Ring of Fire: Fighting Every Step of the Way

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Tuesday Week 1 July Norman Blue Athletic Centre 266 in attendance During our dark bout we saw Gino Montero face off with Steve Flash and Seiji Jimbo. In twelve minutes the crowd were stunned to see one half of our new tag champions fall prey to a Flash Bang. RATING: C- [B] El Critico vs. Bulldozer Brandon Smith for the #1 Contendership[/B] Whoever thought they'd see a bulldozer fly? A diving shoulder block from the top turnbuckle damn near gave us a new champion in the Norman Blue, but it was not to be as Critico kicked out nine minutes in, answering later with the old reliable Critical Mass for the victory. RATING: C Nadia and Don hit the ring, challenging Critico. Turns out Don's been counting his matches as Heritage Title defences, and as an undefeated titleholder he wants to face Critico... in a unification match. The luchador didn't give his answer, just leaving hastily. RATING: F+ [B]Davis Wayne Newton vs. Toby Juan Kenobi[/B] A captain's match of fallout over the tag title turnover. Davis and Toby did fantastic work here, with the pair of them rolling to a time limit finish. I think Toby's getting better, too. RATING: C- [B]Joey Beauchamp vs. Bairei Yasujiro for the ROF Championship in a two out of three falls bout[/B] Bairei came on very strong in this one, capturing the first fall when he caught the Breeze Block and managed a Yasujiro Suplex with all of Joey's momentum behind it. Joey was quick to come back with a flying cross body evening the score at twenty minutes in, and the pair of them took another six minutes to settle it, with the Breeze Block hitting home just too fast in the end. A very good bout, though, and demonstrative of just why Bairei had been such a good champion for me. RATING: C And so, once again, we walk away from the Norman Blue to excellent reviews and solid word of mouth. I really am looking forward to next week, too, and the blow off to Don and Critico's long-term feud. What I hope to see soon should be excellent. OVERALL: C Big news for SOTBPW this Thursday; their latest show appears to have been the turning point for people to describe them as a cult promotion. It was headlined by Gino.

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Next week: Steve Flash vs. Seiji Jimbo Jed High vs. Gino Montero El Critico vs. Don Henderson - #1 Contendership & Heritage Championship UNIFICATION MATCH Joey Beauchamp vs. Petey Barnes for the ROF Championship in a 30 minute Iron Man match

[chris caulfield]

Steve Flash vs. [B]Seiji Jimbo[/B] Jed High vs. [B]Gino Montero[/B] [B]El Critico[/B] vs. Don Henderson - #1 Contendership & Heritage Championship UNIFICATION MATCH [B]Joey Beauchamp[/B] vs. Petey Barnes for the ROF Championship in a 30 minute Iron Man match

[Marcel Fromage]

[B]Steve Flash [/B]vs. Seiji Jimbo Jed High vs. [B]Gino Montero[/B] El Critico vs. [B]Don Henderson [/B]- #1 Contendership & Heritage Championship UNIFICATION MATCH [B]Joey Beauchamp [/B]vs. Petey Barnes for the ROF Championship in a 30 minute Iron Man match

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Tuesday Week 2 July The Paddington Club 155 in attendance Steve Flash and Seiji Jimbo battled in the dark to kick off the show. After a lengthy and lacklustre bout, Steve got the Flash Bang on his inexperienced opponent to score the pinfall. It wasn't what it should've been, really. Seiji isn't meshing as well as I'd hoped. RATING: D+ [B]Jed High vs. Gino Montero[/B] Continuing the battle between Force and Young Blood, Gino and Jed put on a show of round about the same quality. Gino has the makings of an excellent ring general, but until he earns the respect of his peers they're unlikely to listen well enough. It served its purpose, though, as Gino looked excellent out there but Jed battled back and picked up the win with a Sky High. RATING: D+ [B]El Critico vs. Don Henderson: #1 Contendership & Heritage Title UNIFICATION MATCH[/B] You know, of all the things I didn't expect to see in this match, Don hitting a flying victory roll has to be high on the list, but hit one he did. It surprised Critico, too, who barely kicked out in time to stay in the match. This one was vicious, in so many ways; these two have quietly been simmering away at each other for some time, leading to this whole Heritage Championship one-upmanship routine in the first place. The Critical Mass hit home at the ten minute mark, but Don kicked out; Critico tried again, this time smashing them both to the canvas with a superplex, but again it failed to score the pinfall. Eventually Don took Critico's legs out from under him and settled down into the Scottish Deathlock to unify the titles at 12:31. RATING: C- [B]Joey Beauchamp vs. Petey Barnes for the ROF Championship in a 30 minute Iron Man match[/B] Excellent work by both men. Petey outfoxed Joey about seven minutes in, faking a Future Shock and instead snapmaring Joey to the canvas and locking in a crossface to force the tap out. Joey redressed the balance at the sixteen minute mark with a tornado DDT, prompting Steve to observe that 'the Breeze has picked up!' Ah, announcer humour. Twenty minutes in, Petey got the Future Shock, but Joey kicked out – only to be immediately small packaged for a pinfall, putting Petey two-one up. Joey responded with a Breeze Block that took both men over the top rope and down to the floor, making it back into the ring himself at eight but leaving Petey to be counted out to balance the scores. With seven minutes left on the clock both men left it all in the ring, but that was how the scores stood when the timer ran out – two-all, and the Breeze retains. RATING: B- I do kind of wish I'd booked this card in the Norman Blue, where this particularly stellar performance is even more valuable; but it should hopefully land more ticket sales next time we come south, so I can't complain. OVERALL: C+

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Next week: Amo del Gato vs. Velocidad vs. Black Eagle vs. Johnny Highspot Bulldozer Brandon Smith vs. Seiji Jimbo Young Blood vs. Low Lives for the Tag Titles Toby Juan Kenobi vs. Fumihiro Ota Don Henderson vs. Joey Beauchamp in a Shoot Fight

[chris caulfield]

Amo del Gato vs. [B]Velocidad[/B] vs. Black Eagle vs. Johnny Highspot [B]Bulldozer Brandon Smith[/B] vs. Seiji Jimbo [B]Young Blood [/B]vs. Low Lives for the Tag Titles Toby Juan Kenobi vs. [B]Fumihiro Ota[/B] Don Henderson vs. [B]Joey Beauchamp [/B]in a Shoot Fight

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Tuesday Week 3 July Norman Blue Athletic Centre 257 in attendance A very poor four-man bout in the dark this week; Amo del Gato, Velocidad, Black Eagle and Johnny Highspot. Johnny got the victory after 13:50 with a frog splash, but if it's all right with you I'd rather not discuss this beyond that. RATING: D- [B]Bulldozer Brandon Smith vs. Seiji Jimbo[/B] Now this pulled a good match out of Seiji. Excellent. Brandon looked fantastic as they rolled through this bout, and that also allowed him to get the Backdrop Driver reasonably early on and cover for the win. RATING: C- [B]Young Blood vs. Low Lives for the Tag Titles[/B] Ah, yes. Another good match, and as always Davis looked stellar throughout the contest, which ended when the Flash and Flare was waiting once again, this time for El Bandito. Twelve minutes of excellent tag wrestling. RATING: C- [B]Toby Juan Kenobi vs. Fumihiro Ota[/B] Testing the waters for a Toby main event stint, or starting to. I gave these two ten minutes to show what they could do, and they really showed me! The ending was lifted from Ota's feud with Petey, but we played that off as being Toby scouting his opponent – he sidestepped the Ninja Strike, caught the arm, and used that to anchor the ninja in place for the Kenobi Kutter before covering for the pin. RATING: C [B]Don Henderson vs. Joey Beauchamp in a Shoot Fight[/B] Trying out new things sometimes means trying out old things. A champion's bout, here, and in a cage, to see how they'd adapt to that environment. It meant we could use Don's lesser stamina to our advantage, too – when he collapsed, unable to answer the count of ten, and took the loss, it really looked believable. And not a bad match, either! RATING: C+ Another very solidly put together show. Attendance is flagging a trifle, so hopefully this'll get a few more interested. OVERALL: C This was the week Toby Juan Jenobi let his UCR contract lapse, leaving girlfriend Speedy Marie behind. While Jed is still a UCR employee, the Force just became a ROF only team – assuming they keep teaming; Toby's future does rather seem singles oriented.

[Phantom Stranger]

Next week: Toby Juan Kenobi vs. Arthur T. Turtle Sergei Kalashnov vs. Johnny Highspot vs. Hidekazu El Critico vs. El Bandito Bulldozer Brandon Smith vs. Bairei Yasujiro Young Blood vs. The Shooters for the tag titles Joey Beauchamp vs. British Samurai in a Last Man Standing bout for the ROF Championship

[chris caulfield]

Toby Juan Kenobi vs. [B]Arthur T. Turtle[/B] Sergei Kalashnov vs. Johnny Highspot vs. [B]Hidekazu[/B] [B]El Critico[/B] vs. El Bandito [B]Bulldozer Brandon Smith[/B] vs. Bairei Yasujiro [B]Young Blood[/B] vs. The Shooters for the tag titles [B]Joey Beauchamp[/B] vs. British Samurai in a Last Man Standing bout for the ROF Championship

[Phantom Stranger]

Tuesday Week 4 July The Paddington Club 156 in attendance Our attendance factors aren't great right now. Shame, really, but at the moment I can't afford to give Norman Blue and Paddington both a break. We ran two dark matches this week; the first, Toby facing the Turtle, led to my realisation that neither of these guys yet know how to lead a match. Again, though, that's only by ROF standards; 21CW would lap this up as a main event. And Toby seems to be showing Arthur a thing or two; we may yet make Arthur what we need him to be. In the mean time, the Kenobi Kutter keeps Toby up where he needs to be. RATING: D The second dark match was a triple threat of my unappreciated talent; Sergei Kalashnov, Johnny Highspot, and Hidekazu. They didn't have long, but they made the most of five and a half minutes, with Sergei countering Johnny's headscissors attempt and hurling him out of the ring before Hidekazu got the pin on Sergei with a schoolboy. RATING: D+ [B] El Critico vs. El Bandito[/B] In Critico's first appearance since his record-breaking #1 Contendership ended, he showed us how he came to hold it. This pair put on an excellent match in the true lucha libre tradition, as you'd expect from two veterans of the craft. It didn't last long, however, with Critico scoring a pinfall in just under seven minutes via the Critical Mass. RATING: C- [B]Bulldozer Brandon Smith vs. Bairei Yasujiro[/B] An intensely stiff – and sadly selling-impaired – bout ended in an early draw through a double count-out following a superplex to the outside. With the talent involved this should've been much better. RATING: D+ [B] Young Blood vs. The Shooters for the Tag Titles[/B] Some wonderful storytelling here, and the best tag division match to date. After taking a real pounding, Billy was educated in how you turn being in a figure four into having your opponent in an STF. I'm beginning to think Davis can lock that in from anywhere, and Billy tapped as much from the surprise as anything else, I think. RATHING: C [B] Joey Beauchamp vs. British Samurai in a Last Man Standing bout for the ROF Championship[/B] It's safe to say the entire crowd expected Sammy to fight through the pain of the ten count to win this one. It's also safe to say that by the end they didn't mind being wrong. The Breeze Block into the ringpost on the outside was what ended this one in the champion's favour, but they played the crowd masterfully, with a lot of suspenseful eight and nine counts on either side first. RATING: B- Again I find myself wondering why we put on the truly superlative performances down south when we've made our home in the Midlands. I shouldn't complain, though, as we're still gaining everywhere we wrestle. Just let us have a few more in each audience, and we'll be very comfortable indeed... OVERALL: C+ Big news during the week; Bairei Yasujiro picked up WLW's most coveted belt, and Bulldozer Brandon Smith and the Black Eagle are new Coastal Zone Tag Champions! They're going to be calling themselves 'The Stunners'.

[Phantom Stranger]

Next week: Steve Flash vs. Amo del Gato El Bandito vs. El Critico vs. Gino Montero vs. Velocidad Davis Wayne Newton vs. Jed High Don Henderson vs. Bulldozer Brandon Smith for the Heritage Championship Petey Barnes vs. Toby Juan Kenobi in a ladder match

[chris caulfield]

Steve Flash vs.[B] Amo del Gato[/B] El Bandito vs. El Critico vs. [B]Gino Montero [/B]vs. Velocidad [B]Davis Wayne Newton[/B] vs. Jed High Don Henderson vs. [B]Bulldozer Brandon Smith [/B]for the Heritage Championship [B]Petey Barnes[/B] vs. Toby Juan Kenobi in a ladder match

[Phantom Stranger]

Tuesday Week 1 August Norman Blue Athletic Centre 300 in attendance We did it – we finally sold out the Norman Blue! And in the second pleasant surprise of the night, we gave them a pairing with great chemistry for a dark match. Steve Flash and Amo del Gato, who continues his trend of being beaten soundly by great competitors. I have hopes for him, and one day this will turn around. But apparently not right now. OK match, considering. RATING: D+ [B]El Bandito vs. El Critico vs. Gino Montero vs. Velocid[/B]ad It's a lucha extravaganza! Which some promotions would probably make into a speciality match featuring a sombrero on a pole. But not here! Here we just put two lucha legends up against two young turks fighting their way up. And it was great. The finish came when Bandito hit Velocidad with a Hijack Suplex simultaneously to Critico getting the Critical Mass on Gino. Sadly for the Bandito, the ref counted Gino's shoulders to the mat first, and Critico picks up the win. He and Bandito then got into something of a shoving match. Lovely work from the undercard. RATING: C [B]Davis Wayne Newton vs. Jed High[/B] Oh, this should've been better. Ah, well. Davis and Jed basically don't click that well, and while you can cover for that in a tag situation, one on one is not the same thing. Still, it continues to make Davis look good, which is fairly key – and it wasn't that bad. Davis applied the STF, this time, as a counter to a tornado DDT. RATING: D+ [B]Don Henderson vs. Bulldozer Brandon Smith for the Heritage Championship[/B] A really good, solid match to buck the crowd right back up. Don and Brandon went at it hammer and tongs, really providing a back and forth match that's going to be one of the things I point at as helping to build the name of the Heritage belt. Eventually, though, Brandon staggered Don and got a lovely inverted piledriver for the pin. RATING: C [B]Petey Barnes vs. Toby Juan Kenobi in a ladder match[/B] The question uppermost in my mind here was 'can Toby handle a Ring of Fire intensity and length main event?' This bout lasted nearly 26 minutes, and at the end Toby was flagging, but that didn't stop this being an absolutely fantastic bout. These two responded to the full house by giving it absolutely everything they had, and Petey ended the match with a tribute to Bairei – hooking the prize with his own legs while taking the Kenobi Kutter. RATING: B- Ohh, yeah. Daddy wants more shows like this! And Daddy may have to leave the Norman Blue behind in a few months, much as I can't really get my head around that idea. OVERALL: C+

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Next week: The Force vs. A newcomer tag team The Stunners vs. Davis Wayne Newton & British Samurai Byron vs. Fumihiro Ota El Bandito vs. El Critico Joey Beauchamp vs. Don Henderson for the ROF Championship

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Tuesday Week 2 August The Paddington Club 276 in attendance Attendance record for the Paddington Club and how! Man, this has been a good fortnight. Our dark match tonight; former tag champions here and elsewhere, The Force, take on newcomers to the wrestling world in the Brothers Grim, AKA Matthew and Greg Gauge. I'm already considering just calling them the Gauge Brothers, but hey, they're teenagers. Not a bad match at all, considering the imbalance; when all four of these men have real ring psychology under their belts they'll all be fantastic workers. Needless to say, main event caliber Toby got the pinfall, covering Greg after the Star Destroyer. RATING: D+ [B]The Stunners vs. Davis Wayne Newton & British Samurai[/B] This was advertised as a champions vs champions match, with ROF tag champions Young Blood taking on the Stunners. Sadly, WLW held its big end of tour supershow, and we lost Gino to it. At the last moment I got Sammy to fill in, and we'll run the actual champs vs. champs match some other time, assuming the Stunners keep the gold. They had nine minutes to play with, ending things in 8:32 when the Bulldozer submitted to the Samurai Secret Stretch. I'm more than happy with this match, though; you could see everyone learning and developing in the ring, and it was an excellent bout. Hopefully that'll make up for the loss of the advertised title match. RATING: C [B]Byron vs. Fumihiro Ota[/B] ...Unfortunately, these two don't mesh, and as such this was a lacklustre follow up bout. Not as bad as it could've been, but not great. Ota picked up the win eventually with a flying Ninja Strike after an earlier Ninja Strike saw Byron kick out. RATING: D [B]El Bandito vs. El Critico[/B] Picking up from their disagreement of last week, these two men came out and wrestled a grudge match with a bit of lucha thrown in, more than anything else. It was brutal, it was hard-hitting, it was vicious, it was gripping. It was much better than the prior match, is what I'm trying to say, and it went to the time limit. Lovely stuff. RATING: C- [B]Joey Beauchamp vs. Don Henderson for the ROF Championship[/B] Freed from the constraints of the Heritage Championship, Don threw the gauntlet down for a shot at the true prize in Ring of Fire.The earlier matches meant only twenty minutes of in-ring action, which is perfect for Don. He spent fifteen minutes or more destroying Joey's legs, trying to cut down the chances for the Breeze Block while simultaneously building up his own chances should he get the Deathlock. Eventually, however, Joey rallied, battling back on one leg, and fought through the pain to get the Breeze Block, literally collapsing onto Don for the pin. RATING: C+ As expected, they weren't happy to miss the title bout, but beyond that there were no complaints. A good show, and a great crowd. OVERALL: C-

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Next week: Greg Gauge vs. Johnny Highspot Bulldozer Brandon Smith vs. Seiji Jimbo vs. El Critico vs. El Bandito for the Heritage Championship Young Blood vs. The Shooters for the Tag Titles Joey Beauchamp vs. Petey Barnes for the ROF Championship in a 30 minute Iron Man Match

[chris caulfield]

[B]Greg Gauge[/B] vs. Johnny Highspot [B]Bulldozer Brandon Smith[/B] vs. Seiji Jimbo vs. El Critico vs. El Bandito for the Heritage Championship [B]Young Blood[/B] vs. The Shooters for the Tag Titles [B]Joey Beauchamp[/B] vs. Petey Barnes for the ROF Championship in a 30 minute Iron Man Match

[Phantom Stranger]

Tuesday Week 3 August Norman Blue Athletic Centre 300 in attendance Greg Gauge opened the show in the dark against Johnny Highspot. A good match, and another example of using the young second generation stars to help deepen the repertoire of existing grapplers; Johnny learned something, I felt, about putting the match together before he repaid Greg for his trouble with a spike DDT and a frog splash. RATING: C- [B]Bulldozer Brandon Smith vs. Seiji Jimbo vs. El Critico vs. El Bandito for the Heritage Championship[/B] Bandito and Critico just cannot coexist, and that massive tension neatly covered Brandon and Seiji's awkwardness around each other in the ring, allowing Seiji some screen time and a chance to learn a few new tricks. Eventually the two luchadors' fight spilled out to the outside, leaving the Bulldozer free to counter a flying clothesline into a backdrop driver and make a leisurely cover for the defence. RATING: C- [B]Young Blood vs. The Shooters for the Tag Titles[/B] Everyone expected this to be a good match, and it was. I don't think people expected it to be Gino who hit the scissors kick and standing moonsault parts of the Flash and Flare while Davis supplied the springboard dropkick, but it was; the young Mexican star got the pinfall on Billy after twelve minutes of fantastic back and forth showcasing the best of the old and the new in Ring of Fire. And you know something? I think even Don learned something new today. RATING: C- [B]Joey Beauchamp vs. Petey Barnes for the ROF Championship in a 30 minute Iron Man Match[/B] Yes, the entire webcast part of the show was title defences. And man, did that turn out to be a good idea. Joey got a pinfall early on with a superbomb and cover, then at twelve minutes in went two-nil with the Breeze Block. Petey then stepped his pace up something chronic, scoring with a Future Shock at the seventeen minute mark before the Breeze locked the match down, seeming content to cruise to the time limit with only a one fall advantage. Twenty-five minutes in Petey twisted out of a double underhook bomb and turned it into a savage DDT, covering and evening the score, and the race was really on! With seconds to go another Future Shock hit home and Petey covered... one... two... and the bell rang to signal the time limit before the ref could make three. Joey escaped by the skin of his teeth. RATING: B- Oh, yes. Another excellent card to further cement our popularity. I could get used to this, you know... OVERALL: C+

[Phantom Stranger]

Next week: Your New Favourite Team vs. Brothers Grim Bairei Yasujiro vs. Sergei Kalashnov in a Number One Contender's Match El Bandito vs. El Critico Young Blood vs. The Stunners for the ROF Tag Titles Joey Beauchamp vs. Toby Juan Kenobi for the ROF Championship in a two out of three falls match

[chris caulfield]

[B]Your New Favourite Team[/B] vs. Brothers Grim [B]Bairei Yasujiro[/B] vs. Sergei Kalashnov in a Number One Contender's Match [B]El Bandito[/B] vs. El Critico [B]Young Blood[/B] vs. The Stunners for the ROF Tag Titles [B]Joey Beauchamp[/B] vs. Toby Juan Kenobi for the ROF Championship in a two out of three falls match

[Phantom Stranger]

Tuesday Week 4 August The Paddington Club 260 in attendance Our dark match this week featured, for one week only, Your New Favourite Team reuniting against the Brothers Grim. Jonni Lowlife was the man who recorded the win with a Low Down; not a great match, not a bad one. RATING: D+ [B]Bairei Yasujiro vs. Sergei Kalashnov in a Number One Contender's Match[/B] The WLW Universal Champion against a former UCR World Combat Champion. On paper an even match. To fans of Ring of Fire, not so much, but this short contest reminded people what Bairei is capable of after a recent quiet stint while also showing that Sergei has what it takes. The Yasujiro Suplex finished Sergei in a hair under seven minutes in a pretty good opener. RATING: C- [B]El Bandito vs. El Critico[/B] Once again these two just tore into each other savagely. It was beautiful; just a real knock-down drag-out fight that ended to a double count out as it became clear these two have no intention of stopping. RATING: C- [B]Young Blood vs. The Stunners for the ROF Tag Titles[/B] Another really good match between four contestants who each have things to teach the others. As you'd expect given that the Stunners are only a temporary team as far as Ring of Fire is concerned (for now, anyway) it was the Flash and Flare that carried the day, with Davis covering Brandon for the pin at 13:40. RATING: C [B] Joey Beauchamp vs. Toby Juan Kenobi for the ROF Championship in a two out of three falls match[/B] Wow. These two really are great together; brilliant chemistry. And Joey equals Sammy's run for the longest reign in Ring of Fire since I took over booking, having thoroughly deserved it. He won in fine style here, as Toby still needs a little polish before he's ready to take the crown; two Breeze Blocks ten minutes apart to win in two straight falls. Toby's selling is getting better. RATING: C+ Not as good a show as we've been putting on, but still a really good show. And Bairei against Joey next week, by the looks of things, in another match of champions. Bairei also has a hell of a reign behind him; could we see a second ROF championship run for him? OVERALL: C

[Phantom Stranger]

Beginning August: British Samurai vs. Byron vs. Toby Juan Kenobi Bulldozer Brandon Smith vs. Hidekazu vs. Jed High vs. Johnny Highspot vs. El Critico vs. El Bandito for the Heritage Championship Young Blood vs. Brothers Grim for the tag titles. Joey Beauchamp vs. Bairei Yasujiro in a 30 minute iron man match for the ROF Championship

[chris caulfield]

British Samurai vs. [B]Byron[/B] vs. Toby Juan Kenobi [B]Bulldozer Brandon Smith [/B]vs. Hidekazu vs. Jed High vs. Johnny Highspot vs. El Critico vs. El Bandito for the Heritage Championship [B]Young Blood[/B] vs. Brothers Grim for the tag titles. [B]Joey Beauchamp[/B] vs. Bairei Yasujiro in a 30 minute iron man match for the ROF Championship

[Phantom Stranger]

Tuesday Week 1 September Norman Blue Athletic Centre 300 in attendance Once again a packed house watched British Samurai take on Byron and Toby Juan Kenobi in a dark elimination match; the Kenobi Kutter dropped Byron early, and Toby and Sammy gave the crowd another few minutes of solid wrestling before the fisherman suplex carried Sammy through. Not bad. RATING: C- [B]Bulldozer Brandon Smith vs. Hidekazu vs. Jed High vs. Johnny Highspot vs. El Critico vs. El Bandito for the Heritage Championship[/B] A barnstormer of a match, here. Jed targeted Brandon, as the man who'd gotten a tag title shot last week despite not officially being part of a team in ROF. Johnny had issues with Bandito, presumably about Jonni Lowlife's tag loyalties. Bandito and Critico more or less ignored everyone else in fine style, though both were quick to flatten anyone who interrupted their own private fight, and Hidekazu is still smarting from his series loss to Brandon. Add a championship to the mix and things get very, very heated – especially as Brandon took the Contendership from Johnny back in the day and Critico broke Johnny's record for longest reign. All those grudges and this was still a technical masterclass – with the emphasis on 'class'; you could feel a lot of these guys improving from the exposure to so many contrasting styles. In the end the issues, more than anything else, kept people off Brandon's back for long enough for him to overcome and cover Jed with the Inverted Piledriver for the victory. RATING: C [B]Young Blood vs. Brothers Grim for the tag titles.[/B] And the quality continues, though not quite as well as in the mass battle beforehand – but, as the Gauges only set me back a hundred apiece, much more cheaply. About half my midcard is currently being approached by one or another Japanese company for their tours, and once they're on that road I don't expect many of them to get off. So it's time to get some good matches out of 'em first, I reckon. To that end, Davis helped Matt Gauge pay his dues, pinning him at the end of a Flash and Flare. And, you know, in ten – twenty years time, tops, whoever owns our tape library will make out like a bandit selling this as archive footage to a number of career retrospective collections. RATING: C- [B]Joey Beauchamp vs. Bairei Yasujiro in a 30 minute iron man match for the ROF Championship[/B] Not bad, not brilliant. This will likely be our weakest show in some time, though still not too bad. In his last Iron Man defence, of course, Joey squeaked through on a draw; that, and Bairei's own record with the belt, lent a real tension to this encounter not entirely merited by the performances involved. That being said, after a Yasujiro Suplex kicked things off and gave the challenger a fall at the nine minute mark, this was almost entirely Joey, battling back for the honour of the ROF belt as against Bairei's WLW Universal belt and scoring two falls for a clear win. As matches go, it'll do. RATING: C Yeah, not as good as it could have been, but good enough. Bandito still needs getting over further – believe it or not, I think it was the entrance time that got us to complaints level on his use, and the Gauges both saw complaints along the same lines. But all three are more than capable of winning our audience over given time. I won't complain. RATING: C