WWN offered New York its \u2018Supershow\u2019 as Mercury Rising once\nagain was a part of the Wrestlemania Weekender. With WWN having access to a\nraft of different promotions talent, they were in a position to put on an\nintriguing card from top to bottom, alongside some storyline development for\ntheir home promotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FIP World Heavyweight\nChampionship Match: Absolute Andy versus Anthony Henry \u00a9<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What I know:<\/strong> I\nlove Andy in wXw, but without the affordances offered by being \u2018the guy\u2019 in his\nhome promotion, I don\u2019t know how well he translates. Henry was good in the wXw\nTag Team Title match as the wXw show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Match: <\/strong>It is\nworth noting that the sound was awful, just like it was for wXw, whilst Andy\nhas a fair few fans in the crowd it seemed. Some early shoulderblocks\nhighlighted the power advantage for Andy, as did him catching Henry on a\nsuicide dive and launching the champ into the ringpost. Methodically, Andy\nworked over Henry with impactful offense that kept the crowd behind Henry at\nall times, before a fiery comeback had Henry target the legs of Andy, including\nwith a missile dropkick to the knee. The signal briefly cut out, returning to\nHenry trying to gain a submission with an ankle lock. Henry couldn\u2019t halt Andy\nit seemed, though was able to kick out of a spinebuster and avoid an F5. The\nsecond time he avoided that move, Henry went into a crossface and an anklelock\nfor the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verdict:<\/strong> A good\nmatch that worked a very simple heel\/face big\/small style dynamic. Pleasantly\nsurprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Six Way Elimination\nfor a WWN Contract: Cyrus Satin versus Barrett Brown versus Anthony Greene\nversus Colby Corino versus John Silver versus Harlem Bravado<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What I know:<\/strong>\nOutside of Colby Corino appearing with the Ugly Ducklings, these are all new to\nme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Match: <\/strong>The match\nturned into a seven way elimination as Shotzi Blackheart added herself to the\ncontest and immediately eliminated Satin with a leaping DDT. Fought under\nscramble rules, the most notable early exchange was Silver absolutely\ndestroying Corino with slams and suplexes before Blackheart took out a number\nof the wrestlers with a senton to the outside. More hard hitting action with\nSilver continuing to impress ensued, with \u2018The Meat Man\u2019 German suplexing\nBravado as Harlem had two men on his shoulders! Unfortunately, Corino\neliminated Silver with a schoolboy and a handful of tights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown\u2019s reluctance to fight Blackheart cost him as he was\nthe next eliminated following a top rope senton. An allegiance between Bravado\nand Corino was designed to try and eliminate Blackheart in particular, a\nsuccessful endeavour as Bravado hit Straight Cash Homie for the pin. Corino\nisn\u2019t long for the match though as Greene wiped him out with a springboard\nUnprettier. A double foot stomp put Greene through a chair, but Bravado was\nunable to put him away with the 2K1 Bomb, with Greene taking advantage with the\nspringboard Unprettier for the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verdict: <\/strong>An\nall-out contest that saw everybody looking to impress. Just good fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tokyo Princess of\nPrincess Championship versus Shine Championship: Miyu Yamashita versus Allysin\nKay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What I know: <\/strong>Both\nnew to me, so I look forward to seeing them in action \u2013 especially Yamashita.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Match: <\/strong>Pre-match,\nMercedes Martinez came out to challenge Kay for a title shot in the future.Yamashita is apparently known as the\n\u2018Pink Striker\u2019 and we see this early as she lays in with some kicks and\nforearms, though Kay more than holds her own. Strikes that Kay threw\nYamashita\u2019s way only seemed to rile up the PoP Champion, whilst Yamashita\ntargeted the leg to try and cut Kay down to size. Neither woman was able to\nmaintain control for long, with myriad reversals and fighting spirit to work\nthrough strike exchanges. Close falls saw Kay hit a Kudo Driver and Yamashita\nshow impressive strength to land a German suplex. The finish was designed to\ngive Kay a bit of an out as the referee stopped the contest with Yamashita\nholding Kay in a clutch that the Shine Champion was unable to get out of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verdict: <\/strong>Befitting\na match for two titles, this felt important and the match was exciting enough\npretty much from bell to bell. A good match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Austin Theory and\nBrandi Lauren versus Darby Allin and Priscilla Kelly<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What I know:<\/strong> Have\nalready professed my enjoyment of Allin, but the other three I know little of,\noutside of the obvious Kelly spot that went viral a few months back. Austin\u2019s\nname of the chyron is \u2018Anthony\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Match: <\/strong>As befits\na grudge match, the four started with brawling the moment the bell sounded.\nAllin and Kelly have initial success until Theory caught Allin with a dropkick\nfrom the blindside. If there was supposed to be, there are no tags at all as\nTheory and Lauren take their cue from Allin and Kelly as they both remain in\nthe ring to beat on Allin. Lauren saved Theory by hitting a low blow on Allin\nduring a brief comeback flurry, whilst Kelly continued to get kicked off of the\napron to keep her out of the match. This did at least build to a fired up\ncomeback by Kelly that included a rolling senton off of the apron onto Theory.\nSuddenly, Lauren hit a rolling neckbreaker off of the second rope and pinned\nKelly for the win as Allin had wiped out Theory with a suicide dive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verdict: <\/strong>A little\ndisjointed, but considering it was an actual WWN feud that was being presented,\nit kinda worked. Post-match, Josh Briggs came out to the ring in order to stop\na further beatdown on Allin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Unwanted (Shane\nStrickland, Joe Gacy and Eddie Kingston) versus Marius Al-Ani and the Crown\n(Jurn Simmons\/Alexander James)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What I know:<\/strong> This\nmatch was originally due to be Al-Ani teaming with Bobby Gunns and Lucky Kid,\nso I wonder what happened to that booking. This is a step down from that trio\nif I\u2019m being completely honest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Match: <\/strong>The six\nman tradition of WWN was turned on its head somewhat as these were not six\nflippy guys, but some big brutes in the ring. However, Al-Ani did show he could\nfly if necessary with a dive over the top rope early on. It was the former\nShotgun Champion who was isolated by the Unwanted in illegal fashion more often\nthan not, making the wXw trio of heels unlikely babyfaces. Quick tags kept the\nfresh man in, but Kingston\u2019s bravura attitude cost his team as Al-Ani landed a\nspinkick and tagged to MASSIVE Simmons who did some brilliant hot tag offense\nalongside double chokeslams for all with James. It looked like James was about\nto win with a submission on Gacy, only for the ref to realise that Strickland\nwas the legal man. With both legal men back in, Strickland put Al-Ani away with\na JML Driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verdict: <\/strong>A better\nmatch than I had expected \u2013 Simmons looked like a monster whilst the trio of the\nUnwanted worked their heat section well to build to some good finishing\nexchanges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WWN Championship\nMatch: Kazusada Higuchi versus JD Drake \u00a9<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What I know:<\/strong> I\u2019ve\nalways liked what I\u2019ve seen from Drake as part of the Workhorsemen, but I\u2019ve\nnever seen Higuchi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Match: <\/strong>A hoss\nfight is in the reckoning as these are two big men and that is clear from the\nstart as they bounce off of each other with shoulderblocks before unleashing\nbrutal chops. Higuchi earned the first real nearfall with a brutal powerslam\nthat only served to highlight his power, whilst Drake\u2019s athleticism as he\njumped into a shining wizard belied his size. A chop exchange rightly brings\nthe crowd to their feet and the men briefly repeat the slug fest but this time\nwith clotheslines. Drake kicked out a Doctor Bomb, hit three stunners and\nfinished Higuchi off with a moonsault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verdict: <\/strong>Great\nhoss match. Strike exchanges are overdone, but their chops made it sound like\npeople were firing shotguns in the building. Whatever feel good moment was\ncreated by a handshake was ruined by The Unwanted hitting the ring to put a\nbeatdown on Drake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Damnation (Daisuke\nSasaki, Tetsuya Endo and Soma Takao) versus The Skulk (AR Fox, Adrian Alanis\nand Leon Ruff)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What I know: <\/strong>One\nof the few things I really got out of last year\u2019s shows was how much I love AR\nFox and the Skulk. As for the DDT guys, another blindspot for me so look\nforward to rectifying it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Match: <\/strong>With the\nopening moments all about speed and reversals, I do enjoy it when Sasaki\nentered the match and raked the eyes of Ruff. Ruff\u2019s ropework is very\nimpressive, whilst having Alanis in this also adds another element as he is the\npower option for the Skulk as they looked to isolate Sasaki. They aren\u2019t\nentirely successful as Fox ended up getting tripped whilst rope running,\nleading to Damnation controlling the leader of the Skulk with some of the\nlanguage barrier issues played up to let them bend the rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tempers were frayed as Ruff ended up getting pushed off of\nthe top rope by Sasaki, before Fox missed a huge apron legdrop as well. Ruff\nwas now the face in peril and the Damnation trio worked well at cutting the\nring in half. This helped to build up to a tag to Alanis that had him take out\nall three of his opponents. All six men got to work at this point, including\nseveral dives to the outside that pretty much wiped out the front row of chairs\non one side. Endo ended up wiping AR Fox\nout with a DVD off of the second rope that bumped Fox off of the top rope in a\nwild spot. Having struggled with his power before, Damnation were able to\nisolate Alanis, with Endo finishing him off with a shooting star press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verdict: <\/strong>A wild\nmain event to finish the show. The two heat segments for the de facto heel team\nworked nicely to build to the more crazy final moments of the match. It isn\u2019t\nentirely my graps, but I would understand why people might consider this quite\nhighly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I now know:<\/strong>\nMercury Rising was another good show on this Wrestlemania Weekender, with a\ngood mix of talents from different promotions coming together on a show that\nfelt \u2018big\u2019 at the right moments. If this is what you have dubbed your\n\u2018Supershow\u2019, then you have delivered on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Best match:<\/strong> JD Drake\nversus Kazusada Higuchi may not be for everyone, but I loved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Less good: <\/strong>Austin\nTheory and Brandi Lauren versus Darby Allin and Priscilla Kelly, though it is\nonly here due to the strength of the overall card \u2013 it was a perfectly fine\ncontest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WWN offered New York its \u2018Supershow\u2019 as Mercury Rising once again was a part of the Wrestlemania Weekender. With WWN having access to a raft of different promotions talent, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":12091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,38],"tags":[74,974,985],"class_list":["post-12090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-us-indy-reviews","tag-wrestlemania","tag-wrestlemania-weekender","tag-wwn"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-390","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/MR2019_04052019_EVENT_POSTER_LQ.0.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12092,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12090\/revisions\/12092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}