DarK_RaideR

Card for Predictions Main Event Time Limits are for nerds Rocky Golden vs A star debuting on the Supreme brand Kirsten Pearce presents an Awesome Impact rematch: Non-title Tag Team Match Time Limits are for nerds Hawaiian Crush vs The Mission Singles Match Time Limits are for nerds Jungle Lord vs Spencer Spade Opening Match Time Limits are for nerds Oliver Kobb vs Willy LaRoux

I actually wanted Yakovlev to win the title because he's a better workhorse, when Eriksson blows up after ten minutes. Forgot to add any road agent notes, so the AI gave it to the more popular guy and I'm trying to work my way around it (wrestling 101, pretend that was the plan all along) but it may actually prove to be better in the long like you said. That was my line of thinking when I made Nelson Frye the main champion too. Most of the ladies on my roster are Women's Revolution mod workers, so they start with zero pop in my region. I try to build them with dark matches, but some like Mad Millie Morgan and Malady have started to feature heavily in TV already.

Welcome, glad to have you here. Many of those pages are tour shows, I'm a year and a half into the save so if you only check the major shows, I've held like 15-18 of those

SWF Uprising Results [Fri. Wk. 2, Mar. 2020] From the diary of Samantha W. Fitzworthy With Awesome Impact in the books, I was mildly curious to watch Uprising the next day. Most of what happened at the Pay Per View had to do with the Supreme brand’s people, but Uprising did get a fair share with a switch of the North American title and the situation surrounding the tag titles so there were things to look forward to. The episode was broadcast live from Salt Lake City, with 9.396 fans in attendance and 5.356.864 watching, a significant jump in numbers, almost 1.5 million on top of what the show would average, proof that launching the Supreme Network was a good move as it was already paying dividends. The new SWF North American champion ZWB opened the show with an in-ring interview by Emma Chase. Zimmy praised Des for the fight he gave him and said he’s proud of the match they had at Awesome Impact, but he’s even prouder to finally have singles gold around his waist. Emma then revealed that later tonight a 10 man rumble would be happening to determine ZWB’s next challenger. We then went to the first commercial break already, at least for those watching on television because the Network version switched to the announce team who hyped up the match and made their predictions over who would win it. An excellent start to the night, 78 for this one. Atom Smasher & Rogue vs Southern Comfort So Rogue and Smasher started as the oddball random pairing team but it seems they struck gold with it and these last few weeks they’ve been featured prominently while also getting a decent push, first winning a big match and then attacking Hawaiian Crush after the title match at Awesome Impact. I figured this was the next bout to build them up, although I couldn’t help noticing how much better Dillon is than Kobb. Hopefully taking another loss here will lead to their eventual breakup, because at this point Oliver’s holding Marshall down. 57 for the match and a win for the heels. Ana Garcia was backstage with Randall Buckminster Bunfhole, who apparently was still riding the high of his victory in the opening match of Awesome Impact. RBB praised Prudence and claimed that Awesome Impact is now done with Cali Slick and Fro Sure, something Garcia took a step forward by announcing that he would be facing a different, unannounced opponent on tonight’s main event. Not much going on here besides the match announcement, but I enjoyed how RBB sold his surprise and frustration, very entertaining at 75. The trio of Ekuma, James Adams and Sylvester Weatherfield then cut a promo to address Atom Smasher and Rogue. The Hawaiians called this a cheap move for cowards and added that they won’t do them the favor of giving them a shot at the titles, because this is not how you earn your way to a title shot. However, this would not go unanswered either, they said, so we’re clearly headed for a non title match, at least for now. Wouldn’t mind that, should be good and so was this promo at 68. 10 Man Rumble for a shot at the North American title Participants: Avalanche, James Prudence, Jungle Lord, Justin Sensitive, Lenny Brown, Robbie Wright, Sammy Smoke, Steven Parker, Sylvester Weatherfield, Tribal Warrior Oh wow, Tribal Warrior was not on the list of people I expected to show up and fill that tenth slot, but he’s a big menacing dude who fit in well in such a match. So good actually that wrestlers had to work together to eliminate him early on, which made sense and also meant that he didn’t get exposed, given his age and physical condition. Thus the role of big bad bulldozer got taken up by Avalanche, who got to dominate for a bit and eliminate Sensitive, Smoke and Weatherfield. After a double team by Brown and Parker though, Jungle Lord capitalized to get him over the top rope and clear the ring for the fewer guys that were left in it to do some proper wrestling. Speaking of Brown and Parker, they actually made it to the final four, with Jungle Lord and Robbie Wright being the other two. Weird pick if I’m honest, would have made more sense to have three heels and a single heroic babyface up against them, but I digress. Also it made the winner quite obvious already, considering ZWB is also a face. Had to check my watch by that point too and I realized this match alone had taken over half an hour, so including the finish I’d say it went on for a total of forty or so minutes, with Jungle Lord lasting a surprising amount of time before Wright knocked him over the top rope to win the match. Mr. Eisen also had a lot of criticism in how this match should have been put together and his grade for it was a 53. We then got a segment in which Kristen Pearce approached The Mission, praising their losing effort at Awesome Impact and saying she could provide that missing ingredient they were lacking if they want to succeed. All she asked for was a chance, which Faith and Ranger seemed willing to give her. I never knew I wanted to see this, plus it gave me a little epiphany when I realized that her dropping The Domination weeks ago was all done to set this up. It’s definitely a better team for her to manage and I think The Mission will benefit from having her in return. Hyped to see how this plays out, a 64 for now seems fair. Randall Buckminster Bumfhole then made his entrance in the ring and awaited his opponent… who turned out to be Brandon James! The announcing team lost it at the sound of his music, explaining that this is impossible as he’s with the Supreme brand, but fans didn’t seem to go as crazy in their reaction, even if they did somewhat react to his presence. Not sure if this is another part of his “braindamaged” gimmick leading him to appear on the wrong show or how it will be explained, but I’m betting there’s some reorganizing backstage after the addition of a third brand with SWF Elite. Judging by how well this surprise went down, I’d give it a 57. Brandon James vs Randall Buckminster Bumfhole Less than 24 hours after it happened, the Cat’s Lair match was discussed, argued and memed hard on the internet, so even if this wasn’t a follow up, it still took place really soon afterwards and inadvertently in its shadow. Even so, watching the two men do their thing and slowly draw the fans in for a reaction was a thing of beauty. James took things slow and played it crazy, Randall acted all shocked and complained at the referee who could do nothing, allowing fans to take in the scene and recover from Brandon’s surprise. “Big Money” then started doing his signature spots to get the fans going, with RBB raking the eyes to break his momentum and garner heat as he took control of the bout. A slow mat grind wasn’t going to keep the big man down for long though and James fought back, thus pushing Randall to resort to the high speed aerial offense he does so well. Wouldn’t exactly call it a war of attrition, but twenty plus minutes for a TV match is quite a bit, with both men giving it their best shot before Bumfhole was able to hit a few combinations and take down the big man with a Running Enziguri for the three count. Another clean loss for poor Brandon who seems to be a punching bag for younger guys these days and a 61 for the match. All in all it was a pretty decent episode for Uprising, especially if you consider it hadn’t built up anything due to Awesome Impact happening the day prior. Brandon James showing up was a nice surprise and so was the match, but none of the matches on the card proved to be anything spectacular. The promos also were pretty basic without really advancing anything or setting up stuff down the road, perhaps with the exception of Pearce aligning herself with The Mission which I’m excited about. Mr. Eisen had similar comments to make and rated the whole show as a 64. Quick results Randall Buckminster Bumfhole def. Brandon James Robbie Wright won a 10 Man Rumble Atom Smasher & Rogue def. Southern Comfort Prediction results DinoKea - 2/3 Herrbear - 2/3

Hunting Lion Tour - Night 1 in Kyoto, Kansai Region Sat. W4 August 2021 1.595 Fans 1. Destiny Bond (Azumamaro Kita, Fujio Narahashi and Isoruko Arakaki) defeated Bruiser Brigade (Logan Diaz, James Diaz and Original Sinner) in 15:36 when Isoruko Arakaki pinned Original Sinner with an Arakaki Spike. [56] 2. Dread Army (FEAR, Atto Savage, Abomination and Monstrosity) defeated Seven Samurai (Funakoshi, Blast Ikoma, Kadonomaro Kamisaka and Motoyuki Miyake) in 20:07 when Atto Savage submitted Motoyuki Miyake with a Savage Claw. [69] 3. Gargantuan defeated Ryobe Uno in 14:45 by pinfall with a Choke Slam. Gargantuan wins the Medallion #1. [43] 4. Bunrakuken Torii and Yoshinaka Taku defeated Big Bruiser Findlay and Texas Hangman in 17:59 when Yoshinaka Taku pinned Texas Hangman with a Full Nelson Bomb. [71] 5. SUKI and Mabuchi Furusawa drew with Tanyu Toshusai and Rokuemon Matsushita in 30:00 when the time limit expired. [74] Hunting Lion Tour - Night 2 in Matsuyama, Shikoku Region Tue. W1 August 2021 233 Fans 1. Destiny Bond (Azumamaro Kita, Fujio Narahashi and Rokuemon Matsushita) defeated Bruiser Brigade (Logan Diaz, James Diaz and Maelstrom) in 15:43 when Rokuemon Matsushita pinned Maelstrom with an One-Handed Choke Slam. [62] 2. Nigel Svensson defeated Isoruko Arakaki in 15:01 by submission with a Hyper Extension Arm Lock. Nigel Svensson wins the Medallion #2. [52] 3. Dread Army (FEAR, Atto Savage, Abomination and Monstrosity) defeated Seven Samurai (Blast Ikoma, Kadonomaro Kamisaka, Motoyuki Miyake and Ginji Kisaka) in 18:26 when FEAR pinned Kadonomaro Kamisaka with a Fear Drive. [67] 4. Bunrakuken Torii and Suguru Emoto defeated Big Bruiser Findlay and Texas Hangman in 17:45 when Suguru Emoto pinned Texas Hangman with a Dangerous Brainbuster. [60] 5. Tanyu Toshusai and Zeshin Makioka defeated SUKI and Ryobe Uno in 19:12 when Zeshin Makioka pinned Ryobe Uno with a Z-Bomb. [68] Hunting Lion Tour - Night 3 in Fukuoka Hall, Kyushu Region Thu. W1 August 2021 300 Fans (Super No Vacancy) 1. Dread Army (FEAR, Abomination and Monstrosity) defeated Pillars of Puroresu (Mabuchi Furusawa, Ritsu Ibata and Yutaka Ogata) in 16:28 when Abomination pinned Ritsu Ibata with a Chokeslam From Hell. [64] 2. Ginji Kisaka defeated MUSCLE Serizawa in 14:39 by pinfall with a Butterfly Powerbomb. Ginji Kisaka wins the Medallion #3. [53] 3. Destiny Bond (Azumamaro Kita, Fujio Narahashi and Rokuemon Matsushita) defeated Bruiser Brigade (Logan Diaz, James Diaz and Texas Hangman) in 17:47 when Azumamaro Kita pinned James Diaz with a Penalty Kick. [61] 4. Bunrakuken Torii and Kyuichi Matsumoto defeated Big Bruiser Findlay and Thorsten Sigurdsson in 17:36 when Bunrakuken Torii pinned Thorsten Sigurdsson with a Spinning Forearm Smash. [60] 5. Destiny Bond (Tanyu Toshusai, Zeshin Makioka and Isoruko Arakaki) defeated Pillars of Puroresu (SUKI, Danjuro Kikuchi and Ryobe Uno) in 17:41 when Isoruko Arakaki pinned Ryobe Uno with an Arakaki Spike. [64] Hunting Lion Tour - Night 4 in Shimonoseki Hall, Chugoku Region Sun. W1 August 2021 300 Fans (Super No Vacancy) 1. Destiny Bond (Azumamaro Kita, Fujio Narahashi, Rokuemon Matsushita and Zeshin Makioka) defeated Texas Hangman, Bubba Joe and The Diaz Family in 15:41 when Zeshin Makioka pinned James Diaz with a Z-Bomb. [56] 2. Bunrakuken Torii and Kiyotaka defeated Big Bruiser Findlay and Desperado Dave Barker in 16:28 when Kiyotaka submitted Desperado Dave Barker with a Kimura. [53] 3. Gargantuan defeated Shuzo Utagawa in 15:19 by pinfall with an Ultimate Backbreaker. Gargantuan makes defence number one of the Medallion #1. [53] 4. Tanyu Toshusai and Isoruko Arakaki defeated SUKI and Danjuro Kikuchi in 18:11 when Isoruko Arakaki pinned Danjuro Kikuchi with an Arakaki Spike. [63] 5. Okamoto-gun (Razan Okamoto, Inejiro Yoshizawa, Noritoshi Miura, Akira Arato and Gidayu Katou) defeated Seven Samurai (Funakoshi, Blast Ikoma, Kadonomaro Kamisaka, Motoyuki Miyake and Ginji Kisaka) in 19:39 when Gidayu Katou pinned Kadonomaro Kamisaka with a Lariat. [65] Hunting Lion Tour - Night 5 in Hamamatsu City, Chubu Region Wed. W2 August 2021 450 Fans 1. Destiny Bond (Azumamaro Kita, Fujio Narahashi and Zeshin Makioka) defeated Bruiser Brigade (Logan Diaz, James Diaz and Texas Hangman) in 18:27 when Zeshin Makioka pinned James Diaz with a Z-Bomb. [65] 2. Dread Army (FEAR, Abomination and Monstrosity) defeated Pillars of Puroresu (Mabuchi Furusawa, Ritsu Ibata and Yutaka Ogata) in 16:06 when Monstrosity pinned Ritsu Ibata with a Chokeslam From Hell. [63] 3. Kyuichi Matsumoto defeated Nigel Svensson in 15:26 by pinfall with a Matsumoto Murder Bomb. Kyuichi Matsumoto wins the Medallion #2. [56] 4. Destiny Bond (Tanyu Toshusai, Rokuemon Matsushita and Isoruko Arakaki) defeated Pillars of Puroresu (SUKI, Danjuro Kikuchi and Ryobe Uno) in 18:17 when Isoruko Arakaki pinned Ryobe Uno with a Lariat. [64] 5. Bunrakuken Torii and Yoshinaka Taku defeated Big Bruiser Findlay and Bubba Joe in 18:04 when Yoshinaka Taku pinned Bubba Joe with a Full Nelson Bomb. [65]

Fri. W3 August 2021 Kobe Football Stadium, Kansai Region, Japan Attendance: 28.830, Rating: 81, Views: 295.769 (0.59 on Emperor Choice) Ginji Kisaka vs Roku Sotomura The opening contest saw Ginji Kisaka really bring the fight to the veteran as he tried to pummel his way into Seven Samurai membership. Well known, almost comically so, for his love of grinding submissions, Sotomura tried to stop his opponent’s momentum and give him a lesson in humility while absorbing a ton of offense like the battle-hardened veteran that he is. Given how simple but effective Kisaka’s style is, it all came down to sheer willpower and the drive to keep fighting. Fans got a good taste of the youngster’s fighting spirit and it all built up to him hitting Sotomura with a Butterfly Powerbomb, one of Funakoshi’s signature moves, for the finish. After the match, Sotomura was smitten but he had no choice but to acknowledge his loss and shake Kisaka’s hand before making his way backstage, likely on his final appearance for Black Canvas Grappling. In a poor match, Ginji Kisaka defeated Roku Sotomura in 9:54 by pinfall with a Butterfly Powerbomb. [45] Bruiser Brigade (Texas Hangman, Logan Diaz and James Diaz) vs Pillars of Puroresu (Mabuchi Furusawa, Ritsu Ibata and Yutaka Ogata) Logan showed up last month and after confirming he was signed by BCG, made his big major show debut here alongside his cousin James and the Texas Hangman. Furusawa and his two disciples stood across them in the ring and did their best to give them a hard time, Ibata and Ogata showing a wider arsenal of moves than they would typically execute as young lions. Of course, it was Furusawa who had to do the heavy lifting for his team and for all his skill, there is just so much he could do against overwhelming odds. The Diaz cousins seemed unstoppable on this night and Logan put the icing on the cake by flattening Ibata with a Belly To Belly Suplex for the pin. In a bout that had decent wrestling but little heat, Bruiser Brigade (Texas Hangman, Logan Diaz and James Diaz) defeated Pillars of Puroresu (Mabuchi Furusawa, Ritsu Ibata and Yutaka Ogata) in 16:22 when Logan Diaz pinned Ritsu Ibata with a Belly To Belly Suplex. [52] BCG Six Man titles match 1st Champions Seven Samurai (Blast Ikoma, Kadonomaro Kamisaka and Motoyuki Miyake) vs Challengers Dawnguard (Ichiro Mitsukuri, Koyo Kinoshita and Suguru Emoto) First of the night’s title matches was up next as the newly crowned champions defended their belts against a different combination of Dawnguard troops than last time. Mitsukuri and Kinoshita utilized their experience as a tag team to eliminate the experience edge that Ikoma and Kamisaka had over them, leading to a surprisingly competitive match. Miyake and Emoto also got their opportunities to shine through their hard striking game and indomitable spirit, with pins and submissions getting frequently broken up by members of either team. This pushed the match well into the twenty minute mark before Ikoma finally managed to deliver the Northern Lights Bomb on Emoto and score the pin while his teammates prevented Mitsukuri and Kinoshita from breaking it up. In a decent match, Seven Samurai (Blast Ikoma, Kadonomaro Kamisaka and Motoyuki Miyake) defeated Dawnguard (Ichiro Mitsukuri, Koyo Kinoshita and Suguru Emoto) in 20:23 when Blast Ikoma pinned Suguru Emoto with a Northern Lights Bomb. Blast Ikoma, Kadonomaro Kamisaka and Motoyuki Miyake make defence number one of the BCG Six Man title. [54] Challengers Series title match Isoruko Arakaki vs Rokuemon Matsushita vs Zeshin Makioka The usual Medallions three way match had the title on the line this time, as former champion Giant Brody was forced to vacate due to injury. With all three competitors being members of Destiny Bond, the match began with a handshake but neither man took it easy, their competitive spirit getting the best of the three as the bout hit the next gear. Makioka smartly picked his spots throughout the match, letting his two much larger opponents duke it out before he’d opportunistically sweep in, while Arakaki looked like he belonged in this match despite his relative youth and inexperience. He almost had it won too after he took out Makioka with the spectacular Arakaki Spike, but Matsushita was there to prevent the three count and chokeslam Arakaki on top of the fallen Makioka, making the cover himself to once again claim the Challengers Series title. In a decent match, Rokuemon Matsushita defeated Isoruko Arakaki and Zeshin Makioka in 18:28 when Rokuemon Matsushita pinned Isoruko Arakaki with an One-Handed Choke Slam. Rokuemon Matsushita wins the BCG Challengers Series. [64] Matsushita had little time to celebrate as his music got cut off by another tune, one never before heard in Black Canvas…and Gargantuan himself walked out of the entranceway! Not many people in the world could make the new champion look small in comparison, but Gargantuan is one of them and he towered over him for a staredown as he indicated that he had his sights on the belt. BCG World Tag Team match 16th Champions Black Iron Corps vs Challengers Arato & Katou Newcomers to the main BCG roster after a long time together in SAISHO, Arato and Katou made enough of an impact to be recruited into Okamoto-gun before finding themselves in this spot. Across them, the dominant World Tag Team champions Kita and Narahashi, both well acquainted with their challengers since they all wrestled in SAISHO. A hard fought, competitive bout that was simple but well executed, even if it lacked a certain creative flair in favor of playing it safe. Fans loved the spot where Katou and Narahashi got to have a little battle of the lariats, but it was Narahashi and a Black Iron Lariat that took out Akira Arato in the end for the defending champions to successfully retain. In a decent match, Black Iron Corps defeated Arato & Katou in 18:23 when Fujio Narahashi pinned Akira Arato with a Black Iron Lariat. Black Iron Corps make defence number three of the BCG World Tag Team titles. [69] BCG American title match FEAR vs Nigel Svensson Although the American title is not officially recognized by Black Canvas, FEAR and Svensson did not treat this bout any less seriously than they would take any other championship bout. The big man used his speed and surprising agility for a man his size to keep up with the fast and fluid snake-like submission chain wrestling of Svensson, who kept switching between working the leg to ground his bigger opponent and working the arm to set up his own finisher. Fortunately for FEAR, no cracks showed in his armor and thus Svensson was never provided with a clear target to focus his attacks on, so the leader of Dread Army took the punishment and pushed through to hit the Fear Drive for the win. In a decent match, FEAR defeated Nigel Svensson in 14:44 by pinfall with a Fear Drive. FEAR makes defence number one of the BCG American title. [67] Roaring Lion contract briefcase match SUKI vs Big Bruiser Findlay As was mentioned in the press conference and reminded here by the broadcast trio, Findlay had a history against Okamoto, first injuring him and then losing the BCG World title when he made his comeback, so on top of physical power and wrestling skill, it also made sense for Findlay to perhaps win here and continue his story. This ambiguous setup made the bout feel like it could really go either way and the action played up this fact as SUKI showed unyielding spirit against the big man, who pushed him to his limits. Even as the match escalated and the two began dropping bombs on each other, SUKI miraculously kicked out of an Atomic Spinebuster, while Findlay powered out of a Mountain SUKI attempt and made it to the ropes to escape a SUKI Special III. It wasn’t the same story though when SUKI trapped him in the hold for a second time, dead center of the ring. Findlay had ran out of fuel and when he realized there was no way of escaping his predicament, he verbally submitted after a great bout. In a bout that had great wrestling and good heat, SUKI defeated Big Bruiser Findlay in 30:18 by submission with a SUKI Special III. SUKI retains the BCG Roaring Lion contract briefcase. [83] After the match, SUKI was handed back his briefcase and Razan Okamoto walked down to the ring for a staredown, getting in his face and holding up the BCG World title in response. BCG National title match 3rd Champion Bunrakuken Torii vs Challenger Funakoshi Topping the previous match was no small feat, but if there’s two people who could be trusted to pull it off, it was Torii and Funakoshi. Two of BCG’s pillars since day one with the newly introduced but already highly prestigious National title on the line, this felt like a big deal and the two competitors took the time to pace themselves, letting fans take in the gravity of the situation and laying down the foundations for the psychology of what would be an epic clash. Not only was this a classic slow fuse contest, it was also clear to tell that the two wrestlers were calling it on the spot, as they perfectly adapted to the live audience feedback to keep what worked and skip anything that didn’t. As expected, there were a lot of strikes involved, but this wasn’t all strong style since the action would take breaks on the mat or suddenly escalate with a big slam out of nowhere. Slowly but surely as the two men beat each other, it came down to the finishers, with Torii missing his signature forearms and Funakoshi struggling to execute his complicated butterfly moves. In the end, the defending champion decided to stop trying the Flying Forearm and opted for a Spinning Forearm Smash instead. Funakoshi took it square in the jaw and was staggered, so it took a second one to lay him out and count the pin, with Torii retaining. In a bout that had superb wrestling and great heat, Bunrakuken Torii defeated Funakoshi in 34:30 by pinfall with a Spinning Forearm Smash. Bunrakuken Torii makes defence number one of the BCG National title. [83] As is customary, Torii got to close the show with a victory celebration and the “send fans home happy” promo. Post show interviews and comments Torii: "Me and Funakoshi have gone to war several times since the beginning of Black Canvas. Tonight I was the better man, but I always respect him for the fight he brings." SUKI: "You'd have to kill me to stop me right now. I'm going to The Lion's Roar and I'm taking that World title from Razan Okamoto!" Gargantuan: "I'm not here to play games or chase any stupid Medallions. I want Matsushita and I want that title!" Kisaka: "I'm overjoyed with the outcome, Sotomura-san didn't make it easy for me but I prevailed and I proved that Funakoshi-sama was right to see something in me."

Pro Wrestling Hero Europe #4 Mon. W2 Mar 2020, 118.470 viewers on Euro Cable Sports 4 and GBTV Sports Vidmar and Yakovlev opened this week’s episode and it seems their pairing with Tereza Smirnov finally has a name: The Eastern Bloc. This wasn’t just about revealing the name though, the two men addressed Petter Erikson, saying he won the TV title battle, but not the war. As for Smirnov, it was said that she was not present with them but would be showing up tonight, as she would be wrestling none other than Paula Edwards. Rating: 46 Marcello Ricci vs Tomohiko Yamagata After last week’s verbal stalemate with fellow Italian Giovanni Bruno, Ricci had a point to prove and frustrations to vent in this match, where once again he showcased his technical skill against the high flying Yamagata. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Yamagata is a great in-ring worker who seems to be missing something on the presentation part. Unless he strikes gold with some wacky kind of character, he’s the type who’d make a great workhorse to carry the TV title but not really break into the main event scene anytime soon. For now, all he had to do was excite the fans with his moves and give Ricci a good match before taking the Milanese Elbow and the pin. Rating: 52 Another hype vignette was aired next, though it was a polar opposite of last week’s stuff. This time we got Blond, Joan Blond. Yup, 007 reference and you can imagine what her montage of being awesome involved. Gotta give credit to whoever came up with the minutiae of the gimmick, despite the silver full body suit she didn’t come across as being sexualized, but rather as a parody character leaning towards the comedy aspect, maybe with a splash of 70s Barbarella cheese. Can’t wait to see her show up. w/ Paula Edwards vs Tereza Smirnov (with Dovydas Vidmar) If I had to describe this match using just one word, it would be “swerve”. The Colorado Crusher versus a rookie sounded like a squash, but it wasn’t, thanks to Smirnov’s hard hits and surprising toughness. She came out with Vidmar by her side, but when the ref bump happened, Edwards brought the fight to the Bratva Bruiser and effectively took him out of the fight by powerbombing him onto the floor in a spectacular moment. Then just when you thought she had it in the bag, Petrov Yakovlev ran down to the ring to attack her and allow Smirnov to set up the Slav Stomp. Having fought bravely but essentially against three separate opponents, Edwards could not go on after that and her opponent made the cover to score a big upset win. Rating: 38 Not seen last week in person, the RotO champion made an appearance here to address Bruno and Ricci’s claims. Having no shortage of confidence, Frye said he would be willing to defend his title against either of the two, as he’s a fighting champion and a man who’s never backed down from a challenge. Rating: 56 w/ Mad Millie Morgan vs Malady (with Fusae Etsuko) Malady’s saga jumping through her mentor’s hoops continued and I’m starting to wonder if the initial excitement of seeing the Gothic Grappler back has now faded and we’re seeing Etsuko slowly return to her darker self. It’s not just the way she’s (mis)treating Malady, you could mistake that as testing her resolve, but to see her pinned with Morgan’s feet on the ropes and do nothing about it just crosses the line. Anyway, I get that by having two unestablished names face off, it made sense to turn the in-ring action to eleven in order to compensate, but man are these two green as grass or what. They just stood there and hit each other as hard as they could, but with no real sense of selling, psychology or storytelling. It’s a shame really, the storyline itself is quite gripping but the matches don’t live up to it. Rating: 29 Giovanni Bruno was on the mic next and he had come up with just the greatest idea to one-up Marcello Ricci in the race for a chance at Frye’s title: tonight, on the main event, he too would be facing “The Louisiana Pitbull” Robert Howard! I had to laugh at Bruno’s delivery here, he seemed so pleased with himself, I just knew his attitude would do a full 180 once he actually got in the ring with Howard and it would be hilarious to watch. Rating: 46 RotO Television title match Alberto Montero vs Petter Eriksson © Montero’s a solid brawler and I like how this complements the overall machismo of his character. He had the strikes and he had the confidence, which made for an exciting match against the rugged champion. Again, this wasn’t an over the top fistfight but neither one of those strong style crisp striking contests, it was down and dirty with both men looking ultra serious about doing business. Of course, the match happened out of the blue and I didn’t expect Montero to win, but he was given a lot of offense over the veteran before catching a Spinning Back Elbow to the face. Rating: 49 Florida Simard addressed Maisie Laurels up next, conceding that the Englishwoman had a valid point. Simard got the win at Valentine’s Day Massacre but it was not without a shadow of a doubt. The French high flyer promised her however that next time they meet inside the ring, she will finish the job. Rating: 51 Giovanni Bruno vs Robert Howard Comedy aside, Bruno came to fight and he jumped his opponent with all his might before Howard had even entered the ring. I mean, he was the clear underdog in this fight so he had to make up for it somehow and seeing him do it in this fashion instead of being his usual comedy chickenshit heel self was refreshing, plus the action was frantic. Furthermore, since the fighting had begun before both men were done entering the ring, the bell hadn’t rung and the match hadn’t officially started, so Bruno could play dirty and use weapons without getting disqualified, which I think is brilliant both as a booking trick and as Bruno’s supposed tactic. Howard is no stranger to these situations however and he eventually mustered a counter offensive in spectacular fashion, complete with a spot where he put Bruno inside an aluminum trash can and sent him rolling down the bleachers. This was insane in all the right ways and even more insane was the finish. Bruno hit a blatant low blow, right in front of referee Carola Bianchi, after the two men had gotten into the ring and the match officially got started. Instead of disqualifying him, she made the count and called for the bell, which sent the audience into a thunderstorm of boos. I thought to myself “not again” when Bruno blew her a kiss after the match, because you know, he’s a lounge lizard and she’s also Italian, all that, but then he actually reached into his trunks and pulled out a roll of paper money like some kind of male stripper, from which he got a few and tucked them neatly into the ref’s shirt pocket. Brilliant way to close the show, had me wondering if there’s a story developing here, how this blatantly shady win is going to affect the Bruno-Ricci-Frye story going forward and whether we’re seeing the character of a crooked ref being introduced. Rating: 48 That final match has me hyped to tune in next week and see what happens, although if we’re being strict about it, the TV title bout was marginally better. Pretty solid episode, full of things to dissect and enjoy with every bit having a reason to be on the card. They could have done a better job setting things up for next week, but I’m not mad, the finish was shocking enough to make up for it. 50 Overall.

Refreshing to see a joshi diary that isn't STARDOM or 5SSW, plus I do love the Women's Revolution mod and Neo Tokyo. Tend to give them a more retrofuturistic cyberpunk aesthetic myself, but as long as this deviates from the standard kawaii presentation for anime nerds, I'm fine with it. P.S. Totally stealing that Shogun TV logo

Friday Week 2 of March 2020 card 10 Man Over The Top Rope Battle Royal Winner becomes #1 contender for the SWF North American title Avalanche, James Prudence, Jungle Lord, Justin Sensitive, Lenny Brown, Robbie Wright, Sammy Smoke, Steven Parker, Sylvester Weatherfield and ??? Tag Team Match Time Limits are for nerds Atom Smasher & Rogue vs Southern Comfort Plus: We hear from the new SWF North American champion Hawaiian Crush and The Mission speak after their epic clash for the tag team titles at Awesome Impact and Randall Buckminster Bumfhole faces off against a Mystery Opponent!

Pro Wrestling Hero Europe #3 Mon. W1 Mar 2020, 110.417 viewers on Euro Cable Sports 4 and GBTV Sports Episode three and it seems we still have some way to go with these, as RotO announced their next pay per view, March Into Battle, will be held near the end of March, presumably to be near the national holiday of the 25th. The announcing duo of Martin Bloydel and Jamie Anderson also took some time at the top of this episode to discuss tonight's proceedings, namely the Gandalfini-Ryusaki match that was agreed upon last week, Vidmar facing Ragnarok after past week's TV title match between their allies, as well as Florida Simard and "The Louisiana Pitbull" Robert Howard who would be competing inside the ring. Robert Howard vs Thorsten Sigurdsson We then went directly to the first of these matches, as Howard faced the debuting berzerker from Norway by the name of Thorsten Sigurdsson. This wasn't just a moniker either, the man really went overboard as soon as the bell rang and we got a chaotic fight outside the ring with the referee not daring to disqualify either man and suffer the consequences. It was exciting watching it live, but in hindsight it seems all the smoke and mirrors were there to draw attention away from how green Sigurdsson is. Not only that, I re-watched it and realized that it's not just him keeping things simple to avoid a botch, but Howard's also refraining from any of his moves that would normally involve dropping an opponent on their head. Still, the trick worked at the time and Howard was able to get a half decent match out of the rookie before he took him down with a Big Boot for the pin. Rating: 35 Alberto Montero then cut a promo, essentially announcing himself as Eriksson's first challenger for the RotO Television title, next week. Rating: 38 A video aired next, haphazardly edited to show some blurry, smoky images of chains, candles and other dimly lit items while a faint giggle could be overheard every now and then. Strong Joker vibes from this one, it seems RotO are building up hype and mystery for some new character to debut soon. w/ Big Ben vs Gianfranco Morelli (with Roberto Milano) As I expected last week, we got Ben wrestling the other half of The Fashionistas this time. Once again, the emphasis was placed on telling the story of the powerhouse but green babyface against the sneaky heel and once again, it was a somewhat competitive bout instead of an absolute squash. This time however Ben was able to get the clean victory, even if it took a while due to Milano's constant interference. Rating: 30 Cut backstage as Florida Simard was making her way to the ring and ran into Masie Laurels. In response to her promo last week, Laurels reminded Simard that the victory over her had only been due to a disqualification. In her eyes, Laurels said, she had Simard beat before the ref interfered and come March Into Battle, she'd be glad to finish the job. Rating: 43 Florida Simard vs Mad Millie Morgan Perhaps Laurels' words got into Simard's head because she allowed the debuting youngster in Mad Millie Morgan to get the jump on her once the match began. Morgan's punk look and attitude instantly won me over but apparently she has the chops to back it up too. Solid fundamentals, stiff strikes and crisp technique, that was some old school British strong style on display. As Jamie Anderson pointed out in commentary, the clue is in the name: Millie is the daughter of UK shoot grappler Walter Morgan and has also been trained by "Trademark" Thomas Morgan, which explains her in-ring style. Simard was rocked alright and had to refocus fast, which led to an exciting, fast paced match as she mustered a counterattack through her high flying offence. Didn't expect the rookie to get so much offence in, but Morgan looked great despite the loss in the end and Simard had to work hard to come out on top, scoring a quick win out of nowhere with a backslide pin. Rating: 34 Fusae Etsuko and Malady were shown watching the match backstage and Etsuko sung Morgan's praises. You guessed it, she's going to be Malady's next test. Another match is set up for next week and I'm hyped to see it. Rating: 51 /w Dovydas Vidmar (with Tereza Smirnov) vs Ragnarok I don't know if Vidmar, Yakovlev and Smirnov versus Eriksson and Ragnarok is the hottest rivalry in RotO right now, but it's certainly given us some of the best matches so far. This one was no exception, though the action was mostly contained inside the ring and it didn't play out as another arena wide brawl. Ragnarok looked like a million bucks as he laid in the offence and with Vidmar past the 40 year mark, it looked like he had him beat on more than one occasion. In fact, Smirnov had to distract the referee and prevent her (have I mentioned that RotO has two refs and they're both female?) from counting a crucial pin attempt by the Icelander. This frustrated Ragnarok who confronted her and the ref, but Smirnov pretended to stumble and dragged the referee with her for a couple of seconds, allowing Vidmar to spit vodka in his opponent's eyes, as apparently he'd taken a sip during the argument. One Bratva Breaker and Ragnarok fell. Rating: 45 Marcello Ricci then took to the ring to air his grievances for not getting a title rematch despite beating Howard. Instead of the champion or the Louisiana Pitbull, this brought out Giovanni Bruno, of all people. Bruno congratulated his compatriot, but pointed out that himself remains undefeated in RotO and during last week's main event tag match, it was him who got the pin. Thus, if anyone deserves a shot at gold, it's Giovanni Bruno. Seems like we got two potential challengers and for now we got no resolution, since the two Italians ended their confrontation with a staredown. Rating: 51 Paolo Gandalfini vs Ryushi Ryusaki Ryusaki's one of the great "what ifs" of NGW and I like how Gandalfini's portrayal escapes the mold of another cocky Italian heel, but I wasn't expecting to see such a good match from the two of them. Sure it was a little short at just under ten minutes, but the chemistry between the two men was undeniable, producing a good mix of impact moves and technical grappling. Gandalfini got the win after he hit a Full Nelson Bomb with authority as the show went off the air shortly after. Rating: 48 Highs and lows overall, some good stuff but can't say things were better than last week. The main event was the only match hyped ahead of time, something that apparently has been addressed as we got more matches set up for next week. Action was good too, but I think they tried too hard to push too many new people at once and it threw fans and viewers a little off. 48 all in all.

Thursday Week 2 of March 2020 Live from Philadelphia, PA Attendance: 45.406, Buyrate: 2.95 (1.476.425 viewers) on Premier Pay TV, Premier Pay CAN-TV and Demand-TV Mexico West Coast Connection vs Randall Buckminster Bumfhole & James Prudence (with BJ O’Neil) Awesome Impact kicked off with a suitably awesome match as the cocky but hard hitting West Coast Connection took on the spectacular Randall Buckminster Bumfhole and the ever so solid “Platinum” James Prudence. As a recap leading to this match, Prudence has been a thorn on Fro and Slick’s side for a while and recently he aligned himself with Unleashed Awesomeness to attack West Coast Connection from behind. The two former GSW stars got the match going with some fast paced brawling to emphasize their intensity and drive for revenge, but the heels quickly used their experience edge to turn things around and put the brakes to work Fro over on the mat. Once they had him where they wanted him, Bumfhole and Prudence switched to some high flying tandem offense but only got two counts. Once Slick was tagged in, he used his power to run roughshot but BJ O’Neil provided a crucial distraction that allowed Prudence to stab him in the back with a chair shot and regain control of the match. The heels hit Slick with a spike piledriver onto the ring steps and Fro had to break up the pin, but from there he was essentially wrestling a handicap match. For all his fire and charisma that had fans cheering for him, Fro eventually took a risk to turn the tables and hit a suicide dive through the ropes that saw him crash head first onto the barricade. From that point on, Bunfhole and Prudence only needed to get the match back into the ring, where RBB nailed Fro Sure with a Running Enziguiri for the pin. 63 The Eisen brothers then took center stage and Emma Chase left the announcers’ table to join them in the ring. Eric Eisen did most of the talking during the segment, in which he announced the launch of a brand new subscription service, the Supreme Network. Not only that, but SWF would be introducing a third brand and an online-exclusive one and a half hour show on Mondays to be shown on the Supreme Network for US, Canadian and Mexican fans and NetStream for SWF fans in the rest of the world. Its name, SWF Elite and the one to run it would be none other than Emma Chase herself. 69 Mainstream Hernandez vs The Crippler One month ago at Nothing to Lose, Hernandez saved ZWB from Crippler’s post-match attack, turning babyface in the process. Ever since, he and Crippler have been at odds, leading up to this match. A classic case of the young babyface high flier trying to best the grizzled mat grappling veteran, this bout was all about the psychology. Hernandez got plenty of offense in and had the crowd cheering for him, but every time it just fell a little short and never got him the three count. As the match went on and exhaustion set in, things favored the Crippler who attempted to ground things and work the leg to limit his opponent’s speed, mobility and aerial attacks. This provided Hernandez with an excellent chance to show how he’d done his homework and use his underappreciated technical skills to counter Crippler’s holds. The story here was Hernandez always having an answer for everything his opponent threw at him, but never quite managing to finish him off. Eventually, a frustrated Crippler ended up on a mounted position and rained down the elbows, to the point where referee Darren Smith deemed Hernandez unable to defend himself and called for the bell, awarding the match to the Crippler via referee stoppage. 62 Spencer Spade then had some words to share from the backstage area, as he talked about him finding two of the biggest, baddest men in SWF and giving them direction. Primus Allen picked up from there to say that tonight, he and Bekowski will put the two veterans in Gilmore and Morgan out to pasture before they continue to dominate the tag team division. The mic was then passed to Bekowski, who simply grunted and cracked his knuckles. 71 SWF World Tag Team titles match Hawaiian Crush © (with Sylvester Weatherfield) vs The Mission Both Ranger and Matty Faith are no-nonesense brawlers, so they came into this match with a simple but brutally effective plan in trying to avoid Ekuma and isolate Adams for a beatdown. The defending champions were fully aware of course, so their tactic to counter that was to let Ekuma assert his physical dominance with Adams coming in for quick hit and runs that would provide the big man with a necessary breather. This setup made for a rather exciting matchup with momentum swinging back and forth on several occasions. By the time the Mission decided to switch tactics and attack Ekuma’s leg to eliminate him from the match, their chance was gone and they were unable to pile on the damage needed in time. Faith tried to rush things and this led to him being reckless, something Adams exploited to regain control and hit him with a Pacific Crush to win the match and retain the belts. 62 The champions’ celebration was cut short as Atom Smasher and Rogue ran down to the ring, with the former putting Sylvester Weatherfield through the timekeeper’s table before he could join his friends in the ring for a feel good moment. Ekuma and Adams rushed out of the ring, but Rogue had been lying in wait with a steel chair to take them both out. 64 Best of the Best vs Supreme Dream Team (with Spencer Spade & Dulce Moreno) Brute force by the hungry young heels clashed with the technical excellence and experience of the veterans in this match as Gilmore and Morgan sought to even the score by defeating Allen and Bekowski in a Pay Per View contest. Neither man ever really got their feet off the mat for any high flying action but that’s not to say there was any shortage of big moves and exciting spots. Best of the Best pulled off some great tandem offense sequences, whether they were executing double team moves or just each man following up his partner’s spot, but Allen and Bekowski are not easy to put down. On top of that, the heels had plenty of ringside assistance from Spade and Moreno so the faces had an added obstacle to overcome, but quick thinking on Morgan’s part had him win the match out of nowhere when he managed to roll up Bekowski for the three count. 66 Backstage, Randall Buckminster Bumfhole had some comments to make about his opening match, but Lenny Brown and Steven Parker interrupted him with a request for a match against The Awesomeness, once Jefferson Stardust is all healed up. RBB dismissed the request, saying Huey and Jefferson are their own men, plus they have BJ O’Neil managing them; on top of that, Brown and Parker had just rudely interrupted his promo, so the answer as far as he’s concerned is no. 72 Cat’s Lair match Brandon James vs Hollywood Bret Starr This cinematic match opened with Starr’s limousine taking him to the grittier side of Philadelphia and outside a place with a flickering “Cat’s Lair” neon sign. SWF’s majestic production values really shone through here, making the experience feel like some 90s detective thriller as Starr walked into the unlit place, where Brandon’s voice welcomed him by letting him know he was trespassing into the Big Cat’s territory. Indeed, the lights came on and not only had Brandon brought back the Big Cat facepaint and character for this match, the place was littered with various Danger and Violence Extreme memorabilia, harkening back to Brandon’s time with the fondly remembered East Coast promotion. The two men engaged in a street style brawl very much reminiscent of DAVE’s hardcore matches, with Starr proving he can very much hold his own in such situations despite his usual character and presentation. This was valid in offense (where the two men’s undeniable chemistry shone through) as well as defense, since Starr took the Big Cat Pounce onto a trashcan and still somehow kicked out at two (because of course there was a referee around). This surprising competence in an otherwise unusual hardcore setting allowed him to push the veteran to the limit and even triumph over him, as he managed to wrap a chain around his throat and choke him to the point of submission 79 SWF North American title match Des Davids © vs ZWB ZWB jumped the gun and dropkicked Davids as soon as the bell rang. While he didn’t get to stay on offense for long before the defending champion turned things around through sheer strength, this opening did set the pace for the rest of the match, as the challenger was being quick and elusive to attack from all angles and keep his opponent guessing while also trying to wear him down. Essentially, the bout was a repeating loop of ZWB building up some offense, then getting cut off or scoring a near fall. There was one particularly memorable spot that did that, with ZWB trying to hit a moonsault off the second rope when Davids cut him off mid-air with a three point stance charging tackle for a two count. Things took a rough turn for the challenger when the fight spilled outside the ring and Davids delivered a beatdown, but ZWB smartly used his opponent’s own momentum against him, dodging out of the way at a critical moment to send him crashing onto the ring post. Fans were on the edge of their seats for fifteen minutes straight, all building up to the big finish of ZWB struggling to climb up to the top rope. Davids attempted to cut him off and hit a superplex, but he got kneed in the gut and crashed down on the mat, just in position for a spectacular 450 Degree Splash. One, two, three, new champion as ZWB finally won his first ever singles title in an emotional moment. 75 Rocky Golden vs Scythe No need for a video package to recap this one, as last month at Nothing to Lose, Rocky actually lost the SWF World Heavyweight title without getting pinned when Remo held Scythe down for the three count. The Dark Reaper was added to the match after weeks of haunting the former champion and this was Rocky’s chance at revenge. No love lost between the two hulking towers of muscle, but not much fancy wrestling either; this was a fistfight. Still, something was off due to both men putting in the offense and working the crowd but somehow forgetting to keep selling the damage they’d sustained throughout the match. Scythe got a great reaction when he hit Rocky with the Reaper’s Scythe lariat out of nowhere, as well as when he gave him the Underworld Spike on the entrance ramp, even if Golden rushed his recovery a little bit. This wasn’t all Scythe of course, as Rocky also got to hit all of his big offense, including a big spot where he got his opponent up with a military press and slammed him through a ladder that Scythe had set up earlier. Nothing seemed to work though and both men kept getting back up to fight, until Rocky accidentally ran head first onto an exposed turnbuckle pad and Scythe capitalized to get the pin. 77 SWF World Heavyweight title match Remo © vs Valiant (with Hannah) Big title match between two big names to headline the show, yet somehow it was let down by the fact that it played out much like the semi main event, with two guys brawling it out and once again, not exactly being on top of their selling game. Still, such details constitute nitpicking and given how SWF’s particular brand of wrestling is more about spectacle, charisma and over the top characters over in-ring workrate, the two competitors still delivered an exceptional match that was made all the more exciting by the reaction of the live audience. The broadcast team also did a great job in putting over Valiant’s efforts, as they reminded fans that he was a former champion who’d lost the gold when Rogue turned on him, which in turn helped the storytelling aspect of the match and injected some drama into the proceedings. The struggle went on for almost half an hour with neither man giving any ground and kicking out of pin attempts, but once Remo managed to finally pull off The Destroyer, it was lights out for his challenger. 81 Overall 81

Welcome back! That's one long and full post too, glad to see you're still around. Liking those numbers summaries before every wrestler's bio, is that some excel made table or are you using some other program?

Pro Wrestling Hero Europe #2 Mon. W4 Feb 2020, 40.523 viewers on Euro Cable Sports 4 and GBTV Sports Since the debut of their new TV show, RotO announced on social media they would be introducing a Television title so of course the follow-up began with a focus on it. Dovydas Vidmar cut a promo to hype up Yakovlev's attempt to capture the title against Eriksson, then threw a curveball when he also announced that Tereza Smirnov would not only be making her in-ring debut tonight, she was actually the one that Fusae Etsuko had arranged to face her protege! Rating: 52 w/w/ Malady (with Fusae Etsuko) vs Tereza Smirnov (with Dovydas Vidmar) The hype was immediately capitalized on and we jumped straight into the two women facing off. I think it's interesting how Malady skipped the grandeur and theatrincs to just walk straight to the ring. It was an interesting contrast to Smirnov, who came out wearing a shiny designer tracksuit and made a big deal out of herself debuting. Sparks flew immediately once the bell rang and they jumped on each other's throats for a striking exchange of forearms, a pace they kept up all the way to the finish. Despite not really being invested in the characters or stories yet, fans ate up the spectacular action and I can't deny these two had something special between them. Not sure if Smirnov was trained by Vidmar, but she sure operates with with that same brawling style that he and Yakovlev employ, which is another reason why she fits in so nicely with that group. I did however look up Malady and apparently she does have a kickboxing background, which would explain her more crisp strikes. Of course, she wouldn't be Etsuko's protege without having a solid grasp of the fundamentals and some great technical skills, standing or on the mat. And just like Etsuko would do a running penalty kick to an opponent on their knees (her "Darkness Falls" finisher), Malady hit a Shining Wizard (flying knee) to knock out Smirnov for the pin. Rating: 30 Camera swung back to Martin Bloydel and Jamie Anderson, who calmed things down to allow a breather after all that frantic action. RotO's broadcast duo had some back and forth as they spoke about what we would be seeing tonight and they let us know that the TV title match would not headline the episode, as the main event would see the reunion of The Gentleman and The Pitbull, the legendary tag team of Nelson Frye and Robert Howard, in a match against the Italian duo of Giovanni Bruno and Marcello Ricci! Rating: 38 w/ Big Ben vs Roberto Milano (with Gianfranco Morelli) Remember back in January, that first ever RotO match? Well apparently Ragnarok's now off doing his own thing with Eriksson, which makes sense seeing as he and Ben just didn't click. I'm guessing they tried to wrap this up here and give Ben a chance as a singles wrestler. The Fashionistas are still together though, which in my eyes meant that Milano would lose and down the road, the scene will replay with Ben beating Morelli. Pretty standard stuff here with the Englishman being a powerhouse and Milano as the cowardly comedic heel, but fortunately it was not an absolute squash. Ben's still a bit green and I'd think his moveset's also somewhat limited, so his opponent got in a fair share of offence and essentially carried the bout while selling Ben's offence to make him look good. Not only that, but Milano somehow made Ben submit, completely overturning my expectations. There might be some kind of story developing here. Rating: 35 Maisie Laurels vs Paula Edwards Much as I liked watching this match, it quickly dawned on me that it was a bit too similar to the one before it, powerhouse face versus technically versed heel. The recipe may have been the same, but the execution was better, part because fans knew the wrestlers better and part because they didn't have to tone down the actual wrestling in favour of storytelling. Plus the finish was also different, since this time Edwards hit a pinning powerbomb with authority to get the win. Rating: 40 Florida Simard had a few words in response to Laurels' interview last week, saying she got called out but she doesn't have anything to prove to "bootleg McKenna". As far as she's concerned, she beat Laurels at Valentine's Day Massacre and that's the end of it. Rating: 48 RotO Television title match Petter Eriksson vs Petrov Yakovlev Seeing how their tag match at Valentine's Day Massacre was a barn burner, I had high expectations from this one and it didn't disappoint me. Eriksson is past his prime for sure but he's still a big scary individual and a veteran of the business, while Yakovlev brought heaps of energy and intensity to the bout. This was no frills old school brawling and although several times they went out of the ring, it never went out of control in the stands like the Ragnarok match from last week. To be fair though, Eriksson probably is too banged up and lacks the cardio for something like that, so he played to his strengths and kept it contained but hard hitting, a Spinning Back Elbow flattening Yakovlev for the pin. Kind of a surprising outcome, but I guess for now it makes sense to go with the established guy and give Petter one last huzzah; Yakovlev still hasn't hit thirty years of age, he'll get plenty of opportunities down the road. Rating: 50 This one caught me by surprise, Paolo Gandalfini cut a promo and said he wants to prove that not all Italians are slimy cheaters like Bruno and Ricci, some like him are actual proper professional wrestlers. Ryushi Ryusaki then walked in and challenged him to prove his claim in the ring against him next week, which is a match I never knew I wanted to see until now. Rating: 62 The Gentleman and the Pitbull vs Giovanni Bruno and Marcelo Ricci At first I thought they just randomly threw the two Italian heels in there together for no apparent reason other than perhaps Gandalfini's promo before, but the announcers brought up the quite valid point that Bruno hasn't lost any matches in RotO, except that 10 man Starmageddon at Rebirth, which again doesn't feel like a personal defeat per se. Also, remember how I said about the previous match that it didn't go completely off the rails? Well this one did and we got a classic chaotic brawl that you'd expect to see back in the wrasslin' days of the Texas territories. And as much as I love the face team and know they can go, it was the heels actually that got me. Ricci completely changed his game from last week's shoot style grappling while Bruno proved he can get down and dirty once comedy's thrown out the window. Well, not completely out, because cheating's in his nature and once again, he just had to grab Howard's tights to secure the win for his team. Rating: 53 I think RotO outdid themselves on this night, they've found their groove, they're telling stories and fans are more familiar with the roster. A solid 54 means they did even better than their debut show, so I can only hope it gets even better from here.

I know there's some forum rule against advertising or payment, but I do believe I saw people accepting commissions so there's some middle ground there I'd be willing to tread to support and give back for all you've given us, will. Maybe not an ongoing donation like patreon (seeing how unstable my income flow is) but a one-off like ko-fi, sure.

Is that WEXXV's Hiroshi Morisue? Because if so, it makes absolute sense for him to commentate topless. Hell, I'd expect him to blade before he'd even take a seat at the announcers' table

Seems a bit too much for me. Just setting your potential to the top setting should be enough.

Pro Wrestling Hero Europe #1 Pro Wrestling Hero Europe #1 Mon. W3 Feb 2020, 37.913 viewers on Euro Cable Sports 4 and GBTV Sports Oh man, a weekly TV show and I feel like I'm being spoiled. Of course I watched it and of course it picked up right from where Valentine's Day Massacre left off, with Marcello Ricci complaining about Howard's presence at ringside and blaming his loss on him. I think it was a refreshing twist to have the main event go that way, a reversal of the usual trope where the heel has ringside assistance that costs the babyface the match, but it also gave Ricci and excuse and something to whine about instead of just accepting his loss. The man from Milan more or less said that if Howard hadn't been around, he'd have won the match and be standing here now as the RotO World Heavyweight champon. This of course brought our the actual champion himself, who seemed to be amused at what was transpiring. Ever the courteous gentleman, Nelson Frye revealed that he happened to overhear Ricci and discussed the matter with Howard backstage before coming out. If Marcello was actually willing to put his money where his mouth is, the Louisiana Pitbull would be happy to give him a chance to avenge his loss, tonight, one on one in the main event. A fairly standard opening angle to set up the night's main event, but executed nicely as the next chapter in this story. Rating: 45 Ryushi Ryusaki vs Wes Stryker First match of the night saw Ryushi Ryusaki go up against "Dutch Courage" Wes Stryker. Fast paced action and spectacular moves to get things rolling, which makes sense from a production and booking standpoint I guess, but it really exposed Stryker's inexperience. He seems well rounded and might turn into something, but right now he's greener than grass and it messed with my suspension of disbelief at times, taking me out of the vibe of things. At least they didn't go on for too long, six minutes tops before Ryusaki caught the youngster in the Olympian Clutch for the tap. Rating: 35 Dovydas Vidmar and Tereza Smirnov then had a message for the viewers at home. Smirnov teased getting in the ring soon to actually wrestle, saying she's more than just talk and stunning looks, but the thing for now was the fact that later tonight, Petrov Yakovlev would be handing a beatdown to Ragnarok as the two men were set to wrestle one on one. Rating: 58 Viewers were then treated to a sit-down interview with Maisie Laurels and some interviewer out of sight. The emphasis was on her and she spoke of her background, idolizing Viper McKenna as a child, how she broke into the business, met her hero and what she aspires to do in RotO. Laurels mentioned Florida Simard and Paula Edwards by name, saying they're the two to beat for her and her immediate goal, at least until RotO introduces a Women's title. Rating: 28 Paula Edwards vs Primrose Darlington I guess Laurels' interview was the lead-in for the women's match of the night, Paula Edwards against some obnoxious "daddy's little girl" kind of character by the name of Primrose Darlington. Can't say there was much action here, Primrose messed with the flow of the match on purpose and when she wasn't avoiding Edwards, she was trying to get away and interrupt her before she'd get into any sort of groove. Which was fine for her being super annoying but not great for the actual in-ring action. I guess they were putting that in the background in order to tell a story, which they did because my gosh did people hate Darlington. They wanted to see her get beat so bad, when Edwards finally got her hands on her and managed to hit more than a couple of moves, there was collective rejoicing. From there it was basically a squash, the official time is something like ten or twelve minutes but the actual wrestling was three to five, tops. Rating: 36 It was then time for the Scandinavians to respond. Eriksson was never a great talker (which is why Viper McKenna used to be at his side) but Ragnarok can hold his own, it seems. The Icelander just had to bring up the Vikings conquering the Baltic to go down the rivers and become the Rus, yet somehow he brought that analogy around to say that tonight the slaughter would yet again commence. Rating: 39 We then got a vigniette of Malady being broody about her debut loss and Etsuko giving her a rough pep talk about having to rise to the occasion; next week, the Gothic Grappler has just the opponent for her protege to face. Rating: 55 /w/w Petrov Yakovlev (with Tereza Smirnov) vs Ragnarok (with Petter Eriksson) I thought Ragnarok was exaggerating when he spoke of slaughter, but man he and Yakovlev brought the fight. Not much wrestling to speak of, this was a down and dirty fist fight. Yakovlev as the scrappy, foaming-at-the-mouth bare knuckle boxer, Ragnarok as the big hard hitting viking, those two are just made to fight each other and I could watch it for hours. Things got even crazier when the two men ended up in the front rows, trading shots amidst the live audience while Eriksson and Smirnov did their own little act every time the competitors were down on the ground. I was expecting Vidmar to chip in and smash his signature vodka bottle, which did not happen but there still was a dirty finish as Smirnov interefered to draw Ragnarok's attention away just long enough for Yakovlev to line up his Knock Out Left Hook. Bang, drop, pin. Rating: 47 Alberto Montero & Giovanni Bruno vs Paolo Gandalfini & Tomohiko Yamagata I'm guessing this match was a continuation of Bruno versus Gandalfini at Valentine's Day Massacre, but their teammates felt a little random. Things kinda fell into place as the match went on though, with Montero providing the power needed to stand up to Gandalfini and Yamagata on high flying crowd pleasing duty. Didn't expect much out of this match but it actually turned out pretty decent, even if yet again Bruno had to cheat and use his tape to choke out Yamagata while keeping him in a sleeper hold to prevent the ref from noticing the weapon. Rating: 48 "Milan" Marcello Ricci vs "The Louisiana Pitbull" Robert Howard I've been thinking about why this match didn't turn out to be as great as I had expected it and the best explanation I could come up with is that it fell victim to those that came before it. Not that the fans were burned out by that point, but having seen Yakovlev and Ragnarok go wild earlier, in comparison Howard really lacked that edge and it turn he didn't quite feel like the great obstacle that Ricci was trying to overcome. I'm glad that Ricci didn't wrestle like a cowardly cheating heel though (that role had already been filled by Bruno in the previous match) but he brought a more serious mat grappling version reminiscent of Ultimate European Wrestling, using technical skill to counter Howard's size and power advantage while being absolutely vicious in his joint manipulation. It worked too, and some ten minutes into the match he dropped the Milanese Elbow for the pin. Rating: 44 Ring of the Olympians delivered a good first episode without seeming like they're trying too hard to put on something bombastic for their TV debut. Vidmar's group against the Scandinavian duo of Eriksson and Ragnarok seems to be an interesting storyline, apparently they're trying to make a program out of Bruno versus Gandalfini and after the main event's outcome, a clean win for Marcello Ricci, I'm curious to see where he goes from here and if he'll challenge Frye for the title again. In the women's division, I can tell they're trying to turn Maisie Laurels into a thing and this storyline about Etsuko's protege, Malady, apparently will feature heavily. 48 out of a hundred, let's see if they can keep it up.

Very Small across Europe and Small in the UK.

Thursday, Week 2 February 2020 Live from Philadelphia, PA Get it on Premier Pay TV (US), Premier Pay CAN-TV (Canada) and Demand-TV Mexico (Mexico) Main Event SWF World Heavyweight title match Remo © vs Valiant Grudge Match Rocky Golden vs Scythe SWF North American title Des Davids © vs ZWB Cat's Lair match Brandon James vs Hollywood Bret Starr Tag Team match Best of the Best vs Supreme Dream Team SWF World Tag Team titles match Hawaiian Crush © vs The Mission Opening Tag Team match The Awesomeness (RBB & Prudence) vs West Coast Connection

Valentine's Day Massacre 2020 Valentine's Day Massacre 2020 Held in Athens, Greece on Sat. W2 Feb 2020 Viewership: 5.468 fans in attendance, 69.605 PPV buys (0.13) on Euro Your Demand and GBTV Sports Straight down to business, the show began with Fusae Etsuko. The owner of RotO announced the launch of a new TV show airing Mondays (so just 2 days after this show!) on Euro Cable Sports 4 and GBTV Sports, then presented her protege to the world. Out came a dark skinned woman clad in an outfit of chains and leather, complete with occult makeup and an inverted cross painted on her forehead. Not sure how I feel about the reddish hair with the sides shaved, but as a first impression it sits better with me than if she'd gone all in with the gimmickry and done, I dunno, straight jet black hair. Etsuko introduced her as Malady and whaddya know, we were going to see her in action immediately. Rating: 55 w/ Etelka the Hun vs Malady (with Fusae Etsuko) Out came the imposing Etelka the Hun and immediately I knew this was not going to be Malady squashing a nobody to look super strong. If anything, I was afraid it might turn out to be the other way around, because after a couple of flashy spinning kicks, Etelka no-sold the last one and tackled her opponent against a corner ringpost, then things spilled to the outside of the ring where utter chaos ensued. I was honestly expecting something horrible to happen, because I looked up Etelka after the first show and her main claim to fame is deathmatch wrestling, namely a match where she powerbombed her opponent onto a board of scissors. Not that this was booked like a deathmatch, but you get the idea of what Malady was in for once the ringside brawl began. In hindsight, I realized this chaos was probably set up this way to make up for the fact that fans didn't really know any of the competitors, even if the excitement for Malady's reveal was there and Etelka had already made her RotO debut the month prior. Somehow, Malady was able to keep up with her opponent, including spots where she kicked a chair into her face and another where she curb stomped her head onto the ring steps. Still, Etelka would have the last laugh when she hit her finisher, which she calls the Hungarian Death Drop, to get the pin. Rating: 20 Giovanni Bruno vs Paolo Gandalfini Match two of the night was an all-Italian affair and what I believe to be an attempt on RotO's part to escape NGW's stereotype and present at least one Italian wrestler as more than a slimy and/or airheaded heel. Kind of a past versus present/future thing, given how Bruno has been portrayed in NGW for years and as much as I like the man's comedic timing and character work, perhaps it's time he dropped the gimmick for something less silly if he's going to get any kind of a push, which he absolutely should. He's way more experienced and well rounded than Gandalfini, who stuck to brawling and big power moves, though they still popped the fans when he hit them. All in all I'd say Paolo was quite protected in this match, he got to do most of the offence and look good doing it, though in the end Bruno would rake his eyes, chop the throat and put him in a sleeper hold to get the dirty submission win. Rating: 30 Florida Simard vs Maisie Laurels Nice to see more than a single women's match on the same night, though it should come as no surprise since NGW was known for its presentation of female wrestlers, to the point where they would even headline shows before Etsuko's days. As I've mentioned when this match was announced, it was built on Simard pinning Laurels in a tag match at Rebirth. This time it was one on one and they told a basic story of the heel trying to slow down the pace and take the high flying babyface to the mat for a stretch. Maybe it's just me, but that start-and-stop thing really messed up the pace and flow of the match for me, wasn't as good as it could have been so those ten plus minutes felt more like thirty. Interesting finish though, with Laurels putting Simard in McKenna's signature Boston Crab and getting disqualified when she refused to break the hold even after Simard had made it to the ropes. Rating: 23 As a break from the back to back matches, Dovydas Vidmar and Petrov Yakovlev hit the ring next to address their match against Petter Eriksson and Ragnarok. They were escorted by a blonde woman in a black fur coat and hat, who they introduced as their new ally and manager, Tereza Smirnov. Yes, that Smirnov, of the vodka brand. She's all over social media so it wasn't hard to look her up, apparently she's indeed a member of the family that produces one of Russia's most famous vodkas and was mad enough to embrace the rumors of Mafia connections that surround her lineage in order to create her wrestling persona. Considering Vidmar is supposed to be "The Bratva Bruiser" and his signature vodka bottle, I think this was a genius match that made absolute sense. Tereza looks and talks like a star from what little she could get on the mic for this segment, not sure about her actual wrestling skill but she is a very vocal fan of Karen Bilous so that's promising. Rating: 53 w/ Petter Eriksson & Ragnarok vs Dovydas Vidmar & Petrov Yakovlev (with Tereza Smirnov) I was expecting this to turn into a wild crazy brawl all over the venue, but perhaps this type of intensity is being saved for later when this feud has reached a boiling point. That's not to say the participants were taking it easy, just that they went for stiff shots instead of ringside chaos. The Scandinavian duo was in control at the start of the match, but Ragnarok's youthful enthusiasm and inexperience led him into making a mistake. Vidmar and Yakovlev used quick tags and tandem offence to wear the big man down, exciting fans as they built up to Eriksson getting the hot tag to clean house. Smirnov, who up to that point had done a great job as a manager antagonizing the front row fans or snobbishly dismissing them, climbed on the apron to scream at the ref and distract him just enough for Vidmar to hit a low blow. From there, Vidmar worked the big man down to the mat and tagged in Yakovlev; the Belarussian delivered the Knock Out Left Hook and it was good night from there. Big win for what appears to be RotO's first ever faction, assuming Smirnov will also wrestle and not get pigeonholed into being just a manager. Rating: 46 Nelson Frye and Robert Howard made an entrance next, the champion wanting to say a few words before the main event. Frye talked up Ricci as a dangerous challenger, but then added that he himself has been in this business for over twenty years and has more or less seen it all, so just as a backup policy, he had asked Howard to be at ringside tonight and ensure that no shenanigans would occur. I didn't think of it at the time, but this was nicely executed for two reasons. One, he didn't have to say or even imply that Ricci, being an Italian heel, was kind of expected to play dirty and two, having seen Bruno cheat, Laurels refuse to break a hold and how Smirnov gave the assist to her team, Frye's concerns were actually very valid. Rating: 55 RotO World Heavyweight championship match w/ Marcello Ricci vs Nelson Frye © (with Robert Howard) So I watched some of Ricci's matches before this show to get familiar with him. Ultimate European Wrestling, where he usually appears, is a no-frills, old-school catch as catch can style promotion and his calling card there is being the one guy who actually has something of a colorful character. His RotO situation was quite the opposite, a cocky guy who proved he can also actually wrestle on top of playing a fun character. This was further emphasized by the frantic pace of the match and the constant barrage of big moves; I don't know if it was Frye trying to get the best match out of Ricci or the company telling these two to take it to another level for the main event title match, but it was quite the spectacle. Howard's presence also paid off, there was no interference and at one point where Ricci went for a chair, Howard put a foot on it and waved a finger in refusal, with the challenger immediately backing off and throwing his hands in the air to proclaim innocence. This inability to cheat was probably what threw Ricci off game and kicked off the finishing sequence of the match, which ended with Ricci in the Royal Armbar tapping out. Rating: 46 I'd rate this show as a 42, it was well structured and executed, with some of the matches announced and hyped up in advance, but the storylines still haven't really kicked in, plus it inadvertently lacked the excitement and mystery of the first ever show. I think long term, the big takeaway here was the announcement of a weekly TV program. Should help establish the wrestlers, get fans invested, explore storylines and build up Pay Per View shows better.

<div style="padding: 15px; border: 3px solid #000000; margin:10px;background: #2C2A2A; max-width:60%;box-shadow: 0 6px 12px ";"> BCG Rising Lion 2021 Press Conference Highlights ~ Black Canvas Grappling kick off their annual three tour climax yet again and the company officials had a major announcement to go with this. Puroresu fans in Japan as well as around the world will now have easier access to BCG's content, as the company revealed that their broadcast deals with Shogun TV have expired, although Pro Wrestling SAISHO continues to be carried by the station. In this new era for Black Canvas Grappling, their big monthly shows will be shown on one of Japan's major Pay Per View stations, Emperor Choice, while tour highlights will be shown by J-Network East 3. Furthermore, the company has signed an agreement with OnDemand, bringing montages and recaps of tour highlights to BCG fans around the world. ~ Seven Samurai seem to yet again be on shaky ground in regards to their membership, as Funakoshi hand picked Ginji Kisaka to wrestle some of the tour's matches alongside him. The leader of the group is said to be rather impressed by the home-grown graduate of the Roaring Lion dojo, something that Roku Sotomura apparently disagrees with. A reliable and loyal, if unspectacular wrestler, 43 year old Sotomura has been spending more and more of his time punishing young lions in SAISHO so he is very familiar with Kinsaka but instead of taking his word for it or imposing his own will, Funakoshi requested that a match be made between Sotomura and Kinsaka, with the winner earning a spot in the group. Sotomura spoke about how this stipulation has urged him to put on the best performance he can in order to retain his spot, while Kinsaka simply stated he's honored to have been given the opportunity and he'll try to prove himself worthy of the potential Funakoshi has seen in him. ~ Logan Wolfsbane then had his first Press Conference as an official member of BCG, where he will be using the Diaz surname. Logan made sure to point out that he will not be relinquishing the PSW Championship as he has not signed an exclusive deal with Black Canvas, then went on to talk about the importance of the Diaz name in Japan and how happy he is to be working alongside his cousin, James. Logan will be making his Pay Per View debut for BCG at The Lion Rises alongside James and Texas Hangman, in a six man tag match against Mabuchi Furusawa and his two proteges, Ritsu Ibata and Yutaka Ogata. ~ The Seven Samurai and Dawnguard rivalry over the Six Man titles will continue, as the winning trio of Ikoma, Kamisaka and Miyake are set to face Mitsukuri, Kinoshita and Emoto at The Lion Rises. Also involved in the first match as part of a losing effort for Dawnguard, Suguru Emoto said his side will be better prepared this time and walks into the match with the advantage of featuring an established tag team in his partners. ~ One thing is for sure after The Lion Rises, the Challengers Series title will be in the hands of Destiny Bond. Former champion Giant Brody tore his Rotator Cuff on Night 4 of the tour and had to vacate the title, as he is expected to be out of action for about a year. Isoruko Arakaki, Rokuemon Matsushita and Zeshin Makioka ended the tour each with a Medallion in his possession, so the three men will be facing of in a triple threat match directly for the title itself, instead of the usual format of the winner moving on to face the reigning champion. ~ Akira Arato and Gidayu Katou answered press questions next in regards to them facing Black Iron Corps for the BCG World Tag Team titles. The two men pointed out their time together in SAISHO that saw them win the Destiny Tag Team titles, to prove they are no strangers to working alongside each other of winning championship gold. Kita and Narahashi questioned that however, when they mentioned the status of the BCG belts and the quality of the company's tag team division, saying that it won't be that easy to take the gold from them. ~ FEAR's rogue American championship continues to be a thing apparently and the man has chosen Nigel Svensson to be his challenger this time. Svensson smiled at journalists' questions about a European competing for such a belt, saying he'll take any opportunity to be on the show, have a great match and maybe win a title. Even if the title itself isn't officially recognized, he said, it's great performances that will keep it around and force BCG to accept it. ~ After successfully defeating Mabuchi Furusawa to defend the briefcase that contains his contract to headline The Lion's Roar, SUKI has been called to yet again put it on the line at The Lion Rises, this time against Big Bruiser Findlay. A former world champion himself and the man Okamoto beat to become champion in the first place, Findlay has all the drive to win this match and exact revenge but SUKI promised this will not be the case at the end of the night. ~ Speaking of former title holders getting a second chance, Funakoshi was the first to step up and challenge Bunrakuken Torii for the BCG National title. It seems Black Canvas are using this time period where the World title isn't defended until The Lion's Roar in order to establish the National title as a second major title and having matches like these certainly helps their case. </div> <div style="padding: 15px; border: 3px solid #000000; margin:10px;background: #2C2A2A; max-width:60%;box-shadow: 0 6px 12px ";"> Fri. W3 August 2021 Kobe Football Stadium @ Kansai, Japan Event Card BCG National title match 3rd Champion Bunrakuken Torii vs Challenger Funakoshi Roaring Lion Headline spot match SUKI vs Big Bruiser Findlay BCG American title match Champion FEAR vs Challenger Nigel Svensson BCG World Tag Team match 16th Champions Black Iron Corps vs Challengers Arato & Katou Challengers Series title match Isoruko Arakaki vs Rokuemon Matsushita vs Zeshin Makioka BCG Six Man titles match 1st Champions Seven Samurai (Blast Ikoma, Kadonomaro Kamisaka and Motoyuki Miyake) vs Challengers Dawnguard (Ichiro Mitsukuri, Koyo Kinoshita and Suguru Emoto) Six Man Tag match Bruiser Brigade (Texas Hangman, Logan Diaz and James Diaz) vs Pillars of Puroresu (Mabuchi Furusawa, Ritsu Ibata and Yutaka Ogata) Opening match Loser is out of Seven Samurai Ginji Kisaka vs Roku Sotomura</div>

<div style="padding: 15px; border: 3px solid #000000; margin:10px;background: #01FCFE; max-width:60%;box-shadow: 0 6px 12px ";"> SWF Supreme TV Results [Tues. Wk. 2, March 2020] From the diary of Samantha W. Fitzworthy New Orleans was the setting for tonight's episode of Supreme TV, with 8.905 fans attending and 2.107.938 viewers watching live. The only match announced ahead of time was Brandon James facing Paul Huntingdon, so I was somewhat curious to see what would transpire. Hometown boy (but not quite hero) Willy LaRoux opened the show with a match against veteran Brett Biggins in another rare case of the episode not starting with an angle. I could tell that both men were instructed to work the crowd and get them going for what was to come next, but with both of them apparently having a bad night and caving under the pressure it didn't quite work out the way it was intended. LaRoux's charisma shone through and he did some nice character work as the cocky cheating heel, it seems he's being built up fast as he's been aligned with the Rat Pack and given the win here after a Reverse DDT. Barely a 41 for the opener though, he's got a lot of distance to cover still. LaRoux was given the opportunity to address his hometown crowd after the match when Eric Eisen climbed on the ring to interview him and there's no doubt he's a much better talker than in-ring worker at this point. Little weird to see a heel like Easy E interview another heel who tried to cut some sort of babyface promo, but fans ate it up so I can understand how this angle was rated at 63. Straight into the second match of the night, Best of the Best versus The Pain Alliance. Decent bout that went on for about ten minutes, but with Gilmore and Morgan set to face Supreme Dream Team at Awesome Impact, the only question here was whether Spade's group would interfere. Ended up being a pretty clean match and Morgan got the pin on Laramee, building momentum for his team in light of their PPV contest. A 61 seems fair. A short video package aired next, hyping the SWF World Tag Team match for Awesome Impact. We got a recap of Hawaiian Crush's title win and reign so far, how The Mission became the #1 contenders, their attack on Adams and how it's all going to come to a boil at the Pay Per View. An understandable hype montage to plug the PPV and convince people to buy it, Mr. Eisen rated it as a 60. We then jumped to a high class gym, where we saw footage of Bear Bekowski's feats of strength and Primus Allen's MMA-style training. With Dulce Moreno on his side as always, a suited-up Spencer Spade addressed the camera to talk up his crew in light of their match against Best of the Best at Awesome Impact. Not sure if it was planned for Allen to jump in and say a few words himself in the end or if Spade stumbled a bit with his improv and Primus intervened to save it, but that little detail threw me off a little bit from what was otherwise a well executed skit that ran off with a 66. More non-wrestling segments, yep that felt more like SWF by this point. It appears that Brandon James and Hollywood Bret Starr will be facing off in a "Cat's Lair" match at the Pay Per View, so the hype package also hinted at what we can expect. Not explained, just hinted, letting the mystery be the draw. I'm pretty sure that's going to be one of those cinematic matches, set in some cat themed scenery, which leads me to believe that James is going to bring back his Big Cat Brandon character for it. Not bad, but it maybe went on for a bit too long, so a mere 52 should suffice. Few weeks back we got the return of Robbie Retro from being injured by The Crippler when he cost him a match, then things moved on between Crippler and Mainstream Hernandez like nothing happened; at the time, I commented how it seems the Retro-Crippler feud was a wrap, but no, we actually got a televised match to do that part. Not sure people still remember though or if this mini feud has run cold by this point. Either way, Crippler is headed to face Hernandez at Awesome Impact, so he got fed Robbie here to make him look extra vicious. That Tombstone Piledriver in the end sure looked nasty, 60 does it here. Yup, a Mainstream Hernandez pre-taped promo followed up the match to hype up his PPV match against The Crippler. Hernandez called him out for his viciousness against their fellow wrestlers and trying to take away their livelihood by injuring them on purpose before talking himself up as the man with a point to prove when he takes out one of SWF's most dangerous grapplers. Solid, real solid, building both competitors up in light of the match. Don't sleep on this, might end up being a show stealer after all. For now, the promo scored a 62. We also got a video package to hype up the SWF North American title match at Awesome Impact. This was built around Davids' domination of the belt and ZWB's comment about being a decorated tag champ but wanting to prove himself by capturing singles gold as well. Not bad, not great, 64. Rocky Golden then cut a promo about his upcoming match with Scythe at the Pay Per View. Some real fire on display too, with Rocky going from "troubled" by Scythe's mind games into how he cost him the World Heavyweight title at Nothing to Lose last month and how he's all worked up to put an end to this when he defeats him at Awesome Impact. He may not be a champion any longer or wrestling for the title, but he sure felt like a champion in this promo and Mr. Eisen told me to write down an 83 for his promo. Brandon James versus Paul Huntingdon came next and lasted a good twelve minutes or so. No question here that James would get the win and move on to that Cat's Lair match with more momentum, but Paul flipped the script nicely by doing his utmost best to hurt his opponent. He was probably going down, but he was also going to take James down with him and soften him up for Starr. Big man sold the offence bell to bell, almost to the point of making me think whether the Rat Pack would assault him for an intentional DQ if it meant losing this match but hurting him, but he made his comeback to hit the Big Money Move and score the pin along with a 70 for this match. The attack came after the match, with Monty Trescarde jumping Brandon and sacrificing himself like a true henchman so that Starr could join in and attack James from behind. A somewhat recovered Huntingdon joined in for the 3 on 1 beatdown (guess Willy LaRoux was kept out of this as he'd already gotten enough air time at the start of the show) and no one came out for the save, meaning this ended with Brandon James on the mat and Starr grabbing a mic to call himself "the big dog" who'll "mess up the Cat's Lair" as the heels stood tall. I wasn't thrilled but Mr. Eisen gave this segment a 66. Valiant hit the ring next with Hannah at his side to cut a promo about his win last week, which penciled him in to face Remo for the SWF World Heavyweight title in the main event of Awesome Impact. I liked the touch of Valiant making this more personal, when he brought up the fact that he lost that title due to Rogue's betrayal so winning it back had added meaning for him, a good 85 for his promo here. Scythe came out to wrestle Valiant for the main event and I was a little shocked. Pretty big match to have on TV, let alone out of nowhere with no hype or even prior announcement. Not that it was bad, mind you, plus they were given a good twenty minutes to wrestle, it was just out of the blue and although I understand it from a booking perspective, having the ref throw the match to not hurt either man felt a little cheap. This could have been way better than a 61, but of course it was done to make both guys look dangerous in light of their respective big matches ahead, speaking of which... Rocky and Remo both came out just as the show was about to end, so it faded to black with all four guys staring down each other as the announce team hyped up the two Awesome Impact main events. Classic go-home episode finish even if little of actual substance did happen, Mr. Eisen told me to mark a 72. I can't complain much for this episode, it was the last one before a big Pay Per View and it did exactly what it was supposed to do: tie up loose ends, make the big names competing look strong and hype up the matches to take place at Awesome Impact. It's all shaping up to be a good major event and the go-home episode before it was a 71. </div> <div style="padding: 15px; border: 3px solid #000000; margin:10px;background: #01FCFE; max-width:60%;box-shadow: 0 6px 12px ";">Quick results Scythe drew with Valiant Brandon James def. Paul Huntingdon The Crippler def. Robbie Retro Best of the Best def. The Pain Alliance Willy LaRoux def. Bret Biggins</div> Prediction results Herrbear - 3/5 DinoKea - 3/5 smw88 - 2/5

<div style="padding: 15px; border: 3px solid #000000; margin:10px;background: #1289D3; max-width:60%;box-shadow: 0 6px 12px ";"> Valentine Day's Massacre 2020 Preview Ring of the Olympians have announced the date and name for their second show of the year, Valentine Day's Massacre, which will be taking place on the second Saturday of February. It was also announced that fans in the UK will also be able to watch it, as the company has signed a broadcast deal with GBTV Sports, on top of its ongoing European deal with Euro Your Demand. The show of course will be headlined by the RotO World Heavyweight championship match, as the inaugural champion Nelson Frye defends the gold against Marcello Ricci. Frye is a beloved NGW veteran with more than two decades of experience, but at age 40 his challenger is ten years younger and that might just give him the edge. Furthermore, Ricci has build a name for himself in Ultimate European Wrestling as a "giant killer" of sorts after defeating the hulking Menace, so he has the credentials to look convincing as an underdog who could pull the upset win. Fusae Etsuko also built up a lot of hype when she made an announcement on social media. According to the owner of RotO, she has brought a young prospect to the roster and will be revealing her protege on the next show. Given Etsuko's career, this is big news if someone was taken under her wing and The Gothic Grappler further fanned the flames when she revealed that not only will she present her protege to the world at Valentine Day's Massacre, there will also be a showcase match against a mystery opponent for fans to see this newcomer in action. Dovydas Vidmar and Petrov Yakovlev seemed to work together at times during the 10 man Starmageddon match, something that apparently has troubled Petter Eriksson who sees the potential for a revival or a group like The Czars, this time under Vidmar instead of Khoklov. Eriksson has found an ally in Ragnarok and the two Scandinavians are on a collision course with the Eastern European duo of Vidmar and Yakovlev in what should be a hard hitting contest. Maisie Laurels rubbed many people the wrong was as "the second coming of Viper McKenna" and certainly isn't happy with her RotO debut where she was pinned by Florida Simard. Fan backlash has started an online war after Laurels responded to the criticism on social media and essentially talked her way into a one on one match against Simard. The French high flyer certainly has the skills to come out on top again, but if Laurels has any of McKenna's wits, she must have some surprise up her sleeve. </div>

Welcome and thanks! Not sure how much of mythology I'll inject into this, but we'll see. As for Italian wrestlers, there's a tendency to play to stereotypes and present them as airheaded heels, but Paolo Gandalfini is also on the roster and he's a babyface