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grapsandclaps · 6 years ago

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GRAPS AND CLAPS REVIEWS - PCW 'CARD SUBJECT TO CHANGE'

Hello and welcome everyone to Part 2 of the PCW weekender this time taking me to Leeds once again, but this time to a new venue in the form of Pryzm which was once the home of True Grit Wrestling a couple of years ago. For PCW tonight it was near enough a sellout, which for a first time in a new city is excellent as there is a gap in the market in Leeds which currently has 2 prevalent promotions in Tidal who run the Temple of Boom and also RISE who are literally in their own market and fan base, which in this day and age is something that they should be proud of.

Arriving in Leeds after a detour to Manchester due to another walkout by Northern Rail which is becoming a bit of a laughing stock now, first port of call was regular haunt - Tapped to meet up with Ben and later Athers. Only one pint in here whilst I tried to wrangle getting some free Wi-Fi from a Primark nearby, that pint being a £3.90 pint of Bernard Light which as ever is a good crisp lager, due to this place being rammed we decided to move elsewhere to The Nation of Shopkeepers which is located on the way to the 02 Academy.

One highlight of this pub is the big beer garden area with one half being heated and the other half being uncovered, thankfully the sun had returned for one last time this weekend, I had a pint of Sweetwater Brewery Hash Session IPA costing £4.80, very fruity in taste and possibly the best pint of the day, they certainly offer a good selection of IPA's, but as one person said to me later in the night that the lack of stouts/porters was evident but nonetheless an excellent bar/pub.

A walk up the hill, we then visited the Merchant pub next door to Pryzm, on first impression this is a bit of a rough and ready fake 'Spoons which was hit by a Goose Island shortage so I had to plump for a £4 pint of San Miguel which is one of the better mass produced lager out there, but for the real ale enthusiasts it is certainly lacking in choice. Last pub before going to the wrestling was the big 'Spoons on Millenium Square that was bathed in the Autumn sunshine, this is maybe the best 'Spoons in Leeds but one thing I did notice in the city on this day was there must have been some sort of Gypsy festival going on as it was teeming with extra's from My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding - proper David Dickinson tans on show here folks.

Drinks done, it was off to the wrestling at Przym with around 250/300 in attendance on this evening in what was a spacious nightclub room which is akin to many of PCW's venues.First thing I was greeted with was the news off my mate Rodger who reported that bottles of 330ml Budweiser were £5 a bottle and that would be the general price of things with bottles of Kopparberg being £5.90 and near enough a dry bumming for everything else - this was probably the only down point on what is a very good venue for wrestling.

Due to PCW's ring announcer not being available we had Steven Fludder doing the honours of compering the evening, so without further ado let's get into what went down on this evening. We started off with 4-way action with Planet Bolton's own Arcadian taking on A.C Stryker, Dave Birch and former PCW Women's Champion Rhio. This was a 7/8 minute affair that was more of a showcase for Rhio who looked excellent during this match, dives were hit to the outside by Styker, Birch and Arcadian but they were all then flattened by Rhio came off the top with a crossbody to everyone below. Not long after Rhio used a Pumphandle slam and a roll of the dice to Dave Birch for the impressive victory and build momentum on her way to the Blindfold match on the 23rd November in Blackpool.

Second up was a battle of two former rivals with Chris Masters taking on Iestyn Rees. Early part of this contest was Iestyn trying to avoid getting in the ring to face Masters but he was caught on the ring rope and thrown back in the ring by The Masterpiece. Back in the ring though it was Iestyn who dominated a lot of this match, but a spirited comeback from Masters had him on the verge of victory as he looked to lock in the Masterlock but was kicked in the balls by Rees whilst the ref wasn't looking, leading to Rees hitting an elevated slam to Masters for the 3 count. This was a really good big lad's match and you sort of forget that Rees and Masters are very underrated as two big lad wrestlers.

Third match up was the debut in PCW of 'The Pork of York' Dom Black taking on our boy Ashton Smith who as ever was sang to from the Manchester section of the crowd,but this was being drowned out by Black's supporters who know him very well from his time in True Grit and RISE. During Black's entrance he tried to through a bouquet of roses to the crowd but it kept getting thrown back to him, so not much love around in Leeds from some people .Black during this match was trying to get in the head of Ashton by using tactics like pulling his own trunks down and other sexual references to his Pork. Black though got the Pork Shoulder from Ashton and was duly made mincemeat of when Ashton got ticked off and finished off Black with a GTS then a roll of the dice for the victory in around 15 minutes. If anything Black got over with the crowd and got a 'Please come back' chant so a thumbs up to a return for him in the future.

Half Time Main Event was a rematch from Blackpool a couple of months ago between Sheikh El-Sham and Joey Hayes. Sheikh who once again was getting the 'Sheikh El Shambles and Sheiking in his boots' chants worked early on Joey's and ribs using elevated knee strikes to wind Hayes,and this would work into the finish as Sheikh glanced Hayes with a chairshot to the ribs and then a sweet rolling spear which looks excellent as a finisher for the big victory - Sheikhy is certainly getting the rocket strapped to him in PCW and I could easily see him as Champion in the next year which would be a great achievement for the lad. After the match Joey did get scant consolation as he got hit with a JKO off Hayes to send him packing to the back.

Back from the break we returned with PCW Women's action with the Champion Nightshade this time taking on another PCW debutant in the form of Midlands wrestler Kanji who I have seen once before at Southside and was impressive on that occasion showing a lot of high flying moves for someone in the infancy of their career. BOOM BOOM BOOM LET ME HEAR YOU SAY KANJI KANJI! was the cry from our section of the crowd to try and will her on to beat Nightshade, but despite her best efforts when she tried to fightback with a moonsault that she ultimately missed to Nightshade, leading to Nightshade to land a roundhouse kick to the back of Kanji's head to get the 3 count. I for one hope to see Kanji get another opportunity in PCW as she came across very good here.

Semi Main Event we had a battle of two up and coming youngsters with Kieran Kelly who had looked good in the first match at Blackpool on the Friday night taking on Philip Michael who had picked up a win against Ashton Smith the night before, This was a really good back and forth contest where both lads certainly didn't put foot wrong where some more experienced wrestlers certainly would. Since his break away from PCW, Philip Michael has changed up his style of wrestling a bit as he was more submission based when last seen, but he has picked up more lucha libre style offence which can only be a good thing. Kelly himself was impressive on this evening, coming within a whisker of beating Phil with a splash from the top rope for a 2 count, sadly for Kieran it wasn't to end so good as Phil dug into his submission catalogue and made Kieran tap out to a double arm submission for the victory - this was certainly my graps!

Main event time with PCW Champion Tel Banham and BIG T taking on the team of 'Magnificent' Matthew Brooks and T-Bone who was clad in full Operamania garb whilst also treating the fans to his dulcet tones (I can say I have heard worse ha). Before I get into the match, someone to the left hand side of the crowd shouted 'Sexual Chocolate' at BIG T, which he certainly took offence to as he walked round to that side and gripped the lad who probably was walking in a puddle of his own shit - don't mess with BIG T is the lesson here folks. As a first time team here I thought Brooks and Bone looked very cohesive as a unit and at one stage they double suplexed BIG T which at any time is an impressive feat of strength. Banham and T did come back into it focusing there attack on Brooks, that was until a hot tag to T-Bone who came in to clean house sending Big T packing over the top rope leaving Tel prone to a double boot from Bone and Brooks which was then followed up by dueling leg drops for the victory and chalking up another one in the loss column for your Champion Tel for whom this was a bad weekend of defeats.

With the show done at 8:45pm, it was time to say our goodbyes but not before making a visit back to Tapped to see Steve and Meg of London for a swift pint and a chat before getting the train/tram back to Rochdale at Midnight. So there we are another show done and in closing I have got to say I preferred the Leeds show over the Blackpool show with Kieran Kelly vs Philip Michael being the best match of the show, with Rees vs Masters and Smith vs Black being ones to keep a look out for, hopefully this show has proven successful enough for them to run the venue once again next year.

As ever I hope you have enjoyed reading this review and I will see you next time at Rev Pro's show in Brixton featuring Minoru Suzuki taking on Tomohiro Ishii - that will be proper two dads in a car park stuff. So until then - BYE!!

@oggypart3

#grapsandclaps

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