Saturday 26 April 2014
There had been a show the previous night at Menzieshill that I was unable to attend and tonight's show started with a video intro updating people on what had been going on in the last few weeks. I will make references to the last two shows where necessary throughout this blog....
Ring announcer Calum McMinn appeared, however during Friday's show Bravehart announced a match between McMinn and rival Chris Duke for Uprising, with the winner being made the permanent SWE ring announcer. McMinn then introduced our announcer for the evening would be Justin Crow, who in turn introduced the commentary team of Ravishing Randy Valentine, The Grue and former General Manager "The Solution" Ian Black.
The first match was a triple threat match for the Future Division Championship between new champion Christopher Saynt, who had taken the title from Sammii Jayne the night before, Kevin Williams and Mr News. Christopher Saynt came out to cheers from the crowd after his face turn at Kirkton which he had apparently continued at Menzieshill the night before. I still wasn't buying it...and I was right. He got into the ring, took the microphone and turned on the crowd, showing his true heel colours! Williams and News started the match while Saynt skulked outside the ring, then Saynt and Williams got into it while News sat with the commentary team. Williams took the worst of it, then Saynt faced Mr News and it looked like News might take the win before Saynt reversed a move and hit Mr News with the DDT and took the win, retaining the title.
The next installment in the 'Bravehart's PA' saga involved Billy Strachan and Stevie Simmons and was a true comedy segment. The Grue entered the ring and asked Bravehart to please come out to the ring. Instead out came Billy and Stevie and these guys were hysterical with Billy playing the suck-up heel and Stevie being...well Stevie - who came out wearing a shirt with two ties, pj bottoms and a roll of toilet paper tucked into the back of them! Billy then told The Grue that Bravehart would not be coming out to the ring at this time.
The next match was between Chaz Phoenix and LJT. This looked to be total mis-match with the brutal heavyweight Phoenix twice the size of LJT and the start of the match was almost uncomfortable to watch as LJT was thrown around like a rag doll, however he started to work his way back into the match, using his aerial moves to catch Phoenix out but the match ended in a no contest when Scott Renwick appeared from the crowd and nailed LJT and Steven Magners came out to attack Phoenix with a hammer, leaving the metal chair Chaz happened to be carrying badly dented.
Bravehart came out to the ring, accompanied by Billy Strachan, Stevie Simmons and The Trident. This was when I started the "Billy Brown-Nose" chant. The PA applicants were then told that they would each arrange a match to determine who would get the position. Stevie's match was a Bra and Panties match with Billy's match being Randy Valentine against Jay the Jackal in a lumberjack match. Bravehart then proceeded to pick on the daughter of previous night's applicant Amy Anderson, making the wee girl cry - he truly is an evil Scotsman!
The next match was to be Calum McMinn against Chris Duke however after McMinn had arrived in the ring, Duke appeared on the video screen saying that he couldn't believe that Bravehart would put him in a match as he had a heart condition and the stress had even brought him out in spots (he had actually caught chickenpox from his daughter). He therefore had arranged for someone to take his place and we were not surprised when he introduced "The Lowland Superstar" Glen Dunbar. Despite the crowd being firmly behind McMinn, Dunbar dominated the match. McMinn did start well, slamming Dunbar off the barriers right in front of me and also attempted a few wrestling moves with varying levels of success. Considering he is an announcer and not a wrestler, he did not too bad. After drawing blood from Dunbar during an altercation at the last Uprising, it was Dunbar's turn to draw blood and McMinn was bleeding from his head during this match. Dunbar pulled him up off the canvas on a two count and declared the punishment was not over and McMinn tried to take advantage of the chance to turn the tables but it was not to be. Dunbar finally took the 3 count and left the ring, only for Billy Strachan to appear and tell McMinn that, as per the match stipulation, he was fired!
Bravehart returned to the ring once again. After picking on Amy's daughter again, he complained that he had to endure a match during the Menzieshill show between Scotty Riccio, Martyn Stallyon and Claymore that bored him to tears. Enter Claymore who pointed out that at Hell For Lycra it had been Claymore who had won control of the SWE from Ted DiBiase for Bravehart and that his behaviour and attitude was disgusting. Bravehart responded by making a match there and then - Claymore would face The Trident! While "the big dour faced one" and "450" stood outside the ring, "Powerbomb" entered the ring to face Claymore. While initially starting as a fair fight, soon all 3 members of the Trident were in the ring. Scott Renwick then appeared and rather than helping Claymore, he began calling out to the Trident, telling them what to do to Claymore, before opening his jacket to reveal a Trident shirt beneath. Does this fourth prong now make them a fork??
During the interval, Rob had his photo taken with Jackie Grady, who had come to have a chat with me before the show, and Randy Valentine, who referred to my comments about him at the Kirkton show....oops!!!
The first match of the second half was Billy Strachan's lumberjack match. With heels Glen Dunbar, Scott Renwick, Christopher Saynt and The Trident and faces Steven Magners, Jam O'Malley, Scotty Riccio, Mr News, LJT and Kevin Williams as lumberjacks, Randy Valentine and Jay The Jackal took to the ring. With the score between them 1-1 after Randy took the win in Menzieshill the night before, both men were desperate to win here. Valentine definitely put on a better show this time, taking the match to The Jackal right from the start so it was almost a shame when a massive battle between the lumberjacks distracted the crowd from what was actually a really good match. Once all the lumberjacks had disappeared backstage in their various battles, the match continued with Valentine dominating, however after pinning Jackal, Jay reversed the move on the two count and made the 3 count instead, much to the disappointment of the crowd.
Next up was a 3 corners, intergender, tag team elimination match between Joe Hendry & Viper, Martyn Stallyon & Debbie Sharpe and Scott Renwick & Sammii Jayne. The Trident also appeared at ringside. This was an action packed match from the start. Hendry was eliminated by Renwick after Sammii Jayne hit Hendry with a low blow from behind. The Trident then attacked Hendry outside the ring. When Viper entered the ring, Renwick was quick to tag in Sammii Jayne! During this match Sammii Jayne dived off the ringpost onto Renwick and Stallyon outside, followed by Debbie and then by Martyn Stallyon who had made it back into the ring. Unfortunately it was at this time that my camera battery started to play up and I missed some great photo ops! After Debbie and Viper were eliminated, Stallyon was left to the mercy of Sammii Jayne and Scott Renwick and it wasn't long before Renwick got the pin to leave him and Sammii the winners of the match.
While I ran to find a socket and charge my camera battery in time for the main event, The Grue took to the ring again and asked Bravehart to come out and answer a few questions. This time Bravehart did come out, along with Billy Strachan and Stevie Simmons. The Grue asked what had happened to the Bravehart we all knew and loved. Bravehart responded by calling the older wrestlers like Claymore has-beens and the crowd responded by giving Bravehart a chant of "has-been" himself. Bravehart then demanded The Grue leave the ring and turned his attention to Billy Strachan, telling him to leave too. He then told Stevie Simmons that if he could complete his final task of introducing his match, he would get the job of Bravehart's PA....
The match was a Bra and Panties versus Mask match between Jam O'Malley and Scotty Riccio. The object was for Scotty to strip Jam down to bra and panties or Jam to remove the mask of Riccio. This match was hysterical, right from Stevie Simmons introducing "The sultry, the sexy Jam O'Malley" and "from Japan, Scotty Riccio" and we all knew that it was only a matter of time before we would see Jam O'Malley in bra and panties. Riccio pulled off Jam's top early in the match to reveal the bra, however with Jam in control of the match and Riccio sat dazed in the corner, it was Jam himself who removed his clown trousers to move better and in doing so gave the win to Riccio. When the ref called for the bell, Jam put his trousers on his head, shook Scotty's hand and then carried the winner from ringside!
With my camera battery partially charged, it was time for the main event, the SWE heavyweight title match between Ian Ambrose and Damian O'Connor, with Ambrose being accompanied by Sammii Jayne as always. We quickly started chanting for Damo which Sammii Jayne didn't like and she kept telling me to shut up. After calling Ambrose a chicken, he took a cheap shot at my hair...to which I replied that his hair looked like a bog brush! Damo took control early in the match and punished Ambrose both in and out of the ring. Ambrose fought his way back into the match but it was not long before Damo began to dominate again. After suplexing Ambrose from the turnbuckle, Damo continued his onslaught and had Ambrose pinned for the win when The Trident and Scott Renwick appeared and "Powerbomb" pulled referee Ryan Hamilton out of the ring on the two count. To stop them from interfering more, Claymore, LJT, Mr News and Kevin Williams appeared. While Damo was distracted by what was happening outside of the ring, Ambrose nailed him from behind and with the referee back in the ring, got the 3 count on Damo to retain the title.
Another great show by SWE. Looking forward to the next Uprising on 31 May.
Wednesday 30 April 2014
Monday 28 April 2014
Preston City Wrestling SpringSlam Evoque Nightclub, Preston - Review by Claire Davidson
Friday 25th April
What can I say about this show....it was nothing short of spectacular. I thought it would be difficult for a show to equal the BCW show of the previous week but there was no fear of that, this was definitely the best show I have EVER seen.
When you are walking through the nightclub and into the room where the wrestling is held, you can feel the electric atmosphere building. With PCW, it is only the first two rows that are seating and you are allocated seats so if you book tickets as a group, you stay together. So when I got to my seat, saw that it was plastic and in line with the centre of the ring.....I knew it was going to be a very interesting night...
Just as ring announcer Joanna Rose had come out to announce the first match, she was interrupted by the PCW Champion Joey Hayes. He gets into the ring and starts saying he does not understand why the fans love Danny Hope so much, this gets the crowd chanting ‘Tassle-tastic’. He then rants that how he was a good guy just like Danny but what did he get from the fans...nothing but disrespect and boos! He went on to proclaim that he doesn’t need to wrestle Danny tonight and that he will just stand outside the ring and get counted out so he retains the title. At this point PCW owner, Steven Fludder, comes out and tells Joey that it will not be that easy and makes the Title Match a lumberjack match!
Martin Kirby vs AR Fox
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this match. I am a huge fan of Kirby but AR Fox was an unknown entity, I have never seen any of his work, he did not disappoint. The crowd were definitely split with joint ‘Martin Kirby’,’ARFox’ chants. In the early stages of the match was going back and forward with Kirby using ‘C’mon ref, he’s pulling my hair!’ Some the high flying moves AR Fox was executing were totally mind blowing, Kirby gave as good as he got. After a hugely entertaining match, Kirby pins AR Fox for the win.
Noam Dar vs Steve Corino
A majority of the crowd were behind Noam Dar for the match. Giving a Noam Dar rendition of ‘No Limits’ and the Imperial March from Star Wars (to which Noam started marching round the ring). Before the match started, Noam asked who would like to hold his jacket, of course, I had to offer my services for this job but he made me promise to give it back and he tried to get the fans to chant my name but failed miserable! When the match got start, the size difference between the two was very noticeable and Noam had a little difficulty trying to get his opponent down. He did manage to land a few cheeky slaps to which Corino called him a cheeky little “monkey”! After a good match in which Noam had a couple of near submissions, Steve Corino pick up the win by pinfall. Noam was not a happy person after getting beat, he storms out the ring, grabs his jacket off me with a ‘Gie’s ma f****n jacket’ and marches backstage like a petulant child!
Dave Mastiff vs Charlie Garrett I believe this match had come about due to what happened during the rumble at the previous event. This is the first time I had even heard of Charlie Garrett, not one who has been on my radar! I must admit when he entered the ring he looked very impressive. The crowd were very much behind Dave Mastiff for the fight with the chant ‘You’re our favourite b*****d’! It was during this match, things started getting scary, on a couple of occasions I made a dash from where I was sitting as Garrett landed where my feet would have been! The power of Dave Mastiff was unbelievable, it looked like Garrett was running into a brick wall as his shoulder charges made little or no impact on Mastiff. At one point Mastiff was on the outside of the ring and Garrett tried to baseball slide him but Mastiff trapped him in the ring apron. Mastiff pins Garrett after giving him the cannonball!
Team Single vs Legion of Boom & Dean Allmark
This match was not announced prior to the night. Originally it was supposed to be Bubblegum vs Dean Allmark but Bubblegum could not come to the ring without the Tag Champions and other members of Team Single T-Bone and Rampage Brown. All three men descended upon Dean Allmark but before they could reach him, out came Legion of Boom (Dave Rayne & Chris Masters) making this a six-man tag match. Legion of Boom are definitely the fans favourite in this match. At the start, Allmark wanted Bubblegum to face him but he refused and told T-Bone to go in first. After a few tags from each team, Team Single manage to get the better of Legion of Boom and Allmark by stopping Dave Rayne tagging in any of his partners and takes a beating in their corner with some underhand tactics from Team Single! Eventually Dave manages to get a second wind when he is up against Bubblegum and manages to tag in his partner which leads to Team Single entering the ring. After the melee, the team of Legion of Doom and Dean Allmark are victorious.
El Ligero vs Petey Williams
I was really looking forward to this match, El Ligero is becoming one of my favourite wrestlers. He impresses me more every time I see him and makes me want to see more of him. In this match, the crowd was split in who to support. Soon after the crowd were quiet, only the odd shout, which clearly did not take away how good the two stars in the ring. Both were so equally match throughout, it was a tough one to call. After a few near falls, Petey hit El Ligero with the Canadian Destroyer to score the win by pin.
Kris Travis vs Prince Fergal Devitt
For me, this was MOTN by far. I know I could be accused of being biased since I am a massive fan of Kris Travis and even writing this my heart is skipping beats! First Trav come out to rapturous applause from the crowd....then out comes Devitt with the Punisher bodyart! Right from the start this is a fast paced match, with both men exchanging blow. Devitt’s chops would rival BT Gunn’s, if I am being honest, the echoes around the nightclub were immense but I had to spare a thought for the guy on the receiving end of them. Trav took the upper hand and gave the signal...I ran!! First Devitt comes flying, quickly followed by Trav, chairs went flying along with my bag, jacket and phone, I am glad it is made with sturdy stuff! Next Devitt grabs Trav and tries to Irish Whip him into the wall but Trav is wise to this and runs up the wall and back flips over Devitt...but I thought there was a slight under rotation and Trav was off balance when he landed. The two men continued to fight around the ring, chairs continued to fly and my heart was constantly in my mouth, scared in case someone got hurt! Unfortunately there could only be one winner and that went to Prince Fergal Devitt by pin. This match well and truly deserved the standing ovation and chants of ‘That was Awesome ‘ and ‘One more time’. I did get a high five from Trav as he left the ring that made my night!
After the match, they brought Jesse McClure and Elizabeth Fludder out to draw the raffle. Jesse asked who we supported in Storage Hunters. When we booed Brandori, he asked security to banish us from the building. I didn’t win anything this time!
MAIN EVENT – LUMBERJACK MATCH
Joey Hayes (Champion) vs Danny Hope
Before the match they brought out the lumberjacks T-Bone, Rampage Brown, Bubblegum, Dave Rayne, Chris Masters, Terry Funk, Big Van Vader and Rikishi.
This was a good match with action in and out the ring. Team Single was standing right in front of us but I have never seen a bigger chicken than Bubblegum!!! Hiding behind us at every opportunity, especially when one of the other lumberjacks came near him. In the ring it was back and forth, Joey was thrown from the ring on the far side but was quickly back in when Masters and Vader started pounding down on him! I did ask Bubblegum at this point, if anyone comes this way to give me warning so I don’t get injured and was told no because he would be standing behind me! More toing and froing in the ring with Danny being ejected at our side but as team single go to beat him down, round come all the other lumberjack to save him. Terry Funk then starts to beat down T-bone then Bubblegum with the latter landing on his backside, Funk also gave Rayne a punch into the bargain. At this point, I didn’t know where to look...as T-bone had started attacking Terry Funk. Finally Joey Hayes got the win to retain the title. Team Single had started to celebrate with him, then the other lumberjacks entered the ring, Vader attacked Joey and whipped him in the corner, this clearly knocked Joey!! The fans started baying for the Rikishi’s stink face which he was glad to give Hayes a taste of! This was followed up by a Vader bomb! Luckily for Joey he managed to get out of there before any more punishment could be bestowed on him.
After the matched we were entertained by some dancing from Rikishi, Vader, Funk, Masters, Rayne and Hope!
The show was out of this world, not one bad fight amongst the seven of them. The only thing I could criticise is that there were too many imports but I would highly recommend this company to any wrestling fan out there.
Claire Davidson
What can I say about this show....it was nothing short of spectacular. I thought it would be difficult for a show to equal the BCW show of the previous week but there was no fear of that, this was definitely the best show I have EVER seen.
When you are walking through the nightclub and into the room where the wrestling is held, you can feel the electric atmosphere building. With PCW, it is only the first two rows that are seating and you are allocated seats so if you book tickets as a group, you stay together. So when I got to my seat, saw that it was plastic and in line with the centre of the ring.....I knew it was going to be a very interesting night...
Just as ring announcer Joanna Rose had come out to announce the first match, she was interrupted by the PCW Champion Joey Hayes. He gets into the ring and starts saying he does not understand why the fans love Danny Hope so much, this gets the crowd chanting ‘Tassle-tastic’. He then rants that how he was a good guy just like Danny but what did he get from the fans...nothing but disrespect and boos! He went on to proclaim that he doesn’t need to wrestle Danny tonight and that he will just stand outside the ring and get counted out so he retains the title. At this point PCW owner, Steven Fludder, comes out and tells Joey that it will not be that easy and makes the Title Match a lumberjack match!
Martin Kirby vs AR Fox
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this match. I am a huge fan of Kirby but AR Fox was an unknown entity, I have never seen any of his work, he did not disappoint. The crowd were definitely split with joint ‘Martin Kirby’,’ARFox’ chants. In the early stages of the match was going back and forward with Kirby using ‘C’mon ref, he’s pulling my hair!’ Some the high flying moves AR Fox was executing were totally mind blowing, Kirby gave as good as he got. After a hugely entertaining match, Kirby pins AR Fox for the win.
Noam Dar vs Steve Corino
A majority of the crowd were behind Noam Dar for the match. Giving a Noam Dar rendition of ‘No Limits’ and the Imperial March from Star Wars (to which Noam started marching round the ring). Before the match started, Noam asked who would like to hold his jacket, of course, I had to offer my services for this job but he made me promise to give it back and he tried to get the fans to chant my name but failed miserable! When the match got start, the size difference between the two was very noticeable and Noam had a little difficulty trying to get his opponent down. He did manage to land a few cheeky slaps to which Corino called him a cheeky little “monkey”! After a good match in which Noam had a couple of near submissions, Steve Corino pick up the win by pinfall. Noam was not a happy person after getting beat, he storms out the ring, grabs his jacket off me with a ‘Gie’s ma f****n jacket’ and marches backstage like a petulant child!
Dave Mastiff vs Charlie Garrett I believe this match had come about due to what happened during the rumble at the previous event. This is the first time I had even heard of Charlie Garrett, not one who has been on my radar! I must admit when he entered the ring he looked very impressive. The crowd were very much behind Dave Mastiff for the fight with the chant ‘You’re our favourite b*****d’! It was during this match, things started getting scary, on a couple of occasions I made a dash from where I was sitting as Garrett landed where my feet would have been! The power of Dave Mastiff was unbelievable, it looked like Garrett was running into a brick wall as his shoulder charges made little or no impact on Mastiff. At one point Mastiff was on the outside of the ring and Garrett tried to baseball slide him but Mastiff trapped him in the ring apron. Mastiff pins Garrett after giving him the cannonball!
Team Single vs Legion of Boom & Dean Allmark
This match was not announced prior to the night. Originally it was supposed to be Bubblegum vs Dean Allmark but Bubblegum could not come to the ring without the Tag Champions and other members of Team Single T-Bone and Rampage Brown. All three men descended upon Dean Allmark but before they could reach him, out came Legion of Boom (Dave Rayne & Chris Masters) making this a six-man tag match. Legion of Boom are definitely the fans favourite in this match. At the start, Allmark wanted Bubblegum to face him but he refused and told T-Bone to go in first. After a few tags from each team, Team Single manage to get the better of Legion of Boom and Allmark by stopping Dave Rayne tagging in any of his partners and takes a beating in their corner with some underhand tactics from Team Single! Eventually Dave manages to get a second wind when he is up against Bubblegum and manages to tag in his partner which leads to Team Single entering the ring. After the melee, the team of Legion of Doom and Dean Allmark are victorious.
El Ligero vs Petey Williams
I was really looking forward to this match, El Ligero is becoming one of my favourite wrestlers. He impresses me more every time I see him and makes me want to see more of him. In this match, the crowd was split in who to support. Soon after the crowd were quiet, only the odd shout, which clearly did not take away how good the two stars in the ring. Both were so equally match throughout, it was a tough one to call. After a few near falls, Petey hit El Ligero with the Canadian Destroyer to score the win by pin.
Kris Travis vs Prince Fergal Devitt
For me, this was MOTN by far. I know I could be accused of being biased since I am a massive fan of Kris Travis and even writing this my heart is skipping beats! First Trav come out to rapturous applause from the crowd....then out comes Devitt with the Punisher bodyart! Right from the start this is a fast paced match, with both men exchanging blow. Devitt’s chops would rival BT Gunn’s, if I am being honest, the echoes around the nightclub were immense but I had to spare a thought for the guy on the receiving end of them. Trav took the upper hand and gave the signal...I ran!! First Devitt comes flying, quickly followed by Trav, chairs went flying along with my bag, jacket and phone, I am glad it is made with sturdy stuff! Next Devitt grabs Trav and tries to Irish Whip him into the wall but Trav is wise to this and runs up the wall and back flips over Devitt...but I thought there was a slight under rotation and Trav was off balance when he landed. The two men continued to fight around the ring, chairs continued to fly and my heart was constantly in my mouth, scared in case someone got hurt! Unfortunately there could only be one winner and that went to Prince Fergal Devitt by pin. This match well and truly deserved the standing ovation and chants of ‘That was Awesome ‘ and ‘One more time’. I did get a high five from Trav as he left the ring that made my night!
After the match, they brought Jesse McClure and Elizabeth Fludder out to draw the raffle. Jesse asked who we supported in Storage Hunters. When we booed Brandori, he asked security to banish us from the building. I didn’t win anything this time!
MAIN EVENT – LUMBERJACK MATCH
Joey Hayes (Champion) vs Danny Hope
Before the match they brought out the lumberjacks T-Bone, Rampage Brown, Bubblegum, Dave Rayne, Chris Masters, Terry Funk, Big Van Vader and Rikishi.
This was a good match with action in and out the ring. Team Single was standing right in front of us but I have never seen a bigger chicken than Bubblegum!!! Hiding behind us at every opportunity, especially when one of the other lumberjacks came near him. In the ring it was back and forth, Joey was thrown from the ring on the far side but was quickly back in when Masters and Vader started pounding down on him! I did ask Bubblegum at this point, if anyone comes this way to give me warning so I don’t get injured and was told no because he would be standing behind me! More toing and froing in the ring with Danny being ejected at our side but as team single go to beat him down, round come all the other lumberjack to save him. Terry Funk then starts to beat down T-bone then Bubblegum with the latter landing on his backside, Funk also gave Rayne a punch into the bargain. At this point, I didn’t know where to look...as T-bone had started attacking Terry Funk. Finally Joey Hayes got the win to retain the title. Team Single had started to celebrate with him, then the other lumberjacks entered the ring, Vader attacked Joey and whipped him in the corner, this clearly knocked Joey!! The fans started baying for the Rikishi’s stink face which he was glad to give Hayes a taste of! This was followed up by a Vader bomb! Luckily for Joey he managed to get out of there before any more punishment could be bestowed on him.
After the matched we were entertained by some dancing from Rikishi, Vader, Funk, Masters, Rayne and Hope!
The show was out of this world, not one bad fight amongst the seven of them. The only thing I could criticise is that there were too many imports but I would highly recommend this company to any wrestling fan out there.
Claire Davidson
Monday 21 April 2014
BCW Live at The Grand Hall, Kilmarnock Review
Saturday 19 April 2014
OMG!! I mean O.....M.....G!!!!!
If you got a thesaurus and looked up every alternative for the word awesome there still wouldn't be enough words to emphasise just how amazing this show was....I mean if Carlsberg did wrestling shows, they probably would have had the card that Graham McKay produced here .....and it didn't even include Jester!! Ok, so I guess I am raving a little bit, but when you go to a lot of the shows, you obviously see a lot of the same faces at each show, but this show had a perfect mix of regulars, semi-regulars and new faces that made almost every match something new. We were really looking forward to seeing Prince Devitt for the first time and Rob even painted up his face in honour of him.
First up we had Kris Travis against Noam Dar. Both these guys had been part of PWE's instant classic tag match back in March and this match did not disappoint. Noam picked a member of the audience to look after his jacket, borrowing a camera from official photographer David Wilson to take the lad's picture before the match started. Both guys gave it all in the match, giving and taking some punishment and the match went back and forward between them, with both scoring near pins before Dar finally took the win. While in this instance I was cheering for Dar, it is getting harder and harder to not cheer Kris Travis who, despite his "I love me, who do you love?" persona is just a bloody amazing wrestler that you want to cheer!
Next we had a tag team title match between champions Just Uz (BT Gunn & Stevie Xavier) and Hubba Bubba Lucha (El Ligero & Bubblegum). I have seen El Ligero a few times and he is pretty impressive but I had never seen Bubblegum before and wasn't sure how they would gel as a team but they were actually really good. I love the team of Just Uz but, having seen them several times recently, some of their matches had seemed a little predictable, but this match was anything but! In fact I would say this is probably the best match tag match I have seen in a very long time. There were plenty of acrobatics from all four men, action inside and out of the ring and the match swung back and forth so much that I never knew what was coming and who was going to win. Even the crowd was split with just as many chants for the challengers as there were for the champions. This match also produced a "That Was Awesome" chant. There were near falls for both teams and these guys gave absolutely everything they had - by the time Just Uz finally scored the win and retained their titles, there were four exhausted guys fighting just to stand upright! It was really nice to see the champs show their appreciation for their opponents with them all hugging it out in the centre of the ring before the four stood in a line with hands raised! A huge contender for Match of the Night but, after a lot of deliberating, I eventually decided to give this one joint runner up to that slot!
Next out to the ring were "Bad Boy" Liam Thomson and Kenny Williams, who I felt a little sorry for having to follow such an amazing match, but they did good! Thomson came out to the ring first, without Carmel, which was probably lucky for me as I took my opportunity to wind him up once again about needing Carmel to save his ass! Williams put on a good show against the solidly built Thomson, taking some brutal punishment but still managing to get some cracking shots of his own, almost scoring the pinfall, however it was Thomson who had the last laugh taking the win without needing the assistance of Carmel.
The first half main event matched Red Lightning against fan favourite Grado. This was probably the weakest match on the card but was still entertaining. Red Lighting came to the ring, got the microphone and started moaning about how the crowd didn't appreciate him....YAWN! Out came Grado to a massive pop - everybody loves Grado. Of course Lightning then complained he couldn't start the match until the smoke cleared because of his asthma! The match had its usual comedy moments, Grado patting down referee Sri Hari and squeezing his butt, sitting on Red's back riding him like a pony and slapping his ass, having the ref help him up onto the top rope and after winning the match making the poor ref dance and attempt a cartwheel, however there was some actual wrestling, including a rather impressive leapfrog over Red Lighting, proving that Grado does actually have the agility required in the ring! While this cannot be classed as an amazing display of wrestling, it was fun and entertaining and the crowd loved it!
The second half started with my other joint runner up for Match of the Night - the German wrestler Bad Bones against Joe Coffey. This was the first time I have seen Bad Bones and I really hope that I get another opportunity to see him in the future. The match was amazing. Joe Coffey has been impressing me more and more each time I see him and these two guys were evenly matched in height and build. I got so enthralled with this match that I didn't take anywhere near as many photos as I would normally. The noise when these two guys collided with shoulder blocks was incredible. There was a slugfest at the opposite side of the ring from where we were sitting and Bad Bones hit Joe so hard, his gum landed just a few feet from me! Once again, we were treated to a match where both guys gave everything, leaving absolutely nothing in the tank. There were several near falls where I didn't think either man would have the strength to kick out of. This was a match that either man deserved to win, however it was Bad Bones who finished victorious, with Coffey taking a few minutes while Bad Bones celebrated to get his breath back before leaving ringside.
Next was due to be a battle of the "Take Me Out" stars "Party" Marty Scurll and Davey Blaze, however Marty Scurll had recently dislocated his shoulder and was unable to compete. Instead he came out to the ring and started to insult the crowd. This was when I got my one true insult of the night - after inviting him to kiss my ass, he replied "shut your mouth you old tart or I'll come out there and slap you!" Of course I dared him to just try it! After running his mouth about how wonderful he was and enduring a chant of "Rockstar Spud" after mentioning TNA British Bootcamp, he then mentioned Take Me Out and the fact that another wrestler had appeared on the show. At this point Davey Blaze appeared, saying he was sick of Scurll running his mouth on twitter and that he was going to rip off his head and remove his spleen! Scurll, hiding behind both the referee Eddie Roberts and ring announcer Simon Cassidy to stop Blaze from knocking his block off, then said he had paid someone to take his place in the match....enter James Scott. After enduring a chant of "wee fat Taz", Scott then said Scurll had paid him a lot of money to break Blaze, however he offered Blaze the chance to shake his hand and leave the ring with his teeth still in his mouth. Blaze declined his kind offer....and another great match was on. James Scott took the upper hand early in the match and with the action spilling out of the ring, I braced my feet against the barriers as they slammed into them! Scott then powerbombed Blaze on the outer edge of the ring - that had to really hurt. Back in the ring Davey fought his way back into the match, which continued to swing back and forth with both men getting 2 counts until finally Blaze took the win. A tough and brutal match which was probably better than the original match would have been, however I would still like to see Scurll v Blaze on a future show.
The final match of the night, the main event, was my pick for Match of the Night, the BCW Heavyweight Championship match between current champ, Kid Fite and Prince Fergal Devitt. This was an absolutely phenomenal match. Kid Fite entered the ring first to his usual chorus of boos. Devitt's entrance was incredible! The pic below was taken by official photographer David Wilson.
Devitt had his face and body painted up in a half Spiderman/half Spiderman 3000 design which looked amazing but during the course of the match smudged and smeared into a black mess which covered both the ring and Kid Fite. At first Kid Fite jumped the rails and looked as though he would not take part in the fight, however he then returned to ringside with a chair which he hoped to use to nail Devitt. His plan did not work and it was Kid Fite who ended up slammed onto the chair and the barriers and, as you will see from the photo below, that chair will never see it's intended use again! This was another match where the guys gave their all. There were moves I never thought possible and near pins for both wrestlers, however at the end of the night it was Kid Fite who stood on the turnbuckle with the belt....and a lot of Devitt's paintjob too. My only complaint would be this match was too short - I wanted more - but then again, I don't think either of them could have given any more so I will just wait and hope that BCW will release a DVD of the event so I can watch it over and over again!
After the match I had the chance to speak to BCW owner Graham McKay and several of the wrestlers and tell them just how incredible I thought the night had been. Rob got to meet Bad Bones and get his photo taken with him, however we were unable to meet Fergal Devitt as he was off getting cleaned up....we just hope that we have another chance to see and maybe meet the man himself soon.
For more of my photos from the event, check out The Blue-Haired Loudmouth page on Facebook
You can find more information about British Championship Wrestling on their Facebook page or their website
OMG!! I mean O.....M.....G!!!!!
If you got a thesaurus and looked up every alternative for the word awesome there still wouldn't be enough words to emphasise just how amazing this show was....I mean if Carlsberg did wrestling shows, they probably would have had the card that Graham McKay produced here .....and it didn't even include Jester!! Ok, so I guess I am raving a little bit, but when you go to a lot of the shows, you obviously see a lot of the same faces at each show, but this show had a perfect mix of regulars, semi-regulars and new faces that made almost every match something new. We were really looking forward to seeing Prince Devitt for the first time and Rob even painted up his face in honour of him.
First up we had Kris Travis against Noam Dar. Both these guys had been part of PWE's instant classic tag match back in March and this match did not disappoint. Noam picked a member of the audience to look after his jacket, borrowing a camera from official photographer David Wilson to take the lad's picture before the match started. Both guys gave it all in the match, giving and taking some punishment and the match went back and forward between them, with both scoring near pins before Dar finally took the win. While in this instance I was cheering for Dar, it is getting harder and harder to not cheer Kris Travis who, despite his "I love me, who do you love?" persona is just a bloody amazing wrestler that you want to cheer!
Next we had a tag team title match between champions Just Uz (BT Gunn & Stevie Xavier) and Hubba Bubba Lucha (El Ligero & Bubblegum). I have seen El Ligero a few times and he is pretty impressive but I had never seen Bubblegum before and wasn't sure how they would gel as a team but they were actually really good. I love the team of Just Uz but, having seen them several times recently, some of their matches had seemed a little predictable, but this match was anything but! In fact I would say this is probably the best match tag match I have seen in a very long time. There were plenty of acrobatics from all four men, action inside and out of the ring and the match swung back and forth so much that I never knew what was coming and who was going to win. Even the crowd was split with just as many chants for the challengers as there were for the champions. This match also produced a "That Was Awesome" chant. There were near falls for both teams and these guys gave absolutely everything they had - by the time Just Uz finally scored the win and retained their titles, there were four exhausted guys fighting just to stand upright! It was really nice to see the champs show their appreciation for their opponents with them all hugging it out in the centre of the ring before the four stood in a line with hands raised! A huge contender for Match of the Night but, after a lot of deliberating, I eventually decided to give this one joint runner up to that slot!
Next out to the ring were "Bad Boy" Liam Thomson and Kenny Williams, who I felt a little sorry for having to follow such an amazing match, but they did good! Thomson came out to the ring first, without Carmel, which was probably lucky for me as I took my opportunity to wind him up once again about needing Carmel to save his ass! Williams put on a good show against the solidly built Thomson, taking some brutal punishment but still managing to get some cracking shots of his own, almost scoring the pinfall, however it was Thomson who had the last laugh taking the win without needing the assistance of Carmel.
The first half main event matched Red Lightning against fan favourite Grado. This was probably the weakest match on the card but was still entertaining. Red Lighting came to the ring, got the microphone and started moaning about how the crowd didn't appreciate him....YAWN! Out came Grado to a massive pop - everybody loves Grado. Of course Lightning then complained he couldn't start the match until the smoke cleared because of his asthma! The match had its usual comedy moments, Grado patting down referee Sri Hari and squeezing his butt, sitting on Red's back riding him like a pony and slapping his ass, having the ref help him up onto the top rope and after winning the match making the poor ref dance and attempt a cartwheel, however there was some actual wrestling, including a rather impressive leapfrog over Red Lighting, proving that Grado does actually have the agility required in the ring! While this cannot be classed as an amazing display of wrestling, it was fun and entertaining and the crowd loved it!
The second half started with my other joint runner up for Match of the Night - the German wrestler Bad Bones against Joe Coffey. This was the first time I have seen Bad Bones and I really hope that I get another opportunity to see him in the future. The match was amazing. Joe Coffey has been impressing me more and more each time I see him and these two guys were evenly matched in height and build. I got so enthralled with this match that I didn't take anywhere near as many photos as I would normally. The noise when these two guys collided with shoulder blocks was incredible. There was a slugfest at the opposite side of the ring from where we were sitting and Bad Bones hit Joe so hard, his gum landed just a few feet from me! Once again, we were treated to a match where both guys gave everything, leaving absolutely nothing in the tank. There were several near falls where I didn't think either man would have the strength to kick out of. This was a match that either man deserved to win, however it was Bad Bones who finished victorious, with Coffey taking a few minutes while Bad Bones celebrated to get his breath back before leaving ringside.
Next was due to be a battle of the "Take Me Out" stars "Party" Marty Scurll and Davey Blaze, however Marty Scurll had recently dislocated his shoulder and was unable to compete. Instead he came out to the ring and started to insult the crowd. This was when I got my one true insult of the night - after inviting him to kiss my ass, he replied "shut your mouth you old tart or I'll come out there and slap you!" Of course I dared him to just try it! After running his mouth about how wonderful he was and enduring a chant of "Rockstar Spud" after mentioning TNA British Bootcamp, he then mentioned Take Me Out and the fact that another wrestler had appeared on the show. At this point Davey Blaze appeared, saying he was sick of Scurll running his mouth on twitter and that he was going to rip off his head and remove his spleen! Scurll, hiding behind both the referee Eddie Roberts and ring announcer Simon Cassidy to stop Blaze from knocking his block off, then said he had paid someone to take his place in the match....enter James Scott. After enduring a chant of "wee fat Taz", Scott then said Scurll had paid him a lot of money to break Blaze, however he offered Blaze the chance to shake his hand and leave the ring with his teeth still in his mouth. Blaze declined his kind offer....and another great match was on. James Scott took the upper hand early in the match and with the action spilling out of the ring, I braced my feet against the barriers as they slammed into them! Scott then powerbombed Blaze on the outer edge of the ring - that had to really hurt. Back in the ring Davey fought his way back into the match, which continued to swing back and forth with both men getting 2 counts until finally Blaze took the win. A tough and brutal match which was probably better than the original match would have been, however I would still like to see Scurll v Blaze on a future show.
The final match of the night, the main event, was my pick for Match of the Night, the BCW Heavyweight Championship match between current champ, Kid Fite and Prince Fergal Devitt. This was an absolutely phenomenal match. Kid Fite entered the ring first to his usual chorus of boos. Devitt's entrance was incredible! The pic below was taken by official photographer David Wilson.
Devitt had his face and body painted up in a half Spiderman/half Spiderman 3000 design which looked amazing but during the course of the match smudged and smeared into a black mess which covered both the ring and Kid Fite. At first Kid Fite jumped the rails and looked as though he would not take part in the fight, however he then returned to ringside with a chair which he hoped to use to nail Devitt. His plan did not work and it was Kid Fite who ended up slammed onto the chair and the barriers and, as you will see from the photo below, that chair will never see it's intended use again! This was another match where the guys gave their all. There were moves I never thought possible and near pins for both wrestlers, however at the end of the night it was Kid Fite who stood on the turnbuckle with the belt....and a lot of Devitt's paintjob too. My only complaint would be this match was too short - I wanted more - but then again, I don't think either of them could have given any more so I will just wait and hope that BCW will release a DVD of the event so I can watch it over and over again!
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| The Face-Off |
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| Still Champ |
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| Poor Chair!! |
After the match I had the chance to speak to BCW owner Graham McKay and several of the wrestlers and tell them just how incredible I thought the night had been. Rob got to meet Bad Bones and get his photo taken with him, however we were unable to meet Fergal Devitt as he was off getting cleaned up....we just hope that we have another chance to see and maybe meet the man himself soon.
For more of my photos from the event, check out The Blue-Haired Loudmouth page on Facebook
You can find more information about British Championship Wrestling on their Facebook page or their website
Sunday 20 April 2014
SWE Live at Kirkton Review
Friday 18 April 2014
I didn't think I would make this show due to it being on a Friday, however being a bank holiday made all the difference, so Rob and I made the journey up to Sunny Dundee.
We arrived nice and early and popped into Asda directly opposite the Kirkton Community Centre where Bravehart and the SWE power couple of Ian Ambrose and Sammii Jayne were doing a wee meet and greet and autograph session. I have to admit that I love Ian and Sammii as heels....they are just so good at it! #Scumbags forever!
Back across the road, we waited for the doors to open. This was our first time at Kirkton and I didn't realise how small it was - thank goodness we were early enough to get ringside! Before the show, there was a performance by the Kirkton Beat Samba Band, a group of children of varying ages playing drums. Then there was the video announcement of the guest appearing at Hell For Lycra - Dennis Stamp. There was not much crowd reaction, possibly due to the fact that many people probably have not really heard of him. Then it was on with the show.... mc'd by the lovely Mr Chris Duke!
First match of the night was Christopher Saynt against crowd favourite, Martyn Stallyon. Stallyon started by holding out his hand to Saynt, who refused to shake it. Saynt took the upper hand for much of the match, but Stallyon fed off the crowd cheers to work his way back into the match, however Saynt managed to move out of the way when Stallyon jumped from the turnbuckles and Saynt scored the win. Saynt then went to Stallyon after the match and we assumed that there was going to be some after match low blows dealt by Saynt and were shocked...totally shocked...when he held out his hand to Stallyon, shook his hand, then raised his arm! We sat dumbfounded until Rob said that it was probably the most awkward face turn ever. Has Saynt actually turned face??? We will have to wait and see!!
Next Bryan "The Grue" Douglas entered the ring to introduce the first of the applicants for the position of Bravehart's PA, Esther Robbins, who then announced the arrival of Bravehart and the Trident. This was less a job interview and more an opportunity for "heel" Bravehart to have a go at the crowd and Esther but it did provide some comedy moments, including a ring covered in jelly babies and a Jelly Baby chant!
Once the ring was cleared of jelly babies, it was time for Kevin Williams and Scott Renwick to face off. Scott Renwick took the upper hand early in the match, part of which took place outside of the ring and involved Kevin Williams being bounced off the ringposts. Once back in the ring, Kevin fought his way back into the match, rolling Renwick up for a near pin, then putting him in a leglock that had Renwick scrambling and only just making it to the ropes. Once released, Renwick grabbed the game controller from the corner of the ring and nailed Williams with it. The ref immediately called the DQ and Renwick then choked Williams with the controller cable. The music for the Trident starts up and rather than rescue Williams, they proceeded to attack him, subjecting him to a slam onto the canvas, a power bomb and a 450 splash. They then left, leaving Kevin Williams prone in the middle of the ring.
Chris Duke took to the ring and discussed the news that Terry Funk was unable to attend Hell For Lycra as planned, then announced Grado and Colt Cabana as competitors at Hellbound on 23 August, the week before Hell For Lycra to a huge pop and some "Colt Cabana, It's Yersel'" cheers.
Last match before the intermission was a tag team match. First into the ring was Debbie Sharpe, followed by SWE Power Couple Ian Ambrose and Sammii Jayne. Debbie introduces her tag team partner, Viper. Ian Ambrose immediately complains because he "doesn't hit girls", while the crowd chant that he is just scared of Viper. Despite all his protests, this is obviously the case as Ambrose was happy to tag into the ring as long as he was facing Debbie and not Viper. The match started off with Sammii Jayne and Viper with both girls pulling off some great moves on each other, however as soon as Debbie had been tagged in, Ambrose was more than happy to tag in and Debbie took an extreme amount of punishment. Ambrose then tagged in Sammii Jayne to continue the punishment before Debbie finally tagged in Viper. Ambrose then interfered and had Viper chase him round the ring. Sammii Jayne dived out of the ring onto them both, busting her lip in the process. Debbie then dived out onto Ambrose and Sammii Jayne. Viper and Sammii Jayne got back into the ring where Sammii Jayne hit Viper with a massive neckbreaker and both she and Ambrose sat on Viper for the pin, while Debbie still lay on the floor after her dive. With the Power Couple victorious, Viper helped Debbie to her feet and both girls left to cheers from the crowd.
The first match after the intermission was Glen Dunbar versus Jam O'Malley. Chris Duke really made a big deal of introducing Glen Dunbar which should have been a warning for what was to come. The crowd retaliated by chanting for Jam as Dunbar made his way to the ring...and were just as loud as Jam himself made his way to the ring in his clown outfit and facepaint and carrying a stuffed crocodile, who then did his own introduction and led the crowd in a chant of "Dunbar Sucks". There were some comedy moments when Jam sat next to a stunned Dunbar, imitating his movements, until Dunbar turned toward Jam...who kissed him...Dunbar ran away in terror and shortly after Jam invited some of the kids in the audience to help pull Dunbar's legs on either side of the ringpost...ouch! Dunbar seemed to take the upper hand for a time but as Jam fought back, Chris Duke got involved by distracting O'Malley long enough for Dunbar to strike and take the win. (And I called him the lovely Mr Duke earlier in this blog too - shaking my head!!)
Up next was a grudge match between Jason Costello and Ravishing Randy Valentine, which stemmed from Randy comparing Costello to a potato, a nickname which has stuck with the fans. With the entire crowd firmly behind Randy, Costello was subject to plenty of jeers of potato, spud and tattie! Randy came out carrying an effigy of Costello, constructed of pillow stuffing inside a nylon stocking. Unfortunately, for the majority of the match Costello was firmly in control and despite the crowd's backing, Randy never really looked like winning. The end came when Costello nailed Randy with the effigy, took the pin, then tore it apart to reveal a weight inside which Randy had obviously concealed inside it in order to use against Costello. A distraught Randy gathered the pieces of his "friend" before leaving the ring defeated.
It was then back to "The Grue" to introduce the next applicant for the PA position, Tam Malone. Bravehart arrived with the Trident and Esther and started making fun of both Tam and Esther, before saying he had something to deal with that he should have dealt with before. He then indicated that the Trident should escort a member of the crowd from the building....that person was Euan Mackie, who did leave the building quietly, however the crowd gave a rousing chant of E G Mackie as he left. Bravehart then got back to the PA position and decided that Tam and Esther should have a slapping contest to determine which of them would proceed, before throwing Tam out of the ring and calling Esther a disgrace to the SWE. What any of this has to do with being a PA, I don't know and the comedy element was dampened by the incident with Euan Mackie. This segment, in my opinion, just seemed to be uncomfortable to watch.
The final match was the over the top rope Battle Royal to determine the number one contender to the SWE Heavyweight Championship who would have a title shot at any time of their choosing after the next Uprising on 26 April and before midnight on 30 August 2014, the date of Hell For Lycra. The competitors included everyone who had competed during the course of the night with the exception of current champion Ian Ambrose and Randy Valentine (although he did jump onto the ring apron during the match to help eliminate Jason Costello), and they were joined by Scotty Riccio, Mr News, The Trident and Chaz Phoenix, as well as two new faces from Reckless Intent, Juan Loco Gato and Jackie Grady. The appearance of Chaz Phoenix had the crowd chanting for Steven Magners... and they were not disappointed as Magners appeared after the match started and targeted Phoenix, taking him out of the ring and continuing their brawl into the backstage area. Due to the fact that Phoenix had not been officially eliminated over the top rope, we expected him to make a reappearance but thankfully that did not happen. With so many bodies in the ring at once it was hard to keep up with what was going on, however it was soon down to the final four competitors, Mr News, Viper, Scott Renwick and Martyn Stallyon. Mr News was first of the four to be eliminated, followed quickly by Viper, leaving Renwick and Stallyon to battle it out until Stallyon eliminated Renwick to take the win and become number one contender. Renwick, obviously upset and being beaten and at us chanting loudly for Stallyon, decided to give us a nice shower, emptying his water bottle over us! Gives a new meaning to crowd participation. Thankfully I had some dry stuff in the car or it would have been a long drive in wet clothes and I managed to dry off my camera quickly so no damage there either!
The next SWE event is on Friday 25 April at Menzieshill Community Centre, with Uprising the following night at the Ardler Complex. Check out their facebook page or website for further information.
I didn't think I would make this show due to it being on a Friday, however being a bank holiday made all the difference, so Rob and I made the journey up to Sunny Dundee.
We arrived nice and early and popped into Asda directly opposite the Kirkton Community Centre where Bravehart and the SWE power couple of Ian Ambrose and Sammii Jayne were doing a wee meet and greet and autograph session. I have to admit that I love Ian and Sammii as heels....they are just so good at it! #Scumbags forever!
Back across the road, we waited for the doors to open. This was our first time at Kirkton and I didn't realise how small it was - thank goodness we were early enough to get ringside! Before the show, there was a performance by the Kirkton Beat Samba Band, a group of children of varying ages playing drums. Then there was the video announcement of the guest appearing at Hell For Lycra - Dennis Stamp. There was not much crowd reaction, possibly due to the fact that many people probably have not really heard of him. Then it was on with the show.... mc'd by the lovely Mr Chris Duke!
First match of the night was Christopher Saynt against crowd favourite, Martyn Stallyon. Stallyon started by holding out his hand to Saynt, who refused to shake it. Saynt took the upper hand for much of the match, but Stallyon fed off the crowd cheers to work his way back into the match, however Saynt managed to move out of the way when Stallyon jumped from the turnbuckles and Saynt scored the win. Saynt then went to Stallyon after the match and we assumed that there was going to be some after match low blows dealt by Saynt and were shocked...totally shocked...when he held out his hand to Stallyon, shook his hand, then raised his arm! We sat dumbfounded until Rob said that it was probably the most awkward face turn ever. Has Saynt actually turned face??? We will have to wait and see!!
Next Bryan "The Grue" Douglas entered the ring to introduce the first of the applicants for the position of Bravehart's PA, Esther Robbins, who then announced the arrival of Bravehart and the Trident. This was less a job interview and more an opportunity for "heel" Bravehart to have a go at the crowd and Esther but it did provide some comedy moments, including a ring covered in jelly babies and a Jelly Baby chant!
Once the ring was cleared of jelly babies, it was time for Kevin Williams and Scott Renwick to face off. Scott Renwick took the upper hand early in the match, part of which took place outside of the ring and involved Kevin Williams being bounced off the ringposts. Once back in the ring, Kevin fought his way back into the match, rolling Renwick up for a near pin, then putting him in a leglock that had Renwick scrambling and only just making it to the ropes. Once released, Renwick grabbed the game controller from the corner of the ring and nailed Williams with it. The ref immediately called the DQ and Renwick then choked Williams with the controller cable. The music for the Trident starts up and rather than rescue Williams, they proceeded to attack him, subjecting him to a slam onto the canvas, a power bomb and a 450 splash. They then left, leaving Kevin Williams prone in the middle of the ring.
Chris Duke took to the ring and discussed the news that Terry Funk was unable to attend Hell For Lycra as planned, then announced Grado and Colt Cabana as competitors at Hellbound on 23 August, the week before Hell For Lycra to a huge pop and some "Colt Cabana, It's Yersel'" cheers.
Last match before the intermission was a tag team match. First into the ring was Debbie Sharpe, followed by SWE Power Couple Ian Ambrose and Sammii Jayne. Debbie introduces her tag team partner, Viper. Ian Ambrose immediately complains because he "doesn't hit girls", while the crowd chant that he is just scared of Viper. Despite all his protests, this is obviously the case as Ambrose was happy to tag into the ring as long as he was facing Debbie and not Viper. The match started off with Sammii Jayne and Viper with both girls pulling off some great moves on each other, however as soon as Debbie had been tagged in, Ambrose was more than happy to tag in and Debbie took an extreme amount of punishment. Ambrose then tagged in Sammii Jayne to continue the punishment before Debbie finally tagged in Viper. Ambrose then interfered and had Viper chase him round the ring. Sammii Jayne dived out of the ring onto them both, busting her lip in the process. Debbie then dived out onto Ambrose and Sammii Jayne. Viper and Sammii Jayne got back into the ring where Sammii Jayne hit Viper with a massive neckbreaker and both she and Ambrose sat on Viper for the pin, while Debbie still lay on the floor after her dive. With the Power Couple victorious, Viper helped Debbie to her feet and both girls left to cheers from the crowd.
The first match after the intermission was Glen Dunbar versus Jam O'Malley. Chris Duke really made a big deal of introducing Glen Dunbar which should have been a warning for what was to come. The crowd retaliated by chanting for Jam as Dunbar made his way to the ring...and were just as loud as Jam himself made his way to the ring in his clown outfit and facepaint and carrying a stuffed crocodile, who then did his own introduction and led the crowd in a chant of "Dunbar Sucks". There were some comedy moments when Jam sat next to a stunned Dunbar, imitating his movements, until Dunbar turned toward Jam...who kissed him...Dunbar ran away in terror and shortly after Jam invited some of the kids in the audience to help pull Dunbar's legs on either side of the ringpost...ouch! Dunbar seemed to take the upper hand for a time but as Jam fought back, Chris Duke got involved by distracting O'Malley long enough for Dunbar to strike and take the win. (And I called him the lovely Mr Duke earlier in this blog too - shaking my head!!)
Up next was a grudge match between Jason Costello and Ravishing Randy Valentine, which stemmed from Randy comparing Costello to a potato, a nickname which has stuck with the fans. With the entire crowd firmly behind Randy, Costello was subject to plenty of jeers of potato, spud and tattie! Randy came out carrying an effigy of Costello, constructed of pillow stuffing inside a nylon stocking. Unfortunately, for the majority of the match Costello was firmly in control and despite the crowd's backing, Randy never really looked like winning. The end came when Costello nailed Randy with the effigy, took the pin, then tore it apart to reveal a weight inside which Randy had obviously concealed inside it in order to use against Costello. A distraught Randy gathered the pieces of his "friend" before leaving the ring defeated.
It was then back to "The Grue" to introduce the next applicant for the PA position, Tam Malone. Bravehart arrived with the Trident and Esther and started making fun of both Tam and Esther, before saying he had something to deal with that he should have dealt with before. He then indicated that the Trident should escort a member of the crowd from the building....that person was Euan Mackie, who did leave the building quietly, however the crowd gave a rousing chant of E G Mackie as he left. Bravehart then got back to the PA position and decided that Tam and Esther should have a slapping contest to determine which of them would proceed, before throwing Tam out of the ring and calling Esther a disgrace to the SWE. What any of this has to do with being a PA, I don't know and the comedy element was dampened by the incident with Euan Mackie. This segment, in my opinion, just seemed to be uncomfortable to watch.
The final match was the over the top rope Battle Royal to determine the number one contender to the SWE Heavyweight Championship who would have a title shot at any time of their choosing after the next Uprising on 26 April and before midnight on 30 August 2014, the date of Hell For Lycra. The competitors included everyone who had competed during the course of the night with the exception of current champion Ian Ambrose and Randy Valentine (although he did jump onto the ring apron during the match to help eliminate Jason Costello), and they were joined by Scotty Riccio, Mr News, The Trident and Chaz Phoenix, as well as two new faces from Reckless Intent, Juan Loco Gato and Jackie Grady. The appearance of Chaz Phoenix had the crowd chanting for Steven Magners... and they were not disappointed as Magners appeared after the match started and targeted Phoenix, taking him out of the ring and continuing their brawl into the backstage area. Due to the fact that Phoenix had not been officially eliminated over the top rope, we expected him to make a reappearance but thankfully that did not happen. With so many bodies in the ring at once it was hard to keep up with what was going on, however it was soon down to the final four competitors, Mr News, Viper, Scott Renwick and Martyn Stallyon. Mr News was first of the four to be eliminated, followed quickly by Viper, leaving Renwick and Stallyon to battle it out until Stallyon eliminated Renwick to take the win and become number one contender. Renwick, obviously upset and being beaten and at us chanting loudly for Stallyon, decided to give us a nice shower, emptying his water bottle over us! Gives a new meaning to crowd participation. Thankfully I had some dry stuff in the car or it would have been a long drive in wet clothes and I managed to dry off my camera quickly so no damage there either!
The next SWE event is on Friday 25 April at Menzieshill Community Centre, with Uprising the following night at the Ardler Complex. Check out their facebook page or website for further information.
Monday 14 April 2014
SWA Zero 1 Clan Wars 10 Year Anniversary Show Review
Saturday 5 April 2014
This was our first SWA show, and although we had seen some of the roster at other shows, there were a few new faces for us. We had platinum VIP tickets (one of Rob's birthday presents) which got us early entry, front row seats and a bonus pre-show match.
Now before I start on the matches, I want to mention someone I think is pretty bloody awesome at what he does....ring announcer for the evening, Chris Duke. I have seen Chris in action at some other promotions but something went on last year during the NWO tour and suddenly Chris was persona non grata. Now I don't know exactly what went on and, to be totally honest, I don't actually care. I do think there was more than one person to blame and to dump it all on one guy is wrong. The point is Chris is a bloody awesome MC. He really knows how to pump up the crowd and get them involved in the show. Here, he picked a little kid called Brendon at one side of the crowd and got him to start a cheer which was to work its way around the crowd until it reached "the blue-haired person" at the other side! That wee kid loved it and he was asked a few times to start a cheer round the crowd through the night. I hope to see Chris doing what he does so well more often!
On to the matches.... first the pre-show bonus match between Ryan Griffin and David Conrad. Both of these guys were new faces for me. It was obvious from the start that Conrad was the heel, partly due to the fact he was accompanied to the ring by Christopher Saynt. The crowd was pretty quiet to start with so I had to try to live up to my name by starting a chant for Griffin. While some of the crowd joined in clapping, it appeared that I was alone in chanting. I did however attract the attention of Christopher Saynt during my "Let's Go Griffin/Conrad Sucks" chant, who came over to tell me to shut up and then said "oh you're that blue-haired thing off facebook" - I was delighted!! While Griffin took a lot of punishment at the hands of Conrad and Saynt, he finally managed to turn the tables and take the win.
After a short break to allow the general admission ticket holders to take their seats the main show started with a display by the Cosmic Flame Cheerleading Squad, followed by the entrance of the man himsel', Grado! Only Grado could have his own cheer squad...I kept expecting him to grab a set of pom poms, but he didn't. He was soon followed by his tag-team partners, DCT, Celtic Arrow and Tornado (The Masked Avengers). They were facing the team of Dickie Divers, Eric Canyon, Adam Carrel and Christopher Saynt in a Clan Wars Elimination match. With the exception of Grado and Christopher Saynt, these were new faces for me and I was looking forward to seeing them, however I was unfortunately blocked for the early part of the match by the Masked Avengers standing on the ring apron directly in front of me! With the crowd clearly on the side of Team Grado, the heels took the upper hand, eliminating DCT. There were a couple of cracking moments when Tornado splashed Adam Carrel from the shoulders of Celtic Arrow, who was on the top turnbuckle, leading to Carrel being eliminated, and then when he flew over the top rope onto Dickie Divers, Eric Canyon and Christopher Saynt outside of the ring, quickly followed by Tornado tossing Celtic Arrow over the ropes into the heels once again! Unfortunately this was not to last and soon Dickie Divers eliminated Celtic Arrow, then Tornado managed to get the pin on Dickie Divers but was quickly eliminated himself by Eric Canyon, leaving Grado facing both Canyon and Saynt. Despite the odds, Grado got the pin on Canyon and then put away Saynt to be sole survivor.
The next match was between Rampage Brown and Mark Coffey. After quickly starting a chant of "Let's Go Coffey" a group on the other side of the room started an answering chant of "We Hate Tea", which really seemed to confuse Brown. This was a brutal match from the start. Mark Coffey took the upper hand early in the match but was soon slammed into the ringpost with such force that the top turnbuckle and rope actually sprang off and while the match continued in the centre of the ring, staff worked frantically to fix the turnbuckle and rope. Despite fighting his way back into the match, Coffey was unable to get the pin and Rampage left the ring to a chorus of boos!
Next up was a match for the Tag Team titles. First to the ring were reigning champions, The Forgotten, Glen Dunbar and Alex Cavanaugh, who were accompanied by Jam O'Malley... and it was weird to see Jam looking relatively normal - no clown face paint and pink tutu! Their opponents were the team of Britain's Most Wanted, Damian O'Connor and Scott Renwick...and it was weird to see them smiling and NOT being heels! Jam O'Malley was the deciding factor in this match as the champs took quite a beating, with Alex Cavanaugh being stood on by Big Damo early on in the match and when Scott Renwick was about to pin Cavanaugh, Jam jumped up and grabbed the ref while Glen Dunbar sneaked in from behind and nailed Renwick with the belt, allowing the Forgotten to take the win and retain their belts.
The next match between Lewis Girvan and Kenny Williams was quite a high flyer! Both these guys have amazing potential and some cracking aerial moves. Lewis Girvan was the crowd favourite with Kenny Williams being the heel. Unfortunately for me, this just did not seem to work...Kenny is too clean and sweet looking to be heel....and I told him so when I saw him later that night! Despite this, the match was great with plenty of fast action and I would have been happy whoever took the win - this time it was Girvan...and I look forward to seeing a rematch between these two in the future.
Match 5 featured Robbie Solar and Jack Gallagher. Jack was a new face for me but obviously popular with the crowd, a few of whom had brought there own signs in support of "GingerMania". I have seen Solar once before and was not all that impressed back then. Unfortunately I am still of this opinion - although there is potential there, he still seems a little too green and there were a couple of botched moves. Apart from Jack's fan club, there was not a lot of feedback from the crowd and although there were a couple of not bad moves, this match was a bit of a letdown (I actually started chanting "This is boring") and I was relieved when Gallagher finally took the pin and ended it.
Next, Laird of the Ring Jackie Polo faced Joe Hendry for the title. Instead of his usual swaggering entrance with a microphone, singing along to his entrance music, Polo appeared wearing a neck brace! Considering what happened to Lionheart recently, and the fact that the man himself was in the crowd, I thought that it was in pretty bad taste - but that's Polo for you!! Once in the ring, he got hold of a mic and started to talk to the crowd, but was interrupted by the entrance of Joe Hendry, who got stuck straight in, ripping off the collar and throwing it into the crowd (where apparently someone scrawled Polo Sucks on it). Polo did fight back and it was a great match with some lovely moves by both guys. Finally Joe Hendry rolled up Polo for the 3 count and became the new Laird of the Ring! He was so delighted he just had to hug someone...and official photographer David Wilson was the lucky person!!
The penultimate match was the first ever Women's Clan Wars Elimination Match between Team Viper (Viper, Sammii Jayne and Bete Noire) and Team Fraser (Fiona Fraser, Debbie Sharpe and Courtney) This was the first time I had seen both Fraser and Courtney wrestle and unfortunately their input was all too short. The entire match seemed to be over almost before it began. First eliminated was Bete Noire, with Sammii Jayne, Debbie Sharpe and Courtney quickly following within 2 minutes, leaving Viper and Fraser to face each other. Viper took a convincing win and when she held her hand out to shake with Fraser, she refused and stormed off like a spoiled kid.
After the interval to allow the steel cage to be assembled, it was time for the final match of the night, the SWA Heavyweight Title match between champion Mikey Whiplash and Joe Coffey, with special guest referee John "The Bomb" Graham. This match was incredible from start to finish. Both guys gave it everything they had. Within minutes, Whiplash was wearing Coffey's face paint on various parts of his body! These guys slammed each other into the canvas and the steel cage, both climbing the cage only to slam each other back down and generally brutalised each other as much as they were able. With neither man able to get a pinfall, it finally came down to who would escape the cage first. As Joe Coffey scaled the cage, Whiplash made his way towards the cage door and was halfway through the door when Coffey dropped from the cage to the floor to take the win! The crowd went wild...and so did Mikey Whiplash who got into the face of John Graham, blaming him for the loss. Graham nailed Whiplash, and he was still lying in the ring while Joe Coffey celebrated his win, with brother Mark coming out from backstage to raise his hand in victory.
After the final match, the VIP ticket holder were admitted to a side area where there was a meet and greet with Jack Gallagher, Joe Coffey, Joe Hendry, Lewis Girvan and Courtney. We also managed to catch Mark Coffey there and Rob got some more signatures in his book and photos for his album.
I really enjoyed my first visit to SWA and look forward to attending more of their shows in the future. For more information, check out their Facebook Page or website
This was our first SWA show, and although we had seen some of the roster at other shows, there were a few new faces for us. We had platinum VIP tickets (one of Rob's birthday presents) which got us early entry, front row seats and a bonus pre-show match.
Now before I start on the matches, I want to mention someone I think is pretty bloody awesome at what he does....ring announcer for the evening, Chris Duke. I have seen Chris in action at some other promotions but something went on last year during the NWO tour and suddenly Chris was persona non grata. Now I don't know exactly what went on and, to be totally honest, I don't actually care. I do think there was more than one person to blame and to dump it all on one guy is wrong. The point is Chris is a bloody awesome MC. He really knows how to pump up the crowd and get them involved in the show. Here, he picked a little kid called Brendon at one side of the crowd and got him to start a cheer which was to work its way around the crowd until it reached "the blue-haired person" at the other side! That wee kid loved it and he was asked a few times to start a cheer round the crowd through the night. I hope to see Chris doing what he does so well more often!
On to the matches.... first the pre-show bonus match between Ryan Griffin and David Conrad. Both of these guys were new faces for me. It was obvious from the start that Conrad was the heel, partly due to the fact he was accompanied to the ring by Christopher Saynt. The crowd was pretty quiet to start with so I had to try to live up to my name by starting a chant for Griffin. While some of the crowd joined in clapping, it appeared that I was alone in chanting. I did however attract the attention of Christopher Saynt during my "Let's Go Griffin/Conrad Sucks" chant, who came over to tell me to shut up and then said "oh you're that blue-haired thing off facebook" - I was delighted!! While Griffin took a lot of punishment at the hands of Conrad and Saynt, he finally managed to turn the tables and take the win.
After a short break to allow the general admission ticket holders to take their seats the main show started with a display by the Cosmic Flame Cheerleading Squad, followed by the entrance of the man himsel', Grado! Only Grado could have his own cheer squad...I kept expecting him to grab a set of pom poms, but he didn't. He was soon followed by his tag-team partners, DCT, Celtic Arrow and Tornado (The Masked Avengers). They were facing the team of Dickie Divers, Eric Canyon, Adam Carrel and Christopher Saynt in a Clan Wars Elimination match. With the exception of Grado and Christopher Saynt, these were new faces for me and I was looking forward to seeing them, however I was unfortunately blocked for the early part of the match by the Masked Avengers standing on the ring apron directly in front of me! With the crowd clearly on the side of Team Grado, the heels took the upper hand, eliminating DCT. There were a couple of cracking moments when Tornado splashed Adam Carrel from the shoulders of Celtic Arrow, who was on the top turnbuckle, leading to Carrel being eliminated, and then when he flew over the top rope onto Dickie Divers, Eric Canyon and Christopher Saynt outside of the ring, quickly followed by Tornado tossing Celtic Arrow over the ropes into the heels once again! Unfortunately this was not to last and soon Dickie Divers eliminated Celtic Arrow, then Tornado managed to get the pin on Dickie Divers but was quickly eliminated himself by Eric Canyon, leaving Grado facing both Canyon and Saynt. Despite the odds, Grado got the pin on Canyon and then put away Saynt to be sole survivor.
The next match was between Rampage Brown and Mark Coffey. After quickly starting a chant of "Let's Go Coffey" a group on the other side of the room started an answering chant of "We Hate Tea", which really seemed to confuse Brown. This was a brutal match from the start. Mark Coffey took the upper hand early in the match but was soon slammed into the ringpost with such force that the top turnbuckle and rope actually sprang off and while the match continued in the centre of the ring, staff worked frantically to fix the turnbuckle and rope. Despite fighting his way back into the match, Coffey was unable to get the pin and Rampage left the ring to a chorus of boos!
Next up was a match for the Tag Team titles. First to the ring were reigning champions, The Forgotten, Glen Dunbar and Alex Cavanaugh, who were accompanied by Jam O'Malley... and it was weird to see Jam looking relatively normal - no clown face paint and pink tutu! Their opponents were the team of Britain's Most Wanted, Damian O'Connor and Scott Renwick...and it was weird to see them smiling and NOT being heels! Jam O'Malley was the deciding factor in this match as the champs took quite a beating, with Alex Cavanaugh being stood on by Big Damo early on in the match and when Scott Renwick was about to pin Cavanaugh, Jam jumped up and grabbed the ref while Glen Dunbar sneaked in from behind and nailed Renwick with the belt, allowing the Forgotten to take the win and retain their belts.
The next match between Lewis Girvan and Kenny Williams was quite a high flyer! Both these guys have amazing potential and some cracking aerial moves. Lewis Girvan was the crowd favourite with Kenny Williams being the heel. Unfortunately for me, this just did not seem to work...Kenny is too clean and sweet looking to be heel....and I told him so when I saw him later that night! Despite this, the match was great with plenty of fast action and I would have been happy whoever took the win - this time it was Girvan...and I look forward to seeing a rematch between these two in the future.
Match 5 featured Robbie Solar and Jack Gallagher. Jack was a new face for me but obviously popular with the crowd, a few of whom had brought there own signs in support of "GingerMania". I have seen Solar once before and was not all that impressed back then. Unfortunately I am still of this opinion - although there is potential there, he still seems a little too green and there were a couple of botched moves. Apart from Jack's fan club, there was not a lot of feedback from the crowd and although there were a couple of not bad moves, this match was a bit of a letdown (I actually started chanting "This is boring") and I was relieved when Gallagher finally took the pin and ended it.
Next, Laird of the Ring Jackie Polo faced Joe Hendry for the title. Instead of his usual swaggering entrance with a microphone, singing along to his entrance music, Polo appeared wearing a neck brace! Considering what happened to Lionheart recently, and the fact that the man himself was in the crowd, I thought that it was in pretty bad taste - but that's Polo for you!! Once in the ring, he got hold of a mic and started to talk to the crowd, but was interrupted by the entrance of Joe Hendry, who got stuck straight in, ripping off the collar and throwing it into the crowd (where apparently someone scrawled Polo Sucks on it). Polo did fight back and it was a great match with some lovely moves by both guys. Finally Joe Hendry rolled up Polo for the 3 count and became the new Laird of the Ring! He was so delighted he just had to hug someone...and official photographer David Wilson was the lucky person!!The penultimate match was the first ever Women's Clan Wars Elimination Match between Team Viper (Viper, Sammii Jayne and Bete Noire) and Team Fraser (Fiona Fraser, Debbie Sharpe and Courtney) This was the first time I had seen both Fraser and Courtney wrestle and unfortunately their input was all too short. The entire match seemed to be over almost before it began. First eliminated was Bete Noire, with Sammii Jayne, Debbie Sharpe and Courtney quickly following within 2 minutes, leaving Viper and Fraser to face each other. Viper took a convincing win and when she held her hand out to shake with Fraser, she refused and stormed off like a spoiled kid.
After the interval to allow the steel cage to be assembled, it was time for the final match of the night, the SWA Heavyweight Title match between champion Mikey Whiplash and Joe Coffey, with special guest referee John "The Bomb" Graham. This match was incredible from start to finish. Both guys gave it everything they had. Within minutes, Whiplash was wearing Coffey's face paint on various parts of his body! These guys slammed each other into the canvas and the steel cage, both climbing the cage only to slam each other back down and generally brutalised each other as much as they were able. With neither man able to get a pinfall, it finally came down to who would escape the cage first. As Joe Coffey scaled the cage, Whiplash made his way towards the cage door and was halfway through the door when Coffey dropped from the cage to the floor to take the win! The crowd went wild...and so did Mikey Whiplash who got into the face of John Graham, blaming him for the loss. Graham nailed Whiplash, and he was still lying in the ring while Joe Coffey celebrated his win, with brother Mark coming out from backstage to raise his hand in victory.
After the final match, the VIP ticket holder were admitted to a side area where there was a meet and greet with Jack Gallagher, Joe Coffey, Joe Hendry, Lewis Girvan and Courtney. We also managed to catch Mark Coffey there and Rob got some more signatures in his book and photos for his album.
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| Rob with the two new champs, SWA Heavyweight Joe Coffey and Laird of the Ring Joe Hendry |
I really enjoyed my first visit to SWA and look forward to attending more of their shows in the future. For more information, check out their Facebook Page or website
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