Taking place on the same night as a mildly more famous WWE events, Wrestle***** (which we were to find out stood for "WrestleCunts" was possibly the best top to bottom Triple X show I've been to since I started going last February. Sadly, my run will be ending in June, as their show headlined by Zack Sabre Jr vs Low Ki clashes with my holiday (and trust me, I've been trying to work out ways to get back for this...), but in the meantime, here's some words on the WrestleCunts
Dave Mercy vs Terry Seddon
Seddon is currently billed as "Inbetween Gimmicks" after ditching his zombie slayer persona. This was a pretty fun opening bout, with the sexual antics of Mercy (the "Sleazy Bastard") providing a good few laughs. I loved him hitting a Northern Lights suplex, then getting angry with the ref because he'd only gotten 2, despite using an actual wrestling move. He also went for a super sexual version of Sister Abigail. Seddon was coming back into the match, but a low blow gave Mercy the win.
Keiron Young vs Scotty Essex
Scotty Essex, as his name suggests, is a permatanned goon a la TOWIE and other programmes of that ilk. His look is pretty much "rich man's Danny Doring". Young is billed as "Indy Guy", which led to the crowd singing the Indiana Jones theme in his support. This was pretty fun, albeit spotty in places. Both guys only debuted at the last show, so the fact KY opened the match with three dives (after Essex refused to get in the ring) helped warm the crowd up for them. Essex had some nice moves here, with a meaty looking Death Valley Driver being the pick of the bunch. Young got a two count from a Canadian Destroyer followed by a superkick (Indy!) but Essex got the win with a crafty roll-up and handful of tights.
Big Grizzly & Scott Grimm vs Local Jobber #2
This was supposed to be Flash Morgan Webster taking on the two big chaps, simply because Triple X management hate him. However, it was revealed via big screen video that Webster was in New Orleans for WrestleMania, having taken his paycheck and run. Of course, this didn't sit well with the "Two Big Bastards", with Grizzly demanding an opponent. Out came the ever-popular Local Jobber #2, who got flattened in less than two minutes, culminating with a double-team pedigree. A mysterious hooded figure, who turned out to be Gabriel Grey, watched on from the stage, seemingly managing the team of Grimm and Grizz. I'm assuming there is going to be a tag war with the Henchmen at some point, which I can only imagine will be great.
The Henchmen vs The Hunters Brothers
This was the third successive clash between these two teams, this time being a bar-room brawl, essentially fought under last team standing rules. Both teams came dressed to fight, and it was the larger Henchmen who took control at first, brawling with the Hunters all over Club M, but primarily at the bar area. There was a fun mid-match spot involving all four wrestler drinking whiskey, at which point they all passed out from excessive consumption. The Hunters then got a chance to dominate, levelling the Henchmen with chairs (and causing Benton Destruction in particular to bleed heavily), before ultimately the Henchmen finally settled the feud with Jim Diehard throwing one Hunter onto his brother from the bar area to the floor, and the Hunters were unable to meet the count. Maybe not quite as good as last months epic tables match, but still a thoroughly entertaining brawl, and one that was eaten up by the crowd. Plus, how rad were Jim Diehard's cowboy boots!?!
Doug Williams vs Tyler Bate
One of the big success stories in Triple X in the past 12 months has been the rise of Tyler Bate, who keeps getting better show by show, looking like he belongs with the bigger names that he's been put up against. He's been so impressive, it's easy to forget that he's not picked up a win yet since his debut, yet remains massively over with the crowd. Here, he took on one of the biggest names in BritWres and the result was another terrific match. His style gelled perfectly with Williams, as both guys like to work the mat, throw in cutesy spots (there was a repeated criss-cross section here that was a lot of fun) and hit a nice suplex or two, and this was a really good bout. The story here was that the younger, less experienced Bate was having to struggle to keep up with Doug, but was growing into the match as it progressed. Bate managed to block the Chaos Theory and hit his ever-impressive deadlift German suplex for a very close two, but ultimately Williams was able to tie him up for the three count. Another top performance by Bate, who must be the most promising young wrestler in the UK at the moment.
Joe Coffey vs Damian Dunne
Coffey is fast becoming a highlight of Triple X shows. He's clearly not afraid to be the heel, riling the crowd up something chronic here. Coffey is a big guy, and used this to dominate the smaller Dunne. Given the relative size difference, they did well to make the match look competitive, with Damo using his speed advantage to keep up. The crowd were fantastic here too, with a burst of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" designed to motivate Dunne against the big Scot, but in the end Dunne was forced to tap out to a Boston crab. Really good match.
Damian O'Connor vs Mike Bird
O'Connor was apparently part of the first run of Triple X, but this was my first time seeing him, and he was a pretty impressive sight, built like a brick wall with a mighty looking beard. Bird was quite likably funny and, despite being billed as "Flying" Mike Bird, he used some fun matwork to down O'Connor in the early stages. I really liked a good chunk of O'Connor's offence, with a cannonball to the barrier outside looking particularly nasty. O'Connor won a good match with an electric chair into a sitout driver (I'm sure there's a better name for it, but that's the best I could do)
Eddie Dennis vs Devilman
This was chaotic, but really fun chaotic. Dennis was hilarious here, cutting a brilliantly indignant pre-match promo where he ranted about being labelled "Bad Wales" and having to wrestle a street fight instead of a pure wrestling match. His resigned mid-match reaction of "Oh bollocks" as he stood in the ring watching Devilman pull out a Singapore cane wrapped in a chain was great. They went all out here, which did lead to DM seemingly knocking himself loopy off a rana from the stage to the floor. Despite this, they still managed to put on a great match, fighting all over Club M. The end saw Dennis driving DM onto some lightbulb tubes on a chair, but this only got two. Dennis stayed on the offensive, repeatedly hitting DM with a chair and re-pinning him until eventually he picked up the win. I liked the ending, with the idea that it was sustained blows rather than one big move that finished off DM. Devilman looked pretty hurt post match, but eventually got up to a nice round of applause. Great match.
