WOS Wrestling have really packed bouts into the relatively short run time of the episodes so far - at the expense of interviews/promos and other content which has been shunted online (and with no links on screen to point this out to viewers). But the format of the "main event" on episode 9 means we only get one other bout. But I for one am not going to complain as this was possibly the best episode of WOS so far.
After the usual recap of last week's show/preview of this week's action we get down to business with Stu Bennett attempting to explain the rules and format of this unique main event he has dreamt up and called the Buzzer Battle. His explanation is not entirely 100% accurate though - the bout doesn't feature the entire male roster with the likes of Ospreay, Kirby and Hendry not in it and it doesn't start as a tag match actually. But he does build it up nicely.
The action gets underway with the WOS Women's title match between Kay Lee Ray and Viper. This is a really good bout and fully deserving of the "This Is Awesome" chants from the crowd at ringside. There is a some great back and forth between the two women and the sequence leading up to Kay Lee Ray pinning Viper was really well done. Apart from the usual gripe over the editing of these matches my only complaint was that the match was a bit short - due to Stu's explaining the main event no doubt. I don't think that they have used Viper as well as they could have (I think she has lost all but one match on the show).
The main event is going to take up the whole of the rest of the show and like most things on WOS Wrestling has good points and bad. This is a pretty weird format that just feels like elements of different types of matches mashed together but it is quirky and something a bit different and actually worked OK - allowing some storyline elements to play out within it. The bout is to decide a new No. 1 contender for Rampage's Heavyweight title - ignoring the fact that Justin Sysum won that honour on an earlier edition. It starts off with two wrestlers in a singles elimination match and at any moment he chooses Stu can sound the buzzer and two more wrestlers come down and make this an elimination tag match. Then each time he sounds the buzzer two more men come to the ring and one joins each of the two tag teams. This will continue until all of the participants are involved. However, once the eliminations have reduced the number of participants down to eight across the two teams the whole match switches to an over-the-top rope battle royal with the last man standing getting the title match on the final show.
The whole thing was a little bit messy in parts but there were also some great ideas at play here. Robbie X and Kip Sabian were the men to start us off and were given some time to show what they can do. Stu eventually hits the buzzer and we get tag partners Stevie Boy and B.T. Gunn coming down to face each other on opposite teams. A neat idea that worked well, I particularly liked it when Stu was appalled to see the two men shaking hands after a spot and hitting the buzzer to bring in Liam Slater and Iestyn Rees. Having Sabian and fellow tag champ Rees on the same team also played out well and I loved it when they hit their finisher and try to get Gunn to pin Stevie Boy then allow Gunn to be eliminated too.
I thought this format started to get very messy quickly after this with Grado and Sha Samuels entering the match but quickly getting cut off by the advert break. SoCal Val hit the buzzer to save Grado from a beating leading to Bulldog and CJ Banks entering the fray but ultimately leading to Grado, Bulldog and the tag champs all being messily DQ (to save them for the tag team title match). There are some quite amusing exchanges amongst the commentary team and we get Adam Maxted and eventually the dismissed Nathan Cruz entering. Justin Sysum and Crater enter the fray but there is a surprise in store when the last two men enter the bout as one of them is Scottish star Moose. We now have 10 wrestlers, five on each team but when two are eliminated it will switch to the battle royal. Robbie X and Liam Slater are the two to exit and klaxons wail to indicate the 8-man battle royal is on. Gabriel Kidd and Nathan Cruz are eliminated, Maxted is eliminated by the already eliminated Cruz (which is silly). Samuels, Banks and Moose all exit to leave Sysum Vs. the no longer invincible monster Crater. Some great work from Sysum leads to him bodyslamming Crater before tipping him over the rope for the win - thus making up for him getting stiffed earlier in the run.
So for the final (possibly ever) WOS Wrestling episode next week Sysum will face Rampage for the title and after some pretty weak set-up over the last two episodes Grado and Bulldog somehow "deserve" a shot at the tag champs. So it should be a fan favourite championship extravaganza then!
After the usual recap of last week's show/preview of this week's action we get down to business with Stu Bennett attempting to explain the rules and format of this unique main event he has dreamt up and called the Buzzer Battle. His explanation is not entirely 100% accurate though - the bout doesn't feature the entire male roster with the likes of Ospreay, Kirby and Hendry not in it and it doesn't start as a tag match actually. But he does build it up nicely.
The action gets underway with the WOS Women's title match between Kay Lee Ray and Viper. This is a really good bout and fully deserving of the "This Is Awesome" chants from the crowd at ringside. There is a some great back and forth between the two women and the sequence leading up to Kay Lee Ray pinning Viper was really well done. Apart from the usual gripe over the editing of these matches my only complaint was that the match was a bit short - due to Stu's explaining the main event no doubt. I don't think that they have used Viper as well as they could have (I think she has lost all but one match on the show).
The main event is going to take up the whole of the rest of the show and like most things on WOS Wrestling has good points and bad. This is a pretty weird format that just feels like elements of different types of matches mashed together but it is quirky and something a bit different and actually worked OK - allowing some storyline elements to play out within it. The bout is to decide a new No. 1 contender for Rampage's Heavyweight title - ignoring the fact that Justin Sysum won that honour on an earlier edition. It starts off with two wrestlers in a singles elimination match and at any moment he chooses Stu can sound the buzzer and two more wrestlers come down and make this an elimination tag match. Then each time he sounds the buzzer two more men come to the ring and one joins each of the two tag teams. This will continue until all of the participants are involved. However, once the eliminations have reduced the number of participants down to eight across the two teams the whole match switches to an over-the-top rope battle royal with the last man standing getting the title match on the final show.
The whole thing was a little bit messy in parts but there were also some great ideas at play here. Robbie X and Kip Sabian were the men to start us off and were given some time to show what they can do. Stu eventually hits the buzzer and we get tag partners Stevie Boy and B.T. Gunn coming down to face each other on opposite teams. A neat idea that worked well, I particularly liked it when Stu was appalled to see the two men shaking hands after a spot and hitting the buzzer to bring in Liam Slater and Iestyn Rees. Having Sabian and fellow tag champ Rees on the same team also played out well and I loved it when they hit their finisher and try to get Gunn to pin Stevie Boy then allow Gunn to be eliminated too.
I thought this format started to get very messy quickly after this with Grado and Sha Samuels entering the match but quickly getting cut off by the advert break. SoCal Val hit the buzzer to save Grado from a beating leading to Bulldog and CJ Banks entering the fray but ultimately leading to Grado, Bulldog and the tag champs all being messily DQ (to save them for the tag team title match). There are some quite amusing exchanges amongst the commentary team and we get Adam Maxted and eventually the dismissed Nathan Cruz entering. Justin Sysum and Crater enter the fray but there is a surprise in store when the last two men enter the bout as one of them is Scottish star Moose. We now have 10 wrestlers, five on each team but when two are eliminated it will switch to the battle royal. Robbie X and Liam Slater are the two to exit and klaxons wail to indicate the 8-man battle royal is on. Gabriel Kidd and Nathan Cruz are eliminated, Maxted is eliminated by the already eliminated Cruz (which is silly). Samuels, Banks and Moose all exit to leave Sysum Vs. the no longer invincible monster Crater. Some great work from Sysum leads to him bodyslamming Crater before tipping him over the rope for the win - thus making up for him getting stiffed earlier in the run.
So for the final (possibly ever) WOS Wrestling episode next week Sysum will face Rampage for the title and after some pretty weak set-up over the last two episodes Grado and Bulldog somehow "deserve" a shot at the tag champs. So it should be a fan favourite championship extravaganza then!