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Week #4 of the UWN Primetime LIVE is underway. This is going to be an interesting show, as this is the 4th and final week of the intial 4 pack plan offered by UWN and FITE. It would behoove them tremendously to make this episode "can't miss" so that we can't wait to give them our money over the next 4 weeks. I do enjoy these little 20 second Saturday Night's Main Event intros by the stars. Levi Shapiro and Howdy Price return to UWM. Max Caster has a tall task in front of him in the form of DICKINSON.
Bryan Idol vs Levi Shapiro kicks things off tonight. Shapiro is led by the man who possesses my new favorite name in wrestling, Howdy Price. James Kincaid has joined the broadcast booth. I'm rather surprised UWN has left tonight's main event sort of open ended thus far. We really don't know what it is. That worries me about how many people would be willing to make a one-off purchase of this kind without really knowing what's in store. Shapiro reminds me of a taller, somewhat leaner Randy Rose of the Original Midnight Express. Howdy's putting the boots to Idol. We're having a decent opener here. They just informed us that Idol was trained by Sabu. I can't imagine how insane some of those classes were.
We're informed that Zicky Dice, NWA Television Champion, will be in the main event tonight with a mystery partner against Watts and The Pope. How Watts will make it back from AEW Dark in such a short period of time is a big mystery. Shapiro is looking a lot better her than he did in week 1, but I do understand that he was way up against the clock that night. Howdy with a thrown boot distraction, Shapiro loads up his glove and knocks Idol out. Shapiro with the W. I thought the actions of Howdy were entertaining. End of the day, that's what I'll remember.
The Pope cuts a GREAT promo hyping the main event tonight. Actually he hyped himself, but the spirit was there.
Something called the FSW Nevada Ladies title is on the line next as Vipress challenges Lacy Ryan. I admit it right here and now: I know nothing of either so this is a first impression. I'm told by commentary that FSW stands for Future Stars of Wrestling. Vipress strikes first with a nice looking running dropkick while Ryan is laid out against the ropes.
And we have a test pattern....
Still have a test pattern....
And we're back, match still in progress. Ryan with a half nelson suplex and she goes to the top and misses a 450. Vipress slaps on a rear naked choke. First time in a long time I've seen a ref do the arm drop three times tease. Ryan comes back to life at 2. Ryan with a beautiful Knee Exploder to retain. Honestly, what I saw was fine but the test pattern killed the flow of it for me.
Four minutes of Heat (Ricky Gibson and Eddie Pearl) vs. Beef Candy (Rick Mandel and Richie Slade) are up next. I feel like Jack Horner when Dirk Diggler and Reed Rothchild unleashed the names Brock Landers and Chest Rockwell. THOSE ARE GREAT NAMES! Heat have matching outfits and really look like they've put a lot of work into the team. I could see Gibson and Pearl in an underneath role somewhere on a bigger stage, not that this isn't big, but their presentation looks more major league of the 2 teams. They just hit Back Stabbath, awesome name. Mandel has got some good size to him. Slade has some fire to his offense.
Gibson is bigger than Pearl, so it's a little different seeing a guy like him do the selling trying to get the tag off to the smaller guy. Pearl finally gets the hot tag and they win with the Power Ballad (assisted powerslam is how I'd describe it). Lots of references to Eddie Van Halen during this, may he rest in peace. Max Caster vs the Dirty Daddy Chris Dickinson is next. Caster is billed as the best wrestler alive. Caster customized his own walk out song. If he can do this every time he comes out, he'd have a bankable gimmick. Dickinson came to fight but Platinum Max is looking very impressive. Of course, showing off and acting cocky will not serve you well against Dickinson. Dickinson looks like a killer and, so far, is the only wrestler featured in some capacity all four weeks of UWN so far. I'm not the biggest fan of squash matches, but they may want to consider throwing some Dickinson's way, just to have him look dominant wiping someone out. As such, he's been having competitive matches. Good matches, mind you, but competitive. Death Valley Driver and Dickinson gets the pin. Really seems like UWN sees Dickinson as a guy with star written all over him.
The Bodega vs Wolf Zaddies are up next, 2nd of 3 tag team matches. The Zaddies return to Primetime LIVE after their week 1 debut. Danny Limelight of the Bodega is in the New Japan Lions Cup Tournament ongoing. His partner is King Fat Boy, another great name. Che Cabrera and Bad Dude Tito comprise the Zaddies. Can't say this isn't good, Tito and Che look like a real team, but Fat Boy just ROCKETED Limelight into a dropkick to Tito. That looked really impressive. Limelight is nimble. I've never seen someone avoid a charge into the corner by walking the 2nd rope like a tightrope. Bad Dude Tito with some real strength, catching Limelight's crossbody around the level of his knees. Wolf Zaddies notch the win here off an assisted cutter. Decent little match these 4 put together.
Chris Masters vs Fred Rosser is announced for next week, along with a huge announcement.
Main event time (10:06 on the east coast- so the timing issues that plagued week 1 are solved). Pope Elijah Burke and Watts come out. Sucks that Pope and Eddie Kingston never got to play out their feud in the NWA. Zicky Dice is outlandish to say the least. Zicky is not wearing his NWA TV Title belt. Dice makes an inside reference to Watts being on Dark. He introduces Effy as his mystery partner. I give Dave Marquez credit, I was fearing the worst but seeing Effy tonight is great. Minor trivia for those who don't remember, Zicky Dice beat Ricky Starks way back in January for the NWA TV Title.
Effy tags in and is in all his Effyness. Watts tags in and fends off a pair of nipple twisters. I'd like to see Watts or Pope score the pin tonight and challenge Dice in the upcoming weeks. Watts is not amused by Effy. Pope and Watts are finally in full control. Didn't see much action on Powerrr, instead acting as a mouthpiece for the Zane Brothers and the Bouncers. Regardless of the outcome here, sign Dice and Effy vs. Friendship Farm immediately. Effy and Dice have regained control. This one is definitely not hurt by the fact that I enjoy all four of these guys. Pope and Watts hit the Doomsday Device but take too long going for the pin when the illegal man (Pope) tried to score the pinfall. Eventually Pope scores the pin on Effy. Dice with a sneak attack on Pope, including spitting on The Pope. Pope issues a TV Title Challenge. I wonder if those matches will have the 6:05 time limit.
Decisions need to be made by the powers that be. Tonight's episode? Absolutely fine for what it was. Nothing egregiously wrong with it but nothing that reached out and grabbed me by the throat, demanding I tune in as you never know what you'll miss. I wish I could close out this blog with a "OH God you have to at least see THIS match or THAT match". Tonight, we got matches and the promise of a big announcement next week. I'm not sure if that's enough to entice someone to come back.
Thanks so much for reading!
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