Review: Discovery Wrestling: No Fear, No Mercy

Saturday 11 October 2014

This was Discovery Wrestling's debut show and already there was a lot of hype on Facebook.  With several big American stars announced from the outset, there was always going to be a lot of interest in the show.  Al Snow was originally announced but had to withdraw due to TNA having shows in Japan at the time but we still had Mike Mondo, Chris Sabin and Crime Time, and a great selection of UK talent.

The day started early, as Rob and I were involved with the ring crew for the day.  After helping transport and set up the ring, we helped with merchandise sales, guiding people to the meet and greet area and generally helped with anything that needed done.  During the down time between the end of the meet and greet and the show starting, I had the chance to chat to a few of the wrestlers and was gobsmacked when Chris Sabin recognised Rob from the TNA meet and greet in January!

The show began with the arrival of Joe Hendry, who decided that for tonight, as he is an Edinburgh boy, he will be Local Hero instead of Global Hero.  He asked the crowd to join him in singing the National Anthem but first he wanted to put the whole Scotland v England thing to rest and was joined by Marty Scurll who would join the singing.  As everyone stood with hands on heart and prepared for a rendition of Flower of Scotland, Hendry and Scurll start singing God Save The Queen!!! The crowd were not happy at all and Local Hero quickly became Total Zero.  Enter Crime Time!  They came out to a fantastic response and after taking the mickey out of Hendry and Scurll, they got the crowd singing Flower of Scotland with them.  Just as it looked as though they were about to get into a brawl Theodore Long appeared on the video screen, announcing that as Grado was unable to make the show, he was making a tag match between Crime Time and Hendry/Scurll (who he kept referring to as Marty Squirrel) to take place later that evening.

The first match of the evening saw Liam Thomson v Martyn Stallyon, accompanied by Lady Debbie Sharpe.  This was a real role reversal, with local boy Thomson ditching his "bad boy" persona and being fan favourite, while Stallyon acted arrogant and wound up the crowd.  For the first time ever, I found myself cheering for Thomson.  This time it was Stallyon who relied on underhand tactics and the outside interference from Debbie Sharpe to gain the advantage after Thomson appeared to be in control of the match.  With Stallyon distracting the referee, Sharpe used her riding crop to beat and choke Thomson before Stallyon would capitalise, however with Thomson once again taking control and looking to score the win, Sharpe then distracted the ref, throwing her crop into the ring for Stallyon to use before rolling Thomson up and scoring a very unpopular win.

Next up was a tag team match between The Wild Lions (Andy Wild & Johnny Lions) and The Traditionalists (Michael Galahad & Robert Pendragon).  The Wild Lions entrance was brilliant - the guy who does the rap on their entrance theme, Martin Inches, came out and performed it live!  Both teams worked really well but it appeared that Johnny Lions got the biggest pop from the crowd.  With Wild taking an early advantage, The Traditionalists used a lot of sneaky tactics, in particular antagonising Lions and having referee Steven Magners stop him from entering the ring while they double teamed Wild in their corner to gain the upper hand.  Despite this, Lions landed a superb dropkick from the ropes on Galahad, which was followed up by a powerbomb from Wild and a legdrop from Lions on Pendragon to secure the win for the Wild Lions.

Next up was a match which could easily have been a main event match-up, Rampage Brown v Damian O'Connor.  There are not many guys to match Big Damo in size and strength and when these two collided, I swear you could feel it!  After a series of shoulder blocks which rocked the ring and crowd but dropped neither man, Damo took an early advantage, actually managing to stand on the chest of Brown and dropping a senton on him.  Brown refused to be beaten and fought his way free from sitting on the shoulders of Damo, before doing what many may have considered an impossible feat - he got the big Irishman in a piledriver before going for the pinfall.  Unsuccessful, he was once again hoisted aloft and somersaulted across the ring on the shoulders of Damo, however he recovered enough to move out of the way as Damo leapt from the ropes.  Brown then shocked and awed the crowd by delivering a second piledriver, this time putting the big man down properly and scoring the pinfall.

The first half main event was the Y Division 4 Man Elimination Match featuring Chris Sabin, Ian Ambrose, Lewis Girvan and Damian Daniels.  The match started with an amazing display technical wrestling by Girvan and Sabin in the ring which was just beautiful to watch.  I definitely heard someone in the crowd say they could watch these two all night and a chant of "This is awesome/This is wrestling" rang round the hall.  Of course #Scumbag Ian Ambrose wanted a bit of the glory and tagged himself in to face Sabin.  After Girvan was tagged in by Sabin, he became the target for both Ambrose and Daniels, who made a series of tags to keep him isolated.  Girvan fought back, launching himself through the ropes onto Daniels outside the ring, quickly followed by Ambrose.  Girvan had got back into the ring and went over the ropes onto Ambrose before Sabin springboarded from the top rope and launched himself onto all three men before Daniels scrambled back into the ring and hit them with a flying somersault -

totally amazing.  The action returned to the ring where once again Ambrose and Daniels worked together to isolate Girvan and eliminate him before Sabin hit them both with a double dropkick.  Sabin quickly rolled up Daniels and we were down to Ambrose and Sabin.  These two went at it hammer and tongs until Ambrose missed a double footstomp off the ropes, allowing Sabin to connect with a brutal looking kick to the head before finishing him off for the win.  The crowd were elated...Ambrose not so much.  He took to the microphone and stated he didn't come to be embarrassed and refused to leave the ring unless he was given another match so he could redeem himself, while the crowd chanted "You got beat!"  Suddenly music began to play and Deviation appeared.  After removing his metal spiked harness, he proceeded to annihilate Ambrose, leaving him lying in the ring once again to chants of "you got beat".

After a short interval, the second half resumed with the earlier announced match between Crime Time and Joe Hendry & Marty Scurll.  Crime Time were announced first and while JTG climbed the turnbuckles, Shad worked his way through the crowd before joining him in the ring.  Hendry and Scurll came out to boos and jeers.  The match started with JTG and Scurll in the ring with JTG very much in control.  Both tagged their partners and Shad dominated Hendry however when JTG returned to the ring, Hendry and Scurll put their brains to use as their brawn just wasn't cutting it.  Keeping the ref focused on stopping Shad from entering the ring, they relentlessly double-teamed JTG.  Eventually JTG was able to make the tag and Shad took both men down with clotheslines and looked to put Hendry away with a side suplex, however Scurll hit Shad with his umbrella and suddenly Hendry had the pin.  An unpopular end but to the match, but what a display from Crime Time who left the ring area to a chant of "Please come back".

The penultimate match was a Women's Triple Threat Match between Viper, Sammii Jayne and Debbie Sharpe, who replaced the Portuguese wrestler Shanna.  It was apparent from the start that Sharpe and Sammii Jayne would work together against Viper, however Viper would not go down easily and with the crowd firmly behind her, she used her strength and power to stave off the attacks, before Sammii Jayne turned on Sharpe, forcing Viper to make the save.  Sharpe and Sammii Jayne again attacked Viper, this time with Sharpe looking to make a pin.  Sammii Jayne stopped this before a shoving match ensued between them, allowing Viper to take the upper hand, splashing both girls in the corner.  Sharpe decided enough was enough and left the ring and while Sammii Jayne watched her walk away, Viper struck with the Viper Bomb and took the win.

Finally it was time for the main event, pitting Mike Mondo against "Iron Man" Joe Coffey.  What an incredible match this was.  Starting off with a series of wristlocks and headlocks, Mondo left the ring to regroup and was standing directly in front of me as Coffey looked to dive on him through the ropes.  As we braced our feet against the railing for the impact, Mondo quickly moved to the side and Coffey aborted the dive (and my feet are very grateful).  Returning to the ring, Mondo engaged Coffey in a test of strength (peanuts) which he appeared to be winning but Coffey quickly reversed it and took control of the match.  Coffey focused his attention on the left knee of Mondo and after a suplex the action stopped.  With Mondo clutching his knee, medics arrived in the ring and helped Mondo from the ring, carrying him backstage.  With the crowd wondering what had happened, promotor Alan Smith came to ringside and spoke to a confused Coffey before they headed toward the curtain....only for Mondo to attack Coffey, using the element of surprise to run him back into the ring and take the advantage.  He then threw Coffey to the floor, before ramming him full force into several of the guardrails, the final time actually causing them to buckle with the force.  The action returned to the ring again, with Coffey recovering and taking the advantage, he swung Mondo around the ring before both men collapsed, Mondo rolled out of the ring and Coffey dived on him through the ropes.  Mondo crawled around the ring before heading out into the crowd - Coffey followed and they continued their battle with suplexes on the solid floor before returning to the ring to finish out the match.   Mondo continued to battle but the night belonged to Joe Coffey, who got the pinfall after a huge splash in the corner knocked the last bit of fight out of Mondo.  An outstanding performance from both men, who shook hands at the end of the match.

With such an incredible card and amazing displays from everyone involved, it was difficult to pick my Match of the Night.  After a lot of deliberating, I finally decided that the Mondo/Coffey match gets that accolade, but the Damo/Rampage match ran a very close second!

Discovery Wrestling put on an absolutely amazing debut show and are planning their second show for March 2015.  Make sure to like their Facebook page to keep up to date with future developments.