Review: SWE Hell For Lycra XI

Saturday 30 August 2014

Hell for Lycra...it was last year’s event that introduced us to SWE and we almost didn’t go back.  Thankfully, their Hart & Soul event in October was amazing and we have been regular visitors to Dundee ever since.

So we arrived at 2pm and joined the queue for the autograph session with Road Warrior Animal and Dennis Stamp.  After paying £20 for the “Animal Package”, which included an autographed promo picture and a professional photo which would also be signed, we were excited but unfortunately Animal seemed bored.  He picked up his studded shoulder pads, dumped them on Rob for the photo and that was it – no chat.  Talk about disappointed (well I always liked Hawk better anyway!)  After the signing we went off for something to eat before returning to the Bonar Hall for the show that evening.

Ring announcing duties for the evening were split between Chris Duke and Amy Anderson.  Chris has taken some flak in the recent past but this is a guy who really knows how to get a crowd going from the outset.  He employed his "Mexican wave style" cheer by selecting people sitting either side of the entrance and having one start a cheer and have the crowd work it round the room until reaching the other - works really well for getting everyone warmed up!

The first match of the night featured Steven Magners and Chaz Phoenix in a steel cage match.  Based on their actions toward each other during their long running feud, I was expecting all kinds of brutality but from the outset, both men only seemed interested in climbing out of the cage.  This ended with both men atop the cage, Phoenix pulled a length of material fashioned into a noose from his pocket, put it around the neck of Magners and proceeded to hang him as Phoenix dropped to ringside to win the match.  I am not entirely sure how to feel about the way this match ended.  The wrestling fan part of me thinks based on their previous encounters and the infamous "poly bag incident" it was a natural progression, however the mum in me thinks there were too many young kids in the audience for this and that after the match, when they announced a short break to remove the cage, they could easily have included a "do not try this at home/school" message. 

While the cage was being removed, the recent match between Martyn Stallyon and Damian O'Connor was shown on the big screen and there was an opportunity for those who were unable to make the earlier autograph session to meet Animal and Dennis Stamp.

The action restarted with a “World of Sport” legends match.  Originally billed as a tag match with Marty Jones and Jay the Jackal v Johnny Saint and Felix Fortune, this match now featured two of my Reckless Intent buddies.  Team Jones featured Jay the Jackal partnered with Rawlins and Team Saint had Felix Fortune paired with Mikey.  I do not wish to appear biased in any way, but Rawlins and Mikey were the standouts in this match.  In my opinion, Fortune's inexperience is usually covered by his opponents but there was no way to cover his miss on the attempted dropkick on Rawlins.  There was a lovely springboard flip from Mikey and he also delivered a rather devastating kick to the face of Rawlins.  The match ended a bit chaotically with Fortune hitting Marty Jones before being rolled up for the pin - win for Team Jones.  Both teams then seemed to face off in the ring with Fortune and Jones looking like they wanted a piece of each other.

Next was a 4 on 4 tag match with the Trident and Scott Renwick facing the team of Mr News, Claymore, LJT and Scotty Riccio.  I don't normally like matches like this as there are just too many people involved and its hard to keep track of what's going on but this one actually worked.  There was a nice wee bit when the heels were making their entrance and one by one, Mr News, LJT and Scotty Riccio launched from the ring to knock them down like skittles.  LJT took a serious amount of punishment from his opponents once the match got started, however it was Riccio who took the final punishment, being slammed by MDK before being on the receiving end of the 450 splash from Steven "Air" Myles before MDK pinned him for the three count.

A close contender for match of the night was the face off between Joe Hendry and Doug Williams.  Hendry was accompanied to the ring by Marty Jones however Jones kinda disappeared at some point - to be honest I didn't notice him leave as I was so enthralled by the match.  I think this might have been because Hendry is usually heel at SWE however in this match the crowd seemed to be evenly split and he didn't play up the heel image, making the heel legend surplus to requirements.  Anyway this match was just pure class - these guys don't dazzle with high flying stunts, they just wrestle.  Hendry took the advantage at the start but Williams soon fought back and seemed to be in complete control and about to take victory when Hendry got him in a cross armbreaker to take the win by submission.   In a very sportsmanlike manner, Hendry then held out his hand to Williams and both men shook hands to cheers from the crowd.

During the interval, a large pole and flag were attached to the ring, which had us wondering what was going on.  There had been no mention of a flag match.  What had originally been advertised as a scramble match for the Future Division championship had been changed.  The six competitors, reigning champ Christopher Saynt and challengers Viper, Sammii Jayne, Nikki Storm, Glen Dunbar and LJT entered the ring and a strange sort of chaos ensued.  With everyone battling in and around the ring, Storm was the first to attempt to grab the flag but was stopped by Viper and Sammii Jayne.  Then it seemed like each challenger had a turn of going for the flag before being thrown out of the ring by another challenger, who would then make their attempt.  Finally it was LJT going for the flag when Saynt grabbed his belt, jumped up on the ring apron and decked LJT with the belt before grabbing the flag to take the win.  Now I didn't mention the role of the flag...they used a "YES" flag which Saynt then spat on.  Now I do not wish to make my opinion on the referendum public - as far as I am concerned this subject is a matter for each person to decide for themselves and no-one should try to force their opinions on another.  By using this flag, SWE were making a political statement which could easily have caused conflict amongst its audience.  Wrestling is no place for politics and this stunt did nothing more than anger the "Yes" camp.   Maybe a nice "SWE" flag could be produced for any future matches of this type?

Now for the match that had been hyped since it's announcement Damian O'Connor v Road Warrior Animal.  Well talk about a huge disappointment!  Big Damo comes out to the ring and as we are waiting in anticipation of the appearance of Animal, Scott Renwick and the Trident appear instead and proceed to attack Damo.  With Damo making short work of the Trident, Renwick enters with a chair and starts to ram it in the midsection of the big man.  Renwick then starts shouting orders at the Trident and Damo is tied up in the ropes as Renwick continues his assault with the chair into the midsection of the "Beast".  Finally Animal appears, still wearing the clothes from the afternoon signing session, and accompanied by John "The Bomb" Graham to make the save.  There wasn't even a hint of an illusion that there was ever going to be a match between these guys.  WTF - this was one of the big selling points of the entire show - I had driven around for months with a poster advertising this match stuck in my car window - I felt cheated!  Maybe if he had come out in the full ring gear, shucking off the pads at ringside I might have been able to buy into it but it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Another match which had a lot of hype behind it was Bravehart v Euan G Mackie.  With a lot of animosity between these two men, this was never going to be pretty.  Factor in referee Edith Summer, who was on the receiving end of Bravehart's fist the week before at Hellbound, and that Bravehart had Jam O'Malley and Mutt at ringside, and it was never going to be fair either.  Bravehart wasted no time, beating on Mackie before locking in the sharpshooter however the referee refused to acknowledge Mackie tapping out!  An incensed Bravehart dropped Mackie and turned his attention to Summer (who if I remember right had just decked O'Malley).  As Bravehart went in for another punch, Edith ducked, Bravehart swung round and got a faceful of green mist from Mackie, who then scored the win with a fast count from Summer.  As Summer and Mackie made their escape from the ring, Bravehart vented his anger at O'Malley who was on his knees pleading for forgiveness.

Finally the main event and most definitely Match of the Night - SWE Heavyweight Champion Ian Ambrose faced the No 1 contender Martyn Stallyon for the title.  This match featured Dennis Stamp as special guest referee and while it was a nice touch for him to be included as part of the show, there were a few occasions where he was a bit slow to get down to make a count and wasn't as tough as a referee needs to be in a match between these two guys.  This match was brilliant.  There was a scary moment when Stallyon went got tangled in the ropes and smacked his head hard on the floor but he shook it of and got on with the match.  This match could not be contained by the ring....nor the barriers around it.  These guys went over the barriers, through the crowd and continued on the stage area before finally returning to the
ring.  Debbie Sharpe made her appearance, looking stunning in a tight black lacy dress and a pair of killer heels which gave me a nosebleed just looking at them, and strutted around the ringside area with the championship belt.  With it looking very much like Stallyon becoming the new champion, he told Debbie to leave.  Instead, she distracted Dennis Stamp as Stallyon springboarded off the top rope, straight into the title belt Ambrose was holding, allowing Ambrose to score the three count to retain the title, who then left with Debbie.  What is going on between Ambrose and Sharpe?  This story is definitely not over!!

There was one other negative thing but this had nothing to do with SWE.  One of the crowd members had to be ejected after getting into physical altercations with two wrestlers at ringside, Euan Mackie and Debbie Sharpe.  She had also been making some rather nasty comments about people while in the queue outside of the venue earlier and had been warned to shut her nasty mouth.  Hopefully we will not have to deal with her again.  There were actually some people who thought that the person involved was me.  I can assure you it was not.  I am a loudmouth - I get verbal but I do not get physical.  Even when invited to enter the ring during a spat, such as the one I had with Bravehart at Hellbound, I will not cross that line.

Overall, Hell For Lycra 11 was a better show than Hell For Lycra 10, but there were elements that really disappointed me too.  There were some really good matches and the announcement of next year's event being held in Dundee's Caird Hall went a good way toward outweighing the negatives.  Although the show ended on a high with a fantastic match between Ambrose and Stallyon, I have to admit that the whole Animal v Damo fiasco really bummed me out.

SWE have their next Uprising event back in the Ardler Complex on 25 October and have announced Brian Kendrick, Paul London and Leah Von Dutch to appear.  Tickets are priced at £10 for adults and £7 for kids (an increase of £3 per ticket since their event in July) and are available via their Facebook event page