Tag: KUSHIDA

Big Takeaways —

• Kushida defeated Just Justice Jackie Polo in the main event.
• Liam Thompson defeated NXT UK’s Joe Coffey to win the ICW Zero G title.

Full Recap —

Billy Kirkwood, James R. Kennedy, and Jen Louise welcomed us to the O2 Academy in Glasgow, Scotland and hyped up the show, focusing on the main event between NXT’s Kushida and Just Justice Jackie Polo.

Kenny Williams & Iestyn Rees defeated More Than Hype (LJ Cleary, Nathan Martin & Darren Kearney) in a two-on-three handicap match (9:19)

NXT UK’s Williams got on the mic before the match and cut a heel promo saying he challenged MTH because he wanted to prove that the only thing worse than the trainees in Scotland are the trainees from Ireland. MTH appeared at ICW’s King of Hawners 2019 six-man tag tournament.

Williams and Martin started off with some nice chain wrestling before the energetic Cleary was tagged in. Williams was frustrated in the opening exchanges as MTH matched him at every step. Martin and Kearney took out Rees with dives to the outside, but Rees was quickly back in to knock down his smaller Irish opponents.

Williams and Rees beat down Cleary, but Martin soon got the hot tag, knocked Rees off the apron, and hit an enzuigiri on Williams. The threesome nearly came close to winning after a frog splash from Cleary, but Williams kicked out at two. Rees quickly re-entered the ring and speared all three of MTH and dragged Williams over Cleary to pick up the win.

ICW Women’s Champion Kasey (w/ The Wee Man) defeated Aivil to retain the title (3:34)

A quick weapon-filled brawl. Kasey is the current three-time ICW Women’s Champion and has won the title at this event previously (two years ago against NXT UK’s Kay Lee Ray in 42 seconds). Wee Man got on the mic before the match and said that Kasey could beat up any man in the building.

Aivil went after Kasey with a kendo stick and chased her around ringside until she was halted by a chair to the face. Kasey hit a few more chair shots inside the ring, but Aivil fought back — dropkicking the chair into the champion’s face.

Aivil was going for a submission when two of the Wee Man’s clients — the POD (Ashton Smith and Rampage Brown) — came to ringside and distracted Aivil, allowing Kasey to hit another chair shot and a chair-assisted kick to the face to pick up the win.

Rampage Brown was going for a shoulder breaker on Aivil after the bell when the POD’s opponents The Purge (Krobar and Stevie James) came to make the save.

The Purge (Krobar & Stevie James) defeated The POD (Ashton Smith & Rampage Brown) (8:04)

There was a big brawl in the opening moments with Krobar fighting around ringside and even into the crowd. Brown hit a big powerslam on James for a two count early on and the POD kept on top of James to cut him off from his corner.

Krobar got the hot tag and hit a big flying clothesline and locked Brown in a triangle, but the big man powered out. Smith and James had a good exchange inside the ring as Brown took out Krobar with a chair shot on the outside. The POD came close with a superkick/uranage combination on James, who kicked out at the last moment.

Krobar fought back in and knocked Brown to the outside. The Purge then hit the Murder Death Kill spike piledriver onto Smith and picked up the win.

Mark Coffey defeated Andy Wild (8:05)

Two masked assailants of Coffey unsuccessfully interfered early on, but the distraction was good enough for Coffey to take the advantage.

Coffey focused his attack on Wild’s ribs throughout. Wild fought back, but the masked men at ringside distracted him again during his comeback and Coffey rolled him up in a sunset flip to pick up the flash pinfall victory. Wild needed help to the back with his injured ribs.

Liam Thompson defeated Joe Coffey to win the ICW Zero G Championship (21:30)

This match was contested under official professional wrestling rules as opposed to ICW’s usual more lenient approach. They played up Thompson’s comeback from a career-threatening neck injury, re-debuting at this event last year and his chase to this title shot at this point in his career.

They didn’t outright say it, but they inferred that this could be Thompson’s last chance at gold in ICW if he didn’t get the job done here.

Thompson hit a missile dropkick through the ropes to Coffey on the outside but got caught coming off the top as Coffey hit a big swing and a slingshot to the outside. A middle rope suplex and a German suplex followed for Coffey, but the referee was distracted by a missing turnbuckle pad and couldn’t make the count.

Both then blocked attempts at being thrown into the exposed turnbuckle, but Coffey kept on top of his challenger. Thompson fought back and went up top again and hit his missile dropkick this time. He went to the well once too often and missed a diving headbutt from the top. Coffey retaliated with splashes in the corner, a big double-jump crossbody off the top rope, and a running diving headbutt but only got a two count.

They had a forearm exchange as the crowd got more and more into this intense fight. Thompson hit two running dropkicks in the corner and a Northern Lights suplex for a close two count.

Thompson went for another running dropkick but hit the ref as Coffey moved. Thompson took advantage of the official being down and kicked Coffey below the belt. He then brought out his sink from under the ring, with Kennedy on commentary saying he is sinking to new levels in order to win the title.

Coffey hit a low blow of his own when Thompson was going for a sink shot. Coffey then hit a pedigree in a nod to “his uncle Paul” — as Kirkwood said on commentary. He then completed his Triple H routine by taking a sledgehammer out from under the ring and spitting water from the apron.

Coffey handcuffed Thompson to the ropes as he took the sledgehammer to Thompson’s beloved sink. The handcuffs broke and Thompson was let loose. He hit a sit-out powerbomb and the referee just made it back to make the cover, but Coffey kicked out at the last moment.

Coffey rolled to the outside, but Thompson took him out with a suicide dive. Back inside, Coffey caught Thompson coming off the top rope and hit a spinning sidewalk slam for another close two count. Coffey hit All the Best for the Bells (his discus lariat), but Thompson kicked out.

Thompson dodged as Coffey launched himself at him and Coffey collided head-first with the exposed turnbuckle. A backstabber by Thompson followed, then another off the top rope that finished off the Iron King and crowned Thompson the new Zero G Champion. They shook hands after the bell.

Paul Robinson defeated Krieger (8:51)

Robinson got into a shoving match with a fan at ringside as he made his entrance.

Krieger came flying out with a running dropkick and a European uppercut off the middle rope, but Robinson soon came back with intense right hands. Krieger threw Robinson from corner to corner, but Robinson went after Krieger’s knee to ground the bigger man.

They went up top and Robinson hit a moonsault into a DDT for a close two count. Krieger hit a Death Valley Driver for a near fall and followed up with mounted right hands.

Krieger then brought out a bag of thumbtacks and spread them across the canvas. Robinson went into them via a pop-up powerbomb but hulked up, seemingly unfazed, and threw a handful of tacks in Krieger’s eyes and put him head-first into the tacks with a jumping foot stomp and picked up the win.

He attacked Krieger with a chair after the bell. Robinson got on the mic and said he was the hardest man in Glasgow. This brought out Kid Fite, who shut Robinson up with a right hand to the jaw. The security and officials held them apart and Fite shouted to the crowd that he was going to go get Robinson.

Leyton Buzzard defeated Joe Hendry with Hendry’s ICW career on the line (12:25)

The stipulations for this one were if Hendry lost, he had to leave ICW. If Buzzard lost, he had to wear a mask and not say a word until after Fear and Loathing in November. This was a battle between student and teacher.

Buzzard hit a missile dropkick off the top rope, but Hendry soon fought back and hit a big codebreaker out of the corner. Buzzard kicked out strong at one.

Buzzard then hit Hendry’s own fallaway slam and a 450 splash, but Hendry kicked out at the last moment. Hendry fought back and hit a butterfly suplex into a knee to the face, followed up by a steamroller running clothesline that knocked the lighter Buzzard halfway across the ring. A dominator followed, with Buzzard kicking out.

Hendry locked in an ankle lock and grapevined the leg, but Buzzard did not tap out — he reversed it! Buzzard then kicked out of a low blow, fallaway slam, and Death Valley Driver slam too as it seemed nothing would put him away. Moments later, Buzzard slipped out of another fallaway slam, hit a uranage of his own, and a second 450 splash and picked up the win.

Hendry got on the mic after the match and put over Leyton Buzzard. He said tonight didn’t make Buzzard a star — he was already a star.

The Kings of the North (Bonesaw & Corvin) defeated Aaron Echo & Kieran Kelly (11:17)

There was a flying start as Echo hit a diving clothesline over the top rope and Kelly came off the top with a double crossbody during their entrance. Kelly hit a powerbomb-assisted meteora from the top rope but soon fell to his stronger opponents.

KOTN hit a backstabber/rolling senton combination as Kelly stretched and crawled for a tag. Kelly kicked out of a big Death Valley Driver and eventually made the hot tag to Echo.

Echo ran wild on KOTN and was joined by Kelly, who came close with a back suplex-assisted moonsault. Kelly hit a double dropkick and hulked up but ran right into a double teamed cutter, which gave the Kings of the North the win.

Kushida defeated Just Justice Jackie Polo (w/ The Warden) (22:21)

This was billed as Just Justice’s farewell match in ICW. Ring announcer Simon Cassidy rang off all of Kushida’s NJPW title reigns and tournament wins, as well as Polo’s ICW title reigns to give it the big match feel.

There was around a 40 lb size difference here and it didn’t take long for Polo to show his superior size and strength in the opening chain wrestling exchanges. Kushida showed his skills though and easily transitioned into various crossfaces while on the mat.

Kushida hit a springboard back elbow, then went back to the ground game and arm attack and locked Polo in a modified hammerlock. Polo came back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a vertical suplex.

Polo had the crowd in the palm of his hands as he beat down Kushida with a bear hug, a Northern Lights suplex, and a driving elbow from the middle rope. Kushida tried to fight back, but Polo floored him with a clothesline.

Kushida fought back with a tilt-a-whirl DDT, a combination of kicks, and a rolling cartwheel into a dropkick. He went for a big pump kick, but Polo dodged it and floored him again with a clothesline.

Polo hit the 10 punches in the corner, but Kushida somehow handspring kicked Polo to the outside and hit a diving senton to the floor. Polo’s strength advantage showed again on the outside as he crotched Kushida on the ring post, then dropped him back-first on the guardrail.

Back inside, Polo went for another driving elbow but Kushida caught him in a cross armbreaker. Polo powered out of it. Kushida hit another handspring, but Polo caught him in the electric chair position and slammed him face-first to the mat.

Kushida fought back with a step-up kick, but Polo again powered him into a shoulder breaker and locked him in a crossface.

They were then on the top rope. Kushida blocked a superplex and took Polo down with a flying armbar. He hit a springboard cutter, then transitioned into the Hoverboard Lock. Polo could do nothing but tap out.

After the match, Kenny Williams came out and demanded an apology from Kushida. Williams said he has been called a second-rate Kushida all his career and that two years ago he didn’t even know who Kushida was. He wanted Kushida to apologize and say he was a second-rate Kenny Williams.

Polo came in and distracted Williams to let Kushida hit his big punch and knock Williams down and out. Kushida shook hands with Polo and left the ring to him to receive his last ICW ovation.

Polo took the mic and thanked Kushida for stepping in. He said he didn’t ask for Kushida or to be in the main event, he only asked to be able to address the crowd. He talked about his Just Justice character and said that tonight was a farewell to it.

Polo said he didn’t know when he is going to return or what he will look like, but when (or if) he comes back it will be to give the best wrestling performance he can.