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
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