Results: CWL At The Dome, Saturday January 1st

Fast-paced brawling action kicked off the CWL New Year's Day spectacular as Crusher Von Steinberg, Dwayne Dark, Roy Edison and Kevin Jones fought for supremacy. Though Kevin Jones as always commanded the greatest fan support, each man acquitted himself admirably in a brutal and hard-hitting struggle for victory. Roy Edison dominated the early part of the match with his trademark hard-hitting offence, dropping his opponents with a vicious array of martial arts kicks before laying into Dwayne Dark with a dizzying ground-and-pound that drew the first blood of the match. This proved to be a crucial distraction, however, which allowed Crusher to launch a surprise attack on the dominant Edison, torturing him with a variety of submission holds before locking in the Mind Crusher. The upset victory was not to be, however, as Kevin Jones came to the rescue, blindsiding the German competitor to take control of the match himself. The contest continued in such style for some time, each man temporarily controlling the action, before Kevin Jones sealed the deal at the thirteen minute mark, pinning Dwayne Dark after a thunderous Powerbomb.

Kevin Jones defeated Crusher Von Steinberg, Roy Edison and Dwayne Dark.

CWL's reputation for excellence in tag team wrestling was proved once again to be well-earned as perennial contenders The Beasts From The East faced 'The Red Dragon' Ian Davies and KAZ, a team looking to take victory in their first ever match. Sadly for KAZ and Davies, it was not to be. The experience of The Beasts From The East proved to be the telling factor as they ruled the ring from start to finish. First Davies and then KAZ bore the brunt of Sumo Sam's notoriously powerful Strong Style offence, coupled with the acrobatic and unpredictable stylings of The Banzai Kid, giving the new team little chance to fight back. Davies came the closest to scoring an upset, managing through great skill to catch The Banzai Kid in an increasingly complex series of pinning predicaments, before being caught off-guard by a sudden tag which once again allowed Sam the chance to run riot. The match was short-lived after that, coming to an end when Sumo Sam caught KAZ with a Backdrop Driver.

The Beasts From The East defeated 'The Red Dragon' Ian Davies and KAZ

The next contest was brief and similarly one-sided. Even the encouragement of his brother at ringside could not prepare Lance Martin for the skill and showmanship of Rolling Johnny Stones. A few seconds of air guitar provided Martin with enough leeway to nail some crisp-looking suplexes, but before long Stones made the reversal, ending the match with his usual Rolling German Suplexes.

Rolling Johnny Stones defeated Lance Martin

With The Wigan Bulldogs unseating Harder Better Faster Stronger less than a month before there was everything to play for in this match, as a loss here would mark the veterans down as the shortest-lived champions in CWL history. Menace and Barnes came down to the ring determined to humiliate the men who defeated them for the belts, and set to the task with a will. With youth and aggression on their side the challengers controlled the early part of the match, but a man would have to get up very early to catch the Bulldogs napping. Price and Morgan had their long-time opponents thoroughly scouted, and endlessly frustrated their attempts to bring the match to a swift conclusion with a combination of innovative counters, punishing submission holds and good old-fashioned cheating. The match was drawing near to the twenty-minute time limit with no finish in sight, when fate intervened. And by fate, I mean Pavel Vanszycha. With Menace getting the worst of the action in the ring, the Krakau Crippler caught Barnes with a blistering surprise attack, doubtless intending to soften him up for their match later that night. When Menace finally managed to make the break to tag out, he found his partner brawling at ringside, and salvation nowhere to be found. Leo Price distracted the referee while Walter Morgan kicked Menace in the balls and twisted him into the Wigan Wrench for the submission victory.

The Wigan Bulldogs defeated Harder Better Faster Stronger for the CWL Tag Team Titles

After the frantic pace of the Tag Team Title match before, Eddie Robinson and JJared ohnson slowed the action down with a classic display of British technical wrestling. In a match that would not have looked out of place in an Olympic tournament, the competitors traded hold for hold in an unbroken sequence that lasted nearly ten minutes of precise, carefully orchestrated mat wrestling. The Canadian rookie put up a spirited fight, but in the end was unable to counter out of Robinson's famed Capital City Crucifix, which forced him to submit. After the match, Robinson took the time to raise the youngster's arm in a rare show of respect.
Eddie Robinson defeated Jared Johnson

The arrival of Pavel Vanszycha was met with a resounding chorus of boos from the audience, who remained incensed with his recent assaults on other members of the CWL roster. His opponent, however, wrestling his second match of the night, was met with cheers that raised the roof. Petey Barnes made his way to the ring with microphone in hand, before addressing the crowd. He had challenged the so-called 'Krakau Crippler' for his disgusting, unsportsmanlike actions in attacking Geordie Jimmy Morris, an attack that had ended the beloved veteran's career. Clearly Vanszycha was allergic to fair play! Clearly the rules meant nothing to him! Any match involving him would need a very special referee, someone who had the savvy to keep an eye out for dirty tricks and the strength to enforce the rules when they were broken. And it just so happened that there was someone who had done good work for the CWL Booking Committee since the promotion's foundation who was looking for work. Vanszycha was furious when Barnes called out the referee, and new chief official for CWL: Geordie Jimmy Morris himself!

A grudge match is never a pretty sight, and this was no exception. Barnes and Vanszycha took the fight to one another from the beginning, laying into each other with ruthless aggression. Geordie Jimmy Morris seemed quite content to let the match degenerate into a brawl, only stepping in to prevent egregious violations of the rules. The crowd seemed quite happy with this ruling, and were particularly delighted when the brawl spilled out into the ringside area, where Morris showed no interest in counting either man out. The competitors harassed one another through the crowd, nearly colliding with eager fans, some of whom even went so far as to try to supply the men with weapons to escalate the brawl. Morris shut that down soon enough, however, going so far as to physically manhandle a chair out of Vanszycha's hands and retaliate in kind when the Pole attempted to shove him away. This distraction nearly proved fatal for the Krakau Crippler's chances of success, as Barnes used the distraction to launch a blistering attack, a series of stiff martial arts kicks driving his opponent all the way back to the ring. The fans went wild when a sharp kick to the head nearly knocked Vanszycha out cold and set him to bleeding profusely, but the Crippler's will to succeed proved too strong and he made his way back into the ring to continue the fight there. Barnes' momentum seemed too strong to overcome, and with Vanszycha laid out on the mat, he seemed to be about to finish the match with the final insult: by attempting to put the Pole in his own trademark submission hold. This proved to be a terrible mistake. Within moments of Barnes trying to apply the hold, Vanszycha had effected a lightning-fast reversal, leaving the young fan-favourite trapped in the centre of the ring in one of the most excruciating submission holds in the country. Tortured and unable to escape, Barnes was left with no option but to tap out.

Pavel Vanszycha defeated Petey Barnes

Though it clearly pained him to do so, Geordie Jimmy Morris raised the arm of the man who ended his career in victory. This humiliation was clearly not enough for the jubilant Vanszycha, who insisted on the newly-appointed head referee of CWL performing the gesture several more times, to each and every section of the crowd. When Morris turned away in disgust Pavel grabbed him, clearly intending to press his demands further. The crowd roared its approval when Morris proceeded to lay out the smug Pole with a brutal left hook that sent him reeling out of the ring! The Krakau Crippler seemed on the point of jumping back into the ring to end yet another phase of Morris' career, when it became clear that Petey Barnes had regained his feet and was set to stand up in the veteran's defence. Faced with two-to-one odds, Vanszycha retreated to the back, as Morris raised Barnes' arm for the approval of the crowd.

Once again the ire of the crowd was raised when 'The Tower Of London' Danny Patterson and his manager, the despicable Jeff Nova, made their way to the ring. Their displeasure was not helped by the fact that Nova promptly took up a microphone and addressed them once again. The time for excuses was over, he informed the assembled fans. The time for lies and evasion was done. Robert Brown had never defeated his client decisively during his tenure as champion, not once. He had been saved by draws, by pinning other opponents, by disqualifications, by any means other than actually defeating the true powerhouse of CWL, Danny Patterson. As 'The Tower Of London' displayed his impressive musculature for the crowd, Nova promised them one thing: that tonight, come hell or high water, Danny Patterson would leave The Dome as CWL Champion, or he would leave CWL entirely.

With one man's title and another man's career on the line, the last match of CWL's first show of 2011 was fast-paced and explosive from start to finish. Robert Brown had clearly taken note of the increasing mobility and rapidly developing in-ring skill displayed by his challenger and had attempted to modify his offence accordingly. He rapidly discovered that whatever preparations he had made were far from enough. Patterson's new-found ability had impressed even those fans who disliked his attitude and disregard for his fellow competitors, but tonight he revealed that he had been holding back. Displaying speed to match his power, 'The Tower Of London' was able to seize the initiative from the start, battering his long-time opponent with a volley of quick strikes and throws that had all the strength and none of the slowness that had previously characterised the monster's distinctive style. The champion, prepared for a game of cat-and-mouse where his superior speed could keep him out of his challenger's grasp, was suddenly sorely pressed to find even a second's breathing space as Patterson hammered him from pillar to post. Many competitors would simply have collapsed from sheer surprise at such an onslaught, but one thing Robert Brown has never lacked is fighting spirit. Rallying under incredible strain he began to fight back, even managing to go toe-to-toe with his giant opponent for a few moments before staggering Patterson with his signature knife-edge chops. A moment's respite was all he got, however. With the referee's attention distracted by the reeling giant, Jeff Nova took the opportunity to lay a vicious blow with his cane into the back of 'The British Samurai'. With the challenger's balance recovered, there wasn't much more to say. A single giant chokeslam put paid to any of Brown's hopes of making a comeback, laying him out so decisively that Patterson made the pinfall by simply resting his foot on Brown's chest. Three seconds later CWL was ready to crown a new Red Rose Champion, and Danny Patterson had claimed his first championship gold.

'The Tower Of London' Danny Patterson defeated 'The British Samurai' Robert Brown for the CWL Red Rose Championship

The evening was not yet finished, however. As the new champion raised his freshly-won belt aloft, He was joined in the ring by three more competitors – The Wigan Bulldogs and The Krakau Crippler himself, Pavel Vanszycha. The four wrestlers contemptuously ejected the fallen Robert Brown from the ring, while Jeff Nova once again grabbed a microphone. A new era was dawning in CWL, he declared. Apparently, some people believed that sportsmanship was enough to crown a champion, and that popularity with the public could stand in place of skill, leaving talented wrestlers to rot in obscurity while capering idiots were paid big money for the biggest fights. This injustice would not be allowed to stand. The future of CWL was now controlled by one interest: the interest of himself, and these men, the four finest that CWL had ever employed. As the audience hurled rubbish at him and his clients, Jeff Nova finished the show by welcoming the audience to the era or the Nova Corporation.

CWL would like to issue a formal apology for the brief technical malfunction that occurred as the audience exited The Dome. Why the video screens displayed the design of a stylised, flaming bird with the caption 'The Phoenix Rises: 8/1/11' is entirely unknown.