Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Welcome to Pwinsider's ongoing coverage of the premiere episode of United Wrestling Network Primetime Live on FITETV. There are a great many things this could be. Hopefully Dave Marquez and company can keep the positive momentum that NWA Powerrr had going into this new venture, which, to be honest, we're not 100% sure what it's going to be, but I'll take Nick Aldis vs. Mike Bennett any day of the week. Ring of Honor had a great reboot episode this week with the opening of the Pure Tournament, so hopefully this can keep the forward momentum rolling.
Dave Marquez welcomes Chris Dickinson. Or, more specifically, Dickinson interrupts Marquez. This is my first real look at Dickinson. He likes to swear. And we're opening with the West Coast Pro Championship between EJ Sparks and Alexander Hammerstone. Hammerstone is an absolute stud. He looks to have a good 80 pounds on Sparks. I recall Hammerstone being partnered with MJF and Richard Holliday in MLW. The building is set up like a TV studio but much narrower and darkened off, so the lack of an audience is not distracting in any way. Hammerstone with a setup for a butterfly suplex but holds Sparks up and throws him down into what he calls the Spinal Countdown.
I'm going to be honest, I don't know much about Sparks. I'm not sure where he fits into West Coast Pro Wrestling. My thinking here is that he's in there, not necessarily because he's the top contender, but that he can take a hell of a beating and make Hammerstone look like a real star. He is bouncing around like a madman for Hammerstone. Sparks with a DDT out of nowhere and puts some moves together here. Hammerstone with a major powerbomb but Sparks kicks out. Not a fan of a move like that getting kicked out of. THAT should have done it. A nightmare pendulum by Hammerstone finally puts it away. Good little opener. Sparks had a little spark to him, pun intended, but Hammerstone looks like a beast.
Alyssa Marino, Todd Keneley and Joe Galli are calling the action tonight and they run down the rest of the action for the night. They are pushing Nick Aldis and the NWA title hard. I've been curious as to how UWN would present these different promotions and championships. For now, it seems as though the NWA Title will be where it's at for them. We get some words from The National Treasure, Nick Aldis.
Jordan Clearwater vs. Will Allday is next. Clearwater is representing Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. Allday demands he be introduced properly as The Main Event, All Damn Day Will Allday. Clearwater has some decent size compared to Allday, but Allday just shows me a ton of personality. Allday with a beautiful Frog Splash for 2. Again, we NEED to make these big moves mean something. That frog splash, a thing of beauty, occurred 2 minutes in and we got a hard kickout. We now know that, no matter how great it looks, Allday's frog splash isn't a winning move. Breakout something like this when it'll mean something. These guys are working fast and a fast pace. Clearwater with a Midas Touch kick off of an Allday springboard for the win. I'll give these 2 some real credit in that they went all out fast paced for the 5-6 minutes they were given. Allday is kind of hurt by this as his big frog splash did nothing and he went down fairly hard.
No time to recover we are headed right into Heather Monroe vs Kamille. If Kamille is the star they think she can be, she has to look like a beast here. Kamille looks like she is cut from stone, that's how much she's bulked up in muscle. I have to admit I love Monroe's nickname of the The Killer Bae. So far we've got the beat down this needs to be. Monroe is accompanied by Hallston Body (that's how I heard it). Big suplex by Kamille and she looks ready to put this away. Monroe gets some hope here as she sends Kamille's arm into the post. Monroe with a furious attack on Kamille's arm. Kamille needed to get to the ropes to escape. Not what I was hoping for BUT Monroe isn't exactly a nobody here. I see where she shouldn't be treated as complete fodder. Maybe a jobber opponent would have been a better option here. Kamille can;t hold a torture rack due to the pain in her shoulder. Spear for the pin after it almost looked like Monroe might be pulling the upset. An effective win for Kamille but the person I'm going to remember after this is Monroe. She looked great, has a great presentation and looked like she might pull off the upset.
Eli Drake is with Dave Marquez to talk to us. Eli will be on UWN next week against Erik Watts. Also next week, Thunder Rosa defends the NWA Women's title against Priscilla Kelly, provided she defeats Ivelisse tomorrow on Dynamite.
Wolf Zaddies vs. The Tribe is next. Lots of thrust punches by the Tribe. Seems like this one is a palate cleanser between Kamile, the attraction, and the title matches to come. The Hawaiian Lion and The Navajo Warrior comprise the Tribe. Che Cabrera and Bad Dude Tito make up the Zaddies. Things were getting a little crazy and, all of a sudden, the bell rings and we have a draw. It's explained really quickly that the time was cut to make sure our main event had time to take place.
We're told by the commentators that Aldis vs. Bennett is next but that's not the case as Chris Dickinson comes out to face Showtime Jordan Cruz. If the tag team match got cut short, then this needs to be a squash. Dickinson got some quality mic time earlier and looks like a star. Cruz took a beating at the outset and Dickinson cuts a nice promo on the promoters for making him come all the way from NY to face some loser. Dickinson hopefully lives up to the hype they're giving him.
Dickinson is destroying Cruz, yelling at Billy Corgan through the camera. I will say that all of the wrestlers (with the exception of thg team match, which never really hit a high gear) have done a good job playing to the camera in lieu of not having an audience. Dickinson finally gets the win with the running Death Valley Driver. A little longer than I'd expect but a good showcase for Dickinson.
New Japan's Karl Fredericks will appear next week but United TV Championship match between Champion Dan Joseph and Levi Shapiro is next. Joseph is EXTREMELY enthusiastic coming out. Howdy Price accompanies Shapiro to the ring. This'll be my first time seeing either of these two but it's not hard to tell the babyface from the heel, and sometimes that's all you need going into a match with two guys you don't know. Howdy interferes in front of the referee. Joseph gets a very odd looking pin. I have no idea if that was supposed to happen. Ref counted 2 and it looked like Shapiro was supposed to kick out but never actually did. Ref just threw the 3rd slap down quick. Sloppy as all hell.
Main Event Time and I think there's some timing issues here because Aldis came out with no music and no excitement befitting the NWA Champion and these to are starting out fast. Referee is down 45 seconds into this and FITE TV is just skipping along badly. At this moment, Bennett is laid out on the ramp and Aldis and Maria Kanellis Bennett are arguing. This brings out Kamille. We missed some sort of a tope suicida by Bennett. A very odd way to get the main event rolling. Bennett is clean shaven and looks completely different. They are less than 5 minutes in and hitting all the big moves. I'm suspecting they're on a hard time cue here. If that's the case, then they really need to tighten these shows up. If timing is a problem then cut the tag team match and the TV Title match we barely had.
Maria is playing the worried wife and mother very well. She hands off the NWA Title belt to Bennett and threatens to use it. Cloverleaf by Aldis off of a missed dropkick. Bennett loses consciousness and that's all she wrote. Aldis with a technical submission win. We go off the air with Aldis celebrating.
OK nice effort by UWN on week 1 but a LOT of issues. I would have given this one a B+ for the goodwill of having this new venture in the first place. However, they absolutely have to tighten this show up. There is zero point in having seven allegedly competitive matches and you BADLY shortchange the time that the 2 main matches including a WORLD TITLE match got.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
