Hello my name is Iwan Mackenzie and I’m going to miss Will Ospreay
I’m back with another review from Frontline Wrestling as they head into their one year anniversary show at the Stratford Circus. A whole lot of variety was the big theme of this card as we’ve got title matches, the J1 League Finals, guest matches from Lucha Britannia and Pro Wrestling: EVE as well as a whole lot more.
So since I now have a new job, I was able to finish at 15:30 rather than 17:00, so me and my mate Joe headed to grab food where I noticed someone that I once asked out was working there, awkward! We had our food then in a change of pace, grabbed the DLR from Woolwich to Stratford, where we were mega early so we had a look around the shops and bumped into Malik of all people; eventually met up with mates Liam, Andy and Louis and started to make our way to the venue. Got into the venue to see Ospreay finishing up his Q and A Session where his mum said something nice about his talent and him going to Japan. Had a look around the merchandise area as well as a nice chat with David Starr about the Independent movement as well as pick up the new Independent pin badge.
Took my standing position alongside Andy, Louis, Nick and Big Dave as the show kicks off with Will Ospreay making an announcement. He said because of him moving to Japan that he had two options about Frontline, either close it down or sell it on and he says that he has sold it on to an unnamed party but introduces the new match maker Clive Donovan who promises a new era for Frontline. After a really cool hype package as well as a run down for the whole card we get to our opening bout.
In our opening match we have a Lucha Britannia guest match as El Hombre Del Rocka and El Pirana take on Fug and El Ray Anansi in tag team action. Rocka cuts a promo before the match saying that the crowd doesn’t deserve his Lucha and promises no Lucha for the crowd leading to big chants of Lucha; Rocka/Pirana attack Fug/Anansi before the match but the good guys are able to fight back easily, Anansi looks like he’s going to dive onto the bad guys but the bad guys cut him off so Fug instead dives onto him with a slingshot senton, and if you’ve never seen Fug then he’s about 7 foot tall and a shade under 300 pounds so impressive to say the least. Back in the ring and the good guys are controlling the temp but Pirana is able to take Anansi out and cut the ring in half to take the control of the match, Fug is able to eventually get back in the ring and hit several big power moves as well as a big old Crossbody from the top on to Rocka. Fug and Anansi pick up the win in the end after Anansi hits a massive splash from atop of Fug’s shoulders onto Pirana. This was a really fun way to start the show, it was fast, frantic and had fun characters to interact with, nothing spectacular but got the crowd hyped up in a big way.
Up second is another guest match as Pro Wrestling: EVE take centre stage as a freshly un-suspended takes on the Ace of EVE Jamie Hayter. Very technical opening to start off with shades of the Japanese style that both women have learned through Sendai Girls and Stardom respectively, things start to get more aggressive when Millie starts to strike Hayter whilst she has her in a headlock, Hayter gives as good as she gets though and from then on we get full on strikes from both as the tempo of the match kicks into second gear. Both women with big moves including a barrage of German suplexes from Millie but Jamie fights back and is able to pick up the win with the Falcon Arrow onto the knee. Great match here with a completely different dynamic to their She-1 Main Event from back in November, great way to showcase EVE. They announce later on that Pro Wrestling: EVE will be running a show at the Stratford Circus on September 28th.
In our first official Frontline match of the night but our third match overall (Its mindfuck I know) we have young lion Callum Newman takes on the debuting Nathan Cruz. Nathan grounds Callum in the opening stages of this match to try and take care of Callum’s highflying offence but Callum gets out these holds by using his quickness, he does hit several highflying moves onto Cruz but Cruz as a veteran of this scene knows how to ground him easily and uses several slingshot suplexes to keep him down. Callum has a lot of fire and passion and does fight back and hits a lovely looking springboard European uppercut that only earns him a two; Cruz picks up the win in the end though, post-match he cuts a promo saying that he was the first PROGRESS World Champion and that he started the current BritWres boom and paved the way for people like Callum yet they’ve wasted it, he then shakes Callum’s limp hand and says You’re welcome for the house and then drops the mic onto Callum.This was another really good match, its good to see a range from Callum to show how good he is as an overall wrestler, there seems to be a story with Callum going on in Frontline with him always impressing but never quite reaching that win. As for Cruz, he is a masterful heel who is so good at being an utter bastard that can get you to hate him.
Before our next match, David Starr storms to the ring and demands for his Heavyweight title match against Mark Haskins right now but instead we get a debuting Sha Samuels who cuts a live Mug of the Week on Frontline itself for not booking him the last year despite him living 10 minutes away, he said that he finally got a call from Frontline that said he can have a title match whenever he wants it so he got his gear on, kissed the wife and kids goodbye and spent £3.50 on a tube to get there, he also wants his title match now so Mark Haskins makes his way to the ring and we immediately get our main event now in a triple threat match.
Starr takes Haskins out immediately so him and Samuels can go at it, but Haskins comes in and takes it both men including a big time dive to Samuels on the outside; he goes to work on Starr in the ring by using several submissions to ground him whilst also making sure that Samuels can’t get back in, Haskins traps Starr in a crossface that looks like Haskins is walking out the victor but Samuels makes his way back win and levels Haskins to keep the match alive. We then get a load of action between all three man as the pacing becomes fast and frenetic with a lot of big move at I’ll try and recap: a big Samuels spinebuster on Starr, Haskins going for a dive onto Starr but Starr moving out the way and hitting the Cherry Mint DDT onto him instead, Haskins penalty kicking Samuels on to the apron. Haskins gets take out by Samuels in the end and he locks in the Butchers Hook on Starr to tap him out and become the new Frontline Heavyweight Champion.
What a surprise this was, the match itself was great and showed why all three men and so great in their own ways and I would have never called Sha winning but I’m so happy that he did, he’s been one of my favourites since I got into BritWres to see him win a title was great.
Interval now and I went to ring into phone to let them know I was ok before heading back inside to talk to Jamie Hayter about about various things as well as grab one of her tees and a picture as well, talked to Haskins and grabbed a pic, talked to Cruz, McKenzie and Samuels about various things as well before it was time to start again.
In our next match we see the tag team combination of Kelly Sixx and Chuck Cyrus known as Full House take on the team of Pretty Deadly, Sam Stoker and Lewis Howley. Howley catches the ire of Sixx in the opening stages of the match by just shoving his hands in his pockets because he doesn’t care about him this leads to Howley kipping up with his hands still in his pockets as well in a moment of absolute tekkers; Sixx does show up Howley later on though and shoves his hands down his trunks before using the referee’s pockets instead.
Cyrus is tagged in and uses his supreme strength to control Howley but Howley tags in Stoker who doesn’t do that much better against Cyrus so for the moment Full House are in control; what happens though is Sixx is tagged in and Pretty Deadly are able to take advantage of the smaller man in the match and cut the ring in half to control the match in their favour, some lovely tag teaming from Pretty Deadly here, there defiantly one of my favourite teams in the UK right now. Cyrus gets the big hot tag after Sixx is able to evade both Stoker and Howley to get the big man in, Cyrus hits big shoulder tackles and clotheslines to take out Pretty Deadly single handley, he calls for the “Massive Bomb” but dosen’t get it the first two times but is finally able to get it on the third time of asking onto Howley but only gets a two.
More great tag action from Pretty Deadly as they hit some gnarly looking tandem offence but it doesn’t quite get the job done, they look to hit a superplex onto Sixx but Stoker has Howley onto his shoulders, this leads to Cyrus being able to powerbomb both men at the same time in the true definition of a Massive Bomb, it was a great moment. Cyrus goes to pin Stoker but we then get the dulcet tones of Present William Eaver who distracts Full House leading to Cyrus being taken out of the ring whilst Stoker and Howley hit their Doomsday Device variation on Sixx to pick up the win. Post-Match, Eaver beats down Cyrus and claims that he is the best Young Lion that there never was.
This was the sleeper hit of the night, all four men went above and beyond to give the crowd a great tag team match and the Eaver stuff afterwards was interesting and I’m intrigued to see where it goes next.
In our next match, its the J1 League Finals as Paul Robinson, Malik, Senza Volto, Ash Draven, Scotty Davis and Jordan Breaks fight it out in a 6-Way Elimation match; if you want to learn more about how this all come about then check out my NexGen 3 Review: http://prowrestlingjournal.com/index.php/2019/05/27/frontline-nexgen-3-review/
Robinson immediately makes a enemy out of everybody and everybody tees off on him before everyone just starts scrapping, Davis hits a big tope onto everybody on the outside not long before Volto hits a big Moonsault of his own to everybody, looks like Robinson is going to dive as well but just flips off the crowd instead, he Irish whips Volto into the crowd barrier but Volto goes over it and starts to ascend the scenery in Stratford Circus which means he can get to the 1st floor balcony, he moves around to the centre and hits a gnarly looking crossbody off the balcony onto his opponents and a group of Young Lions, it was an insane moment.
Whilst more brawling ensues between the others, Malik and Breaks go at it in the ring for a bit before being joined by Draven, Breaks tries to use his old school British style on Malik but Malik just chops him down, Draven is the man who eliminates Breaks though with a Hammerlock DDT to big boos from the crowd, you bastard! All 5 men are back in and just scrapping now including Davis hitting gator rolls onto everybody; Draven eventually stands tall but Davis kicks him in the head with a spinning heel kick and a Keylock Buster to eliminate Draven.
The four renaming men strike off on each other but Malik takes control and hits his rope hung dropkick onto Robinson and a standing dropkick onto Davis, it does look like he way be the whole winner but Robinson is able to hit a diving spear onto Malik followed up by a Shooting Star Press by Volto on Malik but Robinson curbs stomps Volto after and gets a double pin to elminates both of them, its down to Davis vs Robinson.They go back and fourth for ages with Davis hitting big suplexes, a moonsault to the outside and spinning heel kicks including one whilst hitting Robinson is diving through the air; Robinson hits the Curb Stomp but remarkably Davis kicks out as the crowd are fully behind the young Irish man at this point, Robinson hits another two Curb Stomps to definitively put Davis down for the three count to pick up the win and win the J1 League, by doing so he gets a Golden Cup and a Massive Flag.
This was a crazy scramble style match with everybody putting a shift in although my MVP’s were Volto, Malik and Davis. The right winner won and you know that Robinson is going to do some great things with the Junior division.
In our penultimate match of the night we have Gisele Shaw take on Miyu Yamashita in Yamashita’s UK debut match. They shake hands so things are going to be respectful, for now at least…
Lots of great grappling from the two women here and Gisele does get the better of Miyu , Miyu does shake Gisele’s hand but you can tell that she’s a volcano about to erupt with rage at any moment now. Gisele surprisingly is the initiator of the striking but she strikes really well with several kicks to the back and a big PK kick, Gisele is able to keep the match in her favour but too much kicking will piss Miyu off and she goes off in a big way on Gisele with some of the best striking I’ve ever seen from any wrestler ever. The striking game frm both women is strong and the crowd are loosing their minds as well as David Starr who is marking out like mad to the opposite of me, Miyu goes for a big dive but Gisele makes her way up and hits the Canadian Cwtch for just a two count. Miyu in the end though picks up the win with a massive Shining Wizard to earn a standing ovation from the crowd and too bloody right as well.
This was my MOTN and one of my MOTY so far, it was such an awesome match to watch, it had levels to it and it built nice and slowly to such a great conclusion; first time I’ve ever seen Miyu and consider me now a big fan, please bring her back ASAP, as for Gisele this was my favourite match of her’s since she’s made the move to the UK, she was able to show her range as a wrestler here and looked comfortable in their with somebody like Miyu, she is great.
After a big time hype package, we get our new main event of The OJMO challenging Rob Sharpe for Sharpe’s European Openweight Championship. Now this whole feud has been built on the NexGen shows in Rainham with OJMO being the heel and Sharpe as a face but we are in London where OJMO is beloved so the whole crowd is behind OJMO during his entrance and afterwards, Sharpe comes out to pretty much nothing with a few mild boos as well, the crowd are fully behind OJMO. They grapple at first but this pretty much is a full on fight between the two, they scrap all round the ring and OJMO takes Sharpe to the outside then hits a big Flosbury Flop onto Sharpe; he tries to get Sharpe back in the ring but Sharpe slams him into the post and the hits a big fallaway slam into the barricade that OJMO takes like a pro.
From here on out, Sharpe uses his strength and size to keep OJMO down but OJMO has fight and passion so he gets back at Sharpe in big ways, they go to the outside and OJMO throws Sharpe into the barricades for revenge for earlier, he then takes the Commentators table and places Sharpe on it, he then scales the buckles but Sharpe meets him up there and looks for a superplex of some kind but OJMO is able to toss him back in the ring and hits a massive Frog Splash. We then see OJMO cower to the corner and grabs his wrist, referee Aaren is there with him and it looks like OJMO has re-aggravated or even broken his previously injured wrist, Ospreay, Kosta K, medics and Young Lions are in and treating OJMO, Ospreay tries to call the match off but OJMO strikes Ospreay and says that he wants to continue so they tape up his wrist heavily and he is able to continue.
Sharpe just tees off on OJMO and tells him that he should have stayed down, he sees me booing him and tells me to shut the fuck up and the whole crowd boos him, Sharpe is now a heel it looks like we have a successful double turn; it looks like OJMO is done for but he keeps fighting back and is even able to powerbomb Sharpe onto Kelly Sixx on the outside and even get Sharpe on his shoulders to get him back in the ring, he hits the 404 and then lock in the Half Crab but Sharpe gets the ropes; in the end Sharpe is able to hit two back to back Tombstone Piledrivers to pick up the win and retain the championship to stunned silence followed by heavily boos and chants of “Ducky Sucks” and “Rob Sharpe, go Duck yourself”
This was a great main event, it had drama, a hot crowd and storytelling from both; OJMO looked like an absolute superstar in their and this was the best Rob Sharpe match that I’ve ever seen, he is at his best as a nasty big man heel; the crowd dynamic was special as well, I’ve not seen a crowd like that in a long time, everyone getting behind the heel and not the face, so much that the double turn happened. The only thing that I didn’t like about this was the semi-injury angle because the whole crowd thought OJMO was legit hurt, we still don’t have word on what actually has happened with his wrist, I’m just not a fan of Injury angles at all.
Post-Show, I had a chat with Kelly Sixx as well as grab a pic with him, met Miyu for the first time and brought an 8×10 from her and grabbed a pic and finally was able to get a picture with Paul Robinson in my Robbo t-shirt before heading home and talking to complete strangers on the train.
So my Overall Thoughts: This show was absolutely ace from top to bottom, not a single bad match in my opinion, everything worked and the performers of each match went above and beyond to give the crowd a great show, the crowd was great all night as well and really added to the show. I think this may well be the best Frontline show they’ve ever done and a fitting end to the Ospreay era of Frontline.
If you want to follow Frontline on Social Media then it’s @FrontlinePuro
If you want to follow me on Social Media then it’s @IwanMack
Thank you for Reading
Iwan Mackenzie
