[CVerse 2020] Championship Wrestling from Wigan: The Best of British Wrestling

[1PWfan]

CWW Summer Sizzler Tour Night One

Record as live at Sham 69

Friday, Week 3, July

Audience: 88

 

The Show

 

Grant Taypen vs. Gavin Owen

We kicked things off with the technical showcase, featuring two guys more used to tag competition. It was as good as you’d expect it to be; Grant may not be terribly exciting, and Gavin may not be terribly experienced, but they’re both terribly good at technical wrestling and got the chance to show it here. It’s interesting that Gav was clearly the stronger performer of the two- I’m still figuring out the impact of inexperience on performance, and on the basis of this one it’s not as big a factor as might be feared. Of course it helps that Grant’s got enough experience to carry most of our rookies, and given that Gav’s pretty great anyway I’m guessing it’s a matter of native talent mattering more. Grant took the win here, nailing Gav with a Single-Arm DDT to boost his team’s credentials for a rematch down the line.

Winner: Grant Taypen Match Rating: 37

 

*

 

Pinfall Peters vs. Jonni Leyland vs. Jon Michael Sharp vs. Glen Ward

This was a filler match- I realised none of these guys had a match booked for the show so I threw them into a four-way to get them on the card. As you might imagine the results were a little mixed; all four of these guys are talented but with Jonni and Glen’s stamina problems I had this running at about 20 minutes, slightly too short given that JMS is one of our biggest names. Plus, of course, there’s a gap between Pinfall Peters and the other three; I like Pinfall, don’t get me wrong, but he’s working towards a solid midcard role whereas the other three are all at least established players with serious title credentials (well, maybe not Jonni but he’s still way ahead of Peters). I gave Jon the win here as the worker closest to the main event, and he pinned Pinfall Peters with the Flying Cross Body.

Winner: Jon Michael Sharp Match Rating: 33

 

*

 

Jermaine Granger & The Black Country Boys vs. Lynton Minehead and Cross & Archer

I’d booked this to be the show-stealer, forgetting that absolutely none of these guys should be anywhere near that kind of match. Honestly I cannot wait for our product to finish transitioning to the new direction; if I’d been a bit more on it I’d have started it back in the spring and we’d be in a better position for the tour. Still, I just need to be more careful with my booking and accept that these six guys are all in need of heavy duty work. On the plus side, Jermaine and the BCB’s looked better which is good as they’re the ones I have plans for- Gazz was the strongest performer but Jermain wasn’t far behind and Mickey lagged behind the other two but wasn’t bad. As for the other guys, Bryn was the best and Myles and Lynton were pretty rubbish, as you’d expect. Still, our fans enjoyed the match so ultimately it really only sucked in comparison to what everyone else can do. Jermaine got the win here, pinning Myles with a Frog Splash.

Winners: Jermaine Granger & The Black Country Boys Match Rating: 24

 

*

 

JK Lee vs. Walter Morgan

Next up on the ‘Walt puts over the future’ tour we had a win for our reigning King of the North in a match that definitely put us back on track. JK needed a big win to get some momentum going after a couple of major losses and Walter’s enough of a name for a win to matter, even if the match suffered for being too short for a top match (largely because Walter can’t handle long matches any more). Sure enough, JK looked like the star he is whilst Walt looked like what he is; a nearly 50 year-old man who’s physically struggling to go the way he used to. Still, now he’s been in a couple of big matches he can start working his way through the younger guys and get some wins back whilst teaching them how to work (first stop: Lynton, who needs all the help he can get). JK put Walt away with the Crossface, as per usual (seriously, I can’t remember the last time JK pinned someone).

Winner: JK Lee Match Rating: 40

 

*

 

Aurelian Bradley vs. Neil Warburton

Okay, this one’s my fault. I’d originally booked it to be the technical showcase and when I moved things round I forgot to correct the length, so it came off as too short and it really hurt the overall reception. On the plus side it was otherwise pretty good; Aurelian’s young but already developing in the right direction and Neil’s already a terrific hand. Inexperience was definitely an issue here, though; I don’t think we have more than four or five years of combined experience between these two and nearly all of that’s Neil, so there were the usual bits of awkwardness you’d expect from a couple of rookies. Mind you, at our level I’ll take what I can get and two inexperienced but talented workers is better than two experienced hacks. Neil took the win here; Aurelian will definitely be Submissions Champion one day but not until he doesn’t have to bring I.D. to the pub.

Winner: Aurelian Bradley Match Rating: 33

 

*

 

Martin Heath vs. Curtis Jenkins vs. Padraig O’Hearne

I had a weird feeling of déjà vu about this match but we’ve never had it before. Which is a shame, as it was really good even with Padraig having an off night (I think he must have had to watch an SNP show start to finish). Martin was of course the star of the show as usual; seriously, how has Jeff Nova not noticed how good he is? Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but I figure Martin could out-wrestle at least half the guys on Jeff’s roster. CJ, meanwhile, remains a strong hand who remains our insurance policy for if 21CW do ever come calling, he’s got plug-and-play champ material running bone-deep through him. Padraig, meanwhile, wasn’t as good as he usually is but remains a strong hand who can do pretty much anything we need him to do. Including, as it turns out, taking the loss, as he was put away by Martin Heath with the Flying Fist Drop for the finish.

Winner: Martin Heath Match Rating: 51

 

*

 

Lenny Mochin vs. Leighton Buzzard

We ended the night with a strong main event; after a couple of months of bad chemistry Lenny was back to normal and did the business against a strong opponent. Leighton’s sneakily turned into one of our best workers, which suggest that all our surprise top guys are high-flying specialists with a tag team background (I wonder if the Assassins’ Guild are available?); he did a good job in this one and matched up surprisingly well with Lenny’s more grounded style. Mind you, Leighton’s not really a pure high flier the way Martin is, he’s more of what the Japanese call a Super Junior and that slots in well with what we do here; he can fly off the top rope with Martin then get into a more physical slog with Lenny or Padraig. Still, for all his versatility and main-event ability Leighton’s still more of a tag guy and took the loss here, going down to the Eye of the Storm and a hooked leg for the pinfall.

Winner: Lenny Mochin Match Rating: 50

 

 

Overall Rating: 48, a good solid show after last month’s downturn. Spreading the love this month we give plaudits to JK, Walter and Padraig.

[1PWfan]

So, Night One's in the books, let's look at how the predictions went:

 

Card for CWW Summer Showdown Night One:

 

FOR THE CWW CHAMPIONSHIP

Lenny Mochin © vs. Leighton Buzzard

 

Martin Heath vs. Curtis Jenkins vs. Padraig O’Hearne

 

JK Lee vs. Walter Morgan

 

Grant Taypen vs. Gavin Owen

 

FOR THE CWW SUBMISSIONS TITLE

Neil Warburton © vs. Aurelian Bradley

 

Pinfall Peters vs. Jonni Leyland vs. Jon Michael Sharp vs. Glen Ward

 

Jermaine Granger & The Black Country Boys vs. Lynton Minehead and Cross & Archer

 

5/7 for HerrBear, who lost out to solo victories from Sharp & Heath

 

 

CWW Summer Showdown Night One:

 

FOR THE CWW CHAMPIONSHIP

Lenny Mochin © vs. Leighton Buzzard

 

Martin Heath vs. Curtis Jenkins vs. Padraig O’Hearne (Heath shouldn’t lose before his big title match.)

 

JK Lee vs. Walter Morgan (This could be a great chance for Lee to step up.)

 

Grant Taypen vs. Gavin Owen

 

FOR THE CWW SUBMISSIONS TITLE

Neil Warburton © vs. Aurelian Bradley

 

Pinfall Peters vs. Jonni Leyland vs. Jon Michael Sharp vs. Glen Ward

 

Jermaine Granger & The Black Country Boys vs. Lynton Minehead and Cross & Archer

 

———

 

 

6/7 for James the Animator, who only missed out on the technical showcase.

 

 

Card for CWW Summer Showdown Night One:

 

FOR THE CWW CHAMPIONSHIP

Lenny Mochin © vs. Leighton Buzzard

Nice chance for Leighton to show what he can do, nice easy win for Lenny.

 

Martin Heath vs. Curtis Jenkins vs. Padraig O’Hearne

Is that a rocket I see strapped to Martin?

 

JK Lee vs. Walter Morgan

JK can take a loss to the incredibly experienced veteran, though he will definitely moan about it.

 

Grant Taypen vs. Gavin Owen

Probably? Might be a singles victory leading to a tag team challenge.

 

FOR THE CWW SUBMISSIONS TITLE

Neil Warburton © vs. Aurelian Bradley

Not yet.

 

Pinfall Peters vs. Jonni Leyland vs. Jon Michael Sharp vs. Glen Ward

JMS FTW.

 

Jermaine Granger & The Black Country Boys vs. Lynton Minehead and Cross & Archer

Do I see some JOBBERS?

 

 

5/7 for Regis. That leaves James the Animator with the fan question for this round.

 

Next show will probably go up Sunday evening.

[1PWfan]

Okay, so remember how I said the next show would be up three days ago? Well, it might be next Sunday now instead. Long story short I accidentally deleted the save file for this game whilst clearing out my hard drive and whilst I've got an up-to-date back-up somewhere I'm not quite sure which external hard drive/memory stick it's on so restoring the game's taking a while.