NGW: A New Hope

A New Hope (2015) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Next Generation Wrestling. It took place on February 7th, 2015 in Brooklyn, New York. It was the first event under the A New Hope chronology and the inaugural event to be produced by professional wrestling promotion Next Generation Wrestling (NGW).

Seven matches were contested at the event. In the main event, the team of KOU Kazuma, Trevor Raynor and Kelsey Taylor defeated the team of Ryan Davis, Aaron Alexander and Crow by pinfall, with Kazuma getting the pinfall over Alexander. The show showed off some of the best, up-and-coming talent in the wrestling industry and introduced many wrestlers that would soon become household names on the NGW brand, including Guernica, Kelsey Taylor, Ryan Vendetta and Tyler Keenan.

## Production

#### **Background**

NGW: A New Hope was the first ever show produced by professional wrestling promotion Next Generation Wrestling and was the inaugural show created under the NGW banner. The show's name, A New Hope, comes from the 1977 epic space opera film Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, the first installment of the Star Wars film series by director George Lucas.

#### **Storylines**

The NGW: A New Hope show featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers signed by the promotion. Wrestlers portrayed faces (those who portray the "good guys") or heels (the "bad guys") as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a match.

## Event

The show started with an introduction to the fans and viewers by the NGW commentary team at the time, Bobby Cruise and Toni Santino. The owner of NGW, Danny Bison, then came to the ring and introduced the show runner and general manager of NGW, Walter Graham, and left the running of the show to him.

#### **Preliminary Matches**

In the first and opening match of the night, Zack Brown defeated Coal Regenoi with his trademark finishing move, the Brownie-nator. After the match, Brown celebrated his win on the outside of the ring with the fans in the front row, high-fiving and chatting with some of the fans in attendance.

Nathan Cage then defeated Mayhem and Kami Jaxson in a triple threat match in the show's second match. Cage picked up the win after locking Mayhem inside his trademark submission hold, which he called Caged, a version of the Sharpshooter.

In the show's third match, Carlos Bello defeated Tyler Keenan, Victor and Shane Anzalone in a fatal four-way match after pinning Tyler Keenan. Towards the end of the match, Shane Anzalone superplexed Victor in the corner, who in turn was then powerbombed at the same time by Tyler Keenan. However, as he turned around, Keenan walked straight into a Bello Buster from Carlos Bello and allowed him to pick up the victory.

Following this, the NGW audience was treated to a cryptic promo from a mystery figure, who talked about the coming arrival of the 'BloodlusTRevolutioN' to NGW.

The fourth match of the night showed Danny Boy pick up a win over Dan Mulak with a schoolboy. At the end of the match, Mulak was distracted by the appearance of KOU Kazuma and was then rolled up into a schoolboy by Danny Boy, who picked up the win.

In the next match, the World's Kawaiiest Tag Team (Raine and Sloane) defeated The Danger Zone (Ryan Vendetta and Storm Andrews) after Storm Andrews tapped out to a Koji Clutch from Raine. The match ended when The Danger Zone looked to be going for their finishing maneuver, the Midnight Sacrifice, but were overwhelmed by the combined force of Raine and Sloane, which allowed Storm to be locked into the Koji Clutch by Raine and subsequently tap out.

The sixth match showed Guernica pick up a win over Andrew Bennett with his famous Eagle Driver finishing move. The match was a close-knit affair, but ultimately ended with Guernica pulling out the victory.

#### **Main Event**

The main event match showed the team of KOU Kazuma, Trevor Raynor and Kelsey Taylor defeat the team of Ryan Davis, Crow and Aaron Alexander when Kazuma pinned Aaron Alexander after hitting him with a knockout punch. Following the end of the match, Kazuma waited to see if his rival, Dan Mulak, would show his face but smiled when he did not and proceeded to celebrate. The other team, however, descended into a loud debate about who cost the team the win and why they didn't work harder together.