World of Sport Wrestling is hitting the road in 2019 for its first tour since being revived on ITV.
The promotion announced a nine-show tour today that will take place in the United Kingdom in January and February 2019. The dates are:
January 18 — Southampton, England (O2 Guildhall)
January 19 — Newport, Wales (Newport Centre)
January 20 — Bournemouth, England (International Centre)
January 25 — Stoke, England (Victoria Hall)
January 26 — Blackpool, England (Tower Ballroom)
January 27 — Aberdeen, Scotland (AECC)
February 1 — Scarborough, England (Spa Grand Hall)
February 2 — Northampton, England (Derngate)
February 3 — London, England (York Hall)
Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. local time on September 7.
Following a New Year’s Eve special that aired in 2016 and the series getting postponed after being scheduled to start last year, World of Sport taped 10 episodes of television in May. They began airing on ITV at the end of July, with four more episodes left to be shown. These are the first World of Sport shows to be announced since May’s tapings.
Greetings grapple fans, my name is Will Cooling and this is our recap of the third week of World of Sport Wrestling.
Before we begin, five ground rules. I’ve dialed back on the play-by-play in an attempt to make these recaps better to read. The commentary and production still sucks, but there’s no point in beating that dead horse.
I will divide the recap up into the segments, because I think the ad breaks say something about the rhythm of the program. I’ve tried to time matches, but if anyone shouts at me for getting the times slightly wrong, I’ll just stop timing them! And I’ve included links to Cagematch’s database for each wrestler in case you want to learn more about them and the local promotions they work for.
Segment One
We started with the commentators saying that Justin Sysum, one of the men Rampage beat to win the WOS Wrestling Championship two weeks ago, has demanded a shot at the title. This demand has been accepted, and the match will be our main event.
We then went to footage shot earlier that day of a confrontation between former champion Grado and WOS Wrestling executive producer Stu Bennett. The two had previously clashed over Bennett’s belief that Grado is a poor representative for British wrestling due to not taking the sport seriously by always acting the clown. Bennett reluctantly accepted Grado’s request for a match tonight, but he demanded that Grado treat the match seriously.
Grado came to the ring in a business suit, with the match built around the idea that he was suppressing his natural exuberance to impress Bennett. Grado and Samuels bantered over the microphone before the match, with Samuels mocking his opponent’s appearance while Grado stressed how seriously he’s been working on improving his physique.
Samuels dominated after Grado got a few early shots in. The key moment was when Grado countered a Samuels powerbomb on the entrance ramp with a back body drop. A fan then gave Grado a copy of his hat, which reminded Grado of who he really was. Grado threw Samuels back into the ring, then took his suit off to reveal his usual ring gear.
Grado went on the offensive after the reveal, ultimately winning with the Grado Cutter at 5 minutes and 6 seconds.
This match was ostensibly built by Kirby walking out on Hendry while the two were seeking to progress in the Tag Team title tournament. Alas, this was not fought as a grudge match, with the emphasis instead on getting Kirby over as a heel, with him either playing the cheat, coward, or show-off.
They started with chain wrestling exchanges, with the idea that Kirby is so arrogant that he’ll grapple with a Commonwealth Games credentialed amateur wrestler. Kirby literally dropped down to his hands and knees, daring Hendry to flip him — a gambit that went predictably badly for him. After that, they had an even match with Kirby being the quicker and more mobile of the two competitors, while Hendry would have the punching power and grappling strength advantage.
The finish came when Kirby evaded a second fallaway slam from Hendry and went for a powerbomb, but Hendry countered that by going for the Hendry Lock. Kirby sold an injury to his ankle. Hendry walked toward him, only to be rolled up by Kirby, and pinned at 6 minutes and 44 seconds while Kirby had his feet on the ropes.
The tag team tournament continues to baffle with yet another makeshift team up against a more establish one. This time, Gunn and Stevie Boy had matching gear and face paint. Banks refused to tag Slayer, instead choosing to struggle against the more accomplished tag team by himself for several minutes.
Banks finally got an opening when Slayer snuck in a cheapshot on the outside while Banks distracted the referee. More than three minutes in, Banks tagged out for the first time. They then suddenly started exchanging fast tags and dominating their opponents. Gunn got the hot tag. He ran wild, even managing to dispatch Banks when he tried to rescue Slayer.
Gunn and Stevie Boy got the victory with a Doomsday Device on Slayer at 6 minutes and 13 seconds.
This was the “big opportunity” that Kidd won in last week’s ladder match. I’m sure I don’t need to explain the pun, but the commentators sure took the time to do so. This was a total squash match, as the masked super-heavyweight destroyed the youngster. After manhandling Kidd in a match filled with typical big man spots, Crater won with a splash at 3 minutes and 41 seconds. Kidd was gently stretchered out afterwards.
Rampage scored early offense with clubbing blows, but Sysum responded by using his speed and agility. This was the basic pattern of the match, with periods of control from Rampage being interrupted by moments where Sysum used his high-flying to gain an advantage.
Sysum was in control, and then like an idiot, he clotheslined both him and Rampage to the outside, where the champion had the advantage. As the two competitors got to their feet, Samuels sent Banks under the ring, so that he could grab Banks’ foot before he could beat the referee’s count, thereby allowing Rampage to win by countout. Not that the referee’s count was ever explained on this show (aside from the commentators).
Conclusion
I’ve been mocking the idea that this product should be excused from criticism because it’s aimed at mainstream audiences since the opening weekend. This is not a mainstream product. It uses none of the production tricks or formats that have made ITV such a powerhouse in family entertainment, nor does it pitch a more typical pro wrestling product to a casual audience.
This is simply a bad pro wrestling show. It’s loaded with cliches from WWE. The first match was a clear reference to the corporate Steve Austin turns on Vince McMahon angle from 1998. But it made no sense (as Bennett noted on commentary) — because how does wrestling in a suit show that you’re being serious? Likewise, Bennett booking Kidd against Crater was clearly mimicking the evil GM booking the babyface against Kane, but again such casual sadism doesn’t make sense because Kidd did nothing to provoke Bennett.
Likewise, there are clear gaps in logic, which will annoy both casual and hardcore fans. Why does a grudge match between former tag partners begin with amateur wrestling holds? Why is Banks tagging with Slayer rather than Samuels? Why would four pro wrestlers fight in a ladder match for the mystery box? Then there are the outright lies — a babyface like Grado shouldn’t be making ridiculous statements about families and children crying over his title loss.
Ironically, the worst example of the cluelessness was the reference to this website’s very own Dave Meltzer. There is obviously a place in pro wrestling to reference the sport’s leading journalist, but I struggle to see how anyone thought namechecking Dave’s sense of humor was appropriate when urging Grado to throw off his suit. Especially when there was no attempt to explain who he is or why he’s important. To place this is in context, I reported on Trent Seven celebrating getting the first ***** tag team match in WWE history at a Fight Club Pro event report for a local newspaper. Rather than randomly namedrop Dave, I explained the positive critical feedback from overseas in a way that would make sense to a casual audience.
Regardless of the booking and production, the wrestling is fine throughout the show. However, this was the first episode not to have a great match. To be blunt, this is not working. Both the viewing figures, and share of the audience, have almost halved in less than three weeks. Forget being renewed, they will be lucky to survive at 5 p.m. on ITV for the next seven weeks.
Will Cooling is a regular contributor to Fighting Spirit Magazine, the UK’s biggest and best pro wrestling magazine, which is available worldwide at https://pocketmags.com/fighting-spirit-magazine. He is also the co-host of the It Could Be Wrestling podcast, which you can find on iTunes or real computers. He also recently did a column on Kid Lykos’s recent injury for the Indy Corner. You can follow him on Twitter at @willcooling or harangue him at [email protected].
Greetings grapple fans, my name is Will Cooling, and I am here to look at the sophomore WOS Wrestling episode.
Just like last week, let me make a few general points to save me from repeating myself.
Firstly, either I was overly generous last week, or the commentary has gotten worse, as they were pretty bad this time around. At a basic level, they would keep contradicting themselves, like when they said that watching Doug Williams was going back in a time machine, but then quickly corrected themselves by adding that World of Sport was going forward.
That type of miscue is understandable in a live broadcast, but on a show that was recorded weeks in advance, there’s no excuse. If Alex Shane wasn’t meant to say that Williams was a throwback, then the commentary should have been redone to avoid confusing the fans. Speaking of confusing the fans, the commentators seemed much more focused on pushing the storyline of Stu Bennett being a heel authority figure, even in matches that had nothing to do with the overarching storyline of him supporting Rampage.
But worst is the commentators’ assumption that fans have a thorough understanding of American pro wrestling, with references to people like Kurt Angle and AJ Styles littered throughout a show that is apparently aimed at a mainstream British audience. Perhaps the WWE influence was worse during the women’s match, where the commentators put Stephanie McMahon to shame in self-congratulating themselves.
Secondly, the camera work was just as annoying as last week, with the overuse of the bird’s eye camera shot being particularly annoying. And as with last week, the promotion also desperately needs to add video packages to explain who the characters are rather than rely on commentary.
Finally, three ground rules. I will divide the recap up into the segments, because I think the ad breaks say something about the rhythm of the program. I’ve tried to time matches, but if anyone shouts at me for getting the times slightly wrong, I’ll just stop timing them! And I’ve included links to Cagematch’s database for each wrestler in case you want to learn more about them and the local promotions they work for.
Segment One
The opening video spoiled a key announcement that Stu Bennett was about to make to the crowd. In this case, it was that the main event will see the crowning of the first-ever WOS Women’s Champion. This may seem a redundancy, but the commentators and audience sell Bennett’s announcements as breaking news, so it’s a direct contradiction to what the viewers have just seen.
Bennett seems to have settled at the commentators table, standing at the booth to deliver that announcement and introducing Rampage, CJ Banks, and Sha Samuels for the championship celebration. It should be noted that we still have no explanation as to who Banks is, or why Samuels has gone from competing against Rampage for the title shot last week to being aligned with him.
Indeed, Samuels is now acting as Rampage’s mouthpiece. He talked about how we finally have a champion to be proud of, without explaining why he thinks Rampage is an improvement on Grado. He said that nobody has the “minerals” to fight the champion. Joe Hendry interrupted, and this time he got a full entrance that properly got over his gimmick of singing his own entrance. Alas, it was a generic song about why he’s so great, rather than the hilarious parody songs he’s done to mock his opponents in ICW.
Hendry cut an impassioned promo demanding a title shot, and after Rampage non-verbally consented to Bennett, the executive producer granted Hendry the title shot. One thing you have to say in WOS Wrestling’s favor is that it exposes just how bloated WWE television has become, because this typical Raw shtick was delivered in about a tenth of the time, and it didn’t hurt the product at all.
They began by locking up and exchanging wrestling holds as the commentators put over the challenger competing for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games. Hendry went for a couple of quick pins on basic moves (fireman’s carry and shoulder charge), which Rampage unsurprisingly kicked out of at one. I wonder if that was meant to be a pun on the difference between amateur and professional rules that the commentators didn’t pick up on.
Rampage bailed to the outside. He conferred with his allies, while the commentators bickered about Bennett’s relationship with Rampage. The champion re-entered the ring while Hendry was distracted by Samuels and Banks, allowing Rampage to club him from behind. He then hit a couple of European uppercuts. He got a two count off a brainbuster. While Hendry was crawling to the ropes, Samuels hit the challenger as Rampage distracted the referee.
Rampage beat down on Hendry. He went for a sleeper, but Hendry powered out of it. Hendry made his comeback, going for three quick pins before Rampage put him down with a clothesline. Rampage completed a bodyslam. He jumped onto Hendry’s back for another sleeper, only for the Scot to escape through a suplex.
Hendry went on the offensive, culminating with a fallaway slam. Rather than the pin, Hendry went for the ankle lock. Rampage rushed to the ropes to break the hold. Hendry pulled him back into the center of the ring and attempted to reapply the hold. However, Banks distracted him, allowing Rampage to hit the implant DDT for the victory at 5 minutes and 50 seconds.
Fine match, albeit one that was more of a showcase for Hendry than the champion.
Segment Two
We rejoined the commentators as they introduced the ladder match. This was a straight Money in the Bank ripoff, with a briefcase being the prize for the competitors to grab, only we were never told what was in the briefcase. According to Bennett, it’s a “big opportunity,” but that’s as much detail as we were given.
No ring entrances for the four competitors, as their names were announced in the ring.
There is a fundamental problem with booking a ladder match at 5 p.m. on ITV — their strict interpretation of the broadcasting regulations means that they won’t allow weapons to be used as weapons. This meant that throughout this match, there was no attempt to hit anybody with a ladder.
For example, when the ladder was first introduced into the ring, Kidd and Lionheart did spots teasing throwing each other into the ladder in the corner. However, the key word is tease, as they clearly were both deliberately landing short of the ladder, only for Lionheart to fail to get his arms up in time to use the ropes to stop himself falling face first into the ladder. So, ITV made sure to not show the impact.
Likewise, when the ladder was edged into another corner, knocking Robbie X onto the top turnbuckle, Slater made sure to superplex Robbie X onto the canvass rather than the prone ladder. Why they decided to book a ladder match with these restrictions is beyond me.
So, with no ladder shots allowed, we got a collection of spots where people walked up ladders and were thrown off them. In between that, we got a lot of two wrestlers doing basic wrestling exchanges, before one of them slid out and was replaced by another. Robbie X looked the best in the ring, with his moonsault off the ladder being the most impressive move in the match. He also took the best bump, falling to the floor after Lionheart tipped the ladder over. Typically, the commentary used that moment to talk about how short he is.
The end came after Slater introduced a second ladder as Lionheart was trying to get the title. Lionheart, however, delivered a Rock Bottom mid-way off the ladders to stop Slater. Kidd and Lionheart then went for the briefcase on the different ladders, with the youngster throwing the veteran off and securing the “big opportunity” at 7 minutes and 58 seconds.
Incredibly, neither the ring announcement nor the post-match interview with Kidd explained what the big opportunity actually entails. On commentary, Bennett mentioned that Kidd will receive his big opportunity next week. At the end of the show, it was hinted it might be a swerve, with Kidd having fought to win a chance of facing the monster Crater. Which makes perfect sense.
Segment Three
We returned to the commentators, who talked about the tournament for the new WOS Wrestling Tag Team titles. They helpfully showed a graphic that, while keeping the identities of the teams a secret, confirmed that we’re looking at an eight-team tournament. Why this title needs a tournament — when the others were decided by one-off matches — was never explained.
As with last week, more effort was put into explaining the heel tag team’s partnership, with Maxted and Cruz being introduced as a pretty boy team that represent the new generation of British pro wrestling. The two pointed out how good looking they are as they entered, commentary talked about them maybe having matching “His & His” bathrobes, they slapped each other’s butts before entering the ring, and the commentators mentioned how much they like each other.
Meanwhile, Williams and Drake were clearly thrown together.
Williams and Cruz locked up, only to break at the ropes, with Cruz blowing him a kiss. The commentary put over Williams strong as a legend of the business while the two exchanged wrestling holds and pinning combinations. It should be said that WOS Wrestling is certainly doing a better job of integrating technical wrestling into the action than WWE. Williams went on the offense, with a splash off the second rope getting a two count.
Williams tagged in Drake, but Cruz managed to drive him into his corner and tagged Maxted. The man of Love Island fame went on offense until Drake switched momentum with a hurricanrana. The babyfaces then dominated with quick tags and double-team moves. However, as Williams was about to leave the ring, he accidentally occupied the referee, allowing Cruz to distract Drake and allow Maxted to hit a dropkick.
Maxted tagged out, and Cruz went on offense until Maxted tagged back in. He whipped Drake into the corner, then did push-ups while his opponent sold the impact. Drake went for the tag after kicking Maxted off, but Cruz pulled Williams down so the tag was not available. Cruz tagged in to continue the beating. Cruz put Drake in a sleeper, but Drake escaped, did a forward roll to evade a clothesline, and got the tag.
Williams ran wild. He hit an exploder suplex — but gave up the cover so Maxted hit his partner while going for a splash. Williams threw him out before making a second pin attempt. He then tagged Drake, and they double-teamed Cruz. Maxted interrupted the cover and then hit Williams with a superkick, with Cruz following up with a codebreaker.
Drake went for a Stinger Splash, but Cruz pushed him off. Maxted hit a springboard neckbraker, allowing Cruz to get the victory at 7 minutes 43 seconds as his partner held back Williams. This was a fun tag team match, with Maxted once again showing real poise in the ring.
We returned from the commercial break with the reintroductions. In another example of the weird lack of basic quality control, Bennett said that Ray and Priestley’s jaws dropped when Viper was announced as the last competitor, despite the competitors having been announced at the start of the show. We got similar things with the commentators talking about this being a historic breakthrough for women’s pro wrestling, but then comparing Viper to the great competitors of the 70s and 80s.
Ray went for handshakes, but Viper refused. Priestley went for a schoolboy, but Viper kicked out. Viper was on offense early, using her size and power to beat up the other women. Viper hit bodyslams on both her opponents, ultimately throwing Ray onto Priestley. A splash from Viper got a two. Viper whipped both into the corner, but she missed a splash.
Ray hit a dropkick on Viper, but Viper blocked a hurricanrana and buckle bombed her into Priestley. Viper hit a Vader Bomb on Priestley, but Ray broke up the count. Ray went for a Gory Special, but Viper reversed into a short-arm clothesline that got a two count.
Ray and Priestley started double-teaming Viper. They finally got her down with a superkick into a German suplex. Priestley turned on Ray, and then got two counts on both Viper and Ray. Priestley went to the top, Ray got up and tried for a superplex, and Priestley knocked her down and hit a double stomp. That got a two. A Gory Special from Ray on Priestley also got a two.
Viper returned to the fray, but Ray hurt her with open palm slaps. Ray managed to knock Viper down, but she only got two. Ray and Priestley were fighting in the corner before Viper knocked them down and hit a senton. Viper hit a Michinoku Driver on Ray, but Priestley broke the count with a kick to the head. Priestley got a two count on Viper, which Ray broke up.
Priestley rolled Viper out of the ring. Ray went for a tope outside, but Viper countered with a forearm. Priestley went for a hurricanrana off the ring apron, but Viper countered with a powerbomb. Viper threw Ray back into the ring — and threw Priestley into the ring apron. Ray, however, managed to hit the tope before Viper could re-enter. Viper was wobbly on her feet and went for a running powerslam, but Ray dropped down, hit a superkick, and then the Gory Special for the victory at 8 minutes and 25 seconds. Great match!
The show ended with a video that announced Joe Hendry vs. Martin Kirby for next week, hinted at Kidd vs. Crater, and teased a Rampage title defense.
Conclusion
Other than the ladder match where the wrestlers were put in an impossible position, the in-ring action was actually very strong this week, with the Women’s title match being great. But in terms of the big picture, this was just as flawed as the debut episode, with the attempt to book four matches meaning that nothing was properly explained to the audience.
Worse, they’re making no effort to tell coherent storylines. Take Joe Hendry for example. He looked good against Rampage, but his appearance makes no sense if next week he’s seeking revenge against Kirby. Likewise, it’s silly to talk about Rampage having a “reign of terror” when he’s only made one defense, and has had to cheat in all three of his matches. And having spent so much time getting Grado and Justin Sysum over as babyfaces last week, their absence was very noticeable.
The first week’s viewing figures underperformed based on expectations, but that they went from 920,000 viewers to 609,000 speaks to their failure in creating hooks to get people to keep watching. With the football season about to start, these viewing figures could get very bad, very quickly.
Will Cooling is a regular contributor to Fighting Spirit Magazine, the UK’s biggest and best pro wrestling magazine, which is available worldwide at https://pocketmags.com/fighting-spirit-magazine. He is also the co-host of the It Could Be Wrestling podcast, which you can find on iTunes or real computers. You can follow him on Twitter at @willcooling or harangue him at [email protected].
Greetings grapple fans, my name is Will Cooling, and I am your recapper for the next 10 (fingers crossed) weeks of pro wrestling on British television’s second biggest network, ITV.
Before we begin, rather than repeat myself throughout this recap, the camerawork for World of Sport is abysmal. They literally couldn’t properly frame a person standing in the ring talking, instead they kept shooting at an angle that meant the ring apron cut diagonally across the screen. I honestly thought there was a problem with my television for the first 10 minutes. The camerawork was even worse during matches, with the heavy use of close-ups, shaky-cam, and roving camera often giving me vertigo.
On the other hand, the commentary was perfectly competent. It has come to pass that replacing Jim Ross with Alex Shane is an upgrade, because Shane conveys real energy and passion throughout his calls. Likewise, I’ve always liked the setup where the authority figure is the third man (I remember Vince McMahon doing some excellent calls in that role in 1999, and Jim Cornette donning the headsets in TNA was always a highlight).
Stu Bennett (the former Wade Barrett) not only adds something to the broadcast, but his interplay with Shane helps explain his heel authority figure character.
Finally, three ground rules. I will divide the recap up into the segments, because I think the ad breaks say something about the rhythm of the program. I’ve tried to time matches, but if anyone shouts at me for getting the times slightly wrong, I’ll just stop timing them! And I’ve included links to Cagematch’s database for each wrestler in case you want to learn more about them and the local promotions they work for.
Segment One
Our commentary team is Alex Shane, SoCal Val, and (during matches) Stu Bennett, and the matches were recorded in Norwich, England.
We began with Bennett being introduced as the promotion’s senior executive. Bennett reprised his line that was carried in the show’s opening promo, about this being the time to take British pro wrestling away from the jokers and clowns. He was interrupted by Grado, the man who won the WOS Championship back on New Year’s Eve 2016. Bennett did a good job of subtly demonstrating his distaste for the champion, especially during a handshake.
Grado did a funny promo talking about how, while he doesn’t go to the gym, he does walk his dog. Given that the show is being produced like a game show, it’s hard to know when the reactions are genuine, but the audience seemed to have genuinely found that funny. Bennett told Grado to enjoy that reaction because he’ll be defending his title tonight against the winner of a five-man elimination match.
The competitors for the match were introduced by Bennett with no individual entrances. Indeed, there was no attempt to introduce the competitors — save for quick lines from the commentary. This was a shame — because Justin Sysum (former American football player) and Adam Maxted (former contestant on popular reality show “Love Island”) have interesting stories. Maxted showed good star presence, grabbing the camera to do a pose while flexing his pecs.
They started brawling down the entrance ramp, with tag team partners Rampage and Samuels beating down Sysum after they got into the ring. Crater ran wild on the other competitors. Maxted then annoyed the masked monster by posing in front of him. Maxted failed to bodyslam Crater, who then used the ring ropes to choke him. On the second attempt, Crater just failed to break the hold at five, and so the referee disqualified him at 1 minute and 55 seconds.
A soft disqualification, which was made worse by the fact that no attempt had been made to explain the rules of pro wrestling beforehand. Crater then destroyed everyone else in the ring before finally departing.
Rampage and Samuels returned to beating down Sysum. Shane criticized Bennett for booking a tag team in a contender’s match, and Bennett responded that “all’s fair in love and war.” Sysum made a Sting-esque comeback, but it proved a temporary hope spot before the onslaught resumed.
Samuels accidentally hit Rampage, and in the confusion, Sysum got the pinfall at 4 minutes 59 seconds. Rampage attacked Sysum from behind, but he was ultimately thrown into the ring post and collapsed to the floor. Maxted returned to the fray. He ended up outside the ring, and Sysum followed him with a tope. Sysum just beat the referee’s count to be declared the winner at 6 minutes and 44 seconds.
However, there was a problem where the referee had forgotten to account for Rampage, who had been lying down outside for over a minute. Rampage even beat the count without the referee noticing. Bennett declared Sysum the winner but, after criticizing the referee, added Rampage to the WOS World Championship match.
Segment Two
We returned from the ad break with Stu Bennett talking about “sports entertainment” and the importance of not trying this at home. These were run throughout the show, but this was the most egregious.
This time the competitors got individual entrances, but again no video packages were shown to explain who the wrestlers are and why they’re important. This was particularly noteworthy with Smith because a member of the mainstream audience would have no idea as to why his father was important or why Junior walks around with the Canadian flag.
Meanwhile, Ospreay’s achievements were summarized as him being the most “viral” pro wrestler in the world, presumably on the basis that members of the mainstream audience know and care about wrestling .gifs being shared on Twitter.
One thing that this match demonstrated was that Ospreay is a bigger man than you may assume, as up against someone who is booked as a powerhouse in NJPW’s heavyweight division, he never looked overly slight. After a fast start where Ospreay dropkicked his opponent outside the ring and then faked a suicide dive, Smith would control much of the match with power moves, including his father’s trademark spot of a delayed suplex. However, Ospreay was always in the match with his high-impact, high-flying offense.
Whatever you say about WOS Wrestling, they booked Ospreay as a more competitive heavyweight here than New Japan did against Taguchi! Ospreay built momentum after a dragon suplex, but Smith interrupted his momentum by getting his legs up to counter an attempted 640 splash. Ospreay would valiantly withstand Smith’s offense, something that would see this mainstream-focused product receive a “This Is Awesome” chant from the crowd.
After failing to secure the victory with a sit-down powerbomb, Smith would put Ospreay up on the top rope for a superplex. Ospreay would counter with a Cheeky Nandos kick. Ospreay would then go for a springboard hurricanrana, only for Smith to counter with a top rope powerslam. That secured the victory at 7 minutes and 50 seconds.
After the match, we were joined by a backstage interviewer standing in front a removals crate upon which the new WOS Wrestling Tag Team titles were resting. I have to say, that after watching this show live, I went to a town hall in Shropshire to watch a local wrestling show, and I honestly think the toy WWE US title that I saw a child carry looked better than a prize being fought for on national television.
This was followed by an interview with Iestyn Rees & Kip Sabian, in which the latter did all the talking. This was the most character work any wrestler other than Grado or Bennett were facilitated to do all show.
Before the commercial break, we had the entrances for the forthcoming tag team match. It’s worth noting that unlike Sabian, Joe Hendry got no time to explain his character to the audience. Presumably because they wouldn’t care about representing your country in the Commonwealth Games.
Hendry got the better of the early exchanges against Sabian before tagging in Kirby. The momentum changed during some fast-paced exchanges, with Sabian showing his superior ringmanship. Kirby gained the space to tag Hendry back in. Hendry went for a top rope move, but Rees grabbed the leg, allowing his partner to gain the advantage.
Rees was tagged in. They worked over Hendry while rotating the tag. Hendry escaped a powerslam but was pushed into Kirby, who bounced off the ring apron. On commentary, Bennett talked about the possibility of dissension in the ranks. Sabian resumed beating down on Hendry before making the tag to Rees. Rees and Sabian really do work well as a team, due to their combination of power and speed.
Hendry crawled over to make the tag, but Kirby jumped off the apron. Hendry was confused but went on to make his own comeback, including suplexing both opponents (why was he looking for a tag?). Hendry was somehow fighting against two men, but he ultimately fell to an elevated neckbreaker at 8 minutes 5 seconds.
Segment Four
We started with the entrances for the main event. Suddenly, the team of Rampage and Samuels have added a third ally in CJ Banks. Who he is and where he came from was not explained. Because the mainstream audience already knows who he is, presumably.
Rampage immediately started tearing into both babyfaces but was then thrown outside. Sysum was thrown outside, where Rampage and his allies picked him apart. Grado did a senton off the ring apron and brought Rampage back into the ring, but the bigger man gained the advantage.
Sysum came back in but quickly got hit by a senton by Grado. Rampage went for a piledriver, which luckily for him he couldn’t complete, as that move is banned in WOS Wrestling (something the audience knew already, I’m sure). Sysum hit a 450 splash on Grado, but Rampage threw him out of the ring. Rampage hit Grado with an implant DDT to secure the victory and win the title at 5 minutes 32 seconds.
The show ended with Rampage celebrating, and the promise of a ladder match, another match in the tag title tournament, and the first match on the road to determine the first-ever WOS Women’s Champion.
Conclusion
This wasn’t a good show. It really wasn’t.
The runtime for this episode when the advertisements are accounted for was around 47 minutes. To cram four matches, plus two talking segments, into that time meant that everything was rushed.
We all criticize WWE for the overemphasis on video packages, but this was a show crying out for them. At the very least show a clip of when Grado won the title, but ideally you would spend time to explain who the key characters are. I am not a regular ITV viewer, but shows like X Factor do a really good job of putting together short video packages that introduce you to the competitors. It baffles me that wasn’t done for the pro wrestlers.
Likewise, no attempt was made to explain what pro wrestling is. The few times I’ve watched Ninja Warrior, they really go out of their way to explain the rules of the contest. Other than garbled comments from the commentators, at no point was any attempt made to explain what the rules of pro wrestling are, something that is particularly dumbfounding when you consider the variety of rule sets used and that the actual wrestling on World of Sport used a completely different rule set.
Indeed, the influence of WWE is felt throughout the show. I mean, we literally have a heel authority figure droning on about why the clearly popular babyface is not marketable, and therefore he must conspire to get the title off them. Because of reasons. I don’t know, I doubt that the mainstream audience really cares about the politics of selling television abroad.
I can honestly say that I enjoyed the pilot more than this show. Other than getting Will Ospreay involved, the people behind it seem to have learned nothing. Indeed, with the camera work, they have regressed.
It’s all very disappointing, and if it doesn’t change, we should get ready to embrace our WWE overlords.
Will Cooling is a regular contributor to Fighting Spirit Magazine, the UK’s biggest and best pro wrestling magazine, which is available worldwide at https://pocketmags.com/fighting-spirit-magazine. He is also the co-host of the It Could Be Wrestling podcast, which you can find on iTunes or real computers. You can follow him on Twitter at @willcooling or harangue him at [email protected].
After months of questions, World of Sport Wrestling has resurfaced and is taping television imminently.
The next set of World of Sport tapings will take place over the course of three days, starting on May 10 and running through May 13. All of the tapings will take place at Epic Studios Norwich in Norfolk, England. It isn’t currently known what talent will appear at the taping, though some of the contracted talent for ITV include Dave Mastiff and Grado.
It had been reported in recent weeks in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the ITV contracted talent were told that the World of Sport promotion was looking to run shows again next month, with the idea of running a limited series. ITV has had interest in pro wrestling since taping and airing a pilot episode of World of Sport Wrestling back on New Years Eve 2016. They have not taped television since then, with a planned taping featuring Impact Wrestling talent being postponed back in May of last year due to prolonged contract negotiations.
At the same time, WWE is once again running shows in the United Kingdom. The upcoming United Kingdom Championship tournament will air in June at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The ITV World of Sport TV tapings scheduled for May 25th and 26th at the Preston Guild Hall have been postponed.
The story was first reported yesterday by Pro Wrestling Insider, but at the time, the talent was not aware and those at Impact didn’t respond to questions regarding the story. Today, some talent has received word and Sha Samuels and Dave Mastiff went on Twitter talking about being available for independent dates that weekend.
The tapings are to be rescheduled and an announcement is expected shortly regarding this.
No direct reason has been given other than changes in the makeup of the project.
The plan was to tape ten shows, which would start airing in July, and then if ratings were successful, it would become a regular Saturday afternoon program. Because of the power of ITV, it would immediately become the most watched wrestling show in the country. For a comparison, the pilot show, airing on December 31st, a bad day for viewing, did 1.25 million viewers while Raw and SmackDown struggle to do 50,000 viewers, albeit in a far worst time slot, and with the limited penetration of Sky.
There is talks of delaying the project until the fall, suing soccer as the Saturday afternoon lead-in, similar to how it was done in the 70s and 80s. But that is not the primary reason for the delay.
ITV and Impact Wrestling announced today officially that World of Sport will return to ITV with tapings at the Preston Guild Hall on May 25th and 26th.
The announcement was of a 10-episode series. ITV greenlit the series which would be largely funded by Anthem Entertainment, which would run the wrestling end, with Jeff Jarrett in charge of the wrestling.
There will be a launch announcement on March 27th at 2 p.m. in Manchester where more details will be announced, including the roster, as well as a Q&A.
We had reported on this already in the Observer a few weeks ago, noting that the show would be airing at 5 p.m. on Saturdays and start in July. ITV has only committed to the ten shows as a trial.
The release featured photos of wrestlers with Grado, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Dave Mastiff front and center. Rockstar Spud and Magnus from TNA are also part of the roster of the show.
While no deal has been closed, Jim Ross had been earmarked as the host of the show. Officially, only Alex Shane, who co-hosted the pilot with Ross that aired on December 31st, is an announcer. Grado will enter the tapings billed as the World of Sport champion based on the first episode.
The Queen rejoices as Jamesie joins Alan to resume the latest addition to the DKP family — our new series discussing the greats of the World of Sport era.
The best of British are finely represented this week as we look at two fine upstanding gents. Peckham’s Steve Grey and Oldham’s Marty Jones! Yes these two “blue eyes” are a stark contrast from the villain we discussed last time but they are every bit as interesting. The lads break down matches featuring Grey and Jones against the likes of Fit Finlay, Bull Blitzer, Dynamite Kid, Roy Regal, Jim Breaks, Ken Joyce, and many more.
If you like your wrestling of the technically variety, or the fiery babyface variety, well then this is the show for you! Plus Alan unveils his picks for the next edition of the series! CHECK IT!!!
