The wonder of the modern age is that a show like this can take place on a Saturday, and I can buy it and watch it online on the Sunday (via the Attack! Vimeo page). I'm really a newcomer to the world of Attack! after attending their joint show with Fight Club Pro earlier this year, but even though I can't really afford to travel across the country to attend their shows, a swift turnaround and very reasonably priced shows like this make it easy to keep up
Dan Moloney vs ECDrew vs Kyle Fletcher vs Love Making Demon
Short sharp shock of an opener, with a fun cast of
characters. Love Making Demon is essentially a bemasked pervert, something
Fletcher finds out to his cost when he tries a wheelbarrow, only to find the
Demon enjoys it a little too much. ECDrew is Drew Parker, currently suffering
the after-effects of an injury that has convinced him he’s one of any number of
ECW alumni. Today, he’s coming out as Paul Heyman, complete with rabble-rousing
speech before the bout. Drew hits a massive dive early, which looks great. Also
loved his torture rack into a GTS on the Demon towards the end. This goes less
than 10 minutes, but is non-stop for it’s running time, with Moloney booting
Fletcher in the face to win.
Elijah Dahl vs Ryan Smile
My only previous exposure to Dahl was in a tag match at AMP
in April, so I was looking forward to seeing more of him here. Really physical
bout here, with both exchanging big strikes, highlighted by a vicious looking
smack-to-the-face/headbutt exchange. Smile hits this awesome looking bullet
suicide dive early, which sends him hurtling into Dahl. Smile also hits a huge
Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall. Dahl is less flashy, but his offence looks
effective, designed to hurt. Smile picks up the win with a frog splash.
Chief Deputy Dunne & the Brothers of Obstruction vs
Tyler Bate, Lloyd Katt & Splits McPins
This feels like one of those things that’s going to be
difficult to explain to those with no prior knowledge of Attack! The heel side
here are Damian Dunne and the Hunter Brothers, members of the Anti-Fun Police.
Their mission, as the name suggests, is to stop there being any fun in Attack!
Unfortunately, they fail miserably here, as this is supremely fun. Loved Tyler
escaping a Jim Hunter wristlock with an over-elaborate series of flips,
roll-throughs and kip-ups before just casually freeing himself. McPins,
unsurprisingly, has a bowling gimmick, and there’s a great spot where he gets
prevented from using a bowling ball as a weapon on Dunne…so Tyler rolls himself
into a ball to get “bowled” into Damian in the corner. Aside from being a lot
of fun, the actual wrestling is really good too. The heels isolate Tyler and
work a series of triple-teams on him to wear him down. Lloyd Katt is also
really impressive, moving well for a big lad. He has a nice crossbody, hits a
good second-rope moonsault and hits a big dive. The end sees Bate nail Lee
Hunter with the Tyler Driver 97 to win.
Post-match, Tyler rolls up Katt from behind, winning Katt’s
24/7 title (essentially a belt with the same rules as the old WWF Hardcore
title), leaving with both that belt and the WWE UK title.
Sgt Travis Banks vs Flash Morgan Webster
The underlying story here was that Banks, another member of
the Anti-Fun Police, was making his return and was concerned that Dunne may
have swung his affection towards another member of the force, the masked
Spaniard Los Federales Santos Jr. It certainly didn’t help when Dunne got
knocked off the ring apron into the waiting arms of Santos, much to Banks’
dismay. This was a good bout, again mixing some nice looking moves (Webster’s
vicious headbutt always looks incredible, partly because he himself sells it so
well) with some well-balanced comedy. It’s really impressive how Banks can
balanced being so intense and focused in the ring, then instantly hamming it up
to pull off the comedy too. His stooging when promising not to headbutt Webster
on a high-five, then loudly proclaiming he was going to do so was legitimately
amusing. Banks manages to pick up a cheap win, as Webster forces him to tap to
the Strangler, only to find the ref distracted. Webster locks the hold on an
interfering Dunne, but this leaves him prone to the springboard kick from Banks
for the win.
#CCK (Mondai Lykos & Chris Brookes) & Shay Purser vs
FSU (Eddie Dennis & Mark Andrews) & Pete Dunne
This was ridiculously fun, one of the most enjoyable matches
I’ve watched in a long time. Honestly, I smiled from ear-to-ear throughout
almost the whole contest, starting from the moment the normally-grouchy Dunne
emerged as a surprise competitor, holding aloft a cake for hated ref Purser.
(Brief backstory – the show was the day after Shay’s 18th birthday,
hence the cake, but Purser is a hated figure in Attack!, after turning heel
during the feud between Dunne and ring announcer Jim Lee, a feud that
ultimately saw Dunne lose a “loser leave Attack!” match). Dunne was absolutely
on fire in this match. What worked really well was that he still used all the
moves he does as a heel, but here was doing them on the heel team to a big pop.
Picking up referee Chris Roberts to use as a weapon on the CCK members,
viciously stomping the arm of Lykos on the mat, feigning a move from the ropes
only to drop down and bite Lykos’s hand….all eaten up by the crowd. What really
helped here was the interplay of the characters and personalities involved.
There’s almost something touching about the relationship between Lykos and
Brookes, with Lykos plaintively calling for Brookes to help him in moments of
danger, but at the same time they’re sticking spit-covered fingers in Mark
Andrews’ ear or yelling at the crowd to shut up. I loved how CCK incorporated
Purser into some of their signature spots, Brookes throwing him into a senton
on a prone Andrews, or Lykos roping him in to help hit a (failed) brainbuster
(incidentally, as soon as Lykos went for the brainbuster on Andrews, you just
knew it was going to get reversed into the Stundog Millionaire, but watching
all the set up just made it that much more enjoyable). By the time Dunne
blocked an ill-advised attempt by Shay to low-blow him, and instead hit a
pedigree onto the birthday cake, 20 minutes had flown by. Cannot explain enough
how much I loved this match.
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