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2 Title Defences, but no clear champion! Who has the Heart of A Lion In BPW?

Posted: Jul 10th 2024 By: Michael Hunt

BPW made its debut in Henryetta at the end of June and as often is the case, controversy followed. By the end of the night, the BPW Lion Heart Title had been defended twice and there still was no champion! But that promises to be resolved in July.

At the start of the night, Sama Tamu came to the ring for an open challenge. This had been communicated by Tamu's agent (Who, as yet, is unknown) to BPW management and BPW Commissioner C. M. Burnham had approved this. However, after announcing Tamu, the unknown opponent or opponents refused to come to the ring and Burnham had to call off the match. Tamu, whose English vocabulary appears to be limited to the single word "Fight" was clearly unhappy with this and it took a lot of coaxing to get Tamu out of the ring. Even then, there was so much anger and frustration built up inside him that he attacked one of the ring crew members on his way to the dressing area. Fans may have thought they had seen the last of Tamu that night, but they thought wrong.

Later that night, Sean Ryan and WAH Hunger Dojo Champion Daniel Aaron Michalles both challenged the most decorated wrestler in Oklahoma, BPW Lion Heart Champion, EPW International Champion WAH Spotlight Champion and CPW Tag Team Champion Trench Blythe for the Lion Heart Title. On the surface, this appeared to be a 2-on-1 situation since Ryan and Michalles are the Main Characters tag team, but the pair could not suppress their own personal desire for single gold and every time one of them covered Blythe, the other would break that pin up. Eventually, the two partners came to blows as well. This allowed Blythe to recover and restart his attack on both men after taking quite a beating from the pair during the match. But as when it seemed like Blythe was on preparing to put one of the pair down for the 1-2-3, Tamu hit the ring and ran through all 3 men. There was no clear indication here of what the motivation was. Tamu simply had not been able to fight and wanted to do so and after evading whatever security had been monitoring him in the dressing area, he came to the ring determined to destroy and and all of the people in front of him. Once again, it took a huge effort for everyone involved to get Tamu out of the ring and to the back.

That was not enough for Blythe. Blythe has always been a proud man, a man who has shown how determined he was to meet any and all challengers head on. And Blythe was not satisfied with the result of the match. After regaining his breath, Blythe called commissioner Burnham over and said that he still wanted to defend the title and he didn't care who. Then, in perhaps a moment where his bravado exceeded his rationality, Blythe said that he would take on the ENTIRE BPW locker room. He simply wanted to show that he was a fighting champion. After confirming that Blythe understood the ramifications of what he said, Burnham agreed to the match and the main even for the night was set: A Battle Royal for the BPW Lion Heart Title where Blythe put the title up for grabs against the entire BPW roster that was present.

Blythe was the first man out of the curtain when that main event came. And as more and more wrestlers poured through the curtain, Blythe refused to take a step back. Grizzled veterans like Bobby Burns and the Original Renegade or up-and-coming rookies like Zach Delt and The Underdogs, it did not phase Blythe. Even when Tamu came out, Blythe barely took a step backwards. The bell then rang and the carnage commenced. One by one, wrestlers were thrown over the top rope until it came down to 3 men: Blythe, Tamu and Brandon Groom.

At that point, Tamu catapulted Blythe over the top rope! The height he got, plus the sheer vertical drop he took, brought serious concern to the crowd and anyone who saw it. Obviously, Blythe was eliminated and would not be retaining the title as he was barely able to crawl his way back to dressing area. Groom and Tamu then began to pound on each other. Groom knew his strength would help him in this area, but Tamu's size and intimidating presence allowed him to withstand the blows from Groom and continue on. Even hitting Tamu with a missile dropkick did not do serious damage to the wild man from Samoa. Groom was able to get Tamu staggered near the ropes and then charged at him with great force, knowing it would take a lot to get him over the top rope. In so doing, Groom threw himself over the top as well and both men came down on the floor at the same time. The referee was unable to determine who hit the floor first and once again, the Lion Heart Title could not be placed in the hands of anyone. The former champion had clearly been eliminated, so he didn't deserve it. The last two men in the ring had landed at the same time, so there was no way to point to either of them as being more deserving than the other. Commissioner Burnham saw no choice but to hold up the belt.

None of this seemed to register in the minds of Groom or Tamu as they kept fighting. Blow after blow around the ringside and back into the ring. It appeared it was going to go on forever as they refused to heed the ring bell or the referee's call. Eventually, the locker room returned to separate them, but even the roster had difficulty keeping them away from each other. Finally, Burnham gained some order and declared that on July 27th, when BPW returned to Henryetta, there would be a 1-on-1 match for the Lion Heart Title between Groom and Tamu and that the winner of that match would be the BPW Lion Heart Champion. It took a while (and again, lots of coaxing from the various people around Tamu) to get the two men out of the ring and then once again, the fight was on as they battled to the back with the locker room following as the event ended.

They say you only get one chance to make a first impression. Based on the looks on many of the fans' faces, BPW's first impression in Henryetta was a positive one and hopefully those fans will bring even more to the next event. Can the ring hold those two competitors? Will a standard match be enough or will there need to be some sort of stipulation added? Whatever the outcome, the winner will certainly have displayed the heart of a lion in order to capture that title.