Blake Trask

The Cverse IWC are having a field day with Historian-the-character right now

Lionesses of Wrestling XIV: Live! Saturday, week 2 April 2020 Gloucester Street Youth Centre Attendance: 43 Not broadcast Commentary: None The Sea Dogs open up the show with their usual swagger and raucous cheer. However, Cap’n Swann gets a modicum more serious than normal when she addresses the British champion, Sakuyama. Last week, she left Abbi Archer high and dry, an act which Swann deems to be utmost bilge-rattery, especially as this led to her beloved bosom buddy Bosun Bakshi being brutally beaten! After a beat, Sakuyama emerges and is angry at Swann’s insinuations. She didn’t react quickly enough and her friend got hurt, and Swann’s accusing her of doing it deliberately? That’s low. Bakshi asserts that LoW is in fact the company. Everyone groans. — D The pirates remain in the ring for the arrival of Gearhead and quote new unquote face, a luminescent figure clad in a shining tracksuit introduced as Fool’s Gold. (She is 100% Rhiannon Jones). Swann and Bakshi are very interested in focusing fire upon Fool’s Gold and spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to plunder her tracksuit top. This single-minded fixation enables Gearhead to really go to town with her striking, unloading hammer blow after hammer blow (yet not a single arm wrench? For shame). The Sea Dogs are forced to rally at ringside in a huddle with Polly, and here Gearhead overreaches, winding up lost at sea against the wily Dogs. She’s summarily dismantled, leaving Fool’s Gold to be the proverbial merchant vessel and consigning her to Swann’s Davy Jones’ Locker. — E+ Someone very different out next, a figure dressed up as an astronaut. Well, that’s LoW for you. The spacewoman introduces herself as Astrogirl; the audio astute of the audience may recognise Countess’s voice, but honestly, she does a very good job of adjusting pitch and intonation to sound very different. She spends some time talking about how great space is and how awesome a rocket ship she has, which draws out a frankly appalled Aviator Agarwal. How can she like space so much, there’s no atmosphere! You can’t do air displays or tricks! Astrogirl says that uh. It’s space. It wins by default. This cannot stand! A match, right here and now! — D+ What follows is definitively a comedy match. Astrogirl moves around in big leaps and slow motion hops, and Agarwal finds that her slams are ineffective; she can’t bring Astrogirl down with any force, she just pops straight back up again! This plays against Astrogirl too, though. She ends up sending herself careening backwards every time she strikes Agarwal, and an irish whip sends her pinwheeling across the ring instead. The finish comes as the first strains of Shinobi’s menacing theme begin to play, distracting Agarwal. Roll up—Agarwal kicks out, Astrogirl goes flying. Lightbulb moment! Agarwal simply dives on top of her! Astrogirl can’t push off with enough force! 1, 2, 3! — E+ Abbi Archer is in action next against Machinegun Marley, and it says a lot about how far the fledgling company and its rookies have come in just a few short months when a match with myriad issues can hit a level that previous shows struggled to manage with main events. In brief, the workers can’t get on the same page, the referee can’t get out of the way, and Abbi can’t get out of her own head. A distracted-looking Archer manages to hit the Bullseye and collect a victory. — E Unfortunately the next match conspires to be worse. Call it the effects of her stint as Fool’s Gold earlier, but Rhiannon Jones has a serious off night against Dionne Grimes, and the two of them are green enough that they can’t really afford too much weighted against them. The major highlight is Grimes managing to kick out after Jones scores a trio of rolling vertical suplexes, feeding off the crowd reaction to claw her way back into the match and romp to a big win. — E- Samba Barnes vs. Countess makes for a very strong contest, not least thanks to them both having an instinctive understanding of one another’s styles and their role within the match. Countess has to use every trick in the book to cut Samba off from firing up too hard and prevent the train from leaving the station. Samba keeps coming back, a little stronger each time, a little closer to that big explosive finale. This match is hurt more than most by the inexperience of the wrestlers; they don’t quite have the psychology to pull together the story that they’re trying to tell, and that hurts it. Samba manages to slip out of yet another hold and gets enough separation to finally land a big crossbody. She’s all over Countess! Scoop slam! Clothesline! Clothesline! Dropkick! Executioner jumps onto the apron! The referee blocks her from interfering, but Svenja Schwartz slithers in from the far side of the ring and cheap shots Samba in the back of the head! She skedaddles, and Samba is dazed enough for Countess to sink her with the reverse bulldog and pick up the victory. — E A very good main event as Ellen Ward and Ronin look to settle the score in the ring. Ronin peppers Ward with precise punches and kicks, and Ward retaliates with much less elegant but no less nasty boxing combinations, left, right, uppercut. Ronin tries to take the sting out using throws and suplexes, but Ward fights through each impact in turn, demonstrating her grit and determination every step of the way. There’s an attempt to end it instantly with the roundhouse kick, and Ward ducks; as time wears on, it seems that Ronin is growing frustrated that she cannot put Ward away. The two exchange blows in the centre of the ring, roundhouse attempt—Ward catches the leg, pulls her in, exploder! Ronin staggers upright, glittering magician! Ellen Ward is victorious in what must be LoW’s best match to date! Ward gets hold of a microphone, and keeps it short and simple: Sakuyama. You’re next. — D- SHOW RATING: D-

Hector Davoren and Helen Earth in CV97. They are both awful, awful, awful. They are both consistently in my first round of hires. If given the opportunity I will hire Kuniko Matsura every time as well, and not just CV97. She's a good egg.

WINNOW is one that has caused me a fair bit of consternation recently. I love them and they've always been a personal favourite but them having the exact same product as the only other joshi company is throwing me for such a loop.

<p>Is graduation turned on within the schools?</p><p> </p><p> There is a Yes/No for graduation</p>

<p>tfw NOTBPW are cool.</p><p> </p><p> Great graphics!</p>

Lionesses of Wrestling XIII: Live! Saturday, week 1 April 2020 Gloucester Street Youth Centre Attendance: 43 Not broadcast Commentary: None The champion in action first up and whatever ill-effects she may have been suffering from her defence against Lace, she certainly isn’t showing them tonight. The Masked Damsel delves into her box of dirty tricks, but Sakuyama is very scrupulous about keeping the referee’s eye on the ball, and Damsel comes close to getting disqualified more than once. Bereft of her cheap tactics, Damsel really doesn’t have much in the locker, and Sakuyama dismantles her en route to picking up an easy win. — E Samba Barnes is in the ring for her big announcement. However, before she can get to revealing what it is, Svenja Schwartz interrupts her. She mocks Barnes, telling her that she can try and build the anticipation for as long as she wants, nobody here cares. Barnes fires back that it’s funny Svenja should say that, since she seems to be under the mistaken impression anyone cares about her. They go nose to nose, and Schwartz starts shoving Barnes around, laughing at her and daring her to make something of it with her dud arm… and Barnes says that that’s her announcement! She sheds the sling and throws a big bomb at Svenja’s face! Svenja is staggered and then dispatched to ringside! Barnes grabs the mic again and says that she’s all fit to compete! — D- A great return from injury and a great debut here for ‘The Exeter Executioner’ Ophelia Oswell, who is a great striker with excellent precision. In spite of this, though, Barnes is fired up and the crowd is behind her for this return, and it’s all Oswell can do just to slow her down. Ultimately, It was never going to be her night, and Barnes, flinging Oswell hither and thither with suplexes and huge throws, romps to a feel-good victory. — E+ Lottie Lace puts in a good shift against a second debutant, ‘Rolling’ Rhiannon Jones. Much like her 21CW namesake, Jones enjoys trying to string suplexes together, though she also has a variety of chops in her arsenal, including a few that wouldn’t go amiss in Lace’s previous stomping grounds in Japan. Lace adjusts swiftly though, and manages to fight out of a triple vertical suplex and strike back with a triple german sequence, then hits the Penalty Kick for a well-earned win. — E The so-called OM2 is probably best described as a neon biker, as her in-ring outfit is straight up fluorescent. She might fight in suspiciously similar vein to Ophelia Oswell, but she’s certainly one of the better disguises we’ve seen. She couldn’t cut more of a contrast to the serious and dark-clad Ronin, who swiftly puts paid to OM2’s fun-loving ways and turns this one into a striking match. The hard-hitting bout is suddenly and brutally terminated as Ronin ducks under a high kick and drops OM2 with a rising, spinning elbow, and then cleans up with a roundhouse. — E+ As Ronin rises, Ellen Ward comes out from backstage. She tells Ronin simply that if she wants a fight, she’s got one. Ronin nods curtly in agreement. — D Abbi Archer comes out next, and after a short delay, Swann and Bakshi join her in rampantly raucous fashion. Archer asks for Sakuyama to come out, and the champ does so. Abbi explains that she doesn’t blame Sakuyama at all for focusing on the title last week, and she’s glad she was able to get a win tonight. She hopes that Sakuyama doesn’t think that Abbi was imposing on her, and says that they’re still friends. Stakuyama agrees, and apologises, offering Abbi a hug. Swann cheers and goes to the turnbuckles, hyping the crowd. Bakshi tries to get in on the hug and Sakuyama breaks off, pushing her away; it’s very awkward. As a little bit of a standoff ensues, there’s a commotion: Countess and Executioner through the crowd! They enter behind Abbi! Sakuyama freezes! Bakshi shouts, shoving Abbi out of the way and taking a loaded glove shot intended for her! The jig is up and Countess/Executioner bail. Swann dramatically cradles her fallen shipmate, and vows to take on Executioner in her place! Sakuyama and Archer share an awkward moment of eye contact as the ring is cleared for the main event. — D- Swann demands blood in this one, and she’s all over Executioner initially, throwing the surprised hangwoman onto the back foot. An early flying dropkick gets two, and Executioner rolls to ringside to recuperate. She takes some pointers from Countess and reenters, managing to defend herself from the next part of Swann’s assault and then counter a new rush with an exploder. Swann isn’t going to just lie down though, and she kicks out furiously. The momentum swings both ways, and Executioner eventually manages the win with a superplex, two feet on the ropes, and Countess holding on for extra leverage. — E+ SHOW RATING: E+

“Oi, Wardy.” We were near enough packed up for the night. I was standing outside the youth centre, waiting for Viv to finish a trip to the loo so I could lock up and we could go home. “Hey, Debra. Thought you’d gone already.” Debra usually took off right after the show finished. Busy lady. Day job and all. It was strange to see her still here this late. “Wanted to catch you away from the others. S’about Samba.” “Yeah? I think the interviews are going pretty—” “Why’re you booking her?” I stopped short. Blinked. Took a couple seconds. “...Building up for when she comes back?” “Sure, but she can’t wrestle while crocked.” “Well no—” “And we’re still paying her.” I felt totally off balance. This wasn’t the kind of conversation I’d expected at all. Maybe Debra sensed my hesitation, she pressed the point. “I’m still paying her.” “I know, and I really appreciate it. I just—it doesn’t feel right to leave her off.” Debra scoffed. “Feelings aren’t a luxury you can afford in this business, Wardy. Not as a booker, and definitely not as a promoter. Feelings don’t pay the bills.” My mind was racing, running away from me. I fiddled with the keys as an excuse to break eye contact. Then I took a deep breath. My mental footing found solid ground. “She’s adding to the show. We’ve got to fill a certain amount of time, and sometimes we need a non-wrestling segment for costume changes. Her interviews are as long, longer than some of our matches, and they’re helping build stories and rivalries, which are what will keep people coming back when we’re running this many shows. I’d say that’s worth the pay.” Debra paused, lips pursing for a long moment. “...Yeah. Righto then.” “I do really appreciate the help, Debra. I’m not throwing people on for the sake of it.” She nodded noncommittally. “I best get off home. Have a good one, Wardy.” “Uh, yeah. Bye.” Debra slouched off. I watched her the whole way out of sight, and until Vivi finally reappeared at my arm.

<p><strong>Lionesses of Wrestling XII: Live!</strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="49019" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Ellen Ward vs. Sabbat<p> Reagan vs. Dionne Grimes</p><p> Aviator Agarwal vs. Svenja Schwartz</p><p> Abbi Archer & Bosun Bakshi vs. Countess & High Executioner</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Saturday, week 4 March 2020</p><p> Gloucester Street Youth Centre</p><p> Attendance: 39</p><p> Not broadcast</p><p> Commentary: None</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Strong out the blocks here with Ward against Sabbat. The witchy competitor tries her dark and dreary magics upon her opponent, but Ellen’s focus is too tight and her psyche too tightly wound, Sabbat just isn’t able to get into her head. When the fae fails, trust the fist, and the match becomes a brawl. However, Ward’s not only better with her fists, she has other strings to her bow, and after a furusawa armbar takedown, she gets her legs across Sabbat’s other arm and successfully locks the A&E to force a tap out. — <strong>E</strong><br /> <br /> <br /></li><li>Abbi Archer comes out and talks a little about her ongoing problems with Countess and Executioner. She admits that she’s just one person, but that she knows she has friends, and that together with her friends, she believes she can take on the world. She invites Sakuyama out, and the champion appears. Archer asks her friend if she will stand with her in the main event, and Sakuyama… says that she can’t!? Abbi looks upset as Sakuyama explains that she would, but she has to be on top form to defend her title, and after her battle with Lace last week, she’s in recuperation mode. Sorry, abbi will have to find somebody else. Archer’s left bereft in the ring, and at length, disconsolately walks to the back. — <strong>D-</strong><br /> <br /> <br /></li><li>Samba Barnes has Dionne Grimes in the ring for an interview. Grimes explains what she’s about, touching on her losing record so far, but claiming that LoW ain’t seen nothing yet, and she’s just getting started. The two banter comfortably back and forth, cracking jokes, and Samba in particular really seems to be coming into her own with this role. However, as they’re talking, they’re interrupted by Reagan (again with a masterful job of quickly removing makeup). Reagan calls them out for their lack of seriousness towards the craft of wrestling, and singles out Grimes as a target. Grimes invites her to come right on down. — <strong>D-</strong><br /> <br /> <br /></li><li>The subsequent match isn’t bad, and Dionne has the opportunity to strut her stuff a bit more and demonstrate her charisma and ability to play to the crowd. Reagan gets some offence, but it’s clear that the spotlight is on Grimes. She fights up out of a rear chinlock in a good old fashioned Strong rally, and then runs wild before catching Reagan’s arms, dropping back, and kicking up to boot her in the jaw and get the win. — <strong>E-</strong><br /> <br /> <br /></li><li>As Aviator Agarwal makes her way out to the ring, slapping hands and pointing to Svenja, Shinobi appears behind her and locks in the Sleeper Hold! Ninjutsu! Agarwal struggles wildly, but is choked down to the floor. Shinobi hoists up her dead weight as Svenja cackles in the ring, and once Agarwal is rolled under the ropes, Schwartz starts yelling to the official to start the match. — <strong>E+</strong><br /> <br /> <br /></li><li>Svenja immediately pins Agarwal and it’s academic, one, two th—AGARWAL KICKS OUT! Schwartz is furious and corners the referee, berating her for not starting things off quickly enough. She eventually returns to Agarwal and puts the boots to her, pins again, a fresh kick out. Schwartz is furious, and gets sloppy, leaving the door open for the airwoman to start fighting back. The crowd’s behind the aviator one hundred percent of the way, and Schwartz does a great job of selling her shock and alarm at how badly she’s been pushed onto the back foot. Sadly though, the ambush has taken just too much out of the tank, and Schwartz’s desperate Invasion catches Agarwal cold, finally allowing Svenja to get the win. — <strong>E</strong><br /> <br /> <br /></li><li>Countess and Executioner are in the ring. Countess demands that Archer come out and face her, deriding her for trusting in foolish notions such as the power of friendship over the power of nobility. The champion thought better of tangling with Countess’s majesty, clearly. A dejected Archer comes out alone and slowly starts walking to the ring, but wait, that’s—that’s Bakshi’s music! Bosun Bakshi comes out with Cap’n Swann in tow, flying the Jolly Roger! Bakshi proclaims that YARR HARR, no good ol’ salt like Abbi will be forced to fight the royal navy alone on <em>her</em> watch! She has herself a partner! Countess flips her lid and Executioner doesn’t look much happier, but it seems the tag match is on! — <strong>D-</strong> <br /> <br /> <br /></li><li>All kinds of good teamwork to bolster this one as Archer and Bakshi sync up just as well as their opponents to such an extent that Countess is clearly taken aback. Swann has the crowd fired up from the get go and Countess soon has to retreat from her piratical foe to tag in Executioner. The nasty noosewoman wrenches control of the match back and the pair manage to isolate Bakshi in their corner and thoroughly work her over. Swann isn’t going to let that stand though, and continues to encourage the crowd to make some noise. Countess manages to distract the referee, and Executioner produces the loaded glove from the turnbuckle pad. She holds it up in the air to mock the crowd—Swann snatches it out of her hand! Countess and Executioner are fuming and demand Swann be ejected, but their eye is off the ball, tag! Archer is in and goes rampant with the hot tag! Countess is down! Executioner is down! Countess is down again! Executioner gets sent flying from the apron! Countess staggers upright—BULLSEYE CUTTER! 1! 2! 3! Bakshi, Archer and Swann celebrate together in style! — <strong>E+</strong><br /></li></ul><p></p><p> </p><p> SHOW RATING: <strong>E+</strong></p>

<p>honestly I'm such a fiend for storylines top to bottom that my b show ends up being taken over by things I couldn't fit onto the a show in terms of angles and storyline advancements.</p><p> </p><p> It tends to be where whichever stars which aren't involved in the top feuds hang out so that they're still getting matches and wins to keep themselves relevant (since they're probably losing to the stars who <em>are</em> involved)</p><p> </p><p> that said I'm a lot more loosey goosey about what kind of matches to put on and will let people lower down the card get a chance to beat jobbers or get promo time. I use development borrowing, development cycling (so people get up onto the main roster for a few months at a time, then sent back down) or local hires to ensure there's a good layer of workers who can freely eat losses against anyone.</p><p> </p><p> My TV title is defended on the bshow very frequently and often is the main event.</p><p> </p><p> I also use the bshow to try out workers in the main event slot of the show to see if they're able to perform well given enough time (this habit has come from TEW 2016 where the grades of matches were punished much worse in every product based on length, so you couldn't see the full potential of a match unless it went 20 minutes). So there are some combinations of workers I'm maybe not sure if they're ready to carry a main event grade match and want to see what they can do; I've had some pleasant surprises out of that and it lets me get a clearer picture of who I can count on.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> My other use for a bshow was as almost its own separate programming, akin to its own company. Basically a means of letting some folks develop that would probably have got lost on the main roster, but getting a lot of time to work matches and come up with proper characters since it's less crowded. I also used it to rehabilitate one of my lower level groups, a heel trio who had kind of lost their credibility and so the story was that they were learning within this grittier atmosphere to get their fire back.</p><p> </p><p> That show is kind of a pain to book because I created it with a specific storyline in mind that has a pay off quite a ways down the line and certain elements of it are feeling a bit generic. The whole reason it exists is to establish a history between two workers that I'd like to pit against one another in the long term, and they'd never have had sufficient screentime for such a long build on the main shows.</p><p> </p><p> tl;dr: everyone needs screen time and the bshows are built around that.</p>

A really neat narrative, thank you for coming back to fill us in on all of that.

100% a mod issue. I've played small companies extensively in 2020 and have yet to even have anyone ask for pay rises even after going up to 30 odd pop in my region (and are still on 20-40 per show) Either the workers have high pop in other areas, or the workers themselves have gamebreaker stats so they're valuing themselves higher

Alternatively, all the roster members are vampires!

Lionesses of Wrestling XI: Claw Saturday, week 3 March 2020 Gloucester Street Youth Centre Attendance: 59 Not broadcast Commentary: None Two separate forms of darkness clash, in terms of being shadowy dealing versus shadowy magic. On this occasion, ninjutsu proves to be the superior shade of black as Shinobi is able to outgrapple Sabbat, though there’s a rare bit of rattling for the ninja when Sabbat goes full eldritch shrieking in a rather unnerving display. Still, Shinobi puts paid to that with a jumping kick, and as Sabbat lays stunned, Shinobi rushes over and locks in the sleeper hold to gain a tap out win. — E- Mechanic chic, Gearhead is a tough-looking customer who’s come to throw down, and throw down she does with Ellen Ward. The action is heavy-hitting by LoW’s standards and visibly has some of the crowd wincing at the force of the impacts, but it does create an absorbing contest. Gearhead sits Ellen down with a right hook, but eats an upkick on the way in, and as she staggers away, gets a knee press driving into the corner. She rebounds, Ward—flying crucifix! A&E! Gearhead taps. — E With Ward’s music playing, Ronin emerges from backstage. She simply points at Ward. A message is given. Ward looks back with narrowed eyes. — D- Dionne Grimes is out with a microphone and starts off with some funny trashtalk about her imminent opponent. Rajni emerges to give a counter-volley, and the two of them go at it for a decent while, trading barbs at one another, though Rajni’s improv lands the sicker burns and leaves Grimes struggling to keep up. Soon enough both women are in the ring for the match. — E+ It’s not awful but it’s sensibly kept short, Rajni and Dionne working a basic brawl that would be best described as forgettable. Neither woman is earning accolades for their in-ring performances at this early stage in their careers: Rajni rakes the eyes and hits a slam to set up the second rope leg drop. — F+ Samba is ready for an interview and her guest this week is Svenja Schwartz. As per usual, Svenja takes over, running down Sakuyama (who cheated to beat her twice now) and then her upcoming opponent, Reagan, a ‘nobody she’s never even heard of’. Once she gets done insulting her opponent, she takes aim at Barnes, mocking her relentlessly for being reduced to an interviewer and making fun of her for getting beaten up the other week. Samba, though, isn’t just going to take this and starts clapping back, winding Svenja up by insinuating she’s only saying Sakuyama cheated because she has a fragile ego. Svenja ends up yelling at her to shut up and then sulking away into her corner. — D- Jerkishness aside, Svenja is continuing to back up her words with her actions, and while Reagan hangs in there, she’s not able to muster very much offence. This is a survival exercise for her, and fighting defensively can’t work forever. Soon enough, Schwartz prises Reagan out of her shell, and from there it’s an unmitigated beatdown interspersed with some wrestling holds. Schwartz curbstomps Reagan twice, just because she can. — E Machinegun Marley is a woman without fear, evidenced by her squarding off with High Executioner and immediately smashing her in the face with a forearm, almost taking her off her feet. It’s another brawlfest, and the fans eat it right up and are entirely willing to overlook that Marley is just Gearhead without the dungarees and biker-style bandit bandana. The pair of them beat the heck out of each other, to the point Countess is looking pretty alarmed as Marley nails a ferocious sequence of punches, and she hops the apron. Marley whirls on her, cocking back a fist, and the crowd pops for Countess scurrying away with her tail between her legs. It does take Marley out of her flow though, and Executioner recovers sufficiently to start firing back, managing to push Marley away, then scoop her up for a nasty running powerslam for the win. — E A very good main event to wrap us up, with the undefeated Lottie Lace challenging Sakuyama for the British championship. Both women are wearing their game faces and go into this determined to win. Lace schools Sakuyama on what joshi experience really looks like, but Sakuyama has her own tricks, and is starting to blend together a style which is something like old school British wrestling combined with Japanese chain. There’s certainly snap to a grounded waistlock takedown transitioning to a stiff forearm to the back of the head. Still, it’s far from all Sakuyama, and Lace gets as much or more of the offence. When she folds Sakuyama in half with a high-angled german, it looks like that could be the match right there. Kick out at two, Lace goes for the Penalty Kick—blocked! Legs snagged, Sakuyama slingshots Lace into the turnbuckle! She bounces back, KAGAWA DRIVER 20! The three count is academic, and Sakuyama has retained in the best match of LoW’s young life. — D- SHOW RATING: E+

Butterfly effects...

Do your backstage rules include a dirty doctor?

Step aside, Kurt.

C-Verse/Fictional ZEN: Got Malk? by Pteroid Event Way of the Warrior by Pteroid What can I say? This event and diary are/were fantastically funny and purely in the spirit of ZEN. Such an enjoyable read!

Thanks to both of you!

Lionesses of Wrestling X: Live! Saturday, week 2 March 2020 Gloucester Street Youth Centre Attendance: 56 Not broadcast Commentary: None Wait a second, didn’t we see this one two weeks ago? Wait no, Shinobi is a different Japanese-derived woman dressed in strange clothing. We’re in the clear. The ninja ruthlessly has her way with the navywoman, and though it isn’t a complete and utter squash, it’s clear that only one person is going to be coming out alive—on top. On top. Shinobi definitely does not commit actual murders. The deadly sleeper hold is locked in and Jennings taps out. — E Smith against Harding, and the arrogant Harding’s own attitude plays against her. She clearly comes into this expecting to be able to outwrestle the green Rajni, and to some extent she can… but what she can’t account for is Smith’s resilience, guile, and commitment to never shutting up. Harding starts to grow frustrated, and the sloppier she gets, the more the match slips away, until all of a sudden she’s flat on her back and taking a second rope leg drop for the loss. — E- Rajni collects a microphone and proceeds to be incredibly obnoxious with it. She breezes past the fact she lost last week and is right back to talking herself up. Excessively so. The crowd hate it, and she laps up the hate in smug, smug fashion. — D- Grimes and Ward put together a decent contest here, definitely pretty competitive, with the offence going both ways. Ellen is the more accomplished of the two, but Grimes has got the charisma to rally the fans to her side, and makes a big show of a great comeback sequence after getting worked over. Unfortunately, right as she’s firing up, rebounding off the ropes for a big move, Ellen boosts and absolutely PLANTS her with a pop-up powerbomb, then wastes her with the glittering magician. — E Samba Barnes is in the ring with Abbi Archer to interview her about her upcoming contendership match. They have good camaraderie, and Barnes is definitely trying to encourage Abbi and build her confidence. Abbi promises that no matter what, she’ll make sure she puts on a good match. Unfortunately, the two are interrupted by Countess, who sneers that Archer should really know her place, which isn’t at the top of a card, main eventing, or winning any titles. Abbi retorts that she’s going to earn that place, sooner or later. As they argue, who else but High Executioner is creeping up on the ring, but Abbi catches on, dashes to the ropes, baseball (cricket?) slide! Archer’s back in the ring, Countess is rushing towards it, Archer runs again, baseball slide for Countess! Executioner is back up though, and despite Barnes attempting to help, she is roughly shoved to the canvas, slinged arm and all (Samba sells like death). Abbi can’t fight them both off at once and the two of them manage to trap her and start beating her up in the corner, really laying in the boots. They get a good thirty seconds of beatdown in before Lottie Lace and Sakuyama bomb out from backstage, chasing the heels off. Countess, smirking at ringside, looks like the cat who got the cream. — E+ Sakuyama and Lace help Archer to the back, while Countess and her Executioner remain. Hardaway and Cornwall come out together, exchanging glances and nodding. Perhaps what they couldn’t manage individually, they might be able to pull off as a team? Well uh… as it happens… no. They do alright, but Countess and Executioner look great as a duo, syncing up perfectly at a level far beyond what you’d expect from a fresh pairing. With Executioner bringing the muscle, the roughneck style, the degrading trash talk, Countess bringing the sneakiness, the cheap shots, directing traffic, it’s altogether a brutal display. Hardaway and Cornwall get summarily dismantled, and Executioner happily feeds Hardaway into a reverse bulldog. — E Lottie Lace comes out. She’s not a huge talker, so it’s kept short and to the point: after Archer got beaten up like that, she doesn’t want to take advantage of her. She apologises to the fans, but she wants to postpone their match until next week. Abbi emerges and says that thank you, but no thank you. Delaying the match would disappoint the audience and let Countess win. She refuses to do either. Lace looks surprised, but answers that she admires Abbi’s determination… though she’s not going to take it easy on her. Abbi nods, and then heads right down to the ring. This one’s underway! — E True to her word, Lace doesn’t hold back, showing off her international experience with her blended British and Japanese style, dishing out chops, a stiff german, and then grounding Archer onto the mat. However, after a couple of minutes of uninterrupted offence where it looks like this might not even be a contest, Abbi comes to life, exhibiting her heart and her grit to fight her way free. Another german, but she actually manages to land on her feet to a huge pop! She dropkicks Lace and it’s officially on! They battle evenly for the rest of the match, but ultimately, with Archer already having suffered some injuries, the toll that the earlier beating took really shines through, and at length she has no answer for the Penalty Kick. — E+ After a brief celebration, Lace checks on Archer, and then helps her to her feet. She raises Abbi’s arm to the crowd’s appreciation. The mood shifts a little, however, as Sakuyama comes out from the curtain. Contender and champion share a long look. Sakuyama nods in acknowledgement. Lace makes a belt motion. Sakuyama unhooks said belt and holds it high in the air, and we close on the two of them giving each other a long, hard stare... — E- SHOW RATING: E+

Take away the likes of Wolf and Mo and it's basically not TCW anymore. They're already in a position where they need overhauling.

Those nerfs would effectively make TCW non existent.

Buck? Buck noooo. That was a smashing show! Great from bottom to top and a ton of laughs throughout. oooh Killer B you got an edge as a babyface

The real question is whether Flanders has to be pinned twice in every match.

Short term momentum leads into long term momentum, though.