Last week saw Trevor Murdoch capture his first NWA Championship when he defeated Aron Stevens for the National Heavyweight Championship. On this episode of Prime Time Live, Vipress efforts to follow suit when she challenges Lacey Ryan for her FSW Woman’s Championship. Also we get the debut of NWA Television Champion Zicky Dice teaming with a mystery opponent to take on Watts and former WWE Wrestler Da Pope (fka EElijah Burke).
Promos this week kick off with Howdy Price and his man Levi Shapiro. On the first episode of the weekly episode pay-per-view series, Shapiro unsuccessfully challenged Dan Joseph for the United Television Championship. Price does all the talking, which is kind of funny because Shapiro is one of the hosts for the CW Presented by West Coast Pro Wrestling Presents (a regional specific version of CWFH that airs in the Bay Area). Next up is Bryan Idol who reminds me a bit of Malibu from the old American Gladiators. His catch phrase is “Looks kill, and so do I.” Not really a vote of confidence with the promo. Next up is Ryan with FSW Championship in toe, she tells Vipress that she’s “unstoppable,” her win/loss record in Hollywood would prove otherwise. Her opponent similarly to Priscilla Kelly from the second episode seems a bit disinterested. Hopefully it’ll translate into more focus in the ring. You might as well start calling Chris Dickinson “Mr Prime Time” because he’s definitely the breakout star of this series thus far. Next promo is from 4 Minutes of Heat, I’ve heard a lot of great things about them, but I haven’t seen them wrestle yet. Looking forward to that. Next up is the Bodega… Limelight is another guy who’s getting bigger and bigger! He delivers in good to great matches for CWFH, NJPW Strong and Prime Time Live. He and King Fat Daddy take on another favorite the Wolf Zaddies. Tito and Che are really on to something with this team. The promos really do a good job of introducing talent to the viewing audience at home.
Bryan Idol vs Levi Shapiro w/Howdy Price
He seems a little wooden so far. No relation to Anthony Idol (who made his debut last week) Bryan Idol is an import from the East Coast and he has a good look. Idol has spent times wrestling for former United Wrestling Network affiliate Fight Nation (which bought out IPW: UK. Idol also has worked matches with FIP, FTW, he was part of the 2015 king of The Indies event. Idol seems like he could benefit from working in this new platform. When last we saw Shapiro, he was defeated by United Wrestling Network TV Champion Dan Joseph in a bit of a confusing fashion. Shapiro’s blown opportunity at the first episode of Prime Time to take that Television Title from Joseph has put him in a precarious position. A loss tonight, might take him out of contingency for any relevancy in United. They mention multiple times that Idol is a ten year veteran of the ring, but I notice lots of hesitation when he looking for moves. Idol takes a side headlock on Shapiro to the top rope, almost looks like he’s going for a bulldog, but it’s more of a head and arm take over that looks absolutely awful. I cringed thinking that Shapiro might have just broke his neck. Thankfully, Shapiro was ok. Idol’s strikes are inconsistent, sometimes he looks like he’s murdering Shapiro in the ring, other times he looks like he’s not anywhere close to laying them in. To Shapiro’s credit, he’s looked like a professional in the ring. Everything he’s done has looked crisp. His bulldog off the top rope looked like death, his powerslam looked very clean. Following another hesitant approach, Idol connects with a pretty nice moonsault only for Howdy to toss his boot into the ring. It interrupts the referee’s count, distracts the referee and gives Shapiro the opportunity to load his glove and deliver a knock out punch to Idol.
Winner- Levi Shapiro walks away with the victory. Which honestly was much needed. If the plan is for him to again challenge Dan Joseph, he’s going to need to start racking up victories. I didn’t enjoy this match, but I don’t put the blame on Shapiro for this one.
Next up is the promo backstage with Da Pope. Remember when Elijah Burke was Vince’s chosen guy in the WW/ECW. Pope doing his best Dusty Rhodes impression says he’s hitching his wagon to Watts. Pope was last seen on NWA POWERRR looking for his version of the “4 Horsemen,” recruiting the likes of Eddie Kingston and Homicide until Kingston soured on Da Pope. Pope would then send tag teams after Kingston, but the feud didn’t survive the pandemic pause, when Kingston signed with AEW.
FSW Nevada Ladies Championship Match
This match has a lot to live up too. I will go so far as to say that the woman’s matches on PTL have been a breath of fresh air. All the matches have been good to great and very competitive. I haven’t seen a lot of Vipress inside the ring. In the past she had teamed with Priscilla Kelly and is the on-again-off-again tag team partner to Ruby Raze (who made her debut last week). The pair showed up this past weekend to work in Colorado. In the past years she has competed for the Crash in Mexico, Evolve and Shine and has had a handful of matches for CWFH including a match she substituted for Heather Monroe against Ryan. Conversely Ryan has been a regular in Hollywood and her feud with Monroe has been a cornerstone of it’s programming. The pair are married to each other in a best of seven series. The FSW Woman’s Champion has become quite the fan favorite for CWFH. She recently competed in a dark match for Ohio valley wrestling. Ryan won her FSW Women’s Championship by defeating impact wrestling’s Taya Valkyrie, nearly a year ago. She is also a former UCW-ZERO Ultra X Champion, which is a championship normally held by male competitors. It should be noted that UCW-ZERO is an affiliate of United Wrestling Network. It should be noted that this is the first week that no NWA Championship match was advertised. Vipress takes control of the match early and has some innovative offense, the dropkcik into the back of Lacy on the ropes was intense, after a short pin fall attempt she does a series of suplexes. The match unfortunately has had a series of tech snafus, as I’m currently staring at a rainbow. After a few minutes we’re back to action, Ryan is on top. A series of clothesline to show she’s in control of the match, still showing ware on her back. Vipress connects with a back suplex, but Ryan goes all 90s AJPW Kings Road and she no sells it, connects with her own Suplex. Vipress counters a tilt-a-whirl suplex effort from Ryan into a rear naked choke. Ryan fights out and turns it into a pin. Ryan connects with her knee exploder
Winner – Lacy Ryan pulls the victory. Pretty good match. Lacey has been getting a few good wins in Hollywood and she managed to get a big victory here on PPV.
4 Minutes of Heat vs. Beef Candy w/David Flex
The duo are currently the DEFY Tag Team Champions. Billy Pearl and Ricky Gibson have really taken the Pacific Northwest by storm. They’ve competed in matches most recently in CWFH but have competed in events all up and down the Western Sea Board, including matches in Canada with former NWA affiliate ECCW. Their last match since the pandemic pause was against the new Hollywood Tag Team Connors and Mayer in which they took the loss. Their opponents are Richie Slade and Ricky Mandel. Slade is a main stay in Arizona and Hollywood. His partner Mandel hasn’t been seen in a United Wrestling Network ring in a few years. He was the man who defeated Scorpio Sky to win the Hollywood Heritage Championship. Their manager Flex was the manager of PAC3 and led the trio of Dan Joseph, Dylan Bostic, and Dicky Meyers to the United Tag Team Championship. Locally Mandel was a big part of SoCal Pro Wrestling in the past having won their championship multiple times. Slade typically competes with EWF and the promotion formerly known as Vendetta Pro. The match has been focusing mostly on Beef Candy efforting to double team (with Flex) trying to keep their opponent in their corner. Mandel still has one of the best drop kicks in the business today. Beef Candy does a backslide into a guillotine leg drop, which was a pretty interesting move. Beef Candy has done a great job of keeping Ricky Gibson inside the ring and away from his tag partner. “Freak Nasty” Eddie Pearl gets the hot tag and is a house of fire, even being able to fight out of the corner. 4 Minutes of Heat connect with the Power Ballad… basically a two man island driver.
Winners – 4 Minutes of Heat (Pearl and Gibson) made an excellent debut, I’d really like to see how they line up against SoCal Distancing. Beef Candy looked pretty good in defeat too. I’d like to see more of them as well.
Chris Dickinson vs. Max Caster
I was recently enlightened about Max Caster. Apparently he raps “makes diss tracks about his opponents. His most popular song might be the Colt Cabana diss,” I haven’t heard it. Caster is obviously new to the United Wrestling Network. A free agent out of New York. He was trained by the Create-A-Pro Wrestling Academy, it’s there he held the CAP Championship twice as well as a tag team championship with Bobby Orlando. Caster spent a lot of time in the CZW: Dojo Wars and has appeared on CZW shows. Most recently you would have seen Caster working for All Elite Wrestling, dark shows. His first match teaming with Luther and Serpentico versus the Jurassic Express later wrestling against Sean Spears. Most recently, wrestling for Beyond wrestling promotion based out of Denver, Colorado. His opponent, is the “Filthy Father”, the “Dirty Daddy,” the breakout star of the first month of Prime Time Live. Dickinson has been on a tear United Wrestling Network, he recently made his first appearance in Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, but by far and away he is becoming the breakout start of Prime Time live. He has successfully defeated Anthony Idol and Jordan Cruz, and if we’re being honest has more camera time than just about anybody else. I expect Dickinson to roll through the competition for a few more weeks. Dickinson is intensity personified. Caster and Dickinson go toe-to-toe and we’re seeing the Dirty Daddy in a role we’re not used too. Caster spent a bit too much time showing to the camera and Dickinson took advantage of the with a series of kicks and into a half crab. With Dickinson in control he’s been spending a lot of time working on the leg. Caster was able to slip out of the DVD and connected with a driver, to and started working over the arm of Dickinson. Caster has really taken control of this match connecting with a big elbow drop. Caster only gets a 2. Caster goes for a 2nd elbow, but Dickinson gets to his feet and connects with a superplex from the top rope. Dickinson connects with an enzuguri and connects with his DVD.
Winner – Dickinson gets the win. That wasn’t the surprising point of the match. Honestly, I’m not sure he’ll ever lose. But Caster really impressed me in the ring. He has good look and wrestled well. Targeted the arm, his attacks were centered on the arm, but in the end he just couldn’t avoid the DVD. I hope to see more “Platinum” Max in the future. Dickinson post match acknowledges the competition in this match.
Wolf Zaddies vs. The Bodega
Bad Dude Tito and Che Cabrera have been very dominant in CWFH. Their match with the Tribe on the 1st episode of PTL was very hard hitting. Tito is a former CWFH Heritage Tag Team Champion and a former CWFH Heritage Champion. Papo Esco and Danny Limelight haven’t been teaming long, but have looked good so far Esco was trained at Pro Wrestling-Revolution in Northern California. Sometimes called the “One Man Lucha Gang” and that’s a pretty apt nickname for him. Tito and Esco kind of came to a standstill, so both partners tag out. Limelight who’s been killing it lately as he’s a star in NJPW Strong, one of the top stars of Hollywood and last appearance in PTL made a great debut against Kevin Martenson. Limelight has been quick, keeping Cabrera in their corner. La Bodega makes quick tags and keep Che in the wrong side of the ring. Esco launches Danny into Tito, drop kicking him off the apron. The control of the match changes when the Wolf Zaddies can connect with some tag team moves. Now the Zaddies are keeping Limelight away from the hot tag with Esco. Limelight finds away to connect with strikes, even as he’s being tossed around the ring. Limelight is able to use the 2nd rope as a high wire act into a body block. Limelight gets the tag as Esco just starts tossing the Zaddies. However Zaddies take advantage over Limelight and connect with Zaddifcation.
Winners – Great showing by the Bodega. This match really could have gone either way. I know the Zaddies could be the break out tag team on Prime Time Live, but you can’t sleep on the Bodega. Esco look really good and Limelight continues to be a star on the show. Really fun tag team match. More of these please.
Main Event
The tag team match between Watts and the Da Pope versus NWA Television Champion Zicky Dice and his mystery opponent is probably the most talked-about match for tonight’s card. We all saw Watts battle Eli Drake on the second episode of Prime Time Live and what was considered to be a great genuine heavyweight match up. Watt’s partner Da Pope showed up on NWA POWERRR, didn’t wrestle a single match– in fact he showed up as more as an advisor role initially to Eddie Kingston, claiming that he was searching for his next four horsemen. It was believed that a showdown between Kingston and Da Pope was scheduled to take place but it never happened. Some had believed that Da Pope had retired from pro wrestling, but he has been wrestling intermittently. His last match was for USA pro wrestling in Orlando Florida back in February of 2020. Zicky Dice, whose status as an NWA competitor has been fodder for water cooler talk for most of the summer will finally debut on Prime Time Live. The Television Champion has remained active through social media and on Twitch, but hasn’t had a TV title defense since the pandemic. The match starts off with Mind-Games. First Dice doesn’t want any part of Watts. Asks for Burke. Da Pope gets in the ring and then Dice tags out to Effy. Effy wants Watts. I know that this is supposed to be entertainment, but I don’t see the value in it. I’m here for wrestling. Surprised how crisp Pope looks in the ring. Also surprised on how well Effy and Dice worked together, as previously mentioned… the tag teams have been really good at cutting the ring in half and with Effy and Dice being able to make frequent tags. Pope was able to break the double team to get the hot tag on Watts. Pope and Watts connect with a clean Doomday Device, to pay homage to the Road Warriors. Pope goes for the cover, but isn’t the legal man. Watts is distracted by Dice on the outside, giving Effy a chance to collect himself and make the tag. Then the duo go after Watt’s bum wheel that was recently attacked on CWFH. The team of Dice and Effy pinpoint that knee and the double teams continue. Before this match started, I thought this match would be all Pope and Watts, but the NWA TV Champ has proved this otherwise. As solid as Pope looked, I’m feeling cheated that he didn’t have a match on NWA POWERRR. Effy has been impressive too. He may be as good as advertised.
Winners – Watts & Pope. Match finish kind of came out of nowhere. Burke hit the Elijah Express double knees in the corner on Effy. Scores the pinfall. Post match Dice attacks Pope. Lays some forearms and even SPITS into the face of Elijah Burke. Boom, four weeks of pay-per-view and we officially have our first official NWA feud. This is what Dice does and this is what Pope does
Next week, Dan Joseph will be back next week defending his United Television Championship against Dom Kubrick and Fred Rosser (formerly Darren Young in the WWE) will debut taking on Chris Masters. Hamerstone will be in action defending his WCPW Championship. Heather Monroe will be facing Elayna Black. And a HUGE announcement eight years in the making. More matches are expected to make the Pay-Per-View which can be ordered on FITE!
