First time seeing a Purpose show live, and it was pretty great. A small crowd in the middle of a library is just a crazy and amazing place for some wrestling.
Teens with Attitude Vs Cali Gray & Harry Sefton – 2⭐
The opener was a fun tag match that told the classic story of heel Vs baby-face. TWA came out with a lot of energy and that lifted the crowd for the entire show.
Gray and Sefton took most of the offence for this (Gray’s look was pretty cool too) as they built for the faces hot tag. They was a nice suicide dive sequence and the finish came when TWA hit a top rope crossbody, with the other on his hands and knees behind, similar to the school yard push over position.
The match had its clunky moments but all 4 guys are great and I can see them having more and bigger matches in the future. I’m not sure if Seftons face was injured or the Cody Rhodes-esque mask was a gimmick, but this definitely got a “meme” reaction from the fans.
Skye Smitson Vs Laura Dimatteo – 2.5⭐
First impressions of Smitson, loved her look and she had an awesome move set. Dimatteo is also a fantastic baby-face.
The two worked a fun match, as the crowd was easily split 50/50. Smitson hit an awesome gutwrench powerbomb style move. There was a great springboard reversal by her too, as Laura hopped onto the middle rope, Smitson kicked the top rope throwing her balance off.
After a few comebacks by Laura, she locked in her submission and got the win. A fun match that got the crowd more into the show.
Armstrong & Lynch Vs Easy City Sovereigns – Losing team must disband – 3⭐
High stakes for this match, and good heel work from both Saeed and Singh made this match feel big. As Armstrong and Lynch made their entrance, the Sovereigns attacked them from behind.
There was an injury angle as JJ’s knee was taken out, leaving a 2 on 1 as it was building to the inevitable return. When Rex finally made the tag, the pace picked up.
There were some great near falls from both teams, the ending came when Rex was held in the corner, and JJ was hit by a DDT and pinned. This was a good match with big stakes, the end I felt took a while to get too and the momentum was drained. Also JJ’s leg should’ve been sold a bit more whilst doing some moves, to really put over why he couldn’t be there at the start.
Connor Mills Vs Nino Bryant – Championship Semi Final – 3⭐
This was my first time seeing a heel Mills, and it worked very well. Also seeing Nino for the first time, and he was awesome. The match started slow and Mills took the majority of the offence.
The match picked up when Nino had Mills down for a pin, for Oku to run out and put a leg on the rope, keeping him safe. Again, first time seeing a fully heel Oku and I think it worked well.
After a ref bump and a couple low blows, Mills managed to get the cheap victory and advance to the final. They both started attacking Nino which led to a lights out reveal for Solomon Lamb.
Nino chased Mills off and the Last Man Standing match began.
Michael Oku Vs Solomon Lamb – Last Man Standing – 3.5⭐
This match started off very sports entertainment, with empty drink cans being used, Oku ran out with a big soft play thing, library books to the heads. They moved round the ring and fought to the stage, Lamb threw Oku into a box on wheels and pushed him into the ring post. It then went from 0-100 real quick.
After Oku hit a springboard moonsault onto a empty chair (sat up), Lamb went to the back and brought out a 2×4 piece of wood, with barbed wire wrapped round. BARBIE!!!
A couple shots with that to Oku, and this match shifted gear dramatically. Lamb took barbed wire to the head and busted him open. Oku climbed one of the book shelves to jump into Solomon’s arm wrapped in barbed wire.
Then the thumbtacks came out. Oku took a huge bump off the top rope onto them, Lamb then took a bulldog head first into them. The match began to come to an end as Oku grabbed something from under the ring, and hit Lamb in the face with his Rev Pro Cruiserweight belt.
Oku hit a huge frog splash whilst wearing the belt, onto Lamb with a chair lying on him. The ref began the count and Oku rolled out the ring to get to his feet on the count of 9.
An unexpectedly violent match, but a great one. Last man standing matches for me always seem to have the full periods while waiting for the ref to count, but I feel these two work around this well. After the match Lamb stood up and yelled at Oku “I’m still standing”. Hopefully suggesting another match between the two down the line.
David Francisco Vs Jordon Breaks – Championship Semi Final – 3⭐
After the ring got cleaned up, it was time for the main event, semi final match. It was always going to be tough to follow that match, but after a quiet and slow start, both men worked the crowd back into the match.
Throughout the match they had some good back and forth, with hard slaps and nice reversals. Breaks worked on Francisco’s left arm and fingers during it, putting his Kimora style finisher on multiple times.
Francisco hit a Gotch piledriver for Banks to kick out at 2.9, as he managed to lock his submission on Francisco again to make him tap out. Banks will face Mills in the final in August.
A good main event with high stakes and kept the crowd guessing the outcome.
Ralph Wrestling Reviews 