Review: PWE - The Road To Revolution

Saturday 9 May 2015

It had been a while since we had been to Ayr and we were looking forward to this show.  While there was platinum packages available, we decided to go with the silver option as we had already met the big stars at previous events and silver still got us early entry for the bonus pre-show match. We even took a couple of friends, Janet and Fiona, along with us!

Said pre-show match was a corker with Saqib Ali facing off against "The Best Young Wrestler in the World" Lewis Girvan.  I've seen both these guys wrestle a few times now and when your pre-show is of this calibre, you know the main show is going to be stunning.  A very nice match where both guys were able to showcase their talent despite the shortness of the match.  Really enjoyed this one and it was nice for Janet to be able to cheer for Girvan this time as he took the victory!

The main show began with the appearance of TJ Rage & Davey Blaze to take on Tag Team Champion Lou King Sharp, who had released a video in the run up to the show announcing that his partner for this match would be PWE owner Lionheart and had cheekily named the team Lion King!  As Blaze and Rage waited in the ring, Sharp announced the arrival of Lionheart who failed to appear.  Sharp was invited to get into the ring, lie down and make it easy on himself and eventually Lionheart reluctantly made his appearance.  Rage and Blaze concentrated on isolating Sharp and the wee guy took some amount of punishment before Lionheart was let loose.  After dropping Rage, he delivered a cracking frog splash on Blaze and Lion King took the victory by pinfall.  After the match, Rage and Blaze asked Sharp to come into the ring and shake their hands and agree to a rematch.  Despite Lionheart telling him not to, Sharp accepted, only to be told that he had just agreed to a 3 on 1 handicap match at the anniversary show in August.

Next up was the clash of the heavyweights as Iestyn Rees faced Chris Masters.  To be absolutely honest, I was a bit disappointed with this match and actually said I wished they had given Saqib Ali and Lewis Girvan this slot instead!  Masters really appeared to be just going through the motions and looked like he didn't actually want to be there which was a let down as I have seen this guy before and he really can put on a good show when he wants to.  Rees took the victory and quickly started antagonising the crowd.  A video then was played and it was announced that Rees would be facing Drew Galloway at the Anniversary show on 8 August.

Next up was a Fatal Fourway match with Joey Hayes v Martin Kirby v Kenny Williams v El Ligero.  This match was fast and furious with all four pulling off some lovely moves. A couple of highlights were when Kenny Williams got some amazing height from the top turnbuckle when going for a dropkick on Hayes who was halfway across the ring and when Hayes managed to catch El Ligero with a boot when he sprang from the ropes, before dropping both Williams and Ligero on their faces at the same time.   Despite the crowd being behind El Ligero and Williams, it was Martin Kirby who was victorious as he quickly rolled up Hayes after that stunning move to take the pinfall.

Just before the next match, another video was played announcing the appearance of  Tommy End at the 4th Anniversary show on 8 August.

The first half main event saw The Coffey Brothers v The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) for the Ring of Honor Tag Team Titles.  This match can be described in one word - WOW!!!!  This was by far my Match of the Night.  Between the action in the ring and the banter between Janet and I with Christopher Daniels, it was brilliant.  I think my favourite moment of the match is captured in the picture - both Coffey Brothers had been knocked from the ring and Daniels bounced off the top rope before doing a backflip onto them at ringside right in front of me - totally amazing.  This incredible match came to an end when Mark Coffey inadvertently hit his brother before being hit by the "Celebrity Rehab" finisher and Kaz scored the 3 count.  The Addiction celebrated their win as Joe Coffey looked on from ringside, before getting back into the ring to confront his brother.

During the interval, The Addiction returned to the ring for fans to have their photo taken with them and despite the verbal abuse during the match, Janet and I took advantage of the opportunity.

First match of the second half saw "Bad Boy" Liam Thomson face off against Noam Dar.  After my normal antagonising of Thomson which received Dar's approval and him giving me a walking stick (which security quickly took from me) the match got underway.  As usual, Thomson used every underhanded tactic he could against his young opponent.  Grado appeared at ringside to cheer on his pal but actually caused a distraction and Thomson attempted the roll-up.  He was unsuccessful this time but Grado would prove to be the catalyst for the match ending the way it did.  Dar went for the dropkick but Thomson pulled the referee in front of him and it was the ref who went down.  Thomson then attempted to use a steel chair on Dar but Grado grabbed the chair from behind to stop him.  Grado then went to hit Thomson with the "wee boot", only for Thomson to drop out of the way and Grado dropped his friend instead.  Thomson took advantage, scored the pinfall and as Grado chased after an angry Dar, attempting to apologise, Thomson took the microphone and announced that he had just beaten the number one contender for the heavyweight title and demanded to know where that left him and that he would not leave the ring until he got an answer.  Lionheart came out to give him his answer - a video was played showing that he would be facing Austin Aries at the show on 8 August.  (Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, it was later announced that Aries would no longer be able to make this show and that Samoa Joe would be appearing instead, and will face Damian O'Connor)

The penultimate match was Kid Fite v Big Damian O'Connor.  I love Big Damo - how a guy that size can be so agile and pull off some of those moves is just incredible to watch and against a guy like Kid Fite, this match was guaranteed to have everyone going and it did.  I was so into this match, I even forgot to take any photographs for half of it.  Fite gave it everything but it didn't save him from being dropkicked into the corner before being Damo's doormat as the big guy stood on him then dropped the senton.  At this point, TJ Rage and Davey Blaze appeared and attacked Damo.  The referee called for the bell, announcing Damo as the winner by disqualification.  With Kid Fite back on his feet, it was 3 on 1, until Wolfgang appeared to make the save.

The main event saw Grado put the PWE Heavyweight title on the line against he first ever winner of said title, Andy Wild.  This was a good match but had a slightly strange atmosphere....Grado did not seem to have his usual cheer squad.  In fact at one point when he tried to get the crowd going, he was met with silence.  He did manage to parade around the ringside area holding Wild and inviting the kids to "give him a chop".  Wild on the other hand had the crowd chanting for him throughout.  Wild was robbed of the chance to regain the belt when Noam Dar made an appearance and nailed Wild with the title belt.  The ref called for the bell and Wild was declared the winner of the match by disqualification...but the title can only change hands by pinfall or submission, leaving Grado still Champion.  Grado and Dar appeared to have a confrontation in the ring, however it was shortlived and the two ended up dancing in celebration.

The 4th anniversary show on 8 August is shaping up to be another cracker.  Platinum and silver packages are already sold out but general admission tickets go on sale on Friday 26 June.  Tickets can be purchased from their website http://www.prowrestlingelite.com/shop/event-tickets

To keep up to date with match announcements for this show and find out about future shows, check out PWE on Facebook