It’s been a minute since we delved into the Community Pro Wrestling Patreon archives, we’re a little behind since ‘High Flying In Holytown‘ from November so to ease us back into the CPW swing of things, I’m checking out their double show at the Golden Friendship Club that was split into two events on the day, an afternoon show for the public and a members only event in the evening.

Magic Dave was on hand to introduce an afternoon of the wrestling.

Big Ross Hauser defeated Ravie Davie by pinfall.

The showdown between Big Ross and Ravie Davie since Hauser’s shocking turn at ‘Govanniversary’ had been put on the backburner due to Davie heading to Japan, in the interim Ross got to show more of this new side to him – an apologetically brutal and unemotional terminator, beating fan favourites by knockout and withdrawing from fan interaction.

Davie got the crowd loud to rattle Hauser, which broke the stoic façade that Ross was emitting. Big Ross overpowered Ravie Davie, who had to hit fast and frequent to get Hauser down to a knee. A couple dropkicks sent Hauser barrelling through the ropes to the outside and was met quickly by a diving Davie through the ropes.

Despite the bombarding of offense, it took a counter from the corner clothesline for Ross to catch Davie for a modified uranage to take control. As Hauser tried to slow down the pace, Davie slipped out of a powerslam to once again pepper Ross with jabs, sending him into the corner to land the corner clothesline which got a big cheer.

With the momentum swinging in his direction, Davie went for the Blockbuster but was caught in mid-air into a suplex position and slammed to the mat which was great. One last gasp of offense from Davie had his Lisbon Lionsault see him caught by the throat for a chokeslam, before Big Ross dethroned The Fresh Prince of Drumoyne Square with a lariat to collect the win and the mass of boos that came with it.

A heated opener. The call back to the corner clothesline caught a mega cheer that paid testament to the crowd investment into the match. I appreciate that it took a barrage from Ravie Davie to get Big Ross off his feet. I’d like to see an escalation to really follow on from ‘Govanniversary’ as this has the potential to be a big story to culminate in a stipulation bout down the line.

As I noted in the Holytown review, I’m enjoying the change in characterisation for Big Ross, nothing fancy required and in a company that has a cast of colourful and over the top characters, a grounded no nonsense threat is good to have.

CPW Tag Team Championships – Triple Threat – The Freshnas (Martin Steers & Fabio) defeated The Division (Barker & Milby), and The Bais (KMK & Big Ro) by pinfall to retain.

The Division went straight after The Bias while The Freshnas’ watched on. Their flurry was soon countered with Big Ro and KMK throwing Milby around, Milby wisely rolled out while tagging in Martin Steers with the champions not having much success in taking down Big Ro.

Milby and Barker returned to chuck Ro out and concentrate on The Freshnas, isolating Fabio with Milby hitting a sit back powerbomb that had a hell of a whip to it. A wounded Fabio tried to tag one of The Bias but Barker was on hand to trip both off the apron. Fabio wasn’t to be deterred and leapt to the adjacent corner where Martin Steers had returned to to accept the tag and turn up the tempo.

The high flying continued with Fabio and Martin Steers running around like a whippets with a bum full of dynamite until Big Ro got hold of Fabio for an End of Days, following up with a ridiculously fluid second turnbuckle moonsault.

Big Ro walked into a Shatter Machine from The Division as it looked like the new lads where on course for taking home the gold until Fabio rolled Milby through for a pin and Steers jumped in to hold Barker back.

An irate Division jumped the celebrating Freshnas for a beat down, lamping both with the titles for The Entourage to stot out with their Ticket To The Top briefcase. Another battering was given to The Freshnas but before Bryan Mojo could hand the case to referee Steven, The Bias chased them off.

It was a busy match, and it was too rapid to let things settle and tell a story. We kind of got it with The Division being the villains of the piece with the assaults to The Bias as the bell rang and the post-match to The Freshnas, but otherwise it was a move-after-move style thing until a quick pin sealed it. There was a noticeable pause between the pin being administered and Martin Steers coming in to stop Barker which was mistimed but it didn’t diminish the overall in-ring quality.

Number One Contender Fatal Five Way – Liam Jones defeated Arron Steele, Kayden Cross, Cousin Zander, and Nick Justice by pinfall.

Some jacket related shenanigans were promptly put to a halt by the fun police Nick Justice. Justice left Arron Steele to the wolves, who ate punches from Kayden Cross, Cousin Zander, and Liam Jones over and over again. Nick was returned to the ring to get a taste of the jab assault of his own.

With the opening exchanges out of the way, Justice and Steele isolated Zander for a double team attack, before being overpowered by Cross and Jones to leave the two big men standing across the ring from each other for a beefy confrontation.

Zander went airplane spinning but was met with turbulence courtesy of Kayden, then Liam Jones, the latter countering with a sweet judo throw, as all five threw in strikes for all the competitors to be laid out on the mat.

The moves kept coming in thick and fast, Justice and Steele provided the assist to allow Jones to give Cross a piledriver but their partnership finally dissolved with Arron unleashing a fast paced offense. Zander returned to take out the Welshman, only for Nick Justice to come back to dispose of The People’s Cousin via a Death Valley Driver.

Justice lined up Liam Jones but was met with a sit out powerbomb for a near fall, Jones didn’t mess around and picked up his opponent for a piledriver to punch his ticket into a championship match on the evening show.

The bad guys attacked Zander and Kayden after the match but Ravie Davie made the save to run them off to send us to the interval.

It was non-stop and fast flowing, the multi-man dynamic allowed for respite so there was no interruption to the in-ring action. Nick Justice and Liam Jones really stood out for me, everything they did was so slick and impactful, with Cousin Zander on hand for a bit of comic relief. Arron Steele had some flash in his move set but didn’t really get to show his persona among the cast of characters, and Kayden Cross had some play but it didn’t feel like he was involved for a lot of the match.

Mr Wanderer, & The Entourage (Bryan Mojo & Jack Carter) defeated Tommy Fierce, E-Town, & SBX by pinfall.

Tommy Fierce started things off with Mr Wanderer, with Fierce being immediately taken in by the crowd with a loud support. After some silliness with Mr Wanderer, SBX and Jack Carter were brought in and the tomfoolery continued. A gyrating E-Town was smashed with a forearm to the face that gave Mr Wanderer and his team the upper hand to keep the vicious lad situated in their half of the ring.

A missed Wanderer Elbow had E-Town showing signs of life to reach out for SBX, who snapped a powerslam on Mr Wanderer for a two count as the carousel of moves went by before Wanderer stung a cutter to E-Town to bring his crew back on the advantage.

It didn’t last long with SBX connecting with a Pedigree, with the fall saved by the knee of Bryan Mojo. Wanderer returned the favour by dragging referee Steven out of the ring after Mojo got hit with a Pedigree. While Steven was distracted, Jack Carter struck SBX with the Ticket To The Top briefcase and stole the win.

There was something amiss about the match, but I can’t quite place it as to why though. It’s like the crowd needed to settle into the second half and didn’t give as much gusto for the match as expected. Tommy Fierce got a big response, with the cheating finish receiving a vocal negative reaction but there were spells of tepid murmurs and chatter during sections.

Morgana & Lucas Lloyd-Barr defeated Hannah Grande & Thorin by pinfall.

The audience perked up for the penultimate match of the afternoon, and were more than happy to chant “ginger” towards Morgana. The added atmosphere seemed to give Hannah Grande an extra pep in her step but that pep was stepped on thanks to a distraction from LLB for Morgana to impose her will on Grande.

LLB took over the beat down, with Hannah trying her best to get to the other side of the ring, LLB turned the referee’s attention away to miss a perfectly good tag to keep Thorin having to watch on as his tag team partner was cornered.

Hannah dragged her way back to the tag, bringing in an amped up Thorin to go after LLB, with Morgana getting jumped by a rejuvenated Grande. Hannah tried the wheelbarrow stunner/bulldog that didn’t land well. While Grande headed back out to go after Morgana which once again had the referee with his eyes off the action, LLB smashed a mid-air Thorin with a gavel to pick up the pieces and take the win.

It wasn’t the tidiest of matches but the crowd were invested which made it easy to watch. The early portion with Hannah Grande and Morgana was solid, Thorin was in for a flash but showed a spark, and LLB revealed plenty of character and was wholly dislikeable so every comeuppance was cheered on, and the hatred was real when he cheated to win, so there were many positives to take from it.

CPW Cruiserweight Championship (If BSM Makes Weight) – The Big Strong Man defeated Tucker by pinfall to win the CPW Cruiserweight Championship.

A straight right hand from Tucker immediately had The Big Strong Man on the back foot, and Tucker wasn’t for letting up, hammering the back of BSM, and taking the skin off his big strong chest with a couple chops.

The match spilled to the outside for some big strong shenanigans with the young audience returning the chops to Tucker in their droves. BSM kept on top of Tucker by ramming the Irishman head first into the apron for a ten count. The big strong confidence was dented upon re-entry to the ring thanks to a kick to the middle rope for Tucker to regain control, taking his time to plant stomps, chops, and kicks to the spine and torso of The Big Strong Man.

BSM fed off the crowd energy, throwing Tucker back for a German Suplex but was sent crashing to the mat with a Falcon Arrow for a near fall. A missed Swanton Bomb gave The Big Strong Man a chance to catch his breath to prepare for a strike battle, coming back with forearms to rattle the champion, and taking Tucker down an STO variant.

With a wobbly legged Tucker seeking refuge in the corner, he was soon sent backwards with another German Suplex, a big strong spear almost had the match over but Tucker got his feet on the ropes to break the count.

Tucker leapt over a second spear, cracking BSM with a jumping superkick that could only net him two. A frustrated Tucker grabbed the CPW Cruiserweight Championship but despite managing to clock The Big Strong Man in the face, a big strong shoulder still got up before the referee’s hand could slap the mat a third time.

Another side kick had Tucker full of confidence for a lackadaisical cover, only for BSM to roll the pin over and get the win and the CPW Cruiserweight Championship.

It was a feel good main event to see The Big Strong Man overcome the early attack to come out with the big strong prize. A real crowd pleaser and the show, as most CPW events are, was marketed towards getting the kids excited for some wrestling, and I think it achieved that with the responses for the heroes and villains of the respective matches coming in as desired.

It felt a bit out of Community Pro Wrestling cannon with overarching stories put to the side to present an afternoon of condensed narratives with post-match happenings looking set up things for the evening show later in the day.

The full show is available on Community Pro Wrestling’s Patreon: