So my local indy Southside Wrestling held two shows on the Sunday in Nottingham last weekend and I decided to attend both of them. Here is some words on the daytime show, Day of Reckoning
Joseph Conners vs Tommaso Ciampa
Conners is now a solo act, having turned on Predators tag partner Paul Malen at the last show. I can happily get behind a Joseph Conners singles push, guy has really polished his act in the last 2 years, to the point that he now looks and acts like a big deal. Ciampa is a guy I know by reputation only, and I thought he was really good here, which gave us a fine opening bout. They started slowly, but things started to move as Conners concentrated his attack on Ciampa's leg, which makes sense given the massive knee brace he was wearing. I did love some of Ciampa's offence, like the running knees in the corner, with the good knee. The end came when Conners went to grab a belt that he'd brought to the ring. The ref stopped this, but the distraction allowed Conners to hit a hammerlock DDT on Ciampa for the win.
Martin Kirby vs Kay Lee Ray
Intergender matches are always a tricky balance to get right. You need to keep the male wrestler credible, but at the same time I've seen too many uncomfortable Ian Rotten/Mickie Knuckles matches where Rotten beat the tar out of her. This was balanced right, I felt, as Lee Ray got plenty of offence in on Kirby, but when he regained the advantage, he was firmly in control. KLR took the initiative at the bell with a tope, and rammed Kirby into the merch stand and walls to main this advantage. However, she made a big mistake in yelling "up top" before delivering a Swanton, which allowed Kirby to get his knees up in time. Kirby was swiftly in control and nailed a superkick to a kneeling Lee Ray, which would have won the match if he'd not lifted her shoulder up at 2. Instead, he went under the ring to get a bag of tacks/glass, and in doing so gave her enough time to recover and roll him up for the win. Very well executed.
Rich Swann vs Tommy End
First time I’ve seen Swann, and he’s very charismatic. He came out dancing to Lionel Ritchie’s "All Night Long"…for pretty much the entire length of the song, prompting a bored End to grab a broom and start sweeping in a funny moment. End is fast becoming one of my favourite guys in Southside, I loved the ZSJ match last year, and he put in a great performance here. They played up the contrast between the slick high-flying of Swann and the meticulous breakdown by End, with End focusing on bodyparts (specifically the arm of Swann). End picked up the win with a big kick to the head.
Robbie X vs Johnny Gargano
There were parts of this I really liked and parts that didn’t sit so well with me. I think the way Southside are using Robbie at the moment is spot on, as he’s clearly exceptionally talented, but he isn’t getting overly pushed. He fights big names, but rarely picks up the win. However, he’s always getting to look good in defeat and as if he can hang with these big names. He’s also noticeably adapting as a wrestler, still hitting some nice highspots, but now adding more strikes and high impact offence to consolidate himself as an attacking threat. That said, I think he needs to cool it a bit with strike exchanges, though that may be because I personally don’t really care for them. There was a bit here where he and Gargano (who looked great here) exchanged superkicks that I absolutely hated. However, based on the evening show I think that’s more of a Gargano staple than Robbie, so hopefully he wont be repeating that too often. Gargano wins with You’re Dead followed by the GargaNO Escape in what was on the whole an enjoyable match.
Mark Andrews vs Mark Haskins
This was supposed to be Haskins defending the Southside title against MK McKinnan, but due to an injury to McKinnan, he issued an open challenge that was met by Andrews. To be honest, I was pretty happy with this turn of events, as Andrews wasn’t due to be on the afternoon show, and he’s a guy I’m a really big fan of. This was well worked, with Haskins subtly heeling things up against the smaller Andrews, who in turn put in a good shift as the underdog. They threw in a good few hope spots for Andrews, who hit a couple of nice highflying spots for nearfalls, but he was ultimately overmatched, with Haskins hitting Made In Japan for the win.
Kris Travis vs El Ligero vs Stixx vs Trent Baretta
Following his pro-BritWres speech at the Supershow last year, Adam Curtis is now accompanying Travis to the ring. The match kicked off with Stixx, the largest man in the match, delaying getting in, so Baretta took him out with a suicide dive, and things didn’t calm down from there. This was a pretty wild match, with guys fighting all over the venue, with the action even spilling outside at one point. All four guys were happy to bump around, including Baretta, who got tossed into some chairs by Stixx. Stixx provided a good base here with some power stuff, but he’s a big guy who can throw himself around with the best of them. Travis picked up the win with the double-underhook piledriver on Ligero (still in broken mask, still demoralised from his defeat to Kirby last year). Really good main event.
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