Review: Reckless Intent presents Over The Top

Saturday 1 November 2014

This was a big day for Reckless Intent.  They were taking their shows out of the unit and into an outside venue for the first time.  In the six months since my first visit to Reckless Intent for their Super BOWL two day event, I had noticed that the crowd was increasing at each event, with standing room only at the last two so it was inevitable that they would need to look at larger venues so for the final two shows of the year they booked Murieston Scout Hall.  Still there were a few nervous people wondering if enough people would come to make the larger venue worthwhile - and the answer was a resounding yes!

The show started with Reckless Intent World Champion Saint-George coming out to the ring, only to be faced with a crowd of boys from Bo'ness Rugby Club who treated him to a chorus of Flower of Scotland and lots of heckling as he filled the ring with balloons in celebration of the arrival of SWE Champion Ian Ambrose.  Ambrose came out carrying beers, which the two men used to toast the end of the career of Martyn Stallyon and each others "awesomeness", before Ambrose announced that he was going to end the career of Bobby Roberts.  Roberts then came out to huge cheers from the crowd.  After a verbal altercation with Saint-George, he turned his attention to Ambrose.  Roberts dominated the beginning of the match using his size and strength advantage, however Ambrose came back at him with some big kicks, using his agility to keep the bigger man off balance and with Saint-George hovering at ringside, interfering at every opportunity, Roberts had his work cut out for him.  Ambrose went for one move from the ropes too many however, and Roberts hit a cracking stunner on him and went for the pin, however Saint-George had the referee distracted and by the time the referee started the count, Ambrose had recovered enough to kick out at 2.  An enraged Roberts lost focus and Ambrose took the advantage again, however Roberts avoided the double footstomp attempt and instead hit him with a spear, before going for the pin.  This time Saint-George jumped into the ring and attacked Roberts, who was awarded the match by disqualification.

Saint-George then grabbed two chairs and they prepared to attack Roberts with them when the music of Scott Renwick played and the man himself appeared to make the save.  Ambrose and Saint-George dropped the chairs and ran from the ring.  General Manager Jason McKinlay appeared and asked Saint-George if the stipulations on his own match were the reason for him interfering in this match and reminded him that any cheating against Renwick would cost him the title and his position in the company.

Next up was "The Superstar" Darren Lewis v Craig Valant.  Lewis came out first, with the briefcase he won at Reckless Intentions, then demanded that The Grue carry it to the ring for him while the crowd chanted "slightly average".  Valant came out to cheers which made Lewis more annoyed and their initial grapple ended with a big slap to Valant's face by Lewis.  Valant went for a quick roll-up, giving Lewis fair warning that there would be no messing around and Valant would take whatever opportunity he could.  Lewis countered any offensive by going for the ropes or leaving the ring, returning to break the 10 count before sliding out again and receiving chants of "chicken".  He used underhanded techniques, such as taking a mouthful of water and spraying it in the face of Valant in order to put him off balance to take the advantage.  Valant tried to rally but Lewis once again used the ropes to his advantage, choking Valant, then ramming his shoulder into the midsection of Valant in the corner.  Valant refused to go down easy and the match went back and forth with each man trying and failing to score the 3 count, despite using some big power moves.  Finally Lewis was able to hit a cradle shock on Valant and take a very unpopular win.

The first half main event saw current Reckless Intent UK Champion Mikey put the belt on the line against Joe Hendry, who had vacated the Hardcore Title in exchange for this match.  Hendry took to the microphone to tell everyone how wonderful he was and that he would be the most dominant wrestler in Reckless Intent before inviting Mikey to join him in the ring.  With the Bo'ness Rugby Club boys giving Hendry some abuse, he announced if they did not shut up, he would leave.  This only made the crowd louder and Hendry did leave the ring and make toward the curtain as the referee began to count him out and only made it back into the ring by the skin of his teeth.  What followed was lovely to watch - a perfect blend of Hendry's technical style with Mikey throwing up some cracking aerial stuff including a lovely springboard dropkick.  Hendry hit Mikey with a clothesline that spun him a full 360 degrees but was only able to get a 2 count.  With the crowd firmly backing Mikey, Hendry tried several power and submission moves but Mikey kept coming back at him, finally hitting a series of big kicks, before missing a move from the ropes that once again gave Hendry the advantage.  The deciding factor in this match turn out to be neither man's particular skill set but the appearance of the SOS.  With Mikey finally appearing to be in control of the match, the SOS came out, distracting him and allowing Hendry to take advantage and score the win to become the UK champion.  But this was not the end....as the SOS members beat both Hendry and Mikey in the ring, the music of Darren Lewis started and it appeared that he was there to help Hendry and Mikey, until he smacked Hendry with the briefcase then handed it to the referee, cashing in his shot and pinning Hendry.  Darren Lewis becomes the new Reckless Intent UK Champion then takes to the microphone to say he had done "what's best for business!"  With Hendry blaming Mikey for the turn of events, this story was far from over....

The second half of the show started with the rematch we had all been waiting for - Saint-George would put the RI World title on the line against Scott Renwick, with a stipulation that if he were to win by count-out or disqualification he would be stripped of the title and fired.  Saint-George decided not to wait for the bell and attacked Renwick with the belt as soon as they had been announced.  Renwick rolled out the the ring and Saint-George followed, continuing his attack at ringside, including smacking Renwick off the ring apron several times and blasting him into the ringpost, before shoving him back into the ring.  He then grabbed a chair and attacked Renwick with it.  After focusing on the left knee, he got Scott's foot in chair and was about to jump on it from ropes when the referee called for some help.  More officials and Jason McKinlay appeared as Saint-George made the jump.  McKinlay reminded him of the no cheating clause, to which he replied the bell has not gone yet!  With Saint-George continuing to attack Renwick, he had to be physically restrained by the referee as the other officials removed the chair and helped Renwick back to his feet.  Finally the bell rang and the match officially started.  Saint-George continued where he had left off and again focused on the left knee of Renwick before Renwick hit him with a spear and went on the offensive.  The match was brutal and continued to swing back and forth, with near falls from both men, an RKO mid-match from Saint-George on Renwick, a sleeper hold which almost put Renwick out twice, before Renwick hung Saint-George upside down on the turnbuckle and dropkicked him, then later hit Saint-George with a massive dropkick from the top rope.   With both men exhausted, Renwick attempted the Angel Wings however Saint-George escaped and hit Renwick with a second RKO but could only get a 2 count.  Finally Renwick hooked up the Angel Wings and this time scored the 3 count to become the Reckless Intent World Champion.

As Renwick celebrated on the top rope, two members of the SOS appeared.  Saint-George held up his hands and quickly left the ring. Could Saint-George be linked to this mysterious group?  As SOS leader Sam Crowe looked on, his associate delivered a massive power bomb to the new champion, leaving him prone in the centre of the ring.  As they stood at ringside, several roster members came out to the ring to assist Renwick and the SOS disappeared.

Next up was a 6 man elimination match which would allocate an entry number in the rumble to the participants.  The first five entrants, AJ Russell, JJ Russell, Venym, Jackie Grady and SWE favourite LJT were in the ring when SWE owner Bravehart appears to introduce his Trident member Darren Blair.  As always in matches of this nature, chaos ensued.  Venym and Grady battled outside the ring at the entrance area, the Russell Brothers fought directly in front of their supporters from Bo'ness Rugby Club while LJT and Blair battled inside the ring and gradually the matches switched about.  With JJ Russell and Blair fighting at ringside, LJT looked to suicide dive them but was caught by a clothesline from Grady, who then did a flying dropkick through the ropes to take down the two outside.  LJT then did a corkscrew crossbody over the top rope to knock all three down with Venym doing a similar move to all four.  Finally AJ Russell played bowling ball to their skittles, hitting a "whisper in the wind" wiping out all 5 opponents before shoving Venym back in the ring.  Venym manages to swing AJ around the ring but only scored a 2 count on his pin attempt.  AJ then splashes Venym from the top rope and Grady makes the pin to eliminate Venym who will now enter the rumble first.  Darren Blair was eliminated next by LJT, who was then eliminated by AJ.  Grady and AJ appeared to face off, before working together to target JJ but JJ was able to rally, eliminating his brother before taking on Grady.  As he was about to finish Grady, AJ jumped up on the apron and distracted him.  JJ sent him flying with a dropkick before returning his attention to Grady and finally scoring the pinfall, JJ Russell took the number 30 slot in the rumble.

The final match before the rumble was "The Baddest Man in Professional Wrestling" Rawlins v Falcon.  Rawlins came to the ring first and announced that he believed Falcon to be part of SOS which is why he challenged him to a match, before Falcon appeared to cheers from the crowd. In true "baddest man" character, Rawlins tried to terrorise some of the kids in the crowd before getting down to business in the ring.  This match went back and forth, with both men pretty evenly matched in size and speed.  There were a lot of wristlocks and reversals to start with before Falcon went on the offensive.  Rawlins rolled out of the ring to escape and when Falcon leapt the ropes to follow him, Rawlins swept the legs from under him, causing him to crash to the wooden floor.  He then climbed back into the ring to break the count before doing a suicide dive through the ropes onto a still recovering Falcon, however his second attempt at the same move was met by Falcon's boot to the face.  Falcon then had some of the crowd move aside and rammed Rawlins face first into the vacated chairs.  When Rawlins avoided an attempted chop, Falcon slammed his own hand into the ringpost, giving Rawlins the opportunity to regain the advantage.  Once back in the ring, Rawlins continued to focus on the injured arm of Falcon.  While Falcon tried to get back into the match, Rawlins appeared to have an answer for everything and it looked as though the match would soon be over as Rawlins held Falcon in a crossface submission hold.  Suddenly all three members of  SOS appeared and attacked both men.  The match ended in a no contest as several roster members come out to make the save and chase SOS out the main door.  As the other roster members returned backstage, Rawlins held out his hand to Falcon, however, in true heel turn fashion, he refused to shake hands and instead hit Rawlins with a turnbuckle bulldog he calls "The Acid Drop" and left the ring.  Mikey returned to the ring to assist a dazed Rawlins backstage.

Finally it was time for the 30 Man Rumble match, where the last man standing would earn a shot at the World Title at the Super BOWL in May 2015.  The match started with Venym and Saint George, with a new participant joining every 30 seconds, so it got chaotic very quickly and was difficult to follow everything that was going on - so I will just highlight a few points.  Saint-George and Bobby Roberts went at each other for a bit before Bravehart decided to have a pop at Roberts.  Westy made two appearances, first as Bushwacker West, who was eliminated immediately, then later reappeared as West Cena who also was eliminated very quickly.  Rob Mills was attacked as he entered by Bravehart who had been eliminated.  Ambrose and Saint-George returned after being eliminated and took out Bobby Roberts, further fuelling their feud.  Saint-George gets a second bite at the cherry after being drawn at random to be given a lucky chance second entry.  JJ Russell enters last after winning the earlier 6 man elimination match and he and AJ Russell take each other out, leaving the final four as Jackie Grady, Rawlins, Mikey and Joe Hendry.

Jackie and Rawlins are soon eliminated, leaving Mikey and Hendry facing each other once again and, once again it was Hendry who was victorious and now has a shot at the Reckless Intent World Championship at the Super BOWL tournament in May.  An unhappy Mikey grabbed a microphone to say that Hendry had beaten him twice that night and also six months previously.  This fact does not sit well with Mikey, even if Hendry is one of the best wrestlers in the country and Mikey then challenges Hendry to a match at Lights Out on 6th December to prove he can beat him and if he can't, he will quit wrestling.  Hendry accepted the challenge and the match is set but as they shake hands on it, Mikey hits Hendry with an RKO to the shock and disbelief of the crowd.


What a show! With 6 matches and a 30 man rumble, there was plenty of action.  Reckless Intent's first show at an outside venue was a sell-out and everyone involved put everything they had out there for the people to enjoy.  Normally I would give a Match of the Night award but I think this time I am just going to give them Show of the Year and look forward to seeing just how they can top this at their next show on 6 December, also at Murieston Scout Hall,  Tickets are already available and can be purchased online or at their Sunday Slam show on 16 November, where there will be the first two rounds of competition for the new Sunday Slam Championship belt.  Details of these, and all of the events planned for 2015 can be found on Facebook and video footage of their matches can be seen on their YouTube Channel