{"id":25791,"date":"2018-09-14T11:09:26","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T15:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=25791"},"modified":"2018-09-15T07:55:16","modified_gmt":"2018-09-15T11:55:16","slug":"recap-spw-southern-rumble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/09\/14\/recap-spw-southern-rumble\/","title":{"rendered":"Recap: SPW Southern Rumble"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southern Pro Wrestling (SPW)<\/strong> in New Zealand is the premier wrestling promotion in the country. They\u2019ve seen talent like Travis Banks<\/strong> and TK Cooper<\/strong> get their start here before going to the UK, and have had the likes of Will Ospreay<\/strong> and Bea Priestly<\/strong> come through fairly consistently. Founded in 2015, they\u2019ve grown quickly. This past July they put on the largest independent wrestling show in New Zealand in 27 years, seeing an attendance of 1,248 at the ILT Stadium in Invercargill, Southland for the 2018 edition of the Southern Rumble<\/strong><\/em>. All in the all, the show was a huge success, and got some buzz from wrestling fans around the world. The production of the show was top notch, and much better than a promotion of their size has any right to be. The stage, entrance screens, and the cameras were all sleek, as was the video editing after the show. The entire presentation felt closer to WWE than PWG in terms of production value. The booking, as usual for SPW NZ, was incredibly smart. The big shock of the show was surprising while making perfect sense with the story that was being told. And if you watch it on Powerslam TV<\/a> like I did, you have the option of watch the whole show, or select a single match (with times listed next to each) as well as a short blurb about the show with the card rundown. The show wasn\u2019t perfect\u2014no show is\u2014but it was such an impressive accomplishment, that Southern Pro Wrestling New Zealand must be in the conversation when discussing the worldwide indies. Let\u2019s take a look at the actual show itself:<\/p>\n

It opened with a tremendous \u201cHistory in the Making\u201d (the tagline of the show) video package, the first sign of a well put together show. Rhys Matthewson<\/strong>, a comedian from New Zealand, was the host for the evening, and started the show with a couple jokes before we moved on to a great package to build up the first match:<\/p>\n

\u201cHooligan\u201d Marcus Kool vs. Will Ospreay<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It sounds like no big deal, but putting the wrestlers\u2019 names in a graphic at the bottom of the screen when they come out really is a nice touch, and makes it so much easier for new viewers to get to know the performers. After the bell, the two Brits go back and forth to start things off before Kool took the advantage with a couple of dives. Ospreay attempts to comeback with a back handspring kick and a top rope 619, but gets cutoff by Kool in the process. Eventually the two start trading some cool moves back and forth, including a couple of tilt a whirl DDT\u2019s, before Ospreay goes full strong style on Kool. Opsreay challenges Kool to chop and kick him, and doesn\u2019t back down, bringing some fighting spirit to Southland. Ospreay had a crazy sell of an Unprettier by Kool, nearly doing a headstand in the process. After all the back and forth and changes in momentum, Kool eventually catches Ospreay with a roll up, and Kool looks as surprised as Ospreay afterwards. This match was enjoyable overall, although Kool\u2019s selling isn\u2019t my cup of tea, but he pulled off some really cool high spots, and had some good heel character work with the fans early on. Ospreay, as always, was on point, and truly is one of the best in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cHooligan\u201d Marcus Kool def. Will Ospreay (16:50)<\/p>\n

We move on to an interview with Will Power<\/strong>, who has drawn # 1 in the Southern Rumble match later on, but reminds us that he has still has his Fight for Gold Briefcase (it functions just like a Money in the Bank briefcase), before we go back to the ring.<\/p>\n

Bea Priestley vs. Tenille Dashwood<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Tenille Dashwood<\/strong>, an Australian, attacks before the bell, while Bea Priestley, a New Zealand native, was posing with an All Blacks rugby jersey, so they got patriotic heat early. Dashwood proceeded to choke Priestly with the jersey, but the referee finally got them separated, and Priestley said she was ok to continue, so the bell rang we officially got underway. Dashwood went after the knee early, and was the heat for the entirety of the second act of the match. Priestley finally begun her comeback with a codebreaker to Dashwood\u2019s arm, and pin pointed her attack there. Dashwood grabbed her in a tarantula to cut her off, but Priestly kept fighting. Dashwood though was too much in the end, and pinned her after a Spotlight Kick. The match built well and got better as it went along, despite a couple of sloppy spots, and Priestley\u2019s focused attack on the arm was a clever comeback angle.<\/p>\n

Tenille Dashwood def. Bea Priestley (13:45)<\/p>\n

Afterwards, Dashwood cut an anti-New Zealand promo.<\/p>\n