Attack! Pro Wrestling - Teenagers With Attitude

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 18^th 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.

VII: Fight Forever (16/09/2016)

So, there I was browsing through YouTube, when this little beauty popped up on my recommend section. VII Wrestling carried on the good work of the Shropshire Wrestling Alliance (whose Summer Blowout 2014 I reviewed last year on this very blog), before announcing they'd folded just over a month ago. Obviously, a big shame, especially as their YouTube channel looks to have a host of great matches which I'm looking forward to ploughing through in the coming weeks. This is a full show, with a loaded line-up, and it's an actual treat to watch all the way through. Check out the link at the bottom for the full show.

Wild Boar vs Travis Banks

I’ve heard a lot about Banks, but this was the first I’ve seen of him in ring. Enjoyed what I saw, loved the quick flurry of blows he hit to take advantage early on, dug him taking Boar on a tour of the ring by rolling him around in a bodyscissors to disorientate (with amusing dizzy selling by Boar) and a rolling corner kick looked great. For his part, Boar was reliably good. He’s not the biggest, but his offence always looks like it would hurt. Big forearm shots, nice running slam and a wicked exploder suplex (Boar’s lack of height and stocky frame allows him to get right under his opponent, makes suplexes look really good). The finish was kind of blown, with Banks slipping on the rope for a springboard kick, but this was a good opener.

Chris Brookes vs Drew Parker

Brookes is defending his Young Lions title here. Bell rings, and Brookes’s CCK partner Kid Lykos immediately levels Parker with a weapon for the DQ. Chris Ridgeway makes the save, leading to…

Chris Ridgeway & Drew Parker vs CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos)

Parker immediately kicks off the match, following the Ridgeway tag challenge, by hitting a big flip dive on CCK. I’d not seen Ridgeway until he suddenly hit a few local shows last month, and he was really impressive (as well as his ring music helping me get into Slaves). Was interested to see him work face here, and he looked great, really nice on-point strikes. Parker plays FIP early, which makes sense as he was taken out with a weapon in the original match. Nice teamwork by CCK to get to that point, a Lykos flyingheadscissors landing Parker on the middle rope for a Brookes kick to the temple. Brookes looked fantastic here, all his little bits of offence looked nasty. He drops really sharp kneedrops and did some nasty joint wrenching to the downed Parker. After Ridgeway becomes FIP following an outside trip, Brookes hits these painful looking kidney punches in the corner. Parker is a guy I’d never seen, but his hot tag work was great, firing up the crowd with a springboard dropkick to Lykos and hitting a backwards flip to the outside on Brookes. In fact, this is a really great match, until Lykos brings in his weapon to draw another DQ. Felt like a bit of an anti-climax, stick a finish on this and it’s a great match.

Chuck Mambo vs Isaac Zercher

Zercher attacks Mambo at the bell and doesn’t really look back, flinging his opponent into the corner. He also hits a great capture suplex and a snap Samoan drop, which both look brutal. Mambo’s offence doesn’t look as good, but he’s a really sympathetic seller and his timing on a hope spot superkick is perfect, getting a really effective nearfall. Zercher tries for a second Samoan drop, but gets caught in a Mambo crucifix for the win.

Nixon Newell & Dahlia Black vs Jinny & Sierra Loxton

Interesting contrast, as the opening Nixon/Loxton segment sees them take it to the mat, whereas Black and Jinny go straight to the impact blows as soon as they tag in. Jinny is really good here, manages to get across a really nasty character, but also having the ring chops to back it up. Her catching a boot from Black, swinging it backwards and driving a knee into Black’s face in one swift motion looked vicious. I’d only previously seen Black at the BEW/Stardom show in London, where her and Toni Storm basically got destroyed by Alpha Female and Kairi Hojo for 10 minutes, so I knew she could take an effective beating, and she does the same here, with great rubber-legged selling. A Loxton headbutt looks really nasty the way Black sells it. Newell gets the hot tag, making her entrance with a great missile dropkick, before everything breaks down. Nice to see Black give Jinny a receipt for her beating with a stiff kick before Nixon Rolls The Dice on Loxton to win.

Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate

Two long-time favourites here, with Pete defending his heavyweight title against Bate. Dunne’s transformation over the past 12 months has been a revelation, he’s rightly become one of the leading lights in the UK. This match is worked very evenly, with the two almost being portrayed as mirror images of the other. The opening matwork sets the tone, both guys really selling the struggle and working the holds, forcing the other to thing practically about escaping. Bate’s fighting spirit really comes across here, as even when on the mat he finds time to blast Pete in the legs with a few big kicks. They exchange suplexes, in a state of one-upsmanship and showing off, and I love how, even though they both get up after the moves, it takes a bit longer each time, both guys showing the effects. The same happens later as both are worn down, but both try and counter German suplexes, the suplexer holding on partly to hit another and partly to prevent his opponent getting up before them. Bate hits a vicious looking thrust headbutt to send Pete out of the ring to give a moral victory. Loved Pete taking the low road in what had been an even contest by choking Tyler with a towel, and the pair of pump kicks to a kneeling Bate looked on-point. Bate shows his superhuman strength with a Backlund lift to escape a triangle, before Pete rolls him up for two. 15 minutes in, and I hadn’t realised there had been no pin attempt to that point. Bate gives a big airplace spin, but this allows Dunne to quickly roll him up again, this time with feet on the ropes for the win. Excellent match.