PCW Road To Glory 2018 - Show 1

Dean Allmark vs Adam Brooks

Really fun opener. Allmark is a really fun guy to watch – he’s deeply uncool, with his long “Deano” emblazoned shorts and his dad bod, but he’s so polished and precise with his movements that you don’t even notice. Brooks heels it up a bit here, slapping Allmark after escaping a headscissors. Brooks takes control after getting his knees up on an Allmark standing moonsault and is pretty good in control. I liked the backpack stunner he hits from the corner. I like that the Allmark comeback comes from Brooks’ own decision to mock Allmark’s trademark dabbing, as it gives Allmark time to avoid a running knee. Allmark nails a combo of kicks and nails the Smiles Clash, a sitout powerbomb from the Styles Clash position, for the win. Good start to the show.

Big T Justice & Tel Banham vs Danny Hope & Joey Hayes

Hard not to find Banham the kind of character you love to hate. He’s an angry little Scrappy Doo character, small of stature and large of mouth, especially given that he has a huge backup in the form of Big T Justice. Given how irritating Banham is, it’s fun watching Hope work him on the mat, grabbing him by the ear to force him into a headscissors, before Hayes just clowns about to make him look foolish. Justice is a big lad, but he needs to lay in some of his moves more – his standing leg lariat and missed corner charge look soft, although his match winning ax kick looked vicious. Banham making the cover after Big T’s big move is a perfect bit of character work.

Polo Promotions (Jackie Polo & Mark Coffey) vs Team Single (Rampage Brown & T-Bone)

Not a long match, but it didn’t need to be. Rampage is the surprise partner for T-Bone, and the reunited Team Single batter Polo to start. With four big lads in there, it’s a hard hitting match with some really big blows. Polo Promotions manage to isolate T-Bone briefly, until a Polo standing armbar is broken by T-Bone hitting an electric chair. Rampage looks great whenever he’s in there, catching Coffey mid-leapfrog with a huge slam looks great. T-Bone plasters Polo with a spear before Rampage hits a sudden-looking piledriver on Coffey for three. Short sharp shock of a match.

Apollo Crews vs Iestyn Rees

I had sort of considered that Crews might take it easy, making his cameo from WWE, but this was a really good match. This was probably better than any of the matches I saw with Rees as champion. Rees jumps Crews from behind, only for Crews to avoid a charge and take a big backflip almost as a taunt. Crews seems legit happy to be in Preston, and that helps make this more fun. Rees looks good in his control, his elbow drops had great height on them. However, Rees allows his frustration to get the best of him and his complaining to the referee allows Crews time to recover. Rees hits a great looking spinebuster, and I like that everything he does here look crisp. Nothing fancy, but nicely executed. Crew is able to make his full recovery and hits the press slam/moonsault to win.

Interracial Love (Charlie Sterling & Ashton Smith) vs Kings of Leon (Sha Samuels & Lionheart)

This is played out with an angle in the background, as both teams seem to have a bit of tension. Curiously though, Sterling and Smith seem to have their issues at the start of the match, but operate as a team throughout, whilst in contrast Samuels and Lionheart let their issues affect their performance. Lionheart blind tags himself into the ring when he want to be in, but then refuses tags from Samuels when he doesn’t. Smith is isolated, but you can tell that the heels tension, instigated by Lionheart, will cost them in the end. Lionheart manages to knock Samuels off the apron, with the collision allowing Smith to tag out, and Samuels seems to have a back injury. Despite this, Lionheart tags him and shoves him into the ring, where Sterling’s offence seems to focus primarily on the back. Lionheart refuses to tag in after Sterling misses a top rope move, and the faces blast Samuels with a double-superkick for the win.

The Henchmen (Jim Diehard & Benton Destruction) vs Dunkamania (Matthew Brooks & Sugar Dunkerton)

Long-time readers of the blog will know how much I love the Henchmen, and they were on really good form here. Brooks is working an opera singer gimmick, and sang a version of “I Believe I Can Fly” on the way to the ring, with lyrics changed to big up his team before this match. This kicks off with a comedy bit, where Benton and Dunkerton go for a basketball tip-off, and Dunkerton low blows him whilst the ref is throwing the ball up. Nicely, Dunkerton tries this again with Diehard and takes a huge punch to the face. The Henchmen were great brick walls here, using their size to dominate large parts of the bout, like catching Brooks mid-flying headscissors to drop him with a backbreaker. Brooks moves really nicely, hitting his “Singer’s Splash” beautifully and selling the Henchmen’s offence nicely. Loved Benton standing on Brooks’s stomach and dropping down with a big splash. Dunkerton does a bit too much comedy shit, but he’s insanely over. The end sees Dunkamania hit a double slam on Diehard from the top rope (huge bump!) and a double pin gives them the victory. Enjoyed this, nice to see the Henchmen still on form.

Moose vs Sheikh El Sham

It’s a sign of the overall quality of the show that this is probably the weakest actual match, and even this is pretty decent They start this nicely, Sham failing to take Moose down on two shoulder blocks, so going for an eyerake and then knocking him down, only for Moose to kip up and nail him with a big boot. Sheikh takes control after Moose hits the ringpost on a charge, and Sheikh has some nice basics. Loved the height on his dropkick and his punches. His control is only brief, as Moose starts pumping himself up, getting the crowd to chant along, before finishing Sham with a big spear.

Zack Sabre Jr vs Matt Riddle

Yeah, this was unsurprisingly terrific. They really work the mat to start, and there were some nice little touches like ZSJ accepting a test of strength, and instantly switching to a leglock because it favoured his style more. There’s a great moment where Riddle almost seems to flick a switch, suddenly hitting Sabre with two rolling gutwrench suplexes. Riddle shows some really great core strength, able to catch ZSJ in midair to throw him. Riddle hits three sentons, but takes a little too long to pose and Zack catches a fourth attempt into an armbar. These guys are so closely matched, you can see either guy trying to take advantage on any small opening knowing it may be the difference, with Sabre maybe slightly better at spotting those moments where Riddle is momentarily distracted. What I love is how a reversal in this match won’t necessarily lead to an escape, as at times a reversal just puts the escapee into position for another move which can be locked on instead. Riddle beautifully escapes a ZSJ submission by using his only available option, biting the ropes. In the end though, it’s not enough, as Sabre escapes a tombstone and cradles him for the win. Just absolutely lovely stuff.

Triple X Wrestling Untitled Festive Season Tie-In Event

As I check Facebook and see that Triple X are already announcing matches for their next show, it dawned on me that I probably needed to get my lazy arse round to making sense of the jumble of notes I wrote on their festive show one-and-a-half weeks ago. A show that rather magnificently ended with a roster of wrestlers singing "Do They Know It's Christmas". Tearjerking...

Dave Mercy vs Pollyanna
After a ludicrous introduction, including chasing host Omer Ibrahim round the ring to the Benny Hill theme, we were "treated" to Dave Mercy taking on the debuting Pollyanna, who looked good throughout the match, despite what Mercy put her through. Mercy has really found his calling as the opening match guy for Triple X, with his frankly disturbing antics seemingly perfect for warming up the crowd. He's also really good at finding new lows to plumb in each match. Here, despite being out-wrestled in the early parts of the match, he seemed to be in his element fighting a woman, threatening a "boobplex", before the tables were turned and he got taken over with a "ballplex" for a near count. A punch to Pollyanna's breasts brought her to her knees, low blowing Mercy as she fell, who in turn took out the referee in a fun spot. Pollyanna looked to have the match won with a leglock, but Mercy reached into the well-padded bulge of his groin and pulled out a sock that he attacked her face with to break the hold. Mercy eventally got the victory with a rather horrible-looking teabagging pin.

Santa Paws vs Flash Morgan Webster
Santa Paws was a chap in a panda mask dressed as Santa, who unfortunately got assaulted by a not-booked Morgan Webster. This was a quick little match, won by Webster, to lead onto the next angle...

Wild Boar vs Keiron Young
.....as Webster took the mic and claimed he knew what Triple X were trying to do, turning all his friends against him. He highlighted former friend Mark Andrews, his trainer Mike Bird, then claimed that the reason Wild Boar was back in Triple X was to turn Boar against him. The Boar came to the ring as Webster cut a promo essentially asking Boar to be his friend, a request that was met with a simple "no". The match itself was pretty much a squash, but just because a face turn seems imminent, it didn't mean Boar was letting Young off lightly. I've missed Boar in Triple X, he's not the biggest guy, but everything he does looks violent. Young did get to hit his trifecta of dives to the outside, but ultimately Boar won with the Trapper Keeper. Boar ignored Webster's offer of friendship again afterwards, and face Wild Boar is totally something I can get behind.

Jim Diehard vs Big Grizzly
This was a pretty fun battle of two massive bearded men. Grizzly had tag partner Scott Grimm at ringside, so you knew that he was going to get involved at some point. This started pretty slowly, but got better as the match went along. I alway love Big Grizzly's cannonball in the corner, it always looks like he's just rolling straight through them. Diehard took a bit of a beating from Griz, but was making his comeback when Grimm grabbed his leg to prevent him going to the top rope(!). The Titans of Terror beat down on Diehard, until a returning Benton Destruction made the save and challenged the Titans for the next show. Griz may have responded to the challenge with "Fuck off", but I suspect it will happen and will be terrific.

Chris Brookes vs Tyler Bate
This was an absolute treat. Bate has rightly become one of the shining lights of British wrestling in the past year, but it's worth pointing out how great Brookes has been in that time period too. Both guys have an inate charisma that makes an audience want to react to them, albeit in different ways. After Bate's Sandman-inspired entrance, these two beat on each other with a viciousness that only guys who know each other really well can get away with. There were lots of nasty spots and loud cane shots that belied the fact this feud blew up over Tyler's facial hair. Bate took out Brookes with a huge dive from the top rope over the safety barrier, and then put him in a 40-second airplane spin inside the ring. Tyler got two very close nearfalls with a deadlift German suplex and a big lariat, but got knocked from the top rope when Brookes shoved the ref into the ropes. The match ended with Brookes hanging Bate over the top rope with a thick bunch of electrical cable, really yanking back on it, until Bate passed out and couldn't continue. Next month, they're competing in a deathmatch, and I'm almost scared to see how they'll top this awesome brawl.

Eddie Dennis & the Hunter Brothers vs Mike Bird & the Dunne Brothers
Triple X wisely put a Chase Alexander in-ring promo before this match, to give the crowd (and the choked-out Bate) a chance to catch their breath. This was a total change of pace, a really fast-paced six man tag with the following stipulation: If Dennis' team won, Pete Dunne would lose his #1 contendership for Dennis' Triple X title, but if Dunne's team won, he'd get his title match that night.

Trying to recap all that happened would be a fools errand, but this was a good long match, spiced up with the odd moment of chaos. The Dunnes and Bird had some really smooth teamwork as a trio, and dominated the early stages, but the heel team would find ways to isolate individual members throughout the match. I loved the hanging of the Welsh flag in the corner as a heel tactic. As things broke down, Dennis brought the Triple X title belt in the ring to use as a weapon, but it ended up in the hands of Pete Dunne. Unfortunately, his attempts to level Dennis missed, and instead took out Damian Dunne, leaving him prone for the three count and losing Pete's #1 contendership. The fun thing is how this leaves the Clusterfuck match next month. This isn't the first time some tension has been hinted at between the Dunnes and, whilst winning the Clusterfuck match would give Pete his title shot back, but a win for Damian would really put the cat amongst the pigeons. Can't wait.

Triple X Wrestling: King of the Royal Summer Mania Series

After missing the June show due to being on holiday, it felt good to get back to another Triple X show. There was a decent sized, pretty vociferous crowd on hand for what turned out to be another really fun show

Dave Mercy vs Local Jobber #2
Super fun opener. Mercy wasn't scheduled to wrestle because, as host Omer Ibrahim advised, no-one wants to get in the ring with him. Even the Jobber seemed pretty reluctant to tangle with the sleazy Mercy, though he actually got a fair run of offence here. Due to Mercy's trunks being pulled down, we saw more of his backside than we would really want to, though not as much as Jobber, who got a horrifying closeup with his sunset flip. Despite Mercy taking control, Jobbermania soon ran wild as LJ2 Hulked up, and hit a big boot and legdrop for a two count. Sadly, his run was short-lived, as Mercy rolled him up with a handful of tights to win.

Keiron Young vs Chase Alexander
Alexander is the former Local Jobber #1 and is accompanied by the former Professor Lex. His new gimmick is that of a former child star, with Lex pretty fun as his entourage. I liked Young's series of dives he hit early doors, starting by going between the middle and bottom ropes, then the top and middle, then finally over the top. He's still the "Indy Guy", so this fits his character perfectly. Alexander worked over the leg to take control, with a decent bridging leglock. Young made his comeback and got a two count from the ever-so-indy combo of a Canadian Destroyer and a superkick before a distraction by Lex allowed Alexander to take his leg out and grab the pinfall victory. Both guys worked hard, despite being a little green, and luckily their characters and antics kept the crowd entertained.

Morgan Webster vs Mike Bird
The storyline logic behind this match was that Triple X were fed up of Webster, so brought in his trainer Mike Bird to teach him some respect. I mentioned this in my last HOPE review, but Webster is absolutely great at making me hate him. Seeing him here, sunglasses on indoors with a surly face just made me want to see someone give him a smack. Thankfully, Bird was on hand to smack the shit out of him, as he treated Webster to a series of chops in the ring. I'd enjoyed Bird's previous appearance at the April show, and he was really good here, just seeming really natural and comfortable in the ring. I liked the long heat section Webster worked on Bird, before Bird was able to come back and tie up his former student with an STF that had me believing Webster would tap. He didn't and in fact managed to pick up the win by faking injury, then grabbing Bird into a guillotine choke that he calls the Strangler (as I l found out on Twitter).

The Hunter Brothers vs Chris Brookes & Tyler Bate
Last Sunday, after seeing them have back-to-back great matches for Southside Wrestling vs the Young Wolves and Flip & Forearms, I excitedly took to Twitter and proclaimed the Hunters the best tag-team in the UK. This match backed up that claim, as this was another excellent bout. However, whilst the two Southside matches saw them work as fast-paced, high-flying faces, here the Hunters showed how good they are as heels too, keeping Chris Brookes isolated as face-in-peril, cutting him off and being generally unlikable. There were some really fun moments in this match: I loved Brookes scurrying along the piping that hangs from the Club M ceiling to crashland on his opponents below outside the ring (which apparently played off his match at the June show), and Bate showed off his remarkable strength by hitting a giant swing on one Hunter whilst giving the other an airplane spin at the same time. Bate nailing a big boot in the corner with a cry of "This is Sparta" was great too. The end saw a Hunter grabbing a wrench outside the ring but, whilst he remonstrated with the ref, Brookes' attempt to throw powder at the remaining brother backfired, instead hitting Bate and leaving him easy prey for a Hunter Brothers pin. Great match.

The post-match antics were fun too, with Brookes telling Bate he needed to lose his trademark moustache, or their friendship was over. Of course, the crowd weren't happy with this ultimatum, and, despite Brookes bringing out a bag of cheap disposable razors, Tyler kept the 'tasche. Brookes tried a cheapshot, but Bate instead nailed him with a massive clothesline. A chokeslam to the razor was the icing on the cake. Super fun segment.

Damian Dunne vs Gideon
This was scheduled to be Eddie Dennis taking on Damian as part of a "Pick Your Poison" deal with Damian's brother Pete. However, Dennis was injured, providing a doctors note, and instead getting his "close, personal friend" Gideon to take his place. It's always fun to see how debutants will fare at Triple X, partly to see how they cope with the (never mean-spirited) heckling from the crowd. With his bald head and bushy beard, Gideon was always going to get some piss-taking (I enjoyed the "Uncle Albert" chants especially), and he coped well with it. A chant of "He's got his head on upside down" was greeted by Gideon replying "You want his head on upside down?" and neckcranking Dunne. The match itself was plenty fun, with some nice looking offence from both. I dug Gideon greeting a suicide dive attempt with a big kick to the face, which meant that Damo nailing the same move later in the match got a big cheer. Dunne picked up the win after a low-blow by Gideon, and Eddie Dennis helped lay in a beating until Pete Dunne turned up for the save.

The New Henchmen (Jim Diehard & Rob Terry) vs Titans of Terror (Big Grizzly & Scott Grimm)
When I saw this match advertised in the build-up, I knew exactly what I wanted from it - the spectacle of four massive guys nailing each other with fun power offence. It didn't disappoint. I will forever love Jim Diehard hitting moves that a man his size rarely tries, flipping both Grizz and Grimm over with a headlock/headscissors and nailing a Shining Wizard later in the bout. Likewise, Grizzly hit a big dropkick on Diehard ("You weren't expecting that, were you?") and a big cannonball in the corner. I liked the fact that the big moves were built up to mean something, with a Rob Terry slam on Grimm getting a huge reaction. The New Henchmen won after a Diehard sitout powerbomb on Grizzly, and this was a highly entertaining match. After all, with all due respect, what was the last Rob Terry match you saw get a "This is awesome!" chant?

Pete Dunne vs Doug Williams
Williams was Eddie Dennis' choice to fight the number one contender to his Triple X title. Williams cheap-shotted Dunne to kick off, but this soon developed into a fine technical affair. Williams was dominant on the mat in the early going, which makes sense given his experience advantage, but Dunne was able to get back into it with some tough-looking strikes, and locked in a cloverleaf for a near tap. Dennis distracted Dunne mid-match, and Williams attacked from behind to fully complete his heel turn. Despite this, Dunne was able to pick up the victory. as Dennis lambasted Williams after a two count, and this distraction allowed Dunne to get a roll-up for the victory. After the match, Williams and Dennis put the boots to Pete, until brother Damian came in to make the save. Pete seemed a little put out that Damo didn't make the save sooner, but they left united. Fine main event, and I liked the way that Williams' initial superiority made Dunne look even better when he was able to fire back and take over himself.

Triple X Wrestling Wrestle*****

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.

Triple X Wrestling: Clusterfuck III

Arriving at Club M in Coventry for this show, we were treated to something a bit different before the wrestling started...stand-up comedy. After an opening set I arrived midway through (which was fun, though I didn't catch the name of the guy doing it), we got regular Triple X ring announcer Omer Ibrahim recounting stories of his wrestling days, the highlight of which involved a rather horrible training drill involving a rear waistlock... With the crowd suitably warmed up, the action began.

Keiron Young vs Dave Mercy
So we kicked off with two guys I've not seen before. Young bills himself as the "Indy Guy", whilst Dave Mercy is the delightfully named "Sleazy Bastard". And what a sleazy bastard he was, grinding his way to the ring to the sound of "Bump & Grind". With his posh voice, pervy moustache and yellow singlet hanging down to his waist, Mercy was perversely entertaining. He used a lot of sexual spots, going for the pinfall with his crotch over Young's face and choking him with the straps of the singlet, as if to pull it down. Young looked decent, if a touch inexperienced, and he hit a few nice kick combos to Mercy. The ringwork here maybe wasn't perfect, but this was a lot of goofy fun. Mercy won with a roll-up, which meant he qualified for the Clusterfuck match later.

Devilman vs Wild Boar
This title match was a bit of a slow burner, with the opening moments based around DM grounding the Boar with a headlock. Things started to heat up however, with Boar looking good on offence. What I love about Wild Boar is how everything he does looks designed to inflict pain, especially how he clawed at DM's face during holds. He also seems happy to hurl himself with reckless abandon towards his opponents, with a dive from the ring being particularly choice. Devilman looked good in his comebacks, and looked set to make the Boar tap with a crossface. Boar got a couple of nearfalls towards the end, but Devilman was able to pick up the win to retain the title.

Clusterfuck III - Damian Dunne vs Chris Brookes vs Tyler Bate vs Terry Seddon vs Big Grizzly vs Local Jobber #2 vs Scott Grimm vs Scotty Essex vs Dave Mercy vs Eddie Dennis
The Clusterfuck match follows the same format as the Royal Rumble, except that, upon reaching the final four, it becomes a fatal fourway match, with the winner here becoming the no. 1 contender for the Triple X title.

This was a whole heap of fun. I wont try and recap everything that happened as, frankly, my memory isn't that good, but there were plenty of highlights. Tyler Bate has adapted his gimmick, fully embracing the "tiny Gotch" chants to portray himself as a throwback to the black-trunked grapplers of the early 20th century. With a dapper moustache and a smattering of aeroplane spins throughout the match, he made this new character work. His semi-reunion with former Slapdash Tagteam partner Chris Brookes ("he's a bit of a cunt") was one of the fun running themes throughout the match. Also impressing here was Big Grizzly. The first time I saw him back in July he was a competent, but green, big man. Here, he looked great, levelling opponents with Samoan drops, a proper good spinebuster and two massive cannonballs in the corner, which put cult hero Local Jobber #2 out of action (of which more later). Damian Dunne, who was the first entry, provided a good base for the match, as he's able to work well with everyone on the roster, and his elimination of Grizzly was a nice bit of payback for his loss to the big man back in August.

Dave Mercy returned, having qualified for entry with his earlier win, and got thrown out straight away. The other newcomer in the match was "Mr Reem" Scotty Essex, who riled up the crowd as soon as he came out. He didn't really get a chance to show much, but did take a big bump for a Bate deadlift German suplex which was impressive, so hopefully he'll get a chance to impress in the future. We got down to a final four of Dunne, Dennis, Bate and Brookes, but before a winning pinfall could take place, it was revealed that Local Jobber #2 had never been eliminated. Dunne hit him with a quick springboard codebreaker, but Dennis swiftly threw Dunne over the top rope and pinned Jobber to win the match and a title shot at Devilman next show. There was never a dull moment here, and it felt better laid out than last years match.

"Flash" Morgan Webster vs Mark Andrews
The stipulation here was that Webster would get a contract with Triple X if he beat Andrews. Webster has been running rampant in the past 12 month, interferring in matches and specifically targetting Andrews, but this was his first actual match since Clusterfuck 2 last year. The result of this build is that the crowd absolutely HATED Webster, who kept the heat up with his antics throughout the match. This also meant that we saw a slightly more aggressive side to Andrews, but without him shortchanging the crowd on his ever impressive aerial skills. Webster looked more impressive here than he did 12 months earlier (in a reasonable match against Eddie Dennis), and was clearly revelling in the heat from the crowd. A good, if slightly short, match ended with Webster taking advantage of a distracted ref to crack Andrews in the head with his scooter helmet for the win.
　

The Henchmen vs The Hunter Brothers
This was a tables match, and ended up being a pretty fantastic brawl around Club M. The Henchmen pretty much destroyed the Hunters to start, but the Hunters' gameplan of surviving and then isolating one Henchman was pretty smart. The first fall went to the Hunters on Jim Diehard, as a top rope superplex attempt was cut off and the brothers hit a double powerbomb from the second rope through a table. This put Diehard out of commission for a while, and let the Hunters concentrate on Benton Destruction. I loved Benton pulling down the straps of his singlet before trying to ward off both Hunters. The Hunters set up a table near the bar area, but by this time Diehard had recovered, and a resurgent Henchmen powerbombed one Hunter off the stairs through a table in an insane bump to even things up. Back in the ring, there was a ref bump before the remaining Hunter got thrown through a table, but his brother returned and levelled both Henchmen with chairshots, leaving Destruction lying in the broken remains of the table. A recovering ref called for the bell to give the Hunters the cheap win. Really fun brawl here, with the Hunters bumping and stooging magnificently, and all four men putting in a good effort.

Zack Sabre Jr vs Pete Dunne
Going into this match, I had high hopes. ZSJ was part of two of the best matches I saw live last year (vs Mark Andrews for Triple X, and vs Tommy End for Southside), whilst Dunne has been a constant highpoint of the Triple X shows I've been to over the past year. Yet somehow, this match still surpassed expectations. All the matwork here was excellent, and it always felt like it was leading somewhere, instead of being matwork for the sake of matwork. There were nice little touches throughout, like Sabre simply letting go of Dunne's leg when he could tell Pete was about to try and counter a hold, or the way he tried to keep his legs moving when sat in a prone position to try and stop Dunne grabbing one of them. As is often his gameplan, Zack went on the attack on Pete's left arm to soften him up for an armbar, and both his attack plan and Dunne's selling of the injury were terrific. I loved the fact Dunne kept protecting his arm, even whilst on offence. Whilst the result was never really in doubt, it was kept competitive, with a few moments where it looked like Dunne might win. In the end, ZSJ picked up the win with a Dragon suplex, but it's fair to say this was a stormer. Possibly the best match I've seen in person.

Triple X Wrestling: The Nov 24th Show

Regular readers, in the unlikely event there is such a thing, will be aware by now of my love of Coventry's Triple X Wrestling, who put on a constantly entertaining show every time. Having been to every show this year, you could imagine my horror as the M69 leading from Nottingham to Cov was shut as I headed to the imaginatively titled "November 24th Show". Diverted through random parts of Warwickshire, I was genuinely concerned that I was going to miss this show, but thankfully I got there just in the nick of time. Which is lucky, as I think this was the best top-to-bottom show they put on this year. Ending old stories, continuing and starting new ones, the pieces are in place to make January's upcoming "Clusterfuck III" show an absolute belter.

Pete Dunne vs Chris Brookes
Brookes' new intro video proclaims him to be be "a bit of a cunt", which earned him a few choice chants during the match. Real nice back-and-forth match here, with everything looking crisp in execution. Brookes had impressed smaller roles in previous matches, but it was nice to see him get a longer chance to show what he could do. His Dragon suplex on Dunne was really good. Dunne is always good value, and the "On your head, son" enzuigiri never gets old. Dunne picks up the win with a swank pumphandle into a DDT.

We got a bit of an angle here, as cult hero (and my girlfriends favourite wrestler) Local Jobber #2 came to the ring, only for Flash Morgan Webster to come out and destroy him, asking again for a match with Mark Andrews. This was eventually agreed to, so hopefully this will happen at the next show. It's been building nicely for month, and it should be a great match when it happens.

The Hunter Brothers vs The Henchmen
Though not advertised as such, this was a battle of Coventry vs Birmingham, so the Henchmen were the clear hometown favourites. The Hunters are great at stooging for their opponents, raising a laugh when a blindside attack failed and claiming "it was the ref". The Henchmen dominated early, but a cheapshot to the leg of Jim Diehard gave the Hunters control. This was a classically worked tag match, with a lengthy heat section on Diehard coupled with the Hunters cutting off a hot tag attempt by attacking Benton Destruction. I loved Benton's combined shock and horror at his tag partner hitting a shining wizard ("Have you been watching those skinny boy tapes?"), before Diehard managed to motor through both Hunters to make the tag. The Henchmen had nearly completed the Five Moves of Doom for the win, before Diehard got nailed with a chair before he could hit the senton to get the DQ win. Destruction also got levelled with a pair of chairshots after, so I assume this leads to a rematch at the next show.

Tyler Bate vs Joe Coffey
Bate has been more and more impressive on the past few shows, but this felt like a real breakthrough match for him. Coffey was a guy I'd not seen before, but he came with a good reputation, and he was a really good opponent for Bate here. Coffey was a really unlikable heel here, and that also helped rally the crowd behind Tyler. I liked the mat exchanges throughout the match, especially as both guys actively worked the holds they were applying, with little touches to make them look more painful. I loved Coffey pulling out his chewing gum and rubbing it in Bate's face during a hold, which only made him seem more of a dick. Though smaller, Bate still got to use a few of his impressive strength spots, with the deadlift German suplex getting two. In the end, however, Coffey picked up the win with a giant swing, which he chained to a Boston crab. Tyler tried to power out, but when that failed, tapped right away. Really great match, debuting Coffey with a good win, but Bate also came out better than when he went in.

Adam Shame & Grado vs The Wrestling Dead
After leaving the last show with "Zombie Slayer" Terry Seddon, Michelle Thorne is now out managing the zombie team. Something to do with them always being stiff... Anyway, this was as absurd and ridiculous as you'd expect. Grado is always entertaining, especially his puzzlement at the idea of having to wrestle some zombies and Shame seems to fit well with him. I love Chris Stone's out-of-control commitment to the character, as he acts more zombie than wrestler, with Steffan Hard carrying the wrestling side of things. Grado gets distracted by Thorne flashing her wares at him to give the zombies the advantage and it doesn't help when his partner also gets enticed by Thorne when Grado reaches for the hot tag. Eventually, Shame does get tagged in, and a combination big boot\faceplant combo give them the pin on Hard. Really fun.

Eddie Dennis, Damian Dunne, Devilman & Omer Ibrahim vs Big Grizzly, Wild Boar, Scott Grimm & Gabriel Grey
This is an elimination tag match, with Gabriel Grey promising to disband the Damned Nation if they lose. This was pretty chaotic, but never less than entertaining, and managed to include some great storyline strands as well. Omer finally got his revenge on Grey after a year of abuse, nailing a huge spear to eliminate him, before Grimm nails a Black Hole Slam on Omer right away to even the score. Everyone here got a chance to shine, with even Grimm looking good dominating the champion Devilman. Dennis shows some impressive strength to suplex Grimm over for a pin, while a fun sequence of offence ends with Boar nailing a package piledriver on Dunne to even up the sides again. In the end, the Damned Nation is forced to split, as Devilman and Dennis take out Grizzly and Boar and hit simultaneous pins to be the two survivors (and I'd be remiss not to mention Dennis showing sick strength again by hitting a crucifix bomb on the enormous Grizzly). After the match, Dennis went from Good Wales! to Bad Wales! by nailing Devilman with the title belt, almost certainly setting up a match between the two in the future.

Triple X: Club M In Your Face

After running the last few shows at the Coventry Sq Club, the latest offering ran from the newly revamped Club M, a venue that has seen a slick £500,000 facelift. As a venue, it looked really swank, and with the ring in the middle of the dancefloor, it felt like a really exciting step forward for the promotion. With a line-up including my second Sabu match of the weekend, I was greatly looking forward to the show

Damian Dunne vs Big Grizzly
We have an open challenge to kick off the show, with Gabriel Grey challenging anyone to take on the latest member of the Damned Nation. Dunne answered the challenge, and we ended up with a decent big-vs-small match as opener. Dunne took the fight to the big Welshman early, using his speed and strikes to wear him down. Grizzly's size soon became too much and he took control with power moves, looking pretty impressive whilst doing so. This was a much better showcase for him than the tag match last month, as fighting a smaller opponent allowed him to look more dominant, and he played the big monster role well. Damian managed to regain control, using Grizzly's weight against him to hit a backcracker, but Grey grabbed the ropes as he went for a springboard codebreaker, and Grizzly used the distraction to hit a sitout powerbomb for the win.

The Hunter Brothers vs Ho Ho Lun & Jason New
Ho Ho Lun made quite an impression on the last show in a four way match, and this time he returned with another Zero-One Hong Kong star in Jason New. The Hunters are a curious case, being one of the premier teams in the UK, but one I've never seen win live. This was a fast-paced tag match, with the Hong Kong team clearly the crowd favourites. They struggled with the low ceiling in Club M though, playing up to it with an attempted double team suplex on a Hunter, who they couldn't get all the way over due to the ceiling, then Lun became face-in-peril after leaping from the top rope into a lighting rig. The Hunters ran a nice heat section on Lun, preventing New from getting in, until a hot tag was made. Despite this, the Hunters were still able to pick up the win following a roll-up with pulled tights, a point the Zero-One guys amusingly tried to point out the ref in vain after the match. Fun match.

Tyler Bate vs Mark Andrews
Bate is swiftly becoming one of my favourite guys in Triple X to watch, looking more and more impressive with each show. He's got a nice blend of decent looking strikes, freakish strength spots, an inate charisma and the ability to keep pace with the quicker guys too. The latter is lucky here, as Mandrews is one of the better high fliers in British wrestling, with everything in the match looking crisp in execution. The two of them paired up well here, with both guys being pretty evenly matched in the initial stages. Bate started to wear down Andrews, and got in his traditional scary strength spot, this time hitting a slow, deadlift German suplex for a two count. Andrews, unlike the Zero-One HK boys, was comfortable with the low ceiling and actually used it to his advantage, hanging off the rigging to get into position for a Code Red for the win. Really fun match, which I could happily have seen go on for longer.

Money In The Wank Bank Match - Stefan Hard vs Zombie Chris Stone vs Scott Grimm vs Local Jobber #2 vs Andy Krae vs Terry Seddon vs Zombie Stefan Hard
The reason this is the "Money in the Wank Bank" match is because the winner gets a date with adult entertainment star Michelle Thorne. This is largely played for laughs, but succeeds in being entertaining throughout. First out is Stefan Hard, defending the honour of his wife, against zombie Chris Stone. Hard is in control, until he gets distracted by Henchman Benton Destruction trying to get some porn signed by Thorne, and he falls prey to a zombie bite to be eliminated. Scott Grimm is in next, and he powers through Stone, Local Jobber #2 (complete with awesome "jobber" themed video and a massive pop from the crowd) and Krae, before Triple X's resident zombie slayer Terry Seddon pins him with a crucifix. To bring things full circle, Stefan Hard returns, having turned zombie from the Chris Stone bite, only to eat a Diamond Cutter from Seddon for the win. Seddon also plants Professor Lex with a cutter to end a ludicrous, but fun, segment.

The Henchmen vs Grado & Adam Shame
A battle of the cult heroes here, with the magnificent "80's legends" the Henchmen taking on a team including slightly camp, chubby Scottish grappler Grado. The odd man out here felt like former Triple X champion Adam Shame, who didn't meet with the same positive reaction as his opponents, having been a long time heel. That said, he more than played his part here, showing immense strength to lift up the massive Benton Destruction for a Shellshock, complete with Ryback-esque march around the ring. This one soon broke down, with all four guys brawling outside the ring. In fact, they got a little too into the brawl, with Grado beating on Shame and the Henchmen punching each other, until a moment of realistation took hold of all four guys. An entertaining brawl ended with Shame reaching for what seemed to be a bag of tacks, but was infact a bag of Skittles, which saw all four guys hitting moves onto the tasty fruit sweets. In the end, the Five Moves of Doom on Grado saw a win for the Henchmen.

Sabu vs Wild Boar
This was my second Sabu match of the weekend, following the Jimmy Havoc match in Nottingham, and I have to say I enjoyed this one more. Despite the fact that the tables here were flimsy, and seemed to take away from what Sabu hoped to do it the match, this was a more competitive affair, and I think Boar came out of this looking better than Havoc did on the Friday. Although the outcome was never in doubt (due to the storyline having Triple X bringing in Sabu to take out Wild Boar to stop him interferring in stablemate Majik's title match), Boar (appropriately) looked like a beast here, keeping up with Sabu and keeping him from being able to wrestle a formula Sabu match. I loved Boar using a chair to hit a leaping headbutt into the midsection of Sabu and by the end, when Sabu won with an Arabian facebuster, it felt like Sabu had been forced to put in a real effort to keep the Boar down. Sabu was really over here, and deserves credit for letting Boar look like a real force.

Devilman vs Majik
This one seemed a bit muted at first, despite the long-term rivalry between the two. I think they suffered from having to follow a huge star in Sabu, which had slightly worn out the audience. It also took them a little while to find their rhythm, with the opening stages seeming a little slow for a hate-filled blood fued. Things picked up throughout the match though, and they slowly, but surely swung the crowd round, with a sick Majik Death Valley Driver on the ring apron near the end getting a huge "Holy Shit" chant. We get a big, all-action ending with ref bumps, interference from Big Grizzly and Damian Dunne, and finally Omer Ibrahim getting into the ring to count the victorious Devilman pinfall, after he wiped Majik out with a blow from Gabriel Grey's cane. Through all this, plus Majik working the crowd like a heat magnet, they turned an initially apathetic crowd into a really strong reaction, and put on a satisfying main event.

Triple X Wrestling: The Only Way Is SQ

Before making their debut at the Coventry Club M next month, Triple X had a show at the SQ Club last Sunday, which promised contract signings, scrambles, no holds barred matches and many more. Here's how it went...

The show started with a contract signing for the next show, where Devilman will face Majik for the Triple X title. However, Majik seemed more concerned with getting jovial MC and former wrestler Omer Ibrahim to say he respected him. Omer, however, wouldn’t back down, telling Majik he didn’t respect him, and getting in the champions face. After both Devilman and Majik signed the contract, Devilman rammed Majik’s head into the table and things looked like breaking down before the familiar ring music of Teddy Long hit over the speakers. Out came Professor Lex, who announced the four men in the ring (Devilman, Omer, Majik and his manager Gabriel Grey) would meet in the main event in a Holla Holla Tag Match. A fun start to the show. 

The Dunne Brothers vs The Hunter Brothers

This is the 3^rd show in a row for Triple X to feature some Dunne/Hunter interaction, but luckily it’s a pairing that never fails to entertain. It’s odd, the first time I saw the Hunters was as faces and, as good as they were in ring, they seemed a little bland personality wise. However, as heels they really seem to excel and they’re plenty of fun here heeling it up against the Dunnes. As the younger Dunne, it was Damo who got focused on for the heat section, which featured some quick tags and nice double teams by the Hunters. To be honest, so much happened in this match that I’m struggling to recall everything that happened, but the end was a fun series of saves and reversals which ended with Dunnes reigning triumphant. Really good opener. 

Scott Grimm vs Dave Mastiff

This is a no-holds-barred rematch from last months show. This provides a nice change of pace from the opener, as both are massive guys. They run through a long series of stalemate shoulderbarge attempts, before Grimm takes control. This wasn’t a huge war like I was expecting, but instead featured Grimm trying to wear Mastiff down with repeated blows. Mastiff’s comeback was great, as his offence always looks good. He got a real high leap on a rolling firemans carry, and he got great air on a senton as well, which only got two. Things heat up at the two fight outside and over the merch table, before Grimm steals a win back inside with a low blow. Started slowly, but this was a decent big man match. 

Mark Andrews vs Tyler Bate vs Ho Ho Lun vs Chris Brookes

Again, this was a change of pace from the previous match, advertised in advance as a “Get Your Shit In” match. It lived up to the billing as all four guys got a shitload of action into the match, with all four managing to look good here. Lun is on tour from Zero-One HK, and was bursting with physical charisma, and the fans took to him instantly. One spot, which saw him sit Bate on a chair, repeatedly asking the audience if he should take a longer run up to kick him in the face got a great response. Brooke and Bate had impressed at the last show as the SlapDash Tagteam, but they sadly had broken up here, with Brooke cheapshotting Bate after a handshake. Bate has crazy strength, here catching Andrews in mid air and planting him with a German suplex, which looked awesome. Andrews is a super-crisp high flier, and everything he did looked slick here, with a massive Asai moonsault providing the perfect punctuation to a great dive sequence by all four men. Finally, after a ton of action, Andrews pinned Brooke with a sunset-flip bomb. This was loads of fun. 

The Henchmen vs Local Jobbers

The local jobbers, who entered to “Why Can’t We Be Friends?”, are fast becoming cult favourites in Triple X, though not as much as the Henchmen, whose arrival prompts a chant of “So Fucking Hench”. This was billed as a forgone conclusion, and there was no surprise here, as the Henchmen destroyed the jobbers. At one point though, local jobber #2 gets in some offence, working over the leg of Jim Diehard...a flurry which comes to an end with a huge Diehard lariat. The Henchmen hit the Five Moves of Doom (World’s Strongest Slam, forearm, clothesline to the back of the head, gutwrench powerbomb, senton) on #2, before #1 makes the save. However, he also gets hit with the Five Moves and the jobbers get put out of their misery.  

Eddie Dennis vs Wild Boar

Dennis is also getting a good following, with yells of “Wales!” coming in support. However, it was pointed out that Boar is also Welsh, so we got chants of “Good Wales!” and “Bad Wales!” depending on who was on offence. Dennis mocked the diminutive Boar to start, and we got a nice chain wrestling sequence, which was something we’d not really seen from Dennis before. When Boar got on offence, he lived up to his name, attacking with a real feral ferocity. There was a really nice looking spot where Boar hung Dennis upside down in a tree of woe to savage him then, as Dennis tried to free himself, Boar leapt across the ring with a vicious looking diving headbutt. Dennis fired back, and nailed Boar with a powerbomb, but it only got two, before Boar finished him off with a double underhook piledriver in a good match. 

Devilman & Omer Ibrahim vs Majik & Big Grizzly

Before the match, Majik got on the mic and announced that, due to Grey being taken ill, he’d been forced to replace him with new Damned Nation member Big Grizzly, an enormous man who towered over everyone in the ring. This may not have been the slickest match of the night, but it probably featured the best story-telling and got some of the best reactions of the night. Majik is terrific at getting negative reactions from the crowd, and the segments with him and Omer got some of the best responses of the night. Omer is really popular with the crowd, so he was the sympathetic choice to play face in peril, and when he landed his first blow on Majik, it got as big a reaction as any highspot in the night. They nailed the story of the match brilliantly, and I loved little bits like Majik staring directly at Devilman on a pin attempt on Omer. A battle over a backslide between Omer and Majik got another great reaction, which proved they were doing everything right. Grizzly didn’t get to show much, but he had a great presence and every blow he landed on Omer looked like it killed him. Finally Devilman got the hot tag and cleaned house, but a pinfall attempt wasn’t spotted by the ref due to Omer and Grizzly fighting outside the ring. This allowed Wild Boar to sneak in and nail a double underhook piledriver on Devilman, but it only got two. As things broke down, Omer nailed a spear on Grizzly and Devilman finished the big guy off with a Swanton. Really satisfying main event, with everything making sense, even down to Boar’s interference leading to Omer announcing postmatch he’d face Sabu at the next show to stop him ruining the main event.

Triple X Wrestling XXXtravaganza

Despite living in Nottingham, I'm a Coventrian and it warms the very cockles of my heart that there is a promotion putting on shows regularly there. Triple X isn't your average wrestling company, putting on a product that doesn't take itself too seriously (wrestling zombies!) but does put on some great matches. The last show, Clusterfuck 2, was great, so I decided to go to this pre-Wrestlemania show. With the ever excellent Omer Ibrahim as host, this was a really enjoyable show

Scott Grimm vs Local Jobber 2

At Clusterfuck II, Grimm took on Local Jobber and pretty much destroyed him in minutes. Local Jobber#2 tries to learn from this and attacks Grimm from the bell and gets caught in a Black Hole Slam. A quick splash finishes it for Grimm. Not a good night for the local lad

 

Scott Grimm vs Dave Mastiff

Mastiff was due to face Wild Boar on the show, but injury put paid to that.  Instead, Mastiff decides he wants a piece of Grimm. This match is just two massive dudes whaling away on each other, with a few choice power moves for good measure. Loved Mastiff getting Grimm up for a rolling fireman’s carry, whilst Grimm’s belly-to-belly suplex on Mastiff was also impressive. After trading nearfalls, they managed to both get disqualified as the referee lost control. The pair had to be separated at the end (including the help of Local Jobber #2, still selling injuries)

 

Terry Seddon vs Sebastian Radclaw

Seddon is Triple X’s resident zombie slayer, primarily due to his physical resemblance to Simon Pegg. Here, he took a break from the undead to take on Radclaw, an interesting character who seemed to be talking to voices in his head. Radclaw looked good, I’d never seen him before, but he was a lot of fun and should fit in well in the Triple X universe. He even managed to get a chant going for his late Uncle Eggbert (who apparently told him to never lose a fight to a ginger man). Midway through, Professot Lex emerged with a zombie for Seddon to fight with, before Radclaw flew over the top rope to take out all three men. Back inside, Seddon finished Radclaw with a big boot and legdrop. Goofy fun

 

Zack Sabre Jr vs Mark Andrews

This match was awesome. ZSJ was positioned as the more experienced, dominant wrestler here, totally schooling Mandrews on the mat and kicking the shit out of him to prevent any kind of comeback. Andrews was great in the underdog role, and used his speed and ariel skills to get some nearfalls on Zack. Everything ZSJ looked great, with his matwork looking like it was killing Andrews, tying him up in knots. I also liked the focus on wanting Andrews to tap-out, following a killer looking cradle Tombstone with another submission focused on the neck. Eventually, Sabre does get the tapout after Andrews misses a 450 splash, but both guys looked immense here.

 

The Henchmen (Benton Destruction & Jim Diehard) vs Slap Dash Tag Team (Chris Brookes & Tyler Bate)

The Henchmen are fucking brilliant. The “80’s legends” are massive, massive men and totally outweighed the Slap Dash Tag Team. Bate in particular was tiny compared to the man mountains. This was a well-worked tag match, where the in-ring action was as successful as the comedy. Brookes and Bate used their speed to initially worked over Destruction, but Bate was soon isolated and worked over as face-in-peril. The Henchmen cut off the ring nicely, and a hot tag was denied by the ref, who didn’t see it following a distraction by Destruction (who literally stood on the apron yelling “I’m causing a distraction”).The Henchmen can move for big guys and looked awesome in domination. The hot tag saw Brookes on fire, until he got caught outside by Destruction, who threw powder into his eyes. In the ring, a recovered Bate hit an amazing deadlift German suplex on Diehard, but was soon outmanned and nailed with the Five Moves of Doom for the Hench win. A victory that was soon to turn sour when Diehard found out about the powder in the eyes, which was the “payoff from Tijuana”. Really fun tag match.

 

Damian Dunne vs Lee Hunter

Clusterfuck saw the Hunters lose to Damian and his brother Pete. With Pete in Japan, we got this singles encounter this month. The main story of the match saw the Hunters constantly swapping place in the ring, swapping a hoodie to indicate to the referee which Hunter should be in the match. The Hunters played up to this brilliantly, highlighted by one Hunter stalking around the ring, hoodie on inside out, crowing “This is too easy”. Though good faces, the Hunters are way better as heels. The match itself was really good, with Damian timing his comebacks nicely. Eventually, Damian got hold of the hoodie and put it on outside the ring, prompting the unsuspecting in-ring Hunter to to try an enlist his help, only to get a pummelling instead. Dunne eventually won a fine match with a springboard Codebreaker

 

Eddie Dennis vs Majik

This was for Majik’s XXX title. Dennis really impressed in an nXXXt match (you cna guess what this is) at the last show and he looked good again here. He’s blessed with a quick wit which allows him to keep up with the comments from the crowd, which was useful to win them over in only his second match in front of this audience. In particular, I liked him joining forces with the crowd to highlight that Majik can’t spell his own name (with Majik stooging magnificently by covering the name on his tights). This was a good main event, with both guys brawling all over the SQ Club and into the crowd. Majik gave Dennis a lot here, only surviving a powerbomb when manager Gabriel Grey stuck his foot on the rope. At one point, Majik threw Dennis into his rival Devilman, who was selling merch outside the ring. The end saw Dennis try another powerbomb, but get distracted by Grey, leading to a Majik lowblow and a roll up to maintain. A Majik post-match assault was thwarted by Devilman making the save. All in all, a terrific night of wrestling