Saturday 7 March 2015
This was the first Saturday show to be held in the Unit since November and it was standing room only!
The show started with the arrival of all three members of SOS , Darren Lewis, Scott Renwick and Graeme Leask, carrying bottles of beer and major attitude. Lewis took the microphone and proceeded to disrespect everything about Reckless Intent, the company, the fans and especially General Manager Jason McKinlay, who would only grant a contract to Graeme Leask if he managed to win his match that night against Bobby Roberts.
Surprisingly, Lewis and Renwick did not interfere in this match and left the ring area, allowing Leask to handle business on his own. This was starting to look like a decision they might regret as Roberts appeared to have the upper hand until he went for a spear on Leask, who managed to move out of the way and Roberts hit referee Conor Frost instead. Roberts pinned Leask but the ref was still down and unable to make the count. Then Saint-George came out and nailed Roberts, dragged Leask into the pinfall position then dragged the referee over and used his hand to make the three count, giving Leask the victory and he left the ring, clutching his contract with Reckless Intent.
(Has Saint-George aligned with the SOS???) Craig "The Firestorm" Valant came out, stopping Saint-George from leaving, allowing Roberts to recover and knock down the Englishman before Valant hoisted him up and Roberts delivered a stunner.
Saint-George called GM Jason McKinlay to the ring to complain about the attack on him, only to be told that if he had not interfered in the first place, none of this would have happened. Not only that, Saint-George had in effect handed the RI contract to Leask and therefore, since he was already in the ring, he would now have a match against Sunday Slam Champion Venym. What followed was probably the best match I have seen Saint-George have. Venym certainly brought out the best (or worst) in the Englishman and this really was an absolute belter of a match....right up until the end when Venym stopped himself from crashing into the referee in the corner and, whilst the ref had his arms up to defend his face from the incoming Venym, Saint-George hit a low blow from behind and rolled up his opponent for the three count.
Once again Jason McKinlay appeared and told Saint-George (who lay down on the mat in a show of disrespect) that just because the referee didn't see his lowblow on Venym, he had seen it via the monitors backstage. He added that he was sick of repeating himself regarding Saint-George's blatant cheating and had decided that the Englishman would have a second match, right there and then.....and this would be a match he was familiar with...a 3 on 1 handicap match....only this time it would be Saint-George on the receiving end from Venym, Craig Valant and Bobby Roberts.
Valant and Roberts returned to ringside, holding up a shirt with "Independence" printed on it. They joined Venym in the ring where they got Saint-George in the corner and each delivered a massive chop to the chest before taking their turn to perform their finishing moves, ending with Bobby Roberts hitting a spear and then taking the pinfall with Venym and Valant each having a hand on the shoulder of Roberts. A win for "Team Independence", they draped their shirt over the face of a prone Saint-George. Roberts then picked up Venym's hammer announcing "it's plastic" before bonking both Venym and Valant on the forehead with it - somehow managing to cut Venym's forehead and having them yelling "it's NOT plastic" as they left the ring.
The first half main event saw Rawlins face Darren Lewis for the UK Title. It was announced this would be a submission match, with no disqualifications. It was, in a word, brutal! Right from the start there were no holds barred and I knew this was not going to be pretty! The momentum swung back and forth with each guy going all out to take the victory. Lewis tried to use his size to his advantage but Rawlins is a real grafter and tried several submission holds on Lewis but "The Superstar" refused to tap out. Finally caught in the crossface, it looked like Lewis had experienced one submission too many and was on the verge of giving up when Scott Renwick came out to the ring and smashed a beer bottle over the head of Rawlins. With the no disqualification stipulation, this left Lewis free to continue a brutal assault on Rawlins, hitting him with a steel chair as he hung over the ropes and following up with a cradleshock on the already unconscious Rawlins. Finally the referee had to stop the match as it was obvious that Rawlins was in no way able to continue and a smug Lewis left the ring as several roster members came out to assist in getting Rawlins backstage.
I missed the beginning of the second half and therefore the following is just general information I have after chatting to some of the other fans at the end of the show. It began with a tag team match between the team of Jackie Grady & Westy and AJ Russell & Davidian Fury. Grady and Westy debuted their new entrance music - the theme from Baywatch - and made their entrance in the "slow motion" style of the TV show's credit reel. Russell removed his clown mask to reveal some face paint and dried blood! "A decent match" I am told, which ended when Fury went to make the tag only to have Russell jump off the apron, leaving him to finish the match alone. Westy then hit Fury with the Cobra before Grady hit his "No Place Like Home" finisher and scored the pin. While they celebrated, Sambroso Maestro hit a sneak attack and pinned Westy under the 24/7 rules to become the new Hardcore champion.
Sambroso Maestro then faced Disturbed in his own match. By all accounts Disturbed defeated himself when he climbed from the top turnbuckle to a ledge to gain extra height for an elbow drop on Sambroso. This gave his opponent extra time to recover himself and he hit Disturbed with a lowblow as he dropped from the ledge and scored the pinfall. Conor Frost then attempted to take the Hardcore title but it appeared that both Frost and Maestro had their shoulders on the mat and an arm across each others chest meaning that both scored the pinfall, however this was a short-lived problem as Bobby Roberts hit them both with a spear, pinned them and took the belt. Just seconds later the belt would change hands once again, as Westy faced off against Roberts and instead of receiving a blow to the head with the belt as has become normal, Westy this time delivered a kick to the nether regions of Roberts, dropping the big guy to the floor and retaking the belt he had lost earlier in the evening.
Just before the main event, Mikey took to the ring to express his disappointment in having to withdraw from the originally scheduled ladder match against Scott Renwick due to having surgery on his knee less than two weeks ago. Once again, Saint-George made an appearance and promptly got his ass whooped! Despite still recovering from surgery, Mikey hit Saint-George with an "Emerald Flowsion" which had the crowd cheering and howling for more and a certain Englishman left ringside red-faced after receiving his just desserts for, once again, sticking his nose where it didn't belong
(I'm really starting to think he might be aligned with SOS).
Finally it was time for the main event, where JJ Russell would face "The Butcher" Scott Renwick for the Reckless Intent Title. With both men in the ring, Russell made a wise crack about Renwick being the vinegar that spoils the fish 'n' chips....which had not only the crowd in fits of laughter, but cracked the hard shell of Renwick who struggled to hold it together.
(There is hope!!!) The match itself was good but there were too many comedy moments for a serious title match. The match came to an end when Russell hit Renwick with the "Sister Abigail" and went for the pin, only for Darren Lewis and Graeme Leask to return to ringside and Lewis grabbed the leg of Russell, dragging him off his opponent. As the referee remonstrated with Lewis, who was now on the ring apron, Renwick was able hit Russell with "Angel Wings"
(there may also have been a lowblow involved but I was watching Lewis and the ref) and took the pinfall to retain the title. Suddenly the entire roster was in the ring battling against the SOS but individual battles appeared to be forming, setting up for some grudge matches in the future.
As much as it pains me to say this, my Match of the Night was neither the first or second half main event, but goes to Saint-George and Venym....and that big-headed Englishman will probably boast and brag about it....just as long as he remembers that he wasn't alone in the ring! Just to temper things, Moment of the Night was Mikey hitting him with the Emerald Flowsion!!!
The next show is Never Back Down on 4 April, back at Murieston Scout Hall. After the no-contest between Darren Lewis and Chris Renfrew in January, they will face each other again but this time Renfrew is bringing some friends.
Also there will be early entry and a pre-show match for advance ticket holders. The pre-show match was announced at Sunday Slam
(yes I am so far behind that I haven't got that review up yet) Venym will defend the Sunday Slam title in a 10 man elimination match. So far, Chavi and Disturbed have been confirmed as participants but who the other 7 are is yet to be announced.
Keep tabs on upcoming shows by liking the Reckless Intent page on
Facebook, subscribe to them on
YouTube and check out their
website.
No comments:
Post a Comment