UWE Knight of Glory III Full Coverage Recap

The Ultimate Wrestling Experience is the premier independent wrestling organization in Pennsylvania, and after last nights “Road to Glory III” card, I would argue that it’s as good as any other independent company in the Country! Just take a look at what AR Fox had to say about The Ultimate Wrestling Experience!

So now that you know that my praise of UWE is not all hype, let me tell you about last night’s card. An unbelievable rush of adrenaline from start to finish, which had the crowd of around 1,300 people, off their feet the entire night. It began when doors opened for a meet greet. A long line of fans flooded Sports City Harrisburg, 90 minutes before bell time, to get an autograph, and or picture, with AJ Styles, and Kevin Nash. Even though I was permitted early access to the building, I too got in line to meet the two superstars, and both couldn’t have been any nicer. Styles even complimented me on my pre-show article, that he remembered me Tweeting him on Friday.

The card kicked off with Kevin Nash making his way to the ring. He told the live crowd that unfortunately he had to leave soon, so we would begin the night with the four way match, for the UWE World title! The Untouchable Kevin Murphy was certain that Kevin Nash would be in his corner, rather than an unbiased special enforcer. Who knew that his very own Hollywood’s finest financial supporter, and friend, valet, Bookoo Bucks, Ms. Brianna, would lead to Nash’s distraction. After her attempt to bring a steel chair into play, Nash would literally “spank” Ms. Brianna all the way back to the dressing room, and not return for some time. The match continued with champion Ryan Kolby, and Sage Strong, putting on a clinic, after several big moves from The Mercenary, lead to him having to try and recover outside the ring, including a crazy spot that saw him splash Kevin Murphy through a ringside table!  After referee Zack Carlucci took a nasty bump, The UWE front man/owner, The Hunter, got involved, trying to ensure victory for Hollywood’s finest, but Murphy was in no shape to continue, and was lead to the back. Kevin Nash reemerged wearing Ms. Brianna’s tiara, to the delight of the live crowd, and helped revive referee Carlucci just in time for Sage Strong to nail his big finisher, the “adrenaline rush” on Champion, Ryan Kolby and get the three count, with The Mercenary coming close, but just missing, breaking it up, before a NEW UWE World champion was crowned, in The Thrill Seeker, Sage Strong! The Hunter was irate, but took a big choke slam from Kevin Nash to make an already excited crowd even happier.

In the second match of the night, we would see the U.S. champion, Laszlo Arpad, take on hometown star Slyder, for the title! The winner would also get into the money in the bank ladder match later that night, for the number one contendership for the UWE World title. This bout was hotly contested, and very enjoyable from start to finish. That finish seemed to come when Slyder pinned the champion, but as the crowd was roaring, and the title was coming to the ring to be handed to a jubilant Slyder, the ref began waving the pin off, after seeing Laszlo’s foot under the bottom rope. The match was quickly restarted, and Laszlo immediately capitalized, taking advantage of the shocked, and disappointed, Slyder, nailing him with his finisher, and remaining the UWE United States Champion.

The third bout was a match many were waiting for. Eddie Smooth had been scheduled to take on Sonjay Dutt, but several weeks before tonight, Dutt had to cancel. Eddie insisted it was due to Dutt being scared to face him, but the UWE promised that a major indy wrestling star had stepped up to take Sonjay’s place. As the first entrant was announced, “Cult of Personality” blared over the P.A. system, causing all 1,300 fans to rise to their feet, as a wrestler in a dark hoodie emerged, knelt down, and yelled the ever famous “It’s clobberin time!” Surely this couldn’t be happening? As soon as the lights went up, and the hood was pulled down, everyone was SHOCKED to see…Eddie Smooth, laughing at his ruse. Grabbing the house mic, Eddie went on to say it didn’t matter who was there to challenge him, he could beat anyone. As he continued, his opponent ran in from the crowd, ascended the opposite turnbuckle, and hit Eddie with a HUGE top rope dropkick to start the bout! Imagine the crowd’s reaction when Anthony Nese was announced as the man who had stepped up to take on Eddie Smooth! In what I feel was one of the absolute best matches on the card, Eddie and Anthony tore the house down with a fast paced, action filled, back and forth contest! After nailing his awesome one armed bucklebomb, Nese seemed prepared to take the victory, but Eddie came back with a huge reverse hurricarana, followed by his “Photo Finish” to pin The Premier Athlete, furthering his rising reputation as a legit, big time, indy wrestling star. In fact, here is what Nese had to say about The UWE, and Eddie, after that match.

Anthony Nese: The UWE is a great, family friendly, company. It’s actually insane, I didn’t expect it to be as packed as it is tonight. This is definitely a great company that knows what they’re doing, they know how to promote. When it comes my opponent tonight, Eddie Smooth, he’s definitely got it, he’s absolutely got it right now. He’s a fun opponent to work with, he knows what he’s doing, you’ll definitely be hearing about him over the next few years. I see Eddie Smooth just blowing up from here.

The next bout was an insane, seven man, money in the bank, ladder match. The winner would be declared the number one contended to the UWE World championship. I don’t even begin to know where to start with this. Numerous ladders were in, and surrounded the ring, including a 20 foot one that stood in the entrance way. Latin Spyder, C4, Shane Mallice, Laszlo Arpad, Zack Rayne, and The Wildcardz, Eddie Page, and Jason Radatz went balls to the wall, hitting spots that made audience members cringe as if they were the ones feeling the pain. I want to call out the spots in this match, but there were just way too many. Trust me when I tell you that every man in this match made a name for himself for simply appearing in it. Unfortunately, in a sick bump that saw six of the men, outside the ring, taking a top rope dive from the seventh performer, C4 was literally knocked unconscious. Being the fierce competitor that he is, he wasn’t happy about that, which is a normal reaction, but what blew my mind is what he told me after the match. “I just want to apologize to the UWE Fans for not being able to perform at the best I could for you all. You paid money for a ticket to see a performance and I personally feel ashamed and saddened that I couldn’t give you all exactly that. I am very overwhelmed with the response I got from this amazing fan base and I hope to see everybody back in May, so I can give you what each and every one of you deserve.” This is the fire all UWE wrestlers have, so much so, that getting legit KO’ed makes them feel ashamed for not doing more on the card. Wow…the match ended when it appeared Latin Spyder had it won, when he raced up the 20 foot ladder, from outside the ring, as it leaned against the ropes, leaping to the ladder center ring. However, Laszlo, who had been lurking outside the ring most of the night, ran into the ring, ascended the ladder, shoved Spyder off, and took the brief case, making him the number one contender to the UWE world title.

Sage Strong hits the ring to confront the new number one contender. As the men go to nose to nose, The Hunter makes his way to the ring, applauding Laszlo’s victory. He takes the house mic, and says that while he may not be able to punish Kevin Nash for not doing the job he expected him to do in the world title match, he can punish Sage Strong, and declares him stripped of the UWE World title, and awards it to The Untouchable Kevin Murphy, in a move that makes WWE’s Triple H seem kind, and understanding! Murphy has to be helped to ringside as he is still suffering the after effects of going through the table in the opening match. Sage refuses to give the title up, but having to defend himself against Hunter, and Laszlo, allows Ms. Brianna to reach in and grab the title, and run off with it, handing it to Kevin Murphy! Sage Strong does manage to nail The Hunter with his finisher, to give the fans some relief after his ridiculous ruling.

UWE general manager Adrian Jakobs then makes his way to ringside and announces that on the next UWE event, Sage Strong will go one on one with Laszlo Arpad, but it will be a no holds barred match. Not only that, but the special referee for that match will be former WWE hardcore legend, Mick Foley! After the crowd calmed from that major announcement, he went on to announce that the Lancaster Heavyweight Champion, from LCW, Shane Douglas, would defend his title on the same card! Also, just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, on the titantron was a video from Jeff, and Karen Jarrett telling all UWE fans that they would be on the next card as well! Jarrett will not only be wrestling, but he and Karen will be scouting talent for their new wrestling company! Needless to say, I picked up my front row ticket immediately after this was announced, as this is certain to be another amazing card from the UWE, on Friday, May 9^th.

After intermission we had new tag team champions crowned as “the BFF’s” Big Red and Cyrus Parker, dethroned Jaxon Connelly and Hollywood Nick Myers for the UWE Tag team titles. The crowd erupted when UWE ring announcer, Joel Oresky, after being taunted by former champ Nick Myers, speared him out of his shoes! Next up was the debut of The Red Scorpion and Brian Castle, as they faced two men, also debuting at UWE Adrian Bliss, and the creepy Krimson! Scorpion was his typical powerhouse self, tossing Bless around like a rag-doll, causing Krimson to not even want to tag into the match, and while I normally don’t care much for comedy based wrestlers, Brian Castle was so energetic, and fun, that I enjoyed watching him. He can go in the ring, so his silly persona is easy to accept! Bliss was over the top with his crazy antics, wiggles, giggles, and swivels, causing an uproar from the huge crowd. The Mayor of Linglestown was his manager for the evening, and had the crowd jeering as he chose to dress from what appeared to be Bliss’s closet! The match came to an end when Krimson, fed up with Bliss’s antics, sprayed his red mist in Bliss’s face, and walked out, allowing Scorpion, and Castle, to get the easy 1-2-3. Afterword, The Red Scorpion knocked Mr. Mayor to the mat, and placed one of his pet scorpions on his chest, much to the crowds delight.

It was then time for the loser leaves town, Lumberjack match, between former friends and longtime rivals, Jay Mack and Ritchie Nightmare. Numerous UWE workers surrounded the ring to keep the action contained within the squared circle. This match, as expected, was a fight. I managed to find the nervous mother of Jay Mack in the crowd, right before the start of the match, and here is what she had to say!

After a brutal knockdown, drag out, Katie bar the door, pier six brawl, Jay Mack, in a very aggressive move, which seemed to turn the crowd against him, began to dominate. After winning the match, Jay Mack went all out on his former friend, with a steel chair, that had “The Redeemer” painted on it. It was so brutal in fact, the crowd definitely turned against him. That said houwever; Jay Mack won the match, and sent Ritchie Nightmare out of town! Or did it? I caught up with Ritchie at the end of the night who gave me an exclusive in regard to what is next for him, in the UWE!

Finally, it was time for the special main event of the evening. It was time to see, in their very first match-up, AJ Styles vs AR Fox! The crowd was chanting “this is awesome” before the bell even rang, and those chants were prophetic as this match was everything anyone thought it might be, and more so. Surprisingly, these two even grappled very well, performing many chain wrestling moves and reversals. Of course there was a ton of high flying, from both men, as you’d expect, and even a few power moves from Styles! Each man got in some significant chops as well, that echoed throughout the venue. The cheers of “this is awesome” and “this is wrestling” were almost none stop, as were rotating chants of “AJ Styles” followed by “AR Fox” as well. After numerous near falls, and Fox just managing to get to the ropes while locked in the calf killer, Fox missed with his finisher, Lowmein Pain, and Styles caught Fox in the Styles Clash, getting the 1-2-3. Both men embraced after the match, and Styles told the crowd, who were chanting “five more minutes” that he “couldn’t go five more seconds with this guy kicking my butt!” and proceeded to put Fox over, big time, to the live crowd that chanted “please come back.”

Check out the fans interaction, and reaction, to the UWE, all the cool things UWE has to offer, Styles’ and Nash, meet and greets, as well as thoughts from debuting wrestlers Red Scorpion, Brian Castle, and Adrian Bliss! At the close of this video, Richie Nightmares gives me an exclusive announcement about what’s next for him, after his loser leaves town match!

In closing, check out what AJ Styles Tweeted about UWE, as well as my podcast, “From the Top Turnbuckle” as I cover Knight of Glory there as well, in episode 4. I’d love if you’d check my podcast out each and every weekend too, I need all the followers I can get.

From The Top Turnbuckle

 Photographs provided by Robert Jenter