[2002-07-28-FWA-No Surprises 4] Mark Sloan vs James Tighe

We are at the Pyramids Centre in Portsmouth for this show. Portsmouth on the south coast of England was the original home of the FWA when it was initially the Fratton Wrestling Alliance, but despite the FWA Academy being based there this would end up being the last but one show they would run in the city.

Speaking of the FWA Academy, this is a master vs. student match, with Sloan being the trainer of Tighe who has been his star pupil and protégé. Tension had been teased between the two of them due to Tighe accidentally costing Sloan the All England Title to the Zebra Kid at the previous show Vendetta. The teacher/pupil relationship is the narrative for the match; with the two knowing each other so well, the initial stalemates and counters make sense. Despite the familiarity the sequences aren’t as smooth as you might think however.

Sloan gets the first advantage and starts to work the arm, and increases the aggression by throwing Tighe out of the ring and onto the ramp, which is a nasty bump. When Tighe returns the favour with a body slam on the ramp, it’s clear the ‘friendly’ exchanges are over. There’s some decent psychology with Sloan concentrating on the arm and going back to it to counter Tighe when he tries to get on offence. Tighe shows good resilience, but probably kicks out of too much as they seem to get a bit bored of the simple story they were telling in favour of big moves. In particular, Sloan hits a top rope superplex into a DDT that looks brutal and probably shouldn’t be just a nearfall.

Tighe’s win comes out of nothing, when he rolls though a t-bone suplex into his Tighetantic finisher and feels very abrupt considering he was selling for most of the match. There were some nice moments in this, but I felt they could’ve done more with the teacher vs pupil storyline in terms of building it into the match structure. After the match they share a handshake, but when the Old School stable of disgruntled BritWres veterans comes out, Sloan then turns his back on Tighe to join the faction, where he would essentially become their lackey. (** ¼)