was seconding Ospreay?

Cardona went for what used to be the Broski Boot, but Ospreay got free and cuts him off with a handspring enziguiri. A follow-up springboard forearm is good for a two-count, but Cardona’s able to come back out of the corner with a dropkick before he countered an OsCutter with a Codebreaker for a near-fall.

Ospreay manages to catch Cardona in the corner with a Cheeky Nando’s, but another de Lander distraction led to Cardona shoving the ref into the ropes, knocking Ospreay down ahead of the Broski Boot and a Tiger Driver for a near-fall. Ospreay begins to hulk up as he mounted a comeback, landing a hook kick before Cardona clotheslined away a Hidden Blade.

Ospreay blocks the Radio Silence, countering into a powerbomb before hitting an OsCutter… and there’s de Lander to pull out and knock out the ref. Steph’s dagged into the ring by Ospreay, but that left him open for a low blow from Cardona… and that’s the cue for Greg Burridge to come out and get involved. Yep, that’s how I’m summarising it. It led to Ospreay accidentally laying out Burridge with a superkick, before the Radio Silence laid out Ospreay for a delayed cover as de Lander rolled in the referee to make the two-count.

The ref’s down again as Cardona went for a belt shot, but he accidentally lays out de Lander before a Hidden Blade from Ospreay led to the win. This was going down the Sportz Entertainment route, which I fully expected, but wasn’t at all egregious as Ospreay completed his maiden title defence. ***½

We’ve got 12 minutes left on the VOD so something’s up… Ospreay’s post-match promo saw him dare the crowd to give Cardona and de Lander hell after the show, before he recalled the crowd fight on the last 1PW show that led to Ospreay plucking a kid from the crowd. Ospreay mentioned how he had a little bit of animosity because “the old guard let British wrestling down” – which was interspersed with the camera zooming in on a befuddled Burridge…

Ospreay called himself ready to be the leader of the new generation of 1PW… but those prior remarks clearly ruffled some feathers as Will’s attempts to put over Greg Burridge as the man who made him ended with Burridge laying out Ospreay with a clothesline and a chokeslam.

Burridge grabbed the mic so he could “shoot” on the downfall of the old 1PW, saying that it had nothing to do with the British wrestlers of the time… but instead it was down to all the imports who “pillaged and plundered” the scene. Burridge got some cheers for that, but they turned to boos as he railed on Ospreay for taking the piss, before calling him “another import” as he left Ospreay laying, then tried to get a “1-P-Dub” chant going from the “analog original” fans, rather than the new “digital donkeys.”

So… we’re heading towards Burridge vs. Ospreay as a feud for the title, at least until after the Know Your Enemy rumble, and while Ospreay against the man best known in 1PW for shoving furry dice down his trunks perhaps wasn’t an obvious early opponent for Ospreay, the angle at the end here told a clear, straightforward story to close out the show.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Free from the one-night tournament and all of the gimmicks that overwhelmed their last show, Devil’s Due was a pretty good line-up with something for just about everyone’s tastes. Like I said, Ospreay vs. Burridge probably wasn’t an obvious direction to go in when 1PW returned, but they’ve laid the path to it pretty well, but my only concern is just how long it’ll be to those next 1PW cards. Those won’t come around until October - with them having shifted their August show likely due to it being close to a certain show going on in London…