FRANKIE SUMMERS BLOG #30 – CPW vs THE WORLD

CPW vs the World

Ladies and Gents, Boys and Girls, we were live, we were worldwide, it’s CPW vs the World. Our first ever iPPV show hosted by our friends and broadcasting colleagues at Coventry IPTV. Coventry’s local sports and broadcasting network that add a professional touch to all of the external work we do outside the ring. We came to you live from the Henley Green Community Centre for this show with a very loud and enthusiastic crowd as always. I was the master of ceremonies and our officials were Dale and Tango. This will be a stripped-down version of what happened because it’s better that you go onto the CPW on Demand service to watch the matches rather than me talk you through them because the calibre of matches on this show was something extraordinary. No more fooling around, let’s get to it.
The opening match was a fatal 4-way match as Niall Fairchild defended against Kieran Young and George of the G6 and the returning Alex Conners who we still can’t believe made it through customs to get back into the UK, let alone CPW. Kieran and George knew they would have a numbers advantage here, but in the end, one of them would have to win it, and would Kieran win for a second time, or would George become a 4 time champion in CPW? Also what would come of Alex Conners, if he could get his 3rd championship, taking it from the hands of The Natural.

Niall was fast outnumbered as Alex tried to make alliances with anyone who would listen and the G6 stuck together as expected. Alex gained limited success from this and ended up eventually brawling with everyone. G6 threw Alex out of the equation and worked on Niall which eventually lead to the inevitable. Who was going to get the pin? George and Kieran argued at length over the issue and were eventually thrown to the outside which left Niall and Alex. Niall hit Alex with the Natural Disaster and got the pin to retain the CPW Championship. This was a decisive win for Niall, showing that the numbers do not matter as he will take on anyone who comes for him. He will have a big task coming up at Reload as he will face off against Jimmy Vice who has been gaining great momentum lately.
Next, we had the Ladies Lineal Championship match as Natalie Wild defended against Claudia Bradstone. This was a match of technicality against power and brutality and there would be no excuses as to who won.
Next, we had the Triple Threat match for the new rechristened CPW Galaxy Championship as the Friendly Hillbilly Eli Conners defended against the nasty Iron Serb and the Wrecking Ball James Cross. This was a match between 3 big hosses, Serb got the shot for his recent rise in the power rankings and his efforts as New Blood Champion and James Cross got his shot from a bit of string-pulling orchestrated by Dominic Dewinter. He’s been getting a fair few chances like that as it seems that Dominic has the most faith in him as his protégé and believes he will be the one to dominate the title scene.
This match was an all-out heavy-hitting war between all 3 men. The Serb had Mr Ace in his corner who decided to try and interject himself into the match on several occasions, including bringing the match to a halt on 2 occasions. The big story was Ace bringing his phone to ringside and getting a selfie with a confused and annoyed Serb. After a surprisingly fast-paced match where the momentum could have swung in the favour of any of these 3 men, it all came to a head with all 3 men brawling in the middle of the ring. Mr Ace screeched to make them stop fighting, but it didn’t work as it carried on, and in the end, James Cross was thrown out of the picture and due to a distraction, Iron Serb was rolled up by Eli to get the win and retain the CPW Galaxy Championship. This is proving to be a good run for Eli, he’s defending his title with pride and beating all comers, but in Leicester, he may just have his biggest test to date. More to come on that later.

We closed off the second half with the match for the CPW Tag Team Championships as the City Boys, Coventry’s own Morris and Bashby took on the also renamed Merseyside Mercenary Squad. This was seen as our best hope to dethrone the MMS after a near 450-day title reign. The CPW video team pulled up a list of people that they have beaten and all of their Accolades. Will Starr and Fifi, Danny o’ Neil and Kameron Solas, Craig West and Kameron Solas (again), The Draper Brothers, the House of Beards and a few others. It’s not like the MMS have been invincible however. In singles action, Dan has lost, but Scott hasn’t been defeated in singles action since the Nick Aldis Supershow early last year. They had a shock defeat against Sweet Stevie W and George which lead to the big match at Superstars 1 where Rene Dupree had to break it up.

Bashby and Morris started in CPW at about the same time and have always been rivals, but now fighting on the same side they have formed a formidable and cohesive unit, forming a tie between the NBO Warriors and Team Madness. Now with this match, this could only be described as the match of the night and it needs to be seen to be believed. It was fast-paced and hard-hitting action from start to finish, with the most gargantuan effort from the 2 young challengers you could ever ask for. They nearly had it after hitting their big double team neckbreaker on Dan, but he got his foot on the rope, then, Scott, with a burst of fresh energy came in, divided and conquered, hit the A.D. Flatliner (what I’m calling it in line with their new identity) and got the win to retain the championships. A sad day for the fans and a sad result for the City Boys but the effort they put in was simply superhuman. One day I feel they will have another shot and get those tag team championships.

After the short interval, we opened up the second half with Will Starr against Steve Valentino in Steve’s second appearance in CPW. This match came about because Steve attacked Will Starr after saving him at the end of the Big Drama Show. The match was not for the CPW Lineal Championship because Steve does not qualify for a shot at that championship. The turncoat captain came out in the same way he did last time but was met with a very cold response, to which he answered “What ya booin’ for?” as if he didn’t realise that he was unpopular for his actions. Steve got in the ring and told me to announce him properly as he felt I didn’t put the heart or enthusiasm that I did the first time he came to CPW, which I did to keep the peace. Will, of course, came out to a response to loosen the roof. This was a clash of titans between two men who have both been compared to characters from a certain movie about pirates. I just see it as two of the best in the midlands duking it out for pride and honour.

This was as explosive and as technically sound as you could ever expect, a match that needs to watched on CPW On Demand. Even an accurate move for move description of the match could not do it justice. In short, it was knockdown and drag out with both skillsets of both men who are similar in a lot of ways, in terms of stature, builds, height and experience. I would throw in style as well as both being consummate technicians, but Steve has a more comedic style, thrown in with some strong and power style, whereas Will dabbles more in grounding and controlling his opponents with some speed style thrown in when needed.

It ended when Captain Steve wiped out Will with a series of high impact moves, turning him inside out and pinned him for 3, with a decisive victory that didn’t even require much in the way of rulebreaking. I was stunned, the whole crowd was stunned, the fact that Will Starr lost in such a fashion and it was lucky that the CPW Lineal title wasn’t on the line because Steve would currently have the belt.

Next, we had the match for the CPW Women’s champion Lucia Lee took on Liverpool’s Hannah Taylor, A student of the former NXT UK Tag team champions, the GYVs. Lucia is of course trained in house by CPW and has shown her amazing potential since the day she stepped in. She’s showing the world the kind of athlete we can produce in the CPW Academy.

Lucia doesn’t like to mess around as you know, Hannah used her skill and experience to try and take down Lucia, but Lucia fought back with fire and yelling like a banshee as is becoming more common as her inner fire is unleashed on her opponents. Lucia took down Hannah, following with a Rolling Neck Snap, followed by the flying elbow drop to get the win and retain her title. A small show of respect was given at the end and people were clapping for Hannah as it’s shown that she’s not a bad person and is a very skilled wrestler and pushed Lucia quite hard in the few minutes of the match. I hope she comes back as she’s a great competitor.

Second to last match was the Nextgen Championship open challenge, as Fifi was due to defend said Nextgen Heavyweight Championship against a legend of the UK indie scene Mad Dog Maxx. However, Mad Dog Maxx was unfortunately unable to make the show, but there was a man in the back waiting to strike. Some members of the crowd wanted me to rumble with Fifi but I announced the surprise opponent and it was a man Fifi is no stranger to, the Imperial Dragon. This was exactly what you would expect in a match between these two, all brutality from one side and heart from the other. Fifi pulled out the Fifi factor early but it didn’t work and Dragon worked on Fifi with lots of wear down holds. Fifi gutted it out and fought back and planted Dragon with the Final Destination, got the 3 and celebrated in the ring, before giving a speech, dedicating the win to his best friend in the crowd.

Last was the event we were all waiting for. The big main event as the Taker of Souls Tommbie took on the debuting Black Swan, Cara Noir. Tommbie brought some back up in the druids that he brought along with him for History 6, but he brought along the Imperial Dragon to command the sermon. After the flames went out and the druids left, the Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Scene began to play and the mysterious Cara Noir emerged from the curtain as the sound rose, with his mask and his wings. A haunting quiet went over most of the crowd as they didn’t know what to make of this man. I was watching in glee of course because I am a massive fan of Cara and have wanted to see him in CPW since I first came through the doors. To see his entrance again live on my doorstep and to announce him in real life was a dream come true. I took his gear to the back and I can tell from first-hand experience, those wings are heavy!

A big part of Cara’s in-ring style is his mind tricks and psychology. He tries to get into the heads of his opponents, expose inner insecurities and throw opponents off their game with what you may consider theatrics or comedy, depending on how you see it. One trademark is putting himself in a Tree of Woe after being whipped to the corner and while upside down, flailing his tongue out and flailing his arms, which we didn’t see in this match. The psychology was a big part of this and it fazed Tommbie as I’ve never seen before, in some parts he was manhandled by Cara as well. At one point Cara tried the staredown on him early on and Tommbie said “Don’t try it, you don’t want to know what’s in there!” pointing to his forehead.

For most of the match, it was an uphill battle for Tommbie as nothing he tried seemed to work well. Cara had an answer for everything but Tommbie never gave in and kept fighting. He managed to fight back, smacking Cara about to the screams of the crowd begging for more. It came to a head when Tommbie managed to fight out of Cara’s attempt to finish the match, but Tommbie slipped over the top and behind and held Cara up in the electric chair before planting Cara with the most devastating Occult Assault I’ve ever seen which seemed to daze Cara as he hit the mat which allowed Tommbie to pick up the 3 count. It was the end of an explosive match that we were in doubt that Tommbie could win after watching the opening. Tommbie asked for the Microphone which I gave to him and he gave a lovely tribute to Cara, saying he is one of the best professional wrestlers he has ever faced in that ring. He offered for Cara to say a few words, but Cara declined, he doesn’t talk after all, but Tommbie suggested that Cara stay in the ring for photos with the fans which we did as our free fan access.

In the beginning, the fans just wanted Tommbie to smash through Cara and take his soul, but from the performance Cara put on, the crowd cheered rapturously and rightly so. Some people were calling for a rematch, and that’s something I’d like to see. There are a fair few opponents I would love to see rumble with Cara, and I’m sure a few on the roster who would want to take him on. I hope he comes back to CPW one day and we can feel the force of the Black Swan once more.

Our next show will be in Leicester for the travelling show NextGen as we present Let’s Go! We hope to see you there. For now, I have a match to prepare for, so this is

Frankie Summers is signing off!