Our first of the two matches tonight was a MASSIVE tag-team match as Kevin Hardaway picked Gabriel Gambino to be his partner to face the Uprising!
Kevin Hardaway & Gabriel Gambino vs. The Uprising
Hardaway gets chants but he points to Gabe and the crowd cheers for him too. Suprising really, considering how the crowd usually reacts to Gambino. Guess that’s the Hardaway effect in action here! Lots of smack talk from the Uprising and then all hell breaks loose. Gabe goes outside after a clothesline from Arcadian and K-Hard fights both members of Uprising with kicks and hits Arcadian with an enzugiri. Gambino back in hits Williams with a flying elbow. Hardaway schoolboys Cody for two, and then puts him in a cloverleaf as Gabe hits a back elbow on Aaron. Williams gets the ropes and Gabe tags in and stomps the crap out of him before choking him with his foot. Gabe chokes him again but stops so that K-Hard can hit a sliding kick before getting some cheers from the London crowd. K-Hard tags in and hits a dropkick and knocks Arcadian to the floor before getting a two count. Gabe tags in and hits a clothesline for two. Great quick tags here from this makeshift team, on top in the early stages.
K-Hard is back in and boots Arcadian to the floor again, but Williams starts fighting hard. Gabe hits a superkick and Hardaway hits a spin kick, but Cody fights off a superkick/German Suplex combo and sends Gambino to the floor. Hardaway hits a flying forearm and some kidney punches, Williams reverses a whip and K-Hard tries a handspring enzugiri but Arcadian catches him in a torture rack and spins him into a blue thunder bomb! Big move there, getting the Uprising a two count. And Kev looks pissed that Aaron used a move that is a variant on the Angelina’s Crossing!
The Uprising drive Hardaway into the corner, Aaron whips Cody into a clothesline and hits a sidewalk slam for another two. Arcadian hits several elbows and tags out to Williams. K-Hard fights back with chops but Williams goes to the eyes, more clobbering and Arcadian tags in again. K-Hard misses a dropkick and Aaron starts stomping him. He hits a body slam and tags out, Williams hits a catapult into a spinning uranage for two. The crowd can sense the tide has turned a little in this match, boo’s ringing out for the Uprising here at the ExCel.
Cody and K-Hard fight over a suplex before Aaron breaks it up and hits Gambino for good measure. Cool moment as the Uprising try to hit a double clothesline but K-Hard hits a big boot on their hands, spin kick to Arcadian, enzugiri to Williams and now he hits the suplex for good measure. Gabe gets the tag and hits Arcadian with a shoulder to the gut, an clothesline for Williams and Gabe then leaps over Arcadian before hitting Williams with a dropkick. Gambino sends the Uprising into each other and takes out Arcadian with a flying knee strike, hits a few boots on Williams, ducks some clotheslines and finally takes him down with another boot. Big fisherman’s buster gets two for Gambino. Williams avoids a German Suplex, Gabe escapes a waist lock but runs into a kick, Arcadian is in and the Uprising hit a double lariat! Awesome move, as much as it pains me to say so.
Williams catches another boot from Gabe but he slaps him before connecting with an European uppercut. Lots of complicated moving around eventually sees the team of Hardaway & Gambino hit the KTFO~! on Williams, with Gabe hitting the boot and Hardaway the elbow! K-Hard moves quickly and hits the GTFO~! on Arcadian on the floor! Great series of moves from this team, the crowd are loving it!!
Gabe tries a powerbomb, no good, knees to the face, still no good as Williams hits a back body drop. Gabe pops right back up and gets a knee to the gut of Cody… THE FONGUL!! Cover… and Arcadian back in to break up the pin!!
Hardaway back in and attacks Arcadian, holding him in the corner while Gabe sets up Williams in the opposite corner. Both men whip their opponents to the opposite corner… DECAP LARIAT from Hardaway on Williams! DECAP LARIAT from Gambino on Arcadian! They pick the men up… FONGUL! ANGELINA’S CROSSING! DOUBLE PIN! And this one’s all over!
Your winners, Kevin Hardaway and Gabriel Gambino!
A decent win from Hardaway and Gambino. An unlikely team that got the job done here at the ExCel in London. But, as with most things in FRONTIER, the match was just the start! Let’s check out what happened once the dust settled.
— VIDEO —
Hardaway and Gambino are celebrating in the ring, their hands raised by the referee as the crowd cheer. The two go to shake hands but afterwards Hardaway doesn’t let go. Gambino looks at him with a raised eyebrow but before he can do anything Hardaway yanks his arm, pulling him close enough to nail a massive Decap Lariat!
DW: What the hell? They were working so well together, looks like Hardaway has had enough of Gambino here tonight.
Aaron Arcadian and Cody Williams are back to their feet and step forwards towards Hardaway. Suddenly Arcadian looks at Cody and grabs him, pushing him towards Hardaway. K-Hard connects with a boot to the midsection and then levels him with the Williams Driver!
DW: Arcadian letting Williams take the heat here.
Arcadian looks at Hardaway and the two come face to face. But Gambino and Williams are back on their feet and heading for the pair. The two men nod at each other, Hardaway turning to Gambino and taking him down with a KTFO~! and the Angelina’s Crossing while Arcadian nails Cody with a Superkick and the Constellation Killer! The two men begin to put the boots to Cody & Gabe before Arcadian slips out of the ring and grabs something from ringside.
DW: What the hell is going on here? Are these two working together?
Arcardian pulls out a t-shirt from a bag and tosses it to Kevin Hardaway. He opens it out and quickly pulls it over his head, revealing “Uprising” written in bold letters across the front!
DW: WHAT!? NO!
Crowd: BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!
Hardaway smirks as he hears the crowd suddenly turn on him, flipping his middle finger to them before getting a pat on the back from Aaron Arcadian.
DW: Kevin Hardaway has joined the Uprising! What does this mean for the future of FRONTIER?
Hardaway heads to the ropes, leaning over and shouting at Jenni Starr to toss him a microphone, which she does.
K-Hard: Mayo!
Crowd: Boooooo!
K-Hard: Shut the fuck up, London!
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
DW: The London crowd telling Hardaway what they think of this move.
K-Hard: Mayo… this is all on you. You screwed me over one too many times; and now you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life!
Hardaway tosses the mic to Arcadian.
RKDN: With REVOLUTION upon us, the Uprising WILL be televised!
Arcadian tosses down the mic as the two men stand tall in the ring.
— /VIDEO —
I have to say, I did NOT see that one coming. Just two weeks ago the crowd were chanting “bullshit” in support of Kevin Hardaway, tonight they’re chanting it to show their displeasure. What a complete turnaround for the former GFC Champion.