RPW makes its way to Walthamstow for the second night of Global Wars UK 2017. After pinning Zack Sabre Jr in the main event of night one, Will Ospreay challenges Sabre for the British Heavyweight Championship in the main event.
REVOLUTION PRO WRESTLING
GLOBAL WARS UK: NIGHT 2
NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Walthamstow Assembly Hall
LONDON, ENGLAND
Watch: RPWOnDemand
CCK DEF. CHAOS (GOTO, YOSHI-HASHI & GEDO)
This was a fine six-man tag to get the show started. CCK worked over YOSHI for a while to start. It was nothing special until Goto came in and cleared house on the hot tag. He just looked head and shoulders better than everyone else in the ring on this night, and I doubt CCK were dogging it here. Meanwhile, Goto’s partners had their opening match boots on here. Brookes did a slingshot cutter on Gedo, Lykos did a dive, and Banks hit Gedo with a Kiwi Krusher to get the win for CCK putting them 2-for-2 over Global Wars UK, and both wins were over CHAOS teams. **3/4
TORU YANO DEF. ZACK GIBSON
Oh dear. If you like Yano, you will like this match. If you don’t like Yano, this one is a big ol’ skip. Gibson went for the arm while Yano went for the turnbuckle pads. Yano went to hit Gibson with a car stereo, but the ref took it from him. While the ref had his back turned, Yano hit Gibson with two low blows and rolled him up for the win. *1/2
JOSH BODOM DEF. ROCKY ROMERO
This started off a bit tedious, but ended up being a fine match. Romero is always good, but Bodom leaves something to be desired for me. I can’t put a finger on it, but he hasn’t really hit for me on these Global Wars shows. Rocky hit the Forever clotheslines and a running Sliced Bread for 2. After a strike exchange, Bodom hit a massive Bodom Breaker and a rope-assisted piledriver that sent Romero to the floor. He gets Rocky back in the ring, but he does one of my pet peeves, which is when he gets himself in position for Rocky to put his foot on the rope. Bodom brings Rocky to the top, but Rocky fires up and hits a rolling armbar off the top rope. Bodom stacked him up for the cover and the win. ***
TOMOHIRO ISHII DEF. DAVE MASTIFF
I feel bad about this, but I can’t help but compare this match to Ishii’s match with Keith Lee from the night before. This match was structured in the same manner that the Ishii/Lee match was too, where it was two big bulls bowling into each other until one wouldn’t get up. It feels unfair to do that though, because almost every match on these shows pale in comparison to Ishii/Lee. And while this match didn’t reach the heights that the Lee match did, it was still very good.
Mastiff was fine here, but the crowd wasn’t there for him. It was the Ishii show, and he delivered as he always does. Mastiff hit a german into the corner and went for a cannonball, but Ishii moved and hit a lariat to the back of the head. Mastiff blocked a sliding lariat, but Ishii came back with an enzuigiri and two lariats for 2. Ishii got the big man up for a brainbuster to get the win. This match doesn’t touch Ishii/Lee. But that this match is still very good, and it is easily the best match I’ve ever seen from Mastiff. ***3/4
BRITISH CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
RYAN SMILE DEF. EL DESPERADO
Ryan Smile came off as generic indie flip guy #5 the night before, and really didn’t help his case with this match. Despy worked on Smile’s leg throughout the match. He had Smile in a deep Stretch Muffler before Smile got to the ropes. Then, Smile just did his moves with no problem with his leg and won with his Frog Splash. It made everything both guys did feel meaningless, and it’s not like these two blew the roof off the place. I had my little nitpicks with Josh Bodom, but between the two men who were cruiserweight champs this weekend, he left a much better impression than Smile did. **1/2
LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (NAITO & BUSHI) DEF. YUJI NAGATA AND KEITH LEE
This was a fun little tag match here. LIJ worked over Lee to start, but he quickly double chokeslammed them to end that. Nagata did enough in this one, laying in a few kicks and locking on his eyeroll armbar before pairing off with Bushi. That left Naito and Lee to have a few minutes to do some cool stuff, with Naito constantly slithering out of Lee’s power moves. Bushi misted Lee behind the ref’s back, and Naito followed up with two Destinos for the win. ***1/4
MINORU SUZUKI DEF. MATT RIDDLE
I was tentatively excited for this one. Then I saw Desperado come out with Suzuki, and I knew exactly what was going to happen. I got sick of Suzuki-gun interference spots in June. They are a crutch that actively make his matches worse, and it’s made me dread seeing Suzuki on any show. No matter the country, no matter the company, this nonsense follows him to every show he’s on. Global Wars UK was no different.
These two were having a really good match, with great grappling and strike exchanges. Riddle had the advantage, hitting Suzuki with the Bro To Sleep. Then Suzuki pulled the ref in the way of a Riddle forearm. Despy hit Riddle with a chair. Gotch piledriver, Suzuki wins. Fuck Suzuki-gun. ***
BRITISH HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
ZACK SABRE JR. DEF. WILL OSPREAY
THIS FUCKING MATCH RULED. The first two minutes had me losing my mind, as these two went at such a fast pace with their reversals. Throughout the match, every set of reversals would go just one or two steps further than myself or the crowd expected, really setting the crowd on fire. An example of this: Ospreay went for a handspring kick, but Sabre caught his ankle. That would’ve been awesome on its own. But then, Sabre went for a German suplex, but Ospreay landed on his feet and hit the handspring kick he was going for. These two were doing things that made me jump out of my seat.
Sabre was nasty in this one. He went after Ospreay’s neck, his back, and his arms relentlessly. This wasn’t annoying exhibition Sabre, this was world champion asshole Sabre that was dedicated to ripping Ospreay apart. There was one point in the match where Sabre had Ospreay in a submission, and he started grinding his knuckles into the suction cup bruises on Ospreay’s back. I’ve had trouble getting the hype behind Sabre, but this match really made me get it.
Ospreay was fantastic in this one as well. He really sold the story that this would be his last heavyweight title shot for a while. He fought with passion and fire and didn’t screw around. There was a spot where Ospreay hit a fancy move that only got a one count, so he got up and elbowed Sabre in the back of the head. These two were both so ruthless, and it only served to make this match better.
This match also sold the international story of Ospreay never being able to win the big one. Between the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title and the British Heavyweight Title, Will just can’t get the job done. Sabre had reversed out of the Cheeky Nandos kick twice on the weekend, but Ospreay finally hit it and followed it with an imploding 450 that only got 2. He hit the OsCutter, but Sabre ROLLED OUT OF THE RING. Ospreay had it, but it didn’t work for him again. Ospreay laid him out and went for a Phoenix Splash, but Sabre caught him in a triangle choke. After some transitions, Sabre just took his back and ripped at both of Will’s arms until he tapped out. I loved, loved, LOVED this match. Another MOTYC from Global Wars UK weekend. *****
After the match, Matt Riddle came out, ran Suzuki-gun off, and posed with the British Heavyweight Title to set up Sabre’s next big challenge on December 8th. Why didn’t he beat Suzuki if…you know what, never mind.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Buy this show. Watch Ospreay vs. Sabre. Watch it again. Then watch it a third time. Other than that, Ishii/Mastiff, Bodom/Romero, and the LIJ tag were fun and worth checking out. As for me, I will definitely be coming back to Rev Pro after this set of Global Wars UK shows. Issues with commentary aside, if you can put together two 5 star matches in two shows, you can be sure to have my business.
