The Furious Flashbacks – 1PW Will Not Die

The Furious Flashbacks – 1PW Will Not Die

Not a great way to go out…

As I write this 1PW has finally gone out of business in July 2010. But what a ride it was! “Will Not Die” is one of 1PW’s most interesting shows in their chequered history. Despite being berated by other UK wrestling companies & promoters (some in public) Steven Gauntley’s company had good levels of success in 2006. It put on good shows with International talent. They were also looking at bringing younger British guys through as the future of the company. It seemed all was well but despite the successes the rumours continue of how the company was badly run. Rumours that had a strong basis in fact. Steven Gauntley just didn’t know what he was doing. He was over-reaching. Approaching their show in early 2007 they’d booked Great Muta and then it all went to pieces…

1PW declared it was going out of business. It had no money and it couldn’t put on the show or honour any of its contracts despite having already sold tickets. Alex Shane tried to put together a survival package whereby RQW and Len Davies would add Muta to their show and save face with the Japanese companies. An article had run in a Japanese paper telling the Japanese wrestling world that Britain was a dangerous place to do business. Davies essentially lost money to save face. Meanwhile Shane was also instrumental in saving the show in Doncaster by talking 3CW into hosting the show instead. The event still ran under the 1PW banner but with Muta already working another show and many of the American talents unavailable because of the cancellation it was effectively a whole new show. This new show was put together by a group of people but at the forefront was Dragon Aisu; one of the promoters from 3CW and half of the 1PW tag team The Damned Nation. 1PW had burned their own fans and this event was an attempt for them to save face with them. I find it somewhat convenient that this show happened thanks to the hard work of other people and then miraculously 1PW returned and the organisers seemed to take issue with the very people who saved the day here. I would say more but I’d risk heading into libellous territory. Just read between the lines yourself.

Sidenote; this show was originally billed as 1PW No Turning Back 2007. Among those scheduled to appear, but now won’t, included Colt Cabana, Samoa Joe, Steve Corino, Teddy Hart, Dustin Rhodes, Al Snow and Great Muta.

We’re in Doncaster. Hosts are Dean Ayass & Stevie Aaron.

In the ring is Stevie Aaron who tells us No Turning Back 2007 is cancelled but this is “Will Not Die”. He brings out Dean Ayass who reminds us this show is about British Wrestling not all the companies involved. He talks about starting out in wrestling in 1993 when the crowds were less than 100.

Scramble match – Darkside v Barry Mills v Stevie Lynn v Ollie Burns v Mark Sloan v Joey Hayes

The idea is to open up with a big ol’ spotfest to get the crowd into the show. Several of these guys were great prospects. Hayes has a chav gimmick, which makes him the most obvious heel. Lynn gets tripped by the other chav, “Skins”, which leads to the ‘dives’ spot. Any WCW fan will know the one I’m talking about. Sloan & Burns are tag partners so they go to the mat to get in some actual wrestling. That’s brief and the opening to this has been an absolute clusterfuck. Scramble matches generally are but this one seems like it has no plan whatsoever. What’s worse is how telegraphed everything seems. Mills finds himself isolated without any chavvy friends on the apron. Hayes delivers some decent kicks to change the pace. Most of this match is unconvincing near misses into people getting dropped on their neck and then someone else breaks up the pinfall. That’s the whole match. Even though its an elimination match wrestlers insist on breaking falls, which don’t make no sense. Sloan with the Tomorrow Driver on Hayes and he’s pinned. It was no different to the other neck bumps in the match but because it’s a “finisher” Hayes is gone.

Mills strolls in, dodges a telegraphed kick, and plants Sloan with the Death Valley Driver. And now Sloan is gone. Again there’s no rhyme or reason to the pin. Sloan wasn’t caught unawares and Mills is the last guy who should be pinning someone because he’s been on the receiving end of most of the abuse. Much like the first fall this one makes no sense.

The chav’s switch and “Skins” takes a move in place of Mills and Mills comes back in with the roll up on Burns…for 2. See…that would have been fine as an elimination. I’d have no beef with that. Needless cradle Tombstone follows and Burns is gone. They never really played on the tag team aspect, which is another nonsensical disappointment. Mills is left in there because he has heat, I guess.

Darkside comes in and German suplexes Mills into the buckles. VERTEBREAKER! Mills is dead. This at least made more sense than the other eliminations as Mills was weakened and took two massive moves back to back.

DS goes for another on Lynn and he escapes into an Indy stand-off? I get the feeling something went wrong there. GO 2 SLEEP! For 2. I guess it is 2007 but nevertheless Darkside, lay off the multiple finishers. Dragon suplex for 2. At least this match has started having defined spots in it! The crowd responds but for me its too late. Until we got down to 1 on 1 this match has sucked. Outside and DS takes Lynn through the rail! Fans scatter! Ayass questions the intelligence of DS getting the crowd to clap for Stevie. I do as well. BRAINBUSTER and Stevie Lynn wins. *1/2. Horrible until the 1 on 1 action and the match made very little sense at any point. The wrestlers didn’t seem to do anything logical here.

Cheerleader Melissa v Skye

Skye is a 4-year pro but that’s against crappy English wrestling ladies. Melissa has to walk her through it somewhat. Melissa is probably over to compete for Chickfight. Might as well use her. The striking sucks so they go to the mat. The actual wrestling is much better. Women’s wrestling frequently suffers from the same issues. They can’t get things to look realistic, which is weird because the Japanese ladies manage it just fine. Melissa forces Skye into THE SPLITS. OWWWWW. Melissa dominates and that’s about as much storyline as you’re going to get. The DVD then has an ad break in it? What the fuck? There’s no adverts. Just a big RQW sign pops up followed by 2 minutes of black screen. Melissa with a CURB STOMP! Nice to see Skye use the ropes to break the pin, unlike one of the dudes in the last match where logic did not apply. Skye gets a sunset flip and that serves to piss Melissa off. Skye escapes the Kudo Driver and makes the mistake of challenging Melissa to a face smashing competition. She loses and the KUDO DRIVER finishes. **. Tidy little match. I appreciate the psychology behind it. Execution was a touch sloppy at times but they went out there and told a story, which trumps a 6-man mess anytime.

El Ligero v Davey Richards

Davey is one of the few American talents on the card. Ligero has a power disadvantage but is gutsy enough to slap Davey. Few armdrags follow and the clapping tilt-a-whirl. Dropkick sends Davey to the floor and Ligero is playing to his strengths; lucha style, entertaining the crowd and high flying. Its not tough enough to keep Davey down though and a standing moonsault only gets a 1 count. As soon as Davey starts unloading with kicks this is pretty much over as a contest. The only X factor is that Davey has stopped playing nice so he’s working heel now and that means he’s easily distracted by the crowd. Most of Ligero’s offence comes from countering Davey’s striking. Even when Ligero goes for a pescado, Davey just walks out of the way of it. Davey allows Ligero to remain in the match because he stops off to jaw with the fans. Its like his real match is with the fans and Ligero is just an annoyance. Because Davey is so adamant on arguing with the fans at every turn Ligero manages a plancha. That’s the only way he’s getting moves in but that does make sense. In a straight up fight Davey should finish him easily. Shiranui is blocked and Davey hits a gutbuster and a sitout powerbomb…for 2. Ligero shouldn’t really be kicking out of that but seeing as he’s the “hometown” guy its ok. Up top and Ligero hits a sunset flip bomb but both guys get mashed by that. Davey looks legitimately hurt. He pops back up though and drops Ligero on his head with the teardrop suplex. Ligero comes back with superkicks and the shiranui gets 2. Crowd is into this now. Davey takes back over with the Falcon Arrow for 2. Now he’s trying to win the match. Texas Cloverleaf finishes shortly afterwards because Davey wanted the match over. That’s your story here; Davey was good enough to finish at any point but only did so when he got annoyed by Ligero’s offence. **1/2. Ligero was squashed for the most part and it was Davey’s unwillingness to finish that extended the squash. More entertaining than the other two matches and technically better as well. Unbelievably an extended squash is match of the night. This is as good as Will Not Die gets.

1PW tag titles – Darren Burridge/? v Phoenix Wonderkids v Damned Nation

Normally Colt Cabana partners Burridge as Team SHAG. Burridge is so pukka and you are a slag. He claims to not need a partner but he’s got one anyway; Madman Manson. Like every “madman” wrestler he comes to the ring in a straightjacket but unlike the rest one of his boots is drawn on. Burridge & Cabana were the tag champs so its their belts on the line. Jonny Storm grabs the mic and heels all over the crowd and the champs and says they’re leaving. Odd because this would be an excellent chance to win the belts. No Cabana!

Absent.

The Damned Nation act as peacemakers here and Majik starts out. Manson thinks he’s the ref and shouts at him to “get a haircut”. Manson is, erm, unconventional. For me he should go the extra mile and not use any wrestling moves at all but he does have a cunning plan of becoming dead weight whenever possible. Including in a lock-up. Manson keeps offering his leg, like a madman, so Majik just takes it. Aisu gets a tag and Manson chops himself. That’s a form of self abuse! You’ll go blind! Burridge piles into him with forearms and Aisu is working very soft (for him) while Burridge is working stiff. Everyone decides to throw Storm & Fleisch in, which means the Nation is very nearly babyface. Nearly. The match kinda breaks down with Storm & Fleisch involved, which is a pity because it started so well. Nation with the double team on Manson. DOUBLE TEAM LUNGBLOWER! Burridge is hanging around for the save and he promptly makes fools of the Nation. They’re showing too much arse in this one. Much like the earlier scramble match this seems to have lost its flow. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Storm & Fleisch run double teams on Burridge for a while. Burridge seems to be working like a superhero though. His selling is when it suits him and everything he gets hit with there’s an almost immediate receipt. Storm shows arse…literally. He has the Wonderkid logo tattooed on the one cheek. LIVING THE DREAM! Manson tags in and OH NO; THE INVISIBLE MAN ATTACKS! Manson goes for a superplex but gets caught by Majik…who’s more visible. Manson gets tossed over the top and gets laid out by the Invisible Man. Why am I capitalising that? Burridge continues to not co-operate while Manson is counted out. Manson battles the invisible man to the back. Tag titles are gone. Burridge is left to question his choice of tag partner.

Storm & Fleisch Vs Damned Nation for the belts. I almost accuse Aisu of standing around like an idiot waiting to get hit with a move and he promptly counters into a suplex. Well played, sir. Nation botch the Gates of Hell for 2. Storm jogs in to superkick Aisu and he’s double teamed some more. There’s been very little structure to this match. If it was planned it was planned badly. Fleisch misses the SSP and Aisu rolls him up for the titles. And they didn’t even use their manager. New champs. *. Dreadful mess. Meaningless in the long run.

Sidenote; 1PW retconned this one. Belts never actually changed hands. Strange how this title change wasn’t recognised and the 1PW title switch WAS recognised. Although they were basically under the same circumstances. Again, you might want to read between the lines on that one.

POST MATCH Aisu gets some stick time and thanks everyone in the back for helping to put on the show. Burridge thanks the Gauntley family for doing 1PW and calls him a “fucking nice bloke”. Gabe Grey gets on the mic to put 3CW’s guys over and start a chant. Some of the fans chant “1-Pee-Dub” over it.

Ok, I understand that the boys were unhappy about the whole 1PW situation and all the effort that went into making this show. But ultimately it feels like a memorial for 1PW; a company that carried on business for another 3 years. Frankly this shouldn’t have made it onto the DVD and would have been better off being just for the live crowd. But then production on the DVD isn’t great compared to the usual 1PW standards.

1PW Openweight title – Pac v Kid Kash

Credit to the people who put this together; they got a worthwhile challenger for Pac. And Pac is, lets face it, the biggest breakout Indy UK star since Doug Williams hit the American scene about 8 years ago. He’s one of the few UK guys who has the audience totally on his side based on sheer in-ring ability. Kash has, over the years, improved on the weaker aspects of his game. Namely his technical abilities and counterhold wrestling. Thing is; Pac is actually good at that. He just never gets the chance to showcase it because everyone knows he has all those high spots in his locker. Pac is a little loose, which I’ll put down to nerves but I’ve never seen Pac nervous before. Kash decides to stop playing nice and turns into a jerk (a theme for the match). Kash has responses for Pac’s spots too. When he moonsaults off the apron Kash moves and slams his head into the apron. Kash gets progressively cheaper though, which ruins the match. He tells the ref to watch a lady in the front row and then goes low. That’s followed by biting. Kash has effectively done everything in his power to keep Pac grounded. When he discovered wrestling wouldn’t work he went for heel tactics instead. Kash then gets distracted and man-handles a female photographer. One who had nothing to do with the show. He’s going for the “loose cannon” approach. Not everyone can be Brian Pillman. He throws a chair at Pac, which last time I checked was a DQ. At least he’s playing the heel role but he can’t be bothered to keep it concealed like a good worker should. Kash continues to cheat in plain view of the referee. Its like he went out there and decided to fuck the match up. Pac comes firing back, having had enough of this bullshit, and hits the standing SSP for 2. Kash goes low AGAIN. He then steals the ringside camera so he can film himself giving Pac a kicking. Ok, that’s kinda funny. Thing is; none of this is getting heat. The crowd just want to see Pac’s comeback. They don’t care about any of this. More heat on Pac. Up top and Kash hits the Superbomb. Now he sells the right leg suggesting a bad landing thus eliminating any pop from the kickout. Springboard moonsault misses although if he’s selling a leg injury, which he sort of is, he shouldn’t be able to do it at all. Pac battles back but the corkscrew SSP misses. Pac avoids the Dead Level into a rollup to retain the title. **. A bizarre match entirely ruined by Kash’s approach. His tactics made sense up to a point but also eliminated anything interesting from the match. He just came off as a prick and although people were glad he lost there wasn’t even a build up to the finish and the pop was killed. I like that he was thinking outside the box when it came to heel tactics but at some point they should have just abandoned it and had a hot finish at the very least.

Team Supreme v Chris Whitton/Kid Ritchie

Team Supreme is Jack Storm and Dave Morales. The good thing about this match is the usual issue that bullies Team Supreme suffer from isn’t a factor. Normally they just look too damn small to be considered bullies. Against these guys they look a lot bigger. Test of popularity. Test of strength. Test of teamwork. W&R come out 2-1 winners after that. In a nice moment Ritchie bounces off on a high crossbody to sell the size difference. Ayass claims Morales weighs 250lbs. In his dreams maybe. Ritchie gets overpowered some more and brutalised. Storm with a powerbomb onto his knee (not across it) to counter a rana. Whitton has to start his own chants but unlike in Middlesbrough they don’t catch on here. Team Supreme show some nice teamwork. The heat on Ritchie is very generic but it helps that Ritchie is small enough to be thrown around the ring. Ritchie botches his comeback. Storm didn’t help matters. Hot-ish tag to Whitton. I’m telling you; tag team formula is all but dead nowadays. There’s something about Whitton as a babyface too. People just don’t want to cheer him. He’s a great heel mind you but he’s not working heel here. Ritchie gets double teamed some more. Team Dormo break out the double teaming with the assisted 630 splash. Then the faces both run into piledrivers and this is over. Team Supreme wins. **. There was nothing wrong with it. As far as formula tag goes it was ok. But the crowd wasn’t interested and at no point were they able to change that.

Team Supreme v Sterling James Keenan/Spud

And here’s an American wrestler who did make it. Normally he’s a heel but because he’s here the crowd love him. Team Supreme were brought into 1PW by SJK’s character so he uses that against them. Also they were brought in to attack Spud; who must be a complete moron to want to team with SJK after the way he’s treated him over the last year or so. They even teamed before and SJK turned on him. This match does have heat on it although its not for the wrestling they’re doing. Which goes to show storyline usually is more important. Spud gets to play Midget in Peril. And yet in the whole heat segment there’s never anything approaching the fun Abyss had giving him a multiple rotation Black Hole Slam. The heat segment is as long as anything in the last match but the difference is the emotional attachment the crowd has to Spud as a character. Which is strange because the crowd love Pac as well and didn’t respond to the heat in that match, which goes to show just how badly Kid Kash ruined the match. But then look at it like this; the best match on the card was Ligero Vs Davey Richards where the heat was because Davey was the superior wrestler. It made sense. Here Team Supreme don’t do anything to justify their domination. Yeah, they’re a decent team but they frequently give Spud a window of escape that shouldn’t be there. I like how SJK at first refuses the tag and thinks better of it and tags in. It made the crowd think he was going to turn on Spud again making Spud the dumbest wrestler since Sting. Morales catches Spud with the old TIGER DRIVER but SJK saves. Satellite DDT from Spud and SJK piles on top to ensure there’s no kickout, which I’m fairly sure is illegal. Ayass mistakes it for Morales breaking the fall. Oops. **1/4. It was much like the last match only with actual crowd reactions and the distrust between Spud & SJK based on their former feud. Worth an extra quarter snowflake.

PRE-MATCH Jay Phoenix comes out here with the title belt. He claims to be the champion and refers to Ulf Herman as a “big blonde German bitch”. Shame Phoenix pissed so many people off because he’s great on the mic. Anyway Abyss has been stripped of the title belt, presumably because he isn’t here, and Jay claims the belt for himself. Ulf reacts as expected and murders him. Iceman comes out to join in and we have a title match.

Sidenote; this would be when TNA brought in the first commandment with the booking of its talent. 1 – No TNA Talent may job outside of the hallowed 6 sides of steel. Which would be another reason they’d have to get the belt off Abyss under unusual circumstances eventually. Most audience members were betting on the old 3-way dance. The way for a guy to lose the belt without being pinned.

1PW title/Survival of the Sickest – Ulf Herman v Iceman

They head right outside and Iceman gets cannonballed through the rail. The sight of Iceman standing around holding a chair waiting for Ulf to dropkick it at him makes me sad. I appreciate them taking the shots and everything but it shouldn’t look that fake. We’re trying to suspend disbelief. The rest of the match basically goes like this; wrestler hits other wrestler with plunder. 2 count. Other wrestler hits first wrestler with plunder. 2 count. SJK is obviously bored with this because he’s back out here. Adam Curtis tries to replace the referee but SJK hits him with the MK Ultra, which the camera misses. So…back to the plunder shots. Iceman takes about 5 minutes to set a table up. Ulf then torches it. They muck about for ages not understanding the fire doesn’t last forever. So they set fire to it again and Iceman gets suplexed through it. Ulf wins the title. ¼*. Awful. Which is an anagram of Aw, Ulf. So I think that’s appropriate. He deserved the title based on his effort in previous main event matches so the crowd is happy enough but the match was just horrible.

EXTRAS

Ulf Herman Promo

He claims to be the final 1PW champion and he’ll now be taking this belt around the world with him. He refers to the American imports as “overpaid bitches”. Again, made irrelevant by 1PW’s resurrection a few months later.

Six Questions

The video quality on this is atrocious. Webcam quality. Jay Phoenix talks about how 1PW has been a breath of fresh air and how it was the place to be. He claims the British wrestlers are just as talented as the best in the world but they don’t have an outlet to showcase that talent. Which is possibly fair comment but the general standard in the UK isn’t as high as in Japan or the USA but that’s because they have more chances to improve. Jay says he doesn’t understand why people are negative as 1PW has been so positive for British wrestling. He said the imports were what people wanted. It drew people into the shows. Jay carries on to talk about how everyone got along really well (when they weren’t hitting people with pillows) and it became like a big family.

Iceman says much the same thing about how 1PW drew fans with foreign imports but the UK wrestlers got the rub.

Ulf Herman is much more straightforward. He said 1PW brought too many talents in and wasted too much money and that 5 or 6 names would have drawn the same crowd as the 20 they booked. He recommends that Steven Gauntley should get more help running his company because one guy can’t do everything.

Spud says he loves Deal or No Deal while SJK rambles in the background about American TV. Spud talks about backstage politics and suspects different people have been in Gauntley’s ear. Interesting. He does put the Gauntley’s over though and says he loves them and loved the opportunities he got.

Stevie Aaron says his favourite 1PW match was Doug Williams Vs Lance Storm. I agree. Aaron talks about the supershows that Alex Shane booked at Coventry and how that started the UK importing American talent. He says its an alternative to the WWE in the UK and its improved the stock of the UK talent. He says he hadn’t slept in the last week because of 1PW going under. He said he felt like someone died. He says people have lost faith in British wrestling because of 1PW going under. He says they tried to save the show for the fans.

Dean Ayass says the Doncaster Dome is a great venue and 1PW has great fans. He makes the same point as Ulf says 2 imports draws the same crowd as 4 imports. He says he loved being given the book even if it was just for one show and he’d written stuff to go on for 6 months.

This whole thing ran like 30 minutes and repeated itself constantly.

Dean Ayass Answers

Already interviewed this is the same thing only with Ayass expanding on his points. The VQ is better but the audio is terrible.

Main Event Fan Cam

Is exactly what it says on the tin. Except there’s no audio so you don’t really get the feeling of being in the crowd.

Classic Moments

Jody & Jonny winning the tag titles over AJ/Daniels. Europe’s first ever no ropes barbed wire match featuring Abyss & Corino. Corino falls off a balcony through a stack of tables. SJK dumped on his head off a botched Styles Clash (yes, it does say “botched” on the DVD). Sandman. Abyss winning the heavyweight title. Bret Hart. SJK turning face. Spud diving off the balcony. Ulf’s flaming table antics.

Aisu Final

Another interview about the death of 1PW. Aisu says it’s the biggest chance of his career and how he’s gotten more work out of it. He blames the British mentality of trying to knock down 1PW because it was good. He says people who don’t realise what an effect 1PW has had on British wrestling “don’t understand the business”. He puts it down to jealousy and the British attitude to success. Aisu says he was happy to put a show on for the fans. Aisu puts over 3CW and RQW for putting the show on. I notice this was pre-recorded before the show so he didn’t see how it came out before making these comments. Hey, Pac v Kid Kash was great on paper. The audio is weird here too and the camera was moving around.

The End?

Perhaps the weirdest and most superfluous of the extras where patient “One Pro Wrestling” has its heart monitor flat line and then start beating again. Eesh. The very definition of pointless.

The 411: Wrestling should be about suspending disbelief and when you’re dipping in and out of kayfabe like this it’s a recipe for disaster. The matches were pretty much thrown together and it shows (no offence to the team behind it, they did the best they could with the time & money they had). 1PW was an entertaining company but this isn’t one of their best shows. It also doesn’t have that “go out with a bang” aspect. While this ended up being just another step in 1PW’s history it could have been a nostalgia goodbye show and it just isn’t. Thumbs down and I think everyone would just rather this didn’t happen at all.

Final Score:  3.5   [ Bad ]