It’s debut time once more as Britain’s Wrestle Force promotion makes it’s first appearance in The Two Sheds Review, and for our first look we’re heading back to last October for a rather unique show. The DVD in question is entitled Title Wave.
We begin with an opening segment in which Da Pukka One himself, Greg Burridge, appears on the stage demanding the WF title shot that was denied him on a previous show by his former best friend Terry Frazier. Head honcho Mark Marcus is only too happy to grant his request before revealing that the match would happen there and then, and afterwards the title would be on the line for the rest of the show, any time, any place, any where. Basically, just think back to the WWE’s old Hardcore title 24/7 rule.
Anyway, then it’s on to the match as Greg Burridge challenges the Dominator, accompanied by Women’s Champion Skarlett, for the WF Title.
The match itself is okay, but it only lasts for a few minutes, thanks in part to outside interference. Burridge got in a few good blows on the face-painted big man before the Dominator took control, with a little help from his lady.
A missed elbow drop from the second rope saw Burridge get a second wind. But when Terry Frazier made a surprise appearance Dominator was able to take Burridge down with a hangman’s DDT before synching in his gator finisher for the submission win.
Then, after Burridge chased after Frazier the rest of the roster appeared and attacked Dominator, eager to get his title. The big men quickly succumbed to the numbers as they all tried to pin him at the same time. The referee made his count and awarded the title to Sir Thomas Chamberlain, the first man who went to pin Dominator. His championship won, Chamberlain then headed for the hills.
Backstage, Chamberlain was joined by his tag team partner Lord Jonathan Windsor, and as they tried to escape from the rest of the roster Chamberlain got Windsor to wear his ring robe, sending him running off. He then found a place to hide while several of the others brawled in the car park as they tried to stop each other from getting the title shot.
After a hype video for the Rage/Haas match it’s back to the action as the masked El Loco faced Jynx, a sort of evil court jester if you will.
Just after Loco had made his entrance there was a brief interruption as Windsor, still wearing Chamberlain’s ring robe, raced into the ring with several wrestlers still chasing him, and when they found out who he was they left him to it.
This was a pretty enjoyable encounter. Loco pulled off some nice high flying moves before Jynx slowed the pace down with his somewhat more methodical approach. Loco soon made his comeback though, but when he tried to put the jester down with a 450 splash Jynx moved out of the way, and although Loco landed on his feet he couldn’t stop himself from barging into the referee.
So with the referee down and taking a snooze Loco took his man out with a 619. It wasn’t enough to get him the win because a few seconds later Jynx took out an extendable cane and clobbered Loco. When the referee finally recovered the first thing he saw was Jynx covering Loco, so one thing led to another as Jynx took the win.
After another backstage segment with Chamberlain managing to hide until he lost the WF Title to Tiny Iron it was back to regular action and the Tag Team Title Tournament. Originally it was meant to be Thomas Chamberlain and Jonathan Windsor against R.J. Singh and the Prince of Sri Lanka.
When the match began Chamberlain was nowhere to be seen, but after the initial exchanges he soon made his way to the ring, refreshed after his encounter with Iron backstage. The two blue bloods then used the Prince as their personal punching bag for a few minutes before Singh tagged himself in, looking very impressive as he took both men down.
But when Prince got back into the match he tried to pin Windsor. The referee didn’t make the count because Chamberlain was the legal man, and this brief moment of confusion gave the now-former champion the chance to take the Prince down with the go to sleep for the winning pin.
After more goings on backstage as the Commando and Scars tried to pin a snoozing Tiny Iron for the title it was back to the Tag Team Title Tournament as Iestyn Rees and Titan K faced the aforementioned Tiny Iron and the Commando in the second round.
The action began with Rees and Titan attacking Commando, the smallest man in this bout, before the bell rang. Although they lacked that certain spark as far as tag continuity was concerned they did a good job of using Commando for target practice, until he managed to get back to his corner and tag in big Iron.
Iron proceeded to clean house, taking Rees down with a face forward powerslam before tagging Commando back into the ring, who sealed the deal with a top rope splash.
Then, just as the three man unit was celebrating their win, the mysterious masked man that had plagued previous Wrestle Force shows appeared, removing his hood to reveal himself as former WWE star Charlie Haas. He then clobbered all three men before being chased off by the Rage.
The face-painted one then stepped into the ring to see if Iron was okay, only for the big man to grab him around the throat. Rage managed to get out of his chokeslam attempt though and rolled him up for the pin. A quick referee then arrived on the scene to administer the count, and we had yet another new WF Champion in the form of the Rage.
The main event saw Charlie Haas challenging the Rage for the WF Title in a tables, ladders and cage match.
They certainly saved the best for last with this show, because this was definitely the most action-packed match of the night featuring two guys who had apparently built up quite a rivalry.
It was basically two guys beating the hell out of each other. They threw each other into the cage, they hit each other with ladders and chairs, and Haas got put through two boards. It was almost three, but one board didn’t break.
The whole thing was quite intense as both wrestlers put in good performances, with Haas getting the first oh my gawd moment when he suplexed Haas off the top of the cage. A few moments later Rage tried to match him when he went for a moonsault off the top of the ladder. Haas managed to move out of the way though as Rage crashed and burned.
Then things got even more interesting as a bunch of wrestlers invaded the cage intent on winning the title from Rage. Haas and Rage then actually teamed up to send their attackers flying out the cage door, and when former champion the Dominator arrived on the scene Haas soon sent him packing.
But when he tried to leave the cage the Dominator held the door firmly in place, and when the other wrestlers attacked him Haas chose to climb out of the cage. Meanwhile Rage was slowly making his way to the door, and as the wrestlers got the Dominator away from the door the race became more intense, and eventually Haas landed on the floor before Rage got out of the door, securing the title win.
Haas then showed he had a heart by shaking Rage’s hand, but his celebrations were cut short when the real hooded man who had been causing trouble appeared, ramming Haas’ into the cage before clobbering him with the title belt. The hooded man then went for a pin, and a three count later we had yet another new champion.
After the mystery man celebrated his win he removed his hood and took off his mask to reveal himself as none other than Greg Burridge, the man who had started the evening challenging the Dominator for the title.
In conclusion – so how do I feel about Wrestle Force’s product? As is the custom when I see a company for the first time I break it down into sections.
The wrestling action was quite good. Some of the matches may have been a little too short for my liking, but overall they were pretty enjoyable.
However, I’m not really sure about the title on the line all night angle, because while it made for a good show ending there were times when it seemed to get in the way a little, particularly early on. I would have preferred to see in-ring action instead of someone wandering around backstage trying to avoid detection.
Production-wise it’s about what you’d expect from a company of this size. The commentary certainly can’t be faulted, and neither can the camera work. I was rather intrigued to see that this show was held in a theatre, with the ring on a stage. I’ve seen similar shows like this before, but for me the show was spoiled a little with the main camera at the front of the stage was a little too low, which meant that at times it was hard to see what was happening at the back of the ring.
As for my match of the night there only really was one candidate, and that was the Haas/Rage main event.
So with all of that out of the way there’s just one more thing to do, and that’s to give this release the thumbs up.
With thanks to the powers that be for supplying a copy of this release. For more information on how to purchase a copy of this DVD visit www.wrestleforce.co.uk.
By day I’m an unemployed retail worker, and at weekends I volunteer at a local museum, but by night I’m the author of The Two Sheds Review, Britain’s longest running professional wrestling and mixed martial arts blog. Visit my site at www.twoshedsreview.vze.com. It’s been online in one form or another since June 2000!
