March 6th, 2017. David Starr made his debut for Defiant Wrestling, then known as WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW), in a losing effort to Marty Scurll. May 25th, 2019. David Starr may be facing the toughest challenge in his Defiant career thus far, when he may have to enter the No Regrets Rumble Match at number one.
Loser Enters Rumble First – Winner Enters At 30@DEFIANTwres No Regrets 25/05 #Manchester @MancAcademy
It’s @TheProductDS vs @WrestlingGabe
Tickets https://t.co/3Y5gfMghfs pic.twitter.com/NYXQ0sp7XV
— Ringside World (@RingsideWorld) May 15, 2019
Ever since that March 2017 date, one thing that’s always been attached to David Starr in a Defiant ring is the fact that he’s never been able to get the job done when it comes to big marquee matches. No matter how many victories he picked up in smaller contests, the man of many nicknames would never be able to score a win when the spotlight was shining down. As a result, many are questioning if The Product will be able to win the Rumble. It’s up to him whether or not he’ll be able to break this aura he has in big matches within Defiant.
David Starr’s Trials And Tribulations In Defiant Wrestling
Let’s go back to the second annual Refuse to Lose pay-per-view in October 2017, and David’s first big opportunity in what was then-WCPW. He and “Speedball” Mike Bailey went into battle in a best of three series, with the winner earning a future title match for Zack Sabre Jr.‘s Internet Championship. After going down 0-1 in the show’s opening contest, Starr would lose the whole series two months later at the reboot show WeAreDefiant, eliminating any possible way of Starr vs ZSJ in Defiant for that time period. Seething at failing to beat Speedball, The King of Taunts headed to a darker place in his life as he joined The Prestige group alongside remaining members Joe Hendry and El Ligero. This brought him nothing but hatred from both the faithful Defiant audience and the others in the locker room.
Despite The Prestige having quite a bit of success when they first arrived on the scene, the group was essentially dead at this stage, meaning Starr’s time within the group was short-lived (this period did however feature the Defiant debuts of Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos, so it wasn’t all bad). Following this, the next big opportunity came Starr’s way in Defiant. Zack Sabre Jr. was unable to make a scheduled defence of his Internet Championship, resulting in management crowning an interim champion until he was able to return to the company. The competitors? Travis Banks, Chris Brookes, Mike Bailey, and of course David Starr. He made it to the final two of this elimination match but alas, it would be The Kiwi Buzzsaw that left Manchester that evening with the championship intact. The continued losses were really getting to him at this stage, meaning he clobbered Banks with a clothesline post-match when the new champ tried to console him.
David Starr comes across as one of those guys who believes he needs to be the absolute best to succeed in life. That’s why he gets as frustrated as he does when he fails in these challenges. One of those challenges that has troubled him throughout his entire career is the reigning WWE United Kingdom Champion and Europe’s resident chopping machine, WALTER. He and Starr have faced off numerous times and each time, the story has always been that WALTER always got the better of his opposition. So when the monstrous Austrian made his way to Defiant Wrestling in March of 2018, The Product was right there to insert his name into the hat to be his first opponent. Although originally scheduled as a triple threat championship contest also involving Banks, Starr and WALTER brought their storied singles rivalry to Leeds and Newcastle at the end of March. At both Lights Out and The Road to No Regrets, The Ring General pinned David’s shoulders to the mat to cement his status as the number one contender to Travis Banks’ championship (the latter bout came around when Starr’s foot was underneath the bottom rope while he passed out to the Gojira Clutch in the previous encounter).
Heading forward, Starr had two multi-man events to get through in order to achieve his first major taste of glory under the Defiant banner. First up, we had the second annual No Regrets Rumble Match, with Starr entering the match for the first time as its number two entrant. Starting the contest alongside Joe Hendry, The King of Taunts made it all the way to the final four, eliminating Justin Sysum, TK Cooper, and WALTER along the way. Unfortunately for him though, he would be the third to last man ousted from the contest after submitting to Hendry’s ankle lock submission. As expected, Starr was less than content with this loss. He would however have the opportunity to avenge the defeat when he was one of 16 participants entered into the inaugural Ringmaster Tournament – whoever won the tournament would earn themselves a World Championship match at the following October’s Refuse to Lose event. En-route to the finals, Starr saw off challenges from both Kurtis Chapman and Omari in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively, joining John Klinger, Nathan Cruz, and El Phantasmo in the final round. All seemed well for the perennial fan favorite after he disposed of Cruz but a post-elimination attack allowed eventual winner Klinger to pin Starr’s shoulders to the mat. Another big opportunity that Starr had failed to win, although it wasn’t his own fault this time around.
Seeing as Nathan Cruz was so keen to cost David a potential victory in the Ringmaster Tournament, a singles bout was scheduled between them for Refuse to Lose, which Starr won via submission. By the end of that night, Starr had put his name forward to be the next to challenge Rampage for his World Championship, following Rampage successfully defending the gold against John Klinger in the evening’s main event. With Defiant’s weekly YouTube show Loaded back on our screens by December, Starr continued his quest to receive a title shot, which included a match against the sensation that is PAC. That match has gone down as one of the greatest in Defiant history but when push came to shove, it would be The Man That Gravity Forgot who picked up a victory in his hometown of Newcastle. Nevertheless though, Starr clearly impressed enough as he was granted a championship match opposite Rampage anyway, with that match set as the main event for the Unstoppable iPPV.
Coming into the match, Rampage had kept his grasp on the biggest prize on offer in Defiant for just under 10 months, resulting in the majority of fans praying for a David Starr victory. Not because they were sick and tired of Rampage holding the championship, but because they wanted to see a new face with the gold around their waist, and we all thought David Starr was just the man to do that. With the referee taking a tumble during the heated contest, it appeared as if Starr was willing to do anything necessary to walk out of the Manchester Academy with the title intact. He reluctantly refused to use the championship belt though, resulting in not one but two piledrivers ending his night on a sour note. Rampage’s record-breaking reign was set to continue, as was Starr’s streak of failing to come out victorious in big situations.
Following another loss to Gabriel Kidd at April’s Lights Out show, David Starr now finds himself once again on the opposite side of the ring from The Young Bull at No Regrets before the Rumble Match itself. Originally, Starr was scheduled to enter at number one whereas Kidd was supposed to come in at number thirty. However, Gabe demanded another match with Davey Wrestling at the upcoming show. resulting in general manager General Ameen telling him to put his money where his mouth is and put his precious Rumble spot up for grabs. The whole landscape of that match could change in the course of one singles match.
So, David Starr has two huge opportunities at No Regrets. He could enter the No Regrets Rumble Match as its last entrant, and he could win the whole thing to earn the right to challenge either Rampage or Mark Haskins on June 29th at Built to Destroy. The only question is whether or not he’ll actually be able to do so, or if he’ll fall at the final hurdle one more time.
No Regrets airs LIVE on Access Defiant on May 25th, airing live from 6:30pm. The card as it currently stands;
- 2019 No Regrets Rumble Match: David Starr, Gabriel Kidd, Joe Hendry, John Klinger, Lizzy Styles, Man Like Dereiss, Mark Billington, Sean Kustom, Simon Miller, Thomas Billington, and Visage
- Defiant World Championship: Rampage (c) vs Mark Haskins
- Defiant Women’s Championship: Lizzy Styles (c) vs Lana Austin
- Defiant Tag Team Championships: The South-Coast Connection (Ashley Dunn & Kelly Sixx) (c) vs Team WhiteWolf (A-KID & Carlos Romo)
- No Regrets Rumble #1 and #30 spots on the line: David Starr vs Gabriel Kidd
