Robbie really impressed at the Speed King show, so I was
looking forward to seeing him again. Solid opener, as Robbie is a great
high-flyer, nailing a running SSP and a great-looking Code Red on Cruz. Cruz
was pretty good himself, and they packed a lot into this match. So much so,
that I can’t remember all of it, but I do recall Cruz caught Robbie coming off
the ropes with a sitout driver for the win.
The Predators (Joseph Conners & Paul Malen) vs Project
Ego (Kris Travis & Martin Kirby)
Despite what sounds like a heel name, Project Ego were very
much the faces here. Kirby and Travis were really good at the Speed King show,
and they worked well as a dynamic team here. The Predators were a good foil for
them, as they didn’t attempt anything too flashy, but worked over Kirby (the
face-in-peril for a large part of the match) with some nice double teams and
really built up heat on him. What was really good here is that both teams have
worked the UK as units for a while, so they both worked as cohesive teams.
Despite two really good matches later in the night, I think this was a sleeper
contender for match of the night.
Stixx vs Max Angelus
Interesting storyline here. Stixx is the head trainer and
owner of the local House of Pain Wrestling promotion, and Angelus is one of his
trainees. The story goes that Stixx thinks Max has gone too soft and has been
rejecting Stixx’s interference in matches. There is a stip here that, if Stixx
wins he’ll own Angelus’ contract. Angelus is also the reigning SWE Money In The
Bank suitcase holder. Fun little match here, as Stixx bumped well for his
trainee, which is more impressive considering Stixx is a mountain of a man. His
offence was good too, including a nice reversal of a stomachbreaker into a half
crab attempt. Angelus, I’ve said before, could really be a big star in UK
wrestling, he’s got the right mix of skills, looks and presence in the ring.
The ending was some great pro-wrestling as Max hit Stixx with a piledriver,
only for Stixx to stop moving. The ref called officials from the back to check
on him whilst Max looked on with concern. Just as they were about to carry
Stixx from the ring, he popped up and took Max to the floor, locking in a
half-crab for the tapout win, and also backing up his theory about Max going
soft. So now Stixx controls the contract of the MITB winner. An intriguing
situation and a good match to boot.
T-Bone vs SC Supreme
Supreme is a guy I saw wrestling for HOP in April and he was
one of the better performers that night. He’s got that Jim Neidhart-esque
physique that isn’t chiselled, but makes him look like a tank. T-Bone, I saw
wrestling in the same arena last June, and he’s a really charismatic performer.
These two just beat the crap out of each other. We got a few comedy spots
(Supreme dedicating a chop to a woman at ringside before missing T-Bone and
chopping the post; T-Bone then grabbing the injured hand at getting audience
members to hit it), but for the main part this was just two big tanks
pummelling each other, and it was great. At one point, Supreme hit an awesome
overhead suplex on T-Bone, sending him all the way across the ring. The
Predators came out to cause the distraction when it looked like T-Bone was
going to win, but they had little effect as T-Bone hit a top rope splash to
pick up the win. Good match
The post-match angle was even better though: following the
match, Stixx came out to join the Predators and Supreme, guys who he’d trained,
as they beat the shit out of T-Bone, crushing his mid-section with Stixx’s
chain. Project Ego and Robbie X tried to make the save, but were beaten down
every time they tried to get in the ring. Eventually, with the help of a
returning Max Angelus, the faces cleared the ring and helped T-Bone to the
back. Angelus brought T-Bone back to the ring for some more applause, only to
hit him in the back with a chair before looking conflicted. Hot angle to head
into the break.
Marty was defending the Speed King title he won last
Nottingham show against the debuting McKinnan. It was a face vs face match,
with the crowd pretty split between the two. Scurll is a really great wrestler,
and can flip between funny man and brutal very easily. It’s all in the way he
cheekily says “Hello” before kicking you in the head. This was a lot of fun as
they seemed to gel really well with some nice chain wrestling. McKinnan made
people take note pretty early with a great tope through the ropes. He also
spiked Marty with a reserve rana, but ultimately Scurll’s striking got the better
of him. Scurll picked up the win with the torture rack back-breaker. I could
have watched another ten minutes of this happily.
Mad Man Manson vs “Textbook” Dave Breaks
This was a comedy match in-between two of the big matches on
the card. Good match placement by SWE. Manson is a lot of fun and Breaks played
the role of stooge really well. At one point, he even brought out an actual
textbook to work out some tactics against the Mad Man. Not that it worked, as
Manson pulled Breaks trunks down on a sunset flip attempt, leaving Breaks to
wrestle half the match with his arse hanging out. In the end, Breaks got into a
row with the ref, who pushed him over a crouched Manson, leading to a Manson
roll-up for the win.
Ego Dragon vs El Ligero
This was fought under street fight rules and, after some of
the chaos we’d seen at that point, it had a Hell of a job to compete. It did
so, and more besides, being arguably match of the night. The two guys really
brought the hate, brawling all around ringside, hurling each other through
chairs and each realistically doing their best to win. Dragon hurled Ligero
through 3 or 4 rows of chairs on the outside to draw a big SWE chant. At one
point, it looked like Ligero had it in the bag, having stacked a load of chairs
on Dragon in the corner, before diving onto them himself. However, Dragon had a
plan in mind and, having taken the advantage, started dismantling the ring.
With Ligero down, Dragon choked him out using the top rope, with the referee
checking the arms of Ligero three times before calling for the bell. An insane
main event, and a great show from start to finish.
