PBW Maximum Impact 5
Premier British Wrestling (PBW) are one of the top if not the top promotion currently in Scotland and regularly draw really impressive crowds, (this year they drew around about 1000 to one of their shows which is staggering to be honest) who boast a really strong roster and constantly garner praise from the UK wrestling community. PBW presented their big show of 2011 Maximum Impact 5, which is basically their Wrestlemania from the Magnum Centre, Irvine in Scotland in front of a large audience of just under 500 fans in what promised to be a great night of wrestling.
Before i get the review underway i would like to thank the owner of PBW Ross for providing me with this DVD, i really appreciate it mate !
So onto the show …….
First of the production of the DVD is really good, although there is no commentary everything else is top notch and the picture quality wise is great, one of the best i have seen from a indy promotion not just in the UK but worldwide !
Match 1 – PBW Tag Team Championship match- Lionheart & Wolfgang (c) vs Project Ego (Kris Travis & Martin Kirby) [***]
The opening contest of the evening contained three of the best talents in the UK for me in, Lionheart, Martin Kirby and Kris Travis. This was my first time seeing Wolfgang in action, who more then held his own with these guys and was very impressive. This was a real good match to open the show as it worked on two different levels, first to warm the crowd up for the rest of the evenings action and secondly paying particular attention not to go all gun ho so to speak as to cause a early burn out to the crowd so kudos to all guys involved as this was a perfect opener. The popular teaming of Lionheart & Wolfgang were really over with the PBW crowd, in sharp contrast to that off Project Ego who had decent heel heat through out the contest (which included Travis doing some rather unsavory things to Wolfgang's wolf mask). The dynamic of the match was really good as it started of real slow with some good back and fourth tag team wrestling, until finally building up to a hot finish. Lionheart & Wolfgang retained their titles after both hitting spears on Tarvis and Kirby and then coming off the top rope with Lionheart hitting Kirby with a frogsplash and Travis on the receiving end of a senton bomb from Wolfgang.
Match 2 – UEWA Title match – Bad Bones (c) vs James Scott [**]
The German Heavyweight Bad Bones put his UEWA heavyweight title on the line taking on Scotland's very own James Scott in a mediocre match. Both guys started the match up to see who could draw the loudest cheers from crowd with both taking it in turns climbing the turnbuckles for applause, and as you could probably have guessed it, the Scottish crowd weren't very big fans of the German and Scott lead them into a Scotland chant to further annoy the German. As for the action, the match up was decent but that's all it ever was, and i personally wasn't a fan, i just felt the action was slow and just plodded along, Bad Bones picked up the win then he was able to hit Scott with a spinning like tiger bomb.
Match 3 – Chris Rampage, Davey Blaze & Joe Coffey vs Jack Jester, Colin McKay & Red Lighting [**1/2]
Six man tag team action was up next as the heel trio of Jack Jester, Colin McKay & Red Lighting went up against Chris Rampage, Davey Blaze & Joe Coffey. The team of Joe Coffey and tag team partners Chris Rampage and Davey Blaze were really impressive and all three appear to have the potential to be really good wrestlers in the future. The match took the shape of the heels isolating members of the opposition and working over them for long periods and killing any potential fight back they had. Blaze and Rampage brought some good looking high speed wrestling to the table, including a beautiful dive to the outside by Davey Blaze and then a summersault over the top rope by Rampage, and were really impressive and worked well as a tag team working in double team maneuvers on their foes. The match up was decent enough and thoroughly entertaining, the team of Jack Jester, Colin McKay & Red Lighting must also be praised for their work in this match as all three for me made the other guys look fantastic. I hope to see more from Chris Rampage and Davey Blaze in the future in tag team action as well, both look class acts and are only going to grow as wrestlers and Coffey looks a class act as well.
Match 4 – Prince Devitt vs Andy Wild [***1/2]
New Japan Pro Wrestling and international star Prince Devitt went into battle with young up and coming PBW star Andy Wild. Have seen a few matches of Andy Wild and the lad is talent that's for sure, not just a talent in that he will mold into a good wrestler, but one that has the potential to defiantly be a standout on the British indy wrestling scene. This match proved Wild's potential as he held more than his own, with the vastly more experienced and talented Devitt. Prince Devitt well he is awesome and in this match up he just looked world class, the blokes fantastic. These two exhibited some superb technical wrestling and nice smooth counters and transitions. This was another entertaining contest, however the crowd didn't seem that into it, this may be because of the crowd being rather young and containing loads of children and not appreciating what a classy wrestling match was unfolding before their eyes. These two guys brought it with some real stiff action, some of the forearms and chops looked brutal. The match was a highly competitive back and fourth affair, and at one point Wild looked to have the contest won after hitting a beautiful spinning thunder bomb on Devitt only for the NJPW star to kick out at the last possible second. The finish came when Prince Devitt came of the top rope with a double stop to Wild and then hitting his foe with a lifting up spike DDT to pick up the win, in a cracking encounter. Post match Prince Devitt shook the hand of the youngster Andy Wild as a sign of respect for the performance he had just put on.
Match 5 King of Cruisers match 2011 – Stevie Xavier vs Zack Sabre Jr vs El Ligero vs Mark Andrews vs Liam Thompson vs Joey Hayes (****)
This was a six man elimination match and the talent in this match up was fantastic and was by and far the best match of the night for me. Zack Sabre Jr is phenomenal and one of the best wrestlers in the UK and one of my favorite wrestlers, who gets booked all around the world (He is currently participating in his second tour of NOAH at the moment), El Ligero well the mans sheer class and appears on virtually every card up and down the country and am still yet to see him put on a crap performance, always gives it 100%. Liam Thompson is also a great cruiser, along with Joey Hayes who always brings the goods. I've heard great things of Mark Andrews so this was my chance to see if the high praise i have heard was warranted, and man did he impress, the guy is a class act, also this was my first look at Stevie Xavier and he seemed a good talent although a little green but a bit more seasoning he could be something special also. The match up was great the opening sequence between Sabre Jr and Mark Andrews were fantastic, Sabre tried to grapple and chain wrestler with the high flyer Andrews, who more than held his own, and both guys produced a great sequence of technical wrestling and countering incorporating great athleticism, this was one of many great interactions between numerous wrestlers which occurred through out this match up along with a ton of great sequences. The action was non stop for a good 20 minutes or so and there was never a dull moment and the crowd where also really into the action. The first elimination occurred when Andrews hit Joey Hayes with a tilt -a -whirl DDT, Andrews wouldn't remain in the action for long as Liam Thompson hit the high flyer with a lung blower to eliminate him. The third elimination came when El Ligero rolled Thompson up for the 3 count and a couple of minutes later, Ligero tapped to a Sabre Jr cross arm breaker. That left the action down to the last two of Stevie Xavier and Zack Sabre Jr, and the winner becoming the King of Cruisers 2011, the ref made a major blunder when it appeared a couple of times that he forget the finish of the match and on two occasions not count the 3 count, the finish eventually came when Xavier hit 450 splash from the top rope onto Sabre Jr and win the King of Cruisers 2011 trophy. Some people may bitch and moan that the refs botch hurt the match, but at the end of the day everyone is human and errors do happen that aside this was a great match and great fun, and for me was match of the night. From the the sequence the two had i would love to see a Mark Andrews vs Zack Sabre Jr match sometime in the future between the two. Great effort from all involved.
Match 6 – TJ Rage and Scott Maverick w/ Charles Boddington vs JD Bravo and Jamie Ferrick [**1/4]
This match up featured academy wrestlers in the early stages of their careers, and kudos to PBW management for having the faith in these guys and giving them some exposure on a massive PBW card (basically their Wrestlemania). Although this match wasn't anything spectacular it was a decent outing for the rookies with TJ Rage, Scott Maverick and Jamie Ferrick particularly impressive. The team of Maverick and Rage picked up the win after Rage hit Feerick with a spinning neck breaker after placing him on the ropes to execute the move, however, again there seemed to be a cock up with the ending of the match and the referees count.
Match 7 – PBW CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH – BT Gunn (c) vs Johnny Moss (2 out of 3 falls match) [***1/2]
The main event of the evening was the always impressive BT Gunn taking on the powerhouse that is England's Johnny Moss. This is the first time i have seen Johnny Moss in action and the guys a beast, he has a great look and from what i have seen on the internet is attracting a bit of attention overseas (am sure he has competed over in Germany for WXW already) and it is easy to see why, he may have to look but he is also very impressive in the ring as well, not a thing you can say about many big men wrestlers. This was a really good outing from both guys who went out and performed for a good 25 minutes and never once lost the fans attention. Moss already not popular with the fans didn't do himself anymore favors as he went on to insult the Scottish fans and do some very unpopular things with the Scottish flag. The match up at first started out slow as was to be understandable in a match that was going to last for a while, throughout the match up there was a great variety of different style of wrestling on showcase. Moss brought the array of big power moves whilst Gunn playing the role of the underdog some what, and was able to incorporate fast pace and some highflying wrestling into the match up, the two at one stage even brawled amongst the fans to their delight in a highly competitive back and fourth encounter. Moss picked up the first fall, after BT Gunn was stunned through the middle rope on the outside of the ropes, which allowed Moss to come over the top rope in a sun set flip and powerbomb Gunn onto the outside, he then instructed the Ref to start a count out which he did and counted Gunn out awarding Johnny Moss the first fall of the match up. Gunn was able to even up the score however after taking beating from Moss following the powerbomb to the outside, he countered a gorilla press and hit Moss with two superkicks which Moss sort of no sold but was still stunned from and then as moss tried to hit him with a German suplex he reversed into a roll up for the 3 count and thus tying the score at one a piece. The third and final pinfall was scored by the champion when he was able to hit Moss with a code breaker like move coming from the top rope. This was a really good main event and solid match up which sent the fans home happy and was a great way to end a cracking nights entertainment.
Overall show thoughts – This was a cracking show which i can easily recommend to anyone to buy, not one bad match up on the card, with matches ranging from decent to great. Match of the night for me was easily the great King of Cruisers match, followed by the great effort put in from Prince Devitt and Andy Wild in their match up together. This show also showcases a huge range of different styles of wrestling throughout the event thus providing a great variety of matches ups to the fans, whether it was highflying antics, technical wrestling or just sheer high impact powerhouse wrestling this card had it all. Another thing is that the future for PBW is bright as they already have a great roster, but they also have some great young up and coming guys who have the potential to be real standouts in the future. So all in all i really recommend you guys to go out and pick this show up as it really delivers and is cracking entertainment, am defiantly looking forward to my next bit of PBW action.
Again i would like to thank Ross and PBW for supplying me with this DVD, cheers guys.
To find PBW on the internet and order this DVD:
Website: http://www.pbwwrestling.com/home
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/pbwwrestling
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pbwwrestling
To contact me:
E-mail: jamiepwponderings@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JamieIndyPW