Fire Fundraiser: All Star Wrestling UK 3/10/14 Review

This was a show review requested by Davey C! He said I could review as much or as little as I liked, but the show was like 75 total minutes, so a full match review didn't seem like such a crazy idea.


1. Andy Simmons vs. JD Bryant

Bryant starts the match doing a Daniel Bryan Yes! chant to get the crowd going. I assume that was the 2014 equivalent to doing a Stunner on a 1999 indie show. I had never seen either of these two before, and by the end of the match I definitely wouldn't mind seeing more. Simmons especially is a real good hand, knowing how to work slight heel to get the crowd into Bryant, working him over with real simple but real well executed things like low cut clotheslines, kicks to the stomach with no light showing, nice open hand strikes, knees to the stomach that land, drop downs that actually look like he's trying to trip up Bryant. Simmons' style seems like it could easily adapt to having a good 10 minute match with anybody. Bryant for his part is a good underdog babyface. He also throws some nice open hand strikes (including two great southpaw strikes at the beginning), takes a nice flipping spill to the floor, throws a nice dropkick and admirably sells his arm (Simmons had been working it over with a couple great kneedrops). Match ends quick without much build, but it was still satisfying. Real good start to this show.

2. David Finlay Jr. vs. Danny Boy Collins

Collins has been showing up on UK cards for seemingly a few decades now, and I love him getting on the stick before the match to tell Finlay that he's going to pay him back for every single cut, bruise and stitch he got at the hands of his father. And this match was awesome, yet threatened to be ruined by a pointless fast timekeeper time limit draw. We'll start with the good, get to the stupid, and wrap it up with a smile: I loved the match, and would have loved it more on mute. Collins is a monster in this, very much like Finlay Sr. lacing into a rookie for 10+ minutes. Everything Collins does looks great, from his strikes to his matwork to his transitions. Every little move means something, and he never rests on his laurels. A choke in the ropes looked as dangerous as any submission, and his submissions looked brutal. There were no resting chinlocks here, mister. Everything Collins locked on looked like it was strangling the life out of young Finlay. Every backbreaker looked nasty. Every arm wringer and hammerlock looked like it was stretching all of the ligaments. Collins racks up a couple quick warnings, dropping Finlay with a nasty hotshot and tossing him to the floor in dastardly fashion. Finlay gets some momentary comebacks (with Collins taking a super high backdrop during one of them) but always loses it quick due to Collins' smarts. Now the stupid kicks in: At the 12 minute mark we get a "15 minute" announcement, which means we all know this is going the full 20. 30 seconds later we get a "3 minute warning", and if there was any doubt this was going time limit, now that the clock is on 4x everybody watching realizes it. What's sad, is the home stretch was real fun. Finlay got fired up and started going crazy with nearfalls, and Collins was awesome at putting over these nearfalls and getting into position to be rolled up; running chest first hard into the buckles to get a believable 2.9, and Finlay was great at making these pinfalls look like they could actually hold a man down. But the timekeeper suddenly going into 4x mode just sucked me right out of what should have been a very exciting home stretch. We end up with a 14 minute match going the full "20 minute time limit" and I just can't help but wonder why they didn't just do a 15 minute time limit? Everybody watching this knows how to count, and everybody has an idea of how long one minute is. It's insulting and incredibly dated to expect people to fall for this kind of time clock idiocy. Collins was so damn good at making all of Finlay's potential pins mean something, and the idiot fed was trying their hardest to make nobody expect a finish. Just took the legs right out of it. BUT that is not the fault of the two men, and regardless of timeclock idiocy they had an awesome match. Shame though.

3. Dean Allmark vs. Thunder

Short (7 minutes) but solid match with Thunder as the judiciously bumping big man and Allmark as the quick little bumblebee. Allmark's dodges and feints were nice, rolling out of the way, believably sliding through the legs, and Thunder was smart about when to bump and when not to. A couple dropkicks don't take him down but one close to the ropes sends him over the top. That's just smart attention to physics. Allmark's solid dodging skills made it satisfying when Thunder would catch him with a clothesline, and we got some more smart spots of Allmark using Thunder's size against him, like catching a charging Thunder with boots before nailing a quick superkick to put him down, then a quick moonsault. Finish was well done with Allmark going back to the top, Thunder a standing duck, so he shoves the ref into the ropes which then crotches Allmark, opening him up for a superplex. With more time these two could likely have a real good match.

4. Oliver Grey vs. Justin Starr

Well I like how this started but things kind of fell apart halfway through, and we ended with just a sputter. Grey is not a guy I had seen on NXT (I...really need to catch up on NXT) but I liked him throughout this. The match started as good as the others on this card, with an engaging feeling out process and stiff shoulderblocks. Both guys really thudded into each other and I was expecting some good things. But Starr ended up being a kind of bland heel, really just kind of looking at the crowd with his arms out as his one way of getting heat. The longer the match went on the more clunky he was at getting into position for stuff, the finish run being the worst of it. We had a superkick set up by that awful teeter totter spot that HHH insists on shoehorning into every match, and Starr somehow made the bump look even sillier than HHH, just bunny hopping right into the buckle ever so daintily. Then he landed too close to the ropes after the superkick and had to shimmy a few feet away to get pinned. The really was the tale of two matches as when it was worked like a simple black trunks young boys match it worked nicely, and once they moved into bigger things it fell apart. Still wouldn't mind seeing more of Grey.

5. Jushin Liger vs. Robbie Dynamite

Well hey this was awesome. This might be the best I've seen Liger in a singles match in....shoot I can't remember the last time I saw Liger this engaged in a singles match. Something even feels different during the opening matwork as it's a lot less perfunctory than your usual match opening NJPWish stuff, with Dynamite wrenching in some armholds and Liger rotating through to an awesome grounded octopus hold. There's real struggle and scramble getting to the ropes and Dynamite was bringing out some good stuff in Liger. Dynamite fed into all of Liger's best stuff, and didn't ease up his own offense at all. He took a couple real nice bumps to the floor (especially dug a missed plancha crash and burn) and the way he flew chin first into a shotei. Liger hit a heavy somersault senton off the apron, ate knees on a frog splash, a nice rana off the top, planted Dynamite with a brainbuster. But it didn't feel like a Liger greatest hits, it felt like him integrating his known moveset to take down a liveblood challenger. Dynamite was really great throughout, providing a great base for Liger and then doing cool power moves like lifting Liger into a deadlift vertical suplex turned falcon arrow. This was just a real satisfying match with a quality build and finish. Both looked good and Dynamite is a guy I'd love to see more.


What a fun little show! Only one match I really didn't care for and even that seems like something that could be fixed. But everything had some worth to a degree, several guys I had never seen before looked incredibly polished, and now I want to see every Danny Boy Collins thing ever. That fine old man didn't miss a single step and looked like an absolute beast. I love old man Collins. He was my easy standout. But this was a fine fine show, and I'm glad Allmark seems to be regularly posting stuff from this fed. I want more.

Good request, Davey! I'm glad I was made to watch it :)


***I'm probably sounding like a skipping record at this point but I'm still trying to raise money for my friend and coworker whose home burned down, completely disappearing every single one of her possessions. The donations have slowed but no matter, I still have plenty of neat requests to fulfill and WILL be continuing to fulfill them! I'm matching EVERY contribution and will continue writing above and beyond for those who donate. You donate $1? That's awesome. Whatever you can do. This means SO MUCH to me and you all are making me so happy***