Having been out of touch with the British wrestling scene until I started going to Southside shows earlier this year, it really is heartening to see how much great talent there wrestling all over the UK (a fact verified by how much Brit talent is currently under contract to the WWE and to TNA). SWE constantly deliver a great product, and getting to see such great shows just a stones throw from my house is terrific. House of Pain Wrestling, who are feuding with SWE as the theme for this show, is also a darn fine promotion. Considering they are a training school/promotion based primarily in Nottingham using local talent, they've got a very good roster who are improving all the time: aside from the guys on this show, the likes of Danny Chase, Nate Colt and "Textbook" Dave Breaks are all top wrestlers.
I should mention first off the set-up for the show, which really enhanced the inter-promotion war aspect. Each promotion had their own entrance way and their own ring announcer (HoP providing Harvey Dale, who also operated as manager for most of the HoP guys, and was tremendous as an obnoxious loudmouth throughout), plus the HoP fans were congregated on one side of the ring, giving a real us vs them atmosphere.
El Ligero (SWE) vs Bam Bam Barton (HoP)
A fun battle of power vs speed to kick things off, and the split in the crowd provided an interesting atmosphere from the start. Ligero is a very likable face wrestler, but the HoP fans gave him no slack, cheering the naturally heelish Barton. Ligero used his quickness to take the advantage with a series of kicks, but found himself in trouble as Barton was able to catch him on a pescado. Barton is larger than Ligero, big enough that his power offence looked effective, but not so big that he couldn't keep up with the masked man and he looked decent throughout. The end saw Ligero miss a frog splash, but Barton then missed a spinkick to allow a Ligero rollup for the win, putting SWE 1-0 up. Good opener.
Max Angelus (HoP) vs T-Bone (SWE)
I've been pretty high on Angelus since I first saw him, and matches like this only serve to prove me right. This was a heated grudge brawl after the chairshot Angelus levelled T-Bone with at the June show I wrote up. I've seen Angelus work as an underdog face before, but here he had to wrestle differently, not only having to take some nasty licks from T-Bone (including a tough looking back suplex directly onto the ring apron), he also had to show he could realistically dish out some stiff offence too, which he did. This felt quite short, but there was no lack of effort from both guys and crucially there was little resting too: It felt like two guys wanting to hurt each other. Max ultimately won after nailing a stomach buster on T-Bone (harking back to the rib injuries caused by HoP in June) and a Roaring Clothesline for the win. 1-1
The Predators (HoP) vs the Hunter Brothers (SWE)
Right now, the Predators are one of the best teams in the UK. Not only is their ring work spot on, they have mastered the art of being detestable. Joseph Conners in particular is a shit-talking heel you really want to see get a kicking. This was the Hunters' debut for SWE, so at first there was a bit less heat in the early going. Thankfully, the match was a well-structured tag affair and the pure dickishness of Conners got the fans riled up, including a yell of "You don't even care about the Hunter Brothers". Conners rules. They worked an extended heat sequence on one brother before the hot tag, and the finishing stretch was a really exciting collection of nearfalls. The Hunters slipped up once or twice, but managed to cover nicely, and seemed to have won the fans over by the end. They recovered from a nice looking spike flapjack from the Predators and got a visual pinfall following a top rope Frankensteiner/splash combo, but Harvey Dale distracted the ref and it was the Predators who managed to pick up the win. Realistically, the Predators were always going to win from a logical booking perspective, but there were several moments when I believed the Hunters would win, which shows how much they drew me into the match. Really good match, and now it's 2-1 to HoP.
Robbie X (SWE) vs Alex Gracie (HoP)
This was a battle of the SWE Speed King champion (X) vs the HoP Full Throttle champion. I missed the intro to this on a toilet dash, but there was a 10 minute time limit for this match. Robbie's new haircut was kinda odd, but he carried himself like a champion here and Gracie, who I'd not seen before, held up his end of the match too. The time limit worked against them in a way, as Gracie only got to work a brief heat section on Robbie before they had to go to the finish. Robbie locked a Last Chancery on Gracie as the seconds ran out, and switched to a Dragon Sleeper, but Gracie held on for the draw. I can see why they had to book a draw (protecting both champions), but I could have happily watched another 5 minutes at least of this. Still, leave the customer wanting more...
This was followed by a brief angle where Harvey Dale wanted Max Angelus to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Robbie, with threats of firing if he refused, but Max quit instead.
Michael Elgin vs Prince Devitt
This is the only non-HoP/SWE match on the card, so initially didn't have the heat that the other matches had. However, when you've got guys this talented, you can soon win the crowd back around. Devitt here played underdog for a lot of the match, as he had to cope with the size and freakish strength of Elgin. They built the match up nicely, with an initial feeling out process before Elgin took control. Elgin managed a deadlift German suplex with Devitt lying on the mat, which was super impressive. Devitt managed to come back into it with an insane tope to the floor and just generally looked slick throughout. Elgin held up his end terrifically too, with a deadlift superplex when Devitt was stood on the apron. Devitt thought he'd won it with a top rope stomp, but it took the Bloody Sunday DDT to finish Elgin off. Tremendous match which earned a standing ovation to take us to intermission.
LJ Heron vs Nathan Cruz (SWE) vs "Diamond" Dave Andrews (HoP)
The booking for this match was Cruz representing SWE, Andrews representing HoP and Heron could choose who he was representing if he won. The only time I'd seen Andrews wrestle previously was jobbing in a comedy match in April. Given that Cruz is a pretty big name on the UK scene and Heron is reigning HoP champion, I fully expected Andrews to be there solely to eat the pin to protect the third man. Well, I was half right, as this actually felt like a breakthrough match for Andrews. His ringwork was crisp, and his character work was outstanding. Cruz and Heron are two top workers and Andrews really didn't look out of place. They worked a fun variation on the old Tower of Doom spot, with Cruz German suplexing Andrews from a tree of woe position, whilst Andrews superplexed Heron. Cruz had to play face here, which felt a bit odd (he doesn't cockily yell "Showstealer" anywhere near enough as face), but he played his part nicely. Here the "Showstealer" turned pin-stealer (sorry), nicking the victory after Heron speared Andrews. 2-2
Mad Man Manson (SWE) vs SC Supreme (HoP)
I really like Supreme. He's just a big, nasty chap who likes to beat up his opponents. Plus you've got to love a guy who can cause a child to cower in their father's arms with just one cold look. You may think that putting him in there with Manson might be a clash of styles, but they somehow managed to pull off a comedy match whilst still enabling Supreme to look like a badass. Part of this comes from the nasty chop exchange in the early part of the match, which saw Manson having to give as well as he can take. Supreme is also the only guy who can still look scary doing a "nipple twister" comedy spot with the referee. Supreme dominated once he got in control, and even lifted Manson's shoulders up during a pinfall, to dish out more pain to the man who had made a fool of him earlier on. It backfired though, as Manson pulled out a rollup to pick up the win and put Southside 3-2 up
Stixx (HoP) vs Mark Haskins (SWE)
This was a last man standing match for Stixx's SWE title, and it was a war. Stixx is a lot bigger than Haskins, so I was interested to see how Haskins would be able to put Stixx down for a 10 count. At first Haskins did a good job of going toe-to-toe with Stixx and using his speed and an assortment of kicks to keep in the battle, but soon found himself overpowered. Stixx is one of my favourite guys in SWE to watch. He can wrestle the power game well, but is also able to sell for smaller guys without seeming weak. Haskins really started getting into the match when Harvey Dale tried to interfere with a chair, which Haskins took for himself and used on Stixx. Wisely, he went to the legs of the big man, which gave some realism to the ten counts as Stixx struggled to stand. At this point, the booking came into play which made the last section really exciting. First the ref got bumped with a massive chairshot, leading to a second ref coming to the ring. Earlier on, I'd recognised this ref as HoP wrestler Danger Russ, but I'd given it no more thought, until Haskins had Stixx down for a cert 10 count, only for the new ref to stop counting and give Haskins the fingers. He then tried to fast count Haskins down for ten following a Stixx revival , but Haskins got up in time. At around this point, the ring seemed to fill with SWE/HoP wrestlers following failed interference from Alex Gracie, as the Predators, the Hunter Brothers, Ligero, Barton and Robbie X all piled out, leading to an insane top rope moonsault to the floor from Robbie. A table came into play, which ended up with Stixx getting put through it, but as the referee was counting to ten, Dale clocked Haskins with the SWE title before he fully got to his feet, while Stixx rolled out to the floor, landing on his feet, which meant that only Stixx beat the ten count to win the match.
This put the series at 3-3 and the HoP crowd were celebrating victory, when Max Angelus returned to the ring to cash in his MitB briefcase...
Max Angelus vs Stixx
One Roaring Lariat later, and Max was the SWE champion
Personally, I though the booking on this show was tremendous. Bear in mind SWE uses top wrestlers from around the UK, whereas HoP relies mainly on local talent from their training school, yet HoP were realistically portrayed as a threat throughout the show. The series ended as a draw, the Predators still hold the SWE tag titles, and the new champion is a HoP guy who has defected to SWE. It sets up the feud to continue, plus it should lead to at least one more Stixx/Angelus match, which has delivered both times I've seen it previously. Overall, a cracking night of entertainment
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