SPW Atonement Review
(Feature photo via SPW Facebook page)
Match Results
Singapore Championship match: The Arsenal Affi defeated Aiden Rex via pin
Blue Nova & Freddy Machete defeated The Social Misfits via pin
Destroyer Dharma defeated Mighty Mighty via pin
Southeast Asian Tag Team Championship match: The Horrors defeated Power Warrior & GM Carl Hella via pin
Queen of Asia Championship match: Riho defeated Alexis Lee and Crystal via pin
Southeast Asia Championship match: The Statement defeated Trexxus, Lokomotiv and Jake De Leon via pin
My preview predictions: 4/6
Singapore Championship match: Aiden Rex (c) vs The Arsenal Affi: Both lock up and start to exchange holds, with Aiden having the upper hand. He ranas Affi out of the ring and hits a baseball slide. Back in the ring Affi replies with strikes but Aiden puts him in an armbar. Affi breaks out and hit a big clothesline on Aiden for two. He then goes or a suplex but Aiden counters into a sleeper hold from piggy back position. Affi hits a Deep Six for two. The crowd starts to chant as both exchange elbows. Aiden dragonscrews Affi followed with a slingblade. Another armbar follows for an extended period, which Affi rope breaks. Aiden and Affi exchanges an enzuigiri and facebuster respectively, knocking each other out as Ref Sodiq starts the count. Both recovers at the six count, as Affi picks up the attack, targeting Aiden’s neck. He goes for a top rope leg drop but misses, allowing Aiden to hit a tornado DDT. Aiden’s top rope 450 misses but he improvise with a standing moonsault. He goes for a crossface variation but Affi powers it out and does his blue thunder bomb for the win to become the new Singapore champion! The Arsenal Affi defeated Aiden Rex via pin [***1/2]
The match had a good layout, which made it unpredictable as to who will win it until right at the end. Both wrestlers worked hard, starting off at a frantic pace but slowed down significantly during the ending stretch as both of them gassed out. Aiden Rex adopted a more confident cocky attitude at the start which I thought he was gonna be heelish in the match, but it was a straight-up clean fight between the two. I was happy that Affi got the victory, but I thought he could have emoted more during his celebration, especially this was his first singles title (I think).
The Social Misfits vs Blue Nova & Freddy Machete: Blue Nova and Kyle Black start the match, as Black throws his shirt at Nova’s face before attacking him. Nova quickly recovers with arm drags and a spinning heel kick. Judas tags in with a shoulder tackle, but Nova tags Machete in for a double suplex on Judas. Machete then hits a fallaway slam for a two count. Black distracts Ref Ryan and low blows Machete. The misfits contain Machete in their corner with double team moves. Machete manages to get the tag and Nova runs wild with dropkicks. Nova runs the ropes but Black trips him from outside the ring, as the misfits starts double teaming again. Black does his pole magic trick again which Ref Ryan confiscates, but he takes out another one and starts attacking. Black hits a sunset flip powerbomb for two. Nova fights back and hits a falcon arrow while Machete hits an AA. Judas does a nice Michinoku driver but Nova and Machete both hit top rope moonsaults on both the misfits to get the win. Blue Nova & Freddy Machete defeated The Social Misfits via pin [*1/2]
It was a messy match, with quite a number of botches and timing issues with some of the spots. The tag team rules just seemingly disappears at extended periods, allowing Judas and Black to double-team the faces at will. However I liked the moment between Black and Ref Ryan over the magic stick, where Ref Ryan once again got deceived, a nice callback to the previous show.
Destroyer Dharma vs Mighty Mighty: Dharma immediately goes for Mighty’s arms but Mighty shoulder tackles him. Both then exchanges arm holds, and Dharma replies with his own shoulder tackle. Mighty challenges Dharma with a test of strength but Dharma cheats with a kick and a big clothesline. He misses a leg rop and Mighty splashes him. Dharma recovers with an arm drag and teases his chokeslam before Mighty clotheslines him. Mighty runs the ropes but Dharma hits a scoop powerslam for two. Mighty then steals Dharma’s chokeslam for two. Both starts to trade blows before Mighty hits his flying back elbow and a pump-handle slam variation for two. A DDT follows as he attempts a Banzai drop to the delight of the crowd. But Dharma recovers while Mighty is on the second rope, and hits a POWERBOMB follow by his chokeslam finisher. He pins mighty with a Most Muscular pose for the win. Destroyer Dharma defeated Mighty Mighty via pin [**1/2]
The match followed a simple but effective format, designed to showcase Dharma’s abilities in his first singles match in quite some time —I thought apart from his power moves he also bumped well. Mighty Mighty’s popularity brought in an invested crowd, but I thought he was somewhat sluggish when compared to his usual energy.
Southeast Asian Tag Team Championship match: GM Carl Hella and Power Warrior (c) vs The Horrors: The crowd is giving a lot of heat as GM starts to talk about their sneak attack on the Horrors. Power Warrior gives Ref Sofiq two dollars to start the match with a ten count to disqualify the Horrors. Da Butcherman appears at the seven count to huge cheers. Dr Gore appears from the crowd and pulls the GM out of the ring, while Butcherman hits his slingshot spear on Power Warrior. The Bloody Hell Flatliner finishes Power Warrior, and the Horrors are the new tag champions! The Horrors defeated Power Warrior & GM Carl Hella via pin [NR]
Dr Gore looked injured and was in a leg brace, so they probably improvised the best they could. Even though it wasn’t technically a match, The Horrors’ victory got the loudest pop of the show. Well deserved to the new champions, and wishing a speedy recovery to Dr Gore.
Queen of Asia Championship match: Riho (c) vs Alexis Lee vs Crystal: Alexis is imitating Crystal’s sexy taunts before the bell ring. Bell rings and Alexis throws Crystal out of the ring. Riho then dropkicks Alexis out of the ring as Crystal recovers. Riho and Crystal trade slaps and get out of each other’s pin with nice kip ups. Alexis returns and puts both of them in opposite corners to do a running knee strikes. Riho and Crystal team up with a double vertical suplex on Alexis but interrupts each other’s pin attempt on her. Crystal foot chokes Riho in the corner and hits a great looking Broski Boot for a two count. Alexis then hits a running clotheslines on Crystal for two. Riho recovers with a 619 on Crystal, but Alexis replies with a neckbreaker on her for two. Crystal catches both of them in the corner and performs a slighty botchy top rope reverse DDT. She pins both but both kicks out. Crystal and Alexis starts to trade blows, allowing Riho to do her signature top rope crossbody on both of them. Riho then hits a bridging northern lights suplex on Crystal but Alexis breaks up the pin. Alexis hits a double spear on both Riho and Crystal, and puts Riho in the superplex position. Crystal joins in but Riho counters into a double foot stomp on both them! Her running double knees finishes Crystal. Riho defeated Alexis Lee and Crystal via pin [***]
A relatively short match, with Riho seemingly limiting herself, likely in view of her upcoming match at AEW’s Double or Nothing show next week. But it was good, with all three ladies working hard and playing their own signature moves during the sprint.
Southeast Asia Championship match: Lokomotiv (c) vs The Statement vs Trexxus vs Jake De Leon: Statement and Trexxus three-sweet each other to ally up, while JDL hilariously offers to shake hands with Loko. Brawl starts and the locals get toss out of the ring. Loko dominates JDL with hard chops and shoulder thrust in the corner. JDL replies with a superkick and a cartwheel splash, but Loko continues his assault. Statement and Trexxus return and hits combination moves on Loko. Trexxus does his signature elbow drop from standing position on Loko’s back on the top rope. JDL returns and offers to go 3-on-1 on Loko. Triple-powerbomb and burning hammer knocks out Loko. Statement and Trexxus three-sweet again but JDL makes the mistake of doing it with them. However JDL hulks up and does corner elbows and cannonballs to both of them. He then hits a Samoa drop on Statement for two. Statement and Trexxus replies with their double team stunner move. Loko returns with a huge lariat and a powerbomb to eliminate JDL. Statement and Trexxus goes for a double suplex but Loko suplexes them instead. Trexxus splashes Statement by mistake. Loko back-body drops Trexxus from Statement Germans Loko. Statement pins Loko for two and chops him hard. Loko bodyslams him and throws Trexxus out of the ring. Trexxus takes out a chair and sits by the ring, while Loko powerbombs Statement for two. He goes for another one but Trexxus school boys him for the elimination! Trexxus goes for the powerbomb but Loko threw Ref Sodiq to the side and hits Trexxus with the chair (a nice callback to their chairs match) and a powerbomb before leaving. Statement waits for Trexxus to recover before continuing the match. Both trade elbows and Trexxus suplexes Statement but the latter hits his satellite DDT. He tries another DDT but Trexxus hits a front backpack stunner and his finisher powerbomb but Statement kicks out at two! He goes for another one but Statement counters into a pin for two. Trexxus superkicks Statement but Statement hits a Canadian destroyer and the Shellshock for the win! The Statement defeated Trexxus, Lokomotiv and Jake De Leon via pin [***1/2]
The best match of the show. The match leaned heavily on the comedy at the start (which is expected when you have JDL in the mix), but became more serious when JDL was eliminated. Lokomotiv did his usual hard chops and power moves, but it was Trexxus and Statement who carried the match. It was also nice to see a callback to the excellent chairs match between Trexxus and Lokomotiv, and development of the dynamic between the two Onslaught members. With the title back on our shores, it will be interesting to see how the title scene develops.
Overall: It was a shorter show than usual with just five matches (not counting the tag team championship match), but which I thought led to a better paced show which kept the crowd energy high throughout the entire event. Apart from the Social Misfit match I thought the matches well thought out, giving some unpredictability as to who will win. Also the three title changes will freshen things up moving forward. A pretty good show, but nothing really amazing.