The Masked Ace's Review of "World of Sport Wrestling Episode 1"

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Submitted by Critical Blast Staff on Sun, 07/29/2018 - 09:04

Review By The Masked Ace

In the UK, ITV debuted the first episode of it's new World of Sport Wrestling this week. While it is not really available to US viewers, it is not particularly hard to find if you want to check it out. Not that the Masked Ace is suggesting that you should violate any copyright laws...of course...

The show started with Stu Bennett announcing that WoS was going to be moving away from the clowns and fools so prevalent in British wrestling. This seemed like a direct shot at Grado who had won the WoS title last year. Stu set up a five man elimination match to decide who would face Grado in the main event later that night. In typical wrestling fashion, we got a screwy finish to set up a Triple Threat Main Event between Justin Sysum, Rampage, and Grado. Sysum and Rampage were immediately in the position of the company's top god guy and bad guy, which carried into the main event where Rampage managed to steal the win and the WoS title.

But this show wasn't just about the title. In between, we got a hell of a match between Will Ospreay and British Bulldog Jr (Harry Smith is now wrestling as Davey Boy Smith Jr). It was a terrific speed vs strength match, and if WoS wants to put itself on the map, they need to put this match all over social media. British Bulldog Jr got a hard fought victory, and the crowd was into it the entire time.

Rounding out the night, we got a tag match as part of a tag title tournament. We got to see a lot of personality from Iestyn Rees and Kip Sabin. They are a young cockey tag team, and seem like they can go far. WoS also set up a feud between the other two competitors Joe Hendry and Martin Kirby as their partnership dissolved during the match.

For an hour long wrestling show, tWorld of Sport managed to get a lot in here. Everything was fast paced, and there wasn't a lot of BS during the show. We talk all the time about how WWE is too big for any real competition, but World of Sport definitely can carve out a solid niche for itself here.

Stu Bennett was great here as the heel commissioner and commentator. He played it perfectly snarky. When asked "How do you sleep at night?" he responded casually, "Very well! Thanks!" SoCal Val and Alex Shane rounded out the commentary team which did a terrific job putting all the performers in context. There weren't a lot of backstage segments or promos, but you still had a strong sense of who each performer was during their match.

World of Sport needed to make a statement here in their debut, and I think they did it! Fast paced action, storylines already starting to fall in place, and the promise of even more to come. Next week, we get a ladder match, a match to determine their first Women's champion, and more tag team tournament action. There are a lot of alternatives to WWE right now on cable and various video platforms, including Impact, Lucha Underground, MLW Fusion, and Dojo Pro, but World Of Sport definitely has the potential to be something real special.