THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail: julian@twoshedsreview.com
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
You know what? I’m still in the mood for some Ring of Honor in Britain-type action, so what better way to satisfy that need than to look back at ROH’s first visit to these shores way back in time to 2003 to the famous York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, when they teamed up with the now defunct Frontier Wrestling Alliance to present the first Frontiers of Honor show, a show where teams from each promotion were pitted against each other in competition. Oh, and there’s appearances from a few current WWE stars as well thrown in for good measure.
The show begins with James Tighe facing Paul London. At the time Tighe was thought of as one of the brightest prospects in Britain, who, sadly, we hear very little of these days. London, of course, well, you should know what’s happened to him since 2003. But back to the match. It’s a tremendous way to open the show. We see some of the high flying skills that London isn’t allowed to show by his current employers, and some excellent technical wrestling from Tighe as he works over the left arm London injured when Tighe pushed him off the top rope onto the floor. Tighe continued his good work throughout the match, avoiding the London star press, and taking London down with his Tighe-tanic finisher/standing shooting star press combination, earning the first point for his team. FWA 1, ROH 0. Great start to the show.
The next match sees Jack Xavier facing Mikey Whipwreck. Xavier is another of those Brits who seemed destined for great things, and who earned a great deal of praise for his feud with Alex Shane, who is now apparently retired. Whipwreck, of course, is a former ECW Champion. A very interesting match this one. Mikey is at his eccentric best here, and his ECW leanings are apparent for all to see here with some of his moves, especially his fast buster on Xavier from the ring apron to a chair at ringside. Xavier gets in some good offence as well, showing just why he was highly regarded back then. But in the end Whipwreck’s experience wasn’t enough. After Whipwreck kicked out of the Xaviator, and Xavier kicked out of the Whipper-snapper, Xavier got the pin with a roll-up out of the corner. Two good matches in a row, and the score – FWA 2, ROH 0.
Non-tournament action follows, as the team of Hampton Court, the Duke of Danger and Simmons, accompanied by their maid Buttercup, face the rookie monster, current WWE Raw star Paul Burchill. Well, that was the original plan, but the Duke pulled his team out of the match because of his broken arm, so he recruited the Double Dragon team of Ross Jordan and Raj Ghosh. This was also the show where “The Twisted Genius” Dean Ayass became Burchill’s manager. It’s literally a massacre as Burchill takes out Jordan and Ghosh single handedly, and even though Double Dragon have their moments, they’re clearly no match for Burchill, who has it all here, and you can see why he became the first British wrestler to be head hunted by the WWE. The massacre ends after Jordan is taken out with the rolling Samoan drop/standing moonsault/standing shooting star press combination, and Ghosh is taken out with a pump handle side slam. Then, instead of pinning either men, Dean Ayass instructs the referee to count both men out. Neither man is able to beat the ten count, giving the victory to Burchill. Now, if only Paul was able to wrestle like this every Monday night.
The tournament continues with Jonny Storm taking on A.J. Styles. I don’t think I need to tell you what these two guys are doing these days. This was actually the re-match from the first FWA British Uprising show held a few months before, and that one was named match of the night. Also, Storm had just turned heel here, so the fans were firmly behind the phenomenal one here. As the old saying goes, this is awesome, a top notch match between two of the world’s best wrestlers, each of them at the top of their game and giving their all in an epic encounter. There’s so much great stuff in this one that it would take me too long to describe everything here. After each man kicked out of the other’s finisher, Styles eventually got the pin with a 450 splash off the top rope, scoring the first point for the ROH team. An awesome display of wrestling here from both men. The score – FWA 2, ROH 1.
Hard-hitting action follows, with FWA All-England Champion the Zebra Kid facing ROH Champion Samoa Joe. This was actually a history making moment for ROH. Before the match begins, Joe offers to make this a title match, making this the first ROH title defence outside of America, and turning the ROH title into a World title. Watching this reminded me of just how good the Zebra Kid is, and it’s a shame that his problems outside the ring hindered his career. Back to the match, and it’s an awesome display of brutality from both me. Neither man holds anything back in what has to be one of the stiffest matches I’ve ever seen – and I’ve seen quite a few in my thirty-plus years as a wrestling fan. After what seemed like an age of great action, Joe got the victory with three suplexes in a row, finished off with a bridging German suplex to get the win, equalising the scores in the tournament. It’s a shame that we’re not likely to see a re-match between these two. Awesome stuff. The score – FWA 2, ROH 2.
The other non-tournament match follows, six person inter-gender no holds barred action featuring FWA Tag-Team Champions The Family, accompanied by their manager Greg “The Truth” Lambert, taking on the team of Alex Shane, Ulf Hermann, and Nikita. Nikita, of course, is currently plying her trade on Monday nights as Paul Burchill’s sister Katie Lea. Mentioned must also be made of the controversy that surrounded The Family stable and their religious gimmick, which included them coming down to the ring with burning giant crucifixes. Also, if my memory serves me correctly, the stable was also banned from competing on one FWA show because the venue in question didn’t like their gimmick. The match starts off with all five members of The Family attacking their opponents, before the big guys clean house, and those members not involved in the match are sent to the back, leaving Paul Travell, Scott Parker and Brandon Thomas to fight for their cause. It’s actually quite a frantic match this one, which starts off in normal tag-team mode, before we get the obligatory everyone-dives-over-the-top-rope-onto-the-crowd-below sequence. Even the giant German Hermann gets involved in this one, before we get a three-way hardcore brawl around the hall. One interesting spot involves Shane using a staple gun on Thomas, inserting the offending item south of the border, if you know what I mean. The other members of The Family, Ian DaSciple and Ashe, soon make another appearance, until Nikita dives on them from a twenty-five foot high balcony. There’s tons of other crazy stuff as well, including the referee taking a snooze, before we get the old switcheroo with DaSciple replaces the groggy Travell, then takes Nikita down with an aeroplane slam, and then gets the pin as the referee comes to and makes the count. I’ll tell you this, for hardcore brawls, this has to be one of the best ones I’ve ever seen.
Then it’s on to the last two tournament matches, beginning with Low-Ki facing Flash Barker. If you need me to tell you about Low-Ki, then you must have been living in a cave for the past few years. Barker, meanwhile, was one of the best wrestlers Britain has produced over the past twenty years, and whose career was sadly cut short by a knee injury. This promised to be the second hard-hitting contest of the evening. It was. Mixing mixed martial arts stylings with traditional professional wrestling moves makes this one a tremendous contest as both men go all out to attain victory not just for them but for their promotion. It’s slow paced, intense, and a joy to behold, one of the best matches I’ve seen on British soil over the past ten years, and with both men beating the hell out of each other, it sadly comes to an end the time limit expires, and the match is declared a draw, despite both men wanting five more minutes. It’s a shame that these two will never get the chance to go against each other again. The scores – FWA 2, ROH 2.
The final match of the evening sees Jody Fleisch going up against the Fallen Angel himself, Christopher Daniels. No need for me to tell you about these two guys, is there? Although a little background info is needed, because it was Daniels who defeated Fleisch for the FWA title. Daniels then lost it to Doug Williams on an ROH show back in the States. Mixing good solid wrestling with high-flying action, this is another great contest (am I repeating myself here) between two well matched wrestlers. This is Daniels and Fleisch at their best here. The interesting thing here is that even though Daniels, who was right in the middle of his ROH run as the leader of the evil Prophecy team, was actually cheered more than the baby face Fleisch, making it obvious that the FWA smarks knew a damn good wrestler when they saw one. Anyway, back to the match. Both wrestlers got numerous near falls with a variety of moves, but it was outside interference from Jonny Storm that caused Fleisch’s downfall, hitting Fleisch with a chair as he was about to go for his 720 DDT finisher. This gave Daniels the opportunity to take Fleisch down with his Angels Wings finisher. Storm then joined Daniels in double-teaming Fleisch, before acting commissioner Dino Scarlo came out onto the stage, and sent the combined ROH and FWA rosters to stop the attack. This resulted in more activity as Storm cemented his place as a heel by clobbering Scarlo with a chair, before being chased off by the two rosters. Oh, and the final score – FWA 2, ROH 3.
In conclusion – watching this show again has left me with mixed emotions. I’m happy because I’d forgotten what a great show this was. From top to bottom there isn’t one bad match. It’s the perfect blend of the FWA and ROH styles. But I’m also sad because this show reminded me of how great the FWA were in their prime years, and how numerous factors lead to their downfall. They may not have been the best or biggest wrestling promotion in Britain, but they certainly were the best they were at what they did. Frontiers of Honor was one of the best shows ever staged in Britain, maybe even the best.
FWA Frontiers of Honor is available to buy on DVD from www.a-merchandise.co.uk, official sponsor of The Two Sheds Review website.
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