World of Sport – December 31, 2016: I Need to See HHH’s Face After he Watches This
World of Sport Wrestling
Date: December 31, 2016
Location: MediaCity Studios, Manchester, England
Commentators: Jim Ross, Alex Shane
This has been a big request so let’s knock it out. World of Sport was a big British wrestling promotion for years back in the 60s through the 80s and I’m almost certain this is only the same in name only. The interesting thing is this would be the reason WWE launched the whole UK tournament. It should be fun to see what they were so afraid of so let’s get to it.
This was taped back in November so things could have already changed.
The arena looks good. Small, but good.
World of Sport Title: Dave Mastiff vs. Grado
The title is vacant coming in and yes it’s that Grado. JR describes Grado as the British version of Dusty Rhodes. The British Dream? Before the match, Grado says he’s going to create history tonight but Mastiff, who probably weighs about 350lbs and is flanked by two fellow heels, cut him off. There’s very little in the way of introductions here as it seems we’re supposed to just know who these people are. Thankfully JR identifies them as Sha Samuels and Johnny Moss because graphics aren’t available.
Mastiff slams him down so Grado shakes his knees ala Rich Swann (I’m not comparing him to Dusty) and hits a Bionic Elbow. Now they’re calling Grado the modern day Big Daddy and we hit the clubbing forearms to Grado’s back. Mastiff misses a middle rope backsplash and some splashes in the corner set up the Wee Boot (JR didn’t seem to know the name). Samuels shoves Grado off the top though and Mastiff Cannonballs him for the pin at 5:35.
Rating: D. Wait what? They start the show off with a title match, don’t tell us much of anything about these people or how they got here and the match doesn’t even break six minutes? This was really disappointing and Grado came off as more of a comedy guy than a serious title contender, though the fans seemed to really like him.
Grado gets the hero’s reception, but again I’d like to point out that it wasn’t even six minutes long.
Interviewer Rachel talks to General Manager Mr. Beasley, who is really happy to be here. Grado comes in to complain but Mastiff and company crash the interview to celebrate.
Back from a break with Mr. Beasley saying what happened in the title match wasn’t fair. There will be a battle royal tonight and Mastiff will defend against the winner at the end of the show.
Video on some World of Sport legends with some older wrestlers talking about Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks and Kendo Nagasaki. It’s amazing how small the ring was back then.
Rollerball Rocco, Johnny Saint and Marty Jones (trained William Regal) are here. That’s always a smart move.
Kenny Williams vs. Sam Bailey vs. CJ Banks vs. Delicious Danny
Ladder match to qualify for the battle royal which is a qualifying match for the World Title match. Williams looks to be a skateboarder, Banks is a heel and Danny is a cowboy. That’s about it for the character development we can get during the entrances. It’s a slugout to start and I’m going to have a really hard time remembering who all of these people are.
Williams takes over to start and dropkicks everyone else down, including dropkicking the ladders into their faces. Bailey dives onto all three but the ladder is knocked over, leaving Danny and Kenny to slug it out. A German suplex brings Kenny off the ladder (Shane: “He just killed Kenny!”) but it’s time for various people to pull each other off the ladder over and over.
Danny gets caught in the ladder as Shane declares this the weirdest DIY show he’s ever seen. With all three down, Danny dives onto everyone at the same time. For absolutely no logical reason, here’s another ladder and it’s a four way climb. Kenny knocks the rest down and wins at 6:48.
Rating: C-. As I said in the first match: that’s it? This was a ladder match for the sake of having a ladder match with nothing especially entertaining or interesting with four people I know next to nothing about. This is starting to look like any given indy card and that’s not exactly a good thing.
More legends stuff.
Alexis Rose vs. Viper
Rose is a pretty standard looking female wrestler while Viper is build more like Nia Jax. Viper shoves her around to start but Rose does some nice spinning around to avoid a charge and gets in a bicycle kick. The bigger lady runs her over and grabs a cravate, followed by a seated crossbody for two. Alexis comes back with a few kicks and a high crossbody for two as we start looking at the crowd. A middle rope moonsault misses though and Viper hits a running backsplash for the pin at 4:37.
Rating: C-. This was fine with a basic power vs. speed match. Neither was anything special but for a pretty basic indy show, it’s all you can ask for. This was announced as the first ever women’s match in the promotion’s history and if that’s the case, I’ve seen far worse options over the years.
Mastiff is annoyed at being accused of cheating.
Video on how big World of Sport used to be.
Ashton Smith/Rampage vs. Coffey Brothers
The Brothers are Joe and Mark and I’ve seen the former before. Mark and Ashton get things going with a pretty slow feeling out process. Coffey gets in a dropkick as commentary goes silent for a few seconds. A double underhook swing into a suplex gives Joe two (JR: “No decaf!”) but Rampage clotheslines Mark from the apron to take over.
The slow beatdown continues with Rampage holding a chinlock. Ashton comes back in for some trash talk but walks into a leg lariat, allowing the hot tag to Joe. Everything breaks down and Smith grabs a spinebuster on Joe with Mark diving in for a save. Smith superkicks his partner by mistake and Joe hits a discus lariat for the pin at 9:05.
Rating: C. Another completely watchable but absolutely nothing out of the ordinary match whatsoever. That’s the show in a nutshell: everything has been fine but that doesn’t mean it’s something worth watching. The brothers were a nice team and the fans seemed to be familiar with them which is always a perk.
Beasley says Mastiff will be defending tonight and there’s going to be a surprise in the battle royal.
El Ligero vs. Zack Gibson
Ligero is a luchador and Gibson is a big heel. Gibson takes him to the mat at the bell and goes for the arm, only to get caught in a hammerlock from Ligero. They head outside with Ligero’s hurricanrana being countered into an apron powerbomb to stay on the arm. The announcers do a good job of mentioning how important the technicians were to World of Sport as Gibson is wrestling a very similar style.
Ligero fights up and sends him outside for the required flip dive to take over again. Back in and Ligero hits a wheelbarrow faceplant for two but makes the mistake of trying again, resulting in a seated armbar. Not that it matters as Ligero makes the rope and hits a springboard tornado DDT for the pin at 8:30.
Rating: C+. Match of the night here as you had a good combination of styles here to keep both guys looking good. Gibson is much more in line with the traditional British wrestling style and Ligero is your pretty standard luchador. That made for an interesting match and the best psychology (read as almost the only psychology) of the night.
Rachel talks to the battle royal entrants, all of whom say what you would expect.
Battle Royal
Mark Coffey, Joe Coffey, El Ligero, Grado, Sha Samuels, Johnny Moss, Kenny Williams, ???
The winner gets a title shot later in the night and the mystery man isn’t here yet. Williams gets suplex slammed to start followed by a gorilla press for the first elimination. Samuels and Moss get rid of Ligero as well, leaving us with the two of them against the Coffeys while Grado, as in the only option to win at the moment, is down in the corner.
The two teams slug it out until a near miscommunication between the brothers result in a double elimination. We’re down to Samuels, Moss and Grado….and here’s Davey Boy Smith Jr. to complete the field. Now that works for a cool moment and an actual surprise. House is quickly cleaned and we get the delayed suplex as Smith gets to show off a bit.
Unfortunately he doesn’t actually eliminate anyone and even covers Moss after the powerslam. Moss and Samuels dump Smith, leaving Grado to get double teamed. That lasts all of a few seconds until a clothesline gets rid of Samuels and a low bridge dumps Moss to give Grado the win at 8:23.
Rating: D. So they go through the trouble of bringing Smith in and then have him be eliminated in all of two minutes after a few suplexes. The rest of the battle royal was a waste of time though as it was just a matter of time until we could get to the finish with Grado winning. It was only going to be him or the mystery man, making this a pretty solid waste of time for the most part.
Smith comes in for the post match save. Medics check on Grado as we go to our last break.
World of Sport Title: Dave Mastiff vs. Grado
The injured Grado is challenging. Before the bell, Samuels and Moss are ejected to make it an even match. After Mastiff runs his mouth a bit, Grado limps out until Dave chop blocks him from behind. Naturally NONE OF THAT is a DQ so the bell rings with Grado unable to stand. Mastiff works on the knee and sends Grado into the steps as this is already dragging less than two minutes in. The leg is wrapped around the ropes but Mastiff misses a charge and posts himself. Grado hits a quick cutter for the pin and the title at 3:37. That was his only offensive move of the match.
Rating: F. Oh good grief what was that? Mastiff beat Grado by cheating earlier and then loses because he slips on a banana peel in their rematch later in the night? That’s their big finish? You couldn’t have DAVEY BOY SMITH JR. win the title here instead? Grado isn’t all that interesting in the first place and now he’s the full on focus of this show. I’m not sure I get it either but I’m not British.
Overall Rating: D. And really, that could have been a lot lower. This was not a good show and most of that is due to the title stuff. I’m still not sure why I’m supposed to know who these people are (again, might have to do with me not being from England) but the promotion really didn’t do a good job of explaining them either. It’s a big mess and Grado is far more of a comedy guy who barely got in any offense. That’s really their best available option?
The rest of the show was watchable but it felt like there was a big checklist with each kind of match. You really could have called this anything else as there’s no connection to World of Sport, making this one heck of a reason for WWE to start a whole tournament and weekly UK show. They have a lot more to worry about from something like What Culture Pro Wrestling, which has far bigger names and is WAY more fun.
This show wasn’t terrible by any means and I’ve seen far, far worse things over the years. Really though, it’s unnecessary and feels like they just threw a famous name out there and hoped for the best. I wasn’t impressed and I wouldn’t watch again, but it’s miles better than some of these kinds of shows. If you’re in the mood for British wrestling though, check out Rev Pro or What Culture to actually be entertained.
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