Review: SWE Uprising

Saturday 25 October 2014

The first SWE show after Hell For Lycra was held back in the spiritual home of SWE, The Ardler Complex.  With Brian Kendrick, Paul London and Leah Von Dutch announced, we were promised a cracking show and some major changes.

The first change was that people who had purchased tickets in advance were allowed into the venue earlier that those paying on the door.  Once inside and seated, we noticed that more and more chairs were being brought out for those who decided to turn up on the night and this show looked to be a full house!

You know there is a stacked card when the first match of the night is the rematch of the Hell For Lycra main event, Martyn Stallyon v Ian Ambrose.  With Stallyon in the ring, everyone's attention was on the curtain for Ambrose to make his entrance but, in typical #scumbag fashion, he came through the crowd to sneak in from behind.  Instead, Stallyon took the fight to Ambrose through the crowd and right around the hall!  Once back in the ring, Stallyon was all over Ambrose and looked to have this match well and truly won, when he suddenly collapsed.  The ring filled with officials and Ambrose stood by looking shocked at this turn of events.  With help, Stallyon got to his feet in the corner of the ring when Ambrose suddenly cleared the ring of officials and attacked Stallyon, using a chair and hitting him with a coast to coast.  He then grabbed his "I AM GOD" coat from under the ring before pinning Stallyon and demanding the referee make the three count several times then gloated as Stallyon was carried from the ring on a stretcher.

Next up was Nikki Storm v Leah Von Dutch.  This was a cracking wee match with both girls showing what they are capable of.  Storm was magnificent as the heel (as always) and Von Dutch really impressed me with her wrestling ability - definitely not just a pretty face.  There were some lovely spots with both girls having near falls - Storm adamant hers were 3 counts as usual and doing a wee disappearing act under the ring and Von Dutch hit Storm with a lovely spear before getting a two count.  It was Storm who would be victorious this time, rolling up Von Dutch and putting her feet up on the ropes for leverage to get the 3 count.  I would definitely like to see these two go at it again in the future.

The first half main event saw Joe Hendry v Paul London.  With Hendry in the ring, London made his entrance, going into the crowd and seeming to greet virtually everyone in audience personally.  When he finally made it to the ring and started to strip off his "spacesuit", Janet and I reverted into giggling schoolgirls, yelling at him to get his kit off for the girls!!!  This match was amazing.  Hendry, in my opinion, is one of the fastest rising stars on the circuit and this was my first time seeing London and...wow, just wow.  Neither guy held anything back in this match, with some fantastic mat wrestling as well as some aerial moves, it was a joy to watch.  There were some hits that were so hard, the ring actually moved.  Hendry got London in his signature suplex but was not able to hold it as long as usual, and some clotheslines from both guys that threatened to take the other's head off.  Hendry caught a crossbody attempt by London, throwing him across the ring before going for the pin but only made a two count.  London came back at him and had a pin attempt but Hendry got his foot on the rope.  Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and this ended with a roll up from Hendry on London, pulling on the tights for extra leverage to score the win.

The first match after the interval was a 10 Man Elimination Tag Match for the Future Division title.  Christopher Saynt would defend against SWE regulars Felix Fortune, Scotty Riccio, Jay The Jackal and Steven "Air" Myles, some guys from Reckless Intent, Venym, Jackie Grady, Rawlins, Mikey and Dutch wrestler Kid Lux.  With two men in the ring at a time it was a bit easier to follow the action and there were some interesting combinations in the ring at times.  I was slightly confused about Kid Lux's decision to throw an opponent out of the ring and do a suicide dive so close to the barriers when there was a large matted area with no barriers on the opposite side of the ring.  About halfway through the match Saynt was eliminated when he submitted to a Scorpion Deathlock applied by Steven "Air" Myles and we knew there would be a new champion.  Rawlins eliminated Mikey before being eliminated himself by Scotty Riccio and they continued to battle as they returned backstage.  It finally came down to Jay the Jackal and Scotty Riccio.  Jay tried using his strength advantage, however the speed and agility of Riccio proved to be too much and it was Riccio who score the pin, rolling the Jackal up and becoming new Future Division Champion.

The penultimate match pitted two of The Trident, MDK & Darren Blair against the two giants, Damian O'Connor & Claymore.  Damo started off well however the match swung in favour of the Trident after the tag when Claymore was double-teamed.  After taking a fair bit of punishment, Claymore managed to tag the big Irishman, who tore through the both Trident members, standing on Blair and scoring a near pin.  With all four men in the ring, Claymore and Damo had the upper hand, performing giant splashes on their opponents in opposite corners, following up with cannonballs when the match was interrupted....

... when the third Trident member Steven "Air" Myles appeared with Bravehart and proceed to attack them.  Now 4 on 2, the match was awarded to Damo and Claymore by disqualification.  Suddenly the lights went out and a video played on the big screen before Chaz Phoenix appeared.  With Bravehart and the Trident still in the ring, Phoenix announced that there were many people who were unhappy with the way they have been treated and several of the SWE roster then appeared to surround the ring, before entering and clearing it of Bravehart and his cronies.  With Phoenix now in the ring, he announced that Bravehart's reign over the SWE was over, that all the small percentages that have been sold over time were now in the possession of Phoenix - he is now 50% owner of SWE and there are going to be big changes....watch this space....

The final match of the night was LJT v Brian Kendrick.  LJT is sporting a new, more aggressive attitude these days and I think I prefer this.  There was a definite split in the crowd with a lot of support for both guys.  This was a fast paced match with both men literally throwing themselves at the other.  There was hardly time to draw breath or pick my chin up from the floor before the next move came.  The momentum swung back and forth with several near falls and could have easily gone either way.  With both men exhausted, it was LJT who finally took the win in this match with a back slide on Kendrick to score the pinfall.

With so many cracking matches on the card, I thought Match of the Night would be harder to pick but for me it just had to go to Joe Hendry and Paul London, with LJT/Kendrick close contenders.

The next Uprising event is on Saturday 29th November at the Ardler Complex.  Check out SWE's Facebook page for further information on all future events and to buy tickets.