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.

PCW/CZW/WXW/Beyond Wrestling World Championship Show 3

Axel Dieter Jr vs Da Mack

I’ve been far more impressed with Dieter Jr in these shows so far, and that trend didn’t buck here. Didn’t buy that Da Mack had hurt ADJ enough to perform a stupid moonwalk into a penalty kick without ADJ trying to block it, as it occurred 30 seconds into the match, though the kick itself looked nasty. I did love Dieter Jr blocking a flying headscissors by just dumping Da Mack face first onto the mat midway through, and his running cross chop is great. It felt like another match where Da Mack was facing someone better than him, as highlighted by a shitty cutter he uses to catch an ADJ dive with. Most annoyingly, Dieter Jr had been targeting the arm of Da Mack earlier in the match, but it was Da Mack who got the win with a Fujiwara armbar from nowhere.

Danny Hope vs Dave Crist

Hope had injured himself in the afternoon show that day, and I assume it must have been pretty bad, as they just work this as a shitty comedy match. More to the point, they recreate the Goldberg/Lesnar match from Survivor Series the previous week. Only here, Hope hulks up at 2 and hits a big boot (complete with 360 sell from Crist) for a nearfall. Seconds later, Crist does a springboard armdrag into a cutter, slipping on the way, for the win. Understandable if Hope was hurt, but possibly would have been better to just sub him out?

Chris Dickinson vs Tracy Williams

Good little match. Liked the opening matwork, nothing too flashy, just felt like two guys trying their best to wear the other one down. Every hold looked like it would hurt. Wasn’t as keen when they got up and started exchanging strikes – Dickinson is substantially bigger than Williams and his blows looked far bigger, so Williams winning the exchange with a clothesline was hard to buy. Williams blocks a top rope superplex by dropping down and giving Dickinson a DDT on the top turnbuckle in a nice spot. Williams is really good here at timing his counters so they fit the match – when Dickinson is giving him mounted punches in the corner, he waits for Dickinson to yell to the crowd as his opening to counter. In the end though, they are very evenly matched, but Dickinson has the size advantage, and he picks up the win with a big spinning kick.

T-Bone vs Iestyn Rees

Dug the start, with Rees taking advantage of T-Bone taking his eye off the match and spearing him. This is quite a methodically paced power match, not especially exciting, though I did like T-Bone’s fallaway slam before Rees gets a sudden win with a kind of Jackhammer slam. Very brief.

Scarlet & Graves (Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier) vs Martin Kirby & Joey Hayes

This was a fun match, really enjoyed to start where both teams were isolating one guy and hitting some nice fluid double teams. Kirby and Hayes ending a Dream Sequence with an eyepoke was a nice touch. Wentz is singled out for Hayes and Kirby to work over, which allows Xavier to look terrific on the hot tag. He’s a very fluid wrestler, moves almost effortlessly, so it gives him a nice opportunity to showcase that. Loved Xavier slingshotting Kirby into a Wentz leaping double-stomp, it looked great. Wentz has a lot of success hitting some springboard moves, but goes to the well too often, getting caught in midair and spiked with a double team DDT to give Kirby and Hayes a win.

Jurn Simmons vs Dave Mastiff

This is the final of the Openweight tournament and is a real prick tease of a match. It starts out brilliantly, as Mastiff spoofs Simmons’s overblown entrance by playing air guitar to his own theme, then air drums, before finally recruiting audience members to bean air band for him. This infuriates Simmons, who complains to the ref, allowing Mastiff to sneak in, hit a German suplex and the corner cannonball….only for the ref not to count because the bell hasn’t rung. Simmons stalls outside, then blocks another German suplex with a low blow and hits a running kick to win. Really promised to be a great match, and ended up as nothing.

Joey Janela vs Keith Lee

This was really fun, both guys blended well as personalities as well as in ring. Janela has real goofy charisma that makes him really endearing to watch, but also leaves plausible openings for him to exploit in this match. At first, he’s getting totally overpowered by the massive Lee, failing with shoulderblocks and getting caught on a cannonball outside the ring. However, with Lee not expecting it, he’s able to turn that cannonball into a rana, sending Lee into the ringpost and giving him an opening to strike with two quick suicide dives. Lee is not just huge though, he’s also quick, and he stops a third dive by leaping into the ring and nailing a shoulderblock. Huge Samoan Jackhammer gets two, before Janela hits an unlikely Canadian Destroyer and a totally ridiculous DVD on Lee for a two count. While Joey plots his next move, Lee suddenly bursts up and nails a MASSIVE Spirit Bomb to win. Really great stuff.

The Hooligans vs Sha Samuels & Lionheart

Super spirited brawl here. Lionheart and Samuels jump the Hooligans outside the ring, but are soon under attack, with Zak Knight hurtling over the top rope towards them on a huge flip dive. The Hooligans are really fun, they’ve got an enjoyably reckless looking way of hurling themselves at their opponent, but not in a way that makes them look untrained. Love Roy nailing a top rope elbow whilst Samuels is prone on a chair. Zak coming off the top with a diving punch also look great. The heels weather the storm and steal a win as Lionheart grabs Zak’s leg on a suplex, causing Samuels to fall on top for the win.

AR Fox vs Bubblegum

This is the final of the cruiserweight tournament, and thankfully goes a bit longer than the openweight match. Thought this went just the right length, as they got to the point of kicking out of a few big moves by the end, but none that you’d call a definite finisher. They start with a little matwork, throwing in nice little touches like Bubblegum pushing at the knee of Fox with his feet to gain extra leverage on a wristlock escape. The kind of details that make it look like a struggle, rather than holds just being given up. Fox increases the tempo with an insane dive over the turnbuckles to the floor. The commentary plays up the fact that the two men had faced each other just 7days previously, so were aware of the moves the other might try. This is highlighted by Fox blocking a satellite DDT by Bubblegum, turning it into a brainbuster. Bubblegum hits a huge bulldog that Fox bumps huge for, and the 619 gets a nearfall. By the end, both guys are selling their fatigue, and this costs Bubblegum, as he takes a little too long going up top and gets caught with a split-legged Spanish Fly and a brainbuster to give Fox the victory. This was really good, great main event.

PCW/CZW/WXW/Beyond - World Wrestling Championships - Day 2 Afternoon Show

Second show from the Wrestling World Championships. Bit of a shorter show - I know the PCW day shows are sometimes known as the "hangover" shows after the Friday night drinking, which might explain this, but still a fun selection of matches.

Danny Hope vs Axel Dieter Jr

Shortened match, as Hope seems to legit injure himself early door. Dieter hits an uppercut as soon as the bell rings, but Hope lands awkwardly after taking a cross-chop to the throat, and the match is called off. An ominous start

Jurn Simmons vs T-Bone

Bit of a big lad sprint here, though not in the form of Simmons’ never-ending entrance. By way of contrast, T-Bone bursts to the ring in less than 10 seconds to kick this off.  This doesn’t go long, but see some nice big shots from both guys. Ultimately, this comes down to a battle of the finishers, with both guys using piledriver variations. T-Bone goes for one early, but Simmons reverses and hits his own for the win. Would have been up for a longer version of this.

Bubblegum vs Tracy Williams

This was a good step forward. Williams is terrific on the mat, but Bubblegum matches him early doors, chaining holds with Williams, which soon moves onto the two chaining pinfall attempts. I liked how this built up, with Williams slightly ahead on the mat, so Bubblegum starts to quicken the pace to swing things into his favour. Williams controls Gum with some big suplexes, but misses a corner charge after showing off. There’s a few awkward moments of miscommunication, but they’re soon forgotten with both guys hitting some nice sequences. Williams going from a brainbuster into a crossface looks killer, and I dug the finishing section, Bubblegum hitting a satellite DDT and the 619 to win.

Joey Janela, Dave Crist, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz vs Sha Samuels, Joey Hayes, Lionheart & Martin Kirby

This was just a big goofy match designed to warm up the crowd with comedy spots. Not much of a match to call, but there’s some enjoyable sequences – Xavier goes through a sluggish exchange with Kirby until he downs a can of Red Bull to re-energize himself. Janela works a section against an invisible man, just in case you weren’t sure how seriously to take this. The CZW team hits a nice dive series, and it all breaks down in the ring, before Crist nails Kirby with a diving stunner and Wentz hits a standing moonsault to win. Forgettable but enjoyable.

Da Mack vs AR Fox

This was fine, but I get the impression that Da Mack may not be my kind of wrestler. His dancing kicks still look goofy, and nothing he does convinces me it’s going to help him win a match – all looks a bit wimpy, despite Fox bumping about for him. He keeps going for these uppercut/palm strikes which never come close to connecting. Fox looked good though, loved the height he got on a big dive and his match winning fisherman’s buster was choice. Brief match, but that might well be for the best.

Iestyn Rees vs Keith Lee

Non-title match here, with Rees not defending the PCW title. Two big boys here, though Rees decides to stall a good chunk to kick this off. Lee is a force of nature, so I dug Rees’s use of cheapshots to seize control – nothing fancy, just not breaking cleanly and eye-gouges. Loved the massive slingshot crossbody Lee hits, such agility for a guy his size and it’s an impressive visual. Rees isn’t able to get the Alphalock on Lee and instead gets caught in this insane Samoan drop into a Jackhammer by Lee, which looks killer. This persuades Rees to take the count out loss. Felt like the first half of a good match, but it needed a better finish.

Dave Mastiff vs Chris Dickinson

Another pair of big lads, but they defy convention by having a clean, technical bout to start off. This is something both are surprisingly adept at, with Mastiff hooking out Dickinson’s ankles from the mat and locking in an impressive straight-jacket sleeper. Dickinson tries to cheap shot on a hand shake, which ups the match pace, but this doesn’t give him the control as Mastiff still dominates. Loved the enzuigiri that Dickinson hits, looked really impressive for a big guy and he gets great height on it. Despite his skulduggery, the crowd seem pretty pro-Dickinson, especially when he powers up Mastiff for a huge death valley driver. Ultimately though, Mastiff has the advantage in power and technique, as he rolls through a sunset flip attempt and locks in an unlikely sharpshooter to win. Enjoyed this.

PCW/CZW/WXW/Beyond - Wrestling World Championships Night 1

So, this is the first night of a 3-show tournament that PCW booked to replace their annual Supershows of Honor after differences with RoH. This involves WXW, CZW and Beyond wrestling, and has openweight and cruiserweight brackets. The line up of wrestlers is really good too, so it promises to be a good show

Da Mack vs Zachary Wentz

This is a WXW vs CZW match. Pretty decent opener, without setting the bar too high for the following matches. I wasn’t a big fan of Da Mack’s goofy dancing kicks, but he had some other strikes that looked a lot better. The opening matwork was a bit perfunctory, but it allowed Wentz to speed things up a bit to get a bit of personality over. Loved Wentz’s through-the-ropes codebreaker and handspring leaping knee, but the end was a bit weak, with Wentz going to the top to hit a diving nothing right into an RKO to give Da Mack the win.

Tracy Williams vs Martin Kirby

Beyond vs PCW. First time I’ve seen Williams, who I know is pretty hotly tipped. They work a really nice sequence of counters on the mat, which isn’t something you always see from Kirby, though he is capable of doing so. Williams is pretty slick on the mat though, and is always one step ahead. When they get off the mat, Kirby’s running shoulderblock in the corner looks typically great. I liked the way they built up to the strikes too, culminating in a big Williams clothesline that puts Kirby on his head. The end was pretty good, as Williams only gets 2 off an Emerald Frosion, so chains into a crossface right away to focus on the neck. Despite the best efforts of Kirby’s partner Joey Hayes to interfere, Williams is able to get the tap from a second crossface to win. Good stuff.

Axel Dieter Jr vs Bubblegum

WXW vs PCW. Was really impressed by Dieter Jr here. Loved his controlled armwork early on, making Bubblegum work to escape. Dieter catching a Bubblegum dive and hitting a European uppercut instead was pretty choice, and I loved how he had Gum in control in the corner, casually sauntering up with his arms behind his back. Just tremendous character stuff. Sliding diving elbow looked great, and Bubblegum also looks good on the comeback, with a top rope stomp looking good. I liked how the ending saw both guys upping the tempo, but both of them made their offensive openings by reversing the other’s move, not just randomly recovering from the last move hit on them. Bubblegum wins with a 619

Dave Crist vs Jurn Simmons

CZW vs WXW. Simmons takes a ridiculously long time to get to the ring – we’re talking Undertaker levels here – so Crist pump kicking him out of the ring as soon as the bell goes feels fair enough. Crist makes a rookie mistake by trying to chop Simmons against the ringpost, but only hurts himself when Jurn ducks. From there, it’s all one way traffic, and Simmons looks great throughout. Great looking power offence, with a power slam looking terrific and I loved him whipping Crist to the turnbuckle with real force. Crist seems to be a better seller than on offence, as a lot of his stuff looks sloppy here, but him taking a 360 bump from a Simmons shoulderblock is impressive. Simmons hits a big piledriver and wins a borderline squash.

Joey Janela vs Chris Dickinson

CZW vs Beyond. This is worked around Dickinson having a power advantage over Janela, and Janela having to work on a hit and hope basis. This is established early when Janela hits a cannonball from the apron, but Dickinson rolls through with it and hoists him up to powerbomb Joey on the apron. Janela manages to create some distance and dives on Dickinson from a balcony, as this is the only way he’s able to hurt him. When Dickinson does have Janela in his grasp, he does blitz him, with his kicks looking immense – his legs are nearly the size of Janela. Joey has to keep taking risks to try and stay in the match, but when they don’t pay off, he’s really in the shit. He sits Dickinson in a chair and goes for a top rope flip, but Dickinson moves and sends Joey ploughing through the chair. Janela is really winning the fans over here pretty much by killing himself. Joey does manage to hit a tilt-a-whirl tombstone, but gets caught by Dickinson and takes a face-planting version of a burning hammer on the apron. Janela kicks out, which makes him look amazing, but he’s basically out and a Dickinson lariat gives him the win. Really good bout here, with Dickinson looking unstoppable and Janela gutsy and fearless in defeat. Both guys left the bout looking great.

Dave Mastiff vs Keith Lee

PCW vs Beyond. These are two big boys here, but both guys who are able to move about. They work this really smartly, building up to the big spots. They exchange really thunderous looking blows early on, moving to running the ropes before Lee snaps off an impressive looking running rana. He makes the mistake of shit-talking though, and Mastiff whiplashes him into the ropes and hits the bathtub senton. What’s great is, both guys are agile enough to bump and make the other guy look immense, with Dave taking a huge powerbomb from the corner. Lee misses a moonsault and Mastiff hits a German suplex into the buckles and the Bastard Bomb for three. Enjoyed this.

T-Bone vs David Starr

PCW vs WXW. Starr plays the early stages as a smart-ass, outwrestling T-Bone and trying to make him look stupid. T-Bone responds by just beating him up. They brawl outside, and there’s a fun spot with Starr getting fans to hold T-Bone in place while he takes a run up, but by the time he reaches him, T-Bone is free and superkicks him. Starr hits this really cool looking DDT to the apron, with T-Bone draped over the ropes from the inside. Starr tries going to the top, but gets caught with a draping DDT and a tombstone for 3. This was fine.

The Hooligans & Danny Hope vs Sha Samuels, Lionheart & Iestyn Rees

Odd deal this. The vast majority of this is a big brawl on the outside of the ring that’s pretty entertaining, highlighted by a big suicide dive by Roy Knight. They take nearly 5 minutes to reach the ring, which is when Rees and Hope make it there. They have a brief sequence, ending with Hope trying his own version of the Alpha Lock, getting hit by a Rees low blow and Rees getting his own Alpha Lock for the anti-climactic win. Very strange.

AR Fox vs Dezmond Xavier

Beyond vs CZW. This is the final match of the night, and as such you get the sense that they’re going out to steal the show, especially as they aren’t exactly the biggest names of the evening. This is a full on spotfest, and those live and die on how good the spots are. Well, the spots here are really fucking nuts. Fox hits a huge inverted somersault to the floor that just looks nuts, and Xavier flies out with an insane handspring somersault. These guys both look like they’re actually trying to hurt each other, with a minimum of superfluous flipping, whilst still hitting some bonkers stuff. I could really have done without the piss-poor strike exchange in the middle, but that aside, this was really fun. Xavier escaping an RKO attempt by just slipping out looked great – it looked like he was going down, but his head slips out at the last moment. Fox gets the win with a brainbuster, which oddly means CZW have lost all four of their matches on the show, which is odd. This was a worthy main event though.

PCW/GFW Global Conflict 2016

This is a co-promoted Preston City Wrestling/Global Force Wrestling show, though only 3 Global Force guys wrestle on the show. Still, it's quite a fun line-up and a pretty decent show all in all...

Lionheart vs Kenny Williams

Williams is quite a gangly looking guy, and his offence doesn’t look like it could cause too much damage. I enjoyed Lionheart’s control here, as he’s prepared to use his size advantage to outman Williams. Loved him putting Williams on the top rope only to punch him in the face. Williams further disappoints me by taking a superkick flush in the face, only to hit a rebound lariat. Still, Lionheart looked good, with the end seeing him superkick Williams in the head on the top rope then absolutely plant him with a Rock Bottom for 3.

Joe Hendry vs Dave Rayne

There’s more time spent here on angle than match, but it served to get a debuting Hendry over, so it served a purpose. Hendry’s schtick sees him singing a lot (including coming out to his own version of “In The Air Tonight”, with lyrics referencing his own name) and promising to sing in lieu of his match with an injured Joey Hayes. This prompts Rayne out to face him, but first lead the crowd through a singalong of “Sweet Caroline”. Being a true heel, Hendry attacks Rayne from behind before he even gets to the chorus. This was brief, but Hendry was pretty solid. Loved his fallaway slam before he hits a dominator for the win.

Sonjay Dutt vs Bubblegum

This is for Dutt’s GFW Next Gen title, which is a huge belt. Some really nice matwork to start, with Bubblegum maybe a little ahead on points. The pace picks up, and Dutt nails a massive baseball slide dropkick. Dutt’s octopus stretch looks nasty. Bubblegum is good at fighting from underneath, but he doesn’t get a whole load of offence here, mainly limited to hitting some swank kicks on his comebacks. They botch a backslide, but that aside everything looked good here. Dutt picks up the win following a tornado DDT and a top rope splash, before attacking Gum after the bell to cement himself as heel. Maybe a little too one sided, but this was fun.

Johnny Moss vs Chris Dickinson

Two big muscle-bound lads here. Their similar looks (bald heads, black trunks, ripped torsos) see the crowd yell Mitchell brothers references, which must have baffled Dickinson. Enjoyed the opening matwork and roll ups, as both guys strength made it look like they could power the other one down for a win and hold them there. Moss looks great here, nasty elbow drop and a lovely capture suplex. Dickinson for his part has some great footwork, with his standing kicks to the torso thudding like logs into Moss. They trade rolling German suplexes at one point, which is the kind of thing I normally hate, but it works here, as both guys show the effects of being worn down, getting up slower and slower each time. The end sees Dickinson maybe getting up a bit too quickly from a tombstone (though Moss takes his time getting to the top rope)and hitting a top rope falcon arrow to win. Really good big man match.

Jeff Jarrett vs Noam Dar

The commentary points out that Jarrett is 48 to Dar’s 22, so it’s probably no surprise that Jarrett brings out a whole heap of schtick. Loads of stalling at the start with Karen Jarrett getting into arguments with fans. Jarrett hits a pair of armdrags, both followed by a strut, so predictably Dar follows with one of his own after his first piece of offence. Jarrett actually keeps up with Dar pretty well – normally in matches like this the younger wrestler has to noticeably hold back to not show up the veteran, but Jarrett still moves well. Plus, he’s also wise enough to fall back on a load of cheap moves, poking the eyes and choking behind the ref’s back to maintain control. Dar’s comeback offence is a little flurry of quick, crisp offence that looks nice, before they pay off the continued Karen interference by having her accidentally slap Jarrett instead of Dar. Dar locks in the Champagne Superkneebar, but more Karen distraction allows Sonjay Dutt to sneak in and nail Dar with his oversized belt for the Jarrett win. A masterclass in cheap heat and stalling by Jarrett.

Team Single vs Jack Baron & Jack Garvin

Team Single are supposed to be fighting the Hooligans, but an injury to Roy Knight means that they instead offer an open challenge, answered by two rookies from the PCW academy. There’s a big size difference, and I’ve seen plenty of matches where the big veterans just guzzle up the rookies, but Team Single give a surprising amount to the two Jacks. Baron and Garvin seem green but have the fundamentals down. They logically focus on T-Bone’s arm and use their speed to try and avoid Rampage, but Brown catches Baron in midair on a Poetry in Motion attempt, dropping him on Garvin. Despite a decent period of control on Baron, Team Single still let the rookies back in, as Baron hits a nice tilt-a-whirl DDT to tag out. It’s played up that Team Single have underestimed the rookies, but it still lets Baron and Garvin look good. The end sees T-Bone German suplex Baron into the corner, crotching a climbing Garvin on top. Brown hits a superplex on Baron, with T-Bone following with a top rope splash for three.

Sha Samuels vs Dave Mastiff

For Samuels’ PCW title. Love the start with Samuels getting into Mastiff’s face, and getting grabbed with two overhead suplexes. They fight in the crowd, including some stiff headbutts from Mastiff. The camera does lose them a bit as they brawl in the audience, before Samuels suddenly reappears, thrown through a load of chairs from the back of the room. Samuels takes control by ramming Mastiff into the ringpost 3 times, before locking on a sleeper in the ring. He makes the mistake of jawing with the crowd though, which lets Mastiff break free and hit two big German suplexes. He looks set to hit the cannonball, before 3 masked men come out, causing a distraction for Samuels to hit the match-winning low blow. This was good, but felt too short and we missed a chunk of the crowd fighting due to the camera losing them, but what we did see was fun.

House of Pain: Evolution 9 - Our Lawyers Made Us Change The Title Of This Show To Avoid Getting Sued

House of Pain: Evolution (or HoP:E) are an off-shoot of the Nottingham academy promotion House of Pain, this time using more experienced BritWres workers with a sprinkling of their own guys. They've been running for nearly a year now, but this is the first show I've been to since the debut last July. The reason is that I wasn't too impressed with the debut show. There were too many lengthy promo sessions, and too many odd booking decisions that I didn't get. For example, the second match saw Battle Squad: Awesome beating Project Ego in a tag bout. Now, whilst putting your own guys over the established team makes total sense, Kris Travis of Ego still had to compete in a main event against three other big names, so having him on the losing side of a comedy tag match seemed misguided. Despite some good matches, the show seemed to go on forever, and by the end I was feeling pretty bored and burned out.  However, based on some of the recent show results, I wanted to give them another go. Honestly? I'm really glad I did, as this was a fantastic show - based on this, it wont be another year before I return.

Jurgen Heimlich vs Danny Chase
Two local House of Pain guys here, and a pretty fun opener. I first saw Heimlich two years ago, and whilst decent then, he's certainly improved since in that time. Despite the fact I suspect he's no more German than I, there is something convincingly Teutonic about his ring work, with some crisp efficient execution of his matwork. Chase spent a lot of this match on the defensive, with a few hope spots peppered in here and there, but he ultimately picked up the win with a springboard splash.

Danny Hope vs LJ Heron
Heron is a guy I've always liked from HoP, a good face worker who always puts on a good showing. Here, however, he was working heel and, hey, it turns out he's even better as a heel. This the first time I'd seen Hope and though I confess I didn't really get his gimmick (lots of tassles, garish pink tights, strutting), I did enjoy him in the match. The match started with a lengthy comedy bit, as Hope has this "strut across the ring" bit he does which he was attempting to get Heron to imitate. This went on forever, to the point where I was starting to wish Heron would just hit him instead....and then he did. An aggressive side really suits Heron and you can tell he's having a good time with it. The two of them worked well together, including a great spot where they kept reversing go-behinds until Hope suddenly nailed Heron with a perfectly timed superkick for two. The end was slightly off, with Heron reversing a rollup into one of his own for the win not looking too crisp, but this was a fun match.

Ashton Smith vs Bam Bam Barton
Smith was pretty much unknown by the crowd and Barton, despite being a heel, is a local guy, so Barton was getting some good reactions from the audience. This is the point where the show went from good to great. This was a pretty short match, but it went over brilliantly with the crowd. What we had was two guys hapy to lay it into each other with some nice blows and some crisp strikes. Smith totally won over the crowd with his performance here, winning with a lovely superkick that caught Barton great. This was short and sweet, and ended with a standing ovation for Smith.

Dave Mastiff vs Joseph Conners
This was the main match that had convinced me to come to this show. I love Dave Mastiff, he's the perfect example of a big guy who can move, look dangerous, but also make his opponent look good and their offence look credible. Conners meanwhile, is one of the more underrated guys in the UK, and you can tell the next year is going to be huge for him. Despite being possibly the best heel in Britain, Conners worked face here, and this was a perfectly executed dominant-heel-vs-popular-face match. They built this slowly, with Conners trying to find an opening and Mastiff not rushing in and giving it to him. Mastiff dominated the early going, wearing down Conners with the air and confidence of a man who knew he was going to win. Conners got a few hope spots, but it was mainly Mastiff shutting him off and taking over again. The trick with this sort of match is how to effectively and credibly give the face his real comeback, and this was done by a vicious offensive flurry by Conners in the corner. He'd hit a combo of short clotheslines and elbows to the head, get separated by the ref, then go back in with another flurry. I loved that, as no matter how much bigger Mastiff is, repeated blows to the head are still going to take you out meaning a diving shoulderblock from Conners was able to take Mastiff off his feet. They also teased a slam spot, which got paid off by Conners hitting a sitout slam for a nearfall. Both guys got really credible nearfalls (love the Mastiff crossbody as always), before a missed cannonball left Mastiff prone to a chickenwing DDT for the Conners win. Absolutely fantastic match, and it's neck-and-neck with ZSJ/Pete Dunne for my match of the year so far.

T-Bone vs Barricade
I'd only ever seen one Barricade match before, and I hadn't been that impressed to be honest, so I wasn't sure how good this would be. The answer is that this was tremendous and both guys deserve a lot of credit for the abuse they were taking from each other. Essentially, they just beat the tar out of each other, levelling their opponent with stiff weapon shots. I had a brief warning to grab my hoodie and leave my chair before a flying T-Bone was hurled into the spot where me and a large chunk of the audience had been sitting. The match looked to be won by T-Bone, before a distraction by Bam Bam Barton allowed LJ Heron to sneak in and pummel T-Bone with a series of chairshot to gift Barricade the win.

Grado vs Flex Buffington
Good pacing here, as this was a fun comedy match before the main event. Both guys were very popular with the crowd, who ate up everything here. We got a repeat of the "gym equipment fired into Flex's crotch" spot from last months Flex/Manson match in Southside, some "Flex is scared to pull off top rope moves" comedy and Grado riding him round the ring like a pony. The nice thing is that Flex's character is such a goofball that it gave us the rare sight of Grado outsmarting somebody. Grado picked up the win with an F5, but the audience were the real winners here. In the last two months, Flex has worked arguably the two premier comedy wrestlers in the UK, and kept up with both, which bodes well for him (Oh shit! I've just realised that Flex vs Dave Mercy is a match I now need to see happen. Promoters of the UK, get on this!!)

Jack Jester vs Kris Travis
This was our main event, fought under no-DQ rules. I'd never seen Jester wrestler before, and the only thing I knew about him was from his appearance on Insane Fight Club, where he came across really well. In person though, he's a proper scary guy, and came across as convincingly unhinged during this match. This was another insane brawl, and they upped the ante from the T-Bone/Barricade bout, leaving the ring, then the room, leading to a Pied Piper-like string of wrestling fans following them outside to watch them fight on the stairs down to the football pitch near the venue. I've watched enough bad hardcore matches over the years to know that crowd brawling is often a lazy way to fill time in matches unless the hate is convincing, and that was certainly the case here. Things didn't calm down in the ring, with some nasty chairshots before Jester picked up a win with a tombstone onto a chair.

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.

Southside Wrestling: SWE vs HoP Ill Manors

Having been out of touch with the British wrestling scene until I started going to Southside shows earlier this year, it really is heartening to see how much great talent there wrestling all over the UK (a fact verified by how much Brit talent is currently under contract to the WWE and to TNA). SWE constantly deliver a great product, and getting to see such great shows just a stones throw from my house is terrific. House of Pain Wrestling, who are feuding with SWE as the theme for this show, is also a darn fine promotion. Considering they are a training school/promotion based primarily in Nottingham using local talent, they've got a very good roster who are improving all the time: aside from the guys on this show, the likes of Danny Chase, Nate Colt and "Textbook" Dave Breaks are all top wrestlers.

I should mention first off the set-up for the show, which really enhanced the inter-promotion war aspect. Each promotion had their own entrance way and their own ring announcer (HoP providing Harvey Dale, who also operated as manager for most of the HoP guys, and was tremendous as an obnoxious loudmouth throughout), plus the HoP fans were congregated on one side of the ring, giving a real us vs them atmosphere.

El Ligero (SWE) vs Bam Bam Barton (HoP)
A fun battle of power vs speed to kick things off, and the split in the crowd provided an interesting atmosphere from the start. Ligero is a very likable face wrestler, but the HoP fans gave him no slack, cheering the naturally heelish Barton. Ligero used his quickness to take the advantage with a series of kicks, but found himself in trouble as Barton was able to catch him on a pescado. Barton is larger than Ligero, big enough that his power offence looked effective, but not so big that he couldn't keep up with the masked man and he looked decent throughout. The end saw Ligero miss a frog splash, but Barton then missed a spinkick to allow a Ligero rollup for the win, putting SWE 1-0 up. Good opener.

Max Angelus (HoP) vs T-Bone (SWE)
I've been pretty high on Angelus since I first saw him, and matches like this only serve to prove me right. This was a heated grudge brawl after the chairshot Angelus levelled T-Bone with at the June show I wrote up. I've seen Angelus work as an underdog face before, but here he had to wrestle differently, not only having to take some nasty licks from T-Bone (including a tough looking back suplex directly onto the ring apron), he also had to show he could realistically dish out some stiff offence too, which he did. This felt quite short, but there was no lack of effort from both guys and crucially there was little resting too: It felt like two guys wanting to hurt each other. Max ultimately won after nailing a stomach buster on T-Bone (harking back to the rib injuries caused by HoP in June) and a Roaring Clothesline for the win. 1-1

The Predators (HoP) vs the Hunter Brothers (SWE)
Right now, the Predators are one of the best teams in the UK. Not only is their ring work spot on, they have mastered the art of being detestable. Joseph Conners in particular is a shit-talking heel you really want to see get a kicking. This was the Hunters' debut for SWE, so at first there was a bit less heat in the early going. Thankfully, the match was a well-structured tag affair and the pure dickishness of Conners got the fans riled up, including a yell of "You don't even care about the Hunter Brothers". Conners rules. They worked an extended heat sequence on one brother before the hot tag, and the finishing stretch was a really exciting collection of nearfalls. The Hunters slipped up once or twice, but managed to cover nicely, and seemed to have won the fans over by the end. They recovered from a nice looking spike flapjack from the Predators and got a visual pinfall following a top rope Frankensteiner/splash combo, but Harvey Dale distracted the ref and it was the Predators who managed to pick up the win. Realistically, the Predators were always going to win from a logical booking perspective, but there were several moments when I believed the Hunters would win, which shows how much they drew me into the match. Really good match, and now it's 2-1 to HoP.

Robbie X (SWE) vs Alex Gracie (HoP)
This was a battle of the SWE Speed King champion (X) vs the HoP Full Throttle champion. I missed the intro to this on a toilet dash, but there was a 10 minute time limit for this match. Robbie's new haircut was kinda odd, but he carried himself like a champion here and Gracie, who I'd not seen before, held up his end of the match too. The time limit worked against them in a way, as Gracie only got to work a brief heat section on Robbie before they had to go to the finish. Robbie locked a Last Chancery on Gracie as the seconds ran out, and switched to a Dragon Sleeper, but Gracie held on for the draw. I can see why they had to book a draw (protecting both champions), but I could have happily watched another 5 minutes at least of this. Still, leave the customer wanting more...

This was followed by a brief angle where Harvey Dale wanted Max Angelus to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Robbie, with threats of firing if he refused, but Max quit instead.

Michael Elgin vs Prince Devitt
This is the only non-HoP/SWE match on the card, so initially didn't have the heat that the other matches had. However, when you've got guys this talented, you can soon win the crowd back around. Devitt here played underdog for a lot of the match, as he had to cope with the size and freakish strength of Elgin. They built the match up nicely, with an initial feeling out process before Elgin took control. Elgin managed a deadlift German suplex with Devitt lying on the mat, which was super impressive. Devitt managed to come back into it with an insane tope to the floor and just generally looked slick throughout. Elgin held up his end terrifically too, with a deadlift superplex when Devitt was stood on the apron. Devitt thought he'd won it with a top rope stomp, but it took the Bloody Sunday DDT to finish Elgin off. Tremendous match which earned a standing ovation to take us to intermission.

LJ Heron vs Nathan Cruz (SWE) vs "Diamond" Dave Andrews (HoP)
The booking for this match was Cruz representing SWE, Andrews representing HoP and Heron could choose who he was representing if he won. The only time I'd seen Andrews wrestle previously was jobbing in a comedy match in April. Given that Cruz is a pretty big name on the UK scene and Heron is reigning HoP champion, I fully expected Andrews to be there solely to eat the pin to protect the third man. Well, I was half right, as this actually felt like a breakthrough match for Andrews. His ringwork was crisp, and his character work was outstanding. Cruz and Heron are two top workers and Andrews really didn't look out of place. They worked a fun variation on the old Tower of Doom spot, with Cruz German suplexing Andrews from a tree of woe position, whilst Andrews superplexed Heron. Cruz had to play face here, which felt a bit odd (he doesn't cockily yell "Showstealer" anywhere near enough as face), but he played his part nicely. Here the "Showstealer" turned pin-stealer (sorry), nicking the victory after Heron speared Andrews. 2-2

Mad Man Manson (SWE) vs SC Supreme (HoP)
I really like Supreme. He's just a big, nasty chap who likes to beat up his opponents. Plus you've got to love a guy who can cause a child to cower in their father's arms with just one cold look. You may think that putting him in there with Manson might be a clash of styles, but they somehow managed to pull off a comedy match whilst still enabling Supreme to look like a badass. Part of this comes from the nasty chop exchange in the early part of the match, which saw Manson having to give as well as he can take. Supreme is also the only guy who can still look scary doing a "nipple twister" comedy spot with the referee. Supreme dominated once he got in control, and even lifted Manson's shoulders up during a pinfall, to dish out more pain to the man who had made a fool of him earlier on. It backfired though, as Manson pulled out a rollup to pick up the win and put Southside 3-2 up

Stixx (HoP) vs Mark Haskins (SWE)
This was a last man standing match for Stixx's SWE title, and it was a war. Stixx is a lot bigger than Haskins, so I was interested to see how Haskins would be able to put Stixx down for a 10 count. At first Haskins did a good job of going toe-to-toe with Stixx and using his speed and an assortment of kicks to keep in the battle, but soon found himself overpowered. Stixx is one of my favourite guys in SWE to watch. He can wrestle the power game well, but is also able to sell for smaller guys without seeming weak. Haskins really started getting into the match when Harvey Dale tried to interfere with a chair, which Haskins took for himself and used on Stixx. Wisely, he went to the legs of the big man, which gave some realism to the ten counts as Stixx struggled to stand. At this point, the booking came into play which made the last section really exciting. First the ref got bumped with a massive chairshot, leading to a second ref coming to the ring. Earlier on, I'd recognised this ref as HoP wrestler Danger Russ, but I'd given it no more thought, until Haskins had Stixx down for a cert 10 count, only for the new ref to stop counting and give Haskins the fingers. He then tried to fast count Haskins down for ten following a Stixx revival , but Haskins got up in time. At around this point, the ring seemed to fill with SWE/HoP wrestlers following failed interference from Alex Gracie, as the Predators, the Hunter Brothers, Ligero, Barton and Robbie X all piled out, leading to an insane top rope moonsault to the floor from Robbie. A table came into play, which ended up with Stixx getting put through it, but as the referee was counting to ten, Dale clocked Haskins with the SWE title before he fully got to his feet, while Stixx rolled out to the floor, landing on his feet, which meant that only Stixx beat the ten count to win the match.

This put the series at 3-3 and the HoP crowd were celebrating victory, when Max Angelus returned to the ring to cash in his MitB briefcase...

Max Angelus vs Stixx
One Roaring Lariat later, and Max was the SWE champion

Personally, I though the booking on this show was tremendous. Bear in mind SWE uses top wrestlers from around the UK, whereas HoP relies mainly on local talent from their training school, yet HoP were realistically portrayed as a threat throughout the show. The series ended as a draw, the Predators still hold the SWE tag titles, and the new champion is a HoP guy who has defected to SWE. It sets up the feud to continue, plus it should lead to at least one more Stixx/Angelus match, which has delivered both times I've seen it previously. Overall, a cracking night of entertainment

Southside Wrestling Menace II Society II live report

Robbie X vs Nathan Cruz

Robbie really impressed at the Speed King show, so I was looking forward to seeing him again. Solid opener, as Robbie is a great high-flyer, nailing a running SSP and a great-looking Code Red on Cruz. Cruz was pretty good himself, and they packed a lot into this match. So much so, that I can’t remember all of it, but I do recall Cruz caught Robbie coming off the ropes with a sitout driver for the win.

The Predators (Joseph Conners & Paul Malen) vs Project Ego (Kris Travis & Martin Kirby)

Despite what sounds like a heel name, Project Ego were very much the faces here. Kirby and Travis were really good at the Speed King show, and they worked well as a dynamic team here. The Predators were a good foil for them, as they didn’t attempt anything too flashy, but worked over Kirby (the face-in-peril for a large part of the match) with some nice double teams and really built up heat on him. What was really good here is that both teams have worked the UK as units for a while, so they both worked as cohesive teams. Despite two really good matches later in the night, I think this was a sleeper contender for match of the night.

Stixx vs Max Angelus

Interesting storyline here. Stixx is the head trainer and owner of the local House of Pain Wrestling promotion, and Angelus is one of his trainees. The story goes that Stixx thinks Max has gone too soft and has been rejecting Stixx’s interference in matches. There is a stip here that, if Stixx wins he’ll own Angelus’ contract. Angelus is also the reigning SWE Money In The Bank suitcase holder. Fun little match here, as Stixx bumped well for his trainee, which is more impressive considering Stixx is a mountain of a man. His offence was good too, including a nice reversal of a stomachbreaker into a half crab attempt. Angelus, I’ve said before, could really be a big star in UK wrestling, he’s got the right mix of skills, looks and presence in the ring. The ending was some great pro-wrestling as Max hit Stixx with a piledriver, only for Stixx to stop moving. The ref called officials from the back to check on him whilst Max looked on with concern. Just as they were about to carry Stixx from the ring, he popped up and took Max to the floor, locking in a half-crab for the tapout win, and also backing up his theory about Max going soft. So now Stixx controls the contract of the MITB winner. An intriguing situation and a good match to boot.

T-Bone vs SC Supreme

Supreme is a guy I saw wrestling for HOP in April and he was one of the better performers that night. He’s got that Jim Neidhart-esque physique that isn’t chiselled, but makes him look like a tank. T-Bone, I saw wrestling in the same arena last June, and he’s a really charismatic performer. These two just beat the crap out of each other. We got a few comedy spots (Supreme dedicating a chop to a woman at ringside before missing T-Bone and chopping the post; T-Bone then grabbing the injured hand at getting audience members to hit it), but for the main part this was just two big tanks pummelling each other, and it was great. At one point, Supreme hit an awesome overhead suplex on T-Bone, sending him all the way across the ring. The Predators came out to cause the distraction when it looked like T-Bone was going to win, but they had little effect as T-Bone hit a top rope splash to pick up the win. Good match

The post-match angle was even better though: following the match, Stixx came out to join the Predators and Supreme, guys who he’d trained, as they beat the shit out of T-Bone, crushing his mid-section with Stixx’s chain. Project Ego and Robbie X tried to make the save, but were beaten down every time they tried to get in the ring. Eventually, with the help of a returning Max Angelus, the faces cleared the ring and helped T-Bone to the back. Angelus brought T-Bone back to the ring for some more applause, only to hit him in the back with a chair before looking conflicted. Hot angle to head into the break.

 Marty Scurll vs MK McKinnan

Marty was defending the Speed King title he won last Nottingham show against the debuting McKinnan. It was a face vs face match, with the crowd pretty split between the two. Scurll is a really great wrestler, and can flip between funny man and brutal very easily. It’s all in the way he cheekily says “Hello” before kicking you in the head. This was a lot of fun as they seemed to gel really well with some nice chain wrestling. McKinnan made people take note pretty early with a great tope through the ropes. He also spiked Marty with a reserve rana, but ultimately Scurll’s striking got the better of him. Scurll picked up the win with the torture rack back-breaker. I could have watched another ten minutes of this happily.

Mad Man Manson vs “Textbook” Dave Breaks

This was a comedy match in-between two of the big matches on the card. Good match placement by SWE. Manson is a lot of fun and Breaks played the role of stooge really well. At one point, he even brought out an actual textbook to work out some tactics against the Mad Man. Not that it worked, as Manson pulled Breaks trunks down on a sunset flip attempt, leaving Breaks to wrestle half the match with his arse hanging out. In the end, Breaks got into a row with the ref, who pushed him over a crouched Manson, leading to a Manson roll-up for the win.

Ego Dragon vs El Ligero

This was fought under street fight rules and, after some of the chaos we’d seen at that point, it had a Hell of a job to compete. It did so, and more besides, being arguably match of the night. The two guys really brought the hate, brawling all around ringside, hurling each other through chairs and each realistically doing their best to win. Dragon hurled Ligero through 3 or 4 rows of chairs on the outside to draw a big SWE chant. At one point, it looked like Ligero had it in the bag, having stacked a load of chairs on Dragon in the corner, before diving onto them himself. However, Dragon had a plan in mind and, having taken the advantage, started dismantling the ring. With Ligero down, Dragon choked him out using the top rope, with the referee checking the arms of Ligero three times before calling for the bell. An insane main event, and a great show from start to finish.

Awesome Wrestling @ Nottingham Rushcliffe Arena (12/06/11)

I hadn't been to any live wrestling since watching a TNA show at the SkyDome in Cov back in 2008, so when I saw a banner advertising this show a mere 5 minute walk from my house and the day before my birthday (but sadly after a heavy day of drinking), it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. For a mere £8,and surrounded by a loud crowd of kids who really didn't care about my hangover, I got to witness this show...

El Ligero vs Martin Kirby
Ligero is announced as being Mexican, but looks suspiciously Caucasian to me. Kirby comes to the ring looking like a poor man’s Zack Ryder, but is very entertaining in his own right. He uses all the cheap heat in the book to get the crowd reacting for the opener, stalling and demanding cheers from the fans. Ligero gets himself over in a different way: simply by being a very good wrestler. He hits a loud of flashy spots that not only look crisp, but get the crowd going too. He even uses the spinning headscissors move that Jimmy Jacobs used to do, clapping with every rotation, which was pretty cool. Kirby isn’t as flashy, but everything he does looks good, and they do have one cool spot I’d not seen before: Kirby stands on the second rope, gargles water and spits it over Ligero, but when he tries it again, Ligero gets up and punches him, causing Kirby to spray the water everywhere. This left Kirby prone for an insane looking tornado DDT for the Ligero win.

Jemma “Inferno” Palmer vs Darcy Steel
Hey kids, it’s Inferno from TV’s Gladiators! It’s odd, as she’s not great at doing the things I thought she’d be good as (her power offence looks a bit ropey, especially some very wooden looking clotheslines) but she bumps really well and worked in some surprisingly good chain-wrestling at the start. At this point, my hangover started to feel worse so I don’t recall too much about the match, though it might be that the match made me feel worse. It wasn’t particularly good, Steel wins with her feet on the ropes

Mad Man Manson vs Nate Colt
Manson is working a lunatic gimmick, as a lovable face. He’s sort of like the missing like between Sheamus and Dave Gorman. This is a comedy match and it’s actually pretty funny as far as comedy wrestling goes. So we get spots where the referee slams Nate Colt, where Manson and Colt give each other nipple-twisters, where Colt misses elbow drops repeatedly when Manson pretends to get in the ring. Colt doesn’t get much to work with, but is pretty good at being the stooge for Manson’s comedy bits (though I did like Colt threatening to “smack the blonde off you” to a shocked mother at ringside). Manson gets the win with a sunset flip after pulling Colt’s trunks down.

T-Bone vs Blake Warning
Warning is accompanied by Darcy Steel from earlier to mark him out as a heel. T-Bone is heavily tattooed and, after some initial misgivings, the kids seem really into him, presumably through some mild form of childhood rebellion. This is a decent power-vs-power match, T-Bone is pretty explosive on the attack, but Warning is slightly bigger (though deceptively athletic) and has the advantage of Steel outside the ring to attack T-Bone behind the referees back. The use of Steel here is pretty good, as the kids really reacted every time they saw Steel closing in on T-Bone, like a prettier version of the shark in Jaws. This is leading up to the inevitable return of Jemma Palmer and, when the ref finally found himself distracted by Steel’s antics, Palmer ran in and slapped Warning in the face, who turned around into a T-Bone Death Valley Driver for the win and a piece of revenge for earlier. Good, sensible booking

Max Angelus vs Stixx
This was the main event and was a falls count anywhere match. Stixx is a big fella, and I can remember him from some of the FWA TV shows on TWC, so he’s been around a bit. Angelus is a bit smaller, but still big enough for me to be impressed with his performance in this match, as he bust out some impressive highspots throughout. He’s also very charismatic and good at engaging the fans, who chanted “Max” throughout the match. I really dug this match, it went 20-plus minutes, but was very well worked and didn’t drag, crucially keeping the young audience interested throughout. They made use of the falls count anywhere stip, including an awesome Yakuza kick by Angelus to a seated Stixx, which sent him flying at least two rows back, plus some nice brawling on the entrance ramp. They also built up to the spots really well: at one point Stixx’s chain is wrapped around the top turnbuckle, and they battled for a few minutes to use it, building the anticipation until eventually Angelus was sent face first into it. They also didn’t make the mistake of cramming too many possible finishes into the match, which meant that the near falls actually meant something. The ending was pretty creative as well: Stixx wrapped the top and middle rope with his chain, but got knocked into the ropes by a recovering Angelus, who hit a chain assisted 619 and a springboard moonsault for the win.

So, all in all, an enjoyable show and well worth the money. They will be back on Sept 11th and, barring any disasters, so will I.