UWN Primetime Live results: The Pope & Watts vs. Zicky Dice & Effy

This week’s episode opened with a promo montage, serving as a nice way to introduce the new wrestlers that will be on the show this week. It’s a small, yet simple way to get the audience invested.

*********

Levi Shapiro (w/ Howdy Price) defeated Bryan Idol

Idol started the match quick, leaving Shapiro on the defensive right away. Idol hit a series of headlock takeovers and then a sling blade and a charging forearm. Idol hit a suicide dive, but as he celebrated, Shapiro got up and hit a throat thrust. Idol brought Shapiro in the hard way and then hit a butterfly suplex.

Shapiro got the heat for a bit, choking Idol on the ropes and then tossing him to the floor. Shapiro distracted the ref and his manager started stomping on Idol. Shapiro hit a bulldog off the middle rope for a two count. Shapiro hit a powerslam and then went for the claw, but Idol countered out. Idol hit a flatliner coming into the ring, and after an exchange, he hit a superkick and then hit a springboard moonsault.

Price threw a boot into the ring to distract the referee and as the ref was turned away, Shapiro loaded his glove and nailed Idol for the pinfall victory.

This was a solid opening match here. I’d like to see more of Idol, as he looked quite good.

FSW Nevada Ladies Champion Lacey Ryan defeated Viperess

Viperess used some power moves early on, hitting suplexes and slams to ground Ryan. The video feed cut out in the middle of the match to a standby screen. When it came back, both women were exchanging chops in the middle of the ring. Ryan hit a clothesline and then a few kicks before hitting the ropes, Viperess ducked under and hit a German suplex.

Ryan stood right up and hit a half nelson suplex and running knee on Viperess for two. Ryan went for a 450 splash, but Viperess moved and locked on a rear naked choke in the middle of the ring. Ryan floated backwards into a pinfall, but Viperess kicked out. Viperess managed to get behind her again with a sleeper, but Ryan spun out, hit a V-Trigger and the Knee Exploder for the pinfall victory.

This was a pretty standard match with both women looking good. Ryan is quite talented, and it proved to be a good showcase for her. I was quite impressed with her overall athleticism and I can see her going places eventually.

4 Minutes of Heat (Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl) defeated Beef Candy (Ricky Mandell & Richie Slade) w/ Flex

Click Here: Rugby league Jerseys

Pearl has a magnificent mullet. Gibson and Pearl got the shine (rather than 4 Minutes of Heat) for the first few minutes, but on the outside, Flex threw candy at Gibson to distract him. Slade and Mandell proceeded to beat on Gibson for the next few minutes with the occasional Flex cheap shot. Beef Candy hit a backslide into an Alabama Jam for two that looked pretty cool.

Gibson managed to tag out and Pearl ran wild, catching Slade on the middle rope, rocking him like a seesaw and sending his feet into his own partner’s crotch. It was a ridiculous spot, but it made me laugh. Gibson came in and then 4 Minutes of Heat hit the Power Ballad for the pin.

This was a surprisingly fun tag match. You can tell both teams have a solid understanding on the fundamentals of tag team wrestling. Plus, Pearl’s magnificent mullet is really astonishing in 2020.

Chris Dickinson defeated Max Caster

Caster sung a rap in an inset promo which was entertaining. Dickinson went for a death valley driver right away, but Caster fought out of it and posed for the camera. Dickinson responded with a back suplex and then a half crab. Caster didn’t stay down though and hit a flying elbow for two. Caster went for a second one, but Dickinson cut him off and hit a superplex. He then hit the death valley driver for the pinfall.

My recap really doesn’t do this match justice. Dickinson was selling his left arm throughout the match and a bit of Caster’s offense focused on it. Everything that Dickinson did looked great. After the match, Dickinson said to the camera, “We’re getting there!” giving props to Caster as his competition. This was the first opponent that Dickinson seemed impressed with.

Wolf Zaddies (Che Cabrera & Bad Dude Tito) defeated The Bodega (Danny Limelight & ‘King Fatboy’ Papa Esco)

Tito started the match with Fatboy and the two big guys had a mean guy match (~!) in the opening, but the pace of the match really picked up when Cabrera and Limelight got in there. Limelight had a beautiful floatover on Che’s back into a headlock. Fatboy launched Limelight across the ring into a dropkick on Tito on the apron.

However, Fatboy ended up inadvertently distracting the ref, and the Zaddies hit a series of powerful double team moves on the smaller Limelight, turning around their fortunes quickly. The Zaddies isolated Limelight in the corner, but he managed to launch into a dropkick on Tito. Cabrera cut him off and Tito hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for two.

Limelight dodged a corner charge, walked across the middle rope, and hit a springboard into a clothesline on Tito and then hurricanrana before tagging out to Esco. Limelight hit a kick on Cabrera while Fatboy hit a powerslam, but Cabrera rolled to the outside. Limelight then hit a corkscrew dive to the floor. Tito caught a second dive attempt back in the ring and hit a spinebuster before rolling Limelight into Zadisfatction for the pinfall victory.

The Pope & Watts defeated NWA TV Champion Zicky Dice & Effy

Effy started the match with Watts and screamed “I got your nipple!” as he grabbed Watts’ nipple. Watts did not like this. He overpowered Effy, but Effy did a go behind and raked Watts’ eyes before tagging out to Dice. Dice and Effy proceeded to get the heat through a lot of chokes and other cheap shots. They managed to keep Watts in their corner, but Dice tried to slam Watts and couldn’t pick up the bigger man.

Watts slammed Dice and tagged out to Pope who ran wild on both men, hitting a kick to Dice and an inverted atomic drop and running mafia kick on Effy. Effy dropped Pope on the ropes neck first and then Dice fishhooked him, choking him on the middle rope. Pope almost made a comeback, but Effy dropped him with a huge clothesline and the heat on Pope continued.

Pope managed to tag out and Watts hit a big chokeslam on Effy. Watts picked him up and Pope hit the Doomsday Device, but Pope wasn’t the legal man. As Watts came back in, Dice distracted him and Effy took out Watts’ knee. Effy worked over the knee and tagged out to Dice. The two hit a double suplex on Watts that got two.

Dice hit the Snake, Rattle, & Roll on Watts and instead of going for a cover, he climbed to the top rope. He went for an axehandle to Watts, who was laying down so that clearly wasn’t going to work. Watts got his foot up and tagged out to Pope who hit a flying forearm on Effy and a series of Bionic Elbows to both Dice and Effy. Pope then invited the fans at home to clap before hitting a flying crossbody on Effy for a two count.

Dice dumped Watts to the floor and held Pope, but Pope ducked and Effy nailed Dice by accident. Pope then hit the Elijah Express on Effy for the pin and win. Dice attacked Pope after the bell, but Watts chased him off.

This wasn’t a bad tag match at all, but Watts had a hard time keeping up with the other three men. Dice and Effy made for a good team, and Pope looked pretty good.

Pope cut a good promo after the match on Dice, saying they needed each other so they could both make money in 2020. He was offended that Dice spit on tradition when he attacked Pope and cheated. Pope said he was going to try and take the NWA Television Championship from Dice because he was standing up for tradition.

*********

Final Thoughts:

This was probably the weakest of the first four episodes of Primetime Live, but it was still a very easy to watch 90 minutes. UWN went off the air promising a huge announcement for next week.

One thing this show is missing is the strong promos that we saw from NWA Power, which often made the show stand out. UWN Primetime Live suffers a bit from trying to bring several different wrestling products together, so it doesn’t have much storyline development week to week outside of the very simple winners/losers dynamic of the matches. There is nothing wrong with that, but if you are watching this show expecting the angles and storylines that we got from NWA Power, it might come across as a disappointment.

This episode, in particular, was hurt by the lack of NWA stars with Pope and Dice being the only real ones there. But, it is nice to see the efforts they are putting into Levi Shapiro, Danny Limelight, and others. With that being said, it is absolutely refreshing to be able to sit down and simply watch 90 minutes of wrestling with a very simple product to follow.

If you are looking for an easy to digest and simple wrestling program, this show is for you.