Southside Wrestling: X-Factor

So Southside Wrestling decided to hold another stacked card 5 minutes from my house. It would have been churlish to refuse.

Stixx vs Pete Dunne

So, if you asked me to name the 5 best wrestlers in the UK (in my humble opinion, of course), I'd name these two guys among the five. Thus, I was very much looking forward to this match, and it didn't disappoint. This was designed to further the "Stixx vs Speed King Division" angle that Southside has been working, and the opening stages saw some nice chain wrestling, as Stixx decided to show he could wrestle just as well as Dunne. However, after getting out-wrestled, plus fooled when Pete decided to hang out in the ropes from two Irish whips, Stixx resorted to his dirtier tactics to gain control. It was nice to see how much more over Pete was here from last time I saw him wrestle for Southside in the same venue last August, and the "On your head, son" enzuigiri got a nice pop. Both guys looked like they could have won it (and the nearfall Stixx got from a TKO really fooled me) before Stixx hit the Black Hole Slam for the win. Great opener.

Young Wolves vs the Hunter Brothers

The Young Wolves consist of Tyler Bate and Dan Maloney. Regular readers will know how much I've rated Bate's performances for Triple X Wrestling, but I'd never seen Maloney before. Like Bate, he's only a teenager, and he was very impressive here, showing some impressive strength when he and Bate swapped switched place whilst holding a delayed suplex on one Hunter. Meanwhile, the Hunters have slowly become a favourite team of mine to watch. The first time I saw them, I thought they were good, but a touch bland, but they've really impressed me since then and now show far more character than in that first match. This was a fast paced tag match, with both teams showing some nice double teams and all the nearfalls being believably fought. Bate got to show off his uncanny strength by hitting his ever-impressive deadlift German on a Hunter for a very close fall, before falling prey to a superplex/splash combo for the win. The Wolves came in a relative unknowns and left to a standing ovation, which shows how impressive they were here, whilst the Hunters, with this match and the excellent Henchmen series in TXW, are having an awesome 2014. Really loved this match.

Paul Malen vs Joseph Connors

The battle of the Predators. This was a nice change of pace from the two opening matches, as these two guys tore into each other before they could even get into the ring. I was curious to see what kind of reaction Malen would get, as he's only just turned face, and at first he didn't get too much of a pop. However, a combination of Conners being a real dick on the mic and the fire Malen showed in this match soon won the crowd over. The opening moments saw Conners suplex Malen into a wall, before Malen returned the favour by back-bodydropping Conners onto a pile of chairs on the arena floor. They both battled for the use of Conners' now-trademark strap, before getting back into the ring, where Conners took the advantage. There was a nice bit where Conners took to the mic again to taunt Malen, who in response bellowed over the mic that he was going to kill his former partner. Eventually, the ring wasn't able to hold the two of them, leading to a double-countout and a host of wrestler coming to the ring to separate them. Slightly disappointing ending, but it was too soon for either to lose a match, and this keeps the feud hot.

El Ligero vs Tommy End

Despite Ligero being a long time fan favourite, the impressive nature of End's recent wins saw him picking up a few cheers of his own, which the anti-hero did nothing to encourage. This was a pretty even match, but the recent win streak of End coupled with the recent losing streak of Ligero meant that it felt like Tommy was always one nasty blow away from victory. Ligero was quicker and managed to nail a few decent kicks of his own, but End's kicks have a bit more oomph and End picked up the win following a kick to the head from a Ligero springboard.

Flex Buffington vs Mad Man Manson

This was a comedy match, as you'd come to expect from Manson. Buffington, meanwhile, is also known as Mat Pedin from the couple of House of Pain shows I've reviewed. His character seems to be workout obsessed, yet slightly pudgy, and he brought some gym equipment to the ring with him which Manson used for comedy purposes, including causing it to ping viciously into Flex's crotch. Things were progressing nicely until T-Bone interrupted to berate them for being comedy wrestlers and destroyed both men, until....

T-Bone vs Mark Haskins

....Mark Haskins came out to challenge the former Southside champion to take him on, with Haskins putting the title on the line. T-Bone got great heat from the crowd chanting "former" at him, and he played up to it by allowing it to distract him at points during the match. T-Bone is another guy who seems to have rapidly improved over the past year, as I'd not seen him in action since 2012 and, although good there, he seemed just smoother and more comfortable here. He hit a massive lariat which looked to have taken the champs head off a one point. Haskins isn't as big as Bone, so he wisely tried to avoid brawling and instead locked T-Bone in a few triangle chokes during the match to try and get the tap. When Bone was in control , the continued chants really seemed to get to him (he really played up to a deliberately childish "T-spoon" chant) and this allowed Haskins to lock in a final choke for the win. Good bout.

Robbie X & X-Pac vs Project Ego

This was quite the main event. The face team met with chants of "Robbie X Pac", and X-Pac looked pretty enthused to be here. Project Ego were the perfect choice of opponents, as aside from being respected as one of the UK's best tandems, they're also more than happy to stooge it up and make fools of themselves, proven by Kris Travis' yelp as he got taken over by an armdrag. This was, in my opinion, Robbie's best showing in Southside for a while. When facing bigger names like Jay Lethal and Johnny Gargano, there's been this sense of trying to prove himself that leads to pointless strike exchanges (or in the case of the Gargano match, the horrible "exchange superkicks" sequence that I hated). Here, he looked smooth, crisp and like a main tier talent. The end saw Robbie take out Martin Kirby and Adam Curtis with a swank springboard moonsault outside the ring, and X-Pac nail Travis with the X Factor to pick up the win. Really fun main event, and it was great to see an import as enthused as X-Pac was.

House of Pain: Tag Team Warfare 2010

A year or so back, I reviewed a show by the Nottingham based promotion House of Pain, an academy/promotion who put on shows of homegrown talent, with BritWres mainstay Stixx as head trainer. Here is another show which I picked up on DVD at around the same time. As I stated in my initial review, I'm not going to judge these matches as harshly as I would others, knowing that these guys are learning their craft and, given that the shows are kept at a low price, it's a fair and ideal way for them to improve. On the other hand, this is still a product that the public has to pay for, so if I've spent money on something terrible I will say so. Thankfully, that is not the case for the vast majority of this show...

Lucas Black vs Matt Pedin
This is a rematch from the previous HOP show, which saw Pedin pick up the win. We get a few pre-match hijinx from Pedin goofing around on Black before the match gets underway. Some of Pedin's flash roll-ups early on look really smooth. Black looks a little hesitant in places, but he's crucially got the character and his mannerisms down pat. You can just tell that he'll get better with experience. He does little things like a nice cocky pin that really suits the role. Pedin shows good fire on his comeback, and Black catching him on a springboard crossbody into a cradle neckbreaker looks really good. I loved Black's selling of a codebreaker before interference from Black's manager leads to a low blow and Lucas putting a bucket on Pedin's head before hitting a Neutraliser for the Black win. Reasonable opener.

Adil Khan vs Callum Piper
I get the impression these two guys are a bit more experienced, as they seem more polished than the guys in the opener. They both seem more natural in the ring, and there is a nice snap to Piper's offence. They maybe spend a bit too much time with a Khan Camel Clutch, and Piper seems to dip into Ken Anderson's offence list a bit, but this is pretty good. The end sees Khan grabbing his title belt, and nailing Piper's tag partner Jimmy Crash when he tries to stop him using it, only for Piper to hit him with a scissor kick for the win.

Jewel vs Sammy Hope
Apparently, this is the first 1-on-1 ladies match in the House of Pain. There is a notable size difference between the two, which is played up as the story of the match, with Hope having to hit-and-run on the larger Jewel. To be honest, this isn't terribly good, as neither girl seems too experienced in the ring, but they keep it simple with an easy to follow story. Hope appears to be the better of the two, as Jewel's offence seems particularly weak and hesitant, but they stuck to what they knew and, given that nothing was blown and everything made sense, you have to call this a success.

Kaleb Hughes, Joseph Conners, Brian Wright & Zero Tolerance vs Danny Chase, Paul Malen, Dropkick James & Marc Scott
This is an elimination tag team match. The initial story arc sees Conners trying his best to avoid Malen, and it's nice to see that Conners was an effective shit-talking heel even in 2010. It may seem obvious in hindsight, but the four guys who impress most here are the one's who are still working regularly to this day (namely Hughes, Conners, Chase and Malen), with Hughes and Conners looking particularly vicious in ring. By way of contrast, Dropkick James seems to be struggling with keeping his trousers up. Scott is a well-built guy who seems to have good energy and he swiftly pins Tolerance with a sitout powerbomb. However, Hughes superkicks Scott whilst he holds Wright in a press slam, and Wright lands on top for the pin. I'm not a fan of rapid eliminations, as it takes away the advantage element of the match. Sadly, we get two more in rapid succession, as Wright is DQd for choking Dropkick on the ropes, leading to Conners swiftly pinning him to leave both sides down to two men. This leaves us with the four best performers in the match, and we switch to a formula tag team match, with Malen working as FIP. Chase shows some nice fire and energy on the hot tag, but accidentally nails Malen with a missile dropkick. Brilliantly, Conners gets the mic and uses his poison tongue to try and convince Malen, who is on the apron, to abandon Chase. Even better, it works, as Malen rejects the hot tag and leaves Chase to get hit with a running DVD for the elimination. Conners and Hughes win via countout, as Malen walks to the back. Fun match, and really hot angle to close it.

Tony Asbo vs Nate Colt
The match is being refereed by Asbo's son Burberry, who showed some concern about the tactics used by Asbo in a match on the previous show. A pre-match pat down reveals Asbo hiding a baseball bat and pair of wrenches on his person. Asbo takes some quick offence from Colt early, so slows things down with a baseball dropkick to the leg and a half crab. I loved the wicked punts to the ribs Asbo added, as he shows a real viciousness on offence. Colt does a good job selling the beating, even when he gets back on offence. They work the size difference well, with Colt getting a few flashes of spirited offence, only for the larger Asbo to cut him off each time. Burberry puts Colt's foot on the ropes during a pin attempt to mark his official face turn, though this draws a few boos (including from myself, Asbo is fucking awesome here). Asbo tries to get his turncoat son to nail Colt with a wrench and proceeds to argue with Burberry, only to get hit by a snap RKO from Colt for the win. To compound matters, Burberry hits him with a wrench post-match. Really enjoyed this match, thought Colt looked good and Asbo was tremendous.

Stixx, Shane Spyral & LJ Heron vs SC Supreme, Dave Andrews & "Textbook" Dave Breaks
This is another elimination match, and ties together the three feuds of Stixx/Supreme, Spyral/Andrews and Heron/Breaks. "Textbook" is the champion of the promotion. Some heel stalling starts us off. There is a palpable aura of anticipation for a possible Stixx/Supreme confrontation, the idea of these two big bulls squaring off. Breaks heels it up a storm here, loved him coming in, spitting at Heron, then fleeing to tag in a reluctant looking Andrews. Breaks doesn't enter the match until Spyral is in, and in trouble, at which point Breaks becomes a proper magnificent knob heel, all chokes, stomps and vicious looking kneedrops. Between him and Asbo, there has been some great heel work on this show. Andrews draws heat in a different way, as he's got this odd walk that makes him look like a prize twat, and really makes me want to see him get battered. The heels work a lengthy heat segment on Spyral before Stixx gets in and man alive it looks like he'd break Andrews in half. Real size and physique difference between the two. It all breaks down before Stixx hits a Black Hole Slam on Andrews, leading to a Swanton by Spyral for the first elimination. I really like the logic of Spryal not being fully recovered from the earlier heat section, and thus falling prey to a Supreme powerbomb for an elimination (I know this contrasts with my earlier disapproval of quick eliminations, but this one at least makes sense). The Stixx/Supreme section is suitably meaty, with Supreme hitting two lovely overhead belly-to-bellys. Stixx is smarter though, and avoids a corner charge and rolls up Supreme for the pin. ANOTHER quick elimination happens as Supreme nails Stixx with his own chain to gift Breaks the equalising fall. LOVE Breaks' over the top celebration for this. The final fall between Heron and Breaks is pretty good, as they fight in the crowd, including Breaks getting hurled into some chairs. The end sees Breaks locking Heron in a chicken wing, but LJ adjusts his body positioning to counter into a pinning position to win the final fall. Really fun match here, the fact these guys are the more experienced guys in the promotion was obvious with the character work being better and the move execution being crisper.