FRANKIE SUMMERS BLOG #16 – WARFARE 2019

Hello once again CPW Galaxy, this is Frankie Summers coming at you with the CPW Blog for the show Warfare. This blog, like all of CPW is sponsored by the Hakimpur Cash and Carry.

Which leads me to my first announcement. You may have heard an upbeat jingle at the star and end of the show. That’s the new advert for, of course, Hakimpur Cash and Cash, the very best purveyor of party ware in the whole city of Coventry, from their base in Ball Hill. That will play to kick off and sign off every single show from now on. Now let’s move onto the show.

I think it’s fair to say that this show was nothing short of an absolute barnstormer, and I’m telling you this right out of the gate, we came back to the Henley Green Community Centre on 9^th February for the first episode of Primetime Wrestling. I was co-hosted for the first time by myself and Caitlyn James. We opened up with typical fashion and got the crowd all warmed up, with quite an entertaining double act. So we were about to open up the first match, when suddenly we were interrupted by the theme of Mr Richards who came out with his CPW Lineal Heavyweight belt and called out Will Starr. Will was quick to answer this request and came out, appropriately enough ready for war. Mr Richards and Will squared off and hurled verbal abuse at each other, before also calling out Lauren, who is Will Starr’s Girlfriend who was in the crowd that night, saying that he had spent a night with her, let’s say. Will was enraged by this, but just held himself back. Mr Richards brought out Will’s opponent for the night, Anthony Mafia. This was possibly the biggest match of Mafia’s CPW career, in a chance to win that CPW Championship. He came out a like house of fire and leapt into the ring and squared off with Will.

They locked up and after a moment Will took Mafia over with a headlock takedown. Mafia reversed with a roll up for 2. Will kept it on however before being back onto the rope by Mafia. Will was whipped off the rope, but stopped at Mafia’s position and threw him over with the hip toss which lead to an armbar. They fought back up and Will got the arm drag, then another hip toss, before Mafia shook it off and cut Will off, before whipping him again, followed by that beautiful standing drop kick. This was followed by a bodyslam, taunting him as he went. He lined up Will who struggled to get to his feet. He went for a kick, but faked out and slapped Will instead, putting him back down. Will nipped up and slapped Mafia. Out of desperation Mafia went for the sleeper hold, but couldn’t lock it in, so hit Will with a reverse suplex instead. Will got up again and leapt at the ropes for that big spring kick right to the head which took both men down.

They both made it to a corner and Will charged Mafia was two running knife edges, then on the third he hit the second rope headlock takedown. He picked Mafia up for the T Bone suplex but Mafia escaped and went for a cross body, which was evaded. Will fired back with a dropkick, then a suplex, and called for the Superstar Elbow which failed. Both up after a count and Will slapped Mafia, then hit that devastating spinning wheel kick. He went for another spring but Mafia hit Will with a stiff uppercut. Mafia made his comeback with a double knee drop, followed by a tornado DDT, topped with a huge Falcon Arrow. Then to make sure, he hit a running dropkick and still only got a 2 count. Mafia got frustrated and while disrespecting Will, he decided it was time to end it. So he went to the top and went for the Moonsault for the finish. Will at this point got back to his feet and with one last burst hit the Superkick. This dazed Mafia and Will hooked him for another Suplex put him down. Then Will hopped to the top again, hit the Super Starr Elbow and got the 3 count. Will Starr retains the CPW championship in a very hard fought match up, in what I think was the performance of Anthony Mafia’s CPW career. He came up short but that shows just how tough Will Starr is and how deserving he is of that championship. The big story however will be at the next show at Warfare as he faces Mr Richards with both belts on the line.

Next was a rematch from the Xmas Bash as Jake Casanova took on Isaac Quentin III in an effort to get revenge and end that unbeaten streak that Isaac has had since 2017. Jake came out to a big cheer as he danced around the ring in his usual fashion, however this was cut off by Isaac who charged out from the back and attacked Jake with strikes on the back, before back dropping him onto the apron. Jake was rolled in and thrown into the corner where Isaac hit him with the knee. This only got 2. Isaac tried to tear Jake’s shirt off but after it fails he pulled off Jake’s Spanish flag and proceeded to choke him with it. Isaac then dropped Jake across the rope, before taking him down and putting Jake in a reverse chin lock.

He threw Jake down and cockily tried to pin him with his foot which didn’t work. So he whipped Jake off and hammered him with a Backbreaker and still just got a 2 count. This riled Isaac, and in this moment Jake managed to get back up and fire back with forearms. Isaac kicked Jake in the stomach and put him in a Tree of Woe in the corner. He teed off with kicks and a running tackle which knocked Jake off. Jake, prone on the mat tried to claw his way up as Isaac toyed with him but it didn’t work as Isaac hit Jake with a stomach crusher. Instead of going for the pin, Isaac kicked Jake around more, before pulling him up and Jake countering with a whip to the corner where Jake got the height to deliver an aerial arm drag. Both men were dazed, Jake hit a clothesline on Isaac in the corner, and went to the top. He was cut off by Isaac who hit a Sidewalk Slam on Jake and slowly went for a cover. Jake kicked out at 2. Referee Martin started a count but Isaac was back up at 3.

He called for the end and headed to the top rope. Jake struggled back up and crotched Isaac on the top. He climbed up and unloaded with strikes and managed to hit a superplex from the top. In anger Jake rips his shirt off as a transformation seemed to happen. The party loving playboy was gone, he’d become a matador it seems, and the beast he had to take down was called Isaac Quentin III. He clotheslined Isaac twice in the corner. Jake stood over him as Isaac begged for mercy. Jake answered with a running elbow. His second attempt missed, and it was countered by another Stomach Crusher, but Jake kicked out this time. Isaac went for another one, but Jake countered it and turned it into a crossface. He locked it in tight and wrenched back on the neck, Isaac yelling in pain, and Jake yelling like a man possessed. Jake held the move on for a long time. Isaac clawed his way to the ropes and reached out for the rope break, but Jake pulled him too far back for him to get them properly. He reached out and his fingers touched the ropes, but he couldn’t get a grip on them. Grabbing in desperation Isaac’s hand hit the mat 3 times as he grabbed for the ropes, so referee Martin called for the Submission, to which the crowd after a moment of confusion exploded with cheers when they realised what happened. Sir Isaac Quentin III had finally been beaten in a match, and it was done by Jake Casanova.

Isaac was distraught and annoyed by this whole situation and stood arguing with Martin after the call, but the referee’s decision is final, of course this is not the first controversial decision that Martin has made. At the Free show he made 2 after all, but this one was where he called it as he saw it, and I feel most of the CPW Galaxy will be pleased with that choice.

Next up was the non title match between Morris and the Godiva Champion, The Imperial Dragon. Morris has had a resolve like I’ve never seen before since losing the belt to the Dragon at the free show. They came out on the CPW Facebook page and told each other what would happen respectively and it certainly raised the stakes. I think they both wanted a hardcore match due to all the weapons shown, but something bigger would come along later if Morris could win. Morris got a thunderous ovation, but not so good for Dragon. I say not so good, he was pretty much booed out of the building. Dragon immediately disrespected the belt by throwing it in the ring, and as he went around to intimidating some of the fans, he grabbed a sign that one of the fans made and tore it up right in front of their face, before going to the other side and throwing it at the Morris fan club side of the crowd. Then proceeded to heckle someone in the audience before Morris came in and took some early control. Dragon struck back and leapt over the top to the apron to strike an oncoming Morris with a Double Knee. Dragon worked on Morris with more knee strikes and stomping on Morris’ surgically repaired foot.

While taunting the crowd he then stomped on Morris’ knees and inner thigh, before pulling him up and tossing him into the corner. Dragon hit Morris with 2 of those devastating chops he’s known for. Morris tried to crawl away to get some distance between him and Dragon, but he was pulled up by his ears before being body slammed. Dragon tried a cocky pin, but it failed. In a sense of comfort he climbed to the top rope to finish it up with a Moonsault, but he missed. Morris took advantage with a dropkick that sent Dragon into the corner, he went for the splash in the corner. But Dragon cut him off with a stiff elbow, which lead to a T Bone Suplex. Morris was up first and went for a high risk move, but Dragon cut him off. Dragon was pushed off and Morris hit the splash from the top. Dragon kicked out at 2. Morris fired himself up and called for the finish. He attempted the Samoan Drop but his foot gave out, he tried again with the same result. Second time Dragon slipped behind and hit the Dragon Suplex. Dragon stalked him as Morris got up. He kicked him in the bad leg, before hitting the Black Mass. Dragon went for the pin but pulled Morris up at 2, before stomping on his face and going to the top again. Morris managed to cut him off. They brawled on the buckle, but Morris got the better of the exchange and hit a Samoan Drop off the second rope. Morris dived on top and got the 3 count. The crowd nearly blew the roof off the place with cheers for such a hard fought win, as CPW’s favourite son accomplished what we thought may be impossible.

Dominic Dewinter came out to address the crowd, to announce that Morris got his title shot at Elimination and it would be in the 15 foot high steel cage!

Next was the handicap match as Nextgen Champion Tommbie takes on the Deep South, consisting of Alex Conners, Eli Conners and John Eastwood. I made the announcement that this would now have slightly different rules. It would be fought under Tornado rules. That means all men in the ring at once. Also the match would now be no disqualification to try and even up the odds for Tommbie.

After they enter, the Deep South jumped Tommbie and pounded him with strikes, he fired up and tried to fight back, but the numbers were just too much. Eli and John grabbed him from behind and tripped him and he was hit with a big running dropkick. It degenerated to being just a beat down. Triple treat time as I have been informed. John popped him up and Alex kneed him on the way down, finished up with Eli hitting a big running tackle. Tommbie moved out of the way of Eli and John took the splash. Alex got a huge gun stinger and crawled to the corner. Tommbie chased him but John jumped in the way and got a Death Valley Driver for his trouble. Eli jumped in the way and got kicked down. Tommbie used Eli’s back for a huge running knee and then sent Alex off Eli’s back into a senton on John, before coming back the other way with a senton on Eli himself. He goes up for the moonsault but Alex cut him off. Eli and John carried him out in a reverse neckbreaker when Alex came off the top with a HUGE double stomp. He was solid out at this point. He just managed to kick out by virtue of a miracle.

The beat down continued. A set of suplexes came from John which ended with one being flipped all the way over and caught into an atomic drop from Alex and topped with a huge German suplex lariat combination from Alex and Eli. Eventually after more of the beat down Tommbie came back seemingly from the dead. He fired up with strikes, and hit a head scissors into the middle turnbuckle on Eli, and unbelievably hit a moonsault onto all three to top it off. A bulldog/dropkick combo takes down John and Eli but Alex counters from behind turning into a big knee. Tommbie escaped a brainbuster attempt and hits Alex with a German suplex, followed by a barbed wire suplex. Just when it looks like he’s going for the Occult Assault to finish it up, Eli smashed Tommbie from behind and goes for a splash but Tommbie caught the big man and gives all 260lbs of him the Occult Assault. Just when it looks like he might get the three, Alex breaks it up and finally catches him with the Pitchfork driver. They all regrouped and continued to beat down from them with all guys hitting big moves, then Alex stopped them and said that they were going to go “Old School”, whatever that meant, and we never found out as the lights went out and in the confusion, Tommbie just disappeared without a trace. I held back behind the entrance way and couldn’t see a thing. We don’t know where he went or who did it, but since, there has been search parties and even a supposed sighting by Leyton Simms before he saw Dr Gage. This cannot be confirmed however.

So we got to the second half of the show and we opened up in fine style with the Gauntlet match for the new Hakimpur New Blood championship. This would take over from the Academy belt that George has held since May last year, after winning it from Bashby in his debut match. A little back story as to how we got here. Now with a future plan for CPW, we needed something extra special, so that’s how the new belt has come along. As for the participants this is how they got there. George, as we know, is the reigning Academy Champion and number one in the academy division, so he automatically got a place. Bashby was number one contender after the match at the Free Show when he lost on a three count despite having the ropes. He was awarded a place in the Gauntlet as an apology for this refereeing error. Kevin Isaac made his in ring CPW debut at this show, and he came in after a personal recommendation from the GM Mr Foley, so he got his chance. Shaun Ruben was meant to get a shot at the Godiva Championship at the Xmas Bash, but due to Morris being injured at the time it didn’t happen. So he had a match against me and ended up losing by DQ. This opened up a chance for Imperial Dragon to get his chance to win the Godiva championship, and he succeeded. As an apology this chance was given to Shaun. Lastly we have Leyton Simms who got this chance for a couple of reasons. Mainly for the improvements he’s made with his treatments. He has started winning more matches, he’s won the hearts of the fans, and he managed to win Breakout Star of the year for 2018 as a result of a fan vote.

It started with Shaun Ruben coming out first and obviously he had to try and rag on me for my Mr Roaring 20s get up. I just blew him off and let him have his moment. Next we brought out the current Academy Champion George, who brought out the belt to pose with it in front of the crowd one last time. He surrendered the belt and it was taken to the back. I’ll do this quick

The match got off to a technical start. Grappling between the two, with George getting the upper hand. He capitalised and hit a cross body press on Shaun, which lead to a count of 2. Shaun got up and fired back, insultingly slapping George in the process. He went for the Frog Splash and missed, which lead to George hitting the Codebreaker to win round 1. Next was debuting Kevin Isaac. They squared off in the middle of the ring which lead to an exchange of chops. Kevin getting the advantage and chopping George in the corner. George tried to fight back but Kevin cut him off with a clothesline. Count of 2. Then he hit a big forearm, followed by a backbreaker, then a takedown which got another 2. He was setting him up for what looked like a finish when George slipped out with the Backslide and got the pin. Next was Bashby. This didn’t last long, after an exchange of blows, Bashby hit the superkick, followed by a senton splash and the battle was over. Bashby beats George for the first time in CPW. But now we had our last competitor. None other than Leyton Simms. Bashby was alert while Leyton was tending to his flowers. He attacked him from behind, sending some of them flying, and this made Leyton go berserk. He blasted Bashby with strikes in the corner, before flattening him and going to the top rope for the diving headbutt. Leyton Simms wins the Gauntlet!

So with that the crowd just exploded with cheers, even I couldn’t contain my excitement over this. Leyton Simms had finally done it. He’d become a champion in CPW, and the inaugural Hakimpur New Blood champion at that. A chant of “You deserve it” ran through the whole crowd, and if I’m honest, if I was able to show kind of bias here, I’d have been joining them. It didn’t take him long but he got the luck of the drawer and made the best of a situation, and with flower power and grit, he got by the Superkick King to win the gauntlet. A great effort was put in by all competitors. This lead to the unveiling. We had a photographer at ringside who got into position as we invited Ravi, our sponsor from the Hakimpur Cash and Carry to come and make the presentation to our new champion. Now this was all new to all of us in that ring. Only Ravi and senior management had actually seen the new belt. When it was unveiled, we were all in awe from what a pretty looking belt it was, detailed and embossed with black, gold and red. It’s heavy as well, as a good belt should be. Leyton was quite overcome with emotion and needed 10cc of flowers, stat. It was such a great feel good moment for all in attendance and I think this may be a candidate for my top moments of 2019 already.

Next was the women’s match between debuting Luna Rox and ‘Valkyrie’ Victoria Adams for the CPW women’s championship. Luna has been making waves around the west of the country for a while now and is easily recognisable with her bright pink hair with matching black and pink gear. Victoria argues blind that pink and black is her look, but it’s a great look many people past and present still use today because it just looks so good. I even considered it myself long ago. Victoria herself has been on top form lately and has been practically unstoppable since winning her belt back in the Autumn in her debut. But what a lot has changed since then. First lauded for dethroning the Queen of CPW. Now hated for her attitude and for turning on Mr Richards at Betrayal. Let’s see how this match goes.

They started with a lock up and Luna got the advantage by taking a wrist lock, before chaining it into a headlock takedown, followed by locking Tori into an Armbar. She turned this into not one but two roll up attempts. Tori kicked out at 2. She broke free and started to kick at Luna and tried to pin her, and only got a 2, which resulted in back and forth pin attempts, rounded off with a sunset flip pin attempt by Tori that also only for a 2. Tori was annoyed by this and she choked Luna out on the ropes. The offense was interrupted bravely by Luna as she kicked back and hit a neckbreaker to try and turn the tide. Tori got back up and pulled Luna up and hit a Samoan Drop. This didn’t put her away either, so she pulled Luna up, and after a suplex attempt, Luna was thrown to the buckle, hit with a double axe handle and Tori locked in the sleeperhold. Luna was out after not very long at all. The bell rung and Tori was declared the winner. Tori was still angry and wouldn’t let go of the hold, and it took COO Dominic DeWinter coming out to tell her to stop. As an apology for what happened, Luna was immediately given a CPW Contract, which means, lucky fans, she will be gracing our ring again very soon I should hope. Next was the big announcement. The CPW Prison Match with Chantal Jordan at Elimination. Look out for that.

Next was the tag team title match between Martin and Barry, the brothers known as the House Draper, against the Merseyside Murder Squad. House Draper are from the same neck of the woods as the MMS and are quite familiar with them from what they’ve told me. They came all the way to CPW just to get a crack at them and those coveted tag team belts. The MMS have held those belts for around 200 days at this point and no-one has been able to stop them. It seems that CPW itself has taken that it is a given that the MMS are deep set as champions, as most of their opponents and challengers have been from outside CPW. Yet they have been welcoming it, showing what classic examples of fighting champions they are. Even if you disagree with their tactics.

So the match began and Scott started with Martin locking up with Scott getting the upper hand. Martin gets out with style and agility. He took Scott down who tagged out to Dan Evans. This didn’t work as planned as Martin took Dan down too and got to work with strikes. He tagged in Barry who also worked on him with strikes, followed by a cross body press. Dan got desperate and suplexed Barry onto the ropes, followed by a Hangman by Scott. Both of them worked on Barry before Scott became the legal man. Barry tried to fight back and tag out to Martin but he was cut off by Dan with a rough clothesline, then a knee by Scott. This got a 2 count. Barry was hooked with a chin lock. After this, miscommunication happened and Scott accidentally knocked out Dan which lead to Scott in desperation to get a Sunset Flip pin attempt in, Barry overpowered Scott and dragged him towards Martin for the tag.

Dan had rolled out at this point and he dragged Martin off the apron which left Barry alone again to work on Barry. This ended with Dan knocking down Scott with a clothesline. Barry breaks free and Martin leaps into the ring. He started beating on both men. He hit a suplex on Scott, and worked on Evans in the corner, taking him down with a Final Cut from the middle rope. Scott tried to roll him up but only got a 2. Barry is called in and they hit a double Final Cut which only got a 2 as well. The Drapers were frustrated at this point and it was starting to show.

Dan shot out of nowhere and speared Barry and tried to work on Martin, who fought back. They hit him with an AD Homocide which only got a 2. Dan went for the Brainbuster but Martin broke out and hit him with a Samoan. Pin attempt was broken up and all men were down. The Drapers got up and did a combo of a steamroller, then a frog splash on Scott. Dan broke the pin up. They hit it one more time, and still couldn’t get the pin. It ended after the MMS shoved Barry into Martin and hit Barry with the Brainbuster Claymore combo. The MMS win the match.

It was a hard fought match from a pair of fantastic pair of teams, and the House Draper have certainly impressed me and I hope we see them back again. But at this point the MMS just seem to be flat out unstoppable. We can only hope that someone can dethrone these two one day as they seemingly have a stranglehold on those belts. But they have come out and said they will take on any team brave enough to get in the ring with them. Let’s see how that develops.

Lastly we had the grudge match to settle a very one sided score. The Prince of Camp, FIFI, taking on the CPW Lineal Heavyweight Champion, Mr Richards. This came about after the incident at the free show. After Will was left high and dry by Mr Richards no showing the tag team championship match with the Merseyside Murder Squad, FIFI nominated himself to get in there and join with Will.

However at the end of the fight, Mr Richards came out and destroyed everyone, including FIFI, who wasn’t really part of this confrontation, he was just stepping in to help out his friend. Of course, feeling that he didn’t deserve this abuse, he called out Mr Richards in a promo before the show. I applaud him for standing his ground and calling him out over this, which is something far braver than most of us would ever do.

Fifi came out first to a warm response and he immediately called out Mr Richards who still up to that point didn’t confirm whether he would be accepting the challenge. Fifi grabbed a chair and started slamming it in the ring in anticipation. He did come out however and it was to a very mixed response considering his actions as of late. Mr Richards came out with a microphone and accepted the challenge before beating Fifi down the with microphone before calling in Martin Carolan, a head figure of the Chicken Club who nailed Fifi with a chair. Fifi was prone on the ground and Mr Richards said that he didn’t just accept the challenge. He was also putting the Lineal Championship on the line, and it was now No DQ.

Mr Richards immediately got to work on Fifi. The action spilled outside fast with Mr Richards brawling on the outside before throwing Fifi cleanly into the canteen, following him in and beating him up out of the view of the fans. This ended up in Fifi being brought out in a shopping trolley, being tipped out onto the floor after. Fifi scrambled up as Mr Richards stalked him. Fifi fought back and got in a double axe handle to break the momentum. He threw Mr Richards into the ring and got a 2 count. He pulled Mr Richards up and charged him with a shotgun dropkick, then a spinning hip dive, followed by the Stinkface, which is absolutely shocking to me, as well as a brave/foolish move for anyone to do. Mr Richards was pulled up and Fifi hit the Fifi Factor. Mr Richards kicked out at 2. Both men tired, they struggled back up, but Mr Richards answered with a low blow, then a DDT which got a 2 count for himself. Angered, he started punching Fifi on the floor and went to grab the chair. Fifi got up and slapped Mr Richards and hitting another Fifi Factor which got another 2. Now it devolved to a brawl with an exchange of punches. Mr Richards got the better of this by hitting the Pedigree.

By virtue of a miracle Fifi kicked out at 2. Mr Richards locked in a reverse chin lock to sap the remaining power from Fifi, but he had just enough in him to fight back. He was cut off again and got hit with a Rock Bottom by Mr Richards which got another 2 count. Mr Richards called for last orders and set up a chair and hit another Pedigree on Fifi on top of it which ended the match with a 3 count. Mercifully it was over. Or so it seemed. The beatdown continued and once again Dominic Dewinter came out to stop this abuse, but the unexpected happened. Every man in the back charged to the ring and leapt in and started beating the hell out of each other People being thrown out left and right, including Will Starr who was the last one in the ring, before Mr Richards decked him with the Lineal Belt. This even got Refs Martin and Dale arguing who I assumed would start brawling themselves. It didn’t happen but in all of the confusion Mr Richards grabbed the Microphone and announced the ultimate match. Title for Title, the CPW prison match at Elimination.

So in the end after 2 pedigrees, FIFI was down for the count, and it took Mr Richards more effort than anyone could have expected. Showing once that FIFI isn’t just a joke. He wears that make up with pride and struts out with confidence every time to the roar of approving fans, each time showing tremendous toughness. Mr Richards now has as much momentum as Will Starr going into the Prison Match which now stands to potentially be the biggest and most significant match in CPW History. Dominic Dewinter gave the final word and signed off the show as he implored the audience to please come along to see the conclusion to this war.

Overall, if I do say so myself this was an absolutely fantastic show with some great reactions, some memorable moments and all pulled together with management, the broadcast team and production who work behind the scenes. It was an honour to be part of it. But now, that was the starter, soon will be time for the main course. So on 23^rd February, we shall see you at ELIMINATION!

Frankie Summers signing off.