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THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail: twosheds316@aol.com
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
This past March, The Wrestling Channel took a massive gamble by bringing
over some of the world’s best wrestlers outside of WWE over to Britain.
Stars from ROH, TNA and NOAH joined with those from the FWA for International
Showdown, held in the Coventry Skydome before a crowd of over 3,000, and
released as a two disc DVD set shortly afterwards.
Disc one begins with a promo from the Wonderkid himself, Jonny Storm,
Basic hype job for the upcoming four way encounter.
It’s then time for the first bout, as the aforementioned Storm, Spud,
Chris Sabin and Petey Williams go up against each other. This is the prefect
way of opening the show, a fast-paced, all action affair which leaves
you gasping for breath at times. After what seemed like an eternity of
break-neck action, Williams picked up the win after taking Sabin out with
the Canadian Destroyer piledriver.
Backstage, Tony Giles interviews Spud. Looks like he’s aching like
hell. Spud promises to take on his adversaries again.
Next, the match which drew a lot of criticism at the time, as Steve Grey
took on “Superstar” Mal Sanders in traditional British rules
contest. Despite the bad press this match received, I personally enjoyed
this a great deal, and Sanders and Grey showed that despite their advancing
years they could still put on a hell of a bout, with Grey winning after
a cross body block.
Then it’s time for the legendary Bill Apter to host his “Apter’s
Alley” segment, as he attempts to present a lifetime achievement
award to Mick Foley. However, the ceremony is interrupted first by Greg
“The Truth” Lambert, and secondly by “The Showstealer”
Alex Shane. Eventually, Mrs. Foley’s baby boy arrives on the scene,
and verbally lambastes Shane and Lambert. After receiving his award and
leaving the ring, Lambert and Shane (isn’t that a brand of ciggies?)
return to the ring and attack Apter from behind. A nice segment here,
but a little too long. Where’s my wrestling, dammit?
Then, we (finally) return to action, as two men who tore up Ring of Honor,
Samoa Joe and C.M. Punk, go up against each other. Sadly, I haven’t
seen either of their sixty minute encounters, so I can’t compare
this match to those. But after the previous overlong segment, it was nice
to get back to some wrestling, and these two didn’t disappoint. Punk
and Joe had the crowd eating out of their hands and put on a clinic, showing
just how good these two are, with Joe getting the pin after the muscle
buster, after over twenty minutes of great action.
Backstage, Punk reflects on his defeat, and promises he’ll defeat
Joe one day. Not while you’re stuck down in Ohio Valley, my friend.
Then it’s on to the disc one extras, which begin with Jack Xavier,
Aviv Mayaan and Ross Jordan taking on Mark Sloan, Stevie Knight and Stixx
in the dark match. Sadly, no commentary on this one. I guess it wasn’t
important enough for that. A good, if somewhat unspectacular bout, with
Knight again proving what a comedy genius he is. Mayaan got the winning
pinfall, taking Sloan down with a hurricanrana.
Other extras feature two great Q&A sessions with Mick Foley and C.M.
Punk, plus exclusive backstage footage and a music video.
Disc two begins with the six man tag that everyone’s been talking
about, as Doug Williams, James Tighe and Scorpio take on Mitsuhara Misawa,
Tiger Emperor and Yoshinari Ogawa. The hype for this match, as well as
the praise, was wholly justified. A great all round match with excellent
showings from all six men, with Williams pinning the Emperor after the
Chaos Theory suplex. This match earned a standing ovation, and rightfully
so.
Backstage, Nick London interviews the winning team. Tighe looks really
battered and bruised. The scars of war, I guess.
Back to singles action next, as Alex Shane takes on Raven at his own game.
It’s an arena wide brawl as Raven bleeds for his art, and takes the
Showstealer to school in what is probably the best Alex Shane bout I’ve
seen. As the referee takes a snooze, Mick Foley runs in and helps out
with Mr. Socko, before Raven takes the win after a DDT.
Backstage, Nick London gabs with Christopher Daniels. The Fallen Angel
appears very confident as he prepares for his title defence.
Then it’s time for the main event, as A.J. Styles tries to regain
the TNA X-Division title from Christopher Daniels. So what can I say that
hasn’t been said about these two before? This is possibly as near
a perfect X-Division match as you’ll find, over twenty minutes of
fast paced action from two of the top stars outside of a WWE ring, with
Daniels eventually retaining the title after the Last Rites DDT. Need
I say any more?
Disc two extras come in the form of a second Styles v Daniels bout from
the Irish Whip Wrestling supershow in Dublin the following day. A different
style of match here, showing that these two are more than one trick ponies,
with A.J. taking Daniels down with the Styles Clash. Secondly, it’s
the Shane v Raven rematch, this time with the FWA British Heavyweight
title on the line, at the FWA’s War on the Shore show in Morecombe
a week later, again fought under Raven’s rules. Another arena wide
brawl here, with a different set of toys, some mysterious powder, and
Shane retaining the title after a big boot. If I recall, this was probably
the best match on a somewhat lacklustre FWA show.
In conclusion - what can I say? This was touted as the biggest show of
2005, and it didn’t disappoint. I know this is going to sound like
an old cliché, but every match was worthy of main event status.
TWC, with the help of Alex Shane, did a good job of bringing all of this
top talent together, and they should be commended for a job well done.
Production wise, very good, although a few of the camera angles were off
at times. Commentators Eamon Darcy and Dean Ayass did a very good job
of calling the action, and it’s a shame that Ayass wasn’t used
in this role when the FWA had their show on TWC. He would definitely have
been a lot better than Tony Giles, Nick London, John Atkins and Dan(n)
Read combined.
This DVD can be purchased from the online store at www.thewrestlingchannel.tv.
