FRANKIE SUMMERS – CPW SUPERSTARS #BLOG12 part1

Alright CPW Galaxy!!! It finally happened, after 9 long and gruelling weeks of training and graft we finally got there. On 10^thNovember 2018 CPW once against made History. The first ever batch of CPW Superstar trainees got their own show.

CPW Superstar Project Season 1- The Event. At the Henley Green Community Centre we packed the venue out to capacity with over 200 people, with one of the best gates we have ever had for any CPW show in our 5 and a half years. This show was one for the record books and one for the ages.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This project had humble beginnings, cooked up by Mr Richards and Will Starr, as a sort of experiment. Thequestion was, could we take a group of people who have not been in aring before and train them to be competent wrestlers in the space of 2 months? Well this show has certainly answered that question.

Now there is a bit of a disclaimer that has to be made here. Not all of the talents that got in the ring on the night have only trained for the space of 2 months. 5 of us on the programme have previous trainingexperience, myself included, but we all have in common that we hadnever had a match before. We started off as a group of 10, but one person had to drop out due to medical and personal reasons. However we still had a great group of 9 participants, and I think we need a role call for those who don’t know who is who, or those who didn’t catch the names of the competitors first time. As well as their reasons to compete. I’ll note the good guys first, then bad.

We may as well start with familiar ground, myself, Frankie Summers. You know me, Kind of short, kind of rotund, announces CPW Live and NextGenshows, is often dragged into song and dance numbers with FIFI and Jake Casanova, and not the kind of person you would assume would getin the ring to compete. However I will reveal that I have beentraining under Will Starr and Justin Joy since March, a month after I first came to a CPW Show. This was my ticket to get into that ring for the first time and finally face off with Tom Lindsay, who hasbeen hassling me since History. So in short, my reason to wrestle? Short sighted revenge and nothing more. I wrestle Power/Brawl Style.

Next is Khash Knight, a biking, rocking radio DJ who has been a devout CPWfan for a couple of years now, and a trainee since April accompanied by his Daughter Lara-Faith, Athena Furie’s biggest fan who really wanted to be involved with the programme. To be honest she took to it very well, even doing some of the moves and warm up routines with us. We all already see great potential in her, even at the age of just 5. However this is about Khash, and his reason to compete. In short, Leyton Simms has been insulting him in the crowd since he firststarted in CPW 2 years ago, now was the chance for Khash to stand his ground and finally get some retribution against the loose cannon hooligan that is Leyton Simms. He wrestles a quick style.

 Third is John Eastwood, a cowboy law man from the States who has trained with CPW on off since June. He has been chasing the Hillbillies for the past 10 years. In particular their Leader, the Nextgen Champion, AlexConners. He chased them from Mudlick, Kentucky to the Louisiana Bayouand further, wanted under charges of cattle rustling, chicken running without a permit and most heinous, wearing work boots in church. The Hillbillies bounty was pretty high, but the statute of limitations was about to expire on them, that’s why Eastwood is here, to claim that bounty. He wrestles in an all-round style.

Next is Kilbane Michaels. A young man who joined us just for his love ofwrestling and desire to compete, despite the issues he has holdinghim down. No better reason needed than that. Kilbane is so dedicated to this that he even got specialist gear commissioned just for thisshow. He has previous fight experience before, but not in terms of wrestling. This was all new to him, and he took to it very well, and has found a very special place in the hearts of the CPW roster. His kindly demeanour was not taken favourably by the Merseyside MurderSquad:- Dan Evans and Scott Oberman, but Stevie W and George have stepped in to defend Kilbane’s honour from these cheap shot artistbullies. He wrestles a power style, but favours strikes.

Lastly from the good guys is not a guy at all. It’s Lucia. Lucia is the sporting type who has dance and athletics experience and has proven herself to be a natural in the ring. She has rightfully gained the respect of all the rest of the Superstars group, definitely including me, however it was a rocky start, with her being of slender frame and theonly girl, the bigger guys were afraid to strike or grapple with her. This got her frustrated to begin with, but she started to reallyenjoy it when we stopped holding back and we can all see just howtough she really is. Lucia joined us at Superstars in an effort toanswer the open challenge from Victoria Adams who claims to be able to take down anyone. She’s not afraid to try her hand at all styles either, she can fly, she can grapple, she can run and strike, and can take you down too. This makes Lucia an all-rounder, but she favours a more technical style.

Now onto the baddies. We will start with Harry Taylor, a young lad who has probably been on CPW’s radar the longest, being a trainee on andoff for the past 2 years. It was always his dream to become a part of the main roster and this was his chance. However Harry got frustratedand embittered on his training journey and as a result developed abit of an attitude, and after a spat with Morris, that’s when thematch came about. Harry in his anger insulted Morris and his Bikerfamily roots and if we’re honest, he was rather annoyed about it, but any excuse Morris gets to have a match, he will take. Especiallyif it means to teach some respect. However it’s not like Harry istotally new to this. He’s fast and tricky and not afraid of dirty and underhanded tactics. Harry wrestles with a speed/roughneck style.

Second is Rob Conflict, a handsome, chiselled, tough and arrogant young man whosees himself as above those in the Superstars group. He turned out tobe a bit of a natural in the ring due to his athleticism and groundbuilt ability. He proved to be strong and powerful but also light on his feet, making him the perfect all rounder candidate. However, His ego got the better of him, and he caught the attention of Jake Casanova who is of course a CPW original. Jake took the responsibility of dealing with Rob,in a way to show him the response,as Jake was once in Rob’s position. That being green and not used to this environment, but Rob was not deterred, he took Jake’schallenge and that’s how the match came about. Rob wrestles with a brawl/power style.

Next we have Gage Rage, the Butcher. He has been training with us since June. We don’t know much about him other than he is rather large, rather scary and has a beard of epic proportions. He has succeeded in making everyone else in the training step back in a we at his size and strength. Fifi tried to lighten the mood with his cheery ways andGage did not respond well. Fifi not one to back down from an opponent no matter how big they are stood his ground and said he’d teach this big man a lesson. With his pig mask, cleaver and staff with Gagewrestles with a power style.

Lastly we have James Cross, a stocky guy with a similar build to myself, however don’t let this put you off, James is extremely agile and surprisingly athletic in a way comparible to Fifi combining powermoves with running, strikes and high flying. He was hand picked to wrestle against Will Starr as Will wanted to show that he could take a person with no experience and turn them into a wrestler within 2 months and he was most impressed with James out of all who qualified as having no prior experience. James wrestles with a power/brawlstyle.

So that’s the breakdown of the competitors. In part 2 we will analyse the show,the matches and my personal experience. Sort of as a written companion to the event.

This is Frankie Summers signing off.