CHALLENGERS MOVE ON THE CHAMPIONS

Storm begins with a very unlikely tag team match as World Champion Kacy Catanzaro teams up with a woman she just fought for the title to take on her old nemesis Team Kick. Taya Valkyrie steps into the breach with the top champion to battle Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox and the tension was palpable. It was an even match as one might expect but Team Kick, as they so often do, used dirty tactics to get ahead. Valkyrie had Dakota Kai dead to rights with a submission but Nox jumped in to starch Valkyrie with an unprotected kick to the head; in doing so, Nox also “inadvertently” took out the referee. Nox threw Valkyrie out, Kai brought Catanzaro in unexpectedly and hit her with the Team Kick. The referee believed Kai and Catanzaro were legal so he counted the pinfall victory for Kai.

Will Ospreay and Davey Richards are on a collision-course for the two titles Ospreay currently holds but first, Ospreay takes on one of Richards’ oldest friends in a hotly contested match. The Aerial Assassin walked in against Eddie Edwards looking for a brawl and he got one. Edwards used every move in his arsenal to keep Ospreay down but nothing worked. Ospreay, as he so often does, picked his moment brilliantly, avoiding an Edwards kill-shot to hit a Stormbreaker for the win. It sets the stage for an Ospreay-Richards clash down the road.

Claudio Castagnoli gets his first taste of revenge on the Black and Gold when he takes on Fantasma. It was the combined power of the Black and Gold that cost Castagnoli an Intercontinental Championship but now, in a one on one situation, the Swiss Superman proved how dangerous he is. Fantasma was able to get off a Phantom Driver but, with no other attacks to fall back in, he keep up just short and Castagnoli finished the match with a trademark big swing. Backstage, Adam Cole made it clear to his trusted friends redDragon that they would need to keep the rest of the Black and Gold sharp, a thinly-veiled threat to Fantasma and his group.

War Machine puts their tag titles on the line against another Black and Gold team when they took on Gallus. The champs have not backed down from anyone but the British brutes are a different challenge entirely. Still, War Machine was ready as they so often are and they used superior tactics to retain their titles. They isolated Wolfgang, neutralizing Joe Coffey outside the ring, while Rowe mashed him with a knee strike to end the match and retain the titles. After the match, the champs called out the new House of Black team of Bobby Lashley and Shinsuke Nakamura. War Machine seems to relish the new challenge but could they live to regret that decision?

The main event arrives with wXw champion Drew McIntyre renewing hostilities with WALTER. This match was as hard hitting as we could have expected but how it ended left a bitter taste in our mouths. William Regal, now officially a part of the McIntyre camp, distracted the referee after a WALTER powerbomb. It allowed Raul Mendoza to slide into the ring and bash the Austrian with a chair. McIntyre took advantage and locked in the No True Scotsman to win and retain.