SPW vs OWE: Oriental Storm Coverage and Results

Last Thursday, I went to a local pro wrestling show in Toa Payoh Central. In such a quiet and humble area, the event was anything but. It’s a huge collaboration between Singapore Pro Wrestling (SPW) and Chinese-based pro wrestling promotion Oriental Wrestling Entertainment, featuring Singaporean and Japanese talents clashing in the ring. The intense showcase was aptly named SPW vs OWE: Oriental Storm.

This isn’t the first time SPW has put on a show, in fact they’ve been doing so since 2014 with what they call the Breakthrough tournament. Since then, SPW has been featured in local publications and TV as they continue to grow and organise public shows every two to three months.

Trexxus lifting up CIMA for a counter, only to get pummelled instead, while Alex Cuevas watches from ringside.

But this recent event was the first time that a number of technical issues arose during the show, including the middle ring rope collapsing. Thankfully, no one got hurt but it did force the wrestlers scheduled in the last few matches to improvise. Nevertheless, they gave their all as always and the hall-packed audience didn’t complain even once about it, instead just enjoyed the show.

El Lindaman, CIMA, T-Hawk represent OWE at Oriental Storm.

There were 7 matches altogether at Oriental Storm that kicked off at about 8pm. Though OWE is based in China, it’s represented by its full-time Japanese wrestlers, T-Hawk, El Lindaman and OWE’s President and head trainer himself, CIMA. The three wrestlers known also as Strong Hearts faced off three Singaporean wrestlers in separate singles matches at the event. El Lindaman took on a returning SPW wrestler, Alex Cuevas, while CIMA wrestled Trexxus. Then in the main event, it was T-Hawk against current SPW Southeast Asia champion The Statement.

Also in attendance are WWE reps, no doubt overseeing three matches in particular. As you know, Trexxus and The Statement are two Singaporean talents who were invited to the WWE China tryout just recently.

Alexis Lee goes head to head with Reika Saiki at Oriental Storm.

The third Singaporean is Alexis Lee who wrestled the Muscle Idol Reika Saiki at Oriental Storm. This was also the only women’s match of the night.

El Lindaman hitting Alex Cuevas with a thunderous open-palm chop at Oriental Storm.

Quick thoughts

Overall, the show was quite solid. Though there were a few hits and misses, they didn’t retract from the crowd’s enjoyment.

It’s honestly hard to pick one favourite match because the night was packed with great memorable moments. Some of the best moments include Destroyer Dharma becoming the new Singapore champion, Kyle Black of Social Misfits lighting a fire during their match with Mighty Mighty and Big Good Jack, Cuevas taking an outside dive onto Lindaman, CIMA’s dancing and other funny antics at ringside during the main event and of course, T-Hawk lighting up Statement’s chest with crazy chops that could’ve shot him straight into next week.

CIMA comically fanning The Statement to cool down from the intense chest chop exchange, much to the fans' amusement. — CIMA comically fanning The Statement to cool down from the intense chest chop exchange, much to the fans’ amusement.

THE MAIN EVENT
The Statement vs T-Hawk

Like other inter-company collaborations, both participants of the match would be accompanied by their home teams. In this case, The Statement was accompanied by Trexxus and Cuevas while T-Hawk came out with fellow Strong Hearts members, CIMA and El Lindaman. By the time the main event rolled around, the crowd is ready for what they expect as a final hard-hitting contest and boy, they were not disappointed!

The Statement takes on OWE’s T-Hawk at Oriental Storm.

T-Hawk completely delivered on that promise with his super stiff knife edged chops that left Statement’s chest bright red with huge welts. Being the champion that he is, Statement didn’t make it easy for T-Hawk and got his revenge with his own chest chops. But in the end, T-Hawk took him down once and for all with the Night Ride.

Triple threat contest for the SPW Singapore title between Aiden Rex, The Butcherman and Destroyer Dharma at Oriental Storm.

SPW Singapore Championship match
Aiden Rex vs The Butcherman vs Destroyer Dharma

The Singapore championship match was one of the most anticipated matches of the event, initially advertised as a four-way battle between the champion Arsenal Affi and his challengers, Aiden Rex, The Butcherman and Destroyer Dharma. This match though didn’t feature an OWE guest had a lot of promise for what could be Affi’s first title defense. It would’ve been really special because Affi was one of the SPW originals and had only managed to win gold this year after defeating former champ Aiden.

The Butcherman starts biting Destroyer Dharma in a moment of madness at Oriental Storm.

But on the night itself, GM Carl Hella announced that Affi was out of the picture and changed the match to a triple threat for the Singapore title. Despite the confusion, the match went on smoothly with all three competitors visibly hungry to capture the championship.

The match had plenty of exciting spots that showed off each wrestler’s strengths. They include Destroyer Dharma with a double sidewalk slam on both opponents, Aiden leaving Butcherman in a Paradise Lock (La Nieblina) before trapping Dharma in a hammerlock/reverse neck crank submission, Butcherman springing free from said lock and biting Dharma’s free arm and then Butcherman getting tossed after a hurricanrana by Aiden and landing with a spear through Dharma.

Destroyer Dharma showing off his strength at Oriental Storm.

Dharma eventually came out on top, becoming the new SPW Singapore champion. After seeing his improvement in the ring for the past year, it was a well-deserved victory. With Dharma holding the title now, it’s exciting to see how he elevates the division, especially with his huge social media presence as Mr Singapore. After what he and Butcherman did to hype up the match with the Gymmboxx promos, it would be good to finally see the title be contested in bigger matches as it’s not just another singles title.